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“Going with him isn’t going to give you what you need. Stein has no love in him. He is alone… and always will be.”
Ah. There it is. Nygus said it best.
Stein is used to hearing these words being said about him. He was still a student at DWMA when he first heard about how he is destined to be a lonely freak forever, and now, over a decade later, people still say these words about him without any hesitation. Nobody even bothers to lower their voice to make sure he doesn’t hear them, even though it definitely is not the nicest thing to say. There is only one explanation for this: this statement must be the objective truth that everyone knows.
Everyone including him. After all, wasn’t it him who has been cutting up his roommate for years? Wasn’t it him who decided he didn’t need anyone around him, so he moved out of Death City? Wasn’t it him who spent years in his laboratory, experimenting all by himself?
It was. But if that’s the case, how come that he can’t help but feel sad after hearing Nygus say these familiar words about him this time around?
He looks up, trying to get out of his own head so the madness doesn’t consume him in this important moment. He looks at the people surrounding him. Spirit, Sid, Nygus. Marie. Ah. So that’s why he feels this way.
It is true that so many people labeled him a loner, a freak and just left it at that. The thought of him being anything but that never even crossed their minds. But Marie was not one of them.
In fact, after coming back to Death City, the first thing Marie did was ask to be Stein’s roommate. She did not even consider any other options – she told him she’d made up her mind that she would stay at his place before she even reached her destination. The reason? She said that looking back at the days they were both students at DWMA, she had nothing but good memories and feelings about the time they spent together. Even though Marie did not want to put herself at risk by being a death weapon in such a busy part of the world – the reason why she left Death City to work in Oceania – sometimes she couldn’t help regretting leaving. Because nobody over there made her laugh as much as Stein did, nobody was as interesting as him, nobody made her feel as happy as he did. So this time around she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. At least that’s what she told him.
Stein was surprised to learn all of this over the dinner that they shared together the night she moved in. After all, he did not do any of these things on purpose! He was just being his usual self. Marie laughed at his confusion, saying it’s actually a good thing that all this came naturally to him.
Her words stayed with him. He had always thought that he needed to try really hard for people to like him, he would probably need to change his whole personality and attitude (and these days, appearance), but she proved him wrong. Marie thought highly of him even though he was not doing anything special.
So hearing people tell her about how he lacks the basic human emotions hurt him. He can’t be so selfish and start arguing with them about it on the night Marie’s ex-boyfriend got murdered. His feelings are irrelevant and not the point at all. He should be glad that they at least believe that it wasn’t him who killed Joe. But he can’t help being afraid that Marie would start thinking about these things about him too.
“I have to go with him.” She softly replies. “Stein is always on his own, but if we leave him alone, he will crack up for good this time. I know he will.”
Her words make him feel like her healing wavelength just got a hundred times stronger. She doesn’t think that he killed her ex-boyfriend, she doesn’t feel like he will not be able to support her during these hard times. She still has full faith in him, just like she did since they were teenagers. The accusation against him and Nygus’ words did not change anything for her.
He is surprised to hear her say this. Not only does nobody ever take a chance on him, he is also surprised that she is still thinking about his wellbeing when she is going through so much right now. What did he ever do to deserve somebody as good as her caring about him, being on his side?
Just like that, they go together. Stein and Marie leave their friends and go further and further together, until others cannot be seen anymore. They stop running at the same time, under the tree, as if they both were thinking the exact same thing. She doesn’t have to hide her emotions and pretend to be strong anymore. She can finally let it all out.
Marie stars softly sobbing. It’s so heartbreaking to watch her suffer like this. For the past few weeks that they’ve been living together, he got used to seeing her all happy and he got used to cheering up because of her and her wavelength. But now the situation was entirely different. His source of joy was the one who was in pain.
He comes up closer to her to give her a hug. No words are needed – Stein knows that right now she just needs a shoulder to cry on. And so he is there for her, just like he will be on any other occasion she needs him. He promises himself that much.
Marie pulls closer into the hug. It brings her comfort. She knows that she is not alone, and that together they will find the killer and bring them to justice. After all, they are the strongest Meister-Weapon duo and DWMA’s finest graduates. And they are also a great team who understand each other well.
After a while, she looks up at him. Their eyes lock. He looks exhausted and worried.
“I didn’t think it was you, not even for a second.” She says to his surprise, tears still streaming down her face. “I don’t think others did either, but I just want you to know that when they told me about cigarettes, I still knew it wasn’t you.”
Marie just told a white lie – in fact, others were somewhat suspicions about him. There were some talks about how “he couldn’t help the madness, so it technically wasn’t Stein’s fault”, but Marie shut down all these talks immediately. She believed in him more than anything, and it’s not like her faith was baseless – after all, it was her who spent the most time with him recently, so she knew how Stein was actually doing, while others could only guess and let their imagination run wild.
But he didn’t need to know all of that, not now, and not ever, really. The main point was to tell him that she always knew there was no way Stein could have ever murdered BJ. She wanted to ease his worries. Doing so was crucial for both his wellbeing and for his madness.
Her words work just like she predicted they would. Marie really knows him better than anyone. Although a great tragedy has happened, they are now both confident that they will be able to find a way to move on and to live on, because they can rely on each other. And nothing is impossible when they team up. They will solve the case, prove Stein’s innocence, bring the killer to justice, and find inner peace.
Together.