"Hi, Hey, Hello, How's it going Sid, meister Maka, meister Evelynn, and our mystery guest." Death asked as he bounced around inside the mirror in front of the three. Sid had stepped to the side of the mirror so now Nate could get a full look at the dark black figure standing in it.
He was a mess of black jagged lines supported by one lone jagged leg? Nate wasn't really sure what he was looking at. Two white blobs unfurled from Death's sides and became rather large dual hands that he moved in a friendly wave to the students.
"I caught these three engaged in a despicable act in the city-" Sid began to say before being cut off by Death.
"Oh you know how people can be at their age Sid, that's perfectly normal. You were a young man once too." Death said as he looked over at Sid from inside the mirror.
Sid, obviously flustered from the conclusion Death had jumped to quickly said, "no that's not what I meant Lord Death, I caught these three engaged in an alleyway brawl with some of the citizens, it seems that one of them had gotten into trouble and instead of handling it herself had accepted help from..."
Sid pointed a long brown finger at Nate who stood in the center of Maka and Evelynn, He immediately stood at attention
"You! What's your name again?" Sid said sternly.
"My name is Nate sir, yes sir!" He said in a half joking half serious manner.
Sid didn't take too kindly to being made fun of and stepped in front of Nate and gripped him by the shoulder and knelt down a little to be at the boy's height.
"Oh so you're some kind of funny guy are ya? You wanna see what happens to people like that around here?"
"Now now that's enough Sid." Death said as he crooned to the side to get a better look at them all through the mirror. "I'm certain the young man is already frightened enough-" Death began to say before cutting off and going silent for a long moment.
Everyone in the chamber turned to look at him.
"Lord Death? Is something the matter?" Sid asked, his stern demeanor falling away to a calm yet slightly concerned one.
"No, no, Sid nothing's the matter it's just...you there Nate you said your name was?"
Nate took a slight step forward. "Yes sir, I'm Nate its nice to meet you...?" Nate began instinctively reaching out a hand before realizing he probably couldn't shake Death's hand in this situation and put his arm down.
"Step a bit closer to my mirror, let me take a look at you. There's something strange about your soul." At those words Maka's eyes immediately flipped from Sid, her instructor who was still standing before her and Evelynn giving them stern looks, over to Nate.
Nate took a few steps forward until he was in front of the giant mirror, where Death's larger that average form loomed over him. Though oddly he didn't feel afraid, he didn't know if it was Death's goofy antics, his high pitched voice, or the overtly calming affect of the room.
"Hmmm, that is strange..." Death said as he looked Nate over.
"What's strange what is it??" Nate asked, unsure of what Death could sense in himself that he could not. Nate suddenly did feel afraid, afraid that there was something wrong with him, that he had some sort of disease, that he might die...
"Have you had any lunch today??" Was all Death asked...Nate felt as if he'd keel over and die of pure dumbfoundedness.
"Uh...no I haven't?" Nate perused his memory since his meeting with Excalibur earlier that day and realized, while he wasn't explicitly hungry, he hadn't ate anything that day either.
"Sid!" Death exclaimed. "You should make yourself useful and get this boy something to eat." Sid looked at the mirror as absolutely dumbfounded as everyone else around the mirror.
"Right away Lord Death." Sid said as he bowed to the mirror..
"And take Scythe meister Maka, and meister Evelynn with you as well, I would like to converse with Nate alone."
"...As you wish. C'mon you too, lets go to the lunch room and see what they have." Sid said as he began walking out of the room, dragging both students out by their collars.
Nate stood in front of Death's mirror and neither said anything for a long moment. The smell of The Death Room was a pleasant one Nate noticed, it smelled of an early spring day, like grass after a splash of light rain.
"I don't exactly know how to tell you this Nate, but...your soul it's unstable" Death said as matter a factly as if he was commenting on the weather of a nice day.
"Wh-WHAT?? What do you mean unstable? Like I'm going to die?" Nate asked as his hands flew around his torso tapping and prodding against his suit to feel for something wrong.
"No, not exactly but tell me have you been hearing anything recently? A voice? A particularly annoying voice..." Death asked and Nate almost immediately knew who he meant.
"You can hear him too? Excalibur..." Nate put a hand on his head, sweeping some of his hair out of his face in a stressed gesture. "So I'm not crazy? Haha! You can hear him too?"
"Well not exactly, and you very well may be crazy. Sorry..." Death said, raining on Nate's celebratory attitude with a dose of reality.
"There's only one real way to know what exactly is happening with your soul, and that's a test. Now I must warn you this test will not be pleasant." Death said stepping out of the mirror finally appearing in his full awe in front of Nate.
Nate looked down at the floor for a long moment, contemplating everything that had happened to him so far. Before looking right at Death and saying "Whatever test you have I'll take it. I want to figure out what's wrong with me, and why she looked at me that way."
"Why she looked at you that way? Do you mean Maka?" Death asked.
Nate nodded feverously. "She looked at me like there was something wrong, like I was broken in her eyes." Nate said, slight feelings of embarrassment and fluster making his heart beat faster.
"Very well, the test I will be subjecting you to...Is a test of Madness Immunity..."