209DISCLAIMER: Don't own Soul Eater or Death the Kid. ;A; that sucks. If I did, Kid wouldn't have OCD. I am sorry, but seriously, sometimes it detracts from his awesomeness. Atsushi Ohkubo just put that in there for humor. Not that I don't like humor, but seriously…
In case none of you knew (and I'd find that hard to believe) I LOVE Death the Kid. His stripes are adorable ^.^ (don't tell I said that -.-') and more than ANYTHING I enjoy Kid!whump. Not to fear though, not all of these will be whump. Some will be angsty, some will be crack!, some will be serious and some will be… OCD. Yes. Of course ;)
Father's Promise
"One day, Kid, you will be the next Grim Reaper. I can't promise it won't be dangerous. I can't promise you'll like it. I can't promise you won't have to endure suffering mortals can't even comprehend. I can't promise you won't want to just curl up and join the souls in the Grim World during the darkest times. But I can promise you'll be the greatest Reaper I've ever had the honor to know…"
Lord Death
"Damn!" Kid yelled, dodging yet another fireball sent his way. A few attacks ago, one had singed his leg pretty badly, and even though he knew it would be half-healed by tomorrow it was still impeding his movement at present. Dad chooses this mission, of course, he grumbled inwardly.
They'd cornered the witch, everything going to plan, and they were damn near beating her too, until more showed up. And more. Soon there was a mass of what must have been twenty or so witches attacking them from all sides. Skilled as he was, Kid had only taken out three, and was already beginning to tire. "Soul Resonance!" he ordered Liz and Patty breathlessly, landing in a crouch and summoning the large silver barrels quickly. There was no time for formality in this situation. Almost snarling, the reaper announced his signature attack line - "Death Cannon!" A large cloud of dark gray skulls erupted, and in its place drifted... one purple soul.
This is definitely not going in our favor, Liz groaned through their connection. If we have to do Death Cannon for every witch, we'll be mincemeat in five minutes! Patty cackled, but her sister and meister could detect the subtle undercurrent of fear that lurked in her laugh. All three of them were scared, and rightfully so.
"We have to end this," Kid whispered tersely.
No! Liz argued. We have to retreat. If you keep being so stubborn we'll all end up killed. What's one little retreat? Your pride isn't the most important thing at stake here!
Dumbfounded, the young reaper stared at the silver barrel encasing his right arm. "Pride...?" he questioned, then quickly dodged another fireball. Pride isn't what I'm concerned about, he continued silently, it's my father. I can't fail him, not on this important mission.
Liz was almost beyond exasperation. Look, he won't judge you for one failed mission. We've failed plenty before, remember? The - she coughed, hesitantly continuing, hoping her words wouldn't set off an OCD attack - pyramid of Anubis one? Our souls got confiscated. Your dad didn't tell you off for that. He'll understand. Now we have to go!
Slowly seeming to process her words, Kid watched blankly as a witch readied a small jet of energy. At the last second it registered and he rolled away, coughing. "Retreat...?"
YES! Liz roared, patience gone. LET'S GET MOVING!
Kid sluggishly summoned Beelzebub and hopped on, speeding away to the jeering catcalls of the witches. "Scaredy-cat!" "Stupid Shinigami brat!" "Too weak to fight us?" "I knew he was a coward." "He's a total failure." "His father won't like this, nooo~?" With each insult, the reaper winced until finally they faded into the distance. Both Thompsons exchanged worried glances from the weird space they inhabited while in weapon form. The Death Cannons had melted away in a quick pink flash to their original gun forms.
"... Kid-kun?" Patty tried catiously. He didn't answer, just kept staring ahead.
"It's no use, Patty," Liz whispered. "Just give him time to cool off. He'll be fine by tomorrow. Let him sleep this little problem away, and we'll go to school tomorrow and give Lord Death a full report. At least we managed to snatch one of those witch souls, yeah?" The younger sister nodded glumly, face projecting on the gleaming silver of her gun form.
She may act stupid, but she really wasn't. In Patty Thompson's mind, everything was a toy, or a giraffe, or some other strange made-up creature. Kid was special. He was like a clock. And somehow, retreating had broken the clock. It was still ticking, but the second hand would freeze up, the hour hand moved far too slowly, the minute hand jerked about. Something was askew in all the gears and levers holding his thoughts together. Patty was good at making things, paper origami but one example, and when you can make something well you can usually fix it almost as easily. But for the first time... she didn't know how to fix it. Well, she had an inkling, but hopefully it would clear up once they talked to Lord Death...
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"Ah, hello, Liz and Patty! Wassup? How'd the mission go?" Lord Death called enthusiastically through the mirror connection. The sisters grinned wearily, the smile not quite reaching their eyes. Currently they were standing in front of the tall, ornate mirror adorning the exact middle of the wall in the living room of the mansion. Something was missing, though. Kid. He'd locked himself in his room the minute they'd returned home and wouldn't come out, so his weapons decided it would be easier to contact Lord Death from home. After all, he didn't really seem to sleep, so what was the harm?
"We... ah, had to retreat," Liz informed him awkwardly.
Lord Death pondered this for a moment, then shrugged and 'hmm'ed. "That's okay! But, where's Kiddo?" Neither answered. "I see. He's a bit thrown off by this, isn't he? I assume he's locked himself away in his bedroom?" They nodded, still awkward. "He'll be okay. Give him a while to get over this - it may take some time, but I'm sure it'll blow over eventually."
Patty giggled and saluted. "Of course, mister!" Liz pursed her lips and jerked her head in what she hoped was an acceptable nod, then ended the call. She glanced at the younger sister out of the corner of her eye. The normally bubbly, energetic blonde had fallen silent. "Kid-kun's not okay, is he, sis?"
"No." She sighed. "He's not."
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"YAHOOO~! BOW BEFORE YOUR GOD!"
"Ugh," Liz groaned. "Does he ever shut up?" Tsubaki smiled apologetically and tried to coax her meister down from the center cone of the middle of the DWMA. Finally complying, the spiky-haired nuisance thudded to the ground in front of the rest of the group.
Surveying them for a moment, BlackStar commented, "Hey, where's Kid? Didn't think a goody-two-shoes like him would miss school. Right, Maka? That's how all you bookworms and teacher's pets think!" Laughing uproariously, he failed to notice the deadly book spine on collision course with his face.
"Right, now that that's settled," Maka said smoothly, dusting off her coat and tapping her book threateningly against a palm. "Anyone else have any 'bookworm' comments?" Soul looked like he was going to open his mouth, but after a murderous look from his meister, cowered behind Liz instead.
The elder Thompson growled. "Go away." Shoving the albino scythe off to the side, she stalked towards the doors, followed closely by a VERY unusually subdued Patty. The rest of their team stared after them, baffled, exchanging raised eyebrows and 'wtf?' looks. (Minus BlackStar, of course. He was still out cold.)
Halfway through class, Stein had started talking about witches and their attacking abilities, when he moved on to their 'call signals.' Apparently they had a silent way of calling for help in a crisis. Fed up with this, and more than a little ticked off by the subject of the lesson, Liz stood up and snapped, "This is bullshit. Let's go, Patty. This isn't getting us anywhere, and we've got a meister to watch." The younger nodded and sprung up from her desk, following her sister out the door. Stein watched them, the light obscuring his eyes through the lenses of his glasses, calculating exactly what the demon gun had said.
"Um, professor?" Maka raised her hand. He waved at her to continue. "Can we go speak with Lord Death?" All she got was a grunt, which she nervously took as a 'yes.' She hoped it wasn't a 'I'm-not-listening-because-I'm-pondering-how-best-to-dissect-you' grunt. That would be bad.
The team stood up (BlackStar had regained consciousness) and filed out of the classroom. Shuffling down the hallway, Tsubaki asked quietly, "I wonder what's wrong with Kid."
Her meister perked up. "Yeah, maybe his house got demolished or something and he has to fix it."
"You idiot," Maka rolled her eyes. "The mission they were on was way out in Wisconsin. He went on a witch-hunt."
"I hope he didn't defeat too many witches! I should be the one to attack their stronghold!" the assassin boasted. "It's gonna be me! It's my destiny!" He received a quick Maka Chop and Tsubaki ended up dragging him along.
"Didn't you guys hear?" Soul grumbled, finally speaking up.
The others stopped. "Hear what?" Maka inquired warily.
"About Kid's mission." Seeing their confused looks, the scythe rolled his eyes and sighed. "I hear they had to retreat. The witch they were fighting was almost beat when she called for help. I heard a whole coven showed up. I think Kid got injured, but he's probably fine now, being a reaper. Anyways. So he got nicked, and Liz and Patty had to yell at him a bunch of times. The moment they said retreat he froze up. Or at least, that's what Patty told me."
Maka's jaw dropped. "She told you and not the rest of us?"
Soul shrugged. "I asked her via note in class. We were both bored and Liz was zoning out."
By this time they'd resumed walking, and had reached the door to the Death Room. Maka knocked, and the door swung open. BlackStar woke up and started running ahead, only held back by Tsubaki. After a bit of a struggle, they managed to make it to the platform to find Lord Death in conversation with somebody on his mirror. Peering curiously at it, the four students raised eyebrows as it was a fuming Liz yelling something at Death, a crying Patty just behind her. The team gasped, and the connection ended as Lord Death turned to face them.
"Yes?" he asked cheerfully, but there was a small strain in his normally enthusiastic voice. "Do you have a question?"
Maka stepped up. "Yes, sir. We want to ask about Kid."
The mood turned grave as the eldest reaper studied them for a moment. Finally, he spoke, although it was a weary and faraway kind of tone. "You want to know why he didn't come to school. Why he's so upset. I'm afraid, that's something you should find out on your own. Go to the Gallows. He could use some friends right now." With that, he tapped the mirror, and the team gazed at it, dumbstruck. It was a view of the entranceway to Kid's mansion. "Step through!" Lord Death encouraged. Hesitantly, Maka and the others complied, finding to their astonishment the minute they stepped through they found themselves inside the hall. Spinning around, there was nothing there, just the front doors.
"Hello?" Tsubaki called. "Liz? Patty? It's us!"
"What do you want?" came the muffled growl. Frowning, Soul tried to pick out where the sisters were, then froze instantly as he felt a chill crawl up his spine. Turning slowly in unison with the others, they came face to face with Patty... holding a gun. Liz, obviously. "Why are you here?" Patty asked in a singsong voice.
BlackStar took a deep breath, then started. "We came to see Kid!" he bellowed. The gun moved until it was aimed squarely at his forehead.
"Go away," Patty snarled. "Kid-kun doesn't want to talk."
"Lord Death sent us hear!" Tsubaki pleaded. "Let us try... please? Maybe if all of us work together, he'll at least say something?"
A brief spark of - was that hope? - bloomed in Patty's eyes, only to harden again. Not all the way, though... "Fine," she agreed grudgingly, after conferring silently with her sister. Liz transformed back and both guns narrowed their eyes at the team. "His room's this way," the younger Thompson announced abruptly, waving them along several hallways and up a flight of stairs. There it was, a jet-black door with a small silver skull painted expertly in the middle. Ornate letter spelled 'Death the Kid' below the symbol.
Maka tapped the door cautiously. "Kid?" she called. No answer. "Your father sent us! He wanted to know how you're doi-" She shrieked and leaped back as the door was unexpectedly flung open. There was Kid, golden eyes burning, teeth bared in a feral snarl, shoulders tense and shadows subtly roiling around his feet.
"My father?" he spat. "Don't pretend he cares. This is my fault, I failed and he has every right to hate me."
"No!" Tsubaki protested. "He loves you. He wanted to make sure you were alright. He was worried."
This threw the reaper off for a moment - but only a moment - as his eyes widened infinitesimally. "Why would he care?" His tone had dropped to a sudden whisper. "It doesn't make sense. I- I've... failed. I had to retreat."
"And he doesn't blame you for that," Liz soothed, clearly trying to pick up the slack. "I'm sure he'd rather you retreated than got yourself killed unnecessarily."
The reaper shook his head, bitter again. "No. It doesn't matter what you say. I failed. I retreated. I wasn't strong enough. He hates me. He should hate me." The fire faded from his usually brilliant, two-toned eyes, leaving them dull and colorless. It was much worse than when he was angry. "I never fail. I never retreat. I'm... I'm supposed to be strong. I don't deserve his love." And with that, the door slammed in their faces again.
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"Lord Death!" Liz started the instant the mirror rippled to show the Reaper's spiky form. "Tell us what Kid means!"
"Woah, slow down there!" he said, trying to placate her. "What did he say?"
BlackStar stepped forward. "He said he never fails. Something like that. What's the big deal?"
"Oh..." Lord Death let out a long sigh. "That's why." Seeing their exasperated (this was all getting way too confusing) expressions, he explained. "I've sent Kid on many missions, most before he met Liz and Patty here. Every single one, since the age of two when he left the house without me noticing - defeated a Kishin egg at that age, I was very proud - he has come back successful to some degree. Almost always it's completed perfectly, just the way he prefers it. Other times it's less perfect, like the Anubis incident. But never once - never - has he ever retreated. No matter what the cost, he comes back victorious. I'm afraid this was a huge blow to his self-confidence." Another sigh. "This was unfortunately my fault as well. I wasn't there for him like I should have been, since his early days. I made excuses to myself... I can be a huge procrastinator, you see. Kid's always thought I expect far more of him than I actually do. His progress is amazing, I'll give him that, but he pushes himself to hard." Lord Death shook his head slowly. "This time... I'm the only one who should be apologizing. Speeeeeeaking of which..." - he stepped through the mirror, eliciting a yelp from Maka and Soul, while Liz and Patty just watched, used to it - "I should get in there and say a proper sorry."
"He locked the door," Soul pointed out.
Lord Death shrugged. "No problem." Gliding down the hallway, he just... melted through the door? BlackStar pouted and mumbled something along the lines of 'surpass- showoff- gods- star- yahoo...' Tsubaki prodded her meister with a frown.
"Kid?" Lord Death asked softly, making his way through the darkness in his son's room. There wasn't a single light on - but both he and Kid could see perfectly. Being a Reaper was especially beneficial sometimes. "You have to stop hiding. This isn't helping anybody."
The reply was muffled, seing as said reaper was lying on his stomach on his bed with his face buried in a pillow. "I don't care. I failed. I should be locked away for eternity."
His father sighed (again). "Look, Kiddo, I know it's not easy being a young Reaper. Hell, I had to go through with it myself! But you need to tell me when something's wrong. I won't hate you. I swore I'd never make my father's mistakes."
"I just wanted to be someone you're proud of," Kid whispered brokenly. "I've never failed before, because each time I suceeded - every time - it made you happy. And now... I retreated. You taught me the Shinigami's Code. We never give up. And I did."
"No, son!" his father said gently. "I couldn't be more proud of you. The fact that you retreated shows you're more than ready to start your growth into being a full Shinigami. Just you wait. I-" the rest of his sentence was drowned out by an enraged yell from outside and a resounding crash as the door busted in to reveal a very impatient BlackStar. For once Kid couldn't eve. Be bothered about how asymmetrical the mess was, as he sat up to face the group. He'd barely managed to catch what his father had said, but it brought back memories of a happier time. He knew he wasn't perfect... but sometimes, that's alright.
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"Hey, what's taking you so long?" BlackStar yelled back to Kid, who was trailing the group with a bad limp. Turns out the burn was worse than he thought, and for all his healing power it was only just starting to fade. They had decided to get to the basketball courts and play a quick game before reporting for a group mission they were leaving on tomorrow.
Grumbling, he was about to open his mouth to retort, when a flying book appeared out of nowhere and knocked BlackStar into next Friday. (No, literally - he hit a kid named Friday, a rather annoying, arrogant, supercilious prat who went to the DWMA.) "Thanks, Maka," Kid grinned. She returned the smile and fistbumped him. For a moment the reaper paused, looking down at his fist, then held out the other one. "Symmetry?"
"Some things never change," the scythe meister laughed, fistbumping him again with her other hand.
Some things don't, he agreed inwardly. Kid smiled slightly as he remembered his father's words, ones he'd make sure never to lose sight of again.
"After all, I made you a promise..."
Aww... a happy ending... XD
Did anybody catch the two references I threw in there? ;D well... three... one from the Soul Eater manga...
So I DID post a list of all the oneshots I'm going to do, but I changed my mind. From now on it's open to prompts and requests (although if there are some slow lulls I do have ideas of my own...) so basically, the next three or four chapters are probably going to be a drawn-out minific requested by mah bestie friend... *drumroll* ... Matsukaze Tenma! *applause* ^.^ *huggles Tenma-chan*
Until next chapter...
~DeaththeKidKat