'I believe in you… was that enough…'

'She hasn't tried to come back…'

'I wonder how long it's been… since I saw her face for the last time…'


A light breeze hit the balcony, gently caressing the faces that stood looking at the view or mingling with friends. The bizarre sun began settle behind the horizon only for a black mass to resume its position in the sky. Most heard stories about what the moon use to look like, a grin that spread across the night unsettlingly. But few recalled seeing it. One of the few, Lord Death, stood on the balcony and watched the heaping black mass settle across the sky. Students headed home. Street lights turned on. Death City had grown yet still could have peaceful, quiet nights. He enjoyed it, remembering memories of his father.

The peace was interrupted by a teenage boy. "Lord Death, Maba-sama is waiting for you." The other sighed, turning towards the door.

"I thought you were at the mansion with your sister, Gael?" Lord Death inquired. The teen looked at him.

"She said she was feeling better so I thought I would stay to help you with the remaining paper work. I know its stressful job." Death smiled softly. "Thank you for helping. Head back, Maba and I would prefer to talk privately." The other understood and once Lord Death opened the door, he turned to head home.

"I thought our call was not until tomorrow?" He sat down.

"Still as orderly as usual, Kid." Her voice was soft and gentle yet the one eye pierced his soul.

"Please do not call me that. Why are you… Why did you call this late at night?"

"It is important. Some of our witches have reported unusual findings with the moon. The black blood sealing it still holds, but something seems wrong from the inside."

"Could Asura break free?"

"It is a small but unlikely possibility. That seal is likely to hold if the reports Maka Albarn had given us were accurate. BREW is an extremely powerful magical object. Asura could be trying to make a break, but will not succeed. It's held up for this long, I do not see why it would fail now." She spoke, not taking her eye off him.

"Since I have you on the line. We may as talk about the agenda that was supposed to be discussed in tomorrow's call." Kid sighed, but agreed seeing as he had nothing else to do for the night.

"I have taken notice of a few absent witches. Your students are still holding up their end correct?"

"If it eases your worries, I can check. But to my knowledge, they haven't killed witches nor would I authorize it without running it through you first. I haven't sensed anything either."

"Kid, I take this seriously. Our numbers are still small. Fewer and fewer witches are having any children nor have many been born regardless. We have only had 60 or so ever since Medusa's child and only a small percent of those were witches."

"I can tell the E.A.T class to keep a watchful eye if you provide names and pictures."

"I will accept that now we-." Screeching pierced the air, slightly cracking the glass. Kid covered his ears, but the shrill cries still pierced his skull. He tried getting up, but the force and irritation sent him to ground. It hurt to even think. The wailing lasted for what felt like hours, but ended within a few seconds. He felt as though the wind was knocked out him, the room spun and turned about as he attempted to stand back up.

"Kid? Kid are you alright?" The voice on the other end asked. Maba remained despite the damage done to the glass.

"Y-Yeah. What was that?" He steadied himself on a chair. Looking around, it was almost as though an earthquake had shaken the place. The computers were messed up and not responding, books were jostled out of location. He took deep breathes attempting to not let his lingering OCD flutter to the forefront of his mind.

"Would your witches be able to find out anything about this?" He looked at her.

"I will see. However, you don't seem to have taken it well. Perhaps you should go home and rest for a bit." Her voiced switched to concern.

"No. I'm alright to continue the meeting." He sat back down, head dipping down only to be supported by his right hand. Maba hesitated, staying quiet until he looked at her again.

"If you're alright to continue…"

"I am." He took a deep breath, "The DWMA's Gala is coming up shortly. This year the students wanted to organize a festival to go along with it. You and your coven are welcome to attend." He took notice of how Maba was starting at him.

"If you're that concerned, we can resume the call tomorrow after we finish discussing this topic."

"That would ease my worry."

"Very well."

"About your Gala. I have a few… security concerns. With our numbers being smaller, we also have been tipped off about a small group that has begun attempting to replicate Medusa's work. To my knowledge, they aren't close to succeeding nor do they have any of her documents regarding her experiments. If they want that information, I would be more cautious about the security of the DWMA should they try to steal it." Kid listened intently. He had heard that some suspicious people were rummaging around Medusa's old lab.

"Very well. I will make sure that the security is top notch with thorough checks on each person assigned to our case." Maba hummed.

"Thank you, Lord Death. I will be seeing you tomorrow as scheduled. Please do rest. Not just after what happened, but in general. You can't overwork yourself." She ended the call and her image vanished to simply show his reflection in the broken glass. Leaning back in the chair, he looked at the ceiling.

He took a breath. The books needed to be set back.

He exhaled. The computers needed to be checked for damaged. Papers had to be reorganized.

Beads of sweat started dripping down his forehead. The pens were jostled out of place.

His eyes shifted over to the wall as breathing became shallow. The pictures on the wall were displaced. One tilted two centimeters to the left. Another had become unhinged from the right hook and desperately clung to the wall. Each difference burrowed it way into his mind and he knew that it would be hard to get any rest knowing his office was like this.

Getting up from the chair, he began the process of cleaning. Starting around the desk with papers, pens and any other item that were shaken off. Once they were neatly placed, Kid rummaged through the fallen books. His fingers brushed against leather. He picked it up and opened it.

"Oh…" He stared solemnly. The inside filled with dusty pictures. He sat down, flipping through the pages carefully.

'Stein and Marie's wedding… The trip we all took to the California beach… Blackstar running around…' He gave each picture 20 seconds of his time, recalling all the pleasant memories of his friends. The more time flew, the more it made it harder on him. He slammed the book closed, standing and setting it on the shelf. The rest of the books were hastily put on there. He attempted pressing down the thoughts of how unsymmetrical the room was.

'It's not important. It's not…' He tried to steady his breathing and counted down from 8. He didn't need this right now. He needed to go home. Rest. Get the occasional ringing out of his ears. Forcing he legs out the door, he began to walk through the school and kept his gaze to the floor until he made it outside.

Despite the darkness of the moon, the sky was illuminated. Mainly by stars and planets. Kid stopped in the street to admire the glow. He didn't remember the last time he paused to take in the night sky. The black mass was always there, unsettlingly.

He looked back down and kept walking towards his home.

"I'm home. Are you two…"

"Lord Death!" Gael came running down the stairs. He almost tripped, but managed to catch himself on the railing before continuing down.

"Did you hear the screaming?! I tried to send a message, but the towers must have been affected."

"Yes, I heard it. You seem to be doing fine, what about Bianca?"

"Bia was fine. Annoyed, but fine."

"That's good. Was the anything disturbed in the house?"

"I've been trying to fix some of it. But the house is big so it would take me awhile to get everywhere."

"You really don't need to that. I can call someone who will clean."

"But it's the least I could do after…" Kid placed a hand on Gael's shoulder.

"You've been a kind help. Please rest. You have classes tomorrow." The boy sighed and nodded before heading back up the stairs. Kid stayed on the first floor. The effects of the wails were littered around the mansion. He focused on something else before his mind plagued him with though.

The source of screeching was still a cause for concern. Did it only happen near Death City? Maba didn't seem affected by it too much. Then again, she had magic to aid her. If it was in a larger radius then surely new stations will come calling for answers.

'Even after all this time the press are annoying to deal with.' He made his way up the stairs and down the corridor. Broken memories unevenly scattered along the wall. The rush to his room became ever present until the jostling of a door broke him out of his thoughts.

"Bianca?" The girl jumped.

"O-oh hey. Um, you're actually home?" She asked.

"Maba suggested I should rest after what happened. How are you holding up?" She leaned on her right leg and folded her arms as she looked at him.

"I'm fine. Putting a pillow over my ears helped. At least there is someone you'll listen to when it comes to your health." She started walking, headed past him.

"Where are you going?" He raised an eyebrow.

"A party."

"On a Wednesday?"

"Yeah"

"It's almost 9pm?"

"And?" She turned towards him. "What's your point?"

"Your brother is in bed."

"Well I'm not my brother." Kid groaned a bit. Having teenagers for weapon partners was annoying now that he wasn't much of a teenager at heart.

"Okay. I get it. Just be safe." He didn't want to spend time fighting with her. If she was going to do these things, then she can make her own mistakes and hopefully learn from them. The girl resumed walking away as Kid also made his way to his room.

He closed the door behind him.


It's always the same…

I deserve this…

What was my crime again…


It had been nearly a week since the screams. As suspected, any messaging device he owned was blowing up with calls from various media. Th furthest one from somewhere in Asia. He didn't have many answers for them, but he learned a bit in that time.

The event was worldwide.

It has caused worldwide panic and disruptions with some tech.

Maba's witches reported that at the time of the screams, high levels of some wave radiated off the moon. It wasn't madness as neither them nor other creatures were affected by it. Kid was worried the black blood holding the moon was breaking. Maba was doubtful, yet on guard to the possibility.

"I don't want to evacuate the students, but I need to make sure they'll be ready to handle if an emergency did surface." He shut a book loudly.

"I understand your concern." Maba echoed the sentiments. Kid rubbed his temple, there had rarely been a situation that required students to leave, but if the Kishin were to break loose…

He couldn't risk it.

The silence in the room filled the room like a double-edged sword.

Maba looked at Kid.

He didn't look back.

The pen was off by mere decimeters. The pressure on his temple increased.

"Kid."

A paper had one crease on the right side but not the left. Nails dug into skin.

"Kid."

The ticking of the clock on the wall was still off beat from the one on his desk. He bit his lip.

"Kid!"

He jumped and looked up at the source of the voice.

"Take a minute to breath. We haven't… even…" Her voice trailed off as she seemed to look past him.

'Maba-sama?" He questioned.

"Maba- sama, what's wrong?" He firmly asked. With no response, he followed her gaze and turned to see what she caught her attention.

The moon was present in the sky. The dots of black blood spurting out, as if it were wounded.

Kid's blood ran cold.

It didn't hold.

The duo watched terrified as the glob of black shot out of the giant floating orb, soaring through the sky towards the ground.

Panic ran through both entities.