Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater. It is owned by Atsushi Okubo.

Chapter 1: Not to be Disturbed

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting,

dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

~ Edgar Allan Poe

The sun crept over the horizon with disturbing ease, as though it were a sly alley cat fixated on the unsuspecting mouse that was Death City. It bared its teeth in the usual sneer, prodding every individual awake with a piercing light that intruded upon otherwise pleasant dreams. When it began to laugh, residents of the city rose from their beds and set to work preparing for their day just as they'd done the one before and just as they'd do the days after. The sun instigated their monotonous lives and would continue to do so, forever replacing the moon cowering elsewhere in its blissful darkness.

Elizabeth Thompson, although a rebellious soul and irked by the sun's invading light, was no exception to this daily routine. Like any other weekday, she rolled out of bed, reluctant to leave the warmth her duvet provided while stretching for a fleece robe that had been discarded on the floor. She shrugged into the fuzzy material and shoved her toes into one of her deep purple slippers. She'd lost its partner the night before, and even though it meant one of Kid's hissy fits, the demon pistol was too tired to right the asymmetrical wrong.

Luckily, the wooden floor was warm against her bare foot as Liz exited her room and strode down the hall. She came to a stop at the closed door with a few pictures fastened to the wood, gently knocking and calling for her sister. She received the same chipper reply given any other morning and left Patty's room, walking past framed portraits and mirrors and descending down the main staircase.

I hope Kid made some coffee or something. Liz thought as she stifled a tedious yawn. Caffeinated pancakes, toast, anything. Hell, I just might put coffee in my cereal.

As the young woman passed through the living room, she frowned at the candles situated on the coffee table and above the fireplace. Each one had been extinguished by the three of them before they'd gone to bed. Normally Kid lit them in the morning before she ever awoke, but the wicks were bare.

Liz shrugged, deciding her meister was probably just as tired as herself and strode through the dining room, stretching her arms over her head.

"Kid, I don't smell coffee, and you know how much I need—" Liz faltered as she shouldered open the kitchen door. The granite countertop was without a coffee pot and plates of breakfast. The stovetop was as spotless as the night prior after they'd finished dinner, and there was no sign of anyone having entered the room that morning.

Liz exhaled and pinched the bridge of her nose, forcing down a wave of irritation. Didn't Kid say he would take care of breakfast? She clearly remembered a conversation at the dinner table consisting of Kid's promises to make Patty french toast. She remembered her own childish excitement at the thought of fried bread with butter and syrup drizzling down the crispy sides, but this anticipation hadn't been displayed for her meister or sister to see.

"Whatever," Liz muttered, reaching into the cupboard to remove the ancient coffee pot that continued to surprise her with every successful performance. "But when that brat gets his butt down here, I'm serving him burnt toast."

The demon pistol smiled at the thought of her meister's appalled face upon seeing such a wretched breakfast, but there was nothing malicious behind it. Even calling him 'brat', a term that had once been spat with absolute disgust, was now a label of affection for her OCD friend.

"What'cha smiling at, Big Sis?"

Liz turned in bewilderment as Patty skipped into the kitchen with a wide grin on her face. It was odd that Patty had finished getting ready for school before Kid, yet here she was, throwing open the refrigerator door with an over-dramatic flair as though dancing the tango.

"I was going to burn Kid's breakfast," Liz responded, watching Patty balance a carton of eggs on her head while tiptoeing over to the stove. "Did you see him when you came down? He's getting ready, right?"

"I didn't see anything." Patty's voice dropped into a haunting whisper, and she giggled at her older sister's troubled expression. "Kiddo probably wanted to sleep in, Big Sis. He was up late reading all those big books."

Liz nodded in agreement, glancing at the grandfather clock nestled perfectly against the far wall. She would give their meister another ten minutes before allowing Patty to wake the sleeping reaper. A cruel fate, she decided, almost sympathetic, but it would be Kid's own fault.

The two sisters set to work on breakfast, cracking eggs into the warm frying pan and sending bread in and out of the toaster. A pleasant aroma soon filled the kitchen, one that Liz was sure would wake the lazy shinigami residing upstairs. However, after letting twelve minutes go by, Liz gave a sigh of defeat and waved a hand at Patty.

"I can wake him up?" Patty inquired, eyes widening in excitement. "Can I pour ice on him?"

Liz shook her head. "No, don't do anything horrible, okay? Also, you remember that one time you woke me up last month with the nail polish and egg beater? Don't try anything like that, either."

"Aye aye, Big Sis!"

Liz smiled in exasperation as her younger sister darted out of the kitchen, singing merrily while running to fetch their meister. While she waited for the two of them to return, the young woman dished some eggs onto a few slabs of bread, all of which were toasted to crispy perfection. Late as he was, Liz had decided to not turn her meister's food into an abomination. After all, if the grim reaper dedicated so much time to studying and occasionally needed the extra sleep, Liz couldn't show disapproval. Their meister had an overwhelming amount of responsibility, after all.

Liz stepped into the dining room with three plates balanced in her arms, hesitating in sliding one across the table as her expression shifted into a dismal mask. Kid was being suffocated by his duties now more than ever. Ever since Asura's revival and escape from beneath the DWMA, everyone had grown increasingly serious. Numerous students were departing on missions, and the Academy's teachers slipped more talk of the effects of madness into their daily lectures. Hell, even that jokester Black Star had amped up his training routine. Whenever she saw the boy, Liz could swear he was constantly mopping layers of sweat from his tired body.

This entire mess with Asura will get worked out soon. Liz thought, giving a firm nod as though to convince herself. When it does, we'll throw one hell of a party. After that, Kid can get all the sleep he wants. I wouldn't mind a lazy day either, or a week for that matter.

"Big Sis?"

Liz jumped, jostling a plate of food against the tabletop with an obnoxious clatter before turning to the dining room door with a relieved smile. "Patty, you scared—" When she saw the look on her little sister's face, the sentence fell apart and Liz's soul grew cold.

"Patty, what's wrong?" she demanded, setting down the last plate and approaching her sister. "Is Kid all right?"

Patty stared back at Liz, face paler than the older sister had seen in a long while. The last time she'd looked so sick was when they'd been on their own, living in some dump in Brooklyn. Liz could still remember her sister's colorless, sweaty skin and frightened eyes as the fever clung on with its devastating touch. Patty had looked so scared, just as she did now.

"Patty," Liz repeated, placing both hands on her sister's shoulders and urging her to focus. "What's going on?"

"Kid isn't waking up." The words were relayed in a dead voice, stripped bare of emotion. "Big Sis, I couldn't get him to wake up."

"What?" Liz's initial reaction was to laugh, to scold her sister for messing around, but Patty's face told the unsettling truth. She wasn't joking.

Quickly, Liz passed her sister and started off across the living room floor, her single bare foot slapping against the cool tiling. She could hear Patty hurrying after her, taking the steps two at a time to keep up with the older weapon.

"Was he sleeping too soundly?" Liz demanded, willing the trembling to leave her voice. "I'll bet he's just really tired, that's all."

"I poked and poked at him, Big Sis," Patty responded, watching Liz approach the door to their meister's room, pushing it aside. "His eyes wouldn't open."

Liz gazed into Kid's room, squinting against the sunlight that slipped through the heavy curtains. They'd been partially drawn back, casting a beam of light across the bed lying near the center of the room and the figure sleeping beneath the covers. The rest of the room was tidy, undisturbed the entire morning. Kid's slippers remained near the foot of the bed, and the books he'd been studying the night before had been returned to their shelf. The shinigami gave no indication of having gotten up after falling asleep.

Liz strode over to her meister's bed, reaching out a hand to gently shake the sleeping reaper. Kid was lying on his back and looked quite peaceful, but Liz's careful jostling did nothing to wake him. Even as her tone grew more urgent and she began patting the sides of his head in hopes of rousing him, the shinigami's eyes wouldn't open.

"Kid, we're going to turn the manor into an asymmetrical fiasco!" Patty threatened, rocking her meister's feet back and forth beneath the blankets. "You better get up and stop us!"

The two sisters waited with nervous smiles, hearts fluttering over uneasy stomachs. The taunting had no effect, and although Liz could see the steady movement of her meister's chest from breathing, she checked for a pulse anyway. In both his wrist and just below his jaw, there came the rhythmic dance of blood, but it did little to ease the older sister's anxiety.

Swallowing down an uncomfortable lump in her throat, Liz shook the reaper again. She called his name and clapped her hands inches from his face, but each attempt to wake him ended in failure. It seemed he was in a deep state of unconscious and completely unaware of the waking world.

"Maybe he's sick," Patty offered. "You remember our first day of school when he passed out and had to go home early? He didn't wake up until after dinner that night."

"Patty, I don't think that's the case," Liz responded in a weak voice. She cleared her throat and pulled herself upright, praying her terror wasn't blatantly plastered on her face. "I'm going to call Lord Death. Perhaps he can tell us what is going on, or maybe Stein can help in some way."

"He's going to be okay, Big Sis."

Liz stopped in turning to leave the room, unable to determine if her younger sister's words were meant to be a question or spoken reassuringly. Regardless, she mustered a strong smile and nodded in reply.

"He's the son of Lord Death and meister of the Demons of Brooklyn," she stated, albeit with a little more confidence than she truly felt. "He has to be okay."

-/-\-|-/-\-

Black.

The world was painted in a thick, gooey coat of it. The sky was an endless void, and the walls extended every which way into the darkness. There wasn't any sound either, not even the breathing of the individual witnessing the preposterous nothingness.

Kid turned to his left, narrowing his eyes in bewilderment at the world where he floated. He couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet, and when he reached out, his eyes failed to glimpse his hand or fingers. It was as though he'd gone blind, a concept that incited a brief panic before something flickered in the distance. It was a pinprick of light, a single flame that grew, obliterating the suffocating darkness and enveloping Kid in a comforting warmth.

He opened his eyes.

The shinigami blinked against the sunlight and raised his arms to cover his face, groaning in irritation. He enjoyed the sun's pristine schedule, the way it would sneak through his curtains and wake him, but he didn't much approve this morning.

The shinigami pulled himself onto one elbow, accidentally disturbing a few textbooks lying open next to his pillow. He frowned at them before remembering his studies from the previous night.

I can't believe I fell asleep reading them. Kid thought, almost shaking his head in disbelief before slipping out of bed. His feet hit the soft carpet and he made his way over to the dresser of black mahogany for his regular attire. After fastening each button on his pristine, white shirt and picking a stray thread from his pants, he turned to depart from his room.

Kid almost took a step back in alarm at the unannounced figure standing in the hallway before remembering the door to his room was still closed. The child reaper staring back at him was only his reflection in the mirror that had been hung on the wooden slab. Kid released a nervous laugh, crossing short arms over his chest and regarding the mirrored image with a considerate gaze. Something seemed off, yet the young child couldn't fathom what.

Kid squinted and took a few steps closer, inspecting the short individual glaring back. His eyes were the same as ever: gold and serious, positioned symmetrically on a round face with black hair combed to perfect—

The shinigami smiled victoriously upon realizing the flaw in his appearance. He hadn't yet tended to his hair, and there was a rogue strand escaping the orderly ranks.

Sighing in exasperation, Kid went to retrieve the brush his father had given him a few months back after the young reaper had thrown a fit about the cursed lines in his hair. How childish he was, forgetting a chore as simple as perfecting his hair.

After returning to the mirror and setting to work on the rebellious section of his bangs, Kid couldn't help but succumb to a brief smirk.

Well, he supposed he was still a child.

-/-\-|-/-\-

A/N: Confused? Ah, but that's the fun part of this journey...

This story is an old idea that has been started three times. I'd just begun thinking about it again and suddenly came up with a large piece of story that could be added to the original, smaller idea. As of right now, I am very excited to continue this and see where it leads, and I hope you all are, too. Please review and pay me a visit when chapter two comes around and you will have a few answers to some questions. Thank you.