It was hard to move. Not like that was a problem. I felt so at peace, so calm, so unaware of what had even happened to me. It's not like that was a bad thing. Surely I had enough struggles up to that point in my life to deserve some peace of mind and body.

And suddenly I was being shook. What was trying to disturb my peace of mind? The wound didn't hurt. It really didn't. It felt numb, almost while I was in this calm state of mind. It wasn't until I heard the voice of Liz and Patty, that at first came like muffled speech, break into my ears. They were yelling, screaming, pretty much crying. Why were they like that?

And then I opened my eyes, my burning eyes. It was like a slap in the face, how quickly I remembered what happened. I was sent on a mission to fight a very dangerous enemy. My father was sure I could handle it, but he had underestimated the enemy's power. I was in the middle of fighting said enemy out in the Smokies, that being where the enemy was hiding out, when the witch shot out a massive blast of... I'm not quite sure. It was too fast for me to dodge, and instead of trying to use Liz and Patty as a she for they were in their weapon form, I threw them to the side out of habit. Being a Shinigami, a blast of this proportion could have easily killed me, none the less my weapons even if they were in their weapon form. The blast had easily left my organs exposed, spread some of my intestines out of my body and left me nearly unconscious, bleeding furiously. I think the only reason I had not yet died was because my body managed to stop be bleeding, which had left the ground and my hands soaked.

I didn't feel the pain until I became aware of the situation. Up until then I felt fine. Liz and Patty were both in tears. The ground around me was red with my blood, as were my hands. I could finally feel the pain of my wounds, scratches, gashes, open wounds that would have killed a human in minutes. "Kid, please don't fall asleep." Liz sobbed, holding my hand. I re-positioned myself from laying on my side to laying on my back. That hurt. Liz and Patty instantly noticed I was fully awake, Patty dialing up Lord Death on the special mirror phone we were given for this mission.

"How are you feeling, Kid?" Liz asked. I tried sitting up but she pushed me back down onto my back. "don't get up, Kid. You're in no condition to." she warned.

I wasn't sure how to reply. I knew what happened; I wasn't delirious. I knew why I was being held down; I wasn't an idiot. I was about to ask where the enemy had gone but I could hardly speak, instead my breathing became rather difficult and I coughed up blood.

"Oh my God." Liz began crying more, hugging my chest which was slightly charred from the blast. I could tell a few of my ribs were broken. "Please don't leave us, Kid. Please! Family doesn't leave family behind. We're here for you. Just hold on, and when help arrives, keep holding on."

Patty crawled over to us, the phone put away. She had contacted them. Help was on the way. She too, in tears, hugged me, her face ending up closer to mine than Liz's, who had her's planted against my upper chest. They were trying not to be rough with me. I could tell by the way they avoided touching my wound as much as possible, though it did take up a good chunk of my body. "Kid..." Patty brushed my bangs away from my face. Liz and her looked up at me. I have no doubt my fear of death was starting to show through, the irony that is was. I thought I was ready when I was practically asleep, but hearing Liz refer to us as family made me think very much otherwise.

When I was younger, I was very lonely. My father, though he gave me anything I asked, did not give me company in my own home. I had to visit him, and even then it wasn't the kind of company I had wanted. Honestly, as mature as I was when I was puny, I wanted him to visit places with me, go get ice cream with me, cuddle me, watch a movie with me, talk to me, play with me, and just do all kinds of father son activities which we never did. Sure I'd hug him when I visited him in the Death Room. Sure he taught me how to be a Shinigami. What he didn't give me I knew I needed, but because I didn't want to bother him, I rarely asked after the first couple times failing. Seeing kids go to school every day made me long for friendship, but when I did try going to public school, I was bullied and kids were afraid of me. I didn't like it anymore so I ended up getting privately schooled in my own, large, vast and empty mansion. Home is where family's at, goes a certain saying which I couldn't for the longest time relate to. My home wasn't the Death Room, not was it my mansion. I was, you could say, though spoiled with toys and etc. etc., in a sense, not trying to be hurtful to anyone, homeless.

That didn't change until I met Liz and Patty. After a long time of warming up to each other, the atmosphere of Gallows Manor changed greatly. For once I didn't feel so alone, though I lacked the companionship of my father. I felt like something had been filled, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it of what it was.

It wasn't until the moment, me laying nearly dead on the ground with my weapons hugging me, that Liz called us family, that I could put my finger on it. Even if we were not biologically related, we were as close as any sibling, any friend, and I realized that's what I was missing with my father; family that was actually there.

Liz looked me dead in the eyes, her own eyes red with tears. "I love you, Kid. We love you." Patty nodded to this. "You're our family and we won't leave you behind, but you just can't leave us. We need you. We need you so much and if you die now, I don't know how we'll make it. I don't know anymore."

I wanted to say, "I love you, too." but that would have been too harsh on my ailing throat. So instead I took as deep of a breath I could, though my breathing had grown quite fast and shallow, and I waited for help. It had become my mission to live. Not just to live for my weapons. Not just to live for my friends.

I would live for my family. I would live for them, because they would live for me. Family for once had true definition to me. I wasn't going to let that go.