Edit 12/27/17: Hey everyone! Welcome to my fanfic! You can expect me taking breaks from time to time but I always come back at some point, but I hope you like it enough to try and stick with me! ;)
**IMPORTANT**: This fanfiction is mostly based on the manga (antagonist wise, at least), so if you were not introduced to Noah or Gopher you may be little confused in this chapter, but I try my best to explain some of the backstory.)
That's all! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.
Manuals, manuals, and more manuals. I sighed and ran a hand across my forehead, wiping any sweat beading my hair line.
"Who told you to stop?" Justin Law glanced my way and I glared at him.
"Can't I get a breather?" I grumbled. All he did was toss them on the floor while I ran around organizing a bunch of meaningless books.
"No," he smirked. "You need to hurry up. You're supposed to be finished with this busy-work by sundown."
"I would be done already if you would help me. He did send you to do this, too."
"No, he sent me to watch you. I'm not the one who tried escaping."
I rolled my eyes, biting my tongue to keep from saying something unnecessary. He wasn't wrong.
Suddenly, I heard a struggle out in the hall. I turned my head to the open door, only to see a boy shoved to the ground.
"Get up."
Coming here was bad news, but coming here with Gopher was pretty much pouring salt on a wound. The boy breathed heavily as he tried getting onto his feet. He was already severely beaten, which is to be expected if one traveled with Gopher. He must've felt my gaze as well as Justin's, and when he turned to us I saw two piercing golden eyes. It was the three white lines on the left side of his head that confirmed he was Death The Kid - the boy Noah and Justin and the other men were talking about maybe a month or so before.
He only glanced in my direction before his full attention went onto Justin. A look of shock I didn't understand flashed across his face, but when I looked to Justin for clarification, he was blank.
Gopher came forward then, picking Death The Kid up from his arm and tossing him forward. Gopher stopped at the door.
"Noah is going to want you two in the collection room."
Inside the collection room, Death The Kid was hanging from his wrists in front of a stained glass window. Giriko was on the other side of the room.
"Well, hello DWMA's Death The Kid." Noah's voice echoed off the items in the collection room. There were hundreds of them, but the room was large enough to make it look empty.
"What the hell do you want with me?" Death The Kid rasped with exhaustion. Gopher raced over and punched Kid in the stomach. A pained gasp came from him and I had to keep myself from looking away.
"Shouldn't you already be used to this kind of stuff?" Justin Law whispered after noticing my discomfort. He seemed amused.
"You disgust me." I said.
He chuckled, and I thought that we be the end of that until he dug his heel into my foot. My hand flew to my mouth to keep from crying out.
"Who the hell do you think you are, talking to Master Noah like that?" Gopher snarled at Death The Kid so loudly that even if I did make a noise it wouldn't have mattered. He was trying to intimidate, but those eyes showed no fear - just anger. That seemed to tick Gopher off even more, but before he could continue, Noah interjected.
"Gopher, calm down."
"But Master, he should know his place-"
"Who exactly told you to punch him? You very well know you're damaging a piece of my collection, more than you have done already. Maybe it is you who should know their place." Noah's stern tone called for no rebuttal.
"… Yes Master Noah. I deeply apologize." Gopher grumbled and went back to where he was.
Noah turned to our guest, "I am the collector of everything. As a piece of the grim reaper himself, you are now part of my collection."
It was very hard to explain, even more so to understand, but the way I see it is that Noah wants to become some sort of god. He believes that if he collects everything of value and rarity, he will essentially become "everything". My parents were sheep; easily manipulated by this wannabe god's ambitions. It eventually got them killed.
I took the liberty of zoning Noah out. He gave a speech that pretty much consisted of him talking about himself and how great he was. The only reason why I was asked here was probably so he could brag; he was probably looking for someone like him for a very long time. I wasn't surprised that he didn't include me in the capture - I've gone below the list of useful missions ever since my partner died. Considering that, and my escape attempt, I'm surprised he hasn't killed me off yet.
It was Noah who spoke now, "Gopher, how're those plans coming along?"
Death The Kid's gaze snapped to Noah, "What plans?"
I looked from the battered boy to Noah.
Death The Kid's utter exhaustion exploded into a burst of anger, "If you so as lay a finger on Maka you'll regret it - I promise you!"
"You must get lonely here by yourself. Perhaps the stiff corpses of your friends will change that." Gopher said, amused by his reaction.
"You bastards..." he growled, his head hanging.
With Noah's approval, we were allowed to leave. After Noah left next went Gopher and Giriko, but as Justin began walking I stood for a few moments, watching the boy hang there hopelessly.
His voice was low, but steady, "Justin."
Justin turned to Death The Kid, "Get out, Kuro. Seems Kid would like to speak to me."
I glanced between the two before walking out the door. The hallway was empty, and once the door closed I set my ear on the surface to try and hear what was going on.
"How could you?" the voice was faint, but the echo of the room helped.
"How could I... what?" Justin asked, obviously playing dumb.
"You betrayed us. Why?"
"Let's just say I got tired of being a goody-goody." Justin was on DWMA's side before? I had no idea that was the case. They really don't tell me a lot here.
I decided it was time to leave before getting caught and went for the library to continue what I was doing earlier. Justin came back shortly after, none the wiser. It really hadn't occurred to me until now how little I knew about the people I lived with, even after so long. My parents really left me in a shitty situation - albeit I doubt they thought much about me when they made the decision to come here in the first place.
"Hello? Kuro?"
I hadn't realized I was zoning out until I heard Justin's voice pierce the silence in the room. I glanced at him unfazed and continued putting everything away until eventually there was nothing left. My back ached and my nose was stuffy from the dust by the time I was done, and Justin finally let me go.
I nodded to the guard outside my room and went inside, closing it shut behind me. Usually my room and what little was in it was organized, but by its disheveled appearance I knew that someone did a search. What clothes I had were strewn on the floor, and the bed was tossed over revealing the rusted metal frame. Most likely they were making sure I didn't have some type of plan to escape again. That wasn't going to stop me. I'd rather die by trying to escape than die by Noah's order, so after a month since my last attempt, I'm trying again tonight. It was a little soon to be trying again, so it would be hard, but what do I have to lose?
It was around three in the morning, and I was pretending to be asleep until I heard the guard's soft snoring from outside. By the dark circles I saw under his eyes earlier, I could tell that he didn't sleep much, if at all. I had planned everything but this; it was the one thing I was waiting for. I climbed out of bed to sneak out into the hallway, and gave a silent "thank you" to the guard for falling asleep on the job.
My plan was to stay in the shadows and get passed the guards without issue, which was easy enough, but as I got closer and closer to the collection room I could feel myself slowing down.
No. I thought, forcing myself to walk past the door, only to stop just shy of the next hallway. Keep going...
There was already a slim chance I'd get out of here, I couldn't make that chance any slimmer. He would just slow me down, right?
Right?
Someone would come for him - like this Maka person. He has to have people who care about him; his dad was Lord Death for goodness sake... but how long would that be? Wouldn't I be just as cruel as they are if I were to leave him to be tortured until then?
With that thought, I opened the lock with a lock pick I stole from a past mission, and made sure the door closed quietly behind me. I'm not like them.
After taking a breath to compose myself, I turned my back to the door, "I need you to cooperate with me."
"And why would I do that?" he responded, just below a whisper. I didn't really understand his reaction. I was expecting hostility, but his voice was reserved. He raised his head, and whatever hostility wasn't in his voice was in his demeanor.
Feeling ashamed of my complicity, I avoided his gaze, "I'm trying to escape, and I'm taking you with me."
"What?"
Instead of repeating myself, I went to him and played with the pick in the lock for a few moments before they clicked open. He stumbled a bit but landed on his feet. "I don't have time to explain any further. I don't guarantee your safety nor do I guarantee us getting out, but if you want a chance... then come with me."
He eyed me warily, weighing his options. It took a few moments, but he gave me a nod, and with that I turned to approach the exit.
"Weren't you the girl who was with Justin?"
"Yes," I whispered, peeking into the hall before opening the door, "It's complicated. I'll explain once we're out of here." I was a foot out when something snagged my hair.
"I thought I heard voices." My heart sank as Giriko pulled me closer. "Want to explain how you got in there, missy?"
I didn't see anybody when I looked out - so how? Before I could start panicking, Death The Kid punched the back of his head. Giriko staggered and let me go, and before I could even recover, Death The Kid grabbed my arm and got me running behind him. Our steps were echoing loudly through the building, and I knew we wouldn't have much time before Giriko notified everybody - including Noah.
"Just follow me, there should be a garage not too far from our location. We can use the vehicles to escape." I had a quieter plan in mind, but there was no other choice since we've already alerted everyone. At this point I was a bit ahead of him. I was so focused on my surroundings that it took me a minute to realize I didn't hear his footsteps anymore.
I skidded to a stop and looked behind me, but he was gone. I heard whimpering beyond the corner I had just turned, and despite what little time we had, I sprinted back to find him. I thought somebody caught him, but there he was just standing there like an idiot.
"What they hell are you doing?" I hurried to him and pulled on his arm.
"This place has no symmetry at all." he muttered.
"Huh?"
"The doors are uneven, the bricks are chipping…"
"We don't have time for this." I couldn't believe it. Giriko probably had hundreds of guards hunting our asses, and he was worried about symmetry.
"The amount of lamps in this hallway are an asymmetrical number! I must fix this or I'm nothing but scum!" he cried.
Of all the times to have a mental breakdown!
"Think of something symmetrical! Think of anything we have to go!" I exclaimed, tugging him, but he wouldn't budge.
I could hear footsteps, and a lot of them, far behind. "Circles! Circles are symmetrical!" I urged, pulling his sleeve. It didn't work; he was still in a daze. He wasn't listening to me. In the panic of not knowing what to do - I slapped him. A regretful blush formed across my face once I realized what I had done. I just slapped the son of Lord Death.
"Did you just slap me?" he blinked, a part of him coming back, and I took that moment to pull him into a run. I heard Justin call for more guards from a hallway or two behind. If we didn't make it out, Death The Kid may be kept alive, but I would definitely be killed.
Turning down a stairwell, we finally burst through the doors to the garage floor, "The keys are already in the ignition. You know how to drive one, right?" I asked, referring to the motorbikes.
"Yes," he said, moving back the kickstand as the bike roared to life.
I hurried to the metal door ahead of us and pushed a button, making it rattle open. My initial idea was to get on a motorcycle of my own, but before I could even get there I could hear them stomping down the stairs.
"Get on!" he yelled over the noise. I climbed on and he sped away, the fresh air hitting me like a truck. I hadn't been outside in ages.
I looked behind me, watching as Justin stood looking as the guards mounted their own bikes. "They have guns," I spoke in his ear, making sure he heard me over the engine.I figured they wouldn't aim for us directly because there was a risk of hurting him, but I guess me covering him would erase some of that risk. I'm sure they were ordered to kill me. I prayed they would miss the tires if that was what they were going to aim for. "I know how to get rid of them, but we need to get deeper into the forest! There's going to be a large rock just beyond these trees, and after the rock is a cave. The entrance is covered by bushes - we can hide there, but we need to jump off the bike before we reach it!"
"Jump off?" he shook his head skeptically.
"Yes! Before we reach the- Ah!" I cried out as a stray bullet grazed me, but gasped as something cold wrapped tightly around my waist. Knowing exactly what it was, I released Kid and was pulled away, slamming into the ground. Landing on my back, the air was knocked out of me, but dread washed over the pain as I was dragged through the dirt back to my prison. Death the Kid looked back for a second - just a second - but the look that flashed across his face said it all. I knew just as well as he did.
It was too late.
End of Chapter I