Disclaimer: Last time I checked, my name isn't Atsushi Ohkubo.
Beta by Lialane Graest, but any mistake you might find in this story is mine to blame.
/
Ash and rubble. Even the most dangerous assassin clan was no match for DWMA's elite team. Within two days of the siege, the name Star is history, or so they thought. It was a shame. Members of the clan has always been talented meisters and weapons. They were capable of making themselves great assets to Lord Death, if only they had stayed in the right path. Young Sid looks around his surroundings with a mixture of awe and disappointment.
Extermination. The word weighs down so heavily on him. It's for the best. The clan had become increasingly dangerous threat to the society, and White*Star, the leader, was on his way to becoming a Kishin. That being said, Sid knows he shouldn't be so soft. He works for Lord Death. Compassion has no place in this mission.
It's an eerily quiet night; even the sky is devoid of light as if joining them in the mourning. He feels his heart stops when he hears a creaking sound amidst the ruins. Another enemy? His Soul Perception catches the sign of another soul nearby, small and flickering. He runs toward the source of the sound, but nothing in the world could prepare him for his discovery.
Laying there is a blue-haired baby, probably not older than one. His eyes are wide, his pupils the shapes of stars. Upon seeing Sid's face, he lets out a piercing cry.
/
"I'm sorry to give you work on such an important day, Spirit. By the way, where's Stein?"
Lord Death welcomes them -Sid and Spirit- jovially. Spirit bows down and Sid follows his senior rather awkwardly. Sid had just made it into the elites and it was his first big mission. In some way or another, that day is really life-changing.
"No problem, Lord Death. Stein, he uhh, wanted to stay there for a research." Spirit shudders, trying not to imagine what kind of research his partner is conducting."He told me he'll be back by tomorrow."
While Sid is trying to focus his mind, the conversation continues. Spirit reports the success of their mission, the conditions of the team, and the number of casualties. Sid chimes in just to add some details Spirit missed.
As they finish, Lord Death claps his hand in satisfaction. He turns to Spirit, smiling widely.
"Alright. Now that business is aside, how's your wife and child's condition, Spirit?"
"She's fine. The child's healthy. A girl. I'm sure she'll be as pretty as her Mama!"
Sid watches as Spirit's serious manner gradually makes way to an ecstatic father. He had heard Spirit's wife went into labor just as they arrived at the Star clan's hideout.
"I'm glad to hear that. Now we've everything taken care of so I can give you a month of vacation. How's that sound?"
"You're the best, Lord Death!"
Lord Death lets Spirit rambles about his newborn for a while before calling Sid's name. The man, surprised that he's being called, is jolted from his thoughts. How embarrassing, spacing out in front of Lord Death...
"And what about you, Sid? That was your first mission in Special Ops, right?"
He tries to mask his surprise, taking a deep breath and straightening his posture so he looks more like a dignified fighter appropriate to his rank.
"I learnt so many things on this mission, Lord Death. It was invaluable."
"Good. Now, stop being so tense. Maybe you can accompany Spirit to the hospital to see his baby?"
Ah, speaking of babies... there was one in his quarters right now. That sounds really wrong. Sid lets out a sigh.
"Is there something you want to say, Sid?"
"We-well- I found a baby in the ruins. He has this silver necklace on him. The name engraved is 'Black*Star'. I believe- he's White*Star's son."
Something nags him. That child wasn't supposed to be there. White*Star led only the men to the fight. Why was he there?
Meanwhile the room's temperature seems to have dropped a few degrees following Sid's statement. Spirit's face is a shocked shell of his earlier grin while Lord Death is eerily silent.
"Don't tell me... did you bring him home, Sid?" asks Spirit.
Sid nods. They couldn't just leave that child to die in that charred battleground, could they? Stein told him to either kill or abandon the baby. Both were not options he'd pick.
Lord Death clears his throat. "My, my. This is unexpected."
Sid does what he thinks is right at the moment. He kneels down, begging to the Grim Reaper, "Please leave him to me. He's just a child. If we raise him here in the DWMA, I think he'll not take the same path as his father. Give him a chance. He's just a child. Besides, he can be a good asset in the future, My Lord."
Him, raising a child? It's almost laughable. Besides, what does he expect to accomplish by doing that? Is he feeling responsible because he helped killed the father? Thoughts whirl in his mind and he can only find one logical reason. He can't let the kid die because that's the kind of man he is.
Lord Death watches over him, trying to calm him.
"I never told you to not keep the child. He can live here. DWMA has enough resources for one child. Do you think you're up to the job? You can always put him up for adoption."
"I think I can handle him."
/
Black*Star remembers red. There's not much he can remember from his earlier life, but fire and smoke are so vivid he can almost see it everywhere he goes. Fire dancing around him, crimson color so dazzling and deadly.
He wouldn't be caught dead admitting it, but the first feeling he remembers is fear.
People are afraid of him. They say they're too busy to play with him, but he's sure they're afraid. Why adults are afraid of a four-years-old is mind-boggling, but he hates the way they see him like a pesky insect.
The only one who treats him normally is Sid. He is harsh, stoic, and reprimanding, but he listens whenever Black*Star tells him that he will be the greatest man alive, the strongest and the best. He gives him candy every now and then, along with tips to balance his fighting stance.
If they think he's not good enough, he'll prove he can be the better than anyone else.
Adults are strange indeed. That day Black*Star meets another one, one that Sid calls 'senior' whatever that means. That man has red hair, a color he hates. He comes with an ashy blonde haired child asleep in his embrace. It's funny, Black*Star thinks. No one ever held him like that.
"So this is the child, huh? Got a delinquent streak on his face even at this age," that man comments, kneeling down so his eyes now level to Black*Star's.
Black*Star doesn't understand what he's talking about, and he doesn't care. That man's position gives him easier access to that sleeping child's hair. He tugs the blonde locks curiously, trying to compare it with his short blue hair.
That man shoves him away forcefully.
"What you're doing to my precious Maka, kid? Don't touch her!"
He makes a funny face. Black*Star thinks it's annoying. He doesn't like the man's rising voice. Not at all. He's loud. The way that man narrows his eyes reminds him so much of those adults who give him dirty looks, so he does what he thinks is right.
He gives the man a well-aimed punch in the face.
/
"That kid drives me crazy!" Spirit complains.
Sid nods. "He's quite a handful at times, but he's actually a good kid, you know."
Spirit doesn't like the fact that the kid actually gets along with Maka.
"And what's with that 'I'm gonna be the best' complex?"
Sid rubs his chin. "Boys his age need goal, maybe? But seriously, I think it's because he wants attention. Half of the staff is scared witless of him and we don't have enough kids around his age here."
"The DWMA isn't a preschool, Sid." Spirit snorts. He wouldn't let Maka follow him to his workplace if there were more kids like Black*Star around.
Their conversation is interrupted for a while when they hear something from the nursery. When Sid checks on them, Black*Star is pinching Maka's cheek while she is busy twisting his hand. Their random kicking and punching is sending the toys around them across the room. Spirit rushes past Sid in record time. Sid follows closely as Spirit yanks Black*Star away from Maka, both children still fighting.
Trying to stop Spirit from strangling his 'student', Sid pries Maka's hand off Black*Star and grabs his collar. Maka winces when Sid lands a not-so-gentle pat on his back.
"What did I say? No roughhousing with girls, boy."
Black*Star strokes his back where Sid has hit him, eyes trying to bargain.
"But she said her Papa is stronger than me!"
"No excuse. Extra training after dinner."
/
"You can't go around and break people's windowpanes as you wish!"
"The kids started it first. They called me names and told me I was unwanted!"
"You have us. You should learn to manage your anger, kid."
"But..."
"I'll give you your punishment later. Go to your room."
After Black*Star is gone and his rants about how the whole thing is unfair can't be heard anymore, Spirit who saw the whole scene sighs. He leans against a nearby pillar, lighting his cigarette.
"Actually Sid, I think you're too hard on him. He's right. I've heard those kids before."
"I have my own way to deal with him, senior."
Spirit carefully chooses his next question, trying to make it sounds less offensive.
"Are you being hard on him because he's not your child?"
He doesn't know what he will do if he have a son, but he will never treat Maka like that. Sure, he admits, he spoils Maka a lot, but...
Unexpectedly Sid simply shakes his head. "No. It's just...he's going to hear that a lot in the future. If he can't ignore such insults, he's not going to make it far. He must learn to live with the fact that he's a Star, and deal with it. I don't spoil my students. That's the kind of man I am."
"Tough love, huh?"
/
"Girls are weak! They cry too easily!"
"I'm not! I'll be a great meister like Mama!"
"I'm gonna be the best! Your Mama will be nothing compared to me!
"Don't insult my Mama!"
Before he's aware what's going on, he finds a little knuckle digging into his cheek. That little girl has just punched him. He looks up to see her determined green eyes.
He grins. "You've got some courage, girl."
This little girl isn't half-bad.
/
Black*Star barges into Sid's room, eager to show him the cool new move he learnt early that day. The room is empty, papers drifting to the floor as if mocking him. He feels disappointment running in his spine. Nygus and that stupid Red Hair aren't there either.
"You're looking for Sid? Everyone's meeting Lord Death right now."
A young man appears behind Black*Star. He enters the room, putting his reports on the table and moves to tidy the scattering papers before facing the kid again.
"Who's Lord Death?" Back*Star demands.
"Well, he's the God. The Grim Reaper."
So everyone's leaving him because of this 'God'? He clenches his fist. He would be someone who surpasses God.
/
"If you can't manage your anger, you will not be able to protect the people you love."
Sid is getting used to this. He would visit Black*Star after works to hear about the latest pranks he plays, the latest problem he creates, the latest fight he got into. Then he would yell at the kid, scolding him, giving him advice and punishments before going out to clean the mess.
"I don't have anyone."
He's being difficult. Sid knows Black*Star hit a boy yesterday for taking Maka's storybook. He knows Black*Star took his side when someone badmouthed him. He's so overly protective of his friends that Sid wonders, perhaps it'd be the only way for him to grow. He certainly doesn't listen to anybody but those he respects.
"Maybe you think so right now, but one day..."
"Yeah, old man. You and your one day."
/
When Tsubaki sits there soulless, venturing into the depths of Masamune's world, for the first time Black*Star realizes the truth of Sid's words.
So the loud kids are surrounding him, insulting him? Who cares? He'll be there for Tsubaki until she wakes up. He'll be the first to congratulate her for winning against her brother. So what if they're throwing rocks at him, hitting him with pathetic wood splinters?
He can sit there all day for his weapon, to protect her.
"Wake up soon, Tsubaki. I know you will."
/
When Black*Star is officially enrolled to DWMA, Sid knows his role is over. Black*Star moves into the dorm and probably his own apartment in the future. He's still an arrogant and selfish kid, but Sid knows he'll mature. He has finished his responsibility and from then on, Black*Star chooses his own way. Which way he would choose is still a mystery, but Sid thinks he'll going for the path of light –becoming the brightest star in existence. He has Tsubaki, Maka, and Soul. When Black*Star meets him again it will be as teacher and student, as equal adults.
For a split-second he wonders if this was how Spirit felt letting his only child out into the real world.
/
A/N: Sorry if Sid sounds so OOC, folks, but I really like the notion of Sid and his tough love. I want the manga to flesh out these two's interactions because after all, Sid was the one who raised Black*Star. I was actually writing another story when this story hit me in the head and refused to leave me alone. Oh, and finding the right title was pure torture.