Prologue
The army of weapons and meisters from the Death Weapon Meister Academy, with Dr. Frankenstein at the head, moved quickly through the alleys. They could sense they were close, and it looked like the Kishin egg was hiding in the five-story mansion he seemed to spend a lot of time at; more than half the time, they found him there.
They hid behind a nearby building, all the people waiting for Stein's signal. After about thirty seconds of watching and waiting he silently gave the order, and the meisters dove out of their hiding spot and began dashing toward the fancy-looking structure where they could sense the Kishin dwelling. They banged the doors open, and as the remaining few staff members who hadn't had their souls eaten hanging nearby turned their heads to see what all the noise was about, their faces lit up in delight. They were overjoyed every time the agents from the DWMA showed up, for they couldn't stand the Kishin egg and lived in fear that any day now they, too, would be gobbled up.
Stein lead the way up the many flights of stairs to the top floor, where he could sense the Kishin egg and three other human souls he remembered encountering before. When they had finally reached the end of the staircases, Stein tried the handle on the huge, golden double doors that awaited them, but when they wouldn't budge he shot his soul wavelength directly into the lock and opened them simultaneously. The army flew through, landing themselves in a room that looked to be a large parlor with fancy furniture and a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
The Kishin egg was standing in the center of the room, about seven feet from the DWMA agents, and a trio of young children huddled against the wall directly across from him and to Stein's left. The tallest one (but not by much), a girl, looked slightly older than the other two, but she couldn't have been older than 8. She had her back to the Kishin egg though her head was turned to look at him, her arms wrapped around both of the slightly younger boy and girl.
The oldest girl shifted her eyes slightly to the right, giving nothing away when she took notice of the people standing in the doorway; however, she looked just the slightest bit relieved. "It'll be alright guys," she hissed soothingly, though her voice was hard like she had to talk sternly to keep her voice from shaking. "The academy sent their meisters again. They'll protect us." Stein's heart almost tore in two as he watched the two terrified children nod shakily, their bodies quivering in the girl's gentle hold.
"Stein," Spirit, Stein's partner, piped up. Stein averted his eyes down to the death scythe, and Spirit's red-haired face appeared on it's surface. "We've done this before. Remember who those kids are?" Stein nodded in reply.
"His son and daughters," he clarified grimly. "They've avoided death for two years as their father devoured other souls. How they did it, I have no idea."
Spirit frowned. "When he was human his name was Justin Reinhold, right? Didn't you say that he was living with Juliet Philips but they never married? And that he got her pregnant with six children?" Stein shook his head.
"True, but he first became a Kishin egg when he devoured the souls of his three youngest children right after the latest one was born. He was by far the worst human that ever turned into a Kishin egg. I suppose it's no surprise that he's about to turn into a real Kishin."
"Hey," the girl who spoke before called. "Are you going to help us or not?" Stein sighed. He supposed it was finally time to tell her the secret he'd been keeping for the past year while the DWMA had tried to come up with a better way to fight this powerful Kishin egg. Unfortunately, they were out of time, and they only had one option left.
"Listen," Stein began slowly. "After studying your father for two years, I've determined that he has one of the rarest conditions in existence for Kishins, and that condition is that he can only be destroyed by a weapon that comes from his bloodline." Stein paused, and when the girl just continued to stare at him he continued,
"I didn't want to tell you before, but there's no choice now. To be perfectly blunt, you have to-" he was interrupted by a loud bellow from the Kishin, who dove forward toward the group of kids. The two younger ones screamed and fled towards the academy group, who dashed forward to help. Stein scooped the girl who'd just spoken to him into his arms, but she began kicking and shouting.
"Put me down!" she screamed. "I have to protect my brother and sis- NO!" In one quick move, her father had snatched the kids from the meisters who had been holding them and thrust his hands into their chests. The girl Stein was holding screamed and demanded to be put down, but Stein held on for dear life, although he couldn't tear his eyes away from the horrid sight that was taking place in front of him. As he and the others watched in disbelief, the two helpless children sank to the ground, lying lifelessly next each other, their bodies limp. All that remained in the Kishin egg's hands were the two souls, glowing brightly blue and white.
The girl in Stein's arms screamed even louder. "No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Stein winced, but struggled to ignore his ear's screaming protests as the girl continued yelling, watching her father swallow both her siblings' souls in one gulp.
"Stein, we have to destroy him now!" Spirit urged. "Tell the girl what to do!"
"She just watched her own father kill her brother and sister right before her eyes, moron!" Stein shot back furiously. "We can't expect her to-"
"I'll do anything to get rid of him," she interrupted between sobs, her face contorted with shock and sadness. "I already know what you're going to say. I have to kill him myself, don't I?" She whipped her head around to face Stein, who slowly nodded and set her down.
"I understand what you just went through," he murmured, choosing his words carefully. "And I'm horrified that I had to witness it. I also know that you don't have much experience with fighting…" He trailed off uncertainly.
"I can do it," she gulped, wobbling a little. Stein held his arm out and she grasped it to steady herself. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she transformed her arm into a boomerang and slowly approached her father, who was finishing up his meal. He finally turned around, but by that time she was already upon him.
"You'd kill your own father, Natalie?" his booming voice echoed slightly in the otherwise silent room. His daughter gave no reply, not even a nod. It seemed like the longest three seconds ever; the last time Natalie and her father would ever meet. It was as if she could communicate all the anger and hatred she felt for him her whole life- for what he did to her mother, to her siblings, and to all those humans he killed- in the glare she was sending him right now.
The next movement was a spurt of blood from her father's mouth, a short, choked scream following right behind. As the Kishin fell over, it was clear now that Natalie's action had been so fast that it was impossible to see it happen. Her boomerang arm had turned into a knife which she had plunged straight into his soul. She and all the others could see now just how much power he had. It clouded his eyes with a dark aura that still remained plain as day, even now that he was laying on the ground dead.
Snapping out of the shock, Stein ran to Natalie, who collapsed to her knees before he even reached her. He housed her up and carried her bridal style, amazed by how much she was shaking compared to the last time he held her. Stein barked orders for everyone to start clearing out and for another meister to grab the Kishin egg's soul, which still hovered lazily above the ground.
"Natalie?" Stein whispered softly. The girl's eyes were barely open, and her body seemed to be slowly relaxing as she began to fall asleep. The scientist's lips tugged upward in a smile- not one of his crazy, madness wavelength-influenced smiles, but a genuine one.
"Stein," Sid, one of the other meisters, called. Stein turned to see the brown-skinned, muscular man holding up a small mirror. "I think you should be the one to tell Lord Death what happened here."
"But she managed to destroy the Kishin?" Lord Death exclaimed in his usual bubbly, high-pitched voice.
"She did, sir," the professor confirmed, his face flashing out at Lord Death from the crystal clear surface of the mirror. "And he was her own father. What that girl did after all that happened to her was the most astounding thing I've ever seen, especially at her age and considering that she just saw her father kill her younger brother and sister, Isaac and Taylor, before her very eyes."
"The…the poor thing," Lord Death croaked, a single tear sliding down his skull-shaped mask. "Well, now we owe her one, huh?"
"Um…sir?" Stein asked, unsure where the grim reaper was going with this.
"We can't send her to some dusty old orphanage," Lord Death exploded, as if it should've been obvious. "So let's take her into the academy!"
"Lord Death, she's too young to take classes at the academy!" Stein exclaimed, unable to mask his surprise.
"So what?" The reaper shrugged. "I'll take her in! She'll be my adopted daughter!"
"You already have your hands full with Death the Kid," Stein pointed out. "Do you really want him finding out about her?" Lord Death was silent for a moment.
"I suppose it would be better if he didn't know," he admitted finally.
"Better if I didn't know what, Father?" The reaper yelped, and whirled around to see his son standing in front of him, his hands on his hips.
"K-Kid!" Lord Death exclaimed, trying desperately not to sound like a deer caught in the headlights. "Hey, hey, how you doing? How's the soul collecting coming along?" The black-haired boy showed no sign of a smile.
"Don't even try to change the subject, Dad," he reprimanded. "What were you and… was that Stein's voice?"
"Hey Kid," Stein greeted from the mirror. Kid peered forward and gave him a nod, then turned back to his father.
"What were you and the professor talking about?" he finished. Lord Death squirmed uncomfortably, sensing there was no way out of this. His son could be so stubborn sometimes…
"How about I tell you about it after Stein and I are finished talking?" he offered. "We can talk over tea!" Death the Kid looked like he wanted to say more, but he just nodded.
"Call me in when you're ready," he ordered, then turned and walked out of the room.
"Will he ever stop being so nosy?" Stein complained when Kid was gone. "He can be such a little brat. I think you spoil him too much, Sir."
"He's my son," Lord Death retorted defensively. "And he's going to inherit my position when he grows up, so he has a right to know what's going on."
"If you say so," Stein murmured. "Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to have Natalie stay at my laboratory. She must be special if her father had that extremely rare Kishin syndrome, and I'm sure I could find some interesting things if I dissected her a few times."
"No way!" Lord Death held up his enormous hand, but luckily Stein didn't have to be afraid of the reaper chop since he was only communicating through the mirror. "We don't want to scar her any further than she undoubtably already is. There's a room not far from mini laboratory you use when you're at the academy in the roped off section, and it seems very fitting for little Natalie. Its huge and has a king-sized bed, sofa, TV, three armchairs, bathroom extension, and a little desk. I'm positive she'd be comfortable there, and it's a much better plan than keeping her at Kid's house or your laboratory."
"That does sound like a good idea," Stein agreed. "I'll get the room set up."
"Then it's settled!" Lord Death declared happily. "Bring her to your lab while you're setting up the room- it shouldn't take long."
"Yes Sir," Stein agreed, and with that their conversation ended.
About ten minutes later, Lord Death and Death the Kid were seated on opposite sides of a small table, sipping tea.
"Now tell me what all that was about, Father," Kid demanded, to which Lord Death raised his eyes from his teacup.
"Kid, it's kind of a long story…" Lord Death faltered.
"I've got time," Kid insisted, staring at his father intently. Lord Death sighed, defeated.
"You know how we've been hunting down a particular Kishin egg for about two years now, right?" he queried.
"Yep," Kid agreed. "Did you finally kill it?"
"Well…that's the thing," the grim reaper muttered uncomfortably. "Dr. Stein's theory turned out to be exactly right: that Kishin had a special condition where he was immortal to everyone except weapons that shared his bloodline." He paused momentarily.
"Go on," Kid prompted, his eyes wide with interest.
"Well, we had no idea where his relatives were and we had to kill him immediately or he would've become a real Kishin, so we…had no choice but to have his 7-year-old daughter kill him herself." Lord Death cringed as his son let loose a gasp.
"That's awful!" Kid exploded, his eyes ablaze with fury. "Father, how could you?! And why was she even there in the first place? You should have gotten her away from him!"
"We tried, we tried!" Lord Death exclaimed, holding his hands up defensively. "But he always managed to overpower us. Finally, we decided there was no other way." Kid was silent for a few more seconds.
"Where is she now?" he asked finally. "Can I meet her?"
"No, no, no," Lord Death admonished, shaking a white, block-like finger at his son. "She's a little…fragile right now."
"Because of you!" Kid argued fiercely, causing his father to flinch. "My God, Dad, what the hell were you thinking?"
"We had no choice," Lord Death countered meekly, though he was a little confused. Why was his son acting so interested in this? "And don't worry- she's in safe hands now."
"I want to meet her, Father," Kid insisted suddenly, earning a raised eyebrow from the older grim reaper. Now he was really thrown for a loop.
"Kid, I already told you," he reminded him, "the answer is no." Kid leaned forward across the table, and Lord Death jolted in surprise.
"Please?" he begged, staring unflinchingly at his father.
"She's only a year younger than you," Lord Death pointed out quickly. "I'm sure you'll see her in five years or so while you're observing the missions of the students at the academy like I know you enjoy doing." Suddenly he noticed a slight shift in his son's expression, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. It was almost like he was masking some emotion that had been showing a moment earlier.
"Good point well made, Father- as usual," Kid replied politely, and Lord Death bounced upright.
"You mean…you aren't mad?" he exclaimed hopefully.
"No, of course not," his son smiled, waving his hand dismissively, and the grim reaper nearly fell out of his chair with glee. He may have held a high position, but he had a big soft spot for his son and hated to upset him. It always put him in a depressed, gloomy mood whenever he and Kid were in an argument.
Suddenly, the boy stood up. "I think I'll head out now," he declared. "Thanks for the tea, Dad."
"Come again, Kid!" Lord Death replied excitedly. "And maybe next time we have a talk like this it won't be on such a grim topic, hm?" Kid chuckled slightly and nodded, then left the room.
The young grim reaper walked the halls with the same purposeful stride as always, but something was off about his expression. It was usually so calm and collected, but at this particular moment his face displayed a sense of angst and discomfort. Death the Kid couldn't get what he'd learned from Lord Death out of his head and he was worried about multiple things, one of them being where his father and Dr. Stein were hiding the girl.
"I will meet her someday," he murmured to himself, the promise hanging in the air for a moment, almost tangible.