First fanfic on this account. Hope I can pull this off with some level of decency.
Disclaimer: Disappointing as it is, one cannot simply own the Soul Eater characters.
The nightmares. They'd grown more vivid and unusual than last night, and it felt like they constantly chased away the comfort of blank sleep. Upon awakening, the dreams remained only as pieces of incoherent pictures and sounds. A fine dampness had soaked the pillows and the sheets, smelling of perspiration. Golden eyes blinked slowly, realizing it was still dark out, early morning only just tinged by a dawn sun.
It would perhaps be a vain attempt to try to succumb to the lull of sleep when he knew it would be difficult, and it was absolutely no problem to straighten up the place early. His mind wandered to the painting hanging in the bedroom, most likely tilting a few inches to the left. The candles were probably melted to uneven levels as well. Unacceptable.
The black-haired boy sighed and swung himself out of bed, standing slowly as he registered a noteable shakiness in his legs that wasn't there the previous day. An irritating dizzy spell made the bedroom walls blur a moment before his vision righted itself. As soon as his poise was gained, he made his way into the front room.
The painting had been moved to its rightful position-a quarter of an inch to the right (It had been leaning toward the left after all). The candles reset, placed accordingly. The edges of the toilet paper folded delicately into a triangle shape...yet time had come to a standstill. Kid sighed and sat down, relieving his shaky body, staring at the painting with empty eyes. It still didn't look straight from here...too inclined to the right...
Either that or the entire room was rotated to the left. The whole mansion felt tilted to one side. The wallpaper on the walls kept shifting into curious waves, undulating along the room, which felt stuffy and much too hot. Kid returned to his room, longing to return to sleep.
However, it seemed as if he had only shut his eyes before day was crashed upon the world. He was already awake but motionless in bed, eyes gazing at nothing, the room still dancing.
"Kiiiiiiid!" The cry came before a large form cannoned into his, and he growled under his breath. A familiar, way cheerful face sent invisible sunshine spilling across the room, "Wake up! It's time for schoooool!"
"Alright, alright..." Kid grumbled, "get off, Patty." The youngest Thompson sister lept off the bed, smiling a mile,
"Alrighty! Liz is making breakfast this morning!" she called over her shoulder, skipping out of the room. Kid sighed into his sweat-dampened pillow before standing up, suffering the same effect as hours ago. Slowly, he made his way out of the room.
"What is it, Kid? I made sure each waffle got the same amount of syrup..."
Liz's voice broke into the thoughtless space occupying Kid's mind at the moment. He looked down at breakfast, feeling distaste overcome him. His gaze switched to his twin pistols sitting opposite of him at the table. Not wanting to cause any disturbance, he made an excuse, "Well, I was just thinking about the books stacked up in my room...I think they're leaning slightly, so I want to..."
"Oh come on..." Liz sighed, "Can't you just relax for once?"
Kid shrugged and hurried to his room. Just to set his mind at ease, he straightened said books and located the nearest mirror. His reflection caused his pale form to pale considerably more. With his hair leaning on the scruffy side, his eyes glazes, and his skin an almost a pale ash shade, he looked a horrifying sight. To himself, anyway. He had straightened the disarray of jet-black and white hair when he noticed it would be time to leave soon...
A test day.
How could he let himself forget? Kid mentally cursed himself as he looked down at the white sheet of paper laying unmarked before him. The answers to the implying questions had vanished from his head, which had already begun spinning despite sitting down. He sighed, blinking away the spinning of the room temporarly. He looked about the room for a moment. He noticed Patty was more focused on drawing tiny, cartoonish giraffes on the test rather than actually answering it. Beyond her, Liz was studying her nails with interest. Soul and Black*Star were looking for another student to cheat off of, and Maka diligently working away on the test.
Kid sighed again, and started sketching out his name in a certain font, slowly. Disgraceful, disgusting...he thought. The letters looked crooked, whirling with the room. His vision felt distorted, darkened, hard to focus on anything and will it to be still. He erased the imperfect attempt.
The dismissal bell had rung by the time the only thing written on his test was D, E, A, and a partially finished T. Needless to say it was a fail. Kid stood up to leave and gripped the desk in front of him to keep from stumbling sideways. Too fast...he thought, waiting for the room to stop moving around him before actually leaving with the other students. He looked back as he left the room, seeing his friends follow him out. His gaze suddenly met Maka's, and it held before Kid turned away. A wave of nausea suddenly gripped him, and he winced, hurrying to the bathroom. Thankfully, the room was empty, and the reaper child made a beeline for the nearest stall, throwing open the door and doubling over and gagging painfully over the bowl.
When the last half-digested remains of last night's dinner had left Kid's stomach, he feebly flushed the evidence, and sank to the floor, resting his head against the wall. He was uncomfortably aware of the waves of heat radiating off his body, the locks of his hair matted and stuck to his sweaty face, the annoying dizziness and creeping headache that harrassed him. Feeling weighted down with weakness, he was almost relieved at the thought of simply laying on the cold floor. But he thought fearfully of what would happen if he were caught on the floor of the bathroom and attempted to stand. His legs felt like toothpicks supporting a two-ton wieght, and managed a less-than-dignified stumble to the sink. Holding the edges of the sink in a death grip, Kid stared at his reflection. His black and white-striped hair was somehow ruffled again, dampened at the bangs where they were stuck to his face. His eyes dull and glazed, skin an ashen color...he forced himself to look away. He turned on the faucet and flung cold water into his face without hesitating, feeling the water soak his sleeves. The coldness felt relieving, soothing. He shut off the tap and watched absently as silver droplets of water spun off his face and bangs...
Kid straighted up, controlling his breathing, and steadied his body before he left. By then, the school was mostly empty, the students deserted it to go about their own affairs. On any other day, he would have liked to find his friends and start a friendly game of basketball, but now he longed for the solitude of his bedroom, and the blissful lull of sleep that he hoped would banish what weighed him down...
So far, his partners hadn't come looking for him, and he was frankly relieved. It would probably be embarrassing, humiliating even, to be caught in this sort of condition. Surely whatever sort of puny human virus had invaded his body could be banished easily by his greater-than-human immunity without the well-intended fussing of other people. But if he were supposed to resist a disease easily, why did he feel like he was suffering? By now, the joints that connected his limbs to his body had begun to hurt with each movement, his skin blazed...his head spun and throbbed with a massive headache.
He saw the Gallows Mansion looming ahead. Shortly his ordeal would be rewarded with a long, healing sleep.
But that would be too easy, wouldn't it...?
Kid stumbled, his body felt like it was being skewered by thousands of icy-hot needles. His vision becoming clouded with dark specks. He blinked, then blinked again, willing the splotches in his vision to go away. He realized as he came back to full consciousness that he was on his hands and knees, and quickly regained his feet, hoping no one had seen the embarrassing scene...
No, that hope was blown to heck. He turned to see a lone figure running toward him. By then the fainting spell had returned with new intensity, bringing the young reaper to his knees as an agonizing icy feeling covered his skin. He thought he heard his name spoken, and numbly felt the touch of someone else. A wiry arm hooked under one of his arms, and another guided his around the neck of the figure. He felt his body pulled up, his weight shared by the person by him. His feet found the ground, and he half-stood, shaking.
"Are you alright, Kid?" The voice sounded far away. Half-conscious, Kid made out gray-ish blonde hair, green eyes...
"Maka..." he breathed. Kid was exhausted suddenly, and felt himself leaning into her form. Maka's grip tightened,
"I've got you. I'm going to take you home..." she murmured. Kid grunted in reply, determindly finding his feet and walking slowly, his burden shared by the meister next to him.
Kid could barely recognize the area around him, it kept shifting in and out of focus, making the nausea creep back. He gritted his teeth, willing the situation to not get more humiliating than it already was. He could now only hope that Maka here was alone...
He felt his pace travel up a small flight of stairs, through a doorway, and he nearly lost the ability to walk again. Maka held his weight, "Almost there." she said. Kid stumbled along beside her, before she guided him toward his bed. The reaper collapsed into it, legs dangling off the side, not bothering to move his head onto his pillow. It was as if the life and energy had been sucked right out of his person, leaving behind a heavy, lifeless skin. He thought he caught a glimpse of Maka's face before his vision darkened.
Maka stood over Death the Kid's motionless body, laying as it had fallen-asymetrically. The last time she had seen the boy was when he had rushed into the bathroom without a word to her or the others. She had seen his dulled golden gaze before the above had happened, and at once she had known something was amiss with the young reaper.
Then she had been invited to play a game of basketball, despite still not getting the sport yet. As an excuse she announced she was going to find Kid. And she had. She had first caught him supporting himself on hands and knees before standing unsteadily, then falling again. Now Maka wondered how he had managed to hide this ailment from everyone for the whole day. Gently, the scythe meister laid a hand on Kid's forehead, reflexively pulling it away as the heat blazed against her skin. No doubt a high fever, and yet she watched the body on the bed shiver slightly as if chilled. Maka, feeling awkward at first, steeled her nerve and unbuttoned Kid's shirt, gently pulling off the sweat-dampened garment and casting it aside. She moved his body under the blankets and laid his head gently on the pillows. He was still unconscious, laying there twitching and occasionally shivering.
Maka sighed in pity, and sat down on the edge of the bed, watching the reaper's distressed sleep. She took a moment to notice his room; perfectly organized, perfectly straightened or arranged. The room almost had an artistic look to it, everything in place and balanced...Her green gaze wandered back to Kid, watching his chest rise and fall out of natural rhythym. She hated seeing the faintly pained look on his face, suffering a battle that caused him utmost discomfort...it was unsettling. Maka found her hand grabbing his, as if it would offer some sort of comfort.
Unsure if she imagined it or not, Kid's twitching seemed to still a little...
Kid's eyes struggled open, his vision greeting him with a blurred image of his ceiling before it righted itself. His gaze wandered blankly, until he saw one of the pictures on his wall. It looked skewed, tilted. Everything did. But he remembered this morning straightening everything out perfectly...or was that a dream? Was it apart of the same dream where Maka was helping him to his feet mere yards from his home? Was this moment now but a dream? Kid shut his eyes, shifting uncomfortably. He almost flinched as an icy wetness touched his face, right about his eyes. He relaxed his tension when a soothing feeling sunk in. The comforting wet cloth stole away the stickiness off his face, relieving some of the intense heat. He sighed, looking up to see Maka bearing the item that so soothed him.
"Maka...?" he murmured, his voice rasping in his throat. Maka smiled, letting the wet cloth lay across his brow. Kid sighed silently in pleasure, and blinked up at Maka, "What are you doing here?" he mumbled.
Maka smiled in that friendly way of hers, tinged with concern, "I noticed you were pretty isolated from everything today." she said, "You rarely said anything today, and I think you took longer writing your name on the test than usual, right?"
Kid shrugged, blinking as a new wave of dizziness invaded his head.
"And," Maka went on, "I noticed you looked pretty ruffled, and then..." her eyes darkened with worry, "when I came to find you, you were collapsing...are you okay?""
"Apparently not." Kid sighed, "But it surely can't be anything that's too serious..."
"You were passing out," Maka pointed out again, "It looked serious. And you're burning up." She blinked, "Though I didn't think reapers could get sick."
Kid stared at her, "I shouldn't be...we're usually stronger than humans..." he said quietly.
Maka shrugged, "Well, maybe you guys have something like the flu...you surely seem to have some kind of flu..."
Kid said nothing, but stared at the ceiling without purpose.
"You'll be okay, right?" Maka asked.
Kid looked at her, "Of course." He blinked, raising his head slightly, "But there's something..."
"What?"
"I have the feeling that one of the candles in the front is burned down faster than the other." he said in all seriousness. Maka smiled,
"You'll be fine." she said good-naturedly. But why does he always have candles lit...? It's not even dark.
"Also, something occurred to me..." he looked at her with wide golden eyes, "You look very symmetrical today."
Maka blinked, a bit bemused, "Um, thank you." she said, grinning slightly. She adverted her gaze for a moment, before looking back at him, suddenly drawn in by those tawny eyes, "I'd...better leave you in peace, then." she said quietly.
Kid hesitated, before smiling weakly at her, "Alright...I'd better get some sleep."
Maka smiled as she made her way out of the room, pausing at the doorway to look back at the young reaper for a second, before disappearing. Kid heard the front door open and shut seconds later.
Sighing, Kid sank into the pillows, staring up at the ceiling until sleep stole over him.
He had never slept more peacefully.
Like it? It wasn't big in the way of romance, I suppose, but still...
Originally this had a different ending, but I redid it because it sounded rushed and just...bad. Lol.
Reviews are very much appreciated.~