It was hot that day in Death City.
The laughing sun seemed to be laughing at the suffering of the Death City residents as they desperately drank down water, ate up ice cream, or ducked into a house with air conditioning. People had been sweating like they were rain clouds with pity in their hearts.
Children licked ice cream cones, teenagers dunked their heads into fountains and under hoses, and adults fanned themselves with books and their hands. It was really, really hot that day in Death City.
Then some generous passerby had mercy.
Some residents would be standing on the street corners, praying for rain, when all of a sudden, someone flew by at seemingly record-breaking speeds, sending a huge gust of wind at the bystanders. They all shouted praises and savored the coolness before being pulled back in heat's cruel claws once more.
But whoever it was flying by did not have wings, but only a skateboard. The skateboard, however, was flying. The wheels were folded under the board, and there was some sort of a rocket which kept the board a few inches from the ground and a couple more to keep it moving.
The rider of the board? Why, it was no more than Death the Kid, son of the Grim Reaper and ultimate king of symmetry. Well, at least in his eyes.
Kid's honey-colored eyes glared ahead of him, his black-and-white hair flapping in the wind as he rode, faster and faster. He wore his typical attire, a black suit with white stripes around the shoulders and down the chest, a pair of black pants, and his skull-shaped rings on either side of his hands.
Speaking of the boy's hands, there was a silver pistol in each of his palms. Kid held the triggers with his muscular pinkie fingers, ready to shoot when necessary. These two weapons, though they didn't seem like it, were actually human beings in their second form.
These two were the twin pistol sisters, Liz and Patty Thompson. They were Kid's weapon partners and his very close friends. Their weapon form, obviously, were pistols. Kid chose them as his partners because of the way they balanced out his body's symmetry while in battle.
But anyway, that's not important. What's important is what they were doing.
"Hey, Kid," Liz said, still in her pistol form. "Could you slow down a little? This is a little dangerous."
Kid growled, "I just want to get this whole thing with Father over with. I'm not exactly on the best terms with him at the moment."
Liz mentally noted that Kid did not specifically answer her question. She was tempted to delve deeper, but decided against it.
As stated before, Kid was the son of the Grim Reaper, Lord Death himself. This meant that Kid was more advanced than the other students and the Death Weapon Meister Academy, or the DWMA, the school of which he attended. This also meant that Kid was able to take on more treacherous missions for his father and not risk the lives of the other students.
Kid had gone to visit his father the night before, and in that time Death asked to see him in the morning. Kid had not released any details of the visit, but something must have happened. Kid had been in a foul mood ever since he returned to the house he shared with Liz and Patty.
It was really bringing down the mood between the trio. But the sisters tried to ignore it. Anyway, it was Sunday, and there were no other students inside the school where Kid's father spent most of his time.
Kid slowed down to a stop in front of the enormous school building. His hair was tousled from the wind, but he smoothed it over immediately after getting off of his board. The boy tossed his weapons into the air, and in a bright flash of pink they were in their regular, asymmetrical human forms. He slammed one end of the skateboard down with his foot, sending it flying into the air. He caught the thing, and it immediately dissolved into a translucent black beam, which flew into Kid's palm.
"Let's get this over with," Kid growled.
"Yay! Let's go inside!" Patty squealed in her perky little voice.
The trio entered into the school, Kid leading the way. Together, they passed through the endless halls and the doorways that made up the DWMA.
0o0o0
"Father, did you want to see us-"
Kid barely had enough time to pull back as the final guillotine on one of the archways to the Death Room suddenly came down, almost taking off the front of Kid's shoe. The boy leapt back in fright and crashed into his partners, knocking them down to the floor and tumbling down after them.
Across the room stood Lord Death himself, laughing through his mask.
Kid got up and finally lost it.
"Father!" He screeched. "Must you do that all the time?! It's not funny anymore and now the symmetry of the Death Room is off!"
"It's funny for me!" Death snickered, bringing a hand to the area where his mouth probably was behind the mask. "But anyway, sorry for frightening you!"
Kid grabbed the hands of his partners and hoisted them up onto their feet. Liz moaned and muttered, "Let's never do that again."
Patty just laughed. "It's so fun to be scared!"
Ignoring his partners, Kid turned to his father with a frightening glare plastered upon his deathly pale face. "So," Kid hissed, "did you want to see us or what?"
"Now, now, Kid!" Death tittered. "Relax for a second! Would you three like some tea? How've you been since last night, Kid?"
Kid's glare grew darker. "Father," he hissed through clenched teeth.
Death seemed a little taken aback by his son's behavior. But he merely shrugged it off. Liz and Patty, however, noticed Kid's behavior and they weren't pleased.
"Anyway," Lord Death went on, "I have a mission for you three, and if you're feeling up for it I'd like you all to leave immediately."
"What's the mission?" Kid asked.
"Ah, well, you see… In the middle of the scorching desert, there's a large village. It's very prosperous and full of life. However, many of the humans in the village have up and disappeared. I originally sent some men out to investigate, but they've never returned."
"So what should we do?"
"Find whatever is causing these disappearances and destroy it. I have a good feeling it's a Kisin soul."
Kid smiled a bit. "We'll take care of it."
"Good! I knew I could rely on you, Kiddo!" Death praised. "It's probably going to be a dangerous trip, so be sure to pack all the things you need!"
Kid rolled his eyes, made a blasé wave goodbye to his father, and began to leave the Death Room with his partners.
"Wait, Kid."
Kid turned towards his father with a bored look in his eyes. "Yes, Father?"
"Be careful, okay? Don't want you getting hurt or anything!"
Kid blinked, looked towards the floor, and finally turned and left with Liz and Patty at his side.
When Death was the only one left, the exasperated sigh of a troubled father was lost to the world.
0o0o0
Kid pressed a handkerchief to his mouth as a strong gust of wind blew sand and dust at his sensitive skin and lungs. He tightly shut his eyes and sped forward on his skateboard, his weapons in his pockets. A bag hung at his side, flipping about wildly in the wind. His hair whipped painfully across his face as he sped over the scorching desert.
Once the dust settled, Kid landed his skateboard on the crest of a sand dune and hopped off, shoving the board under his arm and pulling out his weapons. He tossed the guns into the air, letting them transform in a flash of pink back to normal humans, and proceeded to pull out a small map.
"Let's see," Kid murmured. "Father has circled an area for us, but according to his instructions there is no known specific location of this suspicious activity."
"Well," Liz asked, stretching out her sore limbs, "did he say in specific what kind of activity other than people disappearing?"
"Nothing other than strange wavelengths coming from that area. Anyway, I suggest we go to the village where all the disappearance have been occurring."
Liz nodded approval. The two were totally ignoring Patty, who was screaming curses at the sky because of the heat.
"In any case," Liz continued, "how far away is this village?"
"Do you really think I would have you two transform if we weren't close by?" Kid's voice had an edge to it. He pointed a slender finger towards the direction of which he was facing. Following his gaze Liz and Patty stepped over to Kid's area and set their sights on a fairly large, quiet little village below them. The houses in the village were somewhat modern and well-made, but only a few people walked through the streets. The buildings were made of dry wood and things the trio could not make out.
People carried wooden crates full of something that seemed like fruit or something. They were dressed in log, white robes that wrapped around their faces and around their limbs and body, only revealing their hands, eyes, and feet. There were only about four or five visible people, so either the rest were inside or the kidnappings have gotten especially bad.
Kid shoved the map into his bag and muttered, "Let's go."
"Right," Liz and Patty said in unison.
0o0o0
"Excuse me."
A person draped totally in white turned his black eyes at Kid's amber ones. Kid couldn't quite tell the gender of the person, so he merely avoided the subject.
"We've been sent by Shibusen, or the DWMA, to investigate the recent disappearances of this village's inhabitants."
"There's nothing you can do. It's too late."
Great, so it was a man who was going to cause trouble. Very well. However, Kid mentally noted that the symmetry on this guy's clothing was exquisite. But that wasn't important.
Kid kept his cool. "Sir," he went on, "if you tell us everything you know we might be able to save your neighbors."
"You can't save them," the stranger replied. "Everyone else here knows that they're dead."
Wait, what?
"Dead?" Kid said in disbelief. "They're dead? How do you know this?"
The stranger sighed, and realizing that telling these kids to buzz off would be futile, he explained, "Every night for the past month, someone's disappeared. There's always a witness. A shadowy figure who no one could make out appears, snatches up a child or the like, and either leaves or slits the victim's throat in front of the witness's eyes."
Kid blinked. If there have always been witnesses, how has nobody made out who it is?
"In any case," the man went on, "the rest of us are leaving today. You can still ask around, but be sure to be quick about it. I'm sorry I wasn't much help."
"You were a big help, thanks. Liz, Patty, we're leaving."
"Right!"
Just as the trio began to leave, the stranger called, "Hey, boy."
Kid stopped and turned. "Yes?"
"You're the Grim Reaper's son, right?"
"… Yes."
The guy laughed. "Why's he sending his only son out here?" he chuckled. "Be careful, kid. Many have lost their lives in this barren desert."
Kid's brow began to angle downwards. "I won't die," he snarled. "I'm a Grim Reaper."
The man waved Kid away, and disappeared down into the village streets.
0o0o0
The conversation with the final woman in the village ended with the woman saying, "I'm leaving, but if you wish you can stay here for the night. There's plenty of food and water in the pantry."
Liz wanted to leave; the interviews with the remaining village inhabitants had quite frightened her. Patty wanted to stay because of the coolness and the water in the house. Kid chose to stay because of the possibility of meeting this kidnapper.
Liz was outvoted. The trio was staying in the village where many had either died, fled, or vanished.
Night eventually fell onto the desert like a cold hand gripping prey. The stars dazzled brightly in the black sky, the moon hanging up on display. It sort of looked like an art project of sort. As if the moon was paper with water drizzled here and there, the stars were glitter, and it all was glued down onto a piece of black paper.
The desert turned from really hot to chilly as the sun said goodbye and hung up the little art project in its place. Kid clung his jacket closer to his body as he, Liz, and Patty all evenly divided up some water and food portions.
The food was nothing by very dry meat and fruit. Kid himself didn't care much for meat, let alone meat without any liquid whatsoever, but he forced himself to devour the slab of pork and felt shudders go up his spin as it slid down into his stomach. Simply because he was hungry.
Liz and Patty hungrily devoured their portions like two wolves who hadn't tasted food in a week. They ate until they had cleaned their plates, and by then Kid had left them and had taken position beside the box cut into the wall that was the window of the house.
His eyes stared out into the vast ocean of sand and stars, out at the sea of darkness that they had traveled so far out to. Liz and Patty noticed that he was glaring at particularly nothing.
"Patty," Liz whispered, "do you know what's wrong with Kid?"
"Nope!" Patty tittered. "Maybe he forgot to fold the toilet paper again."
"I don't think that's it," Liz muttered. "He's been sort of off since last night. I think by then he would have folded some toilet paper."
"I can hear you two."
Liz and Patty turned towards Kid, who was staring with narrowed eyes at them. Liz's heart almost stopped when she realized they had been speaking a little on the loud side. Patty was just neutral.
"Tell me," Kid murmured, "have I really been that way?"
Liz itched the back of her head. "Y-You sort of have…"
"… I see." Kid paused for a second before saying, "I spoke to my mother last night."
"Your mother?" Liz thought for a minute.
"Yes, my mother. As in the one I have photos of at home. Morlina is her name."
"Oh, right!"
"Well, I spoke to her. I saw her face for the first time in three years. The last time she smiled at me was when I was twelve years old."
"Kid, that's wonderful!" Liz and Patty smiled at him warmly.
"No, it's not," Kid muttered, his face darkening. "We spoke on Father's mirror. She's not actually in Death City and who knows when she will be." He sighed, his expression turning to that of sadness. "I love my parents, I really do. But sometimes anxiety can pile up, and when I spoke to my mother I guess I just indirectly took it out on everyone. I'm sorry."
Kid smiled at his partners, his eyebrows pointing up as if he was nervously smiling.
"That's okay, Kid!" Patty slapped Kid's back with such a force that it almost knocked the boy over. "We still love you!"
"You can tell us anything, Kid," Liz went on, slapping Kid's back as well. "We're your friends."
Kid, after recovering from the back-slaps, whispered, "Thank you, girls…"
A heartbeat of silence passed. Then came the sound.
It was like a cackle of some sort, a voice that was thickly coated with madness. Then there was pounding. As if on cue, a nearby house collapsed. Without taking time to look at what was happening, Kid dove to the floor, grabbing the shoulders of his partners and bringing them down with him.
They hit the floor with a loud THUD!
"Ow!" Liz hissed.
"Hush!" Kid seethed to the two. "Sit up and go into weapon form, now!"
"Aye-aye!" Patty whispered.
"Whatever," Liz muttered.
In a flash of pink, the two girls had shot up into the air and fallen down into Kid's palms as two silver pistols. Kid blew a lock of hair out from his face and peeked out the corner of the window.
His eyes took in the collapsed house, a shadowed figure in the middle of the wreckage. His eyes were black and plastered with insanity and evil, his black hair tousled and dirty. His right shirt sleeve was rolled up while the left was pulled down. Speaking of his shirt, it was a sort of plaid, thin jacket over a black short-sleeved shirt that Kid could see through the jacket. He had torn, jagged jeans hanging from his waits and wrapping around his thighs.
His skin was a tan color, with jet black stubble growing around his chin and mouth. His shoes were but a sandal and a tennis shoe; the tennis shoe had a huge tear in the toe area. His teeth were jagged and gnarled, chipped and scratched, visible as he smiled evilly in the night.
In other words, he was an abomination to the world of symmetry.
Then the stranger spoke. "Where are you, Shinigami?!" The voice coming from his mouth was heavily loaded with a desire to kill, the desire to inflict damage. "I know you're here!"
What? Well, that was strange. This guy knew Kid was around, he knew Kid was a Grim Reaper, and not to mention he didn't look like he wanted to invite Kid to a slumber party.
"Kid, what should we do?" Liz asked cautiously.
"What else?" Kid muttered, gritting his teeth. "That man is an abomination! How dare he wear something as asymmetrical as that and then come searching for me?!"
"That's what you're worried about right now?!"
"We're fighting this guy, whoever he is, and we'll make him pay!"
Kid rose fully, pointed his pistols out the window and towards the stranger, and squeezed the triggers with his pinkies.
BANG! BANG!
Two pink balls of energy shot out from the pistols and traveled towards the man. Once the guy saw and heard this, he quickly brought his arms up in an "X" formation around his face.
The bullets forced him backward a foot or two, but then they dissolved and he stranger eyed Kid.
"So," he muttered, "I've finally found Death's son in this barren desert."
Kid took a flying leap out of the window and landed some distance away from his opponent.
"I assume you're responsible for the many disappearances and deaths of this place?" Kid growled.
"Right you are!" The stranger clapped, and Kid noticed drool running down from the guy's mouth. "Lord Death must really trust you to send you out here!"
"This is just another mission. I'll take care of you and be on my way!" Kid suddenly turned his left arm up at a ninety-degree angle, angling his wrist so that Patty was pointing at the opponent. He did the same with his other arm, however this time his arm was pointed downward and Liz was facing to the area behind Kid. He moved into a sideways position and leaned back a bit, so that his upper body was slanted. He balanced his left foot on his toes, and stuck the leg out slightly.
"Death god martial arts," he seethed. "Stance of sin!" Kid narrowed his eyes and whispered, "You'll rue this day, good sir."
The stranger yanked something from his pocket and tossed it at Kid. There was an explosion of smoke, and Kid quickly squinted his eyes so that the putrid smoke would not reach them.
His keen ears picked up a sound towards his side, and he immediately began to fire his pistols in the direction.
Something proceeded to slam into his back, sending Kid into a barrel roll. He quickly stopped and stood up, glaring at his opponent who wielded a small, glowing sword shooting from the back of his hand.
"If a fight's what you want," the stranger sneered, "then I'll make that happen!"
With a swing of his arm, about ten glowing shards of something sharp shot towards Kid. He shot to the ground, narrowly missing them as they whizzed over his head. Moving up to a kneel, Kid fired his pistols at his opponent's legs and upper body.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Using the blade emerging from his hand, the opponent quickly deflected every shot with a swing of his arm.
CLING! CLING! CLING! CLING!
Kid rolled to the side as one of his bullets flew at his face.
"He's fast," Kid muttered. Kid shot four more rounds once more.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
As he shot them, he noticed that the stranger was quickly advancing in Kid's direction. Before Kid could react, a kick connected with his lower jaw, and he went flying backwards. Pain exploded in Kid's mouth as his teeth jammed into each other, and more pain slammed into Kid' stomach as he landed hard on the ground.
"Kid!" Patty screeched. "Are you okay?!"
Kid supported himself with his elbows. "Just fine…"
SLAM!
The same foot that hit Kid's jaw slammed down into his back, sending him crashing down to the ground again.
"Kid!" Liz and Patty yelled out in unison.
Suddenly, there was a quiet beeping sound. The stranger took a glance at the watch on his wrist and grinned.
"Ah," he chuckled. "It seems out play time is over. We'll meet again, Reaper!"
The guy took a flying leap into the air, landing on one of the rooftops.
"Wait a minute!" Kid screeched, roughly getting himself up, pointing his pistols at the man. "Come back or I'll shoot you!"
"Oh! Almost forgot!"
Finally making use of the pistol he had in his hands, the stranger leaped in the air, turned midair, and fired one round towards Kid.
A sharp pain stabbed into Kid's arm, and he let out a cry of pain. He felt something warm spray onto his face, and he realized it had to be some of his blood.
"Until we meet again, Death the Kid!"
And when Kid looked up, the stranger had disappeared from sight.
Kid dropped his weapons and clutched his arm. As Liz and Patty transformed, he noticed that his opponent had launched a fairly large dart into Kid.
Of all things, why a dart?
"Kid," Liz whimpered, approaching Kid. "Let me see your arm!"
"It's alright," Kid said with a cringe. "It's just a dart in there." Glaring at the sky, Kid went on, "How dare he shoot one dart into my arm and not the other! The scoundrel!"
"Do you need us to take it out?" Patty asked innocently.
"No need." Before Liz and Patty could react or tell him to wait, Kid had grabbed the dart and pulled it out of his arm. Blood spurted from the wound like a fountain. Kid examined the dart for a second, studied the long, blood-covered needle in the front, then dropped the thing.
"Kid!" Liz screeched. "You shouldn't just yank it out!"
"I'm only worried about the amount of blood that's coming out," Kid mused, ignoring Liz totally. "But even now the bleeding is slowing down. I'll bandage it in a moment and we'll be off."
"Off where?" Patty asked.
"To chase after that psychopath, of course!" Kid replied. "We can't let that abomination to symmetry and murderer get away. First, however," Kid went on, pulling up both of his sleeves and only examining the single wound, "we'll report this to my Father."
"Why now? Shouldn't we take care of your arm first?!"
"We'll do it afterwards. In any case, I should probably apologize for being such a jerk recently."
Oh, what's the use, Liz thought. At least he's ready to apologize.
Kid took a couple of steps away from his partners, rubbed his hands together, and stuck out his two index and ring fingers. On cue, pink balls of energy formed on the tips of his fingers, and began to combine and move towards the ground in the form of a skull.
Then all of a sudden, the energy rushed back into Kid's arms, and all was silent.
"Kid?" Patty asked.
What is this sensation? Kid thought, staring at his hands as his vision began to blur.
"Kid, are you okay?" Liz asked.
My head is pounding, I'm sweating like a maniac…
"Kid, what's happening? Are you hot?"
What's happening? Why is this-
Kid's hands all of a sudden shot to his chest, and he let out a scream of pain.
"Kid!"
Liz and Patty ran over to their meister just as the boy sank down to his knees and began to cough and whimper in agony.
"My… Chest…" Kid hacked out the words like it was a hard achievement.
"Kid is your chest hurting you?!" Liz frantically asked. "What's the matter?"
Kid's hand shot to his mouth, and with a loud cough blood began to drip between his fingers.
"Oh, dear God!" Liz screeched. "Patty, what do we do?!"
"Uh," Patty frantically searched her brain for an answer. "We need to contact Lord Death, I think!"
"How do we do that?!" Liz breathed, as she tried to get Kid to sit up. "Kid is the only one within miles who can do that summon-y thing!"
Wait a second. A memory of Maka Albarn, a close friend at the DWMA shot into Liz's mind.
0o0o0
Pulling out a small, handheld mirror, Maka fogged the glass and began to write something in with her finger.
"42-42-564," she chanted, "if you ever need to knock on Death's door."
0o0o0
"A mirror!" Liz yelled. "Patty, quick, go find a mirror and bring it here! I'll look after Kid!"
"Right!" Patty saluted, then began to run off into one of the buildings.
"Hurry!" Liz yelled at her sister, then turned her attention back to her meister.
Blood covered Kid's hand as he coughed and clutched his chest area. Never before had he experienced such a pain, such a sensation in his life. It felt like a thousand knives, a million bullets, billions of needles had been plunged deep into his chest, and double the bullets into his lungs. It felt like smoke was building up into his windpipe, choking him and trying to destroy Kid's ability to breathe.
"Liz," Kid wheezed in a voice that was barely a whisper. He felt like a little boy again, his mother's hands on his back as he cried. His voice sort of sounded like it did when he was little too.
"I'm right here, Kid. You'll be fine, I promise." Liz's voice sort of sounded like Kid's mother's. Or maybe he was just hallucinating. Who was he again? Where was he? He had to become a great Grim Reaper. What is a Grim Reaper, anyway? Why did his chest hurt?
All these questions made their way into Kid's mind as he gave away to the dizzying blackness that was unconsciousness.