It was just a typical night in Death City, but it was a night when a few innocuous decisions would lead to unforeseeable events.

Liz glanced up from the book she was reading as a knock pounded relentlessly on the door of Gallows Manor.

"That sounds like Black Star," she commented.

"I'll get it!" Patty called, opening the doors.

Black Star and Soul rushed in.

"Hey guys, I don't know about you, but tonight is not the night to sit around reading!" Black Star called, eyeing Liz's book distastefully.

"Yeah," Soul added, "you guys should come out with us. The girls are gonna meet us at this cool new club. They're celebrating their grand opening, and students at the academy get in free."

Liz raised an eyebrow. "A party, huh?" she mused, half to herself. "That could be fun."

"Oh, can we go can we go can we go, PPPLLLEEEAAAASSSSSEEE!" Patty begged, hopping up and down, eyes pleading.

"Hmm. Well, it's been quite a while since I've been to one." Liz shrugged. "Why not?" She stood up to make her way to the door.

"Sorry, girls, but I don't think you should go," came a cool voice further in the manor.

The two girls turned to see Kid standing there. "It's far too dangerous."

Patty laughed out loud, and Liz cracked a smile. "Really Kid? We know how to face danger. It's just a dumb party."

He shook his head solemnly. "I can't allow you to go alone."

"We won't be alone," Liz said. "Soul and Black Star will be with us."

Kid raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by this.

"And so will Maka and Tsubaki. We'll be perfectly safe."

Kid shook his head again. "Are you aware of just how many parties end badly, especially for girls? I think you underestimate the danger."

"Come on, Kid. Have you ever even been to a party before?" Liz asked

Kid froze, avoiding her eyes. "Th-th-that's not the point! Parties are a dangerous extravaganza! What if you girls fall in with the wrong people! What if you become alcoholics?"

Patty laughed. "Oh Kid! If you're so worried, why don't you come with us?"

Kid frowned, and mumbled something about not wanting to leave.

Liz sighed. "Your choice Kid. You come with us and make sure we stay safe, or we go without you."

Kid bit his lip, eyes flicking from Soul to Black Star to Patty to Liz. Then he sighed, and stood up, unnecessarily straightening his jacket.

"Alright then," he said coolly. "I'll come."

"Yahoo!" Black Star crowed, pumping a fist. "The party may not start until Black Star's arrived, but the more of us there the better."

Soul grinned. "Cool. Then let's go."

The five headed out to the party.

Kid rarely went to parties, the few he had gone to being highly regulated. The reason for this was simple. His father hadn't wanted him to go to more general parties, and had advised him gravely against doing so.

Kid shook these thoughts from his head, as the group arrived at the club.

"Hey Kid, Liz, Patty!" Maka called over the music. "Glad you guys could make it!"

Kid smiled in return as his two weapons charged the dance floor.

"Ha ha! Look at me! I'm the dancing queen!" Patty giggled, jumping to the music.

Tsubaki had already summoned up a posse of boys, trying to win her over. Used to this kind of attention, Tsubaki just laughed quietly at their attempts.

Black Star wasn't paying much attention to his weapon. He and Soul, helping themselves to drinks, were examining what looked like paint cans.

"Completely permanent," their owner was bragging. "Made by witches, you know. Once it dries? Forget it. Not even Death himself could remove it!"

Black Star and Soul's eyes were wide, obviously picturing all the things they could do with this.

Kid drifted closer, fingering the white stripes in his hair.

"Does it come in black?"

The boy jumped. "D-Death the Kid! Oh, um, no actually. The makers, they're not really witches by the way, they can only do primary colors. A-and I was, you know, just kidding when I said that thing about Lord Death." He obviously didn't want to tick off Death or his son.

Kid sighed. "Are you certain?"

The boy shrugged. "You might be able to mix it to black."

Black Star and Soul eyed the cans wistfully.

Kid sighed. "How much are you asking for it?" he asked, resignedly.

On the floor, Liz and Maka were dancing to the thunderous beat.

"Hey babe," a guy said, sidling up to Liz. "Dance with me?"

Patty giggled by the drink bar.

"What's a pretty girl like yourself doing all alone?" a student asked, thrusting a drink into her hands.

Patty giggled again, accepting the drink, and striking up a conversation.

Kid watched as Black Star and Soul wandered off, their black market witchcraft 'paint' in hand, and watched as they stashed in an empty part of the club.

On close inspection, Kid had realized the true nature of the paint. He wondered to himself how the student had gotten his hands on the witch potion known as 'permanent paint' to most non-witches. While still wet, the potion would slip right off. But as soon as it dried, well, like the seller had said, not even Kid's father could have removed it.

Sighing, he turned to watch Maka dance on the dance floor with a guy from the school.

He frowned, noting Patty on the side, swaying hypnotically to the music, clearly intoxicated, while the guy sitting next to her bought her yet another drink.

"Hey, Kid," Liz said, swaying up to him. Her speech was someone slurred.

"Have you been drinking too, Liz?" Kid asked, with some distaste.

"Come on," she said, "join in! You need to lighten up for once! Come on, I'll buy you a drink!"

Kid tried to pry the arm she had slung around him off, but before he knew it, she had thrust a drink in his hands.

"Just one, to lighten up a little. You don't have to take another one, if you don't wanna."

Kid's eyed the drink, disgust evident. Upon first sip he thought ugh, people drink this intentionally? It was hard to imagine getting addicted to this stuff.

Still, as he glanced around at his friends, having fun, he wondered how harmful one could be. Kid never lightened up and had fun. Maybe this would be a change…

Soul had joined the group on the dance floor, after Black Star and Kid had stored their prize away for later.

As the partygoers danced, he was able to distinguish a sharp, distinctly feline, yelp.

He glanced down, and was able to make out a cat in the haze that had built up in his vision.

"Hey Blair. Whaz you doin down there?" He said.

The cat transformed into the young women, in her usual scantily clad garment.

Pressed up against Soul by the crowd, she smirked. "Only students get in free, but I figured, who'd notice a little kitty, meow?"

Soul grinned stupidly, squished so close to Blair, but it wasn't long before she was distracted by the promise of snagging a free drink when no one was looking.

"Catch ya later, Soul!" She purred, heading off.

Liz and Kid headed toward the dance floor, drinks finished. Liz had been able to convince Kid to take just one more, and the two started to dance together.

Kid behaved differently from Liz. While the latter more slumped into a bit of a daze, Kid became incredibly, and uncharacteristically, hyper.

Maka drifted over, with more drinks, pressing them into her friends hands. The three began to laugh and chat about the party.

A little while off, Patty had accepted one more paid for drink from the guy she was talking to, before treating him to a slap for a tactless comment, and accepting a dance offer from a different student.

Meanwhile, Tsubaki, tired of maneuvering with her long skirt, tore the troublesome thing off, so that it was a mere foot long. She was in a heated make out session with one of the random guys she was with, when she was interrupted belligerently by Black Star, who threatened the other student to beat him within an inch of his life if he caught him around Tsubaki again, before dragging his weapon away to get something to drink.

The party was really heating up, as two guys got in a fight over something.

Soul glanced over and saw it was the same student trying to pawn witchcraft items off to others. Apparently, one guy didn't agree with the price he was offered. Soul watched with mild interest, though it was hard to distinguish the fight when the room seemed to be tilting. Then the fight turned ugly, as the selling student's friend transformed into a large mace, and the guy who was buying called his girlfriend over, who turned into a saber.

One of the people working at the club was able to break up the fight before anyone got seriously hurt, and Soul turned his attention to the dance floor.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of what he saw. That couldn't be Maka and Kid, wrapped in an embrace on the dance floor. But no matter of eye rubbing could make the image fade.

Something in the depth of Kid's mind wondered what he was doing, but that part was being suffocated by alcohol. He had gone through his completely hyper faze, and was now in a bleary haze, which obscured any and all reason.

Maka was wrapped up with some guy. Blinking she noticed stripes, and guessed it was Kid. It didn't matter, really. Most of the kid's at the party were too drunk to recognize anyone, and Maka was amongst them.

"Yo, Kid!"

Kid felt himself torn away from Maka. He turned to see Soul glaring in his face.

"Whater you doin wiz Maka!" Soul yelled.

Kid blinked, before striking Soul hard across the face.

Soul fell to the ground, before jumping up. "Now you're asking for it!" Soul roared, arm transforming into a scythe.

The two boys turned to face each other, while others gathered around to watch the fight.

In the back, the manager arrived. He had been out shortly, leaving one of his employees in charge.

"How're things going?" The manager asked.

The employee looked someone nervous. "Another fight's broken out, but I can't get to the two aggressors."

The manager frowned. "Another? Why would the kids' be fighting?"

One glance into the main room of the club explained it. Just one sniff of the alcohol reeking room.

He smacked his employee up the side of the head. "You idiot! This party is for the students at the academy! Why the hell are you selling hard alcohol?"

The other man looked abashed. "I figured it'd get more attention, and sell more."

The manager glowered, and was about to yell at the employee when he saw a flash of magic on the floor where the fight was taking place.

He paled. Death magic. That meant one of two things. Either Death was here, or his son was. Though the former was unlikely, the latter was worse.

What would Lord Death do to the club that sold his son all this? What if he was hurt badly in the fight?

Quickly, he made his way out into the crowd, yelling threats to inform the authorities if the kid's didn't leave now.

These words, once the students were able to decipher them, had a magical effect.

The students fled the scene, not wanting to get in serious trouble.

Within minutes, the club was evacuated.

The manager could only hope that the students would be tight lipped about this, because there was no way any of the parents wanted their children here. Especially Lord Death.

The children ran out and dispersed around the town.

Many didn't want to go home yet, so they took to the streets with what drinks they still had.

Maka wasn't one of them, and headed home, still wondering why they had left so quickly.

Kid, who had once again changed moods, was now feeling sicker than he had ever before, and he stumbled home, passing out in the bushed in front of Gallows Manor.

Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty had stayed with a large group of partying teens, and, as soon as one turned on music from his car, the group started partying again.

Black Star and Soul decided to forget the party, and decided that nothing would be better right now than to vandalize some houses with 'permanent paint'.

So the two brain dead teens head down the street, sloshing paint at the walls, and failing horribly at writing their names on the walls, only managing splotches.

Then they decided that paint outdoors was alright, but defacing the interior of people's houses would be infinitely better.

So they crashed into the first house they saw, only to be chased out by the owners.

They ran for a while, still drinking a few bottles they had taken from the partying group in the streets, trying to lose their pursuer.

Once they were sure, they broke into the next house they encountered.

This one was vacant, and unbelievably large. And also somewhat familiar, but they couldn't quite place why.

Black Star tripped nearly the instant they got in, sloshing paint all over Soul.

"Dammit! Now you're gonna get it!" Soul slurred, throwing a fistful of paint at Black Star, who stumbled, missing the paint, and ran from the room, throwing taunts over his shoulder.

Soul ran after him, and the two boys spent the next half hour throwing paint at each other, getting it, literally, all over the house they had broken into.

But soon, as it always does, the effects of the alcohol began to wear off. And as the supply of paint ran out, the two boys decided to head home.

As they stumbled out the unlocked door of Gallows Manor, it started to rain.

This rain woke up Kid, who blinked blearily a few yards away. He crawled into the entrance hall of his house, through the door which had just been opened.

He didn't notice the paint stains all over his house, instead, he once again passed out in the front hall.

Meanwhile, Patty and Liz had left the party when it started to rain, and the girls trudged up to the academy, and spent the night there, too drunk to find their way home.

Soul stumbled through the streets, until he recognized his house, and abandoned Black Star with the hopes of getting some sleep.

Black Star didn't even notice his friend was gone.

He just kept trudging around, somewhat aroused by the rain, which had washed all traces of paint off the boys and the walls they had thrown paint at.

He passed by a parked car, filled with partiers, who had climbed in to avoid the rain.

Through his stupor, Black Star recognized Tsubaki, and, after dragging her out of the car, the two found their house, and promptly passed out.

As all members of their little group slept, the rain, thunder, and lightning poured outside.

It was ironic how this storm was truly the calm before an even greater storm.

A storm which would turns friends against each other, one which would lead to imprisonments, attacks, betrayal, punishments, and leave Death City in flames.

AN: Hey! So this is my first Soul Eater fanfic, and I have a few notes to make. Basically, it's gonna be slightly AU. I haven't finished watching the show, so I don't know much about the continuity. Example: In my story, A is evil, and B is alive, even though in the show, A didn't turn evil until after B died. If that makes any sense. If I'm just totally off base on any assumption, PM or review it to me.

Thanks! Please review, and enjoy the story!

PS: due to the fact that I am busy often and am working on ten other stories, don't hold your breath waiting for updates, but don't count them off altogether.