Kid's Resolve


He wasn't sure how to think of her, at first. She was supposed to be his playmate while her father was having a meeting with Kid's "chichiue", Shinigami-sama. Death the Kid wasn't exactly sure if he wanted a playmate or not. But if his chichiue wished it, then he was more than willing to comply. But he wondered what he should say. After all, he hadn't had a playmate since he was a baby. Kid looked at the blond haired girl shyly.

"Um... hello," he said "So, you're Alice, right."

The girl nodded.

"And your, um... Death the Kid?"

Kid nodded. There was a long pause between the two four year olds. What to do, he thought. He started thinking of ways he could play with her. There was always hide and seek, or tag. But he would probably have to show her the mansion first, that way she would know her way around. But before he could speak, Kid noticed that Alice had pulled a book from under the chair she was sitting on. He became curious as to what exactly she was reading. He stood up out of his own chair and walked over to her side.

"What're you reading?" he asked

"A picture book." said Alice

"What of?"

"Symmetry."

"Huh?"

"Symmetry."

"What's that?"

"It's a form of art. Wanna see?"

"Sure."

She handed over the book to him, his eyes filled with interest. As he began to flip through the pages, a strange feeling crept inside of him; one that he had never felt in his life before. It was... mesmerizing. Almost... enchanting. It made him feel happy inside. Never before had he seen such beauty in art. His yellow eyes gleamed as his smile grew.

"Umm..." said Alice "Are you okay?"

"Alice," said Kid "This... this is... This is FANTASTIC!! WONDERFUL!! Oh, what did you call this gift from God?!"

"Symmetry."

"Symmetry!! A majestic name for a majestic form of art! Alice, tell me, is there more of this 'symmetry' out there?"

"Uh... huh," Alice nodded slowly "I think I saw some in your house."

"REALLY?! Show me! Show me!"

Kid then grabbed Alice's hand and began dragging her around the mansion, searching for items that were completely symmetrical. He dragged her through the hallways, the bedrooms and even the bathrooms. Whenever they found something completely symmetrical, they would stare at it for five minutes, then move on to find another symmetrical object. Never before had he been this excited in his life. It was like taking a small child to Disneyland for the first time.

After some time, the two stumbled upon a painting in the living room that caught Kid's eye. It wasn't because of the symmetry, though. It was because of the candles in front of it that disrupted the symmetry. There four candles; two on each side of the painting. The two smaller candles in front of the two bigger candles weren't perfectly aligned, causing Kid to cringe and glare at them.

"What's wrong, Kid?" asked Alice

"Those candles..." said Kid "They aren't perfectly aligned. It's throwing off the symmetry."

"Can you fix it?"

"I would if I could, but then, by cutting off the top of the candle, I would throw off the symmetry even more. Besides, chichiue always has the knife cabinets with child-proof locks on."

There was a long moment of silence. Kid slowly walked over to the corner of the room and sat in the fetal position. He then began bawl loudly, in the manner that a four year old child would. As he was crying, he could feel Alice's gaze pierce through his skull, but he chose to ignore it.

"I'm a trash-like being!" he sobbed "A filthy swine! I... I'll DIE!!"

He heard Alice's footsteps move towards him. A moment later, he felt her hand pet his head as if he were a dog. He sniffed as he lifted his head to see her. She was smiling. He didn't understand why. He thought that he didn't do anything to make her smile. So why was she smiling, he wondered. He wiped his eyes, confused.

"I don't think you're trash," said Alice "I think you're funny."

"You... don't think I'm trash?" asked Kid

"Nope! If you were trash, you'd smell bad!"

Feeling cheered up, Kid smiled and stood up, wiping the tears away from his eyes.

"Sorry about that," he said, holding out his hand "C'mon! Let's play a game."

"So it is agreed then?" asked the Prime Minister of England, Francis Wright

"Of course!" said Shinigami in his usual cheerful voice "I'm sure Alice-chan would make a perfect wife for Kid."

From the courtyard behind the house, the Death God looked at the window to see the two children running around the house. He assumed they were playing a game of tag. Now, if Shinigami had a human face, you would be able to tell that he was smiling. He was glad to see that his own son was having fun with his new friend. It was a shame that the Wrights would have to depart soon, as it was nearly nighttime and it would be bedtime for the children.

"See?" said Shinigami "They're getting along already!"

"So it would seem." commented the Prime Minister

Then, Shinigami felt a chill run through his body; he sensed something. For some reason, the amount of souls inside the house started decreasing at a rather moderate rate. It was strange, as his servants would have told him whether or not they were leaving. And what was even more strange was that he felt some sort of dark aura in the house. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard from above. The two looked up and saw that, on the third story, one of the windows shattered and a figure was falling down to the ground. When it landed on the ground, creating a large pool of blood, the two men rushed to the body's side.

"Oi!" shouted the Prime Minister

"Are you alright?!" asked Shinigami simultaneously

The Prime Minister flipped the body over to find a horrible sight. It was a woman no older than thirty years old with a hole as wide as a basketball in her chest. Shinigami instantly recognized her as Lucy, one of the housekeepers. Prime Minister Wright stumbled backwards in fear while Shinigami merely gaped, surprised by what he saw.

"It wasn't a suicide..." exclaimed the Prime Minister "It was an execution!"

Suddenly they heard a loud crash, which caused them to both turn around towards the mansion.

"Call an ambulance, Francis-kun." said Shinigami as he made his way inside

"But what about you?!" asked Francis "You're not thinking of going in there by yourself, are you?! Shouldn't we call the police?! And what about the children?!"

Shinigami merely laughed.

"Again, you forget who I am." he said in a jovial tone, almost singing

"This is perfect!" Death the Kid said to himself "Alice will never find me in here! Plus, this wardrobe is very balanced when it comes to symmetry."

He then covered his mouth.

"Oops, I shouldn't speak too loud," he whispered aloud "It'll ruin the game if she finds me before I can hide."

After a few minutes of settling into the wardrobe, he waited patiently for Alice to find him in their game of hide and seek. It was rather dark in the room due to the sun setting, but he wasn't afraid. After a moment, he heard soft footsteps walking into the room. Kid tried not to giggle from excitement. Alice was in the room. All she had to do was find him and tag him and it would be his turn to be 'it'. That is, if she could catch him first.

Kid then heard another set of feet enter the room.

"Oh, Kiiiiid..." called a familiar voice "Where are you?"

Kid blinked, confused. It was Alice's voice. But he could've sworn that the first set of feet belonged to her. He then felt a sensation through his body that he had never felt before. He couldn't tell what it was though. But he knew that something was amiss. Alice slowly made her way over to the wardrobe. When Kid opened his mouth to try to warn her that something was wrong, he saw a hand come from out of the shadows, turned Alice towards the shadows, and, with another hand, stabbed into her chest. She opened her mouth to scream in both pain and fear, but nothing escaped from her except blood and tears.

Her blood poured onto the wooden floor. Kid gasped in horror, his eyes shooting wide open. The hand then ripped out a glowing, sky blue sphere from her body as she collapsed to the floor; this object Kid recognized as her soul. Shocked he stumbled backward into the back of the closet. When he came to the back, he felt something hard against his back. He reached back, feeling the object behind him. It was rather large and felt like metal. He turned around and squinted as to see better in the darkness. After a few minutes, he could tell it was a sword; one of his father's collections, he assumed. He then realized that he had to do something. He couldn't let the person behind this attack get away. He felt he would be insulting his father's name if he didn't do something.

When he heard the figure who had ripped out Alice's soul walk away while eating her soul, Kid, with fierce determination, quickly grabbed the sword and bolted out of the wardrobe. It was rather heavy, so he was forced to drag it out. As soon as he saw the perpetrator, a tall, extremely skinny man with a bald head wearing a simple gray t-shirt and a pair of green pants, he let out a battle cry and began running up to the culprit, dragging the sword behind him. But right when Kid had reached him, the bald man raised his arm at him, his arm changing into a ebony black vine with thorns on it.

The bald man swung his thorn-like vine arm at the boy, scratching his cheek. He then turned his other arm into a thorn-like vine and grabbed Kid by the arms, making him drop his sword. Kid then felt the thorns growing and piercing his flesh and bone. He screamed out in pain. Never in his life had he felt such a cold yet burning feeling. The thorns quickly grew so long, that not only did they go through both of his arms, but they pierced his organs as well (thankfully, none of the organs were vital). The thorns then swiftly returned to their original size and the bald man threw Kid across the room into a wall.

Kid bounced off the wall and fell face flat onto the floor, with a small pool of blood forming around him. As he heard the bald man slowly walking towards him, he vision began to grow blurrier and blurrier. He assumed it was because he got thrown against a wall. He tried to get up, but his wounds screamed at him, begging him not to, and instead ended up rolling onto his back. He felt that it was here he would die. He would never see his father, the servants or anyone again. But he was sure he would meet Alice in the afterlife. He squinted, waiting for the final blow to come. But instead, he heard a familiar voice.

"SHINIGAMI CHOP!!!"

On "chop", Shinigami landed a chop on the back of the head of the bald man, sending him face flat on to the floor. He then picked up the Kishin Egg by the legs and began swinging him against the wall. He was enraged; no, he was more than enraged. He was pissed. Words could not describe the rage he felt inside. After he battered the Kishin Egg's body, Shinigami threw him to the ground, then picked him up by the neck, choking him.

"So," said Shinigami bitterly, in his original voice "We meet at last, Briar."

Briar struggled in the Death God's grasped, gasping for air.

"Originally, I had organized a mission for a meister and weapon to take your soul," Shinigami continued "But since you were so kind enough to enter our domicile, WITHOUT permission, I'll kill you instead."

Shinigami then sent shock waves throughout Briar's body, causing the Kishin Egg to scream and struggle. He then exploded in a bright light, which soon faded into a floating crimson red sphere. Shinigami grabbed the Kishin Egg's soul, glaring at it. He then heard a small voice from across the room.

"Chi...chiue..." said Kid weakly

Shinigami looked up, the expression on his mask quickly changing from anger to a mix of shock and sorrow. He was horrified to find his only son's body battered. Still clutching the soul, he rushed over to his son and kneeled beside him, gently lifting up the boy's body into his arm with his free hand.

"Kid..." Shinigami said softly

Kid smiled at his father as he fell unconscious. Shinigami looked at the sphere in his other hand and his mask once again twisted into a mask of fury.

"Any Kishin Egg that dares harm my son..." he said tightening his grip around the soul, shattering it into millions of tiny pieces "Their soul... is not worth keeping."

Kid stirred, slowly opening his bright yellow eyes. He realized that he was in his bed in his room. Though his wounds protested it, he slowly sat up, looking around. He noticed that over by the window his chichiue was standing there, looking out the window. Kid then looked at his clothes and realized that he was in his pajamas. Noticing that he felt something soft against his arm, he pulled his sleeves up slowly and found bandages tied to it. He was alive. He remembered then that his father had saved him. But what happened to Alice, he wondered. He turned his head towards his father.

"Chichiue." he said

"Oh!" said Shinigami, joyously, turning around "Good morning, sleepy head! You know, you gave everyone quite a scare, even me, to be honest. You knocked out for a whole week! By the way, I really, don't think you should be sitting up yet. You should probably rest some more."

"Chichiue... where's Alice? What happened to her?"

The expression on Shinigami's mask shifted to a sad face. He walked over to Kid's bedside and sat on the edge of the of the bed, placing one of his flat hands on his son's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Kid." he said with sorrow

"She's... dead then?"

Shinigami nodded. Kid sadly looked down. She was gone... he had only known her one day and they became best friends. Now, she was gone from his life forever. But then he thought about his father. His father was one of, if not, the most powerful meister in the world. Souls were his specialty. He began to wonder. He looked back up at his father with his eyes full of hope.

"Then... you can bring her back!"

"Huh?" asked Shinigami, looking confused

"You can use your powers to make her live again! Can't you?"

Again, Shinigami made a sad face.

"Even gods have their limits, my son."

Once more, Kid looked down in sadness. He clenched the covers of his bed. It wasn't fair, he thought. Tears filled up his youthful eyes. He felt terrible that he couldn't do anything to save her. He felt that because he didn't do anything, that he let both Alice and Shinigami down. He was the son of Shinigami; the one who would take on the burden of this era. He was supposed to save her, not let her die.

"I should have done something." Kid muttered

"Aw, Kid," commented Shinigami "There was nothing you could have done. You didn't know."

"But I should have! Alice is dead because I didn't know that that...thing was there!"

Kid wiped his eyes to prevent the tears from falling out. He then looked to his father with desperation.

"Please!" he begged "I wanna become a meister just like you!"

Shinigami looked at him, surprised.

"I... when you held me after you killed that guy... I was thinking. People shouldn't have to suffer like Alice did. I... I want to be strong and help people. Just like you. Please, teach me everything you know!"

Kid noticed that there were tears forming in his father's eyes; tears of joy. Suddenly, he felt Shinigami's arms wrap around him into a hug. Kid didn't understand why he was doing that. All he did was simply request that he learn from his father about being a meister.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day." Shinigami said warmly

"So, you don't mind that I become a meister?" asked Kid

"It doesn't matter to me what you do in life. Just as long as you know this: Chichiue will always love you."

Kid felt a strange yet comforting feeling in his heart. It urged him to hug his father back, which he did. The two hugged for the longest time, savoring each and every moment.