Chapter 2: To Fear

Red. It was everywhere. Flooding his senses, pouring down through the cracks that had formed in the once empty abyss of his sleep. Like water, it trickled down and began to pool at his feet. The levels rose rapidly, a sickly perfume accompanying the crimson red liquid. Or was it a liquid? It was thick, almost impossible to move through. Sticky. Hot. A burning crimson red.

Panic gripped Death the Kid when he realised exactly how dense and copious the red was. He had to get out of here quickly, and return to the sanctuary of the darkness he called home. The black was so much more comforting than red.

The levels continued to rise, and now he found he was submerged up to his knees in the substance. Gritting his teeth, he tried desperately to move his legs and wade out of it, away from the overwhelming colour. But it was everywhere. He couldn't move. His limbs were growing heavy with the weight of the substance, which was stuck on him like demented leeches.

In a moment of irrational fear, Kid began to thrash around in a desperate attempt to dislodge himself from the vice-like grip of the scarlet which was smothering his senses. His thrashing only seemed to make things worse however, as the levels continued to rise. He was struggling to keep his head above the sea of red now, as it crawled upwards and lapped away at his neck. Desperate gulps for air were made. Then, suddenly, he felt something tighten around his leg before he was dragged under, into the depths.

"Why do you try to resist?"

Golden eyes widened and a silent scream was released as the crimson flooded into his mouth and lungs. He couldn't breathe. But the more he panicked, the more his body felt like lead. He was being dragged down, further and further by the thing with its shackling grip on his leg…

"You're foolish to think you could ever get away from me."

The voice which resonated around the ocean of vermilion rang out clearly, its chilling tone echoing in the ears of the drowning boy. In fear, he continued to thrash around, kicking his leg to try and loosen the grip which held on so tightly. If he could somehow loosen it and swim upwards again, maybe, just maybe, he could escape…

"There's no escaping me…"

A sharp pull had the young reaper plummeting through the crimson world even deeper. Any hope of reaching the surface was quashed in an instant. The force was much stronger than he was. His heavy limbs were protesting too much when he tried to move them, and at the rapid rate he was plummeting like a stone, they would not respond before he reached the bottom.

"Stop fighting and just accept it."

Suddenly, Kid had stopped falling. In fact, he was on his feet once more. The red still surrounded him, but it now felt less dense, and emptier than earlier. A gasp tumbled out of his throat when he became conscious of the fact that he could breathe again. Just when he had regained his composure, happy of the fact he was back on his two feet, his leg was yanked harshly. The movement caused him to fall onto his side with a pained yelp. When he tried to stand once again, he realised he was being held down by whatever had grabbed his leg. Panic surged within him. As he tried to pull away, nails clawing at and scratching along the ground in desperation, the boy finally sat up just enough to catch a glimpse of what was tied around his ankle and pinning him down in such an undignified manner.

A scarf.

A scarf made of flesh.

The scream erupted from his vocal chords before he could bite down on his tongue to stop its rapid escape as suddenly, he was enveloped by the scarves. They appeared out of nowhere, seemingly springing up from nothing to hold down his thrashing limbs against the ground. The boy continued to scream as they tightened around his body. Voicing his horror in such a way was damaging his pride and dignity. His father would have been disappointed to see him trembling in fear as he was now, screaming and begging for help as he continued trying to scramble far away. His fingers were bleeding now, the scratching and clawing from his terror-induced state having broken the skin and nails. Yet he didn't seem to notice. Like prey caught in a hunter's net, he was unable to recognise the fact that the more he struggled, the more tangled he became. For with each movement he made, the more the scarves tightened, squeezing his small figure.

Please, someone! Get me out of here!

"Whatever happens, I will find you."

He froze as a shadow loomed over him. Still bound by the scarves of skin, the victim struggled to cock his head back in order to get a view of who this other figure was. But, he was just about able to move enough to see.

A manic smile of rotting teeth met his eyes, which were widening in panic. The figure of insanity which now towered over him was leaning down to study its prey; that grin of his growing wide enough to split his face in two. Kid shuddered, unable to move or scream any more. His voice had left him the moment he had laid eyes of the Kishin. That Demon God was now bending down to move his face closer to the boy, so much so that Kid could feel a few splatters of drool land on his face. Repulsed, he cringed in disgust as the being of madness brought his face even closer. One of his calloused, rotting hands reached down to the trapped boy to brush his fingers through the feathery hair of ebony adorned with ivory white, in a manner which was almost tender. It made Kid tense up and try to pull his head away. The Kishin didn't seem to care – it simply continued to leer down at the boy. His lips were right beside Kid's ear a breath later, and a chilling voice whispered:

"You belong with me."

Kid awoke from his nightmare with a start; heartbeat pounding in his ears and a cold sweat prickling the back of his neck. The boy took in a shuddering breath, inhaling a deep lungful of air in order to try and calm his nerves, before releasing the tension with an exhale. Seven more breaths were taken, until the adrenaline which had been pumping through his body simmered down into nothing. Having collected himself once more, Kid finally trailed his gaze over to the clock on his wall, before groaning in frustration.

Apparently, that nightmare of his had woken him up after only a few minutes of attempted slumber. It looked as though tonight would be another restless one where he would drift into sleep, only to be awakened by another nightmare. Kid hated it.

Two weeks. It had been two fucking weeks since the night of the DWMA's anniversary ball, two weeks since the Kishin had escaped Death City. Two weeks since Kid had got a decent night's sleep. He'd been keeping count – in the past fortnight, Kid had only managed to get five hours, thirty-eight minutes and fifteen seconds of sleep. His perfectionism demanded him to keep a rigorous tally since the nightmares had started. Granted, Grim Reapers didn't necessarily need sleep (they were nocturnal beings after all), and Kid was positive that his father never slept. Unfortunately for Kid, he was yet to become a full reaper. His immature human body still demanded a few basic necessities of mortals, even if he could last much longer on the bare minimum. But even so, two weeks of only five hours of sleep was taking its toll on the boy.

Kid released a heavy sigh and flopped backwards to lie back down on his soft mattress. The springs beneath gave a slight squeak as more weight was applied to them, but the noise didn't bother the boy. His golden eyes were staring straight at the ceiling above, focused through the dark. The honey-coloured irises were glowing in the night, allowing Kid's enhanced vision to make out every single crack and crevice on the ceiling above. Trying to calm his nerves and diverge his thoughts away from the nightmares, he began to count every single minute discrepancy in the paintwork.

…twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four…

"You belong with me."

No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, the voice continued echoing in the very depths of Kid's mind. A shudder prickled down his spine, gaze slipping away from the ceiling to stare out of his bedroom window instead. Through a crack in his curtains which had allowed the faintest sliver of moonlight to slip through and pool on the floorboards, Kid could see the night sky and the threatening profile of the sinister moon. The sky was streaked with red; the Kishin's madness wavelength slowly polluting the atmosphere.

The Kishin. Kid couldn't understand why, but he had been unable to get the demon out of his head for the past fortnight. Those blood-red eyes had been following him everywhere, he had seen the manic smile lurking in every shadow he passed, and sometimes Death the Kid was positive he could hear laughter echoing in the spaces around him. Then, every night, the Kishin would be there in his dreams, his nightmares. That bastard was plaguing him to the extent that Kid no longer even wanted to close his eyes. The moment he would, that leering face would appear out of the darkness once again.

Was the Kishin targeting Kid specifically, sending him these reoccurring nightmares? And for what purpose? To scare the son of his enemy? If that was what he was aiming for, then Asura was succeeding.

"Damn," Kid gritted his teeth in frustration and rolled onto his side, his back now facing the window. The nightmares must have just been a side effect induced by the madness wavelength. That was what he wanted to believe. Just like the magnetic pull which had surfaced when he had first encountered the Kishin weeks ago; that same feeling which, although faint now, was still niggling at him at that very moment.

Kid could only hope that the Kishin would be found and recaptured soon. Maybe that would finally put his mind at rest.

Everyone knew something was wrong with Kid. Liz's suspicions had been confirmed when she caught her meister one night, wandering around Gallows Mansion in order to check the alignment of the portraits which hung in the hallways. Well, that was what he had told her. But she had known; seen it on the smile he had given her which didn't quite reach his eyes; that he was being untruthful. So as not to worry her, probably. Liz Thompson had just known it wasn't simply Kid's OCD keeping him awake. He hadn't been sleeping at all. Something was bothering him, even if he denied it.

Kid always was a terrible liar.

Whatever it was had been having a noticeable effect on the boy. His friend's certainly weren't stupid; they knew something was wrong even when he brushed their inquiries into his wellbeing aside. The adolescent seemed paler than usual, whilst his eyes had lost their usual shine. Kid had become nervous, skittish. Any slight irregularity, a misplaced noise or a shadow darting by, had him on edge. The future Lord Death, next in line for the title of Grim Reaper, was much more jumpy than usual.

Initially, Black*Star had mocked him, boasting loudly that he had clearly been able to surpass God, seeing as said God had been reduced to a nervous wreck. Tsubaki had reprimanded him for that. Kid, however, hadn't reacted to the assassin's taunts in the slightest. Not even a single sarcastic or snide remark was thrown back. This was when everyone noticed that something was truly, seriously wrong.

It had been like this ever since the Kishin had escaped. Of course, Liz could understand why that would eat Kid up a bit. Knowing her meister, he felt like he had failed his duties as a reaper by being unable to prevent Asura's reawakening. But… there was more to it than that. Everyone else had been making an effort to try and put it behind them and move on. Kid on the other hand was stuck in a rut. No matter how much Patty and Liz had tried to comfort him, they were unable to pull him out of his slump. Kid began spending most of his time alone, locked up in the school library, avoiding his friends. The elder Thompson sister couldn't bear to see her meister in this state.

However, it was during Professor Stein's most recent class that she and a few of her friends noticed that Kid wasn't the only one with a problem.

Nobody had really noticed before that Maka Albarn had been avoiding Death the Kid for the past two weeks. Seeing as he was doing his best to keep himself to himself, it just hadn't really become apparent. Not until Stein announced one class that he wanted to try out a technique with his students – chain resonance.

Naturally, a group had been made of Black*Star, Maka Albarn, Death the Kid, and their weapon partners. After all, they were all close friends who had proven that they worked well together, particularly when trying to stop the revival of the Kishin. Even if they had failed, the mission had shown that those seven students were compatible with each other. Matching their soul wavelengths shouldn't have been much of a problem in the overall scheme of things, even if Black*Star's colossal ego could have potentially hindered them.

Black*Star wasn't the problem when they attempted to resonate, however. In fact, the group didn't even get to truly attempting the chain resonance.

"Professor Stein, I'm sorry, but I refuse to be in a group with Kid."

Just like that, those words destroyed everything. Maka's declaration had stunned everyone into silence (all except Kid, who just appeared to be completely unfazed by the female meister). But, that was that. Maka's statement shattered the group in a matter of seconds. She refused to answer even Soul about what her problem with Lord Death's son was. When Stein had made it clear that he wasn't intending to change the groups around, the scythe meister simply left the class without warning, leaving a bunch of very confused teenagers behind.

That was what caused them to meet at the milkshake bar for an emergency meeting after school that day – Soul, Tsubaki, Black*Star, Liz and Patty. The five teens were currently gathered around a cramped table in deep discussion about what to do about their two friends.

Well, Soul, Liz and Tsubaki seemed to be taking the whole matter seriously. Black*Star and Patty were too busy guzzling down a giant chocolate milkshake each to fully pay attention to what was being discussed.

"I just don't get it," Soul grumbled. "That was so uncool and totally unlike Maka. I always thought that she and Kid got along alright."

"Did they have a fallout recently?" injected Tsubaki, her helpful suggesting simply earning a shake of Soul's head in reply. Apparently, things had been fine between them, right up until the Kishin's escape. And since then… well… the two hadn't exactly spent time together anyway. They couldn't have had an argument.

Liz glanced at her perfectly manicured nails and chewed on her lip in thought, easily blocking out Black*Star's obnoxious laughter and Patty's giraffe song in the background. Those two really weren't helping in trying to find out what the problem was. They probably just tagged along for the milkshakes.

"We should confront Maka about it directly. I mean, it was just plain rude of her to act like that, if you ask me."

Tsubaki blinked at her blonde friend's blunt comment, before releasing a soft sigh. "We also need to try and confront Kid again as well, then. He's been acting so out of character recently."

"Tell me about it," Liz snorted in reply. "The other day, he walked right passed Patty's pigsty of a room and didn't even stop to freak out over how "unsymmetrical" and untidy it was. Hell, I haven't even seen him react to any comments about those lines in his hair recently either!"

That was clearly the most conclusive proof that there was a serious issue here.

"Hah! Kid's probably just trying to come to terms with the fact I'm the biggest star there ever was, and that I'm surpassing him!"

"Shut up, Black*Star."

Leaning back in his chair, Soul let out a tired sigh, muttering something under his breath about the ninja's actions being uncool, before asking the group:

"So, does anyone have any ideas about how we'll get Maka and Kid to talk to each other, then?"

Suddenly, Patty bolted upright from her seat, knocking her chair down in the process. One fist was thrown up in the air triumphantly, an excited yet menacing gleam shimmering in her azure eyes.

"I know, I know!" the girl yelled at the top of her lungs, which caused all the other customers in the place to turn around and glare at the hyperactive blonde. Under their accusing stares, Tsubaki fidgeted uncomfortably, whilst Liz had her face buried in her palm and Soul was muttering again (this time about how he was "far too cool to associate with these people"). Patty, however, was completely unfazed by the disapproving glowers directed at her, and instead continued just as loudly. "Why don't we lock them both in a closet and leave them in there until they figure something out! And we can drug them with a truth serum! And hold their dads hostage so they have to tell the truth! Or if those don't work, we can use other methods and make them talk…"

Her words deliberately trailed off then, and an oppressive and threatening atmosphere suddenly hung in the milkshake bar. All the onlookers quickly turned away in fear of the rather… psychotic looking girl, who seemed to be busy formulating how exactly they would "make their friends talk" in her head. All the while, she wore a grin which could have rivalled the Kishin's in creepy-ness.

Liz simply groaned at her younger sister, too used to this sort of behaviour to be fazed by it. "No, Patty, we're not doing that." Tsubaki couldn't help but muse at that stage about what was scarier – Patty's earlier comment, or the fact Liz knew what she was talking about. "Although… maybe we could do the closet thing…?"

Now it was the turn of the older Thompson sister to stand up abruptly, mirroring exactly what Patty had done moments earlier and similarly knocking her own stool down with the sudden movement. "Yes! That settles it!" her declaration was a rather triumphant one, which was met with uncomfortable stares from Soul and Tsubaki. Neither really liked the sound of where this was going. "Soul!"

The tall girl moved to point at the scythe in question, jabbing her finger right at his nose dramatically and making the poor guy go cross-eyed. "We need you to lure Maka into a trap of some sorts. Tell her you need help studying in the library or something. Meanwhile, Patty and I will contact Kid and say that we've got a mission, and that he should meet us at the DWMA. Now, this is where you guys will come in!" She spun around, this time to point her finger in the direction of a bemused Tsubaki and her just-as-baffled meister. "You two are going to be waiting for those two idiots, and the moment they both enter the DWMA, we need you to shove them in the nearest closet or storeroom and lock them in until they figure out whatever the hell is wrong with them!"

At that point, both Thompson sisters began cackling manically, whilst Black*Star started yelling about how an awesome God like him could just punch some sense into the two other meisters rather than wasting his time hanging around school after hours for them to show up. Of course, Tsubaki was trying to calm and quiet her partner down, though her timid voice was easily drowned out by his obnoxious laughter, thus fell completely on deaf ears. Poor girl. It didn't help that the sisters were still laughing, loud enough that Soul couldn't even hear his own thoughts.

It was a miracle that something was eventually able to silence the rowdy group. Nobody would have expected it to be the sound of someone clearing their throat, however. Yet somehow, the sound resonated loudly enough to instantly hush the entire gathering.

"What's this about locking Maka and I in one of the academy's storerooms?"

Everyone froze, their blood running cold. Time seemed to stand still for a moment; nobody dared move a muscle or release a single breath. Tumble weed rolled by in the background. Crickets chirped.

Eventually, Liz swallowed and turned her head to face the exact person they had just been discussing. Death the Kid stood there with his hands in his pockets and a blank expression on his paler-than-usual face, observing the group with dull eyes. When he spoke again, his tone was cold and robotic, voice totally void of even the faintest a hint of emotion.

"Liz. Patty. We have to go now," he stated, making no other comment towards his friend's earlier antics. "Father has assigned us a mission. Might as well hurry up and get it over with."

And with that, Kid turned on his heels and left the café, leaving the group of five other teenagers stunned into silence. They glanced at each other momentarily, before Liz and Patty stepped away from the table, following after their meister and making their way to leave the milkshake bar.

"Hey, Soul," Liz called out over her shoulder as she paused in the doorway, grabbing the albino's attention with her much more serious tone. "Try and find out what's up with Maka. We'll sort it all out when we get back, 'kay?" Soul simply nodded in response, which was met with a half-smile from Liz. With a tilt of her cowboy hat and a wink over her shoulder, she was gone, Patty skipping along behind her.

It was night time when three students emerged from a portal of shadows, entering a deserted village in Ireland which was falling to ruin. According to Lord Death, the Kishin's madness wavelength had caused an odd spike in paranormal activity in the area. The village before this one had made reports of a strange presence and people going missing. Then, one day, everyone vanished. It seemed as though this village had followed a similar fate not so long after – the streets and buildings were completely empty. There was not a single sign of life nor any hints of any souls remaining, and it looked as though a witch or an "evil human" (otherwise known as a pre-kishin) had caused this odd event. That was why Death the Kid had been sent along with the Thompson sisters to investigate.

"Man, this place is creepy," Liz whined, shivering as she wrapped her arms around herself. The wind howled through the empty homes like a banshee cry, which caused the dirty-blonde girl to scream and jump right out of her skin. Of course, her reaction simply earned a bout of hysterical laughter from Patty and an eye-roll from Kid.

"Calm down," he scolded whilst he continued to observe his surroundings. "If this was caused by a pre-kishin, there's a high chance it's still here. So, try not to alert it to our presence, please."

Liz instantly went quiet, closing her lips tightly to try and suppress her whimpers of fear. She really, really didn't like this place.

It was too quiet.

The darkness and shadows hung around them, their oppressive nature making the entire setting seem that much more macabre and bleak. Kid frowned, ushering the girls to follow him as he slipped into the shadows.

They roamed the streets in silence, Kid darting in and out of the darkness with his reaper abilities to make sure he was unseen, and to try and pick up on anything which might have been lurking in the gloom. Still, the deathly silence remained, and they couldn't find a trace of anything.

After what felt like hours of searching, Kid heaved a sigh of defeat and shook his head.

"Looks like whatever caused this has already left," he muttered with annoyance before glancing over his shoulder to his weapon partners. "We might as well get home and report to father–"

"So you finally made it~! Took you long enough."

The voice which cut Kid off was high pitched and sickly sweet. Instantly, Kid's head snapped up in the direction of where the voice had come from. Standing above the trio on the roof of one of the abandoned homes was a woman… of sorts. Her voluptuous body was white and completely bare, save for the red lines and Kishin marks which decorated her ivory flesh. A long, fur coat was the only item of clothing she wore, and it hung off her shoulders like a cape. Her mad eyes flashed in the dark as she grinned down at the shocked teens, waving at them innocently.

"Usually I'm a bit too shy to just introduce myself to strangers, but I heard from someone that you're very important!" Now the woman had her eyes focused on Kid, who snarled up at her when he realised exactly what she was.

"A clown," he growled, remembering what his father had told him. Apparently, eight hundred years ago when the Kishin Asura was at his prime, these beings named clowns were created from his madness and brought destruction along with them as they served their master. It was unsurprising that, now Asura had escaped, these beings had reappeared again. Knowing the threat, Kid instantly turned his attention back to the Thompson sisters, commanding: "Liz, Patty, weapon forms now!"

The girls nodded in unison, Patty giving him a cheeky salute before pink light engulfed them as they jumped up into the air. Kid caught them with ease after they transformed into two identical guns, now comfortably settled in the young reaper's hands. A flash sparked across his eyes as he turned once more, aiming the weapons up at the clown. She giggled at the sight, tilting her head to one side.

"Awh, that's a little mean. I haven't even had a chance to introduce myself, and you turn your weapons on me!" she sighed as though lamenting, before she was leaping down in a flash, her legs raised and aimed to kick Kid in the face as she drew closer. Kid instantly blocked the attack with Patty, using his other hand to fire a shot from Liz at his opponent. The clown gave a wide grin and darted back quickly, missing the bullet of his soul wavelength. "I'm Kaguya, by the way~" was all she said in response to his attack.

Kid felt his lips curl into a snarl as he launched himself at the female clown, firing repetitive shots from both of the guns. Kaguya easily dodged them, however, as she flitted about back and forth like an erratic butterfly, clearly trying to rile the boy up (and succeeding).

"You were the one that made all those people disappear, weren't you?!" Kid roared in anger as he continued firing and she repeatedly darted out of the way. Kaguya just giggled in response, making a cheeky comment about how hungry she had been, which only riled up the reaper even more.

His frustration was growing along with his anger when he realised that his usually perfect aim hadn't once hit the damn clown bitch at all. Clearly, he wasn't preforming his best in the slightest. His eyes twitched, a vein pulsing in his head as he adjusted his position to make another shot. But, suddenly, in a blur of white, Kaguya was in front of him and raising her leg. The kick hit him square in the jaw, knocking the boy back a few feet.

"Snap out of it, Kid!" Liz yelled in her gun form. She could sense her meister was lacking his usual form – his soul seemed tired. His lack of sleep was catching up on him and hindering his performance, but they couldn't let that get in the way now.

Just as Kid regained his footing, the clown pounced again and knocked the boy over onto the hard ground below. Kid winced and rolled to the side quickly, only just missing a ball of fire which Kaguya had tried to send down on him.

"Perfect," he muttered under his breath with a biting sarcasm. "She kicks and throws fire. How peachy."

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Liz was snapping again when the boy only just missed getting hit again by another ball of fire which had been sent hurtling in his direction. Patty was also growing anxious now, and she joined in with her sister's yelling.

"Get your ass moving, damn you!"

Taking the hint, Kid gathered up his dwindling energy and pulled himself to his feet. Spinning around in a flash and taking the clown by surprise, he began to fire a constant stream of bullets at the clown. The gunshots crashed loudly, resonating in the night as the spot Kaguya had been standing in was engulfed by a bright pink light. It looked like serious overkill on his part.

Eventually, the shots ceased and Kid lowered his two weapons, releasing a sigh.

"Did you get her?" Liz piped up again. The reaper didn't respond, simply waiting for the skull-shaped smoke to clear. When it did, there was no sign of the clown.

"…That seemed too easy." He frowned.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kid caught a flash of white darting away. Quickly spinning on his heels, the reaper raised his two weapons, aiming for the retreating figure and ready to fire. Kaguya smirked at him, giving her cheeky wave again over her shoulder.

"That was fun, reaper boy! But I'm afraid I have to go, especially seeing as someone more important than me wants to meet you now~!" she called out to Kid, who gritted his teeth in frustration. Damn her.

Just as his pinkies were about to squeeze on the triggers, he was alerted by his soul perception picking up another presence, which instantly cause him to freeze. Someone was watching him, he could sense it. The eyes were glued on the back of his head, causing him to break out in a cold sweat. It couldn't be…

"Kid!" he heard Liz yelling at him in her gun form. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Shoot her now!"

He blinked, letting a small growl escape him before rapidly firing at the fleeting woman. But, it was too late. She was already deep within the safety of the surrounding forests, the few shots made at her completely missing their target. Kid cursed under his breath and lowered his weapons, preparing himself to chase after through the shadows.

Suddenly, a tremendous force hit him from behind, striking across his back swiftly and causing him to drop his two weapons from the jolt of the blow. A cry of pain and shock tore from his throat as the force sent him flying across the street. He was thrown to the farthest end from where he had been standing, and smashed into the crumbling wall of one of the deserted houses with a sickening crunch, the force effectively knocking the wind out of him and causing him to slump to the ground below.

"KID!"

The sound of both Liz and Patty screaming for him in unison only just met his ears, their voices drowned out by the high-pitched ringing caused by the sheer strength of the blow. Kid groaned slightly and tried to pull himself up again, wincing as he felt his broken ribs cracking back into place so his body could begin to heal itself again.

The dark-haired boy managed to stand again, one hand on the wall behind him for support. As he blinked to try and clear his blurring vision, he caught sight of the two Thompson sisters, now in human form, rushing over to him. Both wore identical expressions of concern – blue eyes wide and beads of sweat glistening on their foreheads as they sprinted over.

It was then he caught sight of it; like a snake slithering up behind, waiting for the opportunity to strike its prey. The tendril slid out from a shadow, lurking right behind the two girls and taking aim. Kid's mouth fell and he took a shaking step forward, an anxious scream ripping out of his voice.

"LOOK OUT!"

Everything went in slow motion from that point on. Kid bent his knees and lurched ahead, towards his partners. His hands were reaching forward as he jumped, ready to shove the two girls out of the way of the threat. Both sisters had stopped at the sound of his voice, turning to look over their shoulder in fear. But it was too late. The tendril monstrosity swiped at the two, knocking them both over like they were bowling pins. Kid heard the two release an ear-splitting scream as they were thrown away, discarded like trash by the thing. In his panic, he halted instantly, and could do nothing more than watch in horror as both Liz and Patty were thrown like he had been, into a stone wall. Unlike him, however, the force would do much more harm to a human.

Their heads slammed into the brickwork before they both slid down and collapsed onto the street below, unconscious. Already, Kid could see a dark scarlet liquid pooling around their heads and matting their blonde hair.

He was frozen, petrified, unable to even scream. His body was in complete paralysis just from the horror of the scene which had just played out.

"Liz… Patty…" Kid finally managed to choke out, his eyes never once leaving the two girl's bodies. They were completely still. Neither one moved. Kid felt his stomach drop and the colour drain from his face. "No no no no…"

Finally, his brain seemed to kick into gear. The reaper took a step forward, about to rush over to the two so he could scoop them up in his arms and take them home as quickly as possible––!

Seemingly out of nowhere, a figure emerged from the shadows and stepped forward, standing right in front of the two downed girls. Kid stopped instantly, his heart going completely still in that instant as he held his breath.

The figure observed the boy silently as his tendrils… no… his scarves twisted and writhed around him. Kid's eyes widened when he realised the scarves were what had just attacked them, and he gulped when the reality of who was standing before him finally sunk in. Now it made sense – clearly Kaguya's actions had simply been a trap to lure the young reaper out. She'd kept him busy with her fight whilst waiting for this figure to make his appearance. And now, he'd arrived.

His attacker didn't make a single move towards him; he just stood there and let his face crack to reveal a grin of rotten teeth. Swaddled up in a large red shirt and long trousers, his layers and layers of scarves wrapped around his neck and face, completely enveloping him, the man was instantly recognisable. He tilted his head slightly to one side and let out a high-pitched giggle. Kid took one step back instinctively in fear. The madness wavelength emitting off his attacker was like a foul stench which made him want to heave and turn his face away. But his eyes were rooted on the figure in fear.

Kid was trembling now, unable to control his body. Another two steps were taken back when the man took one forward; a predator moving in closer to his prey.

Slowly, the Kishin Asura raised his long, bony hand and wiggled his fingers at the young reaper in a teasing wave. When he opened his mouth, the words which tumbled out were unsettlingly pleasant and caused Kid's blood to run ice-cold.

"I told you I'd find you… Death the Kid."

"Do you want to know where the real hell is hiding? It's inside your head."

AN: Please don't hate me over the fact Asura wasn't really in this chapter at all. He's getting more screen time from now on, don't worry! Also, we'll find out what's going on with Maka next chapter.

On that note, I have to say I am pretty excited for chapter 3. Most of it had already been written out before this chapter was completed (for some reason I just got a lot of inspiration for it), so it will be published quite soon.

This chapter… ugh… I really hope that the middle section wasn't a mood-killer for the start and end. It felt like something a bit lighter was needed. Hope it didn't disappoint or anything like that. But yay for Kaguya the clown! I actually really quite liked her in the manga, so thought she could play a little role in this story as well.

Thanks for all the support so far! You guys are all awesome!

- lia