It was obvious the stress of all the meetings and media attention was getting to Kid. Liz and Patty noticed the effects right off the bat. Not only was Kid constantly busy that week, but he was up longer at night watching the news, he was getting up really early in the morning and didn't show up at school as often while Liz and Patty trained in the gym or took classes with the rest of the many kids who cared to show up. Death the Kid was getting darker circles under his eyes and he was eating less.

"You don't look so good." Liz said one late Friday night.

"I've been going to constant meetings with father and I must be perfect... act perfect at least." Kid stated dryly "Who would appear perfectly happy and well after an entire week of non-stop questions on a topic we still aren't certain about?"

"A tough person." Patty skipped into the room the two were in and giggled "Kid, I thought you were invincible like sissy!"

"Patty, your sister isn't invincible like you imagine." Liz glanced back at her younger sister and back towards Kid. "Kid, you need to get some sleep. You aren't invincible either and you're most definitely sleep deprived."

"I can't. I'm busy watching this." Kid nodded to the TV and sighed "I need to know that the public is doing alright for the situation. We've only had light tremors ever since last week, but things aren't looking up for what I am aware of."

Liz walked up to Kid, grabbed the remote out of his hand, and turned off the TV. She couldn't help but yawn when she saw the drained look in his face. "Go to bed now. Do you want to show up looking stressed and worried to the public and these many important people you have been seeing? Isn't this what you're not supposed to be doing?"

Death the Kid instantly stood up, the final comment having gotten under his skin. "I'm sorry. You're right, I should get some rest." He went upstairs and got ready for bed.

"I'm worried about him." Liz yawned, talking to Patty as the girls lay in their beds, prepared to fall asleep.

"We all are." Patty answered in her happy tone like usual. "Don't worry, sis. Kid will be fine. He is our meister after all!"

"I guess you're right... he's a tough one... but still... with him you never know."

The next day, Maka and Soul were called into the death room early during school.

"What is it, Lord Death?" Maka asked with the usual perkiness she had when a school day began.

"Maka, Soul, I have a mission for you two."

"Does it have to do with the rest of North America splitting from Mexico and so on?" she asked.

"Indeed it does."

"What it is?" Soul inquired. "Where are we going?"

"You two must go investigate at the break where this country split. The land over at the break is completely destroyed, water filled it up. We do have some ideas on what this is caused by, but I personally doubt it is natural. You see, the continent didn't drift, but rather the land around the border sunk inwards and it flushed out into surrounding waters. So now the land bordering the new border looks completely different than before and water is going through it like a giant river."

Maka started "I hear that the land that moved over to the sides of Mexico created a new land form all together. Similar to the destruction in Europe and the east where the land broke apart."

"Yup!" Lord Death nodded. "It looks like that anyways. The mission is simple enough, just head over there and investigate the surrounding. I've sent some more mature meisters and death scythes over to the other side of the world to investigate there. I'll send the good kiddies to the area here in America just for safety reasons."

"We'll do that, Lord Death." Maka agreed. "Anything else we need to know?"

"If you find anything out that spells unnatural, keep the information classified and tell me what you fing once you get back. I expect you to be back in a few days."

"Got it, Lord Death." Soul grinned. "Sounds like a cool mission for an awesome death scythe! Come on, Maka."

The two headed out to go on their mission.

Blackstar was heading over to Kid's house at around the same time his friends had left on the investigation. He wanted to see if Kid was home and he really just wanted to talk to the reaper. Tsubaki was out with Liz shopping and had gone earlier. The girls still weren't home yet, so he thought Kid might be home alone as well.

When Blackstar found that the door was unlocked, he opened it up yo find Patty on the floor coloring paper with crayons.

"Patty, is Kid home?" the blue haired ninja asked.

"No, he's was called over by Lord Death. More people are asking them questions."

"Oh. I guess I have nothing to do but show off my skills at... wait a second... isn't it a school day? Why did Tsubaki leave with Liz?"

"Lord Death gave us some special free time because Liz called him last night after she got Kid to go to sleep that Kid was in hard times and stressing us out, so we got a day off for our trouble. Liz asked if she could invite Tsubaki to come along. We showed up early to school and we left early. You didn't show up at all."

"I was running late when I saw Tsubaki drop by. I didn't realize that."

"Ha! Ha! You're funny Blackstar!"

"Of course I am! I am the mighty-"

"You wanna draw with me?" Patty looked at the boy with a kitty-cat smile and her big blue eyes.

"Hm..." Blackstar looked down at the colorful pages and laughed at the challenge that popped into his mind. "Yeah! We can have a drawing contest!"

He closed the door behind him and the two colored, laughing together on the ground.

Back at the meeting Kid and his father were in, the men dressed in black suits and black sunglasses looked down at Kid with cold poker faces. They all stood around the mirror, waiting for Lord Death and his son to speak. There was a menacing quality the men had that Kid didn't like one bit.

"Who're you guys again?" Lord Death asked, cocking his head.

"We are from the IHK."

"What's that?" Death the Kid asked.

"The institution of human kind."

"I've never heard of that." Lord Death said. "On the phone you said you were very important people."

"We are. And we will be back next week for some important business."

"What's your name, sir?" the death god continued.

"My name is," the man who was answering all of the death god's questions, who stood in the front, middle of all the men answered "Arthur Kingly. The head CPO of the IHK. I will be asking many questions, so please, this may take a while."

"We're all good!" Lord Death sang, turning to his son. "What about you, Kid?"

"I'm fine." Death the Kid answered with a sigh, not liking the grown men and their appearance. "Ask anything you want. We have plenty of time."

"Alright, Death the Kid." Arthur clapped his hands. "Let the questioning begin."