Untitled
Chapter 2: The Gift
Kid reluctantly let go of Maka as they reached their destination. Walking up the stairs to the symmetrically stable school, Kid glanced at the disgruntled meister. She seemed to be staring at her feet as she walked. The Maka Albarn he knew would always look confidently ahead. Where had her spirit, her soul, gone? Where was the determined shining in her eyes? Kid's eyes misted with memories of that girl as they walked down the corridors to the Death Room. He didn't even know Maka had stopped until she spoke and he had to look back to find her.
"Have you…" She started, choosing her words meticulously. "Have you ever had something that you loved so much that… well, nothing else mattered?"
Kid stared back at her for a long while, eyebrows knitted in uneasiness. She was still staring at the floor, eyes dead. There was no manifestation of sunshine whatsoever. He winced uncomfortably. He didn't know how to answer Maka's question because he could not fully grasp the concept of love. He knew about caring and protectiveness. But somehow, he knew those feelings were different. He had read many novels in which there was a spark of romance between two people. But he couldn't be sure if "romance" quite defined "love".
"Kid?" Maka broke his thoughts. "You don't have to-"
"Yes, of course," Kid stated, smiling warmly. "My love… is symmetry!"
Maka gawked at him for a second. Then she burst out laughing, slumping against one of the walls. Kid chuckled, sliding onto the wall next her. He quietly admired her smiling face as her eyes filled with tears of laughter.
"Maka," Kid began when she calmed. He pushed himself off of the wall and positioned himself in front of Maka. A light shade of pink gracing his face, Kid cupped her cheek, noticing a glimmer of diffidence in her eyes. "Did you know? You are perfectly symmetrical."
Their eyes melted into each other, a different atmosphere sweeping over them.
Kid sighed, pulling away and turning in the direction they were headed.
"Maka," Kid closed his eyes. "You're vulnerable right now. I don't want to take advantage of that."
"Kid," Maka's voice made Kid's eyes flutter half open. "Thank you. You're always so considerate of other people."
The corner of Kid's lips pulled downward in a bitter frown. Just you… He thought. If she knew how horrible I could really be...
Kid's childhood had been a bitter one, being the successor of the protector of Death City who was also supposed to help souls, good or evil, pass into the afterlife. But more than the training of a grim reaper, there was the death of the young boy's mother, still innocent to the vices, cruelties, and insufficiency of humanity. His mother's death softened his emotions but hardened his defenses against being close to someone.
"Maka," Kid whispered, melancholy. All of the memories of his sorrowful youth had come flooding back in painful waves. "Let's just go back to the Gallows."
Maka looked at Kid, at his eyes filled with grief that were downcast, almost hidden by his dark bangs.
"But what about your father?" She questioned. The whole reason they had come to the Academy was to report the night's events to Lord Death.
"There are some complications between us right now. It might not be the best for us to converse at the moment." This wasn't entirely untrue. Kid's father had a knack for seeing through his happy facade into the unruly part of him that just wanted to break down and cry and scream. Hell, he wouldn't even care about symmetry. It was Kid's most depressed state.
"Are you alright, Kid?" Maka stepped closer to him, wincing and clenching her fists and teeth when a sharp pain manifested in her abdomen.
Kid's head snapped up and his legs moved almost automatically in her direction. He steadied her on her feet as she hunched over, arms crossed over her stomach.
"Maka!" Kid panicked as Maka lowered to her knees. "What's going on? What's wrong?"
Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Kid's eyes widened at the sound of liquid hitting the floor. When he looked down to find the cause, terror ripped through him like a dull blade; roughly. Maka coughed vehemently and Kid's eyes searched for her face amidst her long bangs. Her pale hand covered her mouth and her eyes were shut in pain. Kid gripped the elbow of the arm that occupied her mouth. He silently convinced her pull her hand away. She revealed pale lips with a thick black substance dripping to its escape. When the young reaper stroked his fingers over the blackness, another liquid met his touch and Kid's lustrous golden eyes sought Maka's darkened green. Silver slid down her face and Kid opened his palm to catch it.
The offspring of suffering splattered in the reaper's hand, surrendering to Kid's gentle kindness. Kid's mind was at war. Want versus need. Life versus death. Kid would have to see his father after all.
Kid stood firmly on his feet, summoning his energy in a purple glow and withdrawing his arms from his sides to levitate forward. The mask of his father appeared on the ground and an image of the reaper in question was called forth.
"Hello, son! How's it hangin'? What's-" Kid interrupted his father, urgency in his voice.
"Father! Maka's badly hurt! I need your help… now!" Lord Death was stunned for a moment, but recovered quickly. While his father babbled with worry in the background, Kid searched for a mirror lividly, hoping to transport his father to the scene of angst; hopefully to relieve the life and death situation.
Thump.
Kid whipped around viciously to find the languishing scythe meister fully collapsed. He ripped neurotically across the expanse between them. Straddling her whole body, Kid held her face in his hands, supported on his elbows. Her eyes were just barely open. A few moments passed; seeming hours to Kid. Maka's lips, tainted with black blood, formed a small smile.
"Don't worry about me…" Maka's voice was thoughtful and silky when it didn't crack. "I'm fine."
Two soft hands contacted the reaper's body; one at his forearm while the other cradled his face, which had gone pale at Maka's pitiful state. His eyes widened at her concern for someone other than herself, in a state of dying.
"You look so…" Drifting off her train of thought, Maka simply stared at the young man. They had known each other even before Kid had become a student at DWMA. Maka had even been at his mother's funeral. Almost nine years ago, considering that they were either seven or eight at the time. When Maka had finally found the scythe partner she had been waiting for, the two had begun to see each other less and less.
But four years ago, Kid joined his father's establishment along with his weapons, Liz and Patty, who Kid saved from the streets. Maka had made other friends, such as Black*Star and Tsubaki. All of them always hung out together. After three years, though, Soul saw that his meister and Lord Death's son's attraction was instantaneous. At first, he thought he should protect his partner from the cruel real world, but then he had begun to feel for her too. Soon after, the meister/weapon pair began getting more intimate. But then…
Breaking Maka from her thoughts, Kid rested his forehead against hers. Extremely close now, Maka could barely focus on Kid's face, but she cherished the warmth of his body; his forehead against her own; her body aware of his hovering above. Taking these thoughts in, Maka closed her eyes.
Almost immediately after, Maka felt drops on her face, coming from above. Kid was crying. Opening her eyes, all Maka could see was Kid's gritted teeth and closed eyes with furrowed eyebrows to match.
"Maka, please," Kid whimpered, his voice rough. "Please don't die… Just… just don't die!"
Kid's words echoed deafeningly off the walls of the Academy. Quiet sobbing followed. Then, removing his hands from Maka's face, putting one hand at her back and the other under her legs, Kid carried Maka with him until he reached the wall, which he slid down, cradling Maka in his lap, her head resting in the crook of his neck. Maka had started crying too, the evil thought of seeing Kid for the last time wrestling into her mind. Kid could hear her sobbing softly and squeezed her closer, sweetly brushing her hair with his tense, trembling hand.
"Why are you crying?" He whispered in her ear hoarsely, his breath hot on her neck and cheek.
Maka shook her head softly. "I can't tell you."
"Maka… don't you remember that day?" Kid looked into her eyes, glancing recollection. "You can come to me and tell me anything."
"I know… but…" Maka's mind felt that if she voiced her premonition, it might happen.
"Hellooo! Kiddo! Maka!" A high-pitched voice found the pair through countless corridors. It could only be one person's; Lord Death.
"Maka, that's my father!" Kid moved her onto the floor, standing swiftly and starting to run down one of the intricate hallways. "I'll be back!"
Maka lay on the floor, Lord Death and his son at her side.
"Okay, Maka," Lord Death said in his cheery voice. "I'm going to need you to lie still."
Maka gave a half-hearted nod. But when she felt an unexpected pull at her shirt, she jumped to a sitting position, pulling her arms across her upper body, face reddening.
"F-father?" Kid yelped, his face also red, his body going stiff.
"Just trust me." Lord Death answered in all seriousness.
"O-okay…" Maka lay back down, highly embarrassed.
Lord Death preceded unbuttoning Maka's shirt until her whole stomach was exposed. Then a mysterious blue glow emitted from Lord Death's index finger. But before he started his process, he spoke.
"Kid, hold Maka's hand."
"W-why?" Kid nearly choked on his own air, his eyes dodging Maka.
"This may hurt."
"Alright." Walking over to Maka's other side, Kid rested on his knees. He held out his hand, trembling nervously, waiting for the moment that her flesh would touch his. He tried not to look at her exposed flesh. "Maka, I'm here. Just squeeze if you have to."
"Thank you, Kid…" Maka, gripping his hand tightly, closed her eyes, anticipating harsh pain and out of embarrassment.
That's exactly what she got.
The moment Lord Death's candescent finger brushed over the flesh just above her belly button, Maka shrieked loudly. Her scream pierced Kid chillingly, making his skin crawl. Maka gripped Kid's hand so firmly that his circulation began to cut off. Tears were in her eyes and her legs stretched, longing for something solid to kick, a remedy to take the pain away. Her skin was burning and itching, crackling and screaming, shying away from the hot sleekness of the blade that Lord Death's finger seemed to form. Lord Death himself looked worried.
"I guess we'll have to wait until Stein gets here. I contacted him before I came to find you." Lord Death wasn't one to enjoy slicing flesh. But Stein on the other hand… "He is the scienti- uh, err, professor."
Maka was sick with pain and worry. Stein was the one who turned their late Professor Sid into a zombie. He was the one who had nearly killed Black*Star, Maka, and Soul on their remedial lesson. He was the crazy professor who loved to dissect helpless animals and humans alike, just to learn what made them tick.
"Speak of the devil," Lord Death announced, sensing Stein's gigantic soul wavelength behind them. He turned to greet the creator of his current Death Scythe. "Hello! Wazzup! How's it going?"
"Hello, everyone," Stein smiled lightly. His eyes crossed Maka, eyeing her exposed skin. "Maka. So… I'll finally be able to put my scalpel in you after all…"
Maka turned a sickly pale, fighting the pain in her stomach.
"Now, now, Stein," Lord Death intervened. "You know why you're here."
"Yes, yes…" Stein sighed, taking Lord Death's place next to Maka. His finger glowed, much like Lord Death's, but a green color. "Sutures."
Maka's body was sewn to the ground, except the hand Kid was holding. Without warning, Stein picked up where Lord Death left off. He finished the long incision on Maka's stomach. Maka screamed bloody murder until the end. Then, slipping on a pair of surgical gloves kept conveniently in his pocket, Stein opened the cut wider. Kid stared incredulously as this happened. Lord Death grabbed onto part of his soul wavelength, stretching it in front of his face. Then he let out a gust of air, causing a bubble to separate from his soul and float in the nothingness around them. As Stein kept Maka's wound open, Lord Death led the bubble of soul to the opening on Maka's stomach. All of them, even Maka, watched as the bubble melted into something like a liquid, dripping into Maka's body. It glowed a blinding white. Then it was all over and Stein started sewing Maka's skin back together.
Kid supported Maka, an arm around her waist, as the pair walked back to the Gallows. Kid was the first to break the silence.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay…"
"You don't feel… different?"
"No. Not really."
Then there was more silence. Maka was the one to shatter it this time.
"What did your father do for me?"
"Well… it's hard to explain… but I guess the best way to say it is… he gave you a molecule of his soul. It was the only way to ensure your survival."
"What? I don't understand…"
"He gave you a molecule of his soul, Maka. When Soul was trying to kill you, he must've dealt a few hits your soul." Kid's mind was enraged at the thought of anyone hurting Maka.
Maka's mind recalled Soul's cruel words, how they rendered her almost senseless as they sliced through her mind.
"Maka? We're here."
Maka stumbled forward and leaned her back against the giant front door. Kid flinched forward, securing his hands on her waist.
"Don't hurt yourself, Maka! You've been through enough."
It was only then that Kid noticed Maka staring straight into his eyes, her face a light carnation shade. She tore her eyes away to look at his chest, resting her hands against it. His muscles rippled under her tender skin. She looked back into his eyes. They were half-lidded and his face was moving closer, resting his lips against her forehead. He sighed deeply, pulling away.
"Let's go inside…"