Chapter Nine
Golden eyes snapped open. Clouds of air slipped out between his lips. His body shivered of the cold. Crystallised water had crusted around his face and gave him the appearance of a monster that came out of the North Pole.
He sat up straight. His muscles moaned in misery, "Nnnngg." and so did he. Kid looked around him while dusting the ice off his face. Wooden crates and boxes strapped down all around him was nothing to go by, but a stamp on the side of one was.
"'Trans-Death City Railway'." Kid shot up and scrambled over to the door. He pulled it open and was met with a fast moving landscape and heavy snow falling from the sky. He shivered and scampered back from the edge.
"So much for jumping."
For a long time Kid sat against the wall of the train cart with his knees drawn to his chest, just watching the scenery roll by. Occasionally his fingers would twitch and his muscles would spasm. Frost covered the wood at the opening and the cold slowly crept towards him.
Icy fingers gripped him around his throat and made him shudder. Goose bumps broke across Kid's skin. "Why does snow have to be so fucking cold?!"
'Because it's the same sensation as your heart, and everyone knows that no one likes the cold, just like no one likes you.' Kid's shoulders slumped and he tightened his grip around his knees. 'You should just run away. Why bother going back and freeing all those people who deserve to be imprisoned? You should just run away and leave everything behind.
'You should just be free and let them die, let all of them die. You can forget about all of this. You can forget about Asura, about the gang... about that man... you can be whatever you want and there would be no one to stop you.'
Kid laughed. And laughed. Then laughed some more. It was the type of manic laughter you get when you had too much sugar and someone told a retarded joke. Smoke escaped his mouth in gallons and suddenly the cart wasn't so cold anymore.
"You're right! You're right, why should I bother doing them a favour when they messed up my life?!" Kid stood up, his shoes a stone frozen shield against the cold. "Freedom is only a train ride away." Kid sat back down, his back pressing into the slightly warm wood and waited for time to pass.
Freedom was only a train ride away.
The feeling of freedom. He had long forgotten the feeling. The last time he had felt free was when he was able to... when he was able to... what? Kid frowned. Why couldn't he remember anything? Why was his brain trying to mess him up?! All he wanted was to remember something!
Kid's body jostled to the side as the train came to an abrupt stop. He stood up from where he sat. 'Can we be there already?' The screeching of metal on rails sounded like the screaming of a woman in distress. Kid plugged his ears and clamped his eyes shut. Until the noise faded away. He opened his eyes.
When the train came to a stop, so did Kid's heart. "Shit." He whispered and removed his fingers from his ears. Staring through his exit.
"Death the Kid, you are under arrest for the accounts of first degree murder on 1567 human lives. You have the right to shut up." Before Kid could even move an inch or reach for his guns a dart hit him in the neck. "The fuck?" His hand reached up and picked the small projective from his flesh.
The world around him blurred and his feet felt heavy and numb. Black spots dotted his vision like spray paint on a blank canvas. Slowly swallowing his vision. He stretched his eyes as wide as he could, but the darkness kept crawling. He knew what this was, he had felt it before. It was the same feeling you got when you've been drained of blood.
It was the same light-headed sensation you get when you stand up too fast. And it was the same feeling you get when you've been shot with a bloody tanq dart. Kid's legs gave out under him and he collapsed onto the wooden floor on the train. Cold air washed onto his face. The black crawled closer and closer and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
It was the same sensation he got when he devoured Madness.
And he hated every second of it.
##################################################################################################
"Come on Kiddo, wakey wakey rise and shine!"
"Nnnng."
"Come on, wake up Kiddo."
"No... hurts too much."
*sigh* "I know. You wouldn't think so, but I do. I know."
Kid squint his eyes and slowly blinked his golden orbs open. There was no light glaring at him, there was no disturbing noise and the ever-present tendrils of cold were missing. "Why the fuck does my head feel like cotton candy?!"
Kid's hands reached up-
Clink clank
The young adult froze. Bewildered eyes looked at his wrists. Shackles were bound heavily around his arms and were pulled taught against the wall behind him. Grey stone. Oppressing grey stone walls. 'Where had I seen that ugly shade before? Fifty shades of grey?'
"I must apologise for the restraints, Kid, but the Senate had decided that it would be best."
"Those retards who you have decided a couple of years ago to be a council for the city is as useless as Justin Bieber with a microphone! Besides, do you really think a couple of puny shackles will keep me in place?"
Kid pulled furiously at the metal restraints. His wrists chaffed and became red. Kid stopped in his efforts and glared at the cloaked and masked man who was standing beyond the bars of his cell.
"You don't want me to answer that."
"No. You don't want me to answer that." Another bout of struggling ensured that Kid's wrists began to bleed. Kid struggled and grunted as the red liquid walked down his arm. His struggling grew more animalistic and frantic and Kid was soon nothing but a thrashing mutt on the ground. "Let me go you bitch!"
Lord Death stared at his son in shock. Where had his flesh and blood learned how to speak like that?! "Kid?"
"Stop calling me that! That's not my name!" Lord Death fell silent and stared at his son. 'Kid, what happened to you?' The man stood up straight like a rod and looked at his son. Behind his mask he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. His mind sped at three thousand miles an hour.
There was so much going on. Half his city was blown to smithereens. Half his men were dead and the other half were in the hospital. Death City was being run by the Senate. And his son, his most prized jewel in his entire life, had changed so much. He was no longer that boy he saw fighting in the hallway almost 8 years ago.
That boy was dead. He was captured and locked behind murdered memories and playful masks. He was taken prisoner by his inner demons and was abused to the brink of destruction. Madness had engulfed his sanity and mutilated it passed the point of despair and had given back a pathetic heap of human flesh.
His son. The young adult who has no recollection of who he is or who he himself is. His beloved son who was supposed to be the saviour of his generation, not the murderer of his own peers, of his own friend, of his own self.
Lord Death opened his eyes. Bright golden hues that shone like the maniac moon gleamed at him in flared anger. "The fuck are you looking at, freak?!" Shinigami- sama flinched back at the venomous words.
A huge hand reached out and unlocked the door. Death the Kid frowned as the older man stepped in and closed the door behind him. The large figure knelt down in front of the melted figure.
Lord Death removed his gloves slowly, taking each large white hand off slowly. Pale hands lay the gigantic gloves at the side. Kid stared curiously. "The fuck are you doing, dude?" genuine confusion leaked passed those tattooed lips and drifted like bitter flames into the father's ears.
"I have been hiding behind masks for so long, that I've forgotten what it was like to feel truly exposed. What it felt like to be completely open and weak to others. I have been concealed behind my own facades for so long that I've ignored the pain of others in favour of keeping my pain hidden from those who could help me. I was stupid. I was shamefully wrong. And I've done you wrong.
"All those years. I realize now, when it's too late. All those lonely years. What have I done to you, Kid? This isn't your fault. This is mine. I did this to you. All you wanted was comfort and when I wasn't there to give it to you; you had to go seek elsewhere. And because of your containment you didn't know better.
"You didn't know what horrors there were in the world. And it was all my fault. And I can't take it back. I can't... take it back."
The pale hand removed the mask from his face and let it clutter to the cold, frozen ground. Kid tilted his head to the side. His eyes moved over each line, over each horribly deep dark bag hanging under the other male's eyes and settled on the tears streaming down the man's face.
Ebony dark hair with ivory stripes running through the dark locks, like a racetrack, covered most of the shockingly golden eyes. The strong face and cheekbones were pulled in a grimace of pain that ran deeper than the flesh. A closely shaven black beard, that looks more like a tattoo, covered most of his face. White stripes resembling skull teeth were the colour of the hair that stretched over his mouth and onto his chin.
Kid took everything in.
Something about the face looked familiar and prickled his brain like sun after you've stepped out of the shadows. Dark brows furrowed. He leaned in closer, his eyes becoming slits as he inspected the face more intensely.
A chained hand reached forward, wanting to touch the man's hair, the hair that seemed to his memories like silk, but was restrained and caused a small trail of blood to walk idly down his blood tracked arm.
"You look familiar. Did I maybe kill your son?"
More tears leaked out of Lord Death's tired eyes as he shook his head. He wanted to speak, but his words caught in his throat and lumped there like gum that got stuck to the bottom of your shoe.
"Yes," He finally answered, with a hitch in his swollen throat, "You killed my son. Not on purpose, but accidentally. Most of the blame is mine. You didn't kill him, I did. This is one murder that you committed that was not a crime."
Slowly the man stood up. He took a long look at his son. He wiped his eyes, clearing them of the transparent fluid. "I love you, Kid. No matter what you did. I love you. And I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."
Kid blinked rapidly. The fog in his mind kept him from seeing. It kept him from unravelling the situation and debunking his past. And it frustrated him into infinity! He knew, he knew there was something he was missing. Kid knew there was a small fact he was over looking.
"Wait!"
Lord Death looked at his son. "Why don't I remember?" The older man shook his head. He faced away from his son in shame. 'Retrograde amnesia.'
"I don't know. Only you have the answer to that." He answered and stepped out of the cell. "I do not deny evil, nor do I believe that any human is completely free of malice. Everything must be in balance. As long as evil and good maintain an equilibrium in this world there is no problem. Perfect balance is the key to everything."
Lord Death froze. His back went as straight as a rod. The chains clinked behind him and the silence that ensued was more oppressing than Thor's hammer on your chest. Each word the younger spoke sounded measured and tested. It flowed like a broken record or an overused cassette.
The shackles moved more and clinked annoyingly. Lord Death whirled around. Kid struggled desperately to get his hands free. His face was scrunched up as memories flooded back into his mind.
Blood flowed like a leaky faucet and spilled more of its warm liquid on the soil of regained memories. Kid grimaced. His face grew deathly pale as more of his life essence drained from him.
Lord Death rushed forward and grabbed Kid's wrists. "No, stop it, Kid! You're hurting yourself!" He didn't hear him. The overwhelming pain from regained memories pressed down on his brain like a bag stuffed with too much items and was filled to the seams, waiting to burst.
Panic flooded Shinigami-san's senses. An idea from long, long ago, came to mind. It was buried behind a mask of old forgotten memories of happier days when things were easier and less troublesome. It was an anthem. An anthem for lost souls and broken spirits. An anthem for those in need of comfort. For those in need of love.
"Hush, little one, don't you weep. I'll sing you a song and sing you to sleep. With soft a tune and calm a tone I'll keep you safe and never leave you alone."
Kid stopped struggling. Momentarily. Before struggling even more. Lord Death wrapped his son in his arms and tucked his head under his chin and rocked his boy back and forth. "I've got you, Kid. It's okay. I have you."
"Father," Kid whispered almost inaudibly. His voice was choked and sounded like he was struggling to hold back tears, whether it is from the emotional or physical pain, "I made a mistake. I did something terribly wrong." Lord Death felt hot wetness seep through his cloak and shirt.
He tightened his grip on his son and pulled him closer to his chest. He didn't reply. "That day... after you... you..."
"Its okay, Kid."
"No! It's not!" Kid forced his way out of his father's grip. His face was a puffy red, but his icy anger shone through quite clearly. "You don't understand! You never understand! You never listen! It makes me wonder if Asura was even wrong for being so vengeful towards you!"
Death saw the look in his son's eyes. Those golden orbs weren't the eyes of his son. They weren't the eyes of his boy he saw just moments before. They had changed so rapidly from terrified and pained to angry and... insane. It was inhumane. It wasn't his son. What happened to him?
"Then allow me to listen! Don't shut me out! Don't you hide behind a mask as well! Let me in! Let me help you, Kid!" Shinigami- sama went to envelope his son in his warm grip again. "Don't touch me! Get away from me! You don't love me! You're going to kill me! Just like you're going to kill all the others! Just like you're going to kill our gang leader!"
"So you admit that Asura is your gang leader and solely that? There is nothing else conspiring between you?"
Kid felt the colour drain from his face. Lord Death tilted his head to the side. Kid's eyes changed back to those of his son; back to the boy he knew and loved. And the frightened... no- scared shitless- look on his face terrified him. What was going on?
"Kid?"
The hooded man flinched back at his name, like scorching water was thrown in his face. He didn't respond. Lord Death spoke more forcefully. "Kid?"
"Leave me."
"No, I won't go. Asura believes you can protect him. Can you see?"
"You killed my 'family', ruined my 'home' and destroyed my world and you expect me to soothe your worries! How dare you!" Kid pulled his chains to their full length. Lord Death leaned back, out of range of his son who seemed to be Bipolar. Kid's face was scrunched up, his teeth bared like a wild animal and his eyes filled to the brim with madness.
"Tell me about my brother."
This time it was Lord Death's turn to be as pale as death itself. "What about your brother. He's dead."
"Don't lie to me!"
Lord Death flinched back at the fucking poisonous tone of his blood kin. "You lied to me about his existence! I had to fucking find out that I even had a brother from some second hand shit bag! And now you're lying to me again!"
"It was for your own good! If you knew about him then-"
"Then what?!" Demanded Kid, testing the limits of his cuffs again. "Then what?! Where you afraid that you would lose your perfect fucking son?!"
"Yes!" Kid faltered at the shouted reply, not expecting it. "I was scared that you would become like him! I was terrified that you would follow in his footsteps! And you proved my worries right! You did as I predicted and it was. All. My. Fault. If I was there for you, if I warned you from the beginning then we might never be stuck in this situation in the first place!"
"I don't understand! What the fuck do you mean with 'you proved my worries right' and 'follow in his footsteps'?! I didn't idolise anyone! I didn't copy anyone! I only did like I-" Kid paused and considered all the information. His wrists went slack and hung bloodied in his metal cage.
"Aura..." Kid whispered inaudibly under his breath. His long hair fell over his eyes; his hood slipped down and shadowed his face. Death the Kid saw more clearly in those few moments than he had in the past few years.
His eyes widened. His head shot up. He stared at his father. He flew upright and lunged for the man kneeling below him. Lord Death backed away faster than lightning could strike. The chains restrained Kid. "You. I'll kill you! Look what you've done to me! You've chained me to the wall like a fucking animal! You've thrown me down here and locked me away! You took everything from me! I'll kill you!"
Kid roared and pulled like a beast at his restraints. "Let me go!" He pulled so furiously that blood began flowing from his slowly deepening wounds. Lord Death could only stare in horror at what had become of his son.
Footsteps down the corridor alerted the Grim reaper of the approaching guards. "Kid, please calm down, I don't want them to hurt you!" Frantically the elder man looked between his son, his disguise and the approaching men.
And in that split second he made his decision.
The soldiers came running through the open gate and was met with the sight of an animalistic prisoner and a besides himself Lord Death. It took no more than a moment for the woman to regain composure. "I heard shouting, Shinigami- sama. I was afraid something had happened to you."
Death shook his head. "Please sedate him and take him to the infirmary. I don't want his wrists to get infected before the Senate had made their decision on what to do with him." The guard nodded and took the tranquilizer gun from the loop on her belt. Kid froze and stared at the weapon in her hand.
"Not that shit again! It gives me-"
Bang!
"-Nightmares." Kid finished as his strength slowly failed him and he finally hung limp. Lord Death turned his head as the second guard unshackled him, examining his wrists. The man gave a long low whistle. "Wow, he tore right through his gloves. They would have to be removed before Professor Stein can take a look at the wounds."
Death didn't react as the two guards carried his unconscious son to the dispensary. After they were long gone, the man sunk to his knees. A single tear slipping from behind his mask and plopping onto the ground.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"You won't kill me."
"What's with the sudden boost of confidence, Asura?"
"Merely because I know that he won't allow it." Asura threw his head in the direction of Lord Death and smiled sweetly. Lord Death was seated between the five members of the Senate: a group of men and women who now ruled Death City with decisions that had to be unanimous in order to be executed.
And as it was, they were still arguing over Asura's execution.
"Why do you believe, in that puny mad, messed up mind, of yours that I would ever even consider not killing you? After what happened I won't make the same mistake as sending you to jail again."
"Awww, you're just saying that because there is no jail to send me to. But I'm fairly sure you won't hang me." Another sweet smile crinkled the mad man's features. He was cuffed to a chair in front of the panel of judges in the court room of Death City.
In the tiers above a low murmur bubbled from the mouths of the onlookers and in the pews below the civilians glared at the criminal. Some mothers cried over the loss of their children, Meisters, who were killed by Asura's gang, and the fathers tried their best to be brave for their families.
The eldest member of the Senate, a greying woman with piercing green eyes, slammed the gavel down on the hard wood stand. "Silence! I will not tolerate any disruptions during the session." The low hum of voices drifted away and the court continued.
"Answer the question, Asura."
"I'm sorry, what was the inquiry?"
The woman controlled her annoyance with a well toned temper from years of experience. "Why do you say that Death the Kid will protect you? I am well aware that you are well aware that we are all well aware that you are well aware that Death the Kid is kept under lock and key in a disclosed area in Death City."
"Oh, I am well aware that you are well aware that everyone is well awaw... never mind. Kid is in the DWMA, I can feel it in my-" Asura cut himself off. The entire court house seemed to lean forward, waiting anxiously for an answer that Asura will never let leave him lips.
"Father, have I ever told you how absolutely fucked up you look in that outfit?"
"Cut the crap, Asura. We know you're hiding something and torture isn't out of my boundaries, so if I was you, my mouth would be slickened up like oil and spilling all its contents."
"Ah, that reminds me of this story. It has to do with a ton of sensual oils and a dozen of hookers. I'm pretty sure a feather boa was involved and OH, the contents spilled on that day were much different from information-"
"Enough! Get the electric chair." The court burst out in both ethnic outcries and baleful death declarations. Asura's smile widened. "Ah, so you want to find out the hard way, now do you, daddy? Well, who am I to keep you from discoveries?"
He was grabbed by the arms and lifted forcefully, chains and all, and dragged out of the court. Lord Death watched. Someone had to pay for the damage that was caused on their town. And they couldn't hang him until Asura gave every ounce of information he had. No questions may be left unanswered.
Lord Death sat firmly. The Senate seemed to be glaring at him out of the corners of their eyes. They probably believed he conspired with the criminals. "Death?" Shinigami- san lifted his head and perked his attention. Seeing she got his attention, the eldest member started talking.
"What did you find out in your little trip down to see your second little criminal?"
"His mind is corrupted and crumbled. There is little to no sanity left. If he was to regain lucidity we're going to have a hard time getting him the death sentence. The chances that he'll be sent to a sanatorium are larger and more overwhelming." The woman grunted and faced forward. "Pardon me, Death, but I don't believe you. There is still a chance you are in accordance with them, so at the moment, concerning them, your word means next to nothing."
The woman whispered harshly and Lord Death was afraid the court would hear. "You're just as senile as your husband." The woman showed no signs of recognition. The grim reaper could feel the shock of electricity and static enter the air. He shivered. If it weren't for the sound proof walls he was sure he would hear Asura's screams as well.
The feeling vanished and he relaxed his tensed shoulders. 'It had to be done. It had to be done it had to be-'
The electric buzz filled the atmosphere once more. Then again. And again. 'I won't let you give my son the death sentence, Asura. I don't care if I have to send him to an Asylum, but he won't get killed. You'll bear the full brunt of yours and his consequences.'
When the static left again, his heart was beating so fast he could swear the organ was getting ready to jump out of his throat. And that was when Stein came running into the room. All heads turned to him. The man in the white coat ignored everyone and made a beeline for Lord Death.
The green eyed woman slammed her little wooden hammer down when the court burst into outcries full of rage and protests. Stein stopped in front of Death. "There is no time to waste. You need to come with me." Lord Death stood up without question. "What is it Stein?"
He followed the man out of the court, moving swiftly through all the anger and heated glares while the ferocity burned into their backs from the eldest Senate member who continued to slam the living shit out of that gavel.
"It's your son."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Every hero is the villain of his own story."
-Holly Black
¤CM¤