Chapter Ten
"There is nothing more funny," Began Asura and spit a clont of blood out of his mouth, "Than stupid people being even stupider." He laughed maniacally, his head thrown back and his mouth open like the jaws of a great white shark.
The man nodded to his partner, who nodded back at him in turn before switching the machine on again. Asura stopped laughing and jerked from side to side as volts of electricity pulsed through his brain and body.
His hands twitched against the leather straps and his body convulsed, trying desperately to escape the danger. The shock ceased. The man's body gave a few more impulsive twitches before slowly falling still.
The interrogator looked at his subject and sneered. "Garbage." He spat at the shocked man's feet. "Never dissolves, private." Replied Asura, out of breath, with a smile. "Why you- turn up the voltage and have another go at it!" The man, doing as his superior officer demanded, cranked up the dosage and flipped the switch.
Asura shook again.
And again.
Until he was half fried and half dead.
"Are your lips loose now?"
Asura shook his head, which looked more like a spastic attack, and laughed. Another blood clot was sent to the floor. "I'm pretty sure that you'll discover what I meant soon enough, but my tongue will reveal nothing until it's too late."
The marshal stepped forward threateningly and grabbed Asura around the neck. "In the end, you piece of trash, you are the one who is stupid." He let go of the man and punched him. Asura's head jerked to the side under the impact. He started laughing. The noise built from a low tremor and worked its way up until it consumed everything with madness.
Electricity soon followed the madness down the pathways of his veins.
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Lord Death and Professor Stein came banging through the door to the dispensary. The shouting could be heard from down the hall and sent icy fingers tingling up the father's spine.
It was a guttural animalistic shout of pain and agony, full of flaming discomfort. Stein rushed forward. Lord Death stood frozen on his feet. Death the Kid was having tremors in the bed. His legs were shaking and his head was tossing to and fro. His arms were restrained with a strap going over his chest and pinning him down with his wrists skilfully bandaged.
His legs were also restrained. Kid didn't seem to try and escape; looking more like a seizure than an attempt of escape. That was until another shout of pain grumbled out of his mouth.
"What's going on, Stein?" Lord Death all but demanded an answer to. Stein adjusted the strength of the straps and pulled them tighter around the muscular chest, successfully pinning him down as close to the bed as possible.
"It began not too long after he arrived and I had a good look at his wounds. By the way, those gloves had to be thrown away. But that is only one of the two reasons I wanted you to come here."
Death the Kid fell still, his muscles only slightly twitching, like a lizard's tail after it fell off. "Then what-"
"Look here," Stein lifted the immobilized teen's wrist and opened his clenched fingers. Lord Death stepped closer and almost recoiled at what he saw. "No." He whispered.
The gravity of the situation hit him like a fat fist to a petite person's chest. And he felt winded. "Why would he do that?!"
"That is the least of our worries. I'm sure that you are aware of what the scar entitles?" Kid looked as if he had passed out. His face was smoothed over and extremely pale. Without his hood he looked less threatening. Without the piece of material all of his features were easy to see and exposed his weakness.
And Lord Death saw all of it when he looked over at his son with worry in his eyes; hidden perfectly behind his mask. He knew exactly what the scar meant. He was the one who discovered the black magic. He was the one who set up the rules. And he was the one who declared it illegal and to be punished with death.
"It means that if Asura dies, so does Kid." The shinigami stated, staring at his son. "I won't allow that to happen, you know that Stein."
"I suspected something of the sort. You know the Senate won't be happy with whatever you have planned."
Lord Death stepped up to his son and ran un-gloved fingers through his hair, much to Stein's surprise. "You know the scar influences people in a negative way, Stein. That was the reason I made it illegal. The negative effects it has on a person can affect our City in an unconstructive way. That's why I made it illegal.
"This isn't Kid's fault. He was influenced by the scar. I understand now. I know. He was corrupted, like so many others, by Asura and his Madness. We have to save him, Stein."
"We?"
"Yes, you're going to help me get my son... sons... out of here so Kid doesn't have to die."
"What about Asura?"
"What about him?!" Demanded Lord Death. "Well there's a great possibility that he might escape and kill everyone in the world!" Stein replied and lit a cigarette. Lord Death took the stick and broke it in half- throwing it out the door. "No smoking when my son's in the hospital!" Stein looked broken-hearted and about to cry.
"That was my last one."
"Well it's a good time to quit then."
Stein glared daggers at the man. "THEY DON'T MAKE CIGARETTES ANYMORE AND YOU JUST MURDERED MY LAST ONE!" Lord Death shrugged and rolled his eyes.
"What the fuck?" Both professor and shinigami wheeled around at the new voice. Their hearts beat faster than the beat of a drum and their poses struck on the defensive automatically.
Stein was the first to relax. Lord Death never left his taught position. He stepped in between the bed and the doorway, shielding his son from view. "I thought he was dead!"
"Calm down, Blackstar, we all thought he was-" Stein was interrupted by the assassin stepping into the room. "Why did nobody tell me he was alive?!" Lord Death stopped the considerably taller and older man with his frame. "It was on a need-to-know basis."
"I'm his friend! I spent three years looking for him and the other four thinking he was dead! I think I need to know!"
"Let me rephrase: this is on a classified-top-secret, mind-your-own-business basis." Blackstar attempted to look passed the black cloaked figure, but was firmly pushed back by a large gloved hand.
"I think you should leave, Blackstar."
Blackstar slit his eyes and scrunched his mouth. Then he was gone. Stein and Death blinked then turned around quickly. Blackstar was crouched down on the bed inspecting the comatose young man.
"You restrained him because he's suicidal? Well, I suppose it is normal behaviour for a person who was rescued from a hell hole like Asura's HQ."
"You make assumptions that are quite irrational-"
"Am I, Stein? I read the reports. There were several accounts of rescued hostages; one of them mentioned someone from Shinigami-sama's son's squad. And taken in that he was there for such a long time the emotional strain might have lead him to suicidal tendencies. There are bandages on his wrists. I'm not an idiot."
Lord Death shoved the assassin away from his son. He flipped into the air skilfully and landed in a crouched position on Kid's right side. He lifted the restrained hand. Stein and Lord Death ran forward to stop him, but were too late.
"The fuck?" Blackstar leaned in closer and inspected the small skull scar. He frowned. His eyes scrutinised the mark. "I read about this somewhere. A book you gave me, Stein. It was a long time ago, but I can remember what was said about it."
"Oh, so you actually read it? I thought you used it for a coaster. Or toilet paper."
"Oh please, Stein," He looked at the scar again, twisting the hand to look at it from different angles, "I might have been like that, before, but I've changed. Besides," He mumbled. While holding the hand he looked up at them,
"You did write the inscription into the book that 'THE GREAT BLACKSTAR isn't so great if he gets an F on a silly essay.' Incredibly inspirational for an ego-blown boy, Stein, you have the mind of a madman and the heart of a mundane mother."
"I do my best." Stein said matter-of-factly. Lord Death gave him a chop upside the head. "Be serious, Stein, we have to do something about the situation."
"Yes, a suicide attempt is serious. We have to get Kid a psychotherapist and-" The hand in his grip clenched and Blackstar looked at the strong hand becoming white with the vice like clench. Kid pulled his hand free of the other male's grip and glared at the figures surrounding him.
Confused eyes took in his surroundings. Three people surrounded him. One he recognised as the doctor, the other as his father, but the third escaped his mind like Harry Houdini.
That and he was tied to a bed and a random dude held his hand...
...
...
...
"GAY ASS MOTHER FUCKER! Get away from me!" Kid tried scotching to the other side of the bed. Blackstar stood up casually, his face a mask of blank seriousness, while watching his old-friend try to escape him.
"Haven't any of you told him about Tsubaki and me yet?" Lord Death looked at the ground. 'He doesn't remember you, but you wouldn't know that, now would you?'
"That wasn't on the agenda. Your love life doesn't just enter a conversation." Stein commented and walked over to the shelf, shuffling through small bottles and packets of medicine.
Kid's eyes followed the lab coat-man strongly, not trusting the man who had watched him closely when he first woke up. He also didn't like how the man took away his favourite hooded jacket. Sceptic eyes trailed the man's every move and narrowed dangerously.
"What are you doing?" He snapped irritably. 'I swear to shit, if you drug me again I will fucking haunt you and make you go crazy, old man.' As Kid watched the man Blackstar watched his long lost friend. "Well aren't you an irritable one. What did they do to you down there, tease you to death?" Kid snapped his eyes over to the unknown man. "You look like someone directly out of Assassin's Creed."
"I'll take that as a compliment, seeing as you look like someone directly out of a mental hospital." Blackstar crossed his arms and smiled smugly. "Looks like I'm not the only one who has changed."
Kid winced. His eyes shot like a bullet over to his arm. Stein pulled out the needle and threw it away. Death the Kid tried to yell at him and demand to know what he had done to him, but a soft calm settled over him. His eyelids hooded and his tensed shoulders relaxed.
"I gave him something to relax; we can't have him shouting when we move him. Having a sedated body is harder to transport." Stein whispered into Lord Death's ear.
"Why are you trying to move him?" Blackstar popped up randomly between them, causing mild surprise. "They're gonna kill me!" Kid yelled drunkenly from the bed, his head lolled to the side and fell onto the poufy pillow. He laughed softly at his words, seeming to find them amusing.
Everyone in the room stared at him weirdly while he chuckled to himself, and then abruptly went back to their conversation. "What does he mean you want to kill him?"
"Nothing, he's high on drugs." Stein commented casually. "Yeah! Drugs! I want some! Can someone bring me Madness? I need it to forget! Hehehe." Kid laughed softly again. Blackstar frowned. "Okay, something is going on here that you aren't telling me. So spill the beans before I spill the blood."
"Haha, blood, I love blood. It's so thick and red and beautiful." Stein slapped a hand over his face. Death looked worried. Blackstar looked pissed. Kid looked like he drank piss, or at least pissed the bed.
"Blackstar, now is not the time to look for answers-"
"You wanna know what's going on?" Kid asked, his head slowly spinning to a halt and looking directly at the inquiring assassin. "They wanna kill me because of this!" He lifted his hand and laughed at the expression of the man. His scar reflected in the black of the young adult's eyes.
"You want to kill him?!" He asked lowly, but his voice never lost the angry urgency. "You want to kill him because Asura forced that pledge onto him? You can't be serious!" Blackstar yelled, hushed, in outrage. "How can you be certain that Asura forced Kid to do the Invariabilem pignus?"
"Are you kidding me? Kid would never do something like that! I know him! He has morals and values! He won't ever do anything so reckless without being forced!"
Lord Death considered this. For an imbecile Blackstar was making a lot of sense. Asura was always a very influential person and it wasn't just the scar that would change Kid. Kid was a victim, not a criminal. "I believe Blackstar has a point, Stein."
Stein blinked and pushed up his glasses, while doing so he composed himself. He looked over at Kid who was laughing softly. "It might be possible that... okay, very well. Blackstar, if you are so determined to prove that Kid is innocent then you can help us get him out of here."
"Sure, I'll help you escape if it means Kid will live, but the question is: Where will we take him?"
"No, the real question is how we will be able to carry a half mad young man out of the building without anyone noticing." Stein commented while checking the hall outside the hospital wing. Voices floated down the hall in an echo. "Yes, sir, they ordered us to move him here because of his injuries."
"And judging by the voices we don't have much time before they show up. So you better come up with something quickly." Stein pulled his head back in and faced the two men who stared at him with bewildered eyes.
"What do you propose we do then?" Blackstar asked while walking over to Kid and checking the restraints. He pulled at the straps and found them more tightly bound than a masochistic victim. "Wow, Stein, you really know how to bind a bitch. I didn't know bondage was your type of thing."
The professor gave the assassin a dry look. "I wouldn't talk if I were you, what would Tsubaki say if she heard you? Hmmm, I wonder." Blackstar's face paled and drained of all conceivable colour at the mention of his wife.
Lord Death walked over to his son and shoved Blackstar out of his way. He made quick work of untying the loopy man.
Death the Kid laughed. And laughed and laughed. "We're all going to die." He said as casually as someone who would say that pudding was served. The door burst open without warning and sent them all gyrating around.
Lord Death's eyes, along with all the others, went as wide as saucers. "How the hell did you escape?!" Lord Death gawked. Asura smiled, blood soaked all over his body, his eyes gleaming with madness.
"Well, father, that's my little secret. All I'm going to say is that I have experience with escaping from tight places." He grinned a cold smile as his gaze settled on his young prodigy. "Hello, brother, you look... hehe... drugged up."
Kid laughed at Asura's laughter and soon the two brothers were laughing together. "Why are you laughing, young one?"
"Because I'm so shot up on drugs that for a second there I thought you called me your brother! Hahahah!" Asura stopped laughing. Kid laughed until he realized that he was the only one doing so and then stopped.
Blackstar looked more confused and disturbed than ever before in his life. Lord Death's face paled behind his mask. Stein looked indifferent. Asura looked just as confused, yet a bit more jovial, than the assassin.
"Oh dear. Looks like you didn't tell the young ones a thing! How shocking. I can't say I didn't expect if from the man who hides behind masks and lies, but honestly, professor, I thought you would at least use your head."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Blackstar blurted, caught between looking at Asura and his long-lost-now-found-friend. "Hahahahah! How quant! Well, if you're all going to just stand there, I'll take my baby bro and go." Asura stepped forward.
Blackstar whipped a concealed knife from his person and jumped in front of the bed. "One step closer to the edge and you're about to break." Asura removed his blade just as quickly and stood in a guarded position. The smile he wore was long gone now and deathly seriousness played on his face.
"Now, little scamper, don't be stupid. Put the weapon down before I have to kill you as well." Ah! There was that manic smile that they all knew so well. Asura gave them all a face-splitting tooth-flashing eye-blinding fucking messed up smile. Blackstar narrowed his eyes.
"You'll be dead before you can even blink. All I'm waiting for to attack is a reason. And I won't hold back. Not at all."
"I'll take you up on that offer, little scamper." Asura launched forward. Blackstar launched forward. "Shit." Stein stared shocked. Lord Death tried to stop the fight. "I love symmetry!" Kid shouted stupidly and with a lot of enthusiasm.
Before anyone could make sense of what was happening, Blackstar was on the floor, Kid was off the bed and Asura was standing in the doorway. Lord Death felt the claws of death grip at his body. "Give back my son you $$#OL!"
Asura pressed his knife higher against Kid's throat. "Hehehe, come and get him, dad."
'Seriously, isn't his face supposed to fucking hurt by now with all that maniac smiling he's doing?!' Blackstar thought as he stood up, rubbing the back of his head. When his eyes focussed on what was happening he grew angrier than he already was. Not only did Asura have the pluck to take a cheap shot like that, but now he wanted to murder his friend?!
Aw hell no.
"You cheating ass-"
Asura lifted the knife higher. "Ah ah ah! Tsk tsk, little scamper. Here I am about to murder your friend and you want to insult me? Don't bite the hand that feeds you!" Asura shouted. He was growing angry. Shit could get dangerous; easily.
"Listen, just drop the weapon and we'll work something out." Death bargained. He held his hands up and took and incredibly small step forward. The gang leader pressed the sharp steal closer to Kid's neck. Warmth seeped onto his arm, sticky and wet.
Kid cried out. His breathing became sporadic. The medicine wasn't helping him calm down. It was probably the only thing keeping him from going completely ballistic. Asura cried out not too long after. "Ow FUCK!" His hand loosened around the knife and retracted a little from Kid's neck.
"Damn. Forgot about that damn scar's curse... hehe, or maybe it can work as a blessing." He lifted the knife higher. Lord Death took in a sharp breath. The eldest man felt like he was being forced to walk on a tight rope. One wrong move can result in sudden death.
"Please, Asura, don't hurt him." He pleaded. Lord Death removed his mask and let it shatter on the ground. His eyes looked straight into both his son's. Sparing the longest of glances at his youngest.
"Well, father, I must say, that this is the first time I saw you without that silly mask on. It's disturbing to know that you haven't aged a day. I was hoping that maybe you would die of old age. I'm glad you didn't. That way I can finish you off myself."
He lifted his knife higher and pitched it towards Kid's chest. "NO!" Lord Death ran forward. He tackled both his son's to the floor like an expert rugby player. "Urmph." Their bodies hit the floor.
Asura rolled to the side and out of the way of his father's angry fist. With an angered face he scooped up his knife and his groaning brother and ran from the room, flinging the door open with great force.
"Dad!" Kid shouted as he was forced down the bloodied hall. "Kid!" Lord Death got onto his feet and ran from the medical ward, chasing after his sons. Bodies coated the halls. Blood splattered the walls. Death hung in the air. Death was everywhere.
Feet thumped on the floor chasing down the demon that destroyed innocence. Gloves were discarded to the linoleum as Death chased him- his mad son, to save him, his perfect boy.
Black boots to cold ground. Hard breaths to even harder pained sounds. And broken hearts to even more shattered facades. The cloak covering his shoulders flapped off his body like broken wings and flapped to the floor, to be forever ignored.
"I'm coming Kid!"
Lord Death took a turn into class crescent moon. And skid to a halt, his arms cart wheeling to keep him on his feet. The floor was slick with blood, causing him to nearly slip. Death saw his son held around the shoulders by Asura, a knife to his neck.
They were standing in the middle of the room.
Shinigami-sama looked around him and saw the bodies of his comrades, death weapons and close friends. And members of the Senate. Various wounds littered their bodies, but there was only one wound that was similar.
All their throats were slit.
"Do you like what I did? It took some time to drag all their bodies here, but I believe it was worth it. It puts a nice touch to the final face off, don't you think? Unfortunately one of them thought it would be smart to act dead and try to sneak an attack. So I just slit all their throats and drained them of blood.
"Vermillion is a beautiful colour. I've always been fond of it. How about you, baby brother?" Kid shook his head slightly, his eyes slightly cleared from its previous glazed over fogginess. Blood leaked down the sharp steel and flopped to the floor.
"Let him go, Asura! This is between you and me!" Lord Death shouted with all his might. His eyes couldn't help but scamper over to Kid, who was frightened and looked so frail.
"Oh, you think so, do you? If this was purely between me and you then why did he come to me? Why did he practically BEG to be part of my gang and why did he WANT to get beat up by Medusa? Because he and I had a similar goal in mind. That goal was to kill you! The man who has caused so much pain and misery!
"This isn't just between me and you; it's between all of us. Unfortunately Kid isn't my favourite person in the world. And sadly, for you, he's your weakest link." Asura threw Kid onto the ground and landed a kick to his ribs.
"Ah!" Kid curled up and gripped his chest as the pangs of pain pulsed into his brain. "Don't touch him!" Lord Death ran forward. Asura bent down and pressed the knife to Kid's neck, uncurling the horrified young adult in the process. Lord Death stopped still.
Asura smiled. "Good man. Now unless you want your precious perfect boy to be cut to pieces you'll be a good little lad and stand still. I don't want you to get over zealous; you'll get your turn, old man, but first- let's give Kid his reward for all his years of loyal servitude in the house of Madness."
Asura slammed the hilt of the knife into Kid's head. Death flinched at his son's cry of pain. Asura stood up and brought his boot down on top of Kid's chest. "Urg." Kid's back arched to alleviate the pain as it pushed at his lungs and caused him to gasp for breath.
"Oh come now, don't be like that. Grow up and take it like a man. Besides, we're just getting started." Asura laughed again and furiously slammed his heavy feet down onto Kid's abused body. Kid curled up and coughed. "Please, leave me alone." Asura picked Kid up by his hair.
Being forced with nothing else to do but be pulled up, Kid went along with the motion, his face scrunched up. "Don't tell me what to do! I tell you what to do! This is pay back for all those times you've tried to take over MY gang!"
Asura slammed his head into the floor. Lord Death surged forward at his son's cry of pain. Asura threw his knife. The weapon landed dead in Lord Death's chest. He stumbled back onto the floor, griping the protruding object.
"This is pay back for you trying to be something that you never could! If I'm not the leader of the gang, no one is!" Asura gripped Kid around the neck and clenched. His fists grew white. Kid struggled for air as his trachea was constricted.
Kid's hands flew up and gripped at his brother's vice like fingers that were slowly pulling the air out of his body. His legs flailed and his hands tried to pry the murderous grip off around his neck.
"This is what you get, baby brother, for being an idiot. For being stupid. For being someone you're not." Kid's hands felt numb. Oxygen leaked out of his lungs and burned him from the inside out.
Kid's fingers struggled before going limp and falling still against Asura's hands. He stopped kicking; his body kept still and his eyes stared blankly at Asura. "Good night, brother, don't let the demons bite."
"You're going to kill him, Asura! Stop it! Please!"
"No, father, this is what he gets, what you get, when you try to go against what I want!" Anger burned like a flashing fire cracker in the madman's eyes. Lord Death ripped the knife out of his chest and leapt forward.
Asura saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He loosened his grip on his brother, Kid took a deep rattling breath, his broken chest fluttering up like broken butterfly wings. Asura had just turned around and saw his father running towards him, blood pouring from the wound in his chest.
"Leave my son alone! I love him!"
Kid's eyes widened. 'He loves me? No one has ever loved me before.'
Determination shined in Kid's eyes. 'Looks like I have a new objective.' The lines on his lips bent and twisted as Kid yelled. His hand reached down. "Die Asura! You're not worthy of the title 'brother'!"
Death stopped and stared. Asura fell to the floor. Yet, not a single blow had been landed to him. Not even a wound had been inflicted onto his body. Asura curled around his hand and screamed for the afterlife to hear.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Too late, it looks like I beat you to it." Kid breathed heavily, staring with pained eyes at his wailing older brother. Death shot his gaze at Kid, who caught his confused eyes and looked at him in turn. Kid smiled gently, gingerly, and grimaced. With slow anguished eyes he led his father's gaze to his hand.
Death's eyes widened and he felt his knees buckle beneath him. His legs failed him and he crumbled to the floor. His heart stopped dead in his chest as his gaze came to a stop on his youngest son's wrist.
Blood walked small ruts down Kid's wrist and gathered in a small puddle on the floor. A large SOG Seal Knife 2000 stuck out of Kid's hand- right where the small scar had been- cutting the small symbol on half.
"The received scar is the mark of the bond. If any harm is to come to the scar by breaking or cutting of the flesh the counterpart will die and by constitution of the rules so will the person bearing the broken scar. A bond could last for eternity or for seconds. It depends on if you value your life as much as your counterpart's."
Kid laughed ruefully. "I knew I was going to kill someone with this knife. What I didn't know was that I would be killing two members of the death family with one strike."
Tears leaked silently from Lord Death's golden orbs. His knees were soaked with blood from the bodies all around, but he didn't seem to notice at all. His gaze was dead locked on his son's slowly paling hand as more and more blood seeped out.
"Kid, you idiot," Lord Death whispered as sobs rattled his frame. His shoulders shook, "Why did you do it?"
"Because you said you loved me. And I can't let someone who loves me die. After Asura was finished with me he would have gone after you. I was going to die anyway, so why waste more time? The quicker the better."
Lord Death shook his head. More tears seeped from his eyes. "You don't get it do you?" Kid tilted his head painfully to the side, his brows furrowed together and his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Yes, you killed Asura, but you won't die." Lord Death's voice hitched. He turned his face away from his son in shame.
His hand gripped the wound in his chest. Blood walked out sluggishly and coated his fingers slowly. "But the rules of the pledge say that if I kill him I will die as well. That's what the rules say. Now you're telling me I won't die?! What kind of fucked up game are you playing?!" he shouted.
Kid winced and coughed. Flecks of blood jumped out of his mouth and dotted his intensely pale arms. His eyes widened. His chest was burning and he was slowly struggling to inhale properly. 'Shit. Must've broken something.'
Death looked at his son, alarmed.
"Kid, we have to get you back to Stein, you're hurt." The man stood up and wobbled over to his son. Kid pushed himself away from the approaching man, but winced and stopped. "Tell me what's going on! I'm not going anywhere before you tell me!"
Lord Death crouched down in front of his son and looked him in the eyes. Seriousness consumed all traces of compassion and worry that would have been found in Shinigami-sama's eyes and it sent shivers flying up Kid's spine.
"My duty as the Grim Reaper forces me to take your life. You have taken the life of the one who had entrusted his soul to you, the greatest betrayal known to man. You're soul is stained and soiled and must be cleansed by the hands of death. 'The one who breaks the bond of soul by killing and/or inflicting physical pain upon the counterpart will meet the fate of Death.' I am Death, Kid."
Kid looked more confused than ever. Lord Death stood up, taking his son with him. The Reaper's hands griped his son by the shoulders. "I still don't understand... father?" It felt weird saying his name. It just... didn't roll off his tongue as easily as he knew it was supposed to. Memories were slowly beginning to flow back into his brain.
"Kid, I'm sorry, but I can't change anything. It's... one of the rules. Rules cannot be broken."
"You're not making any sense!" Kid shouted as he was softy coaxed into walking out the door. A weird feeling settled over Kid's body. His brain stopped thinking about what his father was doing to him and he became more compliant. He just did as his father ordered, without him really wanting to.
Kid's legs took charge and walked on their own accord. More and more Kid was beginning to FEEL that what his father was doing was right and not wrong. "What's happening to me?"
"Kid, you know the feeling you get just before you're about to die; your whole life flashes before your eyes? Well, you better get ready for one hell of a headache."
"I don't understand. Why am I not afraid to die?" Kid looked at his hand as his scar began to burn faintly. The wound healed shut. His eyes widened. Slowly the scar faded, not completely gone, but rather like a tattoo that grew old- like the paint had faded.
"The scar is getting your body ready for your punishment. It's getting you ready for death. It's getting you ready for me. I'm sorry Kid, but just like it's impossible for me not to take your life- it's impossible for you not to comply. You have to do it. Whether your brain wants to or not, the scar is forcing your body to do as the rules are written.
"It's just like breathing, even if you don't want to breath you can't help but do it anyway."
"But I still don't-" A knife flew passed their heads and slammed into the exit. "You're not going anywhere!" The two wheeled around and saw Asura struggling to his feet, griping his wound. His skin was slowly beginning to fade to black from where the scar was. His hands trembled as he held a controller in his tightly gripped fingers.
"If I die, so does the city!"
His finger pressed down on the only button on the controller and the earth beneath their feet began shaking. With that final act finished the controller dropped from his withered hand and clattered to the floor, followed shortly with his body. The building around them shook. "The bombs! We have to go NOW!" Lord Death, sensing his son's distress picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.
Yeah, Kid was lean and well muscled, but he had nothing compared to his father. Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders can make a person strong. With strong legs Death began running from the building.
The foundations were cracking and the beautifully sculptured architecture around them crumpled, falling uselessly to the ground below. The building that took a lifetime to build took seconds to shatter.
As all the bricks and cement and concrete and plaster came plummeting down, so did all the lies that were ever hidden behind the walls of stone. As the castle-like walls broke to nothing but piles of rubble and useless garbage so did all the facades that Lord Death had been hiding behind for so VERY long.
There's nothing to hide behind.
"Kid," Lord Death shouted as he dodged a dislodged beam and ducked from falling bricks, "I can't help what will happen next, so I'm going to apologise in advance. There is no stopping me from sentencing you to death, but that doesn't mean I don't love you. You've done wrong, but at least you saw the error of your ways.
"That is what makes you special. That is what sets you apart from Asura. That is what sets you apart from all the evil in the world and that is what makes me love you. Because no matter how far you stray, you'll always find your way back to what is right. I love you, son."
"I love you too, dad, I love you. I'm sorry for everything I did."
'I love you and I forgive you.'
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"If we got rid of our demons, we'll get rid of our angels"
-Tennessee Williams
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