Perfect Symmetry

FFFF- I just noticed my chapters are all messed up! I think I fixed it, but if you notice anything off, PLEASE let me know! D:

I want to say that I'm sorry for all the trouble my changes may have caused! I want this fic to be the best it can be, so deal with me for a while.

If you didn't see the A/N, I made a few changes to chapters 5, 6, and the end of 9. I recommend reading them, or you may get confused later on.

Also, I think I'm gonna try and wrap this fic up by chapter 20.

But there'll probably be a sequel.

Cookie: Owch! I should be doing all of those things, but I'm too lazy. I have a job, but for the next 3 weeks I'm scheduled off, even though Paula won't be here for another four days. ^^; I don't do my homework most of the time, I'm kind of a delinquent.

But when you get that fic posted, send me a link!

The last thing is...EclipseStripe, *Gets down on one knee* I love you. Will you marry me?

I left Maka at her apartment again, walking down the street, making sure I took a right, not a left. No getting lost this time.

I was nervous the entire way home, glancing over my shoulder and checking down every corner before I started down the street. The last thing I wanted was to run into Excalibur. I'd dealt with him enough for one lifetime. But why was he in Death City? Had a DWMA student been stupid enough to try and be his meister again?

Luckily, I never once ran into him. I didn't feel like going home, though. It wasn't especially late, and I had nothing to do. I'll go the library. I had read most of the books in my house, so the academy was one of my few choices for something new to read.

It was a freezing desert night; by the time I was at the DWMA, I was shivering like mad, and wanted nothing more than to get inside where it was warmer. I pushed open the doors, relieved to be inside.

I was about halfway to the library, walking past the hall that led to the Death room where my father spent most of his time. I heard a voice, "Thank you, Death! I won't let you down!" one that I recognized instantly. I stopped, turned around, and ran into the hallway. Was she really here in Death City?

Yes! "Artemis!"

"Huh? Oh! Hey, Kiddo!" She threw her arms around me, pulling me closer for a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, but what are you doing here?" It couldn't be safe for a witch to be in Death City, and to see my father? It was unthinkable. Was she insane?

"Well, your father owed me one, so I convinced him to give me a teaching position here at the academy! Isn't that great?" She laughed, squeezing me a bit tighter again.

"Yes, it's wonderful! But I don't think most of the students will be especially enthralled with being taught by a witch. We're taught to see them as evil."

She stuck out her lip, not pleased by my last statement. She shook her head, "I'm going to make them think I'm a magic animal." She frowned a bit, clearly not happy about that idea. "It isn't ideal, but it'll have to do, if I want to stay!"

Oh, that made sense. With her transformation magic, she could easily pull off being a magical polar bear. That sounded so wrong. There was still something I had to ask her, though. "So, Artemis, why does my father owe you, exactly?" It had been bothering me ever since she had mentioned it on Svalbard.

She hummed, finally letting me go from the hug, and began walking down the hallway. I followed her into the halls of the academy, staying by her side. "Long ago, your father needed to bind his soul to the city, to keep the Kishin from reviving. Well, I was the one that helped him do it."

"You're the one...?" I stopped, and she turned to look at me. Binding a soul, especially my father's, to the city? That was an unimaginably huge feat. But, this witch had done it. Just how powerful was she? It blew me away, really.

"Yup! Impressive, huh? It was the highlight of my research. Oh, speaking of research..." She turned away from me, looking down the hallway. There was a loud thud, the sound of something hard hitting the floor. "Hello, Excalibur."

"Good day, Artemis!" He picked up his cane, and spun it around. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Fuck my life. Why was he here, at the Academy? He hadn't followed Artemis had he? No, why would he? I didn't care, I just wanted him gone. The last thing I wanted was to deal with him every day.

"Yes, it has!" Artemis smiled, waving a hand to him. "I'm glad to-"

"Fool!" He jabbed the snow-white cane at her. Her happy smile faded, replaced with a sharp scowl. She hated him as much as everyone else, it seemed. But they knew it each other, that was certain.

" Oh, right. You're annoying. I almost forgot."

"Fool! You won't think that way when hear my legend! It began twelve centuries ago, on a Wednesday. Or was it a Tuesday...?" He started to talk, but Artemis ignored him, turning to me. With a glance, at my expression, she figured that I had met him before, raising her eyebrows and putting a hand on her hip. She patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"Well, Kid. Where was it you were headed to?" Excalibur droned on in the background, still not sure what day his legend had started. Artemis's smile had returned, her black lips curved up pleasantly. I didn't know why, but I felt like I could trust Artemis, that I could confide in her.

"The library, I was going to try and find something to read." She beamed, taking my arm and pulling me in the right direction.

"Fools! You can't hear my legend if you leave!" The small white dog-like creature tapped me on the back of the head with his cane.

I tugged my arm free from Artemis, crouching down to be eye-level with the holy sword.

"You're right to stay, I'm su-" I picked him up by the back of his jacket, standing up and carrying him towards the exit. "Fool! Put me down!" He struggled, but he wasn't going to get out of my grasp.

"No." I stepped outside, into the cold night air. With that, I let him go, bringing up my foot to drop-kick his shiny white ass down the steps. With that, stuck my hands in my pockets, re-entered the academy, and slammed the doors behind me, making sure to lock them.

Artemis stared at me blankly for a moment. I looked up at her, and she burst out laughing. "Y-you literally kicked him out!" She hunched over, arms crossed over her stomach as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her laughter was so intense it was absolutely silent, until she inhaled loudly. "I-I can't breathe! My chest hurts!" She struggled to regain control, holding in her giggles. In attempting to do so, she snorted loudly, and she was laughing all over again. "I'm sorry Kid!" Her fit over, she panted heavily, grinning from ear to ear.

"I've always wanted to do that." I shrugged, and smiled. It had felt nice. Incredible, actually.

"You'll be able to do it again, if you want. He'll be back." Her smile turned sheepish, and I stared flatly at her.

"Why is that?"

"Well...I'm might be the one that brought him here, maybe." She shrugged, looking at me nervously. I had to try my hardest not to punt her out the door, too. My eye twitched, and I stared at her flatly.

"You brought him here."

"...Yup."

"Why would you ever do that?"

She shrugged again, looking away from me. "Well, you know how Excalibur can match Soul wavelengths with anyone? To me, that's interesting. So, I brought him for a bit of research. In hindsight, maybe it wasn't worth it."

I sighed heavily. Fantastic. "How long am I going to have to deal with him?"

"Until I get sick of him. At this rate, he'll be gone by tomorrow." She rubbed the back of her head, staring flatly at the doors the weapon had been kicked out of. "Well, we should probably get to the library, huh? I suppose you don't want to be here all night." She smiled gently, taking my arm again. It was a quiet walk, the only sound being our footsteps as they echoed through the halls.

Artemis was in the DWMA now, as a teacher. Why would she want to do that? "Artemis."

"What is it, Kiddo?" We stopped, and Artemis let my arm go, pushing one of the library doors open. As we entered, the librarian looked at us, but said nothing. The witch hummed, crossing her arms, drumming her fingers on her skin.

"Why did you come here – to the academy? I thought you were hibernating, or something."

She turned to face me, avoiding eye contact with me, but smiling. "Well, it's simple, really. I want to make sure you're doing okay."

She would really risk her life coming here for me? My father could have very well rejected her offer and had her killed, and she knew it. But she did it anyway... "Why?" She met my gaze, her dark eyes half open as she thought. Was she here for research? To see how her experiment was coming along?

"I couldn't help your mother." She stated. I already knew that, she had told me before. "But, I can at least make sure her child is safe and happy, right? I think I owe her that." She grinned, stepping closer to me. Suddenly, she hooked my neck with her arm, and began to scrape her knuckles on my head. "Plus, I like ya', Kid! You've really grown on me!" She laughed as I struggled.

"Artemis! Ow, let me go!" I flailed uselessly, trying to break free. But damn, this woman was strong. She patted the spot she had been rubbing, laughing apologetically, and let go. She came because she cares about me, huh? I couldn't deny, that felt nice. Aside from my father and Maka, I didn't have many people that gave a damn about my well-being. But, she also said she felt like she owed my mother. My good mood vanished quickly, and I looked up at the Bear witch.

She tipped her head, sensing something was off. "Hey, Kiddo. What's the matter? All the sudden you got really sad." She took my hands, leaning close to me. "If you need to say something, so it. I'll always be here to help you out, no matter what it is."

"I just wanted to ask, do you know why you couldn't save my mother without hurting me?" I didn't look at her, choosing instead to stare at a bit of dust on the floor. Did I really want to know? My heart said no, but my mind said yes. So, I asked before I could convince myself not to.

Artemis let out a soft sigh, dropping one of my hands. "Let's sit down." I followed her to a table in the back of the library; falling more than sitting down into a chair. I could already tell this wasn't going to end well. "Hmm, where to start?" She sat down across from me, propping her elbow on the table, drumming the surface with her nails of the other hand. She rested her cheek on her open palm, chewing her lip thoughtfully. "Souls don't just appear out of thin air. It has to start somewhere, and grow. So, when a child is conceived, the mother and child's souls are linked." She paused, and looked at me. I stared at the table, simply listening. I nodded to show I was following her, and she continued, "The child's soul is nourished by the mother's, basically. So, protecting your mother's soul from decay would have suffocated yours, and you wouldn't have lived." She cast me a worried glance.

"That makes sense." My response was flat and monotone. I hated talking about my mother like this. Even if I had never known her, it still hurt. But I had more questions, thought I didn't want to ask them. "But Artemis...My father's soul is bound to the city. How come everyone in it isn't having their souls corroded away?"

She drummed her nails on the table again, thinking. "Well, from what I can tell, when he bound his soul to the city, it caused a diluting effect on his wavelength. It became so weak that it would take a century for even the weakest human soul to succumb to decay even a little."

My father's soul didn't cause decay... and suddenly, it hit me.

"Your mother lived for nine months."

How was I so blind? Her death...it was all my fault! My soul was the one that corroded hers to the breaking point. If I had never been born...She would still be alive.

"Kid, are you okay? You're crying." Artemis's voice was laced with worry. I sniffed, my nose beginning to run.

"She died...because of me." A choked sob forced out my chest. I buried my face in my hands, trying to fight the tears. Artemis didn't respond. She knew it was true, and she wasn't even going to try and convince me otherwise. She was at my side, wrapping her arms around me, holding me against her as I sobbed. The librarian cleared his throat rudely not far behind us. Artemis lifted a hand, her middle finger raised at him. He huffed, and disappeared into the back. The witch wiggled into the edge of the chair I was sitting on, and I clung to her. I clenched my fists into the fur draped around her, burying my face in her shoulder. "I-I'm a monster. I killed my mother, and I'll kill anyone else close to me!"

Without anything to say, Artemis just let me cry, until I was so tired I just couldn't anymore. I sobbed miserably, sniffing loudly one last time. My breathing was still ragged. But even though my fit had stopped, I didn't feel any better. "I should have never been born." I summarized somberly, sighing into the wet patch of the witch's robe.

Artemis sighed, still hugging me, but relaxed slightly. "I'm sorry, Kid. Your mother was happy to give her life for you, and I'm sure she's watching over you, and I'd bet my life she's damn proud of you." She smiled slightly, giving my back a small pat. "But hey, you're not hurting anyone anymore, right? You've got that beast on a leash."

The dragon... She had looked into my soul, so she must have come face-to-face with him. But, she was right, and it made me feel so much better, to know Maka wasn't being hurt anymore because of me. But still... If I wanted my love to live, we would never be able to have children. Would she want that? I would never want to take motherhood away from her. I had no doubt in my mind that she would be an amazing, loving, wonderful mother. That was a depressing truth, and something Maka would have to know. But, did I tell her now, and risk losing her, or spend as much time with her as I could before she left me? I let out a long sigh. I was too tired to think about that now.

Artemis let me go, standing up. I watched her with tired eyes, and she strode over to a bookshelf. She ran her finger over the spines of a few books, until she found the one she wanted, pulling it off the shelf with an, "Aha!" She walked back over to me, handing me the book.

I took it, looking it over. It had a dark, forest green cover with no writing on it whatsoever. It wasn't very thick, but when I opened it, the font was small and smashed together. It would definitely be a long read. "You came here to get a book, right? This is one of my favorites." She smiled at me, extending her hand for me to take. I grabbed it, and was hauled out of my chair by her. "We better get you home, huh?"

I rubbed an eye with the back of my hand, too tired to reply properly. I didn't know what time it was, but I didn't care. I just wanted to sleep.

Artemis chuckled at me, taking me by my hand and leading me out of the hallway. I stumbled a few times, but we finally reached outside. The moon hung high in the air, laughing down at us. Artemis let my hand go, and a few seconds later, she became a bear in a puff of smoke. "Come on, I'll give you a ride. You like you're going to pass out. I don't want you sleeping in the gutter!" She hip-checked me gently, smiling as best a bear could.

I was in no position to refuse her help, so with a bit of effort, I climbed onto her back. I hugged around her neck, laying over her rather than sitting. Her gait was long, and she swayed from side to side as she walked, creating a gentle rocking motion that wasn't helping me stay awake. I sighed contently. Her fur was warm against the cold night air. "Hey, Artemis."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, for everything." I rubbed behind her ear, a tired smile spreading across my face before I fell asleep.

Hm, this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would. Either way, it made me sad to write it. Kid finally figured out he alone is responsible for his mother's death. :c

At least Arty is there to help him out. She'll become more and more of a mother figure to him as the story goes on.

So, I just copied and pasted every chapter of this into one Open Office document. It's somewhere around 57 pages.
Holy shit.