Edited Tuesday May 3 2011 3:23 PM
Authors Notes: Ok new chapter next Tuesday Chapter 1-7 were edited clean I'll be working on eight next. Hey I have a small polling question. Who do you think is more scary so far. Kid's mom, Kami, Gunter, Thompson sisters Mom or Souls Brother, Lord Death?
Chapter 26: The End of "Big Star."
Black Star thought the gallery was slightly unnerving. Mirrors of different shapes and sizes hung helter-skelter over the walls, their frames ranging from sleek black wood to ornate gilded gold. There were several ladders available for use with the models that were higher off the ground, but they didn't even come close to reaching the ones that hung from the three-story vaulted ceiling on wires. Every movement was reflected and repeated around the room a thousand times over and gave potential adversaries too many places to hide. The fun house effect reminded Black Star of the final fight scene in Enter the Dragon and he jumped every time somebody moved. But something else in the room made him feel even more uncomfortable than the mirrors did.
Soul was flirting with Tsubaki; not even trying to hide it now. His feet slid around the floor in nervous patterns and Tsubaki rocked back and forth on the heels of her cream colored boots. She gave Black Star the impression that she was flattered but slightly annoyed, and she kept giving her meister nervous glances.
Black Star leaned on a glass display case and gazed into Tsubaki's eyes from across the room. The defeat in his expression was reflected on Tsubaki's face for an instant before she turned back to acknowledge whatever Soul had been telling her. Black Star grunted in disapproval and let his forehead rest on the light-warmed glass of the display case while he examined the rather gruesome crystal skulls housed inside it. No wonder Kid was a weirdo. Growing up in a place like this would make anybody crazy.
"Nice choice of art." Black Star snorted. He gritted his teeth as Soul followed Tsubaki through a mirror on the far side of the room. Frankly, he hated waiting around. Spirit had stuck his head in earlier, just to make sure they weren't killing each other, but he'd wandered off before telling Black Star which mirror would get him back to Death City. Black Star yanked on Menace's leash and the goat bleated at him loudly, twisting its head around and fighting the spiked collar it was trying to chew on.
"So cute!" Patty squealed leading Liz over by the hand. She kneeled beside the goat and rubbed the short coarse hair on its forehead.
A ghost shot into the room and began dusting the mirrors to Black Star surprise and Menaces too, because the goat took a few steps away, frightened, and backed into Liz's long legs and yelped.
"Yeah I know Menace, I don't like it either." Liz commiserated, "Hurry it up already! I want to go home!" She grabbed the back of Black Star's neck and pushed him toward a wide mirror that protruded out behind two long ones.
"Patty this is the one right? The one that will get us home?" she whimpered, fidgeting and putting a death grip on Black Star's neck as the ghost floated up and dusted a frame beside them.
"Looks like the size of the one in the billiard room. I think it will work. Spirit said only thing we needed to do was find a near match and look at the image on the other side after writing the number on the glass."
"Hey, where are you taking me?" Black Star asked cautiously. Frankly he didn't care where he was going as long as he didn't have to stand around waiting. One place was just as good as another to sulk, and he preferred to do it somewhere else where he didn't have to watch himself in all those stupid mirrors.
Liz tapped her foot against the terrazzo tile as Patty wrote a number on the wide mirror. "From what I hear you don't have a house left after what Spirit and Stein did to it. So that means you either crash at Soul's or over at our place."
Black Star watched as the mirror whirred to life with a ticking noise that reminded him of the sound a rollercoaster makes as it pulls you up the first hill.
"It's no big deal. I can stay with Sid. He's like my old man. Besides I could use someone to talk to right now."
A look of maternal worry flashed across Liz's face. She glanced at Black Star and back to the ghost and Black Star could have sworn he saw a ripple of fear raise from her worn boots to her cowboy hat.
"Enough talking. I just want to get out of this hellhole. Freaking ghosts are everywhere and the whole house is staffed with undead. So move your damn ass." Liz kicked Black Star through the mirror and dragged Patty and the goat behind her.
It took less than a second for them stumble into The Gallows billiard room. "Thank god! Right mirror on the first try!"
"Way to go, sis." Patty cheered, waving Menace's floppy ears with her fingertips.
"He probably needs to go potty." Black Star grumbled tiredly.
Patty snapped up the leash from Liz's hand and headed outside. "I'll walk the goat, you comfort Doofus."
Liz rolled her eyes at Patty and flopped onto a barstool exhausted. "Damn, she stays mad forever."
Black Star looked pitiful."She's mad at me too?"
"No, I didn't mean it that way. Patty is just really over protective of Kid. After the Noah thing we both are."
"And she doesn't like it because I used to have a thing for Maka." Black Star muttered darkly.
"Well, yeah," Liz said collapsing onto a stool at the bar. She looked at the bar lustfully, hoping there might be a bottle that Kid had missed, but it was empty.
"Damn it what's the good of having a bar with no booze in it?" Liz complained.
"You drink?" Black Star asked, trying to make small talk. He dropped on to a green leather barstool, bellied up to the bar and rested his chin on his hand.
"Just a little here and there. I'm not a lush or anything, but when things get a little too crazy I like to have a beer. A cigarette too." Liz whispered under her breath so even Black Star couldn't hear her. It was a embarrassing habit she had picked up from her mother. It had been broken for years but right now she would just about kill for a cigarette after what she had been through lately.
"I've never had beer." Black Star told her. "Actually I've never drunk anything alcoholic before."
"You want a beer? There some in the kitchen if Kid hasn't poured them all out."
Black Star stared at the pool table for a moment before before answering. "Yeah, what the hell right? The whole world looks like it's coming to an end; one beer can't hurt. Do you play pool?"
Liz smiled brightly. "Do I ever, I grew up in bars so I'm pretty good at it! You know how to play?"
"Yeah Sid and Spirit showed me how."
"Cool I'll get the beer, you rack 'em up."
Liz trotted away and Black Star looked over the room. Five windows on the left wall overlooked the cemetery. Heavy brown leather furniture and rich mahogany walls. It was a man's room but it hardly looked like Kid's taste. He had a penchant for modern looking things, usually black and white. This room must have been left over room from whoever had lived here before. A wet bar directly in front of a church and a cemetery. Definitely some kind of message there, but Black Star couldn't fathom what.
He rolled the balls on the pool table, clanking them into one another before racking them up. The pool table was a fancy one. Cherry red felt and ebony legs carved with Death City's famous skull motif. It kind of clashed with the green leather on the barstools and made for a slightly evil Christmas motif but all in all Black Star liked the room. It felt warm and slightly more normal than the rest of the gallows.
Liz returned and grabbed a pool cue from the stand. She tossed Black Star a bottle of beer which he caught in mid air.
"I'll get the bottle opener." Black Star offered.
Liz rested the bottle's cap on the pool table's wooden edge and smacked her hand against it, popping it off. She handed the open one to Black Star and proceeded to open the other.
"I use to work in a bar, I don't need 'em. Besides Kid threw it away thinking it would solve the problem."
"He pretty bossy aint he? He doesn't like you drinking or thinking too much for yourself does he?"
"That aint it, Kid is a stickler for rules. He wouldn't have a problem with it if I was twenty one but he has an unrealistic picture of the world. Sometimes he forgets that I'm older than the rest of you and frankly he doesn't understand some rules are just made to be broken." Liz took a sip from her bottle. "He actually was so sheltered he never knew most teens have under age drunk at least once."
Black Star shook his head in disapproval and took a sip from the bottle and decided he didn't like it. It tasted like raw bread dough to him. He watched Liz take a hefty swig so he took another gulp and felt a little less focused. His chest wasn't feeling so bad anymore either. The crushing feeling was moving away down to his toes.
"I never drank before because I was always afraid it would dull my senses, the idea of a drunk ninja seems stupid to me."
"No drunken master for you then?" Liz laughed.
"Nope that was a good movie though, I just know I'm not capable of that style of fighting requires faking out your opponent too much and usually I give too much away with my facial expressions and this big mouth of mine."
Black Star took the triangle off the pool balls and laid in the first shot. He sent the balls scattering, sinking the solid purple one into the side pocket.
Black Star lined up the yellow ball for his second shot and noticed Liz watching him. "I'd say I agree with you there's a time for everything it's just certain people get pushed to that place farther and faster than others. Kid's lead a sheltered life and so has Maka. They still think rules solve everything."
"Maka wouldn't drink because she knows her old man would kill her if she tried." Black Star countered, rubbing his nose and getting blue chalk on it.
"Maka...please, Spirit lets her do anything. He's one of those parents who are so enamored with their own child that she can do no wrong."
"Not on that kind of stuff. Besides you only know Spirit A.K. He was a lot stricter in the B.K days."
Black Star missed the yellow ball and Liz took her turn.
"A.K? B.K? What are you talking about?" Her stick clacked against the green striped ball and sunk it into the pocket.
"After Kami left and Before Kami left. Spirit was a totally different guy back then."
"What, you mean he wasn't a drunken lech?"
"No he was still that, but he used to be more confident. He and Kami yelled a lot, but Spirit loved her so much it was sickening. He was always a womanizer but he didn't start cheating till shit started getting bad between the two of them. Can't imagine what's going through his mind right now seeing her again like that. As a team were going to have to keep a close eye on Maka, to make sure she doesn't go running back to her undead mommy."
Black Star saw Menace wander in without her leash on and looked around for Patty. Liz took the opportunity to lean over the table and sink two more balls with one strike. "Patty! You have a good walk with the goat or did it run you into the ground?"
Patty came in with blankets and a pillow. She tossed them on one of the two brown leather sofas in front of the TV and the goat jumped up on the couch. "We had a good walk and Menace did her business." She began building a nest of blankets around the goat. The goat was enjoying the royal treatment and raised her neck so Patty could tuck it in and scratch along the curl of its beard.
"What do goats eat anyway?"
"Grains, Vegetables, Fruit."
Patty picked up Liz's beer bottle and started feeding it to the goat as if it were a baby bottle. The goat wrapped its lips around the glass bottle and began to suck down the beer, nearly tearing it from Pattys hand. Patty gigged in delight, "That's a good girl, you drink your grains."
"Hey!-Well thanks a lot Patty that was my last bottle!" Liz screeched in annoyance. Liz flipped her blond hair out of the way and scuffed the pool stick on the table nearly missing her shot.
Black Stark laughed a bit. He handed his bottle over to Liz. "Go ahead and have mine; I don't like it much."
Liz smiled at him happily and took a healthy swig. She missed the shot she was going for and went and sat down beside Menace.
"You're going to get that goat drunk." She told Patty.
"Off a half a beer? I don't think so." Patty sang amused.
Liz scratched her arms and kicked off her boots, stretching her legs and toes. "You guys hungry, you want some real food?"
"I'm hungry! I'm always hungry. Besides I haven't eaten anything since the night before last." Black Star answered.
"I'll go make us some grub. Patty, will you finish the game for me? We're ahead so you should be able to win."
Patty went over to the rack and selected a smaller pool cue she picked it up re-chalked it and stretched her arms and back against it. She dusted her hands with more chalk and narrowed her eyes at Black Star.
"You do realize I'm going to wipe the floor with you, don't you?"
Black Star didn't rise to the challenge. "Go ahead. Your sister was doing a good job of it already."
He picked up the beer bottle Menace had discarded and placed it on the coffee table. He snuggled up with the goat while she nuzzled and licked him.
Patty stared at Black Star with her jaw open. He looked defeated, his eyes turned down and he tried to smooth down his spiky blue hair with no luck.
"What, no 'I'm a Big Star and you're playing with a pro' monologue?" she asked.
"I don't feel like such a big shot tonight. It seems like everything I do lately just pisses people off. Hell, you're mad at me and I'm not even sure what I did to you."
Patty tried to remember what had made her angry a couple days ago but couldn't. The only thing that was making her angry right now was Gunter, and she wanted some special time with him to carve a payback out of his flesh.
"I'm not angry with you. You annoy me some times picking on Aniki and I don't want you getting in between him and Maka, but overall I'm not pissed at you anymore."
"Do you really think they're a good couple? Maka and Kid?"
"Yeah I do. I think Maka is the only person who can balance Kid out. She gets him. And she understands all the crazy netherworld shit and it doesn't scare her. Though I can see Maka with a ton of other people, I really can't see Kid with anyone but her."
Black Star nodded accepting her answer. He leaned back on the leather sofa next to the goat as Patty shot another ball in. "I guess I better get used to not being seen, then."
Patty's head shot up in confusion. Black star was slumped over, his hands dangling between his knees. He didn't bother to look up.
"What do you mean by that?" Patty questioned softly.
"Maka and me, we were close once. I was her Big Star. Her big brother in a way. She used to call me that too, her 'Big Star'. She was the only person that understood me, and then we had a falling out and she never looked at me the same way again. She keeps seeing all the stupid things I do and not the things I'm trying to have her see. Sometimes I shout and shout and she doesn't even look at me. I swear, I hate being in the background! It's not my fault I can't communicate like a normal human being. I just don't know how to express how I feel." Black Star ripped at his blue hair." Damn it! I just wish I could keep my mouth shut some times and not come off like a complete moron but the words just fly out every time I get nervous or start feeling ignored."
"You mean all that stuff you say just comes out without you thinking about it? It just shoots outta your mouth like diarrhea whether you want it to or not?"
"Well yeah. I don't intentionally try to make an ass out of myself. I guess it's my way of making sure I'm noticed at all. "
Patty considered his words. Black Star was overcompensating for the fear that no one would see him, but when he was noticed it was always as some creepy super egoist and not in the way he wanted. She could relate to that entirely too well. She knew what it was like to feel like a loser and try to overcompensate for it. She had problems speaking in front of other people, choosing the wrong words and feeling completely backward after she said them. For half of her life she had let her sister talk for her just for that reason.
Patty looked away from the pool table and back to Black Star. "I know how you feel, about being in the background and being afraid of no one seeing you and what it's like to spit out all the wrong things at the wrong time." she said at last, "Believe me, Maka knows that you're there. You might not be her big brother who can do no wrong anymore but she definitely values your opinion."
Black Star snorted and his voice rumbled in his chest. "You know, I figured if I couldn't be there for her anymore at least Soul would be. I thought he was my best friend and then he pulls this shit with Tsubaki."
"Wait, you're not mad at Tsubaki?"
Black Star choked back a sob "No I can't be mad at her. I knew that it would only be a matter of time till she got sick of me. Tsubaki is awesome; I just want her to be happy. It just pisses me off that my best friend would go after her. The one I had lined up for Maka. It's like all those years of keeping my feelings in check and trying so hard to push Maka and Soul together were a complete waste of time. I'm mad at Soul but now I'm madder at myself. I don't know what I was thinking."
Patty laid the pool cue down and began rubbing Black Star's back. "It's okay. I know it's a shock. I'm just glad Maka wasn't there. She and Tsubaki are close; it probably would be as big a shock to her as it was to you."
"Yeah, good thing she wasn't there." Black Star whimpered. He put one arm around Menace and the other around Patty and began sobbing harder. "I don't know how I'm going to break it to her. She's mad enough at Soul as it is and I don't want her to be mad at Tsubaki too."
"Maybe you shouldn't be the one that tells her. Maybe you should let Soul and Tsubaki tell her. It's their business, not yours. Maybe Maka won't even care. After all she has my brother now and she might be glad that Soul is moving on."
Black Star swallowed hard. "Oh trust me, she'll care alright. Even if she does have a crush on Kid she'll be upset, because she had a crush on Soul first, and you're always a little bit bitter when you see one of your exes with someone else."
"You speaking from experience now?"
"Yep. I wonder what the hell she and Kid are doing right now? We're all supposed to be getting ready for the assembly and they still haven't come home."
Liz wandered back into the billiard room with a platter of chicken strips and waffles, pausing at the door to take in the awkward moment. Black Star was hugging Patty and Menace, who was trying to lick both their faces at the same time. She watched the ninja try to reel in his emotions as Patty did her best to comfort him.
He looked up at Liz and then back at Patty. "We cool?' He whispered.
"Yeah we're cool." Patty confirmed. She shook Black Star off and went to examine Liz's platter.
"Chicken and waffles? You must be homesick."
"Yeah, well these are all frozen. I doubt they'll be as good as the ones we had in Harlem when we were kids"
"What's a Harlem?" Black Star asked, taking a seat at the bar.
"Harlem is by Brooklyn in New York City. We used to take the subway real late at night and go there for breakfast. There was this restaurant there called Wells and they served the best chicken and waffles."
Liz dumped honey and maple syrup all over everything on the platter and the three of them ate in silence for a while.
"Wonder if Kid would let us use the mirror network to hop around on our days off for something other than tracking down a Kieshan egg or chasing after a renegade soul. I'd like to see New York. "
He saw sudden change in Liz and Patty; they looked ready to talk him to death.
"New York is great. We have restaurants open all day and night and you can shop about just every hour of the day. Unlike here, where the city shuts down around seven and you have to run to Reno or Lake Tahoe for anything good. You can get just about everywhere on the subway, and there's so much to do. Free concerts, city wide runs; Hell just staring at the lights and the big television in Times Square is a blast. The best thing is you can see some great shows for around five bucks if you wait to the very last minute and buy tickets at the check in booth. Patty and I got to see a lot of funny comedians that way. Really big name singers, too."
"I liked Gallagher the best!" Patty giggled. "We got to sit right up front on that one and we ended up coated in watermelon and shmutz."
"I thought Robin Williams was better." Liz replied, but she let it drop and Patty enthusiastically explained who Gallagher was and what he did on stage.
"So you mean to tell me there's a guy in New York that gets paid to smash fruit with a sledgehammer? Before I die I got to see this," Black Star mumbled, baffled. "He gets paid to smash fruit with a sledgehammer. Hell I'd do that for free."
Liz was full and decided to leave the two alone. Patty was chatting on her own, and frankly she felt awkward with the two younger kids. Black Star was nearly shoveling food in his mouth and Patty was doing the same. This was normal for her sister but it seemed a little odd for Black Star. Wait, didn't he do the same thing the last time he was upset? Maybe he's some sort of nervous eater. She headed upstairs to grab one of Kid's Spartoi uniforms for Black Star and then got her own Spartoi uniform from her closet. The school assembly was going to start soon and she'd be damned if she didn't look her best standing on stage to support Lord Death in front of the entire school.
She pulled out the blue skirt and decided not to roll up the waist to make it shorter today. Patty would want to wear hers short and Liz figured it would be a small way for the two to differentiate their clothing. She slid on her sailor's blouse and proceeded to do her hair. She had just put on the base coat for her make up when Lord Death's face filled her vanity mirror. She shrieked and flung her whole body away from the makeup table.
"EEaagh! Jesus Lord Death, don't do that; you scared me." she screeched, dropping her mascara.
"I need clothes for Kid again. Can you get them?"
"This is turning into a habit. He should just keep some of his stuff there in the netherworld if he's going to stay over so much. I guess you'll need something for Maka too."
" No, Spirit went to get her uniform."
Liz stomped out of her bedroom and Death followed her down the hall. She could see his image in every reflective surface darting from one place to the next. It was creepy, but she didn't tell him that. She rifled through Kid's drawers, got out the necessities and shot a pair of black boxer briefs to Lord Death, using the elastic as a slingshot.
"Okay, shirt shoes, tie, undershirt, underwear, socks, and pants. Am I missing anything?"
"Yes, there should be a black silk tie a jeweled reaper tie clip and matching cuff links in his jewelry box. Oh, and there should be a pocket watch."
Liz opened the box where Kid kept his skull pins and bolo ties and found the items all together in a black satin box, neatly organized.
"I've never seen Kid wear any of this."
"They were mine and the pocket watch was his grandfather's. He only wears them on special occasions. He's afraid he'll lose them."
"Is there some kind of special occasion, I don't know about? He's getting awfully dressed up for an assembly."
"I'm pretty sure there's going to be some exciting news later on."
"Is that Lord Death on the mirror? Does he need more of Kiddo's clothes?" Patty asked, sticking her head in the door.
"I already got them." Liz said as Lord Death reached through the mirror and took the pile from her.
Liz shivered. It reminded her too much of the urban myth where someone said 'Bloody Mary' three times and she would reach through the mirror and lop their head off. Lord Death smiled and bowed on the other side of the mirror and it went back to normal.
Liz and Patty headed back to their room and found Black Star waiting in the hall. Liz went back to her makeup while Patty got dressed and tossed Kid's spare uniform out to Black Star.
"It's going to be too long for you in the sleeves and legs." Patty giggled as Black Star shamelessly began changing in the hall. He had no modesty at all, hopping into the pants with his blue and yellow star boxers showing. He knotted them around his waist with the belt and rolled up the sleeves and pant legs.
"I hate this uniform. The cuffs are too big and I like my clothes baggy." He fumbled with the shirt collar, "Never noticed how tall Kid was. Guess that makes your sister a giant."
Patty giggled. "Don't say that in front of her, she'd hit the roof. She has this crazy idea that petites are pretty and she's self conscious about her height."
Black Star only nodded. Patty handed him the tie but he couldn't tie it. He slung the thing on the floor irritated. "I can't do this, Tsubaki usually..."
Patty picked up the tie and wrapped it through his collar around his neck and twisted it together in a Windsor knot. "It's all right, me and Sis wear them all the time, I'm pretty good at it." She pushed the knot against Black Star's throat, choking him a bit. Black Star loosened it and let it hang haphazardly down his shirt front.
"What do you think Lord Death is going to talk about at the assembly?"
"Hopefully not about how bad we've been screwing up lately." Patty worried. "I hope this is just going to be an address like we had for Operation Brew. Telling the school we have a new enemy and to be vigilant."
Liz finally appeared, coated in makeup. She glittered with jewelry that Kid had given her over the years as presents and bribes.
"Jeeze it's an assembly not the Grammys. What's with all the make up?" Black Star asked.
"Sis is on the prowl." Patty snickered. "She's decided her new quest in life is looking for a man."
Black Star yowled with laughter and Patty joined him slapping him on the back when he began choking.
"Get your stuff and go get in the car." Liz snarled and stomped away to the garage in sheer irritation.
"Ooh we're driving to school?" Black Star asked happily.
"Well Kid isn't here and that means Sis drives." Patty skipped out to the Ford Fairlane and climbed in through the open window. Black Star wanted to do the back windows were rolled up. He had to force the rear door open and he hinges shrieked in protest.
"You really have to rip at the back door to get it to open." He got in and pulled the door shut with less effort, "This is a really old car; kind of cool. Is it Kid's?"
"It's Lord Death's." Liz answered slamming the driver's side door. "Kid keeps babying it in case his dad is just going to be able to leave the Never After and go for a road trip. Now it looks like that might actually happen, considering Maka is offering to become a reaper and take up some of the work load."
Black Star stared at Liz's eyes in the rear view mirror.
"You don't seem to be too happy about that."
"I'm happy that the two of them are together, but I really don't want Kid taking over for Lord Death. Kid's planning on giving Death his freedom, and taking his place as a fixture in the netherworld. It will allow Kid to reap souls like Lord Death does, with his subconscious, but Kid isn't ready for that kind of responsibility yet. He hasn't lived out in the normal world that much, and he's ready to leave it to ensure the souls of the dead return easily to the nether world. It's just not fair! He's only sixteen! He wants to toss his life away before it's even started and Maka is doing nothing to stop him. I thought once he had a girlfriend he'd reconsider but she's helping him. I heard them discussing the other day how Maka was going to concentrate on the reaping duties and Kid was going to work on the processing and back end. Now we're not just losing Kid but we may be losing Maka too, I don't get it!"
Patty took a deep breath and let it out loudly. "Me and Sis don't want to see him do it, it just seems like a waste to us. I don't see why they just can't continue on hunting Kieshen eggs like the rest of us. I mean between the two of them wouldn't they have a easier time reaping on the outside of the netherworld than from the inside?"
"So why is he going to do it? Lord Death's not weakening or something is he?" Black Star asked, worried.
Patty tossed back her blond hair and mumbled, "No nothing like that. Aniki is just afraid Lord Death is depressed, and wants to get him out of it. He thinks being around normal people will give him back some of his humanity. Fat lot of good that will do Kid though."
"Why does Lord Death need humanity? I mean after all he's supposed to kill people right that certainly doesn't take humanity? Isn't it better if he just does it indiscriminately, without getting all emotional about it?"
"Kid doesn't see it that way, and now Maka is going along with this cockamamie scheme of his." Liz huffed, pulling into the student parking lot. "Right now I think this may be the real reason Soul and Maka are fighting, whether they know it or not."