A big flea market was in town, and Kid, Liz, and Patty couldn't really think of a better way to spend their sunday.
It seemed like the whole city had the same idea. They saw lots of kids from school, along with people from around town. Some people there they didn't recognize at all. There seemed to be more people there than city members, so it must have been one of the rare times a town named after mortality had tourists. The market itself seemed to take up two parallel roads, surrounded by buildings, that were connected by alleyways between them. The city's architecture was certainly an oddity, but it made use of the space.
None of them were particularly interested in anything being sold, so they were all just casually wading through, looking at things from time to time. For whatever reason, they stopped in front of a place selling cheesy 'live laugh love' type decorations.
"This isn't accurate. Eyes aren't windows…" Kid mumbled as he looked at one of the signs.
Liz rolled her eyes. Even despite their candling, Kid was still the same clueless rich kid, which it would be a lie if Liz said she didn't appreciate. It was nice he didn't completely change. It was kind of nice the inaccuracy wasn't making him panic, he was just stating dry facts.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a light tug on her sleeve. On the other side of her, Patty was staring at the wall decorations seemingly more distracted than Kid, but in a much more negative way. It concerned her big sister to say the least.
"Hey Sis… are those guys…" Patty mumbled. She glanced in a direction then went back to looking at random merchandise in front of her.
Liz looked in the same direction to try to see what Patty was talking about. Then she saw it. Something that filled her completely with dread. A fair bit away, lost in the sea of faces, was an all too familiar one who went by the name of Chum on the New York streets. Of course, that was a fake name given to him by Bruce, the big apple's biggest shady loan maker. The Thompson's kind of ran off with Kid before paying him off, so chances are if Chum recognized them, it wouldn't be a very happy reunion. He was walking towards them, but he didn't seem to have seen them yet, so maybe it would be fine if they just got out of the way. "Yeah, it is," Liz said. She quickly looked around and saw behind them was one of the alley ways to the parallel streets. "Kid I think there's more accurate plaques about eyes over there, we should go check it out."
"Oh, okay." It didn't take much to convince him.
As they made their way over, Liz tried to tilt her hat in a way that hid her face like the people did in the movies, and Patty followed suit. They seemed to make it across to the alley way unnoticed, but Liz couldn't shake off the feeling that they weren't home free yet. She looked around the parallel street and saw possibly the worst case scenario. Anchor. Another one of Bruce's men was walking towards the three of them from the other street. This couldn't have been a coincidence, multiple New York gangsters don't end up across the country by happenstance. It became obvious that Bruce found where they lived now, wanted them to pay, and now they were cornered.
It may have just been Liz's imagination, but Anchor seemed to make perfect eye contact with her.
Liz quickly grabbed Kid's collar and pulled him back into the alleyway. "But the… eye plaques…"
"Kid, not now," Liz whispered.
"We'll look at them in a bit," Patty said, also whispering.
Liz let go of him once they were more in the middle of the alley. The young reaper looked between the two once she did. "What's wrong?"
"Back on the streets we made a deal with some guys for money, and never paid it back. I don't know how they found out we were here, but they did," Liz explained. Kid needed to be filled in if they needed to fight. By the looks of it, they did need to fight.
Patty nodded. "And they're super duper tough too. We've tried shooting them; it doesn't work."
"Yeah. It was just pure luck that we got away the first time. If you do that whole 'soul resonance' thing, that should scare them away. Or just do a weird reaper thing, I don't care, we really need your help!"
They watched as Kid's blank, yellow eyes moved between the two of them, silently and slowly. He wasn't moving his hands so they could transform into them, he was just standing there. "So you… broke your deal?"
"Yes, now they want to kill us! Come on, open your hands, it'll only take a few seconds!" The fact that her meister lacked any urgency was making Liz really angry. No, more so scared, but it was disguised with anger.
Again, Kid took his sweet time to respond. He just kept looking between the two of them. "I'm supposed to honor any deals made. If you made a deal, and broke it, shouldn't you be punished according to how the victim sees fit?"
"Kid, what are you talking about?" Patty mumbled.
"No, we shouldn't!" Liz whisper-shouted. "You haven't made a deal like we have. On the streets, if you don't pay up, you pay the price, and that means death!"
With a shrug, Kid's blank eyes looked between them again. "But, you agreed to that deal, didn't you… Taking lives can be justified if there has been wrong doing."
"Are you saying you want us to die for not repaying a stupid loan?!"
"I don't want it, but I don't have any big oppositions to it either. A deal was made. My Dad told me to honor my deals and the deals of others."
Liz couldn't believe it. Kid, the person who took them in, who gave them a home, who gave them a family again, was now basically saying that they deserved to be executed for a mistake they did years ago out of sheer desperation. The same Kid that single handedly took out a whole gang for them just so he could ask them to come to Nevada with him wasn't even going to lift a finger to help them now. She couldn't talk, it felt like there was something caught in her throat.
"Your dad's not here!" Patty hissed.
"I'm aware. I-I just-" Kid started coughing.
Liz glanced at her sister, who looked back at her. They messed up. They really messed up. Ends up that drugging your meister's emotions away wasn't such a good idea. In hindsight, it seemed pretty obvious.
Liz wanted to be mad at him, but she couldn't. He was just doing what they forced him to. They took away his kindness and his ability to care, and it was only a matter of time before it came back to bite them. Liz should have stopped it a week ago, but she didn't, and now…
She couldn't feel anything really besides. The world suddenly seemed so hollow and fake. Despite Liz being wide awake, it was all so dreamlike. Was this how Kid felt all week? It must have be like an odd form of torture he's too careless to speak up about.
The numbness was replaced by a sinking pain of guilt and regret, but she couldn't focus on that. At the moment, they had two options. Either Chum and Anchor catch them and kill them, or they run fast and far. Either way, their lives are over. Without Kid, they'll be back on the streets making those shady deals that got them in this situation to begin with. They completely blew their fresh start. No, she did. Liz was the one who started it all, and she should have ended it so long ago, but she was a coward. It was time to be a coward again. "Patty… run…"
"Not so fast!" Liz and Patty both turned to the noise. Anchor was standing at the end of the alley way.
Chum stood at the opposite end, trapping them in. "You pretty ladies owe Bruce a pretty penny. It's about time you pay up."
"Oh yeah? Well-" Liz clapped her hand over Patty's mouth before she could finish that sentence. They were in enough trouble without her antagonizing the loan sharks. Still, it didn't matter. There was nothing they could do.
Kid took a step towards Chum. That should have made Liz relieved, but she instead filled with more dread. "That does seem to be the case. As the meister of these two, it is partially my responsibility, and I will repay any debt they are in. Any price you deem fit, I can pay."
"What? Is this some kinda joke?!"
"No, sir."
Anchor scoffed. "We don't want no money now, we want the girls. They need to set an example of what happens to ungrateful borrowers."
Kid was still for a second, then nodded. "Understandable. Liz, Patty, go with this gentleman."
"Kid, shut up!" Liz still had her hand over her sister's mouth and was dragging her as far from the two as possible. They were in the alley's middle, vulnerable, their backs figuratively and literally against the wall. If Kid cared, he could fight them, or even fly the three of them away on his skateboard, but he doesn't care about anything anymore.
"You should listen to the striped kid," Anchor taunted the twin pistols.
Chum smiled. "Come with us without a fight and we'll consider only making it fast."
All hope really did seem to be lost. Liz wasn't going to give up, but there was nothing she could do either. Just then, a voice came from nowhere. "They're not going anywhere with you!" Liz was never a religious person, but it genuinely felt like a voice from the heavens.
In reality, it was that one girl from school. Maka. A weapon formed Soul was in her hand as she ran in, putting herself between Chum and the Thompsons.
"And don't think that Maka's the only one getting a hero's spotlight!" From fire escape, Black Star and chain scythe Tsubaki jumped down, landing closer to Anchor.
The two loan sharks started laughing. "What is this? Your back up's a bunch of children?" Chum asked.
"We are students at the DWMA. We swore to protect those who can't protect themselves as well as fellow students in need," Maka said.
Black Star nodded, stiffening his stance. "Plus, Me and Tsubaki could really use the souls of scumbags like you."
"Either take Kid's offer to repay their debt with money, or we'll have no choice but to defend our friends."
Friends? The twin pistols have never had friends before…
"Fat chance. We're not scared of children."
Just like that, it became a fight. Maka and Black Star started jumping around, dodging attacks, landing blows, receiving blows themselves, but not letting that slow them down. It all seemed so fast. Liz and Patty stayed against the wall, awestruck, trying to watch both fights at once. In almost unison, Maka landed a not completely stable, but still effective witch hunter on Chum, and Black Star hit Anchor with a big wave, making both fall to their knees.
"Alright! We give in!" Chum yelled. "It was $10,000. Just give us the money and we'll call it even."
Everybody glanced at Kid, who was just standing there doing nothing the whole time. He blinked a couple of times, then shrugged. "Okay. If you deem that fit." Kid put his hand palm up. His hand glowed white with black skulls jittering all around, then the white turned a deep green color and vanished, leaving behind a huge stack of cash in Kid's lower hand. "Here you go."
Chum wasted no time grabbing the wad. "You Nevadan kids are freaks."
And with that, the two left limping, but ultimately fine. Maka and Black Star were more or less in the same shape: scuffs and bruises here and there, but nothing worse than that. The two meisters stood in front of Kid, Liz and Patty, their weapons transforming to stand beside them.
"Are you guys okay?" Maka asked.
The three of them nodded in unison.
Tsubaki smiled. "That's great to hear."
"It was Kid, right?" Black Star asked. Kid nodded again. "Thanks for not fighting back and leaving the spotlight open for the real stars. That was a pretty genius move."
"You're welcome. And thank you too," Kid said. It wasn't really clear if Black Star was being sarcastic or not, but it was probably a mix of both. Kid's was as sincere as it could be at the time, and chances were he was thanking the 'compliment', not the fact that they saved his weapons.
Patty started trying to say something, so Liz put her hand back off of her sister's mouth. "Yeah! Thanks so much! You guys are really getting better at fighting!"
"Honestly, you saved our lives. I don't know how to ever repay any of you," Liz said.
With a dismissive wave Black Star said "Don't mention it."
"It was the least we could do, right Maka?" Soul added.
She nodded. "Yep. By the way, you three can always train with us if you want. You know, as long as Kid's not too busy with his 'therapy'."
First impressions really weren't everything. These four kids in front of them were so nice, forgiving, brave, and everything else too. They would make such amazing friends, and pretty good battle partners too.
"Um, well-" Kid started.
Liz knew he was going to say something stupid and emtoionless, so she cut in. "We'd love to. And don't worry, anytime works. We're actually going to stop Kid's 'therapy'. ... Except for Thursdays from 5 to 6, he'll be too busy then." Thursdays is when Kid had real therapy, which Liz wouldn't deny he genuinely needed that.
"Cool. See ya tomorrow then," Soul said. He and Maka started walking away, Black Star and Tsubaki following them.
"You'd better be prepared, cause I won't go easy on ya," the assassin said.
They went back to their shopping like nothing happened. Liz, Patty, and Kid remained where they were standing, completely silent, all for different reasons.
"We should go back home…" Liz eventually mumbled. Her partners didn't protest. They had some candles in the mansion that they needed to throw away.
A/N: I know that a flea market is such an odd setting lol, but only one chapter left~ (ish). Besides the opening, this was the scene I wrote first. I named the loan sharks off of the Nemo sharks because sharks lol. But yeah, what'd you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts! and thank you for reading!