*Flashback*
Despite his horrific injuries, Kid made a relatively fast recovery. After about 3 weeks under observation for any mental as well as physical scars, Stein felt he was well enough to go and live with his father for a while. Before taking him home, Stein decided to leave the child with Spirit and his wife and daughter for a bit while he went ahead to debrief Lord Death on his condition.
"Where's Kid?" fretted Lord Death when he saw Stein enter the Death Room alone.
"Don't worry, Spirit's brining him up soon." Answered Stein "but first we need talk."
Lord Death nodded. He led Stein over to a small wooden coffee table which had a pot of freshly made tea and some little white china cups sitting upon it. The pair sat down and Lord Death began to pour the professor a cup of tea.
"So what happened to Thana?" asked Stein as the Shinigami handed him a hot cup of tea. "Did you find her?"
Lord Death growled silently but angrily under his breath.
"Not yet….but she'll be back…she wouldn't leave without her possessions…" he answered sadly.
Guilt had been gnawing away at his soul ever since he found out what happened. The fact that he was told about what was happening to his child and he did nothing to stop it absolutely killed him inside. He was angry at Thana and wanted her to pay for what she had done but all he could think about was how much he wanted to hold his son.
"I'm such a fool Stein…" he sighed sadly "My little boy could have been killed…all because I was in denial…"
"No offence sir, but now isn't the time to be beating yourself up about this. You need to focus on helping your child get through this."
"I heard he hit his head in the fall. Will that affect him in the future?" asked Lord Death
"It shouldn't, there was no damage to his brain." Answered Stein "But hopefully as he gets older he'll forget the whole thing ever happened."
"I hope you're right Stein…"
Just then, two familiar voices could be heard in the hallway, one belonging to Spirit and one belonging to Death The Kid.
"We're gonna see your daddy Kid, you excited?" echoed Spirit's voice
"Uh Huh!" chirped Kid.
The death scythe entered the room with the small boy holding on to his hand. Lord Death's heart melted upon seeing his son.
"Hi Daddy!" smiled Kid as he rushed towards his father, leaping into his arms upon contact.
"Hey there Kiddo!" Lord Death smiled, fighting back tears.
His attention was directed towards the bruises that hadn't entirely faded that were dotted around his cheeks, a reminder of how hurt he had been...
"I missed you like crazy, son." He sighed happily as he placed Kid on the ground "You have fun playing with Maka?"
Kid wrinkled his nose.
"I did…but she talked about the lines so no…" he said with a pouty voice as he pointed to the lines on his hair.
The adults all chuckled.
"Hehe sorry about that" Spirit smiled nervously "Kids always seem to speak their minds at this age."
The cheery vibe was soon interrupted.
"Owie…" said Kid. "It's hot."
The adults all turned to look at Kid who was near the table where the Teapot was. He had tried to pick it up but had accidently splashed himself with a drop of the hot water. He held his right index finger in pain. Lord Death wasted no time, he scooped his son into his arms and looked at his injured finger.
"Hurts." Kid said sadly as he shook his finger.
Lord Death gave him a comforting smile and kissed his child's finger.
"That better?" he asked cheerfully.
"Yeah! You fixed it!" laughed Kid as he wrapped his arms around his father's neck in an affectionate embrace. "It happened before and no one fixed it so it hurt lots…"
An eerie silence fell upon the room.
"Mommy made me touch hot water…hurt lots and my hand turned a funny colour." Kid said seriously.
Stein could remember that quite a while ago, Thana made Kid wear gloves even while he was inside sometimes and he never knew why…now he understood…
"Don't you worry…" smiled Lord Death "I'm here now and Mommy won't hurt you again. I promise Kid…"
*Flashback Ends*
He was absolutely terrified, unable to move as it was like the fear was forcing him to sit and suffer the merciless beating Thana was giving him. Her insults were cutting into him like a thousand blades.
Mistake! Un-wanted child! Piece of GARBAGE! I hate you!
"I wish you'd just die!" she roared angrily at him "If that meddling Death Scythe hadn't found you, you would have bled to death right there on the floor! Then I'd be done with you!"
She picked up a medium sized rock that was lying beside her feet and threw it at her son's shoulder, causing him to cry out of fear and pain.
"I'm sorry…" sobbed Kid who was covering his ears, attempting to drown out her hurtful words. "Please leave me alone…please…please…please…"
Begging seemed to anger her further as she gave another all-mighty kick to Kid's stomach. She stopped the relentless torture and noticed a broken piece of pot from one of the plates resting near Kid's leg. An evil grin crept across her face as she picked it up. She grabbed Kid by the hair again and lifted him onto his feet, forcing him to stare straight at her. She took the shard and placed the sharpest end on Kid's left cheek.
"I should kill you right here right now!" she sneered as she ran the blade over Kid's soft cheek, leaving a shallow cut in its wake which caused him to cry even harder "Then I could hide your body somewhere where your father would never find you! Think about how much that would hurt him…It's the perfect revenge banishing me!"
His heart beating so hard against his chest, he could actually hear it. He was sure this was the end for him… until…
"STOP IT!" screamed a familiar voice coming from the front doorway. Kid glanced up and saw Crona standing there with pure rage and angry tears engulfing his eyes. Maka and the others ran to his side, soul holding onto his arm to prevent him from rushing inside. "JUST STOP IT!"
Thana stood there and sniggered at the group of youngsters assembling at her door. She threw Kid aside causing a loud thud when his feeble body hit the floor hard.
"Who the hell are you brats?!" she snapped
"We're from the DWMA!" Black Star declared loudly "And we're here for our friend!"
Thana simply laughed evilly.
"So you're from that school! No doubt that….reaper sent you here. Sending a bunch of whelps to save his son? He truly is a useless father!"
On that note, Crona pulled away from Soul's firm grasp and lunged forward towards her. The demon sword in hand, he swung violently in an attempt to hit her, however she dodged it with ease.
"You don't hurt your own child you evil snake! HE'S INNOCENT! LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!" he cried
As Crona began attacking her once more Black Star joined the fight with Tsubaki.
"You guys get Kid out of here!" Maka ordered Liz and Patty "We'll keep her distracted!"
Soul transformed and he and Maka joined the struggle.
Liz didn't need telling twice, her and Patty rushed towards their terrified meister. Upon seeing them, Kid grabbed onto Liz's arms. She could feel him shaking violently.
"Liz! We have to get outta here, she's dangerous!" he cried "They'll get hurt, get them out of here!"
"There, there." She hushed "They'll be fine. You're okay now."
"Sis! We gotta go!" Patty said urgently
Liz and Patty grabbed an arm each and pulled the shinigami to his feet. Though his legs were trembling like jelly, with Liz and Patty's help he found himself leaving the building.
Maka and the others were still holding Thana back. Upon noticing that the twins had gotten Kid out safely, she decided it would be best to retreat.
"Come on! Let's Go!" she ordered as they all, with the exception of Crona, headed towards the exit.
Crona was relentless, he ignored Maka's orders and kept on fighting until he had knocked his opponent to the floor.
"THERE!" he cried angrily "HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING KNOCKED TO THE FLOOR?! NOT NICE IS IT?! YOU DID THIS TO KID WHEN HE WAS A BABY! HE WAS WEAKER THAN YOU! YOU'RE HIS MOTHER AND YOU HURT HIM INSTEAD OF PROTECTING HIM!"
Thana said nothing and laughed loudly and menacingly.
"Let me guess…" she sniggered "Your mother never loved you either did she boy? You and that pathetic child of mine are one in the same…un-wanted and un-loved!"
He couldn't take it anymore. He hit Thana in the head with the blunt end of his sword has hard as he could, causing her to fall to the ground unconscious. He was about to deliver the finishing blow when Maka stopped him.
"Crona, that's enough…" she said "We'll tell Lord Death what happened and he can punish her. He'd show her no mercy…"
With tears streaming down his face, Crona lowered his sword in agreement.
Back outside, Kid was sat on a patch of dead grass sobbing uncontrollably. Patty was sat next to him with her arms wrapped around his shoulders as Liz was stroking his hair in an attempt to comfort him. The rest of the group gathered around them.
"Are you okay Kid?" asked Tsubaki worriedly
"Where does it hurt?" asked Patty naively, her arms still wrapped tightly around him.
Crona knelt in front of his injured friend and placed his hand on his shoulder, causing Kid to lift his head to look at him.
"I-I-I've n-never dealt w-with this sort of th-thing before so I'm sorry I-if this doesn't help b-but….y-you'll be okay now. Okay? Y-you have friends who c-can help. Trust m-me….you'll be okay now."
Kid wiped away his tears and smiled weakly.
"Thank you…Thank you everyone…"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yaaaay another chapter. There's no excuse as to why it was so late, I just got SEVERE writers block lol. I think this one's drawing to a close soon but I bet I can squeeze a couple more chapters outta this fic lol! Thank you so much for the awesome reviews you guys give me the inspiration to finish this pice of rubbish :) love you guys!