I know, so soon? *le gasp* What is the world coming to?

Nah, I'm kidding. I saw this not too long ago in a different fic, and I liked the idea... so I'm putting a special twist on it. ;D

Also, I might stop putting my replies to reviews in the actual chapter. X3 As much as I love doing it, I find myself getting less and less access to a computer, and therefore cannot make the single line break that I like to do. Plus it annoys me and I'm getting lazy. .3.

Finally, Peace

Prompt: Inspiration. o3o

Timeline: Hmm... after the anime? /shrugs

Characters: Death the Kid, Liz and Patty Thompson, BlackStar, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Maka Albarn, Soul Eater Evans

To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.

-Thomas Campbell-

After the defeat of the Kishin, many a year passed peacefully. Kishin eggs grew fewer, the witches more open to negotiation, the students at the Academy more joyful, and the haze of madness and despair had all but lifted from the world.

The elite team of three meisters and four weapons that had together vanquished Asura was praised and exalted, and for almost a decade they were active and revered throughout both the DWMA and the world, at least the parts that knew of the Academy. But all good things must come to an end.

BlackStar and Tsubaki, now at the ages of twenty-four and twenty-eight, left Death City to travel the world and learn of new martial arts and fighting techniques. The blue-haired assassin had decided he would learn all he could, then one day return and battle Kid once again - this time to win completely, no symmetry involved.

Kid and the sisters broke off next, and were the first out of the team to achieve the rank of Death Scythe. (The sisters, that is.) They were put in charge of North America, while Spirit - growing older - stayed in Death City exclusively. After a while, Kid's training to be the next Grim Reaper engulfed him, and he grew more distant from the mortal world entirely. Lord Death, too, spent far more time in his mirror than was normal, preparing his son in every way possible for the moment when his strength would wane and a new Reaper would gain responsibility for the world.

Soul was the next to reach Death Scythe, catapulting Maka into the rank of two-star meister. She began to realize her talents as a weapon, and as Soul became busy with the task of overseeing Oceania (Marie had finally found 'true love' with BJ the coffee man, and retired to settle down with him), the former scythe meister - now a scythe weapon - became like Justin Law, a self-operating dual meister-and-weapon. She, too, became a Death Scythe, and was put in charge of South America after the current Death Scythe disappeared off the face of the earth.

And so the team was completely, utterly divided. They stayed this way for ten more years, Maka, Soul, BlackStar, and Kid (maybe- they weren't sure about his age) were at the age of thirty-four or so, Patty was thirty-five, Liz was thirty-seven, and Tsubaki was thirty-eight. The latter had become a sort-of girlfriend to her partner, still being the only one on the planet who could put up with his 'Godlike tendencies' to shout at everything bigger than him in public.

(It should be added that none of them had grown up much. They were all still children in adult bodies. Aside from, perhaps, Kid; that is to say his OCD had lessened severely in the light of his soon-to-be fate as the next Grim Reaper.)

Now, all of them being in their thirties, they'd decided to plan a get-together, to reconnect with 'the old gang.' Lord Death located BlackStar and Tsubaki via mirror, and alerted them to the meeting place - the clearing where they had first achieved Soul Resonance as a team, one of the most important milestones they'd made together. Maka was called up from Brazil, Soul from Hawaii, and Liz and Patty from their old hometown of Brooklyn. Kid took a brief break in his ongoing training, not wanting to miss out on their first reunion in almost two decades.

They had a grand picnic, an all-you-can-eat buffet carted specially into the forest courtesy of Lord Death. Most of the team excepting Kid had been rather shocked at their 'leader's' appearance: As he neared the end of his reign, his mask had begun to crack completely down the middle. He still hadn't lost any of his cheer, however.

Together they talked away the day, sharing stories and adventures, and BlackStar had threatened to challenge Kid to a duel right then and there. When asked why he didn't, the assassin had simply replied that he had more to learn. Kid therefore replied with a smirk that he'd grown up, and, a direct quote, that it was "a miracle."

When the sun had long set and all they'd had was a camping lantern to light their faces as they talked, all seven admitted defeat and retired to a huge slumber party in Kid's massive living room in Gallows Mansion. (Keep in mind they're all thirty or so, camping out together like teenagers.)

The next day, they parted ways again, only to promise that they'd do it again every decade. All proclaimed that they couldn't wait.

Six years later, that promise threatened to break.

BlackStar and Tsubaki had gone missing in dangerous Kishin egg territory, and had not been heard from in months. Maka and Soul had paired up again in an unlikely reunion to try and rescue them, but had themselves disappeared. When he'd caught wind of it, Kid had known immediately who would be next; but despite his warnings and pleas, both Liz and Patty ventured into the death trap. All six were now missing. Being the only one left, Kid had begged his father to go after them, but was harshly denied. There were only days before Lord Death's strength waned and the necessary preparations had to be made for that moment. And so, somewhat reluctantly, Kid waited for almost a week.

In one explosive day, Lord Death's soul winked out, an earthquake shook Death City (without any consequences, surprisingly), and the cracked mask was all that was left.

Picking it up, Kid - now Death - pieced it together and bonded it with pure soul energy, leaving the crack like a scar to remind himself of his sacrifice. He never went as far as to completely shield his face, however. His cloak was always present, but you could see under the mask the tiniest bit, and on occasions his golden eyes flashed through the holes.

So, pledging to rescue his friends, Kid made the journey into the territory that now held his missing comrades.

Eighty days and eighty nights the world waited, anxiously, hoping for word from their leader that he was back. (The dead souls continued to be guided to the afterlife, though none were sure how.)

On the eighty-first day, Death emerged from the forest, carrying around him on floating golden masks the half-dead bodies of his six friends.

Six months it took them to recover, but they were all back on their feet and functional. Their ages now totaled forty-three (Maka, BlackStar, and Soul), forty-four (Patty), forty-six (Liz), and forty-seven (Tsubaki). Kid, when asked, denied that he had an age at all.

Once again they parted, after another picnic, albeit admitting their reunion had been a little early.

Twenty years passed, and all seven had been far too busy with their respective lives to have another get-together.

At the age of sixty-five, BlackStar was killed how he'd always wanted to be - fighting to the death against a huge number of Kishin eggs. No matter how fit, age had finally caught up to the man who would surpass God.

He never did have that duel with Kid.

Tsubaki was unable to handle her partner's death, and, losing the will to live, died at the ripe age of sixty-nine.

Maka and Soul had teamed up to handle a trio of particularly nasty witches, and died the way they'd lived in battle: Holding hands.

Liz and Patty had become Death's personal weapons, but were both taken out by a large number of Kishin eggs roaming the alleyways in Brooklyn where they'd been overseeing some business.

Death mourned them, every one, and had regretfully not been able to guide them to the afterlife. Some souls rejected the Reapers, being powerful enough to find their own way. Little did he know they'd done it out of respect for him.

This time we skip ahead almost a thousand years, to when Death has had a child of his own - an energetic little girl, with long black hair and three perfect white lines, not to mention an overwhelming case of symmetry OCD - by splitting off a part of his soul. She wields, unknowingly, a pair of twins that are descended from the same family as the legendary Thompson girls. Her weapons are a girl and a boy, two identical bladed silver spears.

She fights alongside a close relative of the Star Clan, Kasai, and her partner, a girl of the Nakatsukasa family by the name of Hana. The third addition to their resonance team is a boy, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Wes Evans, a demon scythe, and his meister: a boy related distantly to a child, unwittingly sired by Spirit Albarn during one of his many trysts.

Death knows that his daughter, along with her friends, will take care of the world he cherishes. They will guard it with their lives and souls. And so, after nearly a thousand years, he lets the sealed mask crack and reveals for the first time in ten centuries his entire face, to only his daughter. Then he gives her one last smile, flashes his golden eyes, and speaks of a boy. Utterly obsessed with symmetry, alone in the world save his father, and devoid of friendship. He tells her a wild story of how he meets two girls who will later become his most loyal partners, of a crazy assassin and a gentle dark arm, a bookworm of a scythe meister and a cool-to-a-fault demon scythe.

He tells her of their adventures, how they become friends.

He tells her of the deaths of the six friends, leaving the boy alone once more.

Then he cups her cheeks in his hands, wiping away the tears she has unwittingly let go, and says softly a poem he learned long ago from his own father.

"When your feet are sore and your legs are weak

when your strength has waned and your passion grown meek

look back at your footprints immortalized in stone

think to yourself that all along, you've walked alone

gaze at the horizon you've left behind

and know that soon, a better place you'll find.

Look into the sunset that's far in your past

remember the friendships you'd thought would last

think back on the souls you'd thought had faded

and know that the truth has in fact been shaded.

Stare into the fading light and know

that despite it's now the end of the show

you need no longer waste time debating

for ahead are the souls of your friends

waiting."

He tells her not to cry, and reassures her it'll all be alright. Then in a flash of golden light he is gone, leaving the mask in eight pieces. She picks it up, and, instead of mending it, seals half of the mask back together, then creates a new half for herself and dons it, fastening the black cloak that appears before her around her shoulders.

"I promise to be strong and look after my friends," she promises in a whisper.

Far away, in the mists of the realm of the dead, Death walks through, marveling at his hands and his reflection in the water he is wading through, though it does not feel wet. He has become the vision of the teenager he once was, except that his Sanzu lines are connected.

Before him stands his father, mask uncracked and bouncing like he always used to.

"Chichiue!" Death- no, Kid- cries, hugging his father.

Voices echo in his ears, and the reaper turns with a smile wide enough to split his face as six familiar faces emerge from the mist.

"Took you long enough," BlackStar complains.

Instead of retorting, Kid clasps him in the hug of a long-lost brother. He does the same to Soul, and Maka and Tsubaki. Then he stands before Liz and Patty, and for a moment all is silent.

Then Patty leaps forward and engulfs him in a tight hug, and without a moment's hesitation, Liz joins in.

The other four add to the group hug, then they walk into the light of the afterlife, talking and joking like old times.

Together.

I hate to spoil this with my immaturity, but cornyyyy. XDDDD

Hope you liked! REVIEW. NOW.

Kat