Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater. If I did well...I don't exactly what I would do but I don't so that's a question for another day. :P
Requiem of a Lullaby
And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
~Better Days by the Goo Goo Dolls
When Mena's feet touched the cobblestone ground she looked back behind her though she knew that the mirror portal would no longer be there. She shook her head. Death had been acting strange but then again, any man would be slightly nervous at the thought of taking care of a child by themselves for even a few hours. "And also Death is normally just weird and introverted," she reminded herself.
"I hope the whole place is still there when I get back," Mena murmured before deciding it best to get the shopping over and done before something did happen.
The sooner she was finished, the sooner she could save Death from Death the Kid. She shook her head once again, trying to hold back the laugh when she imagined Death cowering in the corner from the cute and adorable child. "The bonding will do old Death some good," she decided.
She reached into her pocket to pull out the list she had brought.
"Now-" she began before cutting off, falling to her knees as her head felt as if it as full of the most horrible unearthly noise. Instantly she knew what was happening and who was causing it as she felt the figurative scales of her moralities tilt unevenly to the side of complete and utter insanity…
"I always feared you," a frighteningly familiar voice said calmly in her head.
"The way Death trusted you. You would have turned him against me if you knew what I was up to sooner."
"B-bastard…" she slurred, her world spinning. She hated this voice. Death was obsessed with taking down the owner of this voice since the Grim Reaper saw it as his fault for letting such a person go as far as becoming a kishin. "It wasn't his fault," Mena knew.
"I want happiness; to not fear anything. Please die Mena-chan…after you wreak some chaos."
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The common misunderstanding about the Grim Reaper is that he had no clue as to what human emotions were. But the thing people tend to forget is that he was created from human emotion: the fear of death. He had seen plenty mournful souls on his trips and even when he didn't need to personally be there to make sure a soul reached its destined spot, he still from time to time drifted out of his domain to lead lost souls to their next destination.
And so, here he was, in a dark alley, festive sounds coming from the market behind dulled at the scene before him.
Painted on one of the alley's wall were three sideways eye shapes - the sign of insanity, the mark of Asura – in semi-fresh blood. He forced himself to look down at the figure crumpled at his feet, already attracting flies.
With eyes wide open, with pupils dilated, and mouth pulled into a crazed smile, she looked like she had just been let in on the world's funniest joke. Her blood splattered face was streaked with shed tears. Her left arm rested above her chest. From the elbow down this arm was transformed into a sickle like blade that had cut a slit over her throat.
Insanity had possessed her - that was obvious. But she had fought against it, stopping herself before she harmed anyone else, and not letting Asura have the pleasure of getting rid of her himself.
Such a prideful woman, even to the end.
As he reached down, to collect her soul, her features smoothed so that if the blood around her and the slit at her neck was not present she would look like she was merely sleeping.
Her soul pulsed rhythmically in his hands. He noted that it had a soft warmth to it. He felt the same prick at his soul again and he was finally able to place a name to it: grief.
"Sleep well, Mena," he murmured.
Just knowing exactly when someone would die didn't make things easier. "Sometimes," Death thought, "Ignorance is truly bliss."
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When he returned to his cloud covered Death Room, he found Father Time hovering over the crib Mena had moved there "for his convenience and to better improve the bonding experience".
"What are you doing here?"
The older looking male glanced towards Death. "I'm merely performing a request that was asked upon me," he said nodding towards the blue orb that floated in Death's hand: Mena.
Death didn't argue.
He watched as Time took his thumb and forefingers and pressed them against the child's forehead. "Take out that mirror of yours," he grunted with a strained voice, brow pinched.
Death didn't hesitate. The mirror instantly appeared. He watched as Time removed her thumb and forefinger, straining to point them in the direction of the mirror. The child and his crib suddenly appeared behind the mirror's surface.
With a thin layer of sweat beading his brow, Father Time dropped his hand, taking a deep breath. "There."
"What did you do?" Death questioned, almost a tone of worry in his voice, but just a little.
"It's a safeguard," Time informed. "That woman, Mena," Time said ignoring the small flinch Death made, "she asked me to do this." He tapped wrinkled fingers on the surface of the mirror. "We," he said once again gesturing towards the floating soul, "knew that at this present time, a child wasn't in your best interests. Not now." Time yawned, a faint smile on his tired face, "But he will be, and many others."
"I've just lost one soul, why must you make me lose another?" Death asked, hiding his anger.
"But you haven't lost anything, Death!" Time chuckled nervously as he continued. "Well to be perfectly honest, this young lad – what was his name again, oh right- Death the Kid, is actually a few centuries early then expected according to my books. He isn't supposed to begin his training to take over your domain until the very end of the 20th century. Can't blame an old man like me for the mistake, can you?"
Death refrained from rolling his eyes, not that his colleague would notice either way.
"Anyway, use this as an opportunity to build your empire! And keep Mena's soul in mind! She may never see it, but you can at least make sure her dreams come true! Do that for her! Do that for your son! So that when he awakens from this timeless sleep he'll see how truly great his father is."
"He's not my son."
Father Time chuckled, shaking his head. "Time changes everything, even you Death."
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Several Hundred Years in the Future
Within the school of Shibusen, in Death's office – though he was now known as Shinigami-sama – the grim reaper tapped the side of his mask as if forgetting something. Meanwhile, he was fairly aware of his current weapon, Death Scythe Spirit Albarn going on about…something. He decided to tune in out of politeness and sheer amusement.
"…and she's so adorable! Looks just like her mother! She'll be so brilliant! And she's the cutest little baby in the world! Oh boy, she'll be a looker when she's older. WAIT! I'll slice through any punks who try to date her away!" Spirit grinned crazily, arm partially transformed. "Yes. Let those punks even try to touch my Maka-chan…"
Shinigami-Chop
"You're giving me a headache, Spirit-kun," he sighed looking down at the man curled up on the floor.
The doors to his office opened and both he and Spirit looked to see who it was.
"Shinigami-sama," a living breathing Sid greeted as he entered, carrying a squirming bundle. "The Star clan has been eliminated."
"Eh? Very good. They were very bad people. Talented but very bad," Shinigami said wagging his large finger. "Now who do we have there?"
Sid looked down at the squirming mass in his arms before moving aside the sheets to reveal a baby's face with a small patch of blue hair sticking out.
Spirit, still in his father role, snatched the infant from Sid's arms in a blink of the arms. "Oh!," Spirit exclaimed, twirling the infant around. "He's not as nearly as cute as my Maka-chan but-!" The baby threw up on the poor death scythe, laughing at Spirit's disgusted face.
"Uh yeah," Sid said taking back the child. "His name is Black Star. Last thing I was able to find out before his father, White Star, was killed. Black Star is now the only survivor left of the Star Clan. Everyone else was terminated." He cleared his throat, looking hesitant. "I-I couldn't bring myself to…"
"It's fine Sid-kun," Shinigami-sama gently replied. "This child should not be punished for what his parents have done. We will take him in as a ward of the school."
Letting out a breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding, Sid nodded. "Right sir."
"Good," Shinigami nodded, pleased with his decision. "Now, there's a much more important matter at hand." Sid and Spirit waited expectantly. "We're out of animal crackers. Who wants to go get some for me?"
Before either of the two could decide which one, they were all startled by a banging sound. Shinigami was the first to find where the sound was coming from. He was pleased and excited when he turned and saw a familiar baby boy sitting in front of his mirror with a look of cool boredom. The child blinked, and the death god noticed that his eyes were no longer a dark color but a light amber that oh so reminded him of the fiery sparks in that woman's eyes so long ago…
"Another one?" Spirit exclaimed. "Are we turning into an orphanage? And what's up with his hair? He's prematurely graying and he looks like he's barely even one!"
"Eh? The lines? I think they're kind of cute," Shinigami said picking up the child in one of his large hands. "Hello! Hello! Do you remember me Kidd-kun?"
"Kidd-kun?" Spirit and Sid said simultaneously.
"Short for Death the Kid. He's my son."
Both the death scythe and the knife meister back peddled. "WHAT!?" Spirit instantly fainted, the idea of his boss having a child leading to how a child is…created greatly disturbed and over worked his mind.
Sid on the other hand managed to keep his wits. "Uh…congratulations?" he offered.
Black Star, even at his young age, knew one thing for certain in his new little mind: the attention wasn't on him anymore so, he cried. Loudly.
"Aw what's wrong?" Shinigami questioned leaning over the crying child.
Kidd looked down at the crying child reaching towards him. Shinigami saw this and lowered him down so that the two infants were on the same level. It only took as second for Kidd to hit the other boy on the head with his small fist giving him a blank stare.
Black Star stopped crying. He looked over at Kidd with a curious sort of look, reaching out towards him…and messing up his hair so that it was in an asymmetrical mess. Kidd froze for a second…before crying and Black Star not the one to be out won cried too, louder.
"Aw!" Shinigami cooed. "They've became friends."
Sid sweat dropped. If these two were friends, he doubted he wanted to see them as enemies, he thought.
"Sid?" Shinigami-sama called. "Kidd-kun and I are hungry. FEED US!"
Sighing, Sid wondered if he should be worried for this young Death the Kid. And very faintly, he could have sworn he heard a woman's amused chuckle…
And ta-da! I say this is a nice place to end this before I go back to school. Don't worry though, this isn't the end. I plan for at least two or three more chapters. The next chapter should hopefully be just funny and silly stuff while the chapters after that will be the big meet and greet a.k.a. Kidd meeting Liz and Patty and a little bit of their back story because they weren't just born the Demons of Brooklyn... I'm excited!
Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the reviews. I'm especially happy that everyone liked Mena while she lasted. I think I mentioned this to someone but this story here might not be the last you see of Mena if you read my other story "No Matter What". I haven't decided yet and it's not definite but I was playing around with the idea of having her make a quick cameo but like I always say, my mind is subject to change.
Um...nothing more to say so...PLEASE REVIEW!!!