Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

It's Been Awhile

You know that I cannot prove this solution
You aren't the one that I thought you were
And so I learned to embrace this illusion
The line that separates it starts to blur

~Death of Me by RED

She could hardly remember a time when she was allowed to act her age. She always acted older, because she never had the luxury like her sister to act her age or even younger. It was hard to do so when trying to maintain some sort of normalcy if only for Patty's sake and maybe even for her own sanity. After all, how could she act like a child when you had a mother such as hers?

"Amanda, you should be resting."

The tall svelte brunette looked over her shoulder as she slowly eased into a worn leather jacket. "Now Elizabeth, is that anyway to talk to your mother?"

Liz snorted, crossing her arms as she leaned against the entrance way that led to the only room in their small decrepit apartment. Patty's humming could be heard in the next room where the other two knew that she was drawing images from the world she was always stuck imagining of.

"You should be resting," Liz repeated again.

"Where's your hat?" her mother questioned, slipping a cigarette into her mouth. She fumbled in the pockets of her jacket looking for a lighter, accidentally touching a tender spot of skin as she winced in pain.

Liz averted her eyes as she watched her mother lighted the cigarette and took a long drag, watching from the corner of her eye as tendrils escaped her mouth.

"Where are you going tonight?" Liz frowned sternly as she stomped over to the nearest window and struggled with its rusting hinges in order to open it. By the time she turned back to her mother Amanda had already pulled her boots on.

"Ah, ah, ah," Amanda wagged her finger. "You didn't answer mine. Where's your hat?"

"Forget about the damn hat, Amanda!" the young girl growled, voice getting louder and angrier. "Where are you going tonight? Going to get shot again! Seriously, what the hell kind of mother are you!"

Amanda ignored her. Instead she walked past Liz into the other room where Patty sat doodling on the wall, though now slightly slower due to the tone of the voices of her sister's and mother's voices. Unlike her sister, she was wearing an old cowboy hat that looked like it had seen better days.

"Good girls wear hats," Patty smiled up at her mother.

Amanda smiled, nodding as she patted Patty's head loving. "That's what Daddy always said."

Patty giggled. "And Daddy was a straight shooter-"

"-right to my heart," her mother winked before turning to Liz. "Elizabeth, you two take care of each others. You know the rules. Run if you have to."

"What about Anderson," crossing her arms Liz asked. "He's looking for you."

Amanda snorted as she walked towards the door. "When is he not?"

Liz paused before saying her next question. "What about Charlie?"

Her mother turned back to her, patting her jacket's pocket. "I got a gun."

"You know it doesn't work. It hasn't worked since Daddy died," Liz reminded but Amanda was already out the door.

"Take care of each other," was Amanda's parting words.

Liz would later look back at this point in her life and wonder if her mother was well aware what was going to happen in the next 24 hours.

The grinning moon hung high over Death City, illuminating the Death Manor in an eerie glow as many of the city's residents began to sleep.

"Yo, yo, yo, Kidd-kun, no need to pout" Death patted his son's head as he pulled the black covers up over his son.

"These infernal lines won't go away," said young boy sighed, placing a hand held mirror back on his night stand, perfectly in the middle. He then began to straighten out his covers so that one corner was symmetrical with the other.

"They're cute," Shinigami chuckled, holding back the desire to touch the offending white stripes in fear of his son's symmetrical tantrum. He loved the boy dearly, but even a death god could only handle so much from a child.

Kidd finally stopped his restless straightening out. Looking out the window at the grinning moon with somber expression that broke his indifferent visage. "Father?"

"Yes, Kidd-o?"

"Must I continue this farce much longer?"

"Farce? Such a big word!" Shinigami chuckled openly but behind his mask he was calculating, watching the boy. "But I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sleep. I'm talking about sleep, Father. I don't need it."

"You seemed to like it last week with the necessity to have eight hours of sleep"

"That was last week," the young boy countered. "This is now. It's pointless to look upon the past when there's a present and future in front of you." He paused looking at his father. "Is that not correct?"

"Not at all," Shinigami said darkly.

Kidd's features went from indifference to a deep frown. "I don't like sleeping," he relented. "I dream about things. Dark things about myself. Thing that I fear will happen."

Shinigami didn't speak, but at this point his son no longer needed prompting to talk.

"It was empty, everywhere. And I was floating in the middle of it. People, people were looking for me but they couldn't find me," the boy said white hands clenching his dark symmetrical bed sheets, his golden eyes looking far and distant. "And then darkness surrounded me…and I was over taken by madness…taken into nothing…" He looked up at his father looking for maybe the first time like a child of his age. "I'm afraid Father."

Shinigami patted his head showing his jolly goofy side then his true fears that his son's words had brought. After all, he couldn't frighten his son with the grim truth of his future at such a young age. Besides, who was to say that things wouldn't change? He wasn't Father Time. "There's only one thing you can do to get over your fear."

Kidd looked at his father expectantly, waiting for some divine wisdom to fall from behind the mask.

"Create a Death Scythe."

Amanda had never been gone for more then a few hours at the most. Though she was reckless she still cared about her daughters so it was surprising to Liz that their mother still not arrived back home or in the hiding space in the park at all. She was just about to pull open the door to their apartment when it fell down under the weight of a limp form.

"Momma!" Patty cried as their mother collapsed into a bloody pile in front of her. Liz moved to step in front of her, blocking the image but the spillage of blood crept across the floor back into her view.

"Don't look," Liz said, her shaking figure giving away the fear she tried to conceal in her voice. As stated before, she was used to the sight of blood. Death, on the other hand, was a totally different subject.

"Aw look at the little girl trying to be brave."

Patty peaked from behind Liz to see the culprit of their mother's bloody form.

"G-get out of here Anderson!" Liz tried to say firmly but it was hard to do when a man who's bigger then you and stronger then you has a gun pointing straight at you.

"Or what? Charlie aint gonna save you this time. Actually, he sent me. Seems he got tired of this bitch trying to kill him."

"POTTY MOUTH! POTTY MOUTH!" Patty yelled at the man.

"Shut up!" Anderson yelled back, shooting the gun just a foot away from them for emphasis. He smirked at Liz's frightened expression. "You're a pretty little thing. Bet you could bring me a lot of money on the street." His smirk grew. "Uncle Anderson will take good care of you. Both of ya…" he lingered off licking his lips.

Liz was frozen. She was only ten. Not even a teenager. Far from being an adult. And here her mother was lying dead in cold blood for whatever reason that was too hard for her young mind to understand. She could see Patty with a fearless expression but the small hand that clutched hers was shaking.

"I want to protect her but I'm too afraid…How can I protect her?"

Anderson pushed himself pass the door, stepping over Amanda's body as he stalked towards them.

"I'm just a kid. A powerless kid. I can't even get rid of this scum. I can't-"

"Sis," Patty's voice cut into her thoughts. She looked into her sister's deep blue eyes and saw something that was indescribable. A hum filled her as Patty said, "I got your back," with a devilish smile.

Liz found herself smirking, despite the tears that now began to fall, blinding her sight. She didn't see a pink light surround her sister before the hand that she once was holding turned into a gun handle. She didn't see Anderson's shocked expression as she turned the weapon now in her hands towards him or his laughing expression, the slight moment of relief that swept over his face as the gun fell from her hands. She didn't see the twin pink glow that surrounded around her as she felt warm and cold all at the same time, Patty's hand now enclosed around her.

But she did hear the resounding bang that went through and out from her as Anderson staggered back, twisting and contorting until all that was left was a floating red orb.

Finally updated! No excuses. I'm sorry. Anyway we're getting close to the end. One or two chapters left. YAY!

Anyway, nothing more to say so...PLEASE REVIEW!