Gopher

The boy was exhausted, not only was he starving, parched and tired, he had succeeded, but not every success comes with satisfaction.

No, quite often success brings exhaustion and disappointment. Grief and pain. Regret and melancholy. Why is this? Success isn't always the right thing, but even when it is, it can feel wrong, makes you wish you had chosen another path. A path, where you could just blissfully ignore every wrong.

But Gopher was set on the path where every right and wrong would affect him. Every last one, in a bad way. Sacrifice is a painful path, you know.

While walking back to Death City, Gopher wouldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Kai.

So many details, yet many slipped for reason unknown. Was it trauma? Fear? Guilt? Who knows?

A short version of this complex, yet awkward event included Gopher giving Kai Maka's diary and telling him to read it.

"Anything for my younger brother." Kai stated, with a faint smile.

Gopher became nauseated. The monster created by Noah- wait, no Gopher- still had a heart, and its only use was to care for his 'brother.'

Gopher began to leave, and Kai didn't question anything. And as Gopher began to leave, he noticed something on the ground. Some yellow ovals in a plastic bag. They were the extra pills.

He picked them up, and inspected them. They appeared to have not been touched in a long time. He placed them in his pocket and finally asked:

"Where's Noah?"

The boy was distraught when he learned that the man had been dead. Gopher left immediately, in pain from no longer just the lack of food and sleep, but now from the lack of his former master.

It makes no sense, really. The boy managed without him for months. But there's something about someone dying. It changes everything.

After being caught by Maka, he was brought back to the apartment. He lay there, on the couch, sleeping for several hours.

Maka

Week after week, she disobeyed order after order. She was frequently told to get answers, but she often lied about the answers. She didn't want to pressure Gopher like that.

It was obvious he was still exhausted after his expedition, it was quite evident that he hadn't sleep or eaten well during that.

But that was only a lie she told herself; she knew he was hiding something, and that something was the true reason behind as to why he wasn't speaking. And she knew if she told someone other than Soul, Gopher would be taken away.

She told the DWMA what they wanted to hear about Gopher's disappearance.

And she was able to handle everything. That is, of course, until the worst of the orders came.

It didn't matter whether Kai had killed Kid or not, he had still murdered many. She still had to capture him and bring him to Death City. And she knew what it meant; Gopher's 'brother' was going to be executed. The orders were drastic, but she had to follow this time.

She had to capture Kai by the end of the month,

Gopher

The exhaustion was painful, but the guilt was worse. It was on such a grand scale that it seemed like a whole new feeling.

He didn't talk, he didn't want to eat, and he didn't want to live with himself. How could such a drastic change happen? He used to be so cold, but then suddenly, all he could feel was compassion, be empathetic. What happened? How did it happen?

The simple answer: he was only human, nothing more.

The complex one: far too complex for explanation.

He tried to recover, and as he slowly did, he began to realize things around him.

The lack of trust everyone had in him.

The lack of obedience Maka gained.

And the new conflict in her life.

He was sensing new things, things he ignored before. Other people's feelings. He ignored them all, even his at times. But he now noticed them, and knew Maka had some form of guilt too.

And he had to figure out what it was.

Maka

Only a week and two days remained, and she was going to leave in the morning.

It was evening when she was packing up. No one knew where the target could've been, and she figured it could take an entire week.

She zipped up the bag and placed it on her bed. There was barely anything in it, only the minimum for a week. She walked out of her room and walked to Soul's and knocked on the closed door.

"Soul, have you packed yet?"
"Yeah, I have."
"Have you packed enough for a week?"
"Yeah, yeah."

"Good." She walked away reluctantly, actually doubting if Soul had packed enough. It didn't matter, he would be fine.

She walked back to her room and sat down next to her bag. She looked over to her clock to find that the time was already 8:24pm. It was strange, she could've sworn it was only six; the sky was still so bright.

She gazed at the sky until there was a knock at the door.

"Maka, can I come in?" A wimpy voice asked.

"Sure."

Gopher

He walked in, and he was very nervous.

"What's your mission?"
"What?"
"Who are you after? Kai?"
"What? No- I mean… How did you know?"
"Why did you keep it from me?"
"I knew you'd be against it. Now answer my question."
"Why are you after him?"
"Answer my question first."
"Lucky guess." He mumbled. She shrugged her shoulders. It may have been true, with it being the only mission she would hide from him.

"He deserves it, he's killed lots of people. That and there's too much evidence against him."
"Evidence about what?"
"You wouldn't understand. You can't do anything. Unless he really isn't the culprit, and you know whom the real one is. But you wouldn't understand, you know nothing about this crime."

"'This crime'? Are you talking about what happened to Death the Kid?"
"You may know the story, but you weren't there, you don't understand."

"I do understand."
"No, you don't." Maka's voice became harsh.

"Kai didn't do it, I know for a fact."
"Then who did it?" Her voice became so harsh, the words became knives. He wanted to lie, give someone else the blame. But who? He didn't know very many other people. Especially not someone capable of the crime. But it started to slip out.

"The person who di-did it." His voice became shaky. His eyes watered. "Was m…" He trailed off.

"Who?" Maka shouted at him.

"Me!" He shouted, pulling the bag of yellow pills out of his pocket. Tears flew down his face. He felt the worst guilt of all, but he felt happy somehow. Maka was stunned. She seemed to have a mixture of many emotions, but it was unclear which she felt the most.

"Impossible," she whispered as tears fell down from her eyes to the ground below her feet.

"I'm sorry, Maka."
"Leave," She said, her voice still quiet.

"What?" Gopher asked, incapable of hearing Maka's soundless word.

"You idiot. How could you? If only you kept quiet, I wouldn't have ever known. But now I know… I can't forgive you." She paused, her eyes suddenly flying from the ground to his face. "Get out right now! I don't want to see your face ever again!" She shouted at him.

The word struck him. He's emotional pain being worse than any physical pain he had ever felt, he was paralyzed.

"You can't kill Kai now, kill me."
"Get out."
"You may not even have to kill me, he's alive." Gopher said, putting on a fake smile

"Get out." Maka repeated, monotone.

"In fact, Kid is-"

"I don't want to hear it! Get out now! I don't believe you! If Kid were alive he would've come back by now!"
"But he wouldn't have, he-"

"What did I just say? I don't believe you! I don't want to listen to any of your crap! Get out NOW!"

Gopher looked into Maka's eyes. They were full of anger, no, hatred. He slowly walked towards the door, and began to run.

Maka

The moment he left, Soul walked in.

"I heard everything. So we finally found the cause? Doesn't that mean we have to…"
"I can't. I can't kill him. I don't want to lose him too."
"It sounds like we may only be losing him; didn't he say Kid's alive? Maybe Kid was just secretly held hostage, or"
"Shut up. You can't actually believe what he said. He's a liar. He lied about Kid."

"Maka," He sat down next to her, trying to comfort her, but only failed.

"I don't care what you have to say. Now we have even more trouble. We have to get Kai, and now we have to kill Gopher."
"Who said anything about killing him? Maybe he'll be forgiven, or maybe he'll only be held captive again."
"Soul, what do you think? Everyone was so angry and disappointed about Kid's death. He was so important too. That can't be forgiven."

"But what if he is alive?"

Maka couldn't think of anything to say. After that statement, she stared down at the floor.

Gopher

Once again, he ran out of the apartment, and once again, he was in the forest. The only difference: He was flying the whole time. He had to get to Kid, they couldn't both go down.

And if one had to die it was going to be him.

He had decided that was what it was going to come to. He decided he was going to fix Kid, fix everything, his life, his appearance… Everything….

As he burst the church doors open, he found the boy on the ground with his face buried in his hands. He was filthy, it seemed he was distraught.

Gopher's face grew a smile.

"Kid… Death the Kid." Kid refused to look up. Gopher knew, Kid was upset over what he did.

"You have to go now. They're coming for you. You're hair is still blond, you're still dressed like how you were weeks ago. You need to either change and dye your hair, or leave now and do it later." Gopher rushed off the grab Kid's old clothes, just where he had hidden them. He brought them back and handed them to Kid.

But he just sat there.

"What are you waiting for? They're going to kill you!"
"Let them kill me. I was terrible, I couldn't control myself."
"It wasn't you then, it was just a hypnotize you, of course you couldn't control yourself, that's the point!"
"But I should've been able to."

"You've got to live! Maka's been waiting, she thinks your dead! She's given up on you! You can't just sit there, she'll be happy to know you're alive!"
"But when she finds out what I've done… I can't go! Let them take me and do what ever they wish."
"But what if she finds out she killed you? What then?"
"She would be ashamed of me." Gopher saw it was pointless. Was there really nothing he could do?

With a matter of minutes left, Gopher tried to think of something. He could run away, carrying Kid, but they could be caught easily, he would be slowed down, and Maka was still as fast as ever. There was no time to get the dye out of his hair, if they came meanwhile, who knows what the outcome would be?

Gopher was at a loss; there was nothing to do. The doors could open any second.

But he had to try something.

No matter how difficult it could be.

Hey! The story is almost over!

Be ready for the end, cuz it's near!

Anyway, what you you think? I can't believe I'm finally ending this... I'm going to try to post the next chapter this week... If I finish writing it tonight, I'll post it tomorrow (I've been working on the next chapter for quite awhile actually... I have everything planned, all that's left is to type it...)

Well, please review, and if you haven't yet, please follow and favorite!

THANK YOU FOR READING!