Kid opened his eyes to find himself in a red room. The room had nothing in it besides himself by the looks of it, where was he? Kid tried to lift an arm and soon found that he was chained to one of the walls, he let out a curse and tried to jerk his arm out of the cuff that held him. The shinigami cursed louder when his hand was yanked back by the chain, preventing him from moving that one anymore.
"You need to calm down Kid."
"Ryver?" Kid blinked rapidly several times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, but sure enough there was a Ryver standing in the room with him. The boy looked nothing like he did when he died. Ryver's hair was still blonde and curly, but it was shorter and cleaner and his clothing was also clean, not filled with holes and looked like something that matched his personality. The shirt read 'pull my finger', a little thing that Cylas had always said the whip did wrong. Whenever he got Tyler to do it, Ryver would slap him upside the head while the boy stared down at the finger waiting for something, a trick he's pulled on Black-Star several times.
"Deep breaths." Ryver said softly.
"Forget that, you're never going to get out of there if you stop trying." Kid gritted his teeth when he saw Joey appear in the room as well, arms crossed over a larger stomach than the boy had before.
"Get out of here!" Kid shouted at the boy and his other hand was pulled back, slamming harshly into the red wall.
"There you go Kid, get angry, get pissed off!" Joey laughed.
"Ignore him!" Ryver said over Joey's laughter. "You need to calm down."
"I be you just want to hit me, don't you? I killed Ryver. I took out one of our own." Joey sang.
"You little bitch!" Kid kicked out a leg and it was attacked by a chain and pinned to the wall along with both of his arms.
"Control your anger!" Ryver stated.
"I stabbed him in the stomach after insulting those two stupid lesbians."
"Shut up!" Kid cried. His other leg was held down by a chain now as well. "You low-life piece of shit, they're dead now! They're dead!"
"All because of you." Joey smirked with his statement. Kid let out a scream and jerked his body, trying to break away from the chains that held him down. The chains pressed harder and harder into his wrists and ankles that soon Kid let out a cry in pain witch made his anger stronger.
"Kid, you can beat this!" Ryver took a step forward and fell to his knees, looking up at the man in pain. "You need to control you anger, you need to forgive."
"How can you forgive someone you hate?" Joey asked.
"Kid, you need to forgive."
Kid let out a scream as a belt made out of medal came out of the wall and wrapped around his stomach, pulling the man even closer to the wall. Pressing him hard enough that he heard something crack and he really hoped that it wasn't him.
"You need to stop being angry."
The shinigami felt his body breaking through the red wall, more chains and belts wrapping around him and hugging him tighter, choking him.
"You need to calm down."
Kid opened his eyes and saw that Ryver looked at him with fear. The boy seemed younger than before, like he was a small child that just wanted everyone to be happy.
"Anger only gets in the way, you can't allow it to control you."
The shinigami took one deep breath, ignoring the insults Joey yelled at him and focused on his heart rate, slowing it down.
"You can be angry, there is nothing wrong with anger, but if you allow it to control you...you will lose control of everything."
Kid closed his eyes and continued to breath deeply, the belt around his neck was sucked back into the wall and the shinigami could breath normally again. Soon more and more belts and chains were removed from his body as he calmed his heart beat and relaxed his muscles. Eventually he was left with only the chains around his wrists when he opened his eyes again and found that Joey was gone and only Ryver was looking at him, with a large smile on his young face.
"Took you long enough, break free whenever you're ready." The boy said as his body began to fade away.
Kid clenched his hands and with a single jerk of his arms, the chains broke free from the wall. The cuffs shattered and fell to the floor and Kid landed on his knees for a second before looking up and seeing that he was alone again and there was now a door in the red room.
"Thank you Ryver." Kid whispered before getting up and running out of the room.
The shinigami closed the door behind him, a habit he had gained from the apartment. The man found himself in another room, a light blue room with orange beds, chairs and couches everywhere. He turned back around and saw that the door he had just entered through was gone. Where in the world was he?
"Come take a nap Kid." Lexi said softly as she laid back on a couch, her feet dangling off the ledge.
"Now is not the time." Cylas stated, standing next to Lexi.
"Don't you just want to rest? Don't you just want to sleep and forget about all of this?" Lexi asked with a lazy smile.
"You can't just put this aside." Cylas said.
Kid suddenly felt very tired, he could hear the bed that reminded him of the bed he and Black-Star shared at the house they lived in before the apartment.
"Go ahead Kid, lay down, forget all of your troubles and pain." Lexi sang.
"Forgetting about it won't make it go away." Cylas stated.
"I could just lay down for a minute." Kid murmured and walked over to the bed.
"Have something to eat as well." Lexi rocked her head as plates of food appeared throughout the room. Kid smiled and fell back onto the bed, the mattress shifting to his weight. A doughnut on a plate was on his stomach suddenly and Kid didn't care about how the food had just magically appeared there. "Worrying is so much effort, it's so much better to just lay down and do nothing. Forget the pain, forget the worry and just relax."
"Kid don't!" Cylas warned as Kid grabbed the doughnut. "You can push through this, this is easy!" Cylas cried. "You're stronger than this, please Kid. Get up!" Something snapped inside of Kid, it felt like as if someone slapped him across the face to wake him up. The shinigami threw the pastry away from him and sat up, slowly since there seemed to be something heavy on his chest. "There you go Kid. I'm not going to let you lose without a fight!" Cylas clapped his hands and when Kid looked over a the happy boy, Lexi was gone. "Knew these two would be the easiest for you to get through. I'll see you later Kid." Cylas waved at the shinigami before disappearing and showing another door was behind him.
"These two?" Kid asked himself as he put both if his feet on the ground. "What in the world is going on?" The shinigami shuffled over to the door, stopping right before it and placing a hand over his chest. He felt a tight pain in it and it soon went away. "What was that?" He said before opening the door. Kid prayed that he was done, he needed to get back. "Spirit?"
"Aren't you just a perfect man?" Spirit said with a large smile. The red-headed stood in a purple room with nothing else in the room. Kid turned around and the door was gone, the shinigami didn't even close it and he wasn't shocked that it was gone. This place he was in was getting really annoying. "You're strong and wise." Spirit continued the compliments.
"Death Scythe, where are we?" Kid asked.
"Does it matter?" The shinigami raised an eyebrow and walked over to the scythe, trying to see what was wrong with the man.
"A little bit, we were just in a battle five minutes ago." Kid stated.
"A battle that you won." Spirit said.
"What? Really? I...I won it?" Kid tried to remember, but nothing would come up. The only thing he could remember was seeing James stepping into the flames and his determination to take him out.
"Al because of you, you don't need anyone else."
"Don't listen to him Kid." Stein stepped into the room through a wall. "He's trying to trick you."
"How could I trick him? It's impossible to get pass that intellect."
"Really?" Kid smiled, feeling something surge up in him. He didn't need anyone else, he was perfect.
"Snap out of it Kid. No one is perfect. Trust me, life would be boring as hell if everyone was perfect." Stein went over and stepping in front of Spirit. "This one would be very difficult for Black-Star to get through, but you're different Kid." At the mention of Black-Star's name Kid had to move back, hitting his back against the purple wall. "Now don't start thinking that you're horrible, just remember that everyone makes mistakes, no one is perfect."
"What is going on!?" Kid screamed into the room.
"I wish I could tell you Kid. All that I can do is try to help you through to the next room, but this is something you have to do on your own." Stein said. The scientist turned around and Kid saw that Spirit was no longer there. "Good job Kid, this one is usually the one that gets most people." Stein stated before he began to disappear. "Good-bye Kid, hopefully we'll get to meet again one day. But not too soon if we are too meet like this again."
"What is this?" Kid asked himself and was alone in the room. He was getting sick and tired of being left alone. The shinigami felt another wave of pain hit his chest, as if something kept driving itself through it. "I'm ready to go home now!" Kid shouted as he walked over to yet another door and opened it. "This is getting repetitive." Kid said to himself as he stepped through and heard the door slam behind him. Kid didn't even bother looking to know that the door was gone.
"Hello Kid." Liz greeted the boy as she sat in a small pile of money in a bright yellow room. "What do you want? You can have anything you can dream of." Liz said with a laugh. "A new house, a new car." Liz snapped her fingers with each object she listed and it appeared in the room. The house was a small sized scale of his old home, back when he lived with Liz and Patty and went to the DWMA. A full sized car almost smashed his foot as it landed in the room.
"Who cares about this stuff?" Patty asked, sitting in the front seat of the car. "What does it give you anyway? Does it give you happiness?"
"Yes." Liz answered for the girl and tossed several dollar bills in the air.
"You may think it does, but all it does is try to fill a hole in your heart that needs to be filled by something. So people believe that stuff and money can fill it." Kid was surprised at how wise Patty sounded.
"Who cares, as long as you get everything that you want." Liz got up and went over to Kid. "Come on Kid, don't you want everything?"
Kid smiled at the older Thompson sister. Of course he wants everything, who doesn't? Who doesn't love the idea of owning everything that you could ever want? The shinigami followed Liz over to the pile of money and was about to grab some before Patty interrupted him.
"Kid, think!" Patty shouted. "Think about everything that's been happening so far!" Patty jerked back as if something had hit her. "You need to fight the urge Kid, you need to keep moving on!" The younger sister pulled herself out of the car. "You need to forget about this crap and move on."
Kid shook his head, Patty was right. Something was happening and he needed to push through.
"Who needs these things?" Kid said with a smirk. He flinched when Liz screamed out before vanishing into a cloud of black smoke.
"Good job Kid." Patty winked at the man before slowly disappearing.
"This place is crazy." Kid said when he saw another door that would allow him to leave. The shinigami left the room and was starting to realize something familiar about these 'trails' he's been going through.
"Earth to Kid." Kenna's voice snapped Kid out of his thoughts.
"Kenna?"
"Took you long enough to get here." She chuckled.
"Of course he makes it, he's just perfect." Miriah spat as she walked out of from behind Kenna.
"Ignore her Kid."
"You're perfect, aren't you? You're strong, you're smart and you've been able to get through these without a problem!" Miriah shouted. "That's not fair to the others who have fallen long before this."
"Miriah, shut up." Kenna snapped.
"Why? So he can still get everything that he wants? That's not fair? How come he gets to be alive with his partner and we can't?" Miriah asked.
"Alive?" Then it hit Kid, everyone that he's talked to was dead. All of them were no longer alive...does that mean?
"You're not dead." Kenna answered his unasked question.
"Not yet." Miriah muttered and then her attitude turned. "How does it feel Kid? How does it feel that me and Kenna got together in front of everyone and no one really cared, but when you and Black-Star finally admitted you've been together, everyone acts like it's the worst thing in the world?"
"Miriah, stop it."
"How does it feel that we were able to be together in public and you and Black-Star had to hide? All because you were afraid of disgracing your father. Which you have, by the way."
"Stop it, Miriah!" Kenna shoved Miriah away, something Kid hadn't seen anyone else do in the world he was in. Kenna jerked back and fell over. The girl rolled over and held her stomach, coughing out as if someone had punched her. "Don't get jealous Kid, there is nothing to get jealous about. You're a shinigami. You're strong, wise and brave, something people could only dream for. Please Kid, get through this and save us..." Kenna coughed harshly. "Save all of us."
"Why? So people can spend the rest of their lives comparing you to your father?"
"Get out of my way." Kid demanded and started walking toward Kenna.
"You're not good enough Kid, you're not like everyone else." Miriah's body started to turn to black vapor.
"Good, I don't want to be like anyone else." Kid's statement made Miriah scream and the girl vanished.
"Good job Kid...I'll see you later." Kenna smiled before fading away.
"I don't know if I can handle this much longer." Kid said truthfully before opening the door he knew was going to appear.
The shinigami was expecting to step into another room, but instead he entered into a large open space. The odd thing was everything was blue, many different shades of blue. The sky was obviously blue, something that he was quite used to, but the grass was usually green, not this odd shade of blue. Kid walked through the grass and passed by some beautiful blue flowers, he was tempted to bend down and pick one.
"Hey, Kid."
"Black-Star?" Kid snapped his head up, praying that he had heard the voice wrong. The shinigami felt his heart drop when he saw Black-Star walking towards him. "No...no, no, no, no!" Kid cried and sprinted the rest of the way to the star.
"What's wrong Kid?" Black-Star asked when his partner hugged him.
"You can't be dead, please don't be dead." Kid said into the star's shoulder.
"Of course I'm not dead." Black-Star whispered. "I'll never leave you Kid." The star grabbed Kid's chin and tilted the shinigami's head back before placing a kiss on the other man's lips.
"Black-Star, not now." Kid said as Black-Star ran his hands down his back, which caused a shiver to run up the shinigami's spine.
"Why not? No one's here." Black-Star said and trailed kisses down Kid's neck.
"The...the..." Kid's mind went blank when the star bit a sensitive spot on his neck and made him groan.
"Too easy." Black-Star whispered.
"Shut...up." Kid felt more flustered than he usually does in this situation. He's a lot stronger than this, but he's acting like some hormonal teenager and one touch makes him forget about everything around him.
"Kid!" The shinigami's eyes rolled back and he didn't hear the shout. "Kid!" The voice shouted again.
"Stay here Kid, stay here with me." Black-Star whispered into Kid's ear. "Don't leave."
"Get away from him Kid! He's not me!" Kid opened his eyes and saw a transparent Black-Star standing next to a door.
"What?" Kid said.
"Ignore him." The one that had holding him said.
"Wait a second..." Kid finally got a good look at the persons eyes. "You're eyes are blue."
"Everything here is blue."
"But not Black-Star's eyes." The shinigami shoved the imposter back. "His are green." He growled before taking off towards the door.
"Get back here!" Kid continued running, but looked over his shoulder and saw the man turn into a large kishin demon. The shinigami made a disgusted face, he kissed that thing.
"You can't leave." Several voices said together. Joey, Lexi, Spirit, Liz and Miriah stood in a row in front of the door.
"He passed the tests, let him through."
"Father?" Lord Death was standing beside his son. It was weird for Kid to see his father without the mask and black cloak he always wore and his voice had also lowered in pitch.
"No!" The five shouted and their bodies quickly changed into kishin demons.
"He passed the tests!" Death snapped at the kishins. The five demons shook and ran away with their tails between their legs. "Even dead I'm still powerful." Lord Death chuckled.
"Father?" Kid repeated.
"Go Kid, hurry up before they change their minds."
"What is this?"
"It's what your soul goes through before you die, to determine if you get a second chance or not. If you pass all seven tests, you get to live, if you fail one..."
"Which one did you fail?" Kid asked quietly.
"Envy."
"How?"
"I'm jealous of how other fathers can have such an easy relationship with their sons and not make the huge mistake that I did."
"You're the best father any son could ask for." Kid didn't care if he sounded sappy, this was probably the last time he could talk to his dad.
"You need to go...I love you son." Lord Death said before vanishing.
"Kid! Kid!" Black-Star shouted, making Kid look away from the empty spot where his father was. "Come back to me Kid, don't leave me! You can't die!"
"Black-Star." Kid looked down and realized there was a large gap between him and the door. The shinigami clenched his hands, he's gone through enough in this crazy world, like hell he was going to let some hole stop him. "I'm coming Black-Star!" Kid shouted and took off in a dead sprint. Kid launched himself off of the ledge and continued to run in the air. He reached out for the door handle, feeling his fingertips brush the cold surface.
I need to stop ending chapters like this...