Chapter 2: All hail the kid! (Updated 21/04/11)
The Death Room was where Lord Death stayed in. It was like the headmasters office in a school. There was a big difference between a normal headmasters office and the Death Room. The Death Room had a corridor with many giant guillotines above it leading to a circled platform with just a mirror at the end. The walls of the room were an illusion of a never-ending desert with many graves, blue sky and small clouds floating by. Death the Kid was sitting on a chair in the middle of the platform. He was still in half of his pyjamas but now had a black towel hanging from his neck. Kid looked at the glass of iced water in his shaky hands, his breathing still shaken from his crying. To Kid's right was Maka kneeling down next to him with her hand on his shoulder. She looked around to see Stein, Spirit and Sid talking to each other about Kid and his new position. She then looked to Soul who was with Mila talking to the Thompson sisters, comforting them about Kid. She finally looked back to Kid's pained golden eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Maka asked Kid.
"Like my insides have been ripped apart, I see only darkness…" Kid said and for a brief moment his eyes had a purple glow. Maka sighed and looked down, in her line of sight was one of his scarred symbols. It was obvious they had to be symbols of the grim reaper. "Poor kid, to have all these on his body", she thought. She looked back up to him. Kid looked down at her with a funny look. She realised soon afterwards that while she was thinking about his symbol, she was running her fingers over his scars and the symbol. She quickly retracted her hand.
"Oh… I'm sorry I didn't mean to…" Maka said, blushing greatly of embarrassment. Luckily no one else saw what she did.
"It's fine", Kid said, brushing the moment aside. He lifted the cup to his mouth and slowly began to drink down the entire contents. Kid kept his gaze forward, not concentrating on anything in front of him. Not looking at anything with his blood shot eyes. Maka paused for a bit, she wanted to ask Kid something. She began to open her mouth.
"You want to know about the scars and symbols on my body", Kid asked for her. It was blatantly obvious that she wanted to know about them; she hardly took her eyes off them when she sat him down.
"I didn't… You don't need to…", Maka started then looked away.
"I've had them all my life, the symbols are that of the Grim Reapers. They were carved into me when I was born and enchanted by my f…", Kid paused, a tear ran down his cheek. Kid took a shaky breath in to stop him from crying.
"The rest off the scars are the times I was on missions", Kid said. Then began pointing to different scars.
"This one was from Egypt, this one Peru, and this one…" Kid said pointing to one on his chest. It was a round circle that looked like it was a bullet hole that was the size of a football.
"The Kishin…" Maka said for him. She remembered back when they defeated the Kishin. During the time she was unconscious Kid was stabbed through his chest by the Kishin as he and Black*Star defended her. So many people were injured that day that many doctors and specialists came to the DWMA and used multiple classrooms as workspaces. That day the DWMA became a temporary hospital for the students. She remembered when she walked by the many beds and doctors running around the place trying to tend to everyone. As she was walking by her main classroom 'Crescent Moon' she heard someone calling her.
"Maka! Open the door!" She remembered being called; she remembered the voice, Stein's voice. She quickly opened the door for Stein and two doctors as they wheeled another student inside. The wheels of the bed however got caught on the bump that Stein fell over many times before on his chair. During this pause she saw Kid lying on the bed. She looked horrified at the sight of the hole. The smell of the blood hit her nostrils like a punch from Black*Star. Her memories continued as she pictured herself staggering back at the sight when the doctors and Stein gave that extra push to get the bed inside.
"I thought that we did it…", Kid said, bringing Maka out of her reminiscence. She looked back up to Kid.
"Huh?" She asked, wondering what he meant.
"I thought that it was finally over…with the Kishin dead that we'd have everything back to the way it was…then this happens… Why couldn't…ARGH!" Kid collapsed to the floor, holding his head tightly. Maka moved away from him, confused to what was happening. Everyone turned to Kid as he continued to cry out in pain. Stein was the first of them to rush to his side.
"Kid! You're all right Kid! Focus on me!" Stein said trying to make Kid look at him, he didn't. Kid had completely zoned out from them and was in a world of his own. There was nothing but darkness. Very loud ticking from a clock then echoed in Kid's ears. Many alarm clocks suddenly appeared out of nowhere, floating all around him. Some were broken, some were not, but the ticking wasn't coming from the clocks. Kid's eardrums felt like they were going to burst if the ticking continued any longer.
"Kid, listen to my voice! Kid!" Stein shouted, trying to get through to the screaming curled up reaper on the floor. Everyone was scared as to what was happening to him. Kid couldn't hear anyone or see anyone, just the echoing ticking of a clock in a black void filled with alarm clocks. Kid then noticed something in the distance that was coming towards him at an alarming speed. Before it could hit him it stopped, just right in front of him. Kid's eyes scanned a giant hourglass before him, which seemed to have started its timer. It was made of pinewood with a blank golden plaque at the base. The sand inside of it was a blood red colour. All this confused Kid at first, but he then suddenly began to understand it. The ticking noise, the giant hourglass running out, alarm clocks both working and broken floating around, these represented the lives of others. It was telling him when to collect a soul from a living person that's time was running out. Then suddenly in front of the hourglass a massive fiery 'M' was shown in front of him, almost blinding him. Kid lifted his hands in front of his face to block the blinding light. Suddenly everything around him became a bright white, he was unable to see anything. Slowly a muffled voice in the background reached his ears. After the ticking he was surprised to hear anything again. The muffled voice slowly became clearer and the brightness began to face to reveal lots of worried faces around him and the voice of Stein in his ears.
"Kid! Come back to us! Kid!" Stein repeated. Kid's eyes looked around frantically to everyone, Stein, Sid, Spirit, Soul, Liz, Patty, Mila, and then finally Maka. Out of everyone he felt more comfortable looking at her. He wondered why that was. He then realised her pigtails were perfectly symmetrical, so he assumed that was the case.
"I saw an hourglass…and there was a loud…echoing ticking…" Kid mumbled.
"An hourglass? Oh no…" Sid sighed, turning away from the group.
"I should have seen this coming", Stein said, then stood back up straight holding the bridge of his nose.
"What?" Maka asked. Even Liz and Patty didn't know what was happening to Kid. Liz looked like she couldn't take much more of Kid being in severe pain and distress.
"He's the grim reaper, he is being shown the time people have left to live, Lord Death had to put those visions into the mirror due to him being unable to run the school and fight the demons and witches with that distraction. You could say that the 'setting' is back to default, and now Kid is getting the visions. At first he will get one once a day, but left unattended he will constantly be show hourglasses", Stein explained.
"I'll teach him how to put it in the mirror when it gets too bothersome", Spirit said with a nod.
"Right", Stein began, "We must announce the succession to the public and name Kid the new Lord D…"
"I'm not doing it", Kid said bluntly.
"What? What did you say?" Sid asked, the teachers were all taken back by the interruption.
"I'm not becoming the new Lord Death", Kid said again, making it clear.
"But…Kid…" Liz began to say.
"I am not near enough ready to be the next Lord Death. I cannot control my powers and at this state I am unpredictable. I won't be able to run Death City like this. And even if I get past this I am still not ready enough to take over", Kid stated.
"Unfortunately you don't have a choice", Stein said bluntly with a frown.
"I'm not doing it!" Kid raised his voice to Stein.
"We have no Lord Death, the realm will be in utter chaos, this school will fall! All our enemies will close in on us and slaughter the students. We need a Lord Death and since he's dead and you're the only Grim Reaper around, you do not have a choice, you will come with me now and you will be named the new Lord Death", Stein ordered. Kid stood up glaring at Stein.
"No!" Kid shouted back.
"Professor!" Maka tried to calm down the situation but Stein walked up to Kid and backhanded him across the face.
"Stop being so selfish! Stop thinking of your own troubles and think about the lives of the citizens of Death City. You get out there and…!" Stein shouted at Kid but was then silenced by a punch to his stomach from an enraged reaper.
"I'm the selfish one? You're the one shoving the responsibilities of running Death City and the lives of everyone that inhabits it to an unstable child that has no control of anything he does. You teachers are easily capable enough to take care of things until I am ready! I think about all the lives here and I have made my decision upon that!" Kid roared to Stein. Everyone was frozen in fear at Kid's roars. It sounded almost demonic. Kid's eyes glowed a bright purple as he glared through Stein's glasses into his eyes. All he saw was pain. The girls in the room covered their mouths, trying not to gasp out loud. It was at this point where Kid became aware of the warm feeling around his arm, also how wet it was too. Kid's heart slowly began to sink as he willed himself not to look down. But he needed to see what the damage was to Stein. His heart reached the back of his throat as he almost croaked at the sight of his arm, punched right through Stein's stomach. His eyes quickly lost the purple glow and returned to being his golden eyes. He quickly pulled his arm out and staggered back, unable to comprehend what he just did. Stein swayed on the spot, grunting quietly to himself but then fell to his knees. Then a second later he fell on his back.
"Hahaha, he's got a hole in him!" laughed Patty happily, completely oblivious to the severity of the situation.
"Stein!" Everyone else shouted, running towards him. Kid looked in absolute horror at what he did. He was unstable, unpredictable; no one was safe around him. He looked down to his blood soaked right hand and arm, shaking at the sight.
"Somebody call Marie!" Sid shouted as he and others tried to apply pressure. Kid backed away from the group, keeping his eyes on his arm. He didn't want the blood on him. He didn't want this to happen. The blood on his right hand and arm made him asymmetrical. He stopped himself there. He couldn't believe he was becoming more concerned over symmetry when Stein was injured. He couldn't take it. How injured Stein was, how asymmetrical he was looking right now. He then took off running down the guillotine hallway. Trying so hard to get away from everyone.
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It was dawn. Kid sat on the roof of the tallest cone tower, looking over the whole of Death City. His right forearm stained in blood, hanged to the side. He was shaking and shivering. He found himself scratching at his blood stained arm non-stop, trying to get the stain off. Soon Kid heard footsteps coming from behind him. He didn't bother to turn around to know who it was.
"You shouldn't be near me…", Kid said with a sigh.
"I also shouldn't have gone into the vaults too, but here we are", Maka said, sitting down next to him. There was an awkward silence. Maka looked over to see Kid scratching his arm repeatedly.
"How's Stein?" Kid asked, breaking Maka's concentration.
"Huh? Oh he's been tended too, he's actually sorry for pushing you", Maka replied, trying to make him feel better.
"No… I should be the sorry one…" Kid said, looking down.
"I've never seen you that powerful before", Maka said leaning forward slight with her hands on her knees for support.
"It's more a curse…" Kid replied and continued to scratch his arm. Maka sighed then looked out to Death City.
"You can see the entire city from here", Maka said with a smile, looking at the view.
"I come here often, I come here to look at all the lives that are protected by my fa…" Kid paused; he winced as he felt a sharp emotional blow to the heart. "…That -were- protected by my father". Maka studied Kid, frowning slightly. Kid looked like he escaped from a mental asylum. Completely topless, no footwear on, covered in scars and scratching his arm constantly. His eyes were still full of pain, which never looked away from the city. He looked a shadow of the Kid she knew. Smart, cool, friendly, quite funny due to his OCD, handsome. Maka stopped thinking there. Why did she just think him handsome? She always knew other girls thought him handsome, but she never expected herself to think him handsome. She then suddenly felt a blush growing on her face, causing her to turn away from him quickly before he noticed.
"You… said even if you learnt to master your new abilities that you still wouldn't be ready, why?" Maka asked, trying to move on from her thoughts.
"Because he has done great things for this city, compared to him I'm nothing, just some lowlife garbage scum. I'm a sham of a reaper", Kid answered, emphasising on the insults. Maka turned to face him with a frown.
"Don't say that! Kid I see you everyday and you think about nothing else but looking out for everyone, looking out for your friends, the teachers, Liz and Patty, even the citizens. I watch you fight for what you think is right, everyone looked up to you for leadership even when your father was still alive", Maka said. Kid still looked down to the city, un-phased from Maka's words. He continued to scratch his arm, which began to redden his skin more than the blood stains around it. Maka looked at his arm irritated at his scratching then without thinking took his scratching hand into hers. Immediately her stomach was filled with butterflies, she was getting very annoyed that these inner feelings were happening to her. Kid slowly looked up to Maka as she slowly pulled his hand away from his arm, holding it in her hands.
"From what I've seen from you, I've seen great power that everyone admires and looks to. People believe in you Kid, if they do they must think your ready", Maka said, fighting with all her power to not blush and to control her butterflies in her stomach. Kid sat there taking in everything Maka said. She seemed so confident in him. She thought he was ready.
"Do you…really think I can do it?" Kid asked. Maka smiled and nodded to him. Kid looked back out at Death city. The sun was slowly rising and began its laugh. The light of the sun hit the roofs of the houses and buildings. It was the only time Death city looked beautiful. The roofs of the buildings reflected outwards, making the city lightly glow. Even Maka was mesmerized at the marvel. Kid slowly smiled to himself and looked down to his lap. Kid then squeezed her hand lightly, which broke Maka into a blush.
"Thank you…Maka…", Kid said standing up and turning around.
"W…where you going?" Maka asked looking up to him.
"I'm going to announce my succession", Kid answered and began to walk to the window they came through.
"But… you do realise your wearing your pyjama trousers and nothing else, plus the scars and symbols on you aren't symmetrical", Maka pointed out. At that moment Kid froze. The fact ran through his mind so much that his nose exploded into a nosebleed and he dropped to his hands and knees.
"Your right! I'm not symmetrical! How can I be a grim reaper if I'm not symmetrical! I'm garbage! Scum! I should just die!" Kid cried out, hitting his fist onto the roof tiles. Maka stood there frozen for a moment, she saw how Liz and Patty got him out of these OCD fits but she felt uncomfortable that she was on her own to deal with it. She then remembered something and got up to her feet quickly and ran to the window. She reached inside to grab something.
"No your not, besides I got you your clothes right here, fully symmetrical, Liz and Patty gave them to me", Kid stopped bleeding and looked to the bag Maka was holding.
"Oh thank you I…!" Kid said snatching the bag from her hands quickly and digging into it with his hands. Then spotted something in the bag that looked unfamiliar.
"What?" Maka asked tilting her head to the side slightly.
"What's this?" Kid replied pulling out what looked like a cloak with a hood and a skull mask, the hood on the cloak had three white strips across but on each side, not touching in the centre. The Skull had three black stripes on each side like the hood, also not touching.
"Oh I… I made them…I was thinking that…you being the new Lord Death that you might like some new…clothing", Maka said quietly twiddling her thumbs with a blush. She on the last minute changed her mind and decided not to bring them, but forgot to take them out of the bag.
"Maka…" Kid started.
"I'm sorry, if you don't like them I'll take them…" Maka interrupted.
"…They're perfect", Kid finished. Maka stopped and looked up to him. From what she saw she could have sworn his eyes were watering at the sight of such symmetry.
"Thank you…Maka", Kid said, smiling.
"Y…your welcome", Maka said with a red blush, which seemed to only get worse. She decided she spent enough time up here and made her way through the window.
"I'll leave you to get changed then", she said quickly before running off before he could reply.
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Meanwhile all the students that had gathered in the courtyard of the academy were now getting more restless. More students tried to get by the guarding teachers by force, even one samurai teacher needed to use a thousand swords technique to keep them back. Sid, Stein, Mila, Marie and Spirit were on the balcony watching over the soon to be rioting students.
"This is bad, if they don't get answers soon they are going to riot", Sid said shaking his head.
"I still can't believe Kid did this to you Stein…", Marie said holding onto one of his arms and sighing. Stein gently lifted her sad face by her chin to make her look at him with her only eye.
"I had it coming, it was my fault, but I'll be okay", Stein reassured her with a grin that could be considered either evil or insane. Suddenly the chatter of the students stopped. Everyone on the balcony looked down to see what was happening. A dark figure was coming from the entrance of the academy. Once stepping into the sunlight it was revealed to be Death the Kid. He was wearing his normal black suit once again, but he was also wearing Maka's cloak with the hood up the mask she made on his face. Once he walked to the back of the guarding teachers he looked to the student's taking off his mask. Kid's golden eyes scanned the students in the courtyard one by one.
"You are all wanting answers, I am here to give them", Kid shouted to them. No one spoke a word.
"The rumours you may have heard are true, my father Lord Death was murdered last night and the magic tool Brew was stolen", Kid confirmed to them. They all gasped and started chatting, Spirit turned on his heels and darted back inside.
"We are facing dark times ahead of us. But we will stand strong, we will fight this evil that took Brew and we will avenge the death of my father!", Kid shouted.
"I will no longer fight beside you as a student, but as a Grim Reaper", Kid finished.
"There must always be a Lord Death!" Spirit shouted, coming up behind Kid.
"Therefore by the powers invested in the Death Scythe of the previous Lord Death, I hereby grant Death the Kid the title and the role, of our new Lord Death!" Spirit finished.
"Hooray for Lord Death the Kid!" Patty yelled from the crowd of students. The Students then started to chanted 'All hail the kid' to him. Soon every student started pumping their fists into the air shouting 'All hail the kid'. Kid slowly looked to all his students and then something caught the corner of his eyes. He looked up to the clouds in the sky. For a few moments the clouds formed the shape of Lord Death's skull and one of his big foam like hands giving a thumbs up. Soon the clouds separated and the image was lost. Kid put on his mask again and turned to walk back inside before he began to tear up again. But then he stopped next to Spirit for a moment.
"Find the monster…that killed my father…", Kid said without even looking at him, and then walked back inside. Spirit nodded then followed him. Maka looked down from the wall of the DWMA at the crowd of students chanting.
"All hail the Kid", Maka said with a smile.