"What do you mean I'm not going to die?! I was bit!" Kid yelled, seeming to forget Robin was only a child and that they tend to say foolish things.
"You're a shinigami, right?" Robin questioned, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. Kid pressed his lips together, unsure if he should take Robin's words at face value.
"Yeees…" The reaper extended, unsure of where the small boy was going with this.
"What? You're going to tell me you don't know all the functions of a reaper body?" Robin teased, obviously not taking this conversation in full seriousness. He took slow steps towards Kid until they were in front of each other.
"Of course I do!" Kid spat smugly, crossing his arms and trying to look dignified when in fact he resembled a defiant child. "And I suppose you do?"
"Well, duh. I've read a books on shinigamis and the history of Lord Death. I may be 5, but I'm stupid. How did you think I knew who you were when we first met?" Robin rolled his eyes again.
"I am Lord Death's son. Plenty of people know me."
"No, no, no. I'm not some fan boy, I assure you, don't flatter yourself." Robin waved his tiny hand. Patty laughed at the look Kid gave the child, the rest of the group simply watched the scene unfold in utter confusion. "Don't you ever read about your family? Or yourself?"
"Not particularly, no." The reaper replied, rather sheepishly. "I find it a bit conceited to read a book on myself…"
Robin rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. "You're lucky I have. It was recorded that your great grandfather was bitten by a black mamba before he had taken on his father's role; but he survived it by shearing off his skin around it." Liz shuttered visibly, though if it was from the mention of a snake or of sheared skin was not discussed.
Kid raised an eyebrow skeptically. "This is a Rotter bite, Robin. I don't think it has the same effect as a snake…" He said slowly, though he was still pondering the thought. Kid could scarcely recall reading a book about the relation of snake venom and anti-venom; generally the venom of a snake directly attacks the nervous system… Though isn't that what the Rotter's virus does as well? It must for its effects to be so quick. Could this barbaric method possibly work…?
"I don't see why it wouldn't." Robin huffed, making his way around Kid, making a complete circle before returning to his spot directly in front of him. "Lemme see it…" Without warning, Robin jumped up onto the startled reaper, wrapping his legs around his waist and grabbing a fist full of shirt to keep himself up to his height and steady, all the while tugging at the sleeve that was slowly being stained in an eerie colored blood.
"H-Hey! Get off me!" The death god stuttered, too stunned to truly prevent the child from acting like a small primate as a look pain graced his facial features while Robin clawed at his sleeve. Once finally succeeding in removing the obstruction from the wound, Robin paused.
"Wooooow, cool~!" He chimed, unhinging his legs from around Kid's waist and letting himself fall to the ground in a manor that was far from graceful. "It's all purple!" And just like that, the young boy's intelligence dropped back down to his age; he and Patty gawked at it in amusement at its vibrant, unusual shade; Liz and Staz seemed to loose every bit of color in their face and Maka simply sat there, indifferent. She had already seen the gruesome wound.
"He's got a point." Staz spoke up, causing heads to jerk in his direction. "I know it doesn't sound too appealing, but at least it's trying. What have you got to loose?" Kid nodded. Though he didn't particularly like the fact that he would soon have to be skinned; it was either this or a certain early death and Kid was more than happy to take the former.
"Alright. I'll do it."
As soon as Kid decided, everyone was given a task. Patty and Liz were to go down to the stream (for real this time) and collect water to put through their makeshift filtration system; Kid had a feeling they would need a lot, if not all, of their supply they had now to thoroughly clean a knife (which Staz was doing), cease the bleeding and rehydrate himself. He would be loosing a lot of blood tonight. Thankfully, Staz had offered to cut it for him rather than Kid do it himself. He explained that his father owned a clinic and he and Riz helped him every once in awhile when extreme wounds showed up. Maka was hastily going through their small collection of first aid kits, searching for any sort of pain killers, bandages or any other medical equipment they might need.
Seeing their lack of wide coverage bandages, Kid went to go through his backpack to find any article of clothing worth tearing up to form a makeshift bandage. He pulled out a dark orange shirt with a single green star in the top corner of the chest and curled his lip. Disgustingly asymmetrical… He though bitterly, almost sneering as he ripped the shirt into long strips for his soon-to-be-skinless arm. As he was just about to close his bag, he noticed a small book that struck his memory.
"Ohh, What's that?" Robin said behind him, causing Kid to jump slightly.
"This?" He said, pulling out the vibrantly colored book. "It's a coloring book I found back when we were in that grocery store and thought you might like it…" He deadpanned, pulling up the matching set of crayons that had small dinosaurs printed on the labels.
"I give you the cure to your death and you repay me with a color book?" Robin said, almost laughing, though not ungratefully so.
Kid shrugged with a small smile, "And crayons…" He tempted, though he was already returning the book to his backpack. The present really was a shot in the dark; not all children liked to color. But as Kid was getting ready to zip his bag back up Robin stopped laughing, all seriousness returning to his face.
"I still might use it though…" He trailed off sheepishly. Kid smiled widely and gave him the book and crayons.
"Ey' Kid!" Staz called as Robin shuffled away, a smile broad on his face with his new gift in hand. Kid looked up to the sound of his name, seeing Staz walking towards him with a glass bottle. "I nicked this from my dad's stash before Riz and I met up with you lot." He grinned widely. "I was gonna save it, but I figured you could appreciate it more than I can." Upon closer inspection, Kid was able to distinguish the word 'Whiskey' written in old English letters along with its brand name. Kid had never drank, nor did her really have any desire too, but it was worth looking into seeing as several people used alcohol as a sort of pain reliever. The reaper smiled half heartedly and accepted the bottle, taking off the cork with a pop as Staz returned to cleaning the knife which seemed to have been doused in the liquid beforehand.
Taking a deep breath, Kid tipped up the container and took a healthy swig from the glass bottle. Big mistake. He sputtered and choked as the liquid fire slid ruthlessly down his throat. Staz watched the scene, laughing all the while.
"Small sips, mate. Small sips." He chortled, watching Kid as he wiped some of the spilt liquid from his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He was defiantly not doing that again.
Upon Liz and Patty's return, they decided to get it over with. Kid removed his shirt and was instructed by Staz to lay flat on the ground. Staz took a deep breath and stuck a rag in Kid's mouth, earning a confused look. "Trust me, you'll want that there." Now it was Kid's turn to take a deep breath. Without warning, it felt as though someone was trying to saw his arm off with a dull steak knife. Strangely enough, Kid felt his throat burning as well, and that's when he realized it was from him screaming.
Maka watching in horror as Staz meticulously scrapped at Kid's arm, pulling off piece by piece as if he were skinning an orange. "Water." Staz called and was quickly responded to by Liz, who already had some prepared, though she didn't even look in the direction of her meister's mutilated arm. Maka wished she had that sort of control, but her gaze seemed to be fixed on the tearing flesh. It wasn't like any wound she had ever seen; at first when Staz had cut it, purple ooze had flooded the wound, but the deeper into the skin he went, the more red it became. She assumed this to be a good sign, but she couldn't help but cringe at the strong reaper's pitiful cries for mercy. She had a feeling Kid had lost all verbal control awhile ago, seeing as he was pleading for it to stop and begging for death. Robin and Patty sat in silence, expressions unreadable.
Just as Staz was getting to the most crucial part, the actual contact of the bite, Kid began to thrash around violently, luckily, the brunette was able to get his knife away before the sudden jerky movements caused any unnecessary damage. Maka jumped over to help, one hand pinning down Kid's good shoulder, the other firmly holding his chest. Staz sat on the good part of Kid's injured arm, trying to keep the spasms to a minimum, and continued the procedure.
Maka was now face to face, and almost nose to nose with the whimpering boy, she never would have imagined he could look so feeble. His mouth gaped open in a silent scream with the cloth hanging loosely between his teeth, Maka figured he had strained and lost his voice. "Shhh… It's ok. It's almost over…" She tried, all the guilt in the world bombarding her. After he had explained what exactly happened in the store, she was able to put two and two together. Kid had said he smashed a glass case and that had been what stirred the Rotters; the only think he had obtained that would have been in a glass case was the shiny piece of jewelry that not adorned her neck. He had gotten bit because he was retrieving a present for her. When realization had dawned on her, her first instinct was to be angry. Did he really get bit just to retrieve a present for her? It was a stupid piece of metal! She was utterly disgusted by it, wanting to rip it to scraps and through it in the stream (which she almost did once or twice while Kid's back was turned) , and now, looking back at her momentary anger, she realized she had unintentionally taken it out on Kid himself. Throwing him angry glances before they left the cave, giving him the silent treatment all the way back, making him feel completely useless by attacking and killing that Rotter… But the more she stewed in her own fumes, the more she pondered why she was angry. Maka was really angry at herself; maybe it wasn't directly her fault, but she was defiantly in the equation. She was now appalled that she had ever even considered disposing over the necklace; in fact, she would now do the exact opposite. It was a gift that he had risked his life to get her, only a complete fool would throw that away. If she were to throw it away it would be the very equivalent to throwing his life away; his actions would have been in vain. All her anger was immediately transformed to guilt.
Kid's sudden regain in voice brought the blonde back. He spat the rag out of his mouth and looked at her, gold eyes, whose pupils were the size of pin heads, on worried green. "Maka!" He yelled, though his voice held no anger, only pleading. "Make him stop Maka! Kill me! Make it stop!" He cried, tears of agony fusing with beads of sweat.
"Kid, he's almost done…" She said, just above a whisper, but loud enough where he could hear her. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
"Maka… Do you hate me?" He muttered, surprisingly in a whisper.
"No, Kid. I-"
"Why do you HATE ME?!" He screamed, throwing his head back. As if this had given him some sort of idea, he began slamming his head into the dirt, hitting harder with every try. Maka quickly moved one of her hands to his head and fisted his sweat soaked hair in a tight grasp, pinning it down.
"Kid, I'm so sorry…" Maka said, her breath labored as she fought tears.
He gave her one last pleading look, then his glowing golden eyes rolled to the back of his head and shut. Maka's breath caught in her throat.
"Staz?!" She called, uneasy.
"I-It's ok. I'm pretty sure he's alright. He just passed out from the pain. He's still with us." He reassured half-heartedly. "I'm done. Liz, get me some bandages." When there was no immediate response, he looked over to see the blond in a fetal position, her face buried in her knees and body shaking in sobs. "Liz! Bandages!" He said, rougher this time. She jumped at his tone and rushed over with the makeshift dressings.
Maka stared at Kid's now placid face, hair in disarray and beads of sweat rolling this way and that. Kid would've been a wreck if he saw how far from symmetrical he really looked; he would now be even further so with that scar he has. She gently smoother out his hair, fixing it as best she could, and kissed him gently on the forehead. Liz either didn't notice or didn't care.
Thirty minutes later after Staz had successfully dressed the now open and more extensive wound, Kid stirred. Before anyone was able to say anything, Kid rushed over to get the glass bottle Staz had presented him with and gulped down a mouthful.
He found the burn to be rather enjoyable.
Weird last line, but I was really trying to hit at the philosophy "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" sort of deal.
So I have my school schedule, and… Well, sorta bad news. I do have free time, but not as much as I had originally hoped, meaning I won't update as often, but I will still update in a reasonable amount of time (Like… Every 3 or 4 days? I dunno, we'll see how it works out) BUT, my school splits the entire school year into quarters and first quarter happens to be my busiest; we have four classes a day and I only have one off period. Second quarter is a bit better, I have 2 off periods. Third quarter is THE BEST, I only have a single 30 minute class a day, and fourth quarter is the same as second. SO, that being said, I will update as often as my current schedule allows me.
A little fun thing that happened to me yesturday. I sat through an entire hour and a half long lecture about symmetry in my pre calculus class. No joke. My professor only talked about symmetry. Even funnier? I wore my Death The Kidd shirt that day.
Replies~!
Jeager's Paradise- Well… ^ that's what happened to Kidd…
Art n' Music- Yeah, Robin is a bit of an odd ball… Your review actually gave me a really good idea actually! Thank you XD
Checkered Brooke- Originally, I wanted Robin to resemble basically this kid genius that no one knows how or why he's so smart, he just sort of is. I know it's very hard to believe a 5 year old to be this smart or comprehend things on such a high level, but I have actually met a five year old that was far smarter than I portrayed Robin; as a matter of fact, he was the inspiration for Robin's genius streak. But I dunno, you guys (you and a few others) keep saying there's something up with him, maybe I'll think of something special XD
Hawkllama- I had so much fun making Robin sound like a smart ass know it all in this chapter! I guess you could say he's creepy… But really, I just wanted a small child character that didn't want to snuggle or cuddle with anyone, he'd rather just be alone or doing something constructive.
Mikaela- All will be revealed in due time… But I am kinda dragging out these answers, huh? In particular, to the question that is asked the most XD
XxDeathTheKid4EverxX- Ahh… I remember middle school…. *gives the Excalibur face*
And Shell-kun, even though your review wasn't on 21, I'll still reply- Nah, don't feel bad, I understand. Life happens ^^. And thank you! I actually have quite a few that I have stored and already started working on that I'm super excited about! Hope you enjoy them as much as this, if not more!