Back to Lord Death's POV...
A couple of days later...
Lord Death's POV
I was woken up rudely by two little mischievous fiends, jumping up and down on my bed. Well, not little anymore, they are both thirteen now. Today's their birthdays...right...damn. I am not getting anymore sleep.
"WAKE UP!" Miyu shouted, dragging the covers off my bed.
"C'mon Dad! It's our birthday and I want to go to training and then the party, our party, tonight!" Kid said, tugging on my hand.
"Alright, alright guys! Chill out! I'm getting up. What time is it..." I glanced at my clock and then glared at my children. "Five thirty am. Really guys? I now have two and half hours to kill."
Kid smiled sheepishly while Miyu bounced up and down on the corner of my bed. I grabbed my cloak and draped it around my tall body, it settling into it's usual form. Kid and Miyu helped me get the breakfast for the household ready. All of their partners had moved in, Patti, Liz and Isamu. One by one they sleepily stumbled in, and Kid and Miyu sat down next, chattering excitedly about the party I had planned for tonight. Patti was giggling while she was making funny forms with her napkin, and Liz was conversing normally with Kid, mostly about training. Miyu and Isamu we're laughing at Patti, who ignored them and just kept playing. I was sitting at the head of the table enjoying the antics of the youth of the house. It's been at least seven hundred years since a youth lived here, and we all know how that ended. I snapped back to reality hearing my grandfather clock chime seven times and clapped my hands.
"School time guys! You have a half hour to meet me at the door to walk to school!" I announced and a chorus of groans followed as they shuffled off to get ready for school.
A half hour quickly passed and everyone had met at the door, dressed with bags hanging off various places on their bodies. Everyone walked out the door and I laid my hand on Kid's shoulder, who stopped and stared at my questionably.
"Can you hang back? I wanna talk about some things?" I whispered to him, and waved the others to walk ahead.
"So hows your OCD dealing with you?" I asked gently and Kid sighed, expecting this talk.
"It's been better. I am glad I have two partners to balance me but occasionally it gets bad. Ms. Ferro has been a huge help, showing me tricks to ignoring the urges of the OCD." He answered, smiling a bit.
"Good, good. You know I love ya, right Kid?"
"Love you too Dad, of course I know you love me. And thank you, for doing so much." He said, looking up at me, giving me a quick hug, and running up ahead to the others.
I smiled, and the rest of the walk to the DWMA was peaceful. Ad I walked in the gates various students greeted me and I waved back. Many students wished Kid and Miyu a happy birthday, and their smiles grew wider and wider at every mention. The kids left for their training as I walked to the Death Room, whistling the whole way, occasionally falling into a quick conversation with a student. When I arrived Ms. Ferro was waiting outside, looking slightly nervous as I approached. We entered the room silently and she glanced at me nervously the whole walk down the hall. My morning tea was already set on the table, and I sat down, motioning to Dayna to take some. She did, her hamds shaking. As she was making her tea I spoke.
"So why are you nervous?" I said, straight to the point.
"What's the rule for staff relationships?" She said, staring at her tea.
"As long as it doesn't interfere with our students learning, I am perfectly fine with it. In fact I encourage it. So you and Justin huh? Together?" I said, chuckling slightly.
"How did you know?" She said, blush tinting her cheeks.
"Lenny is a rather good friend of mine, and he called me. Plus, it's hard not to see you two holding hands. And both of you have a skip in your step, all give away signs of a relationship." I said, laughing.
"Yep, Justin asked me to be his girlfriend and I agreed." She smiled from ear to ear.
"So, how is Kid doing?" I said, smiling at the prospect of young love, then snapped back to serious.
"He is doing well, although, I have concerns. I have overlooked both of the twins training and am concerned about something..." She trailed off, staring at her tea.
"What's wrong?" I said, and she took a deep breath.
"Miyu...doesn't seem to have much honour when fighting the others. She is bloodthirsty, and when she fights. I admit, she is a very good swordsman and has skill with hand to hand combat, but that slight mad gleam in her eye concerns me.." Dayna replied, looking very concerned.
"Not again.." I trailed off, deeply disturbed by the news.
"Excuse me sir, but what do you mean by, 'not again'." Dayna asked, then looked me in the eye. "If you don't mind me asking..."
"I used to have a son, a very long time ago. About seven hundred years to be exact. He was the result of me cleansing the grief from my soul. I was surprised, but very happy to have a child. I named him Asura, and if you know anything about DWMA history, he is a huge part." I explained, downcast. "He helped me, became a very handsome young man. At about the age of eighteen, he had become my most trusted warrior, until he began to show signs of madness. At first it was every now and then, he would go off on murderous rages in the battlefield, no honour at all in his killing. And then, it hit strongly. He ran away, leaving me and my warriors behind. I realized then, far to late, that my own son had become a Kishin egg soul. I spent many years tracking him, hunting him down."
Dayna sat in silence, our tea long forgotten. I lowered my eyes to my hands. I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and continued.
"When I finally found him, he had become a full Kishin. Asura left bloody trails wherever he went, causing me much sadness that my own son had become this...monster. He killed thousands, tens of thousands in fact. He was hungry for human life, never without blood on his hands. I had no other choice, I had to stop my own son. I engaged him in battle regretfully, and in the middle of our fight, I Reaper Chopped him full power. This attack created a large crater, and we fought in the middle. He rose from the attack and I was forced to..." Tears ran down my cheeks, and I quickly continued. "Strip my own son of his skin, make a bag from the skin, and put him in it. After I sealed his soul in it, I could still feel his madness. It had consumed him, no sane part was left. I bound my soul to the sand beneath the bag that held my son, in hopes it would contain him. My warriors followed me, and as soon as they found out what had happened, a plan was formed. We built Death City, and started the DWMA. Asura is held still beneath the soil to this day, hundreds of feet below. I can't leave Death City, as my soul is bound here. Only my Death Scythes know of this story, and Stein, my most trusted. No student or teacher is to know about this, but since you help my twins you deserve to know. But you can't tell anyone, especially my kids. Promise and swear it to me that you won't." I finished, and held my mask in my hands, tears streaming from my eyes.
Dayna got up, and came to my side of the table. She laid her hand on my shoulder, and smiled sadly at me.
"Thank you for telling me, and Lord Death I am so sorry. I promise, and swear upon my life, that story will not leave my lips, I will take it to the grave." She said, hugged me, then walked back to the other side of the table.
We sat in silence for a bit, deep in thought. Dayna clapped her hands, snapping me from my memories.
"Do you mind hearing my theory?" She asked me, and I nodded for her to continue. "To me, it seems your soul being divided into four parts has weakened each of those parts. You, the parent soul, lets call it, is the least affected by the others doings. The souls cannot leave this world as pieces, so they assume a physical form. But, as this happens the soul is still only a piece, and not complete. As the physical form grows older, the soul becomes tormented to become whole. This might drive the soul into madness, desperately searching for other parts. In Miyu and Asura's case, the soul has or is going to far, leaping into the madness pit. Kid's soul piece seems to be more tortured being only a piece, and is therefore asymmetrical. Kid's physical form is therefore being tortured from the inside out, causing him to be mad about other asymmetrical ideas. His mind is being driven into believing all asymmetrical is bad, tortured from the soul. Miyu is just being driven completely mad, her soul is trying to hard, going insane with the ideas."
I considered what she said for a moment, and it made sense.
"Ok, so whenever I divide my soul, all parts have a chance of going mad? All my kids will go mad, and eventually me too?"
"In theory, yes. I will have to explore it more. Do you mind if you can give me full access to the library?" She asked.
"Yes, I will tell the librarian." I got up, and wrote the numbers in the mirror.
The mirror rippled, and the librarian came on screen.
"My professor, Ms. Ferro, has my permission to have full access to any material in the library." I said, pointing to Dayna.
The librarian bowed, and I closed the connection.
"Do you believe there is anything that can be done to stop the madness from fully consuming my children?" I said quietly, and Dayna came up beside me again, and she looked me in the eye.
"If there is a will, there is a way. Lord Death, I will try my best to find an answer to this riddle ok? And how about you? What if you begin to go mad?"
"If it's in your lifetime, can you promise to kill me?" I said gravely, and she looked taken aback. "I can't go mad on my people, I must be stopped. The only way to kill a Shinigami (A/N; 'Shinigami' it means the Grim Reaper species) is too destroy my soul. It takes a great amount of soul strength but it can be done. Kid is only a partial Shinigami, sharing the throne with his sister. Asura was a full one, and I don't know if that contributed to his degree of madness. I don't know that much about it, that library should reveal some answers. I am relieving you of your teaching duties, to learn about the subject if you don't mind."
"I am alright with that, but can I have some help?" Dayna asked, already looking weighed down with the task I just assigned her.
"I am sorry to place such a huge task upon you. Can you do it? It's fine if you don't feel up to it." I said, and she shook her head.
"One thing you should know about me, is that I am stubborn and fight for the greater good. I am very loyal, and shall do as you asked. Now, who can I ask to help?" She said, looking determined.
"You can tell and ask Justin...Sidney and...Stein. That way you have expertise and most of the people I deeply trust. I trust you with my life Dayna, you may tell those three of the promise of my death if the madness takes me, and they can do it also. But have them all sworn to secrecy. No one can know of this issue, especially my children. Justin know of Asura, same with Stein, but you will have to explain it to Sidney. I will inform the librarian that you all need full access"
She nodded, and then hugged me. I smiled and gently hugged her back.
"Now Lord Death.." She said, and I looked to her. "If you need anything...you know where to find me. I will still have my talks with Kid, but make sure to ask Miyu to attend sometimes as well. I will keep an eye on both, and ask the others to do the same. We will figure this out Lord Death, I know it!" Dayna said, and turned to walk out.
I coughed loudly and she turned around.
"One more thing...Thank you, for everything." I said, and she smiled slightly.
"Anything for you Lord Death. I love those kids as my own, and we can fight this!" She declared, running down the guillotine hall.
"Are all my kids going to go mad? Are they all fated to go mad?" I wondered aloud, pacing my platform. "Have I condemned my own offspring to a life of disorder just for my own selfish reasons for clearing my soul."
"Did I set their fate in stone just because I born them..."