Chapter Four: The Engagement

"How was that different from madness?"

Kidd glared at the two star agent who stood before him. Michael Lee was the nephew of a Chinese ambassador who was found to have weapon blood. Like his uncle and father, CEO of a shipping company, he was intolerant of the world of witches and very involved with pre-kishin and Black Blood research. Maka had confided in Kidd in the past that Lee disgruntled her.

"I feel it in his soul," she had said softly. "He's angry. He's always angry. Especially with Soul or Stein- hakase or I around. He's respectful and a hard worker, but he hates us." Her poise was firm and her voice, though low, was steady. But her large expressive eyes betrayed her. Lee's ceaseless hate had infected the peace of her soul. Kidd requested that Lee be assigned to a separate Shibusen research team a fortnight later.

Michael Lee was brilliant. He'd proven himself to be capable of working beside Stein and Maka who were leading the world's pre-kishin research. But he was intolerant and racist. The paradox in his personality made Kidd wonder how much of an asset he was to Shibusen.

Death the Kidd returned to the present. He said firmly, "You mean to imply that the Black Blood that resides in Soul is as threatening as the kishin."

"Yes sir," Lee answered. "Had you not seen it in the battle that transpired last week? When that team resonates they are able to throw the souls around them into anarchy. Had they used more force then, would we have been in a situation so different from that at Baba Yaga's Castle two years ago?"

Kidd crossed his legs on his throne. One hand he let the knuckles press against his lips as he weighed Lee's words. The other hand he rested coolly on the armrest, his rings glittering. Elizabeth and Patricia were on either side of him and they stared at Lee and his small entourage coldly.

Liz thought, "What is this, some sort of riot to kick Maka and Soul out of Kidd's inner circle or something?"

Patty voiced her thoughts boorishly: "You brats got a lotta nerve badmouthing our crew like that!"

"Soul and Maka would never fall prey to the Black Blood and its insanity," Liz agreed from her position beside a god. "You don't know how hard they've fought against it to be where they are now."

Michael Lee's gaze flicked between the sisters. It was Kidd who raised his hand to stay them with a gentle call of their respective names. He addressed Lee's coterie: "While it's true that Soul and Maka have the joint ability to impact external soul wavelengths, this is not new knowledge. I hardly see why a sect should suddenly develop within Shibusen that starts pointing fingers at friends and calls them enemies. That sort of action rots the fruit from the inside out and our true enemies would consider this an opening. Lee, let's speak rationally. Even if Maka and Soul are as much of a threat as the kishin is, they've chosen to fight on the side that demotes the concept of flooding the world in madness, as is Asura's goal. Wouldn't you then say that this balances itself out perfectly?"

Venom seemed to inflect for a moment in Lee's tone. "A scale under stress can break, Lord Death."

The analogy did not go over the young god's head.

"If I do not trust humanity—no, not even that," Kidd got to his feet. "If I do not trust my friends, then how can I expect integration, unity, and its resulting strength to survive?" The Thompson sisters framed him as he said to Lee and his groupies: "You need more courage, Michael Lee. You sound very, very frightened."

And with that he was dismissed.

"I don't blame him for his wariness," Havar said, appearing with Ox. They were in jackets and scarves and their hair was dusted in snow. Had Kim transported them from the north suddenly?

Kidd's expression was taut. He heard Elizabeth declare, "What? Are you siding with that four-eyed narcissistic jerk?"

"While I admit he's arrogant," Havar answered, thinking of how easily Lee thought he could tell the god of death to abandon his friends, "I do not side with him. I understand his fear. The revival of the kishin alone was felt across the entire planet and in our midst we have a team that has the potential to do the same, as demonstrated in last week's mock battle with Stein-hakase."

"This is an unprecedented development," Kidd said darkly. "If we cultivate doubt among ourselves then our new hidden enemies will be able to snake their way in and rip us apart from the inside out." If only Maka and Soul hadn't demonstrated that ability so publicly…he thought. Had I assumed that, given their powers were so common knowledge, that they would only be viewed positively in public light?

No, he countered, the problem lies with the additional information that Michael Lee has. He's equipped with the knowledge of what the Black Blood is: a melted down demon sword, the evil Ragnarok, and everything we know of Medusa's experimentation with it.

"We need to make sure that this doesn't spread," Kidd said finally. "Michael and his research team have come to this conclusion, but who else knows of it? Havar, I need your objective analysis and rational thinking to help me quarantine this situation. Investigate how much Michael Lee knows, his theories, who he associates with."

"Yes sir."

"I've never liked him," Jacqueline said. "He's an ass. His thinking's binary and chauvinist, and he doesn't hide his contempt for others."

Kim was glaring at where the agent left. "Why do you keep him around, Kidd? He's bound to stir up trouble."

"Faith, Kim," Death replied. "He's not our enemy. He's just human."

Lord Death walked to the library.

The events that were happening in the world? He scoffed. Total disarray; it was almost as though, in part, Asura had gotten his wish. Anti-Shibusen factions were growing more and more assertive demanding its disbanding and calling Shinigami a fraud; witches refusing the peaceful treaty were creating revolts in not only in the mortal realm, but in the witches' realm as well; pre-kishin behavior was growing odder and odder, more human, for lack of a better word; and triangles everywhere seemed intent on becoming asymmetrical.

"Equilateral and isosceles triangles are the best, but scalene are the worst," Kidd was saying. "They feel like they're falling. Like the leaning Tower of Pisa. My father was angry at me for trying to straighten the leaning Tower of Pisa."

Liz replied, "Isn't it like one of the seven wonders of the world or something?"

"Seven?"

"Yeah, I thi—!"

"It should be eight."

"Kidd, it's just an expression."

"Liz, Patty, drop all of your things. We're going to find the eighth wonder of the world."

Patty laughed. "Yeah! Road trip!" She began bouncing off the walls. Where Elizabeth began to panic Kidd was staring at his reflection. He said, "Where is the most balanced place in the world that is bound to have the eighth wonder?"

"Why is there a mirror in the library anyway?" Liz suddenly asked.

"I requested that it be brought here," Kidd answered, "I'm expecting a call from…"

The mirror began to ring. "Ah, speak of the devil. Hello, Maka."

"Good evening, Lord Death," Maka replied brightly. She looked tired: her expression was pale and her eyes cloudy. Behind her was the scenery of any of Death City's cobblestone streets. "Did you get my most recent report?"

"The analysis of the soul that you harvested from Honduras," Kidd replied with a nod. "It's the most disgruntling yet. The baby kishin is still within Professor Stein's custody, I hope?"

"Rather than being in our custody, its loitering around us willingly," Maka said with difficulty. "It's difficult to decipher, but it seems as though it only wants to be near to the soul of the larger kishin, the kishin that Professor Stein has begun calling the Mother against my protests." She took in Kidd's frown and continued: "We're starting to think that the baby kishin may have been an extension of the larger pre kishin, somehow separated, and that the connection still exists, not unlike…"

"A mother and child?" Kidd finished.

Maka's uncomfortable glance shifted in response.

"Maka, are you telling me that pre-kishin can procreate now?"

She swallowed, but her throat was dry and the action reminded her of her hunger. She eventually answered, "That is Professor Stein's most recent theory." To herself she morbidly thought: He's quite fascinated by it, though its implications mean that humanity is headed for ruination and extinction.

Elizabeth and Patricia looked on in quiet shock. Lord Death dropped his face into his palm and thought of a thousand threats to his world at once. Lee's statement returned to him: "A scale under stress can break."

Snapping back to reality Kidd ordered, "Maka, I'm pulling you out of the pre-kishin research for a while."

"What? Why?"

"I need you to work with Michael Lee on the Black Blood research."

Her eyes widened incrementally but combined with her sallow complexion it was enough to elicit an expression of pure horror. Her mouth opened to dissuade him.

"I need you for this assignment, Maka," Lord Death interrupted her. "You are one of the few people alive who have dealt with the Black Blood as intimately as you have. Your knowledge is invaluable. And I need someone that I can trust to keep an eye on Michael Lee."

Havar will control the situation from afar and Maka will be directly involved with everything of Lee's team, Death the Kidd thought. That should sedate my issue with him and his team. He said, "And I almost forgot."

"There's more?" Maka groaned.

"Soul is your new partner. Permanently."

Author's Note: This chapter is a pivotal section of the developing plot for me. There was previously another chapter that involved Maka and Soul venturing to Rio de Janerio where they encountered the crow witch again, but I left it out because the plot was thickening with a promise of complication ahead. I felt it would have better preserved the Soul Eater characters' personalities and responses if I minimized the amount of original characters and that I would score a better chance of not confusing my audience.

There were times when I forgot that I'm actually writing a romance: but I believe that setting up the background is as important as the saucy parts, you know? Thanks for your patience and I'm all for ideas and discussions and personal opinions about the world I'm painting and the Soul Eater world itself.