It was hard to think of his situation with any levity; Kid paced his room. Chrona was no longer a scared child in the eyes of Shibusen, she was a present threat. In turn, he could no longer ignore what she'd done. Chrona was not allowed to associate with any member of the school. He was required to kill her the next time he saw her; which would be later tonight. The idea that Chrona would be dead within a week by Maka's hands, it made him ill. If anyone had to do it; he'd rather it be him. However, it was Maka's mission, not his. He would have to end his childish tryst now, before their next meeting. He could leave a note for her, that way he could explain why he wasn't there without having to kill her on the spot. He sat down on his bed and carefully worded his letter.

Chrona,

I appreciate that you have come to meet me for the last few days. I wish I could have made it today, but my father made other plans. By the time you read this, I will be on a mission to deal with the Kishen. Due to the situation, I will probably never see you again. Goodbye.

From your friend,

Shini

He read the letter over and over again until the words were numb to him. This was the right thing to do.

The church hall was dimly lit by a solitary candle on the floor. The Book of Eibon lay open on the altar, a projection of the index hovered over the flame. It was midnight and Gopher had long fallen asleep, giving Eibon the chance to speak with its creation in peace.

"Your predecessor, Greed, failed to capture the Kishen. You will not do the same." It spoke. Wrath begrudgingly bowed his head. "If you bring me the body of the Kishen I will grant you your freedom, but I must have the body intact. A body that has fallen prey to madness can exchange souls with ease and without causing injury to either parties involved. Unlike a healthy soul, which clings to its host with seamless fissures." It hovered closer to Wrath. "Your research taught me this. With an empty host I can leave these pages to collect knowledge on my own."

"And the girl?" Wrath asked. "What is her part in all this?" Eibon tilted its head.

"You don't remember?" It hummed causing Wrath to growl. "Her purposed has already been fulfilled, utterly useless in every sense of the word." Wrath scowled at the creature and pointed an accusing finger.

"Simple English damn it!"

"Of course." It sighed. "She insists on hanging around. It doesn't concern us." It always did this when he asked about his real name, or Greed. For whatever reason, it felt the need to lie to him about why they were here. All he knew, is he had to follow this thing's instructions or something dire would happen. Then he really wouldn't hear the end of his odd pet's harping.

"We'll head out for the moon tomorrow." Wrath said.

"Good," It watched as Wrath went to retire for the night. "Soon, I will achieve what man has lusted for since the beginning of time. True immortality."

Kid touched down into the Sarcophagus, the letter tucked neatly in his jacket pocket. Their meeting place had been slowly cleared by his compulsive cleaning, so there was little left to place the note on without a chance that it'd blow away. He sat on the only hunk of debris he couldn't budge and surveyed the area.

"You're here early." Kid turned and saw Chrona in a simple, black dress. She smiled at him. "I'm glad, I thought I would have to wait here alone." Her smile fell into a puzzled frown. Kid shouldn't have lingered. He should have left the note without speaking to her like he planned. Though, he was unarmed and no one would blame him if he didn't fight her. It was just making it harder to say goodbye.

"What's wrong?" He asked. He remained seated and looked away, the less he invested himself, the better.

"I-" She paused. "If you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?" The answer was right in front of him, wrong as it was.

"Why?" He tried to sound uninterested.

"Well... I can now." She stated carefully. "But I don't know what to do." She was beside him now, he could feel the soft heat radiating from her skin. So close he could have reached out and touched her. But he couldn't look at her. He just needed to make sure she was okay so he could hand her the note and leave with as little guilt as possible.

"You should have always been able to make your own decisions." He relented. "I can't tell you what to do." It was her decision to return to Medusa, to murder all those people... to meet him. He couldn't afford to think like that now. She was on the list, forever branded as an enemy. If he left now, he could convince himself of it in a few months. His hand started to go for the note, but froze when thin arms wrapped around him. "W-what are you doing?" He made the mistake of looking at her. Her sculpted chin rested on his shoulder, face flushed from her actions. A timid, yet playful smile played across her lips.

"I'm making my own decisions." His arms had somehow crawled up her back to rest just above her hips. "Umm... There is one more thing I'd like to do." She pulled away, and his heart leapt into his throat. "I saw someone do this once... promise you won't laugh."

Kid nodded in transfixed agreement only to be stopped once more by Chrona's gentle touch. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his. The contact was brief; but she pulled away slowly, her breath ghosted over his own as she did so. Kid saw her feature pinched in anticipated fear of rejection. He had to force himself to let her go, lest he kiss her back to diminish her fears. Chrona tentatively opened her eyes to see Kid hide his expression behind his bangs, face still a brilliant red.

"Shini-kun?" Chrona asked. "Shini-kun say something." His hands lingered on hers as he pulled away and stood.

"You have to go." He said quietly. Chrona shook her head, utterly confused. "Listen to me. There aren't many people who can take care of the Kishen due to his location. I'm one of the few people who can. It's not safe for anyone to be outside alone. You need to find someplace to hide, someplace familiar until the madness dies down." She nodded, more confused than ever. She had felt it flicker before her; his soul was guarded and damp, reluctant to let anyone in. Yet he had insisted that she meet him here on several occasions. Her lips pursed into a small frown. Why would he care what happened to her while he was gone?

"I understand." The temptation was too great for Kid to stifle, he stole a brief kiss from her lips.

"Be safe, O.K." He pleaded. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself if someone else hurt her. It would be better if he dealt with this himself, but the Kishen was more pressing. Reluctantly he left her side and clenched the key around his neck. Bits of rust flaked off in his hand from the withered metal. He left the sarcophagus and didn't look back, the letter still in his pocket.

The small group watched as the Death Scythes prepared to leave for the moon. Shinigami-sama had aquired a huge ship for the mission, enhanced by some of the magic tools Kid had collected. The bulkiness of the technology would make them easy to spot, but then again, this mission was no secret. The madness had to stop once and for all, an idea which Maka couldn't agree with more. Since the Kishen's release, all of her friends had been acting strange. Between Black Star's paranoia and Kid's withdrawal, she was ready to tear her hair out.

It was the methods that she didn't agree with. The Kishen had to be brought down, but Chrona was another story entirely. She had saved the girl from her own madness before and Maka was confident she could do it again with the help of her friends. As long as they were on this mission she would do everything in her power to save her friends.

"Come on guys, let's go." Maka declared the group hummed in grim agreement and collected their things. Black Star however continued to stare at the ship, Kid specifically. "Black Star?"

"Black Star are you alright?" Tsubaki asked.

"Hunh? Oh, yeah... Yeah I'm fine." He turned to the group and thrusted his fist in the air. "Let's do this!" Despite his cheer, he couldn't shake the sinking feeling that had settled in his stomach. The books, the disappearances, the illusion created by Kid in the Book of Eibon; all added up to something, though he didn't know what. The whole thing left him with an eerie sense of deja vu, not befitting the instincts of a warrior.

On the ship, Kid solemnly changed into his Spartoi uniform, mindless of where he placed the folded clothes. They would be on the moon in a few hours. He needed to get his head on straight. One wrong move could cost his friends their lives. Before Kid could open the door to leave, it swung open. Patty tackled Kid to the floor an odd look on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked in a deep voice.

"I should be the one asking you!" Kid wheezed. "Could you get off my chest?" She complied, but ignored his comment otherwise. Her expression darker than it had been in years.

"You said goodbye wrong!" She declared. "How can you say goodbye wrong?" She was referring to the casual farewell to their friends before setting off.

"How indeed?" Kid pulled himself off the ground and accepted Liz's apologetic glance. "I believe I said goodbye to everyone."

"Yeah, but where was the hug and kiss for Maka? When two people are in love, they kiss each other goodbye before going on dangerous missions." Kid tensed as images of Chrona threatened to spill to the forefront of his mind.

"Maka and I aren't in love." Kid said hollowly. "We're just friends."

"But she's your fiancé!" Patty crossed her arms. "You should at least try and be a good boyfriend." The look Kid gave her was downright poisonous.

"Patty," Liz tapped her on the shoulder, "I think the mechanics are having an arm-wrestling competition. Why don't you go show them who's boss?" Patty froze before giggling and running out the door. Liz sighed and sat on the bed, patting a spot beside her for Kid to sit. "Sorry about that. I think Patty's been watching those cheesy romaction movies again." She gave the silent reaper a pat on the back. "We know that's not the only thing that's been bothering you."

"Have you ever wondered if what you were doing, was the right thing?" Kid asked. He knew Liz had grown up in rough circumstances, and he never could blame her for any crimes she committed to protect her sister.

"Oh all the time." Liz chuckled. "What to buy, what to wear, who to trust." She looked out the window at the clouds that passed by. "When me and Patty were on the streets, all we had to rely on was each other. I won't lie, what we did was wrong, but at the time it was the only thing we knew. So we justified our actions by telling ourselves we were doing the right thing to keep us safe. Then you came along." Had he said the wrong thing when they met, she would have shot him and emptied his pockets.

"To be honest," She said, "I thought you were going to trick us and have us arrested. If that happened, there was a good chance Patty would end up in foster care where I'd never see her again. It would have been much easier for you to turn around and keep going on like we did."

"What made you change your mind?" Kid asked.

"My opinion didn't change until much later." Liz admitted. "About six months ago, I think."

"But then- Why did you stay?" Kid asked, flabbergasted. "What about honor? Order? Protecting your sister?"

"I didn't think about it." Liz shrugged. "I mean, I did think of it, but you're the only one who thinks it was a good thing. What I wanted most was to make sure that Patty was happy and my heart told me that you were the best way to get what I wanted." She stood and gave him a hug. "Do you regret helping us?"

"No."

"Then what every you're over thinking, just go with your gut." She ruffled his hair. "You haven't been wrong yet."

"Is everybody here?" Shinigami asked, "Where's- Oh there you are Kid. Nice necklace." He commented on the cast iron key that hung around the boy's neck.

"Father, please." Kid sighed.

"Alright then. You will be approaching the moon shortly." He instructed through the mirror. "Azusa has detected several clowns in the area. It is very important to keep your soul resonances tight due to their parasitic nature. In addition, these clowns are organic based, you'll have to take out the heart and the brain in order to destroy them."

"How do you know they are organically based?" Kid asked.

"I've been around a long time." He replied. Kid was not satisfied with the answer. All clowns he had seen were robotic and previously, thought all were. How would his father know there were other types, unless he had known Claudia or used the Book of Eibon himself. "Which reminds me, Asura will not be anticipating our attack. Once he notices you're there, you'll have about thirty minutes maximum before he retaliates. You'll need to move quickly and efficiently. Good luck all!" Shinigami touched the top of the mirror and the image disappeared.

His son's recent behavior concerned him, almost a regression back to the way he was before he attended Shibusen. The engagement didn't seem to help either, and despite his best efforts, his son had lost faith in him. It botheedr the elder shinigami, not that his son had begun to drift away from him, but that Kid seemed unhappy while doing so. The last thing he wanted, was for his little boy to grow up too fast.