Justin walked into the chapel room to find Gopher on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor.
"Gopher why are you doing that? I thought that was Giriko's job." Gopher stopped cleaning the tile and bit her lip. "Hey, where is Giriko? I haven't seen him all day." Didn't Noah tell him? No, she supposed not.
"Justin, you should probably sit down to hear this." She dared to set down the worn rags and sit back. There would be plenty of work to keep her distracted in the future, it wouldn't hurt to spare Justin a moment of time. Justin shrugged and pulled up an old folding chair.
"O.K. What is it?" He was used to her pouting, but rarely would she hide what was causing it. "You didn't kick him out over the whole patch-work thing did you? I know he messed up, but I talked with him about it."
"About that..." She'd never had a part of Noah's collection die before. At least, not any piece that mattered to someone else. She certainly hadn't expected someone who cheated death for hundreds of years to get so sloppy on them. Justin had been so insistent that he join their cause too.
"I know he's not Noah," Justin said, "but I thought that he could help you."
"What?" Their job was to help Noah, not each other.
"Well, Noah... isn't the way he used to be, he's been so busy the past few weeks. I noticed that you weren't getting your annual tune up as regularly and then I found Giriko... I just figured if you could still find a hieratic like me a suitable ally, you'd be able to help him find his way too. Who knows, with a little practice he could fix up all of those little cuts and scratches so you don't have to stay injured all the time." Gopher hung her head, Justin was far too idealistic. It was what pulled him away from Shibusen in the first place. His desire for redemption wasn't soothed after becoming a death scythe and festered into madness the more he failed to save people's souls. "I'm sure once he has responsibilities he'll shape up and be happier. That is, if you'll let him help you."
"I don't think that's going to happen now."
"If you're still mad at him-"
"No, I'm not really mad at him anymore. That's not the problem. The problem is... well..." She kneeled down in front of him. "He died."
"What?"
"He got injured in the Book of Eibon and before we could pull him out; he bled to death." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was all Justin needed to know.
"No, he can't die. I fought him enough times to know." Justin shook his head. "Can't you do something? Perhaps if we used one of your old vessels as a body-?" Gopher bit her lip and shook her head. If one of them had been with him, then maybe, but it had been far too long.
"There's nothing I can do. I can't-" She held him. "I can't bring back the dead." She ran her fingers through his hair and tried to sooth him.
"I-I never was any good at saving people. I just thought that maybe this time, I could finally make a difference. You know, do what I was meant to do..." He closed his eyes in defeat, his clown partner grinning behind him. "It's just not fair."
"No," Gopher agreed, "nothing ever is."
Deep within the void in the Book of Eibon, Blackstar stood weightless in front of a friend turned foe. Kid's clothes were reminiscent of the school's uniforms back in the 1600s, back when Shinigami-sama ruled with unwavering certainty. The marks on his face, while skull like, were like nothing Black Star had seen before.
"So what's with the get up?" Black Star felt the same confidence he had when facing Kid the first time. He didn't need to see people's souls to know when they were weak. "Are you going to cosplay me to death? Well, I hate to burst your bubble shinigami boy, but it will take a lot more than guy-liner to defeat me!" He cackled.
"You're making my head hurt." Kid rolled his neck and took his fighting stance. The world around them flooded with water, but the could still breathe. Only a few pillars stood out in the inky blackness.
"Too slow Kid." Black Star swung his leg around to kick Kid in the side. Kid blocked it and hit Black Star in the shoulder. The ninja reeled back and countered with three more kicks. Kid growled, this disgusting creature was in his way. Worse, they were equally matched. Every attack Kid threw rewarded him with another blow. Kid floated backward in the watery void. "What's wrong," Black Star crowed, "getting tired?"
"You're wasting my time." Kid said. "I have far better things to do then humor a stupid child." Kid shifted positions, ready to strike again. The top white line in his hair had connected, unlocking a power Kid had missed like his own arm. "This ends now."
"Oh yeah!" Black Star shouted back. "Well, we'll see who's child is who's... wait, no that didn't-" Kid went to drop kick his opponent. Black Star blocked with his arms. "You stinking shinigami." Kid then punched Black Star in the stomach. He quickly flipped over the ninja and kicked him in the back of the neck. Typical mortals and their fragile emotions, it was like winding up a desk toy.
"Such predictable motions will not help you." He glared at Black Star. "You need to be erased."
"Why, so you can reduce the world to 'nothingness'? And you call me childish. If you destroy everything, you'll only destroy yourself. Then what would be the point? You wouldn't be around to enjoy it. Pathetic." Black Star spat.
"I do not do this because I want to, nor for your approval." The nature of death was to consume guiltlessly, to make all things equal. The plights of mortals was what made the world such a tangled mess. It was far easier to block out the noise and fulfill his role the way he saw fit.
"Then what? What do you gain, 'nothing'?" Black Star snickered at his own joke.
'That kid is Shinigami-sama's son...' Kid didn't want to think about that now. He couldn't let himself get dragged down by the things other people said. 'Are you sure? How disappointing.' Nobody approached him as it was. What difference did it make if everything was gone? He would remain the same. Nothing ever changed.
"Isn't there anything you want?" Black Star asked.
'...since we've been working together I thought it was O.K. to call you by your first name-' Nothing would change. 'Chrona had been expelled from Shibusen for suspicious activities.' Not unless he did. He needed to wipe the slate clean so the world could rebuild the way it should be, with Kid as the judge instead of someone else.
"That doesn't concern you." Kid stated.
"Like hell it doesn't!" Black Star shot up and punched Kid in the jaw. "I don't care what's made you decide to destroy everything, but you need to snap out it! Running away from your problems doesn't fix anything." He kneed Kid in the stomach and sent him careening into a pillar. Kid hit, the stone crumbled beneath the impact. He chuckled.
"What better advise to take then you own." The second line of sanzu connected in the shinigami's hair as he recited. "Favilla Memoriola, Intercido Imago; Evoco."
"What the hell?" The water around Black Star became cloudy, like a burst of star dust in the pitch black night. As the dirt cleared a woman floated before him. Her face was hidden by a veil that clung to her aqua hair. The silk dress she wore flitted about weightless and ethereal. She reached out to him with a star tattoo on the back of her hand. "...mom?"
In the back allies of Athens, Chrona whipped the blood from her face onto her sleeve. Practice was over for the day. The sun was setting over the graffitied city, a numbingly familiar sight regardless of where she was in the world. She froze.
"Chrona, what's wrong?" Ragnarok asked. His miester said nothing. "CHRONA!" He growled. On his path to becoming a kishen weapon he had lost some of his more charming human qualities, like patience.
"There's someone else here." Chrona stated. She could feel it more than see it, a chill down her back like someone watching her from the shadows. It faded too quickly for her to pinpoint its location. Looking around her partner hissed.
"Who? I don't see anything." If only she had something more concrete to point to. Like dread, but comforting, or maybe just familiar. Something powerful and yet, at the same time, too weak to do more than make its presence known. A soul wave length with an influence trying to mimic the virulence of the mad god on the moon.
"You don't sense that?" Her grip loosened on her sword. She looked to her draconian partner in confusion. She knew how to cope with madness, mother had been conditioning her to do so her whole life. This thing was different, she didn't have to fight against it.
"Sense what? All I can sense is how hungry I am." To prove his point, Ragnarok tugged on her hair.
"Another wave length; it's cold and dark."
"Well, is it threatening?" Ragnarok grumped. Chrona shook her head. "Is it anywhere near us?" A siren song across the sea.
"No... it's far," She closed her eyes, "very far away." A box begging to be opened.
"GREAT! Then it has nothing to do with us." Ragnarok cheered. "Let's go home."
"But-"
"Home." Ragnarok pointed in the direction they needed to go. Chrona sighed and spread her wings, it was no use arguing with her partner. But the fact she could sense a wavelength still bothered her. Especially since Medusa said that it would take an extra effort to sense wavelengths through her own madness.
Surround by the liquid darkness, the woman reached towards Black star. His mother, or at least, what he thought she would look like. He'd never had a chance to meet. "You've grown so much." That sounded like something a mother would say. She arms wrapped around him. She was so cold, almost intangible, like she was actively running through his fingers. All he knew about her was pieced together from what Sid had been willing to tell him. "It's a shame I missed so much." She dug her nails into his shoulders, sharp and very real. "My poor baby, left all alone." She sobbed, her tears a brilliant red. "Let me take you home!" The apparition pulled him down into the darkness, but he fought back. It was persistent, every moment it became more detailed. Finally, he struck the copy in the chin. It's veil drooped and looked at him with teary, blue eyes, too real, too human. "Why?" Her hands clawed towards him again. He cringed and snapped the image's neck. It evaporated into a cloud of dust.
Black Stars hands shook. That had felt real, like a chicken leg getting ripped off a roast bird. Illusions that detailed had to come from somewhere. Did Kid dream them up on his own, or did such a thing come from Black Star's imagination.
"That was a dirty trick Kid." He called to the darkness. There was no response, no Kid. All was quiet.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Something was coming. He turned and behind him a cluster of skulls on shadowed strings were poised to strike him. He pushed against a nearby pillar and glided backwards away from their reach. The skulls retracted back to Kid.
"You were really bothered by that." Kid said, almost clinically if he cared. His response was an indignant snarl from Black Star. "Then I consider my spell a success." Black Star went to kick the shinigami, but was blocked by a shadow skull. It latched onto his leg; sharp teeth slipped through his skin. The skull tugged him toward Kid with jagged movements. Finally Black Star wrenched the skull from its dark puppeteer. While it was enough to make the skull go limp, it didn't stop three others from attacking. He kicked one into the other and dodged the last. Four more poised to strike like snakes. Short range combat was no use. He pushed himself backwards to gain distance. In that time Kid summoned another four exactly like the first. "Shadow Skull Arms." The skull's jaws unhinged and all eight lunged in to tear at Black Star. He had to counter fast.
"NOVA BARRAGE!" He struck and expected a regular Soul Menace to repel the skulls. A white light blasted from his palm and tore the shadows to shreds. Three waves then pulsated. The first froze Kid on the spot. The second sent him through a pillar and pinned him to the next. The last was shaped like a star ever expanding. When it reached Kid it constricted, then exploded. The blast was enough to separate Kid from Khonsu's hold. Kid started to fall, perhaps the attack had worked too well.
The shinigami was out cold. His form slowly began to sink further into the darkness. A wispy trail of blood trailed behind him.
"Oh no you don't." Black Star dove after him. "I didn't get my leg munched on just to lose you now." He grabbed a hold of Kid's arm. "Hey you, dark blob thingy; let us out!" Khonsu created an avatar of a body to stare at the victor.
"If that is what you wish." A liquid hand rose and cut open the darkness overhead. Black Star slung his friend over his shoulder and exited through the tear. "So, power has overcome desire," it pondered, "but for how long?"
Chrona paused in the doorway on the way to her room. Her mother gave her a quizzical look from the kitchen table.
"Chrona?" Medusa called from the kitchen. "Is everything all right?" Chrona shook her head, this was no place to be lost in thought. Mother hated that.
"Yes mother, I'm just a little tired is all." The mission had been a success, that's all that mattered at the moment.
"Well go to bed then." The witch rolled her eyes... "You have more practice in the morning." Chrona nodded and laid on her makeshift bed.
"Yes, everything's fine." She whispered. The wavelength had vanished. Which meant everything was normal once again. So why was it that she felt so... lonely in its absence?
Black Star shuffled out of the tear in the book and dumped Kid on the ground in front of their friends. With the normal laws of gravity back, his leg was screaming in pain. His friends jolted at his sudden arrival. Maka jumped to her feet, she looked horrified.
"Oh my god." Maka whispered.
"Hey Maka, did ya bring my halo?" He chuckled weakly. She brushed past him and rushed to Kid's side; with no care or notice of the madness that still coiled around Black Star's soul.
"Kid? Come on, wake up." She tilted his head. "Oh no- He's bleeding somewhere. Liz!" Liz did her best to assess him and gently felt the shinigami's torso.
"I think he fractured a couple ribs, if we can just get them in place before his power drains he should heal instantly." She'd seen first hand his arm reattach. When she pushed the rib into place, Kid groaned in pain. At least he was responsive. "What happened to you?" Maka stood from the slowly growing crowd and faced Black Star.
"Yeah, what did happen to him?" She crossed her arms.
"He went a little whack down there." Black Star said flippantly. "What does it matter; I brought him back. I won." He tried to stand tall, hiding the oozing wound in his leg behind the other one.
"So what; he wasn't acting like himself so you beat the crap out of him?" Maka demanded.
"Well that's putting it a little blunt. Besides, he started it." He shrugged. "Maka, what's wrong? You make it sound like beating him was a bad thing." Maka stared at him in disbelief.
"It is a bad thing." She insisted. "You could have killed him."
"You really think so?" He back peddled the instant everyone scoweled. "Please, what kind of god would I be if I didn't show a wee bit of restraint." Black Star held her hand. "You knew this day would come. Granted, not under the most ideal circumstances-" A sharp pain surged through his cheek. He stood, shocked that Maka would slap him. This wasn't what the eldritch god had promised him.
"I can't believe you!" Maka shouted. "For once could you think about someone other than yourself! This isn't about you, it's about helping our friend. Who, if you haven't noticed, is barely concious because you decide to go on another rampage!" She threw her hands in the air. "This was a rescue mission. What were you thinking!?" Her harsh words pulled Black Star back to lucidity. The stars in his eyes had faded back to black pupils.
"Maka I-" Black Star began.
"You know what, no, I don't want to hear it." She turned to go check upon Kid. Black Star was at a loss. Tsubaki came up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"I know you didn't mean those things." She said. He could always count on her to know where his heart was, but part of the problem was he had meant it. Whether he was in his right mind or not, didn't change he said what he said. "I'm sure everyone else knows you meant well." He rested his head on her shoulder.
"Tsubaki, I did it right?" He murmured. "I've finally overcome a god." After years of chasing after it, the end result was underwhelming. Kid was in no state to admit defeat, his friends were far from impressed, and he still felt the same as he had before. He watched the others tended to Kid. "Why does it feel like I've lost?"