Kami didn't want to leave the comfy role of self-righteous mother and return to being The Person Who Has Fucked-Up Badly, but there was no help for it.
"There was an accident on the boulevard, right under my window. It looked pretty bad, so I ran down to see if I could help. I...I forgot to close my laptop." her anger returned, but now she was directing it at herself.
"Somebody," she said, grimacing at Spirit, "convinced me that Maka needed more contact with me than she was getting. In light of the things going on in her personal life, I'm not saying he was wrong, but it's safer to dash off a note or a postcard and send it to the mail drop right away. No evidence. The ONE time I forget and leave that damned computer open, there had to be information about Kid on the bloody thing!"
She punched the mattress and immediately regretted it. She'd only managed a weak blow, but the movement was enough to wrench a pained gasp out of her.
"Whoa!" Lord Death exclaimed, "Take it easy!"
"That was not one of my better ideas," Kami admitted when she unclenched her teeth.
Stein broke in and informed her that one more outburst like that was going to get her sedated again.
"Okay, okay!" she replied, then turned back to her narrative, "Sophie must've gone into my room to see what all the fuss was about and saw Kid's name on my screen. She was waiting for me at the top of the stairs when I came back in, holding the laptop, and I'll never forget how betrayed she looked. She was shaking like a leaf, and I thought she was scared. I didn't realize it was something else until it was too late."
Lord Death inhaled sharply but motioned for her to continue, forcing Kami to relive the memory.
"My son is alive?" Sophie asked as Kami climbed the steps toward her, "Alive all this time, and you never told me? You let me think...for all these years you let me think he was dead? You let me think that I killed him?"
Her voice shook, and tears ran down her cheeks. She dropped her head, hugging the laptop to her chest as if her lost son was cradled inside of it
Kami hurried up the steps toward her, "It was for the best," she whispered, "It was the only way to keep Kid safe. You would have tried to go back to him if you knew."
"You're my best friend! I trusted you, and you kept this from me!" Sophie hissed. Her head snapped up, and glowing eyes with pinprick pupils bore into Kami's. Her usual sweet, vagueness was splintering, revealing the calculating psychotic it had been burying for so long. Too late, she realized that the show fear and sadness had been an act to lure her in.
"I didn't want to! " Kami lied, trying to buy herself a little time. She backed up slowly, hoping to gain access to the hallway, or at least get away from the stairs, "I was just following orders."
Years of living with a docile and dreamy charge had lulled Kami into complacency, and when the attack came, it was faster and harder than she had anticipated. Sophie threw the computer at her, and it wasn't until Kami caught it that she realized her mistake.
She should have stayed on the steps, where it was easier to create a quick distance. She definitely shouldn't have raised her arms to protect her head from the laptop. That left her midsection exposed, and Sophie hit it with preternatural strength. Bones cracked, and pain raced up Kami's side. Before she recovered from the blow, Sophie whipped out a wicked little garter dagger and went for her keeper's eyes.
Kami deflected the attack with the laptop. Not entirely, but at least she saved her sight. The dagger's point clicked against her skull when it punctured her forehead. Kami forced her opponent's arm upward, then screamed as the blade bounced along the forearm she threw up to protect her face. The knife came down for a second attempt, and Kami felt the point against her tongue as the blade punctured her cheek. She grabbed Sophie's wrist and twisted it as hard as she could, rolling her body to add power to the move. Sophie dropped the blood-slicked blade Kami swatted it as hard as she could, feeling a brief moment of elation as it clattered down the stairs.
Then Sophie's nails ripped down her back, and Kami remembered that with a Reaper's strength powering her, Sophie didn't *need* a knife to hurt her; she simply enjoyed sharp, pointy things. Kami's arm snapped in two places as she was hurled toward the ceiling like a rag doll. Ten feet off the ground, she hit the wall, pushed off of it, and used the loft to propel herself backward. That she was able to flip in midair and land on her feet was a testament to her stellar skills as a technician. She had some distance now, and in spite of Sophie's superior speed, made it to safety in the upstairs parlor. Kami clicked the lock an instant before Sophie hit the door. She ran to the big wall mirror, thanking her lucky stars that she'd had the foresight to have one installed in every room...
"And you know the rest," she finished, quietly, "I'm just lucky that you opened the portal before she caught up with me."
Lord Death didn't even try to hide the tears in his golden eyes.
"Your talent and strength saved you," he avowed, "The word 'lucky' has no place in this for any of us."
Kid couldn't listen for another second. His entire world had just imploded, and they were discussing his mother's reappearance like a routine mission that had gone awry. Worse yet, they'd started joking around the minute Kami woke up as if their monumental lies were the last thing on their minds. Like they didn't care, or even notice, that he was right in front of them and being forced to listen to their bullshit. He wanted to knock their heads together until their soft little human brains scrambled like eggs. And as for his father...
"Why didn't I know?" he burst out. Rage set his power building again, and everyone leaned away from him, afraid of what those clenched fingers might release. Lord Death stood up, effectively shielding Kami. Without a word, Spirit went to his boss' side, prepared to go into weapon form at a second's notice. Only a careful observer could have detected the sudden change in Stein. His casual posture didn't change, but he went hard and still, poised to strike should the need arise.
"I should have been able to tell. My soul perception is almost as strong as Maka's. I should have known Maman was alive." Kid glared at his father, "What did you do?"
"I had Blair cast a Soul Protect on your mother," Lord Death admitted, "Haven't you ever wondered why I allowed a witch live in Death City, even if she was only a cat? I owed her a favor. And I wanted her close in case the spell ever faltered. Spirit kept a close eye on her for me."
Kami gave a disgusted little snort, "Yeah, I'm sure eyes were all he had on her. Riiiiiight."
Spirit felt her sarcastic look drill into the back of his skull and hurriedly changed the subject.
"How is Maka holding up?" he asked virtuously. He was worried about his sweet Maka, instead of focusing on minutiae. Take that, Kami!
All the fire drained out of Kid, leaving a miserable, confused teenager behind.
"I don't know," he almost whispered, "Angry. I guess I'd say she's really, really, angry."
Lord Death tried to put a hand on his son's shoulder, but Kid stepped back, preferring not to be touched by the person who had brought so much tragedy down on him. Whose lies had driven a wedge between him and Maka. A breach that might not heal. Tears welled again, and he angrily rubbed them off with the cuff of the soft blue shirt Liz had brought him.
"She's not mad at you," he hastened to tell Kami, when he'd gotten himself under control, "At me. We had a huge fight about all of this, and now she's blocking our bond. I'm sorry that I upset her more than she already was."
Kami watched him searchingly and realized that the news about Sophie was taking a distant second to the boy's wretchedness over her daughter. Even though she thought Kid's relationship with Maka was a dangerously overinflated fascination, he obviously put her above anyone else. Including himself.
"Well, this is a mess," she said glumly.
"Have you tried talking to her again?" Spirit asked, "Maybe if you went to see her..."
"I did, but she wouldn't see me. That's when we fought."
"Give her time, " Kami suggested, "Maka's a lot like me; she doesn't like being pushed; it just makes her mad. And the madder you make her, the longer it takes her to get over it."
"Don't I know it," Spirit whined, "Even after I apologized and apologized, you still divorced me, and turned Maka against me- "
Kami heaved an exaggerated sigh, "This is not about you," she reminded her former husband. He turned his best tragic expression on her, but she stuck her tongue out at him and turned away as much as she was able to.
"Pardon me, but may I be excused?" Kid interrupted politely. He didn't want to discuss Maka with her disapproving parents, and he definitely didn't feel like attending anyone else's pity party at the moment.
Lord Death nodded, "Go ahead. I'll need to speak to you again, but that can wait until I get home."
"Dave is waiting downstairs with the car. Shall I take it, or will you be needing it?" Kid finally managed to force his emotions behind the facade of formality that he'd built to protect himself from the painful realities that had buffeted him for the past ten years.
"No," his father said, "You take it. I don't want you driving or flying when you're upset."
"Thank you for your concern. I'll be in my room if you need me," he wished Kami a speedy recovery, nodded at the other adults and calmly took his leave. A moment later they heard his measured steps in the hall become a run as he sought escape.
"He is really fucked up," Kami told Lord Death, "Just stating the obvious."
"I'll try to have Marie talk to him."
Kami was exasperated, "You need to talk to him, for fuck's sake! Children need their parents!"
The others shot "you should talk" glances her way, but she held firm, "Kid just had the biggest truth bomb of all time blow up in his face, and you have to help him get through it."
Death massaged his throbbing temples, wishing that he could scrub away the last several hours out of existence.
"I doubt he wants my help at the moment. Kid's love and trust for me was already shaky. I may have lost them for good this time."