Twilight the Traveler

by ilbgar

Death The Kid, Or, You Have OCD Too?!

Death the Kid began the day as usual. The toilet paper was folded neatly into a triangle, every picture frame was aligned exactly parallel to the ground, and the candles had all been burned down to the same height as the ones on those opposite them. "Absolutely perfect." Kid commented contentedly.

"Balance between the two sides. Perfect symmetry. That is the most important thing in this world. Now it's off to school." he said, walking out his front door. His mansion was quite possibly the most symmetrical building on the planet, except perhaps the DWMA building.

"Liz! Patty!" he called. The two of them were already outside, having been waiting for him.

"Now you're in a big hurry? Why bother going if we're already 3 hours late?" Liz asked.

*** At The Crescent Moon Schoolroom ***

"Alright class, I've got something interesting planned for today. We're doing another dissection lab." Stein said.

"Excuse me Mr. Stein, if I could point something out? Ever since you became our teacher, we haven't done anything but dissect animals every day." Maka half-complained. Tara had suppressed the madness-induced urges seeing things get dissected brought on by doing her best to read the textbooks over watching the dissection. She hoped the Madness was creating her urge to join in, rather than merely exaggerating an existing desire.

"Oh? But you see Maka, today is going to be different. Today's subject is almost unimaginably more interesting than a mouse or a frog." Stein responded, prompting questioning looks from the students. "Are you ready for it? Today we'll be poking around inside of this little guy here." he gestured to a white bird with a red face in a cage next to him. "It's a very rare species of cuckoo. I believe it's endangered." he said calmly but with a slightly gleeful smile.

As one might expect, the class responded almost as one with a resounding "Dissect an endangered species?!" Tara caught herself considering the pros and cons of the act for a moment, before crushing the thought down into the murky depths of her mind. "Um, isn't that illegal?" she asked.

"Yeah, I don't think we can dissect that. An endangered species is really rare and almost extinct pretty much by definition." Maka said.

This, unfortunately, only seemed to encourage Stein. His face was partially covered by shadows. "All the more reason to dissect this one before the whole species dies out." he said, his dark glee rising. The bird was immediately nervous, and rightly so.

"H-He's seriously crazy. He must be insane." Maka said, freaking out a bit.

"He's even crazier than I am!" Tara said, almost as freaked out as Maka. She was well-aware that the Madness Wavelength was slowly eating away at her sanity, but she was nowhere near this bad! Was she going to end up like that?

Maka snapped out of it after noticing a downcast Tsubaki to her right. "Hm? Maka? Tsubaki? Why don't I see Soul or Blackstar up there with you?" Stein asked, curious. Tara would also admit to a polite interest. "Are they planning to come to class today?" he asked.

"They're probably skipping." Maka answered. "Again." she added more quietly.

"Knowing those two, they're probably going to fight someone or eating. Possibly both." Tara added, not missing the sad look on Tsubaki's face.

"Those two idiots are hopeless." Maka said quietly.

"Well, they are the only boys out of the five of us. There are some things guys don't feel comfortable doing/talking about with girls." Tara commented.

"Geez, if they want to get together so much, maybe they should just be partners." Maka said sarcastically. "Huh, what do you guys think?" Maka asked.

Tsubaki grabbed Maka by the shirt and started shaking her. "No! That would never happen! Do you hear me?! Never! Never! Never!" she denied vehemently as Maka's face took on a bland expression.

"Uh, Tsubaki? Maka was being sarcastic." Tara said, becoming concerned that Tsubaki knew something they didn't and it was tearing apart her peace of mind. Also, Maka seemed to be having trouble breathing while being thrown around like a ragdoll.

"Then I guess they'll be missing out on the excitement." Stein said, his chair slowly rolling across the floor as he became serious. "I'm sure you're all aware by now that there's a new student coming today, Though he's running a bit late." Stein noted.

Tara had not, in fact, heard that. "Huh, and I can usually put together what's been going on from the classroom gossip." she blinked. "Wait... they're three hours tardy on their first day?" Tara asked. Was he alright? Ten minutes would not be unusual. The school was a labyrinth and new-comers could easily get lost. Three hours was a different story.

*** Meanwhile At The Entrance To The DWMA ***

"Yaaaah! Listen up! There's someone who needs to be assassinated by the great Blackstar! Right here! Right now, at Death's Weapon and Meister Academy, one rumor stands above the rest! The son of Lord Death himself has enrolled! Everyone's talking about the new kid instead of me. I'll have to kill him!" Blackstar announced/monologued loudly.

"Clearly, I guess it's a good thing you've got your priorities straight." Soul deadpanned with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"When the hell is that damn kid getting here anyway!? I've been waiting here for 3 hours!" Blackstar ranted. Though he had a point.

Meanwhile, several flights down the stairs to the DWMA, Liz, Patty, and Kid were almost at the building in question. "Well look at us now, raised on the streets but here we are about to start at the academy. We've come a long way huh Patty?" Liz asked her sister.

"Yeah! It's gonna be so freaking awesome!" Patty responded excitedly.

As they started up the last flight of stairs, Kid commented on the school. "Have you ever seen such a beautiful building? My father's school is magnificent! Perfectly balanced. Perfectly symmetrical."

As they finally reached the top of the stairs, they encountered Soul laying against the pillars. "Hey. Are you the new kid we've been hearing so much about?" he asked the trio.

"Yes, this is my first day. Are you here to show me around?" Kid asked.

Soul chuckled. "You showed up 3 hours late and you think I'm here to show you around? If you'd been here at 7 like you were supposed to you could've looked around yourself." he countered.

"What's that? Did you say 7?" Kid asked coldly, before having a minor freak-out. "It can't be 7! Change it to 8 dammit! 8 is better!" he yelled. Soul's expression could be best described as 'What the hell is this guy talking about?' "It isn't physically possible to cut the number 7 in half symmetrically! That's why 8 is better! With 8, it doesn't matter if you cut it vertically or horizontally or even diagonally, it's perfectly symmetrical!" Kid said, backing his statement up with some... odd logic.

"Take it back. Please, I'm begging you! Just say 8! Please!" Kid groveled.

"Uh, dude, is there something wrong with you?" Soul asked, he'd seen Tara have a few OCD episodes when she found a heavily disorganized bookshelf or room in general, but never anything this bad.

Patty simply laughed at the display, while Liz responded. "Yes. He's completely insane."

Blackstar had somehow gotten onto one of the 3 giant red spikes sprouting from the academy building. "Yahoo! Nobody's gonna be taking attention away from me!" the rest of Blackstar's rant was drowned out by Liz.

"What is that? A monkey?" she asked. "Yeah, it's definitely a monkey." she decided. "Look up there Kid. That thing is yelling something at you... I think. Not sure what though." Liz said. Kid looked up with a slight groan.

Blackstar continued to rant, and somehow broke the end of the spike he was on, causing both himself and a few feet of the spike to fall. Kid was horrified, the symmetry was ruined! Blackstar landed in a crouch and was miraculously unharmed. "Face it Kid, I'm much too big a guy for you to handle and you know it. See how the very ground shakes beneath my feet?" he asked.

"Look what you did, it's not symmetrical anymore you jerk!" Kid growled angrily.

"Ugh, nice. Now you've done it." Liz groaned in exasperation. Patty 'Oooohhhh'ed.

"Are you ready for this? I'm gonna give you a taste of my Blackstar assassin's skills!" Blackstar said, hopping in place.

"It's not an assassination anymore if you've been seen, idiot." Soul commented.

"You are a disgusting pig!" Kid said, throwing the other two boys for a loop momentarily. "Are you so willing to risk the loss of your soul that you'd pick a fight with a Grim Reaper? Liz, Patty, weapon forms." he ordered.

"Riiiiiight!" Patty saluted cheerfully.

"We've done nothing but fight since we got off the streets, I could use a break." Liz commented a moment before the sisters turned into a pair of twin pistols in a burst of pink light.

"If you want a fight, come and get it! Come on Soul!" Blackstar yelled.

"You're the one who wants to pick a fight Blackstar, not me. That being said, I'll play along this time. I'll warn you just once new guy, if we do this you'll
lose." Soul said quietly as Kid eyed them warily.

"Damn straight! We're going to make one badass team together!" Blackstar exclaimed, before becoming serious. 'He's got to have some guts to try and outshine me of all people.' he thought.

'We'll have to be careful, this guy was strong enough to defeat Anubis.' Soul thought.

'These 2 punks might not be perfect, but they were able to fend off Stein's attacks and even defeat Sid. I can't let my guard down.' Kid thought. "Let's go." he whispered, then pointed a pistol at each of them. He opened with a hail of gunfire.

*** Back In The Crescent Moon Classroom ***

Maka and Tsubaki sighed wearily, before looking around in confusion as gunfire became audible. "Sounds like a hand-pistol, maybe two." Tara noted.

"Professor Stein, it's Soul and Blackstar. They're fighting someone outside." a random classmate who's name Tara did not know said. This immediately made Maka and Tsubaki concerned for their partners, and Tara because of it being her friends, and there was a good chance they were fighting the new student who was supposed to be Lord Death's son. Reapers were very powerful, and they were in serious danger if that was the case.

'Soul, you idiot, what is it now?' Maka thought before standing. "Excuse me Professor Stein, there's a rule about students dueling on campus. It states that in order for the duel to continue a teacher must be there to witness it." Maka said.

"See? It's right here on page 3 about halfway down." Tara said, pointing to it in the rule book she'd pulled from her bag. She'd memorized the book, as had Maka. For some reason, this tended to throw people for a loop.

Stein had by this point strapped the bird down and removed the feathers on it's chest in preparation for cutting it open. He was actually about 10 seconds from cutting into his unfortunate victim when he was interrupted. "I hate to stop here, but it can't be helped." he said, sticking his pair of knives into the table near the bird's head and feet, causing it to tense then visibly relax. He began to move to his chair. "We'll have to postpone the dissection for now. As Soul and Blackstar's partners, I would like Maka and Tsubaki to come with me. Tara as well to help break up the fight if need be since she is one of the only people who can use Soul Force besides myself. Everyone else, study something until we get back." he said, beginning to roll towards the DWMA's entrance.

*** Meanwhile At The Entrance To The DWMA ***

Soul and Blackstar dodged the first volley of pink shots. "We can't even get close to the guy!" Blackstar said in aggravation.

"What was that? You're looking for a more up-close and personal fight? Fine by me!" Kid jumped the moment he finished speaking, and ax-kicked at Blackstar on his way down, which Blackstar blocked with crossed arms.

Soul rushed at him from behind as Kid landed fully, one arm transformed into a scythe. Demon Weapons did not have to transform completely, but were only able to wield themselves so well under most circumstances. Meisters were not the only ones who benefited from partnerships. As Soul slashed down at Kid, he was blocked by one of the twin pistols. "Dammit!" Soul cursed. Kid moved the other pistol to Soul's chest.

"What the hell?!" Blackstar exclaimed. Kid fired, leaving Soul lying on the ground for a moment.

Then he started to writhe around, screaming bloody murder. "Oh God that hurts! What the hell kind of guns are those!?" Soul yelled.

Patty giggled. "Did you think a pair of normal pistols would be enough for a Grim Reaper? We're not normal guns that shoot bullets. We shoot a compressed version of our Meister's soul wavelength when fired." Liz explained.

'Dammit!' Soul thought.

'How dare he go easy on us!' Blackstar thought.

It was at this point that Stein and the girls arrived. "Oh my, they probably shouldn't have picked a fight with this opponent." he noted.

"Dr. Stein, is that the boy? The one with the guns, is he the one we've been hearing about?" Maka asked.

"Well, he's wearing a pin of Lord Death's mask, but that's not exactly rare around here." Tara commented. Death wasn't held in the same regard as, say, God, but he was a highly influential figure. He literally had his own line of merchandise.

Stein nodded. "Death the Kid, son of Lord Death himself. It was his own decision to attend, but he won't be a normal student. On a one-on-one basis, his abilities are far greater than anyone else's here." Stein expanded.

Tsubaki looked most concerned by the fight unfolding before them. She sighed. "Tsubaki? Is something wrong?" Maka asked.

"You've been a little off today." Tara commented with some concern.

"Oh no, it's nothing." Tsubaki answered, though the expression on her face was one she was told she used whenever she had a problem she didn't want to bother anyone with.

"My dear soul-seeing young Meisters, can I borrow you both for a moment?" Stein asked.

"Uh, yeah?" they both responded nervously. Tara was pretty sure he got a kick out of being creepy whether or not he freaked anyone out.

"I have a special lesson in mind for you both today." Stein said.

"Which would be what... exactly?" Tara asked.

"No need to be nervous. All I'm going to do is ask you a simple question. Watch the duel closely. Pay close attention to the souls of Kid and the two Demon Pistols as they fight. Pay especially close attention to their wavelengths." Stein said.

Meanwhile, Blackstar jumped up and lashed out at Kid with a powerful kick. Kid dodged backwards towards a charging Soul with his arm once again transformed into a blade, which he used to block Kid's shots, but was unable to continue the attack.

The two girls activated their Soul Perception, or whatever it was that Tara had which was similar, and concentrated because they were still unused to it enough that they couldn't keep it active subconsciously.

"Well, this is unusual." Tara commented. From what she'd seen, her Soul Perception was not as advanced as Stein's or even Maka's, but she was able to tell that the three of them, despite their differing personalities, were well-synced.

"Yeah, usually matching three different wavelengths to each other is almost impossible, but their connection is strong and very stable." Maka said.

"The weapons also seem to... respect him? I can't get a good enough read to be sure, but that doesn't seem right." Tara added.

"No, that's not it. Admiration's a better word." Maka corrected, somewhat surprised that she was able to discern the nature of what she was seeing that much better than her blue-haired counterpart.

"A good effort, and a good observation. Those two weapons are siblings and are known as the Thompson sisters. Their lives were much harder before they met him, as they lived on the streets. It's natural that they would admire him. Kid benefits as well.

It's a good influence on him to be around such different people. Their laid-back attitudes help keep him calm and fend off the worst of his neurotic tendencies." Stein explained.

"Plus their teamwork is phenomenally better than those two." Tara commented as Blackstar and Soul more-or-less dodged all of Kid's shots, but failed to even try to make a plan or attack together.

"They do make a really good team." Maka agreed.

"Don't they." Stein agreed.

"Our two idiots don't even compare." Maka said with annoyance at her partner and friend's antics.

Soul and Blackstar finally got together. "Alright Soul, let's hurry up and finish this guy off." Blackstar said.

"It's about time." Soul said with a smirk.

"For what?" Kid asked.

"You should quake with fear of your impending death!" Blackstar exclaimed.

"You know who you're talking to right? I am literally Death's son. That jibe was so lame it makes me want to laugh." Kid sent back.

"You won't be laughing when you taste our power of friendship!" Blackstar shot back.

"That's right, it'll blow you away. The power is beyond belief." Soul said confidently.

"What?" Kid asked, warier than ever.

"Let's do it." Soul said calmly, but confidently. "Transform!" Soul called out, doing some faintly ridiculous poses before becoming his scythe form in a flash of blue light, before disappearing above them.

"How did he even get that high?" Tara asked.

Kid was awed. "That's so cool!" Patty exclaimed.

"I don't think they're taking this very seriously." Liz commented in an 'Ugh, again?' sort of tone.

"Come on Soul!" Blackstar called as Soul came back down and he reached his hands up. Unfortunately, when Soul came to earth, he landed with his handle next to Blackstar and his blade on Blackstar's head. This split one of his hair-spikes and caused him to scream as blood spurted from his head.

"Why the hell did you catch me with your head, moron?!" Soul yelled.

"I don't know!" Blackstar responded.

Tara facepalmed. "Everyone who just saw that is now dumber for it." she sighed.

"Do it right this time idiot!" Soul yelled.

Blackstar tried to lift Soul, but failed. He strained as if trying to lift a truck, but Soul's scythe didn't budge. "You're freaking heavy! I can't pick you up!" he grunted as he continued to fail to budge Soul.

"What are you talking about? I'm not heavy. Maka swings me around without breaking a sweat." Soul said, genuinely confused, as Blackstar reopened his
head wound. It was very simple actually, Demon Weapons caused several things to happen depending on how poorly their would-be Meister resonated with their soul. It ranged from light burning, to, as seen before them, the weapon being impossible to pick up in the first place.

"Blackstar and Soul are definitely lacking in the compatible wavelength department." Maka commented.

"So it seems." Stein said, slightly amused by the spectacle in front of him.

"Their personalities simply don't mesh well. You might argue with Soul a lot Maka, but you're there for each other when push comes to shove. Similarly, Tsubaki is probably the only one who could consistently tolerate Blackstar's God complex. Thus, those 2 can't resonate very well." Tara commented, completely missing the slightest of blushes on Maka and Tsubaki's faces, which rapidly faded.

"I'm just trying to lift you up!" Blackstar said through gritted teeth, before pushing some of his wavelength into Soul, causing him to untransform his head and choke out some blood.

"Why the hell are you hitting me with your Soul Wavelength?! That hurts you idiot!" Soul yelled angrily.

"Oh. My bad." Blackstar apologized. Tsubaki simply stared open-mouthed.

"I would have been very surprised if that actually worked." Tara said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"It's almost hard to watch. These idiots can't even seem to sense each other's wavelengths." Maka observed dryly.

"Whenever a Meister and his/her weapon fight together, they need to adjust their wavelengths so that they match. Otherwise, well, the show in front of us is a good example." Stein explained.

Soul turned away from Blackstar. "Blackstar it's over between us." he said.

"What exactly are you saying Soul?" Blackstar asked.

"If we try to stay together like this, I'll only end up hating you." Soul explained, slightly choked up."It's for the best." he added.

"Huh?" Maka asked. Tsubaki, Maka, and even Stein had similar confused expressions on their faces.

"...Is he crying?" Tara asked.

"So can I shoot them yet?" Kid asked, deciding not to question what just happened.

"Let's wait. I haven't seen any good soap operas recently, and this is just starting to get good." Liz answered.

"Oh. I understand, but even though it's over, would it be okay if we stayed friend?" Blackstar asked, surprisingly bashfully.

"You idiot! Of course we're still friends! We'll be friends forever!" Soul responded, running towards Blackstar in slow-motion.

This was followed by a somewhat odd volleyball of saying each other's names. "These two definitely need professional help." Maka deadpanned as they finally reached and hugged each other.

Kid finally shot them, sending them flying a few feet. "Oops, sorry, my fingers slipped." he apologized. He did not sound all together very sincere.

"Dude! You completely ruined the moment!" Tara called. She had a relatively higher tolerance for corniness than the others.

"We can't just quit in the middle of a fight!" Soul said determinedly as he got back up.

"Right! We're not giving up 'til we beat him!" Blackstar proclaimed.

"Okay. We'll see how well that goes." Kid responded.

Soul and Blackstar rushed at Kid again, yelling involuntarily. Soul's arm transformed into a blade once again. "Let's see how you handle my Soul Wave attack!" Blackstar said, one hand crackling with yellow soul energy. He tried to hit Kid with a direct Soul Force, but Kid dodged and kicked Blackstar's legs out from under him before knocking him upwards.

"Martial arts is Blackstar's specialty, but Kid is just playing with him!" Maka observed with some awe.

"Reapers have above-average strength and speed, and being Lord Death's son and a Meister, we have to assume he's had at least some training. You can overcome superior speed and strength with skill, but the opposite is also true." Tara explained.

"And the way he's been fighting today, Soul doesn't stand a chance either." Maka added, slightly worried.

Soul slashed at Kid with his transformed arm, only for Kid to block him and send him flying. "You're as slow as you are stupid." he commented.

"You're going down!" Blackstar called, rushing at Kid again as Soul tried another rush. Kid shot them both almost point-blank, but was unprepared to have a gray piece of cloth wrap around one leg, courtesy of Blackstar. Blackstar smirked. "You idiot, you fell for it!" Blackstar said as he pulled Kid's legs out from under him, and to the ground.

"Gotcha!" Soul called as he transformed in mid-air and landed less than an inch from doing serious harm to Kid, though he did cut off a few wisps of hair. Kid backed off, pulling Blackstar face-first into Soul's blade and causing him to let go of his impromptu rope.

"Okay. Now I really want to kill that guy." Blackstar said weakly.

"Our partners are pretty useless huh?" Maka commented.

"Thus, we see how I can manage to perform well enough to defeat Kishin Eggs on missions without a partner." Tara said. That was about as melodramatic as she got... when not freaking out from a lack of organization.

"And now it's time... to see the power of a Grim Reaper." Kid said. Dust was forced away and circled Kid. He, Liz, and Patty, said in unison "Let's go Soul Resonance!" Prompting a powerful soul to manifest visibly to those with Soul Perception. It was roughly the size of Stein's last night, only instead of a giant yellow orb with a screw and glasses, this one was blue with three white lines on it's left side.

"Are their souls... expanding?" Maka asked, confused.

"Now they're showing off their full strength." Stein commented.

"Well those two are officially doomed." Tara said as the Soul Resonance caused Kid and his weapons to nearly triple in strength.

"Okay! Let's do this!" Soul egged their opponent on.

"Reaper Schmeaper! Bring it on!" Blackstar said.

A black ghost flew across the soul, coming back and forth, as a trio of black spikes sprouted from each of Kid's arms, and he crouched as Liz and Patty turned into guns the size of medium-sized dogs. "Execution Mode Ready. Prepare to die." Kid said, before standing up again. Dark energy surrounded him as he began to charge up his attack.

"Uh, I don't like the looks of that." Soul said, having second thoughts. He didn't have anything like Blackstar's ego to back up his confidence.

"Come on, what are gonna do little man?! I've swatted flies scarier than you! So there!" Blackstar said with a cocky laugh.

"Resonance Stable. Noise Level at 0.3%." Liz intoned.

"Black Needle Soul Wavelength fully charged!" Patty said cheerfully as pink energy encircled the giant guns, coalescencing into an orb of the same at each of the gun's barrels.

"Preparing to fire." Liz said as skulls of dark purple energy formed around Kid. "Feedback in 4 seconds." One could see pink energy flowing into the barrels as Liz and Patty began to countdown. "3." Liz said.

"2!" Patty said.

"1." Liz said.

"Firing now!" Patty said cheerfully.

"Death Cannon!" Kid said, before firing two powerful blast of soul energy.

"This doesn't look good! We should run!" Soul said as the blast approached.

"Hah! Don't be ridiculous! No way something like that's going to hurt me! I'm the great Blackstar!" he finished just as the attacks reached them and created a huge could of black smoke with skulls formed in it. Kid turned away and Liz and Patty reverted to their original forms. Soul and Blackstar were revealed to be lying on the ground after the smoke cleared. Motionless, but still breathing and without visible injuries.

"Blackstar!" Tsubaki ran out to help her Meister.

"I'll go take care of the worst of their injuries." Tara said calmly, walking towards the pair.

Maka sighed. "Aw man. What were those idiots thinking?" she asked.

Stein lit a cigarette and placed it in his mouth. "It looks like total defeat." Stein said casually. "Although you can hardly expect any less of the son of the Grim Reaper. His potential is great and already far above that of any other Meister at the academy. Besides, I get the impression he hasn't shown us his limit." one of his eyebrows began to twitch. "Lord Death's very own flesh and blood. What I wouldn't give to study that one." a dark grin formed on his face.

Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, Kid spit up blood, got a massive nosebleed, and collapsed. Liz and Patty returned to human form and crouched down next to him, though their faces suggested this sort of thing happened often. Soul and Blackstar had gotten up by this point thanks to Tara's Cure spells, which, while able to heal wounds, could not cure illnesses, exhaustion, or allergies, and noticed Kid's state.

Patty giggled as Kid continued to lie there. "Oh great. Here we go again." Liz said wearily.

"What happened to him?" Stein asked curiously as he rolled over in his chair.

"Not much, it's just a little cut." Liz answered.

"So what got cut?" Stein asked.

Maka answered him this time. "I think I might have an idea what it was." Stein looked over at her. "I'm pretty sure his hair got cut off just a little when Soul
attacked him that last time. Once the explosion happened and everything calmed down, Kid finally noticed his bangs weren't symmetrical any more, since one side was shorter than the other, so he spit up blood and fell over." Maka explained.

"Makes perfect sense to me." Tara nodded, to odd looks from the others.

"He's the one bleeding, not us, so that means we actually won the fight huh?" Soul asked.

"Yeah, right. We won and I Blackstar have defeated the Reaper." Blackstar said and laughed. "I knew it! Who's gonna be talking about this guy now?" Blackstar continued to laugh.

"Are you sure you're alright Blackstar?" Tsubaki asked her Meister in concern.

"Of course I'm alright! I beat Death today! I'm one step closer to surpassing God!" Blackstar answered.

"Yeah, it was amazing." Tsuabki commented, playing along.

"Hey." Maka addressed Soul.

"Hey." Soul responded.

"Don't let yourself get involved in stupid fights, alright?" Maka asked. "Come on. You used to tell me the exact same thing Soul." she reprimanded him.

Soul stared at her for a moment, then broke out in chuckles, which rapidly devolved into full-blown laughter. "Yeah, I guess I was the uncool one of us today, huh?" Soul asked.

"Please try not to do anything to crazy from now on?" Tsubaki asked.

"Yeah right! Nothing's too crazy for me now!" Blackstar was bending his spine backwards at a nearly-impossible angle. "I've beaten up a Reaper after all! What's crazier than that?" he asked, laughing.

"Well technically, you got a double KO with Death's son." Tara said, but was largely ignored. "Or would that be a triple KO?" she mused aloud.

"Tsubaki's the only one for him." Maka said. "I don't think anyone else could handle Blackstar." Maka added.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Soul agreed. He rubbed his head sheepishly, and Maka smiled and offered him her hand.

"Come on, let's go home." she said.

"Yeah." Soul nodded. "Sorry." he apologized. They both pulled, and Soul stood up with ease.

"Let's stay cool, okay?" Maka asked.

"You got it." Soul answered, and they high-fived each other.

"Well, I'm going to fix the school. The broken spike is starting to bug me. It'll probably help snap Kid out of it too." Tara said, walking off to the broken spire. She kept spares in her bag since this was the twentieth time something similar had happened.

Patty poked Kid, who was being carried by Liz. Thanks to the fact that nobody was paying attention. Twilight was able to teleport up to the spike. Her practice at doing this allowed her to repair it easily. So she was back down with the others in time to witness Lord Death's arrival. "Wassup! Wassup! Wassup!" he said, raising a blocky hand in greeting after appearing from seemingly nowhere. Most likely he had simply used a nearby mirror.

"Hi Lord Death!" Almost everyone chorused. Stein and Kid were silent, though Kid was still out of it, and Stein still raised a hand in greeting like the others.

"So, I heard my son had a rather eventful first day at school. Kid can be difficult sometimes. I hope no one was hurt too badly.~" he said cheerfully.

Tara had a thought, and whispered to Maka. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Maka nodded, and they attempted to see the soul of the Grim Reaper from sheer curiosity.

"Huh, I can't see it. Maybe he doesn't have a soul? No, that doesn't make sense, Kid has a soul, and he's Lord Death's son." Maka muttered as Lord Death turned to them. Tara tapped her on the shoulder, and pointed wordlessly to the city limits, which prompted a strangled gasp from Maka as she discovered that Lord Death's soul encompassed the entire city!

"Yes. I'd say he has a soul." Tara muttered. She knew that she'd be screwed if she fought him one-on-one, but she hadn't thought she'd be that badly outmatched.

"Alright everyone. I'm going to go ahead and take Kid home now. He could use a little rest. ~Bye!~" he singsoned as he waved a blocky hand at them.

"Right, see ya later!" Blackstar said.

"Hey Maka, Tara, what are you two doing staring off into space like that? Let's go back inside." Soul said.

Maka shook off the sight she'd just seen, while Tara started towards the entrance, deep in thought. "Yeah, okay." she said, following him. 'Well, I guess that's actually kind of comforting. Lord Death can handle anything that might come at us.'

*** Meanwhile In Europe ***

A bell tolled the hour as a pink-haired teenager of indeterminate gender walked down an alley. A witch in a hooded cloak flew on a broomstick over the city, as the sadistically grinning moon had some blood run down it's face. This occurred whenever a particularly violent scene played out. Wars had been known to turn the moon completely blood-red during large battles. "Good. Eat all you can." she whispered. "Then eat more. And more. Eat as much as you need to. Consume everyone and everything in your path. Until you become the ultimate evil." she finished as a mass of black blood erupted from the child's back.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long, I've been busy with the other stories. However, I'm going to concentrate on this one for a while. Expect at least 2 more updates before the month is out.

Comments

[ilbgar]

Less than 2K words from the 100K mark!

[Xelos]

5818402
HURRY NEW CHAPTER IS OUT! AND POSSIBLY MORE TO COME!!!

Fun Fact: This story is now longer then two of the seven 'Harry Potter' books ('Philosopher's Stone'- 76,944 words long and 'Chamber of Secrets'- 85,14 words long).

[Twilight978]

Yes you updated can't wait to read more from you

[Memz]

"How did he even get that high?" Tara asked.

*Insert weed joke here*