Chapter Text
A swift slash of metal, accompanied by a brash kick had Death the Kid bending over backwards to dodge. His palms met the ground and he smoothly transitioned his momentum into a backwards flip. His pristine shoes satisfyingly met the Kishin Egg's unsightly face on the way up and he landed with nary a stumble. The action elicited a frustrated growl from the being across from him, it screamed incoherent obscenities, but Kid just smirked as he raised his twin pistols and shot eight consecutive shots of his Wavelength into the creatures face.
The Kishin Egg stumbled backwards on unsteady feet, its clawed hands coming to its now bloody and disfigured head- good, that's what Kid was aiming for, an opening.
Kid sprinted forward, his opponent none the wiser, within seconds he dug the barrels of Liz and Patty into the creatures ribs, it's hot breath smelt just as bad as he had imagined- and pulled the triggers.
Tension eased from Kid's shoulder's as he took a step back, the Kishin Egg's body unwound like a spring and dissipated into thin air- all that was left behind was a glowing red soul, which was promptly sucked into the cartridge of one of the pistols. His weapons shone, their form's becoming human beside him.
"That was awesome Kid!" Patty whooped, slinging an arm over his shoulder.
"That was so gross! Its stomach was so sweaty..." Liz wrapped her arms around herself as she shuddered. She glanced up at Kid, "Can we go home now? I wanna shower."
"We can go home after this next mission." He spun on his heel, already walking out of the ruins as his Weapon partner's rushed to follow. "It's nearby anyway. The time it would take to go all the way home just to shower and come back would be longer than just killing it right now."
Liz hurried to catch up and grasp his arm "But this is the fourth mission in a row, Kid!"
Said boy just sighed, "I chose these missions because they were all relatively close to one another, that way we could get them all done in one fell swoop."
Liz looked ready to argue, but crossed her arms and pouted like a child instead, "Ugh, fine! Whatever."
As they all walked, Kid observed his partners. Patty was- well, she was Patty, however as Kid observed further... her face had a some dirt and he could just make out some scrapes on her elbows. While it was out of character for Patty to complain, he could tell she was just as tired as her sister, even though her impossibly optimistic nature showed otherwise. Meanwhile, Liz wasn't even trying to hide her exhaustion, her shoulders slumped forwards and feet dragging with every step- ordinarily he would remind her of the negative effects of bad posture, however even he knew how much he had been pushing them.
Kid stopped- much to the confusion of his weapons. He brought a shaky hand up to his temples and massaged them as he fought between the wellbeing of his partners and the efficiency of just getting the mission over and done with. Kid released a deep breath and moved his hand back to his pocket.
"How about a compromise?"
"Compromite?" Patty repeated giggling as she did so, "Hm... I dunno Kid, I'm not really into mites all that much."
"Compromise, Patty. Compromite isn't a word." Kid tiredly corrected.
"Ok, so what do you propose?" Kid turned to Liz as she squinted suspiciously at him, "This better not be something like, cleaning these ruins to make it perfectly symmetrical so that we can get a good boost of 'energy' for the next mission. 'Cause I'd rather not."
When Kid's eyes actually lit up at the suggestion Liz immediately back pedaled, "Don't even think about it!"
With as much willpower as Kid could muster he threw Liz's idea into the back of his mind, he couldn't get carried away- even if the thought of the currently dilapidated ruins around him being symmetrical once more made his heart flutter in excitement- no! Come on don't get distracted- but!- no!- but just a little bit of cleaning!- no don't rope Liz and Patty into it as well! it'd only take a few days-
A slap resounded in the clearing and Kid snapped back to his senses, "Sorry, I got carried away."
"Nah it's not your fault Kid. I shouldn't have mentioned anything." She frowned at him, worry painting her features, "I don't think I've ever seen you get that bad, are you ok?"
"What? No I'm fine, I suppose it's just all the fighting recently. I'll be fine." Kid quickly cleared his throat, "Right, as I was going to say." Patty nodded encouragingly, "When we reach the next town, how about we stay the night and get some rest? I'm sure there will be a shower as well for you girls."
Now it was Liz's turn to get excited, "Are you serious?! Of course! That's the best idea you've ever had!"
Kid mumbled 'ever had?' crestfallenly under his breath- however it went unnoticed, or ignored, by the two sister's as they grabbed his hands and began speed walking away from the place, "Let's go! The sooner we get out of here the better!" Liz swooned as she imagined the hotel they could stay in, "We're gonna have beds, proper ones, Patty!"
Patty giggled, "You're so weird, sis!"
Kid shook his head fondly at the two girls.
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By the time the towns' first couple of houses came into view Kid was riding Beelzebub, with Liz and Patty asleep in weapon forms, as was the usual routine during their excessive amount of missions from the past week. After all, it's not like Kid needed sleep, it was welcomed of course, but it wouldn't kill him to miss it for a week or so.
He reached the nearest inn, and was content enough with the cleanliness within to grab a room for the girls.
It wasn't much, he observed as he strolled into it. Two double beds sat against the walls, separated only by the small oak side table between them. The wallpaper was a dingy yellow, but as he observed the floor he blinked, it was much too soft to have not been replaced recently- an eye twitched at the dichotomy between the old stained wallpaper and newly installed carpet. If they'd replaced the carpet, why not replace the wallpaper as well!? It made no sense!
It was only remembering the still asleep weapons in his hands that stopped Kid from tearing the wallpaper down and replacing it himself.
He placed Liz and Patty on each bed- their weapon forms dissolving as their tired senses recognised comfort and safety.
Kid tucked them in the best he could, before starting towards to the bathroom himself- however he'd only taken a single step before his Soul Perception picked up the essence of a Kishin Egg. He spun around and looked down to the street from the simple window haphazardly installed off-centre in the room- he cringed at the thought of being anywhere near such an abomination, but he would have to make do for now. Just as he thought, Kid made out the presence of the Kishin Egg, they were looking for, slink into the forest surrounding the town. Kid grit his teeth as he sensed another soul, an innocent blue soul with it.
The young Reaper only glanced at his weapons before shaking his head- no. He couldn't wake them up, especially after promising they could rest. He would just have to deal with this one himself- he was a Reaper after all, it's not like weapons were a necessity for him to fight.
Kid quietly closed the door to the room and ran towards where he had sensed the Kishin Egg last. The sun had been setting when he arrived in town, but now it was just the moon, grinning manically in the night sky. Wind howled through the trees and Kid just made out the sound of animals skittering away in fear, before he paused and activated his Soul Perception once again.
The forest silenced itself- the trees had long since stilled and the wind held its breath.
Kid furrowed his brows, the Kishin Egg had seemingly completely disappeared, but how?
A rustle sounded from above and suddenly the silence was no more.
Kid just managed to roll to the left as the Kishin Egg pounced, a large axe buried itself into the hard dirt where Kid had been standing- how the creature had managed to be so sneaky with such a hefty weapon, Kid had no idea.
As the Kishin Egg struggled to dislodge the axe, Kid took his chance to attack back.
With an inhuman strength, Kid delivered a bone-shattering kick to the creatures back. He took the moment afterwards to observe the area for the human soul he had seen before- He clenched his jaw as he realised it was gone. The Kishin Egg had eaten it already.
In his distraction, Kid hadn't noticed his opponent had recovered, its axe now in hand. It arched the weapon back and with a growl- a growl that gave away its position- swung the blade forwards, narrowly missing Kid's throat as he side stepped.
The axe was proving to be a menacing weapon, Kid realised. Although the Kishin Egg was clumsy with it's strikes, there was enough power behind them to dismember Kid easily. Even though Kid hadn't been hit, the battle was unfortunately one-sided, he was purely on the defensive, he couldn't even get one shot in after his initial kick.
After another earth-rumbling attempt at Kid's neck, the Reaper retreated further, he needed to calm down and watch its movements- he was getting no where just dodging.
Golden eyes studied the Kishin Egg before him- it kept coming at him, but he easily side-stepped away. Suddenly he narrowed in on it- there! Just as it attacks the Kishin Egg leaves it's back wide open.
As the axe comes down once more, Kid uses a tree beside him to jump over and behind the creature. He steels himself as his Soul Wavelength concentrates in his palms, the Kishin Egg twists it's head back dumbly, readying another attack- but it's too late as Kid's hands surge forwards and the pure power of his Reaper Wavelength sweeps through the deformed body before him- in seconds it's dead.
Kid's legs feel weak as he slumps into a squat in front of the red soul, it's light illuminates the eerie forest. Kid's head bows forward and he rests his elbows on his thighs, exhaustion pouring from every inch of his body. A headache built up behind his eyes, like a tumor trying to break free from his skull.
Ever since the Kishin had been freed the whole world had gone to hell. Madness slipped past the defenses of the easily swayed and soon chaos began to reign as Kishin Eggs became more frequent, spreading the madness like a disease. Yet Asura, the source of all the madness, had yet to be found. It made no sense. Kishin Egg and even Witch sightings had escalated to the point that the DWMA's mission board was practically overflowing. Unfortunately, while the Academy was well equipped to fight, there was only so many of them, and they were made thinner by the rule that Death had put in place because of the Kishin's release. No matter what mission, at least two Weapon/Meister pairs had to go together. It was made for the safety of the students, as more and more powerful foes rose up.
Of course the only Meister exempt from such a rule was Lord Death's very own son. After an incident where one mission was completely forgotten about, leading to the annihilation of an entire village, Lord Death had no choice but to ask Kid to take on as many missions by himself as possible to stop the incident from repeating. While Kid was happy to do whatever his father asked of him, Liz and Patty had been incredibly vocal about their hate for the 'all work no play' situation. They'd complain it was unfair, but to Kid he was the only one who could handle these types of missions- constant fighting, no sleep and barely any food? That was fine for any Reaper, its not like his body needed too much food or sleep anyway, and considering how he was more durable than most he could afford the lack of teammates.
Maybe he could-
Kid paused as he realised the sun had risen, how long had he been thinking?
Sure the fight had started early at night, and had lasted an hour or so- maybe longer, but where did the rest of the time go? Surely he hadn't been sitting there for over seven hours?
Kid stood stiffly, his back was aching from the poor position and that headache had yet to recede. No matter, once he returned to the inn he could take a quick nap, after all it was only around 5am, he had at least four hours to sleep.
The forest was more serene then when he had originally arrived- perhaps the madness of that Kishin Egg had somehow influenced the atmosphere? Nevertheless cicada's sung and ants danced around his feet- careful not to touch him of course, he was a Reaper after all, most animals had an instilled instinct of fear for him.
Kid begrudgingly noticed a slight cut on his right shoulder- from a particularly erratic attack he hadn't been expecting. His eye twitched again, why had the Kishin Egg only cut his right shoulder and not his left?! If it was possible Kid would resurrect the awful creature just to even out his shoulders- although that would run the risk of the left shoulder having a larger cut than the right and of course that would be a true abomination- and what if the cut was slightly longer or shorter?!
Slowly- much too slowly- Kid numbly realised he had picked up a sharp rock and was inches away from tearing into the pale skin on his left shoulder. With his senses back in control, Kid hastily dropped the offending object, breathing a sigh of relief as the rock landed amongst some dead leaves.
Damn, maybe he should've tried to get some sort of sleep after all, it was clearly affecting the him more than he originally thought.
Soon enough the inn came into sight and Kid silently made his way up to the room his weapons were staying in. He wasn't all surprised when he found that the girls were still out like a light. He smiled fondly at their peaceful expressions, before turning towards the bathroom- it would probably be a better idea to get cleaned up instead of just passing out on the floor.
The shower did wonders as the stress from the past week washed down the drain- mixed only slightly with blood and dirt of course. Kid exited the shower rather quickly, purely to save the hot water for Liz and Patty, he wouldn't hear the end of it if he accidently used it all up.
Upon stepping back into the main room, Kid realised that both beds had been taken. Oh well, Kid didn't mind sleeping on the floor, as long as he got some sleep right? The young Reaper lowered himself down the far wall, content to sit upright as he closed his eyes and willed sleep to take him.
Only, it had been awhile since he'd last slept, how did he do it again? All he had to do was close his eyes right? Why was this suddenly so much harder than he remembers?! Does he breath through his nose or mouth?! Why was one shoulder blade digging uncomfortably into the wallpaper instead of both!? If he could just-!
A sleepy giggle interrupts his thoughts and Kid tenses- did he accidently wake Patty? Except the next time he hears Patty's voice, she's tiredly going on about flying giraffes. He sighs in relief, just Patty sleep talking.
Now that Kid's dwindling patience for sleep had diminished entirely, he decided to spend the next three and a half hours going around the inn to make sure everything was symmetrical and clean, after all that painting hanging crookedly just above Liz's head had been eyeing him ever since he stepped foot into the room.
Symmetry was calming, it was familiar, the act of ensuring an object was symmetrical to a 'T' was fun for Kid- if not slightly stressful, like what if he got it just off and didn't notice? Such thoughts plagued his mind.
By the time the girls had woken up, fully rested and more happy than ever, Kid had just finished arranging the soap, shampoo, conditioner and moisturising bottles in a perfectly symmetrical order- truly magnificent.
"Good morning Kid! You look awful!" Patty giggled, her cheerful insult broke the morning silence he had been relishing in.
"Good morning to you too, Patty." He responded dryly, which only seemed to make her giggles worse.
"Did you get any sleep last night? No offence but you look like a zombie." Liz paused, "You know we have to get rid of a Kishin Egg today right? Are you even ok to do-"
"Oh I already killed it," He waved his hand flippantly, "speaking of," Kid pulled the glowing red soul out and held it out to Liz, "you're uneven, Patty had that last soul so she has one more than you."
Liz took the soul hesitantly, before his earlier words caught up "Wait, wha- how?"
"I'm a Reaper, if I couldn't handle one measly Kishin Egg by myself I would be a disgrace."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense, but why didn't you just wake us up? Or wait until morning?"
The Reaper bowed his head in embarrassment, "Well, I promised you could get some sleep before we went after it and I sensed it last night with a human soul, I couldn't just let it get away with that." his embarrassment turned into a frown. "But it seems I was too late anyway."
Kid remembered the essence of that blue soul, it was much too small to be an adult, that paired with the pure radiating innocence it gave off only confirmed it had been a child- a young boy more specifically from the hue. He turned to look out the- horribly asymmetrical- window, he wondered who had lost their child last night, or perhaps the child had been living on the streets? That would explain how he had been killed without anyone making a fuss. Kid's frown deepened, if only he could have let the child pass on before that Kishin Egg got to it first.
Liz placed a stabilizing hand on his shoulder, "Hey, you tried to save that soul right? There was nothing more you could've done, Kid."
Kid didn't answer, instead he turned to the door, "Did you two want breakfast before we return home? I think I saw a nice restaurant on the way."
Liz frowned, about to say something- until Patty rushed past, "Breakfast?! Like real food not the weird canned stuff you brought!? Hell yeah! Oooo I want pancakes!" She slammed the door open and was gone within seconds, Kid smiled softly following after the younger sister at a much more reasonable pace. Liz bit her tongue as she glanced at the suddenly very symmetrical and clean room, she doubted it looked like that when they arrived, a sigh left her lips and she strode out of the room after her sister and Meister.