Chapter Text
Patty had once insisted Kid watch the anime “Death Note” with her. It had been awful. Not the show, he’d found the concept interesting and the suspense was good, but the youngest Thompson sister’s constant badgering hadn’t contributed to an ideal watching environment. “Do you like apples like Ryuk does?” “How come he has wings and you don’t?” “Do you have a notebook like that?”
There are only so many times a boy can say, “Patty, it's fictional,” before snapping and rushing off to reorganize something.
One detail Kid did remember from the show was that shinigami could see how much time a human had left to live. Even then he’d been surprised that the highly inaccurate story had something so close to the truth. Reapers couldn’t see humans’ lifespans, but they could see reapers’, in a sense. When a reaper was about to die, what would kill them would appear in the language of death above their head. It gave the dying reaper a chance to prepare and be ready to go when his time came.
Kid was, by no means, ready to die. Then again, Kid wasn’t the average reaper. Most of his kind were born full grown, with no fear of dying. Kid was… well, a kid, and downright terrified.
“Forty-two hours…” he muttered to himself. The number 42 was very significant for reapers, so it was no surprise that a warning message about death would come 42 hours in advance. It didn’t matter really. There was no amount of time he would have been comfortable with. The problem was he wasn’t sure when the message first appeared. Was it when I had that jolt of fear in class? he mused. Or was it there before, I was feeling off all day… So less than 42 hours, possibly by a lot. Possibly less than 24.
Great warning.
Kid hadn’t seen his dad since it started, so at least he hadn’t picked up on anything, but he doubted that he could avoid him forever, especially since he had school today. Although, forever was now less than 42 hours.
“Kid?” Liz called. “Are you feeling okay today?”
No. “Yeah, I’m alright!”
“Well, then can we not be late to class for once?”
“Yeah, one second!” Kid heaved himself off the bed. I die saving someone else… should I even try and change it? What if my dad finds out? What if he already knows? Will he try and stop it? Will I try and stop it? Who will die if I don’t? Who am I supposed to save? Wh-
“Kid. Kid!” Stein once again jolted him out of his thoughts. He had clearly just entered the room so at least the reaper hadn’t missed the lesson entirely.
“Sorry I-’
“Your father wants you to meet him in the Death Room.”
Shit . “Did he, uh, did he say why?”
Stein, like the others in the room, gave Kid a peculiar look at the waveryness of his tone. “I didn’t ask.”
“Right…” Kid stood up, clearly shaking despite his attempts to hide it. Liz met his eyes as he left the room.
“ Do you want us to go with you?” she mouthed.
Kid shook his head and made his way to the Death Room.
As a child, Kid had played in the Death Room. He’d constructed block towers that were the same on both sides, played hide-n-seek behind the mirror (the only hiding place, which his father pretended fooled him), laughed whenever Spirit got reaper-chopped for saying something inappropriate. He’d loved coming to the Death Room and crawling among the legs of Death Scythes during meetings. He’d felt safe here.
He didn’t feel safe anywhere now.
“You, uh, wanted to see me?” He avoided looking up at his father, towering over him as always, casting the deepest shadow a son could be in.
“Is everything okay Kid?” Lord Death tilted his head at his boy, concern evident in his voice. He only seemed worried though, not distraught.
He doesn’t know… “Yeah, I’m fine.” He knew it wasn’t believable the second it came out of his mouth.
“Are you sure?” His dad was giving him another chance to come clean. He wasn’t going to take it.
“Yeah, there was something asymmetrical earlier, hmm… what was it again-”
“Oh okay glad you’re alright,” Lord Death rushed out. “I just… I dunno.” Lord Death shrugged. “Just wanted to check up on you.”
The younger reaper felt a little guilty for manipulating his father like that, but he was sparing him pain, for now at least.
Kid was walking back to class when the explosion hit. The building shook and he was thrown to the side, chunks of the ceiling pinning him to the ground. The force of the impact combined with the dust floating through the air added a haziness to his vision that was accompanied by a ringing in his ears. Kid blinked and tried to refocus. The ringing subsided and he could hear people yelling and fighting. He managed to rub his eyes free of debris and took in his situation.
The reaper was surrounded on all sides by pieces of building, just beyond which some sort of battle was taking place. Using his soul perception, he could make out meisters and their weapons going up against witches. It was an invasion, and he was pinned down.
And he was minutes away from his death.