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Spirit getting stopped by Maka in the academy hallways is rare. Maka asking him for a favor is even rarer, considering normally she still tries to pretend he doesn't exist despite his best efforts and their slowly improving relationship. And while he's happy to do any favor for his little girl, he doesn't exactly understand why she wants him to check on Lord Death. Especially considering she was vague on the reasons he needs to go check on his meister anyways, only stating that the reaper was having… Family issues?
Why would he of all people be qualified to help with whatever is going on there? Considering his issues, he's probably one of the worst choices he can think of to help a god with family issues. Either way, he quickly finds himself in the death room, approaching an oddly still and quiet reaper. The god looks lost in thought, stuck staring at his own reflection in the mirror. Spirit waves at him as he approaches, not wanting to startle Lord Death, causing the reaper to turn his head slightly towards him.
“Hey. Maka told me you were having… Family issues? What happened between you and Kid? Some kinda argument?” Spirit starts as he walks up next to the reaper, a hint of confusion audible in his voice. While he won't pretend he thinks how Lord Death is raising his son is the absolute best way, in his opinion the reaper could be more involved in Kid's day to day life and help him more with his mental health issues, but he can count the number of major arguments the two have had on one hand.
Lord Death looks a bit confused at Spirit's question, nothing happened between him and Kid after all, nothing bad or big anyways. That's when the fact Maka sent her father catches up to him. Maka saw from the mirror call as Asura had a breakdown over him simply reaching for him. She likely guessed he'd be upset over the situation and sent in her father. “Oh, no, me and Kid haven't fought or anything. Asura just had a bit of a breakdown is all.”
“Oh, that…” Spirit starts before the second half of what Lord Death said sinks in. “Wait, Asura? The kishin?!” Spirit questions, now both startled and confused. As far as he's aware, the kishin is dead and Lord Death hadn't ever mentioned it being related to him in any way before now.
“Yes, the kishin Asura. Didn't Maka tell you?” Lord Death questions, tilting his head in an over exaggerated manner as he wonders just how much Maka told Spirit. He didn't tell Maka or Soul to keep Asura a secret, though that would be the course of action he supposes, but even if he did his main death scythe would certainly be one of the first to hear of him.
“What? No! She didn't tell me! She just said you were having family issues, not that the kishin was back! I think that's more important than family issues!” Spirit yells pacing the room and thinking back three years ago to when they were injured and helpless while his baby girl and her friends were fighting the kishin inside it's barrier. All they could do then was just hope they made it out alive, Spirit doesn't want to experience that again.
Spirit's worries however are cut off by Lord Death letting out a slight laugh, finding the weapon’s panic a bit funny since he knows Asura isn't a threat. Well, he likely isn't a threat right now. He could very easily become one later. “No, Asura isn't a threat in his current state. I'm not sure how but it would seem when Maka defeated him… he reformed as a child. No older physically or mentally than about 5. Unfortunately he's just as big of a scaredy-cat as ever though.”
“Oh, huh... Aw, I bet he's such a cute kid! But that anxiety is going to be hard to manage… So, what's the family issue? Did you decide to adopt him or something?” Spirit questions, looking up at Lord Death. He still isn't sure where the family issue part comes in here.
“It's a bit hard to adopt your own kid. Asura is made from my soul, so he is my son just as much as Kid is.” Lord Death responds, not thinking much of that. He largely hasn't mentioned Asura as his son in the past due to shame and preferring to pretend the kishin wasn't just below the school unless necessary. Now though, it's something he has to admit.
Spirit doesn't think much about that statement either, for all of five seconds until he remembers that, first of all, Lord Death skinned Asura alive and sealed him in his own skin bag once, and second, the way he talked to him during their two fights.
Even if Maka did anything remotely like what Asura did, Spirit couldn't even begin to imagine talking to her so… cruelly. Seriously, calling his own son a filthy pig that he'll gladly skin again? That's just… needlessly mean. “Your son? Asura is your son?” Spirit questions, making sure he heard the reaper right as he tries to keep his emotions in check. Maybe Lord Death was a better father to Asura before the whole kishin thing, after all. Maybe skinning him wasn't the first option but the last.
“What are you going deaf? Yes, Asura is my son. I created him as a fully mature reaper when I removed my fears from myself. Similar to how I made Kiddo.” Lord Death reaffirms, not getting why Spirit glares at him after that. Or getting why the death scythe rakes a hand down his face while taking a deep breath.
Asura being made of Lord Death's fear definitely explains some things, both about the reaper and kishin actually. Spirit nods slightly, still trying to think the best. “So, you made a kid-” He starts, before being interrupted.
“He wasn't a kid.”
Spirit pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath before continuing his statement. “You made a kid, from your fear? No wonder he started seeking power, he was probably terrified all the time! He probably thought power was the only way to feel safe! Did you ever talk to him about it? Try to teach him healthy coping mechanisms?” Spirit questions, ignoring for the moment how Lord Death apparently opted to rid himself of his fear completely rather than cope with it healthily himself.
Part of the death scythe wonders how he hasn't gone grey yet dealing with everything he has to put up with.
“No, he never let me! Not once did he ever try to talk to me about anything like that, nor anyone else. Asura never opened up to anyone.” Lord Death sounds slightly bitter as he speaks, throwing up his hands and moving away from Spirit. He never had a close relationship with Asura. Asura was always too paranoid, too much of a loner, it was a pain to even try and talk to him beyond training and sending him on missions. He was disappointing.
“We were friends once.” Asura's voice invades Lord Death's thoughts as he thinks about the past. Friends. He never quite saw his son as his friend, but he never wondered about how Asura saw him. He never cared to wonder. Did Asura ever see him as a father he could turn to with concerns?
“Did you try to get him to open up to you?! You were his father, it wasn't his job to approach you to spend time together! It's not his job to build a relationship with you, it's your job to be an active father! Honestly, I'm surprised Kid has such a good relationship with you when you don't help him with any of his issues!” Spirit shouts, starting to lose his temper as he pictures Asura in a similar position to Maka. His daughter rarely wants anything to do with him, if he wasn't constantly and actively there for her… they would just be strangers that share blood and memories.
Lord Death moves back even further, hands up in surrender as Spirit jabs at his chest. He notices fat blobs of tears gathering in the weapon’s eyes, and he can't say it's unexpected. For all Spirit's vices and failures, the reaper does have to admit he is a good father... “Spirit, I do try to be there for Kid, he's just so often off where I can't follow and he needs to learn to handle himself anyway. With Asura-”
“With Asura what? You skinned him alive! Did you try anything before he got so bad you had to deal with him so violently?! Did you try dealing with him in any other way first?!” Spirit hopes that Lord Death tried reasoning with his son first, but knows he likely didn't. Especially when he thinks back to the two fights between Lord Death and Asura, the kishin never initiated a fight after all. He just fought back.
Lord Death is silent for a moment, thinking back on the past. He never did try much to help Asura. He pushed him to partner with Vajra, hoping the cheery weapon would balance out his paranoid son, yet in the end that only cost Vajra his life. Was there anything he could have done? He has a second chance, maybe he could do more now?
Or maybe he could just eliminate the problem before it even starts again… In his mind, Asura can't change after all, history will only repeat, but the more Lord Death thinks on that thought, the more he thinks about how the child sobbed and panicked when he simply reached for him. Did he really scare his own child that much? Did he scare Asura like that back before he was even a kishin? Was he just too mature to let himself react like that back then? “I… Spirit, I never thought of Asura as my child. I suppose I did mess up, but he was an adult. He-”
“Was an adult with no real life experience!” Spirit exclaims, throwing his arms up in the air before taking a deep breath. This situation is reminding him far too much of Medusa and Crona for his liking, but there is a key difference here at least, Lord Death is trying his best with Kid. Surely he would try his best with Asura too, now that he has both a second chance and experience being an actual father. “Ok… Ok. What are you planning to do about Asura now?”
Lord Death is quiet for a bit longer than Spirit is comfortable with, obviously thinking the question over. On one hand he doesn't see Asura as someone capable of changing, in his mind the child destined to grow back into that paranoid power seeking mess he was before. On the other hand though, he is just a child now, and children are impressionable so he can't help but feel scraps of hope welling up in his chest. “He is my son, so I'll raise him like I did with Kid.”
Spirit lets out a sigh of relief he wasn't aware he was holding, a hand on his chest. “Yeah, ok, good. You know you're going to have to treat him differently though, right? If he's made from fear, and you've stated before he's a coward, you're going to need to be gentle with him. Understanding.”
Lord Death immediately thinks back to earlier today, then back to far in the past, to all of Asura's panicked episodes. The flight, the fighting, the appeasement, and the self inflicted injuries. Kid hasn't exactly been the easiest to raise, with need for order and symmetry, but Asura is bound to be more difficult with his fear. “He already had a panic attack from me just reaching for him. I suspect he remembers more than what he let on about the past when I asked him…" Lord Death sighs, resting a gloved hand against his mask, "This is going to be difficult, I decided to make him a mature reaper for a reason!”
“Yeah, and look how that turned out.” Spirit grumbles under his breath before sighing, resigning himself to a trip to the library to hopefully find some sort of guide for parenting anxious children that he could get the reaper to read later. It may or may not help. “Raising any child is difficult, but you aren't alone. If you need help, I'll be glad to babysit or something. And hey, I'm sure Kid and the Thompson sisters are already being amazing siblings to him too, so that should help him come out of his shell some.”
Spirit raises a hand to rest on Lord Death's shoulder, or approximately where his shoulder would be in that cloak as he speaks. He isn't going to let his god and meister deal with this alone, not when he knows from helping with Crona’s rehabilitation how easy it is to mess up a naturally anxious and likely traumatized child. He isn't going to let history repeat, and Lord Death finds himself grateful for the support of his scythe.