Chapter 6: To Return

School had felt very quiet for a while now. It seemed as though Kid's disappearance sucked the life out of all of them, to an extent. Nobody before had realised how much the young reaper had become an important part of their lives, a significant cog in the clock that was their group of friends. The weeks he was gone left a hole which could not be filled, and it caused everything to grind to a halt in the intricate contraption which was their friendship group.

Black*Star rarely showed his face in class anymore. From what the others had heard from Tsubaki, the Star had thrown himself into serious training. He spent every day drilling his body until he broke by nightfall. "So I can beat the Kishin myself and prove to Kid I've surpassed him," he had told his weapon partner arrogantly. But she had and confided in Maka and Soul that she was worried about her meister, pushing himself so hard every day. The shadow weapon just knew that there was far more to his behaviour than just trying to inflate his enormous ego. Especially when, three weeks after Kid first went missing, Black*Star was caught trying to sneak out of Death City alone by Miss Azusa.

The death scythe scolded the blue-haired meister. He knew the rules of the DWMA after all; one-star meisters were not allowed to leave the city unless they were going on a mission, and all missions had to be accompanied by a weapon partner. His response had been that he wasn't going on an official mission.

"I'm going to bring Kid back," his voice was so much colder than usual, it had left the older woman stunned. "Sitting around here just waiting isn't going to do it. I don't care what Lord Death has said; if he won't give me permission to go, I'll do it myself anyway."

When Lord Death found out, he gave Black*Star the longest detention of his life, and instructed Tsubaki to always keep an eye on him in case he tried to run off again.

In many ways, it wasn't really fair on the weapon either, to give her the responsibility of another person as well as trying to keep herself in check. She was going through her own inner-turmoil at the loss of their friend. There was only so much smiling she could do to try and mask her fears. Day by day, her smile had been wearing down, the spark dimming from her indigo eyes. Tsubaki became even more quite; more reserved. She would hardly react any more to jokes and her meister's antics.

Trying to force a smile hurt after a while. Yet all she tried to do was remain calm, serene, and continue smiling even through the darkest times. She had always been the rock of the group; the girl you could turn to if you needed a shoulder to cry on. The friend who supported you no matter what. A surrogate mother in many ways for the rag-tag bunch of students. So she had to keep smiling, for them. Her friends.

Nobody saw any other emotions from her, aside from an obligatory peace. Any inquiries into her well-being were brushed aside with a polite "I'm fine," and that would be that.

(Maka didn't tell anyone, but she did once see Tsubaki hiding behind a row of lockers in the girl's changing room one lunch time. The girl was sobbing silently, the only signs of her state being an occasional faint hiccup as she chocked on tears, and the shuddering of her shoulders up and down).

The Thompson sisters weren't getting along much better. They had both been discharged from the infirmary not long after their return to the DWMA. Since then, Liz had her arm in a sling and Patty had a few stitches on her head. Both sisters would bruised and beaten, yet their injuries hurt much less than the ache inside of them. It wouldn't go away. Without their meister, neither really knew what to do with themselves. The two were rarely out of the Death Room now, spending most of their days in the company of their surrogate father. Nobody really knew what they talked about, and the sisters never said either. But they saw less and less of their friends, and when they did leave the presence of Lord Death, there was a noticeable change in both.

Liz began smoking again. There always seemed to be a lit cigarette hanging out of her mouth, or held in her trembling hand. Rather ironically, it had been Professor Stein who kept badgering her about not getting into such a filthy habit once more. She ignored him, of course, and seemed to find an odd comfort in the toxic fumes. It was almost as though she was trying to numb herself; her feelings and senses; with tobacco.

Patty on the other hand retreated into her childish world, as though trying to escape the harsh realities of life by trying to revert back to her former immature behaviour. Yet no matter how much she skipped down the corridors, no matter how many songs she sang, her footsteps were always that much heavier whilst her voice remained hollow. It was just… odd, to see the childish girl trying so hard to force such a jovial outward appearance, yet failing so obviously as well.

In comparison to her friends, Maka Albarn had remained relatively calm throughout as the weeks slowly dragged by. She, along with her friend and the new student at the DWMA Crona Gorgon, spent most of her time in the school library reading as many books on souls, Lord Death, and the Kishin Asura as they could get their hands on. The two students (plus Ragnarok, who really wasn't any help in the slightest as all he did was complain about being stuck with two nerds) would spend hours in the large, dusty room, slowly but surely making their way through piles and piles of books. When Soul had found his meister cooped up in there, his queries into what she was doing was met with a blunt and firm answer.

"I think there was a specific reason as to why Asura took Kid," Maka had stared matter-of-factly, her eyes never once leaving the page of the book she was engrossed in to directly address her weapon. "You remember how I saw something odd about Asura's soul the night he escaped; how it reminded me of Kid's? I don't know what it is… but I think there's a connection of sorts between them. It made me realise that there must have been a reason for the Kishin to take Kid, aside from him just trying to get at Lord Death."

Soul had raised an eyebrow at that, sitting down beside the pig-tailed girl and peering at the book she was reading. "What do you mean?" Though his tone had sounded bored, he was genuinely interested. He was then given a rather long explanation from his meister, which, when he thought about it, made some sense:

"We all know that Asura was too much of a coward to face Death directly, so why would he take such a risk to abduct his son? From what Liz and Patty told us as well, it seems as though they were deliberately lured into a trap. That's a lot of planning for a random attack, especially from a being which would rather hide than face his enemies directly. From that, we can deduct that Asura planned in advance to somehow get to Kid."

As for why that was, Maka and Crona had yet to find a reason. Their research and investigating did not get them far either; every page they read only seemed to tell them the same things over and over again. Even when Soul agreed to help and when Ragnarok finally decided to pull his weight in exchange for sweets, they had no luck in really answering any of the questions raised. None of them could find a definite clue as to their being some sort of link between the Kishin and Grim Reaper aside from the fact they had both been members of the Eight Warlords many centuries ago. Yet, that didn't explain either what Maka had seen – the resemblance between Kid and Asura's souls.

They were hitting walls and getting nowhere. It was frustrating, to say the very least.

The days dragged by slowly, everyone struggling throughout to remain as calm as possible. It all came to a head about five weeks after Kid's disappearance, however. The group of students were wandering the hallways of the DWMA between classes, a heavy cloud hanging over every single one. Well, everyone except Patty it seemed, who was skipping ahead of the group and singing a nonsensical song to herself about rainbow giraffes and ice-cream. It… frustrated the others, in all honesty. Nobody was really sure how she was able to act so preppy all the time. But still, nobody questioned it. They knew deep down, it was her own way of coping with difficulties. They were not going to begrudge the younger blonde a little bit of happiness where she could find it.

That was the thought mentality shared until Liz suddenly snapped.

"For Death's sake, Patty! Just shut up!" the elder suddenly screamed furiously, clearly unable to deal with her sister's behaviour any longer. She had probably had to put up with it more than their other friends as they lived together. It appeared there was only so much "Patty" even Liz could take in stressful situations. Her sudden outburst, however, caused every member of the group to stop dead in their tracks, stunned into silence. Even Patty herself had hastily stopped and was now staring up at her sister with wide, slightly hurt eyes. "How the fuck can you act so damn happy all the time when our meister is missing?! Don't you give a damn about him at all?!"

For a moment, Patricia's eyes darkened, glazed over by an unknown emotion. The next instant her expression had hardened and her hands were clenched in tight fists at her side as she glared back at Elizabeth. When she spoke, her words were heavy, laced with a dim hiss of anger.

"Well someone here has to try and keep their head up! Sulking and moping isn't going to bring back Kid."

"Neither is singing!"

At that point, the two sisters looked completely furious with each other – something the other students had never witnessed before. What was worse was the fact a small crowd had taken notice of the tension unfolding before them; other students of the DWMA stopped and stared, whilst others who walked by kept glancing back over their shoulders to see what was happening. Tsubaki, ever the peace-maker, stepped forward with a soft statement of "Don't fight…", but she was interrupted and ignored when Patty took another step closer to Liz.

"At least I'm trying to stay positive!" the younger snapped in her sister's face, her usually cheery expression having turned sinister. It reminded Liz of a much more fierce an angry Patty; a Patty from the streets of Brooklyn. Liz hadn't seen her get like that in what felt like a lifetime. "I'm not the one who can't seem to deal with anything anymore. You're acting pathetic, Elizabeth."

Liz reeled backwards, as though the words physically shook her and forced her body to recoil from the shock. Her full name had been hissed, spat out as though it was a toxic insult of the worst kind. It took a moment for her to recover, but when she did a similar fury began bubbling in her belly. Mentally, she was seething at her younger sister for taking such a tone with her. And she voiced that frustration clearly, not holding back.

"How dare you!" The tone was shrill as she jabbed a finger at the younger girl, ignoring the ever-growing crowd watching them and the uncomfortable expressions worn by their group of friends. "You know that I'm only acting like this because I'm worried about Kid! I miss him–!"

"You're not the only one who misses Kid," Maka interjected. Her eyes had sharpened, face set into a small frown. "We all do. He's our friend too. We understand if you're feeling upset, Liz, but don't take it out on others. Especially not your sister." Her statement caused Liz to whip round in a flash; those angry blue eyes now solely focused on the female meister.

"And you can shut your mouth too!" The screech which came from the older American caused Maka to flinch instinctively, taking a step back. "You were being such a bitch to Kid before he disappeared, and now you expect me to feel sorry for you as well?!"

Soul stepped forward at that point, standing between the two girls to physically separate them and to prevent his partner from getting strangled by an overly-emotional weapon. He was on the defensive, sending Liz a sharp glare and bearing his shark-like teeth when he spat at her: "Don't you dare talk to my meister that way!"

The aggressive weapon simply responded to that by shoving the scythe out of the way with ease, then taking a few more steps forward to effectively back the pig-tailed girl into the wall behind her.

"If you care so much, why don't you use your oh so special soul perception and find him for us?!"

"I can't just–!"

Maka's indignant retort was quickly cut off by the sound of something slamming into the wall beside them, followed by the cracking and crumbling of the plaster. Everyone went quiet, blinking in surprise when they saw Black*Star removing his fist from the large crater-like dent he had just created, an ominous aura surrounding him. His expression was dark, hiding a grim and bubbling anger.

"Quit it! You idiots are all giving me a headache!" the blunette yelled at the group, causing poor Crona (who had been hiding behind Tsubaki to avoid the wrath of the angry Liz) to release a small squeak and flinch at the raised tone used by the other meister. "Rather than going on and on about how worried you all are about him, why don't you just all leave and try to find Kid?! I'm the only one who seems to be trying to do anything!"

"Yeah, and look how far that got you." Soul snorted. His scarlet eyes rolled up to view the ceiling, clearly showing his annoyance at the entire situation which was unfolding before him. Confrontation, in his mind, was useless. It wouldn't get them anywhere; only drive a further wedge between their friendships. That was a really un-cool thought.

Unfortunately, nobody else seemed to be able to see the absurdity of their predicament. Black*Star seemed up for a fight, in fact, as he gritted his teeth and shot a glare at the scythe.

"Says the one doing nothing but reading books all day."

"They're all arguing. I don't know how to deal with people arguing…" Crona groaned, further retreating behind Tsubaki, who was trying her best to calm down the nervous child and keep an eye on the others to make sure nobody tried to kill each other for no reason.

Without warning, everything seemed to explode. Liz, having been momentarily distracted by Black*Star, turned her attention back to and began yelling at both Maka and Patty, criticising them for their apparent lack of caring. The two girls in question yelled back, standing up for themselves, however it only caused a cacophonous din to begin swelling and filling the hallway. Black*Star and Soul also began throwing insults at each other, their small spat being caused by the scythe telling his best friend that he was acting "like a jerk, which wasn't cool at all." Of course, the narcissist began going on about how he was better than cool, and that a stupid albino weapon was never truly worthy to be his friend.

It was getting ridiculous. The other students of the DWMA could only watch in shock and enthralled interest; after all, it wasn't every day that a soap opera-esque argument played out right in front of them. There was something oddly entertaining about the shouting and panicking going on. Well, that was until a door across the hallway was slammed open, followed by a firm shout which quickly silenced everyone.

"That's enough!"

All eyes instantly snapped in the other direction to take in the sight of a rather annoyed, blonde death-scythe. A single caramel-coloured eye observed the students causing the ruckus, then the irritated expression dropped slightly with a sigh. Miss Marie Mjölnir, a new teacher at the DWMA, shook her head before beckoning the rowdy group into her office.

"All of you, get inside now before you disrupt anyone else," she spoke with a firm voice, yet there was an edge of sympathy to it. A warmth, despite the authority she portrayed. The woman stepped to one side, allowing the group of seven students (eight, if Ragnarok was counted) to enter her office reluctantly. Once they had all filed inside, the Norwegian woman glanced out to the crowd which had accumulated, and shooed them away swiftly before closing the door and indicating for the children to take a seat.

Her room was small, a little cramped, yet homely. The standard teacher desk for planning lessons was shoved into one corner, and the majority of the room was taken up by a large couch plus a few comfy looking chairs, adorned with bright and colourful cushions, huddled around a wooden coffee table. A small kitchenette at the other side of the room was the home of a silver kettle, along with a collection of various cheery mugs. Right over the work surface was a small window which overlooked Death City, allowing natural light from the blazing sun to stream in a warm the room. It was cosy and inviting, making the students all feel instantly comfortable despite their earlier tensions.

Miss Marie offered them all a warm smile when they sat down, before she bustled over to boil up a fresh kettle of water.

"I understand you're all upset," she began softly, her voice emitting an odd comforting sensation. "But you shouldn't lash out at each other like that. As friends, you all need to support each other during a difficult time like this." Marie's words made the group glance at each other awkwardly, Liz sending an apologetic smile towards a flustered-looking Maka. Nobody said anything to each other, yet already the atmosphere between them seemed to have lifted.

Well, all except for Crona, who was just generally nervous around everyone.

Miss Marie returned to the seats a moment later with two fresh cups of warm tea in her hands. "Drink up," she told them whilst passing the mugs to Liz and Patty, before trotting back to pour some more of the soothing beverage for her guests. There was just something about her and the way she spoke: the woman seemed to radiate an air of calm about her which washed over the children and instantly dulled their earlier anger. This lady felt healthy, as though her very essence was healing their souls simply by being in their presence.

Had Maka Albarn used her soul perception there and then, she probably would have seen the fact that Marie Mjölnir was using her healing wavelength on the students, letting it soak into all of them to calm their angst.

The woman hummed to herself as she went about pouring another few mugs, satisfied at the comfortable silence which had fallen over her students. The peace was content; pleasant. Nobody really needed to speak after all. They'd probably all lost their voices from shouting so much beforehand anyway.

"Now then, are you feeling any better?" She sat down opposite the children as she posed the question, setting down a tray of the remaining mugs of tea. Maka, Tsubaki and Crona all reached out to take one, whilst Ragnarok made a snitty complaint about wanting cake rather than tea. Soul glanced at his friends, then gave a small nod to the teacher as he also picked up a mug for himself and sipped it gingerly. The warm brew was pleasant and refreshing, much less over-powering than the bitter coffee he was used to having every morning.

"We're sorry if we overreacted," he began sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck as he spoke. "It wasn't very cool of us. I guess we're all just a bit…"

"…tired… frustrated," Maka sighed, finishing off her partner's sentence for him. The Thompson sisters nodded in unison, agreeing with that comment.

"Worried."

"And sad!" Patty chipped in quickly after her sister.

Marie gave them all a compassionate glance. Her healing wavelength could only fix so much damage; some scars would continue to remain until they healed in their own time. Until things got better. But, she would make an effort to bring a smile to their faces.

After taking a few gulps of her own drink, Marie put down her mug firmly and gave the children a confident smile. "Don't worry," she began reassuringly, making their ears prick up. "Kid is a very talented and strong boy. He'll be fine, I'm sure of it. Lord Death's own flesh and blood can surely stand up to Asura!"

Nobody really knew how to respond to her then. Every single one knew she was trying to be positive and make them feel better, that she was trying to encourage confidence in them. But, they all felt like it was a lie. If Lord Death himself had been so anxious about the situation, why should they feel differently? So, they remained quiet. Maka stared into her tea cup intently, as though trying to search for something inside the brown liquid. The blue-haired ninja was silently brooding as he drank his tea. His weapon fiddled with the hem of her skirt nervously, eyes rooted on the floor. The other three weapons were gazing out at the sky through the window, whilst Crona trembled in his seat, muttering about not knowing what to think or how to deal with something.

A sigh escaped Marie, her smile dropping when she was met with a wall of uncommunicativeness. She could only imagine the feelings they shared at that moment, as she herself had never lost someone like they had. It would continue to eat at them until Kid was back safely at the DWMA, that much she knew.

Eventually, once she had finished her drink, the teacher stood up and made her way back over to her kitchenette, giving her students space and time to think. The golden-haired woman hummed to herself once more as she began to wash up her used mug, thoughts roiling in her mind about what she could possibly do to make the situation better. As she was lost in her thoughts, her one good caramel-coloured eye lazily glanced out of the window before her, taking in the view outside.

The sudden sound of china shattering against a hard surface caused the students to jump out of their skin in surprise as Miss Marie released a strangled gasp. Her hands were trembling as she stared out of the window, her eye widened to an impossible size. Panic surged through the students, and Maka quickly leapt to her feet to look out and see what the older woman had seen. When she let out a similar gasp of shock, everyone sprang into action, rushing over and crowding behind the two females to try and see what was going on outside.

A small figure was walking up the huge staircase towards the DWMA, staggering slightly as he ascended. He looked exhausted, his clothes in tatters and his hair dishevelled. Upon reaching the top and final step, the figure paused as though trying to catch his breath, before collapsing into a heap on the paved surface outside.

Liz Thompson released a strange scream at the sight as she ran out of Miss Marie's office, faster than the speed of light. Patty followed straight after, letting out an over-zealous cheer. Everyone else was stunned into silence as though they had yet to fully process what they had all just witnessed. It couldn't be possible… it seemed too good, too convenient to be real. But there was no denying the sight of that midnight-black hair, streaked with three brilliant white stripes across the left side. Somehow, a miracle had occurred.

Death the Kid had returned.

He simply couldn't believe his luck. It was like a dream, playing out right in front of him. No, it should not have been possible. By all sense of logic and reason, Kid should have been dead. There was just no way Lord Death could fathom such a young and under-developed reaper being able to escape a powerful Kishin like Asura unscathed. Yet here he was, sleeping soundly in the DWMA infirmary. His precious son had come back to him, alive, and in one piece.

The Grim Reaper sat beside his youngest child's bedside, watching him in his peaceful slumber. His chest rose and fell in a steady, calm rhythm, his breaths light and airy. Death could see dark circles under the boy's closed eyes, plus a few small scratches and bruises tarnishing his ivory skin. Aside from that, the child was unharmed, and even those injuries would fade quickly once Kid's body had regained its strength.

To say he was relieved would have been an insanely huge understatement. There were no words which could describe what Lord Death was feeling right at that moment. (His thoughts were confirmed though – Death the Kid really had made Death himself become more human over the years.)

With slight trepidation, Death reached out one large hand to lightly touch his son's head, as though he could only fully believe Kid was actually there by physically feeling his presence. However, the moment his hand touched the pale skin, the child stirred in his sleep. Lord Death quickly pulled away, fumbling awkwardly as eyelids fluttered open to reveal a pair of glazed and lifeless eyes. The God felt his soul freeze momentarily.

"Kid…" he breathed.

Said boy sat up slowly, blinking his eyes as though trying to adjust to his surroundings. He said not a word, simply tilting his head to one side to observe his father with a blank and emotionless expression. In that moment, Lord Death suddenly felt very uncomfortable about the way his son was looking at him.

"Are you alright?" the God gently pressed on, yet still he received no reply. Behind his mask, Lord Death frowned. Pulling his chair closer to his son, so tempted just to reach forward and pull him into an embrace, he continued with a soft tone. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"No."

The way that single word was spoken, so blunt at cold, it felt like Death's soul had just been stabbed by ice. Lord Death blinked in surprise, his bewilderment thankfully hidden behind the ivory cartoonish face, but the awkward tension which followed was thick and severe. Death could already see that Kid had built up a wall around himself, around his soul, as though he was trying to keep people out.

In some ways, it was unsurprising. Death could only try to imagine about what his son had been through the last few weeks.

Clearing his throat when he still received no communication from Kid, Lord Death allowed himself to slip into his goofy voice one more. "I'm sure you probably want to see your friends, right Kiddo? They've been worried about you!"

No sooner had Lord Death made that statement, the door to the infirmary was thrown open and a herd of over-zealous weapons and meisters came tumbling in, stampeding over to the flabbergasted reaper sitting up in bed. A blur of colour rushed over to the monochrome boy, and suddenly both Liz and Patty were clinging onto their meister with a bone-crushing hug. Of course, one girl was on either side of him, in order to maintain symmetry and what not.

"Kid! Oh my Death, Kid! We were so worried about you!" Liz babbled loudly whilst tears of elation streamed down her face, her grip on her brother-figure tightening with each word. Patty didn't say anything, just laughed hysterically with pure joy as she nuzzled deeper into her suffocating embrace. Poor Kid didn't really have a chance to react properly; instead the adolescent was wheezing and trying to squirm out of their preposterously tight grips.

"Let go. I can't breathe," the boy managed to choke out, which instantly caused his two weapons to loosen their hold. They didn't let go entirely, however, choosing to remain right by his side as though they feared he would vanish again if they let their grip slip. Kid hardly seemed to notice them, instead focusing on taking gulps of air. Once he had recovered from their affectionate ambush, he frowned and gave Liz a prominent stare. "You stink of cigarettes."

"That's the first thing you notice-?!"

"YOU IDIOT!"

Kid looked up at the cry, just in time for Black*Star's fist to make contact with his face. The boy reeled, falling backwards back onto his mattress whilst the ninja proceeded to attempt to land another punch at his rival. Luckily for Death's son, Tsubaki and Soul were managing to hold the star off.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, GETTING KIDNAPPED BY THE KISHIN?! I'M THE ONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO SURPASS YOU, NOT SOME CRAZY DEMON GOD!"

"What he means is that we missed you, Kid." Tsubaki laughed nervously, relaxing slightly when Soul was finally able to yank her partner away from the stunned reaper. Kid sat up once more, briefly brushing his arm and smoothing out the crumples in his shirt before turning to face the shadow weapon and offering her a smile. Everyone was used to Death the Kid acting poise, calm, collected, yet they weren't expecting his answer to the Japanese girl to be so… empty.

"Likewise."

It was all he said.

Likewise.

It was then Maka suddenly noticed how hollow his voice sounded, how the smile never quite reached his eyes which had lost their usual brilliant shine. Something wasn't quite right.

Remaining quiet and hoping nobody was watching as her face shifted into a frown of concentration, the girl tried to take a sneak-peek at Kid's soul…

Kid's head snapped in her direction, as though he sensed her perception. His face was neutral, his normal cool and refined expression in tact. Yet his eyes… they blazed with something Maka couldn't quite place, as though warning her not to dare attempt to try and see his soul.

There was a barrier up around it. He was hiding something from then.

She gave him an awkward smile and scratched the back of her head, trying to reflect the situation. Kid returned the smile, but his eyes remained just as unnerving.

Soul cleared his throat awkwardly, noticing how the others in the room was glancing at each other, trying to gauge what they all thought about Kid's odd behaviour. Ever the cool guy, however, the scythe remained just as composed as Death the Kid and offered his friend a smile (even if it did look a tad frightening thanks to his sharp teeth).

"We're really glad to have you back, man. It's great to see you again."

"Soul's right!" Maka chipped in with a light and peppy sing-song tone to her voice, taking a step closer to her friend. Standing right beside Lord Death, she briefly glanced in his direction, silently wishing he wasn't wearing a mask so she could see what his reaction to all this was. Unsurprisingly she learnt nothing. Yet the smile remained on her face when she continued speaking. "It wasn't quite the same without you around, Kid."

Patty nodded in agreement with enthusiasm, her voice raised an octave when she all but yelled in his ear "Don't ever leave us again!"

Kid didn't respond.

Clearing her throat and deciding to stand up and support her friend, Maka straightened her back and allowed her smile to grow even wider, masking any other feelings she might have had. Though the situation was odd, one thing was for sure. They all were honestly happy their friend was home.

"Kid, we understand if you don't want to talk right now or just need space or… something. Whatever you went through must have been… I don't even know how to describe that." Both Tsubaki and Lord Death nodded in agreement with that statement, whilst Liz and Patty began cuddling their meister once more as though they were trying to elicit a reaction from him. "But we all promise, we'll stand by you no matter what! We're your friends after all."

Even Black*Star raised a thumb's up then. Nobody needed to elaborate further; Maka had summed up everything they had wanted to say in the most simplest of ways. In the next moment, the students were all suddenly piling on top of the black-haired boy, crowding around to hug him despite feeling how he stiffened under their embraces.

No matter what, no matter how many demons they would have to face, they would all support their friend as much as they could. Because that's what friends were for, right? They were the people who dragged you back out of the darkness when you reached your lowest points.

Nobody realised how much their friend wanted them to stay away, however. How much he had lost his trust in them.

How much he wanted them all gone.

Would they be making such promises if they fully understood? Kid doubted it. Humans really were foolish creatures. They put such blind faith in things they didn't understand, yet never really were loyal either. They only acted in such a way to make themselves advance further.

We'll stand by you no matter what!

Heh.

Liars.

"Our souls, together with you till the end!"

AN: Herp derp awkward arguments/drama and rubbish attempts at throwing curveballs and crap fluffy friendships. I failed at all of those. Sorry if this didn't live up to previous standards. My brain died. That derpy argument scene was (imo) important to include, though. Despite his eccentricities I always felt Kid (along with Tsubaki) was the major calming personality/level-headed one of the group. I think the group would fall apart if he wasn't around. Idk, I'm tired.

Good news by the way. Remember those exams I did? Well my results came out – I got the grades I needed, so I'll be going to my first choice university! …Sorry, you guys probably don't really want to hear about my RL. Just felt like sharing the good news. I'm moving house in the next few days, hence why I tried to update quicker this time. (So much happening in RL at the moment). I will try to churn out another chapter once we're all unpacked. Hopefully. Also whoa, 54 reviews, 32 favourites, and 46 follows when we're only 5 chapters in? I love you guys so much. Thanks for being awesome.

- lia

EDIT (18th April 2017): It's been just under two years since I updated this story... the review numbers have more than doubled which I'm still shocked about. I'm genuinely amazed this fic is still getting traction. Thank you so much to everyone for the kind words and comments. It has been uplifting to see people still are reading my rubbish and actually care about it? Seriously, wow. Thank you.

Reading it over, I'm not exactly very happy with all of this fic? There are many reasons for why there has been no update, and I cannot apologise enough. But lets just say, real life wasn't very kind to me the last two years. It's been difficult. And after finally dealing with stuff and somewhat getting past it all... I discovered I've lost my story outline of this fic. In other words, I've forgotten where I was going with this. I never wanted to abandon this story, and at some point I might get around to rewriting and updating it. If I get any inspiration/can actually work out what I wanted to do in the first place. I am really sorry for leaving the story hanging like this.

In the mean time, I might be posting other fics on AO3 (this is the only story on which I will continue, hopefully), so please check me out over there, under the same username. But for now, this story is on indefinite hiatus. So please, stop asking me to update? I'm sorry, but if I will I shall do it when I can, and pressuring me won't make that happen any faster.

TL;DR: Lia is a forgetful idiot who may eventually update. But it will take a while.