A/N: Okay! It's over! I may add some more to this later, or edit it, because I'm kind of posting this in a rush, heh. I hope you guys enjoyed this story - and maybe check back on it in a little while, because I'm considering finishing editing it. Yay. I don't know if this ending is satisfactory, but I like it. :|b

Time passes.

A lot of time passes, but Kid can't really tell; be it months or weeks or perhaps just a few days, it's all the same. It is spent staring out his window, out to the sun, or maybe the clouds, or maybe the rain. He eats and breathes and lives; but everything is empty. He does not talk to his friends – even though they come to see him, even though they come and speak meaningless, empty words. The words they speak, the way they try talking him out of his hazy dream-like state is lost on Kid. He can only continue to live emptily like this, no meaning at all behind what he does. And time passes, just quite the same.

Maka visits, every day, it seems. But after a while, she stops coming. She stops phoning. She stops having anything to do with Kid, she stops the heartache she feels whenever she looks into Kid's blank, empty eyes. Kid realizes that she is no longer at his side a couple days after she stops, and tries his best to recall her last visit.

She'd come in like usual, slowly, and sat down on the chair beside him. After a few minutes of painful silence (for her), she would talk. To Kid; usually it'd be something encouraging him in some way, turning into a ramble about how she was, about how she'd been the last few days. She'd share silly stories and laugh and break off because Kid wouldn't even talk or acknowledge her – the best he'd done was smile. It broke Maka's heart, that sad, pathetic smile. His lips twitched up and it was so very, very faint, that sparkle behind his eyes. It left just as quickly as it had come, the usual look of sadness returning to his features.

Maka had leaned over, had slowly moved to touch his face. The soft touch did not gain a reaction from Kid; she was simply brushing his hair out of his face, moving it around, fussing. She leaned away and Kid did not notice the way her shoulders shook, he did not notice her tears, her sobs. Another noticeable change in Kid since the incident was that he didn't care for his looks anymore, or symmetry. Maka didn't know why this small thing, the disappearing of his interest in symmetry, made her feel so hopeless. She sits again, heaves a sigh, and the tears keep coming. Barely able to control her voice, she speaks. "Hey, Kid," An intake of breath. "You know, I don't think I can do this anymore. I just can't. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry but I'm -" Her voice cracks and the words come quickly and garbled, her head hung, sobs still wracking her frame. "I'm done with this. You know, I thought if I continued coming to see you, you'd wake up. But hey, Kid," She finally looks up, into his lifeless eyes, seeing that he'd turned to stare at her, and the dull ache in her heart grows and grows and engulfs her and she can barely breath but she still manages to speak one last word of parting. "Never forget that I tried. You need to try, too, so please, can you do it for me? Can you try to wake up? Hey, Kid," A warmth surrounds Kid's hand, but he does not notice it. His hand is so cold in hers. "Please. Please... please..."

"Please."

Maka had left after that, and Kid only blinked as she ran from the room, returning his gaze to the window.

When Soul visits him, it is just the same as when Maka, Liz, Patty or Black Star come. Although Soul is someone he should flinch or at least somehow react to upon seeing, he does not. His gaze returns to the window after glancing at Soul, and Soul sits down on the chair beside his bed. He glances around nervously, eyes the boring, bleak hospital room, eyes the bright white bedsheets. And then, his gaze finds the window, and the drops of rain slowly drip drip dripping onto it. Kid's gaze remains there, stiff and unblinking, and Soul wonders if he wishes to be outside again, to have freedom again – he actually opens his mouth to say something on the matter- but he remembers what Maka had said; and closes his mouth. Everything everyone said was lost on Kid; it was as if he wasn't even alive anymore.

Soul knows this, but he still prepares to say what he'd come here to say. He thinks over the words, takes a deep breath, knowing that no one is waiting for him to start. At first, his voice is dry, cracking, but it clears.

"I know that what's happened to you is something you can't just get over. And I know that it's all my fault. I'll never be able to forgive myself, and you won't either." A pause. Kid's eyes don't stray from the window. "I also know this is probably just a fucking waste of breath and I should give up and leave right now, but to hell with that. I know you're still in there, Kid. I know that and I'm not going to give up on you like Maka or Black Star or..." A deep, shuddering breath. The rain is pouring now, relentlessly pounding against the window. "Listen to me, okay? I'm not going to repeat myself."

"I'm sorry for what I did."

"I'm sorry for everything – for everything you've gone through. I can take the blame – I deserve it, anyways. I mean this, because blabbing on like this is moronic and uncool and I'm only continuing because I'm honest." Soul burrows his brows and sighs, shakes his head. This isn't right. Nothing is coming out right. The pit pat of the rain on the window is almost louder than his voice, but despite that, he keeps it level. "When you come back, Kid, I'll be waiting.

Again, I'm sorry."

Kid's gaze never leaves the window, but he faintly hears the creak of the chair as Soul stands, faintly hears his soft footfalls and the smooth sound of the door opening and closing. It is only minutes after Soul leaves when Kid turns to look at the door.

"I'm sorry too, Soul."

His healing heart has broken for the last time.

Dying is so easy.

Kid doesn't eat for a couple days, but the nurses force him to. An IV is eventually stuck in his arm and they try to bring him to a proper room, but he will not move; he absolutely refuses to move. Days wear on, long and painful, but Kid barely notices.

It takes time, but he manages to escape. Everything is quiet in the hospice, and he slips through the doors to the outside without making a sound. It is raining again, and it is raining hard, at that; it's just like the time before, the day Stein died. He realizes this in the back of his mind, but doesn't bother thinking too much on it. The gates leading to the fields is unlocked; he's lucky for this, but doesn't realize it. No one is looking out their window as he wanders out; this is luck, but he does not realize it. The rain falls, heavier and heavier until he is eventually soaked, but he doesn't notice it, nor does he care. His body shakes and shivers but he still lays down on the drenched ground, the cold ground, and looks up into the sky. Quiet settles, though the rain still falls, and the memories return.

It was Death and Spirit at the door, not Stein. They had rushed in and questioned them; they had rushed in and secured Kid's safety. Things were going to be okay, things were alright, there was no need to be scared anymore. No longer did Kid have to worry about Stein or Soul or anyone, no more, no more pain...

Or so they thought.

It was sudden, the attack. Of course, Stein had been heading for them, of course... Of course he would find them and attack as viciously as possible. They should have expected it, should have left the house immediately, but they did not. They were foolish. They, again, had been fooled by Stein.

Kid didn't know how long the fight went on, didn't know how bad it was. Stein had been beaten down, once, twice, three times before he stayed down, coming back up and attacking more brutally than before. His power was astonishing, Kid knew that at least, and his father and Spirit barely managed to kill him. Yes, kill him – that was the only way he could be stopped. They wouldn't be able to secure him safely, and even if they could, Kid would live in fear. Death had made the decision quickly, and took the chance as soon as he got it.

Maybe Kid was in shock after watching Stein being crushed, quite literally too, bones broken, skull cracked. Blood had flew everywhere, on him, on Maka. It hurt watching this – it hurt for everyone. A friend, a teacher, a comrade, all lost.

They didn't really realize they'd lost this friend a long time ago.

There is a smile on his face when they find him. He is lying down, staring up into the sky, simply smiling, simply at peace. His skin is a shocking white, his cheeks are sunken and hollow, but he is smiling. His hands are resting on his chest, and he doesn't stop smiling, despite their calls to him.

He closes his eyes for the last time, and cries, for the last time.