I do not own Soul Eater or How I Go. They belong to Atsushi Okubo and Yellowcard respectively.
Full summary: After listening to Maka vent about her dad, Kid starts to recall his past with his father, and all the expectations he had while growing up.
"I can't believe he would do this! He just doesn't get it!" Maka cried.
"Maka, he's just trying to be a good father. He just doesn't quite know how to go about it the correct way," Kid tried to calm down his fellow meister.
"Then he should just stop trying!" Maka huffed as she walked away with Soul, leaving Kid alone.
He is just trying to be a good dad right? However, Father never did anything like that... Kid thought, trying to think back to his past as a child with his father.
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Flashback
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Kid was sitting on the floor in the family room, staring at the door. When he heard the door knob turn he jumped up excitedly. A large black figure walked in through the door frame, obviously exhausted. "Father!" Kid cried as he ran over and hugged Shinigami.
"Hey Kiddo. How are you?" Shinigami chirped out
"I've been bored. I have no one to play with during the day," Kid complained.
As Shinigami looked around the room, he found that everything was arranged symmetrically around the family room. He sighed. "Now how could you be bored when you've obviously been organizing the whole day?"
Kid looked around. "Do you like it Father? I did it so you would have less to do when you got home from work! Now we can play!"
Behind his mask, Shinigami's face fell. "Kid, its very late, I'm tired and you probably are too."
"I'm not tired," Kid whined. He then let out a large yawn. "Maybe a bit."
Shinigami scooped up his little boy and carried him to his room. After tucking Kid into bed (in the center. Shinigami learned what happens when Kid doesn't get tucked into the center of his bed), he sat down next to the bed. "How about I tell you a bed time story?" he asked.
Kid's face lit up. "Yeah! Tell me a story from work! I want to know what you do!"
Shinigami laughed. "I don't think that's something you want to hear about right before you go to bed. It might give you nightmares," Shinigami tried to reason with the young boy.
"But I'm going to be just like you someday, so I want to know what you have to do at work," Kid argued.
Shinigami placed a hand on Kid's head. "I could tell you the wildest of tales, of my old friends, and fighting to preserve balance. I could tell you of... I could tell you of a man not so tall, who believed everyone was a fool, and he was above everyone, but I'd rather tell you of a circus..." Shinigami continued his story and Kid drifted off into sleep.
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End Flashback
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Kid sat at a table, thinking about the stories Shinigami could have told him that night. He let out a small chuckle thinking of the 'man not so tall, who believed everyone was a fool'. If he told me of Excalibur that night I probably would have had nightmares, Kid thought amused. He thought of what he thought the Death Room looked like when he was younger. Kid imagined it to be like the headquarters in a spy movie with computers everywhere to keep an eye on everyone on a mission, and a mass amount of people watching monitors and keeping tabs on the missions and how they were going. Of course, in Kid's mind, the success folder was overflowing, and the failed folder was barren. However, what Kid found upon entering the Death Room was drastically different.
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Flashback
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Kid ran down the long hallway lined with guillotine like structures for the first time. He couldn't wait to see his father at work. However, he was oddly disappointed in what he found at the end of the hallway.
"Kid! I'm glad you're here! Come here, I want to show you something," Shinigami said motioning with his hand for Kid to walk over to him. Kid simply stood in place, his brow furrowed, looking around. "Whats the matter Kid?" Shinigami asked.
"This is it?" Kid asked. "This is all you use? A mirror?" It was too ridiculous to believe.
Shinigami laughed. "This isn't just a mirror, Kid. Come here, I'll show you what it can do."
Kid walked over and looked into the mirror's reflection. "All I see is me," Kid told his father.
"Just wait..." Then the reflection started to change. Kid saw the inside of his room. Kid's mouth fell open. Then it changed again to two people he had never seen before. They were fighting a monster. An asymmetrical monster. Kid became disgusted. "Abomination," he said softly.
"Do you know what that is Kid?" Kid shook his head. "That is a kishin egg. This meister weapon pair is fighting to preserve balance," Shinigami explained in a way that he knew would hold Kid's interest.
"They're going to win right? Shibusen always wins," Kid said expectantly.
Shinigami placed a hand on Kid's head. "Of course they're going to win," he told his son.
/
Since that day, Kid had spent almost everyday in the Death Room, to watch his dad in action. Unfortunately there wasn't much action. Then one day while Kid was sitting in the same chair he always sat in, a man with red hair ran in. "Shinigami-sama!" he yelled as he ran down the hallway.
"Calm down Spirit, what could possibly be this bad?" Shinigami asked waving his hand.
"Its the team we sent to Germany!" the man named Spirit yelled urgently. As Spirit got to where Shinigami was standing, the mirror changed to a team of a boy only about 16 years old and a weapon getting thrown around by a monster. Then the mirror changed to an office. "Shibusen branch 203! Do you copy?" Shinigami said forcefully.
"Shibusen branch 203 copies you Shinigami-sama! What is the issue?" A muscular man responded.
"I have a meister weapon team in a life or death situation. They need help right away. I believe there is a witch helping their opponent," Shinigami barked into the mirror at the man.
Then he saluted Shinigami. "Yes sir! We're on it!" The mirror went back to a reflection and Shinigami turned away.
"You're not going to make sure they get the help on time?" Spirit asked.
"I know they will get there in time," Shinigami responded.
There was something in Shinigami's voice that made Kid realize that Shibusen didn't always win. He wanted to run out of the Death Room right then and there. For some reason he stayed just long enough to hear the conversation between his dad and Spirit that followed. "How does this keep happening?" Spirit asked.
"Well, obviously, someone knows our movements," Shinigami responded.
Keep happening? Kid thought. Then he stood up and ran out of the Death Room. No! Father can't lose! Its impossible! Kid sat down in a hallway and buried his face in his knees. He sat there for a few minutes until he felt a hand on his head. Kid looked up to see his father standing over him, then put his head back down. "Kid? Are you okay?" Shinigami asked concerned for his son.
"Mm-hmm," Kid mumbled without picking his head up a second time.
"Kid, I know you had this idea that Shibusen never lost, that I never lost, but nobody is perfect. I know I'm not everything you thought I was, but you know all those stories I told you? All the victories? Those are all true, those stories are all part of me. And one day, they will be part of you. When you have this job, and possibly when you have a child, you'll be able to tell him or her your stories. If you get bummed out, just remember you have so much in your life left to do. Okay?" Shinigami said kindly.
Kid looked up with puffy red eyes and smiled at his dad.
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End Flashback
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Kid looked up and smiled. "Thank you," he said softly.