Chapter 7: A Meeting of Hush Whispers

"The Voice

There is a voice inside of you

That whispers all day long,

"I feel this is right for me,

I know that this is wrong."

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend

Or wise man can decide

What's right for you-just listen to

The voice that speaks inside."

― Shel Silverstein

"There's nothing here." Liz whined.

The room was quite, childish-looking, Kid had to admit. Baby blue walls with crayon drawings, white lace curtains, and a large bed with white side tables. The floor was made of old oak and so far there was still nothing to be found.

"Maybe we should look somewhere…"Tsubaki suggested.

"Great idea." Liz said.

"I should also look for BlackStar….." Tsubaki said, looking worried. She knew BlackStar left the room because of boredom earlier.

Patty opened the door first ,excited to exit the room. Tsubaki followed after her, and Liz was about to move but she looked hesitantly back at Kid.

"Kid, you coming?" Liz asked.

The said shinigami looked at his weapon for a moment and muttered. "Sure….."

He was about to follow the older cowgirl but suddenly his feet felt frozen on the ground. A shiver crawled up his spine when he heard a cold whisper.

"Stay." The cold wind blew.

Kid looked at Liz's eyes for a while. They were blue like a troubled ocean spitting out high tides ,splashing against the shoreline. The frown on her lips and the line of her eyebrows shown disappointment and sadness towards him. Kid gave a frown himself, recently he felt like his weapons didn't trust him anymore. Patty's smiles and laughs seemed like artificial flavouring, and Liz's frowns went even deeper.

The shinigami decided to go with his instinct. "Actually…" Kid averted his amber eyes away from Liz's dark face. "….I'll stay here for a while."

Liz's frown went even deeper, like an upside-down bow, but she gave a stiff nod, and left the room slowly.

When Liz closed the door behind her, Kid's eyes dropped in sorrow. An ache throbbed in his chest, he felt the sorrow clouding his eyes. How could his weapons start doubting him so much? He knew his obsession was getting to far, but when did it spread like wild fire?

'You carried an ugliness inside of you, and now it spilled out of the wounds you created on yourself.' Kid whispered in his mind.

He moved around the wooden planks, hearing the steps of his feet. The planks sounded like taps ,when he'll step on one. He kept wandering around just listening to the sounds of empty taps. They felt like distractions in his empty obsession. But one plank gave a sound like shaking vibration…

The shinigami paused and looked at the weird-sounding plank. He presses his foot on it again, and shook his foot slightly. The plank moved along with his limb. Kid dropped on his knees to examine the plank even more.

His fingers were wrapped around the edges of the wood, and pulled it slightly. He removed that certain plank and saw a rectangular hole filled with cobwebs. He coughed at the dust flying out and fanned the dirty smoke with his hands. Inside the hole was a folded piece of paper.

Kid grabbed the parchment. It was thin with brown smudges on the edges, and a certain old smell wafted on it. One side of the paper was jagged meaning that it was ripped from a certain book. He unfolded and saw printed words written on it. It read:

The Little Doll
~Charles Kingsley

I once had a sweet little doll, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world;
Her cheeks were so red and so white; dears,
And her hair was so charmingly curled.

But I lost my poor little doll, dears,
As I played in the heath one day;
And I cried for her more than a week, dears;
But I never could find where she lay.

I found my poor little doll, dears,
As I played in the heath one day:
Folks say she is terrible changed, dears,
For her paint is all washed away,
And her arm trodden off by the cows, dears,
And her hair not the least bit curled:
Yet for old sakes' sake she is still, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world.

At the bottom of the ripped page was a ink-written statement, it was the same hand-writing as the notes Kid had received. It the same elegant cursive that had large loops and extreme tension of the ink. It was written:

My doll, you will find me in the place where you are made.

You will always be my most beautiful doll, and I will have you.

Kid's eyes widen. Could the person ,who has been sending him messages, the murderer? He realised the the torn page was one of the pages of the book, his father was talking about. Why would his father think a Children Poetry Book is so important? Also why would a murderer want just a simple book about childish poetry?

The paper was kept inside his pocket as he left the room, with more questions but a few answers.

BlackStar thought the building looked terrible. It was broken down with dead vines wrapped around its grey crumbling walls. It's windows were broken down, and broken porcelain dolls lay down on it's front yard, some were only broken limbs, but some were the whole doll with a few missing pieces. It was basically an old doll factory with creepy designs.

"This place is creepy." BlackStar shuddered.

"This place is disgusting! Look at how asymmetrical it is!" Kid screamed distressed making everyone sweat drop.

BlackStar was actually relieved that the shinigami started showing signs of his OCD. Recently BlackStar noticed the other meister just seemed so silent and mysterious. There a certain hardness in his gold eyes, and a deep frown was always on his face.

The ninja also noticed that Kid had stopped shouting about his bad behaviour, and his arrogance. Not that he wasn't complaining, he would've enjoyed this. It meant Kid was finally embracing his true awesomeness but it just didn't feel right, like Kid only behaved nicer because he felt like there was a certain weight was on his shoulders.

The blue-haired meister was surprised that he was the one, who most likely knew about Kid's weird attitude. Tsubaki, Soul, and Maka were oblivious. Liz and Patty were a bit suspicious but they didn't know his behaviour that well.

But the meister didn't mind, after all he remembered the saying: 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.' and he knew he and Kid were rivals.

"Let's just go in and get this over with." Liz scowled and was about to transform, but Kid stopped her.

"There's no way, I'm getting in that disgusting building." Kid whined.

Liz's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "You're the one who suggested that the Kishin was hiding in there."

"No way! That abandon doll factory is an insult to symmetry!"Kid scowled at the structure.

As the two partners argued, Patty only giggled at their angry faces.

"I can handle the murderer by myself! After all, I'm the amazing BlackStar!" BlackStar interrupted the arguing pair.

Everybody looked at him doubtfully, but BlackStar still believed in himself.

"Well….how about me and BlackStar investigate the factory? We'll give you guys a signal if something happens." Tsubaki suggested.

The team agreed with Tsubaki's plan, and the two individual groups were satisfied. Kid doesn't have to get in the building and the mission could finish quicker.

Cobwebs and dust flew on their faces, when BlackStar opened the door. Tsubaki coughed while BlackStar only gave a small choke, and went in the room confidently. They entered in a long narrow hallway made of black stone, only leading into one direction.

"BlackStar, I think this is a trap…" Tsubaki said as the hallway seemed to stretch even longer.

BlackStar only laughed at her back and grinned. "Why on earth would you think that?"

"Well….."Tsubaki started nervously as the hallway seemed to end. "The factory is suppose to have many rooms, and big spaces. But now, we just enter in a narrow hallway leading only to one room, don't you think someone is expecting us to come?"

"Many people do want to see the mighty BlackStar!" The said meister laughed and announced.

"BlackStar….." Tsubaki tried to make him see the situation clearer and suggested. "Maybe we should call Kid and the others."

But BlackStar only ignored her worries, and continued forward. Tsubaki, a very nice and kind person to BlackStar, complied with his actions, and followed him.

As they went farther, Tsubaki's suspicion got even worse. The air started to grow colder and brittle, making the female weapon shiver. The long hallway seemed to get brighter as they moved even deeper, which should've made Tsubaki relieved, but her fears only grew more. She knew that someone was expecting them at the end of the tunnel.

A lullaby was heard throughout the hallway, when Tsubaki and BlackStar was almost at the end. It sounded soft and melodic, but quite dark and sinister.

Hush, little baby, don't say a word.

Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird

And if that mockingbird won't sing,

Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring

And if that diamond ring turns brass,

Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass

And if that looking glass gets broke,

Papa's gonna buy you a billy goat

And if that billy goat won't pull,

Papa's gonna buy you a cart and bull

And if that cart and bull turn over,

Papa's gonna buy you a dog named Rover

And if that dog named Rover won't bark

Papa's gonna buy you a horse and cart

And if that horse and cart fall down,

You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

The creepy voice grew softer and softer as it ended the lullaby, then a loud laugh came after the song.

"What was that?" BlackStar broke the shocked silence between him and Tsubaki.

"I don't know…" Tsubaki answered. "Maybe we should…."

Even if BlackStar had a creepy feeling about this place, his pride was still more important than his anxiousness. "No! We should do this ourselves!" He practically shouted.

Tsubaki looked troubled by his prideful answer, but she complies because of her humility.

But they were both fools in the end, Pride makes you blind and ignorant. Ignorance makes you into a fools.

They were both fools following their pride and leading straight to their doom.

"They're taking too long…" Liz muttered impatiently leaning against a tree. "We should go in, and check if they're okay."

"I still refuse to get in that disgusting asymmetrical factory." Kid grumbled for the last hundred times, while he stood on the tree beside Liz's.

"Kid." Liz said. "Aren't you worried?"

Kid only sighed back and didn't answer. He wasn't really sure what to do, cause he still thought the building was too disgusting to get in.

Till a loud scream of pain came from the factory.

Kid's eyes widen in alertness and thought worriedly. 'BlackStar.'

The trio ran in the building and deeper in the hallway as fast as they could. Because of the adrenaline rushing in them, their feet didn't feel tired or painful, but they had tired huffs and sighs.

Kid opened the old door at the end of the tunnel. When they entered through the door, it was a wide room with ripped wallpaper, and a tainted grey floor. The dusty window gave the room a slight dim light, and pieces porcelain dolls were scattered everywhere. There was not much furniture in the room, but a wooden old piano sat on the corner.

At first Kid didn't see anyone because of his disgust at the dirty and old-ridden room, but a loud scream got his attention.

The loud scream was BlackStar.

His forehead a bleeding as his mouth barfed out so much blood. His bones were broken and mangled, and his body was placed in a corner. His arms and legs had several long crimson cuts, and he was struggling to speak.

"Tsu…ba…ki.." His mouth formed.

"BlackStar…"Kid gasped at the horrifying scene.

"Finally, you're here…" A voice quite oddly familiar and yet unrecognisable said behind.

Liz and Patty transformed into their weapon forms, when Kid turned around. The dimly lit room made the figure ,in front of him, almost too blurry, but because of the white bandages the figure wore around his tall and lean body, he almost glowed in the grey dim. The man's eyes were red, and he had a long thin face with a sort of white stripe wrapped around his raven hair.

The bandages behind him seem to stand, and his eyes held an unsettling joy when he saw the smaller black-haired boy in front of him.

"You know, it's quite annoying that I had to beat those brats you care so much." Oddly his amused tone had a possessive growl included. He gave a white smirk, as he threw a dented chain-scythe on the ground with a hard clang. The chain was sliced, and the blade was dented in a weird angle.

"That's Tsubaki…"Liz, the gun in his right, said in a horrified tone.

"Who are you?" Kid asked suspiciously asked.

"My, my, how can you not remember me?" The red-eyed man grinned. "After all I'm the one who's been sending you those notes. Also whispering all those helpful information."

Author's note: Sorry guys, I updated so late. I've had to update my other stories, and I had a really big writer's block on this story because it's been so long since I've watched this anime. But I will never abandon this story, anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter.