"Hey Crona! You planning on staying in your room all day!" Crona herd her step sister Eruka called from downstairs in the mansion. Crona looked up from the shattered mirror in her room, it was originally an attic but used for her to sleep, she had been cutting her hair since it had grown to her elbows and made it hard for her to work, her hair was now choppy and uneven, not that it mattered. She walked quickly down the three flights of stairs, she was still trying to button her white cuffs when she fell butt first down the stairs, she fell the whole way and stopped at Eruka's feet. Crona looked up shyly at the frog witch, who just stared coldly. Form behind Eruka three Mizune's in their preteen form came out with her arms crossed and looking cold too. Crona quickly got up and dusted herself off as she sputtered out apologies. "stop talking like an idiot." Eruka insulted her. "yes Eruka." Crona said and bowed at the command, although Crona was Lady Medusa's blood daughter, Medusa insisted on adopting Eruka and the Mizune quintuplets, Medusa also insisted on having Crona's name be just Crona but her father wanted her to be named Ella so they combined the two. "you know you can call me onee-chan." Eruka corrected her. "er- y-yes o-onee-chan." Crona stuttered, the thought of these cold hearted people being her family mad her shudder. "Lady Medusa wanted to talk to you about your chores, there has been a change in plans." Eruka told her. The other two Mizune's came and the triplet form broke off into their small normal forms. Crona walked away towards the far end of the mansion. The eerie hallways creaked under her feet as she entered the oldest part which was originally her house before it was built onto. She came to a large wooden door on it with two intertwining snakes painted on it, Crona nervously raised her hand and hit her knuckles against the cold wood "he-hello? L-L-Lady M-Medusa?" Crona asked her frail tiny voice faltering and cracking with every word. "come in." said the cold voice of her mother, it sent chills down her back like striking daggers. "y-you w-wanted me? Lady Medusa?" the timid girl asked slowly opening the door. "yes, it's about a mission." Medusa explained with her back at Crona while she was sitting at her desk in the dark room. "A-A m-mission?" Crona repeated. "yes... remember the ball tonight? At Gallows Manor?" Medusa asked her daughter not waiting for a response "I am taking Eruka and the Mizune's with me, but you have to stay home and watch the house." Crona's face saddened at that response, she had a secret plan to hide away in the manor and get taken in by the young prince shinigami that lived there so she could be done with the horrible life of a daughter abused for a maid. "O-O k." Crona responded. "And Cronaella... my... dear... child." Medusa started trying to sound loving "if anyone comes to the house, go to your room and don't make a sound... or I'll have your head." She told Crona, she always threatened people no matter how close they were to her, she never played too, that's what happened to the sixth and eldest Mizune sister, Crona nodded and went off to work, cleaning her step sister's rooms, sweeping and mopping the floors, weeding the vegetable garden, tending to Medusa's vector point pansies, and her least favorite chore of all, feeding the huge pythons in the old greenhouse behind the house. Tender Cronaella wasn't afraid of the snakes, just what she had to do to feed them, she ventured into the woods an stood there, far away from the house, "R-Ragnarok? I-I need you." She said her gaze glued to her feet, "sure Crona." said a high voice emitting from her body, the black sword appeared in her hand, Cronaella hated her black blood, when she was little her mother, Medusa, implanted it into her as an experiment, but her father found out a threatened to tell king shinigami, Lord Death, that she was a witch, and so Medusa killed her father, she didn't even know her dad, or if Medusa loved him. She stood there thinking of how it went down, when two small rabbits hopped over to her, she shook the thought from her head and keeled on the ground. The rabbits came closer and she picked both of them up in one hand. And with the other she drew her sword, the two rabbits no noticing, a small tear ran down Cronaella's pale face, pushing through the dust from previous chores, she looked away and plunged the sword into the rabbits flesh. She carried the two lifeless rabbits over to the huge green house where you could see shadows of Medusa's magic pets. Cronaella flung open the door and dropped the rabbits to the ground, the spotted snaked dived in, she dare not look, only at her shoes that were being stained red from the splattering blood. She left the horrid monsters to feast, and walked up to her room, and sat in the cold of the attic, on the worn out mattress that acted as a bed. She began polishing her shoes trying to get the stains off. She gained tired of rubbing and looked at her self in the mirror, 'I'm so pathetic,' she thought to herself 'I haven't eaten in weeks,' she ran her hands down her figure which was barely even a figure at all, just what had happened from being under fed, 'my hair isn't cared for' she ran her fingers through her rose colored locks, it was very smooth and clean from the shampoo that Medusa allowed her to use, but it was so choppy it looked like it had been ripped off, not cut, 'and I can't even stand up for myself' she thought, she brought her hand up to her arm and dug her fingernails into it, 'Crona you shouldn't do that!' Ragnarok said within her mind. "but it's true." she said out loud. Her fingernails digging deeper in almost breaking skin, "I'm useless, not even my own mother loves me!" she cried tears brimming her eyes. She felt her skin break and the black blood hardened around her nailsstopping them from going any deeper, she pulled them out and the wound was repaired. "Cronaella!" the was a could call from downstairs, she hurried trying not to slip this time. She me Medusa in a slender black dress, Eruka in a blue ball gown, and the Mizune sisters in the full combined form in a strapless short dress with a hoop and a slit down the middle, and a long tail of silk making her look like the whore she was. "we're going to the ball now." Medusa instructed "don't wait up." she laughed making her snake-like glare, her blonde hair perfectly in the snake braid in front of her chest. Crona gave a bow and they were out the door, the carriage was pulled by two black stallions and the driver was Free still in his jail uniform. They rode off and Cronaella trudged up the stairs into her room and cried, until the was a scream out her window "YAHOO!" it sounded like, when two figures with weapons appeared running after a man with long knife-like fingers, the figure that looked like a girl with a scythe sliced through the man, while the boy figure with a sickle and chain smashed into her sending them and the soul through Cronaella's window. The glass shattered and Crona shut her eyes, everything happened so fast, the two miesters getting thrown onto the floor, and the two lodging themselves into Cronaella, the scythe pinned her to the wall with her collar, while one sickle stuck into her hand and the other into her forehead. When everyone realized what happened the girl started yelling "Black*Star you idiot!" she screamed her arms and pony tails flailing all around. "its not my fault Maka!" the blue haired boy yelled back. "uh guys shouldn't we help her!" the scythe asked, the girl pulled the scythe out of Crona's collar and the boy took the sickles out of her hand and fore head, Crona stood and whipped the black blood from her forehead before it became solid, the weapons had turned into a boy with white spiky hair and a tall girl with black hair in a pony tail. "Are you ok?" the girl with the pony tails asked "we're really sorry!" she said. "oh, n-no it's m-my fault." Cronaella apologized clutching her arm and slouching over. "no way! If Black*Star here weren't being an idiot we wouldn't have hurt you!" the white haired boy said pointing a the blue haired one who was named Black*Star. "oh I-I'm not hurt!" Cronaella started waving her hands in front of her body "and its my fault for standing in front of the window." she said. "don't blame yourself for everything!" the blonde said pulling off her white glove, Cronaella flinched, afraid she might get slapped with the glove as Eruka had done countless times before, "I-I-I'm sorry!" she squealed covering her face, she looked up and the blonde had her hand out smiling and the others behind her looked at her questioningly. "I'm Maka." the blonde said. Cronaella touched the tip of Maka's fingers "C-C-Cronae-ella." she stuttered. "Cronaella? That's a strange name." said Black*Star. "oh well," Cronaella began smiling "my father wanted me to be named 'Ella' and my mother," she stopped dead in her tracks, remembering what Medusa had said, "if any one comes to the house, hide in your room and don't make a sound...or I'll have your head." Cronaella's knees buckled and her smile faded away, she stared between the people out the window, to Gallows mansion across the street. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and she slumped into a tight ball, her knees to her chest, her head rested between them, and her arms around her knees, she began mumbling "no, no, no, she's going to lock me into that dark room again! I havn't bee there since Eruka and the Mizune's lived with us! I don't want to go back!" she muttered, she began to cry and Maka and the black haired girl crouched down and tried to help her. "Black*Star, Soul go to Kid's house and tell him we'll be there soon." Maka ordered the boys, the nodded their heads and jumped out the window. "Hey Cronaella, whats wrong?" the Black haired girl asked. "Lady Medusa ordered me to hide if someone came, and I didn't so now she's going to lock me into the dark room in the basement again! She might even make my sleep with the pythons again!" Cronaella cried, her face still buried in her arms "I was going to go to Gallows Manor with her but she ordered me to stay so I couldn't sneak away from this hell hole!" she swallowed a big lump in her throat. "don't worry me and Tsubaki will help you!" Maka smiled pointing to the girl behind her who also smiled. "why are you being so nice to me?" Cronaella asked "I'm useless, I don't deserve to be taken care of." she cried. Maka took one of Cronaella's hands and Tsubaki took the other and they pulled her up onto her feet. "come on we promise." Maka said giving her new friend a hug. Tsubaki sat her down and worked on Cronaella's hair, and Maka left the room. "hey, Cronaella, who's Eruka and Mizune?" Tsubaki asked still playing with Crona's hair. "their my step sisters, and y-you can call me Crona." she said. "ok Crona." Tsubaki said happily. Maka came back into the room with a black strapless ball gown, some white ribbon, and a thread and needle. "here put this on." Maka said handing her the dress. Crona changed quickly, Maka hemmed the waist so it fit to Crona's small figure, and attached an X shaped sash that went across her whole upper body, the middle of the X went between her breasts, and the top and bottem of each cross went above and under them, Maka took some extra white ribbon and tied a large bow around her neck like a choker. Her hair was in a bun with a few strands hanging out of it, and a few straight pieces hang against her neck. Maka looked her over, "hold on." she said and walked out of the room again and came back with shoes and white arm gloves. Crona slipped on the gloves and put on the shoes, they were a transparent black material with glitter in them. "ok lets go!" Maka said and they were on their way.
Hope ya'll liked it! When I was trying to figure out the scene on how she met everyone I kind had a HUGE DEEERP moment... oh well! Next chapter out soon!
