(Crona is a male in this story... sorry for the people who prefer Crona to be female. I personally like to address Crona as androgynous (or both genders), but I don't know what to call Crona (such as him, her, etc.) in that case. I'm a bit uncomfortable with writing 'it' or 'they' as well. I'm going with the anime on this one and calling Crona a boy. Also, I don't own Soul Eater or any of the characters. Thanks for taking your time to read this note. Please Enjoy! ^^)
(Also there are some weird theories in this story. I tried to make some to help support the reason in the actions of some events, so sorry if it doesn't make sense or follow the show's guidelines. Just pretend it does lol)
(THIS STORY MIGHT CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)
A young girl with sandy blonde pigtails tapped her fingers rhythmically on the desk in front of her. Her other hand lazily supported her chin, while her feet were unconsciously tapping to a beat in her mind. With a sigh, she crossed her arms on the table and rested her head in the back of her elbow.
"When is he going to come to class already?" She groaned, rolling her eyes. "He's the professor, of all people. He should've arrived by now."
A boy with messy white hair, who currently had his legs nonchalantly laying on his desk and hands folded in his lap, laughed heartily. "Wow, Maka. Why are you so eager for Professor Stein to get here? All he'll probably do is tell us to dissect a frog. I thought you hated dissection."
"Makaaaaa...CHOP!" A book smashed onto his head, leaving a large bruise.
"Hey! It's the truth!" He protested, rubbing the injured spot.
"That's not what I'm mad about, Soul. You're right, for once, about me hating all the dissection, but he usually arrives to class 5 minutes after the bell rung, at most. It's been 20. Something's up, and it's giving me the chills."
"Well, did you have to Maka Chop me? You know, I think the opposite of the phrase 'actions speak louder than words' should apply to this moment."
Maka raised her book again, a threatening glare making Soul flinch.
"FINE! Fine, okay? Fine. I'm sorry. Put that book away."
The bookworm huffed and put her book on the table, shoving her weapon partner a bit. She looked past Soul and saw a blue-haired boy, Black Star, and a tall woman, Tsubaki, playing 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' with a rather bored atmosphere. Everyone else in the room was throwing bits and pieces of paper at the teacher's desk, other students and at the ceiling; A boy with three stripes on his hair (named Kid), in response to this, growled and had to clench his teeth from having an outburst. Last time he did that, he almost got detention. A tall dirty-blonde next to him, called Liz, was painting her nails; a shorter blonde, named Patty, was gathering all the crumpled paper-balls and trying to color and glue them to make a giraffe (only to wrestle it, break its neck and throw it away); a pink-haired student, named Crona, was trying to shrink into his seat to avoid being hit, and a large being that came out of Crona's back, called Ragnarok, was catching the thrown paper and chucking it harshly back at the original thrower.
In other words, it was absolute chaos.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, with Professor Stein on the other side. Everyone in the room froze, including Maka and Soul. Stein turned the screw in his head, causing eerie clicks to echo throughout the room. It settled in one position with a quiet 'clack', but with the empty silence in the room, it sounded much louder. He wasn't rolling in his chair, meaning Stein was being dead serious; he also wore a confusing expression, a mix of concern, worry, hope, and other non-definable feelings. Maka gulped.
She was right. Something was wrong.
Stein looked up at all the students; some were already sitting at their desk, previously reading a book but now staring at him; some were frozen in ridiculous poses, while others were simply standing. With a grunt, Stein made his way over to his desk and continued standing, glaring at the students who were obviously causing mischief.
Nobody moved - they were too scared to risk making Stein angry.
After a couple seconds, he huffed and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you still up? Get back in your seats." Immediately, the people who were standing ran to their seats, and everyone was settled within 3 seconds.
"Maka, Soul, BlackStar, Tsubaki, Crona, Kid, Liz and Patty. Death wants to see you. Go to his office immediately, asap, pronto." He rushed his words, making everyone in the room uncomfortable. The named kids hurried out of their seats and rushed out of the room.
When they were finally out, they ran like their life depended on it.
"What do you - think he - wants with - us?" Crona worried out loud in between breaths. Maka furrowed her eyebrows.
"I don't know, Crona. I honestly don't know. Whatever it is, though, it must be serious if Stein is so worked up."
Crona shakily and fearfully nodded, continuing to hurry to Death's office.
(Timeskip!)
The large group of students limped up the stairs after exiting the guillotine roofs of Death's room. Death was there, pacing, but what confused Maka the most was that he seemed to be hopeful and fearful at the same exact time.
"You - wanted - us?" She panted, clutching her sides in an effort to reduce the pain.
Death turned around and tilted his head. "Oh! Good to see you, Maka! You too, everyone." He was holding a teacup in his overly-large hands, steam slowly rising out of the tea that was inside. He sipped it, then stood there for a moment. He set the teacup down on a nearby table and looked up to the group.
"Yes, I did want to see you." He started. "As you know, you are very great Meisters and Weapons, right? Soul and Maka, BlackStar and Tsubaki, Kid, Liz and Patty, and Crona and Ragnarok, correct?
They all nodded.
"Well, you are now two-star Meisters, on your way to being three-stars. I am also right on that, right?"
They nodded again.
"You are well known around the school for being talented and skilled. Lots of students look up to you."
With a faint blush, they all nodded once again.
He sighed, looking away for a large amount of seconds. I'm not sure where he's going with this. Maka thought to herself. Is he saying we're too talented to be in this school? No, no. He wouldn't do that... would he? He seems troubled yet happy... or is that is normal demeanor? Is he upgrading us to three-stars? AGH! This is so puzzling!
Kid noticed his dad's discomfort and hesitation, and coughed loudly. This caused Death to jump, looking up at them again. "Oh! Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to stop."
Crona was sweating so much he looked like he ran a 'two-hours-straight' marathon - he was also extremely jumpy and flinched when Death looked his way.
"Right... well. You all know how Kid is my son, right?"
They nodded hesitantly. Why was he bringing this up?
"Well, you may or may not know this, but I have another son. He's much older than Kid, being more than 800 years old."
Everyone in the room gasped. All the color drained from Kid's face, while Patty dramatically jumped up and down in her spot.
"Now, now. Calm down. He is assumed to be dead by most - even you might think he's dead, most likely. I'm strong on this guess because you're the ones who were assumed to kill him."
Maka blinked, widening her eyes. The room erupted into gasps and muttered questions. WHAT?! We never tried to kill anyone in Death's family. Wait... oh no. What if he brought us here to be expelled for being 'assumed' to kill his older son? Oh, no! No! This can't be true! She anxiously started shifting her feet and stretching the end of her coat as she worried these negative thoughts.
"Wait! Calm down!" Death tried to make them relax. "He wasn't civilized... at the time. He was a kishin, so you were supposed to try and defeat him to help save the world."
Oh. Nevermind. She sighed, slightly relieved she wasn't being expelled, but still tense due to everything that was going on. Who was this guy? He certainly didn't ring any bells from that information, so she was stumped on who this man was. She didn't know any of Death's family that turned kishin... then again, she only knew of Kid being in his family, for that matter.
"However, you did not kill him, despite what other people think. I, myself, found his body. It was severely damaged, but he wasn't dead. He was in a coma. In the time he was unconscious, for some weird reason, the 'kishin' part in his soul was slowly leaving. My guess is that being unconscious caused a slight backlash, making the old 'good' in his soul retaliate and try to drive out the evil. I noticed the conflict and helped by partially removing part of the 'kishin' day by day. Removing it all at once might result in me taking out his soul entirely. This has been going on for about a month - he was unconscious the entire time. He woke up just a week ago."
Everyone's faces were now drained of color.
"Is he okay now?" Patty questioned, shifting her feet due to the unsettling suspense.
Death sighed. "Yes and no. Yes, because he has no more traces of kishin left. He is no longer evil or has the overwhelming desire to eat human souls. No, because his personality is kind of, well... crazy. He is extremely paranoid and scared, and wears a ridiculous amount of clothes for comfort. He has many fears, and doesn't do well in situations involving meeting people, being around people, or people in general. He prefers to be alone most of the time. You could also call him shy, if you'd like."
"So he's like the isolated kind of person?" Black Star crossed his arms as he asked this. Death nodded.
"Exactly. That's why I brought you here. I want you to get him to like company and people more than he already does. Due to him being unconscious and taking that nasty defeat, he is rather weak at the moment. He'll need to be re-trained, of course, but he has potential for being very strong. Having him on our side will be great for helping us rid the world of evil kishins. The reason he went mad long ago was because he was insecure and didn't trust most people, so he thought that his fears would go away if he gained power, and so he ate human souls. By letting him become more accustomed to people and helping him get more friends, his insecurity might not be as strong as it is now, and that will disable the ability of him becoming kishin again." He sighed again, his voice becoming sad and soft, quiet enough so that the students could barely hear him. "And being his father, I also want to see him again like he used to be, instead of him as a kishin." He shook his head and regained his normal, goofy self. "I won't force you to help me, but I'd highly appreciate it if you did."
The group of kids stood there, silent. The color was starting to come back to them, but they stayed extremely surprised and filled to the brim with shock. Death had another son? One that turned kishin? One that they attempted to kill? They contemplated whether or not to try and reform this mystery person. Death sat in uneasy silence during this time.
Suddenly, Maka coughed. "I don't know about them," She pointed to the others. "but I'm going to volunteer, if it means I'll be helping the world get rid of kishins." She stood next to Death and turned back to her friends, putting her hands on her hips and smiling hopefully at them.
Soul shrugged and raised his hand lightly. "I guess I'll go too. It'd be uncool if I didn't." He stood next to Maka, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smirking at the others.
Soon, they all started to join.
"Assisting this guy will get all the attention on me! Count me in!"
"He is my older brother, so I'll come. I just hope he's symmetrical..."
"I d-don't k-know how t-to d-d-deal with-th this s-sort o-of thing, b-but I'll h-help."
Death smiled from under his mask. I hope they'll keep to their word, he thought to himself. I really do. He'll need their help if he wants to stick to his wish and stay sane.
(Another Timeskip!)
The students walked down a dark, musty and stone alleyway with Spirit holding a lantern for light. He would glance at every door, and continue walking when it wasn't the right one he was looking for.
After about 7 minutes of constant walking and checking, he firmly stopped at a metal door that was taller than all the others. A bulky lock hung from the doorknob. There was a sign with a name on it, but the letters were scratched out so much that all the group could make out was a faint, "A-r-." There were no windows, or any other decorations or add-ons; only a tall door, a large lock and a sign.
Spirit stared at the door for a while, until he grunted and stepped right in front of it, blocking it. He turned to face the students.
"Now, listen up," he sighed. "as you know, this guy is very lonely. Your job is to help make him more sociable, or at least have more friends than Death and the staff here. He doesn't like people in general, so crowds are one of his worst enemies. One of you will come in and try to bond with him. You'll do this everyday after school, if possible, for 7 days or more. When you're ready to switch, it'll be the next person's turn to do that until at least 3 of you are his friends and he's comfortable being around you. Every time someone changes places, I'll repeat these guidelines in case you forget. Do you understand?"
The students nodded quietly.
He smiled. "Good. Now, there are certain things you need to watch out for to avoid offending him." He crossed his arms. "First off, when you enter, and you see him, you'll most likely remember him with terribly bad memories. Do not scream, or yell, or any other loud exclamations like that. These walls are soundproof so he can't hear anything anyone is saying or doing outside this room. All he can hear is what's going on in there, making everything a bit louder than it truly is.
"In case you become frightened, remember that he is also afraid. He's probably more scared of you than you are of him. Don't try to make him more terrified than he already is. He also remembers all the bad things he did as a kishin, including trying to kill everyone. He regrets it, and mentioning or saying anything like, 'Hey dude! Remember when you tried to engulf the world in madness?' will most likely make him extremely uncomfortable, sad or dislike you a ton.
"If he does try to attack you, remember that he's weak and probably scared. His attacks right now are about as strong as a bear on steroids, but for your standards that's easy enough to withstand or dodge. Do not, I repeat - do NOT attack him. Your attacks are more stronger than his, and although he has the skills, he doesn't have the strength right now, and you might end up harming him. This will most likely make him less eager to become friends with people, which only leads us farther from our goal. If you end up getting in a conversation with him, don't be offended if he says something rude that makes you feel as such. He's not too great with people, which means he's not exactly an expert on interactions with other beings. Basically, don't get on his bad side and don't let him get on yours. Got it?"
There was an eerie silence until they all nodded nervously.
"Now," Spirit coughed from all the talking and explaining he just did. "Who's first this week?"
"Not it!" Everyone yelped suddenly. Maka and Kid were the only ones to remain silent; Maka was looking at the door in thought until Soul lightly shoved her (which made Spirit tense up and force himself to not attack the 'cool' albino).
"Hey! What was that for?" She exclaimed. Soul grunted.
"I don't think daydreaming will help you go in to meet the guy, Maka."
"I wasn't daydreaming!" She brushed her coat and huffed. "Besides, I think Kid should go first. The guy in there is his brother, after all. Family comes first. If Kid doesn't want to, I'll go, but it's up to Kid right now."
The before-mentioned boy was looking at the door as well. His brother? Why hadn't he learned until now? It was even worse considering he only learned about having another brother until after the said "brother" was assumed to be dead. Why did Death keep it a secret until now?
After a couple seconds, Kid sighed. "Alright. I'll go first."
Spirit nodded and took out a big key. Kid tried not to notice the four relieved sighs that came from behind him as Maka's father successfully opened the lock with a satisfying "click." He looked at Kid with a questioning glance, as if to say, "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"
Kid nodded and tried to take slow, deep, reassuring breaths. He was surprised to find that he was actually a bit scared - but only a bit. The descriptions and warnings didn't help him feel like his brother was exactly "welcoming."
When Spirit responded by moving aside and opening the door, Kid was quickly shoved in and had the door shut on him. He turned around only to find the door was being locked.
I'm guessing that's so the person in here doesn't see how many people are outside. He shrugged it off and looked around. He opened his mouth in amazement.
The room was beautiful, for a bedroom of a person over the age of 800. The walls were beige with red lines near the floor. The floor's carpet was crimson, while a closed door on the right led to, what Kid guessed was, a bathroom. On the beige ceiling there was a bowl-shaped glass with a yellow light-bulb inside it, covered in faint signs that looked like Death's mask. A bed with a wooden frame, a maroon mattress and a tan pillow and sheets sat horizontally in the far left corner, along with a small, beige table that supported a dark red lamp and a sandy-yellow lampshade. A dark brown bookshelf was in the other corner, filled with tons of books of different genres. When Kid looked to his right, he saw a tan dresser with a photograph of some people on it - he couldn't see exactly who from his current angle, but he knew Death was there.
Kid looked ahead again and froze when he saw a figure, his back facing Kid, sitting on hanging bandages off the ceiling and lightly rocking back and forth. The person wore a large amount of clothing, making him appear a bit bigger than he probably was. He wore a red, vertically maroon-striped shirt and dark grey pants. He also wore a ridiculously long tan scarf, seeming to have been wrapped around his neck about 5 times and still long enough to touch the ground. His chin-length hair was pitch black with white markings on each strand to appear like eyes. The hanging bandages actually turned out to be his scarf, which looped once out of a metal hook stuck in the ceiling. He sat on the curve of the scarf as if it were a swing.
He lightly touched the ground with his foot to stop any movement he was doing before, and looked over his shoulder. His skin was pale, and his eyes were crimson and surrounded by a thin, dark line. His pupils were even eyes, being white with small black dots in the center. On his forehead there was an eye looking the same as his two other ones. His expression looked calm.
Kid stood there, eyes wide with horror and shock. Now it all made sense... the explanations, the warnings, the aspects of his personality and backstory. It all made sense - except for one thing:
Why Death never told him Asura was his older brother.
(NOTE: I know Asura is only Kid's brother in the manga, but other than that this story is mostly based on the anime)