So, years after I had sworn off writing fanfiction for good… I came up with an idea for another one. Go figure. I apologize for the length, but this essentially serves as the prologue and I hate the thought of breaking it up into two entries.
Also, I apologize in advance for the crack pairing and the fact that I'm totally bullshitting the ages and time differences between events… Except not really.
Spoilers: Ahem. Yes. I have watched both the English dub of the anime and read what there is so far of the manga and quite frankly I can't forgive Studio Bones for the atrocity that is anime!BJ or the God-awful "bravery punch", so this story follows the manga. Tl;dr: Spoilers up to chapter 88, but nothing that you haven't already seen in forums or on Wikipedia.
Disclaimer: Sit down, ma'am; this may come as a bit of a shock… I don't own Soul Eater.
Chapter One: In Which Soul Can't Hold His Liquor and Crona is Much Too Sober to Deal with It
Things were always so much simpler at the tender age of fifteen.
That is, unless you had the misfortune of being Crona. When your childhood had been filled with your power hungry mother forcing you to commit acts of animal cruelty and thoroughly confusing you about your gender, you never really got the opportunity to have a "tender age". The androgynous boy was not the only one sporting a traumatic past and unfortunate relations- he had no envy whatsoever for Black Star's extinct family of demon ninja psychopaths- but the complete lack of friendly human interaction in his young life made him slightly more scarred than most, and more than a little awkward in public situations. This was never more apparent than after Shibusen had taken the recently orphaned boy under their wing following the resurrection of Asura; he never left his room in the dungeons unless accompanied by Maka or Miss Marie, and once outside he barely spoke two words to anyone and never maintained eye contact. The only people besides his constant chaperones that he could be around without looking ready to wet his pants were Tsubaki, because of her generally calm and kind demeanor, and Soul, simply because he was Maka's best friend and had yet to threaten him with his unusually sharp canines. The calm confidence of both Liz and Death the Kid was unsettling; Patty's exuberance was threatening; Black Star was nothing short of downright terrifying. Weeks passed, and despite everyone putting forth their best efforts (though some of those best efforts were better than others) the situation had hardly improved.
"Poor Crona… I feel like he still isn't really fitting into our group," Tsubaki sighed. She and the gang of "usual miscreants" sat in a small group inside their usual classroom. Stein had yet to show up, so the class was enjoying their temporary freedom from his creepy dissections. The only person absent from the group was Maka, who was down in Crona's miserable excuse for a bedroom trying to persuade him to leave Mr. Corner in favor of normal society, as she did every morning.
"Cut him some slack, he's trying his best," Soul said in his usual bored drawl, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up on the desk. "He hasn't exactly had it easy up to now, you know? I'm surprised he even makes it out of his dungeon every day."
"He, he, what's all this crap about 'he'?" Black Star cut in obnoxiously. "For all we know, Crona's a chick!"
There was a collective groan throughout the group.
"I already told you," Soul said for what he was positive was the thousandth time, "I'm pretty damn sure Crona's a dude. I mean seriously, when Maka and I first met him he said, and I quote, 'I have trouble talking to girls.' What kind of chick would say that?"
"A lesbian?"
Soul considered it.
"Black Star, you're an idiot."
"Soul, get your feet off your desk before I am forced to separate them from your body," Stein ordered, wheeling into the classroom on his signature rolling chair seemingly from the shadows and somehow managing to not knock himself over in the process. The silence that washed over the formerly buzzing room at the mere sound of his voice tempted Stein to break into one of his creepy, self-satisfied grins. Oh how he loved being feared.
His eyes scanned the room, mentally taking roll, and the corners of his mouth turned down in a slight frown.
"Where are Maka and Crona? Certainly not skipping class?"
"No Professor, they should be on their way shortly!" Tsubaki answered before muttering under her breath, "It doesn't matter what Crona's gender is, Black Star, and I would like to ask you not to pester him about it. The last thing we want to do is make him feel even more uncomfortable."
"The only people that would be feeling uncomfortable are you guys when you figure out that the great Black Star is, as usual, correct!" the aforementioned Great Black Star scoffed, not bothering to keep his voice down. "I'm telling you, God doesn't bless us men with sweet asses like the one Crona has!"
Tsubaki's face flushed a brilliant shade of crimson. "Black Star, please!"
"Class, or more specifically, Black Star, I would advise you to keep down the chatter, or I can promise you that someone in this room will be leaving with a serious injury." Stein's cold glare rested on the blue-haired assassin, who in turn ignored it completely, before he returned to drawing his diagrams on the chalkboard.
An evil grin spread across Black Star's face as he leaned over and tapped Soul on the shoulder. "You wanna know what I think?"
"Not particularly."
"I bet Crona's totally lesbo for Maka, and that they're shacking up right. Now."
"Hmm."
Black Star's lower lip jutted forward in a rather unattractive pout. "What, no jealousy? No burning rage or heartbroken sobbing and humanity-cursing?"
"Not really, Black Star. I'm not in love with Maka or her A-cup breasts, so you can cut it out with the whole trying to make me furiously jealous thing."
"Hmph… I think you're in denial!"
Stein, finally having heard enough of Black Star's gratingly loud voice, threw a book with professional accuracy, and Soul smiled and enjoyed the peaceful silence that followed.
"So," Kid said nonchalantly, as if the boy sitting right behind him hadn't just been brained by The Sadist's Guide to Lower Intestines, "not to change the subject or anything, but back to Crona. I was wondering if having a small get together tonight would help Crona become more accustomed to being around us. We have yet to invite him to a party, and it could just be the eight of us so he shouldn't be too overwhelmed."
Patty clapped her hands excitedly. "A party?"
"Nothing too extreme, of course, though no doubt Black Star will steal some liquor and do his best to turn the entire affair into a drunken mess. Still, it could help the kid get over his anxiety to be around us in a more relaxed environment…" Kid folded his arms over his chest and looked at everyone else for approval. "What do you guys think?"
Everyone that was still conscious exchanged looks, Patty looking dangerously close to passing out at the thought of finally doing something entertaining after school. Soul tried not to show it, but the idea of a party was highly appealing to him as well; all of the shit that had gone down during the Asura incident, on top of his normal daily struggles of being regularly molested by the house cat and having to secretly deal with what was very likely a case of multiple personalities, would reduce anyone to needing a relaxing beer or two. Or ten.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Soul said with a shrug. "We just have to run it by Maka, she'll have to convince Crona to come with her to your house instead of running straight to that creepy corner of his …And guys…" Soul's face darkened menacingly. "For God's sake, unless you want a repeat of the last time we tried to have a party, do NOT tell Maka about the booze beforehand!"
xXx
Much to Maka's dismay, Crona was already panicking.
"I really don't know if I can deal with this, look at his house, it's so big and scary and it's probably full of people I don't know and they're all gonna stare at me like I'm some kinda monster!"
Maka sighed and put an arm around Crona's shoulders, partly for reassurance and comfort and partly to push the frozen boy forward towards the polished wooden doors of the young Shinigami's house. "I already told you, Crona, you already know everyone here, they're all friends of mine and you've talked to all of them every single day since you came to Shibusen. Nobody's going to stare at you, everyone just wants to be your friend and help you feel better about being around us! …And Kid's house is only big because he's too rich for his own good."
Crona's trembling was subdued by Maka's arm around him, but his anxiety wasn't so easily settled. "I don't know, I've never been to a party before, what am I even supposed to do? Dance? I can't dance! And what if I'm not wearing clothes that are nice enough and I look out of place?" With the hand that wasn't giving himself his customary half-hug he tugged nervously at the hem of his crisp white dress shirt. Somehow, despite the fact that the boy's selection of outfits was fairly limited, he managed to spend close to an hour agonizing over what to wear, searching for something that he deemed nice enough to wear to Kid's party and something that would cover up the majority of his frail body without attracting as much unwelcome attention as his standard black robe. In the end, he had left his room wearing all white, from his freshly ironed shirt to his impressively clean shoes, for once feeling half-satisfied with his appearance before his nerves decided to kick in.
"Aw, come on. Of all the things you could worry about you focus on your clothes? You look fine! I can promise you that the only person there that will be dressed nicer than you is Kid. I mean jeez, look at what I'm wearing!" She gestured at her simple tank top and skirt. As Crona looked her over he was forced to fight back a blush.
"I-I think you look… really nice."
Her eyes momentarily met his, and her lips turned up into a small smile that made Crona's heart nearly skip a beat. "Thanks. That's really-"
"Maka, Crona! About freakin' time! Get in, get in, you have to see this!"
Crona let out a high-pitched squeak and quickly hid behind Maka, while she bit back the urge to roll her eyes. Of course, right when Maka had succeeded in getting Crona past the front doorstep, Patty had to do what she was specifically told not to do and terrify Chrona with her sudden, noisy appearance. She quickly grabbed onto Crona's wrist to keep him from escaping before trudging toward the madly giggling girl.
"Keep it down a bit, Patty, you're scaring Crona and if he runs away then this party is pointless… What's going on?"
The blonde nearly tripped over her own feet as another wave of hysterics hit her and Crona, sure that the girl had gone mad, clutched Maka's shoulders so tightly that they began to grow sore. "Hahahaha! It's so funny, you have to see it! Soul, Black Star, and Big Sis are sooooooo drunk!"
Maka froze. There was an audible crack as her free hand curled into a tight fist. "They're what?"
"See, Black Star brought all this booze, and he and Soul figured Maka was gonna be a big party pooper and take it away so they tried to drink it all before you got here and then Big Sis took some drinks too, and Soul told us not to tell you—Woops!" She clapped a hand over her mouth before falling victim to another fit of giggles.
Maka seemed to be frozen for a second, and then she stormed up the long set stairs, momentarily forgetting her death grip on Crona's wrist and dragging him along behind her. "Where are those idiots, Patty?"
"Kid's bedroom! Wait for me, I wanna see Maka bash their heads in!"
Maka didn't bother slowing down and upon reaching Kid's bedroom attempted to kick the door off its hinges, revealing one of the most bizarre scenes Crona had ever witnessed. The debris of what had obviously been a fast but intense beer drinking session were scattered across the otherwise spotless floor; Liz was sitting on the edge of the bed sobbing into her hands, while Soul and Black Star sat on either side of her and patted her shoulders consolingly. Both boys also looked close to tears. Tsubaki and Kid, meanwhile, stood to the side and observed the scene with mixed expressions of amusement and concern for their friends' mental health.
"You guys don't understand, I-I had a little fish once… His name was Speedy and I loved him soooo much…" Liz's wails grew louder in volume and were broken up by small hiccups. Black Star bit his lip and valiantly held back a sob of his own as he gave her a comforting hug.
Soul sniffed and wiped a hand across his red, watering eyes. "It's okay Liz; we'll never eat fish again."
Patty appeared in the doorway moments after Maka and Crona's dramatic appearance, and crossed her arms over her chest with an expression of disapproval on her face. "Hmph, Big Sis is such a liar. She never had a fish."
A blood vessel in Maka's temple appeared to snap. Furious footsteps closed the distance between the bedroom door and the bed, and a moment later Soul's head was in excruciating pain.
"Ow! The fuck…?" Soul caught sight of Maka, standing over him with anger radiating from her every pore, and his look of pain and dismay immediately changed to one of pure joy. "Maka! You're here!"
Maka's furious scowl deepened and her hand reconnected with Soul's injured head.
"Ow! Jeez Maka! What did I do?"
"You know damn well what you did, you idiot! How dare you try to get everyone drunk before Crona and I get here? How are we supposed to make Crona feel more comfortable around us if half of you are acting like lunatics?"
Her accusations took a moment to register in Soul's foggy mind, but when they did his eyes grew wide. "Wait… Me? Nu-uh! It was all Black Star, he just had to bring the booze and then I was all like…" He paused and thought for a second. "Well I just started drinking it, and then we were talking about Pixar movies and Liz got all-"
"Don't say it! I can't take the pain of his loss again!" Liz cried, covering her ears. At that moment Maka decided that she had had quite enough.
"Liz, pull yourself together, you never even had a fish! And Soul, you can quit with the lies, Patty told me that you knew about Black Star bringing the beer and you were trying to keep it a secret from me."
Soul's eyes darkened and he threw an innocently whistling Patty the most menacing glare he could muster. "Traitor."
The accusation had barely left his lips when he felt himself being lifted by the collar of his jacket and dragged across the floor, and with a shout of "Out!" Maka had thrown him face-first out into the hallway. Soul quickly scrambled into a sitting position and pointed angrily at Black Star and Liz, still safely seated on the bed.
"Hey! What about them? They're drunk too!"
"This is all your fault, so sit out here until you sober up or pass out!" was the response he received before having the door slammed in his face.
The other occupants of the room stared at the girl fearfully; she stood facing the door, clenching her fists and breathing heavily, and looked more than ready to take out her wrath on the next person who dared to breathe in her presence. However, when she turned around, her face was brightened by a friendly smile that was almost as terrifying as the scowl it had replaced.
"Alright! How about some movies?"
It was at that moment that Crona realized, to his horror, that the girl he was falling for was, in her own way, almost as mad and violent as his dearly departed mother and the professor responsible for her death.
xXx
"Hey! Where are you off to?"
Crona paused and looked guiltily over his shoulder, caught halfway through his attempted scramble for the bedroom door. The concerned expression on Maka's face made his stomach twist uncomfortably. The last thing he wanted to do was upset the one person that he knew cared for him, but the stress of being in a noisy, crowded environment, even one filled with friends, had finally gotten under his skin. Liz and Black Star, still riding off the waves of drunkenness, constantly roared obnoxious bits of commentary at the movie they were watching, with Maka occasionally inflicting her own brand of punishment when she could no longer understand what the actors were saying. These things did absolutely nothing for Crona's nerves.
He desperately needed a breath of fresh air.
Or, better yet, to just run to his room, grab his pillow, and hide in his corner for the rest of his life.
"Oh, um, don't worry Maka…" Crona gave a nervous laugh as he slowly continued to make his way for the door. "I just need to… um… use the restroom… Yeah! I-I'll do that and be right back, okay?"
"Um, okay!" Maka flashed him a quick smile and turned her attention back to the TV screen. Crona returned the smile half-heatedly before practically dashing out of the room. The moment the door was closed behind him he breathed a sigh of relief.
"… Thank God… I don't think I could have dealt with that much longer… even though Maka was there." Crona pressed his palms against his closed eyes, rubbing them until he saw stars.
"Jeez, Crona, stop being such a pussy!" Ragnarok took the opportunity to morph out of Crona's back and take up his favorite pastime: bullying the crap out of his meister. "You gonna bail or what? Not that I give a rat's ass, there aren't any tasty eats here anyway."
Crona's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "I'm not going to bail… I'm just gonna… sit out here for a bit… Away from everyone… By myself… Alone…"
"I highly doubt that, dumbass."
"What's that supposed to-"
"Hey! Crona!"
Oh, right. He had forgotten about Soul. Crona resisted the urge to stomp his foot in frustration.
"H-hi Soul…"
"Come 'ere, come 'ere, I gotta tell you something 'portant." Soul waved his hand and patted the floor in front of him, which Crona guessed was supposed to be inviting. The boy was so drunk that Crona was surprised that he had managed to stay conscious this entire time. Despite this and Crona's growing urge to run away from the mansion and embrace the freedom of solitude, he plucked up the manners to hear Soul out and take a seat in front of him.
"Um… Okay, what is it?"
Soul's face immediately turned deathly serious, and Crona decided that being polite had been a bad idea. "You don't… like Maka, do you?"
Crona's face flushed red, and had Soul been sober he would have immediately spotted his guilt.
"Oh, uh, no! Not at all! I only like her, you know, as a friend!"
He raised a shaking hand to tightly squeeze his arm as Soul continued to give him a suspicious glare. Then, much to his relief, Soul leaned back with a wide grin on his face.
"Kay, good. 'cause I totally love her."
Oh. Oh. Crona felt his heart drop down to his feet. From his perch atop Crona's head, Ragnarok let out a gleeful snicker.
"…That's… nice…"
"Yeah, just don't tell anyone, 'cause that would be super uncool if she found out. Like she might…" He took a second to think. "Beat me up or something, probably."
Crona merely nodded in reply and kept his gaze strictly fixed on his shoes. How stupid had he been, buying all of Soul's comments about how he found Maka bossy and unattractive? Had he really fooled himself into thinking that he was the only one interested in her? Now… now he couldn't ever confess his feelings without making a rival out of the boy in front of him, and even if he did, who had the better chance of winning her heart? The weird kid with the bad haircut, or the cool, attractive boy who also had the advantage of being her weapon partner and living in the same apartment as her?
Damn. It just wasn't fair.
"Crona? Heloooooo?" Soul waved a hand in front of his eyes and laughed. "Dude, you're spaced out! Wha's wrong with you, huh?"
"Oh! N-nothing!" Crona forced a small laugh and mentally beat himself over the head, much like he was sure Ragnarok would do to him later for being such an obvious wimp. He briefly allowed his gaze to move up from his footwear and saw Soul giving him a slightly lopsided smile. He also noticed that the boy was a hell of a lot closer than he remembered him being.
"Hey Crona…" His smile widened, revealing a sliver of his sharp teeth. "You're kinda cute, you know that?"
Crona's eyes widened as he felt all of the blood in his body rush to his face. "C-cute? Me? I don't, I mean, I'm not…"
Yes, Soul was definitely closer than he had been moments ago. Much, much too close. Crona could smell the alcohol on his breath and feel its warmth brushing across his face.
"Oh yeah! Um…"
"S-Soul?"
"Uh… are you a dude or a chick?"
Crona needed to run. He attempted to push himself to his feet or at the very least scoot away from Soul to a more comfortable distance, but his fear worked against him and held him frozen in place.
"Um… I'm… I'm…" Crona swallowed and fought to control the quaver in his voice. "I-I'm a boy…"
The weapon's drunken smile fell to resemble something more along the lines of a confused and thoughtful frown. Crona's breath escalated to the quick, short gasps of someone who was about to suffer from a panic attack, and he hoped fervently that whatever it was that made Soul's smile fade wouldn't lead the much stronger boy to inflict pain upon him.
"… Huh. Well…" Soul hesitated for a brief moment before muttering "Fuck, whatever" and pressing his lips to Crona's.
Crona breathed in sharply in shock; he probably would have let out a small gasp if that hadn't meant opening his mouth, which was something he was definitely not willing to do in this situation. The other boy's lips were warm and surprisingly soft as they brushed against his own… Crona vaguely realized that Soul was wearing some kind of chapstick, which he found rather odd, but a moment later he decided that he actually didn't mind.
Right then, the realization struck him.
Oh, oh God, this is my first kiss, but it's not with Maka, it's with her partner, with her drunk, male partner who's also in love with her, oh God this is all kinds of wrong, Maka's going to kill me, Soul probably will too when he's sober, and I-I-I… like it?
Although it seemed to have lasted an eternity in Crona's mind, the kiss was over almost the moment after it had begun. With a low groan Soul broke the contact between them and pitched forward, leaning his entire weight against Crona's smaller body and resting his head in the crook where Crona's neck met his shoulders. Crona's eyes flew open in a panic-wait, when had they closed?-and when he recognized the situation he was placed in, his arms lunged out and shoved the other boy off of him.
"No! No more! I shouldn't have even let you… let you… um, do that…"
"Oi, shut up you moron, you're making a huge pathetic scene and the bastard can't hear you anyway."
Crona blinked and went quiet at Ragnarok's irritated command before looking down at Soul. The demon weapon was sprawled across the floor on his side, eyes closed contently, the faintest traces of a blush still staining his cheeks as drool escaped from his happily smiling mouth.
"He…"
"Passed out, and about freakin' time too."
Crona's eyes continued to rest on Soul's peaceful face, and he really wished that he could control the prickling redness that still insisted on covering his skin from the neck up. His fingers found his bottom lip, still slick from Soul's chapstick, and traced the outline of it absently.
"Ragnarok, why didn't you stop him from kissing me?"
"Aw, why would I do that?" The demon sword snickered and reached down to painfully pinch one of Crona's crimson cheeks. "It's much more fun to watch my weakling meister discover his homosexuality in the most awkward way possible!"
"M-my what-? Ow! Jeez, lay off already, that hurts!"
Crona managed to fend off his attacker long enough for a moment's peace, although Ragnarok continued to giggle in a manner that Crona thought to be more than a little perverted. The boy pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped himself up in his arms as tight as he could manage. His slate grey eyes continued to stay locked on Soul's sleeping face as he drew his lower lip into his mouth and bit down hard.
"… I can't tell Maka about this."
xXx
The memory faded as it came to a close, and the empty darkness of reality returned. Crona continued to keep his eyes tightly shut in the hope that the memory would return, or that another one could take its place. His mind remained a blank slate, however, and in time Crona was keeping his eyes closed merely to deny his surroundings. Maybe, if the things he had done and the place where he had trapped himself were out of his sight for long enough, they would disappear, becoming just as real as the resurfacing memories swimming through his head.
His fingers dug into the soaked fabric covering his knees as he struggled to recall what had happened after the party. He vaguely remembered Soul arriving to school the next day with a wicked hangover, some impressive bruises courtesy of Maka's rage, and… Crona felt his heart sink. Soul hadn't remembered the kiss.
Oh well, that was to be expected. If he had been drunk enough to even think that Crona was attractive, let alone kiss him, then he had definitely been drunk enough to have his memories of that moment wiped clean from his mind.
The swordsman's body began to slowly rock back and forth, and his fingers dug even deeper into his knees. A small amount of the liquid soaked into his robes seeped out onto his already bloodstained hands.
He hadn't kissed back. God, just how stupid was he? It didn't matter that Soul had been intoxicated or that he was a boy and definitely not who Crona had intended to take his first kiss. Soul had cared about him as a friend, at the very least, during his stay at Shibusen, and that moment was most likely going to be the only time in Crona's miserable life that anyone would bother to show even the slightest romantic interest in him. He knew that he would never be kissed again. And what had he done? Absolutely nothing.
What an idiot.
"Cronaaaaaa." Ragnarok slumped dejectedly over the top of Crona's head. "I'm huuungry. Get up and fucking get us something to eat already!"
"No." Crona shook his head wildly, irritating Ragnarok further. How long had it been since he had eaten? Five days? Six days? All he knew was that long ago, even the angry rumbling in his stomach had ceased. "I-I'm just gonna sit here with my eyes closed until everything goes away and I'm back with my friends and everything is happy and n-normal again."
"…Huh." There was a short pause as Ragnarok looked around the room. "…Nope, everything still looks the same out here! The walls are still covered in blood and guts-"
"No! Shut up! I don't want to know I don't want to know!" Crona's hands smacked over his ears and the speed of his rocking began to increase. Ragnarok decided that he'd had quite enough of Crona's moping and that hitting his meister upside the head was a fine idea.
"Ow!"
"Get a hold of yourself, Crona! What are you gonna do, sit here and think about Mr. Metrosexual and his ugly girlfriend until we starve to death? Okay, so you butchered your mom, big deal. She was a bitch anyway. Can't we at least eat that pasta that's still sitting there? It can't be too rotten yet."
"No… I… I'm not hungry… I don't wanna open my eyes… I don't wanna see…" Crona's voice trailed off into a small series of whimpers. Ragnarok groaned dejectedly and flopped to the side as he tried to ignore the dull pain in his stomach.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Crona's body went still at the sound, and his breath caught in his throat. His hands slowly uncovered his ears as he tried to focus on the ruckus that seemed to be right outside the front door.
"Hey Crona, I think someone's at the door. Should we let them in?"
"No, of course not! Are you crazy?"
"Hmph. Rude houseguest."
BANG. BANG. CRASH.
"Oh, hey, they got in anyway. Helloooooo!"
"Shut up, Ragnarok! Go away" he hissed before realizing that telling his own blood to go away was a pretty stupid thing to do. Run. He had to run. But how was he supposed to run with his eyes closed? Oh, a wall! He just had to find a wall and follow it until he got out of the room, and then it would be safe to open his eyes and make a break for it. His hands scrabbled about desperately, feeling for a wall, but instead made contact with something disturbingly wet and squishy. Crona recoiled quickly with a yell of fright.
"Ah! W-what did I touch?"
"Trust me, you don't wanna know. Fuck, being hungry is making me tired. I'm just gonna go back inside you and let you deal with the assholes at the door, that's what you get for not feeding me."
"Ragnarok, wait-!"
The noises of the intruders were closer. Crona went deathly still, his shallow breathing sharp in his throat and his racing heartbeat roaring in his ears. Footsteps. Down the hall, right outside the dining room door, then a pause. Whispered voices, too low for Crona to identify. Another short pause. His eyes clenched tightly shut as they began to well up with tears. Please go away oh God please go away.
The creaking of a door swinging open.
"…Oh, hell."
"Oh my God, Crona!"
Those voices… no, it couldn't be. They couldn't have found him. Not after all this time.
A second later there were hands on his shoulders, trying to pull him into an embrace. "Crona! Oh thank God you're alright!"
"D-don't touch me…" Crona attempted to squirm away from her touch. He couldn't stand it, this kind of compassion, not after everything he had done. And besides… "I-I'm covered in…"
"Shh, it's okay, we're going to get you out of here. You're safe with us."
Crona couldn't decide whether he wanted to laugh or cry at the impossibility of that statement. The decision was made for him as tears squeezed out of his eyes and began to roll down his cheeks.
"Maka, we need to get out of here…" There were more footsteps and Crona felt the presence of the second person beside him, a presence that to his shame caused his cheeks to grow slightly warm. "This place looks like a crime scene. If they catch up to us and see this mess it's not going to help his case any…"
It was then that Crona felt the trembling in Maka's hands. Cold dread coursed down his spine. "T-they? Who are they? What's going on? Why are you here? How did you even know where I was?"
A pause followed his questions that was much too long for comfort. He felt the hands around his shoulders move up to gently hold either side of his face.
"Crona, look at me."
The swordsman gasped sharply and attempted to shake his head. "No, I can't! I can't open my eyes! I can't see-"
"Look at me, please. There's nothing to be scared of. We're not going to let anyone hurt you, okay? Please."
He hesitated. He tried to obey his instincts, truly he did, but in the end he couldn't resist. Not her, not him, not the ridiculous thought that everything would be alright, and although he knew he would never cease to regret it, his eyes slowly cracked open and took in the face of the girl in front of him.
The first thing he saw was the green of her eyes, filled with fear and determination. Then the hand of her weapon partner resting on her shoulder- no too friendly they can't be together no no I don't want to see that- and his eyes slid to the side and saw the blood. The body. The carnage. The smile. She was still smiling as I chopped her to pieces.
So much blood. So much pretty red blood. Not like my blood. My blood is black.
Oh God oh God no stop please no stop no no no no no
Something in Crona's mind that had been barely clinging to his sanity snapped. Out of his throat was forced a small choking sound, which slowly evolved into thin, trembling laughter.
"Aha… ahahahaha…" Maka recoiled as Crona's face broke into a twisted smile. One of his hands moved up to clench in his choppy hair; the gaze of his bulging eyes never left the carcass lying beside them. "She's dead, Medusa's dead, ahahahaha, and I killed her yes I did, I stabbed and stabbed and stabbed and got her pretty red blood all over the walls and Medusa will be so angry at the mess but oh wait she's dead I killed her-"
"Crona?" Maka grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him fiercely. "Crona! Snap out of it, please! Damn it, what did that woman do to you to make you like this again? Soul, we have to get him out of here, if they catch up and see him in this state they will- will…"
The manic laughter immediately ceased. Crona's eyes slowly slid over to focus on Maka and Soul.
"They're going to kill me, aren't they?"
The surprise in Maka's eyes at his question was enough of an answer. Soul tightened his grip on Maka's shoulder and bared his teeth in a grimace. "Not if we can help it. You just need to calm the hell down so we can get you out of here, and we're gonna try our hardest to change Shinigami-sama's decision."
The smile on Crona's face stretched into a grin, and another nervous laugh escaped through his teeth. "But… I want to die."
Maka gasped sharply and Soul's grimace became a dangerous snarl. The former bit back tears of anger and frustration and resumed her earlier action of trying to shake sanity into the swordsman. "Don't say that! Don't you dare say that! We went through so much trouble to track you down and get here before any of the troops Shinigami-sama sent out to search for you got here and we've broken nearly every single rule at Shibusen just by trying to help you! We are not letting you die!"
"Get your hands off of me!" he screamed, lashing out and roughly shoving Maka away. Soul started forward angrily, but stopped and stared in horror as multiple arms forced their way out of Crona's back, each one clutching a sword in its hand.
Maka rose to her feet and, trembling violently, took Soul's hand in hers.
"W-what is that? What the hell did that monster do to him?"
Crona let out a low whine and his eyes became unfocused, as if he were seeing horrors that were invisible to anyone but himself. The volume and pitch of his voice quickly increased along with the speed of his rambling. "Do? What did she do to me? Oh, she did many many things and I screamed and screamed but no one came to save me oh no, but that's okay now because I'm going to die and I can forget all the needles she stuck in me, all the times she cut me open and starved me and hurt me over and over and over and I can forget betraying Maka and Miss Marie even though they loved me and not kissing Soul back even though I should have and hurting Professor Stein and please please please kill me I want to die and I want you to kill me and if you won't I'll have to kill you and wait for someone else to kill me instead-"
Crona stiffened. There was someone behind him, someone that he hadn't sensed beforehand. Before he could turn around or defend himself a fist slammed into the back of his head, blasting him with a powerful soul wavelength and knocking him senseless. His attacker stepped out of the shadows and stood over the unconscious body, rubbing his hand over his bruising knuckles.
"I don't know about you guys," Black Star muttered, "but I couldn't stand to watch that anymore."
Maka let out a sob and ran forward, falling to her knees beside the boy and holding his frail body to her chest. The tears that she had managed to hold back the duration of Crona's mental breakdown were finally freed as she hugged him tightly, not caring that the blood covering him and the floor around him was staining her clothing. Soul stood back and watched in uncomfortable silence; the boy had never been a master at the art of comforting, and in this particular scenario there really was nothing that could be said. He had the distinct feeling that a hug and a "It's okay Maka, our friend's only batshit insane" would do absolutely nothing to make things any better. Black Star, who was even less talented at being sympathetic and thus found himself in a similar situation, instead turned to Soul with a curious frown.
"Did he say that you kissed him?"
AN: The next chapters won't be nearly as long as this one, mostly because my sanity can't handle it. Not that I'm expecting this to be read anyway. Because really, who ships SoCro? Certainly not me. That'd be silly.