A/N: The title of this story is the title of a song by Quietdrive. I like that song. ^^ I decided to make this while I'm still coming up with ideas for chapter 22 of my other story. My original characters won't be here. (They don't have to.) This story will be about Crona and Kid when they were little, how they become friends (or more than that) and how Crona got the black blood, etc. It won't be completely original though because I'll use my favorite novel as reference, actually, it's the novel that gave me the idea for chapter one. I'll probably use movie stories, my sister's idea as reference and surely my own ideas of course. I don't know how many chapters I will make for this story but it won't definitely be a one shot. This is just for fun!
Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.
Chapter 1: Black Blood
Crona still had blonde hair like her mother back then. She was seven years old the first time she heard the word bastard. It happened on a Saturday. It must have, because Crona remembered that she had been restless and preoccupied that day, the day she was only on Saturdays, the day when she had to clean up her mother's laboratory. Crona had climbed a chair to brush off dusts from her mother's desk using a feather duster. Something caught her attention while she carefully cleaned the wooden dark brown table… an Erlenmeyer flask with a black liquid in it. "I haven't seen this before," she thought, her sky blue eyes glistened as she leaned her lower arms on the table and moved her head a little closer to the flask with black liquid. "It must be new." Curiosity got the better of her. She slowly reached out the flask and held it. She pulled it closer to her face and shook it gently from left to right and vice versa. "It looks like… blood," she thought. "But why is it… black?" She suddenly heard the loud creak of the laboratory's door as it swung open. Crona felt her body stiffened as she feared that it was her mother that entered who lab.
When Medusa saw the flask in Crona's hand, she glared at her daughter. "Crona!" she shouted angrily which made Crona flinch. Her grip on the flask quickly loosened when she started to tremble and panic. It eventually slipped from her hand, fell to the white tiled-floor and shattered into pieces. The black blood was spilled all over the floor. The sound of breaking glass pierced Crona's ears, made her eyes shut and closed her hands. Medusa's face flushed in red and her upper lip shivered, and her eyes, settled on Crona in a flat, unblinking way. Crona's eyes started to water, making her vision blurry. She had the feeling that she'll get trouble again for her clumsiness. She slowly came down from the chair and tried picking up the pieces. She didn't dare try to look at her mother, not even a glance. She kept facing down. She accidently wounded her finger when she grasped a piece with sharp edges. Blood instantly flowed out of the wound. Crona held her wrist, winced and closed her eyes.
Medusa looked so mad that Crona feared insanity would enter her mother's body again. But the insanity didn't come, not that time. Instead, Medusa grabbed Crona by the wrists, pulled her close, ignored her wound, and through gritted teeth, said, "You are a clumsy little bastard. This is my reward for everything I've endured, a useless, clumsy, little bastard." The unconstructive words of criticism reverberated in Crona's mind as she stared into her mother's eyes with her watery sky blue orbs. At that time, she did not understand what bastard meant. But her mother kept talking, making her heart ache every time she spoke rudely with her stern voice. She did surmise, by the way Medusa said the word, and that it was an ugly, loathsome thing to be a bastard, like a pest, like the scurrying cockroaches that Crona was always sweeping out of the house. She could almost comprehend the meaning of it now. It was the way Medusa uttered the word—not so much saying it as spitting it her—that made Crona feel the full sting of it. She understood then what Medusa meant, that a bastard was an unwanted thing; that she, Crona was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home and acceptance.
Harrold, Crona's father, never called Crona bastard, back when he was still alive. He said she was his little flower, his precious child. He was fond of sitting her on his lap and telling her stories like the time he told her that he will create something that will protect her from anything harmful when she was about five years old. He didn't tell her what it was, not like she cared or understood. She only knew Harrold was promising something that will make her happy, judging by his smiling face and gentle words to her. But it was the thing that killed him, the thing that Medusa was continuing to study. The Black Blood.
Flashback – Two Years Ago
After Crona's father finished reading a story to her, he said, "Crona, since you're my first and probably my last child, I want you to be a good girl and grow up as an obedient child to me and your mother." Little Crona was sitting on her father's lap. She smiled and nodded at her father. "You're half human and half witch but we still want you to act as a normal person. And since you're half human, you are going to get yourself hurt easily by physical means. I don't want that to happen, Crona. I don't want to lose my precious daughter." He hugged Crona tight. "So your papa is working on a research now," he whispered. "I'm making Black Blood for you, dear. You'll have it so you'll be safer." He smiled and kissed Crona's cheek which made Crona giggle. She didn't really understand what her father said but she was sure that what he said was a good thing.
Back to Present
Thirteen-year-old Ragnarok knocked with the back of his left hand on the faded blue green-colored metallic door right next to where he was standing even though he was already inside the lab. His right arm was folded, holding onto his left upper arm. His back rested on the wall, his leg stretched out and the other folded a little, the foot stepping on the wall behind him. He glanced at the mother and daughter in front of him with lazy eyes. He was clearly used to seeing Crona getting scolded by her mother and he usually cared less. But that time, the sight of Crona looking so helpless made him glare, and he didn't know exactly why. Was he angry at Medusa? He, himself, wasn't sure. But he tried to make things straight in his mind. Crona was young. She does deserve some scolding but calling her a bastard? That made Ragnarok start to care. Crona wasn't the only bastard in the house. And Medusa obviously forgot about that. She didn't think that Ragnarok might hear her. Medusa slowly looked back and saw Ragnarok, her eyes like daggers. Ragnarok's glare faded, not because he was afraid of his master, but because he had to tell her something important without her asking why he's looking at her like that.
"What?" Medusa asked, sounding annoyed at Ragnarok's interruption. "You have a visitor, Medusa-sama," Ragnarok replied nonchalantly, looking at her with solemn eyes, standing a few meters away. "Who is it?" She let go of Crona as she turned to face Ragnarok. She was in her laboratory coat with a black dress underneath it. Crona took the opportunity even though she knew she'll get trouble again. She couldn't stand being in the place anymore. She started running towards the door, facing down, her eyes half-lidded, tears falling and she kept wiping them with her hands as she ran. Ragnarok glanced at her, emotionless while Medusa glared until she vanished from the room. She decided to deal with her later.
"It's someone from Shibusen… who doesn't know you're a witch," said Ragnarok when Crona was out of the room already. Medusa's cold eyes remained but she flinched and gritted her teeth when she heard the academy's name, the academy she always hated with its staff, rules and goals. "He only knows that you can be a good nurse in the school's dispensary," Ragnarok continued. Medusa's serious expression gradually faded. She faced down, closed her eyes and smiled. "It must be that dumbass, Spirit Albarn. I met him somewhere in Africa while he was on a mission there." Ragnarok looked at her quizzically. "What the hell were you doing in Africa?" he said. Medusa looked at him again, still smiling. She folded her arms. "I was looking for an ingredient essential to my experiment."
Ragnarok looked away. "For the Black Blood, huh?" he said, sounding bored. "That's right." Ragnarok looked at her again. "I'm still wondering why you're working so hard on that, Medusa-sama." Medusa chuckled. "Don't worry, Ragnarok, you'll soon find out," she said. "Right now, would you be so kind as to fetch that little brat? She shouldn't have gone that far." She started walking towards the door. Ragnarok glared at her when he suddenly remembered everything she said to Crona a while ago that somehow indirectly affected him too. He was too tired to argue. "Okay," he calmly replied to Medusa who was standing a meter away from him now. He walked out of the room. "Your visitor's still waiting for you, by the way," he reminded her when he was outside already. "Tell him to wait a little longer, I still have to clean up this mess Crona made," said Medusa as she and Ragnarok glanced at the broken flask and spilled black blood on the floor behind them. "Understood," said Ragnarok.
Spirit looked up at Ragnarok when he entered the living room. He had been sitting on the red couch for almost twenty minutes already. "She said she wants you to wait a little longer, she's still cleaning some things up," Ragnarok said when he stood in front of Spirit across the fragile center table. Spirit smiled. "Sure!" he said. "I'm not in a hurry anyway." Ragnarok didn't smile back at all. "I got to go now." He turned around. "That reminds me, there was a little blonde girl who ran through here. She went outside. And she somehow reminds me of my adorable daughter, Maka." His eyes became hearts. "It was just Crona," replied Ragnarok without looking at Spirit and he raised a hand, like a sign of 'don't worry'. Spirit held his chin. "Oh, I don't know her but I do hope she's okay." Ragnarok continued walking towards the front door. "Bye," he said then closed the door behind him. "I hope too," he finally admitted to himself as he faced down. When he looked up, the Sun was already high and it was chuckling. He wondered where Crona went to.
A/N: Well, that was all for chapter 1. I know, it was short but I didn't rush it. I guess that's why I took a lot of time. Anyway, Paragraph 5 was taken from the chapter 3 of my second story but I changed it a little. If you want to know what happened to her dad or how he died, read that chapter but it might confuse you a little since it is chapter 3 already. So you might as well read from the beginning. Please review if you can to let me know what you think about chapter 1 and to let me know if I should continue. I already have ideas for the next chapter(s). ~
