PROLOGUE: THE AWAKENING

It's funny how one minute you're king of the world, things starting to look up for you; maybe you'd even rule the world. The next minute, you' can find yourself getting your ass kicked by your weaker counterpart, bleeding on the floor like some old dying fart.

"No, C-Crona! Please! Don't do it!"

And begging never exactly helps stopping the blade pierce your newly formed heart.

This is what it felt like to be the Madness right now. Made of out of pure black blood, it stared up at the cloudy sky, cringing from both the pain and the showers of rain dropping on it. During all this, it wondered to itself where the hell it went wrong. It had everything, no one could beat it, not the defeater of the Kishin, that blue haired brat, the cute kitty-

It was like a flame burst to life in its chest, feeling it with a newly formed rage.

That...that..THAT BITCH!

Audibly gurgling on its blood, the Madness let its anger be known in an animal like roar that all of Death City heard. A roar that drummed through their ears even when the Black Blood creature dissolved to its primitive form.

To them it was over.

Nothingness. Pitch black. Darkness. That was all it could see...nothing new there. After all, that was all it could see for weeks; so many weeks it lost count. Okay, sure it had the occasional look of the outside world but other than that, nothing. But what it could make out doing those brief periods made it feel like just killing itself if it had a body to do so.

"Oh, Crona, come on!"

"Maka..."

"You don't have to be afraid. I got you."

God, did it want to puke! That pig cow and him...together. If it was in control, it'd just grab the bitch by the pigtails and pull her fucking head off! But it couldn't move or speak.

Until a week ago.

There were moments when it felt muscle tense, the wing blowing from the open window through its pink-he needed to fix that- hair. That could only mean one thing: control. No more would it have to be imprisoned inside this weakling of a human and then it'd be finally free to finish what it started. Crona had noticed this and his fear gave it strength despite its predicament. Precautions were taken into effect.

"Good luck, Stein."

Ah, perfect. The bastard's now letting it take over. As it slowly came into possession of the body, feeling the jerk of its navel, it felt cold metal on its wrists and ankles. Restraints. Even it had to admit that whilst the attempt was worth taking, it was all but futile. It then felt hands grab it and it entire body began to shake.

"Crona! Crona, what's going on? CRONA!"

Stein.

The one person who Crona went to for help, requesting a restraint chair to used once a week, sparing him the minor details. Having an old evil trapped in his body seemed like a major issue looking back.

Well, if he wants to know, what was it not to tell? its eyelids slowly rose and it could see the screwball of a scientist back off with a look of uncharacteristic disbelief on his face, standing in the hallway of the schools dungeons. So, it's just been back and already someone is scared. What a fantastic start.

"Evening, Screwy." the Madness grinned, its fangs glistening in the moonlight that shone through the dungeon windows

Professor Franken Stein was a man who bark stood back a bit in shock as he hesitantly locked eyes with the creature strapped in the very chair Crona sat in seconds ago. The being clicked his tongue, its amusement of its new "caretaker's" reaction now nonexistent.

"Well, are you not gonna cower in fear?" the Madness asked. "No cliché phrases like 'It's not true?' Come on, react! Anything, work with me here- "

A sound that sounded like both a laugh and a grunt of pain escaped its mouth as Stein retracted his fist from its stomach, eyes narrowing at the creature in front of him. The former Black Blood creature raised its head slightly with a few giggles, its yellow orbs illuminated behind the bangs of pink hair.

"That was for threatening Marie." Stein turned the bolt in his head.

"Oh, yes. I heard that you and One-Eye hooked up." the Madness smirked. "So how's it going? Can we be seeing a little Stein in the world? Can't wait to meet him."

Stein just looked blankly back, though on the inside he was slowly considering just killing the Madness here and there. But he needed answers to solve the questions that plagued his mind for the last five minutes:

How is it back?

What does it know?

And most importantly; what is it up to?

"Then again..." the Madness drawled, gaining Stein's reluctant attention. "Maybe Miss Hammer might just die giving birth. Now that'd be funny." Stein's clenched fist made its grin widen. "Then you can live up to your namesake."

The final straw was broken. Stein went for the Madness; seconds later, he felt his back hit the wall as the Madness grabbed hold of his lab coat, its restraints falling off its wrists and ankles with four loud clangs of metal. Stein himself pushed the Madness off and straightened his coat. The two glared at each other in disdain until the Madness went for the door, only for Stein to block. The Crona lookalike sighed.

"Oh, what? Ya wanna dissect me?"

"Do you really think that I'm just going to let you leave!"

"Yep." the Madness nodded. "Part of my agreement with pinkie. He lets me out a few hours, I don't kill."

"And how do I know you're not lying?" Stein scoffed. "Deception is second nature to your creator and I certainly believe it's second nature to you.'

The Madness' grin was forced at the mention of Medusa.

"You're just gonna have to trust me, won't ya? Besides, he's got some of your lot on patrol tonight. Not like I can kill anyone if I wanted to."

"What?" Stein raised an eyebrow at this, ignoring the revelation that the other teachers knew the entire time; he didn't blame them given his nature but still it would have helped to know.

"Oh, it's simple." the Madness's grin became a scowl. "The little bastard said he'd kill himself if I offed someone. Doing that would kill moi off too."

At this, Stein had to smirk a little. Guess Crona wasn't as shy as he looked. The Madness looked down at itself and saw it was wearing a black suit jacket with a plain white shirt and black pants, a direct contrast to what Crona used to wear, but it felt at home in them.

"Now if you'll excuse me...I'll be back in a hour. So, clean this up! " the Madness stepped out the cell and began to walk through the dungeons. But Stein wasn't done.

"If you're not back...I'm assuming Crona would want me to hunt you down."

The Madness didn't even turn back as it went up the steps yet its voice had an edge hiss to it when it spoke.

"Oh, good luck with that, Stein."

Stein heard the doors slam and immediately took out a cigarette to puff on.

'I know that madness itself takes many forms.' the scientist thought, blowing out smoke. 'But this is ridiculous.'

He sighed deeply, turning the bolt in his head.


END CHAPTER

R AND R