Hello my symmetrical beauties! This is another Croma fan fiction, and I hope it's gonna be a good one! Enjoy!
With the Innocence of a Child
Ch 1: Run
That crying little child, who sits in the corner all alone, with no one to talk to, no one to care for them, who's sobs fall on deaf ears, that little child is me. My name is Crona Gorgon, though I don't really feel like the last part of my name, Gorgon, suits me. It's my mother, Medusas, maiden name, as I don't know who my father is, and my mother... I don't think she thinks of me as her child at all. She silences me with her swift strikes across my face, and by locking me a cold dark room, with no food for hours, sometimes days, all alone.
... Well, I'm not actually alone, there's always Ragnarok, always. But I don't think that's such a good thing. He hurts me as much as Medusa, hitting my with his strong little fists. I don't understand why someone who has to share a body with me would always be trying to hurt me. I don't know how to deal with it.
Sit. Sit and wait. Sit and wait and don't talk to anyone. Sit and wait and don't talk to anyone and don't die. That's what she said, but it's so scary here. This ally is so dark, and I can barely see anything. But if I stay in my corner, I'll be safe... Won't I?
"Crona I'm bored!" Ragnarok pops out of my back and complains. "Let's go look around town, we're in Death City, the best city around, let's go eat at a restaurant or something!"
"No Ragnarok, we need to stay here, lady Medusa said so." I rest my head on my knees. "Besides we don't have any money anyway."
"I don't care if we have money or not! I'm not gonna wait around until lady Medusa gets back, we could be sitting here for days!"
"D-days!? She wouldn't leave us for that long, w-would she!?" I start to fidget and shake. 'She can't leave me here, how would I survive? S-she's my mother she can't do that to me she just can't!'
"Hey stop day dreaming and listen to me!" Ragnarok commands hitting me hard on the head. It's best if I just do what he says. "We aren't gonna stay here and sit until we rot, we're going to go into the city and get something for ME to eat, got it?"
"Y-yeah. I got it." I stand up and give my legs a second to wake up before stepping out from behind the garbage can and into the street. There are so many people, more people then I've ever seen in my entire life.
"Ragnarok, I-I don't know how to deal with all these people."
"Don't be an idiot, stupid, there just people, if they try to hurt you we just kill then remember." He gives me a noogie as he explains.
"O-okay..." I still don't feel very good about leaving my corner behind the trash can, and I don't want to hurt anyone. "I-I'm sure nothing will happen."
I take my first step on to the stone road and... I'm okay. The second, third, and seventy-third step are all okay to! The people all smile at me as I go by, and one lady even gave me a little loaf of bread (though Ragnarok stole it from me and ate it). Everyone here is so nice, and not at all like the people lady Medusa tells me about. The dark and evil people who can see all my faults, and who know all the bad things I've done, the people who judge my every movement. She was wrong. Maybe she was wrong about me to.
"Crona I'm hungry." Ragnorok whine, pulling at my cheeks.
"You just ate my bread. How can you be hungry again?"
"First off I'm always hungry, second off it was MY bread, not yours, and third off, shut your mouth and find me some food!" He shakes his fist at me as he says the last part.
"Okay, okay, just please no more hitting."
I start walking toward a stall carrying rice balls, taiyaki, and dumplings. My mouth starts to water as I reach out to take one of the steaming taiyaki. Just as I'm about to take one my hand is swatted at with a newspaper. It stings.
"What do you think you're doing kid!? You can't just take food without paying for it, now either hand over over 506.45 yen or scram!" A large man yells at me.
"Bu-but I don't have any m-money." Why is he yelling at me? What did I do wrong? I don't know how to deal with this!
"Then get out of here! I'm tired of you filthy little urchins always looking for hand outs. Now scram!" He raises his newspaper and I squeeze my eyes shut, I know all to well what's coming next.
"Two taiyaki please."
I open my eyes to see floppy bunny ears. Floppy Bunny Ears!? No, no they're pigtails. And she's a girl, the one who asked for the taiyaki.
"You realize you're gonna have to pay for that right?" The man asks her in the same irritated tone.
She holds up ¥1015 with a smirk. "Is that enough?"
The man snatches up the money with a grumble before handing her the taiyaki. My stomach growls, Medusa hasn't let me eat anything for the past two days, I'm so hungry. I start to walk away but feel a tug on my sleeve.
"You wanted a taiyaki didn't you?" It's the pigtails girl.
I give a small nod. She smiles broadly at me and thrusts a taiyaki into my hands. I finch backward in response holding into the sweet treat for dear life.
"Don't do that, you're gonna break it into crumbs!" She touches my hand softly and my grip loosens. She smiles. "That's better."
"W-who are you? Why are you being so nice to me, I didn't ask you to?"
She blinks at me as though I'm crazy. "I'm Maka Albarn, and I'm being nice to you because..." She pauses in though before going on. "Because that's what my mama would do."
"Y-your mama?"
"Mmm-hmm, my mama is the best, she's strong and kind, and she's the greatest scythe meister next to Shinigami-sama himself!" Her eyes take on a sparkly look to them. Her eyes are a stunning emerald, making my dark amethysts pale in comparison. "Someday I'm Gina be just like her, and I won't stop there, I'll get even better then her, even better the Death!"
I stare at her in awe. She has such big dreams, my dreams are just surviving until the next day.
She looks back at me. "So I told you who I am, now who are you?"
I keep staring at her for a few more seconds before finally speaking in a timid voice. "I-I'm C-Crona Gorgon."
"Crona..." She thinks it over for a second before giving me the biggest grin I've ever seen. "I like it!"
I blush, and my tummy starts to feel all tingle, like I have to use the bathroom but I don't. Trying to hide it I start to eat the taiyaki, taking in big bites of it. It's warm, and filled with chocolate and cream. I eat until there's only crumbs, and then I suck them off my fingers.
"If you're so hungry you can have mine two." Maka hands me her taiyaki and I look at it cautiously.
"Y-you're sure you don't want it?" I fiddle with my fingers and try to ignore the gnawing in my stomach.
She huffs out a sigh before shoving the head into my mouth. "There! Now even if I wanted it back I can't have it."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
No. No, No, No, No, No, No, NO! Ragnorok can't come out no-
"Gimme that taiyaki, I'm the one who wanted it in the first place!" He pops out I'm my back, swiping the taiyaki from my mouth. At least I got a good bite out of it before he stole it.
Maka's staring at, at Ragnarok, at both of us. She thinks I'm a freak, she thinks I'm disgusting, she thinks I'm-
"Cool!" She jumps up to her feet and grabs Ragnaroks cheeks, pulling them into a smile. "What is he?"
"Hey she pig, let me go!" Ragnorok swats Makas hand away rubbing his cheeks. I can't help smiling at how he's blushing.
"This is the demon sword Ragnorok, h-he's my weapon." I look at Maka apprehensively, waiting for her look of disgust, of revolution, but it doesn't come.
"You have a have a weapon! But you look the same age as me, you should be to young to have a weapon yet." She frown before shrugging. "That just makes it even more cooler!"
"Y-you think I'm cool?" I ask shyly.
"Yeah of course."
I blush again. She's so nice to me, no ones ever been this nice to me before. The people in the street where nice to me to, but in there eyes I saw something else. Pity. But in hers, all I can see is admiration. I'm don't know how to deal with it, but I want to learn, because I like it.
"So what are you doing out here exactly she pig? Looking for some truffles?" Ragnarok snickers as he says this.
"Ragnarok be nice!" I scold him as he sinks back into me, before turning back to Maka. Her face has darkened and her hair is covering her eyes.
"I ran away." She says it so quietly that she startles me when she looks up suddenly with tears in her eyes and starts yelling. "Mama and papa got into another fight, so I stole some of papas money, and ran away, and I'm never going back, never ever!"
She starts to sob into her hands, and I reach out a hand to her shoulder. It's awkward but she looks back up at me with a small smile.
"What about you Crona, what are you doing out here?"
I swallow hard on a lump that's formed in my throat. "I-I was waiting for my mother to come back, b-but I don't know when that will be."
"Where did your mother go?"
"I don't know."
"Did she leave you with anyone?"
"No."
She grasps my hands suddenly and I jerk my head up to meet her now determined eyes. "Crona, you should run away with me! We could run away from our families together!"
"Runs away together?" Run away from Medusa, I've thought of it before, but if she ever caught me after, she would, she would- "I can't!"
I jerk my hands away from Makas and curl into a ball. She places a hand on my shoulder. "Why not?"
"If Lady Medusa finds out, she'll beat me worst then ever!" I cover my mouth. 'I shouldn't have said that, now she'll hate me for sure.'
"She beats you!?" She lets out breathy gasp, and I turn my head squeezing my eyes shut. 'She's gonna leave, the only person that ever really liked me is gonna leave.'
I can feel tears prick my eyes.
'Don't go, please don't go Maka.'
Her warm arms pull my head close to her heart, and I can hear the gentle thump-thump-thump that means she's real, this is real. I close me eyes, sinking into her a little more. "Crona, if you run away with me, you wouldn't have to be afraid of her anymore."
"But what if she found us?" I whisper, voice trembling slightly.
She nuzzles her chin into my hair. "I'll protect you, I swear."
I let ailments fall for a few seconds, them a few minute, the an few hours. When the lazy sun is finally yawning in the sky and I can tell that awe'll have to find shelter soon I finally answer.
"Okay."