Hello, reader! Welcome to my first Soul Eater fic! I've wanted to write this for a long time now, and I finally managed to pull through and get it finished as a one-shot (it was admittedly originally going to be multi-chapter, but alas school and life continue to get in the way). Maka/Chrona is my favorite pairing in Soul Eater, and it's my favorite shoujo-ai pairing as well. So if you don't like girl!Chrona or Maka/Chrona, you might still enjoy the fic if you view it like friendship, I guess. Any x's mean there's a change of scene. This story was inspired by Imogen Heap's song "Goodnight and Go", but it's not a songfic by any means and only has a few similarities to the song itself in the final draft. So onward to the fic! Enjoy!

Details

Chrona lay on her side staring at the wall from her bed. She shivered and hugged her knees into her chest, eyes wide in fear. It was cold. Really cold. And it was dark, so dark. She was closed up in here, this small room, stuck in the dark and the cold with no one else there. "Somebody… let me out…," she whimpered.

"Aw, not again!" came a harsh voice in her ear. Chrona flinched at the splintering pain in her back as Ragnarok, the creature created from the black blood that lived in her veins, broke to the surface of her skin and formed into the shape of a small puppet on her back. He pinched her cheeks hard and poked her forehead with a pair of white, oversized hands. "Quit your whining, it's annoying! You have any clue how annoying it is to sleep with you complaining like this?"

"Ow, Ragnarok, stop it! That hurts," Chrona squirmed around and protested, but she quickly gave up and let the creature bully her. They had been stuck together since Chrona was a young child, and still she had no idea how her mother had done it. But then again, being a powerful witch allowed one to do some seemingly impossible things, like implanting cursed black blood into one's own daughter and allowing her to utilize it as a weapon.

"It hurts? Yeah right, you wouldn't know if something hurt if it hit you in the face, you're too spacy!" To punctuate this, he hit her across the face with a small white hand. Chrona yelped and rubbed the sore spot as Ragnarok grinned.

"But it… just hurts," the girl mumbled, "I need to get out of here, I can't deal with this place." Her eyes slid around in their sockets, slowly looking over her shoulder and taking in the room, her room.

It was like a prison cell. A wrought iron bed and a stool were the only furniture; when Chrona had been brought to Shibusen, she hadn't asked for anything, so this was what she had been given as the necessities. A barred window was set in the stone wall above her bed, casting a row of dark rectangles across the floor. Even if the school was in the city, the light allowed in the room was surprisingly dim. A single light bulb swung overhead but no light came from it.

Chrona curled up even tighter. "Too dark…"

Ragnarok poked her nose and jabbed at the corner of her mouth. "Well, it would be dark if the light wasn't working, wouldn't it, stupid?"

The girl shut her eyes tightly and covered her head with a cold pillow. The black blood creature continued to beat at her through the thin stuffing. Chrona sighed. "Please stop," she mumbled, "It's giving me a headache." But he didn't stop pounding at her head with his small fists, and she made no move to stop him. He was her blood, after all. You can't do much to fight against the thing that keeps you alive.

"You're such an idiot, getting this scared because the light went out!" Ragnarok chanted along with his punches, "It's not that big a deal!"

Chrona thought back to when she had first been implanted with Ragnarok. A dark room, no light… stuck in there for three days, and then again, and again… She hugged her pillow down on top of her head. She couldn't let herself think about those times right now, it was too scary already. Chrona peeked out from under the pillow; she couldn't see anything, save for those small rectangles in the middle of the floor. Chrona held her breath and dared not breathe. The darkness, Ragnarok's pounding, her headache, it was all spiraling and meshing into one huge ball of confusion and fear. A frog croaked somewhere outside.

That was it. Chrona flew out of bed and ran to the door. Ragnarok whipped around behind her, shrinking to the size of her hand and shifting over to her left shoulder. "Wait, what're you doing? You can't just go jumping around the place and expect me to be totally okay with it! That hurt!"

Chrona grabbed the door handle and shook it, eyes mad. She glanced behind her up at the window. Frogs didn't scare Chrona, it was just that… what if it was that particular frog? She'd come to check up on Chrona, tell her to do something on behalf of her mother, remind her of that world full of witches she had to deal with before being taken by Shibusen. It was too much!

"Ragnarok!" she squeaked as she shook the door handle again, "Get in the keyhole and open the door? Please!"

Ragnarok gave her a long look, but sunk back down into her skin and obeyed. He resurfaced through her fingertip and a few droplets of black blood slipped through the keyhole. Chrona heard a soft click and the door was open. She flew out of the room with the blood drops speeding after her. They caught onto her hand and reentered her bloodstream—Chrona was never able to get rid of even a drop of her black blood before it came zipping back to her.

Chrona dashed down the dim stone corridor in the basement of Shibusen. "Where're we going?" Ragnarok poked his head out, staring up at the girl through her messily clipped pale violet hair.

The girl swung around another corner, looking around wildly and praying no one would find her. "We're going…" Where was she going? All she knew was that she needed to get out of here, and fast, before she totally lost her mind. Racking her brain for ideas, she finally found one: a small apartment, where no less than two of the people who had been kind to her before lived. It seemed like a good bet. "We're going… to a friend's house," she said to her little blood creature.

It wasn't until Chrona had reached the surface and was sneaking off the school grounds that she realized what she had set herself up for: she was going to Maka's house.

x

Chrona lifted a hand to knock on the simple apartment door. She hesitated, then let the hand fall to her side. Why was she even here? Bothering Maka was the last thing she wanted to do, but she was scared. She needed to talk to someone. Ragnarok hissed in her ear: "Hey, knock already! You're too slow!"

Chrona flinched and put a finger to her lips. "Ssh, Ragnarok!" she whispered, "I'll knock! Don't go announcing that we're here just yet!"

Ragnarok folded his tiny arms. "Hmph. Fine. But I'll have to steal your pillow tonight because you made me impatient!"

"Aw, no, please don't do that!" Chrona whined, "I'll have no pillow, then how will I sleep? I can't sleep without a pillow…"

Sudden footsteps inside the apartment made her freeze up. "Hello? Someone there?" a girl's voice floated through the thin wall.

A boy's voice came through as well: "Somebody's at the door? I'll get it."

"No, it's fine, Soul, I got it." There was a soft click as the door was unlocked and opened wide to reveal a smiling girl sporting pigtails, jean shorts, and a yellow hoodie.

Chrona did not know why, but whenever she was close to Maka Albarn her stomach did a flip-flop. It wasn't something she had come across with anyone else at Shibusen, just this girl who she had fought on orders from her mother, lost to, and who had saved her from her loneliness. Yes, Maka was Chrona's first true friend she had ever known. She liked the girl quite a lot.

Maka's expression quickly changed from one of question concerning the visitor to one of delight. "Chrona! So great to see you!" she swept the taller girl up in a huge hug. Chrona looked down at the ground and tried to hide the hot feeling creeping up her face. She hoped she wasn't sick. Maka stepped back and beamed up at her, then her face fell. "Chrona? You okay? You look kind of gray…"

"Ah!" Chrona exclaimed, covering her cheeks with her hands. Her blood was rushing to them, and it was so bad Maka could see it? She must be sick. "Um… I… my room's light and heat… went out… won't turn back on…"

"Oh, that's always happening down there at Shibusen. The school's so old the generators sometimes stall up." A boy with white hair and red eyes, Soul Eater Evans, slouched beside Maka in the doorway with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was her weapon, a scythe to be specific. Chrona had learned that despite his rather ordinary appearance as a weapon, no one was as dedicated to his meister as Soul.

Maka looked over her shoulder at Soul, then back at Chrona. "Oh, if that's the problem you can stay with us! It gets pretty cold at night, y'know. Come on in." She took Chrona's hand and led her inside the small apartment. Chrona's heart sped up the smallest amount.

Soul nodded a welcome and strolled over to the small kitchen area, where a pot of water was boiling on the stove. "You're just in time, I was making pasta."

"Pretty much the only thing we eat when it's his night to cook besides instant ramen," Maka joked.

"It's decent!"

Maka laughed and flopped down at the kitchen table. "Kidding, it's okay."

"I knew that," Soul muttered from the stove, "A cool guy like me can pick up sarcasm when he wants to…"

Chrona stood by the counter and watched the conversation, trying to make herself as small as possible. She was beginning to regret coming here; she was just intruding.

The blonde girl at the table looked over at Chrona shying away in the corner and patted the seat next to her. "Chrona, come sit," she said with a big grin, "Soul's got the food covered, we just get to sit here and enjoy it!"

Wordlessly, Chrona walked over to the chair and sat on her hands, slouching in her seat and generally trying to make herself smaller.

Maka raised her eyebrows. "…Chrona? You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Chrona said a little too quickly, shaking her head up and down, "E-everything's f-fine!"

Maka rested her head on her fist and looked at the girl. "You sure? 'cause you know you can talk to me about it if you need to. I mean, that's what I'm here for as your friend, right?" she added.

"Ah… I'm just… scared about the lights in my room," Chrona said, "It was pretty dark and cold down there."

Maka nodded. "Yeah, I could only imagine. I'm surprised Marie hasn't done anything about it."

Chrona's gut wrenched. Marie. She was going to check on her come dinnertime, like she always did, but Chrona wouldn't be there to greet her! She was so dumb to be worrying her like that, Marie was too kind to deserve that kind of grief. The girl ducked her head and tensed up even more. "C-could I… call Marie and tell her I'm okay?" she whispered.

"Catch."

Maka spun around in her seat and caught the wireless phone Soul tossed her. She handed it to Chrona. "Here you go. If you want, I can call her."

Chrona fumbled with the phone, her hands shaking as her nerves acted up even more. She managed to dial the number and reach Marie, where she stumbled over a quick apology and explanation for her absence. But no matter how Marie thanked her for calling, the girl still ended up curled up in the chair shaking with embarrassment and guilt after the conversation ended. "Sh-she's going to g-get in so much trouble because of me! I sh-should just go b-back!"

Soul turned the stove off and strained the pasta, mixing it all up with some sauce in a big bowl and setting it on the table. "Marie's not going to get in trouble for letting you stay somewhere lit and warm," he said, wiping off the counter.

"Just try to relax and eat something," Maka added as she set out four table settings.

Chrona flinched as Ragnarok poked through her skin again to loom over her shoulder. "Well, whaddaya know? You guys remembered a place for me! See, Chrona, we should hang out here more often!"

Chrona ducked her head and muttered something inaudible. She took her seat and Ragnarok helped himself to a large serving of pasta.

Maka and Soul sat down across from them and dug into the pasta. Everyone ate quickly, Ragnarok grabbing at the pasta for seconds. "Gimme some more!" he screeched, "I'm hungry! Hand it over!" Maka picked up the bowl to pass it over to him, but he snatched it out of her hands and promptly gulped down the last of it.

Chrona gaped at him in horror. "R-Ragnarok!" she choked, "We're guests here, why'd you go and do that?"

"When I want food, I want food," he grinned at her as he swiped her plate up, "And I'm still starving. They don't give us anything back at Shibusen!"

Maka suddenly shot out her arm and grabbed the strange little creature by its arm. Ragnarok was so shocked he dropped the plate, allowing it to clatter back onto the table with pasta spilling everywhere. She glared at him. "Quit bothering her like that," she said, her voice steady, "She's just trying to eat her dinner."

Chrona balled up her fists in her lap and ducked her head. This was a disaster; Maka was going to hate her for bursting in like this and causing a scene. She just wanted to shrink down into a tiny ball and drop right through the floor—

"Pfft, fine," the blood creature relented, pulling Chrona out of her guilt spiral for a moment, "I wasn't in the mood for this crappy pasta anyway." He spat and shrank down into Chrona's back, disappearing back into her bloodstream.

Chrona winced and set about putting whatever pasta was still on the table back on the plate. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "He's just really rowdy and impolite about food. Doesn't understand being nice…" Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip.

Maka watched her eat as Soul brought the rest of the dishes back to the kitchen. "Why do you put up with him?"

Chrona looked up from her fork at her, then back down when she felt herself blushing again. "He's the black blood in me," she said, "There's not much I can do."

"Sorry, I mean how do you put up with something like that? Nagging on you, pushing you around all day, I'd never figure out how to deal with something like that."

"I don't," Chrona responded plainly, "I don't know how I deal with it. I just… wait. He usually gets tired after a while and goes to sleep."

Maka gave her a look that simultaneously made Chrona's heart drop out of her chest and break into pieces when she realized it was a look of pity. Pity wasn't exactly what she wanted from Maka.

She coughed and tried to salvage the situation. "I-I mean it's not too bad, h-he's really helpful when I collected kishin eggs—not that I do that anymore, but he'd still be good at it, but it's not like we would, and um, ah…"

Maka waved her hand and stretched in her seat. "It's fine, I get it. I think. But for now, you've got me watching out for you," she said with a grin, "So no more stupid blood… thing. At least not at our place."

Chrona got up abruptly and went over to the kitchen to help Soul with the dishes. She didn't want Maka seeing the ridiculous blush that had suddenly bloomed all over her face and neck.

x

Even bundled up in blankets on the sofa in Maka's apartment, Chrona was cold. The flannel pajamas she had borrowed from Maka helped a little even if she occasionally found herself shuddering from the temperature. Nothing compared to the freezing temperatures of the stone walled cell she would be sleeping in otherwise, but it was chilly enough to keep her up with nothing to do but stare out into the dark. Why were desert nights so cold? The window commanded a pleasant view of a street lined with other apartment buildings, some of which still had lights on and illuminated little square spots out in the dark.

Chrona hugged her blankets closer and shut her eyes tight. She hated the dark, everything bad always happened in the dark. That room, that scary little room in the dark. Being stuck there with nothing but Ragnarok to beat at her and berate her, then being sent back there again and again until the weeks blended together. All to kill that stupid little animal. Towards the end of it, Chrona didn't care. In the end, all she wanted was to get out of that little dark room. If that meant that the little animal was going to have to die, then so be it; she'd give anything to be out of the dark.

She ducked under her pillow and buried herself deeper into the cushions of the couch. She missed… no, she didn't miss anything. There was nothing to miss. But there was something there, nagging her. She wanted something, but she wasn't sure what. Chrona knew there was a lot of things missing from her life that she didn't even know were missing, but she never gave it much thought. Now, there was something there and it demanded to be addressed. What it was asking to be addressed, however, remained a mystery.

The door behind the couch clicked and squeaked open. Chrona jolted upright and nearly fell onto the floor from the sudden noise. She looked around wildly in the dark, trying to figure out just what was going on.

"Hey, Chrona," whispered Maka's voice through the darkness, "You can't sleep, either?"

Chrona curled up on the couch. "No," she said, "It's too dark. I… don't know how to deal with the dark."

Maka walked over to sit on the couch next to her. Chrona noticed her hair was down. She'd never seen her with her hair out of its usual pigtails, she realized. Chrona decided that she looked much more grown up this way, even a bit elegant despite the baggy striped pajamas she was wearing. She also decided with a sinking heart that she had discovered what had been nagging at her all night.

Maka pulled her feet up onto the couch and lay down facing away from Chrona. "You don't mind me being here, do you?" she asked, "The main room is the warmest."

"I-it's fine," Chrona managed to get out. Then she added, "Is Soul okay?"

Maka shrugged. "Who knows? He's too much of a cool guy to admit that he's cold," she said with a smile in her voice. It was infectious; Chrona found herself smiling, too.

She sat up and pushed one of her blankets over to Maka's side of the couch. "Here," she said simply before burying herself in blankets and pillows again. She wasn't used to talking this much to people; it was exhausting to have to talk after a while. Maka took the blanket and the two of them lapsed into silence.

"Chrona?"

"…Yes?"

"I'm glad you came over today," Maka said quietly. A pause. "I mean, I'm glad I could help you out."

Chrona pulled her blanket up to her chin. "Thank you," she whispered, "You… and Soul are really nice to help."

"Just remember, if you ever want anything else in the future, I'm right here."

Chrona nodded. "Okay," she said, her gut twisting at the idea of the one thing—or rather, person—she wanted, she could probably never have. Even if she was right next to her.

But you know what? Even if things never went her way, Ragnarok still beat her up, and the frog kept visiting, that was all in the future. For now, Maka was right here and looking out for her in the cold and dark. She wanted Chrona to be safe and happy. And compared to that, everything else was a minor detail.

This fic was a hard one to figure out how to wrap it up. I guess a bittersweet ending fits the pair well, as much as I'd love for it to be happy! But before I digress into fangirling mode, thank you for reading this story. Soul Eater is loads of fun to write, and I'd love to know what you thought of my first attempt!