Don't Look Under The Bed

..::..

...O-oh God. I entered a new fandom. Sorry guys. Those of you awaiting updates on Mania and all of my other Naruto-related stories...I do plan on finishing them up, though at a much slower pace...

Anywho, this story will be short, about seven chapters long, and shouldn't take too long to finish. It's inspired by the Disney Channel Original Movie, Don't Look Under The Bed (obviously). And perhaps the characters are a bit...er...OOC... But it's my first attempt at their personalities. Forgive me! Hiiihhh...

So...Crona is a female in this story, and her parents are Stein and Medusa. My excuse? It's an AU. Why is Medusa so nice in this fic? She does yoga. It keeps her zen. And Stein... Well, he's a creeper, but a lovely one.

Be easy on me, Soul Eater fans. It's my first stab at this kind of thing... Either way, read and enjoy. Feedback of any kind is welcome!

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

..::..

Night 1: Of Water Bottles

"Hm...you smell so nice..."

Medusa grunted somewhat as she felt Stein push his nose into the crook of her neck, feeling his breath as he gave small little sniffs against her skin. His arms around her felt strong and secure.

"Yes, dear, thank you." She smirked somewhat. "Now don't you think we ought to be getting some rest? You've got to be at the hospital quite early tomorrow morning, don't you?" Nonetheless, she stayed where she was, completely content in enjoying the warmth from his body as he entangled their legs and leaned against her.

"Yeah, but what's another couple of hours?" Stein retorted and smirked a bit. She felt the soft expression form against the skin on her neck.

She gave a laugh. "My, my...you really have missed me all day, haven't you?" She questioned, almost turning it into a taunt, as she rolled around in his arms in order to face him. Her eyes were seductive and her gaze was firm. She saw Stein grow a bit more eager as his smirk seemed to twitch further upwards, just a tad.

"Only every hour, minute, millisecond, of the day." He chuckled dryly. "I've waited all day to be here with you." He continued, using two fingers and making them 'walk' up her side and onto her shoulder. "Waited all day just to hold you close, and ravage you with-"

And that's when time stopped and the whole world went to hell.

Though not literally, time did seem to freeze momentarily, Stein's fingers halfway stuck beneath the strap of Medusa's nightgown and the woman's own hands pausing in the gentle caressing to Stein's chest. The scream was loud enough to shake the walls; or at least that's how loud it seemed. Perhaps it was the sudden scare that made it seem so loud, but nevertheless, the couple shared one quick, startled glance before they shoved themselves up. Stein was the first to roll out of bed to grab his glasses, clad only in his favorite white boxers (the ones that Medusa had seen him sew patchwork to at least three times already), and race towards the door.

Medusa also was on her feet in the next second, and racing for the door while simultaneously attempting to pull on her bathrobe. Both she and Stein called out at the same time however, Medusa still hurrying out from the doorway of their bedroom and her husband already halfway down the hall;

"Crona!"

..::..

It really hadn't been such a bad day. Crona had actually quite enjoyed watching the game of basketball that her friend's had played after school, and more than that, she had enjoyed some 'girl time' with Maka once that had ended. A good movie at the blonde's house, and some dessert afterward, and Crona had finally come home to her parent's calm company and had spent the rest of the evening helping to do small things. She had helped her father take the trash out, and had swept the kitchen floor for her mother. Some sweet good nights later, and she had retired to bed.

She was already in her sleeping clothes; her green tank top and a pair of white sleeping shorts with four leaf clovers that scattered about over her legs. She sighed and closed the book that she had been reading while she had reclined in bed, waiting for sleepiness to become just a bit too much to bear. That time had come, apparently, as her eyelids had gotten heavy and she was finding herself yawning.

Checking the time on her bedside clock, she smiled somewhat. Eleven-fifty-seven. That was pretty early for her to be going to bed, really. Usually, she was so riddled with insomnia that she would just lie in bed for hours before she even got the symptoms of sleepiness. This was a good thing.

"Maybe I won't be so tired tomorrow for school." She mused in a hushed tone as she lay her book down besides the clock. "And maybe the dark circles under my eyes will ease up..." She didn't know if she could deal with them getting any darker, after all.

Crona stretched her arms over her head, then, flexing her fingers towards the ceiling and her toes out towards the foot of the bed. Once finished, she gave a yawn. Oh yes, she was definitely ready for bed. Pulling back her covers from beneath herself, the girl began to slide underneath them. She paused and remained sitting up when she glimpsed her bottle of water on the desk as well. It was unopened; although it wasn't cold, it was at least room temperature, so she grabbed it up to get a quick taste before she retired.

However, before he fingers could close around the cap of the bottle to pry it open, she dropped it. Or at least, that's what she assumed had happened. It didn't slip from between her hands and land in her lap like it should have done if she had really dropped it. Instead, Crona had felt a sharp sting in her hands, and her water bottle had flown out of her grasp. She made a small noise of surprise and pulled her hands close to her chest. "Ow..." She mumbled, rubbing her knuckles. "That felt like a...like something hit me..." She said under her breath. How strange.

An odd noise suddenly captured her attention, and she furrowed her brow in confusion before looking to her right, where the water bottle had gone flying off to.

And there it was. Not laying on the ground like she had expected (she hadn't heard the thump of it striking her carpet, come to think of it). Instead, it was resting stock still against her wall. Not leaning against it, either. The bottom of the bottle was flat against the wall and the bottle was simply resting there, a good two feet off of the carpet.

Crona stared and blinked. She rubbed her eyes, hard, trying to fix whatever was wrong with her vision to make her see her water bottle floating. It was just sitting on the wall like it was placed there purposely, like it was completely normal to defy gravity that way. And then she heard the scrapping sound, and she snapped her eyes open, looking quickly to where the bottle had been.

And it was no longer there. But instead of seeing it on the floor where it should have been in the first place, she found it even higher up on the wall. And it was still moving up.

The water bottle was, quite literally, crawling up her bedroom wall.

"A-ah...!" Crona squeaked, jumping backwards in shock. Her back hit the frame of her bed behind her and she yanked her legs up to her abdomen quickly, staring with wide blue eyes at the creepy crawling bottle of water as it made its way towards the junction where wall met ceiling. "N-no way...there's just no way..." But apparently there was, as suddenly the bottle of water was now inching its way across her ceiling, looking effortless while sliding over the white paint of the roof of her room.

And then suddenly, it stopped.

"H-hiii..." Crona felt her body shuddering slightly. Though she was still frightened at this sudden turn of events, she found herself quite curious as to how this all worked. Inching closer to the center of the bed, where the water bottle was hanging just above her, she tilted her head back, wide eyes fixated on the motionless bottle, amazed at how it just...stuck there. It wasn't moving, not even the water inside of it. It was just resting there, as it had been resting on her bedside table. Harmless and innocent. Just...upside down. She shuddered somewhat. "H-how..."

-Click-

She paused and made a gasp of surprise when the water inside of the bottle jostled somewhat. The cap...was that...?

And then water was rushing up her nose, and into her eyes and mouth, and she couldn't breathe. She choked and gasped and flailed as she swiped at her face. Wet bangs stuck to her skin and her now soaking pajamas clung to her body. When she opened her eyes again and looked back towards the ceiling, she was met with another unpleasant surprise as the empty plastic bottle fell and bounced off of her nose. "Ow!" She moaned.

And then she took a shuddering deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs as all that had happened seemed to really sink in, just as the water sank into her bedsheets. Leaping out of bed, she bolted for her bedroom door and flung it open, her legs carrying her down the hall in a desperate run for help.

Thankfully, help was already on the way.

..::..

"Crona! Umf-!" Stein took a couple of staggering steps backwards as his daughter ran at him and all but slammed herself into his chest. His arms wrapped around her shoulders protectively and he was surprised to find that her pink hair was dripping, sending rivulets of water rolling over his arms and stomach. "Why are you wet!" He asked, his tone a bit more alarmed than he had initially intended.

"Crona!" Medusa was there now, and she was gathering the teen into her arms, also expressing her concerns over why their daughter was soaked to the bone when she was supposed to have been going to sleep.

"What happened?" Stein demanded, gently rubbing the now quietly sobbing girl's shoulders.

"There-there was s-something...! In my room!" Crona hiccuped, rubbing her eyes to clear them from the tears spilling over.

"What?" Stein quickly took the initiative and turned around, hurriedly making his way down the hall and pushing the door to Crona's room open. He walked in and took a wide, sweeping look about the room. He stepped over to the bed, eyebrows furrowed as he grabbed up the empty plastic bottle and cap from Crona's bed. "Hnn...empty water bottle explains wet Crona..." He mused. "But why would she...?" He turned, empty bottle still in hand, and began to look around the room.

Upon inspection, there was no one in the closet, or under the bed. He checked the windows to be sure that they were closed and locked properly. It was strange, to say the least. He looked down at the object in his hand. Why would Crona...? He shook his head somewhat and left the room to go after his wife and child. They had retreated to his bedroom and when he stepped inside, they were both sitting on the bed, and Medusa was towel drying Crona's short hair while the girl hugged her knees.

"Crona?" Stein asked. When the girl looked up at him, he held up the water bottle. "Explain what happened." He requested.

Medusa paused in her work, and moved away, to allow Crona to talk. The girl grabbed the towel and rested it around her shoulders, looking down at her toes as she rested her chin on her knees. "The...the bottle..." She muttered.

"Yes." Stein nodded. "Did you do this to yourself?" He asked.

Crona look up with widened eyes. "N-no...!" She said, shaking her head quickly. "I didn't... It...it..." She looked down again, fidgeting. "It was something in my room." She said, looking up to her father with teary eyes again. "Something was there, and something slapped the bottle out of my hands! The water bottle, it...it...it was sliding up the wall and onto my ceiling, and then it opened when it was hanging over my bed." She sniffled a little bit.

Stein, meanwhile, just stared at her blankly before he exchanged looks with Medusa, who looked rather concerned. When he looked back at Crona, he cleared his throat and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "It...hm. It slid up your wall?" He asked.

"Yes." Crona nodded. "It was just... It got slapped right out from my hands, dad, I swear."

"Crona...you know that that story is just..."

"Impossible." Stein finished for his wife. "There's no way for a bottle to be knocked out of your hands if there was no one in the room. Your windows were shut and locked, too, so the idea that a particularly hard gust of wind was the cause would also be unacceptable." He put the empty bottle right side up on the desk besides his bed and sat down next to the pink haired girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you were having a bad dream, and you opened the bottle in your sleep?"

"But I never fell asleep..." Crona groaned, looking pleading. "Please, dad, you have to believe me. The bottle flew out of my hands... It slid up my wall. I know it sounds ridiculous, and you probably won't know how to deal with it, but it's true." She sniffled again and Stein quickly wiped away a few stray tears as they fell down her cheeks.

" All right, all right..." He shushed gently. He pulled her against his side and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I believe you, Crona. You would never lie to us." He looked at Medusa, who smiled and nodded somewhat in confirmation. It was true; Crona had always been a very honest child. "But there has to be a reasonable explanation. When I figure it all out, you'll see." He smiled a bit. "Okay?"

Crona hiccuped again. "O-okay..." Though she didn't seem at all satisfied with his answer. And she didn't move from her spot on the bed, either. He could feel her shaking besides him. He wasn't sure if it was from fear or from cold, however.

"Crona," Medusa lay her hands atop the girls pink hair. "Would you maybe like to sleep here with us tonight?" She knew her daughter well, as did Stein; Crona couldn't deal with a lot of things, and she was easily unsettled. It was plain to see that she was shaken up. Though he was a bit put off at the thought that he and his wife were going to have their child sleeping between them tonight, he was content with knowing that at least this way, Crona could relax.

The girl did look a bit relieved at the offer. Perhaps she had not been wanting to be the first to suggest it. "Y-yeah..." She nodded timidly. "Can I...?"

"Of course." Stein nodded and pulled away from her carefully, rising to his feet and half-way closing their bedroom door. As he headed back towards the bed, Medusa and Crona were already fixing themselves under the covers. He smiled somewhat and did the same, successfully trapping Crona between himself and his wife as he took the right-hand side of the bed. "Now then, in the morning, this will all seem silly once I figure out what really happened. Okay, sweetheart?" He asked, patting his daughter once on the head before he rolled over to get comfortable.

Behind him, he heard Crona mumble an 'mm-hmm' quietly, and then the bed shifted somewhat as his wife and daughter both arranged themselves to be comfortable.

"Goodnight, darling." Medusa called to him. "Crona." She added.

"Night mom...night dad..." Crona replied.

Stein merely grunted. "Goodnight..."

To say the least, it had been quite an interesting night. And little did the family know that it was simply the beginning of an even stranger week.