"Hey Crona?"

"Yeah Maka?"

"I was wondering. Would you like to come over to my house for dinner tomorrow? I make a mean lasagna."

"I… I'd love to, but I'm kind of busy that night."

"Oh. How about Wednesday?"

"I'm busy that day too."

"How about-"

"I'm busy all week! Okay? Weekends too."

"… okay."

"QUITTING TIME! ANYONE WHO ISN'T WORKING OVERTIME MUST LEAVE THE BUILDING NOW BEFORE I CALL SECURITY!"

"I have to leave. I don't want Black Star to yell at me again."

"Wait. Before you go…"

"Yes?"

"Here. Take my cell number in case a hole opens up in your schedule."

"…Okay. See you tomorrow Maka."

"See you tomorrow Crona."

Crona stood before the Hudson River. Tonight, he hadn't gone home after work. Instead, he wandered aimlessly around Manhattan for hours, until he found himself at this spot. Not a single person tried to mug him. He looked like he didn't have anything of value anyways.

He took a look at the piece of paper in his hand which had the number of a co-worker who liked him.

Patty…

Crona crumpled up the paper and dropped it into the river. He considered following it. No one would notice another piece of trash in the Hudson.

Crona walked through Central Park. A walk through the park never failed to quell his occasional suicidal tendency, but a smile still could not be found on his face.

He found himself at the park's Alice in Wonderland sculpture. This was her favorite place to jam. It was her favorite book.

Crona sat down on a bench. His tendencies had been getting more frequent. Maybe he should go see a therapist.

Crona sighed. Where did it all go wrong?

"You already know the answer to that."

Crona looked up to see a blond-haired, blue-eyed man who appeared to be a priest. "Who are you?" Crona asked, "What do you want?"

The priest smiled. "My name is Justin Law." he said, "I'm here to help you."

"Sorry, but I'm not a Christian, nor do I need to become one."

"I'm not here on behalf of God. I'm here to help you reconnect with the world."

A sad chuckle emitted from Crona. "How do you expect to help me? You don't even know me."

"But I do know your pain, Crona Gorgon."

Crona was surprised that he knew his name.

Justin sat down beside Crona. "When I was younger, my mom didn't love me. She reminded me of a snake. My brother tried to help, but he hated me too. When I turned sixteen, I expected a birthday party that I had been hinting at for weeks. I never got it. That night, I ran away. I was going to spend the night in the ally. I tried to go to sleep in a cardboard box and ended up crying my heart out. That night, I met a girl who turned my life around.

"She bought me my first guitar. She accompanied on the ukulele. Together, we played the streets of New York for tips. Somehow, we made more tips together than apart. We were homeless, but didn't care. We had each other. She had lost her mother and her sister, yet she always had a smile on her face. That smile was contagious. She showed me so much. She showed me how to have fun again. More importantly, she showed me how to connect. How to love.

"We spent every waking moment together, and dreamed about each other in the night time. I loved her. She loved me. Only death could separate us. And in the end, it was, in fact, death that separated us. She was just trying to help, to stop an attempted robbery. Then she was shot. I watched as the life slipped out of her eyes. After that I just… broke down."

Justin stopped talking and looked at Crona. Crona's eyes widened at the realization that Justin wasn't talking about his own life.

Justin was talking about Crona's life.

In detail.

Before Crona could speak, Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange metal box.

"W-what's that?" he asked.

"It's called BREW." Justin said as the box started glowing, "It's going to take us on a little trip."

Crona blinked, and found himself on the streets of New York in the daytime. How did I get here? he wondered. He didn't see the pedestrian walking towards him until he passed THROUGH him.

"Aah!" he screamed, jumping back and passing through three more pedestrians. "What the hell is going on? I don't know how to deal with this!"

"Calm down." Justin said, appearing next to him, "None of these people can see, hear, or touch us. This is a scene of the past. A memory. Your memory to be exact."

"B-but how?"

"BREW took us to your subconscious mind. Here, in the very back of your brain, this memory is playing out by itself, unviewed by anyone until now."

"Unviewed?"

"Exactly. Memories don't make it this far back unless they're actively repressed."

"This can't be real!"

Crona heard a gunshot and saw a group of people. Oh no. Crona knew precisely what memory this was.

Crona tried to run, but Justin grabbed his arm. "You need to see this Crona." he said.

"No! Don't make me relive this moment!"

"I'd hoped that we could do this the easy way, but…" Crona was suddenly tied up by an invisible force, which floated him towards the crowd.

When he got to the front of the crowd, the sight that greeted him, almost made him break down on the spot.

He saw himself kneeling on the ground holding a bleeding Patty. A ukulele laid beside them, smashed into a million pieces.

Crona looked up from Patty. "Somebody call an ambulance!" he yelled.

"Crona…" Crona looked down at his love. "Tell Sid… I couldn't stop him. I couldn't get… his money back."

"You can tell him yourself when you get out of the hospital." Crona said, "FOR GODS SAKE, SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULENCE!"

"Crona… I'm dying."

"No. You're going to live."

"Crona…"

"I'm not letting you die! I won't allow it!"

"Please…"

"DAMN IT PATTY, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE!" Both Cronas started to cry. "Don't just give up. I still need you. I don't know how to deal with life without you. I… I love you." The crowd just looked on, not a single cell phone out.

Patty smiled. "Oh Crona… I love you too. Just… just promise me one thing. Okay?"

Patty pulled Crona in close as the life left her body.

"Don't close yourself off… on my account. Don't… don't lose your connection… with… with the world."

In the park, Justin was standing over Crona. Crona was still sitting on the bench holding his head in his hands. He hadn't cried so much since Patty died. "They… didn't do a thing to help. Patty died, and nobody helped."

"Patty wanted the world to know the Crona that she knew." Justin said, "Do you think you have honored your promise?"

Crona was silent for a long while. Finally, he said, "Do you think I didn't?"

Crona looked up at Justin. "You think I was better off begging for scraps on the streets? What do you know? Yes, I was depressed for a long time after that, but I dealt with it. I got up off my feet, pawned my guitar, and got myself a job, a home, and a reliable wage. I've got a good life. A normal life. So what gives you the right to say that I need help? Huh? WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?"

Justin calmly looked in Crona's angry eyes and asked, "When was the last time you touched someone? When was the last time you ever let yourself be touched?"

Crona realized that he couldn't remember. "You need to get past this hatred." Justin said.

"Patty was the love of my life. When she died, nobody di a thing. How do you expect me to just let that go?"

"By not doing it alone."

Justin held out a piece of paper. Crona took it, and saw that it was Maka's number. Dry, and un-crumpled.

Crona stared at the number for a long time, until he finally decided to call it. The signal was weak, and he lost it for a second. Crona watched his cell phone as it said, Reconnecting.

Finally, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Maka? It's Crona."

"Crona? What time is it?"

"3:30 am. I was wondering if that dinner offer was still in effect."

"I guess so… why?"
"A hole opened up in my schedule. And… I need someone to talk to."

"…Okay."

"Really? It's no trouble?"

"None at all. Shall we meet after work?"

"Sure!"

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Crona hung up. He felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Congratulations." Justin said, "You have taken the first, and hardest step towards reconnecting with the world. I have done my job. The rest is up to you." Justin turned to leave, thinking about how Lord Death would be proud of him.

"Wait." Justin turned around. "Who are you?" Crona asked.

"My name is Justin Law."

"I know what your name is, but that tells me nothing about who you are, what that box was, why you helped me, where you came from, or how you know everything about me."

Justin smiled. "There are some things man was not meant to know." he said, "All I can tell you, is that Patty says hi."

When Crona tells this story, he says Justin then vanished. People think he means walked away. Crona literally meant vanished. No lights, no smoke, no sounds, no distractions, just blink, and he's gone.

At the time, Crona didn't think much about that. He was instead trying to figure out what Justin meant by, "Patty says hi."

He eventually gave up, and went home, trying to remember the name of the pawn shop where he pawned his guitar.