Disclaimer: Neither of us own Soul Eater! We only own the plot and Lucy is the property of Stray Sheep!
Lord Death was waiting in the death room for him with his death scythe, Spirit. Spirit didn't look all that happy, his hands shoved in his pockets and slow he'd over with a frown, but Lord Death seemed cheerful as ever.
"You called?" the timid boy asked, wondering what this mission was. He normally never got sent on missions by himself, he usually was paired with Maka and Soul. This was a surprise.
"I have a very special job for you." He said, almost excitedly. "Do you remember the old church where you first met Maka? I need you to go back there. There's a witch hiding out in that very same church, and I need you to capture her and bring her into custody." He clasped his hands together. "This witch is... Special. She is much like you were before you came to this school. I can't think of a better student that you to bring her back."
"A-am I going by myself?" he asked, a bit worried about going on his first solo mission.
"Yes! Your first mission alone!" Lord death yelled excitedly. "Your train to Italy leaves in an hour, hurry now!" He said, apparently not wanting to waste much time dawdling.
The young boy nodded, scared out of his mind. He aimlessly walked to his room in the basement of the academy to gather his things before following Spirit to the train station. This was so surreal, he never thought he would be trusted enough to go on a mission alone. He wondered just how dangerous this witch was.
When he arrived, a rush of memories flowed over him. It was hard for him to sense anyone nearby, which means the witch probably had her soul protect up.
'Where could she be hiding?' he thought as he wandered around, trying his best to suppress the memories of his first encounter with Maka. They hurt him to think about and were very distracting from the task at hand.
The blood from his attack on soul still stained the floor by the door. Lots of memories. Then he saw her... In the light of the stained glass window, she stood with her back to him, holding herself, much like he used to.
Silently, he summoned Ragnarok to his hand, preparing for the worst. "W-who are you?" he called to the witch, trying to get her attention.
"Did you hear that? It sounds like someone doesn't know us yet..." The girl said in a soft tone, eyes turned up to the window.
He shook in fear, this girl gave him a bad feeling, and he had lived with a witch before. "Tell me your name!" he shouted, feigning confidence.
"He doesn't know who we are... I don't know what to do about that..." She said softly again as she slowly turned to finally face him, but refusing eye contact. Her hat burst open with sharp teeth as a wet tongue.
"Maybe we should eat him! He doesn't have to know who we are!" It yelled loudly, spitting everywhere.
Crona shivered in fear. It was like looking at a female version of him from those few years ago. It was unnerving. He raised Ragnarok, preparing for battle. Ragnarok cracked into a smile, licking his lips, anticipating a wonderful fight. "Your name," Crona whispered, getting tired of her games.
"It's a boy, Gurgle… I don't know what to do with boys..." She spoke to the hat nervously. "Looks like that shrimp wants a fight! Should we show him what were made of, Lucy?" The hat asked as it slobbered.
"If we must..." She replied. "We must survive." They said in tandem. She lifted her hand and a dark ball of her own aura appeared, black with purple lightening surrounding it. She finally made eye contact, her pupils shrinking. "He looks delicious, gurgle..." She said with a small smile. "You take his blood, I'll eat his flesh!" The hat cried as she started running at him.
Ragnarok's lips opened wide, screaming as Crona ran toward the witch, sword poised for an attack. "Screech Alpha!" he yelled, sending his wavelength her way as he used Ragnarok to block her attack.
"He's loud, Gurgle!" She yelled as she pressed her hand with the ball into his chest, shocking him from the inside as she shook from the swords screeching. The hat screeched back at him, tongue flailing all over.
"Come on, Lucy! This guys a wimp! And his little friend looks like a gimp penis!" The hat yelled, making her blush and lose concentration for a moment.
Crona took her moment of hesitation to his advantage, swinging Ragnarok deep into her shoulder, causing her aura to disappear momentarily.
"I am not a gimp penis!" Ragnarok yelled from his sword form.
"Ahhh! He hit me! I don't know what to do!" She cried out, holding her arm, now wounded. "I'm scared gurgle, no one gets past my electrocution... How is he still standing?" She stepped back, too afraid to attack since hers were only close range.
"Come on, Lucy, get him! Suck him dry! He can't fight if he has no blood!" Her hat yelled at her, trying to encourage her. She took a deep breath and jumped at him, knocking the boy to the ground and quickly biting hard into his neck before he could react. But... As the black liquid poured into her mouth she felt... Different than usual. This wasn't normal blood... What was this boy?!
Crona was startled at her swiftness and at her biting into his neck. What was this girl?! "Get off us you bitch!" Ragnarok yelled, appearing from Crona's back to push the witch off of them, hardening his blood so he wouldn't sustain any injuries. Crona stood up, Ragnarok turning back to his sword mode as he stalked over to the girl, the tip of the sword dragging against the ground.
"Now, give me your name," he said in a menacing tone, placing the tip of the sword against her neck.
Her eyes were wide. "A...ah..." She choke out, then gripped her neck. She was choking... When Ragnarok hardened Crona's blood, he hardened it in the girl's throat as well.
"You idiot, you're killing her!" The hat yelled at the black demon sword. "Do you want her alive or not?!"
Ragnarok liquefied the blood, allowing her to breathe. "Now bitch, tell us your name!"
Once she could breathe, she stumbled backward, shaking and afraid. How could someone so scrawny be this powerful...? "ARE YOU LETTING HIM WIN?!" The hat yelled at her.
"H-he's dangerous, he's not like the others, Gurgle!" She cried out, scooting back away from the boy. "L-Lucia... It's Lucia..." She told the boy, hoping that's all he wanted and he'd leave her alone.
"Okay Lucia, you're coming with us," he said, not moving the sword from her throat as he got out the shackles that Lord Death had provided him with.
"WERE NOT GOING ANYWHERE YOU LITTLE INGRATE! TAKE YOUR SHAKLES AND YOUR LITTLE PIMP AND SHOVE IT!" The hat yelled, spitting everywhere.
"Gurgle you're only making things worse..." She tried to calm it softly. "I can't go with you, if I do... Bad things could happen. I just want to be left alone... Why can't anyone understand that...?"
"I understand better than anyone what it's like to want to be left alone," he murmured, chaining her up. "I was like you once, afraid of everything and hurting everyone. Where I take you, you will get help," he smiled at her, locking up the shackles. "Time to go."
"I don't know what to do about being locked up like this..." She said as she was pulled to her feet. "LET US GO! YOU LITTLE BRAT! WHAT ARE YOU SOME KIND OF PIMP?! THTS IT ISNT IT YOU JUST WANT TO USE HER FOR HER BODY!" The hat yelled.
"Gurgle!" She yelled, her face bright red.
Crona ignored the hat's insults, focused on getting her back to the academy so Lord Death could get her the help she needed. He called the special number, connecting him to Lord Death. "This is Crona speaking. I have captured the target."
"Good job Crona! Spirit will be there to get you shortly!" Lord Death chirped, excited that his first mission went so well.
"Captured the target... What are you a spy now?" Spirit said in the background. Lord death chopped him on the head before waving goodbye to Crona and logged off.
"I don't want to go anywhere..." The girl moped, letting herself fall to her knees. "Don't make me go! I don't know what they'll do to me!"
"Lord Death is a kind man. He will help you!" he said, waiting for the death scythe to come as he continued ignoring the babbling hat.
She struggled and tried to get away, she managed to finagle her small wrists through the shackles although not without cuts and scrapes, and ran as fast as she could to the door, trying to push them open but they wouldn't budge.
The sound of her beating against the doors brought Crona back to two years previous when Maka did the same thing. "The doors open inwards," he mumbled, starting to lose control of his thoughts as he reverted into a slump, a mad look in his eyes.
"Why won't they open..?" She asked herself, not having heard Crona.
"He's coming, better hurry!" The hat yelled.
Crona cackled wildly, Ragnarok appearing in his outstretched hand as he gripped his arm. "People never listen," he muttered. He didn't want to lose control like he was, but it was inevitable at this point, the madness taking over.
She saw him coming, and backed up against the door before dodging past him and trying to run to the other side of the church.
"Screech Alpha," he whispered, the room filling with the intense force of his erratic wavelength as he ran toward her, sword held high to attack.
"Stop stop I don't want to fight you! You're gonna win it's not fair!" She cried out as she plugged her ears but her nose burst in blood from the intense wave.
"Too bad," he whispered, getting ready to hit her. Before he came in contact with her, however, he was tackled to the ground by Stein as Lucy was apprehended by Spirit.
Her breathing was heavy, and though she was happy to be free from Crona's hit, she tried to escape again from the death scythes grip. "N-no stop! Let me go!" She yelled, though her voice was still very soft.
"Sorry girly, no can do," he muttered, trying to tame the writhing girl as he cuffed her again.
"Glad I decided to tag along," Stein said in his usual monotone voice. "Otherwise, we would have lost both of them."
"He's fucking crazy get him away!" The hat yelled, startling Spirit as it spit all over.
"That thing can talk?" he yelled in surprise.
"She's a witch Spirit. What more did you expect from her?" Stein said holding Crona down. He continued to thrash against the mad professor, trying to break free. To silence him, he sent his wavelength through his body.
She screamed watching what he did to the boy, hoping it wouldn't happen to her. "Who are you people...?"
"We are from Shibusen, Lord Death's academy. Death Scythe and Meister," Stein said, adjusting his glasses and he slung the limp boy over his shoulder.
"What happened to him...? What did you do...?" She asked frantically.
"I just shot my wavelength into him to knock him out. Otherwise, his madness would have taken over completely and we would all be dead," he stated simply, heading for the door. "Time to go Spirit, bring the girl."
"No I don't want to go! Leave me alone!" She screamed and tried to struggle but was only making more cuts on her wrists and arms.
"No use struggling. Stein will knock you out too," Spirit said, trying to intimidate the girl. She needed to come with them for research.
She stopped but she still didn't make it easy for them and her hat kept spouting off horrible insults left and right.
"Girly, I would knock it off if I were you. I'm the nice one out of the two of us. Piss Stein off and he'll dissect you."
"D-DISSECT!" She yelled, the loudest she'd ever been. She started breathing heavily and her eyes went blank, her body went limp and her nose burst out in blood.
"I guess that's one way to shut her up," Stein joked. Spirit sighed and put her over his shoulder to carry her. They boarded the train and went back to Death City, ready to talk to Lord Death about their findings.
The whole time she was dazed and her nose kept bleeding.
They arrived at Shibusen in no time, both carrying the teenagers to the Death Room. "Lord Death, we brought back the witch and Crona," Stein reported.
"Why are they both unconscious?" he asked with a confused look on his face.
"Spirit scared the witch and I had to knock Crona unconscious because the madness took over him."
Spirit in the back looked utterly disappointed. "Why did you want her anyway? I mean bringing a witch to the school alive..." Spirit asked.
"Good question. I plan to enroll her!" Lord death said excitedly.
"Enroll her?!" he yelled, outraged. Having Crona enrolled was one thing, but a witch? Too much risk!
"Calm yourself. Not all witches are bad. I plan to enroll her in with the students, rehabilitate her, and if that goes well, I'll reveal her and enroll more witches. We could use them against the bad witches much like Crona's mother. We barely won that fight..."
"At the same time what if she's unable to change? And we almost lost Crona to madness. Witches are too unpredictable!"
"I don't plan to send her out right away... We'll see how it goes and if it goes wrong, we will decide her fate and abort the mission."
"This seems too risky Lord Death!" he cried.
"I like this idea," Stein said at the same time, a calculating look on his face. "I think this will be valuable research."
"We have to give it a chance. If it WORKS, it'll be a great benefit." He tried to explain.
"Fine," Spirit grumbled. "What about Crona though?" he asked, gesturing to the boy lying on the ground. It was worrisome that he had relapsed into the madness like he did.
"As for Crona... Just take him to his apartment. Set up a watch to make sure he'll be okay when he comes back. I think it may have been a mistake sending him back to a place with such horrid memories... He wasn't ready for that test but he found the witch and up until that point was successful in capturing her, so I say he passed. Take the witch to a cell, make sure she's comfortable but keep her locked up until Crona comes to. Then I will discuss phase two with him."
"As you wish Lord Death," he bowed, picking the boy up again to take to the apartment.
When the girl awoke she was in a cell, still dazed from her nosebleed. She held her head before looking around to decipher her surroundings. She noticed Gurgle was not on her head but when she looked she found him sitting on the bed with gauze around his mouth struggling to get free. She couldn't help but giggle a little, they must've gotten pretty annoyed with the hat.
"Care to tell me a bit about yourself?" Stein asked from outside the cell. He had been observing her this whole time, trying to gauge how much information he was going to be able to acquire from her.
"About... Myself...?" She repeated, turning to face the door where the voice was coming from. What did he want to know...? She didn't even know much about herself. Gurgle knew more about her than she did.
"You're a witch, correct? Tell me about where your powers come from."
"Witch..." She repeated once more. Was she truly a witch? That's what everyone called her throughout her life, but she barely knew the meaning of the word. "M-my powers...? They... They come from inside... My emotions control them..."
"No handle on magic," he muttered, scribbling down notes. "Do you feel compelled to hurt people?"
"Compelled...? N-no not really... Uhm... I just... do what I have to do to survive... Like I always have…" She answered, not sure why she was being asked these strange questions.
He continued to jot down notes, trying to come up with a report to give Lord Death. "Now, what is that hat to you?"
"Gurgle? He's my familiar... He's an imp that took the form of a hat to travel with me. He's my only friend..."
"Interesting," he muttered. "What were you doing in Italy and why did you try attacking one of my students?"
"Italy... Is that where I was?" She asked herself, sitting next to the struggling hat. "That boy was new... I don't know what to do with boys..."
Stein chuckled slightly as he was reminded of how Crona first was when he met him. "You do realize that if you would have killed him, you would be on trial right now, right?"
"I wasn't trying to kill him... I just wanted to get away... That boy was strong... I've never met anyone like him before..." She said with a shiver. The hat was getting pissed that she hadn't released him yet but she needed the quiet.
"You two have a lot more in common than you realize," he said, closing his notebook. He figured he had enough data collected to create a report for Lord Death. Now he just needed to go check on Crona.
"In common... But he's a boy! We're nothing alike!" She said nervously and blushing a little.
"I'm sure if you actually talk to him you will understand what I mean. Anyways, someone will come by later to bring you food," he said, walking to the Death Room.
"Wait!" She yelled, running to the door. "Will I... Ever see him again?" She asked, blushing once more.
"Yes." He walked off, leaving the witch to her own devices. He met up with Spirit outside the Death Room. "Any news on Crona?" he asked.
"So far as I've heard he's pretty much back to normal, but he's really worried that he hurt that little witch girl." Spirit answered him. "Lord Death wants them to befriend each other and help each other. He wants to get them to a point that she can be trusted to move in with him and partner up with him throughout the testing phase."
"I think that that could happen as long as they can get past the barriers that they both have up."
"Lord Death is hoping they can break down each other's walls." Spirit explained, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I just hope he knows what he's doing. Letting a witch run free around the school..."
"It's not as dangerous as you think it is," Stein said, adjusting his glasses. "There's already a witch among us."
"That's right there is... But that witch can use a weapon, the witches he wants to enroll doesn't... But their powers could be used to our advantage I guess."
"Exactly," he murmured, lighting a cigarette. "I'm going to see Crona. Let me know if anything happens with the witch."
"Alright... I'm gonna see what Lord Death needs me to do next with that girl."
Stein walked towards Crona's apartment, hoping that the boy hadn't relapsed into his old behavior.
Crona was sitting in the corner of the room, panicking. He almost hurt that girl! He can't handle this!
"Would you relax kid, the girl's fine," Stein told him, lighting another cigarette and placing it in his lips.
"What if it happens again Stein?! What if I can't control myself and I hurt someone I care about, like Maka?"
"If you keep calm you'll be fine. Look you can't let your emotions run wild like this. It was the fear that created the person you used to be after all. If you calm down and try to think rationally, you'll be just fine." He said, not even looking at the boy. "She asked to see you again you know."
"S-She did?" he asked, sniffling as he looked up at the professor. He didn't understand why she would want to see a monster such as him.
"Sure did. I bet she feels terrible for invoking you. You're not in trouble you know. You just have to be watched around her. She can bring back painful memories, and we understand that, BUT you have to work through them."
"O-okay," he stuttered, wiping away his tears. At least he didn't fail everyone like he thought he did.
"What do you say, want to go see her?" He asked, finally looking him in the eye. "I bet she'll be excited."
"I-I guess so," he muttered, standing up to walk over to the professor. He was still scared that something was going to go wrong again and that he actually would hurt someone.
"Remember what I said. Just relax. Don't let your emotions go haywire, take a deep breath when you feel overwhelmed alright?" He told Crona, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as he led the boy to the dungeons.
"O-okay," he breathed. He could do this. Before he knew it, he was outside of the room where she was being kept and he felt his heart begin to race. 'Deep breaths, deep breaths,' he repeated in his mind, trying to stay calm.
Stein unlocked the door and stepped back so Crona could have a little privacy with her. "If you need help I'll be right out here." He told him and sat on a chair outside the room.
A/N: Cliffhanger! Mwahaha! Hope you guys enjoy! Should hopefully update soon! Read and Review lovelies!