Before I begin, I just want to say a few things! First and foremost, I just want to clarify that I'm fully aware that Crona's gender has never genuinely been established. I've just always seen Crona as a male myself, that's the way I like to see "him" and I really enjoy the idea of Kid being with a male Crona. Call me crazy, but I feel like making Crona a boy for this is just right. Now that I have that out of the way, please note that I'm incredibly rusty as I haven't written a fanfic in so long - YEARS! However, I love this pairing so much and when I went to surf the web for a decent fanfiction worth its salt... Well, I was horrified. There were plenty of good alternate universe stories, but I wanted a more canon story. (This is based off the anime, by the way, I've never read the manga version.) So hopefully I can do this couple some justice with a semi-realistic and raw Soul Eater-ish feel with this story.

Okay, I've said enough. Now, be gentle with me!

In what could only be described as a "blink of an eye," a whole year had already passed since the fall of Medusa followed by Arachne and Asura. Not just the DWMA but Death City as a whole had taken on a massive toll for what had occurred, but as always, time healed all wounds... Except for maybe just one.

There had been much discussion of what to do with Crona after the Kishin's defeat. It wasn't exactly surprising, given everything that had happened. As sad as the kid's life may have been, Crona had still betrayed them all and nearly cost Professor Stein his life in the process. Even so, there were still some who believed in the demon sword wielder and were willing to fight for Crona's honor. Some believed that the traitor didn't deserve another chance, especially out of fear for Medusa and what havoc her spawn could potentially cause. Others believed differently, Maka was the leader of that side of the group. She had always felt strongly for Crona, everyone knew that perfectly well. Not many people understood it, including Soul who probably knew her better than anyone else. Fortunately for Crona, Maka Albarn had built herself a stunning reputation and she made for one heck of a personal reference.

He had been there that day, Death the Kid remembered it perfectly well. They had all gathered in front of Lord Death after there was plenty of time to recover from the biggest battle of their young adult lives. Everyone even remotely revolved in the situation was present, that included the now sane (as sane could be for him) Stein which had to make Crona feel incredibly uncomfortable. Then again, there wasn't much that didn't make Crona uncomfortable.

"Alright, is everybody here and accounted for!?" Death piped up, then shot both thumbs up in the air. "Good! Now, then... What's up, what's up, what's uuuuup~!?"

There was a short moment of silence between all that were standing in front of this goon of a leader, except Patty who was singing about something or other while... Was she really and actually drawing right now!? Death the Kid turned around on his heel immediately, eyebrow twitching as he started to stomp his foot.

"Patty, would you please pay attention!? Now is not the time for doodles!"

"Oh come on, Kid. Give her a break." Liz commented with a shrug of her shoulders. "You don't ACTUALLY think she'd listen to a word of any of this, do you?"

"Well, she should. This is a very important matter that all of us need to discuss. We need the input of each individual in this room." Spirit remarked from where he stood beside Death, hands stuffed in his pockets as always. He had that look on his face when you knew he was attempting to look stern.

"What is there to 'discuss!?'" Maka retorted, immediately putting the pressure on her father. "Without Crona, Professor Stein may have never been found! Only Crona knew where Medusa was!"

"Yes, but it was Crona who endangered Stein to begin with." Spirit pointed out. "Look, Maka, I know he's your friend, but-"

"You don't *know* anything!" Maka snapped again. "Crona saved my life. Where were you? Standing and watching a mirror?"

The accusation struck a cord with Spirit, he took every blow that Maka gave about his bad parenting to heart. He physically flinched almost every time she started spitting venomous comments. Luckily, Death intervened before this turned into a family feud.

"No one is denying that Crona was, indeed, a big help. After all, that's why I sent Marie and Crona together to find Medusa and Stein."

"So then why is this even a debate?" Maka questioned, sounding confused yet angry at the same time.

"Some of the students may feel differently, we need to consider more than just you, Maka." From the other side, Sid finally spoke up.

"Maka," Crona said softly which drew everyone's attention over to the pink haired individual. Crona stood there, in the middle of everyone who was spectating, looking so weak and helpless. Both arms were draped around the frail and petite body, trembling ever so softly. Crona was terrified, that much was clear. Who knew what was to be expected from this? Maybe isolation, but that might not be so bad. It wouldn't have been the first time Crona had been anyway, right? But the look in Crona's eyes warmed when Maka's own eyes met them.

"Don't worry, whatever happens... I'm just glad I got to be your friend. That was enough for me."

Even Kid, who hardly knew Crona and had only held a few short conversations with, felt something for such an endearing statement. It was genuine, the care between the two. He felt a sharp tug on his heart. How could he condemn someone to permanent exile who was afraid of their own shadow? That just seemed cruel and barbaric. He had to do something to help, Maka couldn't defend Crona alone.

"As much as I agree with the fact that we must consider the safety and well-being of the students at the academy, I think we're forgetting one important detail here." Kid said, taking a few steps closer to Crona.

"Oh? And what's that?" Death asked, genuinely curious as he always was of his son's intentions.

"None of us were the victims of Crona's actions. We may have been affected indirectly, but there is only one person here who has suffered in ways none of us have." Death directed his gaze on Stein. Not surprisingly, the crazy professor seemed to have expected it. "Professor, how do you feel about this situation?"

While his face was in a permanent and indifferent scowl, Stein looked a million times better since Marie had healed him of Medusa's poisoning. He tilted his head back with a sigh, lifting his hand to crank the gear on his head a couple notches in thought.

"I admit that what I went through was worse than any experience I could even possibly begin to explain to any of you," Stein informed them regrettably. However, on the fourth and final crank, he stopped to look at the group. "But I agree with Maka, Crona has proven to be worthy of a second chance. I'm not exactly keen on sending a kid out into the desert anyway. What about you, Marie? I'd like to know what you think about this."

"Huh?" Marie, who had been standing close to Stein this entire time, looked surprised someone had even spoken to her for some reason. "Well, I..."

As she trailed off, Marie looked down at the ground as if she were in intense thought. But in actuality, she was trying to find a way to say what she had been contemplating for sometime. In the end, she decided that her normal bluntness would do.

"I believe Crona should be able to stay enrolled here at the DWMA!" Marie announced confidently, first looking at Death and then to Crona. "And I want to adopt him!"

"What!?"

Almost everyone in the room had exclaimed all at once. Marie ignored that however, she then walked straight for the child she had become fond of. She looked down from the distance between their heights.

"Spending so much time with you when we were looking for Stein made me realize many things, but the most important is that maybe if you had a mother... A good, proper mother, that none of this would have ever happened. You're a good kid, I know it. You've just been dealt a bad hand, and I... I may not be able to find a husband, but I can be a mother to you if you'll let me, Crona!"

"But I..." Crona began, at least several different emotions fluttering in all at once. The normal anxiety immediately kicked in first, followed by the finger twiddling and lack of eye contact with anyone in the room. "I'm so useless, I can't do anything. I'm not even good at writing poems, they just make everyone sad. I don't know how to be a good kid or to make a mother happy, I don't know how to do any of those things and I'm just not sure how to handle it..."

"Stop it," Marie demanded and suddenly brought the scared teen into her warm embrace. "None of that is true. I'll make you see that one day. But until then, just let me help guide you... Okay?"

Hesitating for a moment, Crona slowly began to relax into Marie's hold. Was this what a mother's embrace should have felt like? Medusa had held Crona once... the memory was so clear, but it hadn't been like this. Marie was so warm and soft, so very kind. Medusa had been cold, hard, and mean - so very mean. Crona finally allowed the feeling to melt in, shutting dark purple eyes tight before tears began to stream down pale cheeks.

"Yes, please! Thank you so much, Miss Marie! I... I won't let you down!"

"Does that make me the father? Having a kid of my own to dissect... that could be nice." Stein commented, which issued a laugh from everyone but the professor did not indulge in the laughter himself.

"Why are you all laughing? I'm not joking."

And that was exactly how Crona's official DWMA reinstatement had gone. Fast forward a year to present day, things hadn't gotten much better for the poor kid. Of course Crona had allies between Maka and the whole crew, but there were a lot more enemies. Take lunch break for instance, where all the meisters and weapons gathered to take a break from classes; practically everyone avoided Medusa's child like the second plague had struck. If the pink haired meister sat beside anyone within a certain distance, they instantly would grumble and move away. Crona walked alone wherever the destination may have lead if Maka and the others weren't around. It was a heart-breaking thing to watch and Death the Kid found himself doing exactly that from afar lately. It wasn't as if he were actually stalking the individual, it was just mere curiosity. Sometimes Liz and Patty would even join in, Patty loved making a game out of it. She had almost gotten him caught quite a few times. He recalled once where they all three had to leap into one tiny bush. Oh, the things that had been pressed into his face - unsymmetrical breasts and all! The horror of it had knocked him unconscious for at least fifteen minutes, according to Liz.

Today wasn't any different, Kid wound up keeping an eye on Crona from a distance throughout his day. He had never intervened up until the moment approaching now when lunch came around as it always did at 11 AM. It was the middle of the day for the academy students. Liz and Patty were beside him, discussing what colors of jello Patty wanted to consume (even though he had always assumed it was flavor that mattered, not so much the color) when Crona walked in all alone as usual. The only difference was that Maka wasn't around to come running up to offer company and neither was Soul, Black Star, or even Tsubaki. It seemed Kid wasn't the only one to notice the immediate difference because Crona was looking around nervously for a familiar face. When it was clear there wasn't one, the fidgety student walked over to a corner and sat down in what could only be described as despair. Everything, no matter how minor, was always a big deal to Crona. It was only around friends that Crona blossomed from that shell.

In the back of his senses, he could hear Liz trying to talk to him about something or other. She was probably asking for assistance in settling the jello matter for her, Patty could never make a decision on anything without both of their help. But as dire of a situation as jello was, Kid was much too distracted by the scene that began to unfold before him.

He watched as a weapon he wasn't that familiar with examined Crona's current situation and decided to take full advantage of it. The young man bumped elbows with the student beside him then began to whisper. All the other students around him joined in on the whispering as well, passing their glances to Crona who had huddled up into a ball of depression at this point. There were a few snickers from the group, Kid could hear it thanks to his enhanced reaper abilities, then he watched as they stood up and approached the demon sword wielder.

"Hey," the weapon kid said to Crona as they approached. "Why ya sittin' all alone? Your 'friends' finally leave ya?" The students around him snickered, apparently finding this amusing.

"Who could blame them? His mother was responsible for releasing the Kishin and she pretended to be a nurse here the whole time. Now he's pretending to be a student, how pathetic." A girl with pigtails commented.

Despite the taunting, Crona didn't look up at the assailants. Crona's pink head remained buried within the black sleeves of the bizarre dress worn. Even when the weapon leader began poking his victim with his foot, Crona didn't budge or even make a sound.

"Hey! I'm talkin' to ya here! Answer me! The least you could do after everything you've done is give me an answer, you brat!"

"Why don't you just leave!?" Another student questioned.

"Yeah, leave!" A female weapon demanded which then began a chant through the group. Some people from around joined in, others frowned with sympathy, and the rest remained silent in their neutrality. But no one was standing up for Crona, not a single soul. Not even some of the people Kid knew as friendly acquaintances who he thought to be generally good people and knew wrong from right.

"Poor kid..." Liz said from beside him.

"Why are they being bullies!? That's so mean!" Patty agreed in her own childish manner.

And that was the moment that everything clicked for Death the Kid; his hands balled up into fists and before he knew it, he was standing between Crona and the entire group. He looked the kid responsible for starting all this in the first place straight in the eye as he spoke, expression hard to show he meant business and his patience wasn't to be tested.

"You there, are you implying that my father's decision to have accepted Crona as an official student of the Death Weapon Meister Academy is wrong?" He demanded.

"Death the Kid...?!" He heard someone say.

"Oh no, now we're in trouble..." Came another voice.

The weapon flinched at Kid's words, as if they had been shots fired from a gun. The atmosphere had become intense, everyone around was staring at what was happening now.

"I-I wasn't trying to say that..."

"Then why are you harassing a fellow student of this school?" Kid demanded again, pointing a finger directly in his face. "If my father has decided that Crona shall be treated like a member of this academy, then you will do so or bare the consequences! I'll make sure to that myself."

There were gasps within the group and apologies started to be exchanged. The funny part was that Kid was, for the most part, bluffing. Of course he had strings he could pull, that was the perk of being Death's son (of sorts). But to actually bring up such an average case of bullying to his father when he was already constantly busy at work with saving the world? That was a little bit silly. Kid knew he could handle these punks by himself if he had to, he had more potential than the 2-star meister label he had acquired over the past year for himself. Fortunately, nobody knew he was bluffing and they all ate it up.

"F-fine, I'll leave him alone. But he'll never be one of us!" The weapon boy retorted before stomping away with everyone else who had retreated. From where they had been left moments before, Liz and Patty came rushing over to Kid.

"Wow, they're really afraid to mess with the Reaper's kid, huh?" Liz rhetorically asked, looking impressed.

"Yeah! We sure showed them! Right, sis!?" Patty shouted, laughing before sticking her tongue out at the kids while tugging down on one of her lower eye lids with her pointer finger. "YOU BETTER RUN!"

"Uh, Patty, we really didn't do anything..."

Ignoring his foolish partners, Kid redirected his attention now on Crona. While Crona hadn't said a word, a pair of eyes had finally peeked up from where they had previously been hiding.

"A-are they gone...?"

The voice was sheepish, making it sound like uncertainty of oneself. It was ironic, considering Crona had been one of toughest opponents he had ever faced. Of course, Ragnarok's power had decreased significantly after Maka's purification of their soul. It was clear every time the mini version of the once large creature popped out of the poor meister's back. And as if right on cue, the shadow puppet bulged out in what appeared to be in a painful manner.

"Arghh, Crona, you wuss-puss! Are you just going to let everyone pick on us!?" He accused, slamming his fist into Crona's head.

"Ragnarok, here." Kid intercepted before it began, turning to Patty and reaching into her pocket. The blonde girl gave a squeak as he rummaged through, pulling out a single piece of candy. "Catch."

"Ahhh!" After he had tossed it, Ragnarok immediately responded by unhinging his gigantic mouth and snapping it right around the sweet eagerly. With what could only be viewed as a pleased expression, the little creature gave a hum of approval. "Mmm, you sure know how to play the game, little Reaper!"

"HEY!" Patty shouted, looking ready to fight as her limbs began to swing for Kid but Liz held her back.

With Ragnarok's temper at bay, Kid could finally provide his comfort to the still trembling Crona. He offered the friendliest smile he could muster, slowly approaching and sitting just a single seat apart from the pinkette.

"Don't worry about them, they're gone." He finally reassured, which seemed to make Crona relax at least a little. The grip held around the thin body had loosened, allowing the small pair of feet to touch the ground. Kid then expressed concern, hoping Crona would see he was here to help in the place of the normal Maka. "It's lunch time and you have nothing in front of you. Are you not hungry?"

"N-not really. I'm waiting for Maka, you see... But she hasn't come yet." Crona explained, looking towards the doorway of the DWMA cafeteria. "I hope she's alright."

"She is," Kid soothed with his confidence. Closing his eyes, he kept the warm smile on his face as he imagined their friend in the middle of a battle. "Maka and Soul decided to go out to round up some more souls during lunch, they're getting close to ninety-nine again, you know. As for Black Star and Tsubaki, I'm sure he decided he couldn't let Maka and Soul do all the work so he's off pursuing whatever crazy scheme he's concocted this time."

"O-oh... I see. Well then, I can handle being alone at lunch today for her. No problem!" Crona suddenly boasted, hands balled into fists and a sparkle in one of those purple eyes. It was clear Crona was attempting to be brave, so that was a good sign.

"Just in case, should we keep you company?" Kid offered, gesturing to his two weapons who both gave wide smiles of encouragement.

"Really? You'd guys do that just for me?" Crona questioned, as if the idea had never been a thought. "Why would you do that for someone like me?"

"Because we're friends, silly!" Patty chimed happily, offering a suffocating hug that nearly sucked the soul out of Crona. Once she did release the poor victim though, Crona seemed to warm up. A soft pink color tinted the normally pale cheeks and then came a nod of the head.

"R-right, friends."

The four of them then sat together for the next forty-five minutes, talking and occasionally messing around. It wasn't as lively as it would have been with the others to join in, but they made it work. After all, it couldn't have been that quiet with Patty and Ragnarok's antics. Crona seemed to grow more comfortable with being Maka-less and handing the three of them alone. When the loud dong rang throughout the school, announcing the end of lunch, all of them stood up and began to exit the cafeteria.

"Crona, I was wondering... Do you ever do anything after school?" Kid asked curiously, hands behind his back in a proper position.

"U-um, not really. I usually just go back to Miss Marie- I mean... *Mom's,*" Crona's face warmed at the word, a small smile of happiness spread across his face. Since Marie had adopted Crona, things seemed to be going great between them. "I used to just sit in my room a lot in the corner, but she told me I had to do more than that. So then I started writing poems again like Maka said, but they kept making her cry. So now she brings me home a book every week. I kind of like reading, it distracts me from the voices inside my head."

The entire statement had been endearing, almost even cute until the end. All three of them looked disturbed, the aura Crona was sending off was an uneasy one in that second. But even so, Kid didn't stray away and instead cleared his throat to pretend that it hadn't been out of the ordinary.

"I didn't think so. I never saw- I-I mean I never THOUGHT you did anything. I just never see you around when I'm out, ahahaha!" Kid quickly corrected himself, pretending to laugh like an idiot to make light of the situation. He had almost let on about his new little "not stalking" hobby.

"What do you mean? You've been following him around, silly! AHAHAHA!" Patty corrected him, not understanding the secrecy of the matter and trying to out-laugh Kid just for the sake of being Patty.

"Patty, shut uuuuup!" Kid insisted, switching back and forth between laughing at Crona and growling at Patty. He quickly had her in a headlock, practically shoving his hand in her mouth. The poor girl was flailing like crazy as she let out muffled cries. All the while, Liz was standing to the side looking exasperated.

"U-um... I'm not sure what you're talking about, but you guys sure are funny." Crona seemed to have concluded, smiling a little in amusement.

For some reason, within his chest, Kid felt an intense thump of his heart. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. The way Crona looked when a smile or a blush formed on that fair, almost beautiful face... It was just barely enough to forget the horrible symmetry of that damn hair. Kid almost immediately let go of Patty, letting her crash to the ground and causing Liz to let out a cry of worry.

"Pattyyyyy!"

Stepping over a knocked out Patty, Kid suddenly took Crona's hands in his own and gulped down whatever was happening to him. The pink haired individual looked confused, staring at their hands before looking back up at Kid.

"Crona, would you... Would you maybe like to join me tomorrow evening for some sort of outing?"

Confusion was evident on Crona's face, not understanding the concept of being "asked out." Hell, Kid wasn't even sure what he was asking. For a moment, they simply stared at each other. It seemed like Kid would never get an answer as Crona blinked a couple times.

"What kind of outing?"

"Is that a yes!?" Kid asked eagerly, looking hopeful as his eyes lit up.

"Hey, I hope you know you probably killed my sister!" Liz shouted from behind them, but continued to be ignored.

"I-I don't know exactly what you're asking... I'm not sure how to handle what I don't know." Crona mumbled nervously.

"I mean would you like to accompany somewhere tomorrow evening? That's all." Kid explained more thoroughly in a way Crona may have understood.

"Will Maka be there?" Crona asked, still not following.

"Uh, no... She wouldn't be. It would just be the two of us."

"Oh..." Crona frowned then, avoiding eye contact and looking down towards the ground. "Why would you want to be with me alone? I'm not very special, you know..."

"I am beginning to think otherwise... Although I don't know why exactly." Kid admitted that last part under his breath. Then one last time, attempted to ask the question again. "So, what do you say?"

After a few more seconds of contemplating, Crona then nodded.

"O-okay."