Chrona x Ragnarok 2

--

"What is you name?"

"Do you really need to ask that?"

Stein sighed and flopped on the back of his chair, which, because of his position, was at his chest. He knew Ragnarok would refuse to give out any information easily but the chance of learning more about the demon weapon was worth the whining of a stubborn teenager.

"Just answer the question, if you please." He commented with a smile.

The black clad boy leaned back on his own chair with a huff, his large arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. "Where's Chrona?"

"She's just waiting outside. The sooner this is done, the sooner you'll get back to her."

His silver eyes were sharp for a few moments longer, then he growled lowly in defeat. "Its Ragnarok…"

The Professor chuckled to himself, "My, you're eager to see her again, aren't you?"

"I said my name is Ragnarok!" he hissed, "Next question."

Smiling he flipped through the pages, "No last name?"

"Should I have one?" he scoffed.

"Hm, you don't remember anything about your life before you were melted down into the black blood?"

The boy cocked his head to the side, "What do you mean before?"

Odd, surly he must have had some form of existence before, he had a body after all… but if he didn't know there was no use questioning him. Ah, how the curiosity was going to eat him up about this later.

"Have you experienced any odd side affects since this transformation of yours has taken place?"

"I have to go to the bathroom all the time, that's annoying."

"This is the first time you've ever been in a human form yes? I imagine there are many new things you are going to now have to put up with. Why, just wait until your testosterone kicks in."

"What's that?"

"Nothing, nothing at all, how is Chrona dealing with this by the way?" the Professor could tell by the sudden loss of his hateful glare to stare out the window that he had hit a spot in the boy.

"She's… sad that we're apart, but she's always been that way, whiny little…"

"Are you unhappy too, with the situation as it is?" This was interesting, the psychology of two souls that had lived their lives together suddenly torn asunder. He would enjoy keeping an eye on these two from now on.

But the boy wasn't about to release anything interesting, "Its not like I care…" he was quite for a moment, until he leaned in, "Hey screw head, does our being apart mean… she could… bleed to death?"

Stein was surprised at such a question, especially with his harsh demeanor. "Yes, I suppose that's quiet a problem isn't it? You won't be there to harden her veins and heal her wounds. Are you worried about her?"

He shrugged the comment away with more force then necessary, "She's my partner and she was already next to useless, I can't have her dieing on me after foul hit."

Leaning back, Stein brought a hand to his chin in thought, "You do realize that now you could join with a new partner, don't you."

Something in that sentence had apparently sent the Professor flying over to the boy's bad side. He suddenly took to his feet, tossing the chair across the room to where it made a dent in the wall. Stein just stared on with a curious cock of his head. "You're ready to leave, I take it?"

--

"Chrona, hey. Wake up sleepy head."

With a small whimper the tuff of lavender rose from its nestled bed between clutched legs. Chrona blinked away her daze to focus in on one of her few friends.

"Mm, g-good morning Maka." She attempted for force a smile but it didn't turn away the young technician. She promptly sat down next to her with a look of concern.

"Have you been sleeping? You have shadows under your eyes."

"I-I'm fine… I'm having some trouble…" she didn't want to admit it was because Ragnarok was gone, it had been three days and she didn't know how much longer she could stay up.

"… You've been taking this separation rather hard, haven't you?" she placed a hand of concern on her thin shoulder. The contact did make her feel better but only so much. "I would think you'd be happy?"

Happy? She'd never felt emptier in her life. "Whys that?"

"You're free now. You don't have to put with Ragnarok any more, no more abuse, teasing, cursing or telling you what to do."

She sighed in the back of her mind, no one was going to be able to understand this. She and Ragnarok had been together since before she could remember, it was as if she had lost a limb. More importantly he had given her direction in her life, if it had been rather harsh… how was she supposed to know what to do now?

Maka sensed her depression but this was one of the few times she had no idea how to cheer her up. "T-think about it, you could even get yourself a new partner."

The words stuck her like an arrow. A new partner? Who would take her? Ragnarok was right, she was just a whiny, useless bitch… what if he left her? She'd be alone in the world all over again. Suddenly the air felt cold in her throat. Why was all this happening?

The quiet was interrupted when a door went flying across the hallway, slamming into the opposite wall before spinning to the floor. The girls watched the wreckage before Ragnarok came storming out, needless to say, neither of them weren't entirely surprised. Maka watched the boy look around angrily for a moment or two before his eyes met his technician's. They stared at each other for a moment, the blond wondered what could possibly be going through their minds, the look was so deep. But then they both averted their gaze at the same time, and she was left confused.

"I didn't know that door offended you so, I would have done something about it." Stein stepped out after him and gave a little wave to Chrona. " Ah, you've found your lost damsel. I see you're growing in to a nice young women, you're looking more like your mother every day."

The girl's face turned a shade of pink similar to her hair and her partner only growled.

"Now that I have you two together." The professor pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth. "I'd like to run a little experiment."

Ragnarok shifted a bit towards his partner, "Pervert…"

He laughed as he lit up, "No, no, nothing like that. Have you tried going into weapon form since this whole incident began?"

"No." Chrona stood up to stand beside her partner, or rather cowered behind him.

"Lets give it a try why don't we?"

Ragnarok huffed, "I don't see what anything would change but alright…"

In a flash of violet light his body easily transformed into a cloud of black until it sharpened into the familiar black blade and fell back towards the ground. Chrona caught it without effort and flipped it casually in her hand.

Stein nodded, everything seemed fine, at least until she held the hilt tight. The blade shivered for a moment, then melted into black liquid and spilled between her fingers to the floor. Every one stared at the mess until it solidified back into the black clad boy, he rubbed the back of his neck in pain from the sudden drop.

"Jeez, what the hell…" his words were caught in his throat when he saw the shaking hand of his partner. He followed it up to her face, bale blue eyes were shivering as tears began to poor down her cheeks. With a choked sob she clutched her arms and ran down the hall, the frantic and awkward clack of her shoes echoing even after she was out of site. Ragnarok watched her go, resting his arms on his knees and letting off a tired sigh.

"Poor thing," Maka looked on in concern, "I haven't seen her cry in a long time. I'd better-"

"I'll take care of her." The boy shouted indignantly before she could finish, getting to his feet. "She's my partner."

She stomped her foot against the ground, "Are you kidding me, you're only going to make it worse!"

"I've known her a lot longer then you have, she-pig!" Their glaring faces were now inches away from each other, the tension seemed to be electrocuting the entire room.

"And all the time you've known her you've been absolutely terrible to her! She needs comfort right now."

With a huff he crossed his arms, "I can be comforting."

"Yeah right!"

"Alright, alright." Stein had to physically step between them to get any attention. "No offense, but I think the boy is right."

That gave a boost to his ego, he stuck his tongue out at the young technician from behind the professor's back, she couldn't rightly respond to something so immature, at least until Stein turned the other way.

"You can't suggest that he's qualified for this situation?"

"Hardly, but this is a problem between technician and weapon, would you want someone else dealing with problems between you and Soul?"

Her gaze fell to the ground, "I… suppose not."

"Exactly," Ragnarok started down the hallway, giving them both a less then polite gesture as he left. "Thanks screw shit, maybe next time ugly girl."

Maka huffed, setting her hands on her hips, "Having a whole new body has done nothing to improve that personality of his."

"I don't know about that…" Maka gave the professor a questioning look as he took as he took a deep breath from his cigarette. "When I was questioning him, he asked me if this new arrangement between them meant that Chrona could bleed to death now… I believe he's worried about her, and this over protective growling of his is perhaps is his strange attempt to keep her safe…. Or perhaps he's jealous of you."

"Of me? Why?"

"You were always Chrona's friend by her own choice, they were partners because they had no other choice. When I mentioned getting a new partner he reacted badly so he knows now he might loose her all together."

Suddenly Maka felt a wave of guilt, she hadn't thought of his place in all this, though who in their right mind would? Still, she would have to remember from now on that he was a human being, at least in a physical sense… But the thought that he actually had feelings would take some time to digest.

--

In the dungeon like recesses that were the Shibusen guest rooms, the only sound was a low muffled sobbing. Chrona clutched the all too familiar pillow to her chest, the only thing that ever brought her comfort in these times. She'd never felt so alone in the world, no random insult ringing in her ears, or swift smack to the back of the head. More then that she had lost the only companion she had known for most of her life, like a brother but more then that...

She often wondered if any of this pain was his as well. He was probably happy, no, ecstatic, to have this new freedom. What would be a better gift then finally being rid of the one he apparently hated so much? Honestly, she should be happy for him, he could finally have a life of his own, and so could she… but that wasn't the case. She sighed, hugging one of the bed's pillows to her chest, life was so confusing already, and she no longer had him shoving her in the right direction.

She hiccuped a sob, he wasn't even here to yell at her for crying like a pansy.

The silence of the night was shattered when the wooden door of her room suddenly swung open. She shot up at first, but there was some relief to see that it was her partner who had apparently felt it necessary to kick open the unlocked door.

She looked up from her pillow, her teary eyes meeting his own, it was interesting to actually see emotions on his face, even though they were always the same look of annoyance. He plopped down on the bed beside her without a word, even though he hadn't been in the room since they had given him the one next door, he seemed perfectly comfortable. His steel colored eyes made her shrink back a bit.

"Stop crying, it bugs me…" was all he said.

With a small sniff, she nodded, brushing the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry…"

"Whatever…"

There was an awkward silence, she wasn't sure who was supposed to say something, or what to say for that matter. It was Ragnarok who finally broke it, though he turned away as soon as he spoke.

"Look, what happened today is probably just because of all that's happened. This shit is going to screw us up for a while but-"

"Are you going to get a new partner?!"

He gave her a sideways glance, it was understandable, she wasn't even sure why she had shouted it out all at once. The pain tugging at her chest was just too unbearable.

"Why would I do that?" he huffed, looking away as if offended, "You want to get rid of me already, is that it?"

"N-no! I… I thought since… you don't like me you'd-"

"You think I don't like you?"

She paused, blinking curiously, "…yes?"

With a deep growl he snatched her around the neck and pulled her squeaking and squirming into his lap before pushing his fist down hard on her head. "You're an idiot, you know that! You're right, I don't like you, I hate you, but do you think after all these years of saving your bony little ass I'm just going to let you run off and get yourself killed? Yeah right!"

After making some incoherent noises in his grip he let her go but not before clapping a hand on either side of his face to make sure she couldn't look away. "And if you replace me with someone I swear I'll never speak to you again, you'll have to fight for yourself, got that? No more crying to me."

"Your hands are soft."

His glare of dominance became a blank stare, "…what?"

"You're hands," she held them with her own, "They're softer then they were before, I wondered why that noogie didn't hurt as badly as it usually did…"

He pulled away as if she had suddenly been lit aflame, "I'm not soft!" growling he rubbed his hands, though he couldn't really tell any difference, he never had many senses when he was just a weapon in the first place. There was no way to compare.

Chrona watched him grumbling and huffing to himself and found herself smiling. "…I don't think I could ever find a replacement for you Ragnarok…"

Glancing over his shoulder he smiled as well, though it was much more smug then her own, "And I suppose I could never really get rid of you, could I?" He held out a hand, still oddly stripped with black, and she took it, her own almost encased in the much larger fingers. In a flash of violet he dissolved into black liquid until he spun into the form of a long sword. He felt sturdier in hands this time, perhaps even more then before. She swung its weight effortlessly until she let the flat of the blade rest on her forehead and smiled when she saw the reflection of her partner staring back.

It was in that moment she felt, for the first time since she had first come here, that everything was going to be alright. In another flash he was back to his human form, his forehead pressed against her own. Of course when he realized this he shot away quickly with a few aggravated noises to hide his embarrassment.

She couldn't help but feel a small wave of disappointment wash over her when his pressense was lost. For a moment it had felt like old times, he was with her and her blood was stirring with a life of its own. She almost sighed, being together like that was nice, why did their contact have to be so violent?

"You've been having a tough time sleeping, haven't you?"

She looked up at him, curious as to why he would be concerned. "Y-yes, it's hard to sleep alone..."

He noticed the look in her eyes and quickly broke their gaze, staring angrily at the wall, "Don't get all stray eyed on me, its not like I'm worried about you. If you can't sleep you won't be able to fight, thats all. Now do you want me to stay over here a few days or not?"

Her jaw almost dropped, "Y-you'd do that for me?"

Obviously he wasn't enjoying her shock. "Look, its no big deal, just until you get used to sleeping alone. Now am I saying or not?"

She nodded silently in response and he just growled and picked up the sheets, "Then move your ass and make some room." Hopping over she did as he said. When he climbed in an got comfortable but chose to turn away from her while he slept, she did the same. Still their backs were pressed together and the slow rise and fall of his breathing was more comfort then anything else. As she drifted off herself she smiled as she heard a faint snoring from his direction.