If you read and don't continue…Fool!

Dr. Stein breathed drew a long, acrid drag from his cheap cigarette. The Hallowed Forest was little more than charcoal now and the rift circle was little more than shattered stone, that and there were dozens upon dozens of bodies everywhere mangled and torn in every possible way. It piqued his desire to dissect each one and perform an autopsy. His yellow eyes wandered to each body like a probe.

"So this is what a daemon looks like" he thought to himself as he nudged a creature covered in spines soaked in its own gore.

Wandering to the side of a humanoid with small oxen horns he turned the body onto its back.

"And this is a Krieger"

He could see why they were described as intimidating. They had sharp, strong features and the wrinkles on this one seemed to be frown lines. Its skin was a sooty grey and its eyes were hawkish and silver. But the horns, that was the most unsettling thing. Stein couldn't put his finger on it but the horns granted them the right hint of brutality. He didn't know how else to put it.

"! You're not going to believe this" called Sid as he ran back to the rift circle.

There was little that could surprise Stein in his age and considering the array of knowledge and experiences he had had throughout his strange life, so he was understandably skeptical.

Sid had probably just found an artifact or a weapon from the Kriegers.

"What is it Sid?"

"Crona and Maka, they bound a Krieger"

Stein dropped his cigarette from his gaping mouth, which he swiftly shut as he turned to face Sid and the rest of the academy's officers.

"What? They defeated and bound one? There's a ritual of binding involved no? How do they know it?"

"Perhaps I should let them explain. I was never a man to talk about something I didn't understand completely" said Sid stepping back to reveal Crona and Maka followed three steps behind by a ragged Krieger who held the chain to his collar to Crona's back insistently.

Stein's eyes widened unsure of what to make of the situation. They had defeated and bound a Krieger? This didn't match up in his brain, no-no-no this was not right. It took a four or five star Meister to bind a Krieger. How had these two teenagers still in the academy managed to bind one? The doctor adjusted the screw in his head. He took a quick glance at the live Krieger and he seemed to be the same age as Maka and Crona, maybe a little older or younger he couldn't tell. But the Krieger certainly didn't seem like he was as old as his dead comrades. Now it made a little more sense, if he was a youngster then it would fit how they had managed to take him.

"You know, the two of you have a trend of surprising me. But I fear that this time you've surprised my childhood memories. I always thought that Kriegers were nigh invincible and you two managed to catch one. Now I just feel silly not having tried to have my own"

Maka frowned meekly.

"The Krieger belongs to Crona"

"Oh? Well congratulations Crona, you've managed a very rare feat. You'll be the talk of the academy for a very long time"

Crona shut her eyes as to block the mental images of being the popular kid at school. She couldn't wrap her head around the idea of having that much attention from so many people and not having a heart attack. The insistent nudging at her back made her turn around and open her eyes slightly. The Krieger held out his chain at her like a dog offering his leash, Crona whimpered quietly at his frigid scowl.

"I-I'm not leading you around like a pet. You're a person"

The Krieger didn't lower his offered chain nor did his scowl lessen, he stood quietly before his master whom he had frozen to the spot with his gaze like a cobra with its prey.

"Sid" began Stein as he took another long drag while soaking in the interaction between Crona and her new partner.

"Take Maka and Crona to Lord Death, he'll want to be debriefed about what happened here from firsthand account. And the sooner Crona is taught how to deal with her Krieger the better"

Sid nodded and led the two students away followed by the Krieger who insisted on holding out his chain at any of the three so he could be led.

Stein narrowed his eyes at the Krieger as it disappeared into the charred forest, then he gazed at the dead Krieger at his feet. A good scientist makes good observations and has a healthy imagination. Stein considered the variables and drew new conclusions and implied variations rapidly in his mind. It struck him as interesting that all of the dead Kriegers they had found had short horns that could be easily hidden and nearly all of them looked like soldiers. But Crona's Krieger had long, slender horns nearly two feet long and was a slave. Also, it struck him as odd that the Krieger was set on being led by the chain from his collar. No being born free and later enslaved would be that set on being treated like a slave. Had the Krieger been born a in indentured servitude?

He readjusted his screw again imagining what the Kriegers and daemons now being in their world meant for the future.

Pattern suggested that something truly awful was about to happen.

-0-

Crona and Maka walked by Sid's side through the long corridor of guillotines that led to the Death Room where their lord resided. Maka's mind squirmed quietly as she verified everything she had been taught about Kriegers and the slave that now followed them. She frowned in disappointment, she wanted to be a great Meister like her mother but she also longed to have a Krieger someday. Her mother would have been so proud. But now an opportunity that would never come to anyone ever again had sucker punched and passed her. And somehow it had landed on Crona. Gentle, shy Crona who couldn't talk to people because she was terrified of interacting with them. She was thankful for her friend's intervention in battle on her behalf and she loved Crona, truly, but she envied what she had been given so freely and without her even desiring it.

"It's not fair" she thought to herself.

"Hey, is he ok?" asked Sid as he looked back at the two students.

Both girls looked back at the Krieger and he seemed shaken and agitated. His steps were rushed and jittery and his scowl has only sharpened like jagged glass, a frown also had grown on his face that suggested more than a little disgust and contempt.

"Are you ok?" asked Crona looking back at her follower shyly.

The Krieger didn't answer but instead looked past her, not acknowledging the question.

"He probably doesn't speak our language Crona, he's from another world"

"Oh, right" said Crona sheepishly.

They reached the end of the corridor to the small platform amidst an endless desert filled with endless crosses in place of tombstones. Lord Death stood before his mirror and turned as soon as he heard them.

"Here they are sir. Would you like me to leave?" asked Sid who looked like he wanted to know what was about to happen next but knew his boss enough to predict when he'd want a "special alone talk".

"Thank you Sid, I'll see you later. Oh, and before I forget to ask you. You got them back into the city discreetly yeah?" asked Lord Death as he waved his subordinate goodbye.

"Of course, I am always the kind of man to follow orders to the letter sir"

Sid walked off leaving the four alone in the Death Room. When his footsteps became inaudible the only thing the three could hear was Crona's unconscious fidgeting and her dress' sighs as she pulled at the fabric of her sleeves.

"Oh my goodness gracious! So Crona you've caught yourself a Krieger this is an amazing occurrence! I hope you know that you'll be the star of the school for a long time and you'll be chased by hordes of historians who'll want to know how you did it! You've made history! And what an impressive Krieger you have, he certainly looks fierce!"

Death noticed that under the machinegun fire of praise he was giving Crona she seemed to get smaller and smaller as if she was trying to retract herself into her dress and not come out. Perhaps he should put her at ease, she was very shy he knew.

"I think we should have some tea to celebrate and talk about what happened" said Death grandly as he gestured to the small tea table at the side of his platform.

"Thank you" said Maka. Crona worded what her friend had said rather than actually speak but she shuffled to the table.

All three sat but as soon as they did they looked at the Krieger curiously who sat on the opposite edge of the platform and averted his eyes to some imagined detail in the monotonous and naked design of Death's platform.

"Umm, you can sit too" said Crona forcing herself to utter the words.

The Krieger made no indication he understood her but glanced at her as he heard his master speak. Crona shyly patted the ground by the table and nudged a little tea cup parallel to where she had indicated he should sit. The Krieger's scowl deepened and moved closer to the table, but as if held back by an invisible line stopped short of joining them at the table and sat apart from them bowing his head and averting all eye contact.

"Lord Death, I think this Krieger is a slave" said Maka trying to actually get the conversation started. She was dying of curiosity despite her ill mood.

"You are quite right my dear. And this presents a, special, situation for you Crona"

"Why?" asked the student as she looked away from her new companion and at her teacher.

"Because Slaves to the Kriegers are a special breed. There is a history as to why his kind are slaves apart from the rest of the population but he will require no binding ritual to force him to your will"

"But aren't all supposed to be bound?"

"Yes, but when I had my own Krieger she told me that their slaves, despite being unerringly loyal to their people's demands and collective ownership, would serve whomever bested them in combat to the end of their lives. And you dear certainly have achieved that. Not that Kriegers fight over slaves, they are little more than tools to them, not at all people"

"How can Kriegers think like that?" asked Maka, taken aback by this incongruence with her mental image of Kriegers as honorable warriors.

"Because when daemons entered their world his kind where the leading nobility but they failed at their task monumentally because their king at the time betrayed them and so the descendants of that Krieger have been punished ever since"

"But how long ago was that?"

"I lost count of how many centuries, maybe Francesca can tell you exactly. Also, if I am not mistaken you'll have to name him Crona unless you'd prefer to call him Slave"

"He doesn't have a name even?"

"Nope"

"But how can I tell him things if he doesn't even speak English?"

"Oh, I don't know about that" said Death as he glanced back at the slave who continued to kneel, still like a gargoyle. Both girls looked at the slave and Death at intervals as their teacher began to speak in different languages at the Krieger, all of them foreign and bizarre. He switched seven times until when he spoke in one that sounded something akin to German the Slave looked up in attention.

"Ah, so he speaks Tavalkantii, how interesting. He's probably from the heartland of their empire. Now Crona, I want you to do something for me" said Death smiling under his mask.

"Wh-what is it?" asked Crona, unsure.

"I want you to give me your hand" said her lord as he outstretched his hand happily. Crona obliged, a little hesitantly, and held her master's hand quietly.

"I'm going to crush every bone in your hand until you can't use it anymore" said Death quickly as he squeezed her hand.

In the second it took for him to utter the sentence and for Maka and Crona to jump internally at what he said, the slave's hand siezed Death's wrist in a powerful grip. His eyes seemed to shoot knives at the old spirit and his lip curled in a snarl.

"So you can speak English, or at least understand it. Here I was wondering if you'd deign to speak to us" said Death as he released Crona's hand. The slave's eyes softened as he realized he'd been tricked. He returned to his gargoyle serenity and averted his eyes.

"Why don't you tell us your name?"

The slave remained quiet, but smugness quietly slithered onto his expression.

"Crona, he's obligated to answer to you. Why not try asking him?" said Death knowingly.

"Umm, do you mind tell us your name if you have one? If you don't mind of course"

The Krieger said nothing

"No, no, no don't phrase it like a request. You have to give him an order"

Crona swallowed as she tapped his shoulder minutely

"Tell me your name"

"To know another's name is to have power over them. You will have no such advantage over this one spirit. This one has no name"

Crona cringed internally remembering that she had described him as dirty and scary and poignantly stating that she did not want him. It would have been very polite to have been told he could speak English sooner!

"What did you call Crona? Spirit?" asked Maka curiously. She remembered what Ms. Francesca had taught them about Kriegers but she was a little shocked to hear him call her friend a "spirit".

"But I'm not a spirit, I'm a girl, my name is Crona"

"This one will honor The People's law and serve you spirit, but this one will not be so foolish to believe that is your true name. Nor will this one fall for your trickery, you are an evil spirit, little better than the most impish daemon" he answered venomously.

"But I'm not. You can see me right here"

"In the Spirit World this one can only believe in itself. This one knows that this entire world is an illusion and a lie"

Maka stood up and sat by the Krieger. She removed her glove and pressed her hand on his shoulder.

"Doesn't that feel like a real hand? Doesn't it feel warm?"

Very deliberately her hand was slapped away and her words were met with a snarl from the Krieger.

"Do not touch this one filthy spirit. Of course you would choose the guise of a young girl, but this one knows better than to believe in your apparent innocence"

Maka's eyes narrowed at the Krieger in disapproval as he returned her stare with equal hostility. Death sighed as he nudged Maka to take her place by Crona again.

"This part is never easy. You see Kriegers have always thought we are evil spirits, something that is cemented by the fact our world lies on the other end of the Veil and the fact that we occasionally abduct people. Give him time and be patient with him you two and he'll eventually come around" said Death happily as he sipped his tea.

"This is really good peppermint tea" he added as he looked down his cup.

"And if he doesn't?" asked Maka glaring back at the Krieger who continued to glare at her.

"Stop it" called Crona as she moved in between their lines of sight, seeing as Maka was getting progressively angrier and neither was backing down from the acid shooting contest.

"He will. Same way as he'll come to accept the fact that the way he was brought up to view our world is wrong"

Scythe Meister Maka, who had never been really scared of a challenge or anything uncomfortable now scowled down at her tea before downing it in a single gulp.

"Where will he live?"

"By his Meister's side of course, silly goose"

"What?" blurted out Maka, now extremely unenthused about having the ox man in her home.

"Where will we put him? There isn't any room"

"That's not true, we have a spare bedroom to put him in remember? Tsubaki moved out a month ago"

Maka turned her head slowly and loudly "shushed" her friend. She realized it was selfish to start gunning the partnership down but she didn't want that stubborn ass living with them.

"But it's a girls dorm"

"Krieger society is solidly matriarchal. Despite believing you are spirits I'm sure this young man knows how to behave himself in front of young ladies"

"Can I bully him?" asked Ragnarok as he erupted from Crona's back through the black blood that flowed through her body. And not an instant sooner had he appeared was he struck by a now very startled Krieger. He hung limply by Crona's side and muttered "Ever since you became friends with Maka everyone's been hitting me. Including you!" and an instant later he slipped back into Crona to sulk for Death knows how long before he decided it was a punching-safe opportunity to come back out.

"But we don't have time to watch him all day"

"You won't have to, he's going to be enrolled at the academy. He's still young and he certainly needs an education"

"But he doesn't have any clothes, he's half naked"

"Take him shopping this weekend. The academy will give you some cash"

"But what if he follows me around and makes me hold his chain" interjected Crona, now very vividly picturing the Krieger following her everywhere in front of everyone.

"Well its only proper custom for his people and ignoring it would be rude. He certainly looks offended"

Crona glanced slightly at her Krieger and he looked like he was attempting to make her head explode through shooting enough anger through his eyes. She winced and dearly wished she could retract her head into her dress and not come out.

"But-"

"No if ands or buts little missies now go! If I am not mistaken tomorrow you both have midterms and it's late. Off to bed with the two of you"

Both Meisters meekly nodded and walked swiftly out of the Death room, hoping that they could somehow out walk the Krieger and they'd lose him. The Krieger stood and glared at Death for a long while before following after his owner.

Under his mask Death frowned, there was such an ungodly amount of resentment and anger under that young thing's flesh. If he had been born in the world of the academy he'd be an prime candidate to steal souls and become a kind of daemon Death knew all too well.

"Well, hopefully he'll adjust. And hopefully we can track down all of his kind and the daemons that didn't die at the Rift Circle. Hate to see them create mischief with Arachnophobia or Medusa"

-0-

The Krieger slept dreamlessly that night. The war with Hell had gone on so long he was prone to having bouts of nightmares rather than actual dreams, so he was thankful for nights were his only companion was darkness. The two spirits had taken him through their cobblestone city towards their living area by a quaint little park. How clever of them to shape the settings to something peaceful and pleasant, something to make him lower his guard.

They led him to his room, it was a bare thing with a square in the middle. Sitting upon it he found it was fluffy and soft. Oh yes, they were called beds, normal folk had them back in his world though he had never actually slept in one. The blonde spirit warned him to knock before coming into the bathroom, whatever that was, and the spirit who called herself Crona asked him if he was hungry. It took all of his mental willpower not to answer his master. As soon as she shut the door he laid down on the floor, not trusting the bed nor their intentions in granting him one.

Upon waking up he felt every cut and bruise on his body. Achingly he stood up and surveyed the room. It was still bare and still warm, out of his little window he saw that the city was still there and that it was likely late in the afternoon. Being in the spirit world he realized, it shouldn't surprise him with how detailed or real their illusions seemed. This was of course their land. He wondered where his comrades were and sadly reminded himself that the laws of The People applied even when dealing with spirits. He belonged to Crona now, this was his place.

"When will they drop their guise and begin striking this one?" he mused to himself silently.

He rose quietly cracking every joint in his body sorely, he wiggled his bare feet's toes and rubbed his naked chest. He sniffed himself and noticed he stunk of smoke not of body odor, glancing back at his sleeping place he noticed the mess of ash rubbed on the wooden floor. He had tossed around in his sleep. He thought it strange considering he hadn't had any nightmares.

Opening the door and wandering through the apartment he found that neither spirit was there. The Krieger panicked suddenly, every internal alarm firing and his nerves alight with taught fear.

He was apart from his master! This could not be, a slave always had to be by his master's side unless told otherwise, an even then the slave had to return to their master's side if enough time passed.

The Krieger rushed out of the apartment, forgetting even to close the door behind him and sprinting out the door of the dorm remembering that Crona was learning at the castle of the Death spirit. Without stopping and disregarding the similarity to real people the spirits around him had (not to mention their panic at the mere sight of him) he continued to the castle as fast as his legs and tireless endurance would allow.

-0-

Crona sat by Maka as was usual and suppressed the Krieger from her mind and tried to focus on the test in front of her. Maka told her to leave him sleeping in his room and worry about him after the Midterm, it was Friday and they could hide him until Monday. Both girls thought it was a great mercy to have a whole weekend to mentally prepare themselves for having to take him to school the next week.

"Hey stupid, Maka marked down letter C for question five" whispered Ragnarok as he peered slightly out of Crona's back and between students.

"Ragnarok I swear to God if you try to whisper answers to Crona one more time I am going to kick your scrawny little ass. I don't let my students cheat, that's the kind of man I am" said Sid over the whispering of pencils writing rapidly on paper.

Crona felt almost relieved that that was the only thing that had been said directly to her the whole day. No talk about Kriegers or daemons or her, just a little bit about a gigantic fire by the Hallowed Forest. Maybe she could get through the day if she could just finish the exam and hurry back home before something happened.

"Ok, I can handle this, deep breaths. Question 4: A sound soul dwells within a sound _ and a sound _"

Crona smiled in spite of her situation, "That's an easy one: Within a sound body and mind" she repeated as she had heard Francesca teach them.

"Answer: A" she wrote down happily.

As she wrote down the answer and looked at the next the door to the room slammed open making nearly everyone jump out of their skin. The Krieger rushed through and picked her out of the student body in an instant. Some students screamed and others shuffled rapidly away from the horned man.

"You left this one behind!" he said shaking his fist at her and holding the chain to his bulky collar in the other.

Maka and Crona both sunk into their desks and tried to disappear.

"Don't look at this one like that Crona! You are my owner and this one is your slave. In accordance with the law of the People you can't simply leave this one behind!" he screeched, more than a little upset.

"And you! Harpy! This one could have expected no less than to try confuse my efforts by not speaking the way back into the castle but this one found you!"

Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto Crona and Maka. The Scythe Meister reacted to the embarrassment the best way she knew how; by attacking the situation head on.

"Who are you calling a harpy, ox head?" she shrieked in answer shaking her fist at him harder.

Crona wanted to die, she sank deeper and deeper into her desk and heard Ragnarok laughing a fit in response, "This is priceless!" he howled. She couldn't handle this at all, she didn't know how to deal with the Krieger or how many questions were going to come now. And she certainly knew she couldn't deal with all the attention, from every single person in the academy.

As Maka and the Krieger continued shouting insults at one another Crona asked whatever greater powers there were in the universe what she had done wrong in her past life, forgiveness for what she had done in her current one and if please if it was not too much trouble to kill her now.