Whispers
Chapter 4
Lying to himself
Crona sighed half asleep, his tired face showing some permanent bags under his eyes making him look older. After leaving Maka sleeping in his room in the afternoon, Crona remained lying-down in the sofa of the living room, looking at the ceiling until he fell asleep, demolished by the events of the day. Now, while half asleep, said events did not seem to be more than just part of a dream ... a beautiful dream where he had Maka back.
Soon his sense of smell began to notice what seemed to be ... Hot cakes? Maybe ... and bacon, he could perceive the aroma of hot coffee and eggs ... The aroma was too strong to ignore it.
"I'M HUNGRYYYY!" Ragnarok roared, popping all of a sudden out of his companion's back and catapulting him out of the sofa. Crona fell to the floor with a whine of pain.
"Ragnarok! What the hell!?" Crona complained massaging his rear end, looking at his weapon who began to pull his hair like some kind of reins.
"Giddy up Crona! To the kitchen! Something smells delicious!" Ragnarok yelled ignoring the swordsman's complaints. Crona sighed, getting up from the floor and heading to the kitchen.
It seemed pretty early, the house being lighted by the bright oranges and yellows of sunrise. It was unusual for Meena to be up so early, and for her to prepare breakfast ... usually she only bought the pantry and he cooked.
At the end everything had been a dream, like many other times. It had been a year since the last time he had a dream about Maka, dreams where she returned at his side... But that dream had seemed so real.
A foolish thing of course, Maka would never return to him, Maka didn't care about him.
"Good morning..." Crona greeted rubbing one of his half-lidded eyes, stretching out slightly. His pink-colored hair ruffled everywhere showing some mayor pillow-head case. Ragnarok sat on his head ruffling his locks even more.
"Good morning!" Maka's cheerful voice greeted him inside the kitchen, smiling enormously at Crona who opened his eyes widely, looking at Maka as if she were an apparition.
It hadn't been a dream.
"M-M-Maka!" Crona almost shouted, holding into the doorframe to avoid falling on his back "y-you are here! Ah... Gah! You're still here!"
"Of course imp still here you big dummy, where would I go?" Maka asked with a smile while turning over some hot cakes "Why don't you sit down? I almost finish"
Maka was in his kitchen preparing breakfast ... Maka was in his department, in pajamas, preparing breakfast ... Maka had slept in his room, in his bed, in pajamas...
"I bet that you want to go and rub your perverted face all over that bed..." Ragnarok whispered in his ear, making Crona to blush like a tomato.
"You better leave Crona alone in my presence, Ragnarok" Maka threatened the demon sword, pointing at him angrily with the spatula she was using to turn over the hot cakes.
"Watch your tongue you damn cow! I would never do something like that!" Ragnarok said with an innocent tone, bending over a little more to whisper in his companion's ear "morning wood at six"
"G-GAH!" Crona took down his hands immediately, covering himself totally embarrassed making Ragnarok roar in laugh. Before Maka turned over to see them again, Crona sat on the kitchen's table rapidly.
"Crona, are you alright? You look upset " Maka asked arching an eyebrow, looking at Crona who seemed a tomato in season and Ragnarok that kept on laughing.
"I-Im f-fine M-Maka..." Crona stuttered, chuckling nervously while trying to recover some composure.
"Did you know that I can harden the blood there? It would be funny seeing you walk all day long with that..." Ragnarok kept whispering on his ear with a huge smile on his face.
Before the sword saw it coming, Crona catched his head between his hands and began to punch him to make him shut up. Both quickly engaged in a fight of fists and silent slaps in the kitchen.
Unfortunately, not silent enough.
"Enough you both!" Maka roared pointing at them with the hot frying pan "Ragnarok! Leave Crona alone!"
"But mommyyyy! He started it!" Ragnarok whined with his best little girl's voice interpretation. He still sounded like a pig being butchered.
"I am not giving you any breakfast" the meister threatened him, looking at him fixedly with her green eyes. The sword finally stopped hitting Crona.
"... Bah! What the fuck ever!" Ragnarok snorted, sitting obediently on the swordsman's head as if he were a hat.
Crona sighed, the blush finally yielding of his face. Looking down for a moment, he noticed that his problem no longer existed. Calming down he got up to help Maka, fixing the table for breakfast.
"Crona..." Maka called him while the swordsman served coffee in a cup, leaving it next to the blonde's dish "Didn't you say that that girl was sleeping here too?"
"Girl?..." Crona asked tilting his head a moment, frowning. For an instant he had forgotten to what she was referring to, but soon his memory began to work again "oh... Y-yeah, she lives here... B-But she not always comes to sleep, and she doesn't s-spend much time here..."
"She doesn't come to sleep?" Maka turned over to see him, frowning while serving in the dishes a couple of hot cakes with fried eggs on top and bacon strips around. "And don't you ask yourself where she is?"
"Hm... Should I?" The swordsman asked with authentic innocence in his voice, taking out of the old refrigerator a bottle of juice. "She is with her friends most of the time, and if it is too late she stays with them to sleep"
Maka couldn't believe what she was hearing. Crona was with someone that didn't arrive to sleep and didn't inform where she was. She was sure that if Soul got to do something like that, she would kick him so hard that even his family would feel it.
"And do you agree with that?" Maka asked frowning, noticing how Crona poured juice in his glass. She had forgotten that he didn't drink coffee.
"... Is it wrong?" Crona asked back, tilting his head. Maka could only sigh, shaking her head ... Damn, as far as she knew it was possible that that girl was married and she was just using Crona.
Ah, if that bitch was using Crona ... there was a true hell waiting for her in Maka's hands.
"Never mind, sit down for breakfast" the blonde said smiling, serving two more dishes with extra hotcakes "and these are for you, glutton"
"Look who's talking! You need a diet badly!" Ragnarok vociferated, holding out his tongue trying to catch the dishes. An iron grip on his tongue stopped him.
"S-show some r-respect for the food that Maka cooked for us... And g-give her thanks" Crona ordered with a serious face, making the blonde to look at him shocked.
Crona had changed more than what she had supposed.
Ragnarok tried to pronounce all his repertoire of insults with his tongue out, but Crona's grasp was such that the sword could not release himself. Looking defeated, the sword agreed with a deep frown on his face.
"Thanksforthefoodyoudamncow! There, I fucking said it!"
Crona sighed, shaking his head before raising the dishes above his head, allowing his companion to devour the food.
"Woah Crona... Are you teaching him good manners?" Maka laughed making the swordsman to smile lightly.
"Do you think that he's a lost cause?"
"Uhm... Perhaps you should buy those necklaces for dogs that electrocute when barking" the blonde laughed while she began to eat. Crona smiled.
"And you should buy a damn dildo! Perhaps that would make you loose a bit and be less neurotic!"
"R-ragnarok!"
"Oh yeah? I'm going to make you swallow that turned-on dildo and won't let you spit it until it runs out of batteries!" Maka threatened back, ignoring the swordsman's shocked face.
"Try it damn cow! Just try it!" Ragnarok roared pummeling in his courage on Crona's head.
Suddenly Blair jumped on the table, looking at Maka and Ragnarok arguing.
"There's so much activity this morning! I heard you were talking about dildos? Oh, I can help!" The magic cat laughed before turning human. Snapping her fingers, she came up with a mountain of many-colored sexual toys, all of different shapes and sizes.
"B-B-BLAIR!" Crona shouted alarmed, covering his eyes "w-we are eating! Take that away!"
"Don't be such a crying baby Crona and pass me that barbed one! I'm going to shove it up her ass!" Ragnarok roared while trying to reach one of the teething rings at the table.
"Try it and I will make you swallow all those dildos!" Maka growled back, threatening him with her raised fork.
"Are they gone!?" Crona shrieked while still covering his eyes, making Blair to laugh at the hilarious scene in front of her.
That morning had been the most cheerful they all had had in years.
After the chaotic breakfast, Crona started his routine of every morning. The swordsman took a bath, combed his long and still chopped pink mane and got dressed with black pants, a white shirt, and the same black gabardine of yesterday. The blonde was smiling, looking at him moving from here to there.
"Crona ..." Maka called him while she finished drying her blond hair. She had taken a bath right after Crona, because for some reason the swordsman almost fainted when she told him that she would bath first.
Ragnarok laughed a lot during Crona's nervous fit, perhaps he had something to do about it.
"Y-yeah?" Crona responded while he finished wearing his boots seated in the sofa of the living room.
"You slept in the living room" Maka told him while frowning, laying down both of her hands in her hip and looking at him with harshly. Crona recognized that pose immediately with one scared squeak, his black eyes looking at her like a child caught in a mischief.
"Ah... Its ok, it doesn't bother me"
"It bothers me" Maka scolded him, slowly softening her gaze and sighing at Crona "I didn't agree to be here just to take your room"
"N-no Maka! I will buy you a bed, it's not a problem..."
"Crona Makenshi, I will not let you spend money in me, remember that I will be here only for a few days" Maka interrupted him, really bothered with the idea of Crona spending his money on her. However, Crona's reaction made her stop her scolding.
Crona seemed grieved, looking at her for the second time like a beaten and abandoned puppy. Had it been because she refused to be helped? Bah, it was the history of her life ... Besides it was Crona, who in one way or another always had tried to show his affection towards her no matter how.
What Maka didn't know was that, what really had hurt the pink haired meister, had been her affirmation: She wouldn't be there with him for too long. It was the same thing that Ragnarok had said to him yesterday.
Holding his arm tightly, Crona simply sighed before nodding lightly. Maka felt remorse seeing him so down all of the sudden... And damn, Crona was just too good making that sad puppy face.
Blair, on the other hand, understood the reason of the swordsman's sadness perfectly. Crona was very good lying to himself, but never lying to other people and much less to Blair. The cat had been against his chest every night the swordsman cried himself to sleep. During those nights he used to show that same sadness she was seeing now in him. All those nights when he cried for Maka after she left.
"Cronaaaa! I refuse to be here, take me to your class" Blair said suddenly, climbing the swordsman's leg all the way to his shoulder, rubbing herself against his cheek. "Ey, I know what! Take us both! And you promised to take me to a party!"
"To the class?" Crona repeated raising his head, smiling lightly due to the cat's attempts to comfort him.
"good idea, I want to see Professor Crona in action" Maka smiled widely, having a good time as the sad face of her friend changed from sad to totally flustered.
"Aahh! Don't say that, I am only helping K-Kim ..." He whispered rubbing his hands nervously.
"Lies! Crona should apply for professor, Aaaah and Ragnarok is a beast in class" Blair laughed, sitting on the head of the swordsman.
"Ragnarok? What can he say to young witches? In fact I would forbid him from taking his dirty mouth into any class "Maka smiled, knowing perfectly that Ragnarok was listening.
And she wasn't mistaken.
"You damn fat cow! I am one hell of a professor!" Ragnarok roared getting out of Crona's back, but unable to occupy his seat in the head of his companion because it was already occupied by Blair "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE HAIRBALL! This is MY place!"
"Make me!" Blair hissed, clinging to Crona firmly.
"Would you return my head back to me please?" Crona sighed, knowing that his words fell on deaf ears. Strangely, Ragnarok and Blair took no time to separate from him, the cat meowing scared hiding under his gabardine.
"That's better" Maka muttered, slowly withdrawing the enormous book that had threatened both plagues with. Crona smiled in gratitude, but a discreet punch on his ribs made him squeak.
"Crona, we'll be late! Four eyes will get angry!" Ragnarok reminded him, straightening his companion's hair before taking seat on his head.
"Four eyes?" Maka asked arching an eyebrow, making Crona to smile lightly. The swordsman looked down to make sure that his clothing was in order, straightening his gabardine a little more.
"I-I believe that's Ragnarok's nickname for Professor Stein" Crona explained while saving the apartment keys into one of his inner pockets. "Uh... You sure you want to come? It can be a little boring ..."
"Nonsense, it can't be more boring than to be here waiting for you" She smiled, enjoying seeing the blush on his friend's cheeks. Besides, definitively she didn't want to be alone in the apartment if that girl of the other day returned...
That is, if for any (completely not her fault) circumstance Meena had a lamentable accident and was found dead... Maka would need an alibi not to be discov... blamed.
During the long walk to the academy, Maka couldn't avoid looking at the swordsman from head to toe. If there was something that had intrigued her from the beginning it had been Crona not wearing his usual black robe ... And those clothes...
Maka wasn't a fan of Gothic fashion but damn! That outfit suited Crona nicely.
"Ey..." The blonde meister called him, making the pink-haired male to turn over with a light jump of surprise "Say uhm... Do you want to impress anyone in particular wearing those clothes?"
Crona opened his eyes widely, the colors running up his face. Ragnarok couldn't avoid chuckling mischievously on top of his companion's head.
"Answer the question you retard!" The sword roared, pinching the swordsman's cheeks while laughing.
"N-nothing like that!" Crona complained, pushing his companion away from his face "M-my robe ripped during my journey... I-I couldn't keep repairing it..."
That made sense... in a way.
"What surprises me is that it had lasted that long..." Maka joked, getting close to Crona to give him a light pat of comfort in his back. She knew that the swordsman had been very attached to that robe.
"I-Is not like that... I always used the same robe since I have m-memory" Crona explained, blushing a little feeling Maka's hand in his back "…S-She… she always fixed it with her magic, or made it bigger when I grew up..."
Maka frowned, stopping her touch on Crona's back to walk at his side, observing his facial expression attentively. The blonde always got worried when the meister talked about his mother, but he seemed to be calm.
"d-during my journey I learned how to patch it, but ..."
"Wait..." Maka said stopping in the middle of the road, making Crona to stop suddenly "When you were wounded in battle I remember that your injuries healed along with your clothes"
"That is because his robe was made by Medusa and it was made of black blood" Ragnarok explained, comfortably installed in the head of his companion "I could manipulate it as if it were a second skin, but the enchantment that the old witch used wore off"
That made sense. Maka made out a sound of assent, continuing the long walk to Shibusen. Crona sighed, lifting his left hand to hold his arm lightly.
With his new outfit the swordsman's always fallen shoulders now were sticking out slightly. The tight gabardine along with the belt kept his hourglass figure, revealing a wide back product of the years brandishing Ragnarok. He would never be another Black Star, or even reach half of Soul's toned body (it was required a lot of food for that) yet he had his own singular physical appeal.
A perfect set for Crona, fashionable and comfortable for the missions. Definitively it was Liz Thompson's election.
"I like how you look" Maka smiled, admiring the thin figure of the pink-haired meister.
Crona squeaked obviously surprised and embarrassed. Barely being able to stutter a shy "thanks", the swordsman could practically feel smoke coming out of his ears. Blair stuck her head out from one of the gabardine bags, laughing due to Maka's bold comment. Ragnarok stood in silence.
The class was one of the firsts in the morning, under the aegis of Professor Stein.
The living room was full of pupils that seemed to have between 15 and 17 years, they all had their companion alongside, all of them with a look of boredom on their faces. They seemed pupils of two and three stars, definitively an advanced class.
Crona was waiting in front of the class, dying in nervousness. He was holding his right arm strongly while waiting for Professor Stein's arrival, looking at the young students he would be talking to shortly. Maka never imagined Crona like a professor, he was way too nervous, shy and extremely insecure. She could see that he was on the brink of one of his nervous fits.
With a smile Maka left the seat where she had been in the front row of the classroom to stand next to Crona and hold his hand tightly, smiling to him. Crona looked at her with his blue eyes wide-open, slowly relaxing bit by bit. Maka was there, she wouldn't judge him. She had never judged him before, although to have to do that demonstration in front of her…
What the hell was he thinking when he invited her?
Oh yeah, he didn't invite her, Maka and Blair invited themselves.
The entire group observed attentively how the legendary Maka Albarn was holding on Crona's hand, who spite his current status remained known as "Shibusen's Traitor". All the eyes were on them and it wasn't long before somebody began to whistle at them suggestively. Soon several pupils followed the example, making Crona to blush like a tomato, releasing Maka's hand. The entire group burst out laughing.
"Silence" A firm voice was heard in the classroom's entrance, revealing Professor Stein rolling inside the room seated in his old desk chair. Maka noticed that the professor hadn't fallen down on the way in as usually, he seemed to have perfected his entrance.
Or at least that's what she thought at first, until she saw the chair rolling all the way to the wide wooden desk in the middle of the classroom, crashing harshly making Professor Stein to fall on the floor on his back. The students choked back a laugh in their mouths, they definitively wouldn't laugh at professor Franken Stein.
"P-Profesor" Crona shook his head, smiling before stretching his hand and taking the one of the old meister who thanked the help with a nod of his head. Taking the hand of the witch's child, Stein got up from the floor.
"You decided to help" Stein greeted him with his usual serious face, lifting his hand to turn a couple of times the screw in his head, watching next to the pink-haired to look at Maka. "Maka"
"Good day, Profesor Stein" Maka greeted his former teacher with a smile. Blair jumped out of Crona's pocket to run at the blonde's arms. Catching the cat in her arms, the meister gave Stein a light bow with her head before taking sit in the front row of the classroom.
"Good day students" Stein greeted the whole classroom room while picking his chair back up from the floor, taking seat in it with the back against his chest. "As you know, the last class we commented about the use of the soul wavelength as an independent weapon. For fortune of yours, the demonsword meister Crona agreed to help this class with a demonstration".
At the mention of his name, Crona clenched on his right arm tightly. The young man knew perfectly that his reputation preceded him and not exactly the good one. He could notice how several of the students were looking at him with suspicious eyes. By now none of the students that had witnessed the Kishin's awakening kept on studying in Shibusen, but Crona's name was well known in school and in Death City. Hell, his name was in the history books of the Academy! An entire chapter dedicated to him, Medusa Gorgon and the awakening of the Kishin.
Crona looked terribly worried. It wasn't the same to give a lecture to humans and users that knew his sins, to a group of rebellious witches that couldn't judge him. Maka noticed the slight shaking in his shoulders and quietly whistled Crona to catch his attention. Smiling at her friend, she gave him her thumbs up to encourage him. The swordsman noticed this and smiled a little, heaving a sigh to soothe his nerves.
"As you all know, the soul wavelength is something that all living beings have and it's just like a fingerprint" Stein explained while opening one of the textbooks, looking at some pages before giving a couple of turns to the screw on his head "However, in order to be used as a weapon is required a strong and healthy soul wavelength. Even so, being able to use the soul wavelength as a weapon is an ability that not all meisters will achieve"
The students stopped staring at Crona to address their complete attention to Stein. Some began to take notes on their notebooks, while others dedicated to listen. The professor looked around the classroom for a moment before pointing at some students for help.
A couple of young males, approximately 15 years old, came down from the desks to the front of the class. Following them was a young lady wearing a revealing black dress, Maka acknowledged her as a student of the Eclipse classroom. At last, Stein pointed at Blair who pointed at herself with her paw, quite surprised. Smiling, the cat jumped out Maka's arms, sitting next to Crona on the Professor's desk.
"The power to feel a soul wavelength is an exclusive ability of a selected group of students and for those that own a Grigori Soul. Although theoretically anyone can train themselves to feel wavelengths, not everyone will be able to obtain this ability" Stein explained, bending over to whisper something on Blair's ear, making her laugh and nod her head. "Now, I want you all to release your wavelengths, everybody else will keep quiet and try to feel them, start"
Stein ordered, sliding in his chair far from the students, observing attentively with his lenses reflecting the light of the classroom.
The couple of meister and weapon smiled before closing their eyes and channeling off their soul wavelength, initiating a resonance between them. Blair licked her paw for a moment before sighing, sitting on the table quietly allowing her wavelength to show.
For Maka it was very easy. Her emerald eyes could see their wavelengths perfectly and the channeling allowed her to feel what type of soul they had and even percieve some traces of their personalities.
The young meister had a light blue colored soul, she could tell he was a little bit petulant and somewhat of a know-it-all, but he was a good boy with a brave soul. His companion was very similar to him actually... no, in fact they were brothers. Maka smiled, understanding perfectly why the professor had chosen them among the whole class: the objective was to identify which soul wavelength belonged to who. Blair could be identified quite easily since she had a wavelength that was shouting magic, her soul showing a bright pink color.
Maka could remember perfectly the day when they had her and how, based only on her appearance and the light sensation perceived from her soul, they confused her with a witch. Now she could make the differentiation perfectly, although at the start Blair could give the feeling of being a witch, there was something very subtle that distinguised the cat from any witch.
It was there when the young witch in front of the classroom sighed, noticing how there was no escape to her situation. With a pout in her face, the young witch whispered "Soul Protect off". It was there when all the students shivered, feeling like a wave what was unquestionably a witch's soul. The girl had the same purple soul as Blair, but unlike her there was that touch of indisputable evilness that the cat didnt have.
Because witches were chaos, it was their nature and it didnt matter how good the witch could be, that sensation remained there like a fingerprint.
"Very well, enough guys, thanks" Stein indicated, allowing the young to leave. Blair returned Maka's arms with a smile, the young witch looked at Maka and Blair for a moment before returning to her seat where a smsll group was expecting here. Beside the witch were three young boys dressed completely in black and Maka noticed that they were from the Eclipse of the other day. "I want you all to write down in a sheet what you managed to perceive of every one of your companions, it will be your grade of today"
Some teenagers complained with the indication, many already looking around trying to catch what others had written. Every weapon meister should have been able to feel the witch, but Maka could notice the trap in Stein's question. What the professor really wanted was them to differentiate between Blair and that witch. It was something that every meister should be capable to do even if they didnt have the ability to see or feel wavelengths.
"The expulsion of your soul wavelength is only the initial step to be able to use it as a weapon. As you know for the majority the wavelength remains invisible, which is why trying to explain what happens step by step would be kind of useless. For that task we have Crona" Stein said while he slapped the swordsman's back, making him jump in surprise.
The pink-haired meister looked around while turning slightly pale, walking slowly towards the center of the classroom, his gaze focused on the floor. He took several deep breaths before resolving to look up and confront the students.
"As you already know, Crona is the meister of the demonsword Ragnarok. Ragnarok?" The professor called to the little demon who got out of Crona's back with a cry of war, making the closest students to jump on their seats. Maka couldn't help but smile, at least someone was enjoying all that attention.
However, the blonde noticed something. Suddenly all the students looked interested, staring at the demonsword attentively.
"Ragnarok, being the weapon, has the ability to channel off Crona's soul wavelength and amplify it to use it like extra damage between each sword blow. Without this amplification, the blow of the sword would do as much damage as an ordinary human-made weapon, this is an ability that all the weapons possess" The professor explained, observing how Ragnarok was doing press-ups on top of Crona's head as if he were a bodybuilder. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath before continuing "However, what really concerns us here is Crona's black blood ability to materialize his own wavelength, which is capable to manipulate at will thanks to Ragnarok. With this ability we will be able to see what in other circumstances would be invisible for our eyes. Crona, please begin"
The swordsman glanced a look to Stein for a moment, his black eyes staring at him fixedly as if he were asking something with his eyes. Stein stared upon Crona before nodding in what seemed to be a silent dialog between them. With a sigh, Crona closed his eyes, trying to calm down.
"Let's hit this shit!" Ragnarok roared before dissolving in thin air, becoming a black cloud. Crona shoved his hand into that floating liquid, which reacted to his touch becoming a sword.
Maka frowned, tilting her head slightly while observing the swordsman holding his right arm with an iron grip, brandishing the sword. Maybe it was her imagination, but Ragnarok seemed a lot bigger. She remembered Ragnarok had almost the same length as Crona's arm, pretty much like a fencing sword. Now the little demon seemed more like a huge broadsword, and holy crap the little bastard was wide!
Ragnarok was perhaps bigger than the first time she met him.
Laying Ragnarok's edge down on the floor, Crona held the long hilt with both hands against his chest, heaving a sigh. "Calm down" he remembered to himself, repeating the same thing over and over in his head. It was OK, Stein was there watching him, he had to calm down, he had to forget everything and concentrate on the task.
Crona started to release his soul wavelength, letting it out of its confinement, surrounding him and Ragnarok. It was the same task that any other meister could do without any problem, something that they learned to do in the Academy, or at home as it was his case. His wavelength was big and now exposed to everyone.
Maka opened her eyes widely, staring intently at Crona. There was it, his wavelength, a soul with the pink color of witches, a magical soul thanks to his mother. Surrounding... no, protecting his soul was Ragnarok's white strips, eternally fused to his meister. Crona's soul included a couple of wings like the ones of her grigori soul, but they were black and sharp like the ones of a bat... or a demon.
Her grigori soul suddenly got upset, feeling it almost fluttering in search of that dark soul that refused to answer her calls. They had been so close Crona and her, so close that their wavelengths were always in harmony, so close that they could know how the other felt by just holding hands or looking at their eyes... like the day of her wedding. That day, when they danced together at the rhythm of Soul's piano, she had felt in Crona a deep sadness combined with joy. While dancing their souls joined up in what resulted to be their last resonance and in spite of being happy, Maka remembers perfectly how much she had wanted to throw herself in his arms and just cry.
It would be very easy to simply imitate Crona's wavelength and force herself into his soul. Crona wouldn't almost feel it, she had made it before, she only needed to concentrate. Now that she could faintly feel his soul she could get inside of him and find out what he was hiding from her.
Perhaps that way she could know why he stopped sending letters to her. Perhaps that way she could know why Crona denied her entrance to his soul, something that has never happened before. Perhaps that way she could recover her friend.
"Very good Crona, that's a good wavelength, starts please" Stein ordered, staring at his former student while he waited.
Crona sighed, picking Ragnarok up from the floor to make a light cut in his wrist, allowing his blood to run free to the floor. Some students gasped, not expecting to see that man cutting his veins in front of them.
"Bloody Defense" Crona ordered, making the puddle of blood under his feet to bubble for an instant before becoming a cage around him. The students in the classroom made an exclamation, some bending over on their desks to have a better look.
"A soul wavelength, when manipulated, can be used for attack and for defense. The capacity to expel it in shockwaves is usually the most common and simple way of using it. The meister Black Star was the last graduate in this school with that ability, Lord Death the Kid has also this ability thanks to his weapons which manipulate his wavelength to help him expel it as bullets. Crona has this ability thanks to his black blood and the ability of his partner Ragnarok to manipulate it, thanks Crona "
The swordsman agreed blurting a sigh, letting the cage around him to liquify again as black blood below his feet.
"Show us an attack now" the professor ordered while he got up of his seat. Frowning, he started gathering his soul wavelength in the palm of his hand. The student could see nothing at all in his hand until the scientist hit the floor with it. Right in the spot where he had punched the floor a little transparent snowman, not bigger than the professor, appeared. With complete confidence, Stein rested behind the doll, being this the only protective barrier between him and Crona.
Crona observed the doll for an instant, calculating the distance between him and the dummy made with Stein's soul. Bending over, the swordsman laid his hand on the puddle of blood below his feet, making it react. Right in front of the student's gaze, the liquid black blood solidified and became a lance.
"Bloody Lance!" Crona shouted, throwing his hardened blood with mighty strength, straight towards Stein.
The students exclaimed, some even closing their eyes waiting to see the professor pierced through by that attack. When some childish whines were heard, the pupils opened their eyes just to see Stein's snowman crying pierced by the black lance which didn't reach the scientist. Complaining, the snowman faded away making Crona's hardened blood to fall on the floor, turning into a black puddle again.
"Without the use of a weapon, Crona was able to launch an attack against me, and without a weapon I was able to defend myself. The manipulation of the soul's wavelength as an independent weapon is an ability that can save your life and the life of others in battle. Thank you, Crona"
The pupils nodded, some jotting down some notes in their notebooks. The swordsman sighed, nodding to Stein before bending over again to rest his hand on the floor. The black blood came alive once more to enter his body and healing the injury in his wrist.
It was there when he felt it. It was warm, comforting, a strange sensation. It was like as if he had a second-degree burn in his entire torso and somebody just covered him with ointment. The air around him filled with a familiar aroma, a subtle scent that could only be described as the sun: It was warm, filled him with peace, it put him at ease…
It was Maka's soul.
Opening his eyes widely, Crona clenched his fists and turned on his heels, his blue eyes looking at the blonde meister who responded with the same impressed look, her green eyes filling up with what seemed to be pain. Crona had just practically pushed her out of him.
Crona had never denied her entrance to his soul, until now.
"Ugh… s-sorry… Professor, excuse me!" Crona stuttered, running rapidly out of the classroom, getting several inquisitive looks from the students. Stein simply nodded to him, frowning while he observed Crona flee.
Maka stayed in her chair, her green full eyes of pain while looking at her desk. Crona had pushed her off his soul, he had rejected her.
For a moment, while Crona was absent-minded, she had managed to match his soul wavelength, trying to get into resonance with him. For a second she almost had achieved it, she had even gotten to feel his warmth, to perceive the light scent of sea water. She had felt what could only be described as fresh water running down her thirsty throat.
She had felt happiness and peace, only for Crona to snatch it away from her, to shove her off him.
Maka clenched her fists tightly under the worried but understanding stare of Blair.
Crona ran out of class without stopping neither looking back until he got to the only place in Death City that still managed to calm him. He ran up the academy stairs holding his breath, running as fast as his long legs allowed him to. Soon enough he reached that place, a safe place that always had given him privacy and peace.
It was one of the many balconies of Shibusen that was facing the entire city. It was a small and solitary place where there wasn't a single soul except his own, a balcony where he used to go some afternoons to observe the sunset. It was what at some point Maka and Crona used to call "their balcony".
Now it was only his.
Breathing agitatedly, Crona took seat in the border of the balcony, his now black eyes watching the landscape.
"What the hell was that!" Ragnarok roared while bursting out of Crona's back, landing on his head "Trying pry into your soul without your permission! And she says that I am rude!"
"Ragnarok, please" Crona whispered, his voice blurting out an aftertaste of pain "I want to be alone"
The demonsword looked at his companion for a moment, staring at him fixedly. Shortly afterwards and without saying another word, Ragnarok retreated back inside his companion.
Crona couldn't allow it; he couldn't allow his feelings for Maka to resurface. His feelings had overwhelmed him when she left, almost making him lose his mind… he couldn't allow it to happen again. For a couple of years Crona fought back the madness that had provoked Maka's departure, a madness that was different from the one that Medusa had sown inside of him.
No, the madness Crona was victim of was much worse. It was not a madness caused by self-hatred or the terror towards other people, it was not either for the overwhelming solitude… his madness was of love. The madness of unrequited love, the madness of longing, madness for the loss of somebody who had meant the whole world to him.
It was a madness that almost took his life.
He couldn't, he shouldn't let Maka to go back in. He couldn't allow himself that luxury, that blessing, because she would leave soon, she would leave him again. Allowing himself to feel again for her would only mean at the end to fall again into madness. Yet… Maka had tried to get into his soul, for an instant he felt her warmth and now his soul was crying for her. He needed her as much as the most powerful and addictive drug in the world.
And Crona knew a lot of that already.
His hands started shaking, his entire body was shaking and the swordsman had to hug himself to regain some control. He wanted to imagine that his arms around his body were those of the blonde, he wanted to imagine that she was at his side whispering words of comfort, words of love. But he couldn't, he shouldn't be thinking those things, he wasn't just lying to himself but also hurting himself. He didn't want to go over all that hell again, he didn't want to fool himself with the illusion of being accepted by her, he didn't want to be hopeless and lovesick again.
Because Maka was married, Maka loved Soul and would never leave him for such a wimp like him. Meena had said it herself once, nobody else would accept him; nobody else would want to be with him.
He refused to cry, he hated to cry like if he were a baby. He was 26 years old already, he was already a man, he couldn't cry as if he were five years old. His face turned red, his fingers almost buried themselves in his arms. Between the void of loneliness and sadness inside of him and his self-hatred, he could only try to keep the remaining pieces of his long lost dignity together and hold his tears.
Suddenly, Crona was almost thrown of the balcony by a pair of arms around his torso. Losing balance for an instant, the swordsman stopped hugging himself to move his arms back and forth in an attempt of holding his balance and not falling to the abyss. The arms that had just surrounded him pulled him to the floor, preventing his fall over the edge but throwing him on the balcony's floor.
Before Crona could articulate any word, a thin young girl sat on his hips. She was dressing a very small green-colored linen skirt with black lines and a tank top of same color that revealed her slender pale stomach. In her back was what seemed to be a dark green mantle met and on top of her head was a curious green hat with the face of a chameleon.
The brunette bent over the pink-haired man almost lying down against him, her breasts fully against the swordsman's chest.
"Cronaaa" The girl sang softly, her gloved hands imprisoning the scared man by his shoulders.
"Angela!" Crona exclaimed surprised, moaning a little from the stinging pain in his rear due to the harsh fall on the floor. The young witch smiled, one of her hands rising to toy with one of the long pink-colored hair locks of the young man.
"Uhh I just loooove when you say my name stuttering" The witch smiled lasciviously, leaning on the swordsman fully, making him blush a deep red.
"W-What b-brings you h-here?" Crona asked, blushing even more when he was unable to avoid his own stuttering.
"Oh nothing! There I was focused on my duties when I felt deep inside that you needed me…"
"You were following me" Crona said frowning lightly, making a pout.
"MEI? Crona! How you can think that about me!? I was only doing my duties! Can't you trust on my feminine intuition?" Angela whimpered making a pout as well, but when she saw that Crona wasn't swallowing her history she only sighed "Alright, alright! I was stalking you! But I have missed you so muuuuch!"
And just after her words she began to rub her cheek against the swordsman's, making his face almost catch on fire.
"Y-you skipped y-yesterday's session" Crona stuttered trying to distract her while trying to get rid of her discreetly. Holding Angela's arms, the swordsman started pushing her away from him bit by bit.
"I'm sorry Professor! I was on a mission!" Angela laughed, allowing Crona to separate her from him, seating comfortably on the swordsman's hips fully. Crona noticed immediately his mistake. "Professor, I don't think that your hands should be there"
Crona was at the brink of a panic attack, fidgeting below the teenage witch, unable to think straight already. Shaking, the swordsman tried to remove his hands from Angela's arms, but the witch used her magic forcing Crona's hands to hold her by her waist, her smile turning wicked.
"There! Now they are in the right place!" The young witch cheered, using her magic to prevent Crona from pulling off his hands from her. The poor pink-haired male could only squeak in horror while his eyes slipped to the place he was touching. His face was on fire and he was a couple of seconds away from a blackout.
Crona panted due to the lack of air in his lungs, the impression was just too big for him to notice that he wasn't breathing properly. His single pant made the witch to smile even more.
Just before the swordsman lost consciousness, Ragnarok got out of his chest to push Angela away from him. Not expecting the aggression, the brunette fell off her prey.
"HEEEEELP! CRONA IS BEING RAPEEEED!" Ragnarok roared at the top of his lungs "GET AWAY FROM HIM! YOU, YOU, SEXUAL PREDATOR!"
"Ragnarok! Silence!" Crona shrieked covering his companion's with his hands, trying to prevent him from shouting.
"AHA! Pervert! You like being molested! SURELY IS THAT!" Ragnarok shouted while fighting against Crona's hands "I will not be silenced! You are a sick fuck!"
"Ragnarok please!" Crona whimpered, starting to become desperate for all of the scandal his weapon was causing.
"Crona I don't mind, I want everyone to know that you are mine!" Angela laughed before getting close to the swordsman again with that same wicked grin. "And I always get what I want…"
Before she could place herself again on top of Crona, Blair appeared suddenly on the swordsman's chest hissing in her cat form.
"Don't make me use my magic, brat" Blair hissed while glaring at the brunette with her amber eyes.
"Angela!" A voice called her with an authoritative tone, making the young witch to step back from Crona completely, getting up the floor like a spring. Before Crona could get up, Kim appeared accompanied by Maka.
Great, just what Crona didn't want.
"Are you molesting Crona again?" Kim scolded the chameleon witch who smiled as innocently as she could.
"Of course not, Crona and I were just having an intimate moment of passion when Ragnarok got one of his jealousy fits and started shouting" The young witch explained while holding a serious expression. Crona dropped his mouth almost to the floor, quickly starting to shake his head denying everything vehemently.
"I-I-Is N-Not true! I-I w-would n-never!" The swordsman stuttered, the blush finally disappearing from his face, leaving him ghostly pale.
"Calm down Crona, of course I don't believe her" Kim calmed him, staring back at Angela severely "Angela, what would Mifune say if he saw you like this?"
At the mention of the swordsman, Angela finally took a serious pose and bowed her face, staring at her own feet.
"Now apologize to Crona" The pink-haired girl ordered with her hands in her hips, looking at the other witch sternly.
The brunette witch sighed before helping Crona to get up of the floor, Blair jumping off his chest to run and climb on Kim's shoulder.
"Do you forgive me?" Angela almost implored, looking at the tall male fixedly with her giant red eyes. Unable to refuse, Crona simply nodded with his head. The witch soon jumped into his arms giving him a strong hug not caring that Ragnarok was in the middle.
Maka only could observe next to Kim, seeing as Crona doubted for an instant before dropping a little smile and surrounding Angela with his arms. Her emerald eyes narrowed and a frown appeared vaguely in her face. Crona refused to embrace her, but he didn't have problems embracing that little plague. Something in her stomach started to stir while she kept seeing that scene, making her feeling like puking.
"Enough! Now get the fuck away from my meister!" Ragnarok vociferated, pushing Angela again who wasn't affected by the little demon at all.
"Farewell, my Dark Knight!" Angela said good-bye blowing a kiss on the air for Crona before running inside the building. Crona blushed lightly, but in his dark eyes was still a bit of panic.
It was there when Maka almost exploded.
"Just what the heck was that?" The blonde asked with anger in her face, seeing how Ragnarok started giving a couple of slaps on Crona's cheeks to make him recover.
"Angela… Since Crona started helping me with the Eclipse class, she seems to have developed a crush on him" Kim explained shaking her head, disguising an amused smile "I think she's projecting her Electra complex on him, Crona reminds her to Mifune a lot"
"And we used to babysit her too, don't you remember that?" Ragnarok growled while getting inside his companion only to go out for his back, sitting comfortably on his head.
Maka had almost forgot about that too. Several times after the fight with the Kishin, Crona used to offer as a volunteer to take care of Angela when nobody else could do it. It wasn't regular and although Crona didn't have any idea of how to baby-sit, he had managed to please a little bossy and spoiled witch child. The little witch had liked the swordsman right from the start, certainly because of the enormous resemblance between him and Mifune, at least in what kindness and patience referred.
But to think that that little witch 10 years younger than Crona was after him… Maka couldn't do anything but sigh, shaking her head. At the end, she kind of preferred a thousand times more that spoiled witch than Meena.
"We were looking for you, Crona" Kim scolded him, calling Crona and Ragnarok's attention who stopped slapping his meister. Both stopped their fight to look at Kim.
"F-For what?" The swordsman asked while holding his weapon's fists over his head.
"Kid called and requested me to look for you and tell you about the welcome party of Maka, remember the party?" The pink-haired witch asked while leaning closer to him with her hands on her hip. Crona smiled nervously, turning over to see Maka behind her friend.
"O-of course I r-remember" Although he wanted, he couldn't forget it. Maka was with him… temporarily.
"Good! Because the party will be today at six in Gallow's Mannor, so I expect you both there in time" Kim warned them, smiling before getting back inside into the academy with Blair sitting on her shoulder, leaving both meisters alone in the balcony.
The swordsman looked at Maka deeply grieved, trying to fix his clothing as discreetly as he could, an act that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde. With a smile Maka got closer to Crona, stepping right in front of him and lifting her hands to help him fix his shirt neck.
"Soul would be proud of you, Crona, the girls chase you" Maka joked with a smile, which the alluded responded nervously. Once sge finished fixing his clothes, Maka took his hand to guide him towards the border of the balcony.
"God dammit! As soon as I take a bitch off you another appears! I quit!" Ragnarok roared with frustration, retreating inside his companion.
With a sigh, both meisters sat on the border of the balcony, looking at Death City's landscape in front of them like in the old times, side by side. Crona couldn't help noticing how Maka hadn't released his hand, holding it between hers firmly. His heart started racing, he wanted to separate from her… he should separate from her, but his will was weak and his heart stronger than his reason. He could only hold Maka's hand tightly between his own, sighing defeated.
There had been five years since the last time he held hands with Maka, he wanted to do it while he could, while she was in Death City... with him. He was weak and coward, in spite of knowing that at the end he would end up getting hurt, he only wanted to have those moments of happiness.
Maka turned over to see her friend, her emerald eyes staring at him. She was still feeling terribly grieved by Crona's rejection during the class, but at the end could she really stay upset with him? The answer was no, it was impossible for Maka to stay angry with Crona, besides what she had made had been really rude. She couldn't just force herself into his soul; it would be as much as doing what Angela did with him moments ago.
At least now, during those moments, Crona didn't push her away. She could feel his warmth and the strength of his hand… Crona didn't reject her. Maka tightened her grasp on his hand, as if joining their hands would repair the broken bond between them.
"Crona…" Maka called him, still holding his hand. The thin man turned over to see her with his deep black eyes. "There is plenty of time before the party… Would you like to join me to buy that mattress for my room?"
The swordsman's eyes lit up all of the sudden, his face completely surprised by Maka's words. At the end he could do nothing but smile, nodding. Maka smiled at him, closing the distance between them to sit right at his side.
There, being so close to him, the blonde surrounded him with her arms, resting her head in his shoulder. She managed to feel how the pink-haired male turned stiff as a board, but the longer Maka stood there holding him, the more Crona seemed to calm down and relax. The blonde meister didn't let him go until she felt him completely relaxed in her hug.
He was not rejecting her now, he wasn't pushing her away… why? Why Crona would allow this contact but rejected her soul? Why would he push her away? She had no idea what to think… but she was feeling unwanted, unwanted by him… that never had happened before. She wanted to ask, she wanted to know… but she feared the answer. Instead, she would try to mend the broken bond between them… then maybe Crona would tell her by himself.
"… can I get a hug?" Maka whispered in his shoulder, her face down so he couldn't see her… she didn't want him to see her fear.
Crona couldn't help it. He tried from the start not to fall in his own desires, not to enjoy Maka's proximity. At the end he knew he would end up breaking, he would end enjoying the blonde's arms around him. But hearing Maka asking him for a hug…
Slowly, he raised his arms and surrounded the blonde into a hug. His arms were strong despite being so slim and Maka could tell he was all bones and muscles. She could still feel his ribs and his stomach was flat and soft like the one of a girl, but his chest was hard as concrete just like his arms. She leaned on him, feeling safe now, safe and protected with those strong arms around her… because Crona didn't reject her.
The hands of the swordsman held on Maka, at first softly, but the longer they stood together the more his hands held on her. At the end he was almost clinging on the blonde, not letting her go. At the end he even dared to rest his cheek on top of her head which rested on his shoulder.
He knew that he shouldn't be doing that, that he would end digging his own grave, but at the end Crona only wanted to lie to himself and imagine that Maka would stay with him. At least, while it lasted, Crona could imagine that his life was not an empty senseless abyss. As long as Maka were there, Crona wanted to imagine that she was his, that he had her and that it was just the two of them. He wanted to imagine that Meena didn't exist in his life and that Soul was only an old memory.
Although at the end Maka's departure would end up killing him, while she was there he wanted to fool himself and to enjoy her closeness, her scent, her warmth. He wanted to imagine that those five years of loneliness and her wedding had never happened, he wanted to imagine that everything had just been a nightmare.
He wanted to imagine that he finally had died and he didn't notice, that he had been forgiven for his sins. He wanted to imagine that Maka's arrival was the version of his paradise, that he was dead and now an illusion of Maka would stay with him forever.
At the end, Crona couldn't help it.
AkireRosales: IM SO LAAATE! Im sorry! This was a BIG ASS chapter, I hope the length made up for the waiting? I triple checked this one for any spelling or grammar mistake also D: I really hope you enjoyed the reading!
We are getting there xD many already figured out the OCs rol in this story. Keep reading and reviewing! I love you all for your beautiful reviews and your support! You are so kind and patient with me!
Oh one more thing! Yes, Angela is included in this fanfic xD no one includes her! I actually like the little fiend! So... about Mifune, would you like the swordsman to be alive like in the anime or dead like in the manga? This is important! So write your opinion in your review pls!
Cya next chapter!