Chapter Seven: Unexpected Alliance
The night was cold, as the two figures walked along the side of the road. The witch casually followed the reaper, as the two walked together. "Say Reaper?" she began, her hands interlaced behind her back and glancing about, before looking at him. "Why are we out soo late at night?" she asked "Eruka, you said you ran into Crona, didn't you?" he asked her. "Well yeah, I told you guys that earlier didn't I?" she told him, arching a brow. "About that" he began before pausing, to which she stopped, tilting her head lightly to a side "and I also recall you saying, that he was acting strangely" he began, before looking at her. "I want you to tell me, what you meant by that" he demanded. Eruka glanced towards the ground. "What do you wanna Know exactly?" she asked him, her brows creasing together slightly.
"How did he seem to you?" he asked her "please, I need to know" he told her. Eruka cupped her chin "well" she began "he seemed more terrified than normal for starters, even more so than when he served medusa, and he seemed to have this… broken look in his eyes...why?" she asked. Kid's gaze darkened, before he turned around "I see, that settles it then" he told her, before he began walking in the direction, that they were already heading in. "Hey reaper, can I ask you a question?" she asked, as she followed him "yes, what is it?" he inquired, glancing slightly at her over his shoulder. "Where are we going anyway?" she asked "the car that I saw Crona in went this way, I'm almost sure of it" he told her. She glanced over at him absently, rubbing her arm, before glancing away. "You really care about Crona, don't you?" she asked suddenly.
The reaper's golden orbs snapped towards her for a moment, before he glanced away, as the two continued to walk in the direction, that he'd seen the car take off in. "Well of Course, he's my friend isn't he?" he began, as Eruka scratched a cheek, glancing away. "That uhh...wasn't quite what I meant" she told him, causing him to look at her. "Why else would I have come all this way?" he told her "well...do you Like him?" she asked peering up at him. Death the Kid arched a brow, before he glanced at her "well of course I do, he wouldn't be my friend if I didn't" he answered.
Eruka frowned, before the witchling sighed, and ran a hand over her face. "That wasn't what I meant either" she groaned slightly, before she went to beside him, and watched the raven haired boy's stoic expression, blinking innocently. "Then what are you implying, because I seem to be failing to understand" he told her. "It's just that" she began, but stopped herself. "It's just what?" he asked flatly. 'How do I ask him?' she thought to herself, as it was becoming evident to her, that being discreet wasn't working. So the only other option she could think of, would just have to do, before suddenly cupping her chin, and glancing at him "well...do you, Love him?" she asked finally, causing the reaper to suddenly stop dead in his tracks. He blinked in shock, as a dark shade came to his cheeks, before he looked at her.
"What?!" he blurted out, as he began stamping his foot, and pointing at her. "Don't be ridiculous, Crona's j, just a friend, nothing more, why would you think, th, that he and I c, could possibly be anything more than that?!" he snapped. "The pure implication of such a thing; is not only completely illogical, but also not to mention, completely insane" he fumed "well then, why else would you be out here so late at night?" she asked, causing him to stop and blink. "Eh?" he asked dumbly, before clearing his throat into a fist "what does my connection with Crona, have to do with any of this?" he asked, before looking at her, a flat look upon his face. "As I've said before, Crona and I are just friends, and nothing more, so get that ridiculous theory out of your mind this instant" he ordered.
Eruka simply shrugged "sheesh denial much? And besides, how could I not?" she inquired, causing him to look at her confused. "Okay reaper, think about it, Maka and the others, are Crona's friends too right? But right now, they're all sleeping at the moment, and yet here you are, running off ahead of them, willing to stop at nothing to find him and bring him back, if not for possibly being in love with him, then why?" she asked him, causing the reaper's posture to become rigid.
"Th, that's simple, as a reaper, it is my personal responsibility to protect students of the academy, and well, seeing as Crona is technically a student officially, I am obligated to" he began "man, you are soo full of it" she told him, causing him to jolt slightly. "Me, full of it?! H, how can you say such a thing?! Wha, what do you mean?" he asked "oh Come On reaper, that's not really why you're really out here, and you know it" she told him before smirking. "You know what I think?" she asked, causing him to twitch. "I think, that secretly you like him, as possibly more than a friend, it's nothing to be ashamed of" she told him. Kid folded his arms over his chest getting irate "what does any of this, have to do with us finding Crona?" he asked getting annoyed. "It doesn't" she told him "it doesn't?" he began, before getting enraged "then why the hell are you asking?!" he snapped, causing Eruka to bust out laughing, hugging her stomach with one arm, and shielding her mouth with the other.
"Hey! What's soo funny?!" the reaper snapped. "Oh man, you've got it bad for him alright, you should really see your face right now" she laughed, before wiping the corner of her eye with a finger. Kid turned away from her, and cleared his throat into a hand. "We're wasting time, Crona needs our help" he told her, before the raven haired meister began to storm off. Eruka was tempted to just let him go off on his own, but as she looked around, she soon realized, that she had no idea how to get back to the others. And to be honest, she didn't really want to be left out here alone, causing her to look towards the agitated young reaper. "H, hey, wait for me" she called after him, as she ran after him to catch up. "Aw c'mon, calm down, you don't have to get all defensive about it" she told him. "If you're not going to help me find him, then you can just go back the others" he snapped.
Eruka groaned "I didn't say that I didn't want to help, I already told you that I owe Crona, for saving my life from Mizune, didn't I?" she began, before looking at him. "And besides, weren't You the one that told me, until we find him and return him safely back to Death City, that I wasn't allowed to leave your sight?" she told him, causing him to stop. "Oh yeah, I Did say that didn't I?" he wondered allowed. "Besides reaper, even if I wanted to go back to the others, I kinda can't" she confessed. "Oh, and why's that?" he asked "do you have any idea where we are, because I sure as hell don't" she told him. He soon looked around them, and realized she was right. "Hmm guess you have a point, well then, I guess there's really no turning back now, is there?" he asked. "None that I can see" she told him. "Then I guess, we'd better press on, this road has to end somewhere, this better not be a waste of our time" he told her, before he summoned the skateboard.
"What're you doing?" she asked "this is taking too long, and frankly, my legs are starting to get tired" he told her. The witchling thought about it before she nodded "okay" she told him, to which she then chanted in her way, to summon her trusty tadpole, before she then hopped on. "Alright Eruka, where did you see Crona last?" Kid inquired. Eruka lightly gripped her chin, and soon looked up "it's this way" she told him, before they both flew down the road. "I can't believe, we didn't think of doing this sooner" he fumed. "Yeah, seriously" Eruka told him, before they soon saw the gates approaching. "There it is; this is the place where I found Crona" she told him. "Great, let's go" Kid told her, when Eruka suddenly tackled him, knocking them both to the ground. "Hold on" she snapped, before they crashed. "What did you tackle me for?!" Kid blurted out as she managed to get off of him. "Sorry about that Reaper, but I don't think we should just charge in there using magic" she told him.
Kid looked at her, before he managed to get up and dusted himself off. He held out a hand to her, and helped the young witchling up. "Hmm, I suppose you may be right" he told her, as they both looked at each other, and swiftly let go of each others hands. As they looked at the gates, they found themselves staring at it in shock. "What a strange place this is... no matter" he spoke before glancing back over at Eruka, who looked over at him. "The sooner we get Crona, the sooner we can get out of here, let's go" Death the Kid informed her. He began to walk into the place and paused, feeling someone hug onto his arm, and saw Eruka hugging onto him seeming to be trembling. 'What's with her all of a sudden?' the reaper thought to himself. They wandered into the academy grounds, until they suddenly spotted the red vehicle, parked outside of a white tower of sorts. "There it is" Kid began, before they made their way towards it, the blue haired witch, continuing to cling to him as they moved closer.
"Wha, what is it?" Eruka asked, quivering slightly "Yes, this is it, I'm sure of it, this is the vehicle I saw earlier, the one that Crona was in" he spoke, before looking up to the tower. "Meaning what exactly?" Eruka asked him worriedly. "It means this is probably where Crona is, but we have to be sure" he told her, before he removed his arm from her grasp, and placed his hands upon her shoulders "Eruka, I'm going to need your help" he told her. "Wha, what is it?" she asked. His golden orbs dimmed, as he looked up at the tower "we'll need to sneak in there undetected somehow" he wondered aloud, before turning to look at her. "Eruka, tell me, are you still able to turn yourself into a frog?" he asked. "Y, yeah, I think so, why?" she asked him nervously.
"Alright" he began "Eruka, I've got an idea, I need you to transform into a frog and go inside that tower" he began pointing to a high window. "We need to find out if Crona's there, if he is, try to convince him to come back with us, can you do that?" he asked her "ribbit, I, I can try, but even if I find him, what if I can't convince him to come back? I kinda doubt, he'd listen to me" she admitted. Death the Kid looked at her, a determined expression on his face "Eruka, I'm counting on you" he urged her. "Are you insane, you have any idea how high up that tower goes?" she protested, before he looked up and realized, much to his dismay she had a point. He couldn't risk them being caught, especially when they barely knew anything about this place. "Damn, you're right" he cursed, not liking this at all.
"What're we gonna do?" she asked him, before he began to move towards the doors. "Then I'll simply knock on the door, and demand to see him" he spoke. Eruka rushed over, and gripped his arm. "Hey reaper, stop for a second and think about this" she snapped "what's there to think about?" he asked, and tried to pull his arm away from her, but she tightened her grip. "How do you expect to rescue Crona, when you have almost no energy left?" she snapped, causing him to look at her. He opened his mouth to protest, but he soon realized she was right, he was feeling very tired. "Alright fine, c'mon" he told her "where are we going now?" she asked worriedly, before running after him.
"We need to find a place to rest up for the night, we can begin the search in the morning" Kid told her, as she ran after him, and soon caught up with him. He managed to wander over to an abandoned dormitory, and knocked on the door. "Hello?! Anyone home?! We need a place to rest for the night, if it's alright" he called out, before stepping back. "Eruka, stay by the door, just in case someone's home" he told her, before he walked around the side, and cupped his hands together. The raven haired young reaper squinted as he tried to peer through the window. "That's strange" he murmured to himself "Eruka, never mind that, c'mere" he told her. She wandered over, and glanced about nervously. "Reaper, what're you doing?!" she asked worriedly. "Eruka, we may be in luck, it doesn't seem like anyone's living here" he told her. "What makes you say that?" she asked arching a brow "because it looks to me, like no one's used this dorm in some time, it's all filthy and dirty" he told her, before she looked in.
"You're kidding right? Do you honestly expect us to sleep in this disgusting hovel? Clearly you're out of your mind" she told him "you got a better idea?" he replied. She sighed and smacked a hand over her face in response. "Ugh fine" she told him, before Kid managed to pry the window open, and glanced over to her. "Eruka, give me a boost" he told her, to which the witchling glanced about, before she helped him climb in through the open window. Death the Kid tripped at first, falling with an audible thud, before getting up and straightened up, dusting himself off. He closed the window, before he navigated to the front door, and unlocked it to let Eruka enter. "Not quite my more preferred choice, but for the time being, this'll just have to do for now" he told her, after she closed the door. He locked it, before absently flicking on a light, immediately causing them both to cringe. "My God, this place is more atrocious than I thought" Kid panicked.
Eruka folded her arms over her chest, smacking her hand over her face "and you were the one that wanted to stay here" she muttered, before straightening up and began to glance about. 'Hmm, a little straightening up, possibly even a bit of thorough cleaning, and this place might not actually be all that bad' she thought to herself, as she began to walk about, and soon found a closet. Upon opening it she quickly noticed some cleaning supplies. 'Maybe this place isn't as hopeless as I thought' she thought to herself, grabbing the supplies. She suddenly heard a thud and dropped the supplies, turning on her heel, before running over and knelt down. "Reaper?! H, hey, reaper" she panicked, before realizing he had finally collapsed from exhaustion.
"Man, what a pain" she complained, before grabbing him under the arms, and began to drag the reaper. She knew, she would have a hard time cleaning up, with him being passed out on the floor and all. Eruka managed to drag him over to a couch, to which she struggled a little, but somehow managed to get him laid down on the couch. Before then going back to the closet, and recollected the supplies. She also soon found a white dew rag and an apron for spring cleaning, to which she then put them on, setting her frog hat down, and got to work. She may be a frog witch, but even as a swamp witch; even she had her standards, and she wasn't going to be caught dead, sleeping in a dusty, disgusting hovel, such as this.
She soon noticed that there were areas that she couldn't reach normally, and her eyes dimmed. 'Okay, I'll straighten up the bottom level first, then I'll get to the top area last' she thought determined. After a few hours of working feverishly on cleaning up the abandoned dorm, she was satisfied, and held out her hand, causing the broom to float over to her. She then sat down and used it to hover about, to clean the areas she wasn't able to reach earlier. She paused occasionally, to wipe the sweat from her brow, with a polka dotted sleeve. Death the Kid whimpered and tossed about, before suddenly awakening with a start. "Crona!" he gasped out, before glancing about swiftly, noticing that he almost didn't recognize the place. It was the dorm they had decided to rest up in, only this time, it was much cleaner. He quickly leapt up upon realizing it and bolted into the main room, wondering what the hell was going on around here.
"E, Eruka!" he cried out, bolting into the main entrance room "Eruka, where are you?! Something's horribly wrong here!" he called out, causing her to stop and look over at him. 'Sheesh, well it's about time he woke up' she thought before floating down, before she then stepped off the broom, and grabbed it in her hand. "What is it reaper?" she asked, as Kid was looking about frantically. "Th, this place, it was soo disgusting and filthy, and, and dirty, b, but n, now, it's all clean, I don't understand what's happening here, how did it get clean all of a sudden?!" he panicked, biting on his nails nervously, seeming suddenly paranoid. Eruka sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance "well it should, I've only been up all night, cleaning this place up" she fumed, to which Kid blinked. "W, wait, you did this?" he asked, seeming to be calming down. "Uh yeah… is that a problem?" she asked "oh good, for a moment there, I thought someone else knew we were here" he mentioned.
He soon spotted a set of keys and grabbed them, to which he then went up to where Eruka was. There he calmly unlocked the door, and lightly pushed it open. He carefully took the blue haired witchling by the shoulders, and led her inside, where he then brought her over to the bunk beds. She managed to climb onto the bottom one, where she quickly passed out exhausted. "You rest easy now Eruka, you can leave the rest of the straightening up to me" he told her, before he removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, a determined look came over his features, before he began to finish straightening the place up.
The sunlight came into the room, as the pink haired figure soon heard a knock on the door. "Crona, I have an assignment for you, I'm going to be very busy today, so I'm not going to be back until later tonight, so I've left an envelope for you on the table in the observatory room, get as much done as you can, until you've completed all of them" he heard the prince's voice. The figure shifted, and Crona soon looked over towards the door. He soon stood up and sighed, as he then looked out the window. 'It's morning already?' he thought, as he sadly walked over to the bed, and placed the pillow back on it. "I understand" he made himself say, before lowering his head.
He heard the man's retreating footsteps and hugged his arms, keeping his head lowered. "What have I gotten us into Ragnarok?" he muttered. Suddenly the creature's voice echoed in his mind. "Listen up idiot! You'd better do what this guy says, or he'll punish you again, certainly we wouldn't want that, now would we?" he heard the voice. "No, I, I don't want to be punished again, it hurts too much when he does it" Crona answered. "Well then, we'd better get to work, who knows what this guy is gonna ask of you, and frankly, I don't wanna be sealed away again" he heard the voice. Crona managed a nod "okay" he managed sadly, before he left the room, and made his way to the observatory room. Seeing the envelope with his name on it, the pink haired assistant opened it. Crona pulled out the list, and began to examine it, his pale eyes soon glancing down towards the floor. "How does he expect me to do all of this? It's too much, I don't know if I can handle this Ragnarok" he spoke.
"Well, there's no getting out of it now, I told you not to accept that guy's challenge didn't I?" Ragnarok spoke irate. Crona sighed "I know, but he wasn't going to let us go if I didn't" he answered "yeah, well, how'd that turn out for you idiot?" he spoke. Crona lowered his head, and tightly gripped his arm, before he looked at the list, and pocketed into his boot. Crona then walked out of the chairman's residence and squinted, shielding his face from the light with a hand, until his eyes were able to adjust. He soon decided to begin wandering about, hoping to learn his way around the campus. Death the Kid finally finished straightening up the rest of the dorm, and wiped off his brow with an arm, before seeing the sunlight coming in through the window. "Is it morning already?" he wondered aloud, before he grabbed his coat, and straightened himself up. He then left the dormitory, locking it behind him, before he began to look about, trying to figure out, where he should begin his investigation.
The sunlight leaked in through the trees, causing the young scythe meister to wince and open her eyes. She managed to sit up and began to dust herself, before she went over to the white haired weapon, kneeling down next to him, and gently shook him. "Soul, Soul wake up" she told him softly to which the white haired boy groaned softly, reaching out a hand and rolled over, causing Maka to yelp in surprise, before opening her eyes. She blinked feeling something wrap around her, and saw Soul had grabbed onto her, and had snuggled his head against her chest. "S, Soul, what're you?!" she blurted out at first, about to smack him over the head with a fist. "Maka" he moaned softly, causing her to pause, her cheeks burning furiously. She wasn't sure whether to push him off, or to let him continue to hug onto her. 'He looks soo peaceful sleeping' she thought to herself 'I wonder what he's thinking right now?' she thought to herself. 'Soo warm wh, who am I?' he shifted his head, reaching out with his spare hand, thinking he was only dreaming, and imagined himself grabbing onto her, and pressed his lips over hers.
Maka turned a dark crimson red, as he slid a hand on her cheek and brought her closer, pressing his lips over hers. Maka attempted to move back, and soon had Soul land on top of her, his hand sliding a littler by mistake, causing Maka's eyes to widen. Her cheeks burned a dark crimson, as she gripped her book shaking, and whacked him over the head, causing him to wake up. "Ow, what the?!" he blurted out, before he saw himself staring at Maka's chest. "Uhhh" he began, before looking up at her "Soulll" she began, before whacking him again with the book. "Where do you think you're putting your hands you pervert!" she snapped, causing him to grip his head "would you quit hitting me, and let me explain?" he protested. "Then explain" she fumed, before he got up and sighed "sheesh Maka, for a smart girl, you can be really stupid sometimes" he told her. Maka got up and glared at him upset "how dare you! You're the one that grabbed me and kissed me, and now you're calling me stupid?!" she snapped.
Black Star heard yelling and opened his eyes, before he quickly jumped "Maka are you okay? I heard arguing" he told her. "Maka, would you just tell me what you want from me already?!" Soul snapped. "What are you talking about?!" she asked, as the others began to wake up. "You just don't get it, do you?!" he snapped, before they both looked angry at each other. "Hey guys? Where'd Kid and that witch lady run off to? They're not here anymore for some reason" came Liz's voice, causing them to realize, that Death the Kid had run off, and worse, he had left his pistols behind. "He left his weapons behind? That's not like the Death the Kid we know at all" Tsubaki managed to say, before they soon realized, that the two cowgirls had been ditched for the witchling. "We'd better find them" Maka spoke to which Soul glared before sighing. The team began to leave, but Soul stayed, causing Maka to pause and look back at him "aren't you coming Soul?" she asked.
Soul glanced at her seeming annoyed "you sure I wouldn't be getting in the way or something?" he asked annoyed. "Soul, would you stop pouting? It's not cool at all, now c'mon, the sooner we find those three, the sooner we can all go home" she told him. "Tch fine" he managed, before following her as they paused. Maka and Soul soon caught up to the rest of the group, who were looking about "where are we supposed to go?" Black Star managed. "Hey Maka, now would be a good time to track their wavelengths" Soul commented. "Right" Maka managed, before concentrating, and soon opened her eyes. "I've got it, they're this way, c'mon" she told them, as she began running, to which the others quickly followed her. It wasn't long before they reached an elegant academy, and began to wander inside. "This is soo weird, what kind of place is this?" Black Star asked, as Tsubaki glanced about with him.
"It almost looks like, some sort of academy" Maka commented, before turning to her comrades. "Liz, Patty, see if you can locate your meister, and let him know we're here" she told the two cowgirls. "We're on it, c'mon Patty, let's go find the spoiled brat" Liz sighed. "Okay!" Patty giggled hyperly, before the two wandered off. "Black Star, you and Tsubaki, I need you two to find out what you can about this place, me and Soul will look for Crona got it?" she told them. "Don't you worry Maka, you can count on the Great Black Star, no problem" he told her "c'mon Tsubaki, let's go, yahoo!" he told her, before dashing off. "W, wait Black Star, wait for me" Tsubaki called out, as she ran after him. "You sure those two will be okay?" Soul asked, before seeing Maka walking off "Maka, hey wait up" he called out, before running after her. "What's up with you this morning?" the white haired meister asked her.
She tried to ignore him, but he grabbed her arm, forcing her to look over at him "hey, would you talk to me?!" he snapped. "Soul" she began, shivering as a few tears formed "why do you always, have to say the meanest things to me...d, do you hate being my weapon that much?!" she demanded causing him to tense. "Maka, now I know you're just being stupid" he commented, before she pulled her arm away from his grasp. "Soul, you really are such an insensitive jerk sometimes, can't you see that I" she snapped, before stopping herself. "That you what?" he asked "n, nothing, never mind" she told him, quickly turning away. "You know what Maka? If I'm such a horrible weapon to you, why don't you just, go find someone else to be your weapon from now on" he snapped. "Fine, maybe I will" she snapped back, causing Soul to stop blinking in shock, before glaring at her to hide the hurt.
"Fine, be that way Maka" he spoke, before turning away angrily 'she's not really gonna leave me, is she?' he thought. 'Any second now, I'm gonna start to walk away, and she's gonna come after me, and beg me to stay as her weapon' he thought, as he began to walk away, making sure she'd be able to catch up. 'H, he didn't really mean that, did he? H, he wouldn't really leave me, would he?' she thought, and turned to look behind her, and saw him walking away, feeling a stabbing pain in her heart before turning away, tears appearing in her eyes, before she began running off in the opposite direction. 'Fine, be that way Soul, I don't need him anyway' she thought mournfully. Hurt and heart break surging through her. Soul paused and turned around, and saw her run off, as immediately horror pulsed through his veins. "M, Maka?" he asked softly, before a tormented expression came over his face, and he began to mournfully walk away.
Maka managed to find a place to stop, and broke down crying against the wall. 'Soul you idiot' she thought as she sobbed, before feeling a smooth hand on her shoulder. She blinked through tears, hoping to see a certain white haired boy. "Excuse me miss, are you alright?" she heard a smooth voice say, and turned around. What she saw instead of her companion, was a rather gorgeous man, with long crimson red hair, and blue green eyes, staring back at her charmingly. Maka managed to wipe her eyes "Y, yes, I, I'm fine" she began, before he lifted her chin. "Tell me then, why would such a beautiful girl such as yourself, be in tears then I wonder?" he told her. Maka blinked and blushed darkly. "Y, you think I'm beautiful?" she asked meekly. Soul was mentally kicking himself for fighting with Maka, and was unsure of what to do, before suddenly he spotted Crona walking around, and blinked. 'Crona?! So he is okay, good, but where's he going?' he thought, before he began to follow the pink haired boy, and soon saw Crona standing outside of a destroyed building.