Chapter 7

Crona's eyes itched. They turned another page in the yellowing library book and ignored the itch. Crona, over their life, had become very good at ignoring being uncomfortable. Maka said it wasn't good, but occasionally Crona thought it was a useful skill. The light from the lamps was dimmer than when Crona had started and the letters seemed to move on the page.

Their hand shook with the urge to claw it down the paper to make it stop. Instead Crona took a deep breath and clenched it to their side. Closing their eyes, Crona rubbed the fist into each eye, then opened them again. Tiny spots had appeared in their vision but the letters stopped moving around.

Crona had been in the library since the morning. After the others had disappeared into the green flame, Stein had Sid haul Eruka back down to the cells and then reported to Lord Death what had happened. Naturally the reaper had immediately begun to suspect that Eruka had done something to purposely disrupt the ceremony. They weren't positive that was the case but until Crona had another answer the suspicion was aimed at the frog witch.

Crona's memories of Eruka working for Medusa were like a scratched record. Parts were still playable but not everything was there and Crona couldn't exactly say what was real and what wasn't. Ragnarok didn't help either, simply mocking Crona for forgetting. But Crona couldn't remember Eruka being exceptionally cruel to Crona, except for when they had made Ms. Marie drink the snake, then they deserved it.

They simply didn't think that Eruka had meant to mess up the ceremony. It didn't… feel right. Maka had talked a lot about Crona trusting themself, to do what they thought was right. She called it 'instinct'.

Crona didn't think they should be trusted, but they'd try for Maka. So Crona had stutteringly asked Lord Death if they could help. To try and find Kid and other others.

The mask frightened Crona. The blank eyes that Crona could never tell were happy or mad. At least with Medusa, Crona always knew that they were a disappointment. With Lord Death, Crona couldn't tell at all. It was part of the reason Crona had asked Kid not to tell. If Lord Death hated Crona, what if he hated Kid too, for kissing Crona?

Crona didn't mind if Lord Death had a low opinion of them, but they couldn't handle it if he felt the same way about his son.

It wasn't Kid's fault.

Crona sighed and rested their forehead on the open pages of the book. Everything swirled around in a mess in their head. The words stood out on the page, jangling in between Crona's ears.

'-ook of Eibon, the grand wizard's grimoire is said to have more information and magic than all the covens put together. Over time, so many of the wizard's thoughts were put into it that the book itself is a great magical item. Thought to be able to move people between the real world and other-.'

"Yes but does it steal your beloved away from you? And how?" Crona asked the book. It remained silent and unhelpful. Crona sighed again.

A nearby rusting through the stacks and shelves made every muscle in the Crona's back and neck seize tight. The sound of scales over brick echoed in their mind.

'It's not her. She's dead. She's dead because of you.'

Crona took a deep breath and slowly turned around, prepared to wake Ragnarok from sleep if danger were to arise.

"Crona?" Kilik leaned into sight from around the 900s. The dimming lamp light flashed in his glasses. "Have you been here all day? No one's seen you."

Crona liked Kilik. He wasn't nearly as rambunctious as some of the other meisters and didn't seem to be afraid of Crona like some of the people in Death City were.

"Y-yes. I-I have been. S-sorry." Their voice, always rather gravelly from using scream resonance, sounded even worse from not being used all day and Crona winced.

"It's alright. But it's almost seven. Have you eaten today?" Kilik asked, coming closer, and tilting his head to read the piles of books stacked next to Crona. "What are all these for?"

"I-I um, I'm helping to try and find Maka and Soul and the uh-others." Crona stuttered out, standing up and gathering the books they needed. Kilik grabbed some of them to help carry them to the central desk.

"Whoa, these are heavier than they look. Old too," he pointed out as they carried them back to the first floor. "Have you found anything yet? Since Stein didn't show today we've all just been trying to guess what happened." Crona shook their head and pointed to the exit, trying to indicate the need for privacy for the conversation. Kilik nodded, and shoved his slipping glasses further onto his nose.

Crona meekly handed the books back to the librarian. Some of the books came from the restricted section, and Crona couldn't leave with them. The only two Crona was allowed to take with them were tucked securely under the crook of their arm. Outside of the library, Crona could see that the sun had set and the cackling moon had taken its place.

"Thunder and Fire are with Auntie. Come with me to pick them up, and you can tell me if you found anything." Kilik started leading the way though DWMA's winding halls. It was very quiet in the school. It seemed that nearly everyone had gone for the day.

"U-um I didn't really find anything. M-most of the books say the same thing about Eibon. There doesn't seem to be very much information." Crona muttered. The smooth black and white tiles passed under their boots.

"Has anyone questioned the witch, the one who was used in the ceremony?" Kilik asked.

Crona shrugged. "I think Sid did when he took Eruka back to her cell." The two walked down the large staircase that led to the main hall. Crona glanced up at the mission posting board. A lot of them were about hunting down the rest of Arachnophobia's allies. Kilik looked up too, glasses flashing. He pointed to one that was for Eastern Europe.

"Ox and Harv are there right now. There's a part of Arachne's coven that's still active."

"Oh. W-who went with them?" Lord Death was still having any meisters under three stars hunt in pairs.

Kilik laughed. "He somehow roped Kim into it. I'm sure there was currency involved somehow." From the office there was excited giggling and Thunder and Fire popped up over the ledge. They waved excitedly to their partner. Crona could feel a tiny smile starting across their face.

"Hey guys!" He went over to the window and picked them up, Fire immediately cuddling up to his neck and Thunder clambering onto his shoulders. "Ow! Thunder, don't pull. Did you guys help Auntie today?"

Crona jumped slightly when the receptionist banged opened the door, the tiles behind it cracking slightly.

"They were a super help! The office has never been so colorful." She winked and gently ruffled Fire's hair. Kilik grinned proudly.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from them." Fire caught sight of Crona over Kilik's shoulder and grabbed his hand at Crona.

"H-hi Fire." Crona waved back shyly. Thunder tipped back, looking at Crona upside down. She giggled and lept from Kilik's shoulders, flinging herself at Crona.

For one moment Crona's mind with white with panic. In their mind's eyes they could see Thunder falling through their hands and breaking all over the floor. That's all Crona could do, break things. Because they were bad and they couldn't-

Crona grabbed Thunder, and nearly stumbled. Thunder giggled again in glee and when Crona tucked them closer, she wrapped her arms around their neck.

Heart still going a million miles an hour Crona looked over at Kilik, blushing.

"Looks like you have a friend, Crona," Auntie teased. "Ragnarok might have to watch his back."

'Tell the gorilla to stick it where the sun doesn't shine,' Ragnarok snarled in Crona's head. Crona winced, shifting their eyes guiltily back to Auntie.

'Be nice. She is,' Crona said back, eyes glazing slightly while they talked to their partner. However before either Kilik or Auntie could bring Crona back to the present a voice echoed down the hall.

"Crona, there you are." They jumped, spinning around to see Marie striding down the hall.

'It's Ms. Sunshine McCupcakes.' Ragnarok cackled before sinking back into the background of Crona's mind so they couldn't reply.

"Hey, Ms. Marie." Kilik smiled, blushing slightly. Crona had overheard Black*Star teasing the other meister about his 'crush' on Ms. Marie. It wasn't entirely clear to them what a crush was, but it sounded like it hurt.

"Hello Kilik. Hi Thunder, hi Fire," she crooned, coming up and gently tickling Thunder, who grinned and reached for Marie. Crona held her a little tighter to keep her from squirming out of their arms. Marie's eye landed on Crona, who shuffled under her gaze. "Stein and I were looking for you. Were you in the library all day?" Crona nodded.

"Is Professor Stein okay? We heard something about his hands being damaged," Kilik asked.

Marie smiled softly. "Stein's fine. You're going to have less dissection labs for a while, but he'll survive."

Kilik smiled uneasily. "Don't mention it to him, but that's not the worst news I've heard today." Fire yawned hugely in his arm and tugged on Kilik's shirt. "Okay, okay. Looks like it's to get them home." Crona handed Thunder back, despite the girl's sleepy whines of protest.

"H-have a good night Kilik," Crona whispered.

"You too Crona. Don't worry too much about Maka and the other's. If Black*Star's there then trust me, whoever has him will be begging to give that dork back." Kilik tucked each twin securely under his arms then headed off down the hall.

They jumped when a large hand landed on their shoulder. Auntie patted their back, nearly sending Crona to the floor. "Mr. Rung is right, Crona. Those seven have the uncanny ability to get in and out of trouble." She winked. "I've seen enough to know that." Auntie turned to Marie. "Give Stein my best. And tell him to stop leaving that damn chair of his everywhere. I don't even know how he got it into my office," she muttered, shutting the door to the office.

Marie smiled strangely. "That was me. Stein thinks it's Spirit and everyone else thinks it's Stein," she whispered to Crona. She put an arm around Crona's body and started leading them away. Her arm was warm and secure around Crona.

Crona swallowed around the knot in their throat. They could hardly speak to Marie without wanting to apologize over and over for the snake. Their tongue felt heavy with every unsaid apology to her. Marie had already freely given her forgiveness and Crona didn't know what to do with it. It somehow made them almost feel worse, that Marie was able to still see Crona's struggles and turn what should have been anger, disappointment, and distrust into compassion and faith.

"I-I've been looking for what happened to the others today," Crona said instead, trying to be helpful at least. Marie nodded to show she was listening and Crona realized they were on the bad side of her face, where her field of vision ended. Their stomach twisted but they kept talking.

"Th-the spell that Eruka was using w-was suppose to transport them into the book. But if they were inside the contents would be moving with them." That was how Lord Death had explained it this morning.

"So they definitely aren't inside it," Marie frowned and they nearly missed turning to go down to the doors of the DWMA. "Do you have any ideas about what Eruka might have done to them, Crona?"

Crona shook their head then quickly stuttered out, "N-no. I m-mean I don't think Eruka did it on purpose. Lord Death said it would take a witch with exceptional power to use Eibon's book correctly. S-so Eruka probably didn't mean to mess the spell up."

"That's an insightful conclusion, Crona."

Crona nearly jumped out of their skin when Stein's voice came from behind them. For someone even taller than Crona, Stein was exceptionally sneaky when he wanted to be. Marie, however hardly seemed fazed, simply turning around and smiling at him.

"Naigus finally let you leave?"

Stein already had an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth when they pushed open the doors. Dusk was settling over the city, stars gradually emerging. He snorted.

"No. I bribed Sid to let me escape. She should really know better than to leave us alone together by now." He lit up, and Crona noticed the bandages still around his palms and knuckles. The light reflecting in his glasses for a moment. "By the way, I noticed my chair was gone. I wouldn't think Spirit would have the energy to steal it today." Crona looked away while Marie smiled.

"What are you going to do about it?" she asked innocently. Stein grinned, stitches distorting.

"Naigus took my cigarettes, who do you think I took these from?" Crona bit their lip again, feeling the mad urge to smile. Stein turned his attention to them, leaning against one of the pillars. Marie leaned against him looping one arm around his waist, comfortable and familiar.

"So you don't think Eruka did it? Then explain your reasoning on what happened instead?" Stein blew out and the blue smoke dissipated slowly. Crona watched, turning over the facts in their head.

"Well if they aren't in the book, and they haven't been found in our world they must be somewhere in between," Crona said slowly. "Eibon collected information from all over the world. Including spells about spatial magic."

"And the creation of Weapons. It was how Arachne started in the first place." Stein pointed out. Crona nodded absently.

"So maybe if they aren't in the book, they were sent to a place outside of it, but still not in our world?"

"An alternate reality?" Marie asked.

"A what?" Crona tilted their head.

"A universe that like ours, except something has been changed," Stein explained. "Maybe they were taken to a world where weapons don't exist, for example."

"A different world?" Crona muttered, horrified. "B-but how would they get back?! They can't stay there!" Stein stubbed out the dregs of his cigarette.

"Yep. That's the problem." Crona gawked at him. "Don't worry too much about it right now, Crona. It's not like the Book can go anywhere, so we have some time to figure how to get them back where they belong."

Seeing Crona's face, Marie gave them a brief tight hug. "They're going to be home soon, Crona. We're all working on it," she whispered and for an instant Crona believed it. They let themselves be protected in her arms for a moment, and fiercely missed Maka. They should have tried harder to convince Kid not to go. They should have been more help when the ceremony went wrong.

Marie gave them one more squeeze and let them go. "Goodnight Crona. We'll see you tomorrow, bright and early." She and Stein started the long walk down the steps to go home. Crona sighed and pressed their forehead into the cool stone pillar. Sniffing, they looked up at the school.

The candles were lit and Crona could still hear Kid's explanation of the unusual decoration.

/"They're a beacon. Death City is a home to all weapons and meisters, and the candles are always lit so our people can always find a way home." Kid gripped Crona's hands tightly, both of them looking at the bright flame. "Death City is your home now too, Crona. These will guide you back, always."//

They cast one more look at the city and surrounding desert.

"Find your way home, please, Kid," they whispered to the wind, and hoped it would find him.