It was after dark, and Aless sat on her bed with her boyfriend, laughing. Today he seemed more confident and talkative than usual. Maybe he's finally getting used to DWMA. I'm glad. He deserves not to be afraid all the time.
"Yeah, I wonder what we're gonna do next," said Aless. They were discussing their Biology class, which had been canceled lately since everyone was busy rebuilding Death City after the Arachnophobia battle.
"I kinda want to go back," Crona admitted. "Dr. Stein's nice." He froze suddenly, his muscles tightening. His pupils had dilated, and his eyes had changed to that nearly white silver color that terrified her.
"Crona? You okay? What's wrong?"
Emotion finally returned to his face, and his blank expression turned fearful. He scrambled off the bed, backing away until his hands landed on the wall.
"Hon?" Aless whispered. "What's going on?"
His body convulsed as the demon sword appeared in his hand. It glistened in the half-light of the full moon. Aless shrank away from him. What is he doing?
"Crona, put the sword down. I'm telling you to put the sword down. Please listen. I need you to listen to me."
He muttered something inaudible.
"What?" Alessei asked. "Speak up!"
"Kill you," he whispered. "Kill you. I don't know how to deal with you, so I'll kill you. Kill you." He raised the sword.
"No!" Aless shrieked – the shriek of someone who has been betrayed by something they put all their faith in. "It's okay! You don't have to kill me!" She dodged the sword as it came down, clipping her shoulder. Damn. He's good. How can I get out of this one? What's even going on here? Why is this happening? Tears dripped like lava down her cheeks.
Crona turned around, swaying on his feet. He gave a halfhearted swing of the sword, then dropped it. It clattered to the floor.
"That's it," Aless encouraged him in a quiet voice. "It's alright. Nothing wrong here."
"No," he said. "You'll kill me now!" The dazed look hadn't left his face. He doesn't even know what he's doing!
"Crona, I won't kill you. Just please come back! Wake up!"
Crona was backing away again, up into the corner. His mouth was twitching into some deranged smile, though his eyes were full of anguish. Aless made a move toward the sword, but thought better of it. It'll just stab me or something. How can I get him back! This all happened so fast!
"No!" he yelled, sinking to the floor and hugging his knees to his chest. "You won't help me! You say you'll help me, but you won't! Lies! You're such a liar, Lady Medusa! I hate you!"
The words stung even though Aless knew they weren't meant for her.
"I'm not Medusa, sweetie. I'm Aless. See? Aless. Medusa's dead. She won't come back. She can't hurt you." But if she's dead, what's doing this to him?
Recognition was finally returning to his face, though his eyes were still cloudy. Aless told herself to stay on guard.
"Y-you said you'd …help me," he told her, trying to figure out his own thoughts.
"I will help you," Alessei whispered. She tiptoed towards him.
"Why?" he screamed, sending her jumping away. His hands tugged at his hair in agony. "You're so stupid! Just leave me alone, Medusa, or Aless, or whoever you are!" The smile was gone now, replaced by a grimace of terror. "Why would you want to help me?"
"Because I love you!" Aless yelled, exhausted. "Did you ever think of that, Crona? Maybe I love you!" She sank to her knees as the realization dawned on her. "Maybe I'm just some stupid girl who loves you…" she whispered, her voice cracking.
Crona seemed to wake up. His eyes weren't clouded anymore, and he blinked a few times, as though fighting sleep. He sat up, tried to stand, but his body was weak. He crawled over to Aless, and it was obvious that even that was painful. Aless, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice the change. She sat there, slumped on her knees, with a thousand-yard gaze.
"Aless?" said Crona. "Aless? What happened?"
"Aless isn't here anymore," she growled, her lips curling into a snarl. She grabbed his arm and dug her nails in, wailing. "Stop! Stop! I can't do this! Don't touch me!" Crona tried to jerk away, but her claws were still gripping his sleeve. He could only stare in horror as bony black spines sprang out of her back. Dark, inky blood dripped onto the floor from where the spines had grown. "Help! Help meeeee!" The cries were agonizing to hear, like an exorcism, and Crona was sure she was dying. He started crying, and she slapped him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she screamed. "What happened to you?"
"That's what I'm asking you!" he snapped. "What happened to me? What's happening to you?" Then he glanced out the window at the full moon. He realized what was wrong with her. He'd never seen her going demon before. "Aless? Aless, it's okay. You're okay."
"No I'm not! Don't you see them? They're coming for me! Run while you can!"
Crona frantically looked around before it dawned on him that she was hallucinating. She was writhing on the floor now, painful tears dripping down her face. He held her arms down, lying on top of her to keep her still.
"Let me go!" she yelled.
"No! You'll hurt yourself!"
He held her there for several long minutes, then her body went limp. He lightly slapped her cheek.
"Aless? Are you okay now? Wake up!" There was no response. She's dead, he thought. She must be. With his last shred of hope, he put a hand to her chest, feeling the faint throbbing of her heart. Without another word, he hugged her close to him and curled up on the floor, letting relief and fear take over.
The sunlight poured in through the open window. Aless blinked open her eyes, aches spreading over her body. She tried to roll over, but found the body of her boyfriend in her way. Why are we on the floor? Slowly, the memories of the night before came back to her. Oh God. That's right, the madness… and then I went… there was a full moon last night, wasn't there? I must've scared him out of his wits. But he's sleeping now… She felt his chest rising and falling next to hers, showing that he was, in fact, okay.
"Crona?" she whispered. "Hey? Are you alright?"
He blinked sleep out of his eyes and lifted a feeble hand, set it down again.
"I-I think," he stuttered. "What happened to me last night? Why do I feel half-dead?"
The corner of Alessei's lip twitched up in an attempt to smile, but she felt no humor. She shrugged, still utterly confused about the incident.
"I'm not sure. We were talking, and then you just suddenly got terrified for no reason. You were calling me Medusa! And you actually swung your sword at me! Clipped my shoulder with the blade, actually." She felt her upper arm to find that the wound was closing. "I thought that you only went mad when Medusa was controlling you."
"Yeah, um… that's kind of… not true," he muttered. "I-I am mad. I still hallucinate sometimes when I'm in my room. But I've never tried to hurt anyone!" Tears were welling up in his eyes. "I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to hurt you!"
"Now why are you crying? I know you didn't mean it."
"B-because I'm so mad at myself! How could I do something like that?"
"You couldn't help it. Just like I couldn't help turning into a demon last night. What did I do, exactly?" She rubbed the bruises on her arms, wondering how she'd gotten them this time.
"You were screaming that people were after you, so I had to hold you down, so you wouldn't jump out the window or something. And your arms are bruised! Even when I was trying to protect you I hurt you." He paused for a moment, thinking about something. "Aless? When I snapped out of it, was there something that you said before that?"
"Um, I think I said… I said 'I love you'." Surprisingly the words didn't get stuck in her throat, and she smiled. "Yeah. 'I love you'. Why?"
"Well, the first time that I had an episode like that, I asked Lady Medusa if there was a way to get out of it. She said that it was a little like hypnosis, where there's a trigger word that brings you back. But she said it was a phrase she'd never say around me, so I shouldn't get my hopes up."
"And you think 'I love you' is the magic phrase?" He nodded. "Well, that would make sense I guess. I really can't imagine Medusa saying that to you, sad to say. Well now we know for future reference. That's good."
They sat there for a few minutes, just mulling over the previous night's events. Finally Aless broke the silence.
"Hey Crona? I love you."
He looked totally confused.
"B-but I'm not going crazy."
"I'm not saying it to bring you back, silly. I'm saying it because it's true."
Crona jumped a little, blushing.
"Uh, I love you too, Aless." He nodded looking determined to say it right. "Yeah. I love you."
Aless hugged him, and decided for sure that Asura was wrong. Fear wasn't the most powerful thing in the universe. Love was.