Project Motherhood: Annie of the Stars

by Gamer95

Beowulf and Aileen learn some shocking information about Annie: She has a grown son, a daughter in law and grandchildren! Annie realizes she never told them the story of how she met her adopted son. Well, it's time to remedy that...

4. Chapter 4

When Annie arose the next morning, she expected Crona to be thrashing about in the midst of a nightmare. She didn't expect him to scream, he was probably too scared to do so... so, she was pleasently surprised when she saw Crona curled up on her chest, sleeping soundly. She smiled wrapping her arms around him again in a hug, content her child slept well.

"Ugh, let's get this bullsh-" Ragnarok began as he emerged, then stopped, looking around in confusion. "Wait." He pointed around and looked behind him, seeing Annie. "Right."

"Is he having nightmares?" Annie asked, almost immediately.

"Not anymore. He had one and woke up, but saw you were there, and calmed down." the Black Blood shrugged. "Damndest thing, he NEVER calmed down before... usually shook and silently cried himself back to sleep."

Annie smiled warmly at that. She gave her son a soft kiss and gently ran her fingers through his fluffy pink hair before resting her chin on top of his head. "I love you..." She whispered softly.

"Mama..." He mumbled in his sleep. Annie looked outside. Still only five AM. Still plenty of time to sleep...

Two hours later, Maggie went to wake up Annie at her normal hour only to find her and Crona snuggled together. Unable to bring herself to wake them up she slowly closed the door and decided to let them sleep in a little longer.

Not long afterwards, Crona was the first one to awaken. He let out a cute yawn and felt a warm pair of arms holding him close. He tensed up briefly, thinking Medusa was carrying him off to some experiment, but relaxed when he realized who was holding him.

He started to tear up a little and the mix of suddenly tensing, relaxing, and then shaking was more than enough to rouse Annie from her slumber. The moment she heard him sniffle her mind went from morning grogginess to wide awake and alert. Her arms tightened their hold on him and she tucked his head under her chin.

She gently shushed him and started to rock her body back and forth, wanting to nip his tears right in the bud before they could get worse. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here, I got you, don't cry..." She whispered gently.

Thankfully, while Crona did cry a little, it wasn't the same emotional gut punch last night was. He was scared, but it was clear he was happy. And this was again, a new feeling to the small, abused boy. He snuggled close to Annie, clutching to his Mama, and sighed, feeling... better, honestly.

It took several minutes to calm him down, but soon Annie had Crona resting his head against her shoulder. Then with a handkerchief handed to her by Sagan she began to wipe his eyes. Carefully dabbing his tears away with one hand while hugging him tightly with the other.

She smiled softly and stroked his fluffy pink hair, gently rocking him for several minutes before she gently pulled him away from her body and gave him a long kiss on the forehead. "Now tell mommy what you were upset about..."

Crona let out one last sniffle, "I-I woke up and forgot where I was. I though she was taking me to another experiment..." Annie sighed and kissed his forehead.

"Then you remembered where you were, and it all just sort of hit you at once."

Crona nodded and buried his face into her chest and clutchesdtightly to her dress. With a soft sigh, she stroked his back and kissed the top of his head. "You're not there anymore... And you never will be..." She said softly.

"I know... I know... I just... I feel like this was my fault, like I wasn't-"

"Hey, stop that!" Both Annie and Ragnarok spoke at the same time, although Ragnarok was far more aggressive. Crona flinched and whimpered. "Kid, I've told you this a thousand times, you could'a killed Death himself, and she still wouldn't care about you! You meant NOTHING to her! You were a weapon, and you were an experiment, AT BEST."

Annie was about to snap at Ragnarok, when, again, he said the last thing she expected.

"SHE. Cares about you!" He stated, sternly, pointing to Annie. "SHE tolerates me! ...somehow... But with Medusa? She blamed you, because she could! Everything was going to be your fault, and no amount of bloodshed would change that! I've been trying to get this through your skull for years! Everything that ever went wrong, was HER. FAULT."

The black blood crossed his arms. "Just think about it, runt... I'm gonna sleep more..." Annie sighed and squeezed Crona gently. "He's right, sweetie... I do love you..."

She smiled when she felt Crona hug her back, "It's gonna take some time to move on, Crona. All we can do is try to make today a little better than yesterday." With one last hug she glanced over at her her clock, and it was well past when the others were usually awake, plus she couldn't see herself going back to bed after the excitement.

With a smile, she climbed out of bed and stretched her arm while holding Crona close before heading over to her closet and choosing one of her many identical dresses. She decided to go with a lighter shade of green than usual.

Lightly tossing her dress of choice over her arm, she turned to bundle up Crona in the blanket, "I'll be out in just a minute, ok?" She gave him one last squeeze and a kiss before stepping into her bathroom. Meanwhile Crona tried to shake off the last remnants of his near panic attack.

It wasn't long until Annie returned and scooped him up into her arms, earning a happy coo from the little boy she had adopted. He leaned into her embrace and looked up at her, smiling happily to be in her arms. It really was too cute how such a simple gesture could pretty much conquer Annie's unstoppable will, but hey, he was cute. She didn't care.

"C'mon Crona, let's go eat." She remarked. She figured Maggie let them sleep in, for that, she was grateful, but if Annie slept in until noon, she'd never hear the end of how she was letting the young master go without food. Admittedly, she had to agree with it.

Then she remembered a few more things she needed to take care of. Like her apperance. Never knew when the paparazzi would pop up, even in her own home somehow... Sighing, she set the boy back down on the bed. "Riiight after mommy does her hair..." Crona watched her go with a small frown.

He took several deep breaths to try and ease himself into a happy state again and he quickly found that it worked. A small smile came to his face as he nestled into the blanket and allowsed himself to relax.

Annie hummed a cheerful tune as she took care of the last few steps she had to be ready for the day. Her smile never oice fading even as she finished braiding her hair.

Letting out a content sigh and nodding her head, she stepped out of the bathroom and saw the little bundle she left behind. Smiling, she gently scooped him up and held him up to her shoulder, rocking him gently.

Crona didn't like being away from Annie, but he also understood he couldn't be with her all the time. Admittedly, that sounded really nice, being kept warm, safe, secure... told you were loved...

'Holy crap we're screwed...'

Crona blinked, then talked to Ragnarok in his head. 'What do you mean?'

'Ugh, I'm just- I- look, I'm just now realizing how much... of a mess we were in, I've never seen you this happy. Ever.'

'I haven't had much of a reason to be happy...' Crona mumbled, mentally.

'Yes. That. That right there. That's the issue.' Ragnarok continued. 'You're a kid. Kids aren't supposed to be meat sack experiments who are broken and sad all the time. I guess I'm just no really seeing that since we're not having to fight to survive every hour...'

Crona closed his eyes while the last of his tension finally relaxed. He didn't need to worry anymore now that his mama was holding him. Meanwhile behind them Sagan was stretching while trying to shake off the last of his drowsiness.

He hopped to his feet and stretched out his little arms with a yawn before looking over at Annie and giving her a salute. She smiled and waved at her parasite. "Morning to you too, Sagan. You have a good sleep?"

He popped his neck, something Annie was still not sure how he did, before giving her his equivalent of a thumbs up, "Good to hear, would you mind seeing if you can nudge those three awake? I'm gonna take Crona down for breakfast." Sagan gave her a salute before waddling over to gently poke Peppy, who was the more agreeable of her pets in the morning.

The skunk's eyes opened groggily before he slowly rose to his feet and looked at the remote parasite with a rather sad look on his face, wanting to sleep more and feeling slightly betrayed at being jarred from his slumber.

Sagan rubbed his back one last time before miming eating. Peppy rolled his eyes and lets out a huff, but slowly started to stretch with a yawn. Sagan chose to wake up Lucky next, after all Speedy could sleep through a thunderstorm so it was easier just to carry him down.

The rabbit quickly proved to be a morning bunny, and he was up and about the second Sagan shook him, eagerly running forward to join Annie and Crona and hopping up and down to try and reach the pink haired boy.

Annie scooped him up mid bounce and placed him in Crona's arms. Sagan just shook his head in amusement before picking up Speedy. The hedgehog barely opened one eye before immediately falling back asleep after recognizing Sagan.

The small rabbit plush held the hedgehog with a tilted head, then carefully flipped him onto his back, then back to his front, then held him up beneath his forelegs, but the hedgehog didn't stir, because when he sleeps, he sleeps hard.

Annie noticed Sagan was struggling to wake up Speedy, to no avail, and seemed to be growing furstrated. Finally flipping the entire bed over. Only for THAT to not even wake the hedgehog up. Annie laughed and shook her head. "Let him sleep, we'll go get some food."

Speedy was suddenly by Annie's side, faster than anyone thought possible. The hedgehog seemed to be looking ahead with a 'Okay, I'm here, let's go.' expression. Sagan seemed more frustrated than anything, but Annie didn't comment on this. Typically, this was how things went in her home...

Sagan looked up at Annie with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. She smiled back, then opened the door and carried Crona out into the hallway and down the stairs. 'Good thing the show is so far ahead of schedule... I'll have plenty of time with my boy...'

They had a lucky streak of good weather and only a few retakes per episode for her live action parts and dubbing, so now it was all in the hands of the animation teams. Now she had at least a couple weeks, or maybe even a full month, to spend with him. She smiled down at Crona as he slowly petted his rabbit.

The little bunny occasionally looked up and nudged him with its little nose, and he smiled each time and gavesthe small rodent a gentle poke, which in turn got its ears twitching merrily. Annie felt obligated to smile at the cuteness.

She always appreciated how smart animals could be. Well, some animals. But Lucky seemed to understand Crona's emotions well enough to know 'this wasn't the one who hurt me' and didn't seem scared of him. It was a sweet scene, and Annie realized it'd probably only help Crona long-term. If Lucky was afraid or distrustful of him, then he'd only blame himself for what had happened.

'I think Crona understands what happened wasn't his fault, but he may not be able to process that just yet...' Annie thought, continuing to walk down the hallway. It was a tricky situation, and she needed to be careful with it. Maybe she should try and find a therapist for him at some point... maybe John could help... actually, Ben would probably be pretty good to talk to. Aside from his past, and understanding what it's like to be hurt by the ones you trust, he had more or less become the therapist at Lab Six. He wasn't trained for it, but he was good to talk to.

But for now, it was nice to just watch Crona play with his little bunny.

Sadly she couldn't enjoy the sight for long as the dining room doors finally came in to view. Annie blinked in confusion before glancing back towards the way she came, just how distracted had she been to miss walking down the stairs without stumbling at all? Speedy caught the smallest whiff of food in the air.

The tiny hedgehog scampered into the dining room at a speed befitting his name. Annie laughed softly.

Peppy quickly followed after Sonic to try and keep him out of trouble. Mostly from accidentally poking anyone in his rush to get fed. Annie shook her head one last time before opening up the doors to find everyone not on kitchen duty chatting around the table.

She nodded her head with a smile and entered the room. "Morning everyone. You seem to be in a good mood today." Maggie chuckled.

"I allowed them to sleep in as you did. After all, meals are a family affair."

"Fair enough." Annie nodded. She was thankful for that, actually, she didn't want to overwhelm Crona like that. He was still getting used to being around people in general. She nodded and sat down at the table, Crona snuggled up on her lap. By now, the little boy was wide-awake and looked up at Annie with awe in his eyes.

She smiled back and kissed his head. One of the maids spoke. "You slept for a really long time, Miss Annie! I hope you're not trying to stay up too late again..."

Annie blushed and coughed into her fist, "Yes, we'll we had a bit of an emotional roller coaster late last night. Crona and I were pretty exhausted after that." Every single maid looked at her expectantly, she knew what they wanted her to say she just felt like leaving them in suspense for a bit.

She let out a deep sigh and made her way to the seat at the head of the table. "Okay, when I tell you all what went down, you have to promise me that you won't all loudly squeal at the top of your lungs and break all the windows... Again..."

The maids all gave her an eerily simultaneous nod and their eyes started to sparkle. Annie sighed and placed a hand over Crona's ear while whispering for him to do the same with Lucky, meanwhile Sagan, Peppy, and Speedy all duck and covered under a fluffy pillow. Taking a deep breath to steady herself Annie forced herself to face the music, "Last night Crona asked if he could call me mama…"

She cringed at the loud high pitched squees sounding throughout the room, and indeed, every piece of glass in the general vicinity shattered into shards on the floor. Annie let out a groan and rubbed her temples. "Exactly what I told you not to do..."

Before they could say anything she held up a hand to stop them, "If you want to hear anything else, you'll clean this up and get some more glassware out of storage." Several maids snapped to attention to do as she ordered. Sighing, Annie took up her usual seat, "I swear sometimes I think we would be better off using plastic."

She noticed Maggie hadn't chided them like she usually would and looked up at her with her brow slightly raised before noticing the embarrassed look on her face. "...Wow, you too, Maggie?" She asked with an amused smirk.

"I-I'm sorry, Mistress." She chuckled, sheepishly. "It's just- well, when I saw the little one, I assumed as much, but I didn't want to ask, as I wasn't sure what had and had not happened, but, this is most delightful news!"

"Indeed, it really is." Annie smiled, now rubbing Crona's back, who had noticeably tensed up. "Aww, it's okay, Crona. They're just happy that you're safe with Mama now~" She cooed, softly. Crona did feel reassured, and released a sigh he had been holding.

"Did dolphins just declare war on us, or seomthing?" Ragnarok asked, appearing and looking around. "Oh, let me guess-"

"Yes." Annie rolled her eyes, knowing what he was going to say.

"Wow. Even miss prissy over there?" He nodded at Maggie.

The normally composed made looked away as her blush deepened. "Well we all knew it was going to happen eventually. We just didn't expect it to be so soon, and we got a little… excited."

Annie gave her a very dry stare and said with an equally flat voice, "Just a little bit, huh?"

Maggie cleared her throat. "Yes, well, it is hardly my fault that this whole situation is unfairly adorable." Annie smiled softly and blushed as she looked down at Crona. "Yeah... I guess I can see your thought process there..."

Crona smiled back at her before resting his head on her shoulder. Annie rested her cheek on his head, "I've seen a lot of kids over the years, but I don't think I've met another who was just so gosh darn cute." Maggie giggled as she started to help clear away the broken pieces with an offered brush and dustpan.

Annie looked at Crona's bowl and found herself grateful that he was given plastic instead of glass. She then took to carefully feeding him and making sure every morsel went into his tiny mouth so he could get a bit heavier.

She didn't know how much Crona would grow because of what he had been through, especially because of the lack of blood, but she refused to let 'not being fed well enough' contribute to that! She'd be danged if she was EVER going to let Crona go a day without eating again! ...unless he wanted to for justifiable health reasons. She added to herself.

This would be a balancing act, she couldn't over-feed him, but she sure as heck wouldn't underfeed him as well. There was a lot that would be trial-and-error, and she hated the 'error' part, not because she messed up, but because she only wanted the best for Crona.

Soon enough the glass was cleared away and the girls returned with a fresh set of glassware. By this point Crona's bowl was empty and he was slowly drinking from his sippy cup. Annie smiled at him as her own breakfast was served, "Let me know if you still feel hungry, Crona, there's still plenty to eat."

Crona rubbed his little tummy, then shook his head slowly. "No thank you... I think I'm full now..." Annie smiled sadly. He hadn't even eaten all that much... He was so unused to eating basic meals that little tiny bowls were all he could stomach..

Annie softly stroked his head, "Just let me know if you do get hungry, ok? We can always get you a snack." Crona nodded his head before settling down in her arms.

"Well, the young master certainly seems content." Maggie smiled warmly, Annie seemed a bit embarrassed, but chuckled and nodded nonetheless as she began to run her fingers through her son's soft hair.

"Yeah... It's... it's gonna be a long road for all of us, but it's for the best." Annie nodded, beginning to eat her own breakfast. "There's a lot of damage to be undone, but I don't doubt that it'll be undone." She smiled. Her head maid nodded in agreement at her statement.

She smiled and cuddled him close, gently stroking his hair. She rolled her eye slightly as she heard her many maids let out a series of awws and coos. "Don't you ladies have jobs to do?" She asked in exasperation.

The maids all giggld before returning to their work, causing Annie to roll her eye. Sometimes it felt like one giant family lived in the mansion with everyone pitching in instead of a group of maids. Although she doubted she would have it any other way no matter how much trouble they caused her.

Especially now that she had a child in her care that really needed that sort of family dynamic... Perhaps once Crona was settled in, she would let the maids spend some time alone with him so he could form a bond.

Honestly, she knew at some point, she'd find one of the maids cleaning up, with Crona in some sort of baby harness on her chest, sleeping soundly. 'Great, now I really wanna see that... that sounds adorable.' Annie blinked, realizing she couldn't be annoyed because that sounded so dang adorable!

'But I swear, if any of them suggest I get in the harness, they're fired.' Annie thought, a metaphorical storm cloud appearing above her head. She HATED being teased for her small stature... but pretty much everyone did! Heck, someday, Crona would be taller than her! Ugh... she wasn't looking forward to that!

She groaned. 'Don't think about that, think of now... Maid bonding...'

Right now, however, they would just overwhelm him, and Annie had a feeling she was only just starting to coax him out of his shell. She idly fed herself while planning on what she should show Crona around the house before lunch. Maybe a quick walk through the parts of the garden they didn't get to the previous day?

She frowned slightly to herself and donned a thoughtful expression. 'Y'know, sometimes I think my house just might be too big...' She thought to herself. They had scratched the surface the day prior, but there was still so much to show...

Most of the guest rooms were mothballed unless she had a guest staying, which was very rare at her private home. Annie just shrugged her shoulders, 'Well it's not like Crona needs to immediately know every square inch of the house right off the bat. Right now he just needs to know where the important rooms are and how to get around.'

The more she thought about it, the more she realized her house was way bigger than it needed to be. Like, several times bigger... ugh, she had wanted to use her money on SOMETHING, and since clothing and vehicles were limited to out of the question, so really, she just spent it on her house. And then more, and then more, and then more... and this was what she wasn't giving away. So, that really went to show how much money could be made from an idiotic children's show that kept getting renewed well past its prime.

'Wait.' Annie blinked. Realizing she was insulting her own show. Okay, sure, some parts of it deserved ridicule, but she was proud of it, overall!

She looeds down at the boy on her lap with a small smirk and kissed his head gently before finishing up her breakfast. She then decided to lean back in her seat a little bit to give her food a little bit of time to settle.

Crona rested his head on her shoulder while she cradled him like a baby. Meanwhile the pets and Sgan were happily making their way through their meals.

Sagan rolled his eyes and moved over slightly as the tiny hedgehog's food was sent everywhere from the sheer gusto he ate his meal with, with the skunk actually taking his bowl to the other side of the room to avoid getting his fur dirty, while Lucky just didn't care.

Maggie watched, and coulnd't help but smile. On the one hand, Annie seemed like the sweetest older sister, tending to her baby brother's needs. Cuddling him close and letting him snuggle up as if a storm had scared him out of bed. But at the same time, she was so fiercely protective, as only a Mother could be, it was a delightful sight.

Crona was looking over at Lucky with a smile. He was so focused on enjoying a meal that was actually fresh. No half rotted or mushy veggies for him anymore. Besides that he had dealt with far worse than a little food splash in his fur.

When he was finished with his bowl of lettuce, he was visibly saddened at the fact that they were gone, sticking his nose into the bottom of the bowl. Annie chuckled and petted his back. "Can't feed you more than your stomach can handle, Lucky."

Lucky let out a disappointed huff before flopping onto his side. Annie let out another chuckle and started to remove pieces of food from his fur, "It's for the same reason as Crona. If we push it too fast all it will do is hurt you more, so we gotta take it slow and get you both back to where you should be."

Lucky let out a soft, barely audible grunt and thumped his leg in the air as Annie gently caressed his fur. The actress let out a giggle as he clearly relished in the gentle pets he was receiving, and she finished removing the food bits from his fur.

She dropped the last piece on to her empty plate, "Sorry about that, Speedy's table manners are atrocious. We've all tried but he never does more than slow down for a day or two at the most." Lucky let out a soft churr as she scratched him behind his ears.

The hedgehog padded his way over to his owner and stood on his hind legs, pressing his front paws against her leg. Annie rolled her eyes. "Speedy, no. You had your breakfast, you have to wait for lunch." Speedy curled up to pout.

And then fell asleep. It was almost instant. Pretty much if the hedgehog didn't get food, then he went back to sleep, as there was nothing worth being awake for. Yes, that was his line of thought. But it had gotten him this far, so he wasn't going to stop now.

Rising to her feet, Annie considered what to do now, she wanted to show Crona more of their home, but also wanted to do whatever would make him happy, which probably would be whatever she wanted to do, as all his little heart wanted was to make her happy.

Right now, the boy was making his way over to Speedy. He picked up the little ball and held it in his tiny hands. Evidently, he wanted to comfort the little Hedgehog. Speedy emerged from his Ball and looked up at the boy, then looked at Annie as if he never wanted to see her again.

Annie shook her head with a sigh, "You can have a snack before lunch. However," her tone made the hedgehog perk up and pay attention to her every word, "I get to pick when, and you have to be on your best behavior. That also means spending time with everyone and not just finding a sunny spot to sleep in."

Sonic looks blankly up at her and Crona gently set him down. He looked up at him before sauntering his way over to Lucky, who quickly began to sniff at him. Sonic more or less just stood in place and allowed the bunny to play with him whatever way he wished.

Lucky was curious, having never really met any other animals after living almost all of his life in that one room with Crona. He carefully inspected the spines covering Sonic only pausing when one poked his nose. He hopped back almost a full foot when Sonic demonstrates curling up into a spiky ball of pain.

The rabbit slowly approached the ball of spines, making sure to keep a reasonable distance so as to avoid getting pricked. Getting an idea, he picked up his empty food bowl and used it to lightly push the hedgehog around, essentially rolling him across the floor.

Annie barely stifled a laugh when Peppy hastily pulled his food bowl out of the way as they zoomed past him. The rabbit quickly seemed to get the hang of rolling the hedgehog around and was soon weaving him across the room, narrowly avoiding all obstacles as the maids cheered him on.

Crona held Annie's hand as the two watched the odd... game? Was that what one would call this? Demonstration? Something along those lines... as the two dashed (well, Lucky did, Speedy just rolled) about.

Crona watched, a bit confused as to what was happening, but he didn't voice his concern.

In fact, it was kind of funny, if he were to be entirely honest.

Crona was giggling softly and even Ragnarok emerged and lets out a loud laugh. "Wow, look at that little rabbit go! Guess all those lab tests really paid off!" Annie sighed at the cuteness being slightly diminished by the tragic reasoning.

She slowly turned her head to look at Ragnarok, "Dare I ask what sort of testing he went through." The demon weapon scratched his head.

"Er… well he didn't go through the same things as Crona. More like what a lab rat would go through, mazes, puzzles, problem solving, that sort of thing."

Annie let out a soft sigh, which was equal parts relief that at least Lucky hadn't been harmed like her son had and extreme emotional anguish that the boy had to deal with his own mother treating an animal better than him, as marginally as that was...

Crona tugged on Annie's skirt, then held his arms up, as if asking silently for a hug. Annie grinned ear-to-ear as she scooped him ip and held him, continuing to watch... whatever the heck one wanted to call what they were watching. Hog-Ball? She didn't know, but it made her son happy, so she wasn't going to complain.

Then it was all ruined by what the blob said next, "Mostly I think it was a mix of her being bored and trying to make Crona jealous of how Lucky was treated better than him. Not that it ever worked of course, kid doesn't really have any spite or jealousy in him." What went unsaid was Medusa's ultimate goal of making Crona take the first step to becoming a monster by killing Lucky with his own hands.

Not that Ragnarok needed to say that. Annie had already pieced together that that was what the witch had planned. And didn't that just leave her with a red hot feeling of pure rage boiling inside her gut?

The worst part was there wasn't anything she could really do with it other than let it go. Medusa was gone for good and letting Crona see her so angry would do nothing more than scare him. Never the less it still chafed her and probably would for a long time.

Looking down at the little boy, she let out a deep sigh and smiled sadly. 'He's my son now anyway, not hers... He will never be her son, and he never was to begin with...' Honestly, the fact that she was a mother now was very surreal.

Crona (thankfully) hadn't heard Ragnarok, or wisely chose to ignore him. He was feeling safe and happy, and was desperate to hold onto that. Right now, he was focused on his pets, and seemed to be greatly enjoying it. A few minutes later, Lucky suddenly seemed to realize 'oh hey, there's people here' and suddenly stopped hopping over to Annie and Crona.

Speedy lazily uncurled for a moment, looked around, yawned, and went back to sleep. Crona let out a soft giggle as he picked up the rabbit. While he wouldn't admit to it, Ragnarok was kinda thankful that the rabbit had lived, as he knew if it died, it would be another step towards him losing his sanity. He didn't talk about them, but when he was alive, he had two friends, John and Richard, both of them had lost someone close to them, one, a pet, another a girlfriend, and they hadn't exactly done too well afterwards. He wondered what they were up to now...

Annie was just smiling down at her son, feeling giddy and riding the high of being a mom. It still left her light headed and giddy feeling just thinking about it. A child of her own, something that she thought would never happen. When she turned her head to look at Crona she felt her anger start to melt away, if only a little bit, as he watched Speedy sleep.

He had the biggest, happiest smile on his face that just melted her heart and he let out tiny giggles that brought joy to all who hear it. Speedy eventually realized he was going against the deal and forced himself awake, padding his way over to the boy.

Annie smiled down at Crona as his little eyes shone with curiosity. Leaning forwards, she reached down to show him how to pet the hedgehog, "Pet him like this from front to back. That way you won't get hurt by his spines."

Crona obediently followed her instructions and carressed the small hedgehog gently, which prompted the tiny rodent to look up at the boy and sniff at his fingers before deciding he liked how they smelled and starting to lick them while standing on his hind legs.

Crona started to giggle and the sound caused both Annie and the maids' hearts to melt. When he smiled up at her Annie felt like she might have a cuteness overload, "I-it tickles!" She had to take a deep breath to keep herself from shattering the freshly replaced glass all on her own.

The tiny hedgehog tried to pull Crona's hand down with his front paws and Crona decided to humor him., resting his hand on the table. Speedy then started licking his entire hand and giving him gentle love nips.

Annie shook her head in amusement, 'At least part of that is him smelling Crona's breakfast on his hands. That little glutton.' That's wasn't to say that Speedy didn't like Crona, because he genuinely did.

He seemed to almost immediately like anyone that willingly scritched at his belly and rubbed his quills, which pretty much accounted for everybody inside this mansion. Annie scratched her pet underneath the chin.

His eyes closed and his ears twitched as she hit just the right spot. When he flipped onto his back, Annie giggled, knowing exactly what he wanted. "Crona, Speedy really loves it when people scratch his belly. Just like this," one of Speedy's paws started to twitch as she scratched him.

Crona smiled as he remembered when he rubbed the hedgehog's tummy the day prior. He did seem to respond more to it than he did when his bristles were stroked. And currently he was rolling in place slightly as his belly was rubbed.

Soon the rocking slowly stopped as the belly rubs lulled him to sleep. Nearby Lucky turned to Peppy and even with only one eye managed to ask, 'Seriously?' The skunk giave a dramatic eye roll and a huff, 'He's been like this as long as I've known him.'

Annie let out a sigh and shook her head. "Well, guess I can't hold that one against him, I always knew that always got him to fall asleep." She chuckled and booped her hedgehog's nose.

He licked the tip of her finger just as he fully fell asleep. Her smile returned and she gently stroked the top of his head, "Love you too, Speedy. You little cactus ball."

While she couldn't spend all day petting the animals, dang it, she would've loved too! Just, a day with no responsibilities, just her pets. Granted, she had done that before. Multiple times. In fact, more times than she should've.

Really, it had become a bit of a problem, and Annie had ended up in a crazed, feral state like a angry cat hiding under the bed with Peppy (who was concerned for her) and Speedy (who didn't care about what was happening, he was being pet) and the maids had to work to get her to come out and go back to work. Apparently, Izzy had been close to calling a hostage negotiator.

Well, she may have to if Annie ever wanted a day off to spend cuddling Crona. Which would become two days, then three, then ten, then a month...

She smiled and let out a sigh. Her pets and her maids were the thing keeping her motivated to keep getting her work done... She would have been completely demoralized without them... And now she could add Crona to that list.

Leaning back, she took in everything happening around her. Crona's soft giggles as he watched Speedy rock in his sleep, to Peppy and Lucky laying down to let their food settle, to the different conversations happening among the maids. Just enjoying how alive her house felt that morning.

She leaned back in her seat and let a smile grace her features. This was how she wanted things to be all the time, just her spending time with her family. Alas, she would have to go back to work at some point...

The future would be interesting. She already lied a lot to the public, now she'd hav e to do so even more. She really needed to hammer out a convincing and true cover story for Crona. Yes, she was his Mom, nothing was ever going to change that! But, the world didn't know she had been playing Annie for the past few DECADES (somehow, even she didn't know how people didn't figure that one out...) but the news of her adopting a child would be problematic, both for the general public, and for anyone who had it out for her.

Again, Double stopped, looked around, then shrugged, returning to feeding the animals with Isaac, who was content petting Cider's fur, the fox finally having warmed up to him. The shape-shifter smiled, and thought nothing of the odd feeling.

'And then there's the others...' She thought. Crona had already met Ben, and seemed calm enough around him, heck, even Ragnarok seemed to like him well enough, but she wasn't sure how Crona would react to the others. Sure, there'd be some skepticism about her ability to raise him (not out of cruelty, but out of concern for her and his own well-being) but she saw no reason why there should be an issue. Aside from Violet wanting to keep him to herself.

Then there was the question of how she was going to take care of Crona during filming? Taking Crona with her would be ideal, but had a host of issues. The number of people in the studio who knew her full story could be counted on one hand with fingers to spare at a given time, so she would have to make a cover story for the both of them to stick to.

'Right... little brother...' She remembered her original plan for a story with a small nod. She just hoped Crona doesn't take it the wrong way or anything, it might be slightly upsetting for him to have to call her big sister after she agreed to be his mother, even if it was just pretend.

'I'll have to sit him down and explain things to him ahead of time,' she would have to be completely open and honest with him from the beginning. People didn't tend to look very kindly on those afflicted by a Skullgirl curse like her, or those with a parasite weapon which both of them technically counted as. Her with Sagan and him with Ragnarok, who while technically not a parasite weapon was close enough for most people in his current state.

She looked down at the boy in her arms and frowned softly at the idea of him being treated like an outcast because of something neither him nor Ragnarok had had any control over... He needed friendship, not scorn...

Then again, there were those who accepted Parasites, but Annie wasn't sure if they'd be the best groups for Crona to interact with. First of all, most of them were adults, second, some of them had a... fet... fet... dang it! She couldn't even THINK of the term! That super-duper creepy fixation on something which went beyond normal day-to-day appreciation. The kind that might put Crona in danger. But besides that, she wasn't sure how the public would react to Annie, star of Annie of the Stars, being seen in the same place as these groups. Despite their good intentions, stigmas still followed.

She really hoped Crona could find a friend someday who wouldn't be off put by his timid nature or other quirks. Annie refused to see them as 'faults' or 'flaws', they weren't! And she'd punch anyone who said otherwise! Heck, she'd even settle for another parasite user... at least, one who wasn't y'know, flawed...

Meanwhile, a man sat on top of a building munching on a hot dog when a mass of black... ink appeared over his shoulder.

'We should be out there, Eddie. Protecting the streets, LETHALLY!' It spoke in a deep voice.

"We just were."

'YES! But we should do it again!'

"Let me finish my hot dog."

'Then can we kil- I mean, severally injure criminals to a point where they'll reconsider their life?'

"Yes, V. We can." The man nodded.

Cutting back to Annie, she hugged Crona, she had done it a lot this morning, but no one could tell her she was doing it too much. He deserved it. He deserved ALL the hugs!

Which he would get while under her roof, although he definitely needed someone his own age as a friend. Maybe there were some kids around his age in Death City, or maybe in the wider part of her little community? Well… Crona was a little too shy for a play date at the moment anyway.

She would need to make sure to hook him up with a nice quiet child if she wanted him to feel safe making his first friend... She remembered encountering some blue haired ninja kid that always yelled at the top of his lungs about surpassing god or something. Someone like that would just scare Crona unless by some miracle it ended up being some odd friendship scenario.

More thank likely it would be the classic introvert extrovert friendship where the blue haired kid would drag Crona along into who knows what kind of trouble. Annie let out a soft sigh, 'Ok, so I might be massively overthinking this. Maybe Lord Death knows someone with a kid around Crona's age?' Besides his own kid, because... well... Crona wasn't ready for someone quite so high maintenance just yet.

But that was for another day. Until then, she would have to help him gradually open up to others. She could tell he was still slightly nervous just around her maids, he would need to bond with them first and foremost.

Annie then noticed one of them had approached, and was talking to Crona. Well, it may be more appropriate to say she was talking to him, while Crona, predictably, remained quiet. He didn't seem scared, it just seemed more like he didn't know what to say, or was afraid of speaking. Okay, so maybe he was a little scared...

'Tell her that she has a great rack.' Ragnarok ordered in Crona's mind.

'W-what does that mean?' Crona silently asked his partner.

'It's a compliment, women love hearing it.' The Black Blob insisted.

'I-I-I dunno, Ragnarok... it sounds like the wrong thing to say...'

"...can I hold him?" The maid asked, surprising Annie.

Annie frowned slightly, then looked at her son, taking it into consideration. She decided the best course of action was to ask him directly what he thought. "What do you think, cutie? Can she hold you?" She asked gently. Crona hesitated before slowly nodding his head.

The maid squealed softly, then slowly accepted him as Annie handed him over.

Crona winced slightly at being in someone else's arms... But... it wasn't bad...

She was very gentle... Very careful... She gently rubbed his back and rocked him back and forth... Just like his mommy would...

He decided he needed to compliment her, but he still wasn't sure about what Ragnarok said, it seemed wrong...

He had an idea.

"Um... I dunno what this means, but Ragnarok wanted me to tell you you have a nice...rack...? What's a rack?" Crona asked innocently.

"NOOOO! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL HER I SAID THAT!" Ragnarok exclaimed, emerging in a panic.

There was silence for a moment, and while Crona saw shock and confusion on the Maid's face, Ragnarok saw the look of someone about to commit vicious, bloody murder from Annie. Until the maid burst out laughing, finding it hysterical.

"Oh... oh, that's just precious~!" She laughed, hugging Crona to her 'rack' and kissing the top of his head. "That's very kind of you, sweetie pie." She cooed. "But that's not exactly something you should be saying to a woman." She winked. "Yes, it is a compliment, but it's something someone as young as you shouldn't say." She chuckled. Thankfully, Sarah was used to being told such things (and honestly, kind of enjoyed it) and took it in stride. Honestly, she knew her two sisters would be jealous if they had heard that, since she was the youngest, and often turned the most heads, but she could tell Crona's innocence acted as a sort of magical shield from any sort of perversion, and he more just wanted to be nice. Crona seemed horrified and shut his eyes, afraid he'd be punished for misspeaking. Sarah, however, just hugged him, playing with his hair. She also looked to Annie and received a 'Say-anything-about-my-age-and-you're-fired' glare.

The maid simply giggled and winked at the older-younger woman before returning her attention to little Crona. Annie let out a deep sigh and crossed her arms over her chest, not dropping her glare that was directed at Ragnarok, who was clearly nervous.

"You do NOT say stuff like that. And you ESPECIALLY do NOT get Crona to say stuff like that so that you don't have to deal with any consequences! What if you end up getting him to say something that gets him into trouble with somebody?! What if he gets hurt because you can't keep your stupid comments in your pocket?!" Ragnarok groaned out loud as Annie lectured him. If there was anything the black blood just could not stand, it was being nagged. Why oh why did Crona have to betray him like that?! "...And another thing. I made it very clear I don't want you eyeing up my family like they're a bunch of slabs of meat." She stopped when she noticed Ragnarok was opening and closing his hand to immitate her talking and looking away from her. That got her more than a little peeved off. "Okay, you know what? No more food for you today. Every meal goes to Crona." She said firmly. Ragnarok stiffened up at that.

"Fine." He sighed, dramatically, deciding not to mention that whatever Crona ate, he got too. But hey, let the small sassy child think she had gotten a leg up on them.

"T-the food was really good..." Crona mumbled, trying not to say something that would anger the nice maid. Sarah smiled, and patted his head.

"Well, that's Mary for you, she's an amazing chef." Sarah beamed. "I'll tell her you said that, she'll appreciate it." Crona looked up and pondered something. The food was good, telling the person who made it that it was good would make them happy? Hm. Maybe that's how he could thank them for what they did. "Uh... y-your hugs are really nice." Crona timidly spoke up again.

"Awwww!" Sarah cooed and gave the boy a gentle squeeze. "Thank you so much!"

Crona smiled and nuzzled in closer.

Annie took a deep breath and let a smile grace her features in spite of the rudeness Ragnarok had previously displayed. Of the three sisters, Sarah really did have the most caring personality. If herself, Maggie or Izzy were unavailable, she would certainly entrust her with Crona the absolute most.

After a few minutes of giggling, and playing with the newest (and cutest) member of the family, Sarah handed Crona back to Annie and went back to work. Ragnarok had disappeared, deciding to remain quiet for now, but quickly realized he couldn't yell at Crona like he used to, because Annie would actually have issue with that. Great. So that wasn't a thing he could do anymore.

'Then again, don't you think you're a bit harsh on him?' That annoying voice in his head, trying to get him to be a 'good person' spoke up. Mentally, he groaned.

'No. It's his Mom's fault I'm like this!'

'...and do you think HE wanted this anymore than you did?'

'Shut up, me!'

Annie was pleased. He already liked one of the maids. Granted, there were many others to go. Which probably wouldn't take too long once he finally grew comfortable enough for them to hug him. She knew the girls had been restraining themselves. More than that she could tell they were a little jealous that they hadn't got to hug him yet. Sarah was the only one bold enough to ask.

She hid her snicker at that thought and ran her fingers through Crona's hair. 'I'll definitely work on that... Maggie's a good first candidate... And maybe Izzy too, she always was the most shy and quiet of the bunch."

A fond smile quirked her lips as she remembered the two of them as little girls. Maggie was always the out going one while Izzy always seemed to hide behind her back. Over the years Maggie had calmed down quite a bit and wasn't as hot headed, while Izzy wasn't quite as painfully shy anymore.

Crona already liked Maggie, so that was a plus. Now, he just had to meet Izzy, not that she expected him to dislike her or anything. Frankly, she thought secretly he might like her a bit more. She was calm, collected, but sweet and kind, and would probably tend to Crona's every need before he knew he needed it.

'...she'd better not take my job as being 'Mom'...' Annie thought, darkly. The others were smart enough not to try, but Izzy might, because she merely wanted to ensure Crona was comfy and happy.

Granted, she and Maggie were more or less her designated mother figures when her more immature moments kicked in, so maybe it would be more like grandmotherly...

Hard to believe that the two of them served as her designated mother figures when she used to be so much taller than they were. However, the fact that they had ended up getting married was certainly no surprise.

Her current identity had caused a bit of a stink, 'Some people are such prudes,' but a few 'happy family' photos and publicity events had cleared that up. There was still the occasional soccer mom that got up in arms about it, thankfully her security was more than up to the task. Few things gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling like watching entitled people get tossed out on the rear ends.

It was especially satisfying when those people were causing some sort of fuss against her loved ones. Thankfully the way the general public was perceiving same sex relationships was improving by the year.

Although she did wish that the two of them wouldn't break down in laughter in private after she had to call them mom in public. She had asked them about it multiple times and they always said it was funny since they had considered the perma-fifteen year old a mother figure growing up.

Still, they were always good to her, and they'd be good to Crona, she knew that. Now, food was done, and Annie decided to continue on with her day, which meant letting Crona snuggle up to her chest and smile timidly and somewhat fearfully up at her. It was both adorable, and heartbreaking, but she had already been through those thoughts, and shook her head to clear it. Nope. Focus on how cute he was! Cute, cute, cute!

"C'mon, love, let's go see some more of your home." She smiled, carrying him off, Crona nodding, knowing he wouldn't say no regardless of what she said.

She spared Maggie another glance. It was the strangest role reversal she had ever seen in her life, even moreso considering she was a part of it. She remembered so clearly the times she had been the one lecturing Maggie when she had done foolish things, not the other way around.

She had no doubts that the two of them would be all for the 'little brother' plan. In fact being able to spend time in public as a family, albeit in a roundabout way, sounded wonderful to her. Although there was one thing she was dreading, she had no doubts that one of the other producers would try to make Crona her sidekick on her show.

And that was not something she would ever agree to under any circumstances considering the situation. He was way too shy and timid for her to allow them to forcibly thrust him into the spotlight like that.

Crona didn't even know she was in a show... she smiled figuring that would be a lot of fun to show him, and then something they could do while they bonded. Crona, it seemed to Annie, had already bonded with her, and never wanted to let go. While cute, she- ugh, she was going in circles again! She needed to pick something to do, and do it.

"C'mon." She nodded, heading off again. She decided to show him the basement and some of her game rooms. She wasn't sure what hobbies Crona would have in the future, but being alive for so long meant she knew a good chunk of em'. Even more so, she had been part of most of them in her 'youth' (citation needed).

Beowulf held up a hand to pause her story, "Wait so those drawings that popped up all those years ago? The ones with the pink haired kid with the goofy shadow monster?" Annie sighed and dragged a hand down her face.

"Yeah, those are from when they tried to pitch the idea to me even after I shut it down hard the first time."

Beowulf chuckled and shook his head. "Man, those producers... They're always trying to force what they want into your schtick no matter how many times you tell them no... Mine tried to convince me to be a cougar over a wolf. Can you imagine?"

Annie just looked at him incredulously, "Your name is BeoWULF, what idiot thought making you cougar themed was a good idea? Besides doesn't cougar have some…" Beowulf groaned,

"Risqué meanings? Yeah, you can understand why he didn't last very long as my publicist."

"I mean, didn't they push that idea like, three more times?" Beowulf asked, and Annie scowled, clearly irritated.

"Yes, they did." She growled. "They tried every few seasons, I think they wanted another character for a show or something... I had to tell them if they asked me again I'd quit the show, that finally got them to back off for a bit."

"But like, your show keeps going, people like it, why would-" Beowulf began, but stopped. "Right. Money."

Annie chuckles. "Yeah... So after that..." Back in the past, the game rooms were under renovations, which Annie had forgotten about, but she still wanted to find something fun she could do with her little boy.

Annie tapped her cheek as she considered what they could do. From what she heard the maids talking about the forecast called for rain most of the day, so the gardens were out. Crona also needed to let his stomach settle and he wasn't really comfortable around water, so the pool was out. Annie smiled as she remembered her promise to him, 'Some cartoons in the movie room sounds like a great way to spend a rainy day.'

She carried him out of the room, content with this decision, and made her way back to her room to pick out one of the many cartoons she had in her collection. Upon reaching her cabinet, she held Crona up. "See anything you like?"

Crona looked at the spines of each case carefully feeling a little overwhelmed at having to choose from so many. However, one in particular quickly caught his eye. Slowly he reaches out and pulled it down and Annie's smile widened, on the spine was a certain rabbit plushie.

Crona's eyes widened as he looks at the familiar plush rabbit parasite. It was Sagan on the spine of the case, no question... And when he slowly turned it over, he found that on the front was his mother.

Crona blinked, looking to Annie, then to the case, then to Annie, then to the case, then to Annie, then to the... well, you get the idea. He did this for about five minutes, before stopping and looking up, his eyes spinning and a million thoughts running through his head. All he could do was finally get out. "Mama... it's you..."

'OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!' Annie was mentally screaming with delight as she saw his confused but adoration clear in his eyes. Sagan snapped a picture of his face, laughing to himself, and Annie was thankful he had. She REALLY wanted to keep this cute expression!

Annie giggled, "Oh wow, is this blast from the past or what?" The Annie on the cover had her hair in a braid going down her back and her dress was a darker shade of green . In addition to the battle axe in her hands instead of her current sword.

Crona stared at the case in pure disbelief before looking up at his mother. "Mommy...? You have a cartoon? You're a tv person?" He asked innocently. Annie petted his head.

"You bet! Have been for a long, long time."

Grabbing a few other dvds of her show, she carried Crona over to her bed before laying them out. Corona blinked cutely, the person on the cover was clearly his mama, but... a little different in each one. Annie smiled and pointed to each picture in turn, "Because of my curse I can't age, so every so often I pretend to be a new actress and change up my look a little. New hairstyle, new dress, and a new weapon is all it takes."

Crona blinked, he was os confused. It then occurred to Annie he probably had no idea what she was talking about. Well, he knew about her curse, she had been very clear about that, but in all his time being experimented on, he probably hadn't seen anything that wasn't some video designed to hurt him. Ragnarok having mentioned one which messed with his eyes for some time... but besides that, she doubted Medusa let him have any sort of leisure time.

"Basically... I have to keep my curse secret." She explained softly.

Crona nodded his head slowly in understanding as he looked over the various discs. He knew exactly what he wanted to watch. He wanted to see his mother on the screen. He wanted to see just what kind of actress she was.

Annie smiled and picked up the first DVD before scooping Crona back into her arms, "Well, it looks like you've made you decision. We'll have an all day Annie of the Stars Marathon!" Crona giggled and excitedly clapped his hands.

Annie chuckled and gave him a kiss on the head. "Heh... Your old lady's been in this line of work for a really really long time, so there's a lot to go over..." She remembered her very first stage shows before radio was invented. She had not started out too popular and the first few shows ended with her literally buried in tomatoes.

Thankfully, things had gotten better from there, either people were more willing to accept a weird idea or character, or what people considered 'high art' had fallen from a high, high, almost insurmountable stage to the depths of where it was today. Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh... but she certainly didn't doubt that the change in times had helped her show survive, and thrive, way, way, WAYYY longer than it should've.

'It is what it is.' She shrugged, thinking to herself as she got things set up, still not setting Crona down.

She may have been a folk hero at that point, but she didn't know a thing about acting when she started out. Even after all her adventures she had been scared stiff when she first got in front of a crowd. At the very least she had been grateful that the tomatoes had been fresh.

Though even after she did finally get into the swing of things, she would be lying if she said there wasn't some lingering resentment for the more gung-ho tomato throwers. Especially considering one of the classic 'history of Annie of the Stars' pictures was one of her legs sticking out of a pile of splattered tomatoes.

It was even used in several biographies of the show and legends, often for a chapter titled, 'From Rough Beginnings.' Thankfully she had Sagan with her and he was more than happy to eat her free. A blessing in disguise considering his appetite and her lack of resources in those early days.

That felt so long ago... because it was. How long was- No! No... no... she refused to think about how old she really was... it was both depressing, and it brought up bad memories of how long she had been trapped in this curse. That was part of why she didn't watch much of her old show... still, hopefully Crona would enjoy it.

It wasn't that much better when she got on TV. Because by the time TV was invented, children were only interested in slapstick comedy. So her cartoon counterpart started off as the unlucky butt of all the slapstick. No matter how many skullgirls and monsters she defeated in the show, all people talked about back then was the now infamous snow episode.

It's not like it was actually happening to her because I was animated, but still seeing a representation of herself getting humiliated like that stung for a long time...

Well, they weren't watching that episode, so all was well. This DVD contained her at her absolute best.

One thing she had to give credit where it was deserved, the writers (at least, some of them) had some REALLY good ideas, so much so that she actually fought to keep them around. Sure, some had ideas that never really went anywhere, but then there were writers who knocked an idea out of the park, and in her opinion, elevated the show with their comedic timing, or the fact that they were able to push the limits on what her show could do, and somehow got away with it.

'The more I think about it, the more I have to show Crona...' She smiled. Some of her seasons were episodic, but a few managed to get away with an season-long plot, and she really did enjoy those.

Right now, they were watching one of the earlier episodes. These episodes tended to get a lot more intense than the current ones, as the stricter guidelines and moral guardians didn't become a thing until around the modern era, so a lot of things had to be toned way down... She looked down at her son, all snug and settled into her lap, with a small frown of concern, slightly worried he might find the whole thing a little too intense. But luckily enough, he just seemed invested.

His eyes were wide and unblinking as he maintained utter focus on the scene before him. Evidently he didn't want to miss a single second.

Which was odd, because it was the credits... wait, what? Annie blinked, and realized how many episodes they had already binged. At least six. 'Oh no! I didn't spend quality time with Crona!' Annie felt a panic begin to swell in her chest. What if he was scared? What if he was hungry? What if he was snuggled up on her lap, with a huge smile on his... oh, thank goodness.

"That was really good!" Crona chirped happily. Annie smiled, setting Crona on the couch and getting up to change discs.

"Are you hungry?" Annie asked. She was happy that her son liked her show, but she also had to care for him. "Thirsty?"

"Um, a little... but I dunno when I get to eat." Crona admitted, bashfully. "Also, uh, I- I have to go." He mumbled. Annie was confused by his choice in words. Go where? Go- Ohhhh...

"Okay, it's the second door, just outside. I'll get us some snacks, okay sweetie?"

She set her son down and smiled as she watched him go off to use the restroom, then she sighed and went to gather up all the snacks she thought they would need for the movie, knowing Ragnarok and his massive appetite... And her own, for that matter.

She couldn't help it, food was just so delicious...

By the time she had collected everything she thought they'd need, she came back to find Crona already sitting on one of the chairs.

She smiled and took the seat next to him. He climbed over the arm of the chair so he could snugly nestle himself into her lap.

He squirmed about before settling down, looking up with a look that seemed to ask if this was okay. Annie smiled, and put the food on his lap, hugging him as the next disc began. This was the stuff she really enjoyed. One of their writers had pitched an idea of a marionette puppet who was egotistical, theatrical, and had one heck of a great musical number. While filming it had been a bit of a nightmare (strings and all, and the actor who played said puppet, Fantoccio, had trouble with public appearances) the end result was worth it, and Annie knew for a fact - as she had been there - that this arc, or storyline or whatever the proper term was, more often than not is pointed to as a high point for her show.

'I hope you're doing okay, Michael...' She thought, knowing the actor had moved onto other things not long after wrapping. Crona was a bit confused by what was happening, and Annie picked up on something interesting. While Crona loved the action, the humor (at her expense) and the stories, he also seemed enthralled by the backgrounds. Most of which were cheap and fake, but it occurred to her that Crona's life had been lived in the dessert, so a forest would be pretty interesting to him.

She realized that he had seen so little of the world... Just a desert, a cave, some of the city, a lab and her home... She made a decision. As soon as Crona was ready, as soon as she was healed, she was going to take him on all sorts of vacations. She would take him everywhere she reasonably could so he could see all the things he had missed in his young lifetime... She would help him build all sorts of memories and let him see the world in a fonder, happier light... He needed to understand just how much beauty existed in the world around him, how not everything was out to scare him or hurt him... But she would have to do it one step and a time, and make sure he had plenty of time to heal from his extreme trauma...

She sighed as the three part special ended and reclined in her chair. She was about to change the disc when she saw the dreaded title card appear on screen. Her eye widened before she let out a soft groan. She had totally forgotten this particular disc had that cursed snow episode in as a last minute bonus, to 'show how far the show had come over the years'. She facepalmed, but decided to grin and bear it so as not to leave Crona agonizing over curiousity for the rest of the day.

She wondered where she'd go, what fun things she could do with her son? What was the weather like right now? Was the paint dry in this room?

Crona was giggling.

WAS THERE ANYTHING SHE COULD DO THAT DIDN'T INVOLVE WATCHING THIS? Annie didn't realize how desperate that sounded, but she really didn't want to watch the infamous 'Mo' Snow? Snow Problem!' episode. Except, the issue was Crona was laughing now, and clearly trying to hide his laughter from Annie.

She huffed silently to herself and buried his face into his hair.

His hair... Yes. That was a good distraction.

His hair was so fluffy and adorable and it was doing an excellent job at hiding the screen from her line of sight because gosh darn it she felt so much second hand embarrassment for her animated counterpart it wasn't even funny. Ragnarok would happily disagree with her on that one though...

"Man that's what, the fifteenth time you've wiped out?" He asked, nudging Annie, trying to get a rise out of her. "Oh, wait... si- no, seventeenth."

Annie moaned slightly. "Whhhhhyyyyyyyy..." She whined. "Why did we have to do thisssssss?"

"Hey, it's all in the name of entertainment." Ragnarok shrugged, then went for the cheap and painful blow. "Besides, don't you want Crona to enjoy this? It's making him happy."

"Oh, don't your DARE." Annie glared at Ragnarok, who clearly seemed proud of himself.

The little black blob had his hands on his... 'hips' as he smugly looked at the screen with a big smirk.

Annie groaned as her fictional counterpart smashed into a tree and got flattened into a disc shape.

"I'm supposed to be a source of inspiration... A source of comfort and hope... Why... Why did I have to start out like this?!"

Ragnarok ignored her and laughed. "Wow. These old cartoons did not hold back at all on the slapstick."

Annie groaned again. She hated that she had agreed to do so many of these episodes. The reason had been they would only use one or two of them, the rest was to have back-up footage in case they needed to switch a scene out, or the like.

Buuuuutttttt, then they got a fair amount of viewers, so they companies behind her show had made the other episodes into actual episodes, this one being one of the worst, in her opinion.

This was back in the golden age of animation, where shows like Ben and Jimmy and Crazy Tunes were all the rage... Slapstick was considered the big thing back then, and the showrunners wanted to try and capitalize on that as much as possible...

Of course the fact that it was all based on true stories did absolutely nothing to help her second hand embarrassment. Anyone who assumed she was always as graceful as she was now was just completely wrong...

One of the benefits of not aging were many of her scars wouldn't become noticable scars, as they didn't heal and 'age' typically. This was also helpful, as many of her scars never stayed from all the mistakes she made with her props, and actual weapons too. Ugh, if those could be seen, she'd be more scars than person at this point. It was another reminder of her odd existence, and everything she couldn't be, such as normal. Then again, her son had a fair amount of scars, too, so maybe she could help him with that.

She let out a sigh of acceptance and gave her son a gentle squeeze. Despite herself, she couldn't help but smile softly at the sound of his soft giggles as he watched her animated counterpart making a complete and utter fool of herself... She couldn't really be mad at him, this was pretty much the intended reaction children his age were supposed to have towards this episode... She let out a sigh as the closing iris shut tight around her cartoon counterpart's rear end sticking out of a snowbank.

She really hated how much that was brought up apparently on the internet, she didn't know what they were doing with it - well, she did know, but she couldn't see it, annoyingly - but if it made her son happy, she wouldn't complain for the time being. 'You're lucky you're so adorable.' She thought, jokingly as she played with Crona's hair. 'It's so soffftttttt...' She thought, smiling as Crona giggled and cooed happily at the touch.

"That was funny." Crona admitted, looking up with a hopeful, and happy shine to his eyes for the first time, possibly ever. Annie felt her heart melt at the sight, her heart couldn't take it! It was so cute!

"You're really good at acting, mama." Crona said softly. Annie squeezed him gently.

"Thanks, hun. It means a lot to hear you say that." She planted several kisses on his tiny face and smiled down at him before letting out a sigh and turning to the next disc. 'Hmm... Should I show him this one...? It's a little scary, and he's so delicate...'

She just wanted to shield him from everything scary in life, to make sure he always felt safe and happy... That was why she was hesitant to give him his own room and his own bed...

Then it hit her that she couldn't baby Crona forever. Sooner or later, he was going to have to learn to sleep on his own... But with the night terrors he suffered, she hated the thought of forcing him to suffer through those without her there holding him...

She took a slow breath to calm herself, 'Slow your roll Annie, yes he eventually needs his own room and space, but he's only five right now. Lets just get him past his nightmares before making any big changes.' Maybe they could even design his room together as a mother son thing once he was a little more comfortable?

Deciding she liked that idea, she tightened her hold on the boy and rested her chin atop his head. While the next episode, the first of the disc she chose, wasn't as humiliating as the one previous, she still wasn't a fan. She felt like she had been phoning it in on that episode.

Even Crona seemed to notice this, and looked from the screen to her, more than a few times. "Are you sick, Mama?" He asked, and Annie decided to do something she didn't like doing, but would do in this case. Lie to her son.

"Uh, yeah. I was sick when we were filming this episode." She coughed. "Real bad cold, but I didn't want to hold up production."

"I don't like sand." Her screen counterpart spoke up, Annie's face turning beet-red as she remembered the infamous line. "It's coarse, and rough, and it gets everywhere."

"Yeah, real bad cold." Ragnarok remarked, looking at Annie.

"Oh you tell me with a straight face you would've put effort into this garbage!" She hissed, raising a fair point.

It might have been the fact it was a PSA type episode. It was all focused on teaching a lesson to kids that their parents really should have been explaining to them. It wasn't even really a huge deal, it was about tooth decay and the importance of brushing one's teeth.

The monster was a giant tooth with a cavity in it for gosh sake! And she defeated it by brushing it with a giant toothbrush and filling in the hole with a giant drill! How lame was thst? Well, Crona seemed to enjoy it...

Ok so maybe using a dental drill bigger than she was as a spear was kind of cool. Plus this one wasn't nearly as bad as the smoking PSA. That one involved a bad guy called the Lounge Lizard, a bipedal lizard in a mobster suit who fought using an evil magical cigar.

The sheer amount of overly dark content the showwriters tried to push was just downright frustrating to her. They wanted someone to die from smoking onscreen. She was trying to teach kids, not scar them for life.

Which, was nothing compared to that PSA they had made which she had thankfully been able to avoid about how drugs were akin to a viper's poison, with a human turning into one. She was thankful she dodged that, as it was both terrifying to watch, and had resulted in a massive defamation suit from a band of lizard and snake-folk who accused the studio of racial profiling and discrimination. That had been a vicious few months while it happened, even John, a pacifist she assumed was usually half-asleep, had outright stopped coming to work in protest. There were calls for action, calls for apologies, and even calls for blood. Needless to say, someone got fired.

Well, a lot of people got fired. And fined.

It was one of the few times Annie actually saw the consequences of a bad idea the producers tried to force on the show come back to bite them so viciously. Heck, her own show had nearly been cancelled had it not been for the better side of those she worked with stepping in and showing proof that her show had actually improved relations between humans and lizard-folk, as well as the fact that she had said no to it.

Thankfully by that point in time she was the one running the show and she put a stop to it then and there. Sadly the initial pitch had been a product of the times. It seemed like everyone was doing dark and gritty anti-heroes back then.

Crona at least seemed to be taking something away from watching the episode. He had asked her for his own toothbrush and dental floss immediately after it ended, so that was a good thing that came of it.

She made a quick note to pick up a child's toothbrush and toothpaste for him. An oversight on her part, but in her defense she had been really excited to bring him home with her. Annie rubbed Crona's head, 'Well at least some good came from that episode.'

Crona smiled up at her shyly. "Yeah... You said I should always brush my teeth, and you're really smart so it must be important... Also you're my mommy, so I have to listen to you." Annie laughed softly at that last part.

'He really thinks I'm his Mom.' Annie smiled, happily at that as she kissed her son's head. She was, and she'd never say otherwise (times they were in public, notwithstanding) but for Crona, this adorable little boy who had been so terrifed of everything just a few days ago, to open up to her, to see her so sincerely as his Mom? She was so proud of him. It took a lot of courage for someone to open up and be so vulnerable like that, and yet, he was doing his best.

She hugged him tightly, "You are such a little sweetheart." They took a break from watching her show so she could cuddle her son. Annie sighed as she leaned her recliner all the way back with Crona snuggled into her chest.

She gently rubbed his head with a small smile. "I'm such a lucky mom, heh... Finding you was one of, if not the best thing that ever happened to me..." She said softly, sending a wave of joy flowing through his heart.

He hugged her back and rested his head on her shoulder. Annie cooed and kissed the top of his head, "Yup, best thing ever." Annie raised the recliner slightly so they could keep watching while they cuddled.

Crona remained snuggled up, not wanting this moment to end. He had occasionally had dreams, although they could've been delirious hallucinations from blood-loss for all he knew, about being kept safe and loved by an angel, but now, those visions were real! He loved Annie with everything he had, he never wanted this feeling to end!

'How is it that simply sitting here, being hugged is enough to make the little darling so happy?' Annie thought, smiling sadly as she saw how content her son was.

Annie kept Crona rested on top of her tummy and facing the screen as she reclined and watched absentmindedly. Truthfully, she didnn't really care much to watch the same stuff she acted in and saw a million times. She was more focused on how her son reacted.

It was just so adorable to see his face change with almost every scene. The way his eyes would light up when something funny would happen or when she finally got the upper hand on a Skullgirl. To the way his eyebrows would scrunch up, raise, or lower depending on what was happening.

Whenever her character was in danger, he would react as though she herself was in a life or death situation at that exact moment and squeeze her hand as tightly as he could, which, given his tiny frame, wasn't all that tight at all.

She dreaded having to explain to Crona about the Skullheart, and about what it meant, and what her curse really meant, and- wait, why was she so concerned? Crona had handled everything thus far with absolute integrity. Why was she afraid this is what would tip the scales?

'Because you're scared he'll get hurt.' A voice in her mind spoke up, giving her the piece of the puzzle she wasn't sure she wanted to finish. But, it was a fair point. While the heart couldn't corrupt Crona, she feared it being used in other ways to harm him. This fear was rational, as both Crona was a small boy, and her son.

'Don't think about it... just cross that bridge when you come to it...' She internalized.

Annie found herself paying more attention to Crona than the show. After all, she had seen every episode so many times she could recite then scene for scene. She giggled when he cheered as the Skullgirl was defeated.

She looked at the clock and found that it was close to lunch time. Rising to her feet, she stretched slightly before turning to Crona. "Okay, kiddo, time for a little lunch break. Movie snacks aren't the most filling thing ever."

When his tummy gave a growl, she giggled, "Looks like someone agrees with me." As she carried him down the hallway she explained how lunch worked in the mansion, "Since everyone is busy around this time of day we all grab lunch when we can. There's sandwich stuff and any leftovers are fair game unless marked with a sticky note."

"Mmhm." Crona nodded. He would never touch that food...

'All food is fair game.' Ragnarok thought at the same time. 'Especially the ones with names on it.'

'No! We can't take their food!' Crona exclaimed in a panic, although only Crona and Ragnarok could hear it. 'It's wrong!'

'Kid they'll make more. It's not an issue.' Ragnarok said flatly.

'But Mama will be angry! And she'll get rid of us!'

'No she- holy crap, did you actually just say that?' Ragnarok blinked. 'No, she absolutely won't kid. Don't think like that.' He paused, then sighed in defeat. 'Fine, I won't touch their food.'

Annie looked at the boy in concern, and he gave him his best smile. She giggled and rubbed his head gently. "So we'll just have something simple for lunch, does that sound good?" Crona nodded in affirmation.

Annie gave him a twirl as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "Great, because I make an awesome BLT sandwich!" In fact bacon was one of the few things she could cook! Crona didn't know what a BLT was, but Ragnarok was excited.

"All right, I haven't had bacon in forever! This is gonna be awesome!" He rubbed his stubby little fists together with a grin and licked his lips, opening up a crude mouth to do so. Annie blinked.

"Wow. That is creepy."

"And you being a child forever isn't? Wasn't there a musician who had a similar-" Ragnarok began, but Annie forced his mouth shut.

"First of all, SHUT." She ordered, annoyed. "Second, I'm CURSED, I don't have a choice. Third, not in front of Crona." Her tone was stern enough that it got the message across, and Ragnarok sighed, rolling his eyes, but seeming to accept this. She sighed, shaking her head, then felt Crona hug her neck. 'Ohmygoshhessoprecious...' She mentally cooed, hugging her son back. "I'm not upset at you Crona. If I ever sound unhappy, it'll probably be because of Ragnarok. Just seems like something he'd do..."

"That's racial profiling!" Annie snorted, caught off-guard by his response. She laughed, but felt bad for doing so.

"Fine, THAT one was funny." She admitted.

She gave him a frown. "You're still creepy though."

Ragnarok shrugged his shoulders, "I'm a shapeshifting blob monster. Creepy is kind of default for me." Annie waved her free hand in a so so motion,

"Eh, six out of ten I've definitely seen creepier."

Ragnarok looked bummed out, slumping down atop Crona's head with a small storm cloud emerging above his own head. "Well you'd probably find me a lot creepier if I wasn't so tiny... Gah, I wish I was bigger!"

Annie rolled her eye, "Crona is only five years old. He's barely got enough blood for you to manifest at your current size. That's with your redeem preventing anemia."

"Not my fault." Ragnarok scoffed. "You think I asked to be melted down and injected into Crona?! I doubt even sado's would be into that kinda trash!"

"Ugh, there's one woman who may have been." Annie muttered, realizing that in the (horrific) way of looking at this, it was better than Ragnarok was bonded to someone timid, sweet and innocent like Crona, compared to a sociopathic diva like Eliza. "Then again, you two seem to work together to an extent, she'd just order you around and beat you into submission if you said no."

"...what did she look like?" Ragnarok asked, this seemingly being a deal make-or-breaker for him.

"Like, six-five, dark skin, Egyptian-" Annie noticed Ragnarok seemed to definitely be into this, until she mentioned Egypt. "What's wrong with Egypt?"

"There's this... guy, I know. Or, knew. His name was Steven, and he was all kindsa wimpy, like Crona, actually. Then the dude went nuts and claimed an Egyptian God was telling him to kill someone, or something, I dunno. He just... vanished not long after that. Apparently everything worked out in the end, but I dunno, Egypt's got a lot to do to prove to me it ain't just sand and death."

"That's... probably racist, so I'm just not even gonna touch it. I'm sure you'll grow bigger than two feet at some point..." Annie said flatly.

Ragnarok sulked as Crona looked confused at the fact that his tiny body was keeping Ragnarok small before he looked up at his companion with a frown. "Sorry, Ragnarok. I'll try to get bigger so you can get bigger too."

Ragnarok chuckled and patted his head, "Thanks kid, guess I'll just have to wait. Watch out though, I'll show you the awesome power of the demon sword Ragnarok!" Annie nearly lost it as he started to pose like a body builder, even popping up tiny bicep muscles.

"Oh geez, that is adorable." She snickered softly. Ragnarok went sheet white and looked at her with a shell shocked expression. "No! I am not adorable! I'm an extremely intimidating person!" He protested with a whine.

Crona looked up, but didn't comment. Annie noticed this and laughed softly, hugging her son and kissing his head. "Don't worry Crona, I like you being a little cutie~!"

"Don't listen to her, Crona." Ragnarok warned. The little boy looking between his blood and his Mother, before deciding on the obvious choice... "You traitor..." Crona nuzzled closer to Annie, a small smile on his face. He liked his Mother's reassurance and kindness. Maybe someday he'd work on being 'tough' but for now, he just wanted to be told he was doing okay.

Entering the kitchen, Annie looked around and found it empty, which made sense. The Maids ate earlier in the day, and while she normally did too, they had been through a few seasons of her show, so her timing was off.

She saw Ragnarok was still sulking. Annie shook her head, "Ten years minimum before you are at an intimidating size. Maybe five more before you can do more than just be extra muscle for Crona." Ragnarok slumped, deciding to concede defeat to the wisdom of the centuries old heroine.

Annie chuckled and patted his head. "Hang tight, you'll get there eventually." Ragnarok just mumbled halfheartedly in utter defeat. She sighed and looked around the kitchen. "Well, a nice BLT oughta cheer you up."

Ragnarok crossed his arms and turned away while mumbling, "Maybe…" Giving Crona one last cuddle, she set him on the counter a safe distance from the stove. With a freshly tied apron she opened the refrigerator with a hum.

Unlike many people she knew (and more than a few she hadn't met, all of whom may have met Crona in one way or another...) she was actually pretty decent in the kitchen. Then again, if someone lived for hundreds of years and still couldn't cook to save their life... there'd be a problem there. So, soon the bacon was frying while Crona watched curiously. He had no idea what this stuff was, but Ragnarok seemed really excited, so he assumed it was a good thing. Once or twice, Crona had been told about bacon, but he hadn't even seen it before, but Annie seemed to know what she was doing, so he trusted her on this.

"Wow, you really don't cheap out on the ingredients!" Ragnarok exclaimed, eagerly rubbing his hands together and beginning to drool slightly.

Annie smiled. "Filthy rich, remember? I can afford to not skimp on ingredients. Besides, if you have the choice always go with an actual butcher."

She hummed to herself as she prepared the meal, idly wondering to herself if she perhaps went a bit overboard. Then she remembered her food is delicious and squashed that thought down while also noting to send money to the orphanage later to ease her conscience.

Crona didn't get why something being real or fake would make a difference, but he nodded nonetheless. He knew he wasn't the smartest (Ragnarok had made that VERY clear) but he felt like he had a lot to learn, and he looked forward to it! It gave him something to focus on, rather than the pain he had been through.

"S-so why don't you keep the liquid?" Crona asked, watching as Annie dumped the grease into an empty can to let it cool. He remembered anything that was on his 'meal' he'd try and consume, considering how little he got.

"Remember that hot water she dropped us into? How badly that burned?" Ragnarok asked, and Crona whimpered, nodding. "It's like that, y'can't eat it, and if you touch it, we get hurt." He explained. "I never understood WHY it was like that, but hey. It's another reason t'let her be the one doing this stuff." He nodded to Annie.

"I can't tell if you're trying to be kind and keep Crona safe, or if you're making an extremely inappropriate and outdated joke." Annie smirked.

"Whoa, option A there, greenie." Ragnarok coughed. "I ain't as old as you, when I was alive, we were past all that! I've been burned enough t'know healin' or not it hurts!"

"And yet you seem to stare at any woman you see."

"Jealous?"

Annie stared at him with a frown. Oh, him meeting Florence was going to be a nightmare... Then she realized. She needed to introduce Crona to Florence.

She was still new to the role of her double, but Annie still trusted the girl with her life all the same. And she knew that Florence would absolutely adore Crona, just like every other woman he'd met had.

It was still a little strange to her to have her own tv show, one based around the sometimes exaggerated tales of her life at that! Much less having a body double to handle public appearances and the like. However she could understand the need for it, she was fine with the kids, adored them even, but she had her issues with the adults.

Sometimes it was because of what they had done, other times it was more to do with the feelings of never getting to grow up like they did-

"Mama?"

-yet other times, it was because she could tell that they weren't the parents they should be, let alone could be!

"Mama?"

-they had a responsibility, a duty! And they didn't uphold it. And their children suffered! She knew that was a sliver of them, as many were wonderful, fantastic and caring, but those who weren't sickened her, and irt hurt, hurt like Ragnarok's tiny gloved fist hitting her. "Do you mind?"

"The stove is on fire."

After she doused the flames and barely saved the meal, she grumpily continued to cook, still in thought about the nightmare of her adult fandom. They were always so much more cynical and jaded... And she often overheard them joking about the skull heart, not at all taking it seriously... Plus there was the fact that a lot of them flirted with her doubles, with some even being so bold as to say to her that they 'can't wait to see her in five years'. Thankfully her preferred private security company was composed of particularly burly rhino ferals. Almost completely bullet proof and capable of smashing a car to scrap with nothing but their fists. Those creeps would find themselves in the nearest dumpster, but they just never seemed to learn. And now that she had Crona too, she would have to account for strange women he's never met and she has no affiliation with aggressively gushing and fawning over him. And if ahe got more aggressively protective, she ran the risk of scaring him...

She tired again, deciding to focus on something simple, so, she looked to her son and asked: "So... what did you think of my show?"

"It was fun!" Crona chirped, sincerely.

"It was okay." Ragnarok shrugged, surprising Annie. "A bit... simple, and you REALLY seem to wanna get the morals across, but when you actually start fighting? I can't lie, that's pretty entertaining." The Black Blood spoke sincerely. He believed he was far too cool to watch a kid's show, but he had a feeling he was going to be watching a lot of it, like it or not, so he'd take what he could get.

Annie let out a sigh and nodded. It was only natural he wouldn't be in it as a grown man essentially. Couldn't expect everyone to be a fan... Her mind just kept drifting back to him being at the studio.

She was going to have to brush up on her protective big sister knowledge. At least then she could keep him close under the guise of her 'little brother' being nervous around strangers. Unfortunately even then there would be moments where she couldn't be next to him, such as during filming.

Thankfully she had others that could watch over him during those moments. Perhaps she would start bringing Izzy along to the studio with her under the guise of 'watching over her newly adopted son who wants to be with his big sister'.

Something that Izzy would no doubt enjoy immensely. Especially if it meant that she got Crona all to herself for an entire day.

Flipping the bacon over, she realized she still needed to introduce Crona to Izzy. She had a feeling he may be a bit timid, but would warm up to her quickly. She was a lot like him in many ways...

"So, what would you wanna see different on the show?" Annie asked. She asked this a lot to the younger fans, but was curious how her son would react.

"Um... I think sometimes you just kinda stand around talking, when you could be doing more." Crona remarked. He didn't wanna sound rude though.

'Heheheh... Constructive criticism from a little kid... Now I've seen it all...' Annie chuckled internally. She nodded nonetheless. "I'll keep that in mind."

Her mind drifted back to Izzy as she continued to prepare her and Crona's lunch. The girl, shy as she was, made no secret of her love for adorable things, and Crona certainly qualified.

Finally the bacon was finished and after setting it aside she started on the bread. Random tilted his had in confusion before it finally clicked, "You crazy genius!"

Annie grinned as she carefully set a piece of bread in the hot grease, "Yes way, my secret to a perfect BLT! Toast the outside part of the sandwich in the bacon grease!"

Ragnarok grinned widely. "You are a genius! I can't wait for the kid's stomach to reach a point where we can both have one!" Crona blinked.

"I dunno, Ragnarok, that's a big sandwich..." Ragnarok gave him a light noogie.

"And I'm a growing boy, slugger! Us growing boys gotta eat!"

Crona didn't argue, and that was something Annie wanted to press on, but was unsure if she'd like the answer.

"Crona." She decided to ask anyways. "Did Ragnarok... hurt you?" She asked. The two were silent, and Annie expected Ragnarok was telling him to keep quiet.

"Yes." They said at the same time, surprising her. She knew Ragnarok had done what he needed to keep Crona alive, but he wanted to hear where this went.

"S-sometimes he hit me... and he yelled at me a lot..."

"No sense in tryin' t'hide it, yeah." Ragnarok admitted, seeming genuinely remorseful. "Look, at first, I actually did try an'hurt him. I didn't wanna accept we were stuck like this!" He reasoned, something Annie had to admit, made sense. "After that... I was tryin' t'keep him together."

"It never felt like it was like what Mama tried to do..." Crona admitted. "He seemed scared." Annie couldn't help but let a faint smirk form when she saw Ragnarok's 'thanks for wording it like that' expression.

The starlet let out a sigh. "Okay... Okay, I'm not gonna get mad at you because I know it's way in the past... But still... I don't like the fact that you were harsh with him. No more of that, okay? I want you to just... try and put aside that anger and just let the little guy feel happy... No hitting, no yelling. He doesn't need that kind of stuff in his life anymore. We clear on that?" She said sternly. Ragnarok nodded.

"Yeah, I know... I know... Sorry, kid... I must have been like that little voice people hear in their head when they have mental health problems... Ugh... Sounds even more messed up when I say it like that... I'll try to man up a bit. Okay?"

"Okay... I'd like that." Crona said with a small smile.

Annie giggled, "He's right about you needing to eat you know, but for today I think you and I can split a sandwich. Ragnarok, could you grab the lettuce and tomato out of the fridge and the mayo too?" The eager blob launched himself over to the fridge to grab a head off lettuce and a good sized tomato.

"Yep, fresh, just as I expected." He said with a nod before setting it on the counter. Annie took it and grabbed a nearby kitchen knife, beginning to cut up the veggies as the bacon cooked on the countertop, humming her theme song as she did so.

Crona joined in as she finished with the veggies and Annie felt a little more bounce in her step as she returned to the bacon. Deeming it finished, she set it aside to drain for a few seconds as she began to assemble. Crona scooched closer, "Now first we add a little mayo to both pieces of bread to help hold it together, and then we stack it bacon on bottom, lettuce in the middle, and tomato on top." Crona watched intently as she threw everything together. Not at all haphazardly either, there was a very clear purpose in everything she did. Almost like she was creating real genuine art. It was quite enthralling to be witness to. Once she had it arranged just so she pulled out a large knife, "Now for the final touch!" With one swift chop she had the sandwich cut into two equal triangles, "Half for you and half for me." Crona smiled and followed her back to the dining room while Ragnarok carried their drinks.

Annie had to admit, when he wasn't leering at the maid's rears, Ragnarok wasn't intolerable. Which was more than she had expected, honestly... She sat down with Crona on her lap (he could sit on his own, but she liked holding him, dang it! Wait, who was judging her...?) And she picked up the half of Crona's sandwhich, letting him take the first bite.

"Mmm...that...thats really good..." He mumbled. Then grimaced. "Blech... what- what's that?" He seemed unhappy with something. Annie seemed confused and looked to Ragnarok.

"I don't think he likes tomatoes." He remarked. "She may have made us eat month-old rotten ones at one point."

Annie closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "I see... Well... Um... Okay... Here, let me just..." She carefully took the sandwich from him, removed the top layer and pulled the tomatoes out before passing them over to Ragnarok, who snapped them up eagerly. Crona looked down, ashamed of himself, and Annie patted his head. "We all have things we don't like, kiddo. You can just eat it with the bacon and lettuce, don't worry."

Crona gave her a small smile, then took another bite. "Mmm... better..." He said softly as he chewed. Annie smiled warmly.

Annie took her own bite as well, "Mmm, perfect and it's even better when I have someone to share it with!" Crona gave her a smile that could light up New Meridian and Ragnarok just shook his head, 'This is so sweet I feel like it'll give me cavities, and I don't even have teeth anymore!'

Annie rolled her eye with a small smirk. "Well, get used to it, tough guy, cause that's what an ideal relationship between parent and child should look like." She rubbed Crona's head affectionately and he leaned into it.

He decided to change the subject, "So, I'm guessing that lettuce and tomato came straight out of the garden?" Annie gave him a grin,

"Of course, it helps with food costs. Plus everything just tastes better when it's fresh off the plant!"

Crona seemed happy now with the sandwich, his cute little face lighting up at the taste as he took another bite. Annie felt immense relief, knowing that at least he'd have eaten something. Well, eaten something for lunch. Look. She was concerned for her son's health, and nothing was going to get her to back off that!

Taking a bite of her own sandwich, Annie nodded in appreciation at the taste. It really was good, and not burned. So that was a plus.

Ragnarok nodded his head. "I'm definitely no vegetarian, it'sll about the meat and sweets for me, but if I were to eat veggies, I'd definitely want 'em to be as fresh as possible." He conceded.

"I like vegetables..." Crona said.

Annie gave him another headpat, "That's very good, sweetie, a healthy diet is very important while you are growing." Smiling, Crona took another bite of his sandwich and Annie decides to do the same. After all it would be a shame to let the bacon get cold..

Ragnarok decided to retreat inside of Crona for the time being, as the smell of bacon he couldn't have was torturing him. Crona caught onto this and turned to his mother. "Um... Mommy? Can Ragnarok have a little treat maybe?"

Annie seemed to think about it for a moment before pointing at something they had missed while being focused on the sandwich. A small plate with a few pieces of bacon on it, "Here, I wasn't gonna just leave you out like that." Ragnarok reverently took the plate.

"Bacon… after so long we meet again!"

Ragnarok didn't waste any time in tearing into the food. Annie realized that should've expected as much from the black blob fused to her son. She didn't blame his eagerness, as she couldn't imagine going so long without bacon herself. She rolled her eyes, but said nothing, deciding she'd let this slide this time. She also had a feeling Maggie would be quick to let Ragnarok know she wasn't the biggest fan of that type of eating. One way or another.

Annie sighed and shook her head. "Not one to savour a meal, are you, Ragnarok?" The blob of black blood looked over with a tilted head.

"Hey. Taste is still right there in my mouth."

Annie rolled her eye, "It's still terrible manners to just scarf it down like that. It's not going to suddenly run away from you." Crona giggled at the silly mental image.

Ragnarok slumped. "I mean, weirder has happened, and with the rotten luck I have, it very well could..." Annie sighed and patted his head.

"Geez... Don't be a downer, Ragnarok, your luck's definitely improved a lot recently."

"Sure, but it's been, three days compared to like, at least twelve years? I dunno anymore." He muttered, and Annie had to give him that as well. She didn't like it, but she needed to acknowledge that she wasn't the only one cursed with a sense of odd timing concerning their life, and what has/hasn't happened in it.

"I guess." She conceded with a shrug. "But it ain't as bad as it used to be, that's for sure."

"Now, THAT, I will agree on." The black blob nodded.

Ragnarok snorted, "When you've hit rock bottom the only way to go is up." Considering what she knew, Annie couldn't really argue with that one. She decided take take another bite rather than potentially stick her foot in her mouth. Ragnarok sighed and rested his tiny form atop Crona's head. "Still... Yeah, this place is pretty awesome... Like, this is beyond a dream house... So i am glad I get to live in a palace now at least..." He said.

Annie sighed, "It wasn't an overnight thing, you know? Took a long time to reach this point, a lot of years and even more crazy adventures." For a long time she had traveled in a caravan with the remnants of her village, back then survivors of the Skullgirl outbreaks were treated the same as those with a Skull Heart curse.

That was pretty hard to deal with, as it meant people were blamed and even supposed to DIE when in reality, they had just wanted to live! Still, that was long past, and things were getting better. Sort of. Well, compared to how they used to be, they were, and Annie decided to leave it at that.

'Heh, glad to see he's eating at least.' Annie smiled as Crona took another bite of the sandwich, seemingly savouring every bit of it.

She was so glad he didn't have to grow up in such times...

They hadn't understood just how it worked back then and those were times where superstitions were at an all time high, so it was very common for people to think that residue from the attacks could turn others into skullgirls. On top of other countless myths and falsehoods surrounding the Skull Heart and Skullgirls that she had been fighting to dispel. So far her show felt like a step in the right direction. She could finally spread the truth, but now she had to hope people would listen and actually learn.

Cue a flash forward to the present. "And that didn't really end up happening... It was why you were so bitter when we first met..." Aileen remarked in understanding. Annie sighed and nodded.

"It was... pretty demoralizing, but I guess not everyone watches my show..."

"I mean, a lot of people do, considering how long it's been going on." Beowulf commented and Annie looked at him flatly.

"That wasn't my point." She remarked, but dropped the point. Some people could have all the information displayed before them, and yet they'd refuse to accept it. To them, their opinion and values superseded all else, even at the detriment to others. Except in those cases, it could lead to innocent people dying. Something ELSE she was all too familiar with, despite her attempts to keep it from happening.

Beowulf snorted, "That's the thing with adults, we're supposed to be all grown up and know better. Yet we seem to keep making the same mistakes over and over. Even when someone is practically screaming themselves hoarse trying to get us to listen."

Annie chuckled and shook her head. "Too true, too true... But y'know what? There are a few people out there that are reasonable enough to listen to me. Aileen here helped me learn that the hard way, heh..."

Her double shook her head as she removed her wig, "Your heart was still in the right place, you just decided to go with the most… direct approach." Beowulf had to smother a laugh,

"You mean she roughed us up a bit instead of trying to talk us down." Aileen gave him a flat look while Annie scratched the back of her head.

"Okay, fine, point taken." She conceded.

"So, if Crona's an adult now, how long have you had him?" Aileen asked, knowing this may be an awkward question, but she was curious.

"Uh... roughly twenty years? Maybe a few years give or take?" Annie confessed. "It was when Beowulf was still in his prime before he decided to try his hand at acting." At that reminder, the wrestler deflated. "Hey, I actually liked those movies!"

"And yet they ended up on Obscure Lab Theatre 40K." Beowulf muttered.

"Didn't you agree to that, though?"

"When did this become about me?"

Beowulf crossed his arms and huffed.

Annie chuckled. "Yeah, it seemed like the best idea at the time, but I guess I did come off as a bit of a bi- female dog..." She admitted. "Figured Crona and the grandkids would have softened me up enough where that wouldn't be an issue."

Aileen giggled, "I'm still not sure what was more of a shock. That you are a centuries old warrior and most of the old legends are true, or that you have a son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren." Beowulf turned to her in shock,

"Wait, you already knew?!"

"Yeah, she told me last week. I just wanted to hear the story again because it's so sweet and adorable." The young girl replied with a shrug. Annie chuckled and rubbed the back of her head.

"Ah, you're making me blush."

"It's true though! The way you described Crona just made me wanna hug him forever!" The double gushed, her eyes turning to hearts. Beowulf blinked when he saw that.

"You may wanna get that checked out." He commented. Aileen shot him a flat look. "What?"

"Heh... yeah, I remember watching some of your earliest fights with him when he was still little." Annie commented, and Beowulf seemed intrigued, but nervous. "He was a fan of the fight with the Nekro-Lycan, even though he thought he looked a bit scary."

"That wasn't my idea, and Jace thought they went too far with the design as well." Beowulf said, defensively. "But- you never mentioned that in all the time I've known you."

"Well, if I mentioned I watched your fights with my son, you'd be wondering how and who my son is and where he came from." Annie reasoned. Beowulf nodded, conceding her point. "He also really liked OwlBear McGlauchlan." Annie added, and Beowulf sighed.

"I like that dude... but he hits like a truck!" He groaned, remembering an early fight of his that he... soundly, SOUNDLY lost. Thankfully, the Irish Bear-feral was as friendly as they came, and made for a good sparring partner.

Beowulf shook his head, "Anyway, just how long did it take for the kid to settle in?" Annie leaned back in her chair,

"All in all, it took about a week for Crona to adjust to his new surrounding. At least for him to get used to Maggie and Izzy enough to bring up our little cover story anyway." She chuckled softly. "After we had our lunch, we went back to the movie room, watched the show, and things were simple... By the time dinner rolled around, we finished three of the DVDs..."

Back in the story, Annie watched as one of her maids spoonfed Crona his supper. Maggie, being the maid Crona was most familiar with, was understandably the one feeding him. Annie smiles at how visibly her son began to relax over the course of the meal. Where at first Maggie could barely coax him to open his mouth at first he now happily opened up like a baby bird for another spoonful of soup.

Maggie was enjoying having the little boy snuggled up on her lap as she fed him another spoonful. The poor thing had seemed so scared as Annie had handed him off to her, even though she was just a few feet away. But now, he seemed to be quickly warming up to her. Which was good, as she had no intentions of letting him go until his belly was full. The poor thing had no meat on his bones, and she couldn't let that stand.

"There we are." She cooed, giving Crona a light squeeze as she fed him another spoonful. "Aww, you're so cute..."

Annie looked over to one of the other maids. "Hey, Izzy comes back from her emergency trip tonight, right? I wanna introduce her to Crona as soon as possible." The maid nodded her head in affirmation.

"Around 7:30 I think." Annie nodded in return,

"Ok, so barring any unforeseen problems she should be home before Crona's bedtime. Sooner if the traffic is light." That would work out just nicely, and with no other business requiring her attention Izzy would have plenty of time for Crona to get to know her. It was very important for Crona to meet Izzy as well as Maggie because she was the other half of the duo that are going to be his pretend parents in public situations. In order for it to be believable, they had to have far Crona and Maggie definitely had that chemistry. It had taken her all of five minutes to get him to open up to her and relax. Although she suspected part of it was his earlier meeting with Maggie and seeing that his mommy trusted her.

Crona was curious who Izzy was, and Ragnarok assumed (correctly) it was Maggie's wife, or girlfriend. Either way, he wasn't gonna complain. They weren't being tortured and they had food. Good enough for him! Granted, the luxuries they lived in were a nice touch, too, but that was besides the point.

Crona was feeling more and more relaxed in Maggie's arms with each passing second. He didn't get why he couldn't let people know Annie was his Mom in public, but he assumed there was a reason, so he didn't wanna press it. Really, he didn't wanna do anything that might upset her.

Annie lets a small smile come to her face and gave her son'shand a light squeeze. He squeezed back as a sign of acknowledgement while also not taking his attention off Maggie as she gently fed him. Maggie smiled as he swallowed the last of his chicken noodle soup, "And there we go, all gone, are you still hungry sweetie? There's still plenty more on the stove." Crona shook his head and politely responded,

"No thank you Ms. Maggie, I'm full!" The maid giggled softly in response.

"Such good manners... You're a very good child, Crona, don't ever forget that... Now then..." She looked at the clock. "It's nearly time." She felt elated that her wife was coming home.

"Is... is Miss Eliza nice?" Crona asked, and Annie had to bite back the 'No, she's a horrid woman and I don't like her!' remark she felt compelled to say. Maggie seemed a bit confused, then smiled and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Izzy, dear." She corrected softly, quickly reassuring him it was okay. "Isabelle is her full name, but we call her Izzy." She explained, and Crona nodded, embarrassed he had gotten it wrong. But, he resolved to get it right next time! He hoped Miss Izzy was as nice as Miss Maggie or his Mama. He didn't doubt she would be, but hey, after everything he went through, trust was still something he was working on.

Annie scooped up Crona, "Well, let's go meet her at the door then. The sooner she sees you again the better." Maggie blushd,s remembering the time Izzy came home exhausted and started calling for her while wandering around the mansion like a zombie. It had been rather embarrassing, but overall quite adorable how close the two of them were. Izzy had just collapsed into her arms and fallen asleep on the spot, and Maggie had had to carry her off to bed. Hopefully she would be a little more coherent when she got home this time. Seeing as she wouldn't be arriving after midnight. Annie lightly bounced Crona sending him into a bout of giggles.

His giggles were so precious to Annie. She just wanted him to be happy, and hearing him laugh made her happier than she could explain. sighing happily, she pulled him into a hug, and sat down in a chair, just as the door was opened.

It was... Sarah, carrying multiple grocery bags. She noticed the disappointment on Maggie's face and grinned sheepishly. "Grocery run... Heh..." She walked off with the bags. Maggie sighed and slumped her shoulders as Annie giggled and turned her attention back to Crona.

She smiled warmly at the boy and hugged him close, resting her cheek atop his head and nuzzling it into his fluffy pink hair. He reaponded by lesning his head against her chest and clutching tightly to her dress with his tiny fists. Maggie giggled, "Izzy is going to be so mad she missed you bringing him home. He's such an adorable little dear." Annie's smile widened as she hugged Crona tightly,

"Yes he is, and I'm so lucky to have found him." She thought to herself just what could have happened if any of the events of that day had transpired just a little bit differently. If she hadn't noticed Medusa, if she hadn't been in Death City, or heaven forbid Medusa had defeated her...

Probably what bothered her the most, was that she wasn't sure how that would've turned out for any of them. Would Medusa have killed her? Tried to make her into another weapon? The worst thought, was that she'd cast Crona away and brainwash her into following her orders. Annie at least had fighting prowess, Crona clearly didn't.

If she had just killed her, what would've happened to Crona? He'd break, tragically, but then what? He never seemed ot have the potential Medusa demanded of him.

She had definitely been one of the trickier opponents she had faced. Even compared to some of the Skullgirls she had defeated in the past. One mistake would have been all it would take for a very different outcome to their fight. And if she had lost to that disgusting woman, then Crona would still be trapped under her control, forced to commit horrible acts and endure tortures that would break him down and turn him into an emotionally destroyed wreck. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, 'Come on Annie, don't dwell on what ifs. You'll just start going in circles and make yourself miserable. She's gone, Crona's getting better, and we need to start working from there.'

Annie was lost in her thoughts, and she didn't notice Crona reaching up and trying his best to hug her. Maybe he was nervous he had upset her, or maybe he just wanted to hug her. Really, it could be either. Eventually, his attempt at a hug pulled Annie from her thoughts, and she smiled, hugging him back. It was a good reminder (to her) that she was doing good! That even if he was hurt, Crona trusted her enough to hold onto her for protection, which was something she couldn't quite put into words, but dang it, she just LOVED!

She tightened her hold on her little boy and closed her eye, trying to force such detestable thoughts out of her head. Instead she focused on all the happy memories they had made thus far and smiled warmly, She had given him a home and a family, and now she was hopefully about to make that family a little bigger. Maggie tapped her fingers as she keeps her eyes on the clock, counting down the seconds. Almost exactly 7:30 on the dot the doorknob started to jiggle. The person on the other side, a young woman with long black hair that covered one of her eyes, let out a little squeak and softly complained about bumping her head before entering the room with a soft sigh, rubbing her injured cranium with a small pout. "Maggie, are you home?"

Maggie was quick to hug her wife, who smiled tiredly and returned the hug, sighing in relief that at least something had gone to plan. Once their hug broke up, she turned and smiled at Annie, hugging her next, only to hear a tiny squeak come from between them. Pausing, the older (and technically younger) woman let go, and looked down, gasping lightly at the sight of Crona.

"Maggie... why didn't you tell me we were having guests?! I look awful!" Izzy groaned, already feeling like she was only at 40%, and that number was quickly dropping. She hated being unkempt or unprofessional in front of guests, especially the little ones, as she didn't want to make their situation worse than it might already be.

Maggie chuckled and hugged her. Izzy flopped into Maggie's embrace and let out a soft whine into her chest, which was pretty mucn the standard routine for whenever Izzy came back home at this point. Maggie sighed and shook her head in exasperated amusement. She starts to pat her back, "There There, you're home now." Izzy wrapped her arms around Maggie and the more composed maid sighed, "Izzy, we can't do this right now. We have sensitive eyes and ears present." Izzy squeaked and hopped back, bowing her head repeatedly and spewing apologies. Maggie let out a soft sigh and turned to look at Annie. "She should be done in about five minutes, you can introduce Crona then."

Annie shook her head in amusement, "She's been practically glued to your hip since before to two stopped dancing around your feelings for each other." Maggie blushed and turned her head away. Izzy tended to be a little extra affectionate after they had been separated for… more than a few hours.

Crona watched, being reminded of how he felt around Annie, and he smiled slightly. He liked it, it was a reassuring and safe feeling he got, like she was gonna take good care of him, that he could trust her to protect him! That was something he was still getting used to, and wasn't sure if he'd ever would.

When Izzy was done, Crona looked up at her, his wide eyes looking to her in curiosity and timid bashfulness. Izzy blinked, then felt her hear melting faster than the sun could hope to melt anything. Annie felt her arms get lighter, and couldn't help but smirk as Izzy began cuddling Crona close.

She was already getting attached. It came from her natural timid nature that she tended to latch onto the few people she was able to get close to and stick to them like glue. She was too shy to get cloae to many others, so the few she was close too were like holy treasures to her. "Oh my goodness, he's so cute... Um... Who is he...? What's his name...? Where did he come from...?"

Annie chuckled and shook her head, "Easy Izzy, one question at a time. In order this is my son, Crona, and I found him during my trip to Death City. Most importantly, yes he is very cute."

Izzy was taken aback by the first response. "He's- he's your son?" She asked, bewildered. In all the time she knew Annie, being a mom had never really been something that came up aside from a few passing conversations. She looked down, and a timid smile formed on her face as she hugged Crona again. "He's perfect." She cooed, kissing the top of his head with nothing but love.

Izzy began to think back to the days where she and Maggie were younger than Annie... well, physically at least. Those days were a clear sign to her that Annie was more than capable of being a mother. She and Maggie had relied upon her many times while growing up, so she knew the child was in good hands. Seeing how shy the child was she smiled politely and spoke softly to him, "It's very nice to meet you, Crona. Sorry it took me so long to welcome you."

Crona looked at her with a tilted head. "Oh... Hi... Um... Are you Miss Maggie's girlfriend?" He asked innocently. Annie beamed with pride that he didn't find it even remotely confusing.

Izzy immediately beamed at Crona, "Actually I'm her wife!" Crona mumbled,

"O-oh, I'm sorry I got it wrong…" Izzy blanched and waved her hands,

"No no, I'm not mad at you sweetie, you couldn't have known!"

"Oh, sorry, I just thought you'd want me to apologize for the mistake..." Crona said quietly.

"No no no, it's fine, I'm so sorry I put you in a position that made you feel like you did something wrong." Izzy replied.

"I'm sorry for getting into that position..." Crona replied softly.

"Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. You just got here, so you are still learning about everyone who lives here and that includes me." Crona smileed and leaned into her hand, "Thank you."

Annie and her many maids were all giggling softly into their hands at the interaction. 'Those two are so much alike it's not even funny... Right down to the constant apologizing...' Annie thought to herself with a smile.

Eventually, Izzy gave up on apologizing and merely hugged Crona close to her chest. "It's okay, sweetie, I promise." She cooed softly. "You're safe now, I'm not upset, you have nothing to be worried about." She spoke with that kind soft-spoken-ness that could make her a bit tricky to pin down how she felt sometimes, but other times, made her feel like the kindest woman in the world to those who got to know her. Crona seemed to feel the same way, as he seemed to be melting into her arms with every passing second. Miss Izzy was so nice! He didn't know what he was scared of!

"So, you just- you just adopted a kid?" Izzy finally spoke up, looking to Annie. "Is that why you went to Death City? Please don't take this the wrong way-" She stopped and hugged Crona tightly. "Now that I have him in my arms, I never wanna let go... but wasn't there an orphanage in Little Innsmouth?"

"Yeah, I didn't plan on bringing him home with me, but I did, and I'm glad I did." Annie remarked, her tone making it clear there was more to the story.

Their shared ground quickly melts away the last of Crona's tension. Sadly Annie realized she has to cut the bonding a little short, "Sorry to wrap this up so early, but it's getting close to Crona's bedtime. He still needs a lot of rest." Izzy stepped back and bowed, but Annie cut her off before she could finish. "You don't need to apologize, it's fine." Izzy blushed and opened her mouth again. "You don't need to apologize for trying to apologize either." Izzy closed her mouth and pouted and Annie giggled, "You know we all love you, Izzy!" Maggie gave her a hug and her pout slowly melted away. Annie let out one last soft giggle, "Say night night to everyone, Crona."

"Night night..." Crona mumbled with a tiny wave as his mother picked him up and cuddled him close.

"Okay, I'm gonna go put him to sleep and then I'll come back down to explain everything to you, Izzy."

Crona yawned again, seeming close to passing out in Annie's arms, which he was likely to do, all things considered. With a smile, Annie made her way back to her room, and tucked her son in, kissing him good night, and bringing a smile to his face as she did so, something she found words couldn't explain how cute it was. Sagan hopped up on the bed and looked to her, nodding.

"Promise if he has bad dreams you'll call?" She asked, and Sagan nodded. "And don't chuck a book at me to get my attention this time." Sagan huffed in a 'it's-not-my-fault-you-wouldn't-respond-last-time' way.

"M-Mama...?" The sleepy boy mumbled quietly, and Annie realized what he wanted.

"Okay. I'll stay till you fall asleep..." She sat down on the bed. Annie smiled at her sleepy son, "So Crona, what did you think of Izzy?"

Crona smiled sleepily up at his mother. "I like her... She was really nice..." Annie giggled and kissed his forehead.

"She sure is... And she really is a lot like you... She's shy, quiet and adorable." She booped Crona's nose. Crona covered his nose with his hands and giggled. A heartwarming sound that hadn't failed yet to bring a smile to Annie's face. In an effort to hear more, she starts to cover his tiny face in kisses. He giggled a little bit harder at her affection snd wrapped his tiny arms around her neck in a hug. Smiling, she hugged him back and rocked him back and forth in the bed and began to softly hum into his ear to try and keep him comfy. With a soft giggle, she carefully tucked him in under the covers and placed one last kiss on his forehead for good measure, "Goodnight, Crona, sweet dreams." Carefully tiptoeing her way out the door, she steps aside to let the pets file in, "Keep an eye on him until I get back, ok guys?"

Lucky was quick to comply, hopping his way over to the bed and hopping up with all the strength his tiny rabbit legs could muster up until he was able to reach his goal. He padded over to Crona and touches his nose against his cheek affectionately. He turned his head to nuzzle their noses together and Lucky curled up next to his head. Meanwhile Peppy was carefully climbing up the side of the bed with Speedy clinging to his back. Annie softly giggled as he finally pulled himself onto the comforter and collapses as she quietly closed the door.

Sighing, she turned to make her way back downstairs to explain the situation to Izzy while also quietly preparing to comfort Crona when he inevitably had a nightmare like he always seemed to when she wasn't there.

It was disheartening that her being away from him could cause such nightmares, and she knew he'd have to come to terms with it, but she had every ounce of faith that he would. Despite being young, Crona was tough. He had endured who knows what at Medusa's hands, beyond what she did know, and yet he hadn't broken in the way she wanted. He held onto who he was, and she could respect that.

Deciding to speed things up a little, she slid down the banister instead of walking down the stairs. With a sigh, she turned towards one of the rooms she hadn't shown Crona yet, but knew Maggie and Izzy would most likely be in. The first floor sitting room. And sure enough, they were both right there, waiting patiently for her to return with the explanation Izzy anticipated. The permanent fifteen year old let out a sigh and took a seat across from the happy couple,cupping her hands in her lap. Izzy was practically vibrating in her seat even with Maggie holding her hand to try and keep her calm. Annie let out one last chuckle, "So, I suppose I promised you an explanation." Annie began to carefully recount the events that led her to Crona starting with the meeting with Lord Death.

And, just as she predicted, she had to stop her story multiple times so that Izzy could have time to cry it out. Crona's story was enough to make the most hardened, jaded people on the planet tear up, let alone someone as sensitive as Izzy.

It was clear despite only having known Crona for a few minutes at best, she already loved him, and couldn't bare the thought of someone hurting him like that. Let alone his own Mom. Maggie had tried her best, but it was one of those states where Izzy was just so heartbroken, that there was nothing that could be done, aside from merely let her cry it out. Annie couldn't blame her, Izzy wore her heart on her sleeve, and this was something that - as it was just said - would break even the most monstrous person to their core. Annie didn't think about her, but even Double would be shaken by this horror, she had found a new path in caring for someone who needed it, and couldn't imagine that kind of pain being inflicted on someone so small.

Speak of the shapeshifting-nun-H.R. Giger-nightmare, Double looked up, and then around tensely. She had a feeling someone or something was talking about her, and she hugged Isaac a bit tighter to protect him. Thankfully, she was doing a wonderful job, and had nothing to worry about.

Maggie wrapped her arms around Izzy while tears streamed down her face, "Oh my goodness that poor baby! How could she do that to him? He was her son and she…" Izzy trailed off, unable to bring herself to finish that sentence.

"No... He isn't her son, and he never was her son. Now, he's my son." Annie replied with a determined smile. "All that bad stuff is in the past. Now he's safe under our roof, and we'll all do our part to take care of him."

Izzy sniffled as she dabbed at her eyes, "You're… you're right, a real mother would never treat her child like that." Maggie gave her a squeeze,

"That's right Izzy. I've seen Annie with him and she's an incredible mother to Crona."

Annie blushed and rubs the back of her head. "Aww, Maggie, you're embarrassing me..." She mumbled bashfully. Magnolia simply smirked in response.

"There no shame in being an incredible mother to a child who needs it."

"Yeah, I can't think of anyone who needs it more than Crona." Annie sighed.

Across the Kingdom, Isaac sneezed.

"Just- is he doing okay now?" Izzy finally managed to ask. She seemed so hard-pressed, as if Crona's safety was all that mattered, as if his safety and health would save the world somehow. Maybe that was over-stating things a tad, but it didn't really matter. Crona's health was clearly something that now weighed heavily on his new family, and Annie was happy for that.

"Yeah... Yeah, he'll be okay... He's getting better every day..." Annie scratched her cheek and looked away. "I will admit, I did feel like my heart was about to burst when he asked if he could call me mama."

Izzy frowned and asked, "What does this mean for filming your show? I know you are going to want him nearby if at all possible."

Annie let out a sigh and smiled. "Well... I was thinking you'd vome with us to the studio a d do a little bit of roleplaying. We'll be pretending that me and Crona are siblings and you're our mom. You like that idea?"

Izzy glanced over at Maggie who nodded back, "If, and only if, Crona is okay with it. He'd still need to get to know we first though. We were only just introduced not even five minutes ago."

Annie nodded her head in affirmation. "Yeah, I had the same thought. We have about three weeks before I need to get back into it, so there's plenty of time to get him warmed up to ya." Izzy felt excitement well up within her.

She was someone who liked making connections, but sometimes had trouble doing so. Yet, when the chance provided itself, she would often try and take it, and she knew she'd do all she could to bond with the little cutie Annie now called her son. She just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and sit by a fire with him! Reading him stories and feeding his little belly full of snacks, he had a face which just cried out for someone, ANYONE to take care of him!

She clenched her fists as she declared, "Alright then, operation Happy Family is a go!" Maggie and Annie giggled at her enthusiasm. Maggie patted her on the head,

"You're always so cute when you get all passionate." Izzy blushed and squeaked as she sat back down and clutched at her skirt.

"Don't tease me, Maggie..." Maggie sighed and draped an arm around her.

"Oh we both know you love to be praised, dear. You're just afraid to admit it." Annie covered her mouth with her hands to smother her giggles as Izzy's cheeks puffed out as she pouted. The two of them were always so adorable when they were together. She let the two of them get the teasing out of their system before they got down to business.

"Okay. So first thing I'm gonna need to do is talk to Crona and explain everything to him. He needs to understand why the people can't know that he's my son... Much as I hate it..." Annie said softly, looking down.

Maggie and Izzy reached over to place their hands on hers. Maggie gave her hands a squeeze, "I know that is not a conversation you ever want to have with him, but if you want him to be with you out of the house it's necessary. Though maybe we could give him a few more days to settle in first?" Annie nodded her head with a small smile.

"Yeah... That sounds good. Give the little guy a bit more time to adjust to things before we spring this on him..." She let out a soft sigh and clutched tightly at the hem of her skirt. She HATED that he couldn't call her mommy in public...

She loved her own mother, but she couldn't help but curse her for the wish she made on the Skullheart somedays. Sure, it gave her some many great things, but then there were cases like this, where it tore her apart that aging would keep her form being able to connect with her own child.

Crona suddenly startled awake, not screaming in fear like most kids might, out of fear for what would happen to him. Lucky, thankfully, noticed his fear and hopped over, nuzzling down in his lap. "Oh, hi Lucky..." He mumbled, scratching its ears. Ragnarok groaned as he woke up as well, looking around in confusion and indifference.

"Oh, right. We're not there anymore..." He mused, still getting used to that. He looked at Crona, but didn't say anything for a time. "You didn't scream this time." He remarked.

"I-I thought I wasn't allowed to."

Ragnarok said nothing. He didn't wanna be stuck with Crona screaming, but at the same time, it didn't feel right that he didn't.

The boy looked to see Sagan sleeping in a little bed on the nightstand, and Peppy and Speedy were curled up at the foot of the bed. He hugged Lucky gently, then let out a soft sigh before burying his face into his bunny's soft white fur for a few seconds. He laid back down, keeping Lucky sprawled out across his chest. He hoped his mommy got back soon so she could keep the scary dreams away... Letting out a yawn, he drifted off once more...

Back with Annie, she was thinking about the serious discussion she needed to have with her son. She needed to work out the correct way to explain why this needed to be the case. She needed to make it very clear to him that it was absolutely not because she didn't love him or anything like that, but for very serious reasons. That it was dangerous for people to find out that she was a cursed human. Hopefully a few more days would let him settle in enough that he wouldn't panic before she could fully explain the situation. She'd certainly have to start with an explanation of her history, of the fact that she is tainted by the curse of the Skull Heart... And she would also have to explain to him exactly what the Skull Heart was and what it did... The very first she was telling him about that darn thing was avoid it at all costs. If he couldn't then smash it into a million pieces and stave of the apocalypse for seven more years. Also how to recognize the fake nun going around peddling the thing.

Even after all this time, Agatha, or whatever that thing was called, its true intentions were still confusing. Sure, it was used to find suitable hosts, but it also was more than just a mindless drone, it seemed to be able to think for its own, which only made it more dangerous, as it could think and plot ways to ensnare those desperate or naive enough to use its so-called 'power'. heck, what the heart was good for in the first place was beyond her! Even after her training and travels, she had never found a concrete reason for its existence beyond 'Because it does'. Something which genuinely angered her, as it made her feel like she had failed.

This seemed more like something to teach the more street wise Ragnarok now that she thought about it. But it was certainly going to be a scary thing to discuss with her young son... It was a scary thing for any parent to tell their child... 'Still, it has to be done. I can't leave Crona ignorant of such dangers and let him get blindsided by them. No matter how much I wish I could keep him away from them forever,' Annie resolved herself. She let out a sigh and steeled her resolve. As much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn't protect him from everything, and even many of the things she could protect him from she first had to tell him about...

Taking one last cleansing breath, she look them in the eye, "One week, we'll help Crona settle in over this week and then I'll explain everything to him." Maggie took Izzy's hand in her's,

"We'll be with you every step of the way. We're all in this together."

Annie smiled and nodded her head with determination. "Yeah... We'll make everything okay, no problem..." If there was one thing from her time in show business she genuinely believed in, it was that everything would turn out okay with friends by your side. So many of her adventures she never would have survived if she didn't have her friends with her. People whose faces she still remembered to the exact moment she was in now. Annie took a shaky breath, "Thanks girls, I'm not sure I would be able to do this without you."

She rose to her feet and gave each of the two women a big hug, which they both readily returned with big smiles on their faces. "It's quite all right, Annie, we know you could never be expected to raise a child and deal with all the complications alone."

Annie sighed, knowing it was true, with her curse it would be near impossible for her to care for Crona all on her own. She couldn't even buy groceries on her own without people asking questions! Her body was fifteen flippin years old for Pete's sake, it wasn't like she was physically a preteen or a tween! She was old enough to be at a grocery store without supervision, she was old enough to be out on the town on her own without anyone holding her hand! Heck, she was even having to reject 'love confessions' (shallow attraction) from other teenagers!

She let out a sigh and shook her head, briefly debating whether or not to drink some apple juice and pretend it's alcohol before going to sleep before remembering that she needed to go and help Crona through his inevitable nightmares. Annie sighed while rubbing her eye. "I think that's as far as we can go tonight. I need to get back to Crona." Maggie and Izzy nodded silently, knowing that Crona definitely had his demons after all he had been through. She rose to her feet and nodded at her two head maids before turning to make her way out of the room and down the hallway back to her own, briefly wondering if she should bring Crona a cookie or something.

'Honestly I think we'll both need a cookie,' Annie quickly made her kitchen detour and took the stairs two at a time. She almost ripped the door off it's hinges when she heard soft whimpering from inside. Within she found the animals and Sagan trying to comfort Crona as best they could. The boy was fast asleep and squirming about violently as he struggled with his nightmares. Annie let out a sigh and stepped forward, carefully gathering him in her arms and shaking him gently to help wake him from his inner hell.

She paced the room while lightly bouncing him in her arms for a minute or two before he awoke with a ragged gasp. Crona panicked for several seconds before remembering where he was and realizing who was holding him. Annie hugged him to her shoulder as he desperately clinged to her. "Shhhhh... It's okay, it's okay, it was just a scary dream, you're safe now, mommy's here, mommy's got you, just relax now, take a deep breath... That's it, that's it, you're doing it... Just take it easy, I'm right here..." She whispered into his ear.

Crona slowly calmed down, burying himself into Annie's hold, not saying anything, but speaking with his body. It was clear he was scared, and more than a little confused. Everything he had experienced was beginning to catch up to him, whether he wanted it to or not. Yet all he could do was turn to Annie and hope for some sort of protection. The ageless warrior smiled, hugging her son a little tighter, trying her best to be reassuring.

She rocked him back and forth slowly, in what she hoped was a soothing motion for the boy. She knew it was for most children, but Crona was so small, so delicate, so damaged that she feared that he might actually get nauseous... Looking at him, though, he seemed to be okay, and she let out a soft sigh. She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the top of his tiny head before burying her face in his fluffy pink hair and nuzzling into it with a content sigh. "I love you, sweetie... You know that, right?"

Crona looked up, and smiled, nodding and nuzzling back into her embrace. "I love you too, Mama." Crona mumbled, feeling reassured she was by his side. Crona didn't want to reply on his Mama for help his whole life, but he'd take it while he could. He didn't like being so scared of everything, but he wasn't sure what else to do. He trusted his Mom to take good care of him, and he'd do everything he could to make her proud of him.

Eventually Crona's breathing evened out, but she could still feel his hands trembling where they clinged to her dress. Annie made her way back to the bed, rubbing his back in slow circles. She saw their cookies out of the corner of her eye and she smiled. She brought an entire box from her secret stash, plus a decently sized pitcher of milk and two glasses. She gently pulled him away from her body and gave him her best smile. "Why don't I read you some stories while we have a little snack, sound good?" Crona nodded and started to slowly nibble on a cookie, and Annie felt such relief when it gave him a tiny smile. Setting a glass beside him she made her way over to her bookshelf. She slowly rubbed her finger across the spines of the books before stopping at one, a more child friendly version of some of her old adventures.

She settled down with Crona curling up on her lap, looking up to her with wet, tired, large eyes. She had to admit, as much as she didn't like seeing him cry, he seemed just so precious like this. There was something about his eyes which spoke a silent plea for someone to just give him a hug. So, she did. she gave him a light squeeze and opened the book, beginning at the first story which had been recounted in this collection.

"Things were relatively calm for Annie, which was a sign that something was amiss." Annie began, noting how that simple intro was true both in her real life, and in the show.

Crona blinked and looked up at her. "This book has some of the legends people have told about your mom over the years in it." She explained with a smile. Crona perked up a little more when he saw the colorful picture of his mama and Sagan on the first page. She smiled and rubbed his back gently. "Yep, it's a book all about me. Figured you'd wanna hear more about what kinda stuff I got up to back in the day. It was a lot crazier back then... This was back in medieval times." Finding a blacksmith who had been willing to help her craft what she needed back then had been a pain in the tushy. Finding one who could work with the metal she found in that meteorite had been doubly so. Thankfully the smith of the infamous Dragonslayer had been willing and able, and she even slew a Skullgirl or two alongside the legendary Black Swordsman.

She smiled sadly at the memory. Man did she ever miss poor Guts... His entire story, his entire life was such an awful tragedy and she was grateful that she could have alleviated just a little bit of that pain... She hoped he was resting in peace now...

She remembered when she tried (and admittedly failed HORRIFICALLY) to bring the idea of Guts to the show. The show runners liked the idea but the amount of complaints about the darker storyline, morally questionable heroes and overall sour tone ensured it didn't last long. In retrospect, Annie figured that was for the best, Guts wasn't someone who cared about much (himself included) and probably wouldn't want to be turned into whatever the show writers were trying.

Then, there was the old west, where she had- Hm. 'Friend' would be a REAL stretch, 'Ally' was another tricky word, honestly 'someone she begrudgingly worked with and begrudgingly respected' was too long, but it was the only way to describe Caleb Quinn. The old bounty hunter looked as old as Annie WAS, and that was saying a lot. He was a harsh man, bringing criminals in alive, and sometimes dead, and while he and Annie had been forced to work together to survive, she never got a good feeling from him. Then, he had just... disappeared one day into foggy air... Annie never knew what became of him, but hoped it was better than what he had...

As she read the story, her mind drifted to the many mementos of old friends she kept on one of the bottom floors of her home. Guts' armour was among those things. Mostly so she could keep an eye on it. Some things were just better staying out of human hands, because who knows what kind of damage someone could do with a massive hunk of fairy iron soaked in the blood of a thousand demons? She frowned at Crona and thought to herself that that's just the kind of thing his sick twisted mother would want to force unto him... The idea of Crona using such things was enough to make her feel sick to her stomach. Thankfully that could never happen for three reasons, one, Medusa was gone for good. Two, the armor was locked in a place only she could access. There, she had worked long and hard to make people think that entire time period was only a myth.

After all, they already had the skullheart to fear, they did not need to live in fear of an army of monstrous, horrifying demons coming back to the realm of the mortals on top of that, especially led by a monster like Griffith... She didn't even know if he was even still alive or not after Guts split him down the middle like firewood and they dropped him into the very bottom of the Abyss. The thing he had become wasn't exactly bound by concepts like mortality. All they could really do with that nightmare was shut the door, lock it, and make sure no one dumb enough to try and open it ever got the chance.

Of course she had to make sure to omit a lot of details as she told Crona the story. It was a very scary and harrowing tale, and she really didn't want to give him anything else to have nightmares about on top of it all. "With one last mighty blow Guts destroyed the fiend his former friend had become, and with the power of the stars we sealed the gates forevermore," at some point during the story Ragnarok had popped out, his eyes shining as he looked at the stories final illustration,

"So those old stories are true then? The Black Swordsman really existed?!"

Annie nodded her head in affirmation. "That's right... He had a rough life, but he was able to get it back on track in the end... Which is impressive because psychiatrists weren't exactly a dime a dozen back in those days..." Ragnarok wasn't fully convinced, but decided to play along with keeping things PG for Crona. He grew up on those stories and knew what the legend had gone through was far above any psychiatrist's pay grade. Knowing that he knew, Annie decided to throw him a bone for going along with it, "I keep a lot from those days, some stuff stays under lock and key but I could show you Dragonslayer itself."

Ragnarok perked up and rubbed his tiny hands together. "That sounds awesome! I've always wanted to see that sword!" Annie chuckled and gave the blob of black blood a pat on the head.

"It'll have to wait until tomorrow though."

Ragnarok sheepishly looked at the window, "Yeah, it is kind of late. No scratch that it's really late, goodnight." Annie chuckled as he vanished and looked down at her lap to find Crona just barely staying awake.

She let out a sigh of relief and hugged him tightly, rocking him gently in her arms. "Feel better now?" She whispered softly into his ear. He slowly nodded his head and buried his face into her tummy, clutching at her dress.

"Thank you, Mama." Crona mumbled. "I feel better now..." Annie felt a large weight removed from her shoulders upon hearing that, and sighed in relief. She hated seeing Crona in such dire straits, but it did her good to know she was helping him, one way or another. He really didn't deserve any of this, but this was the hand he was dealt, so there wasn't much she could do about that, aside from give it her best.

"I think it's bedtime now, kiddo." She spoke, softly. Setting Crona back on the bed and tucking him in. "I'll be with you in a moment, sweetie." She smiled.

She leaned down, pressing her lips against his forehead and letting them linger for several seconds before pulling away, smiling when she noticed Crona was fast asleep. She gave him a light hair ruffle before turning to the now empty plate and pitcher that had contained their bedtime snack.

Grabbing the dishes, she carried them back to the kitchen, then quickly made her way back to the room, making haste to try and make sure he didn't have any more scary dreams.

Crona was dreaming, but he was dreaming abuot the stories he had been told. They sounded so cool! He didn't think he'd be a very good fighter, but he wondered what it'd be like if he could save the world... or if he had to team up with people to stop someone from doing something evil! What would that be like... he hoped if he did, that his Mama would be there to help. He felt like if she was there, there wasn't anything he couldn't do!

Annie saw him sleeping, and she was touched by the big happy smile he wore as he slept soundly. Letting out a soft yawn herself, she decided it was time to join him. Clambering under the covers, she held him close and kissed his head. "Sweet dreams, kiddo..." She whispered. "I love you..." She shut off the lamp. Nuzzling herself down into her bed, she smiled softly at the tiny weight cuddled up against her chest. She spent a few minutes gently stroking his back to try and keep him comfortable as she readied herself to fall asleep. She smiled as she felt Speedy, Peppy, Lucky, and Sagan settle down around her, "Goodnight, guys…" Her voice trailed off as she finally fell asleep. The combination of milk and cookies with the warm little bundle of love in her arms too much for her to resist.

The two slept soundly, safe and warm in the embrace of the other. A new feeling returned to Crona, a feeling of love, protection and warmth. A feeling of family, and a feeling of hope. Hope that this was his life now, that this was what he had to enjoy. For Annie, she felt a connection she hadn't felt in ages. A feeling of family. Sure, Maggie and Izzy were her family as well, but Crona was her son. There was a connection there that couldn't be explained any other way.

As she fell asleep, her smile threatened to split her face apart, as her dreams were filled with her son... Her defending him from various monsters from her show... And him returning the favour as well... It was nice. Meanwhile Crona dreamed he was wrapped in a warm and fluffy cloud. Safe from anything that could hurt him. Outside their dreams mother and son hugged each other tightly.