"Snapshot" By RavenAK.

Apparently unconnected moments in time, about everything, about nothing, about them. Soul/Maka/Crona, because ever since their roads connected they are undividable.

Disclaimer: Soul Eater belongs to Ohkubo Atsushi, Square Enix and Shônen GanGan. Not me. No, sir. The song "Imaginary" belongs to Evanescence.

Warning: Spoilers for the manga. They might get heavier as the story progresses.

Four: Imaginary

In my field of paper flowers

And candy clouds of lullaby

I lie inside myself for hours

And watch my purple sky fly over me…

It's all black and silent…

She's floating in a sea of nothing, just staring ahead. For some reason, she ended up here alone in her own mind. As soon as Crona spoke those words, she felt her whole world breaking down around her, and she felt her own soul leaving everything behind.

Nothing makes sense anymore. Medusa was her enemy, she wanted to kill her, because of everything she did to both Crona and Soul, to both her best friend and her partner. She was going to kill Medusa to save them from her, but now the tables have turned and it makes no sense anymore. Crona, who was supposed to be the one in danger, the one being corrupted and manipulated, killed her own mother instead, becoming the hunter, and now she's going to kill her as well.

The person she was trying to save is coming to kill her, and she's not being manipulated anymore, she's acting on her own, she really wants to do it.

She has succeeded, Crona is free.

Crona is free, and she's a monster.

Maka hates herself for being so stupid, so naïve, for thinking that it would be alright in the end when it clearly isn't, for pretending that she could turn back time, to the moment when Crona was her friend and they were happy.

For thinking that she's not inherently evil.

She has been lying to herself by believing such ridiculous things, and her friends have supported her even if they didn't share her cause, and Shinigami-sama has outright lied to her face, promising to protect Crona and then adding her to his hit list.

She just wants to lock herself out of it all, to fall asleep and only wake up when this nightmare is over.

She floats into the nothingness. This is not her soul, it's something else. It's a place of darkness and despair. She doesn't want to sleep here; she wants to go back to her shelter where she retreated when she had a bad day, way back when she hadn't discovered the comfort of a good book and a cup of tea, when her Papa still lived with her and her Mama, and they argued and fought and threw insults at each other. When she didn't have the ability to defend herself, when she was scared.

Back then she used to retreat to an imaginary world inside of her mind, a world which she ruled, which she controlled, and it made her forget how weak and insignificant she was… But then she grew up, her Mama left, her Papa got pushed away and she couldn't go back to that wonderland anymore; because she was a big girl, she was rational and logical, but most of all she was brave, and she could face the reality even if it was hard, she didn't need to hide away.

Until now.

Now she desperately wants to retreat to that magical place where time flies by, where she rules and controls everything, where there only is what she wants there to be, where she can play until she's tired and ready to go back to reality, when her parents have made up and they all go to get some ice cream.

When Crona is good and nice and happy. When Soul is not hurt.

She falls quicker into the nothingness until she hits the ground, but this ground is soft and comforting, and she knows that there's nothing out there that can make her go back.

When she opens her eyes, she's lying on her back, looking at the sky with its beautiful, fluffy clouds and breathing in the sweet smell of the lake right next to her. The lake is a bright shade of pink, and when she sits up she's able to see the tall trees with all kinds of flowers and fruits. This is her wonderland, it's exactly like she remembers it.

But something is different: Instead of the puffy dress, the tiara and the ribbons she used to wear back then, she's wearing her Spartoi uniform, all covered in dirt, and she's bruised everywhere; but she's here and it's all that matters.

She starts walking slowly towards nowhere in particular, and even when she knows that she must be dreaming, or hallucinating, her limbs are aching with every step.

She finds the castle which she used to play in, where she was the Princess, and remembers how that Princess used to be all alone up there, except when she occasionally locked away her Papa in the dungeon until he promised he wouldn't make her Mama angry again. She can't help but smile bitterly, everything used to be so simple back then.

The Princess was always in a lonely tower in her castle, hiding away from everyone, being the only ruler and commander, of no one. She always played alone, she never let anybody in. Back then, she thought it was normal, pleasant even, for an only child to retreat to the depths of her imagination when reality was either frightening or boring; but now that she thinks about it, she should have had an imaginary friend at least, she should have let a little of that wonderland slip into the real world… But no, she was always so uptight, she never mixed dreams with reality, and she would never admit that she had such megalomaniac fantasies; she was no Black*Star.

She used to be all alone up there… So lonely and so very innocent.

The next thing she knows, she's opening the door to the room in that high tower, expecting to find her imaginary bedroom with her endless collection of toys and books.

Instead she finds a 6 year-old girl with ribbons in her hair, wearing a puffy princess dress and a small tiara. She has a mischievous smile on her round face, and tiny angel wings sprouting from her back.

It's her 6 year-old self… with wings. She surely doesn't remember that.

"Huh?"

Yeah. I think it's common agreement by most of the fandom that child!Maka can be found on her own soul, because it seems like every important and/or traumatic experience that has made her the person she is, comes from her childhood. I added the fact that she sees her own child-self as a little angel because a) she's an angel fangirl, b) it was a time of pure innocence, and c) Soul gets a little demon, so it's only fair she gets a little angel. I'm gonna play with that concept later.

As always, thanks for reading, reviewing and subscribing!

Also, I think this is taking the form of a story more than a one-shot collection. I'm sorry, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore -sighs-