CHAPTER 5:
TAKE A RIDE ON THE BLACK DRAGON
Death the Kid, Harry, and Crona poked and peered through books, while Liz had Patty looking through some children's books (Patty being illiterate, as well as more than a little childish). They had recently arrived at one of the devastated villages (bites seemingly taken out of the very coastline itself), only to find the survivors babbling about 'the Black Dragon'. They went to the library of the village, hoping to do some on-site research.
"What are we looking for, exactly?" Harry asked.
"Local legends and the like," Death the Kid said. "I have my suspicions, but they're not concrete."
"What could have taken a bite out of the coast like that?" Crona asked as her pale blue eyes flickered over the pages of her assigned book. "I don't know how to deal with something like that. Is it a real dragon?"
"In all likelihood, it's probably an appellation," Kid said. "A name given out of fear. Its power is frightening enough, though. And whatever it is, it's killing off dozens, if not hundreds of people. That alone makes it a necessity for the DWMA to investigate."
Crona shivered, before her eyes caught something on the page she was looking at. "Kid…I think I've found it. The Black Dragon…Nidhogg."
"Let me see," Kid said, taking the book gently from Crona's hands. He peered at the page critically, before he closed the book shut with a loud noise, an action that spoke of decisiveness. "Yes. Yes, I believe you've found it, Crona. Well done."
Crona smiled, a little weakly. She was still unused to praise, but she was getting there.
Liz, Patty, and Ragnarok (currently extruded from Crona's back) were rowing the boat. Death the Kid stood upon the bow of the rowboat like a figurehead, dressed in his cloak and with a mask that made him look like his father, while Harry and Crona kept lookout.
It was decided that a rowboat would be needed for the actual location of their quarry. Liz and Ragnarok griped about their doing the rowing, but Patty enjoyed herself. If the boat proved to sink or be unusable, then they would have to use Kid's flying skateboard Beelzebub (in the case of Kid and the Thompsons) and Ragnarok's wings (in the case of Crona and Harry).
"For centuries," Kid said, removing his mask, "this area has been a popular route for ships. And many ships have sunk, and not just because of the high traffic."
Just as Liz began to worry, a thick mist began to descend on the area, and Kid sensed the presence of multiple souls nearby. So too did Crona and Harry. And then, a vast shape loomed out of the fog.
It looked like an old-fashioned sailing ship, decrepit and looking as if it was barely sea-worthy. Bulging eyes flanked a grotesque, mouth-like opening at the bow. Its name was on the side: Nidhogg. "A ghost ship," whimpered Liz.
Crona began to shiver, and Harry put a comforting hand on his Meister's bony shoulder. While no longer mistreated by Medusa, Crona still was quite thin. And given how she had breasts smaller than Maka's, and wore androgynous clothing, it was little wonder she was still often confused for a boy. She was still a bundle of nerves and neuroses, with body image being only part of it. "It's okay, Crona. We have two of the strongest teams of the DWMA here."
"Really? Where?" Crona whimpered.
"Us!" Harry hissed.
"Oh. Us. Right…" Crona said, uncertainly. The poor girl, as mentioned, still had issues, and self-esteem and confidence were amongst them. She then said to Kid, "What do we do?"
"There are numerous souls on that ship, souls that had no right to be harvested. We board the ship, send the souls onwards to their final destination, and find whoever's behind it. I suspect a Kishin Egg behind this."
"We are NOT boarding a ghost ship!" Liz protested loudly. "Are you crazy?"
Promptly, Patty proved that she was by rowing the boat as hard as she could, Ragnarok helping, until they crashed into the side. Kid, upset, told them to hit the middle to do more damage. Which they did, ploughing into the stern.
"They're crazy," a dazed Liz whimpered as Harry and Crona carried her onto the ship, following Kid and Patty.
"You don't have to be crazy to work at the DWMA, but it helps," Harry said cheerfully.
The ship was admittedly more spooky once they had boarded it. Harry kept an arm around Crona's shoulders once they were walking its dank corridors, Ragnarok having receded back into her body. "It's okay," Harry murmured comfortingly. "We're a team."
Crona nodded, leaning into Harry a bit more. In combat, she was confident enough, a force of nature fuelled by the Black Blood, as well as Resonance with Harry and Ragnarok. All looking serene. But outside of battle…
"We're a team," she said, quietly, to herself, over and over, a mantra to stave off fear and madness.
Harry knew she needed that reassurance. She once said, rather disturbingly, that Hell existed, and she had pointed to her own head to indicate where it was. Her formative years with Medusa hadn't been the best. Only the assurance that her friendship with Harry could never be broken kept her sane. They had argued and bickered before, true, but that was normal. Hell, Harry was probably the only person Crona ever actually felt comfortable arguing with.
Soul and Blair had both teased them, saying they made a cute couple. And while Harry didn't object to the thought of Crona being his girlfriend, their relationship was somewhat different, perhaps deeper than mere romance. Besides, they were only thirteen, anyway. It was enough being friends.
They soon came across a cargo hold, filled with the blue glow of souls. Harry and Crona stared in horror at the sheer number of souls. "This ship…or whoever is in charge of it, they killed this many people?" Harry murmured in disgust.
"Indeed," Kid said, disgust tingeing his own voice. "Harvesting them for their own ends, no doubt. I'll send them onwards to where they should be."
Even as he reached out to do so, though Kid found a massive gun barrel in his face. He dodged to the side even as the gun fired. Harry stared at the apparition half-emerged from the floor. Dressed as an old-fashioned sailor, and a parody of a human being, he was clearly a far-gone Kishin Egg. "What have we here, eh? A Reaper, a Meister, and a trio of Weapons poking their noses where it don't belong! These souls are not your to trifle with, brats!"
"Liz, Patty…" Kid began, but before he could continue, the apparition grinned.
"NIDHOGG!" he howled. The very ship began to tremble, and suddenly, the timbers opened up beneath Liz and Crona, and they dropped instantly with yelps of surprise.
"This ship is my body, and my body is the ship!" the apparition grinned. "I am the Flying Dutchman, and I am the last thing you will trifle with! Those two will be digested very handily within the depths of my ship."
"I think Crona will give you indigestion," Harry snarked. "Unless you like Black Blood."
Kid nodded. "And they are stronger than you think, Dutchman. What do you want to do with these souls?"
"I'm gonna present them to the Kishin! I'm sure to be well-rewarded!"
"Kishin? I was unaware that there was a mature Kishin in existence," Kid said.
"Which goes to show how little you know, Reaper Boy! There's a Kishin very close to you, and in more ways than one!" He shot at them again. "Now die!"
Patty hissed at Death, "I'll transform, and help you out against this guy."
"No…you can't…" Kid murmured.
Harry facepalmed. "Right, the whole symmetry thing of dual-wielding. Patty, do you have any objection to me trying to wield you?"
"Nope!" she said, transforming into a gun that flew into his hands. She felt unwieldy, but at least her soul was moderately compatible. He fired Patty at the Dutchman, who sneered, despite the hole in his chest.
"Nice try, but I'm immortal as long as this ship stands!"
"Retreat!" Kid snapped. And as the Dutchman's next shot blew out the door, they were able to do so…
"Sorry about my friend," Crona said to the ghost of the little girl. "I mean, I don't know how to deal with ghosts, but she's absolutely terrified of them."
The girl emitted a sigh, too old-sounding and too long-suffering for one like her. "It's okay. She's a scaredy cat."
Crona and Liz had ended up in the bowels of the ship, freaking out somewhat that they had been dumped into it. They were walking through the corridors when they encountered the ghost of this girl. Liz, of course, immediately freaked out. Crona, though separated from Harry, drew strength from her conviction that they would be reunited. The fact that if the ghost girl turned out to be malevolent (not that she could sense any such intent), she could let Ragnarok eat her, helped bolster this.
"So…you're a ghost, right?" Crona asked. "And so young too. Must be…disheartening."
The girl nodded, jabbing a thumb at the whimpering Liz. "I wish I could've grown up to get a hot body like hers. So, you two are from the DWMA?"
"Yes. We came with my second Weapon, Harry, as well as Lord Death's son and Liz's twin sister." Oddly enough, she felt comfortable talking to the ghost girl. "We came here to investigate the Nidhogg's attacks."
"…Better late than never," the ghost girl remarked.
They soon found other ghosts, who showed them the way to a ladder leading them out. They finally ended up on the deck. "Where the hell are the others?!" Liz yelped. "You tricked us!"
"Is she always like this?" the ghost girl asked.
"No. You'd be surprised, but she was once the scariest hoodlum in Brooklyn. She just fears ghosts," Crona said.
"Hey, shut up!" Liz snarled. "She promised to take us to where our friends are, and…"
There was an explosion, and Kid and Harry, with the latter holding onto Patty's Weapon form, burst from a door. Harry and Kid soon saw them. "Liz, hurry! Transform! We're in a tight spot!" Harry yelled, tossing Patty over to Kid. Liz, without any further prompting, transformed, and Harry transformed himself.
"No matter what you do," the Dutchman taunted as he emerged, "you can't do a thing! This ship is my body and my body is the ship!"
Kid looked at Crona. "I think it is time to prove him otherwise. A field test, perhaps?"
Crona got what he meant instantly, and nodded. Ragnarok burst out without any further ado, transforming into his sword form. The two Meisters then rose into the air. "Execution Mode activated," Kid intoned.
"Harry, Ragnarok…Dual Resonance," Crona murmured.
Kid rose above Crona as his soul began to expand, blue energy purling around him. Crona's soul, fuchsia in colour, began expanding even as she screamed to enhance Ragnarok's Scream Resonance at the same time as she Resonated with Harry's soul.
The Dutchman swore, and aimed the cannons of the Nidhogg at them. But even as he did so, the voices of two Meisters and four Weapons rang out in unison. "COMBINATION ATTACK: SCREECH CANNON THETA(1)!"
Kid fired at the same time as Crona swung her swords, the energy of the two attacks combining into a single energy blast that smashed into the Nidhogg. For half a second, nothing seemed to happen, before a pillar of energy, in the shape of a screaming face, blasted into the sky, smoke in the shape of skulls blasting outwards at the same time. The ship was shattered into splinters and sawdust.
The two Meisters and their Weapons discussed the possibility of a combination attack to inflict massive damage on a powerful opponent. They had tested this combination in the training grounds, and found it frighteningly effective. It was rare for two Meisters to be able to combine attacks in such a manner, but Kid and Crona, and their Weapons, had managed it.
Kid summoned Beelzebub, and Ragnarok extruded his wings from Crona's back. They gently descended, to find the souls of those consumed by the Nidhogg floating around. And there was the soul of the Dutchman himself, a crimson colour amongst the blue-hued souls.
"Overkill, much?" Liz asked.
"It lacked finesse, true, but against such a foe, there is perhaps no such thing as overkill. You take the Dutchman's soul, Harry," Kid said. "I'll send these others on to where they need to go."
Harry did so, extruding part of his body from the blade and eating the crimson soul. As he swallowed it, he said, "Kid, what do you think he meant? About the Kishin being close to us, and in more ways than one?"
"I don't know. But I'd be willing to bet that my father does know."
The ghost girl appeared briefly. "Goodbye, Crona. Goodbye, Scaredy-Cat Lady." Then, she faded.
When they finally got back to the DWMA (their boat had drifted away when the Nidhogg became active, so they had to fly back to a portal), Kid dismissed Liz and Patty, but kept Harry and Crona with him. They immediately went to Death's chambers, and found him, as usual, enthusiastic in his greetings. Until Kid held up a hand.
"Father…the evil being we confronted was a servant of a Kishin…a Kishin he claimed was really close to us, and in more ways than one. And I don't think he was being at all metaphorical. I need to know…what did he mean?"
Harry saw Death's shoulders slump. Clearly, this wasn't a subject he was happy to talk about. But Lord Death rallied himself, and began to tell a horrific tale of the past…
CHAPTER 5 ANNOTATIONS:
There you have it. The encounter with the Nidhogg, and, instead of canon, where Kid and Crona fight, we have Kid and Crona, along with their Weapons, annihilating the Nidhogg. I loved that sequence in the anime, actually, where Crona and Kid face off. Not only was it a match between two powerhouses, but I loved Crona's lines just before unleashing Screech Alpha (I love Maxey Whitehead as Crona: I don't care what anyone thinks of the English dub), delivered in such an eerily serene tone. "I hate, hate, hate everyone. But that's okay: I can use my screams to blow them all away. I bet dead people are a lot easier to get along with."
And if you think that their combination attack was overpowered, keep in mind that Kid and Crona are easily amongst the most powerful characters in the series. Screech Alpha, albeit powered by the souls of those on the Nidhogg, was capable of sinking the ship. Imagine if Crona and Kid combined forces.
BTW, Crona's eye colour seems to vary between black and very pale blue in the anime, so I've gone with pale blue.
I'm frankly astonished at how swiftly this fic has become popular, even though I only posted it (and admittedly the first four chapters) very recently. 2.5K views, 55 favourites and 2 communities. Damn.
Review-answering time! Sakura Lisel: A flame-bladed sword is not literally wreathed in flames. It has a wavy blade. And the Dursleys, who keep calling Harry a delinquent, would probably have been able to claim that he used a knife on Petunia or something. They're idiots, but they would be determined to get Harry into trouble.
Lupine Horror: I didn't know that was the reason for the wavy blade. Then again, I looked the term up for this on Wikipedia, and they had it right there in the article, which I missed like an imbecile. So yeah.
diagonalpumpkin: Crona's personality is still not unlike that in Soul Eater canon, in that she is timid and socially inept at times (she still says 'I don't know how to deal with X'), but she's also far braver in battle, and coming out of her shell gradually. I love the scene where she names the corner of the room (though I prefer the anime's more pragmatic translation of Mr Corner to the manga's translation 'Roomsky Kornerkov', which is a joke few people would get, I'm sure, as it was a pun on some composer). In this version of events, her poetry is no longer a weapon of mass depression.
It's also worth pointing out that, when the technique The Soul Reaver is used, it's like how the weapon is used in the very first game in the series, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. It drains your magic power, but it basically makes enemies explode into chunks. I love how Simon Templeman says in that game, 'the Soul Reaver', hence why I call the move The Soul Reaver rather than Soul Reaver. I have no plans to bring in Excalibur in person. And I'm glad you like the nomenclature of the Swords Dances styles.
1. This is a combination of Kid's special move Death Cannon, and Crona's Screech attacks. As with the other Screech attacks, this one has a Greek letter. But choosing Theta is no accident. Because it is the first (Greek) letter in the name of the Greek god of death, Thanatos, it has an association with death for both the Greeks and the Romans. Gladiators killed in the arena during a match had a 'Theta' appended to their name, for example.