This chapter contains spoilers from the late manga and mid-to-late anime. Basically a spoiler for most things to do with Crona.

...

The night sure was quiet. Free wasn't complaining though. It was his first night away from his disgusting prison after all. Once she helped him out of his...icy predicament following the battle with the DWMA students, Eruka Frog led him to Medusa's home. Now Free sat on the porch. He didn't really get this place or why his rescuer was so motivated but he was honorably in dept. He barely noticed as the little witch sat next to him.

"Hey," she said with a bored tone.

"Oh," he looked over. "Hi."

They both sat quietly for a moment. The sound of crickets filled the night air. The two stared at the stars.

"Can I ask you a few things?" Free said without looking at her.

Eruka shrugged. "Sure."

Free smiled. "I hope this doesn't come off as stupid but I'm just confused about some stuff. Little stuff you know?"

"Sure." The witch said again.

"So, um, first of all. What's up with that Lady Medusa?"

"What do you mean?" Eruka looked at him.

The werewolf shrugged. "I dunno. I only met her today. She did order to save me which I'm thankful for of course but I don't really know her."

Eruka scoffed. "She's a powerful witch. She doesn't exactly follow conventional witch rules. All I know is she's planning to unleash madness onto this world. Not exactly sure how this'll work out but I'm not really looking forwards to it."

"That leads me to my next question," continued Free. "Why do you work with her?"

The little witch paused, not quite sure what to say about it. "To make it short. I don't have much of a choice."

"Oh."

He didn't pry but secretly she wanted him to. She wanted someone to know her situation but didn't bother to keep on about it. It was better unsaid for now. He had a small idea of it from earlier. Something about snakes inside her? He sort of wished he had paid more attention. It seemed to distress Eruka at the time.

"So what about that pink haired child? Who's that?"

"That's Lady Medusa's own kid actually," Eruka said to which Free raised his eyebrows. "Yeah. Crona. Also very strong by the way, but more or less shows it regularly."

Free nodded.

"By that I mean less."

He chuckled. "Yeah. Not too intimidating if you ask me. Cute kid though."

Eruka shrugged and spoke awkwardly. "Well Crona is more of an experiment than a child to Lady Medusa if I'm honest. She made a weapon Ragnarok into liquid then infused him into Crona. So that's how we've got someone who is both meister and weapon. It's also how she's risked a lot in the witch community."

Free gulped. Hopefully not everyone around her was that disposable. Then again it was her own kid right. Boy this lady was weird.

"Okay last question," Free said after a few moments. "What happens now that I'm working with you guys?"

"Medusa'll probably go over that with you but basically you'll just carry out little tasks here and there like me," Eruka explained.

Free grinned. "That's pretty cool I guess."

Medusa walked onto the porch which startled both Eruka and Free.

"You two should get inside," the snake witch said coolly. "I have to talk to you about a mission for tomorrow Eruka."

...

Medusa Gorgon was off at "work" being the nurse at the DWMA. It was rare that Crona, Free and Eruka were all here to eat at once. It felt really odd without Medusa there. The three of them realized they didn't have much to say to each other. Medusa left some ingredients for pasta which Eruka made.

"Pretty good," smiled Free to break the tension.

"Thanks," she returned the smile.

Crona picked at it. "Pasta is my favourite."

The witch and the werewolf looked over at the Demon Sword. If they had a nickel for every time Crona spoke to either one of them they wouldn't have a dollar.

"Really?" Free tried to keep it going. "I like pasta too. Why do you like pasta?"

The kid shrugged. "It beats rabbit."

Eruka and Free didn't understand.

"Hey Crona pass me some grub!" Ragnarok popped out of the back of the kid.

"Ragnarok! I said I was gonna give you food later!" Crona cried.

"No way I'm hungry now!" The weapon stuffed his finger into his meister's nose.

There were times when Ragnarok was frightening and also times when he was just plain annoying. Both scared Crona.

"Gimme the food now I'm starving over here!"

"No stop it!"

After sitting and watching this episode for a few moments, Eruka and Free stood and tried to pry Ragnarok off his meister. Eventually after Eruka gave the black blood some of her pasta, he retreated back into Crona.

"Thank you," sighed Crona. "Lady Medusa usually asks us to leave the table when that happens but he still does it."

"Don't worry about it." Free gave him thumbs up.

Eruka smiled lightly.

Crona thought for a moment. Are they actually looking out for me?

"Lady Medusa doesn't usually make pasta unless she's in a really good mood," said Crona. "She hasn't made it in five years."

The three of them laughed a bit and continued eating.

Free looked over to the pink haired child. "Hey Crona. Why do you call your mother Lady Medusa?"

Eruka widened her eyes at Free who quickly realized that wasn't something to say.

"No-I mean. Crona I-" The werewolf tried to back up his words.

Crona stood up, leaving the table and the pasta. "I'm going to my room now."

No. They weren't looking out for me. They don't understand me. They don't know how to deal with me and they don't really want to.

...

"Crona," Eruka whispered through the window again. She knew that Crona could hear her and was only pretending to sleep. "Come on. I have to get back to Arachne's tower already."

Crona lay still. Eruka was kind of surprised that they had Crona down in the basement but at the same time she wasn't surprised at all. This was the Demon Sword after all. As much as she pretended not to for the sake of Crona, Eruka could tell that the DWMA was winning over Medusa's child.

"Look." Eruka took a hop closer to the window. "I get that stuff can be hard okay? Some of this is really intense. Lady Medusa is really intense. She's proud of you though. I know it."

"You know nothing," whispered Crona, barely audible.

"Come on Crona," Eruka was relieved she was getting through. "You have to help us out here."

Silence.

"Eruka?"

"Yeah?"

There was a really long pause. Eruka would've rolled her eyes if she wasn't afraid Crona could see her. Though she looked in the direction of sound, she couldn't really see the room very well.

"I-I...I'm not f-feeling good," Crona stumbled on words, obviously nervous. Petrified perhaps.

"What do you mean?" Eruka asked. Maybe a little more harshly than she should've.

Crona sighed. "Nevermind."

The frog witch frowned. She had to get the kid reporting what was happening at the academy or Medusa else would be upset. Eruka found herself at this window a lot lately but this was the first time Crona was so irresponsive.

"How are you feeling?" She bothered to say this more compassionately.

The silence lingered again. Really long.

"Guilty," choked Crona.

Was that all? That sucked but it was too bad. Sometimes what had to be done had to be done. Not that she'd say that for words of encouragement. Instead she nodded.

"Okay."

"No," Crona said in almost a whine. She heard shuffling in the bed below her. "It's not okay. I'm the Demon Sword. I'm weapon and meister. My blood is black. This isn't what I'm supposed to be like. It was never what I was supposed to be like. I-I can't deal with all these new emotions. All these new f-friends."

Eruka blinked. She had to feel sorry for the kid.

"They won't be my friends anymore after what I've done. I've already lost them all. Professor Stein is more and more crazy everyday. Marie is being around him more to stop it but she's making it worse. Once they find out it was me they'll all hate me again. Maka will hate me again."

The witch had a feeling that Crona wasn't talking to her anymore. At least she was getting information. Perhaps the memory she was even there was gone.

"Eruka..."

Or maybe not.

"Um, yeah?"

"What will the witches do to you if you ever end up back there?"

Eruka gulped. She would rather not think about it. She'd probably be killed then brought back to life and killed again. That wasn't the most encouraging thing to tell though.

"I don't know," she said instead. She waited a moment not sure weather she should say what she was going to say next. "People here aren't witches though. They're human. They're different."

She was about to say they were nicer but that was crossing a line. She was loyal to her witch roots and like many witches, was not a fan of the DWMA.

"Please go away now," said Crona sadly. "You have your information."

Eruka sighed. "Yeah fine."

"Eruka wait!"

She jumped a bit. "What?" She asked sharply.

"Please don't tell Lady Medusa what I said about having friends...It won't be true for long anyways."

The witch grunted. "Don't worry about it Crona. I won't tell her."

...

Free, Eruka and three of the Mizune Sisters sat outside their new home in Death City. They stared up at the black moon.

"It's finally over." Eruka sighed.

The three Mizunes were together to make a witch that looked Eruka's age. The two other sisters were tired and sleeping.

Mizune sighed. "Yep. I guess we can relax now."

"The kishin's madness is gone. The world is saved thanks to us huh?" Free nudged Eruka.

"It was ruined thanks to us," Mizune looked at him.

Free narrowed his eyes. "I'm being optimistic."

"He has a point," Eruka shrugged. "Free did get a lot of people off the moon. Maybe too many people."

The werewolf chuckled. "You're calculations weren't too bad either."

"Weren't too bad? Compared to your trick they were perfect." Eruka rolled her eyes.

"You two stop making out," Mizune said dusting her skirt.

The three (or five) friends sat and stared at the sky for a moment. It sure was dark without the moonlight.

"Hey. What do you think Crona is doing trapped up there?" Free asked.

Mizune shrugged. "Who knows if the kid's even alive."

They sat in silence.

"Yeah," Eruka tilted her head. "Who knows?"