A/N: Good news: I'm almost finished writing the ending to this story! Don't worry, it'll still be a few more chapters, but now it will be updated weekly instead of every two weeks! I hope you guys enjoy! ;)
Chapter 10
Three days later . . .
It had been three days since Medusa had told Crona of her solution to finding the pure soul, and Crona was walking through the doors to Music Room 3 armed with the freshly-brewed potion. Medusa hadn't mentioned where she'd found a place inconspicuous enough to make the potion- or how she'd managed to make it look and smell just like tea-, but Crona had had no real desire to ask. He'd been assured that the potion wouldn't actually hurt anyone, and that was all the information he needed to be content.
After all, Crona really didn't really want to hurt any of the Hosts- not since they'd been so nice to him. Even the distant and calculating Kyoya had shown him a bit of compassion the other day. Of course, Crona knew that he'd have to hurt them if Medusa instructed him to, but he was relieved that the potion was harmless- the worst it would do was leave a bad taste in their mouths.
So, it was with curious anticipation that Crona pulled the mug of "tea" out of his bag and offered it to Tamaki.
"It's homemade tea," Crona explained as Tamaki eyed the mug questioningly. "I, um . . . I thought we could s-serve it to our guests." Crona jumped when Tamaki suddenly gasped and clapped his hands together, grinning broadly.
"You just said 'our guests!'" the blonde exclaimed. He put on hand on Crona's shoulder and placed the other one over his heart dramatically. "You're finally starting to embrace the life of a Host! I . . . I'm so happy!"
""Don't get too ahead of yourself, Tono,"" the twins said as they walked by, grabbing the mug out of Crona's nervous grip along the way.
"Yeah, Tama-chan, just because Crona-chan brings tea doesn't mean he wants to be a Host anymore that he does now," Honey pointed out, and Mori nodded in agreement. Tamaki's face immediately twisted into an expression of distress and he ran to his corner.
"Um, Tamaki . . .?" Crona said inquiringly as the blonde crouched down and started drawing aimlessly on the floor.
"Just leave him," Kyoya said, appearing at Crona's side and startling him. "Now, would it be alright for me to try a little of that tea before the guests arrive? I just want to make sure that it'll suit their tastes."
"Oh, of course," Crona nodded. "Um, w-why don't you all try some? There's enough for everyone . . ."
Just as the Hosts started to gather around one of the tables, the doors to the clubroom opened and Haruhi and Ed practically fell into the room, panting heavily.
"Whoa!" Hikaru exclaimed as Al walked into the room and carefully closed the door behind him, shaking his head at the sight of his brother lying on the floor.
"What happened to you guys?" Kaoru asked. Haruhi managed to prop herself up on her hands as Al hoisted his brother back onto his feet.
"We were . . . chasing after . . . Nekozawa-Senpai," Haruhi explained, still slightly out of breath, and Al helped her to her feet as well.
"He stole the note we showed you the other day," Ed added, more used to running than Haruhi was and thus recovering quicker. "Said he wanted to use the symbol at the bottom for some 'dark ritual' crap . . ."
"We got it back, though!" Al said, holding up the note card. The Hosts just stared at them for a few seconds, until Kyoya cleared his throat.
"Alright, well, we were just about to have some tea," he said, pushing his glasses up. "Care to join us?"
"Yeah, Crona-chan made it!" Honey squealed, bouncing up and down slightly. Crona gave him a sideways glance and the small boy grinned and clutched his bunny so close to his chest that the seams looked like they were about to rip apart.
"Don't mind if we do!" Ed said, striding over to the table, closely followed by Haruhi and Alphonse.
Tamaki, having emerged from his corner when his "darling daughter" entered the room, picked up the mug and started to pour a bit of "tea" into nine china cups, which were quickly taken up by the Hosts, Ed, and Crona. When the "tea" was finished being distributed, Crona took a step back so he could get a clear view of everyone's reactions.
Almost as soon as the potion touched their lips, the boys- and Haruhi- let out cries of disgust.
"*cough* Oh my god . . .!"
""Oh, that is just nasty!""
"Takashi, this tea isn't sweet at all! It's so bitter!"
" . . . I know, Mitsukuni."
"This is . . . actually really disgusting . . ."
"Aw, what the hell is this? It's definitely not tea . . ."
Crona sighed and placed his cup down on a nearby table, relieved. It seemed like none of the Hosts was the pure soul . . .
Suddenly, Crona froze. There was one voice that he hadn't yet heard exclaim in disgust. Slowly, he turned back around to look at the owner of the voice, hoping that the boy had just been too busy spitting out the potion to make any noise.
What Crona saw next sent a shiver down his spine.
All of the Hosts were either spitting the potion back into their cups or had run to the bathroom, except for one boy. The blonde was still sipping his "tea," watching the others run around with a mildly confused look in his violet eyes.
"No . . .," Crona whispered, starting to tremble. "Oh, please, not him . . ."
"Tamaki, why are you still drinking that?" Ed yelled, noticing the Host King standing there calmly.
"Why wouldn't I?" Tamaki replied. "It's really good! I mean really, really good! Not too bitter, but not too sweet either. I'm surprised none of you like it!"
"Tamaki . . .," Crona moaned quietly, gripping his arm as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
It was Tamaki Suoh.
He was the pure soul.
The boy who had, just three days ago, admitted to being the first person to truly care about Crona in all of the forlorn boy's miserable life . . .
. . . And Medusa was going to kill him.
"No . . .," Crona repeated, sinking to his knees and gripping his head. "Why? Why did it have to be Tamaki, of all people? Why?"
"Crona, are you okay?" Tamaki asked worriedly, rushing over when he saw Crona go down. Crona's head whipped up and he stared at Tamaki with wide eyes. As his eyes met Tamaki's, his expression shifted to one of pure, unadulterated anguish.
"I can't deal with this!" he shouted, and then he jumped up and bolted out of the room as fast as he could.
Crona ran until he got to the boys' bathroom at the end of the hallway, passing the Hosts who were returning to the clubroom along the way. He flung the door open and, after quickly scanning the bottom of the stalls for feet, locked it and sank to the floor, hunching up into a ball with his head buried in his knees. He didn't move until Ragnarok appeared and forcefully tugged his head up by yanking on a fistful of his hair.
"Get a hold of yourself, damn it!" the Demon Sword cursed, slapping Crona across the face. "You knew there was a possibility it could be him; why are you letting it get to you?"
"H-he's my f-friend!" Crona blubbered, trying unsuccessfully to make Ragnarok let go.
"Aw, your friend, huh? Forget it; you knew you could never be real friends with him anyway! You're a Demon Swordsman, and he's just another human soul for me to eat! Or, at least he was . . . I guess that idea's kind of shot now . . ."
"But, I . . . I c-can't just let him get k-killed! N-not after what he s-said to me the other d-day!"
"Yeah, well, you've got no choice!" Ragnarok leaned over to look his Meister dead in the eyes. "You're not gonna defy Lady Medusa's orders, are you?"
Crona was silent for a few seconds, and then he gripped his arm and hung his head.
"No," he said softly.
"That's right. Because if you get in trouble, we both get in trouble- you got that?"
"Yes, Ragnarok."
"Good. Now, are you gonna stop acting like a baby and go back out there?"
"Yes, Ragnarok."
"And are you gonna try and go against Medusa if she orders you to kill Tamaki?" Crona opened his mouth and then shut it again, squeezing his eyes shut as the tears started to form. Ragnarok gripped his hair tighter and jerked his head up vehemently. "Are you?"
" . . . No, Ragnarok."
"Good." Ragnarok gave Crona's head a squeeze. "See? You're not always a complete disgrace of a Meister!" He grinned. "Tell you what- I'll be your friend, if you want."
"Really?" Crona looked at Ragnarok hopefully. The Demon Sword laughed mockingly.
"Of course not, idiot!" he yelled, pinching the forlorn boy's cheeks. "You're too much of a damn wimp!"
"Ow! Ragnarok!" Crona whined, and then he gasped when he heard running footsteps come to an abrupt halt outside the door.
"Crona, are you in there?" came Tamaki's frantic cries, accompanied by a rattling as he jiggled the locked door handle. Ragnarok disappeared after squeezing Crona's head one last time as a warning not to do anything stupid, and Crona stood up.
He took a deep breath and steeled his resolve: he wouldn't get any closer to Tamaki than he had already . . . or anyone else for that matter. They'd all probably just end up dead anyway . . .
Just like Tamaki would be soon.
After a few more seconds of preparing himself, Crona unlocked the door. Tamaki, who had been leaning on the door in an attempt to push it open, fell through the doorway and right onto Crona, knocking them both over.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Tamaki exclaimed apologetically, quickly standing up. He gently took hold of Crona's arm and lifted the boy to his feet, then frowned in confusion when Crona jerked his arm out of his grasp.
"I'm fine," the pink-haired boy mumbled, gripping his arm and staring at the floor. Tamaki placed a hand on his shoulder, but Crona immediately shook it off and stepped back a few feet.
"What's wrong?" Tamaki questioned. He took a step towards Crona, but the boy just moved back some more. Tamaki frowned again, trying to figure out why he was suddenly acting so distant. "Was it the tea? I don't know why everyone was freaking out about it being bitter; I thought it was delicious!"
Crona made a strange, half-strangled noise and clapped a hand over his mouth, shaking his head and backing up some more. Suddenly, he let out a yelp and hunched over, clutching his head. Tamaki reached out to help, but he stopped himself right before his hand touched Crona's shoulder; the boy had abruptly stopped moving. He stayed still as a statue for a few seconds and then he let out a low, mirthless sort of laugh and visibly twitched, making Tamaki jump and take an involuntary step back.
"Um, Crona . . .?" the blonde said quietly, almost as if he was afraid to disturb him. Crona gripped his arm so tightly Tamaki could see the whites of his knuckles and continued making that disturbing laugh. The noise suddenly stopped with a choked-off sort of gasp, and Crona slowly stood up and finally turned his gaze to Tamaki.
Tamaki blinked and took a step back in alarm when he saw Crona's expression: his eyes were way wider than usual, and they looked as if the irises had somehow changed to a lighter, more sky-colored blue. But what really disturbed Tamaki was the fact that the corner of Crona's mouth was twitching upwards, as if Crona was trying to hold back some secret, crazy smile.
"Yes, the tea . . .," Crona said, almost dreamily. "That's what's wrong . . . It was the tea . . ."
Tamaki was beginning to get really worried; it looked like Crona was having some sort of mental breakdown, and the blonde had no idea how to snap him out of it. He decided that maybe if he talked to him, Crona would somehow come back to his senses.
"I see," Tamaki said, noticing that Crona hadn't blinked once since he'd fixed his gaze on him. "Well, is . . . is there anything else that you wanted to tell me about?"
Crona cocked his head to the side, that creepy smile still lingering on the edge of his lips.
"I'm not feeling well," he said abruptly. "I think I'll go home and rest . . ."
He suddenly started walking towards the door, which was right behind Tamaki, and the Host King had to move out of the way to avoid Crona walking into him. He thought Crona was going to run straight into the door and got ready to pull him away, but Crona stopped right before he hit it and gazed at Tamaki expectantly.
"Uh, let me get that for you," Tamaki said, reaching over to open the door when Crona continued to stare at him. He pushed on the door, but it didn't budge. Suddenly, Crona made that strange laughing noise again, making a chill go up Tamaki's spine. He turned back around to find that the smile on Crona's face was now very evident, lifting up Crona's mouth in an almost unnatural way.
"The door only opens one way," the boy said, the laughter vanishing. Tamaki blinked again and waited for him to say more, but Crona's mouth remained shut.
"Um, thanks . . .," Tamaki said, after a moment, and then he tugged the door open as fast as he could; he didn't want to admit it, but he was actually starting to get a little scared of staying in that room with Crona any longer. It was like the shy boy had become a completely different person, and not in a good way.
"Oh, look . . . there's people in the way . . .," Crona remarked matter-of-factly, and Tamaki poked his head around the door to find the Host Club and the Elrics standing there, Ed's hand poised to knock on the door.
"'Sup?" the alchemist asked, and Tamaki smiled with relief; he instantly felt better knowing that Ed and Al were here should Crona start to do anything too drastic . . .
"We came to apologize to Crona," Haruhi piped up.
"Yeah, we're sorry we made you sad, Crona-chan!" Honey added.
Everyone looked at Crona expectantly, waiting for his reaction. Instead of acknowledging the Hosts' apologies, he let out another short chuckle and looked straight at Tamaki again.
"So many people to play with . . .," he said. "But I don't have time to play now . . . I have to go home . . . maybe some other time . . ."
"Whoa, hold on!" Hikaru exclaimed. "Look, we're really sorry!"
"Yeah, you don't have to go . . . home . . .," Kaoru trailed off when Crona turned back to the group and he got a good look at the boy's expression.
"Oh, but I do," Crona replied, his lips curling up so much that his smile was nearly devilish. Tamaki could see the changes in the Hosts' faces as they started to realize that there was something extremely wrong with Crona at the moment.
"Uh, why do you have to go exactly?" Ed asked bravely, and then he took a protective step towards Al when Crona gave him his full attention.
"Because Ra-" He broke off mid-sentence and twitched his head, almost as if he'd just been hit by something. He winced, and then continued talking. "Because I do. E-excuse me."
Tamaki had just enough time to see that the smile had disappeared from Crona's face before the boy took off down the hallway at top speed, pushing the group out of his way in his haste.
"Wait- Crona!" Tamaki called after him, but Crona was already rounding the corner at the end of the hall. The Hosts and the Elric brothers stared after him in a stunned silence.
"Well, that was interesting . . .," Kyoya remarked, pushing up his glasses. He started to walk back towards the clubroom. "Let's leave him be and head back to our room; he'll come back if he wants, and our guests are probably waiting for us."
As the rest of the group trailed after him, muttering hushed conversations of what could've been wrong with the pink-haired boy, Alphonse hung back to fall into step with Tamaki.
"Is Crona going to be alright?" the suit of armor asked, looking down at the blonde. Tamaki sighed.
"I don't know," he admitted. Al put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Tamaki; I'm sure he'll come around soon."
"I really hope so, Alphonse." Tamaki put his hand on top of Al's and stared down the hallway Crona had gone, wondering where the boy had run off to. He sighed again.
"I really hope so."
Crona ran as fast as he could to the main office. When he got there, he went up to the secretary's desk and stopped, panting slightly.
"I have an appointment with Ch-Chairman Suoh," he said quickly. The secretary looked up from her paperwork and raised one eyebrow questioningly. Crona thought she was going to ask him why he was so out of breath, but she just gestured for him to go into the Chairman's office. Crona scurried in, shut the door behind him, and slid down to the floor. Ragnarok exploded out of his back, but Crona barely registered this; now that he'd come back to his senses, the full force of what had just transpired hit him again.
Tamaki- his friend, Tamaki- was the pure soul; the one soul that could serve in the place of hundreds to create the philosopher's stone. Crona knew that Medusa would stop at nothing to gain the fabled stone; she wouldn't care whether Crona objected to using Tamaki as an ingredient or not.
After all, when has she ever given any consideration to how I've felt? Crona thought bitterly, trying to ignore Ragnarok as the Demon Sword once again started pounding on his head. To her, everyone's the same; just pawns to be used in her plans . . . even me, her own child . . .
Suddenly, Crona was wrenched out of his thoughts as a jolt of pain sliced through his head. He heard the tinkling of broken glass and saw tiny pieces of it cascading down around him, catching and reflecting the light of the sun coming in through the windows. He reached up, confused, and touched the top of his head, to find that his hair was covered in a wet, sticky substance. He brought his hand down and saw that it was smeared with black blood.
"Ragnarok!" he exclaimed, realizing what must've happened. When Crona hadn't responded to Ragnarok's attempts to get his attention, the Demon Sword had gotten angry- well, angrier than usual-, and had picked up a nearby vase and smashed it on his Meister's head.
"Oh, shut up, you damn baby!" Ragnarok snarled. "It's not like you're gonna bleed to death; I already hardened your blood!" He smacked Crona on the head again. "You know, you're really starting to piss me off! I can't believe I had to use madness just to get you out of that damn bathroom! You were gonna tell Tamaki that he was the pure soul, weren't you?"
"It's not my fault!" Crona whined, desperately trying to prevent Ragnarok from hitting him anymore; just because the wound in his head wasn't fatal didn't mean that it still didn't hurt like crazy. "I-I couldn't help it! You know that feeling I get when he's around! It's not my fault I was going to tell, it was his!"
Ragnarok paused, realizing that he couldn't argue with this logic very well; he did understand that it really wasn't Crona's fault. He was still for a few seconds, trying to think of a comeback, but he couldn't seem to come up with a fitting one. So instead, he just settled for:
"Damn it! Well, at least we finally know why you feel like telling him all our secrets."
Crona turned to him and frowned, a few shards of glass that were still in his hair falling to the ground.
"Why?" he asked, and then he let out a yelp of pain as Ragnarok smacked him on the head again.
"Because he's the pure soul, idiot! He probably has that effect on everybody and doesn't even know it!"
Just then, Crona heard the doorknob start to turn. He jumped up and moved away from the door, gripping his arm. Ragnarok crouched down behind his Meister's head, ready to disappear if someone other than Medusa entered the room. But, to Ragnarok and Crona's somewhat relief, it was "Chairman Suoh" who walked through the door.
"Oh! There you two are!" Medusa exclaimed, quickly shutting the door behind her. "I was wondering when you'd show- Crona, what happened to your head?"
Crona blinked in confusion and reached up to touch his hair, which was coated with now-dried black blood. He'd completely forgotten his injury for a moment when Medusa had shown up.
"R-Ragnarok hit me with a vase, Lady Medusa," Crona told her, brushing the last few pieces of glass out of his pink locks.
"I suppose that explains the glass all over the floor, then," the witch commented, looking at the ground disdainfully when she heard the crunch of broken glass under her feet.
"Sorry, Lady Medusa," Ragnarok and Crona said at the same time. Medusa glared at the ground for a second, and then shook her head and looked up at them.
"That doesn't matter now. Did you find the pure soul?"
Crona opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. He closed it and stared at the ground, gripping his arm even tighter. The second he told Medusa who it was, Tamaki's life would be over . . .
"It's Tamaki Suoh!" Ragnarok piped up, and Crona grimaced and shut his eyes.
"Tamaki Suoh, eh? You're sure about this?" Medusa asked, and Ragnarok nodded. A slow grin spread across her face. "Ha, how ironic! Out of everyone at this school, my 'son' just happens to be the pure soul! Oh, that's just amazing . . ."
Medusa continued to chuckle maniacally, and Crona looked up at her with wide eyes. He had forgotten for a moment that Chairman Suoh, whose body Medusa was currently controlling, was actually Tamaki's father. He grimaced; that made the fact that Tamaki was the pure soul even worse, if that was even possible . . .
"Good job, Crona," Medusa said suddenly, and Crona stared at her, gripping his arm tighter. He flinched when she reached down and ran a hand over his head affectionately, almost as if she actually was proud of him. But, this emotion was short-lived, and Crona knew that she'd only touched him like that out of recognition for a job well done more than anything else; she still didn't really care about him. He stared at the ground dejectedly as Medusa walked over to the window and looked out of it, clasping her hands behind her back.
"Well, now that we know who the pure soul is, we just need to get that special transmutation circle drawn and then lead Tamaki to it," she said. Crona glanced up again and she turned around and grinned at him. He gulped, wondering if "leading Tamaki to it" meant that he would have to take Tamaki there himself . . . and have to kill him, too. He debated asking this for a few seconds, before deciding that Medusa was going to tell him eventually anyway, so he might as well find out now and get it over with.
"L-Lady Medusa . . .," he started to say, but Medusa cut him off.
"You're wondering if you're going to have to lead him to the circle?" Crona blinked when she voiced his thoughts aloud. Medusa took that as a "yes" to her query and continued, still grinning. "Yes, you're going to have to lure him there. But that shouldn't be too hard; he seems to have taken a liking to you."
Crona paled, trying not to think about how nice Tamaki had been to him. He was just another soul; nothing important. He'd have probably just ended up being food for Ragnarok anyway . . . He tried to keep these thoughts in his mind as he decided to ask the question that had been plaguing him for a while now.
"Um, Lady Medusa?" he said quietly, and Medusa turned her full attention on him. Normally, she didn't feel like dealing with any of her son's inane questions, but she was in a particularly good mood at the moment, so she decided to indulge him.
"What is it, Crona?" The boy quickly averted his gaze to the floor and gripped his arm tighter.
"Um . . . w-will I have t-to . . . to k-kill him?" he managed to choke out, and then he cringed, worried that Medusa would think that he was being insolent and punish him. The witch just smirked.
"As of now . . . no," she told him. Her lips creased into a frown when Crona looked visibly relieved. Why was he concerned with having to kill the Suoh boy? "You know, Crona, I hope you haven't been trying to make friends with this boy."
Crona visibly stiffened, and Medusa's frown deepened. She walked over and gripped his chin in her hand, jerking it up so he would have nowhere to look but at her face.
"What have I told you about making friends? Real friends, I mean?" she snarled, and Crona whimpered in fear. "Friends will only make you weak! Like now, for instance; you can't stand the thought of killing that boy, can you?" Crona didn't reply, so Medusa gripped his shoulders and shook him. "Can you?"
"N-no, Lady Medusa!" Crona admitted, and Medusa slapped him across the face, hard.
"See? You're becoming weak!" she yelled, ignoring her son's yelp of pain. "I can't afford for you to become any more pathetic- you can barely do anything as it is!"
"I'm s-sorry, Lady Medusa!" Crona cried, but Medusa just clucked her tongue disapprovingly.
"Tch! You're just hopeless!" Suddenly, she gasped and gripped Crona's shoulders even tighter, her nails digging into his flesh. "Have you told him anything? Anything about our plan?"
"No, no! I haven't!" Crona whined, the pain in his shoulders making him cringe. His body was desperately telling him to make Medusa release him, but Crona knew that if he tried that he would be in for even more pain.
"Are you positive?" the witch asked, and Crona nodded desperately.
"Yes, I'm positive! Please, Lady Medusa, you're hurting me!"
Medusa scowled at him for a few more seconds, before pushing him away with such force that he fell onto the floor. She stalked over to the window and Crona sat up shakily. Ragnarok was clinging onto his hair, but for once the Demon Sword seemed too frightened at the moment to do anything to his Meister. After a moment of staring out the window, Medusa turned back to Crona, who wilted under her glare.
"Well, you're just lucky that we're almost ready to make the stone, Crona," the witch said. Her upper lip raised in a slight snarl. "Who knows what would've happened if this went on for much longer . . . Anyway, we're just waiting on Lust. Once she comes back with the drawing for the special transmutation circle, then we can proceed with the final step in our plan!"
Crona winced as Medusa let out a low chuckle, and then everyone whipped their heads around when they heard a banging noise outside the window. They were startled to see Lust clinging to the side of the building, tapping on the glass with an unnaturally long fingernail.
"Speak of the devil . . .," muttered Medusa as she rushed over to open the window. The homunculus stepped into the room and Medusa closed the window behind her.
"Sorry to barge in like this," Lust said, smoothing out her dress. "I didn't want to risk trying to walk through the building, so I decided to take a much faster route." She smiled slightly, and then she blinked in confusion when her gaze settled on Crona. "What happened to you?"
"He hit his head; it's nothing," Medusa said tartly, stepping in front of Crona so Lust wouldn't be distracted by the boy with black blood all over his hair. Lust looked at Medusa and the witch grinned in anticipation. "So? Did you get the drawing for the circle?"
"Yes, yes, here it is," Lust replied, pulling a piece of paper out of seemingly nowhere and handing it to Medusa, who snatched it greedily. Lust watched the witch with a wary expression as she studied the drawing. After a few seconds, Medusa looked up, and Crona shivered when he saw the demonic smile on her face, looking so out of place on Chairman's Suoh's body.
"Finally, we can create the philosopher's stone!" the witch exclaimed, and Lust exchanged her previous expression for one of delight and anticipation.
"Yes, if we work diligently, we can have the circle drawn in about a day, probably," the homunculus said. Medusa nodded.
"Alright, let's try to finish it by then."
"But, of course, we're not going to be able to create the stone without the pure soul," Lust pointed out. Medusa's grin widened.
"No need to worry about that; Crona just discovered who it was a little while ago."
Lust looked at Crona, who stared back at her with wide eyes. He was trembling slightly, but he wasn't sure if it was because of Medusa's last encounter with him, the fact that Tamaki was going to be killed, or both.
"Well, who is it, Crona?" Lust asked. Crona tried to talk, but his mouth refused to listen to him and form coherent words; all that came out was random stuttering. Lust took a step towards him and kneeled down so she was eye-level with him. "Come on, you can tell me; I won't bite!"
Crona gulped, not at all reassured by this statement, and his gaze flickered to Medusa. The witch was giving him a glare that made his palms start to sweat, and he felt Ragnarok lightly tug on a piece of his hair; the Demon Sword seemed to be coming back to his senses. Crona took a deep breath and managed to croak out:
"I-it's T-Tamaki Suoh. He's the p-pure s-soul."
"Isn't that the boy who's supposed to be your 'son'?" Lust asked, turning to Medusa, and the witch laughed.
"That's the one!"
"Well, then I guess it won't be very hard to get him to come to the circle now."
"Actually, I'm going to send Crona to bring him there." Medusa shot Crona another ice-cold glower, and the boy stared fiercely at the ground.
"Oh, alright. As long as he gets there, I'm fine with however you want to do it," Lust said, standing up. She and Medusa shared another devilish smile, and then Medusa once again looked at her son.
"Crona, go back to the house and clear out that basement; I want everything to be off the floor by the time I get home after school, alright?" she commanded, and Crona looked at her questioningly. "That's where we're going to draw the transmutation circle."
Crona let out an involuntary gasp. They were going to do it at his house? Tamaki was going to be murdered right under the building he'd been living in for the past month? It was almost too much for Crona to deal with.
"Crona, are you listening to me?" Medusa yelled, and Crona immediately came back to his senses and jumped up.
"Yes, Lady Medusa!" he said quickly, nodding, but he had to stop when the wound on his head from earlier started to ache.
"Then go to the house and do it. Now!"
"Yes, Lady Medusa." Crona started to leave, but another yell from Medusa made him pause.
"And wash that black blood out of your hair first!" she ordered. "I don't want anyone questioning you about why your hair suddenly turned black! And if anyone asks why you're leaving, tell them that the principal sent you out on an errand. Can you handle all of that?"
"Yes, Lady Medusa," Crona said again, wincing as Ragnarok disappeared into his back. He waited for another second to see if Medusa was going to add anything else, but one final glare from his mother sent him running out of the room at high speed. He dashed into the nearest bathroom, but he had to hide in the stall for a few minutes until the person already in there left. Once he was sure the boy was gone, he hurriedly ran over to the sink and rinsed the black blood out of his hair as best he could. The wound didn't look too bad, thankfully; he guessed it would probably disappear by tomorrow.
After making sure there were no more black spots in his pink hair, Crona ran out of the bathroom and down the hallway until he finally made it out the front doors of the school. He was halfway to the fountain when he thought he heard someone calling his name. Without stopping, he glanced back and saw Ed and Al waving to him from one of the open hallways on the second story. The pink-haired boy let out a yelp and picked up his pace, only slowing down once he'd rounded the side of the gates that marked the entrance to Ouran Academy.
He continued on his way home, blinking back the tears that had sprung up in his eyes. Ed and Al would surely hate him after this, too. And just when he'd been beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, he could've been friends with them as well . . .
Crona jerked his arm across his eyes, wiping away the tears; he'd already cried enough lately. As he ran, he tried to focus on one thing: that this would all be over soon. After tomorrow, Medusa would have her precious philosopher's stone and they could leave this place and forget all about it. It would be as if Crona had never even come to Ouran.
As comforting as this thought was, somehow it didn't make Crona feel any better about what was about to happen.
He was starting to doubt that anything would.
A/N: Chapter 11 will be up next week. In the meantime, please review!