How could you have lost her?!
Yeah, since when have you guys ever been apart?
I knew you should've taken me! A star wouldn't lose their best friend!
Oh, this is bad! So very bad! What will we do if we can't find her? This city is huge!
"Calm down," Maka said, trying to soothe her upset team, "I'm sure she's fine. We just need to make some calls and put up some flyers. I'm sure she'll be found. I mean, she had on her collar so nobody will think she's wild–"
Do you have any idea what sort of trouble she could get into? A quaking houndoom snarled in rage. That idiot doesn't stand a chance on her own!
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
The houndoom went on, glaring Maka down the entire time he was on his tirade, I knew I should've went, too! But no! I trusted you to keep an eye on her and what happened? You lost her! Stupid human girl! You're completely useless! Whatever happens to her out there will be your fault!
Pained devastation shown clearly in Maka's olive hues. She had always possessed the gift to understand poketongue, but sometimes she wished she didn't. They could say such hurtful things and she didn't want to hear it right now, even if it were the truth.
Hey, Soul growled, coming to his partner's defense, it's not her fault so stop trying to make her feel worse.
Yeah, Tsubaki nodded, you're being mean, Ragnarok.
Maka stared at the furfrou and nuzleaf who defended her with sadness etched into her paled, drenched features. "No," Maka sniffled, "he's right. I should have kept an eye on her better. It's my entire fault. She could be anywhere...she could be hurt or...or..." her voice trailed off, breaking as tears warmed her chilled flesh, mingling with the droplets of rainwater as she stood with her shoulders shaking. A prinpulp who usually had something to say stood silent, staring at his trainer with a firm, yet dismal gaze that held its usual fire of determination.
Soul and Tsubaki gave Ragnarok a pair of heated glares that he easily shrugged off, slinking off into another room. Maka's room to be exact. He glowered at the corner near the door where Crona had slept just the night before. A white blanket lay there to make it more comfortable. He'd shared the sleeping space with her to make her feel safe the night before.
Presently, however, all he could do was glare and think dark thoughts, silently promising that he'd give her a good thrashing if she let herself get hurt being her usual naive, idiotic self.
Hey, the houndoom turned, glowering at the water-type that stood in the doorway, you gonna just stand there or are you going to help me find Crona?
You mean sneak out and track her down?
Duh! Black*Star exclaimed, giving the dark/fire type one of his cocky smiles, Maka's obviously not up to the task right now, but with a star like me, a nose like Soul's, and a thug like you we could find Crona before the sun rises! What do ya say?
I say you're a moron, Ragnarok said with a smirk, but what've I got to lose? Sure. Why not?
Great! We leave when Maka goes to sleep. That's when we'll have our chance to creep out! Awesome plan, huh? I bet you couldn't have come up with a plan like that! Hahaha!
Ragnarok rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to take a bite out of the obnoxious prinpulp, who took his leave then to go see if his presence would help cheer Maka up. After all, who could stay sad in the presence of a star?
Silence descended over the room almost instantly.
Staring back at the vacant corner, Ragnarok couldn't help himself from feeling aggravated, nails digging into the soft carpet beneath his paws as he recalled her sleeping form being there just last night. How could that be? How could she have been there, been home and safe just a few hours ago and now not be? It felt like it'd been ages ago. How was that even possible? It wasn't.
Or, at least, it shouldn't be.
Lifeless brown eyes stared up at him...hated him...
Dour thoughts loomed at the back of his mind, pushing to get out, quietly urging him to replace the brown eyes with blue. He couldn't.
No, he wouldn't permit himself to. If he did then he knew he'd have to accept a worst case scenario. The whole idea of what his mind suggested only worked to further nettle him. It wasn't until he heard the scraping of wood that he realized he'd torn through the carpet to the underlying floorboards. Huffing, he tugged Crona's blanket over the newly made hole, supposing Maka couldn't complain over what she didn't know about.
Hearing her bitch over a cut up carpet was the last thing he needed right now. He nearly went back to his clawing at the floor but stopped. Forcing himself to calm down after a few minutes, he sighed, lying down in front of the unoccupied space and wondered as to where Crona was. He wondered if she were okay or if, as he had guessed, she'd gotten herself into trouble.
His typically dark thoughts were snuffed out, as he silently hoped–for once–that he was wrong about what he'd said earlier.
A brief flash of memory displayed a malnourished eevee with dead, hopeless eyes.
Growling, he shifted impatiently unable to forget that weakling that hadn't been able to defeat a puny charmander. Hell, she'd been unable to beat a caterpie! It felt like he'd always been there for her, always protected her, even when he hurt her it felt like he'd protected her. To be separated felt...wrong...as though he had lost a piece of himself. A fresh wave of anger washed over him as he silently blamed their trainer for this feeling of loss, for this entire separation.
Crona...