Symbiotic Insanity

A CroMa Fanfic

Chapter 4

The Morning sunlight blazed through the window of Crona's room, right into his face, waking him gently, yet painfully. Crona opens his eyes, and receives an eye-full of sunlight, then closes his eyes quickly and tightly

"Gah, who left the blinds open?" he mumbled to himself as he threw the covers off of himself and rolled out of bed. He stumbled, and fell to the floor on his front, still groggy and tired from last night's sleep. Suddenly, he felt something approaching, he didn't know who it was, either Buddy or Ragnarok, and he was hoping it would be Buddy. Much to his luck, Buddy springs out of his back, and then leans forward, to look Crona directly in the face.

"Hey Pal, time to get up off the floor, and get dressed." He looked upward at Crona's dresser, and stretched out to it, opening the middle drawer. He pulled out one of Crona's robes, clenching between his teeth, then threw it down over Crona's head. "Hope it wasn't too comfortable wearing that thing, cuz today will be the last time you ever wear it."

Crona got up off the floor, and picked up the robe. He held it out in front of him, looking at it carefully. Was this really the last day he was going to wear his robe? He didn't want to believe it, yet he had to, he feared the consequences from Buddy that would come to pass if he didn't do what he said, that is if Buddy did anything at all, he didn't sound like the type to hurt anybody over something so small. He sighed and pulled a fresh pair of underpants and socks out of the top drawer. He put on his underwear, then his robe, then his socks. After that was done, he pulled a pair of shoes out from the bottom drawer and put those on as well. Buddy then looked him over, and gave an approving nod.

"Yep, you're definitely going to look better after you get rid of that look." He said in a tone of satisfaction. Crona looked Buddy in the eyes, or at least where they should have been, then took a deep breath.

"Alright Buddy, I need you to recede or something, I gotta go get breakfast." Buddy then looked back at him, and tilted his head.

"What about me? I gotta eat too, ya know." Crona then looked at Buddy one last time and said "If no one is home, then I'll get you something to eat. However, if someone is home, then you'll just have to wait until they leave, I don't want them seeing you."

Buddy looked back at him and said "Fine Fine, I guess I'll just have to deal with it." Buddy then receded into Crona's back, and Crona just stood there, then left the room. He made his way down the hall, and all the way down the hall, in his head; he could hear Buddy saying "Please let no one be home." Crona then entered into the kitchen, and found cooked eggs and hash browns on plates on the dinner table, and a glass of orange juice. He looked up from the dinner table and saw his angle, standing over at the counter, putting away the last of the dishes. He blushed a little, he didn't know why, but she just looked so pretty. Maka finished putting away the dishes, and then turned around to see Crona. Her face lit up and she smiled. "Hey Crona!" She chimed as she walked over to the dinner table. Crona quickly joined her and sat down.

"I-I thought that you would have left by now, since you're always leaving so early." Crona stuttered as he gripped his other arm. Maka smiled back at him and said "not today." Crona looked back and forth between her, and the rest of the house, he then turned back to her and asked

"Where are the others?"

Maka smiled yet again, and said "I told them to leave early, so that I could have that conversation I was supposed to have with you before the…um…..accident." Crona suddenly looked down and went a little wide-eyed as he suddenly remembered in horrid detail the day he was hit by that meteor, all that pain. He touched his head, rubbing it a little, and suddenly remembered that he still was wearing the bandages from his treatment. Maka's eyes began to water, "I really did think we were going to lose you." Crona noticed her starting to cry, and didn't want to ruin the morning, so he remembered that out of the experience, he got to meet Buddy, and that made him smile a little, which prevented Maka from crying from the reassurance of Crona's smile. They began to talk, about how what had happened during the time that he was out cold. Mostly just school stuff and a few funny stories.

Meanwhile, why they were chatting away, Buddy lay dormant inside Crona. "Man, I'm hungry, I mean REALLY hungry. Colliding and synchronizing with a random stranger on a foreign planet takes a lot out of you. If there was only some way I could find something to eat while they were talking." Buddy then slowly, yet secretly slips out of the small of Crona's back in search for food. Undetected he hides under the table, looking for fallen bits of food. He then notices Maka's shin, not the shin itself, but what was on the shin. It appeared to be a barbeque sauce stain; she must have gotten some on her leg from cleaning the dishes. He thinks to himself "If I could just clean it off, it wouldn't be as much off much as a bad thing, but a favor, and a way to get some food. He slowly stretches out to about halfway under the table, and then opens his jaw wide. Several pink tentacles protrude from his mouth, intended to be his tongue. They quickly attach themselves to the barbeque sauce stain on Maka's leg.

Maka suddenly froze, wide-eyed. She thought to herself "What the Hell is that? What's on my leg? Is it…..is it Crona? No, Crona isn't slimy. Then what is it? Ragnarok! It's gotta be Ragnarok! What the hell is he trying to do? Seduce m-? RAGNAROK! YOU PERVY, SON OF A-!" Suddenly, her eyes go from wide-eyed, to a scowl, as does the rest of her facial expression. She clenches her eyes shut, as she throws her leg up, the one that was being licked. She shouts out "MAKA STOMP!" in a sharp tone, like a vice shout, then brings her foot down hard, hitting something, she didn't know what, but something.

Buddy's expression went wide-eyed, even though he had no eyes, and let out a "HWARK"! Maka then took her foot off, and the tongues, severely blue from where Maka had stomped on them, retracted back into his mouth, and he quickly receded back into Crona. In this instant, Ragnarok burst out of Crona's back, stuck out his tongue, and bit down hard! Leaving an aching blue mark where he had bit his tongue. Maka then opened her eyes, and saw Ragnarok, and the damage she thought she had done to his tongue. Ragnarok cried out "WHAT THE HELL, YOU COW?" as Ragnarok quickly grabbed his tongue.

"IT'S WHAT YOU GET, YOU PERV!" Maka shouted back at Ragnarok.

"I'm no perv! You had a barbeque sauce stain on your leg, I just licked it up!" He spitted out while holding his tongue. Maka's expression changed to a frown and angry eyes "You should have just told me."

"Whatever." He then tanked the breakfast meant for Crona, and receded into his back. Crona, with a panicked look on his face, stuttered "O-oh yeah! I can't stay, I gotta g-go!" With that, Crona got up and ran out the front door, leaving Maka at the table.

Maka stared at the door, and felt a little sad. No, she wasn't sad; she didn't know what she was feeling right now. Could it have been…heartbreak? No, that couldn't be it…could it? Maka then, with a sad expression on her face, said in a sad tone "But…we were supposed to talk today."

Crona then stopped at a pay phone, and pulled out his wallet from a pocket he had sewn on for it, and pulled out a quarter. He climbed inside the toll booth, and then Ragnarok burst out of his back. Crona looked up angrily at him "Why did you do that?"

Ragnarok then looked down at Crona and glared at him. "So this is the thanks I get for covering up for your new little 'friend'?" Crona looked puzzled and asked "What?"

"That's right!" Buddy then said in a sulking way "I was just really hungry."

Crona told Buddy that it was alright, but then turned back to Ragnarok, and asked him why he would cover up for Buddy. To which Ragnarok responded "If anybody finds out about him, then we get kicked out, and I don't eat!" with that, Ragnarok receded into Crona's back, and was silent once again. Crona shrugged, then inserted the quarter into the phone, and dialed Patti's phone number. Why Patti's number, he didn't know, but he knew that Patti would most likely be out of the house with Liz. There was a pause, and Patti picked up on the other end of the line. "Hello?" Patti chimed.

"I-it's me, Crona."

"Oh hi Crona!"

"I-is Liz there with you?"

"Pft. Duh, 'course she's here with me. You want to talk to her?"

"N-no, I had a favor to ask of you."

"Huh? Okay! Wait, Liz wants to talk to you."

"Wait! No!" There was a rustling sound on the other side of the line, and Liz was now on the line.

"Crona? Is that you?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Why does your number say 'Restricted'? Are you calling from a phone booth again?"

"Y-yeah."

"Dude, you have got to get a cell phone." This is not the first time that Crona has been told that he needs to get a cell phone, but he could care less at the moment.

"L-Look, I got a favor to ask…of the both of you."

Liz sighed, and then asked "What is it?"

Crona hesitated; he thought about it for a moment, did he really want to ask them this? They'd always been so hyped up on the topic, but it seems that he had no other choice.

"I-I need to go shopping…for new clothes…c-could you guys…..help me find some good clothes?"

There was yet another pause on the other end of the line, then some faint mumbling, Crona put his ear closer to the phone to try and here what they were saying. Then suddenly "!"

The girls had both just shrieked in unison, at the idea of FINALLY being able to take Crona out to buy some new clothes for him, Liz didn't want to admit it, but that black robe was really starting to get on her nerves. Crona jolted back and hit the side of the telephone booth! He was almost certain his ear was bleeding black blood. He shook it off, and then put his ear back to the phone "S-So is that a yes?"

"Duh! Of Course it is! So what day do you want to do this?"

"A-actually I was thinking more along the lines of today…..r-right now." There was another shriek on the other end of the line, and Liz told Crona to meet them at the Death City Plaza, and then hung up. Crona hung up his phone, and then started for the Death City Plaza.

By the time Crona got to the Death City Plaza, he could see Patti and someone else, but he couldn't see Liz anywhere. He started towards Patti, and as he walked towards Patti and the stranger, he started to see that this was no stranger. The person talking to Patti was a boy. He had blond hair, sort of carelessly combed, and yet seemed that a great amount of focus was put into it. He had a black, studded collar around his neck. His clothing consisted of a white dress shirt, a black tie, a black, studded belt, red, plaid pants, and black dress shoes. Indeed this was no stranger at all; this was Hiro of the DWMA.

He had known almost since the day he got here, Death City. Crona had been walking through the halls, and wasn't looking where he was going; he was just staring at the floor. Then he bumped into a passing traveler of the hallways, a student, and the both fell to the floor. The other student was carrying a bag of groceries that fell to the floor, luckily, only the canned goods fell out of the bag. Crona shot up off the floor, and hid in a nearby corner of the hallway, while the other student picked up the groceries, and put them back in the bag. The other student then began to walk towards Crona, and Crona pleaded for mercy, for the other student not to hurt him. Apparently this worked, for the other student offered him his hand. Crona took his hand, and the other student pulled him up. The other student finally introduced himself. "Haha! It seems that true might and heroism has been recognized amongst even the new students. Normally I would not show mercy, and would have proceeded with my acts of heroism, however, you are just a by stander, and therefore I will show you mercy. I am Hiro, the hero of the DWMA. And you are?" Crona stuttered, and then said, "C-Crona, Crona G-Gorgon." He and Hiro then proceeded down the halls, and with no real direction, for it was lunch break, and all throughout his lunch break, he listened to his tales of heroism, and was stunned and awed by these fascinating tales. However, the next day he found out that these were false tales, that Hiro was not as mighty as he said he was, and that he didn't even have a weapon partner yet. Hiro knew that Crona would eventually find out the next day. But this did not bother Crona; in fact, he still spent his lunch breaks with Hiro for the rest of the week. He found him fascinating, and easy to relate to, they were both outcasts, being used, and believed that they were meant to be something greater.

To this day, Hiro has not yet found a partner, but he has improved his might, thanks to Crona getting Black Star to pity him enough to train him. Hiro and Crona were, and still are, really good friends, they just hadn't been in contact with each other for a bit, after the battle with Asura.

But what was he doing with Patti? Was he flirting with her? Oh please don't let him be flirting with her, cuz then he will have invoked the wrath of kid, and even Crona couldn't save him from that.

But as Crona got closer, he could hear their conversation and realize that Hiro was not flirting with her. In fact, he was looking for Liz. That made a little more sense. Ever since last year he's been trying and trying to get a date with her. Poor boy, one had to admire his perseverance, he had been rejected many times, some in ways that were just horribly mean. It was because of this, that even though Crona and Liz are great friends, deep down, he always remembered one thing: "Liz is kind of a Bitch, screw it, she IS a Bitch." But he always had wondered "Does she know that too?"

In this way, it is another reason Crona and Hiro get along so well. He may not admit it, he may call it "just a crush", but he knew that Hiro was really in love with Liz. She would never know just how much he truly loved her, just like Maka would never know how much Crona truly loved her.

As Crona is walking towards them, he suddenly stops so that he could hear them without being noticed.

"I'm sorry, but Liz isn't here. So, uh, you can go now. Go on! Shoo!" Patti said this with a slightly cold tone, which even Crona could feel, didn't feel to good. Hiro then sighed, and walked away. However, he saw Crona on his way back, and instantly cheered up. "Crona! Dude! How's it going?"

"U-Uh, good"

"Alright! I'm kinda busy today, so how 'bout we have lunch tomorrow?"

"O-okay, where?"

"Duh, 'Death City Steak House', that's a meal of the champs!"

"O-okay, see ya tomorrow there around 12:12"

"Alright! Catch ya later!"

Hiro then just dashed off, turned a corner, then was gone, as if he was never here. "Man, he's a weird one, but he's alright" Crona thought to himself. He then walked over to Patti, who smiled instantly when she saw him.

"Hiya there Crona!"

"Hey Patti, where's Liz?" As soon as Crona said that, Liz came out from behind the bushes in front of the door to the Death City Clothing Shop Center. She walked over to Patti and Crona, brushing leaves off her front. She was wearing the same clothes she wore when she went to visit him at the Hospital with the others. So was Patti.

"Hey Crona" Crona couldn't believe what he just saw! Did she really just do that? Was she actually hiding from him?

"Ouch Liz, that's kind of harsh!"

"Oh bite me, he may be your friend, but he's a real nut job rapped in Loser!" This pissed Crona off so much, but he just bottled it up for later. Besides, before he could say anything else, she dismissed it, and led him and Patti into a men's shopping store so fast his head almost did a 360! Liz then turned to Patti, and in turn, they both turned to Crona with a devious grin, which kind of scared Crona. And at simultaneously shouted "TIME TO DO SOME SHOPPING!"

A Half an hour must have gone by before they tore threw the entire store. By the end of it, Crona was looking at himself in the mirror, he was wearing a grey hoodie, a dark blue pair of jeans, a hat that was black in the back and white in the front, and was wearing two black leather shoes.

"I-I like it, E-except for the hat"

To wich Liz chimed "I'm not letting you leave the store without that hat!"

Patti backed up Liz "By the way, you can't leave the store without it!"

"H-Huh?"

"You bought it already, don't you remember, Silly?"

Crona couldn't remember anything that had just happened, it all went by so fast, at least that saved one akward transaction conversation with the cashier. Patti and Liz then rocketed Crona out of the mall and back to his house. They walked him up to the steps, and Crona unlocked the door.

Liz chimed "See you tomorrow Crona!"

That made him think, wasn't he already seeing somebody else tomorrow. He then remembered that he had made lunch plans with Hiro. But, he also remembered what had happened to him. What Liz had done. The new low that Liz had never seen her gow to. He also remembered what she said, "Oh bite me! He may be your friend, Crona, but he's a nut job rapped in loser!" He decided that now would be the time to unbottle his anger. But while it was bottled, it grew and evolved, making him a new kind of angry that he had never been, one that made him seem like a different person. Once he unbottled his anger, he turned to Liz, then let his anger out.

"Ya know Liz, that was some really harsh shit I saw today. Hiro's a real nice guy, not a nut job rapped in loser! What you did was so cold, I fuckin' felt it! To not actually take the time to get to know him better makes you a nut job, and to be able to actually fucking do something like that, just raps you up in loser. You're the real nut job rapped in loser. That was some seriously harsh shit I saw out there today, and you should be fuckin' ahsamed for it!"

Patti was wide-eyed with her mouth open, and in just complete shock. She must have been thinking "Did he really just say that? To Her? Was it even Crona that just said that?" However, Liz did not react the same way as Patti did, instead, like how Crona saved his anger for later, Liz saved her astonishment for later, and instead, chose to be absolutely pissed about it. And she let loose on Crona.

"WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU GET THE BALLS TO-"

"Sorry, but I'm not here." He slammed the door shut in her face and locked the door.

It was real smug, but other than that, the perfect victory and triumph in defending his friend. He had just told off Liz, then slammed the door in her face! On the other side of the door, he could hear a fiece growl, followed by thundering stomps down the stairs, and still shocked footsteps down the stairs as well. Crona's first thought was "I'm so gonna get killed tomorrow! Sorry Hiro, I might not make it to lunch." It was official, the old Crona was back.

But what else could he do, she probably came up with nut job from the time when Excalibur was Hiro's weapon partner. Sure he did some stupid things, but he had a reason for it. Before he went all flashy with it, Liz was the first person he went to show the sword to. When he showed it to Liz, she meerly smirked and said "Please, it's a fake, even Excalibur wouldn't choose a loser like you to be it's master" then walked away. Hurt and stunned by what she had just said, he lost sight of his original goal, and sought out a new one, to prove he wasn't a loser, which made him a little power crazy. He was thankful that Excalibur had that sneezing fit.

Crona walked into his room, where he found a new mirror, Maka must have heard that he was clothes shopping, and bought him a new mirror. Crona looked into it, and looked at his new clothes. Then he felt something, he felt Buddy surfacing. Buddy then burst out of his back. The first thing he did, was clamp down om the brim of the hat, yanked it off Crona's head, and threw it to the floor.

"I hated that hat too. But dang, look at you Crona! Nice job, it's gonna make tonight even better!"

"Huh? W-what's happening tonight?"

"Something amazing, take a nap, you're gonna need the energy, especially after that display earlier, dang dude"

"You heard that?"

"Heck Yeah! Even Ragnarok heard it!"

"What did he have to say?"

"He was astonished at first, but then he started laughing and said that 'he was surpised that a whiney runt like you could get angry, even have the balls to do something like that"

"Eh, sounds like him"

"Now go take a nap" He then, receded into Crona's back, and Crona walked over to his bed. The clock said 11:42 am. Crona sighed and then said "Fine, I'll take a nap." He then lied down on the bed, and thought for a moment. He couldn's stop thinking about what Buddy meant when he said that he'd need the energy for tonight. Crona then decided to trust Buddy, and fell asleep.

End of Chapter 4