Daylight poured through the window and kissed my face. I smiled at the warmth and opened my eyes. The first thought in my mind was, Crona. Crona. Where's Crona? I saw him sitting up on his mattress.

"M-m-morning, Angel." He stuttered.

"Morning, Crona. How long have you been up?"

"I dunno. Two hours, maybe?"

"Wow, okay. Breakfast?"

Crona nodded and followed me downstairs. I started cooking eggs and stopped.

"You aren't a vegan, are you?" I asked Crona. I felt a little bad for not asking him. But he shook his head.

"No, eggs are fine." he replied, and looked down at the floor. I smiled weakly and continued with cooking the eggs.

20 Minutes Later

Crona ate slowly, almost hesitantly, I think. It bothered me a little. And soon after I noticed this, Ragnorak came out.

"Hiya, Toots!" he said excitedly. I swear that was, like, his catch phrase.

"Hey. You hungry, too?" I asked him. I liked Crona, we had some sort of… connection, I guess. So, I figured to try liking Ragnorak.

"Are you kidding? I'm starved!" Ragnorak exclaimed. Crona sat quietly and twiddled his thumbs. My eyebrows knitted together and I patted his shoulder as I walked by to get Ragnorak some food.

"Hey, got any candy left?" he asked.

"Candy? Is that all you want?"
"Sure! I love candy!"

I rolled my eyes and sat a handful of candy in front of him. I told Crona I was going upstairs to change and disappeared into my room. I quickly dressed and met Crona downstairs. I finished tying my bandana and sat back down.

"Crona, do you want to go over to Maka and Soul's?" I asked him, tugging at my jacket sleeve, which still hung down low on the right.

"Sure." Crona replied meekly. I smiled and led him to the door.

At Soul and Maka's

"Hey, guys!" Maka said when she answered the door. She smiled and Crona and I went inside. We sat down on the couch and Maka brought us each a drink.

"Soul and I were just about to come get you for basketball." she told me. I then realized it was Saturday- basketball day- and I was glad I wore what I wore.

"That's kinda funny." I said to her. I heard a door open behind me and I knew who it was.

"Oh. Hey, Red." Soul's voice came.

I turned to him and said, "Hey Soul."

Then I remembered Crona was there. He was quiet, he was easy to forget.

"Crona, do you want to play, too?"

"Um, I don't know."

"Come on, please?"

"Well, okay…"

I smiled, then frowned because guess who the cat dragged in. Herself.

"Hello, Blaire." I said threateningly.

"Hi A-Angel." she replied. She walked along the wall, steering clear of the center where I sat.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Nothing… bye!" Blaire said, and dashed into a room. I rolled my eyes.

"Geez, what's her problem?" I asked sarcastically. Everyone laughed, even Crona.

"Well, shall we go?" Soul asked, opening the door, and the four of us headed out to the park.

At the Basketball Court

Black Star and Tsubaki were waiting for us, along with Silara. I was happy to see her, and I knew she was happy to see me. She looked different in her basketball clothes. She was wearing black cargo shorts, a blue-violet tank top that showed her stomach a little, green sneakers, ad her hair was down. Kid would love the perfection in her symmetry.

"Silara!" I exclaimed, and ran to greet her. There was a huge grin on her face. She hugged me, and I realized that I only ever saw her in school and at that one battle. I pushed away the thought and would talk to her about it later. I turned around and Black Star was bragging to Tsubaki like always, Maka was just having a little chat with Crona, and Soul was just sitting on the bench. When he saw me looking at him, he turned away and pretended he didn't notice a thing.

"Excuse me a second." I said to Silara, and walked over to Soul. I sat down next to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Oh, hi Red. I didn't see you there."

I rolled my eyes. "Knock it off, Mr. Cool."

Soul chuckled and smiled at me. And, in turn, it made me smile too. Then something in my brain clicked. I shifted my position and pulled my feet up next to me.

"Hey. Kid's throwing me a birthday party in two weeks. Come, you and Maka." I told him. That last part was supposed to be more of a question than a demand.

"Cool. How old will you be?" Soul asked me casually.

"Fifteen."

"Awesome. I'll tell Maka later. Speaking of which, where is Kid?"

I realized he and Liz and Patty weren't there.

"I don't know."

We all waited for them for twenty minutes.

"Where the hell are they?" Silara said as she glanced at her watch.

Kid, Liz and Patty finally arrived and the first thing I noticed was a thin black bag that Kid was carrying.

"Um, Kid. What's that?" I asked, gesturing to the bag. He smiled, set the bag down, and unzipped it. Inside was a digital camera and a stand.

"I figured we could take a picture of everyone. Something to remember." Kid said as he started setting it up.

"I don't do pictures…" I told him.

"Please? One picture. I promise."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

After a while, Kid finally got it all ready. He set the timer for one minute and told everyone to pose. We all took our places and stood still. The flash went off and Kid told us to hold still for a few more seconds. Finally, it was done.

The Next Day

There was a knock at the door and I peeked out the window to see who it was. I ran downstairs and opened the door.

"Whassup, Kid?" I asked, leaning against the doorway.

"I just came b to give you this." he said, and handed me a small box. I looked up at him, confused.

"It's the picture from yesterday." Kid told me. I smiled.

"Oh, thanks."

"You're welcome. See ya later."

I waved goodbye and closed the door. For a moment I just stood there. Then I ran upstairs to my room and tore it open.

The picture sat in a black frame. I stood it on the stand next to my bed and stared at it for the longest time.

My arms were draped around Silara and Soul, and I flashed the peace sign with both hands. Silara looked like she was waving and Soul had his finger pulling at his lip, forming a smile. Maka had her back to him, but she was looking at the camera and smiling with her arms crossed. Beside her stood Liz, who was turned to Kid, her hands resting on his shoulder. Kid stood straight, but smiled with Patty on the other side of him. She was posed just like Liz, except her smile was bigger.

Then there was Tsubaki. She smiled with her eyes closed and Black Star was crouched down, his arms hanging down and crossing like an X, and he was saying 'rock on' with his hands. Crona stood on the other side of Silara, holding his right arm and smiling. Ragnorak was in the shot and his hands were up in the air.

I finally realized Picture Me was smiling. And it was a real smile. I love that picture. I will forever.