Maka awoke to find herself floating in an endless black void. It appeared similar to the one that always appeared when she used the black blood. But it was different somehow. Maka couldn't quite put a name to it, but the place she was in now was not the same as the one she had grown accustomed to. She looked around herself noting that she was still in her normal attire. Nearby she spotted Soul, floating aimlessly through the inky darkness. She tried swimming over to him but found that her body would not draw near to him.

"Soul!" She called out. "Soul wake up!" She yelled trying to rouse him from unconsciousness. A second later, Soul's eyelids fluttered open. He looked around himself confused until he spotted Maka in the distance. "Maka!" he called out and tried moving towards her. They reached out with their hands towards one another. Their soul's resonated and harmonized across the gap between them and they found themselves drifting closer together. As they reached each other they both grabbed on to the other like an anchor in the vast sea of darkness.

"Where are we?" Soul asked. Maka looked at him strangely.

"You mean we're not inside the black blood?" She asked him. Soul shook his head.

"It's not my black blood, I can tell you that much. What was the last thing that happened?" He asked. Maka thought back, her mind fuzzy but still able to recall the most recent events.

"The medallion!" She exclaimed worried. She checked her hands and began patting herself down. Then she moved onto Soul. "I was about to grab the medallion when Lady Tengu's claws closed on us." She explained. When the medallion was nowhere to be found, Maka frowned sadly. "It's not here." She said somberly. "Which means Pantheon must have it." She inferred. Soul grabbed her by the shoulder and looked into her eyes.

"Hey just because we don't have it doesn't mean they do! We don't know what happened." Soul reasoned. Maka nodded slightly.

"But then why are we here?" Maka asked.

"You're here because I wished to see you again." A gentle voice called out to them. Maka and Soul looked around confused. The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of white light in front of them. They were blinded momentarily by the extreme contrast with the empty void around them. When their vision recovered, they opened their eyes to see a familiar face. Clad in a white gown, with shoulder length pink hair and the outline of a third eye on their forehead stood Crona. Soul and Maka stared at them, their mouths agape with confusion. Crona smiled warmly at them.

"Hello, it's so good to see you both again." They said. Tears began to fall from Maka's eyes, and her face twisted with the many emotions she felt. "Crona!" Maka cried out and embraced them in a tight hug. She buried her face against Crona's neck as the tears fell freely down her face. Crona returned the hug with equal strength. Pulling away from her, Maka looked them in the face.

"I thought I'd never get to see you again." Maka admitted with a happy smile.

"Nor did I." Crona replied with the same smile. She turned towards Soul who stood off with his hands in his pockets, watching the pair of friends with a grin. Crona reached out an arm towards him. Soul unexpectedly found himself pulled forward into Crona's embrace. Soul struggled momentarily as Crona gripped him around his neck with their hug. "It is good to see you as well Soul Eater." Crona said. Soul continued to struggle with the strong grip, awkwardly returning the hug.

"Uhh I don't know how to deal with lovey-dovey Crona." He said. The three of them laughed at Soul's joke as they ended their hug.

"So, if you're here, then that must mean we're in the moon?" Maka asked succinctly.

"More or less." Crona answered. "You're within the black blood that surrounds the moon. That's why you can see me now." Crona explained. "Unfortunately, in order to save you and bring you here, I had to relinquish my hold on the Medallion of Fear." Crona explained with a frown. "I'm sorry to say your enemies likely have it in their possession." They admitted. Maka and Soul looked back between themselves and Crona, unsure of what to say.

"Wait, you knew about the medallion?" Soul asked. Crona nodded sagely.

"Of course." They replied plainly. "In the five years I've been here, I have had a lot of time to think, and reflect, and to learn more about the madness. The medallion was the source of Asura's madness. But like so many things, Asura consumed it long ago, making the madness part of himself once again." Crona explained. "When I sensed someone from outside trying to take the medallion, I knew I had to hold onto it. But I was already losing my grip on it when I sensed your souls." Crona commented.

"Speaking of Asura…" Maka said warily. Crona giggled and the pair looked at them strangely. "Did you… giggle?" Maka asked. Crona responded with the same noise and nodded their head. It was a strange foreign sound that they had never heard from Crona before. "You do not have to worry about him." Crona finally replied. "He has been content to stay here, far away from anyone and anything that could hurt him." They explained. "And without his madness, he's powerless." They continued. A glimmer of hope appeared in Maka's eyes.

"Does that mean you can finally leave this place?" She asked excitedly. But her enthusiasm faded when Crona frowned sadly.

"Alas, no." They confessed. "Unfortunately, my soul no longer has a body to return to." They explained. Maka let her hands fall to her sides and her head droop down. "I see." She said somberly. Soul came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. He knew how hard Maka had tried to free Crona from their prison. For her to come this close only to have her hopes dashed yet again was disheartening.

"There may be a way. However, that is not what I brought you here to discuss." Crona said. Soul and Maka looked up at Crona who smiled at them yet again. It was somewhat disquieting seeing the person they used to know as depressed and paranoid smile so much. But it also filled Maka with a sense of satisfaction, seeing Crona finally achieve some kind of happiness. Crona's face became serious and they regarded the both of them.

"What was it you needed to tell us?" Soul asked curiously.

"A way to combat the power of Fear." She said solemnly. Soul and Maka listened to her intently. "You see, there is another source of madness. One which is the direct opposite of fear. But it was never forged into a medallion, yet it still exists in the world. I can give you a piece of it." Crona brought their hands together and a flash of light emanated from between their palms. When they opened them, it revealed a small black pearl in their hands. Maka picked up the gemstone and studied it curiously. She couldn't feel any madness coming off it, but then again that might be due to her present location. "You can use that to fight against fear, it will give you strength." Crona said cryptically. Before they could ask any questions, Crona continued on with a dire warning.

"There is something else I must tell you that is even more important." they warned. "Without someone to wield the medallion of fear, your foe's plans will not work." Crona advised them. "You must stop them from reaching the Soul Forge, or else the imbalance will plunge the world into terror." They said with an urgent tone. Soul and Maka looked between each other with concern.

"We don't even know what Pantheon's plans are. And what the heck is a Soul Forge?" Soul asked. But Crona shook her head.

"I'm sure the Shinigami will explain it to you." They said reaching out to give them one last hug. "But I'm afraid our time is running out. If you stay here much longer your bodies will fuse with the black blood." Crona explained calmly. With a gentle shove, Crona pushed them off into the dark void. Maka turned around and desperately reached out towards her friend.

"Crona! Wait! We're still confused!" Maka shouted even as they drifted further from them. Crona waved at them with a warm smile on their face.

"Just remember what I gave you! It could be the key to bringing me back!" Crona shouted from a distance. Maka looked down at the tiny pearl gripped within her hands. Her confusion gave way to panic as when she looked up Crona's figure had become little more than a spot in the distance. Her heart ached as she was suddenly torn from her friend yet again. She felt like she had abandoned Crona all over again and her throat closed up with a sob.

"Crona!" She yelled out before the darkness enveloped them.

When Maka awoke she found herself lying on a bed. Her eyes widened and she jolted out of bed ready for a fight. But she paused when she noticed her surroundings. She was in DWMA's infirmary, the familiar sights of the medical equipment let her know she was at least safe. Looking around she spotted Soul in the next bed over, snoring loudly. It looked to be early dawn outside and the faint blue light of the morning peaked in through the windows. She got out of bed, noting she was still dressed in her normal clothes and made her way to her partner.

"Hey wake up." She demanded as she shook him. Soul woke with bleary eyes and a yawn. "Wha happened?" He asked groggily as he sat up in bed.

"Do you remember seeing Crona?" She asked, worried that it might have all been a dream. Soul's eyes widened as he recalled the events.

"That's right. Do you still have what they gave to you?" He asked her frantically. Maka checked her pockets and withdrew the small orb. They looked it over curiously. It was only about an inch across and had a glossy black sheen to it. It resembled a pearl. Maka rolled it in between her fingers. She couldn't sense any madness coming off it, but clearly it was important to Crona. Maka still had a hard time believing she had seen them again. It had been years since she had last seen her friend alive. And now she had a chance to possibly bring them back, but it all rested on this mysterious black ball that she had no clue what to do with.

They were interrupted from their musings by the sound of a door opening and closing. They looked up to see Nygus, dressed in her white lab coat. The older woman rushed over and began inspecting them immediately.

"Thank goodness you two are up." She said relieved.

"How long were we out for?" Soul asked as Nygus began listening to Maka's heart and lungs.

"About four hours or so." She told them. "You had disappeared after the witch attacked you. We tried chasing after Pantheon when they got the medallion but we needed to leave someone behind in case you came back." Nygus explained.

"I think… we were in the moon." Maka said as she moved on to examine Soul.

"Yeah, you were both gone for about an hour." She said. Maka and Soul looked at each other confused. It seemed they were only in there a few minutes at most, not a whole hour. "Then all of a sudden, the moon just spat you out. We brought you back to the Academy to recover." Nygus claimed.

"Come on, we need to go talk to Kid." Soul said as he began to get out of bed. But a stern hand from Nygus stopped him.

"Now just hold on." She said adamantly. "You both might be adults now, but you're still my patients. So sit back in bed mister." She said pushing him back down. "Besides, Kid told me to let him know when you were both up. He's going to hold a meeting. So just relax for a while, it probably won't be for another fifteen minutes. Go make yourselves some coffee." Nygus said and then walked to the phone to give Kid the good news.

A short while later, all of the top meisters and weapons gathered in the death room. They milled about eerily quiet. None of them wanted to acknowledge their loss of the battle and the Fear Medallion. The groups of people stood awkwardly, the atmosphere was tense and unsettling. Suddenly, Kid strode into the room, his steps echoing his frustration. As he ascended the small steps, he nodded to Azusa. The Death Scythe hit a button on her tablet and a screen descended from the ceiling above. "Before we begin this debriefing there is something you should all see if you haven't by now." Kid began. The screen began to display a video, it showed Pantheon, specifically Deva holding up the newly acquired medallion of Fear.

"This is a warning to Shibusen and the world." Deva spoke in a serious commanding tone. "Give us the remaining medallions, or we will unleash the power of the ones we already have in our possession." The ultimatum was set. "You have 72 hours to comply. After that, we will use the powers of madness to tear apart the world." He spoke. The video cut out after that.

"This video was posted online three hours ago for the world to see." Kid explained. All those in attendance watched him tensely. "Obviously, we cannot give them the medallions, and we cannot let them destroy the world." He said seriously. "Therefore, we have no choice but to prepare for a final assault against Pantheon, to put an end to their plans once and for all." He said. But instead of a raucous cry of cheers, he was met with silence and trepidation. The awkward silence lasted but a moment before it was interrupted by a voice.

"You think you might wanna tell us what their plans are?" Black Star's voice asked. He stood leaning against one of the red poles near the entrance of the death room. "Because so far, we don't know jack squat." He said brashly. Tsubaki tried to get him to hush but Blackstar ignored her. He glared at the death god and stomped forward. "You've been a friend for a long time Kid, and you know I'd do a lot for you. But you've been keeping a whole lot of secrets ever since this whole mess started and I'm starting to get sick of it!" He accused. Kid watched Blackstar impassively while the others gave the two a wide berth or stayed silent. "I can't fight for a leader who doesn't tell us what we're fighting for." Blackstar said. Kid regarded him calmly. The entire room seemed frozen in tense silence, no one wished to get between the two powerful meisters. Except for one.

"Hey buddy." Spirit said accusingly as he swaggered up to Blackstar. The ninja gave him a sidelong glare in return. "Kid's the Shinigami, he doesn't have to tell anybody anything. If he's keeping secrets from us it's probably for our own good." Spirit said poking a finger into the young man's chest. Blackstar grabbed the offending finger and shoved it aside.

"Stay out of this Gramps!" Blackstar shouted. With a look of indignation, Spirit shouted right back.

"Gramps huh?! Well why don't I teach you to respect your elders!" Spirit said as the two of them butted heads.

"Stop, both of you! That's enough." Kid finally spoke. All eyes turned to the death god. Kid sighed and sat down in his throne, resting his head in one of his hands. "Black Star is right." He said plainly. Had the moment not been so serious, several of those gathered would be shocked to hear Blackstar be right about anything. "I have been keeping secrets from you all." Kid admitted. He leaned forward in his chair; his hands tented in a contemplative pose. "But keeping secrets is something my father did also. And I don't want to be secretive like he was. So, I'll come clean." He decided. "You asked about what Pantheon's real plans are correct? Well I'll tell you." Kid said. The entire room waited with bated breath for Kid to explain. The only sound being that of their breathing.

"At the beginning, Pantheon claimed they wanted to reshape the world and become its new gods." He said. "Deva told me during the battle that the world they want is one where people are devoid of free will, where the weak serve the strong and everyone worships them. He thinks this is the ultimate form of peace and that all of the world's problems are due to my Father not using his 'Order' to control the masses." Kid explained. "But this reshaping of the world is not exactly what he meant. I wasn't sure at first but during the battle he all but confirmed my suspicions when he mentioned the Soul Forge." At those words, several people's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Hey yeah. He did talk about a Soul Forge. What is that anyway?" Liz asked from the side. Kid took a deep breath, steeling his nerves before he gave his explanation.

"The Soul Forge is a tool of ultimate creation, even more powerful than Brew." He clarified. "It's what my father and the other old ones originally used to create the world. It gave shape and form to the entire world. Everything from the mountains and oceans, to the plants, animals, and people. Every living thing came into being from the Soul Forge." Kid explained. A moment of tense silence came over the crowd as they digested the information they had just been told. This Soul Forge seemed incredibly powerful, but the question still remained.

"So, what exactly are they planning to do with the Soul Forge? How does it work?" Ox questioned from the back where he held Kim tightly in his arms.

"The Soul Forge is fueled by Madness." Kid continued. "But using it will not allow Pantheon to 'reshape' the current world. As far as I understand it can't do that. Instead it will 'erase' our current world and replace it with one that they desire." Kid said ominously. A hushed gasp came over the crowd and several murmured whispers broke out. Some of those in attendance looked shocked that such a thing could happen. Some looked angry and determined to stop them from succeeding. All of them were worried though.

"We will likely all cease to exist. And Pantheon will be free to rule the world as they see fit." Kid continued. "This is why I was so desperate to stop them, and it is also why we cannot surrender our medallions." Kid said. From the back of the room a hand raised up.

"Shinigami-sama, we have another problem." Maka called out from the back. All eyes turned to face her. "When uh, when me and Soul were uh, trapped on the moon – we saw Crona." She began nervously. Another round of whispers circled through the crowd. "Crona told us that Pantheon's plan would never work. And that they would plunge the world into terror instead." Maka asserted. Kid rubbed his chin contemplating the new information.

"I'm not sure how Crona might possibly know that but from what I understand that seems correct." Kid agreed. "Pantheon has only seven members and need eight medallions. I'm sure they won't listen to reason, so that means we have no choice to put a stop to them before they ever reach the Soul Forge." Kid elaborated.

"Where exactly is this Soul Forge Kid-kun?" Tsubaki asked from beside her meister. Kid folded his arms behind his back.

"That is the second topic I needed to address." Kid said. "According to my father's journals the Soul Forge is located in a place he referred to as Kami no Kuni, The Land of the Gods." Kid explained. "Before they created the medallions, the old ones couldn't risk gathering together in one place, lest their madness destroy the world. So they met in a sort of pocket dimension, connected to ours, that is the Land of the Gods." Kid told them. "This pocket dimension has numerous entrances scattered around the world. Most of them in places of great spiritual power or importance. When I first suspected that Pantheon would try to use the Soul Forge, I knew we might need to take drastic measures to protect it. That is why I assigned Killik and the twins to their top secret mission." Kid said gesturing to the meister and weapons.

All eyes present turned to look at Killik, Fire, and Thunder. Killik stood stoically at the side of the room. His weapon partners partially hid behind his legs, unused to the sudden attention.

"Their mission was to seal off as many entrances to the Land of Gods as possible, to prevent Pantheon from accessing the Soul Forge." Kid explained. The declaration was met with some looks of confusion among the attendees. Why were they chosen specifically for this mission? Taking note of the atmosphere, this prompted Killik to step up to explain.

"The twins are Shamans," Killik began. "Which means they have natural spiritual powers and abilities that others lack. Their powers were what were necessary to seal off the entrances around the world." He said proudly patting the two kids both on the head. "If I may give my full mission report sir?" Killik asked formally. The death god nodded in confirmation. "We managed to close all the gateways known to us. All except for one. And I have a feeling that's the one that Pantheon is planning on using." Killik said seriously. "It's located on Xanadu Island, an uninhabited island in the Pacific. When we arrived there to close the gateway we encountered resistance from the golem. It's the only gate way we know is still open and seeing as how one member of Pantheon has set up shop there, I think it's safe to say that's where they'll be." He explained.

"Well, there we have it." Kid said plainly. "We're facing an enemy bent on destroying the world as we know it. An enemy that has outsmarted us, overpowered us, and outmatched us in almost every way. But we know where they will be and we know what must be done to stop them. I won't lie to you. This battle will probably be the most difficult we've ever faced. Even more so than when we fought Asura. It will take all of our combined strength and even the power of the medallions we still have in our possession, to overcome them. But it wouldn't be a fight for the fate of the world if the odds weren't stacked so high. In 24 hours, we will begin preparations to attack Xanadu and take back the stolen medallions from Pantheon. And finally put an end to their schemes once and for all!" Kid shouted triumphantly.

A/N: A brief note about Crona's gender in this fic. I've decided to make Crona non-binary to honor the author's original choices for them. In the manga Crona is never specified to be either male or female, so in my book that makes them Non-binary. If you don't like it, don't read it.