I haven't touched anything Soul Eater since high school. I don't remember how any of these characters are supposed to talk.
Witches weren't all that complicated where Ashley came from. They were exactly the kind you would think of when recalling Dollar store Halloween decorations; nasty, unkempt, foul tempered, and prone to punishing others at even a moment's notice. Sure, there were ones who claimed to be "kind" and "good", but those were the weak ones who were better off not having been born a witch to begin with. A true witch embraced misery. They wouldn't hesitate to ruin everyone's day at a moment's notice. Misfortune was their life's purpose. If you didn't act your worst, were you really a witch?
At least that's what she was raised to think.
Even as a young child, she wreaked havoc. She never got close to any other kid her age, and if they tried to approach her, they'd fall victim to her hexes and pranks. They called her a playground bully, and that only pushed her to go beyond. Because witches were worse than bullies of course. She couldn't settle for anything less.
At least that's what she was convinced to do.
So it only made sense for her to end up where she was now. When she first laid eyes on Maleficent through fateful flames, she saw the image of a witch in its purest form; mighty and powerful and unafraid of the consequences ahead. She decided right then and there that following this woman would be the road to her becoming the witch of all witches. This was her destiny.
At least that's what she told herself.
Then why after all this…why was she thinking back to True Cross Academy? Back to her familiar's face? He was her sworn companion; something every witch was supposed to have. Why did he look so shocked? This is what she was supposed to be. Why was she so bothered by his tears? This was how she was supposed to act. Why?
Why?
Why?
WHY?!
"Uhm…M-miss?"
Ashley snapped back to reality. She'd spent her down time at Death City loitering around the darkest alley she could find, left only with her own bitter thoughts. If Crona hadn't come along to check on her, she probably would've drowned in her own indulgences without a soul to pull her out.
"Wh-what?" She stammered while her cheeks flashed red.
"Are you okay?" Crona responded nervously.
"I'm fine."
"Suuuuuuure you are." Much to the displeasure of both teens, Ragnarok had decided it was time to pop out of Crona's back completely unannounced. Crona yelped at the sight of their own permanent companion. "Your hands were shaking like mad. Thought you were going crazy for sure. This chickenshit right here couldn't decide if you were gonna eat them alive or not. Wahaha!"
"R-ragnarok," Crona frothed. "You can't just say that! She's gonna hate me now. We're supposed to be working together. What am I gonna do if she doesn't like me? How am I supposed to do my job? And mother will get so mad. What am I supposed to do if she gets mad at me again?"
"Oh, can it!" Ragnarok had forced Crona into a chokehold and noogied the crap out of them while they fruitlessly tossed their arms around to escape.
Ashley sighed. These two were exhausting… But in a strange way, she appreciated them being there. "No, you're good," she responded awkwardly, hoping to dispel Ragnarok's game of torture. "Really, it's fine. I don't hate you."
"Oh, is the apprentice witch going soft now?"
Ragnarok's antics moved on to mushes around Crona's mouth, but their screaming reaction to her was enough to finally chase him off and back in.
Ashley's eyes shifted into a glare. Medusa had slunk into the meeting. She wasn't sure why she felt this around her. This viper was just as much of an ideal witch as Maleficent was, but she felt nothing but contempt towards her. Not like Maleficent whose very presence only could freeze her on the spot.
"Well?" The woman cocked her head condescendingly. "Are the preparations for our plus one done?"
"More or less." Ashley's response was rigid. For as annoyed as she was around Medusa, it was all the more reason for her to guard herself more carefully around her. "If I'm going to be honest, what you were asking me to do was more drastic than I had time for, so I made do with a temporary enhancement hex."
Medusa would normally scowl at news like this, but her grin only widened. There was just something so satisfying about watching the girl fall under expectations. "That's all one of Maleficent's hand picked apprentices could do? Pathetic."
"..."
"Didn't your little ploy at the Mystery Dungeon fall short too? And your humiliating display at True Cross as well? I remember you coming back all covered in vomit."
Shut up.
"At least the doctor and Tabuu had the decency to leave after their screw ups. Why in the worlds does she bother keeping you around?"
Shut up.
"She must find you so amusing. Perhaps you're our court jester? Hm?"
Shut up.
"Or maybe she thinks it's just as hilarious as I do watching a young witch squirm and grovel around before power she knows she'll never achieve."
"Shu—"
Ashley held her breath. Letting it out would only give her what she wanted. That's the last thing she wanted to do. With the way Medusa continued to look at her though, she didn't want to admit it, but she already lost.
"Ah, uh, um, ah, m, m, mo—"
"What?" Medusa groaned. Her entertainment met an abrupt end, and she turned to Crona angrily.
"I-is this really going to work? I don't know if it will. What if it doesn't work? What if this is a waste of time? What if it was better if we didn't show up? What if we just stayed home? I wanna go home."
"Oh no you don't," Ragnarok slipped out again to trap Crona in another headlock. "I didn't get to have my fill of fun. Quit your whining and let's go!"
More by force and not of their own free will, Crona walked off and away until their stressed whimpers were nothing more than faded ambience in the distance.
"Hm," Medusa smirked. "If anything, it's amusing watching that thing writhe around like a dying worm." Her pupils slid ever so slightly back to Ashley before rolling away, irritated that she was actually still there. "Go on," she waved her off flippantly. "I'm done working with you. Go shoot your magic at a stray cat or something."
Gladly, Ashley thought to herself as she silently strutted off on her own. Medusa was someone she'd never get along with.
Left to her own devices, it was time for her to get serious. She was sent out here to begin with because both Maleficent and Medusa had sensed the Keybearer's presence in the area. He had to be here somewhere, and if she found him, it would be her day. She hated to admit it, but that wicked viper was right about the humiliation that halfwit had wrung on to her. She was once on her way to becoming Maleficent's own right hand woman, but with two major defeats to her name, she'd been reduced to a lowly errand girl. Everything was falling apart, and it was all his fault. She would hunt him down and bring back his mangled carcass to her boss's lair if it was the last thing she'd do.
Ashley's ears perked. A small group of teens were having a rousing bout of quips nearby. No doubt it was one of the many DWMA students who'd decided to participate in the school's hopeless efforts to exterminate the Heartless on their own. She hid within yet another alley, and held her breath.
"Why do you always gotta come crashing into my turf?!" Black Star yelled at his supposed friend. "I found these Harklies first. Get your own!"
"At least get their name right," Death the Kid slapped his head in annoyance. "It's Heartless. How many times do you need it drilled into your unsymmetrically lopsided brain? No wonder your grades are abysmal."
"Look who's talking! At least I'm not failing because I can't write my own name without freaking out about how uneven the paper is!"
"Are we really doing this again?" Liz groaned. The boys had just finished off the last of the small cluster, and the girls had morphed back into their human forms in the meantime. "Look, all of us are screwed if we don't do this stupid extra credit. So just zip it and let's move on already."
"Yeah, Black Star," Tsubaki added meekly. "Lord Death said there's a lot of them scattered around the city. There's more than enough for us to share."
"Share, shmare," Black Star huffed. "He raised the number to 500! 500! If I see a Harpness, it's mine!"
"I will admit, the sheer number of these things is starting to make me worry," Kid grumbled suspiciously.
"Maaaaaan," Patty whined in a rhythmic fashion. "If only we had Cody's key thing, we could SCHWING, SHWOOOP, WHOOP-POW these little guys and be done with it."
Ashley's eyes widened. She held out on the possibility of getting intel from these nuisances, but to hear that boy's name spoken loud and clear? Whoever these students were, they were acquainted. While the DWMA crew continued their lively discussion along their trek to their next fight, the red witch continued to stealthily tail behind. With any luck, these nimrods would lead her right to him, and she could finally enact her revenge.
oOo
"We're not prepared," Crona gulped. "We're not prepared at all. I don't know what to do. What are we supposed to do? What did Mother mean by a key? Did she mean a key-key? A key card? A key item? What if I find a key and it's the wrong key? What do I do then?"
"Then you just shred it up and move on," Ragnarok yammered back. "Yeeeeeesh, you worry about the dumbest crap."
It wasn't like Crona's worries were unfounded. Their lovely mother seemingly shuffled them off for the sake of it with only a vague hint of the task at hand. She had a larger plan ready, but like heck she'd bother sharing it with them. And now here they were lulling around in the streets with nothing to do but squirm around at the hands of their own cycle continued with Crona's mumbles and Ragnarok's cackles, until suddenly, a figure flashed by in the corner of their eyes.
Crona stiffened. Their body shook almost involuntarily. Even Ragnarok shushed up, disturbed by whatever just passed by. It couldn't have been a Heartless. They were ensured that due to their circumstances, those creatures would pay them no mind. What could that have been then?
Against their own common sense, Crona turned their head behind them while their teeth clattered along like windchimes in a storm. Their eyes slowly and slovenly teetered inch by inch. They couldn't help but try to shift their focus to the side, up above, or really, just anywhere but what was actually there. They played a desperate game of denial, but they could only delay the inevitable for so long. Crona had no choice but to accept that…
…She was there.
Eva stood menacingly. Her eyes glowed red and wisps of black soot spewed out of her body every which way. The veins of her fists pulsated with each breath she took. Her face more closely resembled a frenzied bear woken up early from hibernation than that of a teenage girl.
Oh.
So this was Mother's plan.
Naturally, Crona screamed like a banshee.
They swung Ragnarok around without any clear aim. The poor sword, still confused at what was going on, was left in an uncharacteristic state of panic over his wielder's outburst. Ashley had perhaps done too good of a job at hexing the musclehead up as she bounced and sprinted about in a superhuman speed avoiding the blade. Her uncanny movements only forced Crona to act even more rash like they were a child tasked with crushing an agile spider with a newspaper roll.
"Hey, do you hear that?"
Crona could hear a girl's voice close by alongside a group of at least five other individuals. Dear old Mother's plan was going great, much to her own child's misfortune. The Keybearer's group arrived to Crona's assistance, and right on cue, Eva stormed off into the distance. Crona's mind was at the brink, and they only got all the more jittery as they rushed to shove Ragnarok back within their depths before the hapless newcomers could see.
"Are you okay?" Crona flinched away at Maka's soft touch to their shoulder.
Cody was the first to survey the area. He'd traveled around enough by now to be able to sense when the Heartless came by an area. Remnants of black specks fluttered in the air, having been scattered around from the earlier riffraff. There was no question to him that something just went down.
"Easy there," Maka continued to console the legitimately shaken Crona. "It's alright. Whatever attacked you is gone."
What was supposed to be a soothing moment only crumpled Crona's head up further. She was being genuinely nice to them, but that's what Mother wanted. Mother wanted them to fake it all. But they truly did appreciate how kindly she spoke to them after having gone through that. But Mother wanted them to act through it all. But, but, but, but, but, but…
"Hey," Soul knelt down and to Crona's level. The poor unwilling minion had dropped into a fetal position. "If you can, could you tell us your name?" Soul wasn't used to talking all soft, but the intent alone was still reassuring.
"C-c-crona."
Shoot, wait. They weren't supposed to do that, were they? But he asked nicely. It should be fine, right? They're supposed to be pretending right now. Playing along should be fine, right? But surely this was too far. But what were they supposed to do? But, but, but, but, but, but, but…
"Okay. Crona. Could you make out what the thing that attacked you looked like?"
But, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but—
"Where did it go?" Cody suddenly butted in.
Gottem.
Crona continued to grit their teeth in a frozen grimace and pointed frigidly forward. Despite being in the know of what was actually going on, there was a reluctance in their movement. There was no reason for the others to doubt their info, and they were more than aware of that. The group unquestionably moved forward in a sprint. Crona attempted to slip off, but Maka had instinctively grabbed onto their arm and forced them into the fray. The sweat that secreted from their furrowed face flailed further by the second. Following them meant seeing Eva again, and that was the exact opposite of what they wanted.
And perhaps it was the exact opposite of what Cody wanted as well.
"Wh-what the heck?" He stared across the square where the still feral Eva, stained in an ominous black and gray, had formed indents into the city's infrastructure from random fits of violence. He could practically piss his pants right now. Back on the island, he made it priority number one to never so much as step foot into the same room as her, and now there she was resembling a bloodthirsty demon.
A bloodthirsty demon that stared right at him.
Just like Crona before him, he screamed.
Eva charged right at them and emanated a trail of noxious black dust behind her. The group pranced off, scattered, and just barely missed the stamp of her fists. But of course, one miss did not deter her in the least. She pinballed around the pavements of the tight streets and zig zagged past her opponents who, at the moment, only had the mental capacity to duck to the ground and dodge. It reminded Cody and his core crew of their time with Sonic back in Green Hill Zone, only now, they were in the point of view of the robots their friend regularly pulverized.
"WHY IS SHE HERE?!" Cody belted out.
"Is she your friend?!" Al gasped out in outrage.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Tears welled up in Cody's eyes from the stressful reunion he never wanted.
It was like that last shout was a signal for her, because Eva suddenly screeched to a halt and launched herself like a cannonball in Cody's direction. With his vision partially impaired from the stings of his distressed weeps, he found it in himself to finally summon out his Keyblade to block her off. Right on impact, Eva tumbled back. The soles of her sneakers burned against the asphalt as she skidded to a halt. Vague clumps of her black aura fizzled off when they hit the blade. He'd guessed it, but now he was certain. She didn't seem like a full on Heartless, but her body was still corrupted by their energy somehow.
"Okay, you probably can't believe it now," Cody shouted off to the others in between blocks and dodges. "But she's just a regular human being. Hit her, but don't kill her, okay?"
"Easy for you to say!" Al, Loudred, and Mokona had crumpled off into their own little corner and shifted into defensive positions. The psychic Pokemon had his arms up, keeping a force field in front of the three, while his two companions took turns popping in and out of the shield to send Supersonic waves and magic blasts in Eva's direction. Unfortunately, with her sheer speed, the moment either one of their attacks came close to hitting her, she'd already be bouncing off to the complete opposite side of the field in response.
Maka and Soul were the only ones daring enough to try to chase her around the field rather than stick to the sidelines. The honor student effortlessly dodged around each of Eva's charges, maneuvering Soul, in his scythe form, into graceful swirls. Each time she missed them prompted an opening for Soul to scratch right into her. He successfully nicked a cut into her arm, but rather than the spurt of blood, even more black specks spewed out and mixed in with the storm that already brewed naturally around her.
"You're sure she's still human?" Soul gagged at the sight. "What the hell is this?"
The one outsider of the group gulped. They were the only one who truly knew what was wrong with her. Throughout the commotion, Crona became a piece of the backdrop. They stood with shaking legs, unsure whether to be impressed with the group's power or worried that they might actually pull out of this unscathed.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Ragnarok sneakily slipped his form out of Crona's back and barked hushed yells into his wielder's ear. "I'm getting booooored. Lemme at her again. Come on, it'll be fun!"
"B-b-b-b-but," Crona's mouth had not stopped quivering once throughout this whole ordeal. "Th-that would go against Mother."
"And? Aren't you 'sposed to be joining that crazy bitch out there? If you ain't fighting that key kid, what the heck are you even doing here?"
…He had a point. What were they doing here?
They were here because this was all Mother's plan. But truth be told…
…They just wanted to leave.
Screw fighting with or against them. This was Crona's chance.
After squeezing Ragnarok back into them in spite of his protests, Crona began to tiptoe away…
…And was met with Eva's gashing growls coming at them. Apparently, there was still a part of her that remembered their ill fated meeting before her corruption, and Crona might as well have been on the same level as the rest on her hit list.
Crona screamed once more.
Despite having just rudely forced Ragnarok back into them, Crona scrambled to snatch him back out and pried all over their body for a sword hilt. But for as bloodthirsty as Ragnarok was, there was also a petty side to him. After having just been denied some action, he repeatedly shifted himself in the complete opposite direction of his wielder's hand like a childish game of whack-a-mole. The more Ragnarok made these immature delays, the closer Crona came to Eva's pummeling.
This isn't a joke! I don't want to die! Crona wanted to desperately cry out to their stubborn sword, but the clattering of their teeth made it impossible for anything more than wavering squawks to come out.
At last, with barely a breath away from her smackdown, Ragnarok decided it was time to call it quits and laid himself still. But by the time Crona finally reached for the blade, Maka had already swooped in to shield them away from Eva's wrath. She spun Soul like a pinwheel and blocked Eva's arms away, and all the while, Crona was back to shoving Ragnarok back within. They could already feel their partner mentally scream, "What gives?!" at them.
Maka carefully tilted her head back in Crona's direction and gave a confident wink. "Don't worry. We've got you."
Crona was left wordless, only managing to utter the faintest semblance of a nod. The others all diligently fended for themselves. There was no reason for her to come running to their rescue, but there she was.
"Maka!" Soul called out, interrupting Crona's thoughts.
Eva's efforts faltered, and that was his signal for them to push her back. Maka mouthed a quick "Right" in response before jabbing the edge of Soul's hilt to her stomach, pushing the battle away from Crona once more. They continued to watch the situation unfold in frozen awe. The enhancement hex Ashley cast on Eva slowly waned, and the noxious dust clouds that followed her faded along with them. Of course, she was still beyond her normal capabilities because of that, but it was becoming clear that that wasn't enough for her to come up on top. The Keybearer's cohorts had left their coward corner to directly confront her head on, and Cody himself fully switched to the offensive. But among them, Maka and Soul were probably her most formidable foes. The only ones to hit when things were less stacked in their favor, they hadn't missed a beat even as the battle continued to drag along. It was the kind of tactile might that made it hard for Crona not to watch in bated breath for their victory.
They just straight up forgot that Eva's loss was a bad thing!
Dazed and exhausted with the last of her magical boost sapped, Eva's head wavered in a crippled circle before toppling to the pavements. Carefully with their weapons and arms still on the ready, Cody and company crept to her body and eyed for even the slightest sign of a feint. Lucky for them, the sudden snort of a gravely snore eased their worries, and they were free to slump over from that arduous fight.
They were careful not to put serious harm on her just as Cody asked, however, the very nature of Soul's form meant cuts were inevitable. Maka's precision had helped reduce the damage to the faintest of scars, just enough for them to observe whatever the heck was going on with her inner mechanisms. Stuck in the inbetween of open wounds and sealed flesh, the same black soot that Cody had noticed from her one clean cut from earlier seeped around the scars as they attempted to break out of their cells. Eva may have returned to a more human-like state, but the darkness stuck within her still stained her skin in sickly gray patches.
Mokona, with barely a care in the world, hopped beside her and carelessly poked one of the closed openings on her left arm. He was met in kind by the sudden spring of Eva's head, awake and demonic looking like she was ready to eat him whole in retaliation. Before the other's could spring into action though, her spontaneous reaction fell flat, and her head swung back into its unconscious state. The very arm wound Mokona had bothered split open during the commotion and forced Mokona into a fit of coughs as the black dust spurt into his face like a broken faucet.
"That's the same kind of stuff Heartless dissolve into," Cody declared and faced his two Pokemon companions for confirmation. "After we take them out, they fizzle out into this stuff. I'm not crazy, right?"
"She's not a Heartless though, right?" Al asked in disbelief.
"Wouldn't she have turned into something weird like that D'Void guy?" Loudred thought.
"Hold on," Maka warily held her hand out in confusion. "I'm not sure I'm following. Normal people can turn into Heartless?"
"Yeah, but she's not a Heartless. That's why it's weird!" Cody flailed his arms around while he gestured to Eva's body, illustrating just how equally confused he was.
Soul shifted back to his human form and crouched down to further observe this apparent anomaly they were all looking at. "Okay, I don't know enough Heartless and all that crap to get it, but that entire battle felt…off."
"How so?" Maka pondered.
"All the black shit that followed her around and left, her just getting way weaker for no reason, I don't know. Kinda feels like she had some kind of spell cast on her or something. On top of this I mean."
"You think she had a run-in with a witch?" Maka cupped her chin in her hand. She'd be lying if she understood the situation more than anyone else here did, but it was definitely a possibility worth looking into. "Hey, Crona," she turned around to their tagalong. "This might be a stretch, but before you ran into her, did you happen to…"
She'd caught Crona in the middle of sneaking away. The poor teen froze mid step and returned to forming their perspiration pool.
"Uh, did you happen to see anyone else that was with her? Maybe a witch?"
Well they sure did. Just earlier that day, they were able to bear witness to Ashley enchanting Eva's bloodstream with their very eyes. But obviously, they wouldn' tell her that.
They wouldn't, right?
What would they tell her then?
They could tell her anything, couldn't they?
But they'd been quiet. Too quiet.
Oh no. She was getting suspicious. Nothing came out of their mouth.
Why was this so hard? One lie. Just one lie, that's all they needed.
But something like this would need an elaborate lie to work, right? They couldn't possibly come up with a good lie in such short notice.
The clock keeps ticking! They were all staring now! Think, Crona, think!
No, nothing was coming out! This was bad. How were they supposed to deal with this? Could they deal with this? They couldn't deal with this, they just couldn't!
"aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" Crona grabbed their head in an agonized cry, startling all witnesses. "What do you want me to say?! How am I supposed to lie about this?! Mother didn't tell me what to say! Stop staring at me! What am I supposed to do?!"
…Ah.
After having just expended the last ounce of their frazzled energy into that declaration, Crona shifted back to an idle position to gaze at their peers. Predictably, they all looked at them like they just spoiled the solution to a puzzle. One that they themself was a part of creating.
…Oh no.
"Ahahahahaha, wow, you idiot!" Ragnarok burst out of Crona's seams and proceeded to embarrass, and further shock, them in front of everyone else with his aggressive face pulls. "So this is how we're going down, huh? I didn't even get to have real fun. Nice job, kiddo!"
They could die right now.
"H-hold on," Cody quivered his hand. "Were…you in on this?" He'd normally be getting ready to pound on another enemy, but the surreal nature of this reveal just left him still with more questions than anything else.
"Did you say 'Mother'?" Maka asked with an equally perplexed expression. She seemed to be the only one attempting to piece this bit together.
And as if on cue, Mother herself arrived.
"What a disaster."
The group jumped at the newcomer who had lingered behind them while they were distracted by Crona's blunder. A lanky hooded woman was slouched atop her broom that floated just around the height of the nearby rooftops. A hand was placed firmly over her head and covered up both a crooked cringe and twitching eyebrows. It was easy to assume this was a reaction to a plan gone awry, yet the smooth and oily slick of her voice gave little indication that it caused her any major inconvenience.
"Wh-who are you?!" Soul was the first to blurt out.
"A witchy witch. A witchy witch!" Mokona flopped around vigorously over his observation.
"Well isn't that a genius guess?" She grumbled sarcastically under her breath. With one rough wipe of her arm across her wry face, the gang below finally got a good look at her venomous glare. "I really am working with a bunch of worthless children, aren't I? That hex was the best that amateur could do, and this worthless doll over here watched that entire time without swinging at you even once."
Crona shook at the mere hint of their failure. Even Ragnarok, who had gleefully toyed with them this entire time, had enough sense to quietly make his retreat back into his vessel's body. The rest, of course, shifted back and forth between the mother and child while they took in the utter confusion that they had unwittingly fallen into the enemy's trap turned blunder.
"You were going to attack us?" Cody asked a trembling Crona, his voice still filled with more confusion than outrage.
"That thing was supposed to, but I guess it's only good for blubbering around like a blind insect."
…That thing?!
What the group witnessed next was almost too painful to witness. If Medusa was there to do some damage control and wreak more havoc, she'd clearly gotten distracted and started to expend her energy elsewhere. For minutes upon minutes that felt stretched beyond, they stood as Medusa expelled an entire novel's worth of damnations onto her child. Any opportunity she found to remind them about their sorry existence, she made sure it was stabbed right into their chest. And all the while, she never once spoke of Crona as a person. It was only ever "puppet," "doll," "tool," "thing." Crona's body continued to tremble and tremble with each word until they shook around like a bulging bubble waiting to burst.
The confusion followed by the awkward terror of witnessing a family turmoil unfold before their very eyes left the others reluctant to even twitch. But for Soul, just standing around helplessly made his teeth grind deeper by the second. Like hell he was going to let that vile woman continue on like this. He had enough.
"Oh, shut up!" His outburst was loud enough for her awfulness to acknowledge it with a raise of the eyebrow.
"You expect us to just stand here and listen to you spit out garbage and not take you down?!"
"Yeah!" Maka joined in. "What kind of mother talks about her kid like that?!"
Medusa let out a satisfied sigh. Once again, they unwittingly fell right into her hands. "I think you have more important things to worry about than defending that thing."
The duo scowled in response. "What are you talking abou—"
It happened so fast. They were so preoccupied with chiding against Mother-of-the-Year, they failed to account for the fact that her victim was still also her ally. Loudred was the first to pick up the faint shing of an unsheathed blade. He called out to Maka, who was the closest in proximity to Crona, but with how fast they suddenly sprinted, even a split second wouldn't have saved her. That left her only chance of escape up to her trusted partner.
Spurts of blood gushed out as Ragnarok made a solid slash across Soul's chest. It was hard to believe it wasn't even a fatal wound. From where Maka stood, shielded from behind, it looked almost like she just witnessed his end. Clouds of black and gray soot spewed out of Ragnarok's edge, wrapped around the boy's blood, and whipped it all back into his body. The dreaded essence acted like a nice visitor and made sure to leave the seams of the cut light. But the reality was still that Soul now had a large open wound on him, and poor Maka was left with nothing to do but cry out for help.
Having been left stood in confusion for a while now, that moment was the wake up call Cody and the rest needed to finally make a conclusion. This dopey Crona kid who was fidgeting and swinging their sword around like a mad ragdoll was their enemy. They jumped back into battle ready positions, with Mokona fleeing to the sidelines to assist with Soul's recovery. Unfortunately, if they thought their previous opponent was hard to land a hit on, she had nothing over Crona. There was no rhyme or reason behind their erratic movements. They moved and flung their limbs around with the same speed and irregularity as a video game glitch. Eva had been subdued, but if what they pieced together was correct, her heightened abilities were the result of a spell. Crona though? This was the real deal, and who knew if they would to let out just like she had.
Crona came out of nowhere and swung their sword, looking to split Cody's hair off, and the Key boy was only able to make it out alive by backing off in a failed Matrix style. The tip of his toes fumbled over the weight, and he found himself dizzily circling about before tripping right above, of all things, Eva's body. An angry grunt came out of her, and he nearly had a heart attack over the thought of dealing with a Crona-Eva tag team. Now stuck with the task of carefully maneuvering himself off of the daunting girl without spelling the end for himself, the Keybearer was now officially out of commission. With their main physical powerhouse gone, the remaining Pokemon pair were left to more or less jump around fruitlessly knowing none of their attacks would land.
Medusa could barely contain her leveled amusement as she sneered at the flock of frantic teens and creatures down below. Things might have had a rocky start, but it finally started to get interesting. She shifted around on her broom, hoping to get into a more comfortable gloating position, but her moment of comfort was interrupted by a slight twitch of the ear. It was enough to sour her mood once more. That Ashley brat had sent out an SOS signal right when she got in the groove.
"Sorry excuse for a witch," she muttered under her breath. No matter. She had a lot less idle time than she would have wanted, but preparations were more or less complete. With a light but firm tap on the broom's edge, she flew her way out of the square and closer towards the coveted DWMA building.
"H-Hey!" Away from the deadly distraction, Cody was the only one to pick up on the witch's exit. He readied his arm to toss his Keyblade in her direction, but was stopped by his one fatal mistake: He wasn't careful enough to keep Eva at bay.
It was like facing a bull with red cloth. Eva was up on her feet in an instant and inhaled deep chunks of the air while she looked ready to pounce.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Cody barfed out in what felt like the beginnings of a sob. He wasn't sure whether to use his Keyblade as a shield or to hide it away to avoid hints of aggression. "You were going crazy. We wouldn't have attacked you like that without reason." He really started to sob now. "Don't kill me. I'll do anything you want!"
"YOU!"
"I SAID I'M SORRY!"
Eva zoomed right past him without a second thought.
It was like hitting a switch. The moment Eva entered the battlefield, everything seized. Crona was no longer the uncanny berserker that flashed past everyone's vision. They were now a terrified kid staring into the eye of the bully they accidentally bumped into that morning. And the closer she came, the more that chaotic force slipped into memory.
"Slice her, stab her, do it!" Ragnarok loudly goaded his wielder.
"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no! I c-c-c-c-an't!"
"Then what are you doing just standing around, idiot?!"
They found an opening and immediately booked it, right towards the same pathway their dear mother escaped through. Even as both they and Eva fled, Crona's distinct whiny shriek and Eva's vile threats sounded off like emergency alarms to the townsfolk that a storm was headed their way.
The others of course quickly trailed behind. After all, it wasn't just those two who had fled. That ghastly witch made her way there as well, and whatever reason she had to do so, it couldn't have been good. The two Pokemon led the pack, followed by Cody, Mokona, who had just been relieved of his healing duties, and lastly was a sluggish Soul.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Maka tried to pull his arm. "You just got hurt."
"Yeah, and some serious shit is gonna go on if we don't go after them."
He harshly tossed her off and continued onward. Maka was left despondent. He was hurt because of her, and he would surely get more hurt if they pushed forward. Maybe they were in over their heads jumping into the deeper depths of the Heartless situation that Lord Death oh so graciously tried to shield his students away from. Maybe this was that key kid's problem and not theirs.
But despite that, she thought of everything that just occurred. She thought of Crona. They tricked them. They fell for their wounded gazelle gambit and paid dearly for it. But they looked like they were suffering. They looked like they'd been suffering for a very long time.
Even if this wasn't her fight, she wanted to help them over everything else.
Maka followed as well.