Over the years, a bedtime story had been chalked up to be nothing more than a fairy tale that would trick small children into not talking to strangers. How could there ever have been an Underworld? Shinigami were revered as noble protectors of the natural world order and witches were evil sorceresses that caused merciless destruction. Even under the threat of madness, the ancient covenant still held true 914 years later, whether people chose to believe it or not.

To protect people in these dark times, Lord Death had created a school to train young men and women to fight against witches and the means to summon demonic gods known as the Kishen. For generations, weapons specialists known as miesters fought along side their partners who could transform into weapons. All of which worked for Lord Death at Shibusen Academy, to become earn the title of Death Scythe.

Deep within the libraries of Shibusen a young man leaned against the counter engrossed in his own thoughts. Recently the balance of the world had tipped and the first Kishen was released into the world, but that was not what currently troubled the teen.

"I'm sorry sir, it appears that the book was borrowed two months ago and has not been returned as of yet…" The boy turned to face the librarian who addressed him, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Do you know who borrowed it? I'll get it from that person directly." He asked, there was a pause as the librarian fetched the release form.

"Due to an error on our part, we don't know." The boy looked down at the signature 'M'. Running a hand through his stripped hair, his gold eyes searched for the missing letters. Suddenly he stopped.

"I see, thank you for your time." He muttered and exited the building. The boy was Death the Kid, son of the governing Shinigami. He became suspicious of his father's past when he found a magical tool with his father's signature on it. The inventor of said tool was hardly known in Death City, Nevada. Not only that, but the only book about the inventor was checked out. The young Shinigami sighed. Since the inventor, Eibon, was a wizard he doubted any of the Death Scythes would divulge information to him without arising suspicion. If he had a connection to the magical world, he probably would have better luck. Unfortunately he didn't know anybody who had personal contact with witches.

A dark figure slunk down the hall behind him, trying to conform to the shadows. The Shinigami turned abruptly.

"Who's there!" He snapped, irritable from the whole ordeal.

"Ahh!" A high pitched voice squeaked. "Shinigami-kun! I-I'm sorry. I was just heading to my room." It was the legendary demon sword and his pink haired miester. This was the second time he had encountered the symbiotic pair.

Kid had just found his way to the deck of the ship Nidhogg. He had been left defenseless at the hands of the Flying Dutchman when he was separated from Liz. Finally he had caught up with his other hand gun on the deck.

"Liz! You moron! Because of you, I couldn't use Patty!" He shouted, gesturing at the cheerful blonde at his side.

"Kid, watch out!" Liz warned. Kid turned to see the Flying Dutchman spirit at the helm, his shot gun aimed right for Kid. Before the spirit could pull the trigger, a black sword hurtled to the ship, slicing the head and shot gun in half. Kid stood transfixed as a cloaked figure emerged from the fog and grasped the handle of the blade.

Immediately he knew who it was, the demon sword that attacked his friend Soul. He was taken aback by the 'fearsome' swordman's appearance. Uneven pink hair, modest black clothing; this was hardly the monstrous black demon Soul had described. The strange miester touched her forehead to the hilt and muttered something he couldn't discern. The sword let out a piercing scream.

"Liz, Patty; transform." The blonde twins jumped into the air, their bodies glimmered with ethereal light as they each formed a pistol. Kid grabbed them mid air and poised, ready to strike at any moment.

All at once the souls from the bough of the ship rose and were sucked into the gaping mouth of the demon blade. The miester's eyes fogged over, briefly lost in another world. Then just as suddenly as the souls had vanished, the miester crumpled over in pain. Black wings shot out of the miester's back. She looked at him, eyes still glistening with pain, and took a step back. She had finally noticed he was aboard the vessel.

"Do you know where hell is?" She asked looking to the ground. "It's in your mind." She raised her sword with trembling hands. "I'm so scared... If I stay this way everyone will leave me behind. So I have to get stronger. If you get in my way," She said finally locking eyes with the Shinigami. "I'll kill you." Those eyes held years of torment behind them. Kid had to act fast. In an instant he had leapt from his spot on the deck and launched a counter attack.

"Getting power," Kid growled, attacking the swords man, "is that the way you rid yourself of fear! You fool! If you really want to wipe away your fear, then make your soul stronger!" He shot a finishing blow, confident he had bested the demon sword. As the smoke cleared, his opponent dived in and attack from below. The girl stayed in the air as Kid recovered from the blow. When he looked up he was surprised to see the girl was on the verge of tear.

"Someone like you would never understand. Even bunnies don't understand. If bunnies don't understand… there's no way a perfect Shinigami like you could understand. Leave me alone!"

It was the first time someone called him perfect.

The demon sword miester joined DWMA shortly after the Kishen's release. Kid had to admit, this was the first time he had talked to the demon miester since their meeting on Nidhogg. The girl had worked with Medusa, the snake witch, and was partially to blame for the Kishen's escape. Still his friend Maka had insisted that it was not by choice that the sword miester had worked with the witch. Her sword was permanently fused with her blood, and there was nothing the pair could do to separate. It was Maka's hope, that his father would know a way to give them both a normal life. Instead, they were held at the school like prisoners.

"I'm sorry for getting in your way." The shy girl mumbled. Kid briefly nodded to the witch's daughter.

"No, I'm sorry for snapping at you." Kid began to walk down the hall, and then paused. Chrona was a witch's daughter! Of all the people in school, she would know the most about Eibon. He turned; ready to call out her name, but the young miester had already vanished down the hall. It was for the best, if he had asked her directly she might've been scared off by his bluntness. There had to be a way to get her help without scaring her off. But how?

Thoroughly out of breath, Chrona slammed the beat up metal door of her cell shut. Slowly she sunk to the floor, still shaking with adrenaline. As she panted, her demon sword Ragnarok emerged from the back of her rib cage. He was composed entirely of blackened blood, his facial features outline with shimmering iron.

"What the hell was that about Chrona?" Ragnarok shouted, bopping his miester's head.

"I…didn't…know…how…to deal…with him." Chrona panted.

"Oh, I see." Ragnarok smiled wickedly. "You know, if you run away from everyone you can't deal with, you'll give yourself a heart attack." He said casually.

"WHAT!" Chrona squeaked. "My heart can attack me! Oh no!" Chrona began to rant.

"Chrona." Ragnarok tried to interupt.

"What can I do if I can't trust my own heart? Will I be able to sleep tonight?"

"Chrona!"

"What if it pops out of my chest and walks on little feet when I'm not looking! What if it can use my own blood as a weapon against me!" She gasped.

"CHRONA!"

"I don't know how to deal with this!"

"DAMN IT CHRONA!" Ragnarok pulled on the girl's hair "That's not what a heart attack is! Your heart's not gonna' literally pop of your chest dummy!"

"It won't?" Chrona sniffled. She was rewarded with a swift smack to the head.

"No it won't, but if you panic too much I won't be able to come out. Then where would you be?" Ragnarok scolded, folding his pudgy arms.

"…right here." Chrona answered, confused.

"ARGH!" Ragnarok shouted. "Don't you know a rhetorical question when you hear it!?"

"P-please don't hit me!" Chrona squeaked under the light blows from her partner. She fell on her stomach as she tried to deflect Ragnarok. He frowned when Chrona stopped fighting back.

"What's with you? Usually you start whining about now." He asked. He stopped hitting her in order to rest on top of her messy pink head.

"The bed is bolted to the floor." She commented. Her fingers gentle traced the bolt and surrounding stone.

"Really captain obvious, I had no idea." Ragnarok scoffed.

"But look at it," She said pointing to the stressed bolt, "the stone around it's all scratched up." His blob like form peered over her shoulder.

"Hey, you're right. Come to think of it everything in here's bolted down." Chrona rose from the floor and inspected the dresser and tables. Each furnishing was bolted to the stone floor at the legs. The surrounding stone had been carved unevenly, creating a little room to jostle the furnishings.

"They all have the same scratches." She looked up to her partner. "What does it mean?"

"What am I, an encyclopedia?" Ragnarok demanded. "I don't know! Maybe somebody else stayed in this room! You seriously worry way too much."

The next day Kid sat in class and tried to think of a way to get Chrona to help him. He looked down at Chrona, a plan forming, but how could he get Chrona alone? He saw her ask Maka something, but the pig-tailed girl shook her head and shrugged. Chrona hung her head, then suddenly scribbled something furiously on a folded piece of paper.

The bell rang and as Kid packed his bag Chrona snuck up behind him and left the folded paper on his desk. When Kid looked up she was gone. He carefully unfolded the note and read what was inside. It read as follows.

'Dear Shinigami-kun,

I have to ask you something, meet me in the library during lunch.'

This was his chance to talk to Chrona. He tucked the note away into his pocket and slipped out of the class while Stein cleaned up. He hurried into the library to meet Chrona.

"Chrona?" He called. There was a soft squeak from behind one of the book cases. "…Chrona?" He asked with a softer tone.

"I didn't think you would come." She said. Chrona peaked around the book case.

"Why wouldn't I come?" Kid asked, kneeling down to her level. She looked down at the floor.

"You…you don't like me, you think I'm stupid."

"When have I ever-" He stopped, remembering their battle on the Nidhogg. "Oh. I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you were stupid, I just…" Kid struggled to think of something that wouldn't scare the girl away. "Uh…Well… I know now that you- No, that won't do." This was not going how he planned it! He held his head searching for the right words to pacify Chrona. She slowly pulled herself from the books.

"Shinigami-kun?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm worthless scum who can't even comfort an innocent girl!" Chrona warred with herself whether or not to place a comforting hand on the boy. She knew that his OCD fits could incapacitate him for hours at a time. Kid slowly lowered his hands and looked up at Chrona, a little ashamed of himself. "The reason I came was to ask you something."

"W-what?" Chrona took a step back, "You wanted to ask me something?" Kid nodded, then glanced over his shoulder at a few of the students who were milling about the library.

"Not here though, there are too many people." Kid walked to the door and gestured for Chrona to follow. As she fidgeted, she reluctantly followed the boy out into a corner of the reference section. Kid checked to see if anyone was coming then sighed. He really shouldn't confuse the probationary student by giving her reasons to doubt his father, but he needed the help. Besides, if his father was innocent, the investigation could shatter any doubts Chrona herself might have. "As you know," Kid whispered, "my father has been collecting magical tools." Chrona nodded. "I recently found that my father knew who created them, but I don't know why."

"Didn't he tell you why when he told you he was involved?" Chrona asked innocently, Kid could only sigh in response.

"That's just it, he didn't tell me. I wasn't supposed to find out about it." Kid hung his head. "I have no idea what the magic tools were made for or why. I can't ask any of the Death Scythes, that's why I need you."

"Me!" Chrona gasped, "But I don't know anything about Shibusen. You know more about Shinigami-sama then me."

"I know that, but I need your help investigating. You are the only person I can trust." Chrona backed into the wall, shaking her head.

"I can't. I don't know how to deal with investigations!" She flinched.

"Alright." Chrona opened her eyes confused.

"…What, that's it?"

"It's your decision to make. I could always use your help though." Putting his hands in his pockets, Kid began to walk away.

"What do you think you're doing idiot." Ragnarok hissed. "That kid is Shinigami's son."

"I know that." Chrona squeaked. Ragnarok stared at her expectantly, and then hit her when she said nothing.

"So, finish asking him for a different room! He just begged you for help; you could use that as leverage!"

"B-but I don't want to black mail Shinigami-kun!"

"Go get his help or I'll…" Ragnarok reached for the hem of Chrona's skirt.

"No! Don't! I'll ask." She dashed down the hall to catch up with the Shinigami. "Shinigami-kun!" Kid turned around. "If I help you investigate, if... Will you be able to help me?" Kid thought a moment.

"Deal."