Tears soaked the worn carpet of the old church. Gopher had tried opening the book of Eibon herself, but the blasted thing would only show her the pages. Whatever magic the others had access to had shut her out. It was like it knew she wanted to destroy the thing inside and out. Stupid magic and it's stupid silk pages that wouldn't rip. How could Noah have valued this thing over his own life?
"I could have done it." She threw the book on the ground. "I could have saved you; all you needed to do was trust me. But you never did. YOU NEVER DID!" She shouted. "All I wanted was a chance! One little chance! But no, you had your collection to worry about!" She kicked an end table; it tipped and littered the ground with candle stubs. "Well, where has it got you now?! Hunh?" She shouted. But there was no one, only a beaten up book shared the old church hall with her. "Nothing, all this work and I'm the only one left! Stuck in the same church you found me in! I HATE YOU!" She cried. "I hate you." The girl crumpled to the floor. "And I hate me for caring."
"You should watch your tongue." Gopher froze. That voice... it couldn't be.
"Noah-sama?" She looked up, and was shocked to see a man standing before her. "I didn't mean it I just-" He wore a half buttoned, black dress shirt and jeans. The man did indeed resembled Noah, but the way he glared at her was too passionate to be him. She'd him evaporate just days before. It should be impossible for a human to cheat death twice. "Who are you?" The man glared at her.
"Don't ask me stupid questions." He snorted. "We don't have time for this."
"We?" She stuttered. She scooted back, her hand on the open Book of Eibon. The book was open! Maybe Noah had escaped into the book at the last minute during the blast. That made the most sense. Near death experiences had a way of forcing people to see what was important to them. Perhaps the whole ordeal had done him some good.
"Didn't I tell you to stop with the stupid questions!?" He snapped and stormed closer to the girl. Gopher flushed at the close proximity.
"Noah-sama, you've become so... wild." While this didn't answer his question; he seemed pacified that she didn't ask another question.
"You'll follow me." He stated.
"Of course!" He had his emotions back! Seeing a side of him she thought she'd lost, having him here again, it made the whole church feel warm again. There was still a chance for her happily ever after. Little did she know, the book was watching her.
"This is an intriguing turn of events." Eibon hummed. "I should be grateful that Wrath is easily manipulated." It watched as Gopher brought Noah the book. "This better not disrupt my plans."
Kid landed outside a concrete barricade. The structure was crudely made and had been hastily slapped together. Inside was a village that had been left to ruin. Compared to Nevada, Russia was cold all year round. The aura of an ancient tomb may have been a comfort to Kid, but it always left his weapons uneasy. Especially given how hastily humanity had tried to contain what was inside.
"This is it, the resting place of the last magic tool; the sarcophagus." Kid sighed.
"Wait, what?" Liz asked. "W-why would they name it something like that?"
"There was an incident about twenty years ago, all of the people in town disappeared. They didn't know what caused it, but everyone who went inside never came out." Kid said. Liz squeaked in protest. "So they sealed the place up and never looked back. Inside is the key to unlocking the brew." Patty was all giggles and smiles, trying her best to lighten the mood.
"B-but we don't have the brew." Liz forced herself to smile. "So we can't use the key! We can just go home." Kid stared at her. "I'm not going in there." Liz finished lamely. Her instincts were usually dead on when it came to sensing danger. All the more reason they had to take this mission over someone else.
"The fact that we don't have the brew is precisely why we need to obtain the key. If it's in our possession, then no one else can use it." He looked back at the crumbling wall. "Which is why I'm the only one who will enter."
"Oh, O.K." Liz relaxed. "Wait, you can't go!" Patty grabbed her hand to keep her from going after Kid.
"I'm a shinigami, I'll be fine." He said. "If I'm not back in forty minutes, go back to Shibusen."
"But-" Liz shivered at the thought of what could happen in there.
"I should be back by then." He summoned his skate board. "Take care!"
"Good luck!" Patty giggled. The shinigami flew over the wall and landed on the over grown road of Chernobyl.
Rusting car parts and old buildings surrounded him like jagged teeth. There was a stillness to the air that felt almost sacred. The mere sound of his footsteps an afront to the crumbling city. A section of the forest had been barricaded along with the rest of the town. There had to be a reason such a wide section of the forest was doomed to the same fate as the town.
A light gasp echoed through the streets. Kid turned, for a moment he thought he was hallucinating. Chrona was standing there in one of the ugliest dresses he'd seen her forced to wear. The asymmetrical patches of armor served no purpose and looked more like shackles than something protective. She didn't smile, more akin to a deer in headlights. Still, in the waning daylight, he couldn't help but feel relieved. A thousand questions ran through his head. After months of no news, here she was, alive. Even if she was poised to run.
"I see." Shinigami sighed. "Well, this more complicated than we first thought. Thank you for telling me. You can go now." Black Star bowed and exited Shinigami's room. The assassin trudged all the way up to his secret room in the school. Soul and Maka were waiting there. This was one of the few times talking to the headmaster was easier than talking to his friends.
"What was that all about?" Soul asked. "Shinigami doesn't usually talk that long to anyone but Kid." The ninja pair shifted uncomfortably in the doorway.
"Well something came up during our mission." Tsubaki said. She looked at Black Star in case he had anything he wanted to hide. He looked at the ground and hid his frustration. They had a right to know.
"We found Chrona." He said.
"Really!?" Maka stood up from the couch. She looked like she was about to cry. "Where is she? When can we see her?" She peered over their shoulders in vain hope. "Has Shinigami-sama repealed her banishment?" Black Star didn't say anything. He couldn't find the right way to tell her what happen. "Black Star, come on." Her smile began to fade. "She is O.K., isn't she?"
"She was behind the murders." Black Star said after a deep sigh. Maka had tried to apply to the mission earlier, but Shinigami-sama had ruled against it. It was clear now why.
"Dude, that's not funny." Soul said.
"I'm not joking." Black Star finally looked up. "She's back with Medusa and she didn't seem to recognize us." Maka was shaking her head, she didn't want to hear this.
"It's true." Tsubaki continued. "We tried to tell her we were her friends, that she didn't have to fight us, but she didn't listen... She didn't even know who we were." Maka sank into the couch; horror and confusion written on her face. "I'm so sorry Maka." A mission to track down Chrona like this could only mean one thing. Their old friend was on Lord Death's execution list.
"No, she couldn't have." Maka said. "It had to be Medusa. Medusa must have erased her memory. She wouldn't do that to us, not of her own free will." Soul rested a hand on her shoulder. Once you were on the list, there was no getting off of it.
It was one of the strangest punishments Chrona had ever received. After her failure to slay the blue haired ninja, Medusa had given them another mission. She even cast her spell that silence Ragnarok without question. While Chrona had been pleased that she wasn't in trouble, she was equally confused. All she had to do was obtain a key from an abandoned town. However, it seemed someone else had a similar idea.
The boy who stood before her looked just as shocked to see her as she did. He wore the same skull that her other victims did, but he raised no weapon toward her. She expected him to yell at her for being there, but he didn't. He did however began to smile; a relieved, slightly floored smile. And she found herself in awe that anyone could be that happy just to see her. He began to walk toward her, slow, as if she would disappear if he moved too fast. Her eyes locked with his, gold flooded her vision.
"Chrona?" The moment her name escaped his lip fear flooded her body. He knew who she was and the only people who did wanted to kill her. So she did the first thing that came to mind.
She ran.
He chased after her, but at a distance. A row of broken buildings separated them. Everytime she passed a building, there he was matching her step. He called out to her again, desperate, but not angry. It confused her even more. At the next building she slowed and quietly held her breath. She could hear him stop as well. He walked to the alley and to his surprise, she did so too. She was supposed to be stronger than this, braver than this. If someone stood in the way of her goal, she was supposed to strike them down.
"I'm sorry." He said. It felt like an arrow through her heart. Why was he apologizing to her?
"Don't say it." Chrona said before he could say anything else. "Don't ask me to come back." That's what the last one had done, and Medusa still wanted them dead. "I can't deal with another fight." Yes, that must be why she was so afraid. It was harder to raise a sword against something so fragile looking, so kind and Ragnarok was still in no state for fight for her.
"Chrona what are you talking about?" Kid asked. His brow furrowed in confusion.
"Aren't you with them?" She looked at him suspiciously. Suddenly Kid's features melded to one of shame.
"No, of course not!" Kid took a step forward. Chrona flinched and and grasped her left arm.
"But... you chased me." Chrona said as he came closer. He still had no weapons, still showed no intent of harming her. She dared to let him get close.
"I didn't mean to scare you." Kid wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I'm just glad you're O.K." A warmth spread through Chrona's body at the unfamiliar touch. She wanted to lean in to the embrace, but she didn't know why. Now would be the perfect time to kill him and get this over with. "You don't have to come back if you don't want to." He whispered. Chrona pulled away. He trusted her way too much and didn't know how to deal with it. "Chrona..." He looked confused, the slightest bit of pink had crept over his face. Something then drew his attention away from her and he blanched. "Get out of the way!" He shoved her to the side only to be hit in the stomach with a colorful lance. Chrona watched as the thing that attacked him stood to its full height. A gangly form on pointe, that towered at seven feet. It turned to face her and grinned with uneven teeth. Chrona went to draw her sword, but was stopped by Medusa's invention; the black clown solidified her veins, freezing her on the spot. She resisted, but the artificial clown refused to attack its own kind. The monster before her drew the lance forth and aimed for her chest.
"Trespasser located." It lunged toward the miester. She braced herself for pain. An impact was made, but not with her. The blue clown had been kicked in the head by Death the Kid.
"Chrona are you alright?" Kid asked. As soon as she was out of danger, she ran. She couldn't get caught in combat when her body refused to fight. Medusa's magic wasn't supposed to work this way. "Chrona, wait!" But she didn't and the clown was quickly recovering. Kid turned to face the recovering machine. "A defense system for the magic tool?" He scowled at the design; a lopsided face painted onto a scantily clad body. Scraps of blue cloth clung to the waist and flounced as it came to a stop.
"Are you worthy?" It drawled. Kid's brow furrowed further. "Are you worthy?" An uncanny voice, not quiet human, not quite machine. It scanned him head to toe.
"You're behind the disappearances." Kid concluded.
"You're very rude." The clown chuckled. "This land belongs to Claudia. The villagers trespassed and foolishly settled here. So I ate them." It grinned wider. "They were delicious. Fear really is the best seasoning... I wonder how you taste?" It lunged toward Kid. He jumped out of the way and ran to the other end of the town. The buildings thinned and were replaced by thick foliage. Running, Kid glanced behind to see the clown had stopped at the edge of the town. It paced back and forth like a dog at the edge of it's yard. Kid noticed he'd stepped into a ring of salt that had been poured onto the ground around a hut. The small building struggled to hold up the dipped in roof. It was the only structure within the ring, and thus begged to be investigated. Kid looked back at the feral clown, still unable to chase after him. Kid dared dart inside for a closer look.
The inside of the building had deteriorated faster than the exterior. Leaves littered the dirt encrusted floor, wood chimes swayed in the still air. The whole place made Kid's skin crawl. On a dusty table, a mess of bottles had been haplessly left behind, their labels impossible to read. Kid tried to ignore them, but it was one of the few things in the room he could fix. It wouldn't take too long to sort them. He still had time, right? In a flurry he began to rearrange the dusty containers; some filled with liquid, others he'd rather not dwell on. Behind all the bottles he found a sheet of cork with bits of decayed paper pinned to it. In the center a weathered picture coated in dust. With a puff of breath, the dust stirred and settled on the table.
The picture was of two girls about his age. They were both similar in physical feature and dress; with shoulder length white hair, pale skin, and white uniforms. It was too dark in the hut to tell the two apart, so he grudgingly lit one of the candles that had melted onto the table. The fire illuminated the room.
The picture had been pinned in the center of a broken mirror. It was of a coronation and the woman being crowned had her face scribbled out in red ink. Her tiny white and green birds sat on either shoulder. The woman to the left of her looked almost identical to the one he saw in his nightmares, only with piercing red eyes. He stumbled back and saw furious script painted above the picture in red 'I CURSE THE GIRL WHO SHARES MY FACE'. In his shock he hit the cauldron behind him. It tipped and a gold key the size of his arm toppled out.
The magic tool! He told Patty and Liz he would be out in forty minutes with it. Which unfortunately meant that the picture would have to wait. Besides, the whole place was really starting to weaken his nerve. With the magic tool in his hand he turned to leave. Only the entrance was blocked by a red clown identical to the one outside.