Project Motherhood: V and J

by Gamer95

Two little drones fell in love in the Elliott Manor. V and J were as happy as could be, even in spite of their harsh bosses. That all changed when V was taken away, with J and N following soon after. Stripped of their memories, forced into new bodies and used as weapons, V and J slowly rekindle their old flame until the day they find a small boy that needs them...

3. Chapter 3

Their chance came. A month later, their chance came shortly after what would end up being their final mission. This mission was going to take place in some desert way out in Nevada. V was groaning. "This SUUUUUCKS! Deserts are the most boring place on the planet, it's just sand and cactuses!"

J sighed. "CacTI, V."

V rolled her eyes, "Whatever, so who exactly warranted us coming all this way?"

J sighed, but brought up the mission data they had received, "Several companies were all robbed by this same woman; chemicals, machinery, even drones like us. Either raw materials, specialized components, or sensitive research data. They all either want their stuff back or safely destroyed, and her head on a pike."

V sighed. "Greeeeat. More senseless slaughter.' She'd long since given up on trying to enjoy her work anymore, she knew full well she didn't. Frankly, the only thing keeping her from being overwhelmed by guilt was the knowledge that all of her victims had it coming.

J frowned as she went over the more detailed list, "I wouldn't call it senseless this time. Most of this stuff is already incredibly dangerous on its own. Who knows what someone with the right technical skills could do with it all combined together?"

V sighed. "Yeah, I guess..." She muttered. "Still sick of this old grind though... And we can't even find where this stupid place IS..." Before she could continue her train of thought, she saw something. "Uh... There's an awful lot of sand in the air, isn't there? ...Ah crap, we're in the middle of a sandstorm, aren't we?" While both drones knew for a fact they would come out of the sandstorm entirely intact with next to no damage... it was definitely going to toss them around. A lot. To keep from being separated they immediately wrapped their limbs around each other and retracted their wings. Holding each other as tightly as possible as they braced for what they knew was next. Being buried at least mostly under a mound of sand once they finally slammed into the ground.

When the storm finally cleared fifteen minutes later, J was buried headfirst from the waist up in the desert sand, her legs sticking up in the air. V, meanwhile, only had her rear end sticking out, her tail twitching slightly. And right where they had landed? A cave.

Something began to smoke from beneath the sand where V was buried as her wings erupted from underneath the sand. Soon enough, the sand turned to glass due to the heat, and V promptly shattered it and escaped from her grainy prison.

"Hm-pfah!" The drone spat out some sand from her mouth, rubbing her tounge to clean it. Looking around, she eventually noticed J's legs swinging back and forth, the drone yelling something unintelligible underneath the sound.

V?

She smirked and sat on a nearby rock, propping her head up on her hand.

"Ima enjoy the view while I still have the chance."

After a few minutes, she decided she'd best help her lover out, fluttering down to the sand and grabbing her legs before pulling her free. J burst out with a groan and glared at her. "You... were SO looking up my skirt."

V shrugged. "Hey, I wouldn't be seeing anything you don't see from me every single day."

J coughed into her fist and turned away while grumbling, "You're lucky I love you so much." V almost seemed to teleport as she moved like a flash to hug J from behind. Rubbing their heads together like an affectionate cat.

"Awwww, I love you too, you big-Huh. Giant suspicious cave in the middle of the desert. What better place for a dirty thieving bandit to hide than in here, right, babe?"

J huffed as she stared into the cave, "It's as good a place as any to looking." Dragging V along, they began to search the cave only to discover just how deep it went.

V hummed as she looked around, "It totally looks big enough to hold all the stuff she nabbed and then some."

J hummed and then activated her thermal scanners. Someone had entered this cave VERY recently. "...This way." She pointed forward, leading V along. And soon enough, they found their target... when they heard the sound of a loud, agonized, desperate wail, followed by tearful begging. Both drones tensed up, V most of all, as the sound was VERY familiar to her... Coming to a large door, they threw it open. J donned an expression or pure disgust, while V could only clap her hand over her mouth and stare with utter horror in her eyes as a blonde woman stood by, coldly taking notes and showing no emotion towards the screams of the little boy whom she was currently concoting inhumane experiments on with the very tools she had stolen from the company, in particular, the very acid that they secreted from their tails. The child was trapped in a small, see-through glass container, and the nanite acid was filling in slowly. It was already up to the boy's back. He was convulsing and screaming... And she was just writing on a clipboard, taking notes!

'What...the HELL... is this psycho bitch DOING?!' J thought in silent fury. 'She's gonna KILL a CHILD with ACID?!'

V was rooted to the spot for several seconds. She could only watch as familiar visions briefly flashed through her visor. Pain. Experiments. Trapped. No one... No one to help him... He needed someone to help him... WHY?! WHY WOULDN'T ANYONE HELP HIM?! HE WAS IN PAIN, HE WAS SCARED, HE NEEDED HELP, SOMEONE HAD TO HELP!

"M-MISS MEDUSA! PLEASE NO MORE! HURTS! HURTS TOO MUCH, CAN'T! CAN'T-OW! AAAAAAAHHH! M-MOMMY, PLEASE STOP, PLEASE!" The child screamed.

V felt something inside her snap when she heard the child refer to the woman as his mother. Her horror turned into an absolutely feral, enraged snarl, and she let out an absolutely inhuman shriek of fury as she lunged to attack with pure murder, pure, unadulterared hatred written all over her features. The woman turned around, and was surprised as she just barely managed to block a strike from the furious drone's claws with a large, black arrow that send V tumbling back through the air. V simply bounced off the wall and came back in for another strike, not being deterred in the slightes.

J was taken aback. She had seen V as an unhinged murderer, she had seen her flirtatious side COUNTLESS times, she had seen her joyful, annoyed, and she had seen her emotionally vulnerable, but she had NEVER seen V this FURIOUS before. She shook her head. Had to keep it cool... Had to stay focused... J snapped her head over to the tank. It had stopped filling. The boy was half submerged in the nanite acid now. With the woman distracted by V, J was quick to act. She formed a blade on her arm, and used it to cut several massive gaping holes in the tank, sending the green liquid spilling out onto the floor. The child was in such pain, and yet... he seemed to be... healing...? The process was gradual, but... but he was healing... How?! She'd seen this acid completely overrule a healing factor before with Eliza!

She shook her head. Healing or not, the acid needed to be neutralized... She stepped forward. "...K-Kid...? Hey..."

"Ow... Ow... Owowowowowow it hurts it hurts..." The boy choked out. J felt nauseous.

"Hey... Can... Can you hear me...?" She asked softly. Her heart dropped when the child didn't acknowledge or even seem to notice her, he just kept whimpering and writhing. She didn't have any time to heal him, however, because before she had the chance, she was almost skewered by an arrow. "Get away from my son please. I'm still using him." The woman said simply before blocking V with another arrow that sent her flying into a wall, which she bounced off of in an effort to fly at her and slice her to shreds with her claws. J knew the woman would have to be dealt with before they could save the child.

Before J could reach her however, she and V both had to back off before they got shredded, as Medusa had summoned a Vector Storm around her body.

"So, two little kitchen appliances decided to crash my little homework." Said the witch, summoning a swarm of vector arrows around herself. "I give you a choice. You either come back to blending vegetables or you can stay and become my new toys. Your choice."

"I take option three..." V said. "AND THAT IS TURNING YOU INTO MINCEMEAT!" She pulled out her missiles and opened fire on the serpent. The witch simply smirked and sent forward her arrows. The two projectiles intercepted each other in their path, and a huge explosion erupted in the lab. J quickly blitzed towards the kid and shielded him with her body and wings.

When the explosion subsided, V's visor lit up and scanned the area. The smoke obscured her vision, and she bit her lip in frustration. 'Lost her...where'd she go?'

Unbeknown to V, a pair of reptilian eyes opened behind her in the smoke. A hiss suddenly alerted V, and she turned around to be impaled by dozens of arrows. Grunting in pain, she forcibly tore herself through the arrows, damaging her body greatly, and fell to the floor. Thankfully the nanites quickly fixed everything. V looked up and was just about to be impaled again, when suddenly a laser beam sliced through them in one hit.

"Need a hand?" Asked J, jumping down and offering to lift her up.

"How's the kid?" V asked, getting up and dusting herself off.

"Okay. I hid him before he could get hurt."

"Hiding won't save him..."

The two drones looked to see Medusa, no worse for wear, with mild burns.

"I can always find him anytime, anywhere." She hissed out, her mouth lengthening until her face resembled an actual snake's.

J scoffed. "That's going to be difficult, considering you're not much longer for this world."

Medusa laughed. "Oh? You think a couple glorified toasters are going to bring me down? Hmph... Maybe I'll toss what's left of you when I'm done into his room afterwards. He really can't stand it when drones are ripped apart, you know. Ever since the very first one... It really was disgusting to watch him breaking over what basically amounted to a useless paperweight being scrapped. Worthless thing couldn't do its job properly, there's no reason to be mourning it. Oh, but I will say, the toll it did on his mental state put me forward so much in my plans, it was ultimately worth listening to his pathetic snivelling..." She paused to see the effect her words had on the two drones. The one with the jacket looked like she was about to blow a vessel in her rage. The twintailed one? She simply narrowed her eyes. Hmph. She continued. "Of course, he still had to be punished. After all... what mother wants their child to scream and cry over the destruction of a useless pile of scrap? Hmm... I haven't heard him cry since that day. Oh, I must be doing an excellent job as a parent, teaching him not to be a nuisance with his loud, irritating wailing over first world problems. Hmph. If he loved the useless thing so much, he can keep its remains and play with them, I've already caught the little idiot sleeping with its severed arm draped around him. So ridiculous..."

"SHUT UP YOU BITCH!" V finally snapped and went in on the assault. Medusa simply formed a red arrow directly in front of herself that pointed upwards. V made impact with it and it launched her into the ceiling. She recuperated quickly and flew back down towards her at full speed, Medusa forming an arrow shaped sword and sneering as she visibly struggled to keep up with the rapid fire series of claw slashes V was raining down upon her.

'Tch... The plan was to enrage them both into attacking mindlessly... Not only did it only work on one of them, but the one it did work on is a lot more dangerous than I anticipated...!' The witch thought. 'Wait... Where IS the other one...?'

She received her answer when a bullet hit her in the ankle.

"Gah!" She grunted in pain as the projectile mangled her ankle. Gritting her teeth, she swung her arm and launched out one of her snake tattoos, which lunged at J and attempted to swallow her whole. The drone luckily reacted in time and flew up, the snake crashing into a shelf with various chemicals.

Medusa's eyes widened and she quickly attempted to scramble away, but it was too late. The shelf tipped over and crashed down on her, spilling all sorts of substances on her body.

Grunting, she used her arrows to push the wooden wreckage off. She attempted to crawl, but suddenly her arm was sliced in two by a laser from V.

"Not so cocky now, are we bitch?" Taunted the drone, pointing her laser in her face. Medusa grunted as she spotted J pointing her own gun barrel at her as well.

"Y-you...rusty...scrap heaps..."

*sssszzzzzz*

A sizzling sound alerted Medusa, and she looked to see her arm, or stump, suddenly starting to decay rapidly. The laser had ignited a substance that began to burn away the witch's skin.

She let out a scream, but that scream became a wail as J quickly closed the distance and skewered her through the back with her stinger tail. "...Now you get to feel his pain..." The twin-tailed drone spat before turning to V. "She's all yours."

V grinned maliciously, then forcibly kicked Medusa onto her beck before pinning the melting witch down by her wrists. "...You deserve to suffer... You SICK, TWISTED, BITCH!" The enraged drone extended her claws and began to furiously hack and tear at Medusa's torso, the witch gurgling and spitting up blood as her midsection was splattered and mangled and torn to shreds, her upper body desperately struggling to push itself away with its one arm, only for V to lunge back for her with a hand full of her now removed internal organs... Which she quickly set to violently cramming down her mouth. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING WHO YOU ARE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIIIIIIIIIIIE!" V hunched over her body, breathing heavily as she giggled softly to herself, temporary insanity briefly taking over as she began to cackle over the witch. She was staring up at her weakly, just barely managing to cling to life as her organs her harshly crammed into her mouth, her jaw mangled at some point during her vicious punishment. "Now SWALLOW." V said with a malicious grin as she grabbed the witch's jaw and the top of her head between her hands, and, with one motion, crushed her head into mush. When she snapped out of it, she panted heavily, then looked at what she had done. She slowly rose to her feet. Her expression remained neutral. Then her eyes widened. "Oh crap, the kid!" Panicked, she ran out of the room to find him and J.

J, meanwhile, was moving to collect the child from the place she'd hidden him... only to find that he had already come out himself... And he was still in terrible pain. He hadn't gotten any WORSE, whatever was healing his body was working double time to keep the effects of the nanite acid at bay. He was crawling... no... it would be more accurate to say that he was weakly dragging himself across the floor, struggling with all his might just to move, whimpering and choking out incoherent pleas for someone who's name she couldn't quite catch due to the strangled tone of his voice. It sounded like... Alice...?

The sight was equal parts horrifying and heartbreaking. J took a single step forward. And then another one. She urged herself to move faster and HELP him, but her emotional state was leaving her in a daze... And then, something rushed right past her, startling her and leaving her in a defensive position in case it was a surprise attack... But she quickly saw that it was only V, now on her knees and trembling as she snatched the child up into her arms and held him close to her chest with one arm as she inserted the other hand into her mouth and shakily set to gently applying the saliva to the child to neutralize the effects of the acid.

"Ow... Ow... Ow... Ow. ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ithurts it hurts it hurts no more please help no more I don't wanna hurt anymore please stop it hurts so bad please..." The boy managed to choke out as V gently began the process, his tiny body visibly relaxing as the saliva did its work and cleanly washed off the effects of the acid. But while the acid was no longer working, and the pain was going away as he healed, he still trembled and shook and whimpered, the feeling not leaving his mind...

V attempted to speak comforting, soothing words, but her throat froze up. She couldn't utter a single word.

The sheer pain she could feel the boy had been through made her nearly gag and vomit. Even for her it was FAR too much.

Thankfully, J was there to come to the rescue.

"Hey...sssshhhh...it's alright now." She whispered. "You can lift your head. She's gone."

The boy waited for a moment, before slowly, his head lifted itself and he looked up at V and J. His eyes widened immediately, and a warm feeling grew in his chest.

'They're...just like Alice...'

Both drones gave him their best smile. V's was extremely shakey and a little strained... But it was still a smile... Not a cruel, mean one like Lady Medusa, a... a gentle, reassuring one, just like... Crona sniffled and buried his face into V's chest, clutching tightly at her jacket as she gave him a gentle squeeze and managed to find her voice.

"It's okay... It's okay... No more hurt, no more pain, I promise it's gonna be okay, we'll protect you, she's gone now, she's NEVER gonna hurt you EVER again... I promise..." She choked out, tears forming on her visor.

Crona blinked twice. "G-Gone...? She's... She's gone...? Gone where...?"

"She..." J let out a soft sigh. "She's passed on...?" Crona looked confused. "...She died. She's dead..." She reluctantly explained.

Crona's eyes widened. "D-Dead...? ...Like... Like... She went to sleep and isn't gonna wake up ever again...?"

"...Yeah... Like... Like that... V and I... handled her..." J admitted.

"...Oh... I... How come...?" Crona asked.

"To make sure she couldn't hurt you anymore. We did it for you." V explained. ...It was... KIND of the truth. It was their mission to kill her... but the mission had been all but forgotten about the instant they'd seen what she was doing to the poor child.

"...She's gone...? N-No more... no more bad scary hurting stuff...?"

"No... None. No more of that, not ever." V whispered softly.

"...I... I... I..." Crona began to tremble. He buried his face back into V's jacket. And his shoulders began to shake with soft, barely audible sobs.

V's heart nearly broke, but she held herself together. It wouldn't do to break down when the kid needed comfort of his own. Tentatively, she patted the back of his head and leaned her chin against his hair.

"Sshhh...no more pain and hurt...you're safe now..."

The boy softly cried into her jacket, and V began to stroke circles on his back, gently so as to not aggravate any previous wounds.

J meanwhile observed from the side. She watched her comrade act unbelievably kind and soft with the kid, something a drone like V would NEVER be caught doing. It...it was just so sweet of her. She really liked this gentle, kind side of her lover.

In fact, it felt... kinda familiar to the twin-tailed drone... As if she had shown this kind of soft, gentle side before... She couldn't remember it, but... it just felt so weirdly natural for V to behave like this with the child... J let out a sigh and approached V, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Okay... You handle things here... I'm gonna go and get rid of the stuff she took..." V smiled and nodded her head before turning back to Crona. As she left the room, J noted the way V's tail swished back and forth merrily as she tended to the crying child, lightly scratching his back with her claws and taking great care not to hurt him.

As soon as J walked back into the room, she saw what was left of the woman and smirked. "V was quite thorough. I haven't seen her this brutal in a very long time." She mused. "Hmm?" She noticed a strange glowing black orb emerge from the remains, and before it could flee, she grabbed it in her hand and studied it closely, noting the way it seemed to struggle to break free, to no avail. "...Hmph. Whatever this is... I shouldn't leave it to its own devices..." She muttered, grabbing a small glass jar off the shelf and putting the orb inside of it, making sure the lid was screwed on tight as the orb repeatedly slammed itself into the jar with all its might... and made zero progress.

J smirked, then turned to see the table the child had been strapped to. Eyes narrowed, she formed her hands into claws, and then used them to shred the table to pieces. She scowled at the spot the child had been tortured, then turned to look at the nearby desk, seeing a file was opened on one of the computers. Eyes narrowed, she approached. ...It was a series of logs... Chronicling the experiments performed on the child... J had a fast way to get that information. Forming her hand into a USB cable, she inserted it into the computer and began the downloading process...

And when it was done, she took several steps back, eyes wide as she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh God..." She choked out. "H-How could... How...?!" She wished she could forget all about everything she had just learned, but at the same time, she didn't think she SHOULD forget what she just learned! She needed to remember this... So the child wouldn't be alone with this knowledge!

Eyes narrowing in anger, she then set to the process of destroying EVERYTHING in that room. Every last piece of machinery, all the experiments, and all the vials were ripped to shreds by claws and heavy artillery as J vented her anger. And when she was done? She walked right up to Medusa's remains, and spat on them. "You deserve everything you got." She said coldly. She felt sick to her stomach, that poor child... Cold blooded torture, and he was only four years old!

She paused for a moment. ...She didn't want to just leave the child. She COULDN'T. Not after learning of all this... But the company... She closed her eyes and let out a huff. 'Screw the damn company. I never thought I'd say that, but screw. Them.' She thought to herself. Walking out of the room, she saw that V was cradling the now sleeping child like a newborn baby, swaddling him up in her wings like a little burrito. She even altered the properties of her wings to a soft, feathery substance to provide the proper amount of comfort. J took a deep breath and let the last of her anger cool. The kid had already been through enough and she refused to potentially scare him. She wanted to ask him something only for a black ooze to suddenly erupt from his back.

He let out a loud yawn. "Ugh... Better be grateful, ya little twerp, healing THAT was one hell of a chore-" He stopped when he noticed the two feminine robots standing before him. "...Okay, whoever designed you two knew EXACTLY what they were doing, there is NO way they didn't. But hey. Who's complaining?" He said with a small smirk.

*click*

"Whoa whoa whoa!" The blob raised his hands in alarm. "What's with the straps, girlie!? At least marry me before ya go on to shoot me!"

"What in the everloving f*ck are you, and what are you doing inside the kid."

"That last part could be taken SOOOO hard out of context." The blob remarked.

*click*

"Okay, okay! Calm down, thunder thighs!" He yelled. "Just messing with ya! And don't worry, I ain't hurting the kid."

"...I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna rip him apart and splatter him all over the floor." V said coldly.

"Ooooh, a crazy girl, I dig it." Ragnarok said with a smirk.

J sighed. "I... did some research in there, V. The boy needs that thing to stay alive..."

V's eyes widened. "...He's stuck with THIS thing living in him?! Agh! Poor freaking baby..." She gently rocked the sleeping child back and forth and scowled at the black blob.

"Yeah, yeah... So where's the witch? Who the hell are you? ...Oh, I get it, she went off to do something and bought a couple drones to deal with the experimenting crap while she was gone so she didn't have to stop her 'research', isn't that just great? Well, do your worst, I can take it, I can heal this runt from just about anything, so just get on with it!"

J coughed into her fist to try and regain her composure, "If you're talking about the snake lady her body is currently in the other room." The blob twisted around to look her in the eye,

"You're not joking, right? The witch is really dead? Did you make sure to grab her soul and shove it in a jar or something to keep it from sneaking off?" Both drones were taken aback by the rapid fire questions.

"...She IS dead... Uh... Hold on..." J left the room in a hurry to see just what he meant with the whole 'soul' thing, leaving him and V alone.

"...So uh... She stole some crap from JCJensen I'm guessing, and THAT'S why you came over here. Uh... I'm gonna go inside now... I'm seriously dead tired, healing this runt takes a lot outta me... G'night..."

V frowned but noticed that the kid was looking pretty exhausted too and decided not to push for more information. Instead she gently caressed his face with her thumb, "Is there anything we need to get you before we leave sweetie?"

Meanwhile J found what she assumed was the woman's soul, the thing she put in the jar and didn't think to bring along, and picked it up off the floor, "You know I'm not sure if you can hear me, but I'm honestly surprised you have a soul." She scowled. "Your own son. Seriously, you are one messed up bitch..." She looked around for something to trap the soul in, opening a nearby door in hopes of finding some kind of jar... only for something to run right into her leg. She blinked and looked down to see a small white rabbit flopped over onto its side, letting out an indignant huff. With a soft laugh she reached down with one hand while the other still had the soul in a tight grip, "Now where did you come from?" The rabbit sniffed her hand suspiciously, but ultimately didn't resist when she gently scooped him up. J smiled and carried both soul and rabbit out of the room only to be greeted by an excited cry of, "Lucky!" from the child.

Lucky heard his human's cry and perked up, eagerly squirming in an effort to reach him. "All right, hold on, just one moment..." J muttered as she handed the boy his bunny, prompting him to hug him close and bury his face in his soft fur.

"I'm okay, Lucky..." He said as the rabbit gently licked his face. "Miss Medusa won't hurt us anymore...and Ragnarok is safe too."

"Awwwww, look at them, J?" V cooed as she observed the interaction between the two. "They just look so cute, don't they?!"

"...Yeah..." J said with a small smile.

V smiled down at Lucky. "He's so cute and fluffy... Heh... Kinda like you." She playfully ruffled Crona's hair and he looked up at her with a small, bashful smile.

"Um... Th-This is Lucky... He-He's my friend..." He said softly.

"Heh... Nice to meet ya, Lucky." V booped the little rabbit's nose. He quickly drew back, clearly not enjoying the feeling of hard metal on his nose, and turned back into Crona's chest with a huff. V chuckled, then turned to J. "So... Is that...?" She pointed at Medusa's soul.

V scowled. "I say we stick it in a garbage can, that's where it belongs." She looked down at Crona, who yawned sleepily. "Awww, had a big day, huh, little guy? Here..." She used her wings to bundle him up again and rocked him gently.

J sighed and held the soul up to eye level, "Sadly I don't think we can just toss it somewhere. The blob was pretty insistent we keep an eye on it, and with how that woman was torturing them I'm inclined to agree. There's no telling what trouble it could cause us later if we don't." She looked at V. "...Where'd he go? We need to ask him where to put it."

"...I think he went to sleep... Healing the baby tired the thing out." She explained.

"...Perfect." J deadpanned. "...Well... I'm gonna go and look around thoroughly to make sure there's nothing we missed... Stay here and look after them, maybe see if you can find something for them to eat."

"Right." V nodded with a smile, lightly booping Crona's nose. "Hear that, little guy? Ya get to hang out with me for a bit!"

Crona smiled softly before blinking and tilting his head. "Um... D-Do you... Do you have a name...?" He asked softly.

"Oh right! Heh... I'm V. And the other one's J! She's my girlfriend." V explained.

"Oh. Um... Hi, Miss V..."

"Pfft! Miss V? Very sweet, but a bit too stuffy for my tastes, you can just call me V!"

Crona smiled softly up at her. Alice had said more or less the same thing when they first met... "...Okay... V... Um... My name is Crona..."

"Awww, what a cute name." V giggled.

"And you have a really pretty name..." Crona murmured softly.

"...Awwwwwwwww... That's so nice!" V held him up so she could nuzzle his face with a toothy grin. "You are just WAY too adorable for your own good, little guy!"

Crona smiled softly and looked down. "...I like drones... Drones are nice to me..." He murmured softly. V tilted her head.

"Oh yeah? Well... Good! Glad you like us then!"

"...You...You're really nice... Like..." He trailed off, and didn't want to say any more. V tilted her head with a confused frown, slightly worried for the child.

J had found a few more things worthy of destruction as she travelled through the bowels of the cave. And eventually, she came to a room. It was a fairly empty room. No furniture, just stone cold floor, walls, darkness, and... and... J's eyes narrowed and she approached something on the floor, head cocked to the side, leaning in close to investigate.

It looked like a bunch of scrap metal, badly damaged, dented, and arranged to look like a...like a...

"A drone?" Whispered J.

Indeed, it was a drone. Or at least, it's remains.

"What's a drone doing here?" J asked herself, before it suddenly rang in her head. "Oh...she mentioned she killed a drone the kid liked. This must be that then."

She sighed. "Damn. Kid must've really liked that drone if he reassembled it as best as he could after the bitch tore it up."

She squinted at the mangled remains. "Let's see here... Seems to be... female, if the hair is any indication... Hmm... If the little guy really is attached to this drone, I guess I shouldn't just leave her behind..." With a soft sigh, she grabbed her travelling bag from around her shoulder and carefully gathered the remains into it. It felt... incredibly weird and macabre to be carrying what was once a member of her own kind around in a bag, but she felt like if she was just left behind, it would haunt the kid for the rest of his life... She'd figure out what to do with her later...

She walked back out to see that V had effectively put the child to sleep, gently cradling him in her arms as if he were a newborn baby as she gazed tenderly down at him and lightly rocked him back and forth in gentle, soothing motions as she softly hummed to him, the boy curled towards her in a manner that left him facing her chest as he had his tiny thumb in his mouth, innocently suckling on it as he slept soundly.

J just had to smile. This was a side of V that she very much liked to see, this more gentle, tender, affectionate and loving side that she only shared with the ones she loved most of all. V leaned down to gently nuzzle the sleeping boy before softly whispering something in his ear, J reading her lips to tell that she was saying "Everything will be okay...", before she gently pressed a kiss against his temple and went back to swinging him soothingly in her arms.

"...Well, someone's certainly attached." J chuckled softly, hand on her hip.

V turned to her, expression completely and utterly serious. "He's MINE. I'm adopting him. This is my baby. ...OUR baby..." She said softly, in a tone that left no room for argument.

"I knew you would say that." Sighed J. "Well, we'll need to know how to take care of a kid, so...wait..."

"Huh?"

"Hold on...if we become parents...does that mean we're..."

"Married? Yes! Heck yes we are!" Exclaimed V. "About time!"

"B-but wait! How will I know that I'll be a good mother!?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? You'd be absolutely perfect."

"Huh?"

V approached with a smile and a wink. "Someone's gotta keep me from getting TOO wrapped up in the whole 'mom' thing and spoiling him too much, right? I need ya to keep me grounded, y'know? And besides... I know you. You take every job you're given REALLY seriously. This won't be any different."

"...This... This is very sudden..." J murmured, rubbing her arm. Drones had their own unique customs. Whereas humans proposed to each other using rings and fancy ceremonies, drones tied the knot when they became parents. It was always a decision on both ends to build a child. They HAD to make the conscious decision to take that step, as it wasn't as though unexpected pregnancies were a thing with literal robots. The company wanted to produce more drones, they'd allow two parent drones to build themselves a child and raise it from the ground up to teach it the ropes of the company. Only... This was something truly unprecedented. Not only would they be the first assassin drones to have a child... but it wouldn't even BE a drone they were raising... It was going to be... a... a human... And the lessons they'd have to teach him over the years... Well, simply put, they were not going to have anything to do with the company... J looked down for a moment, "You know this means we can't go back to them. We would need to completely break away from them here and now, and never look back."

V nodded her head and gave J a serious look, "I know, and I'm completely serious." She gave the child a gentle squeeze. "...I HAVE to protect him, because... because he's hurt... He... He was being hurt... Just... Just like me..." She whispered softly. J frowned. V had never really talked about what they did when converting her... "N-No... No, NOT just like me... Even WORSE than me..." V concluded. She at least had the comfort of falling unconscious plenty of times throughout her procedure... How much must this child have suffered, to stay awake throughout such unimaginable torture as nanite acid?! She was immensely grateful that she had put an end to that evil twisted SNAKE of a woman. In fact... she enjoyed her work for the first time ever. How fitting that her final day on the job was the first and likely only time she would enjoy doing it. While she may have been tasked with taking out bad people in the past it had never been as personal as it had been with her. The moment she saw the kid strapped to the table her memories had very briefly snapped into clarity. Not the exact events... But the general gist of it was clear. They had tortured her and twisted her into a monster while she had been still awake. Only finally blessedly losing the horror and pain after... after... Well... she didn't know... And that woman was trying to do the same thing to this child... She wanted him to be a tool, something she could use to hurt and destroy... She had a special connection with this child... She understood him, more than anyone could. More than that she knew what he could be twisted into. How hard it was to fight it off and return to the person she was before. Even if she knew that she could never turn back completely. She didn't even know who she WAS...

He may not ever call her his mom, but she fully intended to play that role for him, societal expectations be damned. Suddenly, J got a call from the company on her communicator, and she tensed up. Tentatively, she answered it... only to hear an unfamiliar voice. "Uh... Hello? This thing on? Bollocks they made all this stuff way too complicated for comfort, seriously... J? Can you hear me?" The voice sounded... familiar.

"Who... Who ARE you?!" J demanded.

"Aaaaand you also don't remember, should've figured... Well, while you two were out an' about, a looooot went down. It's... kind of a lot to explain, soooo... hang on, I'm gonna check your coordinates... Ah, Nevada, that's pretty out of the way, ain't it? Well, there's a city about three miles north of where you are, go there, find a TV and the news will give ya all the juicy details!"

J frowned, but looked at V, who had a stunned look on her face having heard the transmission as well, "...Roger that..." Suddenly a map popped up in their vision with both their location and the city in question. J shoved the jar containing Medusa's soul in her travelling bag, smirking at the knowledge that she was dead and gone like the drone she'd put in there.

And with that, both drones took off into the air. V took Crona, while J took the liberty of carrying a very fussy Lucky to make sure V didn't lose her grip on him while carrying both him and Crona at the same time. The rabbit was very visibly distressed at being so high above the ground, lightly squirming and letting out quiet, squeaky grunts as he pointedly tried to avoid looking down.

"Whoa! Oh, I almost dropped you!" She grunted when Lucky almost squeezed himself out of her arms. "Would you stay still for a second!? I'm not trying to drop you!"

"Shh! You'll wake him up!" Hissed V, only for her eyes to widen when she felt the boy in her arms stir.

"Hmmm...whaaaa...?" Crona groaned as he slowly came to. He looked around, and his eyes widened when he realized they were high up in the air."

Immediately, he hid his face in V's jacket, starting to tremble. V for her part bit her lip and began to stroke his hair. "There...hey, I won't drop you. We're gonna get down soon. Shhh...don't be scared. I got you. You're not falling with me holding you."

Crona whimpered in response, and V smiled softly before stopping in her forward going momentum, putting herself in an upright position as she flapped her wings and adjusted her hold on him. He'd practically turned his head one eighty degrees to hide his face from the view, so she dealt with the clear discomfort that would cause by gently turning him around and hugging him close. "Shhhhh... It's okay, it's okay, you don't have to be scared, I've got you..." She whispered, gently running her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner.

J stopped next to her and looked at the boy, concerned, then frowned as Lucky made an attempt to jump over to him. Ugh... This rabbit was going to get itself killed if it didn't quit squirming around like this...

"Mmm... High... Donlikeit..." Crona mumbled out softly.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, but it's the best way to get out of this desert... Look... I can already see the city, it's over there, just hold on for a bit longer, okay, honey? I promise you'll be okay..."

"I...Okay... I'll try..." Crona mumbled.

"Good boy... Okay..." She shifted her hold to make sure he was secure, and felt him bury his face further into her chest. "There you go..." She began to fly again. "You're doing great, keep it up, just a little more, just don't loom down, you're safe, it's okay..."

As V did her best to comfort Crona, J watched from the side, gently petting Lucky to pacify him and make him stop struggling. An act that seemed to have worked.

'She's so gentle with him.' She thought. 'It...surprisingly fits her better than her usual bloodthirsty self.'

Her mind flashed back to their times as maids, where V was behaving exactly how she is behaving here. Gentle. Friendly. Kind.

It didn't at all fit her current self.

And yet...it just looked so perfect.

"I'm so glad to have fallen in love with her."

"Huh? Did you say something J?"

J laughed. "I just said I love you." She replied.

"Awww, love you too, J!" V giggled before looking back down at Crona. "Heh... Doesn't he look like a little baby koala?" J laughed softly when she saw the way his tiny arms and legs were wrapped around V, as much so as they could be.

"He really does. ...Careful... Not too fast. It might be too cold for him, and the wind might disturb him..."

"Relaaaax, babe, I know what I'm doing!" V giggled with a smile and a wink.

"Okay... Um... Keep looking ahead of you, don't wanna crash into anything..."

"When have I ever crashed into anything while flying?"

"..."

"...Okay, well, what is there for me to crash into all the way out here in the middle of the desert?"

"I just... want you to be careful, you have a delicate passenger..."

"Aww, it's sweet of you to care, but don't worry... I'm not letting anything happen to the baby, just relax, I got this, focus on keeping that rabbit calm, he's shaking."

J sighed. "It's fine, Lucky, we're almost there..."

And soon enough, the two drones reached their destination. Both stopped, moved into upright positions, and gently fluttered back down to the ground. "Look... Crona... We're landing now, see? It's okay... We're almost back on the ground... Almost there... Aaaaand... Done! There... Back on the ground, safe and sound!"

"Ah...okay." The boy visibly breathed a sigh of relief as he looked down and found himself close to ground again.

"Good job... You were so brave..." V cooed gently. "Heh... We had a friend that panicked the first time he flew... And it was his own wings he was flying with..."

J landed shortly after with a deep sigh of exasperation as she held the squirming rabbit. "All right, all right... Here... You should take a few pages out of your human's book..." She groaned. "Here you go, sweetie, here's your bunny, safe and sound..." Lucky immediately hopped right into Crona's arms and nestled in with a light huff, Crona hugging him tightly with a bright smile. "Wow. Just couldn't wait to get away from me, could you rabbit?" J said flatly.

Lucky looked over at her, tilted his head for a few seconds, then huffed and turned back to Crona, nestling in close to him and burying his face in his chest, causing him to giggle and bury his face into his fur. J rolled her eyes. "Oh boy, that rabbit's lucky he's cute..."

V looked around. "...Wow. A giant bustling city in the middle of the desert. Sure wasn't expecting to come across THAT this lifetime." V remarked.

J shrugged one shoulder, "I'm more concerned with them having satellite tv. I want to know just what she meant by us not having to worry about them." Turning to each other with a nod, both drones walked in from the main entrance. Both drones made sure to be as discrete as possible. They didn't really want any attention right now, civillians were vastly preferable to the top one percent as they tended to be more interested in drones than anything, but they were in a bit of a rush. That meant appearing as nothing more than a pair of nanny drones out for a walk with their charge. With the way V was fawning over Crona it would be easy as long as they weren't forced to use their weapons. Following B's advice, V had even been picking up loose cash from their targets for a while and stashing it in compartments on their bodies so they could even buy him lunch from some cafe with a tv to see what all the fuss was about. Choosing a nearby restaurant, they settled down at a table, Crona sitting snugly on V's lap as she held the menu up for him.

Crona looked at the menu, then looked up at V, completely lost and confused, making it very clear he had no clue what he was meant to do with it. Suddenly, Ragnarok burst out of his back. "THAT! GET THAT!" He pointed at something on the menu. it was a relief to both drones that his joyful shout only drew more than a passing glance from the locals. V smiled at the waitstaff and indicated the requested item on the menu while J gave Ragnarok a withering look. Once they were alone he had the decency to look sheepish, "Ah, cut me some slack, I haven't eaten actual food in years and the kid's never tasted flavour before. The hag only fed us some kinda weird grey slop that tasted and felt like soggy cardboard, it sucked!"

V huffed. "Lame..." She muttered.

Ragnarok looked at her. "Sooooo you ordered way more food than the kid can eat, what's that about?"

J raised a brow. "We can eat too. We're designed to keep fuel burning by eating food in fact. But enough about that... We're here to deal with something else..." She narrowed her eyes up at the television in the cafe. And her eyes widened when she saw the news flare. 'JC JENSEN EXPOSED! MURDER! ABUSE! MALPRACTICE!' And sitting in an interview chair was a woman that seemed... very familiar...

Another series of faint memories played in her mind. Only this time there was a name to go with the much younger face, "Tessa?" The name barely came out of her mouth as little more than a whisper.

According to the news, JC Jensen had been exposed for siccing assassination drones onto their opposition, abusing their human workers, and V was horrified to discover that they were trying to apply the same tactics they'd used on drones to human beings, with a fifteen year old girl named Carol being their first [and only] test subject before being caught. Irreversible damage had been done to the poor thing, but at the very least no others would follow. Both drones shared a look as it finally dawned on them. The company was going down and they didn't need to worry about them ever again.

"...All this in a single day?" V asked with a raised brow. "Tessa must have been working at this for years, how long did it take her to get all this evidence...? Wait, crap, what's gonna happen to us, are they gonna try and scrap us?!"

J put a hand on her shoulder, "Easy V if Tessa's been working so long for this she definitely has a plan. She won't let them just scrap us." A soft ping was heard in their heads as a new message from Tessa arrived.

"Didja see it?!" She asked the second J answered the call.

"Y-Yes... Um... Your name IS Tessa... right?"

The woman on the other end gasped. "You remember my name! Oh my gosh, that's so much more than I expected!"

J took a deep breath before asking the big question, "So what's our next move? V and I aren't exactly out of the woods just yet." More than that they needed a safe and stable place to raise Crona in.

"Ah, no worries, just let me check out your coordinates and bob's your uncle I'll come and get you before you know it! Bought out the whole stock of machines, I did. None of you have to worry about anything anymore." Tessa replied.

Both drones let out sighs of relief knowing that both them and their fellow drones were in the clear. V suddenly chimed in, "We might need a pickup from our location. We've got some precious cargo that we can't fly long distances with."

"Precious cargo, eh? All right then, I'm gonna come by and pick you girls up myself! I just need to see what this is all about! And besides, I missed you both terribly! Be there by the end of the night, I'll just keep a look on your tracking device, finding you'll be no sweat!" J and V let out another sigh of relief as the call ended. Not having to look over their shoulders for the rest of their lives was a huge weight off their shoulders, but now they had another decision to make. What were they going to do with the hours they had until Tessa arrived to pick them up?

"...Should we like... find a place to get rid of that?" V asked, pointing at the jar containing the soul of the witch that had tortured the child. "Maybe stick it in a box and lock it up with a key and chain, cover it in cement and bury it WAY deep underground?"

Ragnarok popped out. "Nope! Uh-uh! No way! There's only one guy in the world we can trust this thing to and he lives right here in the city, so let's go and hand it over and clean our hands off!" He protested.

V sighed. "Greeeeeat, we get to go and meet up with some important guy that's gonna act like we're nothing but a couple of mindless tools that don't have feelings or emotions, joy." She drawled, rolling her eyes.

"What, Lord Death? Pffft! Naaaah! The guy LOVES drones, thinks they're the greatest thing mankind ever built! He has a bunch of them working around the school, and he pays them just as much as he pays any human worker! I actually hung out with some younger drone called Thad or something a few times before THIS happened to me, heh."

V snorted. "I'll believe it when I see it. I've only ever known one human being that treated us like we were worth anything in my entire life."

Ragnarok snorted. "Who said he was a human?" but he refused to say anything else. Only saying that it would be a surprise once they met him. Both drones were confused, but set it aside for the moment. Their food arrived at their table. Crona looked at the meal Ragnarok had chosen for him with his head tilted to the side, trying to make heads or tails of what exactly it was he was looking at. What Ragnarok had chosen for him was a pretty standard meal for a kid, chicken nuggets with French fries. While it wasn't anything too exciting it was a good start to introduce Crona to real food. Of course Ragnarok took a couple of the nuggets for himself, which Crona didn't mind one bit. He made the decision to share his food with Ragnarok, taking one for himself, then holding one up for Ragnarok to snap up. Ragnarok smiled and pointed out some of the various things the nuggets and fries could be eaten with. Sounding very much like an older brother to the drones who happily dug into their own meals. Just a couple of club sandwiches after a couple days of eating MREs and batteries while on the hunt.

They noticed the weird looks they got from the various humans in the establishment, and J rolled her eyes. "You'd think by now they would have learned we need food just the same as they do but here we are."

V snorted. "They don't know anything about us."

"Hey, not our fault you don't make sense, come on, you're robots that eat food and sleep and sweat and all stuff humans do, it's like... pretty much impossible, yet here you are casually existing, I still can't figure out how you work!" Ragnarok exclaimed. He accepted another fry from Crona. "Thanks, kid."

V turned her attention to the boy. "Is it good?" She asked. Crona looked at her with a small, shy smile and nodded his head. "Awesome. Heh... Glad we picked a good place then."

Ragnarok chuckled and leaned against the wall, "This place has been around for what feels like forever. I used to come with my friends when we went to school here."

V blinked in surprise, "So you spent a lot of time here?"

Ragnarok nodded. "Yep. Right up till I got melted down." He took another fry that was offered to him.

V and J exchanged a glance. "Hmm. Glad we picked it then!" V chirped. Upon seeing the last of Crona's food was done, she grabbed him and set him on her lap. He leaned back against her and closed his eyes for a moment. Just enjoying the sensation of being held by V. In fact he doubted he would ever grow tired of the feeling of being held by someone who cared for him. She was... a little bit hard. It was kind of like he was sitting up against the wall. Yet she was also warm. It was to be expected, she was a robot, but he had expected her to be cold. She still was still far more comfortable than the floor of his cell had ever been. There were no bumps or rocks digging into his side or back, nor any other sort of discomfort. V smiled when Crona snuggled into her and gave him an extremely gentle squeeze in return. "Got a nice full tummy?" She cooed, stroking his back, giggling when he nodded his head and smiled softly. "Good..." She kissed his head. "Did you like your first actual food?"

"Food tastes good... I... I didn't know it could taste like anything..." Crona mumbled.

V giggled. "Well... We'll make sure you get fed from now on..." She murmured. She closed her eyes. This felt nice. Just being able to... show affection to someone besides J. J had been her only source of comfort, her only solace, the only time she could just be who she was for so long, but she felt like this boy had freed her just a bit. She didn't need to act like a crazed killer anymore. No more need to act like a monster just so she didn't end up strapped to a steel table again. She had to surpress a shudder as the image that haunted her nightmares came to her. The data spike poised above her eyes like a cobra waiting to strike. She did tighten her hold on Crona just a bit though. And she wondered... Just how many images like that haunted him...? The woman clearly wasn't afraid to subject him to the most brutal of tests to see what he could survive, how much had she put him through? A part of her wanted to ask, but another was scared to dredge up any bad memories. Both hers and Crona and Ragnarok's. They both had to endure whatever madness Medusa had come up with. But she could still see he was in great pain just by the looks of him. His entire demeanour gave it away. His small size, his rail thin physique, his pale skin... But most of all, his eyes gave away how utterly scared he was. There was a fear there that would take a very long time to fade away if it ever did. That woman had left a permanent mark on him deeper than any physical scar. Her soul was currently stuck in a pickle jar, but even that felt to lenient to V. She wanted to destroy it. Rip it to shreds. Utterly mangle and shatter it until there was absolutely nothing remaining of that horrendous witch that had caused this child so much pain. And this wasn't her sadism talking. It was her maternal instincts. The only problem was she really had no clue how to go about ripping a soul apart. She knew how to kill living beings, in fact she was very good at it, but before meeting Crona she really had no contact with the supernatural. She wasn't even sure if anything she had built into her frame would do anything to the glowing ball.

"...I wanna feed that thing to dogs. That's all she's even good for. Dog food." V said simply, pointing at the soul.

J raised a brow. "Heh... Yeah... Ah, cats are way better, I don't know why N liked dogs so much... ...If only Tessa exposed them before we lost N..." Neither of them even really knew what happened to him. Supposedly he had been taken away to be scrapped, but they overheard two scientists talking. Apparently the truck had some sort of accident and N's body was never found. V looked at Crona as Lucky hopped out of J's arms and made his way over to her, or rather, to Crona. Crona took the rabbit into his arms and cuddled him like he was a plush toy.

V smiled softly. "Doesn't he kinda remind you of N...?"

J smiled, "I would say he's far more sweet and cuddly than N." N was like a puppy who would follow them around. Crona on the other hand was more like a baby rabbit.

V sighed. "...I wish I'd been closer to him..." She murmured.

"I... have a LOT of regrets..." J sighed. "Especially now that it's all over and done with..." More than anything she hadn't wanted him to be scrapped. Regardless of not having the stomach for wet work he was still one of them. Now they could even partially remember why they had felt that way even from the beginning.

V looked down at Crona with a sad smile. "We'll just have to make up for it by being nice to this little guy, huh?" She ruffled the boy's hair. "Wow, his hair is SO fluffy, feel it, c'mon, give it a feel, J!" J softly chuckled as she joined in petting Crona, and V was right. His hair was very soft and fluffy. Even cuter was the way he would lean into their touch with his eyes closed.

"...He's... He's so touch starved..." V blinked and tilted her head at her lover, who continued. "He's never been given this kind of attention before, and he craves it..."

V frowned and hugged him up against the crook of her neck, gently rocking him as she stroked his back. "Well, I've got lots of love to give him, so I'll give him his fill." She cooed, smiling again as she closed her eyes. Crona let out a soft yawn, and she giggled. She gently patted his head as he leaned against her shoulder, "He's all tuckered out from how… eventful his day has been."

J smiled and rubbed slow circles on his back, "Yeah I would say it's been a crazy day for him." Lucky even joined in to nuzzle Crona's neck with a soft squeak.

V finished off her sandwich and gave the boy a squeeze as she leaned back in her chair. "Ah... Well... We got him fed and we ate ourselves, now let's go ahead and get this stupid THING off our hands before I get so angry that I try to destroy it by any means necessarry."

J nodded in agreement before shoving the jar deeper into the bag and turned to Ragnarok, "Where do we need to go to see this friend of yours?"

Ragnarok lightly clapped his hands together, "It's actually pretty simple. All we need to do is go to the big building in the center of town and let me do most of the talking." J nodded and rose to her feet, V following suit, gently patting Crona's back and nuzzling him with her face. J looked at V with a small smirk. She didn't even know she was CAPABLE of expressing this kind of love to anyone that wasn't her. It was a massive relief to see her shed the crazed assassins bot shell. She was still very good at inflicting violence, but at least now she didn't have to just be violent. Now she could love and spoil their little one and they could openly be together.

J blinked twice. ...V was basically a mother now. And she was V's lover. Which meant they were married. She was V's wife. And that also meant SHE was basically a mother now. HER. A MOTHER. To a HUMAN CHILD. ...That... was NOT legal... And... Was she really ready for it...?

It wasn't like Crona was a bad kid, nor was she going to try to make V hand him over to an orphanage or anything like that. She just wasn't sure if she was ready to take on such an important task like being a mother. It meant taking full responsibility for bringing up a tiny human. She just... didn't feel like the kind of drone that would be up to such a task. She wasn't the gentle, nurturing hand that a child like Crona needed after all he'd been through. Quite the opposite, she was surly and stern. She could be the one to stand up for him and protect him, but she didn't know if she was the one who could comfort him after he has a nightmare. V was always the more open hearted and loving one of the two of them. Even when she was all twisted up inside some part of her had still known how they felt about each other. She looked over at V, who was gently rocking Crona in her arms, and looked back forward with a soft smile and a quiet sigh. Even if she couldn't be the kind of mother Crona needed, V could and was, and that was all that mattered.

After paying the bill they walked outside to take care of their pressing errand before Tessa arrived. Following Ragnarok's finger J, V, Crona, and Lucky all looked towards the highest point in the city. J let out an amused huff, "You weren't lying about not being able to miss it."

She took the soul. "Well, time is of the essence and it'll be WAY faster if we fly, these legs are NOT built to climb up stairs anyway..."

V snorted. "You learned THAT the hard way, didn't you?" J huffed and rolled her eyes. She turned her attention to Crona. "Okay, sweetheart, just for a few seconds and we'll be done, okay? Hold on tight... I'm not letting go..." After a quick check to make sure they wouldn't be spotted they made sure Crona and Lucky were secure and spread their wings. In mere moments they had made it to the top of the stairs to take a look at the view. V smiled as they looked out over Death City, "It really is a charming little city." She murmured as she landed, gently patting Crona's back and shushing him to calm his nerves. She held up Crona so he could get a better look, and he let out an uncertain grunt and squirmed slightly in an effort to turn back around. "Oh, no? All right..." She turned him back around. "What's wrong?"

Crona shivered. "High... Too many buildings... What if I fell...?"

V frowned. "Ah, sorry, hun... You're really scared of heights, huh?"

"...She didn't do anything to you involving heights, did she?" J pleaded silently for him to say no.

Ragnarok snorted. "One time she got so fed up with him for not killing the rabbit that she dragged him outside on her broomstick and dangled him upside down like a thousand feet above the ground by one of his ankles for like thirty minutes. And then she dropped him. I had to fix a bunch of broken bones and I was still tired from healing him from the experiments earlier that day so it took me like three hours."

"..."

"..."

"Gimme that."

"Whu-" Before J could react, she suddenly found Crona in her arms, having replaced the jar from before.

As for the jar...

"You filty...I'm about...to...you will...rghhhaaaaaaah!" Screamed V as she violently shook the jar containing Medusa's soul. The speed at which she did so prevented the soul from straightening it's path, and the force was enough to make the soul hit every single corner of the jar at super high speed. V herself was shaking it so violently, J wouldn't be surprised if she ended up dropping it or tearing it into nothing in an instant

Eventually, V managed to calm down, but the wild, manic look in her eyes had gone nowhere as she hunched over slightly, breathing heavily as she stared at the jar containing the witch's soul, eyes wide as dinner plates. It was almost creepy how clearly enraged she was without glaring. And then she spoke to the soul. "I hate you, I hate you, you're scum, you're trash, I should have killed you so much slower, you're a parasite, a disgrace, you have no value to anyone, I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you..." She spoke in a low, shakey tone of voice as her shoulders trembled violently, her hands gripping the jar so tightly that she was mere seconds away from shattering it.

"Okay, tradeback!" J hurriedly swapped the jar out for Crona, taking it back in her arms. "Can't have you letting this thing go, V."

V blinked owlishly, as though snapping out of a trance, before looking to see Crona was back in her arms. She frowned softly at him before tearing up and holding him tight. "...I'm sorry... I'm SO sorry, I didn't know, I... You must have been so scared when you woke up so high in the air not knowing what was going on, I'm SOOOO sorry, sweetie, I'm sorry..."

"B-But... But you didn't drop me... And you were nice to me about it, you... you told me it was okay and you weren't gonna drop me, so you didn't do anything bad..." Crona murmured softly, rubbing his arm.

V laughed softly and gently kissed his forehead. "You're so sweet..." She whispered softly, before peppering his tiny face in more kisses.

Crona let himself be showered by V's affection. Her kisses were...unusual.

They felt cold. Smooth. Like hard, unbending metal. Probably because she was a drone.

And yet...Crona could feel the warmth that came from the kisses, regardless of the cold surface. He didn't know why, but he subconsciously felt himself feel more comfortable around V.

He could tell she and J wouldn't hurt him. They said so themselves. They would make sure to not ever drop him. He...

He liked this.

They were...just like Alice.

He still remembered her hugs, and the way she would carry him around on her shoulders, and the way she would playfully mess up his hair, and...

No, no, he had to stop thinking about it, it hurt too much...

"Crona? Are you all right?" J asked, causing him to look up at her, blinking twice, before nodding his head with a small "Mm-hmm..." J frowned, not quite believing him, but also not wanting to push him. "Okay... If you're sure..." She murmured. V also noticed and looked concerned, and gave J a glance. J simply shook her head, and V nodded at her in understanding. Crona was trying to make himself look at the city down below again, only to flinch and hide in V's coat once more.

V gently rested her cheek on top of his head, "Crona, I would never let you fall."

Crona shook his head and whispered, "It's too much." J and V shared a look as they realized he was feeling overwhelmed after quite literally living his life in a cave. The outside world was full of things he had never seen and now it was hitting him all at once.

V smiled at him. "Guess I'm gonna have to show you the world one step at a time then!" She chirped. "We'll start out with books, and then we'll take little walks outside, and then we'll just keep going from there, how about that?"

Crona nodded and managed to look up at her from her jacket. J let them have their moment before turning towards Ragnarok, "So what do we do next?"

The demon sword sighed, "Now we say hello to some people I haven't seen in years."

J raised a brow. "Just make it quick, we really don't have time to be reuniting with old friends, we have someone coming to pick us up and we never know when they might show up to grab us." She explained.

Ragnarok shrugged and gestures towards the door, "It'll mostly depend on who is in the hallway if we meet anyone, but it shouldn't take too long. Anyway, welcome to Death Weapon Meister Academy. Love it or hate it." He drawled as he pointed at the massive building.

"...Weird." Was all V said.

And so Ragnarok pointed the way to the headmaster's office, and he knocked on the door with his tiny knuckles. "Come in!" A voice sounded from the other side of the door, and V pushed it open. Her eyes were drawn to look up at what she expected to be to be gates only to be brought to a stop, "Are those… guillotines?" Even J had to stop and stare in confusion at the line of massive blades stretching further into the office. Ragnarok just had a nostalgic look in his eyes.

"Lord Death! Lord Death! It's me! You remember me, right? It's Ragnarok!" The blob called out excitedly, prompting the towering black and white figure to tilt his head.

"Ragnarok? Oh, you look so different, what happened to you?!"

Reaching into the bag he pulled out the jar, "Got slipped something by a witch and it ended pretty poorly for me."

While the headmaster and student reunited J and V felt their brains glitching as they tried to process what they were seeing. With I finally saying, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the guy you want to give Medusa's soul to is the Grim Reaper himself?"

Ragnarok nodded. "Yeah, he's the headmaster. Uh... Here ya go, Medusa's soul! Don't let her out, she's nuts, in fact you should just feed her to whoever becomes the next Death Scythe, get that thing OUT of the picture as soon as you can!"

Death stared at the jar in shock, "Did… did you say this witch was named Medusa? As in our school nurse Medusa?" Both drones and demon sword stared at him in shock.

V turned her body to keep Crona away from the soul, "She was the school nurse?"

J narrowed her eyes. "She managed to weasel her way into a place full of CHILDREN?! That sick, twisted, CONNIVING little SNAKE!" She snarled, furiously grabbing the jar containing the soul and shaking it violently.

"Hey, hey, come on, quit shaking it, you might drop it and let her go, come on!" Ragnarok protested. "But yeah, I dunno how she snuck under the radar, witch souls are supposed to stand out in a crowd!"

J scowled. "Take this thing, lock it up, throw away the key and cram the whole safe down someone's throat and then encase that person in cement and drop them at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, just don't let this THING anywhere near ANY MORE KIDS. ESPECIALLY knowing what she did to her OWN kid." Lord Death stared at the jar with his shoulders slumped. Completely appalled that he had been duped by a witch right under his nose. Not even just Living in Death City, but literally someone he saw pretty much every day. J sighed. "Well... That's all we came here to do. We need to get this little guy somewhere safe now... We have someone coming to meet up with us and we need to be ready to go along with them."

Death sat the jar on his desk before grabbing a card, "Of course, but if you ever encounter anything like Medusa again. Please, don't be afraid to call me." J stared at the card for a moment, but ultimately placed it in a compartment on her body. Their encounter with Medusa had made it abundantly clear that the supernatural was real, and she would really prefer to have an expert on speed dial. She looked down at the boy in V's arms and tilted her head. Now that she thought about it, HE was supernatural as well, and she wasn't at all sure how to go about raising a child with supernatural powers, especially when she didn't quite know what those powers WERE. Well… maybe that wasn't entirely true, 'There is Ragnarok.' The most supernatural part of the kid that she could see had a mouth and a mind of his own, so they weren't entirely in the dark. Even still she wouldn't say know to a little extra help when they needed it. "...C'mon, V. We need to go and meet Tessa." She said simply, grabbing V by the hand.

"Uh... Right. See ya... Uh... Actually I don't know if I'll ever see you again after this because I don't know if we even have souls..." V muttered to Lord Death.

Lord Death chuckled and waved, but didn't say one way or the other. Not wanting to influence the development of the little blue sparks he could see within them. They needed to discover the soul within them on their own.

The two drones found the nearest window. "Okay, Crona, gonna take off now. Just remember that I've got you, and I'm not gonna let you go for any reason, and not to look down, okay, huh?" V warned, prompting the boy to latch onto her coat and bury his face in it as she took off out the open window, J following close behind her with Lucky, who was squirming and fussing once more. "There we go, it's okay, you're doing great, sweetie, just hang in there, it's not a long flight, it's okay..." V cooed gently to the child to try and soothe his fear as much as possible.

Following the coordinates Tessa gave them once more they soon arrived at a rocky plateau. An ideal place for whatever aircraft she was sending to pick them up. Both drones suddenly felt butterflies in their stomachs at the thought of seeing her again in person after so long. They had lost years that they could've had with her. And the worst part is, they barely even remembered her!

"...So... She had blonde hair, right?" V asked J with a raised brow.

"...No, it was black. Or... was it brown...? Ugh... I can't remember..." She groaned. "They really messed with our heads... Uh... She was Irish, right?"

V shook her head, "No, no, I'm pretty sure the mansion was in Australia." J groaned and rubbed her head,

"I really hope she has some way to restore the rest of our memories. Because right now it feels like trying to solve a puzzle with most of the pieces just gone." They both had bits and pieces of the puzzle, but there was still so much missing from their minds.

"...I... I know we were together at some point back then, just because I had a feeling as soon as I saw you, but... that's about it..." V admitted. Crona looked up at them with a tilted head. V looked back. "Ah, just grown up stuff, don't worry about it."

J hesitated for a moment before gently patting his back, "She's right, Crona. We're just feeling a little nervous about meeting our friend after so long." Both drones wondered what her life had been like after they had vanished on her without a word.

"...She was close with N, wasn't she? I remember they used to spend a lot of time toge-" Before V could finish her sentence, a very familiar male voice called out along with the sound of an aircraft. "V! J! LOOK! LOOK, UP HERE, IT'S ME, N! REMEMBER ME?!"

"N?" Came V's response. Immediately, flashes of memories appeared in her head. Both drones' eyes widened.

"N...he's..."

"N! He's okay!" V exclaimed, a surge of happiness and relief in her heart. Immediately the two drones flew up into the sky, heading at top speed to reach their alive and well friend.

Crona cried out in fear, and V stopped and set to consoling him. "Sorry, sorry, sweetie, I just got excited, sorry, hold on, it's just for a few seconds..." In no time, they managed to reach the craft, and flew in through the open door. J was left speechless as she tried to put a coherent thought together, "N… but how? They told us you were… how are you here?" The happy go lucky drone gave them a smile as he ran up,

"The truck they were in had an accident and I managed to slip away. I lived in the dump, like a hobo! Cause... uh... I kiiiinda was, heheh..." He smiled widely. "And then I bumped into my new owner! Her name's Mahiru, she found me while she was out taking pictures for a school project and she took me home with her! Her dad's kind of a slob, so she was happy to have someone around to help take care of the cleaning! Tessa found me eventually, but she let me stay with her-Oooooh, who's this?! It's a baby!"

V smiled as Crona hid his face in her jacket once more, "This is Crona, and he's a little shy around new people. He's had a rough life until we found him today." She gently patted his head and whispered to him, "It's ok sweetie, N is a friend of ours." She affirmed the point by pulling him into a one-armed hug. "Seriously, I am SO glad to see you again, N! Agh... It just wasn't the same without our little ray of sunshine keeping things from getting too doom and gloom... J was seriously BROKEN when we lost you, she felt so bad that she couldn't... She..."

N was startled when J lunged forward to embrace him. "I'm sorry... That line of work.. wasn't for you, but... I didn't do a good enough job of protecting you, as leader I take full responsibility for... for...I..."

"J... You... did the best you could, it's not your fault I wasn't meant to be a... a... Um... Not in front of the little guy... Heheh... But... it's not your fault, J. You're awesome. Always lookin' out for me..." He perked up. "Now, let's introduce me to the little guy!" N leaned over. "Hey there, buddy." He said gently, extending his hand. Crona looked at it nervously before slowly reaching over and putting his hand in N's, the male assassin drone gently shaking it with a warm smile.

And then, someone cleared their throat behind them. Both J and V felt the nerves briefly flare up as a familiar figure with short blonde hair stepped forth with a beaming smile. Her arms spread wide as she called out to them, "J, V it's so good to see you in person again!" The feminine figure rushed forward, and both V and J found themselves getting pulled into a tight hug, one that caught them off guard considering how petite the woman was. "...Huh. Guess you were right about the blonde hair." J said to V.

Tessa pulled back with a sad face, "Your memories are still a mess aren't they?"

J and V shared a look before the short haired drone sighed, "Yes, we both have gotten bits and pieces back, but we're still missing a lot."

Their human friend nodded, "I'll see what I can do to help you get them back." She smiled brightly. "I have somethin' back home that just might get the job done! We'll get you back to the apartment, grab it, and... Ooooh, and who've you got with you, then? Aaaah, looks like you picked up a little tot there, eh?"

V smiled and held Crona higher, "Tessa, this is Crona, and Crona, this it Tessa. She's an old friend of ours, like N." Crona managed to shyly wave at her feeling a little braver after N had been so nice to him.

J smiled and held up Lucky, "And this is his faithful companion, Lucky."

Tessa chuckled. "Well now, aren't you a couple'a cute little ankle biters? C'mere, there we go." She gave the boy a friendly head rub, messing up his fluffy pink hair. "Oooh, now what shampoo's this little fella using? I'm kinda jealous." Crona shyly hid his face from the complement while the drones and human all smiled at him. Tessa chuckled before letting out a sigh. "Can't wait to show you where we live now!" She chirped. "S'not quite a palace anymore, but hey, after what you went through in that haunted house, I think you girls'll appreciate a more humble lifestyle, won'tcha? Thinkin' the little fella'll like it too, got a nice soft bed waiting for him!"

J and V smiled as they took their seats in the aircraft, with V letting out a content sigh, "Kind of nice not having to fly everywhere using our own wings. Much safer for these little guys too." She gave Crona a cuddle while he held Lucky in his arms once more. "There we go... Just don't look out the window, it'll be okay... Much better, right?" He buried his face in her chest in response and she laughed softly.

"Ah... N said ya cracked and wen' mad as a gumtree full of gallahs, but that right there's the V I know and love, gentle and loving as always! Oh, are you and J still a thing? Please say yes, you were so cute as a couple!"

"Yep!" V said with much enthusiasm. "We're back to the same old days of love and affection!"

"Took me a very long while to accept her feelings though." J said sheepishly. "But... I guess it was only a matter of time..."

"Ah, don't worry." V said, patting her back. "I'm too beautiful to not be loved. You'd have accepted my advances eventually."

"Maybe if they'd been actual advances...but yes. We're very much a proper couple again, just like we used to be."

"Awwww, that's lovely! Oh, please tell me you remember all those good times! Your first date! You have to remember that, right?" Tessa asked eagerly.

"Uh... Kinda...?" J murmured, rubbing her arm. "If I focus really hard, I can get a few flashes of memory... That's about it..."

Tessa sighed. "It's worse than I thought... N's memories did come right back the second something important in his past came back though, so I'm sure you'll be no different! Now, get yourselves situated, we're going home!" Both drones smiled and took a seat, Crona still securely in V's lap.

Lucky seemed to appreciate the safety and security of the aircraft, not having to look down and see the ground far below that would certainly hurt him a lot if he were to fall. Plus his human could actually hold him, so that was nice. He even felt a little more relaxed around the human like beings made of metal. They had rescued both him and his human, and they hadn't done anything to hurt them. Plus he was more than happy to put as much distance between them and that cave as possible. He wondered where they were going. Maybe there would be some green places he could run around in, who knew? N looked at Lucky. "Oh my gosh I totally missed the rabbit, look at the little bunny, ah, I wish I had some lettuce to give him! Oh yeah, that's right, Mahiru asked me to give her a reminder to buy groceries today, gonna be a long flight, better get on that!"

J propped up on her elbows, "How long of a flight are we looking at anyway?"

"Eh... Well, it's a pretty fast plane, so I'd wager about... six hours, give or take." Tessa shrugged.

V dramatically threw her head back and groaned. She HATED being stuck sitting in the same place for long periods of time! She gave Crona a squeeze. "Crona, do something cute to entertain me." Crona looked at her with an utterly confused expression, tilting his head quizzically. "Yaaaay, good job!" J just shook her head in amusement at how head over heels V was for Crona. It hadn't even been a full day and she had fully become a doting mom. Tessa smiled and even N was happy for his fellow drone. "I'm gonna boop your nose now, okay?"

Crona blinked. "Wh-What's boop...? Is it gonna hur-" "

Boop." His question was cut off when he felt V lightly tap his nose with her finger, thankfully with her claws withdrawn. Crona blinked in surprise before letting out a soft giggle. V cooed as she started to gently tickle his sides, "Oh I know you can do better than that. Let's hear that cute little laugh I just know you have." Crona squirmed slightly as more giggles escaped his mouth. In turn, Crona's laughter elicited further laughter out of V. J put a hand over her mouth to hide the fact that she too was laughing, not wanting to show her soft side in front of N. She'd put too much effort into being the tough one in the group to let him see her being a softie! ...He totally noticed, she could tell just by looking at him. When no one but her was looking he slid his forefinger and thumb across his mouth like a zipper. J just shook her head in amusement with a tiny smile. They had only met him again mere moments ago yet it was just like old times.

V eventually stopped tickling Crona, smirking down at him before noticing he seemed a little disturbed. "Ah. Didn't quite like that, huh?"

Crona looked down. "Tickling's weird... I couldn't stop laughing and it felt weird and I don't know how to deal with it..."

V chuckled. "Sorry, kiddo, I'll find some other ways to make you laugh instead." Crona smiled and rested his head on her shoulder as he settled in for the long flight ahead of them. Even J and V had to marvel at just how nice the inside of the aircraft was.

Tessa preened just a bit, "I've been busy since dad," she faltered for just a second as her smile fell, "well you know what dad did."

"...All too well..." J sighed in exasperation. She looked over at V to see her squeezing Crona just a bit tighter, her wings flared out slightly as her body began to shake lightly. "...You okay?"

V looked at her. "...I hate him. I hate that... that... well, I can't say it..."

Tessa reached out to hold their hands, "He can't hurt you or anyone else ever again. I'm not going to let any of them get away with what they did to you." She had specifically made everything as public as possible to make it virtually impossible for anyone to buy their way out.

V scoffed. "Who, besides you, cares about what happened to a bunch of drones? They think we're 'expendable'. You're the only one that would bat an eye at it..."

Crona looked at her. "Um... I care..." He said softly. "...I like drones... Drones are nice..."

V's expression softened, and she gently booped his nose once more. "I know, hun, but unfortunately, most people aren't adorable, wholesome little snuggle muffins like you."

Tessa chuckled. "Ah, I thought the same, but nah, turns out drones and humans actually tend to get along quite well! Heh... Long as you're thinking the middle to lower class, though, but yeah, they care more than we ever though. Seen people treating their drones about equal to them, blew my mind, really..."

Crona was upset "P-People don't like drones...?" He asked softly. "But... But why...?"

Tessa chuckled. "Well, some upper class folk don't fully appreciate how much their drones do to them and think they're just tools, but you know better than that, don'tcha, little nipper? I'd wager V and J ain't the first drones you've met, ah?" Crona looked down slowly and hugged Lucky. V and J quickly caught on to his saddened emotional state.

"...Are you all right, Crona?" J asked gently.

"Mm-hmm..." Crona nodded.

Tessa caught on immediately. Something happened to his drone. Something that was still fresh and painful to talk about.

N spoke up. "You don't have to worry that much about it where we're going! We're not... QUITE at the point where we're just metal people, but drones are treated well enough! No one's gonna hurt V or J!" He assured the boy, who held Lucky and nodded.

"Good..."

"Oh yeah! There's even laws to pay us now! We even get hazard pay for dangerous jobs!" N continued to V and J. "Uuuuunfortunately they never specified that they had to pay us in MONEY, sooooo most drones are just kinda working for... peanuts. Like, actual, literal bags of cheap salted peanuts. But uh... Hey! Progress!" He gave an awkward thumbs up.

Both female drones sighed, and shook their heads. In the one hand N was right that it was progress, as minuscule as it was, on the other hand it was still highly insulting. Sadly they were still very much at the early stage of drones' rights.

"...Soooo, you live in an apartment, huh?" V asked Tessa. "Well... Technically I OWN the apartment. Been doing some business ventures of my own, y'see. Dipping my toes into all sorts of stuff, actually! But I think you'll like the neighbours, for the most part! There's Heinz and his daughter, her name's Lizzy, Heinz is the one that built you, actually, he's one of the masterminds behind the drones, he's one of the only ones that actually cares. Um... We let a few of your co-workers move in, B and the Ms... There's Kname, we let him have one of the vacant rooms, he's a drone, they never gave him a bottom half so some guy just sort of uses him as a hand puppet... He has a son, but he's off with his mother at the moment, don't think you'll see him for a while... Ooh, there's Willy, he's like my best friend, no offense to you lot, he was just... there for me these past few years you were gone... Bit of a boring type, but he's a real sweetheart. And we took in that poor girl and her two girlfriends, the one they were experimenting on, sure you saw that on the tv. Got a big family, parents and their nine kids, not quite as chaotic as it sounds, they're mostly well behaved, even if Patricia's a wee rambunctious... Ah, and uh... Ian and Anthony also. Uh... They're an all right pair, but uh... more than a bit eccentric... They do have someone you know though, they found her..."

N spoke up. "And Mahiru! Don't forget Mahiru!"

"Heh... Yep, and Mahiru, can't forget N's hero!" She ruffled the male drone's hair. "So yeah. Gets a bit crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way, this is my real family, far as I'm concerned!" She smirked proudly. "I'm working my way up in life and they're getting dragged down through the gutters, so who comes out the winner in the end, hmm, dad? Oh, sorry, calling him dad implies I see him as my father. Legally disowned me the second I left and refused to follow the path he picked for me, best day of my life, that was, man didn't know what he was talking about." She looked at Crona with a light smirk. "Always talking about drones like they were nothing but soulless, cold, unfeeling machines and two of 'em are already proving they're ten times the parents he could ever HOPE to be."

V smiled and nuzzled the top of Crona's head with her cheek. He was very much her sweet little guy, but she knew J wasn't quite ready to be a mom just yet. Even if she knew her pigtailed lover was a big softie on the inside despite her trying to hide it. She looked at her with a raised brow and a smirk. "Someday..." She whispered to her lover, which made her blink twice.

"Uuuuuuuhhh... I mean, it's kinda hard to say for sure..." J murmured, rubbing her arm shyly.

Tessa chuckled and leaned back in her seat, "Well you're doing better than my folks did. Which I know isn't a very high bar, but I think you're doing pretty well with the tot." He seemed happy if a little on the shy side to her. And... he was also clearly hurting... Deeply...

J looked at Crona with a tilted head, and he looked back at her, mimicking the gesture. She gave him a small smirk, and he smiled back shyly. He knew she wasn't as openly happy about him as V was. But she clearly didn't dislike him either. He wasn't exactly sure how she felt, but that could just be because he wasn't really used to people besides Ragnarok. He had seen and spoke to more people in just the last few hours than he had in the rest of his life combined! She... seemed to like him okay enough... V looked down at Crona, noticing how he looked at J, then looked back at her lover, gave her a shark-like toothy grin, and before J could even ask her about it, Crona was suddenly placed securely in her arms.

"Oh, um...okay, ah..."

'WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdoooooo!?' J thought anxiously. 'I'm holding him, but I've got no idea what I should do!'

She looked at Crona, who was looking at her curiosly, his eyes blinking at her.

'He looks so cute...' She thought. 'So cuddly and adorable...that's it!' She suddenly gained an idea.

Adjusting her arms, she pulled him in and enveloped him in a hug. A gentle one, making sure not to hurt him by accident.

The boy in return snuggled his face in her shirt, nervously shifting to make himself a bit more comfort in J's arms.

'Okay... Okay... He's getting close, is he okay? Is he cold, is he too warm, am I burning him? Agh, I was NOT prepared to have a kid just thrust into my arms, V, you need to be more mindful...' She fussed as she gently placed a hand on the back of his head. 'Okay... Okay... Make sure he's comfy... There we go...' She let out a sigh and allowed herself to relax. There...' She gave her lover an annoyed look, and V simply shrugged her shoulders and winked. She huffed, then looked down at the boy as he looked back up at her. He didn't look scared or anything, but he looked like he was studying her reactions to see what she thought about him.

With a tiny smile she carefully rested his head on her shoulder much like V had. She was still a little concerned that she wouldn't make a good mom, but that didn't mean she had to be cold or distant to the kid. He was a good kid in her eyes and he didn't deserve that kind of treatment. "Uh... Hey there..." She murmured softly to him. "Uh... This is comfy, right?! I'm not holding you too tight, am I?! Are you cold?! Or maybe you're too warm?! Uh... Hungry?! Thirsty?! Is anything wrong right now?!"

V softly giggled while Tessa and N just smiled at her. It was kind of funny to see the normally serious and in control J unsure of what to do. V smiled and leaned close to whisper in her ear, "Calm down, J, you're doing just fine."

She looked at her. "Uh... Are... Are you sure...? I... I could be doing a lot more, couldn't I? Um... Uh... Oh, what does he need, I wasn't prepared for this, what do I do?!"

V put a hand on her shoulder. "You relax, that's what." She began to gently massage it as she tried to ease her lover's worries. V knew she was a big softy deep down even if she tried to hide it. After giving her a kiss on the cheek she murmured, "You don't have to be the strong one all the time anymore."

J looked at her with wide eyes, and she simply giggled and winked. She smiled weakly, then looked back at Crona. "...But... I probably do, because he needs someone strong..."

V smirked. "Doesn't mean you can't be vulnerable when it's just us." J frowned and leaned her head back as she thought about. She wasn't entirely sure if she really knew how to be vulnerable anymore. She had always been afraid that things would fall apart and potentially get them all scrapped if she didn't. Worse, as the leader it would've been all her fault. V wrapped her arms around her from behind. "Heeeey, you were there for me, I can be there for you too..." She whispered softly.

J looked at her with a weak smile, then sighed softly and gave Crona a squeeze. "...He's... kinda therapeutic to hold..."

V smiled and leaned their heads together, "I know right? Holding him just calms me right down." His presence alone had done wonders for her mind and it only been a couple of hours since they found him.

J smiled at her. "I think that goes both ways..." She murmured. "I don't think he wants to be put down for even a second, heh... Do you, little guy?" Crona cocked his head to the side, shook it and nuzzled into her chest. J was certain at that moment if she had a human heart it would've stopped beating for a moment from the cuteness. Humans just weren't made to handle such extreme levels of adorableness. As it stood she was just barely hanging on herself. She gave the boy a light squeeze and closed her eyes, letting out a soft sigh. He deserved to have a good, loving family... V could provide that, that was a given. And... she had to do her best to match her lover's efforts. He deserved to have the full family life Medusa had denied him. That meant he needed more than just one affectionate parent and one distant parent. She still wasn't sure she would make a good mother, but that didn't mean she would let it stop her from trying. She'd just have to try and copy what V did. Or... Hmm... Was that what she would have to do...? She didn't think being that openly affectionate and cuddly with him was really her... Maybe she could do a bit more... subdued? She didn't know if she would ever be the same type of mom as V, but maybe she didn't have to be. Maybe there was more than one way to be a good mom. J had a tiny smile on her face as her shoulders felt like a weight had been lifted off of them. A very small weight, though... She knew she didn't have to follow V's example to the letter, but she still had her doubts that her own way of doing things would be good enough, she wasn't even used to showing compassion to anyone but her partner...

The only person who had ever seen her softer side was V. Even then it had mostly been just holding her when she suffered a nightmare from any memories that had surfaced. Many of them triggered by places like the labs like the maintenance area the few times they suffered any real damage on a mission.

...Crona was going to have nightmares. ...She knew how to handle nightmares... All he would need is someone to hold him... Yes... Holding him, she could do that... She WAS doing that right now. That wasn't even close to all there was to parenting, but it was a start. As for learning how to do the rest she wasn't sure where to begin. She considered something like parenting books, but she wasn't sure how useful they would be. She doubted any author or child psychologist had ever encountered anything like Crona had gone through.

N looked at her, seeing the uncertainty on her face, and spoke. "All you have to do is what you think is right!" He chirped. "The best thing you can do for anyone is just being you." J frowned. "...I feel like you of all people should be the last one telling me this. N... Why don't you hate me? You have every right to hate me at this point. But you always treated me like a friend..."

N shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head, "I always had a feeling that there was more to you than what I was seeing. Like I always knew you were a good friend deep down. It just wasn't until I met Tessa again and she helped me get my memories back that it all made sense."

"Ah... Right... Our memories... Tessa can get our memories back..." J remembered. V looked a little unnerved. Did she WANT her memories back...? Tessa rubbed her arm. "Well, with N, it took some... stimulation. He... had to reunite with someone he knew and loved... As far as I can tell your old memories can be brought back with the right trigger, which tells me they were either sloppy or they didn't know what they were doing. Probably both most likely. Anyway I'm getting off track, with a big enough trigger it'll set off a chain reaction that brings your memories back all at once instead of in pieces like you've been experiencing. Thankfully I know I have something that will be the perfect catalyst."

Both drones exchanged a look. J was smiling, but V looked... uncertain. "...What's wrong?" J asked.

V looked away. "I... What if I don't like what I see...?" She murmured. "What if... What if I'm... better off not remembering... y'know... what happened after they... they took me...?"

J frowned and hugged her tightly, "I'll be right there with you every step of the way, V. We both need to face what they did to us, or it will keep haunting us." She knew V had gone through something much worse than she did, but she wanted to help her lover face it. To take her life back from the monsters in human skin who twisted her and tortured her.

Crona looked at V with a concerned frown on his face. "S-Someone hurt you...?" He asked softly. "Wh-Why would anyone wanna hurt you...? You don't deserve to be hurt...! You're so nice...!" Just the thought of her being hurt was deeply upsetting to him.

"Aww, thanks, sweetie." V cooed, ruffling his hair with a soft smile.

"Well, Crona... There are bad people in the world... People who will hurt anyone to get their way..." J sighed.

"Oh... Right..." Crona looked down timidly. Then he looked back up at V with puppy eyes.

V laughed softly and rubbed his back. "Awwww, you worried about me? You're so sweet..." She cooed softly. The knowledge that this little boy cared about her was enough to make the fear fade away just so slightly. J gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze and even N and Tessa smiled kindly at her. It made her feel like she wasn't all alone in how she was feeling. J and N had been through the same brainwashing process as her, and Crona had been through much the same torment as she had.

Still... She was reluctant to remember what had happened the day they first took her... She had flashes of it... Of... SOMETHING slowly bearing down on her... She felt the phantom pains even though it should have long passed by now... With every flash she would feel an overwhelming surge of fear and anger. Both driven by the phantom pains that would pound in her head. Directed squarely at the humans that turned her, her lover, and their friend into walking weapons.

"...I hope they drop the soap in prison." She said flatly. J looked at her with a flat expression, N grimaced, Tessa barked out a laugh and Crona looked confused.

"...Wh-Why do you want them to drop soap...?"

V blinked. "...Cause then it'll be dirty and they won't get clean?"

J just facepalmed, but decided to let it slide so she didn't have to explain what that phrase really meant to Crona. Simultaneously she prayed to whatever higher power would hear her out that he would eventually forget he ever heard it. She still sent a text message to V to remind her to watch her language around Crona. V winced and rubbed the back of her head with an awkward chuckle. J just rolled her eyes and looked down to Crona to see him looking satisfied with V's answer, much to her relief. J gently placed him back in her arms. With a sigh, she leaned back in her seat while V doted on Crona once more. Distracting him from her slip of the tongue as they all settled in for the rest of their flight. They still had several hours to go before they arrived at Tessa's place.

J turned to N with a small frown. "...Sooooo, what have you been up to since the whole... getting taken away to get scrapped thing went down?"

N beamed. "Lot of the same stuff we did back at the mansion except everyone appreciates it now!" It had been a huge relief for him to go back to just caring for a house instead of being an assassin. Even if he still kept his more powerful body instead of getting downgraded. It just made him feel more secure knowing that if the worst should happen he could protect the people he cared about.

J nodded her head. "...Sounds like this Mahiru girl is taking good care of you..."

N beamed. "Yeah, she's always looking out for me, she's awesome!"

J chuckled. "Probably does a better job of that than I ever did. I was... a total jerk about it."

N shook his head, "You were trying to keep me from getting scrapped, J. If you were really a jerk you would've just reported me as defective after that first mission. Instead you protected me for as long as possible."

"Heh... I guess... ...Wait, didn't Tessa say those three are living in this apartment too? I haven't seen them in forever, how'd that happen?" N chuckled. "Weeeell, they were shipped off for scrapping and escaped like I did. Uh... Apparently they couldn't kill some kid named Billy, something about a Barney doll..."

Both J and V let out a groan in harmony at the mention of that name. J hid her face in her hands, "Please do not mention that mission ever again. That was a complete disaster by any metric."

V sighed, "We threw everything we had at that thing and we couldn't leave so much as a dent."

N just looked confused. "Uuuuuuuh... Okay...?" He scratched his head awkwardly, not seeing what was so bad about a plush toy. Tessa... chose not to mention the fact that Billy's father was one of the tenants of the apartment, the boy was in his mother's custody right now so they didn't need to know. He visited on occasion for a weekend, but he seemed like a good guy. She still wasn't sure how that mission had gotten approved in the first place. Then again considering her father it probably just came down to enough money being offered. Apparently the one that put the hit on had been a child services worker named Mr. Poole, she'd have to keep a close eye on that man, there was something not right about a child's service worker putting a hit on a child, albeit an overgrown one.

"So what are they up to now?" J asked.

"Oh, they're freelance detectives now! Uh... Not many clients just yet, drone operated businesses aren't going... AMAZINGLY well, but... they're... starting to open up, so... progress!" N chirped.

V shrugged her shoulders, "It's a start I guess. It's pretty obvious we're still in the early stages of the whole, 'drones are people too,' movement." No matter what they knew it would not be a quick process to reclassify drones as people instead of expendable pawns.

"You're people..." Crona mumbled softly into V's jacket, getting her to smile brightly.

"D'awwwww, thanks little guy, glad we got you on our side at least." She playfully messed with the boy's hair. The soft and fluffy feeling made her so happy that she had a sense of touch. It would be a crime not to be able to feel it as she patted his head. Leaning into her touch like a happy little bunny rabbit. He was to her what Lucky was to him: An adorable, wholesome, soft little source of comfort that could warm her heart and make even the hardest times just a little bit better. He was a lot like J in that regard actually.

J had been there for her even when it felt like she was going insane. When the memories of her being turned into an assassin drone had threatened to overwhelm her. She knew she wouldn't have made it out with her sanity intact without J. She slowly scooted over to her lover as she was still speaking with N, then leaned her head against her shoulder. J paused for a moment to look at her and she simply smiled back. "Just wanna be close to you." J wrapped an arm around her and held her close. With N pausing their conversation with a smile as they hugged each other. Just happy that they were happy. Then he looked at Crona and fought the urge to squee. They looked just like a happy family of three! Two partners and their adorable little child, it was too adorable for words! To his knowledge it was the first family with drones adopting a human. Some people used nanny drones, but they clearly weren't built for that. They weren't even really built for their original function as housekeepers anymore either. Instead J and V had chosen to take him in of their own free will. V, most especially, seemed attached to the little guy. It was nice to know that, despite becoming unhinged and sadistic after being repurposed into a killing machine, V's natural kindness still found its way to the surface.

It was still a little sad to know he was the only one with all his memories back, but Tessa knew what she was doing. If anyone knew just what the right trigger to bring them back it was her. She had led them this far with only a minor hiccup or two, so she had earned his trust.

Eventually, however, they had to be informed of a certain black blob V and J hadn't thought to bring up to them. Ragnarok slowly emerged from Crona's body, groggy and yawning. "Agh... Man that was an awesome nap...Huh? We get on a plane or something?"

"OH BISCUITS!"

"CRIKEY, WHAT IS THAT?!"

J sighed. "Riiiight, I forgot to mention him... Yes, Ragnarok, we're on a plane. We told you we were meeting up with an old friend."

"Ah. Right." He looked around. "Soooo uh... There's another drone, NOT modelled to look like a sexy lady." N blinked twice. "Hey, you can't say that, there's a kid in the room! You'll corrupt his poor innocent little mind!" Ragnarok wasn't paying attention. His eyes were now on Tessa. "...Hel-LO, beautiful!"

"...Oh, here we go..." Tessa rolled her eyes.

J scowled. "Ragnarok, don't try to date our friend. Pretty sure she's got a boyfriend anyway."

"Ah! Oh, erm... well, we haven't... put a label or anything on it!" She stuttered out bashfully.

Ragnarok sulked and crossed his arms. "Ugh... Not faaaaair..." He whined.

"What, the fact that you're a weird gross blob thing or the fact that you're attached to a literal child, both of which kill any chance you have of finding a woman?" J asked.

V looked at her with a raised brow. "Way harsh, don'tcha think?"

J just shrugged, "I kind of want to nip this behavior in the bud, V. He is attached to Crona and running his mouth could get them both in trouble."

N held up a finger, "That is a good point, J, but let's not skip over the part about just who and what the heck is this guy?!"

J looked at N and sighed. "This is Ragnarok. He used to be a person, but he got melted down and turned into a black ooze that some crazy lady injected into her own son as some kind of sick twisted experiment to replace his blood."

"...What?" N asked, confused.

"I'm a Demon Weapon, I used to be a guy that can turn into a weapon, I got drugged and turned into a weapon, I got melted down while I was still a weapon, someone replaced the kid's blood with me, a liquefied weapon, so now his blood is a weapon." Ragnarok said.

"...What?" N asked, confused.

"...Yeeeeah, we experienced all that, and uh... it doesn't make any more sense to us than it does to you." V said flatly.

Ragnarok just chuckled as he leaned on top of Crona's head, "Oh there's plenty of supernatural stuff in the world that most people don't know about. I was on a mission in Romania with the guys while I was in school and got to visit a full blown dragon reserve." That got a double take from everyone in the plane besides Crona who had heard the story before.

"...There's so much in the world I'm missing out on...!" Tessa said excitedly, clapping her hands over her cheeks. "I need to know more! There's so much untapped potential out there!"

V spoke. "We met the grim reaper himself just before you came and got us actually."

Tessa pouted a bit, "I can't believe I missed out on talking to the Grim Reaper."

Both J and V snort out a laugh in synch. With V giggling, "I wouldn't exactly say he was a grim person, Tessa."

Ragnarok chuckled, "Yeah, he's a bit of a goofball, but don't let that fool you. He's still one of the most powerful beings in existence." He looked out the window. "Soooo, where we going? Some big fancy mansion? You gotta be rich, you have three drones, we gonna live the high life?"

Tessa scoffed. "Ah, that ain't all it's cracked up to be, a nice little apartment community's all ya need!"

Ragnarok sulked and flopped over onto Crona's head. "Uuuugh... An apartment? C'mon, you could've had a pent house at least!"

Tessa shrugged. "Well, I'm a girl of simple pleasures, don't need to splurge the fortune now, do I?"

Ragnarok groaned. "But other people are looooooud. They'll interrupt my sleeeeep." Crona looked at Ragnarok. "No they won't. You slept through Lady Medusa breaking my legs with that loud machine once." He said disturbingly innocently and casually.

Everyone just looked at the two in shock as Ragnarok deflated, "I was drugged, she wanted to see what you could take when I wasn't around to save your butt..."

V just held Crona a little tighter while J mumbled, "What didn't she do to you two?"

Crona took the question seriously. "Um... Uh... She uh... She didn't take my eyes away... " He murmured softly. "And... Um... Uh... Hmm... I... I can't think of anything else... Sorry..." He murmured, looking down shyly.

Ragnarok snorted. "I somehow managed to talk her out of pulling his guts out..." He looked down. "Uh... Juuuust about everything else was fair game though. Uh... I'm not gonna go into detail or anything, it was bad. He almost died. A lot. He DID die a couple times, I resucitated him. Uh... I'm... gonna go back in now because I feel like I just brought down the mood and now I feel awkward, talk to ya in a week when I feel comfortable showing my face again, bye!"

The moment he said that, he slithered back into Crona' body, leaving the entire group completely shaken.

Naturally, all had varying reactions to this new information.

"Wh...what the..." Tessa stumbled back into her seat, sweat gathering on her brow. Her brain took some time to catch up with what she had just learned.

N was struggling to not lose control of his tears. He fell to his knees, sniffling. His gentle, kind heart couldn't take it. "Th...that...it...kghhh..."

Of course, as the mothers, J and V had much more prominent reactions.

V's first instinct was to hug Crona even tighter, gently leaning his head into her chest. Mostly to comfort him...

And because she was absolutely SEETHING in fury.

She struggled to keep her anger in check, struggled to ensure that he didn't know how furious she was... She felt like it was more than likely he was aware she was furious though. The trembling of her body, the way her breathing intensified and grew heavy, it probably painted a clear picture... Tears grew on the corners of her visor as she forced out a deep, shaky breath and gently stroked the back of his tiny head as she forced herself to calm down. "...It's okay..." She whispered to the child. HER child. "It's okay... I promise it's okay, I promise..."

J, meanwhile, had a hand clapped over her mouth, feeling on the verge of vomiting at any moment. She wretched slightly, and when she managed to force herself to calm down, she pulled her hand away to reveal that there was a little bit of oil on it. ...Seemed she had thrown up a bit... She tried several breathing techniques that she had looked into to maintain her cool. ...How could she maintain her usual demeanour?! How was anyone expected to remain calm and professional after learning about THAT?! She wanted to just... torture that monster, that sick, twisted, EVIL woman, until she screamed and cried and begged for mercy that would never come, that... that inhuman THING was pure, unadulterated EVIL! 'Have to calm down... Have to calm down... They need you calm, J, just calm... down...' She exhaled deeply. She shouldn't be surprised, this had been mentioned in the files she'd downloaded... But it only said he'd been on the brink of death... It didn't say he had experienced what it was LIKE to... to... She couldn't bear to even so much as THINK the word, at least not in regards to him... Just imagining it... It made her feel sick to her stomach..

She looked over at V, who had her wings draped around the boy, looking very much like a mother bat coddling her baby. It was an adorable sight. Aside from the utterly wild look of rage on V's face that told her how badly she wished she could have made that woman suffer even longer than she had... She carefully wrapped an arm around V before using her free hand to stroke her feathers with the back of her hand. Trying to soothe the anger she could feel simmering under the surface. Meanwhile she opened an audio communication with her on a private channel 'You and I both know she was too dangerous to leave alive, V. A woman like that would've taken the smallest opportunity to scrap us both.'

V replied. 'She deserved to SUFFER, J... She killed my baby... She KILLED him and he was brought back to life, I want to peel all the skin off her body and roll her around in salt and squirt lemon juice all over the wounds!'

J gave her a squeeze, 'And now she's going to stay locked in a pickle jar all alone until she gets eaten by a Demon Weapon. I don't know anything about what a witch soul can feel or if she can still think, but I do know one thing. True sensory deprivation can break even the strongest wills.'

V blinked twice, then grinned devilishly. 'She's gonna slowly go insane and then get eaten? I can get behind that...' She looked down at Crona as he happily snuggled into her wings. '...Look at him... So...happy and peaceful, he doesn't even know how wrong what happened to him really was...'

J gave her another squeeze, 'He never knew or experienced anything else in his life. All he ever knew was pain or torment at that madwoman's hands.' Both of them knew it was going to take time for him to adjust and realize how horrendous what he experienced truly was. V was worried about how he was going to react when he DID realize it... When the weight of his trauma came crashing down on him and he realized he could have had a decent quality of life all along that was harshly denied to him. All she and J could do was try and create as many happy memories with him until that time came. Then they would do everything they could to support him through it. Her wings briefly trembled as more memories of her own torment briefly surfaced. It was such a short amount of time, and yet it felt like it lasted forever... Crona's torment lasted over the course of several years. It was nonstop torture and abuse for the sake of it, the goal was to make him suffer, to break him. ...How long had it felt to him...? Had it all just blended together until they had crashed into his life and rescued him? Ending his tormentor and whatever twisted plans she had for him. Everything must still feel so strange to him like the entire world had been flipped on its head.

But this was what his life was SUPPOSED to be like. It was supposed to be warm and nice and happy-Wait, was N crying? She looked over to find that she and J were so wrapped up in their own reactions they failed to notice Tessa comforting N, who was crying his eyes out. She had forgotten that he was always the sensitive one of their little trio. Sharing a look with J they turned and stretched their arms out to him. Her lover gave him a soft smile, "Come here, N." N didn't hesitate for even a moment before joining in on a group hug, sobbing his eyes out. Crona looked up at him worriedly, concerned at the fact that he was crying. He had never met someone who would be sad for him before. He had Ragnarok, but the Demon Sword was more the type to get angry for him instead of sad. Now he had four people around him all shedding tears for what he had been through. But wasn't what he had to go through normal? Why were they sad about it? Didn't everyone deal with it? Or... Or was it just him...? ...That was it, wasn't it? It WAS just him... No one else had to deal with it! Why did he...?

When he started to tremble he felt V's hold on him tighten. His mind still reeling as he tried to process the realization that what he went through wasn't normal. Even if he didn't really know what normal was for most people. He still decided to hold off on his emotions the best he could for now... Everyone was crying already, he didn't wanna make it worse... He'd... wait until he was alone with V and J, they were the ones he felt most comfortable talking to about this.

Both female drones felt him trembling and silently comforted him. With V placing a kiss on top of his head to let him know they were there for him. J carefully took one of his little hands in her own and gently squeezed it. V saw her doing this and turned to give her a small smile, which she responded to with her own rather sheepish, shy one, as if silently asking her lover if she was doing it right. V just smiled and leaned their heads together once more, proud of how J was making an effort to connect with and comfort Crona, something she knew was out of her lover's comfort zone.

N managed to compose himself and wiped his visor with a light sniffle. "Well... You're really tough, little guy... You're... You're still goin' strong even after all that. G-Good job... Really good job..." He managed to choke out. Crona hadn't known N very long, but he decided that he didn't like seeing him sad. Slowly he reached out as far as he could so he could give him a hug. They made him feel better when Ms. V or Ms. J gave him one. V caught on to this and laughed softly as she placed the boy into N's arms. He was surprised for all of one second before he quickly engulfed the boy in his embrace. Tessa smiled as N was hugged by his new… nephew? Yeah that sounded about right to her, and having more family around him would be good for Crona. From the sound of it he needed as big of a support system as possible.

She blinked twice. So she was probably gonna be an aunt to the boy... But there was a slight problem in that drones legally did not have the right to adopt human children. ...Well, actually, no, there was no problem at all, because all she had to do was legally adopt Crona herself and let V and J take care of him under the guise of being his nannies. She would be his legal guardian on paper, but it was obvious for anyone to see how attached he was to J and V. They were the ones who rescued him from being a human lab rat for a crazy woman. They were the ones who cared for him like he was their own. Until the day hopefully came that drones COULD have the rights to parent human children, they would have to put up that front to make sure Crona couldn't be taken away from them. It was an ingenious plan, really. She would still need to go over everything with J and V at some point very soon. It wouldn't be fair to just blindside them with her being the kid's legal guardian. Plus they would need to go over the paper work and check if Crona even existed legally speaking. It was almost certain he didn't have a birth certificate or any other legal documents.

"Aww, hehe..." N chuckled as he received the hug. "Thanks buddy. You really like hugs, don't you?"

"Mhm...they make me feel comfortable. They're...they're nice." Crona mumbled with a small smile. He liked N. He was really big and strong and his hugs almost covered him up completely and it made him feel safe.

After a while, N saw that V and J were still distressed, and so he passed the boy back over to them. Crona saw that HE was still distressed, and so he held out the small rabbit in his arms. "Lucky always makes me happy whenever I'm feeling bad...maybe he can do the same for you...I think..."

N blinked twice, then gasped and looked at him. "Are... Are you sure I deserve this honor...?" He asked softly. Crona nodded. He slowly reached over to the small rabbit, who seemed to be squirming slightly. "It's okay, buddy, I'm not gonna hurt ya, just come here..." As J took Crona back, N gently pulled the bunny into an embrace, holding him against his chest.

Surprisingly the rabbit relaxed in the male drone's embrace. Not being nearly as fussy as when J held him while they flew. J even let out an amused huff, "It seems we've found one other person Lucky will at least tolerate."

N, meanwhile, was absolutely melting over the little white rabbit. "Oh my gosh he's so fluffyyyyyyy!" He squeed, gently running his fingers through the rabbit's fur as he closed his eyes in enjoyment. Lucky decided he liked this new drone. He was nice. His hands were a little cold, but it was still nice. Crona smiled seeing Lucky make a new friend. He was glad that they had more people in their lives. Now it wasn't just him, Lucky and Ragnarok anymore... He looked at V and J. They were... special... Somehow, they were very, very special to him. Not just because they were the ones that saved him, but because they were the first ones to be kind to him. They were the first people besides Ragnarok to treat him like a person, and not as a lab rat. They didn't have to save him from Medusa. They didn't even have to keep him with them after they did.

The entire flight back, as they talked, as he was fed some food Tessa had packed for his dinner, as he took a quick two-hour nap, he felt... extreme happiness and bliss.

Drones were the best... Every drone he'd met had cared about him, had wanted him to be okay... He hadn't felt this safe and relaxed since... Since...

He began to shake slightly just as they finally reached their destination. V noticed, as she was holding him, and looked down in concern, which in turn caused J to look and see how distraught he looked, even though he was clearly trying to hide it. They were about to ask about it, but they quickly realized this was probably something he'd feel most comfortable speaking to only his immediate caregivers about. She gave Crona a gentle squeeze as the plane made its final approach.

Tessa gave them a smile, "I've got a spare room you can use until we get an apartment ready for you."

J gave her a tired smile, "That sounds lovely, Tessa, thank you."

Tessa grinned and gave them a peace sign. "Only the best for my three favorites! Uh... Don't tell Cyn I said that though, don't wanna hurt the poor thing's feelings..." They took a limo back to the apartment, and it was a relatively silent ride. When the limo stopped, V and J were surprised. It was a modest apartment complex, but a nice one. There were several blocks or apartments with small parks and other amenities spread between them. Tessa smiled as she spread her arms wide and turned around, "So, what do you all think? We all put in a lot of work to restore and update this old place. We've got a pool, a gym, free laundromat, playground for the kids, heck we've even got daycare for the little kids here too!"

"...Well won't Ragnarok be happy about this?" J chuckled. "All that complaining for nothing in the end." Tessa stepped forward. "Well, come along now, best get you situated! Plus we need to get N back to Mahiru, must be getting anxious without him there."

N winced and rubbed his head, "Yeah, I'll send her a text and let her know we just got back and I'm on my way home. That should calm her down a bit." He gave them all a quick hug goodbye, "Bye guys, I guess I'll be seeing a lot more of you now. I'm SO glad to have you back and that you're all okay!" He handed Lucky back to Crona. "Here ya go! Little guy looks like he misses you!"

Crona eagerly accepted his bunny. "Thank you..." He murmured, squeezing the rabbit gently.

N caught the sadness in his voice. "Are you okay?" He asked worriedly. Crona nodded, but he didn't believe him. He looked at V and J, the former of which mouthed 'We'll deal with it, don't worry.'

N nodded. "If you're sure... I'll see you again soon!" And with that, he took off to one of the middle floors of the apartment complex, landing on one of the balconies and knocking on the sliding glass door, a teenage girl with short red hair happily opening up to let him in.

Tessa turned to V and J. "Now then... Follow me, please!" The two drones obeyed, looking around at the nice apartment complex, until they took an elevator to the top floor, towards Tessa's apartment. "All right, now, this here's the guest room, you can stay here till we can properly figure out arrangements and all... And uh... I left a little something in the closet there. Something that I think will bring back your old memories... So feel free to dig into that when you're ready... I can tell you wanna talk to the little nipper, so I'll leave you be for the time being... I'm so glad to have you girls back." Tessa said with a smile.

"...We missed you too, Tessa. ...Subconsciously, I mean..." J murmured. With a smile, Tessa left the room, leaving only V, J and Crona.

"Okay, hun, what's wrong?" V asked gently as she and J took a seat on the bed, setting the boy down on her lap. "You can tell us."

Crona sniffled and buried his face in Lucky's fur. "I miss Alice..."

Both drones exchanged a glance when they heard those words. "...Who's Alice, sweetie...?" V asked softly. Crona's response was to choke out a few sobs, his tiny shoulders trembling, trying so hard to get himself together and answer the question.

"Oh, oh dear, ahhhhh..." V fumbled, unsure how to respond, before enveloping him in a hug. "Shhhhh...it's okay, sweetie. You don't need to say anything if it brings you bad memories. Don't worry, we won't be mad. We can wait when you're ready."

"Ya know, the longer he keeps it in the more harm it's gonna do to him." Ragnarok slid out again, arms crossed. J raised a brow.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, the less you know about Alice, the harder it's gonna be to comfort him when ya don't know what's even the problem." He looked down at Crona and gave him a pat on the head. "Hey, kiddo. Mind if I tell them?"

"Okay..." Crona mumbled as he hugged Lucky close like a plush toy. V and J exchanged glances, and Ragnarok took a breath. "Sooooo, at some point, the hag decided to bring in a drone to help out around the place. Y'know. Keep things tidy. Make sure tools are up to snuff. All that good stuff. That was Alice. She's Alice. And uh... Yeah, this is quite a story, so... here we go..."

[Flashback]

Medusa stood before the drone. It was hardly impressive, just a small little thing with brown hair tied back in a ponytail and neon orange eyes. "Now then... You'll do as I say, no matter what. You will question nothing. You will fulfill your programming and nothing more than that. Are we perfectly clear?"

The drone looked disgruntled. "Uh-huh. Eyup. Sure thing, boss." She drawled, a deep Southern twang in her voice.

"Hmph. I dislike your tone, drone." Medusa said sternly.

"Ah, you skinwalkers are all the same, word of mouth just ain't never good enough. Look, I heard ya loud an' clear, hun, don't you worry your head about it, jus' gimme somethin' to do and I'll git er done." The drone insisted.

"Hmph. You'd best. Now then... Your first task is to clean up this mess." Medusa led her into a room. An operating room of some sort, from the looks of it. Various medical tools were laid out on a table... and there was blood on the floors, and some on the walls.

"Yeesh... Quite the mess ya made here, innit? Well... Might take a couple' o hours, but I should be able to get done with this. All right, just leave it to me now, I'mma hop right to it."

"Good." Medusa stepped out of the room. "When you're done, keep searching around for work to do, keep yourself occupied. I have important business to attend to, you won't see me for the rest of the night."

"All righty then! Take care, boss lady!" Medusa left, and Alice let out a deep huff, shaking her head. "Honestly... Just my luck to get saddled with a total hardass, I swear, Nori and Yeva get to hook up an' have kids and I'm saddled with that grumpy old broad..." She grumbled as she set to work. "Yeesh... Just what in the hell was she doin' in here anyhow? Dissectin' a cow or somethin'? How'd she spill this much blood?"

It took close to an hour, but Alice did successfully manage to get the room... as clean as she feasibly could. Not exactly brand new sparkling clean, but hey, you ever try scrubbing dried blood? Doesn't come off the easiest. Alice put her hands on her hips and let out a deep sigh. "Well... Ain't gettin' no cleaner than that..." She muttered. "Better mosey on outta here and find somethin' else to take care of... Hmm... Tools are lookin' a bit dull, pretty unclean too... Might as well take care of that."

And so Alice worked around the new facility. Scrubbing floors, dusting off furniture, anything she could find, she would do. She put her hands on her hips and let out a sigh. "Well... Got a lotta work done... Not that she's gonna be grateful for it or nothin'. Huh... Now that there's a room I ain't been inside of yet..." She approached the unfamiliar door and pulled it open. "Huh... Awful dark in here..." She muttered. "There a light switch? ...No? Fine, guess I'll make my own light." She tapped her visor, and a flash of orange lit up the room. She heard something. A soft yelp, and then a quiet whimper. She blinked twice, and turned in the direction of the sound to see... a small child. He was tiny, looked very much like a baby, with a black robe, pale skin and pink hair. Alice tilted her head, then put on a small friendly smile as she approached. "Howdy, little critter! What's your name?" She asked.

"Ah! Um... I... Uh... I um... I'm... I'm Crona...!" The child managed to stutter out before huddling in on himself and trembling violently.

Alice blinked, approaching the kid slowly so as to not further startle him.

She eventually came to about three steps in front of him. Standing still, she cleared her throat.

"Uh, ahem...'ello, kiddo. Ya don't hafta be scared...I ain't gon' hurtcha'."

Slowly, the kid stopped trembling, or at least wasn't trembling as hard, and looked up at her. Alice gave him a small smile, and as she analysed his face...

"Awwwww, aren't you just the cutest widdle puppet I've ever seeeeeeen..." She cooed, kneeling down and sliding over to Crona. She gently and slowly lifted her hand and started petting him, making sure to be very cautious to not hurt him.

Crona flinched at the contact, expecting pain to come with it. When it just... didn't, he blinked twice, then looked up at the female drone, head tilted to the side. Alice let out a chuckle and kept ruffling his hair. "There ya go, suga, y'see that? I ain't gonna hurtcha none... I'm your friend, you got my word on that!"

Crona hesitated before shifting a little bit closer to her, leaning his head into her touch like an affectionate kitten and closing his eyes at the gentle contact. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced for, this gentle, soothing, comforting touch... He wasn't being touched with the intent to cause harm, instead it was... to make him feel at ease...

Alice let out a chuckle, then slid the boy closer to her and set him down on her lap. "There ya go, hun, see? No worries, I ain't no bad guy, heheh. Now what're you doin' sittin' alone in this dark, dank room, eh?"

"It's... It's my room..." Crona murmured.

"...That ain't right... Naw, that ain't right at all, what's that woman doin'? Alice muttered softly. "Ain't got no bed in here or nothin'! This ain't the place for no boy to be sleepin'! Gah, ain't like she's gonna let me talk her into gettin' a proper bed in her neither, she ain't gonna listen... Uh... Sorry, hun, just ramblin' to myself a smidge, not to worry... Heheh... But yeah... this ain't right, you livin' like this, sorry I can't do nothin' to change it..."

"...S'okay..." Crona murmured softly.

"So, Crona... My name's Alice. Medusa just bought me today, I'm a drone. I'm here to keep things nice and spiffy 'round these here parts, so you'll be seein' a lot of me from here on in, heheh."

Crona smiled up at her. "Oh... That's good... You're nice. I like you..." He murmured softly.

"Dawww, ain't that sweet of ya? Glad I get the chance to hang round with you too, suga! C'mere now..." She picked the boy up properly and gave him a proper hug. Crona tensed up, instinctively expecting her to squeeze too hard and crush him. Instead, he relaxed as he realized it felt nice... Soothing... Reassuring... "Now then... What's Medusa got goin' on with a little fella like you sittin' in this room all by yourself, hmm?"

"Lady Medusa's my mommy..." Crona mumbled out softly.

"...That woman's your mother?" Alice asked, eyes wide. "...Well she's a pretty lousy, good-for-nothin' excuse for a mother if ya ask me, she ain't providin' NOTHIN' for her son, what's goin' through her head?! Ain't even givin' her own baby a bed to sleep in, I never hearda such a thing! Ugh... Well... Ain't nothin' I can do... I'm just the slave..." She gave Crona a gentle squeeze. "...Sorry you got saddled with such a raw deal, suga..."

"...S'okay... S'normal..." Crona murmured.

"Oh no it AIN'T normal." Alice shook her head. "Ain't nothin' normal about it, little fella. No child should live like this... Trust me..."

"...Really...? But why do I...?"

"...I wish I could tell ya, hun... I really do..." Alice sighed. Crona opened his mouth to speak before letting out a long yawn. Alice chuckled. "Ya sleepy there, suga? Go on then, go ahead, get some shuteye... I ain't goin' nowheres..."

"I...I..." Crona let out a yawn. "Mmkay... Gnight..." He mumbled, before passing out right there in Alice's arms. The drone chuckled and gently patted his head... only to nearly drop him when a small black blobby figure slowly emerged from his back.

"Ugh... Geez... Ah, today sucked... Oh hey, a drone." The blob acknowledged Alice.

"...What in tarnation...?" Alice was doing her damnedest not to shout, to avoid waking up the child.

"Ask Medusa, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what the hell happened to me." He said flatly. "...Loving the accent though. Very homey."

"...You... What are you doin' inside of that boy...?!" Alice hissed.

"Hey, don't look at me, it's not like I asked for this to happen!"

"Hush up, he's fast asleep, I swear if you wake him I'm gonna whoop upon you so bad your grandkids will have bruises!" Alice hissed.

"Hey, you wanna beat up the kid, go nuts." Ragnarok snorted. "You hurt me, you hurt him."

"...How the hell... What is goin' on...?" Alice breathed out.

"Pfft! You're new here. You'll catch on to what a nightmare this all is soon enough." Ragnarok chuckled before retreating back into Crona.

Alice raised a brow. "...I must be losin' my damn mind... Ah, well... I better get some shuteye myself, gotta be at top percent for the slave driver, don't I?" Sighing, she laid back on the floor, keeping Crona safely curled up on top of her torso, gently stroking his hair to make sure he stayed relaxed, happy and content, chuckling mirthfully to herself when he snuggled in closer to her. And with that, she closed her eyes, and went into power saving mode.

The next day came, and when Alice woke, Crona was gone. Nowhere to be found. Blinking, she looked around the room. Nothing. Rising to her feet, she walked out the door... and she heard... screaming...? Screaming! Crona was screaming! She let out a gasp and rushed in the direction she heard the noise coming from, practically tearing the door out of its hinges. Her eyes widened when she saw what was happening. Medusa Gorgon, her owner and Crona's mother, was using a knife to inflict grievous harm on the boy.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOIN'?! ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR DAMN MIND?!" Alice roared, rushing forward and attempting to tackle the woman, only for a black arrow to appear under her feet and sent her tumbling back with a yelp.

Medusa turned to look at her in disinterest. "It's not your place to get involved, drone. I'm doing my work right now, you go do yours."

"You're outta your mind if you think I'm gonna sit by and let this keep goin'!" Alice barked.

Medusa gave her a cold glare. "You have no say in the matter. You're a tool. An object. You have your purpose to fulfill. And that purpose is not to defy your masters. Now, one last chance for you to get out before I rip you apart and sell you for scrap."

Alice opened her mouth to argue, but Crona's voice stopped her. "A-Alice...?" He called out weakly. "P-Please... Listen... I... I don't want her to... to hurt you-" Crona was cut off when Medusa coldly stabbed through his hand with the knife, causing Alice's breath to hitch.

"You heard him. LEAVE." Medusa said firmly.

Alice opened her mouth, then slowly turned to leave the room, closing the door behind her, a haunted expression on her face. She collapsed to a sitting position, back against the wall, and hugged her knees, breathing heavily. "That... That's your son... Your SON... How could... Why would anyone wanna... What's..." She took a deep breath. "...Go work, Alice... Go do some work... Help Crona later..."

Later that day, the same thing happened. Medusa left to go to work, and Alice rushed to Crona's room the second she was gone, throwing the door open and running in to find him curled up and cowering on the floor. "Crona! Hun... Speak to me, are you okay...? Agh, course you're not, she was flaying- What in the...? Ain't a scratch on ya...!" She breathed out.

"A-Alice...?" Crona mumbled out, looking up at her blearily. Alice snatched him up and hugged him close to her shoulder. "Mmm... M'sorry... Was sleeping good but she..."

"Hey, hey now, ya don't need to apologize none, it's all right, suga..." Alice murmured. "Can't believe she nabbed ya without wakin' me up..."

"Hmm... I didn't wake up either till the knife..." Crona froze up, then curled in on himself. Alice gently shushed him, rocking him in her arms.

"I'm so sorry, suga, I wish I coulda... Agh... I feel so useless right now, what kinda drone am I if I can't..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well... I guess all I can do now is... try my best to make all this hurt just a little bet less, can't I...?"

"Hmm... You do... already... cause you're.. here..." Crona choked out weakly with a small smile.

"...Oh, hun..." Alice breathed, hugging him tight. "You're as sweet as an apple pie, ain'tcha?" She gave him a kiss on the forehead and chuckled when she realized he was asleep after his hard day. She sat with her back against the wall. She took a deep breath. And then she spoke. "All right, blob, come on out." Ragnarok emerged with a groan, rubbing his head. "You had somethin' to do with him havin' no kinda mark on him, didn'tcha?"

"Yeah, no duh." Ragnarok snorted. "Next you'll be tellin' me you noticed the black blood."

"...You're his blood... You're black blood... Oh nelly, what kinda messed up stuff has she been doin' to y'all?" Alice stressed.

"Want the list? It'd be a mile long." Ragnarok chuffed out. "Getting really sick of her ramping up these tests..."

"What's this woman aimin' for, anyhow?" Alice demanded.

"Hell if I know!" Ragnarok exclaimed.

"Hush up, boy, you'll wake him! He needs his rest!" Alice hissed.

"Yeah, well... Whatever..." Ragnarok muttered. " I deserve some rest too after saving his little butt from what just happened to him, it's not easy regrowing skin y'know..." Ragnarok grumped. Alice gasped, then took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, deep in thought. "Okay, Alice... You're stuck here... Can't run off... Have to live with what ya know now... But... It ain't all bad... Little fella said he feels better if you're there with him... Your best bet it keep on doin' what you're doin'... Make sure he has a friend in this nightmare... Yeah... That's it... Give him something to keep on truckin' for..." Smiling softly to herself from this decision, she let out a sigh and decided to join the child in rest.

The next day, Alice did her best to work around what was happening in the same cave, tried so hard to tune out his screams, but it was so hard, and the sound shattered her heart like a cheap shotglass. But it was over now, and it was time for their daily meetup. She entered the room, she sat Crona down on her lap, she spoke to him a bit to ease any tension, and then, she decided to try telling him a story. From memory, the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. "...And then Little Red said 'Granny, what big ears you have!' And the big ugly ol' wolf said 'the better to hear ya with, my dear!" Crona listened with rapt attention as Alice told the story, hoping with all his heart that Little Red managed to get away from the big mean scary wolf. When Alice finished the story, the boy clapped his hands, and she chuckled. "Ah, cute as a button and a great audience, heheheheheh..." She ruffled his hair. "Oh, by the way, that reminds me! Check this out..." She pulled something out of her pocket. "I scrounged together some old metal, ironed out the kinks, molded it all together, and check this out!" She held up what appeared to be a small toy robot. Crona's eyes widened at the sight. "Heh... Like that, suga? Here... All yours! Now ya got somethin' to play around with, ain't that nice?" Crona took the small toy, and then shot up and wrapped his arms around her torso. "Whoa Nelly, we got a hugger here!"

"Thank you... I never had a present before..." Crona choked out, causing her to smile and close her eyes.

"Naw, you ain't gotta thank me none, sweetie pie, heheh... Just a little somethin', weren't nothin'..." She gently patted the back of his head. "Now, how's about we play ourselves a little game? It's called tic-tac-toe! Let me show ya how it goes..."

Crona won a few. Alice won a few. But Crona was happy to have someone to play games with besides Ragnarok, who always cheated and gloated. Now, they were simply sitting against the wall as Alice told him more stories, these being stories of her past. "...And then Yeva just blew her lid, and she chased Nori ALL over the place. Wasn't lettin' her get away for NOTHIN', ha! Ah... We had some wild times back there, I must say..." Crona giggled at the story, and they returned to a comfortable silence. "...Y'know, I'm jealous of those two. Heh... I wanted to start my own family just like they got to... I was gonna have me a little boy. And I was gonna name him Beau."

"BEAU?!" Ragnarok popped out, cackling and clutching his sides. "BEAU?! WHAT KINDA STUPID NAME IS BEAU?!"

"Hey, you hush up, Beau is a beautiful name!" Alice protested, outraged.

"I like it." Crona murmured.

"Heh. Thank ya kindly, suga." Alice wrapped her arms around his tummy. "Still... Guess I don't really need to have a Beau, now, do I?" She said with a wink. "Not when I got my little Crona right here."

Crona looked up at Alice with a tilted head and a soft smile. He felt like he had gotten something he both really wanted and desperately needed out of her... He embraced her, and she returned the gesture, and the pair just stayed like that, no further words needing to be said. When Crona needed his rest, Alice placed a pillow on the floor for him to lay on. He was tiny and the pillow was large, so he fit on it nice and snugly. Alice laid beside him and gently draped an arm around him. "...Love you, Alice..." He murmured softly, curling up as sleep took over.

Alice's eyes widened before tears formed on her visor. "...I love you too, ya cute little ball of light..." She whispered, kissing his cheek before joining him in slumber.

It went on like this for several months. Crona found light in his life. Alice would come and spend time with him after Lady Medusa left for her nightly work. And their bond would grow further and further. Still... Alice hated that she couldn't save him... Hated that he had to suffer that torment day after day after day... If she could do ANYTHING to save him...

It all came to a head one day, when she woke up to find Crona still in the room with her. Medusa had left early. And she had instructed her to... to carry out her experiments on Crona?! No... No... Nonononononononononononono... NO! No, she was NOT going to hurt her Crona! NEVER! She absolutely REFUSED! Over her dead body! No, she was taking a stand NOW! She looked over at Crona, then took a deep breath and grabbed him. He stirred from his slumber, letting out a confused groan before looking around. "Shhh... It's okay, hun... I'm gonna bust you outta here NOW, I can't stand this no more..." She murmured.

"H-Huh...? But... But I can't... I... What if she...?"

"Shhh... Gotta try, suga... Gotta try... Just hang on..." Alice let out a sigh, then rushed as fast as she could through the facility. She had to get outside... There was nothing but desert out there... But she knew there was a city somewhere out amongst the dunes... If she could just make it...

Her eyes widened when her path was suddenly blocked by a series of black vector arrows. She gasped and took a step back. "Oh my..." She murmured as Medusa stepped out of the shadows, a disappointed look on her face.

"Hmph. You would defy me? Bold, for a barely sentient toaster." She drawled, Alice bristled and looked around for any hope of escape.

"Alice...?" Crona asked nervously.

"Hey, just hang on, hun, I'm gonna get out outta this mess, just you wait..."

"Oh? And how do you propose you're going to do that?" Medusa asked.

Alice didn't dignify her with a response. She just turned tail and ran as fast as her legs would carry her, away from her Crona's abuser... Medusa watched after her, sighed, and then summoned one of her vectors, sending it shooting after the drone. Alice didn't get far. A few yards before she gasped as she suddenly felt her leg being severed from her body, sending her flat on her face as the appendage clattered to the floor several feet away from her, losing her grip on Crona and sending him falling to the floor.

She hurriedly pushed herself up and tearfully tried crawling her way over to him... only for more arrows to come down and stab her through the back, Crona's eyes widening as he watched in horror. Medusa approached, looking as impassive as ever, and shook her head. "Hmph... What a waste... JCJensen makes faulty products, it seems. To think I wasted actual money on a machine that can't do its job."

"Tch... You can go to hell..." Alice snarled.

"...You first." Medusa scoffed. The vectors lifted Alice into the air. First, her arms were torn off. Then, her last remaining leg. Then the arrows began to slice and carve at her body. Alice screamed as oil, metal, inner workings and nuts and bolts scattered all over the room.

And Crona was forced to watch the whole thing, his eyes widening as tears began to form. "No... Stop... Stop! Please don't hurt her anymore, I'll do anything, stop hurting Alice! STOP! STOP HURTING ALICE, PLEASE!" He attempted to run to Medusa, tugging at her leg. She looked at him boredly before kicking him in the face, sending him tumbling down the hall. He pushed himself back up, and saw Alice giving him a teary-eyed expression.

"...I'm sorry, suga..." She managed to choke out. "I lo-" Before she could finish her sentence, her head was torn from the neck, tumbling across the floor until it rolled to a stop right before Crona. Her visor was replaced with a message. It said 'Fatal Error'. And then, it fizzled out and turned to black.

All was silent for a moment. Then, Crona spoke. "A-Alice...?" He murmured softly, grabbing the severed head, hoping against all hope that someway, somehow, it would speak to him. "...Alice?!" He began to tear up, before he choked out a sob. "ALICE! ALIIIICE! WAKE UP! ALICE, COME BACK, PLEASE COME BACK, DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE, ALICE, PLEASE COME BACK! ALICE, I NEED YOU, PLEASE, PLEASE! Please..." He closed his eyes, and then he began to cry loudly, hugging the severed head tightly as Medusa looked on.

Now, any worthwhile mother that saw their child crying with such genuine, raw anguish would respond by immediately rushing to their side, pulling them into a tight embrace and doing all they could to assure them it was okay.

Medusa... was the exact opposite of a worthwhile mother.

Her expression quickly changed from indifferent, to absolutely disgusted and disappointed. Without a word, she walked over to her crying son. He looked up slowly when he noticed her shadow looming over him, and shrunk back when he saw the look on her face... and then, she kicked him as hard as she could in the face and sent him rolling until he crashed into a wall, causing him to cry out in pain. He curled up and whimpered when she came close once more, and she began to kick him continuously, as hard as she could, nonstop.

"UN! BELIEVABLE! This is PATHETIC, Crona! YOU! Are CRYING! Over a DEFECTIVE! PIECE! Of HARDWARE! You're a JOKE! I am ASHAMED to call you my SPAWN! STOP! CRYING! RIGHT! NOW! STOP! IT! NOW! I! Will GIVE YOU! SOMETHING! To CRY ABOUT!"

Crona fought back the tears. Medusa scowled as she stopped kicking him. "Pathetic... How could I have given birth to something so spineless and ona said nothing. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Crona." She demanded. Crona curled up tighter. Medusa rolled her eyes, knelt down, then harshly yanked him off the ground, holding him up by his hair, glaring dead into his eyes as he trembled violently, looking back with extreme fear, fighting back the urge to whimper as the pain shot through his scalp. Medusa slammed his back against the wall, and he whimpered at the pain in his back. The witch snarled, before smirking. "Hmm. Seems I'll have to toughen you up a bit more. Expect things to get much worse starting tomorrow. For now, let's bring you back to your room so you can think about what just happened today." She walked back to the room, still holding Crona by the hair as he winced at the pain, then threw him back into the room, causing him to fall on the cold stone floor. He slowly sat up, and stared blankly at the wall. He felt Ragnarok emerge.

"Wow, uh... That... That was really bad..." Was all the black blood said. Crona didn't reply. He didn't even move. He just sat in the fetal position and stared dead-eyed at the door, processing all that had just happened. "...Kid? You okay?" No response. "...Wow... Uh... You are NOT taking this well... Uh... I'll... leave you to your brooding..." Ragnarok retreated back into Crona's body as he stared into space. Memories came flooding back. All the times he'd spent with Alice... Her voice, her hugs, her stories, the games they played, the things they did, all the times she tried to reassure him and make sure he was okay... Alice had been... She had been... He wanted to cry... He wanted to cry so bad but he couldn't cry crying made things worse he shouldn't have cried crying was bad he had to stop he could never do it again he'd be hurt more he didn't wanna be hurt more he was so scared he wanted Alice to come back and hold him he wanted her back it hurt everything hurt everything was blurry why did it all have to hurt so much he wanted it to stop make it go away please help...

The door opened, and something was thrown in with them. Crona looked to see it was... what was left of Alice. The head. The limbs. The torso. All of it was there. He looked at the door to see Medusa smirking at him before the door closed. He was still for a moment more. Then he got up on his hands and knees. He slowly crawled over to what was left of her. He grabbed the torso. The head. The arms. The legs. He gathered them all together. He arranged them the best he could to make it look like she was... almost intact. He curled up on the floor next to the body. He grabbed one of the severed arms. And he draped it around himself. Then he closed his eyes and let himself drift off into his memories, the ones he had of her when she was still with him... Retreating into happier times to escape the horrible, cruel reality that faced him...

[End flashback]

"So yeah... Soon as I saw her smug smirk, I knew the whole thing was part of the plan to make the kid go nuts so she could do her weird... whatever it was she wanted to do!" Ragnarok concluded, looking to see the two drones' reactions.

J had a hand clapped over her mouth, pupils dilated as she processed all of it. "Oh my god..." She breathed out, unable to find any words for what she had just learned. She couldn't imagine the psychological harm that must have caused the poor boy... As if the physical torture wasn't enough, she did THAT to him?! How was this poor thing still SANE?! It was awful to imagine, violently murdering the closest thing a child had to a mother right before their eyes and punishing them for crying about it... She felt her heart aching... This child... He NEEDED to be protected at all costs... That was her new mission... Keep this little boy safe.

As for V? She was absolutely haunted by what she had just learned. She stared blankly at Ragnarok, tears forming on her visor, before snapping her attention to Crona. He had loosend his grip on the now sleeping Lucky, leaving the rabbit lying comfortably on the blanket. He was looking down. He was shaking... He was shaking so violently... "...Crona...?" She asked tentatively, slowly wrapping her arms around his little tummy and pulling him closer as she slowly draped her tail around his middle, making sure the nanite acid was safely tucked away. "...Honey...? Are you okay...?"

Crona let out a choked sob. "She's... She's gone... She's... She's all gone...!" V teared up and immediately turned him around, hugging him tightly against her chest as his shoulders began to heave with his increasingly loud sobs. "I... I miss her! I miss her so much! I want her back so bad, I miss her, I want her back!"

"I know you do, sweetheart...I know..." V sighed, planting a gentle kiss on his head.

Crona's sobbing continued, but when the kiss connected, something clicked inside him. A feeling of warmth flooded his heart, and made it even harder to control his tears.

He felt safe.

He wasn't being hurt for crying.

He was allowed to cry.

This place...was safe. He won't get hurt here.

He could let himself go.

Crona's cries grew louder, as V and J exchanged a glance. J moved closer to V and slowly placed her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it gently before pulling back as V tightened her hold on him, squeezing her eyes shut as she let out a choked sob of her own, struggling not to have a breakdown, fighting to keep herself composed so she could comfort her child. J frowned softly, then carefully wrapped an arm around her lover to offer her support, extending a wing to drape around her... Only for V's own wings to erupt outward and wrap tightly around the sobbing child in her arms, making sure to replace the usual bladed material with a soft fabric, akin to a bat's potagium. J blinked twice, then bit her lip and draped her wing back around V, and Crona too by extension. She felt like there wasn't much she could do right now, but she had to to SOMETHING... Had to try to keep them grounded, had to make sure they both knew she was right there with them and she wasn't going anywhere.

V's heart was in pieces. This poor thing... He had suffered so much pain... Being tortured and abused by his own mother... Experimented on... Treated like dirt... And being forced to watch the one person he could rely on not to harm him get murdered violently right before his very eyes...

She knew that he had to cry if he was ever going to feel happy again... But... She hated listening to it... She hated it so much... It crushed her... These broken, anguished sobs, the violent heaving of his shoulders as he let out each sob, the sheer pain his voice carried... His voice was usually so quiet, timid, gentle... But right now, he was crying so loudly... It broke her heart to see him like this... Such a cute, innocent, sweet child... broken... By a twisted, evil monster...

J had the same thought. And it was something that felt strangely familiar to her... Something about someone sweet and innocent like Crona being broken down and abused to the point of breaking down felt... strangely enough... a lot like V. And just like V, she couldn't stand the fact that he was crying and in pain... She wanted it to stop, but at the same time she knew it couldn't and shouldn't stop, it had to keep going... It had to run its course... He had been pent up for far too long... Any more time spent hiding these feelings and he would go mad...

V took a deep, shaky break and steeled her resolve. This wasn't the time for her to be crying. He needed her. He needed his mother. Both of his mothers.

So, they moved to comfort him.

V went first. She started by tampering a little with her inner heat systems, lowering the heat to the point where it would be about as warm as a heated blanket.

Then, came the wings. But unlike the bladed wings she and J usually use, these were covered in countless soft feathers. V folded them in and gently moved them to embrace herself and Crona together.

J followed suit. She too pulled out her own set of feathery wings, wrapping them and her arms around the pair. She did the same thing with her own heating systems and adjusted it to a comfortable temperature. She also began to gently stroke Crona's hair, gently rubbing circles into his head at a slow pace.

V meanwhile planted another kiss on his forehead, but didn't separate her lips from his skin. Instead, she let her face remain connected to Crona, breathing out so that he can feel her being close to him even with the hugs.

Then, an idea came to both of their minds. A particular melody they remembered. They don't know where they last heard it, but they remember what it sounded like. And at this very moment...they'd say it would help a great deal.

Crona felt all the comforting gestures they were offering. He felt the warmth and care they were showing. The gentle, soothing heat, the soft, fluffy feathers draping over him, the extra warmth of J joining the hug, the comforting feeling of J's fingers stroking his hair, V's lips touching his forehead, her gentle, cool breath lightly blowing against his skin... The soft soothing melody they were humming... It made him feel... It made him feel... He... He didn't know...! He felt happy, he felt sad, he felt scared, he felt relieved, he didn't know, his mind was an absolute mess right now, and it was completely overwhelming him! And it just made him cry even harder, and he felt bad about it, because they were trying so hard to make him feel better but he couldn't stop crying, he had to stop, they'd lose patience, they'd get mad, they'd... They'd...

"I-I can't... I... I... Can't... Can't stop... I can't... Sorry... I... I'm sorry, can't... Can't... stop...c-c-crying...!" He managed to choke out.

"You don't have to..." J murmured softly into his ear. "It's okay... You're allowed to cry all you need... We'll stay right here with you all night if we have to..."

"That's right, sweetie..." V whispered. "Just keep it up, and don't stop until you're ready... We're right here..."

"Th-Thank..." Was all he managed to choke out before he began to cry louder... At this point, his sobs were practically screams as he latched onto V's jacket as tightly as his tiny fists could.

The bedroom door opened, and Tessa peeked her head inside with a small, concerned frown. J turned to acknowledge her, and the look on her face assured Tessa that they had it all under control. Tessa nodded her head, then slowly closed the door, Crona's heartwrenching sobs still following her as she walked back downstairs. "...Poor little nipper..." She sighed. "Been building up for years, I know it has..."

There was a knock on the door, and she rose to her feet to answer, knowing it was probably a tenant come to ask about what was happening. When she opened the door, she saw B standing there, looking very irritated. "Hey, bit loud in here, mind keeping the volume down a bi-" He was interrupted when something slapped him on the back of the head. Annoyed, he looked up to see Mahiru giving him a disapproving scowl.

"Don't you dare, that's a crying child, how could you be so insensitive?!" She scolded, hands on her hips.

"Tessa...? Is Crona okay...?" N asked, looking like he had been crying himself.

"He..." Before she could continue, more voices approach the room.

"Seriously, sir! How could you be so insensitive!" M-01 said as he and Millie approached.

"Oi, come on now! Don't go parroting Ms. Human Elite here!"

"We will, because she is right, sir!" M-02 said with crossed arms. "Seriously, it's a kid! A crying kid who's likely suffering at the moment! Have some freaking tact!"

"She's right, ya know." L said. "Seriously B."

"Oh great, now everyone's getting on my case." B ranted with a flickering eye. "Seriously, it's just a goddamn ki-OW! Oi! Quit slapping me before I cut your hand off!"

"Try it! I'll have you scrapped!" Mahiru snapped.

"I hear crying! Is everything all right?!" A concerned female voice called over as two sets of footsteps, one notably much heavier than the other, approached the group, a dainty looking woman made of fleshy substance and a massive hulking man with metal constructs all over his body stopping outside the door.

"Kids are worried too." The man said with a frown. "The kid in there's cryin' like he just lost everything he ever loved!"

"It's all-"

"Where's the baby?!" A female worker drone with blonde hair demanded as she ran up, a frazzled man wearing a labcoat over his pajamas joining her.

"Now, Lizzy, I'm sure it's all under control, you don't need to be so stressed out over it..."

"There is a crying child and I don't like it, I need to make the baby feel better!" Lizzy demanded..

"Now hold on-"

"Oh. My gosh. Tessa!" Ian and Anthony ran up to the door. They were holding a vacuum cleaner for some reason. Ian spoke. "Your apartment is haunted! Anthony and I will deal with the scary ghost child! We've played Luigi's Mansion, we know what we're doing!"

"Father. It is not a ghost child. It is a child child. A being of flesh and blood." Cyn murmured as she approached her brother and hugged him. "Big brother, you are distressed. Are you a friend of the child?"

"C-Cyn, he..."

"What's happening...?" A soft female voice sounded out, a girl with long black metallic hair and a girl with light blue skin approaching. "Is everything okay...? It sounds like someone's hurt... " The pale girl asked.

"Yeah, he... Carol cried a lot like that when we got her home..." The black haired girl murmured.

"Everyone-"

"Hey, uh..." A man carrying a small drone that was covered by a felt puppet stepped up. "I heard cryin' going on here, does he need a crying buddy?"

"What's all this rumpus? Another child forced to see the cruel, unforgiving bleakness of the world we're all trapped in?" A dishevelled man with long black hair groaned as he joined the group, rubbing his temples.

"Hey... Let her speak." A stoic voice chipped in as a tall man with long red hair joined the group. "Sorry, Tessa... Are things all right in there? Need any help?"

Tessa smiled softly and closed her eyes, letting out a deep sigh. "Thanks, Willy... Yeah... Everything's okay in there, no need to worry your heads... I mean... Okay, so... he's not doing well right now, but V and J are handling things just nicely, uh... they're... they're the old drones I told you about... They brought a kid home, he's been through a lot, and they're working on helping him get better from it all... I'm glad you're all worried about him, really, I am... I'm just as worried as you are... But this is a job for... Well, it's a job for the boy's mums." She let out a soft chuckle. Everyone exchanged glances.

N spoke again. "Okay... Right... Yeah... V and J... got this. They got this, everyone... I saw how much he likes them, they're the best to help him through all this, let's... Let's all go back to our rooms and let them do their thing... They'll... calm him down sooner or later..."

Everyone looked uncertain, but one by one, they all began to file back into their apartments. All but Will. Tessa looked at him with a tired smile. He looked back with a frown. "It's all right, Willy... You don't have to..." Will entered the room.

"I don't... think you oughta be alone right now... I know it's hard for you... You've always had a rough time with others crying..." Will murmured. Tessa gave him a small smile, then pulled him into an embrace.

"Ah, come on in, ya big lug, I'll make ya some coffee and we'll catch up on life, take a seat! Oh, you gotta join us for breakfast tomorrow, I want you to see how much my girls have grown over the years!"

"Ah. Drones can grow? Oh... Right... N..." Will murmured. "Huh... Haven't seen V and J in quite some time, but if V's anything like I remember her...she should probably have the little guy calmed within the hour, I reckon..."

Tessa smiled sadly. "After all he's dealt with...? Might be a bit too optimistic..."

It took three hours. From eight PM to eleven PM, Crona had spent three hours crying into V's chest as his two new caretakers held him. His loud wailing had slowly decreased from blubbering, to sobbing, to sniffling, and finally, to whimpers. He was exhausted... He couldn't cry anymore even if he wanted to... He felt... still sad... Still scared... but... somehow kind of free... J was still stroking the back of his head. V was gently rocking him back and forth.

Slowly, he removed his face from V's jacket and looked up at her. V's heart clenched at the sight of his eyes. They were red and puffy from all his crying, and his nose was running... All in all, he was a mess. "Aww... My poor baby..." V murmured, forming a small handkerchief from her wrist and using it to gently dab at his eyes and clean off his nose before setting it down on the bedside table.

Crona sniffled. "I...I...I...I...I..." He struggled to get words out. For some reason, he just couldn't seem to make himself speak to them, the emotional distress was too overwhelming.

"Shhhhh..." V hushed softly into his ear before resting her chin on his head and gently swaying back and forth. "Shhshhshhshhshhshhshhshhshhhhhhh..."

"B-But I... I'm...I have...I... I'm..."

"Crona...? Breathe." J murmured softly. "Close your eyes and take a deep breath." Crona followed her instructions. "Good, good... Now do it again... Good... One more time... Good... Keep going, keep going, you're doing great... Okay... All better?"

"...Thank you..." Crona finally managed to get out. "Thank you so much..."

"Aww... You're welcome, sweetheart..." V whispered, gently cupping his cheek and stroking it with her thumb.

"Hmm... Your voice... Hang on a moment..." J broke the embrace she shared with V and Crona and stood to leave the room.

"Ah...no..."

Crona whimpered a little, reaching out towards J.

"Stay...don't...don't...leave..."

J's heart fluttered in her chest. She gave him a gentle smile. "It's okay, sweetheart. I'm just going to get you a glass of water to help you speak better. I'm just gonna leave for a few minutes. I'll be back before you know it."

Winking, she walked away and left the room. As soon as she closed the door, she placed a hand on her chest.

'He wanted me to stay...he...he felt safe around me. He wanted me to stay by his side...'

She teared up slightly and let out a soft sigh. 'Guess I'm doing an adequate job so far then...' She thought, smiling as she made her way downstairs. She heard Tessa talking to someone. Must be a neighbour... She entered the room, and the tall man sitting at the table with Tessa looked over.

"Oh, J. Y'all right? Haven't see you in ages."

"...Oh... We've... met before. Um... Hi then." J waved. "It's... nice to see you again, sir, even if... I can't remember it..." J murmured. "Um... Sorry... I just came to get Crona some water... He's thirsty..."

"Yeah... Surprised he ain't dehydrated from how hard he was wailin' up there, the poor little fella..." Tessa sighed. "Oh, I got a little somethin' you can take upstairs, the three of you can have yourselves a little snack before ya turn in for the night!"

"Oh, that's so nice, thank you..." J murmured with a grateful smile.

Back upstairs, V was doing her best to ensure Crona felt at ease while J was getting him his water. Cuddling him close to her chest, she was gently stroking his hair while she rocked him back and forth, keeping his tiny head tucked under her chin, smiling softly down at him. Crona was immensely enjoying the close proximity to his caretaker. He felt safe. Warm. Like nothing could get him while he was in her arms. There was so much he wanted to say to her... To both her and J... But it was so hard to talk, his throat felt so dry...

"Sorry...i... got your coat all wet crying..." He choked out.

"Meh, it's okay. Needed a big ol' washing anyway." V chuckled lightly, Crona looking up at her with a sniffle. "But seriously... I care WAY more about you than this jacket, hun... You're WAY more important to me than some old piece of cloth. Even if it is a very stylish old piece of cloth, heh... Don't worry... You can cry on my jacket whenever you need to..." Then, a familiar presence returned with a plate of cookies and a cup of water.

"Hey. Here I am." J said. "Brought some cookies in case you felt like eating." Setting the cookies down, she approached and slowly lifted the cup over to Crona's mouth. "Alright, drink slowly so you don't cough on accident. I'll help you."

Crona grabbed the cup with his hands, before he started slowly sipping the liquid into his mouth. As he drank, J gradually lifted the cup to keep up the pace, while also making sure to not be too hasty to not make him choke.

When he was finished, Crona lightly pushed the glass back. That was J's sign to move the glass away. She placed it on a small table, and took the plate of cookies.

She laid the plate out on the bed and smiled. "Tessa made these yesterday... She said they were for us... A little welcome home present..." She murmured.

V smiled. "Aww... That's nice of her... Here..." She handed one of the cookies to Crona. "Have a cookie."

"Thank you..." Crona murmured as he accepted the treat, lightly nibbling at it, clearly enjoying the taste.

"Are you okay now, Crona?" J asked as she rejoined them on the bed.

"Mmm... Better... A little bit..." Crona mumbled.

"Hmm... Do you want to talk about it?" J asked gently.

"...I... I miss her so much..." Crona whispered. "I wish she could come back..."

"I know, honey..." V whispered, wrapping her arms around his midsection. "If I could bring her back for you, I would..."

"...You'll always miss her..." J murmured. "Alice was very special to you. She had a very positive impact on your life. It's only natural for you to feel this way... What happened to her... It left a scar... A very deep, painful scar... But... Scars fade over time... It hurts now... And that sadness won't ever fully go away... But... in the end... now that you're in a better place, with people who care about you... it will start to hurt less... And it'll hurt just a little bit less with each day. I promise that you won't be stuck in grief forever, Crona... V and I are right here to make sure you have a better life from now on..." V looked at her with a grateful smile.

Crona gave her a weak smile, then looked down at the bed, sniffling. "My tummy hurts..."

"Aww... That's just because you're sad." V whispered, kissing his forehead.

"L-Lady Medusa said... She said it was all my fault...! That... That she'd still be alive if I wasn't weak, that... That..."

"That was a lie." J interrupted, rejoining the embrace, hugging V from the side so her arm draped around Crona. "She only said that to hurt you..."

"But... But why...? Why did she wanna hurt me so bad...?" Crona whimpered.

"...Some people are just rotten and evil to the core, hun..." V whispered. "Not everyone deserves to be a parent... Every child deserves to have parents that love them though."

Crona looked up at her. "L-Like Alice...?"

"Aww, sweetheart, did you see Alice as your mommy...?" V asked sadly. Crona slowly nodded his head, sniffling. He choked out another light sob.

"She... She was there... She was... always there... She tried to make me feel better when I was scared and sad and she hugged me and she told me stories and she used to sing songs and play games with me and... and... She was the best mommy ever and... And I never got to... I..." He trembled. "I want my mommy..."

"I know..." V whispered again, hugging him up to her shoulder and gently stroking his back. "I know you do... I'm so, so sorry..."

"...Based on what Ragnarok told us, I just know she felt the same way about you, sweetie." J murmured. "You were the son she never had... And I know she's watching you right now... And I just know she's at peace now that she knows you're away from that monster and safe here with your new family..."

Crona's eyes widened. "M-My... My new family...!"

"Yep!" V giggled. "You're part of the family now, sweetie! Welcome home." She said with a wink.

Crona looked back and forth between V and J, eyes wide. He had never felt like this before... He'd never felt so... safe... So loved... So warm and comforted and... Wait, no, he had. With his mother... Crona's eyes widened. And he began to tear up again.

"I left her...! I left her behind...! She... She's still back in the cave, she's not here...! I... Alice... Mommy... I left..." He began to breathe heavily.

"Crona? Crona... Look at me..." J whispered, gently stroking his shoulder. "Hey... Just look at me... Good... Focus on me... Focus your breathing... That's good... Find your pace... Almost there... Okay... Good..." She took a deep breath. "Crona, when we took you out of that cave... I found a worker drone in a room. She was ripped apart, and the pieces were laid out to make it look like she was still intact... She had brown hair. It was in a ponytail. Was that Alice, sweetheart?"

"Y-Yes... Yes, that was Alice..." Crona murmured.

"Okay... I brought her back... She's here... I... felt it was important to you if you kept the remains together like that, so... I put her in my travelling bag... I'll talk to Tessa, and maybe we can have her put back together..." Crona's eyes lit up with hope. "Oh... Oh, sweetie, no, I'm so sorry, we can't bring her back now, her body is far beyond the point of repair..." Crona deflated, and J's heart clenched. "But... But we can put the body back in one piece... And then we can give Alice a nice, proper funeral, like she deserves..."

Crona looked at her with a tilted head. "A...A funeral...?"

"Yeah..." V whispered. "A funeral. We pay our respects to the dead... We could make a little coffin for her... And you can say goodbye properly... And then we can give her a proper burial... And you can go and visit her... Maybe Tessa will let us make it in that greenhouse I saw on the fifth floor..."

"...I... Okay... That sounds... That sounds nice... Alice would like that..." Crona murmured with a soft smile.

"Good..." J whispered. "Now... Is there anything else you want to talk to us about...?"

"...I...I...She hurt me... She... I... She hurt me so bad, all the time, and... and... I still remember it all, I... I still feel it, it all hurts so bad... I... I can't forget, I wanna forget, I don't wanna remember how bad it all hurt, it...it just won't go away, will it ever go away, will I ever forget?!"

"Oh, sweetie..." V tightened her hold on him, nuzzling the top of his head. "I'm so sorry... I don't know... But... But I PROMISE you, from the bottom of my heart... As long as J and I are still alive, you are NEVER going to be hurt like that again, not EVER. We will NOT let anyone hurt you... You won't have to worry about any more pain... You won't have to be scared anymore... We'll be right here with you... We are going to get you through this..."

J, meanwhile, was already in the process of downloading all the information she possibly could on child therapy. "Yes... Yes, that's right... Anything... to make sure you don't feel this pain anymore..." Unlike V... She had downloaded Medusa's experiment notes onto her hard drive. She KNEW EVERYTHING. And the fact that he remembered all of that pain, and still FELT it sometimes... It made her want to throw up, oh it made her want to throw up... "...Crona... If you ever start to feel those phantom pains... You need to... You need to tell yourself that it isn't real. I know it's hard, but... do your best to fight those feelings away and focus on what's really happening to you right now... And... try to remember something that makes you feel nice... You... You like it when V and I and N and Alice hold you, right...? Remember how that feels. Or maybe remember how soft Lucky is, or... or how good these cookies are... Just... do what you can... to try and take your mind off it... I know that's hard, but... just try your best... Okay...?"

"...Okay..." Crona mumbled softly. The trio sat in silence for a few minutes. V and J only took a few cookies for themselves. As much as J wanted to satisfy her sweet tooth... Crona deserved the rest far more in her eyes... After a while, V spoke.

"Hey... You wanna hear some stories about our old job, hun? We've done some pretty cool stuff over the years, maybe if you know how awesome we are, you'll feel safer." She said with a wink.

J frowned. "I don't know, V, I don't know if we should be sharing these kinds of stories with him, we used to... y'know... unalive people."

"Well... Yeah, but... I really think he'd feel better if he knew he was being raised by two of the strongest fighters in the whole dang world, right...?" V asked with a tilted head.

"Well... Okay... But leave out any graphic details, he doesn't need to know how violent it got!"

And so Crona listened with rapt attention, eating his cookies while V and J told him the many stories of their fights and their victories. The assassination of Torchwick and his gang, the fight against A and LT that had resulted in them befriending the Imps, their fight with Adam Smasher, their dismantling of the Medici Mafia, NOT the encounter with Billy and Barney, V didn't want to make herself sound like a loser in front of her baby, and finally, the fight against Medusa. And each story told, Crona started to feel a little bit safer as he realized how incredibly strong and capable his new caretakers were. They had killed the woman that had taken his mother away. They had brought him to a better life... They had saved him... They had given him the freedom to feel... The freedom to live... The freedom to be him...

"...And in the end, we found you..." V murmured. "I'm so glad we were sent on that last mission... I'm so glad we found you... I'm so, so glad we could give you the home you deserve..." She rested her chin on his head.

"...M-Me too..." Crona choked out, latching onto her jacket and sobbing softly once more. These weren't pained, agonized tears... These were the tears of a happy, grateful child that was finally given what he needed in life to be happy.

V and J exchanged a sad smile before both embraced him tightly. "It's okay... It's okay... We're right here for you..." V whispered softly.

Crona didn't cry nearly as long this time, only a few minutes. NOW he had utterly cried himself dry. He laid limp in V and J's hold, resting his head against the former's chest as he slowly closed his eyes.

"I... I love you Miss V...I love you Miss J..." He murmured.

V's eyes widened, then began to 'water' as J looked shocked, before they both smiled at the boy.

"We love ya too, hun." V said.

"You have no idea how much we love you." J added.

"Now, you should get some rest..." Said V. She heated up her body a little, and began to hum a lullaby.

Soon, sleep began to overtake Crona. The boy's eyelids got heavier and heavier, until he eventually closed them completely, and moments later descended into the land of dreams.

The two drones waited a little to be sure he was asleep, and looked at each other.

"He's finally asleep..."

"Yeah... His first night sleeping away from that hell..."

The two drones looked down at the sleeping child. And then, J noticed V was beginning to tremble. She looked over and saw the face she was making. It was an awful combination of sheer unadulterated rage and hatred and pure unbridled heartbreak, her teeth gritted together as tears formed on her visor. J placed a hand on her shoulder, and V let out a choked sob before burying her face in her lover's shoulder and letting out a strangled sob, expressing the pain she felt for her little boy. "I hate her... I hate her so much... She's the worst kind of person...! I'm gonna kill her...!"

"You already did kill her, sweetie..." J whispered.

"Well I'm gonna bring her back to life so I can kill her again... And again... And again... I'm gonna kill her so many times that it'll destroy her psychologically, just like she did to my baby...! I... I just wanna make all this go away...!"

J hugged her. "We can't change the past, V, but we can make the future better." Both her lover and Crona had been put through the wringer, but that part was finally over. Now they could focus on letting those emotions out and finally healing. V took a deep, shakey breath and nodded her head in agreement before looking down tearfully at Crona as he slept like a rock. J shook her head and closed her eyes. Now SHE wanted to torture Medusa moreso than her lover already had. Crona, Ragnarok, Lucky, an innocent worker drone, and now her own lover. Even in death Medusa still brought misery to far too many people. Worse was those were the only ones they knew about. There could be far more people she crushed under her heel to see her plans come to fruition. Not that they ever would with her soul set to be eaten by a future Death Scythe.

V sighed softly and leaned down to press a kiss on the top of Crona's head. She smiled as he snuggled in closer to her jacket... And she heard him murmur something... "Mommy..."

She let out a soft gasp, her miserable expression lighting up as she turned to look J in the eye, her smile bright as that one word seemed to banish her bad memories. J smiled back and leaned in for a kiss on the cheek, "You're definitely Crona's mom, V, and don't let anyone tell you differently."

V let out a quiet squee and hovered up above the bed slightly, gently spinning around as she cuddled Crona close and lightly nuzzled him with her face, trying her best not to be too loud with her joy as she snuggled her son. J smiled as she gently floated back down to the bed even as she was still clearly floating on cloud nine. In her own heart she was grateful for Crona bringing back the bubbly drone she knew and loved, even if he didn't know just how much those words meant to her. Even so she found her eyes pulled over to the closet Tessa had pointed out. With the promise of getting their missing memories back inside of it. She looked back at V, who was gently cuddling their sleeping child close. "Mommy's here, sweetheart, mommy's got you, mommy's never letting go... Mommy's gonna hunt down anyone that hurts you... And she's gonna slowly peel all the skin off their body... And then she's gonna feed them their own heart..." Despite the violent nature of the words, V never once lost the gentle, loving tone in her voice as she doted on the little boy. J smiled. They'd look at the closet sometime tomorrow, this wasn't the time for THAT roller coaster just yet.

V leaned down and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead, smiling as he snuggled in closer to her. "Poor little guy... She really did do just about everything to him, didn't she...? That THING is a real monster... On top of all the physical torture, she took away someone he loved..."

J shook her head sadly, "She was the kind of person who didn't care how many people she hurt or stepped on to get what she wanted. Something we're all too familiar with." James Elliott had zero issues with torturing and twisting drones into his own personal assassins for hire if it meant he could make a profit or get rid of nuisances like those gangsters they took out with the Imps. She let out a sigh and looked at V, wondering just what had happened to her to change her so drastically. From what little flashes of memory she had, she had been nothing like the maniacally cackling to cynical assassin she saw before her today. All she could guess was it had something to do with the transformation from working drone to murder drone as the scientists called them when they thought they weren't listening. She could recall that V had been taken first of the three of them, but she refused to talk about it, clamming up the only time J had ever asked about the fragmented memories V occasionally got.

J looked down at Crona and winced. How had he not broken even worse V had...? He was a child... Children were extremely emotionally vulnerable, and as such, far more likely to snap under such pressure, and he'd suffered so much worse than V... She supposed that for Crona it came down into him not knowing any other life. From what she had read in Medusa's files she had brought him into the world as nothing more than a pawn for her plans. She had never intended to treat him like a son and her actions certainly proved it. Even that little dose of kindness this Alice drone had shown him was written off by her as the drone being 'defective'. She remembered so clearly what she had said to him after dismembering Alice... It was genuinely the most disgusting thing she had ever heard...

She had known some messed up humans over the years, but Medusa was easily the most callous and cruel which was saying something. If you weren't doing exactly what she told you then you were defective. If you were defective she would either scrap you or in Crona's case try to mold him into what she wanted him to be. And the fact that she would say that to her own child, after she coldly and brutally destroyed the only true friend and support he had... She couldn't even imagine how the poor thing must have felt when he heard such cruel words from his own mother...

No... Medusa wasn't his mother. Alice was. Alice was the first mother figure Crona had ever had. And now, she and V were filling those shoes where she couldn't.

...Crona really was just like V, wasn't he...? Damaged. Hurt. Scared and abused... And he had no solace until just recently in the year since his only friend was killed. She smiled at V. She was good for Crona... She just hoped she would be as well.

She supposed that for the moment only time would really tell. It was getting late and they were all exhausted. After a brief stretch she retracted her wings, "We should settle in for the night, V. We've got another big day tomorrow."

V let out a sigh and nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess..." She muttered, looking down at the sleeping Crona with a warm smile, kissing the top of his head and draping her wings around him.

J laughed softly. "You look like a mother bat and her baby."

V giggled and rested her chin on Crona's head with a smile. "That's basically what I am..." She murmured as she wriggled her way under the blankets. "Ah... This is WAY better than those crappy cots back at the facility..."

"Indeed..." J murmured. "We've never slept in a proper bed, have we? Good thing, too... I don't think the little one could handle sleeping upside down with us all night..."

V softly giggled as she imagined sleeping upside down with Crona clinging to her like a baby bat, "Yeah I don't think it would be very good for his health." She carefully nestled him between her and J before tucking the covers in around him."

Her lover's gaze softened as she looked at him, "He looks so peaceful when he's asleep."

She nodded her head. "Probably the only time he ever really feels at peace, the poor thing..." She kissed his forehead and gently stroked his back. "...And even then... There's no way he doesn't have awful dreams..."

J reached over to hold her hand, "All we can do is be there for him. Help him work through each bad dream as they come. Neither of them was a stranger to bad dreams. V FAR moreso than J.

V looked down at the boy and smiled. "...I hope someday he'll be okay with calling us his moms for real... It was nice to hear it, buuuut he was basically asleep when he said it, soooo I'm not sure it counts."

J gave her hand a squeeze, "I think he'll call you mom in time. It's clear to anyone who bothers to look just how much you love him, V." J gave her a smile and leaned close to touch their foreheads together. Then she grabbed her cheeks. And then, she pulled her into a kiss.

Their lips connected gently despite the rather fast pull-in. The kiss they exchanged was soft, without the usual force and intensity behind it. Just gentle, soft, easy and slow.

They remained like this for a few minutes, exchanging love, before eventually pulling away, and laying down on the bed. Crona was in-between them, so they moved in and huddled around him, with the boy getting snuggled between them.

"Hold him a little closer... Make sure he knows you're there even while he's sleeping..." J remarked.

"Yep. You're really doing well with this whole mother thing."

"Huh? Really?" J asked. "I'm not sure...I don't think I'm doing THAT good..."

"You very much, are J. Don't say you aren't."

She rested her forehead against her lovers' with a small, warm smile. "Seriously... It was so sweet... You knew just what to say to make him feel... well... just a little bit better... It all came to you so naturally... I'm really proud of you, J... Seriously... Thank you so much for trying so hard..."

J smiled softly and rubbed her arm. "You... You really think I'm worthy to call myself his mother, V...?" She asked.

"Of course, J... You are. You were so sweet with him I think it might give Tessa diabetes if she saw it." V giggled. J smiled softly at her.

"I... I hope I can keep it up..." She murmured.

"Aww, don't be like that, J, you're gonna be an awesome mom!" V insisted with a toothy grin. "I mean, you're one of the most loving people I've ever met!"

J snorted slightly. "Yeah, bet N was really feeling the love when I kept berating him for everything he did and tried to stop him from being who he was..."

V let out a sigh. "Come on, you know you only did that because you felt like you had to."

J looked away. "Still, what if that had an effect on who I am as an individual...? I always had a nasty side, and I had to get even tougher when things got bad... I... What if I'm too hard on him...? I don't wanna end up becoming the mom he's scared of because I'm too strict and snappish..."

V gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Come ON, J. I just saw the way you handled him. You were gentle, patient, caring, you were just what he needed. You did great, and you'll keep doing great. You worry too much."

J rubbed her arm. "Yeah, but that was just one moment... Like... Like what if he drops a plate or something and I instinctively snap at him for it, you know I used to do that all the time... Or... Or what if he tries to wake me up when he has a bad dream and I'm grouchy and annoyed when I wake up?"

V gently caressed her face. "You're worrying about these things, and that means you're gonna be careful and try your best not to do them, so you don't have to worry about it..." She murmured softly. J gave her a tiny smile in return, feeling just a bit better.

"...I'll do my best, V. ...But if I ever scare him, I want you to slap my stupid head right off of my body." J instructed.

"Oh, I will." V replied casually. J blinked twice, then laughed softly at the bluntness of the response.

"Quite the mother bear, aren't you, V?" She murmured.

"Of course. No one messes with my little baby bat, not even the love of my life." V said with a wink. As if sensing her declaration of protection, Crona snuggled in closer to her jacket. Her smirk softened back into a smile as she gave him a gentle pat on the head. She silently hoped that their presence would let him have sweet dreams. That the nightmares would leave him alone for the night. And she... truthfully hoped the same for herself as well. "...Uh, J, would you mind... getting a bit closer...? I... I dunno, I'd just feel... a liiiittle bit more comfortable if you hold me...?"

J chuckled. "So basically I'm to you what you're to Crona right now." J moved closer before gently taking V's face in her hands and giving her one last kiss for the night, "I'll be right here when you go to sleep, and right here when you open your eyes again in the morning, V." It was the same promise she had made every time V was afraid to close her eyes. It was the same promise she would continue to make every day that they had together.

V smiled back and teared up. "...Thanks, babe... I love you..." She whispered, feeling J gently wrap her arms and wings around her.

"...I love you too... So much..." J whispered back tenderly, beginning to tear up herself.

They closed their eyes for the night with smiles on their faces. Between them Crona had the first peaceful and restful night's sleep for the first time in his life. As long as his new parents were there... He felt there was nothing that could harm him.