Chapter One: The Missing Demon Sword
It had been some time since the final battle, against the Kishin god known as Asura, and it seemed that things were finally starting to get back to normal. Stein's madness was back under control; Medusa's and Arachnophobia’s influence seemed to be completely wiped out now. Even the sun was making its usual boasting, heaving breaths high in the sky. Yep, everything was fine now, or so they thought. Meanwhile, a slender young figure, sat scrunched up in the corner, of a dark dungeon styled room. Their face buried into a pillow, until a gentle knock on the door, caused the pink haired boy to shift his head tiredly, and look over at it. "Crona?" came a young girl's voice, to which Crona blinked innocently, realizing he recognized it. "Maka? Wha, what is it?" he asked softly "Lord Death wants to see you" she told him.
This was it, he was going to be exiled, he just knew it, why else would Lord Death wish to see him? Just thinking about it, made him feel a twisting knot form in his stomach. "Crona? are you alright?" Maka asked worriedly "y, yeah.....I'm fine" Crona managed, before he strode over to the bed, and placed the pillow back upon it. He then walked over to the door, and opened it, only to see Maka and Soul staring back at him. "Tch geez Crona, took you long enough" Soul remarked snidely. Crona sighed mournfully, lowering his head in an apologetic manner. "S, sorry Soul" Crona spoke sadly, before suddenly Maka whacked Soul on the head with her book.. "Ow, what did you do that for Maka?!" Soul fumed "don't bully Crona" she lectured the white haired weapon, before taking Crona's hand gently, and gave him a warm smile.
"Let's go Crona, Lord Death is waiting" she told him. "Okay" he spoke in his usual frail tone, before he followed her towards the Death Room. His heart was pounding heavily in his chest, he couldn't remember it being soo loud as it was today, as they walked into the Death Room together. "Lord Death, I brought Crona like you told me to" Maka chimed happily, as Crona fidgeted nervously, deeply hoping that Ragnarok, wouldn't decide to come out and cause any trouble. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle that right now if the creature did. "Hiya, wassup, how's it hanging?" spoke the childish looking grim reaper, before waving a big hand. "Thank you Maka, you can go back to class now" he told her, in that goofy voice of his. Maka bowed and smiled at Crona "I'll see you later okay?" she told him in an assuring manner. Crona managed a smile and nodded to her, before she made her way out of the room. Though in all honesty, Crona kinda wished that Lord Death would've let Maka stay, since he wasn't sure how to deal with this alone. He knew fully well, it wasn't the same, as the time when he demanded to be given the chance, to go after Lady Medusa with Miss Marie.
He found himself gripping his arm tightly, and glancing about the almost cheery looking room nervously, before he spotted a familiar face, and felt his cheeks flush a little, quickly glancing away. "Crona, you know that you caused a lot of damage to the academy in support of Medusa, don't you?" Lord Death began, Crona felt like a massive weight was suddenly dropped on his shoulders, the guilt felt suffocating. "Y, yes sir" he weakly uttered. "Now Crona, normally I'd have no choice, but to exile you permanently from the academy, for such actions" the grim reaper explained. Crona sighed mournfully, his head dropping forwards, almost as though, those were the worst words, he could ever hear the grim reaper say. "I understand....I'll go pack my things then" Crona answered, sorrow drenching his tone, as he turned to leave the room in defeat. "Wait, now hold on a minute Crona, I haven't finished what I was going to say" he told him.
Crona had begun to dread facing Maka and the others, and having to tell them that he was being exiled from the academy. He tried to fight back the tears that he felt were beginning to form. When suddenly, the grim reaper spoke again, causing Crona to stop dead in his tracks, his eyes widening in shock and confusion. He then lowered his head even more, allowing his pale pinkish bangs to conceal his eyes. 'It gets worse.... doesn't it?' was all he could think. "I was about to say, that's what would Normally happen, however, seeing as how you helped us defeat Medusa, despite her being your mother, and helped us repair the damage that was done to Professor Stein, I've decided to make an exception, and allow you to continue to stay here at the academy as a student" the grim reaper finished. Crona gasped and turned to look at the grim reaper in astonishment. "Wha, wait, wha, what?! Y, you mean? I'm not being exiled?!" he blurted out, seeming quite clearly confused.
"Well yes, that's what I just said isn't it? Now run along now, off to class with you" the grim reaper chimed, making a shooing gesture, with his oversized white glove like hand. Crona could hardly conceal his happiness, as he headed back to class. "Man, and here I thought that you were gonna kick him out, no questions asked" Spirit replied with a slight shrug. "Oh, come now Spirit, I'm not That heartless, and besides, it took a lot of guts for him to stand up to Medusa like he did, I think after all that witch put him through, the kid could use a break, not only that, but it seems some of our top students have taken quite a liking to him" the grim reaper responded casually.
Crona entered the classroom and saw Maka happily waving to him, to which he went over to the spot she gestured next to her, and sat down. "Hey, you alright Crona?" Maka asked, to which Crona smiled warmly and nodded. "So" Maka began, leaning in smiling "what did Lord Death want to talk to you about?" she inquired. Crona blinked confused at first, before glancing away. "He wanted to talk to me about the damage I caused because of my mother" the pink haired swordsman mournfully answered. Maka touched his shoulder consolingly "b, but it wasn't your fault Crona, she was just using you" Maka protested. "It's alright, Lord Death decided to forgive me, and is going to let me stay here as a student at the academy" he explained meekly.
Maka's eyes widened in shock "are you serious?!" she blurted out, before Crona shyly nodded in response. "That's great Crona, congratulations, how about you come over to me and Soul's house tonight, and we can all celebrate okay?" she told him cheerfully. "R, really?" Crona asked shyly "well of course, you're our friend aren't you?" she asked him lightly, before Crona smiled innocently and nodded. Soul was sitting in some of the higher benches with Black Star and Tsubaki, leaning back casually, though was secretly watching Crona and Maka intently. He didn't want to admit it, but he was actually starting to feel just a little bit jealous of Crona, since Maka was spending more time lately with Crona, than she did with him.
Black Star didn't seem to notice as usual, but Tsubaki definitely noticed the way Soul was looking over at Maka, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Soul, if you're soo worried about Crona stealing Maka from you, maybe you should say something about it" she told him warmly. Soul felt his cheeks burn and jolted slightly, quickly looking over at Tsubaki. "Are you crazy Tsubaki?" he asked "well it's pretty obvious that you have feelings for Maka" Tsubaki explained nicely.
Soul grimaced and looked away trying to play it off smoothly "you don't know what you're talkin about Tsubaki, me, have feelings for Maka?! Tch that's just crazy talk, besides, who'd want a moody flat chested brat like her?" he remarked. Maka heard him and glared angrily over at him, a hurt look on her face. "You can really be such a jerk sometimes Soul, you know that?" she snapped upset, before forcing herself to look away from him, to hide the hurt expression on her face. She really liked Soul, and often wished that he could just see it already, and stop being soo mean to her. Crona placed a hand hesitantly on her shoulder, and leaned in looking worriedly at Maka. "Don't let him get to you Maka, I'm sure he didn't mean it like that" Crona tried to tell her, in a consoling manner. Maka looked at Crona, a saddened look on her face, and looked up slightly, just in time to see Tsubaki lightly smack Soul upside the head.
Crona looked about and saw Liz checking her manicure, and Patty swaying in her seat , being her usual bubbly self, but he soon noticed Kidd wasn't here. Not seeing the reaper there, made Crona feel a little sad for some reason, though he wasn't entirely sure why, but soon the doors to the classroom opened, and Kid walked in. "Hey Kid, you're late" Black Star mocked, but Kid ignored him, and went to take a seat in his usual place. Within moments, the doors opened and the stitched up wheelie chair was dragged into the classroom, till it was where the demented scientist wanted it. Stein then calmly turned it around, before sitting on it in his usual odd manner. The lesson began and Crona made sure to take notes, since he knew now, that he truly belonged here at the DWMA.
Death the Kid glanced over, dreading that Lord Death, had probably exiled Crona, despite the talk he had with his father, merely moments before. The raven haired reaper soon blinked in surprise, to see Crona sitting next to Maka. Kid soon felt an internal sigh of relief. 'Good, so it seems my father decided to do the right thing, and let him stay after all' Kid thought to himself. Crona was soo happy to know, that he'd get to stay with his friends, to the point, where it felt like the day just flew by. After school, he hung out with the others at Death the Kid's place. Since Maka didn't want Crona to be exposed to a certain witch that lived with them, who often liked to roam about almost naked. Nor did she really feel like fighting with Soul over that, in front of Crona. As the crescent moon chuckled in the sky, Crona soon bid farewell to his friends, and began to walk back towards the academy, not suspecting anything. He didn't even seem to realize, that he suddenly wasn't alone, as a pair of eyes watched him from an alleyway.
"Crona" came a female voice he recognized, causing him to turn around swiftly to look over, worriedly gripping his arm. "E, Eruka?! Wha, what are you doing here?" he stammered worriedly. He'd just finished getting through dealing with witches, and now his mother's minions were back? The frog transformed back into herself, but was keeping the soul protect on. "Crona, I need to know something" she spoke as she began walking towards him. "Wha, what do you want from me?" Crona asked, his voice shaking as he stepped back. Eruka paused and looked at him "I can't feel the snakes anymore, so tell me Crona, is it true? is Medusa really dead?" she asked bluntly. Crona shivered and lowered his head, remembering how Medusa tried to kill him, that horrifying battle against her, he didn't want to relive the terror. "I need an answer Crona is she dead or not?" Eruka spoke in a slightly more demanding tone.
"Y, yes ....Medusa's dead" Crona confessed mournfully, before looking up helplessly. "Are you absolutely sure?" she asked sternly "Yes, of course I'm sure, m, Maka killed her with the Genie Hunter technique" he answered, before forcing himself to straighten up. "So her magic shouldn't affect you anymore" he told her, before he began to walk away from her. "Hey, hold on a second Crona, where do you think you're going?" she spoke suddenly, causing him to look at her weakly. "Back to my room now, wha, why do you ask?" he managed in a frail manner, trying to act like he wasn't afraid, though in truth, he was trembling. He had a hard time dealing with girls as it was, or people in general, especially witches, or worse the witches that once served his mother.
"I need your help with something real fast" Eruka explained. "I'm sorry Eruka, but I can't help you anymore, I don't want to get exiled from the academy" Crona confessed helplessly. Crona then turned to walk off, only to see Free Wolf walking up and felt himself tense. "You don't get it do you Crona? Your mother put me in one hell of a bind, and now you're going to help me fix it" Eruka told Crona sternly. "A, and if I don't?" Crona asked beginning to cower, seeing the dark expression on the frog witch's face. "Look, here's the thing Crona, Medusa murdered the eldest of the Mizune sisters, and because of her snakes, I had to lie to them about who murdered her, I had to tell them that students from the academy were responsible for it" Eruka explained.
"B, but why do I have to fix it? I'm not the one that lied to them" Crona spoke weakly. He was really getting scared now, especially when Eruka snapped her fingers, and Free Wolf, abruptly seized him, slamming him up against a wall, before pinning him down against the wall, by his pale slender throat. Crona struggled helplessly, and looked at Eruka terrified, as she glared darkly and pointed at him with an index finger. "Crona, you will help me make matters right with the Mizune sisters" she declared before grinning "unless, you want to risk them coming back, and attacking the innocent people of Death City again, surely you wouldn't want to be held responsible for that, would you?" she spoke sinisterly. "N, no please, anything but that" Crona weakly cried out. "Then help me straighten things out with them, or I swear I'll tell them your friends killed her" Eruka told him sternly.
Crona tried to struggle more, but soon sighed in defeat "o, okay fine, but you have to promise me, that if I do this, the people of Death City and the Academy will be safe" Crona told her, his voice quivering. "Alright fine, deal, Free drop him" Eruka told the wolf man, before she began to walk off. "Ribbit, well come on Crona, let's get this over with" she told him. Free Wolf released his hold on Crona, dropping him to the ground, before grabbing Crona by the arm, and pulled him to his feet. "Well, you heard the little lady" Free lectured. Crona glanced back towards Death The Kidd's house worriedly, before he followed Eruka and Free Wolf, towards where the Mizune sisters were hiding, deep into the woods.
Eruka looked about "huh, that's weird...they should be around here somewhere" Eruka stated glancing about. Free Wolf, knelt down and sniffed the air, giving a low grunt of annoyance. Suddenly streaks of light burst through the air, and soon the echoing sounds "chi chi chi" resonated in the air, and the Mizune witches landed, stacking on top of one another, and transformed into the witch Mizune. "Eruka, why have you requested to see me?" Mizune asked flatly. Crona saw the look on the more endowed witch's face, and trembled out of fear. "You deserve to know the truth, about the death of the eldest Mizune sister" Eruka began. "Oh? And who was it then Eruka?....if I recall, you were the one that told us it was the Academy's doing, are you implying that you lied to us?" Mizune asked seeming to be getting angry.
"Wait, m, Mizune sisters, please, a, allow me to explain, me and your eldest sister confronted Medusa, about the dangers of the risks she was putting us witches in, due to certain experiments she was conducting" Eruka began, before lowering her head "but, we didn't expect her to put her magic snakes in our bodies, when we tried to get rid of her, she made me watch her kill your eldest sister, and told me if I didn't do as she said, that my fate would become the same as hers...I'm sooo sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you Mizune sisters, but I was soo scared of Medusa, I didn't know what else to do, please forgive me" Eruka told them.
Mizune's gaze darkened murderously "and you made us serve the one who killed our sister, not to mention your friend, you coward, you should die with Medusa!" Mizune declared angrily and lunged towards Eruka. Crona's eyes widened in horror 'wha, what do I do? I don't know how to handle this...wha, wait think ...wha, what would Maka and the others do?....Guess I have no choice' he thought worriedly, before suddenly he raised his arm into the air, an emotionless look in his eyes. "Ragnarok" he spoke absently, before summoning the demon sword to him, and lunged over, putting himself between the frightened witch Eruka and the enraged witch Mizune, blocking Mizune with the sword. Mizune jumped back slightly, and glared murderously. "Oh, I see how it is now, the witch's failed experiment defends the traitorous frog, in that case.....I'll kill you both!!" Mizune hollered enraged, Crona felt his body shaking, quickly glancing behind him, at Eruka and Free Wolf.
"Free, I, I don't know if I can handle this... I, I'll try to hold her off, y, you need to take Eruka, and get out of here now!" Crona told them, his frail body shaking badly, before barely dodging a swing from the enraged witch, falling back against a tree. He gasped in pain "Crona, snap out of it, she's coming!" he heard Ragnarok snap, before he managed to duck down and bolted. Mizune saw Eruka trying to make a run for it, the mouse witch's eyes dimming. "Hmph, I'll destroy her later, but first, I'll need to get rid of the meddlesome brat" she told herself, before she began flying after him. "Hey, watch out you idiot, angry witch incoming" Ragnarok hollered at the pink haired boy, who managed to run, glancing over his shoulder, his pale eyes widening in horror.
Crona barely stifled a shriek upon seeing her closing in, before he began running as fast as his slender legs could carry him. "Say hello to that wretched snake like mother of yours you pathetic meddlesome brat, because you'll be joining her soon in Hell!" Mizune shouted, before laughing and began blasting magic at Crona. The young boy cried out in fear, as he forced himself to dodge, and suddenly swung around, blocking some of the witch's magic using the demon sword. "Stop it! Stop fighting me! I haven't done anything to you!" Crona cried out helplessly, but to no avail. He had no choice but to keep running, and hope that Maka and the others could find him in time.
Maka was busy working on studying for school as usual, when suddenly she jolted upright, a shocked look on her face, and began to rush towards the door. "Hey, Maka, what's up?" Soul called out, causing her to catch herself by gripping the doorway "I just sensed a witch's soul nearby" she mentioned, before looking at Soul with a grave expression on her face. "What's with that look Maka?" Soul asked not liking the overly concerned look on her face. "Not only did I sense a witch's soul near Death City, but I sensed it near Crona’s soul wavelength" she finished. Soul's eyes dimmed darkly at that, he may not have been all that fond of Maka paying soo much attention towards Crona at times.
But in a way, knowing Crona's bad history with Witches, he found himself realizing it was not cool of him, to be getting jealous of the weak willed boy. "And you were just gonna take off without me? Heh c'mon Maka, how were you planning on protecting Crona without your weapon?" Soul asked almost mockingly. "Oh right s, sorry about that, c'mon Soul, we've got to alert the others" she told him. Soul nodded and ran with her "hey Maka, I got an idea, how about I go get Black Star, and you go get Kid, and we'll meet at the basketball court, it'll be faster that way" Soul called out as they ran. "Okay, just don't take too long" Maka told him "yeah, yeah, I know" Soul replied, and bolted towards Black Star and Tsubaki's house, and hurriedly knocked on the door.
"Black Star, Tsubaki! Hey guys open up!" Soul called out, before seeing the door open, and saw Tsubaki looking at him confused. "Soul? What are you doing here?" she asked innocently. "Tsubaki where's Black Star?" Soul asked in a rushed tone. "He's in his room, probably asleep by now why?" Tsubaki asked worriedly. "Well, tell him to get his lazy super star ass up, we need you guys" Soul told her. "What's going on? Does somebody want my autograph though can't say I blame them I am a big star after all" came Black Star's voice as he walked out, tiredly rubbing his eyes.
"Maka detected a witch, and she thinks it's after Crona!" Soul declared, Black Star was suddenly wide awake after hearing that, and clenched a fist raising his fist up, like he was about to challenge someone. "What's that?! Some witch is bullying Crona?!" the blue haired meister declared, punching his fist into his palm. "I'll beat them to a pulp, I don't care who it is, they mess with a friend of Black Star's, and they're gonna get it YAHOO! Let's go Tsubaki!" Black Star declared and bolted out the door
"H, hey wait Black Star, we're supposed to meet up with Maka and Kid at the basketball court" Soul called after them, before running after the overly animated assassin. Maka managed to get to Death the Kid's house, and banged helplessly on the door with the sides of her fists. "Kid, Wake up! It's Maka, please open up it's important!" she cried out. Death the Kid heard someone banging on the door and sat up, looking tiredly over at his clock "Eh? what's this? It's not time for school yet" he muttered before getting up, and went to the front door and opened it. "Maka, it's the middle of the night, what is the meaning of this?" he inquired blankly, before she grabbed his wrist and tried to pull on it.
"There's no time Kid, we've got to go, there's a witch near Death City, and I have a feeling Crona's in danger!" she told him frantically. "Wha, wait! Hold on Maka, Let go I said Wait dammit!" Kid stammered, gripping onto the door frame "C'mon Kid, the others are probably waiting for us already, we've got to go now!" she demanded "can I least get dressed first?!" Kid snapped finally, before Maka blinked and realized he was in his pajamas, and blushed embarrassed instantly letting go. "O, oh, s, sorry, but please hurry, Crona needs us I can feel it" she told him.
The young reaper nodded and rushed to his room throwing on his attire. 'Dammit, Dammit, Dammit, and after we finally convinced Lord Death to let Crona stay, if my father finds out about this, there's a chance he might change his mind and exile Crona for good....no, I can't let that happen, I just can't' Kid thought defiantly as he quickly finished getting his usual attire on, and dashed into Liz and Patty's room "Liz! Patty! Get up right now and transform!" he demanded. Liz tiredly sat up "Kid, what the hell? It's the middle of the night, can't it wait?" Liz asked tiredly? "No Liz, it can't, I need you and Patty to transform into the pistols immediately, Crona could be in danger!" Kidd told her defiantly.
Liz blinked and jumped up "what? Poor little Crona's in trouble, Patty, hey c'mon, get up" Liz demanded. Patty swayed tiredly, sitting up before rubbing her eyes cutely. "Huh? Okay" she managed sounding sleepy still, before Liz and Patty transformed into the twin pistols. Kid swiftly caught them, before summoning Beelzebub his skateboard, and used it to rush back to Maka. "Let's hurry and find him, before my father finds out about this, and decides to revoke his decision to let Crona stay at the academy" he told her, as they both rushed to the basketball court, and saw Soul and Black Star running up, since Tsubaki had already transformed into the double chain sickle.
"So Maka, where did you sense this witch's spirit from?" Soul asked. Maka closed her eyes to focus, and soon her emerald eyes snapped open, and pointed in a direction. "It's that way" she declared, before Soul transformed into the scythe, and the three meisters bolted in the direction Maka pointed out. Crona cried out in terror as he ran, anytime the blasts got too close to him, he managed to duck down near a tree, in an attempt to catch his breath, before he quickly tensed, seeing the glowing lines appear, as soon the tree started to come down. Crona barely scrambled out of the way, and looked up horrified, seeing the angry witch Mizune. "Come on idiot, don't just stand there, do something!" Ragnarok hollered at him.
"L, like what?!" Crona cried out sounding terrified, before managing to barely block her with the demon sword, and found himself getting blasted backwards. As she lunged at him, he kept forcing himself to dodge her, until finally he made it to a slight cliff, and looked down eyes widening in horror, flailing to regain his balance. The frightened young swordsman soon felt the wind pick up strongly, and whirled around quickly, just in time to see Mizune flying at him looking psychotic, ready to deal a killing blow.
Crona attempted to dodge her swing, but in doing so, he swiftly lost his balance and fell backwards off the cliff. He screamed out in blood curdling horror, as he fell as Ragnarok attempted to transform into his other form. "Crona hang on!" Ragnarok called out, and wrapped the black wings around him, right as they both crashed against the watery surface, and sank underneath. Crona felt himself unable to breathe, due to unintentionally inhaling the water when he crashed, and soon everything went black. Mizune hovered above the cliff, watching eagerly to see if Crona returned to the surface, but when she saw he did not, she decided to assume that she succeeded in killing the pitiful boy, as she flew off to go look for Eruka.
Free Wolf was allowing Eruka to ride on his back, as he bolted through the woods "this is all my fault, if Crona dies, it'll be my fault" Eruka admitted sadly, glancing back in the direction that Crona and Mizune had been. Maka and the others bolted through the woods, and soon saw Free Wolf and Eruka running towards them, and both parties soon skid to a hault. As the Wolf was forced to skid to a stop, Eruka was forced to jump off, and saw Maka, Black Star, and Death the Kid glaring at her and the wolf man, getting into battle stances. Free Wolf snarled and got into a battle stance, preparing himself to fight.
"W, woah, h, hey, hold on" Eruka cried out flailing "where is Crona? What have you two done with him?!" Maka demanded. "We haven't done anything to him alright?! Just calm down" Eruka pleaded, putting her hands up defensively. "Don't lie to us! I sensed a witch's spirit going after Crona's soul wavelength" Maka snapped, causing the other two to look pissed off. Eruka flailed "h, hold on, my soul protect's still on, the witch you're probably sensing in Mizune, she's the one that went after Crona" Eruka professed.
Maka felt her grip on the scythe tighten "why should we believe you?!" Maka snapped defiantly. The frog witch simply shrugged "fine, don't believe me, it's not like I care either way" Eruka answered, before Free Wolf sniffed the air, and his eyes widened turning in the direction they came from, and poised himself defensively. "Wha, what is it free?" Eruka asked, feeling worried now. "We need to get out of here, she's coming back" Free Wolf told her, causing her to look scared. "R, ribbit, o, okay" she agreed hesitantly, before looking at Crona's friends. "If you want to know, last I saw Crona, he went in that direction, now if you excuse us, Free Wolf and I have to get back to running for our lives now" she told Maka, before jumping onto Free Wolf's back, and the two started running. "Ha, I knew it! One look at the great Black Star, and now even witches cower at the sight of me" Black Star boasted proudly, placing his fists on his hips, and arching back laughing loudly. "B, Black Star, I, I, don't think we should be being soo loud at a time like this" Tsubaki pleaded.
"Maka, what're you thinking?" came Soul's voice from the scythe "she might actually be telling the truth, the witch's soul that I sensed was further away than this, and while that one was talking to us, I couldn't detect her soul, meaning she was using soul protect, which makes me think she's in no position to be attacking anyone right now" Maka answered before glancing up. Death the Kid glanced over at Maka "we need to make a decision here Maka, you can sense Crona's soul wavelength can't you? Well? Where is it now?" Kid inquired, seeming to be getting slightly impatient for some reason. Maka pinched the bridge of her nose "that's weird" she muttered. "What's wrong Maka?" Soul asked transforming back into himself "Crona's soul wavelength" Maka spoke turning slightly pale, and looked towards the others, with a sudden look of dread on her face "h, his soul wavelength...it's gone"