I promised myself I wouldn't do this until Rogue Crew was over but I couldn't help myself. Warning this story may contain Animal abuse and child abuse. As people who have read both stories will know this and as the animal abuse one well...people who know Crona's backstory will know what's up. Yeah, Medusa's parental skills make Endeavor look like A class parent.

Edit 2/1/2024: Fix some grammar and spelling mistakes

Prologue

Crona looked up at the blue sky as they sat down on the balcony where one can look over the whole city. It was calm and peaceful; much different from how Crona was feeling at the moment. Anxiety crawled through his chest, but deep breaths seemed to help with the unwanted feeling. They made a mental note to thank Marie and Stein for teaching them that. Waiting was hard enough but the harder part was to explain himself to Maka.

Don't get Crona wrong, Maka was the kindest and nicest person they ever met. But once she sets her mind to something she sees it through. It's one of the things Crona likes about her. But now he has to convince her to let them go on this mission that he knows she'll reject. But he has too.

Crona stood awkwardly in the Death room. The last time they were here was during the battle with Asura, still recovering from Medusa's stab wound. But that was a month ago and things were peaceful once again for the most part. There is some trouble with evil souls still running amuck but nothing the DWMA can't hold.

Crona stood next to Maka and Soul. Maka reached a handover gently squeezed his shoulder and smiled. Souls copying the gesture. It makes Crona feel better. They were always supportive of them. Crona couldn't ask for better friends.

Black Star had a big grin and talked to Tsubaki about the mission, who was listening to every word he said. Patty talking about random stuff with her sister and Kid. Lord Death was standing patiently in front of the group... Meisters and weapons alike waited for Marie and Stein to arrive.

Crona heard footsteps coming from behind them and turned. They were greeted by the sight of Marie and Stein walked toward the group.

"Now that we all here let's get started." Lord Death started and everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the god, "We found one of Medusa's old labs and it had a device that travels between worlds." That immediately caught everyone's attention.

"How is that possible? I thought traveling to another world was just a myth." Soul asked in disbelief.

"There are a vast number of worlds out in the multiverse but it takes an enormous amount of energy to travel one if you're not a god." His tone grew more serious as he continued, "However, it's forbidden for even gods to travel freely between the world; for a good reason. One cannot know if the locals are friendly, and Madness can infect other worlds as well. Plus, as I mentioned, it takes an enormous amount of energy to travel to another world. If you run out during transit you get lost in between the two worlds forever. Even witches don't dare to travel to others as a result." Crona wrapped themselves in one arm hug. They never knew about this device, but then again Medusa kept a lot of secrets from them.

"We look through her notes and not only did she make contact with another world, but we also have reason to believe she worked with someone called All For One in this other world on some sort of project. We are going to send an investigation team to find what this project is." Lord Death explained, and Black Star immediately volunteered.

"I'll go! I make this All For One ta-"

"No. You, Kid, and Maka have to stay here." Lord Death cutted the hyperactive teen off.

"Huh?! Why!" Black Star exclaimed.

"You three are needed here. Just because Asura is gone doesn't mean the Madness has left as well. You three are one of our best fighters and you need it here." Lord Death explained to them.

"Then why call us here?" Kid narrowed his eyes on his father.

"In case something goes wrong you three will be back up. I'm sending Marie, Stein, and Crona to go on this mission instead."

Did...

Did Crona hear that correctly..?

Crona looked up at the god in shock but it was Maka who spoke up first.

"Why Crona?" Maka questioned the god with a tone that said 'You better have a good reason for this'. Soul grabbed her shoulder to calm her but he was frowning as well.

Death sighed, "Because Crona has some insight into Medusa considering their past with her." Crona looked down. They could understand Death's reason but the last time they went on a mission they...

"Crona almost died going after Medusa the last time. I can go instead of..." Maka was cut off by Death.

"Like I said you need here Maka. But I understand why you're worried. This is why Crona has a choice to go on this mission or not," Lord Death turned to Crona, "You have a week to decide, so don't rush your decision." The meeting continued, but Crona didn't pay close attention, thoughts occupied by the offer Lord Death had just made.

Three days later as Maka, Soul, and Crona were walking home from school Crona was thinking about Lord Death's request. The trio walked from school to home after a big test. On one hand, as a DWMA student, Crona should endeavor to help the school in any way they can. On the other hand, they were going to face whatever their mother left for them. Crona knew that women left something bad behind and they didn't know how to deal with it!

"Man that last test was hard." Soul comment which snapped Crona out of his daydream. Crona rubbed the back of their head just at the thought of it. Maka makes sure to make Crona and Soul study for it all week.

"Well, I told you to study Soul!" Maka scolded him.

"I-I did! I remember what happened last time I didn't study." Soul stuttered a bit.

"I still can't believe Black Star tried to cheat." Crona shivered as they remembered Black Star's bleeding body hanging from the blackboard. Teachers at the DWMA don't like students cheating on their tests.

"How about you Crona? Did you find the test hard?" Soul asked Crona. Before Croma could answer him a body crashed into them as the group turned around a corner.

"Oww," The kid muttered as he landed on his butt from the impact.

"You ok?" Crona asked as they held up a hand for the kid to take.

"I'm fi-" The kid was about to take Crona's hand but then the kid's mother grabbed him and dragged him away from Crona.

"Mark get away from them!" The mother hissed while glaring at Crona, "You should more careful. You never know if run into kinshin." Crona flitch at that.

"What's your problem lady?!" Maka yelled at the mother while Soul helped Crona up. The woman said nothing as she walked away with her son in tow. Maka was about to run after her but Crona stopped her.

"Maka is ok! I'm used to it." Crona told her. Crona said the wrong thing because Maka's head whipped back to them when they said that.

"Used to it? Crona, has this happened before?" Maka asked them. She could tell what was the answer when Crona looked away from her.

"Why didn't you tell us Crona?" Soul asked Crona. His eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Ragnarok chooses this moment to speak up. "Crona didn't want to bother you guys because they thought they could handle it." He scoffed at the last part, "You can see how well that went."

Maka looked at Crona with pity, "Crona..."

Crona looked up, "It's..." They bite their lip before continuing, "It started after I betrayed DWMA. Some people after that..." They gulped, "Don't trust me and kinda been avoiding me." They explained.

"I thought Lord Death forgave you for all your crimes after?" Maka raised an eyebrow.

Soul sighed. "Not everyone is going to forgive Crona just because Lord Death did Maka." Maka gave him a look so he quickly added, "It sounds bad but it is true. People have this weird habit of remembering everything bad someone did rather than remembering what they did well." He explained

"Still it doesn't make it right!" Maka exclaimed angrily.

Crona put a hand on her shoulder, "Maka you don't hav-"

Maka cut them off, "Crona we talked about this. No more talking bad about yourself." Crona blushed; they had forgotten the promise they made to Maka and nodded. They had tried, honesty, but old habits are hard to break.

"I'll talk to Lord Death tomorrow about this ok? But if this happens to you again you tell me. You don't need to put up with this abuse." Maka told them.

Crona nodded, but knew there was little that could be done to change people's opinions about them...

That night Crona couldn't sleep. Lord Death said he would talk to the people about their attitude toward them, but Crona wasn't sure if there was anything Lord Death could do. Even a god can't change people's options. Crona's mistakes will haunt them for a long time until they do something to make up for it. But what?

Crona thought back towards the mission. Going to a different world sounds nice. There is no one that knows about their past, giving Crona a chance to have a clean start. But this wasn't a vacation. They will be on a mission to face whatever Medusa left behind. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. Nothing good ever came from that woman.

Not even her child.

Crona's gaze was blurred a bit from the tears that started to form when Crona wrapped away from the tears. Self-loathing crawled around their heart. They tried to follow Maka's advice but it was hard. Hard to forget. Hard to look at themselves. Hard to-

Smack!

"Oh well just shut up and go to sleep!" Ragnarok shouted, and then started to pinch Crona's cheeks, "If you don't then I'm going to stick needles in your shoes again!" Crona grabbed Ragnarok's hand and pushed him away.

"Don't do that! I can't deal with that right now!" Crona protested as they finally managed to push Ragnarok's hands away.

Ragnarok's frown deepens. "Then go the fuck to sleep! I can't fall asleep if you keep on tossing and turning like that." Crona looked down. They know Ragnarok is right.

"Whatever you think, it can wait for tomorrow ok?"

Crona nodded, "OK. You're right."

"Of course I'm right! I'm the brain on this team. Now go the fuck to sleep." Ragnarok told Crona before yawning. Ragnarok faded back into Crona's body as they pulled the cover over them to sleep. It took a while but sleep did claim Crona at the end.

"Crona..."

"Crona...."

"Crona!"

Crona's eyes snapped open and were greeted by a horrifying sight. Their mother was at the door, eyes missing from her sockets, empty space where the eyes should be. There was a hole in her chest, leaking blood that painted her hoodie red. When she opened her mouth more blood dripped on the floor as she gasped for breath.

Crona curled themselves farther into the corner but they couldn't keep their eyes off of the nightmare crawling before them.

"Crona..." The... thing called out to them, "I miss you! Why aren't you coming home? You don't belong here. It's time to come back to your family." The... thing took a couple of steps forward until it was at the foot of the bed. It reached out toward Crona but they kick its hand away from them.

"I'm w-where I belong!" Crona shouted at the nightmare, "You're dead! Long gone! You are nothing more than a nightmare. SO GO AWAY!" From Crona's skin pores, his black blood formed a sword and with a single swing, he cut the nightmare's head off. But Nightmare grinned at them and then from the stump of its neck a giant snakehead appeared and wrapped itself around Crona, Pinning their arms and legs so they couldn't escape.

"You will never be free of me Crona. You're broken Crona, and one day you snap and become the killer you were meant to be. So quit running away and come back to your family." The nightmare opened its mouth to swallow Crona whole. Crona black blood spires shoot out from their torso and stab the snake. The nightmare hissed in pain and let go of Crona., who used this time to draw their sword and cut off her head!

...Only for the image of his mother to change into Maka's.

Crona can only watch in horror as her head falls to the ground. Crona slowly walked forward to touch Maka's head; to see if it was real. It felt like her silk hair and skin but her green eyes were frozen in terror. Crona felt bile build up in the back of their throat, so they turned away and threw up. Tears fell onto the floor as Crona turned back to see if the head was still there, hoping that it would be gone. Despite his wishes, it was with the smell of blood permeating in the air. The full weight of what happened hit Crona like a train and they screamed.

Crona's scream ripped through the quiet morning, waking nearly everyone in the house.

"Crona what the hell?!" Ragnarok yelled in a worried tone as he woke up. He shook Crona's head to get their attention, which earned the parasite a glazed look, shock still gripping Crona's mind.

"Crona!" Maka and Soul immediately ran to Crona's side when they busted the door open.

"Crona, what happened?" Maka asked them, placing a hand on their shoulder.

"I-it was a nightmare. Just a horrible nightmare." Crona croaked out as tears spilled down their face. Maka's hand moved from their shoulder to Crona's back, gently rubbing circles around it.

"It's ok Crona. It was just a dream." Soul whispered to them. Between Maka and Soul, Crona began to calm down a bit. Their breath evened and their tears started to dry up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Maka asked once Crona calmed down. Crona was about to lie to her before they remembered Medusa's words.

"You don't belong here. It's time to go back to your family."

"Actually yes," Crona spoke up which surprised both Maka and Soul. "But I'll talk about it later once I gather my thoughts. And I need to talk to you about this alone, Maka. No offense Soul." Crona added that at the last second.

"None taken?" Soul replied, as he raised an eyebrow but chose to not comment on it, which Crona was thankful for.

Maka tilted her head and for a second Crona thought that she might say no but Maka said, "Um... sure Crona."

Crona a small smile appeared on their face when they heard that. "Thanks, just meet me where we usually meet after class ok?" Maka nodded and she and Soul headed out so Crona could get ready.

"So what are you going to talk about with a flat chest over there?" Ragnarok asked Crona once they were alone.

"That I'm not going to run away anymore." They answered him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Crona sounded so sure earlier that morning, but unease began to creep into their heart as the hours melted away. Crona simply wanted to go home but opted to just take a couple of deep breaths and calm themselves instead. Ok, they can do this! All Crona has to do is talk to Maka, their friend! This should be eas-

"Crona?" Crona almost fell when Maka seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Oh god, they...can't do this! Maybe Crona can still escape if they come up with a good excuse-

"What is it you want to talk about?" She asks them, cutting down any chance of escape.

Crona closed their eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm going to take the mission Lord Death asked me to do!" They blurted out. Crona took a peek and saw Maka's shocked face. Oh boy did they say something wrong?

"Crona why?" Maka, asks them, "If you feel pressured into do-"

"It's not that!" Crona cut her off. They then cover their mouth in surprise and look at Maka's wide eyes.

Maka just blinked at them, "If it's not that, then what is it Crona?" She asks them.

Crona sighs, "It's..." They took a deep breath before they continued, "Is that I keep seeing Medusa in my dreams." Maka looked at Crona in pity. She was about to touch Crona's shoulder but Crona continued with their story, "I keep seeing her in the head, in mind, in my dreams. Even when she died she still haunts me!" Words poured out of Crona's mouth and their eyes glazed over in a panic. Maka didn't waste any time and gently rubbed circles around Crona's back to comfort them.

"Shhhh... it's ok. Let it all out." Maka confided in a smooth tone and Crona felt better enough to speak again.

Crona took in a deep breath, "Thanks, Maka." They look back at Maka so they can continue with their explanation, "It's just that I feel like the only way I'm going to closure is by destroying any of her research she left behind." They explain to her.

"You can go. I understand now." Maka said but Crona didn't hear her and continued.

"So please don't try to sto- wait what?" Crona just realized what Maka said, causing them to stumble over their word before continuing "You're letting me go?" Crona questioned, tilting their head.

Maka shrugging, "I know I can't talk you out of this. But you need to promise me one thing if you want to go."

"What is it?" They ask, still reeling at the lack of refusal.

"Promise me that if you're in trouble call me. No matter what time, day, or anything just call me ok?" Maka asks them, in a worried tone. Crona flinches at that as he remembers the last time they went on a mission alone. Crona's hands grab their chest as they remember the death blow that Medusa struck them with. If Marie and Stein were a moment later Crona would be...

Crona felt a hand cradle theirs. Glancing up, Crona saw Maka holding their hand with a concerned look on her face.

"Crona..." Whatever Maka was going to say, Crona cut her off by holding her hand.

"I promise that I will call you when I'm in trouble. Ok, Maka." Crona promises her and with that, Maka smiles at them.

"I hold you to it."

That's a wrap for now. Special thanks to Spedicorn editing this. And special thanks to thirrin drawing the cover. Also, the fanfiction challenge is still up so if you want to put your own spin on this crossover this you can!

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