Long ago, two races lived in balance: WITCHES and HUMANS.
One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the witches were victorious. They sealed the humans on an island in an other time.
Legends say that those who wash up on its shore can never return.
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You stare at an abandoned rabbit hole. Remembering what happened to the rabbit fills you with madness.
Soul hasn’t found you yet. You don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. You don’t dare stop, even though the sun has set hours ago, soon after you left Maka behind. You don’t want to risk Soul catching up. You don’t want to talk to your shadow.
You think you hear an extra set of footsteps, and you freeze. The crunch of hardened desert sand dies away under your boots. Just your imagination?
You start walking faster. The echo of your footsteps starts again, belatedly. Do deserts have echoes? You’re too scared to look behind you, instead clutching at your bag and at Soul Protect.
「Please don’t be scared,」a voice calls out, high like Maka’s but softer. You finally stop and turn to face them.
A human girl with long dark hair faces you. Her hands are up, palms facing you, defenseless. You relax fractionally.
「I saw you passing through. Are you lost? I’m Tsubaki, by the way,」she adds, looking sheepish.
You turn back toward the shadow on the horizon. You’re not lost, technically, and you tell her so, but your stomach growls.
She giggles, not unkindly.「Do you at least want some food?」
You have food in your bag, you remember. It would probably be best to save them, wouldn’t it? Besides, it feels wrong to eat food made by Maka and Soul, after what you did.
Tsubaki smiles when you say yes.「Okay, then.」She pauses, eying your hair.「Do you mind if I tell my partner that you’re a witch?」
You flinch.
Tsubaki backtracks immediately.「He won’t be rude about it, I promise! He might want to fight you, that’s all. It’ll make his day.」She smiles apologetically.「Sorry, I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to.」
You chew on the idea for a while.
「Of course I’ll still make you dinner,」Tsubaki exclaims.「It would be rude to leave you out here after I offered. Don’t worry about it.」
You’ll decide after you eat. Tsubaki nods.「That sounds good. We’re about half an hour away from my home, by the way.」She points.「I was collecting cactus needles,」she explains when you ask.「They’re very useful, and with my partner around… We go through them very quickly, let’s say.」She laughs wryly.
The house that you eventually come to looks like it’s on the edge of a town.「We used to live in the town proper, but my partner gets pretty loud,」Tsubaki tells you absently as she opens the door.「Oh, hello, Black☆Star. Wasn’t Soul coming today?」
Your blood freezes in your veins.
「TSUUUU, I’M STARVING,」a boy complains, slouching around the corner. It’s not Soul, but you still have trouble breathing.「SOUL SAID HE HAD BUSINESS TO TAKE CARE OF AND BAILED ON ME.」You shiver.「WHO’S THIS?」
Tsubaki turns to you.「I never caught your name,」she says, embarrassed.
「CRONA, HUH?」Black☆Star squints at your response.「WELL, WHATEVER.」
「Will you be staying the night, too, Chrona?」Tsubaki asks.
You shrug meekly. On one hand, it would be nice to get some rest. On the other hand, you don’t want to talk to your shadow, and Soul might come here. You tell Tsubaki you don’t want to get in the way of anyone they’re expecting to come.
「Soul? Did he say when he’d be back?」Tsubaki asks Black☆Star, who shrugs.
「SAID NOT TO EXPECT HIM AROUND.」
Just your shadow to deal with, then. You can’t avoid it forever, you think. Besides, after so much traveling, you might be able to fall asleep before it can talk to you.
Long ago, two races lived in balance: WITCHES and HUMANS.
One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the witches were victorious. They sealed the humans on an island in an other time.
Legends say that those who wash up on its shore can never return.
[first] [prev] [tag]
You left the ocean behind hours ago, yet when you glance back, it still shimmers blue. Its continued presence fills you with madness.
Maka is strangely quiet, and so you travel in silence but for the shifting of sand and rustling of beach grass under your shoes, following an invisible path led by Soul, pumpkin pie cheesecake and dried fish weighing down your backpack.
「Place is a prison,」Soul finally says, when he catches you glancing at ocean still at your back.「Lots of people avoid the beach, because the ocean looks so close, but you can never reach it. Drives some people crazy, you know? That’s why the port is at the center of the island. Theory goes, the witches’ magic is weaker there.」He points, and you think you can see a shadow in the direction he points at.
You glance at Maka questioningly. She smiles, but the expression looks weird. Fake. You shiver, remembering a different person with the same smile.「She’s got her reasons,」Soul tells you quietly.
Finally the rolling hills of beach sand and wispy grass yield to brittle, packed earth and cactus-peppered desert. You stare blankly at the line between desert and beach, blurry to your eyes yet unnaturally sharp toward the horizon.
「Damn that Black☆Star,」Soul sighs.「I told him I’d be back today.」He glances at you, but addresses Maka.「You can go back, if you like? I’ll take Crona to Black☆Star.」
Maka shakes her head.「I wanted to talk to Black☆Star. And say goodbye,」she adds, concern creasing her brow.
Soul huffs, running a hand through his hair.「It’ll take a while, you know,」he tells her.「You’re willing to wait?」
Maka nods, resolute.
Soul regards her for a moment longer, eyes flicking between you and her.「If you’re sure. You’d better still be here when I get back, pigtails,」he warns.
「Of course,」she tells him tightly, and waves as he lopes off over and around prickly plants.
Maka takes a deep breath once he’s out of sight.「Crona,」she says, but she’s not looking at you.「I’m sorry. I said I would, but… I don’t know if I can. I don’t think I can go back yet.」Her hand tighten on her walking staff, tilting from vertical to horizontal.「I want to see for myself…」She twirls the walking stick, and it blooms suddenly into a scythe. You flinch when she finally meets your eyes.「Show me how strong you are, Crona. Then I’ll let you go.」
Maka stands before you, scythe in hand.
You stare blankly, at least until she swipes at you. Then, you leap out of the way, discarding Soul Protect in favor of lashing out, blindly, wildly, not expecting to strike her.
She staggers, and her face pales, but she does not seem to notice your attack. She catches herself with her scythe and spins perfectly into another attack.
You dodge again, but you haven’t put Soul Protect back up yet, and your soul spikes yet again, and again Maka fails to dodge your attack. This time the scythe clatters to the ground, and she falls to her knees.「Oh,」she says dazedly.「I forgot. You’re a witch.」
You reach out to her with your soul, but when you connect, she screams, and then she’s gone, leaving nothing but a glowing blue soul.
This is wrong, you think, horrified.
「It was bound to happen,」your shadow tells you, dispassionate.「She didn’t even know Soul Protect. What did she think would happen?」
Run. You have to run. But you don’t know where you’re going! Soul was supposed to be your guide! Maka was supposed to be your guide!
Your eyes flick to the desert. Soul had pointed the way, hadn’t he? That dark splotch on the horizon— that’s where the port is, isn’t it?
You glance back at Maka’s soul, already flickering out. You whisper an apology, turn away from it, and set off through the desert, pumpkin pie cheesecake and dried fish weighing down your backpack.
Long ago, two races lived in balance: WITCHES and HUMANS.
One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the witches were victorious. They sealed the humans on an island in an other time.
Legends say that those who wash up on its shore can never return.
[tag]
The waves hiss a constant susurrus, but all else is silent. The loneliness here fills you with madness.
You sit up. The tides must have fallen since sweeping you here, because they are halfway down the beach, and there is sand caked onto your body.
Your finger traces circles in the sand. It’s bright and uncomfortable and empty, not at all like you thought it would be, not at all like you were told. The witches had only contained the humans, and it’s been so long since the war that you always imagined Death Isle to be swarming with humans, in spite of its name.
「Hi,」your shadow tells you, sprouting a watery face from refracted light.
You watch it impassively and do not reply.
「I’m Krona,」it continues.
You say nothing.
「Don’t you have any question?」It wobbles over the ground, as though gesturing around the beach.「Go on, ask.」
You ask if there is passage off the island.
「It’s up to you to decide,」the shadow tells you unhelpfully.「Hey, what’s your name?」
You repeat your question.
The shadow’s face doesn’t fall, but it does seem disappointed.「I don’t even know your name. Hey, tell me, why are you here?」
You repeat your question.
「There’s a way,」a new voice chimes in. You turn your head to see a human girl, right next to you. Her green eyes blink at you when you scramble to put distance between you two.
「Are you okay?」she asks.
You deliberate on whether or not reply.
「It’s okay, I won’t hurt you,」she offers.
You risk a minuscule nod.
「Hi, there,」she says.「My name is Maka.」You find that you don’t particularly care. Still, you wonder what to do about her. You didn’t really think much about girl-humans when you thought about Death Isle before. You wonder if maybe she’s a witch who was trapped here accidentally.
She pokes you again.「Are you okay?」
You jump, but don’t say anything.
「What’s your name?」she tries. You tell her hoping that she’ll shut up, but she doesn’t.
「Kkkrona. Chrona? How do you spell your name?」You shrug.「Okay, Crona, then,」she decides. She stands, pats her skirt free of clinging beach sand, and then offers you her hand.「C'mon! Let’s be friends.」
You take her hand carefully, and she pulls you to your feet in a quick, sudden motion. You react, and Maka flinches. You rein yourself back under Soul Protect, uncertainly, and Maka doesn’t comment on her sudden weakness.
「Hey, how long have you been here?」she asks instead. Your stomach growls an answer, and she grins.「Here, let’s get you some food.」And she sets off across the beach.
You waver. Should you follow? You glance out at the ocean. Wouldn’t it be better to stay out here and wait?
「Crona?」Maka doubled back while you weren’t paying attention, and is right beside you again. This time she doesn’t react when you lash out, probably because you managed to stifle your reaction. Still, she should stop surprising you so much. It’s not good for her.
She offers a hand, smiling. You take it, braced for her to drag you off with the same ease that she had pulled you to your feet with, but instead she tugs at your hand gently, leading you off across the shifting beach sand.
I blew up in some tags so here they are: crona headcanons, along with why I avoid writing crona.
crona was born with a penis.
this was the first of medusa's many disappointments with them, because men can't be witches.
from birth medusa tears crona down, emasculates them, dehumanizes them, so of course crona doesn't have a gender.
not to mention how medusa may or may not have castrated crona.
so being male is a disappointment and the root of their pain, and being female is unattainable.
and if you asked them, they'd say something like, "tools aren't male or female."
this is the crona that people keep trying to gender and I am putting my foot down.
this is the crona that people keep demanding and I really wonder if they understand that crona as we see them is DEFINED by their abuse, and a lot of people can't handle something like that, I personally don't want to erase any of that abuse because it is such an integral part of the character and I'm afraid to mishandle them.
yes, that's right. I don't write crona because I literally don't know how to deal with them.
