Just close your eyes
The sun is going down.
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now.

I hate this feeling.

It's so lonely, so…

No, I hate it. Enough. I don't want this, I can't deal with this. I can't.

But maybe I'll have to? It wouldn't be so bad if Maka were here. She would hug me and tell me that I would be fine.

Wait, no.

I just want to leave. Leave and go to a place where there aren't any people.

But I can't.

They're keeping me here, in this dark cell. It's cold and lonely and dark. Only a single light bulb hangs from the ceiling, illuminating a small stretch of floor. The rest of it… the rest of the room is completely swathed in darkness as deep and black as pitch. It scares me. I don't know if I can deal with this. I don't know if I can… if I can…

"Hey, Crona."

A voice – unwelcome, but here, all the same – addresses me through the bars on the door. "Come on. I've been ordered to take you to Stein."

Black blood. That's the reason I'm being taken. Again, and again, and again. Black blood is all I am to them. It's the only thing I'll ever be useful for, I'm sure. After all, why should anyone want me for me? I haven't done anything to earn that. I think… I think I'll let them down again one day. I'll betray them over and over again until they certainly won't be able to forgive me. They'll reject me… forever.

The thought makes tears trickle down my cheeks. My bright pink hair shields my face, keeping my eyes out of the view of the… what is he? A zombie? That's right. He keeps mumbling things like, 'when I was alive, I used to feel sorry for kids like this'. It's… scary. He scares me too, though I don't think he knows it.

Everything scares me. I don't think I can deal with life.

I want to leave. I want to leave right now. But I don't want to depart from this prison only to enter another one. Professor Stein scares me the most. He's always smoking and poking me and pricking me with his weird tools. I can never tell if he's enjoying it, though, because his face is always set stoically.

I think I hate him too.

When I don't move, the blue zombie man comes in and hauls me to my feet. He shoves me lightly toward the door of the cell, and I hunch over as usual, rubbing the tears from my eyes and start walking. This is all I will ever do, it seems. Walk from one end to the other. From one cell to the next. From one nightmare to another nightmare.

The door to Professor Stein's office is opened by the zombie and he quickly ushers me inside. He seems to be trying very hard to ignore the terrified signals I'm sending him with my eyes. It's as if he doesn't care that I'm scared, as if he doesn't care that I can't deal with this.

Stein. He is my worst nightmare. I want to run away, hide in a place where no one can find me. The world is a scary place and I don't want to live in it anymore. My black blood is the only thing that makes me important to these people. The only thing that makes me worth their attention.

If I didn't have black blood…

If I didn't…

Oh Death.

I wish I didn't.

Suddenly, I hear a voice. It's emotionless and hard, the voice of someone who's been through a lot. Still, I recognize it as a boy's voice. The boy. This boy.

I've… heard it before.

Suddenly, memories are slowly trickling into my mind. Narrowed eyes, black hair, white stripes, and golden eyes. Guns, silver and deadly, shooting lighting fast bullets that hurt when they rivet off my skin.

It hurts to think about that fight.

Because that boy…

His name is Kid. Death The Kid.

"What is the meaning of this?" Suddenly the boy is right in my face, staring straight at me with his piercing golden eyes. His hands are in his pockets and his lips are slanted down into a tiny frown. He obviously isn't happy with what he finds. "How could you go on living with such an abomination staring you right in the face?"

I have to admit, that confuses me.

What? Abomination? He obviously isn't talking about me; rather, he's talking to me. Suddenly he's getting closer and closer to my face until we're practically nose to nose. Then, suddenly, his finger shoots out and brushes something off my forehead.

"You had two unsymmetrical dust particles on your person. I have removed them for you."

"E-E-Eh… uh… h-huh?" I manage to stutter before he pulls back, both hands now situated firmly in his pockets again.

"You are now perfectly symmetrical, Crona."

Crona.

That name.

"S-Stop –"

"By the way, what are you doing here?"

"...please…"

"You shouldn't be here."

There, that was it. Rejection. I had no place to go but here, couldn't he see that? I didn't want this. I didn't want it.

I stumble back a few steps, head bent forward with pink hair shielding my eyes once again as I slide down the wall and pull my knees up to my chest. Hot tears roll down my cheeks and drip from my chin. "I don't know how to d-deal with this," I murmur. "I don't know… I don't know…"

"Crona."

That voice again. I wish it would go away and leave me alone.

"Crona, I didn't mean it like that."

He did mean it. I know he did. After all, he just said what everyone was thinking. Even if he hadn't mean it, then someone else would have.

"When I said that you shouldn't be here, I meant that you really shouldn't be here. In this room. You don't deserve this."

…what…

No. He didn't…

He couldn't have just said that. Surely… surely not…

"Crona," Kid stepped forward and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't come to talk. I came to take you with me."

"To where?" My voice is soft, but the question still stands. If he's planning on dragging me off to another dark cell, then I'll pass.

"To my house. To live with Liz, Patty, and I."

"Why?"

Kid isn't smiling when he answers me, and I soon figure out why. "I'm going to be blunt with you, Crona. You have been classified as a witch's daughter. This means that, indirectly, you are defiled. It doesn't matter if you were controlled by Medusa, because the people who review your case will only see your name stamped on the list of crimes."

I didn't understand. Why was he telling me all this? I knew I was Medusa's daughter and I knew people didn't care for me like they would a normal person. Why did he keep going on about it?

"Long story short, you are – in other people's minds – a monster."

"A monster."

So that was it.

He was protecting me.

I raised my head, blinking back more tears of shame and depression. He held out his hand to me and, for the first time, I caught him smiling just a tiny bit. "Come on, Crona. Let's go home."

He didn't care that I was a monster.

He didn't care that I was a witch's daughter.

He didn't care that I had black blood.

All he cared about…

…was me.

Alrighty. So. This is like, my muse builder of the week. It's a slightly AU oneshot featuring Crona x Death The Kid! They're currently my favorite pairing besides Mako x Korra. I love them, for srs. Also, don't think I've given up on my other stories, because I haven't. I actually have quite a few chapters pumped out for almost every one of my ongoing ficlets. I just have to edit them and get around to posting them. So, be on the lookout! Anyways, I love people who review and read my stuff! Please do it. I'll update faster if you do, I promise.

Also, who else loves Crona x Kid? 'Cus I'll just go ahead and fangirl with you.

EDIT: Added lyrics from the song 'Safe & Sound' by Taylor Swift at the beginning. I think it fit, maybe, sorta. Also edited some of the mistakes out so it looks a little better now. Yay~