Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The established rhythm beating on the glass windows contrasted the mechanic beep beep of the heart monitor next to them. Crona stared at the ceiling, eyes attempting to lull them back to sleep. To a false sense of security their mind wouldn't allow them to have. Each word of the previous day sinking in the longer they thought.

Maba could see it. They were unsure if that was good or bad, but regardless she seemed to have a plan. Kid's anger stuck at the forefront of his mind. It shocked them to see the other like that, but… it's been so long that he could have changed a lot during that time…

Crona turned to look at the window.

Tap. Tap.

Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

'Rain…' Even when they were a student at the DWMA, Crona never saw it rain. It must be quite rare in the desert. Pulling out the tubes, they moved to sit up. The ringing in their head lasted a few minutes before they slowly got up. Legs felt numb from lack of use. Balance was off a bit.

Crona steadied themselves and headed to the window, opening it slightly. The scent hit them immediately. The smell of rain water pouring down from the sky. Fresh, better than the smell of disinfectant and medicine that permeated the nurse's room. It was relaxing.

Sitting down, they leaned against the window frame.

'Is it really worth being here when you're not here to enjoy it with me…' Pale eyes stared up at monotone grey skies.

'Did you keep trying… Did you at least live a normal life… Was my… was our sacrifice worth it…'? It was difficult to tell whether some rain drops had landed on them or if it was tears, but water ran down their face as they pondered everything. The only person they believed they could ask all of this hated them… and he doubted the younger kids would come back after they had frightened the duo unwittingly.

Giggles and laughs were heard in the distance. Crona peered out the window to see small children playing outside in the rain, with older students heading up to the school for their classes.

200 years…

It was a lot to process. Some much progress the world should have made and yet… everything still looked so familiar. Death City hadn't gotten too much bigger, but the difference was more easily spotted at a higher altitude. Crona scanned around.

The streets were smooth instead of the brick.

The apartments, stores, and houses ranged in size but they expanded out rather than up.

Street lights were bigger, but no wires were around. Crona thought that maybe there was a new energy source now. They became curious, not minding their hair becoming slowly wet with each drop of rain landing on them.

The main area they remembered was still there, just paved over with whatever new building material it was.

'I wonder if the basketball court is still there.' They sat back down, shaking their head. Lilac hair hit their face as they tried to dry off their hair.

Knock Knock.

Crona's eyes widened and they quickly got up, tripping over their black dress as they stumbled back over to the bed before the door opened. They pulled the blanket over themselves as the door creaked open.

Angela walked in, greeted by the smell of outside rain. Looking between the cracked open window and Crona's nervous face, she just chuckled before heading over to the window.

"If you want to get away with something, try not to make it so obvious next time." She shut it gently and got a small towel.

"You're still like what they described you as." Crona's face went a bit grey. Angela smiled as she came over to give them the towel. She looked at the monitors, seeing no readings and sighed.

"If you're going to take these out at least make sure I'm here for it. You may be a Kishin, but it's still reckless." Angela took great care in attaching them back to Crona, making sure they could get a reading. Before she could leave, there was a slight tug on her blouse.

Turning around, Crona stared up at her. "Um… I uh… Can we talk?" She looked at the clock.

"I have about 20 minutes until the class I teach starts. So, sure, for a few minutes." The hand left the blouse as she sat down.

"What would you like to talk about?"

"The others…" Angela pursed her lips, looking to the side before circling her eyes back to the black clad individual. "Anything more specific?"

"…Did they at least live…" Their voice sounded meek. A quiet plea for some sort of answer.

"Well yes. Liz opened a nail salon and makeup store. Patty worked with her and would babysit me when Blackstar and Tsubaki had missions." She glanced over at Crona's face, seeing that they were listening intently.

"Blackstar and Tsubaki ended up getting married. I got to be the flower girl. Never thought I'd see the day he would cry that much. We all thought it was funny and he never got to live it down." She laughed a bit, remember all the faces Blackstar made when it was brought up. The faintest of giggles came from her left and she smiled.

"Maka and Soul remained close and they were married for a little while, but they got divorced… It didn't end badly and they remained on good terms. Stein's kid grew up to be a prodigy just like he was though not as crazy. Marie probably had a hand in that." A little tone on her phone alerted her.

"Oh, that's my timer. I should be going. The kid's will probably fall into anarchy if I don't get down there soon." She quickly got up.

"Remember if you need anything, just press the bottom button on the controller and if I'm not up, a staff member will come up instead." She reexplained before quickly heading out of the room. It left Crona feeling slightly more uplifted, thinking about the small amount of information she gave him.

'Maka… and Soul… I hope they were alright… Sounds like Tsubaki was happy… I hope…' The corners of their mouth tipped up into a little smile.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Gael, stop it."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Pssst. Gael."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Bianca groaned and lightly kicked him under the desk. He jolted and looked over at her. "Bia, what the frick was that for?"

"You keep tapping your pen when I'm trying to concentrate. Do we have to get you a fidget cube or something?"

"No. I just, I'm still thinking about everything."

"Well if you-"

"Bianca! Gael! Quit your chatter and pay attention to the lesson!" The teacher shouted from his desk. The twins looked back down at their papers. The little black dots littered most of Gael's page.

'How long was I just tapping?' He turned the page and there was some ink on it from some of the ink sinking through or the pen puncturing the page. Sighing he watched the teacher go on explaining more things about a Grigori soul.

Things started to blur the longer he stared until the forest and Crona standing over them were all he saw. They bent down, lightly touching their arm where the scraps were.

'Wait. This… I've already been here.' The person in front of them cared for their wounds gently, almost afraid to be touching another human being. Their eyes lit up as they felt the warmth of his skin.

"Gael."

'How do they know my name'

"Gael, are you okay?" He snapped out of it to see Bia's hand in front of his face. She groaned.

"Were you spacing out again?" Gael looked away shyly. They went quiet until the bell rang, dismissing them. The twins stayed together as the other students filed out to go to whichever class they had next. Bianca glanced over every so often to make sure her brother was still next to her or not about to run into a pole.

"Hey Bia… um… can I ask you something?" He went over to the wall so they weren't stopping in the middle of the halls.

"Is something wrong?" She set a hand on his shoulder, gripping it comfortingly.

"Will you come with me to the nurse's office after school?" The hand loosened a bit.

"You aren't going to talk to Crona are you?"

"I just… I know what Kid told me, but they should have a right to know." He shifted a bit.

"I already told you I don't want you to talk to whatever they are."

"That's why I want you there with me. Just in case."

"Gael, I don't-"

"Please. Bia Pleeeeease."

"…I'm really not…"

"I'll buy you your favorite ice cream"

"Deal."

"Thank you!" He hugged her tightly. Bianca chuckled as she hugged back.

The tapping outside persisted. The rain had lasted much longer than Crona thought it would. Stomach growling a bit, but they didn't want to bother the staff with having to disrupt their busy schedules to cater to them.

Bells rung. That made it the 5th time since Angela left. Maybe 3 since their stomach started protesting the lack of food available to them.

The silence was still uncomfortable to them. Not having something sending thoughts into your mind or toss you across the moon for sport. It was bittersweet being free. They got the freedom they craved, but with none of the socializing they had constantly hoped they would get upon freedom.

'I… I wish Ragnarok was here with me… at least it wouldn't feel so lonely…' They touched their skin, feeling the beat along their veins.

Nothing.

No one popped out of their back to yell at them for being stupid or complain that there was nothing to eat.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I know you promised ice cream, but still. This could be dangerous." Crona turned towards the door, hearing the familiar voices of the two that came a few days before.

"It'll be fine. Angela said they've calmed down a lot." The door opened and Gael smiled with Bianca suspiciously looking over his shoulder. The two walked inside and closed the door behind them. Heading to the bed, Gael pulled up a seat.

"Hi. Um, I don't know if you remember us. Oh, we should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Gael and this is my twin sister Bia. Her full name is Bianca, but I call her Bia." Crona looked over at the teen girl. She rolled her eyes.

"Nice to meet you…" Crona said softly. Gael's smile brightened significantly.

"I don't mean to trouble you. Lord Death got upset when I suggested he tell you, but Maka… she-"

"I know…" They looked down. Gael's smile faded.

"Yo-You know? But… I thought."

"Kid… and Maba-sama."

"Oh…. Okay…."

"Does this mean we can go? I would like ice cream." Crona's head shot up.

"I-I'm sorry if I troubled you, but would you… would you both please stay…?" The twins looked between each other, two conflicting opinions battling it out with unwavering stares. Several long seconds of silence before a groan came out and Bianca pulled up a chair next to her brother. Crona relaxed a bit until Gael scoot closer.

"If… you don't mind me asking… what are you both?" Crona hesitantly asked.

"What are we? Oh! Like meister or weapon. Me and Bia are both weapons. Twin blades. Lord Death's weapon partners too." Gael stated.

"Ignore the weapon partners part. We just live at his house." Bianca interrupted, elbowing her brother. Crona raised an eyebrow, but preferred not to ask further.

"Do you want to know anything? Like about Maka?" Crona nodded quickly and Gael smiled.

"Well, from what I read in the history books, her, Black Star and Lord Death all remained close friends until they passed. She fought with them for as long as she could and when her fighting days were done, she did a lot of volunteer work in organizations and spoke out against child abuse. There is even an award named after her." Gael paused when he noticed the tears falling down their pale cheeks.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong!? I-I didn't mean to." Crona shook their head and wiped away the tears with the black sleeves of the dress. "Please… continue." Gael waited a little until they seemed okay before resuming the conversation.

"She married Soul when they were in their late 20's and they had two kids. It lasted for a while, but they thought it be better to get a divorce. That didn't stop them from getting along. They still partnered up together for missions and Soul was a great dad apparently. The oldest was a weapon and the youngest was a better musician than meister. I don't remember if they stayed in Death City or moved. Um anyway. Soul was the last Death weapon under the old policy. But a few have become Death Weapons under the new one."

"New one?" Crona tiled their head slightly.

"Oh right, you wouldn't know about that. Um after Asura was sealed away, The Witch Queen and Lord Death worked to repair relations between witches and humans. Maba would only allow true Death Weapons to exist if a Witch become a greater threat to both humans and witches. Only with her say so can a weapon selected by Lord Death become a true Death Weapon. There haven't been many times this happened though." The lilac haired Kishin looked a bit confused, but Gael didn't know how much better they could explain it.

"I want to ask something." Bianca turned to look at them. Her brother looked a little surprised she broke her silence.

"Um… okay?" was all they could say.

"What were they all like? Liz. Patty. Soul. We've only read about them. But you knew them. Lord Death too. What was her like before he became a turd?"

"Bia! That's rude."

"It's true and you know it." The two turned to face Crona, the grey blush returning as they were put on the spot to answer.

"Well… each of them… were very kind… Liz and Patty accepted me quickly… they… they even tried to help me pick out clothes. Liz told me it was because they say some of themselves when they saw me…. I never bothered to ask about it…" They paused to think a bit more.

"Patty… was interesting. Her hugs felt like they would take the breath out of someone…. She always laughed…"

"Blackstar… He was loud." Crona stopped and Bianca laughed a bit. "But… he was passionate… and protective… When I… went back to my mother, I fought him. He stopped trying to convince me to go back, neither did Tsubaki. She was always so kind… and her food was delicious. Ragnarok liked her."

"Who is Ragnarok." Gael asked

"Oh um…He was my weapon partner…" They shift uncomfortably in the bed.

"What was he-" A hand cut of Gael's question. They were a bit grateful for it. Bianca eyed him before looking back at Crona.

"And the others? What were they like?" Crona thought for a moment think who else he had to cover.

"Kid… before he became Lord Death… he always looked so serious… I was a little intimidated when I was accepted into the DWMA, but he tried to make me feel better about it…. He did try to cut my hair twice…"

"Soul was nice. I felt bad for the scar…"

"Wait you did that?!" Crona nodded at Bianca's question. She pondered a bit before focusing on listening to their recollections.

"Despite that… He accepted me into the group… and showed me some good music to listen to…" Only one left…

"Maka… was like a light in my life… She came to help me when I thought no one else would… She never stopped trying to bring me back to a better path… even… even if I never deserved it in the first place… I did so many terrible things and yet she still believed I was worth something more than a witch's child and experiment. She gave me courage to sacrifice my life to seal away Asura…" They looked over at the twins, seeing them cry silently as they stared intently at them. Only once they were fully aware did they feel the tears on their own face had returned. They choked a bit as they rubbed them away.

"I-sorry. I didn't mean to talk so much."

"No. Don't be sorry. Thank you for telling us." Gael looked up at the clock. "We should go… I have homework and Bianca will want her ice cream."

"I'm right here ya know." Crona giggled slightly.

"Thank you… for coming… It's lonely when Angela isn't here…"

"Then… can we come again tomorrow?" Bianca muttered out a bit, Gael looked at her happily. She elbowed him.

"Would you? P-please." Crona seemed a little flustered for asking, hoping they would not get in trouble like the last time.

"Yes! We'll come again tomorrow!" The boy jumped happily about the prospect of talking to the interesting person.

"Thank you… Gael. Bianca." The duo left, leaving Crona in the silence again. The tapping was not present against the window, nor did Crona know when it stopped. The morbid sun peaked through. Light hitting along the floor and a portion of the bed. The low growling from their stomach became less of a concern the longer they stared into the light.

'It was worth it…'