Chrona was curled up into a ball near the dungeon-like room's corner. Ragnarok stared at her before finally saying something.

"Stop being such a bitch! It doesn't matter if Stein's insanity was your fault! He wasn't that right in the head to begin with."

"…"

Ragnarok started hitting Chrona's head repeatedly, until he realized that she will not budge.

Ragnarok sighed. It was getting nowhere. Chrona did not move an inch.

One hour passed. Ragnarok was bored out of his mind. He sighed again. Ragnarok wasn't always this pushy.

"YOU IDIOT!" screamed Ragnarok's mother. "Can you do anything right?"

"I'm sorry, M-mother." Ragnarok said in a timid voice.

His mother responded to his apology with a swift smack with a spatula. "Worthless child."

That was the day Ragnarok ran.

That was the day Ragnarok was declared dead.

Another hour passed. "I'm going to help you Chrona."

"W-what?"

"Are you deaf? I said I'm going to help you retrieve Stein back! But only because we're not doing anything fun!"

So Chrona and Ragnarok set off for Stein with Marie.

Ragnarok did this because, once he was just like her.

Because deep down, he cared.

Because deep down, he loved her.