Ragnarok blew a raspberry at Medusa's body. "Good riddance," he said.

Crona sniffed, and a few tears leaked out of their eyes. "Yeah," they said quietly, "good riddance."

"Three kishin souls are in the bag! Yahoo!" Black*Star cheered, coming up behind them.

Tsubaki emerged from weapon form. "Actually, they're in my body," she said with a smile.

"And ours!" said Liz, ruffling Patty's hair. "One soul for each weapon—a perfect battle!"

"Liz!" Kid said harshly. Everyone's eyes fell on the witch's corpse.

"Damn," said Black*Star. "Who finally finished her off?"

"All three of us," said Soul. "Crona was especially awesome."

Crona's face burned a bright red at the compliment as they smiled sadly, before they suddenly broke down sobbing.

"Crona!" Maka cried.

They hiccupped. "I-I'm sor—ry, Maka! I d-don't want to cry but…I—I—I! Cant…s-stop!"

Maka put her arms around Crona, and Soul put his arms around both of them, and they hugged tightly as the rain lightened to a drizzle and the sun appeared lazily over the distant mountains.

Epilogue, two months later

"Damn this season," grumbled Soul, shaking melted snow out of his hair like a wet dog.

"At least it finally stopped storming," said Liz.

"But during the blizzards it was harder for us to be spotted," said Kid.

"And the constant snowfall covered our tracks," Maka added. "Are you all sure that we shouldn't just wait until spring?"

"Spring is muddy," said Black*Star, "and besides, they'll never expect us at this time of year! It'll be the ultimate ambush!"

"But at what cost?" Liz said. "Ow! Patty!"

Patty giggled, having nailed the back of her sister's head with a snowball.

"Patty, stop goofing off!" Kid hissed. "We're almost there!"

"Better transform, everyone," said Maka. Tsubaki, Liz and Patty melted into weapon form. Soul turned to wink at Maka before transforming as well. After the ordeal with Medusa, he'd agreed to team up with Maka as her souleater.

Ragnarok was already transformed—it seemed like he was a sword more often than a corporeal being these days. Everyone took this as a good sign: Crona was moving on from their past, slowly but surely. It seemed to Maka that they were growing stronger, standing taller, and fighting with more resolve every day.

The grisha barracks rose over the horizon, looking like rotted black teeth against the gray-blue early morning sky. Maka shivered against her will. This place that had been her home such a short time ago now seemed evil, infested with filth and corruption.

Soul's face appeared in the smooth metal of his blade. "Hey. This is a good thing. We're going to beat Arachne's people and save the other grisha. Right?"

Maka managed a smile. "Right," she said, elbowing him back.

"They see us!" said Kid.

"Aw, yeah!" Black*Star cried. "This is gonna be my biggest show ever, I just know it!"

"Not quite, Black*Star," said Crona. "It's Maka and Soul's show this time."

The curtain rose—Maka raised Soul into the air, his blade glinted against the sunrise, and the stage was all theirs.