A/N: You guys didn't think I forgot about Black Umbrella did ya? Of course not! I may be a bit occupied with Sanctuary but Umbrella is still my baby!

This was a dream I had actually. Yes. A fanfiction came to me in a dream. I'll admit this one is a bit strange but that also means it's perfect Soul Eater material. Everything about Soul Eater is strange. PREPARE YOUR FEELS

Mortal

Two pairs of boots shuffled through the powdery snow, their steps almost silent. Flakes fell ever so slowly from the grey skies. Wind whispered secrets of the Jack Frost and his power to steal the colors of autumn and hide it under a bloodless winter snow.

The black trees stood tall and mighty over the two travelers. Their almost haunting aspects made the timid one of the two slightly nervous. Like gods these trees watched over the travelers as they walked through their own personal sanctuary. They judged them and determined if these foreigners were worthy to cross their land. If they were not, then the trees would have no problem erasing them from the forest. The wind was ready to take the humans out at the forest's command. The wind saw the trees as it's elders and would not question a request to kill.

The trees listened to the traveler's hearts beats and they sensed a disturbance among the two. One of the hearts was much weaker then the other. One of these hearts was close to dying.

It was then that then noticed in the weaker's footsteps how disorganized her walking was. The stronger held an arm around her waste and watched her rapidly paling face with concern.

"Just a bit longer Crona, don't give up now." He said.

The girl made a pained whimper but she continued to trudge through.

The trees felt pity for the couple. While they had no sympathy for humans and their destructive ways, this pair was...an exception in the elders' eyes. They spoke to the wind and told it to let these wanderers go in peace.

The swords meister's legs finally gave out but the reaper caught her before she hit the cold ground.

"Okay, okay. We can stop here for a break." He said.

She nodded and he sat down in the snow, pulling her into his arms. He used one arm to support her back and one to hold her hand. Her dark eyes looked so far away. She gave his hand a light squeeze to reassure him that she was still there, for now at least.

Crona's body trembled in the freezing air and he quickly pulled off his jacket and gave it to her as a blanket. She frowned.

"Y-you'll be cold." She whimpered.

"Shinigamis can withstand freezing temperatures like this easily." He said proudly. "And even if we couldn't, you need it more then I do."

Her sad eyes looked at him for a moment before looking down.

"Am I going to die, Kid?"

"What? Of course not! You're going to be just fine Crona, I promise. Now which tree do you want?"

Her eyes brightened a bit. "We're here? This is the enchanted forest? I thought it was deeper in."

A flash of uncertainty showed in his face. "I-I think it is. I mean it has to be, we've been walking for ages." He was exhausted himself, probably not nearly as much as her, but he was ready to collapse.

"Which tree do you want?" He asked again.

What difference did it make? If these weren't the right trees then Crona would die. Even if they were the right ones there is still a slim chance he could save her in time.

"Uhh Um..." She couldn't see much from her position, but by what she could see all of the trees looked the same.

"I don't know. What if I pick the wrong one?"

"There is no wrong one, but there is a greater chance this will work correctly if your soul connects with one of the trees."

She looked confused. "Trees don't have souls."

"Ah! But these ones do. You see this is the living forest. Everything is in this forest is alive and has a soul. The trees, the wind, the snow, all of it. All we need to do it take one of the tree's souls and give it to you." He said.

Crona stared at him, a look of horror in her eyes.

"Isn't that murder?"

"No, of course not."

"But, we're taking away someone's soul. We have to take a life."

"Well...I guess if you put it that way, yes. We must take a soul to save one."

"No!"

Kid was taken aback.

"What do you mean? We have to do this to save you."

He felt her breathing get frantic. "I-I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. I-I-I p-promised that I wouldn't hurt anything. I want to b-b-be a good girl. I don't want to hurt-"

"I know you don't, just calm down okay? You can't get too stressed out, it's bad for your heart."

"I-I-I-" She sniffed, her body was trembling and she clutched harder to Kid's hand. Her breathing was ragged and uneven.

"Shhh, It's okay." He laid a kiss on her temple. "We're going to be okay. Just relax."

She sobbed and buried her face into Kid's shirt. "I don't want to do that anymore."

"And you won't have to." He said into her hair. "Look, I'm going go and get the soul okay? You are going to stay right here are stay awake. Can you do that for me? Don't go to sleep no matter how tired you get. Try not to close your eyes at all if you can. I'm going to get the soul and you're going to get better okay? We can go home and we'll live for a thousand more eternities."

Crona had stopped shaking but tears were still rolling down her cheeks. She moved her face from Kid's tear stained shirt and stared up at him with her big dark eyes. He stared back at her before giving her a tender kiss on the lips. He pulled her closer into a sort of awkward hug, her body was still mostly limp aside from her arms and neck. She returned the embrace the best she could.

He layed her down in the snow as gently as he could, she gave him a confused look.

"Where are you going? Kid don't leave!" Crona began to shake again.

"When I take the soul it's going to get ugly. The trees don't give up one of their own without a fight. You will be safest right here. Remember what I said okay? Don't fall asleep. Keep those beautiful eyes of yours open."

She nodded but didn't let go of his hand. Kid gave her a sad smile and brought her hand to his lips. He gave her knuckle a kiss and brought her hand to his heart. She could feel how healthier and stronger it was then hers. Her heart was slowly getting weaker, every pulse was farther apart.

The idea of Kid leaving her and perhaps never coming back didn't help her weak heart. She winced at the familiar 'flip-flop' feeling in her chest. Her arm felt limp now, and once Kid let it go, it fell.

He gave her a scared look, such fear in his eyes. She opened her mouth to assure him that she was still there.

"It's okay." She said. "Y-you..." She took a deep breathe. "...You have to come back." It was getting more difficult to breath, her chest hurt when she inhaled. She was rapidly getting worse.

"I will." Kid said. "I love you."

And with that he grabbed his backpack and was off, running to an unknown destination. He activated his "soul vision" and frantically whipped his head around, searching for the tree with a soul closest to Crona's.

The trees had heard the whole conversation between to two lovers and they were not pleased. They waited for the male to get further into the forest before they attacked.

He sprinted, taking random turns and weaving through the follage. Luckily because of his advanced reaper memory he would have no trouble finding his way back. God have mercy if he did after all.

The farther he ran the more sinister the forest looked. The trees almost seemed to be bending over him and getting closer, blocking out the sky and casting shadows.

He was running out of time. He had to find that tree of Crona would surely die. He couldn't handle that. They had already lost everyone else. He couldn't loose her.

Crona.

He froze.

He felt her soul, but it wasn't hers at all. It was far more healthier and stronger and it belonged to one of the trees.

Behind you.

He spun around and saw it.

Smaller then the other trees, that was expected. It's branches were more twisted and bent. A few of it's branches looked like that had fallen off, or ripped off, like wings off a butterfly. They left jagged stumps who's splinters looked like spears and thorns were wrapped lazily all around it, like a built in defense system for whatever unlucky animal leaps onto this tree. It was dark, like the others, but there was one very distinct detail that separated this tree from the rest.

Oh the top, the very top far from the ground, there was a single white rose.

Kid understood that the smallness of the tree represented how small Crona thinks of herself, the twisted branches symbolized the twisted and brokenness of Crona's mind. The spear like branches were Ragnarok, Crona's involuntary defense mechanism, and the reason why Crona is afraid to let anyone get too close from fear of hurting them.

But the white rose was perhaps the most important. The rose represented the almost microscopic chance that she could be pulled from the darkness and be reborn as something brand new. Something pure, something innocent.

Something good.

It was a pity that Kid had to destroy this tree, but a representation of Crona was simply nothing compared to the real thing. Kid dropped his backpack to the ground and unzipped it. He pulled out a long golden axe, given to him by his father long ago. Of course the axe was double sided, for symmetry reasons. He lifted the tool over his shoulder with ease, looking for a weak spot in the small tree.

The elders of the forest weren't willing to loose one of their own. They chose this moment to attack

Crona was getting worse by the second. She was sweating even though the temperature was bellow freezing. Her body would have spasms every few minutes and it made her muscles hurt even more. Everything hurt. She tried to take a deep breath but it caused intense pain in her chest and abdomen. Then she felt something rising from her stomach. Her eyes widened and she coughed up a fairly dangerous amount of black blood.

"Oh no.." Her eye lids began to feel like lead and the remaining feeling in the rest of her body went numb. Her vision blacked out, she wasn't sure if it was because her eyes closed or because death had already gotten to her and was dragging her away from the light.

With her last breath she was able to let out one last call for help:

"Kid."

The reaper dodged the first attack, splinters being fired like bullets from one of the trees. Another one brought it's large branch down in a loud crash but Kid was able to roll out of the way just in time. A mistake on his part because once he was on the ground the snow came to life and covered over him, keeping him trapped. The frost burned his skin it was so cold. Kid groaned and tried to push himself of the ground with 100 pounds of snow pulling him down. He had dropped his axe and it was at least 10 inches from his reach.

Roots rose from the ground and wrapped around Kid's neck. A large branch descended from above and took the reaper's face in it's almost finger like twigs. It jerked his head up to see the base of this tree. It was much taller then the others and more sturdy. It's wood was darker too. There was something about this tree that struck Kid as familiar, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Oh.

That's it.

The tree was perfectly symmetrical. There wasn't one twig cut too short or too long, both sides were exactly the same. But wait..On the base of the tree, right were the branches diverged, there were white lines going all around the trunk.

Three white lines.

All of a sudden a crack formed directly down the middle of this tree. It left a short vertical line. Slowly the crack began open up until it was a gapping hole in the tree. An eerie eyeball appeared inside the hole, not just any eyeball of course. It was an eye with golden rings around it.

Kid's eye.

This tree had a soul identical to Kid's and it was defending the tree that had a soul identical to Crona's. Kid had to fight himself in order to save Crona, which the Kid tree was also trying to do. One of the Cronas had to die.

The monstrous tree pulled Kid out from the snow and wrapped several vines around him. It lifted him up so it may get a better look with it's large golden orb. Kid struggled under the hold of the tree and quickly became frustrated.

"Let me go you giant oaf! I don't have much time-" Another vine wrapped around his mouth to serve as a gag. The reaper attempted biting it but to no avail. The bark was too thick for the tree to feel any pain. So he chose a different way of attack.

Once the tree's eyeball was focused directly on him, Kid's face disappeared behind a magnificent beam of light. One reaper technique that he had was being able to shine so bright he could blind mortals.

The eyeball's pupil dilated and the tree let out some noise that resembled screaming. It's hold on Kid released and the reaper landed on his two feet, his face returning to normal. Quickly, he grabbed the abandoned ax and sprinted to the tree with Crona's soul. He only had so much time until his opponent regained it's sight.

The symmetrical tree thrashed around with it's long limbs, attempting to sense where Kid had gone. The hole in the tree that contained the eye was now leaking with tears. The snow wasn't taking well to the enchanted plant hitting and battering away at it. It sprang to life and grabbed onto the branches, weighing them down so it could not move. The tree let out a furious roar.

Kid finally got close enough to Crona's tree and swiftly began hacking away. When the blade first hit the bark, the same crack formed down the tree's base. It opened to reveal the deep blue eye that Kid knew all too well. The noises that came from this tree were far different from the previous one. It let out whimpers and whines when Kid dented it's trunk with his weapon.

With one of it's broken limbs, it impaled Kid in the stomach.

The pain burned through his body, he was sure a few ribs were cracked and several organs were damaged. Kid keeled over and vomited while a thorny vine wrapped around his ankle and pulled him onto his stomach. Groaning, he cut the vine with his ax only to have his neck choked with another one. The thorns dug into his skin and drew blood from his jugular.

"Agh-" He managed to choke out. Kid tried pulling at the choker but it did nothing but bloody his hands. The blue eye was watching intently as he lost more breath.

"C-C-ro-na" The vine tightened against his neck while the dark blue turned to a pale grey. Kid's face was turning red, the tree lifted him from the ground. The need for air became vital to the immortal's survival. His eyes rolled back in his head while his body started to spasm. The boy shook violently before he suddenly fell limp.

Once the tree saw the last sign of life leave the boys body, it released him. The reaper dropped and hit the ground hard. A few more cracks were heard from most likely more broken bones.

The vines and branches returned to Crona's tree. It gave the reaper one last look, and then the hole in the base closed, hiding the eye once more.

Golden eyes snapped open and Kid pushed himself up from the cold snow. Snatching his ax he wound up and sliced straight through the trunk of the tree, cutting it down in one fell swoop.

"Never underestimate a reaper."

Screams and roars were heard in the distance by the tree that was Kid's. The snow finally released it's hold on the monsters branches.

The tree's soul appeared before him. Tiny, dry, humble, and perfect in his eyes. It was Crona's soul alright. Kid grabbed it quickly and sprinted off in the same way he came.

He took one final look over his shoulder to see the two trees. Kid and Crona's tree. Kid's tree was wrapping it's branches and vines around the base of Crona's. It was leaking with tears again, clutching the fallen tree to it's own base.

There was a moment where Kid felt a pang of guilt but it was immediately washed away when he remember what obtaining that soul was for. Now he just had to hope he wasn't too late.

God please don't be too late.

When he returned to where he left Crona she was no where to be found. He frantically scanned the scanned for any signs of her soul only to find it right where he left it. Crona had been buried in the snow. Kid ran over to her, dropping his ax and backpack and brushed off the snow. He knelled next to her and brought her frail body into his arms.

Her face was white and her lips were blue. Her eyes were closed like she was only sleeping. Kid hoped to god that was the case. He softly shook her and called out her name.

"Crona, I'm back. Crona wake up."

She didn't stir.

"Crona I have the soul! I have it so I can fix you. You're going to be fine. We're both going to be just perfect. Open your eyes darling so you can see."

No response.

"Crona?" Kid bent down and listened to her chest in hope of a heart beat.

Nothing.

He brought to fingers to her neck to find a pulse.

He felt nothing.

"Crona, you have to wake up. You see this only works if your alive so you have to be alive, okay? That's the only way this is going to work, just open your eyes."

His words fell to the silence of the wintery atmosphere. The emptiness of the forest somehow infected him and brought an empty feeling to his own chest. Perhaps it wasn't only the forest that gave him that feeling.

"No..." He whispered. Kid activated his soul perception to search for any signs of hope. He saw nothing, but then...he was able to make out the tiniest dying flame. It wasn't even an entire Soul, just the last remaining cells, and they were vanishing quickly.

Death the Kid's father had told him about someones soul existing a little longer after a person had died. He said the affect is similar to a chicken running around without it's head. It has no purpose to live but it gives off one last burst of energy before dying forever.

If Crona had already...passed, then the process of giving her the soul would be useless.

But...if there was any signs of hope then the time to act was now.

Reaching into his backpack, Kid pulled out the tiny soul he had collected from the tree and cupped it in his hands.

Shutting his eyes, Death the Kid began the process.

'A Sound Soul...

Dwells With in A Sound Mind

And Sound Body'

While repeating these words in his head, the reaper placed his thumb, index, and middle finger on the top of the soul. Taking in a deep breath he connected his own soul to the one in his hand and they were able to resonate. He could feel the wavelength pulsing through his three fingers, up his arm, and into his body.

Soul

Then he gradually brought the three fingers to Crona's temple. Exhaling, he directed that soul to connect with what remained of Crona's soul. It was difficult, like searching for needle in a hay stack, and Kid feared he was already out of time. However soon enough, the soul found the single flame and resonated with it.

Mind

Finally Kid moved his three fingers to Crona's chest, laying them right over Crona's non beating heart. Taking in one final deep breath he resonated with Crona's soul. Intertwining the wavelengths with one another, the transfer was in it's final stage. Unfortunately this was the most difficult stage. With one hand on the soul and one hand on Crona, Kid had to focus his mind completely. He had, after all, never done this before and the probability of failure was dangerously high.

With one last prayer for hope, he let go of both souls.

Body

It was like releasing two ultra powerful magnets. The soul he had been holding disappeared into Crona's body with a flash of light. He deactivated his soul perception for he was to afraid to watch the outcome.

The silence of the forest screamed so loud it would make your eardrums bleed.

Kid simply sat, freezing cold, covered in blood, bruises on his neck and scars on his face. He sat and he waited for what felt like hours. He didn't cry, he didn't speak, he didn't move. He just sat in the snow and waited for his life to end.

At some point the reaper must have fallen asleep. He awoke hugging Crona's body to his chest, she was still as cold as stone. The last flicker of hope left his soul. Slowly, he got up from the snow and lifted Crona up with him, carrying her bridal style.

Yes, that sounds right. His broken bride.

Bowing his head he began his journey out of the forest. The snow crunched beneath his boots and the wind died down. The trees of the forest stood still, not daring to make a sound. The silence over took him again, but it wasn't screaming like before. Kid could still hear his boots walking in the snow, he could hear his breath, his heartbeat, Crona's heartbeat.

Wait.

What?

He suddenly stopped and listened.

Ba-dum, Ba-dum, Ba-dum.

There was a second rhythm that didn't belong to his own heart. A second life in the forest. Listening closer he could hear her slow inhale and exhale of breath, and taking a better look he noticed that the color had returned to her body.

Crona was alive.

The transplant had been a success.

Activating his soul perception once more he took a peek at Crona's soul.

Tiny, dry, humble, perfect.

It was back. Burning and breathing along with the rest of her body.

A beaming smile took control of Kid's face. He hugged his bride to his chest and nuzzled his face into her hair.

"Crona." He whispered.

The gentle stir of her body made his heart flutter. A tired moan sounded from her throat and two brilliantly blue eyes opened to meet him. He swore she had never looked so beautiful.

Looking up at him she didn't say a word, only made a tiny smile before shutting her eyes again and nuzzling her nose into his neck.

He could feel her warm breath, hear her beating heart, see her striving soul.

It felt all too much like some fantastic dream. But it was no dream. It was reality.

"I told you didn't I?" He whispered as she fell back into her content slumber. "I told you I would fix you. I swear Crona we will live a thousand eternities together. Oh, it will be extraordinary! You are extraordinary. I could just die from sheer happiness I love you so."

She only nodded sleepily to his words, smiling to herself as he carried her.