Fate of the Scorned

[Crona]

"Daemon."
"Monster."
"Is there anything more pathetic?"

Crona's mind ran through the words over and over in his head, he had been called worse, and taken a more brutal beating simply for being what he was, but for some reason Sivo's words weighed him down and played on his mind. The Enginseer wasn't even from his own world, and still he was hated and effectively attacked on sight. Perhaps he was a terrible creature that needed to be purged, but that didn't mean he would just lay down and die. "You cant protect anything from me. I will... I will..." The thought of destruction was enough to cause Crona's blood to boil, but the child clenches his fists and grits his teeth, forcing the idea from his mind, he needed to think of something else. Anything else.

With a slow, cautious eye, he takes in his surroundings. A pair of Stormtroopers sat uneasily infront him, not daring to let their guard down against the potentially dangerous prime that they were transporting away from the scene of battle. The floating sky-taxi seemed slightly different to those that he had seen before when he had first entered Coruscant, this one had bars on the windows that made it annoyingly difficult to see the city below. The boy supposed it belonged to the local law-enforcement, though the idea simply gave Crona the gripping fear that he was a prisoner. Perhaps now would be a good time to make an escape before they landed somewhere more secure.

Almost as soon as he even considered escaping, they had already landed, and the door slid open to reveal a terrifyingly large building, swamped on either side by other sets of skyscrapers that seemed to stretch in every direction. In truth, most buildings could be considered 'terrifyingly' large, but his fear didn't stop him as one of the Stormtroopers tried to usher him out of the skycar. "Come on, now, we dont have all day." There was no real point hiding in the car, and so the boy crawls out, flanked by the Stormtroopers, as they escorted into the building before him.

Once inside, and after a quick frisk for any weapons, he was quickly moved down deeper into the facility. The initial search for any contraband quickly made Crona incredibly uncomfortable, and was pretty much a useless exercise since he carried nothing but a robe. He himself was the weapon, though it seemed like they didn't know, or at least it didnt bother them. As the bland corridor that the group walked him through seemed to stretch on forever, aside from a few meaningless letters adorning the wall next to some fancy-looking doors, Crona was helpless as he whimpered lightly to himself and grabbed hold of his other hand for comfort. He wondered where they were taking him, if he would ever escape, or if they would let him go, what they wanted with him, what they would do to him... It reminded him of a time in his childhood with his mother, long ago, and he thought he had left the feeling behind along time ago.

"Crona. Crona! Why are you following along with these morons? We can rip them apart. Easily." A familiar voice sounds off in the boy's head. The obnoxious rumbling of his eternal demon companion was an unmistakable tone. "First you nearly lose to that gearhead, and now youre just walking to death-knows-where? You arent usually this dumb, whats wrong with you?!" Ragnarok whines again, but Crona simple keeps his silence, and his head down as he continued his walk along the corridor. He wanted more then anything to be left alone, or at the very least, to be home with his friends.

Friends! He had totally forgotten about Jon! The boy stops in his tracks at the realization, causing the flanking Stormtroopers to go on alert. "Uhm....Sorry, l-lets keep going." He speaks quickly, not even waiting for a response as he continued along, head down, as the Stormtroopers rushed to catch up. His mind wanders back to his ally, what had happened to Jon? The man had stood behind him, even after seeing Ragnarok, and went as far as defending him when he was attacked. But... Jon was just a man, perhaps he didn't even survive. Perhaps he had died defending Crona.

Tears well up in the child's eyes. He had only met one friend in this strange world, and already he had lost him. He bit down on his lip, trying to stem the impending sob, but soon he was distracted as a white gauntlet grabs him on the shoulder. It seemed as though they had arrived at wherever they were taking him, a door like any other with a 'J' just to the side. One of the stormtroopers presses a few buttons on a panel to the side, and the door slides open. Crona foolishly enters out of instinct, and the door slides closed once again. Leaving him alone with a bed, a toilet, and a window that was barely larger then a crack in the wall.

The boy looks around the room, a sense of complete woe and helpless welling in his gut. He had been in many prisons before, his whole childhood was spent in a empty prison room, and even those who trusted him most at the Academy had kept him under lock and key. Unsure of what else to do, Crona grabs a pillow from the bed, and sets himself down in the far corner of the room, tucking his feet into his gut and squeezing tightly on the pillow in a vain effort to calm himself.

With nothing else to do, Crona bawls his eyes into the pillow, heaving between breathes as a stream of tears flow into the waiting pillow. It was all too much for him to deal with, everything that had happened in the past few hours was enough for him to lose all hope, and so he sits and wails as loud as his lungs could manage. He didn't care if people could hear, or what people thought, perhaps they thought he was just a child. Pathetic.

Pathetic.

Only a few minutes had passed before the word crossed his mind, and as soon as he does he tosses the pillow angrily against the side of the opposite wall. He wouldn't be defeated here, he had friends to return to on his own world. Friends that needed him, just like friends here that needed him. He just... needed time to recover, thats all. He was still injured from the most recent fight, he had a bruised face and and his ribs ached, and a slice along his side, but he knew Ragnarok would recover his wounds, eventually, it was only a matter of time.

He hoped the white armor-clad Stormtroopers returned before he felt he had recovered enough, because otherwise he wasn't sure he could hold himself back.

Until then, he crawled over to recover his pillow, before sitting once again with his back to the wall, staring at the door. Silently brooding.

[Crona]

It felt like an eternity to Crona as he sat alone, face buried in a pillow as he let out a few woeful sniffles of sadness every so often. A boy like Crona was never truly alone, even if Ragnarok stayed silent through their imprisonment whilst his companion wept, doing whatever the Demon did whilst not attempting to rip someone apart. In reality, no more then an hour had passed before the child's solitude was broken as the door to his cell slid open to reveal a particularly well-decorated Stormtrooper entering the room. A captain of sorts, it would seem, Crona had seen a similar person before he first entered Coruscant, though before the sight had filled him with dread, and it hadn't changed here.

"Destruction of property, disturbing the peace, assault and battery..." The Captain began, fingers running down a pad he held in his hands as he read of the series of crimes. Crona was all but ignoring the intrusion, face still buried in the pillow, he tried to tuck his legs in closer to his chest to make himself seem smaller, but it was to no avail. There was nowhere for him to hide. "Quite a streak of crimes you got here, didn't your mother tell you to play nice, kid? Of course, you are a Prime, not some mere child, so you'd have to be charged to the full extent of the law..."

The Captain was too engulfed in his seemingly well-rehearsed monologue to notice Crona visibly cringe at the word 'mother'. The child looks up from his pillow, tears still wet on his cheeks, though his eyes never looked directly at the stranger in the room, even when the Captain got down on one knee to get closer to Crona's eye level. "Of course, we could avoid all that nonsense, maybe strike a deal, so we can help you, and in turn you can help the Empire.

Naturally, Crona looks incredibly nervous, he couldn't bare to look at the man, and his eyes glance quickly around the room as he shuffles uncomfortably in the spot. Everything was the same as it had been for the time he had been here, except for one thing.

The door was unlocked, and wide open.

"We don't have to listen to this weakling, Crona. Ragnarok's voice echoed through the boy's mind. "This is why I should be making decisions, instead of an idiot like you. If I was calling the shots, we'd be outside with blood on my sword and a belly-full of souls." Crona hummed in consideration for a moment, it didn't seem like such a bad idea, really. He was sure he could retrace his steps if he broke out of the room, and besides, these are the people that likely killed Jon, so it would be righteous justice.

At least, thats what he kept telling himself. The devouring of the Stormtroopers wouldn't likely win him any friends, and then he would be stuck in the middle of the city with them, the chances of survival seemed low, despite Ragnarok's confidence.

The Captain took Crona's humming as a sign of acknowledgement, and reveals the datapad that he was reading of, though now it showed a table of names, crimes, and descriptions. The boy immediately recognized the bounty list, he had been on many similar missions during his time at the academy, generally there was a target with a few details, and a location, and a reward at the end if it was a success. It was much like a task on his own world with Maka and his other friends, and so he was instantly attracted to the idea, and so looks at the datapad with great intrigue.

He scrolled through the names, Ragna the Bloodedge, Kaptin Bluddflagg, 'Gold Staff' Enel... They seemed like such frightening and violent individuals, though if it was the only way Crona could get out of this base without bloodshed, he supposed he would have to take it. The Child clears his throat a little before stammering out a sentence. "So... so I just n-need to claim one of these... uhm... bounties, and then I'm OK? I'm safe?"

"Absolutely." The Captain says confidently. If the man wasn't wearing a mask, he definitely would be smiling as he stood back to his full height. "So, we have a deal then?"

In Crona's mind, Ragnarok sighs heavily, clearly annoyed at the turn of events. "Goddamn dumbass, I swear Crona... Ah well, this is better then being locked up with your sobbing hide for the rest of time." The boy uses the wall to stand back up, taking the bounty list in one hand and clutching the pillow in the other, before giving a small nod to the Captain in acknowledgement.

"Great, Great. When you're done, just report back, we could have more work for you, if you do this right..." The Captain says as he turns around, beckoning Crona to follow, and the boy does so grudgingly. The twisting corridors seem to stretch forever, once again, though soon enough fresh air fills their lungs as they reach the outside. The boy was still clutching the pillow tightly even as they got outside, which earned him a strange look from the Captain before the soldier said his goodbyes and returned to his duties, leaving him alone once again.

Crona had his mark, a mission, a goal he could work towards, to distract himself from his own worries. He imagined he was off to hunt his spiteful mother, Medusa, as he began a long walk to the gate that would connect him back to the Nexus. "I think we should just go through and eat them all. That'll show the Empire whos the most powerful. And after we do that, we eat those troopers and their Captain!" Ragnarok's head pops out from Crona's back, now that they had cleared the prison. It was likely the Demon would be a little more careful about his appearances after the last outburst, but perhaps only a little. It wouldn't make him any less obnoxious.

"No. Yes. Uhm... Look, maybe." Crona stutters out, looking down at the datapad to remind himself of the names and descriptions. "Alright, lets start with... Gilgamesh, his bounty is pretty low and he doesn't sound too bad. I wonder where he is, though... last seen going to... The Endless Dunes. Guess I'll start there."