Daughter Of Madness [Kid X Fem!Chrona]

Smoke on the Water

Chrona stood on a beach of blackened sand; the sky had been flooded with clouds, the sun absent from view. She kicked the sand with a pout. Wasn't something supposed to happen, some grand revelation? All she saw was the same tarnished world she saw last time. In her aimless wandering she stumbled upon the white rose. It was still alive, with a healthy blossom, but not thriving. She frowned at it.

"Now what? What more do you want from me? Haven't I done enough?" A leaf fell off the plant. She closed her eyes and let a large shadow loom over her and black out the sky. Wait a minute, there should be nothing here that could cast a shadow.

Behind her a large castle floated, independent from her piece of land. Faintly, she could recall a time where someone had ventured into her soul. They had the power to change her, and that scared her. She didn't want that to happen again. So, she ventured forward. If she was in someone else's soul, they couldn't mess with hers.

A twisted bridge from the castle barely reached the sand. She was wary of the large holes between the black branches that formed the bridge and started to climb. The walls were built so high she couldn't see the towers inside. As she crossed, her limbs grew longer and her features sharper. By the time she reached the stone and mortar structure, she appeared to have aged three years.

Large double doors blocked her path to the castle's interior. Her slender hands grabbed the handles of the doors and tugged. However, the door did not budge. After a number of tries, she relented and rested against the doors. Slowly, the doors swung inward.

The moment Chrona stepped inside, she was surrounded by cold, damp air. The doors slammed shut behind her, leaving her trapped in the stone maze. Two torches closest to her lit with dim blue flames. She took a few steps forward and the light seemed to follow her, jumping from torch to torch and dying behind her. On the walls, scenes and people were painted. Some in elaborate frames, others bare against the stones and weathered.

"Hello?" Chrona called. "Is anyone there?" Her voice echoed back from several places, the network of halls bent in different directions. She continued to wander aimlessly when she caught a glimpse of black fabric vanished around the corner. She tried desperately to catch the person, until she realized it was leading her away from the center of the building. Chrona shook her head and back tracked to where she had been at the beginning and tried her hardest to ignore the tempting trail her mystery person was trying to recreate. At the center of the labyrinth, was a locked room. A cold, steel door that withstood countless beatings blocked her way.

Upon closer inspection the door had a simple chain lock on the inside. It held the door closed, but something had forced the iron door to open so that it was about large enough for her to squeeze through. She glanced around her before slipping past the battered door.

Once again, two torches lit a dim blue. It was a large room with barren walls, save for the torches. On the floor, a torn up red carpet stretched to a single chair. A throne made of human bones. Behind it, a charred picture of a woman in white, her face lost to the flames. Chrona walked down the worn velvet to the throne, to find a black mass with a white face in the seat. At the sound of her footsteps, it tensed; and Chrona realized there was a person under the heavy cloak.

"...Shini-kun?" She asked. The white mask looked up at her, a hastily carved skull.

"How did you get in, the door was locked?" The younger form of Kid asked. He sunk as far back into the chair as possible. He couldn't pretend to be something he wasn't here, unlike the maze outside.

"It was," Chrona replied, "but the door was open. You must have let me in." She tilted her head. "Why won't you let me see your face." Her hand came dangerously close to his mask.