REAPER TOWN TROUBLES! SAVE THE FOOD CRONA!

           (Chapter 2 of The Setting Sun)
           It wasn't long until Crona and his friends reached their destination, and since it was barely noon he decided to stop by the police house to see if there was any work. he was just about to push open the door when something purple flew into him, knocking him to the ground.
            “And stay out you Slewer! I don't give a shit about that shack! You tell that Sossle that I refuse!”
            Crona opened his eyes to see a purple cat on his chest, hissing and sticking it's tongue out at the sheriff of the town. The sheriff was a man in his 30s, he had a bland tan skin tone, a dirty black hat, a rusty sheriff's badge, and a metal necklace. His eyes and hair color were that of a calm brown. His hair had spikes resembling a series of blades. His most noticeable feature however were his sharp teeth.
            “Oh great another scalawag, just what my town needs. Look junior I don't care what you want, but if you give me any trouble I will lock you up faster than you could curse. Now stay away from me!”
            Crona stood and dusted himself, and the cat, off before walking away from the station. “Damn how did that ray of sunshine become a sheriff?”
            “He had bought his way in. This town has going to the dogs ever since.”. Crona looked around and then saw that it was the cat that had spoken. He dropped the cat and took a step back.
            “The hell?! You can talk?” The cat smirked and chuckled at his reaction.
            “I can do much more than that sweetie, but I see you're new to town. I'm Blair, I work at the local saloon with its owner. You have to meet my friends, you came to this town to work right?”
            “Uhh yeah I did. I was hoping to get some work from the sheriff.”
            “If you want Giriko to take you seriously you have to get the town on your side and show him up. That will make him give you work! Anyway there is something we need help with and that scamp isn't gonna do anything, so will you help?”
            Crona could just imagine Ragnarok saying no, over and over. Well that settled it then. “Sure, why not?” Blair cheered and ran to the saloon saying for him to follow her. While he walked to the saloon, he pulled out Ragnarok.
            “You stupid fool! You forgot to ask for a reward! Now we're stuck doing a job for charity! You really suck at being a bound hunter kid.”
           “Oh shut up Raggy, she said that I needed to prove myself to this town before I get real jobs so I'm willing to do these little jobs till then. Be patient and remember to keep that mouth shut around others.”
           Ragnarok spit in Crona's face and the mouth vanished. Crona put the gun away and walked into the saloon where Blair was sitting on a counter next to a blond girl.
          “Oh I had thought you gotten lost. This is my boss and the owner of the saloon, Maka Albarn!” Blair Said as she rubbed her face against Maka's own. Maka studied Crona and just wiped a glass before putting it with a few others. “She can be a bit cold, but she's glad to have the hell I promise!”
         “So what is the job exactly?” Crona asked, causing Maka to give a light glare to Blair.
         “Blair you shouldn't ask someone to help in a job and not tell them the job. And you,” Maka pointed at him. “Don't be a fool that can be used so easily. The main points are my food supply for the saloon has been attacked twice already and I don't have the time to protect it myself. If you really want to make yourself useful, go with Blair and the others to stake out and catch the one responsible.” Maka left to attend to her customers, leaving Blair sighing.
            “I'm sorry about her, she isn't always like this. The last time an outsider came to town, well it didn't end okay for us… Anyway let's get going, oh I never got your name!”
            “I'm Crona, Crona Gorgon. So she had said there would be others helping us.”
           Blair giggled and rolled her eyes. “Yeah they'll help alright. Three boys will be joining us, Kid the mayor's son, Black Star the town's crier, and lastly Soul Eater the town's bad boy. They mean well and are good at helping, but they are easily distracted and tend to rush into things. I didn't want them to get hurt so I went to Giriko, hoping he'd do his job for once, but you saw how that turned out. Hopefully with you there, things with go smoothly.”
            Crona nodded and followed Blair to a small house a little out of town. The house looked normal enough, but at closer inspection the roof was made of glass. Several scarecrows were surrounding the house, defending it from vultures. Three boys stood at the door of the house and the tensed up at the sight of him, but relaxed when Blair waved at them.
           “Blair you should have told us you were bringing someone else, we almost started to attack. Well seeing as you're here I guess Maka or Blair asked you to help us. I'm Kid and welcome to Reaper Town.” The boy was dressed in a elegant suit and had three strange white lines in his hair. His striking gold eyed made Crona tense up.
            The shortest of the three pushed Kid to the side and pointed to himself. “Welcome to the town where the legendary Black Star lives! The stories of my godliness must have brought you here!”
            “Black Star if he had heard of you he would never had come. I'm Soul.” Soul gave Crona a glance and turned away. Black Star punched Soul's and rubbed his blue hair.
            “Nice to meet you all, I'm Crona. Blair asked me to come as a backup.” Crona said as he shook Kid's hand. “So do you all have any ideas on what we're fighting out here?” Soul and Black Star shrugged. Kid answered and started playing with the two pistols that were at his hips.
            “No idea. I had to convince my two bodyguards/sisters to give me their guns, my father is all about safety.” Soul chuckled and Black Star put his arm around Kid.
           “That's because you can't hit the side of a barn with those, you're a real shave tail bro. You should have brought a real weapon, like my twin daggers or Soul's two hand scythes. Hey Crona what you got?” Crona hesitated to pull Ragnarok out and simply replied ‘a revolver’. While the others accepted the answer, Soul didn't look convinced. The group played poker and joked to waste daylight. Black Star was a surprisingly good player, that or he was a really good cheater.
            Crona had discovered a few things about each of the boys in the hours they were together, for example Kid’s sisters aren't really his sisters but his father took them in. Black Star was already engaged to someone he described as ‘flawless’ and ‘a girl that deserves a god’. Soul Eater had grown up in that town and he lived alone. Blair, Maka, and Black Star were his oldest friends, but he warmed up to Kid quickly.
            Night fell on the group, making poker unplayable and everyone a tad sleepy. By midnight, Black Star and Kid were leaning against the house fast asleep. Blair yawned on Crona's head and Crona was just staring out into the vast desert.
            “Hey Crona, what's up with your gun? You haven't pulled it out once.” Soul stated.
            “I didn't want to waste time on my old gun, besides it's not important. Why do you ask?”
            “Let me see it then.” Soul challenged. Crona stared at him and frowned, pulling Ragnarok out and mentally begging that he didn't talk. Soul took it and examined the gun thoroughly. “These markings are from this town. This was made here.”
             “I bought it from a shop here.”
             “This town doesn't have a weapon maker anymor-” A loud moaning sound echoed from somewhere nearby. Crona took his gun and they woke up Kid and Star. The five looked around for any intruders, but saw nothing. Crona suddenly felt very scared as he noticed there was absolutely nothing around them, but the house.
            “Oh shit… guys the scarecrows are gone! All of them!” He shouted just as the scarecrows jumped at them from the top of the house. The scarecrow’s eyes were all glowing red
and they all seemed to be fueled by anger and madness. Everyone pulled out their weapons and fought their respective scarecrow, but all the damage they inflicted was useless. Black Star and Soul would chop their foe into pieces, but it would just put itself back together. Crona and Kid’s bullets weren't working much better, so Blair thought of a different idea.
            “Oh I can just burn them! That should work!” Soul stopped her before she could summon the fire.
            “No if you burn them and they burn the house then we'll lose all the food! We have to think of something else.”
            Crona looked at Ragnarok and began to whisper to him. “Hey Raggy you been in this town a long time right? Do you know how I can stop this?” Ragnarok thought for a minute and suddenly remembered what the eyes reminded him off.
            “I do know how to stop it! That is a weak possession spell! It takes almost no magic to cast, but it comes at a price. You must be looking at the one or ones you're possessing for it to work. There must be someone around here staring at the hay dummies.”
           Crona thanked him and looked around while his friends fought on. He told the others he could stop this and for them to keep them distracted. They told him to hurry and he ran around the house and climbed a ladder that took him to the roof, where a man stood staring down at the scarecrows. Crona rushed at him and was about to tackle him when the man turned, and Crona felt his body immediately freeze in place.
            The man had three glowing red eyes that took all control of Crona's body. “So someone managed to beat the old fool's test. I expected someone better, but you'll have to do. Tell this to the mayor nipper, this town is my birthright and I will take it back. No one will stand in my way.” The man flicked Crona's forehead, knocking him off the roof. He opened his eyes to see his friends were around him and they helped him to his feet.
            “Did you all see him?! The man with three eyes?!” They all joked that he had hit his head a bit too hard. He rubbed his head and didn't bring it up again. They all walked to Maka's Saloon where she smiled and thanked them for the job. Crona paid for a room and while he walked to his room, a hand grabbed him. Soul was there and he wasn't happy.
            “I saw you talking with that gun of yours. I don't know what you're planning, but if you plan to hurt anyone in this town I swear I will-”
           “Damn dude! I'm not planning nothin! I just helped you. Keep a eye on me all you want because all I'm going to do is help this place. You can join me, but you will not stop me.” The two boys stared at each other, before Soul let him go and left the saloon. He walked upstairs and went into his room, putting Ragnarok on the counter next to the bed. “Hey umm Ragnarok, thank you for the help earlier. It was pretty cool of you really.”
            “You have to learn that I'm always cool. I guess you didn't die so nice job on our first assignment. Tomorrow I expect a big breakfast!”
            Crona smiled and rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah whatever you said.” A knock at his door made him pause and he opened it to see Maka. “Oh hey.”
            Maka gave a heavy sigh and played with her fingers, the barest hint of a blush on her cheeks. “Blair told me to apologize for how I was earlier, and I wanted to say thank you again. Not many people help others nowadays, so it was kinda cool for you to do it.”
           Crona smiled at her and chuckled. “Thanks that means a lot. Don't worry about earlier, but we didn't get properly introduced. I'm Crona.” He extended a hand, which Maka shook.
           “Maka. I guess I'll see you tomorrow Crona, and I have a few more jobs for you. No slacking!”
           “Wouldn't dream of it! Night!” Crona closed the door and was glad to be sleeping in a warm bed again...