Work Text:
Pick it up, pick it all up
And start again
You've got a second chance
You could go home
Escape it all
It's just irrelevant
"Chrona, may I ask how you came to be...bonded, with Ragnarok?"
The purple teen had known this question was coming. After Stein and Marie had taken him in, Stein insisted on testing to see whether Ragnarok could affect any natural body functions, and Marie had consented, out of worry for possible health troubles. They knew there would be anomalies, outside of the black blood, anomalies that would bring the concerned crease to Stein's brow and answers that would leave Marie frowning, desperately trying not to shed tears that would well up in her eyes.
"W-well, um, mo-Lady Medusa used, kinda like an IV? And, uh, put Ragnarok in it, and let him infuse."
"No anesthesia or anything?"
"N-no, she said, um, that pain would build character, a-and make me less weak."
"And have you been taking any drugs or anything? Please be honest, we won't be mad, I swear it."
Chrona inhaled deeply, steadying themself to answer the question they had been dreading most.
It's just medicine
"I haven't been taking a-any, but, um..."
"Um?" Stein prompted, rather gently for him.
"Sweetie, did Lady Medusa force you to take anything?"
It's just medicine
"Th-there's a snake. One of h-hers, that she put in my arm. She used to force me to, to take something, when I was little, every day, but when I started going on m-missions with her, she put the snake there."
You could still be
What you want to
What you said you were
When I met you
"And what does the snake do?" Stein looked deeply worried, he probably knew more than even Chrona did because of those tests.
"I-it's automatic, I'm pretty sure. It puts the, the thing, out into my blo-bloodstream, so much every so often. Wh-when I got scared, and didn't know how to handle som-mething, she'd feed me more, s-so I could cal-lm down." The adults gave each other concerned looks at that, Marie holding her hands like she did whenever she was scared or worried, and Stein looked like he was hoping that something would pop up and change the experiment. Something to prove his hypothesis wrong.
You've got a warm heart
You've got a beautiful brain
But it's disintegrating
From all the medicine
"Chrona, I've also noticed that you have a lot of difficulty making decisions and regulating your behaviour, and your responses to stressful situations are always a bit more... extreme, than with others. I know you have anxiety, but considering all this time in near constant stressful times, I find it rather odd. Were you like this before?"
"Um, I don't think so? I thought it was be-because of Ragnarok, but maybe it is because of that stuff?
From all the medicine
Stein sighed, seemingly giving up on the hope that there was a hidden variable. "Chrona, do you know what it was that Medusa gave you?" He looked like he already knew the answer, but Marie seemed to be shielding herself, ready for the revelation she was sure would be horrifying.
From all the medicine
"S-she, um, she said it was just medicine. That's all it is, right? Tsubaki told me about some that makes you less anxious, and able to like, be better and not so scared, that must be what it was, right?"
"Sweetie, those don't have effects like this does. They are prescribed by a doctor, and they at worst make you nauseous or something. They don't completely change your behaviour. Stein, you don't think..?"
"I'm sure you know about illegal drugs, Chrona, ones that have extremely negative effects, and I think that that is what Medusa has been forcing to you. We didn't notice before, the dosage must not change so you built a tolerance, and Ragnarok might hide or rid of some effects as well, but I did find traces of something in your bloodstream."
Medicine
"It appears that you have been forced to ingest heroin, a highly addictive drug used often as a quick acting painkiller or to relieve anxiety, but that decreases white matter in your brain over time and can lead to becoming manic about getting a new fix once your addicted."
You could still be
What you want to be
What you said you were
When you met me
And with that, they burst into tears. They knew that their mo-Lady Medusa was a liar, that she did bad things in the wellbeing of no one but herself, but to hear that she drugged them, and had been for nearing a decade now? The crying quickly turned to panic, Marie moving to sit next to them and pull them in a tight hug, whispering reassurances in their ear. Stein sat on the other side, not too good with emotions and comfort but learning from his quite emotional family, resting a hand on Chrona's knee and squeezing slightly.
You could still be
What you want to
What you said you were
When I met you
When you met me
When I met you
And so the trio sat like that, late into the night. The adults wondered how to fix this, how to get the snake out and help their practically-adopted child overcome the withdrawal and scared that Ragnarok could make the symptoms worse, yet hopeful that he could also make them better. Meanwhile, the teen between them just cried until they couldn't anymore, wondering how much they had been controlled by the drug without even realizing, thinking to the other "medicine" Lady Medusa used to make them take and how, sometimes if they used it for a few days straight, how they had a horrible headache and threw up sometimes.
They'd make it, they all knew they would, but this was a difficult and delicate process. For now, Chrona needed the feelings of comfort and safety, which the older two gladly gave them.