Pandemonium

Chrono Crusade/Transformers crossover

Chrono sat in his chair, chin resting on his fist, amber eyes distant and unfocused. There was a giggle, the soft pad of bare feet across the decking behind him, and then small, slim hands covered his eyes. "Guess who," the owner of the hands chirped sing-song.

"Rosette..." He chuckled, ears flicking back a little, "I know it's you. No matter how many times you try, my answer isn't going to change." He captured her wrists and lowered her hands so that he could turn and look at her. He gave her a slightly lopsided smile, "You silly goose."

Rosette pouted, "You're supposed to indulge me."

He laughed and placed a kiss against one of her palms, "But I already do."

The pout faded for a moment before reasserting itself. "No you don't," she challenged, "Not enough."

"More?" Chrono asked, amused, easily catching the smile that was hidden behind the pout. "Demanding little thing," he teased, gently drawing her around the chair so that she stood in front of him before releasing her. He thought it was funny that even like this, with him sitting down, he was still taller than her when she was standing.

Rosette's hands landed on her hips and she leaned forward, "Don't call me little!"

"But you are," Chrono protested with a smile.

"No, I'm not," she growled, poking a finger at his chest with each word for emphasis.

"Yes you a-," he began to say when an alert blared and they both instantly snapped apart, all bantering forgotten. Rosette dashed toward a console, unheeding of her bare feet while Chrono kicked a lever and spun his chair about, sliding slightly to the side. He leaned over a display fingers flashing through many screens before he called out, "Bearing 050, minus 299, minus 025! Contact unknown!"

Rosette growled as the console finally opened up and practically swallowed her. A large hood coming to rest over her head as the chair rose up into the air slightly, and swiveled in the direction Chrono had named, "I see them! ...But what the hell are they?" There was a faint grinding resonated within the ship as it struggled to obey Rosette's commands to bring weapons to bear, "Chrono, please, please tell me that the cloak is working now?"

Chrono checked the progress of the repair and flinched, "Still a no go on that."

"Dammit!" she cursed, "Why did we have to get stranded all the way out here?" If there was a whine in her voice they both ignored it.

They couldn't run, they couldn't hide, they couldn't shoot. They were sitting ducks.

What they weren't expecting was a strange electronic tone to come over the comm, followed by something that sounded strangely like, "Ba weep, gra na weep, ni ni bong."

"Eh?" Chrono stared at the speaker nearest him.

"Chronoooo," Rosette drawled, "What the hell was that?"

"Umm..." he said, baffled, "I think they're trying to talk to us?"

Rosette's weapons console disengaged slightly and she stared at him, "What?"

No one ever wanted to "talk" to them, so really, talking was good. They actually could do that. Or at least try to. Though Chrono had no idea what whatever it was that had been said to them meant. It was better than "Shoot first, as questions never." Chrono flipped the inter-ship comm on and tentatively spoke, "Hello?"

More of those electronic sounds, strange rumblings, chirrs, chirps, and whirrs, and then Chrono's own voice was parroted back at him, "Hello?"

He shared a glance with Rosette before he tried carefully tried a Pandemonium greeting, "Rrawk, shayaï¾—"

He didn't get any further before the voice on the other side blared out in angry Pandemonium, "Devils!" Oh, Chrono flinched, so they did know Pandemonium... Great.

"Plague upon worlds!" the strangely metallic sounding voice growled.

"No!" Chrono pleaded, "We're not with Pandemonium!"

"Devils? Not with the organic Destroyer?" the voice sounded rather skeptical, "Don't make me laugh."

"Just one-," Chrono tried to say.

"Liar," the voice retorted, "Our sensors read two life forms on your ship."

There were more of the sounds that Chrono had realized was probably their language and Rosette made a choking sound and began muttering a fast chorus of "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..." as their own sensors read a powerful weapon arming.

"The other one's a human!" he shouted, claws digging into the console, knuckles turning white, "No matter what my kind have done, she is innocent!"

There was a strangely muted sounding speech on the other side of the comm and a long silence before the entity on the other side growled, "Surrender and prepare for boarding, Devil."

"We surrender," Chrono said without hesitation, "Our ship is just so damaged... I don't know how you'd make it in here..."

"Hah!" the other being gave a shrilly metallic whistle of laughter, "As if we'd be able to come on board. You will be coming aboard our ship."

"Um... Chrono?" Rosette said in a small voice, "Are they going to kill us or not? Because they are getting closer and there is no way we are going to be able to beat them." In a rather faint sounding voice she added, "They're massive."

"I think they're going to bring us into their ship somehow," Chrono told her, wishing yet again that she knew Pandemonium. It would make things much easier for the both of them. He counted himself lucky that she could work the relatively simple weapons systems. Or at least not blow the both of them up trying to use them.

"Was that the 'human'?" the other demanded.

"Yes," Chrono said, "Her name is Rosette Christopher. She is a member of an organization that protects her people from devils."

"And she hasn't killed you? A shame," the other drawled. There was a faint rumble over the comm and the other spoke again, "Prepare for boarding, Devil."

The ship was directly on top of them, and as Rosette had said... it was a positively gargantuan creation of metal that dwarfed them many, many, many times over. Strange clunks shot through the ship and with a jolt, they were being drawn directly into the belly of the ship, as if they were being swallowed whole.

"Oh... Dear... God," Rosette prayed, "Please let them be friendly."

Chrono grimaced. He didn't know who it was that Pandemonium had pissed off in these beings, but at least they seemed to not want to harm someone who was innocent of Pandemonium's horrors. "I don't think they'll hurt you, Rosette," he tried to reassure her. He was a completely different matter entirely.

She gave him a look. "But what about you?"

Chrono looked away. If it would save Rosette, he didn't care if they tossed him in whatever passed for their brig. Or even killed him. To him, Rosette was more infinitely more important than he was or ever would be.

Another jolt sent the both of them sprawling to the deck and Rosette let out a cry of pain. Chrono dragged himself up and staggered as the ship moved again before coming to a stop. "Rosette?"

"Ouchies," Rosette hissed, curling around her arm.

Chrono knelt by her side, carefully propping her up, "Rosette?"

"I'm okay," she said through gritted teeth as she leaned against his shoulder, though the tears that she was blinking away said otherwise, as did the way she continued to protectively hold her hurt arm. "I'm fine," she said breathily.

Chrono coaxed her hand away from her arm and winced seeing the awkward angle it lay in, "No, you're not, little one."

Rosette's eyes slit dangerously, "Don't. Call. Me. That."

Chrono sighed, gingerly picking her up. He much preferred her spitting fire than in pain, and he was as good an outlet as any at the moment. "Good luck making me stop, Rosette," he murmured into her hair. She would always be his little one, so he wasn't going to stop, not even when she died.

Humans' lives were so painfully short.

Ignoring her broken arm, she punched him with her good one.