Mantle
Over the ground lies a mantle of white
A heaven of diamonds shines down through the night
Two hearts are thrillin' in spite of
The chill in the weather
—Winter Wonderland
"Hey, hey! Everyone look outside!"
"Hn?" Rosette, caught in mid-bite, stopped and cracked an eye open as a large section of nuns and acolytes in the lunchroom launched themselves at the nearest window. "Oh, is it that time of the year already?"
At the blonde's elbow, Asumaria looked around in confusion and a small bit of worry. "What is it, Rosette-san? What's going on?" Seated on Rosette's other side, Chrno also stared at the crowd with a blank expression as the crowd of girls began to squeal, giggle, and chatter excitedly. Rosette smiled and waved her free hand to dismiss the younger girl's fears.
"Nothing to worry about, Asumaria-chan; usually everyone gets excited. It's the first snow of the year, after all."
"Really?!" Demon and partner shared a bemused look as Asumaria's face lit up, her eyes going wide as a breathless five-year-old's. In short order the silver-haired girl had jumped up to join the crowds at the windows, exclaiming at the size of the chunky white flakes.
"I feel unloved," Rosette chuckled, finally taking her bite of stew. Beside her, Chrno smiled, his red eyes sparkling with happiness and good humour. Rosette noticed that they looked almost festive.
All he needs is a spring of holly tucked behind one ear. Snickering to herself at that thought, she set to her meal in earnest, content with leaving Asumaria to her excitement with the snowfall. Chrno was almost unusually silent, but she didn't blame him. Of all the Catholic holidays that were celebrated at the convent, the demon enjoyed Christmas the most, and (according to the younger nuns and acolytes) the first snow of the year always signified the official start of the holiday season. Soon the rooms and hallways would be decorated with greens and ribbons and ornaments, smiles and good cheer, and Chrno preferred to just sit back and absorb the joyful atmosphere. It was almost as if he were afraid of disrupting it with his demonic presence, or something like that. Rosette frowned at the thought, making a mental note to take care of that this season. Life was too short for Chrno to be sulking about during the holidays.
"Hey." Cheeks stuffed with bread, Rosette looked up in surprise at Chrno's voice. He looked at her in amusement and changed whatever he was going to say to, "You look like a chipmunk."
-THONK- "Ow!" Her friend rubbed his head and shot her a look. Rosette just stuck her tongue out at him, and Chrno let it go with a sigh. He was in too good a mood to get in an honest argument just now. "Sorry. I meant to ask if you remembered three years back, when we first came here."
That startled a pleasant laugh out of Rosette. Chrno smiled again at the sound. "Oh, I remember that! You didn't know what snow was!"
"Hey, you were pretty round-eyed yourself."
"So what, it never snowed like that in Michigan. But at least I knew what snow was."
"I did too!"
"Then why were you trying to keep me indoors like it was some kind of acid, huh?" Rosette's eyes glinted with triumph as Chrno blushed, unable to come up with a rebuke.
"It doesn't snow in Pandemonium. Besides, I spent most of my time on earth in the south," he muttered in his defense, but the blonde whirlwind had already returned to cramming her lunch. The moment the last bite disappeared down her throat, she jumped up and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him towards the door with an excited "Come on!"
"H-hey! Wait!" Surprised and a bit stunned, Chrno could only let himself be dragged along behind her. "Where are we going?"
"Outside, of course!"
"What about your shift? And Asumaria?"
"Lunch break isn't over for another fifteen minutes; we have plenty of time. And Asumaria will be fine with the others. Hurry up and walk already!" She let go of his arm and broke into a short sprint for the front doors, forcing him to run to keep up with her.
"Rosette!" Panting, the shorter boy almost plowed into her back as Rosette came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the stairs to the front courtyard. She was grinning up at the sky and wasn't even slightly winded, arms raised to the gray skies. Where on earth does she get her energy from?!
Catching his breath, Chrno finally straightened up and looked around. The snow was falling pretty hard, and in clumps; the ground was covered already. A number of acolytes had abandoned their lunches for the white wonderland, trying to force it into snowballs and a few crumbling snowmen with moderate success. Outside the gates of the convent, the sounds of traffic were muffled to a quiet hush by the drifting flakes, and it was like the area was held in a gray and white spell. Rosette spun around once and laughed.
Chrno closed his eyes and inhaled, enjoying the bite of the cold air as it entered his lungs. He loved this time of year. Rosette hadn't been kidding—he really hadn't seen snow before he'd come to New York with her. He'd heard of it, sure, but that was where the experience had ended. Which was why he loved it so much: first snow was symbolic of the newest stage of his life, his partnership with Rosette. It was one of the few memories he had that wasn't stained with blood, or horror, or sadness—just her.
It was so pure.
His reverie was rudely interrupted, however, as something cold and wet collided solidly with the back of his neck, trickling down the collar of his coat. He yelped and danced a little jig as he tried to get the uncomfortable substance out of his clothes and back on the ground where it belonged. When he finished he whirled around with the sulkiest glare he could manage for his assaulter.
It was completely wasted, however, as Rosette was laughing so hard she was down on her knees in the snow and couldn't see him for the laugh tears trailing down her cheeks. "You . . . you should've seen . . . the way you danced around! And your face!" was all she got out before dissolving into another fit of giggles and hiccups.
Chrno wasn't as amused, but an evil grin split his face as an idea came to him. Moving silently around behind the hysterical Rosette, he prepared himself and waited.
It took some time to get a hold of herself but Rosette finally managed it, partially out of apprehension when she realized that Chrno still had yet to retaliate. When she looked up and didn't see him standing where she'd hit him, she got a little nervous. She leapt to her feet with the intention of getting under cover—
—and collided smack with the giant load of snow that he'd been patiently holding right over her head.
The Magdalan Exorcist let out a shriek as the payload of snow broke over her hair, more than half of it sliding right down her collar. She whirled and swung a fist, but Chrno danced out of the way, laughing. Rosette rolled up her cuffs and scooped up another snowball with an evil look.
"All right, buddy, this means war!"
------
Several hours later, dripping clothes hung to dry over the cranky radiator in the hallway, Rosette and Chrno were comfortably settled in the convent's main sitting room. Sister Helen had surprised the Order by canceling all but the most vital duties early, leaving the girls time to play outside in the snow before everyone gathered together to listen to Bible readings in the evening. It was already dark outside, and the room shifted with the warm light from the fireplace and white candles placed in candelabras and sconces on the walls. Rosette was curled up on one end of the plush red couches in her shift and nightcoat, Asumaria tucked into her side and already half-asleep. Chrno sat next to the couch on the floor, legs comfortably folded under him. He seemed to be enjoying the stories, and Rosette propped her chin in her hand and let the atmosphere of security wash over her.
Next thing she knew, a hand was gently shaking her shoulder and Chrno was whispering her name. " . . . sette. Rosette."
"Hnn?" Rosette propped herself up a bit and blearily rubbed at one eye, noticing the cold absence where Asumaria had been leaning against her. "How long have I been asleep?"
A soft smile crossed the demon's face at the childlike slur in her voice. "A while. It's past midnight. I was the last one up, so Sister Helen sent me to get you to bed."
"Oh." Waking up in stages, Rosette sat up and swung her feet to the floor, shivering as her heels hung off the rug and hit the cold hardwood, clutching her nightcoat tighter around herself. The fire had died down to glowing coals and an errant flickering flame, barely brighter than the single candle left burning on the mantelpiece over the fireplace.
Chrno watched her, puzzled, as she wandered over to the fire and smiled at it dreamily, one hand stretched out towards the warmth. After a moment he went over to join her, staring into the shimmering glow of the coals.
There was a long period of comfortable silence before Rosette interrupted it, saying softly, "It's like a whole other world. Like nothing can hurt you."
He nodded silently, knowing exactly what she meant. There was a feeling of protective sanctuary that Chrno suspected he would only ever be able to find the like of which on a snowy night in a house full of friends and companions.
Rosette shifted softly as she adjusted her nightcoat again, drawing his attention back to her. No, he amended. He could find this feeling on any snowy night, as long as Rosette was with him. She was like a warm mantle over his heart, a blanket of acceptance and caring that kept him safe from himself. As he stood next to her before the fire, he could almost forget his tragic past, almost forget the circle of death they danced around a pocketwatch. They cowered at the edges of his consciousness, forced back by the cloak of her presence.
Then she reached out and took his cold hand in her warm one, and they fled entirely.
He had no idea how long they stood like that, wrapped in each other. If Sister Kate had found them up so late, she surely would have had a fit. But she didn't, and it wasn't until Rosette reached up with her free hand to stifle a yawn that Chrno reluctantly released her hand, breaking the spell.
"Come on, you should be in bed."
"So should you. Or don't demons need to sleep?" she teased gently. He just smiled and didn't answer. Rosette reached up and brushed her fingers over a small carving on the oaken mantelpiece, barely visible in the light from the guttering candle and half-dead coals. "It reminds me of you."
Chrno looked. The carving was one of many seasonal scenes cut into the wood, and depicted a couple wrapped in a winter blanket, a comforter. He smiled again but only said, "Come on. Bed time," so softly that it felt like a hug. Rosette nodded idly, more than half-asleep herself. Chrno took her hand again and led her down the corridors to her room, making sure she got herself into bed and helping to tuck her in against the cold. Just as he reached to extinguish the candle on her bedside table, Rosette stirred and mumbled sleepily, "Chrno?"
"Yeah?"
She was quiet for so long that he thought she'd fallen asleep already. Just as he pinched out the candle, however, he heard her say in barely a whisper, "Thanks."
He heard every inflection pressed into that word, and knew that she knew he heard. The warmth wrapped around him again. Smiling into the dark he breathed, "You're welcome," before brushing the bangs lightly from her sleeping forehead and stepping into the hallway and closing the door behind him.
He returned to the sitting room and the fitful remains of coals and candle, looking at the mantelpiece's carving and reaching out to touch the wooden patches of the comforter. He stood like that for some time before pinching out the candle and stirring the coals into ashes, heading down the cold hallways to the Elder's quarters. Outside the dark windows, the snow still fell in silent flurries.
He'd noticed that the blanket on her bed had been a bit threadbare, standard-issued and passed down through generations of trainees at the convent. This winter looked to be a cold one, too, and now he was certain he knew exactly what to get his partner for Christmas.
He certainly knew that she would read the underlying message in the present.
Blanket, comforter, mantle.
You are my warmth.
Love knows no season, love knows no clime
Romance can blossom any old time
Here in the open we're walking
And hoping together
—Winter Wonderland
-Fin-
A.N.: Hope y'all enjoyed. This is my first attempt at a Chrno Crusade fic, so please excuse any mistakes. ; I guess this would take place sometime during book 2, which is good, because that's the only volume that I've read. I also have no idea how much it does or doesn't snow in Michigan (I'm Canadian, eh?). Oops. Oh well. Hopefully the fluff steamrolls over any inconsistencies.
Also, please excuse any mangling of my grammar or format: it's all FFnet's stupid automatic editor's fault. I have a (hopefully) correct version up on MediaMiner, under the same user name.
Music listened to while writing: Stevie Wonder's "Apple Of My Eye".