Warnings: Sexual content, alcohol and drug abuse, language, violence
…
A door opened to a small semi-clean one-bedroom apartment and a purple haired man stumbled inside dropping an empty liquor bottle. The purple haired man slammed his door shut and collapsed on the nearby light brown couch.
He stared up at the ceiling, considering writing to his jailed brother to tell him just how he felt at this year anniversary of Hell on Earth. But the thought left him as suddenly as it had come, he knew just how his brother loved seeing him or hearing about him in pain. Which is exactly why he's like this today.
Why must I suffer while everyone else can go on with today as if a year ago she wasn't killed? He asked himself as tears began to stain his cheeks. Why? Why am I not allowed to be happy?
"Chrno?" A blonde haired woman opened the door to his apartment and kicked the empty liquor bottle as she walked in. She looked down and sighed as she saw the bottle. "Again?"
Chrno turned on his side and looked at his friend. "I'm sorry, Rosette. I know you don't like me drinking, but…just for today, can you let me off?" (A/N: Chrno can hold his liquor pretty damn well.)
Rosette sighed again and shut the door, leaning against it with one of her Converse clad feet against the door. "I know what today is, and I understand that you're in pain, but that's no excuse."
He sat up on his couch and unbuttoned his white collared shirt. He didn't have an A/C, he'd forgotten to pay the bill, and so it was constantly eighty degrees. "Rosette, how would you—"
"How would I feel?" She finished the question for him. This conversation was becoming so normal now that she could guess the next words to be said. "I know I would feel like shit, but I wouldn't drink my pain away every day."
"You're lucky you'll never have to deal with the loss either."
"I'm 'lucky'?!" She stomped over to him, her baggy cargo pants made a whooshing sound as she did so. "I'm lucky that Joshua – my younger brother – is in rehab because he got addicted to crack?! I'm lucky just because I didn't have to witness the person I love get killed and my brother get dragged off to prison?! My situation is no better than your own, Chrno, but I manage!"
…
Last years wishes are this years apologies
Every last time I come home.
I take my last chance, to burn a bridge or two
…
Chrno rubbed his temples and sighed deeply. "I'm sorry."
Rosette took a deep breath and smiled small at him. "It's alright. I really should be the one apologizing though." She sat down next to him on the couch and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders. "I shouldn't have yelled, but it's been a year since Magdalena died. I guess since me and you are so close, I just…" She rested her head on his shoulder. "First Magdalena dies, then Aion gets arrested for it, and then Joshua gets shipped off to rehab because he got so addicted to crack that it was killing him. I guess I just don't wanna see you go away too."
He smiled a bit. "Yeah, I understand that. We still have Stella and Az though, so we still have at least a little bit of our group left."
She chuckled. "Ever since High School ended, we've all had our own experiences. Of course, Az is still there."
"It's her last year though, she's going to College…unlike the rest of us."
"Yeah…"
…
I only keep myself this sick in the head,
'Cause I know how the words get you
We're the new face of failure,
Prettier and younger but not any better off
…
"Chrno."
"Hmm?"
Rosette turned his head towards her and kissed him full on the lips. After a moment the shock settled in and Chrno kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. His tongue flicked her bottom lip and she opened it to allow his access.
He pushed her onto her back on his couch and removed her white tank top while he slipped out of his own shirt. He slid he hands over her breasts, giving them a light squeeze before continuing down the rest of her body and unbuttoning her pants. She helped him remove her pants, and his own, while never breaking away from his kisses.
Rosette wrapped her arms around his neck, preventing him from escaping from her long enough to look at her face. Last time they were having sex and he got a good look at her face, he realized she wasn't who he thought she was and immediately stopped. It wasn't that Rosette enjoyed deceiving Chrno, but she's always loved him. Even when he and Magdalena were together, she wanted him. Now, being able to have him all to herself – regardless of the circumstance – was exactly what she wanted. She really didn't even care that it wasn't her name he called – though she couldn't deny a sense of loneliness each time he did – she just loved feeling him inside her.
"Chrno…!" Rosette breathed as she felt him come.
"Magdalena!" Chrno called into the dim light of his apartment.
By this time, Rosette's arms had grown weak and her grip on his neck had loosened so much that her arms dropped down next to where his hands were bracing himself as he thrust into her. Chrno lifted up the upper part of his body and looked at her face, expecting to see the one of his dead beloved. Instead, he saw the face of his closest friend.
Immediately, he pulled out of her and leapt off of the couch. He just looked at Rosette in shock, he remembered the same thing happening once before but he had told himself it was a bad dream. He had told himself that he would never have sex with Rosette, not with the girl who's been there for him since they were small children.
…
Bulletproof loneliness,
At best, at best
…
"Chrno?" Rosette sat up and looked at him. "Is there something wrong?"
He sank to his knees and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, Rosette, I'm so sorry."
"About what?"
"I told myself that the one time was it. I promised myself I wouldn't force myself on you like that again."
She smiled small and walked over to him. She knelt down in front of him and kissed him on the forehead. "You didn't force yourself on me. Really, I initiated it. I…" She raised his face up so that she could look him in the eyes. "I love you, Chrno, I always have."
…
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
…
Chrno shook his head and stood up. He walked back over the couch and slipped back into his blue jeans. He didn't even look back at her as he walked into his kitchen saying, "You better leave. I'll talk with you tomorrow."
Rosette bit her bottom lip, holding back her tears and her complaints as she quickly dressed and left. She ran all the way back to the apartment she lived in just three blocks away from him. As soon as she closed the door to her apartment, she stopped biting her lip – bleeding at this point – and sank to the floor, crying.
She had told Chrno what she'd always wanted to say…and he just told her to leave. It wasn't like she could control her feelings. If she could, then she probably would've fell in love with someone that wasn't so unstable. Once minute, he's fucking her, then the next, he's telling her to leave because she said that she loved him.
What kind of bullshit is he trying to pull?! So he felt bad for us having sex again because he thought he forced himself on me, understandable. She wiped her face off and stood up, walking over to her bathroom. But telling me to leave simply because I said "I love you" to him… Why doesn't he love me?!
Rosette opened the medicine cabinet over her bathroom sink and pulled out a small cup with a lid on top. She opened the cup and pulled out a needle loaded with cocaine. She rested her left arm on the counter and used her right hand to put the needle into the crook of her arm and pushed down the top of it, sending the drugs into her veins.
She chuckled solemnly as she said, "Like brother, like sister."
Rosette threw away the used needle and looked inside the cup to make sure there were enough to sustain her throughout the rest of the week before covering it and putting it back into the cabinet. She walked into the living room and plopped down on her couch as she coughed so heavily that blood began to come up.
"Damn." She sighed as she grabbed a Kleenex to wipe off her hand and mouth. She tossed it into the wastebasket next to the couch when she was sure it was all gone. "I'm lucky Chrno hasn't seen this."
…
Collect the bad habits
That you couldn't bear to keep
Out of the woods, but I love
A tree I used to lay beneath
Kiss teeth stained red
…
Rosette grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. The first thing she saw was a news report about more killings caused by drug addicts who couldn't get the drugs they wanted. She sighed and looked at the ground just below the TV, praying that she didn't end up that bad. She knew that Joshua had almost gotten that bad and ended up going to court. He was only in rehab because it had been court ordered. (Of course, the story to their friends was that the drugs had been slowly killing him and he wanted to get better.)
"Rose~ette!" The door to her apartment opened and a tall red haired woman holding a small baby walking in singing Rosette's name, as always.
She laughed at her friend's entry. "Hey Stella."
Stella closed the door behind her and carefully sat down on the couch with her baby. "I'm glad I caught you here and not over at Chrno's again."
"Why?"
"This environment's so much more healthy for little Josh." Stella cuddled up against the baby's face, causing him to giggle hysterically.
Rosette chuckled a bit while thinking to herself: An environment with a druggie is better than one with an alcoholic? Well, then again, she doesn't know.
"I've always wondered why you named him Josh." Rosette said, smiling at the baby.
"After your brother, Joshua, of course." Stella leaned back against the back of the couch. "I suppose one of our gone friends needed to be remembered one way or another."
"Yeah…"
The two friends sat in silence for the longest time, the only sound was the news on the TV. At least, that was all until Josh started whining for attention. Then Rosette and Stella started laughing and playing with the baby.
…
From a sour bottle baby girl
With eyes the size of baby worlds
We're the new face of failure,
Pretty and younger but not any better off
…
For three or four hours, they were like that, just playing with Josh until he drifted off to sleep. After that, they were left sitting on the floor talking.
"How old is Josh, anyway?" Rosette asked, still smiling at the sleeping baby.
Stella sighed and rolled up the sleeves of her low cut tight black shirt. "Five months tomorrow."
"Wow."
"Yeah, I wish he'd grow up a bit faster. I don't know how long I'll be able to provide for him as a baby."
"I'd give you a loan, but I don't have enough money for myself as it is." Which was a lie, she had plenty stored away, but it was exclusively for her drugs.
"It's alright." Stella stretched out her arms over her head. "I just wish his father wouldn't have left. I really do need help."
…
Bulletproof loneliness,
At best, at best
…
"Yeah. Do you even remember the guy's name?" Rosette asked as her friend stood up with Josh.
"Of course I do." Stella looked out the back window that led to a small porch. "But I'll be damned if I ever say it again, unless there's a hearing in which his lazy ass ends up in jail."
Rosette chuckled twice and stood up. "It was good seeing you again, Stella."
Stella smiled. "It was good to see you too, Rosette." She stopped on her way to the door and turned around. "Have you heard from Joshua lately?"
"Yes."
"How's he doing?"
"He says they say he's doing well. He also says that Floret took a new name while working there."
Stella chuckled. "What is it? She still calls herself Floret around me, when she visits."
"Fiore."
"Hmm… Next time she calls, I'll ask her about it." She opened the door and walked out. "See ya, Rosette."
"See ya, Stella." Rosette managed to get in before the door closed.
She turned and plopped back down on her couch. She kept her eyes glued to the TV as the World News came on, but she wasn't really watching it. Instead, she was thinking about Chrno again. She loved him, that much both of them knew, and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, that much he might never know.
…
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon (Honeymoon)
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
…
Rosette sighed heavily and stood up with a stomp. "That's it! I can't sit around here all day feeling sorry for myself! I'm gonna go talk with Chrno right now!" With that, she stomped out of her apartment, heading back towards Chrno's.
Unfortunately, if she had stayed a bit longer, she might've heard Chrno's message on her answering machine and stayed home while he came to her:
Beep…
"Rosette, this is Chrno. Please let me know that you're just ignoring my call, and not out somewhere. I called Stella on her cell phone and she said that she just left your place. She's already home, so don't worry about her when I tell you this. Aion managed to break out of prison and he's heading here. I'm gonna head over to your apartment to protect you if need be. I don't know what he'll try, and that's what scares me. He knows how close we are, and he'll go after you now that he's out. God, Rosette, please just be ignoring me!"
Beep…
But she was already out and halfway back to his apartment by the time Chrno finished the message and left.
Chrno ran down the street as fast as his legs would carry him, somehow running faster when he heard Rosette's screams. No!
Rosette screamed as she was thrown face first against the side of a popular convenience store. She dropped to the concrete ground, stained it with her blood because her nose had broke. She was picked up by the back of her neck and thrown against the paved road face first again. Her left arm was already broken and she had been stabbed in the stomach. She was definitely going to die.
"Are you really all bark and no bite?" A white haired man asked as he knelt down beside her, picking her up by the front of her tank top. "After all that talk I remember, you really can't fight back."
"A-Aion…" Rosette managed to get out through the blood pouring from her mouth. "W-Why are you…d-doing this?"
"It's been so long since I've seen my younger brother in pain, so that's overdue. I figured that today would be the best day too." He laughed almost in joy as he threw her back against the wall of the convenience store.
Chrno ran up to Aion and punched him square in the jaw, sending him flying. "Son-of-a-bitch! Stay away from her!"
After recovering from the shock of actually being hit, Aion stood up quickly and stared at his younger brother with a small smile playing his face. "Chrno. Long time, no see. How've you been?"
Chrno simply growled and punched Aion in the jaw again. "I told you last year to stay the fuck away from us!"
"Why would I do that?" He wiped off his chin where a little blood had gathered. "Why should I do that? The girl over there is no bite anyway. She needs to die for her lies."
"What're you—"
"C-Chrno…" Rosette crawled over to him and clutched on to his ankle. "H-Help me."
"Rosette!" Chrno knelt down and gathered her into his arms. "Rosette, I'm here."
"Chrno…" She reached up with the hand she'd been coughing her blood into and rested it on his cheek. "I-I love you."
"Rosette," he grabbed her hand and held it against his cheek, "I love you too. I'm sorry for earlier, I really am."
She smiled and took one last labored breath and went limp as her heart stopped beating. Her right hand slipped from between Chrno's hand and his cheek and fell to the pavement beside her body.
"Rosette?" He shook her body a little bit, as if to wake her from sleep. "Rosette?!" He shook her more, praying that it would work. "ROSETTE!!!"
"Oh no, whatever shall you do?" Aion asked sarcastically with an added laugh. "Get over it, brother, life in that form needs to be extinguished anyway."
"You." Chrno set down Rosette's body and stood up, not caring that her blood stained his clothes. "You bastard!" He ran at Aion with the pocketknife he got off Rosette's body. "Go to hell!"
Chrno stabbed Aion in his stomach and twisted the knife, causing him to yell in pain. Chrno quickly pulled the knife out of his brother's stomach and stabbed him right in the heart. Aion fell back, still alive, but slowly dying.
As Aion lay there dying, Chrno stomped on the knife, sending it further into Aion's heart, causing blood to spurt from him and onto Chrno. Chrno then pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911.
"…I need an ambulance here, right away! There's a girl here that was killed by an escaped convict! …He's dead too." Chrno waited as the operator started asking him if they killed each other. "No. I killed the convict. …Yes, I understand. Send everyone if you want."
Chrno shut his cell phone and dropped down to his knees by Rosette's body. He leaned over her and started crying, asking why this had to happen again. "Why can't I protect the people I care about?!?!"
He sat there for fifteen minutes, crying over her body, until the police came and dragged him away to be questioned.
3 months later…
Chrno kicked open the door to his apartment and dropped an empty whiskey bottle in a pile of others.
Three months ago, he'd gone to trial for killing both Aion and Rosette. Though he'd been found guilty of killing Aion, he was found completely innocent of Rosette's death. The judge, having seen him only the year before to testify against Aion for killing Magdalena, let him go with five years probation. It wasn't like he was obeying his probation rules at all to begin with, and his probation officer took bribes easily, so he was in the clear for a while.
Chrno fell down heavily on his dirty dark brown couch and stared at the ceiling. Stella told me not to beat myself up over Rosette's death. That it was all because of fate. If that's true, then I damn fate!
He began to breathe heavily and decided to lie down. He turned and lay down on the couch with one leg off of it and resting on the floor. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes one last time, thinking of Rosette.
…
The best way to make it through,
with hearts and wrists intact.
Is to realize two out of three ain't bad
Ain't bad
…
When he opened his eyes again, he heard two familiar voices talking over him. He looked on both sides of him and found Magdalena and Rosette smiling down at him. He tried asking them where he was, but Rosette stopped him.
"Don't worry about where you are." Rosette said with a small smile.
"Exactly," Magdalena also said with a smile, "but it's not your time to come here yet. And we don't wanna see you for a while!"
"Yep! So we'll send you back to Earth this once if you promise to stop drinking so much."
"Yeah, that's all you have to do."
Chrno shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know you don't think it's my time, but I can't survive there without the two of you." He wrapped his arms around their waists, rumpling their pure white dresses. "I love you both."
"Chrno…" Rosette smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you too, which is why I can't stand to see you here now."
Magdalena smiled but pushed away from Chrno. "I understand, Chrno." She turned and walked away. "You can stay here with Rosette. I realize you love her more than you ever loved me."
"Magdalena!" Chrno yelled for her to stop so he could explain, but she was already lost in a fog.
Rosette let go of him and sat down next to him. "You're going to stay here, then?"
Chrno looked at Rosette and smiled. "Yeah, I'm staying with you. I'm not gonna lose you again."
She rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad."
He wrapped one arm around her shoulders and rested his head on top of hers.
…
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
Me and you (Honeymoon)
Setting in a honeymoon (a honeymoon)
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon (Honeymoon)
(If I woke up next to you, if I woke up next to you)
Me and you, setting in a honeymoon (Honeymoon)
(If I woke up next to you)
(Honeymoon)
…