The Anguish of The Roses
Luna Silvereyes
A/N: This was supposed to be a happy story, but then I started to think more realistically, so feel free to hate me. This is my first Chrono Crusade fanfic. Hope you like it.
Heaven. It was supposed to be a paradise, but to one newcomer in particular, it was nothing short of hell. Many of Heaven's current occupants watched her sadly, not understanding why she was unable to rest there. She spent all her days by a crystal clear lake, so clean and clear, it was surreal. Perfect white fluffy clouds drifted in the skies. The land was always green and plentiful. Heaven was Earth in the sense that peace reigned eternally and happiness was to be expected of all without challenge.
But to Rosette, there was no more existence for happiness. Not without Chrono.
Their lives had been lived for each other alone; they talked together, they lived together and eventually, they died together. Rosette, a human girl had fallen in love with a devil named Chrono, entering into a pact with him to make up for his lack of horns. Upon reaching the borderlines between Heaven, Hell and Earth, they'd been forced apart. Chrono was dragged back into Hell where his spirit was doomed to suffer while hers was taken in Heaven for eternal bliss she didn't even deserve.
Even though Heaven was supposed to be a sanctuary for long dead loved ones, it was also vast. It could take years for Rosette to actually find her dead parents and until then, she was entirely alone in this place. Her new wings did little to cheer her up and they often hung limply down her back, growing stiff from misuse. Looking through the water at the beloved people she'd left behind had become her only comfort. She watched Azmaria place flowers on her grave every single day and longed to hug the little girl again. She watched her friends as they talked solemnly, missing her, yet avoiding mention of her name. She didn't blame them. As often as they all argued, she hated to see them cry, which happened almost every time her name was said. She watched Elder up to his old tricks but with strangely less enthusiasm than before. Even though his perverted antics had driven her insane, she knew he genuinely cared about all of the sisters as his daughters. Rosette missed him too. Finally, it pained her to see Joshua, happy and carefree in Father Remington's care, but unaware he'd had a sister. He constantly wrote stories about a boy, his sister and their friend from outer space. Just watching him made Rosette's heart ache. Joshua would never mourn her loss because he didn't remember her.
As she watched all of her old life through the water, Rosette felt the tears well up again, not out of total yearning for life back on Earth, but because she couldn't see the one person she missed the most. The mere mention of Hell was forbidden in Heaven. She was forced to bear her loss and heartache for Chrono on her own.
One angel in particular noticed her pain. Every day, she came to the lake and sat with Rosette. She knitted quietly, her wings twitching every so often. Rosette had never looked up at her; she only knew she was a female angel due to the dress she wore. Occasionally, the angel would speak, but Rosette never answered.
Today, the angel glanced at Rosette and noticed the tears sliding down her face. The angel's name was Maria. She was what was known as a seraphim in Heaven, having never known life on Earth. She was one of the few angels who knew God's true form.
Maria set her knitting down and sighed.
"Your name is Rosette, is it not?" she asked. Rosette didn't reply. She just continued to stare into the water, crying silently.
"I understand that you were a human who formed a pact with one of those devils."
Rosette reached her hand up slowly as though to clasp something about her neck, but after feeling around and noticing its absence, whatever it was, she choked back a sob and buried her face in her arms. Maria sighed unhappily, reaching cautiously out to touch Rosette and then pulling away. To be truthful, she didn't know what to do. Rosette was the first human to arrive in a long time with no desire to be in Heaven. Rosette had actually been caught trying to break out through the gates, screaming the name of that devil she'd befriended.
Maria stared out over the lake, watching long extinct versions of birds flying with perfect grace through the endless, beautiful skies. "You do know that you're better off here, right? Falling in love with that devil would have only led to more pain. Why can't you be happy here?" Maria asked.
"What's it to you? You've never even been to Earth." Rosette countered bitterly. "I wasn't ready to die, yet. I still had so much I hadn't gotten to do!"
"Every human who comes here feels that way. Why are you so special?" Maria asked, not maliciously but curiously.
"Not every human who comes here died young." Rosette said quietly. Now that, Maria had to agree with. The majority of humans in Heaven hadn't died young at all. This had its good and bad points, though. Infants who died unfortunately remained as infants, cared for by elder angels. There was no such thing as age in Heaven, but there was no such thing as youth, either. There were even fewer humans who died like Rosette had; having their lives drained away by devils.
"I always wondered what came after death," Rosette said ponderously. "And now I know. I hate it. I want to go back."
"That's impossible. By now, your body has long since rotted away." Maria said.
"If you're trying to cheer me up, you're doing a god-damned lousy job." Rosette snapped.
"Watch your mouth!" Maria shouted. "How dare you take the Lord's name in vain, you impudent child!?"
"If he cared about what I did, why doesn't he just send me down to Hell?" Rosette yelled, turning to face Maria for the first time. Maria looked nothing like an angel was supposed to look. With short black hair and thin, elongated face, she looked like an underpaid and stressed out school teacher.
"Do you mean that? You want to go to Hell? Maria asked in bewilderment.
"Yes. I'd rather be in Hell than this place. To me, without Chrono, this place is Hell!"
"All humans are separated from loved ones at time of death," Maria said. "You are by no means special in that effect."
"No, I'm not. The difference is that I'll never see the one I love ever again! He's in Hell because he was born a devil and can't leave! I'm here because I was born a human and can't leave! If God didn't want humans to fall in love with devils, why didn't he step in? Explain that, Maria!"
"Have you lost all faith in God?" Maria asked quietly.
"Just about, yes. I served Him loyally when I was alive. Now I'd give anything to be in Hell, away from this place."
Rosette turned back to the lake and sighed. After a few minutes, she looked away.
"I'm sorry, Maria." she muttered. "I'm taking my anger out on you and God and that isn't right. I just miss him so much, it hurts to open my eyes and see a world without him. I don't even have the watch anymore to remind me of him. All I can think is how much he's suffering down there."
Maria watched sadly as Rosette began to cry again. To be honest, Maria felt slight envy. Many humans talked about the true love they'd found on Earth. Humans who reunited in Heaven emitted such joy and warmth that the whole of Heaven felt it. Maria and her fellow true angels would never know what that felt like. They had never been born to love anything or anyone but God, their creator. But here was a girl who had experienced true love with one of God's lesser creations, a devil. Devils had been born to hate and destroy, yet every so often, a devil was born with the capacity for love and compassion. He was often killed for it. A devil that had been killed or died naturally went to another realm of Hell, away from the existing devils. The souls of the deceased devils wandered in eternal agony until the end of time. Maria had no doubt that Chrono, gentle and kind as he might have been, had joined that group of outcast devils. But to tell Rosette that would surely render the girl's spirit to pieces. Only God knew what became of spirit broken in Heaven. It was a concept that made Maria shudder.
"Rosette, you must try to forget about Chrono," Maria advised gently. "You are here for all eternity. To hold onto him would surely break your spirit."
"So what?" Rosette snapped.
"I don't know what happens to spirits broken within the confines of Heaven. No one knows. All I do know is that you are the first human in a long time who felt such a strong dislike for Heaven. Others like you vanished and have not been seen, since."
"Really? They vanish?" Rosette said with true curiosity in her voice. But there was something about that curiosity that frightened Maria.
"Yes," she said reluctantly. "Only God knows what becomes of them."
Rosette stared out over the lake. "Does the same apply to devils as well?" she asked.
"Uh...n...no, it doesn't." Maria said. "They are confined to an inner realm of Hell to suffer for eternity."
"What!?" Rosette screamed, whirled to face Maria. Maria instantly knew she'd said the wrong thing. "Chrono is there? Why? He's done nothing wrong! He shouldn't even be in Hell in the first place!"
"Quiet! Listen to yourself, you're taking pity on a devil!"
"I'm not taking pity on him, I love him!" Rosette shrieked desperately. She turned and took off toward the gates. "I'm not putting up with this any longer! I'd rather be in Hell and suffer with Chrono than be in Heaven and suffer without him!"
At the sound of her approach, the gatekeeper turned in alarm.
"Oh no, not you again!" he said.
"Let me through!" Rosette demanded, stopping in front of the gates. Several angels had begun to gather around.
"I can't do that! You've been accepted into Heaven, but you cannot leave!" the gatekeeper barked. By now, Maria had caught up with them and watched helplessly as Rosette grew more and more determined.
"If you don't let me through, I'll fly over these gates!" she declared, spreading her wings. They cracked furiously from lack of use.
"It won't do any good," the gatekeeper warned, "There's a powerful spiritual barrier designed to protect Heaven from devils. But it also keeps us inside to protect us from the outside worlds."
"I don't care! I'm going to Hell! It can't be any worse than this place."
With that, Rosette spread her wings, flapping just once to get airborne. Nobody made a move to stop her. She was breaking Heaven's greatest rule of attempting to leave.
"Stop! Rosette!" Maria cried as Rosette reached the barrier. There was furious crackle of static as she smashed into it. She screamed as the barrier resisted her assault, pushing her back the way she came.
"No, stop!" the gatekeeper cried desperately, "No one has ever breached that barrier before! I don't know what will happen if you make it!"
But Rosette paid him no mind. She beat her wings harder and harder, scattering feathers as she slowly felt herself moving forward, through the shield.
"Almost...there! Just a little...farther!" she grunted as she used all of her remaining strength to shatter the rest of the barrier. The angels below expected to see her reach the other side, coming to a rest on the ground outside the gates. But as soon as she breached the barrier, she screamed suddenly and started to fall straight down slowly. Her eyes were glazed in pain, her wings bent at abnormal angles. She moaned in pain as she began to sink back down. The gatekeeper shook his head in sadness and disbelief.
"No," he whispered, "It was too much for her."
Rosette had become fully transparent and fading from their eyes quickly. She downcast her face toward the realm of Hell where her beloved suffered eternally.
"Chrono...Chro...no...." she whispered.
Finally, there was a tiny burst of light and she was gone. Vanished into thin air. Her determination to see Chrono, despite Heaven's regulations, had driven her hard enough to break through the barrier until only the tip of her foot remained in Heaven. But the strain of pulling that one limb through had just been one too much for Rosette. Her spirit had broken in neither Heaven, nor Hell, but the twilight rift in between. The angels, including Maria, watched in horror and disbelief, but none of them could guess as to what would happen to Rosette now. Everyone fell silent. This stillness was broken only by an anguished scream coming from somewhere beyond the gates, reverberating into the skies and slowly dying out, its only traces the echoes it left behind to haunt those who heard it.
A/N: I'm sorry, it's sad. Please don't hate me. ^_^