Darkest Night

AN: Sorry for the weird style. I wrote this on my iPod and it make the format all weird. I don't know how to fix it so you'll just have to deal with it I'm almost finished with chapter three. I'll hopefully be able to post chapter 2 after I post this.

Disclaimer: Hikari does not own or claim to own any of the Chrono Crusade characters.

A small demon sat down on his bed in his room in the Elders work
house. Placing a towel under his long purple hair to soak up the water
that dripped off of his waist long hair as he combed it. The boy began
to brush his long hair. The moon light filtered through his window. It
was late at night. He was probably the only one up in the Magdalene
Order, a convent that trained it's nuns to exorcise demons and devils.
The boy himself was a high ranking demon. He was allowed to live in
the Order since he held a contract with Rosette Christopher. He
finished combing his hair. He'd have to wait until the morning for
Rosette to braid his hair. He tensed when someone knocked softly on
his door. He put the brush down and crept as silent as a cat to the
door. The doors rusty hinges creaked as he pried the door open.

"Rosette, what are you doing here so late?" he asked concerned.

"I had a nightmare!" she murmured. Crystal tears brimmed in her azure
eyes.

"Want to talk about it!" the demon asked.

"Would you mind, Chrono?" she asked. This worried Chrono. Rosette was
never this polite. She was always trying to be in command. She
demanded things to be done and she always ran forward. Her dream must
have bothered her. He took her over and sat down on his bed. Rosette
sat behind him and grabbed his yellow ribbon from the table nearby and
began separating his silky hair into three sections. Her hands moved
in their familiar pattern as she plated his hair into a long braid.

"I dreamed about Seventh Bell" she whispered quietly. Chrono closed
his eyes sadly. The poor girl had suffered so much and it was his
fault. He wanted to comfort her but he knew all to well that she would
smack him.

"I dreamed that Joshua was taken away again. Except this time it
wasn't Aion who took him." she said. I heard her pause and take a
shaky breath. "It was you"

"Me?" I asked.

"Uh-huh" Rosette said. "You were so scary looking. You were in your
demon form and you were laughing at Joshua and I"

"Laughing?" Chrono asked.

"Yeah. Joshua and I screamed for each other and you were smiling and
laughing at us. You said 'Give me back what's mine or I'll kill what's
yours' I think you meant about your horns or something. I don't know!" Rosette said.

"Rosette!" Chrono said. He didn't know what to do to comfort her.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late at night. I just wanted to see you so
I knew it wasn't real!" Rosette said.

"You can come see me anytime. I'm here for you" Chrono said. Rosette
tied off his braid. Chrono turned around to face her.

"Thanks Chrono." Rosette said.

"Rosette?" Chrono asked.

"Yes" she said.

"Do you regret our contract?" he asked. His crimson gaze looked at
hers with nothing but seriousness.

"No. Of coarse not" Rosette said.

"Not even just a little?" Chrono asked. Rosette shook her head. "I
mean everything that happened with Joshua is my fault. I chose to join
Aion. Because of that, Aion has Pandemonium's head, Magdalene is dead,
Joshua is missing and you probably won't live to be-"

"Chrono stop!" Rosette yelled interrupting him. Chrono looked up at
her sadly. "I don't regret making the contract with you but sometimes
you really do annoy me"

"Rosette. Please look at things from my point of view. If I had been
smarter and stronger I could have killed Aion before he did all of
this" Chrono said.

"CHRONO! I said to stop! God, you really do get annoying when you
get like this!" Rosette shouted.

"When I get like this?" Chrono asked. His red eyes shown in hurt.

"You get all mopey and sad. I really hate you like this!" Rosette said.

"You hate me?" Chrono said. His voice was thick in hurt.

"Ugh! I can't talk about this now Chrono! I'm going back to my room!"
Rosette said standing up.

"Rosette please don't go. Just talk to me!" Chrono begged her.

"Good night Chrono!" Rosette hissed coldly as she stormed out of his
room and slammed his door. Chrono winced.

"Rosette hates me!" he said. She hadn't denied it or agreed to it so
she must really hate him. He closed his eyes. He knew he wouldn't be
able to sleep so he sat on his bed. Rosettes words echoed in his head.

The Next morning (Sorry for some reason I can't use those little dashy thingies)

Rosette woke up early which was out of character for her. She had felt
bad for yelling at Chrono when he was feeling guilty.

"Great! Now he probably thinks I hate him! Just great Rosette!" she
said to herself. She got dressed in her militia outfit and opened the
door. She recoiled in surprise with a shriek. Father Remington stood
in the doorway just about to knock in the door.

"Oh Father! I didn't know you were standing there!" she exclaimed
blushing.

"Sorry to frighten you so early in the morning Sister Rosette. Sister
Kate would like to speak with you. Don't worry, your not in trouble"
Remington said with a smile.

"Ok. I'll go get Chrono!" Rosette exclaimed.

"No need. He's already waiting" Remington said.

"Oh" Rosette said slightly disappointed. Rosette silently followed
Remington to the Head Nuns office. Rosette walked into the room.
Sister Kate and Chrono looked at her. Rosettes gaze met Chronos.
Chrono reverted his gaze away from her quickly. Regret and sadness
pinched Rosette harshly.

"Ah Sister Rosette. Good. I need you and Chrono to quickly get to
Central Park and exorcise a demon." Sister Kate said.

"Ok. I'll go get supplies from the Elder" Rosette said.

"No need. It's all here. You might to use this though!" Sister Kate
held up a strange looking cross.

"What is it?" Rosette asked.

"This is a quicker way to perform the Dive" Kate explained.

"How does it work?" Rosette asked looking at the cross was a huge hunk
of gold.

"You just touch it to them." Sister Kate said.

"Whoa. Really? That's it?" Rosette asked in amazement. Sister Kate
nodded.

"But be careful. The demons are both high classed" Sister Kate said.

"Both?" Rosette asked.

"Yes. A demon took over another demons body. You've dealt with a
similar case so hurry up!" Sister Kate said. She knew the city was in
chaos and Rosette would stop the demons and add to the damage as well.
Rosette nodded. Chrono and her raced out of the convent to they're
car. Rosette drove as quickly as she could. She narrowly missed a tree.

"Chrono, about last night..." she began.

"Not now Rosette. We'll talk after this is over" Chrono said. He was
desperately holding the car seat in a death grip. His frightened look
betrayed the hurt her words caused him. Rosette simply nodded. She
slammed the brakes sending the car in a spiral. The car came to an
abrupt stop as it collided with the side of a brick building. Rosette
and Chrono got out of the car with a grunt. Chrono grabbed the heavy
gear pack and slung it effortlessly over his shoulder.

"Lets go!" Chrono exclaimed to Rosette. She nodded determined and ran
beside Chrono into Central Park.

Screaming people ran past them. A few bodies lay on the grass. Despite
the screaming everything was quiet. Chrono shifted his weight unevenly.

"Here" he said tossing Rosette a gun filled with Gospels. Rosette
smiled in determination and ran on ahead. Chronos blood red eyes
turned silver for a fleet second. He hurried to catch up to Rosette.

"I sense remorse and uncontrollable anger" he said.

"Remorse and uncontrollable anger? That's a strange mix and I didn't
think demons felt remorse" Rosette said feeling an increase in dark
demonic power.

"Gee thanks Rosette" Chrono said. Was that all he was to her? A demon?
Could he feel remorse? Could he feel sadness or love? Were these his
contractors thoughts of him?

"Chrono! You know that's not what I meant!" Rosette said. She looked
at him.

"Rosette!" Chrono jumped at her and tackled her to the ground and
covering her head in just enough time to narrowly miss a deadly energy
ball. Chrono looked up and gasped. The demon that stode before him had
short spiky black hair. She had cat ears sticking out from her head
and a tail sprouting from her behind.

"Shader!" Chrono exclaimed. The cat like women smirked at him. Her
usually kind eyes were dilated and were as black as coal. "Shader!
Snap out of it!" Chrono shouted.

"Hello Sinner Chrono!" Shader hissed menacingly. Rosette looked in
confusion.

"Stand back Rosette. I'll handle Shader. I sense other demonic
presences in the park" he lied smoothly. "So take a gun and give me
the thing for the Dive"

Rosette nodded and took the cross out of it's special holster and
pulled out her gun.

"I'll catch up with you soon!" Chrono said. Rosette nodded and dashed
away in search of the 'demon presences'. Chrono bared his teeth.
Shader flicked her ears in amusement.

"So you've become a dog of God now? How very interesting!" Shader
said. She swished her tail.

"Who are you and what are you doing with Shader?" Chrono demanded. The
other demon laughed loudly. Chrono growled in annoyance.

"You ask a lot of questions that all have one answer!" Shader said.
"Soul eater"

"Let Shader go!" Chrono said. Shader took a few steps toward him.
Chrono backed away realizing his weapon bag was to far away.

"What's wrong? Don't you have your gun?" Shader teased. She laughed
menacingly.

"I don't need my gun! Come closer I dare you!" Chrono exclaimed. He
planted his feet firmly in the ground. Shader's ears twitched.

"My pleasure!"

Shader dashed as Chrono as fast as lightning. Chrono extended his arm
with the cross in his hand. As soon as the cross touched Shader a
white holy light blinded both the demons, causing them both to fall to
the ground.

Chrono blinked his eyes open knowing he was inside of Shader's soul. He
found The real Shader standing in solemn thought in her lab at Eden.

"Shader! Look over here!" he exclaimed. Shader didn't flinch.

"It's no use Sinner. Her soul belongs to me" a voice said. Chronos gaze turned
to another Shader who's eyes were dilated and black.

"What have you done to her?" Chrono asked.

"I did nothing. I like living in this body. She is weak. She wanted to
stick up for you and Magdalene but she was too loyal and frightened
perhaps, of Aion." the soul eater replied. A light bulb seemed to
light in Chronos head. He turned back to the remorseful Shader.

"Shader it's not too late! You can stand up against Aion!" Chrono
yelled. Shader's ear twitched to his direction. He continued. "Come
back with me! You can help create weapons with the Elder! You can help
us without fighting Aion directly!"

Shader looked at Chrono. Her eyes becoming brighter and hopeful.

"You can make up for the past fifty years if you come with me!" Chrono
said holding out his hand. Shader smiled and took it. The Dive broke
apart. The soul eater screamed as it tried to stay in Shader's body.

To quick for Chrono or even Shader to notice herself the soul eater
created a huge energy ball in it hand and extended it's hand to
Chrono. He was so close he was touching him. He released the ball with
a scream and disappeared leaving Shader panting.

Chrono flew back and screamed in agony as the energy ball hit him. He
collided to the ground after hitting a tree.

"CHRONO!" Shader screamed seeing his motionless body. Shader scampered
over to his side. Blood pooled out of a big wound in Chronos torso.
His breathing was ragged, each breath causing pain and requiring a lot
of effort. Shader gently put his head on her lap.

"Chrono, I'm so sorry!" she said. Tears brimmed her eyes.

"Its...ok...Shader. It's...not...your fault." he managed to choke
out. Blood leaked from his mouth and slide down his pale chin. His red
eyes were clouded with pain. He drew shaky shallow breaths.

"Chrono! I'm so sorry! Please don't go!" Shader begged him. Chronos
trembling hand rested on top of hers. He gave her hand a weak squeeze.
His voice got caught in his throat as blood filled his lungs.

"T...tell...Ro...Rosette...that...I...I'm s...so...sorry f...or
leaving. T...tell her t...that she m...must
c...con...continue...t...to look for...J...Joshua" he said. His red
eyes slowly became more distant.

"No! You must tell her yourself! You can't die!" Shader cried.
Chronos mouth curved into a pained smile.

"T...thank y...you Sha...Shade...r" he said. He squeezed her hand
tightly. He tensed up and cringed in pain. He let out a small gasp
before more blood trickled from his mouth. Tears began to stream down
Shader's face. Chronos eyes seemed to look hopeful for a second. A
smile tugged at his bloody mouth. His eyes glazed over and his hand
fell from Shader's grasp as he went limp.

Shader covered her face with her hands and sobbed. She didn't know how
long she sobbed until Rosette returned.

"Chrono! I didn't find any demons. Are you sure you...-" her voice
stopped abruptly as she saw Chrono laying limply in a puddle of his own
blood.

"No. Nonononono!" she said quietly. She stumbled over to Chronos body
and fell to her knees. "NO!" she cried. Sobs and gasped racked her.
She cried until she couldn't cry any more. She sniffed and wiped some
of her tears.

"We should get him back to the Order" Rosette said. Shader nodded
still in shock. Tears were dried on her face leaving marks. Shader
picked up his body gently not caring about the blood on her clean
white lab coat. She carried him all the way back to the Order with
Rosette walking beside her. Rosette knew shed get yelled at for
crashing the car again but that was the last thing on her mind. Chrono
was dead. The one person who had been there for her during her dark
times was gone. The one who protected her with his life, the one who
she fought with the night before was dead. Grief was enough for
Rosette to bear but to know Chrono thought she hated him and to not
make up for it before he died was unbearable. How could she ever make
up for it? Would he be allowed into heaven? Where would Chrono go? She
didn't want to think about it but no matter how hard she tried her
thoughts always returned to the small demon who lay dead in Shader's
arms.

AN: I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! I accept anonymous reviews and I like critical stuff so feel free to be mean (Just no spearing XP.) Arigato gonzaimasu (Formal Japanese for Thank you) Oh and for those wondering I am thinking of pausing or discontinuing my other Chrono Crusade fic A New Contract. I don't like that one that much and I have a bad case of writers block. *Coughs innocently* Tee hee! YAY! I think this is my longest chapter yet so far! No…wait…Idk! Haha!

UNTILL CHAPTER 2!