Hi everyone:)

Before we get started, let's clear some stuff up. First off, this is going to be manga based, but as ADV is being really slow releasing volumes 7 and 8 (a pox upon their feet!)and I'm being a good little monkey and waiting for it to come out legally, I don't know what happens after volume 6. I've seen the anime, trainwreck that it is, so I'm inferring from that and some hints that my not-so-patient-already-read-the-ending friends have been dropping me. So, like the summary says, no real spoilers after volume 6. I don't know what's going to happen, so I'm guessing (please be nice with reviews... if you review at all...)

Also, if anyone gives the ending of the series away to me, I will find you and break your legs :)

And on that note...

The first chapter! Yay!

Disclaimer: Scarred Rose doesn't own Chrno Crusade. (sigh)

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Everything was gray and fuzzy. As her vision slowly cleared she realized that she had fallen, and was now supporting herself on her hands and knees. It felt like her head was in a cloud, and she slowly lifted her right hand and pressed it to her temple, almost losing her balance and falling as she did so.

Feeling a sudden pressure on her shoulder and glancing to the left, she recognized Azmaria, who was stooped over her and desperately trying to tell her something. Sister Rosette shook her head slightly to clear the ringing in her ears and tried looking at the small girl next to her again, only to almost fall flat on her face in shock.

Behind the girl stood Joshua, tall, lean, and with a tattered piece of cloth tied around his head. He was looking forward silently with an intent gaze, and Rosette could see a large spot of blood seeping through the ragged bandana right above his ear. Azmaria's words had begun to penetrate through the deafening silence in her head, and Rosette reluctantly tore her gaze off of her brother to look back into the frightened girl's face. Realizing that she was on the brink of tears Rosette forced herself to focus.

"…sette, Rosette!"

She nodded vaguely to indicate she was listening. Without moving from his position, Joshua turned his intense blue gaze on her for an instant, just long enough to catch her eyes. She couldn't believe he was standing so close to her… and he was hurt! What was going on here? He then looked forward again and nodded slightly. Following his lead, the sister looked ahead and froze, just in time to catch the last of Azmaria's cry.

"ROSETTE! You have to look, its Chrno!"

Reality suddenly snapped back into place.

Chrno was standing some 50 yards away from them in his true form, recently recovered horns sprouting from the sides of his head and caked in gore up to his elbows. He was facing away from them but looking back over his shoulder, and the light was casting an interesting shadow across his handsome face. The slight breeze tousled his violet hair, letting it flow around and across his features. The stray locks however, could not hide the intensity of his golden stare as it urgently sought the eyes of his contractor.

Rosette's gaze quickly found his, and the nun balked at what she saw. He looked tense, wings pulled tightly against his back, and tail twitching as if to slice apart the ever-present breeze that played across Eden. His face bore a sort of resigned frown, and his beautiful amber eyes were brewing with a mixture of relief, loving tenderness, and a gut-wrenching sadness that somehow wormed its way into the sister's stomach. Thankfully though, the worry that had obviously been playing across his face as well quickly cleared up as their eyes locked.

Rosette couldn't figure out why he seemed so melancholy, and why she was beginning to feel so distressed by the entire situation. She felt tears start to build up in her eyes, but would not allow them to spill over until she knew what was going on.

Their gazes remained locked for what seemed like hours, but were probably only a few minutes. During this time several wordless conversations passed between them. Rosette was shocked at the raw purity of the emotions swirling in her demon's eyes, and she felt compelled to return them with her own. And so they sat, indirectly communicating things that they had never allowed themselves to say out loud, and Rosette felt a cold hand start a stranglehold on her heart.

For some reason, this felt an awful lot like a goodbye.

After a few minutes, Chrno closed his eyes, and sighed deeply, allowing his shoulders to slump slightly and his wings to fall away from his back. Rosette felt an irrational sort of dread at this action, and found with surprise that she had to gasp hard to suppress the sobs that had been building in her chest for who knew how long.

With a sudden burst of energy she desperately called out her demon's name. He looked up at her one more time with unreadable eyes, savoring the appearance of her face, and allowing his golden gaze to drift over Azamria and Joshua as well. He finally looked back at Rosette lovingly, and gave her a small sad smile before tearing his eyes away and turning to facing front.

It was at this point that Rosette noticed with horror why he had remained where he was, not running back to sweep her into an embrace and tell her that it was over, that the whole bloody ordeal was finished. Standing in front of her Chrno was a fully regenerated Pandemonium, his mother and the demon he and the other Sinners had been trying to destroy. It was actually pretty miraculous that Rosette hadn't noticed the gargantuan demon before, but she had just been thrilled to find everyone still alive, and this particular nun had never been known for her powers of observation anyway.

Rosette watched dumbly as Chrno looked upward at his mother. At a slight nod from the large demon, he let his head fall to his chest, and held his arms out from his sides, in a sort of sagging T shape. Pandemonium regarded her offspring for a moment, obviously communicating with him through their horns. She let a few more dramatic instants pass, and then reared back with one of her huge talons and fiercely drove it through his body. Blood spurted, an impossible amount it seemed, and Chrno quickly dissolved into a handful of ash.

Rosette felt everything freeze. She tried to scream, to call for her demon, but nothing came out. She could only stare with her mouth open and eyes wide as the ash was swirled away lightly by the wind, and then the huge monstrosity that was Pandemonium disappeared.

It was at this point that the tears she had been so desperately holding back broke through the dam and began cascading down her face in torrents, her whole body began to shake, and her poorly suppressed sobs threatened to rip her in half.

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Rosette Christopher sat up quickly in bed, gasping. She pressed her left hand to her forehead and screwed her eyes shut, desperately trying to stave off the rivers of tears that always accompanied this dream. As usual, this tactic did not work for long, and she pulled her knees up to her chest so she could rest her brow against them. Wrapping her arms around her slender middle, she grabbed the fabric of her simple white nightgown and started twisting it viscously between her fingers.

It had been about a month since this dream had last visited her, which was much less frequently than it used to. Still, the intensity of emotion that always resulted from reliving that horrid experience had not been dulled by the years since its occurrence.

Huge crocodile tears began to slip from her eyes, and she bit down hard on the sides of her cheeks, attempting to choke the whimpering or outright sobbing noises that she knew would emerge from her throat.

Just like her other strategies, this one failed and soon she was staining her clothes and the light green comforter with her salty tears, whining quietly to herself as her fingers' assault on her nightgown grew to the point where she was pinching and twisting her own skin through the cloth. She didn't mind though, sometimes the pain actually helped distract her from the gaping holes in both her heart and soul.

The events of this nightmare had happened four years ago. This was a grand total of eight years since her and Joshua had accidentally broken into a fifty-year-old tomb; only to find the demon who would eventually steal her soul away and become her best friend and partner.

If he had lived, he would have become much more than just my friend… she thought bitterly to herself. Unfortunately, this train of thought always intensified her sorrow tenfold, and she had to flip over and cry into her pillow to ensure that none of the noise passed out of her room.

Over the years Rosette had developed a pathological fear of allowing anyone to see her cry. At first, right after he died, she didn't care who saw her grieve, and everyone understood. But as the months passed, people began to tell her that she needed to move on with her life, that she should somehow forget the man that she had shared her soul with for four years and find someone else.

At first, Rosette had raged against these people, how could they understand what she was going through? But more and more of her friends began to give her worried looks, and she knew that whenever she left the room they would start up hushed conversations about her health. The breaking point came when Joshua and Azmaria, the two people she was closest with, had sat her down and told her that Chrno definitely would not have wanted her to be miserable because of him, and that everyone missed the old happy, crazy Rosette Christopher.

She had finally agreed that she would move on, and so began to hide her sorrow. She had actually gotten fairly good at it, to the point where she had everyone besides Azmaria, Joshua, and Father Remington fooled into thinking that the old Rosette was back in town. But to those that knew her closely, it was obvious that this girl was still not quite herself. It was mostly apparent in her beautiful blue eyes, and in her smile; both of which always contained a whisper of sadness.

True, Rosette had plenty of happiness in her life. Her dear brother Joshua was back, and his experiences with Aion and the Sinners had not changed him too much, that is, as long as he was not forced to talk about them. She was also gainfully employed at Seventh Bell Orphanage, caring for the children that had stayed young in the time freeze while she had aged so much. She still kept in touch with her friends at the convent, but did not visit much due to the new head of the Order, Father Draum. It was this intolerant man that had caused her to leave in the first place, and so she had absolutely no desire to see him if it was at all possible.

Yes, during the day Rosette smiled, laughed, got mad, and ate (a lot) just like she always did. But at night when she was alone in her room, terrible memories and dreams plagued her, and though they had decreased in intensity and frequency over the years, they were still as terrible as the first time she experienced them. In fact, it was nights like tonight that really differentiated the old and the new Rosette Christopher. There had to be something to fill the hole inside her that Chrno had left, and she decided that if sadness could fill that chasm, then so be it.

The girl sniffled pathetically, running the back of her hand under her nose, and tucking her legs tighter against her body.

You wouldn't want me to be miserable… then why did you leave me? She thought, allowing herself to plunge deeper into the pit of despair that had become so familiar to her since her love had left.

Her love, it was a realization she had come to slowly a few months after it was already too late. When it finally occurred to her that she had loved him for years and never actually realized or acted on it, it was like a sledgehammer to the chest, and had only made her sorrow worse.

She supposed it should have been obvious after everything that had passed between them the day he died. Earlier that same day she had died too, her soul finally consumed to fuel his transformation. She remembered vaguely being encased in Chrno's arms as she quietly crossed over into some strange otherly place. The events of that passage though, as well as her time away from Earth were completely lost to her. All that she could really recall was her abrupt sputtering back into the realm of the living. She had never attempted to explain how or why she had been able to come back, all that really mattered was that when she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was Chrno.

His face was stained with tears, but he was smiling. She noticed that he looked a bit tired and that miraculously the horns she had torn off of Joshua's head had found their way back onto his before he had enveloped her in a tight embrace. She could think of nothing to do except hug him back, and when they finally pulled apart he had leaned down and kissed her sweetly. No words passed between them, but Rosette was sure that the warm rush that built in her chest had risen in his too. After the kiss, he had frozen her, presumably for protection, before heading off for the final battle with Aion. The point at which he had unfrozen her was always where her nightmares began.

As the tears rolled down her cheeks and became absorbed into her nightgown, Rosette wished fervently that she could recall what was said as she lay dying, cradled in his arms with her head resting lightly against his chest. These were the last actual spoken words that had passed between them, and it cut her like a knife that she couldn't remember what they were. Her weeping paused briefly as she wracked her brain for any details, but all she could remember was the sight of his face contorted in an expression of pure and utter grief. Realizing her failure yet again to recall this vital detail of her life, perhaps one of the most important memories she ever had, sent her falling abysmally back down into her misery. Her chest began to heave again, and soon the sobbing reappeared to wrack her entire frame with spasms so great she wished that they would tear her apart, let her die so that she might see her Chrno again.

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Ok, done with that. Hooray for angst! I'm sorry if Ms. Christopher is a bit OOC here, but I'm not gonna portray her as a weepy little girl throughout the entire story. Think of this as a really bad night for her. I promise in the next chapter there will be a smidgeon of funny Rosette.

The first segment is supposed to be a little vague, it's a dream sequence. As for the rest of the thing, if stuff is unclear I appologize. More explanation on the history will be given in upcoming chapters... other than that, there really isn't a good excuse for bad writing, is there?

So, in the next chapter a certain someone is gonna show up again. I'll give you three guesses as to who.

Please review, and see you next chapter!

SR