Disclaimer: Don't own Chrono Crusade, but I do own the plot for this AU.
Repost Edit: Supposedly, this entire thief thing was originally from DNAngel and Loki Ragnarok (wow, never heard of 'em). I've modified it to make it not really seem like that. Instead, Chrono steals whatever he can get his hands on for the Astral Energy store within them, which I had really planned for the artifacts. Meaning, there won't have to be a contract. Or will there? xD
Any who, thanks to OtherCat1 for letting me know that.
Continuing!
A/N: Well, yeah. Sorry to those of you who are still waiting for an installment for "A Weary Watcher." It's just that I have this story more thought out from beginning to end, and decided to start writing it down. Well, here you are. Chapter 1 of lots to come.
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Chapter I
I Want You
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"I'm telling you, Rosette, he's some unworldly creature! No one can do the stuff he's doing!" The blond spoke in a high-pitched, excited voice, cyan-clear eyes beaming brightly. He sounded almost too excited. All Rosette Christopher could do was stare at her brother with growing annoyance residing in her belly, pretending like she was listening.
Yes, it was just another normal day at school. When talk started around New York's own Foothill High, it never really seemed to die down until something new came up to overpower the last word that practically everyone knew about. She couldn't believe what it was this time. Joshua shoved pictures in her face, all of which looked awkwardly taken and blurry. She couldn't make out any of the dark smudges. The girl tilted her head, raising a questioning brow.
"What're these?" She inquired, regretting it immediately.
"C'mon, can't you make it out?" Joshua waved the pictures back in forth, making Rosette even more unable to clarify the images. She rolled her eyes, looking towards another direction. "No, I can't. If it's your work of photography, it looks like crap even more than it's supposed to." She retorted bitterly. Rosette was sick of everything crowding her day lately, and she wasn't about to put up with another extending discussion with her brother.
Joshua only grunted, sliding the pictures onto her desk, making her look down at the slight disturbance that had been jabbed into her space.
"It's pretty much everything lately, Rosette. Chrono?" She studied the picture a bit more, murmuring slang words and disgusted sentences under her breath. "Looks nothing like the creep." She finalized, glancing away quickly. "When and how did you even take those?" Rosette found herself quietly asking.
"Give me credit, sis. I caught him in flight!" She groaned.
"And if I give you a positive review on your photography, would that make you want to pursue this as a career, as well as a side job of stalking? Because you're going to need a higher quality camera."
"I can't exactly say you're the best person to practice shooting on! You're totally unnatural. What's wrong with you?" Rosette flinched at his question, unable to speak thanks to her words getting caught in her throat.
"There's nothing wrong with me, and you should know that as well as anyone." She simply stated, impatiently tapping her finger on her desk.
"You gotta give this guy a spotlight! He's obviously not human, and he steals practically everything he gets his hands on! The authorities can barely find him because he's just everywhere these days. It sounds pretty cool, huh?" She sighed. Of course Joshua would be into this kind of stuff. He was a crowd walker, meaning he was into everything that other people were. Aside from his science-fiction obsession, he was pretty much quite the fitting person in an ordinary clique of people.
"No, as a matter of fact, it doesn't sound interesting." Rosette whispered dryly.
"If people hear you saying that, they're really going to push you out. The only reason they haven't is because of your looks, and I really don't know what people see in them."
She had to peer down at herself. She saw nothing special—just her school uniform, a gray skirt with a matching top. She had blond hair, and blue eyes. Nothing too special at all. She was totally oblivious to the fact that she was jaw-dropping gorgeous. Rosette shrugged.
"I don't really care. I like how I am right now, and I don't care about what's new, either." She turned away from her slightly disappointed brother. He grumbled something under his breath, fiddling with the pictures he had taken. "Besides, Azmaria doesn't mind very much that I'm not into these things. I don't think she really is either. I don't need anyone else to tell me otherwise, so she'll hang out with me." An image of the silver-hair girl flashed in her mind. Sure, she was simple, but she rejoiced the fact that she was willing to even talk to her. Rosette mentally sighed. She didn't understand the world, especially at times like this. Where they can just push you out because you don't like what others like and no one can relate to you. Just because she wasn't into what everyone else was, did it really mean that they could just give her funny glares? Why couldn't anyone just deal with the way she was? She liked herself perfectly fine.
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After homework was done and there was pretty much nothing else to do, Rosette and Joshua found themselves lying on their couch at home, if you can call home a stubby apartment. Rosette had control over the remote to the television, blankly flipping through the channels. Joshua grunted each time he saw something interesting pop up, but Rosette paid no head to his whims. She continued to cycle through the channels, finally tossing the remote to the floor as she halted at the Disney Channel. Some sitcom about a rock star was on.
Rosette wasn't paying attention to the flashing images on the screen. She only caught slight jokes that ringed through the room, chuckling slightly to show she was at least listening. She was distracted with her usual worries of how she was going to continue paying for her bills. She'd kindly asked Azmaria's parents for small payments, but that seemed to get on their nerves, now. The Hendrics had plenty of money, and she didn't find any reason for them to hesitate in paying their bills, but she had to think it was getting annoying by now. Soon, she had decided, she'd take up a job. There were always simple openings for fast-food restaurants. Even if it was only a little support, she was willing to give it all she had. She couldn't just stand by and let them continue to support them all their lives. Both her and Joshua and pledged that they were going to get through college, however difficult things got. That'd definitely get the orphans onto their feet. And supporting each other like that would brighten things up.
Joshua moaned, getting annoyed at the attempts of humor in the show. He didn't find anything appealing.
"Flip to the news, sis." He nudged her with his foot, quickly making her angry as she pushed it away.
"Not interested in seeing the same thing over and over again." She mumbled lazily, also not wanting to reach for the remote she had tossed. Joshua sighed, turning over to stand up off the sofa and stretch.
"I'm going to bed, then." He nearly tripped over his pajama pants as he made his way towards the room.
"Turn off the light when you head over there." She added, though she really didn't need to. Joshua was already heading for the switch.
"Night." He shot behind his shoulder before disappearing behind a door not too far away. Rosette didn't answer. She just watched him softly close the door behind him. Her icy blue gaze slid back to the television set. She was no longer aware of what was occurring on the screen. Rosette sighed, ignorant to the fact that her eyelids were slowly drooping. At a commercial break, her breathing had slowed. She slipped into a somewhat half-asleep state.
Without a sound, the back window had parted open with an invisible force. Claw-armed fingers soon appeared at the ledge, pulling it to the side. The figure stealthily slid in, minding to set down the screen he had removed under the window's pane. The finger was ghastly, in a way. Golden-hued eyes shone through the dark clutches of the room, the only light being the ever-dim moon and the television set. Black wings perturbed from his back, giving the hint that he clearly wasn't human. Long ears stretched from his head, and horns toppled it all off. The creature was dressed in red and black clothing, his abdominal section clear in view. He had a silver-plated neck brace and similar-looking elbow braces. His pants were a silver shade, built uniquely compared to any other pair of pants. The silver part was as long as a pair of shorts, blending into a dark red that ended with his boots. Violet bangs hung down his face, hair in the back only going towards his shoulders and stopping.
He'd automatically guessed that someone was on the couch because of the television, which was beaming. The figure carefully slid over to the sofa, indeed peering down and seeing a particularly half-asleep blond. He leaned over the side to steal a better peek at the young girl. She lazily turned her head to inspect him briefly, making him freeze. Her azure eyes widened quickly as she rolled off of the couch, yelping with surprise. He narrowed his aurelian eyes slightly, imagining the trouble this might cause now that she had seen him. He was definitely careless these days.
Rosette stood in her own shock as he watched her with growing amusement. A burst of realization sparked across her. "Y…you're that Chrono guy!" She exclaimed.
He lifted an index finger to his lips, trying to stop his smile from growing anymore. He gave a half-hearted 'shhh' to warn her to keep her mouth shut.
She slowly stood up, holding her ground with an iron fortress. "You creep!" she murmured, not minding his warning to be quite, but for Joshua's sake, she kept her voice down. Chrono twitched at her insult. "What're you doing here!?"
The bitterness in her voice made the thief shrink back in slight disappointment. It didn't make sense! Pretty much all of the girls in the world loved him, so how should this she be any different?
"You're Rosette Christopher, right?" He ignored her question, regaining himself.
"What if I am?"
"Then you're going to be coming with me, please."
She scoffed, sliding over to her left, the direction of the rooms as well as the door out of the apartment. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
He sighed. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't give me any trouble."
"Well, I'm not going with you." She wanted to yell, but forced her voice to stay at a whisper.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice."
"Did you hear me?"
There was a small silence that engulfed both.
"Look, if you don't come with me, there will be a conflict from others. With me would probably be the safest place in the world for you right now."
He jumped over the couch, causing her to edge more to her left. His strides became long, causing her to stumble over to the wall, her back against it in growing fear. She reached to her left, only able to grasp a dusty vase that was perched on the small table for decoration. She held it up like a weapon, disgusted at her pitiful attempt to look intimidating. Now, if she had a kitchen knife or perhaps a gun, this might have worked more in her favor. He blandly stepped forward, using his clawed index finger to slide the art away from his face. Unintentionally, her grip on it became weak. He placed it back on the table, smirking deviously. He placed his right hand on the wall at her side in hopes of preventing her from getting ideas about escaping.
"You shouldn't be doing things like that. It makes you seem less cute. Now, if you'll just come along qu—"
Rosette ducked under his hand and turned the corner, braking off into a full-on sprint towards the door, leaving Joshua because he obviously wasn't what Chrono wanted. She soon felt the sour sensation of regret thinking about all the possible things Chrono could have done to him. There was no way she was going to cope with going with a thief, though! He was a rotten, untrustworthy, inhuman, inconsiderate, flirtatious, back-stabbing idiot! Well, she didn't know about half of the stuff she had managed to name off. Probably all of them.
Chrono sighed and with a seemingly single step, he was in front of her once again. He halted in front of Rosette, who sloppily collided into him.
She grunted with flickering fury. "What do you want from me?" Rosette tried to bitterly retort, but instead, it came out as a whimper.
The thief only smirked. Rosette froze up as his hand lightly brushed over her bangs on her forehead.
"I want you, Rosette Christopher."
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A/N: Haha, wait till you know what he really wants. Biiiig twist. If you stick to it long enough, then just maybe you'll find out, huh?
Hope the edit was alright.
Please review, it really does help. )
Until next time!
Chilo
