Disclaimer: Chrono Crusade belongs to Daisuke Moriyama.

*Note: Italics usually means thoughts.

*Language warning: 1 word

Word count: 1,933.

[Sorry for the bad summary, I couldn't think of anything better. Also sorry for lack of categories. Still unsure of what to categorize this as.]

Chapter 1: Summon

"Joshua," his older sister fumed behind him. "This is not, I repeat for the umpteenth time, not a good idea."

Joshua finished drawing on the floor and threw the chalk to the side. He rubbed his chalk filled hands on his black shirt, leaving white residue all over it. "C'mon Rosette," he said playfully. "It's not like anything will actually happen. Lighten up."

Rosette groaned. "We don't know that. It could very well be true. Maybe this stuff actually works." She stood next to him, looking at the circle he drew on the basement floor.

He had cleared the furniture out of the way and removed the rug to reveal the cement floor underneath. He then, using a book he got from a friend online as a guide, drew a circle with various markings within it. It was – apparently – a magic summoning circle. Specifically, one to summon demons.

Joshua had always been into the occult. He didn't actually believe in most of what he came across, but the ideas always fascinated him. Other worlds, other spirits, other anything that hasn't been, or can't be proven by science.

This friend of his claimed to summon a demon using the circle in this book. Joshua knew it was a lie, that it was just the friend trying to get attention, but he went along with it. The friend told Joshua he'd send the book, so Joshua could try it himself. Joshua agreed, willing to humor his friend.

So here he was, looking through the book for the next step. Rosette pestered him the whole time about it, saying "Mom and Dad won't like this," "what if it goes wrong?" and being paranoid in general. He had tried to assure her that nothing would happen, but to no avail.

No matter, he thought. Once I do this, she'll see it was just fun and games.

Joshua finished reading and closed the book. "All that's left is the blood," he chimed. He took his dad's butterfly knife from his right jeans pocket, set the book on the ground, and prepared himself.

Rosette immediately grabbed his left arm. "Now this is where I draw the line," she said with a very serious face.

He sighed. "Seriously, Rose, it's fine. Just a drop or two will be fine."

His sister reached for the knife with her other hand. "No. Just no. Stop this now or I'll…. I dunno, I'll beat you senseless," she threatened.

He moved the knife out of her reach. "You do that every day. That's a pretty empty threat for me," he laughed. She reached out for the knife again, and he moved it away again. "Just let me try Rose, please?" He gave her his best puppy face – the one he knew she could never resist.

Though, this time it failed. "No," she insisted. "This time, I really will beat you so hard, you'll be knocked out for a week."

The younger blond winced. "That sounds more like a death threat."

"It is," the older blond growled. Then, taking Joshua by surprise, she jumped to grab the knife, throwing Joshua off his balance, and knocking him down.

They both landed with a thud. Joshua sat up once his sister stood up off of him, but panicked when he saw Rosette's hand bleeding.

"You dumbass! You're cut!" he yelled at her.

"No shit!" she cussed back. "This is all your fault!" she clenched a fist at him, but the pain from her hand made her stop. "Ow!" she shook her hand, as if flailing it would help.

Unknowingly, though, Rosette had flung some of her blood onto the circle.

X

The circle glowed purple and pulsated. Feeling the air began to move around her, Rosette looked over to the circle and gasped in shock. She knew something would happen.

She turned to look at her brother, who was also looking at the circle in awe. "Look at what you've done!" she yelled.

"I swear, nothing was supposed to-" Joshua began.

"Happen? Well, something's happening now. And we need to stop it!" she told him.

"Uh, well, I don't know how!" the boy yelped. "I didn't think... I never... I just don't...!" he stuttered.

Ugh, I knew this would go badly! Rosette thought. She looked back at the circle, which was now glowing red. The wind around it picked up, though oddly nothing in the room seemed to be moving or flying around despite how hard the wind blew.

Huh? Rosette looked around the basement area. Nothing was being blown around. She looked down at herself. Her sweater, shirt, and hair were whipping around her, but when she looked over at Joshua, he was fine, clothes in place. What the heck is going on here? the girl thought. The wind gained speed, and she struggled to keep her footing. "Joshua!" she called, but her brother continued to gawk at the circle. Can he not hear me? "Joshua!" she called again, but no response.

Before she could call a third time, the wind lifted her from the ground, and she seemed to be sucked into a tornado. Her hair whipped all around her face, not letting her properly see what was going on. She could feel that she was being lowered into the center of the tornado, and though she tried to fight it, she was soon sucked into a dark void that lay there.

X

Rosette stood… somewhere. It was pure black, she couldn't see anything around her. Where am I? "Hello?" she said in a normal voice. There was no echo, no anything, that Rosette wasn't even sure she actually said anything. "Hello?" she yelled, only sure she said something out loud this time by the movement of her mouth.

She tried to move forward, but it didn't feel like she was walking. It didn't feel like she was floating either, though. Oh god, she thought. Am I dead?

"No," a voice suddenly echoed throughout… where ever she was. She jumped upon hearing it.

"Is someone here?" she asked out loud, only sure she said something, again, by the movement of her mouth.

"…Yes." The voice, she realized, seemed to come from all around her.

"Where am I?" she asked the voice. She started walking forward, but the voice continued to come from all around her.

"Are you the one who summoned me?" the voice questioned.

Rosette froze. Summoned? "N- no, my brother made a circle and I just-" she began to explain.

"But it was your blood that was used, was it not?" the voice interrupted. "That makes you the one who summoned me."

"I didn't mean to though!" Rosette began to panic. Who did she summon? Where was this person?

"…Are you really not aware of what you've just done?" the voice said after a pause.

Rosette shook her head, then when she realized it was probably too dark to see her, she said "No. Can you please tell me where I am?"

A soft purple spotlight illuminated a spot ahead of her. In the light was a dark figure, hunched over. Rosette approached it, though she was unsure she could actually move anywhere.

The dark figure stood up, and Rosette stopped moving. The person wore tattered clothes, and had wings behind them. They had claws on the ends of their fingers and what appeared to be long pointed ears. Above the ears were horns. She couldn't make out any of their facial features, but could see they had gold eyes that glowed.

She gulped, and took a step back. "W-who are you?"

The person chuckled at her question. "I'm not a who, I'm a what. I'm a demon," the voice from before told her.

Rosette's heart raced in her chest. A demon? Did we… actually summon a demon?

"No, you summoned a demon, Rosette Christopher," the voice said.

"How do you know my name?" Rosette yelled. She was terrified of this person. Wait, did he just read my mind?

"Your blood tells me everything about you," the voice chuckled. "And yes, I can read your mind. At least in this space, I can."

Rosette wanted to run away, but she didn't even know where she was, nor if she could find a way out. She just continued to take steps away from the figure. "S-send me back. Please," she pleaded. "I didn't mean to summon you."

"No can do," the voice said. The figure flapped its wings slightly. "You've called upon me, and so we have to make a contract."

"B-but I don't want to make a contract," Rosette shakily told the demon. "I just want to go home now." She held back tears as she spoke.

The figure brought its hand up to its head, and then stepped out of the light. Once it did, the light went out, and Rosette was back in the dark void by herself.

"Is there nothing you want? No desire to have something you currently don't? Someone you want?" the voice came from all around her again.

The blond shook her head. "Please just let me go back home," she pleaded again.

"I can't do that," the voice sighed. Sighed? "I have to make a contract with you for you and me to be able to leave this realm. Otherwise we'll be trapped in here forever."

Rosette collapsed onto the ground. "I… Forever?" She looked down to her hands, just now noticing that she could see herself perfectly fine despite the nothingness around her. She also saw that on her left hand she still had the cut from before, though it was no longer bleeding.

The voice came from directly ahead of her, instead of all around this time. "You just need to make a contract with me. Just give me a wish; a desire of yours that I can fulfill. Then we can get out of here." The voice actually sounded kind and sympathetic, which surprised Rosette greatly.

"Then, can I wish to get out of here?" Rosette asked.

The voice replied with a sigh. "No, it doesn't work like that."

"How about I wish to not have a contract with you?"

"You do realize how paradoxical that is, right?" the voice said with a slight annoyance. Rosette almost started crying again. How the heck was she supposed to get out then?

The voice sighed a third time. "Just make a contract." Rosette hiccuped. "…How about you wish for me to grant your desire once you figure out what it is?"

Rosette wiped away not yet existent tears. "Would that work?"

"Yeah, it should," the voice said warmly.

"Then, that's my wish," she told the voice.

"Okay."

Rosette felt something pulling at her hand, and though she was still scared, she let it pull her up onto her feet. Her hand was then lowered a bit, and she could feel a warm breath on it.

"Repeat your wish," the voice told her.

"I… want you to grant me my true desire once I figure it out," she said as firmly as she could.

"You could've worded it better," the voice chuckled. "But, very well. I hereby make a contract with you, Rosette Christopher."

She felt lips press onto her hand, and suddenly wind came from her hand as well. She used her free arm to cover her face from the wind.

"Rosette!" Joshua's voice came from her left. She lowered her arm, and saw that she was back in the basement. She looked down at her hand, and saw a person on their knees, with their lips on her hand.

Not a person, she thought. A demon.

Helllllo everyone! Michi here! Been a while, huh?

What am I doing, you say? Well, haha, I'm doing something quite dumb, I reply!

Writing fanfiction!

Yep. Despite the fact it has been over two years since I last wrote something (other than essays), I'm at it again.

And instead of continuing any of my other stories like a good author, I discontinued those and decided to make a new one. Isn't that just great? Haha!

Seriously though, someone please stop me before it's too late.

I recently got back into CC, got a bit nostalgic for the fic business, and so I decided to give it another go, knowing full well I'll probably do just as well as I used to.

That is, not very good at all.

But regardless, I'd rather try and fail then not try at all. It really has been some time since I tried to get the creative juices flowing though, so pardon my writing; I'm a bit rusty.

Enough of my silliness, let me actually talk about the story for a bit, yes?

The title is temporary, as I'm still not entirely sure where this story should go. Titles were never my strong suit (or anything for that matter), but I'm sure eventually I'll find something better fitting. Feel free, once I post more chapters, to suggest names as well!

I'm sure the summoning thing has been done before in a fic, but I wanted to give it a shot as well.

Originally, I was going to make it Rosette summoning incubus Chrono and having to do *weird noises that are supposed to imply sex* with him in order for him to get stronger or whatever, but I decided against it because… well, I couldn't actually think of a good plot for it lmao

But perhaps I will actually write that story one day! (That's a lie, sorry. I probably won't.)

In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy my attempt at a fic in over 2 years. This first chapter isn't that great, as there was probably stuff I could've expanded on and made better with more work, but I really wanted to get this first one down so I could share it and figure out where to go from here.

The chapters' releases won't be on a fixed schedule, as it really depends on whether or not I have the motivation to write, but I will try my best at getting something out at least every few months or so.

And of course, the best way you can remind me to do so, is reviewing ;D See you next time!

(Also, could someone help me with the verb tense in the beginning? It seems kinda weird and inconsistent to me, but I can't figure out how to fix it. If not, that's fine. Just asking. And sorry for the long author's note oops.)