Author's Note: Well, after crying over Rosette and Chrono for years, I finally decided to do something about it, and here it is. It probably won't get very far, so it'll be up for adoption by anyone who might want to take over after a few chapters.

Chrono Crusade: Diabolus

Chapter 26.5: The Second Prologue

Tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…

The stopwatch around Rosette's neck continued it's inexorable journey toward twelve o'clock. It was far too close for comfort.

He couldn't bear to hear it. It had never seemed so loud before. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, making the watch seem louder than it really was. It was torment.

Tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…

'11:50,' read the stopwatch.

'There's nothing I can do!' Chrono screamed in his head, 'Why am I so useless? Why can't someone else take this stupid watch's curse? Why does it have to be my power that's killing her? Why, why, why, why, why!'

Rosette snuggled closer to him. She had stopped crying a few minutes ago, but he could still feel how terrified she was.

It was the closing curtain for both of them. But even now, at the very end, at least they were still together.

Tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…

'11:52,' read the stopwatch.

Chrono's mind raced desperately trying to find a way, any way to save Rosette. He couldn't. The only thing he could do to save her was to end his own life first.

And Rosette had given him her firm opinion about that suggestion.

But he was a demon.

He didn't have to disappear forever after he died. Rosette had a one-way ticket, but he…

"I'll be right back Rosette, I promise."

"Hurry."

Rosette's voice was little more than a whisper. It wasn't supposed to be so weak. Rosette's voice was strong, determined…and often unnecessarily loud. Dousing this firecracker would be a crime.

He snatched a pen out of a desk drawer, grabbed a sheet of the completely unused stationary and started scribbling madly. When he was done, he hastily folded up the note, slid it partially into his coat pocket, rushed to the door, then awkwardly pivoted around realizing he had forgotten something crucial.

Tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…

He couldn't see the stopwatch, but he could still hear it ticking. The noise now brought him a sense of relief along with the growing dread.

Scrambling over to Rosette's end table, he opened the drawer, and picked up her gun. Still loaded; good. He was surprised that his hand wasn't burning, but reminded himself that the casing wasn't the dangerous part.

Tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…tick…

Chrono's Rosette was amazing. She was easily excitable, quick to anger, …a really, really bad driver. And despite the abuse, he'd never felt so accepted by anyone before. She was the best person he knew. And she still could be. He refused to let her life end like this.

He turned and made for the door, but stopped short.

"Chrono?!"

Rosette looked at the stopwatch. It was almost midnight. The sun was just about to set. One last sunset together; That was all she could hope for. It was okay. She'd be okay. She had to be.

'You're a big brave girl Rosette Christopher. Don't lose your nerve.'

But…where had he gone? She took a closer look at her time.

'11:58.'

Where was he? She couldn't do this alone. With phenomenal effort, she pulled herself to her feet, and stumbled through the opened door. She wasn't nearly ready for what she saw.

"Chrono?!"

There he stood, her gun clenched in his hand. He was shaking, but seemed determined to bring it up to his temple.

"Chrono, don't!" she cried desperately, collapsing in a fit of coughs.

"I'm sorry. I-I just can't let this happen, Rosette. Not when I can do something about it."

'11:59,' read the stopwatch.

"Not that! Anything but that! Stop it, Chrono! Don't!"

He pulled a slip of paper out of his coat pocket, and closed the distance between them, embracing her tightly, only to pull away a moment later and place the note in her hand. He smiled. That perfect, sincere smile. Like nothing was terribly, terribly wrong.

"Read it. You'll understand," he whispered, hugging her close. She felt his arm move behind her back. "I love you, Rosette, whatever you think of me after doing this. I love you so much." There was a bang as her gun went off, and despite feeling no pain whatsoever, her world exploded into a million pieces.

"Chrono!"

She felt her strength coming back in a rush, seventy lost years just tacking themselves onto her lifespan. She caught Chrono's limp form in her arms, despite knowing that it was already too late.

"No! You can't… Chrono—don't—I—Chrono!"

She was vaguely aware that she was screaming, punching the floor beneath her until her hands bled. But mostly, she sobbed uncontrollably. She didn't know for how long.

It was late in the morning when Mary, Claire, Anna, and Remington were alerted by the sound of crying coming from a nearby cottage.

They didn't exactly know what they were expecting to find, but it wasn't their strong willed, and noticeably missing friend.

"Rosette, you're ali—oh my God!" Claire began jovially before noticing who lay on the floor beneath the erstwhile nun in a stagnant pool of blood. They knew better than to come to the obvious conclusion. Rosette wouldn't have killed Chrono even if she were under duress.

"What happened?" Mary gasped, as she looked at Chrono's unmoving form.

Claire found herself by Rosette who began crying into their skirts. Her nightgown was stained a grisly red from the pool of blood she had been kneeling in while holding Chrono's body.

"Chrono—he—I—and then he just—I tried to stop him, but I—"

"I'm so, so sorry Rosette," Claire murmured, stroking Rosette's hair comfortingly. "I can't imagine how hard this must be for you," she said, being honest.

Rosette sniffled, looking miserable. She unfolded a bit of paper that she had been holding. It was his note after all. Her tears slowly began to dry as she read through it over and over again.

Dear Rosette,

Sorry to drop this bomb on you, but I couldn't just watch you die. Don't worry. If I'm right, I should be fine… Assuming Aion lied about me being completely cut off from Pandaemonium just because I don't have my horns–and let's face it, he lied a lot–I should be resurrected eventually. There are ways to summon me specifically, but I'd need to make a new contract to survive without my horns, and that would kill you almost immediately. You would need to find a solution to this problem.

There was a sketch that appeared to incorporate the gears of a clock into a summoning circle.

Draw this with salt where you first met me. Place red candles wherever I put an asterisk. There are some crucial details that I don't know about though. You'd need to ask another devil.

I know you'll miss me. I'm sorry for making you worry, and I know I'm in for it when you find me.

Love always,

Chrono

Rosette sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"I'd like a minute to myself, but… if I wanted to go back to the Order with you… could I?"

"Of course. It's your home. No one's even been in your room since you vanished. Except Azmaria; she worries herself ragged over you."

The thought of seeing the little apostle made a faint smile appear on Rosette's face.

"I'll be sure to surprise her when I get back then," she said, her voice still hoarse from crying.

The others left the cabin and Rosette thought about the contents of Chrono's note. He could come back from the dead? Was it too much to hope for?

"Yes. Yes it is," said a voice dripping of showmanship in response to her unasked question.

"Who said that?" Rosette demanded fiercely, spinning around and seeing nobody anywhere in the cabin.

"Oh, you might have heard of me," the voice answered amicably, the speaker still invisible to her. "Have you ever seen the play Faust?"

"No… but it's about a guy who sells his soul to the Devil, right?" she growled.

"Oh! You positively wound me! But I suppose I should learn to bear the pain of obscurity: your belief is a common misconception. You see Doctor Faustus didn't sell his soul to the Devil: He sold it to a demon named Mephistopheles. And Mephistopheles…" a man in a white tailcoat with a polka dot tie appeared in a puff of bubblegum pink smoke, taking a dramatic bow, "is me." The so-called demon's overall appearance gave Rosette the impression that he was some sort of clown, or a ringmaster at a circus. The fact that he was wearing pink tights didn't help his case.

"So, what? You want me to sell you my soul to get Chrono back?" she asked warily.

"Actually, I was thinking more of a loan. I don't need your soul for long. Just a few days. See, you need at least sixty souls to enter the Gehenna Poker Tournament. I won't lose it. Scout's honor." He stroked his goatee, which Rosette noted was a dark shade of purple. His hair was purple… "Decks tend to stack themselves in my favor whenever I enter a room anyway."

"If this is a joke, this really is not the time!" Rosette snarled.

"Here, read this: it's a lease, not a permanently binding contract. Ein, zwei, drei!" the absurd ringmaster snapped his fingers and a scroll appeared in another poof of pink smoke. Rosette caught it clumsily and gave it a quick look. She was surprised to find it was written in rather large print.

"I, Rosette Christopher, henceforth to be referred to as 'the damned'…" she paused. "Are you for real? My best friend just died and some idiot demon just waltzes in and starts cracking jokes?"

Mephistopheles just sighed. "Just read the whole thing." Rosette rolled her eyes but acquiesced.

"I, Rosette Christopher, henceforth to be referred to as 'the damned' hereby sign my soul over to Mephistopheles for the week of the Gehenna Poker Tournament. Any damage to said soul will be appropriately compensated should any harm befall it. Should Mephistopheles return on July 21st with Rosette Christopher's soul in his possession, it must be returned. Should the soul be lost in the tournament however, it will be under the new owners control. Sign here…

"This is a very poorly worded contract, Circus Freak."

"I merely don't want to work for souls for a while, so I'll use yours to get more."

"You certainly seem lazy, even for a demon."

"I prefer the word crafty, but let's get on to business; you seek to bring the devil Chrono back into this world?"

"Yes."

Then you'll need human blood. The blood of one hundred people to be precise. And not just any blood will do. You don't summon a devil properly with the blood of a virgin or a bunch of random people. The ritual could end up failing in any number of horrific and gruesome ways if you did that," said the demon, smirking lackadaisically. "Nothing from an innocent, or anyone half-way decent will do either, so robbing a hospital's blood bank is out of the question. It has to be from the very worst humanity has to offer."

"So what would you suggest?" Rosette asked warily.

"Well, telling you outright wouldn't be very sporting of me, now would it?" Mephistopheles chuckled. "But don't you think that New York City nights have gotten rather dangerous? The streets and alley are just crawling with unsavory characters."

He reached into one of his coat pockets and pulled out a piece of black cloth with a blood red bat embroidered on it. Then he held it out to the suspicious sister, along with a writing quill made from a peacock feather.

"This is a vampiric seal. Place it on a weapon and it will drain the blood of anyone you kill. Place the seal in the center of your summoning circle once you have reached your quota, and you'll have all the blood you require. And you'll have nothing to feel guilty about because you really will just be administering justice."

"And, since when do devils promote justice, exactly?" Rosette demanded, signing the contract on the line provided.

Her uninvited guest pulled a garish pink umbrella out of thin air and waved it about like a magic wand. "We don't. Vigilante justice on the other hand is ever so much fun to watch. Until next time, Ein, zwei, drei!"

There was another puff of pink smoke, and Mephistopheles vanished. Rosette was left alone in the cabin, pondering what exactly had happened. She had sold her soul to a devil to learn how to bring Chrono back to life. She also was still holding the contract.

She grinned deviously despite herself. If she knew anything about non-judicial contracts, the best way to annul them was to destroy them. And there happened to be a matchbox in her desk drawer. Her grin grew wider as she opened the drawer, pulled a match out of the box, and held it under the parchment, setting it alight.

"Sorry about this, but I'll be needing that, please and thank you," came Mephistopheles' voice from inside her open desk drawer which was suddenly much deeper than the laws of physics and causality should have allowed.

He reached out, his arm coming out of the drawer and snatching the burning contract out of Rosette's hands, putting the flames out just before they reached her signature. "Well, that was a close call. How careless of me. Ta~." Reaching out of the drawer again he pulled it shut, closing it with a loud scuff.

The nun quickly reopened the cubby but it was normal again.

She finally noticed the loud knocking at the door.

"Rosette! Rosette, are you alright?!" came Remington's voice through the woodwork, "I felt a dark presence manifest around the house! If you can hear me, please—"

"Please what?" asked Rosette altogether too cheerfully as she opened the door. She didn't remember locking it, so why couldn't they get in? It was probably the work if that demon.

To her distress, her visitors all remembered what her tone meant. Everyone immediately gave her hard looks.

"Rosette, what happened in there?" Anne asked carefully.

"Nothing! Why d'you ask?!" she responded.

"Rosette…" Remington warned.

She hesitated, but nevertheless broke her mask under the priest's disapproving gaze.

"I…kinda… sold my soul to a devil to find out how to bring Chrono back to life," she confessed guiltily.

"You what!?" the three other sisters squealed in terror.

"Tell me Rosette, what did he call himself?" Remington demanded, though she could tell he was only concerned for her wellbeing. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I promise, I won't tell a soul about this, and I'll go so far as to reprimand these three for spreading rumors," he turned to give Mary, Claire and Anne a stern look. "Just tell me what the demon said his name was."

"Uh…it was pretty long. Mefistoflees, I think he said."

Remington breathed a sigh of relief.

"What?" Rosette asked. "Is he really weak or something?"

"Quite the contrary, actually; he's an immensely powerful demon, but his days of raising hell are long gone. He's become more of a prankster in recent years, if my sources are correct."

"He said he wanted my soul so that he could participate in some kind of poker tournament," Rosette added curiously.

Remington nodded, managing to hide his amusement, "That sounds like him. If all goes well, you should have nothing to worry about."

"So I can trust him?"

"To keep his word and to honor his bargains? Yes. To do any real work? Not in the least."

"Okay! That's a relief."

She went back inside and packed her suitcase in earnest this time. There wasn't a lot to do. She had few worldly possessions after all. Just a few habits that had never been worn, seven sets of undergarments, a spare nightgown, and the essentials. Chrono's note and the instructions were placed at the very bottom of the bag. No good would come of those being discovered.

She reminded herself not to get too comfortable, considering what she knew she had to do. But she figured that she could at least enjoy the ride back to Manhattan.

The four girls piled into the jalopy along with Remington and the car began its long journey home. Rosette turned around and looked out the back window to see the receding shape of the cabin she'd spent the last few months in.

"Goodbye Chrono… I'll see you soon," she whispered.

Author's Note: Yes, I used the demon Mephistopheles as he appears in Blue Exorcist (Ai no Exorcist). No, this is not a crossover. I just thought that since we won't be getting a lot of humor until Chrono comes back he would be useful.