The music box
Chapter four
AN: Here comes chapter four, I hope it's to your likings and I would like to say a thank you to my reviewers to. I have added a little humour too, too make up for last chapters sadness. XD
….
The black fog began to clear in my mind, the pain in my hand and head had now fully disappeared. I opened my eyes slowly to find myself looking up at the starry sky. I let out a moan as I realized I was laying on the floor my head resting on a fallen log. I was no longer in the village but in a wood. But how did I get here? What happened?
I got up into a sitting position moaning as I did so, as a new filling of dizziness flooded into my mind making my head spin and my vision go blurry, my back was strangely stiff, I placed a shaking hand over my eyes to help them to get back into focus.
I looked around me more closely this time. I noticed I was in some kind of camp site, with a fire burning in the middle of the camp so brightly that it hurt my eye.
A campsite, what was I doing in a campsite? There was no one here but me and two large tents. Where was everyone?
"Chrono!" a voice cried out, it was Rosette.
She dropped the pile of sticks she had in her hands and ran over to me, stumbling as she did. She then wrapped her arms around my neck in a tight hug.
"R-Rosette?" I managed to choke out.
But how? How was she still alive? Or maybe we were both dead, there was no way Rosette would have escaped from my brother and the others.
"H-How did you escape?" I asked, when she finally released me
"Satella, who is a jewel witch and Azmaria who is an apostle, saved me" Rosette replied, excitedly
"Satella, Azmaria. Who are they?" I asked
"That would be us sweetie!" replied a voice with a German accent
I looked over Rosette's shoulder to look to where the voice came from. I found it belonged to a woman with long red hair, next to her stood a young girl with white hair and also had red eyes.
The woman with red hair gasped when she took a better look at me. Her eyes and mouth widened, her cheeks reddening.
"Why aren't you a cutie?" She squealed
I winced at her highly pitched squeal, not only that but being called a "cutie" didn't help with the little pride I had left. Puppies were called "cuties", not men and especially not demons.
And to make things worse she had me in a tight embrace, cutting off my airways.
"I-I take it you're Satella" I choked
"Why yes, how did you know?" She asked
I shrugged "Lucky guess, I suppose. Since Satella is the sort of name suited for older women"
At the words "older women" Satella dropped me from her embrace like a hot potato, and punched me on top of my head making me yelp in pain. Rosette and Azmaria just stood there blinking in shock.
"How dare you call me old, I'm nineteen, you jerk!" She shouted, fists clenched
"Oops"
"Geez and this is the thank you I get for saving you, by you calling me old. How old are you anyway?" She exclaimed
"Twenty-six"
At that point, Satella was fuming; giving me death glares that could rival Rizelle's that one time I had accidently stepped on one of her pet spiders.
"Ouch, this was going to sting"
"C-Calm down S-Satella, its late, we can sort this out in the morning" Azmaria interrupted, placing a hand on Satella's shoulder
This seemed to calm the witch down; her tensed shoulders seemed to relax. She sighed and gave in.
"Fine, I'll sleep in the tent on the right, Azmaria and Rosette can sleep in the left" she said, even though it sounded more like an order.
"But how about Chrono?" Rosette asked, concerned
"He can sleep on the floor or up a tree for all I care, as long as he is away from me" Satella sneered
"B-But…"
"It's okay Rosette, I deserve it" I interrupted, laughing nervously
Rosette gave me a look of concern, before nodding and going with Azmaria in the tent. Five minutes later after everyone had settled down, she came out again holding a blanket and handing it to me.
"Here Chrono, I thought you might be cold" she whispered
I smiled and took it from her, gratefully. For it was a cold night "Thank you, Rosette" I whispered back
She turned back and started to walk away but soon looked back, concern written on her face.
"Chrono, just who were those people, who attacked you?" She asked
I sighed, I was in no mood at the moment "Not now Rosette, in the morning maybe" I replied
Rosette just nodded and went back to her tent.
….
(Next morning)
"So you're looking for a guy known as the elder?" Satella repeated, as though nothing happened last night.
"Yes" I replied "We couldn't find the first key, so we are going to ask this guy to make us a new one" I added, throwing a stick into the fire.
I had spent breakfast, explaining to Satella and Azmaria why we were here and where we were going. I had told them about how I met Rosette and the incidence with Ludlow and Naomi and their son Joshua and about the elder.
"So, what are you doing here?" I asked, finishing the last of my breakfast, which Azmaria made.
Satella looked down at her own empty plate, before replying "I'm looking for my sister, Florette, who had been kidnapped by demons"
I inwardly gulped at the world "demons" the way she said it suggested that if she ever set eyes on any demon she would gut them like a fish. This made me very nervous.
"That's terrible!" Rosette gasped
"And that's why I must find her at all cost, for we are the last of our blood line" Satella exclaimed
I suddenly felt very woozy, at the images of Satella giving me the slice and dice treatment that seemed to replay over and over…maybe I was becoming paranoid.
"Are you okay, Chrono?" Rosette asked concerned
"Yeah, just a bit dizzy, that's all" I replied, staring down at my feet
"Oh dear, Azmaria can you do that singing thing again?" Rosette asked
"Singing thing?" I asked, staring up at Azmaria
She nodded "Yes, I am the apostle of charity, meaning I can summon the astral line by my singing"
"And use it to heal people" Satella added
I nodded, I heard of the astral line, it is known as the stream of life where all new things are born and return to after death. And so begins a circle.
"Now keep still" Azmaria said
I did as I was told, then a blinding white light engulfed me, making me place a hand over my eyes to block out the light. Suddenly I didn't feel as woozy anymore as the feeling disappear until it was gone completely. I could hear the faint sound of someone singing beautifully, probably Azmaria.
The singing was soon interrupted by the sound of a small scream, making the white light disappear. I looked over to Azmaria who seemed to stare back at me in total fright, her eyes wider then golf balls her knees buckling as her body shook.
"Are you okay, Az?" Satella asked, concerned
At that very moment Azmaria seemed to snap out of wherever she had been and laughed nervously.
"O-Oh, Y-Yes. I-I'm fine" She replied, with slight hesitation
"Are you sure?" I asked
She nodded her reply "Mm-Hmm"
Satella sighed, and got up placing a hand on Azmaria's shoulder.
"I suppose we better get going" She suggested
Azmaria nodded, and we all helped pack up the camp rolling up the sleeping bags, putting down the huge tents (That you could have fit a baby elephant in) and folding them neatly into matching bags, then killing the fire.
"Well, I take it you have a map" Satella spoke, when we were finally finished
"Huh, you're coming with us?" I asked, half hoping she'll say no
"Why, of course. I thought maybe since you seemed to attract demons, maybe you'll attract the one who took my sister. Now hand over the map" She replied
My hopes just died there and then, but I had no choice. Or maybe she'll come in handy to help defend against other threats and help protect Rosette who had seemed to have cozied up to Azmaria.
"But, why must you have the map, when you're not going there in the first place?" I asked, handing her the map.
"Because. How can you read a map when you're carrying the luggage" Satella replied with a smirk
"What? Why must I carry them?" I asked, staring at the many piles of luggage
"You couldn't be possibly asking three fine damsels to carry such heavy things" she cried, clearly acting like a weakling girl about to faint. Rosette and Azmaria began to giggle.
But her eyes and smile told me a different story. It seemed like she hadn't forgotten about what happened the night before. This was pay back. I sighed and lifted the heavy luggage, which Rosette offered to help, but I just shook my head and said it was okay.
We had only been walking for an hour or so and I was already falling behind, sweating like a pig. I watched in front of me where Satella and Azmaria was talking, "maybe about the map" I thought, but that soon changed when I heard Satella gasp as if in shock and then shake her head. I was determined to get closer to hear what they were saying, but I was stopped by Rosette.
"Now, will you tell me who those people were?" Rosette asked practically pleading
I sighed for what seemed for the fifth time, it was no use trying to hide it from her now, she had seen them and will not stop asking me who they are, plus she could turn suspicious, and find out the hard way.
"They used to be my friends. Loyal. Truthful. But all that changed" I explained
"What changed?" Rosette asked, suddenly becoming interested
"They started to do things that would be sickening to anyone else" I replied
"You mean things like that village" She gasped
I nodded "Yes all in sake of a fairy tale, and to make it worse the leader of the group is my brother, Aion"
Rosette let loose another gasp, tears threatening to run down her face, I felt my heart begin to race.
"And that's why I left them. Because I didn't agree with what they were doing . This made them angry" I blurted out
Rosette smiled, "I know you're not like them" She exclaimed
Something tugged on my heart string after she said that, I was about to open my mouth to say something when.
"IT'S AN AMBUSH!" Satella yelled out
Me and Rosette looked over to where Satella was standing, her features seemed to be on high alert, and Azmaria was the same. At first I didn't see the threat until I heard deep growling.
We were surrounded by what looked like dogs, there were many of them, more than I would have liked. But something was different from other dogs. Their eyes glowed light blue, their bodies were practically transparent but had the hint of a bloody- purple colour and a vain seemed to pop out there and there.
"W-What are they?" Rosette asked in a whimper
"Hell hounds" I replied, also in whisper
"And a lot of them" Satella added, backing into us
"What are we going to do?" Azmaria asked
"We cannot attack them when we are this close together as we could end up hitting each other. We need to split up" Satella explained
I nodded, this was a good idea. Hell hounds were usually very hard to kill due to the fact they have no physical form in this world, and the only two ways to kill them one was with a gospel bullets but they belong to the Magdalene order or two if you can use or are of supernatural, which I was and Satella was a witch, Problem was I can't transform into my true form for obvious reasons, therefore splitting up was a good idea.
"Azmaria, blind them with your light" Satella ordered
"But, I hardly have any energy left; if I blind them I'll be useless" Azmaria protested
"That's fine, after that you and Rosette find a safe place and wait for us" Satella replied
The hell hounds started to move in closer showing of their fangs.
"Now Az!" Satella yelled
Azmaria began to sing as beautiful as before covering us in a blanket of white light. I squinted my eyes to see that it was working; the hounds looked down to the ground their paws over their eyes. I heard Satella shout the word "Now!" before I took my leaving barging the hounds out of my way Satella did the same while Azmaria scooted away holding Rosette close to her.
Soon the light vanished and the hounds were on our trail. Satella split paths, half the pack of hell hound following her while the other stayed and focused on me. I ran deeper and deeper into the forest my lungs screaming for more air. A river suddenly came into view causing me to stop and catch a breath.
The hounds had surrounded me once again; behind me was a violently flowing river, hell hounds were blocking of my left and right exits. I had nowhere to run or hide I had to fight. I looked around me to make sure Satella wasn't around before finally transforming into my demonic form.
I let loose a roar and the hound seemed to back off a little bit. I summoned my hand sword ready to attack. One hound made its move for my face mouth wide open baring a sharp set of teeth, its razor sharp claws ready to tear at my flesh. It only made it half way before I hit it with my sword, striking it square in the chest causing it to yelp before dropping dead. The others followed in its pursuit, each time I fended them off with my sword, killing them on the sport. But I was getting tired.
My actions began to slow down, causing me to gain more hits. One hound had actually gotten hold of my other hand tearing flesh as it pulled me down, I winced in pain as I noticed another hound taking a leap for my face. With no time to use my hand sword I lifted the hound that was still gripping onto my flesh and with all my strength knocked it into the one leaping at me. Both of them collided into each other knocking them out.
That's when I felt something pulling on my left wing, tearing it like paper. I yelled as the distraction of my torn wing caused the remaining hounds to pounce on me, pinning me to the ground more teeth and claws tearing into my skin. My hand sword was broken and my hands and legs had been pinned down. The only way to get them off was to blast them off.
"Why don't you all just die already?" I growled, realising a blast of energy from my body killing them all on the spot.
I breathed out a breath of relief. I had done it. I let loose a small weak smile, before making a rather painful attempt to stand up. I staggered, knees buckling a bit. I had to lean against a tree because of my torn off wing which helped me to balance. I began to feel dizzy my body hurt all over. I finally found the strength to change back into my human form after a few minutes in order for me to heal, the signs of injury nowhere in sight.
I looked down at the corpses of the hounds, and let out a small laugh.
"I did it, I actually did it!" I cried, with a wide smile
The sudden sound of clapping came from behind a tree not far from me, I turned to find it was Satella her jewel knight behind her.
"Well done, my dear Chrono, it's amazing how a demon can so easily kill a demons pet" She mocked with a scowl
I gasped, she had found out…but that's impossible!
…
AN: DUN DUN DUNNN! Oh no, poor Chrono first it was his brother, then the Hell hound and now Satella has found out who he truly is and this has happened in the space of two nights in a row. What is he to do! Find out next chapter XD
In response of Jessiekage review: LOL yes you sort of did give me the idea, I had a plan about something similar but after reading your review I thought I'll make him have a dream instead.
TTFN