Summary: Something's wrong with Chrno. He's acting strange and wants to be left alone. He won't talk about it and after he's gone to be alone, he disappears.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chrno Crusade or its characters; they belong to Daisuke Moriyama-san.

Claimer: Ximander

Warning: OOC'ness, blood, violence

Chapter 4: Last Breath

The Angel smirked evilly as it looked down at the little Demon with a bloodlust filled look.

Chrno whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to look at the sharp object in the Angel's hand; he didn't want to see his own life disappear. He felt more tears of blood roll down his cheeks as he saw the memories of his friends, his brother and Ximander flash inside his mind.

This was it. He was going to die.

"LET GO OFF HIM!" roared a strong voice as alarms started sounded throughout whole Heaven.

The Angel turned his gaze in the direction the voice had come from and was met by a set of claws before he was ripped into pieces.

Chrno opened his eyes and saw Angel pieces fall to the floor. Coughing, he looked up to see Ximander whom released and picked him up. Chrno wrapped his small arms around the older Demon and cried. Ximander had arrived to save him.

Ximander held the little Demon close and murmured softly "Calm down Chrno, I'm here, I'm here." He spread his wings and was about to leave Heaven with Chrno when horrible pain zoomed through his body. He dropped Chrno to the ground and fell to his knees as he gripped his horns tightly, "W-what is this?"

Chrno hissed in pain when he hit the floor and managed to push himself to his hands and knees. He looked towards his caretaker with fearing eyes "X-Ximander..?" He reached a hand out to grab Ximander's arms when he saw the horrific sight of Angels landing behind Ximander.

Ximander saw the rapidly growing fear in Chrno's eyes and knew what was going to happen. The next second, he let out a pained cry as one of the Angels ripped off his horns.

Chrno cried out his name.

The pain became dull rather quick; however, his powers, his energy and his consciousness did so as well. He could hear voices call out his name "Voices..?" There was only supposed to be one voice calling for him. Ximander had no more time to think about such facts as he was grabbed by the hair and swung into a wall. He landed on the ground and coughed violently. In these conditions he did not stand a chance in fight.

Aion made a mad dash over to his horrified and wounded brother. He did not blame Chrno for looking so horrified. Blood were smeared all over the falls and the ground, even pieces of meat ripped off other Demons bodies lay across the ground and made the side even more horrific. There were objects and tools to torture and kill lying on desks, rusted by the blood.

Not only Chrno's face but his whole body was covered in his own blood. He had wounds and cuts everywhere and where the blood didn't cover his skin he was ghostly pale. He coughed up blood and was drained for energy.

And Ximander…

Ximander had become the next on their list.

Chrno whimpered and clung to his brother as he felt him. His amber orbs watched the Angels and how they advanced at Ximander. He felt like it was his entire fault. He was the cause of Ximander soon dying, and so would Chrno self and Aion too.

Ximander pushed himself to his hands and knees and tried to get to his feet; however, a hard kick delivered to his stomach made him gasp and crumble together on the cold, blood covered ground. He hissed in pain and tasted the blood as it began to trickle out of his mouth. He was seen as one of the Elders and strongest Demons existing; now he felt weak, dying and helpless.

The only annoying thing about being a Demon was the horns; if you lost them you were screwed. What about the Angels? You were lucky as Demon if you managed to rip them apart before more Angels appeared to help. The smartest thing to do would be retreat, however, not many Demons wanted to do such a thing, they'd rather fight and die the death they hadn't believe they would suffer. There was no known way to weaken an Angel like a Demon could be weakened.

A harder kick than the first one was delivered to Ximander's chest and he made contact with the wall. Loud cracks sounded throughout the room as Ximander's ribs broke. He wrapped an arm around his chest and coughed blood.

Aion felt one of Chrno's tears fall down on his hand and tightened his grip on his brother. He watched as the Angels beat Ximander and it only got worse for each passing second. He had to find a way to protect his brother and to help Ximander. But there was nothing he could do. He was just a child. He felt the fear wash over his body and he tightened his grip on his brother even more.

Ximander breathed heavily and looked up to see the lot of Angels there surrounded him. He howled in pain as an iron bar slammed against his head and caused the bleeding from his temples to worsen. His life disappeared like his blood. His breath caught in his throat and he desperately tried to fill his lungs with air instead of blood.

Two of the Angels grabbed Ximander by his arms and pulled him to his feet. The third Angel, the one with the iron bar, slammed the iron bar against Ximander's head again.

Ximander cringed in pain and gagged as blood trickled out of his mouth. His head hurt and his vision blurred. He felt like losing consciousness without losing it. A sudden pain zoomed through his body and he cried out in agony as an Angel sword impaled his torso and was twisted inside of him.

The Angels laughed at the suffering Demon, laughed at his struggles and his outcries.

Ximander coughed up blood and felt the pain worsen as he moved. His head dropped against his chest as his consciousness disappeared. High pitched sounds soon reached his ears and he forced his head to look up.

Three more Angels had appeared. One of them stood on a distance, watching. His azure eyes filled with hatred as he watched the Demons. The two other Angels had grabbed Aion and Chrno and lifted them into the air.

The smaller Demons cried out in fear and struggled to get free without the smallest kind of luck.

Ximander's eyes widened before his instincts took over.

His eyes narrowed.

His fangs bared.

He growled deeply.

The water felt cool against his dark skin. After all those years and it still came to his mind, those memories. He could forget all about it the rest of the year but when it came to those days.

Aion was still on his knees in the water and watched the moon. He laughed bitterly as he his tear roll down his cheeks. All year round he wished for his brother to join them as one of the Sinners again, but he just wished to have his brother close as a brother in the grieving at that moment.

Aion blinked as another tear rolled down his cheek and smiled a sad and bitter smile "What wouldn't you think if you saw us now, Ximander?"

Chrno whimpered and shook as the Angel whom held him pressed his fingers against Chrno's wounded.

Aion's thoughts left his surroundings as one of the Angel's tore up his side, hip and leg. He screamed in pain and struggled to get free as he felt the blood leak out of his torn side.

The Angels grinned evilly at the small Demons. The evil grins were still plastered on their faces as their heads left their bodies and fell to the ground.

Chrno and Aion felt themselves getting dropped only to be caught in the arms of someone else. They looked up to see Ximander pained and pale face. A split-second later they flew into the air.

The only Angel there had not been ripped into pieces by Ximander had been the one who stood and watched it all.

The Demons flew at high speed through the place called Heaven. Outside the bloodied room the light shone even brighter and hurt their eyes even more. Angels flew up behind them and hunted them through Heaven. The Angels wouldn't stop hunting them before they had reached Pandemonium.

Ximander's vision was fuzzy and he was barely able to see where he flew. He could see golden gates in the distance and picked up speed and flew through the gates not long after. The blood leaked from his bleeding temples and he could still spot the Angels in the background. The Angels were still following them as they flew across the oceans on Earth.

Suddenly, the Angels stopped midair and did not follow the retreating Demons any longer. The Angels refused to cross the boundaries to Pandemonium.

Ximander dropped Aion and Chrno to the ground as they entered the ship Pandemonium. He took a single step forwards then fell to his knees to further fall completely to the ground. His breathing was ragged and he looked at the smaller Demons.

Both Aion and Chrno looked helplessly and teary eyed at Ximander. They couldn't believe it. Ximander's normal tanned skin was so ghostly pale.

Ximander smiled sadly at the brothers and mouthed a "don't worry". Blood trickled out of his mouth and leaked out of his wounds. His golden eyes became dull until they rolled into his head and closed.

The brothers watched as the Demon whom had cared about them the most stopped breathing.

"XIMANDER!"

Most of the Demons running towards them were of the Elders; however, young adults appeared as well. They came running as they heard the smaller Demons cries for the Fallen.

One of the Elders pushed the twins roughly aside and grabbed the Fallen's to pull it to his feet. When the Fallen did nothing and was just lifeless, the Elder let go off the body. "5:23 AM. Year 1614. Ximander's gone."

Aion and Chrno huddled into a corner where Aion held Chrno tight. They cried silently and watched the mess before them. Aion's grip tightened around Chrno as he felt his brother fall unconscious. Aion buried his face in Chrno's hair while his tears streamed down his cheeks.

Chrno sighed sadly; he could feel Aion bury his face into Chrno's purple hair even though Aion wasn't there. It was fifty-five years since they had grieved together. Chrno could far from help the feeling of wanting to be with Aion and grieve. However, it was impossible for them to ever do so again.

Chrno watched as the sun started to rise through half-lidded eyes. It was beautiful and made his heart hurt even more. He wondered how something could be so beautiful at such a painful.

He sighed deeply and turned on his heel. The others had to worry about him so he couldn't stay by the beach any longer. He cast a last sad glance over his shoulder "Goodbye until we meet again, brother."

Aion moved a hand up to his face and wiped the tears away from his face. He smiled sadly and moved to his feet "I'll see you soon, brother." Then he set off into the air and flew off.

"Where do you think he is?" asked Azmaria worriedly as she looked up at Rosette.

Rosette didn't answer and didn't move. She didn't know what to answer. She was worried for her little Demon.

Satella sat on the couch and watched the nun and the little Albino. She couldn't wrap her head around how Rosette could trust a Demon but still he always followed and cared for her. It was weird not to see the little Demon run at Rosette's heels. It worried even her.

Steiner stood behind the couch and decided to answer Azmaria's question "A place there makes him feel better," the three females turned to look at him and he explained "Memories seemed to make him sad. I assume he walked off alone to find a place there would make him feel better while he thought things through."

Rosette narrowed her eyes "Are you suggesting we make Chrno unhappy?" She could not tolerate being blamed for such a thing. Might be she was a bit violent sometimes but she would never make Chrno unhappy.

Steiner sighed "No. I'm simply saying people sometimes tend to find help for their sadness by places, animals or objects rather than being with others and talk about it," Steiner's voice became more and more serious for each word "He might not want us to know what's wrong and by that, he keeps to himself."

"…" Rosette shut her mouth closed and sat down on the couch next to Satella. She wanted to know where her little Demon was; she hated to wait and hated to worry even more. She looked at her hands in her lap. "…Where can he be?"

Azmaria and Satella looked sadly at Rosette. They didn't know what to say to make the blonde girl feel better.

"I'm here Rosette"

Rosette, Azmaria, Satella and Steiner turned their heads to see Chrno walked in through the door with an apologetically look on his face.

Rosette's eyes widened slightly before she jumped to her feet and stomped over to Chrno to tackle him to the floor "Where in the world have you been! We've been so worried about you!" she grabbed him by the collar and shook him back and forth.

Chrno smiled sheepishly "I'm sorry Rosette" He was happy to be back between the violent Rosette and the others.

Steiner and Satella smiled at the sight before them. Rosette ways to express her feelings were unusual. She tended to violence and Chrno understood this violence on whatever weird way it was.

Azmaria smiled then turned her gaze towards the window as something silvery caught her attention. She walked over to it and looked out of it but saw nothing. Whatever she had seen was gone.

On the hill over the Harvenheit mansion stood a person and watched the building. His hair swayed as the air blew past. He watched as the little Albino known as Azmaria Hendric looked out the window. Behind her appeared the Jewel-Summoner, Satella Harvenheit along with her butler Steiner. The nun, Rosette Christopher appeared on one side of Azmaria, while Chrno the Sinner appeared on the other.

The person looked from the five in the window to a spot brighter than the others on the cloud free, sun shining sky. His eyes narrowed at the sight.

MT: What an evil person I am to stop the whole story here and say that's it for this time. No more chapters will be added. There is a "sequel" called 'It's Not Over' between the bunch of stories I have BUT that will be deleted sometime in the near future (just so you know it) and then I plan to create a true sequel to this story there will be set after Chrno and Aion's final fight in Pandemonium (remember this is all manga based)

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