MT: Thank you to LunaAsh, LeinGoDsFAYt, SerenaTate and lenkagamine133 for the reviews!
Summary: The BBA Revolution has taken a trip to Chicago to meet some people, but overall to relax. However, when Rei's secret past, that not even the White Tigers know about, suddenly catches up with him, their trip turns out to be everything but peaceful.
Disclaimer: Beyblade, Chrno Crusade and all the characters. They belong either to Takao Aoki or Daisuke Moriyama
Warnings: possible OOC'ness, violence
Chapter 7: Sinner
"REI!"
Golden eyes opened and Rei turned his head from facing the lake in front of him, to look towards the people who were running towards him. It was the north end of Central Park; no people close in sight besides them, since this part of the park was still closed off since the first demon attack. As the others reached Rei, he turned his gaze back to the lake.
The others were panting as they finally caught up to Rei; they had after all been running quite the distance.
"…Rei…" Tyson dared to go forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. He was still heaving in some deeper breaths, "… What the hell was that..?"
"…" a strained smile crossed Rei's lips, "It was exactly what you saw; a fight between two very well existing demons." His eyes were half-lidded and he didn't look at Tyson or any of the others; he kept his gaze at the lake.
"You… you were one of them..?" Max asked carefully.
"Yes." Rei replied shortly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and lowering his head slightly. "Have been one of them during most of the fights during the past week…"
"…" Hilary's lips were pressed tightly together for a little before she decided to speak. "But why? Why would you fight and bring this many people in harm's way?!"
Rei's brow twitched and he turned his head to look at Hilary with narrowed eyes, "So if you're being chased, Hilary, by someone who intends to kill you, will you then just sit nicely and wait for your death or will you fight back?"
Hilary twitched, "…" well, sitting nicely and wait for death she wouldn't…
Rei let out a 'Tsch' as he turned his head to look back at the lake, "It's a kill or get killed situation. I don't have a death wish, so I fight back. Even with the cost of others lives."
A small silence fell across the people as they weren't too sure to say to all of this. It was a situation they didn't understand as of yet, but one they wanted to try understand; after all, Rei was their friend.
Kenny let out a small sound before adjusted his glasses slightly in nervousness, "… When did this happen to you, Rei..?"
"In what sense you mean?" Rei glanced back at Kenny.
Kenny thought shortly how to better rephrase his question. It end with turning into two questions instead, "…When and how did you become a… demon? Why do they want you dead..?"
"…" Rei let out a short, humorless chuckle as he turned his gaze away from Kenny again. "I was born a demon, Kenny. I wasn't turned into one."
Some of the others blinked, "Eh? But…"
"…" Kai crossed his arms over his chest, "… How old exactly are you, Rei?"
Rei clicked his tongue and tilted his head slightly in a pondering manner as he started counting backwards.
Tyson's eyebrows rose into his hairline. How could it take so long so count? Wasn't he just about the twenty years old..?
"Almost four-hundred, I believe." Rei then finally answered.
"… EEHHH?!" the people who had been Rei's friends for years, stared at him in quite the disbelief.
Rosette folded her hands behind her back. Her eyes became half-lidded; it wasn't a wonder people never believed in demons. After all, the demons roaming between the humans obviously tricked the humans into believing the demons were humans. Just like Rei had done.
Rei sighed, "And to your other question, Kenny, it's because I'm a fugitive, sort of." He mumbled.
Tyson quickly shook his head, "Fugitive? Why?"
Kai uncrossed his arms, "The demon who broke through the wall spoke the word 'Sinner' more than once. Does it have anything to do with that?"
Rei gave a single nod before turning to properly face the others. About hundred-and-forty years ago we were a collection of demons who decided to start a rebellion against the demon society and the Queen of Demons –also known as Pandamonium. That gave us the title 'Sinners'." He then looked directly towards Rosette as she was about to open her mouth, "And my name is Rei and it has always been Rei. Just before you ask if I'm Chrno, again."
Rosette just clapped her mouth shut again.
Satella watched Rei, while raising an eyebrow, "Weren't there only six Sinners?"
"No." Rei replied. "It is true only six were completely known; Aion, Chrno, Shader, Viede, Rizelle and Genai. But when the whole rebellion started there were several hundreds of us." His eyes became half-lidded and he glanced away from the others, "Pretty much everyone died at the early stage of the rebellion. This left it to those six to continue the work… I came to decide to just hide after it had looked like I had died. It might have been the case for other Sinners as well, but I cannot tell as I never saw any other Sinners."
Max scratched the back of his head, "But if that rebellion was almost one and a half century ago and you've been in hide and not actually participating… Then why are they chasing after you? It doesn't seem like this rebellion is actually active any longer either…"
"I guess the Pursuers have nothing better to do." Rei mused mildly before sighing softly, "The rebellion which had been started in 1870 came to a complete end around 1925(1)." He crossed his arms over his chest, "And, well, the main purpose of the rebellion did go through. Even though there are still laying the main lines for the demon society between demons, then a lot has changed. Demons are much more roaming between humans and Pandamonium died for good back then so she is no longer to take control. The Higher Ups who were taking control on Pandamonium's behalf do not have the power they had back then; far from in fact. Though, there are still few demons that do their bidding; like the Pursuers who are left." He ran a hand through his hair, "And apparently they figured I'm still alive, and they very much want to see all Sinners dead."
Tyson fidgeted a bit before tilting his head to the side, "Well… why don't you get the other Sinners and team up with them again, can't they be of any help?"
Rei got a strained smile, "They're all dead, Tyson." He nodded towards Rosette, "Rizelle was the first one to go at the hands of Rosette. But I guess she had that one coming… Genai and Viede died in the final collision with the Pursuers, where Aion also managed to kill Pandamonium… I guess Shader went under there too. Chrno and Aion killed each other in a final fight between them. Why they did that? Because Chrno had changed to the side of humans' of personal reasons. So I'm pretty alone in that sense, Tyson."
"…" Tyson scratched the back of his head and looked the other way.
Satella soon let out a huff, "Well, now we are in on it all; what's your connection to Chrno and Aion, besides being Sinners? You're looking too much like Chrno, and Rosette says there are comparisons between you and Aion too."
"Perhaps the reason to so is because they're my brothers." Rei replied, the defense tone back into his voice. His stance changed a bit more to that of being defensive as well.
"…" Tyson just got to feel a bit worse about his previous question of why he hadn't just searched for them.
"Your brothers?" Satella furrowed her eyebrows.
Rosette blinked, "…" then sighed softly, "Even long after Chrno being gone I still get to know new things about him…" her eyes became half-lidded, "He never directly told that he and Aion were brothers, but I heard Aion few times calling him brothers and I saw a few of Chrno's memories which showed some sort of brotherly bond from time to time when they were still friends, but to then have yet another brother…"
Rei looked away, "I understand why he didn't tell anything. There are just some things people want to keep for themselves."
Slowly the silence passed through the people. Well, the main questions had been answered for now. Still, it had let to even more questions, but those questions could always be asked later, right? The information they had gotten in now was already a lot to comprehend.
Suddenly Tyson stuck his hand in the air, "One last question!"
Rei raised an eyebrow and looked at Tyson who was sticking his hand in the air as if being a student searching the attention of the teacher.
"Why didn't you tell us before?!" Tyson moved his hand to point straight at Rei's face.
Rei batted Tyson's hand away, a far from amused expression on his face. "What part of 'almost four hundred year old demon' didn't you get?"
Tyson waved with his arms, "And Zeo's an android! So what if you're a demon, you're still our friend!"
Kai rolled his eyes, giving a small mumble, "Tyson in a nutcase."
Max smiled brightly, "Tyson's right. You're still our Rei. So you have some extra centuries on your back; we have still been through a lot, and it's who you're with here and now who counts, right?"
Kenny gave a small smile, "And after all; you have spend quite a lot of years with us now. So scaring us off won't be too easy."
Rosette smiled weakly, "It shouldn't be a problem now, ne? Chrno did well between humans, also with many at the Order knowing he was a demon… You've been doing well between humans, so it won't hurt to be around a few who knows the truth, ne..?"
"…" Rei sighed deeply before a weak smile crossed his lips. He knew all of those people pretty well, and he knew even if he tried to run off, they would chase after him. Those people were that stubborn. Though, soon his expression became just even more troubled and he shook his head, "I can't stay."
Tyson puffed his cheeks, "Yes, you can, and you're gonna do so."
"No, Tyson, for the sake of all of you, I cannot. You're only humans; spinning tops and bitbeasts can't help you against a demon. There is no Magdalene Order to run to where you can get training in how to defend yourselves against demons. I'm going to get you killed if I stay." Rei spoke, "It might be every one of us got off unharmed today, but it won't be that successful every time. There are going to come more Pursuers and there certainly is a high risk possibility they're going to start coming in groups. It won't take them long to figure they can chase after you in order to hit me if I stay."
"But…" Max whimpered.
"I might be able to help with that." Satella spoke, placing a hand on her hip. "Might be the Magdalene Order isn't around any longer, but the Hendric Foundation has a lot of the original stuff from the Magdalene Order. Some of their research goes to making the weapons the Magdalene Order had even stronger to fight against demons. They can get trained there."
Rei blinked and looked towards Satella.
The others looked towards Satella as well.
A grin spread across Tyson's lips, "Then that's what we're gonna do!"
Rei twitched, "It's not just like that to train to fight demons!"
"So what? It's not like we have anything better to do anyway." The grin was still plastered on Tyson's lips.
"Besides, we can't let you be all on your own again Rei. We're part of a team, so we all have to train to help each other. Just like in the old days." Max smiled brightly.
Kenny, Hilary and Kai all three nodded in agreement.
Rei's shoulders slumped as he watched these stubborn people, "You guys are unbelievable."
Rosette purred as she clapped her hands together, "Don't you all just see this as ending super well~?"
"Of course it will! I'm here after all." Tyson grinned.
Rei whimpered. Apparently the others had decided he had absolutely no say in all of this.
Satella smirked, both hands now placed on her hips, "Why, then you better follow me. You better move into my mansion from this moment on too, since that apartment you had is not really one you can live in at the moment with a hole in the wall. Going to the Hendric Foundation will be the first thing to do tomorrow morning."
Unknown to all of them, someone was standing on a smaller hill further away from them, watching.
MT: Another chapter done and re-written! Please leave some feedback as it will be much appreciated!
1; People here will possibly argue that everything finished in 1924 with the final battle between Chrno and Aion and shiz, and if I remember right it just says everything in the manga does happen in 1924, though it is known that the manga stretches across a long time; when Rosette, Azmaria and Chrno first meet Satella and she gets to know Chrno's a demon, then Azmaria tells she has (only) known Chrno for half a year. Now I'm not entirely sure what time of the year the CC manga starts, but if it starts in Autumn, then when they meet Satella it would (probably) be Spring, but if it starts in Spring it'd be Autumn, though all of it looks to me like it is happening during the Summer, so… Anyway, out from the period of time I believe the CC manga takes, then I believe they have passed into the year of 1925 before the manga ends 8D
To those who then goes claim it all ended in 1928; piss off. This is manga based (when it comes to Chrno Crusade), not anime based C: Besides, they had freaking Christmas in the anime, so technically that one should have all finished in 1929 if based on the anime 8D
