Return of Time
WIP 2 of ?
AN: Thank you so very much to my first reviewer JasmineScent85. I was so happy to receive my first review on this fic within a few hours of posting that I started to laugh like crazy and dance around the room. So in honor of this I am making the decision to make dear Sister Jasmine a member of the Militia. I am also going to give this same honor to my first five reviewers. Just leave me a note. Thank you. I love you guys.
Chrno: "Oh! Fuzzy Bunny Slippers!"
ZR: pats Chrno on the head. "No more sugar for you."
For disclaimer see Ch 1.
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Ewan touched a gentle hand to his old friends face. "Will you forgive me this Chrno, or will you hate me for eternity for doing as Magdalene asked?" He sighed as he dropped his head, no longer able to look the sleeping demon in the face. "Forgive me." As he attached monitors and various bits of transfer equipment to Chrno's arms and legs, he murmured his regrets and begged the heaven's for their and Chrno's forgiveness.
As Father Remington worked, Mary's mentor Sister Elizabeth slid into the room behind them. She stood silent as Ewan completed the preparations. "I thought that I would never see this in my lifetime."
Mary turned in her chair and smiled at her trainer. "It's the only way."
Elizabeth's gray eyes were sad. "The Trinity Seal has been taught to Militia Sealer's since the founding of this Order, and has never been used."
"It'll be alright Sister Elizabeth. What's the worst that could happen to me. I'm dying already." Mary turned her dark eyes to the pale haired priest. "Is your part ready Father Remington?"
"Yes Sister Mary." Turning from Chrno he forced a small smile, his blue eyes unhappy. "Is the foundation ready?"
Sister Elizabeth handed a small bracelet to Mary. "It is."
Mary slid the bracelet onto her slim wrist and held it up for everyone to see. The emerald beads catching the light. "A rosary bracelet as a base. Then there is the cross of course. And three medallions, one for each piece of the Trinity."
"Which three did you use Little Sister?"
The elderly voice brought a smile to Mary's lips. Turning in her chair she looked at the old man who was tinkering with the transfer machine. The elderly head of the Weapons and Technology Division, never ceased to make her smile with his kindness. "Good afternoon Elder Joshua. I hadn't realized that you'd arrived already."
The elder Apostle smiled gently at the young girl who often times reminded him of his long since departed sister. "I didn't want to disturb your meditations."
"You mean my nap."
"Yes, well, you're stalling."
Mary rolled her eyes. "Yes well to answer your question. Each medal represents one part of the Trinity Seal. The Sealer, being me, chooses three medals that speak to them. I chose for the first step, the Eternal Star Pentacle. It is to represent his power and the blood in his veins which will soon course through mine. For the second I have chosen my patron, Saint Raphael the Archangel. As the angelic healer I reasoned that he would be the best to preserve our minds during the second step. For the third, the Queen of Saints Herself, our Holy Mother, Mary. I felt that She would be the best to guide our souls to their proper places. Not to mention I think that She is the comfort that he will need in the coming days."
Joshua patted her hand before he placed a transfer cuff on her right wrist. "Good choices." He placed the second cuff on her other wrist, careful not to damage the rosary there. "Let's get this done." Standing he looked to Ewan before moving to the machine's control panel. "Are you ready Little Sister?" At her smile and nod, he started the machine, and could do no more than watch as the Legion's started to take over her body, causing her to scream.
Tears fell.
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As the inferno in her veins faded, Mary collapsed farther into herself, her voice long having silenced itself. Trying to calm herself she wheezed heavily. She knew that the first stage had been successful as she could feel the Legions pulsing through her body, starting to change her, to fight the disease that was stealing her life. Tuberculosis was a bitch.
Joshua touched a hand to the girls forehead and felt the heat there. It worried him, but if she was right then it was normal for her disease. He would miss her when she was finally gone. She had been a good little student. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket he dabbed the sweat from her face.
Looking up she blinked several times, before focusing on the elder. The tangy flavor of blood filled her mouth as she started to cough.
Relocating the handkerchief Joshua caught the blood dripping from her mouth and nose with it. As the fit slowed he started rubbing small circles into her back. "Will you be alright Little Sister?"
She nodded, before coughing one last time. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke, her words slow and liquid. "My lungs… feel like fire. Is it done?"
Sister Elizabeth loosened the harness straps that were holding her charge to the chair. "The first stage of the Seal is complete. There was a seventy-five percent transfer from his body to yours. We should be ready for the next stage in two hours." Her grey eyes darkened to nearly black. "It is as though half of his body has followed the Legions."
Mary gasped as she looked up to see what her mentor was talking about. It was truly as if his body had disintegrated as the Seal was being created. Most of his arms and lower body was gone as was most of his hair. "Seventy-five percent?" She looked up at Elizabeth. "It was only supposed to be fifty at most, what happened?"
Sister Elizabeth sighed deeply, her brow creased with worry. "Father Remington and I believe it is because of Chrno's ranking. He is, or rather, was a very high ranking demon. His power was tremendous. His Contractor barely made it four and a half years before she died and that was with him not using his powers more than a few times." Stepping behind the girl she pulled a ribbon and a brush from her pocket. She patted the girl's head softly. "I'll braid your hair for you."
Mary smiled. "Thank you."
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Joshua watched as the two women interacted. He knew that Elizabeth looked at the younger girl as a little sister. She had been so young when she came to the Order of Magdalene and been given into Sister Elizabeth's care. Barely seven, if he remembered correctly, and already sick with the disease that was taking her from them. She had suffered so many different treatments for the tuberculosis that was destroying her, without complaint. When the doctors had told her this last time that the treatments weren't working anymore, she gave up. It was so disheartening to see such a vivacious girl laid low by such a terrible thing. When she had learned of the Prophesies of Magdalene, she had come to him and Ewan. She had told them that she had a plan. She would perform the Trinity Seal and transfer Chrno from his body into hers, thereby giving him a human lifetime and releasing her from the pain of her own existence. Her courage in the face of this was staggering.
"What are you thinking about old friend?"
Joshua looked up at Ewan and smiled sadly. "Mary."
Ewan's eyes slid closed for a moment as he nodded. Tears threatened as he reopened them. The once clear blue was hazy from his sorrow and regrets. "I wish there could have been another way."
"But there isn't. The Holy Maiden Mary Magdalene herself prophesized that this would occur. You told me of this yourself."
"Doesn't mean that it doesn't still hurt me to watch it occurring."
Joshua turned away and started to play with the equipment again. "The blessing to this is that Chrno won't remember right away, and by the time he does, hopefully he will be with Rosette again. Even if she is a boy now."
"The third incarnation of Magdalene. 'And a Sinner shall love a Holy Maiden, in all her forms and glory. The first but a taste, the second a brief delight, and the third will bring lifelong happiness. Twice as a demon and the last as a Maiden himself. A holy seal will change him. And he will love me again.'"
Joshua smiled briefly, before setting himself to the task of readying the second stage of the Seal. "Amen."
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