-Hello, back after a lo-o-o-o-ong delay that seemed to take me forever! I finally sat down and started to write, (while listening to my new songs from i-Tunes!) Recently I googled my penname trenity170, right? I found out that this story is on a website! Crazy! I'm so flattered, I don't really know what to say… Thanks to all of you reading this, and please, give me your honest feedback. Thanks. Now then, onto the story, right?
"How did he make you a demon?" Chrono blurted out at the exact same time of Rosette. Upon hearing both of their voices the two looked at each other oddly until Marie replied.
"I… don't know. All I know is I haven't aged… he told me I would never be able to leave. I can't get past the property of this church…" she sobbed, tugging fretfully at her hair and moaning.
"Maybe you're not a demon… maybe you're just a spirit," Rosette offered helpfully.
"I couldn't even begin to think that! You can see me, right?" she asked almost hysterically, tears rolling down her face in an unending stream.
"Yes," Chrono replied soothingly, placing a hand on the girl's small back as she looked up at them with now bloodshot eyes.
"Good…" Marie sighed, her body going limp.
"Why did Aion attack this church?" Rosette asked quietly, picking up one water stained bible and squinting to look at the text which had long since run off into inky puddles.
"As he left he muttered something about how an apostle wasn't here, that he'd been misinformed… I think," Marie answered quickly, wringing her bony fingers in worry.
There was the sound of a door creaking and the three looked over to see a slightly disgruntled Azmaria, who was presently wiping her eyes sleepily.
"There you are, Rosette," she yawned, stretching her arms and walking over. Finally she took notice of Marie who was staring at her through tear brimmed eyes.
"Who's that!" Azmaria cried out, overreacting slightly.
"My name is Marie," Marie mutter off, bowing her head slightly.
"She lives here," Chrono offered.
"Oh…" Azmaria trailed off. "I was wondering where you were, Rosette. When I woke up, you were gone."
An awkward silence seemed to take over as Marie dried her tears off on the tattered hem of her skirt and got up. Just barely, Chrono noticed there was no indication that she was sitting in that old pew at all…
"Do you know where Aion is?" Marie suddenly asked, picking up a chunk of brick and tumbling it between her two hands.
"We're actually searching for him," Rosette replied, completely ignoring the odd look Chrono was giving the girl.
"Why are you searching for him?" Marie asked quietly, tossing the chunk of debris aside, not caring where it landed.
"He…" Rosette stopped for a moment and then continued.
"He stole my brother from me…" the blonde nun trailed off and then sighed.
"I'm… sorry," Marie apologized, though the three watching her didn't know why she'd fell the urge to apologize.
"My brother is an apostle and he was taken from me by Aion for that reason," Rosette explained.
She didn't know why but she was oddly compelled to tell this blue haired stranger her story. Maybe it was because as Rosette looked at the girl she saw herself, and in Brain, her brother. What could she do? Marie's brother had been taken by Aion to, but in a far more permanent way.
In a matter of seconds, Rosette found herself pouring out her life story. Everything. From the orphanage and Joshua being taken away to leaving the Magdalene outpost if Chicago. Soon the blonde nun was sitting down on a rotting pew and finally her story came to an end. Finally.
"I'm sorry that happened to you," Marie started to say slowly, choosing her words carefully as she walked over cautiously. Her feet barely resting on the ruins of the walls. "You're staying here until you can get a car, right?"
"Yeah," Rosette replied quickly, brushing the few tears that she had cried off of her face.
"There's a mechanic barely a quarter mile down from here. He's reasonably priced. If you leave now, you should get there and be back before it's dark," Marie explained, picking up an old bible and tore out an old blank page. Rummaging around an old pew she found a nubby little graphite stub and clasped it between her fingers and scrawled out instructions in a messy handwriting.
"Here, it'll get you there safely," Marie explained, handing over the once waterlogged, now stiff piece of paper.
"Thank you, Marie," Azmaria replied gratefully as Chrono took the sheet of paper and they quickly left after Marie assured them that she didn't want to leave the Church. They headed across the damp field across from them as she waved cheerfully from the cracked stone steps.
"That was nice," Azmaria said cheerfully, tugging at her wrinkled clothes and smiling over at Rosette and Chrono.
"I don't really know if NICE is the word," Chrono muttered off, tugging his coat up higher on his body as he tried to ward of the freakish cold that suddenly raced across the field.
Azmaria and Chrono waited for Rosette to add to their conversation and when they didn't hear it they stopped, looking over the nun.
She was staring angrily at the paper and finally stopped, her hands shaking and her skin slowly flushing crimson in frustration.
"Rosette?" Chrono asked cautiously.
"What's wrong?" Azmaria asked, though all feared that they knew the question.
"I… Can't… UNDERSTAND THIS MAP!" Rosette cried out, shaking it angrily into the air, her eyes seemed to burn with flames of rage.
"You mean…?" Azmaria asked fearfully, looking around and realizing that they were in a middle of a field and couldn't see anything but green grassy hills.
"We're not… lost… are we?" Chrono asked, annoyed and exhausted.
Rosette didn't reply.
Taking this to be a yes, Chrono gave an almighty sigh, rolling his eyes to the sky.
"Let me see that map, it can't be THAT hard to read," Chrono sighed though he didn't touch the map because as he reached towards it Rosette seemed to make an odd little noise and glared at him slightly.
"Where is that MECHANIC!" Rosette screamed into the pasture scene until they heard laughter.
"You're looking for Nathan?"
It was a pleasant voice that belonged to a young man who was walking up the hill. He was rather plain, with sandy blonde hair cut above his ears and deep blue eyes rimmed in brown. Dressed in a pair of deep brown work pants with the knees coated in grass stains and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Brown leather suspenders kept the pants in place, though the legs still fell over sensible loafers the same color as his suspenders. Waving at them cheerfully, he couldn't have been older than 25.
"Is Nathan the mechanic?" Chrono replied, waving back and trying to calm Rosette down as she was presently tearing the map into many tiny little paper pieces.
"Yes, indeed he is," the man replied, finally coming level with them.
"Well then, yes," Chrono nodded his head while Azmaria gathered a little closer to him.
"Well, hello, I haven't seen people around here in ages!" the man exclaimed, wiping his dirt stained hands off on his pants.
"My name is Alfred Higgins, it's a pleasure to finally have visitors!" he exclaimed, holding out his hand for them to shake.
"Oh!" Rosette exclaimed, pulling herself out of her cloud of fury and shaking his rough hand, "My name is Rosette, and this is my partner Chrono."
"Pleasure, and who is this adorable little girl?" Alfred asked pleasantly, taking Azmaria's pale hand and bowing politely.
Blushing and laughing quietly off Azmaria couldn't help but smile as Alfred stood, smiling at her happily.
"My name is Azmaria," she replied quietly, placing her free hand up against her lips and chewed on one nail.
"What a pretty name. Well, if you're looking for Nathan, I'll lead you there," Alfred offered cheerfully, pushing a few stray bangs out of his eyes.
"That would be great," Chrono accepted appreciatively, nodding his head happily to the man.
"Thanks," Rosette muttered off as Alfred began to lead them across the field.
"What was with the paper scraps that were everywhere back there?" he asked after around fifteen minutes of silence.
"Uh… we had a map…" Rosette trailed off, looking over to the side with an annoyed and slightly embarrassed look on her face.
"Couldn't read it, eh? Where exactly did you guys wander from?" he asked cheerfully as they made their way to the visit's and finally they reached the village.
"The church nearby," Azmaria answered timidly.
"That church? It's abandoned, is anybody even out there?" he asked curiously and leading them to the mechanic's shop.
"Yeah, someone's out there," Rosette replied as the mechanic Nathan made his way over.
Dressed like any other mechanic, he seemed to be well into his sixties and had his large hands shoved deep into the pockets of his overalls.
"You need a mechanic? Oh, hello Alfred," Nathan greeted, slapping Alfred hard on the back and the three had to hold back laughter at the expression on Alfred's face as the mechanic's hand slapped down his back.
"We need a mechanic to fix up our old car," Rosette explained.
"Well, Alfred, where are they staying?" Nathan asked jovially, looking over at the boy.
"They said near the old church that got destroyed," Alfred replied as he made to leave.
"Well, I'll be… nobody's even there anymore. Glad to se that you kids made it out alive!" Nathan replied, wiping grease off his hands.
"I'll head out in about fifteen minutes. Why not go ahead?" he explained.
Not knowing what else to do, the small group turned around, got directions from Alfred and made their way back to the church to find it… reduced to nothing but rubble, all the walls were crumbled down and Chrono shivered. It felt like Aion had just been there…
-I'll end it there and post up the next chapter as soon as I can. Enjoy. Have fun. PLEEEEAAASSSEEE review. Cheerio until the next chapter!