1All It Takes

By: Yamiko #7

Hello all! Hey, it's July 7 and I'm already starting on the next chapter! Necessity may be the mother of invention, but boredom is a muse. (Probably my greatest one at that.) This one will be pretty darn long, and I'll probably finish it before my parents come back from Minnesota on the 12th. I am sick and tired of babysitting my brothers (the one in middle school and the one in college) and my dog, cooking, doing laundry, taking care of every minor catastrophe that goes my way, and being for all intents and purposes stuck in the house with no friends over. I really should get paid for this. New Manga payment - the best kind. :smile: (Hey, does anybody know when Chrno Crusade Volume 6 is coming out?)

At this point, I'm still advertising for a plot for this fic. I think my boredom muse got...well, bored. He probably went to go muse for somebody else. :sigh: Man, he was HOT too...hence the musing. :bigger smile: w00t.

BTW, the rating for this will be for some language (as already seen in Chapter One), substantial violence (Yamiko is a huge fan of Chrno's demon form, so you know there'll be some good scenes), and general angst (this is "Guilt Trip" Chrno we're talking about here). So, for the detail-oriented and anal-retentive of you, consider yourself forewarned...or foreshadowed, depending. :grin:

Oh, and as last-minute disclaimers go, I don't own anything.

So, on to Chapter Two!

Chapter Two: Control

"WHAT!" Satella shrieked into the phone.

Chrno jumped and held the phone away from his ear, over on the driver's side of the car and next to Rosette. "Stop that, Chrno!" Rosette complained. "I can't concentrate on my driving."

"Like you ever concentrate on your driving anyway." Chrno tentatively put the phone next to his ear. "It's like I said, Satella-san. Azmaria went out on her own, and we're going to find her." He wasn't sure if telling Satella about the info on Joshua and the fact that Azmaria was doing this for them would be a good idea.

"AND YOU WEREN'T WATCHING HER!"

Chrno jumped again and dropped the phone completely this time. At this rate, he would have to ask Rosette to release the seal in order for him to heal his eardrums. Telling Satella the entire truth about Azmaria's escapade would definitely not be a good idea.

He picked up the phone. "We'll find her soon, Satella-san. Please, just calm down."

Yet again, Chrno said the wrong thing. Yet again, Satella yelled. Yet again, Chrno dropped the phone.

"Darn it, Chrno, cut it out!" Rosette snapped, hands clamped on the wheel.

Chrno could feel that his temper was close to snapping. He picked up the phone again and held it against his ear. "We'll call you again when we have more news. Goodbye, Satella-san," he said with as much calm as he could possibly muster. He then hung up the phone and clenched his hands in his lap. Not the most productive thing he could be doing, but it beat losing his temper completely. Chrno didn't really lose his temper often, but when he did, things tended to get...bloody.

Rosette looked over at her partner. "You're being awfully quiet. What's on your mind?"

"Don't you think..." Chrno said slowly, still trying to retain the last vestiges of his patience, "that maybe...just maybe...I'm worried about Azmaria too?" This was said in the general direction of his hands. He still didn't trust himself to make eye contact.

"Oh." Rosette fell silent. The possibility had indeed occurred to her, but she hadn't really given it much thought. "I...I'm sorry, Chrno."

"It's okay." His hands relaxed slightly. 'After all, this sort of thing happens all the time. I just don't normally lose it like this.'

"We're here, Chrno."

Chrno's head snapped up. Had he really been daydreaming for that long? He looked around. One of the last few turns had taken them into a deserted-looking back alley. Rosette had parked the car several feet away from a mansion-sized house that looked as though nobody had lived in it for several decades. The house number read 777.

"Ironic," Chrno muttered as he reached into the back of the car for the box containing Rosette's extra guns and the phone. "Rosette, are you absolutely certain this is the right place?"

"Yep." Rosette pulled the telegram they had found in Azmaria's room out of the glove compartment. "Joshua Christopher. 777 Drifting Cloud Drive. This is definitely the place."

"Okay..." Chrno trailed off uneasily and stepped out of the car. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something about this place just felt wrong.

"Chrno."

He looked up at Rosette. "Yes?"

"I'm going to release the seal."

It was all Chrno could do to keep from dropping the box. Evidently Rosette was also feeling a little more than uneasy. "Don't do it, Rosette."

"Why not? We don't know what's in there –"

"Exactly." Chrno cut her off. "We don't know if the people inside are friendly or not, or even if there are any people there at all. We don't know if Azmaria is there. We shouldn't release the seal just yet." His voice dropped slightly. "It would be...a waste..." He couldn't bring himself to add the phrase 'of your life' onto the end of that sentence. He also didn't want to tell her the other reason he didn't want the seal released.

It had been six months since Rosette had last released the seal. Six months since Chrno had used his full powers. Back then, against Lerajie, it hadn't mattered how much of his power he'd used. Enough to thoroughly defeat the pursuer, that was all that mattered then. Now, only minutes earlier that day, he had been inches away from losing his temper completely. He didn't know if he was stressed or tired or what - he only knew that it was a bad sign. Nowadays, all it took was a minor annoyance to set him off. If he couldn't control something as minor as his temper, how could he expect to control his powers? How could he know for certain that he wouldn't lose his mind completely and break the seal?

He couldn't. And he wouldn't use his powers until he could. It was as simple as that.

He hoped.

"Come on, Chrno," Rosette said briskly, striding towards the door of the dilapidated house and breaking Chrno's reverie.

"Let's go."

It is now July 15. I have managed to A) come up with an actual worthwhile plot B) refine and work out the details of said plot, and C) finish Chapter Two - all in one week.

Yamiko is very proud of herself. :pats self on back: This writer's self-esteem has returned.

I apologize for any typos. The "o" key on my keyboard is acting up...or, rather, not acting at all. I have to pound on it to get it to work. (I think I need a new laptop.) So if I missed a few "o"s here and there, I'm sorry - I did check my work, the typos are just the ones I've missed.

As for the 777 reference...isn't it true that 777 is the number of heaven or something like that? I'm not sure if the fact is right, but I thought it would be fun. (Considering I picked it up out of a JTHM comic, I'd be surprised if it was right at all.) "Drifting Cloud" is actually the name of a street near where I live. There's also Downhill (guess where it goes from here), Oyster Bay (in landlocked Colorado), Distinctive (which I can never remember), and - my personal favorite - Purgatory, on which there is a children's academy/day care. Several intersections away from Purgatory is Deliverance.

I am not kidding. These are all real street names in Colorado - all in one city, in fact. Evidently living 75,000 feet above sea level does funny things to your brain. (You need proof, read my fanfiction. HA! More shameless advertising.)

I also apologize for the slow pace of the first two chapters of this fic - I'm still trying to get my social life and my relationship with my parents sorted out, as well as preparing face the wrath of Kaser next week (I skipped out on anime club to go laser-tagging with a lieutenant in the Army whom my family used to sponsor when he was a cadet at the Air Force Academy. I figure it's a good excuse - this was, after all, the first time I've seen him since he returned from Iraq). So, again, the slowness of the fic will be taken care of just as soon as everything else is. Thanks for sticking with me, and see you all in Chapter Three!