Heya, it's been a couple days again, and here I am with yet another chapter of Return to Times of Yore! (grins) I loved the reviews I got for the last chapter, thank you all so much for your praise, and I'm so glad you liked it! Ah, then, on with the chappie!
Oh, yeah, I have pictures of Aidan and Adrian if anyone wants to see them. They're a little older in the piccies, but hey, it's them, anyways. I might draw them as babies, too, eventually. (grins again) If you wanna see them, just give me a holler via e-mail or review, and I'll send 'em right over. Just make sure you've got your e-mail address available, or if you review, type it in the review itself, mmkay? Otherwise, I won't be able to send it to you.
WARNING: See chapter 1.
WARNING 2: Angst ahead in this chapter. Chrono and Rosetteangst, that is. Oh, yeah, and Mary Magdalene finally comes into the story.
Disclaimer: See chapter 1 or chapter 5.
Return to Times of Yore
By GundamWingFanatic90
Submitted: 26 October 2005
Past, Eden, Chrono
As the clouds sped past around me, I could see Eden, our home, directly in front of me. Aion, Genai, and Viede flew close by- I could see them and feel their anxiousness to get home- and the girl in my arms, Mary Magdalene, held onto me around my neck, just like Rosette always did whenever I took her out flying. She was so different from my Rosette, this Mary…
"Chrono! Heads up!" Genai's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I focused just in time to do a roll to the side to avoid a head-on collision with a flock of geese. Mary squealed at the sudden motion, and when I righted myself, she giggled.
"Thinking about something, Chrono?" she asked. I scowled at her, but turned my gaze back to the approaching Eden. We were almost there…
The five of us broke through the barrier around the flying fortress with ease, the technology programmed to recognize our Astral signatures and let us through, and we touched down on the ground soon after. I set Mary down and turned back into my human guise, only to hear a shrill cry and a yell of "SHADER! COME BACK HERE!" just before I was tackled into a group hug by none other than my catlike friend herself.
"Chrono, Aion, Viede, Genai! You're all back!" she squealed, letting us go. I immediately noticed the copious amounts of a certain red substance staining her clothes, observing at the same time that it was smeared across her face and covering her hands, as well. Rizelle stalked up behind Shader and grabbed the smaller female by the back of her lab coat, pulling her up off the ground to glare into her face.
"Shader! You have to help me wash these things!" Rizelle growled lowly. Aside to us, she said monotonously, "Welcome home." and stalked back off the way she came. I noticed, as she walked, that she was covered in blood, as well, and I began to panic.
"Shader, where did all that blood come from?" I asked, suspicious. She began to sweat, and I could tell that she was nervous. I looked around, expecting to see Rosette lunging towards me to attack me with one of her infamous noogies, but she was strangely absent. "And where's Rosette?" Shader fidgeted a bit, appearing to be trying to pick her words right.
"She's… resting." she said at last. We all blinked, save Mary.
"Resting? Why? Where?" Aion and I asked. Shader gulped, sweating profusely at this point.
"Oh, I guess she didn't tell you…" she muttered, and then turned to go, only to have my hand shoot out- along with Aion's- and pull her back.
"Sooou, Lemme go! I was gonna take you to her!" she exclaimed. Aion and I looked at each other, nodded, and set her down. She dusted herself off- smearing more blood on her coat in the process- and waved to us to follow her.
"She's in your room, Chrono." she said. We all blinked, including Mary, who had tagged along, curious as to what was happening.
"My room? Why?" I asked. Shader swallowed hard.
"B-Because it was the closest one when it started…" she murmured. We all blinked again.
"'It'? What's 'it'?" Genai asked, but Shader refused to answer any more questions, remaining silent until we came to my room.
"Chrono, you go in first. The rest of you, stay out here." she said in a commanding voice once we arrived. I gave her a confused look, but she just glared at me until I walked forward and opened the door. I heard Mary ask Aion what was going on, but I didn't listen in, their voices dying as soon as I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. I could see a shape asleep in my bed, and I headed over to it first off. It was Rosette.
She was asleep, her blonde hair matted to her head with sweat and smelling of blood like Rizelle and Shader, but she had a soft smile on her full lips. I could still remember the way she tasted… I shook those thoughts out of my head as she stirred, sensing my presence, and slowly, she winked open her eyes, her indigo gaze immediately finding my own crimson one.
"Chrono…?" she asked. Her voice was weak, hoarse, and I found my brow creasing as I frowned in worry, kneeling next to the bed.
"Yeah, it's me." I answered. "Are you okay? What happened? Where did all that blood come from?" She looked uncomfortable with my questions, and when she went to turn onto her back to look up at me, I saw her cringe, and went to help her roll over. Once that was accomplished, she grinned up at me, though it seemed like more of a grimace.
"Sorry about that. I'm sore all over." she stated in explanation. I raised an eyebrow, taking in her overly-large abdomen and fuller breasts, as well as her sweat-dampened hair and tired expression and eyes. I frowned at her, looking into her eyes.
"Rosette, what's going on?" I asked. I didn't mean to have an accusing tone to my voice, but when she flinched, I knew that she was regretting something.
"Chrono… you remember the night that we… made love?" she started. My brow creased even further, and I nodded. "Well, we didn't do it with any kind of protection whatsoever… and… well…" She trailed off with a sigh, and her gaze strayed to a chair in the center of the room that had a basket on it. She glanced up at me, gesturing to the basket with a nod of her head.
"Go look in it." she commanded. Still skeptical, I rose to my feet and crossed to the chair in one stride, gazing down into it. What I saw made my eyes go wide, my breath catch, and my blood race. Two babies lay in a nest of blankets, curled up next to each other.
"Chrono, meet your son and daughter." came Rosette's voice from the bed, and I slowly looked over at her. We were silent for a long time, my gaze alternating between the infants and Rosette, before I finally found my voice again and spoke the question I had been pondering unconsciously.
"Rosette, why didn't you tell me?" She heaved a sigh and looked up at the ceiling, attempting to pull herself into a sitting position. When she failed, I stepped forward and helped her, putting my pillow behind her back. That done, she gestured for me to bring the basket over and sit in the chair, and I complied, trying to jostle our children as little as possible as I set their basket on the bed next to Rosette's thigh. I sat down in the chair after I pulled it over, and observed as my lover gently woke up the girl and lifted her into her arms. As I watched, Rosette unbuttoned her nightgown and pulled one side of it down, exposing one of her breasts, and raised the baby to the nipple, where she latched on and began to suckle, taking her first real meal in the world of the living. The blonde woman seemed to be gathering her thoughts.
"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry about me and try to stay behind." she finally admitted. "I couldn't take the chance of you doing that, and thus changing history. I'm sorry, Chrono." Her apology ended in a whisper, her gaze not meeting mine, instead fixed on our daughter as she nursed. We lapsed into silence again, and I found that I couldn't stay angry with her. She was too sincere for that.
"'Changing history'?" I finally asked, a teasing note to my voice, one eyebrow raised. Her face broke into a grin, and she looked up at me.
"If you hadn't gone, we wouldn't have Mary Magdalene here right now, now would we?" she asked, challenging my teasing with her own. I smiled, myself, and poked her in the shoulder.
"So, will you still marry me?" I asked. Her grin fell a little, sadness entering into her eyes as they turned back onto our daughter.
"I… don't know, Chrono." she whispered. I froze. She didn't know…? She glanced up at me, reading my shocked expression, and placed her hand on top of mine on my knee, though she re-affixed her gaze on the girl again.
"Don't get me wrong." she said quietly, catching my attention. "I would love nothing more than to become your wife, but…" She sighed heavily, suddenly seeming eons older than her true age of 16. "Chrono, Shader probably didn't tell you, but there were two reasons why I was resting when you returned." I blinked, wondering why else she would need to rest other than the childbirth she had endured.
"What is it?" I asked. A sinking feeling manifested itself in the pit of my stomach, and I began to dread what her answer would be. She looked up at me, and I glimpsed so much sorrow and pain in her sapphire eyes that I leaned back a couple of inches, my brow creasing in worry. "Rosette?"
"Chrono, the… the other day, I had a fainting spell, and… and when I went into labor this morning, there was a sharp pain in my chest as well as the contractions." she explained quietly.
"Well, what does it mean?" I asked, voice shaking, needing to know the answer, and yet dreading it all the while as I stood up next to the bed, holding her hand. She took a deep breath.
"My time… my life… is almost over." she announced grimly. It hit me like a blow to the stomach, knocking all the wind out of me and sent me to my knees, which suddenly felt like jelly. I felt nauseous, my head was spinning, all I could see was Rosette's worried face, and I couldn't breathe. I felt her hand in the crook of my neck, trying to steady me, but the world wouldn't stop spinning…
"Chrono, breathe!" she exclaimed, and I sucked in a shaking breath, let it out, and then drew another, my right hand coming up to grasp hers where it rested on my left shoulder. I was shaking all over as the room came to a halt, and I gazed up into her eyes, the ones that I fell in love with.
"You're… dying…?" I breathed, my voice barely audible to my own ears, but she nodded sadly.
"Yes." she whispered, raising her hand to cup my cheek. I closed my eyes tight with a soft groan, leaning in to rest my head in her lap, my arms coming up to wrap around her waist in a secure embrace as moisture leaked out of my eyes to drip down my cheeks and into the fabric of the blanket. Without a word, she put her free arm around my shoulders, and all was quiet again save for the sound of our breathing and our daughter's nursing, though she finished after a few seconds. When Rosette lifted her arm from me, I did the same with my head and torso, rocking back onto my heels to dry my eyes and watch.
"Chrono… I want you to promise me something." she said after a second, grabbing a nearby towel and throwing it over her shoulder before lifting the baby and beginning to pat her back firmly- burping, I faintly recalled. I nodded numbly, and she spoke again.
"If… If I die here… I want you to make sure that these two are taken care of, okay?" she asked. I looked up at her, seeing her holding our daughter, whom had been successfully burped at this point, and looked to our son, who was waking up in the basket, and then I shook my head, a new determination welling up inside me.
"No, Rosette. I can't promise you that." I announced. When she opened her mouth to protest, I held up a hand. "I won't let you die, so therefore, I can't promise."
"But if I die before you find a way to prevent it, I need to know that they'll be safe." she protested, and I exhaled noisily, rolling my eyes.
"Alright, I promise." I proclaimed. "But you have to swear to me that you'll stick around long enough for me to find a solution, okay?" She smiled, and then spat in her palm and held out her hand towards me.
"Agreed?" she asked. I beamed, and spat in my own palm before shaking her hand.
"Agreed."
"Ne, Chrono?"
"Yes?"
"Could you take Aidan from me so that I can feed Adrian?" she asked. I blinked.
"Aidan? Adrian?" I was definitely confused, now.
"The girl's name is Aidan- 'little fire'- and the boy's name is Adrian, which means 'dark one' because of his dark-colored eyes." she replied. I nodded, and then held out my arms after placing myself back in my chair. She gently passed Aidan over to me, reminding me firmly to support her head, and reached down to pluck Adrian softly from the basket. I gazed down at the tiny life in my arms, taking in the shape of her face, the violet of her hair, and- when they opened- the sapphire blue of her eyes. I caught Rosette observing us out of the corner of my eye.
"You know, she kinda looks like you." she said teasingly, earning an annoyed stare from me before I turned back to my daughter. We were silent for another long time, each of us observing our newborn children.
"Rosette…" I started, brow creasing a little bit. "I… if I'd known…" I released my breath in a whoosh, lifting a hand to run it through my hair. "I… I wanted to be there when my children were born. It's something I always wanted to experience." I felt her hand on my knee and looked up to meet her regretful gaze.
"I know, Chrono. I know, and I'm sorry." she whispered. I offered her a small smile.
"It's okay, I guess. I just hope that I can be there if it happens again." I said. "So… how did you end up having these two in two months instead of nine?" She laughed a little, taking her hand back to better support Adrian, who was suckling her formerly untouched breast.
"I asked Shader the same general thing when I first discovered I was pregnant." she admitted. "She told me it was because they were half demon. Demons generally stay in their eggs for about 1 ½ months, whereas the normal human gestation period is about 9 months. Since these two were both human and demon, it cut the human time down by about 2/3." The explanation made sense, but there was still one thing bugging me.
"Then they should have been born after about 3 months, not two, ne?" I asked. She nodded.
"Yeah. They were born a month early." she said. "Sometimes, with humans, babies are born early, for whatever reason. I guess that they were just ready, or that we miscalculated the time it would take for them to grow in my womb." I nodded in comprehension, and looked back down at my daughter, who was studying me with a sleepy curiosity. I stared back at her, unintentionally getting involved in a staring contest with a baby that was only a couple of hours old at the most.
"So, what was the time of birth?" I asked, not blinking. Rosette's laughter echoed like bells in my ears.
"About 2:30 this afternoon, after 6 hours of labor." she said, and I could sense her rolling her eyes. I grunted a bit, but my eyes were watering so badly that I couldn't make out much. Finally, after a long, hard battle, the need to blink won out, and I wet my eyes rapidly as Aidan drifted off to sleep, satisfied at having won the staring contest.
"So, they were born about half an hour before we arrived?" I asked, pouting slightly. "You couldn't have waited a little bit longer?" She glared at me.
"No. When you're in labor and the baby wants out, you let it out." she growled, voice low. I held up a hand to ward her off.
"Alright, alright, I was just joking. Sheesh!" I said, laughing a bit. "So, when do we get to introduce them to the others? You know as well as I do that as soon as Aion and Genai find out about me and you being parents, they're going to attack us like rabid dogs until they get to see the kids, right?" She laughed knowingly.
"Tell me about it." she said flatly, and then, "Well, considering the fact that I feel like I've been hit by a truck and am achy all over, I'd say that you can let them in in about an hour, after the three of us have had a good, long nap. Got it?" I nodded with a grin, and we both laughed heartily for a couple of seconds, until Adrian finished his meal and began fussing. Rosette looked at me.
"Could you burp him? My arm's getting even sorer than it already was."
Okay, Mary didn't play that big of a part in this chapter, but she gets more action in the ones to come, don't worry. I hope you all enjoyed this latest installment of Return to Times of Yore, and I can't wait to hear from you all again! Please read and review! Goodbye, and Godspeed!
-Fanatic