Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long on the update, but I have three words that explain everything.

My daughter's teething.

Chap: Hybrids, hammers, and loss of duty

Shader glanced through the scrying glass again, trying to recapture the faint astral mark that had appeared a moment ago. Her face scrunched in disappointment. The scientist was so hopeful about this theory. If Chrono and Rosette truly could conceive children together, the possibilities were endless! Depending on the child's biology, that is.

Aion wasn't the first to speculate what a human-demon hybrid would be like. The most brilliant minds of Pandemonium had done several tests and experiments to try and discover if the cross-breeding was not only viable, but prudent according to Pandemonia's will. Shader had long ago hacked into those files in the ancient technological computers, and had commissioned Jenai to steal several of the files before they had all left for Eden. The findings had been extraordinarily promising. That was why the demon Queen had shut down the project.

A true devil-human hybrid could, hypothetically, create their own pheromones for breeding without needing the Devil Queen's own scent to start the process. Meaning that each one would be capable of being a Queen in their own right. Or a King, as odd as that sounded to her. They could gather any group of demons around them and literally start their own Hive if they so chose, letting any type of demon class breed by their pheromone scent. That was the primary reason Pandemonia had put a stop to the hybrid theory. A hybrid of any sort would be the fiercest competition.

They would indeed possess immunity to human religious idols of all sorts, just as Aion had hoped. And even some forms of demonic sorcery would be useless against them, such as mind altering, memory manipulations, soul anchoring, possession, puppetry, and even soul draining. No speculations had been done as to whether or not they would possess a soul, though. She gave a mental shrug. 'I guess we'll just find out when it happens.'

They would be completely independent in their own right, not needing any sort of social structure to function. And while that didn't sound all that impressive, the implications of such a thing were staggering. Devils, for all their emotional detachment from each other, were still very much hive-and-swarm-like creatures, needing others around them on a subconscious level to function well. Humans were much the same way. If they were too long alone in the world, they would fall prey to severe depression, insomnia, paranoia, and eventually madness.

But a hybrid would need, literally, no one. They could be emotionally, psychically, and intellectually functional while completely alone for the majority of their lives. The only exceptions to the rule would be during the formative years of childhood for the sake of education, and breeding purposes.

Shader wondered about that. Such a person could easily decide that, since it needed no one, it could kill anyone and anything with impunity. It wouldn't need to feel guilt or loss at any level. She shuddered. If a hybrid were raised to be a killer, it would be a truly terrifying thing. All soldiers needed to feel some kind of loss when they killed, well, eventually they did, or they would go mad with bloodlust. Sometimes, that was all that brought a killer down. But a hybrid raised to not care about life, any life, would never have that crucial weakness.

Of course, this all was based very heavily on the theory of nature versus nurture. If the hybrid was raised to kill, it would be the perfect death machine, never feeling guilt or remorse of any kind. But if it had parents like Chrono and Rosette, Shader was willing to bet that nothing of the sort would come about. The demonic theories had all been based on the notion that a hybrid would be raised like a devil. But what if it was raised like a human? If it was taught to value life, to be like chrono and his young mate, what would happen then? Could the detachment theory be disproved? Would the hybrid come to need the lives of those around it, like it would need air and water and astral?

The young demon thought about that while her computers hummed away, their white noise surrounding her as she sat in her large stuffed swivel chair. She came to a decision, marveling that she should ever have such doubts about her leader, but knew that this was the wisest course of action. She would not tell Aion about this. Oh, she would tell him about the pheromone part of it all, he would be overjoyed at that part, but she would never tell him about the social detachment part of their mentality.

She sighed as she reworked the notations from the first recording of the astral from the young human girl. Oh, what she'd give for her old computer back in Pandemonium. Now there was a sweet bit of machinery. The first read-out came from her primitive computer and the demon quickly skimmed over the contents to see if her suspicion could be confirmed.

The results were slightly confusing, some of the astral spiking on this had to be some kind of glitch, but the overall conclusion was fairly obvious. She ran it through one more time to make sure of the results.

Briefly Shader wondered if maybe Rosette could even carry a true hybrid child. It could be a terrible strain on her system depending on how the fetus developed. There stood a good chance that since the mother was human, it should develop initially the same as a human child. Chrono's share of its biology would most likely show up later, probably as early as two or three months. Then there was that whole Apostle factor side of it. This really would be a delicate situation that would need careful monitoring.

The second set of results was spat out by the machine. The young cat demon felt a huge grin spread across her face, a happy squeal pouring out, all worrisome thoughts kicked out of her brain. She started jumping up and down in ecstatic joy, the paper clutched in her hand. "They're pregnant! They're pregnant! Chrono and Rosette are gonna have a baby!"

)&$&$

Chrono shot up from his spot on the bed, panting with sweat pouring off his body. He shook is head hard, trying to dispel the awful after-images of the nightmare from his mind. He glanced over to the side where his young wife laid, peacefully sleeping sprawled all over the bed. The young devil felt the same quiet smile that always came on his face when he looked at her like this.

It was still a little hard to believe. He and Rosette, the walking natural disaster, were married. He had never thought about marriage, considering it just as a curious human custom. But now he was married to his Contractor. Well, former contractor. A smile felt all the way to his heart split his face. Now that he had his horns back, he no longer drained her life away. They were no longer bound by her time of death looming over the horizon. It was a wonderful feeling of freedom.

He repositioned himself to spoon against her, one arm wrapping around her waist, his hand over her heart. Chrono couldn't help the twinge of sorrow at the memory of so much time that he'd already stolen from her. She truly wouldn't live past thirty. If only there was some way to give back what he'd taken from her. He briefly thought of asking the elder about that, if maybe he could figure something out with the watch, but quickly nixed the idea. To even attempt such a thing would need Shader's help, and there was no way in Heaven, Hell, or Eden that he'd let the cat demon anywhere near his wife. Where there was Shader, Aion wasn't far behind.

For one moment, he let himself remember in the waking world. He remembered the times before Mary had been possessed by Pandemonia, when he and Aion had been as brothers. When he had laughed and joked with Rizel, Shader, and even Jenai. When he and Veide had learned how to play poker solely to annoy the hell out of Jenai by getting better at it than him. A pang of longing came, to be like that again. To be surrounded by his own people again.

He was honest with himself enough to admit that if Aion was to sincerely change his ways tomorrow, he would seriously consider taking Rosette with him to Eden to live. The young devil sighed, holding his love closer to his heart. He breathed deeply of her scent, trying to forget for a moment.

Chrono paused at something in her scent. It was almost familiar, and he tried to remember where he'd smelt it before but drew a blank. He took several short sniffs, moving down from the juncture of her neck and shoulder to her stomach. The scent was clearer here, but he still couldn't quite catch the memory of what this meant—

The last time he'd caught a scent like this was right before Aion had come to the orphanage for Joshua. It had been a young woman, a few days after childbirth, giving the baby over to the caretakers since she couldn't support it. He wondered what on earth it was doing on Rosette as he closed his eyes and went deeper in the sheets to get back to sleep.

His eyes snapped open, his jaw dropping in disbelieving shock. He sniffed her again, just to make sure he wasn't loosing his mind. But the scent was now unmistakable.

She—

She—

Rosette was—

The part of him that would be a smart-ass until the day he died couldn't help but send out this thought. 'Oh, dear god, who up there in heaven would allowthe closest thingI've everseen to a living natural disasterto breed? Or should I direct that question to a lower source? Sister Kate certainly would.'

If she—I mean, we—are—pregnant, than—

'Drum roll, please,' the smart-ass chimed in—

I'm going to be a father.

'That's generally how it goes,' smart-ass said dryly.

How did this happen?

'I think you know how it happened. If you don't, we could always go back to the Elder for that talk he was offering earlier.'

Oh, shut up, you. He paused, confused. Who are you anyway?

'I'm you, idiot. The part of you with more sense, that is. You know, you really should be making some plans here, instead of wasting your time arguing with me.'

For what?

'For breaking the news to, oh, I'd say, everyone. You might need some serious back-up on this. Think about it. Just telling Sister Kate is going to be interesting, to say nothing of Father Remington.'

He nodded, No kidding. A sudden thought made him wince. She'll have to go off of active duty, she can't be risking the baby's health.

'And that's the bad part.'

How so?

'Hey, you know her best! Just how do you think Rosette Christopher is going to take being told that she can't be out in the field?'

Chrono whimpered in horror.

(&)$

To his surprise, Remington and Kate took it rather well. He supposed that since they were married, it really took the edge off something like this. The doctor, St. Justice, was immediately called in to try and get it confirmed by making Rosette take a physical. He easily did so, confirming the good news by blood tests. In fact, the nun was three months pregnant.

St. Justice raised an eyebrow at the devil. "How did you not notice that she wasn't having her regular visits from the cardinal?"

(for those who don't know: since cardinals wear dark red robes, it was always a joke to use it as a euphanism for getting your monthly cycle)

"When you think something is scientifically impossible, you tend to dismiss things like that," he snapped back.

()&

The psychotic twitch of her eye was all the warning they got before all hell broke loose.

"Duck and cover!" The demon screamed, lunging back out of range.

The table flipped over in the chaos, volatile chemicals and half-finished parts spilling everywhere. Chrono cowered behind one of the unfinished inventions in the Elder's workshop as the nun went into berserker rage, screaming in denial. He glared over at Remington and Kate at their hiding spot behind the fallen table. "I wanted to tell her in the hospital, so if somebody got hurt, we'd be right there. But no! Someone thought we should get her away from people, and tell her in the Elder's workshop, a room filled with hammers and sharp, pointy objects," he growled. "Remington, you are an idiot!"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," the priest hissed back, wincing at the sound of something really expensive breaking. "Rosette, you aren't taking this very well," he called over the table. "Don't you think all this stress is bad for the baby?"

"How can you think about babies at a time like this!" She howled. "You're taking me off active duty! How'm I supposed to find Joshua now!"

KERASH!

Sister Kate winced at the sound, shuddering at the mental tally she was keeping of just how expensive this was getting. "Rosette, that it enough!" She shouted. "You will calm down right this instant, young lady!"

"Oh, blow it out your"—

"ROSETTE CHRISTOPHER!"

"Ear, dammit, I was going to say out your ear," she groused, finally out of ammo to throw. She sulked in the midst of the nearly destroyed room, kicking futilely at a spare part of some odd design. The young woman sniffed hard, feeling tears prick behind her eyes. "Why? Why is this happening?"

The demon rose from his protective spot, looking over at her and unable to hide the disappointment on his face. "Rosette? Are you really so unhappy about this?"

Her face went wide in horror. "Chrono, no! I'm happy about the baby," she paused, "in a terrified sort of way, but I mean"—she tried to gather her thoughts, sifting through the chaos of her mind to try to explain it to him—"there are just so many things that needed to be done. How can we get through it all now?"

He came over to her, taking a shaking hand in his own. "Together, like we do everything else," he said firmly. "You and I will make it through everything, and we'll do it with our child beside us."

She smiled up at him, melting into his embrace. "A child of our own. Can you believe this is really happening?"

"Yes," he said softly. "And I've never been so filled with hope."

"Time for us to go," Remington whispered to Kate. She nodded, as they slowly and silently crept out the door. They made sure to warn everyone away from the shed for a good long while, as the couple had a lot to discuss.

She cocked her head at him, her look curious. "Hope?"

"Just think about it," he said with awe. "Our child will be a real hybrid. A true mix of human and demon blood, not just a human born with legion in their system." His smile could have lit the blackest sky as he wrapped a protective arm around her waist so that his hand rested over the slight swell of her belly.

Rosette grinned. "I'm taking requests now on what it'll be. You want a boy or a girl?"

He seemed shocked at the idea. "Love, I don't care what it is! Just that its here now."

"Well, I want a boy," she said. "I want him to have your hair and your eyes."

"Oh, God, curse the kid why don't you," he smirked. "How about your eyes and your strength? And maybe Joshua's eyes."

She nodded sadly at that. "Do you think we can still find him like this? I mean, I don't think I'm going to be able to catch up to you if I have to run with a twenty pound gut in front of me."

He almost laughed, but remembered the elder's advice about not mentioning weight to a pregnant woman. "Don't worry, love, I'll fly you anywhere you need to go." He thought for a moment, weighing his thoughts in his head before he nodded. "Besides, I don't think we'll have to worry about tracking him or the Sinners down. Something tells me that when Aion finds out about this child, he may just come to see it for himself."

(&

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