Author's speech:

Ok so I lied, when I said this was going to be a fic with two chapters. It turns out that there will actually be three in the story, since it became longer than I had previously thought, and I wanted to chop it up. Furthermore I've stepped down the rating a notch since I really couldn't justify the T rating to myself.

If you've read the AN of the first chapter you already know all you need to know about 'scene switchers', and if you haven't read that AN... well then chances are that you won't read this one either hehe (hmmm... if you read the last sentence then it obviously wasn't addressed to you, and those it actually is addressed to isn't going to read it... I suppose that's what's called irony).

Anyways... Thanks a lot to everyone who has submitted reviews so far, they're everything that I own (uhh... disclaimer and review thanks in the same sentence).

Astral Line

By Shnoosh

Chapter 2 – Acknowledge that Past

"Do they still hurt? Your wounds?" The question was asked with a bit of nervousness and an obvious amount of concern, as they walked down the path.

"No..." The young saint let her eyes skim over the stigmata on her wrists. "Actually, now that you mention it. I haven't really felt them ever since Aion died." The marks were still there, but they seemed to be healing slowly. "In fact, they haven't bled even once since then, and I had almost forgot I even had them." Where there previously had been openings straight into her veins, small crusts were now forming, effectively stopping the slowly seeping of her blood. Still, they would probably leave some form of scar. Wonderful...

The demon let out a breath and visibly relaxed, he had postponed this question afraid of the answer he would get. "That's good." If her stigmata was still hurting, it could imply that she was still... required, and he didn't know how he would deal with that. The fact that she hadn't felt anything from them since Aion's death, could be taken as a sign that it was truly over. "It would seem that God doesn't demand more of you then." He shot her a smile, grabbed her hand, and gave it a little squeeze.

The ex-exorcist frowned. "Well, he'd better not. He owes me big time already, and I haven't even begun collecting on that debt yet."

That made him grin. "Heh... you're right about that."

They were walking down a path she knew all too well, the air was filled with the chirping sounds of various birds, signaling that winter had been pushed forcefully back by milder weather. It was a nice morning, with only a few white clouds splattered across a clear azure sky, as if someone had carelessly thrown a wad of cotton into the air after which it had simply stayed glued to the heavenly arch. The wind was calm, and the air was already getting quite warm under the rising sun.

Today was going to be hot.

Rosette was glad she only had on a white sleeveless blouse, a sky-colored skirt that went just below her knees, showing off the the honey beige stockings she wore underneath, and a pair of light blue T bar shoes with just a tiny heel. She still walked a bit awkwardly, being used to flat soled heavy boots, but it was nice that her feet were allowed to breathe, and apart from the obvious temperature concern this was probably the most fashionable summer outfit she had ever worn. It almost made her feel like one of those keen flappers, well... except for the bobbed hair, she never could quite understand that hairstyle, and it certainly wasn't one she would ever adopt. Chrno walked a bit ahead of her, leading the way even though she knew exactly where they were headed. He was in his usual attire with the red coat which to her seemed way too heavy for the warm spring day it would be, but apparently he was comfortable in those clothes regardless of the weather.

Making their way through a hole in the barbed wire fence and into the 'no trespassing' zone proved to be a bit more arduous than it would have been in her now obsolete militia outfit, and she had to remove her shoes while taking care that her skirt wouldn't get torn. They had strayed from the path, but that didn't really matter, since the plant life around here had completely overgrown everything - a result of an extended time of nonattendance. Larger shrubs had appeared randomly a number of places over the course of years, and it almost made it look like a wilderness. Looming just ahead of them, marring the countryside as a strange futuristic metal building having been placed wrongfully in both time and space, was the large dome encasing the orphanage of Seventh Bell.

"So, now that we're here, do you mind telling me what we're actually doing here," she inquired. She had already decided to let the past be the past, and she really didn't want to see the frightened, frozen face of her first home.

"As a matter of fact I do," he replied with his characteristic smirk.

The usually late-sleeping Rosette had been remarkably awake this morning, and when he had asked if they should take a countryside stroll, she had considered it the perfect opportunity to try out her new clothes. After getting a lift, Rosette had realized just where they were going, but she didn't get a straight answer when asking why. In a rare occurrence of agreeable morning spirits, presumably resulting from the nice weather, she had decided to indulge her partner a little longer. But now the former nun was really losing her patience with the teasing demon, and she wavered her fist at him menacingly. "Listen, either you're telling me now willingly, or I'm gonna be forced to make you."

Chrno didn't answer, but simply went over to push the button controlling the door.

The large steel plates slid aside with the characteristic grinding sound of gears in need of oil.

"Chrno!" Rosette couldn't stand being ignored like this, and the only thing stopping her from beating the obnoxious demon into a quivering pulp right now, was the fact that she was almost dying of curiosity as to what he was planning, and he couldn't very well do it if he had to be hospitalized.

"The reason I don't want to tell you, Rosette." He went back to her still smiling and with a glint in his eye. "Is because I want to show you."

"Show me WHAT?" Now she noticed the horns in his hand. They had once been protruding from the head of Aion, and Chrno had insisted on bringing them along after he had killed said demon in one-on-one combat. Chrno's horns possessed the power to freeze time, the result of which could be seen in the horrifying stasis everything within the dome was kept in, and logically the horns of another strong demon, like Aion, should have powers also.

Other powers...

Powers like...

Rosettes jaw dropped almost an inch... and then another. Her eyes began to water, as realization slowly dawned on the disbelieving youth. "Those horns... can they... can you really...?" She didn't even dare to formulate the question, afraid that she might have gotten the wrong idea.

Chrno smiled reassuringly. "Grab my hand, Rosette. This might get a bit... windy."

She immediately complied, and clutched his hand as forcefully as she could, staring straight at the sinner as he turned his gaze towards the darkness inside of the metal construction, while bringing the horns up in front of his face. He closed his eyes, a low muttering of unintelligible sounds halfway between growls and whispers began to emit from somewhere within his body, and his expression indicated that he was lost in concentration.

The horns slowly started to glow red.

Then the wind picked up its pace. Not from any particular direction, but swirling in an ever increasing spherical current around them. The trees and bushes swayed as the air continuously sped up, and small pieces of debris began to fly around them in almost perfect circles, enveloping them in an aura of rapidly spinning rubble. The world seemed to change its hue as the wind dyed it in the distinct red color mimicking the glowing horns in Chrno's hand. Rosette's hair and skirt flowed frantically, and she gripped her partner's arm with both of her hands and moved closer to him, afraid that she might get picked up by the gale and blown away. But she also saw how, all the trees, which were bent at unnaturally large angles, didn't break, the detritus which flew so dangerously close to them had been lying loose on the ground already, and the globular tornado-like wind kept it at the same distance all the time. The demon stood rock solid on the ground chanting the almost inaudible spell without using as much as a single muscle to steady himself. His clothes were only dancing lightly, and he looked completely lost in thought - almost placid - as the tempest of colored air roared deafeningly around them. Chrno was the eye of the storm and as long as she was close to him she was safe.

Crimson eyes opened, focused and aimed.

The sinner shot his hand forward in a punch-like motion, and in that instant all the debris plummeted straight to the ground, while the wind seemed to find a destination. It sought straight into the horns held in Chrno's right hand, and continued in a line directed by his arm and his eyes.

Rosette saw how the inner walls of the dome began glowing faintly red as the jet of condensed air blasted straight for the small tower of the orphanage. The moment it hit, a quickly expanding shock wave burst forth spherically, and the tower began falling down.

Then the entire inside of the dome erupted in a massive explosion of revived time.

Whole segments of the orphanage began collapsing as the structure could not hold against the pull of gravity, wooden boards flew through the air continuing on a path they had started over four years ago, and frightened screams of children and grown-up alike filled the sound spectrum, as all of the inhabitants of Seventh Bell ran and fell over each other in the attempt to get away from a Joshua who was nowhere nearby. The panic and confusion was complete, and nobody within the dome had any idea what was going on.

A small droplet trickled down Rosette's left cheek, as she saw the frantic spectacle unfold before her unbelieving eyes. All this time, her motivation had been to get her brother back and get revenge for what Aion had done to her life, and everyone she cared about. Never had she considered the possibility that the very same demon, had held the power to set everything right again.

Chrno fell down to one knee, seemingly drained, and Rosette immediately dropped down too, embracing him in her arms.

"Chrno, are you alright?"

"Yeah..." He heaved. "Channeling another... demon's power... is just more exhausting... than I had thought..." He was panting heavily and had to gasp for oxygen in between words.

Rosette held the used up demon, pulling his head close to her chest. The screaming sound of chaos turned her gaze towards the disordered orphanage again, where she could just barely make out that a pile of prone people were beginning to form outside the collapsing wooden building. One voice could be heard above the others however, and it was coming closer.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH... HELP... HE'S A MONSTER... HEEEEEELP!"

Billy, she thought and stood up lifting the feeble sinner up with her. "Chrno c'mon we can't let them see us." She started scurrying along the outer wall, still dragging Chrno along, in order to avoid the open door and the fleeing boy who was bound to come out of it shortly. The sinner tried to walk on his own, but the strength had not yet returned to his body.

Getting down to hide behind a bush Rosette switched her attention towards the entrance once again.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH..." Billy came dashing out of the dome with legs flailing almost as wildly as his arms...

Then he became silent...

Then he stopped...

Rosette couldn't help but giggle through her tears at the absolute perplexity the young boy displayed. When he had been frozen, it had been winter, it had been evening or night, and he had been trying to escape anarchy and mortal danger.

Now...

He was greeted by the singing of birds on a very peaceful and bright sunny spring morning, with butterflies fluttering in the air and hardly a single breeze disturbing the complete tranquility of this rural paradise.

Billy's mind had just landed on the moon, and according to his expression it had not noticed getting there.

The bewildered boy turned around apprehensively to see just where he had come from, and his mouth reopened when the large edifice came into his view.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH..." Turning around once again, he fled the metal anomaly, climbed the fence with an unnatural quickness, and disappeared in a random direction while letting out an impressive amount of noisy air from his lungs.

Shortly thereafter the rest of the orphanage cautiously stepped out into the sunlight, walking in a tight group frightened and clinging to each other.

"Where are we, miss Jean?"

"What happened to Joshua, miss Jean?"

"Are we dead, miss Jean?"

"Is this heaven, miss Jean?"

The hail of questions rained down on the poor proprietress of the orphanage, and she simply answered by embracing as many of them as she could.

"It's going to be alright children... It's going to be alright..." The woman knew no more than the children, and she was as confused as any of them. Still she found the strength to act calm and soothing to the kids she loved more than her own life.

Rosette was on her knees watching from behind the bush, but even if she wanted to stand up, her body simply couldn't at this moment. Her hands were covering her mouth which refused to stay closed, droplet of water kept forming in the corners of her glittering eyes running down the reddened cheeks, and sounds ranging everywhere from laughs to sobs forced their way out of her in an endless stream of happiness too baffled to be expressed orderly. Seeing her first real home and family brought to life again so suddenly, years after she had written everyone off as dead and gone, was mercilessly bombarding her with too many emotions to name, and her overworked mind kept telling her that this was a dream, that she would wake up soon.

Then an arm coming from behind wrapped around her waist. A real arm, which she instantly grasped with both of her hands, bringing the hand of the demon up to cover her mouth before she would start to swallow bugs.

"Do you want to go to them?"

Rosette responded by shaking her head violently from side to side, as she still couldn't articulate anything resembling a spoken language.

Chrno sat down behind the ex nun with one leg on either side of her, wrapped his other arm around her waist (which was apprehended by her as quickly as the first one), and pulled her back to lean on his chest. Rosette immediately stretched out her legs and let herself fall back into the embrace of the demon, with her eyes still fixed on the inhabitants of Seventh Bell who were now calming down a bit.

"I..." Her sentence was chopped up by crying. "I just... want to... watch them... a bit more... if that's ok..." She wiped her eyes and nose as her body slowly came under her own control again.

"Of course it is," he replied and placed a kiss where her shoulder met her neck. He was rewarded with a hand reaching up and beginning to fondle his ear.

"They look so... happy. Don't you think, Chrno?"

A deep 'mmm' was his response. Rosette stroking his ear was something which could send him into a stupor of comfort.

"They're really going to be alright now aren't they?"

"Yeah..." Chrno managed. "The freeze... is gone... for good..."

"You know, you could still have told me before..." Rosette stopped her 'aurical' ministrations, in order to get a less shredded sentence in response.

"And deprive myself of seeing you this happily surprised? Never!"

The former demon exorcist smiled, she had to admit that this had been quite a... surprise. She was also beginning to comprehend now that the kids she knew from her childhood were going to live again. "Oh, Chrno... We need to tell the order somehow, we can't just leave everyone like this, without letting them know what has happened..."

"Already taken care of. I sent the order a letter which should be arriving in a day or two, basically telling them to investigate the Seventh Bell Orphanage. I didn't know if you wanted to meet everyone again and tell them about the time freeze yourself, so I decided to think a bit ahead, and let you decide when the time came."

"But when..." Rosette turned her head backwards to look at him.

"When you were sleeping," he responded with a smile.

Her glossy eyes locked with the gentle warmth of his fiery gaze, which bored into her heart and immediately set it ablaze. I love you... She had resumed her affectionate caress of his ear, earning her a deep croon of pleasure from his chest.

"Kiss me..."

He did.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Slosh... slosh... slosh...

The sound of splashing water echoed through the underground tunnel.

Rosette had now taken off both her shoes and stockings, not wanting to ruin her fancy new clothes with the murky liquid they were walking through. She was a bit behind Chrno who walked purposefully through the shallow stream. He hadn't said a word for some time now, and his expression was somber. He held a bouquet of wild flowers, which made him resemble a boy going on his first date, and she couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of that thought, even though she knew the reason for the flowers was more serious.

They stopped at the large stone door.

Chrno bowed his head.

"Are you ok?" Rosette really couldn't take this silence anymore.

"It just... brings back back a lot of memories..." He answered softly. "Some of them good... and some of them bad..." Placing his hand on the door he pushed it open, and the heavy stone portal yielded, revealing the dry tomb, in which the demon had kept himself imprisoned for more than half a century.

They entered slowly.

"But..." Rosette continued, not wanting to revert to oppressive situation of not speaking. "Don't you think she has forgiven you?"

He smiled a bit. "I know she has..." he turned to look at his contractor and grasped her hand. "In fact she never blamed me..."

Walking slowly towards the stone coffin, Rosette felt the peculiar sensation that he wasn't just speaking about Magdalene. "Then... you shouldn't blame yourself either... I think... it makes her sad too..."

"I know..." He placed the small bouquet he had gathered on top of the lid. "It's just... hard..."

Rosette didn't answer. She understood. She understood and she hated it. She hated that he had to feel this guilty about himself, she hated that she knew just how deep this guilt would hurt, and she hated that she didn't know what to do to alleviate it for him.

Chrno went and placed the horns he had just used to unfreeze the orphanage in the niche above the coffin. "There... maybe spending some years in this tomb will do him some good... same as it did for me..."

"But... I don't understand... isn't Aion dead?"

"Perhaps..." Chrno went back to his contractor giving her an encouraging smile. "Perhaps not..." He came to stand beside her again. "But in any case it's nothing we should worry about." He gently grabbed her wrist with his right hand, turning it so her palm faced upwards, and softly traced his fingers of his other hand across the scab. The skin around the healing wound felt a bit itchy and sensitive, which made his touch tickle, although not in an entirely uncomfortable way. Chrno turned towards the coffin again letting his right hand grasp her left and placing his other on Magdalene's final resting place.

"Do you miss her...?" The question was a bit hesitant.

"Sometimes..." He replied truthfully. "She became a lot to me in a very short time." His gaze dropped again. "But mostly... I feel sad for her."

"How come?"

"She never had any future. The fact that I was going to... take her life was predestined, probably before she was even born. She knew that. She knew it all and she had already accepted it. I don't think she ever truly hoped... for anything... in her life, except getting to know her killer."

Rosette felt a lump rise in her throat. She had primarily considered Magdalene a rival for Chrno's love, and never thought about the actual person behind the image. Hope... it was such an incredibly strong feeling for Rosette. Ever since she was a little kid, ever since her parents died, she had used hope to go on living. It had driven her forward whenever the future looked grim, it had made her decisive and determined when action was called for, and it had been fueled by the demon who had been her strength ever since she met him. To not posses any hope at all... not because of a wounded spirit, but simply due to the cursed knowledge of foresight... Rosette could not imagine how such a person could even go on living. The tragedy of such a sealed fate combined with the hopelessness of realizing that fighting against it would be impossible... it made the former nun ashamed of her own feelings.

"But, I actually think..." The sinner continued while raising his gaze, appearing to look through the wall. "I gave her something she didn't expect... just as she gave me something I had never dreamed of."

Rosette gave his hand a squeeze, and said a bit more lightly. "But... don't you think... that if what you gave her made her happy then it would outweigh everything else?"

"Perhaps..." He squeezed her hand in a return gesture. "You always look at the bright side of things don't you?"

She shot him a little smile. "I have to, otherwise you'd be brooding all the time."

"You're probably right..."

They stood for some time without speaking, paying respect to the deceased saint. The silence which previously had been so uncomfortable, now held a trace of understanding. Even though nothing had actually changed about this visit, and Chrno still had the melancholic expression in his eyes, something had moved a little bit inside both of them. Something had switched a bit from the realm of suppression to the realm of acceptance. Something was a bit closer to make peace with them.

After a while Rosette spoke again. "I think, I'm gonna go back outside now, it's still sunny and warm."

"Uhm... I'd kinda like to stay a bit more, if you don't mind." He spoke as if wanting a favor he didn't quite dare to ask for.

Rosette rolled her eyes in a teasing manner "Sure, if you want to spend the sunniest day so far this year inside I won't stop you." She continued in a more hushed and affectionate tone, letting her hand gently touch his cheek. "Take as long as you need, I'll just be waiting for you outside."

With that the honey-blonde turned around, and began walking out of the tomb with her shoes and stockings in hand. Before she left the dusky room, she shot a glance back at the demon who had reverted his gaze back to the coffin, seemingly lost in his thoughts. A demon shown clearly by the uncontrollable fierceness of his passion or his wrath whenever either was roused. But a demon, who contrary to his race's natural affinity for violence and brutality possessed the gentleness and kindness rivaled by only a few. A demon who would gladly give everything just for her to be happy. A demon who, even though it conflicted with the very essence of his being, loved her.

Thank you Magdalene.

Thank you for helping him become who he is.

Thank you...

For loving him...

Chrno heard the retreating splashes of water indicating that his contractor was heading out of the tomb. He would rejoin her shortly. Rosette was right... it would be a waste to spend a nice day like today inside.

Magdalene would agree on that also.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X X X

A feeling resembling barbed wire being dragged diagonally across his back, forced Chrno out of the memory, and he suppressed a cry. The wound had gotten worse recently, or rather... his body had become weaker, while the wound hadn't.

The sun would be setting soon, and they really should be going back inside, although Rosette would want to sit out here on the porch swing until the burning disk had disappeared entirely, taking the last rays of warmth with it, letting the sky turn from blue to indigo to... black. But summer had been replaced by fall, the evenings had become chillier, and she might catch a cold. In her weakened state even a mere cold could mean...

He couldn't bring himself to envision that.

In his eyes he would forever want to see the reckless, hotheaded, crazy girl who would stop at nothing to get her way. In his eyes he would forever want to see the caring, loving, beautiful woman who had dragged his life out of misery, and into her embrace. In his eyes he would forever want to see the radiant and lively spirit, who would triumph over the dark no matter the odds.

"Rosette..." The name which encompassed it all escaped his lips, partly because he wished to address her, and partly because he wanted to taste the sound of it with his tongue.

The eyes of the gold haired youth opened at the mention of her name, and she turned her head towards the door where the demon was standing. Seeing him over there made her smile, he was simply watching her from a distance, it was sweet... and silly. "Won't you come over here? It's warm and comfortable."

He smiled.

In his eyes he would forever...

want to see her...

live...

That was the second chapter. The anime ending lets us know that CxR unfreezes the orphanage and visits the tomb of Magdalene, but since it doesn't actually let us see it, I wanted to put these scenes in here as a flahback. I felt that this deserved a stand alone chapter, and not just an 'intro' to the last chapter, thus making this story a three chaptered fic. I decided to stick with those flashback scenes only however, because otherwise I could start writing a fic about the whole six months, which could go on forever, and this was primarily supposed to be a story concerning the ending itself.

So, thanks for reading, and if you're not terribly busy (hmm... why would you be when you're reading fanfics hehe), feel free to drop me a review.