Chapter 6: Deep Sleep

It feels like falling
It feels like rain
Like losing my balance
Again and again.

Sleeping At Last - Sorrow

"Father Remington!" Rosette shouted as she ran down the corridor, desperately seeking help. Her legs trembled, a crashing wave of tears escaped past her wide ocean eyes. He's fine..I'm just panicking. He's fine.

But her paranoia was not settling until she found help. The unsteadiness in her legs caused her to fall, in a state of breathlessness. Rosette held onto the banister for dear life. Calming her breathing.

Footsteps where heard coming up from the stairs, in a hurry.

Remington appeared, concern washed over his pale face.

"Rosette? What ever seems to be the matter?" Remington rushed up the stairs and picked Rosette up from the floor.

Rosette held on to Remington for support. "It's Chrono. He's not waking up." She finally spoke as she composed herself. "He's breathing...I think. It's like he's sleeping, but not at the same time." She explained.

Father Remington gave it some thought. "I'll get the Elder. Go wait with Chrono. We'll be right up."

Rosette nodded and hurried back to Chrono's room and turned on the light. Chrono was still the way he was when she left. She sat at the end of his bed watching as his chest moved in and out in a steady rhythm. That made her at ease a bit more.

Soon enough, Remington returned with the Elder.

"Mm, let's have a look shall we..?" Said the Elder, rubbing his chin in observation as he walked over to Chrono. He opened up a black brief case of equipment Rosette had no idea what most were used for. The Elder took out stethoscope and placed around his neck, then put the end of the device onto Chrono's chest. He listened for a few moments then used a small shining torch to take a look at both of Chrono's eyes.

"Well his heart beat is stable, his eyes reacted to the light..so there's nothing much to worry about, Sister Rosette."

Rosette frowned, a little disappointed with the outcome. "That's it? He isn't waking up!" She spoke, raising her voice in frustration.

The Elder turned to the blonde priest. "Would you care to explain, Ewan? We suspected this might happen."

And of course no one bothered to inform Rosette. Typical.

"Very well. To put it simple; he's in a deep sleep. It's what demons do in order to heal themselves and keep them alive. That's why Chrono had become so sleepy in the past few months. His body was initially shutting itself down."

Rosette still wasn't satisfied. "Shutting itself down...?"

Father Remington nodded. "It's a state of prolonged unconsciousness that is caused by a traumatic injury. Like when a human goes into a comatose state. When demons go into a deep sleep, it means the body is able to heal itself more efficiently then it would if it was awake. It's a way for demons to preserve themselves. Chrono's body would of automatically shut itself down during the 50 years he was kept inside Magdalene's tomb. But in this case, it indicate that's the damage done by placing his horns back in is serious, we expected as much." Remington explained.

Rosette looked at her sleeping partner and then at Remington to confirm her next question; "So he'll wake up when he's healed, right?"

"His body will wake up when it's decided most of the internal healing has completed, or its decided that Chrono can handle the healing whilst he is awake." Remington said, those his expression didn't seem so positive. Rosette noticed the worry in his eyes.

"Carry on." Rosette said sternly, waiting for the bad news. Remington sighed.

"Like Chrono explained to you before, things could not go our way. There's a chance Chrono might not wake up, due to what Chrono said about the horns rejecting him and his body not recognising that the horns belong to him."

Rosette's hands tightened into fists. "You're saying he'll die in his sleep!?" She yelled.

"He wouldn't be in pain, Sister Rosette." The Elder spoke. But it brought no comfort to Rosette.

"That's not the point! This isn't fair.."

"We can only wait and pray that he'll recover." Said Father Remington, placing a hand on Rosette's shaking shoulder. He was right, there wasn't much anyone could do but wait. A word that Rosette was starting to hate more and more each day.

Rosette slumped her shoulders. "I know."

"We'll make sure to keep checking up on him and monitor his condition as best as we can." Said the Elder. Rosette nodded.

"Can..can he still hear us?" She asked. She thought it would still be nice for him to be able to hear her so he wouldn't feel so alone.

"Humans in a comatose states may be able to hear sounds in their environment, so I'd say he could hear us at times." The Elder explained.

Rosette placed a hand on Chrono's face. "You're a real pain, you know that right?" A smile crossed her lips. "Sorry for all the worry.." She chuckled awkwardly.

"It's quite alright, Rosette" Father Remington returned a sweet smile. "Let's leave him to rest, shall we?" He said as he left the room with the Elder by his side. "Goodnight, Sister Rosette." Both of the men said.

"Goodnight." She turned to watch the door close behind her, then returned back to Chrono.

"Goodnight, Chrono. Guess I'll see you soon, don't take too long okay? I'll be waiting." She spoke softly. She watched him sleep for a few more moment before leaving to head back to her room for the night where she prayed for Chrono's recovery.

Sorry for the short chapter.

So Chrono is going to be out of the story for a few chapters, so the next couple of chapters will be about other characters kind of like fillers? but still very much relevant to this story. This story is mainly focusing on Chrono's emotions and dealing with his past and who he is, as well as his and Rosette's growing relationship, so the stuff that I've got planned for them will come soon.