This chapter is just a bit of fluff to prepare you guys for the angst.

Chapter 12: Surprises

People help the people

And if your homesick,

give me your hand and I'll hold it.

People Help The People - Birdy

"Happy Birthday, Rosette."

"Chrono?" Rosette's shoulders slumped, she felt weightless as if all the pain she'd been feeling for all these months was suddenly lifted. He had finally woken up and healed. Rosette wanted to cry out in joy. It took all her might to stop herself falling to her knees. Chrono lay there, still not quite fully awake, his golden eyes remaining heavy.

"Sorry I took so long." He said, typical Chrono, of course he'd apologise. "Don't apologies, silly." Rosette shock her head, making her way over to her partner. She brushed her fingers along his bangs, lightly touching his clean bandaged forehead that was finally free from blood. The affection caused Chrono to close his eyes. There was a brief silence that passed through them until Rosette replied:

"Hey! Don't you dare go back to sleep. I'll make sure you damn well regret it when you wake up after another 5 months." Rosette joked softly, she knew better than to raise her usual booming voice right now. Chrono opened up his eyes again.

"I won't, I promise. Hope you didn't miss me too much." The smile returned to his face. Rosette sat herself down on the bed, gazing peacefully at her devil.

"I really did miss you, Chrono." She confessed. "It was so strange not having you by my side. I kept looking around the order just waiting for you appear. Without having you by my side it made me realise how much I didn't appreciate you as much as I should have." Her voice was as quiet as ever which partly shocked Chrono. Of course Rosette was very extroverted and loud but Chrono knew she had this vulnerable side to her that she would not let just anyone witness.

"Don't be ridiculous, Rosette. Where's this all coming from?" He reached out with a weary hand to place on top of hers. "That's not true at all. I don't want you thinking like that, okay?"

Rosette nodded. "Okay." Then she managed to smirk: "You know, you shouldn't always be so nice."

"I can't help it, it's all thanks to you." That remark earned a wider smile on Chrono's tiresome face. It was true, Rosette had somehow enhanced his kindness and brought it to surface. He had always been kind but Chrono tried to push it aside considering devils weren't suppose to be like he was. Kindness had no place in depths of Pandemonium.

Rosette turned her head towards the side, attempting to hide the pinkish blush on her cheeks. "Cut it out." She grumbled in defence. Chrono chuckled which didn't help Rosette's growing (and annoying) rosy complexion. Why was she suddenly feeling like this? Usually she was so confident around Chrono without a problem..

Shaking them thoughts away from her mind, she turned back to look at him. "So how are you feeling?" She asked.

Chrono let out a small sigh. "Honestly, not that great. It'll take some time for me to get my strength back up. Waking up doesn't necessarily mean everything has healed. Did the Elder explain much to you?"

"Yeah. Him and Father Remington explained it all. He said you'll wake up when your body has decided that you're able to handle healing whilst being awake." She said, trying to remember what he said. "You take all the time you need. Don't push yourself for me." She thought it would be something Chrono would try to do. "At least the worse is over now, right?"

Uncetainty crossed his face, unsure of how to answer. Instead of waiting for Chrono to reply, Rosette spoke up:

"Chrono?"

"Yeah. The worse is over now." He met her eyes and smiled. "You should be heading back to the hall, Rosette would never miss out a chance for a party." They had thrown her a surprise after all, but she also didn't want to leave him after he'd just woken up. Rosette grew hesitate but Chrono thankfully reassured her.

"I'll be awake when you return. Go, have some fun."

"Thanks, Chrono. I won't be long." Rosette popped off the bed ready to leave. The spark had finally been reignited inside of her as Chrono watched the months of sadness disappear from her face as she left the room.

Father Remington was no longer at the door when she came out so she went straight to the hall, a grin across her glowing face. Opening the doors to the hall, everyone was busy chatting and eating with one another. Azmaria and Joshua sat happily at a table eating cupcakes. Azmaria was laughing at something Joshua had said.

".. and then she threw the bucket of water at Billie but she missed so I pretended she hit me instead by laying on the floor and placing the bucket over my head. She got real mad too." Joshua said, feeling rather proud of himself.

"Well he deserved it! And you shouldn't of scared me like that either." Rosette claimed, hands on her hips. The two apostles looked up at her and then at each other puzzled.

"Is everything alright, Rosette?" Azmaria asked. "Father Remington looked serious." Confusion washed over her seeing how strangely happy the sister was all of a sudden

"He's awake." She smiled. Azmaria and Joshua's eyes lite up in relief knowing what she meant.

"That's great!" They both said in union.

"So will I be able to see him later..?" Joshua asked. Rosette frowned at Joshuas eagerness but chose not to question it.

"He's still pretty weak but I'm sure he'd like to see you." Rosette said. "Right! I'm starving! I think chocolate cake is on the menu for me." She waved a hand and walked off to the food table, admiring all the yummy goodness. She'd take her time.

Azmaria twiddled her fingers as an awkward silence passed through them. Or maybe it was just awkward for her.

"So you want to talk to Chrono?" She finally asked.

Joshua nodded. "I just want to say hi, I guess. Maybe I'll ask him all that stuff when he's feeling better.." He said, anxiety laced with his voice. "I'm always causing pain to the people I care about. I just want to make things right for once." He admitted.

"I know how that feels. I used to think that too. But I realised it wasn't my fault, just because bad things happen around you doesn't mean that you're the one to blame. We're just unlucky." She offered a smile, then she came to a sudden realisation. "Actually.. now that I think about it, Chrono felt the same way too. He'd always say the people he loved seemed to die or suffer around him..Maybe.. maybe that's why he was so determined to go through all that pain to save Rosette."

Joshua remained silent for a moment, taking Azmaria's words into consideration. "All three of us are kinda the same, aren't we?"

Rosette soon came back with 2 plates of food and a mouthfull of chocolate cake, the evidence was clear across her face. Both of the apostles didn't risk mentioning the amount of food she had as they valued their lives...

"You two seem pretty cosy." She remarked. The two blushed, turning their heads away from each other. Rosette said nothing else to further their embarrassment. She wasn't that cruel.

Rosette sat down next to them enjoying the plateful of glorious food. Azmaria hadn't see her friend look so happy before in months.

"Oh! Rosette? Aren't you going to try the dress on later?" Azmaria asked with a spike of excitement in her eyes. Rosette swallowed a mouthful of food before attempting to reply. How did that girl not get sick eating so quickly? Azmaria would never know.

"Yeah sure." She said. It was a beautiful dress but Rosette had doubts on whether or not she'd look nice it in. It was so 'lady-like' which Rosette definitely wasn't. Sometimes she wished she was as beautiful as Satella and other women, she even wondered how beautiful Mary must of been for Chrono to have fallen in love with her.

"If you keep eating all that food, you won't fit into it, sis." Joshua commented with a casual tone. Rosette threw a cupcake at his face in retaliation.

"Can't a girl just eat in peace!" She grumbled

"Quit wasting food!" He barked back.

"Then you should of kept your mouth shut!"

Azmaria sank back into her chair watching the siblings argue between her. She knew better than to intervene.

After a few hours full of party food and laughter and Rosette almost starting a food war with her brother, they had begun to clean up the decorations and left over party food, thankfully there wasn't too much to clean up. Rosette was able to avoid cleaning, using the 'it's my birthday' tactic which worked, those Sister Kate wasn't pleased. Instead she went back to visit Chrono who still lay in bed, eyes closed as he listened to Rosette talk about the party.

"Imagine Sister Kate's face if you started a food fight with Joshua." Chrono said, feeling quite amused. "She'd kill you, for sure."

Rosette shrugged. "Who cares? I'd hit her with a slice of cake right it that face any day!" She proclaimed, holding up a fist.

"Of course." Was his reply with a smirk. He opened his eyes and began to pull himself up to rest against the headboard, it took some effort but he managed to do it.

"Have you eaten yet?" She asked, her cheerful nature fading to something more calmer. Chrono shook his head as the response.

"Well you need to get your strength back up. Would you like me to go get you something?" She asked, but yet again Chrono shook his head.

"Stay." Was all he said, and so she would.

Then all of a sudden Chrono clenched his teeth, eyes tightly closed shut

"Chrono?" She called. But he did not respond. Instead he placed both hands on each side of his head, the cries of anguish escaped from his mouth and the pain was only intensifying by each second. His claws clenched tighter into his skin.

"Chrono what's happening?" She began to panic, uncertain of what to do.

"I don't-" He was unable to finish his sentence before Joshua busted into the room. Chrono lifted his head up to the ceiling and let out a scream, hands pressed tightly onto his ears.

"Rosette? What's happening?" Joshua asked, walking closer. The screaming only got worse.

Rosette eyes widened as she looked back and forth from her brother and her screaming partner. Then she put two and two together.

Without hesitation Rosette shouted: "Joshua, go!" Joshua stood utterly oblivious afraid he had done something wrong but Rosette had no time to explain.

"Go! Get as far away as possible. Please, for Chrono!"

And Joshua did just that. He ran calling for Father Remington.

Then within seconds, the screaming began to stop to a deadly silence. Chrono's hands fell to his side, shoulders shaking. His eyes were closed, breathing tense and uneven as he gasped out in relief. Rosette came to his side in an instant, giving Chrono time to catch his breath. There was a trickle of blood that ran down his face, luckily nothing more.

"The horns..it's that same thing that happened with Joshua..." He explained as much as he could in ragged breaths.

"But why? That makes no sense." Rosette said, looking puzzled.

Then a new voice appeared. "I think I could explain that, Sister Rosette." Said Father Remington.