The Source of Power
By: Yamiko #7
So how was everybody's Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Fill-In-The-Holiday? Mine was fine, thanks...just great. (My brothers and I got along for a whole eleven hours straight. I'm telling ya, miracles DO happen. O.O Really.)
Back to the not-so-daily grind and the systematic cranking out of Chapter Three. This one should be a little (or maybe probably hopefully A LOT) longer than the previous two chapters (let's see if I can break 3 pages). Like I said, miracles do happen.
So, without any further ado or idiotic blabbering on my part, I present Chapter Three!
Chapter Three: Jolt
Chrno raised an eyebrow at the return of the trio of bedraggled nuns. He was glad Joshua and Azmaria had gone inside: the latter would have panicked and worried at the appearance of the three. The former would simply have laughed. "So, how did it go?" he inquired. "Did you manage to find Rosette?"
"No," Claire pouted.
"Anna got us lost," Mary complained.
"Hey." Anna shrugged. "I just said to go left. You didn't have to listen to me, you know."
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," Claire quoted, waxing poetic. "We took the one less traveled by..."
"...And ended up falling into a creek," Mary finished, wringing dirty water out of the hem of her dress.
"Then we had to crawl through that bramble patch." Anna rolled her eyes and pulled one of the aforementioned brambles out of her hair. "That was absolutely ridiculous."
"Well," Chrno quirked his other eyebrow to match the first, "do you think the beating would have been any worse if you had managed to find Rosette and walked in on her?"
They all stopped and blinked at him.
"Um," Claire said slowly, "I'm pretty sure you're the only person she beats."
"That's not true," Mary piped up. "She hits the Elder all the time."
"Yeah, but the Elder deserves it." Anna turned to Chrno. "Sorry." She shrugged. "You want to find her, you're going to have to go yourself. There's no way we're going out that way again." This statement was met with murmurs of assent from Mary and Claire.
Chrno sighed. "I'm sorry things went so badly." He flashed them a winning smile. "Thanks anyway for helping."
All three girls blushed at that. Mary began to giggle. The fact that Rosette and Chrno were and official "couple" and that they had been so for weeks didn't stop the three young nuns from having major crushes on him.
He knew it, too. Hence the smile.
"Oh, don't worry." Anna, the only one who seemed to be able to speak through her crush and blush combo, responded with a huge grin. "We were happy to do it. Weren't we, girls?"
Claire and Mary simply nodded.
Claire, ever the sensible one, finally snapped out of it. "Um...weren't we supposed to clean the church today?"
"Oh yeah!" Anna snapped her fingers. She flashed another grin - "See ya, Chrno!" - and headed off with her two friends towards the chapel, uncontrollable giggling floating after them in the late morning air.
Chrno waited until they were out of earshot to start laughing. He laid down on the wide rim of the fountain and laughed until tears formed in the corners of his eyes and his sides ached. He had no idea why those three made him laugh so hard or so much. They just...did.
He certainly wasn't complaining.
"So what's so funny?"
He opened one eye. "Three words: Anna, Mary, and Claire." He sat up and patted the spot next to him, motioning for Rosette to sit.
"That's four words." She perched next to him on the fountain rim.
He turned a hesitant half-smile towards her. "Still angry?"
"Nope." She smiled, shaking her head and turned sideways, leaning her back against his shoulder.
He shivered slightly. He did this sometimes, shivering at her touch. This time was different, though. It wasn't as...pleasant. In fact, he really didn't like it.
He shrugged it off, deciding to ignore it.
"So, when you ran off earlier...where did you go?"
She looked up at him and flashed a grin. "Now that-" she shook her finger jokingly at him "-is a secret!"
A secret that normally wouldn't have bothered him. Except that this "secret" of hers had prompted a disappearance every day at the same time of the morning for the past week. What bothered him was the frequency.
What bothered him even more than that was the fact that he'd missed it. Consistently.
"Hey." Rosette poked him, setting off another round of not-too-pleasant shivers. "You okay?" He'd been silent too long for her not to notice.
"I-" He shook his head slightly. "Yeah." He smiled. "Yeah, I am." It was good to know she worried about him, like he worried about her. A sign of care, right? God, he loved her. So much. He leaned over her shoulder and kissed her.
He would later compare it to inserting a live electrical wire into one's mouth. Not that he had ever done something so idiotic, but he'd heard stories of the results. The initial shock, the pain, the inability to let go - the symptoms sounded akin to those he felt during that one kiss.
He shouldn't have been able to feel that energy. It never should have been there. His horns began to scream.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
He finally found the strength to tear himself away from her, breaking the powerful energy bond that had formed through their kiss. Hands around her shoulders, he held his love at arm's length, shaking slightly and gasping for breath. His mind was reeling.
Sharing energy...through the lips...
And the strong, bitter, metallic taste in his mouth that just wouldn't go away - the taste of negative energy...
"Chrno?" He felt a hand on his cheek, jerked his head up to meet Rosette's eyes. "What's wrong? What happened?" Concern draped her face.
He blinked. "You...you didn't feel that?"
"Feel what?" Now she just looked confused.
He shook his head again, harder this time, trying to clear his mind with only minimal success. "You mean you..." He sighed and stood slowly, releasing her shoulders and placing a hand lightly on her head before turning towards the convent gates.
"Hey." Rosette stood with him. "Where are you going?"
"Out." He had already turned his back (he didn't want her to see the worry on his face) and started to leave.
"No shit, Sherlock! I can see that!" she yelled after him, annoyed. "Can I get some more details, please!"
He waved a hand. "I'll be back." Already out of the convent's gates, he turned towards the thick New York wood and disappeared from sight - a trick she'd never seen him use before.
Kind of like the way her so-called "partner" disappeared...
The thought swiftly and immediately left her. This time, however, she noticed its absence.
It was her turn to shake her head. Chrno's freaking out, and all of a sudden I can't think...
What in hell is going on?
"Shader." Chrno knocked at the door of the small cabin hidden deep in the woods. He doubted anybody excepting its occupant and himself knew its location.
He knocked again. "Shader."
"Coming," she called. After a lag of several minutes, she opened the door, hair frazzled and a cup of lukewarm coffee in one hand. "Jeez, Chrno, it's so early."
He sighed. "It's nearly noon."
She blinked. "Really? I stayed up past midnight last night...I guess my clock is a little off." She stepped back from the door, and Chrno entered. The cabin's humble entrance seemed quaint and innocent, a stunning contrast to the cavernous basement, filled with every computer known to man and demon alike, that existed under the cabin.
Chrno took a seat in one of the wooden chairs sitting before a table. "I'll get right to the point, Shader. I need your help."
Shader sat down in the chair across from him, looking expectant. "Well, you've certainly come to the right place."
"Great." Chrno gave a tiny smile, comforted slightly in the knowledge that he could count on his friend.
"Tell me everything you know about Power Sharing."
And that, my friends, would be the end of Chapter Three. (Sigh) This is really not moving as fast ad I'd hoped it would. I'm averaging a chapter every two days, though, so it can't be all that bad. And hey - I broke three pages with this one! (Throws herself a mini-celebration that involves her laptop and a box of chocolate-covered cherries) I think Chapter Four will be just as long, maybe even longer. Why? In Chapter Four, I actually explain some of what's going on here...go me. (Continues the celebration)
I'm apologizing in advance (kind of) for the sporadic posting speed of these chapters and the next ones...I have amazing amounts of academic-slash-scholarship STUFF I need to complete, and my mother has banned all internet use (excepting e-mail) until it's done. When chapters get posted, assume either a) I'm done, b) I'm sneaking it, or c) the ban has been temporarily lifted. (If you're all really desperate for the next chapter, send me some sort of message and I'll e-mail them to you as soon as they're written.)
Speaking of the next chapter: preview time!
"Jeez!" She stumbled backwards and fell against the wall, frantically flinging the droplets of water off her skin. Even with the water gone, the burning would not subside. "What the hell kind of trick was that! If you ever throw boiling water on me again I swear to God I'll..."
"Rosette." The gravity of Chrno's tone cut quickly through her frightened rantings and she fell silent.
"Do you see any steam above the bowl?"
She shook her head slowly. But, if the water wasn't boiling, than what...
Chrno dipped his hand in the shallow dish of water and pulled it out. Rosette gasped and pressed her back even harder against the wall as she watched the flesh on that hand sizzle and steam.
"It's holy water."
For some strange reason, I seem to be in the habit of torturing my characters. (Sigh) Oh well, they'll get over it. Love conquers all, right? n.n
Thanks for reading and see you all in Chapter Four! Happy New Year!