The Source of Power
By: Yamiko #7
Chapter Four has arrived (finally), along with the majority of the plot. Hopefully I can write this well. 'Cause if not...n.n' Well, I'm not all that sure I want to think about the consequences. As in, reader homicide...heh heh...
And that is more than enough of that.
Amazingly enough, there haven't been any questions concerning the logistics of the plot...actually, it's not really all that amazing when you figure that (as mentioned above) the majority of the plot is here...and I have all of two reviews at this point. (Thank you for the two reviews!) If you're reading this as a desperate cry for reviews...well, you'd be right. Please leave me some commentary on the way out. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. n.n
(Note: I wrote this about four days before I posted it (hence the two reviews). Thanks to everybody who has reviewed since then. n.n)
Enjoy Chapter Four!
Chapter Four: The Kind of Test You Can't Afford to Fail
"You're kidding." Chrno blinked. "That's it?"
"Well, there are many more long, drawn-out, and generally painful ways of testing it, but..." Shader paused and nodded. "Yep, that's all you have to do."
"And if she..." Chrno trailed off.
Shader gave him the look. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
Chrno sighed. "No, I guess not. Thanks for the help, Shader." He got up to leave and was promptly halted when she threw her arms around his waist. He blinked.
She looked up at him. "Let me know how it goes, okay? You know I'm here if you need me."
"Why do you think I came in the first place?" He smiled and patted her head. "Thanks." She was, he reflected, like the little sister he'd never known he wanted.
"No problem." She turned him around and pushed him towards the door. "Now go test that out and let me get back to my coffee."
Already halfway out the door, he stopped, turned around, and shot a glance at her coffee mug, which had sat forgotten on the counter for the past eighty-five minutes. Its contents were now stone-cold. He looked at Shader and raised an eyebrow.
She caught his look. "What? I like it that way."
He shrugged and, giving her a smile, stepped out of and closed the door. He made an adjustment to a previous thought - she was the weird little sister he'd never known he wanted.
That had been over an hour ago. He still hadn't managed to gather the courage to perform the test. He hesitated - it might hurt Rosette.
And what if it doesn't? the little voice in his head argued. What if nothing happens? Then you're fine and you know you've been worrying about nothing.
But what if I'm right? he argued back.
Then you've got a problem, the voice admitted. But you're sure as hell not getting anywhere standing here and arguing with me. Shut up and go do it. The voice then fell silent, effectively closing the argument.
Chrno sent the voice several closing remarks, none of which could be repeated in polite company, before realizing he was, in effect, talking to himself.
Further proof that he really didn't handle stress well.
He gave a frustrated sigh and went to go find Joshua.
"And you need me to help you..."prove your hypothesis?'" Joshua denoted the quotation with his fingers and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You sound like Shader."
"Well, where do you think I've been for the past hour and a half?" Chrno raised an eyebrow to match Joshua's. "And yes, I do need your help."
"Umm...why."
"I told you what was involved. Do you have any idea how bizarre it would look if I went and tried to get some? They'd think I was about to commit suicide or something."
Joshua shrugged. "Yeah, I guess they really wouldn't give it to you."
Chrno had to struggle to bite back a sarcastic remark. Joshua could match him sarcasm for sarcasm, and more often than not Chrno lost. Needless to say, it wasn't something he enjoyed. He figured he'd better just avoid the whole fiasco in the first place.
"Okay." Joshua stood. "I'll help you out. One of the sisters owes me a favor."
"Thanks. Oh, and by the way..." Chrno trailed off.
Joshua looked back at him. "What?"
Chrno shook his head. "Nevermind. Just thanks." Maybe I don't want to know what exactly that favor is.
They found Rosette sitting on the rim of that same fountain, smiling and humming a song so off-key that the stray cat that sometimes wandered into the convent was still cowering under a bench some three hundred yards away, paws over its ears.
Chrno and Joshua watched her from behind a massive pillar that, along with a dozen of its compatriots, held up one side of the open-air hallway. The other side, a solid wall, allowed for no adequate hiding places. "Her good mood has lasted for nearly three hours," Chrno whispered.
"That's it," Joshua declared quietly. "Something is definitely up."
"Only one way to find out, right?" Chrno shrugged and walked out from behind the pillar, into Rosette's view. "Hey! Rosette!" he called. "Can you come over here for a minute, please?"
Rosette looked up at the sound of her name, grinned - "Sure!" - stood, and headed over towards where the two most precious men in her life were standing.
Joshua, still behind the pillar, looked shocked. "She...she's almost perky!"
"Have a heart attack later," Chrno hissed. "Be ready now."
"Well?" Chrno hadn't been paying attention - Rosette was already standing in front of him. "What is it?"
"I...I was..." Chrno gulped. "I want to figure something out," he ad-libbed, "and I was hoping you could help me." Well, it wasn't technically a lie.
"Well sure." Rosette took his hand and walked into the hall. "Just show me where it is."
Chrno looked over his shoulder at Joshua. Though his lips were silent, the look in his eyes was eloquent enough. Now.
Joshua dipped his hand into the bowl of water he was carrying. "Hey, Sister?"
Rosette turned to face her little brother. Before she could reply, however, Joshua splashed her with the water he held in his hand.
She reeled backwards, her mind erupting into sparks of pain. Every bit of bare skin that had been touched by the water began an intense, agonizing burn.
"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."
She sank to her knees. Her mind continued to reel, no longer in pain, but in shock. Did...did I just...get burned...by holy water?
Suddenly Chrno was in front of her. He hadn't done the disappearing trick: he had just moved while she wasn't paying attention. That she hadn't noticed it showed just how deep the shock had run.
He grabbed her wrists in his hands and pulled her swiftly, almost roughly, to her feet and towards him. He shifted his grip, left arm around her waist and right hand at the base of her skull, and pressed her body to his.
"Rosette." His voice, at first a whisper, gained strength. "Rosette." A pause, the longest she'd ever felt. "What have you been doing?" His tone carried no accusation, only fear, the same fear - she finally met his gaze - that reflected in his eyes.
"I...I..." She broke her gaze, shook her head. "I...I don't...Oh my God." She collapsed against his chest, still in too much shock to cry, or even be scared.
His grip shifted again, strengthened, and he pulled her tightly into his embrace. "It'll be alright, Rosette," he whispered, hoping and praying he wasn't lying. "It'll be okay. I'm here. I'm here. And I won't leave you."
His words melted the last part of her still frozen by shock. Fear washed over her.
She wrapped her arms around his chest and began to cry.
After sitting in front of my laptop and staring at that last line for a good ten minutes, I have come to the conclusion that there is no way I could adequately follow that up, at least not here. You've guessed it: this is the end of Chapter Four.
I had actually intended to make it much longer and include much more plot and explanation. Amazing how quickly one can write oneself into a corner at 1 am. (Sigh) Sorry - I'll try to put up Chapter Five as soon as possible.
A review I got on this fic last night got me thinking. It was from Scarred Rose (nice name, BTW) and she said she liked the fic and wondered why I wasn't getting more reviews on it. That's kind of what I in my obscurity want to know too. What is the secret to writing one of those fics that garners three-hundred-some-odd reviews for eight chapters?
I have no idea. If I did, I would have written one by now.
So I'm asking for a sort of favor. My goal for this fic is to get 100 reviews (yeah, I know, that's a lot) by the end, six or seven chapters from now. I've done the math, IB geek that I am, and discovered that for this fic, it will only take ten people reviewing each chapter to hit 100 reviews.
This is where all of you wonderful reader-people come in.
I'm asking you to read this fic (as you already are if you're reading this desperate little blurb), review each chapter, and possibly recommend this to other people you know who like Chrno Crusade fan fiction. I don't really care what goes into the reviews - all you have to do is click the little button at the bottom of the screen and type "you rock" or "you suck," however you feel about the fic. (By all means, feel free to elaborate on those little two-word phrases.)
Getting those 100 reviews on this fic is...well, I can't say it's a goal since I don't really have a big hand in it...it's something I'd like to happen before a) I die or b) I stop writing. Hopefully neither of those things will happen anytime soon. n.n
And to my faithful readers: piss(star), ZionCross, Rosette/Chrno Fanatic, Eiashian Lskyia Silver, MisoGirl, JasmineScent85, Black Chaos and Light Catastrophe, and last (but definitely NOT least) ChrnoKeeper: Thanks for sticking with me for "Dear Diary" and I hope you're enjoying this one as well. Your support lifted my mood for weeks.
A great big THANK YOU to everybody and I'll see you all in Chapter Five!