"I have told you these things,

so that in Me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart! I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

Chapter 2

It felt so surreal to be a witness to a miracle, which is what the three sisters hoped is what they just had witnessed. They had seen both awful and wonderful things in the world.

Slowly the three rose from the damp grass and looked around. The house still stood in shambles, their two cars were still parked nearby, and there was no one around for miles with the exception of the three bodies lying before them.

"They're alive right?" Mary meekly asked. Her little blond head kept staring off at Azumaria's back just waiting for her to sit up or something.

"I believe so," Claire said slowly. She was just as stunned as the others.

"Azu! Rosette! Chrono!" Sister Anna yelled as she found her voice at last. She surged to life and ran towards the Apostle first, with her two comrades on her heels.

"Azumaria!" Anna called again, "Please wake up, speak to me, something!" She gently shook the sleeping girls' shoulders, yet Azu made no murmur, no sound of reply nor did she open her eyes, but she was breathing.

Standing, Anna made a move up to the porch. She cautiously stepped around the surprisingly large Chrono and the broken bits of wood and crouched down beside Rosette.

"Is she alive?" Mary called up as she cradled Azumaria's head.

Anna looked her over. Bits of broken gears, springs, pins, and plates of the broken time piece lay scattered all over her clothes. Her chest moved up and down with shallow breath, nearly unnoticeable. Rosette's face was streaked with tears and pain. Gone was her serene and peaceful face which had made her look so angelic just a few moments earlier. It made Anna want to weep again as her gaze looked down and saw their hands were still intertwined together.

"Rosette," she whispered as she brushed some of her hair from her face. "Can you hear me?" but there was no response. Anna tried to keep it together and looked back at her partners who had moved Azu so she was lying comfortably on her back with her head in Anna's lap.

"She's alive," the red head managed to reply, "but not moving either."

What were they going to do? What had just happened here? Will they be okay? All these questions and more plagued their thoughts. If an evil demon had been involved they would know what to do and attack it. If someone had a broken arm or a cold they'd know how to treat it. But the dead coming back to life, yet were unresponsive, was new to them.

Finally Anna mustered up the courage to really look at Chrono state. She winced. Blood coated his hair, face and chest. His massive form was intimidating enough without the blood. The porch swing chain had fallen across him and Rosette lay crumbled close next to him. Anna now realized that Rosette's hair was beginning to soak up the blood from Chrono's head wounds. Anna didn't remember everything about Chrono's appearance back when she was able to get a good look at him when he was frozen in stone. She didn't notice that the jewels on his forehead were gone, though the metal bands remained, but what she did notice were his wings weren't showing and the unmistakable fact that this demon now had a cross of her Lord on his forehead.

She stood abruptly knocking the still remaining swinging bench armrest aside. "They're both alive, but something is really wrong!" Anna called down.

"What is it?" Remington's hurried voice called over in distress as he rushed towards them.

The girls yelped in surprise!

The alarmed Angel knelt down beside Azumaria. Claire backed away to give him room.

"What happened?" he nearly demanded, seeing how unresponsive she was. All were stunned silent so he looked up to Claire, whom had been a great help to him with Joshua these past six months, for an answer.

"Azumaria began singing... her wings wrapped in a silver cord appeared and-"

"And then it broke and she died," he finished for her with immediate understanding. "Then Raphael showed up," he sighed. 'What now?' he thought. Getting up he walked over to the two people he had hoped to see alive once more. He wasn't prepared for the sight before him. It took everything in him not to show just how much it pained him to see those two like this with an audience watching his every move. At least Raphael was kind enough to pass along the word to him on where to find these little lambs.

The girls didn't need to ask how he had gotten there so suddenly. They hadn't forgotten that this man was an angel of the Lord.

Taking a handkerchief from his gray trench coat pocket, he knelt down and gently wiped some of the blood from Chrono's forehead and what he found was indeed a cross. A cross made out of bone. "Did Raphael have Chrono's horns?" he asked with deductive reasoning.

"I believe so," came Claire's soft reply.

He shook his head with wonder. Standing, he gave orders. "Make sure you collect all of the pieces from Rosette's clock, go back into the village and find their small town's vicar and ask for his assistance. Your mission is to get these two back to the Madeline Order in New York… understand?" he asked.

Mary raised a hand, "But what about Azumaria?"

He walked back towards her. "She's coming with me."

"Um," Anna interjected. "What are we going to do about Chrono's um, well… when others see him, what should we-"

Remington raised a hand to silence her stumbling and looked back down at the demon. He looked like a demon. His ears were large and pointed. His hands were like razors. His face and clothing spoke of his damnation. When had he grown so accustom to seeing such things? Having him look as he did by the locals would be a problem indeed. But what was he supposed to do? Keeling he bent down beside the strangest demon of all time.

"Chrono," he called, "Chrono I need you to listen to me."

There was no response.

"It's Remington," he nearly sighed. What good was he doing by talking to a clearly unconscious man?

"I need you to transform into a human," he said. "Chrono did you hear me? You need to look human. Rosette needs you to look human," he repeated. Looking back to Rosette's face he wished she was awake to fix this. As he stood defeated in his mind once more, a faint red glow enveloped Chrono's body and surprisingly he transformed into a more human looking adult.

Remington peered down into Chrono's pain etched face in astonishment. His words had reached him after all. Looking at the demon once more he could see his clothes had changed slightly to a more mountain rugged look and although his ears were still pointed, they were a lot smaller than before. The metal bands on his face were also gone, but the cross was now hidden beneath a red bandana.

He nodded. This would be enough to pass for human.

Claire, Anna, and Mary watched as former Minister Remington then left the porch, scoop up Azumaria in one fluid motion, then walked over to one of the sister's cars. He wordlessly borrowed the rear car, placed the girl into the back seat, then drove away.

TBC...