"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5b

Chapter 7

It was the middle of the night when Rosette would wake again. She twisted and flexed her sore muscles from lack of use. Looking around with her new found ability she determined that she was finally alone. She couldn't see the walls or chairs, but she could see there were no souls around with her which was enough for the moment. Before she had fallen asleep after her dinner, a bell had been placed on the chair next to her table if she needed anything. It had taken a lot of convincing on her part to stop the others from fussing over her so much.

"So it's just you and me," she turned to Chrono's form. She could definitely see him for sure. His body held a redder glow than the white ones of her friends or the yellow one of Remington. "You're always different," she mused. But, try as she might she couldn't force herself to return to her up beat quirky self. She was still tired, which was true, but when did that ever stop her in the past? She had lost her drive to live and a battle to fight for. Her clock which kept her always living in the present and moving forwards was gone. This was the first time as an adult she was faced with living without a purpose and it left her with an empty feeling.

Then Chrono began to thrash slightly in his nightmares. It was what had woken Rosette up to begin with, she now realized.

"Chrono!" she called as she rolled onto her side. Placing a hand on his forehead she found him with another fever again. He nearly whimpered at the touch. He was just so sensitive on his forehead.

"Sheesh, they told me you've been having these on and off," she spoke more to herself as she tried to suppress the rising panic inside. She couldn't lose him… he was the only one in the world that truly knew and accepted her.

She blindly searched above his pillow and found a damp cloth. "It's alright," she soothed as she delicately damped the sweat from his brow. "You're safe here with me."

It was strange, yet comforting, to be helping him like this. Comforting because she had been in a situation like this before in which her demon partner was sick with fever, yet strange because she didn't get to spend a lot of time with him in his true adult form, though she still had to really focus in order to make out details with this strange new power. She still hadn't been told about their awakening in detail yet. All Rosette knew was that they had been dead and now they weren't.

"Shh, Chrono. I'm here by your side."

Slowly his small bursts of thrashing subsided and his heavy breathing evened out. His body was at war within himself and it took every ounce of strength within him to merely stay alive amongst the changes happening internally.

She softly traced the features of his face to calm him. Tenderly she comforted him while enjoying the nearness they shared.

"How is it that I need you just as much as you need me?"

Rosette wasn't looking for an answer. She herself didn't have many answers as to why things happened the way they did. The longer she lay there in the darkness of blindness and night the more she grew restless and agitated. She could feel every inch of his misery as if it were her own just from being overly empathetic. So, regardless of arguing logic, Rosette knew what she could do to help him no matter the cost or how awkward it was. She would give him another kiss.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned into him and gently rolled up onto his chest. His breathing hitched at the sudden weight. Laying on him now made her so hyper sensitive she almost forgot to breathe herself. This wasn't a small boy she was straddling. No this time it was definitely a man. Gently, the fingertips of her free hand traced the contours of his jaw and across his lips.

How could her heart be pounding so hard?

Resolutely, she leaned down and her lips met his. It was a soft and simple kiss, yet it caused so many conflicting feelings inside. Chrono had been the only male she had ever kissed willingly in her life and this time it wasn't a boy she was kissing, but a man. She leaned back up hoping it would work like the last time and was all too thankful her flushed cheeks couldn't be seen by anyone. She hated Chrono being in pain especially when she had the power to heal him. How many times had he needed his power only to plea for her not to use it? It always killed her a bit more inside each time she had been left standing there powerless to save.

Rolling back to her side with her left hand never leaving his, she checked his forehead. It was still hot to the touch. She chewed on her lip for a bit waiting. Then she checked again with still no change. Rubbing now at her own head she waited a bit more. In darkness, seconds felt like forever and when she couldn't stand it any longer, she checked a third time to find the fever had broken. He lay peaceful at her side.

She sighed in relief. "Thank God," she mumbled.

A kiss from a mortal to an unconscious demon was an old method of transferring energy directly and absorbs faster than astral energy. It would cost the mortal a year of their lives, but that was the price to be paid if for any reason the wicked of the earth wanted to keep a demons body alive. It wasn't something a demon could take consciously and thus, due to so few in history ever taking such actions, very few knew of the method.

It took a bit of time, fighting so many confusing and anxious thoughts, but Rosette finally lost the battle of consciousness and fell asleep once more.

Two hours later she awoke with a slight headache. Her sleep patterns right now were all over the road, just like her driving, but slowly she was getting stronger. She had no idea what time it was, but she forced herself into a sitting position just for the sake of doing something different. Her back ached from sleeping on a fairly hard surface for days. The few quilts beneath her didn't do justice compared to a real bed. As she stretched up high with her right arm Chrono suddenly squeezed her hand.

"Chrono?" she called. "Are you awake yet?" she asked overly anxious.

Silence answered her which added to her frustrations. She would feel so much better just to hear his voice. Nothing else really mattered to her anymore. Joshua was safe with Remington and the evil that had plagued them had been defeated. All that was left for her was him. The others clearly had carried on fine without her for the past six months.

She eased herself back down in her darkness. She could only assume it was still night. The air was colder and smelled damp hinting at pre-dawn hours. She willed her mind to oblivion just as Chrono squeezed her hand once more.

"Chrono?"

"Rosette?" a deep, yet weak voice answered.

"Chrono!" she yelled, then shhhed herself as she remembered those sleeping who may hear her through the cracked open door. "Chrono are you alright?"

She could hear the difference in his breathing as he worked to waken from his hellish dreams. "Rosette?" he said again. "Where… what happened?" he was so confused and barely conscious.

"Um, well..." She honestly didn't know what to say. Everything was so different now. "It will be explained in the morning," she decided. She wanted some clarification as well now that she was feeling a bit better.

"I feel… different," he hoarsely replied.

"How so?" She really didn't know.

"I feel like… I got my horns back," he mumbled. "But still different… at the same time."

He had been so powerful in the far distant past; stronger than any of his kind. Yet, now here he was lying on an old oak tabletop reduced to mere flesh teetering on the edge of the abyss. He hadn't even wanted his horns back having resolved to die along with Rosette. Then he remembered his contract.

"Rosette!" his voice cracked in alarm. He worked to clear the fog from his mind and willed strength to come. "The clock?"

It was all starting to come back to him now. He had seen her life drained from her body. He had heard her plea for her life, if it could only be spared. Those words "I don't want to die" had rung in his damn ears, and he had seen her die with no regrets and a smile on her precious face. Were they dead now in some strange place set aside for only them due to their odd stance together in the realm of the spiritual?

"It's gone," she said with a weird feeling inside. It was such an odd thing to claim it gone after so many years.

"Gone?" his dry lips cracked. "How… how are you… are we… you died Rosette." Tears of overwhelming pain and confusion easily fell from his eyes, but he couldn't even lift his head nor open his eyes in attempt to look at her.

"Yes I did."

The pain in his now deep voice brought tears to her own eyes as well; tears she hadn't allowed to fall in the presence of the others. The two of them had suffered so much together. They both had thought their struggles were over.

"You did too," she whispered.

She then laid her head on his shoulder and just let her tears seep from her closed eyes at will. He lulled his head next to hers as his only means of comfort. He didn't understand what was happening, but her tears he knew all too well. She only ever showed her true self, her soft side, her vulnerable side… to him alone. Silently they lay there side by side till sleep took them willingly back into unconsciousness.

Recovery would still be a long road for them both.