"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,

but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools."

Romans 1:21-22

Chapter 11

Chrono sat idly rubbing at his pounding head as Rosette enthusiastically thanked one of the sisters for picking up their dirty dinner dishes. He felt slightly nauseous for having eaten so much, but he figured he could use it. He had been pretty grateful for the bath earlier, but he too had fallen asleep for a midafternoon nap from all the effort.

Slow healing was extremely frustrating. Back in the days when he had his horns, injuries healed rapidly for him; not that he received many injuries. He had been among the most powerful and frightening of his kind, but he also eventually lived an existence filled with boredom. However, nowadays he just hated his good memory. If only he could forget his past.

At first, long, long ago when he had first been cast out of Heaven, his soul had been filled with an arrogant pride which quickly caused him to be overcome with wrath and hatred after receiving his just punishment, along with his brethren. He hated God and the Angels who had remained faithful and had sought to cause as much grief for mankind as he could as a result; anything to retaliate against God. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness… all this and more he helped attack the human heart with. However, as the decades past his blinding rage subsided to just an overall unquenchable anger that wasn't really directed at anyone. He had forgotten why he was doing the things he was doing, unlike the others. It had taken so many more decades before his anger finally faded away. At this point in his eternity, Chrono had now become numb, self-pitying, and completely board with his existence. He long since had stopped tormenting humans and weaker demons because it didn't change anything. It had been in this uncaring and dead state of mind that Aion had approached him the first time with his plans of freedom.

Chrono shook his head at the memory. What a fool he had been.

From his assumed friendship with Aion, Chrono had not only become a witness of one true disaster after the next, but had been a participant of them as well. He had never imagined he could fall even farther from grace. He had broken rank and allegiance and attacked his own kind killing thousands. He hadn't stopped Aion from throwing their temporary hell, Pandemonium, into chaos by allowing Heaven's light to filter in and scorch their lands even more than what their damnation had allotted them. He became a Sinner to even the other demons for his unforgivable crimes and couldn't return. Earth was the only place he could live now, that is, as long as he had his earthy body still had breath.

It had been strange at first living nonstop amongst humans. In the past they had only roamed the Earth like a predator, attacking and tormenting humans, hindering the work of Angels, then, when board, returned to Pandemonium to celebrate, relax (as much as their restless souls could), recover, or just sit around idle. But, things had changed. They couldn't go back and Aion had tasked them with finding information on the chosen ones of God. Years past easily as they continued their quest. Chrono had then spent many days putting up a front to the humans, who were no longer calling themselves Jews but now calling themselves Christians, in hopes to learn about these Apostles who were to come. What Chrono never notice was that after so many years of pretending to be a good guy that his heart was starting to soften again. Another decade later Aion found the last Apostle while Chrono himself found Mary Magdalene. Aion had praised him for successfully snatching up the Saint from out of God's protective grasp. However, too much time with the humans had passed for Chrono. His drive towards the goal Aion had set out for them was faltering and Mary, surprisingly, had no problems calling him out on it. He hadn't been prepared for that. She had been the breath of fresh air Chrono hadn't realized he had been dying for. As much as it secretly pissed Aion off, Mary Magdalene was the turning point for Chrono's spirit. She had been right about him in so many ways. It was true he didn't want to hurt anyone anymore. He had inflicted too much pain and death on others already. He didn't like himself, but also didn't know how to change- or even if he could. What would that even look like if it didn't come from the freedom Aion had promised him?

If Mary Magdalene was a turning point for Chrono, then Rosette Christopher was his new path.

Rosette had suddenly emerged into his world; forcing him to take on life once more. He had spent so many years just waiting to die within Magdalene's tomb that Rosette's young and exuberant energy was a living jolt he couldn't ignore. She had been so sweet and kind to him when she shouldn't. A part of him, deep inside, knew he should scare the two kids away. To briefly show them the true terror he possessed so that he could die in peace and so their innocence wouldn't be tainted by him. However, Rosette was like a beckoning flame in his darkness and he just couldn't turn away. It was overly refreshing to finally be around someone who didn't want anything from him. Someone who had no ulterior motives for befriending him. For once he wasn't being used or commanded. It felt nice to have someone just appreciate your presence. He had been greedy for it.

Yet, even that small joy Aion had taken from him as well.

Chrono rubbed at his face again.

It was his fault for not having protected them. He had spent the last four years regretting getting Rosette and Joshua mixed up in his sins, however it wasn't until he discovered that his dear Rosette was the Holy Woman herself did he realize that his friendship with her hadn't solely brought on her misery. With or without him, Aion would have sought to make her life hell. Aion, that bastard. He had inflicted new levels of pain on him he had never experienced before both physically and mentally. The restlessness of having no home to return to. The sheer agony of having his horns ripped from his skull. Feeling your life drain away, feeling impossibly helpless as the first human in history that cared about him giving up their life just so he could live. Spending years slowly dying, unable to take his own life and send his soul to hell because that would have made Magdalene's sacrifice meaningless. The horror of seeing his new young friend Joshua corrupted by his very own horns, showing once again how pathetic he really was to stop Aion's madness. There had been just so many new levels of anguish Aion had taught him, Chrono was surprised he had any heart left. The four years after, Chrono watched as the darkness Aion was spreading continually bring heartache and tears to Rosette and misery to himself as he wasn't powerful enough to do anything to stop him. It was always humiliating. Not being able to heal himself quickly caused him to understand humans a bit more. Being tired, hungry, and in pain from stubborn wounds were human struggles he had become very familiar with. When your blood is seeping out, your strength starts to fail you. Your body stops listening to your desires and you find yourself unable to move. How many times had Aion tossed him around like a rag doll because he had no power of his own? Rosette was always being hurt by him because of this. Either being too weak to stop the evil or being too strong and stealing her life away. He didn't deserve to have spent so much time with her. What right did he have living like he was a human by her side? To loving someone, yet knowing they shouldn't love you back… knowing that they would die because of you. Just how worthless had his life been?

Chrono then snapped out of his thoughts with a jolt as he realized Rosette had been sitting next to him, staring at him with her arms crossed. He smiled sheepishly.

"You can't fool me," Rosette growled. "I can tell when you're beating yourself up again! Will you quit it already!" she hollered exasperated. She had seen days like this in the past. Those rare moments when his mind was no longer in the present, but in the past.

"Sorry Rosette," was all he could say with a shy smile. He could never stop his self damnation. She had no idea what he held in his past.

"Oh gezz, seriously. You would think you'd learn to forgive yourself already," she fumed.

A yellow soul approached them and commented on that nearly impossible request.

"Rosette," Remington's voice spoke kindly as he entered the room, "That's an unfair thing to ask of Chrono," he said having overheard her.

Rosette wasn't buying it. "Say what you want, but I'm never going to change my mind about Chrono. He's different from all the others!"

Remington placed a tender hand on top of her head. "Maybe now, but don't forget also that we are a few thousand years old while you are going to be turning 17 here shortly," Remington playfully informed.

Rosette shirked his hand off her head in mock huff. "And that's not fair either!"

Chrono and Remington shared a helpless, knowing look. Rosette would never change her strong beliefs, yet that was also one of the reasons they cherished her.

"How's Joshua doing?" Chrono now asked. Chrono had been doing a pretty good job over the years keeping Rosette from digging into his past and he certainly didn't want to start now.

Now it was Remington's turn to stand there a bit sheepishly. "Well, I've been meaning to tell you-"

"What's wrong with my brother?" Rosette asked earnestly. She had been trying to focusing only on recovering before charging headlong into whatever new global crises was next, but now that it was brought up she didn't care about herself anymore.

Remington had been hoping to prolong this reunion until something new surfaced, but she had a right to know. "You are both aware that Azumaria has been in a coma since she was resurrected."

Both nodded their heads.

"Well, a week later Joshua fell asleep and hasn't woken since. I've already brought him here," he added quickly.

"Both remaining Apostles," Chrono mumbled. What could it mean?

Remington wasn't sure how she was going to take this information. He still hadn't told her about Joshua's memory loss either.

"Bring me to him," Rosette suddenly ordered as she swung her legs off the table.

"Can you walk?" Remington asked as he helped steady her as she was already moving to get up. He blue uniform was all wrinkled.

"I walked a little earlier," she reminded with determination. "This will be good exercise for me," she said standing tall before him.

Remington couldn't deny her. "Very well," he smiled. "Right this way."

The two of them slowly made their way out of the dining hall leaving Chrono behind. Her clock may be gone, he realized, but her old habits hadn't. She still couldn't help but live in the moment now that she was getting some of her strength back. The second Remington spoke of her brother's condition, Rosette was off. She was way too stubborn and headstrong to be told otherwise. She'd rush into any circumstance without hesitation.

He smiled to himself. How could he forget? He may have spent centuries existing in anger and regret, but from the ashes of Aion's failed attempt to alter the plans of God, Chrono had one thing he could thank Aion for. If it hadn't been for that bastard, Chrono would never have met Rosette.

Rosette had been worth all the pain in the end. A part of him always wanted to travel down the spiraling staircase of self damnation for all of the heartache he had caused Rosette. However, his head would always eventually remind him of what Rosette thought about all this. She didn't hate him. She didn't blame him. Their last six months of life spent peacefully together had been so sweet. Despite that they had both been weak and both were carrying the dull lingering pain from their wounds, Rosette had kept prying open his heart. She allowed him the feeling of peace and contentment… two things that were lost to demons. Even more so, he felt loved.

"I really don't deserve it," he said still smiling peacefully. "But she wouldn't have it any other way."

Tossing his covers back, Chrono moved to stand as well. His mussels were sore and weak. The moment his feet took his weight he nearly crumbled to the ground, but managed to hold his own.

"If she's going to exercise her legs," he mumbled. "Then so will I," he said with determination.

Gripping the edge of the table, Chrono began to inch his way around the table. 'One lap around,' his mind commanded his body. 'One lap.' He set out his goal. Once he made it all the way around, he started his second lap. 'Again,' he told himself. 'Another,' he gritted out in his mind as he began his third. Beads of sweat were falling as his shaky legs barely managed to make him move. His arms shaking trying to hold himself up. He forced himself onward nearly dragging his feet forward. He wanted to be stronger for her. 'I'll just see how many laps I can do before she gets back!'

Rosette's thoughts never rested on herself for long. She never praised herself on how well she was recovering or handling all of this craziness. Right now her mind could only focus on how Joshua was doing. It was nerve racking being lead through the darkness knowing that the brother she had fought to save was just beyond her scope of vision. She had seen the souls of her friends in passing rooms, but as Remington guided her to their destination, he could tell the moment Rosette's sights had found Joshua. Her arm draped through his went stiff as her whole demeanor went ridged as he opened the door to the infirmary.

"We're here," he needlessly said as he guided her in.

She nodded solemnly.

Remington, after a moment of hesitation, guided her past the empty cots towards the room's two occupants. A chair was already left in between them.

"There's a chair right in front of you. Easy does it… there," Remington spoke kindly as he guided her into the seat.

Laying suspended in her darkness slept Joshua on her left and Azumaria on her right. One soul a bright dazzling white; the other a faint white with thick dark swirls of red tainting it.

Rosette pivoted in her chair as she reached out to her brother with trembling hands; gently taking his hand within hers. "Hi Joshua," she nearly whispered with a forced smile. "It's been a while hasn't it?" A tear managed to escape from her eye.

Remington took a step back and watched over the three from a distance.

"I know you don't like hospitals," she mused. "But this one isn't so bad."

Joshua laid there in his coma unchanged.

Rosette couldn't tell if her words could reach him or not, but what really worried her was the fact that his spirit was contaminated with swirls of red amidst his white soul. She had never seen this before. Had he always been like this? She reached up and combed his hair back with her fingers. He had grown so much. The brief encounter she had with him during her so called "awakening" she hadn't gotten to really look at the changes he had gone through over the years. Rosette forced a lump in her throat back down as she looked to Remington now.

"At least he's sleeping peacefully," she smiled bravely.

"Yes," he agreed. He didn't need to tell her that that wasn't always the case with Joshua.

Rosette then let go of her brother's hand and turned to Azumaria. She too laid in peaceful sleep, but her spirit was such a beautiful white. Out of everyone Rosette has seen so far, Azumaria's soul was the brightest white ever! Second only to herself. Rosette looked down at her own hand. Such intensity. Rosette then looked back to Joshua.

"Why?" she asked.

Remington sadly understood her question. "He wasn't always tainted like this," he began. "When I first met him, you both had good white souls." He paused.

"Then Aion used Chrono's horns on him," Rosette figured.

"Yes," he solemnly agreed. "That's when he became tainted like this. But on a better note, the Holy Spirit has been slowly returning him back to his rightful state," he encouraged. "This is the cleanest his soul has been in years."

Rosette took great comfort in that and turned fervently back to her brother's side. "Did you hear that?" she exclaimed. "You are getting better! Isn't that great Joshua!"

Yet, her brother made no move.

Remington then watched for the next half hour as Rosette enthusiastically shared stories with her brother and friend. Never once did she act awkward around them because they couldn't respond.

"That was pretty funny," Rosette finished up recounting one of her and Chrono's adventures. She paused in memory. "Then we died a few days later."

Remington stepped forward then. Rosette was getting tired and she had shared quite a bit as well while suppressing many emotions.

"All right you three," he smiled. "Time for Rosette to say good bye for today."

Rosette offered a big smile as she made her goodbyes. Her heart felt like it was being strangled as she was guided away. She loved them both so much. She never had a traditional loving family growing up. Obviously Joshua was family, but to Rosette, Azumaria had become family too. To think that they were missing out on life because of her for some reason was a heavy burden on her heart.

Walking back, Remington felt that Rosette was uncharacteristically quiet and could only assume that she was deep in thought. Suddenly she stopped their progress back.

"Rosette?"

"Why is my soul brighter than all of the other humans?" she suddenly asked. She couldn't dwell on what had happened, but needed to move forward to find answers into her current predicament.

Remington wasn't expecting that question, but he actually knew the answer to this one. "It's because you were recently in Heaven," he explained. "You had been in the presence of our God and albeit brief, this is the result. If you recall in your Bible, Moses himself began to shine from so much direct interaction with our Lord to the point he had to wear a veil in the presence of his people." Remington waited to see if that answer would suffice.

"Is that why Raphael is so alarmingly brighter than all of us? Because he had just been in Heaven?" she was now understanding.

He smiled. So smart. "Yes. I'm sure they had been in a direct conversation."

His smile faltered as she then grabbed his arm fervently and faced him with sudden seriousness. "Then Angel Ewan Remington… why are you so dim?"

His heart stopped and was at a loss for words.

"When was the last time you returned to Heaven?"

Remington let his smile fall away completely and looked away. It had been decades now. He had somewhere along the way became too caught up with the battles of the saints to return and became almost lost to himself along the way. "Too long," he mumbled. He couldn't lie, not when she so formally questioned him.

Rosette then released his arm and took a shaky step back. "Alright!" she barked with her hands on her hips. "You're going back tonight!"

"T-tonight?" he stammered wide eyed.

"For at least three days minimum. Maybe longer."

"Excuse me?" he couldn't believe this. The alarm he felt rising within him was frightening.

"Three days," she repeated as she thrusted up three fingers into his face for emphases. "And when you get back I'll be able to tell you went home."

Her confident smirk showed him she intended to have her way and he couldn't help but once again marvel at the type of woman she had become. How had she bounced back from such an impossible circumstance as being taken hostage and controlled by one of the most cruelest demons in the world, had died, then risen blind and still be able to smile, he couldn't fathom it.

"Very well," he softly consented. "I'll return as you have requested." He had no good excuse.

Her smile grew. "Good," she said smugly as she gently took his arm once more.

Remington in turn continued their slow pace back. He couldn't help but wonder where the young little girl had gone? The one who had been so enamored with him. Now on his arm walked a young woman who was confident in her choices, albeit still reckless. He could only wonder what was to come.

Then, the moment Rosette saw Chrono's soul, she bolted towards him with all her strength.

"Chrono!" she yelled just before slamming into a wall.

Remington winced as he rushed to help her get back up. Her sudden movement had surprised him.

Chrono sat on the ground with one hand barely on the lip of the table. He had collapsed, but he looked over upon hearing Rosette.

"OoouuUCH! That hurt!" she wailed.

"Rosette," Chrono weakly called out. "There's a wall there."

"I KNOW!" she hollered back.

Remington stifled a laugh as he guided Rosette a few feet to her left to where the door was and led her in. Chrono forced himself standing by the time she had reached his side.

"Chrono what happened?" she asked as she rubbed her face.

"Sorry Rosette."

Remington moved to steady him and help him back up onto his bed.

"It was nothing."

"You're lying. Now spit it out Chrono!"

He'd roll his eyes if he could. "I was practicing walking and well… I guess I over did it a little?"

"You collapsed!" she stated full of concern. "Don't overdo it okay?"

"Alright, geeze Rosette. I'm fine. Now how was-"

Rosette raised a hand to silence him as her gaze had shifted to Remington. Once he had helped Chrono up, he had tuned out their banter as his stare drifted out the window to the setting sun. He had completely spaced out.

"Remington?" she spoke up. "Is everything okay?"

The Angel was startled to find that he had so quickly became lost in thought and was quick to apologize.

"I'm sorry Rosette. Chrono, I trust you will be fine?" he asked overly polite as usual.

Rosette let out a huge loud exasperated sigh as she scooted up into bed. Chrono didn't answer because he could sense Rosette's change in demeanor.

"Rosette?" Remington spoke confused. What had he said to merit such a theatrical sigh?

"Remington," she began solemnly. "Our world, when you boil everything down to its root, is either black or white… either good or evil. It's the way I imagine God created things you know. You are either for Christ or against him. But somehow Chrono and I have created a shade of gray when there never should be a gray. I get that now and I know Chrono knows this too."

She turned to look at her partner and they shared a sad smile. He reached out and threaded his fingers within hers to reassure her.

She turned back to Remington. "A demon fighting for the side of God and a Christian who fights alongside a demon should never exist. Granted, I know Aion caused a pretty crazy scenario which caused me to create a temporary truce with a few demons, but in the larger scope of things no one ever switched sides. They remained black and the Order remained white. It's only the two of us that are an oddity. We go against everything this world has a balance for and I know our relationship has caused countless headaches for those I care about, but we exist just the same and I have no regrets. Yet, it's also something I would never wish for anyone to go through."

Chrono nodded in agreement. It was one of the reasons why he never defended himself. He was still a demon after all.

"What are you getting at?" Remington asked softly.

"Remington… you've been struggling with us for too long. It's like I was saying before. You. Need. To. Go. Home. I can see the hesitancy all over your face. You have to stop trying to make yourself into a gray when you will always be a white."

She was right.

He smiled. "Don't worry Rosette. I will go back tonight as promised. You have my word."

Chrono could only imagine what their previous conversation had been about or what brought it on, but looking at the weary angel now, Chrono could see how that conversation had started. He at first had a hard time even looking at Rosette, although he was used to her by now, but he had never had an issue looking at Remington. He was dim indeed.

"Good night you two," he bowed out. "Till we meet again."

"See you in three days," Rosette waved off as he walked from the room.

The door creaked closed leaving a hollow echo in the room.

Rosette watched him walk away wondering why he hadn't gone sooner. She just couldn't figure why someone as amazing and kind hearted as Remington, would stay away from the wonderful light of Heaven for so long. She might not remember any details, but she certainly longed to return.

The beginning of this chapter with Chrono's thoughts came out of nowhere for me. That was a surprise. Also the short chapter that comes next wasn't planned either. It's amazing what the imagination comes up with when it's on a roll.

Till next time… but sadly I make no promises with time tables.