Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Chrono Crusade. If I did, Chrono and Rosette would have already been together, and there would be a larger center on Scar in FMA.
Chapter Two
As it turns out, for a midget and a suit of armor, the two Chrono and Rosette were following walked at a surprisingly fast pace; even after half an hour, they were doing nothing but following a faded set of foot prints.
"Ugh, this heat is gonna kill me!" Rosette whined. "We've gotta find some shade!"
"Um, Rosette… where are we gonna find shade in a barren desert wasteland with a total lack of civilization?" Chrono asked meekly.
Growling, Rosette turned to face her companion. "How would I know! All I do know is that I'm tired, hungry, and confused, and that I want to go home!"
Chrono- who was stunned at how much Rosette had resembled a five year old at that moment in time- couldn't help but understand where Rosette was coming from. They had no clue where they were, and he wasn't even sure how they were alive. "I know, Rosette," said Chrono soothingly, "but right now we just have to concentrate on finding that suit of armor and that short blond guy."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MIDGET THAT NEVER GREW UP BECAUSE HE DIDN'T DRINK HIS MILK?"
Both Chrono and Rosette were shocked to see that the blond boy was now speeding back at them, a look of fury on his face. His armor-clad brother chased after him, but wasn't anywhere near as fast and the Mighty Midget.
When Ed arrived in front of Chrono and Rosette, waving his arms around and stomping the ground while ranting about his height, Rosette couldn't help but say, "Wow, you run pretty fast, Mighty Midget."
Al, who had finally reached the others, grabbed his brother back before his transmute the sister into something nasty. Al tried to introduce himself over his brother's continual I-Am-Not-Short rants.
"Uh, hi! My name's (I'm still a growing boy, you know!) Alphonse Elric, and this is (For all any of you know, I could end up seven feet tall!) my older brother, Edward," said Al politely.
"And I'm," said the exorcist, "Sister Rosette Christopher. The purple haired twerp over there (Hey!) is Chrono."
Ed looked at her suspiciously. "'Sister?' You're not some whack job who thinks that she's been sent by "God" to save people, or something like that?" He asked, reminded instantly of Rose being called a Holy Mother.
"No, I'm a nun."
Ed simply stared at her.
"A nun: someone who lives at a convent to live for God and goes around wearing a hideous habit?"
Ed continued to stare at her.
"Okay, maybe you just didn't hear me: I am a Roman Catholic nun. I'm an exorcist from the Order of Magdalene's New York branch. I kill devils and demons. I like guns."
For a moment, Ed didn't say anything. Suddenly, something seemed to click in his head. "Where's New York?"
It was Rosette's turn to stare.
Ed glared at her. "You heard me: where's New York? And what do you mean Roman Catholic? Is that some new occult religion or something? And you say you're an exorcist? Are you crazy? There's no such thing as devils or demons! What nut house did you escape from?"
Rosette growled angrily at the alchemist. "Are you a retard or something? How could you have never heard of Roman Catholicism? Or NEW YORK! It's a state! People in Europe and Asia and Australia have heard of it, how can you not have!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Where are all the places you keep talking about: Asia? Australia? Europe? Where are you getting all of these names from?
Looking at Ed as if he were insane, Rosette yanked on her hair in frustration and let out a small scream of frustration. "UGH! What's going on? It seems that ever since we saw that gate thing, nothing has made sense anymore!"
Rosette continued to rant for a moment, before she noticed that the smaller blond was now just standing there, looking almost… fearful? "Um… hello? Are you alright?" She asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
Ed grabbed the girl's hand and held it tightly. His eyes were downcast as he asked her quietly. "You said that you saw a gate… explain." Although Ed prayed to himself that he was wrong, he couldn't shake the feeling that Rosette was talking about… that Gate.
"And why do you wanna know?"
Ed tightened his grip and looked up and the girl angrily. "Look, just tell me!"
Rosette winced at his right hand's tight grip, before answering him. "Well, Chrono and I… we had left the Magdalene Order's NY branch because…"
Rosette looked over and Chrono- who had been standing on the sidelines with Al, watching the two fight with amusement- silently begging the devil for his help in explaining.
Sighing, Chrono took a step towards Edward, who shifted his golden gaze towards him. "Rosette was dying, and so was I; from a wound I had sustained while in battle with a demon named Aion.
"Almost four years earlier, Rosette had become my contractor…"
Al gazed at Chrono questioningly. "What do you mean by your contractor?"
"I guess that I'll have to explain our history in a bit more detail if I want them to understand…" Chrono mumbled to himself. "Okay, there's one thing you need to know for this to really make any sense at all: I'm a devil."
Ed stared at him, as if contemplating what he had said. "Well, I guess it's not the strangest thing anyone's ever told me," he said, thinking of the homunculi. Ed suppressed a shiver at the thought of Sloth, and the memories that came with her. "That would also explain your earlier appearance, and how you shifted it."
Chrono nodded, slightly surprised Ed had taken it so well. "Now, a devil's power is controlled and stored in his horns, so if they're broken off, the devil had no way to be able to access his power. But there is one other way a devil can get his power: from feeding off a human's soul, and that human's life. That is making a contract."
"So you were using her life just to get to your powers?" Ed called angrily, releasing Rosette's hand, and charging up to Chrono. He grabbed the devil (who was now the same height as him) by his collar and lifted him slightly off the ground. He raised his fist as if to hit him, and Chrono looked at him with a guilty look in his eyes. "How could you do that to anyone!"
Just as Ed was about to strike Chrono, a hand grabbed him and prevented him from doing so. He whirled around to see who it was that had stopped him, and dropped Chrono in the process.
Ed was surprised to see that it was Rosette standing there, looking at him with the same look in her eyes as Chrono. "Don't blame him," said Rosette softly. "It wasn't his decision. It was my idea to make the contract."
With wide eyes, Ed stepped away from Rosette. "But why would you do that!"
"Because Chrono was the only one who could save my little brother."
"Joshua had been given my horns by Aion, a devil I had worked with before in a group called the Sinners: a band of rogue demons who wished to take down Pandemonium, the devil who ruled over our dimension. He had taken them from me in an act of betrayal, and would've killed me, if I hadn't been saved by my first contractor," said Chrono from behind the shocked Ed. "For fifty years I stayed in her tomb, before Rosette and Joshua came and found me. They mean more to me than anything else in the world, and both Rosette and I desperately wanted to save Joshua…"
"So I made a contract with him so he could use his power to stop Joshua… but Joshua was still taken away by Aion. For years we hunted him down, until we found him. In the end, when we faced Aion, Chrono had managed to earlier break his horns off of Joshua, and used them to fight Aion. Chrono won, but he was badly wounded, and I was nearing the end of my time because he had used his power so much."
"I went with Rosette to a small cabin away from New York, where we lived for six months. Just when we were sure we were dead, we came before the gate you asked us about."
"It opened, and some freaky little things came and grabbed us, and took us inside the gate. I'm not really sure what happened; I passed out after just a little while inside. All I know is that when I woke up I was in the middle of a dessert and I had no clue where the hell Chrono and I were."
For a moment, Ed was confused, before realization hit him:
They were from the other side of the Gate.
………………
"Colonel Mustang, I want you to consider those boys dangerous, wanted criminals. They should be captured with whatever force necessary; for now, they are to be considered responsible for the events in Lior. Also, there was a report of there being two civilians traveling with the Elrics. They are to also be detained for questioning. Good day," said Fuhrer King Bradley.
Roy saluted to the military head, trying to keep his face free of emotion as he watched the man walk away. For a moment he wondered if there was something seriously wrong with the Fuhrer; he had always seemed to like the young Elric brothers, and him suddenly considering them terrorists was troubling.
Brushing the thoughts away, he led his subordinated onto the train that would take them back to Central. From there, they would head to Risembool, and meet the two young alchemists there to find out what had really occurred in Lior.
………………
"So you really don't know what there connection to the Elrics is?" asked the homunculus impatiently.
"I've told you already, they were never with them before, and I didn't see them with either brother in Lior before that either; the two were completely unfamiliar to me. I'm not ever sure if they know the boys," said Lust from her place pinned to the wall of a train compartment.
"Either way, we will eventually find out; I've ordered them to be captured with the Elrics, so we'll know soon enough," replied Pride.
Lust didn't answer, and Pride didn't care.
………………
A/N: Here's an ironic fact for you: a reviewer (thank you for you review) asked me to make it longer. It's shorter this chapter. How pathetic is that… oh well, I guess that I can't expect to make it too long when it's eleven fifty-two at night while I type these notes, and I have two new obsessions: Naruto and Loveless.
Also, sorry I didn't update sooner; I know it's no excuse, but I guess that I'm actually busier in summer than I was in the school year: we didn't have to many hectic days, and I had no trouble with homework and the like, so I actually had more time to write (seeing as I spend all my time in the summer either a) watching TV b) using the internet c) spending time with family/friends or d) sleeping 'til one in the afternoon, I guess I haven't made time for writing).
One more (and slightly better) excuse: my best friend broke her hip, and I guess that I've been a little distracted. I did get to see her last Wednesday, but I guess it's a little panic-inducing. Good news: she is out of the hospital and having a grand time playing the Sims game all day. Lucky her.
Also, one more thing: Who should I put Ed with? Please put in your review who you think Ed should be with, whether it be Winry, Rose, or Roy! I'm open, as long as it isn't something completely and utterly unfathomable (like EdxPride- nothing there, people)!
Well, read and review!