TEMPTATION
By Hydraa
This is the sequel to "Miracle". I managed to squeak out one more before I leave. Hope you like. This one doesn't have any real ratings to be concerned about.
---000---
Rosette wanted to die.
Her life was over, her death certain. Bound in suffering and misery, she waited for it to come, and bring with it her salvation.
"Kill me now," she snuffled.
"Oh, put a sock in it," Chrno groaned.
Lying in the big bed beside him, surrounded by empty Kleenex boxes and wadded up tissues, Rosette shot him an evil glare, though she couldn't really see him through the piled up blankets; other than a long, tangled mess of greasy lavender hair.
"This is all your fault, Mr baptise-me-in-the-middle-of-winter-in-a-freezing-lake, it's-okay-God-loves-me-oh-so-much. I've been sick my entire vacation!"
From somewhere inside the blankets, snoring started to sound.
"DON'T YOU GO TO SLEEP ON ME WHILE I FEEL LIKE CRAP!" she shrieked and belted what she was almost sure was his head with a tissue box. He yelped and emerged, his unbraided hair a frightening halo around his face and a bump rising somewhere near the top of his head. He was in his boy form, her astral too low to make her well, let along fully charge him.
"What is WRONG with you?" he wailed miserably. "I didn't do nothing to you!"
"You got me sick!" she snapped. "I had the whole week off and you had to go and have a crisis of faith!"
"What?? That's what you call it? Are you nuts??"
Possibly, but she was sick, miserable, and hungry, and no one had come to check on them all day. She wanted to take it out on someone and Chrno was a handy target. Fighting with him was the only distraction she had.
Still, she'd promised herself she'd be nicer to him and it had only been three days since she did.
"I'm hungry," she told him as the closest she could come to an apology.
Chrno made a face. "So am I. Do you think they forgot about us?" He looked at her blearily, his hair still a frightening mass, his face lined and his skin pale and blotchy. The only part of him that didn't look bedraggled and half dead was the cross he wore around his neck, cast in silver with small garnets rimming the edge. Sister Kate had given it to him, and looked terribly embarrassed while she did so. Rosette didn't want to admit that she was horribly jealous of him for it. The cross was a wonderful affirmation for him. She'd really feel like crap if he thought he had to give it to her.
"They better not have," she grumbled, flopping back against her pillow. The fire was growing low and they didn't have any more wood inside. The pitcher of water was empty as well and there was a storm raging outside. She could hear the distant booms of thunder even through the thick walls, along with the cold. The thought of getting out of the warm bed to restock their wood supply made her want to cringe. "Go build up the fire. Please?"
Chrno looked at the empty wood hopper and the shuttered windows, rattling with another boom, and sighed. Shivering, he climbed out of the bed and wrapped a robe he normally wore in his man form around himself. It dragged on the ground.
"Thank you!" Rosette called cheerfully and sneezed. He just grumbled and shuffled out of the room, scratching his head. He made his way slowly across the cold living room, barely able to see in the darkened room even with his demon eyes, and awkwardly put on his shoes before bracing himself and opening the door. Nearly blinded by a flash of lightning, he put a hand up to his eyes and forced himself to step outside, past the ward on the threshold that hid his astral signature from anyone outside.
It also served to hide the signature of anyone outside from him. The instant he was past it, Chrno felt the astral waves of battle and realized that it hadn't been a storm they'd been hearing and there was a very good reason why no one had been by to check on them.
The Order was under attack, several of the buildings on fire and the sky echoing with a thunderous staccato of gunfire. His hair whipping out into the frozen air of the snowy night, Chrno stared upwards at a glowing figure that hovered over the Order, looking right down at him as they both felt each other's energy patterns.
"ROSETTE!" he screamed, forcing himself to go demon despite his low levels. "GET OUT!"
Aion landed heavily on the ground in front of him, his smooth face twisted in a sneer. "Lose your horns again, Chrno?" he hissed. "I seem to owe you a wounding."
Chrno snarled and lashed out, his spiked tail whipping around and stabbing at the other demon. Aion blocked it with his own and lashed his claws at him. Ducking, Chrno charged, trying to bring his own claws to bear.
Aion vanished. Chrno stumbled, nearly falling, and heard a laugh. The white-haired stood a few feet to the side, arms crossed and smiling at him. Chrno lunged again, and yet again he vanished.
He was speeding time for himself, Chrno realised frantically, and there was nothing he could do about it. Rosette didn't have enough astral in her entire body to let him use his own ability to slow time. He didn't have a chance without them.
More explosions sounded overhead, the other Sinners still attacking the Order, firing on it from above where the wards built into the walls couldn't weaken them. He could hear Rosette as well, shrieking and struggling out of bed. Desperation filled him and he swung his claws and tails both, trying to anticipate where Aion would be.
It didn't do any good. Aion's warmth pressed against his back as he turned and he felt his breath against his neck. "Not good enough," he whispered and his arm came around his neck, his claws coming up toward his throat.
Chrno was still moving, momentum keeping him in the turn, and Aion's claws tangled in the cross he was wearing as it swung with him.
Aion screamed in pain and jerked back, letting Chrno finish his turn and lash out at him. He took the hit across the arm, weaker than Chrno could have managed if he weren't ill, but enough to send blood into the snow. Furious, Aion sped his own time again. The next Chrno knew, he was flying through the air, thrown across the yard. He hit the wall of the Order hard and crashed through it, stone scattering across the snow as he slammed into it and skidded on his back, vanishing under the powder. A moment later, he shifted back into his boy form and the snow started to settle on him.
Aion swore loudly, one hand clamped over the wound on his arm. His hand was burned by something he couldn't identify and it hurt.
"Aion!" Shader gasped, running up to him. She'd been circling the Order on the ground, using her equipment to try and triangulate the new Apostle's position, as well as to stay out of danger. She was a tech demon, not a soldier, and her ears were flat against her head with fear.
"Have you found him?" he growled at her. The last Apostle was in that building. Genai had seen them bring him there when he tracked them. After years of searching for the child and with every other Apostle in his possession, Aion was not inclined to wait any longer.
Shader shook her head though, her ears trying to swivel in every direction now. "No. I can't get anything on him. I thought I did at first, but there's nothing now. But I didn't detect him being moved." Her eyes were frightened now just looking at him and he could feel her fear. It only enraged him further and he turned on her, snarling. Shader shrieked and dropped to the ground, submitting instantly. His nostrils flared and some of his calm returned.
"AION!"
He spun. Framed by the doorway, Rosette Christopher glared at him. He would have said she looked horrible if her face hadn't been so enraged, if she hadn't been pointing twin pistols at him, and if golden, half feathered wings hadn't been coming out of her back. He was so surprised she had time to pull the trigger.
She ended up hurting him more than Chrno had. One Sacred blew through his shoulder, making him reel back, and the other took him in the side. Aion roared and instinctively sped time. Suddenly, the world was frozen around him, snowflakes caught in midair, and he hit the ground awkwardly and painfully, but without a witness as Rosette continued to glare where he'd been and Shader cowered against the ground.
"You bitch," he gasped, struggling to his feet. "You psychotic bitch. You're worse than your brother." He limped over, clutching his side now, and glared at her from only a few inches away. "You," he told her, "are lucky that your brother keeps asking for you." Raising his arm, he bashed her across the head and let time return to normal.
"Call the others," he told a horrified Shader. "We're leaving." He looked down at the blonde crumpled on the doorstep. "At least the night's not a total waste."
---000---
Remington limped out of the church, a machine gun hanging from one hand. He was exhausted, sweaty, and cold now in the winter night. It was almost over though; dawn was starting to light the horizon. Kate hurried past him, yelling orders for the wounded to be helped and the dead left for now.
Remington looked back at the church. It had managed to avoid most of the damage, but the men's barracks was gutted, as was the administration building. Other fires burned in different places, exhausted militia moving to fight them. Distantly, he could hear fire engines and police cars, heading toward them now that it was too late.
Not that they'd have been able to do much if they had got there sooner. Those had been major league demons, far more powerful than any Remington had ever seen, except for Chrno. He looked towards where his and Rosette's cottage lay. Neither of them had appeared for the fight. Given how sick they'd been, he doubted they'd even known it was going on. Their wards kept them hidden too well. It was a good thing. They'd been out of their league for this battle. The entire militia had been.
He stopped. The wall that blocked the way to the cottage was broken, the stones scattered inward. Remington could see the cottage through it, the front door wide open.
He hadn't seen Chrno or Rosette in the fight at all. Suddenly worried, Remington started towards the hole in the wall, breaking into a limping run as he got closer.
"Remington!" he heard Kate shout from behind him. "Where are you going?"
"The fight spread to the cottage!" he yelled back. "I can't see either of--"
He tripped, landing painfully full length. He heard Kate hurrying up to him as he looked back to see what he'd tripped over. Most of it was hidden under the snow, but he could see the bottom point of a garnet edged cross and part of a very small hand.
"Damnit!" he swore, twisting around on his sore leg without even feeling it and shovelling the snow out of the way. Kate dropped to her knees beside him and gasped as he uncovered Chrno. The little demon's face was grey, but his eyes opened briefly as Remington brushed the snow away from his face.
"Rosette…" he whispered, "he took Rosette…"
Remington and Kate shared a horrified look. Their victory apparently wasn't so absolute.
---000---
The Sinners appeared back at the beach house together, Genai and Shader supporting Aion, Viede carrying Rosette. Fiore met them at the door of the room they used for teleporting, her face impassive as always.
"Shall I prepare the tanks?" she asked calmly. "Master Joshua is sleeping." She glanced at the unconscious nun. "He will be pleased to see his sister again."
"Hurry," Shader told the girl, her tail lashing nervously. "Aion's hurt." Fiore bowed and left.
Aion lifted his head, looking blearily at his followers. They were scared, their fear at the thought of losing him real. He wanted to reassure them, but he was too weak. It was all he could manage just to struggle up and loop a shaking arm around Genai's neck, pressing his mouth against his and drinking deep of his astral. Genai held him upright and let him, forcing the astral into him himself until Aion knew he had no more to give. Wrenching away, he nearly fell against Viede, who was just as eager to share his own energy. Shader was last, stroking his cheek gently and hurrying alongside him as the two men carried him downstairs to where the tanks were.
"You'll be okay," Viede told him worriedly, his blind face turned towards him. Genai nodded agreement. Shader rushed to the instrument panel as they lowered him into the healing gel.
"What of Sister Rosette?" Fiore asked reasonably.
"Put her in the next tank," Aion coughed, trying to think and plan through the pain, even as the lid started to lower. "Keep her there until I wake. We'll rethink how we go after the Apostle." It was obvious the Order moved the boy or hid him somehow. They needed a more subtle way of getting to him. He needed to work out the details, but already Aion was pondering on concepts of trades, or if that didn't work, straight out temptation.
---000---
They had fourteen dead. A very small number given the power they'd faced, but the Sinners hadn't been after them and hadn't been able to get as close as perhaps they would have liked. Fighting them while they were airborne had been too hard though. The militia weren't trained for it and the Sinners escaped without any injury, except for what Rosette and Chrno managed to inflict on Aion. If they hadn't, the fight might not have ended at all until the entire Order was destroyed.
Sister Kate made her way into the former women's barracks, now doubling up to hold all the men and women of the Order. The men had the second floor, the women the third. The infirmary was heavily damaged as well and the injured were on the first. It was crowded and uncomfortable for everyone, but no one was complaining. Kate was actually impressed with the high morale. Then again, they knew that the demons hadn't succeeded in their mission.
The first floor smelled of antiseptic and bleach. Kate made her way around a doctor with a harried look and went to the last door on the left. Opening it, she made her way inside.
There was only one bed in the tiny cell. Chrno lay propped up in it, his face turned to one side. He was filthy and pale, but mostly only bruised. He'd have been killed if he'd been in his boy form when he was thrown through the wall, but his demon shape was far stronger. He was in his boy form again now, his cross fallen over beside his neck. Kate stepped up and gently lifted the cross, rearranging it so that it lay against his chest again. His eyes fluttered open as she moved it and he looked at her.
His eyes were still demon red and slitted, his ears pointed, but the cross didn't harm him and she could still remember watching him take the Eucharist in the church. He was God's and she felt a warmth for him that she never would have when she still believed he was evil and damned. Instead he'd been doing God's work and she grieved that she'd ever made him look at her in fear.
"Rosette?" he asked, his soft voice rolling over the syllables. "Did you find her?"
Kate shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry." They had no more idea of where she was than Azmaria or any of the other Apostles. Kate hated how helpless she felt. At least Aion hadn't succeeded. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired," he admitted.
Kate sat on the edge of the bed and stroked a bit of hair out of his face. He looked up at her mournfully, swallowing.
"What will happen to you now?" Kate asked him softly. She needed to know.
"Without her?" He closed his eyes. "Eventually I'll go to sleep, like after Madeleine died. Once my astral runs out, I'll die. You'll keep looking for Rosette?"
"Always," she promised him. "I swear it to God."
Chrno smiled slightly for a moment and closed his eyes again, letting his head fall sideways against the bed. Kate reached towards him, but he sighed and she pulled her hand back. "I miss her." There was terrible pain in those words
"I know you do, Chrno. I'm so sorry." She tentatively stroked his filthy hair and grimaced. "I'll send Remington to help you bathe."
"It doesn't matter." He reopened his eyes. "Why did Aion attack the Order? Was he after us?"
Kate shook her head, deciding to be honest with him. "He's after a ten-year-old boy named Raul Ramirez. He's the seventh Apostle. We found him in the last few days and brought him here. Aion attacked in order to capture him."
Chrno looked shocked. "Did he get him?" She'd never asked him what Aion was truly after, Kate remembered. Before, she never would have trusted his answer. Once she did, he was too busy convalescing to ask and she was too busy trying to get to Raul.
She'd have to ask him soon, she knew, before she lost the chance forever.
"He didn't," she told him with a smile. "Once we realised the attack was happening, we put him in the same cell I once put you in."
He smiled gently. "The one that stops time?"
"The very one."
He laughed. "Clever." The smile faded and his eyes closed. He relaxed.
"Chrno?" Kate gasped.
"Still here," he breathed. "For a while." He faded into a normal sleep.
Kate sat with him for a few minutes longer, sorrowfully thinking on the blonde girl who'd brought him. She prayed Rosette would be alright and stood, quietly letting herself out.
---000---
Joshua wandered into the basement lab Shader usually resided in, his hands shoved into his pockets. Long white horns were jutting backwards from his temples and the cat demon shuddered as she saw him. Joshua with the horns missing was cute and amusing. Joshua with the horns out was unpredictably lethal.
He wandered over to the closest tank and looked in at Aion idly. Shader tensed even more, not entirely sure he wouldn't attack her master and determined to fight him to the death, even though she knew nothing about combat. He only studied the white-haired demon for a minute though and wandered on to the next. Rosette Christopher lay inside that one, her hair floating around her face in the gel. She was just in stasis for the moment, much like the five children in the other tanks, though the machines had healed the blow Aion struck to her head, along with whatever illness she'd been sick from.
"She's pretty," Joshua said at last. "She looks like my sister."
Shader blinked, wondering how rational he was. "Really?"
"No," he said and wandered away again, meandering towards her. His eyes were insane and she shuddered, hunching her back submissively. Aion understood submission. He rewarded and revelled in it and he owned her. Joshua didn't even seem to notice. He stepped right up to her and pushed his face up against her. Shader wanted to run.
"Have you seen Fiore?" he asked.
"Upstairs," she whispered. "In the kitchen."
"Oh." He straightened up and beamed at her. "I'll go look for her there." Turning around, he strode out, whistling.
Shader nearly collapsed against her control panel, shaking. She made her way over to Aion's tank and leaned against it, looking sorrowfully at his sleeping face. He had another two days before he would be recovered enough to release.
"Hurry back," she told him. "We need you." He could handle Joshua. He could handle anything, and as always, she had no regrets about deserting Pandemonium to make him her master. Straightening up, she looked over at the next tank. The blonde inside it didn't look strong enough to become Chrno's master. Shader still missed him, even after fifty years. It just wasn't the same. He'd smelled good and he'd been so sweet. She'd curl up with him and feel safe, both of them obedient to Aion. When Aion said he'd betrayed them for Madeleine, she'd been stunned. Now he was with this little girl and she still didn't understand why.
Shader wrinkled her nose and went back to her machines, calmer now that Joshua was gone. Swapping Chrno for him was no great deal in her mind. Hopefully soon they'd get the seventh Apostle and then they could do what they needed with him and cut him loose. Everything would be better then. Sighing wistfully, she continued her work, humming under her breath as she did, happily content once again.
---000---
One of the advantages to rank was the ability to pull it once in a while. Remington carried Chrno into the men's shower, empty now except for them, and put him back on his feet in the large room, hanging their towels up before settling the little demon down onto a stool. Chrno sagged, breathing heavily through his mouth. He was still sick and he shivered in the cool air.
It was why Remington asked for privacy. For one, he didn't want anyone to be tempted to stare at the demon and make him feel uncomfortable; for another he wanted to be sure that the hot water lasted long enough. Under normal usage, it didn't.
Quickly, he turned the water on and set it as hot as he suspected Chrno could stand it, and the demon straightened up on his stool as the water beat against his back.
"Better?" the priest smiled.
"Yeah. I guess it was okay to get out of bed after all."
Remington laughed and knelt down, half in the spray himself as he gently pulled Chrno's head back, soaking his hair in the water. It turned much darker as it got wet and he picked up the shampoo.
Chrno sat there placidly as Remington soaped and rinsed his hair several times, running his fingers through the strands until all the dead hairs had been removed to float as clumps towards the drain. He worked out the tangles, being careful not to pull until he had it all worked out and a waterfall of purple flowed down the demon's back.
Chrno's head was bowed by then, his eyes closed and a strange little kitten snore coming from him.
Remington smiled and picked up the soap. Chrno woke when he started to wash his back, his face obscured by the steam of the hot water, but he moved obligingly as Remington lathered his skin, cleaning off the sweat and dirt. The two men didn't speak, but it was a comfortable silence, though a sad one as well.
Remington could feel the distance growing in the little demon. He was drifting away from them, too weak to go after Rosette and knowing it. Instead he was surrendering and Remington cupped a hand under his chin, ostensibly so he could wash his face but really so he could look deep into those red eyes of his.
"Don't give up, Chrno," he told him. "We will find Rosette."
"Like you found Joshua?" he replied softly. He had such dark circles under his eyes he looked like he'd been beaten. "I don't have that much time."
Remington glared at him. "God didn't point out to all of us how much He loves you just so you could die, Chrno."
"Maybe He did it so I'd know He wanted me to come home."
"Don't talk like that!" He scrubbed roughly against his ear and the demon flinched.
"Sorry, Father."
Angry and not knowing what to say, Remington finished the demon's shower and turned off the water. Shivering himself, he dried Chrno off first and then himself, before carrying him back to his room. Chrno leaned against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"I haven't given up," he whispered. "I can still feel her, inside me. She's alive."
"How do you know?" Remington asked as he sat him on the side of his bed and dressed him in a pair of child's pyjamas, putting his cross back on him last.
"She's my master. My soul. I gave myself to her. I can feel her in here." He touched his chest and smiled for a moment, then pulled back the covers and let Remington help him settle down. "I can feel her," he whispered again and closed his eyes.
Remington straightened up, wondering. Turning off the light, he left the demon alone.
---000---
Kate looked up as Sister Maria came in. "Father Remington sent this message for you," she said, handing her a note.
"Thank you." Sister Kate stood up from her makeshift desk and made her way around the mess of files that had been rescued from her office. Right now, they were all piled in the cell next to the one she slept in and there wasn't any free space save that she occupied herself. She read the note and paled. Leaving Maria staring after her, she ran down the stairs to the first floor.
Remington was in Chrno's room, the doctor just leaving. Kate ran in and stopped.
Chrno lay in the bed with his hands folded over his cross, his long hair unbound and glistening. He didn't move at her entrance and Remington looked up at her, his face haunted. "I was in here an hour ago," he told her. "I helped him shower and carried him back. When I brought him some food, I couldn't wake him."
Her hands clasped together. "Is he dead?"
"No. I don't know." He bowed his head. "He's warm, but he's…"
"Sleeping," she finished and bowed her own head. She should have asked her questions sooner. She should have done a lot of things. Perhaps some day God would sit down with her and tell her why all her realizations always came too late.
---000---
Aion woke in his own room, blinking at the sun that came in the window. He was tired but whole, the wounds in his side and shoulder gone. Even his hand felt better and he opened it and closed it a few times, watching the fingers flex and just letting himself wake up slowly.
As he did, he reached out with his mind to his followers. He didn't have anything like Pandemonium's telepathy, but he could feel each of them in the back of his head. Viede was somewhere in the house, Genai downtown, probably doing the shopping. Shader was just outside in the kitchen.
He couldn't feel Chrno.
Aion frowned. Chrno had broken his ties to Aion, thanks to that Saint fifty years ago basically ripping them away, but Aion had never lost his connection to him. He'd known when Chrno succumbed to astral depletion and was buried in Magdalene's tomb with her, ostensibly to contain him. He knew when that bitch and her brother woke him. He knew when he nearly died, even before he called out to him in his delirium. He knew it every time he loved that woman of his and opened his mind to her. Only now he couldn't feel him at all.
It bothered him. He'd lost a thousand followers he'd gleaned from Pandemonium and still grieved their loss. He'd lost Rizel and hid how much it still hurt him from the others. He'd lost Chrno's presence, but he'd always been able to feel him and that had nearly been good enough. It had also been useful at times. They'd been able to track the Las Vegas Songbird by tracking Chrno. Aion couldn't always find him; he was much harder to triangulate when he was focused on his human bitch and he'd been doing something lately that had hidden his location until Aion was nearly on top of him, but this was different. He wasn't dead. He'd know it if he were. That would be a scar on his mind. This was an absence.
He'd felt it twice before. Once when he went into an astral depletion coma in the Saint's tomb, after his horns were torn out and she had no more life for him to drain. Aion had visited him there periodically, keeping his astral levels high enough that his brother didn't die while he waited for him to come to his senses. Only Rosette Christopher found him first. He would have been dust otherwise by the time she stumbled into that tomb. The second time had been soon after he made the bitch into a demon. He wasn't sure what happened to Chrno then, but he knew it had been done at the Order and he'd been about to tear it apart to find him when his energy returned. Now this made the third time.
Aion couldn't kill his own followers. He wasn't like Pandemonium, using them up and discarding them as she saw fit. Chrno was his and always would be. He might punish him and he'd like very much to put him in one of Shader's tanks and wipe his memory completely clean, but he wouldn't kill him. Especially not Chrno, who'd shared his mother with him and had been born from the same womb.
Without Rosette to feed him, he must have gone into a coma again. He should have ordered the others to bring him along with her. If Aion'd had time to think it through, he would have. But he'd had a sudden plan, a way to use Chrno to his advantage, and he hadn't expected him to fade so quickly.
Then again, how long had he been recovering? He should have had three or four days to put his plan into action. It was still refining in his mind as he rose, nearly there as he pulled on a robe and strode out into the kitchen.
Shader launched herself at him, mewing happily. He caught her and pushed her back, looking intently into her eyes.
"How long was I recovering?"
"Five days," she answered immediately.
"Damn it!"
Her ears drooped. "What? What's wrong?"
"Chrno's in a coma from attrition."
Her ears went even flatter. "But he shouldn't be! She has enough reserves she could keep him going for almost seven days if he took it easy!"
"Perhaps he didn't," he pointed out. "Besides, they were both sick when I fought them. His levels were already lower." He looked out the window at the ocean. "Where is the nun?"
"Still in the tank. I didn't want to let her out."
Aion smirked. "Perhaps we should. She might like to see her brother. I know I'd like to see mine."
He led the way down into the basement, past the tanks with the Apostles in them to the one that held Rosette Christopher. She looked temptingly small and helpless in there, her horns so small they would only have classed her as a servant back in Pandemonium. She should be easy to dominate, he mused. She was a demon after all now, or at least enough of one he should be able to crush her resistance and make her as much his as the Sinners. That would be the way back into Chrno's mind and the way to the Apostle as well. It would also help in controlling Joshua. Everything neatly tied up together.
"Let her out," he told Shader and she scrambled to do his bidding. The lid rose and Rosette floated to the surface. Immediately, she started coughing and leaned over the side of the tank, heaving. He stepped back before she could get any of it on him, well aware he was just as goopy as she. It amused him, especially when she looked up at him and her eyes widened.
"Not at our best, are we?" he asked lightly. "We will be." Gathering his thoughts, he attacked, slamming his dominance down on her as hard as a century of experience would let him. Shader whimpered in the background, feeling the edge of it, and the girl screamed. There wouldn't be much she could do against him though. This would be an easy victory.
---000---
Sister Kate stepped into her makeshift office, her lips pursed and her head throbbing. Her glasses were pinching her nose and her habit felt too tight and hot. Casting around, she looked for the box that held the items from her devastated cupboard and started to dig through it. The nuns had thrown everything in it when they cleaned out her office and she was afraid and hopeful both that it would be broken.
It wasn't. She lifted it out intact and just studied it for a long moment. She'd spent the night in prayer, seeking some answer from God, but she still didn't have any solid conviction that this was right. Just her own faith and her desperation to guide her.
Kate turned and left the office, gliding down the silent hall. It was late, most everyone asleep, and no one saw her descend three floors and go out into the night. It was still cold, the moon so bright above that it lit the snow eerily like twilight. Carrying the object she'd found, she walked across the snow towards the church. Militia on guard duty nodded as she passed, but no one moved to stop her. There was no reason anyone would.
She went into the church and down the aisle to kneel before the alter, repeating her prayers and her vows. That done, she forced herself to rise and went past it into the rear atrium.
They'd brought Chrno there, needing the room in the barracks more than he did. He lay on a mattress laid atop a table, candles burning on the windowsill above him. His hair cascaded down beside him and over the edge of the table, hanging towards the ground.
He'd never wake up, not without Rosette. Kate closed her eyes and made the sign of the cross over her chest. Perhaps not just with Rosette. They needed him. The Order wasn't as powerful as it needed to be; they were helpless against Aion and given enough time, he would find the Apostle and achieve his goal. She was sworn to prevent that, no matter what the cost.
Repeating the sign of the cross, she undid her headdress and let it fall. Then she undid the front of her robes so that the skin above her breasts was showing. It was pale and freckled, starting to sag and become wrinkled. She wasn't as young as she used to be, but she hoped she was enough. She prayed she was. For her, this was in God's hands, and it was up to Him to decide if she was doing the right thing.
She stepped up to the edge of the table, her short hair dark in the candlelight, and lifted Chrno's hand, pressing it against her bared breast. With the other, she laid the pocket watch they abandoned so long ago on his naked chest.
"Chrno the Sinner," she intoned. "I hereby make a Contract with you." And with that, she snapped the watch open.
THE END
And I'm heading off for my mission… yeah, crappy place to leave it, I know. I will definitely return to this.
Given this ending, I'm really hoping for comments.