By Hydraa
This is the sequel to "Retribution". It's occurred to me that I've been terribly hard on poor Chrno in the course of my stories. Recognizing that and liking the concept of repercussions, I've decided to get even meaner.
---000---
Joshua sat on the sand below a beach house he'd spent the last four years of his life living in and wondered what in the world ever happened to him.
He didn't really remember, not clearly. He'd been crazy, he knew that; Rosette had told him so and his few recollections felt so alien he couldn't doubt her. He also couldn't dwell on them. Not yet. Not while the very thought of doing so frightened him so badly.
It was better to think of his sister. She'd done so much to get him back it amazed him. In the first few tearful hours of their reunion, she'd told him about how Aion gave him Chrno's horns in order to get control of him. Of how he'd gone crazy and she'd made a Contract with Chrno that gave him energy to use his powers by draining the very life out of her. She'd have been dead already, she'd told him, if he hadn't made her into a demon herself. She hadn't said how he did it, but the evidence was there, from the wings she'd been showing when he first woke up to the little horns sticking out of her hair while she sat beside him now.
Talking about Chrno had quietened her enthusiasm and she sat holding his hand, staring numbly out at the ocean when she wasn't asking him with a smile how he was doing. It was pretty obvious she was thinking about Chrno and that made her brother sad.
Joshua remembered him as a little boy with purple hair and wounded eyes, no taller than Joshua himself and very quiet. He'd lived at the caves holding the tomb they found him in and spent his days trailing after Rosette like a puppy, just like Joshua himself had. She'd been the sun to their moons, he supposed, while Chrono was their unique little friend and favourite secret. Joshua wasn't sure where all of that put him in their circle, but he'd never felt left out of the friendship.
Apparently that friendship had taken his sister and Chrno farther than any of them ever would have expected. Rosette had admitted that she never would have found her brother if it wasn't for Chrno. He hadn't left her side from the moment Joshua was taken and he hoped he was found soon, so he could thank him for taking care of her.
He looked at his sister again out of the corner of his eye, dressed in her blue dress and headdress and gnawing on a thumbnail. "I still can't believe you're a nun," he said, smiling. "It's unreal. I thought you wanted to be an explorer."
"Oh, I've done some exploring," she laughed, grinning at him. "Trust me. I'll have to tell you about Eden sometime." At that, her smile suddenly faltered and she looked away quickly. What happened in Eden, he wondered? He didn't ask though. He'd had to absorb enough things already.
One of those things was coming across the sand towards them, dressed in pants and a sweater underneath a white lab coat and followed by a stern looking militia guard. Some of the few good memories he had of his time as Aion's thrall had been of Shader. She was a cuddler, he remembered, though he also recalled moments of her cowering in terror from him as well.
The other good memories were of a dark-eyed girl with a bob cut who wore a maid's uniform and spoke softly to him. He didn't know where she was though and every time he looked at the bullet holes that peppered the house, he was afraid to ask.
From what he'd been told, Shader was the last Sinner left. They didn't know about Aion yet of course, but the other two had been killed. Or so they hoped. Joshua had heard Father Remington pointing out to some others that they didn't see one of the demons fall, and if he'd turned to ash over the beach, they'd never find him.
The demon came up to Rosette, her ears swivelling around and her tail puffed up as though she were irritated. "I turned my files over like you asked," she said to her, pouting. "Do I get them back at all?" Her ears flattened briefly. "What am I supposed to do now?"
Joshua had no idea, but Rosette shrugged. "We have a whole lab for you back at the Order," she replied. "You'll love it. The guy who used to run it got to work on anything he wanted." Shader's ears came forward again and Rosette's grip tightened involuntarily on Joshua's hand. He doubted she'd even noticed she did it. "For now, can you help find Chrno?"
Her ears went back again. "Not really. I can't track him. Only Aion could."
"No?" Rosette asked, disappointment in her voice. "The Elder used to have a machine that could follow demons. He found us with it once while we were in a circle supposed to hide us."
Her eyes widened. "That can be done? Really??" She turned and ran back towards the house. "I'll figure it out! Promise!" Whooping excitedly, she raced inside, her guard sprinting after her.
Joshua laughed softly. "I think you've created a monster," he told her.
"I hope not," Rosette grumbled.
He grinned and went back to looking at the water, wondering what was going to happen to him now. He was sixteen when he should have been eleven, but while he didn't remember the last four years, he did feel older, and tired. Very tired. He suspected that if the memories ever returned, he was also going to feel very guilty as well. Chrno's horns hadn't been good for him and ultimately, the one thing he was clear on was the fact that he'd accepted them. He'd hardly known what he was agreeing to, but he'd done it. Joshua was man enough to realize that he might just owe a very large debt for that.
If Rosette thought he did, she didn't say so. She was just happy to have him back and he wished Chrno was there as well, to make her smile again and share her joy with her.
"Rosette." Joshua looked back up the beach with her as Father Remington came towards them, his face grim. Rosette's grip on his hand turned painful.
"You know something?" she asked, making it sound almost like a statement. She started to stand.
Remington put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, his expression never changing. "We found them," he told her.
---000---
The hospital was the newest in San Francisco, one spared in the first fight between Aion and Chrno. Thanks to it, a lot of lives that otherwise would have been lost hadn't been and its doctors were some of the best in the country.
Rosette hurried with Azmaria and Joshua into the hospital, following behind Remington. Several high-ranking militia were standing in the foyer, arguing with a doctor, and Remington led the way up to them.
"Anything?" he asked.
One of the priests, a hardened man with dark hair and sideburns, frowned at him. "We found Kate first, since we knew where she was." He paused for a moment and Rosette wondered what he didn't want to say. "She's dead," he told them at last.
Rosette gasped and Azmaria started to cry. Kate was dead?? Remington had told her she made a Contract with Chrno, that she took him to battle Aion while the rest of the militia attacked the beach house. Rosette had been looking forward to screaming at her for her presumption. Now she was dead? She couldn't imagine it and shuddered, not prepared to cry where everyone could see her.
"And Chrno?" Remington continued, his face pale. He was shaking, Rosette realised, but so was she.
The man's brow twitched and his frown deepened even further. "The paramedics brought in two people from the airport, a man and a boy, but they won't let us in to see them." He shot a vicious look at the doctor.
"They're far too critically injured," the doctor protested. "It's a miracle either of them survived at all. Any stress could kill them."
"If they're who we think they are, one of those two is the worst threat this world has ever seen!"
Rosette felt faint. A man and a boy? Aion and Chrno? "Where is he?" she gasped. With Kate dead, Chrno had no way to get astral. She had to go to him.
"In the Intensive Care ward," the doctor told her, "but none of you can-"
Rosette ignored whatever stupidity he was saying next, studying the map of departments hanging on the foyer wall. Intensive Care was down the hall, close to Emergency. Grabbing her brother by one hand and Azmaria by the other, she ran for the hall, the doctor yelping behind her. Two burly orderlies that had been standing there tried to stop her, but she bowled them right over and kept going.
"What are you doing?" Joshua protested, trying to get his arm free and slow down before he fell, but Azmaria ran as quick as she could beside her.
"We have to save Chrno!" the girl told him excitedly. "Hurry up!"
They raced down the hall, Remington and the other militia hurrying after them while a PA announcement sounded above ordering security to the Intensive Care ward.
It lay ahead through a solid set of wooden doors. Rosette banged through them and immediately a nurse was hurrying towards her wearing scrubs and a mask, exclaiming that she wasn't sterile and had to leave. Rosette ignored her and stared, horrified.
There were half a dozen people in beds in the room, all there for different reasons. Rosette could only look at two of the beds though. Aion lay in one, his face as pale as his hair and hooked up to so many tubes she almost couldn't recognise him. Chrno lay in the next, in his child form and so small that the same tubes that half covered Aion nearly hid him.
"Chrno!" she wailed, running forward while still dragging the two Acolytes along behind her "Chrno, wake up!" He didn't move and she couldn't feel his mind at all. Even asleep she could usually sense his presence and this was so horrifically wrong it made her head ache. How much astral did he have left? He'd taken everything Kate had, but she hadn't been a young woman and he'd been terribly hurt. She could see the dark threads of suture lines on his chest, but she couldn't see his face under all the wires, tubes, and the oxygen mask. With them in the way, she couldn't feed him herself, but they were the only things keeping him alive. The machines he was hooked up to beeped with increasing slowness.
She could only think of one other thing to do. "Azmaria," she gulped, praying that this time it worked, that all her months in Shader's healing tanks had brought her abilities back. "Please, heal him!"
The girl didn't even question her. Immediately, Azmaria started to sing, her beautiful voice echoing through the room as wings appeared out of her back. They glowed a brilliant white, shining in the room and stopping everyone in their place, except one man.
"No!" Remington shouted. "Azmaria, no!"
She sang, Rosette watching her with desperate hope, Joshua in surprise. He looked at her and then at his sister, and suddenly he started to sing as well. His voice wasn't as beautiful as Azmaria's, but the wings that appeared on his back were.
"NO!"
The patients in the ward began to stir, waking up from whatever wounds they'd had, healing from their combined song. They sang of peace and love, of healing and salvation, and Chrno stirred, his hand lifting slightly. Rosette threw herself down beside his bed, grasping it with both of her own tearfully.
"Chrno," she sobbed. "Oh, Chrno!"
Aion erupted out of the other bed.
Azmaria shrieked, her song ending as he went past her, shifting to his demon form. Joshua yelped and fell backwards as he vaulted over him and Rosette tried to get up, only Chrno wouldn't let go of her hand. Remington and the other militia struggled to get their weapons out, but there was hardly any room to do so without hitting each other and Aion moved amazingly fast. He slammed through them, wings half furled, and was out the door, running down the corridor. Rosette could hear the screams as he passed people out there. Remington raced after him, cursing, along with the other militia.
"Oh, applesauce," Rosette muttered.
"I… hadn't thought of that," Azmaria admitted, trembling, while the other patients in the ward sat up, exclaiming in amazement.
At that moment, Rosette didn't care what Aion did. Chrno needed her; she could feel his pain and confusion. Kate had taken him, she realised, made herself his master, and then left him alone and empty. A rage she didn't recognize but that both Aion and Pandemonium would have recognized filled her, an anger at seeing what was hers to protecttaken away. She didn't articulate that thought though as Joshua knelt across from her, helping her pull the tubes and mask off. Chrno had one down his throat and he gagged when Rosette pulled it out, not expecting it to be so long.
"He hasn't changed at all," Joshua gasped, looking down at him in shock. The same little boy he remembered lay there, the only difference being the long braid tied with a scrap of leather and his utter exhaustion. He looked up at Joshua and his slitted eyes widened.
"J-Joshua?" he whispered, his voice barely audible. Rosette leaned over him then, calling his name, and he made a bizarre mewling sound, turning towards her. He reached out, desperate for her, and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek against the top of his head. All Joshua saw was the embrace and turned to smile at Azmaria, who smiled back, just as delighted to see the two reunited again.
Neither of them saw what else happened. Chrno's mind was battered, his walls broken down and his spirit scarred. Unintentionally, Kate had been as brutal as Pandemonium and far more intimate in that she focused solely on him instead of thousands. Even as she failed to give him the comfort he needed, she made him dependant on her and Chrno was reeling from both her death and his own relief at it, along with his guilt.
"I killed Kate," he whispered, unable not to mourn.
"No, you didn't, baby," she told him just as softly. "Come on, let me in."
Chrno sighed and surrendered to her, opening the doors that had always closed his mind from every other demon and that not even Kate had been able to break. She'd battered them, but only his death could have come from her breaking through.
Rosette slid in smoothly, her own tensions easing as she found her way back into his mind again, careful to be more gentle than she'd ever been before in the face of his weakness. She soothed his mind, flooded it with the absolute awareness she had of him, her unrelenting determination to protect him; to be his strength for him and his will when he had none. Chrno in return gave himself to her and they both felt the bond reform, that only she would command him, that only she would own him. Tilting his head back, she pressed her lips to his and breathed as much astral as she could into him, ignoring Azmaria's delighted squeal behind her.
Chrno shimmered unwittingly, shifting to his adult form for her.
"Holy crap!" Joshua gasped, jumping back.
"I didn't know he could look like that," Azmaria breathed, her eyes huge.
Chrno was drifting off, falling asleep now that he felt safe. Rosette kept a steady hold on his mind, even as she let him settle back into the bed and pulled the cover up to his chin. "He can. He only kept the boy form to save on energy." She looked at her brother. "He's going to be okay now."
"You kissed him," Joshua managed, pointing at the demon. He looked at her. "When you did, I saw a light going from you and into him. What was that?"
"Astral," she told him and pointed at her horns. "From these. I have to feed him some of my astral every day or he'll die." She looked back down at her lover, determined not to leave his side, not until he got his mental strength back. Until it did, she'd tear anyone who tried to harm him apart. Shader too she supposed, since the idea of anyone hurting the cat bizarrely bothered her now, and she wondered what Chrno would think when he found out she had a second demon obeying her now.
Not that she planned to have anything with Shader that was remotely close to the kind of relationship she had with him.
Joshua just shook his head. "Good thing Mom's not around. She'd have freaked if she knew you were kissing an older man."
Rosette didn't answer as the doctor hurried up, flustered, saw that his patient had aged about ten years, and wandered away in a daze. She couldn't really think of what to say to him and had to hide a blush by turning away.
---000---
Two days later, they were ready to go home, and that delay had only been so they could disassemble Shader's lab, to her intense concern, and load it up on trucks that would be taken to the airport for transport. Remington had already gone ahead, with Kate's body and most of the militia. With her dead, he was in charge of the New York Order and he looked more than a little overwhelmed when he left.
Rosette stayed behind with her brother, Azmaria, and Chrno. She wanted time to reconnect to Joshua, to keep an eye on Shader as she watched her lab vanish into boxes and became increasingly more hysterical as it did, and to let Chrno rest. Other than Shader's very vocal misery and Azmaria's tendency to burn everything she cooked, it was a good time.
The best part of that last day was when she went for a walk with her two men, both of them wandering on either side of her and talking about whatever moved them. Actually, Rosette did most of the talking, telling her brother nearly everything that had happened in his absence. The reality of Chrno being her lover she skipped somewhat though, not sure how to tell her little brother she was living in sin with his childhood best friend. He'd seen they were sharing a room, but he hadn't said anything. Rosette wasn't sure if that was because he'd figured it out, or because he hadn't. She didn't know how to bring it up. He was immensely impressed that she was a demon now though, and disappointed that she wasn't a good enough flyer yet to take him anywhere.
Chrno declined his not-so-subtle invitation to take him flying as well, just smiling and dropping back to walk behind them. Joshua pouted and started muttering that it was no good to have wings of his own if he couldn't pop them out whenever he wanted to.
Rosette had to laugh at him. "It's not all it's cracked up to be," she told him.
"Sure. Like you don't want to look all impressive."
"Well," she hedged and he laughed. A dozen feet behind them, Chrno lurched and collapsed to the sand, shuddering. Neither of the siblings noticed, looking towards the beach house. Despite the damage, they were staying there while Shader packed, not willing to leave the place unsecured. From it, Rosette could smell a savoury scent.
"It looks like Azmaria managed not to burn something for once," she said happily and gestured over her shoulder without looking back. "Come on, Chrno," she called. "We better hurry before she does burn it."
Chrno forced himself to his hands and knees, swaying, and with a massive effort, got back onto his feet. Gagging, he hurried after them, sure not to let them see what happened. He was just tired, he told himself; he didn't need to worry Rosette when she was finally so happy. Reaching her side, he smiled down at her as she looped an arm around his and beamed up at him.
No, she deserved her happiness.
---000---
Brushing her hair, Rosette came out of the bathroom and walked towards the large bed that backed onto a great set of windows overlooking the ocean. The master bedroom had been Aion's, but neither of them ever mentioned that, even as they took it over. Chrno lay against the headboard, looking across the room at nothing.
"You don't look well," Rosette told him in concern, sitting beside him to put a hand on his forehead. It was a little warm. "Are you sick?"
He shrugged. "I don't feel so good. I didn't want to worry you."
"Idiot," she told him, bapping him lightly on the head. "I don't like you suffering. Do you want anything?"
"Just you," he said and reached for her. Rosette hummed happily and slid under the sheets with him. Whatever he was sick from, it didn't seem to affect his ardour. Chrno's touch was everywhere, his mouth warm and his body hot, and he made her forget her concerns as he loved her with all his heart.
---000---
Sometime after Rosette fell asleep, Chrno shot awake. If she'd been lying against him, she would have woken immediately, but as it was, she was lying on the other side of the huge bed with her back to him, and she didn't even stir as he bolted out of the bed and into the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet before he vomited.
He'd never thrown up before. It was a horrible feeling. His stomach tightened painfully, his nose and mouth not seeming able to draw in enough air. He trembled, shifting to his boy shape, and just hunched there for a few minutes, trying to breathe. Finally forcing himself up, he stumbled back into the bedroom and looked at his lover.
"Rosette," he gasped. "Rosette." She didn't wake, snoring noisily, and he staggered out to the hall, heading for a small room at the end. The door was open and he leaned against the jamb, looking in.
"Shader," he groaned. Her ears pricked up and she looked at him, her eyes glowing in the dark. "I feel awful." With that, he slid to his knees.
She was there immediately, mewling as she put on her glasses and knelt before him, sniffing his face and taking his temperature. "What's wrong?" she asked, feeling his neck.
"I'm sick."
"I can see that. And they packed all my stuff. Wait here." She vanished, racing off lightly, and he leaned against the jamb, closing his eyes. A moment later, he was asleep.
Shader woke him, holding a glass up to his lips. "Drink." It was cold and chalky, bitter on his tongue. Chrno drank most of it and gagged.
"Better?" she asked him with interest.
Amazingly, his stomach was starting to settle. "Yes, what is it?"
"A pain killer and an antinauseant. It's good for colds. It's all I still had unpacked." Her ears twitched. "How long have you been sick?"
"This time?" he muttered, wiping his mouth. He could still taste the potion and a bit of his vomit and wanted to rinse his mouth out.
"This time? How many times are we talking about?"
"Um, I was only sick… twice. Three times?" He thought about it, getting his timelines mixed up. "Before I fought Aion. I had a bad cold. Or did I get that fever first? Or was that when I was shot? Maybe that was after."
Her ear twitched. "Yes? No? Start at the beginning. I know Aion ripped your horns out and you went into an astral depletion coma for fifty years. He had me check you a few times."
"He had me check you?" he gaped. "I mean, you check me?"
"Of course, you were family. Demons usually die when they lose their horns, you know." She tapped her lips. "Tell me the rest, after Rosette woke you."
"Um." He thought about it and shivered. Shader grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around him. "Bumps, bruises, got knocked around some. Nothing really big until I was run through by a worm demon's spikes. Then I got thrown through a window frame by Satella's knight. I nearly died from both of those."
"I heard about them from Aion," she told him. "He was pissed. I thought you were coming home. I had the balloons ready and everything."
He smiled faintly. "Sorry. Um, what else? I got ordered to die because of these Oaths I'd taken. I was put in a room where time froze. I was shot through the chest by Dafau. I got my horns regrown, then got into a fight with Aion and Rosette ripped them out again. Then I got sick, started to get better, got sick again. Started to get better, got sick again. Then got in another fight with Aion, ran out of astral, got in another fight with Aion, and now we're here." He frowned. "I have to get better at ducking or something."
One of her ears drooped. "And that's all in the last year?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah."
"And you're not dead yet?"
He glared at her. "I hope not!"
Shader grinned at him. "Silly boy." She ruffled his hair and stood, hauling him up with her. "Stay in this form. When I get my lab back, and I better get my lab back or I'm going to be really cranky and you know what I'm like when I'm cranky, I'll look you over."
She helped him back to his room, Chrno feeling a lot better for what she'd given him but still so tired. She led him into the room and left him to lean over Rosette.
"Meow?" she said. No response. "WAKE UP!" Grabbing the snoring blonde by the shoulder, she shook her frantically. "HI THERE!"
Rosette came awake, shrieking and swearing. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU??"
Shader just smirked at her. "Chrno's sick. Thought you should know."
Rosette gaped at her for a moment while Joshua and Azmaria appeared in the doorway, wiping sleep out of their eyes and pulling on robes.
"What's going on?" Joshua asked sleepily.
Rosette didn't answer him, staring at Chrno. "You're sick?" Immediately, she was out of bed, checking his forehead and guiding him back to his side of the bed, settling him down. "Are you going to be okay for the plane trip tomorrow? We'll miss Kate's funeral otherwise."
"I'll be okay," he promised. "Shader gave me something. I feel better already."
He settled down while she anxiously barked orders at the other three, sleepy enough that he nodded off while she was still going. Shader happily let Rosette throw her out of the room, but her gaze never left the other demon until she was in the hallway, and she was very worried.
---000---
Rosette in the lead, the five of them hurried through the airport. They'd just seen the cargo plane with Shader's lab in it off, and it was packed so full they were booked on a separate, commercial flight. Rosette was looking forward to it, having been promised first class. She and Joshua chattered on about where they'd like to take the plane while Azmaria hurried after them, dragging a pink suitcase.
Chrno brought up the rear, walking beside Shader. Tech demons didn't need to change shape at all, so she couldn't and hid both her cat ears and down curving horns with a bizarre woollen cap with earflaps. Her tail she wrapped around her waist. She didn't look entirely human, but neither did he with his pointed ears and slitted eyes.
Shader hadn't left his side since he got up that morning, even getting herself yelled at by Rosette when she followed him into the bathroom.
"Are you planning to stop hovering?" he asked her wearily. Rosette was pulling ahead, nearly charging forward with Joshua now. Azmaria was sweating as she hurried after them.
"Nope," she told him. "Why are you in your adult form?"
Surprised, Chrno looked down at himself to see he was indeed in his adult form, his red shorts and coat replaced by plain brown pants and a poncho. "When did that happen?" he wondered.
"About thirty seconds ago. Some tourist walked into a pole staring at you." Her nose wrinkled. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She jammed a blurry hand in his face.
"Hurry up!" Rosette yelled from up ahead. "Our plane is leaving in ten minutes and I still want ice cream!"
Chrno couldn't focus on the fingers. He shuddered, a wave of unwellness rising in him, and closed his eyes for a moment, reeling. He took another step and seemed to catch on something, a weight suddenly dragging on the floor behind him. Someone started screaming.
"Chrno," Shader sang. "I think you're in trouble."
He reopened his eyes, looking down at her. In the reflection of her glasses, he could see his face, his demon face, with the ridges of bone framing his eyes and the tufted ears below the metal caps that covered his horns. The weight he was dragging was his wings, sagging on the ground along with his tail. Passengers in the terminal were staring at him in horror, some running away and screaming.
Chrno gagged, his mouth filling again, and reeled, turning. He saw a Rosette-shaped blur racing towards him and groaned. Shader reached for him and he fell, slamming hard onto his back. The cat demon bent over him, saying something, and Rosette joined her, but he couldn't understand either of them. A whistle sounded and he thought he heard a train. He needed to catch it.
A moment later, he was gone.
THE ENDThat looks like a good place to end it (ducks and runs from the tomatoes). More is coming.