By Hydraa
This is the sequel to "Astral Line". Rated R for serious lemon.
---000---
The demon was in the boardroom, chortling to itself as it fed on the corpses of the men who had summoned it. It was huge and armoured, spikes sticking up from its spine and the sides of its massive, misshapen head. It bit and gulped the meat down, content for the moment to stay where it was.
Rosette Christopher crouched outside one of the doorways and studied it. It was stupid, big, and strong, but still a low class demon without a specific purpose. In Pandemonium, it was just cannon fodder. The businessmen who summoned it to increase their power had made a bad move. Even if they'd got the circle right and contained it, it wouldn't have been able to help them. All it knew how to do was kill and eat.
Lifting her hand, she touched the tiny receiver in her ear. "Christopher here," she whispered. "Is everyone in place?" A quiet chorus of yeses sounded and she waited until she counted seven. She didn't want to move until everyone was in place. The unit had a few new novices in it on their first assignment. She had no desire to see them hurt and waited, curbing any desire to just charge in there herself and attack.
She'd had a lot of time to learn patience.
The last yes came at last, from her brother, and she frowned. Joshua usually was so steady in a fight; it was unusual for him to be late. One of the novices was with him though, one Rosette didn't have a lot of hope for. The militia wasn't for everyone.
"Azmaria," she called instead, her voice still low but clear over Shader's equipment. "Are the cross barriers ready?"
"They are," the girl answered. "The last one is set to go in. We're just waiting for your command."
"Good." Rosette studied the room for a moment more, and readied herself to give the command. While she did, something shifted in the shadows by the shattered boardroom table. "Hold!" she hissed. "There's a second one."
Another demon came out of the shadows and she cursed under her breath. This one was long and lean, its skin blue and mottled but otherwise very human. A soldier demon. The businessmen had really done it.
"Soldier demon," she cautioned the unit. "There's a soldier demon. Stupid bastards. Single horn, about three inches." That made it low grade, but still far more dangerous than the beast it was with.
The second demon sauntered over to the first and scratched its back affectionately. Rosette would have been more moved though if the beast hadn't been feasting on human flesh. The soldier demon bent to try a taste as well and she rose. "Now!"
Immediately, a barrage of Sacreds fired through the room at the two demons, all very carefully placed so that there was no chance of any of the unit getting hit in the crossfire. The soldier demon shrieked and leaped into the air to avoid them, its wings spread. Meanwhile, the beast bellowed, one leg collapsing under it.
"Now, Azmaria!" she shouted.
A brilliant light flooded the room, a cross-shaped cage appearing around the two. The soldier hit it and rebounded, howling.
Rosette charged into the room, careful to keep clear of the barrier herself while the rest of the militia unit raced in around her, closing around the demons. She noted there was no sign of her brother, and then the barrier flickered and died, freeing both demons. The beast roared and charged, fire gouting out of its jaws.
"Get back!" Rosette shouted, even as she rushed forwards herself, changing. One moment she was a blonde woman in blue robes with a gun belt strapped over them. The next, she had golden wings sprouting out of her back and was airborne, headed for the soldier demon. The rest of the unit could handle the beast, but the boardroom had skylights. She couldn't afford to let it get out through them.
The soldier saw her coming and actually laughed, leering at her horns where her headdress blew away from them. They were barely an inch long, making her even lower in status than the beast in demon circles. It couldn't have expected much of her, but Rosette was born human. Her horns only gave her astral. They didn't dictate what she could do.
She shot past the demon and twisted herself around in the air, firing at its back. She was an inelegant flier, what with having to teach herself, but the soldier screamed as the hallowed bullets blew through its back. Its legions overloaded and shocked themselves apart, turning it into dust.
Rosette arched over, looking down. The unit had retreated to the corridors, using them for cover as they fired at the beast. It howled in confusion and pain, not knowing which way to run or who to kill, and she put it out of its misery by shooting it in the head from above. It crumpled and joined the soldier demon as dust.
Roughly, Rosette landed, holstering her weapon and shifting back to her normal, human form. "Anyone hurt?" she demanded and turned. "Joshua! Where the heck are you?"
Her brother appeared, a light beard on his chin and a disgusted look on his face. He wore the same blue militia gear she did, along with a collar at his throat. He hadn't quite reached priest status, but he was closer to it than she was to being a nun right now, even though she led the militia.
"I'm here," he told her.
Rosette put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Everything okay?" she asked sarcastically. "Any reason you were late? And what happened to the cross barrier?"
He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. Unlike the other militia, she didn't intimidate him. "The novice ran, which would have been fine if she hadn't knocked the bloody cross over when she did."
Rosette made a face. Some people definitely weren't cut out for the militia. If that girl thought she'd ever be accepted onto Rosette's team again, she'd have to do some serious proving of herself first.
"Clear up!" she shouted at the rest of the unit. "I don't want to be late for my own birthday party! I hear there's going to be cake!" They shouted out a cheer and she headed out of the room, to tell the police outside that it was safe.
---000---
The unit arrived back at the Order an hour later, their vans pulling up to let them out at the mess before heading to the garage. One of the novices, a girl who was still shaking a bit from seeing actual demons up close, watched as Rosette climbed down and headed away from them across the lawn, walking towards a square white building with a restricted sign posted outside the front door. None of the novices were allowed anywhere near it.
"Where's she going?" she asked Azmaria, a little more comfortable in these strange surroundings around the other girl. After all, Azmaria was only a few years older than her and had been there for years.
"She'll be back later," Azmaria told her calmly, her blue eyes watching Rosette vanish into the building. "She won't miss her party." She turned and looked at Joshua, smiling. "She'll remember this one for a while."
The young priest-in-training grinned at her wickedly and they went into the mess, leaving the novice standing there feeling confused.
---000---
Rosette walked into Shader's lab, stripping off her gun belt and leaving it at the door as she did. The place was a scientist's dream lab, equipment Rosette never could have understood crammed in everywhere. Shader lived in the place, happily sleeping on a cot at the back and emerging only to eat. Not seeing her, Rosette crossed the room to one massive machine in particular. It was one she knew very well, after hours spent sitting by it, and she looked at the monitors critically. Everything looked good.
"Hey, Shader," she called and heard a mew from somewhere in the lab. "How much longer?"
A head popped up from behind a supercomputer, one framed with cat ears. Shader pushed her glasses up her nose and shrugged. "Later. I want him at 280 before I let him out."
Rosette looked at the monitor and stifled a sigh. 260. It could be months before it rose to 280.
"You've waited this long," she told herself and pulled her customary chair up to one of the tanks that jutted out of the base of the machine.
A demon lay insensate inside, floating in a translucent goo that held him up and healed him. He had fifty years of cumulative damage to recover from and the process had been necessarily slow.
She just hadn't expected it to take two years.
"Hi, Chrno," she sighed, knowing he couldn't hear her but still liking the thought of talking to him. "We tried out the new novices today. What a cluster! They were as bad as we were when we started." She told him everything, every day. In two years, she hadn't missed a single visit.
"It's my birthday today," she reminded him. "Nineteen. Can you believe it? Az is fourteen and flipping gorgeous. It's not fair. Joshua is almost eighteen. He takes his final vows to be a priest next month. I… haven't. I'm still waiting for you." She laid a hand against the glass. "You gonna get out of there soon?" she asked plaintively and shook her head. She'd promised herself she wouldn't get maudlin. Father Remington had told her he'd ban her from the lab if she got hysterical over Chrno's tank again.
It was hard though, especially today. She wanted him in her life, wanted to feel his body and his mind. Shader was a good friend and bound to her as her master, but it wasn't the same. Her bond to Chrno had been so much deeper.
"You'll be out of here in a few months," she told him, "and boy will we have a lot of time to make up, and if you ever hide from me that you're sick again…" She took a deep breath. "Gotta work on that, Rosette. Control the anger. It's not his fault. Let it go." She exhaled slowly and smiled at the dim shape. "It's all jake, Chrno. It'll be great." She looked up at the clock at the wall. "I have to go. I'll save you some cake." Kissing her fingers, she pressed them against his tank and stood, quietly walking away.
Shader puttered with what she was working on until her master was gone and then stuck her head out from behind the computer, nose twitching. Sure she was alone, she scurried out and over to the healing tanks. For a few minutes, she studied the readings on the monitors and giggled before she turned and hurried away.
---000---
The party was as wild as a party in a convent during prohibition could get. Rosette stood on top of a table in the mess hall, whooping and shouting along with the music while her friends cheered and laughed. Most of them had known her for years, the novices she'd joined with now nuns who shook their heads in amusement. New novices gaped at her in hero worship. Rosette was half angel, the rumours went, her golden wings a gift from God. She was also a horrible influence. She made the convent fun.
The head of the Order smirked at her antics, not minding at all seeing her cut loose. "She'll have the novices up on the tables next," Remington noted. "What a nut."
Beside him, Joshua laughed. "You know Rosette, nothing can keep her down."
"Definitely not. I'd be disappointed if something could." Remington sipped his punch. "I read your report. You did well today, considering."
Joshua grimaced. "I don't want that novice back. Neither does Rosette. She could have got someone killed."
"You won't see her again. I think a quieter convent is more suitable for her. I'm thinking of sending her to Haiti."
Joshua laughed. "Good."
They both watched as Rosette hauled Azmaria up with her and started to dance with the younger girl.
"Is her present ready?" Remington asked.
"Getting there. And I've reworked her schedule so she's got nothing coming up." He smirked. "Too bad we can't do it here. I would have loved to see her face."
"Yes, well, given her reactions in the past, I'd rather she got this one in private. Later. I still have paperwork to do." He bowed and left.
Joshua returned the bow and went back to watching his sister, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
---000---
Rosette stumbled back to the cottage after ten, drunk on adrenaline and highly sugared punch. Still giggling at the sight of Azmaria tripping off the table and into the punch bowl, she managed to get the door open and went inside, hitting the lights.
A balloon was tied to a vase on the table, a card propped against it. Smiling, Rosette went over and opened it.
Happy birthday, Sis. I know we got you a present already, but there's another one waiting for you in the bedroom. Try not to break it.
Everyone had signed it.
"Oh really," she chuckled, wondering what kind of gag gift it was while she walked over to the bedroom. Last year she got a box of exploding cigars. They were great during meetings with local officials.
She flipped on the lights and nearly collapsed. Chrno was lying asleep in the bed.
Rosette started to cry, her hands covering her mouth and her breath just hitching. He was lying there on his side, his arm stretched out over her side of the bed, making that little kitten snore of his that she loved so much. He was in his human form as well, the one he'd lost the ability to change to when his legions failed.
She staggered over to him, nearly falling with each step and sobbing. "When? How?" Shader lied to her, the little bitch! Everyone did!
Shaking, she crawled up onto the bed and he stirred, coming awake as the mattress rocked. His slitted red eyes opened sleepily and he looked up at her, immediately reaching out.
"Rosette…" he whispered, pronouncing every syllable of her name with that little 'aaa' sound he always put on the end. His arm moved around her and she sniffled as she came down to him.
Then he was kissing her, his mouth dry and soft on hers. Rosette kissed him tentatively for the first moment and then more ardently, increasing the pressure and pushing her tongue into his mouth to stroke his as she shoved him onto his back, reaching for him. He was dressed in a white bathrobe, his hair still damp, and she tugged it open, her hand stroking down his bared skin. He sighed into her mouth, his own hands tangling in her hair.
His mind opened to her as well, his psyche baring itself for the first time in two years. This was one thing Shader didn't do and Rosette would never ask of her. Only she and Chrno touched like this, and she soothed her mind up against his, her awareness sinking deeply into his and rocking him on waves of pleasure.
"Shit," she cursed, pulling back enough to start stripping off her clothes, nearly ripping them as she knelt there and pulled them off, kicking them over the edge of the bed as he reached for her again, kissing her baring skin and touching her breasts, stroking her nipples. "Wait, wait!" She got her skirt and bloomers off, toeing off her boots, and stretched out against him, renewing the kiss. His body was warm, his length hard against her stomach as she got his robe off over his shoulders, not wanting anything between them.
It had been so long. His mind, his body, it felt so right and she rocked her hips against his. He returned the movement a moment later and she gasped. "Chrno!"
"Rosette," he whispered, staring into her eyes. His own were so slitted his pupils were a vertical line. He opened his mind even further and kissed her again. "Want you."
He could have her. Rosette threw a leg over his hip and angled herself as he pushed inside.
They both gasped at how tight she was. Rosette hadn't had anyone in two years, couldn't have imagined having anyone, even as she put off the final oaths for the Sisterhood. This was why she couldn't make those final promises, wouldn't as he braced his hand under her leg and thrust into her, his mouth never leaving hers, his mind shuddering throughout her.
"Oh, God, Chrno!" she gasped, holding him to her so tightly he had trouble moving. "I love you!"
"I love you," he told her, rolling her onto her back and thrusting harder, pumping his hips into hers until the headboard started to slam against the wall and she heard a picture fall off somewhere. Rosette didn't care. He was everywhere around her and she could smell him and he was there, awake and healthy and loving her. She cried out and brought her hips up against his, her passion starting to peak inside her.
The wave crashed over a moment later, Rosette screaming out, and that pushed Chrno over as well. He gave a strangled gasp and shoved himself deep inside her, shuddering.
Done, he collapsed, gasping, just resting for a moment. Tears in her eyes, she ran her fingers through his hair, holding him to her. If he never moved, she'd be happy forever.
"That," he gasped, "is a good way to wake up."
"Definitely," she smiled. Her entire body ached from having him. It felt like their first time again, only with less of an audience. "I love you so much." The last word came out on a sob.
"I love you." He shifted a bit, still lying on her but moving his head to press his nose against her ear. She felt his breath tickle her as he lifted his hand to cup her breast. "It's weird. I feel like I've been asleep forever."
Rosette stopped. He didn't know? Had Shader seriously brought him to their cottage still asleep? She woke him up for the first time in two years? Why? Rosette would have thought the cat would have wanted to examine him first.
Maybe they needed her to be with him when he did wake, she thought, musing on it. Chrno was a soldier demon. Like Shader, he needed a master. He'd been asleep two years and she hadn't felt his mind since he fell. Perhaps Shader wanted to make sure she was re-established as his master before anyone else got close to his unguarded mind and potentially damaged it.
It worked. She could feel his mind easily now, having rebuilt their link while they made love.
"Sneaky bitch," she smirked.
"What?" he asked, pulling free and lying beside her. He shivered slightly and Rosette immediately pulled the sheets up.
For now, she didn't want to think about anyone else. She just wanted her Chrno back in her arms. She wiped fresh tears from her eyes and kissed his forehead. "Go to sleep, okay, Chrno? We'll talk in the morning."
"Okay," he agreed, yawning. He squeezed her breast and then gentled his hand, falling asleep with it still there.
Rosette didn't sleep at all. She didn't let herself. Instead she lay there and held him, feeling his breath and his heart beating while she let the tears silently flow.
---000---
Morning announced itself with Shader throwing the door open and bouncing into the room and onto the bed. Awake still, Rosette felt Chrno, who hadn't moved from his tangled embrace with her all night, jolt. Landing on either side of him while he rolled onto his back, Shader dropped to her hands and knees and crawled up his length to sit on his stomach and peer into his face from just a few inches away.
Rosette wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.
"What?" Chrno asked, looking up at her.
"Did you do it?" the cat asked him seriously. "Did you put your thingie in her? I want to watch while you put your thingie in her."
"No!" Rosette and Chrno both shouted at the same time.
That just made Shader pout. "I wanna watch! It's not fair. I don't get to get anything put in me. You guys are special." She wiggled her ears. "Sure I can't watch? Maybe put a few monitors in here? Figure out how you survive it? Millions and millions of horny demons will thank you."
"No," Rosette growled. "What do you want?"
Shader shrugged, looking down at Chrno again. "How are you feeling? Do you remember anything?"
"What? I'm fine. What do I need to… remember…?" His face slackened, confused horror filling his eyes.
"He remembers!" Shader cheered.
Chrno shot a look at Rosette. "Rosette? What? How sick was I?"
"It was bad," she told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She took a deep breath. "You've been in Shader's tank for two years."
"But you're okay now!" Shader crowed, throwing her arms up while Chrno stared at Rosette, his face white. "At least, you should be. I have to check. I let you out a bit early to be Rosette's birthday present. Everyone else nagged and they nagged and they nagged, and then they promised me catnip. Did I mention I'm high? Can you tell? I can't." She shook herself and clambered off the bed. "Well, gotta go."
"Wait," Rosette protested. "Weren't you going to check him out?"
"Got it, got it." Shader ducked under the bed and brought out a complex monitoring system. "It's all on here!"
"WHAT'S THAT DOING THERE??" Rosette thundered. "I JUST SAID YOU COULDN'T DO THAT!"
"Better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission," Shader told her sagely and raced out of the room before Rosette could do more than throw a pillow at her.
"That bitch!" she thundered, glaring at the door. Chrno reached up and touched her shoulder.
"Two years?" he whispered.
Rosette leaned down against him. "Yeah. Shader said your legions were dying. They had to be remade from the beginning again and she says it's lucky it only took as long as it did. They'd been gradually collapsing ever since you lost your first horns." She swallowed. "I didn't have enough astral for you."
Chrno's arms came around her. "Don't say that," he begged.
"It's okay, though," she smiled, her lips quivering only a little bit. "We can use the same machine Remington uses to give you astral. It can match your horns' output easily."
"I'd rather have you kiss me," he told her and leaned in to do so.
Rosette kissed him back, feeling his soft lips on hers as she exhaled, astral leaving her body to be drawn into his, giving him life. It wasn't enough, she knew now. He'd nearly starved to death on the tiny bit her horns could produce, but he held her and he was warm, and she felt his ardour renew as his grip tightened. Moments later they were loving each other again, the only thing between them a glorious, golden sweat.
After that, and after they showered, she took him to breakfast. The last time Chrno saw the Order, the infirmary had been destroyed, the admin building half in ruins, and the male barracks replaced by a crater. While he'd slept, they'd been rebuilt and there was a new building, Shader's laboratory nestled against the new hospital. Chrno stared around at all of it, holding her hand. Rosette delighted at his wonder, even as she grieved again for how much time they'd lost.
Still, she told herself, they were demons. They were essentially immortal. Two years was nothing to them.
At the same time, it was forever and she leaned her head against his arm. He smiled down at her and hugged her to him.
"I'm not going anywhere," he promised her.
"You better not."
The mess hall was the same as ever, a boring, square building with narrow windows and high ceilings held up by pillars. Rosette led Chrno inside, grinning in anticipation, and paused in the doorway, clearing her throat loudly enough to be heard to the other end.
Predictably, everyone looked towards her and she saw them stop in shock as they recognized who was standing shyly behind her. Even the new novices stared, though they didn't know who Chrno was and probably only did so because he was utterly gorgeous. Slowly, one of the milita members stood, his gaze never leaving them, and he brought his hands together, starting to clap. Others joined him, standing as well, and then they were all standing, clapping and cheering. The mess echoed with their whoops.
"Holy crap," Chrno muttered, looking around in amazement.
"Did I mention you were missed?" Rosette grinned. It had become standard to pray for his recovery at Sunday mass.
Joshua hurried up, laughing, followed by Azmaria. "Chrno! Thank God!" He hugged him and Chrno patted his shoulder awkwardly, bewildered. Azmaria moved up beside him and hugged the demon as well, crying and laughing at the same time.
"We missed you so much, Chrno! Welcome back!"
"Yes, welcome back," Remington told him, stepping forward to shake his hand.
"I don't feel like I deserve this," Chrno told him in an undertone, looking around nervously.
"Don't you believe it," Rosette assured him. "Everyone missed you." She turned to the crowd and raised her arms. "Chrno!" she chanted, all of them taking up the call. "Chrno! Chrno!" Recognizing the name of the demon consecrated to God, the novices' eyes widened and they joined in. Rosette turned and threw herself at her brother and her friends, hugging them tightly. "Thank you."
"Liked your birthday present, did you?" Joshua chuckled.
"Oh, like you wouldn't believe! How do you plan to top it next year?"
She left him stammering and led Chrno towards one of the tables, getting him seated and running to get him some food, ending up in an argument with the cook about how he really could make up some cream of wheat. Chrno liked cream of wheat, and soup, and anything with a lot of liquid in it. So did Shader. Apparently most demons did, when they weren't chomping on human flesh.
Chrno looked around while he waited for her, blushing. He recognized a lot of the people who were around him, most of them going back to their own meals now. They looked different in subtle ways though. So did Rosette. She was more willowy now and her hair was longer, reaching down past her shoulder blades instead of just to her shoulders. It was still the same shade of blonde though and the changes just made her look womanlier, instead of a girl on the edge of adulthood. She was an adult now and to him, she was even more beautiful.
He sighed, gripping his seat. Two years. That really was nothing to a demon, but what had it been like for Rosette? She still had a human's perceptions. He grieved for her, berating himself for letting this happen. She never should have had to shed tears over him. His memories of getting sick were hazy, but he remembered her crying.
Chrno stared down at the scratched table and then looked over to his right at a trio of girls sitting at the next table, staring at him. They were as young as Rosette had been when she first brought him there and he could see the crushes starting already. He sighed again and looked for his Rosette. He felt uncomfortable without her, out of place even though he'd lived in the Order for years. People he'd once known – and who had hunted him down more than once – came past his table, wishing him well, but he didn't really relax until Rosette came back, carrying a bowl of cream of wheat.
"Like this stuff is really that hard to make," she groused, putting it before him. Chrno sniffed appreciatively, realising he was actually hungry. Picking up a spoon, he started to scoop the soft cereal into his mouth. Rosette sat down across from him, looking at him with a gentleness in her eyes he wasn't used to.
"Aren't you going to eat?"
She shook her head no and leaned it on her hand, her elbow braced on the table. "I just want to watch you for a while."
"Okay…" he went back to eating, finishing the cereal quickly. When he looked up again, Rosette's eyes were closed and she was drooling. He blinked and she started to snore. "Rosette?" In answer, her head thudded against the table and the snoring got louder. "Rosette!"
Shader appeared beside the blonde, peering at her critically. "She stayed up all night. She's sleeeepy." She snapped her head around towards him, beaming, and Chrno barely had time to brace himself before she launched herself over the table and landed in his lap, hugging him until his ribs creaked. "I missed you!" Mrowing happily, she rubbed her head against his face, getting her scent all over him, and pulled back. "Time for dialysis," she told him.
"Dialy-what?" he managed, trying not to sneeze. Humans couldn't smell her scent. He could.
"Dialysis. Astral dialysis. Gets all the goody stuff you need into your body. Come on." She hopped off and tugged him to his feet, towing him along behind her as though the entire Order wasn't watching in amusement. Circling the table, she grinned at him and put a finger to her lips, tiptoeing up to Rosette.
"I'M TAKING CHRNO!" she screamed. "WE'LL BE IN THE LAB!" Grabbing him again, she dragged him towards the door.
Rosette's head shot up. "Uh? Whu?" Seeing they were leaving, she hurried after them.
The cat in the lead, they marched across the lawn, Chrno really feeling very silly about the whole thing. Once they were inside though, he stared around in amazement at the equipment. He hadn't seen so many advanced things since Pandemonium. "Wow," he managed.
"The Order gives me money," Shader cheered. "Lots of money and I get to make things! Aion never let me make so much. He was usually broke. Sheesh. Always had money for clothes though."
She led him over to a chair next to a familiar boxed machine and gestured at it. "Lose the shirt and sit." Chrno raised an eyebrow and looked at Rosette. She nodded and he pulled the shirt off, leaving his pants and belt alone. Shader mrowed appreciatively and pushed him down, getting him to straddle the chair and fold his arms across the back. Rosette stepped up in front of him, smiling and stroking his ears while Shader worked on something behind him.
"Comfy?" she asked him.
"Not really. What is she-" Shader appeared in his face again, only inches away.
"This is gonna huuuurt!" she promised and vanished again.
"What?? I- OW!" Something thin and pointed poked into his back, angling into the spine. Chrno started to rise and suddenly Rosette was holding him down, leaning her weight on him. She wasn't as strong as he was, but her leverage was far better and he couldn't get up. "What are you doing?"
"Just let her put them in, Chrno," Rosette told him. "They have to go in this way."
"But it hurts!" he protested and hissed as Shader stuck another one in.
"Only twenty more to go!" the cat told him cheerfully.
"Oh, God…OOOW!"
In all, it took five minutes, though to Chrno it felt far longer. Rosette finally had to settle for ordering him to hold still and even then he was panting by the time it was done. He felt like a porcupine and twisted his neck to look over his shoulder at the rows of foot long needles that jutted out of his spine from the back of his neck to just above his waist. A wire led from the end of each to the machine he'd seen earlier. It was the same one he'd brought to Remington to control his legions.
"What are you going to do with-" Shader flipped a switch triumphantly and he slumped against the chair, all the bones magically vanishing from his body. Astral poured through him, making his eyes roll up in his head and everything inside him relax. It didn't taste like it did when Rosette fed him, or made him feel like her touch did, but it certainly made him not care about the difference.
"Y'know," he heard Shader say. "I think that if I set up a second unit and put only one needle in him and turned it on, he wouldn't say boo about the rest of them going in."
"I think you've got a point," Rosette agreed dryly and ruffled his hair. "Astral whore."
Chrno just mumbled a vague sounding agreement and closed his eyes with a smile.
---000---
They lay in bed together, propped up against the headboard and watching the fireplace on the other side of the room. Rosette rested her head against Chrno's bare chest, listening to his heartbeat while his chest rose and fell with his breathing. A contentment she hadn't thought she'd ever feel again filled her and she hugged him. His arm around her shoulders tightened.
"Good day?" he asked her.
"The best," she whispered. "You came home."
"I'll always come home," he told her. "I promise you that."
Rosette closed her eyes for a moment and readied herself. Turning her head, she kissed her way up his body, pausing for a moment to lick his nipple and hearing his breath catch before she continued on to reach his neck and sit up, facing him.
"Chrno, I want to give you an order."
He blinked. "Huh? Okay."
She shook her head. "No. I want to give you an absolute order, one that you can't disobey. But I don't want to do it unless you let me, willingly."
He frowned, his brow tensing, and took a deep breath. "Okay. Do it."
"For sure? You're not just saying that to make me happy, are you?"
"No. I trust you." He looked straight at her as he said it, and if he was lying, she couldn't tell.
Rosette nodded. That would have to be enough. Shifting around, she straddled him, reaching down to grasp him lightly. He was already half aroused from her kisses and her hand quickly brought him the rest of the way. Guiding him, she sat down, taking him inside.
"What?" Chrno asked, even as he started to move with her.
"I want your mind open," she told him. Aroused, it always was. In orgasm, he was completely hers. "Just let it happen." She flexed her legs, pumping herself up and down on him and ignoring any sensation she felt, focused on his.
Chrno pressed back against the pillows, gasping. Rosette twisted his nipples, making him whimper, and reached up to stroke his ears, as well as the spots on his temples where his horns would have been. He cried out from the pleasure of it, his hands grabbing her and speeding her motion, drawing her down against him both harder and faster.
His mind was open, unrestricted and ready for her. Rosette wanted it even wider. She rode him feverishly, every move she made designed to excite, to build the fire in him and bring it closer. She felt it coming nearer, his psyche shuddering and wanting her mental touch, and she squeezed his ears, sending him that final distance with a strangled cry.
Rosette grabbed his mind.
Inside and out, she had him. His eyes were impossibly wide, his body frozen even as it shook from release. She'd never pushed her status as a master on him before, but now she filled him with it until she felt him submit, surrendering everything he was to her. That was what she'd been waiting for.
"You will obey me," she told him evenly, holding his face between her hands and staring into his slitted eyes. "This is your order. You will see me as your equal, not your master. You will not obey me unless you choose to and can do so without reservation. You will feel no need to hide your disagreement, your weakness, your illness, or your injury. If you ever need to tell me something, you will, and if I don't listen, you'll remind me of this command. Do you understand?"
"Yes," he whispered, shuddering.
Rosette let him go and he collapsed, gasping. Lifting up off of him, she lay down at his side, cupping his chin and turning his head to look at her. "Chrno? Are you okay?"
He looked at her a little dazedly. "My back hurts from all those needles." He blinked and frowned. "Crap. I wasn't going to tell you that."
Rosette smiled and kissed him. "It's jake. We'll see if we can get Shader to invent a better machine for you, okay?"
"Okay," he murmured and settled down with her. "So I'm your equal, am I?" he whispered a minute later.
"Yep."
"And you'll do what I say?"
"Well, I didn't say that. Just that you don't have to do what I say unless you want to."
"Oh. Well, in that case, there's something I've wanted to do to you for years."
Rosette started to turn towards him, to ask what he meant, but suddenly he grabbed her, his fingers skittering up and down her sides. She screamed, frantically trying to get away, but his hands were everywhere and he'd shifted to demon, using the end of his tail as well.
"CHRNO! Stop tickling me!"
"Na-ah! Can't order me now!" His fingers moved wickedly, making her nearly dance out of her skin.
"Chrno, you bastard!"
THE ENDAnd that, honestly, is it. I might write more at some point, but it's not too likely right now. I started writing fan fiction again because I was going through some horrendous writer's block after my last novel and I wanted to write 'something'. Writing these stories seems to have shaken something loose and I'm working on an original novel again, with hopes to enter it into a contest with a publishing company that has a guaranteed distribution contract through the USA and Canada as the prize. I think I've got a good shot at it.
This has been fun though. I like Rosette and Chrno and I did want them to have a happy ending. I hope all of you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.
Hydraa