Bing Bong! Subchapter Time!
DK: Yay, subchapter time, subchapter time!
C & R: The hell does that mean?
DK: That means…
SK: Yes?
DK: -Starts to fall asleep-
ER: What does it mean already! –Dies from suspense-
DK: -wakes up laughing- Buwahahaha! He died!
C & R: Just tell us already! –Yelling at author-
DK: -anime tears- you don't have to be so mean about it. –Sniffles-
Claire: its ok, Sister DK, so, what is a Subchapter?
Anna: Yeah, we wanna know!
Mary: Tell us, tell us!
DK: It's basically a chapter between other chapters.
Everyone????????
DK: Ok, you read the overview right?
Everyone: -nods-
DK: Basically, the subchapter is something miscellaneous that may or may not have anything to do with the original plotline or the next chapter.
E: Uh… does that mean I get to grope Rosette's lu—
DK: No, it doesn't, it means I'm making you guys go on random adventures.
C: Oh dear God… save us…
Carmen: Sounds fun!
Vincent: Whatever, on with the stupid chapter!
DK: SUBCHAPTER!
Vincent: Whatever…
To Give the Gift of Life
Subchapter One: Mad Driving Skills
Carmen ran after the small dark colored car as it drove off into the distance, "please don't leave me behind, take me with you!" lip quivering as she realized that the car wasn't going to turn around, she fell to her knees.
"Shikata ga nai," (it cannot be helped.) Vincent calmly said to her, placing his hand upon her shoulder, stifling a laugh.
"Shut up Vincent, I know you're laughing…" the poor she-devil cried rivers, why did Rosette and Chrno have to be sent on a mission by themselves? "I don't wanna be left alone with the Elder!" her voice echoed throughout the order grounds.
-----Rosette and Chrno-----
"Ahh, there's nothing like driving on a country road, ne Chrno?" Ocean blue eyes sparkled, Rosette leaned out the window, allowing the wind to catch up in her hair.
Leaning out his own window, the violet haired devil smiled, "true, but don't get too relaxed, you gotta concentrate on driving."
"Aww Chrno, you worry too much, no ones ever on these kinds of roads!" instead of putting up a real fight, she continued to lean out the window.
Sighing contently, Rosette looked on, watching for other drivers so she could put Chrno's fears to rest. Sister Kate had sent them on a solo mission, just the two of them. Far as she knew, it seemed like there was a devil sighting in Rhode Island. Unfortunately, for them, they didn't have a branch like the Magdalene order. Therefore, Rosette was the obvious choice. Why, she didn't know exactly, but it could be the fact that with the way she drove, she could get there sooner rather than later.
"You sure we're going the right way, Chrno?" questioned the blond nun, out of nowhere.
"Yeah, we're on the right road."
"You sure?" she questioned, giving him a wry look.
"I'm sure, I'm not holding the map upside down like I did when I was sick." He reassured the nun.
Eyes widening, a blush crossed the young nuns face. Remembering when Chrno had gotten sick on the way to San Francisco. She had asked the small devil which turn was next…
Eyes glancing both ways, she looked to her partner, "ok, which way now, Chrno."
His eyes slowly drifted towards the map, "mmm… right."
Raising a brow she looked at him questioningly, "there's no right turn, just a straight go ahead and a left."
"Oh, then left I guess."
"There's no guessing with you Chrno, what's up?" she gave her partner a worried look.
"I'm fine," he looked at the map again, his eyes seemed unfocused, "straight."
Following his instruction, due to the fact he was better with directions, she came to another stop, "now where?"
"Left."
"Chrno…"
"Yeah, Rosette?"
"Give me the damn map."
"No, Sister Kate told me to give out the directions."
"THEN STOP GIVING ME TURNS THAT DON'T EXIST!" bellowed the angry teenager into the poor demons ear. "C'mon, let's look at the map outside, there's not enough light in here." Course not, it was in the middle of the night.
Stepping out of the car, she trotted over onto his side of the car, opened the door and dragged Chrno out. Grabbing the map from his hands, she placed it on the hood of the car. Blinking as she looked at the map, she wondered. It made no sense everything was… upside down.
"Chrno…"
"Yeah, Rosette?"
"You were reading the map upside down."
He looked shockingly towards the nun, "I have not!" trying his best to scrutinize the map, he swayed on his feet. The world began to become a swirl of color, light and sound.
It was only a matter of seconds when he felt his body beginning to lean over. Unfortunately, as he was falling, his face landed right in-between Rosette's breasts. Biting her lip, almost making it bleed, a vein popped.
"Ch…rn…o!" BAM! The angered nun threw the poor devil into the air, and kicked him into orbit.
When he finally landed on the ground next to the car, Rosette walked up to him, ready to give him the beating of his life. However, she noticed that his cheeks were flushed. Did devils get sick? On the other hand, was he just blushing? Deciding she'd investigate before she killed him, she found out that yes, somehow, devils do get sick. (AU: Yes, I realize I changed it, I've seen the episode [must say, quite the cutest thing I ever did see, funny too but I wanted to make it a bit different.)
They had had to go back to the Order so Chrno could get better. It had been so embarrassing, they hadn't even gotten out of the city limits and her partner had to go and get sick. The entire day she had searched for a medicine to help him. Everyone had laughed at her when she said she needed a medicine that would work even on a devil.
In the end of course, the medicine she came back with had no effect. Running out of options quickly, she decided maybe a fortuneteller would know what to do. Needless to say, it wasn't a solution she would have suggested. Yet, though wrong it felt to do something like that while he was sleeping and unawares… it felt… unnaturally right to do so at the same time.
"Rosette… are you… feeling ok? Your face is all flushed." Placing one hand upon her forehead, and the other upon his own, he closed his eyes.
"Chrno, I'm fine! Geez, you worry too much!" fumbling around, she knocked his hand from her forehead.
Why did she have to remember that day? For what reason did she have to be reminded that she…
"Gah! I don't wanna think about it!" clenching her eyes shut, the car swerved and both heard another car honk its horn.
"Watch where yer goin', girly!" growled a man from another car.
"Why don't you watch where you're going pal?" growled Rosette, giving the man a death glare.
"Try driving a little faster!" yelled the man.
"Is that a challenge?"
"What if it is?"
"YOU'RE ON GRANDPA!" Revving up the car, Chrno looked over at Rosette with a terrified look.
"What are you doing? We have a mission to do!" however, the fiery nun hadn't seemed to have heard him.
"You're going down girly!"
"Bite me!" both revved the engines once more, and with a giant squeal from the tires, both sped off, creating a huge cloud of smoke.
Quickly buckling himself into his seat, Chrno prayed the restraint would keep him from flying out the window. On the other hand, Rosette was speeding down the road. She death glared at the old man every once in a while. It seemed to happen when either one seem to take the lead. For such an old looking person, he was quite the reckless driver. Blond hair whipping her face, the ocean blue eyed nun was frustrated. Why did her hair have to be so long? Oh yeah… she liked it that way.
"Chrno, hold my hair back, it's getting in my eyes!"
"Something's gotten into your mind!" cried the poor devil, hanging onto his seat as he bounced roughly from the bumpy road.
"Quit being a baby, do something about my hair before we crash!" giving her one more terrified look, Chrno turned in his seat, doing his best to keep his balance.
"Please keep the car steady, it's gonna hurt if you go over another bump." Grunting her understanding, the crimson-eyed devil grabbed ahold of the young nun's locks.
Twisting the soft strands, he made a loop, and pulled all her hair through it. Her hair was now in a knot… sort of. "Good job Chrno, now sit back and enjoy the ride."
"I beg of you, Rosette," sobbed the little devil, "please stop this race!" his plea fell on deaf ears and his companion pumped up the speed.
Insults began to be thrown back and forth. Such things as, 'dirty old man,' and 'know-it-all girly,' were said. Chrno tried not to pay attention to it while he clung to his seat. The harsh wind whipped Chrno's long violet braid around. Like her own hair, Chrno's was frustrating the nun to no ends.
"Now you're hairs in my way!"
"My hair could never been in the way!" protested the little devil, holding his long violet braid to his chest.
"Well it's in mine, so get it out of my way!" Growled the adrenaline pumped nun while standing up in her seat as if she were in a bike race instead of a car race.
Holding onto his hair, he cried fake tears, "such cruel words I thought you weren't capable of, Rosette."
She didn't reply to his words, "ROAD CLOSED?" shocked, Chrno looked up to see what she was talking about.
Eyes widening with fear, his crimson orbs landed on a road closed sign. Not just any kind of road either, it was a bridge.
"ROSETTE WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO? THE BRIDGE IS OUT!"
"I KNOW THAT, STOP YELLING AT ME!"
"DO SOMETHING!" Swerving the car off to the left of the bridge, the car zoomed down a steep hill that led to a shallow river.
The other car had gone to the right, barely comprehensible curses coming from both drivers. Tears poured in rivers from Chrno's eyes. This was it, this is where he'd die. While driving up the bank of the river, Rosette glanced over at the other car. It seemed he couldn't get up the hill. Brow twitching mercilessly, Rosette got up to the top of the hill, and stopped the car. She waited for a minute or so for the old man to get himself out off the bank. When she noticed it wasn't working, she grudgingly unbuckled herself, got out of the car, and stomped over to the old man.
"What are you doin' girly? Get back in your car, this ain't over." Hissed the man, clutching the steering wheel with his wrinkled knuckles.
"It seems you're stuck, it's not much of a challenge if you can't even get your ass over this hill." Turning back towards the orders car, she called out to her partner, "c'mon Chrno, help me get this guy up the hill."
Sighing, Chrno unbuckled himself and opened his door, "why am I always pulled into your messes?" questioned the poor devil.
"Stop whining and help me push this junker up the hill." Pushing the sleeves of her habit up her arms, she braced herself to push.
Rolling his eyes, he did the same, even while in his smaller form, he still had quite a bit of strength. Together they pushed the old car up the hill. Clapping her hands together to get rid of the dirt, Rosette grinned towards the old man. To her surprise, he was grinning back at her.
"There's a reason the good guys always lose, girly," he said, that stupid grin still plastered on his face, "they're too nice and always end up last." With that, the old man sped off, laughing his head off.
Eye thoroughly twitching, the blond nun dragged Chrno towards their own car. Throwing open the car door, she plopped in her seat and slammed the door. Just a little afraid of his contractor, Chrno opened the door to his side of the car, got in and quietly shut the door. His lovely contractor was pissed, extremely so, and when that happens, you don't talk, you just sit back and let her vent. Out of nowhere she began to grin.
"Good guys always lose, huh Grandpa? You'll be eating my dust within minutes." Once more grinning like a lunatic, she revved up the car.
It was then that Chrno noticed something just under the steering wheel. "Uh, Rosette…" poor violet haired devil, never had a chance to say anything before she pushed the little red button.
Without warning, the car shot down the road, Chrno screaming for his life, Rosette cackling like a hyena. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Rosette cackled insanely, and when the old man came into view, her eyes seemed to gain a spark. This, the little devil did not miss, and this, he did not like. She was going to get them killed because of her inability to turn down a challenge. Worse than that fate, she might get them lost, (which he was sure they already were) or most likely, she'd crash the car, and they'd have to walk the rest of the way.
'Please God, answer this prayer, let us get to Rhode Island safely.' Not so sure how effective it was, he clung to his seat like a scared child to its mother.
Laughing manically as she continually launched the car into the air from the small hills on the road, the Order car was closing in on the old man. Chrno seriously wanted to cry, why oh why, couldn't she turn down a challenge? Then again, not all the challenges she did were bad. Most of them were, not 100 percent though. Being the direction of his thoughts were semi-positive, Rosette's thoughts were murderous.
There was no way this guy was gonna win. Not while she had the rocket boosters, the Elder had installed in the car. How she loved these speedy inventions. Not so much the old man who designed them, but the inventions themselves were awesome. With the inventions of that perverted old man, she'd take over the world! When that was done, she'd make all the old geezers like this guy bow down to her!
Shaking her head roughly, the blond nun concentrated. She wasn't a nun so she could take over the order, she was there to save Joshua. Besides, she'd be able to win against this geezer.
'He's probably a devil in disguise, if push comes to shove, I shoot him.' Of course, in her mind, it sounded perfect, but she knew he wasn't a devil. Chrno would have said something. So instead of outright murder…
"Gonna pound this guy into the ground… make him beg for mercy…" mumbled the adrenaline pumped nun.
Once again Rosette was standing up in her seat, she popped her head out the window, glaring at the old man. Within his rear-view mirror, he saw that Rosette was gaining on him. Turning back to look at the road, he pushed his car to go as fast as it could go. Still, the infuriating nun was coming up fast. Ocean orbs noticed smoke coming from the old mans car, was it another trick? The old junker began to slow down, the order car sped right past it. Looking back over her shoulder, Rosette grinned.
"Hahaha, I win Grandpa, in your face!" So busy with yelling her victory to the world, the nun didn't notice she was going off the road.
"Rosette…" his voice was quiet.
"Not now Chrno, I'm basking in my victory."
"Rosette…" now he sounded terrified.
"Bwuahaha that old man never stood a chance in hell!"
"ROSETTE WOULD YOU KEEP YOUR EYES IN FRONT OF YOU?" he lunged for the wheel, but it was too late.
The old Order car launched off the road over the cliff of a gorge. Blinking wildly, Rosette's heart seemed to stop for a moment. The car wasn't moving, there were no bumps to be felt in the road, and she hadn't crashed into anything. Then the car slowly went into a nosedive towards a rocky bottom. Seeing the mesh of red brown rock made Rosette's heart beat with fear.
"OMG WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
"I TRIED TO WARN YOU!"
"DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT CHRNO!"
Gritting his teeth, thinking quickly the best thing to do, he unbuckled himself. "Rosette, unbuckle yourself and take my hand." Looking at him with a terrified look, she nodded and did as she was told.
Taking a deep breath, Chrno pulled the latch to the door, and kicked it off its hinges. Pulling Rosette closer to him so that she was dangling from his back, he quickly jumped out of the car. There were rocks protruding from the sides of the cliffs, and one was close enough to grab. Hanging off the protruding rock, both looked down, and watched as their ride fell.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…" Rosette mumbled under her breath.
CRACK!
Chrno paled, this couldn't be happening, "don't celebrate quite yet." The weight of the two on the rock made it crack again.
A huge crash was heard at the bottom of the gorge, the order car was smoking. Unless he did something, both of them would be nothing more than puddles of human and devil flesh. It all seemed to happen at once. The first rock he grabbed onto broke. Holding onto her devil partner tighter, Rosette tried her best not to scream in terror. Once more, he had found another rock to grab onto. However, the momentum of their fall caused that rock to break instantly.
Running out of ideas, the poor devil bit his lip, but somehow Rosette beat him to the punch line. "Chrno, I'll break the seal!"
Out of the many times she had recklessly asked him to allow her to break the seal in any situation, this time, was not such a time. There was no way around it, he'd have to fly them out of this mess. The seal on the watch broke, Chrno was surrounded by a dark aura of astral. His body changed from that of a 12-year-old boy to that of a young man. Black wings sprouted from his back, dislodging Rosette from his back. Quickly, he shot down to catch her.
Sighing in relief once Rosette was secure in his arms, he flew out of the gorge. Just behind him, the car down at the bottom of the gorge exploded. Looking back at the receding form of fire and smoke, Chrno flew on, flying himself and Rosette to safety. Clinging to him tightly, Rosette looked back at the wreckage behind and below. Yellow, red and orange flames began to seem smaller and smaller the farther Chrno flew. The young blond nuns breathing began to shorten.
"Damn it, I need to find a place to land, now." Cursing under his breath, Chrno scrutinized the land for a good spot to land.
"Chrno…" ocean blue eyes strained to stay open.
Feeling the panic starting to bubble under his skin, his search for a place to land became desperate. Why did there have to be so much poison oak around?
"Chrno… devil…" for a moment, he was puzzled by her words, of course he was a devil. She knew this from the beginning.
Before he could make sense of what she was saying, a pain spiked up and down his spine. Quickly glancing behind himself, he cursed, that's what Rosette had meant. Crimson eyes glared at the wrinkled devil. Wait… didn't that devil look familiar?
"Old… man." Affirmed the nun, thinking exactly as Chrno had been thinking, the old man had been a devil in disguise.
With one swift motion, the crimson-eyed devil placed Rosette over his shoulder. Confusion laced her form, and from that confusion, came an answer. The blond nun heard the distinct click when the barrel of her gun is snapped back in place. Eyesight being impaired by the wind created from Chrno's wings, it took her a minute to realize that her violet haired partner was handing her, her gun.
"Don't worry about shooting my wings Rosette just concentrate on the old man's horns." Rosette looked at him through a half daze, she wasn't sure about this.
"Chrno I…"
"Just do it."
Not able to put up an argument, she took the warm metal object into her hands. The added weight felt heavy to her tired arms, but despite her exhaustion, she lifted her arms and took aim. Blurry vision made it hard for her to pinpoint where the wrinkly gray haired devil was. Either that or the devil really wasn't staying in one place.
"I can't… get a clear… shot." Panted the nun, becoming slightly irritated at the extended time this was taking.
"Just aim straight ahead of you, I'll tell you when to shoot. Don't worry about my wings, I'll manage."
Without argument, she nodded. Long intense moments followed. The old man kept throwing attacks at the pair, probably hoping to knock them out of the sky. Several attacks nicked Chrno's skin, causing him to hiss or growl in pain. Sadly, the more damage he took, the more of Rosette's life he stole. Silently, he prayed the devil would fall into position, sooner rather than later. A miracle was born when Chrno sensed he was in the right spot.
"Fire! Now!"
BANG!
The speeding bullet quickly ripped through Chrno's wings, causing him to gasp in momentary pain. However, with the howl of pain from the opposing devil, and the lack of demonic aura told Chrno he was dead. Luck must have been on his side, either that or God really liked him today. Crimson eyes spotted a small patch of land under a shaded tree. Swooping down to the site, Chrno touched down and ran towards the trunk of the tree. At once, he let Rosette down, and leaned her against the tree. After he was sure she could rest well, he transformed back into his 'normal' 12-year-old self.
"How are you feeling Rosette?" asked the worrisome devil.
Grinning weakly, she gave him a thumbs up, "totally jake Chrno."
Sighing, he gave her a sweet smile, "that's good." Of course, he knew she was extremely tired, but if she had energy enough to give him 'thumbs up', then she'd be ok.
"So what do we do? We don't have a ride." Nodding, Chrno agreed, this was posing to be a problem.
Looking into the sky, the violet haired devil contemplated, "this puts us in a pinch, no phone and no transportation."
"You could always…"
"No," he said, cutting her off, "I already wasted enough of your time."
Silence reined for a while, "Chrno, how come that devil died after I shot off only one of its horns?"
For a moment he seemed to think, whatever he was thinking about didn't seem to take to long to form into words, "it was most likely an old devil."
"Well… you're old."
"Not really, in devil terms, I'm still extremely young. That devil was probably thousands upon thousands of years old." This seemed to shock Rosette, which only made the small devil smile.
"Well, compared to me you're old." She huffed childishly.
Chuckling lightly, the small devil smiled warmly, "I suppose you're right."
For some reason, that smile of his was infectious. The fiery blond nun had no choice but to smile back. Ocean blue orbs turned towards the treetop, "so, how long do you think before someone either comes along, or the Order realizes something may have happened to our ride?"
Surveying the area, crimson eyes smiled, "I don't think it'll be a problem, it looks like there's a path where the poison oak hasn't overrun. We can get to the road and follow it to the next town."
"How will we know we're going the right way? We kinda lost our map." Stated the nun.
"We'll manage, besides if while we're walking, I get tired, you can carry me." Inwardly he grinned, he knew this would fully bring his Rosette back to her normal self.
"Che, yeah right Chrno, if anyone's gonna be carried, it's gonna be me."
"I'm too short though."
"You'll manage," snorted the nun, laughing afterwards.
"Surely if someone saw us, they would think it horrible for a woman of the Church to make a child carry her." Mock worried Chrno.
"I'll tell them you're my older extremely short friend." This time Chrno snorted, "Well its true isn't it? You are older than I am, Mr. God-Knows-How-Freaking-Old-You-Are-Chrno."
For a moment, Chrno's eyes held a small portion of hurt, of course all he was, was her friend. However, when she raised her brow at him, he argued back, "yeah well… I'm shorter than you?"
Once again, Rosette raised her brow, this time in confusion. "That's your comeback? You're shorter than I am? Wow Chrno, that was lame."
"Its better then saying… 'No, your toe!' " His eyes shifted from left to right.
"Ok, what the hell Chrno, 'no, your toe,' what have you been smoking?" Questioned the nun, not sure what to think about her partner's randomness.
"What do you mean, you know I don't smoke." He grimaced, scrunching his nose at the thought.
"Then where the hell are you hearing this stuff, and what are they smoking?" for a moment, both were silent, when about to say something they closed their mouths.
"Carmen and Vincent…" both said at the same time.
"Their infecting us Chrno, I think secretly their insane." Commented Rosette, at the same moment, so many hundred of miles away, deep within the Order walls, a certain two devils sneezed three times.
"Oooo, someone's thinkin' badly 'bout us Vinny!"
"Stop calling me that!"
After a few moments of laughing, both sat back against the tree, "it's gonna be fall soon." Pointed out the nun.
"Yeah, we need to see if we can get a mission to a place with a lot of different trees." It was no secret from anyone in the Order, especially not Rosette, but the small devil loved the changing color of the leaves.
"Wonder if Sister Kate would let us go on another mission out of state. Considering how we're handling this one." She laughed lightly.
"Well, really, nothing really could have been avoided…" again, he averted his eyes, side to side, "besides, Sister Kate trusts you more than that."
"I suppose so," grunting with the effort, Rosette pushed herself onto her feet, "well I guess we should be heading out. We need to find a town, I'm hungry."
Blinking wildly, Chrno fell over, "is food all you can ever think about?"
For a moment, she seemed to be lost in thought, however, the grin that plastered itself across her face said something else, "yeah, pretty much." She replied, smiling brightly at her devil partner.
However, of course, both knew this wasn't true. However much food was on her mind, her little brother was on it more. Everyone who knew her could tell just by seeing the things she does, that her brother is always on her mind. Everything she has done up until this point, and the things she will do beyond this point, have been in preparation to free her brother from Aion. Joshua. That's all she seemed to care about sometimes, it was no wonder she didn't feel anything more than friendship towards the violet haired devil.
Joshua was to blame, for taking up all her thoughts. Then again, at the same time, he couldn't blame the boy. It wasn't his fault Aion was a manipulative bastard. This, the little devil knew all too well.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
"Chrno, earth to Chrno, stop spacing out on me and let's go!" shaking his head, crimson orbs stared up into ocean blue.
"Sorry, Rosette." He then smiled, trying to hide the pain he felt inside. There wasn't much he could do about Rosette. He couldn't force her to love him, no way in hell he'd try.
If he revealed his feelings for her, she might become frightened. That was one thing the little devil didn't want. If Rosette ever ran from him… surely, that'd be more then he could ever take. Never did he want to see fear in the young nuns eyes directed at him. Fear should not be present in her eyes when she looks at him, there was no need for such an emotion, such a feeling. No way in hell would Chrno ever do something to hurt or scare his Rosette.
BAM!
Pale fists on either side of Chrno's head began to assault him, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! OW! Rosette stop, what did I do?" cried the poor devil, trying his best to escape the noogie attack. Why should he though, it wasn't like it really hurt.
"If you want me to stop than stop spacing out!" she continued her super noogie attack until Chrno swore not to space out again.
Stretching her arms towards the sun, Rosette yawned, this was going to be a longer day than expected. When the sun hit the middle of the sky, the two began walking down the path to the road. It was a warm day, yet not overly hot. A gentle breeze caressed the small amounts of bare skin on the nun. The feeling sent a shiver down her spine. It was such a lovely day.
Chrno's state of mind was much the same. It was truly a beautiful day. Both walked down the road, arms behind their heads, staring at an angle towards the sky. A warm smile adorned Chrno's features. Despite all that had happened today, it seemed to be a relatively good day. Only one attempt on their lives so far. That was a record when put next to other days. Thinking on it, the two hardly ever got any peace. Today was truly a blessing, an odd blessing, but one none-the-less.
"How long do you think before we reach a town?" asked the nun with a loud yawn.
Tiredly looking into the sky, the crimson-eyed devil thought for a minute, "It might be a while. I don't smell any other humans as of yet."
"You smell any food." She questioned.
"Mm, I think you'd smell food long before I would." At this, both laughed.
"Well if I do smell any food you'll know." After this was said, the two were silent for a time.
Even after all that had happened in the past few days, it was still nice to be in his presence. It was as if he could calm her, merely by being near her. This fact made the young nun smile, there would be many times where that would come in handy. As she became lost in her thoughts, she could hear Chrno purring. Purring like a cat. It was a mystery to her why he would purr, what made him purr like that. He always purred when she combed and braided his hair.
Yet, that wasn't the only time he'd purr. When he was asleep in the car, he'd purr. Even when he was having fun, in some form, he was purring. From this, Rosette wanted to know if Chrno was really a devil, or a cat. Did devils really purr? Or did she always imagine it? Now she really wanted to know.
"Chrno are you a cat or something?" ocean orbs widened, she hadn't really meant to say that out loud.
"Wha? I'm pretty sure I'm not a cat, Rosette." Answered the devil, confusion laced his voice. "Why do you ask?"
"You purr a lot."
"I do?" obviously, he had never noticed. This was quite sad.
"You never noticed? You purr all the time, like whenever I brush out then braid your hair, or when you fall asleep in the car. How could you not notice you're purring?"
When the devil said nothing, Rosette looked at him. The young devils eyes were wide, his face red, sweating profusely, eye twitching mercilessly. Rosette raised a brow, what was his problem? All he did was purr, it wasn't like he was shooting off lasers or something in his sleep. She had an urge to poke him, she wanted to know what made him so embarrassed.
'Have I really been purring?' The question racked his mind, he couldn't have… right?
"I… I guess I never noticed. When did this start?"
"You've done it ever since we met."
Steam began to pour out of the devils ears. His face grew ten shades of red. His jaw hung and his body melted onto the ground. It couldn't be, he couldn't have been doing such a thing since he met her! Ocean blue orbs blinked in confusion, what was Chrno's complex with the purring thing? It wasn't like she minded it or anything. Hell, it was cute!
BAM!
"Ow! What was that for Rosette?"
"I told you to stop spacing out on me! If you're not paying attention, who's gonna save me if I get myself into trouble?"
The poor devil rubbed his head, a distraught look on his face, "if you need saving, whether I'm paying attention or not, I'll save you." A gentle smile rolled across his lips.
With a small blush, and a racing heart, Rosette nodded, "yeah sure, just make sure you pay attention. Lord knows we'll get lost if you don't lead the way."
At this, the two had to laugh, though sad, as it was Rosette's horrible sense of direction was often funny. Another breeze crossed their path, and after that, the two walked in comfortable silence. Things stayed comfortable between the two as they walked down the long dirt road. Occasionally, a small animal would cross their path, like a squirrel or a chipmunk. Mostly, the two walked along, with only each other as company.
Rosette yawned repeatedly, and that action caused Chrno to yawn as well. For some reason, it made the two want to laugh. It started as a small giggle from Rosette, and a small, relaxed, and truly happy smile from Chrno. Then Rosette cracked when her partner nearly tripped over a stray plant. After that, a manure pile made Chrno dizzy and fall over, which though unpleasant for Rosette, made her laugh so hard she had to clutch her stomach. The young nun was barely able to drag Chrno far enough from the site with all her laughter.
Once the pile was out of site, Rosette fell over. It may have been a strange day, but it was too funny. Still clutching her stomach, she rolled on the ground laughing. When he fully recovered, Chrno gazed at his contractor, wondering why she was rolling on the ground. For a moment the nun stopped, wondering if her partner had recovered. When she saw the clueless half-dazed look in his eyes, her laughter renewed ten fold. Had he not known that behavior like this was normal, he'd have thought something was seriously wrong with his contractor.
There was much he had learned from his contractor. "You should have seen your face, Chrno!" choked out his contractor.
He learned what it was like to deal with emotions, "that look was priceless!"
Not to mention how hard it was to keep strong feelings in check, "remind me to never take you to a farm."
Before he met Rosette, he couldn't take pleasure in the simple things. A butterfly, a caress from the wind, a rainy day, or a sunny day. "Ah man, my stomach hurts, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time."
She'd taught him to laugh, to look at the world in a new light. When it snowed, it wasn't just a troublesome obstacle in his way. It was a time for fun and snowball fights. The rain wasn't just something to impair his vision, it was a time to run and dance around. When the sun beat down upon them, it was time to swim, instead of hide in some dank cave. It was also a time to have a picnic under a tree, and tell stories and eat already prepared food.
This one girl, this one young woman had taught him so much. Yet, the only thing he could do to help her was to help her find her brother. The single most important person in her life.
"Isn't that right, Chrno," for a moment she paused, "Chrno?"
She looked at her small devil partner, his eyes were down cast, and it seemed like at any moment he could cry. "Were you not listening to me again?" she asked lightly.
"Huh? Oh, sorry Rosette, no I wasn't." his contractor sighed.
"I said, 'me and you, we're like one. We'll be together forever no matter the circumstance.' Right?" he nodded, they would always be together, whether she was his mate or not.
"Anyways, I think I smell food."
Chrno gagged, "how can you smell food? My nose's still clogged from the manure pile back at that farm!"
"That's you, not me, I have a different sensitive kinda nose!" grinned, she pointed at herself with her thumb proudly.
Sighing, he nodded, "I should never try to defy thy great nose, Honorable Rosette." He bowed before her as if she was a Queen or something.
"Yes, no one shall defy my nose!" for a minute, she thought about his words, "wait… 'Honorable Rosette?' That makes me sound ancient!"
"Someone's a little slow today…" mumbled the devil.
Rosette was on him in a matter of seconds, "what was that Chrno?" she yelled, his head locked in her arms.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! I said nothing, nothing!" the poor devil squirmed in her grasp.
"That's what I thought," and she let up on her assault.
After letting up on her assault, she watched as Chrno rubbed the sores on his head. Though it looked painful to her, she knew that really, it was all a ploy. The super noogie attacks she bestowed upon Chrno never really hurt him. How could they? He was a devil, infinitely built better than a human was. This fact made her a little jealous. Sure, devils had a huge weakness. If they were to lose their horns they could die easily by using up their astral, but humans did not need that weakness. They could die just fine without worrying about using too much astral.
Smiling to herself, gazing at the sky, she thought on all her weaknesses. She was human, any devil who meant her serious harm could break her body in two if they wanted. Not to mention, quite a few humans were arrogant bastards. Humans were more likely to get sick, therefore, more likely to also die from getting sick. They aged quicker, therefore, a short life span was always in a humans future. When they aged, they lost their senses, hearing, sight, taste, touch, yada, yada.
Sighing loudly, the young nun tried to change her train of thought. Instead of the faults and downfalls of humans, she thought of the winter season. It was fall now, in another couple of months, there would be snow falling to the ground. It would be time to make snow angels, have snowball fights, and make snow igloos and snowmen. The only thing that stunk about the winter season was all the ice and snow. You never knew where there was a covered up hole, or if the ice over a lake was thick enough. Hell, most of the time you couldn't even see if there was a body of water anywhere.
"Are we taking turns spacing out or something?" his question came from nowhere.
"I don't know, we shouldn't be."
"God knows we only get into trouble when we don't pay attention."
The nun sweat dropped, "that's literally everyday, thanks for making it seem like I have the attention span of a two year old."
"Well… it's not always you who doesn't pay attention, I wasn't paying attention to the old man back there." He stated.
"How come you didn't notice he was a devil?"
Averting his eyes, he looked up, and then to the right, "uh… because I… was too busy with thoughts of eminent death by car crash maybe?"
"Do I seriously drive that horribly?"
"Maybe?"
"Chrno… just tell me the truth."
"When you're in a hurry, yes."
"Chrno?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for being honest with me. I don't think anyone at the Convent are really straightforward with me besides Sister Kate. It's like everyone's trying to protect me from myself." It seemed as if she were smiling longingly at the ground.
"You know I'll always be truthful to you Rosette." Well, that was half a lie, he knew he couldn't be honest with her when it came to how he felt about her.
"Ah well, I guess I can be a little reckless."
"A little? You practically destroy the convent everyday!"
"Ok, ok! So I'm really reckless!"
"You always have been, but you know, with that recklessness, is actually a lot of responsibility."
"Chrno, responsibility and recklessness does not go together."
"I know, but when it really counts, you're very responsible. When facing a devil, one you know that could help you find your brother, you don't just charge in and start asking questions, you assess the situation like you should always do."
"You saying I don't know how to take down a devil?"
"No, I'm just saying, when it counts, you're not reckless in what you do, which really, you should take your time with all cases with devils. When you're not, buildings tend to fall."
"There's something on your mind, isn't there Chrno?"
The half question, half statement, surprised the small devil, eyes a little wide, he gazed up into his contractor's eyes. He could never hide something from her forever, "I… just thinking of how reckless I myself am." He chuckled a bit, "I guess I have no right to call you reckless when I'm more so reckless than you."
For a moment she was silent, her arms crossed, staring sideways at him as they walked, "um… yeah… what are you talking about Chrno? You're the one that always takes the blame, even for my mistakes."
"The times where I didn't have control over myself, like right outside of the convent, and in San Francisco…"
"Ok, first off, the time in front of the convent you thought I was killed, and in San Francisco Aion had gotten ahold of me. You were angry, it's only to be expected."
"It's only to be expected that I'm still a ruthless killer, no matter what form I take on." Rosette clenched her fists.
"That's not true Chrno."
"It is though, isn't it? I am a devil, everything about me says devil, it's who I am. Devils are killers, that's all we'll ever be. It's all I'll ever be." Chrno's head hung low, and his voice trembled.
A vein popped on Rosette's forehead, clenching her fist as tightly as she could, she punched him harshly in the cheek, "you're not like them Chrno! No matter how similar you are to them, you're not like them! You are not Aion! San Francisco wasn't your fault!" tears started to drip down her cheeks, "it was Aion's fault, he's the one that used my brother to keep you down. Aion was the one that led you all over the city to destroy it, you never deliberately hurt anyone or anything! Not since the day I met you."
Her whole body was tensed, fists were shaking, "sure you may have been more secretive about things when I was younger. Maybe you even weren't as open as you are now, but it doesn't change the fact that you're not like them, not like Aion."
"Rosette I…" he had no clue what to say, his chest hurt, as if someone was grabbing his heart.
"Listen to me Chrno, you shouldn't doubt yourself like that, I may not know everything you've done in the past, really, I don't care. All that matters is what I know is true. You act more like a saint than a devil, for God's sake, you help me save countless people, and always keep not only me, but the entire convent safe!" Deciding walking would no longer be possible with her teary eyes, she walked off the road and sat in the grass of a small hill.
Not wanting to feel weak or helpless, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wove her arms around them. Now he really felt like his heart was being crushed, the palm of his hands hurt, and his stomach felt like it was being kneaded like bread. Cautiously he walked over and sat down next to Rosette, unsure of what to say to her.
"Rosette… did you mean what you said?"
"Don't be stupid, you know I don't say anything unless I mean it."
Backing off a little at her snippiness, he smacked his forehead, of course she said only what she meant. "I'm sorry Rosette, I should know that by now."
"You do know, you just forget sometimes."
He chuckled, "I guess I do," a small blush crept onto his cheeks, this would be a good time to wrap his arms around her. The question was, should he do it? Did he have the right to do so? His arms didn't give him a choice, slowly and hesitantly, they wrapped around Rosette's waist, but instead of pulling away, she cuddled into his embrace. This was farther than he ever expected to be able to go with Rosette. This one small fact made Chrno's heart leap into heaven.
"Chrno?"
"Yes, Rosette?"
"No more guilt trips for at least two months ok? I hate to see you so broken, and I don't think I could handle another breakdown for a while." Her honesty spoke loudly for him.
"Ok, I can do that for you, Rosette." A serene smile spread across his lips. The two of them sat contently on the hillside, cuddling as they watched the sky.
"It's gonna be dark soon, should we continue our way towards town?"
For a moment Chrno sniffed the air, "I don't smell anything threatening around, and it seems as if town is really close now. What do you think?"
"Do you smell food?"
"Lots, maybe a celebration is going on."
"…" wrong thing to say on Chrno's part.
"Rosette?"
"FO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-D!" grabbing onto the collar of Chrno's jacket, she jumped up and ran for town.
By the time the pair had reached town, the sun had started to set. Chrno had been right, there was a festival going on. Rosette quickly threw herself into the festivities, playing games and buying food. The violet haired devil was one-step behind her the whole time. Watching out for her and making sure she never fell. It wasn't an altogether hard job, Rosette was pretty graceful for how reckless she was prone to be.
After some time, the blond nuns' energy began to die down. Therefore, instead of run around all night, they sat down to watch a play. The play itself wasn't very interesting, something about a warrior killing a King to get the role himself. Before even a quarter of it was over, Rosette and Chrno peeled themselves away from the mass of bodies.
Not so far off in the distance, was a lake where people were lighting off fireworks. Smiling, they made their way there, fortunately finding a phone on the way. Phoning the order wasn't the top thing to do on her list, but it would be a good idea to tell Sister Kate that a devil had destroyed their ride. Of course, the dear Sister was not very happy, but told the two she would have someone there in the morning to give them a ride.
"I wasn't expecting that to be so easy," admitted the devil.
"Maybe she was in a good mood." Suggested his contractor.
"No, I think it's because she knows you didn't do it intentionally." Chrno insisted.
"Well in any case, let's go watch the fireworks, we're not in trouble so let's enjoy the moment." Agreeing wholeheartedly, the two quickly ran towards the lake, and sat at its' shores.
Colorful sparks of light lit the sky. Blue, red, green, yellow, orange and gold, one would shoot up, explode in a shower of sparks, and quickly fade into smoke. The beautiful colors in the sky lightly lit up the pairs faces in a multitude of colors. All of Rosette's focus was on the sky, Chrno's focus, on Rosette's face. A warm smile spread across his lips. Small, but warm.
Once the feeling of someone staring at her got the better of the young nun, she looked over to see Chrno smiling. Not just smiling, smiling at her, like watching her made him happy. Awkwardly she smiled back, and when he realized that she was looking at him, he quickly averted his gaze.
For reasons unknown to her, his reaction confused her. Blinking, she looked at her long time best friend. Her hands acted of their own accord, grabbing Chrno's face lightly in her hands. Hesitantly, he looked at her, blood rushing to his face. Blood began rushing to Rosette's face as well, why was she doing this? Their eyes met, the expression hidden deep in the depths of each others eyes kept them from looking away.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" her voice was not harsh, it was a gentle question.
"I can't tell you that, Rosette." His expression saddened.
"Chrno, I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything." The warmth from Chrno's face warmed her slightly cold fingers.
Despite the warmth in her hands, and the coolness of her fingers, his expression saddened. He couldn't say anything. There was nothing to say. How could you tell someone you loved them when they were your best friend? That's all she ever would be to him. No, that's all he ever would be to her.
Being together wasn't possible, and that tore his heart to pieces.
The sadness that came off her partner in waves worried her. What had she said to elicit this kind of response?
"Chrno, Chrno! What's wrong, why are you so sad?"
Before he said anything, he sighed, "Rosette, I know it doesn't make sense. I know you're my best friend, but I just can't tell you."
With a stab of pain in his heart, he remembered his own thoughts the previous night when Rosette had been so… scared. This was why he couldn't tell her. When she gave him a confused look, he knew it was for the best. He couldn't exist without her, and he couldn't live with her feeling awkward around him. Had she known his feelings, he knew that she couldn't return them.
Her heart belonged to her little brother, Joshua.
At the same time Chrno was coming to terms with his morbid thoughts, Rosette was reminded of something Carmen had said to her. Chrno would do everything in his power to hide from her what would cause her pain. Was what he was hiding from her something painful? This thought bothered her more than anything else did. Why couldn't he see that trying to protect her from something just makes it worse?
"Stop it with this protecting me crap, Chrno!" with her harsh words, Chrno snapped to attention.
The small devil was taken aback by her words, "Rosette…"
"Don't start with me Chrno," she said, keeping his face firmly in her hands, "I want to know what's bothering you so much! Stop trying to protect me from things you think will hurt me!"
Biting his lip, he knew he had to say something to fight back, "why should I stop trying to protect you? Isn't that what friends do? Protect each other?"
"Protect them yes, try to hide them from the evils of the world, no. You gotta let me experience some kind of pain Chrno, whether you think I can handle it or not." Breathing in deeply, she continued, "I know life hasn't been fair to you, and it hasn't been fair to me. Nevertheless, Chrno, trying to shield me from every pain out there isn't helping me." She looked warmly into his eyes, smiling, "Chrno when you're in pain, I'm in pain, and no matter how much you try to protect me, there's always some pain I feel, whether you know it or not."
At this, Chrno's mouth fell slightly agape. Averting his eyes downwards, he felt ashamed. He hadn't been helping her at all? No matter what he did, he caused her pain? All this time, he thought he'd been helping her. Depression threatened to take him under, but he refused to let it happen.
"Please, tell me, what's wrong, what happened that's making you so sad?" her right hand began to softly caress his cheek.
Tears welled up in Chrno's eyes, spilling over the brims in large pools, "I'm so sorry Rosette, I thought I was helping you… I didn't want you to have to feel any more pain after losing Joshua. He's all you can really think about, so I just wanted to save you from the other pains this world creates."
"Chrno, you idiot, do you think that's what I want?"
"You don't deserve to feel pain…"
"How will I get stronger if I don't feel the pain that I should feel? I realize you want to protect me, just as I want to protect you, but seriously, you gotta let me feel what I need to feel. Even if I'm to fall into a depression or something, I know you'll bring me back. So stop trying to protect me, be the Chrno that I've known for all these years. Be honest and tell me what you're trying to protect me from." A great pain shot through her chest when she saw the deep ancient sadness in his eyes.
"I've been trying to protect you from myself." This, the nun had not been expecting.
"What do you mean?" before there was time to answer, the grand finale began over the lake.
Giving him one more serious look, she let her hands fall to her side. Breathing deeply, he gave her a small smile. After that, both turned towards the lake, watching the fireworks go off in rapid succession. Though their conversation had been interrupted, it was long from over, and far from forgotten. However, as the bright works of art burst in the air, they allowed themselves to get lost in the scene.
Having no money to rent a hotel room was troublesome. Moreover, there was no shelter to sleep under, and it left Chrno and Rosette in a pickle.
"Should we just find a huge tree and sleep up in it?" questioned the blond haired nun, whom by now was growing quite tired.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea, you tend to fidget when you sleep, you might fall down."
"You'd be there to catch me though, so what's there to worry about?"
"Why not just sleep under the tree?"
For a moment she pondered this, "ok then," Rosette answered with a smile, "under the tree it is."
It was a perfect night to sleep under a tree, regardless if there was a blanket to lie on. Both Rosette and Chrno were pelted with memories of days spent much like how they were now. Lying down under the giant maple tree, Joshua talking excitedly about the future, those were happier times. At that time, Rosette's only wish was to become a doctor to help her sickly brother.
She never got the chance.
Both pushed that thought away, who wanted to think about Aion when it was so peaceful in the night air?
"You broke your promise, Chrno." Rosette said out of nowhere.
"What do you mean? Which promise?"
"You promised, no more break downs for at least two months."
That had been earlier that day, how could he have forgotten that? "Crap! I didn't mean too! I'm sorry Rosette—I didn't remember… I wasn't thinking—"
With a small laugh, Rosette cut him off, "Chrno, its' ok. Besides, it looked like you needed to get something off your chest." She said no more than that.
At this, Chrno laughed lightly, "thanks Rosette." With such simple words, how could he make Rosette's heart flutter?
Now in comfortable silence, the two slept under the old tree, the night sky covering them in a blanket of stars.
The next morning…
"Thank GOD we're finally away from the convent! I thought I'd seriously have to kill the Elder!" cried Carmen, as she and Vincent climbed out of the car.
Vincent stumbled to the ground, bowing and kissing the dirt, "thank you God for saving me from a painful death!"
BAM!
"Stop being so dramatic Vincent!" giving each other a glance, Rosette and Chrno busted out laughing.
"What's so funny?" barked Vincent.
"That's—exactly… how we are!" croaked out Rosette.
For a moment, the two were silent, Rosette and Chrno's laughter the only noise. "Yeah well… your toe is on fire." Mumbled Carmen.
"I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense." Laughed Chrno, wiping tears from his eyes.
"You're just jealous of my mad driving skills." Huffed the green haired devil.
"Sure we are Carmen, sure we are. Let's get going, we need to get that devil in Rhode Island, then we need to get some food. I'm hungry!"
Groaning, Chrno and Rosette stood up. All four filing into the car, Rosette drove off. When wasn't the nun not hungry? One had to admit though both Carmen and Rosette had mad driving skills.
DK: I know, I know, just some pointless rambling.
S: I'll say.
C: It wasn't pointless, it was pivotal to her plotline… right?
DK: That's exactly right Chrno, thank you very much.
R: Whatever, I still have the better driving skills.
Carmen: Yeah right, I drive so much better than you, and I don't wreck the vehicle!
(Rosette and Carmen begin a glaring contest)
V: God, both of them are such idiots.
R & Carmen: No we're not!
S: Vhatever you say Sister of Destruction.
R: Grrr… shut up you dumb Dora!
S: Vhat did you call me, you country bumpkin?
C: (ignoring…) so what's the next chapter?
DK: that's easy! We get back down to business and start dealing with Zuberi and Isis.
SK: We?
ER: What do you mean by we?
DK: Who knows, I may put myself in as a guest star! You know, a random person running across our heroes path, crying about how pancakes are trying to eat her…
Everyone: (silence)
DK: Someone needs her medicine today!!!!
Everyone: ….
DK: I'm gonna go scar someone for life! Later!!!
C: I pray for the people who read the next chapter once it's up…
R: I'm looking forward to it, I want to see D.K.Chan run screaming from pancakes! Maybe I can eat them!
DK: Later people!