-dodges the thrown slightly unripened bananas FullMetal Alchemistress is throwing at me- She was threatening to throw those at me in a review should I not update soon. So here's the next chapter. :) And BTW, please don't shoot me for the ending of this chapter. It's not a bad thing, I swear! It's just how it ended up happening. -hides behind a tower shield just in case-
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"But why? I'm fine!" Rosette sulked, resting in her bed. Everyone who had been in the burning sanctuary that morning had been forced into bed rest for two days. Joshua shook his head at Rosette's behavior. She had always hated being down, especially since her time had been restored by Chrono's sacrifice. "I don't need to be resting. I need to be making sure those kids are OK."
"Rosette, stop acting like a child," Joshua scolded, pushing her back into bed. Rosette had been trying to get up. "You heard the doctor's explanation. All six of you inhaled a lot of smoke and your lungs need rest and fresh air. So just listen to the doctor's order and don't worry about a thing." Rosette continued to sulk, but she didn't raise any more objections. Her concern for the kids she was charged with was just amazing.
"Alright, but I'm going see them as soon as I can leave this room," Rosette swore. Joshua laughed. "What are you laughing at me for?"
"Just like when we were children," Joshua told her. Rosette's stony expression softened a bit. "Now rest dearest sister. I have something to look into. I'll stop by again soon, promise." He kissed Rosette on the forehead and left.
Rosette was left alone and confused. She had now started to accept that Chrono was dead, just now starting to move on. And then a mysterious person fitting his description appearing and helping the orphans. It was a lot to take in. Rosette rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. "Chrono, what is going on?" she asked herself as she fell asleep.
--
She woke that evening as Azmaria brought her some dinner. "How are you feeling?" Azmaria asked as she set the tray down on Rosette's lap. Rosette covered her mouth as she yawned, something falling out of her hand. "What was that?" Azmaria asked her.
Rosette picked it up and nearly dropped it again. It was a lock of purple hair, tied off by a red ribbon. There was one word sewn into the ribbon: soon. Rosette's hands trembled as she showed Azmaria. Azmaria's eyes widened. "Rosette, am I the only one confused?" Azmaria asked Rosette.
"No, I am too," Rosette replied. "But if this is Chrono, who left this behind and helped the kids, why doesn't he just show himself? Does he think that we hate him? Or is there a deeper reason he's not showing himself? Oh, I just don't know." She held the lock of hair close to her heart. "Usually Chrono had a reason for everything. Perhaps, if this is him, he's just biding his time as to not shock us too much. He always did put others before himself. After all, he is presumed dead."
Determined to get better quickly so she could better figure this out, Rosette shoveled down the food in front of her. "Don't eat so fast!" Azmaria exclaimed as Rosette nearly choked.
"Gah, if this is him, I'm going to beat him black and blue when he finally shows himself!" Rosette shouted. Lowering her voice, she went on. "It's been three months. For crying out loud, he had better have a good excuse for his mysterious behavior." Rosette scowled. Azmaria laughed.
"Rosette, it may well be Chrono," Azmaria told Rosette. "We know prayer works. What if what we have been praying for this entire time is finally coming to be? We need to consider that." Rosette recalled how much they had prayed to be reunited with their friend soon. "And if you're the reincarnation of of Magdalene and I was an apostle, along with your brother, who says that this can't happen. We've experienced something that opened our eyes to the possibilities."
--
"Joshua, let's go for a walk," Rosette said the day she was allowed out of bed. "Az, come with us. I wanna show you something." It was Joshua's day off, so he was spending it with his sister. He had learned just how precious she was, since he had come so close to losing her. Used to her active nature now, Joshua just tagged along with his sister.
"Where are we going?" Azmaria asked, breathing heavily. Rosette was leading them into the forest are surrounding the orphanage. Joshua had a notion of where this was going.
"Rosette, are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Joshua asked, taking wider strides to catch up with his sister. Rosette flashed him a grin. The grin that usually meant she was up to something. "Rosette, what are you up to?"
"You'll see if you can just be a bit patient," Rosette stated exasperatedly. "Jeez. It's worth it, what with everything that's been going on. And ay any rate, it's a good place to remember Chrono, be he dead or alive." Rosette stormed ahead. Azmaria and Joshua struggled to catch up.
"Joshua, where are we going?" Azmaria asked, panting.
"To where we first met Chrono," Joshua said, a far off expression on his face. "We met him, as you know, when we were young. Rosette had a tendency to get me out of the orphanage when people from the Magdalene Order came by, especially Father Remington. At the beginning, Rosette hated him. She felt that he was the main person trying to separate us. During one of those visits, she was dragging me out around here, we fell down a hole and into an underground tunnel, where we found a tomb. The tomb was sealed, but I was able to open it due to my holy powers. Chrono had been in there for years, sleeping by the original Mary Magdalene the entire time. We woke him up and he rejoined the world. You know the rest." He smiled.
"Joshua, I found the hole we originally fell down!" Rosette called from up ahead. She pointed downwards excitedly and vanished from their view.
"Rosette!" Joshua shouted, panicked. He reached the hole and looked down. Rosette was waiting down there perfectly fine, foot tapping impatiently. "Don't scare me like that again."
"Just get down here," Rosette ordered grumpily. Joshua sighed and jumped down the hole, leaving Azmaria alone above ground. She didn't want to jump down there, not one bit.
"Az, I'll catch you," Joshua promised. Azmaria jumped down quickly before she second guessed herself. Joshua caught her and set her on her feet quickly. "See? I'm just glad you didn't injure yourself as you came down here and whine about it." He stuck his tongue out at Rosette, who only scowled and stomped ahead. Joshua took off after her, dragging Azmaria behind him.
"Rosette is tense," Azmaria said softly.
"This is a lot to deal with for Rosette," Joshua told her. "She's just now coming to terms with his death and now this popping up...It's not a good thing. What if she gets her hope up and this turns out to be nothing?" Azmaria felt guilty. She had encouraged it just a couple of days ago. "This situation is sure a big mess."
"It'll work out. The Lord uses bad things to make good things happen. Everything happens for a reason, even if we can't understand the logic. It's always worked that way. And it always will," Azmaria counseled. "Oops, did I just do your job, Father Joshua?" Azmaria laughed.
"Even we need counsel sometimes," Joshua amended. "After all, we're only human, just like those we help." He smiled sadly. "I just hope this works out quickly. I hate seeing her like this."
"Same here," Azmaria agreed. "But all we can do is stand by her during this time. That and have faith. We can't do much else." She smiled helpfully and ran after Rosette. By this time, she had reached the tomb. Joshua walked up slowly, memories replaying in his head, of when they had first met Chrono.
"Who is it? Who is it? Who awakened me?"
Both Rosette and Joshua were lost in thought now. Azmaria couldn't blame them.
"Who are you?" Rosette asked in return, not answering the original question.
"My name is Chrono, what you humans' would refer to me as a demon'? Rosette was confused.
"Exactly what I said....those that are feared by humans." Chrono paused. "Forget it...how did you unseal the gate?"
Joshua held up a hand in wonder. "Seal?"
"Anyone, this is a grave...get out of..." Chrono fell to his knees, panting with one eye closed. "It's been several decades since I woke up....I'm lacking spirit energy...."
"You mean you woke up on an empty stomach? How pathetic..." Rosette smiled just the same and dug something out of her pocket while Joshua sighed. "So you're hungry right? Hang on a sec.." Rosette pulled out some wrapped cookies and candy, unwrapping them and offering them to Chrono.
"Ah! So you did have food with you! Why didn't you bring that out earlier?!" Joshua demanded, in his sister's face.
"Because this is for an emergency!" Rosette shot back angrily.
At the time, Joshua had been sure Chrono was joking around when he had said it had been several decades since he had woken up. But every word of Chrono's story had turned out to be true. While he had been confused at the conversation at first, he had accepted Rosette's offering, offering a humble "Ah, thank you" in response. Joshua had then interrogated Chrono about the occult world, confusing the confused demon even more.
"Chrono told us all those stories," Rosette said fondly. "We often had picnics together, I braided his long hair, he protected us even then. Like the time I was stubborn trying to get that fruit and fell out of the tree. Chrono caught me, taking the damage himself."
"After you nearly poisoned him with those horrible cookies," Joshua pointed out. Rosette turned to glare at Joshua. Joshua silenced his comeback. "We've come all this way. Let's at least pay our respects to the original Mary Magdalene." He waggled a finger at his sister and then turned to the still open tomb. It had never been resealed after Joshua had accidentally opened it.
With a groan, Joshua forced the heavy stone doors open once more. Chrono had shut the door when they had left the tomb so long. He offered a hand to each of the ladies. "Shall we go?"