Another Chance
Disclaimer:I don't own Chrono Crusade or any of the characters!
Sorry if the chapter is a bit short...
"What... what.. do you mean by you remember? and..and what do you mean by I remember?.. I don't know what you're talking about.." stuttered Mrs Edwards.
"Are you sure, Mrs Edwards? Or should I say," said Chrono as he raised one of his eye brows and took a breath, "Fiore."
"How.. How dare you call... call me by my first name? Haven't I taught you that it's rude to call your elders by their first name since you were young?" said Fiore indignantly with an attempt at changing the topic.
"I dare because if memory serves me, we might not have known each other very well then, " said Chrono as he stared at Fiore, daring her to deny that she has no idea when 'then' was referring to and continued when she kept quiet. "But we do have one thing in common. We both know a certain Miss Satella Harvenheit very well. Am I right? And from what I remember, you were her elder sister who mysteriously disappeared after the war. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to survive long enough to find out the whereabouts of Satella as.. as..." at this point, Chrono trailed off at the sudden emotions that hit him together with the memory. He had died protecting his lover and survived long enough just to reunite with her through his strong will before his body gave up and he died holding his lover in his arms. "as... I had barely enough time to find my... my love. Rosette, the love of my life... "
Fiore's shoulders slumped as she gazed off into the distance outside the window, refusing to look at Chrono. The two fell into an awkward silence as both willed the other to continue. Finally Chrono grasped Fiore's hand and she looked at him with defiant eyes.
"Mrs Edwards... Fiore. You have seen me grow up from young and you have taken care of all my needs. You can tell when I am lying. Look into my eyes now." Chrono said just as Fiore was about to turn away, "Look at me. Can you see how desperate I am and how glad I am to finally find someone who shares the same memories as me? Not just any memory but memories of a past life. I know we might not have known each other too well previously or were even on any good terms but we did share the same time dimension and memories of that time. Please, please tell me what you know. I really need your help if I was to find any of the others - including Satella."
Fiore stared at Chrono silently, unwilling to give up her lifelong determined ignorance of the past and loneliness from not being able to find any of the others until she found Master Chrono.
"I... I .. I... Oh alright. I do remember. Satisfied?" said Fiore as she slumped in her seat in confession and defeat. "What do you want to know?"
"Did you know who I was all along?" asked Chrono. The question had been on his mind ever since he remembered everything. True, he had only regained his memories not long ago. In fact, just barely more than forty-eight hours ago. But the question had been there since he remembered and had been bugging him. He did not want to think that Mrs Edwards-or Fiore now- wanted to keep something as important as this from him on purpose.
"Well, I wasn't sure at first. But when I learnt of your name and watched you grew up every day, your features seemed more and more like your past self except that you are without horns now of course. My confirmation came when you were around the age of four. For a continuous few nights, you were mummering the name 'Rosette' in your sleep. On some occasions, you even mentioned 'Joshua' and 'Azmaria' and lastly to my astonishment, 'Satella'. However, you had less sleep talking gradually until it stopped one day."
"Why didn't you tell me of my previous life even as I grew under your care? Why?" asked Chrono with a streak of anger mixed with the betrayal he felt. How could she do that to him? Keeping him away from the mission to be reunited with his friends and most importantly, his Rosette.
"Would you have believed me?" asked Mrs Edwards quietly.
Chrono pondered the question as all anger suddenly left him. Would he? Would he have believed her? If he was to be honest with himself, no. No, he wouldn't have believed her. If he was a child, he would have just taken it as another bedtime story and he'll slowly outgrow, what he normally thought to be, the childish innocence of believing in such a tale. In fact up until a week ago he would have thought her crazy if she told him that. He took a deep breathe and admitted, "No, I wouldn't."
"My point exactly. If I were in your shoes, I would share the same sentiments too."
"Thank you. Thank you for being so honest with me." said Chrono from his heart.
"Welcome. Just don't expect me to be like this everytime." teased Mrs Edwards at an attempt to lighten the atmosphere in the room. There was a stagnant pause until Chrono spoke again.
"Should I tell the others?"
"Well, that's a decision that's up to you."
"Ouch! Watch where you're going!" shouted Rosette at whoever it was that bumped into her. She looked up and saw to her rage that it was Chrono, the last person she wants to see on Earth. "DON'T YOU HAVE EYES?! LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" However to her astonishment, not only did Chrono not retort, but he stared at her in a weird manner which frightened her instead.
"What.. What do you think you're doing?"
"Huh? W-What? Sorry.. Uh.. I didn't mean to bump into you...I'm really sorry." said Chrono as he bowed in an apologetic manner.
A sweatdrop appeared on Rosette's head. "What? No retorts? Are you ill today? Should I get someone to bring you to a doctor? Since when did you become so polite?"
'There must be something wrong with him. If not, why will he be starring at me in this weird manner that is even more abnormal than the past few days?' thought Rosette as she stared back at him in a tolerant manner.
'Should I ask her whether she remembered? Or should I not? What if she doesn't even remember that we had a past life together?' thought Chrono as he continued starring at her.
"Do... Do you...doyoubelieveinreincarnation?" asked Chrono nervously at a fast pace.
"Huh? What?" asked Rosette confused.
"I said, do you believe in..reincarnation?" speaking slightly slower this time, Chrono mumbled out the last few syllabus.
"I can't hear you. Can't you just say it in a loud and clear voice and also at a normal pace?!"
"Alright, alright. I said, DO YOU BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION?" Chrono fairly shouted before his courage gave up on him.
"THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY HEARING SO YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SHOUT. And no, I don't believe in reincarnation. Why?" asked Rosette suspiciously. She subconsciously noted the Chrono's slight slump of shoulders but ignored it as she turned a wary gaze onto Chrono who was shifting uncomfortably on his heels. "What do you have up your sleeve?"
"N-Nothing. That's all. See you." said Chrono disappointed and quickly walked off.
'Wonder what's wrong with him. It's almost as if he's keeping something from me.' Thought Rosette as she walked off.
"Hey Azzy!" She shouted and waved her hands frantically when she caught sight of Azmaria and tried to attract Azmaria's attention.
"Hi, Rosette." greeted Azmaria as she stopped short beside Rosette. "You have this weird expression on your face. Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm alright. It's just that 'Mr' Chrono," Rosette replied with a mocking tone at 'Mr', "is acting really strange today! He was not looking where he was going and almost knocked me over. Inf act, he even apologised to me! APOLOGISED! First apology I ever heard coming from him! And he asked me a strange question too!"
"What did he ask you?" Azmaria inquired curiously.
"He asked whether I believe in reincarnation! REINCARNATION, for goodness sake. Who would believe that?"
"Uh... me? I don't know.. I seem to have these strange dreams lately that seemed so real. It's almost as if it's from my previous life!"
"Oh no, Azzy! You don't really believe in such nonsense do you?" asked Rosette, shocked.
"Well, maybe I just do." With that, Azmaria turned and walked in the direction of her home leaving her startled friend to look at her retreating back.
'How could she forget? But I guess I can't blame her. Afterall, even I just recently recovered my memories.. and only due to the fact that I slipped!' Thought Chrono while he walked towards his bedroom after a long day at school. 'What should my next move be? I have already made the first move which was to discover if she remembered. What should I do next? Check whether Joshua or Azmaria or even Satella remembers? But I hardly know them, in this life anyway, especially Satella who just transferred in!' Chrono changed out of his uniform into more comfortable attire as he continued contemplating his next move.
By the time he sat down for a short snack, he finally had a plan. He is going to help Rosette remember their past. And after that, most probably with her help, he would be able to find the others and help them remember too. With Rosette helping, the job of helping them recover their memories would be much easier. But in order to do all that, he'll have to help Rosette to recover her memory first and to do so, he'll have to do one thing which he would never have done before he recovered his memory- woo her.
End of Chapter
AU: I'm sorry that it took me quite a few days to finish this chapter as I had to rewrite the chapter due to slight changes in story plot. And this might also be one of the last chapters that I'm writing before I go 'hibernating' so as to catch up with my hectic schedule and go at full speed again. Rest assured though, that I will return after the long break.
