Chapter 27
Satella's jewel monster continued on flying closer and closer to Eden's entry area, which gave the trio a sense of both worry and hope at the same time due to the fact that Eden's size was quite small. "Whatever happens, I do hope that we'll succeed in reaching Eden again one way or another." Rosette commented anxiously. "Because of Eden's size, its points of entry are limited." Chrono told Satella. "We're closer to the center than they are, let's go on ahead!" Satella stated and just then, the power on Satella's bracelet began to waver down tremendously. "Oh Scheise! The power is going to run out! It's out of energy! When there's no more it will disappear!" Satella explained in a deeply shocked tone since she couldn't imagine that her jewel bracelet would be so low on energy of all times. Rosette looked at Satella with a confused look. "What?!" both Rosette and Chrono shouted out in horror. It didn't take long for both of them to realize that the jewel monster was starting to slow down due to it being on extremely low energy. However, the jewel monster was able to reach past the entry point of Eden. The area looked like a huge world surrounded with bee hive like structures along with a huge waterfall up ahead. A circle like island was also surrounded with trees along with a low rise building. The trio was extremely amazed by what they were seeing, especially Rosette who was wondering whether they were in a different world or not. When the jewel monster had reached one of the hive grounds, it all of a sudden stopped and disappeared. This caused all three of them to start falling towards the ground and they started screaming for their dear lives. Fortunately, all three of them landed on the ground in one piece. "That was close!" Rosette said in relief while turning around and seeing that they were all okay. The three then began to look around their surroundings and realized that they had passed through Eden. "Chrono, is something wrong?" Rosette asked. "You do realize that we are not in Eden, do you?" Chrono calmly asked and Rosette turned herself around in confusion and saw the island that was just across from the hive ground they were standing on. Just seeing the island alone was enough to convince all of them that the world they were indeed on was not Eden but Pandemonium. "So, this really is Pandemonium, isn't it?!" Rosette asked Chrono who was standing behind her. "That's right Rosette, this is our world." Chrono calmly answered while turning his head facing Rosette. "Are you saying that Pandemonium is this, a city inside a large fish?! How extravagant. I haven't heard of anybody seeing anything like this before!" Satella exclaimed in disbelief as Chrono was walking towards the edge of the ground. "I wonder where we came from, I wonder what we are?" Chrono asked himself with deep curiosity since although he knew that Pandemonium was always the demons world, he however never knew their exact origins. Rosette looked at him with great sympathy as she knew that this was bothering him. Just then, the ground began to rumble a bit and it wasn't long until Eden had finally showed up and entered into Pandemonium right from above their heads. They all looked at it surprised while Chrono rushed towards Rosette and Satella. "It looks like Eden has reached Pandemonium." Chrono alarmed them. "What? This can't be right. It's being attacked?" Satella asked in disbelief. The monstrous looking demon cells inside Pandemonium had made their move by showing themselves in front of the three as they were surrounding them. "It looks like the demons that lived here were also deceived into becoming Pandemonium's demon cells." Chrono explained as Rosette swiftly got out her two guns and they all formed a circle as they were preparing themselves to attack. "There's so many of them? Are you sure that we can take them all out like this?" Rosette skeptically asked since she knew that they didn't stand a chance in eliminating all of the demon cells inside Pandemonium. "That seems to be very unlikely at that moment, which is why we must evade them." Chrono said decisively. "In that case, I'm going to break through!" Satella decided. "Laden, Solid August!" Satella shouted out as she placed one of her jewels onto her bracelet and summoned a jewel monster. It had an appearance of a huge lion with thick crystal like edges surrounding its face along with a dark green jewel on its face. They all then quickly hopped onto the jewel monster which began to run its way by following the demon cells that were located towards the main corridor. "Satella, as you should know, Eden is controlling them from the main corridor." Chrono revealed to Satella. "I'm following them!" Satella loudly answered him in which her jewel monster did exactly what she said she was doing. In the meantime as Eden was absorbing the demon cells energy, Joshua slowly woke up and saw Fiore kneeling beside him. "Fiore, is that you?" Joshua asked in a weak tone. "Master Joshua, thank goodness you are alright!" Fiore said with a huge amount of relief as she was seeing that Joshua was finally waking up. He then straightened his arm up while he had his long black blazer off. "I see. I fainted with the burden of Oratorio." Joshua said as he was reminded what happened to him once Oratorio had overwhelmed him. "So what's the situation?" Joshua asked. "Lord Aion went ahead. He's going to strike at the center before Pandemonium recovers from its confusion." Fiore explained. "How is everybody?" Joshua asked while lifting his upper body up. "They haven't woken up yet. Shader is buying us time, but she said that if the situation becomes critical, then abandon Eden." Fiore explained to him. "I'm going. I shall become everyone's protective shield." Fiore said and got herself up from the ground. "So please, excuse me." Fiore said apologetically while slightly bowing down towards him. She then turned around and started to walk her way out of the room. "Fiore." Joshua said her name. "Is it really alright if you don't protect me?" Joshua asked with a slight grin on his face and Fiore all of a sudden stopped walking. "Aren't those Aion's orders? Because of these horns, I will most likely fall under Pandemonium's control. Not my body, but my heart. When that happens, I want you to protect me!" Joshua explained to Fiore while she had a blank expression on her face. "I can tell, it's written on your face." Joshua remarked as he could tell that Fiore was suddenly starting to become emotional, albeit quietly. "Don't be ridiculous, my heart is stone. I have never laughed nor cried." Fiore explained as she was denying her current emotion, even though it was very obvious to Joshua how she was feeling. He then stood himself up from the ground. "Yes, I know that. But it really is written on your face!" Joshua calmly said as he walked towards Fiore and hugged her from behind. Such an act from Joshua made Fiore even more emotional, to the point that tears slowly began to fall from her eyes. She then let go of Joshua's arms as she turned around with a sad look on her face. "I shall be going now. However, before I go, I only ask for one thing." Fiore emotionally said while tightening up Joshua's slim black tie. "What would that be Fiore?" Joshua curiously asked. "Please tell me what you did the first time you met me." Fiore requested. Joshua then remembered the night when he arrived at Eden where he saw an unconscious girl sitting on a chair tied up on long strings and holding several jewel pieces in her hands. "That's right. Because of the noise. I mistook you for my big sister." Joshua said while remembering himself walking towards her and mistakenly calling her "Big Sister." Joshua smiled slightly and said while waving "Alright, farewell big sister!" "Farewell to you as well, Lord Joshua!" Fiore said solemnly and then walked her way out of the room. "That brought back memories. With that single word, I was no longer a doll who created jewels. The soul that should have disappeared was once more given life." Fiore thought deeply to herself while thinking of all the times she showed her younger sister Satella how to properly use the jewels, and the jewels themselves were also occupying her mind. Meanwhile, Satella's jewel monster continued running past the demon cells while Rosette was shooting at them with both of her pistols. Unfortunately, no matter how many times Rosette fired at them, they were just too many of them to defeat. The lion jewel monster was able to run out of a cave like hive and was running at full speed straight towards the walkway while roaring heavily. Just when the jewel monster was running across the walkway towards the flat ground from above, Satella saw Fiore standing right in front of the area with her glaive sword. She looked at her with a deeply surprised look while Fiore also looked at Satella the same way. Fiore looked at Chrono and Rosette but with indifference. She then turned around facing them while they were all surrounded by demon cells. When Satella looked at Fiore, she saw that there is a little bit of blood on her face which was from the demon cells that she was battling with her glaive sword. "Satella, isn't that who I think it is." Rosette asked as she pointed her finger towards Fiore while Satella was looking rather serious in regards to the situation. "Thank you all for waiting." Fiore said in a calm, quite tone as she lifted her head up. "Lord Aion will have everything finished in a moment. Until then, my mission is to protect Lord Joshua! You may not go beyond this point!" Fiore demanded in an authoritative tone. "Joshua is just past here, isn't he?" Rosette loudly asked Fiore since she had a strong feeling that Joshua was somewhere close by. "At this moment Master Joshua is preparing himself. I cannot permit any contact with confusing people like you." Fiore responded in a cold, indifferent tone. "And just what do you mean by confusing people?" Rosette crossly asked as she was obviously insulted with what Fiore just said. "Calm down Rosette, if you go in with such a vulgar attitude every time, you won't have enough life to spare." Satella turned her head around and told Rosette as she was constructively criticizing her brash attitude. "I don't understand. How can you all be so calm at a time like this?" Rosette commented dumbfounded. "Anybody would naturally become calm while taking care of somebody they love. On the other hand, we are in front of a hoard of formidable enemies. In this limited time, how would you solve this difficult problem?" Satella explained while also asking a thought provoking question at the same time which amazed both Rosette and Chrono. "Satella?" Rosette said astounded. Just then, Satella jumped off her jewel monster and commanded it to continue running forward which took Rosette and Chrono by surprise. Satella had succeeded in landing safely onto the ground. Fiore was equally surprised that Satella would abruptly choose to do such an act while Satella commanded her lion jewel monster to jump past Fiore. Fiore saw the jewel monster running at full speed from behind her while making a huge thumping noise, much to her bewilderment. "This is the answer! Disperse power!" Satella gloated while having her arms stretched out. "Satella!" Rosette and Chrono shouted after her while looking from behind. "I'm terminating the jewel in one minute! Continue towards your destination!" Satella told them while shouting at them. "When did we decide that you had to do this alone?" Rosette asked while shouting after Satella. "I'm not doing this alone. This is also teamwork." Satella thought to herself while her lion jewel monster had run far enough for Rosette and Chrono not to see Satella any longer. "This is my conclusion. The picture that we all together took at the carnival that night, it's proof that I am not alone." She thought while thinking of all the times that she had spent with her four friends, Azmaria, Chrono, Rosette and Maria. They were the only friends she ever really had. "Well, see you later! Rosette, Chrono, Maria, and my dear liebekind Azmaria!" Satella silently bid them farewell with a look that was both happy yet sad at the same time. Satella then turned her attention at Fiore and after looking at her for a few seconds she turned around and gave herself a little stretch. "Now it's just the two of us Florette. It's our ten year reunion you know!" Satella said optimistically. "Ten years is it?" Fiore monotonously asked and Satella turned around facing her bigger sister. "Tell me Florette, why are you with Aion? Florette Harvenheit." Satella asked her seriously and with deep curiosity as she couldn't understand why her big sister would be working for Aion of all people. "I am Fiore, a regular flower. The Florette that you knew had died ten years ago." Fiore explained monotonously to her while placing her hand onto her chest. "I am a puppet, a soul that has taken over this body." Fiore revealed while denying her relations to Satella, much to Satella's shock since she couldn't believe what she was just hearing.
One day, ten years ago, Fiore was tending to her younger sister Satella who was asleep by the tree on their back lawn of their huge mansion in Germany. Aion of all people had showed up in front of Fiore which at first startled her as she then dropped her jewels onto the ground. "You were watching us, weren't you? Please don't tell anyone or else they'll treat us like witches." Fiore pleaded to Aion who had a huge wrap around his head. "You really think so lowly of your powers? I think it's a wonderful power to have. Powers exist to be used, aren't they?" Aion charismatically asked. "So, you came from America to visit our mother?" Fiore curiously asked. "That's correct, even though we never met in person. I am what you could call a distant relative." Aion explained to the girl while obviously lying to her. Several days later Satella and Fiore's mansion was burned to the ground by Aion's men and their parents killed by Aion himself. Fiore was also impaled by Aion when she challenged to fight him with a sword. After Satella and the butler Steiner managed to escape, Aion had the Elder sister, who was now dead, completely within his grasp. "Don't you think that was a little bit too extreme Aion?" Viede questioned his actions. "There was a difference in opinion along the way. Those two people were our allies. We were both alienated from our societies, but it appeared that we held different opinions. However, there is no need to worry about it because we have a replacement instead. The ability is passed down, at least among the bloodline that is." Aion explained to the other Sinners while carrying Fiore's dead body. Aion then threw the girl down onto the ground as if it was nothing and began to walk forward. "Aion, this girl is already dead. What should we do?" Shader empathetically asked. "Do whatever you can to make her functional. I don't care what condition she is in." Aion heartlessly said and continued walking. "I'm sorry." Shader apologized to the dead Fiore who had a small amount of blood coming out of her mouth. Back to the present, Rosette and Chrono were able to run towards the hallway while Rosette was shooting at the demon cells with very insignificant results. Fortunately, the door swiftly shut closed tightly before any of them could get in, much to their relief. "There's too many of them!" Rosette commented in an exhausted tone. "This place is divided into separate areas. We can't be surrounded. Let's get moving!" Chrono explained while he offered Rosette his hand and she got up from the metal floor. "Whatever is happening behind that door, I do hope that Satella is doing okay." Rosette remarked concerned. "You're worried about Satella, aren't you?" Chrono asked. "What makes you think that?" Rosette asked while denying her concerns for Satella. "Because I can tell by your words." Chrono softly answered. "Anyways, let's get a move on shall we?" Rosette interrupted. "Yes, let's!" Chrono agreed and they walked their way forward. In the meantime, Satella and Fiore were battling each other vigorously in which Satella had summoned her knight jewel monster while Fiore simply battled with her glaive sword. Fiore had extremely good jumping skills which allowed her to destroy the jewel monster's right arm, much to Satella's shock and frustration. She then commanded her jewel monster to move its sword towards Fiore, which she managed to evade. However, Satella ran towards Fiore while directing her knight jewel monster and it cut off Fiore's right arm from which blood started pouring out. Satella turned around and saw Fiore holding her severed arm while she herself held onto her wounded, bloody shoulder blade. "There's no point in slicing me. Because I am a doll." Fiore monotonously reminded her and she then placed her arm back into its proper part of her body which it then got reattached very quickly. This astounded Satella that Fiore could even have such abilities. "Lies, this is all a lie!" Satella angrily said while taking off her scarf from her shoulders. "Laden! Fourth month of beginning!" Satella called out and her jewel monster had transformed its severed right arm into an enormous knight shield and was ready to battle once again. "Laden! September of Purity!" Fiore called out. While Satella's jewel monster's severed arm was holding onto Fiore's glaive sword, her jewel monster began to appear. It had an appearance of a young woman with long hair whose hair and facial features looked very similar to the head of Pandemonium. It also had a large warrior like body with arms that resembled Satella's jewel monster. Once Fiore's jewel monster was done transforming itself, she commanded it to charge towards Satella's jewel monster and they began fighting with each other. "I am a tool. I was created with the body of your sister. My purpose was to create the jewels for the Sinners as substitutes for their horns, to destroy my lord's enemies, and to protect Master Joshua." Fiore calmly explained. Satella yelled out in disbelief while the two jewel monsters continued clanging their weapons while fighting each other. Satella then charged towards Fiore. "Sister, ten years in search of revenge, I believed I would be able to take back what I had lost." Satella thought to herself while thinking of the time when she came to America by boat and was looking at the Statue of Liberty. She was also thinking about her parents, all the hardships she and Steiner had to go through just to make it to America and a boy that she had met when she arrived to New York City. "But, ten years ago, it was already finished. I wasn't able to take back anything." Satella again thought to herself while the two jewel monsters continued battling each other. Satella's knight jewel monster managed to tear off Fiore's clothing on her right shoulder. Fiore then ran towards her jewel monster, grabbed the glaive sword, jumped towards Satella and tore off her clothing by her midriff with her sword. By doing that, a huge wound had formed on the exact same spot.
"I shouldn't have hoped for anything." Satella hopelessly thought to herself as she began to spurt out blood and fell onto the ground while Fiore had just landed on her two feet successfully and turned around facing Satella. "It seems that you are surrounded. It will be difficult to escape with an injury this huge." Fiore stated while looking at the demon cells all around them. She then kneeled down towards Satella and saw that she was lying on a small pool of blood that was caused by her injury. "In that case, do you want to be finished off?" Fiore asked. "It's over, I can't move. It looks like this is the end for me, isn't it?" Satella said in extreme despair since she knew that because of her current state, she had no chance of winning and began to silently cry. She then thought about Rosette and her courage to keep on going against all odds. "Why give up while there is still a path ahead of you?" Those were the words that Satella imagined Rosette saying to her. "That's right, you didn't give up! You just kept on going!" Satella lamented to herself as she was reminded by Rosette's strong determination. Satella then slowly raised herself up from the ground and with a loud and determined voice she shouted "However, it is not futile!" Once she got up, she slowly walked towards Fiore in a way that looked as if she was about to collapse any second. "Sister, my sister who had been distorted." Satella cried out while walking towards Fiore. When she finally came close to her, she hugged her which took Fiore by surprise. "If we cannot reunite together, then let's at least die together!" Satella concluded in a broken tone as tears were flowing immensely down her face. She reached out for Fiore's glaive sword and grabbed it from her hand. Satella directed the blade towards herself while Fiore looked at her with a confused and surprised look. "What are you planning on doing?" Fiore asked confused. Suddenly, Satella impaled Fiore from her back along with herself through her stomach. In the meantime, while Rosette and Chrono walked their way across the metal hallway, Chrono abruptly stopped and Rosette wondered if he had sensed something. "Is something wrong Chrono?" Rosette curiously asked and Chrono turned around facing her. "It's nothing!" Chrono denied. "Something is wrong, isn't it?" Rosette asked since Chrono's tone didn't convince her. "You think so? Anyway, we should get going. We're almost there. Let's finish this mission and celebrate in time for Christmas Eve! We save Azmaria, Joshua, the rest of the Apostles along with Maria, meet up with Satella and defeat Aion once and for all! It'll be a happy ending, and we can make a memorial for Christmas! We'll celebrate it every year so that it'll remain in our hearts!" Chrono excitedly said in an overly optimistic tone as he walked forward across the hallway towards an opened passage way. Rosette however knew that Chrono was deep down hiding his true feelings by putting on a happy exterior. "Chrono!" Rosette called out his name. "You are the heroine. Like a twentieth century Joan of Arc!" Chrono continued going on optimistically while at the same time faking it. "Chrono! Don't fake your smile. It's just not like you!" Rosette sternly remarked since she could see right through his fake optimism and smile. Chrono still fake smiled although he did finally say in a reluctant tone "I guess I can't fool you Rosette, can I?" "What do you mean Chrono?" Rosette asked. "I'm afraid we can't meet Satella anymore." Chrono sadly revealed and turned around. "Are you okay? You're acting a little strange." Rosette loudly commented. "No I'm not, I just don't want to make you sad, that's all! Come on, there is another door just ahead of us!" Chrono fake smiled again and he then walked forward while Rosette looked at him. Rosette followed his lead while she was still confused by Chrono's behavior as she found it highly suspicious. "Another door? We haven't even walked one hundred yards yet." Rosette stated once they had finally reached the door which resembled that of a beehive. "Step back a little." Chrono said and walked towards the door. He began to touch the door while tapping on it and thought to himself "I won't let anything or anyone harm you Rosette. I will bear your weight and I will never leave you by yourself!" The door then suddenly opened but once it did, a horde of demon cells had appeared by the door, much to their horror. "Rosette, Run!" Chrono alarmed Rosette and they started running away from the demon cells. The demon cells were making their way out of the door while roaring intensely. "Why are there so many of them?" Rosette frustratingly asked and began to shoot at the demon cells with one of her guns but the gun shot had little to no effect on them. "Just a little more! The previous door hasn't closed yet!" Rosette loudly stated to Chrono as they continued on running away from the demon cells. "If we escape into there, we should be safe from them!" Chrono remarked. Just then, Rosette yelled as she accidentally tripped and fell onto the ground. "Rosette!" Chrono yelled out after her once he saw that Rosette was lying on the ground. Unfortunately, the demon cells had managed to catch up and Chrono had a horrified look on his face as he saw that they were right behind Rosette. He ran towards Rosette, quickly grabbed her from the back and pushed her towards the door. Rosette slid through the door aggressively and was able to go right through it. "Ouch!" Rosette cried out since the sliding was quite painful. "Chrono, can't you be more gentle?" Rosette frustratingly complained. Just then, she saw that the demon cells came so close to Chrono that with their sharp tips, they began to puncture Chrono's body. Huge amounts of blood were gushing out of his body as the door began to close itself. "Chrono!" Rosette yelled out his name in shock with what she was seeing. "Stay back!" Chrono told her while coughing out blood. Rosette began to shudder and the door was almost at the verge of being closed. "You can't go to Eden through this area. But don't worry, Joshua is just ahead! If you go now, you'll make it Rosette!" Chrono began to explain while Rosette had a worried look on her face. "What are you saying? I'll open the door right now!" Rosette said in desperation. "The console is broken. You're worrying too much Rosette. It's just a matter of time before I escape. But right now, the time is dire to us." Chrono further explained to her. "I had a feeling a day like this would come when I would not be able to stand by you. You had given me many things. We laughed and cried together. The first cookies you gave me. Even now, I can remember their flavor. The time has come to return the favor." Chrono said with a bittersweet tone. "I don't intend on dying. Just go on ahead." Chrono told her while Rosette was both surprised and shocked with what he just said. She then imagined in her head Chrono being blown amongst the winds. "Don't worry about me Rosette. I'll catch up!" He promised her and the door had finally closed itself tightly. Rosette, overwhelmed with emotions had tears that began to overwhelm her eyes as they flowed down her cheeks. "Chrono!" Rosette desperately yelled out his name as she began to sob. "You idiot!" Rosette said tearfully. In the meantime, Chrono had stood up in full confidence as the demon cells had roared once again. "Alright, come on!" Chrono dared them. "Even though we are small or have no power, humans can still fight! That's what she taught me." Chrono thought to himself as he pulled out his sword blades and prepared himself to battle the demon cells.