Chrono Crusade Fan Fiction ❯ Hell Hath No Fury ❯ Chpt 7: Home Again ( Chapter 9 )

Rosette peeked through the door of the tiny shack Merari had lead them into. It was cramped, being only one room. The sparse furnishings were caked with dust, and Rosette was thankful the lights weren't on. She had a sneaky suspicion she didn't want to know what else had made its home here.

 

'Just my luck, when traveling with men.' She thought to herself. Though this looked like a little bit more than just loose living by an unhygienic person. It looked almost as if Merari hadn't even lived here. By the moonlight trying to shine in through the disgusting window, Rosette could see that the dust and grime was completely undisturbed. She was about to ask Merari about this when she saw him lift a tiny handle in the floor, and throw open a massive basement door.

 

“You didn't think I actually lived in THIS, did you?” Merari asked Rosette, an eyebrow raised at her amazed expression.

 

“Well, I... uhm.... Where does that lead, exactly?” Rosette diverted the question.

 

“For our purposes? Home.” Merari turned away quickly and jumped down into the black hole. A second later, a soft glow floated up from the hole, revealing everything in the room Rosette had not wanted to see. With a squeal she ran towards the door and down the narrow staircase leading under the unkempt little house.

 

Once at the bottom of the long staircase, Rosette gasped audibly, and Chrono smiled behind her. He remembered having been here, long ago, and as such knew what to expect. But Rosette had no idea that under the shack was where Merari and Trista had made their home.

 

It was a rare occasion when demons took, or made a residence. Most demons had no use for them, preferring instead to wreak havoc on the earth, wander aimlessly. Seeing as how they had no real pressing need for food or sleep, a home was a luxury that most of them disdained.

 

Merari and Trista had been different though. Looking around the room this was more than evident. Where most demons would not have even considered owning a house, Rosette found herself in a large, tastefully furnished residence, to which the word “home” could not have applied more. A few large, inviting, soft couches occupied what appeared to be the main sitting room. The only evidence for the extended absence of a female was the fact that the equally luxurious pillows were tossed haphazardly into the corners of the couches. Soft carpet and hardwood paneling gave the room a warm, safe feeling, and Rosette breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Throwing herself down unceremoniously on one of the couches, hugging one of the pillows tight to her chest, Rosette grinned and sighed again.

 

“You had me worried you know,” she said, her voice muffled through the pillow, “that I'd have to dust before I could go to sleep, and on a floor no less. This, however, I could get used to.” Rosette snuggled again into the soft fabric. The Order never had anything quite this comfortable. She was going to milk it for all it was worth, and decided to ignore it when she heard Chrono chuckle behind her. She was waiting for the quip that was sure to come. But Chrono never said anything, and as she looked up, she saw him disappear down a hallway that she hadn't noticed before.

 

“You're more than welcome to sleep on the couch, if you like,” Merari made to follow Chrono, “but there is a room you can use down here that's more than ready.”

 

Rosette stood and began to follow them. It hadn't occurred to her that there was anything more to the home than this one comfortable room. But then again, just seconds before she had been willing to accept that Merari had made residence in that dingy, insect-infested hut above her. She cursed herself for being so stupid. Demons like Chrono and Merari, if they decided to live anywhere, would not live in squalor. Her own naivety betrayed her more than it helped her. With another sigh (much more subdued than her previous ones), Rosette followed down the hall, hands trailing with admiration along the wood panels.

 

Soft lights led them down a fairly long hallway. Every so often a door would appear on the left or the right side of them. Each door was a little bit different, leading Rosette to wonder what was behind each of them. Some looked almost the same as the walls, with the same deep wood. Some were pale, with gentle scroll work on the handles. Some had hardly any distinctions to them at all. As each door passed, Rosette's curiosity grew greater, until she was about to be impertinent and just ask, but there wasn't a need.

 

“Ah, here it is!” Chrono said, his older eyes turned to look at them with a gleam of anticipation in them. Rosette smirked at him. He may look older, different, intimidating, but there was no denying his expressions were as innocent and as charming as she had always known them to be. “I knew you would keep it.” Chrono said as he looked back to the door and tried the handle.

 

The door was a deep brown, and sported no fancy trappings, save for the simple, elegant silver handle. Chrono pushed open the door and stepped inside. Rosette heard him breathe deeply. Merari had propped himself up against the other side of the hallway, watching Chrono with a faint smile on his face.

 

Chrono leaned his head back out the door, smiling broadly. “It's just exactly as it always was. Hasn't changed at all since the last time I was here.”

 

“Always knew you'd be back someday. I wish it were under happier circumstances, but at this point I'll take what I can get.” Merari answered Chrono's smiling face with a slight shrug.

 

Chrono turned his face to Rosette and grinned. “It's my room. Wanna see?”

 

“You have a room??” Rosette asked, wide eyed as she followed him in. “You lived here?” She looked around the simple room. It was clean, and obvious that it hadn't been lived in for many years. There were only a few pieces of furniture in the room, but they were grand enough that it gave off an air of refined wealth.

 

There was a desk in the corner, made of the same impossibly dark wood that the door seemed to be fashioned of. It seemed to be the theme for the set in the room, matching the large, stately desk with its high-backed, cushioned chair to the enormous fourposter bed on the other side of the room. Another, nondescript door was over in the opposite corner, leaving Rosette to wonder if it led to a bathroom or a closet. The scene was almost too surprising for Rosette. Chrono was not the opulent type. But as she looked over the furniture, it made sense. The fourposter was massive, but simple, with no overt decorations on either the posts, or the horribly expensive looking, cream colored sheets. And the desk matched this idea of simple luxury.

 

Rosette found herself wandering slowly around the room, letting her fingers soak up the touch of absolutely everything she could find, the sheets, the wood, the feel of the light colored walls. It made her smile to think how light it was in there. Other than the deep brown of the furniture, all of the other surfaces were lighter, making the room seem brighter, happier.

 

“I suppose if I lived anywhere, I lived here. There were a lot of us back then.” Chrono stood in the door frame, arms over his chest, head resting on the threshold as he watched her, his eyes following her every move around his room. He could count on one hand the number of people other than himself who had been in this room.

 

“Trista couldn't get enough of them. And Chrono was, I think, her favorite.” Merari said wistfully from the hallway.

 

“How many of you were here?” Rosette asked as her eyes meandered towards the desk again. She wanted very badly to open up the drawers and see if even those were left spotless too....

 

“Oh it changed all the time. Whoever wanted to be here at the time. I was here... a lot.” Chrono walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed. “Trista always used to say that demon young were young first, and demons second. She felt obligated to care for us. Give us something. Nurture us, I suppose. Most of us never knew who our mothers were. Some of us didn't even know if we had mothers or not.” Chrono chuckled softly, “We called her 'Mom' anyway, just the same.”

 

“Chrono's was made one of the permanent rooms. Trista insisted on it.” Merari pushed himself off the wall and walked up to the door, but not through. “You room is right next to it, Rosette. Here.”

 

Merari moved out of sight, and Rosette heard him fumbling through a ring of keys, and Rosette found this horribly amusing. Where they had come from, Rosette didn't know, but she certainly hadn't heard them at all, all night long. But the idea of a demon keeping around a ring of keys to doors that any one of the people who stayed there could likely have knocked down just made her smile.

 

She stepped out into the hall just as Merari was pushing open the next door. Peeking inside as he turned on the lights, Rosette looked into a room that was obviously designed for a young demon woman. Whereas Chrono's room had only sported a bed and a desk, her room held a third piece of furniture. A vanity stood on the far wall of the room, a towering mirror with delicate filigree framing it reflected her startled expression back at her. The serene curtains of a canopy bed draped heavy over the frame, leaving Rosette to wonder just what the bed looked like behind the solid, ivory curtains. She wished, idly, that it were possible to have a window in this room. The only thing that would have made the scene more perfect is if there had been a breeze blowing softly. A small, delicate desk and chair, and another nondescript door in the opposite corner completed the room.

 

“It's beautiful,” she said, turning to Merari gratefully, “thank you.”

 

He nodded his head and stepped inside, walking to the other door she had seen in the room. “I assume you'll want to shower and change. The bathroom is a short way down the hall. Chrono will show you. As for clothing, these should fit you.” Opening the door, Rosette saw that it was indeed a closet, and in her case a closet that had been stacked neatly with many different dresses for her to choose from.

 

She smiled and offered another sincere “Thank you” to Merari before she heard Chrono snort in the next room. Merari said nothing, but his lip curled only slightly in the smallest of smiles.

 

“Something has GOT to be done about this, Merari.” Chrono called from the other room. “This may have worked back then, but I don't think it's going to work anymore.” He walked into the room, having changed into a suit that must have still been in his closet. The suit was in absolutely pristine condition, but the style was older than Rosette could really comprehend, and to her, Chrono looked ridiculous. Though she did her best to stifle her giggle, as the look on Chrono's face was at least partially serious.

 

“Chrono, I think you look dashing.”

 

The only response she got was a glower.

 

 

Later that night, Rosette sat alone on one of the large plush couches in the receiving room, her nose in a book, and her fingers wrapped tightly around an apple she had pilfered moments ago.

 

After being shown to their room, Merari excused himself, and Chrono gave her an impromptu tour. This tour included a library, a kitchen, something that look suspiciously like a recreation room, a lounge, and many other doors that could not open, would not open, or they didn't try to open. There were places in the home now that even Chrono did not remember.

 

After their tour, Rosette had insisted on a shower. Afterwards she returned to the many places of the house she had seen to inspect them in more detail. She now lay curled up on the couch, in a set of borrowed night clothes, reading a book that she had found in the library. Chrono had long before gone to bed.

 

Rosette looked up as the clock on the wall chimed two in the morning. She couldn't help feeling that she should get to sleep. That tomorrow she would wake up in the Order realizing she'd missed out on her morning chores, forgot to do a debriefing with Sister Kate, left many apology letters unwritten, or unwittingly wrecked a car in her sleep.

 

But that wasn't going to happen. She sighed quietly and set her book down. Placing the well munched on apple core back on its plate, she picked up a stray pillow and hugged it to her chest. She knew that when tomorrow came, it wouldn't bring any of that. But she didn't know what the hell it WOULD bring.

 

She snorted once to herself.

 

'Tomorrow we will be getting Chrono some new clothes. That's all we'll be doing tomorrow.” She narrowed her eyes in thought. She had already come to trust Merari, because Chrono trusted him. But Chrono had also mentioned that even though Merari had said the time to move on Aion was at hand didn't actually mean that it was right this second. There were still things to be done, worked out, found out, fixed, planned. Rosette wondered how involved in the plans she and Chrono were exactly going to be. At the moment Merari hadn't told them anything at all.

 

'It's because he's being polite.' She thought to herself. 'He's letting us get settled and comfortable first. For once in your life just accept it when something good happens. Lord knows it may be one of the last.'

 

Rosette stopped herself at that thought. Perhaps it wouldn't be the last. She looked down at the faintly glowing watch she still insisted on wearing. There were some adjustments to be made. She didn't have to make her peace with dying as a teenager. Now she had to make her peace with not dying for....who knew how long? That had issues in and of itself, but she couldn't worry about them too much right now. It might make her head explode. The only thing she could really focus on now was that death wasn't knocking on her door every night. Joshua was no longer suffering. Suddenly, there was absolutely no rush. Her revenge would be exacted. There was no doubt in that, and her brow furrowed slightly as she thought about it. However, there was no need to hurry. Joshua was not calling out for her. She wasn't nervously watching the hands on her life watch tick slowly away from her. Now it seemed that the only constraint on them was that the longer they allowed Aion to work out his plans, the less chance they'd have of success. And as Aion's plans had been in the works for fifty years, it seemed he was in no hurry either.

 

Rosette sighed and leaned her head back on the couch. It had been years since she had allowed herself the mental slow down that she was convincing herself into now. Every day had been a race, a step towards a finish. Every morning she had to remind herself to hurry. Once Joshua died, she hadn't done anything at all. And now, once again, she found she had a purpose, but her drive to complete her purpose could be slow, calm, calculated. She could afford that now.

 

“Rosette?”

 

At the sound of the soft voice, Rosette pulled her head up off the couch and looked towards the hallway. Chrono stood in the doorway, the pale skin of his bare chest reflecting slightly the room's dim light. As he began to make his way over to her, Rosette couldn't help but watch in awe of the spectacle that was Chrono in motion. Rosette caught herself staring and at that moment it didn't matter. She watched as Chrono, gliding noiselessly over to her, he sat down and pinned her with a concerned look.

 

“How are you handling all this?” He asked her, his eyes seemingly trying to draw the truth out of her, whether or not she was willing to tell it.

 

Rosette sat back again and looked up at the ceiling. “It's a bit much right now. But I'm working on it. It's just...” she brought her hand up to the watch on her chest, “it's just a lot. I'm not quite sure what to think yet.”

 

Chrono smiled understandingly, “I guess you're gonna have to put up with me a lot longer than I had originally planned. I apologize if I'm putting you out.”

 

Rosette looked back at him with a wry smile, “I think I'll manage.” After a few moments of comfortable silence, Rosette spoke up again. “What are you doing awake, anyway?”

 

At this Chrono's face took on a dour look as he answered “I couldn't sleep. My hair kept getting in my way.”

 

Rosette looked, and sure enough, his hair hung long and free, a fair way down his back.

 

“I've gotten pretty used to it being braided. I couldn't sleep with it all spread out like that.”

 

“You want me to fix it?” Rosette laughed softly at him.

 

“Yes, actually. If that's not a problem anyway.” Chrono threw her a sidelong smile.

 

Rosette laughed again and threw the pillow onto the other couch. “Down there,” she said, pointing at the floor. Chrono smiled and handed her the hair ribbon as he sat down on the floor in front of the couch.

 

Situating herself, Rosette pulled his shoulders back against the cushions, and placed her legs on either side of his shoulders. This was going to be a lot more difficult than braiding Little Chrono's hair. For one, this Older Chrono had a bigger head, and secondly, it was hard to braid hair once your hands started trembling.

 

Running her fingers through his hair, Rosette tried as best she could to keep her fingers off his skin, so that he wouldn't notice her shaking. What she had failed to remember, however, is that Chrono did a pretty good job of keeping track of her mood no matter where she was or what she was doing.

 

As she braided in silence, Chrono asked gently, “Rosette, is something wrong?”

 

“Wrong?” She asked, hurriedly, “What would be wrong?” She continued to slip her fingers in and out of his hair as she weaved. For some reason, though it felt exactly the same, it felt totally different. His hair was long, soft, clean, flowing. Little Chrono's hair had been practical. Older Chrono's hair just seemed to be pure aesthetic. She had never before had the urge gather his hair up in her hands and bury her face in it when she was braiding his hair all those years before.

 

“You can't get out of it that easily, Rosette. You know I know.” Chrono said, never opening his eyes. He sighed gently in simple contentment. He loved it when Rosette braided his hair. There were a few times, years ago, that he could remember deliberately taking it out just so she could braid it again. It worked, a few times, before she refused to do it more than once a day. There was just something about her hands in his hair, and on his skin that was so genuinely intimate and perfect. It made him want to jump up and bury his head in her lap so that she would keep petting him until he fell asleep. It had always been that way. But he wouldn't have let her know that for the world.

 

Rosette sighed as she searched around the couch for where she had lain the ribbon. “How long will you live, Chrono, do you know?”

 

“With demons, the only thing we can be certain of is that we live until we die.”

 

“Except in my case, where I will live until you die.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You're not going to die anytime in the foreseeable future.”

“It's not something I'm planning on, no.”

 

“We'll be together a very long time then, won't we?”

 

Chrono's eyes snapped open as she finished knotting the bow in the yellow ribbon. If he had known this was what bothered her, he likely would have said nothing. Because now he'd asked her about it, and he still had nothing to say. He had no response that could possibly be spoken. Not now.

 

Indeed, the two of them would have a lot of time together. Chrono had been nothing but overjoyed at the prospect initially. Rosette wasn't going to die. He wasn't going to die. Not anytime soon. But what he realized now is that what they had entered into was a lifetime contract with no foreseeable end. They were together now. Really together. For a long time.

 

While the thought certainly didn't bother Chrono, he realized that that was not the kind of decision anyone, especially humans, would enter into lightly. A lifelong bond was important, significant. Usually accompanied by something other than friendship.

 

At this Chrono blushed.

 

“Yes. A fairly long time.” Chrono answered quietly. If he had kept thinking to himself, his mind would have driven him crazy.

 

Rosette new he had gotten her point. But now that she had expressed it, she was at a loss for what to say. She had wanted to bring this up eventually. Later. Possibly after Aion was gone, when there wasn't anything but the time ahead of them left to worry about. Rosette cared very deeply for Chrono, but this whole situation had her freaking out. Chrono meant so much to her, and the thought that that could or would change terrified her.

 

As the silence between then began to seem uneasy, Rosette dropped down on the floor beside Chrono.

 

“It's not that that isn't okay.” She said slowly, laying her head down on his shoulder. “It's just that... it's a bit much.”

 

“I understand.” Chrono replied, as he closed his eyes again. Ever since his horns had been returned to him, he had felt pieces of his old self returning. They weren't, thankfully, the darker sides of himself that he had been afraid would surface again. Apparently those parts of him died with Magdalen's sacrifice. But now that he had a full supply of astral again, he felt vibrant, alive, young... virile. The weight of Rosette's head on his shoulder, and the feel of her hair brushing against his neck brought forth a turmoil in him that he hadn't experience before. It wasn't that he didn't know it was there. He had known a long time that this could happen, or would happen under the right circumstances. Truth be told he had missed this adrenaline, but he would never have dared use Rosette's soul to fuel his own sexual drive. Besides, a twelve year old had no business whatsoever being sexually active.

 

But now things were different. Now he was energized, now he wasn't twelve, now Rosette was laying her head trustfully on his shoulder, taking his hand in her own....

 

“We should get to bed.” Chrono said, squeezing her hand gently, and standing, pulling her up beside him. “Thanks. For the hair, I mean.”

 

She smiled sweetly at him, unaware of the war that was beginning in him, over her. “You're right. Just our luck Merari will be an early riser. And you're welcome.”

 

Chrono only smiled at her, though he knew Merari wouldn't disturb them until well after the woke on their own. He didn't want her to know that. The faster she was tucked away in her room, and he in his, the sooner he could lay his conscience to rest. At least for tonight.