Demon Fever

An Chrno Crusade fanfiction by Silene (yatenshiweb.de)

Genre: angst, drama, fluff

Author's note: well, my first Chrno fic… I'm obsessed with the anime since watching the first episode! ;; and since there are far too few ficcies out there to honor this great anime, I'm showing my true worship in committing another one of my infamous pieces of fandom .

I still have to read the manga and have (up to now) watched the anime only up to episode 8, and English isn't my mother tongue to begin with, so there may be logical/grammar/spelling/sentence structure mistakes in here, and I ask anyone who reads this humble piece of literature to press the review button and to tell me what I did wrong. Thank you all!

CHAPTER I

It's... like a kind of fire. Like liquid lava running through my veins, burning everything in it's wake, so hot, painful and beautiful at the same time.

There are no real words to describe this feeling to someone who's human. To feel the thrill of power surging through you, struggling to break free, calling you with it's irresistible strength...

And what I hate most about getting my true powers back … is that I enjoy it so much.

Once, the whole pandemonium feared me, when I tried to change it together with Aion, and now, in this weak body… I feel useless in protecting my precious Contractor. Maybe that's why I relish the feeling of my true power- finally, I can do something.

Spreading my wings once again, being free, as if all this misery had never happened, being able to shove back all the pain and suffering for a while…

I hate myself for enjoying something that cuts Rosette's life short, I hate it that I can't help liking it.

I avoid breaking the seal as much as possible and allow it only if Rosette does a great deal of convincing… except if someone harms her. Then my fury, the feral need to protect her, wash away all doubt… then I don't even think of the fact that I hurt her more in breaking free, stealing precious lifetime from her…Yet my demon blood is stronger.

As a demon, I'm the result of the human's darker instincts, of greed, malice and hatred… and thus, I can, though I feel love, never be driven by something else than these dark emotions.

I hate it.

I hate myself…

With a loud crash, the building collapsed, burying the devil beneath the debris and clouding the night sky with dust.

Rosette coughed against the smoke, blindly groping for new ammunition for her gun and finally finding it somewhere deep in her pocket, the silvery bullet with the engravings all over the surface… something called "Epitaph", the Elder's newest invention.

What was so special about it, the young nun didn't know, because before the old man could explain it to her, the alarm had gone off and she and Chrno had to take off in a hurry.

Right now, however, she couldn't care less… as long as Epitaph managed to blow the devil's head off before it devoured any more human souls.

With a wild roar, the beast emerged from the ruins of the house, causing a dusty rain of debris to fall down.

Crying out, Rosette tried to cover her head with her arms to shield herself from the stones and splinters of wood, yet her cry had caught the demon's attention, and a huge clawed hand whipped through the air, making the wall Rosette had been hiding behind collapse.

She threw her body backwards, barely avoiding the stones crashing on the ground, loosing her gun in the process.

Frantically, she scrambled forward again, coughing with dust, and searched for her last chance to get away alive, while the demon, having seen her, swung his arm back for the final, the fatal blow…

The next few seconds, it seemed to Rosette, happened in slow motion…

… the terrible claws racing towards her, only some feet away…

… her searching hand finding the gun beneath the ruins…

… her arm, firm with determination, lifting it, pulling the trigger…

… realizing too late that Chrno, in a desperate effort to protect her, had jumped in front of her…

… wide-eyed, watching as the bullet left the barrel, penetrating Chrno's right shoulder and, barely slowed down by the impact, entering the huge demon's chest…

… seeing her friend go down with a groan, as the larger devil's body seemed to dissolve from within under horrible screaming…

… leaving behind only a small heap of ashes and a silent Chrno, kneeling on the ground, clutching his wounded shoulder…

… until time seemed to find it's normal pace again.

"CHRNO!!" Immediately she rushed to his side, taking in his face that was distorted in pain… "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" Rosette almost sobbed.

The demon forced himself to smile at his Contractor, though the tense set of his chin and the lines of pain around his eyes told the young nun otherwise.

"It's alright, Rosette. It was just an accident." Carefully, he fingered the wound, but Rosette pushed his hand aside and tore a strip of cloth from her habit to use as a bandage.

After quickly taking care of the injury, she rose to her feet and held a hand out for Chrno to help him get up.

"Do you think you can walk?" she asked worriedly, earning a small smile.

"Of course I can. It's not that bad, I told you, it's alright…" the purple-haired demon said while taking the offered hand.

They made their way to the car, that Rosette, miraculously enough, had managed to keep from crashing into a wall.

Chrno had to grin about his Contractor's exaggerated worry for him, asking him again and again if he was alright, and again and again he told her so… though he wasn't certain of that at all.

His demon blood provided him a fast healing-ability, however the wound hurt more than it should have, and the burning sensation that was spreading slowly from his shoulder throughout his arm told him clearly that something wasn't alright at all… yet he wanted nothing less than to make Rosette worried, and so he kept silent.

After a silent drive home- Rosette driving far more careful than usual- they arrived at the convent.

All the time, the blond nun had been watching her partner whenever she thought he wasn't looking.

Her conscience was torturing her… why hadn't she taken care before shooting?

Why hadn't she watched out before blindly pulling the trigger, hitting her partner, her Chrno in the process, while he was trying to protect her…her Chrno.

Her eyes softened as she looked at the smaller demon who seemed to be napping, leaning against the window.

Most people thought him to be a boy when first looking at him, before noticing the strange color of his eyes and the long, pointed ears, and right now, in sleep, he looked even more like that- an innocent child.

Yet Rosette was fully aware that he was no child- he was far older than she could imagine, and far from innocent… in his small body rested the power of a great demon that was chained to her soul by a contract, devouring her life energy in exchange for his fighting abilities.

Sinner Chrno…sometimes she couldn't help but think of the way he looked while in his true form, with glowing red eyes…

One of her sisters in the convent had told her that Chrno was handsome, while another one wanted to be his partner… yes, the red-eyed demon was attractive, even more so when the seal was broken.

If it hadn't been for the lifetime she was loosing every time he showed his true self, she'd have thought of him to be more than just handsome…

Her Chrno…

They'd already reached the convent, passed the gate, and when Rosette parked the car, Chrno's red eyes opened.

Rosette noticed how unusual pale his skin was, but he seemed to have seen her worried expression and, with a tired smile, shook his head.
"Rosette…believe me, there's really nothing wr--"

"Of course there is something wrong!! I shot you, Chrno, and I still don't know what Epitaph really does, you're hurt and in pain, so how can you say it's alright?"

Fury and concern were mingling on her face, and the demon couldn't help but feel warm from her worry… despite the fact that his shoulder hurt as hell and a strange burning feeling spread throughout the right side of his body.

Slowly, trying to move his injured shoulder as little as possible, he climbed out of the car, and Rosette followed on his heels. "Sorry that I yelled at you…" she murmured quietly, and together they walked toward the convent in silence.

After one last worried glance of Rosette's, and a small smile of Chrno's, they parted, and each headed for their beds.

However, the movements and the fresh air seemed to have accelerated the course of whatever it was that ran through Chrno's system, and only a few moments after Rosette was out of sight, his legs suddenly gave way and he collapsed onto his knees, the left hand pressed against his shoulder that was hurting like hell now.

For a moment, his body seemed to be paralyzed, the pain unbearable… until the attack passed and he could breathe again.

Now he knew for sure that something was wrong.

And it didn't help at all, that all of a sudden everything around him went blurry…

TBC…