The Source of Power
By: Yamiko #7
Before I start anything...if you're reading this right now, it means it's been posted. You're looking at a miracle.
Now for the back story.
Have you ever read/watched something where you don't know the entire back story, so you fill in the blanks with your own characters/reasons/events to make it work somehow? I end up doing that a lot, and they all end up as massive crossovers with major OC's. (Sigh) If you've ever read my (partial, now dead) fic "Box of Chocolates," you'd have read my Let's-Fill-In-The-Blanks version of Yu-Gi-Oh. This one is part of my LFITB for Chrno Crusade, the manga (never, NEVER the anime). To start you off, if there's a reference you don't get, ask about it: It's either part of the series that you only notice after having read each volume of the manga a bazillion times (grin), or the more likely case is it's something I've made up that I haven't explained yet.
Let's do the disclaimers now: 1) I do not own Chrno Crusade, nor anything affiliated with it. I own my original characters. (If you don't recognize a name, I've probably made it up. If you recognize the name from somewhere else, I've probably given one of my OC's the same name and it's not the character of whom you are thinking.)
2) I wrote this for me. If you don't like it, that's absolutely fine with me; however, I will not change it to suit your whims. (If I do that, not only is it a massive case of peer pressure, but things that happen later on won't work.)
Explanation time. (Without this, people, you might never get it. Please bear with me here.)
This story takes place after the end of the manga. (That would be the spoiler warning.) I have, however, slightly screwed with the manga time line. Instead of staying at Seventh Bell, Rosette is still with the Order. Chrno returns to her not after seven years, but only after two months. He has his horns back. (All the fangirls celebrate.) After a confession of love and several subsequent angst-ridden hours, the two are now a couple. (If you want more details on that one, go read "Dear Diary.")
This story takes place about a month after that: long enough for the two to get accustomed to the idea of a relationship, but not long enough for them to get...well, comfortable.
One final disclaimer (puff puff pant): I have no idea if the stuff I talk about in this fic could even conceivably work, even in the CC universe. (Sigh) If you come up with a reason why it can't, by all means let me know...just don't expect me to change it. (See Disclaimer Number 2.)
Are we all ready? Everybody's seatbelts are buckled? No? Great! On with the fic!
Chapter One: A Slightly Disturbing Trend
"Wait. Wait! Rosette, I...Wait!" Sigh. Slump. "...DAMN!"
"That," Joshua observed drily, "went well."
"Gee, thanks," Chrno replied from his seat on the edge of the fountain in the Order's central courtyard, head in his hands. "I hadn't noticed."
"What happened?" Azmaria took a seat next to him.
"Damned if I know." Another sigh escaped the demon's lips. "I did something to piss her off...again...somehow..."
"Maybe you should...I dunno...give her some space?" Joshua suggested weakly.
Chrno gave a short, bitter laugh. "Are you kidding me? I 'give her space,' she accuses me of ignoring her. I pay attention, she makes some crack about being attached at the hip! I can't win!"
"She has been rather...short-tempered...lately," Azmaria offered.
"Yeah." Joshua nodded slowly, then looked at Chrno. "You don't think it's her time of the -"
Chrno face reddened and he cut Joshua short. "How would I know that!"
"It's not," Azmaria said authoritatively.
Both men stopped and sent surprised looks in her direction. "Authoritative" was not normally a tone heard from the mild, slightly timid apostle.
Azmaria blushed slightly. "Please stop talking about it," she said quietly. "It's rather embarrassing. Plus, I'm sure Rosette wouldn't be pleased with you if she heard you."
Chrno sighed again. Three times in two minutes: a record he wasn't sure he wanted to break. "She's rarely ever "pleased" with me anymore, Az," he said calmly. "I don't think this conversation would really matter one way or another."
"Yeah, she's really not a morning person."
All three turned to look at the addition to the conversation: The Magdalene Order's own Three Musketeers, Sisters Anna, Mary, and Claire.
"Haven't you noticed?" Claire questioned.
Chrno had to bite back a sarcastic comment, something along the lines of "well, obviously not, please educate me, O Enlightened One." He didn't think that would go over too well.
Had he tested the theory, he would've found it to be correct.
"She's never in a good mood in the morning," Anna finished.
"It's really gotten worse lately." Mary nodded empathetically.
"Since last...Thursday," Anna clarified.
"Then she disappears every day about this time and comes back walking on sunshine," Claire finished. "I wonder what she does out there..."
"Well..." Anna grinned. "Wanna go find out?"
"Sure!" Mary squealed.
After bidding the three at the fountain a hasty goodbye, the musketeers turned to head in the direction the parting Rosette had taken not ten minutes earlier.
Chrno blinked and turned to his companions. "Please tell me I'm not the only one who's missed this entire thing."
Joshua and Azmaria shook their heads. No, they too had failed to notice this slightly disturbing trend.
"Well, it's only Wednesday, right?" Joshua asked - rhetorically, Chrno hoped. "It can't have been going on that long."
"Well, peg me as the jealous boyfriend-" Chrno got to his feet. "-but I really don't like this."
I don't like it at all.
(Sigh) That was a really short chapter...my intros generally tend to be teeny little things, though. Nothing to worry about: the chapters will get longer once we hit the meat of this story. (We don't do that 'til about Chapter Three or Four, though...bear with me here, it'll happen at its own little pace.)
As for what's going on with Rosette...you'll just have to wait until Chapter Two to figure that out.
(Looks at her clock) It is no longer tonight. It is tomorrow. (Read: 12:27 am) I should really stop writing and go to bed before both my writing and my temper suffer. (Sigh) Decisions, decisions.
Well, thanks for trying this out, and I'll see you all in Chapter Two! R&R (rest and relaxation...I mean, um, heh heh) please!