A/N: Thanks to my reviewers. As a thank you gift let's just get on with the story...
Chapter 7
"If I am a like royalty to the angels, does that mean I can lead them into war?" the blonde princess asked the two others with her. Who just so happened to be Joshua and Remington.
"Well…yes." The Father hesitantly answered.
Joshua looked worriedly at his sister, "What are you thinking, Rose?"
"I was wondering…if we could declare war…on Pandemonium. If we could I would also want the angels to fight for Magdalene." She stated.
The twin brother just stared aghast at her then yelled quite loudly, "Think of all the casualties! Think of all the people who may lose their lives or their loved ones, Rose! What are you thinking of those kinds of things for!? For what purpose would they die for!?"
The said princess stared hard at her twin and said in a cold almost emotionless voice, "For Maria. Of course."
She then walked on ahead as Remington and the prince were left behind speechless. The prince could be barely heard whispering, "But we forgave him…"
The princess heard though, and turned around staring hard at her brother, "Yes, we did. But they killed him also. And I'll never forgive themfor that."
He had never heard this before; he didn't know Chrono had died. Rosette had never said anything about it, Joshua thought to himself.
Remington watched the scene unfold, never had he seen the pair argue, if this could be called an argument, so harshly against each other. Neither did he think they ever kept secrets from each other, but from the princes' expression he had not known of this information until now. What he wondered most about was who they forgave and who the princess said she would never forgive. "Uh…Princess… Prince…." He said in an attempt to calm the two.
The Princess did stop. She stopped looking at her brother and instead turned her piercing stare on Remington and held it there for a minuet or two that seemed to last forever for the Father, she then turned around and coldly walked ahead. Joshua looked helplessly towards her receding back. Where she was going both men didn't know.
……..
Rosette sat, leaning against the old twisted blooming cheery tree and stared wistfully at the reflective pool listening to the soothing sounds around her. The chirrup, chirrup of the pools' frogs. The sweet notes of the different songbirds in the trees around her. And the sound of the wind blowing through the grass and trees and over the water, bringing the scent of the lilacs that hid her and the fresh scent of the water lilies in the reflective pool to her attention. Deep scarlet cheery blossoms were falling gently around her making a carpet of red snow and creating a scene of such peace and tranquility that the reality the princess lived in only seemed to be a bad dream or a sad story of some sort.
The princess knew better then to fall under its tranquil spell, but she lay her head back and fell into it anyway. For to her, her dreams were better than real life sometimes, for in her dreams her demon prince still lived.
…….Rosette's Dream……..
It was dark and black everywhere she looked, but she was not scared. She had grown used to it now, it was comfortable, and soon he would be here.
She sat down and waited…waited for him to come.
And come he did, like usual.
"Chro…no…" she whispered out in a breath.
"Yes?" he said softly.
Tears started to well up in her eyes, and he grew panicked but she smiled through her tears calming him down and said, "I love you."
She saw the faint outline of a sad smile spread across his face and he answered, "I love you, too."
She could not see his full features, only the outline of his figure, the burning red of his eyes that from time to time would let cascade a fall of tears, and his still long amethyst locks that sometimes seemed to be swept around by an unfelt and invisible wind.
And again she spoke aloud the only words she could voice to him, "I love you, Chrono. Do you…do you love me?"
He seemed angered that she would think such a thing and his voice rose as his tears fell, "Of course I do. I love you more than life. It's so hard here without you. I miss you, I miss you so much." he lamented to her.
She walked towards him and reached out a hand to touch his face, to know that he existed still, that he was still there. But when she reached out her hand, like every time, an invisible wall would block her path and shock her with a jolt of what felt like electricity and she would get in one final pained "I love you." Before…
……..End dream……
She awoke from the dream. No matter how much pain she had to endure, she would do it to see him again, if only for a moment.
She looked up at the sky. In the west it was a bright pink and red that slowly faded into purple then a deep blue that intermingled with an endless black. She sighed. The dream had only lasted for a moment but the whole afternoon had passed.
'I wonder where he is.' She thought, 'Where is it that he is missing me from?'
Then the events that led her to being in the hidden garden refreshed itself and she remembered she had a war to plan. A war with Pandemonium. A war with the demons that took almost everything and everyone she loved away from her; first her mother, then her father, then Mary, and finally Chrono; all that was left was Joshua. And…herself?
Rosette got up. She didn't care if Remington was against it, even if Joshua was against it, she would definitely try to call down the angels. They were the only ones powerful enough to fight against the demons...she would make sure she was strong enough too.
Rosette crawled through the lilac bushes. It had been almost a week since they arrived here. Tomorrow they were leaving to the next state to check on that palace and how the orphans there were doing. Tomorrow she would also declare war on Pandemonium and she would try to call down the angels to help her.
She got up off her knees and looked around to see if she could find Joshua or Father Remington around. Neither was anywhere she looked. 'It must be dinner time by now.' She thought to herself. Yes, it was probably dinner time.
She started walking in the direction of the palace. She walked through the back double doors and took the back stairs up to her guest room.
When she was once again in her room she closed the door behind her and went to take a shower. Afterwards she got dressed in a free-flowing midnight blue dress. She called a maid in to put her hair shoulder length blonde hair up in a French braid, leaving out thick bangs that hung in front of her seemingly endless sapphire blue eyes.
She headed towards the dinning room. She opened the doors just as everyone was about to sit down causing all of the occupants of the room to turn and look in her direction. When they saw that it was her they smiled and the children got up quickly to come hug her, she hugged them back and moved to sit next to Remington at the head of the table instead of at her usual seat amongst the children.
"I have something important to announce, everyone." She called out loudly once everyone was seated.
'Oh, no.' Joshua thought, 'please don't let it have anything to do with the conversation we had this afternoon, please.' He looked pleadingly towards his sister, clearly begging her to not talk about a war.
His plead went unanswered as she got up from the chair she had just sat down in and the Father looked with concern from the royal brother to sister and back.
"I have decided that tomorrow… I will declare a war…" Rosette paused for the response, she saw eyes growing big and jaws dropping, she smiled and continued, "…against the kingdom of Pandemonium. I want to fight this war to avenge all my loved ones that have died at their cruel hands. My mother, Queen Lilith, my father, King Vincent, my sister, Maria…and," she whispered quietly, "Chrono."
Joshua heard the last bit just as clearly as the first part.
Everyone sat still staring at the princess as she sat herself down again and dinner started. That night it was a quiet dinner with no talk and occasionally a child or someone else would look up at Rosette.
-o-o-o-
"FATHER!" an amethyst haired teenager yelled as he shoved through the double doors engraved with the country of Pandemonium's symbol, a silhouette of a dragon in the center of a gothic cross that entangled with a thorny budding red rose, leading to his parents' privet dinning quarters.
His father looked up surprise written on his face as he asked, "Do you need something, Chrono?"
"Yes." The said boy answered, "I would like to declare a war against those filthy humans."
"Uh…you mean the Kingdom of Magdalene?" his father asked.
The young teenager fumed, "Yes. I mean 'the kingdom of Magdalene.' What other place would filthy humans like them live?"
The king stared at his son in more confusion, what brought this on? If he could, the king wanted to avoid all war with Magdalene…not after what he already took from them and did what he did.
"Why?" he asked.
"Why? WHY!? Because they're HUMAN that's why. What better reason is there than that? Maybe if we killed them they would be lucky enough to be born as demons, like us!" Chrono yelled.
Outside the door his brother stood listening to the conversation.
"I would like to avoid all war with Magdalene, if possible." The King of Pandemonium stated matter-of-factly.
And the argument went on for another hour until Chrono finally asked coldly, "Why are you so against this, father?"
The question the king had been dreading to hear from his son for sixteen years had finally been asked. He could not tell them, or his kingdom, what had happened. Not in a gazillion years. "I am your father and you will do as I say!" he answered without a better retort.
Chrono turned full on his piercing glare and looked his father directly in the eyes, he said in an emotionless and cold voice, "I will have this war. Whether you support me or not does not matter."
The king sat back down and could only say, "As you wish, my son. Do as you please, I will support you."
Chrono bowed and took leave of the room wishing a good night to his mother who smiled gently up at her son.
Aion flew from behind the doors before Chrono could come out and see him; he headed in the direction of his room.
When he was in his room he looked the door behind him and paced.
'What am I going to do? This was not supposed to happen.' He thought, 'After Chrono found out the girl and boy had died he was supposed to realize that they never loved him. That it was stupid to love. That it was waste of time because they lived a different life from us. A different life and a different lifespan. Telling Chrono about their deaths was supposed to make Chrono realize that humans and demons could never mix. NEVER.Humans are stupid and let their hearts lead them, not their minds and…and they were too fragile. Demons were strong. Too strong for them.' He thought franticly as his mind remembered the events of eleven years ago, 'he was not supposed to care about that girl anymore. It has been four years. Four years already! He was supposed to have realized and moved on! I don't want bloodshed! Not like what happened with Mary.'
What was he going to now? Aion thought. He could find no solution to this problem. Would it be solved if he told Chrono that the girl and boy were still alive? But then Chrono would never forgive him, Chrono would never understand that he had done this for him. But if he didn't blood would be shed…He had to make sure Chrono won this war quickly so there would not be much casualty caused. Yes that was what he had to do. He would kill the general and the Royals in Magdalene so there would no longer be opposition from them and then less humans and demons would die.
With his plan intact he stepped into the hallway, stopped a maid, and asked if his dinner could be brought up to his room. Of course the maid said yes and scurried off to get the demon prince his dinner.
……
Chrono leaned against the door behind him and breathed a sigh of relief. He really hated acting like that...but he had to avenge the two innocent children that had been killed because they had...loved him.
His heart saddened as he remembered the day after they had met. He had met them when he was in Mary's tomb, he had found out where the tomb was from his brother. They had seen him crying over Mary and when he saw them he thought Rosette was an angel. Truthfully, that's when he thought he first fell in love with her. He remembered how after Joshua heard this he laughed hysterically at the comment. Then he apologized and started crying, CRYING! He had cried so much that whole week after he had sent Mary back to her palace. He hated crying though, it could get nothing done. It could change nothing.
After he started crying again Rosette grew hysterical and started apologizing, he was so surprised he actually stopped crying. Then she handed him candy which he took to calm her down. They went outside and talked, just talked. He told them how he felt about Mary's death, he was positive that Mary's little brother and sister hated him, even though they had never met. And he had so wanted to meet Mary's little siblings; Mary always talked to him about them. And Chrono remembered especially what Rosette had said after he told them that, she said that if he truly remorse, then he would be forgiven by God and…if he was forgiven by God…everyone else would forgive him.
As he remembered this, tears strained at his eyes but he refused to let them out. Tears didn't fix anything, tears didn't bring back Mary or Joshua or Rosette, tears were no good because she wouldn't be here to wipe them away and comfort him. He willed himself instead to fall asleep. Yes…the dream world was the only place he wanted to be…the only place he could see her face again, if he could…he would NEVER want to wake up from that dream where he is with Rosette again. NEVER.
And with that the sorrowful prince fell asleep. Never wishing to awake from his one sanctuary…the one place where she existed he wanted to be.
But the Prince would wage war against the pitiful humans soon. He would avenge his beloved soon. This was the one thought that kept him coming back to the 'real world'.
-o-o-o-
Dinner the night before had been strange. But the dream she had last night had been even stranger. It started out the same; she waited for Chrono, but when he got there he had a strange longing and desperate look along with one of fierce determination. She didn't tell him she was planning a war against the demons that had killed him because she didn't want him to worry about her. She told him she loved him and for him to not miss her much. She could see he had tears held back in his eyes as he said he wanted to never wake up because he always wanted to be with her.
She asked why he wouldn't cry in front of her and he simply said, "If I cried right now you would come to comfort me and I would wake up. I…I just want to be with you longer." Then he looked down at his feet. She saw a few drops of tears slid off his face and hit the ground with an echoing sound in the endless darkness they were in. She moved forward to wipe off the tears, to comfort him, but he stepped back in fear. She was cut up at the action he just did but he said softly, "I…want to…stay with you here…forever." She answered back, a tear sliding down her pale face, "I hate to see you cry, Chrono." Oh, how she loved his name, "but if you have to cry, you shouldn't cry alone. I will always be here…to cry with you." Her voice cracked on the last words. Tears were now cascading like rushing waterfalls from her eyes and she just couldn't stop the tears anymore. She collapsed onto the floor and bent her knees and pulled them tight across her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees and hid her face from Chrono's pain stricken face.
Before she knew it she felt Chronos' warm arms wrapped around her and he whispered into her ears, "Rosette, I love you." But when those words were finished she had awoken and the dream had ended.
Rosette still longed for the warmth of his arms, though she had only felt it for an instance before she was awoken. That had been the first time Chrono had done anything like that, well in the strange dreams that is. She somehow felt that he was saying goodbye or that he was sorry…but that was foolish thinking.
Now, she had to figure out how to call down the angels to help fight the oncoming war. She would not only need warriors but also healers, and tacticians, human and angel alike.
She called for Father Remington to come in; she wanted to talk to him.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well, what?" he asked.
She sighed, exasperated, "How do I call down the angels?"
"So…you're really going through with it?"
"Of course I am!" she retorted.
"Who will be your general, then? Me? Prince Ioshua? Another angel?" he asked her
She steeled herself and said emotionlessly, "And why not me?"
He looked astonished at her and looked her skeptically up and down, "But…you are a girl. And the PRINCESS."
"And what?" she asked, "I can't be 'the princess'" she said sarcastically, "AND a general?" she ended on a final serious challenging note.
"Uh…Well, shouldn't we talk to Ioshua first Rose? After all-"
Remington was interrupted by Rosette as she stated in a you-dare-challenge-me voice, "I will be the general then. Glad that affaire was fixed."
Remington gawked at the princess, then smiled. She was always so headstrong and stubborn, he had only been trying to argue on the kingdoms' behalf; he was sure her people would NOT want their princess going head on against an army of demons. And on behalf of prince Ioshua; he would not be happy to hear his dear sister was going to be in danger facing demons either. Maybe one, or both, of the subjects would be able to stop her from going on with this decision of hers to become the general commander of the Magdalene army. Remington sighed, they would have a lot of talking to do if they were to try to persuade her otherwise.
"Well? How do you call down the angels?" he heard the princess ask again.
" Oh…um, you let your stigmata bleed into a cup of holy water and…uh…I guess you just have to call them down, like ask them to come assist you in your time of need." That's all he knew on how to call down an angel.
"Oh. Is that all? O.k. go get Ioshua. He might want to be here. I'm going to get the preparations ready." Rosette said as she started to bustle around looking for someone in the hall she could ask to get a cup and some holy water.
"Yes. He would want to be here. I will be right back." and with that Remington left in search of the Prince.
Rosette received the cup and two bottles of holy water from one of the children, Yuki actually, and thanked him before closing the door. She set up the cup on the window seat next to the window that faced to the east were the sun was above the horizon and slanted at an odd angle onto her face as she tilted it up to meet the sunlight.
She was just unwrapping the bandages on her wrist when Joshua burst through the door, out of breath, clearly showing that he had been running. Soon after Remington popped up behind him.
"Are you…really going to be the…general?" Joshua asked. She nodded her head briskly before turning back to unwrapping the bandages around her wrist.
Joshua looked horrified at the scars that were now bleeding profusely, and seemed about explode from the anger of Rosette not telling him how big the wound actually was.
She kneeled in front of the window seat letting her blood drip into the cup and suddenly she couldn't get the sweet voice of the angel that had hummed so beautifully on the day she sprouted her wings out of her head…when she had called her Maria the angel had said she got half of her name right. What was her name then? She wanted that angel to come; she wanted to ask the angel how she knew her sister's song.
Suddenly a flash of brilliant white came though the window along with a whoosh of powerful wind that Rosette was sure had opened the all the rooms' windows and doors, momentarily blinded the occupants of the room heard a soft beautiful humming coming from the window and as they opened their eyes there standing on the window seat was…
--END CHAPTER SEVEN--
A/N: hope you liked that. Now...REVIEW.
p.s. I'm not so good with the ritual-like stuff so sorry. Also, if something is confuseing you, feel free to ask about it.