Hello again, everyone! I wrote this on an impulse while in the middle of writing the epilogue for Pursuers. Really, I mean it. I was right smack dab in the middle of it when I just pressed the 'new document' button and started typing away. Hope it turns out all right. Read it, review it, and life will be good!

Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Chrno Crusade so please don't sue.

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This Is The Truth

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This is the truth.

He had been sleeping for 50 years in the tomb of the woman he had loved. When that young, bright-eyed pair of children had stumbled in upon him, his first thought was to kill them for disturbing the resting place of one so holy. But when he thought about it, he was the one who deserved to die. He was the one who was disturbing Magdalena's peace. He was the one who should have been killed for his crimes. But he was alive, and she was dead, and there was nothing he could do about it.

At this thought, his mind reeled, and he felt his body spasm and fall. The girl's eyes went wide, and she rushed to his side. This girl, who he had been thinking about killing only moments ago, was now offering him candy. And he had accepted it. This was not the first thing he would come to accept from the girl known as Rosette Christopher.

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This is the truth.

Rosette Christopher, from the moment he met her, was an odd child. She wasn't afraid of devils, for one. She loved getting in trouble, exploring, and taking care of her little brother. For someone who had already experienced so many hardships in her young life, she was amazing strong and cheerful. Rosette Christopher was optimistic, playful, and didn't take 'no' for an answer.

Rosette Christopher and her brother, Joshua Christopher, were the only companions that the devil had known in such a long time. In the end, when he thought about it, maybe his loneliness was the only thing that made him put up with their childish antics and games in the first place.

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This is the truth.

He couldn't remember when it had happened. He couldn't place an exact date on when he had begun to care about Rosette and Joshua Christopher. Maybe it was when she starting making picnics for the three of them to share on a blanket under the apple tree. Maybe it was when he saw their eyes as he told them stories. Maybe it was when she first braided his hair. Maybe it was when they cheered as he caught his first fish. Maybe the truth was that he had cared from the very moment he first met them.

All he knew was, when Rosette fell from that apple tree, he didn't even have to think before he darted forward to catch her. He just did it. The consequences of catching the girl, such as cuts and bruises that he knew he didn't have the energy to heal, hadn't even occurred to him as he ran to break her fall. And when Joshua Christopher started coughing and Rosette rushed to his side, she wasn't the only one worried with comforting hands placed on the boy's shoulders.

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This is the truth.

The night Rosette came running to him in the middle of the night, crying about Joshua's leaving the Seventh Bell Orphanage, he had wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around the sobbing girl and tell her how everything would be all right. When Aion had appeared, he was more full of protectiveness towards Rosette than anger or fear towards Aion. And when Aion told him that Joshua had been given his horns, there wasn't a doubt in his mind as he grabbed Rosette and transformed, using what could very well have been enough energy to complete drain him—and kill him.

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This is the truth.

He wished that there could have been another way. He hadn't wanted to make a Contract with Rosette. He didn't want to be forced to drain the life force of this girl, this innocent child who gave him so much and yet expected nothing in return. He didn't want to hear her cry out as he drew the blood necessary for the Contract to be sealed. He didn't want her soul, so pure and white, to be bound to that of a devil, full of darkness and evil, for fear that he might contaminate or taint the bright, radiant light that shown so brightly from her smile, her heart, her kindness. He didn't want to watch her slowly die at his own hand. But the truth is that she's dying a little faster every single day, and they both know it.

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This is the truth.

He doesn't regret it anymore. He doesn't regret making that Contract. Yes, it still burns something inside him every time he sees her with that watch, but no longer does he wish he hadn't given it to her. He can't remember the exact day he stopped regretting it, but he knows he did. He suspects that it was when he learned that Rosette didn't regret it either, but he can't remember. Instead, now he cherishes every single day he has left to spend with her. He is painfully aware of the limited time they have to share together, and he knows that she's aware of it, too.

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This is the truth.

He doesn't remember when it happened. He can't remember when he started melting at the sight of her toothy, cheerful, goofy smile. He can't remember when her bright blue eyes became so entrancing. He can't remember when her touch went from warm to electric. He can't remember when he starting thinking of her as a beautiful young woman instead of a cute little girl.

Rosette is clumsy, naïve, single-minded, messy, bad-tempered, trouble-prone, abusive, stubborn, gluttonous, slightly insane, and a bad driver to boot.

But the truth is, he loves her.

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Hope y'all liked it! Don't forget to review, because it makes me happy. :)

Ashuton-chan