Title: Icarus

Author: That Crazy Girl

Rating: M - right now for violence and language, but who knows what the future will bring!

Summary: AU fic. Rosette’s life was entirely normal, until Chrno lost his horns. Now, if she wants to save her brother from him, she might have to pay a very heavy cost. (Featuring a dark Chrno and a young Rosette).

Warnings: This story is AU, meaning Alternate Universe, meaning this is not what happened in Chrno Crusade at ALL! And also—Chrno is VERY out of character. Sort of. Personally, I see a Chrno who is simply darker and more demon-y, but also beginning to show some aspects of humanity that won’t be seen much in other demons, at least in this particular story. Whether he be eeeevil or not, you be the judge. Personally? I lurve him. (Oooh! And also, Aion isn’t an enemy in this fic! Is not!)

A/N: No, I do not know where this will take me. For those of you who somehow know I haven’t updated my Harry Potter fanfiction, “Foreign Worlds” in months… I’ll have you know that no, my starting this fic does not mean I have given up on it. Life has been busy, but I plan to (hopefully) update sometime soon.

Disclaimer: Daisuke Moriyama… I worship you too much to ever steal your work. But I might borrow it, on occasion… Okay? Okay. xD

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“…And so Icarus fell to the sea, the sea which we now call the Icarian Sea, because he had gotten too close to the sun, so that his wax wings melted away.”

The girl had been young. Judging by the appearances of countless others, he could safely assume she was a mere seven or eight years old. Not even a small fraction of his time in this world—insignificant. And yet even if she spoke lies—a human flying with wings? Impossible—he would never admit it was quite interesting.

Vacant red eyes stared at dark brown ones in a gesture of boredom and almost regret. The parents of this girl might not have the wrath of their fake gods upon them… But the wrath of Pandemonium, they certainly had.

“So, tell me,” the little girl spoke again, obviously unaware of the dangers of walking too far from home alone. “Did you meet him? Did you meet Icarus?”

That certainly sparked his interest. “What?” His voice got raspy when she smiled at him like that, her eyes sparking with wonder.

“Icarus! You’re a god, aren’t you?”

He almost laughed at the irony. Forced himself to look down to his sharpened talons. “No, little girl…” He began with an inward sigh. So it had come to this… “I am not a god.”

Her spilled blood might have been forgotten with the times, but that threat of regret certainly wasn’t.

It was after the next few decades that Chrno slowly began to pay attention to what Aion had to say.

1

“Icarus was a man from Greece. He didn’t listen to his father when he told him not to fly too close to the sun with the wings he had made for them to escape… a—a la…be…rynth… Oh, and it was also a legend…”

Sister Kate let out a frustrated sigh. “Very good, Rosette. But you really must get all your thoughts organized.”

“Do I still pass, Sister Kate?” said the hopeful twelve year old from her place in the front of the classroom. The nun shook her head. “Yes… But you could do better, Rosette.”

“Alright!” She beamed. ‘Yes’ was good enough for Rosette. Oral tests were a killer!

“Greek myths schmeek myths,” said the blonde under her breath once she got to her seat near the back of the classroom. Still she giggled. She couldn’t believe she had passed! Just wait until she told Joshua—

Oh. Right.

Rosette had almost forgotten. Joshua was sick again—he had to stay home. She would have to wait even longer than usual to talk to him.

Rosette let out an annoyed groan once the bell rang in the middle of Thomas Clark’s test. He got to take the test tomorrow, darn him! If she had only stalled for a few minutes, she would have been the one who got away from having the test today!

“Just my luck,” Rosette mumbled as she picked up her book bag and began walking home. “Joshua is sick, I have a test, stupid Thomas gets to take it tomorrow… It’s just—”

1.2

“…Not fair!” Chrno screamed over the sound of screaming demons as Aion mischievously killed off the Pursuer he had been fighting off. Another Pursuer almost managed to take advantage.

“You better start paying attention, Sinne—!” Slash! Sliced in two.

“He’s right, you know,” Aion shouted over where he was fighting. “These guys are a joke, but pay attention, Chrno!”

“Look who’s talking!” Chrno shouted back. There was just something wrong here—they never sent such low ranking demons after them before. Did this mean that Pandemonium was finally running out of decent soldiers?

“This is ridiculous,” Aion finally said, managing to have two Pursuers kill themselves off by flying right through the middle of them. “Look, I think they’re taking us near a town or something. What do they want, for us to kill some humans while we’re at it?”

Chrno started getting suspicious, taking a small break to look at the town Aion had pointed out before cutting the throat of another nameless Pursuer. “If this is just another task Pandemonium wants to have done, I’m going to get seriously angr—”

It happened before he was even able to register it. Chrno thought he had sensed something—felt something—an d then he suddenly paused for longer than he could afford…

WHAM! Three of them—higher ranking demons, although not exactly more powerful than themselves—suddenly burst out of nowhere and went straight to Chrno as if in a suicidal mission. Frenetically hurting any inch of skin they could reach—

“CHRNO!” he heard Aion scream, but he couldn’t register. It hurt—it hurt—it hurt! His consciousness was rapidly going to the back of his head as Chrno began getting angrier. He needed to hurt back—

Then there was the painful, numbing feeling as horns were torn off from his skin…

1.3

Rosette stopped, dead on her tracks, as she walked through the street in front of the local book shop. It felt… weird. Like someone had just thought about her and she had somehow sensed it. Then she noticed she was standing in front of the book shop. And wondered.

Could Joshua have somehow just…? She had heard about it happening to twins: somehow being able to communicate with each other even though far away. Of course, Joshua and her weren’t exactly twins—he was two years younger than her! And yet… Well, they were so close that sometimes people did confuse them for twins.

She decided to take a chance and go into the store. Maybe Joshua wanted a book or something.

The ring of the bell reached her ears, welcoming her to the store. She looked around the small shop, but the old owner of the store, Mr. Harrison, was nowhere to be seen. He was probably in the back, looking for something…

The first thing she saw was the store’s small science fiction selection. Asimov, Heinlein, Verne… Joshua had them all. Rosette mentally cursed the store—Joshua had probably been in here a hundred times more than she had. He practically got a new book every time he got sick…

“Looking for something for your brother, Rosette?” The voice of the old shop owner startled her. Mr. Harrison, a man not younger than sixty, was kind and gentle, yet he always freaked Rosette out a little. Probably because, every time she came here, he seemed to know so much about her—most likely through her brother.

“Er—yeah,” Rosette said as she recovered from her heart attack. “I don’t suppose you have anything he hasn’t already read, though, do you?”

Mr. Harrison chuckled and Rosette got the annoying impression that he was laughing at what might have been her death. Either that or her obvious lack of etiquette by not addressing him as ‘Mr. Harrison’ or whatnot. But Rosette was never that polite—it was simply not her style.

“Actually, I have nothing of the science fiction or fantasy that your brother seems to love, but I do have…”

He bent over from behind his desk, making only his back visible. Rosette heard the opening of a box and the rummaging through books—sooner rather than later, the old man got back to his standing position. “This,” Harrison said, handing a brand new book to the curious blonde. “It’s not exactly meant to be a fantasy book, but an encyclopedia on all things paranormal. Still, I think your brother might find it interesting.”

Rosette was doubtful. “You think my brother might want to read an encyclopedia? He’s read Harry Potter, you know. Now he’s very picky about what he reads.”

“Oh, he’ll like it,” Mr. Harrison assured her. “Joshua is the kind of boy who would like to learn everything there is about what he reads. This encyclopedia has information on elves, angels, demons…”

“…Demons?” Rosette questioned him, an eyebrow raised suspiciously at him. “Is this one of those weird Satanist books? Because I’ll have you know, our family is Lutheran.”

Mr. Harrison laughed. “None of the sort! None of the sort! Although this book was meant to be written seriously, I am sure both you, Joshua and your parents will see it as nothing more than a joke.” The old man winked. “I have talked to your father, you know.”

Rosette looked at the book hesitantly. “Well… How much is it?”

“I wasn’t planning on selling it,” Mr. Harrison answered truthfully. “How about this, Miss Rosette? Your brother’s birthday is coming up soon, right? He has been quite a loyal customer. So, if I let you have it for free, would you let him know it was a gift?”

Rosette considered it, but in the end decided that it was a great way to save up for that brand new videogame Joshua had said he wanted for his birthday. She wasn’t even sure Joshua would like this book anyway. She agreed.

“Sure! Thanks, Mr. Harrison! I’ll be sure to tell him!” She beamed up at him and grabbed her book. Oh, just wait until Joshua learned about this—

“Be careful on your way home now!” Mr. Harrison said as Rosette moved to the door. “I hope your brother likes the book!”

Riiiiing! Rosette suddenly found herself back outside, and it was windy.

“Weird,” she decided. It had been anything but windy when she had gone inside the store, but now it almost felt like a hurricane! Flipping through the pages of the book while she walked the usual way home, Rosette tried to make a sense out of the alternate world her brother spent her sick days in.

‘Astral. (Astral energy)—

It is thought to be the source of life to al living creatures. Many experts and paranormal investigators believe it may also be the source of food of demons, fallen angels and certain types of malevolent poltergeists. The term was first coined by—’

The mirthful sound of her own laughing reached Rosette’s ears before she could help herself. Astral energy? What now? Ha, ha, ha, ha—! This had to be a joke! Where was the talk about the Force… or whatever it was that made Harry Potter have his powers in the movie?

Walking happily along the streets, not even slightly annoyed or scared by the cooling wind, Rosette made her way back home. She couldn’t wait until she gave this book to Joshua. If he took this seriously, she would laugh at him until next year!

1.4

He wasn’t thinking—he wasn’t even in his right mind! How dare these low ranking pieces of garbage take away his horns!? He would show them! Show them that a true demon didn’t need his horns to finish them off! Show them what a true demon could do—!

The whooshing sound of the wind revolved around them, growing ever stronger until it drew even some of the Pursuers away. Trees were close to snapping. The town—

The town.

There was something about that town that called him, but Chrno would ignore it for the time being. Right now, he wanted revenge.

“Chrno! Stop blowing them away!” Aion shouted at him, only a little pissed off. But the lowest ranking demons were irrelevant. There were only three whose blood Chrno craved on his fingers right now.

“Don’t try to run away.” Came the words in a deep, booming voice as the three Pursuers seemed to decide it would be best to run away now. Chrno would have none of that. “The fun has just started. Don’t you want to know just what a real demon is capable of?”

1.5

“My book!” Rosette shouted as the wind finally managed to blow the book right off her hands. She hurriedly ran after it, just in time to evade the flying car that went right after the

BOOM!!

And landed right where she had been only moments before. The hurricane-like wind intensifying, and now the people started screaming.

“What the hell WAS that!?”

“My car—!”

“Eliot! Eliot! Are you okay!?”

Rosette froze as she fully appreciated what had been her near-death experience. Then she joined the screaming. “Joshua! JOSHUA! Is my brother okay!?” She ran for it.

1.6

There was blood all over him. He hadn’t managed to be able to help it—he had wanted to draw it out for as long as possible—he had wanted to make it last so badly—but in the end…

His aggression had come out in a loud BOOM! It was meant to be only a display of his power, yet he had clearly overdone it. He hadn’t even been able to watch the pathetic Pursuers disintegrate in the sea of blinding yellow energy. He hadn’t been able to—and now he was left still angry… As if nothing had even happened. They had died too soon…

Nearby, Aion lay frozen, standing in mid air. His hands were placed in a defensive gesture. He couldn’t believe it, he had almost been blown away himself.

“What… the… Hell—Were you trying to KILL me!?” the white-haired demon finally demanded angrily. Chrno could barely hear him. He still craved blood.

Chrno instead averted his gaze from the floor and looked at the place that was now calling him more than ever before. The town…

Aion knew exactly what he was thinking about. He rolled his eyes, but wasn’t exactly willing to be very strict about it. The humans were likely to know by now that something was going on, anyway.

The Sinner turned up only his index finger and said, “Only one house. And try to find some astral, while you’re at it—if you can. Even if you right now don’t realize it, you need energy. I’ll see you in Eden.”

And with that, he flew off. After regaining some of his senses, Chrno did, too.

He found a house before he was even aware of what he was looking for.

It was a house full of astral, too.

1.7

“Excuse me! Excuse me, please!” The streets were invaded by shattered cars and hurting people. It seemed like every single member of the town had gone out to investigate… And freaked. Rosette was one of them, her anxiety growing more and more with each cracked window, and the occasional partially destroyed house. Was their house okay? Were their parents—? Was Joshua…!?

“PLEASE!” she screamed, now past the point of tears as she tried to push her way through the panicking crowd, each of them crying out for their loved ones and earthly possessions. “I have to get to my HOUSE!!”

There was a loud CRASH! And everyone ran away from it. Everyone, except Rosette—it was near the place where it stood her house…

Oh please, oh please…

She was tripped on, pushed away—anything could happen in a panicked frenzy. Yet Rosette had to move forward Where was her family? Why couldn’t she see them? Could it be possible that they were still inside the house!? “MOM! DAD! JOSHUA!!”

“It’s a monster, I saw it!”

“RUN!”

“Where is Matthew!? MATTHEW!!”

“PLEASE!!” she screamed to the top of her lungs as she pushed—not caring who it was, not caring if she knew them, not caring if she hurt them—for it was not Joshua or Mom or Dad and—oh, God, Joshua was sick and—

The place was deserted. They had left her alone. Crying and hyperventilating, resisting a panic attack with all of her strength and will, feeling numb, the pain of a lump in her throat the only

thing she could feel— Rosette made her way to her house as fast as she could. The closer she came, the better she could distinguish a huge opening in one of the corners of her house.

She came through the door. She couldn’t believe it. “JOSHUA! WHERE ARE YOU!?” Oh, how she hoped he wouldn’t be here.

Yet she feared no answer. And there was no answer. She ran to her parent’s bedroom and there was—

Blood. Fluid, red—coming out through the doorway. She would not enter that place.

She would not enter that place. She would not—she would not—she would NOT—!

“Joshua!!” she screamed, making herself into a ball as she shoved her hands over the sides of her head as hard as she could. “JOSHUAJOSHUAJOSHUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”

There was a small noise from where her brother’s bedroom was as what sounded like Joshua’s Lego’s were either stepped on or pushed away. Rosette regained some of her hope and sanity. Joshua—was it possible that he was okay!?

“Joshua!” Rosette screamed with hope and relief. She ran to his bedroom even when she felt life fainting. Yet she wouldn’t feel like fainting for long.

Once she reached the room, she felt numb. Alien. Away from her own body. Because this was a dream—this had to be a dream. This was a dream, and she was still sleeping, or life was a dream, because THIS couldn’t happen—

There was a monster in Joshua’s room. Too tall and covered in blood. And he had Joshua in his grasp, and he was holding him, and Joshua seemed—dead—

There was a pool of blood around them, whether of Joshua or someone else, she did not know. But she had an eerie feeling that Joshua’s throat had been torn open, because the monster seemed to be breathing into it—breathing through it. And Joshua…?

For the first time in her life, Rosette forgot how to speak.