So another chapter of Rosette exploring more hidden parts about Chrono


Chapter 9: Old History P2

But strange that I was told

That the brain can hold

In a tiny ivory cell

God's Heaven and Hell

- Oscar Wilde


(3 months since Chrono's deep sleep)

It was another average day at the order as usual. Rosette, Mary and Azmaria went on another mission this morning. For the past month, Azmaria was becoming more bolder with each mission. The frightened little girl blossomed into someone full of courage and confidence, sure she was still a little shy but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Rosette doubted Sister Kate could handle another boisterous nun...

It was still strange for Rosette to carry on her daily life without Chrono by her side but she managed to adapt. Some days she'd have her good days and other days she'd hide her pain behind her usual smile and no one suspected a thing. She was finding ways to distract her worrying thought by doing jobs around the order but nothing could fully take her mind off her partner.

Today's odd job was cleaning out Chrono's 'room' in the Elders hut. She'd never actually been in this so-called room before so she wasn't sure what she'd expect to see. So she made her way towards the hut holding some cloths and folded clean bedding.

"Oh hello there, Sister Rosette!" Greeted the Elder who busy with a magnifying class, tinkering with pieces of metal at his work desk. "What brings you here, dear?"

"Uh, I.. I was just wondering if I could see Chrono's room? I thought it would be nice to give it a clean for when he gets better.." She stammered awkwardly.

"Ah I see. It's that door to your left." He said, still focused at his desk. "It's not much of a room, Rosette. But go ahead."

Well Rosette didn't expect it was anyway since Chrono was never aloud to have a room inside the order no matter how many times Rosette protested, Sister Kate wouldn't budge.

"Thanks." She walked towards the wooden door, Rosette had to fiddle with the handle to get it to open. Once opened, Rosette slowly peered inside wondering what she'd see. Looks like the Elder was right.

It was a quite small room with grey stoned walls with a small circular window and a cold wooden flour. There was a simple bed in the corner that would definitely not be anywhere long enough for Chrono's true form. There was a wooden desk next to the window and a trunk at the end of the bed where Rosette assumed was where he kept any belongings since there was nowhere else to put anything.

A part of Rosette wasn't surprised with how clean his 'room' was. There were a few cloths on the floor, dust and cobwebs around the place from not being in use for a few months. If Rosette was in Chrono's position, she'd no doubt complain about this room and how cold and dull it was..

Rosette placed her hands on her hips with a determined smile. "Right! Lets get to this!" She said and began to dusk any surface and get rid of any cobwebs. She made her way to Chrono desk which held several dusty books, random pieces of paper, pens, an ink pot and Azmaria's Christmas present that sat inside the box that she gave to him. Rosette picked up the little angel pin and polished it.

Placing in back down, Rosette began to polish the books. She picked up each book, observing. Rosette never took Chrono for the reader type, but then again did she really know that much about him..?

The first book was a faded brown hardback. Written across it in black writing read; 'Paradise Lost. A poem written in ten books.' by some guy called 'John Milton'.

"Poetry? How boring.." Though she continued to pick up each book, reading the titles.

There was another book with a raven against a dark blue background called 'The Raven' by some guy named Edgar Allen Poe.

"Well that sure is a weird name.." Rosette muttered and put it back.

Would Chrono be bothered If I borrowed one of these..? Though the guilt of reading Mary's diary was still very much lingering in her mind. Maybe seeing what Chrono liked to read would reveal more about her mysterious demon. Rosette polished all the books then lined them up nearly along the desk against the wall. She then gathered up all the loose papers and pens into a pile.

"Much better! Honestly I can't believe you never once complained about living in this room." Rosette said to herself. Come to think of it when did Chrono ever complain? How was Chrono so much nicer than most humans?

Rosette then proceeded to change Chrono's bed, not that he'd be able to use it in his current form anyway. She could only imagine how much Chrono would laugh at seeing her clean like this since Rosette would always be the first one to complain about doing any form of tiding. Though strangely enough, tiding Chrono's room made her realise why Azmaria liked to to clean and tidy so much. It wasn't the most exciting thing to do but it simply a way to help someone and show that you care, but that still wasn't going to stop Rosette from complaining. It was something she excelled in after all.

She placed the old bed sheets in a pile on the floor ready to be washed later on in. She even managed to budge the stiff little window open to let some air in.

Once that was finished, Rosette made her way back to Chrono's desk and sat down on the wooden stool next to it. She ran a finger along each spine as she spoke; "Eeny, meeny,miny..moe!" She stopped and pulled out the book that her finger had landed on.

It was a dark reddish brown book. Around the edges of the cover was golden with reddish brown intricate designs of leafs and swirls. The title of the page was written with golden lettering which read; 'Novels and Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde'

"Fairy tales?" She questioned. Though she wasn't that surprised since Chrono was quite the story teller himself, she'd never forgotten the stories he told and Joshua all those years ago.

"Well, here goes nothing. Don't knock it until you've tried it." She shrugged. She took herself over to Chrono's bed and sat down, placing the book on her lap. Biting her lip, Rosette held onto the book for a few extra long seconds before willing herself to open it up.

Firstly, she flicked through the pages looking at the different fairy tale titles. She even smelt the book as she heard many people say how lovely they smelt..but Rosette would certainty not describe the book's smell as 'lovely' in any way.

After flicking through, she settled on the story titled; 'The Star-Child'

'Once upon a time two poor Woodcutters where making their way home through a great pine-forest. It was winter, and a night of bitter cold. The snow lay thick upon the ground, and upon the branches of the trees: the frost kept snapping the little twigs on either side of them as they passed: and when they came to the Mountain-Torrent she was hanging motionless in the air, for the Ice-King had kissed her...'

After 20 minutes of reading, she read the finally paragraph in, eyes fully locked on the page. 'Yet ruled he not long, so great had been his suffering, and so bitter the fire of his testing, for after the space of three years he died. And he who came after him ruled evilly.'

"What?! That's not fair!" Rosette's eyes widened in disbelief, mouth hung open. It was a story about the star-child that grew up to be arrogant and cruel because of how beautiful he was. Then he saw a beggar woman and called her ugly and threw stones at her, only to find out she was his mother. The child was cursed with the face of a toad and spent years searching for his mother for forgiveness. He soon learned the errors of his ways: only true beauty was found in being kind to others and not ones appearance. The child soon found his mother who was actually a queen and he ruled over the lands with kindness only to die years later and in his place ruled someone cruel..

Despite it being a fairy tale, Rosette saw how it reflected on humans and their actions in this world. And to her surprise, she actually enjoyed reading the story. Some of the wording was a little old fashioned but wasn't too hard to understand. She closed the book and held it close to her chest as if it was something to treasure. "I'm not surprised you'd read something like this, Chrono" She spoke softly, her shoulder slumping.

There was a knock at the door. "Everything alright, Sister Rosette?" The Elder asked with a frown.

"Yeah, everything's jake." She said, but her low voice betrayed her lie. She then turned to face the Elder. "Would you think it'll be okay if I borrowed this book from Chrono?"

The Elder's only frowned even more, scratching his head, but decided not to ask why. "Well, I don't see why not. Chrono is quite the reader." He smiled.

"It seems he is. Thanks." She stood up and picked up the dirty bed sheets, placing in the book on top. As she began to step out of the hut, the Elder spoke to her once more: "He'll be alright, Rosette. Have a little faith."

Rosette turned to him, a wide grin on her lips. "I know. I've got all the faith I need. Thank you, Elder." She spoke and walked back towards the order. Her smiling never fading.


Rosette returned to her room, placing the book on her bedside table. She sat on her bed and opened the top draw where Mary's diary still lay. She hadn't touched it since last month when she read it for the first time. She wasn't sure what to do with it. She could return in back to the archive room but that meant asking the key from Sister Kate.. and thus explaining why she needed it. Maybe she'd give it to Chrono once he woke up? She pushed the draw closed and told herself to worry about it when the time came.

Instead, she tossed her legs on the bed and picked up the book, placing it in her lap. Randomly picking a fairy tale as she flicked through the pages and began to read.