Fairytale/Chrno Crusade/Once Upon A Time Title: Fairytale Rating: PG Prompt: Once Upon A Time Fandom: Chrno Crusade Character(s): Mary Magdalene,Chrono, Rosette Wordcount: 1,964 Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 is the creation/property of Daisuke Moriyama. Teaser/Summary/Synopsis, etc.: And even though he thought her crazy, and even though she thought him a weird, perverted fairytale con artist, they stuck by each other through thick and thin.
This is a story of a boy, a girl, and the pocket watch between them. This is a story of time and sacrifice, and a story of hope, and a story of love. And then they lived Happily Ever After.
After all, this is the story of a fairytale.
Once Upon A Time, as all fairytales start, there lived a young woman. She was very pretty for her age, kind and graceful, with a patient soul and a gentle touch. She was considered by her peers to be perfect – so perfect, they said, that she couldn’t be anything but cursed.
She was the princess of a faraway kingdom, they would gossip over breakfast, royalty that had run away or was chased away by her father, mother, sister, brother, cousin’s dog (depending on the table which you gossiped over). They would come and find her, the villagers would say, and all those who knew her would be put to the sword. And thus they avoided her – after all, who would want to be put to the sword?
She was a witch, they would inform each other at the marketplace. She was really an ugly witch in disguise, one who would eat children or babies or young men or maybe even old people (depending on where you were shopping), and at that they would shudder, for what kind of person could possibly want to eat old people? Best not to talk to her, they said.
She was something inhuman, they would declare authoritatively over dinner. She was a werewolf or a fairy or even a goddess (depending on what was for dinner), someone who lived to trick and curse humans. It would be foolish to go near her, they claimed – curses were nasty business.
Tired of the false rumors – for she was neither witch nor princess, and most certainly human – the young lady moved out into the cottage by the woods, away from the cold eyes of her fellow adults. She wasn’t lonely, however, as the children came by daily to visit and play in her yard. So she would bake them cookies and cakes and they would all play together until evening, when the children would have to go home.
It was the evenings she dreaded, watching the last of the children leave before returning to her cottage, performing what little chores she had left. And every night she would look out into the night and wish for a child of her own. For she really was cursed, though not as the villagers thought. She was cursed with the inability to bear a child of her own, something she desired above all else. And most nights she would fall asleep, weeping bitter tears for the one thing denied her.
It was one such night that she had a most wonderful and mysterious dream. A fairy came to her in the night with a bundle in her arms. And when she took the bundle from the fairy she discovered that it was a child, a little boy with pointed ears and purple hair deep as the evening sky. And the fairy said “You who are gentle above all others in this town, I have heard your wish and have come to bequeath you with my son. I can no longer care for him and ask this boon of you – raise my son, Chrono, to be a good man and kind-hearted above all others.”
“Fairy!” She cried, “you have given me the one thing I always wanted! I shall gladly raise him to be a good man and kind-hearted above all others.” She gazed down upon the bundle, upon Chrono, with great joy. He was small and tan, with naught but his blanket and an old pocket watch hanging around his neck. “Fairy!” she exclaimed, “what is this pocket watch upon his neck?”
“That is his Time. He must wear it always,” the fairy cautioned, “for if he were ever to take it off, he would surely die.”
That morning dawned bright and clear as she awoke from the pleasant dream. It wasn’t until she rose from bed that she noticed the tiny bundle lying in a basket on her floor, a baby with purple hair and a pocket watch on a necklace ‘round his neck. And she wept, tears of joy, for it was Chrono and the dream had been real. She picked up the bundle, careful not to disturb the sleeping child, as she gave thanks to the mysterious fairy of her dreams, repeating her promise to raise him well.
Several years passed and Chrono grew up, as all children do. And he had grown up to be handsome as well as kind and gentle, a perfect child for a perfect lady, the villagers would say. But his pointed ears and his purple hair and his unnatural red eyes, they gossiped, were sure signs that he was a monster. A demon. And that pocket watch around his neck, they whispered, must be the source of his powers – why else would he never take it off? And thus convinced that the lady must have borne a demon child, they avoided him, too, whenever they could.
A kind soul, Chrono couldn’t understand why they avoided him. “Mother,” he would ask, “why do the villagers hate me?”
“Because they don’t understand you,” his mother would reply. “They don’t know what a wonderful person you are.”
“They call me a demon,” he would say. “They say that I’m a demon and have my powers in this watch. Maybe if I take it off…”
“No!” his mother exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her son. “Never take that pocket watch off, for if you do you shall surely die!”
Chrono didn’t understand. Why would taking off the watch kill him? But his mother was so frightened and weeping so much that, being the kind person he was, he readily agreed. And so he never took off his pocket watch, trying to ignore the whispering of the villagers.
But, as in all fairytales, that promise was fated to be broken. This particular promise was broken one wet spring afternoon, just as the sun was peaking in the sky. Chrono was playing with the children that had snuck up to the cottage – they certainly didn’t care if he was a demon or not – and one of the children slipped as they chased him around the yard. He tried to catch the child as she fell but missed and the child instead grabbed the pocket watch, snapping the chain from his neck. And a bright light shined out of the watch and Chrono fell down, dead.
And when his mother, the young lady, discovered him laying still on the green grass she wept and fell to her knees, crawling to the body of her beloved child. But no matter what she did he would not wake – the pocket watch had stopped ticking and would not start again. And so she carried him into his room and placed him on his bed, out of the sight of strangers.
It was that night she dreamed of the fairy again, and her tears began anew. “I’m sorry!” she cried. “I raised him to be a good son but the pocket watch was torn from his neck! Oh please, isn’t there anything I can do?”
And the fairy, who had come to take the body away, felt sympathy for the weeping woman. “There is a way,” she said. “You must give up your time for him. And then instead of being dead he will sleep, until the one who now holds his time returns it to him.”
“I’ll do it,” said the lady.
“You will die,” cautioned the fairy.
“I don’t care,” whispered the lady. “He is my son and I failed him. I would gladly die for his life.”
The fairy sighed, and then nodded. And then the woman knew no more, her life taken to restore the life of her son. And then the fairy worked magic around the cottage, shielding it from those who would cause them harm, until Chrono’s time had been returned.
One hundred years passed and the memory of the lady and her son faded until they were thought to be merely legend. The cottage remained where it stood, hidden from the eyes of the villagers, until one winter night when a stranger discovered it. This stranger, the Princess Rosette, had been ambushed in the forest and was on the run from thieves when she spotted the cottage by the roadside and, without a second thought, opened the door and slipped inside. She watched as her pursuers stalked past, and while she certainly thought it strange that they never glanced at the house, she was safe and that was all that mattered.
She called out to the master of the house, hoping to ask for food and shelter that night. There was no response, however, and so she explored from room to room, looking for anyone to talk to and for food to eat. It was in this manner that she stumbled upon Chrono. He lay there, in his bed, looking the same as he did one hundred years ago, with the pocket watch lying upon his chest and a peaceful expression on his face.
What a strange boy, Rosette thought, and wandered closer. He was quite handsome, even with his pointed ears and purple hair, and as she hadn’t found anyone else yet, Rosette decided that this must be the master of the house. If he was the master, he certainly wasn’t a good host, she fumed! After all, it certainly wasn’t a gentlemanly gesture to sleep while you had a cold, shivering woman in your room (never mind said cold, shivering woman was a trespasser, but lets not get bogged down with details, shall we?).
That decided, she sat down in the chair beside him and poked him in the cheek. No response. However, Rosette certainly wasn’t one to give up and so she continued, even going so far as to try tickling him when poking didn’t work. But, alas to no avail. It was then that she began to notice how similar he was to princesses in fairytales – he was sleeping peacefully and unmoving, and his face looked perfectly kissable without a care in the world. Would he wake like a princess in a deep sleep by a kiss? And with that thought Rosette stood, face red, and kicked the bed so that Chrono tumbled to the floor.
And the pocket watch began to move again.
Chrono, now possessing his time again, sat up with the watch clenched in one hand and his other rubbing his sore head. He glared at Rosette (for even kind souls have limits, and his was being kicked out of bed late at night) and demanded to know what she was doing. Upon her cry of “I’m not kissing you, pervert!” He blinked in confusion.
And that, ladies and gentleman, was the first meeting of Chrono and the Princess Rosette.
And even though he thought her crazy, and even though she thought him a weird, perverted fairytale con artist, they stuck by each other through thick and thin. And they left that cottage by the woods to go on grand adventures, from searching for Rosette’s long lost brother, the Prince Joshua, to the subduing of the witch Satella of Jewul Forest, and even the slaying of the dragon Aion of Friscoshire. They were all adventures unfit for a princess, but then Rosette was certainly not your ordinary princess just as Chrono was certainly not your ordinary boy.
And, as in all fairytales, through their adventures Princess Rosette and Chrono fell in love, wed, and lived Happily Ever After. Depending upon your point of view.