Chrono (Chrono Crusade)
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Chrono (or Chrno) is a fictional character from the Chrono Crusade manga and anime series. He was once a high ranked devil in the demon society, Pandemonium. However after a series of events, he is now a shell of his former self.
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[edit] History
Chrono was a devil; considered an outcast by his peers, but respected and feared because of his rank and power within the society and earning the title "The Ten Million Killer". His ideals were to live in freedom and peace. Chrono came in contact with Aion and, sympathizing with Aion’s wish to obtain absolute freedom, joined Aion's cause.
Chrono soon found himself facing a difficult decision; whether or not to continue pursuit of Aion's cause. Aion already had a number of followers, but Chrono had his doubts about his own feelings towards the case. On the day of the planned attack on Pandemonium, as the Sinners gathered, Aion inquired whether Chrono was still willing. He agreed and with the other Sinners, and after obtaining Pandemonium’s Head, questioned Aion about his actions. He soon found himself with the other Sinners surrounded by DeFaux and his men, with Aion declaring the responsibility to be that of DeFaux, who attempted to attack Aion, but was intercepted by Chrono. DeFaux offered Chrono amnesty were he to change sides, but found that Chrono's revolutionary attitude had rendered this option impossible. Declaring the Devils to be a lost cause, DeFaux ordered the death of the Sinners. In a blind rage, Chrono attacked the oncoming demons, and had slain one hundred million before the Sinners escaped, hence his nickname.
The manga portrays this battle somewhat differently. Though Aion and his faction had managed to steal Pandemonium's head, they attempted to flee to Eden. The Pursuers gave chase and slaughtered most of the Sinners, causing them to lose Pandemonium's head. After seeing so many of his comrades die, Chrono fought the 100 Viscount level demons and defeated all of them. With the most powerful demons defeated, Aion and the others were able to finish off the rest of the opposition and escape.
[edit] Mary Magdalene
After the attack on Pandemonium and deciding to stay incognito for safety reasons, Aion ordered Chrono to kidnap the human Mary Magdalene. Mary, much to his surprise, already knew of his intent and did not resist. As the two were about to leave, Remington arrived to attempt to stop their escape, but was unsuccessful.
Due to her kind nature, Magdalene was in good graces with the Sinners. They became fond of her, especially Chrono, eventually developing a deep relationship that caused Chrono to lose sight of the cause he had been fighting for. At this time, Shader was beginning work on the pocket watch that would later gain great importance.
When Aion realized that Mary's purpose had been spent he ordered Chrono to kill her, but Chrono refused, enraging his superior. They fought in an intense battle that lost Chrono his horns. As the Sinners left him to die, Mary attempted to save him, though Chrono declared it to be futile since he was sure to die without his horns.
Making use of the finished pocket watch, Mary agreed to a contract with Chrono in order to save him. In exchange for her life, Chrono would live. Mary died soon after and Chrono stayed in Mary’s tomb to watch over her in solidarity.
The manga version of this event progresses differently: When the Sinners had finished extracting Pandemonium's memory in a last burst of strength the defeated demon attempted to send her thoughts into Mary Magdelene. Aion quickly ordered Chrono to behead her because of the possession, though Chrono refused, recalling Mary's words that she knew of her fate to die by his hands but had willingly come in order to know him better, and in the two months they had spent together they had developed feelings for one another. Enraged, Aion tried finish her off instead but was stopped by a transformed Chrono. During the battle Chrono's horns were torn off, and both he and Mary fell from Eden to earth. On the ground, they made their contract and spent the rest of their short time together trying to survive, without attracting the attention of the Magdalene order or the Sinners.
After some time Aion did find them and fatally stabbed Mary. Father Remington arrived at the scene in time to see Chrono in his 12-year-old form, crying, with Mary's body on the top of a hill.
[edit] After Banishment
50 Years passed and Chrono is reawakened by Rosette and Joshua. He told Rosette and Joshua "I'm what your people would call a devil." However, Rosette and Joshua quickly became friends with the devil. However Chrono could only remember Mary and how he missed her. Later, when Aion once again appeared to him, Chrono had the courage to say no to him and his cause. Aion later reveals that he gave Joshua Chrono's horns. Chrono uses some of his remaining strength to transform into his original form, and he and Rosette make their way to the orphanage.
Upon arriving, Chrono felt a significant loss of astral energy. Inside the orphanage, Joshua is in great pain from the horns that are exploding from his head. Blood spews everywhere as he runs through the halls looking for a peacful place to stay. He pleads for his sister to find him, and he searches all over to see her. Rosette and Chrono soon find Joshua in his tormented state, in which Rosette tried to talk some sense into Joshua. Joshua temporarily reverts back to his old self and pleads that the two leave before he attacks them. Chrono and Rosette fly away before the surrounding area is turned to stone by Joshua, with Chrono holding Rosette back the whole time.
With Joshua gone and the orphanage destroyed, Rosette wanted to do something to get back the things she had lost. After a conversation about Chrono's energy problem, Rosette agreed to a contract with him. Chrono feared that Rosette would feel the same pain that Mary did and did not want Rosette to go through the same thing. Nevertheless, he agreed to it.
Chrono and Rosette found themselves at the Order of Mary Magdalene and at first, people treated Chrono differently because of him being a devil. However that soon changed as they became popular within the ranks. Often, Chrono is referred by Rosette to be her 'assistant'. Chrono is always carrying a toolbox that is outfitted with guns, a telephone and all sorts of gadgets.
He is barred from certain places, such as the church or Sister Kate’s office because he is a demon. He sleeps inside the Elder’s lab which is separate from the main building.
As with Rosette, Chrono’s popularity grew and he hangs around with Rosette’s friends (consisting of Mary, Claire and Anna) as well as the Elder and Father Remington. A shy person, he will only interact when prompted to. His charm, as well as cool behaviour, often have people feel comfortable despite his demonic status. Nevertheless, he tends to feel most comfortable when alone.
Because of him being a devil, Satella identified him as being an enemy the first time they met. Despite this, Chrono only sees her as a friend and keeps a calm and collective manner with her. As the story progresses, Chrono is more comfortable with Satella and vice versa. Soon Chrono is the only devil that Satella feels comfortable with(In manga, another reason Satella find herself comfortable with Chrno, much to Rosette's and Chrno's chagrin, is the fact that she is has preference with younger boys.).
[edit] Relationship between Chrono and Rosette
Although they are contractor and master, Chrono and Rosette start to develop feelings for one another later in the story. At the carnival, Chrono managed to get away from the crowd. Rosette, however, found Chrono alone and the two conversed for a while. In the conversation, the two revealed their deepest feelings for each other and how they couldn't get along without one another.
This proves to be Chrono's biggest challenge as certain events unfold.
[edit] Anime Version
While under a spell, Chrono reminisces about his past with Mary and how the contract came to be. As he recalls his past, he felt someone behind him to hug him back from going to Aion. He had thought the 'warmth' that it was Mary at first, but when he woke up, it was, in fact, Rosette. Then later when the pursuers came to attack him, one of them had starting taunting him by saying how he won't have anywhere else to go, which had angered Rosette since she shot it and said that Chrono's home was found 4 years ago already.
Chrono met Rosette Christopher again, however her inert powers had awakened her to become the 'Saint'. After a futile attempt to talk to the mesmerized Rosette, he steps up to Aion and attacks him. Rosette prepares to shoot Chrono, but her self awareness returns before she is able.
As Chrono embraces her he is attacked by Aion. After a very brief battle, where Chrono sustains serious injuries, he disappears along with Rosette.
Seventh Bell, the orphanage where Rosette and Joshua grew up, was returned to its original state, and brought Aion's horns to Mary's tomb. Rosette and Chrono spend their last moments together. They embraced one another, before they died peacefully.
[edit] Manga Version
After Rosette found Joshua in San Francisco, she also ran into Aion and several other Sinners. Unable to bring herself to fight her own brother, Rosette's hesitation allowed Joshua to shoot and badly wound Chrono. Aion continued to prod the pair, enraging Chrono to the point where he lost control of himself. Breaking the seal, Chrono healed his wounds and transformed into his demonic form to engage Aion. However, this brought Rosette to her knees and paralyzed her as her soul was being drained away. The resulting battle nearly destroyed much of San Francisco and knocked out Rosette. The Order attempted to ambush the Sinners but were roundly defeated, losing Azmaria as well.
When he finally come to his senses, he decides to sealing his own consciousness, to preventing Rosette from dying.
While diving in Chrono's soul, Rosette learns of his past and of his relationship with Mary Magdalene. She watched the flight of the Sinners from Pandemonium and the losses they incurred in their escape. Rosette also caught a glimpse of their search for freedom. She saw when Magdalene willfully let her to be taken by Chrno, how Chrno became attached to her, their escape, how Magdalene literally giving up his life for Chrno, and their last moment. The journey through Chrono's soul cultimates at Magdalene's tomb, deep in Chrno's consciousness, where she confronts Chrono, who decides not to go out again to protect Rosette live, giving up his own happiness, so the "sad past" never happened again, and tearfully ask him to accept the past, not only the sad moment, but also the happy ones. As Rosette is being pulled out of Chrono's soul, she begins to fall once more only to have Chrono break free of his restraints and catch her. Together, the two vow to continue the fight.
After their reunion, Father Ewan Remington, once the bodyguard of Magdalene, under order of Magdalene council, is tasked to execute Chrno, and cahallenge him "to settle their dispute". Distraught by disbelief and anger, Chrno is attacking him in rage, only to having himself get defeated soundly. Only after Rosette made her mind and attacking Father Remington, Chrono became much calmer, realizing that Remington is teaching him "not to lose in anger, and to control inner violent emotions as a demon". Later, he let Chrno and Rosette to walk away, while falsely reporting that Chrono is already executed and Rosette is "officially disbanded" by the order.
Thanks to Satella's help, Chrono and Rosette make their way to Eden, the home base of the Sinners. There, they face not only the Sinners but also the Pursuers of Pandemonium led by Duffau. Rosette makes use of a new weapon, the Tetragrammation against Genai and blow off part of his body. The two fight past the army of Pursuers and enter the Oratorio, where they find all the Apostles gathered. They enraged when they learns Aion plans, that has makes everyone close to them and many other going through suffering, and vows to stop him at all cost, to regain everything that had been taken back from them.
The fighting intensifies as the Legion within the other demons begin to grow out of control, when Aion using Apostles to redirect Atral line almost completely to Pandemominium. After meeting up with Satella, they head for the center of Eden, but are soon mobbed by the sheer number of demons. Miraculously, the Magdalan Order (in sky mothership "Metron") appears and blasts a hole through the demons, allowing Rosette, Satella, and Chrono to get through.
The trio finally enter Pandemonium, the source of all demons and their home. Inside they find a vertible paradise quite unlike the "Hell" that Rosette imagined. There, Satella leaves them to confront her sister while Chrono and Rosette continue on. They engage the masses of demons, now all completely out of control due to Aion's actions. The pair are ambushed and Chrono pushes Rosette through a door before being impaled. In her desperation, Rosette releases the seal once more and collapses. However, she is soon taken by Joshua. A battle ensues when she tries to make Joshua remove his horns. With one arm frozen, Rosette manages to shoot Joshua and knocks off one of his horns. He then regains his senses and tears off the other one, finally back with his sister.
The pair go off in search of Chrono but when they reach him, Rosette falls. Her time is up and she collapses in Chrono's arms, trying to put his horns back on for him.
In a fit of anger and sadness, after Aion's comment that "humans just a wingless bird, unable to fly", that he's not belong to humans as personal, that he will find another contractor for him, like another who fall before him (Magdalene and Rosette), he states that everyone is different and precious, that he can't see it since he always keeping himself at the top, never look down closer. He reattaches his horn, causing his body to grow uncontrollable at first, but thanks to Remington's clue, he is able to control his body using his own willpower.
As Joshua and Chrono mourn her, Azmaria appears and presents a way to revive Rosette. However, she states that the demon queen Pandemonium must be kept alive or else it might seek Rosette's empty body to use as a host. Chrono goes off to keep Aion away while Azmaria calls out to the Astral Line, searching for Rosette's soul. However, Aion has already severed Pandemonium's head and when he realizes Rosette might become the new Pandemonium, goes off to kill her.
Rosette finds herself on a train of the dead and gazes out the window blankly. When another passenger asks if she really has no regrets about her life, Rosette is forced to reconsider. Wanting to return to Chrono, she jumps off the train and sees Mary Magdalene reach out to her. Rosette awakens and seizes her gun and with Chrono blasts Aion, destroying his sword. Afterwards, Chrono freezes her temporary because that was the only way he could keep her from following him. However, he promises to return and Rosette accepts his words and waits for him.
It is here that is most obvious how Chrono and Rosette felt about each other.
In the manga, Chrono turns Rosette temporarily to stone and leaves her to face Aion with the promise of returning to her. He reminds her that she said the place he can come home to was decided four years ago. He believes that his home is wherever Rosette is. They kiss and part. Rosette says that she will wait for him and she won't die before he returns "home." After several years, he returns to Rosette before she dies. They embrace and Rosette dies shortly after. Chrono's time of death is never revealed in the manga. However, flowers mysteriously appear at Rosette's undocumented grave, suggesting that Chrono is still alive.
