tampered | Log; Complete

Fiore hadn't been entirely sure what to make of the situation from the beginning. Infact, the past few days had been...complete and utter chaos. Joshua had become a child once more and had no memory of her whatsoever, Fiore herself had wound up turned into a man, Joshua ran away, she'd gotten absorbed in her cooking and just as suddenly as her Master had left, he returned-

with his sister in tow.
For dinner no less.

Having decided that the best action at the time would be inaction Fiore kept silent, instead preparing the meal and stepping back to stand to the side. Rosette...did not seem to be a bad person, and the young Master hadn't had any complaints about that noise. Perhaps his sister was the one he had needed all along. She kept her hands clasped in front of her and kept watch from the corner, allowing the two of them to speak on their own.

With a snicker, Joshua swatted at Rosette's fork with his own, insisting on being victorious in the little fork fight he had just started. "Of COURSE Chrno's cooler than you. He's like a million years old or something, so he's wise, but he just LOOKS cool, too! He's seen all that stuff we want to see, Rosette. Remember?"

Looking down to his plate, he shrugged and stabbed at a potato, taking a nervous bite and swallow. "And besides, you shouldn't eat the junk. Then you'll be a FAT granny." He cracked a grin and moved to duck any oncoming swings, only to blink a few times before his eyes glazed over.

Suddenly, his fork clattered to the floor as he clutched desperately at his chest, and it wasn't long before Joshua was collapsing to the floor right next to it, his breathing labored.

She stubbornly attempted to win the fork battle but, alas, lost in the end. She let him win, of course! If she had really put her all into it, Rosette definitely would have won. Laughing, she snatched her fork back up and smiled. He looked exactly how she remembered him, just as carefree and gentle, but she knew better. It was just a curse.

"Mm! So that makes him a grandpa, not me a granny! I'm way younger than that, you know!" It was when the fat granny crack came up that she dropped her fork, in mid-bite and puffed her cheeks with her growing annoyance. "You! You'll never be able to date a girl if you're this mean to your sister!"

She had just begun to laugh when the air seemed to change and Joshua collapsed. Everything was forgotten; the food, the table, Fiore -- there was just Joshua right now, and he needed her. For once, for the first time in a long time, she could be there.

"Joshua!"

Rosette couldn't take the pain away no matter how much she wanted to, but she could stay. And that's exactly what she did. She twined both arms around him and hugged him gently to her, as if he were made of glass.

When the fork hit the floor, Fiore was sure she'd felt her heart stop. Instinctively ready to rush to his side, she froze mid-step, hands clutching in her dress as she watched the scene unfold. Consciously she knew, she knew that is was only another of his attacks, but it did little to ease the panic in her blood.

How was it possible for a person to endure such a thing, especially as a child?

She swallowed the lump in her throat and kept her distance. As wrong as it felt not to be at his side, this was not the same Master. This Joshua did not know her, would not be comforted by her. As much as it broke her heart, this was something only Rosette could do.

The pain was intense, but little by little, it was changing... The burning in his chest seemed to ease, only for the splitting pain in his head to increase. Inch by inch, he was returning to normal.

If this was what 'normal' was.

Joshua was trying not to scream, but it hurt so much. He had taken a potion from Belial to make the voices stop, but during this brief curse, during his transition, if only for a few seconds, he could hear them all.

"Fi....FIORE!" he screamed, pining for her voice, for the normal comfort that she usually brought about when this happened. What was going on? He felt like he ought to know, but he was so confused.

Child... Children... Had he been as he once was? No, it was his imagination... Just like his sister. She wasn't real!

Kicking out, he screamed again and clawed at where his horns should be, though fortunately they weren't appearing for the moment. "Sister....! Fiore!!!"

Before Rosette had time to think, she lashed an arm out and snatched up Fiore by the wrist, to tug her over to Joshua. She may not have liked it, but there was no other way. A comfort, any comfort, it didn't matter how he got it now. Through her, through Fiore -- it just didn't matter, as long as it helped.

"Don't just stand there like that! You--" She bit her lip and looked away from Fiore, to Joshua, before she looked back at her again. "You took care of him, didn't you? You always took care of him so.." Her voice cracked a little as she attempted to hold onto Joshua with her free arm. "So help me help him now!"

The curse was wearing off, and she knew it.

"How," she half-whispered to the girl, unwilling to meet her stare, "How do I help him?" Why? Because she didn't know how to handle Joshua when he was like this. She could handle his coughing fits, but this was an entirely different matter. She didn't know what to do. She'd never seen this side of him.

But Fiore had.

"Joshua.."

The scream made her blood run cold and her eyes widened in shock. Was he...returning to normal? When Rosette grabbed her wrist, she followed willingly, kneeling down beside her.

She didn't know how to answer the girl's question because in truth, Fiore wasn't sure of was happening, much less how to ease the pain. She swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to push the overwheliming concern down enough to be able to reach him. Enough to be of use. "I am here Master Joshua." She said softly, hands reaching out to touch the fingers clawing at his non-existant horns.

If it was the return of the noise, then it meant he was indeed returning to his usual self. Which meant...that this place could become a war zone in a matter of minutes.

Joshua finally was starting to calm by this point, and his screams had lessened to weakened panting and grunts. Both hands shot up to grab at the hands touching where his hands were supposed to be, and he held them in a crushing grip for a long time before his grip slackened, and he dropped his head back with a sigh.

Finally. It all came together. Had he really just spent three days as a child? Oh, it had been so innocent. Carefree.

Weak.

But one good thing had come of it. Rosette had appeared.

Trying to calm his breathing, he slowly opened his eyes and struggled to sit up, still gripping Fiore's hands as he glanced around. The noise had stopped... Belial's potion was working again. What a relief.

And then he saw her. His beloved sister. She had the face he had sketched out on paper, drawn on the walls, etched in his mind so he wouldn't forget again. With a crooked smile and glazed eyes, he let go of Fiore's hands and reached out for the blonde girl's, who looked so concerned and worried. Just for him.

"Rosette...my sister... You're finally here." Snatching her hands, he yanked her into a tight embrace. "Now I won't have to share you with anyone."

The screams had drifted away and it seemed, at least for the time being, that whatever Fiore had done had actually worked. He was calm, but she wasn't. Dropping her guard before had almost earned her kick to the face via a scrawny Joshua leg, so she wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

At least until he looked at her.

While the face was far from something that would scare her, it did make her feel a bit uneasy. He wasn't a kid anymore, he was older, matured –- and he was back to normal. This meeting, however, was full of surprises. She had expected something similar to their last encounter, that she would have to fight him.

But it wasn't to be.

Immediately after being tugged into the rather rough embrace, she gave a tiny grimace but chose to glance up, into the face that seemed to be laden with the utmost content. He was happy to see her, and he remembered, but--

"Joshua?"

When his eyes regained their focus, Fiore let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She had always had small worries about Joshua's well being back home, but here...it was very different.

Here, there were too many things that were beyond her control and too many things that she was unable to keep out. Like this girl...

Fiore pulled away slowly, unnoticed with her hands resting in her lap. Where things would go from here was something she didn't dare to wonder about.

"Ah, you said my name. It's so nice to hear you say my name now that I know it's really you. I feel so foolish... I let you go before." He hugged her even tighter. "I won't let you go again."

Finally sitting back, he slowly peered over his shoulder with a pleasant smile. "Fiore... Rosette... She smells like that awful demon. She needs a bath. Could you draw her one? And these clothes... I need to change..." His eyes flickered back to Rosette, and he dropped his hands to squeeze hers once more before standing, pulling her up with him.

"There are lots of pretty dresses here. We'll put you in one of them. You can stay in my room with me. I have a big bed here, and it's very comfortable, right Fi?"

Slowly, she lifted her arms to return the embrace, though it wasn't nearly as crushing as the one he had given her. It wasn't until he spoke to Fiore that things began to piece themselves together in her mind. She found, as she inwardly laughed to herself, that she had walked herself right into a little trap.

He wasn't going to let her leave.

Awful demon? Was he talking about Chrno? The animosity he shared for him, it was back again in full force. It might have actually been something she could have dealt with had she not told Chrno to meet her here later. If Joshua saw him now--

She didn't want to think about it. It'd be déjà vu all over again.

It surprised her but, right about now, having Fiore decline would have been a blessing in disguise. At the same time, however, she knew what the end result would be. If Joshua willed it, then it would probably be set in stone.

Her mind was racing a mile a second and, for a time, she did little more than stare between the two, mouth opening and closing again as she tried to get a few words in. No words came, no matter how hard she tried.

He remembered.

So he intended to keep her.
Though it was a conclusion she had imagined taking place for quite some time, she hadn't realized that the day would come so soon.

A bath. A gown. A bed.
Despite being reunited with her brother, Fiore would have had to be blind not to see the apprehension in the girl's eyes. A guilded cage.

Fiore stood slowly, smoothing her dress in one simple motion before clasping her hands once more. "Yes Master Joshua. Miss Rosette, allow me to lead you upstairs."

Joshua watched as Fiore prepared to lead Rosette away, but Joshua didn't want to let go of her just yet. Instead he kept a firm grip on her hand, making sure she followed as the three of them walked up the stairs. Once they reached the first bathroom, though, he reluctantly let her go and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Fiore always draws baths at the right temperature."

Then, he brushed past Fiore, fingertips trailing along her arm as he murmured in her ear, "Sorry I didn't finish dinner, but I'll be sure to come for dessert later when the house is asleep."

With a soft chuckle, Joshua cast another glance to Rosette before disappearing into his room. He needed to change, and he couldn't really be with his sister while she bathed.

That would be rude.

Maybe he could sit outside the door and listen, though. Splash, splash, splash.

For one reason or another, Rosette imagined that she would be stepping into a spiteful, scalding bath. Then again, Fiore didn't particularly seem like the type to have a silly revenge, not like Satella at all. She still remembered the first time Satella talked about her sister, about how much she loved and missed her.

They were alike, in that respect, towards their siblings.

Thankfully she wasn't in earshot when Fiore and Joshua began discussing dessert, or else she might have, well, it would have made her make a funny face, at least. Joshua definitely wasn't the innocent little boy that he used to be, not by a long shot.

Once she retreated into the bathroom, she sank down to take a seat against the bathtub and heaved a tiny sigh after an audible click, signaling the door had shut, came from Joshua's room. Now, she thought, as she ripped her gaze from her boots to Fiore, it was time to talk.

"I know you don't want me here," she began, laughing a little as she drew a hand to her face and whispered to herself, "I don't even know if I want to be here." Then, more audibly. "I want to say that I'm sorry, but-I'd be lying. I'm happy that I got to see him, that he remembers me."

A pause.

"But you don't seem as happy as I am. That's why," she looked up, her hesitant blue eyes soft and apologetic, "That's why I'm sorry, Fiore." If she knew Joshua even thought about waiting outside the door? She'd have chucked a bucket of water over his head for good measure!

In all the time she had been with him, there had been times that she worried about decisions her Master would make, but she'd never felt this sort of confliction before. Her eyes softened as she watched the girl, who looked just as confused as she was. Her brother had always spoken so highly of her, making her sound as if she were a perfect being, someone who's presence alone would solve everything.

And yet here she was, looking almost....sad.

Fiore hesitated before opening her mouth to speak. It was not often that she was able to be so free with what was on her mind, so the idea was strange and the words were hard to find.

"I...I do not dislike you Rosette. Your presence makes Master Joshua happy, and as such it is beyond my opinion." She said softly, voice demure and subdued.

"If I do not seem happy, it is because...it is strange to no longer be his replacement. Since you are here, I will no longer be necessary. That is all." She stepped past Rosette, sitting on the edge of the tub as she began filling it with water. When she spoke next, she did not turn to face her. "I will be fine. Master Joshua will keep you. But I wonder if....if you truly wish to give up that demon to stay."

"Is that what you think?" Rosette chimed in, voice losing its previous doubt, only to be replaced by something akin to amusement. "Hey, didn't you hear him? It wasn't Sister and Replacement, it was Sister and Fiore," she leaned back before she pushed herself up to her feet again and smiled. "Joshua cares about you, about Fiore. Saying something like you aren't necessary, you're so weird!"

Give up that demon to stay.

She quieted down some, lips pursed, as her hands found her hips and she settled for pacing around the bathroom. "Chrno, we've been through a lot together, everything together. The good, the bad, the really, really bad." She paused, to laugh a little, nervous-like. The really, really bad? Always seemed to be her fault. "So I can't give him up, just like I can't give Joshua up. They're my precious people."

"I would have spent a lifetime searching for my brother, just to see him smile, to see what he would become. To have finally found him, it's almost like a dream come true. But--" She shot a glance to the door, presumably towards the boy's room, and gave a pitiable sort of smile.

"I won't be a caged bird."

Chrno ran through the City towards the mansion. He'd known Joshua was staying there. He hadn't told Rosette about it due to the curses - he'd wanted to wait...

But now everything was falling apart. Again.

He'd heard once that history had a way of repeating itself. He knew that - he'd lived that.

And now this nightmare, again....again....

He felt like screaming.

He felt like finding Aion and tearing him into little tiny shreds for everything that had happened. His own part in it.....well. He could take responsibility for that. But this! This was unforgivable.

He was sure it had taken him hours to reach the mansion doors. It sure felt like it had.

He pushed open the doors and stormed inside. He could feel the anger behind his eyes, in his mind, in his veins. He'd do anything to keep her safe, to never lose her again.

Even face down Joshua. Again and again and again until time stopped forever. Whatever he had to do....for her.

"ROSETTE!"

The shout from downstairs rattled her out of her thoughts and pulled her into the present. Since the demon had shown up, that put Master Joshua in danger- which meant that this was no longer a time for soft spoken conversation.

She stood swiftly, eyes turned to focus on Rosette. "If you wish to escape, I will help you. You know where we are, so you may rest assured that you will not lose Master Joshua again- but I doubt your demon will leave here without you. The best we can do is to get you out without being noticed by either of them. When they realize you're gone, the fighting should end."

"Fiore.."

It was her turn to be surprised. Fiore had shown her so many sides of herself and that she was more than capable of thinking for herself. She admired the woman, if anything else, especially for her decision to help her, to keep the two from fighting.

Chrno--

He had a death wish and Rosette was definitely going to grant it. She told him not to come, not to be reckless and there he was, screaming bloody murder for everyone in the house to hear. For Joshua to hear.

Awful demon, awful demon.

Joshua's previous words rang in her ears with the sharp clarity of a siren. If he knew Chrno was here, and here to take her back no less, the situation was about to become critical. And she didn't want either of them to fight one another. She didn't want Joshua hurt, and she didn't want Chrno hurt, either.

"Thank you," She spoke up a second time, shooting the other girl a smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't enjoy one of your baths, I bet they're the best. Maybe next time!" And, with that, she made her way to the door and threw it open to make her way, as quietly as possible, down the hall.

In meeting the girl for herself, for the first time being able to speak with her, she was able to see why her Master had searched so hard for her. She really was a remarkable girl, and she was willing to extend that kindness towards her. It made her sad and happy, all at the same time.

Yes, she would help this girl any way she could.
But at what cost to her Master?

Fiore grabbed her hand as she stepped past the doorway, halting her movement- holding a finger to her lips and shaking her head. She spoke softly, voice barely audible, but enough for Rosette to hear. "The room next door, on the left, has a balcony that leads to the garden. Sneak out that way and you will not be seen. I will tell your demon." She offered the girl a rare smile and ushered her off before turning back towards the hall.

And now to tell that demon. She took a breath.
Master Joshua would not be pleased with his sudden interruption. Not at all.

[OOC: mine also, i have work x_x;]

Hearing that unpleasant voice echo throughout the mansion made his spine tingle and his ears hurt. He had just been fiddling with his tie, trying to get it to work, right as he heard Chrno's voice.

Giving up, he slid it off and dropped it onto the floor, then turned a wary gaze to his bedroom door. Had he come to take Rosette away? To get his horns back? Joshua wouldn't allow either.

He was just reaching out for the doorknob when he heard muffled voices, and both eyes snapped open wide as he was forced to listen to the escape plan. Oh, Belial's potion had held back the voices in his head, but his ears felt like they were ringing from the horrible things he just heard.

The old door creaked as he pulled it open, and there was a lazy smile on his face as one arm swing out and hooked around Rosette's waist before she could go much further. Trying to escape. Fiore had helped her!

"Sister... Wherever are you going? You haven't taken your bath yet."

His glazed, and yet burning gaze traveled from her to Fiore, and he pinned her with a fierce look as he walked right by her, then grabbed her wrist tightly in his free hand, 'escorting' both girls towards the staircase. Any attempts to break free would have been for naught, of course.

"Sinner!" he yelled from the top of stairs, glaring down at Chrno. Oh, his presence wouldn't hurt him this time. This time Chrno's noise wouldn't tear his insides apart.

"How about a trade?" he sneered before flinging Fiore down the stairs, keeping Rosette firmly at his side with his arm still around her waist.

Seeing her Master stop infront of her, Fiore knew they had lost. Joshua would know everything that had just taken place, he would never let Rosette go, he would never want her again.

She met his furious gaze with silent acceptance and did not protest when he grabbed her by the arm, hard enough to bruise. She couldn't bring herself to look at Joshua. She had betrayed him, and she would pay the price. She couldn't turn to look at Rosette either, instead staring blankly at the demon ahead of them.

Was this what it was like? To fight so hard for someone you loved? It didn't matter who won, the blond girl would lose either way.

Fiore flinched slightly as she was thrown down the stairs, bracing herself enough to stumble a bit before losing her balance and falling entirely, landing at the foot of the staircase in a heap.

Chrno couldn't believe how cruel Joshua had become. He'd known, but... Knowing and believing weren't always the same thing.

And Joshua had been so sweet when he was younger, and so enamored with the idea of demons.

Now, the only demon the blonde boy had any sort of affinity for was Aion. Again, the anger rose in Chrno, almost unchecked.

But Aion wasn't here. There was only Joshua, in his insane rage. Only Rosette, about to be help prisoner by her own brother. Only Fiore - the girl Joshua had thrown down the stairs without a second thought.

Chrno glared up at Joshua, and rushed over to the girl to help her up.

"Keeping someone prisoner won't change anything, Joshua! I don't want to take Rosette away from you! We were friends once, can't you remember!? All three of us!"

Rosette tried in vain, despite Joshua's hold on her, to throw an arm out to catch Fiore. But she missed, she missed and Fiore fell. Down, down, down. Everything seemed to play out in slow motion, like a dream, and the dream was getting more and more confusing, more and more unwanted.

This wasn't Joshua.

"You're not--" Rosette choked out her gaze, still lingering on the crumpled frame of Fiore, shaken. Shaking, she was shaking. She didn't know whether it was out of anger or fear, but she definitely knew the cause. "This isn't you, this isn't like you at all!"

"Fiore, she didn't want you to get hurt, Joshua! So why--" She tilted her head up, eyes searching her brother's desperately, almost as if she thought the answer would appear in them if she looked long and hard enough. "Why did you do something like that?"

She felt numb all of the sudden, like her limbs wouldn't work even if she willed them to with all of her might. Feeling powerless, it wasn't something she was used to, let alone something she was willing to accept.

Because Rosette Christopher wasn't powerless. She was loud, immodest and could take the world head on if it was for her precious people. But one of those precious ones, the most precious, was slipping right through her fingertips.

Come back to me, she wanted to say, come back to me and let's be a family again.

Joshua looked coldly at Fiore before turning his gaze on Chrno. "Prisoner? She isn't my prisoner! Rosette is my sister. She wants to stay with me. That's why she came here. That's why she left YOU."

Feeling that Rosette seemed to weaken, her tightened his grip around her waist, keeping him secure at his side as he looked to her with a smile. However, he seemed to be looking right through her as he reached out to take her hand and kiss her knuckles.

"Rosette... Why? You should know. You should understand." He looked back down the stairs at Fiore, distantly.

"Fiore knows why. Don't you, Fiore? But I'll forgive you if you make that bastard leave." He released Rosette's hand and reached out with his own, pointing in the direction of Chrno.

"Or maybe you could simply step outside. You would make a cute little lawn ornament, along with the others."

Stumbling on unsturdy legs as she tried to stand, Fiore kept her head down, eyes locked on the floor, focusing with all her might just to try to stay standing.

Though she trembled a bit, she rose to her feet, staying still beside the demon who had, despite everything, helped her back up. But at her Master's words, she could say nothing, because when she looked at Rosette, she understood the feeling of powerlessness.

And yet, that look in the blond girl's eyes....it didn't look like it belonged there at all.

When she spoke, her voice was startlingly firm, willing the other to snap out of it. "Rosette."

Rosette.

Rosette jumped a bit, as if she had been pulled free of her thoughts and looked at Fiore. She was amazingly strong, she thought, as strong as her younger sister. It didn't take long for her to regain the strength in her legs and it took even less time for her to shoot the girl a brief, but softer smile.

Thanks, Fiore.

She took up one of Joshua's hands and gave it a little squeeze to get his attention, or maybe to take his off of Chrno for the time being. "I can't, Joshua," she murmured, "I can't let you hurt Chrno and I can't let Chrno hurt you."

Brother and friend, she couldn't pick between the two of them, because she loved them both. It would have been a selfish request, asking her to pick a favorite and cast the other aside.

It was just too cruel.

"Joshua, you're not listening to me! It's not my voice inside your head! I'm....I'm your friend, and I always have been!"

Rosette....I'd never hurt your brother....don't you know that!?

The anger was still there, but there was more than that, now. He'd adored Joshua when he was little, and he'd never stopped blaming himself for what had happened to the boy. If he had just gone back, just done what Aion had wanted, just reached out and taken his horns back....

NO!
That wasn't the answer, either!

"I told you, I don't want to keep her from you! I just want us all to be happy....we have all the time in the world, now...just the three of us...."

Joshua laughed, but it sounded strained. High strung. Painful. What was this? Chrno was spouting idiotic claims, Rosette was talking as if she CARED for this demon, and Fiore...

Had Fiore really turned on him?

With a growl, he tipped his head up, looking down at both of them with contempt as his horns forced their way out. "Three is a crowd. Get lost."

He was positive that Rosette was merely confused. That idiot Chrno had simply brain washed her. He would fix that one way or another.

With a light flash, a flicker in the air, time began to freeze in a line starting from the top of the stairs and down, heading straight for Fiore and Chrno.

The sound of his laugh was enough of an answer, and she straightened slowly, willing her legs to support her weight as she met her Master's eyes.

He really meant to freeze her like this?

Fiore stood her ground, though not out of defiance, but something else. If she was no longer useful, and if she had betrayed him, then this was the one redeeming thing she could do.

Though she didn't look away, she wondered what, if anything the demon would be able to do to save Rosette. It seemed like such a premature end for them.

Surely they would find a way.

"You're stronger than that!" Rosette shouted down at Fiore, "Don't give up like that, don't you dare give up like that!" Despite his hold on her, she was doing a darn good job of attempting to squirm free. The hero complex? The force was strong in this one.

She wanted to saved them all; Joshua, Chrno and Fiore.

"Stop this, Joshua! Don't freeze them! I'll--" She looked from Joshua to Chrno, to Fiore and finally back to her brother again. "I'll stay with you." Rosette claimed the hand he had used to point at Chrno and gave it a squeeze, something reassuring, in a sense, to calm him down a bit.

"If you freeze Fiore, you'll never eat good food again because my cooking sucks! And you'll never have perfects baths again because I make the water too hot." She laughed a little despite herself and then looked at Chrno, gaze soft. "And you can't freeze Chrno, because.. if you do, I won't talk to you for a whole month!"

Okay, so her negotiating skills needed a little work.

"So please, Joshua, calm down." Rosette lowered her voice a little and proceeded to smooth some of his hair back, so she could see his face better. "Please."

Chrno felt the anger rise in him again. He wouldn't hurt Joshua, it was true - but he wouldn't just stand around, either.

He was pretty sure that, even now, he couldn't be really affected by the time freeze. They were his horns!

But....

It wasn't a gamble he was really willing to make.

Nevertheless, he wasn't going to run away and leave Rosette here. He'd lost her once, and he couldn't live with himself if he lost her again.

It would be one thing if she decided to stay with Joshua on her own, but this....

This was insane.

And so he stood his ground.

"Three's a crowd, but there are four people in this room!" he yelled, barely keeping the deeper, more menacing tone that would betray how angry he was out of his voice.

Rosette still had the Watch. It would work, wouldn't it?

But what would it accomplish? Who would it save?

He didn't know.

And it was her decision, anyway...

And so he waited.

The hand on his was what made him hesitate, and the dead grey halted just before the feet of Fiore and Chrno. He was quiet for the longest of times, his gaze blank, no longer flickering with his earlier fury.

He had weakened himself. He had gotten too angry, and Aion had warned him not to use that power too much. It was hard to tell he had been weakened any, due to his iron grip on Rosette, but his eyes suddenly looked tired, and quite honestly he was having trouble standing up.

Perhaps that was why he was leaning so heavily against Rosette.

Joshua dropped his hand. "Rosette... She's too kind for her own good. Not wanting anyone hurt, Sister? I'll listen for now. Chrno... Leave. My beloved sister has chosen to stay with me. And Fiore... She can go. I have no use for traitors. Aion would agree." Shutting his eyes, he moved so that he was standing partially behind her, both arms wrapped around her while he touched his lips to her ear.

"Sister... Make them leave. Make them leave us alone."

Rosette swallowed briefly, as the slight discomfort at the feel of his lips so close to her ear was momentarily shrugged off. The wave had stopped and Joshua had calmed down, this was going to be the last chance for Chrno and Fiore to escape. They had to escape, they just had to.

She didn't want to see them end up like the children at their orphanage; it would have been painful, too painful.

"It's okay, Chrno," she finally spoke up, shooting him a smile as her fingers unconsciously coiled themselves about the watch. You don't have to worry about me, she wanted to say, I don't want you hurt, either of you. But, rather than draw out a speech, she left it at that.

Giving up? It didn't exactly feel like that, especially since a part of her wanted this, wanted to stay with Joshua. She couldn't help but feel somewhat bittersweet, however, as the second half of the equation would be missing. In being missing, that second half would be safe.

Right now? That was all that mattered.

It's okay.

She'd never paid much attention to her heart really. It had always been a secondary sort of thing; next to protecting Joshua, doing her job, following orders, logically thinking out a plan. And for some reason, today of all days, she'd thrown all of that out the window. A few idealistic souls had told her that in the past- that it was important to always follow one's heart, that it would always lead you the right way. And yet hers....had lead her here, betraying the one person who mattered to her and being abandoned for it.

It didn't feel right.

When Rosette had spoken of giving up, she shook her head. No, it wasn't something she could explain, but she hadn't been giving up. She had been exactly where she wanted to be and once more, that was taken from her. Fiore couldn't find the words to say anymore than she had a voice to speak, eyes downcast as a tear rolled down her cheek.

This was it then.

She took a small, wobbling step backwards, still struggling to remain standing as she moved to the door.
It was done. There was nothing left for her here.

Chrno's hands balled into fists. Something darkened in his eyes as Rosette's hand touched the watch.

A part of him he hated whispered, Do it.

As sick as it felt, he almost wanted to.

But that would be playing right into Aion's stupid little game. Proving all the points he'd fought so hard to disprove.

His eyes softened a little as they met Rosette's. I'll come back for you. I won't let this end here.

He felt tears that he wouldn't cry touch his eyes, and he looked down, finally, his hair obscuring his features.

The anger would not die down. He still felt like screaming.

"Fine, if that's what you want," he said, just loud enough for Joshua to hear.

He didn't acknowledge the comment about Aion - there would be no point.

He turned and headed towards the door, not daring to look back. If he looked back....

If he looked back, he couldn't be sure that he'd be able to actually leave.

I'll come back for you.

Log; Complete

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