Aaargh! It's been *censored* since I've updated! I'm really sorry about that, guys. I've been crazy busy with school and life in general. On top of that, whenever I kept coming back to this chapter, I kept feeling like there was something wrong with it, which would then lead me into groaning that the whole story was wrong. Eventually, I just told myself to suck it up and sit my ass down to get back to work. No, this story is not on hiatus. No, I haven't quit on it. Yes, here is Chapter 7.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Crusade, only a penchant for putting its characters through lots of crap.


Chapter Seven

~Aftermath~

What happened next passed in a blur for me. A loud, screeching whistle sounded throughout the forest and within seconds, several instructors—I don't really remember who—came running over to us just in time to see the monster evaporate into thin air.

"How…hellhound…everyone safe…Mary…missing…mess hall…"

That was all I heard before two blurry figures grabbed me by the arms and dragged me off. I remembered making it out of the forest, hearing shouts for help, and then falling asleep to the soft hum of violin strings. I didn't care when or if I would wake up.

XxXxXxXxX

Have you ever had that really annoying feeling where you wake up, but then realize that you're actually still dreaming? That was happening to me. Or I must've woken up several times in the past few hours, feeling groggier and sicker each time.

But when I was asleep I dreamt that I was standing at a crossroads. One path led to the beach and the other led to a huge, golden birdcage hovering over a bottomless pit. Mary sat inside the cage. Without warning, a large hand shot up and grabbed her like she was nothing more than a fly and dragged her down into nothingness. I ran after her, calling for her to come back. I came to the edge of the pit and the hand grew smaller and smaller. I jumped in only to be met with blinding sunlight. Except this time, my eyes were opened for good and Rosette stood over me.

"You snore worse than my grandma after she's taken her meds," was the first thing she said to me before shoving a glass of water into my hands. It took all of my strength to keep my shaky fingers closed around it.

I was propped up in one of the sickbeds in the infirmary with a pillow behind my neck. My entire midriff was tightly wrapped like a corset. Other than that, my body was stiff and I really wanted to go back to sleep. Mr. Remington, Azmaria, and Joshua were here too, looking more relieved than Rosette.

"It's good to see you're finally awake, Chrono," Mr. Remington said, peering at me closely.

"How long have I been out?" I croaked. My throat felt scratchy. "What about Mary? And the hellhound? I thought—"

"Please calm down. You've been through a lot and you're in pretty bad shape"—he nodded at my bandages. "Even though Nurse Feather has impeccable healing abilities, your injuries are still serious. Of course, you seem to be healing fairly quickly."

I guess he was trying to make me feel better, but it only made me even more anxious. How could I relax after nearly getting killed again? And Mary…I tried not to think about it, especially since everyone was watching me carefully now. Then Azmaria spoke up.

"Chrono, you…you were really brave for saving us."

"Yeah, that was really cool of you," Joshua added quickly.

I found myself at a loss for words even though I was mentally arguing that I hadn't done it on purpose and that my body had acted on its own. I soon mumbled a "no big deal," deciding that it wouldn't have been smart to say anything else. On impulse, I stole a glance at Rosette who was making a point to ignore me. I wasn't sure if I was grateful or slightly annoyed by this. Sure, I had saved her so she could be a little grateful, but at the same time I felt like anything but a hero.

"I know you must be tired, Chrono," Mr. Remington began. "But I would very much appreciate it if you could recount your version of the incident regarding the hellhound."

The four of us stooped our heads low, not meeting each others' eyes. Now that we were together again, it seemed to make that whole incident even more of a nightmare come true. I tried not to squirm under his stern gaze. At the same time, I could almost make out a hint of sympathy behind it.

"Do you know what happened to Mary?" I replied instead. "When are you going to start looking for her?"

He held up a hand. "I know that you and Ms. Magdalene were friends and I understand your concern for her, but I need you to tell me what happened, Chrono. Hearing all sides of the story will help us figure out where to start looking." The look on his face told me that he wouldn't hear anything else I had to say.

I swallowed my frustration and told him everything. It wasn't a long story, but my mouth was dry by the time I finished. The silence was heavy for a moment and I took an awkward sip of my water to somehow escape it.

"Is that everything?" Mr. Remington asked, sitting on the edge of his seat. "Did you notice anything strange before that? Even a small detail?"

You mean other than the fact that a bunch of teenagers were running around with weapons in a forest where demons could jump out at you at anytime? I thought. But I only shook my head.

That was when I remembered sitting across from Mary in the library. Just thinking about the look that had been in her eyes that afternoon made me feel worse.

"What can you tell us?" I asked abruptly.

I knew I was probably overstepping my bounds at this point and even Rosette looked like she wanted to kick me for using that kind of tone. But I had the nagging feeling that there was something he wasn't saying. He seemed to be in the middle of a silent debate with his hands before he finally looked back at me.

"I suppose you all have a right to know," he said. "Mary had spiritual powers. We—that is, Sister Kate and I—believe she was taken by a demon."

"Ok…" Joshua said slowly.

"More specifically, she could see the future." Mr. Remington gave us a second to let that sink in. "And she knew this would happen."

But she couldn't have known, I told myself. I was hearing things. It was impossible. But then again everything I've been through so far this summer should've been impossible too.

"B-but how could—? Why would she—?" I didn't even know what I was trying to say anymore.

I looked at the others only to see that they were just as confused as I was. Rosette was the first one to open her mouth.

"So then why the heck would she put herself in danger like that?"

It was a good question and we all watched Mr. Remington carefully choose his words in his head before replying,

"It was our fault for letting her go out there. This was her first game of Flashlight Tag since she came to Magdalan and she was insistent on participating this year. I stupidly believed that the Geas would be strong enough to keep her safe, but now…" He trailed off.

I immediately remembered the confidence Mr. Remington had in his voice when he first explained what the Geas was to me. I tried to hold onto it to ease my own worries, but it felt like nothing more than a distant memory. Now the only safest place from demons wasn't safe anymore.

"So what are you going to do?" I dared to ask. "Do her parents know anything?"

The way he nodded made it obvious that the news was only going to get worse.

"We've alerted the police and they've started a nationwide search. As for her parents, we had to alert them. Of course, they don't know the true nature of her kidnapping, but…"

"But what?" Azmaria nearly whispered.

"If nothing is done or there are no signs of Mary by July fourth, we may have to close down Magdalan."

I felt like I'd just been slapped in the face and I was pretty sure the others felt the same way.

"Why?" Joshua cried.

Mr. Remington let out a heavy sigh. "The Council won't have any other choice, I'm afraid. They've been discussing this and the issue with Mary's parents"—he stopped himself quickly and we knew why.

I'd only heard about the Council a few times while I was here and all I knew was that they were basically a secretive group who created this camp and another one in the west. They only got involved if things were really bad. The instructors weren't allowed to tell us anything about them.

"Anyway, let's not worry about it anymore, ok? Sister Kate wouldn't be particularly pleased if she found out I was telling you this," Mr. Remington stated, rubbing his neck. His face showed that he could already picture her yelling at him with murder in her eyes.

I couldn't believe him. First, he dumps all of that bad news on us and then expects us to just forget about it. I'd only been here a week, but already this place was starting to feel like a second home to me. Someone had to do something other than sit around in Sister Kate's office. Before my thoughts went any farther, he stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt.

"Well, Chrono, I really think we ought to let you get some rest."

The others gave me one last look before going to follow him. But then Rosette turned back to face me, our eyes meeting for the first time.

"Look, Fur—Chrono, I…"

She trailed off as if waiting to make sure no one was spying on us. I waited, ready to hear what she had to say.

She exhaled. "I just wanted to say…thanks for…y'know, what Azmaria said about saving us. It took serious guts"—a small grin turned up—"or a serious lack of brains." Then she spun around and took off without a second glance.

Once I got over the initial shock that she had really just thanked me, I noticed that the others seemed just a dumbfounded as I was. Joshua pretty much looked ready to faint as his mouth dangled open. Azmaria only stared at the door like she'd just seen a ghost. Only Mr. Remington let his face break into a smile before he winked at me. Gently, he ushered the two into the hallway, leaving me to wonder if I really was dreaming after all. But soon I found myself starting to feel a little bit better.

XxXxXxXxX

Mr. Remington had been right about me healing quickly and I was finally let out of the infirmary Monday night.

There was a definite gloom hanging over the camp for the next couple of days. The incident with the hellhound had really scared everybody and even the instructors seemed to be on edge.

I kept hearing all these things about weekend field trips being cancelled and campers wanting to go home. I couldn't help but feel like this was somehow all my fault.

The other campers avoided me at all costs, but I always felt their eyes on me. By now, they were totally convinced that I was nothing more than demon bait. It was like they wanted to glare at me, but also wanted to pretend I didn't exist. I felt an insect under a magnifying glass. Even Satella and Mike seemed to be doing their best not to notice me whenever I passed by them.

And once it got around what I did to the hellhound, no one wanted to have sword-fighting with me. With Mr. Remington always in Sister Kate's office, I was left to train with Darryl one-on-one. While he was a tough teacher, pushing me hard in each lesson, he seemed to be keeping his distance like he was expecting me to unleash some secret attack on him if he wasn't careful. And every time I left, I could feel his dark eyes watching my back. I half-wondered if Mr. Remington had told him to keep an eye on me. After another dose of this on Wednesday, I made my way to the library to get away from the dark looks I should've been used to by now.

To keep the librarian from snapping at me about loitering, I grabbed a random romance-comedy novel and looked for a place to sit. That was when I spotted Shader sitting alone at a table in the far back. I felt my throat tighten when it settled in my brain that Mary wasn't right beside her. I hadn't seen her since Friday, so I slowly went over to her.

"Hey."

Her head slowly rose away from the book she'd been staring into and her pink-rimmed eyes met mine. For a second, I thought I'd talked to the wrong person. This couldn't have been Shader. There was no smile or any sign of the energy she'd always seemed to have. But it was her and she invited me to sit down with a forced smile.

The next thing I knew, I blurted,

"I'm sorry."

She frowned, genuinely confused. "For what?" she asked.

I swallowed. "About Mary…I guess."

I didn't even know why I apologized. Every time I wondered if it really was my fault that Mary was gone, a small voice in the back of my mind kept reminding myself that I couldn't have known what would happen. I didn't know which part of me to believe, so I always forced myself to think about something else.

Shader shook her head sadly. "It's not your fault, Chrono. I mean…Mary really liked you and—"

"But her powers…" I had to stop myself before I said something else incredibly stupid.

Shader seemed to perk up at that and I could only shrug, sending the silent message that I knew about them. I could tell she wanted to ask me how, but she decided not to. She gingerly closed her book, her thoughts drifting away.

"We knew about them—Aion, Rizelle, and I," she said absently.

"So, you knew this would happen too?" My tone came out more accusing than I meant. I couldn't help it—I just wanted to find out what was going on.

Shader flinched while giving me a shocked look. "Wh-what do you mean?"

I took a deep breath and told her what Mr. Remington had said a few days ago. By then, I could've kicked myself at the look that crossed her face. Tears were already gathering at the corners of her eyes.

"If I…we'd known, we wouldn't have bothered her so much about it…" She trailed off to wipe her nose.

"About what?" I asked.

"We kept begging her to join us in Flashlight Tag. She never wanted to before and she never said why, but…Aion started trying to change her mind first, and then Rizelle and I joined in. We just didn't want to leave her alone every Friday anymore"—she choked back a sob and wiped away her tears before they fell.

I didn't know what to say to make her feel better so I silently waited until she calmed down. When she did, she stared at her hands as she quietly asked me,

"Do you think she's ok?"

I hesitated before answering. "Yeah, I do."

And I meant it. Somehow, I think I would've gotten some kind of vibe if Mary was hurt.

Shader smiled at me. It was small, but I felt much better seeing it. "Thanks, Chrono. I believe you."

Hearing her say that made me feel relieved despite the brief memory of that weird dream I'd had back in the infirmary.

"And Chrono?" She stood up, her book tucked under her arm.

"Yeah?"

She glanced left and right before leaning in a little closer to me. "If you see Aion, would you mind making sure he's ok? He's been acting weird and skipping out on activities," she said.

I spent only a second being surprised before I realized that she was right. I hadn't seen Aion at all since Friday. Who cares? Was my first thought, but meeting Shader's pleading gaze, I found myself nodding slowly.

She smiled. "Thanks. Rizelle's been worried sick about him and I kinda am too."

"Yeah, no problem."

XxXxXxXxX

It was Aion who found me and, like Shader, I almost didn't recognize him. His face and shoulders sagged and his bloodshot eyes were almost hidden behind disheveled hair. There was a strange edge in his tone when he spoke, as if he were choosing his words carefully.

"Alive after all?"

Some of his usual sneer crept into the simple question, which made me feel less sorry for him. A little voice in my head reminded me that this was the same guy who'd convinced Mary to put herself in danger.

"What do you want?" I snarled. As soon as the words left my mouth, I had the strong urge to punch him.

It was his fault that Mary was kidnapped—that the camp was going to close down. It was his fault that I felt totally useless to do anything about any of this. I secretly hoped for him to give me a reason to stop holding myself back. Just one of his cocky grins would be all I needed. Much to my surprise, he gave me an equally dark look and stepped forward.

"Look, spare me the hostile attitude, all right? If this is about our fight on Friday, then—"

"It's your fault she's gone!" I nearly shouted.

The campers who were heading to their next activities stopped and watched us. Aion's face started to fall again and he obviously wanted to defend himself, but nothing came out. He seemed to shrink under all the looks. It suddenly reminded me of how I'd been feeling since Monday. All the anger swirling around in my stomach evaporated and I lost the strength to keep my fists clenched.

"Oi! What're you all standing around here for?" The stern voice belonged to Storm Valerie.

He had short-cropped, silver hair and a tattoo of a cross on the bridge of his nose. He was the only instructor who proudly wore ripped jeans and shirts with sayings like: "Practice safe lunch. Use a condiment."

But instead of his usually slouched shoulders and carefree face, he was marching through the crowded hall like a drill sergeant. No one waited to be told twice and scrambled off, immediately forgetting about Aion and me.

Storm's eyes fixed on Aion, already assuming that he was the one causing all the trouble. "And what about you two?"

Aion and I exchanged quick glances.

"Elder's," he said quickly before taking off without another word.

So I followed after him, not letting myself meet his eyes or look over my shoulder to see if Storm was still there.

Once we were outside, Aion spun around to face me.

"There's something I need to show you," he announced.

That definitely caught me off guard. "What?"

"Remember that favor I wanted on Friday?"

I nodded slowly, trying to figure out what that had to do with anything. And, more importantly, why he wanted me, even after all the teasing and the fights, to do it for him. He could've easily bullied someone else into doing whatever he wanted.

"What about it?" I asked indifferently.

"Come with me and you'll find out."

XxXxXxXxX

Against all the alarms going off in my mind and overall common sense, I stepped into Aion's room back in the boys' dormitory. It was simple and showed clear signs of being lived in. There weren't any kind of rock band posters like in Mike's room, no suitcases scattered all over the floor like Joshua's, and no stacks of letters from home like everyone else's. Sure his bed wasn't made and there were a few things like books, a few pictures of him, Mary, Shader, and Rizelle, and random objects you might buy at a souvenir shop, but other than that I was sure that he lived at Magdalan 24/7 with no chance of ever leaving.

"Right here," Aion said, jolting me out of my thoughts.

He grabbed a something from his desk and handed it over to me. It was a sheet of worn parchment with a bunch of runes written all over it. For a second, I thought it was the same one Mr. Remington had slipped into my homework long ago, but when the symbols rearranged themselves right in front of me, I realized it was different. Before I knew it, I was reading the story.

During the Days of Old, the Mother spent many moments uncertain of her own future. She had lived many centuries, but each one brought her closer to her unknown demise.

She soon began to envy the unicorns who roamed the fields and forests. There were so few, but they were destined to live forever as long as they kept their horns. And so they grazed, slept, and lived without a single care or worry.

Desperate to gain their immortality, the Mother confronted them and said:

You must tell me the secrets of your magic. I wish to live forever for I have much I want to accomplish.

But the unicorns all laughed at her and haughtily replied:

We will tell you nothing. What tasks warrant such a demand? There will always be enough time in this world to do things, so there is no need to rush.

The Mother grew angry at their ignorance. The unicorns thought nothing of their precious gift yet they selfishly kept it for themselves and mocked the creatures of limited lifespan. The Mother continued to ask for their secrets, but they would tell her nothing.

Eventually, she gave up and left to devise a plan to convince the vain creatures to tell her what she wanted. She came the shores of Peaceful Waters, where her feet left deep imprints in the sand, and thought long and hard. Soon, she had an idea. Without a moment's hesitation, she fell to her knees and began to dig through the sand. She dug and dug until she reached a layer of ground filled with clay. She gathered as much as she could and began to mold her own horns.

When she finished, she fixed the horns on her head and went back to the unicorns the next day. They were grazing yet again and did not see her immediately.

She called to them: Will you share your secrets with me?

The stupid beasts, having already forgotten her, raised their heads and prepared to refuse whoever dared to bother them, but stopped when they saw her new horns.

One exclaimed: You are one of us!

Another agreed: Why, we had no idea there were others besides us!

And they all gathered around to admire her horns. Convinced that the Mother belonged to their species, they told her the secrets of their magic. One by one, they touched their horns to hers to welcome her amongst them. It was then that the Mother felt the Astral Line flow into her body and course through her veins like a calm river. It was then that her horns became permanent and as long as she had them, she would never die.

"And they all lived happily ever after," Aion scoffed, breaking the trance I'd been in. "Come on, man, that can't be what it says."

"Look," I snapped back, though not completely sure why I was feeling annoyed all of a sudden. "You wanted me to translate it and I did."

I put the parchment back on the desk to somehow get rid of the overwhelming feeling coming over me. I felt like I had just taken a ten-hour exam. Aion sighed in exasperation, but I think it was more because of the story than me. He buried his head in his hands, hunched over and looking more and more like a scared kid than the haughty jerk I was used to.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable with this, I finally asked,

"Why is this such a big deal to you anyway?"

He looked up at me silently for a moment, his face almost grave with an expression I couldn't really place. Disappointment, maybe? Or regret?

"You wanna know the truth?" he answered. Half of me didn't, but I nodded anyway. He sat up straighter. "I thought there would've been something written there to help find Mary."

I definitely hadn't expected to hear that.

"I'm surprised you"—I stopped myself, realizing what I was about to say, but Aion caught on.

"Surprised about what? That I actually care about my friends?"

He shot to his feet so fast that I thought he was going to hit me. Instead, he was giving me a hard look with his hands clenched at his side.

"Well, you're right, I do. Mary was the first person here who didn't treat me like a freak and I don't feel like pretending everything's going to be fine just because Sister Kate or Remington say so."

I was actually surprised by his tone. I'd never seen him like this before. But for one scary moment, I actually agreed with him. Worse yet, I'd been thinking the exact same thing.

"Sorry," I admitted, looking away. "That was going too far,"

He gave a stiff shrug and slumped back in his chair. He yanked up the parchment again and examined it like he was looking for any other kind of clue or sign of hope. He eventually flung it away with a frustrated sigh.

"I don't understand any of this shit!" he yelled.

He kicked the edge of his bed with a hollow fwump! and then fell quiet, deep in his thoughts. I looked at the parchment again, trying to figure out what it all meant. Of course, I doubted a story about a bunch of stupid unicorns and peace-loving water or whatever could help us find Mary.

"I don't understand any of this," I heard Aion mutter to himself, his tone a little calmer. "But maybe…I know someone who does."

I perked up at that. "Who?"

He rubbed his neck as though he was still debating whether or not he should keeping thinking about it. Growing impatient, I asked again to get his attention. The look in his eyes was torn between excitement and suspicion.

"It's a bit of a stretch, but there's this…guy…in one of Sister Kate's files and he knows things," he said finally.

"I don't get it. Is he like Mary?"

"Kind of. He's called the Keeper and he supposedly lives in the basement of the Empire State Building—"

"What kind of person does that?" For a second, I thought Aion was joking, but his face was totally serious.

"Well, I wouldn't call him a person," he began mildly. "He's more of a…demon."

No way! I wanted to scream. I'd gotten acquainted with more demons than I wanted to and I wasn't up to meeting another one. How could he say it so casually like we were being invited to a tea party? A really twisted tea party.

But Mary…

My stomach lurched and I remembered my conversation with Shader.

"Do you think she's ok?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Thanks, Chrono. I believe you."

Now, I felt really stupid for answering her. I'd been so sure at the time, but I really had no way of knowing—vibes or no vibes. What if I was wrong? I flinched at the thought, only hoping that I wasn't.

"Why hasn't anyone done something about this Keeper guy if they know where he is?" I asked.

Aion shrugged. "Because he doesn't do anything. He doesn't attack people or consume any spiritual energy, so he's probably going to die soon anyway."

"And you think he can help us?"

At this Aion gave me an amused look that already made him look like his old self. I was even getting irritated just looking at him.

"Us, C-man?" He let the question roll off his tongue the same way my dad commented on an expensive wine he just bought. "Are we best buddies now? I thought you wanted to let the adults take care of everything?"

"Look, Mary's my friend too," I said through gritted teeth. "Either you want my help or not."

He spent a whole minute pretending to think hard and just when I was about to lose my cool and snap at him, he stuck his hand out to me.

"I'll let you tag along, Chrono," he said, smiling.

But it was a genuine smile. No cockiness or sneer behind it.

I know. I couldn't believe it either.

We shook hands.


Yes! Finished it! I've got a lot of ideas for the rest of the plot that I've been kicking around, so I just need to pick one and to keep writing. Any suggestions are totally welcome! Again, I'm really sorry about the long delay.