A/N: Yeah, I'm going to say it: my internet whatever officially SUCKS! And it should go to hell if there is a hell! Good, now that that's out of my system...Here's your next chapter! XD Enjoy!

(Chrono's POV)

Groggily, I opened my eyes. When had I fallen asleep? I couldn't recall. I blinked away the sleep in my eyes. It seemed I'm losing my memory about everything, I thought ironically. I turned my head to see Rosette staring intently out the windshield. I looked out as well. Right into the oncoming barrage of snowflakes falling from the sky. So that was why we were driving slower than before.

Rosette turned to look at me, a smile lit her face. "You're awake." She said.

"Yeah. Where are we, anyways?" I asked as I looked around at the barren fields of snow around us.

"Um," She bit her lip, "Somewhere in the country…we should be coming into a town with an airport pretty soon. I stopped at a rural gas station about a few miles back and asked."

I stopped to digest the information. So…we were…somewhere in the country of New York State…? That didn't help a lot. Another question struck me.

"Hey, Rosette?"

She turned to face me before quickly turning to look back out the windshield at the oncoming snow. "Hmm?"

"Um," I was kind of embarrassed to be asking this, but, "Where are we going?" I questioned, a blush growing on my face. I'd made such a deal of coming with her and yet I didn't even know where we were going. Well, to me it didn't really matter, as long as we were together. Right?

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the head rest. How had I grown so attached to Rosette, anyway?

"I have to talk to my…mother, I guess you could say."

A long silence enveloped the space between us after that. Finally Rosette coughed, breaking the silence. "Hey, Chrono?" she asked as she continued to drive slowly, her voice soft and quiet, "How…can you trust me like you do…when you know I've lied to you all this time?"

That definitely wasn't what I'd expected. Truly? I didn't know either.

…

We drove into the full parking lot of the city parking lot. The snow was still falling, even here. It was starting to pile.

Rosette got out of the drivers' seat and came around. I opened the door and got out, too. She turned around to face me. Even though it was only about late afternoon it already looked pretty dark. She crouched down in front of me and I looked down quizzically to see what she was doing.

Rosette was pulling on the zipper of the coat I had on. She pulled the zipper up as she wrapped the scarf she'd had on earlier around my neck. Confusedly, I looked at her.

As she turned around I noticed her light coat was unbuttoned, too. I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She stopped at turned around. "Chrono?" she asked as I moved forward to button her coat. As I looked up I noticed her cheeks were dusted in pink; from the cold or from embarrassment, I didn't know.

…



"I'm sorry, sir, but all the flights have been cancelled. The snow's getting pretty bad and I'm afraid it's only getting worse." The woman behind the counter said.

"Well, when's the first available flight out then?" Rosette asked irately.

"Um," the woman looked nervously down at the computer as she typed, "W-well, it'd probably be some time tomorrow…but there are a lot of other people who have flights, too, so…" she trailed off as she looked nervously from Rosette to me.

"Can I get two tickets to Chicago for tomorrow then?"

The woman looked at the computer again. "W-well, yes. But the seats are s-separate." Rosette looked at her to continue. "U-um, one's in business class a-and the other is in, uh, in s-second class. So, uh…" I felt kind of bad for that lady—she was under attack full force from Rosette's impatience and irritation. It was no wonder she was stuttering so bad. Well, I guess she wasn't very good with angry costumers—no one would be good with an angry Rosette. I smiled a little at the thought. I couldn't help it; it was an amusing thought after all.

I tugged on Rosette's sleeve. "It's alright, Rosette. Don't get so angry," in a whisper I told her, "You're scaring the woman behind the counter witless."

She looked at me and then at the woman. A sound of agitation escaped her throat as she scratched the back of her neck. "Fine." She grumbled. Then she turned to the woman, "Sorry for sounding so angry, miss. It's just that we really need to get somewhere."

The woman offered a small accepting smile and nodded.

"So, um, about what you said. Is there any way we can get seats together?" Rosette asked.

"I-I'm sorry, but no, there are no more empty seats that are together." The woman said quietly.

Rosette looked hard at me then turned around. "Fine, can you tell me who the person sitting next to the empty seat in business class is?"

The woman nodded, albeit unsurely.

…

"AHhh." Rosette let out an exasperated sigh as she fell back on the bed.

It seemed everything was a little short today—with the holidays being just days away and such—so we, Rosette and I, were staying in a bed-and-breakfast place. All the hotels and motels around here were filled with the other people who also had delayed flights. This place was pretty full, too. I blushed at the antic Rosette used to get us into this place…

"Is there any rooms available here?" Rosette asked.

"For both of you?" the elderly woman asked as she looked back at me then turned back towards Rosette.

"Yes. Um, we would like a room, please. Everywhere else around here is full and, well…" Rosette trailed off.

"Oh, we do have a room, but…" she trailed off as she looked unsurely from Rosette to me.

"Please," Rosette begged, "My fiancé and I really need a place to stay, just for tonight." I blanched as Rosette wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me against her. Fi-fiancé? Is that what I just heard Rosette say? F-fiancé?!



"See, I was going to take her to see my parents today, but…well, all the flights are canceled and…" Rosette trailed off again as she looked at me, "I'm sorry we weren't able to make it today, honey. I'm-I'm sure my parents won't mind. We'll just tell them that the flights were cancelled, okay?"

Blushing I nodded.

"Oh, is that so?" the elderly woman cooed sympathetically, "It's okay then," as she looked at me she smiled and patted my head, "Really, we still have one room. I just hope your parents don't mind that you're staying together in a room…" the woman smiled knowingly as she winked at me.

I blushed. Rosette said, "Don't worry, ma'am," she pulled me closer against her as I felt her chin fall to rest on top of my head, "We won't do anything naughty." I could just hear Rosette's grin in her voice. And, if possible, I blushed redder than before. As I turned to try and bury my bury face in the hollow of Rosette's neck I could feel her amused laughter and snickering rise from her chest and fall from her lips.

"Did you really have to say all that to the woman?" I whined, not for the first time.

She grinned as she looked at me. "Of course. What else was I supposed to say, my dear little fiancé?" she teased. I blushed again. And I could hear her laughter. Before I realized it she was standing in front of me, my face resting in her palms.

"R-Rosette?" I questioned.

She didn't answer, she just looked at me. I don't know how long we were like that but then Rosette turned away and let go. She threw a towel over her back towards me. "Here. Go take a bath, we're going to have to get up early tomorrow." I could hear her groan at the last part. I smiled. Rosette never was a morning person.

I got up and headed towards the attached bathroom.

…

I was standing in the PJs that the bed-and-breakfast gave us to use as I stared out the window at the falling snow. It was still snowing out.

I heard a door open quietly as I turned around to go sit to the bed. Rosette had said she was going to take a shower. My eyes landed on Rosette as she walked out of the steaming bathroom.

"You're done already?" I asked.

She nodded, "It was only a shower and compared to how long I took to take a shower at school, it was pretty long." Rosette also had on a pair of the PJs. The difference was that mine had a pastel pink background and darker pink lines checkered across it while Rosette's were simply white with pastel blue lines going up and down. Her lips pulled up into a grin as she observed my clothing. "I like your PJs, Chrono. They look very good on you…cute."

I blushed. "Th-they're not mine." I mumbled out.

"Come here, Chrono."

"W-what…?" I questioned as I looked at her beckoning fingers.

"C'mon. C'mere for a sec." I did as she bid and walked over towards her.



I big, white, fluffy towel was thrown over my head. "You dummy," she started, "You're gonna catch a cold if you don't dry your hair…"

An "oh" was all I managed. I hadn't noticed that my hair was still dripping wet. As Rosette lifted the towel off my head I noticed that my hair had indeed been dripping onto the light coloured floor where I had been standing by the window.

"Geez," I heard Rosette mumble, "You'd think that someone with hair as long as yours would know how to do this."

"S-sorry…" I mumbled. I looked up at her. She was smiling to herself. I don't think she even noticed that I was looking at her.

"Dummy," she replied, "I'm not really angry, okay?" I gave her a little nod.

"Good." She finished with toweling my hair dry. I felt her palms against my back as she pushed me gently towards the bed. I looked back at her questioningly. She held up a brush.

"When you were in the bath I asked the woman if I could borrow a brush for you. I left it right there," she pointed to the top of the dresser, "I thought you would get your hair all taken care of, but, apparently," she grinned teasingly, "you want me to do it."

I blush. "Th-that's not it." I stuttered. "I-I just didn't see it, and-and—"

I was cut off as Rosette pouted and said, "So you don't want me to do your hair?"

"W-wait!" I said quickly. "That's not what I meant. I meant-I meant—"

She grinned down at me. "Take a deep breath." I did as she said. "I'm just kidding," she continued, "Don't get so worked up, okay?" She was still grinning down at me. I nodded slowly

"Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, I looked around. "You've grown taller, Chrono!"

I looked her up and down, then I looked at myself. "Have I?" I asked.

She nodded slowly. "Either that or I'm shrinking," she laughed. "You're almost as tall as me now. Look you're up to my nose now, before I left you were only up to my chin." Huh, did she look that closely before?

I sat down on the edge of the bed. Rosette got up next to me and moved to kneel behind me. Slowly, she started running the brush through my hair, brushing out all the knots.

She had been brushing my hair for a while now, the knots were mostly all gone, when she asked, "Hey, Chrono, I'm serious. How can you just trust me? Then come along with me, not even knowing where the hell I might take you or make you do? "

How can I trust her? Well, I just can. That was all. "Faith?" I offered up.

"What?" she questioned.

"Faith." I repeated.

"In me?" she sounded disbelieving.

"Who else?" I asked.

I could feel as she turned her face away as she murmured, "Don't you think you might've misplaced your faith, Chrono?"



Misplaced? "No." I answered simply. I don't think I've misplaced my faith at all.

"Aren't you disappointed?" she suddenly asked.

"That you're a girl?" I questioned. "No, I'd much prefer you were a girl." I turned around to face her, taking the brush from her hand I turned her around and started brushing her hair.

"Did you know," I started. "I thought I was nuts—or just gay—for a while." I won't tell her why. I could hear her chuckle. I smiled, that was the response I'd wanted.

"S-seriously, Chrono?" she asked through her snickers.

"Seriously." I answered.

She sighed. "But that's not what I was talking about," she said. "I meant…aren't you disappointed in me; that I lied to you and stuff?"

"Speaking of which," I replied. "You never did tell me why you were cross-dressing and disguising yourself as a boy and who those men that had chased us out of the hospital were and why they were chasing us, too."

"Oh." She said flatly. I could see her body tense up. "That." she turned around and I paused in my hair brushing, "Do you really want to know?" she asked tiredly.

I nodded.

"I disguised myself as a boy because Magdalene Catholic High School is a private boys' school, and no girls are allowed in there other than the nuns that teach." I looked at her, I already knew all that. "Yeah," she turned to look at me. "You probably knew all that."

With an exasperated sigh she flopped back onto the bed. As she curled onto her side she patted the spot beside her; I followed suit and curled onto my side next to her. "Anyways," she continued as she tucked an arm under her head for a pillow, "the reason that I'd wanted to come there was because I was…looking for somebody. My brother." She looked at me. "Joshua."

I couldn't help the little "oh" that left my lips. Now that was a big revelation to me. Joshua was her brother. It was a relief, too, I'll admit. I'd thought that he was her boyfriend or something…

"And, well, I couldn't tell you anything," she was looking kind of fidgety now, "Because I-I wasn't sure if I could really trust anybody." she looked at me then, looking ashamed, she flopped back onto her back. I scooted closer to her. "It's okay. Go on."

She turned to quickly look at me before saying, "And, well, yeah. That's it. What about you?" she asked as she turned back to face me with a burning gaze. "You never fought back once, did you, not until that party. Tell me: Why didn't you ever just beat the hell out of them or just run away, Chrono? Why did you let them do this to you?" She had grabbed onto my wrist and had pulled up the long sleeve of the pajamas, exposing the wounds that I hadn't wanted to show her. As I looked at her I noticed that her eyes were glassy as they looked at my arms. I didn't know what to say.

I didn't want to tell her why. She would say it was her fault.

"I-I…" I trailed off without giving an answer.



"Aion told me," she stated coolly, "And I don't know if I should believe what that scumbag said but he told me that…that it was because of me. Aion told me that it wasn't his fault you were hurt." She looked me in the eyes, "It's mine isn't it." there wasn't even a question in her tone.

"N-No," I tried to excuse the words, "You-you're wrong. It wasn't your fault! I-it wasn't!" I was now kneeling on the bed looking down at her as I shook my head exuberantly from side to side and waved my hands around.

She didn't answer me as she got up and turned away as she mumbled, "Sorry." For what? I wanted to ask. I didn't.

She turned back around, a grin on her face. I could see it was forced. "Go to sleep, Chrono." And she turned on the lamp beside the bed, turning off the ceiling light. She walked back towards me and pulled the blanket up to my chin, as if I were a child. She turned off the bedside lamp, too.

She stood and started back across the room. "Wait." I whispered. She stopped, not turning around she cocked her head questioningly. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"Nowhere." She answered as she opened the doors and stepped out into the, now dark, hallway.

I looked around the moon bathed room. Everything was washed in a sliver-blue light. The room darkened again as clouds moved to cover the moon. I couldn't help but notice that Rosette had avoided answering one of my questions. Who were those men? And what did they want from us…from Rosette?

--END CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE--

A/N: Yeah, so...how was that? Hopefully not too bad for taking so long... I promise--I PROMISE--I'll update quicker; like maybe Wednesday, or sooner. Okay, so...um...yeah, Review, okay? Oh, and maybe I'll put TWO chapters up next time because I took so long. Maybe.