Hi, me again. Anyway, to review. Josh and his new friend are discussing what's happening. Josh is about to met the girl (which is Rosette, by the way) and the purple haired boy. I hope you do know who that is! Anyway, we're at a climax so I do hope you enjoy this.

Don't own CC. (Chrono Crusade. I'll use this as a discliamer from now on.)

Chrono Crusade: The Two Worlds

Act Two, Scene Five: The Answer From The Past

As he started his way to the pair that sat at the fountain, he wondered so many questions. Many of the questions were that of negative actions. What would happen if… Those were the questions that ran through his mind and looking at their stares made him uneasy. He suddenly stopped at some point and just froze there.

The man sensing his uneasiness went to him and asked him in his ear. "What's wrong?"

"I can't…" Joshua said, tears in his eyes and the uneasy feeling became stronger and stronger. "I can't…do…this…I just can't!" And with that, Joshua dashed towards one of the exit and ran past the front gate, tears spilling on the ground.

The man looked at the pair and muttered to himself, "Joshua, you damned idiot…"

Joshua wondered about the city, looking for a place, a place he vowed to never go again for it brought him so many horrible memories. He asked some people where this place was and after finding out where it was, he spent what change he had left in his pocket and took a bus that left the city. (Ironically, he could have taken the bus to the order but he decided at that time the walk could do him good.) After arriving at his destination, he walked towards what looked liked a huge dome.

"What…what is this?" he wondered to himself. As he entered the dome, a cold gush of wind blew right past him. It was pitch black, no lights and you can imagine that Joshua was scared as hell. As he walked about, the entrance door slammed shut and it looked like he was trapped. He was alone…or so he thought.

"Lumen Christi!" a strong voice was heard. Suddenly, a bright light above the ceiling appeared and it dispersed through the whole dome. When the flash was gone, Joshua could see but what he could see made him terrified and appalled. Stone statues surrounded him and they each had a terrifying face on it. Debris was everywhere and everything was stone…stone trees, stone grass, everything. Joshua backed away only to bump into a familiar figure. He turned around and there smiling at him was the Arbitrator.

"'Bout time you got here," he ate an apple while saying this. "I was worried that you wouldn't get here."

"What…What the hell is this?" Joshua shouted to him. "What the hell happened here!"

"You know where we are, right? We are at your orphanage…this is seventh bell and all of these people are your friends."

"My God…these are my friends," He looked around while having a terrified look on his face. "But…what happened to all of them."

He directed Joshua to a fence where they sat down. "This isn't recent, you know. This is actually happened four years ago…"

"Four years…four years…ago!"

"Four years in suspended time, the power of Chrono. How very interesting, don't you agree?"

"You must be kidding! Chrono did this?"

"No…but you did. Well, not you, you but your other you."

"…"

"You didn't die. You lived…however the price of your power cost you your sanity. Very sad…very sad, indeed.

"I don't follow."

"In a nutshell, you and your sister lived in this orphanage, like in your world. However in your world, you rejected the powers of darkness thus leading to the ultimate destruction of this orphanage as with your sister and friends. In this world, you accept this power for it could bring you strength. Did you know why your other self accepted the power?"

Joshua was very silent at this point.

"It is because of your jealousy over your sister. You yourself were jealous of your sister's power however that didn't bother you that much and that gave you the strength to overcome the dark temptation. However here…you're other self were much more weak and therefore desiring the power to be well, he accepted the dark power. Thus at that point on, your other self became a creature of darkness. Which brings me to another question…do you know who gave your other self the dark power?"

It was obvious that Joshua didn't know who but then he got into thinking. If Chrono tried to seduce him to take the dark power when he was young, then that would mean that the person who seduced his other half, and succeeded in doing so, must be... He had a blank stare in his eyes.

"Looking at that expression, it must mean you know," as Arbitrator finished his apple. He threw it on the ground and Joshua gave him a nod. "I know it must be hard for you to accept things the way they are…in this world. It must be also hard to imagine these sorts of things happening to you. Let's see…after your other self turned everything here into stone, he vanished…without a trace. Your sister…Rosette…she was willing to make a pact with Chrono in order to find you again."

"She did that? My sister?" That caught Joshua's attention as he raised his head and looked at the statues again.

"Ah, she is a courageous girl. If anything is bothering her, she keeps it inside her heart and always wears a smile on her face. Determined, beautiful, and a leader to others; however she is also naïve and headstrong and such qualities is not enough to get back the things she want."

"But…she did this…she made a contract, sacrificing her own life…for me?" The man nodded.

This bit of information made Joshua think more and more. If she did this, she didn't join the order for revenge, she join the order for her brother, in order to save him. Joshua got up.

"I know I may not be the brother of her world…but I can become the ideal brother for her, the one that she dreams of having again. She deserves an explanation for everything that has happened…she certainly deserves one after all the shit I pulled."

Seeing that he had got it, the Arbitrator and Joshua headed towards the exit. Joshua didn't

look back as the light in the dome started to fade and became pitch back once again. As they exited, a sunset sky greeted them and standing at the front gate was the blond girl. She was waiting for him…for her brother.

"She deserves an explanation," Joshua said in his head. "So I'm going to give her one. If I'm going to do this…I'm going to do this right."

What's he gonna do? Please R&R and tell me what you think. I'll come back real soon.