A long chapter. Anyways, enjoy.

Don't own CC

A Psychologist's Day And Life

Chapter Seventeen: The Final Battle: What A Sinner Wants

Rosette Christopher, today's your lucky day. I've just found out that I'm a jerk!

Seriously, we had one day to prepare for the battle, a bunch of things are on my mind (the thought of getting home being one of them) and I just had the thought that would change my perception of Rosette, her life, as well as rock my world. As I laid on my bed that night, I recalled a question that my brother posed to me early in the morning. Little did I know that the question would turn into a lengthy discussion.

It was early in the morning...I recently got out of bed with Amor sitting on the couch. Funny...he was just laying there.

"Are you dead?" I asked him. He looked at me.

"No..."

"How unfortunate." He jabbed me on the arm. That hurts! After rubbing my arm, I asked him, "what's wrong?"

"Oh...I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About...nah, never mind."

"No, no, go on."

"Okay, here goes. Why do you hate Rosette?"

"What?"

"You're hating on her. What I notice is that all of the negative stuff about her originates from Seventh Bell."

He's right about that. "Well yeah. Wait a minute, didn't we had this discussion before?"

"We talked about it. But then I read something in a psychological book that I believe will give me an edge. Did you two talk about it?"

"Well, yes. However it was on a abnormal approach."

"You mean you talked about her negatives when she was emotional stressed and wanted to kill you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay...right. I just had another thought."

"And that would be?"

"Did you ever think about sibling obligation?"

"Sibling obligation?" This was a term that I didn't even heard of.

"Sibling obligation. It means when a sibling wants to do something and the other sibling goes along with it even though that sibling maybe opposed to the idea. This idea is for both older and younger."

"Where are you getting with this?"

"Joshua choose to follow Rosette even though some of her ideas were against his beliefs and principals. It was his choice. Rosette had no control of Joshua's choice. Joshua, himself, is following sibling obligation."

"Alright...and what does that prove?"

"He had a choice. Had a choice!"

I starred at him while thinking about his words. Had a choice...had a choice. Then it hit me. Joshua followed Rosette like a lackey and followed her every request without a murmur. Joshua had thought that he had no power to say no. This led Joshua to complete jealously and madness.

"But," I rebutted, "Rosette should have seen Joshua's uneasiness and confusion. She wasn't there."

"That's a given," Amor replied, "but then you have to realize that she was only a kid. She was just as clueless as any other 12-year old would. Face it, Ironblood. You're too rough on her." Just then, Azmaria came down the stairs.

"Morning guys. What's going on?"

Amor turned to her quickly, "Azmaria, hi. Um...have any idea what we should have for breakfast?" As the two walked into the kitchen, I pondered about our discussion.

So that's it boys and girls. For the rest of the day, we prepared for our upcoming battle. I felt a moral obligation to report this to the Order. I know, I know that this is totally going against my own orders of not telling them but this was big. I had to take Rosette's point into account. I had a very nice chat with the member of the Order Council down in New York City. Sister Kate wasn't ecstatic in what I had to say but Remington seemed to calm her down. After a two hour talk, I received word that the San Francisco branch of the Order was going to help out. They were to provide backup just in case as well as clean up afterwards. I didn't, however, tell them about the group/pursuer alliance as this was something to keep under wraps. Everything was under our control. As the group prepared for battle (Satella shinning her jewels, Chrono checking the guns) I noticed one thing: Rosette. I noticed that Rosette was avoiding me at every turn. Even she was being rude or something was bothering her.

Back to our present time and place. As I laid at the bed, I glanced at the door in which it was opened ajar. There I saw a blue, peering eye looking at me. As soon as I looked at it, it headed out towards the staircase. Seeing that Amor retired early as well as me being curious, I got dressed and hurried towards the staircase. As I reached to the bottom, I saw a shadow of a person heading towards the balcony. Instantly, I followed it. When I reached outside, I find...

Come on, guess who it was? Well...I really don't have to tell you. Or maybe I do? Okay, I'll tell you. Rosette.

In my mind, I thought of a number of things. "Why do I have to talk to her? Did I really have to do this?" Nevertheless, I wanted to know what's going on with her.

I gone first. "Okay...What's on your mind?"

It was weird. She stared at me with those eyes of hers. "What the heck? Rosette?"

She suddenly responded. "I heard you and your brother talking this morning."

"You what?" This was unheard of. I didn't even know that she was spying.

"So...do you really think about that stuff? About me?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Maybe it was all a lie and maybe it wasn't. The world is full of maybes."
"Stop playing around and answer me seriously."

"Alright, there might be some parts of the conversation that were true. Such as...sibling obligation. Even you have to admit that Joshua always followed you because he did not want to disappoint you."

"Some parts?"

"Okay, let's replace 'some' with 'all.'

"I was a stupid kid back then and didn't know anything about the things between me and Joshua. I didn't know he felt that way. If I could go back in time, I would. If I knew what was happening, then I-"

"The world are full of 'ifs', aren't they Rosette? Ifs are the possibilities of what will or will not happen. However the ifs we create cannot change the world. They are something of non-physical form, they are merely human thought. Understand that the future will not always go our way. If something horrible happens and we regret it then we are doomed to be stuck in an infinite loop of misery and insecurity. We do this by asking 'what if' or 'if I could'."

"But I feel that this is the only thing I can do."

"What have you been doing during the last four years of your life? You have done something instead of standing on the sidelines. At the same time, you have regretted the past...just like Satella regretted her past."

"Satella regretting her past? What do you mean?"

"I believe that she had questioned herself, "if I was stronger' or 'if I did this differently' all her life and at the same time did a number of things that would eventually find her family. Chrono is another case. He wanted peace and instead of waiting for fate to deliver his action, he proceeded to realize this dream and did his own action. Too bad his actions would lead him into deep trouble."

"Hmm..."

"The flow of time is always cruel... its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it. Like a river's flow, it never ends. If you expect time will freeze when you've made a mistake or when something horrible happens, you are sadly mistaken."

"I understand that."

"Tomorrow will bring uncertainty and question into our minds. We either live or die. But know this. If we have to give our enemies our lives, we give them hell before we do. Do you understand?"

Judging by Rosette's silence, I knew she understood. As I gave a quick smile and left her at the balcony, my mind raced with all sorts of thoughts. One of these thoughts were this:

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost."

I believe that this was the first line in FullMetal Alchemist's equivalent exchange. The principal does not only apply to alchemy itself but to all life.

"Equal value must be lost...must be lost."

This was the last thought I had before I turned in for the night. The next morning, dark clouds loomed and the winds blew as well as hardened rain. Nobody said anything to each other; everyone was busy to prepare for the final battle. Even Amor was in his serious mode. The Order called just before we went and said that they were prepared with everything. Azmaria stayed behind with Steiner and we were on our way. The carnival, which was set up for tonight festivities, was vacant. As the clock rode to its appointed time, we made our way to the plateau. The clock tolled noon. With the thunder and lighting around us, our group gasped as we Aion with Fiore on his left and Joshua on his right. We were all at a standstill.

"So these are the two boys that knew of my plans," Aion said finally. Joshua and Fiore wore focused looks.

"Can I ask you a question?" Amor started. "We have all of the Apostles. You can't go along with your stupid ritual. What are you going to do now?"

Aion gave a creepy laugh. My God, it was so creepy. "You fool. Don't you get it yet?"

"What?"

"Where are you going with this, Aion?" Chrono demanded.

"Chrono, my old Sinner friend. Surely you didn't believe that this was the world I wanted to rule. The true world. This world is a fake, a phony."

Then I remember. "The manga."

"Finally, somebody gets it."

"What do you mean?" Amor asked me.

Totally ignoring Amor, I asked Aion, "how did you get those manga?"

"Please. I have the power to move forward into time, remember? When Remington did his little trick, I followed him. After I obtained these documents,I watched his every move and by his actions, I realized that no matter what I did in this world, I would never fulfill my dream. It is because this world is nothing more than plans drawn by you people. You two boys are the representation of mankind at its worst!"

"Oh, so it's a crime to have your dreams on paper?" Amor asked.

"And to show it to the public for all you people to see? All of us...this people, this nation, this entire planet is all fake! I have no interest in ruling over a fake world."

"So you let us have the Apostles and have us slain your Sinners...for what purpose?"

Aion gave a grin. "To lead me to the door to your world...the real world! With all of my powers, intact!"

Rosette had enough of the talking. She pointed her gun and demanded answers. "What the hell are you saying! Are you going to destroy the world and all of us? Are you going to enslave us? What the hell do you want! Answer me!"

In my mind, I my thought was how he was going to do this. So it would be wise to destroy Aion before he could go along with this plan of his. I readied my sword. "I had just enough of you. Prepare yourself!" Joshua and Fiore prepared to attack.

Aion laughed, "you have no chance of defeating me. I'll destroy you all! After this, I'm going after the real world, where my powers will mean something to you people! I'll rule over that entire earth! And then I can exact my revenge on you people, who confine us to this fleeting, transient place! Humans who just create things and then throw them away when they are bored and done with them, just like tissue paper! Heaven will be earth and earth will be heaven, just like I wanted them to be!"

The battle begun. Rosette shot futile shots at Aion in which he easily dodged. Joshua engaged with us and Fiore fought with Satella with her jewel monster. It was a fierce battle, indeed. Joshua and Fiore were like robots without any emotion. My only thought was to finish him off without killing him. Joshua spread his angel wings and lunged at us. We both dodged his attack and as he yelled to attack us again, Amor got behind him and slashed his angel wing. Rosette gasped at the sight.

"CUT IT OFF, CUT IT OFF!" I yelled at him. Amor did cut the other angel wing off and Joshua yelled in pain. In horrible, horrible pain. I ran over towards them.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Amor asked. I nodded my head in agreement. At that precise moment, we both cut of the horns on Joshua's head and he screamed.

"Joshua!" Rosette yelled. She ceased fire and began to move towards us.

"FREEZE IT, MISSY!" I yelled at her. She froze. "Don't take your eyes off him." The horns laid beside Joshua and he collapsed. He didn't die...just breathed heavily. Satella and Fiore clashed with each other one more time in which Fiore was knocked out cold by Satella's sword attack. As she laid there, our group only looked at Aion, who had a sword in hand. We were all silent. Aion grabbed the hint with both hands and plunged the sword into the earth. It spread forth miasma.

At least Amor murmured a word. "Fuck."

As miasma followed forth in a pillar pattern, Aion grabbed the Head of Pandemonium and placed it within the pillar. The pillar that was dark turned into light and the Astral Line somehow appeared.

"How did the Astral Line appear without an Apostle?" Chrono asked.

"I don't know and I don't care. I'm stopping him." Rosette murmured. She grabbed a crucifix barrier from her pocket and started towards the pillar. Amor and I glanced at each other before running after her. Aion laughed and kept on laughing.

Rosette rose to attack the pillar.

"DAMNED IDIOT!" Amor yelled and he knocked the crucifix barrier right out of Rosette's hand before knocking her back with his arm. I then slashed the pillar. Big mistake.

Amor turned to me. "Bert...what did you do?"

"Uh..."

The pillar became non-existent. It disappeared. As everything turned dark again, we saw a great light from the sky. We both looked up.

"Bert?

"Yes Amor?"

"I'm going to kick your-"

Before Amor could finish his sentence, a blinding light engulfed us both and before I knew it...

So what will happen? A cliffe. Anyways, please R&R.