I'm sorry that my stories take forever to update. Things are going to be pretty full on for me in real life from now on, so you're going to have to be patient just a while longer. But here is a new chapter! I'd like to thank all the people who have been keeping up with me, even if I am a little slow...I can still type like this!

Disclaimer: Chrono Crusade and all its characters rightfully belong to Daisuke Moriyama-sama. x3

Joshua...why? (part 14)

I sat up in bed wondering what had happened, where I was, and how I got here.

"(That girl must've been bumped my head really hard.)"

Observing my surroundings, I got out of bed and saw that I was in a well decorated room. Pictures were hanging on the walls in frames, there was a fancy rug covering the floor, and an electric kettle was boiling tea on a small table in front of the bed.

"(Now I must 'really' be going crazy.)"

I noticed there was an electric flashing bracelet around my left arm, but tried to focus on what was happening around me. I made my way to the door and opened it to see a fenceless pathway and on the other side was a bottomless sky. I began to wonder how long it would take for me to reach the bottom if I fell. Suddenly, I could hear voices nearby.

"Um..I'm alright now..really..."

"Oh, please. Don't mind me. I just wanna cuddle you a little longer!"

"EEEEEEEEK!"

"Azmaria!" I started running along the pathway, "I'm coming, Azmaria!"

"Same old Shader I see. She used to do that to me too."

"OOF!" I had crashed into Joshua's back, "Sorry...Who're you?" I was looking at what looked like a woman who was half-cat because she hat cat ears on her head with an additional tail coming from her back. She was also wearing science lab uniform and glasses.

"I am Shader!" she said, "But you can call me 'professor'. Pleased to meet you!"

"Professor...?" Azmaria slowly said.

Shader immediately started squeeze-hugging both Azmaria and Joshua at the same time.

"Tee-hee! All you apostle kids are SO adorable! Come to big sister!"

"Look, I am not a child anymore." Joshua muttered.

"That's right!" I agreed, "Let 'em go, demon!"

"Ahem...My apologies for interrupting..but breakfast is ready."

I turned around to see the woman in the conspicuous maid-outfit, Fiore, standing there.

"Nya?!" Shader let both Azmaria and Joshua go, "Oh Fiore! Did I make you maaaad?"

Fiore turned away and simply said, "No."

Azmaria and I followed Fiore, Joshua and Shader up the path to the top. Shader explained as we walked, that she was doing research on the Astral Line. And that the best place to do it, was here…on this island in the sky. I arrived with Azmaria at the top of the path and saw a landscape of grass and concrete paths surrounding a building where Fiore and Joshua headed.

Shader stopped to wait for our arrival, "Now this isn't any island mind you, we call it..Eden..paradise of the Sinners! Our paradise!"

Soon they were all sitting at a dining table inside the building with delicious-looking food. Azmaria arrived in her new outfit which was a dress that looked similar to the robe she wore when she sang in the choir. I arrived after her in a white sundress and I wore my green cardigan on top of it. I noticed Joshua pause during his meal when he saw me.

"Yay! It fits you perfectly!" Shader exclaimed.

"Wh…what will happen to me?" I asked, "To us?"

"You are to stay here with us until our mission is accomplished." said Joshua, "Aion has told me however, it won't take long from now. Come..let us eat."

"I..I can't!" said Azmaria.

I glanced at her, "Az?"

"You're..you're all bad people! You made Rosette and Chrono suffer..burnt down the city!"

I walked over and put my hands on her shoulders in order to comfort her.

"So I..I..."

Shader patted Azmaria's head making her gasp, "Shader sees Azmaria is a pure and innocent girl..yeah, you're right. Demons lie and demons kill..demons hurt people. You don't have to change your mindset..but...Fio here spent so much time and effort preparing all this. There's no such thing as good food or evil food is there?"

Azmaria nodded and hesitantly took a seat beside Shader.

"Uh..." I began.

"Sit here," said Joshua, "I saved you a spot."

I saw that I was to sit beside him. I hesitated at first but eventually went over and sat at the table in 'my spot'.

Azmaria took a sip of Fiore's soup, "...Mmmm..!"

"I'm pleased to know that it suits your tastes. All the dishes I made today..were the dishes she liked aswell..." said Fiore, "Watching you reminds me of her."

It was an unusually fun dinner party. Although Azmaria was incredibly, and I mean, extremely quiet, it did look like she was enjoying herself as she munched away on her meal.

It was a different story for me though. Even though I sat next to Joshua and he treated me like and old friend, somehow I didn't feel the same warmth I felt when I was with him four years ago.

"(Why...these people did such bad things. Yet they give me..a sense of warmth.)"

While pondering these thoughts I heard footsteps approaching.

"Then it is time to begin. We must first have 'them' defrosted."

I gasped lightly and looked up to see Aion standing at the table.

"OOOOH..? Not waiting for Videl to get better?" Shader asked.

"He told us, "Don't mind me.""

Shader began scratching behind her ear, "If something goes wrong, Shader will NOT take responsibility, OKAAAY?"

"Hmph, he'll live. Even if he loses his horns."

Azmaria was listening in curiosity when Aion spotted her sitting at the table. She moved back a little on her chair and clasped her palms together in fear, but Aion just stepped forward in front of her and bowed.

"I respectfully request your assistance...to destroy Pandaemonium."

……

We were all walking down a long swirling flight of steps that revolved around a tube-covered sculpture in the center. I was walking behind Joshua and Fiore eyeing Fiore VERY closely.

"(There's something about this girl I really don't like...even if she 'has' been looking after Joshua for the past four years without Rosette's help.)"

Everyone continued walking down the steps when Aion spoke, "Oxygen...is the very basic requirement for mankind's existence. However, it can become toxic in large quantities. The river of souls, the astral line...holds a boundless amount of energy...the combined power of every living being on earth!" He adjusted glasses, "This, we will drive into Pandaemonium's very core...and set it aflame..from the inside OUT! And it is for that goal, that we have sought you all."

"Only those who are chosen by the Astral Line can manipulate it." Joshua explained.

We all arrived in front of these big huge doors that automatically opened once we got near. They revealed a strange looking room that had been dimly lit.

"Yes, all of you!" said Aion, "All seven of you apostles!"

Something in the center of the room caught my eye. I ran forward past everyone who walked and saw there were human-sized capsules hanging from the ceiling.

I gasped, "J-Jasmine? Xiao Xiao?"

What I saw inside the capsules was able to make me choke. There, inside the rising liquid of the tubes, were five of the apostles; two whom I recognized as my friends who were taken by Jenai weeks before.

I spun around, "I'll kill you!" I attempted to ready a spell in my hands but no light appeared between them, "Uh..? I send you forth, Sisters of Destruction!"

Nothing happened. I looked into my hands, "Why..? What's wrong with me?!"

"Haven't you noticed?" said Aion, "That piece of jewelry we gave you neutralized your magic."

I glanced at him, "So...I'm powerless?"

"That's right."

Azmaria saw the apostles frozen inside the capsules and gasped in fear, "This...this is...!"

Aion bent over her from behind and put his hands to her shoulders.

"Leave her alone you FREAK!" I was about to have a go at him when Joshua held me back.

"Your temper hasn't changed that much over the years has it, Heidi?" he said.

I calmed my anger and sighed.

"Now…" Aion began, "Let us proceed with the first step! Call out to her..the one who slumbers in the ocean's depths...Pandaemonium."

All I could do was cry while trying to hold back my tears, "(Joshua...why?)"