Back once again for chapter 3. Sorry that this took so long to get out, but I was never really happy with how it turned out, and to be frank, I'm still not overly pleased with it. However, it's better than it started out being. I still feel that there are pacing issues with this chapter, but I can't put my finger down on it. So, if I can get my sister to look at this over spring break and changes are made, than I'll edit as soon as I can.

That said, thank you to everyone who's read this story and to everyone who's reviewed. To see that I've gotten a review makes me smile and lets me know that there are people that enjoy my little foray into what might have happened between Remington and Aion.

Disclaimer: Chrono Crusade is owned by Daisuke Moriyama.


Chapter 3

The days passed by, and little by little, I found myself slipping into a routine. Every morning I would get up, take a shower, clean myself up, and then I would head towards the dinning room. I would pour myself a cup of coffee, eat a pastry or two, and read the paper. Usually I would meet Aion there, or I would find some message (either written in his too neat script or a verbal one left with one of his "people") saying that he had already left for work and he'd be back by seven.

So until he did return, I tended to waste my days in the library until he came back, though I was known to wander around the grounds for hours on end as well. None of the maids and man servants understood why I did it. But than again, they just seemed to view me as a very long term visitor. Gabriel (and on occasion, Ambrogino) was the only one that had any interest in me it seemed.

Other than of course, Aion.

Some nights the two of us sat for ages in his sitting room talking about nothing in particular. These talks usually involved too much scotch and something strange in the news that had caught our attention. However, there were evenings when the past came up. To me, they were bitter sweet memories that I didn't want to drudge up in conversation. To Aion, they were links to an era he had missed.

He tried to find out what happened to Rosette and Chrono with light pokes and prods, but that was line of conversation I never followed through on. As far as I was concerned, those two had earned their rest from the leader of the Sinners, and he didn't need to know about their time together. It didn't stop him from trying though.

When he asked about Joshua I relented. He had, after all, spent four years with the apostle, and Aion had taken care of him…even if at the end the poor boy had ended up broken and clinging to whispers of memories that tormented his child-like mind.

"What happened to him, after I died?" he asked one night rather suddenly. I don't recall what we had been speaking of, but it had been far removed from the events of 1929. We had been laughing, so why the somber topic of one of our mutual companions came up, I don't know.

"Which him, Aion? I've already told you, I'm not going to speak about Chrono."

"No, not him," he said. "Joshua. What happened to Joshua?"

I sighed and leaned forward in my chair. "He was never really right after he had the horns removed, you know. It's almost as though in order to save himself he went back to the time before he met you and Chrono…He couldn't fully remember anything about what had happened, but if you talked to him at the right time, he would catch glimpses of memories he once had. He was happy if nothing else. He always had a smile on his face, and he was always talking about a new story idea he had when I came home from work."

"You two lived together?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

I nodded. "Yeah, after I left the Order I became his guardian seeing as how he didn't have any living relatives that could care for him. I was there for him until '42, and then I was deployed. I don't know how, because it should have shown up that I had a dependent. So, I was sent here to Italy and Joshua was sent to a hospital," I said before standing up and pacing. Even just thinking about Rosette's little brother made me feel unbelievable regret. As though I had failed him just like I had failed his sister and Chrono.

"What happened to him after you were deployed, Remington?" Aion asked. It sounded more like a demand than a question.

"I got a letter one day saying that he had gotten sick. I sent inquiry after inquiry trying to figure out what the problem was, but they didn't have an answer until it was too late. At first it was, 'We don't know. It could be a tumor' and then about two months after my first letter, 'We think it's a tumor' over and over again. Finally I got one from him saying that he missed me and he felt so tired and strange. It was the last thing I ever received from him when I knew that it was still him and not the drugs.

"About three months after that letter arrived the hospital sent me one last missive saying that he had passed away. They didn't say too much about it other than he had passed in his sleep and the tumor had been inoperable.

"I contacted the Order and Kate helped me make arrangements for him. He's not next to Rosette and Chrono, but he's at a place that he loved to go to. I never went back though. As far as I was concerned, there was no reason to. The rest, I think, you can figure out on your own."

The Sinner sat quietly for a long time, apparently contemplating what I had told him. He almost looked…sad. "Do you blame yourself?"

I shrugged. "Some days are worse than others."

"I once told Chrono that as survivors we have an obligation to keep moving forward. It was true then and it's true now. Joshua wouldn't want you regretting the past. Rosette and Chrono wouldn't either. Sometimes you have to let go of the past so that you can progress with the future."

"Are you telling me to forget them and move on with my life?"

Aion shook his head. "I'm just telling you that you need to let go of your regrets. You can't feel bad for every person you weren't able to save. All the other Sinners died so that I might try and continue our dream of destroying Pandemonium. Their sacrifice gave me the opportunity to be where I am today. You never forget, Remington, you just keep going."

He got up and left, leaving me to go over his words again and again. Damn it. How was it that he always seemed to know exactly what to say? He had known what to say to the people in San Francisco after the destruction of Chrono's and Joshua's battle (even if it wasn't what they had needed to hear).

I admit, sometimes people need soft reassurances instead of the cold truth, but in the end, the truth still needs to be told. Aion had a way about him that made you believe fantasy over reality. That the reassurances were, in fact, legitimate, and that reality was the lie.

The sad thing was, I was really beginning to like his version of the truth better than my own.

That next morning, I was able to get up for the first time in decades and not feel like I had done something wrong. I looked outside, smiled and got ready to face the day. When I went down stairs, I felt like I could mean it when I said, "Good morning" to the maids and butlers.

The change in my countenance must have been more obvious than even I realized because Aion asked if I had finally woken up on the proper side of the bed. I didn't say anything in response, but he gave me a smirk and went back to reading the paper like he always did in the mornings.

"I was wondering," I began and the devil raised an eyebrow, "when do you have your first business party?"

The smirk returned. "In two days. Gabriel went to pick up your suits this morning, so look nice."

"Fine, just as long as you try and not be a smug bastard."

"I'll attempt to, but it's so hard to change such a crucial part of one's personality."

I smiled and started to eat. Yes, for the first time in decades, I no longer felt like I had something to prove to the ones that time had forgotten: And it felt damn good.