Time's up.

[ACMI: Magic Society]

Joule staggered out of the small room she had been singing in and Uiharu gasped at the sight of her.

"Joule, are you okay?"

"We failed." Joule spoke quietly "We were tricked. The cross was never in the city."

Uiharu's eyes went wide at that "So we only have-"

"Less than three minutes." Joule said as she looked at the clock on the wall.

In less than three minutes, the cross would activate. Joule wondered if she could stop it somehow, Lumen was able to help her remember Mental Out's memory manipulation. Could she also help... un-convert her?

But that would only be her. Academy city wouldn't be safe. Her breath caught as she followed that thought with "GV wouldn't be safe."

Uiharu brought her to the sofa and they both sat down. They had never really lost before. Oh sure, they had been in crisis situations before and both of them had been kidnapped before but in all of those cases there had always been enough time to fix the problem.

Joule's thoughts went to her friends. How was Misaka doing? She was with her family and Index. Would they change too? Would everyone in the city, during this festival when people from all over visited, be forced to convert?

What about Index? She was already religious. Would she be okay or whould the cross convert her faith to something different? Would Stiyl be okay? Would Touma?

Touma's arm might be able to protect him but then he'd be like Joule would in that situation. Alone in a city transformed into something else.

"Two minutes." Uiharu said quietly as she made tea. She was clearly worried as well but she seemed to be putting on a show of calmness for Joule's sake. She thanked her for that silently.

This place, this city which had been the first real place she could feel safe regardless of where she went, was about to change. Would Espers be hunted down now? Would the church say something like "That kind of science doesn't fit in a pure world" and have them all hunted down? What about the espers themselves? Would they go willingly to their execution after the brainwashing of the cross got ahold of them?

It was the fear of change, Joule realised, but a justified fear regardless.

Could she and Touma work together to cure people? Would either of them be able to remove it's effects on people?

Her eyes fell upon the clock. One minute thirty seconds.

"I'm going up to the roof." Joule announced suddenly. Uiharu gave her a careful look.

"Joule, you are okay, right? You're not going to-"

"I'm not." Joule promised "That thought didn't even cross my mind. I just want to be outside."

Uiharu nodded "Then I'll come with you."

Joule didn't mind that so they took the stairs up to the roof together and Joule shivered in the night air.

"It's cold." She said kind of unnecessarily. It was said so that something could be said.

Uiharu nodded and checked her watch. Joule didn't ask her how much time was left. She didn't actually want to know.

Unbidden, her eyes turned in the rough direction of the airport. She wondered what Touma and Stiyl were doing now? She would have asked Lumen but she was on her way back.

Maybe she should have sent a message to Misaka, a warning that they lost. No. Misaka would blame herself if that happened, she would have thought she could have stopped it if only she had come too.

Saten then maybe? Joule hadn't heard from her since she went to the cavalry battle. What was she doing now? Who was she with?

Joule didn't want to take out her phone though, it would tell her how little time there was until the cross began it's work. How many seconds the people of the city had left of freedom.

Her thoughts went to GV as she looked up at the sky though. He didn't even know about this. He'd wake up and everything will have changed.

As she looked up, there was an odd sound.

[ACMI: Academy City]

Explosions? Fireworks?

She finally checked her phone. The time had passed the deadline. It was kind of funny that they were celebrating their own loss.

Their own loss?

"Hey, Uiharu." Joule asked quietly as they watched the fireworks "What were we told was required to make the cross work?"

"The stars?" Uiharu answered but a moment later she realised the same thing that was playing at the edge of Joule's thoughts.

They hadn't noticed a change. The cross hadn't activated.

Uiharu's phone was out in a flash to check how long the fireworks were going on for. Was this just a delay or was this...?

Her friend sighed in relief as she spoke next "They'll last long enough. The cross can't activate tonight."

True, that didn't mean they couldn't try to use it tomorrow but they would have another shot at finding it tomorrow.

Joule's phone made a pinging noise as an email arrived. It was Touma, he was basically saying what they had already figured out. That, and that they were making their way to the hospital and to tell everyone that they had won for now.

That was something that she and Uiharu were very happy to do.

End of chapter.

Behold, the chapter where Joule thinks of the worst outcome while likely 90% of my readers already know it's going to be fine.