To forgive all sins.
By Guardian of Azarath and MysticGoth.
Chapter 1: Past and Future
Summery: Teen Titans/Trinity Blood Crossover. Post-Tokyo. Seventeen years after the TB series, Abel, Ion, and Asta continue their search for Cain, but Cain has other plans for them. Plans involving the relationship between Abel and Esther and their children. But how does the Titans fit in this puzzle? Avert Not Thine Eyes as we take you into a story that will amaze and stupefy you into the world of chaos. Pairings: Rob/Star, eventually Rae/Rob, Abel/Esther, Star/Ion, and Cyborg/OC.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Teen Titans © DC Comics and Cartoon Network. Trinity Blood, and it's characters © Sunao Yoshida. (1970-2004) Gonzo Studios and Funmations Studios.
AUTHOR'S WARNINGS: Trinity Blood is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the Roman Catholic Church/the Vatican is portrayed as a military power as well as a spiritual one. The series also strongly implies major and controversial changes in the Church, such as women being bishops and cardinals as well as romantic relationships and quite possibly marriage between members of the clergy.
AN: This fic is co-written by my friend, MysticGoth, We'll each be taking it in turns to post a chapter, so she'll be writing the next one, and I'll be posting it. For those of you who are reading this that have read or are following my other fic, Teen Titans: SG-1, well, you'll have to wait a little longer, I've sort of come down with a case of serious writers block with that one, but I'll try to update it soon. Now, on with the story.
oOoOoOoOoOo
3077 AD, the French countryside, just outside Paris.
Father Abel Nightroad; a travelling priest for the Vatican, Ion Fortuna; the Earl of Memphis, and Astharoshe Asran, Viscountess of Odessa and Duchess of Kiev, were sat around a campfire late at night, trying to eat a meagre meal that Abel had caught.
"I hope you two like fish; I wasn't able to find much else." Abel stated somewhat nervously.
Asta eyed the fish with something akin to disgust. "You expect me to eat THAT?! You're lucky you're my Tovaras, or I'd eat you instead!" she growled, baring her fangs at him.
Abel raised his hands, leaning back and trying to back away.
"N-N-N-Now w-w-w-wait a minute! Asta! This is all I could find!" Abel said rapidly, in a somewhat high-pitched tone. Even though Abel acted like a weak coward, he was anything but. In fact, he was one of the most powerful beings on the planet; his physical strength far exceeded that of even the strongest Methuselah. His friends respect him, and his enemies, those that survived an encounter with him, fear him.
"Fine…" Asta growled, reaching for the freshly gutted and cooked fish, breaking of a piece, she began to eat. An investigator in the Empire of The True Race, she initially had a low opinion of humans, but after meeting, and working with, Abel on a mission in Venice, she changed her mind, now his ally, or Tovaras (pronounced "Tovarish") she has fought along-side him on many occasions, and was currently under orders from the Empress, to help Abel and Ion track down their enemy, Cain.
She sank her teeth into the meat, and promptly spat it out, and glared at Abel.
"You call that cooked?! You couldn't cook a meal to save your life!" she snapped.
Ion shook his head, and rolled his eyes, honestly, Asta had been travelling with them for just over a year now, and they had like this most of the time. He figured he'd be used to it by now.
"Calm down Asta." He said smoothly, picking up another piece of fish, after checking it to make sure it was properly cooked, he handed it to her. "Here, try that."
Asta graciously accepted the fish and promptly ate it, after which she took a large gulp of water to wash it down.
"Thanks." She replied.
Ion smiled gently and returned to his own food.
Ion Fortuna, Earl of Memphis, born 3045 AD, was also a messenger sent by the Empress to negotiate peace between the Vatican and the Empire. Initially distrustful of humans, he later changed his opinion greatly after his encounters with one of Abel's colleagues, Esther Blanchett, who initially hated all Vampires, and believed them all to be evil, however, her encounters with Ion changed her mind. Although he had the physical appearance of a boy in his early teens, Ion was in fact at least 20 years old, strong willed, and full of pride for the Empire.
Although after recent events, Ion has decided to join Abel in his quest to destroy his brother, Cain.
Ion turned to Abel, and asked. "So, how long do you think it'll be before we find him?"
But before Abel could speak, Asta spoke up. "We'd better find him soon. We've been searching for 3 months now, and still nothing! Do you even know where he is?"
"I believe he is here, in France, we will find him." Abel replied.
"And when we do?" Asta asked.
"We destroy him." Abel replied, the high pitch to his voice gone, replaced by a calm stern tone.
Abel Nightroad, Vatican priest, and member of AX, a sub-department of the Vatican's Ministry of Holy Affairs, was not your average priest, though outwardly he seemed weak and cowardly, he was in fact a Crusnik, a Vampire that feeds on other Vampires. Unlike regular Vampires, Crusniks are artificially created, in fact, Abel is one of four Crusniks, created for the Mars Colonization Project, through the use of genetic engineering and two types of alien technology found on Mars by the colonists. The colonists infused themselves with one of the technologiesBacillus Nanomachines, and became the Methuselah, or Vampires, while Abel, and his four 'siblings' were infused with both Bacillus and their variant, Crusnik Nanomachines, which made them far stronger. Abel is the oldest of the four Crusniks, created in 2088 AD, as was his brother, Cain.
Their 'sister', Seth, current ruler of the Empire (Though no one in the Empire know it's her, or that she is a child because of the many vials covering her and the Voice Modifier she uses), created in 2098, and although she is almost as old as Abel and Cain, she is still physically only a child of perhaps 9 or 10 years old. In her Crusnik form, she possesses the ability to practically disintegrate her enemies with very high frequency sound waves.
"Do you really think you'll be able to kill him? You tried before, and failed, in fact, he managed to kill you once. How do you plan to stop him this time?" Asta asked.
"I'm not sure. But I swore to destroy him, and I will, even if it takes me until the end of time."
"And I promised to help." Ion added seriously.
Asta sighed, and carried on eating. "Then I guess that means you'll be stuck with me until the end of time." She muttered. Then she spoke up. "You've been tracking him for what, 17 years now? I thought you would have caught up with him by now."
"We nearly did several times, but he always managed to get away." Ion replied.
"And what makes you think this time will be any different?" Asta asked. For a moment, Abel had to think. He had always wondered how Cain had eluded them before.
Maybe there was something Abel missed. Some clue that can tell them where Cain was and what he was up to. Whatever it was, Abel needed to found out.
He looked at his comrades and said, in his normal tone, "Well, we need to get some shut-eye before we search again, don't we?"
Asta sighed, "Might as well. And tomorrow, we're going to go once again on another wild goose chase."
Abel, who was now lying with his back to the fire, knew Asta was right. Closing his eyes, he felt his loneliness creep up, it's been like this ever since he saw Esther last.
He then opened his eyes, he noticed Ion and Asta were already asleep. He had to admit to himself, he missed her. It's been seventeen years and yet everytime he thought about Esther, he saw her deep blue eyes looking at him in concern, disappointment, in annoyance and everything else he could think of.
But what he remembered the most was when he finally told her of his feelings.
oOoOoOoOoOo Flashback oOoOoOoOoOo
Albion, Seventeen Years Ago
"Um…Sister Esther?"
Esther looked behind her shoulder to find Father Abel Nightroad looking at her. She noticed he looked nervous, yet serious.
"What is it, Father?"
Abel stood next to her, looking out at the city. Esther then asked him, in almost awe, "It's beautiful, isn't it Father?" But what she didn't notice was that Abel was looking at her, smiling,
"Yes it is, Esther." Esther turned her head quickly, "Father Nightroad?"
"Yes, Esther?"
Esther cocked her head at him, which he thought was cute,
"No more formalities, Father?" Abel smiled at her, "Under these circumstances, Esther, I think formalities are not in order."
Esther smiled, "Then would you mind if I called you Abel?" Abel, nervously, took his hand and locked his fingers with hers.
"It's fine with me."
Then they both just stood there in silence, watching the stars. Esther then gasped when she saw a shooting star, she said,
"Make a wish!"
She then closed her eyes, as if she was making a wish. But Abel just turned his head toward hers, he whispered,
"I already got my wish."
Esther opened her deep blue orbs slowly, her face turning toward his. She asked, almost hopefully, "And what do you mean by that?"
Abel, not knowing what he was doing, leaned down towards her face. With his lips dangerously close to hers, he whispered,
"Esther, I think it's about time that we both got what we wanted."
Then, without warning, Abel pressed his lips against Esther's. Fireworks flew through both of their bodies as the kiss deepened, so deep that Abel's wings shot out without command.
As they parted, Esther saw his black feathery wings. She said, "Abel? What happened?" Abel chuckled,
"I believe that was a kiss, dear Esther." Esther shook her head as she reached out her hand, touching his wing.
"No, this." Abel then finally noticed the wings, he raised an eyebrow, "I don't know. This has never happened before." Esther then grabbed his hand, "I think I know what this makes you."
Abel mused, "And what is that, Esther?" Esther leaned her face toward his,
"My Dark Angel."
But before she kissed him, she whispered against his lips,
"I love you, Abel."
oOoOoOoOoOo End of Flashback oOoOoOoOoOo
Without warning, a tear fell down Abel's cheek at that memory. After all these years, he still loved her.
Later that evening, in the suburbs.
The group were now walking through the streets of the city. Asta then paused, and turned to her companions.
"Alright, we need a place to stay for the night, and possibly several more, we need food as well. I want the two of you to take care of that." She handed Ion a rather large some of money. "Here, use that, since I'm more or less certain our dear Abel Nightroad is broke again." She added, sending a smirk in the priest's direction.
Said priest just smiled humbly.
"Where are you going?" Ion asked.
"To find information." Asta replied, before walking away.
Abel turned to Ion,
"Right, where do we start?"
xxxxx
Asta was now walking down the back allys, looking for anything that was suspicious. She knew that if she wanted to find information on Cain, she'd have to find a member of the Rosenkreutz Order, that wouldn't be easy.
After their failed attack on the Kingdom of Albion 17 years ago, the Kingdom of Albion, the Vatican and the Empire came together and hunted down the Order, destroying most of them, and forcing the survivors into hiding.
After a few minutes, she noticed someone in the shadows, smoking a cigar, he apparently hadn't noticed her, yet. She paused and turned to look at him. He was wearing torn rags, but she recognized them as remnants of a uniform worn by members of the Order. The man turned and saw her, their eyes locked, then he turned and ran, but Asta's Vampire speed allowed her to get in front of him with no problem what so ever.
The man skidded to a halt. He was about to turn the other way, but Asta grabbed him by the throat, and pinned him against one of the walls.
"Not so fast, Terran!" she snapped, bearing her fangs at him. "You wear the uniform of a member of the Order of Rosenkreutz. You WILL tell me what I want to know, if you wish to live!" the man struggled, but gave up and nodded the affirmative.
"Good." Asta said, calming down somewhat. "Now tell me, where is Contra Mundi?"
xxxxxx
Meanwhile, at one of the more glamorous hotels, Abel and Ion were just discussing getting rooms with the manager.
"Oui Monsieur, we have rooms available. Two rooms each?" the manager asked Abel.
"Yes, though there is another traveling with us, she'll be here shortly, I hope." Abel replied in a calm voice.
"And we may be staying more than one night, a week, two tops." Ion added.
"Ah, oui, do not worry, we do not get many guests these days."
"We will also need food for when we leave." Abel replied.
The Manager gave him an odd look, before reluctantly nodding.
"Now, which rooms will we be staying in?" Ion asked.
"Oh, hmm, rooms 7, 8 and 10 will suffice I think." The Manager replied, before filling out some forms.
"Alright then." Ion replied.
The two then turned round and saw Asta standing in front of them with a somewhat pleased look on her face.
"I've found him." She stated.
"Excellent." Abel replied, then looked at a wall clock, "But it will have to wait until tomorrow night, it'll be sunrise soon."
Asta turned and looked at the clock, groaning in response.
"Alright, fine."
"Right!" Abel replied, in a cheery voice. "We best go start unpacking then!"
Asta smiled slightly, before following the Manager and her two companions to their rooms.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Elsewhere in Paris.
"Is it nearly ready?" Cain asked. The man turned to him, and nodded.
"Yes sir, it should be ready by tomorrow."
"Good."
Cain Nightlord, Crusnik 01, leader of the Order of Rosenkreutz, and mortal enemy of Abel, smiled as he surveyed the final preparations of his new little toy. He'd used it once before, seventeen years ago, after the battle with his brother in the skies over Albion, now, he was going to use it again. The device required a lot of power, even though the designs were centuries old, pre-Armageddon, in fact. Cain had found the designs while searching for a possible contingency plan should the Order's primary plans fail, which, much to his annoyance, they had.
For all intense purposes, it was a time machine, when he'd last used it, he'd set in motion a little plan, designed to strike back at his brother.
Often, he'd wondered why he bothered with expending so much resources, but he figured it'd be worth it in the end. He new Abel and his companions were searching for him, he could sense it, now all he had to do, was lure them here.
He just hoped the machine he built in the past was still where he'd left it, because if it wasn't, he'd be stuck.
Without turning to the man, he said, "Send out a messenger, but make sure he takes his time finding them, I don't want them finding their way here until the machine and I are ready."
"Yes sir."
As the man left, Cain continued to watch over the final preparations.
"Soon Abel, I will finish what I began 17 years ago." He thought with a smile.
xxxxx
Next morning.
Abel yawned as he walked into the main restaurant of the hotel. He smiled slightly when he noticed Asta and Ion waiting for him. Once again, he was glad Professor, Tres, and himself had come up with the field generator that protected their vampire wearers from sunlight. The devices, worn on the wrist, generated a force-field over the body, inside that field were the same UV filtering particles that covered the Imperial capital of Byzantium, the mist that allowed the Vampires in the city to move about in daylight without harm.
The force-fields were specifically set, to allow objects to pass through them both ways, but keep the UV filtering particles inside the field, it had taken many attempts to get it right, and since Ion had volunteered to be the guinea pig, he'd come close to burning to a crisp several times.
"What took you so long?" Asta snapped, as she set down her menu and glared at Abel, before checking the wall clock.
"We've been waiting for half an hour!"
Ion set down his own menu, and looked at Abel, and just raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry Asta." Abel said as he yawned again.
"Never mind, just sit down." Asta growled.
Abel was quick to take his seat.
Quietly, Abel set to work eating the toast and bacon that had been set out for them, though he ate somewhat ravenously, Ion just shook his head, and set to eating his own meal.
"The way he eats." Ion thought, "You'd think no-one ever fed him."
"So, what's the plan for today?" Ion asked, looking between the two.
Asta looked up from her toast,
"We keep searching. We're bound to find something sooner or later."
Abel nodded and continued eating, but it wasn't long before he'd finished, which was to be expected for someone who went long periods without meals, not that he wanted to, he just couldn't afford food, given that he was broke, and there was that annoying little matter of the vow of poverty he swore to.
Soon after, the others had finished, and the three were outside in the sun.
"Nice place, isn't it?" Abel commented. Asta gave him a side-long look.
"We can take in the sights later, after we've done our job, and gotten rid of Contra Mundi."
Ion nodded.
"Yes, lets find him and end this. I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of this cat-and-mouse game."
"Alright, lets not stand around here all day then." Abel spoke up.
As the group started walking, they were quickly swallowed up by the crowd, from some distance away, a man stood in the shadows, watching them. When the crowd thinned out somewhat, he decided to make his move. Stepping out into the shadows, he caught Ion's eye.
Ion paused, looked at the man for a few seconds, then recognized him as Rosenkreutz. He immediately turned towards him.
"Hey you! Stop!" before the others could react, he lept over several people in the crowd, all of whom looked up in surprise, others quickly began to disperse when they realised there was trouble.
The man's reaction was quick, he ducked back into the shadows before Ion reached him.
"Ion! What is it!" Abel called above the panicked screams of the people around them.
"Hurry!" Ion replied, before moving into the shadows.
Asta and Abel exchanged a quick look, then worked there way through the buseling panicked mob, people were running in all directions, but Abel didn't have time to worry about them, Ion had found something.
After several minutes off tiring running, they finally caught up with Ion.
"What did you do that for?!" Asta snapped at him.
"I saw one of them, Rosenkreutz."
"Which way." Abel asked.
Ion paused for a moment, concentrating, before long he picked up the scent.
"That way!" he pointed, Abel couldn't help but notice that they were heading down into the sewers.
xxxxxxx
Elsewhere.
Cain looked over the men working. He turned to a Vampire scientist.
"Is it ready?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Excellent. Set the temporal co-ordinates to 17 years after my previous visit. I want to see how the kids are doing."
"Yes sir. What of our guests?"
"Well, I just hope I can take care of Abel and his friends before I leave, if not, and they manage to follow me, enter new temporal and special co-ordinates. I don't want them arriving in the same place and time as me."
"Yes sir."
Cain turned as one of his sentries entered the room.
"Well?"
"They're in the sewers, it won't take them long to get here."
"Good." Cain turned back to the scientist.
"Begin initialization procedures."
"Yes, my Lord." He replied as the machine started to crackle and hum with energy. He began entering the data.
xxxxx
As the group walked, Abel raised his hand to bring them to a halt.
"What is it?" Asta asked.
"I hear something." He said in the low tone that usually meant there was trouble. She new the whole hyper-active, clumsy fool thing was a mask.
"Wait, I hear it too." Ion added. "We're getting close."
"Finally…" Asta sighed, she'd been waiting for this moment for a long time.
The sewers had given way to what looked like a large underground chamber. There was a faint, very faint checker pattern on the floor, faded by dust and time.
Several walkways criss-crossed the room above them. In the centre of the room was some sort of machine, it looked like a giant ring, or short tube, at the centre of which was a swirling vortex of black and grey energy. Several people were milling about the area, but that's not what caught their attention; standing on the gantry ramp leading up to the vortex, facing them, dressed in immaculate white robes, his blue eyes glinting with cold hatred as he looked at them, was the man they were looking for:
Cain Nightlord.
"Abel. So nice of you to join me." Cain spoke, focusing on his brother, who was standing between Asta and Ion, both of whom already had their weapons drawn.
"I swore that I would destroy you Cain, and that's a promise I intend to keep."
"Yes, you have been the persistent little cat in this game, haven't you?"
"Enough of this!" Asta snapped, stepping forward. "It's about time you died!"
Cain smirked "Hmph, so sorry my dear Astharoshe, but, as the Terrans used to say, 'I'll have to take a rain check'." And with that, he raised his arm, palm outstretched. An invisible wave of sonic energy shot out at the three people.
Abel quickly shoved Asta and Ion to the side, just as the blast hit him, and sent him back into a wall.
"Abel!" Asta yelled. Then with a growl, she turned on Cain.
"That's it. Play time's over! Now you DIE!!" she yelled, levelling her Spear of Gae Bolg, the end of which extended out, and a blast of energy erupted from it's tip, but Cain reacted quickly, and raised his personal force-field. The blast hit the light pink barrier, Cain's smirked wider still as he looked at the Duchess.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that."
"My turn." Ion growled, lunging a Cain with his broad-sword. Cain easily side stepped the swipe, and backhanded Ion across the face, knocking him several metres back.
"Cain!" Abel yelled, stepping fowards. Cain saw the look on Abel's face and in his eyes, and knew what was about to come. As much as he loved to fight with Abel in their Crusnik forms, there was a lot of sensitive equipment here he didn't want damaged or destroyed through collateral damage.
"I'd love to stay and play Abel, but I've got placed to go, things to do." And before anyone could say or do anything, he stepped back into the vortex, which pulsed with white light, and he was gone.
"After him!" Abel yelled "I'm not letting him get away again!" he quickly raced to the portal, Asta and Ion close behind.
None of them noticed, the Vampire scientist caring out Cain's orders, and redirecting the three to a different location in space, but still the same time frame, though perhaps a few hours or days out.
oOoOoOoOoOo
Jump City, California, 2007.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos."
Those words sounded through the air over and over again. She could hear them but took no notice of it because it was her own voice, who was speaking them. She had started speaking out these words about an hour ago, but now she suddenly stopped chanting and her violet eyes opened and looked around dark room that was her only place to hide from idiots like Beast Boy.
Here she could rest her troubled soul.
After Tokyo, she needed it.
If she didn't meditate, her emotions could break lose and she'll kill people without her wanting it. Or worse, let out her true feelings toward one person.
Because one emotion had woken inside her, it came straight from her heart but she hadn't told anyone about it. This emotion was something she had never experienced before.
Love.
Love was something she never thought was possible in her case. But who did she show this kind of affection toward? Robin... the leader of the Teen Titans. It had been him who had saved her from the deepest depth of the earth when her father roamed. It had been him who had shown her that she was strong and powerful enough to defeat her father. She owed him a lot but she never told him this. Because recently they had been in Tokyo and Robin and Starfire had turned out to have become a couple.
It burned her soul apart at the mere thought of the kiss that officially made them a couple. She remembered it so clearly that it haunted her nightmares for the past few months.
She may have been smiling, but her heart was crushed, stomped on, and beaten to a pulp in a mere matter of seconds.
She sighed as she gently floated down to her bed, where she sat motionless, with one tear falling down her emotionless face. Why would anyone love someone as creepy as her?
Before she could ponder this dilemma anymore, a red light began to flash throughout the building, and a siren wailed.
"Titans! Trouble!" Robin's voice broke over the intercom.
"It never ends…" Raven thought as she fazed out of her room to Ops.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
AN: Well, that's the first chapter, my dear friend MysticGoth shall be writing the next one, and I'll be posting, as I said before, those of you waiting for an update to TT: SG-1 will have to wait a little longer I'm afraid, but don't worry, the next chapter for that fic is ALMOST DONE! And I promise, it'll be up soon. (Within the week, hopefully)
So in the meantime, please read and review!
Thank you!
GoA.