Chapter 1

Abel slowly opened his wintery blue eyes, a white ceiling and a light came into focus initially. For a moment it reminded him of his youth in the lab, and he sat up quickly to assert his surroundings. It really looked like one of the ones he was in as a child.

"Hey! Slow down Abel, it's okay, you're safe here." William's soothing baritone voice came from Abel's left.

Looking down at himself, Abel could see he was in a medical bed, and stripped to his underclothes. He ached everywhere, like his muscles had been strained and stretched past capacity.

"Professor… what's going on?" Abel's voice croaked as he tried to speak, his throat parched. He wasn't hooked up to any machines which was good, but he didn't remember being hurt either.

"Well, you are in a medical room within the underground area of Albion. Lord Walsh thought it was best you were here for your recovery from... um well everything the last few days.. Do you remember much? How do you feel? What do you want to eat?" William had shifted in his chair and had his elbows resting on his knees as he looked at the other man, his pipe held in his teeth, his brown eyes warm with concern.

Abel shifted in the bed to allow himself to lean against the headboard. His silvery hair draped across his shoulders and chest, the paleness of his skin had improved over the night, but still held an almost blue tinge. For a body that had taken so many wounds over the years, nary a scar blemished it, except for a thin jagged line at the v of his collar bone. Hardly evidence of the mortal wound he had suffered several days ago. William was just stunned that the full fusion of the nanomachines had repaired their host back to full physical state. Scientifically it was a wonder and his mind cried to find out more about it, but his respect and love for the man sitting in the bed kept his cravings at bay. To have been dead and rise again, what would Abel's mind be like? Was it still Abel or had the Crusnik taken over more of him now.

"I remember Esther, hearing her crying… And Cain, he was talking to her… he was going to hurt her to get to me. Then the Crusnik took hold of me… rage, rage like I haven't felt before…" he closed his eyes and licked his lips, checking absently that his teeth were still human and not the maw of razors from the beast within. William grabbed the glass of water sitting on a table beside them and offered it to him patiently. Abel opened his eyes and took the water gratefully as he sorted out his thoughts.

"I have never gone to that level before with the nanomachines, but I know I set him back, his butler took him away before I could finish my attacks… Esther was there, she saw it all again. Is she ok? Once Cain was gone, the nanomachines didn't really deactivate like normal, I don't think I did anything more… Then I am here. I feel so sore all over. And the nanomachines are different, I am different now… I don't know how to explain it, sorry Professor."

"That's alright Abel, that is a lot more than I thought you would remember. Esther is fine, no harm came to her at all."Abel relaxed with the news of Esther's welfare. "Honestly it's astounding. You have been down here for several days now, somehow your system went into a sleep mode we couldn't rouse you from. And we couldn't give you any fluids or anything, the Crusnik zapped me every time I tried to get an IV in." he smirked slightly at the memory of the several attempts. "They seemed to be quite opinionated now."

"Oh lord, I hope you were ok! Did anything else happen to me?"

"Oh, pash I'm fine, take more than an arc of electricity to slow me down. And no, Esther was able to get Tres and Lord Walsh to help take you to the elevator that gets us here. You have been here since. Now," he sat back in his chair and chewed on his pipe contemplatively. "What do you need to eat? I have things for your human side, and stuff for the Crusnik. What do we feed first?"

Abel looked down at his lap, examining his hands slowly. What am I now, he thought, am I a human or now fully a monster in the trappings of a human?

William seeing that Abel was unsure, stood up and gathered some items from a counter behind him. Returning he set before him, a cup of tea, granted not steaming but still warm with its many spoonfuls of sugar, some baked honey cakes and some berries on a plate. Then he set a small sealed jar with a thick red liquid in it, beside the tea. Abels eyes snapped up to Williams somewhat panicked when the jar was set down.

"I'll give you some time without my scrutiny, there are a few people here interested in your welfare, and some decisions to be made. I will be back in about fifteen minutes."

Abel nodded towards him, and looked back at the food.

He picked up the tea and once it touched his lips, greedily gulped it down. His stomach growled in response to having finally some nourishment. The honey cakes and berries were soon to follow. As he tried to avoid the jar, static electricity seemed to crawl along his forearms towards the jar. He knew what was in that jar, the Crusnik craved the methuselah blood with a vengeance. Long fingers suddenly started to shift into their monstrous clawed forms, teeth elongating into the sharp pointed maw and blue eyes darkening to a deep red. Abel shook his head side to side, to regain himself from the Crusnik. It wasn't activated yet! It shouldn't be manifesting without the commands!

He had the jar opened before he realized it, and once the smell reached his senses… Abel felt his wings pushing at his back, the air now held the static charge of a storm filled with ozone. He wasn't in control anymore, the beast took the jar and guzzled the lifeblood down without care.

When the jar was empty, licked clean by a long tongue, Abel was vaguely aware again. He felt something different along his consciousness, soothing and familiar like a childhood memory…

The namomachines reacted too, calming down in his veins and mind. What is this? Abel thought, searching his mind for more of this sensation.

Traces from the intensity of his transformation were gone from his body now and he sat there the jar still in his hand and eyes closed when William walked back in.

William cough politely and tapped his cane on the door frame.

"Feel a bit more yourself now with some food in that never ending belly of yours?" He asked with friendly teasing.

Abel started and put the jar down quickly.

"Ah… um well yes, thank you Professor… for all of it." He paused as William took the tray away and sat down again in the chair. "So... what happened to me?"

"Heh, yes well I've got Caterina coming to explain some of that… as it seems like something between you two." William fidgeted with getting his pipe out and cradled it in his hands, displaying his discomfort. "But, bullocks...Abel you died, Cain blasted your head off your ah... body. We gathered you up and put you in a coffin... Then Mary Spencer's attacks got everything in a mess. It's been a hectic couple of days. When I came back to the palace, what was left of it anyway… you were whole. Tres was sent here by Caterina."

"Ah… explains the gap in my mind I guess," he sadly smirked. Abel reached up and rubbed at his neck as he digested the information. "You said she's coming to explain more? Perhaps I should get dressed…"

"Ah yeah funny thing there… you were pronounced dead by the Vatican. I can't give you back your uniform, it will raise a lot of questions. So here's some clothes that Lord Walsh supplied that should fit you." He gestured towards a cloth bag resting beside the end table.

"Oh and before I forget the lovely woman with the red spike of hair and the young man from the empire have also come to Londonium. They demanded to accompany Caterina when news of you having been injured came out."

"Asthe? The empress must have been doing some negotiations with the Vatican… Professor I'm not entirely sure I can be around the methuselah right now alone…" Abel fidgeted a bit as he pulled the bag of clothes over and proceeded to get dressed in the somber grey and black casual wear.

"Well, yes I did expect some issue with that since the nanomachines would be a bit grumpy with the level of bacillus you take in to feed them. As much as you don't like it perhaps another jar or two would help… But I will do my best to stay nearby, or have Tres in attendance." He smiled and reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "It's alright, we understand this is a bit odd for you. Oh, and here's your glasses. I repaired them and tweaked the lenses to have a stronger glare reducing element , as I'm sure your eyes are even more sensitive than before being how well you can see."

"Ah yes that will help me a lot. Honestly it's hard to believe that I need glasses because I see too well but they make the light bearable." Abel settled his glasses on and felt a semblance of normalcy come over him. The clothes showed his towering height and slim figure, the sweater helped hide how slender he was as his wide shoulders let it drape around his torso. It wasn't a great fit but doable.

"Well, are you ready for Caterina?"

Abel sighed a bit and nodded. While William was gone Abel finally got his hair combed and tied back with a black ribbon. At least they gave him back his boots, a good boot was worth its weight in gold as far as he was concerned. Sighing he sat on the bed to pull them on.

"I was worried you were never going to wake." Caterina's smooth low voice carried into the small room. She stood at the door in her less ornate robes, the deep red and gold trimmed dress and cloak framing her slight figure and draped with her heavy blond hair. Her monocle hung from its clip at her lapel, her cardinal hat oddly missing.

She walked into the room and up to Abel, reaching out her hand to his shoulder, then to his cheek, as if to assert it was actually him.

"Well, that would be a plausible fear given what's happened," Abel replied. Her forward action of touching him was a bit out of character for her.

"I… didn't know what to do when we got the news." She quietly admitted as she sat down on the chair, reaching forward to hold his hand.

"William said there was things we needed to discuss… what is it?" Abel softened his voice as he relaxed his hand to her administrations. If it soothed her, he didn't mind.

"I made the decision to give you Liliths remaining nanomachines, in hopes you could be brought back... From what information I've gathered since, Cain is something we are not able to deal with. Leave us the Order if you can get to him. I… can't lose you yet… obviously he knows how to harm you as nothing else has." She lowered her grey eyes and moved her thumb over his hand almost absently as she spoke.

Abel studied her face as she spoke, his eyes widened when she mentioned Liliths nanomachines… Of course, a conversation long ago about how the nanomachines are able to rebuild tissues from recently dead tissue. It explained the odd feeling when he consumed the blood earlier. Lilith or 03 was with him now, and 02 wasn't exactly happy but it was working themselves out in his system.

"You're not wrong Caterina. Cain and I are very similar, even more so now that we have both been fused with the nanomachines at 100%. I need to talk to Esther to know what was said before I… ah well…awoke I guess as all I can remember is she tried to stop him from taking me."

"Is he like you? Crusnik?" Her somber grey gaze looked up into his icy blues.

"Yes, he was the first. We fused him when he had a very bad accident, we didn't know it would change him so much… but we too didn't want to lose him. He was my twin… and perhaps he is still in there but it's 01, a full fusion of the sentient nanomachines that have control." He struggled some with this confession, the guilt of what that fateful day nearly nine hundred ago on Mars had caused. Caterina had been the first person to find him and she helped him find the world again after his long exile. She deserved some of the truth.

She nodded and sighed slightly, releasing his hand and settling back in the chair. The lady of steel was putting up her walls again, her administrative air returning to her all at once.

"So, I can't take you back with us to the Vatican, Brother Petros as well as others including Alessandro confirmed your death. I am sorry Abel, we walk a tightrope with the inquisition and this would have all of us tried for some offence or another by my brother."

Abel nodded since William had mentioned this earlier so it wasn't as much of a shock.

"Astharothe and Ion have come here, since they were in Milan to further trade and peace talks with us. I brought them with me, and perhaps they can help you in the search for Cain. I'm not sure exactly what the Empress has planned yet… but you should have someone with you. Solo missions never go well for you and I can't spare Tres anymore." She smiled sadly as she knew their association was coming to a close. Her demeanour softened again.

"I probably will never see you alone again after this Abel. I'm not sorry for bringing you back, and I wish things had been different. I will truly miss you, the glimpses of you I was allowed to know." She stood up and leaned over to him, looking quickly into his eyes she placed a chaste kiss on his lips in a silent farewell.

He blinked in momentary surprise but then returned the kiss giving his own acknowledgment of her feelings he had always known were there under the surface.

She straightened up and moved to the door. "Thank you Abel, for everything." And she exited the room in a silent swirl of fabric.