Hello All!! Welcome back to Got A Hunch!

I put the Author's Note at the end of the first book. Please look?

I messed with the original time line in the story (though you've probably guess this already). Also, I left Trinity Blood: Visitor From the Empire... someplace else. So this will be by ear until I go back... at the end of the week. I'll watch the episode (again, for the 10th time. At the end of this, it'll probably be the 100th time).

Disclaimer: I don't own Trinity Blood, Psyren, or Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro or any of its characters. I do own Jay (though he is based off of someone in real life), Sain, Mar, Jane, and Brian.

Please review!

Edit: Thank you Sages for picking up my mistake! I put that Tristan was attacked on 2060, not 3060! Fixed it!

Editx2: Thanks Harper. Yes, he shook out his limbs, not limps...


Prologue

February 3063 A.D.

Jay smiled sweetly at the Nun who showed him to his room. She blushed and patted down her habit before turning away.

As soon as the door was closed, Jay shifted the ill-fitted cassock on his small form. A quick stop at the Vatican laundry and he had a disguise.

He sighed before shaking out his limbs, making himself limber for the next part. If his mental map was right (which couldn't be wrong because Mar was the one to beat the importance of maps into his head), then Mar and Sain's room should be a floor up and two rooms down.

He smiled ruefully a he crossed the room to the window, shaking out his blonde locks and putting them up with a hair tie.

Before he met Sain and Mar, he never would have thought he would be walking around in a Priest cassock. Maybe a Nun's habit.

The window clunked as he slid it up to the locked position.

"Could you do us a favor, Jay?"

"Of course. Anything for you, honey."

He wasn't kidding. Sain's childlike nature with Mar's mothering were a powerful combination for making friends for life.

And the sadness in their eyes…Brian's too.

He closed his eyes before placing his foot on the sill.


May 3063 A.D.

The Airship Tristan was the first of its kind. The luxurious ship had rooms for every guest and staff member, a ball room, dining room, pool and more. After the hostile takeover of the ship in January of 3060, it was out of commission for a full year.

The elegantly tilted ballroom's outermost wall was glass and a metal bar separated the dancers and onlookers from a long fall. It was on this bar that a lone woman leaned, short haired fluffed up, backless black cocktail dress stopped just above the knee, and black stilettos made her long legs longer. She surveyed the passing landscape while fiddling with the waist length black pearl necklace that she wrapped around her neck twice.

"I haven't seen you so nervous for many years." Mar turned to the face Brian, his hair pulled back and the stylish suit called people's attention to his soft brown eyes. "And never so pale except right before and after the full moon." His finger lifted her chin so he could look at her face better.

Her eyes closed briefly. "You know why. I don't understand how you can be so calm."

He turned to lean his back against the bar, his fingers leaving her chin. "Yes, but I am one to look at the silver lining."

She ignored the tingle his finger left on her skin as she scowled at him. "'Silver Lining'? What, pray tell, is this 'silver lining'?"

He flinched slightly at her tone. Sain and Mar had far more anger from what happened than he and June. "We aren't alone anymore."

Mar sighed, shoulders slouching. "Yes, but they seem to be far more loyal to whomever is doing this to them if they are attacking people. If they are attacking us."

He shifted his weight onto his hip and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I bet if you talked to them-" She spun to glare at him again and he pulled her into a hug. "Give them a dose of 'Mama Bear'."

"We were children." Mar spoke into his jacket, voice thick with emotion. "We needed-"

"A mother. Yes, I know." He nuzzled her hair, breathing in the warm cinnamon scent that had calmed his fragile personality while they were growing. "Maybe-"

"The one you fought had a normal childhood… And then one day he murdered his mother."

He sighed, rubbing his knuckles against her bare back.

Another face, another name, and another hug flittered through her head, placing a rueful smile on her lips. 'Abel's spoiled me. All hugs will be compared with you now… Jerk.' The last thought was half hearted.

"Ah… now that's not fair…" She lifted her head as he spoke. "You're in my arms, but you aren't thinking about me."

It was odd for one of the girls not having their full attention on him when he was around. Especially after they all hit puberty. Being the only boy who survived made it awkward at times. Even more so when someone many years ago compared the girls to the three faces of Eve: maiden, mother and crone.

"Abel?" He asked her. He was rewarded with a blush that crossed her nose and cheeks.

"What makes you think-"

"You said we would meet up with him again in Venice… And we're going to Venice." He was interrupted by the clapping of the crowd. They turned to see the audience applauding Sain, black hair falling out of her bun in an appealing way, after she concluded her dance.

His nudged Mar forward. "Go; take your mind off things by dancing with your Tovarisch."


The silvered-haired Priest idled on the deck of the ship. This was the single most important mission he's ever had. Today he'll be meeting up with an agent of the Empire. If everything went well, it could eventually open up a way for a treaty with the New Human Empire, something that Lady Caterina had been aiming for since she became a Cardinal. Something even more needed with the Neue Vatican still in hiding.

Abel sighed as he leaned against the rail. He hated traveling alone. It was a lot more fun with others. On the way to Rome with Esther, he pretended to be sea sick, something that he never was, but it was fun to see her reaction.

He rested his chin on his hands and his elbows against the rail as the ship pulled into port. When the milk-bottle glasses focused on Venice, a woman tugged at his thoughts. He shook his head to clear it, hands holding reddening cheeks. She said that they would meet again in Venice, but they hadn't seen hide nor hair of her or any of the others with her for almost three months.

"I am not a love-sick teenager!" He shouted into the bay when his blush wouldn't go away. People stared at him like he was a loony, but he preferred it.

"It's just a crush… yes, just a crush. 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' as they say. Three months is quite a long time." He stumbled slightly when the boat finally docked.

"Yes, yes! I'm sure that when I see her again, I'll be completely fine!" His falsetto voice carried as he turned in a circle.

Pale blue eyes closed as he took a deep breath. He had a Methuselah to meet. He had no time to think about her. If they happened to meet…

"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."


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State of next chapter: Finished, Edited and Posted. Please proceed to the next chapter and review that one too?