Hey everybody! Sorry it's taken me so long to upload again…I hope you're all still reading.

):

I've been on vacation and I've had writer's block…and all of that jazz…

So here's a new chapter, fresh out of the oven.

Train Heartnet and the Black Cat series is copyrighted to Yabuki Kentaro-san.

Ese is copyrighted to me.

--

Black wings

--

Hit seven- Sweeping resumes

The next few days passed with ease. Ese hung around with Train and Eve as they scoped the town…Sven was always busy with something else. Before Ese knew it, it had been ten days since the Lunafort Tower incident. Over the course of the next ten days, Ese had been feeling a little weird when it came Train. She shrugged it off.

One morning, Eve and Train were quietly hanging out against a wall; Ese was high above them on a roof top. Eve was causally reading a book and Train just stood there.

He stepped back in surprise about something and Ese spotted Sven walking up, explaining something to them. She then traced his finger that he pointed at to two men coming out of a store. One was a tall, burly man with a buzz cut and the other was small, full of lank, was bald but covered his skin head with a ball cap. Ese spread her wings and felt the wind ruffle each individual feather. She loved the wind…she loved to fly. As the two men started walking, she slowly reached for the sky and started to fly.

Suddenly, Ese heard a shout, "Hey! We're sweepers! We're gonna catch you now!"

Looking down, she knew that it was Train who announced that.

The two appointed targets took one look at Train and made a run for it. Even from her height in the sky, Ese could feel Sven's rage; she looked down again and saw Train run after the targets and he was shortly followed by Eve.

Train ran through the crowds and Ese could see him pull out his Hades; the metal of the gun shone in the sunlight. He ran a few more paces and then stopped abruptly, kneeling and aiming with his gun. Ese decided to follow the targets.

She heard a gunshot and soon, the target with the buzz cut was down. He rolled a few on the ground and brought his head up, his eyes wide.

The lanky man pulled his gun and aimed at Train; at that moment, Eve jumped from the crowd and forced her two fists together and used the nano-machines to transform both of her hands into a large mallet. With it, she pounded in the head of the man of lank.

The bigger man who was shot with the gas bullet was wildly throwing punches; Ese tipped her body and closed her wings, stretching her legs out wide. She landed on the older man's head, her boot-clad feet pounding into his head and causing him to drop on the ground. She gave Train and Eve the thumbs up sign. "Targets captured."

Train trotted up to Eve and Ese and smiled. "Good job, Ese-chan." He said, giving her a wink. She shuttered and felt her heart react weirdly. She shrugged and smiled softly.

Train quickly tied up the culprits and kept them on the sidewalk as Sven came up. "Look!" he said, "Eve and Ese helped me catch them!" he said excitedly.

"OH?" Sven asked, his face formed into a tight, angry smile, "well, good for you…but Train, I've gotta tell you something."

"Yeah…?"

Sven then hit Train upside the head. "LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

--

Sven told Ese, Train and Eve that he had to go through the collection process and to not cause a disturbance in the town. They all agreed and Eve headed off to the bookstore. Ese took to the skies, not bothering to see were her friends were headed off to. The clouds called her. As her muscles stretched out and the wind greeted her feathers, she noticed a dark figure on a nearby building. Curious, she glided gently over to the dark figure. He or she was hunched over and shuddering, like they were cold. Alarmed, Ese flew swiftly to the figure.

It was a big mistake on her part.

--

Train sighed as he sat on some steps, awaiting Sven's return with their bounty. He rubbed his sore face and muttered under his breath at how Sven didn't have to hit that hard. He looked up and noticed how the town had a lot of open-air stores. "Wow," He muttered, "I didn't notice them before." He silently stood up and shoving his hands in his pockets, casually walked over and caught a look or two. "I wonder," he started, "if there could be something for me to pick up, since the rewarding process might take awhile…" he was lost in his thoughts when he saw it. On a dummy, there was a floral yukata wrapped around it. His brain started to instantly think of her as a memory clicked back:

--

"Oh this outfit…? I found it in a used clothing store in a town that I had visited awhile ago. It's a traditional clothing of a far-eastern style called a 'yukata.' Sure, it does stand out but I have a right to wear whatever I want!" She said, clasping her hands together…

--

Train sighed as he looked at the yukata once again. He wanted to think of Saya some more, for his brain to slowly disintegrate into a stupor that would ease the sharp pains that he always felt when he thought of her. Just as her face came to the back of his eyelids, he heard an ear-shattering scream. Alarmed, he shot his head up to the skies and his heart stopped dead when he saw Ese shuddering around, twitching…and falling.

"Train!" Sven suddenly called.

"NO time!" Train snapped back, running towards the direction in which she was falling as fast as his legs would carry him. Normally, he was a fast runner but with this crowd, he was quite slow. Plus, Ese had made it almost to the other side of the plaza he was in, so his heartbeat was ticking down the seconds, ticking down her fall. He wasn't going to make it.

He wasn't going to make it.

"ESE!!" he shouted as loud as his voice would carry.

He didn't make it.

A sharp thud and a loud crunch were heard as Train shuddered to a thundering stop.

--

It took her a few moments to realize that the sharp, screeching sound was her screaming. She didn't remember falling only landing. Her brain was hurting, like someone probed the inside of her head and didn't give her any sleep gas. Her arm made an unpleasant noise as she attempted to push herself up. The pain shot through her arm and up her shoulder as she decided that being pushed up could wait.

Before she fell, she clearly remembered the dark silhouette. As she approached him, she saw him smile and her mind was filled with horrifying thoughts and a very loud, very unpleasant sound that caused her to fall in the first place. Wherever she fell though, it was dark and stunk like the high-heavens. Unable to move, and not quite sure what to do, Ese started to cry, wailing loudly at her uncomfortable position and the pain she kept feeling in her body.

"Ese?" she heard Train's muffled call.

She wailed in response. "I'm here!" she cried.

"Ese, Ese, I'm going to get you out, okay? Just hang tight!" Train reassured.

Ese hiccupped and silenced her loud cries. She heard Train grunt over something and then a loud groan overhead was heard as the light flooded in. Train's face looked down on her as he lifted up the darkness. "Ese," he started, holding his free arm out, "grab onto my hand. I'll get you out of here. "

Ese didn't need to be told twice as she attempted to lift her arm again, only to immediately flinch it down out of pain. She let out a hoarse cry and remained still. Train sighed.
"Are you alright?" he asked.

"My shoulder hurts." She responded. I can't move my arm. It hurts, Train, it hurts!" she started to cry again.

"Train?" Ese heard Sven call. "What happened?"

"Ese fell into a Dumpster." He explained. "I can't get her out…she says she can't move."

"I can get her out," Eve's quiet voice chirped. Ese saw her head bob as she jumped to where Train was standing. Train held open the top of the Dumpster as Eve's hair fell inside and wrapped around Ese's torso and legs and good arm. Very gently, Eve lifted Ese out, struggling a bit and turning to lay her down into a soft pile. Unfortunately, the softest pile was an old mattress covered in dust and sand, but this was an emergency and thus, Ese was laid down. As Ese's back met the mattress, she felt something probing out of her shoulder and felt the warm liquid ooze out of her back. As Train's, Eve's, and Sven's faces came into view, she noticed that they were bone-white and horrified.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting up. With her good arm, she reached and clutched her shoulder.

And she felt it.

Something punctured her shoulder…from the inside…and was jutting out of her back. Her fingers traced the broken bone and she looked up, just as horrified. She couldn't move her arm because the back bone of her arm was poking out of her back.

"Does…it hurt?" Train asked quietly. He was contemplating on taking her to the hospital, or taking her back to base.

"Yes." She said quietly. A loud click was heard and Ese flinched. Sucking in her breath, she forcibly pushed the bone back into her body and held her arm straight out as the bones and muscles started to click back into place. She winced and cringed, as did Train, Sven, and Eve, with every click and snap. After a few moments, she rolled her shoulders and popped her neck, and looked up at Train.

"You feel better?" Train forced. His was mortified at what just happened.

Ese looked around. She stared for a moment at Train and nodded. "I feel fine now." She moved her arm in response.

"But…" her eyes scanned the ground. They looked empty compared to the past few days…she looked hollow.

"Sven," She said, "I think I want to go home and lay down."

"I'll go with you," Train offered.

"No," Ese said firmly, "I just…want some time to myself…to think."

Train bit his lip and nodded. "Okay…I see then."

Sven handed Ese the key to their hotel room. "Alright then…well if you don't mind, while you're thinking, we're going to get something to eat…want something?"

Ese shook her head no.

"Alright…come on, Eve…Train." Sven said as he started to walk away. Obediently, Eve followed Sven and Ese stood up. She patted the dust off of her back and shoulders and sighed. She smelt horrible. "Well, enjoy your lunch." She whispered.

Train grabbed her arm.

Shocked, Ese turned and looked and saw his eyes smoldering, glaring at her with intensity that could scare the devil.

"You're not telling me something." He muttered under his breath.

"Wha…" Ese started,

"Drop the charade. What are you keeping secret?" Train stood up and looked at her again. "What memories did you see when you fell?"

--

How did Train know?

D;

Remember to read and review! I'll get more chapters out as soon as possible!