A/N: Why is it so hard to start chapters?
Disclaimer: I'm not magic. I cannot magically change ownership of Trinity Blood.
Stella snuck out of the room and felt strange. Usually when I murder someone, I have people running after me. Oh well, there'll be enough later. She though. A flash of light caught her eyes. She went to the steps. A door was built right into the woodwork. She reached for the handle and turned. The door opened.
Funny, I was expecting alarms and guards. They are relying too heavily on Lysistrata… or not. Stella shuddered and started down the hallway. I'm starting to wish I took Father Nightroad. No! No I'm not! I am glad I left them behind. They are safe. Grr… this is what I meant by stop thinking!
There were dim lights every fifty feet or so. Definitely meant for Methuselah use. She went down a few steps. She felt a sharp pain in her neck that almost instantly went away. She's close, but not too close. Bad. Got to find her first.
Stella stepped closer to the left until her shoulder was running along the wall, feeling for her sister. She felt a prickling in the back of her neck, like needles. She shivered at the thought. She continued on her way. She started to sweat when the slight itch of the prickling turned painful. Finally, a hand clasped over the top or her spine. She gasped.
No. So close… so close. Keep going. Just a little longer… Her arm ran over a cold surface. A steel door. Bright light was filtering out under the door. A shaking hand touched the doorknob; it opened easily. A sickly sweet smell hit her nose.
"Stella. I was wondering when you would catch up."
Oh god… give me strength. Stella set her face and stepped into the blinding white light. I promised that I wouldn't take long… Abel.
Abel paced the room, not particularly thinking of anything, and not realizing that he was giving Leon a headache.
"Abel! If you don't sit down, I'm going to personally strap your ass to a chair!" Leon Sr. roared.
Abel looked up, startled by the sudden noise. "What? What is the call for such language, Father Leon?"
Leon growled to himself. In a patient tone, he spoke slowly, as if it would help Abel understand. "You haven't been the same since you got back from The Empire. And you know… you're not moping like you are supposed to be. I mean, from what I heard, the girl pretty much went to her death." Leon stated this gently, knowing that the girl had an affect on both his friend and his son.
Abel smiled and looked out the window. "That I know, but Stella's tough. When I went after Cain, everyone figured I was going to my death. Even you, isn't that right?"
Leon looked away and began to yank angrily at his habit. "Well, I suppose…" He mumbled.
Abel chuckled. "Don't feel bad, Leon. I know what you all thought. Several times I thought it myself. Stella will be all right." He said, but he was no longer talking to Leon.
He was telling myself, but every moment he was resisting the urge to sprout wings and fly to Stella's side… and her little kiss (which, of course, as a Father he barely remembered) was making it no easier. He had been devoting himself more and more to his church duties. Just that morning, he spent three hours sweeping out the entire cathedral.
Leon crossed his arms. "Abel, don't be surprised if she doesn't…"
"I know, Father Leon, I know." Abel said softly and sadly.
There was a pounding and Michael Leon burst into the room. "I am never training with Huge again!" He shouted and draped himself dramatically across the bed.
Leon rolled his eyes and pushed his son off the bed, taking a seat there himself. "Yeah you are." He said gruffly.
Michael raised his head indignantly from the floor. "Hey! He's trying to make me look like him! I mean, look at this!"
He motioned to his leg. The adults looked down to see that the cloth was torn away savagely and the leg itself brushed, beaten and scratched. Leon Sr. chuckled.
"Hehe. That's Huge for you. He just doesn't want you to get hurt when it come time for you to do these things out in the field." Leon said, clapping his son over the head.
"Humph. Why can't you teach me?" Michael asked."
Leon motioned to his leg. "On this old thing? There is no way in hell that I am gonna teach you how to fight." He said, reaching for his cane to smack his son with. Abel very wisely moved it out of his grasp.
Michael left to his own room, and then Abel turned to his old friend. "Leon, you know that you are going to have to teach him eventually. He's quite capable and a lot like you. Soon he'll be actually using those disks of death you gave him for his fifth birthday."
Leon ran a hand through his still-thick hair and sighed. "I know Abel. If it were up to me, he wouldn't be involved in any of this at all."
Abel smiled. "I remember when you were that age, you and I were flying a busted plane to an island full of homicidal children. How is Peter, by the way?"
"What am I, his keeper? I was just doing my job, and now I'm saddled with keeping track of two vampire teenagers. As if Michael wasn't enough." Leon said.
Abel smiled. He knew that Leon had a soft spot for those kids. Peter was now working directly under Vanessa for the Movement. Wendy was a secretary for Virgil. They lived together in a tiny, one-room apartment and though they were both quite young, they already had their hearts set on getting married when they were older. Whenever they visited the Methuselah in Albion, Leon's leg would suddenly act up because of the 'damned drafty weather' and he would take five extra minutes to get up. Abel knew that he was giving Wendy some small gift like a flower or a tiny bottle of perfume and slipping Peter some money secretly. He also happened to know that Peter put all the money Leon gave him into a little cupboard that only Abel and Peter knew about. The money was meant to buy the pair a new house once they were married.
Thinking about those two put Abel in the best of mood he had been in all day and for a moment, he had forgotten his grief and regret. Of course, as he knew from experience, hurt could be ignored for the moment, but never totally went away. He would be reminded once again when he was struck later that night by the most foreboding feeling he had had since Stella was being beaten back in Dormaloone. Something's wrong… but this time I can't help… please be okay, Stella.
A/N: This chapter actually requires a bit of memory work here. You've got to do a little bit of remembering. The first thing you've got to remember was in the prequel, Lia's last words to Stella. That's around chapter twenty something… can't remember right now, but that won't be critical until next chapter. Next, you've got to remember that Leon trains with Huge now and that his father used those spinney disk things. The next thing that you've got to remember is the fairies in the Neverland episode, Peter and them. Last, you have to remember what happened in the third chapter of the prequel, between Stella and the guards when the Emperor was still in power. Wow. That's a lot of remembering. Oh well. Some stuff you gottan know, others you don't, so I just outlined some stuff that some of you might not remember. Review!