Chapter Ten: Tidal Darkness, pt 2; Crest, Break, and Wash over Again
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Trinity Blood…I only dream I do…
They found refuge in a church shortly after. It wasn't the safest place…but it was mostly intact; far better for protection than most of the buildings in the ravaged Rome. They were both so exhausted by then, there was little they could do accept crawl in between the splintered pews, curl up against each other for warmth and fall into an uneasy sleep.
Sakura's eyelashes fluttered vaguely at the delicate, cool sensation on her exposed cheek. She resisted the coming consciousness at first, but with the next faintly wet sensation against her skin opened her eyes.
She looked up, into a small drift of snow filtering through the roof.
'That's….not right…its spring…' She thought faintly as she shook herself awake.
"Helga…" Abel drifted off, a look of rage filling his eyes for a brief second.
"Who?"
"She's a Methuselah with the ability to manipulate ice and the like…and it looks like she brought an early winter…"
"But…"
Sakura wanted to cry: they had been counting heavily on the coming dawn to give them time to regroup and mount a counter-offensive…
"But even clouds won't block all the UV radiation…right?"
"Naturally, no. However, this storm is far from natural."
Sakura steeled herself; she wasn't going to let them win. Never; that wasn't an option. She would fight to the death…until her blood painted the ground and breath stopped coming to her lungs.
Leon simply fell back, too tired to do anything more than pant for breath. Every step he took was an act of sheer force fighting the winds that threatened to keel him. The snow had risen to his knees, and he fought for every inch of space he moved across.
The Professor winced as he pressed his hand against the wound in his shoulder. At the very least, the rush of snow would cover his tracks in a short amount of time and give him some leeway to plan.
Sakura leapt onto the nearest building, glancing back constantly to look for Abel…she lost him so easily in the white out with his silvery hair and blue eyes…
But it was the first time in a long time she was glad she had pink hair; most of the time, it was a source of chagrin for her and her commanders: it was difficult to disguise, too rare to pass off as anyone but her, and didn't hold dye well. But here it was useful as a primitive tracking beam.
Thankfully, he was right behind her…as always.
She shivered involuntarily with the next gust of wind---her outfit was hardly appropriate for the sudden turn in weather. But even before that spasm had passed, his jacket had folded around her shoulders.
"Abel-san, no." She replied, shaking her head.
"I, Sakura, am fully clothed." He replied with a smirk.
She blushed, mumbling some half-intelligent argument that she was, too.
Vaclav smiled to himself as Kate's voice came over his bio-com-link: She had reached the Empire and was docking. But, more importantly, Methuselah warships were being dispatched. Among those on the ships were Astharoshe Asran, the Duchess of Kiev, and the Count of Memphis along with Baybars of the Royal Guard.
Father Hugue smiled faintly to himself as he examined the body of the dismembered Methuselah at his right: it was quite clear that it was in fact an extension of Dietrich's original Auto-Jagers---these were much stronger, and the wiring suggested that they would be able to perform Haste, or Acceleration, for a much longer period of time than previously could be maintained, their muscles had also been rigged to perform at a much higher rate without the risk of cellular and tissue break-down, moreover, parts of their intelligent, higher thinking brain had been left intact, but overridden with electronic chips and plates that were obviously Empire technology, likely stolen, given the recent progress with the Empire.
But this was bad news for all of them: the last waves had been basic Auto-Jagers…these were much more advanced…
Kate uplinked with the Methuselah warship Red Widow and began to load the files on the last known positions of the remaining Vatican enforces with special attention for the AX.
"These statistics are outdated by at least twenty-four hours." Astha stated, chewing thoughtfully on her lip.
"And the best we have." Ion replied.
"True. We can assume a few things, given our previous experiences with some of the Vatican members: Father Abel is quite good at forcing the enemy into a narrow position and obliterating them, leaving very little in terms of doubt about his whereabouts. Father Leon, naturally, would head straight for a fight and the Professor would very carefully secure a perimeter and fight from there." Baybars said, pulling up a rough triangulation using Kate's systems.
Tres followed the tracks in the snow, able to calculate the millimeters difference in depth and width that proved it was a trail made by two people following after one another.
Likely, he deduced based on fine weight and depth penetration analyzes, Abel Nightroad and Haruno Sakura.
Sakura collapsed against the cold stone of an ancient, marble angel, struggling to catch her breath.
"Sakura…" Abel trailed off worriedly.
"I'm fine." She replied with a weak smile as she forced herself up and continued on.
"Nearing minimum range for maximum resolution." Kate said with a smile as she linked to the Methuselah systems once again.
"Negative." Astha replied, "There's far too much distortion in the air to assure your transfer."
"What?!" Kate cried.
"You heard her right." Ion replied, typing furiously on the nearest key pad, "Estimated time of arrival has just increased by four hours."
"Damn it." Astha hissed.
Vaclav disappeared into the chaos, tearing Methuselah corpses apart as quickly as they could come at him. Brilliant arcs of crimson disappeared into the white out, staining the white snow scarlet. Bones snapped, organs tore, muscle ripped, and skin was shredded beneath his talented hands, his feet moving in perfect, mechanical coordination.
The Professor gave a small smile of victory as he parried the ax away with the blade hidden in the wooden case of his cane. With a swift upward knee to the undead creature's stomach, he spun and cleaved its head straight from its heavily armored shoulders.
Dancing back from his companions, he ducked left, appearing behind the next and ripping it in half before slamming the blade through its skull to ensure a kill. Feigning left, he struck right, tearing through the goggles and into the eye socket of the next, twisting the sharp protrusion for maximum damage.
"Is that all you have?" He asked with a smile, whipping the cane slightly to clear the gore.
The next wave descended and he moved…
Hugue moved, a blonde and gray blur, through the heavily clustered Auto-Jagers, heads and limbs flying behind him. Even if he couldnt kill them as efficiently as he wanted to, he could make it impossible for them to attack. In a single, practiced motion, four heads went flying, three sets of arms splattered against the snow, and eight legs were severed.
He shifted in between shadow and visibility, from into the snow to directly in front of them, and each movement was a fatal blow for the nearest creature; a lethal ballet that was choreographed to their inevitable destruction, the music the fading beat of their hearts and the shredding of their bodies.
Abel cried the command, a sudden electrical discharge pulsing off of him with enough force to obliterate the first ranks of the newest wave. His scythe swept through the next row a moment later, the tail end of it snapping well into the third string.
Behind him, Sakura's hands snapped outwards, chakra flowing into them and literally vaporizing the spinal cords. Her leg snapped up, breaking the third's neck with an audible crack; spinning with the momentum of the movement, she pulled between the next two and back-handed both hard enough to send their heads tumbling. Flipping over the ax flung at her ankles, she slammed her foot through the abdomen of the nearest and pulled up, cleaving him in half.
Abel materialized behind her a moment later, pressed back to back against her.
"They're stronger than the last ones…faster…" She panted, wiping sweat away from her eyes despite the bone chilling cold.
He nodded in agreement as he batted another ax out of the air. It landed with an audible clack a moment later, spiraling across the frozen pavement. In the time it took the weapon to come to a stop, the air was a sea of blood as the duo tore through the next round.
Six hours later…
Sakura and Abel, half-dragging each other, half-crawling themselves, collapsed on the ground. The storm had let up in small sectors for brief periods of time…not even Helga could maintain that barrage for so long…but now she appeared quite rested based on the ferocity of the new wave of white pouring over them.
They moved into a cathedral; the roof had only recently collapses and formed a primitive room off to the side that was free of the three foot depth of snow elsewhere.
His destroyed wings trailed blood across the white snow, her own crimson life force leaking from multiple wounds.
"Master…" She trailed off, eyeing his wounds; chakra moved to her hands.
"No." He replied throatily, catching her wrist gently, "Save your strength."
"But, Master…"
"I heal quickly." He assured her, scanning her cheeks and the flushed skin of her chest and throat…her fever had returned.
"Switching from Strategic Planning Mode to Genocide Mode."
Tres fired casually, all of his shots guaranteed kills. His eyes glowed a faint red with the rapid calculations pouring into his head and the analysis that he was completing. In a single fluid motion, he floated across the snow, firing as he moved, clips snapping back into place as empty magazines fell into the snow.
Damaged weaponry was abandoned in the snow, new firearms produced from the folds of his jacket as he cleared an entire block. The fiery light of his eyes died back again, his guns falling back into the holsters hidden in his clothing and on his hips.
Sakura leapt up, her senses firing wildly as she defended against the nearest attacker as best she could, sliding backwards with the force of the impromptu kick that collided with its chest.
Abel's talons bit into the throat of it a moment later, severing its head from its body. A second later, she repaid the favor as another came at his back: she slipped between them, catching its ax with the kunai in her left hand, crossing over her chest as her right hand balled into a first and slammed against its chin, the body erupting into a spray of brilliant red.
Abel's massive wings shook mightily, his body lifting upwards as his scythe swept across the air, destroyed Methuselah bodies raining down around Sakura, their blood pouring down on her.
And a moment later, gunfire erupting around both of them, bodies hitting the floor.
"Target Elimination confirmed."
"Tres…"Abel smiled.
Below, Sakura's smile told him everything; relief was written so clearly across her face, he felt it vicariously.
"Immediate evacuation to a more easily secured location is advised." He stated simply.
Abel nodded, motioning for them to follow---even in the white-out, he could see better above them in Crusnik mode than they could from their position on a clear day.
"Approaching minimum range." Baybars stated as he uploaded Kate's image.
"On my count." Astha replied, her hand coming up, her fingers going down before her wrist snapped down.
The switch was flipped and the photons escaped the ship.
Abel sank down on the ground as Sakura collapsed forward, both struggling to catch their breath.
"Requesting damage report." Tres stated, kneeling beside the kunoichi.
"Uninjured." She replied.
"Minor injuries from close quarters combat." Abel lied between gasps.
"Multiple enemies approaching from all sides. ETA: five minutes."
"Kate, reporting."
Sakura's head snapped up as the hologram's feet filled her eyes, her own emerald orbs drifting to the strawberry blonde's kind eyes.
"Recommended course of action?" Tres asked.
"Situation brief?" Kate replied.
"Neither Father Abel nor Sister Sakura have sufficient physical reserves to assure victory. Likewise, munitions on low. Chance of victory is less than fifteen percent."
Kate's eyes narrowed, softening with dread and guilt: she would survive, as a picture comprised of color and light, as her friends were killed and there was nothing she could do.
"Father Abel…a Crusnik is like a Methuselah, right?" Sakura asked.
He nodded, still on his hands and knees panting for breath.
"Kate-san…what about my blood?" She asked, her head snapping up.
"What do you mean?" She asked hesitantly.
"Will it work!?" Sakura screamed, forcing herself up threatening.
The hurt on Kate's face registered for only a moment before she rocked her head in indecision.
"Will it!?" Sakura demanded again, the energy of the enemy flickering across her cold skin.
"It wouldn't be nearly as nourishing as the blood of a Methuselah…"
Sakura didn't respond, she simply fell to her knees beside Abel, tearing open the collar of her shirt to expose her neck and an expanse of her chest. She slipped her arms under his, hauling him up to his knees, and pressing his head gently against her neck.
He shook his head furiously; it would be unforgivable. If only those Auto-Jagers weren't technically walking corpses…they had remained in such a state for so long, their blood didn't only lack a sufficient colony of the Bacillus virus, but was harmful to his system.
"Please…" hot tears rolled down her face, washing across his cheek and over her neck and chest, "I need you…Please…"
The terror in her voice was so real, the utter pleading in her salty tears….He had sworn to protect humans…
"Sakura…"
The same energy, only closer…stronger, danced across her skin and she shuddered beneath him.
"I'm begging you…" She whispered.
"Forgive me." He replied, his mouth parting.
"There's nothing to forgive." She said, feeling his lips move gently.
She felt the penetration, the delicate pinprick of his fangs, but no pain…no, she felt sensation much lower; a tug inward as he drank, a momentary withdrawal as he swallowed…her breathing grew heavier, her hands groping vainly behind her for substance---his wings….their sheer size made the impossible to grasp and cling to… a cold hand found her's, Tres reaching out in a moment of kindness. She gripped his hand tightly, fighting the rising tide of sensation in her lower belly.
Kate and Tres averted their eyes, knowing their intrusion was impossible to avoid and knowing that the giving and taking of blood was highly intimate.
"Abel." She gasped as he applied gentle pressure to the small of her back, lifting and arching her to better expose her throat, oblivious to the fact her hips were flushed against his. Her free hand came across his back, her fingers digging into the destroyed fabric as she felt the upward pull of his mouth. His wings trembled slightly, falling around her as he leaned over her, pushing her gently to the ground, his body arched over her delicate frame. She moved beneath him, pushing against him in submission as he pulled life force from her. A moment later, he had pulled her up into a sitting position.
She felt two still-hot tendrils of blood run down her chest as he withdrew, his tongue sweeping against the wound once more, lapping up the remaining ruby droplets.
Her world had long begun to darken and fade and the next thing she knew was a brilliant flash of light that glowed from her vantage point, stretched across the ground.
Tres was over her in an instant, shielding her from the flying debris, the bodies, and pressing his palm against the punctures in her slender throat.
"Damage report indicated symptoms indicative of traumatic blood loss." He stated, his voice wobbling to her ears.
Kate replied waspishly that that was a statement of the obvious and radioed the Methuselah warship.
She never finished the call; several of the reanimated Methuselah corpses scurried from the shadows, axes drawn.
"No!" Kate cried as Tres was thrown from Sakura by a well-placed blow to the back of his shoulders.
Sakura's glassy eyes snapped open as she rolled onto her feet, stumbling back in time to avoid a blow to the chest. But it came at her again, too fast for her to evade…
Abel dropped between them in a blur of silver and black, rendering the corpse in half with a swift pull that brought the blade of his scythe across the creature.
"Stay away from her." He stated simply, spreading his left arm defensively as his wing cupped behind her. He pulled her close, cradling her against his chest.
"Master…"
"It's alright." He replied, anxiety crossing his crimson eyes for a flicker of a second.
"I trust you." She assured him, burying her face against his neck as he pulled her off her feet, her entire body supported by one arm.
He smiled, drawing back his scythe and lashing the chain out in the remaining gray of vampires, annihilating them instantly.
Sakura woke up in a massive bed, her wounds bandaged.
"What…Where am I?" She asked herself, fighting back her daze as she forced herself up.
"Aboard a Methuselah warship, in the quarters of the Duchess of Kiev." A young man replied.
Sakura turned over, her feverish eyes meeting his clear autumn red eyes.
"Count of Memphis…" She trailed off.
"Father Nightroad…"
"Master!" Sakura cried, scrambling up as the memories flooded over her, and sprinted into the hall.
She rounded the corner badly, slamming against Astha, who had the presence of mind to catch her as she stumbled back.
"Hold it. You should be resting." She hissed.
"No, Master…"
"Yes?" He interrupted, appearing from the next hall over.
She broke away from the Viscountess of Odessa and collided with him, twining her fingers in his jacket as she sank to the floor. He fell with her, catching her up in his arms.
"I'm so sorry." He said, averting his eyes.
"For what?" She asked, tears gathering in her eyes.
"To have taken from you…that you had to see the monster I am…."
"Don't say that!" She snapped, curling closer against him, "You're not a monster."
He smiled faintly, smoothing her hair against her scalp.
"Father, pardon my audacity, but perhaps it would best for her to return to bed." Astha stated a moment later.
"Of course." He replied, swinging her easily into his arms.
He laid her down in his own bed, pulling the blanket across her.
"What happened?"
"With the help of the Empire, Rome will be retaken in short order." He replied.
"And the AX members?"
"They're all fine, if not a little worse for wear."
She smiled faintly with relief before shuddering slightly and curling under the downy cover.
His eyes widened slightly in realization: there was no way she could have recovered so quickly from the advanced state of hypothermia and blood loss she had sustained, let alone the fever that had recurred during their time in the field.
He sat down, kicking off his boots and shrugging off his jacket before he slipped in beside her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.
"Methuselah are such hardy creatures that they very rarely carry the supplies necessary to the medical treatment of humans." He explained.
She nodded, moving against him. She hadn't realized how cold she was until she had something to compare her body to.
Abel frowned slightly to himself at the icy chill of her skin. He felt entirely responsible for her current state: from the moment he had pierced her neck, he had tasted the illness on her blood, the bitter edge in the crimson fluid. But even through that, he had continued to drink the strong, sweet fluid that flowed through her veins. If he had stopped any sooner, he wouldn't have been able to obtain the eighty percent output that had ultimately saved them…but if he had found a way, she wouldn't be so sick…
And another thing puzzled him: he had never heard of a Crusnik being able to sustain for any period of time on human blood, but he supposed it was similar to a human choosing tofu over animal meats. In fact, he had already been forced to feed off one of the Methuselah aboard the airship; Astha, seeing his condition, demanded he take a small portion of her blood. Ultimately, he had…but not to the extent he had taken from Sakura; that wasn't to say that he hadn't drunk quite a bit, of course---as a noble of the empire, she had some of the purest, strongest blood. It had simply taken less than it usually would have to fill him.
"Master…"Sakura trailed off.
"Yes?" He replied.
"Thank you…for saving me."
He smiled faintly to himself, "You were the one who saved me."
TBC