Notice: This is written by both Flame800900 and I. Flame has full control over Cain and Thomas as I have control of Abel, same as our last story. You guys should know the rules by now... Right? And no we don't own Trinity blood.
Everything was timed perfectly. As soon as the Nightlords plus Thomas finished eating and washing the dishes, the airship landed in Milan. Everyone seemed happy enough to be back on land again, even if Asthe was a bit mad over the fact she needed to step on terran soil again, she also seemed glad to have her feet on solid ground. As planned, Tres was stoically standing at the front entrance of the estate to welcome them back. Thomas asked where William was and when given the answer, vanished into the mansion. There was no doubt in anyone's mind why he'd asked. Everyone was looking at Cain, Asthe, and Lilith. Cain shifted, uncomfortable under the stares of his brother and Seth. Even Asthe was glaring at him... though that was more than likely from the fact she'd learned he really was a crusnik.
"Where's Caterina's office?" Seth asked suddenly as she looked away from Cain to Abel, for an answer.
"Down that hall and second door to the le-" Abel cut off when Seth dashed off in that direction. "Left," he finished dully. "I could have shown her. I need to go there anyway."
Cain sighed. "She must want to speak with Caterina badly. What did you want to talk to her about?"
"I need to give her a report for what happened at the base," Abel shrugged. "I think she's just worried that'll I'll do something reckless. Since... um- the other Cain..."
"Killed her," Cain whispered and looked away from his brother. He started off, calling over his shoulder, "Good luck then." Walking around the building, Cain let out a long breath. A part of him wanted to return to his reality, but this one was so much better than his had been. He missed the Caterina he'd known and the AX agents of his reality, but the Seth here and Abel... His throat tightened. He looked up at the sky. Could he really bring himself to lose them again?
Foot steps alerted him to someone approaching. "Where are you going idi- priest?"
Cain turned to see Asthe following him. "Around," Cain told her. "I'm not going to run off, if that's what you're wondering." He stopped and leaned against the wall, turning his eyes towards the clear blue sky. "It's a beautiful day. It'd be a shame to spend the rest of it inside."
Asthe did the same and glanced at the sky before looking back at Cain. "So you're a crusnik? A Nightlord? Along with that other priest?" There was an edge to her voice that Cain couldn't quite label but it was far from hostile.
"You were the one who didn't believe I was even after I told you point blank. And my surname is now Nightroad." Cain didn't take his eyes off the sky, but his prepared himself for a fight if one came.
Asthe cocked her head to the side but seemed to accept his answer. "I saw you fighting today... And I would be honored if you would train me," her request was strained and she didn't quite meet his eyes. "I haven't awakened yet and it might take me years until I do. During the fight I saw how useless I was..." She was babbling now and Cain couldn't help but stare. There was still a deep scowl on her face but her words weren't harsh.
Straightening, Cain gave her a smile. "All right."
"I understand if you don't- wait, what?" Asthe cut off and finally looked up. "Really?"
Cain sighed. "Yes, really," he stated.
"Thank you," she bowed stiffly. "Can we start now?"
It seemed even with him being a crusnik she still didn't like him... though he wasn't really sure he wanted her to like him. Cain sighed, he really wanted to find a sunny place and sleep. It felt like ages since he'd gotten any sleep. "Sure," he muttered, thinking more on the lectures Lilith might give if he hurt relations with her nation any further.
"There's a clearing over there," Asthe pointed passed Cain with her spear. "You can activate this right? I wanted to learn how to make the beam larger... and I guess my attacks are too straight forward..."
Cain grunted and moved towards the clearing. "Make the beam larger requires concentration and focus. In the middle of battle it's harder than it sounds. Even Athina had difficulties with it and she practiced for years."
Asthe lifted her spear to glare at it in thought. After a while she shook her head and said, "show me," while tossing her family heirloom at Cain.
Sighing, Cain caught the sword and pointed it where there were no trees. He didn't hesitate, the beam shot out so wide it would've ripped through part of an enemy arm's line.
"How?" Asthe breathed, eyes wide.
Cain held out the weapon to her. "It responds to your mental commands. Think first on getting the beam only a little wider than normal size; then move from there. In order to this don't just focus on the beam but the space before you." Cain withheld the fact that he's made several quick calculations in order to find the right amount of energy to use. Abel could get the beam wider than Cain could, but his brother had always been better with math and other such stuff than Cain had. It had been no secret that Cain was better when it came to fighting and anything physical while Abel was better with politics and anything dealing with the mind.
Furrowing her eyebrows in thought, Asthe did as she was told and fired. The beam was small compared to what Cain had produced, but still wider than the last time she used the sword. Asthe frowned though, and quickly shot off another green beam. Again it was wider than the last, but the girl didn't seem to notice her progress as she was too focused on getting it as wide as Cain's.
Asthe turned her glare on Cain after what must have been her tenth shot. "It's not working,"
"It is," Cain stated. "It's larger than the normal beam. That is progress in and of itself. To get the beam larger try putting more energy into it than you have been," he suggested.
"Who ever made this should have put a switch on it," Asthe grumbled softly so only a crusnik could have heard the complaint. Hefting the sword once more she focused and Cain could tell this one would be larger than her last. Green energy sparked at the tip before it exploded forward and hit the nearest tree.
"See, it was bigger," Cain commented.
"I never got it that large before," Asthe admitted after awhile. Focusing again she sent another blast, but this time made sure to not hit the tree. A small smile met her lips when she noticed it was still much larger than before.
Cain smiled at her. "You're not going to master it in one day."
"How long did it take you to get to where you are, in your mastery of this sword."
"Err..." Cain hesitated. He didn't want to confess that this was only the third time he'd touched it. That would just make her feel useless and comparing someone to the mind of a crusnik was just stupid. They were built to have minds faster than any supercomputer built or would've been built for centuries. "I wasn't keeping count... more than a day."
"More than a day? You can't mean that you've only taken a week to master it," Asthe stated. "It should take months! Years even."
"I don't remember, all right?" Cain snapped. He turned away, muttering, "Sorry." Rubbing the back of his head, he added, "Just know you're progress today is better than anyone I've seen before you. Not even Athina could get it that big until a year of trying..."
"I couldn't have done it without your advise though... so thanks," she mumbled the last part before looking back at him hopefully. "How about some hand to hand combat? You said so yourself that in the heat of battle it'll be harder to focus, so I need to practice."
Cain turned to her and showed her a stance that would make it next to impossible for a human to knock her over... though humans were really the least of her worry. "In a solid stance you're not only harder to knock over but you can also have more powerful of strikes..."
"I have my own stance," Asthe stated, while smoothly setting one foot in front of the other. It wasn't meant to be used as a solid stance, but more as something someone agile would use. Cain could spot a lot of openings though. Her legs were particularly week, if the enemy got close enough they could easily trip her by simply kicking the side of her leg.
"All right, let's see what you can do first then," Cain said and stepped back. He didn't enter a stance. In a sense it was his own fighting style that he'd picked up from his youth while fighting Abel, the soldiers of the UN pitted against him, and enhanced humans who had been forced to fight him.
"Weapons, or no weapons?"
"Eh?" Cain stared at her in confusion. "Hand-to-hand normally means 'no weapons.'"
"Just asking," she said while setting her sword on the ground. "First blood?"
"Yeah," Cain stated. He looked at her and she looked back at him. Neither of them moved.
Then Asthe charged across the space. She leapt into the air and aimed to kick his head. Cain swung around her. He took hold of her leg and tossed her into the ground as lightly as he could. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her.
Pushing herself away from the ground, Asthe back flipped and landed neatly on her feet. She charged again but this time she sent a barrage of punches to Cain's face. All of it was a distraction. Her main goal was to kick his feet out from under him. Unfortunately for her, he already knew what she was planning and was able to avoid all her attacks.
"Stop going easy on me," Asthe growled as she swept her leg over the ground to try and get Cain off balance. "You haven't even tried landing a blow!"
Cain just gave her a small smile before he suddenly crouched down as he swept one foot out from under her. Caught off guard and balance, Asthe pitched towards the ground. Before she could strike it, Cain took hold of her wrist and pulled her right into his waiting knee.
Gasping, Asthe would've fell to the ground dazed if Cain hadn't taken hold of her hair. The next second was tossed to ground, harder than before. Blood filled her mouth.
"If I didn't go easy on you, you'd turn into a rag doll just like that," Cain stated.
Asthe glared and spat blood on his boots. "Then I guess I'll be a bruised pulp by the time we're done," Asthe growled while slowly standing up and going back into her original stance.
"I would rather not hurt you too much."
"How am I supposed to learn when you're going soft on me?" Asthe shouted while sprinting forward and moving in to land a punch to his stomach. "If I don't take hits now its likely that I'll be too shocked to do anything once getting punched and all the training would have been for nothing."
Cain whipped around her blow and kicked her in the back in one fluid movement. Soon she might just land a blow on him from how tired he was. He dodged a kick from her.
Asthe followed up with a a barrage of punches and before he knew it, the space between them closed considerably.
Cain dodged each one before going low and bulling her over.
"Erk," Asthe gasped as her neck cracked and head slammed against the ground from the impact.
"Give her a chance brother. You'll break her will to fight at the rate you're going. At least allow her to get one shot in." The voice was soft so that only Cain could have heard it, and it was definitely Abel's voice. Cain glanced toward the source to see his brother walking along the side of the estate, caring a stack of papers with him. "You should consider praising her a bit. Tips will also help," Abel continued as he shot a grin at Cain. "Well, I best get going before she notices me. I've paperwork to fill out," Abel sighed the last part.
"Hey, where are you looking?" Asthe shouted. A split second later, Cain felt a solid kick meet his torso. In the distance Cain could hear Abel withholding a chuckle. Asthe jeered, "hah! I actually managed to hit you!" She smirked as if telling him, 'see? I'm a worthy opponent.'
Cain staggered so the impact wouldn't break her leg. 'Of course you are,' he thought to himself.
Mentally he vowed that Abel was going to get it the next time he saw his brother. It was one thing to give advice, it was another to randomly appear and speak so only Cain could hear him to distract Cain long enough for Asthe to kick him. Gah! Then Cain smiled as he realized that it was really the only way the girl would've hit him with him going at the rate he was. To believe he'd still been holding back too. It was just sad because he knew Havel would've been able to hold his own against Cain and Havel was human.
"You're going to need to work on your balance," Cain advised, "when we started, I noticed that you were easy to trip and unbalance. Here," he showed her what she'd need to do in order to so and keep to the style of fighting she favored.
Asthe raised an eyebrow at the change of pace, but did as instructed anyway. When she settled into her new stance her eyes widened. "I can actually tell the difference," she said and took a few jabs at the air before leaping into the air and kicking the space before her. "It does feel more balanced. Thanks."
Cain nodded. "Okay, now try it on me."
Moving back into her stance, Asthe made sure everything was exactly as Cain had showed her. Taking in a breath, Asthe leapt forward and let loose a combination of different attacks. Cain could easily spot a dozen openings, three of which were very obvious and would need to be worked on. Of course if she could use those openings to her advantage and set them up for bait so that she could counter easily, her opponent would be facing a world of hurt.
Several of Asthe's strikes struck Cain. He was slowing from sheer and utter exhaustion. The fact he'd been helping Asthe with this wasn't helping him any either, but he had to admit it was fun... just a little though.
Over two hours later, Cain collapsed, his back pressed to a tree and feeling more his age than he ever had before.
"Now who's the rag doll?" Asthe panted.
"You should talk when you reach my age, see how you're doing then," Cain grumbled.
"Your age?" Asthe repeated and stared at Cain. "You're making it seem like I'm picking on an old man."
"Do you really think I'm twenty after what you've learned today?" Cain asked, His eyes half closed as he looked up at the darkening sky.
"No," she admitted, "but you look nothing like a geezer. Besides, do you think the empress would appreciate it if I kept asking her if her back was okay? Or if she needed new glasses? I wouldn't be alive right now if I ever thought of the empress as an elder!" Asthe paused as she moved to pick up her weapon. "Of course if you like I could always treat you like your real age... grandfather," Asthe grinned.
"Tch," - Cain spread out on the ground and stared up at the stained sky - "I don't care how you treat me anymore."
"Idiot!" Asthe growled and rolled her eyes jokingly. "We should go. The sun has nearly set and I'm sure Thomas has found something to help us get back to our dimension." She offered Cain a hand.
"Perhaps, but I'm not certain it's so simple," Cain stated. He hesitated before taking her hand.
Asthe pulled him up and met Cain's gaze but didn't say anything before turning around to head for the estate. The rest of their walk was followed by complete silence.
"Found anything?" Asthe asked on entering.
Cain wanted to collapse and sleep off what had happened, but it seemed unlikely this would happen so he kept his back straight and a blank face.
William blew smoke from his pipe as he looked away from the machine he and Thomas were working on. "We'll need to reconfigure this prototype so that it'll be able to transport the four of you that came to this dimension. The hard part is pinpointing that dimension and finding a large enough energy force."
"So it will be awhile yet. In that case, I'm going to bed," Cain stated and turned, waving over his shoulder at them.
A/N: I'm positive there's people who're reading this. Unless one person continually looks at each chapter a hundred times there should at least be a hundred people reading this story... give or take a few... Reviews... please?
Notice: Flame and I... you know what? I'm not typing the same thing! Flame if you're reading this then I'm tired of typing the same thing over and over and over again. So here's the Japanese translation! "Kono hon no chosu wa Flame to Bluewing desu." And all of you should know what I just said.