I do not own Trinity Blood.

Thanks to KURRYdaJIGGAmonkey, UndeadTiger, and C. Banker for beta reading for me!

Ion stood in front of his grandmother Mirka Fortuna.
"Grandmother it is good to see you again after such a long time. I have missed you." Ion spoke softy looking at the floor guilty.
"I missed you to Ion. The Empress informed me of your task so good luck. I hope you do a better job at this imperial command than you did on the last one. " The duchess of Moldova smirked at her joke.
"Get some sleep Ion you are going to need it tomorrow night when you give your report to the council Oh yes before I forget the young Terran girl you were so infatuated with what was her name?"
"Esther grandmother her name is Esther" Ion said with a trace of longing in his voice.
"Ah yes Esther. Well Esther has--."
"I know grandmother Esther has become Queen of Albion. I heard about it while on my adventures with Father Nightroad you don't need to tell me." Ion said quietly as he fell on the sheets and blankets of his bed.
"Of course dear, I did not know if you knew or not." Ion's grandmother said lighting a fewscented candles and gently tucking him in.
'Of course what you don't know is that Esther is still deeply in love with you. The Count of Manchester is going to make sure she stays that way until you come into the picture. Heaven knows that I can not wait for the plan to be successful If I play my cards right I'll be holding my great grandchild in my arms before I know it! Unfortunately your love is tabbo on top of that you and Esther seem embarrassed to show their feelings to each other. I guess a few pokes, prods, friendly nudges, and in their case, shoves are most certainly in order to get them in the right direction. I could barely contain myself when I saw the footage from the hidden security camera in the dungeon. To think that the red haired nun who would so willing give her blood to my grandson would become Queen of Albion was shocking. I will make sure the two of you are married if it's the last thing I do!" The Duchess thought. The rest of the day swiftly pasted into night Mirka Fortuna found herself gently ticking and shaking her grandson awake.
"Ion the council is waiting." Mirka said gently.
"Mmmm Esther...So bad.. You in bed with me all day... You can't sleep during the day then Esther? I'll help you... I'll tire you out so you can sleep. You can stay here in bed with me... Your a bad girl aren't you Esther... " Ion twisted in bed wrapping the sheets around him. Mirka smirked at her grandsons words.
"Ion's clearly dreaming about Esther. The scented candles I picked out I hoped to reminded him of her. I am going to have to get some more for later. It's a shame I have to wake him.
"Ion dear it's your grandmother you can't play with Esther all day and night. The council is waiting." The Duchess spoke softly into Ions ear.
"You want to play with me all night and sleep all day. Mmm yes we can do this as often as you want to help you sleep. Methuselah rest during the day business starts once the sun goes down... Ahh, Ester I have limits! Another round, alright... No the council doesn't need me... No grandmother isn't calling me... We can play... as long as you want Esther...Esther!" The young Earls' eyes shot open as he awoke from the sound of himself screaming Esther's name in pleasure.
"Grandmother was I talking in my sleep?"Ion asked blushing as he remembered who he was dreaming about and what they were doing in his dream .
"I'm not sure dear? Anyway it's time to address the council." Mirka said quickly Ion showered and dressed. He met his grandmother the council chambers.
The chamber was huge with crystal chandlers glittering with the soft glow of the electric lights. Each level had a small gold colored couch with red cushion for the Lord or Duchess to lounge on. The looks Ion was receiving from the other members was murderous in intent but closely cloaked by smiles and smirks. Most were hoping for him to be put to death because of the Duchess of Kiev's testimony concerning him leaving her side when she went to negotiate with the Vatican. The murmurings in the chamber soon faded. As every member saw the shadowy outline of the floating throne on which sat her Imperial Majesty Empress Augusta Varadica.
"Presenting the Lord of the Empire, the Mother of all Methuselah Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Augusta Varadica."

Her electronic voice echoed though out the chamber from beyond the jade curtain.
"Greeting representatives, my beloved children of the night. As I am sure all of you are no doubt aware of 20 hours ago an assassination attempt was made on the Duchess of Moldova's life. Fortunately we had advanced warning of this catastrophe. Now Lord Biabars head of the Yentici will give his report."
"Two days ago I was ordered by the Empress to go to the mansion of the Duchess of Moldova's. We were told to order everyone out. It was under the pretence having the mansion evacuated because it was being fumigated. Also we were told to observe the mansion closely. We were told to alow no one to enter except for the exterminatior. No one came in the except for the exterminatior. Once that was done we continued to watch the masion no one came near it. After two days two people came the first was a Methuselah. The second was a Terran. Which conformed what the Empress said that we would find The Earl of Mimphis and a Vatician oprative. I was given previous instrustions to take the two of them strait to the Empress. After that, we continued to search the area for evidence of the terrorist. The explosives that were used in the bombing were of the same type that were used to blow up the mansion 10 years ago. We are using all our resources to unravel this mystery. However, as of late, we have found ends my report."
"Thank you Biabars. Now as to the second order of business as I am sure all of you can see young Ion Fortuna has returned. What say you the Council of his actions?" The Empress spoke quickly.
"The Earl of Memphis disobeyed an Imperial edict. Not to mention he abandoned his companion the Duchess of Kiev and VisCountess of Odessa. Leaveing her to complete your Majesty's edict alone by herself. In addition to that he has not resurface until now 10 years later. This council in effect, lost track of him." The Duchess of Babylon said slyly.
"I agree, these two reasons alone command that he be branded as a traitor and sentenced to death." The Duke of Tigress shouted.
"Hold! I formerly object to this action! Furthermore, I wish to retract my previous statements regarding the Earl of Memphis and his actions!" The Duchess of Kiev shouted. As she seemingly appeared beside her couch.
"Empress my sincerest apologies for being late to this meeting. I was delayed. I have just finished the formal debriefing of the Vatican operative. As your Majesty knows he has been entrusted to my care while he remains here. The reason I wish to retract my statements was because shortly after the last council meeting, the Empress secretly summoned me. She told me that she had ordered the Earl to go on a secret joint mission with a Vatican operative to hunt down the terrorists who attempted to assassinate her. The reason I was not informed of this before my departure was if the Earl of Memphis was captured or killed. We would have deniability of his actions. So, if any one of this council wish to object and doubt my words or the words of our royal mother. You are welcome to issue a formal complaint! Empress with your permission, I would like your leave to be able to conduct a more thorough in depth debriefing of Ions companion. I'm sure he has much to tell us given the proper motivation." Astharoshe Asran smirked evilly at the thought of debriefing Abel.
"Duchess, are you sure it is necessary? I do not wish to burden you with more work. I do not wish for you to tire him out. However if you believe you can handle him, you have my blessings to take your leave. You may go. Duchess one last thing, how was he? What I mean to say is you worked with this operative before have you not? "The Empress's electronic voice seemed to tingled with excitement.
"Yes Empress I have in the past expressed favorable thoughts about him in my reports. I still find him to be quite knowledgeable for a terran. As of late he has exhibited a great deal of stamina and endurance. What I mean to say is that he seems to be eager to fight alongside with us against our common enemies." The Duchess seemed to blush just a little at her own comments.
"Duchess excellent work just don't give away the empire. Also make sure you show him no mercy. Make sure when you are intarogating him that he is sweating and begging for release when you are extracting his secrets from him. I know you can be most persuasive in your work. You may leave now I wish you luck in your task." Conceal within the floating throne, underneath the jade vale and mask Seth was smiling at her servants coded perverse comments.
'Poor Abel I hope he's alright, I hope poor Asthe doesn't work him too hard for too long.'
"Now as to our second order of business this evening. I am hereby appointing Ion Fortuna to the position of ambassador to Albion. I believe he will do a good job. Unless anyone has any objections. If the Earl of Memphis's work is successful. I am confident that by the end of this entry, he should be able to provide us with an unlimited pipeline of resources to Albion. Now I see that there are no objections this council is adjourned." Empress and a definite tone.

The next evening the Earl of Memphis stood in the courtyard as the airship descended eagerly awaiting his arrival to pick him up. Father Nightroad, the Duchess of Kiev, his grandmother and the Empress were there to see him off and wishing him well.
"Goodbye Ion good luck, Esther is there in Albion too. I'm sure you can use your diplomatic skills and see if you have a candlelight dinner with her something." Abel smirked to himself. "Asking Ion to be the ambassador for the Methuselah. Was brilliant! He gets along with Terran plus he has a close relationship with the Queen!" The Earl of Memphis frowned at Abel's comment. Upon closer inspection Ion discovered that Abel seemed to be paler than usual. But Ion attributed it to lack of sleep.
"Good luck Earl of Memphis. I expect to hear a good report next time I see you or else!" Asthe said raising her spear "the Sword of Gae Bolg" threateningly.
"Remember Ion I am counting on you. So don't mess anything up!" Seth's green eyes seemed to sparkle with mischief. "Also Earl I expect you to act like a gentlemen."

"Goodbye Ion I'll miss you. Don't forget to write! My grandson has grown up to be a fine man." Mirka said as she shoved Ion onto the airship. The Duchess of Moldova, then carefully wiped a tear from her eye as she watched the airship ascended to the heavens.
"So my journey begins here!" Ion said as he watched his companions grow smaller and smaller.

Hello sorry for the long wait for the update I have been working on another project. I will keep updating as often as I can. Dogsfang