Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a bit of a filler…sort of…okay so not really. It's the beginning of the main plot of this story, which I just sort of decided on last night. I had an idea for the ending, but wasn't sure what to do with it or how to get to it lol, don't ya hate it when that happens?

Anyways, I'm counting down the days till my Easter Break, which is in 4 days. From the 12th (My birthday! 1 Day before Trains! Crazy, isn't it?) until the 17th. During that time the fic will most likely not be updated. I doubt I'll write while I'm home, if I do I'll post it, so I suppose checking back on the 17th might be a good idea. Otherwise, after that I'll try to write something before writing this huge history paper I have to get done.

Alright, so now that I've updated you guys I hope you enjoy this chapter while I go and try to figure out any plot holes and how I can make this story better! Also, if you read closely you will catch some hints (especially you Niji-san, I know you can do it! X3 )

For all you Sven lovers (me included X3), remember what I said earlier. The "old" man can't go down that easy!

"A Pain Too Strong to Bare Alone"

"So what will it be?" His voice echoed in the darkness that surrounded us as he pointed the gun in my direction.

"Wh-what?" My voice stammered, much younger and higher than it was now as I stood, shaking as this strange man-this murderer threatened me.

"To live or die?" He asked, a strange smirk on his face as his finger tightened against the trigger, the weapon exploding and searing pain shooting across my right cheekbone.

I cried out and stumbled back, my hand clamped over the bleeding wound as I looked back up at him with terrified eyes. Behind him, the floor beneath them soaked in their own blood, lay my parents. I had been playing outside, or in my room-the details were beginning to fade now, and I had rushed through the door after hearing the gun explode several times only to find my parents lying face down in the pool of blood, and this man standing in front of them.

My hands had flown to my face as my eyes had grown wide, a scream bottling up inside me until it erupted lower than I thought it could. I had screamed their names, screamed for them to get up, but as I rushed towards them that man had grabbed me and thrown me back towards the door.

His face-I remembered the expression on his face as I sat there, tears welling up in my eyes. He had looked confused, almost sick as he watched me, and at that time I had thought it was because of something I had done, but now I knew better. He had been sent to kill my parents, but had never been informed they had a child, and when I had entered the scene he hadn't been sure what to do.

"Get up," He had ordered in that cold voice, and when I didn't move he had grabbed my roughly by the arm and yanked me to my feet.

He had asked that question, that question that haunted me day and night, echoing in my nightmares as images of my parents dead bodies flashed in front of my eyes…"To live or die? You can make that choice…"

I jerked awake, my body shivering in the cold night air as the dream held tightly to my consciousness. I jerked again when I felt something brush against me, something warm and gentle.

I pulled my face away from the pillow and looked up to see Creed lying beside me, his hand running through my hair as I lay there curled into a tight ball. I blinked several times as I tried to clear the blurry vision sleep had given me as I pulled the covers tighter around my bare back.

Creed smiled gently as his hand slid from my hair and brushed against my cheekbone, his hand far warmer than the night around us. I took me several minutes to remember where I was and what had happened as images of Zagine continued to float through my mind.

I breathed out a deep sigh as I relaxed into the mattress, pillows, and, I realized, Creeds arm that lay beneath me. Sleep was all too often an enemy as I grew older, memories cumulating in the shadows, only to reappear the moment I closed my eyes. The dream I had had tonight-the dream I had just woken from was one I had had ever since I was a kid, the image of my parents refusing to erase itself. The strange thing was I couldn't remember much else about them but their final moments in my life-their deaths.

My mind slowly came back to reality as Creeds hand rested on my shoulder, squeezing it gently as I stared blankly in front of me. I jerked and glanced up at him, that smile still across his face as he leaned forward and brushed my bangs aside before kissing my on the forehead.

I remained motionless as the dream and others before swam through my mind, my thoughts slowly contemplating each of them as I felt Creeds arm fall across my bare back and pull me against him.

My body slowly stopped shivering as the warmth of Creed's body surrounded me, making me even more tired than before. Without much energy, and without the will to gather up my strength I let my head rest against the space between his neck and shoulder and fell, slowly, into a dreamless sleep.

I awoke hours later, curled onto my side in the middle of the mattress-the pillows high above my head with my left arm stretched out far in front of me. I yawned widely as I pulled the covers up higher until they brushed against my chin, the morning breeze too cold for me to ignore.

I closed my eyes again but opened them almost immediately when I felt something in my closed left hand. I looked down my arm to see a single rose lying in the palm of my hand with a note tied around its thornless stem.

With another yawn I sat up slowly and let the covers fall away and untying the note from the flowers stem. I let the rose drop into my lap as I read writing that could only belong to Creed:

My Dearest Train,

I am sorry to leave you on such sudden notice but, as I'm sure you will fully understand, matters call that I feel I must attend to immediately. I will return later this evening, you will not be alone for long. Feel free to explore where you please, and to make yourself at home, as it is indeed yours. I am trusting you will remain within the grounds, and I have not asked anyone to keep surveillance on you, so you are free to roam as you like, but please, remember to stay where you belong.

Yours,

Creed

I re-read the letter before letting the breeze from the window catch it and send it floating across the bed and to the floor. I looked down at the rose in my lap, wondering if Creed had left yet, before throwing the covers back and dressing quickly.

I slid the short black jacket on, leaving the matching gloves aside, and straightened the white shirt and black pants before slipping my feet into the shoes and dropping Hades into its holster.

I wasn't sure where I would go or what I would do, but if I really did have this place to myself then I wasn't about to pass that up. I wandered out of my room, my hands in my pockets as I strolled down the empty, brightly lit hallway.

Not a single sound echoed through the tall walls as I explored the entire mansion. Over the five months I had been here I had never really made a point of getting to know this place, and I have to admit I really hadn't had an interest to. All I can concentrate on doing then was escaping, but now that I knew better I was bound and determined to learn this place from top to bottom.

While Creed might continue to think I was abiding his rules and listening to every word he said, I had a different plan in mind. Two weeks had passed since my friends had left and Creed had forced something on me that I now wished had never happened.

I had made a point of getting to know each and every member of the Apostles of the Stars that remained, but keeping the relationships distant and nothing more than acquaintances. I had earned their respect as I pretend to belong and to abandon the life of an Eraser or Sweeper, and teaching them moves they hadn't thought to use in battle before.

I had let Creed believe I wanted to be with him and that sooner or later I would drink that concoction and become his right hand man in this madness. The part of it all that surprised me most was that they had fallen for it, and I hadn't even been trying that hard.

The problem was, the longer I stayed there, the more I began to understand Creed. I had sworn that I couldn't possibly make sense of him when I had first decided to play along with this charade, but now that I had been here-now that we had spent an hour or more talking to one another in the first civil, if not friendly conversations ever, I was beginning to realize that somewhere inside me I didn't want to kill him at all.

I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow Creed and I were growing closer. He had been right in a way, I seemed to be the only one who could understand him, and the harder I tried, the more I somehow began to like him, even if it was distant, and an almost cold friendship, it seemed to be gradually growing warmer by the day.

There were things Creed had done that I could never forgive and never would. Killing Saya was, of course, the first. But killing Sven had finally drawn the line between where he and I could be friends. There would be days where we would talk for hours and then suddenly he'd say something and I would snap and want nothing to do with him for the rest of the day.

He seemed to take these moments in stride, realizing what I knew was true. He had murdered two of the most important people in my lives, and that could never be changed. All the same, he had lost his family as I had, and even though his was still alive he had basically erased them from his memory.

When two people have commonalities that no one else could possibly relate to, they somehow grow closer. There were days I wanted to strangle him, and there were days I would actually seek him out in this mansion of his just so I could talk to him. He enjoyed the company, and I was finding it strange, yet interesting to finally break through the shell of a partner I had hated so long ago.

There were, however, mysteries to living in this place. On the nights I had taken to taking walks on my own I had wandered down the corridor that led to Doctor's lab. I hadn't planned on entering, but when Doctor saw me coming he refused to let me go in.

He and Creed had secrets meetings that had ended out conversations more than once, meetings that I wasn't allowed to sit in on. While Creed trusted me with all the other information of the Apostles of the Stars there was something going on between them that they refused to reveal to me.

In Creeds letter he had said that he trusted I wouldn't leave the boundaries of the mansion, but he hadn't said a thing about anywhere else. I know I should've felt guilty as I slid the doors of Doctors lab open and stepped inside but…

"He should've known better," I said to myself as I entered the lab and looked around.

The same screens hung from the ceiling, new information flashing across them now that Doctor had no business researching me. The jungle-like greenhouse remained in the back of the lab, and the bizarre creatures continued to float in their tubes.

I passed by them, my fingers running against the cold glass as I wandered into another part of the lab. The room I stepped into was small and secluded from the rest of the lab as if no one was meant to know it was there.

In the center of the room sat what looked like an empty hospital bed that was far from the bright white they normally were. As I stepped up beside the bed the white sheets were splattered with blood, and the billow contained a circular blood stain as well. It had all obviously been here for a while as the blood was now black and dry, but I had to wonder what had happened.

I passed the bed and into another room that led off the secluded one. I slid my hand along the inner wall until my fingers ran into the light switch and flicked it on. The room flickered and then lit up as the florescent bulbs above us buzzed and glared down on me.

I glanced around, catching sight of beeping monitors, blinking screens, and information slowly printing from a small printer beside an occupied bed.

I took in a deep breath, the room smelling like a doctor's office, before I approached the bed with slow and unsteady steps. The monitor beside the head of the bed beeped rhythmically, most likely signaling the heartbeat of the beds occupant.

The thin, white sheets of the bed had been pulled up high over the individuals head, and as I reached out to pull the covers away I could feel my heart racing with anticipation. I pulled the covers back slowly and it was all I could do not to cry out.

My hand flew to my mouth as I stumbled backwards, catching sight of the mangled and bloody face in front of me. It was barely recognizable as human as hints of bone were visible, and a see through layer of new skin was slowly growing over the muscles and tissue, and it was all I could do to hold back the contents of my stomach as I refused to look away.

With a deep breath I stepped up to the unconscious persons side, the state of their face continuing to make me sick as I reached over them and grabbed a clip board that was resting against their arm.

I flipped through the printed pages, my eyes taking in information I couldn't understand, until I came to the final page, my heart skipping a beat as I read the information aloud, muttering to myself as I tried to read it all.

"Nano-technology test: successful

Tissue Removal: successful

Blood Transfer: successful

Heart Resuscitation: successful

Brain Tissue Transfer: successful

Note: The body is reacting well to the intrusion of nano-machines into the blood stream. Healing rate is quite fast, though not as quickly as other test subjects. T.H. blood transfusion was successful, though results were doubtful until received, and the body accepted the O blood type.

Tests have all run positive, and the brain tissue is reformatting quickly and quite well. Continued tests will reveal if another transfer from T.H. will be necessary, and brain tissue may need to be graphed from the individual as well. Heart rate and blood pressure are constant, as is breathing, and brain activity strengthens by the day. A hypothesis is that interaction with S.V. may help the brain to form quickly, but too much information may both overload the growing tissue and the reformatting memories.

I let the pages fall back into place as my eyes wandered back to the figure lying in the bed, their chest barely rising and falling as they remained unconscious. Whoever this was, they were putting them through a lot of pain they most likely didn't deserve.

So, was this the big secret Creed and Doctor were keeping from me? If so, why? I didn't know this person; they had nothing to do with me, so why keep the secret from me?

I turned around and wandered across the room until I caught sight of several beakers full of what looked like blood. I leaned over and squinted as I read the scrawled printing on the labels, each one reading "S.V. Test" on the side. On the other side of the hold they hung in were smaller tubes filled with more blood, but some sort of strange clear liquid floating on top. Each label on these smaller tubes read "S.V. Test to Nano-Technology".

I glanced up to see more tubes, several sets filled with the same substances but with different labels. Each Apostle of the Star had a set that belong to them, and at the end of the line was a set that belonged to me.

I picked up the set that belonged to me and flipped it around, looking at the tubes that contained my blood and the nanotechnology. I almost dropped the set as I caught sight of the tubes. My blood seemed to have mixed well with the nano-machines except for one, which read "S.V. & Train Heartnet Sample", the clear liquid still floating on top in this one.

I set the tubes down rather hard before turning and looking at the individual in the bed. I came up beside them and set the clipboard back where it had been before pulling the covers back up over their head.

I didn't know what was going on here but I was going to find out, whether it meant Creed beating me half to death for it or not. Whoever that was locked in that room, and whatever it was they were going to do to our blood, all of that had to be figured out.

I spent the rest of the day going through Doctor's files and researching everything I could about the nanotechnology and nano-machines. Eve was even on file in his massive computer, explaining that the only one who's nano-machine level had been tested stronger than hers was Creed.

Hours passed and I remained along in silence as I typed away, printing out information and saving it onto disc after disc. I didn't care if Doctor noticed, I had to get to the bottom of this one way or another, and I wasn't about to stop because of the printer might run out of paper.

When the sun had finally set outside, and I felt that I had as much information as I could possibly gather before they returned, I slipped out of Doctors lab and back into my room. I would have to ask Creed for a computer so I could go through all of this, and until then I would have to wait and think, something I had grown accustomed to in this place.

One way or another I was going to figure this out, even if it never full made sense, because that person back there-the on locked in that room…their pain seemed too strong to have to bare alone.