Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood or its characters.

12. Little Rascal

"Sir Virgil, forgive me for saying this, but Lady Vanessa is an incorrigible student. I am quitting as of this moment!"

"Miss Clara, would you please reconsider…" Virgil tried to no avail. Miss Clara stomped out of the Walsh apartment dripping wet. The bucket of water Vanessa had emptied on the tutor's head was the last straw in a series of childish pranks. Virgil groaned. He really didn't need this. His sister had driven away a good dozen tutors, governesses and nannies. Only good old Mortimer would put up with her pranks, and only thanks to his loyalty to the family.

"Methinks the child needs a good spanking. Spare the rod and spoil the child." The butler poured the count a double whisky.

"But I can't spank a girl," Virgil protested. The count turned his attention to the Ghetto documents. The butler shrugged. It was not his place to interfere in the family's discipline. Virgil took out his fountain pen and put nib to paper. The weakened nib snapped and ink splattered over the latest chip plant plans. The count looked at the remaining fountain pens he always kept in a metal case on his table. All the nibs had been half-sawed through. Vanessa.

Salt in the sugar bowl, missing socks… Two years spent trying to civilize his kid sister had yielded no results. Maybe it was time to take a firm stand on things. Maybe a whack on the palm of the hand would suffice. Bridie had told him once that the teachers at her exclusive college meted out discipline in this manner on wayward students.

"Vanessa! Come down here," Virgil ordered. No reply.

"Vanessa!" he called again. Not a peep. He climbed up the stairs to her bedroom. The door was ajar but no one was inside. Only the lacy pinafore frock she had wore earlier lay on the floor in a heap. "Mortimer, have you seen Vanessa?" he asked the butler. Mortimer shook his head. Then he noticed the front door was open. "Vanessa!"

"Have you found Lady Vanessa?" Virgil barked furiously over his communicator. "No? Search Sector 7." Operations in the Ghetto's factory were running on a skeleton staff as all available workers have been pressed into the search for Lady Vanessa. The count was frantic with worry. A quick search of the residential sector proved fruitless. The industrial sectors and uninhabited sectors were no place for a seven-year-old child to be. Virgil switched off his communicator and picked up the phone.

"Bridie, I'm sorry. I'm unable to meet you later," Virgil apologized to the princess. They would have to reschedule the meeting about the trade negotiations with Germanius. "What happened, Virgil?" Bridget picked up the panic in his voice.

"My sister is missing. I have the workers looking everywhere… the tunnels, the factory…"

There was a pause before the princess continued. "Have you tried looking at our special place?"


Virgil let out an involuntary sigh of relief when he saw his sister there in their secret place. He did not know how she found out about this place but it did not matter as long as she was safe. She was perched at the very edge of the precipice overlooking the town. She had on a grimy-looking messenger boy's uniform. Her hair was crammed under the cap.

"Vanessa, Get back here this instant! It is dangerous!" His sister's legs were dangling over the edge. To his alarm, a loose piece of rock next to her crumbled into the void

"No!" Vanessa yelled back. "I like it here…"

"Vanessa Walsh! As your brother, I order you to get back here immediately!"

"No, and you can't make me!" Vanessa shouted back. "Then I shall have to come get you, then." This was going to be undignified… Virgil thought as he shed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves and pant legs. Carefully, he crawled on all fours towards the child. Vanessa was humming and staring distractedly into space. He seized her by the shoulder, startling the child. Vanessa let out a piercing shriek and slipped, right off the ledge.

"VANESSA!" Virgil lunged after her into the void. The rush of wind buffeted them. They were falling. The Count grabbed his sister and cradled her in his arms the best he could. Perhaps he could shield her from injury, like he did seven years ago… The pain was terrible when his body hit the canvas and steel awning below.

"Virgil? Virgil! Don't dare you die on me! This is an order!" someone was shaking him. His body was one mass of agony. Virgil guessed the fall must have smashed bones and ruptured internal organs. To his relief, he could hear his sister's screaming. At least she was alive… He forced his eyes open. A pale face with a halo of red hair looked into his. Bridie… he tried to speak but the blood filling his mouth made it difficult. He coughed and spluttered.

"Count, Lady Vanessa is safe…" his loyal butler's voice drifted in. "Not a scratch…" The old man probably had his sister bundled up safely. "Hang in there, the rescuers are on their way…" Bridie urged.

It was clear Virgil was in bad shape. If he hadn't been Methuselah… The Crown Princess gazed down on her best friend. His injuries were extensive. More alarmingly, he had lost a shocking amount of blood. There was a gaping wound in his thigh where a twisted piece of steel ripped through it. Another had ripped open his side. It had been instinct that took her back to the Ghetto and forced her to seek out the Walsh household. Instinct brought her and the butler here just in time to witness Virgil's unfortunate tumble. That same feeling told her that she needed to act before her friend died.

Cold, Virgil knew that blood loss was starting to affect him. His body was not healing the way it should. The bacilli in his blood were ravenous but he did not have the strength or ability to replenish the loss. His vision was dimming when something warm dripped onto his lips. Fresh blood. Instinctively, he licked his lips, drawing the scant nutrients in. His vision cleared. "Bridie?" he croaked.

"Hush. Hush and drink. Promise you wouldn't die on me…" Bridie whispered. Blood ran down her forearm and off her fingertips from where she had slashed her arm.

"No, it's dangerous… get away from me…" Virgil moaned as he felt the bacilli stirring in his veins. "I cannot control…"

"You can and you will. I trust you, Virgil…" Bridie said.

Virgil nodded, forcing the bacilli into silence. Cautiously, he licked at the red drops that fell onto his lips. It was sufficient to keep him conscious until the rescuers arrived.


"I owe you one, Bridie," the count whispered. "But I really should go over to…" Bridie smiled. His butler, Mortimer, slumped in his armchair, possibly asleep. Little Vanessa had been given a clean bill of health and was hopefully in her room. Virgil had adamantly refused to be hospitalized. He needed to be running the factories, from his bed if need be. Now, he was sitting in his bed at Bridie's and Mortimer's insistence. Matters of the Ghetto were cast aside for a while.

"Oh, my Guardian of the Ghetto, can you set those matters aside for a while? I was so worried, Virgil… I can't bear to lose you…" the princess hugged the count. "My father, His Majesty… the doctors don't expect him to live another year…"

Gingerly, he returned her embrace, fully aware of the tumultuous emotions coursing through him. "Virgil, I'm to be engaged…"

"Who's he?"

"Duke Gilbert II of Edinburgh, and my second cousin. The one who loves his fishing and is about as interesting as the fish he catches…"

"He is a man of few vices, besides his obsession with trout-fishing and being a bore… It's your decision, Bridget… I will stand… " Virgil remarked and froze. He saw a wide-eyed child in the doorway of his room and was painfully aware of Bridget in his arms. The little girl blinked her black-button eyes and rubbed them. The little teddy bear she was holding dropped onto the carpet.

"Gosh! I never thought you would actually have a girlfriend! Wait till I tell Patsy and the others!" Vanessa squealed innocently. "VANESSA! It's not what it seems!" Virgil yelled and bolted after the little rascal. The scandal would probably kill the King before his illness did.


"I don't get it, Brother…" Vanessa pouted over her fish. "You like her, she likes you. Why can't you get hitched like in the fairy tales?"

"Because real life is not like a fairy-tale… Besides, we are just friends…" Virgil replied. He had been dreading this, the talk that would eventually come for all Ghetto parents and guardians. His father had been frank about it from the start, drilling into Virgil the notion of the Above and the Ghetto and telling him to be thankful of their privilege to exist underground. He guessed Mortimer and the assorted governesses never got round to telling Vanessa about that aspect yet.

"It ain't fair. Just because she's from Above and we are Methuselah, doesn't mean you can't be together… Besides, you are not just 'friends' friends, right?" Vanessa said. "She did save your life…"

"We are just friends…" Virgil picked at his peas.

"You are a poor liar, Brother. And it isn't fair, you know it too." Vanessa dug into her pudding with gusto. Virgil decided to get some books on technology and science for his sister. Some on the history of Albion and the Ghetto would be good too. It was time to wean her off those fairytales. The prospect of Bridie's wedding did not appeal to Virgil at all. Duke Gilbert was not very bright and Bridget would probably have to run the Cabinet herself. The King's illness threatened the monarchy. Succession could be messy. And it could happen soon.

Author's Notes:

I'm back after a long hiatus. Vanessa is a little imp, isn't she? Just wait till she hits puberty… Just got hold of the Trinity Blood manga. Whoa! Sara (Suleyman's niece) and Black Widow Monica make their appearance in Vols 8 and 9. And Isaac Butler and Reiz... No wonder I am inspired to coninue with my fics here. Stay tuned.