Trinity Blood: Divergent Path
Chapter 11: The Ark, Part 1: Discovery at Death's Gate

It was all wrong. Lilith tapped her finger against the plastic desk. It was wrong. Never before had Abel been this late to meeting. Sure he'd been late before, but not to the point she'd been waiting for almost an hour. He could be forgetful at times. It wasn't like him to be like this.

There was also the matter Lilith and Abel were going to discuss. Abel had told her he'd be there on time so as to avoid drawing Cain's notice. It was to discuss Cain after all and his failing mental state.

Abel had been the one to approach her about Cain's failing mental state. Lilith had noticed it as well and was worried for Cain. Even since the incident on the ship Cain was becoming more and more paranoid. If Abel hadn't taken on some of Cain's workload she was certain the UN would've recalled him by now.

The two of them were supposed to be discussing how to best handle Cain and this entire situation. Abel couldn't continue on with both his work and take on more of Cain's. Then there was the fact that if Abel didn't do both his job and Cain's Cain would be killed by the UN without hesitation.

Even still Abel shouldn't have been this late to the meeting. He knew how important it was to discuss keeping up the façade everything was fine with Cain.

"Abel?" Lilith asked over her radio to his. "Come in, Abel."

There was no response. Worry flickered in her heart. What if all of the rebels hadn't been captured or defeated? Abel might very well be hurt or – or – she swallowed, pushing aside that image.

Standing, Lilith needed to discover where Abel had vanished off too. She started out of the room, heading through the metal halls towards the security office. On entering she noted the fact Solomon was the highest ranked there.

"Solomon," Lilith addressed the younger man informally, "have you see Abel?"

"Not since he left an hour ago, ma'am," Solomon replied without looking up from his work.

"Did he say where he was going?"

"No, I assumed it was follow up on a few reports filed yesterday."

"Do you mind if I take a look at them?"

Solomon looked up at her, a frown pulling at the corns of his thin lips. "I don't see any harm in it. May I ask: why?"

"He was supposed to meet with me thirty minutes ago."

Nodding, Solomon rubbed his chin in thought. "I'll open his office for you, if that'll help?"

"It would."

Solomon stood and swiped his card through the security lock. Abel's office door opened.

"Thank you, Solomon." Lilith bowed her head to the young man before she entered the dark office. The lights burst into life as they sensed her presents. Lilith slipped around Abel's desk and took the seat. The laptop was on. A new message blinked on the screen. Opening the message, Lilith noted the fact Abel had received it while out as well.

Abel,

I need you to head into the wilderness. The last group I sent discovered something they believe to be important. You're the only one of the command staff free.

~Cain

Just by the first sentence Lilith knew this wasn't from Cain. Cain wouldn't have sent Abel into the wilderness at even, let alone right before a dust storm was about to hit. It seemed Abel had believed it was from Cain. Perhaps he'd just wanted to because he still wanted his brother to be the leader, to be the one who got them through this.

Lilith checked the data on how many people had gone out and who had come back. There was still one person out there. She looked for their tracker on the screen. Her heart stopped dead. Abel was close to the leading edge of the storm, the small dot moved too slowly for him to be on a vehicle. He would never make it back!

Lilith leapt to her feet and raced from the office. She had to get to him. If Abel died – if she lost him, then what was the point all of this? He was the world to her. She couldn't lose him!

xxx

Abel dragged himself another inch. It felt as he were floating. Air wasn't getting to his lungs. He gasped, pawing at the ground. Pawing at the ground, he tried to move further. Sand rose around him. The dust storm was almost upon him.

In the end this was Abel's fate. He closed his eyes. Perhaps it was better if he just died here. No one was coming for him. In the end he was alone. It was the end.

A roaring filled his ears. It was followed by a shout, "Abel!" the voice was filled with a light Abel had never known was possible. It filled him with warmth and hope. "Abel," the voice repeated. A hand touched his back. "Stay with me."

Abel felt the ground move him as the woman dragged him across the sand. He was aware of the ground turning to stone under him. The ground gave out under them. The light, dizzying sensation of falling flew through him, making vile burn his throat. Metal slammed into him, a dull pain against the throbbing, searing agony near his heart. He heard an overhead door hiss shut and a grinding nose as fans filled the space with some unknown gas.

"Please be oxygen." There was a pause before, "Yes!" echoed through the room.

The next moment Abel felt his helmet release. Air slammed into his lungs. Gasping before he started to cough, Abel's body convulsed at the unexpected air.

"Thank God." A gloved hand touched his face. "I thought I'd lost you."

Abel blinked and looked up to see his head rested in Lilith's lap. Reaching up, his gloved hand touched her face. "Lilith," his voice cracked with pain and fatigue. Joy and relief made his head spin. She'd come. In this moment he all he saw was a beautiful goddess over him in the near darkness of the room.

Forcing him up, Abel preached himself on his elbow. His lips greets hers in a soft kiss. The lack of oxygen had driven all common sense from his mind. Right then, in this cold dark space, all he wanted was her.

Lilith's warm breath heated the frigid air around Abel's face. "Abel," she gave a soft protest.

Abel cut off the rest of the protest with another kiss. He then pushed himself into a sitting position as his mind began to work again. "Sorry," he rasped.

"Don't be."

"Where are we?" Abel asked. He knew they were still in the wilds, there had been no possible way the two of them could've gotten back to the colony before the storm hit.

"I don't know. The ground gave way and we were suddenly here." Lilith pulled out her flash light. The next instant the room was light in the bright, artificial light. The light passed over worn, grimy metal walls. As it passed over a wall, it split, opening to a dark hall beyond.

Abel took hold of the wall and pulled himself to his feet. It was strange but he felt as if he had to enter the hall. He staggered forward.

"Abel," Lilith hissed behind him; the soft sound of her following echoed off the metal ground. "I don't like the feeling of this place," she whispered.

A shiver raced through Abel caused by more than just the freezing air. His breath rose in a misty cloud visible only by the quavering light Lilith held. A voice felt as it were whispering to them.

"I think we should turn back, just stay in that room." Lilith stopped in her tracks.

Abel gasped and slammed into the wall, shaking from blood loss.

"Abel!" Lilith raced over him.

"I'm fine," Abel panted, "just a little out of breath."

"You should rest," worry was thick in her voice. "Please, Abel, the colony can't afford to lose you, Cain can't afford it."

Abel felt his heart sink at her words. What he really wanted her to say was she couldn't lose him. Could she lose him? Would she care if he died? Of course she would. This was Lilith he was thinking about.

"I'll be fine." Abel pushed himself off the wall and forced his protesting body to remain stiff backed and straight. He wouldn't show any signs of injury. The sight of her worry pained him far more than any physical pain.

The light fell over a dead end. Abel blinked. He could've sworn he'd heard something over here.

"Let's head back," Abel stated. The wall was starting to dance before his eyes. His legs felt as thin sticks under him.

Lilith nodded. Before either of them could utter another word or even turn – a rumbling sounded. Oh hell.

"Run!" Abel shouted at Lilith. It was already too late. A rumbling sounded overhead. A wall closed behind them. The ground began to lower. Wall surrounded them on all sides. The next moment a soft red light ran over them. It repeated several times.

"Analysis complete," stated a voice. "Two advanced humans, genetic state recognized as combatable. Welcome, humans, to our resting place."

The walls gave way to reveal a huge room. Abel stared at the walls lined with tanks. Below them was a platform holding four of the tanks and lower down he could just make out more of the tanks. There had to be well over one hundred thousand here.

"My god," Lilith breathed.

The elevator stopped on the platform. Abel and Lilith just stood there, back to back. His mouth was open as he stared at the faint glow given off by the tanks. Not even the UN had attempted something like this. So many tanks filled with so many lives; all of them frozen in time.

"What is this place?" Abel whispered in awe.

"It's as we said 'our resting place,'" stated the voice. It echoed around them.

"Who are you?" Lilith looked around as did Abel.

"We are Ark, the watcher built by great gods to watch over them and their subjects until arrival on Earth. Error, unknown. Delayed in reaching the promising land."

"Earth? What did you want with Earth?" Abel demanded.

"Unknown, builders only stated Earth as the course, nothing more. We are the ship, the Ark. It's not our place to ask the gods why they want to go somewhere."

Abel moved off the elevator and towards one of the tanks.

"Abel," Lilith hissed a warning.

Abel's fingers touched the tank. He wiped away the frost. Alien features greeted him. Yelping, Abel leapt back in shock. The thick gray skin, slits on the face and rounded holes instead of ears were all Abel ended to know these people hadn't been going to earth for anything but to conquer.

Lilith stepped passed him to the monitor on the alien's tank. "If this reads anything like our instruments, then it's dead." She moved to the next. "As is this one."

"Yes, our creators are all dead. The tanks failed after the first century of hibernation. The solar energy didn't get to the ship after the first century of dust storms."

"If the power failed, how is it we're breathing or that elevator or you work?" Abel asked. This just didn't add up. If there was a massive power failure then the entire ship shouldn't be working.

"There's an infinite genitor tied into those systems. It wasn't enough to power any of the tanks."

"That seems like a very flawed design," Lilith said, with a shake of her head. "How long could these keep them alive with solar power?"

"Forever."

"Without?"

"Three weeks."

"Well, I we're way passed the three week mark," stated Abel with a shrug and shudder from the pain. The room spun. He shook his head, trying to stop the sickening swaying of the room.

"Abel, come look at this!"

Abel moved to Lilith's side. The information on the screen was written in Latin of all languages.

"Can you read it?"

"Yes, it's in Latin."

"The builders thought Latin the best language for communicating with your people," Ark informed them.

"I take it they landed here when Rome was the world power then?" Abel asked, glancing up as if expecting to see Ark over him.

"There was a massive empire which spoke the language at the time the builders were heading for earth."

"Yeah, that would've been the Roman empire then," Abel stated. Dumb machine didn't know the first thing about human history even though it'd been on Mars since the Roman empire.

"Human history isn't my primary programing."

"Obviously," Abel muttered under his breath. He turned his gaze to the information. It blurred before coming back into focus. "All this is, is medical information. There's really nothing I can see we need to know right now."

"Is there anything else?"

Abel didn't reply. The room spun around him. His legs buckled under him. The room darkened.

"Abel

The next thing Abel knew he was staring up at the metal ceiling. A space blanket covered his bare chest.

"Why didn't you tell me you'd been shot?" Lilith's voice tickled his ear.

Abel shivered, it was so cold here despire Lilith's body heat against his bare skin.

"You've lost too much blood." It was in her voice. Lilith shook with fear. "Abel…"

Abel turned to her, kissing her on the cheek. "Even if I'd told you," he tried to speak, "too much time had passed. I don't think there's anything either of us can do."

"You're going to live," Lilith looked at him with wide, golden eyes. "You just have to hold out until the storm passes. Then we'll—"

Abel cut her off by kissing her. "Stop worrying," he whispered, shivering again. He drew Lilith into an embrace, trying to give her what little body heat he had left. "You came for me," he told her, "that's all I care about, is that it was you."

"Abel," Lilith protested.

"Promise me you'll keep Seth safe and make certain Cain starts working so the UN doesn't kill him."

"You're not going to die!" Lilith shouted at him.

Abel just looked at her, not certain if he believed her or not. "If I don't then please just promise me you'll keep them safe."

"Abel—"

"Please, Lilith, I want the three of you to be safe and live. I want you three to be happy."

"How can we without you?!" Lilith shouted, not sounding like herself at all. She buried her face in the uninjured side of his chest. "You're the one who's made certain the three of us had made it this far. What would we do without you?"

"Live," Abel replied simply. What he was asking might be next to impossible. He was sure if he could live without Lilith or not. "Lilith," he started, not giving her time to reply, "I'm," – he took a deep breath – "sorry." The word felt strange and at the same time right.

"Don't," Lilith hit his chest. "Don't you dare apologize for nothing."

"It's not for nothing," Abel said as he caught her hand. "Remember Seth's birthday, I couldn't say… sorry then and for everything I've put you through. It's for that too."

"You idiot," Lilith drew him into an embrace. "You're not going to die."

"I've lost too much blood and you know it."

"You haven't yet," Lilith told him. "We can still wade out the dust storm. You just have to stay warm and awake. Just stay with me, okay? You can do that much."

Abel nodded, but he wasn't too sure she was right about this. The world as edged with black and it wasn't the flashlight causing it. The thought of death made his heart race and the fear he'd felt every time his siblings or Lilith had been in danger cross through him. But, wasn't it better this way? Hadn't Abel been the source of so much turmoil in the lives of his loved ones?

Closing his eyes, Abel felt himself drift off.

"Abel!" Lilith's shouts grew distant as he fell into a fitful sleep.

(Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait. I had two tests last week and spent most of my free time studying for it. Here's an update at long last.

The cliffhanger is because that's how the last episode of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood left me .

A Request: If you read this chapter please comment. Comments really do help me with the next chapter and more.)

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