Trinity Blood Part Two: Shattered Uniformity
Chapter 8: This Deadly World
Section 3: What We Must Do
Note: For some reason, this chapter was very short. I couldn't really find much to fit in it, without dipping into the next chap...
Note: Dietrich likes Ion. Haha, take that fan-girls! (JK, Dietrich's sexuality is still debatable, maybe he just enjoys the experience of being Esther, and not being with Ion.)
Note: Things have been brightening up a bit lately. I really love all the opportunities I've been getting to incorporate some humor into this fic, which has been very depressing thus far.
(In the royal Palace of Albion)
It's unavoidable. It must be done, Ion thought, slipping the poison into the steaming cup. Stirring the potent poison, four times more than would be needed to kill a normal person, Ion was finally ready. Like the tea, Ion's mind swirled with the implications of what he was doing.
He approached Abel, with daggers in his smile. "Abel," Ion announced meekly, holding the cup out. Abel sat back in a ornate couch, resting himself on the thick cushions, but at the mention of his name, he snapped to attention.
"Don't tell me!" Abel exclaimed happily, seizing the tea-cup quickly and looking into it. "Tea! How did you know? I was just dying for some!" His brows suddenly furrowed in a serious stare. Can he tell what's in the tea? Am I that easy to read? Abel lowered his nose to the steaming tea and inhaled deeply. Once he had taken a sniff of the tea, he thrust it back into Ion's hands.
"How dare you give me this, Ion!" Abel said calmly, as if he had everything under control. Who am I fooling, he can see right through me... Ion's hands trembled. He had seen the Krusnik fight, and he knew that if Abel wanted to, he had impale him with a single swing of his giant scythe, tearing Ion's body apart, and spilling his entrails all over the carpet.
"There's no sugar in it!" Abel fumed, shaking his head. "You might as well give me some rocks and grass to gnaw on!"
"Y-yes... of course," Ion said, his smile faltering. Adding sugar until the tea became thick with it, Ion stirred the deadly-sweet mixture for a few seconds, and then gave it back to Abel. I can't believe he really did that to her... he seems so immature, so kind.
Smiling happily, Abel raised the tea to his lips. Ion couldn't bear it any longer. "Abel don't!"
Abel lowered the now-empty cup, with a concerned look on his face. "Don't what?" he asked, licking his lips of the last traces of the mixture.
"Don't worry... I'll get you another one," Ion offered up weakly.
"Wow! You're the best!" Ion went into the other room to mix up another cup, adding even more poison. At least he'll die quickly this way. I don't want him to suffer, no matter what he did to her.
- - - -
(In the Papal Palace of the Vatican)
"I'm sorry Cardinal, it's just that I've never dealt with something of this nature before," the nurse said with a frown.
"It will be easy. Just feed him the blood we've given you until Alessandro becomes his normal self again," Caterina replied sternly. She was still weak from the long grueling confinement, but at least the color had begun to return to her skin.
"It's not that simple, Cardinal," the nurse said softly, looking down. Her statement was reinforced by another half-human shriek sounding from Alessandro's room.
"It's just as simple as it ever was! You've nursed Alessandro when he was sick before, haven't you? Just bring him what he needs, and let him get better!"
The nurse looked up, tears glistening in her eyes. "We've given him more blood than you originally allotted us. He just thirsts... and thirsts! Cardinal, you need to consider that maybe this isn't the same boy that you once knew. Maybe he's become something else. Something vile..."
"You will never address the Pope like that in my presence!" Caterina shouted, making the nurse lower her head in shame. "Do you understand me?" Caterina questioned sharply, her voice cracking. The nurse nodded. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Caterina cried out, this time, tears began to collect in her eyes as well. She looked through the crack of the door, watching Alessandro as he struggled, tied down by a large assortment of straps and dull chains, snarling like a wild animal. Look what you've done, brother.
"Cardinal, your speech to the Cardinal assembly will begin in thirty minutes," a messenger announced, hurrying away.
Hearing this, Caterina wiped the tears from her face, and walking up to a mirror, tried to smile. It looked hideously fake. Frustrated, she tried again, but the result was the same. I guess there will be no smiling in this speech.
- - - -
(In the human district of Byzantium)
"Check," the elderly terran said, keeping his eyes narrowed. Seth was in a tight spot; he had preformed impressively well for a terran.
Laughing, Seth weighed her options. "You'll have to let me have the first move next time!"
The old man smiled. "It was you who insisted that you play black, but if you were to insist starting as white next game, who could refuse you?"
"Bishop or knight... bishop or knight," her voice trailed away into a whisper as she tried to find a way out of the mess she had gotten herself into.
"Neither," another voice said from behind her. Seth turned, recognizing the voice, mainly by it's soft maliciousness. "To be defeated by an idiot terran in such a sophisticated game is impossible." Cain leaned over Seth's shoulder, observing the pieces.
"Actually, he's far from an idiot terran," Seth said quietly. It was surprising how much dignity she lost in her brother's strong presence. Cain's eyes scanned the board mechanically, paying no attention, but after almost half a minute, they stopped moving.
"If you find a method of defeating my strategy, I'd be glad to...," the old man began cheerily. However, his words quieted down as Cain raised his hands at the board. With one flex, the pieces, stone, and the old man's near-victory shattered.
"This is what happens when humans assume that they are superior to us," Cain stated matter-of-factly, approaching the surprised old man, trembling with fear on the ground. Brother... please don't... Cain raised his hands, and blew off the old man's right arm, and then ripped open his jaw. Shoving the arm into the once smiling and carefree old man's mouth, he turned to Seth with traces of a smile.
"He looks better that way, doesn't he? Like a little monkey." You're sick.
"Why are you here," Seth asked coldly. Any chance that she had of passing the incident off calmly had disappeared. Cain had the tendency to destroy something every time he came for a visit.
"Did you think I'd never return? Or maybe... you thought that Abel would kill me!" Cain laughed gently, absent-mindedly brushing his chest with his thumb. "Abel couldn't summon the willpower to swat a fly. But you, you're smarter than him... more loyal. Is your army ready?"
"Yes, just as you asked." Seth replied reluctantly. By this time, Terrans noticed the scene and began to panic.
"When will it march?" Cain pressed, ignoring the panicked yells and shouts around him.
"It will be flown in in a day's time." God help the Vatican. Abel... if you don't do something soon, all hell will break loose.
- - - -
(Spanish war offices in Bilbao, on the coast)
The skeptical officers seated around Leon eyed him curiously, flipping through his file. They were ornately decorated, the highest brass of the Spanish military. Leon could eyed several general's stars among their ranks.
"So... what did you say you're name was?" one near-bald general inquired, straightening his glasses.
"Leo-, uhm, I mean Lewis!" Leon said choppily, giving them a nervous smile. Damn it, keep yourself together!
"Uh-huh. So, Lewis, you survived the attack on the patrol, by..." the general re-read the notice again, to confirm what it said, "swimming twelve miles to the shore?"
"Yes!" Leon spurted out quickly. "If you read it... it sais somewhere on my file that I'm a really good swimmer." The old general looked down and nodded.
"Ok son, what happened out there? Did we shoot first, or was it Albion?" a lower-ranked officer questioned. The interest of the officers was peaked.
"Albion, but I came here directly to you in order to tell you something much more important!" Leon answered.
"Go ahead, soldier."
"We weren't attacked by airships!" the generals eyebrows immediately shot up. Concerned looks came over their wrinkly features. "We were attacked by... some kind of advanced ship. It came up under us, and Whoosh!"
"Whoosh?" the general asked, openly concerned.
"Yeah, like a leviathan, it just sucked the boat down, and in seconds it was underwater... there was explosions, men screaming in pain. I must have been shot by some sort of shockwave about forty feet into the air. Then, this huge sea-vessel-monster came out of the water, and strafed all the men in the water with these huge machine guns, firing bullets the size of my head! The thing was probably three times bigger than this building." The officers exchanged horrified glances.
"Than... this building?" one of the lower-ranked officers whispered questioningly.
"Yeah, it was terrible. I only managed to survive by hiding underneath the body... of my dead best-friend." Leon made a fake attempt at a cry, hiding his eyes behind his hands.
"You've had enough, Lewis. Go home to your family." one sympathetic voice urged.
"Thank you, sir!" Leon said, muffled behind the back of his hand. As soon as he left the room, he reached his hand to the mechanical device in his ear.
"Mission accomplished. The Spanish definitely wont launch a sea attack now. And it's well known that Albion has a superior air-force." Now, we can only hope that Tres and Hugue do their jobs, and we can keep these two countries from war just long enough to sort this mess out.
- - - -
(In the fields north of Rome)
"Ugh!" Markizan woke up with a start, finding himself in the middle of a green field. Sitting upright, he looked down to see that he had been robbed. Only the staff that he clutched with his hands, and his clothes remained, and even they were in tatters. That bitch, Astaroshe stashed me here, and let me get robbed.
He got up, brushing the crusted blood and dirt from his face. Walking south, towards Rome, Markizan made a vow, When I see her, I'm going to strangle her to death!
- - - -
(In the assembly meeting of the Vatican)
"Greeting fellow Cardinals, and members of the Vatican," Caterina announced, sighing and attempting to get her bearings over her slightly slurred speech. "In our enthusiasm, we sometimes allow the core of our beliefs to be swept away in the tides of patriotic fever. This is no fault, and had I been among you in different circumstances, I would have acted in the same manner as you. However, I would like to say that God's light does not shine from bravery in battle, or victory over an enemy. Those things feed from our pride. Instead, God's light shines from acts of kindness, when they are not necessarily beneficial. Charity even to the deepest of enemies." Caterina cleared her throat, hoping that she would not begin to see the eyes of the other Cardinals gloss over.
"This applies to my brother, Francesco, who lied to this assembly, and took actions to imprison myself and the Pope. I would first like to appoint a committee that would inspect the penal institutions in all the Vatican. We are a civilized country, should we not have any excuse for the outrageous conditions found in some prisons. I say this, knowing that this will allow my traitorous brother to stay in conditions better than he allotted for myself."
"As for the Pope..." Caterina paused, trying to stop the tide of tears. Of all places, please no! But it was no use, they ran down her face, spilling down past her lips and collecting beneath her jaw. "Excuse me," she whispered, walking off the stage. Behind her, she heard a single clap echoing through the hall, and like a stubborn drip, it continued for almost a minute. Then, another set of hands joined in. As Caterina left the room, a surge of new people lent their hands, until the trickle became a roar.