A screech escaped Nightroad's mouth. He quickly bit down on his lip to stop himself from yelling in pain. The edges of his vision was lined in black. Nightroad looked down at himself, he didn't look injured, and all of his wounds he had received from that little scuffle had already healed.

It felt as though something had lodged itself right in his spine, past his rib cage. There was also a small sting in his shoulder, but it didn't hurt enough to warrant concern. Nightroad tried twisting his back, only for the pain to spike up. Taking a deep breath, Nightroad leaned against the wall of the palace using his uninjured shoulder.

After jumping out of the window he had snuck around the palace until he was at the doors to the entrance. Hiding himself in the shadows he waited for his friends. A minute passed before the door finally opened. Asthe was the first one out. She was running in haste and stopped a few yard away from the entrance. She was carrying- Nightlord… he should have known.

A painful chuckle escaped Nightroad's lips. He saw Asthe look up sharply in his direction. At first she looked angry… and then concerned? He wasn't certain. The blackness consumed his vision and he fell into oblivion.

XXX

Nightroad woke up early the next day, blinking dazedly into light that filtered through the window. Wait, window? That was enough to cause Nightroad to jolt himself fully awake. But he quickly regretted it when pain shot up his spine. It had numbed somewhat, from the night before, but it still hurt for some reason. He guessed it must have been because the brat hadn't fully healed yet.

But back to the topic, where was he? Nightroad looked around the small room he was in, careful not to twist his back in anyway. He took in ever detail of the room. To be simple it was green. Seth's room. Nightroad instantly calmed. Well, that would explain the window.

Abel pulled himself out of bed, glancing sidelong at the alarm clock on the bedside table as he went. It was past nine which meant he had been sleeping for at least eight hours. The ball was supposed to have been until midnight, but he guessed the fight had probably lasted for a bit longer than an hour. Ruefully he forced himself to take a sip of the blood Seth had left by the clock. Unsurprisingly the pain in his back didn't subside. If it was the kid who was really injured it would only make sense that anything he did wouldn't help.

There goes any hopes he had of beating the kid senseless.

"Finally, you're up!" Seth yelled, causing Abel to jump which then resulted in a sharp pain from his back. She chuckled at his predicament as he glared at her. "I don't think I've ever seen you jump so high before."

"You should see me at the vatican," Nightroad said, dropping his glare and smirking right back at her. "I can't help but be edgy whenever Francesco's there."

Seth frowned. "That guy's a creep. Ever since he became a cardinal he's been causing so much trouble for me. He'd accuse methuselah for crimes they didn't commit. His favorite excuse would be that one of my children crossed the border and ended up in vatican territory. Doesn't he realize the empire and vatican don't share the same borders? If it was a methuselah than it was probably a rogue… I swear he trying everything in his power to find a reason to go to war with us! If it weren't for Cardinal Caterina I would have done it for him."

"Even when I'm there?" Nightroad asked. Of course Seth answered in the negative; enthralled that he would even think that. "So why am I here exactly?" Nightroad interrupted, getting back to the point.

"Abel, you just injured almost all of albion's Nobel's!" Seth exclaimed. "You're lucky Virgil doesn't plan on turning you in! You're in my room because-"

"Virgil?" It took Nightroad a moment to realize the man had seen part of the fight. Oh yeah, he was so screwed. Now his secret was down the gutter for sure. Caterina was going to kill him. Nightroad moaned loudly, partly from the pain and partly from the discussion that was sure to come. "Is he here?"

"Yes, he is."

Nightroad looked up to see Virgil by the door way. How could his sister have forgotten to lock the door and close it? Oh, how he wanted to scream in a pillow right now. To bad his back hurt with every turn he made, other wise he would have done just that. Instead he opted for slapping a hand to his face and moaning softly. This week officially sucked. The only thing that could make it even worse was if Caterina caught wind of all that had happened here, and knowing his luck she'd receive news of this… today…

"You're him, aren't you? Lord Nightlord?" Virgil interrupted Nightroad's thoughts. Nightroad shot Seth a look as he dropped his hand, just what had she told this poor man?

"Hey don't look at me. I didn't give him that idea." Seth held up her hands and raised an eyebrow. "The Nobel's weren't exactly keeping quiet. It was them who were advertising that you were a Nightlord, not me." She winked, "but I might just have to take advantage of this. You know your always welcomed at the empire. I'm sure the empress would understand."

Nightroad glared at his sister. Even when his secret was down the gutter hers wasn't and she planned on keeping it that way. And she just had to make it worse by saying that little bit in front of Virgil. Now he had no hope of convincing the man he really wasn't a Nightlord.

"Not going to happen," Nightroad mumbled.

Seth shook her head and rolled her eyes. "If you say so," she said in teasing tones that caused Nightroad to think she had planned something else. "I need to check on… the kid, he has a bullet lodged in his spine."

No wonder it hurt each time he moved.

"Anyway," Nightroad turned back to Virgil. Then for what seemed like the hundredth time this week he told the man the truth. Virgil took the information calmly, not even interrupting his explanation once. 'He seems a lot like Esther," Nightroad thought as he continued with the whole priest thing. 'He's not acting like Asthe or Leon did when they found out. Thank God for that.' Nightroad sighed when he was finally done, "now you can believe me or not, but that's the truth," he ended.

"But not the whole truth," Virgil sighed with a nod. "Don't worry I won't ask, but I believe you." Virgil looked about ready to leave but gave Nightroad a questioning look before he left. Abel understood the meaning of it. The man wasn't sure if he needed help getting up or not. Since Virgil now thought he was the emperor (which Abel strongly said he wasn't, but Virgil still didn't seem like he believed that one bit) he felt oblidged to help Nightroad since he was injured. But seeing as he was 'the emperor,' straight out asking if Nightroad needed help or not would be seen as rude.

"You know, I'm not going to be offended if you just asked," Nightroad said. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and shakily stood, trying to keep his back as straight as possible. Virgil looked hesitant but finally opened his mouth, however Nightroad beat him to it. "Mind helping me?"

"Of course!" Virgil answered a little to quickly. He was by Nightroad's side within seconds put his hand over his shoulder. The two began making their way to infirmary.

When they finally arrived, Nightlord was on his stomach. The bullet had entered from the front and had actually gone through the rib cage. The wound had already closed but the bullet was still stuck in his spine. As they walked further into the room, they could hear the brat growling something or another about how much 'the geezer' was going to tease him for this.

"That's a great idea," Nightroad suddenly interrupted the kids rant. He allowed Virgil to help him into a chair. He smirked at the kid who had to turn his head to the other side of the room to see him. "What kind of idiot gets shot in the front anyway? Didn't you see it coming?" Nightroad asked in teasing tones. Virgil raised an eyebrow at the change in manner. Fortunately for him he didn't need to listen to the two Abel's any longer for Esther had gone up to him to ask him a few questions. They moved out of the room.

"If I moved the bullet would have hit Seth!" Nightlord screamed. He pushed himself up, only to drop to the bed and moan. He didn't miss the flinch that crossed the geezers face.

"Okay, fine. Now stop moving around," Nightroad growled. He reached over and tapped the kid on the back, right where he felt the pain in his own back. "Is it here?"

"Yeah…"

Nightroad sighed. I think I can get it out for you. Want to give it a shot?"

Nightlord thought for a while before muttering a, 'fine geezer.' Nightroad took a deep breath, bracing himself for the pain. The kid did the same. Allowing his claws to grow, Nightroad pierced the kids flesh. When it scrapped the bullet they both gasped. Not wanting the pain to last any longer, Nightroad grabbed the bullet between the claws of his thumb and forefinger. Since it was lodged between the bone, he was forced to push it back into the kids rib cage and make the hole in his back bigger to get it out- away from his spine. As soon as the bullet was out the wound quickly healed and the pain in both of their backs disappeared.

XXX

For once in all his life Virgil was at loss for words. His mouth gapped open. After learning who Father Nightroad really was he didn't think his life could have gotten any better. Much less in the time of just a day. The legitimate daughter of prince Gilbert was right in front of him.

"Lord Walsh, are you okay?" the girl- no, princess asked. "Is there anything you know about this?" she looked uncertain, as if she were about to get laughed at.

"Please, just Virgil. It's true that the prince had a child before he was killed. That child was sent over seas about seventeen years ago. We'd need to do some research, but it's quite possible you're that child," Virgil answered. Who was he kidding, there was no doubt she was related to the queen in some way. The red hair, blue eyes, both were traits of her parents. The similarities were to much to be over looked.

"What would happen if I really am related to the queen in some way?" Esther asked with a bit more confidence.

"You would be asked to return to Albion of course," Virgil said. He was struggling to regain his composure, finding himself trying to find the right words even as he spoke.

"Do you think I'm really- really…"

"-The princess?" Virgil raised an eyebrow. He wanted to say yes! He wanted to scream it! But the point was he didn't want to give the girl false hopes, just incase she really wasn't the princess. "I don't know," he said at last. Esther's frown didn't go missed. "Prince Gilbert looked a lot like you, the eyes, the hair. I'd say the chances are high, but I don't want to give you false information."

XXX

About an hour later both Abels had decided to put their anger to good use. Thanks to Seth's suggestion (more like order, she had gotten tired of their yelling) they were now in an open field trying to beat the crap out of each other. Well one Abel was trying to beat the stuffings out of the other while the other opted to dodging and name calling. It didn't help any that that Abel also kept giving the other tips, thus further hurting his already bruised ego.

"You suck!"

BANG

"Missed," bang, "missed," crash, "MISSED!"

Bam

"How do you expect to beat anyone if you can't even hit them?"

Thud

"Ouch, that must have hurt…" Nightroad winced as the kid pushed himself away from the large tree he had just barreled into.

"Would you just keep still!" Nightlord roared. This whole time the crusnik had been activated to just a little below fourty. Enough so that his hair didn't flow up.

"Let me think about it… NOPE."

Slam

"Even a blind methuselah could aim better than you."

Bam

"You might actually have a chance if you activated the crusnik farther."

Blast

"Wow, you really suck at this."

Bang

"Nananana-nana-nana can't touch me!"

Clang

*Sigh*

*Roar*

"I'm bored!"

Thunderclap

"Hey! I didn't say activate the crusnik to eighty percent!"

ZAP

A/N: Yeah, it was a boring chapter. Sorry for the obvious filler chapter, hopefully the next will be better.

I really don't know how I'm going to end up ending this story anymore. It took on a life of it's own, so we'll just have to see. Who knows, I might just bring it back to it's original outline or it might continue on its current path.

Jesuka: Hope you don't mind if I take after you and ask someone for the next chapter bluntly. I'll need to try it sometime. And sorry for the un-dark Abel in this chapter... except for maybe the beginning part... But I just couldn't help myself with the last part.

Mokat: Nightroad was in full control of everything he was doing. He was upset and angry at Cain for telling the humans who he really was. When the humans decided to attack him it reminded him of his time back at the UN, thus he lashed out in a crusnik like manner. So no, it wasn't the crusnik who was attacking. Did I get that right? I hope you get it now.

Flame800900: Yes, writing Virgil was really hard. I felt like I was butchering his character while writing from his point. That's partly why I took more effort into describing things than I usually do.

Review please, bitte, onegai, 'olu 'olu. Thank you!