Trinity Blood: Book 3: Vehemens Veritas
Chapter 33: Base of Secrets, Maze?

The maze, a shiver raced through Abel. He stood just in the entryway, his eyes locked on the now dark passage. He'd hoped he'd never have to see this place again. Now he was here and a familiar feeling of hopelessness washed over him. The thick waves felt as if they were crushing him.

"Hey, Tovarish, what's wrong? Scared of the dark?" Abel couldn't reply to Asthe. This place, being here again was pure torment. Taking a deep breath, the scent of mold struck him. There hadn't been mold here before. The UN had kept this place clear of it so the fire wouldn't burn down the base.

"Hmm, didn't the inscription say 'maze' on it? Perhaps I'm a bit rusty in dead languages, but this certainly is no maze," William's musing made Abel smile. It was just like the Professor.

"No, the wall did say maze," Thomas explained, "it's not a normal maze. There's only one hall but tones of traps. The point was to get through without being injured."

"Let's just hope the traps have failed by now," Abel stated bitterly. He made to start forward.

"Ah-ha!" William's exclamation made everyone turn to him. "I figured it out, my friend," he stepped up to Abel.

"Figured what out?" Abel was no highly confused. "The answer to why your latest invention isn't working?" What the hell was William talking about?

"No, but that would be nice," William grinned around his pipe. "Now if I changed several—"

"Professor," Abel interrupted his oldest friend here, "what did you figure out?" He clapped his hand over Asthe's mouth to stop her from saying something snide.

"Ah, yes, that," William nodded. "I figured out why you're not healing. That gunshot to the head took all your energy to heal. It's taking a lot of restraint to attack Lord Walsh, Asthe, or Thomas. That's what I figured out."

"Okay…" Abel stared at William. Sometimes William could just be confusing. At least he'd brightened the mood if only a little.

"Now where did I," William started pulling items from his pockets. "Ah, here they are," he took Abel's hand. Abel felt several syringes dropped into his hands. He stiffened. "There and there are plenty more where those came from." Abel stared at the five in his hands.

"How many are you carrying on you?" Abel demanded, gesturing one at William. "It's not normal to carry around stocks of blood even for a Methuselah and you're human!"

"I've around forty," William pulled out his pipe, stuffing some tobacco into it.

"Forty?" Asthe and Abel both shouted. "What the hell kind of terran are you?" Asthe demanded.

"The best way to make certain an experiment is well done is do several trials. I decided to carry several syringes to make certain my data was conclusive," William nodded lighting his pipe.

"Well, this is you we're talking about," Abel muttered, "you did call a giant robot your kid and gave a student an A plus for putting down good rice was made with wine."

"He calls forty syringes several," Asthe shook her head. "Wait, what was this about a giant robot? What the hell kind of people are in the AX?"

"Ah, don't judge until you've meet Black Widow or Crispy Queen," William grimed around his smoldering pipe. Abel shivered at the mention of the two female agents.

"Off that subject, did you have to put them in syringes?" Abel asked.

"I didn't have any bags handy," William stated. "Here," he took Abel's spare water bottle. The water had been finished off awhile back. Taking the syringes he shot the blood into the bottle one at a time. "Better?" William asked, passing back the bottle.

"You're spoiled," Asthe snorted, grinning to show she was teasing. "Okay, now that the emperor won't kill his subjects, shall we be off?" Abel glared at her. "What?"

"I wasn't going to kill anyone," Abel stated. He started passed Asthe, glowering. How could she even think he'd do that? He hadn't killed any of his people before… unless it had been in frenzy, but still…

They started off. Abel used the drinking the blood as a distraction. It was better than thinking about being in the maze again. With each sip of the blood, he felt a little of his strength returning. Soon the wound on his side sealed and his head stopped pounding. It was easier to think and easier to see in this darkness.

Lord Walsh and Asthe were leading. Asthe had shoved Abel back, telling it there was a trap here he'd best be back with the terrans. "Why do they keep calling you emperor?" Rachel asked after several moments in complete silence.

"Because they're insane," Abel grumbled, finishing off the last of the blood. He felt much better now. No more pain, no more headache, and no more annoying thirst.

"It's because he's the Father of the Methuselah," Lord Walsh began to explain.

"Would people stop saying that?" Abel asked, "It implies—" Both Lord Walsh and Rachel were too deep in conversation now to hear him. "Whatever," Abel grumbled, "it's not important." Conner was speaking with William and Asthe. Abel frowned, where was – his eyes fell over Thomas. He was a ways back, a frown darkening his features as he looked at the Martian rock.

Abel dropped back so he walking beside Thomas. There was a long silence, but Abel didn't press Thomas on why he was so down. He just waited. "When I first woke, I thought all of you were gone," Thomas confessed. "Then I meet you and Cain and it still feels like you've all vanished. The years have changed both of you. I…" he trailed off. "What happened?"

"You want the short version now and the long one later?" Abel asked. He knew how Thomas felt. When he'd seen Aran again in Venice it had been a wonder with how much his son had changed. Thomas had more to go through though. Cain and Abel hadn't just changed, they would have appeared to switch places and become more the extreme opposite of the other.

Thomas didn't reply. It was obvious Thomas wasn't certain he wanted an answer at all. He'd get one later on, but, perhaps, now wasn't the best of times. There had to be something Abel could say to cheer him up, but what? Thomas had thought of Lilith, Abel, and Abel's siblings as his own children. Abel couldn't tell Thomas Lilith had been killed by Cain, that'd depress both of them. Ah, Abel knew. He pulled out several pictures he kept on him. Even in this darkness Thomas would be able to see them.

"Would you like to see your grandkids?" Abel asked. His heart flickered. It was odd thinking of Thomas as a dad, but what else could he have been? In sense Abel had thought of Thomas when he'd first gotten Azul and Aran. It had helped him raise the boys.

"You married?" Thomas asked, cocking an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Er, no," Abel mumbled. He'd proposed to Lilith, but never had the chance to marry her. "They were adopted. Two have since passed on but one still lives." Thomas smiled. It seemed half-hearted at the news two had died. He pocketed the rock and held out his hand. Abel passed him the pictures. There were six in all.

Thomas looked at the first picture as did Abel. "What were their names?" Thomas asked. It was a picture of boys a few months after adoption. Aran was seated on the coach next to his brother. Both looked thin, but healthy.

"Aran," Abel pointed to the smaller of the two, "and his older brother Azul. They'd just been adopted when this was taken, a few months if I recall correctly." Thomas smiled before going to the next picture. It was one taken when they were preteens in Aran's case and a teenager in Azul's. Abel pointed out which one was which again when Thomas asked. The third image was of the cave Abel had spent five years in while working for the pope. It was of him with Aran, Aran's wife, and his kids. "This was Tatiana," Abel pointed to the woman holding a small boy's hand, "Aran's wife, their only son Halyn, their eldest daughter Sheena," he pointed to the girl who had her arms wrapped around Aran's, "and their youngest daughter Cali." Abel was holding Cali in the picture. Thomas moved to the next picture after a short pause. It was of Azul's family. Abel pointed out who Azul's wife was as well as his son.

The next picture was one Seth had taken without Abel's knowledge. It had been right after he'd named Elizabeth. Asthe was in the picture laughing while Abel's attention was on Eliza. "You're current child?" Thomas asked.

"Elizabeth," Abel stated and Thomas laughed. "What?"

"Oh, come now, you named her after the virgin queen, didn't you?" Thomas asked, grinning.

"That's not why I named her Elizabeth," Abel denied the fact. "The queen was a strong leader. I thought it fitting at the time. Everyone just calls her Eliza now," he confessed.

"How old is she?" Thomas asked. He turned to the last picture. It had been taken just before Seth and Abel had parted ways. It showed Seth on the floor, holding out her hands as Eliza crawled to her. It'd marked Eliza's seventh month and been rather emotional for both Abel and Seth. Asthe had hit Abel for actually crying.

"Seven months old," Abel smiled. "That was taken a little over a day ago." Thomas smiled at the images, going through them one at a time again.

"I wish I could've met the boys," Thomas stopped on the picture of them as kids. "If it's all right, I'd like to meet Eliza," Thomas held out the pictures to Abel.

"It's more than all right, she's your granddaughter in a sense," Abel smiled. "And keep the pictures. If you'd like, I'll tell you about Azul and Aran sometime."

At once Thomas brightened, "I'd love to hear about them. And about you and Seth." Abel returned Thomas' smile. He had to admit it would be nice to tell someone who didn't know his historical sons about them.

"Hey, idiot, stop jabbering and get over here!" Asthe's shout made Abel look towards the others. They'd stopped before what used to be the pit. Racing over to them, Abel stopped before it and looked at thick muck which filled the pit. The ceiling was too low for Methuselah to be able to jump across with humans. They'd have to swim through this or – his eyes traveled to the walls.

"Hmm, I have an idea," Abel looked at William. "Hey, Professor, mind if you're carried across."

"Ah?" William looked at Abel in confusion. "Isn't the ceiling too low? You'd hit your head."

"I wasn't talking about jumping. Just let me try this," Abel smiled at William, "don't worry, I won't drop you." William sighed before he tucked he snuffed out his pipe. Tucking it away, he nodded to Abel. Abel took hold of William before he raced forward. He used his momentum to race up onto the wall. Within moments he stood on the other side of the pit. Releasing William, he grinned at him before turning to the others and making a "v" over his eye.

"You idiot! What happens if you're attack?" Asthe shouted. Without asking, she took Rachel and followed Abel's steps across the wall. Rachel had the sense enough not to scream. "I swear," Asthe stopped before Abel, "you're more a headache than a tovarish should be."

"You could've warned me," Rachel straightened her uniform.

"Weren't you the one who decided I was your tovarish?" Abel asked. "I just wanted to get through that mission."

"Pardon me, but I'll need to take you across," Abel glanced at Lord Walsh who had spoken to Conner. To Thomas he added, "Follow close and try to run as fast as you can." With those words he picked up Conner and raced across the wall to join Abel and the others. Thomas hesitated before he took a deep breath and raced after Lord Walsh. By mistake Thomas entered haste. Abel reached out and took hold of Thomas' coat. Thomas gagged a little before stopped.

"Thanks," Thomas stated, sounding just as confused as he did disheartened.

"Did you have to say 'as fast as you can'?" Abel asked Lord Walsh.

"I just assumed…" Lord Walsh trailed, looking at Thomas apologetically.

"It's all right, no harm done," Thomas stated when Abel released him. They started off again. Abel and Thomas were in the back of the group once more, "What was that?"

"It's called haste mode," Abel explained and sighed. He began to explain to Thomas what they'd had to do to save his life. "I'm sorry for not asking your permission first," Abel looked away from Thomas ashamed he'd approved it.

There was a short pause as they started up the steps. "I don't think I'll mind," Thomas said, breaking the silence. Abel stopped and looked at the man. "When I was dying, my only regret was not getting to know my children as they are now," Thomas stopped as well. His eyes softened as he looked at Abel, "Now I have the chance." Abel smiled at Thomas, his heart lifting with relief.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Asthe called down to them. "We need that guy to show us how to get back to other's since you can't remember, Tovarish." Abel and Thomas exchanged looks before starting up the stairs.

On entering the landing, Abel said, "He has a name, Asthe. It's Thomas." Abel glanced at the arena and sighed. The entrance had caved long ago by the looks of it. "Is there anyway out of here?" he asked Thomas.

"An old shaft repair crews would use," Thomas said, walking over to the far wall. He typed in a code. A door slid open. "This way, the supports in here should be strong enough to hold." Thomas entered the tunnel.

"Should be? That doesn't sound heartening," Conner stated as he followed. Abel was pushed ahead by Asthe. The others followed him into the shaft. Silence fell over them as they moved up and out of the maze. The shaft led them to an exit not far from where they'd left the others.

Abel knew where they were now, but was connect to follow Thomas. Thomas had no doubt heard several children laughing because he was following the sound. The others seemed to relax at the knowledge they'd be back soon. Before too long they entered the part of the base filled with people.

At first their entrance went unnoticed until a child shouted, "The emperors back!" The kid's shout alerted Caterina to his appearance. The young woman strode across the space to them.

"It seems your journey wasn't without complications," Caterina looked Abel up and down, her sharp eyes stopping over the bloodied part of his shift. Her gaze traveled from Abel to Thomas and then to Rachel and Conner. "Who are your friends here?"

"I'll let William tell you the story, Caterina," Abel smiled, glancing at how close it was to sunrise. "There's another matter I'd like to attend to." Abel gestured for Thomas to follow him.

"Abel," Caterina began.

"I promise, I'll tell you," Abel called over his shoulder before heading for the Tristan and his daughter. Thomas was only a few steps behind him.

(Author's Note: Yeah, no battle, but there will be some later on.

All right, two people have now asked this question on the last chapter. Those who were crushed were not General Hall and Jessica Marry, they were those who were unnamed in the UN. If you remember in chapter 28 a small group sided with a dying Thomas. Those were who died. The others ran after Abel was shot in the head. At this moment they believe Abel is dead.

So I wanted to work on "A Brighter Night" but left it at home. I miss Aran and Azul… oh well, we have Thomas XD

Thank you all for the reviews. Now over two hundred, thank you so much!)