Train watched as the once-overcocky bastard went down. Now he was simply on the ground, writhing in his just desserts. He heard Sven ask if Eve were okay and Train shot a look over at Saya. She looked fine and was currently keeping a steady eye on Gyanza, who couldn't really do anything even if he wanted to.
"Sven?!" Train heard Eve give a shocked cry, but wasn't surprised himself when he saw Sven go down.
"Don't worry." Sven told Eve, and Train felt like chuckling. He remembered the first time Sven had to use his right eye around him and Saya. They had made a pretty big fuss about it the first time, and he didn't expect Eve to react with anything other than worry.
"Guys, s-sorry, could you take it from here…?" Train could hear the fatigue in Sven's voice.
"Sure, rest on up, buddy!" Train grinned as Sven promptly passed out. And—right on cue—Eve began worrying. Train, feeling bad about just standing there and letting her worry, let her in on the secret. "Princess, its okay, his right eye takes up a lot of energy. It usually takes him about six to seven hours to recuperate."
Train watched as Eve processed the information, and as her worried look transformed to one filled with guilt, Train couldn't help but feel even worse for the child.
"Where do you think you're going, sister?" Saya's voice snapped Train out of his little pity party. Sister…? Train silently questioned as he turned to see Saya holding onto the collar of a high-school girl.
The girl was in a uniform with the tiniest skirt known to mankind, and wore a hoodie jacket as her fashion statement. "No one's supposed to be in this area with the killer on the loose." Train wondered what the poor child had done to incur Saya's wrath.
"Doesn't look like he's on the loose to me~" the high-schooler mumbled, looking pointedly at the skinny heap that was Gyanza.
Gyanza's eyes widened in familiarity, and this gesture was not wasted on Saya or Train. "In fact, I'm really glad you took him down, he's done nothing but get on my nerves." The girl wiggled out of Saya's grasp and walked straight to Train. Train just stared at the girl and she just stared back. Then her face split into a smile. "So I wanna give you a thank-you kiss~!" she exclaimed as she tried to grab at Train's face.
Luckily for Train, a cat was there. Unluckily for the cat, it was put in front of the girl's face.
"EW!" the girl shrieked, instantly swatting at the cat. "What did you do that for, you big meanie?" She cried with a scowl.
"That would be my line.." Saya and Train both glowered at the girl. Train because he felt extremely violated, and Saya because some random girl thought she could come up and kiss Train without any form of punishment. "Who are you?" Saya asked pointedly.
"Just an impressed citizen~" the girl tried the innocent act, then she switched to being dark. "I mean, you took down a Taoist with a gun! How many times does that happen?" The girl licked her lips.
"What do you know about Taoists?" Train asked, his guard heightened.
"Gyanza Rujikke got his Tao abilities from us." a new voice joined the fray, and Saya and Train watched as a new member joined the party. A tall black-clad man with long blond hair suddenly stood before them beside the girl. "How do you do, Mr. Black Cat and miss witch?" the man asked, causing Train to tense. Only one person called Saya that, and it wasnt this guy.
"We are members of Creed Diskenth's revolutionary alliance, the Apostles of the Stars!" The man finished off extravagantly, but all Train heard was Creed.
Creed?! Train thought, instantly enraged, but he was able to conceal it well. He looked over at Saya, who seemed to be going through her own mental phase as well.
Are they here for us? Or for Gyanza… How did they find us? The questions in Saya's mind whirled around faster than any hurricane. In any event, she decided that they couldn't take a risk right now, but should be on guard in case they brought one.
"Lest there be any misunderstanding, let me assure you that we are not here for you." the man in black smoothly continued while Train inquired with an 'oh?'. "Rather, we are here to confirm his impending demise."
So they are here for-What! Saya's train of thought suddenly came to a halt when she looked over at Gyanza, who was getting just a little too skinny. He wouldn't be able to live for much longer if that kept up.
"I'm shrinking!" Gyanza shouted, pulling Train's gaze. He was, in fact, shrinking. He had been for the past minute, but something wasn't right…
"Gyanza, you overused your powers. The source of Tao is chi, life force." the man explained calmly while the murderer shrieked loudly in pain. "Consume it recklessly day after day and you're bound to run out."
"Use up all of your life force, and what's left?" the girl chimed in. "Death~!" she cheerfully answered herself as Gyanza's life energy depleted and he fell over, his nerves keeping him twitching, but he himself was most certainly dead.
"The Tao bestows absolute power, but abusing it brings absolute ruin, we gave him every opportunity…" the man lamented. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be…"
In the distance, police sirens could be heard, and they were rapidly approaching. Train somewhat hoped that these two could give them more answers, but he knew that the only way to get thrn would be to beat them out of them, and a fight was not something that would be helpful right now
"It seems that the police are coming, so we must be leaving." the man picked the girl off the ground and waited as she brushed herself off. "Black Cat… A bit third-rate perhaps, but we take note of the fact that you did defeat a Taoist."
"Why you…!" Train never got to actually curse them out because in the next second they were gone. And so were the answers to the many questions Train had for them.
Saya sighed. She had a gut feeling that this was the beginning of something pretty awful. She hoped that they could live in peace for a while longer..
"Is the bad man dead?" Eve asked, finally piping up. She watched everything happen, but the man lying on the ground a few feet away still scared her.
"Yep~" Train answered her directly, knowing that Eve was familiar with the concept of death and still wondering about that whole "Apostles of the Stars" business.
"We should leave this for the police to clean up." Saya commented, walking over to Eve and getting her up off the ground. "We still need to let Sven rest." Saya and Train pulled Sven up to his feet and walked him slowly to the hotel. Train was the only one to notice Eve's immediate downcast look at the mention of Sven.
Saya had left for the store and Eve had immediately retreated to the roof when the crew had gotten back to the hotel. Train thought he should talk to the girl, so he made his way to the roof while Sven continued his sure to be seven hour napping marathon.
"What's wrong, Princess?" Train asked, joining her out on the rooftop. "Something bothering you?"
"I was thinking that I didn't help at all." Eve's depressed answer kind of shocked Train a little bit.
"What?" Train asked, not really sure why Eve would think something like that. She's talked to Saya too, right?
"When the bad guy got me, I should have done something… used my powers… but…" Eve took a shaky breath and Train could tell she was trying not to cry. "but I got so scared my mind went blank… and I didn't do anything at all…" Eve's hair got in her face, but she ignored it. "Sven had to rescue me… again…"
"Hey, we told you being decoy was scary~!" Train grinned at Eve, earning him one of the scariest looks he'd ever seen. Including Gyanza's. He wondered how it was that women could always pull out the scary faces… makeup…? But Eve didn't wear makeup…
"Hey, you know we couldn't have done this without you, right?" Train sat down next to Eve when he deemed it safe. He remembered what Saya had told him after his first Sweeping job. He hadn't been scared, but he had felt the pressure not to hurt anyone. "When I first got the job, it was hard for me to do, and I didn't think was cut out for the job. Then, she always told me that all a Sweeper needs is a genuine desire to help." he could tell that Eve was giving him a funny look, so he continued on. "If you think about it that way, you aced the test! I bet you did even better than the rest of us."
Eve looked over at Train in astonishment. Who knew the guy was good at cheering her up?
"So, how do I put it…" Train mused, trying to figure out how to get his point across without saying something stupid. "It's okay that you blew it."
"What?!" Eve asked and Train immediately knew he'd said the wrong thing. "If you were trying to console me, Train, you blew it!"
"What was that?!" Train asked. He had been worried, so he came out here, gave her a pep talk, and that was his thanks? "Did you just say what I think you just said?" he continued to seethe.
"I've decided, I'm going to get stronger. I'm going to train myself to have a strong spirit, and…" Eve looked evilly over at Train. Or, that's how Train took it anyways… "One day, I'll be an even better Sweeper than you!"
With that, Eve quickly yet carefully made her way off the roof, leaving Train to wonder. When did this become a Sweeper contest..? Quickly recovering from the conversation, Train reminded himself to go over to Karl's. "Something's been bugging me…" he said aloud to no one.
Train finished his gulp of milk and heaved out a relieved sigh. "Gotta hand it to you, mayor, this is some fine milk you've got here~!" Train grinned.
"I see you still love your milk." Karl smiled back at the man who had become so expressive over the years. "I'm pleasantly surprised that this matter was resolved so quickly."
"Who knew that Gyanza could handle the Tao, hm?" Train asked, having already given the details of the capture to his friend.
"If we'd known they were involved, I'm sure Chronos would have acted." Karl sighed. True, the matter would have been settled more quickly than this, but then Karl wouldn't have been able to see his friend again.
"'They' being…?" Train half-guessed it before Karl said a word.
"Creed's group, the Apostles of the Stars." Karl knew that Train knew all of this already, so he saw no harm in repeating the information.
"It figures that Chronos already knew about them…" Train's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Every time he heard Creed's name, his blood started to boil and he just wanted to beat the living crap out of him.
"According to the higher-ups, Belze is coming here to find two important targets."
"Two?"
"Yes, a high school girl by the name of Kyoko Kirasaki, and a middle aged man by the name of Charden Flamberg." Karl looked very grave when he stated the names. "It seems that Creed is just picking and choosing people at random who have had spats with Chronos in the past as his accomplices."
"Well, he can't get very far with that.." Train pointed out. "That means that Chronos has files on all of his little buddies, right?"
"Not neccisarily," Karl said. "The girl, Kyoko, isn't on any of our records. It is a little worrisome, but the elders are quite sure that they will run into her or some relative of hers in the records."
"Hm…" Train was already becoming bored. He knew that this was Creed's group and shouldn't be messed with, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Not mess with them.
"If things escalate, then we are going to have a war between Chronos and the Apostles of the Stars." Karl clasped his hands together and looked at his friend, who was giving him a funny look.
"Those issues are too big." Train commented, flopping himself on the back of the sofa. "You know what I wanna know? Where our next meal's coming from."
Karl was stunned for a second, then allowed a light chuckle to pass his lips. It soon became full-on laughter. Train was utterly confused. "What's so funny?" he asked suspiciously. Karl never laughed when he was around. Never.
"Nothing, that remark was just…" Karl grinned. "Just so like you."
"What?" Train never remembered saying things like that around Karl. He remembered complaining about food, but-oh, that was it.
"… and that's fine." Karl reassured his charge. "Living like a stray cat suits you, I can tell by your face."
Train felt a little unsettled for a second, but got over it quickly enough. It was Karl, after all. The man had always been able to see through Train's facade. He grinned at his father figure. "You think so, huh?"
"Are you sure?" Karl asked Train as he walked out. "I am still prepared to pay the full bounty."
"Don't worry about it." Train grinned as he started turning for the door. "I wouldn't know what to do with that much money."
"But, what about your debts-" Karl began to ask just as he was cut off by Train.
"We can make more money; a tenth is good to keep us fed for awhile. Besides," Train started walking away. "It's the least I can do for the man who raised me." Train shut the door on Karl's shocked face. Happy, yet shocked.
"TRAIN YOU IDIOT!" Sven's angry fist collided with Train's face just as soon as he finished explaining that they were leaving with 15 Grand instead of 150 Grand. "WE COULD HAVE HAD OUR DEBTS PAID OFF!" With that, Sven and Train began their comical fight.
Saya simply continued cooking their dinner. She had gone to the store and bought mashed potatoes and chicken. She looked over at Eve, who was staring out of the window. She was worried about the girl who hadn't spoken since she got back, but Eve didn't seem upset, more like she was in thought. Suddenly, the girl piped up.
"I wonder what you call this…" Eve murmured, looking at her copy of Jokes and Puns. "I know this! It's 'pounding out our differences'!"
"Hey!" Sven and Train yelled at Eve while Saya laughed. Eve simply began reading her book some more and Saya continued to cook while laughing. Things were normal.
