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Trinity Blood: Emperor's Mask
Chapter 11: Apart in the Darkness

"We'll find him," a tall woman assured Seth. Her brown eyes looked at Seth with determination.

"Even if it kills us to do so." There was an even more determined look in the dark man's face who stood beside the woman. He looked almost like Baibars. To those who didn't know both men, it might be easy to mistake him as such.

Seth looked at the five before her. It had been too long since she had seen them gathered like this. So long, such memories were distant and faded, but never forgotten. There were five them. Once, long ago there had, been more. Two familiar faces had vanished from the group, having died many centuries ago. One, in war and the other, in betrayal. Her heart tightened at the thought of the two who were missing. But, it wasn't true, there were three missing, not two. The last one was their leader. He would return! He just had to.

"Bring my brother home," she told them. It wasn't an order, but a request spoken from the deepest part of Seth's heart. She couldn't lose Abel like they had lost Lilith. She didn't want to be left with only him remaining.

"We won't fail." The tall man bowed before the turned to the other four. "Let's bring Abel home!"

The group raced off into the dark opening of the underground passages.

Seth watched them. In her heart, she longed to run after them and aid them in finding her dearest brother. She couldn't. There was too much depending on her here. The war was only spreading deeper into Imperial land. They were overwhelmed from more than just the Vatican forces. Far more. There was only one person left alive who could turn such odds to their favor. It was Abel. Her dearest brother had only ever been defeated as a strategist by one person: Lilith. No one else could beat him. No one.

"Bring him back," Seth whispered. She took a deep breath and looked one last time at the passage before she turned away. There was no more time for her to waste here. Her children needed her now more than ever before. She had to be strong for them. No matter how hard it was, she had to be strong.

x – X – x

"Ion, Esther!" Abel's warning shout came moments after a loud crack filled the air.

Caterina barely had time to register his voice before the ceiling was caving in on them. William and Tres pushed her away from the cave-in, covering with each step they took.

Dust clogged the air, thickening it and making it all the harder to breathe. "Abel!" Caterina called through the dust. She blinked it from her eyes and tried to see through it at the shifting shapes in the darkness. None of them were tall, making it clear both Abel and Baibars weren't with them.

She coughed. The dust was too thick. Rock still tumbled down from the ceiling but now it was slow. The only two Caterina really knew out of those coming into view through the dust were William and Tres. Mirka Fortuna was with them as well and a few of the yeniçeri were there. She turned back to the settling rock. Her heart sank. Abel was either on the other side of the cave-in or crushed.

"We need to move," Mirka called to her. "If the emperor survived, he will be led to the base camp. We can regroup there."

If he survived. The words echoed in Caterina's ears. A world without Abel in it. She couldn't picture such a place. Since she had been fifteen, Abel had been there, no matter how annoying he sometimes had gotten through his act, his presence had been warm and comforting to have.

"We need to do as she says," William whispered to Caterina. "I'm certain Abel is all right."

The reassurance was enough to snap Caterina from her dark, churning thoughts. She nodded and started after Mirka. It was hard not think on what might have happened to the others.

Silence pressed down on their group as they continued through the dark passages. Only the soft torch light broke through the shadows. More passages wound out from their tunnel the further in they went. Without Mirka there they could have taken a wrong turn and ended up lost down here. A part of her wondered if that was intentional and if it was, how many had died down here from getting lost and starving to death.

"These passages," William started, breaking the silence, "were they built to confuse those traveling through them?"

"You know when they were built," Mirka started. "I'm certain Abel would've told you. They were built to stop invaders while allowing those from the empire a safer way to travel through to it during the day. As well as just in case we couldn't solve how to block the sun's rays."

"I see." William looked at the passages smooth walls.

Caterina followed his gaze. Her eyes traveled up to the ceiling. These passages were old, but the walls and ceiling looked to have been built to last. So, how had the ceiling caved back there? She looked to William.

The older man was frowning as he too inspected the ceiling. His grip tightened on his cane. "Stay alert, Tres," he told the killing doll.

"Affirmative." Tres's eyes glowed in the shadows of the passage. The glass eyes scanning the area for any signs of the danger. "Movement detected." His voice echoed through the passage. He drew his gun.

A shriek filled the air as a methuselah leapt from the darkness, talon-like nails extended. Bang! Light flared from the end of Tres's gun. Ichor spayed. The clang of metal and a body striking stone filled the air.

"Ambush!" William called as he drew his sword.

The yeniçeri with them moved to surround Mirka. William and Tres moved to guard Caterina.

More of the methuselah moved from the darkness into the torch light. There had to be hundreds of them. Their faces covered by masks, bodies covered from head to toe in a mix of armor and heavy clothing. They moved slow, in a hypnotic beat. She knew at once what they were: autojager. They looked just as Abel had described.

Caterina felt her heart tighten with a flicker of fear. She kept the emotion from her face as she watched them. She would never show fear. She had faced death before and come out alive from it. Even as she thought this, a thought nagged at the back of her mind. Each time, Abel had arrived just in time to save her.

This time, she knew it wouldn't happen. He was too far away with no clear path to them. Tres and William were not Abel, but they were still two of her best agents. They could see the group through this and she had to trust they would.

More of the autojager charged. No matter how many Tres, William, and the yeniçeri took down, more came. The tide was endless.

Caterina backed up as the two agents started to lose ground. The group was pinned between the tide of dead methuselah and the cave in. There was no escape. This was it. Never had Caterina imagined she would die miles from Rome, branded a traitor and deep underground. She had always assumed her illness would be her downfall.

As she stared into the masks of the dead, she felt almost a calm resolve over her. She wouldn't break her façade even to these creatures. She hadn't earned the nickname "Lady of Steel" for nothing, after all.

"Caterina!" William managed to block a blow meant for Caterina. "Tres, we need more cover fire."

Tres had finished reloading his guns and was firing on the enemy once more. The machine was trying to create a wall with the bullets. It couldn't last forever.

At once the autojager stopped moving. At once they were moving towards a new sound, one Caterina could barely make out over the chaos of the battle. The ground shook and the next moment a large man appeared through the dead. His massive greatsword dripped ichor to the ground. He twisted and cleaved an auto-jagger in two with the ease which pointed to him being a methuselah. The space thrummed as waves ripped through the air from the blade. The body was torn to pieces as several others collapsed around the blade.

"Baibars!" one of the yeniçeri shouted.

The man didn't react to the name. Instead he pushed several more of the autojager back. "Get up here!" he bellowed. His dark eyes flashed in the torch light as he glared in the direction he had come. His voice was rich, just as deep as Baibars's but spoken with an odd accent to it. This man wasn't the head of the yeniçeri at all, despite looking to almost be his twin.

Movement caught Caterina's eye. Several of the autojager fell before two blurs flipped and landed so their backs were to both Mirka's and Caterina's group.

"I've felled thirty-three," smirked a woman with dark auburn hair.

"Thirty-nine," the man on the other side of the first replied. His twisted his sword around and slashed through another auto-jagger. "Forty."

"Tch." The woman spat before she thrust her sword out. The two of them moved together, almost as blurred shapes. The man, who stood just over average height, moved with the same grace Hugue did when fighting, but with the precision of Abel. The woman didn't seem used to the using the sword, but, to Caterina's eye, she looked to a little better than average at it.

"This is no time for you two to squabble," growled the towering man. He had taken out whatever had gotten passed the other two.

"Perfect time to have a friendly competition though," the woman stated. "Forty-six, forty-seven," she continued to count those she had taken down.

The other man was silent. For every one the woman took down, he took down one to two as well.

With their aid, the yeniçeri and two agents made fast work of the remaining autojager. The last corpse was finished off by a hail of bullets from Tres. "Combat end. Switching from genocide mode to search mode." Tres scanned the area. His guns pointed towards the ceiling, at the ready.

"Is that what I think it is?" the woman asked. She moved towards Tres. "Hey, are you a machine?"

"Positive," Tres replied. He lifted one gun to point at her. "State your intent towards the Duchess of Milan."

The woman snorted. "Save them and get a gun in the face. Some thanks."

"If this duchess travels with Abel, we're not meaning any ill will towards her," the dark man replied.

"Tres, stand-down," Caterina ordered him.

"Affirmative." Tres lowered the gun. His footsteps thumped against the ground as he returned to Caterina's side, glass eyes locked on the three newcomers.

"I am Caterina Sforza, Duchess of Milan," Caterina introduced herself, speaking to the tall, dark man who looked like Baibars. By the way the other two flanked him, she could tell he was the one in command of the small group. "You have my thinks for the aid, but Abel isn't with us. Our group ended up separated when the tunnel collapsed," she explained, her voice even.

The woman scowled as if something Caterina said left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Mirka stepped forward. "Her majesty woke you?" she asked.

"Who, Seth?" the woman asked. "Yeah, she asked for us to help bring Uncle Abel home. Something about not trusting her 'dearest' brother to come back just because of a new war."

Uncle Abel? Caterina eyed the girl. She looked nothing like Abel and thus, it was most likely just a title she had given Abel. With so little known of this group, Caterina couldn't tell much about them. They were methuselah, this much was clear from the way they had fought.

"So, it's come to that?" Mirka whispered.

"So, Abel isn't here?" the dark man frowned. "Damn, I'm never going to end of this from Alexander." He let out what sounded to be several curses in an odd language.

The other man replied, "The war isn't going in our favor. It seems there is more behind the terrain plot than was originally believed. We were called upon to aid the empire once more." He looked at Caterina and smiled. "I'm Azul Fortuna, former Duke of Moldova. The one cursing is Barrack, former Duke of Khartoum. And—"

"I don't need your help, Fortuna, I have a voice and it works just fine." She shot him a glare. The woman turned her brown eyes back on Caterina and Mirka. "I'm Athina Asran, former Duchess of Kiev."

Caterina looked at them closely. Those were the names of the "inner" group close to the emperor she had heard several times now since leaving Rome. They were supposed to be dead by now. Even Abel believed them to be dead.

"Forgive me, but aren't you lot the members of the founders of the empire?" William asked. "Those close to this emperor fellow."

"'Emperor fellow'?" Azul cocked his head to one side.

Athina bristled. "That's no way to refer to him!" she snarled.

"Enough!" Barrack barked at her. "We're here to aid them, not start a war with them over this matter."

Athina deflated a little but glared at William with a mixture of distrust and rage. There was no disgust in her eyes most methuselah would have had upon meeting a human. In fact, none of them looked disgusted or had an air of superiority about them.

Once certain Athina was done, Barrack looked to Mirka. "I take it you're Mirk Fortuna, the current Duchess of Moldova?"

"I am," Mirka stated with a small smile curing her lips.

"Her majesty requested we follow your lead until we find Abel." Barrack bowed a little. "As we are new comers to this time period, I agree it is a wise request and will defer to your judgement, ma'am."

Mirka's smile widened. "It will be my pleasure."

"If part of your group split, does that mean the passage we're in reconnects with the one the others are in?" William asked.

"It does," Barrack confirmed. "We heard the cave in and split when it became apparent it was a trap. The two I sent down the other passage were ordered to regroup with us at the fork. IF that is fine by you, ma'am." He turned his dark eyes back to Mirka.

"More than." Mirka smiled at him.

So, Abel was going to be rejoining them soon. Caterina felt a little of the tension ease from her body. That was more than a relief to hear.

x – X – x

"I don't know another way around," Baibars confessed after several long moments.

"Give me a moment." Abel had been standing beside the other man, looking down the passages around them. He could hear an echo a long ways off down one. The other was the way they had come and the last, if he recalled, lead into a trap. "This way." Abel turned down the passage he could hear an echo down. It was the sound of movement, but of what, even he couldn't tell this far away.

"Are you certain it's not the other passage?" Ion asked, falling in behind Abel.

"You could go that way, but it ends in a trap," Abel replied. "And even centuries of wear will see that trap still active."

"You remember these passages?" the girl yeniçeri asked.

"Well enough to get us back to the main trek." Though, even Abel had to admit he couldn't recall every work around within the passages. It had been too many centuries since he had last been down here. He wouldn't confess this aloud, however, knowing it would make Ion mistrustful of him. Or more so than the boy was right then.

A few hours passed in silence as Abel led them through winding passage after another. At first it didn't feel like they were making any progress. No one spoke. It was as if each realized in their own way, Abel needed to focus on the passages in order to lead them through it safely.

The noise grew closer and closer with each heartbeat. Abel stopped. A harsh, familiar scent struck him.

"What is it?" Ion demanded.

"Quiet," Abel whispered and listened after the boy fell silent once more. The soft sound of boots against stone filled the air. It was many. "Autojagers," Abel whispered. Or so it would seem given the scent which whispered through the air to Abel. The familiar scent of decay.

"Here, how?" Ion whispered back.

"They could have entered one of the older entrances which aren't still covered," Baibars replied his voice hushed.

"How many are there?" Asthe asked, her hand on her weapon.

It was impossible to tell. "If I had to guess, over a hundred." Abel frowned. The sound was drawing closer. "We need to back track to the last fork." There was more space there too move and they could always slip through one of the other passages to get away. But that ran the risk of them getting lost.

"We can stand and fight here." Ion drew his sword.

Abel was about to protest but they were out of time in a heartbeat as Ion charged into the darkness. "Ion," Abel hissed after the boy. Abel sighed and drew his gun. Here it was.

Baibars raced after the boy, one hand on the hilt of his great sword. "Master Ion," growled the giant of a man.

Beside Abel, Esther held a gun Tres had managed to get for her. Asthe had out the Sword of Gae Blog. The last girl held a sword in her hand and looked determined. Abel moved first, his steps silent as he came up on where Ion and Baibars had gone. Sure enough the two of them came into sight. Baibars was holding back several of the autojagers while Ion leapt, weaved, and dodged, cutting down as many as he could.

There was little space in the passage, none which would allow a third melee to enter combat without harming the other two. Abel fired on a autojager which leapt towards Baibars while he dispatched several with a mighty sweep of "He Who Breaks Spinal Cords." The blade thrummed and air vibrated. Several of the autojagers exploded feet from Baibars.

"There's no room to move here," growled the head of the yeniçeri. He slashed his blade down, smashing several more autojagers. The blade tip graved the ceiling or wall with each swing and it was slowing the massive man's movement.

Abel fired again and again, aiming around Baibars and Ion. Esther, Asthe, and the young woman from the yeniçeri were forced to stand back, unable to aid in the close quarters.

"There should be a wider passage a few feet ahead," Abel called to Baibars. "Try pushing them back into it. The space will free us up."

Baibars bowed his head and charged forward. His feet planted and hand on the flat side of his blade. The autojagers were caught in his shove. "Master Ion!" Baibars shouted at the boy. "Move."

Ion leapt and flipped so he stood behind Baibars who took up most of the passage.

Abel fired on the enemy who either tried to attack Baibars or race around him. Spent shells clicked against stone. A new clip was placed faster than most could blink. Abel fired again, spending another clip on keeping it so Baibars could continue the push.

The group exploded out into a larger cavern. It was more the first city by the looks of the buildings close by and the free space around them. More autojagers were there. Some rested on the buildings proper.

Abel grimaced. At least they could now spend their full strength on the fight rather than having three members useless. He reloaded another clip and prepared to fight and make a final stand here.

(Author's Note: Guys, I am still working on this story and all of my other ones. I am just being slow at updating. There is a lot going on and I have a lot of stories going right now as well. Some might fall to one side while I work on another. Also, I am not stopping Trinity Blood series. I know I had that up for a while on the last chapter but I had a poll a few months ago and people really want me to finish all of the planned stories even if takes me years to do so. Thus, it will all eventually get done.)