Trinity Blood: Emperor's Mask
Chapter 16: The Founders, Part 1: Questioning
Astharoshe watched in stunned silence as Athina Asran, her ancestor, moved away from Abel. The other woman's movements were slow, almost broken, voice filled with something Astharoshe had never thought she would hear when another spoke with Abel. Her gaze slid to the man she had thought she'd known. The man she had called her "Tovarish."
Abel stood, looking after Athina, his hand slightly raised as if he were still holding to her shoulder. For the first time since leaving Rome, Astharoshe saw emotion on his features. It was if someone had broken through the mask he had been wearing.
Pain. A deep pain had settled in his gaze and spread to the rest of his face. He looked as if he were made of shattered glass. Then, in a heartbeat, all emotions vanished behind a wall. The same near emotionless mask he had been wearing since leaving the Vatican. He turned and moved back to the Duchess of Milan's side.
"What the hell just happened?" the AX agent, Leon, demanded. "Four-eyes?" he glared accusingly at Abel.
"Later, Leon," Caterina ordered. "We need to move from here."
Leon scowled.
As it had been before the group was separated, Abel and William stayed close to Caterina. But this time, they were joined by Solomon and Barack. The two founders stayed close to Abel while Alexander moved to help lead the group through the maze of passages. Azul soon joined Solomon and Barack near Abel.
Astharoshe ended up near the back of the group behind the founders and terrans.
Ion hadn't moved.
"Count?" Astharoshe looked at the younger noble.
There was a dead, almost horrified look to Ion's gaze. A look Astharoshe almost envied. She felt a numbness course through her. None of this felt real. She kept waiting for someone, anyone to say all of this was a joke. Yet, the founders were staying close to Abel even as he walked with terrans now.
"Come, you two." Mirka had moved back with a few of the yeniçeri. She stirred her grandson down the passage.
Astharoshe forced herself to start walking. Her eyes locked on the backs of the founders.
"Why do we have a bunch of vampires following us?" Leon demanded.
Astharoshe could just see the man glaring at Solomon. The old head of military affairs just looked back at the terran with an even gaze. He raised one eyebrow before turning away. The sight made Astharoshe smile a little. The history books had always referred to Solomon as being the cold, calculating admiral. Quiet except for when in small groups or beside his brother-in-law the emperor.
It made sense, now, why Solomon had overacted when the Count of Memphis had called Abel a traitor. Astharoshe looked at Abel out of the corner of her eye. Still, how could the goofy idiot she had first met be the hero of the empire. The man who had pulled them so far with so little and given everything of himself so his people could become what they were today.
Her gaze moved to Athina. The other woman was still walking ahead of the terrans and the other founders. Perhaps she would have the answers Astharoshe longed for. Her mind flashed to how the woman had overacted upon hearing the count's words about Abel. Still, how could Abel, Abel, the last man she had ever expected to be even an AX agent, be the greatest person in Methuselah history?
Astharoshe took a deep breath. She wanted to know. No. She needed to know.
She moved passed the other founders to Athina's side. Astharoshe blinked when she realized she stood a little taller than her ancestor. Granted Athina wasn't wearing heels. Instead she sported military boots similar in design to what Abel normally wore.
Athina looked at her and frowned. "You're the current head of the Asran family, Astharoshe Asran," it was a statement, not a question.
"I am," Astharoshe still confirmed.
Athina's light brown eyes narrowed as she took in Astharoshe's appearance. There wasn't the look of disapproval on her features which there should have come considering Astharoshe was acutely aware she'd not cleaned up since these travels had started. She had to look more like a terran who had rolled in the mud than a methuselah noble woman.
"I was told you were never made aware of Uncle Abel's identity because you were a key part of the move for peace. Seth said she feared your knowledge of him being the emperor would change your view of terrans," Athina stated and snorted. "Damn politics." She scowled ahead of herself. "Politics were the reason Solomon and Seth kept the fact Uncle Abel was alive from me until a few weeks ago."
"So, he really is the emperor?" the question felt strange as Astharoshe voiced it. Abel, the emperor? It sounded absurd when she spoke it than it had when the founders had been.
Athina's scowl deepened and her eyes narrowed further. "Don't tell me you're going to call him a traitor as well?"
Traitor. Astharoshe looked towards where Abel was. It was only a glance in his direction, but it was enough for him to notice. His winter gaze locked on her for a heartbeat before she looked away. Astharoshe had to stop herself from shivering. When he had worn the glasses she had never seen the depths of knowledge in his eyes. She had been able to look him in the eye as she yelled at him for being an idiot. Now-now, she found she couldn't even hold his gaze for a second. It was like trying to stare the empress in the eye. It was impossible. There was too much knowledge there. Too many centuries reflected in her gaze. Yet, her Majesty's eyes were warm. Abel's were cold as a frozen lake in the depths of winter.
"He doesn't seem like the person history makes the First and Only Emperor out to be," Astharoshe confessed, keeping her voice low.
Athina snorted. "Well, duh. He's a person, not the invincible hero history says he is." He growled and struck her fist. "I told Solomon it was stupid to not include all the pain Uncle Abel lived through. To not show him as being, well, being who he is at his core. But Solomon stated it was better the people remembered him for all he had done, not all he had sacrificed personally. Idiot." The heat died from Athina's eyes.
Astharoshe didn't have a clue what to say to this. She honestly never thought much on who Abel was. He had always seemed so carefree. Until this mess had hit.
"Did he give you a nickname?"
"What?" Astharoshe was snapped out of her thoughts by the question.
"A nickname," Athina repeated. "You know, a shortening of your full name. I mean, you have a great name and everything, but did Uncle Abel ever shorten your name?"
"Yes." Astharoshe felt herself scowl at this. While she had long since excepted the nickname 'Asthe' it didn't mean she still wasn't annoyed about how much disregard he had shown when giving it to her.
"What is it?" Athina pressed.
"Asthe."
Athina smiled. "Good."
"Good?" How the heck was it good?
"I'm glad he kept his promise," Athina's smile widened a little.
"What promise?" Astharoshe demanded.
"Oh, I asked he to give all my decedents he met, nicknames like he had me." Athina looked at Astharoshe. "Look, Asthe," Athina started as her smile melted away, "I don't know what you think of Uncle Abel or, even, how you met him. But know this," – she looked Astharoshe in the eye – "he gave everything for the empire, even his freedom. He's not a traitor. He was always the hero of the civil war who never stopped fighting for his people."
Astharoshe frowned. "Why do you call him 'uncle'?"
"History should say he and my father were close friends, right?"
"It does. Arthur Asran was his Tovarish."
Athina's eyes turned back to the tunnel. "He helped raise me after my mother was killed," she confessed. "In many ways, I had two fathers growing up. If my dad was on duty and Uncle Abel wasn't during the civil war, then Uncle Abel would stay with me. It was very rare, since Uncle Abel was leader of our side during the war, but still, those moments and my birthday, I always felt like the luckiest kid in the colony.
"Dad used to tell me, Uncle Abel was more like a brother to him than a friend." Athina shook her head. "I grew up thinking of Abel as my uncle." She laughed a little. "Of course, as I got older, I realized how silly it was. But, he will always be my uncle nonetheless."
Astharoshe didn't know what to say to this. To her, Abel was still her goofy partner. Even if he hadn't acted as such in weeks. It was still hard to see him as anything but the klutzy, goof she'd first met three years ago in Venice.
"Athy."
Astharoshe turned at the sound of Abel's voice. Sure enough he was approaching them, his gaze locked on Athina.
He drew level with them as he continued, "I should—"
"Explain?" Athina interrupted. "I already told, you don't need to, Uncle Abel." Her tone had changed completely from when she had been talking with Astharoshe. Pain leaked into her voice and was reflected in her eyes as she looked at Abel. "I always knew the empire, your people, came first."
Astharoshe looked at Abel. For a moment, his façade shattered and a look of utter pain flashed over his face before his expression turned blank once more. His eyes moved away from Athina and Astharoshe.
"All right, what's on your mind?" Athina asked, voice a little harsher than before.
"What?" Abel looked at her once more, eyebrow raised in question.
"Your eyes," – Athina gestured to her own eyes – "have this hollow look to them." She glared at Abel. "It's the same look you had when you told me dad was dead. You're blaming yourself for something bad again, aren't you?"
"No," his tone was flat.
"You know she's right," Alexander said as he fell back to join them. "You do tend to get this dead look your eyes when you're blaming yourself for something."
He did? Astharoshe looked at Abel. His eyes looked the same to her as they had since the entire mess started. She looked away, trying to suppress a shiver.
An uncharacteristic scowl appeared on Abel's face.
"You do," Alexander defended himself. "You did when Sonya died, after what happened to your daughters."
Daughters? Astharoshe stared at Abel. There was nothing, nothing in history which ever said anything about the emperor having daughters. Perhaps this meant it had all been a joke, right?
"Again after Kayson, Tabitha, and Arthur were killed." Alexander stopped ticking off points on his fingers. "Are you still pinning over Lilith's death? God, man, it's only been eight centuries."
"I'm not pinning," Abel retorted. Astharoshe saw his hand close around the cross he wore. It was a habit of his she had had first taken notice of back in Venice.
"You're pinning." Alexander smirked. "The fact you're holding to her cross now like it's the only lifeline in the world, is enough of a hint to say as much."
"What's going on?"
Astharoshe shifted. She was starting to feel uneasy as the founder of the yeniçeri joined them. Barack towered over the others in the group, standing at the same height as Baybars. But where Baybars was familiar, there was something ominous about Barack which made Astharoshe feel like the mouse under her pet tiger's sharp gaze.
"Abel's pinning over Lilith still," Alexander explained.
Abel's scowl deepened.
"Wasn't that a given?" Barack asked with a frown.
"I," Abel started, sounding as if he was fighting annoyance, "am not pinning."
"You're pinning, Uncle Abel."
Abel let out a long sigh and shook his head. It seemed he wasn't going to argue with them.
"You just gave up?" Athina gaped. Pain flashed across her face. She reached out and placed her hand on Abel's shoulder.
The other founders had fallen silent. Astharoshe saw Alexander and Barack exchanging worried glances. The looks made Astharoshe narrow her eyes a little. Abel had given up just as quickly as he always had when the subject turned to him or something made him uneasy. Still, if he really was the emperor…
Astharoshe looked towards Abel once more. The emperor was kind to his people. He had fought tirelessly through both the Methuselah Civil War pre-empire and the Terran-Methuselah War right after the founding of the original empire. While history did say the emperor had fallen in love with the Vatican Black Lady Saint and she for him, there had been little on the subject. Lilith was honored by the founders as the first empress and it was known she had been part of the founding of the empire prior to the war.
The war ended with both her and the emperor's death. Yet, the founders said Abel was the emperor. Astharoshe felt her eyes start to widen. If he really was the emperor then everything he had ever told her about terrans, all the knowledge of the outer world, his goal of peace, were all starting to make sense.
He had told her the events in the Venice had been to open the doors to negotiations between the Vatican and the empire. But, everything which had happened during Venice, the deaths of the terrans she had caused in her attempt to kill Endre, it couldn't have been predicted. Still, Abel had turned the situation, without her even realizing it, to the advantage of his goal for peace no matter how devastating it had been. He had used it to teach her terrans weren't as different as she had originally thought from Methuselah.
"Perhaps we should find you someone else to go after," Alexander's words snapped Astharoshe from her thoughts.
Abel looked at the man. "No."
"Come on, you've most likely not dated once since Lilith's death."
The words acted almost like a physical blow to Abel. He closed his eyes, hand wrapping tighter around his cross.
Whack – Alexander hissed in pain as Barack struck him hard upside the head. "Shut up," the large man hissed at Alexander.
As Astharoshe watched, she noticed something in Abel's expression she had only seen once before now. His gaze was distant much like the day she had woken and seen him staring up at the second moon. Instead of the same sorrowful look he had worn then, his gaze was pained, almost horrified as if he were living one of the worst moments in his life.
He blinked and the look vanished. "Drop it," Abel stated. Without another word, he slowed his pace and dropped back to the Duchess of Milan's side.
Athina looked ready to follow. Barack touched her shoulder, stopping her from doing so. "What?" she demanded.
"We need to get Abel out of his depression," stated the founder of the yeniçeri.
"Well, suggesting he move on from Lilith isn't the way to do it," she snapped and glared at Alexander. "What the hell was that? Were you trying to get him to withdraw further? Even a loveless dolt like you should know how much he loved Lilith. The only time he dated someone else was because—"
"Tabitha made him," Alexander interrupted, his tone dry. "I was there, thanks."
"Then don't say Uncle Abel should move on!"
"You were saying it as well with the 'pinning' thing," snapped Alexander.
"So, it was teasing. I wasn't telling him to drop her!"
The two glared at one another.
"Enough," Barack hissed and moved so he walking between them. "Arguing isn't helping." He glared at Athina.
Athina dropped her gaze.
Then, Barack's glare turned to Alexander. The other founder huffed and folded his arms across his chest. He glared right back at Barack. "Then, how would the great Barack say we go about getting Abel to come home?" Alexander asked, his voice low, almost hissing with rage. "If we don't convince him, we all know he will run off to fight on his own, again. I'm not doing what Solomon did and standing back like some coward."
"The Admiral wasn't being a coward," Athina snapped in low whispered tones.
"Then what would you call knowing your leader is alone behind enemy lines and doing nothing about it?" Alexander shot back. All the while they were speaking voices close to whispers.
Astharoshe, despite being right next to them, was having problems hearing what they were arguing about. She frowned. She couldn't figure out why they were talking in such low voices.
"You are aware, you could be thinking this and Abel would still hear it," stated a calm voice behind them.
Alexander jumped while Astharoshe felt herself stiffen. She hadn't heard the newcomer's approach. She turned and stared at Solomon. The ex-leader of the imperial military was looking at the other three founders with an expression close to one Astharoshe had come to expect from the killing doll Tres.
"We weren't talking about Abel." Alexander glared at Solomon for a few heartbeats before his expression cleared.
"Yes, I am well aware of your views on my actions, Barvon," stated Solomon. "But, after you gained the same knowledge, you also chose not to act upon it."
Alexander dropped his gaze. "And regretted it since. I should never have listened to Aran."
"Aran knew!" Athina shouted. Her voice dropped, eyes wide. "He knew and never told me."
"He didn't have to run things by you, Athy," Barack told her. "In fact, he only told the rest of us after Seth had agreed to it."
Athina scowled and looked away. There was a pained look on her features once more.
Barack cleared his throat. "Now that all but Azul is here, perhaps we can discuss what we're going to do about Abel?"
"We're going to knock him out, drag him home and bind him with three chains strong enough to hold our people," Alexander sounded completely serious as he said this. "Then, we're going to convince to stay."
Solomon raised an eyebrow while Barack sighed and shook his head. Athina snorted.
"Honesty, in what world would that work?" Athina half asked, half laughed.
"This one," Alexander defended. "We then set Azul and Seth on him. It will work, honest."
"But Seth already tried to get him to stay the last time he was in the empire. It didn't work," Barack pointed out. "I'm all for the dragging him home, not physically harming him. He's been through, thanks."
"And the loyal watch dog strikes again," Alexander smirked.
Barack scowled. "I am not a watching, Barvon."
"Says the man who placed trackers on us just so he could keep track of Abel." Alexander folded his arms across his chest. "I mean, seriously, you were – no, are more overprotective of Abel than you ever were your own child."
"That-that's not the point," Barack stuttered, a tinge of pink his face.
Astharoshe actually felt herself smile at the teasing between the two. History always said Barack was extremely protective of the emperor, but it had never said the reasons why. In fact, now she thought on it, none of history ever explained why this group were so loyal to the emperor. To Abel. Watching them now, hearing what they were trying to do and the determination in them, there was no more denying Abel had once been the First and Only Emperor.
Still, there was something which seemed to have shattered the man known in history.
"What we need is to break through his depression," Solomon stated. His calm voice drew the others' attention to him.
"We almost did before that boy started spouting out Abel not actually being the emperor," Athina growled. Her gaze flashed in the direction of the Count of Memphis.
"Even if he had taken back 'Only One,' there's no grantee it would have snapped him out of the depression." Solomon kept his gaze on Athina instead of following her glare as the others had. His gaze moved from them to Astharoshe. "You are a friend of Abel's, no?"
Astharoshe straightened in shock under the ex-military leader's gaze. He looked so much like Sulaymen it was almost scary. In the same moment, there was nothing of Sulaymen in the man's gaze or even features. Sulaymen would have had a small smile on his face here. Even as a traitor, there had something familiar in him. Solomon's features were blank. His position straight but not one of a noble, rather a military stance. The overall effect was rather off putting.
"I am," sort of. She added the last part to herself. Then she cleared her throat. "The one who would know him the best though, is the Duchess of Milan."
"Who?" Alexander asked with a frown.
"The blond woman, Caterina, I think that was her name." Athina flicked her wrist in the direction of the Duchess of Milan and Abel.
Astharoshe glanced at them. Esther was now walking beside Leon who seemed to be teasing her. William and Tres both flanked Caterina. Abel had dropped back a little further and was speaking with-with his son.
The sight made Astharoshe stop. Her gaze now locked on Abel. He was smiling. It wasn't the smile she had been used to seeing as either the goofy one or the more common sad, lonely one. Rather the smile was warm, happy even.
She couldn't look away or move. Before now, she had never even thought what it would like to have someone she thought was gone and had loved return to her. But now, the sight of Abel made her wonder if she would as calm as he was at seeing her mother, though with him it was seeing his son.
Just who was he? Who was the emperor really?
(Author's Note: I think that is the last time I have people vote on who should tell a chapter. The only reason one ended up with two votes is because I also voted. The rest were tied so, since I can't have that many points of views in one chapter, I just picked from the pile.
Also, I had to add to Athy's backstory a little. There is going to be more on her backstory in Dreams of a Generation as I get further into that story. It is going to be going over events that happened before and during the events of Divergent Path. I am adding to all of the backstories of the main group. Some of the reasons they follow Abel so loyally are also going to be revealed here though it is subject to change as I write Dreams of a Generation.)