Epilogue:

Mireille wasn't happy and knew she wasn't the only one. Even Kirika's expressionless face seemed to exude disappointment at their lack of progress. Yes, they had killed those who had been trying to kill them but she also knew that wasn't all there was to it. There had been no clue whatsoever why the group had been after them, it was almost as if they had undertaken that task as a diversion from their usual tasks, whatever they might have been.

The people they had fought had been strange as well, she had never seen such an amount of swordfighters trying to kill her. It wasn't the first time someone had used an archaic weapon like that against her, even if the scars had been removed from her body that wasn't an event she was likely to forget. But nevertheless, the amount of swords and therefore lack of real weapons was not normal in this day and age. Especially for people trying to kill the world's best team of assassins. So they must have had another purpose, but what that was and why they had tried to kill the two of them was something they had been unable to discover.

The only room inside the mansion they had found that might have contained that information had been burning when they arrived at it. There had been some papers still untouched but the smoke and heat of the fire had driven them back, unable to reach those all important documents. So with the taste of ashes clinging in their mouths they had been forced to watch how their last hope of information had been destroyed right before their eyes. And there was something else about it that bothered her, how could they have ignited those papers? From what they had seen there hadn't been anyone close enough to the room to set it ablaze but the fire had still been there.

So now they were back where they had been months ago, having only accomplished to kill a large number of people without even getting paid for it.

Sighing she turned to the girl walking next to her. "We'll find out who was behind it. This is just a temporary setback."

Kirika obviously knew this as well so she only nodded in confirmation. But they also both knew that they had already used all of their existing resources to find whatever they could about the cult. What they now needed was an entirely new source of information. But where could they find one that was both trustworthy and capable of getting them the information they needed? She asked her partner this question and it was silent for a long time while the other thought this over.

"We could try sources that aren't sources."

Okay, that didn't make a lot of sense. "How do you mean?"

The girl however had stopped in front of an antique shop. "Maybe these people know about it?"

"A shop? What could they possibly know?" Although, now that she seriously considered it, there might be some truth in her partner's words. The cult clearly wasn't new and it was more than likely there was some information about them, so if that information was written down in some old book this kind of place might actually have some information. Accepting the possibility this might have some didn't exactly come naturally but figuring there was nothing to lose she followed her partner inside.

. . . .

"I'm sorry, but I can't recall ever having seen that emblem. Maybe someone else might be of more use to you here." Perfect, another one that had no idea. That made twelve so far, if they still hadn't found anything by the twentieth shop she was going to tell Kirika they needed to try something else.

"Let's try this one." Her partner's words tore her away from those thoughts and she looked at a strange looking store. She had lived most of her life in this city and had thought she had at least seen most of the shops but she couldn't remember an antique store with an English name. 'Ye Olde Shoppe: Selling the finest antiques since 1885 AD' As she read the sign however she realized that she must have just missed it, unless of course shops that were over a hundred years old could turn up overnight. Laughing a little at that ridiculous idea she walked inside, where she immediately noticed the musty smell that seemed to be the only thing all these shops had in common.

Wrinkling her nose at the annoying scent she decided that once they had finished here she was going to take a walk in a park. That way she would at least temporarily be rid of the stench. Looking around she noticed a rather large collection of books, that was something the others hadn't had and their presence gave her at least some hope.

"Hi, I'm Alice, welcome to my wonderland. " In consternation she looked at the woman that had appeared before them. Wonderland? Well, at least it wasn't another mad tea party.

"Hello, we are looking for some information."

"Only information? Are you sure you don't want some other things as well?" Alice turned to point at a pair of swords hanging from the wall. "The two of you look like you might appreciate those."

"Why?" Kirika spoke up before Mireille could indicate they didn't want to know.

"In my opinion the two of you are people who'd appreciate a good weapon. And those two are among the best swords ever created, especially considering the history."

Now even Mireille was slightly interested, not that she wanted to have the swords but she would like to hear what was so special about the strangely familiar looking swords, and therefore decided to ask about the history.

"It is said that they were used by a pair of assassins who lived in the sixteenth century, if the rumors about them were true they were the best. The name they used to identify themselves is still in use today."

A pair of assassins whose name was still in use? Kirika had obviously drawn the same conclusion she had and spoke up. "Noir."

"Yes, and like the two of you they were True Noir. Not merely people who used the name but two women who had actually undergone the necessary trials."

Barely remembering having drawn it, Mireille was pointing her gun at the head of the woman. "How do you know about us?"

Strangely enough the other seemed to ignore the gun that was pointed at her. "It is my job to know things. But that is not the question you should ask."

"Really? Because I think it's rather important, everyone who has known that name tried to kill us and I'd like to know if that means you will try to do so as well."

"Don't worry, I am not here to do you harm, quite the contrary actually. Like I said, there is another question you need to ask, how can I help you?"

"Is that so?" She had no intention to move the gun and it remained pointed straight between the other's eyes. "How can you help us then?"

"You are looking for something, yet all you have is an emblem you have found tattooed on people."

"You are not telling me anything I don't know, although I still wonder where you got that information."

A gentle smile that was closer to mocking then she liked appeared on Alice's face. "Sometimes it is necessary for you to trust people, or you risk losing your only possible source of information."

When Kirika gently pushed Mireille's arm down, thereby stopping her from pointing the gun at Alice, she finally gave in. "Alright then, talk."

"The group you dealt with last night had tried to kill you on the request of a mister Billings."

"If that is true, you are indeed useful. Where can we find this Billings?"

"It is true and I will show you proof in a moment. But to answer your other question, he can be found in London. There is one other detail you should know about him however, he is a member of Soldats."

Soldats. They had tried to mess up her life again and this time not only her own, Kirika who had already suffered far too much because of them had also been affected. The thought that once again they had to face this organization angered her and she swore that this time they would pay the ultimate price for trying to kill Noir.

End

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Post-fic comments: First of all, Alice is not some kind of super know it all character I used merely to get the two of them to London. She is a character whose background I know better than Kirika's, after all I actually know who her parents are :-) So there is a good reason she has all this information which will not be revealed until the third story in this series however and like I've said before that isn't a Noir story. In case you don't have any intention of reading it then, well that's your loss, after all if you're reading this that must mean you like my writing.

Then I apologize for posting this so late, when I originally wanted to post the site was having it's problems and so I couldn't. The fact that nobody reviewed the previous chapter is something I've also decided to blame the site's problems for :-)

The sequel is being worked on and I've made some progress, worked through some problems and have more or less a complete outline. There will only be four chapters in the story but it's likely to be longer than this one, as I've explained before this story was basically the first one I started writing on and at the time I thought chapters of somewhere between 2 and 3000 words were decent. I no longer think that however, by now I don't really like writing chapters less then 4500 words and more often approaching twice that. The total length of the story is still unknown but I can tell you the title. Rebirth: Family, seeing a theme here? Then let me tell you the name of the third story: Rebirth. No, there won't be a second part to that title. In both this one and the next there is mainly one theme that is "Reborn" but the third has quite a number of plotlines and I didn't want to point to one of them to the exclusion of the others.

Anyway, enough rambling. Thanks to all for reviewing and I hope you'll be back for the next story.

Arjen