Previously in Heart of the Melting Blood…

"Akiha," Shiki called her and looked at his sister, "do you know anything about Guilty Gear Versus SNK 2?"

"Oh, you mean the Battle Revolution?" she spoke. "Let's see… oh, it's a fighting tournament which occurred a year ago. Everybody talked about it, and I heard that it was quite popular that time. Why do you ask, oniisan?"

"Can you believe this?" Shiki uttered and showed her the card. "This is an invitation to the tournament, but I think it arrived too late." Shiki passed the card over to Akiha, in which she took it and read its content. "What do you think?"

"Oniisan, you're right," Akiha said and put back the card on the desk, "this invitation came too late. We wouldn't probably have to accept it anyway."

"Maybe you're right." Shiki leaned against the chair and stared at the ceiling. "You know, Akiha, I think we should visit the outside world. Well, I mean, we've had enough from staying at our hometown, so why don't we have a travel?"

Akiha looked at him in intrigue. "A travel?"

"The truth is I'm kind of getting bored of the same things I see at this city. Besides, it would be fun of both of us travel around together, right?"

x-x-x-x-x

Guilty Gear
Heart of the Melting Blood RELOADED
Conceived by: Lone Wolf NEO
Written by: Lone Wolf NEO

Lone Wolf NEO does not own Guilty Gear or any of the games, anime, movies, books and the like that are the property of other people. All original characters in this story are his creations and property, while the rest of the insert characters are copyrighted or owned by their respective represented real-life entities.

Chapter 03
Another Uncertainty

"What is it, Zero?" asked Ciel when she saw the Maverick Hunter taking a glance at the open sky.

"I… I don't know," Zero answered, "but I have this kind of feeling that…"

"Don't tell me you have to go to that world again," Ciel complained and seized his arm, hugging it tightly. "I wont let anything bad to happen to you again!"

"Hey, hey. Calm down, okay?" Zero asked. "What are you worried of? And besides, it's not that I'm going to mess with people or fight with enemies like the last time."

"I don't care!" Ciel cried and clung onto him very close. "I won't allow you to risk yourself again!"

Zero could only sigh and looked up at the blue sky. Somehow his memory flew back to the very time he was involved in Lone Wolf NEO's universe (i.e. Guilty Gear versus SNK 2: Battle Revolution). It was the first time ever he was involved in something outside the Rockman universe, and it was a unique experience he would never forget forever. Not only that, he got to meet some decent and worthy fighters to challenge, something he had long missed since the event in SVC: Chaos. In fact, the challenge was so different that he wished to meet the fighters and challenge them again.

"If you're going to risk yourself again," Ciel spoke in a threatening tone, "I'm going to cry and make Sheo mad at you."

"Oh, please," Zero uttered and looked down at his assistant, "why would you do such thing? You know you don't have to."

"Yada!" Ciel cried and stared at him in the feared puppy's eyes. "I won't let you! Zettai!"

Zero shook his head and sighed in dismay. "Oh, man. This is going to be harder than I thought… I wish Sheo or Lone Wolf was here…"

x-x-x-x-x

"There, all are done." Nik uttered, watching as Robo Ky and Sumomo rebooted their systems. "I hope my service satisfied both of you. If you still need anything, don't hesitate to ask me."

"It's alright with me," Robo Ky spoke after the reboot process. "Battle system, checked. Voice recognition, checked. Self-survivability system, checked. Self-defense system, checked. Musou Maden Ryuu fighting style software, checked." He examined himself and twitched his arms and legs, as well as cracking his neck. "Everything else, checked."

"So, what do you think?" Nik asked. "The new identity database you asked me to install."

"My system has successfully accepted and integrated the database, thank you," Robo Ky. "Hmm, it seems that even my speech mechanical device has been fixed. How impressive."

"For a robot who acts and lives like a human," Nik, "you need a speech and voice which are… you can say, 'more polite'. Do you like it?"

"Aha, I see." Robo Ky uttered. "Thanks for telling me that."

"AIIIII! We have been fixed and we are now functioning properly! AIIIII!" Sumomo shrieked and danced around. "Nik has done another successful service to the customer! AIIIII! Omedetou! Omedetou!"

"So, Robo Ky," Nik called him, "where are you going next?"

Robo Ky looked at the shopkeeper and grinned, putting his hand on the hilt of the Thunderseal. "I'm thinking of polishing my fighting skill. There's only one person who can help me achieving the next level of swordsmanship."

x-x-x-x-x

Hikki was silent. For the passing two hours, he had been sitting under the maple tree in meditation pose. He was wearing the traditional gi in blue-white colour scheme, which was occasionally flapped by the blowing wind. He was deeply in meditation that he did not notice a couple of sparrows perching on his head, chirping cheerfully.

He opened his eyes, and looked forward. In front of him was a picture frame, positioned directly at the center of his sight. He could only smile weakly. "Yuu… it's been a week since you left me. Well, it's really hard to live a living without you, and I haven't even looked for someone else." He chuckled to himself. "The truth is, I don't want to. You're too precious to be replaced by somebody else, not even oneesama. You're my first and only love, how can I ever let someone take over your place?" Slowly he took the picture frame and put it inside his gi. "You know what, Yuu? If I happen to meet someone… how am I going to accept a new love? You know me, don't you? Once I'm in love with someone else, I can never possibly forget that person."

He stood up, startling the petite bird couple and brushed off several dry leaves off his gi. He turned around and saw the sight of Mriya running toward him, wearing tracksuits and had her hair tied up in two ponytails. "Osoi," he told her as she approached her.

"Gomen, gomen," Mriya apologized, gasping for air. "I can't find the right suit for today's training."

"You could just have borrowed my clothes, oneesama," he spoke and folded his arms.

Mriya giggled. "Aw, Hikki-sensei is mad at me," she teased, childishly kicking the air before her. "I'm so scared."

"Will you please stop acting like that, oneesama?" Hikki pleaded, sighing in amazement. Mriya giggled again and playfully stuck out her tongue. "Alright, Miss Falken. Are we going to have our training started or not?" he questioned.

"Haii, haii!" cheerfully she replied and saluted him.

x-x-x-x-x

The man wearing the all-black Holy Orders uniform was strafing alone at the city park. Alone as he was in the previous days, he took no attention of the people visiting the park for leisure. It seemed that the people also took no notice of his presence, as if he was all but a regular visitor spending his time at the public domain.

He halted. A faint cry caught his attention. He looked around for the crier when he saw a little girl standing under a tree, crying. Carefully he approached the youngster and knelt before her. "Little girl, what's wrong?" he asked, as polite as he could.

"I got lost… I can't find my mother…" the girl sobbed.

"How long have you been lost?" he asked.

"About… half an hour…" she spoke between her tears. "I want mama… sob, where is she…?"

The man sighed and patted the girl's petite head. "Hey, don't cry. Big brother doesn't like to see you in tears."

The girl stared up at him with her visions clouded with crystal-clear liquid called tears. "But I still want mama…" she whined.

"Poor you," he spoke and continued to pat her head. "How about this? We'll search for your mom together, and big brother will treat you ice cream while we're at it. What do you say?"

The girl's eyes shone brightly. "Really? You'll treat me with ice cream?"

"Of course big brother is," the man answered and smiled. The girl jumped around in excitement, squealing along the way. The man silently laughed and offered her his hand. "Shall we go?"

The girl stopped jumping and stared at him in joy. "Yes!"

.

Both the man and the little girl sat on a bench, enjoying ice creams he had bought earlier. They still could not find the girl's mother, though, and decided to take a quick break from it.

"How does it taste?" he asked.

"Tastes great!" the girl replied and took a tongue dip in the chocolate cream. "Thank you for the ice cream, big brother!" The man just replied with a smile and continued consuming the ice cream.

"Big brother," the girl called him, "I just remembered something. Mama used to teach me never to talk with strangers, but you don't look like a stranger at all. Why is that?"

The man breathed out. "I don't know. Every kid I met said the same thing to me. I guess it's because I destined to become… their big brother." He laughed and stared at the evening sky. "I don't know. It's been like that for five years." He noticed that the girl was staring at him in confusion, her eyes blinking in curiosity. "Oh, don't mind about that, little girl. Big brother likes to talk nonsense."

"Eh? But that doesn't sound nonsense to me," she insisted.

He looked at her innocence eyes and could only sigh. "You're still too young to understand everything."

"Laila!" Both of them looked at the source of the voice and saw a middle-aged woman waving at them.

"Mama!" the girl cried in excitement and jumped off the bench and ran toward the woman. The man watched at them in relieve and stood up, leaving the united mother-and-daughter couple. He again halted when the little girl called him. "Big brother, thank you for the ice cream!" she shouted and waved at him. He smiled at them and waved in return, before he proceeded with his journey.

"Big brother!" He turned around and saw her waving at him again. "What's your name? our family would like to put your name in their diary."

"Big brother doesn't have a name, little Laila," he answered. "But little Laila can call me Big Wolf."

The girl giggled. "Big Wolf? That's so cute. I'll remember the name always, Big Wolf."

He watched as the two of them slowly walked out of the park, heading toward their home. He breathed out and looked at the ice cream he was holding. "It melted…" He shrugged and finished it, before taking his leave.

x-x-x-x-x

"I killed my beloved family, my friends, my neighbour and every people in the town. It's my uncompensatable sin. After I met you, Shiki, I came to have a dream; I think I could have 'though a bit monotonous, happy daily life' with you. It is a huge mistake and sin. My only one wish was to die as a normal woman. Now I want to live with you. But this hope shouldn't come true. I can't and shouldn't be redeemed, absolutely, but I have to do this. I love you, Shiki. So I have to do this. I have to kill you, Shiki, the 18th Roa."

Ciel sighed. She could still remember the very faithful day she met Shiki. She could still remember the day she had to decide whether to follow her destiny as the 17th Roa or to follow her humane feeling, as a regular woman who loved him wholeheartedly. She could still remember what had happened after she chose the path, which had brought to where she is nowadays.

Then came along her memory of the bittersweet rivalry with Arcueid Brunestud, the Progenitor whose existence was to hunt and destroy Archfiend, the fallen progenitor. She could only laugh to herself; despite the fact that she was more powerful and had the capability to kill the vampire princess, for the reason she herself couldn't understand, she did not execute her. Instead, she left her alive and let her do whatever she wanted to do, especially bothering and teasing her around.

Any fans of Tsukihime/Melty Blood should already know the bitter and waging (if not sometimes hilarious) rivalry between Ciel and Arcueid.

But all these were things of the past.

Now, she was facing an uncertain future. The future which path is uncertain and unclear; as murky as the murky river of Yangtze. The future as uncertain as what she was facing right now.

Before her, a vampire lord with over 2000 years of history and knowledge standing in full nobility and pride. She had encountered many similar blood-sucking creatures albeit Arcueid is an exceptional case, but this person was different. Entirely different from all aspects.

"What has brought you here?" the woman demanded, pointing the Black Key at him.

Slayer broke into his usual vampirism laughter and rubbed his chin. "You know, Miss Ciel, for the one who is appointed by the Church Organization as their agent, your historical background is very… intriguing."

"Answer me!" Ciel demanded again, glowering at the ex-leader of the Assassin Guild.

Slayer just coughed and corrected his eyeglass. "I didn't come here to start an unfriendly rivalry between us, Miss Ciel. After all, there is a reason I come here."

Ciel lowered the Black Key, though she still did not let her threatening sight off the vampire lord. "What are you going to tell me?"

Slayer grinned. "About the late-coming invitation you had received."

Her eyes widened. The vampire lord knew everything about the invitation? This has got to be interesting, she thought. "Please, tell me anything you know about the invitation," she begged.

Slayer coughed and again corrected his eyepiece. "It was supposedly an invitation for the tournament named GVS2: Battle Revolution, but for reasons everyone didn't know, the event had been cancelled. You don't have to worry about it, Miss Ciel. It had happened a year ago."

Ciel seemed to be interested. "Tell me more about it."

"I would really like to share the information with you," he uttered and transformed his cloak into a portal, "but for that, you have to go to the very source of the event. You must first meet those who have connection with the Battle Revolution."

"Then what about you?" Ciel questioned, furious to see the newcomer leaving. "You must have any knowledge about it, right? Tell me!"

Slayer laughed and waved at her. "If I do that, I wouldn't have to meet you at time like this. My apologies, Miss Ciel, but may I suggest you to visit the Ukrainian city of Kiev? Perhaps you may find the answer there. Farewell, the one who owns the Seventh Script."

Ciel was left alone in front of the school. The vampire lord had left, together with the unanswered question she was eager to have it replied. Furious as she was, she shrugged and stared at the full moon. "Maybe I should just listen to his suggestion," she thought and grinned to herself. "And I shall show you the mistake you have done against me today when we meet again, Slayer."

.

The girl in blue hair stared up at the full moon. Letting her black dress and the black ribbon flapping around with the blowing wind of the night, she admired the untainted beauty of the celestial object, as if she was waiting for a certain moon prince to come down to the earth and accompany her.

Idle as she was, she began to walk away from the park, heading toward the entrance gate. "I should be going too. Arc-chan might be waiting for me right now."