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Warmth warped around Seth. She could feel a gentle heartbeat against her back and the heat of another's arm wrapped around her waist. Seth shifted a little. She had woken a little a while ago and contented herself in listening to Solomon's even breathing.

The night had felt almost unreal to a part of her. The part of her which remembered the years of loneliness and having to force Solomon away for peace to come between the empire and Vatican.

Seth blinked. An idea hit her on how to proceed with peaceful negotiations.

Seth slipped from Solomon's embrace. She tried to be careful so as not to wake him. They had been up late and he had only just returned from the frontlines. He needed sleep. She dressed. Seth turned back to the bed, hoping she hadn't woken Solomon. Her heart sank when her gaze locked onto him. His eyes were open, almost glittering in the darkness of the early hours of the imperial day.

He sat up. "What's wrong?" his voice was almost tender despite the evenness of it. His dark eyes were soft as he looked at her.

"There's something I remembered which can help bring a lasting peace between the empire and Vatican," Seth explained. "I wanted to act on it before I forgot." Or Cain returned from the front. "Go back to sleep." Seth moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge. She leaned over and kissed him. "I'll see you at breakfast."

Solomon drew her into his arms. Seth didn't even try to fight it. His lips were tender as they pressed against hers. "If it's a sure means to peace, I will help with this matter." He drew away from her and stood. He didn't dawn his full military uniform, rather more civilian based clothing he wore when on leave.

"All right," Seth agreed then paused, "but I'm going to be breaking into Cain's rooms."

Solomon blinked then nodded.

With him at her side, Seth moved through the familiar halls of the palace to where Cain had picked for his room to be. She wasn't shocked to find the door was unlocked. Cain had assumed people were too freaked out by him to break into his room.

Seth slipped into her brother's room. The room wasn't exactly neat like her brother had been before being fused with crusnik 01. Seth crossed over to the desk in the room. She remembered Cain had kept the letters from Myles sealed in a locked box in the bottom drawer.

Seth drew the box from the drawer and broke the lock with ease. She opened it. Sure enough, the letters were there. Of course, there were fewer letters than she remembered their being. Though, if she thought on it, this made sense given the fact there was thirteen years of difference from when she would have found these letters.

"Got it." She held up the box to Solomon. They left Cain's room. Seth passed him a few of the letters at his questioning look.

Solomon skimmed the letters. "Did he reply to these?"

Seth nodded. "Yeah. Pope Gregory was the one to find the letters Cain sent Myles and I got a message from the Vatican telling me about them so I searched Cain's room in the other timeline and found these."

"Hmm." Solomon looked through another of the letters. "If we can get a hold of the Vatican in the present, this could line the path to peace." He gave her a soft look. "As you said it would."

"That's what I was thinking. Especially if we can convince them to look through Myles's room for the letters from Cain." Seth looked at the letters. She had lost Cain long ago. This way he would never be able to harm Lilith and shatter their family completely. This was for the best. The world of peace over her twisted, traitor of a brother's freedom.

"We still need to speak with Abel over the matter," Solomon stated. He returned the letters to the box. "After last night, I believe he wants to return to the original ideal of peace."

"He does," Seth confirmed.

The two of them entered the dining room. Abel was already there. Aran seated beside him, still struggling a little with his knife and fork. Big Bear had been placed behind him the chair. Azul was poking at his egg with his fork. His eyes brightened when he caught sight of Seth and Solomon.

"Aunt Seth, Uncle Solomon!" The boy grinned and waved. He stood on his chair.

"Sit down." Abel pulled his oldest son back into the sit.

"I was only greeting them, father," Azul pouted.

Abel opened his mouth.

Aran's knife clattered against his plate as he dropped it.

A small breath escaped Abel and he picked up Aran's knife. "Here." He pulled Aran's plate towards him. He started section Aran's food for him.

Seth smiled and took her place beside Azul. "You can greet us sitting just as easily." She ruffled her nephew's hair.

Solomon sat beside her and served the food onto his plate. "Have the guests from last night been woken?" he asked.

"I didn't have time to check," Abel replied. He finished cutting the egg and was working on the rest of Aran's food.

Aran watched Abel as if he were trying to memorize how to copy his father later.

The door into the room opened. The servant bowed a little as Mirka led those from the future into the room.

They took the seats they had the night before. Ion was looking at Azul who sat across from him.

"There." Abel pushed the plate back to Aran.

Aran picked up his knife again and tried to copy what Abel had done. The knife slid from his hand and clattered to the table. Aran glared at the knife. He tried again. This time the knife fell to the floor. A servant darted forward and retrieved the knife.

"Don't worry about trying to the cut the food," Abel told him. "Just focus on eating."

Aran looked crestfallen. "I wanna try again," he mumbled.

"But father cut everything for you," Azul pointed out. "You don't need to worry about it."

Aran pouted. "But you cut your own food."

"I'm older," Azul spoke in soft tones. He hugged his brother. "And you're still recovering."

This was true enough. Despite it being a year since Aran had almost died, the boy still struggled with staying healthy and gaining strength. It would take him another year to get to the strength a normal boy his age. But this had never stopped her precious little nephew from trying everything his brother did outside of hand-to-hand combat. Abel had refused to let Aran learn this given how frail he was.

Aran blinked at his food. His expression almost heartbroken.

"How about I run out and get you a new book?" Seth asked. "But only if you eat everything on your plate."

Aran's eyes brightened. "New book!" Then his face fell a little as he looked at the amount of food on his plate. He took a deep breath and lifted his fork. A determined expression appeared on his young face. "New book," he told himself with a nod. He started to eat the food.

Abel looked over his sons at Seth.

Seth smiled at him. She mouthed, "What? It worked."

A small breath escaped her brother. His gaze returned his own plate. Barely anything had been eaten off it.

Asthe frowned as she reached for some of the food. Her gaze lingered on Abel's plate before darting to his face and back. "Is there something wrong with you?" she asked after several long moments of her watching Abel stir the food and only taking a few bits. "Normally you're shoving more food than you can possibly swallow into your mouth."

"No he's not," Azul seemed to leap at the chance to argue.

"Azul," Abel started with patients. He pointed his fork at the boy's plate.

Azul blinked and looked at his plate. He bent back to it, not complaining Abel had noticed he'd been avoiding some of the food on his plate.

"Generally, without blood, I need to eat more than a normal person," Abel stated. He tapped his fork against a glass placed before the plate.

Seth recognized it as Methuselah blood from the scent alone.

"Look at it this way, the longer you don't drink blood, the more your body needs it, correct?"

Asthe frowned and nodded. "This is true," she agreed.

"But with your kind, if you don't drink blood you die," Abel continued. "With crusniks the effect is very different. Our bodies go into a state of hibernation, dropping to a point close to death. Unless," – he looked at her – "we eat an obscene amount of food. Considering crusniks aren't well known in the time you come from, I figured eating large amounts of food was the better of all other options."

It made sense. Abel had been pretending to be a terran priest. When living in the outer world, there was no easy access to Methuselah blood unless he was on a mission which had him run across Methuselah. When in the empire as one of the envoys Caterina had sent, he had to keep a low profile and pretend to be a terran as it was. Thus, even with easy access to methuselah, if he wanted to not draw attention to himself and not kill anyone, he had to continue to eat large amounts of food to maintain control over 02.

Solomon's hand brushed against hers. Seth looked at her husband. The moment her eyes met his, he tilted his head towards the box which she had placed next to him. Seth blinked and smiled, silently telling him she would bring it up soon.

"Are you two having a conversation without words?" Ion asked.

"Aunt Seth and Uncle Solomon do that all the time," Azul piped up. Egg now smeared his face as if he had been trying to be a dog.

Seth giggled. "Azul, are you dog?"

"What? No." The boy blinked, looking at her with wide confused eyes.

"Here." Seth wiped the egg from his face. "Good as new."

The door opened.

Seth glanced to see Sara enter with Valdemar. They took seats at the opposite end of the table from them. The servants rushed to get them food. A few of the wards entered as well and joined Valdemar and Sara.

"Who are they?" Ion asked.

"The Williams and the wards," Seth explained. "My brother has a soft spot for kids."

Azul glared daggers down the table at Valdemar.

"Brother, there is something Solomon, you, and I need to discuss after breakfast. It's related to the war."

Azul brightened. "Can I come?" he asked.

"No, Azul, you have lessons," Abel reminded him.

"Oh, right."

x – Abel – x

The servants took Azul off to his lesson after breakfast. Abel led the way to his office, more to avoid Sara than anything other reason. Those from the future came with them. Aran had returned to his room. Knowing his son, Aran would spend the day reading.

The office space was placed in a section of the palace Abel knew would one day be converted to another room. It was more a temp space than anything else. Or, so people had kept telling him.

"Why didn't we stay in the dining hall?" Ion asked. "It had more space," he grumbled as he sat down on the couch.

Baybars remained standing, letting Mirka and Asthe take the couch beside Ion.

"Information of a sensitive nature like this shouldn't be discussed in the open," Solomon stated. He placed the box he had been carrying on the table.

"It's the letters from Myles," Seth told Abel. She had taken one of the seats before the desk. Solomon stepped back so he stood beside her seat.

Abel frowned and opened the box. He remembered the letters Pope Gregory had showed him which had been too Myles from Cain. If he recalled, Gregory had found the letters in a bottom drawer of Myles's desk. Not really the brightest place to hide such a large secret. Still, no one had found out during the twenty years of war.

He pulled out the top letter. Sure enough, he recognized Brother Myles's handwriting. "You found these in Cain's room?" Abel asked, though he knew the answer already.

"Yep." Seth gave the smallest of sly grins. "He never changed the spot he hid them in either."

Abel looked at his sister. "Considering the first time you would have even thought to look for these isn't for another thirteen years, that's unsurprising, dear sister."

"Do you know where Myles keeps the letters from Cain?" Seth asked, not seeming to mind Abel's tone.

Abel frowned and folded back up the first letter. "I remember where Gregory said he found them. I can try to get a message to Lilith and see if she's willing to, one: believe me over the fact Myles is a traitor to the Vatican as much as Cain is to the empire, and, two: look to find those letters."

"Lilith will believe you if we send images of those letters to her." Seth pointed to the letter Abel still held.

Abel bowed his head, his free hand on his chin while he looked at the letter he held. This was the easiest means to peace between the empire and Vatican. It wouldn't bring peace between them and Albion, however. Still, without the Vatican's aid, Albion would back off as well. This was assuming they could even get through to the Vatican. Then, there was the fact he needed to contact Caterina. Even then, corresponding with Lilith over their bird would take too long. He needed another means to speak with her and Caterina through if there was any hope of ending this war quickly before too many more lives were lost.

"Solomon, how many encrypted communicators do we have left?" Abel asked, turning his gaze on his brother-in-law.

Solomon frowned. "It depends," he started, "just how much security do you want on it, Majesty?"

"So even those on our end can't hack into it." Abel gave Solomon a small, almost knowing smile. "Outside of the three of us in this room that is."

"Otherwise it would be impossible to create such a comminutor," Solomon stated in even tones. He paused, eyes glazed in thought. "Currently there are only the ones which all of the commanders hold. If I may, what do you want with it?"

Abel moved around his desk and pulled out a draw. He pulled out the papers which were in it before popping out the false bottom. Underneath the false bottom was a remote to call the mechanical bird he used to send messages to Lilith. There was also sensitive information on the movements of their troops there and where they could easily end up in a stalemate with the enemy. Abel pulled out both those plans as well as the remote.

He had suspected the communicators with a high enough encryption would have been used only by himself, Seth, Solomon, Alexander, Barack, and Athy. Abel pulled out his own communicator.

"For this to work, I need to send an encrypted communicator to Lilith." Abel looked at Solomon.

"I take it, that was why you wanted the mechanical bird built in the first place," Solomon stated and let out a low breath. He rubbed his eyes. "Of course, that's why you commissioned it." He looked at Abel, his gaze almost frightening in how calm it was. "All right, what's the plan?"

"Isn't Lilith Sahl currently working for the Vatican?" Asthe asked from where she sat. "I realize the empire regards her as the first empress in our time, but isn't it still treason to contact her, even if it is the emperor doing so?"

"I've never written her anything regarding the war or the empire," Abel explained. "I admit, I walk an extremely fine line in writing to her, but I've never crossed it. Even while serving as an AX agent within the Vatican I never gave away any of the underground passages which lead here." His eyes narrowed. "Yes, I exiled myself from the empire. No, I would never give away imperial secrets.

"Even the contract I signed which bound me to the Vatican, had a line in it which broke the contract the second open war was declared on the empire."

Asthe frowned, but didn't speak.

Silence fell over the room at Abel's words. Those from the future were looking at one another while Solomon had lapsed into thought.

"It might be wiser to send the communicator to those who came with you from the future," Solomon broke the silence after several long moments. "If Lilith is caught with the communicator, she could easily be branded the traitor in Myles's stead. But, if given to those not of this time, they can't be branded traitors given they're ghosts as far as the records are concerned."

Abel nodded. "Agreed. The only problem there, is Lilith might not be with them. Still, I will compose a third letter to Caterina and place the communicator within that letter." It was the best away around repercussions hitting Lilith. Still, if they weren't near one another or Lilith didn't even know about them, then there would be only the bird as way of communication between them. The bird was better than nothing.

Abel took his seat and pulled out paper and pen to draft the letter to Caterina.

"I will return shortly with a communicator to send to them." Solomon gave the slightest of bows to Abel.

Abel looked at him. In all honesty, he had been planning on just sending them his personal communicator. Before Abel could voice this, Solomon had left the room.

Seth leaned back in her seat, her eyes on the door. "I know all of this really strange," she started.

When Abel looked up from the letter it was to see her looking the four from the future. He had to agree with her words. This entire situation was more than just a little strange. It felt like seeing ghosts. His friends and family returned from the dead and turned back to a year after he had adopted his sons. Yet, the chance to change and undo mistakes he had made along the way was too good to pass up.

Abel couldn't imagine what this must have been like for those four. Two of them had known he was the emperor in this time. The other two had been left completely in the dark. From what he had read in the history books, he was regarded in a light which was unrealistic. A hero who had given everything to protect his people. Yes, he had given much to protect them; yet, he had to wonder if, in the end, he had just been a coward. There might have been away to peace with him remaining in the empire.

The thought drew his mind to Lilith's tomb. His heart ached at the thought of his love. What he had done, had ensured a peace which might not have been otherwise.

Abel bent back to the letter. For now, he needed to focus on this reality and not the one which had been.

"But, we should talk about what you four want to do now," Seth had continued while Abel had been lost in his thoughts. "You do have the option of attempting to return to the future, but it really will be a different future than one you know. Also," Seth held up her hand, "Solomon and I can't focus on recreating the device until after the war has ended. We might need the aid of someone who is currently in Vatican territory to make the device faster than Valdemar originally made it."

Mirka glanced at Ion before she spoke, "Your Majesty, history has already changed just through us arriving here and the actions his Majesty is currently undertaking. Our home is gone in the future at this point. Besides," – she clapped her hands lightly together, grinning – "I always wondered what it would be like to meet the founders. Now, I have the chance to do so."

Baybars frowned. Then looked at Seth. "If our reality has already vanished, then the loved ones we left behind are either no longer the people we knew or might not even exist." He bowed. "As you said, we have time to think on our situation here. There's no need to rush into a brash decision."

Ion was tracking Abel's every move.

Asthe looked between Seth and Abel. "We have to wait anyways to return for that idiot's group who are in the Vatican right now."

This was true. They had as much of a right as this group did on making the choice to leave this time or to stay. Abel glanced at them before his gaze slid back to letter he was writing to Caterina. He added in more on the fact the timeline would have changed by now.

Ion shifted a little. His gaze moved away from Abel and back to Seth. "Is the empire going to change drastically as well?" he asked.

Seth shrugged. "It's hard to tell."

"One part of history has already been changed," Abel pointed out. "If the war ends thirteen years before it's supposed with a peace treaty between the Vatican, Albion, and the empire, then, yes, the empire will have then changed from the place you knew."

"And even if this doesn't come to pass," Seth continued for Abel, "my brother is going to remain as the empire's emperor this time around. So, inherently, the empire will be different as his way of running the empire is drastically different from the way I ran it."

Ion titled his head. "The emperor was said to walk among his people in the open and take a personal interest in the lives of everyone within the empire." He looked at Abel. "Is that you just being noisy?"

"Hmm?" Abel had been reading back through the letter to Caterina. "I don't demand to know every detail of their lives," Abel stated. "The only one who ever tried to give such information was Arthur and generally that was him just gushing over his daughter."

Seth snickered. "I remember he once woke you, freaking over what to give Athy for her sixteenth birthday."

"He did."

Abel finished reading through the letter. It would have to do. At least this time he didn't have to rewrite it to make it come off as an idiot had written it. He folded the letter and placed it into an envelope. There were two other envelopes already set on the desk from the night before. Abel pulled back out the one meant for Gregory. He skimmed it to make certain everything was in order for meeting in a neutral territory to discuss peace. This time in a far more secure location than the original location Myles had chosen.

"Arthur Asran?" Ion asked.

"Yes." Abel glanced at the boy even as he drew another sheet of paper towards him. He should draft instructions on how to contact just him and not the others who had similar radios. Though, this was more for William than for Caterina. "What about him?"

"He was the emperor's tovarish," Ion started. "History says he and the emperor were the first tovarishs ever recorded."

Abel frowned. Tovarish was Russian for "a comrade" or, roughly, "partner." The meaning had grown to greater depths among the Methuselah of the empire since this time period. In the future, from what Asthe had told Abel, tovarish was deeper than friendship. It was a relation where one thought of another as close to or as good as family, in essence at least. Given the long lifespans of Methuselah, such bonds were a friendship in which the other would be willing to give everything for their "comrade" or "partner."

Thus, it honestly wasn't shocking Arthur would have been considered the first among this deeper meaning to tovarish. Abel would have given anything to have saved Arthur the day the war had started. Even over eight hundred years after Arthur's passing, Abel found himself missing the man's friendship and quick words which had always been meant to push any of their "buttons."

What would history have been like if Abel had saved Arthur, Tabitha, and Kayson the day the war started? If he had been able to protect them.

"That the emperor would give anything for Arthur and Arthur, in turn, would do the same." Ion nodded. "He really was the first to take up the role of a tovarish in history."

Seth cleared her throat. "Hey, Ion, perhaps you could stop talking about Arthur like that." She tilted her head towards Abel. "I don't want my brother to keep that extremely sad expression on his face all day."

Abel stiffened.

Ion blinked and looked at Abel. His expression seemed almost frozen. Then, his gaze caught one of the pictures on the desk. It was the one which showed all the old group back during the civil war. Arthur stood beside Abel in the picture.

"Oh, right." The boy looked away from Abel.

Silence filled the room, broken only by the sound of Abel's pen.

The door opened and snapped closed. Solomon strode into the room. "Here." He placed a communicator on the desk.

"Where did you go?" Seth asked. "Whose communicator is that?"

"Barack's," Solomon explained.

Abel lifted the device. "You stole Barack's?" He raised both his eyebrows at this. There was no way Barack would have willing passed over his communicator.

Solomon bowed his head. "I merely borrowed it without permission."

"Yeah, that's still stealing," Abel replied.

"His communicator is the only which wouldn't have sensitive information passing over it at any given time," Solomon explained. "Your communicator is linked into everyone else's and has their reports routed through it. Mine and Seth's do as well. His only relays the information on your whereabouts which is easier to remove than the information passed through the others. I've already done so."

"Besides, Barack can still easily contact you, brother," Seth pointed out.

"True enough." Abel sighed. Solomon did have a point. Barack's communicator was really the only one they could take. Still, in an ideal world he would have requested it. Not that Barack would ever hand over his communicator. Especially for a scheme like this. The man didn't trust the Vatican or peace meetings as far as he could throw the city of Rome.

Abel sealed the communicator into Caterina's letter and summoned the bird. It was already in Byzantium, so the wait wasn't long for it to fly in through the door. He attached the letters and set the bird to head for the controller Lilith held. He also fiddled with the settings so the bird would arrive in Rome sometime just after dawn. This time Abel opened the window. The bird flew off into the imperial day.

He turned to Solomon. "Contact those you trust within segment of the military Cain is overseeing. We have to move carefully and quickly to apprehend him. I leave how to handle his arrest to you, Solomon."

Solomon bowed his head to Abel. "It will be done." He left the room without another word. The man would return in a few hours, Abel already knew this.

"What are you going to do about the current battles taking place?" Seth asked. She hadn't moved from her seat.

Abel returned to his desk and tapped the documents he had pulled out earlier. "These contain possible positions for both Athy's and Barvon's groups. If done correctly, the two of them will be able to pull both the Albion and Vatican forces into a stalemate with their forces."

Seth frowned. "Is that wise?"

"The war is already in a near stagnated state," Abel pointed out. "It only shifts in favor of one side or the other is when I out maneuver Lilith or she does me."

"Or when Solomon is on the front and Lilith isn't," Seth added and let out a small breath. She rested her head on her hand. A small smile curled her lips. "I take it those plans only need slight revision to minimalize casualties."

"They do. When Solomon returns, I'll go back through them with him then send the orders to Barvon and Athy." Abel turned to Mirka, Baybars, Ion, and Asthe. "Speak with Barack when he returns to the palace," he told them. "Give him this." Abel passed Baybars a few orders he had drawn up last night for Barack. "He'll assign few guards to the four of you. Just in case people don't take too kindly to strangers from the future." Abel gave Baybars a small smile. "Not that you can't defend yourself, Baybars."

"I understand, Majesty." Baybars took the letter.

"Also," Abel spoke as he returned to his seat, "don't go outside during the imperial night. The protective shielding which surrounds the empire during your time has yet to be invented."

Seth nodded. "Yeah, technically Solomon and I don't even have the prototype for it for another thirteen years. I think we didn't even start the designs for it until a year from now. I'll talk to him about getting the designs started."

"It sounds like Solomon is needed everywhere in the empire," Asthe voiced.

"Dibs!" Seth exclaimed.

Abel scowled.

"What? He's my husband."

"Majesty," Asthe started in extremely respectful tones, her gaze locked on Seth, "are you saying the daggers we were looking for were yours?"

"Yeah," Seth confessed. "Please never tell him eight centuries from now I misplaced them."

Abel let out a soft snort. "You lost them, sister?"

"You, don't speak!" Seth snapped in a friendly, sister voice. "I didn't see you carrying Only One when in the empire."

"Well, of course not. Only One was back in Rome within Lilith's tomb."

"You left the emperor's sword in Rome!" Ion exclaimed.

"It's my sword," Abel pointed out in even tones.

Ion gaped. His mouth closed then opened again as if he was trying to find his voice.

"Besides, very few people could find their way to her tomb," Abel continued, hollowness filling his heart. "Caterina made certain the passages leading there were left in a state of disrepair. The tomb was a fall back location for the AX agents in case something ever happened and Caterina was forced to step down as a cardinal.

"Even then, only Tres, myself, Vaclav, Caterina, and William knew the tomb's location." Abel let out a small breath. "The point being, the safest place for the sword was in the tomb."

"It should have remained here in the empire," Ion argued. "Why did you take it with you if you weren't going to use it?"

"I told him to," Seth stated. "I didn't like the idea of my brother not having a weapon with him while within the Vatican." Seth smiled at Ion. "And you seem to be forgetting, Ion, you're speaking with the emperor right now."

Ion flushed. The flush was between enraged and embarrassed. The boy cleared his throat. "I-I'm going to look around the palace." He stood and headed for the door.

"I'll join you." Asthe stood as well.

Mirka followed her grandson, teasing him about how he had been so cute as he got upset at Abel.

Abel let out a low breath and rubbed his temple. "That could have gone better," he muttered to himself.

"It'll just take them time to understand and accept you're the emperor." Seth's gaze was kind as she looked at him. "For my children, you were highly regarded in history." Seth then smirked a little. "Though that is true now as well. You should have seen how many people show up to your funeral and how many sent complaints we held it so soon after your 'death' they were unable to attend."

Abel scowled. "That defeats the purpose of a funeral if I was there to witness it, Seth."

Seth shrugged. She hopped from her seat. "I'll leave you to your work. Just remember to get some sleep tonight, brother. Spending another night working isn't good for even your health." She waved over her shoulder before she left the room.

A small breath escaped Abel. Sleep? Not likely. The bird would arrive in Rome a few hours after sunrise. Even if Lilith wasn't close to Caterina's location, Abel needed to remain here where it was less likely to be overheard by his guard.

Abel shook his head. Seth was right about him having work to do though. There were reports from the front to see to and the day-to-day running of the empire.

Ha, he had once complained about the amount of work Caterina gave him to Esther. It had been hilarious to him at the time because the work she gave him paled when compared with running a nation.

Abel chuckled to himself as he pulled the reports towards him.

(Author's Note: I will confess, I like this story a lot more than EM. I keep feeling like I am forcing the plot in EM because it was never meant to go as far as it has and I kept adding to it until I no longer knew where I was taking the story (still don't). I'm not dropping EM, just hoping this story will help give me direction for that one.

Very random: I am an idiot. Abel knows Russian but I didn't and so "Tovarish" being Russian completely flew over my head in every other fan-fiction I've written. Finally, not in this one. Also, random, but there are four different ways of spelling "tovarish." Yeah, okay, leaving it as is…

Final note, yes, Solomon just stole Barack's radio XD)