Heart of the Melting Blood
The Moonlight Legend

Written by: Lone Wolf NEO
Conceived by: Lone Wolf NEO

Disclaimer: Lone Wolf NEO does not own any of TYPE MOON titles, 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. All insert characters are copyright or owned by their respective represented real-life entities. The author would appreciate it if the content of this story isn't plagiarized without his permission.

For new readers: the setting is in the timeline after the events of Shingetsusan Tsukihime, FATE/Stay Night and Melty Blood. This is the sequel to the earlier instalment of Heart of Melting Blood RELOADED, and runs roughly in parallel with Sheo Darren's The World Within and Without. Please refer to the two stories for background information.

Chapter 04
Whisper of Heart

"Eh? So you're a friend of the Author who is also a friend of Arcueid?" Saber asked, as the group was having ice cream at a nearby café. "We never thought to see a strong and interesting ally as you are, Alex-san."

"I never thought of myself as an ally of everyone," Alex spoke and took a dip of the float. "I just do whatever I think is right. Well, for the most of the time, that's what I've been doing."

"Tell us what you've been doing along this time," Saber asked again. "A person like you must have something interesting to share, at least."

"For the most of time," he uttered and took another scoop of the float, "I travel from place to place, watching people who live there, and getting to know them up close and personal. And…"

"And in the end you return to your beloved one," Arcueid replied and foxily chuckled. Sion snapped in embarrassment and withdrew her lasso, snarling at the True Ancestor along. "Aw, come on. You know you already love him, don't you Sion-chan?"

"Don't try me…!" Sion warned.

"Who wants to try you? Nya!" Arcueid replied and jumped off the seat, as Sion pounced at her. "Boo hoo! You can never catch me! Nya!"

Alex just laughed at the twos who ran inside the café and continues having his float when Illiya stared at him. "You're Illiya, right? What is it do you want?" he asked.

"Oniichan, is it true that you and Sion-oneechan like each other?" the young girl asked.

Alex coughed and stared at her. "Don't tell me that Arcueid told you about that," he uttered, smiling uneasily at her.

Illiya just giggled and continued staring at him. "Nothing. I'm just curious at strangers like you," she spoke and smiled. "So, what really brings you to this city, oniichan?"

"First of all, can you stop calling me oniichan? It sounds degrading," Alex pleaded with an uneasy expression upon his face.

"Mou, when I thought I could be friendly with you," Illiya mumbled and made her pouting face.

"Please forgive her, Alex-san," Shirou spoke. "She has a habit of calling anyone older than her oniichan or oneechan. Even us are called with the suffixes."

Alex just shrugged. "I see. Well, Illiya," he called her and smiled, "I guess you can call me with whatever you want to. In return…"

The girl's eyes sparkled. "In return?"

Alex looked around and took a piece of paper next to him. Saber, Shirou and Illiya watched in intrigue as he made something out of the paper. "There. It's done," he declared and put the finished product in front of him.

"Kawaii!" Illiya cried and took the paper crane. "This is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. Where did you learn making this, oniichan?"

"Self-learning, I guess," Alex told her and made another paper crane. "This is what I usually do whenever I'm bored. Miss Saber, this is for you too."

Saber's eyes sparkled as she accepted the origami figure. "This is so beautiful. Thank you so much, Alex," she spoke and smiled.

"And as for you, Mister Shirou," he spoke and gave him yet another paper crane. "This is a token of my gratitude to know the three of you."

"You don't have to do this, Alex-san," Shirou insisted and took the paper crane. "But if this is for our friendship, I'll take it anyway."

"Hey! What about us?" Arcueid cried and got caught by Sion. "Hey! Stop chocking me, Sion! SION!" The purple alchemist ignored the plea and threatened her with her handgun.

Alex just laughed as he watched at the quarrelling duo. "Well, while they're busy arguing, why don't we use our time to talk a bit more?"

"That sounds good," Saber spoke and nodded.

"Yaay! Will you teach me how to make paper crane, oniichan?" Illiya asked.

x-x

"It's been a great day for us," Shirou spoke as the groups stood at a road junction. "I don't know whether we can meet again like this, but let's hope for the day like today to come in the future."

Alex chuckled at the statement and offered a handshake. "Friends, shall we?"

Shirou grinned and replied the hand gesture. "Friends, indeed."

The two men shook hands and grinned at each other in confident before they departed. Alex watched, as Illiya cheerfully waved at him and called out his name, and waved back at the girl. "Well, then, where are we headed next?" he asked as he approached Sion and Arcueid.

Arcueid just shrugged. "I don't know; it's yours to decide."

"Really? Then," and he looked around before pointed at a stationery shop, "let's go there. I want to buy something before we go back. what about you, Arcueid?"

"I'll pass," and she made a 'sorry' hand sign, "sorry, but I must catch up with my TV show. Later!" With that said, Arcueid ran down the road, waving at the couple all the way.

"Aw, when I thought the three of us could buy something together," Alex commented and glanced at Sion. "So, shall we go?"

The woman smiled and reached for his arm. "Umm."

Alex chuckled and walked toward the stationery shop, letting Sion cling onto him. "You know what?"

"What is it?" Sion asked while still clinging onto him.

"I'm thinking of looking for a part-time job. A freeloader can't always sit around and do nothing."

Sion giggled and tightly embraced his arm. "You should."

x-x

"What do you think of Arcueid's new friend?" Saber asked, as the trio walked back to Fuyuki Town.

"Alex, you say?" Shirou replied and scratched his chin. "He's just a regular guy to me. Nothing so special about him. Why did you ask?"

"Nothing," she said and stared at the paper crane she was holding, "but he's not the kind of guy we'd usually meet at the street. He looks so… intriguing."

"Because he's a friend of Arcueid's friend?" Shirou asked.

"I think he's more than that." She turned to him, noticing that he was staring at him with the 'what did you say?' look, and laughed. "Nothing, nothing at all. I'm just wondering what kind of guy Alex-san is."

"Well, we can invite him to our place, if you want to," Shirou said. "He's kind of interesting to me."

Illiya giggled and hugged Shirou's arm. "But he's nowhere cool compared with oniichan. I mean, oniichan has been fighting with us for a long time, while Alex-oniichan is only a regular person," she spoke and tightly hugged the arm. "But…"

Shirou stared at the young girl. "But?"

Illiya smiled. "But Alex-oniichan knows how to make paper crane. I want to learn from him. Ne, can we visit him again? I want to learn origami from him. Can we?"

Shirou laughed and patted her head. "Of course we can."

"Yaay!"

Saber merely chuckled at the twos and stared back at the paper crane. "Learn from him… huh?"

x-x-x-x-x

"The night is clear," Alex whispered as he stood next to the window. He was alone in the room, exhausted after a day-long of trip around the town. It had been planned that he and Sion would immediately return to the Tohno Residence after buying stuffs at the stationery shop, yet the rain that suddenly arrived at the town forced them to wait at the shop. Being teased by Arcueid for spending the time under the rain alone when they came home was troublesome, but being misunderstood by Akiko and her mother as a couple-in-love was another story. He laughed when he remembered how embarrassed Sion was when Akiko stated that she was in love with him.

"Heh. Time cannot be wasted for nothing," he uttered and jumped to the rooftop, landing perfectly on its edge. He looked around for a while, nodded, took out the harmonica and started playing the song of wind. Subsequently, the night's breeze gently blew against himself, flapping his outfit in rhythm to the song.

"That was so beautiful." He stopped playing the harmonica and turned around. He just grinned when he found out who was praising the song. "Oh, why do you stop? It's so lovely I want to hear it."

"Sorry, Miss Ciel, I thought you were someone else," he apologized.

The Vatican agent chuckled and walked toward him. "So, what is our lone wolf doing in the middle of the night with harmonica in hand?"

He shrugged and stared at the moon. "Just wasting my time by playing songs and watching the moon. Why? Are you expecting me to walk around the town at this hour?"

She just chuckled and corrected her eyeglasses. "Nothing, but that's a good idea. Why don't I take you for a quick trip around the town? Night is the best time to enjoy the scenery."

"I'd like to, but Miss Sion and Miss Arcueid already took me for a tour," he told her.

There was a disappointment emerged from her eyes when she heard the names. "I see. Maybe I had missed many things you were enjoying," she spoke and frowned.

"Aw, please don't be depressed, Miss Ciel," he insisted and scratched the back of his head. "Being left out doesn't mean you can't hear what I have to say."

Ciel giggled and approached him. "I'm sorry; I was just being sad." She, then, took a seat with him and together watched at the moon. "So what is it you want to tell me, Alex-kun?"

"Want to hear something interesting?" he started his talk, "I met this little girl named Akiko on the way home. She was grateful to meet me that time."

"Oh, really? How so?" she asked.

"She said she was happy because I bought her ice cream, and she even asked me to buy another one," he uttered and laughed. "Children; they never fail to fascinate people around them with their pure innocence."

She giggled. "Of course they are, because they are at their purest form."

"Maybe." Alex continued playing the harmonica, whilst Ciel listened to the song in full interest.

"By the way, Alex-kun," Ciel called him, promptly stopping his musical play. "Can I take a look at the harmonica for a moment? I'm wondering whether this thing holds memories of a certain person."

He chuckled at the request and handed over the harmonica to her. "A girl gave me the harmonica as a present. I tried not to accept it, because it was the only treasure she had," he spoke and gazed at the stars, "but then she insisted me to take it. You know what she said to me about the harmonica?"

"What did she say?"

"'You must take this with you, because you like to entertain kids, right?' or so it is," he answered. "And… she told me that I can convey my heart's whispers to people with it. I don't really believe of that thing really works, but I guess it's better than nothing."

"Whisper of heart, huh?" the Vatican agent uttered.

x-x-x-x-x

At the place which was once and is still London.

A certain man in his late 20's with red headband and spiky hair was leaning against the wall. His ears were plugged with headphones, as he was busy listening to the songs of Queen. Beside him was a sword which was always mistaken as an oversized cigarette lighter. It was slightly raining at the city, and people could be seen running for shelter. The man, however, ignored the rain and kept on listening to his Discman, as if he was waiting for someone.

"Gomen ne, Sol-kun."

He turned around and grumbled when he saw a girl around the age of 16 who was carrying a Hello Kitty backpack. "Damn it, you're late again," he mumbled. "You just wasted my 15 minutes of my life. I told you to use the alarm clock, didn't I?"

The girl shyly giggled and quickly approached him. "Gomen. I forgot to turn it on," she apologized.

He shrugged and took a sip of his Marlboro before he put it away. He glanced at the girl with a concerned look on his face. "I thought you'd throw the smoke away and said 'smoking isn't good for your health' or whatever," he uttered.

She giggled and playfully slapped his muscular arm. "Aw, Sol-kun didn't remember what I said yesterday. Today, Sol-kun is free to do whatever Sol-kun wants to do."

The man shrugged and sipped the smoke, whilst the young girl contently stared at him. He ignored the girl and went into his thought, whilst continued to sip the Marlboro. Idle as he was, he later nodded to the familiar tune of the Bohemian Rhapsody and increased the volume of his headphones, tapping his feet along. The girl just stared at him for a while before ate a bread she bought at a cake shop nearby.

He grumbled. A memory he did not want to remember emerged in his mind. "Stupid," he mumbled and tapped the headband. "This is so stupid. Why it must be him, of all people? Damn it, now I have to deal with him and that scout boy…"

He felt his arm held and looked at the girl. The girl stared at him and asked, "What's the matter, Sol-kun?"

"Just stupid memory trying to get on the way," he uttered and put off the cigarette. "And some stupid guys who stand in the way when I don't want them to mess with."

She giggled and rested her head upon his arm. "Sol-kun doesn't have to be mad at those people. Sol-kun used to practice the 'when in doubt, Gun Flame' tactic whenever he's in trouble. So…"

"Whatever." He ignored the girl and took another sip of newly-lit cigarette. "Say, Kagura."

"Nani, Sol-kun?" the girl asked.

"Nothing. Nothing."

She giggled and snuggled into the warmth of his body, ignoring the rain which poured on the streets of London. "Sol-kun, you know you don't have to be secretive at me," she half-whispered.

He shrugged and stared at the night sky. "Don't have to be secretive… huh?"