Heart of the Melting Blood
Legend of the Moonlight
Written and conceived by:
Lone Wolf NEO

Lone Wolf NEO does not own any of all the games or anime or manga featured in this story, but he owns the copyright to all his original ideas in this fiction. The author would really appreciate it if readers do not plagiaries everything inside this story without his knowledge.

Chronological Note: Heart of the Melting Blood: Legend of the Moonlight takes place scarcely half a year after the event in Heart of the Melting Blood RELOADED, and currently runs roughly in parallel with Guilty Gear: the World within and Without written and created by Sheo Darren. This is Heart of Melting Blood: Legend of the Moonlight's new arc, the Awe of She Arc, which takes approximately a week after events in FATE Arc, and takes place in a peaceful, seaside town away from all the chaos and disorders. This is the arc where another half of the story will be revealed, thus completing the story… hopefully.

Chapter 13
Giving In

Lia left the bathroom and headed to the mirror. With only white drape to cover her moist body, which was covered with evaporating steams after spending a long time inside the shower, she swung her head to the left and right, causing water to drip from her shiny hair. She stretched her arms upwards, made a small sigh and sat on the chair. She faced her reflection on the mirror, admiring every inch of her natural beauty while running her fingers through her still moist hair. Such magnificence was to be admired, and she wished that her brother was there to praise it.

--again, fan boys roared in excitement. Fan girls appeared and told the fan boys to drop dead. Fan boys revived and demanded the fan girls to shut up. Both parties argued and tossed items among each other.

Sol appeared and sent them a good mile away with his trustworthy Tyrant Rave Beta. "Stupid fan service and one-sided sibling love-obsessed public," he grumbled. Kagura glomped him. Sol curses to himself --although he likes the glomping very much-- and leaved the scene.

"Paedophile," a fan boy called him.

Sol halted, glared at him, said, "Fk you," and Instant Killed him with Napalm Death. He, then, walked away while letting Kagura hanging on his neck. "Nobody dares calling me a Lolikon."

"Baaka," Hoshino Ruri commented to end the side drama.

"Haven't this been done many times already?" Yuuki demanded, even as the crews of Death Star did their works on casualties evacuated from Athens.

Ruri glared at That Girl. "Baaka," she replied and left the command centre.

"What? Even I was called stupid," Yuuki snapped.--

She muted. The painful memory of her brother descending to the abyss remained fresh. Even after she apologized to the elders and was forgiven for failing the mission, she could not --and would not-- forgive herself for failing to save him. She embraced herself, frowned, and mumbled Alex's name in low voice even as she tried not to cry.

"I should take a walk," she pondered and reached for her miko dress. She was hesitant for a while, as she embraced the miko dress for a long time while burying her face in it, sniffing the fragrance aroma of it. She wore it, corrected it several times and went outside her room, and started walking down the alley.

"It seems that the lone wolf is still alive," a soldier spoke, even as Lia walked past the cafeteria. She stopped walking and eavesdropped the conversation the soldier and his comrade was having.

"Are you sure? The intelligence division reported nothing from their investigation," the soldier's comrade insisted.

The soldier snorted and put down the cup he was holding. "They didn't know anything about him. I heard many stories that assassins like him were once trained to defy death, and sometimes they had to face death many times just to ensure their survival."

"Nah, it couldn't that be," the comrade replied. "Assassins lived by the code 'kill or be killed,' just like the ninjas. They'd rather die in pride of an assassin than to die in humiliation."

"Yeah, most of them were, but not for those who directly served the highest leaders of the Assassins' Guild. They were often pitied upon, and given chances to prove themselves had they failed in their missions," the soldier spoke. "I even heard that former Zato-1 was angry at the elders' decision not to execute the lone wolf after he failed to assassinate Undersn."

"Maybe it's because he was special?"

"Who knows?"

The two soldiers continued their conversation, without knowing that they were being pried upon. Lia kept watching at them before left the cafeteria and headed back to her room. If what they were talking was true, she thought as she hurried down the balcony back to her room. then there is still hope to see him alive.

A ninja appeared behind her, and knelt. "Mistress, we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"Echo's found missing during a training mission with Master Blaze,"

"Echo's gone?" she replied.

"Yes, Mistress. We've searched everywhere at the training ground, but we found none of her presence. Master Blade has issued us with orders to search for her outside the base, since he suspects that Echo might have left the base."

Lia frowned. "Even Blade didn't know?"

The ninja nodded. "Master Blade apologized for his carelessness, and he's willing to accept any punishment you're going to execute."

"What does she think she's doing? Where's she headed to?" Lia asked.

"We don't have any clue. But the trainees said that Echo mentioned something of personal revenge," the ninja spoke.

Lia was startled. "Can't be… is she looking for him?"

x-x-x-x-x

The summer house was bustling with life. Tonight, the group would be handling their first barbeque party, an event they had been looking forward to from the day they arrived at the town. Added with the presence of Alex, unexpected but much welcomed, they were very excited to have it a day to be remembered.

"Alright, everyone, we now have everything ready," Millia uttered after she put down the BBQ set. "The only thing we have to do after this is to prepare meals for grilling. Venom, have you carried out the steak we bought earlier?"

"Why do I have to do all the smelly works?" Venom complained as he carried out the raw meat from the kitchen.

"Because you're the only man among us who can do that kind of job," Millia replied.

"What about him?" Venom demanded and almost puked at the underdone smell of the meal.

"You mean what about the assassin you've tried to call with such suffix? Oh, will you please stop mumbling and finish the job already?" she replied and sighed. "This is why I don't like to see you grumbling around. Like an old man."

He groaned at the answer and roughly threw the steak to the table. "Hey, can't I voice out my opinion once in a while? What the hell's wrong with you, Millia?" Millia snapped and demanded Venom to shut up while prodding a hair scalpel upon his neck. Venom was freaked out and immediately took out his cue stick as a mean of defence and ordered her to stop threatening him.

"Now, now, Mr. & Mrs. Rage," Alex said and tried to calm down the couple in conflict. "Can we settle this matter in peace and continue with our work? What do you say?" Both the assassin couples glared at him, said "NO!" and continued their argument. He was astounded at the reply and blinked in bafflement. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked to himself.

"Don't worry about them, Alex-san," Hibiki reminded. "It's the usual thing husband and wife would do. Quarrelling, then make peace. Just leave them be, ne?"

Alex merely shook his head and continued his work when Hotaru took the ketchup bottle he was carrying. "You don't have to force yourself to help us, Alex-san. Why don't you take a rest? Dizzy-chan might be worried to see you overworking yourself," she suggested.

"What? Can't I contribute some of my strength to help?" he insisted.

The firefly woman giggled at the answer and walked away from him. "Because you still haven't recovered," she answered. "And a sick person should stay inside and do his own work. Just leave the heavy jobs to us, okay?"

He tried to protest before decided not to argue with her. "Whatever you say, Miss Hotaru," he said and went back to the house. He headed to the living room and saw Dizzy making paper cut-outs. "What are you doing with the cut-outs?" he asked as he approached her.

"I'm trying to cut these papers for decorating the venue at the outside," she said and trimmed the paper she was holding. She mumbled in surrender and put down the tools after she couldn't make it. "Aw, I can't make it. It's just too hard for me."

Alex laughed and took the unfinished cut-outs. "That's not the way you do it. Let me do it for you," he said and examined it. "This is so wrongly done, Dizzy. Did you learn how to make stuffs?"

Dizzy sulked at the comment. "Are you angry at me, Alex?" she asked.

"Of course I'm not," he replied between his laughs. "I know you're trying very hard, but that alone isn't enough. You must put your believes on what you're trying to make, because only with that you'll achieve perfection."

"Why are you saying that?" she asked, curious and wanted to know.

He chuckled and put down the finished product. "I don't know. I just remembered someone telling it to me," he said. "Maybe a long time ago… but I forgot when." He handed over the perfected paper cut-outs to Dizzy, and proceeded to make a pair of paper cranes. Dizzy just watched at him in fascination and started imitating his works, humming songs as she did, not noticing that she was being watched. "Where did you learn the song, Dizzy?" he asked.

"Oh, you mean the song I'm singing now?" she replied, while shyly running her hand through her hair. "Would it be alright if I tell you who taught me the song? I mean, you might not know who, but…"

"Why, it's more than alright," he insisted. "You know, I have this habit of wanting to know everyone as a friend, even if I never meet them." She, instead, just shyly fiddled her fingers while not looking at him. "Hey, what's so embarrassing about? You know I won't get angry with you."

"But… I don't think you'll know the person anyway," she replied.

He kept staring at her before shrugged and continued his origami. "Oh, well. Guess I'll ask for it the next time," he said.

Dizzy said nothing afterwards and stared at him. For a while, she was wondering whether he really could not remember anything happened to him in the past, or he was merely pretending. Pretending? No, it couldn't be that, she insisted and shook her head. He really lost his memory, and he needed her help to recover whatever he had lost or left behind.

She was startled. Alex was presenting her with a pair of paper cranes, and he was smiling at her. "These are for you," he said and put the paper cranes on her palm. Her eyes shone brightly to see the surprise present, and her smile widened.

"They're so cute," she said and gently rubbed the paper cranes against her cheek. "Thank you for making me these, Alex."

"I'm so glad to see you smiling, Dizzy," Alex replied and put a paper flower he made from the origami on her head. "And I think this flower matches your smile perfectly, though it's kind of silly to give you fake flower," he said and laughed naively.

Dizzy cooed at the gift, and her smile became even wider. "You're so kind, Alex. You don't have to do this for me," she said.

"Why can't I?" he insisted.

"Because you just don't have to," she replied and shyly giggled. "And you don't have to be kind toward me, though…"

Alex laughed at the answer and corrected the paper flower she was wearing. "But we're friends, alright. There's nothing wrong for me to express how I feel toward my friend. There, it's done," he said and put a final touch on the flower. "Wow, you look so beautiful already, even if I don't put it on. It must be family inheritance."

She just frowned, trying to hide her blushing face from him. "Thank you, Alex…"

Just then, Hotaru came into the room and approached the twos. "Dizzy-chan, Alex-san, the BBQ's ready. Come on out, you don't want to feed on leftovers, do you?" she said.

Dizzy and Alex stared at each other, nodded, and followed Hotaru to the outside, where the barbeque party was ready to start. "Let's have as much meal as we can for tonight, Dizzy," Alex suggested. "What do you say?"

"I've wanted to eat barbequed steak once in a while," Dizzy stated. "I wonder how it feels to have outdoor meal. Have you had such occasion, Alex?"

"Not if I can remember when," he replied. "Wait a minute. Did I have one before?"

"Ne, ne, what did both of you talk back there?" Hotaru asked, even as her eyes were staring curiously at Alex. "Can you tell me? Can you?"

"Do you really have to know everything, Miss Hotaru?" he asked and patted her head.

"Aw, can't I?" she replied and pouted. "And stop patting my head, Alex-san. I'm not a kid, mou. I'm 18, and it's not Miss; it's Mrs."

"You're married already?" he replied.

Hotaru grumbled at the reply. "Yes, I am, and the same goes with Dizzy."

Alex glanced at Dizzy, who was by now blushing brightly and shooed Hotaru away from them. He just laughed and apologized at the young woman. "Looks like I have to be careful whenever I'm addressing both of you with suffixes."

"Just don't have to be too formal with us, Alex-san," Hotaru replied, and stuck out her tongue at Dizzy in protest. "Dizzy-chanbaaka. Trying to act dishonest toward your hubby, don't you?"

"I'm not!" Dizzy replied and started chasing Hotaru around the venue.

He just laughed at them and threw his sight to the night sky, correcting his loosened eyeglasses as he usually did. "That reminds me of something… but what is it?" he pondered.

x-x-x-x-x

"How is she, oniisan?"

"She still hasn't recovered. Her mental seems to be very disturbed when I met her back there, and you don't want to know what actually happens to her."

"Is she going to be alright, Shiki-sama?"

"I have no idea. At current rate, it's going to take a long time for her to pull through."

"I'm not worried about that; it's Alex we should be concerned of right now."

"Arcueid, we should instead worry of both of them. We still don't know whether Alex-kun is really gone or not."

"But we saw him falling off the cliff, didn't we?"

The living room became silent. All of the mansion's residents frowned, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Arcueid. The True Princess blinked at the awkward silence and demanded everyone to answer her. "Hey, come on! Can't anybody come up with something or two?" she demanded and looked around her in dismay. Just then, Logan jumped off the chair and headed to the stairs. "Where are you headed to, Logan?" she asked.

"Of course," he replied and cracked a fist, "to knock her sense back."

"I'd advice against that, Logan," Shiki suggested. "She might look unwell, but she won't hold back if you're trying to anger her."

The axe fighter snorted. "Anger? Hah! I'd rather face an annoyed wolf than to hide from her. Listen, everyone. Do you think I'm going to sit quiet and do nothing while my buddy is nowhere to be found? Well, the answer is NO," he replied.

"But why must you meet her right away? You know she still has to…"

Logan glared at Akiha. "If she's still thinking about him, then why doesn't she go out and look for him right away? I don't want to spark arguments with any of you right now, so will you excuse me for a while?" He continued walking upstairs and left the baffled residents.

"What does he think he's doing?" Akiha grumbled.

"Beats me," Arcueid replied and shook her shoulders. "But he's right. We shouldn't just sit and do nothing. We've got to do something."

"But where should we start?" Shiki asked. "We don't know where to look for Alex in the first place, and we still need to know what the Dragoon Society actually wants from him."

"Then why don't we go and kick their butts right away?" Arcueid suggested.

"That wouldn't be possible," he insisted. "They've got quite a strong regiment, and the Judges were formidable too, though we have edged them a bit after Logan joined us."

"So?" Arcueid spoke.

The head of the Tohno family sighed. "In other words, we can only sit and wait."

x-x

Sion was seating beside the window, emptily staring at the night sky. Her heart was not fully healed after the tragic loss she witnessed right before her eyes. She was traumatized, and she was deeply shattered from the inside that it was not known of how she would recover. Even Shiki's effort to help her getting through it was unsuccessful, and she was now left alone in a condition so miserable to see.

"Can I come in?" The request was promptly ignored, and she remained idle beside the window. She took no notice of Logan who approached her and stood beside her. "We need to talk, Sion."

"Go away," she weakly replied.

"What? What do you expect me to do?" he replied and held her shoulder. Roughly she brushed it off and turned away from him, whilst putting the blanket she was holding around her body. "What the hell's wrong with you? Why you refuse to look at me!" he roared and grabbed her shoulders.

She gasped at the rough grab and tried to pull away from his possession. "Let me go! Let me go, please!" she protested and repeatedly punched his chest.

"Listen to me, Sion! Listen to me THIS ONCE!" The young woman stopped struggling and stared at him in watery gaze. "Look, Alex won't die easily, and he's not the type who would let himself down! Do you understand?"

"But… but…"

"After all the days you've shared with him, you no longer have faith in him and believed that he's dead instead? What do you think will be his response if he sees you like this?" he asked and tightened his grab on her shoulders. "Think about it for once, Sion. Will he ever give up his fights? Will he?"

Unable to contain her emotion, Sion fell onto his body and clung onto him very tightly, burying her tears-laden face on his leather jacket. "But I don't want to lose him, not even to Lia…! Why does he have to go…" she sobbed.

Logan said nothing to answer her. He merely let her crying on his jacket, while softly patting her scalp. The tears start to dampen him, yet he did not care of that. Strong or not, he realized, she was still a girl who needs someone to sooth her heart. As slowly as he could, he pushed her away and wiped off the tears. "Take a rest, okay? You might need it," he said. She just nodded and returned to her bed. He gave her the blanket and headed back to the door when she called him. "What is it?"

"Can you stay? I feel like want to know everything about him from you," she said.

The man in his late 40's could only smile at the request and took a seat beside her. "Sure. I'll tell you everything I know about him."