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.

Author's note: the author was joking on the statement that Chapter 20 would be Heart of Melting Blood: Legend of the Moonlight's last chapter. Instead, the story will continue in a new arc, Destiny Arc, which takes place not long after the battle between the three knights of the Holy Orders in the Awe of She arc. And this time, the author will promise an ending to this tale of betrayal, trust and hope.

x-x-x-x-x

Previously, on Heart of Melting Blood: Legend of the Moonlight…

"No, stop it!" Dizzy ran to the scene and stood between the two warriors. "Stop this at once! He can't continue this fight anymore!"

"Step back, I said," Sol demanded.

"NO! If you're going to kill him, then do it on me as well!" she replied.

Sol growled at the demand. "Dizzy, don't make me do this. I don't want to hurt you, so step back."

"Never!" And here Dizzy glowered at Sol with the eyes of a human woman. Sol exchanged his sight with her, and groaned in both anger and amazement at the determination she showed. "I will not allow anyone to hurt him! Not even you or Ky!"

"It's alright." Dizzy was startled when she felt arms wrapping about her shoulders. "It's alright, Dizzy. It's over now. Sol won't need to do it and I won't need to fight him either," she heard Alex weakly whispering.

Tightly she held the charred arms and buried her face beneath it. "But Alex, they hurt you…" she whined. "Sol hurt you and Ky hurt you too…" She, then, leaned against the firm figure of the knight and went into tears. "You don't know how hurt my heart was to see you like this… you just don't know…"

The fallen soldier, instead, chuckled and pulled the woman into a warm embrace. "I'm sorry, Dizzy," he whispered and brushed his lips on her supple cheek. "I didn't mean to hurt your heart… I'm sorry…"

Sol could only sigh in relief and lowered the Fireseal when he saw a shadowy figure standing behind Alex with a sword lifted erect. "Kid, behind you!"

x-x

Wolves were heard howling at the forest nearby. It was a long, heartbreaking and unbearable howl, and it was echoing through each and every corner of the street. It was as if the wolves sensed a catastrophe falling upon their kin, and before long the howls were heard all over the town.

She gasped. The glass she was holding dropped to the floor and shattered upon impact. "What… happens?" Sion whimpered and put a hand on her chest. She felt her heart thumping in unusual speed and she felt as if there was a disaster happening outside the mansion.

"Sion, what's wrong?" along came Ciel's voice as she walked into the kitchen. The alchemist turned around, and the Vatican agent gasped at what she saw. "Sion, you're crying!"

"I… I what?" Sion put her hand on her cheek and felt hot stream of tears flowing freely from her eyes. She was tongue-shackled, aghast at the spontaneous reaction she was having. It was only after seconds of silent that she realized what had happened. "No… it cannot be…"

x-x-x-x-x

Chapter 21
Untitled

Silence. No breath was audible, neither did spoken words. The alley was disturbingly quiet, as the trio of Justine, Rheo and Athena, Dizzy and Hotaru, Rock and Sol waited outside the operation room. They had been impatient and worried since Alex and Ky were admitted immediately after the battle ended. Neither of them knew what would become of the two knights, and neither of them wanted to know what was taking place beyond the surgery room's door.

Dizzy, in particular, was the most anxious. She wasn't worried of Ky, and she wasn't worried of her injured midsection, either; it was Alex's condition that made her feel agonized. Already she knew that his eyes were still yet to recover, and yet the lone wolf ignored her worry and chose to fight Sol and Ky. Already she realized the dire consequence if the battle was to prolong. She was angry; angry at Sol for purposely hurting him with Baptism by Fire; angry at Ky for not understanding the truth; angry at Alex for making her cry. Even the melancholic tunes of "Untitled" that faintly echoed from the hospital's speakers added her unease more than she could imagine.

The "OPERATION" light went off. Immediately the people rushed to the surgery room and met Faust who came out of the room. From the unusual icon displayed on his paper bag, it was clear that he had faced a tough operation.

"How is he, doctor?" Dizzy asked.

Faust sighed and scratched his head. "Let's see… 20 broken ribs, fractured cranium, ruptured hipbone, internal bleeding in his lungs, damaged heart, one disabled kidney, and permanently injured eyes. I don't want to announce this, everyone," the doctor spoke, "but Mister Hahn has an extremely slim chance of living. About 1, if my calculation is correct."

Dizzy felt her knees weakened. Unable to accept the news, she fell to the ground and broke into the most agonizing cry she ever had. "No…! He can't die…! He can't die!..." she whined, even as Hotaru comforted her in an embrace.

"Then what about Ky?" Sol asked.

"He needs to have a bypass operation on his heart," Faust spoke and rushed to another operation room, "that's what I'm going to do after this."

The group was left. Dizzy was still crying in Hotaru's arms, and Rock was leaning against the wall not far from the group, probably thinking of Ky's fate. Neither Justine, nor Athena was saying anything, and they were looking at Sol, expecting him to say a word. Rheo, on the other hand, acted as if there was nothing to concern of as he was occupied with a copy of The Return of the King novel he brought along. And so did Kagura, who was busy listening to her Walkman.

"Let's go out, Dizzy-chan," Hotaru suggested. "We should take a walk right now. When it's okay to visit Alex-san, we'll do so. Okay?" The Gear woman just nodded and followed Hotaru to the lift, heading out of the hospital. Rock followed the two girls and left the rest of the group outside the operation room.

"So, Sol-chan," Justine started the conversation. "Can you tell us what was exactly going on?"

"Yeah, tell us why you fought Alex-kun," Athena demanded and put her hands on her hips as a sign of emphasis.

Sol grumbled and lifted the Fireseal he put against the wall. "Before anything goes wrong, I suggest us to talk outside," he suggested, even though his voice sounded unpleasant.

"Oh. Alright then." Justine pulled Rheo's arms and immediately headed to the lift, while Athena approached Kagura and told her to go out with her. Sol watched as the four people disappeared from his sight and shook his head before followed their lead.

The group went to the nearby park and rested. After a period of an uncertain silence, Athena broke it with a concerned cough. "Alright, Mister Badguy," she interjected with a look of disapproval in her eyes, "would you mind if you can explain everything to us?"

"Don't tell me you want me to speak of that kid," Sol grumbled.

"Come on!" she replied. "For the one who has fought many Gears and dealt with knights, you must have a thing or twos about him."

The Guilty Gear shook his head for the second time and took a sip of a Dunhill, lazily leaning against the bench as he did. "Look, I don't care of what happens to him or his fate even if he does survive post-operation. But…"

"But?" both Athena and Justine voiced.

"But I'm concerned whether he can accept the fact that he's diluted by his sense of guilt," he continued. "He was still young when he faced the tragedy. And yet… no one was there to help him; he was, instead, condemned and blamed for a crime he didn't even commit. And these happened right before my eyes."

"Sol-chan, you sound sad," Justine spoke. "What happened to you… and Alex-kun on that time? Please tell us."

"Ne, Sol-kun," Kagura called him, "should I ask Dizzy-chan to come and listen to your story?"

Sol sighed and put down the cigarette. "No, at least at this time. I don't want her to hear the truth she doesn't want to accept until she's ready to face it." The girl just nodded and took a seat beside him, whereas Justine and Athena stood next to him, and the three girls were now waiting him to begin his story.

x-x-x-x-x

Sol was lazily strolling down the grassy path that led him to a grazing field. Today, he was on his usual solo mission, away from the fuss of the Holy Orders highest officers, and away from the annoying Ky and his typical preaches. His Holy Knight uniform was flapping freely to the rhythm of the wind that blew across the barren land that was once Japan, and the sword he carried was holstered on his shoulder.

He reached the grazing field he was heading to, and the scene that greeted him was not pleasant. Alexander, the newly appointed knight, was surrounded by a group of knights after what seemed to be a successful mission in eradicating Gear soldiers and from the atmosphere Sol felt, something wrong was going on.

"For God's sake!" he heard Alex shouting. "Why are you attacking me? I'm your comrade!"

"Silence, Alexander!" one of the knights demanded. "We found you guilty of breaching the teachings of the Orders by signing a pact with the Gears. Do you think we have no idea of such a disgraceful activity you have done?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't remember doing anything like that!" Alex replied and was attacked from the behind. He was knocked toward the knight and was punched on the face.

Sol was irked to see the unpleasant treatment the senior knights gave to the newcomer. "Why would they accuse him of that?" he pondered and lowered the sword.

"You have proven yourself too sinful for God to put His mercy upon you," the knight from earlier said and pointed his sword at Alex's face. "Neither heaven nor hell can accept you and your corrupted heart. For that, allow us to cleanse you."

Sol almost jumped in and interfered with the unjust punishment the knights were going to put upon the injured young knight, until he heard a scream of anger. He looked at Alex, and was surprised. "What the hell is he doing?" Before his very eyes, the young knight beheaded the knight and went to a killing spree, screaming in bloodlust as he did. He did nothing –and could not-- stop him from his hunger for massacre, and watched at the dreadful scene from the hilltop. The killing spree ended after several minutes, and Sol saw him crying out in agony before collapsed onto the ground. He walked down the hill and approached the killing zone when his gut sensed the alarming presence of a Gear. He hastened and took shelter behind a tree and peeked at the area.

And he was astounded.

A woman in shrine maiden uniform was approaching the unconscious lone wolf, closely accompanied by several figures distinguishable to Sol's eyes as Gears. The Holy Knight closely kept an eye on them, and blinked in surprise when the woman approached Alex and did something to him. "What is she doing?" he thought.

Surprise came upon him again when the woman ordered the Gear minions to carry Alex and headed to a portal not far from the killing zone. "Are they going to take him away from here and kill him?" Sol immediately jumped out of the hiding place and rushed toward the Gears. "STOP! Where are you taking him?"

The woman turned around and stared at him. "Sir knight, please, lower your weapon," she spoke, "we aren't the type you frequently deal with."

"You didn't answer my question, woman!" Sol demanded.

She, instead, smiled and waved her palm at him. A faint golden yellow energy wave appeared from her hand and surrounded him, disabling him of any movement. He was stuck and could not move, even after he executed Dragon Install. "Damn it! What the hell is this?"

The woman turned back to the portal. "Sir knight, this person needs my attention," she told him. "I'm taking him to the place where I can treat his injuries."

"And then kill him," Sol roared and finally managed to get away from the binding energy wave. "You know that kid's a knight, so you decide to bring him to a place where you can punish him. Release him to me, and I'll let you go."

She giggled. "Oh, no. Obeying you would be an impossible task for us," she answered. "Please, our intention isn't to do him any harm."

"Then you must eat this!" With that said Sol tossed a gigantic Tyrant Rave at the woman and the Gears. To his absolute surprise, she effortlessly deflected the fireball and sent it back at him. "Curse!" Sol counterattacked the projectile and jumped out of its explosion range, before he saw the group leaving the area. "Wait! Who the hell are you?"

The woman gave him a smile he thought was assuring. "My name is Hikaru," she introduced herself and bowed to him. "Until we meet again, sir knight."

"That woman, Hikaru, and the Gears left the area with Alex. I couldn't believe a human would sign a pact with Gears and went as far as capturing a knight. But my prejudice was proven wrong."

"How come? What happened next?"

"I heard an unofficial report of a group of non-fighting Gears that was found doing their activities around the area. I didn't know whether the report was a bullshit or not, but I had the feeling that the group I had met at the battlefield must be those mentioned in the report."

"Then?"

"Then I decided to meet Hikaru for the second time, and ask her of her true intention of taking Alex to her territory."

"Did you meet him, Sol-chan?"

"I did –or rather, she met me first. There was something about the woman that kept me wondering even today…"

Sol was out again. This time, he was neither on a mission, nor did he was running away from the confusion at the Holy Orders headquarters at Paris, as knights and officers were appalled at the news of the incident. And again, he was strolling at the barren land of Japan, and he wasn't sure of why he chose such a place as his destination. The thought of the woman and the Gears 'capturing' Alexander still remained fresh in his memory, and he was to seek for an answer that could satisfy his curiosity.

He halted. He thought his ears were deceiving, until he heard a faint sound of a flute being played. He looked around the grassland and saw someone sitting on a boulder, playing music from the flute. He approached the person, and was surprised to know that it was the woman he had met before.

She noticed his arrival and put down the flute. "Oh, hello, sir knight. I was expecting you to come here," she spoke.

"How did you know that I'd arrive, Hikaru?" he demanded in a surprised intonation.

"Because both of us are similar, and both of us share the same element," Hikaru answered. "I felt the element inside of me resonating wildly, and on that moment I knew someone who had the element would be coming here."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Hikaru stared at him, and sweetly giggled. "Nothing. But I thought if I tell you the answer, you might do something unpredictable. Like, killing me?" she suggested.

Sol squinted. "Don't tell me you're a…"

The woman giggled again and jumped away from the boulder. He had a close inspection upon her, and failed to recognize any sign that indicated her Gear form. She was very much similar to the Japanese girl one would find in a colony, from the attires to her personality. She was more of a human than a Gear, Sol thought.

"Like I had said earlier, both of us are similar and share the same element," she spoke as she approached him, "but we are different. You have the strength and will to fight, while I don't. And neither the Gears you saw that time had the force of yours."

"You're telling me a lie, Hikaru," Sol insisted. "Then how come you could deflect Tyrant Rave and sent it back at me? There's no point of being not a fighting type when you can defend yourself."

"Not all creatures are created with same purpose, and even if they do, eventually they'll possess variations," calmly she spoke. "Even Gears aren't entirely made for terrorizing and destroying the earth. You should realize the fact."

Sol lost his patience and pointed the sword at her face. "Prove me that you're telling me the truth, before this sword finds its way to shove your pretty face," he interjected.

"As you wish, sir knight." The woman waved her hand in a circular motion and created a light shield from the movement. "Now, sir knight, do me a favour and attack me with everything you have."

"You're asking for trouble, Hikaru." With that said Sol emitted a loud roar that echoed across the land, and seconds later he was in his Dragon Install. He lifted the sword and fired a monstrous Tyrant Rave at the woman. The projectile the size of a two-storey house failed to reach her as the light shield reacted to it and deflected it to the open sky. Sol wasn't deterred and attacked her from all directions, yet wherever he appeared the light shield was there to prevent him from hurting its master. Hikaru did nothing but to watch at his effort that seemed endless.

Sol stepped backward. "Your shield is doing damn good, but can it block this?" he insisted and charged at her in a rushing tackle, determined to finish the unwanted duel with Instant Kill. Like expected the light shield jumped forward and faced the fiery tackle.

"BAPTISM BY FIRE!"

The Instant Kill collided with the shield, and exploded with such force that the grassland was incinerated by a wave of fire. Yet neither the shield, nor Hikaru, bulged from its place despite Sol's attempt to break its defence.

And it ended. The inferno dissipated, and the two people were now standing in a middle of a scorched land. The Holy Knight was staring at the woman for a very long time before he laughed and plunged the sword into the ground. "I see. Your power is purely for defensive purpose. Now I understand; you're a commander Gear, but you refuse to use your power for anything other than to defend yourself," he spoke.

"But you miss something more important, sir knight," Hikaru spoke. "Unlike our cousins, we despise violence and prefer to live with human. It will not, and will never, do both of us any good because sooner or later we will lose this precious land. That's what I told the young knight at our sanctuary."

"Alexander…" he murmured the name. "That kid… what happened to him?"

She giggled. "He's alright, sir knight, and he's doing all fine. Although you don't want to know, he's very fond of children and we often see him sitting together with them and telling them stories. Do you know him, sir knight?"

"Yeah, a lot," lazily he answered. "And he wasn't supposed to be knight, as I had heard from Ky, because he was…"

"An assassin? Yes, he told me of that, too," she spoke. "And he told me everything about who he was, and why he had to become one. He did it for the sake of his beloved little sister." Then she frowned and deeply took her breath, and continued her speech. "I guess that's why he had promised us."

"He did?"

Hikaru nodded. "He promised us that he would protect us from the knights, and he doesn't care if he has to… betray his own kind for us. Poor Alex; being forced to abandon his sister, and betrayed by people he thought he could trust on… I wonder whether there's something I can do for him…" She gasped. "Oh, my, I'm almost late. Please forgive me, sir knight, but I must go. It's dinner time, and my people are going to have a festival after that." She summoned a portal and approached it. "Oh, yes. Sir, knight, I forgot to ask your name."

"Sol," he told her, "Sol Badguy."

"Sol Badguy… that name sounds ironic for a knight who would spare someone like me," she said and bowed to him. "I don't expect both of us to meet after this, but if our path does cross in the future, I'm looking forward to share all of my experience with my people and Alex." She entered the portal and almost left the place when Sol called her. "Yes, Sir Badguy? Is there something the matter?"

Sol chuckled. "Nothing, but I believe that you can help that kid in overcoming his weakness," he said. "He needs someone like you to trust him, and without that he's helpless."

Hikaru was saying nothing for a very long time, before she giggled and nodded. "I will. And thanks for spending time with me. I realized it's a risk to talk with a knight, with it's a very rare opportunity to meet and know someone like you. Until we meet again, Sir Badguy."

"She left me again, and I didn't even have the chance to ask her of her creator. But I was satisfied, because she had told me everything I needed to know about her and Alex."

"Then you didn't meet her again after that, Sol-chan?"

"Although she was looking forward for similar encounter, I preferred to stay away from her… or any Gears. I simply couldn't tolerate their existence."

"Oh, okay."

"Until that day."

"Until that day, Sol-kun?"

It had been months since then incident at the former Japanese territory took place, and it had been months since Sol met Hikaru. The news of Alex's alleged betrayal to the Holy Orders cooled down, although knights and officers still accused the knight to abandon the righteous teaching of the Orders. Sol didn't want anything to do with it, and he didn't want to do anything with their useless matters.

Again, the Holy Knight was strolling down the land, now flourished with new grasses and shrubs. He had nothing to do back at the headquarters, nor did he plan to hunt for Gears. He was simply wasting his time around the area, and he aimlessly followed his feet that led him to nowhere.

Or somewhere.

He halted. A very faint, yet foul, smell of blood and flesh caught his attention. He stopped walking and searched for the source of the stench. It was coming from over a mountain range, and he rushed to the area. Somehow, his heart felt something terrible had happened beyond the mountains, and he wanted to verify his suspicion.

He was stunned. For the first time, he was greeted with scenery that was so unbelievable he thought he was dreaming. As far as an eye could see, bodies of Holy Knights were scattered across the unknown land, mixed with remains of Gears. His suspicion was right; it was the most terrible situation he ever faced. To make matters more appalling, he recognized the Gears as the non-fighting type Hikaru had told him.

That's it! Where is she?

He ran down the mountain and searched for any sight of the woman. It was a maddening task, as he had to walk across countless corpses and endure the irritating smell of rotten flesh. Yet he made it, and he found her lying on a marble pavement, her body struck by arrows.

"Hikaru!" He approached the woman and knelt beside her, pulling the arrows from her body as he did. "Hey, Hikaru! Wake up! What's going on here?"

The woman moaned and weakly opened her eyes. "Sir Badguy…" her voice trembled in pain.

"What happened here? Why there are bodies everywhere?" Sol demanded.

"It's him…" she spoke in a deteriorating voice. "Alex… he did all of these…"

"He what?"

"He…" She coughed, and blood trickled down her swollen lips, yet she braved herself to speak. "He killed us… and killed the knights…"

"Bullshit! I thought he would defend you and your people!" he interjected.

"He did, but… it could not be helped…" she spoke. "It was… the only way to save us… from the angry knights… to save us he needed to kill us…"

"You fool!" Sol roared.

She turned away. "Yes, I know I was a fool…" Tears slipped free of her eyes of a sudden. "I know I was foolish to ask him to kill us… but I didn't regret the consequences, and neither did my people. We… we were grateful to be granted with a warrior who shamelessly offered his service for us… and we were happy to have him living with us. It was better than to let the knights continually harass and haunt us for the rest of our life… I'm sorry, Sir Badguy, but this is our choice. To die in the hands of the one we trusted and cared for was more… honourable than to live under the tyrant claws of the humans…"

Sol cursed. He never thought to meet a Gear more innocent and more sincere than Hikaru. Yet he knew the situation he had to face if he had been there earlier. "Damn it…! Why this must happen? Why must we meet like this! Why must that kid kill you when he knows you care of him so much! Why?"

"Please, sir…" she begged and reached for his face. "There's no use cursing over the past. It's over… everything is now over…"

He let the woman strange to him touch his cheek, and felt her heartbeat weakening. For the first time, he was agonized by the loss of the person he could regard as an enemy. An enemy too honest to be slain with his bare hand. "Where is he?"

"He ran away… to the place even I don't know where…"

He sighed. "It must've been a hard day for him…"

"Sir Badguy…" she called him again, even as her voice went frail. "Will you do me… one last favour?"

This time, he took her hand and held it tightly. "What is it, Hikaru?"

She giggled and held his hand in return. "Strange… it's like I've felt this kind of warmth before… but maybe I've forgotten who…"

"Tell me, Hikaru," said the Holy Knight. "Tell me of what do you want to say. You don't have much time."

"Sir Badguy, if you meet Alex… please tell him to stop dreaming…" she spoke. "He's dreamt of a happy life with us, and this has devastated his heart and hope too much. I get this feeling that he's going to avenge our death in the future."

She later inserted her hand into the sleeves of her shrine maiden uniform and took the flute. "And please give this to him if you ever meet him. I… I beg of you."

He was reluctant. He didn't like making promise, and yet this came from a woman who called herself a Gear. And he didn't like it even more, since it was for the young knight he didn't know of his whereabouts. "Whatever." He took the flute and put it in the sleeves of his Holy Orders uniform and looked back at her. "Since it's for your sake, I will. Though I can't promise you when."

It was only seconds after that he saw the wide, generous smile carved upon the face that to him would eternally be alive and beautiful. Somehow, Sol smiled too. Seeing her innocent face in such an image was a calming effect for him –and also annoying. "Hey, don't make that kind of face at me, okay? You'll make me mad, you know?"

Her smile widened. "I'm sorry, Sir Badguy, and thank you. Farewell…"

Her hand ran across his face one last time before it dropped to the ground, never to rise again. She slowly closed her eyes, never to open ever more. Her internal system came to a permanent halt, a halt that would never be recovered even with the latest of technology. He felt and heard her heart slow to a halt, then quit completely.

"Damn… just damn it!"

x-x-x-x-x

"Soon, she died. I was left with a task to properly bury her and the rest of the people. After that, I set up to look for Alex and it would take me another ten years to finally find him."

"Poor Alex-kun. Why he was forced to kill the people?"

"I don't know, Justine."

"Then… he's been hunting and killing the knights and fought Ky-chan because he believed he must avenge the Gears' death. But why it had to take 10 years to finally end it for good, Sol-chan? What were you doing along that time?"

Silence. Sol was not saying anything after that, and sipped the last of the Dunhill he was holding. Justine and Athena were waiting for his answer, yet he ignored them and continued inhaling the cigarette. "Mou, Sol! Why aren't you answering?" Athena interjected in an annoyed voice.

Sol shrugged and tossed the cigarette butt to the ground. "I thought I'm done already," he answered.

"But you didn't tell us why Dizzy-chan was acting like that back there," Justine insisted. "Now tell us before…" Just then her mobile phone rang, in the distinguishable ring tone of Invoke. She picked up the phone and answered the call, and during that time her eyes sparkled. "Wolfie? My goodness! It's you! I didn't expect to receive a call from you! Oh, you want to look for Sol-chan? Hang on, he's here." She turned to Sol and handed over her phone. "It's Wolfie. He wants to talk with you."

"Just about damn time," he growled and took the phone. "Yeah, Sol here. Listen, Lone Wolf. I have a damn lot of things to talk right now, and right here. What? I don't want to have anything with it."

Justine stared at the Guilty Gear before she sighed. "I wonder what did the letter Wolfie gave to me mean," she spoke and frowned. "He told me I got something to do with Alex-kun in the past, but I can't remember what."

"Justine?"

"If I indeed met Alex-kun, then I should have remembered something about him," she told the Greek girl who was staring at her in worry. Then she mumbled in dismay and shook her head. "But I can't! If only I could remember…"