Chapter Two

"Train!?" Sven said, suddenly jumping up out of his seat and striding over to Train and me, hugging Train tightly, and taking his hand, shaking it firmly.

"Aha! It's good to see you again! Eve, how did you… And Train? What were you doing in town!? Were you on a sweep? Was it the same bounty as we were looking for, or was our meeting just a coincidence!?" Sven asked, firing rapid questions at Train.

"Whoa… I don't know what to say… I'm flattered by the warm welcome. The princess and I were onto the same criminal. I had heard about him at a sweeper café. However, I didn't expect to run into you guys here of all places…

"I'm only staying for a few hours, though. I really can't stay much longer…" Train said, although as I looked into his beautiful golden catlike eyes, I could see doubt clouding them. He was no longer sure if he wanted to leave us behind again.

For that I was happy, although I felt bad for tricking him into it. Sven didn't see what I saw, though, and I could tell the older sweeper was disappointed. However, he smiled and immediately went to work cooking up some food for us to eat.

We had food still that we could eat in our Belsam hideout. It was a small house, but an effective one, a place where we could stay for short periods between sweeps, and where we could coordinate our efforts. Train laughed sadly and sat down. I sat down across from him, but found myself staring at him, forcing me to remind myself to look away so that he didn't get suspicious.

"So…" Train said to me, looking as though he felt a little bit awkward, which was odd for Train. Sven looked out at us curiously. I kind of wished that he wasn't there. It was a little bit embarrassing, talking to Train like this with Sven right in front of me.

I wondered if Professor Tearju also felt like that around men that she liked. It's said that personality traits run genetically, though I never asked her up until that point. Maybe she would have been the perfect person to ask. I was her after all… Just a younger and mechanically altered version of her. We had fairly different personalities over all. That much, I was able to determine just from meeting her once. However, we seemed to share several mannerisms, along with the obvious physical genetic resemblance.

"What have you two been doing in the past three years?" He finally finished, as though searching for a

topic. I didn't understand. It used to be so easy for us to talk. But now, conversation seemed forced and even unwelcome.

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to, Train…" I said to him, glancing away, and looking out the window. As I said this, though, Sven set out a bunch of different foods on the table, and plates for each of us. Normally, Train would have been the first to dig right in.

However, that day, I saw another new quality. He looked at the food for a moment, apparently thinking, and only scooped out a little bit. He wasn't drooling over it, despite the fact that it did smell really good. Although he took some of everything, he didn't take everything. I think Sven had planned on Train eating a lot, because there was still more in the kitchen, and Sven seemed as surprised as I know I was when Train only took fairly average helpings of everything.

Granted, what he took of each food would be enough to fill an average person for one meal, but given the fact that he typically ate ten to fifteen times what he was eating now, I found that he was being downright moderate in his consumption.

The second thing I noticed was that instead of pile driving through the meal, he actually took the time with a spoon and fork to eat everything, and although much of it was either mixed, now, or stacked on top of each other, he didn't seem to have a preference for the order in which he ate it, so he started from the top and worked his way down at a rather reasonable rate.

I wondered if maybe in the three years that he had been gone he had a short lived relationship and ended up getting dumped like he did with Saya. I remembered saying that shortly after he met up with Creed at his hideout, and now, thinking back on it, it was really rather unkind of me to say. Tact wasn't my strong point back then, but even I knew that it would probably upset him. If it did, he didn't let it show at the time…

But now, I wonder what the real relationship between those two was. Train said that they weren't lovers, but the feeling that I got when he talked about her said otherwise, or that at least he loved her. I couldn't say with any certainty how she felt about him…

I can only say that had she fallen in love with him, they probably would have been very happy together. The thought made me sad, though, so I moved on, and asked what was bothering me.

"Train? Were you dumped by a woman in the three years since you left? You seem awfully subdued. You're not even eating a tenth of what you normally do, and you're almost being civil at the lunch table."

"W-wha!?" Train asked, turning pink, and staring openmouthed at me. Sven also looked out, and sighed. What was my adoptive father thinking at the time? Did he feel I was being rude, and just didn't want to say anything, or maybe he thought that something was up that I would even ask?

"N-no! Nothing like that!" Train said, glancing around. I could tell he was lying, though. Something about the look in his eyes.

"Train… Don't lie to me… You're acting abnormally civilized. It's so unlike you, it's almost depressing…"

For a moment, he said nothing, but then he hung his head in defeat and confessed to me. He had been in a short relationship with that woman Sylphie, who had been one of the sweepers in the alliance when we attacked the Apostles of the Star. Apparently, they did their sweeping together for a year and a half before separating, each for their own reasons… Or so Train told me.

Why did that annoy me? Train was free to date whomever he liked. And even if I was allowed to object, I had no reason to think that he would listen to me. He was to the end a free cat, and nobody could ever tame him. That's why I was amazed that Sylphie even managed to get him to have better manners. I shouldn't care who Train dated, but thinking about him kissing another woman burned me up. I held my tongue, though, because it really wasn't my business.

"She managed to beat some manners into me in the time we were together. I was surprised at how polite and proper she was. She really caught me off guard."

"And she's the one who managed to train you? I should send her a thank you card." I replied with a smirk. Train merely groaned at this, possibly remembering a past incident between them.

"Enough about me, though…" Train said, perking up slightly, and putting down his spoon, indicating that he was actually planning not to eat while he talked. "What about you, Princess? Any boys for you in the past three years? Given how beautiful you are, you must have had at least one…" Train prompted. I couldn't help but blush at this. The story was actually kind of embarrassing. Sven seemed to be fairly entertained by the thought of it, though.

"Oh, she had a boyfriend, alright, Train! It was…"

"Shut up, Sven…" I said irately, glaring at my adoptive father. Sven gulped and backed away.

"It's a little embarrassing… I'd rather not talk about it…" I said, glancing over to the window. Train didn't seem to want to take no for an answer, though, so he put a hand on my shoulder and laughed.

"More embarrassing than my story!? Impossible! I told you my story!"

He was right, of course. It wasn't more embarrassing than that, and besides, he had been honest enough to tell me about Sylphie the second time I asked… Which was pretty good considering Train's track record of avoiding questions about the women in his past.

"I-it was Leon Elliot…" I muttered, biting my thumb. For a moment, Train said nothing, then he seemed to stifle some laughter. It was about what I had expected. At first, I thought he might overcome the laughter, but then he burst out in hysterics.

"Hey! It's not that funny! Is it!?" I yelled over Train, who finally stopped himself laughing by taking a drink of milk, and choking down some food.

"Sorry… You mean that Taoist punk? You dated him?" Train asked me, seeming unable to quite believe me.

"Hard to believe, right?" Sven asked, still chuckling. This rankled for me, but I bit my tongue. I can only assume that he saw my relationship with Leon with a father's insight. Sure enough, I broke up with him shortly thereafter. He had a bit of a problem with being weaker than a girl. It wasn't that it bothered me. It was that it bothered him.

"So, Eve. Do you remember anything about Eden?" Train asked me, seeming to be curious. I hesitated for a moment.

"I don't. It's as if I was asleep. I remember the Doctor putting that patch on me, and then falling asleep."

I remember everything about the Eden incident, unfortunately. Every horrific detail. However, it was as though I was watching myself act from above. I begged and pleaded with my body not to do what it was doing, not to allow them to take me away from Sven and Train, to just obey me as it was supposed to.

However, I was forced to watch as the person that seemed to be me impaled Sven, and attacked Train. I told Sven that I didn't remember because I was afraid that he would be angry if he thought that I was in control of myself. I knew that I wasn't, but I wasn't sure that Sven would make the distinction. Maybe it was merely mistrusting of me. However, I couldn't tell them, and I still can't. Maybe someday. But not now.

"I see. Well, I guess that's for the best, isn't it?" Train asked. I nodded, not sure of what to say. It didn't seem like he was going to blame me for anything, but I was still nervous. The thought of that doctor's cold hands on my arm still makes me cringe. His touch was painful, like being touched by the Devil. No. He was worse than the Devil.

Worse because he was human and had turned willingly to causing others to suffer. I felt no sympathy for the Devil, if such a being did indeed exist. However, with the Doctor, I felt only a burning hatred. But the one I was angrier with than the doctor was myself. How could I have let him take me so easily? Why didn't I fight the NS Serum? There must have been something that I could have done. After a while, I gave up thinking too hard about it. It still bothered me, though, and now, seeing Train again, the whole incident came rushing back.

"So you've really only had one boyfriend in the three years I've been gone?" Train asked, laughing in the way that he used to, with that carefree air about him that, while it was annoying sometimes, especially when we were being serious, it was one of the things I loved most about him. Was this what Saya experienced when she talked to him? Was his entire personality Saya's doing?

Train only ever made vague allusions to Saya. That she changed him entirely. That she was the reason he became a sweeper. But I never learned anything concrete about her. Maybe Train didn't want me to know anything about her. But I was curious… Maybe too curious. At the moment, though, Train's question was kind of embarrassing.

"What kind of person do you think I am!?" I asked angrily. I wasn't really that angry. I just thought it was kind of a rude question. If I only mentioned one person, then maybe he was the only one worth talking about. As it happened, I hadn't dated anyone else.

Moving around as I did, there weren't that many chances. I had to turn down quite a few offers for dates, but I had never actually dated anyone. Even that fool, Jenos tried once or twice. I'm fairly happy to say that Rinslet let him have it for that.

"Sorry… Sorry…" Train said apologetically. Seeing the look on his face, I could only sigh. How could I help but forgive him?

"It's fine, Train. Are you sure you won't stay with us? At least for a little while. There's always room for you." I replied, shaking my head, still blushing slightly, but trying to hide it.

"Well…" Train said, apparently in thought for a moment. Finally, I got the answer I was hoping for.

"I'd like to, Princess. That's the problem, though. I'd become too attached if I did. After Saya died, and I was saved by you and Sven, you two became my whole world, believe it or not.

"For a time, I couldn't imagine life without you, anymore. But that's not good to have such a small world. Saya's world wasn't that small. I thought… Or maybe I hoped… That if I told her how I felt about her, she would stay… But now, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have been the case."

"Enough about Saya!" I snapped at Train, waving my left arm out to the side and taking a rather aggressive step toward him, causing Train to stumble backwards a step, and Sven to look up in shock.

"If Saya is really still all you can think about, then you've obviously learned nothing!" I didn't know at the moment how Train looked. I couldn't see his face, as I wasn't even looking him in the eye. I couldn't meet his eyes at the moment.

Was it shame that I felt at being so incredibly jealous of Saya? Or perhaps it was frustration from hearing that name over and over again. Maybe I was thinking, 'she's been dead for four years, get over it'. If that was true, then I would truly deserve to be hated and resented by Train for such cruel and callous thoughts and words.

"Princess…"

"No! I'm not done yet! Just like we were important to you, you are important to us! To both Sven and to me! I've long since forgiven you for trying to kill me, so if you really hate that bell so much, you can take it off! You're a lot of things, Train!

"You're a glutton, a happy-go-lucky, a dimwit and you have no manners! That's just who you are, and I wouldn't have you any other way!" Then, suddenly, all the anger just drained out of me, and I felt incredibly tired for some reason, and incredibly sad. "Please stay, Train." I said miserably, feeling tears stinging my eyes.

"I can't… I'm sorry. If we come across each other again, please don't call my name. It would be bad for both of us… I might not be able to leave again." Train said to me, looking just as sad and tired as I was. He stood and walked toward the door. I knew I was fast losing my chance to have him back. It was time for my last desperate play. It sounded and felt so wrong…

But I suppose I could feel guilty about it later. It turns out that it ate me up inside for a while. But it ended up being for the best… Maybe. I couldn't say what the future would bring. Only that I was happy in the present. I ran over to Train and grabbed his shoulder with one hand, and his hand with my other, and turned him around, quickly switching sides between shoulder and hand so that he couldn't get away. It was the corniest thing I had ever done, and even now, I feel like retching at the thought.

Train and I still get a laugh out of it sometimes. I kissed him. Although I still was fairly short, and not nearly as well filled out as Dr. Tearju, I'd have to ask her about that, I stood up on my toes so that I could reach the much taller sweeper, and kissed him on the lips.

"Please don't leave, Train…" I begged. I honestly felt utterly ridiculous, begging anyone for anything. But I continued.

"I love you too much to let you walk away again…" I said.