Authors Note* sorry for the horrible formatting I only noticed it tonight and have fixed the earlier chapters from being wall of text. This is all being written on my phone. Thanks for your support!*

Abel reached the clearing a bit before Astha, wanting to avoid her just a little longer. His hands shook slightly as he pulled his coat a bit tighter around his frame, the bullet hole being obscured by a fold of fabric. When Lilith said that the crusnik would demand feeding, she wasn't joking, he now questioned the whole idea of going to the Empire being surrounded by methuselah at every turn.

He looked back to see Astha had slowed down to a walk, likely still trying to figure out what she had seen… his heart felt heavy as he envisioned the possible outcomes of the dreaded talk. Would she attack, run away or accept him? So far it seemed she wasn't running away quite yet so perhaps, perhaps it was going to be ok.

"Nightroad!" Ion called out from the top of the clearing. He was waving his arm trying to catch Abel's attention.

Abel shook his head and quickly moved up to where Ion was, looking to see if the ship was close.

"Where's Astharoshe? Was there trouble? I knew you should have let me help!"

"She's just a few minutes behind me, relax Ion."

"Oh… did you stop those guys?"

"There were four of them but Astha took care of it. I wasn't able to find out much information though, unfortunately. Did you make contact with the ship?"

"Yes! They should be visible anytime now. They were able to get a full lock on to our location from the communicator." Ion turned around looking up at the sky.

Abel looked up as well, searching the just barely dawn sky until he saw the slightly matte metal form of the ship, a small vessel built for speed and stealth.

"There it is!" He pointed it out to Ion.

"Where can they land?" Astha asked as she walked up, catching the last bit of their conversation.

Abel dropped his arm immediately and stood back a little, not quite looking at her.

"Likely anywhere it's a small ship." He commented and then knelt down to grab his bag as much as to hide his discomfort.

"That's a relief. Soon we will be back home, I don't think I've ever been this happy to see a ship." Ion shuffled around as he watched the ship approach.

Astha's gaze drifted over Abel several times, not quite sure how to handle the sudden awkwardness between them.

Within ten minutes or so the ship was lowering to land nearby, the early dawn light casting a slightly pink hue to everything. Ion, Astha and Abel had their packs ready and were waiting the moment they could board the ship. Once the landing feet settled on the ground the passenger door opened and a small loading ramp slid out, they could see in the doorway a female form that was slight in stature stood. Abel sighed in relief as he recognized Seth instantly, and quickly walked up the ramp.

"Abel!" Her whole face lit up as she watched him come up the ramp, as soon as he was in the cabin, she wrapped her arms around his middle. "I was so worried when I heard you were badly injured." She hugged him a little tighter when his hands rested between her shoulder blades as he returned her gesture, before letting go and looking up at his face.

"Heh, well it was the most hurt I've ever been I believe… but I'm here and in one piece again so that's always a good thing!" He replied with a bit of a smile.

Seth's petite face scrunched up a little, "in one piece again?"

"Ah well… I kinda lost my head when He showed up I guess you could say."

She slowly blinked and stared at him, "you fought him already?!"

"Yes, but I didn't exactly defeat him as he escaped when I started to get the upper hand." Frustration was easy to hear in his soft voice.

"You really didn't waste any time since you left if you encountered him so quickly."

"It was a chance meeting, caught me off guard actually. I had no idea he had been helping Esther in Londinium and even before that, his butler Issack helped her in Istvan."

"Very interesting… but we can talk more later, best get back to the Empire right away."

"Right, uh.. did you happen to bring any food with you?"

"Oh, I guess you guys didn't exactly pack for camping. I'll see what I can find to hold you over till we get back." She winked at him.

Ion and Astha walked in, setting their bags down and waiting to greet Seth. When she turned to them, they both gave her a semi formal bow. Abel had forgotten they knew the Empress's true face.Seth waved them off "I'm not in my state clothes, please relax, it's been a very busy trip for you both and I want the detailed reports tomorrow morning."Abel took a seat a bit away from the other two, settling in for the ships take off. Seth disappeared for a few moments and came back with a basket filled with cookies, buns, fruit and some water.

"Hope this will tide you guys over, we left so quickly that this is just what was on hand." She set it down on the open seat between Abel and Ion, Astha sat a bit further away.

"Thank you very much!" Ion bowed his head respectfully before grabbing an apple. Abel smiled at Seth and grabbed a few things as well. She smiled happily as the boys ate the food quickly, but noticed that Astharoshe was being a bit more reserved than normal. She grabbed two buns and moved over beside the tall woman.

"I bet it's been a bit rough having to keep those two in line." Seth cheerfully said as she handed Astha a bun.

The woman's amber eyes looked up and were a bit startled initially, her ivory hair was tousled and knotted mixing the red strip into a pinkish hue with the ivory. It wasn't normal to see her so out of sorts.

"It's ok Astharoshe, I'm not the Empress right now, I'm just Seth, happy to have some friends back from a long trip." She smiled reassuringly.

Astha let out a small sign and returned her smile as she took the bun.

"Thank you, your.. Seth. And yes, it has been an experience since we left the Empire." She paused and looked over at the silver haired man. "Abel… should get some medical attention. He took a bullet a little while ago and … well said he was ok but I don't agree."

"Oh! Ok, well he's lucky that I know a few things about patching people back up. Thank you for letting me know." Seth stood up to go to Abel.

"Wait," Astha reached out and rested a hand on her arm. "I'm not convinced that you will be safe…"

"Nonsense, Astharoshe. Abel would never hurt me. Why would you be worried?"

"He's not quite the same after his injury I think." Astha replied sounding unsure.

"I'll be fine, most men don't like needles so he will have to on good manners." She grinned and patted at her hand before going to Abel.

"Come with me, you need some help apparently." She looked at him expectantly.

Abel's surprised eyes met hers and he hurriedly stuffed the rest of his snack in his mouth. He looked quickly at Astha, who looked back at him a bit guilty. He sighed a little and got up to follow Seth.

He followed her to a smaller room in the ship, a first aid station with a glass cabinet of various bandages and vials. She motioned for him to sit again.

"While we both know a gunshot is nothing for our systems, Astharoshe is concerned for you… and for my welfare. So what happened?"

"Ah… yeah. I've been having trouble with the crusnik since full fusion… and her parachute failed when we jumped out of the other ship so I activated to slow her fall."

Seth interrupted him, grabbing his jacket lapels."Full fusion?! But you know what that did to Cain, why would you ever have gone to that? How?!" She stood before him, disbelief slowly being replaced with concern on her delicate youthful features.

"Caterina had them give me the rest of Lilith's nanomachines after He blew my head off… I came back when he tried to hurt Esther as she was protecting my coffin. It's… hard to explain but I awoke fighting him and was fully fused… it was primal, like I was someone else for a little while…thank god for Esther or I'm sure I would have been lost… I did find out that Liliths nanomachines have some essence of her, having absorbed a bit of her presence that they are able to talk to me occasionally."

"Oh my…they didn't say how badly you were hurt… and you came back from that?! Are you... still you?" She looked into his eyes intently, searching for differences.

"I am, at least as far as I know. When 02 tries to grab control, Lilith helps me… but I'm not stable, and I don't feed enough for the increased capacity. I'm worried now that I won't be safe at the Empire."

Understanding shone in her eyes and she reached out to hug his neck. His long hair was a mess, half of it was out of the ponytail, his grey greatcoat was rumpled and she could see the bullet hole out the back. She straightened up and smiled reassuringly.

"Oh Abel I can't imagine what you've been through… medically amazing but terrifying at the same time. Don't worry about Astharoshe, is a strong woman and if she hasn't ran away yet, she won't."

"I'm hoping so… she's seen enough that I have to tell her the whole story if we are to continue…. how do you deal with the cravings?"

"I have a special account set up though our blood banks, I need so little that it is super easy to have a supply."

"No pill version like the human blood?"

"No… the nanomachines can't process it dried unfortunately." She watched him slump a little at the news.

"How often do you need to... replenish?" Abel swallowed as he felt the nanomachines buzz at the thought of feeding. He started to fidget with his coat sleeves to distract himself a bit.

"Maybe once every twelve weeks? I activate so seldom that it's mainly a dormant system really, just I don't feel well if I go too long. And I only need an ounce or so. It has been a long time since I've gone more than low level activation."

He sighed, feeling every bit repulsed by the monster within him as it was reacting to the conversation.

"I need to uh… eat more often and more volume than that now. Lilith said that the system is optimized now and I can't let it starve anymore. I fed twice last week and could easily take in more, especially after the gunshot and little food the last twenty four hours. Astha got a little frustrated with me and when she was grilling me, I couldn't keeping it from displaying. They activate on their own to a degree still but thankfully not like they did when I woke up last week."

Seth's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she listened to him."Wow! That is some high demand for the system. Well, we can fill you up with what food I brought and when we land sort out some supply to take you down to a manageable level."

"I'd really like some tea… with sugar if that's possible."

"I've seen your cup, that is more like having tea with your sugar."

He shrugged. "It works for me."

She nodded and moved for him to take off his coat.

"We can set the duchess's mind at ease if you let me patch you up a little."

He chuckled and did as she bid, removing his coat and letting her put some strong smelling salve on his shoulder.

"Ugh that stuff is strong."

"Oh but it works wonderfully! Took me a while in my lab to come up with it." She winked and handed him back his coat as she cleaned up.

He paused for a moment when he saw his appearance in the small mirror. He could see he had lost even more weight, his hair was a wild mess and his pale complexion was greyer than normal. "My god! I look a fright!" He muttered as he redid his pony tail and settled his glasses back on his nose.

"It's only another hour to get back home. I have a room set for you to be in without the court knowing you're here. After that we will figure out what needs to be done."

"I'm not staying in the Empire Seth, not till I know he's truly gone."

Her face fell for a moment before she looked back up at him. "We will see how things go, I've been around a while and learned a few things you know. Now go back to the cabin, I'll have your tea ready in a blink."

He smirked and nodded before returning to the cabin with Ion and Astha, his coat draped over his arm and the strong aroma of the salve cloaking him.

"Oh wow!" Ion looked at Abel, blinking rapidly as the pungent eucalyptus smell took over the room.

"Your sense of smell will be gone in a few moments, believe me." Abel grinned a little, reaching his seat and laying his coat down beside him.

"I left you a few cookies, since you are such a big eater." Ion pushed the basket closer to Abel.

"Thanks Ion." Abel smiled and took the offered cookies, waiting for the tea to come.

Astha watched him walk in and settle into his chair. The aroma of the salve made her eyes water slightly, but that just meant there was sign of treatment. He had fixed his hair a bit, his glasses were back on and he seemed a little more like his old self, the klutzy priest she knew before his injury. In a little while she could go home, get a good sleep and perhaps what she had seen was just her mind getting away with her.

She sighed a little, releasing some of the tension she was holding while Abel was with Seth, the smell of the salve assaulting her senses anew with the deep breath, rudely.

Seth came in with the tea and a large bowl of sugar, which Abel happily heaped thirteen spoonfuls into his now almost overflowing cup of tea.

"It's almost a waste to give you the tea, if the sugar is over half the cup." She teased.

"Mmmm I don't do every cup this way, just the first one since then I don't need to add more sugar."

Seth gave a little snort and set out two more cups for Ion and Astha.

"We should be landing in a little bit. Once down I'll have a guard give you a lift to your homes. Tomorrow after a good sleep and hearty breakfast Astharoshe can meet me at the palace commons area. Ion, your grandmother is anxiously awaiting your arrival so I likely won't see you till later in the day."

They both nodded in acknowledgment.

"And Abel?" Astha asked.

"I have a room for few days set aside till we sort something out. It'll work out, relax." Seth smiled and waved as she left the cabin.

Abel watched the exchange quietly as he enjoyed his tea, the sugar hit placating the crusnik a little after its eagerness earlier. His mind drifted a bit as he wondered if Caterina or William had gotten any more leads on Cain. Obviously Cain was looking for him, given what he learned from the man earlier. Who else would be looking for ships carrying methuselah? Once the issue with feeding this damned monster was solved he was going back in the field to find Cain. Abel's eyes lingered over Astha for a moment, wondering if she would insist on travelling with him, once she knew his dark truth. She looked tired, the challenging spark was dull in her eyes when they locked for an instant before dropping back to her tea.

Abel looked down into his tea as well, studying his hands. They were long and lean, dwarfing the cup a bit as it was settled between his palms. Hands that had hurt more than had helped, yet a few still people trusted him, Esther with her endlessly blue eyes who stood by him once she had seen the beast. Caterina and William who utilized his skills as much as helped him survive once he had left Lilith's tomb. Being in AX brought him back to the world of the living, a way to pay for his sins against mankind. The crusnik that took over Cain needed to be stopped, the orden had to be stopped before wars broke out again in this vision of fire to consume them all. Tea spilled over into his hands as he realized he had gripped the cup tightly while lost in thought. He set the cup down to wipe off the tea when he noticed oddly now that he wasn't wearing gloves like he did while he was a priest.

"It's been so busy since the coronation that I never even got my gloves back on."

Ion looked at him then at his hands."It has been a bit constant," Ion admitted, then stretched. "I can't wait to sleep in my own bed."

"I'm looking forward to a soak in my bathhouse till my bones melt." Astha added, yawning and rubbing her eyes. The ship shifted a little as it shifted to the landing sequence.

Abel smiled at them both, endearing in their shared exhaustion. "It's a well deserved rest I would say."