Five months further before

At first, it had looked like things would go exactly the way the Council had wanted.

After the scolding she'd received both for failing her mission as a Chronos eraser and then for her fight with Baldor, Julia had been rather subdued. Train would have said she was almost docile, and his own reticence and general apathy meant they hadn't seen a need for a confrontation.

Her training in the abandoned woods or warehouses around the city Train was staying in had also gone smoothly, aiding the peace. She listened without a word to the few instructions Train gave and any critiques he made. But her combat was on par with what he'd heard and her weapons training as good as he'd expect from one of Chronos's top erasers, which meant he needed to say even less than he might have.

That peace was ruined four days after a reluctant but obedient Julia arrived on his doorstep.

The day had started out normally; at least, until Train finally exhaled sharply and wearily.

"Hazard."

She stood stiffly, still facing away from him and her eyes could have drilled holes into the target she had just been firing bullets at.

They had moved on from the usual round targets pinned to trees and onto humanoid targets, which Train had admittedly avoided for the first two days. It was also clear from her tense posture that she knew what was coming - and again, Train wished he were doing something, anything, other than having to do what amounted to babysitting a barely adult girl.

"That target won't die if you hit it in the heart or head." Train pointed out without the slightest inflection in his tone, nodding his head slightly in the direction of the man-shaped target that currently had four smoking holes in it - one on each shoulder and thigh.

Once again, she'd had perfect aim: the four holes in the target were after she'd shot five rounds of four bullets, and not one bullet had gone astray. But the holes were in distinctly non-fatal points of the human body; and while Train had passed over commenting on it the day before, he knew he had to address the issue at some point. Otherwise, not only would Julia not try to change but he would get in trouble with the Elders for failing in his assignment to teach Julia the Chronos order.

However, Julia just lifted her chin slightly in defiance as she replied shortly without looking at him, "A real one would."

Train suppressed a tired groan at her words.

He supposed it had been too good to hope that Julia would be obedient for the whole month she was scheduled to be with him. But he had hoped he might go at least a week without any headaches. After all, it was like he had said - it wasn't as though the target was going to die from her bullets.

But it seemed Julia was determined to stick to her ideals, and her refusal to shoot fatal shots even in training was her way of showing defiance.

There was a long moment of silence as Train debated his next course of action carefully.

"The first night we met, you were ready to kill a man." Train began. He didn't comment on the way Julia's shoulders tensed and her posture stiffened. Instead, he just continued to prod, to try and understand her, to find the root cause of her defiance.

"You wouldn't kill anyone else. You consider it no different from being a monster. Yet, you were still ready to do your mission and kill your target. But now, you're refusing to do even that."

He looked down at her as she looked up at him defiantly.

"What changed?"

His tone was neither accusing nor even particularly curious. Instead, it was a clinical question, a question that a doctor asked to know how a cut had become infected. He didn't need to know why preventive methods hadn't been taken, nor did he need to know how infections worked. He knew the answer to the latter and he wasn't interested in the former. He was only interested in what had caused the infection and how to fix that.

Julia's mouth set into a determined line as she answered his question.

"Alfred Limelton was a scoundrel." She told him, and it took Train a moment to remember that was the name of the target that he and Julia had been assigned to take care of. "He was a corrupt politician who took money in exchange for favors: covering up murders, manipulating votes, and running a prostitution ring. Because of that, it didn't matter that he was a loving husband to his clueless wife. He needed to be taken down."

Her silvery-grey eyes turned troubled, and Train was suddenly not as sure he wanted to hear the rest of her argument.

"But I looked into Lucas Seers."

'Her latest missed target.' Train's mind supplied absently.

"There was nothing he did wrong. I've scouted him out thrice over, and he's not a spy, not corrupted, and not a criminal. All he's done wrong is shown disinclination to support Chronos because he doesn't believe in gaining control through fear. I've reported all of this to the Elders, but they still order me to kill the man just because he won't support Chronos's representatives. He's a 'potential' threat, and he should be made an example of, a warning."

Julia's gaze hardened.

"I don't condone murder; I wanted nothing to do with it in the first place, and I won't do it if it's not for justice."

"Chronos isn't enough of a reason? They say it's for the greater good, etc." Train replied, and Julia gave him a look from the corner of her eye.

"Not if they're killing people like Lucas Seers." She replied shortly. "Not if they're no different from men like Limelton."

Train was silent for a long time. For the first time, he wondered if Baldor might not have been a better choice for Julia's mentor after all. Because Train found he understood her a little too well. He may not quite agree with her… but he could understand. And he had little desire to stamp this small bit of innocence out of her the way his was stamped out so long ago he'd almost forgotten a life before killing and death became a constant companion.

"Then why are you still here?" He asked at last.

For the first time, Julia seemed to deflate a little and she lowered her gaze.

"If… my brother stays," she said slowly, almost reluctantly. "Then there must be something that's worth staying for."

'Ah,' Train thought. 'There is that unbelievable naivety again.'

"You don't sound very convinced." He pointed out and Julia's head jerked up.

"If I was, I wouldn't be here." She indicated her place before Train, training under his watch after her punishment for her insubordination.

He conceded her point, but they both knew he was expecting her to answer his actual question. She huffed but gave her reluctant reply.

"I don't see what he sees." She admitted. "I want to help make the world a better place of course; but I don't see how killing people who don't agree with me is making it a better place."

Train remained quiet as he absorbed that, and Julia turned her head to stare into the distance.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Train asked at last. "I could report you for treason, yet you trust me not to. Why?"

She met his gaze again, and Train had to suppress a shiver at the look in those bright silvery-grey eyes.

"Because you were the first person not to ask me why." Julia answered. "You were the first person to accept the fact that when we kill without question when we're ordered to, we are no better than monsters."

That silenced him, and after a long time of just staring at each other, Train ordered Julia to pack up the targets. Training was over for the day… and would be for a while.

Back in Train's room

"I eventually wore you down." Jules chuckled, and Train grinned.

"I like to think of it as we reached a fair compromise." He answered and Jules laughed.

Five months prior

After that afternoon, Train had suspended training for a few days, leaving Jules to maintain her skills on her own while he pondered her words. The trouble was, he could relate to her way of thinking, and while he still found her almost unbearably naive he also envied her. It was a luxury to think the way she did, to question herself. Train had almost forgotten what it was like to have a heartbeat let alone to have any pity or sympathy on his targets. To really think about his actions and their consequences.

So for those next few days, he had simply sat back and watched Julia. The idea was to figure out how she was able to reconcile the idea of Chronos with her unworldly ideals - or at least, that was what he told himself. But the more Train watched Julia, the more he realized she was no more complicated than a butterfly's structure was; yet, she was also as complicated as a butterfly's circle of life.

Julia treasured her family above all else, and she had known no other life outside the one she made in Chronos. But unlike Train, who had closed himself off the more evil that he saw in the world, Julia questioned life all the more with the evil that she encountered as she grew older. She looked for life's beauty and valued honesty; and despite himself, Train found he wanted to preserve that in her.

She is too innocent to be in this business.

It was the same thought he'd had after that first mission he'd had with Julia, but now he envied her for it. She didn't belong in Chronos, she deserved to be free and to find the beauty in the world around them. At the time, Train had been convinced he would never be able to do that, to go back to being a human being let alone feel warm emotions. But the idea of being able to break free… it haunted him at the same time it tugged on the heart he'd forgotten he had.

That was how, for the first time since he'd become a Number, Train felt the searing pain of a bullet piercing his body. That was how, for the first time since he had joined Chronos at the age of twelve, Train failed his mission as he leapt away without killing his target while clutching his bleeding shoulder. That was how, for the first time since he was a child, he crashed into an alley like a wounded cat, hiding himself in the darkness as his target's guards chased after him.

And that was how he met Saya Minatsuki.

Saya was like none other that he had met; and at first, Train was convinced he wouldn't like the curious young woman whose joy seemed to be in poking her nose where no-one wanted it poked. She reminded him too much of his current ward, and he'd left with barely a thank you after she patched up his injuries.

But, per his first impression of her, Saya Minatsuki was a meddler; and Julia continued to push and prickle Train's conscience (after awakening him to the fact that he still had one). Between the two women, Train started to finally question himself and to open his eyes to the light rather than the shadows of the world. And as his eyes became accustomed to the possibilities of life, his frozen heart began to beat once more; though it would take another four months before he realized what - or rather whom - his heart was beating for.

Back in Train's room

The next morning

Jules kissed Train's lips, sighing when she broke away.

"I miss you already." She sighed and Train smiled a winning smile her way.

"So stay." He wheedled, making Jules giggle though it ended in another sigh as she gazed up at him fondly.

"I would." Jules said regretfully. "But I think we're already in enough trouble. Don't you think?"

Train nodded seriously, though he pulled a pout in an attempt to have her smile for him again. It worked as Jules laughed at his expression before she ruffled his hair.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." She promised.

Jules kissed Train one more time, a sweet, fleeting press of lips filled with love, before she headed out quietly at last. Her soft footsteps made no sound on the wooden floorboards, and just as silently as she had first entered the apartment complex, Julia Hazard left, taking empty alley routes away back toward one of the close Chronos offices.

Train watched her go until even his superior eyesight could see her no longer, and he sighed.

"Now, what to do while Jules is away?" He pondered. Her mission this time was expected to be another long one, staked out in some confidential area for confidential reasons. Sometimes, Train didn't quite appreciate the fact that Jules was a stickler for rules.

His decision was made for him, however, early the next day when there was a knock on his door.

Train - recently awoken from a nightmare about one of his past eraser partners, Creed Diskenth, who had been crazy enough that even dead-hearted Black Cat avoided him like the plague - opened the door to reveal several of Chronos's erasers standing in a common guard formation, their expressions grim despite the dark sunglasses they all wore.

"Who are you guys?" Train asked slowly, wondering what they were doing at his apartment.

"Sorry to have woken you up so early, No. XIII." The lead man spoke, his tone flat and emotionless. "The Elders have something to talk to you about."

Train's gaze hardened as he realized what this was all about. It seemed, despite what he and Jules wanted, the time to make a decision was fast approaching.

Chronos Headquarters

"You're here, Black Cat."

Train didn't respond, just remained standing impassively before the enormous screens that showed the three Elders looking down on him disapprovingly. Behind him, Sephiria Arks stood watching with a guarded gaze, her pale blue eyes observing him closely while the Elders addressed him.

"Do you know why you're here?" The leader, Willzark, questioned and Train paused.

"I don't know." He replied carefully, and Kin, another of the Elders, scoffed.

"Hmph… still playing dumb." He muttered at the same time that Shin, the last Elder asked sternly, "Did you not know that we have already known about your failure?"

Train's gaze turned just a shade cooler, but he listened in silence as Willzark continued, "I heard that you haven't killed your targets lately, and you still come back pretending nothing happened. Isn't that right? Have you already given up being an assassin?"

As Train continued to remain silent, Willzark continued, "You have to think about why the Elders appointed you as No. XIII. Wasn't it because of your ability to kill any person?"

At Train's continued silence, Willzark demanded, "Answer us! What made you like this?"

Train could see immediately where the Elders' thoughts were going; who they were going to blame.

Train lifted his chin just slightly and a slight, condescending smirk graced his features as he answered defiantly, "Nothing really. I just followed what my head was telling me. If I can solve the problem without killing, then I don't have to kill anybody."

His answer stunned the Elders, and for a moment there was just silence as the Elders wondered if they had heard him correctly.

"Following what your head was telling you…?" Willzark finally repeated in disbelief. "Seems like there's some problem with the wiring in your head, Black Cat."

Willzark's expression was thunderous as he said harshly, "You are not allowed to own this 'freedom'. You are only a cat bred by Chronos!"

Sephiria watched somewhat anxiously and somewhat incredulously while Shin and Kin snapped sternly, "That is right!" "You little bastard, know your place!"

Train took the abuse in silence, but once they were done he looked up at them with another, this time cheeky, smirk.

"Whether it's a stray cat or a house cat, a cat is a free-living animal."

There was another silence as the Elders stared down at him. They were unused to such defiance from one of their own, and certainly they had never expected it from their Black Cat. Willzark was the first to recover, and he stared down at Train with cold eyes as he spoke.

"It seems we were wrong. We thought perhaps it was Hazard who was the bad influence - but now it seems you were the cause for her insubordination, Black Cat. We will need to see to it the influence won't be lasting while you need to have a look at your situation again."

He lifted his gaze and instantly the guards who had been waiting in the shadows stepped forward, roughly handcuffing Train's hands together with automated cuffs while Willzark declared furiously, "From today, you will be locked up in the dungeon for ten days. Realize what your place truly is, Black Cat. Next time, we will not be so lenient."

Train just turned his back on the Elders and with one last hard look, they disappeared from the screens while Train started to be led away by the guards. Sephiria watched him go, and she called after him heavily, "Heartnet..."

Train glanced back over his shoulder, a small almost rueful smile on his face.

"Sorry, Captain." He apologized. "I gave you some trouble."

It was his expression that made Sephiria freeze and she watched him go with wide eyes as Train walked calmly with his guards to the dungeons. In all the years that she had known him, never had Sephiria seen such a relaxed expression on Train's face; never had she seen that soft look in his gold eyes.

'I see now...' Sephiria thought to herself a little regretfully as Train disappeared. 'The freedom to love and live as you wish… that is the thing that changed you.'

She closed her eyes.

'But those are things you can't have… as long as you and Julia stay with Chronos...'

Meanwhile

"A new lead?" Jules repeated, frowning.

Belze nodded, and Jules's frown deepened.

"That's all you're going to give me?" She asked.

"The rest is what you will need to find out for us." Belze corrected.

Jules's puzzled frown didn't lighten but she did nod. Belze straightened just a little bit more and he handed her the meager file they had for her mission while he instructed her brusquely.

"You will join No. VI at the location. And Hazard," his gaze was stern as he looked down at her. "Do not let the target escape this time. It is vital we know exactly what we are dealing with."

Ten days later

The doors to the dungeon slid open, flooding the tiny cell with the first light since they had shut. Sephiria looked into the room that was just big enough to fit one, twin bed and a toilet - not even a sink - and she called, "You can come out, Heartnet."

"What?" Train joked lightly as he looked up from where he was lounging on the bed casually. "You're releasing me so fast? I was just starting to like this place."

Sephiria did not smile and as Train pulled on his long black coat, she said sternly, "I think you will understand, after today your actions will be restricted. Same for Hades. You will also be under my care… and you are not to engage with Julia Hazard."

Train glanced up, and Sephiria questioned calmly, "Any problems?"

"Of course not..." Train answered slowly, though his gold eyes remained fixed on Sephiria's pale ones as they faced each other.

Half a city away

"It's quiet." Jules muttered. "Too quiet."

No. VI, Anubis, glanced at her with his eyebrows raised.

"What? You afraid of the dark?" He grunted and Jules shook her head. Anubis glanced askew at her again.

"Stop being paranoid, Hazard." He said, and Jules looked at him.

"Don't you feel it?" She asked. "There's something not quite right."

"You're probably overthinking it." Anubis suggested, though he adjusted his position slightly at her words. "We've been on this trail for ten days, after all, and it's brought us in a circle right back to the city - of course you're bound to doubt yourself. But I've been following this lead for months and they're just slippery. Don't let it get to you, keep your head clear."

"Maybe." Jules said doubtfully. "But I can't shake the feeling that something's wrong."

Anubis glanced at her again, seriously considering her words.

Although he was a Number, he had heard of Julia Hazard. Not only was Jenos inclined to brag about his pretty and talented sister to anyone who would listen (though the man protected her from any unsavoury attention as fiercely as the hound of hell), but even No's I and II had spoken highly of her at separate occasions. The Numbers very rarely had an accurate idea of who would step up into their ranks next - possibly because it usually happened following an unexpected death from someone in the team and likely because there were many talented erasers in Chronos to then choose from. But on occasion, they could predict the favourite to be chosen; the last time had been Black Cat, though his promotion into the Numbers three years ago had still taken them all by surprise after he was brought in as the first and only No. XIII. And Anubis was fairly certain Julia Hazard would be the next selected should a spot open up.

So he weighed her words grimly as she continued, "I feel like there's something we missed-"

And that's when Jules saw it - a flash of something despite the darkness of the night around them.

"Jump!"

*A/N Song of the Day: Blue Moon from Shugo Chara. The link is: /gMP0_ioaxEc