The group ran mostly in silence, each preoccupied.

Sven was contemplating the changes he could see between Train and Lia (despite how difficult it was to truly get a read on the woman) while Lia was still trying to decide how she felt about the whole situation and silently hoping Sephiria had taken care of Creed despite Train's assertion that it was impossible. Train was thinking mostly about Creed and Sephiria, attempting to keep his head in the game, but on occasion he wondered briefly what more he could do to convince Lia to let him in again. To let him try to help her as she had once helped him.

Eve on the other hand appeared to be thinking on slightly different lines. While it was mostly true that she reflected on the lesson she had learnt earlier - the one Baldor and Kranz had tried to teach only to then be refuted by the one from Train - there was one other thing that was on the young girl's mind. Something Eve felt the woman that had helped save her twice should know.

So as they began to run down yet another corridor, heading toward the last flight of stairs that would take them up to the top-most floor of the building, Eve suddenly slowed down slightly to come up beside Lia where the Number was bringing up the rear. The blue-haired woman glanced at the blonde child curiously, before she almost faltered when Eve spoke up suddenly.

"You can trust him, you know."

"What?" Lia asked, instantly growing a little wary.

Eve glanced at the Number briefly before looking ahead once more as she informed the older woman seriously, "You can trust Train."

Lia paused for a moment before she said guardedly, "I don't think you know what you're talking about."

"Maybe I don't know everything." Eve acknowledged. "But I know Train. He carries your picture in his wallet, you know, hidden behind his cash card."

A flash of shock crossed Lia's face before she could control it while Eve continued as if she hadn't noticed.

"I saw it once in passing many months ago, although at the time I was more surprised Train even owned a wallet let alone a cash card. At first, I assumed the picture must be of Saya Minatsuki. It wasn't until after we met you for the first time that I thought to look back at it and I realized it was actually you."

"That's not possible." Lia replied, shaking off her surprise and grounding herself firmly once more. "He can't possibly have a picture of me, he was never the type to-"

Lia broke off suddenly. Her eyes widened and then shot to stare at Train's back in stunned disbelief.

There had been one time… One time back when she and Train had just started dating. Saya had taken them up a nearby mountain, initially intending to see the sunrise and breathe the fresh air. Of course, the sweeper had overslept on the actual day which meant they missed the sunrise by the time they reached the top. But the two new lovebirds hadn't cared in the slightest as they found themselves staring out into the horizon, past the city below and across green forests that reached up to the clear blue sky. It was there that Saya proudly handed over a camera to Lia before wandering off, delicately giving them some privacy. Lia had promptly snapped a photo of Train looking a little surprised at being caught so off guard.

Lia had burnt the photo after she agreed to join the Numbers and shortly before she was branded forever as Chronos Number VI until the day she died. She hadn't even felt the needles inking her skin with the permanent mark of one of the best assassins for Chronos. She had already been broken and what hurt her far more than any needle were any reminders of her first love whom she had been so certain at the time had betrayed her. The photo had been just one of many mementos that she had destroyed, and Lia had forgotten about it amongst the rest of her repressed memories of her time with Train.

And in doing so, she had forgotten that Train had also taken a picture of her that day atop the windy mountainside. After getting over his surprise at Lia snapping his picture, Train had smiled before snagging the camera from Lia. She had just smiled back at the camera as Train took the first picture he could remember taking in his life. He had been smiling too as he peered through the camera lens as if looking through a glass and marveling at the world he saw within. At the joyous life that had become his.

The click of the camera had preserved the precious moment on printed paper for him to cherish forever if he wished; but Lia had never imagined that Train would still have that photo.

"Why would he?" She wondered aloud in little more than a whisper.

She had meant it more as a question to herself but Eve answered anyway.

"Because he loves you."

The pre-teen spoke as if stating the obvious and sounding far too wise for someone who had only been alive for about 3 years even if she physically looked twelve.

"Because even though love can sometimes hurt, it's never forgotten."

Lia stared ahead at Train where he ran ahead with Eites. Her heart was tugging painfully in her chest but she honestly could not say how she felt exactly. A very small part of her, a part she had thought dead before today, wanted to catch up to Train and hug him, to feel his warmth and love again. Another part (and the most appealing to her at the moment) wanted to go back and give Doctor a slow and painful death for essentially being the root cause of their misunderstanding in the first place. And then there was the part of her, the largest part, that was still afraid… afraid of being hurt again… and afraid that she couldn't be put back together. She had been broken for too long, she didn't even remember what it felt like to be whole again. The last real feeling she could remember was the cutting pain of being torn to pieces. And if… even if she managed to pull together… if she let herself believe and trust once more only to be left behind again like she always seemed destined to be… then Lia didn't think even Jenos would be enough reason for her to continue to live.

Lia shook herself from her dark thoughts at the thought of her brother and she forced her heart to shut up. They had more important things on their plates now. She would deal with all that later. If there even was a later.

At the bleak thought, Lia turned her head to stare ahead at where they were headed and she replied curtly, "Save the mind games for the battle, kid."

Eve looked disappointed but the child didn't push any further as Eites led them up another flight of stairs. The last flight of the main building, if Lia had counted correctly from outside - she had estimated five flights of stairs in the central building of the mansion, and then it was mostly the roof except for the wings where there were a few more floors that led up and eventually ran into pointed towers.

"How much further?" Sven asked, thinking along similar lines as Lia.

"Ah, we'll get to the Chamber of the White Snake shortly after crossing the Open Corridor." Eites answered as they all made it to the top of the stairs.

'Chamber of the White Snake?' Lia thought disgustedly as she followed the group down the corridor. 'Well, Creed is dramatic but at least he's aware of himself.'

Sven meanwhile had a different question for Eites. "Open Corridor?"

His question was answered as they stepped out at the end of the hallway, which opened up onto a bridge-like pathway that linked the building wing they had been in with the next one that had a tower spiraling out of it. But the group stopped in their tracks as they found the Open Corridor blocked by five figures, only one of whom was familiar.

"Stop where you are." Echidna called out to them somewhat unnecessarily from where she stood flanked by her four minions in the centre of the Open Corridor. "At this point, Train Heartnet, only you are granted permission to pass."

"E-Echidna?!" Eites yelped, whimpering when he realized he was likely toast for bringing Train and his group so close to Creed.

Lia meanwhile was focused more on the four that flanked Echidna. Only one looked humanoid while two were built like boulders and the last like a snake - and she meant that literally. The four all wore similar outfits and masks as the rest of Creed's Shooting Star Squad but that was the only similarity with the Shooting Star soldiers as these four were clearly no longer human if they ever had been. Lia wondered briefly whether they had been test subjects for the nanomachines Creed had developed before he injected himself with them or if they were simply cyborgs as the hints of metal she could see embedded on the figures seemed to suggest.

The one humanoid figure started to giggle madly as they watched and it cackled, "It's been a while since I killed people."

Eites gulped but the rest were not so easily impressed. And if anything, Train's irritation only seemed to grow as he glared at Echidna fiercely.

"You only let me pass? Don't give me that crap." He snapped, leaning one hand on his hip just above where his Hades was strapped in it's holster on his leg.

But he was silenced when Sven spoke up from behind him.

"It's okay, Train. You can go to Creed's place ahead of us."

Train's hand dropped from his hip in surprise as two figures stepped up around him and came to stop before him like twin guards - despite the severe physical contrast they made as the tall man and short girl stood before their adversaries.

"We'll catch up with you later, right after we kick their asses."

Train could only stare at his friends' backs as they stood firmly opposite Echidna's troops. It didn't feel right to leave them but as though sensing he was about to protest, Sven glanced back and continued.

"She said only you were allowed to pass."

"So we'll catch up." Eve added as she also looked up at Train. "Go settle things with Creed. It's just like what Saya said in Warp World," her eyes flickered to Lia and then back to Train. "Only you can stop Creed because you have strong faith."

Train stared at the little girl before glancing up the tower to where they all instinctively knew Creed had to be. He closed his eyes, feeling in his heart that his friends were right and that he could trust them to take care of themselves as they trusted him, and then he nodded.

"Okay."

"Oh, but just one thing." Sven added and Train glanced at his partner.

"Don't die." Sven smirked. "You still haven't paid off your debt."

Train's lip curled into an answering smile. "Got it."

But he hesitated once more before looking back at Lia.

She hadn't moved, neither stepping up nor backing away from the fight presented before them. But he knew she wouldn't abandon Sven and Eve, at the very least because as a Number she was expected to take out all the Apostles while Sephiria handled Creed. So that wasn't what he was worried about; what he needed to know was that she would still be there when all was said and done. Because she wouldn't follow Sven and Eve to aid Train, that he was certain of; she had her orders.

Lia met his gaze evenly, her face an unreadable mask even if it was no longer as cold as it had been before. Taking that as a positive sign, Train took the plunge.

"I'll be back." He swore, his own eyes unwavering as he sought some kind of a response from his ex-girlfriend.

Lia gazed back at him for a long moment before her face softened just slightly.

"I will be waiting." She promised quietly.

Train's eyes lit up with hope; and albeit tempered by the grim determination that kept his expression tight, he gave her a small smile. Swooping down, he kissed Lia's forehead - surprising Sven yet again and making Lia tense - before Train turned, and he ran forward, across the bridge, and toward Creed.

He didn't look back as his friends and Lia watched him go, nor did they expect him to. As he passed Echidna, the two glanced at each other. Each assessed the other, Train judging the other woman's likelihood of backing out of her promise to let him pass and Echidna examining the man Creed was completely obsessed with. A man who was in love with a woman Creed usually didn't even seem to remember existed.

Echidna watched Train go even after he'd blown past her and was dashing up the stairs of the tower behind her and toward Creed's room. She had a strange sensation like she should stop him or at least should warn Creed that there was even more to the man he claimed to know best than Creed could have dreamt of. There was something far too tender in Train's behaviour and gaze when he looked at the silver-eyed Number that spoke of something that should not be possible.

But in the end, Echidna let the sensation and the moment pass.

"Letting that one by is alright, right, Miss Echidna?" The humanoid minion beside her asked and Echidna nodded as her eyes returned to the three remaining on the open pathway with her.

"Yes. Your targets are those three. And Eites who betrayed us."

"Roger!"

The trio standing across from the Apostle tensed as the strange Shooting Star soldiers almost sang their response to Echidna's order. For a moment, no-one moved. And then, the largest of the soldiers (who really did look like a boulder or a fifteen foot gorilla) raised his arm, pointed it at the three unlikely allies (and Eites)... and popped out a machine gun from his forearm.

At almost the same time, Lia was in motion, flying over Eites' head as she leapt to the side and on top of the stone railings on the side of the Open Corridor. She was the only one who reacted fast enough to get out of firing range as the Shooting Star soldier opened fire. Sven and Eve dodged the rapid-fire using only their wits while Eites screeched as he also danced about on his feet to avoid the bullets that rained on them.

"What is this guy?!" Sven gaped even as he dodged bullets. "He transformed his arm!"

The gunfire stopped briefly at that moment as the soldier switched focus to Lia who was dashing along the railings, her face set in an emotionless mask as she charged toward the soldiers. She deflected the soldier's bullets with her scythe, once again fully extended in her hands, before she launched up into the air.

The other, large soldier (shaped more like a rock he was almost completely round) launched up like a cannonball to meet her in the air and the pair clashed with a resounding boom. At the same time, the humanoid soldier activated jets on his back and legs and flew into the air before he circled behind Sven and Eve.

"He's flying?" Sven asked incredulously and the soldier laughed.

"There's nothing to be surprised about!" He shouted gleefully. "We're the ultimate soldiers - fusions of nanomachines and weapons! We are the Phantom Star Brigade!"

He fired a missile from his stomach as he spoke and Eve's eyes widened as it came right at her. There was almost no time to react before the missile exploded upon impact and flames and shrapnel erupted from the blast site. At the same time, the machine-gun soldier, who was looking more and more like a gorilla as he swung his oversized arm, started to fire once again into the flames and smoke, cackling as he imagined cutting down his opponents' corpses.

A screech of mixed pain and surprise however drew the two soldiers' attention to their comrades.

The machine-gun owner was sent tumbling back almost immediately as his fellow giant soldier came crashing into him after being kicked viciously away by Lia while the snake-like soldier who had slithered his way (literally) behind the Number was still screeching as he drew back from Lia. His hands, which had knife-like claws that extended out of where his fingernails should have been, were curled in apparent pain after Lia had cut right through his claws with her scythe. The severed blades clattered to the ground as the snake soldier shrieked. But it was soon clear that the phantom feeling of pain was not real, as the snake soldier shook off whatever he had thought he should feel from his memories as a human and he faced Lia again with a snarl.

"You won't get so lucky again, girl!" He shrieked as he lunged at the blue-haired woman. "I'll get you for that!"

Lia dodged his attack before she skipped back quickly just as the boulder-like soldier came rolling right over where she had been a second before. If she hadn't moved, she would have been crushed by his sheer weight and mass as the soldier's heavy metal frame left indentations in the stone of the bridge they were standing on. As it was, she landed on her feet a few feet away and she slowly straightened up as the boulder-like soldier unrolled himself and got back up on his two legs.

"You lot just won't die." He growled but Lia's response was colder than the arctic wind.

"You lot aren't strong enough to kill any of us."

From behind her, Lia noted a flash of light as the sun glinted off some metal but she didn't move. A second later, the gun fired… and the bullet flew past her and smashed into the gorilla-like soldier. The cyborg blocked the attack with his metal-enhanced arm, and he stared back at Sven as the Sweeper stepped out of the smoke from the missile site completely unscathed

"A fusion with weapons, eh?" Sven asked as he stared impassively with his mismatched eyes at the soldier. "Then they're cyborgs… or rather, the perfect assassinating robots."

He walked up to where Lia was standing, completely unsurprised by the fact that he was completely fine. Her own highly developed battle senses had already noticed the lack of impact of the machine gun bullets that had been fired at Train's friends, just as it seemed the Phantom Star Brigade had. And as for the missile…

Eve stepped out of the smoke, her hand still morphed into the shield that had protected both her and Eites from the missiles. Eites looked completely frazzled from where he was behind Eve but it was clear both he and Eve were also unscathed as Sven continued to speak.

"If we're fighting robots," he cocked his gun, "then I won't show any mercy either."

The soldiers were now more serious than they had been initially as they faced the trio but Eites broke the tension slightly as he stared at Eve in shock.

"Y-You… Why did you help me?"

When Eve didn't reply immediately, Eites continued incredulously, "Were you sorry I was labelled a traitor? Even so, why did you risk your life for me? I just don't get you-"

"I can't..." Eve interrupted slowly, choosing her words carefully. "Just stand around watching people die before my eyes without doing something."

She turned to stare at Eites while Sven and Lia listened silently to the young girl's determined declaration.

"I'm not fighting to take life but to protect it. That is my belief."

Eites stared at the blonde girl, silenced by her sincerity. Lia meanwhile tightened her grip on her scythe handle. As she'd thought before, Eve reminded her too much of how she had used to be. Before she'd fallen too far for her to even begin to see a way back up. But even though she didn't know if she deserved to be found again…

'Train… you really have changed. To teach this young girl, to partner with a man like Sven Vollfied, to voice your beliefs as you never used to…'

Lia was broken from her thoughts as she sensed something whipping toward her and she spun away before the snake soldier could grab hold of her with his tail.

At the same time, Sven yelled, "Eve! He's coming!"

Eve looked up just in time as the humanoid soldier dove toward her, swooping down at her just as his fist turned into a gun. Eve blocked the bullets with her shield as Sven leapt out of the way when the gorilla soldier started firing his machine gun at him once more and Lia leapt over the boulder soldier as he curled himself up into a ball again and rolled right at her.

But as she dodged him, the boulder soldier's sides suddenly opened up to reveal missiles that he promptly launched. Lia's jaw clenched and she swiftly retracted her scythe into a gun to fire back, destroying the missiles that came soaring toward her and causing them to explode before they could hit her. Almost immediately, however, she extended her scythe once more and she used it to swing herself up and away as the snake soldier opened fire from guns that popped out from all along his long chest.

"You won't be able to run forever!" The boulder soldier roared as he charged at Lia again while she dodged the snake soldier's bullets.

But this time, instead of leaping away, Lia held her ground as she used her scythe to deflect bullets. They had no impact on the boulder soldier even when she deflected the bullets at him but that wasn't her plan in any event. A second before the cyborg could crush her, she suddenly lunged to the side and out of the way, sliding her body flat against the stone.

The cyborg screeched as he unrolled almost instantly, although it was soon clear that he hadn't intended to do so. Instead, he'd been forced to as his bottom half of his body sagged behind his top where his entire side had been ripped open by Lia's scythe, hidden from the cyborg's view when she'd placed it flat on the ground as she slipped out of the cyborg's path of destruction before she abruptly straightened the blade so that the Orihalcium blade pierced the soldier's armour and shredded it to pieces.

As the soldier attempted to pull himself together, Lia was already back on her knees and she aimed the rifle embedded into her scythe's body at the snake cyborg. She fired twice and the cyborg dodged the first bullet before it could pierce his chest - but he couldn't see the other bullet. A sound on the ground made him realize the bullet had hit the stone just to his right and he turned to look just in time before the bullet ripped right up through his arm.

The snake soldier shrieked as his arm hung awkwardly where it had been half-dismembered but Lia wasn't even looking at him any more. Confident in her abilities, she had turned instantly back to the boulder soldier after firing the reflect shot at the snake.

The boulder soldier tried to fire his guns at her but she leapt out of the way; two bullets from Lia later, his guns were disabled as her bullets cut right through the wiring on his arms that controlled his weapons.

"H-how?!" The soldier cried in shock as Lia . "How is it possible-?!"

He was silenced as Lia sliced him right down the middle. But as she cut him through, Lia gave him an answer anyway.

"Because you're just killers." She said coldly, her eyes holding nothing but disdain for her fallen foe. "Because you're the kind of monster that is so focused on killing, you don't look for other ways to win like monsters like me."

*A/N Song of the Day: Blood History, from Accel World. The link is: /7Ww0IJgUTDw