Creed stared at Train's body as it lay unmoving against the wall where he had smashed the Sweeper earlier.

"How miserable, Train." Creed murmured as he stared sorrowfully at the only man he had ever respected in his life. "Together with you, I wanted to create an eternal Eden where I will reign as ruler."

Tears started to drip down Creed's face as he let go of the dream he had held onto for years; ever since he had first met Train so many years ago.

"But I'll carry it out without you and show you. No matter how many decades it takes me. Even if the corpses have to pile up."

His sword pulsed and Creed drew back his sword, tears still stinging his eyes.

"Farewell," he thrust his sword forward, "Train!"

Meanwhile, Train remained in a state of almost unconsciousness. Somewhere, he knew Creed was there and about to kill him; but for the most part, he wasn't sure where he was.

One moment, he was a child again, a boy of just over eight years old, and Zagine Axeloake was aiming a gun at his head.

"Do you want to live, brat?" Zagine's words from that time, spoken just after Train had stumbled upon the assassin moments after Zagine had killed Train's own parents, rang in Train's mind. "To live or to die… take your pick."

Train remembered the way Zagine's face had looked, cool and calculating as he looked down to where he held the gun at Train's head. The man had been the reason Train grew up without a family but he had also been the one that trained Train at the very beginning. In many ways, Train had respected Zagine even if he had hated him with every cell in his body. It was Zagine that had set Train on the path of a killer, a ruthless orphan boy who killed anyone and everyone that threatened his survival. It was thanks to Zagine that Train was picked up by Chronos, that he was able to meet-

"Even a legendary assassin gets injured once in a while."

Saya grinned at him in his memory as she helped patch Train up after he had failed a mission, unable to shoot his target when he realized the man held his frightened daughter in his arms. He'd ended up shot in the shoulder by the politician's guards and Saya was the one who found him and picked him up like a wounded alleycat. Saya was the one who had brought warmth back into his life, who had helped him turn his life around and become human again. It was thanks to Saya that Train was ultimately able to leave Chronos and along the way he had met-

"One day, I'll become a famous journalist." Young Tim Vertical, the son of a journalist who had been murdered in cold blood for uncovering corrupt police officials, looked up at Train determinedly. The boy, who had reminded Train so strongly of his own young self with his hunger for revenge, was on a better path now because he had learnt much faster than Train how empty revenge really was. "And when I do, I'll do a cover on you people!"

"Don't get me wrong!" Rinslet yelled in embarrassment after she helped Train out. The thief-for-hire had turned into a much closer friend than they could have imagined and than either she or Train usually liked to admit. Train wondered absently where she was… if she was alive and well. He sincerely hoped so. "It'll be bad for me if you get yourself killed when I can still use you!"

"You must come again." Professor Tearju told him, Sven and Eve warmly just before they left the good professor. "After you've straightened everything out."

"We'll definitely take Creed down!" River grinned at him, giving Train a thumbs up.

"If we let someone like him do as he pleases, the outcome will be nothing pleasant." Eve added, the little princess looking far too serious for one so young. But that was just the way she was, partially thanks to her own dark history. And like so many others Train knew, Eve was stronger for her past because she used it as a reminder to help people and not as a weight to hold her down.

"Don't die." Sven's short words were at odds with his teasing expression. Train's partner for the last two and a half years had understood without words just how special it was for Train that he would support him. He had been there after all when Train first entered the sweeper profession, had been the only one to see through Train's devil-may-care act and still suggested that they become partners. Probably because he'd recognized the same brooding, damaged but determined man he saw in himself; and somewhere along the line, they had helped each other become better men.

"No need to mind me. Better stay focused on your own battle." Sephiria's advice was unexpected as she gave it weakly from where she had laid on the ground when Train saved her from Creed. Unable to move, such was the extent she had gone to during her battle with the leader of the Apostles, Sephiria's wearied gaze was still clear and determined as she gazed up at him like she used to when he was still in Chronos.

"Being a carefree stray cat suits you." Karl Walken smiled as he gazed at Train fondly the one time they had met following Train's defecture from Chronos. The man who had raised Train following Zagine's death and when Train had first joined Chronos had been able to see the real differences in Train (not the superficial acts he often put on) and his tone had been as soft as his gaze. "I can tell that from your expression."

There were so many others too, but seeing Karl finally brought forth the one face Train had longed to see.

"I love you." Lia's shone like stars as she looked up at him as though to prove the truth in her words. Her hair spilled down her back in long, loose waves and fluttered in the wind as she stood with him on the roof of his apartment under the moon that was the only witness to the two Chronos erasers' crime - their oath to something above the organization that controlled them. "I will always love you. I told you not to worry about me; do what you think is right, Train. No matter what you choose, you could never hurt me and you will never lose me."

Except he had. Creed had likely come after him after hearing that Black Cat had started letting targets go. His choices had brought their world crashing down around them. And she was shattered because of him, just like he had feared. But despite that, no because of that, he had to go back to her. He had to make it back to her like he had failed to do two years ago even if it hadn't entirely been his fault. He had to tell her one more time. He had to...

Creed's sword smashed into the bricks of the bell tower, cutting through the entire column in one fell sweep. For a moment, as the tower crumbled and toppled over the edge of the building, Creed was confused - there had been something off, a little bump as he'd cut through the tower. And then his eyes widened as he saw Train standing in the remains of the tower, his Hades lifted against his head where it had protected him from Creed's attack.

"If I… die here… a lot of people will be disappointed." Train got out slowly, most of his focus directed on gathering up the energy to stand and fight once more. "And I… won't be able to tell her… And that can't happen."

Creed frowned, wondering what Train was blabbering about but then he stiffened as Train lifted his face. He was battered, bruised and blood dripped down him on all sides of his face and body but the resolve in his gold eyes was unmistakable and whatever Train had been trying to say, it didn't matter because he summed it up determinedly as he faced Creed.

"So I can't lose at all!"

Train began to glow faintly as he spoke and Creed tensed as he wondered what was going on. He knew that the nanomachines in Train had given the Sweeper the ability to conjure the railgun but Echidna had reported that Train had used up all of his energy for the day during his earlier battle with the Taoist, Shiki. And more importantly…

"Why?!" Creed demanded incredulously. "You shouldn't have any more strength to resist. What in the world-?!"

"Absolutely." Train cut Creed off in a quiet, calm voice. "No holding back for me."

He raised his last remaining bullet, showing it to Creed.

"One more bullet… This… is most likely the finishing touch!"

Creed's eyes widened as he recognized the red-tipped bullet that Train held from their last battle on Lunafort Tower. The last time he had really seen the Black Cat given that Train had arrived in pure anger and hatred even if he had failed to kill Creed that day.

"Still remember? Half a year ago, this very 'burst bullet' hollowed your abdomen. My partner, Sven's, specialty."

Creed bristled at the mention of Sven but he was more preoccupied by what Train was thinking.

"What are you doing, using that now? At this point?!" Creed demanded but Train was still unnervingly calm as he clicked the bullet into his gun.

"Don't worry. I..." Train clutched Hades in both hands. "Am betting everything on this bullet. Every ounce of strength in me!"

"What?" Creed gasped as Train glowed brighter with electric energy.

It was impossible, he shouldn't have anywhere that energy left… but somehow, he did. And in Train's gold eyes was a determinedness Creed wasn't used to seeing; Black Cat had never cared about anything enough to put everything on the line like Train was now. Even at Lunafort Tower, Train had been driven by anger. Yet now… now he was even placing the one thing that was most important to him on the line: his heart.

The realization made Creed almost bite down on his own tongue and he spat out viciously, "Fine! Take me on, Train! With all you've got. Whatever it takes! Give it your all!"

Creed's blade glowed as it expanded to it's greatest size yet, shooting up into the air and glowing a bright white energy.

"Imagine Blade Maximum Level!"

Train lifted Hades in response - but his entire body was twitching. He was too battered, too worn, and he'd lost too much blood; even the electricity running through him was hindering him even as it helped him because the strength of it coursing through his veins meant his arms shook just a little. But it was a little too much as Train found himself unable to aim properly on the long but thin blade that was his target.

'Just… a little bit more...' He thought desperately willing his body to give more than it could. But his body just couldn't any more, he was going to fail...

Suddenly, a presence appeared from over the edge of the roof; in a matter of seconds, before Train could - even if he was able to - look over, a pair of warm hands were suddenly clasped over his. Very familiar warm hands.

Train's eyes shot to the side in shock but his reaction was nothing compared to Creed.

In his own preoccupation with Train, Creed had failed to notice Lia's arrival until she was beside Train. Her appearance stunned him and Creed's mouth parted in surprise when Lia cupped Train's hands and steadied them for him. But it was her eyes that truly caused him to freeze; before his blood boiled and Creed saw red. Because Lia wore an almost identical expression in her eyes to Train - a look that also matched almost perfectly with Saya Minatsuki.

And Creed realized in that instant, as he saw the way Train's gaze automatically softened when he looked at Lia, that he had been wrong all these years: Train had never been under that witch's spell. It was Julia Hazard. It was Julia who had changed Train, who had taught Train to show that unyielding, warm determination that Creed despised so much. He had never realized it was her influence because of how calloused and hardened Lia had become as a Number. But now he saw her together with Train for the first time, and not even a fool could have missed the loving strength with which she supported Train physically and emotionally.

And she dared to do so right in front of him.

"You WITCH!" Creed screamed, raising his sword as he prepared to cut down the woman he realized too late was responsible for the death of his beloved Black Cat.

But neither Train nor Lia flinched. Instead, Lia looked to Train, her silvery eyes filled with emotion once more, while Train took a deep breath and he closed his eyes for a moment. Lia's hands around his steadied his aim, a strange reversal of the times they had trained together back before Creed had shoved their world into chaos, and her presence beside him quieted his heart. In that quiet moment, Train gathered his energy before he opened his eyes once more.

And he fired.

The force of the electricity that exploded from Hades as the railgun shot fired tore right through the Orihalcon casing, shattering the barrel of the gun. But just as it was strong enough to break the strongest metal in the world, so it was that not even the strongest sword - created solely from the mind and spirit of a fighter - could withstand the force of the bullet that hit it.

Creed screamed as he felt his sword strain… and then it cracked. There was a blinding light as his Imagine Blade succumbed to the burst railgun Train had fired before the light was gone and Creed stared up in horror as his blade slowly started to crack and shatter.

"No… Impossible… I'm immortal… I'm God... This can't be..."

"Wrong..." Train answered as he leant heavily against Lia, who was the only thing that kept him from falling over as Train continued to drip blood all over her. "You… have nothing… When you were hit… You didn't have anything to back you up… Not a friend… or a belief… or love..."

Creed stared at Train in shock as Train raised his head to give Lia a look filled with such emotion that it physically hurt to watch. There was no smile, no real expression on Train's face as he was too tired to muster the energy to do much more, but the passion and ferocity in his eyes as he gazed at Lia was worth more than a thousand words.

"And it's because you have nothing that you lost."

Train tilted his head to look at Creed once more, and it was like a punch to Creed's gut to see how cool and emotionless Train's eyes were when they turned to him.

"You're no God, Creed. You just want to become one. You're just a mere human."

And like that, as Train broke through Creed's last mental defense, the Imagine Blade shattered. Along with Creed's mind. As the sword disappeared completely with Creed's broken spirit, the man swayed… and then toppled over.

"Dammit!" Train yelled as he pushed off of Lia and launched after Creed as the unconscious man slid down the roof tiles and toward the edge of the roof.

"Train!" Lia cried, leaping after the former Black Cat in alarm.

She caught onto Train's leg at the same time she extended her Elysium (which had been strapped to her back when she'd arrived to help Train) and stabbed it into the roof before she and Train could fall off the edge of the roof. Train meanwhile caught hold of Creed's arm and he clung onto the other man as Creed dangled freely in the air, ten stories above the ground.

"Dammit!" Train snarled although he could feel his energy fast depleting. "You idiot, if you die now, all my efforts would go to waste!"

"That's what you're worried about right now?!" Lia demanded as she struggled to maintain a good grip on Train's bloodied pant leg. "You moron, that's not worth you dying!"

Train's leg slipped in her grasp as she spoke and Lia desperately clung on while Train felt his grip on Creed failing. He was going to fall…

Suddenly, a burst of wind swept them up and lifted all three up into the air. Train and Lia looked, startled, to the edge of the miniature hurricane that appeared to be holding them aloft and they stared at the young boy who stood there on a floating board.

"Unbelievable..." Leon murmured as he stared down at Train with a mix of incredulity and respect, completely oblivious to the way Train and Lia and were staring at him in shock. He was too stunned by the realization that Eve had been right after all: her and the Sweepers' way of life, no matter how weak and stupid it had seemed, really did work.

"You really did beat Creed..."

And because they had indeed done as they said they would using their weird but apparently still effective approach, Leon honoured his promise to Eve. He would turn from the Apostles and their kind of path; and he would start by helping Train get Creed safely back onto the ground.

"Creed! Creed!"

Train watched silently as Echidna bent over Creed frantically, desperately trying to awaken him back to consciousness. Their arrival on the Open Corridor had caused great panic not just for Train's friends when they saw the state he was in but for the former actress who had paled upon seeing Creed's limp form.

Since then, Echidna hadn't moved from beside Creed while Sven gently moved around Lia to check on Train. Sven and Eve had both successfully defeated their opponents just moments earlier, using their wits to outdo the cyborgs. And Eites had surprised even himself by saving Eve when she was in danger, his body instinctively protecting the little girl who had saved him. So all in all, they were faring much better than Train as every second Sven spent examining him proved.

From Sven's assessment, he determined that three of Train's ribs were cracked and more were likely bruised. The head wound was concerning but Train seemed to have thankfully avoided a concussion (furthering Sven's silent opinion that Train had a rock for a head). The most pressing issue was the blood loss as the many lacerations on Train's body continued to weep blood even through the makeshift bandages Sven let Lia wrap around Train.

The Number had been absolutely silent since Leon had landed them on the Open Corridor. She had also yet to meet Train's eyes, a fact that was quickly creating a lead-like feeling in his stomach. However, she had also yet to leave his side as she cleaned and bandaged him up so perhaps there was still hope yet.

It was at that moment that Train's attention was drawn back to Creed as Echidna's cries suddenly stopped. Apparently, he was finally awake.

"Wh… Where am I?" Creed croaked.

"You're finally awake."

Creed's eyes flew over to look at Train as soon as he spoke, and they could all read the shock in the lighter-haired man's eyes as he took in Lia and Sven beside Train, while Eve hovered next to Sven with a guarded expression.

"I thought you'd never get up." Train continued as Creed just stared at him.

"T-Train..." Creed stammered and his finger twitched. It seemed he couldn't move freely anymore, his soul having shattered with his blade and rendering his physical body immobile as well.

As if he'd realized the same thing and it had finally cemented the truth into him, Creed got out in a strangled voice, "I… can't believe I lost!"

Train didn't deign to reply to that and he was further saved from saying anything as they all heard faint limping footsteps in the distance. Train looked over just as Sephiria appeared in the doorway of the Open Corridor, having recovered enough to make it down the steps from Creed's tower.

"Sephiria!" Train called, pretending he didn't notice the way Lia instantly stiffened and leaned just a little bit away from him at her captain's appearance.

"I see it has ended..." Sephiria noted as her eyes fell on Train then Creed.

"Is it okay for you to move around?" Train inquired as he took in how she was leaning heavily against the stone walls.

Sephiria nodded wearily. "My body… underwent surgery to increase my recovery rate to it's maximum when I was born, to prepare me as an eraser. I won't die so easily."

She looked back at Train as she spoke, and he met her steady gaze. He thought he detected a hint of sorrow in his old captain as she observed him beside Lia, and it made him nervous. If Sephiria became involved…

"Train."

Train glanced at Creed curiously before he withheld a sigh as Creed ground out through his teeth, "You're different from Sephiria and the rest. I've always thought you'd finally come to understand! You, who lived a cursed life in this rotting world!"

Train stared at Creed as the other man fell silent as though falling into despair had physically robbed him of his voice too. He knew Creed wasn't entirely wrong and so he phrased his words carefully as he responded.

"There was a time… when I harboured those thoughts. But after meeting Jules," Creed started violently but Train ignored him, "and Saya… I found out that whatever your circumstances, the world would be a better place if your own heart believes it to be."

"No!" Creed snarled, tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes and they trickled down as Creed's entire face contorted with the strength of his anger and bitter sorrow.

"What could a woman born into Chronos's high society know of our loneliness?! How can someone like those witches, who lived easy lives, understand?!"

Lia bristled in anger; but Train touched her hand to calm her before she could spit anything vicious while he interrupted Creed's hate-filled speech with soft but firm words.

"You're wrong… they are more alike to us than you think. Saya… she didn't remember anything from before she was ten."

Creed frowned while Lia looked away as she also remembered the day Saya had confessed her history to her new friends.

"I was probably abused by my parents," the Sweeper had admitted as she stared out at the city below with her back to the two Chronos erasers. "At least, that's what I think since I don't recall anything. The earliest memory I have is lying on a hospital bed. After that, I was passed around to relatives and orphanages. I realized I was all alone..."

"But," Train explained to Creed. "Despite all that, she loved this world as it is."

"So you let a silky-tongued woman deceive you." Creed muttered bitterly, the tears still leaking out of his eyes. "She could easily have colluded with your precious Julia-"

"I really don't think you deserve to hear this," Lia cut in in a low voice. "Especially since I despise you as much as you do me."

Creed seemed to grumble but Lia spoke over him.

"I'm an illegitimate child."

Creed's tears stopped, he was so shocked. Never, not even once, had he ever thought that Julia Hazard would be like him - a child unwanted.

"It's understandable you wouldn't know - very few people do and you wouldn't have cared to dig into my history. Chronos covered up the whole story when my father brought me into Chronos to avoid scandal; my mother died as a result of my father's selfishness. I was locked in a room on my own except for if my father ever found out I was doing something he thought I shouldn't."

Like her brother visiting her. Lia went silent as she recalled the first few times Jenos had been caught sneaking in to see his half-sister. He'd been dragged out by their father and it would be less than an hour before Lia's father returned… with a belt. It was after Jenos discovered the bruises that he used every trick in his book to never be caught when he went to see his sister. He taught those same tricks to Lia; and it had been how she'd escaped her father's watch to eventually join the Chronos erasers and find her freedom.

"You're not the only one with scars, Creed. And just because you carry terrible wounds doesn't mean you are allowed to dismiss the ones others carry. Least of all if it's because they deal with it differently from you. There is more than one kind of loneliness and there are many shapes of evil in this world. Saya's scars are no better or worse than yours, but she chose to love the world with it's flaws rather than hate it. That was all."

There was a long silence following Lia's words.

Train's eyes were on Lia, knowing what was probably going through her mind as she gazed unseeingly into the distance. It was a look she had often worn when talking about her history with her father although now her expression was absent the small, rueful smile she had worn back in the day. Back when she was like Saya, choosing to believe in the good in the world rather than dwell on the bad. And in many ways, Train thought as he observed the way silvery-grey eyes shimmered, she was still like that. But unlike before, she had no longer felt even the good was worth living for - something he hoped wouldn't be the case anymore.

But that was something that had to come later. First…

"Little princess," Train called to Eve. "I'm counting on you."

"Uh-huh." Eve nodded and Creed watched warily as the young blonde walked over to him.

"What are you going to do to me?" He demanded as Eve knelt down beside his head.

Eve's hair lifted of their own accord and landed on Creed's chest as she answered. "I will destroy those immortal nanomachines in your body by using my powers."

"W-What?!" Creed yelled, unable to struggle in protest. But able to voice it. "You can't! Stop! I've surpassed human limitations! If I have that done to me… If I have to be human once more… I might as well be dead!"

As Eve did nothing to stop her glowing hair, Creed turned his attention back to Train.

"Kill me, Train!" He beseeched. "Being killed by you is fine with me!"

Echidna's expression fell just slightly as she gazed with pain at Creed. Train's expression on the other hand was closed but his answer was firm.

"I won't."

Creed flinched but Train was unmoving.

"Didn't I tell you? You're a mere human. Carry the burden of life as a human. In this world you think as rotting, start over… as a man."

"No-!" Creed cried but it was too late.

*A/N Happy Halloween! Song of the Day: Dear You - Hope, from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. The link is: /B-YgeQ05OAA