Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood, or any of the characters.

To clear up some confusion, I tired to have the wording be a better transition, but it's still confusing so I think I've come up with a solution.

Past text will be written between the marks you see

So in other words:

(Insert the past)

I hope that helps to clear up any misunderstanding.

Chapter Three

Through the Passing

The young count looked down to see that Esther had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. Ion smiled slightly to himself and leaned his down lightly to be able to rest on hers. It was now that the lack of rest he had gotten before his rude awakening caught up to him.

Ion knew it probably wouldn't be such a good idea to fall asleep with everything that was going on, but he knew Father Nightroad was outside and could wake him if anything happened. His drooping eyelids didn't give him much choice as they seemed to close of their own accord.

Soon enough, Ion found himself waking up to the sound of Esther's frightened whispers, and a loud ruckus that had just started. He tightened his hold around her, and wearily opened his eyes, but was wide awake the instant he caught sight of what was before him.

A tall creature with a red scythe was fighting off an onslaught of humans. There were so many of them that no one, not even a Methuselah could have taken them on all alone. The creatures long silver hair defied gravity, and had long talon looking claws at its fingers. Blood spattered everywhere, and Ion couldn't be sure if the creature was on their side or not.

Ion stood quickly pulling Esther further into the room away from the bloody carnage that was taking place. Pulling her towards him, he held his hand to the back of her head, holding it to his chest prevent her from watching the violence.

The onslaught seemed to go on forever, but eventually Ion's sensitive hearing picked up on a call to retreat, and the beast before them seemed to have to restrain itself from just abandoning them and hunting down the rest of the humans.

With the Terrans out of the way, the creature turned to reveal glowing red eyes and fangs that hung over the bottom lip. Esther turned her back to Ion to watch as the creature seemingly just stared at them. Recognition was written all over her face as she saw him, and Ion thought for sure that she had lost her mind.

"Father?" Esther questioned, trying to take a step out of Ion's grasp, but he wouldn't let her go. This… This thing, is Father Nightroad? What the hell is Esther thinking? Ion thought to himself, surprised that Esther used more force than he thought she had to pull out of his grasp and head over to the supposed Father Nightroad.

"Esther…" Ion warned, almost grabbing her again.

"Father are you alright?" Eshter asked, and Abel simply nodded and lowered his scythe, allowing it to be reduced back into puddles of blood. Slowly, his eyes returned to their friendly blue color and his hair fell loftily around his shoulders.

"Father Nightroad?" Ion was very confused now. Just who the hell is this guy? He let his mind run away with wild accusations. Abel waited to make sure his voice was back to normal before speaking, not wanting to frighten his charges.

"I am alright Esther, but Ion, I think we have to get out of here now. If there is another Terran onslaught like that, I don't know how the others will be able to hold out." Abel told them solemnly.

There was no way AX would be able to stop hundreds of angry Terrans, especially trying to keep both Ion and Esther away from their main target due to Mirka's wishes. She didn't want the young Methuselah in anymore danger.

"What about my grandmother?" Ion asked worriedly. Abel sighed and shook his head. Had they really sent the same mass amount of Terrans to do off every Methuselah of power, or had they only focused their power to take off one at a time, slowly working their way up?

"I could not tell you, just wait in here and I'll try to get in contact with someone who can give us some answers." Abel gave a gentle smile before turning and stepping outside.

Esther held gently to Ion's hand, staring at the door Father Nightroad had just gone through, as if she were waiting for another attack.

"It'll be alright Esther…" Ion told his younger companion evenly, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than her. Esther nodded lightly, and looked up to him.

"I know Ion…" Esther told him. Ion looked down into her eyes; she really did seem older than she looked now. It wasn't just the fact that all Methuselah looked younger than they really were compared to human standards, but even at her age as a Methuselah, Esther seemed to grow up. She didn't seem as young as she did when she was just hanging around him when their grandmother's would get together.

A few minutes later Abel came back into the room, masking any emotion from his face.

"We need to leave… Now…" Abel said, leaving no room for argument, Ion was afraid to ask of his grandmother's fate. With a sigh he put his arm around Esther to lead her out of the room.

"What about…" Ion began only to be cut off by Father Nightroad.

"I'll explain everything once we get to our destination." Abel's tone was final, giving the impression that no more questions were to be asked until then.

Abel led them outside, a few other members of AX coming out from different rooms to escort them. Ion looked around, there was definitely some damage done here. Tables were broken; there were cuts along the walls as though someone had taken a sword to them. Ion averted his gaze to the ground, only looking up once they were outside.

Outside a car awaited them. Abel opened the back door and allowed Esther and Ion to climb in. Once they were in Abel shut the door behind them and climbed in front.

"You might as well get some rest; it'll be awhile before we get there…" Abel said, his cheerful demeanor returning a little.

Ion leaned back and closed his eyes, smiling as he felt Esther curl into his side as they both fell asleep.

Author's Note:

I'm not going to have the present Esther and Ion have commentary every chapter, but when I do I'll use the markings I indicated above. As always review and let me know what you think, and thank you to those who have reviewed thus far.