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

Chapter Eight

My Fall Will Be For You

"What is it Esther? You know you can ask me anything," Ion said gently taking her hand. A light blush was evident on her cheeks as she averted her gaze to the comforter of the bed.

"Well it's just… I've known you for as long as I can remember... You've always been there for me," Esther trailed off. Ion tilted his head to the side, waiting for her to continue. "There is this one thing that I don't want to be confused about." Esther finally got the nerve to look him in the eye. "With everything that is going on, I just want, I need to know how you really feel about me." With that said, Esther quickly found somewhere else to look, afraid of his answer.

"Do you… really not know by now?" Ion didn't take his eyes off of her for a second. Esther's blush seemed to deepen as she kept her eyes on a dust bunny on the floor as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. "Esther I…" Ion let go of her hand to cup her cheek with it.

I can't believe I'm about to do this… Ion thought, but he could hardly resist, she looked so beautiful to him right now. The blush on her face complimented the red of her hair, making her eyes stand out even more. Ion felt his cheeks burning as he took her face gently in both of his hands and made her look at him.

Ion smiled at Esther as he leaned forward closing his eyes, on the contrary her eyes were as wide as saucers. She couldn't move, and had to stifle a small gasp as Ion closed the distance between them and place a light kiss on her lips. Relaxing slightly, Esther kissed him back.

As soon as it had started their innocent kiss was over. Ion pulled away, smiling if all but a bit nervously. He watched her intently for a reaction. Esther had lifted her fingers to her lips, a look of surprise still on her face. Slowly, a smile came to her face and she leaned forward to embrace him.

Ion wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her and returning the gesture. Esther sighed contentedly and rested her head on his shoulder. It was unsaid, but both clearly knew the feelings were mutual. A light knock at the door caused them to disentangle themselves from one another.

"Coming," Esther said getting up from the bed and going over to the door. She smiled brightly at seeing Father Nightroad.

"Hello there Esther," Abel said kindly. "I just came to make sure that you were feeling alright." Esther nodded a little.

"Yes, I'm fine thank you." Esther turned to look at Ion for a second before looking back to Abel. "I just needed a little nap."

"Good, good! You should be getting rest; these next few weeks will be tiring." With a small wave Abel turned and left the two alone again. I never was alone… Father Nightroad and Ion have always been with me since your passing Grandmother… Esther sent up in silent prayer as she closed the door.

Ion came up from behind Esther and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you certain you still want to do this?" Ion didn't really expect Esther to change her mind, but he would try one last time.

"Yes," Esther said quietly.

With their new found closeness, Esther and Ion went through the rest of the training much in the same fashion as the first. They would wake up, get some breakfast and start with hand combat. Over the next few weeks they had both progressed exceptionally well. When it came to weapons, Ion maintained his early talent with the sword as well as Esther with a gun.

They were also able to recall almost every procedure to follow under the craziest of situations and had learned how to execute them well. Not only had Ion and Esther become even more inseparable, but the two had also become very attached to Father Nightroad.

Slowly they had been introduced to the other members of AX, and as their teacher, Abel had remained their favorite. Esther especially seemed to allow herself to get attached to Abel quickly.

As the weeks went on Father Nightroad was called out to attend meetings to help decide the best way to go about defeating Radu. On those days Tres would take them through their prior training and have them spar. He would also incorporate randomly springing a situation on them that called for the use of one of the procedures they had learned.

Every morning since they had arrived there, Father Nightroad would come and make sure they were awake and ready to go. Even on days he had to attend meetings, he made sure to see them before he left.

One morning, Father Nightroad didn't come for them. It had been a little over a month's time, and Esther was worried. Ion calmed her, telling her it was probably only because they had reached a decision on what to do.

They had been waiting for almost half an hour before anyone came. Esther jumped up and ran to the door just after the first knock sounded. With a bright smile she threw the door opened only to have it fade. There was no Father Nightroad, only Tres with his usual expression of indifference.

"Oh, good morning Tres." Esther could not hide the disappointment in her voice. A moment later Ion came to stand behind Esther, reaching out to put his hand on her shoulder.

"Good morning, Esther, Ion, please initiate in following me." Tres' voice it's usual monotone robotic sound. Passing a worried glance over her should to Ion; Esther grabbed his hand from her shoulder and held to it tightly as they followed Tres to a room they had only been shown once on their initial tour through the Vatican.

"Tres, what are we doing here?" At Esther's question the android looked over his should but said nothing. She almost spoke up again, but after a moment Tres knocked. Ion still held her hand in his, and gave a it a little squeeze as the doors swung open...

Author's Note:

Alright, don't worry. Nothing bad yet, that's for these next few closing chapters. Yea, I may span it over three or four more to close up the confrontation and wrap this up. I hope you enjoyed, as always review and let me know what you think. Thank you to those who have reviewed thus far, and forgive any errors that slip my eye.