"William!" she took a step backwards. "How- why… how are you here?"

Leon went to his side and shrugged, "He paid for our train tickets up here."

"Leon! How? You fled the country!"

He rubbed his neck in a lazy manner. "Did I? I don't remember."

"How we got here is beside the point, Caterina. We came here to stop this, to stop you. We aren't the same without you and Tres," the Professor closed his eyes.

"Yeah, we have nobody on our cases anymore," Dandelion remarked.

After shooting him a look, William continued. "Its like, we aren't complete. We need you."

"Liar," her gaze hardened. "Stop lying. I'm sick of hearing you and everyone else. First you say you want to kill me, and then you want to save me. What is it you really want? Stop these lies and tell me the truth!"

"We never wanted to kill you. We care about you."

Tres kicked open the back entrance and entered the room, gun drawn. "Damage report, Caterina-sama."

Caterina was too angry to answer Tres. Her fist tightened, "You honestly care? Look at Abel, he said he cared and he left me! You say aren't the same without Tres and I, but you had Zelda attempt to kill him!"

Professor smiled, "No we didn't actually. That first time we attacked your hideout was for the sake of provoking Tres-kun and injecting the Nanites in him. The Nanites weren't meant to kill him, they were to shut down his system before gathering information on your newest plans. If they didn't turn off his system, he would have known what they were doing. So, we had Zelda pretend to fight and 'sadly kill her ex-partner'. Then she would bring us back my Nanites and all the info we gleaned."

Looping her arms around him, she injected the vial that the Professor had slipped her. The guns fell from Tres' hands and his eyes widened slightly. Sadly, she explained, "The Professor made these Nanites. They were created to wipe out your system. I'm sorry. Tres, I'm so sorry!!!" Tears streaked down her face and she gripped him tighter.

"Forgive me," she gave him a small kiss. "I love you." As the Nanites took their toll; his metal frame leaned forward and rested against hers. "Please don't hate me," was the last thing he heard. Weeping, she laid him on the ground and shut his eyes.

A few minutes later she brushed away her tears, removed the vial, pocketed it and sprinted away in the direction of the others.

"…What?" she whispered.

Leon cocked his head, "Eh? Is that all you got to say? And after the long trip we made up here to destroy your machine Empress, man, I feel so under appreciated."

The lady became distant once more, "This is the end of the line for you. Seth Nightlord, awaken." Upon those words, the doll jerked itself upright by its metal spinal cord. Her vacant, glassy eyes sparked and she pushed herself up from the throne. Brandishing two, twin swords she retrieved from inside her arms, she strode towards the men.

"W-wait, don't you want to at least think about this? I mean, we're two defenseless… people and… it's not nice," Professor's voice was laced with worry and he backed up.

The Empress Clone raised a sword, ready to spear them through when a black flash interrupted and stopped her weapon from moving any further. Looking up, a young man with long, streaming, blonde hair forced his blades to clash with hers.

"You!" Caterina cried.

"Sword Dancer, you made it!"

"Way to go, Hughe!" Dandelion smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

She shook her head, "How?"

"The moment you and Tres left for the Rozen Kreuz, I sent a message to Sword Dancer and told him to stay with the Empress for awhile," William stated.

… Hughe disappeared entirely…

…"And what about that blonde priest, the one who never stays still?"

"I'm sure when he found out the AX was no more five months ago, he immediately went to look for his family's murder. His only thought is revenge; he is not a threat to us."…

"When we found out that you planned to murder the Empress, we informed him. That's the reason why she isn't coming."

The Seth Doppelganger shoved Hughe away and took a jab at him while he was still recuperating. He caught the blow and returned it with a few strikes of his own. One of them sliced off part of the sleeve on the robot's arm.

"How is that possible?! She's untouchable!" Caterina leaned forward slightly.

Hughe answered, "After they told me about your weapon, I asked if the Empress would take time to fight me as if in a real battle. So now I'm experienced in fighting her."

Her finger itched the button she was holding. "Seth Nightlord, finish-"

Someone came up from behind her and held her hands, "Please be careful with that button, Caterina-san."

"Vaclav?!" She turned her face towards him.

A soft, whispery voice said, "Please don't struggle Caterina-sama."

The former duchess stared at the hologram standing next to her, "…Sister Kate? Why are you two here?"

"Because," William explained. "They were always involved in this. They were my people that were at the Vatican and could influence things I could not. They could find out things I could not. To relieve any suspicion, we fought and to the ordinary person, ceased speaking.

…Vaclav remained solely a priest and minded his own business after Lady Caterina's decision. Sister Kate and the Iron Maiden were still being utilized for the Department of Inquiry's use. …

…" I think… I'll not only be hanging up my robes but I'll keep to myself from now on." He handed it to Vaclav. "This is the last time we'll be seeing each other."

…" Vaclav and Sister Kate have gone on with the duties Cardinal Medicci gives them." …

All this began to register in Caterina and she frowned quietly, "Why?"

Vaclav's eyes crinkled in kindness. "Because we care about you and we miss you. We want you back. We want to save you."

Her head hung down and her full head of flaxen locks spilt over her face. "You know… that's exactly what Zelda said to me."

"Ah, Zelda," Professor nodded, still smiling, eyes closed. "Without her this whole thing would have been impossible."

"What?" she lifted her head.

"We knew you were watching us in my underground laboratory the whole time. What, did you think we were that stupid? Anyway, after retrieving the information from Tres, we planned another suicide attack against Kain- who we weren't really after by the way. Only, Zelda had too many conflicting feelings over 'killing' her partner. So she went to prevent that from happening again. At the castle she wasn't meant to meet up with you at all. Her real purpose was to see Tres again and get him to shoot her.

"Along with the Nanites, I created a serum that would slow a person's heart rate down to practically nothing. When she first saw Tres, she injected herself and pulled her armor up to lie under her skin. After he left her there, we found her and gave her the anti-serum, otherwise she wouldn't have made it. We then held her funeral, burned a box and slipped into a secret base no one else knows about. Leon fooled the police and you by 'jumping the border' while I sent visions of Zelda into yours and Tres' minds. It was fairly simple to hypnotize you and have the Nanites tweak Tres. We made it so real that you actually believed you were talking with her departed spirit."

He wrapped his arms around her and she felt something hard against the small of her back. A gunshot went off and she stiffened, her eyes wide- ceasing the flow of tears. Besides pain, she felt a trail of liquid slip down her back, staining her dress. A small, strangled sound caught in her throat.

"Forgive me," he bent his head and kissed her lightly. "I'm sorry."

A smile tugged at her lips in remembrance of those words, "I… deserve it. But I… love you. I'll definitely… save… you…"

"Zelda… isn't a ghost?" Caterina blinked.

"She was never dead. Unless you up and died on me back there. Did you Zelda?" He called to another exit, the furthest back one.

A familiar, onyx eyed, young girl walked forward, hoisting Leon's bazooka. She aimed it at the Empress Clone and smiled before firing, "Game Over."