Forcing herself to leave Tres, she pushed her way through the raging wind and slippery sand. Using her arm as a shield from the airborne grains of dirt, she soldiered on. Abel, Seth and Kain were preparing for the final strike. On three different mountains of eroded rock, they stood, gathering all their power to use in the last blow. Zelda's path lie with the closet one, the one Abel was on top of.

Finally reaching the stone tower, she tied to take a hold of an edge she could grip but the rock was so weathered down she couldn't climb up. Taking a deep breath, she thought back and remembered the anguish and anger she felt when Tres was stabbed. Feeling a tiny surge of the armor under her skin, she focused on her hands and let it transform her fingers into impenetrable claws. She thrust them into the structure and dragged her body upwards.

Perching herself on a small ledge near the top; she physically couldn't get any closer than that. She could see Abel very clearly though. Shouting at the top of her voice she called, "Abel! I know you can hear me! Even if you can't or won't say anything, you had better listen! …Ion told me! He told me everything about Kain and you and Seth and… Lillith-san."

He obviously could hear her because his head jerked slightly at the name.

Zelda continued, "No matter what Kain has done, wouldn't it break Lillith-san's heart if you killed him??! You know that she would be said if she knew that. She still loves him even though he took her life!! Her love wouldn't dry up like that! Hatred would never appear in her heart- you know that! She wasn't that type of person! And yes, she is a person just like you, Seth and Kain!

"When you were younger, you said to Ion that you had unfathomable anger for humans, just like Kain. And look at you now! You were given a second chance! What about him?! He wasn't given one! Don't say that he had a thousand years to repent because he never had anyone to show him how to heal the rift of hate in his heart. So, what will you choose to do? Will you kill him and break Lillith-san's heart? Or will you choose to forgive, help and heal your brother so he can have another chance at life?!!!"

The moments when Abel was thinking felt like an eternity inching by. After forever, he quietly murmured, "I… will forgive. I will forgive… my brother." He reverted back from his Crusnik form and began to fall back, unconscious. Her mind did a double take as she realized a 6 foot something and two hundred pound man was going to crush her.

She stretched out her arms (rather stupidly) and he hit her chest. All of his force and acceleration transferred to her, pushing her back and causing her feet to slip off the ledge. Freefalling through the air with nothing to catch you, slow you down and someone in your arms was not a pleasant adventure. Zelda clutched Abel's head tighter so her body would take the hit. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prepare for the impact.

Instead of feeling the solid ground she felt two metal-hard arms close around her. Her head tilted back in surprise, "T-Tres?!!" His systems couldn't operate any longer and they all crashed to the ground, Zelda landing on top of his chest and Abel still in her arms. The pain under her and the weight above her was enough to make her groan loudly.

Painstakingly, she rolled them into a position where she could fling Tres over her shoulder and carry Abel under the other arm. She trudged along that way for a good mile, making a sane person wonder how she managed that. She wasn't using her armored strength and she had been injured previously, yet here she was dragging along six hundred odd pounds out of sheer will.

Her labored breathing woke up Kämpher when she passed him. He stared up at the sky line behind her in shocked, "…Mien Herr…" He swiveled his head around, "You'll pay for this! We'll be back! Just wait and see!" He disappeared and she looked back for the first time since the mountain. The sky was calm. She hadn't realized the wind stopped shortly after her silver haired friend fainted. Obviously Seth and Kain hadn't finished the fight because she would have felt the aftereffects of it. So… what happened?

Zelda heard a moan a few feet away and she noticed Ion, regaining consciousness after a gun jab to the head (she could spot Tres' handiwork anywhere). His ruby eyes fluttered and he lightly touched the bruising wound.

"Ion-kun… are you all right?"

"Yes… wait, why are you calling me 'kun'?"

"Well, during the battle I wasn't in the position to use titles and now I can."

"No I meant why 'kun'?"

"You're younger than me aren't y-"

He interrupted her, "Zelda-san! You're carrying both of them?!!" He finally noticed. Jumping up, he took Abel from her, "I'm sorry, that must have difficult."

"Eh," she grunted, unable to exert anymore extra energy. The world shuddered and the ground rushed up to meet her.

---

"Heh, they'll be fine. Zelda's wound looks bad but her armor is already taking care of it. Tres' wiring will need patching up and the holes covered but he'll be running normally soon. While Abel is just sleeping," William's voice echoed in her ear.

"He made me carry him all the way here because he was sleeping?" she muttered groggily.

She could hear the grin in Leon's voice, "Kid, you have the worst of luck… but you happen to be the luckiest person I know."

A smile crept up on her face. "Yeah." Opening her eyes, she sprang up and ran over to the bed next to her in the first aid room on the Iron Maiden. Ignoring the fact that everyone standing right by her, she leaned down and hugged Tres.

His lips formed words and she had to strain to hear his soft spoken, "Zelda… I love… you."

For the second during that day, she started to cry. She choked, "I love you too Tres." Bending down, she gave him a kiss.

"…What's this?" Caterina asked, dumbfounded.

Zelda pulled away, "Er…" She had forgotten that the ex-Cardinal knew nothing about their relationship.

"It doesn't matter to you now Caterina-san," Abel sat up, silver strands of hair falling across his eyes. "It matters to me however, if this means you'll be too busy being all googly-eyed at each other instead of making me some of your wonderful cookies!"

Seth Nightlord entered the first aid room. "They told me how you have grown to love to eat Abel-nii-san, but I wouldn't have believed it until I heard it with my own ears."

"Hey! How did you stop fighting without making any noise?"

Ion spoke before anyone else could, "She was waiting for Abel-san's signal but when she saw his power cut off, she decided to forget about Kain."

"Hey, you need to wait you turn!" Dandelion reprimanded the little vampire boy. "Right Hughe?"

Sword Dancer turned away and left the room.

"…Right Vaclav?"

"I'm not going to get into this argument."

"What about you Professor? You of all people will agree with me!"

He stuck his pipe in his mouth, "I think I'll side with Vaclav and sit this one out."

"EH?!"

The black eyed girl glanced at her red haired robot and clasped his hand, "It looks like our family has grown some. But that doesn't matter, as long as I am with you; I have everything that I need." Hesitantly, a smile tinged his lips of the smallest fraction. It was a true miracle.

The End

(Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read along during this story! Thank you for your reviews and thank you that none of you sent me death threats. - I hope you enjoyed the sequel!)