A/N: Everyone liking it? Good.
Disclaimer: You know what, I think you have short-term memory loss. I just said this eighteen hours ago! I Do Not, repeat Not Own Trinity Blood.
Abel nervously walked down the hallway. As he neared his destination, he looked up at the sound of footsteps coming towards him. He looked into Demetry's blue eyes, which seemed less bright and his set face. His dark clothes hung off him as if he had not been eating and though his face stayed line free (just as Abel's would), but it was still drawn with worry.
Abel imagined that they both had the same expression. They had been called to Ion's office in the castle, which turned out to be the same room they had been in when Stella ran away for the second time, a little while ago. They had guessed what it was about and each had prepared themselves for the worst.
Demetry had arrived a day ago when Abel had first called. Normally, the trip would have taken three days, took one when Seth sent a special jet for him. Over thirteen hours ago, there had been loud noises from downstairs. When they had gone to investigate, Seth was at the top of the third floor steps, intercepting them. She suggested that they get some rest, but be prepared to go to Ion's office at any time. And when the Queen of the Empire suggests something you do it, even if she was half your size and acted like a teenager.
Abel nodded to Demetry and the Leader went into the room. Abel followed, and shut the door after him. A young emancipated man sat in one of the chairs at the table in the room. He wrung his hands. Ion nodded at some of the chairs. His normally cheery face was tired and worried.
"Abel, Leader Demetry…"
"Demetry." Demetry said automatically. Abel smiled slightly at the resemblance of the two Titan siblings.
Ion nodded once. "Fourteen hours ago, you no doubt heard the commotion downstairs. That was thirty-six emancipated people walking through the halls of the palace. They were recently freed from a mansion in the name of a Charles Onigoma, inherited from his father, Charles Onigoma Senior. They each claim to have been saved by a woman in dark, blood-drenched clothing. She was very kind to them, and disappeared back into the castle after freeing them from their cells. Minutes later, the mansion burned to the ground. The woman hasn't been seen since." Ion reported in his stoic manner that he usually took up when dealing with Security issues. "I will let Mau take over."
The man bobbed his head and wrung his hands. "I- we…"
"Just start from the beginning." Abel said kindly.
The man sighed.
To start from the beginning would be the best and worse place to start. I was only brought in a few months ago, but some people have been there for a year. They would drag us in, shoot us up with some drug or another and dump us in the cell for a few weeks. The drug made me tired for days, to the point where I sat on the floor, resting, not even getting up to relieve myself.
They starved us and kept water from us. We… got these insane urges… I started to wonder what flood and fresh meat would taste like. I can still remember when the badness stared. I thought 'I bet blood would quench my thirst'. I silenced my thoughts, but not for long.
A week later new people were brought into the cells, and they were in the same state I was in, but their drug was different, we could tell. One of them… a young girl… was struggling. We all had these sixth senses; we all knew that several of them would die.
Three nights later, one of us started it. I can't remember whom, but all at once, there were blood and gargling noises. They killed without a sound and quickly too. I remember thinking 'If I don't move quickly, I will not get any.' I was truly the animal then. I leapt to the closest thing to me, the girl, and ripped her throat out.
The taste was awful, the feeling worse. But I kept going. I yelled and screamed to stop, I wanted to very badly, please sirs, and you must believe me! I could not, and I did not. A few hours later, it was over, flesh was gone and bones were piled in a corner. But some of us did not want to stop.
Some of them looked at the others with the same gleam in their eyes. They never really lost it. They whispered plans out loud, but they thought that they were in their head. They lost their minds, and never gained it back.
The next day, at one of the times they shut the lights off, our keepers came. They sprayed us down with hoses and drugged us again, but instead of making us tired, we were if anything more alert, but paralyzed. They took us one by one into a room that was attached to our cell room.
When I was brought in, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It was sickly sweet, like that of something that has been rotting for a long time. I saw a little girl, except she wasn't. She looked dead and spoke like she was one of the insane ones, a child, and an evil woman all in one. Her face was half rotting.
In the corner, the demented ones were huddled, drugged to make them tired and bound. The evil child pointed at me and said that I could not fulfill her purposes and that she would not eat one as scrawny and sour looking as me. I was pushed back into my cell. From then on, we were kept in darkness, listening to the deranged voices in the other cell.
Then one day she came. Our angel drenched in blood, though we didn't know it at the time. We heard things on the other side of the wall, then screaming. Our keepers burst in from one door and went into the room with that abomination. More screams and sounds I dare not remember. Then everything fell silent.
Hours later, a young woman dressed in dark, bloody clothes walked in. She walked up to our deranged friends and family and… shot them all… Sirs, I know that she did it because she had to, but… it sounded so, so wrong. Please forgive my tears sirs, but I spoke with those men before they became creatures. I heard their life stories! One man was a scientist. Another was a clergyman for the Vatican. We watched them spend their final months as monsters, killing each other for food, and we watched the woman kill them.
She came to us then, and I am not ashamed to say that I shrunk back like a child. I was truly afraid of what she would do to us, and I ignored my instincts. She began talking and I thought that her voice would be like our keepers, rough and curt, or it would be like the ones of the children who first come to our prison, light and free. It was neither. It was trapped by its own bindings. It was tired. It was sad and longing.
She asked for us to help each other. She stressed this, and the way she plead it bound our hearts together. She told us where to go and what to do. She made sure that even the children were taken care of. And even before she freed us from our cells, we were set free, and our hearts much lighter than hers.
She caught me before she left, and told me to yell to her when everyone was out and safe. I followed her instructions, though I must say, my heart was loath to let her stay in that place longer than she should have. Minutes later, there was a crackle. A few minutes after that, the castle crashed on it crumbling figure and was gone. But, so was our angel.
The narration was full of tears, sobs, sighs and helpless motions. It wasn't easy to tell, nor to hear. But it was one of those things that had to be done, for the sake of all. Mau looked up, his tear-stained face staring into the others' men. Abel face was blank but his blue eyes were sad. Demetry's face was buried in his hands and he coughed a few times. Ion had gotten up to stare out the window sometime during the narration, and drops of blood reached the floor from where his nails dug into his hands.
"Please. You three know more about the angel than you are telling. I can see it in your eyes and in your figures. Tell me, who is she? And is she still alive?" The man practically begged.
Ion went back to his seat, steepling his fingers and leaning forwards, though his eyes were glazed and unfocused. As he did this, Demetry stood up and walked forward until his back was to all of them. He took in a deep breath. "The woman you are referring to, your savior, your angel drenched in blood. She is my sister. As is the demented child."
The man's eyes widened. "But that's… not possible…" He trailed off and looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, sir. Truly I am. I did not mean to call her…"
Demetry waved a hand, his back still to them. "You are right. She is demented, evil and so much more. Or was, as I should say. Stella did what she always wanted to do." He said sadly. Abel could see the tears that were falling from his face to the floor.
Mau turned to Abel. "And what of you? Certainly you are not another brother, and you were obviously brought here fro a reason."
Demetry turned around and smiled lightly. "Abel, I believe you have competition for my little sister's heart."
Abel was startled to say the least, but not so much that he was brought out of his somber mood. "I am no lover of Stella's, but I am her dearest friend."
Mau held up his hands. "Believe me, sir. Even if you were, you would have no competition from me. I mean, I love her with all my heart. I would lay down my life for hers, but I would do so only as a deep friend."
Abel's mouth twitched. "Stella is a woman all her own. And her kindness stretches far. I believe that not even the strictest clergyman could hold any of her actions against her."
"Let us hope that stretches as far as to your god, Abel. Let's find my sister!" Demetry said, a little of his spark entering his eyes.
Ion cleared his throat. "Mau, thank you. You may go back downstairs now." When Mau had left, Ion turned to Demetry. "Demetry, I have no one to spare to go look for your sister, and as much as I would like you to go gallivanting off by yourself, it is not wise. The tremulous fate of your country lies with you and getting yourself lost or hurt could lead to something catastrophic. That and I've been filled into what happens in when Stella is in her maddened state. Am I correct in guessing…"
"Yes." Demetry said half-heartedly. "I have even less control than my sister. And you are right." He said, closing his eyes. "If I saw my sister d…" He couldn't say it. "Anything other than in the shape she left it, I would loose it and not gain it back."
"That is why I believe Abel should go."
Abel was startled. And he felt accepting would be trespassing on unknown ground. He looked to Demetry who sighed heavily and nodded reluctantly.
"Find my sister, Abel Nightroad."
A/N: I'm not going to say anything so I don't ruin the moment. Review!