A/N: Glad to se you all like the story. I'm gonna say everything I have to say now because the end of the chapter has to retain its good ending. So please review and enjoy. Cheese!

Disclaimer: I do not, repeat not, own Trinity Blood, though I wish I did. (Sad face)

Abel stood in the slight drizzle on the pile of ash that was clumped on the brown land. There wasn't any grass for miles, just dark brown soil, rocks, dead trees from the in between autumn and winter phase and, of course, the huge stonewall that hadn't burned. He stared at the death a desolation of the place emotionlessly; there was nothing there that could link him to Stella. The mansion had been completely burned down despite its size; the wooden walls were completely dry and made for good timber. The stones were so old that a good knock all but disintegrated the brick.

He moved forward through the soot, until he saw a shape in the damp powdery substance. He picked it up and blew the dust off. "AHH!" he dropped what was the remains of a Methuselah hand. It crumbled on impact.

Suddenly it seemed as if there were many shapes rising from the ground. He saw skulls and bones, all blackened by the fire. His feet moved by themselves to the back of the necropolis. Out of the ribcage of the last of the skeletons were wires.

This skeleton was smaller than the rest, and the bones were mutilated slightly. The teeth were smaller than Methuselah, but bigger and sharper than Terran. It spine was twisted and one of its arms broken, but the way they were fixated, they were broken long ago.

Decades. Abel thought, suddenly realizing that this small, mutated creature was Stella's sister. Though he felt a pang of revulsion for doing so, he felt sympathy for this pathetic thing. They didn't even bother to fix her broken bones after they found her all those decades ago.

"Please grant these wretches safe passage and have mercy on their souls." Abel said, numbly making the cross against his chest. He swallowed hard and continued on.

Sadly, there was nothing that ever showed him any sign of Stella except on dagger. The silver had been blackened and it would not longer serve to fight anymore. He stuck it in his cloak with some sort of reverence. He walked from the mansion.

This would have been so much easier if I had waited to get Tres! Abel thought in his frustration. He mentally cursed at himself. Wait! Stop! Now go back. He stepped backwards and stopped down. A boot print. It was rather small and had no extravagant designs on it. It was deep in the ground, so the person had been running when they had stepped down.

Abel's heart nearly stopped beating. There were footprints all the way to the forest, less than one hundred yards away. He followed them, accidentally straying from the path once or twice in his excitement. He stopped at a slight hill. There were sliding marks. He was about to walk down carefully when…

"Ah! OH!"

Yes, he fell down the hill. He slid down until he was finally able to stop himself. He panted slightly and scrambled for his glasses. As he did, he caught a flash of white. He slipped them back on his nose (ignoring the fact that he didn't really need them) and cried out a strangled sob-scream.

There she was. Pale, unconscious, bleeding and obviously in a very unnatural position but there she was. Stella. Abel crawled over to her. She indeed was a blood-drenched angel, at least to him.

"Stella." He said hoarsely. She didn't respond. "Stella?"

He picked her up slowly. He frowned when he felt a lump on her back. He hugged her close to him, and looked around her shoulder. It was here that he suppressed the urge to retch. A hand, a dead Methuselah hand that had been brutally ripped off by… something. The totality that Stella wasn't a Terran or Methuselah sunk in. He never was more aware that she was different. Just as he was different. He wondered briefly if that was what everyone else saw, when he was in his most terrifying form.

He pulled the hand's long nails from her shoulder. It came out with dried blood and a new wound that bled freshly. The metallic smell was heavy around her, and this new addition was just as awful if not more so. He sat her on one of his legs, her chin resting on his shoulder and his arm supporting her waist. He stared at the hand in revulsion.

"Am I still not a monster now, Father Nightroad?" Abel jumped. Stella's tired eyes were open and looking at him sadly. "I can see it in your eyes, you know. You are disgusted by what I have done." She let out a shot bark-like hysterical laugh. "Hell, I'm sickened by what I have done. So, will you leave this monster to die in her final peace?" She lost whatever little energy she had then, and her head slumped against his shoulder.

Abel threw the hand away and hugged her close. "Stella, please. Don't…" he couldn't say the word aloud. "Just don't. I'm going to get you help. Demetry's just a few hours away. Hang on for him."

Stella chuckled. "Why should I?" Her gaze grew faraway and her eyesight clouded. "There is no point of me living more. She is dead." She half-snorted, making an 'humph' sound. "I wonder what mother and father will say when I get to the place you call heaven, Father Nightroad…"

"Stop talking like that." Abel said firmly, willing himself to move to cut off her terrible words. He hoped beyond all hope that this was some delirious speech from blood loss.

Stella ignored him. "Maybe they will welcome me with open arms. Or maybe not. Perhaps they will look upon me with disdain. I killed their child, after all. I killed the good one. How ironic." She smiled a crooked smile. "Scratch that. I do not think I shall get to your heaven at all, Father Nightroad. I shall go into the deepest pits of hell. I do not deserve the consideration of even the worst of angels."

Abel had finally willed himself to get up, and now he was running carefully through the wood. The drizzle made it all the harder. She was cold as ice; it was like carrying a wet rag doll. "Stop, Stella." He commanded. "I know no one of this great Earth more deserving of a place in heaven than you."

Stella turned her head towards him with great difficulty. "Father Nightroad, there is no need to hurry. This monster has lived the last of her days."

Abel glanced down at her face. Her cloudy eyes closed for what he prayed was not the last time. He tripped on the wet muddy ground. His ankle hurt terribly, but he crawled to where the Titan's body lay. He held her to him.

"Stella! You are not a monster!" he screamed to the gray heavens. "STELLA! YOU ARE NOT A MONSTER!"

A/N: Review!