A/N: It's getting really tiring to put something new and interesting in this space everyday.
Disclaimer: Yeah… uh huh… go on… For you slow peoples I'm being the your psychiatrist because I just saw the bill for them… they are way overpaid to sit there and listen to people's problems.
"See ya. I'm going to go bug people."
"I'll come with you."
"Stella, sit down."
"Please Father Nightroad?"
"No, Stella. Please sit down now."
"I knew the puppy dog eyes would wear off eventually." Stella grumbled, sighing and sitting next to Abel. "You are seriously worse than my brother."
"I'm right here!" Demetry cried indignantly from his seat directly across from Stella.
Stella looked at him with disinterested eyes. "So?"
"I will retrieve Father Leon." Tres said getting up.
They watched him leave. "Wait! Tres! That's the wrong… aw, I'll get him." Demetry said, rolling his eyes and disappearing out of the compartment.
They had been able to get a rather large train cubicle. Still, Abel wondered how it was that he ended up sitting next to Stella. Whenever they were left alone (like now) it was extremely awkward and silent.
Originally the seating arrangements had been fine. Tres, who was very bulky, sat at the end of the compartment to the right of the door. Vanessa and Demetry, who were both rather bony people, their mass more in their height, sat next to him and had plenty of room. Stella sat across from her brother so that she would have to go through five people to get out of the compartment. Abel sat next to her… because he had gotten into the stall second to last. Or at least that was what he told himself. Leon was left with the last seat.
Soon, everyone had filed out, though. Vanessa left first, stopping in Albion to get off. Demetry said a very private farewell to her and Stella mentioned wedding bells… and was nearly pummeled by her brother, who had forgotten she was sick for the first moment in five days. Now Leon was off to his own devices, Tres was going to wrong way (Abel had an inkling that he needed a coordinate and direction reboot) and Demetry was trying to catch them both. Stella was sitting rather close to him, he realized, considering the big, empty compartment.
"Erm… Father Nightroad…"
"Stella," Abel sighed. "I gave up trying to get young Michael to call me Nightroad ever since he was nine when his father wouldn't. Since then, all of my friends have called me Abel. I wish you would do the same."
A light blush spread across Stella's cheeks, but her voice was normal. "All right. Abel, I never really got a chance to thank you for bringing me back. Demetry wouldn't be able to handle himself without me and… I… wouldn't have…"
"I know." Abel said solemnly. "We really thought we were going to loose you, Stella. Even after I brought you back, it was touch and go. So don't be too hard on us if we don't let you go on missions for a long time to come. Last time a left, I was suspended from missions unofficially for one year. I really can't imagine what is going to happen to you; even though I was gone for thirty years, they never though I was dead, because twenty years after I left, I sent Ion back. And I was never such a mystery as you."
"I never did hear the whole story of your adventure." Stella interrupted.
Abel gave her a sad smile. "And hopefully, you never shall."
She nodded. "Bad memories, huh?"
Abel nodded. "Yes."
Stella nodded again and patted him on the back. "Then don't think about it and I won't ask again until you're ready." Once again they delved into awkward silence.
Stella found her mind wandering. A picture of her sister's decrepit face flashed before her eyes. She shook her head. Something else! Another image flashed in front of her eyes. This one was of her kissing Abel. Ack! Not that! She blushed deeply and slid a glance at the priest sitting beside her.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) Abel had been glancing at her at the same moment. They both caught each other and quickly looked away. Stella waited until the heat fell from her face before looking back at him.
Abel was staring off into space, twiddling his thumbs. He was humming softly to himself and looked perfectly serene. Wish I could do that. She thought suddenly. Experience the amount of pain he did and not relieve every second of it the moment I have nothing to think about. She tried hard to keep her thoughts from turning bitter. Damn this is going to be a long century. She thought as more poignant images of Dormaloone, Harrison, her sister's keepers and her sister flashed before her eyes.
"We're back!" Demetry called from behind Tres. He was tugging Leon along by the ear. "You'll never guess where I found this delinquent." He grumbled, sitting Leon in his seat and returning to his own.
"Where?" Stella asked mechanically, only half-listening.
"In the kitchens! Ca you believe it? He was replacing the sugar with salt and vice versa!" (A/N: Tried that, got in trouble. Laughed my ass off.) Demetry exclaimed.
Abel hid his smile behind his hand. "Young man! That is one of the worst crimes you could commit! A crime against food!"
They all started laughing. Out of the corner of his eye, though, Demetry saw that his sister was spacing out, staring at her hands, which were clasped in her lap.
"Stel? Stella? Hey, you okay?" he leaned forward and lightly touched her cheek.
Stella jumped when he touched her and grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip, twisting it. She nearly broke it before she realized whom it was. During this time, Demetry stayed silent. She looked back up to him with big blue eyes that Demetry had always seen as innocent. Now they looked haunted.
"Oh god, Demetry! I'm so sorry. Why'd you let me do that?" she asked worriedly, dropping his hand like a hot plate.
Demetry chuckled and rubbed his aching wrist. "Well at least I don't have to worry about you and any malevolent priests."
Demetry knew his sister better than anyone, and he knew when she was faking a smile. The smile she put on set off the brother-knows-something's-wrong lights in his head like an escaped convict in a prison yard.
"Oh come on, Demetry. 'Malevolent priests'? Since when has there ever been a priest with bad intentions?"
"You'd be surprised, Stella." Abel said.
Stella nodded and looked back down at her hands. "Um… guys? I'll be right back." She stood and made towards the door. Leon and Tres each thrust out an arm, stopping her.
"It's fine, guys. Let her through. Stella, three minutes and not a second longer." Demetry said. He knew that Stella should be able to have time to collect herself but he also knew that she was prone to long bouts of depression, especially after she'd killed someone. He was afraid of what Lia's murder was doing to her, and since she wouldn't show anyone she was hurting, he was afraid it would be too late before any of them realized what was wrong.
(A/N: I am very tempted to end it here but I figure since you guys have reviewed overall more than my other stories and a lot of you have stuck with it from the beginning, I'll give you a bit of a longer chapter.)
"Stella, would you like to stop at your apartment before we go to see Cardinal?" Abel asked kindly. She had been unusually quiet throughout the entire journey, and after a tearful goodbye with her brother at the docks; she had been completely silent and distant.
She blinked and her eyes refocused out of whatever reverie she was in. "What?"
"Would you like us to go to your apartment before we go to see Cardinal Kate?" Abel asked again patiently.
"Negative. Cardinal Kate has ordered for Stella Iceheart to come directly to her office along with myself, Father Abel Nightroad and Father Michael Leon Jr." Tres said, walking forward.
As the group began to walk with him, Stella smiled at Abel. Unbeknownst to her (and Demetry) Abel knew enough about giving false smiles to know one when he saw one. "It's all right Fath… Abel. I really am not looking forward to going back to my apartment anyway."
"Why's that?" Leon asked from the other side of Abel.
Stella smiled impishly. "Because I left the remainder of your house-warming gift in the fridge." (A/N: Remember, Leon's present was a lump of frosting he and his dad made and called it a cake.)
Leon and Abel paused a moment to remember what Leon's present was.
"Oh ewwww!"
"Stella! That thing must be alive by now!"
Stella laughed and practically skipped ahead of them to draw level with Tres. She started talking to him, and surprisingly enough, she got answers. Not particularly conversational ones, but answers nonetheless.
Soon they were at the entrance to the church.
"Present identification!" A guard called out.
The men quickly pulled out their badges, but Stella shook her head. "I lost mine sometime last month, after we… caught Onigoma."
"It's fine Stella, you're with us." Abel said reassuringly.
"Yeah! So open up those gates and let us in. I'm hungry and Sister Ellen promised us a bowl of soup as soon as we got back." Leon said, grinning roguishly.
The two guards whispered a moment. Finally, one stepped forward. "I apologize, but you will have to wait here." His tone said that he felt no remorse for keeping them.
Abel shifted from foot to foot as the guards stood there, watching them emotionlessly. Something in his gut told him to grab Stella and run, but he stayed where he was, under the piercing gaze of the two gate guards.
A few minutes later, Abel's sensitive nanomachines picked up the sound of light, even pattering of marching feet. He could tell by the way Stella stiffened she could hear them too. He gently moved his hand until it touched her elbow. He kept it there a second, to let her know that he had done that on purpose and to comfort her. Her eyes slid over to his and she nodded slightly. A moment later, even Leon looked up. A dozen armed Inquisition soldiers were coming their way, headed by the Chief of Inquisition himself.
Petros, who had held the position for thirty years, had recently named his successor. Finley, a small man, was one that Abel didn't particularly like. He was stuck up and pompous and walked with an air of self-importance that only his Lord should carry. His straight blonde hair was always pulled back into a ponytail and his pale face came to a point at his nose, which was curled into the air. When he spoke to priests, it was always with bored indifference. Abel inwardly winced at the thought of him talking to Stella like that. She was not a nun, and would not take it cheerfully, he was sure.
Finley's gray eyes bore into each of them, and Stella stepped closer to Abel. He wanted to step in front of her protectively, but Finley's eyes told him that any sudden moves would be reacted to with unnecessary force. Finley cleared his throat importantly.
"I regret to inform you, Miss Iceheart, that you are to be taken into custody to be tried for abandonment of churchrial duties, treason, and acts against god." He called out.
Abel winced. Acts against god… oh Stella, please don't read into this. God, please don't let her realize what he has just said…
"Acts against god… like that's new." Stella muttered.
Finley nodded quickly and one of the guards stepped forward nervously with a pair of cuffs. The cuffs were basically metal caskets that would restrain Stella's hand from the wrist down. He was young and visibly shaking. Stella rolled her eyes.
"Come on now, young one. I'm not going to bite you… not yet, anyway." Stella said, curling her tongue around her fang.
Abel silently applauded her as the cuffs were being placed on her hands. Still she could incite fear in anyone she wanted. (A/N: Remember when she was at the police station in the Vatican.) The trembling man practically thrust the chain that was attached to the cuffs to the Chief.
As she was being dragged away, Abel felt helpless and guilty. "Stella…" he said weakly.
Stella turned and smiled at him, but her eyes were welling over. "Don't worry, Abel. I'll be fine. I always am." She looked down and started walking again. If he hadn't had his Crusnick nanomachines, he would have never heard her say, "But that was before I had something to loose."
A/N: Awww, so sad. What do you guys think? Nice? Not nice? Review people!