Chapter 14

Bade's mouth twitched as though he wanted to smile, or laugh. But his expression remained pained. He slid to his knees and fell to the ground.

Eve sighed and ripped her sleeve, wadded it up and held it to the wound.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm not going to let you die. Not at my hands anyway," she answered him. Footsteps drew closer and the others turned the corner.

"Eve! What happened?" Creed shouted as he and Sven skidded to a halt.

"Creed, what should be done about Bade?" Eve asked, ignoring his own question.

Creed looked at his brother. "Dear God Almighty," he muttered. "Did you shoot him with nanotech bullets?"

"What else would I use?" Eve asked.

Train approached them and pulled Eve up. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded.

"Someone had to do it! He was getting away!" Eve shouted back.

"Damn it, Eve! He killed Rins! He killed Leon!"

"And who did Creed kill?" Eve countered.

"Sure," Creed muttered. "Bring me into this."

"Saya, Chrono Numbers, the leaders of the world, and who knows how many civilians, sweepers, cops and all. I don't know how much blood either he or Bade has all together, but Train, what would be the point in killing Bade if we let Creed live?"

Train looked at Bade, back at Eve, and then began to laugh. "Man, Princess!" he gasped. "You really know how to scare a guy out of his mind."

Eve blinked at him. "Huh?"

Police sirens blared closer. Creed pulled out a phone and dialed a number.

"Echidna, could you pick us up?" He paused. "Yeah, we're at Fourteenth Avenue and Blair Drive in Rubek City. Alright, love. See you in a second."

"Hey, Train," Sven called. "Doesn't this place look familiar?"

"Yeah it does."

"It should," Eve said, her mouth curved in a small smile. "This is where we fought Gyanza five years ago."

A police car pulled into the alley. Two officers stepped out, demanding to know what had happened.

They handed Bade over to them and as they left, Echidna opened a wormhole and stepped through.

"I take it everyone's alright?"

Creed shook his head. "Leon got shot in the center of his neck and his forehead."

Echidna froze. "What!"

"He and Train pulled Bade off of Eve when Bade was chocking her," Jenos stated. "I never that squirt look so pissed off before."

Sven lit a cigarette. "It's not gonna make anything much better, though. Two people are dead and who knows how many more have died before them. It's a sick world we live in."

"Agreed," Shiki said, folding his arms. "Every door we open—every risk we take—either leads to pain or it leads to happiness."

"Aren't you afraid to do so?" Eve asked.

"Sometimes," Train answered. "But that's part of the fun. Every time an opportunity arises, you should jump for it, no matter what the risks. If you're scared, just go ahead and think of what you can do afterwards. Life's more interesting that way."

Eve nodded, finally understanding.

They held a memorial service for Leon a week later at the Diskenth household. Once everyone had said what they wanted to say, Eve left the group and watched the sunset.

"You alright," Sven asked.

"Yeah," she said. "It's just…I feel as though it wouldn't have happened if I didn't tell him to ask Train for help."

"Well," Sven said, lighting a cigarette. "We all knew that Leon was a tough kid. He was going to go down big one way or another. Besides, I was wondering why you refused to go out with him."

Eve blanched. "How did you know he asked me out?"

"He asked me before asking you," Sven said. "When I asked how it went, he said you already had a boyfriend. Why is it I never met this guy?"

Oh Sven, Eve thought. You know him very well. "Because I'm not ready to introduce him yet," Eve said. "He's a wonderful guy, Sven. I'm sure you'll agree when you do meet."

Sven dragged the cigarette, letting it out in a whoosh. "I'll trust your judgment, then. Be careful though."

"I will."

Sven went back in as Train came out. "You didn't tell him did…"

"We aren't even going out officially yet, Train," Eve reminded him. "I told him that I'd tell him about you when there's less likely a chance that he'll try to string you up by the toes."

Train laughed nervously. "I don't know, Princess," he said, "Sven's gonna be mad."

"He'll be mad the moment he finds out. Until then, we don't let him know."

"You forget that Sven can install twenty-four hour surveillance."

"And you forget that I'm a walking nanotech producer: I can disengage that surveillance system if I want to."

"Touché."

"Train," Eve said. Train looked at her curiously. "Thank you for everything."

"No problemo," Train said, smirking.

~ONE YEAR LATER~

Eve walked into the parlor, Baby Leon—a spitting image of his father, Creed—chewing on a piece of her hair.

"Alright then," she said. "Let's go to Cait Café. I want chocolate icecream."

"Rice balls with salmon!" Train shouted.

"Vodka!" Jenos shouted.

"A cherry does sound good right now," Creed muttered.

"Do they have whiskey?" Charden shouted.

"Do they have those fancy drinks at Cait Café?" Echidna asked.

"I'll get a cola while we're down there."

"I think I'll just have saki," Shiki muttered.

"Bubu," baby Leon gurgled, getting spit all over Eve.

"I'm sure Annette has a stash," Sven told Echidna, puffing on his cigarette.

Echidna opened the wormhole and they travelled to the entrance of Cait Café just as it was opening.

"Well, what have we here?" Annette asked.

"A victory celebration!" Train shouted. "One year since Bade was sent back to Loony-Ville."

"Oh?" Annette said. "You didn't hear? Bade's sentencing was carried out last night, I figured you'd be here in celebration of that."

The group was silent.

"Sorry," Annette muttered.

"Bade was too crazy," Train muttered. "I'm not thrilled about that, but…"

Creed shrugged. "As I said a year ago: there isn't much of a sense of brotherly sacrifice."

Annette opened the door and the group entered. They made their orders, including a full round of whole milk—on Train—and a toast to their victory to this date one year ago.

At midnight, Eve stretched and sat between Train and Sven.

After a minute, Sven got up and walked out, taking a tipsy Tearju by the arm out the door for fresh air. Eve leaned against Train. He cupped her chin and gently pressed his lips to hers.

Eve blinked, slightly taken aback, but leaned into the kiss.

After all, this was just another "opened door."

"TRAIN HEARTNET!!!" Sven's shout woke poor baby Leon upstairs, as well as the whole street. "Eve is THIS the boyfriend you were talking about?!"

"Uh," Eve said, blushing. "Well, yes."

"See ya later, Princess," Train said, jumping out of the seat and running out the back door. Sven pulled out his gun and ran after Train.

Again, Eve thought as Sven chased Train down the street, just another risk worth taking.

And here concludeth my tale. I think it's actually too long for the fanfic judging contest UNLESS it's done virtually (highly doubt it). I'll probably put in one of my one shots instead.

Yes, the ending was a bit random, I know..."Hey guy's let's go celebrate a whole thing of death and destruction!" and stuff, but hey, Leon was getting in the way! Not that I don't like Leon or anything--I do! truly I do!--but...but...I don't have an exact explanation as to why I killed him off...Well, I don't actually feel as bad as when I killed off Rins. ^^; I know I probably should...but hey, Rins is Rins! Leon's just...Leon. If that makes sense...