A/N: This is an ode to Sith Lady Darth Stitch's story "Requiem: Death Shall Have No Dominion." Sorry about the scare in the first chapter, and no I'm not a super sadist (unlike a certain Puppet Master.) Now mind y'all I love Esther just as much as y'all do, but I can't reveal anything yet. So forgive me. And I am SO SO SO SORRY about not updating sooner. I feel like I now have a one too many things on my plate so forgive me! Here it is Chapter II.

Chapter II: Resurgam
Though they go mad they shall be sane
Though they sink through they shall rise again
Though lovers be lost love shall not
And Death shall have no dominion
- Dylan Thomas

Six Days Earlier

The graveyard at night was still and dark. Scarce light emanated from the far off stars, yet the most abundant light came from the Night's Eye, and it's red twisted twin, shining in the distance, leaving everything around her a silvery hue with a slight tinge of red. All around her were blocks of stone in the shape of towering obelisks, carved platforms, and risen caskets. What stood out the most were the carved images of crosses and angels. In the crescent moon's slim light, the angels appeared to be made of soft silver. The scent of fresh and decaying flowers filled her nose as she walked down the familiar stone path.

She knew this place well.

If one had looked beneath the cloak of the woman garbed in a rich black dress of velvet, they would have seen the familiar face of the Queen of Albion. If one would have looked at her then… she looked as if she were holding back years of unshed tears, and no one, save a certain few others, had ever seen her cry.

Esther took a shuddering deep breath, trying to calm the emotions swimming in her head. She then held the white poppy that she'd been carrying up to her nose and breathed in the soft scent. It wasn't as rich as a rose, but she preferred this sweeter, simpler smell.

She couldn't bear the sight or smell of roses. His coffin had been surrounded by roses and while she mourned day and night for him, the roses were all she could see and smell. She had made certain that his grave would still bear flowers, even though they weren't the rich red roses of his funeral. He had told her once, even though he was goofing around, that should angels call him to heaven… the flowers he wanted to cover his grave were poppies.

Esther knew, after learning his terrible secret, the mark of his sins, that they could never be together. He was immortal… and she was doomed to die. He would still be young as she grew old and gray… oh, the irony of that… he was a being that would never die and he was… dead.

And it was all her fault.

Her eyes finally gazed upon the grave she had meant to visit. Her fingers then tightened around the fresh flower, noting the texture of the soft silk of the black ribbon that was entwined around the stem. He had always worn a hair ribbon in her presence, and she had often dreamed that one day he would take it down for her so she could finally see those beautiful silver locks unbound. She also dreamed that she would look upon his crystal blue eyes without them being obstructed by those unnecessary glasses he had persisted in wearing. She had seen him a few times without those characterisitc items and recalled when he had, her heart quivered at the sight and butterflies flittered in her stomach. Yet the first time she had seen him without those two items… was when she had first seen the mark of his sins. She was so filled with fear that the creature before her couldn't be the sweet gentle priest that she knew. But then she saw, in the crimson depths of his eyes… she saw him.

God forgive me…FORGIVE ME!

And she… heard him as he cried out in agony.

I am sorry Miss Esther… so sorry that you had to see that. What you saw, that was the mark… the mark of my sins…

He had promised her… when he first met her… that he would always be on her side. Yet how could he be on her side when she wasn't there for him when he needed her the most?

Yet what hurt even worse than that… when she saw him the last time in… that form… She saw his silver hair unbound, and his crystal blue eyes staring back at her… losing life… as he whispered his final word…

E-Esther…

When Virgil Walsh had told her that she was the Queen of this very nation in the midst of her grief… she refused to believe him. She had just killed off the man her heart had desired, since the moment she saw him… how could she possibly run a country?

You have to ask? Really? Well, it is because I am your friend, and I will always be on your side.

It was almost as if he heard her… like he was reaching out to her… giving her strength… giving her hope… as he had done after they first met.

Then she saw him rise, seemingly miraculous from that casket… Yet he wasn't the same. His body was utterly black, covered in alien blue markings, his ebony black feathered wings were replaced with bladed like bat wings and his lurid eyes glimmered back at the foe she aided in his death.

She saw them as they fought… their battle resembling the war between Michael and Lucifer so many millennia ago. Yet Esther knew full well which of them truly deserved his place in heaven and which one was pleased to rule in hell.(1)

You will fight for eternity…won't you?

Suddenly, all her hopes were shattered as she saw him fall to Earth… like a damned angel falling into the abyss. They never found his body… yet they kept the marker in remembrance of him. The one who fought against the Contra Mundi all his life, they said, deserved eternal peace in heaven.

She knew the name of the…demon who killed him without a thought. Who had outright murdered him without any qualms. Yet she preferred to not say… or even think of his name… it was too painful to bring up. Virgil had told her that he was the Contra Mundi, the Angel of Death, the leader of the enemy the AX so commonly fought against, and of the world. Yet what was strange about the Death Angel was that he bore her beloved's face, although his eyes resembled more of an icy abyss than that of a pure crystal. The white fiend smiled back at her every time she closed her eyes.

She looked upon the grave. It was a simple grave marker, a small platform of stone. Nothing special, nothing glamorous. Yet… it was the stone that always burdened her heart.

The poppy from a few weeks ago was miraculously still there, yet decay and frost had already marked it and the ribbon that was around it was damp from the dew and had flecks of ice from the frost.

She knelt down and removed the deceased flower, then placed the one she held upon the cold, gray stone. She folded her hands and began to pray. Even though it was night, especially on Allhallows' Eve, where the spirits of the dead and Things worse than vampires walked the Earth, she had faith that God would hear her and protect her. She hoped that wherever he was… he would forgive her.

"Our Father in Heaven," she began. Her breath hung like smoke in the frost that surrounded her. She then took out the silver Rosary that hung around her neck all her life, from when she was found on the doorstep of the St. Matthias's Church where she grew up, to all her missions in the AX. Even though she was a Queen now, she still kept it.

"May your holy name be honored. May your kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need. Forgive us of the wrongs that we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.(2)"

She then began her request: "Oh Lord…wherever he is… please… look after him… even though I can't be with him…" Her voice shook. "Let your Angel's wings guide him and protect him… please… my Heavenly Father… I cannot… It was all my fault… I killed him…" As her prayer reached it's climax her voice began to break. "Forgive me, Father… it was my worst sin. Amen."

"Father Nightroad…" She looked down upon the stone as if looking at the man whom burdened her heart, "Will you ever forgive me?" She asked hoping to receive an answer, her fingers then tightened around the crucifix. Her voice finally cracked and then she finally allowed herself to cry her unshed silent tears.

These pristine and crystalline tears fell upon the white poppy and onto the stone that covered the unoccupied grave. It was only marked with one name. The name of the man she would never forget, the name of the man she would forever mourn, the name of the man she killed.

Abel Nightroad.

There is no end to be found in this world

Esther gasped. Was she hearing things?

Sleep my beloved

She knew this song… this requiem… it was the same one she heard in the cathedral when she mourned him.

Your life goes on

She turned her head around in attempt to look for the mysterious singer. Angels, stone and snow surrounded her, yet even though Esther could not see the singer among them, she could definitely hear the woman.

You were born and you lived

Suddenly she remembered that day, as if it was only yesterday. Her cheeks were stained with continuous tears and her eyes were red, a result of her tears. Her face pressed against the ebony wood of his coffin and her hands balled into small fists. The smell of incensed candles that lit the cathedral filled her nose.

You will sing the song of hope, won't you?

Then she heard the sorrowful strains of music of some unknown soprano, her voice raised in lamentation and sorrow. The voice wasn't familiar to her, but it was beautiful nonetheless. She closed her eyes as she heard the final ending note to the requiem.

For eternity

"'Woman, why weepest thou? Why seek ye the living among the dead?(3)'" The voice, in the barest whisper, asked her.

Next chapter: Come What Come May
Avert not, thine eyes

() Quoted from Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë; "Resurgam" - "I will rise again."

(1) Referenced from John Milton's, Paradise Lost, Line 263. The full original quote from line 258 and onward is: "[...] Here at least/ we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built/ Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:/ Here we may reign secure, and in my choice/ to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:/ Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven." This is also an ode to Sith Lady Darth Stitch for her Milk Tea series.

(2) Quoted from the Trinity Blood version of the prayer Our Father, the original quote was from Luke 11:2-4.

(3) Quoted from John 20:13 and Luke 24:5

A/N: I originally wanted to use the song "Wishing you were somehow here again" from the Phantom of the Opera OST, but you are free to listen to it on YouTube as background music or "Grief" from the Trinity Blood OST. (Here are the links in written order remove the spaces: ) However, I realized I didn't want to write a songfic just yet… so I thought I should use a song that Esther would find familiar… (sniffles) Like Snoopy in "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" when he hears sorrowful music, I start crying every time I hear Requiem Inori. (shed tears)

Well… Sorry for leaving an evil little cliffhanger, and starting the chapter like that… (sniffles) Even I started crying while writing this… So, por favor, please bear with me for a while, okay? I'm still trying to get my thoughts organized for Chapter III, seeing I still have some loose ends to tie up. I'll try to update ASAP.

Please R&R I would greatly appreciate that.

Mysteriously Yours, ObsidianEmpress