Disclaimer: I own nothing except my three (four if you count dead people) OCs, whose backgrounds are heavily influenced by Sylvia Engdahl's novel Enchantress from the Stars. Anything you recognize is from the Trinity Blood manga, by Kiyo Kyujyo, or the novels, by Sunao Yoshida.

Chapter 8

In a small café in Rome a young man and woman were deep in conversation. The man wore nondescript clothes, but his copper colored skin and bright red hair caught the attention of passerby. His eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses. Young women took in his exotic coloring and handsome features and were glad the woman he was sitting with couldn't possibly be his girlfriend. After all, she wore a nun's habit. Though her figure was pleasing, her face was anonymous and easily forgotten. Her most distinctive feature was her hip length chestnut hair. The setting sun highlighted strands of amber in her braid. She spoke and the man with her laughed.

"Let me get this straight," said Matxin Stenre. "When he tried to teach you how to fall properly you broke your instructor's arm and nearly gave your fellow student a concussion and he passed you with full marks?"

"Yes," replied Syeira D'Arva. She shook her head. "I'd planned to learn like an ordinary student but instinct took over and now Father Cheval is convinced that I'm secretly a martial arts master or a prodigy. When we were in the infirmary-which I was hoping to avoid for as long as possible-he asked me to spar with him as soon as his arm is healed. Luckily Esther was also impressed and not angry. She's a sweet girl."

"After that brilliant start, how did your other tests go?"

"Well, my grasp of other languages was deemed sufficient-"

"Of course it was, you plucked them right out of the instructor's head."

"Don't interrupt, Matxin. Anyway, I'm good with close quarter weapons and alright with firearms, but my aim could use some work so I'll be at the practice range for about a month before I'm up to par. I'm behind in canon law and politics, so that'll be two months of classes in both of those subjects. All in all, I should be a qualified officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs in two months and a fully-fledged AX agent after I've proved myself on a few missions. After being so cooperative with hiding that I'm 'from the Empire' I can't imagine the Duchess of Milan will turn down my application."

"So, about three, maybe four months until you're in the AX? Will you be able to watch Abel during that time?" Matxin seemed apprehensive. Syeira soothed his worries. "I should be. He promised to stop by and say hello every time he's in Rome, and I have the nanomachine locator."

"He promised to stop by?" Matxin had a mischeivious grin on his face. "My, my, looks like someone's eager to see you."

"Oh, shut up. He still views me as a reincarnation of his lost lover, of course he wants to see me. That was the plan, remember?"

"Sorry, I forgot the part where you seduce the handsome priest and Ouch! Don't do that!" Syeira pasted her best innocent look on her face as she looked at Matxin, who was now covered in boiling hot tea. "I have no idea what you're talking about dear brother." There was just the slightest hint of a threat in her voice. It disappeared altogether when she told Matxin, "Besides, you know I have never loved anyone save Evrek and never will." Matxin suddenly became completely serious. "Syeira, you know I love you like you were my birth sister and I only wish the best for you." He extended a hand across the table to her. She took it.

"I know Mat."

"Then will you at least consider it when I say that maybe it's time for you to move on?"

"What are you saying?"

"Syeira, several stages have passed since Evrek died. It's not healthy for you to be this obsessed with your work. You need something else in your life. Someone else." Matxin spoke in earnest, his eyes sad yet hopeful. However, Syeira didn't see his emotion. All she registered was her own anger. She jerked her hand out of Matxin's and shrieked "How dare you! How dare you suggest I forget him! He was your brother, and I loved him!" She stood up and stormed off, skirts flaring.

"Well, that could have gone better."

Syeira and Matxin next spoke a week later when she called and requested he report upon his travels. He did so happily, and the subject was not mentioned between them again.

The two months of training passed quickly for Syeira. Abel kept his promise and came to see her whenever he was in Rome. This caused some trouble between Syeira and her training partner Esther. The young nun's crush on Abel bordered on hero worship and she was jealous that he visited Syeira when he had recruited her as well. Syeira attempted to counteract this jealousy by bemoaning her own plain looks when compared to the redhead's stunning face and inviting her along when Abel came to visit. This resulted in her learning quite a bit about Crusnik 02's character by way of Esther's tales of their adventures traveling to Rome. Syeira also gained a fast friend in the young woman. Esther was truly a sweet and kind person, with the sort of charisma that made a good Society agent, and after learning more about her Syeira came to respect Esther a great deal, despite her hatred of Methuselah.

Syeira's promotion to Officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs caused their relationship to deteriorate. Esther had been training longer and in the way of all teenagers couldn't understand why she was not promoted as well, despite the fact that Syeira was an adult with considerable travel experience and combat skills. Also, as she now had to travel frequently, it was hard to find time for Esther. She didn't see much of Abel either, and found herself missing the times the three of them would go out to tea. Her only social communication during those days was with Matxin and Zera over the communicator.

So it was quite a surprise for Syeira when approximately one month after her promotion, on one of her rare mornings in Rome, when someone knocked on her dormitory door. "Hello?" she said, opening the door. It was Abel. "Father Nightroad, I didn't know you were in Rome!" Syeria lied. She'd checked her locator that morning. "Hello Lilith. It's a pleasure to see you."

"You too, Father. Is there any particular reason you've come to see me? Not that I'm complaining, of course. Your company is very enjoyable." Abel blushed.

"Actually, yes. Her Eminence would like to meet with us."

"Do you think this has anything to do with my application to join the AX?"

"It may. I do hope you get in Lilith. I look forward to working with you."

"Why Father, you're making me blush."

"Liar. You blush at nothing," Abel said in a fond tone. Syeira acquiesced with a nod. In order to keep Lili Stone a troublemaker worthy of the name of the Queen of Succubi, she'd been quite shameless. Wolf-whistling at attractive men, telling bawdy jokes, losing her wimple, and even sneaking into the men's dorm were ways she'd built her Lili-Lilith persona. But when any man responded to her lascivious behavior he found her unexpectedly cold and quick to become violent if touched. Syeira was disgusted by her own behavior but those around her were drawn in by the façade, save one. Abel had seen what had happened to one unlucky suitor and knew that despite the front she presented Syeira remained faithful to her deceased husband. It was one of the few things that were part of Syeira's true nature and not a fabricated part of Lilith. The one thing Abel didn't know was that said husband and his widow were both aliens.

Syeira shot the silver haired priest a flirtatious grin and sauntered down the hall. He was used to her ways by now and didn't blush brightly as both he and Esther used to, instead muttering something about how well she'd get along with 'Dandelion'. They made small talk as they walked to Cardinal Sforza's office and Syeira's grin became a genuine smile. If only Abel was not a Youngling, she thought, we could be great friends.