Oh…my…gosh…I'm actually alive! Haha X3 School has been crazy and has kept me away from here for WAY too long. I hope you've all forgiven me. I've been trying to concoct what will happen next and I have to say…I have no idea. I'm just going to go with the flow and see where it leads.

I've decided that I'm going to connect it with a second fanfic I have "running". It's called "The Faults of Perfection" and is a Black Cat fic too (obviously), but I sort of let it die sadly. I decided that the end of this fic is really near, a couple of chapters (I'm for sure this time!), and then the two will be connected and we'll go from there. Hopefully the transition will work, and no one will get confused, annoyed, or stop reading in general. X3

But, I still want to thank everyone who has read and critiqued what I've written. It's helped so much, and I appreciate it more than anything else! Thanks so much, and please enjoy the latest chapter!!

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A Cat's Trust

"I see you've complied," Creed's words swam through my head as I stared into his dark eyes.

I stood solitary for several awkward moments, caught in motion as if I had been put on pause. We stared at one another, our weapons raised but failing as more than emotion fueled between us.

Something had changed about Creed, it was something I couldn't put my finger on, but he had changed none the less. He looked the same for the most part, but his expression wasn't filled with rage and insanity as it had been so many months ago. He was calm, composed, and maybe even a little normal.

"What do you want?" I tried my best to sound angry but a bit of my surprise slipped through as Hades continued to shake in my tightening hand.

"First and foremost I wanted to see you, Train," He replied, his lips curving in a slight smile as the blade of his sword brushed against my skin. "But I also have a proposition for you."

"What kind of proposition?" I snapped, the mistrust surfacing again. "I'm not going back if that's what you mean."

"No, no of course not," He closed his eyes momentarily and shook his head before looking at me again. "I knew that even before I came to find you."

"Then what the hell do you want?" I snapped again, my hand tightening as much as it could around Hades handle.

"I need your help."

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"WHAT!?" Sven cried as I tried to explain as best I could what Creed had said to me. "Why the hell would you help him?"

Creed stepped beside me and regarded Sven with a strange smile, the one he had always worn ever since I met him. It was unnerving, but as far as I knew it was harmless.

"You have to understand that what we're talking about puts the entire population of the world at risk," Creed said calmly as Sven continued to glare.

"How do you know about this?" Sven snapped angrily. "Unless you're in on it?"

"I can assure you I have nothing to do with it," Creed laughed, his fingers brushing his bangs from his eyes before turning to look at me fondly. "But I CAN assure you that I know what is going on within Chronos, and therefore I know of this."

"You're not still on about Chronos, are you?" Sven scoffed. "Because as bad as people might think they are you're a lot worse."

"Sven he's not like that anymore," I tried to defend, taking even myself by surprise.

"You're DEFENING him!?" Sven cried again, looking as if he was caught somewhere between laughing and screaming.

"Train's quite right," Creed replied calmly, making Sven look hysterical. "Ever since that day when he left I've changed quite a bit. It was hard, and not exactly what I wanted, but I understood why I had to change."

"Old habits die hard," Sven scoffed.

"Yet you believed Train could change, didn't you?" Creed asked, and I turned my eyes away when Sven's fell on me. "You believed he could stop working for Chronos and stop killing."

Sven had nothing to say to this but I could feel his eyes on me, as if his stare was burning me.

"Whether you want to trust me or not I suggest you listen, because this will effects not only you but someone quite close to you," Creed replied, his hand falling on my shoulder. "To both of you."

I turned and looked at him. I had no idea what he was talking about, and I had to admit there was something in the back of my mind screaming that I couldn't trust him. For all I knew this was an elaborate plot to either kill us all, or take me back to where I had been so many months before. But something else inside me told me to listen, and that if I didn't it could mean something far worse than returning to live with Creed.

Creed, Shiki, Echidna, and Maro took seats around the room while Sven and I stood. I leaned against the wall near the doorway while Sven paced in front of them, trying to decide like I had so many minutes before if he could really trust Creed.

"How do you know Chronos is planning this?" Sven asked, his attention on Creed again as he came to a stop in the center of the room.

"It isn't Chronos in its entirety," Creed replied. "Ever since the creation of the organization there have been those who are loyal and those who are not. Webs of lies and corruption have been built between those individuals and behind the backs of others, and until now nothing was done about it.

By now you may have heard of Mason, one of the main leaders of Chronos itself. While he answers to the Elders the Numbers answer to him, even Sephiria. While he may be a Number himself, he holds a status that no one else does, and therefore becomes a formidable foe."

"So Mason is doing this?" Sven asked, glancing over at me. "But why? Why would he destroy a group he's in charge of?"

"Mason, like myself, believes that Chronos is corrupt and serves no positive purpose in the modern word," Creed said as he glanced at me as well. "He also believes that they do not deserve to exist, which was why he created the Apostles of the Stars."

"What?" Sven and I both cried at the same time.

"You never said anything about that," I said to Creed as we stared at one another.

"Mason created the Apostles of the Stars to work against and in the end destroy Chronos," Creed replied, watching me. "He accepted powerful members who were willing to work for his cause, and he appointed me leader after I left Chronos. He was desperate to have you in the group just as I was, Train, but he gave up when you refused several times."

I felt a chill run down my spine. So that was part of why Creed had tried so hard to incorporate me into the Apostles of the Stars, because Mason had ordered him to. Creed of course had done things on his own as I knew, but the idea that I could've become part of this group that was bent on controlling the world was a bit over my head.

"What is most important for the time being is that Mason is indeed working to destroy humankind as we know it," Creed said, his tone stern now, bringing me back to reality. "And he is creating a weapon to do so-a weapon we have to destroy."

"And you expect US to destroy it?" Sven laughed cynically.

"Yes." Creed nodded mater-of-factly.

My eyes turned to Sven as Creed said this and we both looked at one another for several seconds, something passing between us I couldn't identify. Of course what Creed said sounded a bit over the edge, but then again, it sounded like something Mason would do. I had never trusted or liked Mason when I had been part of Chronos, and he had never liked me. When I had finally left for good he had advised that Belze and Sephiria send Numbers after me to have me killed, but Creed had somehow stopped them.

"How do we do it?" I asked as I turned away from Sven to look at Creed who looked serious.

"For now the question is," He paused before finishing his sentence. "Do you know where Eve is?"

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I know this was kind of short, but there's another chapter! I posted two to make up for the fact that, well, I kinda felt bad for taking so long to post. Right now I know you might be confused about what they're talking about but if you remember the end of the anime series, they're talking about the whole Eden fiasco.

I'll explain it more in depth later on, and now that I think about it I may actually write the Eden part out more in depth. Of course I'll change things from the anime, but I want to write it in case any of the readers here only read the manga and haven't watched the anime since the whole Eden thing isn't really included.

So, before the series is over there'll be a bunch of new fighting scenes, you'll see more of Chronos, and maybe even Kyoko! lol Well, I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you enjoy the next chapter!