Notice: This is written by both Flame800900 and I. Flame will be writing everything Cain says and I'll be writing everything Abel says, same as our last story. You guys should know the rules by now... Right? And no we don't own Trinity blood.

Brownie points to Chaos (Or do you prefer CoLaD?)! You got it right the first time, the masked man is Thomas!

Oh and Flame will be writing Thomas just like she does for Cain.

Asthe paced back and forth, burning a path into the plush carpet of the inn. Lilith sat only a short distance away from the door. Cain sighed in frustration, Abel had been gone for nearly the whole day! He looked at the clock on the desk, 7:34, Abel had been gone for twelve hours!

Suddenly Asthe stopped her pacing and turned to face Cain. "He's still not here, and I refuse to spend the rest of this day in this inn!" Asthe yelled, she'd been saying different versions of the same argument ever since she woke up.

"Then leave," Cain stated, "and see how far you get in this reality without Abel." He'd said this several times as well. Each time Asthe gave him a dirty look and Lilith glared at Cain as a mother would a child who'd disobeyed. Not that Cain cared. His twin had stuck him with babysitting this spoiled brat and right then he's temper was thinner than paper with how long Asthe had been acting like this and how much pain he was in.

Asthe shot Cain a death glare and for once he finally thought Asthe might just listen to him. "I'm-" She cut off as she whirled to the now open door. Abel stepped in the room looking a bit disheveled as though he had just run across the city with the air buffeting against him. That wasn't what caught Cain's eye though. It was the man Abel had brought with him.

Cain tilted his head to one side. For some odd reason, the man looked highly familiar. Cain had flash of a man standing before him, Lilith, Abel, and Seth. All four of them were children and the man was speaking with them, as a father would to his children.

"Thomas!" Lilith exclaimed leaping to her feet and staring at the man.

"Thomas?" Abel repeated, as he walked into the room and dumped the man on the couch. He stared at the man for a few seconds before groaning. "Did he come from your dimension?"

Lilith laughed, "I seriously doubt it. Seeing as without him none of us would be here right now. He was the lead scientist on the Red Mars Project up until you and Cain were fifteen when he just vanished."

"Ah, the guy you called dad and followed around," Cain stated, leaning back in his seat. "How's he here? Don't tell me we're now dealing with time travel on top of everything else?"

"He's not Thomas," Abel said strongly. "It's just not possible, the guy's supposed to be dead. He might have been an enhanced human but it's impossible for him to have lived that long."

"You can't say he doesn't look familiar, Abel," Lilith protested. "He's Thomas. Just look at him."

"Time travel," Cain prompted again.

"He does look familiar," Abel admitted slowly, "but it's not him. If it was he would have recognized me, or at least shown signs of recognition... plus I just can't see Thomas running around with a mask on like Batman. How about we just ask him when he wakes up?"

"Time travel," Cain repeated, "it explains everything." He was having fun with this. Of course he really didn't want it to be time travel. They had enough problems as it was.

"Who's Batman? Some new subspecies of methuselah?" Asthe asked. "I've never heard of it."

At this Cain couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. He doubled over, tears in his eyes as he continued to laugh and laugh.

A smile grew on Abel's face and for a minute Cain thought Abel would also join in but he didn't. "B-Batman is some guy who likes to wear Bat-jamas," Abel said between chuckles. "He doesn't have powers, he's just human."

Lilith sighed and rubbed her temple. "Boys."

A groan from the man who was assumed to be Thomas made Abel stop in his laughter. He sat up, head in his hand.

"Great, you're finally up," Abel said, a hint of laughter still in his voice. "Sorry about knocking you out, but I really need to ask you a few questions. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Wait, who's Batman and what does he need to do with this terran you're all calling Thomas?" Asthe all but shouted. Both Abel and Cain needed to bite their lips to keep from laughing.

"What - Batman?" he looked at them in utter confusion.

"See even that terran doesn't know who the hell Batman is!" Asthe exclaimed.

"I know who Batman is. He's an old comic book hero from pre-Armageddon." Thomas straightened. Faster than Cain cared to think he was on his feet two daggers in hand. His light green eyes were watchful as they shifted from one person in the room to the next.

"See? Not. Thomas," Abel said pointing at him. "He would have recognized us! I mean who else has silver hair? And what kind of person has gold eyes? He's not Thomas... Now do you mind putting those daggers down. Honestly, I didn't bring you here to-"

"Silver hair? Gold eyes?" the man looked at them in confusion as if he'd just noticed the fact Abel's hair was silver. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on Lilith. "Lilith?"

Lilith shot Abel an 'I-told-you-so-look,' to which Abel rolled his eyes. "Thomas, it's been to long," Lilith said kindly as she approached the man and gave him a hesitant hug. He stiffened. "Surely you recognize us now."

Thomas backed away from her. The daggers were shaking in his hands, eyes wide with a mixture of emotions: relief, fear, confusion, and more. "How-?" Thomas seemed to choke on the question.

"That's actually the same question we have for you," Cain stated, stretching out on the couch now that Lilith had left it. "See crusniks are basically immortal, humans, no matter what their enhancements eventually grow old and die." Or to put it bluntly, painfully so for him seeing as he lived among humans and loved the humans he lived with as his friends and real family. But it was the truth all the same.

At once Thomas stiffened and half raised the daggers, then lowered a little.

"But you don't look like you've aged much," Abel added with a sigh.

Finally Thomas sheathed his daggers. "And if an enhancement I have is immortality, then what?" he asked. His voice was no longer stiff, it was closer to how Cain remembered.

"Then I feel really sorry for you," Cain stated. "Being an immortal completely sucks." Cain looked at Abel. "Abel, the me of this reality, you threw him out of the Ark, right?"

"...Yeah," Abel muttered, looking a bit guilty but not that much.

"Then, 01 will be looking for Thomas when he learns Thomas is alive. Assuming of course 01 ended up in this reality in first place." Cain leaned back in the seat, his hand on the good side of his face.

"Wouldn't 02 from our reality have ended up here as well?" Lilith asked.

"Well, duh," Cain shrugged. "02 was closer to Abel than the three of us when 01 made that damned device go off by mistake."

"So we just find William of this reality and see if he can make a new one," Lilith stated with a shrug.

"Professor William Wordsworth?" Thomas asked. He'd been up against the wall, watching them all with slight confusion in his eyes and a blank face.

"You know the professor?" Abel stated. Thomas nodded. "Well that makes sense." Of course the professor just had to be in the middle of all this dimension jumping and time traveling. No matter what dimension he was in, William just couldn't stay out of trouble.

The smell of smoke hit Cain as the door opened. As he guessed it was William, holding his usual pipe in one hand and suit case in the other. Tucked between his arm was his cane. "Now who do I know?" William asked as he fully entered the room. His eyes traveled to each individual person before finally landing on Abel.

"Ack! Professor don't just jump out at people like that!" Abel whined, leaning heavily against the couch Cain was laying on, as if he had nearly tripped but caught himself. Looking up, Cain saw that Abel had somehow managed to slip on his glasses.

"Oookay," Thomas just shook his head. "For one, no one's been time traveling."

"Seriously, brother, choose one personality and stick with it," Cain grumbled, rubbing his temple again as a headache added to his misery.

"Heh? Just what in the world are you talking about?" Abel asked, cocking his head to the side.

William blew out another puff of smoke as he set his suit case down, he acted as if this type of behavior was common for Abel. "I never took you for the overly social type, Abel," he commented earning a pout from Abel. "Now I don't know what you meant from earlier, but I know none of these people."

"Incorrect, you know me," stated Thomas, "just, my son, seems to have taken my mask," Thomas looked at Abel with a patient look that made Cain shiver.

Cain took the mask from Abel and tossed it Thomas. "Just don't call us your 'sons' or 'daughter' it's creepy, old man," Cain half joke, half growled.

Thomas caught the mask. "I'm creepy, I'm not the one who suddenly took a one-eighty with his personality. Even if you are from another reality you were always the patient one who hid is temper and Abel was the one who tried to break everything in sight."

"I do not-"

"And he technically is our father, Cain," Lilith pointed out.

"Nihilum?" William said, looking at the mask in Thomas' hand. "And so I meet the man behind the mask." He took his time studying Thomas' features. "You never told me you had a son... let alone three children." William glanced at Asthe as if he knew she wasn't a part of this... 'family.' "And Abel still breaks everything in sight."

"Four, not three," Thomas looked at Abel. "Where's Seth?"

"Which one? The one in our reality, more than likely getting ready to kill me when we get back," Cain stated. "The one in this reality, probably in the empire."

"Ah - why would Seth kill you?" Thomas asked.

"Well, something to do with family stuff I'd rather not state in front of the William of this reality and that brat." Cain gestured to Asthe.

"Brat?! You did not just call a methuselah, a brat, terran!" Asthe uncrossed her arms as she stormed across the room. She stopped only a foot in front of Cain, her weapon drawn and electricity dancing on the tip. "I'm from a nobel blood line! One of your rank shouldn't be calling me or any of my kind a 'brat.' Know your place terran!"

"Asthe," Abel chided worriedly. He put himself between Cain and the crazy nut case. "Don't fight now. A-Asthe!" he yelped when she pointed the sword of Gae Bolg in his face. "Okay, I take it back. You can fight him!" Holding his hands up in a form of surrender Abel slowly backed away.

"Great, another Armageddon will happen before humans and methuselah will reenact the enhanced human war." Thomas sighed. "And, child, that will do nothing to him but annoy him, and you really don't want to annoy Cain."

"Child?" Asthe snarled, pointing the spear-like weapon at Thomas.

"Yes, you're a child. You and William are currently the youngest people standing in this room. And you're acting like a child as well." Thomas lifted one of his daggers and knocked the weapon easily from her hand. He caught it and kept the spear activated. "This is the Sword of Gae Bolg, I helped create it over nine centuries ago. It was given to the Mars colony. My guess is one of you," he looked at the three behind Asthe, "gave it to this child's line."

"Him, in this reality would be my guess," Cain pointed at Abel and then at Lilith, "and her in ours." Never once did he sit up or really move from lying down on the couch.

"Ah," Thomas deactivated the Sword of Gae Bolg and passed it back to Asthe. "It's not a toy, stop waving it around as if it were."

"You helped create it?" Lilith asked. "I thought you were a geneticist?"

"I was in several fields," Thomas stated.

"Interesting," William murmured. "So if what I've gathered is correct then you're older than even him?" William motioned to Abel who was now leaned against the chair, shooting Cain a look as if telling him to shut up.

Thomas looked at William and sighed. "Yes, I'm older than him," Thomas looked at Cain and Abel.

Cain sighed. This was just annoying. For one his brother was acting like an idiot again. For another he'd never really wanted to see Thomas again. And lastly he was having problems with pain. Right then it was taking most of his focus not to activate the crusnik just to ease the pain.

"Are you feeling okay?" Abel asked suddenly, quiet enough so as to not interrupt Thomas' and William's conversation. Cain inwardly groaned as he forcefully pushed Abel's face away from his. The last thing he wanted was for people to worry about him.

A few seconds later Cain felt more than saw Lilith by his side. "It's your eye isn't it?"

"No," Cain growled and straightened, glaring at Lilith and then at Abel. "I'm fine." Why did she always think it was his eye anyway? His eye didn't hurt.

"Cain if it hurts you need to tell someone," Lilith fretted. "It's won't do anyone any good if you're in pain. Especially if you temper snaps because of it."

"Maybe William or Thomas could help," Abel offered. "We could also try zapping the nerves around the area's that hurt. It might cause you to feel a bit unbalanced but at least you'll be numb to the pain."

Cain growled at them. "I'm fine," he snapped. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He wasn't going to have this William learn about his weakness and he sure as hell didn't want their so called 'dad's'help.

"You're not fine, and you temper proves it," Abel hissed back, only for him to stiffen when a hand touched his shoulder.

"What are you three whispering about?" William asked. "And Abel you still haven't introduced me, I needed to ask Nihilum for their names."

"N-nothing," Abel stuttered. Cain couldn't help but smirk. Finally, peace!

"That's it! I'm tired of you terrans doing whatever the hell you want!" Asthe yelled. Cain looked just in time to see Asthe swing her weapon at Thomas before it being blocked off with a flick of his hand.

"Honestly," Thomas muttered. He whipped around Asthe as he took hold the Sword of Gea Bolg's shaft. Twisting the shaft, he tore the weapon from Asthe's hands before hitting her in the with shaft. "You're not even awakened yet and you're picking fights with people who've either defeated, faced off against, or killed fully awakened members of your kind."

Silence greeted Thomas' words. Asthe just stood there, staring at the wall.

"An unawakened methuselah is just 'weak' as we so called terran are, if not weaker. In the state you are now an enhanced human could easily rip you apart. Keep that in mind the next time you try to kill a human. Even if you tried to kill me or one of my children, it'd do no good. As crusniks they're immortal, as what I am, I'm immortal."

William turned back to Abel, not seeming the least bit bothered that Thomas had just kicked Asthe across the room. William then looked at Cain as Thomas approached the four of them. "My you certainly took a beating," William commented casually.

Cain leapt to his feet and left the room via the window. God damn it! These people were so annoying.

XXX

Abel sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. They were just trying to help, damn it! Why did Cain always take it the wrong way? Not that he could really blame Cain seeing as he would have done everything in his power to get people to stop worrying about him, but still.

Abel turned back to his 'dad.' "Professor, I'm going to be borrowing Thomas now," Abel announced with a goofy smile on his face. Before the professor or Thomas could answer, Abel grabbed Thomas' wrist and pulled him into an extended room, closing the door behind him. "Er, sorry about that, but I still plan on getting info on Isaak," Abel said as he took a seat on the couch, trying to act as casual as possible.

"I don't know much on his resent activities," Thomas stated and leaned against the wall. "I know that he follows 01 and what he was capable of doing centuries ago."

"That could cause a problem," Abel muttered more to himself. What would 01 want with an atomic bomb anyway... besides destroy the world? "Did you know that the Cain from this reality was 01?" Abel asked.

"I figured as much from the conversation in the other room," Thomas said in a low voice. "From what I know of the crusniks, not you, Lilith, and Cain, but 01, 02, and so on, 01 will want to try using the bomb with some of the vampire moon's technology. Before this, however, it sounded as if you did a great deal of damage centuries ago to Cain. I should say, 01's host body. Is this correct?"

"There's only four crusniks, the only one's we'll need to worry about is the first two; 01 and 02. 03 and 04 won't be causing any trouble," Abel said.

Thomas sighed. "Not what I meant, Abel. 02 has a separate personality from you, surely you've noticed?" Before Abel could say anything, Thomas continued, "If Cain, our Cain, was in control we wouldn't have to worry about him trying to destroy the world."

"Don't you think I know that?" Abel frowned as he took off his glasses. "But he's not. Cain's not in control, 01 is. My brother from this reality died centuries ago back on mars. The only way to bring him back -if he's not already brain dead- is to use 01's container, which we don't have. Anyway, what's Isaak doing working for 01?"

Thomas sighed. "Isaak was the first enhanced human. He was born during the Romain Empire as a slave. From my understanding of it 01 briefly visited Earth with an advanced scouting party and saved Isaak's life by giving him enhancements and immortality. In return he was to try and create the perfect hosts for the four crusniks. Since that day Isaak has lived only for the crusniks. He views the four of you as his gods which is why he serves 01."

Thomas looked away from Abel before continuing, "The first step he took in creating the 'perfect' human was to inspire the United Nations to start enhancing humans. Which in turn caused the UN to take control of the world. Years later he met my father, Carter Hall, who was top in the genetic science at the time. Together they created the base coding I used for the four of you. This subject had many of Isaak's enhancements in order to get the subject closer to what the crusniks and the UN thought to be 'perfect.'" He hesitated again, "I was the subject they created, which is how I've lived so long."

"Before you ask, I didn't get involved in the Red Mars Project to have the four of you become the hosts of the crusniks. By that point in time I'd already left Isaak's group and was working against him and his so called 'war for justice.' The four of you were never meant to become the crusniks. All I'd wanted for you four was to live and have happy lives."

Abel snorted at that last statement, if Cain had been here he'd be pissed right now and making one of his grand exits. Thomas frowned at him, probably thinking that Abel didn't believe him. Abel shook his head, dismissing Thomas' slight glare.

"'Igne Natura Renovatur Integra.' Have you heard it before? Apparently that's what 01 was rambling on about before I... spaced him. Is that also Isaak's goal? Was that 'your' goal before the Red Mars Project started?" Abel couldn't keep the accusation out of his voice.

"It was never my goal, Abel," Thomas said, his voice still calm. "When I learned of Isaak's plans I left his group. I thought back then all he wanted was freedom for enhanced humans. I was a child, only fifteen at the time. And, yes, I've heard that statement for years now. It's basically them trying to make this world worship the crusniks or destroy it."

"So what do you plan on doing now? I've got my answers, even if they are a bit erroneous. You're free to stay and help me with my mission or you can go," Abel said.

There was a long pause. Thomas looked at Abel, a frown pulled at his lips but there was a look of longing in his eyes. "I'll stay, if you're good with that, of course."

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't okay with it," Abel said as he put his glasses back on. Opening the door he smirked back at Thomas, "plus you're my dad right?"

Thomas stared at him before smiling, "That's the first time you've called me that."

Abel shrugged, "well you are, aren't you?" He motioned his head forward and walked out of the room. William was reading a book while the two girls where talking. Cain must have still been on the roof.

"Yes," Thomas whispered so only Abel could hear him.

"You!" Asthe pointed at Thomas. "You, umm, well, I-"

"Either you're trying to say sorry or you just want to try and kill me again," Thomas said in a light voice. "If you want to fight, I'm afraid it will end up like your last attempt."

"Don't interrupt me terran!" Asthe ordered, still pointing at him. "I-I mean- what I meant to say was... I'm sorry!"

"That was the worst apology I've ever heard," Abel muttered before he could even stop himself.

"Abel!" Lilith scolded.

"Apology accepted," Thomas gave the slightest bow of his head to her. "Where did Cain vanish off to?" he asked.

"Roof."

"Thank you," Thomas moved to the window and slipped out of it. The last thing Abel saw was his dad's boot vanish and he started to climb.

"Cain is going to be so mad at me," Abel muttered right when the shuffling of feet stopped.

"You might want to make certain Cain doesn't try taking off dad's head," Lilith said. "I'd rather not see either of them hurt."

"He wouldn't behead Thomas. He's more likely to throw him off the roof then come storming down, asking who told Thomas he was up there," Abel sighed but made his way up the roof anyway.

"Great," Cain muttered before Abel had even appeared. "What do you want? You here to tell me off about my temper like you used to do with Abel?"

"No," the sound of Thomas sitting down came to Abel. "I came to give you this. It's the same numbing cream your reality had, at least I think it is."

Abel sighed in relief, it didn't seem like they were about to start fighting. Instead of approaching the two Abel instead took cover behind a small ledge of the roof, out of sight. If this got Cain to open up a little more, there was no way Abel was going to interrupt unless needed.

"Abel told you I was up here, didn't he?" Cain asked as he took the cream.

Thomas shrugged. A silence fell between them. Both Thomas and Cain watched the cold streets and the people moving through them. "How've you been?" Thomas asked at length.

"Fine," Cain muttered and Thomas looked at him. "What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to," Cain grumbled.

"No, I guess I didn't." Thomas paused. "I know you've never seen me as your father or really anything close to you, but-" Thomas cut off and sighed. "I should just say, I'm happy to have had a chance to see the three of you again."

"Even if I'm not the Cain from this reality."

"It doesn't matter what reality you're from. You're still you."

Shaking his head, Abel slid off the roof and landed on the balcony. "I thought I told you to keep an eye on them," Lilith chided as Abel entered the suite. She was in the kitchen cooking something. By the smell of it, it was stew.

"They're having a father, son, bonding time. I didn't want to interrupt them," Abel said. "Where'd you get the ingredients for that anyway?" he motioned to the pot.

"I woke up right before Asthe did and Cain was on the roof so I went out for a bit," Lilith answered, turning to Abel with a small smile on her face. "Don't tell Asthe, she might get upset."

Abel shot her a devilish look. "Wouldn't dream of it," he said seriously but his face said he was lying. Lilith rolled her eyes. "I'm only kidding, Lilith." There was a long moment of silence, only broken by Lilith stirring the stew and the spoon clanking against the pot.

"Could you get Cain and dad?"

Nodding, Abel moved to the window and slipped out of it. He hadn't fully pulled himself onto the roof before saying, "Lilith made dinner."

"Not hungry," Cain stated, lying back on the roof.

Thomas stood and looked down at Cain, looking as if he wanted to say something. At the same time he looked like a cornered man, not certain he should say something.

"Cain get down here, before I make you! Or better yet I'll go get Asthe," Abel threatened.

"Go ahead, I don't really care."

"We haven't eaten since we got here. If you want to collapse from hunger then be my guest."

Cain scowled and stood. "Fine." He leapt down without another word and vanished into the room before Abel could react.

"That went well," Thomas stated, both eyebrows raised.

"If you think that went well then I'd hate to see what you consider bad," Abel stated as he jumped down the roof, Thomas right behind him.

XXX

01 dusted the dirt off of himself as 02 broke free of the chains that bound him. Once free of the accursed chains, 02 walked toward the only source of light. A door.

"This is your dimension, isn't it?" 02 half spat, half asked.

"Yep, and we even ended up in my base," 01 cheered happily.

02 raised a thin eye brow while 01 simply gave him a laid back smile. He knew that 02 was probably thinking along the lines of, 'so where is everyone?' And 'what the hell are we going to do now?'

"I'm going to kill my other self," 02 said instead as he stormed out of the room. "And I take it Isaak's your butler?" 01 nodded. "Good. We're finding him." 02 said with an evil grin.

"Ah, ah, wait up!" 01 bolted after 02. "I want to help in the killing!"

A voice in 01's head snapped to life then. "What? You said you wouldn't kill Abel!" Oh great the annoying one was back. 01 sent images to horror to the voice and kept grinning in excitement at the idea of being rid of the pests in his side.

"Hurry up 01, our deal still remains. I'll help you get you're 02 and you'll help me get my 01," 02 called back, already leaving the underground base.

"Heh! Ah, wait for me!" 01 yelped, as he ran to catch up with 02.

xxx

Cain stared at the stew. Alone in a corner of the room, Cain was at least left in peace, but he still didn't feel hungry. He sighed and started to force himself to eat the stew. Its taste was lost on him.

Nearby Thomas sat with Lilith, talking to her about the reality she'd come from. Then there was William and Abel, both of which were more interested in chatting about work than anything else (or complaining about it in Abel's case). And, finally, Asthe sat across the room from Cain, treating the stew as if it was God's gift.

The spoon clanked against the now empty bowl. Cain hadn't even realized he'd eaten all of it. Sighing, he washed the bowl and put in on the rack.

"Are you okay?" Abel asked, coming up behind him to get what seemed like his third serving. "You know you could just talk to us right? You don't need to stay in a corner by yourself."

"I'd be fine if people would just stop asking if I was fine," Cain stated and walked passed his brother.

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't concerned," Abel pointed out. He put a hand on Cain's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Have you even been sleeping? Cain what you're doing is unhealthy! When was the last time you drank blood?"

"When was the last time you did?" Cain snapped. He turned on his brother, good eye flashing. "Don't go and lecture me about my habits when yours are just as bad!"

"You want to know that truth? The last time I drank blood was when I saved Caterina!" Abel growled. "And I know my habits are bad! But at least I'm willing to admit that. You on the other hand, don't even notice! Cain, you can activate to the crusnik to a 100% and I can't. However when we fought 02 and 01 it was clear we were both equal of strength! You should be stronger than me! If it were't for Havel we wouldn't have won!" he hissed.

"Stronger?" Cain was shaking, his eyes downcast. "I don't want to be stronger." He wrenched his shoulder from Abel's hold. "Just leave me alone." Cain walked toward the corner he had been at early but changed directions for the window when he heard Abel's footsteps following him. He heard Abel sigh, before his footsteps sped up.

"That's not what I meant, brother. Listen, I'm going to be scouting the city tomorrow, you can come if you want. Maybe it'll help... the both of us loosen up a bit."

Cain was about to snap a no to this but then sighed, "all right."

XXX

(Next day in town)

Abel stretched his arms over his head, risking a glance at Cain. The two hadn't talked all morning and now it was way past lunch time. Overall though it had been peaceful, sometimes being brothers actually had it good points. Even without any form of communication they had both known where and what their twin wanted to do- when he wanted to do it. If Abel had been with 01, he would have denied that fact.

Cain weaved in and out of the crowd, Abel followed behind him then took the lead once they got away from all the people, heading into yet another alley. The better half of their morning was spent going into each individual part of the alley... and avoiding Asthe who happened to be following them when they had first left.

"Do you want to go back to the inn?" Abel finally broke the hour long silence. They were now at the edge of Albion overlooking the sea. If they planned on walking back to the inn it would take at least another six hours.

"It might be for the best," Cain stated, watching the sea. There was a distant look in his eye.

Taking a deep breath, Abel turned back to the city. 'Outskirts' wasn't very accurate, they were more close to islands border than anything else. Sighing, he began the long trek back. At first he was worried Cain hadn't even noticed he had left, but his brother followed soon after.

"Look, I'm sorry about how I've been acting," Cain caught up with Abel. "It's just, I'd hoped to never see Albion again for as long as I lived. Being back here..." Cain trailed off and shivered.

Abel had to hold back a small chuckle. So that's whats been on Cain's mind! "I should have guessed," Abel admitted. "But this isn't your dimension so no one's going to capture you and chain you to a wall." Abel's voice trailed off at the end.

"I know it's not my reality, but, even with this knowledge, I can't help but be on edge." Cain didn't look at Abel. "I'm sorry about causing you and the others so many problems." It almost sounded as if he was getting ready to say 'goodbye.'

"Stop saying sorry, you have nothing to apologize for." Abel looked at the sky, it was already getting dark. "You aren't leaving... are you- agh!" Abel just barely caught himself from falling. He looked at Cain, shocked. There shouldn't have been any reason for him to trip, he wasn't wearing his glasses.

Cain gave him a worried look.

Then he saw it, a thin microscopic wire. The right leg of his pants was cut open, and he was even bleeding a little. "What the-" Abel's eyes followed the wire into a building. He could have sworn he saw someone retreating into the same building. Isaak.

"Was that him?" Cain hissed. He cut Abel loose. "We either investigate or go back and get the others."

"I'm going in," Abel answered. "You can get the others if you want, but I really don't want to cause them trouble." Plus they might loose their only lead.

"And you leave you behind," Cain glared at him. "Like hell."

"Fine, but we're going to infiltrate it separately. I'll go in from the front and you can take the back."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Cain stated, shifting. There was doubt written on his face. "But I'll go along with it."

Abel waved away his brother's worried look. "We'll cover more ground and Isaak won't be able to escape unless he jumps out of a window. Beside's I don't see you making any plans," Abel teased, but didn't wait for his brother to respond before darting to the front of the store. Glancing back at Cain, his brother glared at him before stalking over to alley that led to the back entrance. Abel smirked before slipping into the room. Abel stared in bewilderment at the scene before him. "Holy mother of Jesus..."

Notice: This is written by both Flame800900 and Bluewings900.