Notice: This is written by both Flame800900 and I. Flame will be writing everything Cain and Thomas 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.

"What happened?" Lilith asked, moving his legs over so she could join him on the couch. Her warm hands touched Abel's injuries. He flinched. "Let me get something to treat your wounds, then tell me what happened, Abel." Her voice wavered between worried, concerned, and almost - almost loving. Or was that just Abel's imagination?

"I'll be fine," Abel said. "You should be more worried about what happened to Cain and Thomas." After all he wasn't the one missing right now. And why was Lilith so caring when he wasn't from the same dimension as her?! It was his fault that they were in their current predicament!

"You're not fine," Lilith spoke in a soft voice. "I know Cain and Thomas are in danger, but you're of no use to them in this condition, Abel."

Abel searched Lilith's face for any signs of anger. When his eyes met hers, he was forced to break eye contact. Abel nodded. Giving one last squeeze to his shoulder, Lilith stood and retreated to get the supplies she needed to treat his wounds.

"Why so down?" questioned William as he moved to stand in front of Abel. "We'll find them and if your brother is anything like you or Nihilum, I'm sure they'll be fine."

If by: 'like you,' he meant a crusnik then the answer was yes, however Cain wasn't in the best condition when he last saw him, both physically and mentally. "I'm sure you're right," Abel said, putting on a small smile even when he didn't believe those words at all.

"Tch, that terran'll get them out," stated Asthe, only she didn't seem too happy when she mentioned Thomas.

"Thomas is a lot stronger than you may think," Abel commented. "And he's not a human."

At this Asthe snorted. "Not a terran, then what the hell would you call him?"

"Immortal," Abel answered just as Lilith walked back to his side with the supplies on hand. He sighed, "You know I'll heal by tomorrow, right?" He didn't see any point in bandaging his wounds and disinfecting it when the crusnik would take care of it. He was healing slower than usual but it wasn't as if his wounds were life threatening... at least not to him anyway. On the other hand, a methuselah or human would be dead by now.

"Immortal! How the hell is he immortal?"

"I'm still going to bandage the wounds, Abel, even if you'll heal quickly. It will help you heal faster at the very least." Lilith sat down and gestured from him to take off his shirt so she could get to the wounds.

"You can ask him that yourself once we find him," Abel sighed as he removed his bloody shirt. Caterina wasn't going to be happy that he had ruined yet another set of perfectly good civilians clothing.

"I-" Asthe cut off and blinked before turning red and moving so her back was to him.

Abel tilted his head to the side, what was that all about? "Ow!" he winced when he noticed Lilith was cleaning his wound more roughly than he would like. He shot her a questioning look, which she ignored. "I didn't say anything wrong did I?" Abel asked Lilith quietly as he motioned at Asthe. It was unlike Asthe to simply turn around after loosing an argument... it was the argument she was upset about, right?

"Hold still."

"Lilith, I'm fine," Abel stuttered, trying to back away from her. That hurt!

"Just let me finish binding your wounds," Lilith pressed. "It will help."

"It's fine, really Lilith," Abel insisted, trying to push Lilith away. "I think I'll just get something to eat..."

"You would sate you were fine even if your guts were spilling out," Lilith said in a gentle voice and pushed him back down. "Now hold still and let me finish, then you can get something to eat."

"You mean to say this fool survived such an injury?"

"Yes/ no!" Lilith and Abel said respectively.

William chuckled at Abel's predicament. "I don't know about the guts part, but Abel always says he's fine, even when he's obviously not."

Lilith laughed. "I think he's always been like that."

"I am not," Abel protested.

Lilith laughed. "Yes, well, no matter what reality you're from, you'll always be you deep down, Abel."

"Now you're starting to sound like your Seth," Abel stated as he got up and slipped on a new shirt. William had already gotten rid of his old one by burning it in the fire place. With his blood, it was best to burn the shirt, rather than trying to wash it. Even dry, his blood could cause a lot of harm to a methuselah or human.

"I think you're talking about the Seth of this reality. Seth doesn't really talk that way in ours." Lilith gave him one of her soft, kind smiles.

"But... I haven't seen her in centuries."

"You really need to pay more attention to her. You weren't kicked out the empire, were you?"

"Yes, I was-"

"You're a traitor?!" Asthe whirled around and glared at him.

'No,' was what Abel wanted to say but instead he said, "I might as well be a traitor."

"What the hell does that mean?!" Asthe demanded.

"I would rather not talk about it," Abel snapped. It was none of Asthe's business and he didn't want to talk about it in front of William. Hell he didn't even tell Caterina about this.

"Then why say anything?!" Asthe demanded.

"I didn't bring it up, she did!" Abel stated, pointing at Lilith. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Much more calmly he said, "the past is history. Right now we need to worry about Cain and Thomas."

"Abel's right," Lilith stated, frowning. Her eyes told him she wanted to know what he'd meant by "might as well be." Lilith didn't ask and instead started to speak to those in the room. "01 might not have taken Thomas too far. Hopefully Cain and Thomas can come up with a plan and if not, we'll need to search the city and underground for them."

"They might not be in the city," William pointed out.

"Isaak can only teleport within a radius of five hundred miles, a thousand if he doesn't have anyone with him," Abel said as he walked to the counter. "But 01 was the one who caught Thomas, so in that case they're probably within a hundred miles of the base." He paused, "of course he could have teleported a few more times after that, but I find it unlikely."

"If you're correct, than the farthest they would have gone is the Vatican," William stated.

"I doubt they would've gone to the Vatican," Lilith pointed out.

"Milan, then. They would try getting as far from here as they can, but knowing 01 he would want to be somewhere near a base." Abel frowned, "they might have gone to the catacombs..." He bit the inside of his mouth and looked at Lilith only to quickly look away. "We should tell Caterina."

"Either way it's not good," Lilith agreed. "You should contact her and head towards Rome or Milan."

"William, how's your mission coming along?" Abel asked, he would rather not leave the professor in Albion alone, especially with recent events.

"Finished it yesterday," William informed Abel with a smile around his pipe.

Abel nodded, "We'll leave in the morning. Get some sleep, you'll all need it."

"Agreed." Lilith stood and vanished into one of the side rooms.

XXX

(few days later)

"I get it," Abel grumbled to Asthe. Three days on a ship- THREE days that this methuselah couldn't shut up about the tickets or seating arrangements! It wasn't his fault they couldn't afford the more expensive cabins. Abel felt the jerk of the ship as they landed. Grabbing his coat he followed the line of people heading for the exits.

"No you don't! A noble or one of royalty, such as Lady Lilith shouldn't have been seated in a commoners cabin!" Asthe argued.

Turning to the child Abel just looked at her as if she lost her marbles. Didn't she ever think about anything else, not involving her status? "And only a terran would willingly get those tickets, yes, I know." Abel looked at the sky. They had arrived a few hours earlier than planned, but it was better this way. "Now if you want to get a better hotel room, I suggest you talk to the professor. I'm not in charge of the money."

"Hotel?" William asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Her eminence is meeting us here. We're staying at her estate as usual, Father Nightroad."

"At least that will settle that," Lilith rubbed her temple. "In all honesty, Asthe, I've had much worse commendation then where we've been since arriving in this reality."

"What? But one of your rank-"

"Asthe, ranking's not important," Abel sighed. "In any case we should start heading over to the estate before the sun comes up."

"That would be most wise," William said with a nod.

Abel nodded and headed out. He needed to figure out a way to sneak away without worrying Lilith or attracting attention from Asthe. Caterina could help with that, but she'd also worry about him and let something slip if she felt he was in danger. Abel turned a corner. Then again, 01 might not have taken Cain and Thomas, in which case Abel was just wasting everyone's time. He didn't have time for this!

If Abel didn't know any better, he'd say they were in the catacombs, but that was much farther than a mere hundred mile radius. So, underground then?

Cain and Thomas were in trouble and it was all his fault! If he hadn't left Cain at that island Isaak wouldn't have taken him and they wouldn't have had to go to that underground base! Abel mentally kicked himself.

Before he knew it, they were on the Sforza Estate.

William walked up to the door and knocked.

The door was opened by a maid. "Professor Wordsworth, Father Nightroad, my lady's been expecting the two of you," she said in way of greeting. She stepped back allowing them to pass into the large estate.

If the estate had been modern it would've been the massive size Asthe's had been. Instead it was one of the oldest buildings still standing. It'd been built in the late ninth century and showed as much by the elegant walls and smooth wooden floors. The estate and been well kept and repaired many times over to keep in the same condition. Several crystal chandeliers hung high over head, well over eight-feet up. The wealth of Caterina's family was shown in the gold and reds within the hall as well as the paintings. To say the space wasn't well used would be a complete and utter lie.

Even still, Asthe would no doubt see tones of faults with the space. It was "terran" after all, and nothing terran would ever compare with what the empire had to offer.

Within moment they were before the door to Caterina's office. Without knocking, Abel entered the room, receiving a few harsh words from Asthe for not following standard protocol. "William, if you would, I'd like to have a word with Caterina alone, with these two.

William looked a bit taken aback but nodded anyway, "of course."

Nodding, Abel closed the door behind the two women and turned to face his boss. "My Lady," Abel bowed. "It appears I did have a few hitch hikers. This is Lady Lilith and Duchess Astharoshe Asran, from the empire. My brother, Cain, is also here but he's been captured. I also bumped into... another version of myself." He didn't mention Thomas.

Caterina looked up and cocked one eyebrow. To the two women this Caterina looked almost exactly like the one from their reality expect for the fact she wore a monocle... she was also a whole hell of a lot scarier than that other Caterina.

"Lilith?" Caterina looked at Lilith with a quizzical eye. "I am going to take she's only a little like the Lilith from our history?" Caterina was referring to the Black Lady Saint, the person Lilith had become to humans before she'd been killed by 01 centuries ago.

"She's different, and only stayed in the vatican for a few years before returning to the empire." At least that's what Abel picked up from the conversations he had with her.

"What the hell-?"

Lilith placed a hand over Asthe's mouth.

Caterina looked sternly at the younger woman. "So she never became known as a saint then?" Caterina sighed before she looked at Asthe and Lilith. "Perhaps our professor will be able to get them home as he did with you."

"That would be a great help," Lilith said, removing her hand from Asthe's mouth.

Caterina gave Lilith one of her rare nice smiles that didn't have a hidden meaning or venom behind it. "Now, I'd like to speak with my agent alone if you two don't mind," she dismissed the two of them.

Once they left, Abel let out a long sigh and locked eyes with Caterina. He told her about how he met with the three of them, but didn't mention Thomas. The mission was explained, along with his discovery that the orden had something to do with the illegal drug and arms trading. Abel then told Caterina about the orden's collection of heads and about being stranded on an island and learning that his brother was missing.

"And that about sums it up," Abel ended. Minus meeting his father. He wasn't sure how Caterina would take it and would rather it be on Thomas' own terms if he ever revealed himself to her.

Caterina frowned before she started, "Abel, I'd like you to get some rest and food. By the sounds of it, you've not eaten enough to sate your thirst. Do you have problems being around Lilith?" Caterina asked. She was the only one outside of Abel's family who knew Abel and Lilith had been lovers.

"Not at all, she's different but... she's still Lilith," Abel said.

Caterina nodded. "All right. Send in the professor as you leave then. And, Abel," - she looked at him, eyes meeting his - "be careful here."

"Aren't I always?"

xxx

Cain pulled his bindings and bit back a curse as he twisted his wrist the wrong way. It nearly broke his wrist. He collapsed on the bed, hunger gnawing at his stomach.

"How are you holding up?" Cain asked Thomas.

The man looked more than half dead on the floor beside the bed. Every day 01 and 02 had taken him away to work on something. They'd taken some Cain's blood, skin, and hair with them each time. He suspected it was to make 01 a new body.

"I'll be fine," Thomas whispered in a horse voice.

"What about the clone?" Cain asked unable to stop himself.

Thomas sighed. "It's not going well," he paused, "there might be a way for me to get twenty-percent of 01 out of the you of this reality."

"What good would that do?" Cain tugged at his bindings again. It did nothing but send another jolt of pain through his arms. "Isn't my alt self already dead?"

"No," Thomas' reply was simple and tired.

Cain stopped pulling at his bindings. "Does that mean the Abel of my reality is alive as well?" he asked his voice barely more than a whisper.

"I would suspect as much."

"How are going to get 01 out without killing the other me?" Cain asked.

"During the transfer of the other Cain's and 01's mind to the other body. 01 will be more focused on what he's doing than what I am then."

"What about Isaak?"

"That's where you come in."

Cain stopped pulling at the bindings and stared at Thomas. "You mean try to change into the crusnik and escape that way... with the alt me?" Okay, Thomas was going crazy if he thought Cain and him could pull this off.

"Yes," Thomas replied. "I've fought Isaak before and know how to draw his focus away from 01 and 02 during this time. I doubt 02 will be there, he seems more interested in you than this 01."

"We could see if it works..." Cain mussed, "But I still don't like our chances getting out with the other me. What about his physical condition?"

Thomas sighed. "That's the other problem. Even with using your DNA to try and stabilize 01's next clone, without twenty percent of 01 there is a high chance of him being paralyzed."

"So, we'd have to carry him out." Cain scowled. "If we just left him we'd then have to deal with a full powered 01... fine we'll get him out."

XXX

Abel sighed tiredly as he turned another corner and heard the metallic footsteps that could only belong to Tres. Caterina had ordered the android to follow him after Abel's first failed attempt at searching for Cain and his father. If only Lilith hadn't caught him! Who's side was she on anyway? Abel shook his head, reminding himself that this wasn't the same Lilith.

Finally the mahogany door to Caterina's office came into view and Abel quietly slipped into it. Upon his entering, Caterina put down her pen and looked at him expectantly with her usual stern gaze.

"Could you revoke your recent orders for Tres?" questioned Abel, dropping all forms of formality. He didn't like the idea that someone was watching his every move.

"I already did," Caterina said, a sly smile graced her lips. "Lilith told me that all your wounds have healed and that you've begun eating the normal amount of food you usually do. If you wish, you may look for your brother, however you need to take our two guests." Just as she said this Lilith and Asthe entered the room.

"Finally!" Asthe said with a roll of her eyes as she stretched her arms over her head. "I've been cooped up in here for an hour to long. About time we can get going, you stinken' priest!"

"Were you under house arrest?" Abel questioned, turning to look at the methuselah. He was surprised that he hadn't heard her complain in the past couple days... though that could also be due to the fact he had been trying to avoid Lilith and in the process avoided Asthe as well.

"No, not really, but I thought it would be wise to wait for you instead of rushing ahead and looking for Cain without you," Lilith stated.

"Notice how you're our reason for waiting?" Asthe said sarcastically. She looked at Abel as if he didn't deserve Lilith's kindness.

Abel sighed, one day Asthe would need to stop treating terrans so badly. Hopefully the Asthe of this dimension wasn't as bad as the one in front of him. "Thanks for waiting for me," Abel said with fake cheerfulness as he spun around and made a move for the door. "Your eminence, I'll be sure to report our findings once we get back," he added over his shoulder. Abel motioned for the two to follow him.

The three of them left the room. Lilith glanced at Abel and moved so only he could hear her. "She's learning." There was a pause before she said, "I've found several old books, one was written by an Aran Nightroad. It mentioned you as he emperor. I don't know who Aran Nightroad, but if you told Asthe you were once an emperor..." she trailed off.

"It doesn't matter if I was the emperor. The point is that I abandoned the empire when they needed me, switched sides, and in essence I'm a traitor," Abel replied, wondering how Lilith got a hold of Aran's book. Anything about the Nightlords should have been burned as part of the deal he made with the pope.

"Who was he?" Lilith asked. "He has or had the last name you currently bare?"

"Aran was my son, along with Azul."

"Son?" Lilith stopped in her tracks and stared at him. Her eyes were wide and mouth a little open. "You had children?"

"Adopted." Abel strode past Lilith and walked out of the mansion. Behind them, Asthe looked from one to the other, with a confused look on her face.

"You should've be so rude to her," Asthe huffed.

"Whatever are you talking about, Asthe?" Abel asked, letting the fake cheerful coat his voice again. Asthe gave him a puzzled look to which he just shrugged. "Anyway, we'll be checking a few underground bases. Unless William is able to track the radio I gave Thomas or we find them ourselves, we'll continue searching until the sun rises."

"Why don't we just track the radio first?" Lilith suggested. "Though, I can't imagine 02 not noticing a radio on... Thomas." It looked as if she had been about to say "father" or "dad" instead of his name.

"William has already tried tracking it, but hasn't so much as a hint yet," Abel admitted with a sigh. "If anyone could track it successfully it would be Seth, or one of us... but..." Abel glanced at Asthe worriedly, along with the mansion they had just left. Not only didn't they have the resources, but everyone in the AX would think it odd if they found that Abel was familiar with lost technology.

"We could always try the Seth of this reality. It wouldn't hurt, right?" Lilith suggested.

"I suppose," Abel sighed. He was already thinking of ways to avoid entering empire.

"You really want to avoid the empire?" Lilith's eyebrows rose. "By now the people would've forgotten you. Only Seth would know who you are. Why avoid it?"

"It's not that I want to avoid Seth." If he could, he would have visited her a long time ago. Abel sighed, knowing that this was only half the truth. The real reason was because "the last promise I made with her, I broke it. If she doesn't think I'm dead, then by the time I see her she'll kill me." Plus he was also an exile.

"I doubt that," Lilith said.

Abel shrugged as he made a last minute decision to stay in the estate. "Lets make a call to the empire first. I'd rather not be attacked upon crossing the border," Abel explained.

"I thought you were against going to the empire."

"I am," Abel replied as he knocked on the door to a separate building before entering. Upon entering, he could hear the mechanical ticking of the technology William had built. Just like the professor's room in the vatican, this building was also filled with loose papers, books, and of course experiments.

"What is this place?" Asthe asked as she looked in awe at the amount of technology, yet disgust with how dusty and organized things were.

"William's-"

"My lab." Just then William appeared before the hallway entrance. "He had a slight twinkle of pride in his eyes as he looked over all of his "children" before it disappeared and his eyes met Abel's. "I haven't been able to track them. I'm sorry my friend, but the signal is either out of reach or the radio was destroyed."

"Did you try lengthening the wave length of the connector?" Abel asked.

"With what's available to me? No," the professor admitted.

"That's fine. I didn't come here to ask for that anyway. I wanted to know if you still had prototype XIV."

"You wanted to make a long distance call?" Abel nodded. "Why didn't you just ask Caterina." Abel raised an eye brow and gave William a pointed look. Sighing William nodded and said, "it's in the back."

"Thank you! If you don't mind I'm going to use it for a while. I need to make a family phone call." Abel grabbed Lilith's ad Asthe's wrist as he forced them to follow him past William and into the back room.

"Hold on, Abel," William stopped Abel from going into the room. He had on hand on his radio. "Caterina just got a report of a Methuselah in the city. She would like you check it out before someone gets hurt."

Abel glanced at Lilith with uncertainty, it'd be rude to just leave the her and Asthe with the Professor. Then there was also the fact that he wanted her to call Seth, but he didn't want Lilith or Asthe telling his sister anything unnecessary.

"Go, we'll be right here waiting for you," Lilith said, as if having read his mind.

"I'll be back as soon as possible."

A/N: I have no clue what to say... Well at least this didn't take a month like last time.

Mokatty: Wait till the next part, there's an even bigger twist. Flame and I weren't even planning on it happening but after discussing it a bit we decided to twist this story around even more.

Reima-of-the-kells: You'll just need to read to find out.