Chapter 15: Hope for Tomorrow

As I stood waiting for Father Nightroad on board of the battle airship, Iron Maiden, I gently trailed my finger along the sleek metal that was now attached to my left ear. Before leaving her office, Cardinal Caterina had made the suggestion that I should be outfitted with a communicator cuff while visiting within the Empire. She had said that in the off chance that Abel and myself should become separated, we would need to have a way to get in touch with each other. The ear cuff itself was very simply designed, it was bronze in color was nearly an exact replica of the one that Abel wore, the only difference was that mine was slightly smaller in size. While I continued to absentmindedly touch its smooth surface, I heard a gentle buzz, which was made up entirely of white noise, fill my left ear. Seconds later, I heard a kind voice begin to speak. "Hello? Jonah, can you hear me?"

Startled by the unexpected voice, I jumped, but as I began to regain my calm, I slowly realized that I knew the person speaking. "Elma?"

She laughed, and it sounded just like the most delicate ringing of the purest of bells. "Who else would it be?" On the other end, Elma fell silent for a few seconds and when she began to speak again, I could tell that she was feeling something that wasn't her usually cheerful and happy sentiments. "Jonah, listen...I just heard the news that you're heading to the Empire." She sighed, then as she whispered, I recognized that what she was feeling was a deep desire to go back to her homeland. "I wish that it were me right now preparing to leave...but if I were to say that, it would be to question her Eminence's judgment. I trust that Cardinal Sforza's made the proper decision in choosing you and Father Abel as the Vatican's envoy, but...Jonah I need to ask that you do something for me while you're abroad."

I smiled, even though I knew that she wouldn't be able to see my actions. "Sure, I'll give it my very best effort. What is it that you need for me to do, Elma?"

Wasting no time, she immediately began to explain to me the details of my side mission. "I need for you to find my best friend. I need for you to find him and relay to him a message. Please let him know that Terina and I are fine. That I...that I miss him and that I wish I could come home..." I heard the quiet sound of her sniffle a couple of times, but I didn't want to say anything about it. Fearing that I would embarrass her. So as Elma collected herself, I silently waited on my end of the conversation. Then when she was ready, she resumed speaking once more. "His name is Ion Fortuna, and he goes by his title as the Earl of Memphis. Just like you, he's a Methuselah. Which means that the two of you already have something very important in common. Jonah, I can only hope and pray that you understand how much this means to me."

Not wishing to break the young girl's fragile heart, I gave her my word. "You can count on me! I will find him for you, Elma. I'll find and let him know everything that you've just said to me."

Through the white noise, I heard only six more tidings before the conversation came to an end. "Thank you. Sister Elma, signing off."

The instant that Elma's voice faded from within my ear, I sighed. My mind rapidly becoming riddled with a fearful anxiety and I worried about how well I would perform once I was out in the field. Acting as an envoy, sent to represent the leading power of the Terran world.

The Vatican.

Trying to suppress these thoughts of self-distrust, I told myself. My words coming out as nothing more than hushed whispers. "Don't do this to yourself. You need to remember that as long as Father Nightroad's by your side...you'll do just fine. Relax." Slowly inhaling a deep breath into my lungs, I closed my eyes, and as I liberated the breath back into the world, I reopened them. Looking around, desperately trying to find something within my surroundings that would offer me some peace of mind, and glancing over my shoulder. I found the serenity that I needed.

Abel stood behind me, his silver-white bangs gently brushing against the sides of his face as he tilted his head. A wide grin was visible as he spoke. "Starting to feel nervous?" As his winter blue eyes gazed upon me, they seemed to shimmer beneath the illumination cast by the fluorescent lighting within the small room.

Bobbing my head down once, I asked. "Does the nervousness ever go away, Father?" As I spoke, my voice sounded restricted in my own ears.

He looked mildly surprised, but when a second had gone by, he smiled and approached me. "I take it that you're wanting an honest answer to that question?" Setting a kind hand on my shoulder, he continued. "No. It never goes away fully. Truth be told, I was one of the very first to join forces with the A.X. and that was well over ten years ago."

Craning my neck back slightly, I looked up at Abel. "You've been an agent for that long?" Deep inside my brain, I silently hoped that by asking this single question, I might be offered some new information about the kind priest standing next to me.

With a subdued chuckle, he smiled. "Oh, yes." As he began to guide me over towards a couple of plush chairs, which had been placed up against one of the walls in the room, I sat down in one while Father Nightroad sat in the other. Then looking over, I watched as Abel stuck his hand into his pocket and started to dig around. A second passed and he withdrew his clenched hand, and opening it back up I saw that there were a few small pieces of hard candy resting in his palm. Extending his hand out to me, he said. "Ladies first."

As I glanced at the candies and their brightly colored wrappers, I indecisively hovered my hand between two of them. Finally making a choice, I pinched the end of a candy that had the image of an apple printed onto the wrapper, and held onto it using my thumb and forefinger. Before I pulled my hand away from Abel's, I smiled and exclaimed. "Thank you, Father!"

Using his free hand, he chose from the candy that remained and plucking one that displayed an orange, he closed his eyes, Carefully, he replaced the rest of the candy back into his pocket. "Please don't mention it, Sister." He proceeded to twirl one end of the candy's packaging in a counterclockwise motion, undoing the seal and when the sugary treat was exposed, he picked it up and gently placed it into his mouth. Broadly smiling as he did so.

Immediately, I began to imitate his actions. And when I could see the light green candy, I took it from the wrappings and plopped it onto my tongue. The slightly sour taste of an apple filled my mouth. "It's really good."

Abel beamed at me. "I'm glad that you think so." He stared at the now empty plastic that laid crumpled up in his palm, slowly nudging it around in small circles with his fingertip. "I always try to make a conscious effort to keep them on me at all times." With a quiet laugh, he closed his hand, gently pressing his fingers against his palm. "A few of the other A.X. operatives give me some trouble because of it, but I simply can't help myself. I truly have a natural affinity for sweet things."

When he said this, I thought back to a time where Abel and myself had drank tea with one another. "So when you and I went to the cafe..."

I saw as he nod his head. "That's right. And it's not that I can really do anything about it, since what I told you is the truth. Because of the Crusnik, I honestly do experience low blood sugar at times." He switched his gaze from his closed hand over to my face. I sat in my chair, patiently waiting to hear Abel talk about his past. After a few long seconds, my patience was rewarded. "It was ten years ago, yet it had already been quite some time since I had come to Earth with Lilith's remains. Despite the fact that I was filled with so much anger and grief, I knew that I must have a purpose...there had to be something left that I could still fight for and defend." Shutting his eyes, he cracked a wary smile, exhaling quietly as he looked back at me once more. "The humans. So after I had spent what felt like several centuries feeling sorry for myself inside of the catacombs deep beneath the Vatican, I finally found the willpower to do what I knew I had to. Lilith would never have wanted for me to waste away my life mourning her death. The moment that I realized this, I said my final goodbye to her and set off to carry out the promise that I had made."

With every word that Abel said, I became more enthralled, and I could feel my attentiveness increasing. My want to glean as much information about him steadily growing with the passing of time.

Witnessing the captivated expression that I wore, he chuckled quietly. "I understand that I've already told you about my promise to her, but that was nearly half a year ago. And I don't expect for you to remember any of the small details that concern my life from before we met-"

I rapidly shook my head and recounted the words that he had said to me. "No matter what the situation might be, you won't kill. You don't wish to be the cause of any unnecessary deaths."

He stared at me, his mouth hanging open wide. Then quietly he whispered, his voice filled with wonder. "Jonah, you...you actually remembered that?"

Looking away from him, I glanced over in his direction out of the corner of my eye. "Of course I did, Father." I returned my full gaze back towards him and attempted to give him my most comforting smile. "I remember much more about our conversations than you probably think I do. Besides, all throughout this entire journey you've been my best friend."

Solemnly, Abel bowed his head. "It fills my heart with so much joy knowing that you've saved some room within your memories just for me." As he resumed his previous posture, he continued to speak. "But yes. That was the promise that I made to Lilith. Although, it is sometimes impossible for me to hold up my end of the oath. I still try my best to maintain and keep it within check." Taking a deep breath, he whispered, his voice remaining low. "Just know that I will only resort to killing if I cannot find any other alternative..."

"Like what happened with the Methuselah that you protected me from? Andros Nakomi was his name I believe..." I shuddered as I thought back to the chilling moment that I had met the crazed Methuselah. My body recoiling away from thin air as I remembered the way that he had grabbed onto me on the roof of my old home.

For a while, he sat silent then keeping his tone as low as he could, he said. "Yes. That was the first time that you'd seen the Crusnik and..." Falling silent once more, he looked around the room, his eyes eventually settling on my face. "That was the first and only time that you've seen the Crusnik, hasn't it?"

Cautiously, I nod my head once.

As I soundlessly sat in my seat, I watched as a great amount of sadness came flooding into Abel's eyes. "Do you...do you fear the Crusnik now that you know you're a Methuselah, just like Mr. Nakomi?" His gaze dropped and he looked down at his knees. "If I remember correctly, you stayed behind, even though I had asked you to head for safety, and you watched as I ended his life..."

His words shocked me, and I had to fight against the tears that threatened to fall down upon my cheeks. "Father Nightroad, I...I don't...I could never..." Resisting the urge to reach out and take his hand into my own, I resided to simply balling my hands up into loosely held fists. "Father, I know that you would never hurt me."

Filled with an undeserved sorrow, he nod his head. The winter blue eyes behind the round glasses reminded me of the broken man I had seen sitting next to me on the night that fate had allowed us to meet. "Thank you for having so much faith in me, Jonah."

Shaking my head, I smiled fondly at the priest. "Don't be silly. You have never given me any reason not to have faith in you. I would easily trust you with my very life."

Abel cracked a small smile. "Did you know that the Methuselah have a term that they use to describe that very thing?"

My own smile faltered for a second. "What thing, Father?"

He finally looked back up at me, and whispered. "A being that they would trust with their life. They call that person a tovarish."

I pondered the term in my head for a moment, then quietly, I repeated it out loud. Slowly letting the foreign word roll off of my tongue. "Tovarish."

As I considered the meaning of the phrase, Abel quietly watched me. His smile coming back to life.

With the word still in my mind, I asked the only other thing that I could think of. "Father Nightroad, does that..." I looked away for the smallest number of seconds, then turning my gaze directly towards his eyes, said. "Does that make you my tovarish?"

My inquiry didn't seem to surprise him, and he looked as though it could have been something he might have been anticipating for me to ask of him. "That's not a thing that I can answer for you, Jonah. Most Methuselah treat the term with an overwhelming amount of reverence. Since it has, in a way, become a kind of tradition within their culture. If you personally feel as though it is right for you to call me your tovarish, then I will humbly accept your request. But at the same time, if you wish to hold off, and wait to see if you can find a much better candidate, then that is also your prerogative."

Sighing, I began to smile. "Where else would I find a better candidate than the man who is sitting right beside me at this very moment?"

As he smiled, small crinkles appeared in the skin around his eyes, and embarrassed, he gently rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Then if that's how you truly feel, just know that it is an honor." For a while, Abel sat. His eyes peeking over at me every so often, but it was a few minutes before he said anything else. "Really though, thank you. It's a comfort to know that you still don't fear the Crusnik that's inside me, and that you trust me enough to make me your tovarish. I'm not sure what I have done in this life to deserve such kindness, but I will gladly take what I can get."

Incapable of believing what Abel was saying, I shook my head. Dismissing his concept of thinking entirely. "Father...don't say such things about yourself! In my eyes, you are the kindest person that I've ever had the joy of meeting. Please remember that in the future, okay?"

All that he did was grin and quietly whispered out. "I'll try to keep that in mind, Jonah."

Relieved, I stretched in my chair. Extending both of my arms out on either side of me. "Good. So how long exactly should it take for us to reach the Empire?"

From a small envelope, Abel pulled out a folded sheet of paper. On which I could see a few lines of his untidy script written down, and consulting his notes, he told me. "Well if everything goes according to plan, we should arrive sometime tomorrow. Possibly in the early hours of the morning." Reading further down the paper, he continued. "Since it was this Miss Asta who was in charge of initially making contact with us, I'm fairly certain that it will be her that we'll need to seek out and locate." He placed the sheet back into its envelope, and sighing, he began to explain. "Finding Asta, I feel, will undoubtedly be the hardest aspect of this mission. But after we complete that, we should finally be able to make a request to have an audience with the Empress."

"But Father Nightroad, what if we can't find her? What will happen then?"

He shook his head from side to side, holding up one of his hand. Indicating that I should stop. "Don't worry. You just leave all of that to me."

I let out a small exhale and looked down at the floor of the Iron Maiden. The fatigue caused by all of the events that had happened since I had reawakened in the morgue, was ultimately beginning to take its toll of me. As I opened my mouth and yawned, Abel looked over at me, his expression one of perplexity. When I had finished yawning, I laughed timorously. "I guess that all of the excitement from yesterday and today has finally caught up with me. Not to mention everything that's still going to be transpiring in the upcoming days."

Showing that he understood what I was feeling, Abel inclined his head a bit. Then as he gestured with a hand, he whispered. "Jonah, if you need to , feel free to go and rest up. I'm fairly certain that nothing of great importance or interest will happen while you're away." With his words, he closed his eyes and grinned from ear to ear.

As I got to my feet, I turned to gaze towards him. "Father, what about you? If I go to sleep now, you'll be left all by yourself."

"Oh, you worry too much." I watched as he opened his eyes back up, the wintry blueness of them instantly easing my mind. "This will not be the first time that I'll be left on my own. Please, go and rest. Then when you wake up, you can come and we can talk some more. If that's something that you're interested in, of course."

Lacking all hesitation, I smiled and said. "I look forward to it, Father Nightroad." With a gentle wave of my hand, I turned away and began to head down the hallway that would lead me to my temporary sleeping quarters. The room itself wasn't that far from where I had been conversing with Abel, but by the time that I gripped the handle with my fingers, I felt as if I had ran ten kilometers all at once. But shaking my head as vigorously as I could, I tried to rid myself of the exorbitant exhaustion as I entered into the room.

It was indistinguishable from the first room that had been designated as mine to stay in during my voyage on board the Iron Maiden. However, as I consciously chose to ignore everything that wasn't the twin sized bed, I trudged over and laying down, nearly collapsed onto the mattress. In my head, I thought. "Now what's going on with me?" With a sigh signifying my surrender, I closed my eyes and muttered. "I'm sure that it's nothing..." My voice drifted off as I instantly fell asleep.

At first my sleep was peaceful. There were no dreams. Just blissful rest.

Then at the drop of a hat, everything around me changed. A blinding white light lit up all that surrouned me and holding my hand up in front of my face, I shielded my eyes from the sudden brightness. Purely on instinct, I cast several quick glances around me. Within the exposure of the light, I could see that I was standing in a room, the walls of which had been assembled from smooth stone. Tall pillars were interspersed all throughout the large space. Cautiously, I peered down at the ground beneath my feet and saw that I was standing on a floor made entirely out of differently colored stones.

Even from all that I could discern, I still wasn't able to understand where I was. So as I took a deep breath, in the hope that it would be enough to calm me, I quietly whispered to myself. "There's no way that this is real...I've got to be dreaming again. I just have to be." I moved my right foot forward and I began to walk farther into the room. Working my way closer to the bright light. The sound of my footsteps echoed loudly within the large space as the soles of my boots hit the stone floor. With every step I took, nothing that was around me seemed to change. But then after what must have been minutes of me walking nonstop, I finally noticed something new.

Just a few yards ahead of where I stood, I heard what sounded like someone sobbing.

There was something hidden in the sound of the person's sorrow that was familiar to me, yet at the same time, it was completely unalike anything I had ever encountered before. I had never heard another person utter such guttural and horrific sounds before in my life. So bearing extreme caution in my mind, I continued to move towards the source of the noise.

My movements were slow, and just as I passed by one of the stone pillars that stretched all the way from floor to ceiling, I saw it. A small spacecraft, which was slightly bigger than the size of a person, was perfectly positioned between a pair of the pillars. A ray of what looked like moonlight, beamed down over top of it, showcasing that the craft's vertical hatch door was opened up wide. Next to the docked aircraft, I could see the figure of someone kneeling down on the ground, their forehead pressed against the vessel's metal siding. Every so often, their shoulders would tremble and I hear the sound of muffled words as they were being spoken.

Unable to understand what was being said, I slowly began to take tiny steps, drawing myself closer to both the person and the craft. As I approached, I was capable of catching a few of the words that were said. "No...no...how could he do this to us?" There was more sobbing, and when I felt as though I was a safe enough distance away from what I was witnessing, I stopped. The distraught person began speaking aloud once again. "I'm so sorry...so sorry...I will never do anything to disappoint you again...I swear it!" I leaned in a bit, and picked up on the fact that the voice I was hearing was clearly male. The man looked up, and I gazed at the long silver-white hair that fell freely down his back. As I moved my sight along the man's young face, I saw that there were tears streaming from his winter blue eyes. As I watched the tears fall upon his pale cheeks, I realized something that made my heart skip several long beats. And when he spoke again, my suspicions were confirmed. "Lilith...I will do whatever I can to make it up to you...I want to fix everything that has happened between us...so I will protect the humans..."

I was looking at Abel. However it wasn't the Abel that I personally knew, but rather it was a version of him that I had never had the opportunity of meeting. From the way he was positioned beside the craft, I could tell that the clothes he were wearing were nearly identical to the A.X. uniform he wore now. Yet instead of being black and grey in color, they were white and blue.

As I steadily watched the past playing out like a film before me, a soft shuffling caught my attention. Glancing out of the corner of the eye, I noticed a blurred shadow moving quickly from one pillar to the next. After I took notice of the first shadow, I saw yet another. However this one was on the opposite side of the room, but it was behaving in the exact same manner than the first had.

Gradually, five figures crept their way out into the open, working to fall into formation and stood surrounding Abel and the spacecraft, which I now knew contained Lilith's remains. Once Abel saw the newcomers, he jumped to his feet, scowling at each of them in turn. When he spoke, his voice was very reminiscent of what I had heard the night that we had met. Only now it was far more distorted than it had been on that evening. "You will not touch her!" As the words left his mouth, his eyes had already started to glow a haunting shade of red. His long hair flew up and formed a writhing, unruly crown above his head. Razor sharp fangs extended down past his upper lip, which had changed in color and turned a deep bluish-purple. Black lacquered wings sprouted out of his back and watching as the scythe, which I had only seen once before, appear out of thin air within his hands, he took flight. Painfully bright electric currents switched back and forth between his wings. Pointing one of the scythe's blades at one of the five figures, Abel cried out. His voice void of any and all empathy as well as mercy. "Do you hear me?!" He thrust the scythe forward, and a jet made of nothing but pure electricity shot out. Hitting the target squarely in the chest.

The being fell over onto its side and from its ruined remains, a thick liquid began to glide effortlessly along the floor towards Abel, as he continued to hover several feet up above the ground. He wasted no time before he attacked again, his motions packed with all of the residual rage that had been left behind in the aftermath of Lilith's death. My heart broke for him as he swung out with the skeletal red scythe for a second time. As another intruder died and fell apart into two separate pieces, the liquid that I had noticed earlier, and now understood to be blood, began to ascend up in the air and was immediately being drawn to the tips of Abel's black wings. As the blood was absorbed into the jet black feathers, he continued to scream out in anguish. And with every tortured utterance he made, the electricity that flowed in between his wings began to expand. Slowly consuming the rest of his body within its bright, pulsating light.

While I witnessed the sheer carnage occurring before me, I couldn't help but to simply stare in awe as Abel took out his enemies, one right after the other. He continued to fight with everything that he had in him until the only ones left intact in the room were him, Lilith and myself. Yet when he had finished, he let out a final roar. Releasing into the world any excessive voltage of electricity that he had accumulated within his body during the battle.

Gliding back down to the stone floor below, his burning red eyes glued onto the place where Lilith rested, Abel solemnly whispered to her, despite the fact that she could no longer hear his words. His voice remaining warped beyond all recognition. "I will protect the humans. Even though I know that I am to be eternally damned, and that I cannot be forgiven for my sins, I will act as though I can be. Lilith..." As he knelt back down next to what was to become the fourth Crusnik's coffin, Abel gently took hold of the hatch door. Tears that looked to be made of blood fell onto his ashen cheeks. As he slowly began to shut the craft's door, he spoke once more. "Lilith, I will do whatever I need to so that I can keep my promise to you. From this day forward...I will no longer needlessly kill anyone. I will only kill so that I can protect those who are around me." Finally, he sealed the door shut and placing his hand on top of the glass window, he glanced through its reflective surface. Taking one final look at Lilith's face.

After he'd seen all that he could take, he quietly got back to his feet. The remnants of the Crusnik steadily fading away from his features. Eventually he started to walk in my direction, but as he moved, he kept his gaze aimed down to the floor. As he passed me by without even seeing me, he whispered just one last thing for his fallen friend to know. "I will work towards bringing about a brighter hope for tomorrow. I swear it..." The moment that the words had been said, he took off. Fleeing away from everything that was lying in wait behind him.

I wanted to call out to him. To tell him that everything would be all right. That everything he had promised to Lilith had come true. But opening my mouth, I found that I no longer had a voice in which to speak with. Then watching as the world around me drained away, I woke up, laying on top of the mattress on my back. With a start, I sat up, turning to look out of the window that was next to the bed, and I saw that the sun was already setting. Which meant that yet another day was coming to an end. Hurrying to my feet, I bolted for the room's closed door and twisting the handle, opened it. I had to see for myself that the Abel I knew was okay. I needed to know that he wasn't punishing himself for his past mistakes. And as I sprinted from hall to hall, I sighed in relief when I found myself standing in the entrance way of the room I had left him in just hours before.

He was still there.

Sitting in his chair with a small leather bound book held in his hands, Abel had his eyes closed, and his head gently rested up against the chair's plush backing. As he slept, his body would occasionally twitch lightly, but there was no way for me to know just what it was that he was dreaming about.

Slowly I walked over towards Father Nightroad, a compassionate smile falling upon my lips as I looked at him. Then when i was close enough, I knelt down on my knees, taking the book that he held from his hands. Quietly setting it on the small table that was next to his seat. Without the book, he began to clench his hands up into tight fists, and lightly touching one of my hands to his, I whispered. My voice just barely loud enough for him to hear. "It's okay, Father. Don't worry, I'm right here."

At the sound of my voice, he immediately began to relax his body, and as he took a slow, deep breath, he smiled. Mumbling out loud from within his sleep. "Lilith, I hope I haven't let you down..."

I shook my head, knowing that he couldn't see what I was doing. Yet I decided to tell him what I had wanted to say to him inside of my dream. Hoping that it would be enough to ease his mind. "Of course you haven't. You've done so much to help those who are around you."

His smile grew in size, and as he shifted into a more comfortable position, he continued to sleep. But before he became too submerged into his slumber, he said. "Thank you."

With a quiet laugh, I responded with the only thing that I could think of to say. "You're welcome, Abel."