Disclaimer: Trinity Blood is owned by Sunao Yoshida. I fell in love with the story.
Warning: This story takes place in an alternative universe. It's not meant to be canon in way, shape, or form.
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Trinity Blood: Emperor's Mask
Prologue: In the Wake of War

Abel stood beside Caterina. His eyes were locked on the airship fast approaching the Vatican. His long robes bellowed in the light breeze. Esther shifted on the other side of Caterina. The young girl was looking at the ship with excitement in her big, bright blue eyes.

Beside him, Caterina's steely gaze was locked on the airship as it came in for a landing. If Abel hadn't known any better he would've said she looked too closed off for this to be an exciting moment for her. But he could still the slight glint in her grey eyes and the small hint of a smile on her lips. After so many years, the first steps to peace were finally being taken.

"Hmm, that's quite an elegant vessel," William observed. He bit down on the stem of his pipe, smiling. As usual his brown hair was well combed and his cassock seemed without wrinkles or fault.

The shorter man beside William seemed to mirror the Professor in his priest robes at the very least. His shorter hair was messy and young features devoid of all emotion. His glass eyes were locked on the airship and he seemed unfazed by the chilly wind.

Abel chuckled. "Careful, Professor, you wouldn't want to hurt diplomatic relations."

"No, but I would love to one day see what makes that woman tick," William said, giving Abel a sidelong look. "I'll voice that as much as I like, Crusnik," William called Abel by his codename.

Before Abel could reply to this, two people disembarked from the ship. The first one was tall, nearly as tall as Abel was. Her ivory hair was short with a streak of red through her bangs. Asthe, Abel felt himself smile at the sight of the young woman.

The boy beside Asthe looked be a young teen even though he was in his twenties. The boy had blond hair and noble features. This was Ion Fortuna. Both of them had been nobles Esther and Abel had meet and become friends… though Abel was certain Ion didn't much like him. Not that this mattered. The young noble did, after all, have his eye on Esther.

"Your excellency," Esther greeted Ion with a bow her head.

"Esther!" the boy's face seemed to glow with his wide grin. He crossed the space between the two of them. He looked quite ready to hug Esther, but instead blushed and looked away from her as he said, "It's good to see you again, Sister Esther."

Asthe looked at Caterina instead of Esther or Abel. "Your Eminence, Lady Caterina Sforza, Duchess of Milan, I'm Asthorashe Asran, Duchess of Kiev and Odessa and one of the empresses chosen emissaries." Her voice was formal and she bowed as an equal to Caterina.

Caterina returned the formal bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Asthorashe. I've heard much about you from Father Nightroad and Sister Blanchett." Caterina turned to the others in their small group. "I thought it best for you to meet the agents I've in Rome before we started our negotiations."

Asthe looked at the three men. Abel smiled and waved at her, wincing inwardly at the fact he looked like an idiot doing so.

"Father Nightroad you already know," Caterina started. "The other two are Professor William Wordsworth."

William bowed to Asthe. "It's an honor to meet you, Duchess of Kiev and Odessa," he said in an extremely formal voice.

"And Father Tres."

Tres just looked at Asthe, his expression never once changing.

"The three of them will be providing security during your stay here."

Abel glanced at the moons before returning his attention to the two Methuselah.

Caterina offered to show them to their rooms, saying they must've been tired after such a long journey. Abel, William, and Tres stayed a little back from the other four as they started off. Abel dropped further behind and listened to the night. Only the sound of the light breeze could be heard.

xxx

Seth coughed. The smoke clogged air bit into lungs no longer used to breathing such impure air. Her green eyes burned. Dust flew through the air no more than a hundred yards from her. She couldn't make out the moons let alone the ground below the cliff she stood upon.

"Majesty, you need to head back towards Byzantium!" Baibars shouted over the noise of the cannons.

Seth gritted her teeth. The veil, which hid her face, was wiped by the wind caused by the unrelenting fire from the Vatican airships. Only two imperial airships had arrived since the attack had begun.

"Vatican," Seth tried not to growl the word. When her brother learned of this, what would he do? He'd told her he was only giving himself to the Vatican to force a peace and try to work towards Lilith's dream of peace between the Vatican and the empire. She could've cursed whatever Vatican scum was behind the slaughter of her children.

"Majesty?" Baibar's kept his steed steady beside Seth's.

"I'm not leaving until all my children and the terrans have been evacuated," Seth said, keeping her voice calm. In the distances she could just make out three more Vatican airships approaching the city. "How far are our other airships?" Seth demanded.

"Not close enough," Baibars replied in a tight voice.

The light of the moons broke through the smog. Seth looked up. "Stay here," she ordered the large man who looked so much like his ancestor. Seth hopped off her steed.

"Majesty?"

"Hold this." Seth passed Baibars her hate. The wind whipped strands of her black her over her eyes and face. "Nano-machine, crusnik 03, release of restrictions eighty percent, activate." Her short hair swirled up as she felt her fangs grow over her lips. Her nail elongated and eight insect wings grew from her back.

Before Baibars could protest or try to stop her, Seth leapt off the cliff. Her wings thrummed as she shot towards the airships. They wouldn't have her children! Her tuning forks snaked into her hands. Fangs bared, Seth charged straight for the Vatican airships. Stopping for them, she watched as one of the guns turned to dust.

Pain shot through her wing. Seth gasped as she fell towards the ground. The nano-machines began to repair the damaged wing, but not at a rate she was comfortable with. Twisting, Seth spread her other wings, slowing her pace just enough to come in for a safe landing.

The hum of engines filled the air. Seth glanced behind her to see more of the empire's ships arrive. It was time to retreat. Seth raced back the way she'd come, mounting the cliff in seconds.

"Baibars," Seth called as she neared the man, "we're retreating." Seth leapt onto her steed and took the hat from Baibars.

"Yes, Majesty," Baibars said with a bow of his head. He turned his steed.

Seth looked one last time at the burning. She could just see as one of her airships burned. Another was beside it, providing cover for the few which gather the civilians: terran and Methuselah alike.

"Oh, brother, what will you do now?" Seth whispered, eyes burning from more than just the smoke. Her dearest brother, he'd given up everything for the chance their might one day be peace. Now, what was left for him?

Seth couldn't figure what her brother would do when he learned all the two of them had worked for in the past eight centuries had just burned to ash. War was now upon them and there was nothing either Seth or Abel could do to stop it.

(Author's Note: I've actually been working on this story for sometime now. It's sort of my "I'm stuck on everything else let's work on this story" story. It's another "what if" story and actually one of my favorites at the moment. It will be updated only as I have buffer to work with on it.)