Title:Number XIII
Author: Golden Weaver
Pairings: None
Warnings: Violence… etc. etc. the good stuff…
Disclaimer: I hereby lay no claims upon any original Black Cat characters/plots.

Summary: AU In a world where Saya left before Creed killed her, Train remained the Chronos' Black Cat and Creed left Chronos to form the Messengers of the Stars. Soon, the three would meet, clash, and change the world…

Chapter One: She Left, He Stayed

In the end, all he had ever wanted… was freedom.

Pure and unworldly darkness surrounded him on all sides, unrelentingly seeping into every part of him. In this tiny dungeon cell, there was no light.

Train Heartnet couldn't remember when he had last seen the light of day. Was it four days ago? Or six? He couldn't tell. Days and nights have rolled into one. How long would it be until the ten days are up?

How long before he could see Saya again?

She was running late. Again. Minatsuki Saya sighed. And she had promised Train that she would take him out to dinner… or was it the other way around? But nevertheless, she was going to be late!

For the last few weeks, she has been helping a detective named Sven. The target was a mass murderer named Gyanza – the amount of bounty offered was enough for her to live off for half a year.

And now, she's late for that dinner she promised to Train. Still, he would understand, right? Work is important, and she would make it up to him later… He would understand, right?

So she stayed a bit longer.

He stayed in the dark for a long time.

He wasn't sure how long had passed – but he realized that it must have been ten days – before the he heard a click. The doors of the tiny cell opened, and bright light flooded into his eyes. Train blinked several times, and resisted the temptation to let out a sigh of relief.

There was a figure at the doorway, a feminine figure. It took Train two seconds to figure out that this was Sephiria Axe, Number I, his boss.

"You can come out, Heartnet." She said.

He cracked a grin, and just couldn't resist the temptation to joke. "…What? You're letting me out so soon?" He said. "I was just starting to like this place, too."

Sephiria threw him a short glare, and beckoned him out. When he was standing before her, she handed him his black cloak. He pulled it on.

"You do realize that…" she started, paused, before continuing. "That you actions from now on would be closely guarded?"

He nodded. Sephiria started to strode towards the elevator. Train fell into steps behind her. "From now on," she said, "you'll be under my watch and jurisdiction. The same goes for that gun, Hades."

He nodded again.

She led him up the elevator, out of the dungeons, and shooed him out, once more, into the light of the afternoon.

Freedom.

He wasn't there when she arrived home, with enough bounty to last her half a year. That was six days ago.

He wasn't there when she had got another call for another job. A short one, this time – short, but fun. That was four days ago.

He wasn't there when she had returned from her second job. She had picked the lock of his door, and his apartment looked old, abandoned, unwanted. From the looks of that apartment, she thought that he had left. That was three days ago.

He wasn't there when Sven came one day, and told her that he had decided to quit his detective job to become a sweeper, and would like her help. She liked Sven – like him and the way he compliments her style, and seriously considered his proposal. That was two days ago.

And he still wasn't there when she said yes to Sven's request, finally deciding that Train had truly already left or something, and wasn't going to come back. She was hurt when she made that deduction, and felt betrayed, but she made it, anyways. That was yesterday.

Now, she was napping in a train, dressed in her yukata, with Sven, her new partner, in the seat opposing her.

And he still wasn't there.

Minatsuki Saya has waited long enough. It was time for her to resume her life of a stray, wandering cat.

He felt naked without Hades. Really, he did. But Sephiria had kept his gun for safekeeping, and Train couldn't very well refuse. And thus now he stood before Saya's door, feeling naked and self-conscious.

He raised his hands, hesitated, before gritting his teeth and doing it anyways. He knocked, hard.

But the door did not open.

In fact, Train decided, the whole place was strangely silent. Saya never used to be this silent, even if she was trying to be silent! Was something wrong?

He knocked on the door once again.

A head popped out from the door behind him. Train span around, only to face a half-drunk man with a potbelly, holding a bottle of beer. "Quiet down, will ya?" snapped that man, half-slurring, obviously annoyed. "Some o' us need silence. An' tha' bitch left a long time ago."

Train's blood froze. Froze upon hearing someone call Saya a bitch, froze upon hearing that brash uncultured voice. Froze upon hearing the fact that she had left –

And he offered a curt nod to that man, and stalked into his room with all the feline grace in the world.

Damn.

He needed to break something, and relieve this feeling of being abandoned, and being betrayed.

And up, up, and high above, a man named Creed Diskence was smiling a satisfied, satisfied smile. So… the little witch was gone on her own accord. And the Black Cat was coming back…

TO BE CONTINUED...