Disclaimer: Trinity Blood does not belong to me.

Hi, It's been a while since I wrote/published anything (May2005, a Harry Potter fanfic) so I'm really rusty with writing at the moment.

This fic is experimental in a lot of ways. I've a general idea of where it's heading, but have yet to make a more detailed outline of it; plus I also want to try different styles of writing.

Title: Memento Morī
Summary: Abel is suddenly struck by a memory.

AU, anime-based, though harkening to the past based on what's translated/speculated about the Red Mars Project, set after Ion joins Abel as he sets out alone.

Edited Jan/2009: Thanks to DarkScrivener for beta reading :)

Chapter 1: Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
— Christina Rossetti

Silver light streamed through his open window, bathing his face and hair in an almost indistinguishable paleness. He closed his eyes, and the slight breeze on his skin reminded him of a caress he had not felt in more than eight-hundred years. With a start his eyes opened as he realized he had not thought of her in what seemed a longer eternity than when he had guarded her, not at all since he had left her darkness to dwell in the light of the surface in order to fulfill the promise he made to her to protect humanity. Little by little his memory of her had dwindled, and the sudden longing that gripped his heart now was sharp as a knife's blade.

How he had changed! How had he forgotten something that had been part of his existence for so long, the missing essence of his being, the one thing his heart still cried for and one he knew he could never have again? Thoughts of avenging her had been driving him to his present course these past few months since he had confronted her murderer, his brother, and yet…of her…he had not once…. His eyes the blue of a winter's lake shed a drop of silver down his cheek, and he mourned in remembrance of that which he'd mourned before.

In a swirl of black he'd donned his robes, the sudden urge to be in her presence a compulsion he couldn't ignore—nor did he want to. Quietly he opened the adjoining door to the room of the still figure on the small bed, his slight touch on the other's shoulder enough to awaken Ion Fortuna.

"What is it?" the young Methuselah asked softly, urgently.

"I have to go," Abel Nightroad hesitantly replied.

"Where?"

"You don't have to follow me. I won't be gone long. I just thought you ought to know."

"Are you going after Cai—"

"No," came the swift answer with a vehement shake of the head, long silver hair swirling with the act. "I just…I need to see someone I haven't thought about for…forever…" his voice trailed off at the last word, and his eyes beneath the round lenses grew wistful, an internal smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. Forever, he thought ruefully, was how long I stayed by her side. How long my tears fell. Forever is the time we can never take back. The words that spilled from him thereafter sounded as faint as what he saw in his mind's eye. "It was so long ago, the first time I saw her. Something that was made to last, but didn't…" Here his voice grew so soft that Ion was not able to hear what he murmured next.

A small smile lifted the corner of Abel's mouth as his voice grew less muted. "Even then, her hair…so red—"

"Esther!" gasped Ion, his eyes widening, a tinge of jealousy colouring his cheeks.

With a start Abel was brought back to himself. "Esther," he repeated wonderingly, the two syllables seeming unfamiliar to his tongue. Then he gave Ion a small sad smile and shook his head. "I have to go and see…. It just struck me how much I missed her terribly." He rose as he said this, and in two strides was out the door of the abandoned cottage they were resting in.

"I'll go with you," cried Ion, a hint of jealousy mingling with curiosity, for who else could Abel be referring to in his ramblings but the newly crowned Queen of Albion?

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Thanks for reading :) More soon…
Oct/2006