4Chapter I: The Rise of the Full Moon
Here comes the moon.
It now rises at its highest peak on a cloudless sky.
Two men are running aimlessly in the streets... for their lives.
The pursuit was running for hours now, until now.
"I think we finally lost Loki," said the exhausted man. He was wearing dirty red coat and tie. He could have looked like someone respectable; however, he was in shambles after the long chase.
"You said it. Imagine that. We escaped from Loki, alive!" said another man with a proud grin on his face. He was wearing formal blue sleeves. "He'll Loki's not as terrifying as the reputation popularly says!"
And they roar in laughter mixed with laughter of relief, while leaning on an alley wall.
In the middle of their laughter, a figure with deep, purple eyes jumped on top of the wall. They were dark eyes gleaming in the moonlight which were so familiar to the two men that it shook them with fear.
"You are…"
"…Loki?!"
A soft, zephyr blew and wafted the long, cobalt hair of the figure.
Still fumbled, the man in the coat gasped. "…is a woman?!"
She with deep, purple eyes and wafting deep blue hair spoke "I now bring you to justice!"
From her back, she pulls out her weapon that terrifies the two men all the more. It was a flute.
"What? Just a flute?" quipped the man in blue.
"Oh no!" exclaimed the other. "Quick! Let's get out of here!" he said and grabbed his partners arm in an attempt to escape. The partner was puzzled of why one would run from a flute.
Loki gently put the mouthpiece of the flute on her lips, and played a dark yet gentle tune:
The seemingly sweet yet lonely melody drifted through the cold midnight in the City of Ludwig, a place embellished mostly with brick and buses.
The two men started running from the woman they called Loki. The other one was clueless to why they should continue running.
"Hey men, why be afraid of a girl with a flute," said the man in blue, his arm tugged by his partner who was looking pale from fear.
Later, he started coughing and covered his mouth with his free hand. It must be from the coldness of the night, he thought. But when he looked at his hand, it had quite an amount of blood in it.
He was stunned. "Wha— What is this?!" he said with his voice quivering.
His partner suddenly seized from running. He turned to his partner only to see that he was also bleeding through his eyes.
The notes from her flute started rising—so did the two men's shrieks that were swallowed by the oblivion of the midnight.
In a not-so-far-away alley of Ludwig City, their sat the Cat.
As usual, after every all in a day's sweep, he lied there on a roof, gazing at the full moon with a milk bottle on his hand. His companion: an alley cat who was helping itself with a pan of milk courtesy of Train Heartnet.
It has been almost a year since the Eden Project collapsed. He is still nomadic, like a free stray cat.
In the middle of his midnight rendezvous with the alley cat, the melody of the flute reached his ears. The cat starts purring. He then sank all the more to the loneliness of the night.
As he stared onto the full moon, a vision of a little girl suddenly brushed in his mind—a smile so alive and innocent.
The memory made him gasp for some air and grab his head.
He thought hard. Then, he decided to stop.
The tune later on cradled him to sleep.
Train Heartnet still remained a lone cat on the streets. Today, he's on his way for another catch today as a sweeper. But before anything else, a bottle of milk from a nearby store, first.
The café window showed a fuzzy reflection of a young man in his 20s with brown, untidy hair hair, yellow-cat-like eyes. He was wearing a leather jacket which has its hems length only to his ribs. His jacket used to be blue with its sleeves folded to his elbows. He was also wearing a white shirt under. He matched it with tight black pants with a gun holster on his right leg. It held quite a big revolver: Hades. It had two red tassels dangling need the magazine holder.
He can be pretty eye catching: He wore a bell on his neck hoisted by a red ribbon. It looked like a cat's flee collar. Most of all, there is the infamous Roman numeral tattoo below his right collar bone: XIII. His tattoo would tell people who he was: The Black Cat: Bringer of bad luck.
Formerly the top assassin of Chronos, a vigilante group with worldwide support, Train left the organization to live a free life of a sweeper. Now, he is officially an alley cat.
He sat by the counter and waved at the waitress. "Yo, waitress! The usual here please!"
"Just a second!" the mid-aged waitress shouted back at him while serving a couple of customers seated on another table.
Train let out a big yawn. He scratched his sleepy eyes and sprawled all over the counter.
Just then, the café door's bell rang. A customer came in and sat also near the counter near, but not beside Train.
It was a woman who in the café.
She was wearing a light blue long-sleeves with four large button placed in a modern design. She had a blown turtle neck below it. She was wearing loose, grey pants as well. She also had a holster around her waist that carried something long and sleek.
Probably no one important.
Train remained face down on the café, but on the side on his vision, he looked at her. She just sat there in the café with a faint smile on her face, but her purple eyes seem a bit empty. Some of her long, cobalt hair was covering her eyes too.
"Ms. Bella, the usual here please!" the woman told the waitress in the kindest way.
"Oh, good morning, Rion! Haven't seen you around in a while dear," replied the waitress, still serving in the far off table. "I'll be there in just a minute, Hon."
Train continued to watch the woman from the corner of his eye.
She just sat there.
There was silence.
Until "Can I help you… Black Cat?" she said without even a glance.
Train continued his sleepy façade but still answered. "I see you observe better than I thought you would."
And then he sat up, his hands raised behind his head in an attempt to recline. "And I see someone still remembers my reputation," he continued.
She let out another faint smile, more like a smirk. "The tattoo is actually a dead giveaway."
"Well, that isn't really that hard to guess." He said.
"And the bulky gun," she continued.
"Well, I'm not the only one who has one," Train answered. "Most of us sweepers carry one."
"You're a… sweeper?" she said, finally turning onto him, startled.
"Yeah, contrary to what you know about Black Cat, I'm done with Chronos," he said.
She finally got a good look at him: a young, energetic man with nothing but a goofy grin with him, contrary to how the infamous Number XIII A.K.A Black Cat was known.
For a second there, she was awestruck by the sight of the young man, his wide beam almost welcoming her.
A tray suddenly landed between the two of them.
"Rion, do the two of you know each other?" asked Bella, the waitress.
The woman made a faint smile. "Probably. But this may actually be the first time we met, Ms. Bella," said the woman.
Bella was a bit unconvinced, but she let go of it anyway.
"Anyway," continued Bella, while handing down the orders. "A bottle of milk for Train and a cold glass of milk for Rion."
Rion and Train were surprised about each other's orders.
"Well, I guess the two of you have some sort of things in common, don't you?" said Bella. "Well, I'll just be here if you need anything," and then left to the kitchen.
The two started drinking their individual orders.
"Well, I don't think lukewarm milk isn't much tasty," Rion remarked.
"Oh yeah? Well I think I'd get a stomach ache drinking cold milk!" said Train, obviously pissed.
The two of them just scoffed at each other, still continuing to sip some milk.
At the middle of the snubbing, Rion injected: "Why leave to be a sweeper, Black Cat?"
Train was astonished with the question.
"I mean, isn't it good to keep the bad guys at bay?" said Rion.
"You're name's Rion, right?" asked Train.
Rion paused for a while, looking unsure of what to answer.
"…Well, that's what they call me here," she replied.
Train was a bit puzzled with the answer. But, he continued. "Well, Rion. Chronos' former functions are already over."
Over? Rion told herself.
"Chronos' way is not the only way to keep bad guys at bay. I can do it just as good as how a sweeper does it," Train continued.
He then gave out a grin to Rion. Rion paused. Later, she looked at him, astounded.
She then suddenly drank down the last of her cold milk and slammed the glass and some change in the counter.
"I'm not so sure about that, Black Cat," she answered with a beam.
She stood up and readied to the door. "There are just some things we cannot keep behind bars forever. Sometimes, there are just some that we have to take care of ourselves."
Train just looked at Rion from the corner of his eye.
She continued to head to the door, just raising her hand at him to say goodbye. Train can only see Rion's back and the sleek and long thing she holstered in her waist.
"Be careful with the crocodiles," were Rion's last words before the café's door bell rang again, signalling that a customer just left.
Train was stammered at Rion's last words. His eyes widened. They were familiar words to him.
Rion got out of the café.
Outside, there was a young man waiting by a shed just in front of the café.
"That was rather quick, Rion," said the man who came out from the shade. His orange hair glimmered in the soft, morning sunlight. He stretched his hand to hand over a sealed envelope to Rion, revealing the long but loose sleeves of his white top. He was smiling at Rion brightly.
"Yeah. I just came in for a short snack," Rion answered while taking the letter from the guy.
Back in the café, Bella just got out of the kitchen to hand Train his rice omelette.
"It's about time for my breakfast!" Train complained.
"Oh shut up, Train, it's been just five minutes," said Bella, sliding over the plate with a tall mountain of rice omelette to Train. He immediately started gobbling up the food.
"Oh, Rion's gone?" asked Bella.
"Yeah. Good thing she left 'cause I'm not sharing any of these with her," said Train with his mouth still full.
Bella immediately whacked Train's head with a ladle. He yelped for a while but still continued eating.
"Rion just got her a few months ago. She immediately became one of my regulars, though she doesn't really order much except for some cold milk," Bella told Train, regardless of his busyness to eat. "She's such a sweet heart. Sometimes, she'd play her flute here to lure more customers. She's pretty good too."
"So that's what's holstered in her waist," Train said, finally finishing off the meal.
"Wow, you're much faster in finishing your food today, Train. That's a new record," Bella said, amazed at how Train licked clean that much food in such a short time.
"So, you got any new job for me, Bella?" Train said.
"Barely any, Train," said Bella. "The big and bad news is, the wanted criminals have been disappearing in this city one by one. It's been happening for about a month now. They're not in the slammers either."
Bella continued. "Maybe it's good for the people, how the city became safer from the criminals. It's Bad news for sweepers like you, Train."
"I see," said Train.
"But I saved this last target just for you," said Bella, handing a wanted poster to Train.
An old, bearded man with a brusque stature was in the poster. Printed on it was the name Arez Baltimore with a bounty of $500,000.
"I'm sorry I couldn't find a larger fish for you, dear. Well, actually, this is the only fish this week," said Bella. "You be a good boy and try to fish this one out."
Later that night, Train set off to an abandoned alley in town. He just loaded his revolver, Hades. He now started walking in the dark, unlit alley. There was no light except the moon, which was still full and round tonight. It was dark, but the messy alley with makeshift shelters can be seen.
Everything seemed quiet and peaceful.
Suddenly, Train stopped walking.
"Come on out, Arez Baltimore."
A figure then came out from a manhole. It was a shabby man with a beard and a brusque stature.
"Are you also going to take me away, sweeper?" he told Train.
Train pointed his gun at him with only one hand. "Arez Baltimore, you're under arrest."
"I did what I had to do when I killed all those people, sweeper. And now, you're going to take me away too?" said Baltimore.
"You had no right to take away anyone's lives, Baltimore," answered Train. "Now, don't make it hard for yourself and surrender."
"I don't think so, sweeper. You see, you're not the first sweeper who fell to my clutches!"
Baltimore attacked, raising a fist in the air. His fist landed on where Train stood before he jumped to evade it. The bricks where he stood turned immediately into dust.
Crumbles turned to dust? This must be super human strength, Train told himself.
Baltimore charged at Train again. Train tried to negate the attack by using his Hades as a block. However, because of the impact, Train was still tossed where he flipped back and landed restlessly on the brick ground.
Train bounced back and, this time, was the one who charged at Baltimore and ricochet the body of his gun at the criminal's back, making Baltimore lean on the ground.
Train then pointed his gun at him again while he lied down, still using only one hand.
"Now do you surrender?" Train said with a wide grin and a sneer.
Baltimore started making tremors. "No one.. shall.. take me… ALIVE!" and hitting Train again, now with his arm. Train was able to immediately block the blow with his Hades and just caused him to get tossed away again. A cloud of dust rose up.
Suddenly, a flute started to play, in the tone of Silent Night. Both Train and Baltimore were startled.
"That sound! It's that witch again!" shouted Baltimore in rage as he charged to the direction of the sound of the flute which was from the haze. He threw a punch which was blocked by something.
When the smoke settled down, Train saw that Baltimore's punch was blocked by a crystal flute held by a woman.
He cobalt hair was lightly blown by the impact of Baltimore's punch.
She tried to whip out the punch and leaped back to avoid any possible fatality.
Train and Rion saw each other at that abandoned alley that night.
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