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"Its so gorgeous!" Lilith shouted, twirling about the entrance to train station. The trio had finally arrived in Rome after a short plane trip and then a long train ride.


They stood on the steps of the train station and looked at the city. From where they were standing, they could see the Vatican. On the streets all kinds of people went about their business. Men went to work, children played, and the women gossiped. Priests and nuns also walked the streets, talking with the people they passed by. Every now and then, people would pass by the trio and stare at Vincent. Not many of them had ever seen a young man with silver hair.


"I know! I knew Rome was beautiful, but this is truly magnificent! Don't you think so too Vincent?" Jill said, trying to take in all the sights at once.


"Yeah, it is pretty nice. Now, Father Tres should be coming to meet us soon. He'll escort us to Lady Caterina's office," Vincent said as he shielded his eyes from the blaring noonday sun.


"Oh, Big Brother Tres is coming to meet us? Hooray! I haven't seen him since the festival a few years ago!" Lilith exclaimed.


"Huh? Big Brother Tres?" Jill asked.


"That's what she's always called Father Tres, ever since she was a child. Its a long story," Vincent said with a small smile.


Lilith giggled as she stared at the sky and recalled her first meeting with the priest. "When I was 6, I was playing in the palace gardens. While I was running around, I kinda tripped and fell."


"As usual," Vincent muttered.


Lilith threw a dirty look at Vincent before continuing her story, "I scraped my knee and started crying. Then, some guy walked up behind be, picked me up, and asked me for a "Damage Report"! I was so surprised! But I found out that he was really nice, like an older brother. So from then on, he was Big Brother Tres!"


"Search reveals no definition for this term. Please re-input."


"Huh?" Lilith looked behind her and gasped. Behind her stood a tall priest with an expressionless face. "Big Brother Tres!"


The large, brown haired man was bear hugged by the happy princess.


"I do not understand the term "Big Brother". We are not related by blood," the handsome priest said, his voice monotone.


Lilith laughed and squeezed him harder. "Its good to see you too."


"He talks like a robot," Jill whispered to Vincent.


"That's because he is. Tres is an android," Vincent whispered back.


"What? You can't be serious," Jill said as Vincent walked down the stairs to greet Tres as well.


"I think you better let him go Lilith. The Professor wouldn't be too happy if he had to repair him the first day we got here," Vincent laughed.


"Aww, alright," Lilith said, releasing Tres.


"Its good to see you again Father," Vincent said as he shook Tres' hand.


"Positive. It is good to see you both in good health."


"Big Brother, I want you to meet our friend Jill," Lilith said. She shoved the surprised nun in front of Tres. For a while all she did was stare at the priest, Jill had always been very shy around strangers. She began to stare at the ground, her short, brown hair falling into her face.


“C’mon Jill,” Lilith laughed and nudged the nervous nun, “Its not like he bites or anything.”


The Sister took a deep breath and exhaled. "H-hello, my name is Sister Jillian Middlestadt. I look forward to working with you," the young Sister said as she curtsied.


"Positive. Her Eminence is waiting, we should get going," Father Tres said. He turned and began to walk down the street.


"Yay! We get to see Aunt Caterina! Hmm, I wonder if we‘ll get to see all the other members today," Lilith wondered aloud as she ran after Tres.


"Goodness, does she have names for everyone in the AX?" Jill laughed. She had finally regained her composure.


"Just Lady Caterina and Tres. We never really got to meet the rest of Father's old friends," Vincent said.


"I see. But from the way Lord Abel was talking about them, it would seem that we're headed for trouble,” Jill sighed. Jill and Vincent picked up their luggage and tried to keep up with the android and the hyper teenager.


Vincent finally managed to catch up with his overly excited sister. "Hey twerp, we need to talk for a second."


"Vince, quit calling me twerp! You know I hate it!" Lilith fumed.


"Whatever. Listen, you can't tell anybody about us being royalty, okay?"


"Huh? Alright, but why?"


"It would draw too much attention. We don't want the Rosenkreuz finding where we are for as long as possible."


"Oh, right. No problem," Lilith said, nodding her head.


As they walked the streets, they saw even more sights. The houses were clean and well kept. Some had flower boxes or a small yard. The cobble stone streets were devoid of any pot holes or trash. They walked passed art museums, old ruins, and other various tourist attractions. It was no wonder why the city was hailed as the center of the modern world.


At last they finally made it to the front gates of the Vatican. There were two stern men guarding the entrance. When the group approached, they blocked the way with their spears.


"Halt! No unauthorized personnel are allowed passed this point," the guard on the right said.


Tres rummaged through his robes and pulled out his ID card. The guards saw it and moved their spears. "Alright, you're good," the guard said.


“Wow, it looks even cooler on the inside!” Lilith shouted excitedly as they walked the halls of the Vatican. They passed what appeared to be the Vatican’s library.


“Lilith, keep your voice down. People are staring…” Jill whispered.


Lilith looked around. There were annoyed priests glaring at her for breaking the peaceful silence. She laughed nervously and apologized.


“Well, you’re certainly a loud one. But I‘m glad to find someone with so much enthusiasm, ” laughed someone.


There was a squeaking noise as a young man in a wheel chair wheeled out into the hallway. He had short, dark feathered brown hair and green eyes.


“You must be new here,” he said and extended his hand, "My name is Alexander Peterson, feel free to call me Alex."


“Yeah, we just arrived here this morning. My name is Lilith Nightroad,” Lilith said, shaking his hand, “This is my brother Vincent and my friend Jillian Middlestadt.”


“I see. Well, after you get settled, come find me and I’ll give you a tour. See you later,” Alex said, returning to the library.


“Alexander huh…what an interesting priest…” Lilith said.


“My Lady, you will have time to converse with the other clergy members later. We must keep moving,” said Father Tres.


“Huh? Oh, right. Lets get going,” she said.


After much walking, they arrived in front of the door that led to Caterina's office.


Tres knocked on the door. "Come in," a woman's voice said.


The group entered the cardinal's office. A blonde woman in bright red robes sat behind the desk.


"Welcome to Rome," Caterina said.


"Aunt Caterina! Its so good to see you!" Lilith shouted excitedly. She ran behind the desk and hugged the surprised cardinal.


"Yes, its good to see you two again as well," Caterina laughed, returning the hug.


"Lilith, must you hug everyone you meet?" Vincent sighed in annoyance.


"Yes," she proudly proclaimed.


"Alright, lets get down to business shall we?" the cardinal said, letting go of Lilith.


Lilith returned to the front of the desk. "Now, Lord Abel has already given me the details on why you want to join the AX."


“Yes, we wish to help against the Orden in any way we can,” said Vincent.


“Are you well aware of the dangers that come with joining? There is a chance that none of you will be seeing Albion again…” Caterina warned.


“We are well aware of the dangers Your Eminence,” Jill admitted, “But we have seen the state the world is in. It needs help.”


The blonde cardinal sighed. “Very well then. You will start training Wednesday. Father Tres, show them to their rooms.”


“Thank you Your Eminence,” the trio said in unison.


Sister Kate materialized in the room after the door had been shut. “Lady Caterina, are you sure that they should be joining? Aren’t they a little young?”


Caterina laced her fingers on the desk. “We have no choice. In this time of peace we have become shorthanded. And many of us are getting old Sister Kate…I’m not sure how much longer some of our agents can keep up with this lifestyle…”


“I see, but I just hope that they can keep up with the lifestyle. This is not work meant for children…”


--


“That is your room over there, My Lord,” Tres said, pointing to a door down the hall of the men’s wing.


“Thank you Father. See you guys later I guess,” Vincent said. He waved goodbye to the two girls and walked down the hall.


“Now, we must head to the women’s wing for your rooms,” the android said. They continued through many hallways and passed many rooms.


“I’m so going to get lost here,” Jill whispered to Lilith.


“I know, this place has so many hallways…I’m never going to remember where everything is!” Lilith whined.


“Negative. Despite its size, the Vatican layout only requires simple memorization.”


“That doesn’t help Big Brother!”


“Search reveals no definition for this term. Please re-input.”


“You’re hopeless!”


“We have arrived at your designated rooms.” Tres had finally stopped in front of a door. “Sister Jillian, your room is here. My Lady, your room is next to it.”


“Yay! We get rooms next to each other!” Lilith exclaimed.


“Positive, Lord Abel requested it. He claimed it would make you feel more at home.”


“Thank you very much Father. See you later Lilith, I‘m going to take a nap. This trip has left me bushed,” Jill yawned. She entered her room.


“Well, looks like this is it. I can’t wait to start working with you Big Brother,” Lilith said.


“Positive. Goodbye, My Lady.”


“Bye!”


Lilith inspected her new room. It was fairly small and painted a tan color. It had a bed, a light stand, and a table with a cheap computer on it for storing files and other various work related task. There was a window at the other end of the room that had a view of the Vatican’s gardens.


She flopped on the bed and sighed in content. She was finally about to live out her dreams.


“Mmm, this bed is comfy. Maybe I’ll take a nap myself…” She was slowly falling asleep until she heard a loud a rumbling. She looked around and discovered it was her stomach.


“Damn,” Lilith muttered and sat up. Her stomach growled again. “Alright Alright, I’m getting you some food. Just shut up already…”


Lilith began to walk around the Vatican to find the kitchen. After about 15 minutes of searching though, she gave up.


“Grr, how am I supposed to find anything here!” she whined. Her stomach began to growl even louder, attracting the attention of the clergy who passed by.


“How mean, none of them are even asking if they can help,” she sighed as she hung her head, “Jill is asleep, I don’t even remember where Vincent’s room was, and Tres is who knows where…Oh, I wish somebody would just help me!”


“Allow me ma’am.”


“Huh?” Lilith looked up. It was the young priest she had met earlier! “Alex! God it is so good to see you! I’m completely starving and I can’t find the kitchen and no one would help me and-”


Lilith was cut off by Alex’s laughter. “Slow down Miss Nightroad, there’s no need to panic. Where are your other friends?”


“Well, Jill is sleeping and I don’t remember where Vincent’s room is…”


“Let me show you where the kitchen is then. I was actually getting a bit hungry myself,” he admitted.


“Really?! Thank you so much! I haven’t eaten in forever…” Lilith said dejectedly.


“Well, we shall soon see to that. Its actually not that far from her, just a few hallways down,” Alex chuckled.


Alex was correct and they reached the kitchen in a few minutes. Along the way they had talked nonstop. They spoke about the Vatican and its layout and other various things concerning Rome.


“There’s this really nice café by the hospital where my family works. I should take you there sometime,” Alex said.


“Oh, a café? Sounds great! Where I come from, there aren’t many cafés,” Lilith sighed.


“Really? They’re practically on every street here in Rome. I can’t imagine a place without them, where did you live?”


“Crap, I can’t tell him where I’m from!” Lilith thought. “What do I tell him!”


“Uhh…I’m from…” She struggled to think of an answer. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. “Istavan! I’m from Istavan.”


“Istavan? Now where have I heard that name before…” the young priest mumbled. “Oh yeah! That’s where Queen Esther of Albion lived as a child right? Before she joined the AX?”


“Yep,” Lilith said proudly, “That’s where she used to live!”


“Goodness, you lived that far into the boondocks? Must have been pretty boring.”


“Yeah, pretty boring. Not much to do in uhh, Istavan,” Lilith laughed. “Gotta remember to thank Mom later for telling all those stories!”


“So is this the first time you’ve ever been in the big city?” Alex asked.


“Huh? Uhh, yeah,” Lilith said, nodding her head.


“Well, would you mind if I took you out to eat instead? I did promise you a tour of Rome earlier,” Alex said as he grinned broadly. He began to wheel off in the direction of the gates.


“I guess so. Would you mind if we went to the one café you were talking about?” Lilith asked.


“Sure, it’ll be my treat.”


“No way! I couldn’t make you pay!”


“Nonsense,” the priest laughed, “Think of it as a welcoming present.”


“Alright, but I better warn you now, I have a bit of an appetite,” Lilith said.


“All the better. You need to eat to get plenty of energy for when you start your training. The training for the AX can be quite tiresome. I barely passed it myself,” Alex admitted sheepishly.


“Oh! You’re in the AX too? Neat, that means that we’ll be co-workers!” Lilith shouted excitedly. Then her stomach rumbled. “Hehe, I think we better get going soon. I think the rumbling is almost getting loud enough to shatter glass.”


--


“Here you are miss, enjoy,” the waiter said. Lilith began to salivate as he put down two shrimp cocktails, a large chicken breast, a bowl of clam chowder, and a glass of iced tea. Then the waiter set down a grilled chicken breast and an iced tea in front of Alex as well.


“Ah, sweet delicious food!” Lilith said, “Pass the sugar cubes please.”


Alex passed the sugar to her. Then she began doing the most peculiar thing that he had ever seen. She began to put not one, not two, but thirteen sugar cubes into her tea.


“Umm, Lilith? Don’t you think that’s a little too much sugar?” the confused priest asked.


“Too much? Nonsense! You can never have too much sugar!” She began to sip the sugary drink. “Ah, perfect!”


Father Alex watched in horror as she ate all that was in front of her. “My God…where does it all go?!” he thought. He barely touched what he was eating during the meal, he was too fascinated by the petite girl’s eating habits.


Lilith finally noticed him staring and tilted her head. “What? Is there something on my face?”


“What? Oh, no. I was just spacing out a little. My apologies,” he laughed.


“Oh, okay then,” Lilith said, returning to her meal.


After awhile, they both finished their food. Lilith sighed in content and leaned back in her chair. “So, what’s for dessert?”


Alex didn’t know whether to faint or to begin laughing hysterically.


“W-whatever you feel like ordering,” he said. “My God…she’s a bottomless pit!”


She ended up ordering a piece of cheesecake and an ice cream sundae. Alex decided not to order anything. Just watching her eat made him feel full.


As she ate, Lilith looked at the buildings that neighbored the café. Right across the street was a large hospital. It had a sign next to it that said Carità Hospital.



“Hey, is that the hospital your family works at?” Lilith asked.


“Yep, Mom and Dad have worked as surgeons there for 27 years.”


“Wow! 27 years? They must be pretty good.”


“Yeah, a lot of people say that they’re the best in the city,” Alex said, “Mom certainly doesn’t act like it though. Hehe, I personally think she’s a little nuts.”


“Aw, Isn’t that a little harsh?” Lilith laughed, “She can’t be that bad.”


“How many moms do you know who will break out into song for no reason, fall asleep to loud music, and freak out if her hands get even the slightest bit of sticky?” Alex said smiling.


“Hmm, okay, maybe she is a little nuts.”


They both began to laugh. “And that’s not even the half of it,” Alex chuckled.


“Hmm…he’s got kind of a cute laugh,” Lilith thought. Then she began to blush slightly and shake her head. “Oh jeez, what am I thinking!?”


“Is something wrong Lilith?” Alex asked.


“N-no! I’m fine! I was, just wondering if maybe you had any siblings?”


“I do.” Lilith noticed his face drop a bit when he said that. “He’s, well, lets just say he’s a little different from me and Mom. I guess he’s a bit more like Dad, he’s pretty serious most of the time.”


“Well that’s too bad. This world really needs more people like you and your Mom,” Lilith said. She noticed that she had finished all of her sweets. “Well, I guess we should get going. I had a really nice time.”


“Yeah, me too. I wont be going back to the Vatican though, can you find your way home?” he asked while paying the bill.


“Umm, I think so. Hey…would you mind, umm, maybe doing this again sometime?” Lilith asked, looking at the ground.


“I don’t see why not. Tell me when you’ve got some free time and we’ll go see the rest of the city,” Alex said, smiling.


“Really? Great! I’ll come get you my next day off!”


“Alright then, see you around Lilith.” Alex turned his wheelchair and started heading for the hospital.


“Oh…I think I’m really starting to fall for this guy! And I only just met him today!” Lilith thought. She noticed something odd as she thought this however. Just as that thought popped into her head, Alex stopped moving. His face began to turn bright red as well.


“Hey, is something wrong Alex?” she shouted to him.


“N-no! Everything’s fine! Umm, see ya later!” He started moving again, a little faster this time.


“Huh, whatever. Now…which way was home again?”


Alex sighed when he entered the hospital lobby. “Damn, I thought I finally stopped doing that!” he thought.


“Alex! My baby! I haven’t seen you in forever! I missed you while I was in the Empire!” an old woman from across the room shouted. She had grey hair that went down to her waist and silver glasses. The woman then ran up to the stunned priest and hugged him. She also gave him a wet kiss on the cheek. The nurses began to giggle.


“Mom! Not while we’re in public!” Alex grumbled. His mother always found a way to embarrass him in front of the nurses and doctors.


“Oh, you’re no fun!” she laughed, “Now, isn’t there something you wanted to say to me? Hmm?”


Alex sighed and smiled. “Welcome home Mom.”


“That’s much better. Now, speaking of wanting to say things, isn’t there something else you wanted to tell me?”


“Huh? What?”


Ashley began to giggle. “That girl I saw you with, the really cute one. You finally found a girlfriend while I was away!”


“Huh!? N-no! You’ve got it all wrong!” Alex stuttered.


“Wrong eh? Then how do you explain that great big blush on your face as you were leaving? I think somebody got a burning love confession!” she teased.


Alex’s face dropped. “Well, I guess you could say that…”


Ashley’s face took on a perplexed look. “Then why the heck are you so glum my boy?”


“Because Mom,” Alex said, his voice growing quiet, “I didn’t hear her say it, I heard her think it…”


The doctor sighed. She took off her glasses and started to clean them. “I see, so its resurfaced itself has it? Well, nothing to worry about dear, its not like you can help it. It just happens.”


“I know, but it hasn’t happened for months. I thought I had finally learned t control it…”


She put a hand on his shoulder. “I know its upsetting, but its something you need to learn to accept. You can hear thoughts again, so what? All we need to do is work on it again, you’ll learn to control it,” she said.


“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” Alex sighed.


“Now, you poor mother is absolutely starving for a hard-boiled egg. Can you believe that they didn’t have any on the flight?” the doctor whined.


“You and your crazy food cravings,” Alex laughed.


His mother stopped. “Wait, what did you just say Alex?”


“Umm, that you’re cra-oh no…don’t do this to me Mom!”


“Well, you know what I have to say about that, my dear Alexander?” His mother began to grin broadly.


Alex groaned, he knew what was coming next. “What.”


Ashley took in a deep breath. “I’m not crazy I’m just a little unwell!!” She began singing as she walked towards the cafeteria, earning giggles from the patients she passed by.


“Mom!!!”