Ab initio- From the Beginning
"Ouch…ow…ah, damnit that hurt…" green eyes blinked rapidly, watering slightly as they peered around curiously at the new surroundings. The owner of those eyes, a young woman of about seventeen or so, got up slowly, stumbling slightly as she rose. The over sized hoodie she wore covered most of her figure due to its depth, and the pulled up hood enveloped her face in shadow.
She squinted into the darkness, and after stumbling through what seemed like a forest or some sort of woodsy area, she found herself on a white stone path leading to what looked like a castle. Shivering in the cold night air, she pulled the hoodie closer to her figure and began walking towards the castle.
"Hm? Now who's that?" Komui leaned towards the display as he took a careful sip of his coffee. It appeared as though someone was at the doors. Some of the scientists from the research department had come to watch, as well as a few exorcists, namely Allen, Lavi and Leenalee.
"Seems like we've got an intruder or something." Komui shrugged, leaning back. But not everyone else could act so nonchalantly.
"AAAHHHH! Are you serious chief? That's a big deal if there's an intruder outside!" Reever shouted, leaning forward towards the display. He squinted at the figure before the doors of the Order. The person wasn't very tall or short, but probably of medium height. Whoever it was wore a sort of short dark blue cloak of some kind, with the hood drawn, and strange, black leggings.
"I'll take care of it."
All heads turned to the source of the voice to see Kanda, gripping his sword, the moody, angry look on his face the same as always. The researchers within his immediate vicinity backed away quickly. For some odd reason, Kanda had been in an even worse mood today than he usually was, and everyone was trying to stay out of his path.
"Well, er…we don't want them dead in case it's just some random person who happened to wander up here…I mean, we could just push them off the cliff…" Komui hesitated.
"Chief, if we pushed a normal person off the cliff, it'd kill them. Maybe just send Allen or Lavi-" Reever stopped when he looked up and saw that Kanda was gone.
"Oh…crap. That's not good." Reever said, running a hand through his hair. He pitied the poor idiot who had enough nerve to wander up the cliff and practically into their headquarters. He only hoped that Kanda didn't completely butcher the poor person.
"So…just saying if Kanda did kill him, what would we do with the body?" sixty-five asked tentatively. All eyes locked on sixty-five who shuddered "Well what? We all know Kanda's going to kill whoever it is out there!"
"…" the young woman hesitantly approached the large doors before her. On the doors there seemed to be a large, Stonehenge-ish like face.
'Who would live in a place like this? Where is this place anyway? Is it abandoned?' she wondered, heart pounding in her chest. She had been walking down a street to the local convenience store when her vision turned black and she lost consciousness, only to awaken in some strange forest.
"I wonder…" she looked up when she thought she heard something, and sure enough, she saw a young man standing on the rooftop, a sword slung over his shoulder, poised to leap down at her. She quickly backed away, suddenly scared.
Kanda narrowed his eyes at the intruder. He jumped down, narrowly missing the intruder. His modified body had no problem dealing with a leap that would kill or seriously injure a normal person.
"You're either stupid or gusty to waltz in here, Akuma. No matter which it is I'll still cut you open." Kanda growled, and lunged forward, Mugen bared and eager to shed blood. Kanda swung his blade in a wide horizontal arc, but the intruder's knees buckled, allowing the intruder to avoid being cut open at the chest. The intruder leaned back just as fast as Kanda had swung and struck out with their right leg.
Kanda jumped back and prepared for a second attack as the intruder caught their balance.
"I see you had impressive reflexes, Akuma, but why don't you come out and show me your true form." Kanda lifted Mugen and leaned forward on his right foot, preparing to leap forward and slice open his opponent when the intruder suddenly threw off their hood, revealing their face. It caught Kanda off guard, and when he looked at the person's face, he was slightly more shocked.
The person was a young woman, probably only a year younger than himself. She had semi-short cropped chocolate brown hair, reaching down to her shoulders, and fierce emerald green eyes. Her skin was fair, and from what Kanda assumed, she was probably slim and physically fit.
'Well, she is kind of cute…almost cuter than Leenalee…NOnonononononononononono…what the hell am I thinking? This could be an Akuma for the sake of…no…don't lose your focus Kanda. Don't let your guard down even a little…even though she is pretty cute.' Kanda thought, narrowing his eyes in aggravation. It wasn't often that he thought of girls as 'cute', though occasionally there'd be one girl here or there who was fair enough to catch his cold gaze.
"Why the hell did you just attack me with a freaking sword? What's your freaking problem?" the girl yelled at him, but Kanda raised his sword again and pointed it threateningly at her.
"Do you know where you are?" he asked menacingly.
"…No idea." she said apathetically. Kanda's frown deepened as he gave her a once over. He glanced behind him at the Gatekeeper.
"Gatekeeper, do a scan. See if she's Akuma or human." Kanda ordered, causing the Gatekeeper to open his eyes and scan the young woman. She lost her balance and fell back in surprise, staring up in a mixture of shock and slight fear at the Gatekeeper's huge stone face.
"Hey woman, what's your name?" Kanda asked as the Gatekeeper scanned her.
"My…why should I answer the person who just tried to kill me?"
"Because if you don't check out as human, I'll have a very good reason to slaughter you." Kanda threatened, raising Mugen a little more so that it gleamed eerily in the moonlight. But the young woman didn't seem to be easily intimidated by Kanda's threats. Rather, she seemed defiant, ready to fight him. Kanda had to admire that a little, whether she was Akuma or human.
"She's a human alright, one with Innocence in her body." the Gatekeeper informed Kanda as he opened up the large doors, granting access.
"What? Are you serious?" Kanda whipped around to face the Gatekeeper, but the stone face had already closed its eyes and was once again silent.
"What's your name?" Kanda questioned, turning back to the young woman.
"Lita. And yours?"
"Kanda. Now come with me." and with that, Kanda turned his back to Lita and proceeded into the castle. Lita hesitantly followed him, quickening her pace to keep up with his brisk one. She silently noted that Kanda didn't seem to be a very patient or emotional person, but rather stoic, cold, and composed. And something of a jerk. Oh yeah, definitely a jerk.
As Lita followed Kanda down the high arched hallways, and past a large circular area, in which the wide walkway wrapped around the walls of the circular architectural design of this part of structure, leaving a large empty space that went down more than several stories. Lita glanced down at what seemed like a void. She couldn't see the bottom of the immense hole, and wondered just what kind of building she was in.
'What a strange place I ended up in…I can only hope that whatever fate Kanda is leading me to, it won't be ill met. How did I even wind up here?' Lita thought nervously as she followed the quiet swordsman.
"Kanda, why did you accuse me of being a demon? And what's that 'Innocence' the strange face on the door mentioned?" Lita asked.
'Come to think of it…doors shouldn't have talking faces! Ah, where the hell is this place and who are these people? Wait…so far you've just seen Kanda, but naturally, given the immensity of this place, it's alright to assume…well, considering its size, this place could house an entire army. I just hope they're all not a bunch of moody samurai freaks like the one in front of me.' Lita thought, trying to envision the worst case scenario, and how she'd go about dealing with it. She had little luck with imagining how she'd escape.
"Your questions will be answered soon enough." he responded coldly.
"…" Lita debated on whether she should push it, trying to decide whether or not she should try to get any answers out of someone so dangerous and moody.
"I have no idea how I got here or where I am. Don't you think I should at least be told a little bit about this place and why the hell you tried to kill me!"
Kanda stopped dead in his tracks, almost causing Lita to walk right into his back. He whipped around and grabbed her wrist. His fingers were cold and hard, almost like that of a corpse's. Lita instinctively twisted her wrist out of his grip, and managed to grab his forearm and bring it into a position in which the bone threatened to break with a swift, strong movement. Lita froze as Kanda tensed, and after a few moments of high tension, she released him.
"Don't grab me like that. Ever." she glared at him, but inside she was shaken to the core.
Kanda returned the glare "If you're so persistent, then fine. Akuma are monsters created from human souls by the Black Order's enemy, the Millennium Earl. Akuma are defeated and slain with a power called Innocence. The Black Order which devotes itself to finding Innocence and defeating the Millennium Earl employs Exorcists, people who can sync with Innocence and use its power."
Kanda turned his back to her and started walking again. Lita still had some unanswered questions, but at this point, decided not to push it anymore. Kanda lead her past a large set of doors, and into a large, library like room in which there were many people with white coats.
One man was wearing all white, and Lita noticed that he had the same silver badge-like cross on his outfit as Kanda did.
"Well hello there, Lita! Welcome to the Black Order, the European branch. I'm assuming that Kanda told you a little bit about Akuma and what we do here, am I correct?" the man said energetically, catching Lita off guard a little after having dealt with Kanda, who was just quiet and moody.
"Yeah. He told me about the Akuma and the Black Order's purpose, but-"
"Oh good! That saves some time right there. Well, since we know that you have some Innocence in you, you're qualified to become an Exorcist! Congratulations! Of course, you're given a choice of whether or not you want to become an Exorcist, and we'll give you some time to think about it…"
"Well…um, actually, I'm a…I have no idea how I ended up here in the first place."
"Wait…what?" the man pushed his glasses up, and inspected her as if he were seeing her for the first time.
"I was just walking somewhere, and suddenly I lost consciousness, and when I woke up I was in the forest outside of here." Lita explained nervously, feeling uncomfortable under all the stares.
"Hm…perhaps it has something to do with your Innocence. Well, whatever the case is, we ought to have Hevlaska take a look at you. Oh, how rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself yet! I'm Komui Lee, Branch Chief of the European Branch. Now then, shall we get going? Just follow me." Komui smiled, then turned and walked out of the room. Lita followed him as he led her to a break in the large hollow circle, and onto a lift that looked like a tetrahedron turned upside down with railing.
He walked over to what looked like a control panel and touched something, sending the bluish upside down pyramid-like lift down into the dark. As they descended, Komui began to talk to her.
"As you can see, our headquarters is somewhat large, so if you do decide to stay, I'll tell you now it's easy to get lost. Why in fact when I first came here, I got lost all the time and caused those who knew their way around quite a bit of trouble, hehehe…but on a different topic, Hevlaska, who stores and keeps Innocence in her body, will merely do a quick, painless check to see what kind of Innocence you have-ah! I suppose Kanda didn't tell you that there are certain kinds of Innocence, did he?"
"Um, no-"
"Well then, I might as well tell you now! There are two types of known Innocence which Exorcists use- Parasitic type Innocence, and Equipment type Innocence. Parasitic Innocence is the kind of Innocence that lives inside a host's body, giving that person a natural anti-Akuma weapon. Some but not all are born with it, and it's quite rare. It appears that you would host a Parasitic type Innocence, according to the Gatekeeper's scan." Komui explained, but then he saw the look on Lita's face.
"Oh, don't worry, despite the name, Parasitic type Innocence isn't harmful at all-well, Parasitic type Exorcists have been known to live several years less than non-Parasitic types due to how much energy the Innocence in your body is always using to sustain itself, but other than that there's nothing bad about Parasitic type Innocence." Komui smiled happily.
'…This guy is crazier than Kanda…though Kanda wasn't really crazy, just dark and moody, and a bit antisocial. Well, probably more than a bit…' Lita thought as she glanced to the side, but then returned her focus to Komui.
"The other type, Equipment type, is like Kanda's sword, Mugen. Rather than inhabiting the Exorcist's body, this Innocence inhabits a weapon or some kind of inanimate object which can only be used by a certain person-its Accommodator. This is the more common form of Innocence used by Exorcists, though mind you, Exorcists don't choose Innocence-Innocence chooses them, which is why we have Finders and other Exorcists traveling, searching for Innocence across the world. Innocence can inhabit people, animals, plants, and objects, and as the Black Order, it's our job to find and protect all the pieces of Innocence out there, so as to keep it safe and use it in our battle against Akuma and the Millennium Earl." Komui finished explaining, just as the lift came to a stop in front of a large, glowing, feminine being.
Lita looked up, and felt a little bit of fear well up in her chest as she laid eyes upon the strange creature. She could think of no others words to describe the glowing, large figure covered in hair-like tendrils, and covered so heavily that most of its face, if not all save for the lips, some of the nose and mouth, was obscured completely.
"This is Hevlaska. She stores the Innocence found in the world by Exorcists and Finders in her body for safekeeping. She can also repair and check Innocence synchro rates. The higher your synchro rate, the more powerful your Innocence is." Komui explained once again. Lita could not speak, partially out of having no idea what to say to such a being without feeling stupid or foolish, and partially out of nervousness.
"…" Hevlaska reached out with her tendrils, and began to wrap then around Lita, but she fought them off, and glared at Hevlaska.
"I'm sorry, but the only way I can check your Innocence is through touch." Hevlaska explained, and then reattempted to wrap her tendrils around Lita, but this time she did it more slowly, hoping that it would help in not aggravating the young woman as before. Lita tensed visibly when Hevlaska grabbed her with her tendrils, lifting her off the lift platform.
A single tendril extended toward Lita's face, and Hevlaska rested it on the young woman's forehead.
'Agh…no…something's…trying to get inside my head…' Lita grew alarmed and resisted the strange, probe-like feeling that was at the verge of her mind.
'I'm sorry about this as well, but this is part of the procedure. I promise I'll try to be as quick as possible so as not to view your memories or emotions and thoughts.' a voice from the edge of Lita's mind said. It sounded distant and not very clear, as if there was static interference, but Lita could still hear Hevlaska's voice nonetheless. After a minute of hesitating, Lita lowered her guard and allowed Hevlaska in. True to her word, Hevlaska checked her Innocence as quickly as possible, trying to avoid touching upon Lita's memories and inner thoughts. Hevlaska set Lita back down on the lift, and let go of her before addressing Komui.
"This girl's Innocence…is somewhat strange. I cannot determine what type it is, or what form it takes. Too me, it seems like pure, raw power inside of her, but buried deep down inside. I have no idea what her synchro rate is either, but I can tell at least from the amount of power inside of her, that it must be very high." Hevlaska told Komui, who seemed to think it over for a moment before shrugging.
"Well nothing more can be done then." he then turned to Lita "It's your choice whether you want to join the Order or not. Exorcists are well paid and the Order takes care of all travel expenses, and in addition, you get a free room here to stay. Though, due to the nature of an Exorcists job, those outside the Order can know little to nothing about you, effectively cutting ties with almost everyone from your life, save for anyone in the Order. But no matter what you decide to do, we won't force you to join."
"On an interesting note," Hevlaska suddenly said "this girl is not from our time period, but from the future."
"…" complete silence fell upon all space within their vicinity.
"Wait…what…year…is it?" Lita asked shakily.
"…1895. It's January 6th, 1895." Komui responded after some delay.
"…"