It started out as a normal day in the Order. Well, as normal as it can get. Which isn't very much so. Kanda was meditating in his room, Allen and Krory were training, Lenalee was serving coffee to the science department., and Lavi and Miranda were out on a mission. Hevlaska had sensed two new potential exorcists in a small town in France and the Order had sent Lavi and Miranda out to retrieve them.
Lavi was asking people around the small town about the two exorcists, but didn't get a lot of information. Everyone kept saying that they had never heard of any people like that and to leave them alone.
"M..maybe they've left?" Miranda said as they neared the last few houses. Lavi sighed.
"Unlikely. They've lived here for a few years now, why would they suddenly just get up and leave? No, they're still here. Somewhere." There were about four houses left that they hadn't checked, and Lavi was certain the pair were in one of them.
The first house was a failure. An old couple lived there, and Lavi was 90% sure they weren't it. The 10% was up for debate.
The second house was also a failure. A newlywed couple lived there, and when they opened the door it was obvious Lavi was bothering them. Their clothes and hair were disheveled, and their faces appeared kind but their eyes contained well-concealed annoyance. The female's lipstick was smeared, and the faded color on her lips was also smudged along the man's jawline, lips, and neck. Dark, round bruises littered the woman's neck, and her mostly-bare-but-obviously-not-previously lips were lightly bruised. They did not seem to be the innocence users, and Lavi did not wish to be in the presence of the pair any longer, so he excused himself quickly and moved on to the next house.
The redheaded male had no more luck with the third house, as nobody answered. He decided to come back to it later, and moved on to the fourth house. A single mother, her two daughter, and her only son lived there together. They also weren't the innocence users, so that left the third house.
As he returned to the third house, he heard loud screaming coming from the interior.
"I TOLD YOU CENTRAL WOULD FIND US SOMEDAY!"
"Ohmygod shhhh calm down they'll hear! You're going to give away the fact that we're here!"
Lavi walked straight up to the door and knocked loudly so it could be heard over the screaming.
Various curious noises were heard from indoors, as well as a few slamming of doors. No one came to the door for a solid 10 minutes before Lavi kicked the door open. He knew this was the house for sure. Especially since people were avoiding the damn door like idiots instead of answering and trying to act normal.
"I know you're in here! Come out come out wherever you are!" Miranda and Lavi split up, each member of the pair looking for the two occupants. They could still hear the faint sound of them arguing, however, they couldn't find them.
"Where the hell are they?!" Lavi said, sighing in exasperation. Just as he said that, the floor caved underneath them, and Lavi fell on top of something soft, hearing a yelp of pain.
"OOOWWW! MY SPINE!"
The masculine voice was followed by a softer voice laced with concern and barely audible panic. "Lucy, are you okay?!" Quiet footsteps approached in rapid succession before the soft voice sounded once again, this time sounding slightly frightened and somewhat aggressive. "Who are you and what do you want with us? Get off Lucy!"
Lavi's eyes finally focused on the figures within the rather dark tunnel. Mostly orange hair caught his attention, and before he could get a look at the person to whom the hair and soft voice belonged, he was knocked over by a somewhat small body that resulted in the male below him being freed from his weight.
The teen that Lavi had fallen on -didn't the soft voice call him "Lucy"?- was quickly helped up by the short redhead who had not yet been associated with any sort of name.
"Are you okay?!" he, Lavi decided, asked again.
"Yeah, didn't need my spine anyway!" Lucy responded. As Lavi's eyes adjusted to the darkness of the basement and his head stopped spinning from the force that was used to knock him over, he noticed that Lucy had rather colorful hair; pink with streaks of blue. Very unique, bright, and noticeable, unlike the other's slightly feminine male's more natural hair color.
Lavi laughed and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Heh, sorry 'bout that! I took the definition of 'dropping by' way too seriously, haha!" No one laughed for a good minute before Lucy started laughing hysterically. The unnamed redhead sort of just smiled and held in his laughter, facepalming a little at the terrible but undeniably funny joke. He unintentionally let out a snort that thoroughly painted his cheeks red in embarrassment, and Miranda just stood there, not getting the joke at all.
"That's good one!" Lucy said, his laughter petering off, "Now, get out."
"Whoah, hold on there! We finally found you, we're not just gonna leave! You don't even know why we're here!" Lavi argued.
Unnamed rolled his eyes. "Obviously you're here for us, but we'd like to keep living here where we're happy."
Lavi sighed. "Listen guys, Central really needs new recruits. We're losing exorcists faster than we find them these days. We need your help. C'mon, how do you know you won't like being an exorcist?! And Central is like a home too, I'm sure you'll love it!" Lavi grinned, but the only response he got was a flinch from Lucy and unnamed patting Lucy on the shoulder.
Unnamed shook his head. "No, we-"
"Sure, why not." replied Lucy with a straight face, effectively cutting off unnamed. Unnamed quickly turned his attention to his companion, practically giving himself whiplash in the process. "Lucy, what do you mean? I don't want us to go to someplace like that…" His green eyes were wide in surprise at Lucy's response to them; he expected him to deny their request. Especially after all Lucy had been through, surely he would've said no!
Lucy gave a small smile, yet it carried many emotions behind it. "It'll be fine, don't worry! I'll protect you."
"That's not what I'm worried about! What…"
"It'll be fine, Remy." Lucy emphasized. Lavi knew something else was going on here, but felt it wasn't in his best interests to pry into their private matters. As long as it didn't endanger the order, they could keep their little secrets for now. Remy sighed in defeat.
"Fine." He turned to Lavi, "We have to get our things together, we'll meet you outside in an hour." Lavi nodded and he and Miranda climbed out of the basement and upstairs, leaving through the front door. Remy and Lucy went to their shared room. As soon as they both got into the room, Remy closed the door just in case the two exorcists decided to eavesdrop.
"Lucy…"
"Don't say it, I know." Lucy said, turning to Remy with a smile.
"But who know's what'll happen there! What if they recognize you?! Think of what they would do to you again, Lucy!" Remy pleaded with him.
Lucy smiled. "Don't worry so much, Rem! They'd never know it was me. Now, let's get to packing!" And they did. After about an hour, they had their possessions together and went outside to the waiting exorcists. Lucy smiled at them. "Let's go."