A re-written version was due. :)
As always, Enjoy.
Disclaimer- D.Gray-Man and all its characters belong to Hoshino Katsura. No Profit was made from writing this story, I own nothing but the tale of the blue knight, the plot of this story, fictional Venice, Italy, and the towns people themselves.
The Blue Knight
"The Knight's bones are dust, And his good sword rust; His soul is with the saints, I trust." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A lone figure walked down the silent dark aisle of a church. As he walked, his boots echoed through the church each time he stepped. It had come to his conclusion that perhaps it was time to take on his true responsibility to its fullest. He sighed as he removed his hood, revealing long locks of raven hair, and stared at what he held in his hands; a sword. He knelt down on his knees, holding out his sword as though giving an offering, and looked up at the rose cross above him.
"I believe it's time I've accepted my destiny."
An essence of blue glowed off the sword almost immediately after he had released his words.
Innocence
Chapter 1
He kept a stiff posture throughout the whole bandaging. He had never asked her for any help, and yet here she was, helping him when he didn't need it. Through all the protest, he'd just give in to her every word, and to be honest, he found that quality of hers quite annoying.
"Kanda, you know better than to just run off. That's the whole point of us going on the mission together." Although she had been behind him, he could already imagine the face she must have had on; pissed. Her tone had been harsh with a hint of worry.
But more harshness.
She continued bandaging him up as he remained silent. He felt her warm finger tips brush against his back where the Akuma had managed to scratch him, leaving a deep wound as proof. As much as he would have liked her to quit mothering him, to his dismay, he actually liked it. As he began shaking off the weird sensation he received by her touch, her face had been a few inches away from his.
"All done." She smiled, as if forgetting what she had said to him before. "But you still haven't commented on what I said." He wasn't that lucky.
"Lenalee, what exactly do you want me to say." He furrowed his brow; who did she think she was scolding him like that, his mother?
Sighing, the girl restrained herself from hitting him, wondering where her clipboard was when she needed it. "Nothing Kanda, I just hope that you don't repeat this, the finders and I were worried where you ran off to. This is Venice. I haven't been here long enough to search for you without getting lost. And guess what? I did get lost…" She paused; violet eyes met with gray ones. "And if it weren't for you coming towards me out of nowhere, I would have been worse off outnumbered."
"And I receive a scolding after." He snapped, the stare beginning to intensify between the two. He hadn't known when their eyes had decided to act as if they were stuck, or if this was a type of "who backs-out first" kind of thing.
"YUU-CHAN!" Startled at the noise, the two quickly turned to look who had so carelessly entered, without even knocking. The door had slammed open; entering Lavi, bookman jr.
Of course, they should have known, only Lavi would do that.
"Yo! You guys have been gone far too long, Komui had assumed the mission had been more difficult than planned, so he sent us." The boy grinned, perhaps proud of the way he entered. Behind him was Allen Walker, the British boy.
"Allen-kun!" She grinned as she dashed toward the boy and embraced him.
As the two began to catch up, Lavi walked towards where Kanda was and took a seat next to him on the made bed. Kanda had taken a glance at the two, and looked at Lavi.
"So…what went on here?" Lavi arched his brows up and down.
"Don't be stupid."
"I mean your shirts off, and you two were in the room on a bed…alone."
Kanda picked Muugen up and glared at the red-head, his warning given.
--
He hadn't known exactly what they were all doing. It was pointless. Instead of tracking down the possible innocence in the city, they were wasting time that they would never get back, "sight-seeing". He hadn't found anything at all that amusing. All he saw were boats and water… lots of water. The day had been sunny and much to his dismay, the day was young. He silently groaned in annoyance. Things always managed to get worse for him whenever that Moyashi managed to appear.
Just to have that thing in his presence had been unpleasant. Now he was "sight-seeing" with him. He had been officially convinced that someone up there hadn't liked him.
"Lenalee, look at the gondola!" The Moyashi exclaimed while pointing at the boat.
'So that's what they're called.' Kanda glanced at the boat Walker had pointed too. It wasn't all that special ether, it looked just like the rest of them.
Lavi hadn't looked as amused as he was a while ago and with an attempt to lift his boredom, he glanced toward a crowd of people. "What's all the commotion going on there?" Curiosity got the best of him, and they all followed, even Kanda.
--
"COME ONE, COME ALL! THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE BLUE KNIGHT'S FESTIVAL! THE PREPERATIONS WILL SOON BE COMPLETED! SOON WE MAY ALL CELEBRATE ON THE DAY OF HIS BIRTH, TO HONOR HIS HEROIC DEEDS TO THE CITY OF VENICE, AS PROTECTER OF THE POOR. BUT MOST OF ALL, FOR HIS GREATEST DEED OF ALL, HIS SACRIFISE FOR THE PRINCESS OF ITALIA, AND THIS WONDERFUL CITY WE ALL CALL HOME, VENESIA!!"
Cheers roared throughout the crowd, ranging from young children to elders. All faces had brightened but one. He moved into the center and protested, "If you call a knight who stole the princess from the prince's arms a hero, you must be crazy!" as he began, all cheers had halted, and smiles had turned into frowns. "He was a fraud I tell you!"
There were gasps heard throughout the crowd. Undoubtedly this knight had at one point been a symbol of hope to the city and its towns.
"Of course, the Prince was rotten and evil!" The elder man who had announced the festival angrily reacted.
"Well I for one believe none of you peasants should celebrate. He's been dead for 100 years! Good riddance I say!" The man shook his fist, glaring at all who dared to celebrate such a stupidity. "A thief was all he was! And to whom the riches his hands stole went to? All of you poor bastards!" With that, the man who had protested against the Blue Knight's honoring had marched off. The crowd hadn't looked very pleased due to the bashing of their hero, but faces were lifting as they laid eyes on a certain exorcist.
"My my, why young man…could it be? The blue knight? It couldn't possibly be! He's…he's alive!" The elder man had placed his shaking hand on Kanda's cheek, as a manner of making sure he hadn't been imagining things.
Kanda's instinct had reacted as he removed the old man's hand away from his face. He eyed the crowd that had suddenly formed a circle, him being the center.
The adults of the crowd that had gathered around Kanda had looked at him as if they had been hallucinating while the children looked at Kanda in awe and admiration due to the tales they were told of their hero. The exorcists looked at Kanda in surprise, while Kanda himself was annoyed with the people around him. Hadn't they heard what the other man had said a while back?
The knight is dead, and has been down under for 100 years.
He couldn't believe the crazy old man's words. Him, being accused of being this so called "Blue Knight"? Everything the man had described of The Blue Knight had been the complete opposite of him. He hadn't recalled stealing for the poor, or living for 100 plus years. And when was he born, just yesterday? They were honoring a dead guy, as in, not living anymore. How could they possibly assume such a stupidity?
"Oh my goodness, it is him! Our hero has returned!" The elder had completely ignored the fact that Kanda slapped his hand away, and embraced Kanda."Our knight has returned!"
Kanda twitched as the crowd cheered. They all wanted to touch what they believed had been their hero, as a reassurance that he had finally returned. These people were crazy, and it didn't help that the exorcists began to giggle.
At the moment, his conclusion of them all had been simply moronic.
--
"Thank you for allowing us to come to your home Mr…" Lenalee trailed off considering he hadn't introduced himself yet. The elder man had literally begged them to come to his home; they themselves introduced themselves while he failed to do so.
"Oh excuse me Miss Lenalee, it was very rude of me to not introduce myself to you all yet! Well, I am Alberto Lombardi! It's a pleasure to have you all in my home!" He grinned as he fiddled with his dark mustache. He had the appearance of what most people would assume an Italian man would look like, he had an aging mustache, accompanied by a white beard, fairly short, a tad chubby, a full head of gray hair, and he happened to have a certain vibe added to him. His grin revealed his aging features.
"Yes, Mr. Lombardi, thank you for the invitation to dinner!" She smiled in gratitude. Alberto had by then held her seat out so that she could sit. They all took a seat, minus Kanda.
"Yuu! Take a seat! You're being rude!" Lavi patted the chair next to him in an attempt to get him to sit. In return, he received a glare from Kanda, who had ignored his plea to sit.
"Now Mr. Kanda, please excuse my reaction to your striking resemblance to the blue knight. My apologies to the embarrassment! Our town has been receiving strange happenings as of lately. The whole town to be honest is going through a depression era, and we need our hero back, it was just reaction my boy…" He took a glance at them all, "And you all must be the exorcists sent for the mission."
"How did you know?" Allen's eyes widened. He hadn't expected the man to know they were exorcists, they had been dressed in simple clothes, and they in no way had resembled that they were exorcists.
"Well Mr. Exorcist, when you're as old as dirt, you can just tell." He smiled. "I may not be an exorcist myself, but I have seen things throughout the ruins of this city that I believe no human should ever witness."
"What happened?" Lavi edged on his seat, intrigued that this man with no innocence in hand, has lived to tell his tale of a possible encounters with Akuma.
He sighed as he stood from his seat, "My boy, it's hardly of any importance for the time being." The tension in the room had lifted as soon as Alberto announced, "Who's up for some food?" Everyone but Kanda had dismissed Alberto's failure to answer, and Kanda found himself grabbed by Lavi to take a seat.
"Food!" Allen exclaimed in joy as he eyed the food, a few sparkles surrounding what was considered heavenly to the British boy. It was an extravagant sight, everything from spaghetti to Italian bread. The aromas lifted in the air, triggering drool from them all.
Kanda glanced at the food, and eyed Allen. He dismissed the moyashi's stupidity, and found himself eyeing what resembled soba, only dry and reddish. What it was he actually wasn't sure of, and he was slightly timid of trying it. Ever since he had found his love in Soba that was about all he ate. Lenalee quickly noted, and giggled and Kanda's hesitation.
"What?" Kanda asked the girl that had been sitting in front of him, giggling like there was something to giggle at. Allen and Lavi at the time had been talking about something that had been drained from Kanda's ears; all he heard was Lenalee's girlish giggles.
"You're scared of spaghetti." She smiled as she slurped her own spaghetti. Before Kanda could snap back at her, Alberto cut in, seriousness was in his voice.
"Now, exorcists, I ask of you all a favor." He started as he watched them all turn towards him. "I believe that you can all be of use here for your mission, and I would be honored if I could be of any assistance." He smiled as he continued, "We'll need you all to verify whether or not this deals with innocence…" Alberto paused once more and turned to Kanda, "That is where you come in, Mr. Kanda."
A/N- As promised, a re-written version of this story has arrived. I hope that there aren't as many mistakes this time, and I hope that if you start reading, you'll see it through the end, as I will write it through until the end.
Reviews are always Appreciated.