I don't own DGM. If I did, I wouldn't be here, would I?
Summary: As everyone huddled around the fire in their ragged cloaks and clothes, two little boys walked up to Lavi unsteadily. 'Tou-san, please tell us a story.' Lavi closed his eyes, and smiled with bitter wisdom, like a war veteran retelling the story of a battle. "Alright. If you want a story, you'll have one."
Lavi shuddered against the cold, and wrapped his cloak around himself tighter. The wind, though, still invaded into what precious little warmth he had. He leaned more into the sleeping figure next to him, and ran his fingers through the long black hair.
A few feet away, soft crunches were heard as Allen snacked on half-frozen tree bark from hunger. Lenalee was nearby, trying to find some food for everyone that had some nutrition. Her brother hovered around, looking on with pain and helplessness.
Snow continued to fall steadily, and soon, everyone gathered into a circle around a small fire.
"Lavi, why can't you just use Heaven Seal and change this damned weather…?" Kanda groggily whispered, and unwillingly drew closer to the redhead. Everyone knew the answer though; they can't afford to use Innocence, or else they'd be caught.
A little boy walked up to Lavi unsteadily with another slightly older one. One had dull red hair, and the other a purplish blue. Both opened their mouths simultaneously.
"Tou-san, please tell us a story."
Lavi drew both boys near him, and they sat near their father. He put on a practiced smile for the two children.
"What kind of story?"
The two just shrugged. The message got through, though. Any story would make the mood that much better.
Lavi closed his eyes, and smiled with bitter wisdom, like a war veteran retelling the story of a battle. "Alright. If you want a story, you'll have one."
"Hmm….well, to begin this story with 'long ago' would be too cliché, but that's what it was. A long time ago, there was this organization that gathered holy troops for a war against a very formidable foe. These troops were special and chosen by God, but because of that, they were shunned by the ones that weren't. Despite this, they managed to defeat this foe once, although not for all."
"Everyone lived in peace and happiness for a long time, until that foe appeared again, stronger than ever. The organization started gathering holy troops again, but this time, numbers ran a bit low. They started to become desperate and created troops for themselves to use, but that resulted in a terrible accident that nearly killed the whole organization. Things didn't look so good for the organization."
"Alma! Alma, what're you doing?!" Kanda cried out, and rushed over to see what happened. Alma had this crazed, dazed look in his eyes and a bloodthirsty grin plastered on his ashen face. In his hand, he held someone's heart that was still beating.
On closer inspection, bodies and body parts were scattered everywhere. Lenalee was also screaming in a corner for Alma to stop. He did not, but instead turned around…and attacked Kanda. Blood splattered from the stab wound, and Kanda stared at his 'best friend' with wide eyes. What had happened?!
The two children listened to this story with wide eyes. It seemed to be a little familiar, but they had not really heard of this before. Their father continued.
"The organization started begging more and more people for help to fight this foe. They started to grab orphans and children of the troops to see if they could fight as well. The organization slowly corrupted, but nothing could be done. Then, one day, a boy around 15 years old came into the organization doors. He proved to be the best soldier in the entire holy army, and led the organization to victory after victory. Things had never looked better."
Many whispers spread through the Order about the Destroyer of Time, the exorcist that would finally end this war. It was nearly unbelievable- he was only fifteen years old, and yet he had the enthusiasm of a general! Whenever he came home from a mission, it was bound to be a success. Everyone started recognizing this boy as the key to victory, whether they wanted to or not.
A shadow crossed Lavi's face as he paused, either in remembrance or for dramatic effect. The red-haired boy tugged on Lavi's ragged scarf, urging him to continue.
"But…the boy soldier had a secret. He, deep inside, had something that was the same as the opponents', and the organization started to fear him. At first, everything was fine, but slowly, officials started to suspect him, then all the holy soldiers. However, they couldn't do anything; they needed their soldiers to fight. While the holy troops continued to fight, the organization secretly created another army of soldiers that were half human and half…not. These were also put into service alongside the original soldiers."
Behind the closed oaken doors, suspicious mutterings could be heard. Occasionally, one voice would raise and drown out the rest, but mostly it was muted whispers. As of the science department employees passed, they shook their heads in regret of what was to come. They had no heart to tell the exorcists, except to tell them to fend for themselves. No one could or would help them now.
Allen, who had been too busy gnawing on tree bark, stopped and tuned in as well with a look of pained remembrance on his face. Lenalee had a similar expression.
"Before anyone noticed, the new army's soldiers started to replace the original ones more and more. Whether it was because there weren't enough soldiers from the old army left, or that there were more new, no one knew for sure. The number of the original soldiers dwindled down to a mere handful, but that handful was still feared and shunned by the organization. By then, the opponent was being put down slowly but surely."
"The opponent's forces were all but gone after a while. Because there were small pockets of the opponent's troops still alive, the original soldiers were kept with the organization. However, as the opponent started to disappear more and more, the organization thought that the original troops were useless and should be banned. Also, there had been rumors of…people loving people of the same gender, like a man loving another man, in the original troops. Rumors of children from these people were also heard, and pure terror filled the ordinary peoples' hearts. The suspicions and fears had reached a breaking point, so the organization's officials gathered together and cooked up a plan."
Lavi heard his name being called by some random official and quickly hid Kanda behind a curtain. If he was discovered now, he'd be toast. However, the official wasn't fooled.
"What is that…thing behind the curtain?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
"U-um, sir, it's Lenalee. Something caught onto her top, and it ripped. She's hiding here until Miranda comes back with the spare," Lavi improvised, hoping that it'd work. For emphasis, he stuck his hand under the curtain and dragged out a lock of black, silky hair. Kanda remained deathly quiet as the official and Lavi continued to battle each other with excuses, civil words, and glares.
Eventually, the official backed off. "I'm reporting this to Louvelier. If this happens again, I will peel back that curtain and see if you are lying or not, even if there is an indecent woman behind there."
As his footsteps faded for good, Kanda snuck out from behind the curtain with black rage marring his features.
Lavi grimaced as Kanda, now fully awake, elbowed him harshly. The Asian leaned close to Lavi's ear and hissed, "Don't make this story too gory, or the kids will never sleep, baka usagi." Lavi meekly nodded, and rubbed his ribs where he got elbowed.
"One day, all of the original soldiers were called to a meeting. They were all gathered inside a huge room underground, with no exit except several small windows. At first, no one knew what was going on, but soon, the new soldiers started pouring in from everywhere. They started attacking for no reason, and in the confusion, the handful of original soldiers were slaughtered off to just a few. It was a true bloodbath, and many innocent lives were ended that day."
"Timothy!" Lenalee screeched, and watched as the boy was torn apart and swallowed up by the deep chasm along with Bookman and someone's arm. Blood splattered the gray stone walls of the dungeon as more and more bodies were torn apart.
From behind her, she heard Allen's Crown Clown clash with a few of the Third Exorcists.
The world was ending. It had to be. Why did the Black Order suddenly order their assassination?!
Lavi looked up and saw Komui covering the blue-haired boy's ears, while the red-haired boy simply kept staring at Lavi unwaveringly.
"The organization was done using the original troops, and out of fear and suspicion, like the Jewish people of the days past, they were slaughtered. However, one part that didn't follow their plan was that the remaining soldiers were extremely powerful and managed to stay alive. In the middle of the night, with extreme caution, they escaped. In total, nine people escaped that night."
Being trained to do so, Lavi kept a blank and straight face as he told these tragic events. Lenalee started to cry silently into Allen's shoulder from the pain of recollection. A stray tear gathered on Kanda's eyelashes as well, but the wind blew it away.
"That wasn't the end of the troubles though for those nine people. The organization was furious that they did not die, and sent out wave after wave of assassins to kill them. Each time, the assassins were the ones killed, but because they told the entire world about those nine people, they were wanted everywhere and considered criminals everywhere. They could not find a safe place to even buy a loaf of bread to eat."
Lavi supported a limping and exhausted Kanda as they walked along the woods on the outskirts of a town. It's been days since any of them ate anything. Miranda, though, was in an even worse condition. Because her arm had been torn off, she got an infection that soon spread out of control. Marie had tried his best to help, but he, too became ill.
Lenalee stopped crying for a moment and glanced toward town. She took Mugen, which had been hanging limply from Kanda's hand, and slashed her long hair short again before stepping boldly towards the marketplace. With this pitiful disguise, she hoped that she would not be caught. The two children, who had no idea what happened recently, were fast asleep. Everyone collapsed against the trees, too weak to call Lenalee back.
Soon, she walked back with a two loaves of bread. As she broke off pieces for everyone to eat, a loud and feral scream was heard from town. The citizens had gathered up pitchforks, clubs, and whatever else they had on hand and was heading in their direction.
"I'll distract them!" Lavi screamed, and took out Ozuchi Kozuchi. "You guys run!" Lavi used a Heaven Seal to induce a blizzard that distracted the civilians while everyone else escaped raggedly.
"They kept running and killing, but two of the people who escaped had died along the way. To this day, they are still running, but this isn't a complete tragedy. Although they are shunned by the rest of the world, they always have been, and they still have each other for support. One day, maybe when you two grow up, the organization will realize how stupid it's been and want to apologize and forgive, but until that day, the holy soldiers will have to keep running and eluding."
Lavi smiled blankly again before being bonked on the head with a piece of chewed-up bark.
"Lavi, I thought you were a better storyteller than that. You built up all that drama, and then you don't wrap it up. For shame!" Allen mocked disappointment and exaggerated a disproving scowl.
Lavi plucked the sticky, slimy bark from his hair and threw it back at Allen with a grimace of equally fake disgust. "Eeugh, Moyashi, don't share spit. I don't want mono."
Allen just stuck his tongue at Lavi and chucked another piece of bark at him.
While the two had a bark fight, Kanda went over and lifted the little red-haired boy. "Don't listen to tou-san; his brain's impaired from all the bark being thrown at it," he said, and wrapped the few precious blankets around the child. The said child just giggled, and stared blankly at the gray sky as equally gray snowflakes fluttered down.
The blue-haired boy snuck over next to the red-haired boy as soon as Kanda had left, and lied down next to him on the snow. Soon, both were asleep, dreaming about the story they had just heard.
Kanda returned to where the rest of the former exorcists were huddling next to the fire. Allen's arms were wrapped protectively around a sniffling Lenalee, and Komui was trying to comfort her and murder Allen at the same time.
Lavi dragged Kanda down and sat behind him.
"Y'know, Yuu-chan, I wonder how long it'll take them to realize that the characters in the story are us."
The result of a day with no school, no internet, and a lot of squash.
Alright! Time to fill in some blanks!
The 'children of these people' mentioned up there somewhere are actually the two little boys. One is the son of Lavi and Kanda ~the red-haired one~ and the other is a son of Lavi and Komui ~the blue-haired one~. If you don't know who they are, then go to DeviantArt and look up 'Kandi Lavui Len'. You're sure to find something out there. Please don't flame for the nonexistent LavixKomui-ness!!!
And yes, mpreg implied, or, if you think of it this way, the kids were gifts of innocence.
The two that died were Miranda and Marie.
Please R&R! Thank you~
~Chuu-chan~