This story has a lot of mythology in it, so if you don't know what anything is I can add it into the story at the end, or explain what something is at the end. I don't mind people asking questions!
Definitions -
Jorōgumo: a type of Yōkai, of Japanese folklore, it is said to be a spider that can change its appearance into that of a seductive woman.
Manananggal: a vampire-like mythical creature of the Philippines. It is a malevolent, man-eating witch, believed to crave the blood of pregnant women.
If you guys have any creatures or mythology you want to see in my story leave a suggestion! I always appreciate new ideas.~ ^c^
Disclaimer: I own the story, the ideas, and all O(riginal)C(haracters) that are featured within. Should anyone wish to have their characters within my story then they will have their credits added as well.
I don't own D. Gray Man, if I did Chaoji and Levelier would die horrible deaths, and Kanda and Allen would be in a wonderful relationship battling the horrors of Humanity. But I don't, Hoshino-Sensei does, and she's doing a wonderful job.
Chapter 1 Ver. 00.03
"Kanda, Lenalee!" A red-headed male called out to the figures passing by under the shielded walkway. He watched as the purple-haired girl looked back at him, smiled, and waved, before turning to the man beside her. The male was noticeably displeased with the excitable rabbit's presence. He began to walk again. "Wait!" The red-head screamed as he tried to get his friends attention.
"Lenalee, tell me, again, why I have to entertain the Idiot Rabbit?" Kanda asked the purple-haired girl next to him.
"Kanda, stop being so anti-social. He hasn't even done anything to make you annoyed, yet!" Lenalee glared half-heartedly at her friend before turning to Lavi once again, waving to him to signal it that they heard him and they'd wait, "Besides, he may have something important to say for once."
"For once." Kanda repeated softly as he saw Lavi sprint towards them before tripping and falling face first in front of them. "What do you want Baka Usagi?"
"You...exam...forgot...familiar...pick..." Lavi gasped as he picked himself up off the floor, and gripped his knees trying to catch his breath in hopes of better explaining the direness of the situation to his confused friends.
Lenalee tuned in to the word "exam" and was able to translated, almost immediately, what message he was attempting to get across, "Oh my God! We completely forgot about our familiar spirit summoning exam today! I can't believe it slipped my mind! All of our classes have been discussing it since the beginning of the semester. But, wait, wasn't it next week?" Lenalee calmed down as she watched Lavi hop to attention with a proud and knowing smile.
"You were probably out sick when they announced the change of schedules. They said that the Stream was unusually strong this month, so they wanted to take advantage of the phenomenon for the sake of the first-timers. It'll make summoning strong familiars easier, even if someone has a weaker Aura." Lavi explained confidently, as if he was reading from a script. "Anyway, they are having the students meet, by class, outside at the Summoning Site, as they don't know for how long the Stream will be overflowing into this Realm."
Lenalee's face paled as Lavi's explanation went on. Realizing that when she tried to recall the many lessons given about the various ways to summon, and what one must do in order to use their Aura to get the best familiar for them, she was drawing a very lengthy blank. "I don't even remember what we learned in class! How are we going to make a contract now?!"
Hearing a sigh from beside her, Lenalee, and Lavi, looked at the quiet male. His face showed a distinct lack of interest in their current topic. "Why are we forced to summon a familiar? Not only is it dangerous, but it is, also, not necessary. We have our magic, so a pet, however magical, seems inconvenient if you ask me." Kanda said out-loud to no one in particular. Though the small glance toward Lenalee made it painfully obvious that, at least, some of his words were on behalf of her worries. "You can always ask the teacher to participate sometime later. You were sick the majority of the semester, so I doubt they expect you to know everything that was taught. Besides, you're the sister of that homicidal, sister-complex, maniac, so I don't think they even have the option to say no." He turned around, to the direction he was walking in before the idiot red-head decided to call out to them, and began walking to where he knew the Summoning Site was located. He hadn't forgotten about the importance of today. "How could I when every moment is spent with someone mentioning it…" A slip of the tongue, or a declaration of his annoyance, either way, Lenalee and Lavi didn't show any sign of hearing his parting words. Despite this, he knew they had wasted more time than allowed standing around and talking about something that they couldn't do anything about without being there. The others would follow, eventually.
Lenalee huffed at her older friend's attitude. "KANDA! A familiar spirit is important because they are meant to help develop our magic more than we could do alone, and protect us while we do so. So don't think a familiar spirit is useless, we need them just as much as we need power limiters!" She ran after the retreating male and jumped in order to hit said male on the head for his disrespectful attitude, before pivoting on her toes to Lavi as he ran to catch up, and slowed in time to the long-haired girl. "How much time do we have to prepare before the summoning?"
Hoping to divert the conversation from the building argument he could see approaching, Lavi excitedly jumped at Lenalee's question. "I just came from the announcement calling all first-timers to gather at the designated location. Though I can imagine that they'd, at least, give us a few minutes to get to the designated area from our class, so you could use that to go over what you know. I'll explain the generalities, and anything you still don't understand on the way." Lavi said offered as they turned forward to find that Kanda was waiting for them a few feet away where the walkway opens up into an open field, where large groups of students were already beginning to form.
As they spotted their group on the summoning grounds, with plenty of time to spare, Lenalee recapped the information Lavi had gone over. "So, all we have to do is call out the spell for the particular magic type we want, and channel our internal magic into the portal to summon our familiar spirit?"
"Yes, but remember, you may not get the familiar, or even the type, you want, but once the spirit comes through the summoning portal using your magic, it's your familiar spirit whether you like it or not." Lavi clarified. "Though you can always try again to get another familiar, the more you have the more dangerous it becomes for the master. It's extremely rare for even high-level magic users to have more than one spirit bound to them. So I suggest being happy with what you get." Lavi added with a tight smile. His eyes glazed for a split second as he seemed to be looking at something beyond Lenalee, however, it only lasted that small lapse in time, and even Kanda, who was good at seeing through concealed emotions, couldn't pinpoint the strange reaction from the usually cheerful rabbit.
This time Kanda spoke up, making Lenalee and Lavi jump. "There's no way to nullify a contract? That seems like the first thing Ancient users would have figured out. Hard to believe that everyone who has ever summoned got exactly what they want. Otherwise, they would have believed it was surefire..." The more the other two spoke, the more curious he became as to the processes surrounding the summoning and familiars, not so much the act itself - as there classes seemed to only care about the latter.
Lavi stared at the black-haired male before answering with a sigh. "I don't know. Nobody's ever tried to sever their contract once they've made one with a familiar spirit - for more than one reason - so no one knows if there is or isn't a way." He admitted that it all seemed a little strange, but as he saw their teacher gather the class together, he came to the conclusion to look into it a bit more on his own. "It's time, though, so let's get the show on the road, and see what we get!" His smile seemed to lift away the nervousness surrounding their small group, even as other students whispered their fears.
Even students, like Kanda, who came begrudgingly were beginning to feel the rush of excitement at the prospect of the unknown predictableness of everything.
"Now that everyone - who is present today - has gathered, and are all accounted for, we shall begin." The teacher's voice was calm and forceful as he spoke to his group. All other voices, even those from the groups next to them, seemed to disappear as the teacher continued. "As you all know this is a simple, yet dangerous, exercise that will affect your life forever. We will have healers, and sealers, on stand-by if anything is to happen that must be dealt with immediately. However, the hope still stands that such things will not occur this year." The teacher spoke with clear intent, even as the joke brought smiles to student's faces and their beings began to visibly relax, the seriousness was not lost on them. Not for a second.
"Teacher, what things should we look out for in case something begins to go wrong?" A small, female, student with shoulder-length, curly, blonde-hair asked timidly.
"Well, Aeval, things like the spell backfiring resulting in you, or your familiar, dying; you can accidentally summon a malevolent spirit; can send yourself across the portal; or your familiar can try to kill you to get out of the contract. That's why we always have to be careful when summoning a familiar spirit, especially for the first time."
"Can a familiar really kill its summoner?" Aeval whispered, terrified. She words died down into a soft whisper, making her already light voice even harder to pin-point amongst the chatter of the other classes.
The teacher gaze softened as he answered her without missing a beat. He's had this conversation many times before. "Yes, but breaking the contract forcefully by killing its summoner will also kill the familiar spirit, so it is rarely seen. But if a spirit familiar truly wants to get out of the contract to the point where they don't mind dying, they will not hesitate to destroy their summoner along with themselves." His eyes suddenly harden, revealing the secrets of his past - he's seen it all in time's past, despite this, his soft smile kept his words from being too harsh. He simply didn't want to watch anything befall his students when he knew that they could have been saved from simply knowing the whole truth of the matter. "Any more questions before we begin?" The teacher asked as Aeval cowered, returning to her previous place at the back of the class, her two friends tried to comfort her, but even with all the good intention behind the teacher's warning, damage had been done. With hope that it would prevent worse from occurring.
With no one willing to find out anything more about the dangerous task they were about to attempt, the group was filled with absolute silence in response to the question. "Then everyone shall spilt into groups of three or four and find an area far enough away from other groups, but still in sight of those on staff to help. I will give more instructions from there." The teacher stated calmly before walking away to speak with one of the casters on the sidelines.
"Don't worry guys, I know all there is to know about the exam so I can tell you everything in better detail than our teacher!" Lavi boasted to Kanda, and Lenalee, trying to soothe the returning tension in the air.
Once they found an area that was far enough away to be secluded, but close enough to be in helps reach, Lenalee voiced her fears aloud, "I know that they'll help us as much as they can, and I don't doubt your knowledge, Lavi, but anything can happen! What if I summon some horrible malevolent creature like a Manananggal? Or even a Jorōgumo? It could destroy the school! Or kill innocents if it manages to escape!" Lenalee's skin crawled at the prospect of being responsible for the deaths of innocent people who didn't even know about magic, and by such, the very monster that took away their lives. The thoughts rampaged in her mind as to the sheer terror they would feel in their final moments crying and screaming, forever wondering what killed them and why it was them that had to die at the hands of the unknown monster. She would be responsible for their suffering and all grief that came from their deaths...Would she ever be able to use magic again? Would she even be able to forgive herself...?
"Lenalee, stop being stupid." Kanda said nonchalantly. The young girl was akin to an enchanted open book - The words, tormenting her, could clearly be seen floating above her downcast face. "If anything like that happened, do you really think I would let the thing go free?" Kanda face was hard, but the emotion was not lost on her as he finished his "pep-talk".
"Kanda..." Lenalee looked at Kanda dumbfounded by the rare kindness he barely ever showed people. She smiled to herself knowing that it was something he retained for those he trusted, such as herself, and even Lavi.
Lavi stared at his two friends silently, before grinning and turning back toward the teacher who had positioned himself perfectly in the middle of his students so that his directions would be evenly spread throughout. The use of a magical spell that projected his voice clearly didn't hurt, either.
The teacher called for the exam to officially start.
Lavi turned to his friends to signal that he was stealing the show, as such they tuned out the teachers instructions and focused on the red-headed rabbit. "I'll go first to show you how to do it. Now, I'm looking for a familiar spirit that is of the same magic type as my dominant type, in other words the Aura that can be most noticeably sensed when I use typeless magic, so I'll be using a Fire Incantation. I do this because if the familiar is a compatible type then the magic I am best at will be boosted. You could always go for a familiar to boost your weakest element, but sometimes it only causes more issues as the familiar will be inaccessible to the caster when they most need them." Lavi walked a couple feet in front of his friends until he deemed it a safe distance to begin. "Remember. The familiar is not a simple "pet", if you wanted a magical companion that's only purpose was to look cute then you could buy one at the Pet Shop." As he spoke, and got into position, he turned to Kanda with a quirky smile.
The taller male grimaced at the jab in his direction, but, otherwise, ignored the rabbit's poor attempt at a joke. Lenalee, on the other hand, couldn't help but let out a short giggle to show Lavi it wasn't lost on the both of them.
"They are considered weapons used to enhance the master's magical abilities and to protect them while they grow as a caster, and as a team." Magic filled the air, as other teams had already begun their summoning, and as tempting as it was to look around to see how other groups were doing, Lavi had the stage - and their full attention. "However, the last part is often forgotten, as familiars are not always properly taken care of by their masters. It's widely believed that familiars are ONLY weapons, and, by such, do not need the caring a pet, or another living thing, requires. If a familiar dies, the caster can always get a new one. It is the familiar that has to see their master as their lifeline and treat them as such. This is NOT the case." Lavi was slowly enveloped in a red glow that shimmered and wavered whenever he raised his voice. It was a sore topic for any magic user, whether they agreed or not. "The master and their familiar are a TEAM and they have to respect each other with the same principle. The familiar did not ask to be bound in a contract to the caster, so the master has to treat them as something precious gifted to them. And although the familiar's life is tied to their master's death, that doesn't mean they should only go out of their way to help when the situation turns critical." Lavi took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
Lenalee noticed that the red-head's usually bright green eye had, also, begun to glow with a faint red hue. She smiled, unknowingly. It looked good on him…
She turned to see what Kanda's take on Lavi's words were, and she wasn't surprised by what she saw, necessarily, but more along the lines of how easily she saw it. Kanda was pissed. Not at Lavi's ideals of teamwork between caster and familiar, she knew this for fact, as Kanda constantly got into fights with other students whenever they brought up the fact that they were going to "use" their familiars for something the spirits were not intended for. It eventually got to the point where Kanda refused to even participate in the summoning as he couldn't see it as anything other than forcing another living thing into slavery. She was beginning to feel the same, but Lavi was able to place her back on the path after she consulted with him. He had told her that if everyone who valued familiars refused to get one, then only those who abused them would summon. Where would they be then? All she had to do was treat her familiar right, like another feeling creature. She knew Kanda had begun to fall on her side of the beam when she shared this view with him. He started to ignore the whispers behind his back, and took the studies more seriously, though he was still avoiding any conversations about the summoning itself. She turned to face Lavi once again - she saw Kanda's face light up with surprise and curiosity from the corner of her eye - and put her attention back to the summoning that was happening right in front of her. They would change the world's perspective with their treatment of their familiars. She knew her friends felt the same way.
"Ardet in anima ex me, tibi ex ignibus justo. Quo pacto apud te serviam me omnino cadet." Lavi chanted as the air around him became visible due to an extreme rise in temperature. "Nunc veni socius meus fidelis, et coniungere me eternaliter!" A small flame seemed to ignite from thin air. It slowly grew in size and heat, as the fire changed color. Red, orange, light blue...white. By the time Lavi was done chanting the spell the small lick of light had become a raging inferno before them. Lavi scrunched his face in what appeared to be pain, persperation was visible from the heat, but it was only for a moment before the fire ceased.
Lenalee stared in awe at Lavi's still frame, but it quickly changed to confusion then worry. "What's going on?" She glanced at Kanda, and found that he was also concerned for the lack of a familiar. She saw Kanda's hand twitch from its placement in the crook of his forearm. He uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. He didn't get far.
A sudden dispelling of wind forced their eyes closed, and when they opened them again, another shape could be seen on the ring of chard grass in front of Lavi - his familiar had appeared.
They waited for Lavi to give them the okay, but after a few minutes they quickly realized that Lavi was too absorbed in the fact that his summoning had worked to give much else thought to those that had been watching.
Giving him some more time, and discerning that it was, indeed, safe they slowly crept up on the crouching form of their friend to find out what he managed to summon, "What is it Lavi? Did you get what you wanted?!" Lenalee whispered at first, but when her friend stayed silent she let her excitement seep through as she tried peering over her friend's shoulder to see what he was leaning over.
Lavi's back rustled as he picked up the creature that had come through the portal. "It's amazing! Look!" He turned around so quickly he ended up twisting his legs over themselves and fell on his butt. Despite this, he excitedly thrusted his hands at his friends smiling from ear-to-ear.
Lenalee could only stare speechless with her mouth wide open.
Even, Kanda, who was notoriously hard to impress, was wide-eyed at the creature that would be Lavi's familiar, partner, friend and ally from that day on.
The thing in Lavi's hand was a baby dragon, the size equivalent to a lion cub. The dragon was a bright red color that matched perfectly with it's master hair, with accenting orange scales that gave it the illusion of being made of fire as it's scales rippled whenever it moved.
"Lavi, is that a...dragon? A baby dragon?!" Lenalee screamed, and almost tripped over herself as she made to hide behind Kanda, who had gotten over his shock, and was now studying the blue-eyed baby, without getting too close, in case it was only accepting of its master, as the majority of familiars tend to be.
Lavi was still showing the signs that he was star-strucked to have gotten such a powerful fire magic spirit, especially for his first time. "Yep! ...They really weren't joking around with the Stream, huh?"
Lenalee hopped out from behind Kanda and approached the grinning rabbit. He looked like a proud father, still unsure of how to hold his child. "Lavi, you're going to hurt it's arms if you keep holding it like that." She slowly reached out for the dragon, gauging whether or not it would attack her or lash out at her encroaching hands, when she was only greeted with a curious tilt of the head she deemed it safe. "See? You hold it like a baby…" She spoke softly, so as to not startle it, as she gently grasped the dragons from his sides, making sure to keep her hands away from his wings, and then cradled it with her arms so that it could comfortably rest.
Lavi stared mesmerized as Lenalee's uncharacteristic mother instincts kicked in. His excited grin soften to a loving smile, and anyone from the outside would think that the dragon was their actual baby, and that they were happily in love - with how they were treating it. Lavi was protective of the dragon, just as all casters are when they first get a new summon, but he felt at ease watching Lenalee hold his familiar. Nothing would befall either of them as long as they had each other…
Kanda didn't normally get when people, mainly the two in front of him, claimed that you could feel it in the air when someone was interested in another, and when that person reciprocated, or was completed oblivious. However, as he was standing there, slowly feeling more and more like he was intruding on something he had no business in, he was beginning to understand, if only slightly, what they meant. It was unpleasant to say the least...
Lavi only nodded absentmindedly at the purple-haired girl's question. "Yeah…" Snapping from his trance as Lenalee handed his familiar back to him he remembered that he had yet to comment on her earlier question about his familiar's race. "Even though it's a pretty common type of spirit among fire users it's pretty rare to get one as my first, especially one so young!" He glanced at Lenalee and then to his poor, forgotten friend. "Aren't I lucky?" Lavi then proudly gleamed as he softly petted the, now, sleeping dragon in his arms.
Lenalee's face hardened as she reprimanded her red-headed friend for being carefree at the dire implications of what he truly had. Lavi clammed up when he saw the previously soft, and gentle, girl turn serious. "Lavi, you, of all people, should understand the danger here! Dragons are very protective of their young due to the fact they only have one or two younglings a year, and a single dragon hatching barely, and rarely, ever survives to adulthood. The mother can find it's young no matter where it is, even if the scent is years old! It'll follow the baby's scent here!" Lenalee whispered urgently as she didn't want the teachers to come and investigate her screaming, especially considering they didn't have a good way of handling the situation at the moment. They had to be careful with how they managed the explanation. The familiars were expendable, the students irreplaceable.
Lavi nodded slowly in understanding before showing off an award-winning smile. "Don't worry about that, Lenalee. There is a protective barrier surrounding the school that keeps magical creatures out. The only way in is to be invited in by a powerful force inside the school, or through the summoning portals that can only be accessed here - at the Summoning Site, and it is always monitored and sealed, so we're safe even if the mother comes!" His smile grew even wider as he watched his dragon yawn, showing off it's small, razor-sharp teeth. In the back of his mind he realized that what he was saying was ridiculous, and Lenalee was right. But the high from getting such a rare familiar for his first time had him feeling like such a detail was so small it would disappear over time. His smile wavered, however, as he thought of the mother suddenly finding her child missing...Shaking his head he tried to keep such things out. He couldn't do anything even if the mother did come for her baby. They were bonded.
Seeing the sudden confliction on her friend's face Lenalee decided to drop the argument. He couldn't do anything about the dragon now that he was bonded with the child, and she didn't want to juggle the options that may be brought up to deal with the mother issue. "If you say so..." She sighed in defeat, but couldn't stay down forever, as the cute dragon curled in Lavi's hands brought about a smile, despite her ever present worry, "I must say, though, it's really small, even for a baby."
"Yeah, they go through a huge growth spurt before they're able to stay in adult form for an infinite amount of time." Lavi explained as he absentmindedly pet the baby. His answer was an unconscious act on his part as his mind was currently thinking of names that best fit his partner for life.
"Adult form?" Kanda intercepted the conversation, finding that if he didn't find a way in while they were talking about factual things, he would be stuck in the awkward grey area listening to them, while being thoroughly ignored.
"Yeah." Lavi looked around at the other groups and found that the teams that weren't talking, fawning over the previous person's familiar, or asking a helper questions, were already onto the second, and third, person in their group. No incident so far. "All details and questions about how to take care of familiars that weren't covered, for instance, species specifics, will be explained fully later on." Lavi turned to Lenalee, and waited for her to take in the other teams as well, before addressing the fact that, although they were given all day for the summoning, they wouldn't want to waste any more time. The Stream was unpredictable. "Lenalee, it's your turn!" Lavi exclaims, deciding the turn order without discussing wasn't his plan, at first, but seeing the reaction of the older male would be worth the beating. And right he was.
"What?" Kanda's head shot from examining the other groups and trying to tell what people got, despite the distance, to examine what was growing from Lavi's head that made him think that he had that kind of control. Without even thinking about how he really didn't care about the turn order, as they would all get to try summoning their familiar, the question was already past his lips. "Why does Lenalee get to go next?"
Lavi teased with an impish grin. "Why, Kanda, that would have to be because of the fact you didn't even WANT a familiar spirit, so Lenalee gets to go before you. Unless, of course, you no longer think having a PARTNER is a hassle. Do you?" He emphasized the replacement of "pet" with someone who you can trust to be with you, no matter what. The reaction was just what he was hoping for.
Kanda crossed his arms as his eyes flitted from Lenalee to Lavi, trying to gauge the seriousness of his question. "Of course not." Realizing that it really was pointless to argue about the order, and that he did say he wasn't interested in even summoning a familiar, he relented to the youngest of their group. "Lenalee can go if she wants. I just thought that she was still scared to go because of everything that could go wrong, and that she wanted another example of how to do it." Kanda mumbled while looking away, unwilling to accept the fact that he was intrigued about what kind of familiar he would get when it was finally his turn. Though, the moment his words echoed in his ears he felt his fingers twitch at the prospect of face palming. What was he even thinking?
Lenalee's face lit up at Kanda's words. Holding back her laughter out of respect towards the older male's kindness, no matter how adorable it was, she stepped forward so that she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Lavi, or close to it as the other male was still slightly taller than her. "Thanks, Kanda, but, I think I'm okay now. I have you and Lavi, as well as all the teachers, to help if anything goes wrong!" She went over everything that Lavi did once more with the rabbit to be sure that she understood it, and once again in her head so that she wouldn't forget. She waited as her friends stepped back so that a similar distance was between them as when Lavi summoned his dragon. She moved slightly to the left, so that she was no longer standing on the ring of blackened ground, and mimicked the stance she saw Lavi using. For a split second she wondered if they would get in trouble for the grass, before pushing it away. "They can't blame us...I hope…" She took a deep breath, calmed the storm that was her mind - clearing all worries and second guesses - and closed her eyes. The spell came naturally to her.
"Ex aere dat vitam veniunt, quae a te ventos tempus et mutatio, et non est finis, etiam post contractum iniret mecum mortis mostrae." The air surrounding Lenalee stilled. Kanda and Lavi were forced to move further away from Lenalee as they found the air was being sucked towards her, and they were unable to breathe, even with the distance separating them. Lenalee could feel her lungs burn from the lack of much needed oxygen, drums began to play inside her head, but she continued with her Incantation, "Nunc veni meo credens socium, me in coniugem sumere est in ad aeternum!"
Nothing happened at first, which resulted in Lavi acting just as Kanda did, though he waited a less amount of time before stepping forward to check on the short-haired girl. "Wait." Kanda spoke as he calmly watched the girl's still frame.
"But-" Lavi couldn't see much past the hurricane that surrounded Lenalee's form, but it seemed as though she was in pain, and that was something he couldn't sit back and not check on. However, the look in the black-haired male's eyes told him to trust him, which wasn't a very common occurrence. "Did this happen with me?" He asked himself. Even with the assurance from his close friend he couldn't stop the pins and needles in his mind.
Faster than with Lavi's summoning, the wind, dispelled itself, just as Lenalee's legs gave out from underneath her. Lavi ran to her side, and felt Kanda's presence next to him, resulting in a smile. "For all your talk you were just as worried…" He poked fun at the other man, but he knew that it was a natural reaction to worry about the younger girl, even if their reasons for doing so were wildly different. He knelt down next to the purple-haired girl and found that his next words were caught in his throat - Lenalee's familiar appeared.
Kanda decided that the idiot rabbit's "joke" was not worth a response this time, and instead focused on glaring the idiot into what he hoped was oblivion. By the time they reached the slumped form of Lenalee the idiot was still beside him, unfortunately, and she had yet to move. He watched as Lavi skid to a stop beside her and drop to his knees. When he didn't say anything more, Kanda quickly closed the distance that he had kept for their "privacy" and was about to kneel down next to Lenalee when he saw her slowly get to her feet. Her clothes were torn and cuts could be seen throughout her body. All the while refusing to let go out of what she clutched to her chest.
Lenalee's familiar spirit was bigger than Lavi's baby dragon and was seen almost immediately as Kanda stepped closer to his beaming friend. She was having difficulties holding her familiar within her arms as it was the size of her torso. The pitch-black hawk with stunning emerald green eyes didn't appear to be happy with its current situation, though it stayed as still as a statue within Lenalee's arms. Sensing her familiar's discomfort she slowly released her arms from around the hawk's body. The moment the bird felt its master's arms loosen their hold it tensed, opening its wings in time with the slow release. By the time Lenalee's arms were in an "n" shape the hawk's body was coiled like a spring. It shot forward - using her arms like a runway and chest like a back wall in professional swimming - elegant and swift, Lenalee didn't feel anything as her familiar pushed off her, except for unbridled pride as she watched the shadow of a hawk soar into the sky - free - yet still returning to her side to perch upon her narrow, and delicate, shoulder. It's grip was secure, even with the menacing nails barely touching her shirt fabric, let alone skin. She smiled softly as she pet her familiar, feeling its silk-like feathers under her touch, while trying to still her body in order to not rustle it too much. It was like an abyss. Nothing was reflected in those feathers. She felt that if she stared too long she might get pulled in, and would never be able to escape from the deepening darkness before her… Just as the world around began to dim, and the drums played, once more, in her mind-
Lavi broke the silence with a halfhearted joke as stared at the beautiful bird. "That's amazing Lenalee! See, it wasn't a bat woman with the craving for pregnant women's blood!" Lavi praised the girl as he could see the light dancing in her eyes. She was ecstatic. "Unless, it's a shape-shifter..." He was surprised when the short-haired girl didn't reply or react, glancing to see what was occupying her thoughts he froze at the empty eyes that greeted him. She was staring lovingly at her familiar, however, there was nothing beyond that gaze. "Lena-" The hawk seemed to have sensed that something was wrong as it snapped to attention and attacked Lavi with an accusing vengeance. Pulling his head back to avoid getting his good eye picked out, and being forced to wear two eyepatches, he couldn't suppress the undignified yelp that escaped his lips. "Whoa. Be careful Lenalee, your spirit seems to have a violent itch."
The pull broken and the banging silent, Lenalee stood at attention as she defended her familiar spirit. The movement causing her familiar to take to the skies once more. "Shut it, Lavi!" She called out with no real angry behind her words as she watched her familiar spread its wings above her, never flying too far from where she was. "You just made her nervous, that's all... So don't call her violent!" Lenalee puffed and pouted as she walked to Lavi's side, facing Kanda, with an encouraging smile, "Your turn."
Lavi, joined with Lenalee, walked to the sidelines where they were for Lenalee's summon, with hopes that they would not have any reason to distance themselves further from their friend's summoning. There was a newfound nervousness, as they watched Kanda take his place before them. From the calmness emanating around them they could guess that the other groups had all finished and were getting ready to go about their altered schedule for the day.
Lavi watched them with dimming interest as he wasn't able to make out many familiars, though he was sure he saw a...panda? "We really used up a lot of time talking, huh?" He commented offhandedly as he watched Lenalee turn her attention back to Kanda.
Flushing slightly at the fact that meant they were the last one's done, and by such, had the full attention of the teachers, Lenalee sighed. "Yeah… Though I don't believe it was time wasted!" She chirped cheerfully, brightening up.
Lavi watched her for a moment longer before following her lead and giving Kanda the go-ahead. "Hey, Lenalee, you used an Air Incantation, right?" Lavi whispered as he continued to stare at Kanda's stanced back.
Lenalee rocked on her heels, with her hands clasped behind her back, as she glanced up at her familiar's flying form, and then to the sleeping dragon in Lavi's arms. "Yeah, but I prefer to say Wind rather than Air." Experimenting with her control, as well as the newly formed relationship with her familiar, Lenalee closed her eyes and tried calling out to her familiar with her magic, rather than by voice, as the spirit did not have a name, yet. To her grateful surprise, the hawk fluttered down to gently rest upon her shoulder once more. She softly petted her familiar spirit to try and calm it down, before facing Kanda to give him her attention. Waiting with the long-haired male doing nothing but standing with his eyes closed, she, eventually, gave up on being patient and turned to Lavi. "What type do you think Kanda will go with for his familiar?"
"Knowing Kanda…" Lavi thought for a moment before giving up realizing that there never was an easy way to figure out what the midnight-haired male was thinking. "I have no clue. He doesn't exactly have a dominant type. I mean, leave it to Yu to be a master at all types, when such a thing has never been heard of before now, so whatever he finds easiest...or, most useful." Lavi tried to get into the other male's head and predict his way of thinking. "Then again, he may decide to go with the element that he finds the hardest to control so that he can get rid of any weak points he has by mastering it..." Precipitation hung in the air, as every breath tasted of rain, silencing further conversation between the two - Kanda had started his Incantation.
"Puer aquam vocavit nos aeternum iniret mecum, ut volumus, formare vobiscum. Dico enim vobis non praesidii vires, sed bellum, ut probaret te parem mihi sociam, in anima corporaliter, et pulsantes." Kanda spoke calmly and without pause. Witnessing his summoning it was hard to believe that he barely ever attended lessons, especially when the main focus of the class was familiar spirits.
Lenalee, and even Lavi, found themselves completely lost in the face of the complex Incantation. The magic could be felt coating the skin. However, the change was small. Compared to the massive show of magical Aura seen with Lavi's and Lenalee's summons the temperance could have been misinterpreted as a sign rain was going to fall later in the day rather than at the hands of magic.
Lenalee's hawk ruffled it's feathers and screeched as it flapped its wings, almost as if it wished to fly away - but couldn't. Even Lavi's dragon, who had slept through everything after it's summoning awoken to the rippling within the air, and began to cry loudly. They were waiting for something. Something that excited them, but also, scared them... Looking up towards the sky it appeared as though there was no storm after all. Clear, bright, blue space with small wisps of white tails.
Lavi found himself staring at the clouds without really seeing them. Something wasn't right, but wasn't necessarily wrong either..."It's definitely a Water Incantation, but it feels different somehow..." He couldn't help whispering to himself, as he went through the many different situations that were debriefed in class. Anything could go wrong, and they wanted students to be ready, but one can't prepare for every possibility.
He was loud enough for Lenalee to hear. "Lavi…" Her throat constricted, it was hard to breath, like she was underwater. "Is he okay? Are we okay? ...Is this okay?" She slowly asked each question in turn as she watched Lavi's "thinking" face as he processed what was currently happening. By any definition, what was occurring could easily fall under "normal procedures", however, the textbook wasn't able to depict anything compared to what experience could explain.
The white noise filled with chattering and laughter was, all at once, overcome with the accumulated call of the familiar spirits of those who had stayed within the Summoning Site, for one reason or another. Their voices seemed to fuel Kanda's spell, even as his face stayed oblivious to the fear that had begun to rise off the people present. Something was horribly wrong.
Jumping to action the sealers and healers that were on stand-by quickly started evacuating the area of linger students. Their Incantations mingled with the dying calls of the familiars, as they were forced, along with their masters, from the premises, as the helpers tried to seal the Summoning Site before whatever Kanda was calling made it through.
The teacher from before ran up to Lavi and Lenalee, "You must evacuate the Site, immediately! It is no longer safe!" Seeing the unwilling glances between Lavi and Lenalee as they did not want to leave Kanda, the teacher added, "We will place his safety above all else, however, we must ask that you leave the Site so that we may work without any unnecessary interruptions." He spoke calmly, but firmly. There was no room for arguments - they had to leave now. Before the Incantation was complete.
"Venite ad me quasi signum nostrae societatis in formam disputationi contractus." Kanda ended the Incantation, unaware of the chaos that awaited him once he opened his eyes. Much like what happened with the others before him, nothing happened right away once the air expelled itself.
Lenalee was about to heave a sigh of relief, despite the strict and still waiting faces of the staff around her. "Are we-?" She tried to voice out her question when the world turned to darkness. Just moments earlier the Sun was crawling over the horizon as Dawn gave way to Morning, yet now the light that warmed the school's grounds was snuffed out. Leaving them in a cold and chilling abyss.
Without missing a beat the teachers, staff, and helpers summoned balls of light to break through the all-encompassing blackness and show what had become of the summoning, and Kanda. To everyone's surprise it appeared as if nothing at all, besides the sudden loss of light, had actually happened. Much like before, however, they waited for what they knew was destined to come. They could not avoid it now. Only prepare and lessen the damage as well as they could.
They didn't have to wait long before the sky began to flake and fall, the pieces disintegrating into what resembled finely powdered crystals. Beyond the expanse of darkness, where the sky lay jagged, light shined through.
"Oh God, Kanda, you caused the end of the world!" Lavi screamed as he ran in a panicked circle trying to dodge all the falling "sky" pieces that failed to disintegrate fast enough before making contact with the ground, while keeping his familiar tucked under him for a false-sense of protection, as should a piece hit him they both would, most likely, perish together. It was the thought that counted.
Kanda broke from the daze that he had found himself in. The summoning was more draining than he originally thought, and it definitely did not help with the sense of drowning the entire time. "Damn it! This is not what I asked for! Baka Usagi..." There was a sour taste of failure that replaced the river dew aftertaste, which resulted from his Incantation. He exclaimed in anger to no one but himself as he jumped out of the way of a particularly big piece of the "sky". The idiot rabbit deserved to be crushed, but now that he had a familiar there was more tied to his life than just his stupidity. Turning to find that the sealers had started weaving their magic again - a different spell this time - Kanda began to feel the gravity of the situation pull at his already exhausted shoulders. "Hey." He called out to the teacher, interrupting his renewed attempts to get Lavi and Lenalee to evacuate - they probably wouldn't leave without him, the idiots... "Are we authorized to use our magic to defend ourselves? Or are you going to order us to leave while you guys handle my mess?" He didn't mean to sound as he knew it came out, but the bitterness of being the only one to fail couldn't be kept from his face, let alone his words.
Giving up on getting his students to leave without resulting to force the teacher turned to Lavi, as the red-head decided that the situation was too serious for any of his jokes to handle and returned to Lenalee's side, the teacher's voice was his iconic gentle, but stern, tone. "We'll discuss...that later" He emphasized "that" as he pointed at the baby dragon in Lavi's arms. In response, Lavi tightened his grasp on the red-scaled baby, contempt was clearly shown in his single green-eye. The teacher nodded his understanding before turning to face Kanda once more. "It's fine, Kanda, you won't need to use your magic." The teacher calmly turned to the sealers, watching as they chanted their sealing spell, with an unreadable emotion clouding his vision. "However, just to be safe - permission is granted. I will deal with anything the Principal has to say regarding the matter." Smiling at the relieved expression on his three student's faces he decided to place his attention back on the Summoning Site, where Kanda had performed his summon.
The sealers had successfully stopped the sky from falling, at least for now, and called back their flame balls as light was returned to the school grounds. Even as everything was seemingly being put back under control, and the familiars had cease to call - the fear was still present.
The teacher gave a signal that was lost on his students, but immediately caught by the sealers. They went back to work chanting a new spell. This time in order to seal the Summoning Site completely. "You caused a dispelling of magic, and it interrupted the stream that formed the protective barrier around the school grounds. The Stream has been disconnected from the Summoning Site, so no one can summon anything else, however, we'll need to quickly set about putting the barrier back up so that whatever you summoned has no possible way of entry." He glanced at the blue-eyed dragon once more. "Not to mention anything else that might catch wind of our scents and decide that they, also, want to give the school a visit while they have free reign to do so." He began to walk towards the sealers, with the intention of adding his magic to the spell - decreasing the time required for it to complete. "We'll, hopefully, have it fixed shortly."
In contrast with the instructor's words, the barrier, which had slowly started to reshape itself around the school, began to flake and fall, once again. It was an endless cycle.
The magic circle that surrounded the sealers, result of them using magic, shattered. They tried again, but as the magic moved around them attempting to reconnect it wavered and faded from existence. "What's wrong?!" The teacher yelled in desperation as he watched the casters try and try again to tap into the Veil, now that they had disconnected the school of the Stream, and it would be too dangerous to cast such high level magic without a limitless supply of energy.
At that moment, the area where Kanda had been standing during his summoning was warped by an unseen force. The air was torn and ripped apart as matter and magic was eaten away. It opened up, akin to when a chasm rips the Earth asunder, revealing what appeared to be the endless expanse of Space. "Sir, something is coming through and it's devouring our Lines! We can't merge the barrier with it eating our magic, as well as, the barriers!" A tall, and defined girl, who appeared to be the leader of sealers, spoke through gritted teeth as the concentration could be seen on her persperating face. She refused to give up on reconstructing the barrier. They had to succeed - otherwise, all the students will be exposed to...
The black hole rippled and faded, before reestablishing its existence, the stars within arranged themselves in a diamond-shape. It was now clearly visible, and the number of lights could be counted - nine in total. Lavi realized that whatever was within that darkness must have been called from the summoning, and as such -
Lenalee exclaimed as she caught on at the same time as Lavi. "Kanda, look! I think it's your familiar!" She could hardly believe her own words as black mist began to seep from the gaping wound before them. Beyond the points of light, movement could be seen. Is that thing really Kanda's familiar?
Kanda was just as dazed as everyone else, except Lavi, at the implications of what Lenalee had said. "How can that be my familiar?" He was more than thoroughly confused. He may not have attended class as frequently as others would have liked, but he still knew the basics of what was considered a viable familiar when it came to the Summoning. In all examples used - the familiar was an animal of some kind. Not a black hole!
Movement could be seen again, this time closer to the holes opening. The form seemed to waver before ever step, like it wasn't sure leaving its current location was the safest idea. The nine stars were eventually swallowed up by the figure as he made it to the rim of the tear. A pale hand gripped the outer edge, using it to pull itself out of the inking darkness.
Lavi glanced toward the sealers in hopes that they were having better luck proved to be a desperate move in poor taste as the leader looked up just in time to catch his eye. There was fear, guilt, sadness, anger, and regret. They weren't giving up, but there was no real belief that they would succeed in time. Unable to stare into her storm of emotions for any longer he turned toward the portal in time to see a pale white arm following its hand into their world. "It's coming!" The feeling of stating the obvious in such a dire circumstance didn't help him feel any more useful. That's when he remembered that they were given permission to use their powers should things go from bad to worse - and it certainly did. However, he couldn't go blasting the portal expecting it to go away if he acted violent towards it. The teachers hadn't reacted, yet, so he wasn't going to be the one to tip the domino over because he got too nervous.
The moment the creature's face broke through, the whining and cries started up again with Lenalee's and Lavi's familiars. The sudden noise seemed to snap the teachers back into action. A young woman, with shoulder-length brown hair tied into a loose ponytail, ran up to the trio demanding their attention. "We need you to go inside. Right now. We allowed you out here longer than we should have because your friend was still summoning and we couldn't remove him until his familiar appeared - in case it revealed itself to him the moment he left school grounds and something like this occurred. However, you three now have no reason to remain in such a dangerous area." She herded them together and passed them off to another group of teachers, who forced them within the school and into the hands of the healers.
They turned just in time to see a white apparition fully step out from the portal. Long, dark, misty tails danced about the figure, shielding their body from view. Wisps of golden and blue flames fluttered around the creature, illuminating the air in a ghostly glow. Just as the doors closed behind them they were able to catch a glimpse of the spirit's face as it reached up to remove the fox mask hiding its identity - just enough to allow it's sharp golden eyes, bearing a mirth that could easily be seen mirrored in the Cheshire-like grin splitting the darkened face, to be visible. Though joyous...it's gaze was longing...
I want my readers to have a more involved role in my stories. So!
My first question is: What gender should Lavi's and Lenalee's familiar spirits be? ^v^ I would love to know the reasons why, though that's not at all mandatory.
~I want you all to know that I want looking for characters to add to my stories, as I can only come up with so many background characters on my own. They will be credited to whoever created them, as well as any ideas that you guys come up with! I really appreciate all the feedback and I want you wonderful people to have more interaction with me as the author. I don't want this to simply be MY story, but, rather, a piece of art that was made into a masterpiece with all of our bits of input!