Silverthorn
I've been at the Black Order for as long as I can remember.
I might as well have been born here, though that can't be possible, because I don't know my parents. I could've been abandoned and found by an Exorcist on a mission, or something like that.
I don't know. Nobody ever told me, and I don't really need to know either. For me, having memories that don't include anything other than this dark and gloomy building is normal. I'd bash the face of anyone who dared to show pity against a wall. And that hurts.
I don't mind having lived here for all my life. The people here are my family.
Lenalee is my sister. Though Komui is her brother, he is kind of my father, mainly because of his somewhat fatherly love towards me, which (luckily) isn't half as much as his Lenalee-obsession, but enough for me.
Before I forget to mention my name, it is Mei. This name was given to me by Lenalee, who somehow managed to mistake me for her mother when I stayed by her side and held her hand the first few days in the Order. Komui seemed a bit reluctant to call me by his mother's name, but once he got to know me a bit more he told me that I was worth it.
Lavi is my brother and a good friend at the same time. He is the one who taught me how to write and read, actually. He once said that if I wasn't his little sister, 'he would've tried to flirt with me', to which I reacted by whacking him with a book – ironic isn't it?
There's also Reever and the others from the team; though my bond with Reever is the strongest. I don't know why, but it just clicked between us, ever since day number one. Maybe because he was the one who used to baby sit me most of the time and taught me how to speak other languages than English: French, German, Dutch, Finnish and a few more.
With all the chaos going on here, there isn't any time to wonder who my parents are, where they are, why I'm here and all the stuff like that.
Oh, right. And then there's Yu Kanda. I actually don't know what he is to me. He's just the guy you can be with, without being asked questions; at least if you aren't a certain bean sprout, who, by the way, is my other 'brother'. Kanda's also the guy you can tease and get your daily exercise with just by trying to get away alive.
Actually, the first memories I can remember involved Kanda. That was even before Lenalee was around.
Everyone had warned me not to get close to him, but like every normal kid, I had to do what I wasn't allowed and paid him a visit anyway.
The only difference between me and every other normal kid was probably that I kept doing it. Normally you'd get punished and realize the bad things you had done, though my stubborn and curious side forced me to keep doing it until I actually enjoyed visiting him.
My 'punishers' realized punishing me wasn't going to help, so they decided to allow it, hoping it wouldn't be interesting anymore. Not that it actually worked.
Hm, thinking about it like that, I could call him my brother. I'd love to see his reaction if I came running up to him yelling 'Nii-san!' like Lenalee does to Komui.
And anyway, I can't really miss my parents because I don't know what they're like. And as I always say, "You can't miss what you've never had!"
But maybe I'm just trying to put up the image of a girl who isn't troubled by anything… Because in reality, sometimes I actually do think about my parents.
I skipped down one of the many halls in the Black Order, on my way to the cafeteria where most of the other Exorcists were right now.
The place seemed to be even gloomier than normal because of all the uneasiness rolling off the people living here, but that wasn't exactly a surprise. The war against the Millennium Earl seemed to be at its peak right now and almost everyone here was frightened by the thought that they might be the next ones to get sent out to the battlefield.
Everyday, piles of reports came in to inform us of how many Finders had died. Fortunately, casualties of Exorcists seemed to be quite rare; but our numbers were dwindling nevertheless. Slowly but surely.
It seemed as if I was the only one left who could make a smile appear, as if I was being protected by some kind of bubble. After all, living here all my life had made me strong. Nobody would believe me if I told them I cried about everything when I was younger.
"Good morning!" I called as I barged into the cafeteria, receiving a few half-hearted 'hello's' back. Not letting it break my mood, I walked over to our table.
Allen was digging into his usual amount of food with Lenalee trying to get him to eat a little slower in fear of him choking. Lavi was snoring softly as he rested his head on top of his arms which he had crossed on the table, and Aleister was sitting at the corner of the table as still as possible, sweating nervously. Then there was Kanda, sitting at a different corner. He wasn't moving either, but it was obvious he was much more relaxed than the poor vampire.
I smiled at how everyone was acting like they always did during these dark times as I sat down in between Kanda and Lavi. The latter opened his uncovered eye and managed to greet me with a grin as he straightened himself. I knew that the only time he managed to have a proper sleep was when sitting at this table with his friends.
"Good morning," Lenalee smiled kindly at me and I returned the gesture. We called ourselves the 'Happy Team' because we both kept on smiling for the others, even if it was a forced smile. Plus, Komui would jump from the building if he went through a whole day without hearing his sister's laugh.
Allen noticed me too and said something that I couldn't understand since he was talking with his mouth full of food. I leaned towards Kanda to dodge the food that spewed out of Allen's mouth as he tried to say something to me and earned an irritated growl from the swordsman once my head touched his shoulder.
"G'morning to you, too," I practically sang, receiving a mutter as reply. I smiled at him and decided to stay in the same position, leaning against Kanda, happy that I got him to give a response at all.
I wasn't sure if he had finally accepted that my affection for him wasn't something he could dismiss by scowling or swearing at me, or if he was just too tired to do anything other than nothing, but he let me sit there as silence once more dominated the table.
The silence spread from our table to the rest of the room and I looked up to find out what had happened. Apparently I wasn't the only one, even Kanda opened his eyes to search the reason for the sudden quietness.
Reever and Komui stood in the doorway of the cafeteria, their faces all but cheerful and happy.
"We have gotten orders to send more people out to fight. The Grand Generals said they were going to end it with this, which is why the group we're going to send out this time is larger than the others," Komui started in a hesitant tone, motioning towards Reever to step forward and read the names on the list he was holding.
"Once your name has been called out, please make sure that you are ready to leave within the next thirty minutes," Reever stated as he looked down at his paper.
"First I'll call out all the Finders that have been chosen to assist the Exorcists on the battlefield. Anders, Andrea, Björn, Brian, Bruce, Carlo, Chrigel, Damien, Daniel, Dave, Fabio, Freddie, Ivo, Jani, Janne, Johan, Marko, Matthew, Mattia, Mikko, Oliver, Peter, Roberto, Roy, Sean, Simeon, Tommy, Tuomas and Ville."
All of a sudden, people started talking to each other again. Many were relieved that they had gotten lucky and weren't going to get sent to their deaths, as they presumed it would be. Others were saying their goodbyes to the unfortunate ones who had to leave.
The Exorcists, however, were still nervously waiting for their names. There was a chance that they all had to fight but maybe there was still hope for at least some of them.
"And now for the Exorcists…" the sound of people talking died down once more as if they were pitying those who could still get picked out.
"Allen Walker."
Said boy swallowed what was in his mouth in one go, almost choked, then turned to Lenalee to catch her consolation hug.
I watched as he gently pried her fingers from himself while whispering soothing words to her, fear whirling around inside of me. What if this was going to be the last time that I got to see my family together like this?
"Lavi."
"I guess it can't be helped…" he muttered, rubbing his head with a troubled expression on his face. Lenalee's attention quickly left Allen and she gave the Bookman a comforting hug as well. He laughed at her and playfully ruffled her hair.
What had I been expecting? All the other Exorcists were already out there, the only ones left were the ones in this group. Miranda, Bookman, Marie… Even all the Generals were out there fighting against the army of the Millennium Earl.
"Kanda Yu."
He merely grunted, probably in annoyance of not being able to eat his soba each day like he always did. Because Lenalee actually seemed a bit reluctant to give Kanda the same attention that she had given Allen and Lavi, I just patted him on his back.
Much to my surprise he didn't even try to swat my hand away like he should have and I wondered if even the almighty Kanda Yu was a teeny tiny bit scared.
"And…" Reever continued but he stopped for a moment and swallowed as he read the last name on the list, "Mei."
He looked up in my direction with an apologetic look in his eyes, as if it was his fault that I had to leave. I smiled at him to assure him that he wasn't to blame.
To be honest, I actually felt pretty relieved. I had been feeling guilty about safely sitting here while hundreds of others were out their, risking their lives for everybody else. Now I could join them in this battle.
"Poor Mei! How can they even think of sending someone as petite as you into such a fight?!" Lenalee protested as I got up to get ready for departure.
"Don't worry about me. I think you're going to have a hard time trying to cheer Aleister up," I said with a smile. The poor guy looked even gloomier than normal as he watched his friends practically leave him all by himself.
After Lenalee gave us permission to leave, we all went to our rooms to prepare ourselves for the upcoming days.
