She stood next to Tyki and Road, both Noahs that I had been told of from Allen. Allen gestured for me to back away.
Her eyes were hidden behind a opaque veil, I covered my mouth to stop a gasp from erupting.
"You." I stated, the authority and intention in my voice surprised even me. She looked directly at me, a smile forming on her lips. Lenalee looked at me, wondering what the heck I was doing.
"Take off your veil." I said, I could feel my hand start to shake.
"Who is she?" asked Lavi, I didn't take my eyes off of her, I knew her. I could feel the sheet pull tight over my memories, ends ripping. I just needed to see her face. She grabbed the veil, pulling it out of her face until I was met with a pair of familiar brown eyes. She stood, now in her human form.
Screams erupted from beside me, mostly Lenalee.
"Your face, it's melting..." she stated, I gave her an odd look.
"It's my Noah ability... mental manipulation. Controls the thoughts, memories, etc, to some degree around me..." she said, a sadistic smile formed.
It was like a dam bursting, memories flooding back, of my home, my time. I had been a student just starting high school, Sherley, she had been my best friend.
"Sherley..." I breathed, her sadistic smile faltered.
"Oh my god... Laura? What happened?" she asked, her voice cracking. "What have I done?" she asked, knees buckling. Tyki jumped up from his spot at the table and bent down next to her.
"What have you done to her?" he asked, glaring at me. I rushed forward, only to be held back by Lavi.
"Laura, don't be stupid. She's a Noah, no matter how weak she's acting now." he said, I looked at the ground, tears overflowing now.
"I'm sorry!" I sobbed, pulling towards her. "This is my fault! You're a Noah because of me! If I hadn't been to stupid..." I yelled, clawing at Lavi's hold, Allen and Choaji grabbed me and I tried to escape further.
"Laura, don't look at me..." she said, pulling her veil back over her teary face.
"But Sherley-"
"LAURA, just stop it!" she screamed, Tyki helped her up. She gritted her teeth angrily.
"I'm not the same as before, I'll never be. I've killed people, innocent people. There's no going back, not now..." she said, quietly she looked at Road.
"Noah of Remorse, what a fitting scenario for you." she said, giggling childishly she gave Sherley a happy hug. "Seeing that you have both human memories and Noah memories, who will win?" she thought out loud. I gave her a venomous glare.
"Or maybe they'll learn to coincide? That would be fitting, your human side suffering as your inner Noah kills and destroys. Maybe you'll end up killing that girl over there... It seems like you know her well... Knew anyway." she continued, giggling happily.
"That's enough." Allen said, taking a step forward, I had gone limp. Emotions became numb, almost gone, as if they were floating under the surface of a pond. Able to be seen, but untouchable.
"Laura, you need stop this. The exorcists purpose is to destroy The Earl and his henchmen, including the Noahs and Akuma. Whoever Sherley was... She's gone now." Lavi continued, Allen gave his a hardened stare.
"That's not what I meant." he said, Lavi gave an apology.
"It's what needs to be said." Lenalee said sternly, "Being a Noah, it's as close to being alive as an Akuma is." I glared at her.
"If I'm able to talk to you now, like this, shouldn't you be able to defy those memories?" I said, my voice cracking. Why was this happening?
Sherley shook her her, her heart was turning to stone. It could be seen from my perspective.
"Then... Then I guess from this point on we're enemies." I said, scooting to the back of our group. Allen stood at attention, watching Tyki and Road. The beginnings of a battle could be seen.
"Then let this be our first fight!" Sherley yelled, my vision went dark as I entered a different world.
Third person POV
They arrived at an ominous yard of sorts, surrounded by towering stone walls. Everything about the place was bleak and gray, all life, sucked dry.
"What is this place?" Laura asked, looking around frantically. 'Where are my friends?' she thought uselessly.
Stepping out from a corner a smirking figure out, her smile twisted, filled with venom and malice.
And Laura could see it all.
"I don't see why I keep coming back here." she said, touching a wall. The area around them filled with the sudden stench of blood and the dead, making Laura want to puke.
"What the fu-!" she covered her nose and mouthed, but the miasma was like poison, seeping into the air around them.
"Oh! That's right~" Sherley interrupted sweetly, the area become infested with the dead. Limbs cracking as they moved for the first time since they entered their supposed eternal slumber. They crawled toward the walls as if trying to escape their eternal hell.
"Reanimating corpses? How cliche." Laura said, trying to maintain her sanity amongst the madness, she bit her lip. She hadn't actually been able to activate her innocence before. And now she was going up against a Noah? If there was a time to start believing in God it was now.
Sherley let out an Earl approved laugh.
"Suffer the way I did, right?" She said, giggling madly, her features contorted with more madness. "Come now, aren't you supposed to fight me?" she continued tauntingly, stepping towards the young exorcist. Laura took a step back to keep the distance, a skeletal hand grabbing her ankle.
"Help... me..." It hissed painfully through a broken jaw. Laura gritted her jaw.
"You..." She said once again, just as authoritative as when they first reunited. "This..." she gestured frantically around her. "It isn't right! Just knock it off! This can't become you, it won't! I won't let you delve any deeper into this hole!" she yelled.
Sherley faltered a bit before turning angry.
"Be quiet! You're too late to help me, or fix anything!" she shouted back, glaring at Laura with bloodlust.
And yet, a girl's voice shouting for help stood out amongst the groaning and cries of the undead. It called out from below Laura, who fell to her knees and started digging until she unearthed a petite hand that stretched towards her. She grabbed it and pulled gently.
A partially decomposed girl came out.
"Please... Kill me, onee-san..." She said, her face falling with maggots and rotting flesh. Laura withheld a scream, holding her close to her chest.
"End her pain Sherley."
She stared at her. 'So she was the one buried beneath the dirt.' she thought, narrowing her eyes.
"Girl, I will end this if you answer my question." Sherley says, waiting to see if she was heard. She ignored Laura's curious stare.
"What question?" she finally asked, she felt a strange tug in her heart as it skipped a beat and started pounding.
Sherley turned to her, her face stoic.
"Why were these bodies sealed off, did you ever see the last person to be dropped in this retched place?" Sherley asked, sorrow creeping into her voice. She stared at Laura curiously, waiting.
"I do not know... But I think you know the answer to that, right?" Laura asked, studying her closely. She could feel her mouth go dry as the girl tugged at her collar.
"Please... It hurts." she cried bloody tears from her one human eye, the other, had rotted away. It stood brown and innocent, pain coursed through Laura. Sherley sighed.
"Thanks." she motioned to the girl, turning her body to ashes and watching impassively.
"What shall we do now? I refuse to fight you." Laura said, clenching her fists at her sides. She looked at Sherley bravely, no fear or doubt in her steady gaze.
"And why is that?" Sherley asked, annoyance creeping into her voice. The weather seemed to grow darker with her mood and the stone walls around them seemed even more ominous as if looming down on them.
"You are my friend." Laura stated in a clear voice. "Nothing you do or say will change that, I cannot raise a hand against you."
Tears streamed down her face as she smiled sadly at her. Her heart squeezed, as if morning the truth of her words.
"Is that so..." Sherley said, flinching, she tried to crush the strange sensation that overtook her.
"You are so-" she was cut off mid-sentence by a gasp, filled with a burning sensation, breaking her control. The world was melting away into oblivion. She glared at Laura once more, one eye Noah gold, the other Sherley's brown.
"You're friends are rude to have interrupted, punishment would be nice!" Sherley smirked out, she let out another gasp as her face filled with pain, grabbing her side.
"Tch..." she said, removing her hand to expose a bleeding wound. "Well aren't they cute?" she continued, looking back at Laura.
"Sherley!" she stated, alarmed as she ran towards her. "Are you alright?" she asked, grabbing her arm. The world around them faltered and came shattering down. The walls tumbling and the dead let out a collective sigh as they stopped moving.
"W-what, silly girl, I am fine!" she says angrily, getting up. She winced and looked down at her side. "It's time for you to go!" she says, breaking off the illusion, she stared sadly at Laura, who blinked in surprise
Right as the old friend she knew came, she left, just as quickly, leaving an apathetic Noah standing in the collapsing world.
"W-Wait, you-"
Laura POV
I returned to consciousness to see the room we were cluttered with the charred remnants of a...dragon? Bits and lay askew. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision. Where was Sherley, I need to find her. Tyki lay passed out to the side, motionless. Road, or what I assumed was Road lay in a burned heap.
And there was Allen with an obnoxiously big sword thrusted through Sherley's abdomen, bent over and teeth clenched.
"Don't kill her, please!" I yelled, getting up only to have my knees buckle once more. "Move stupid!" I grunted, pinching my outer thigh.
"Why?" he asked, looking at me.
Taking it out of her, nonetheless. An uncomfortable silence followed, besides the shallow breathing of the Noah. Allen continued to look at me strangely.
I covered my mouth, getting up once more, and succeeding this time. I ran over to her side, she lay crumpled on the ground, brown eyes slipping in and out of consciousness until her eyes suddenly widened.
"Promise...Promise..." she repeated, grabbing her head desperately.
"I'll make that promise come true, no matter what." I said, smiling over her. A thunderous roar sounded as thick vines came from under neath us, I was vaulted backwards, hitting the remnants of a stone pillar. I coughed, blood spurting from my mouth.
"Laura!" shouted a surprised Allen, running towards me, only to have a vine wrap around him, yanking him away. "Gah!"
Dots flitted across my vision, Sherley seemed to be cradled by them, brought closer to the monster who looked sadly down at her. Who's sadness was quickly replaced by hostility as he spotted Lenalee, a barbarous grin spreading of his perverted features. Lavi activated his innocence once more.
"And I thought it was over, so much for that break." he stated.
Music floated through my mind, accompanying the many questions that took temporary residence.
"Ugh..." I mumbled silently, looking from my spot on a sofa. Allen and Lenalee talked animatedly to a redheaded man, his image sent a chill down my spine. Everything about him screamed 'Do not trust.'
Cross Marian.
"We can't the Order find out." Allen stated, "She'll be put in confinement, or worse."
"She seemed to be awfully friendly with that Noah." Lenalee said, I quickly closed my eyes and steadied my breathing, continuing to be 'asleep'. I could feel Lenalee's suspicious gaze piercing my being.
"I was willing to save Tyki, are you going to tell them that as well?" Allen quickly countered, temper flaring. Lenalee made a surprised squeak.
"Stupid apprentice! That is not how you treat a woman, even while defending another woman!" Cross slurred in, it seemed that while even sober, his alcoholism leaked into his speak.
I decided now was the proper time to wake up.
"What's going on?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes as I got up. The argument ceased, even though opinions still lingered.
"Oh nothing, just trying to locate the others." Allen lied, even adding a smile to make it more realistic.
Performance: A+
"Any luck on that one?" I asked, getting up from my spot and walking to the piano. I trailed my fingers across the keys, perfectly polished and smooth.
"I-I was going to go look for them now." Allen said, a nervous tone creeping into his voice, "You shouldn't really touch-"
"There's no problem in her touching the piano, only you can control it." Cross stated, anger flashed on Allen's face before hiding away skillfully.
"I'll be back." he stated leaving the room to find his friends.
Silence ensued.
"Ignore me, I'll just go back to sleep." I said, walking over to the sofa and flinging myself onto it.
"That Noah, who is she?" said a timid voice.
"An old friend, nothing more." I bluntly lied.
"I sense a deceitful tone." Marian said, I could hear him search through his pockets, immediately the room filled with the smell of burning tobacco.
"Not deceit, exactly... More like aggravated truth." I said, breathing in a lungful of the tainted air, I prayed nicotine still clung to the molecules of oxygen, I would need as much as possible to deal with this man.
"I can see how that would anger someone, a close friend, turned and mutilated until becoming one of them." his words poured out like oil, slick and black.
Just black.
I gritted my teeth, holding back my vulgar words.
"Exactly that." I purred, returning to trying to sleep. Cross found entertainment in Lenalee's broken state. Just as he started touching her-cradling her face, I mean. Allen, Kanda, Lavi, and Chaoji bursted through the door, screaming about insanities of being with an underaged woman.
Sherley POV
I awoke in a beautiful field of flowers, the sky was a radiant blue taken aback by such a sight, I couldn't help the smile that slowly formed on my lips. A soft breeze blew causing some petals to fly upwards in spiral, forming into the familiar shape of a woman. The wind made her seemingly dance around me.
I followed her eyeing her wearily, I reached to her overcome by a sudden sadness, she dissipated right before me the petals flew up. I gazed up closing my eyes sighing. Unaware of the troubles going on in the outside world.
Maybe that girl was of importance ..." I muttered, deciding to sit picking at the grass and flowers. Her teary face popped up making me yank at the blades of grass I looked away, a distraught expression on me. Frustrated, I fell back sinking into the pretty flowers, closing my eyes the warm rays making me sleepy.
"Why can't I erase your face from my head!"
