Chapter 2

Lavi and Allen arrived at the town of Cressida. Finders reported of a possible innocence. When they arrived there though, there was no longer any innocence.

They interviewed the people. There had been reports of children drowning. The innocence caused havoc by dragging the children into the water.

Lavi decided to ask around for his record. What happened? Who took the innocence away?

He ran into a little girl who attempted to pickpocket him. He didn't have any wallet with him since everything is charged by the order which the Finder is handling for them. She grabbed for his hammer instead.

She ran and he ran after her. She thought she lost him but she managed to follow her inside an old house.

There was another girl.

"Ann, give that hammer to me."

"He's one of those exorcists that made Ellis go away," the little girl replied.

"Give me the hammer, Ann," the older said.

"No, I found it."

"Can I please have it back?" asked Lavi.

"No."

"Ann."

"It's mine, Tina."

"Lavi! Get the little girl away from her. She's an akuma," said an exhausted Allen who seemed to have ran off after his partner.

Lavi did as said and grabbed the little girl.

"Let go!" she screamed.

"Let go of her. I have to keep her safe," Tina said as she transformed. She was about to hit Lavi but Allen stabbed her with crown clown and hit her against the wall.

"NO! Don't kill her!" the little girl screamed.

Lavi held her tightly so she wouldn't see.

"Hey, Allen's not going to kill her. That girl isn't Tina. It's someone else."

"Liar! You're gonna kill her like they killed Ellis."

"That's not Tina. Tina's long gone."

"No! Don't leave me alone."

The little girl cried holding tightly on to the red head. Lavi grabbed for his hammer when she was distracted. He would have helped Allen but the little girl held onto him tightly.

"Don't leave. Please don't leave me alone."

"Sssh. It's okay. It's okay. You're not alone."

The room was quiet. Lavi looked around to see that Allen had already finished the akuma. The little girl in his arms stopped crying but wouldn't let him go.

She fell asleep.

"Allen, what should we do with her? Doesn't look like she has any family aside from the akuma."

"There was something strange though. The akuma tried to protect her awhile ago. She kept saying, 'I need to protect her.'"

"I think she knows things about this house. She mentioned about Ellis being taken away and the others. There's something about this kid."

The little girl woke up in her room. She saw a red head sitting on the chair.

"Hey mister, wake up," she said shaking the red head awake.

"You're awake."

"What are you doing here? Are you going to be part of our family too? I should tell Tina. What's your name?" she asked with a cheerful and excited smile.

"I'm Lavi. Tina's no longer here."

"Oh, she left too. They all leave. Will you leave me too?"

"I can't take you with me."

"Please, can't I come with you? They all left. I don't know when any of them will be back."

"You look hungry. Do you want some snacks?"

"Okay. I don't think I have eaten yet."

"What's your name little girl?" asked Lavi.

"Hmm, what do you want to call me?"

"Don't you have a name?"

"I have more than one name. Ellis calls me Naomi. Tina calls me Ann. Ree calls me Lena."

"I'll call you Alice."

"Alice? Why?"

"Have you heard of that book?"

"I can't read. What is it about?"

"It's about a little girl who falls the rabbit hole and gets into Wonderland."

"What is she like? Alice?"

"She's curious about a lot of things like you. We're here. Why don't you order what you'd like to eat?"

"I haven't eaten here before."

It was a small restaurant for people to eat at the inn. Allen left the town yesterday while Lavi stayed to collect information. He knew that the little girl knew something.

"So what's your family like?"

"We were ten people in the house till they left..."

"Do you remember the story about the lake?"

"There's this weird sound that plays. Todd heard it before he drowned."

"Can you show me the lake afterwards?"

"Sure but before that, tell me more stories."

"Do you know what happened here at the lake?" Lavi asked despite hearing about it already and having been there yesterday.

"A man killed the monster at the lake but it's too late since everyone's gone. I'm all alone."

"What's the man's name?"

"Tyki Mikk. He's really nice and knows a lot of magic tricks."

"You've met him?"

"Yeah, he's the one who asked me to show him where the lake is."

"Will you be meeting him again?"

"He said he'll come visit me when his work's done."

"How'd you meet?"

"I'm not really supposed to talk about him."

"Don't worry. I know Tyki. We've met before."

"Really? Do you know where he is?"

"I know him but right now, he's doing his job."

"Well, he went here a month ago because of his job. He collects some things."

"Oh, do you know what he collects?"

"Not really, he says it's a secret."

"Can you tell me when Tyki comes to visit you? I haven't seen him in awhile."

"Are you friends?"

"We know each other."

"How will I tell you if he's here?"

"Hmm, where are you staying by the way?"

"Silly, you've been to my house. That's where I stay."

"Oh, yeah. Silly me. I forgot. Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I can feed myself."

"You mean pick-pocket money out of weary travelers?"

"How'd you know?"

"You tried to pull one on me yesterday."

"Oh," she said surprised. "And you're not mad?" she asked finding his behavior odd.

"Well, you didn't succeed so we're good."

"Can you also do magic tricks like Tyki?"

"Hmm," said the red head in thought. He then stood up and borrowed three cups. He removed an earring and gave it to the little girl."Hide it under one of those and mix 'em up. I can tell you wear it is without looking."

The little girl did as said while Lavi turned his back and even closed his only visible eye.

"Done," she said.

Lavi takes the cup on the right. As he said, he found the earring.

"Wow," said the little girl with awe.

"It's a neat trick, isn't it?" he said taking the earring back. "I'll show you some more but I have to leave after we eat."

"Will you come back?"

"I will."

Ezekeel: That's it for now. And maybe that's that. I don't really know if I'll be able to continue this any more since I've still other plans for other fics.