Lavi ducked behind a piece of scrap metal. A bullet pinged, and a good-sized dent forced its way into the metal.
"I take it he's not very happy to see us," Lavi said calmly. Another bullet ricocheted through the scrap yard. He winced as the sound of the ill-shot piece of explosive metal banged around the yard. Esperanza was nearly three yards away from him, lying near the rusted out cab of an old jalopy. She lifted one eyebrow, a sardonic salute of a sort, and she leveled her own gun over the hood of the car. She squeezed off two shots, and neither hit its intended target. The man they'd attempted to shoot shouted at them in Spanish, and Lavi frowned as his brain hurried to translate. Something along the lines of 'you dogs can go and screw yourselves.' Not exactly a warm welcome.
"You think you can at least bargain with him?" Lavi asked, spinning his hammer around his finger. He gripped it with a sharp sound, and he looked across to Esperanza. The woman nodded, not bothering with a vocal response. He held up three fingers.
One finger down...
The man began to approach them.
Two fingers down...
Man, he must be heavier than they thought. The sound of metal crumpling bombarded their ears, and they looked at each other in slowly found confusion. Crumpling... metal...?
Three fingers.
Both Lavi and Esperanza streaked across the open ground between the two areas of cover, Lavi covering for Esperanza as she strafed the open area with bullets. The volley of fire was returned, but instead of the regular rounds there were high-energy bullets leaving an almost phosphorescent purple trail behind them. Lavi's eyes widened as the two met up in the middle of the two heaps of metal, Lavi's hammer serving as a shield while Esperanza reloaded her gun with random bullets.
"Akuma," he breathed, gasping. Esperanza only nodded, and she stuck an arm out, firing past the hammer. Suddenly, a blazing purple line cut across her arm, and Esperanza immediately pulled her arm back. Lavi stared in horror as he realized that a bullet had grazed her arm. She peeled away part of her jacket to reveal browned skin that was quickly gaining a rather large number of pentacles around a shallow wound. Without even blinking, Esperanza turned her gun into a blade (dropping all her bullets in the process), scooped out the infected area around her arm leaving it to bleed, and reverted her blade back into a gun. She loaded it up again as she bit her lip, and she continued shooting. Lavi's stomach turned as he himself itched his arm. She had guts.
Lavi heard a body drop, but the bullets continued to fly. Esperanza came back to reload, and her face was beginning to pale under the browned skin. Lavi knew she had lost too much blood, but he could also guess that she wouldn't quit until the Akuma firing at them was dead. She was very much like a certain other determined Exorcist that Lavi knew, except he happened to have the nifty ability to regenerate after taking massive wounds. Lucky little...
Lavi rushed forwards, dragging Esperanza behind, and he slammed into the downed Akuma. It was a Level Two, and he smashed into the little shack he had once called home. Lavi suddenly threw Esperanza behind a pile of metal, wincing as he heard her impact with the heap, and smashed his hammer down on the Akuma. It screamed once before being abruptly silenced. Esperanza shook herself off, brushing bits and pieces of metal from her duster. She hadn't been given a uniform to wear, seeing as the South American branch was not well funded and only Exorcists with high priority rankings or extreme conditions were given armored coats. She stood next to Lavi, staring into the steaming pile that had once been an Akuma. It was definitely dead. Lavi could see the bullet holes that Esperanza had punched into it, several which should've been fatal but had only missed by a hair. The blood stank to high heaven, and Lavi pulled his shirt over his nose. Esperanza did the same with a handkerchief in her pocket, and they stared for a while at their downed opponent.
They'd thought he'd been one of the men who'd gone up to the spring. Instead, they'd found a monster wearing his skin. Perhaps it was coincidence. Either way, they were not getting any information out of it tonight. It wasn't going to come back, thank God. Suddenly, Lavi was aware of something strange. His mind was drifting again, and he blinked as he felt strangely out-of-focus. Memories began to assault him -
The rusty smell of decaying metal lingered in the yard, and the other children screamed in delight as they found treasures that others had thought were trash. They frolicked with their pieces of broken wire turned to wands, their lampshades turned to crowns, their pieces of dishes turned to magic scrying tablets, and their pots turned to helmets. Another child ran barefoot after these children, these imaginative souls with their dirty faces and their gap-toothed smiles, but they pushed him to the ground with disapproving looks they'd learned from their elders. Their gazes said 'you are not wanted and you are not needed and we do not wish to entertain your presence as we are too good for your kind.' Their deathly gazes meant absolutely nothing, not yet, because they did not understand why they gave the gazes or that the gazes were anything more than something to do to this one redhead child with two green eyes and his large book. They only knew that he was strange, abnormal, just... not like them. He blinked forlornly as they ran off to play among the wreckage of humanity, that beautiful graveyard of dead, unused things. He merely sat in the dust, flipping through his big book, tracing the words with his fingers, words only he could read because they were stupid, so stupid, so so stupid in comparison and couldn't understand the letters, letters he'd been taught by his mo-
"Senor." The apprentice Bookman was sucked back into the present with a slam. He blinked, staring at Esperanza. She was holding down on her wound, and she asked, "We still have two more men to talk to, and we do not have all night." He stared at her and her unblinking eyes, hardly registering what she just said. He numbly nodded, realizing what had just happened to them. They'd walked up to the house, talked to the man, the man had shot at them upon seeing Lavi's Rose Cross (he'd thought he was a church-hater, and how stupid of him this was a Hispanic country and everyone is Catholic and-), they'd hid in the yard, they'd shot back, they'd fought back, and now there was a dead Akuma and his memories were escaping the tight bonds he'd created. He could feel panic slowly padding around his well-built fortress of reason, cold logic, and fake cheer. It was an oil that would not wash off, and it seeped into all his cracks, filling every crevice...
"Then we should go, senor," she said simply, leading him away by the arm. He suddenly jerked himself into something more active to take his mind off the pouncing fear that was beginning to override all of his thoughts. He wouldn't let it eat him. He could figure out how to fix this. He just had to call Bookman, tell him about it, and maybe he'd know what to do. For now, he just had to keep moving. He grabbed Esperanza, and he took her arm.
"First let's get this fixed up, okay?" he asked, smiling cheerlessly. An expression flitted across Esperanza's face quickly, but it was so fast a twitch that Lavi couldn't pinpoint what it was, exactly. He walked her over to the horses, and he pulled out the black doctor's bag, quickly grabbing gauze and a few bandages as well as clips to hold it. He peeled back her sleeve, and he was momentarily surprised by the amount of graze wounds on her skin. There was almost an equal number of faint colored scars as there was browned, sun-warmed skin. She was warm and vibrant, though quickly beginning to grow chilly what with her blood loss. The cut, luckily, had been clean. He poured alcohol over it, and he wrapped it in gauze. Esperanza never uttered a word. She only grunted in pain as the alcohol hit fresh, open flesh, and Lavi felt jitters crawl under his skin in empathy. He'd had his fair share of alcohol over wounds, and the smell still brought back the memory-scent of death and blood.
Without another word, they mounted and rode to their next destination, leaving behind the empty scrapyard and its multitude of questions.
The two rode wearily back into the main part of town at nearly three in the morning. The other two houses had been off on the outskirts. Each one was at least an hour's ride there and an hour's ride back. Both men had acted strange, until Lavi noticed a few key things that shouted 'Akuma'. Especially when a random gun pokes out the back of a guy's head and starts ejecting compressed, bullet-shaped Akuma oil. Both of them were now very tired and very worn out. Esperanza had taken out their second man, while Lavi had taken a bit of damage from the collapsing house (merely a gash across his back - easily fixed up though it'd need stitches), and Lavi had obliterated the third Akuma they'd found, though Esperanza had taken a blade to the hand (also easy to fix and also in need of some stitches, along with her arm). The bloodied, tired twosome rode the empty streets, only encountering bums and the occasional late night walker.
Still, the dark alleyways were a bit worrisome, and Lavi had a lot on his mind. Shadows jumped, and he himself would jerk at dark, moving things in the dark, usually only un gato negro or un vagabundo. Suddenly, however, Esperanza tensed in her saddle, her horse nickering as she pressed her spurs deep into his flanks. Noticing her abrupt wire-tight demeanor, Lavi looked around for the cause of her discomfort, and a few figures oozed from the shadows.
They wore scuffed jeans with boots, and their shirts were made of cheap flannel. Their sleeves were rolled up, showing tattoos that were hard to see in the dark especially against their skin, and their eyes gave the impression of the unforgiving type. They wore bandanas around their necks or arms or in the pocket of their jeans, and a few wore had dusters and caps. Their faces were square, chiseled, and set into their expressions. Lavi felt like he could chip at their faces with a shovel, and nothing would happen to them.
Esperanza muttered something under her breath, but he didn't catch what it was. She stared at them as they stood across the road, staring at the two.
One of the men spoke in Spanish, and Lavi caught something along the lines of a curfew. They didn't look like police or anything close to law enforcement. He flickered an eye towards Esperanza, hoping she'd catch sight of it, but she didn't. Instead, she yelled something to the man who'd spoken, and he only spat on the ground.
He walked towards her, and he stopped right underneath the head of her horse. He grabbed the horse's bridle, and Esperanza pointed her gun. Lavi had to admit, she was quick on the draw. The beads of her rosary morphed fast. However, in answer to the one click of a gun's hammer being cocked back, several more followed suit. Lavi realized they were in a hostile situation pretty fast.
"Quien son?" Lavi asked quietly, his eyes on the guns. He already had his hammer in his hand, just in case. Innocence stopped regular bullets just like Akuma bullets.
"Son bandoleros," Esperanza answered quietly as she stared into the man's eyes. She swiftly dug her free hand into a saddle pack, and she pulled out a purse. She put away her gun, handing it to Lavi, and she pulled out several bills and a couple of coins. She coughed over the money, and she watched the man count it, bill by bill and coin by coin. Each one seemed to make her teeth grind and her jaw tense more and more and more. Lavi was suddenly glad he was holding her gun. She gestured for it back, and he quickly handed it back. The men disappeared into the alley ways, while the cheeky one who'd take Esperanza's money gave her a cocky salute. Esperanza leveled her gun at him, and he ran. She could easily shoot him in the back... but she changed her mind, deciding it wasn't worth it here in the middle of town.
"Okay, bandits I understand. But that was a very strange sort of thievery," Lavi stated. Esperanza stared at him, and she started to canter forwards. He followed.
"Senor, there are powers in this town that were chosen, and there are powers here that were bought. Senor Dominguez, the Poppy Lord, is one of the bought ones. He farms opium, and much of the reason the town stays alive is because he is very, very rich from it. He hires the workers to farm the poppy seeds for his laudanum, and he takes water from another desert river far from here, perhaps twenty, thirty miles. Unfortunately, we depend on him... and in doing so, we also are at his mercy. Those were his men. They believe they run the town, and they have power in numbers and their own idiocy. Senor Dominguez himself is not at all a bad man, but he tends to... turn a blind eye," Esperanza explained. Lavi stared at her before saying, "You've lived here a while, haven't you?" She almost smiled. Almost.
"Knowledge is power. Power keeps me from being dead. Me being dead means I can not help," she stated. She urged her horse forwards, and Lavi smiled in response to the answer. That was very true. He'd have to write that down.
They arrived at the hotel more or less unhindered. Lavi walked stiffly to his room, and Esperanza followed him with the black doctor's bag. She motioned for him to undress, and he stared for a blank, confused moment before she rolled her eyes and started doing it for him.
"Your back, Senor." Lavi, unaccustomed to such immediate care, realized that she was going to fix his back, and he quickly acquiesced as his shirt was peeled off.
"It's your turn afterwards, though," he muttered as he stood, shivering, in the room. Was it just him, or was it cold...? Esperanza motioned towards the twin bed, and he lay down. He couldn't see the needle (his head was turned the wrong way), but he imagined he could hear it sliding across the thread. Esperanza went and fetched spirits from the bartender still awake downstairs, and she began to slid the needle and thread through a shot of liquor. Lavi winced as he heard it drip. He absolutely hated it when stuff like this happened. He couldn't stand stitches.
He felt a small pinprick on his back in the vicinity of the dull ache where his gash happened to be. Cold, liquid ice began numbing his back, and he closed his eyes tight. All he felt afterwards were tugging sensations. He didn't like that feeling either.
"How are you such a medical expert?" Lavi asked, feeling strangely drowsy. Not entirely odd, considering he'd been up nearly all night. Esperanza looked down at him with a look that could've been one of amusement.
"A vaquero or a vaquera may encounter many things while on the range. We must know how to fix all wounds with what we have. We ride a long ways from home, Senor, and we must watch each other's backs whenever possible," she stated clinically. Her hands were swift, that was for sure.
"So you've stitched up quite a few people?" he asked, and she answered,"Si." Another tug, this one sharper. The anesthetic wasn't very strong, obviously. There was a bit of a pinch there. He scrambled in his brain for another question.
"So have a lot of people had to stitch you up?" he asked. For a moment, the tugging sensation stopped. Lavi realized he'd touched a nerve, and he backtracked.
"Y-you don't have to -"
"Si...Senor. I have. I am... reckless, at times," she answered. She put her hands down on Lavi's back, her hands quivering. She was still weak from blood loss, and Lavi could feel that she was cold against his skin where the anesthetic had no jurisdiction over his nerves.
"Esperanza..." he said, trailing off. He began to lift himself up, but she gently pressed him back down.
"I will finish. And then you may start on mine," she said calmly, her voice holding the barest of nuances. Lavi still didn't know what it was, though, she was feeling. Bad memories, perhaps? She was feeling more comfortable with him, maybe? What was it? Suddenly, he felt fingers trace an old wound over his shoulder, and Esperanza asked, "Where did you get this? This is... a strange sort of scar." Lavi looked over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of it. He could see Esperanza rolling her eyes, and she took a mirror out of the doctor's bag. She showed him.
He winced, and he stated, "That's, uh, that's from a long time ago." Unlike his mind, his body was not compartmentalized and therefore bore reminders of old battles and injuries, each one with a different story. He was covered in them, but that one in particular was a special injury. It'd been caused by a poison that someone had thrown at him when he was only fourteen-
eating through his back and it burned like hell and his teeth were on edge as he felt his vision slip around and it hurt so bad and he wanted it to stop why wouldn't it stop it wasn't
Lavi blinked, and the memory disappeared. That was the second time that night. Perhaps... perhaps it was just because he was tired. That was it. He was just tired. Esperanza was staring at him with a weird look, and he asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"You looked... muy extrano. Almost like you were scared," Esperanza stated. Suddenly, she started to sway, and she quickly began again on his back, finishing within minutes. Lavi was quick about fixing Esperanza up herself, telling her to take off her own coat. He'd have to cut through her nice shirt, but it was either her shirt or her arm. He did the whole routine, keeping it clinical as he injected anesthetic, swabbed with alcohol, threaded a new needle. However, as he began stitching her arm, he couldn't help but notice the massive amount of tick marks over her arms, as if she'd walked through a briar patch. They were in neat rows, one by one by one, and many of them were the lurid color of wounds that had never fully healed right, reopened over and over until it finally turned into a raised piece of skin.
"Where did you get all these?" Lavi asked. Much of the mystery surrounding her happened to circle around those scars. He suddenly didn't care about tact. He was too tired and too curious all at once.
"And what about this?" he asked, pointing to another on her collarbone, a small scar that starburst over her skin. He pointed to the one on her neck, and then finally, to the three ugly wounds that had once marred her face but left only ghosts of themselves over her eye. Tentatively, he touched one... and then realized what he was doing, and he jerked his hand back as if touching something hot. Esperanza only stared, her face flickering in shadow as the one candle they'd lit began to gutter and flicker. Her own expressions seemed to follow the candle's example, going through many expressions as she fought with the questions, and Lavi realized what his reckless curiosity had done. Reigning in his natural curiosity and trained inquiry, he stammered, in an attempt to rectify the situation, "I'm sorry, I... I'm a Bookman, and I'm trained to ask questions -"
"These are from the ranch I worked on," she answered in a deadpan voice, pointing to the starburst on her collarbone. She pointed to the ridges along her arms and stated, "These are from the maids I worked with." And then, finally, she reached up to her face, touching the scars. She lowered her eyes and stated, "These are from an accident with a chicken when I was younger." Lavi blinked with a rather surprised expression as he continued stitching.
"A...a chicken? Those are from a chicken? I would've thought, you know, a coyote or a rabid dog or something," Lavi said. Esperanza's mouth was set in a less-than-amused line, and Lavi realized that maybe it wasn't as funny as it seemed. Esperanza looked away, her face suddenly taking on a more bashful and embarrassed expression.
"I, uh, I was in an accident when I was much, much young. I remember, a little. I threw rocks at small chicks, and then Mother Hen came and scratch." She made the motion of claws over her face, and she shrugged.
"Is anti, uh... anticlimactic, si?" she asked, and Lavi nodded. He should've guessed. A wound like that, and her being so young... If the wound hadn't healed right, it would explain the large scars that were present now as part of her physiognomy.
"Now, your turn," she said, offering her hand. He began stitching the cut across her palm after doing the anesthetic-and-liquor routine. He looked up at her, and he asked, "All right, ask away." She pointed first to the scar on his shoulder, the one she'd pointed out before.
"This one. What is this one?" she asked. Lavi paused, and he stated, "It happened in a war." He continued stitching. He could sense the anticipation that almost radiated off of Esperanza. She would've made a good Bookman. She had that nose. He could see it whenever they were interrogating the last two 'men'. Still... he almost shuddered. He couldn't put her through something like Bookman training. Especially at how old she was now, it was near impossible...
"I got hit with a dart. It had poison in it, and I was fleeing," Lavi stated, just as clinically detached in his delivery of that piece of information as Esperanza had been about her scars. She moved on to another one.
"Your neck. What are these two?" she said, pointing with two fingers to two indents in his shoulder where his neck joined the rest of him. Lavi smiled, and he said, "That, dear Esperanza, is where a friend of mine bit me in order to save my life." Esperanza gave him an incredulous look, and Lavi laughed. To see an expression on her face other than a pokerface or a firmly set look of contemplation was a relief. He had almost begun to believe that her face was glued to those two expressions.
"It's true! One of my friends is a psuedo-vampire. He sucked Akuma blood out of me. I got shot," he stated, and Esperanza stared at him with a perplexed look.
"What is... psuedo?" she asked, and Lavi said, "It means fake." She frowned, still confused, and Lavi explained Crowley's disposition to her. She still seemed skeptical but decided to accept his word.
"You are a strange man, senor," she stated, suddenly tired. He could see it in her shoulders and in her face. She was trying so hard to stay awake, but the blood loss and the fighting had worn her down. She needed sleep, some food, and a hospital. Though, if her scars spoke for her, it seemed she'd gotten through worse.
"Why do you have so many scars? Like, why did you get into so many accidents? Why do you fight so hard sometimes?" Lavi asked. Esperanza looked up at him, both bright blue eyes strange in the face that housed them but familiar in that the color was common where Lavi hailed from. Good ol' Europe, them with their blue and green and gray eyes.
"We live by a Bible verse here in the desert, as the Israelites before us," Esperanza said, and Lavi almost groaned. He'd heard too many of those...
" 'All of this is a chasing after the wind.' It is from Ecclesiastes. That chapter is of how this world, without God, means nothing. And to us, we have nothing. Therefore, we do not hang on to our lives quite as fervently as most," Esperanza explained, her eyes suddenly far off as she stared into the light of their one candle. Lavi began finishing up his sewing job.
"This means that some of us are reckless. Others become careful. Yet others waste their life because they do not believe that it is worth much, as everything passes away and they will be no more. I am the reckless one," she said, rubbing the finished stitches in her hand. Lavi put away their supplies. He began to understand what she meant... He'd memorized the entire Bible, after all. It was a good tool for teaching him to memorize to the smallest detail, and Ecclesiastes had been especially... morbid and depressing. Perfect for this little town, it seemed, with its dead end location and aridity.
Lavi sighed, and he said, "Well, it's as good a reason as any other, I guess. Our lives are forfeit to the Big Guy Upstairs." He didn't really believe this, but he'd kept up the facade for so long he'd come close to buying into it. God would not allow the atrocities Lavi had witnessed. There was no God. Still, a little positive illusion wasn't hurting anyone, it seemed. He looked at Esperanza, and he realized that in the morning she was definitely going to need to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion. Her skin was pale, and she was a little clammy to the touch, though that may just be him in this cool desert air. He got up and put the black doctor's bag in the closet. He didn't know how to do a transfusion to save his life, so he'd leave that to whatever doctor he could find in the morning. Not to mention, he'd need to do the same. He himself was feeling the effects of blood loss and fatigue, his eyes beginning to droop like weights. He'd only just managed to stay upright.
"We'd better get some sleep. Busy day tomorrow, right?" he asked, but Esperanza didn't answer. He looked back over his shoulder. She was sound asleep, sitting up in his bed. He found himself smiling slightly. She looked like a small child that had stayed awake for far too long. Her dark hair was spilled over her back, and her head was cocked to the side. He gently pushed her down on the bed, and he walked over to her room instead, taking her room key. No need to start rumors with the maids.
Lavi jerked awake with a start. He slowly sat up, realizing something. First of all, it was getting hot. He'd been sweating under his sheets. Second of all, all three men healed by the waters of the spring were Akuma now. Was that some sort of correlation. Third of all, he was feeling vaguely sick all of a sudden. Very quickly, Lavi ran towards the bathroom, and he threw up into the toilet. There was knocking at the door, and Lavi forced himself to answer, despite the fact he was shirtless, smelled like sweat, blood, and rubbing alcohol, and probably wasn't a sight for sore eyes.
He stood there, staring at Esperanza. She looked worse than she had last night. There were bags under her eyes, and her skin was almost deathly pale. Something was very wrong here. She swallowed, and told Lavi, "Something has happened." Lavi frowned, and he dressed as fast as he could.
"We need to get you to a hospital first," he said as they walked downstairs, but Esperanza said, "No time. An Akuma attacked someone last night, the man who'd worked with the priest who had died." Lavi could already tell this was beginning to stink of Noah influence. Something wasn't right here. He looked at Esperanza and stated, "All the men we visited who'd gone to the spring were Akuma, and the priest... what happened to him? Did he ever come back? Dead or alive?" Esperanza shook her head. They walked past the bartender, and he stated, "Un momento, por favor! There was a telegram for the Senor here, and I heard you two come in anoche. I arranged for un medico. Here, you wait." He motioned to both stools.
Esperanza immediately sat down, and Lavi followed suit with hesitation. He wouldn't have taken her for the type to immediately allow someone to help her.
"Why are we sitting here -?"
"You never, never push away hospitality, Senor. Es muy irrespetuoso. Much disrespect." Lavi suddenly understood, and he nodded. They waited for a few moments, and Esperanza finally asked, "Tell me about what you think is happening. Innocence or no?" Lavi rubbed his chin in contemplation, realizing he'd have to shave soon because he was beginning to grow a very fine layer of red stubble.
"Not Innocence, I don't think. Innocence can cause damage, and it can definitely maim, but it is never solely to kill. Innocence is weird, though, so maybe it is, but this isn't average Innocence behavior. It stinks of black magic, so I may have to call in another group to investigate," Lavi said, rubbing his eye with weariness. He was feeling so tired, so drained...
Another desert, another place, another river with something foul-
No, no, no, and no. He was not going to let this memory escape. He stuffed it in its box almost violently, making sure that it was securely fastened away in the prison of his mind. He needed to call Bookman. This was getting out of hand. His memories shouldn't be escaping like this. They were running rampant, blurring into the other people he'd been and -
"Senor? Is there something wrong? You need to drink water, or else you will be dehydrated," she stated, and she motioned to the bartender. He brought two glasses of water. Lavi stared into the glass, and he guzzled the water. He stopped a moment, and he stared at the water. Another desert, another place, another river... Memories assaulted him mercilessly, but they reminded him of another situation, one that was not exactly similar, but could possibly lead to another idea, and another, and another...
"Where did this come from?" he asked, and he looked towards the bartender. Esperanza was already drinking the water as quickly as she could. She stopped a moment, noticing his stare, and she said, "I... I don't know. Usually, our water is from the surrounding towns with aquifers." The bartender guiltily looked away, and he said, "The river. It is water from the river. They have been bottling it." Lavi suddenly felt sick. He thought about all of those Akuma, about the little girl who'd died, about the priest who'd supposedly died as well.
"I need to see her body," Lavi stated, staring into the cool crystalline surface of his glass.
"Que- "
"I need to see that little girl's body," Lavi stated again, this time much more fervently. If he was correct, that meant anyone who drank from the river could be poisoned. He needed to know, because if he didn't figure it out, if he let this eat at him...
"Senor, we do not know if we can allow such a thing. The people will be in outrage," she said. Lavi shook his head, and he stated, "I don't care. It might save their lives. The river could be poisoned with Akuma blood, and they'd never know. I'm starting to get an idea of what's going on. Take me to her body." Esperanza stopped for a moment, almost stiffening... and then she said, "When?"
"Today, at the most. Now, if you can," he said.
She got up and started for the door. Lavi trailed behind her. The bartender merely washed the glasses, sighing to himself. Stupid young fools. That doctor would come here for nothing, it seemed, other than perhaps to trail them. At least he knew where they were going.
A/N: Thank you , thank you, thank you. I'm amazed that I ended up with two reviews for the very first chapter (which is, quite honestly, a bit of a record for me). Special thanks to the first reviewers, TaoueriT (I'm so sorry if I butchered that), and to Tsuki-Yume as well for their input. I know I kind of have a habit of forgetting my poor, poor reviewer after a while, so drop me a line if you want to give special notice to some neglect. My readers need love, after all. Thank you, also, to TaoueriT and Anim110 for alerting to the story (because I know you people who decide to get alerts need love, too). Hopefully, this story gets to be as fun as Amestris AD, Decomp, and MWN.
