Authors Note: Hello! welcome to Chapter 3. I was really excited to post this chapter because I finished it early, so I decided to update my story sooner rather than later.

By this time you all probably know - (line) separates my comments from the story and ... (3 dots in its own paragraph) separate time/scene change. so that will be my last time posting that. I got a couple of really nice reviews so thank you all for reading. I also received a suggestion to make my chapters longer, so I merged chapters 3 and 4 to make one long chapter 3. Thanks for your suggestion! Enjoy!

-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino

The next morning Miranda could not stop thinking about the mayor and Slade. She knew they received a great loss of sorts. The funeral and the boxes at the house. She got up quite early that morning still confused. There was no sign of anything related to innocence. Why would Komui send her here? She laid in her bed thinking, trying to piece together something that would give them a clue as to where the innocence was.

She managed to get out of bed despite her lack of sleep thinking about the mayor last night and waking up early in the morning. Tamerack met her outside of the inn. "Good morning Miss Lotto." He greeted her.

"Shall we try again this morning?" Tamerack noticed how down she was this morning, he gave her a large smile trying to cheer her up. They had searched the whole town already by the 3rd day. They decided to search the outer edges of the town. The mayor had mentioned that there were a few homes that had people living in them just outside the city in the forests and the farmlands. They searched a while before arriving at a cottage in the woods.

Miranda knocked on the door.

She heard a bit of fumbling around in the house before the door opened.

"Hello my name is Miranda Lotto and this is Tamerack Corrow" The girl stared at them blank faced and dead eyed...

There was silence...

"May we speak with you?"

"…no…"

"can we come in?"

the stranger had a dazed look in there eyes almost like a drugged sadness. But offered there home to Miranda and Tamerack regardless.

"Are you alright ma'm?"

She groaned. Her face turned grey. A black pentacle grew out of her forehead, guns, and the machinery of an Akuma followed. Tamerack quickly pulled the machine off of his back and turned it on boxing up the Akuma in a cube of light.

"Quick Miss Lotto! Escape and warn the Order!" Tamerack knew the barrier would not hold out long with only one machine to hold back the Akuma.

The box was then surrounded by a dome of clocks, Miranda was taking all of the damage the machine was taking from the escaping Akuma. "It will be a long time before this Akuma will be able to escape. I can hold this small barrier for a long time. Go warn the order. I was not about to get you killed." Miranda knew that once the Akuma escaped Tamerack would not survive, but at least she would be able to hold it off long enough for Tamerack to get the word out to the nearest exorcist who can kill this thing.

Miranda hoped to not run into any Akuma this time. She can't exactly kill them with her abilities. This was supposed to be a simple mission... but no mission is simple... is it.

Tamerack ran off to inform the order.

...

Several hours later there was still no sign of Tamerack and Miranda was feeling the distress that the day had put on her along with the lack of sleep and several hours of holding her innocence active.

The mayor soon came out of the trees.

"Mayor! Stay away!" Miranda yelled

"Get away! Its not safe here go home!" She yelled but he did not listen.

"Stay away? Go home? But how can I do that knowing one of my own is in danger?" his voice deepened and his skin tore away reveling a dark purple armor like body...

A level 3 Akuma...

A level 3 Akuma had taken the mayors body.

"Why do you think I told you to go so far out of town? To help you find the innocence? NO! To get you alone! After all I can't have my citizens see me murder some outsiders like you. How do you think I evolved so far? How do you think I came so far without any exorcists noticing? I AM NOT SOME BUMBLING FOOL!" He laughed.

"An exorcist may even evolve me to a level 4" his smile ran a chill up Mirandas back.

"Where is Tamerack?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Dead." he said bluntly. He slowly walked toward her.

Miranda had sent him to his death, and now she could only hope he got the word out in time. The level 3 was approaching "Would you like to know what I can do?" the level 3 taunted her "My abilities? My Powers?... I can show you... If you want." he was next to her whispering in her ear. She could feel him breathing as he circled around her.

"It is nice to know there may be innocence in this town, thank you for the information." He pulled out his long tongue and licked her neck. It was hot and burned her skin with what felt like acid seeping into her skin.

"Who are you?" Miranda asked. She was going numb from the acid or perhaps it was... Poison. She wanted to postpone her death as long as possible, to keep the innocence safe just a few minutes longer. "...or who were you?... who were you to Mayor Ridge?"

There was silence for a moment.

"I am his wife... all those boxes! Those are MY BOXES! And he wanted to package them up and throw them away! So I gladly killed him, no matter the Earls orders!"

It laughed.

"and how did you die?"

"My death! I NEVER DIED! What are you talking about! I AM NOT DEAD!" Miranda was confused how could an Akuma not know it was dead?

"My husband was trying to throw me out! He was not listening to me! He went to a funeral with OUR son and did not tell me! HOW COULD HE DO SUCH A THING!"

"Because you died... that was your funeral... he was not ignoring you... because he could not see your spirit, he was mourning your loss so much that the Earl came down and brought you back to life. I'm sorry..." Miranda could not understand how this spirit had not gone to God yet, but it remained on earth long enough for the Millennium Earl to turn it into an Akuma.

"There was a carriage... but I know I avoided it... I know I did... I know..." The Akuma grabbed Mirandas neck.

"no... no I... I was sure..." the akuma thought hard. It turned to face Miranda. It pulled her close to his face, Miranda struggling for air...

It screamed grabbing her hair with its other has and wrenching it back.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY DO YOU MAKE MY HEAD HURT! IT DOES NOT MATTER NOW HAD I DIED OR NOT BECAUSE I AM LIVING! STRONGER THAN EVER!" The akuma had broken in insanity.

Miranda heard a dog barking nearby. The akuma tightened her grip around her neck "You are going to die right here."

Miranda was clawing at the akumas knuckles, gasping for breath, furiously kicking. She wanted to scream but no sound came out... almost no air could be let through with the akumas tight grip... "Pathetic" it said "I could not even show you my real power... so weak... I thought exorcists were more fun than this."

Her vision had went fuzzy. The beautiful green glow of her innocence dissapeared leaving the rusted box to take back the damage it was given.

Black...

'The barking' Miranda thought

'Does that dog have a home?'

'God in heaven I pray... please guide me back to your palace in the sky.' Mirandas eyes rolled to the back of her head

"Innocence ACTIVATE" There was a voice, a males voice... it was Kanda.

"Mugen!" the unsheathed sword glowed with a dark midnight blue, like flames of darkness. He charged at the akuma, he swung his blade sending beasts of hell to meet the akuma. He was forced to let go to avoid any damage from Kandas attack, and Miranda dropped lifeless toward the floor.

Tamerack came rushing toward Miranda... he was not dead.

"Miranda! Miranda! Miranda!" he ran to her side repeating her name trying to wake her up.

Kanda spoke "Get her to a hospital now! She may still be alive!" he had her focus on the akuma, not bothering to look back toward Tamerack.

Tammerack grabbed Miranda by the waist and threw her over his shoulder.

He ran.

Author Notes: I really liked the idea on an akuma not knowing where they came from, so I thought this would be the perfect place to put one. Thanks again for reading, and for the suggestions.

P.S. I originally had Lenalee the one to fight the level 3 akuma, but I had already established that she was a the order with Lavi and Allen. sooooo... yeah.

Chapter Preview:

A crowd of people started to gather as Tamerack fell to his knees. Miranda slid off of his shoulder and landed on the ground next to him. He tried to yell for help again but his voice was horse... he began to weep.

The mayors son, Slade, saw Tamerack, and ran toward him.