Chapter Three
It was that day all over again. There she was, entering her house through the front door. She walked down the hallway, turned left at the end, and entered the parlor to console her grieving mother. In a quick flash, her mother turned into the same circular, cannon-covered monster she had before. Another quick flash and she was running for her life again, toward her loving servants. Flash. Her servants were dead around her. Flash. A mysterious, smiling, grey face appeared in front of her. It was wearing a top-hat and round spectacles.
"Hehehe…" It laughed sinisterly, "First, the man you called father, then, your beloved mother and her servants. Guess who's next."
The face laughed again and Annabelle screamed.
She awoke, shaking and drenched in ice cold sweat. She must've screamed out loud as well because Marie had burst into the room, pulling on his coat as he did so. It was then that she noticed that she was actually sitting inside of a building.
"What is it?" Marie asked, concerned.
"It's nothing," Annabelle replied, "Just a bad dream. Oh, I'm sorry. I've forgotten to introduce myself. How rude of me! My name is Annabelle. I guess I didn't have time to introduce myself before because we were running from those…. What were they called again?"
"Akuma," Marie replied, "And it's alright little one. Had I been in your shoes I would have forgotten as well."
"Where are we?" Annabelle asked looking around the unfamiliar room.
"An inn in a small sea port. We'll be catching a ship to London in the morning."
"Why London?"
"You are quite full of questions little one." Marie said smiling, remembering a time in his own childhood when he was as curious as a newborn kitten. "I suppose I should at least answer most of them to satisfy your curiosity. London is where Headquarters is."
"Oh…" Annabelle said. "You don't mind that I ask so many questions?"
"No, little one." Marie smiled at the girl, regarding her as he would a very young sibling. "Your curiosity is healthy for one your age. The questions you ask are how you learn of the world around you. I do not fault you for it. Ask me what you will."
"Okay." Annabelle said smiling brightly. Then she dropped her smile and picked up a look of concern. "I guess I should let you get back to bed now. I'm sorry for waking you."
"It's alright." Marie answered her reassuringly. "Do you have night terrors often?"
Annabelle thought about it for a bit, trying to remember the dreams she'd had in the past. Finally, after a moment, she spoke. "Not that I can remember. I think this is the first one I've had since I was really little."
"Very well then. If you need me, do not be afraid to call me. Good night Anna-" Marie paused midsentence, listening.
"What is it?"
"Akuma approaching from the east. There are about five of them. Maybe they believe that we will be easily defeated because not only are we supposed to be asleep at this hour, but because they believe I will be hindered by your presence."
"Will you-" Annabelle began to ask, but Marie interrupted.
"No little one. I will be fine. It takes more than five Akuma to bring me down, even while I'm defending another." he replied with confidence.
"How close are they?"
"They should be here about-" the wall next to Annabelle's window shattered, flinging glass every which way. Five Akuma clustered together outside, rushing to get in.
"At least we have them in a funnel for now," Marie said, smiling.
Annabelle looked at the large man and thought; he sure does smile a lot, though she didn't have much more time for thought as the Akuma made their way into the small room.
"Instinct guided her as she dove for her toy bow. When she grabbed it, instinct drove her to call out her weapon's name, and when it activated and became the silvery-green bow that was its true form, instinct drove her to dive out of the path of the Akuma bullet and draw back her bow. She was running on pure adrenaline and, though she hadn't eaten since breakfast on the day her family had died, she felt as if she could destroy a thousand Akuma.
She let fly her arrow. It hit the circular Akuma right in its doll-like face. The Akuma exploded on impact and another appeared in its place. Marie took this one out with his Noël Organ, but as this Akuma's soul rose to the afterlife, another one appeared. This pattern continued until all five Akuma were destroyed.
After the battle, Annabelle and Marie were drenched in sweat and breathing hard. They looked at each other and both of them knew that they had to get out of France, and soon. Marie departed from Annabelle's room to gather the rest of his things and Annabelle examined the various cuts and bruises that she had obtained from the broken windows.
They weren't very deep, but they were numerous and they began to sting as the effects of the adrenaline wore off. She didn't have to change because, well, she had nothing to change into. So, she waited for Marie to come get her.
He appeared in her doorway, which now had shards of glass embedded in it, and they promptly left the inn.
It was daylight by the time they reached the pier and, as Marie and Annabelle boarded the ship, they noticed that it was unusually quiet on the way to the pier. Marie became suspicious of everyone on the ship.
However, throughout the trip, no Akuma appeared and, upon arriving in London, Annabelle began to ease up a bit. Marie wasn't convinced just yet that the coast was clear. He kept his ears open for signs of an attack.
They disembarked from the ship and met with a man in a white long-coat much like the one the traitor, Limae, had worn. He had pale skin and violet eyes. He was tall and slender with white-blond hair and he carried the same radio-like device that Limae had carried.
"Hello," the man said in a light, moderately cheerful voice, "My name's Milo and I am the Finder who will escort you both back to Headquarters."
Annabelle leaned over toward Marie and, whispering almost inaudibly, yet barely loud enough that the tall blind man could still hear it, she asked, "What's a Finder?"
"Maybe you should ask him." Marie whispered back at her.
"Why can't you tell me?"
"It's not my business. Besides," he smiled, "I wouldn't know what a Finder's duties are. After all, I've never been one."
"Fine, I'll ask him." Annabelle said, giving in to the man's suggestion.
Meanwhile, Milo stood there, looking at the two of them in confusion and wondered what in the world they could possibly be talking about.
"Alright then," the albino man said, snapping out of his stupor, "Let's proceed. Shall we?"
As they walked up the streets of London, Annabelle asked the Finder about what exactly it was that a Finder did. He told her that it was his job as a Finder to investigate stories of places that could possibly contain Innocence and bring his findings back to Headquarters so that they could send an Exorcist to retrieve it. He was also tasked with protecting the Innocence until the Exorcist got to it as well as occasionally leading the Exorcist to the site of the Innocence.
Annabelle was intrigued by this. She wondered what exactly Innocence was, but she decided to hold her question until they reached their destination. She was also far too intrigued by the way Milo talked. She had never been outside of Poitiers and the only people she had ever known who talked differently than her and her mother were Jakob and Clara, both of which had similar accents to Milo's, yet Clara's was a bit more subtle while Milo's was a bit more pronounced.
She also noticed that Marie had an accent. She wondered where his was from. She also wondered if, to them, she too had some sort of accent. If she did, she couldn't hear it and she then found herself wondering why she couldn't hear it. Or her mother's for that matter. To others, thoughts like this would've been trivial, but to Annabelle's seven-year-old mind, every little thing in the world was a wonder and needed to be investigated.
After several hours on foot, with many breaks in between, the trio had arrived at a large, castle-like structure that sat atop a mountain which towered over the clouds. As they came to the gate, Annabelle noticed that their appeared to be a face embossed into it.
Things just keep getting weirder and weirder, Annabelle thought to herself as they approached.
"Ah, Milo, Marie!" a voice from nowhere said, "You've already brought our newest little Exorcist. She's so cute too! Almost as cute as my Lenalee."
"Where's that voice coming from?" Annabelle asked, looking around for a person who might have been speaking loud enough to resonate throughout the entire courtyard.
"Loudspeaker," Marie said simply.
What's a loudspeaker? Annabelle asked herself. However, she figured that the answer to said question would only confuse her even more than she already was, so she kept it to herself.
"Alrighty now," the voice said cheerfully, "We will now commence with the examination. Gatekeeper!"
The face on the gate seemed to jump out of the wall at Annabelle. As it looked at her, its eyes shot out yellow beams of light. She didn't feel anything, but the light was so bright, it was blinding. The light disappeared and the face spoke.
"All things check out," it said, "You may enter."
They came through the large entryway and entered a room with stone walls and a marble-tiled floor. From the ceiling hung a number of wooden chandeliers whose candles were burning brightly, providing the lighting. Annabelle thought it looked like a more inviting version of the Beast's castle from the story her mother used to tell her when she was younger. At the thought of her mother, tears came to her eyes. She didn't cry, however, because she wanted to show her new friends that she wasn't a total wimp, and, as far as she understood from her stories, warriors didn't cry.
At the other end of the room, there was a spiral, stone staircase, at the bottom of which stood a tall man wearing a white coat with black lining and the silver cross-like symbol she'd seen on Marie and that General Tiedoll guy. As the group ventured closer to him, Annabelle noticed that he also wore pink slippers and a pink and white beret. He had long, black hair tied back in a low ponytail and wore half-hexagonal rimmed glasses.
"Hello," the man said, and Annabelle realized that he was the voice from the loudspeaker, "My name is Komui Lee. Welcome to the Black Order."
He had a warm, yet slightly mischievous look about him and he smiled as he looked at the trio. Annabelle wondered whether that smile meant he was going to hug her, or that he was going to tear her to pieces.
"Come this way please," he said in a sing-song voice.
He led them up the staircase and into what looked like a modern-day operating room. Its walls were still made of stone, but there was an IV drip and an operating table as well as various other hospital supplies. Komui walked up to the area behind the table and bent over as if he were looking for something.
"Marie, Milo, you two may leave now." As he rose, Komui directed his attention to Annabelle and said as the two men left, "Now then, you can put that little toy bow on the table and we'll make it into a remarkable weapon!"
"Annabelle looked at this man like he was crazy, with good reason too for, in his arms, he held and extremely large drill and upon his head he wore a yellow hard-hat. He was grinning like a madman and Annabelle became extremely concerned for her favorite toy.
As Komui advanced closer to the toy with his ridiculously and impossibly large drill, she screamed.
After Komui had finished, Annabelle's toy bow looked completely different than it had been before. She didn't know how, but Komui had totally transformed it from a toy to a deadly, Akuma-killing weapon. It looked as it had when she'd first activated it, only instead of its body being silver, it was now black. The string, however, retained its silvery sheen.
Now, Komui was leading her to the heart of the Order where they stood on a square platform with a bunch of levers and switches on the far side. The pony-tailed man approached these as he and Annabelle boarded. He pushed a red button and the platform elevated. Annabelle, who had never seen this sort of technology before, was a tad bit shocked by the whole ordeal, so shocked and amazed in fact, that she couldn't even focus on what the crazy Chinese man had to say.
After a few minutes, the platform stopped and Annabelle found herself looking up at five men in golden, high-backed chairs. Their faces were shrouded in shadow and they each wore black robes decorated in gold. She noticed that each one looked like an exact replica of the next and, consequently, found herself wondering if they acted the same as well.
"Those," Komui said, "Are the Great Generals. They're here to explain why you're here and what your duties are."
"Why can't you?" Annabelle questioned.
"Well, I'm not authorized to."
"Oh."
It was then that the Great General furthest to the left spoke.
"Welcome, child," he said, "To the Black Order." His voice was deep and resonant. It echoed throughout the cavernous room.
"These are your last days of fun and games," the second General said.
"You are familiar with the story of Noah's flood?" the third asked. Annabelle nodded and the General continued on with the story. "Long ago, in the time before Noah's flood, there existed a substance called Innocence that was designed to fight off the dark forces of he who never dies, the Maker of what you know as the Akuma. Only a select few could use the Innocence and they were to be known as sacred apostles of God, now known as Exorcists."
"These people," continued the fourth Great General, "Fought bravely against the Maker, and barely succeeded, causing the three days of darkness known as Noah's flood. Much later on in time, a message from our ancient ancestors was found inscribed upon a golden cube. It spoke of this battle and the three days of darkness and of the substance known as Innocence, of which there were one hundred and nine pieces scattered across the world. It instructed us to gather the Innocence before the Maker could destroy them all. Shortly after, the Black Order was formed and, today, you, child, stand before us wishing to be an Exorcist."
Annabelle was awed by the story. She never could understand why God had decided to wipe out all but one person on the planet in a giant flood. She always wondered why He couldn't have just wiped out those with evil in their hearts. Now she knew that it wasn't God that was responsible for the Flood, nor was the Flood a flood at all. She wondered what other lies she and the rest of the world had been told their entire lives and very much wanted to find out more about them. She was just getting to thinking about where she might find a library in this place when the General on the far right spoke to her.
"It is your job, child, as an Exorcist, to gather the Innocence so that the days of Darkness will not come again. Are you ready to accept such a responsibility at such a young age?"
"I guess so," She replied, figuring that she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter considering that she had no home to go back to and no life behind her.
"Then you must be examined," the first General said.
Then they all spoke at once. "Hevlaska," they called, and, as the word rang throughout the room, Annabelle began to wonder what it meant.
She didn't have to wonder for long, however, as, at that moment, a large, silvery-green being appeared. She, for it was female, seemed to have no eyes, only a nose and a mouth for a face, and looked as if she were covered in the same substance that her bow was made of. She, to Annabelle, was beautiful, but when the strange being grabbed her, she became frightened by it.
What had grabbed ahold of her wasn't a hand, per say, for this being had no hands, but a semi-transparent, tentacle-like limb. The being called Hevlaska lifted Annabelle to her eyeless face. Though Annabelle was afraid, she did not struggle, for she feared that if she did, it would only make things worse for her. Instead, she stared in awe at the strange entity in front of her as her head was touched to its. Then, it began to speak.
"Three percent," Hevlaska began, "Fifteen percent. Twenty-five percent. Forty-two percent. Seventy-five percent. Eighty-two percent. Eighty-five percent. Eighty-eight percent. Eighty-nine percent."
Hevlaska paused, as if considering something. Everyone in the room waited for her to speak again, anticipating the end result of the test.
"Eighty-nine percent is the maximum synchro rate the girl can achieve," Hevlaska said. She set Annabelle back down on the platform and spoke again. "Annabelle Hale, the day will come eight will be needed to assist the Fool on his errand from God. You, the Hunter, must unite the Storyteller, the Warrior, he Reaper, the Piper, the Thief, the Mercenary, and the Crusader before the passing of the eclipse, lest the world fall before the Heart's Traitor.
Annabelle had no idea what it meant, nor any idea of how to fulfill the words of Hevlaska, but, somehow, she knew that she was destined to be something more than she'd ever hoped, or wanted, to be. She looked back at Komui. He looked amazed, awestruck, even, but he flipped a switch and the platform slowly lowered itself.
"I'll get someone to show you around now," he said as they exited the platform.
That night, Annabelle lay awake in her bed, thinking. Komui had gotten one of his underlings, a short, corpulent man named Tapp, to show her around the castle. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. She kept thinking of how proud her mama and papa would be if they could see her now.
She didn't know why, but she still thought of Jakob as her real father. Probably because he'd treated her like she was is daughter. She missed them both dearly and hoped they were happy together in the afterlife.
As the night moved on, she turned her thoughts to her real father, General Cross Marion. She wondered where he was, what he was doing. She wondered if he wanted her as a daughter and she desperately wanted to know what he was like. Eventually, lost in her wonderings, she fell asleep and began to dream.
In her dream, she was back at home, sitting in the library. Only, she wasn't exactly herself. She was smaller than normal. In fact, she was a mouse. Her papa came into the library with her mama. He was angry about something and had a knife in his hand. As she watched him, he peeled off her mother's skin with its serrated edge.
Annabelle was horrified, but she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't even cry out. Her papa pulled her mother's skin over his own and came toward her.
There was a flash and she was in her mother's room. She was still a mouse, but her mother looked normal. She looked just fine. Then, she shed her skin and became a large, grey, snake. Annabelle was frightened of snakes and to see her mother, her own beloved mother, turn into her worst fear was more than she could take. Once again, she tried to scream, but all that came out was a squeak. She tried to run, but she was frozen. The snake lunged at her, mouth open, and suddenly, all Annabelle could see was blackness.
She awoke, shaking. She was drenched in a cold sweat and her throat hurt, as if she'd been screaming for hours. Then again, she probably had. She looked around her room and began to weep. She remembered how, every time she'd had a nightmare, her mama and papa would comfort her and tell her that it was only a dream, that she shouldn't worry about it. But her mama and papa weren't here. They were both dead and that was what had triggered the nightmare in the first place.
Too afraid to go back to sleep and too unsure of her knowledge of the Order's halls to explore them, she grabbed her bow, the only thing left from her home, held it close to her heart, and cried. She cried for her mother, Claudia, who had been so sweet and wise. She cried for the man who had raised her, Jakob, who had treated her like his own daughter, even knowing that she wasn't. She cried for the fact that her real father had pretty much abandoned her mother, which Annabelle harbored a great deal of resentment towards. She cried for the servants who had given their lives to defend her against the creature that had formerly been their master. Most of all, though, she cried because she was alone. Alone in this world with no family or friends, alone in her mind, heart, and soul. Alone in the dark of the night, in this unfamiliar place with no one to confide in but the bow that had once been her favorite toy. All through the night, she cried until, finally, she fell asleep and cried no more.