Tehehe, this was actually part of chapter two, but I felt lazy and just posted what I had prior to them going to Bookman's place. XD If I ever go through to edit anything, I'll merge this chapter with chapter two, but for now, it is chapter three! :D It's probably gonna be short though. XD
OH! By the way, in this fanfic, Lavi will have two little brothers – Deak and Eki. :D The one featured here is a younger Deak. :P
I do not own DGM, Katsura Hoshino does.
[xXx]
The rain was coming down faster and harder than earlier, Lavi noted. They, meaning the Bookman successor, the unfortunately still confused hanyou, and Lenalee, had jackets pulled over their heads to shield them from the weather, though in vain. If it came down any harder, they wouldn't be able to get to Bookman's house. It was hard to see and walk enough as it was. Lavi may have had really good eyesight, but he was having trouble seeing ten feet ahead of him, for his companions, less so. The footing was no better, even for professional athletes like themselves. Possible death by rain water. Though sounding rather humorous, it was still an undesirable death. An interesting death, yes, but it was doubtful that the three of them wanted to experience such a fate.
Lenalee's flats sloshed all too quietly compared to the pounding drops of water. Allen's loud groaning about his clothes getting undoubtedly soaked had been droned down to soft whispers, distant and unheard on human ears. Even Lavi, the man who could understand twenty different people talking to him simultaneously and be able to recite every single conversation as an independent social encounter, had problems hearing. The rain was coming down too hard to do much of anything, really. The bright, shielded torch lights of Bookman's house, or rather, Bookman's manor was their only beacon of hope.
Allen was the one who somehow managed to find the large double doors to the manor. Using his stronger left arm, he took hold of the golden knocker, banging it against the hard ebony surface causing an echoing 'rap, rap, rap'ing sound. The whitette's arm dropped back to his side and they all waited. After a few moments, there was not a response. So, raising his voice to be heard beyond the thick door, Allen announced, "Bookman! It's me, Allen Walker!"
The door was opened by a young boy, another apprentice of the Bookman line but the second to next successor. He had Lavi's red hair, but it was lighter than the man's, a bit thicker as well; His right eye was covered by an eye patch whilst the left eye was grass green, dead with lack of emotion; His skin was paler than Lavi's, ashen; Over his torso he wore a beige cloth that covered a great deal of his upper half, his hands barely visible at the hem, and he bore a white blouse underneath the cloth, wrinkled by his sleeping in it; And over his legs he wore a pair of simple green pants, his feet bare. He looked up at them and beckoned them inside. "Come," was all he had said, groggy from having been woken up.
The three entered and the door was closed behind them. The little boy went back towards the library where Lavi assumed that his younger sibling had fallen asleep early in the night. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the younger nearly fall back asleep on the floor. "I thought Gramps would have answered the door instead of Deak…" he mused more to himself than to Lenalee and Allen. He shrugged. "I guess that proves how much I know about this place…"
"I was busy working on something, thank you," an old, weak and rough like sandpaper voice said behind the trio. The men and woman turned to see a slouching old man, his eyes narrowed and ringed by heavy, dark shadows. He was bald, save for the single lock of gray hair that stood erect in a question-mark shape on his scalp. He was short (shorter than Allen to be exact) and his skin was aged, wrinkled by knowledge and wisdom. The old man held his hands in front of his chest, the said limbs nearly engulfed by his large, black baggy sleeves of his Asian attire."You three best be glad that I do not sleep as much as I should or else you all would have had colds by the morning."
"Sorry, Gramps," chuckled his eldest apprentice nervously. He let out a loud 'A-choo!' and rubbed his nose in agitation. He grinned slightly at his grandfather Bookman. "We came here because we need to talk to you about something that was extremely important."
The old man pounced, hitting his red headed grandson upside the head. "I can tell that, you idiot!" he scolded. "What I can't tell, however, is what you came here to talk with me about."
"It's about Allen," Lenalee said hurriedly. "Something… something is wrong with Allen and we want to know what it is…"
Bookman relaxed and placed a hand on Lenalee's shoulder. "You need not fret, Lenalee," he said soothingly. "I know everything about Allen. Now, what is it? Is it about… the demon?" The question was directed toward the whitette who had simply blanched slightly. He removed his hand from the Chinese woman's shoulder and sighed, beckoning Allen over to him, his metal covered fingers curling and uncurling.
The young man swallowed and hesitantly made his way over to Bookman, fidgeting slightly when he stopped to stand in front of the elder. He hated to feel nervous in front of a family friend, especially one who helped him deal with Mana's passing. The one who used acupuncture to help heal the scarlet demon scar across his left eye. The one who helped him find jobs when Wizard Cross Marian decided to build up debts to the heavens. To put it in short, Bookman was similar to an uncle to the whitette. Kind and loving (despite the fact that Bookman refused to admit it since his lineage wasn't supposed to feel emotion to avoid being bias in their discoveries in history, both common and hidden), always there for the young man, whether he wanted him to be there or not.
The old man had Allen lean over so he could look at the pentagram above his snow white brow. Dark eyes checked for even the slightest change, one small detail that, without the trained eye, could be easily overlooked and not noticed until it was too late. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Bookman saw a slight spade shape at each end of the inverted star. Standing straight, Bookman turned to his grandson. "I want you to increase the dosage of Innocence," he said calmly. "Two should be efficient."
"What?!" cried Lavi. "We can't do that! You don't have any Innocence to spare, not to mention that there are only one hundred four pieces of the God's Crystal spread across the world. Subtract the number of pieces that we have already used, which is forty-one over the past fourteen years, from the total number. That means only sixty-one pieces remain. The supply of Innocence would be depleted in a little over fifteen years! And what if we had to change the times when we have to give it to Allen so that they could be closer? The Innocence would be gone in a matter of months!"
'The demon,' sneered a voice within Allen's head, 'has a name, mind you, you old man.' The whitette closed his left eye unwillingly, revealing the body of the spirit within his being. He had slicked back, dark brown hair (almost black) that feathered naturally into spikes in the back. He had stunning amber eyes that were filled with age and bountiful knowledge, mischievous in those beautiful seas of gold. The young demon had been clad in all white, from his blouse to his knee high boots. If anything, the demon looked more like a sexified angel than his heritage.
'What is your name then, white clothed demon?' Allen questioned mentally. 'I'll tell him what it is so he will not offend you again.' Unbeknownst to the white haired British man, he just fueled the demon's already larger-than-average ego. Live and learn, as they say.
Allen could a sly grin cross the elder's features. 'Well, well, well… my, my,' he mused. 'This is certainly a first for me! Somebody actually wants to know my name!' He bowed graciously low. 'Most had, at one time or another, called me many a different name. The Fourteenth, the Musician, and the Noah of Destruction are just some of these oh-so wonderful names.' He stood straight, a cocky smirk upon his lips. 'But for you, my beloved little Allen Walker… you can just call me Uncle Neah.'
'U-uncle?!' the whitette cried inside of his mind, alarmed. He quickly composed himself and cleared his throat to gain the attention of his companions. Three sets of eyes – black, emerald, and violet – turned to him, their conversation halted. Out loud, Allen said, "Um… the demon says that he has a name… and he wasn't exactly happy when you called him 'the demon'." He swallowed, nervously looking away from their widening eyes. "Some choices are as follows: The Fourteenth, the Musician, and the Noah of Destruction. He told me to call him Uncle Neah, though…" His silver eyes looked frightful, looking dead on at Bookman, who seemed to relax. "I-I can't be related to him, though… I'm a human and he's a demon! There cannot be any way that I am actually related to him… right? I mean, I don't know my biological family at all…"
"You will have your answers in due time, Allen," Bookman told him, holding his chin in thought. It seemed that having a name for the demon made him recognize it. He would have to pull some research with Deak and Eki on this one… "But for right now, I want you to head straight home and get some rest. You have to pack your things in the morning for the trip to Japan. I hope you have already been informed on this?" He received a nod and smirked teasingly at his grandson. "So it seems that my grandson isn't all that useless after all." He shook his head, dismissing the annoyed protests that Lavi made at that statement, thus ignoring him completely. "Meet me at the docks tomorrow at noon. I trust you won't get lost?"
Allen blushed deeply, slightly ashamed by the fact that Bookman would say that. Then again, Allen was notorious for getting lost when going somewhere, even the bathroom in his own home. He nodded. "I'll try my best not to…"
"Good," nodded the old man. He turned to a fuming Lavi and told him, "I want you to watch our young friend here. I have some rather important research to conduct. Not to mention that I have to carry Deak to bed…" He shook his head with a sigh and walked away.
The three young adults left the mansion, the doors closing behind them on their way out.
"Well…" Lenalee murmured, shattering the silence that had followed them since they began to walk home. "At least it isn't raining anymore."
And for once in Allen's eleven years of knowing the Chinese woman, he just wanted her to shut up.
[xXx]
I hope you all enjoyed this chappy! :D I had put it on my jump drive and kept taking it to school, working on it during French class. XD I fail life. Anyways, I finished typing this in French class today, so I decided it was time to update.
Next chapter, I'm just going to go ahead and skip the long trip to Japan at the end and just get to the part you all have been waiting for! :3
Read and Review my lovelies! *heart*
~Usagi
