How long has it been? (-w-u) I am sooooo sorrrrryyyy. School has been so stressful. Specially with all the damn applications and whatnot. But now that I have that out of the way I can finally continue writing for you guys!
Cheers for that~~! \('w')/
Now to appreciate the great people who've waited so long after reviewing~!
-PrincessWindNight
-And Almathia
Thank you guys for the reviews on the last chapter that seems to be so long ago :)
Well withtout further ado, let's get to what you've been waiting for!
Fourth Chain: Linking Chains
"Would you stop that already," Gazelle snapped at Janus for the umpteenth time standing near the door. Him tapping his foot endlessly annoyed her since it began when they got there.
Not long before dawn hit them, they -Kanda carrying the unconscious Celia, Johnny, Kingsley and Janus, and Gazelle- had arrived at the hotel that originally was for three people only. So, of course, the damn room would be quite crowded. Then again that wasn't what was causing Janus' anxiety.
Since they got there, which was a good five hours ago, Celia had not given a single sign of waking up. She hadn't stirred or anything and her breathing had become quiet and nearly unhearable. It was as if she'd gone hybernating, like a greazly bear.
"Well!" Janus snapped back at Gazelle, standing from his place near the window. "When's this comrade of yours getting here to help Celia?"
"Calm down, Janus," Kingsley said from another corner of the room. As calm and collected as ever, Kingsley didn't show an ounce of the concern that he really felt for the girl that was supposed to be his 'daughter'. "Her body's been through physical hell after having taken Couga's Black Lightning. It has the same magnitude as a striking lightning bolt. It's a miracle in itself that she's still alive."
"Is that some ability of the virus inside Celia-san, too?" Johnny asked, out of the blue, from his place opposite of Janus and nearest to the staircase into the rooms upstairs. Cheap as the room itself was, and how cramped as well, it had two floors yet only one room and the other a very small common room.
"You can say that the virus had some work in it," Kingsley said gesturing at Johnny with his hand. "Janus and Gazelle are pretty sturdy to normal attacks. However another viral or Innocence attack can greatly hurt them. Specially me since I'm quite older than them."
"Then again," Gazelle added turning to Johnny. "It also helped greatly that Celia was fused with Kanda's Innocence. The 'holy power of God' is pretty damn hard to kill. I've seen it at work plenty of times before." She turned to Janus, "I got to North America just before the disaster happened three months ago."
This comment made Janus regain his patience and sat back down with his arms on his knees and his hands together as if in prayer to whoever would hear.
Kingsley's eyes left the floor and gazed up the stairs into the second floor room. The only member of their clique missing was the hot-headed Exorcist who hadn't left that room. The oldest man wondered greatly, had Kanda not heard what Janus told him, would he still be there by the girl's side?
Kanda sat next to the bed were the brunette now slept soundlessly. And by soundlessly he meant just that. Her breath was so quiet that he actually had to check at times for a pulse.
He sat propping his elbows on the bed's edge and holding his hands together on something as they rested on his forehead. His seeming glare never left her peaceful face. She seemed to be completely out. As if she were...
Kanda picked up Janus by his collarbone almost lifting him clear off the ground. His glare was more intense than ever and his teeth clenched in a snarl.
"What did you say?" he barely got out as a mere gnarl.
"Khalia-" Janus said grabbing Kanda's single hand with both of his to prevent the Japanese Exorcist from fully strangling him. "That time at the North America Branch."
Kanda's eyes widened remembering that time. The time when he lost him. He let Janus down slowly but let go forcefully of his collar. "What happened." It wasn't a question, he was demanding an answer.
"Just before you disappeared inside of Allen Walker's Ark Gate, we managed to get Khalia off Celia's back enough for her to escape." Janus didn't know how, but just after seeing this 'Celia' for the first time. Memories connected with feelings and those feelings turned into the words he spoke to the Exorcist. Janus gritted his teeth, "We told her to run but the dumbass wouldn't leave. She wanted to stay and fight for you all. And Khalia merely stood behind her and without having to move a finger she did it. She-" he couldn't handle remembering because remembering now was just like reliving it again. It was just more painful. "Khalia stabbed Celia right through her chest with Mugen." Janus looked down and away after saying it.
Kanda just stood there aghast by what he'd said. Celia...had died. Once before she had lost her life at the hands of those people she'd been trying to safe of the torture that the virus was for them all. That explained why nobody else had seen her after he disappeared. It must have been then, too, when Celia, having an already close connection to Innocence, fused with Mugen and became a part of Kanda's Innocence.
However, all this didn't explain how everybody, with the exception of him, didn't remember her.
"She died wanting to help you all." Janus gulped away the threathening tears and took something off his wrist, holding it out to Kanda. "She cared very much for you Exorcists of the Black Order. And she never stopped caring." Kanda held out his open hand up right as Janus placed a small bracelet there. It was the bracelet that Kanda had made for Celia back when they were little in the Order. The one of his promise to her to always protect her. The same promise that she had made back then, he was first born with Alma was with them, when she gave him a bracelet of the same kind. "Not even when she died."
Holding his hands tighter he couldn't believe that Celia had died only to be reborn from his blood and Innocence only to remember nothing about herself or others. What bothered him most, though, was what Janus had said about her death. That she didn't stop caring. It made him feel responsible for her being killed. She had been there because of him and because of the Order.
It made him think that her feelings only made her more vulnerable to other people. She was killed because she just cared too damn much abouth others before herself.
"But at the same time, that kindness is what makes her so powerful, even now."
Kanda's head snapped up at the unexpecting voice that came from the doorway. A boy, no older than sixteen, stood in the doorway. Coming in the room, Kanda noticed his skin of a soft mocha color and his dark hair short and disheveled with a small plait over his left shoulder with red and green beads with a couple of gray and brown falcon feathers.
He appraoched up to Celia's sleeping body he kneeled before it and started down at her. No, not stare, he thought. Kanda was sure he couldn't be staring at her because his eyes were the same shade of opaque grayness that Marie had. This boy was blind. Then how did he walk so swiftly about the room? Even more find Celia and be directly looking at her?
"If you could please leave, Mister Exorcist," the boy said with the same pasive voice as before. Reaching out with his hands, they hovered over Celia's body and his palms eerily began to glow a silver gray. "I must only interect with Celia-sama's energy if I want to figure what is wrong with her."
"Kanda." At hearing his name, he turned to the doorway again to see Gazelle and Kingsley. Getting the hint, he stood up and walked over to the door and out towards the common room.
"Who is that?" Kanda asked straight out to anybody who would answer.
"His name is Pavel RedFern," Gazelle answered first. "He's part of Novatia. One of the first members and is very knowledgeable about the effects of the virus on humans."
"But Celia's not human anymore," Janus added.
"No but there is a possibility that that can be fixed," Kingsley answered as well.
"How?" Johnny voiced his curiosity to the crowd.
"There are ways," Gazelle simply said. "And if someone can find out how, it's Pavel."
"How long will it take?" Kanda asked sitting down and holding Mugen close.
"Can't say," Kingsley said shaking his head. "All we can do is wait."
Dawn had come and soon enough dusk followed suit. After hours of waiting, the crowd turned towards the stairs as they heard the sound of footsteps. Pavel came down the stairs with no help of the railing and only looked downwards. Just as he got down to the main floor he turned up to them.
"She will be fine now," Pavel said simply.
"What was wrong with her?" Janus asked hastingly. Johnny, Gazelle, and Kingsley all looked as worried but only Kanda was calmly staring at the floor awaiting the answers.
"Innocence gains power from its Accomodator. In Celia-sama's case, the stored energy she had only increased when she was activated. Not using it was causing her body to overcharge and Couga's energy mixed with hers and caused an error in her system. Her sleeping for so long was the rebooting," he explained going over to a table and serving himself some water. Taking a gulp gave them a moment to think of what he said.
"You talk about Celia-san as if she were some kind of machine," Johnny voiced what most were probably thinking.
Putting the glass down, Pavel spoke again, "That's because the closest thing that I can relate her problems to is a machine. She operates as one very much so. She has a source of power and a very distinctive limit line."
"Limit line?" Janus asked.
"The same one that you and I and Kingsley have," Gazelle said to him without glancing at him. "All those infected have it. It's the line that we cannot cross with our powers unless we want to risk our lives."
"Although, what surprised me the most was that she already broke her limit line and created a new limit only to break it again," Pavel said getting their attention. Seeing this, he continued, "Looking through her mind and found instances of life threathening occurances. Because of the virus she wouldn't be able to die but she would reboot after a deadly strike."
"You say that you 'looked'..." Kanda voiced his statement and only let it float over the crowd.
"The virus took away Pavel's sight but gave him the ability to 'see' people's hearts," Gazelle said.
"I can only recieve weak signals from nonliving things and barely any from animals. People, however, have distinctive auras. Strong emotions give me signals from their hearts," Pavel explained. "The emotions I recieved from Celia-sama are related to memories that she recently obtained."
"Memories?" Kanda mumbled standing up.
Pavel nodded, "A white-haired boy with a scar over his left eye. And also of another boy much younger than the other, spiked brown hair and a scar across the bridge of his nose."
"Allen!" Johnny exlcaimed.
"And the other?" Kingsley asked. Janus only looked over his shoulder to Kanda who gripped Mugen even tighter.
"Is there a reason why she's lost her memories?" Gazelle asked him.
"There is, actually," Pavel said catching Kanda's attention. "It's called Link Breakage."
"Link Breakage?" Janus repeated
"Someone with the same power as mine went into Celia-sama's heart and broke her memories apart," Pavel said slowly.
"How is that possible?" Johnny asked.
"Memories are like chains stores inside of hearts. The person who did the Link Breakage dwelled into her heart and manually broke the links of the chains. Now, inside Celia-sama's heart, there is nothing but broken pieces of memories," Pavel finished.
"Can they be returned to normal?" Kingsley asked.
"They can but it'll be hard," Pavel explained. "She'll have to be given pieces of her past for her to remember with. Old friends and caretakers could work very much. It'll be like any person with amnesia, they'll be slowly restored with the help of her loved ones."
"How did she remember about Allen, though?" Johnny asked.
"That was Deon's doing," Kingsley said plain out. "He purposefully did that to make her unstable."
Pavel nodded once, "Deon would be able to do that. All prototyped have a small diluted portion of the original Progenitor in us. Perhaps he, too, gained the abilities that Cecilia-sama and I had."
"So," Kingsley spoke before them all. "I was right. Cecilia, she had the eye ability of 'heart seeing'. Which means that if Celia is Cecilia's and my child then Celia might have it too."
"Yes, there is the possibility," Pavel said.
"So, what will happen with Celia?" Johnny asked.
"She needs to rest for the day. She needs noursihment too." He gasped silently, "Which reminds me Celia-sama is quiet hungry."
Kanda's eyes widened, "She's awake?"
"Did I forget to mention that?" Pavel asked sheepishly lethargic. Kanda clicked his tongue and stood up, walking past them and heading up the stairs. "How impatient."
"You should've told him that sooner," Kingsley said with a sly grin. "Mr. Grouch has quite a temper and it only worsens when its about Celia."
"I knew that," Pavel said outright.
"And you kept quiet?" Gazelle asked.
"I did because I knew that Kanda-san would be one of those triggers that could restore her memories," Pavel said glancing up at the stairs. "But there's no use for him if he goes up there with the intention of bringing her memories back. If he acts towards her the way he used to then that will work much better. Out of the many people I saw that could bring her back to who she used to be, Kanda-san was the one who appealed the most. If someone can start linking the chains back together, it's him."
Kanda opened the door and went in quietly in fear that she might have gone back to sleep. However, he saw the short bundle that sat on the bed edge facing the window with the sheets over her head like a hood. Walking around the bed he noticed that she was facing out at the setting sun while caressing something on her left wrist.
"Celia?" he whispered making her turn to him. That's when she finally saw her eyes; she was silently crying. And on her left wrist was the purple bead bracelet. He had left it here, and she found it.
"Oh, it's you, Bakanda," she called out facing quickly away while wiping the tears from her face.
Kanda's eyes widened at what she said, "What did you call me?"
"The same fucking name that Al-chan called you, Bakanda," she called looking at him with puffy red eyes.
"You remember?" he asked sitting down on the chair looking at her.
"I remember you back when I returned to the Order, when you were all distant but close at the same time," Celia said repeating words that came out of nowhere. Words that came out of the memories that were linking because of the bracelet. "The mission at Mater. Then when we started searching for General Tiedoll. Daisya's death and when that Noah attacked me. When we found the General afterwards. Of the train and how I began to hurt...here." She motioned to her chest with her left hand. "Then the Noah's Ark and how I almost died. Then you saved me..." She turned to him, "You knew that Janus was impersonating me. You knew it wasn't me."
"Is that all you remember?" he asked gently touching her shoulder.
She shook her head, "I remember all that but by pieces. As if I were watching something with bits and pieces missing. But I remember most of it. The Level 4's attack on headquarters. Our move to the one one. When we went for Timothy. And then the attack on the North America Branch." She looked up at the ceiling trying to remember. "The Earl attacked it but so did Gaia's people. But then, who was the one that attacked too? The person that you and I didn't want to hurt?"
"Alma..." Kanda mumbled.
She nodded at the name, "That was his name, yes. But I remember thinking 'how could two people feel the same way about the same person?'. And I was looking down at you with him and I knew that-" tears built up in her eyes unbeknowst to her. "-I could never win."
"You could never what?" he said.
"Alma...he was too important to you." She spoke her mind without restraint. The early rebooting causing her to freely say what she thought with no filter to stop any. "And you were too important to deny you that happiness. So, I gave up. I saw you two leave through the Ark that Allen created." Her left hand landed on the red mark on her chest were her scar would be. "I heard them telling me to run. To safe myself. But I couldn't because I wanted to see you all safe. I wanted to make sure that you were safe. I was going to run after that but then I felt a cold blade. Was it Mugen?" She shook her head, "I think it was and Khalia put it through me. And then, I died."
There. Just like that she said it. Kanda couldn't believe that she accepted her death so easily and it took him much more.
"You said you gave up," Kanda whispered.
"Yes," she mumbled glancing down. "I knew that you loved Alma. Even now," she glanced up to look at him. Cobalt met amethyst and Kanda noticed the glazed over look on them and the tears rolling down her cheeks. She was hurting because of him. "I know you still do. You love Alma. And Alma loved you too. I couldn't destroy that. That's why I gave up. I love you but I wouldn't stand the pain of being the reason why you suffered again. You and Alma were already seperated twice before, now that you had the chance to be together I was the only thing in the way. So I just...gave you up."
Suddenly she felt a hand pat her head. Looking at him she noticed the raw grimace on his lips. Lifting his hand, he lowered it to her neck and brought their lips together. Her eyes widened as the tears fell. The kiss wasn't harsh or forceful. It was simply gentle and appeasing and...sorrowful. Parting, they stared at each other's eyes. She caressed his cheek, "Why are you sad?"
"You didn't need to become a scapegoat from all this. It was my fight," he said closing his eyes and placing his forehead on hers. "You didn't have to get hurt. That was the one thing I didn't want to happen. Not to you."
"You cared?" she asked.
"You dumbass," he said opening his eyes. "Since long ago I''ve cared about you much more than just caring. I've worried about you. You've always been a kid, even now."
Suddenly, Celia's cheeks puffed in anger and pushed Kanda away making him fall over together with the chair. She crossed her arms before her chest, "I'm not a damn brat, Bakanda!"
A vein popping on his temple he came up in anger, "You damn midget!"
She stood up on the bed and grabbed the pillow, "Go and bring me something to eat. I'm famished."
"You little bi-" but before Kanda could finish he got a pillow thrown at his face.
Celia smirked, "It wasn't a question, Bakanda."
"You little-"
Suddenly all heads turned up when a ruckus broke out upstairs and all of them went up the stairs with Johnny and Janus on the lead. Immediately, they saw that Celia was swiftly escaping th grasps of Kanda who was trying to decapitate her with Mugen unsheath. Johnny grabbed Kanda quickly while Celia hid away behind Kingsley making weird faces at him.
"Kanda, please, calm down," Johnny exclaimed. In no time, Johnny got him to settle down.
"Come," Kingsley said to the others. "Let's get some dinner and let Celia rest."
"And bring me some pasta!" Celia chipped in.
"Sure, sure," Kingsley said patting her head twice and shooing everyone out with Kanda following behind him.
"And Yu," Kanda turned at Celia who caught him by surprise when she got on her tippy toes and pecking his lips. Stepping back she had that snarky smirk on, the same one from before all this happened, "I care for you too. More than just caring." She pushed him away and out, "Please get me some pasta~!" Closing the door, she leaned against the door and held her chest with her hands. Kanda only stood on the otherside and looked over his shoulder to smile slyly. He then turned to go with the others.
Celia went over and laid on the bed. She had her hands on her chest as more and more chains linked together. She remember a lot of things and who she used to be as well. But that would only add up to who she was now. She would only look foward. Pavel told her that she was Innocence, an Apocryphos, but that there was a way to change her back to a human. A normal human Accomodator again. No virus, no Apocryphos.
She would know how later but for now she needed to rest. Her hands on her chest remained still feeling that warm feeling. Yeah, she remembered this feeling. This feeling of happiness because of someone else. It was called...
About three months later and this happens?! I know it's not much but please bare with me. I'll be updating more on this story and others soon too so wait for that too.
Please review~