Teito: We would like to thank Ana Houten for reviewing. We love to hear from you.
Lea: Yo! I'm back sooner then I expected and with two chapters! Yay! By the way, I'm still a bit iffy with how this chapter was written, so I'd really like input.
Frau: Who cares? I'm in it!
Teito: Baka! You're not the only one here!
Kuroyuri: Can I kill them?
Lea: Sorry, Kuroyuri, they're necessary for the plot. Note to all, apparently Kuroyuri is actually a girl, so I might go back and change that soon depending… Hyuuga! 3 *pulls out lollipop*
Hyuuga: Understood. Lea Andrews dose not own 07 ghost. This is a fanfic written for fun.
Eve left the train station and headed into the capital. She felt her heart pound rapidly against her chest. "That Hyuuga was creepy…" She muttered. She suddenly remembered all of Kuroyuki's killing comments, Konatsu's reactions with Hyuuga, and Ayanami's death glares. "Actually, I take it back. They were all really creepy." She sighed with defeat. "I just hope I won't keep attracting weirdoes."
The thought of Ayanami would not leave her mind. To her, there was something different about him. She could not determine weather it was his dangerously handsome appearance, deadly violet eyes, or his silently cold personality. Now thinking about it, she could almost swear that she met him somewhere before in some foreign distant memory. Still, she could not shake the feeling that she needed to stay as far away from him as possible.
She continued silently on her way, having the slight feeling that she was being followed. She occasionally she would turn and look for the source, but found nothing. She bit her lip and continued on, trying to somehow trying to ignore the bad feeling. Eve suddenly heard the loud hum of church bells nearby. It was as if reality suddenly snapped back into place. There was another low ring from the church bell tower. Eve's mind cleared and inside she felt a sense of unnatural peace.
She followed the bells sweet chime to a large building of ancient white pillars. The angelic statues and elegant fountains almost seemed to call her. Eve wandered along the lonely gravel path, seeing woman in odd black dresses and men in strange white garments. As she looked, she noticed an odd cross symbol with a circle in the center nearly everywhere she walked. Though she could not quite point it out, she felt that symbol was familiar. "Where on earth am I?" Eve muttered under her breath. There were too many unnatural coincidences in too short of a time for Eve to handle.
"Oh! You're in the church, though, this is nothing compared to some of the other districts." One of the ladies in black smiled. Eve jumped and turned around to face the lady. Eve looked at her and didn't know how to react. Eve couldn't decide if everyone was as overly friendly like Hyuuga out in the country, or if the woman in black was just dumb.
"Who the hell are you?" Eve asked bluntly. The woman gasped.
"You shouldn't say such vulgar things on holy ground!" The woman replied in shock.
"Vulgar? Holy ground?" Eve asked raising an eyebrow. Eve decided the woman was just nuts.
"Of course!" The woman replied. Eve looked at her like she was crazy. "What is it? Do I have a loose string on my veil again?"
"Um… no… so this is a church?" Eve asked.
"Of course! What did you think it was?" The lady smiled curiously. Eve wanted to say 'an invasion of foreign crazies,' but refrained.
"I've never been too a church." Eve replied, not realizing the consequences of what she just said.
"YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO CHURCH?!" The woman yelled in shock. Eve covered her ears and looked at the woman. 'She is just like Hyuuga!' Eve thought, 'She's only louder and more dumb. I hope crazy isn't a normality here.'
"I guess not. So I take it the black tent is normal…" Eve muttered.
"Of course! I'm a nun." The woman said.
"A none?" Eve asked. 'Perhaps it's a measurement of thinking capacity.' She continued in thought.
"Yes. I'm a nun, and those are Bishops." She continued, pointing to the boys in white.
"Bishops? I'll remember that. Anything else I might want to keep note of?" Eve asked.
"Oh. We're having a bazaar today. Would you like to check it out?" The lady smiled.
"Sure. Why not?" Eve said nonchalantly. It wasn't like she was doing anything anyway.
Eve was led to what looked like a public square where several tents were set up, and people were buying and selling religious objects. Bishops wondered around freely, talking and some selling flowers. To Eve's surprise, people would actually eat the flowers handed out. 'This is a strange place.' Eve thought 'And it keeps getting weirder by the moment'.
Eve noticed a peddler selling ancient relics in a small tent along the street. Something about the aura of the place attracted her attention. Eve walked up to his small shop and noticed an oddly shaped sharp thick blade in front of her that was almost calling to her. It was beautifully carved silver with a bright gold and jeweled hilt, and it looked as if it were only recently made. The more Eve looked at it, the more she felt the desire to have it. "How nostalgic…" She muttered, examining it.
"Hello, young miss. Are you looking for an icon?" The peddler asked. Eve jumped and turned to the peddler.
"Well, I…" She started.
"Don't be shy. I think you're rather smart! My relics are cheep so you don't have to worry about your wallet." The peddler cut in.
"Yeah…" Eve replied with heavy sarcasm.
"I have some rocks from the old ruins over…" the peddler started.
"How much dose this cost?" Eve cut in, pointing at the beautiful large blade.
"Well, uh… isn't that a little… um… big for you miss?" The peddler asked, trying to find the right words. Eve picked up the odd thick blade and it was surprisingly light.
"No. It feels fine. How much?" Eve asked, examining the blade.
"For that piece of jun… I mean, priceless piece of artwork, 500 thousand."
"What?! No one is going to pay that much!" Eve snapped.
"But a great adventure found it in an old church ruin in perfect condition. It's a marvelous relic! After all this time, it has never aged or dulled. The symbol at the bottom suggests it was made by angels. In fact, it is believed to be used by god's daughter before she was killed by the evil…"
"Oh yeah, sure." Eve snapped. "Like anyone is going to believe that."
"But it's true!" The old man stated. Eve gave him a death glare. "Ok, ok. I'll make it cheep! Special for you miss!" The peddler replied. "A thousand. Cheep!"
"That's more like it." Eve replied sweetly. She paid him in full and sheathed the odd sword. She could almost feel a gentle hum radiating off of the blade that gave here an odd sort of comfort, as if it were her old partner. She slung the blade over her shoulders and started to walk off before the peddler tried to get her to buy more things.
About halfway down the merchant street, something suddenly occurred to her. She pulled her wallet out again and realized she didn't have enough money for a night at the inn. She had spent all of her savings on the sword. She couldn't believe she splurged the money she worked so hard for so quickly. Her first reaction was to sell the sword back, but as she touched its hilt, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She had to have that blade. It mattered. She sighed and put her near empty wallet away.
"Where did that damn brat run off to this time?!" Someone from down the street snapped. Eve ignored it and continued to walk. "There you are!" The person started, grabbing Eve and putting her into a head lock.
"Ack! Pervert! Let me go!" Eve yelled. Several people suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned to stare.
"Woah. Opps. My mistake." Said a blond with bright blue eyes in a white bishop's outfit. Eve dusted herself off and shot the blond a cold glare. "Sorry about that Miss. I'm Bishop Frau and I'm looking for my apprentice. He's about your height, girly looking, brown hair, green eyes…" The Bishop started. "But you know, Hey, you look kinda famili…" Frau started before being whacked by a short burnet with bright green eyes *cough Teito cough*.
"Stop picking on innocent girls, you moronic perverted priest!" The burnet snapped.
"Well maybe if you didn't keep wandering off, I wouldn't run into them while searching for you, brat!" Frau snapped.
"Stupid! That doesn't give you any excuse!" The boy replied. Eve looked back and forth between the two.
"Oh, is this your new girlfriend now? What about Ou..." Frau started.
*note: Frau was about to say Ouka*
"Shut up!" the boy cut in again.
"Uh… I'm just going to go…" Eve said, starting to turn away.
"Wait missy. You didn't give me a chance to properly apologies." Frau said smoothly. Eve may have been oblivious when it came to religion, but she knew a smooth talker when she saw one. "This is Teito, my 'short' apprentice I was looking for. I'm sorry for mistaking you for him."
"Ok, how on earth do I resemble him?" Eve snapped. "I have blue hair and am wearing a dress. He has short brown hair and is wearing… a white robe thing."
"Height." Frau replied with a sweet smile. Teito gritted his teeth and a vein popped out of his head as he held back from pulverizing the bishop. "By the way missy, where did you get that blade?" Frau asked curiously.
"Over there." Eve said, pointing to the peddler. The blond turned and saw the peddler, then turned back to Eve.
"Little missy, that isn't something that you might want to carry around in public." Frau continued. "But if you don't mind, could I see that for a moment?"
"Sure." Eve replied, pulling it out of its sheath and handing it over. The Bishop examined it for a moment when suddenly, the blade's silver sheen darkened to a coal black. 'This was… Oh no! It's reacting to the scythe.' Frau suddenly thought, but it was too late. The blade became so heavy that Frau toppled over. Eve, thinking he was just faking it for attention, was not impressed. She walked up to Frau and picked up the blade with one hand. The black rushed out of it and the blade itself started to glow white.
"You purified it." Frau said impressed. "Then you're…"
"What?" Eve asked, putting a hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow at him.
"Nothing… but, have you by chance seen a group of military man around known as the Black Hawks?" Frau asked.
"That sounds familiar but I can't quite recall…" Eve muttered.
"How about a young military officer with white hair and violet eyes?" Frau asked.
"You mean Ayanami?" Eve blinked. Frau's eyes widened. Teito rushed up to Eve and grabbed her by the collar.
"Where was he? When?" Teito demanded hastily.
"Let me go." Eve demanded calmly. Teito's eyes widened as he recognized the similarity in Eve's and Ayanami's eyes. He looked towards the ground and let Eve go. Eve recognized the pain Teito was feeling, and her eyes softened. "It was around here not too long ago at the train station. He had weird subordinates that were really creepy. He was heading back to the military base when I met him." Eve replied. Teito looked up at her.
"Are you certain?" Teito demanded.
"I have no doubt." Eve replied. Teito turned and started to run off when Frau suddenly grabbed Teito. Teito struggled to escape until Frau finally knocked Teito out.
"Stupid brat." Frau muttered as Teito fell limp. "Sorry, this kid saw more then any kid should. Anyway, avoid Ayanami at all costs." Frau warned.
"Why?" Eve demanded. She personally wanted to avoid Ayanami anyway, but she wanted to hear Frau's reasoning none the less.
"Look, that man is… no… let's but it this way. Ayanami is not someone you mess with. For one, ever since the fall of Raggs, the military has gained too much power, and Ayanami is the Chief of State. The church and the empire may be at the brink of war over the eye of Michael as well… Still, Ayanami is one you especially need to watch for. He's the leader of the Black Hawks, a group of warsfiel."
"What is warsfile specifically anyway?" Eve asked in thought. "I heard about it, but…"
"It deals with the black arts. Warsfiel control wars, which are the highest level of tainted souls, and souls are tainted by things called 'kor'. Kor are servants of the death deity Verloren. Kor infiltrate and take over humans souls, but in exchange, the human is granted three wishes. When all three wishes are granted, then the soul becomes a wars." Frau explained.
"Ok..." Eve replied trying to take the information in slowly.
"The church is made to stop the infiltration of kor, thus the warsfiel and the bishops are enemies. But that's not the only reason. Warsfiel itself at it's base is malevolent. Some of the very basics of warsfiel include murder. The empire ruled that warsfiel is illegal for several reasons, but the military recognized that warsfiel magic has a strong driving force. The Black Hawks are a group of these warsfiel that are granted legal rights to perform such rituals." Frau explained. "In order to keep it from the public, criminals are used as sacrifices."
"I see…" Eve muttered. She felt Frau was being slightly prejudice, but thinking about it, it seemed to make sense. Still, it seemed hard to believe that Konatsu was a warsfiel, but when she thought about the others, warsfiel didn't seem too off. Hyuuga even said that Ayanami was one.
*note: Konatsu is the only Black Hawk that isn't a warsfiel though he comes from a family of one. It's in the manga.*
"Also, this may sound strange to you, but the Black Hawks are currently perusing a few people, and I have reason to believe that you might be on that list. I know they are definitely after is this kid right here, but chances are that you may be next." Frau warned.
"What?" Eve tried to object.
"Let's head back towards the church. The kid is getting heavy and I don't like the air around here." Frau cut in. Eve gave a slight nod and followed him back. Eve walked along the sidewalk of the churches gardens listening to Frau. "Pretty much the warsfiel have one main goal. They want to resurrect Verloren, the death god from the old legends." Frau said frankly.
"So what your telling me is that Ayanami is somehow is trying to awaken some ancient death god." Eve asked. "Sounds bogus."
"You never know… He works for the military so if it is somehow possible, they could manage." Frau continued, but he knew what he saying was fact. He was only saying it that way to persuade Eve. "Think about it. If they could, they might try to somehow use Verloren as a weapon." Frau continued.
"That sounds like an accident waiting to happen." Eve replied.
"The artifact called the eye of Raphael was already used to awaken the deity's memories. He also has in his possession the eye of Michael which he stole from Teito. Now all he needs is Teito, who we recently discovered was actually acting as pandora's box." Frau continued.
"So they're going relic hunting? So what? I still don't see how exactly do I fit into this." Eve asked.
"You are the reincarnation of… a very important person." Frau replied. "No doubt about that. You are definitely her."
"Definitely who? His lover? Ha! Like I believe any of this!" Eve laughed. "Oh, look at me! I'm the reincarnation of some legendary warrior!" Eve jested. Frau couldn't believe what he was seeing. He wondered how one girl could be so skeptical.
"Look!" Frau snapped. "I'm not saying you have to believe it, but what I am saying is to stay away from that guy."
"Don't worry. I wasn't planning on meeting up with him any time soon anyway. There's something in him that doesn't quite sit right with me. He's so… emotionless." Eve replied. "But what about you guys?"
"The kid wants revenge. Unfortunately he's not strong enough to take on such an opponent. I'm training him so that he can, but even I may be… but that's not really important." Frau trailed off. Eve looked at him curiously. "Now is not the time, however…" Frau stopped and turned towards Eve. "Teito has been having issues ever sense he lost the eye of Michael." he explained. "But our faces are marked everywhere. It's not like we can waltz in and take it."
"Sounds like a personal problem." Eve replied, looking away.
"Well… perhaps you don't mind if I ask a favor…" Frau started.
"No." Eve snapped. "I'm not becoming a criminal."
"I never said you had to take the blame. We won't mind taking all of the credit. I just need you to steal it back. After all, they did steal it from us. It's only right." Frau responded smoothly.
"I don't believe any of this mumbo jumbo, but if it is true, I don't want some crazy death dohicky after me." Eve continued.
"Actually, you would be perfect." Frau replied. "Your face shape and height are close to Teito's. You could pull it off."
"What part of no don't you understand?!" Eve snapped.
"But aren't you curious?" Frau asked.
"Curious about what?" Eve replied with irritation.
"Consider for a moment that every word I'm telling you is correct. Wouldn't you want to know who you really are?" Frau asked. Eve looked at him, taken somewhat off guard.
"Well I…" Eve muttered. Her wit failed her. She was silent for a few moments and thought it over. All of her strange feelings and her zaiphon ability came to mind. For the first time, she started to consider that maybe there really was something to all of this 'church stuff' that she had missed. Even if it was nothing but a feeling, all of the deal's odds were leaning in her favor. "Fine. I'll do it. You better tell me about it. Every single detail." She said, pointing at him with a sharp stare.
"Every single detail." He replied.
Frau walked into the overwhelmingly large empty chapel with rows and rows of empty pews. The ceiling was domed and the walls were lined with pillars of cold white stone. There was art and metallic designs that Eve found odd, but Frau seemed perfectly fine with it. Frau set the knocked out Teito in a pew, waiting for him to wake up. Eve and Frau discussed the plan and sketched out the basic idea.
"I think it will work… There is only one problem with this." Eve mentioned. "We don't know where it is."
"That shouldn't take too hard to figure out." Frau replied.
"Are you sure?" Eve asked, growing suspicious.
"Oh my GAWD!! You're PERFECT!!!" An elder woman's voice yelled from behind Eve. Eve jumped in a panic, and turned around, scrambling to see who the speaker was. As soon as she saw the speaker, she took a breath of relief and tried to calm herself down.
"Y-you scared me!" Eve stuttered. There was a heavy, middle aged woman, looking at Eve with bright brown eyes. Her face was starting to wrinkle from age, and she wore entirely too much makeup. Brown hair extended from her head, pulled back into a loose bun and held by a few hairpins. She was short, but wore an elaborate green dress that spelled 'I'm rich' all over it (figuratively, not literally).
"My prayers have been answered! You're perfect! I must certainly have you! Only you will do!" The odd lady continued.
"Have me?" Eve asked confused.
"Sorry, she's not for sale." Frau said, putting a hand on top of Eve's head. Eve jumped and backed away from the two.
"Oh, I don't believe you understand. I will pay her, of course, for her services. How about 10 thousand gold? How dose that sound?" The lady replied.
"That's a lot of money, but what exactly do you want me to do?" Eve asked.
"You mean you'll do it?" The lady asked merrily.
"Well I…" Eve started.
"She'll do it." Frau cut in. Eve looked at Frau with disbelief. Frau then whispered into Eve's ear "it will give you an alibi." He replied. Eve gave him a scowling face.
"Oh good! Good! I was afraid I wouldn't find a model in time." The woman smiled. "I'm Mrs. Gates, a dress maker, and I have a great reputation. Tonight, I'm supposed to be showing off my new design tonight, but sadly, my original blond haired blue eyed model ran away with my nephew! The dress's color, size, and shape were made specifically for that model, so it's been exceptionally difficult to match, but you! You match it!" The lady continued.
"Well, ok. I'll do it." Eve replied sweetly. Though Eve's expression seemed sincere, the only thing on her mind was 10 thousand gold. She didn't bother to question Mrs. Gates tastes or erratic behavior as long as she got paid.
"Come with me then, Miss…" Mrs. Gates started.
"Eve." She replied.
"Miss Eve." Mrs. Gates continued, grabbing Eve's wrists and leading her out of the church.
"Be careful. By the time you get back, I would have found 'it'. Meet me at the front of the church gates when you get back." Frau called as Eve was dragged out of the building.
Lea: Quick note to clear up confusion! This church is not the one in the 7th district at the beginning of 07 ghost where Caster and Labrador are. Teito and Frau are on their journey and stopped at a different church to take shelter there.
