Good day (or night, depending on where you might be)!
Once again, I have little to say at this stage. This chapter is where things start to slow downand the plot starts really kicking in.
D. Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino.
"Last Year's Winter" belongs to Cinders.
Last Year's Winter
"There it was
A picture perfect situation
I remember when I was a kid.
Well, my God
I've never been this happy
And I'll never be this happy again'"
-Cinders
"General Huang."
Jian Li's dark eyes turned away from the twins to settle on the approaching redhead. "Supervisor Heilig," he greeted evenly, careful to keep his expression neutral.
The Austrian man eyed the girls with a cold satisfaction before he turned his light eyes on the general once again. "Are these your students?" he questioned coolly.
Jian Li nodded. "Charlotte and Taryn Foley," he told her. He glanced at the girls, who weren't paying attention, instead watching Pax as he explored. Jian Li faced Supervisor Heilig again. "Taryn Foley shouldn't be sent on missions alone. Her Innocence is a parasitic beast that spends much of his time away from her."
"Does it?" Heilig said, his eyes narrowing. "The bird?"
"Yes," Jian Li told him. "His name is Pax."
"Pax," Heilig echoed flatly. "'Peace.' The name hardly suits a weapon."
Jian Li's own dark eyes hardened. "Pax's name is only unbefitting if you find yourself on the receiving end of his talons," he remarked quietly. He glanced back at the girls, still distracted by Pax. "Girls!"
The twins started in fright before they turned to look at him.
Pax gave a loud screech as he dove towards his accommodator.
Taryn looked up at him, raising an arm.
When the gyrfalcon had landed on her arm, Charlotte snickered, "He's still almost as big as you."
Taryn made a face at her sister. "I'll get bigger!" she protested quietly.
"Girls!" Jian Li snapped.
The twins flinched at their master's sharp tone. They scurried to his side, peering up at the supervisor with wide eyes.
"This is Supervisor Wilmot Heilig," Jian Li told them.
"That's a funny name," Taryn declared at once.
Charlotte elbowed her sister. "Don't be rude!" she whispered urgently.
Heilig's eyes narrowed as he stared down at the twin Americans. "Perhaps you should both learn to be silent unless spoken to," he told them coldly.
Charlotte immediately looked up at him. "But Master spoke to us," she said.
Heilig glanced briefly at Jian Li, who had just managed to bite back a snort of amusement at the girl's words. "You didn't teach your apprentices to be respectful," he said.
"They're Americans," Jian Li pointed out. "What do you expect?"
Taryn stifled a giggle as Pax started screeching noisily.
Charlotte pouted. "What's wrong with being American?" she asked.
"Nothing," Taryn pointed out cheerfully. "He's just joking, sis."
Charlotte wrinkled her nose. "It wasn't very funny," she declared.
Taryn peered at her sister before shrugging. "I guess not."
"Come with me," the supervisor commanded abruptly. He didn't wait for a response before he turned and began to walk away.
The sisters hesitated before they turned to look up at Jian Li uncertainly.
The old general nodded. "He's going to take you to Hevlaska," he said. "I know she looks scary, but she won't hurt you."
For a long few seconds the sisters faltered. Then, when Jian Li gave them a nod, they turned and hurried off in pursuit of the redhead.
Supervisor Heilig looked back at them with a stern glare. "Behave," he snipped at them.
As soon as his back was turned, Charlotte made a face at the back of his head.
Taryn had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
When he turned back to eye them suspiciously, they both adopted blank expressions, blinking back up at him.
Charlotte wrinkled her nose in a mocking sneer as soon as his back was turned once more.
Taryn managed to silence her laughter before Heilig caught on. Then she exchanged a quick grin with her sister.
The supervisor led them down many flights of stairs.
"Where are we going?" Taryn suddenly asked.
Heilig glanced back at her blankly. "To evaluate you," he said.
"Evaluate us?" Charlotte huffed indignantly.
"If you want to serve the Order, you need to prove your worth."
Charlotte frowned. "Where's Master?"
"You won't be traveling with him anymore."
"Why not?" Taryn pressed.
The Austrian glared at her coldly. "Do either of you know the value of silence?"
Taryn bowed her head. "Right. Sorry."
Charlotte, for her own part, scowled back at the man, but she didn't say anything.
Pax, on the other hand, answered the Austrian with a particularly loud shriek.
Heilig narrowed his eyes at the bird. "Can you control your Innocence?"
"He only listens when he wants," Taryn answered bluntly.
Heilig stared at the girl with disdain before he turned away.
The twins were silent for several minutes as they followed the Austrian deeper into the Order. Even Pax managed to keep the noise to a minimum.
It didn't last.
Just when they were beginning to think the darkness couldn't get any heavier, Pax suddenly gave a piercing cry, taking flight and wheeling away into the shadows.
"Pax!" Taryn cried in alarm, taking a step after him. Her eyes widened with alarm when a soft glow suddenly illuminated them.
Tendrils like hands rose from the darkness, reaching towards Taryn, who gave a short shriek of her own.
The young American stepped back as the strange, gleaming appendages reached for her.
'Mother?' Pax's voice whispered across her mind.
Taryn stilled at once, surprised by how calm Pax was despite the situation.
In that moment, the hands caught her and she was suddenly weightless, suspended by those arms before a strange, eerie face appeared from the gloom, looming over her.
Before she could panic again, however, Pax swung into view and landed lightly on one more of those tendrils. He fluttered his wings a few times as he stared at her, as if waiting for her fear to wane. Then his own feathers smoothed and he turned his eyes towards the bizarre figure looming above them. 'She won't hurt you, Mother.'
"Taryn!" Charlotte shouted.
"I'm okay," Taryn answered. "Pax says I'm safe."
Charlotte frowned, her eyes narrowing. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah…"
"Are these weapons of any use, Hevlaska?" Heilig's voice cut through the air.
For a long moment there was silence. Then the figure moved closer, resting her strange forehead against Taryn's, speaking in a soft, slow voice, "Synchronizing…"
A strange, unnatural chill ran through Taryn, causing her to tense before she writhed in discomfort as the feeling spread through her body and even into her mind, working its way along her mental link with Pax. She whined in protest, squeezing her eyes shut. She was so distracted by the bizarre, uncomfortable feeling that she missed the quiet murmurings of the being called Hevlaska.
Pax twitched his wings again just as the feeling suddenly stopped.
Hevlaska drew back. "Her synchronization is fifty-three percent," she announced quietly.
"That low?" Heilig answered coldly.
"She is young," Hevlaska told him. "And possesses a unique bond with her Innocence."
"Is that so?"
Taryn writhed again, only stilling when Pax suddenly leaped closer. She looked at the falcon oddly.
"They communicate," Hevlaska said. "As easily as this. It is an odd trait for parasitic beast Innocence." As she spoke, she lowered Taryn to the ground and Pax jumped down after her. "I'm sorry if I frightened you, Taryn Foley."
Taryn edged backwards nervously, rubbing her arms.
"They communicate?" Heilig pressed.
For a moment, the gleaming figure was silent. Then she responded, "They possess a mental bond. I suspect Taryn Foley has no viable means of defending herself in combat. That may explain why. If she gets into a dangerous situation, she can call her Innocence to her."
Heilig's eyes narrowed. "I've never heard of beast Innocence doing such a thing," he said.
"It's probably little more than an adaptation Pax made to protect his accommodator."
Heilig eyed the bright-eyed twin thoughtfully, but otherwise had nothing else to say.
Hevlaska reached for Charlotte, who took a small step back, as well, reaching for the bow slung across her shoulders. "I am not your enemy," she addressed the archer.
Taryn nudged her sister. "It's not that bad," she whispered. "Just kinda… weird."
Charlotte hesitated. Then she let go of her bow and finally conceded, letting the strange woman—was she a woman?—lift her into the air.
Hevlaska rested her forehead against Charlotte's. "Synchronizing," she breathed softly.
At once, the American tensed, alarmed by the strange, frigid sensation running through her.
As they watched, Hevlaska begin to murmur numbers, slowly counting upwards until she fell silent for a long moment. Then she drew back slightly. "Forty-seven percent," she declared.
"They're both low," Heilig declared flatly.
"They're both young," Hevlaska replied patiently. She lowered the girl again, setting her beside her sister.
Taryn moved closer to her sister as the strange figure loomed above them.
"What do you make of them?" Heilig questioned flatly.
"These exorcists shall move through the darkness and emerge untainted," Hevlaska told him calmly. "One will become like a Spirit of Vengeance while the other's Innocence will guide her to walk forever at the side of Destruction. This is what I predict."
Heilig narrowed his eyes.
Taryn shuffled nervously. "What does that mean?" she asked.
Hevlaska moved closer. "It means that you two have difficult lives ahead of you," she told them.
"Master said the same thing," Charlotte murmured, grabbing her sister's hand.
Taryn glanced at her sister before her eyes moved to Pax, who was standing on the ground nearby.
Heilig lifted his head slightly, frowning at Hevlaska before he looked at the girls again. "That's all we need from you at the moment, accommodators," he said.
Charlotte frowned. "Our names are Charlotte and Taryn," she said firmly.
He raised an eyebrow. "If you last more than a few months, I'll make an effort to remember them," he said. With that, he whirled and stalked away into the darkness, abandoning the girls to figure out how to get around by themselves.
Pax screeched.
"So you're the new exorcists!"
The girls jumped and whirled to watch as a woman in a black and silver kaftan stepped from the darkness.
Hevlaska retreated then, leaving them alone with the woman.
"Don't worry about the supervisor," the woman told them. "No one will bother to use your names here. It's easier for them if they don't get attached, I think." She smiled, kneeling in front of them. "So we exorcists have to watch out for each other."
"You're an exorcist, too?" Taryn questioned.
"Indeed I am," the woman said. "What are your names?"
Charlotte hesitated, regarding the woman suspiciously. "Charlotte," she said softly. "And this is my twin, Taryn."
The woman's smile widened. "Welcome to the Black Order, Charlotte and Taryn," she said.
"Thank you," Taryn whispered.
The woman's dark eyes suddenly twinkled with unbridled mischief, pressing a finger to her lips. "Don't tell anyone I met you down here," she breathed. "I'm not supposed to come down here unless I'm getting my synchronization checked."
"But Hevlaska saw you," Charlotte pointed out.
"Hevlaska knows that this is what I do," the woman responded in a warm voice. "She cares for the exorcists here as much as I do, but she's bound by a different set of rules than I am and can't show how much she cares. So she keeps it a secret that I sneak around like this."
The twins stared up at the woman with surprise before Taryn grinned.
The woman held out her hands to them. "Come on," she urged. "I'll give you a tour."
Charlotte hesitated, but her sister wasted no time in taking one of her hands. After a long moment, Charlotte did the same.
"What's your name?" Taryn asked.
The woman gave them a kind smile. "My name is Naz Sadik."
Naz Sadik is one of my favorite characters. In the face of a Black Order that doesn't even bother to remeber that names of its exorcists, she brings them together and takes care of them, all of them. She's so, so sweet. She's absolutely precious, and I really hope you'll love her as much as I do.
Elan Smith is my other favorite. He's basically a very large, very intimidating puppy. no, seriously. Puppy. You'll meet him in the next chapter, Little Fang.
Wilmot Heilig is an asshole. Plain and simple. No redeeming traits; I made him specifically to be an asshole to the exorcists (...and then he evolved into a more complex character, too, god damnit, but you probably won't see any of that, because THERE'S NO TIME).
Also, one part of Hevlaska's predictions were sort of inspired by a line from MacBeth, haaa. Sort of. Very loosely. i'm weird.
And I'm sure there are those of you who want to know: why is the Order so uncaring?
We know that, canonically, they were downright cruel in the past. A farcry from the Order that we're familiar with in the present canon, but even now, there's still a bit of cruelty going on there thanks to Central and the Vatican (looking at the asshole cardinals in particular).
If you aren't completely caught up on the manga, go finish catching up before you read any further into this story, by the way. Because, uh, SPOILERS.
But anyways, we know that Lenalee suffered a lot. I mean, Lenalee also witnessed experimentation on people within the decade before Allen initially joins the Order. And don't even get me started on Kanda and Alma; that's a whole other can of worms. Same for the third exorcists. Even if they were willing, they were still children and children shouldn't be making important decisions like that.
So if you think the Order's being too cruel here, you haven't been paying attention.
Well, anyways.
Bri: No kidding. You were sitting across the table from me when you wrote that review, drinking spiced mocha coffee that I'd made for you. Did you even sleep that night? xD I may need to invade your house again at some point, because I've figured out what the problem is with my laptop: there is none. It just suddenly decided it doesn't like my router. I shall have to bring you more magical coffee for putting up with my whining and screaming at my characters.
Bella: NOT ANYMORE I'M NOT. At least the updating part. But yes, I really, really love this prompt in particular. It's lotsa fun. And I'm also surrounded by people who are pushing me to keep publishing it.
On that note, I think I may have a semi-regular updating schedule now. My laptop, my only feasible means of updating, is suddenly completely nonfunctional at my house and I don't have a license yet or a job (cross your fingers, I just applied at a bunch of places).