a/n
H: We're trying our best to keep everyone in character. Also, to those who's OCs haven't shown up yet, we're gradually introducing them over the process of the story. It will be just a bit till more are introduced.
R: We try to get them into the plot.
J: So, yeah. Now, too the chapter!
Disclaimer: eh…
"Ugh, I'm so tired of walking!" Julien complained. Kohaku put his hands over his ears, already tired of listening to the French boy speak.
"Please stop talking!" Marie, normally called Saeki, yelled. Saeki probably had the shortest temper of them all.
Kelso mentally nodded agreeing with them. Even he as going at his wits end. Allison was already yelling at the Frenchmen to shut up as well while Zosia kind of stayed quiet. Then she spoke up. "Um, I think we're at our first destination."
Everyone looked at her. The Polish girl pointed to large, dark castle that loomed above them. Kelso sweat dropped while Erik smiled happily in a creepy way.
Julien had begun to notice that they were becoming close. Kelso had actually gotten along well enough with the quiet boy before his memory lost, but they were close now. Almost like brothers. The Frenchmen would never admit that he was jealous.
"Let's go!" Erik said happily and grabbed Kelso's hand and ran the both of them in. Julien sighed and ran after with Curtis at his tail, laughing his ass off.
"Is anyone else worried about this?" Allison asked. Zosia shrugged and walked in.
"Let's just go in before they come out here and drag us." Saeki sighed and began walking. Allison nodded and walked after here. The female scientist turned her head and looked at her final comrade. Kohaku had been sure he had heard something. It wasn't human or animal, it was just a sound. It was creeping. "Hey, are you coming or what?"
"Yeah, I'll be right there. Head in without me." He said, still analyzing the forest. The other scientist shrugged and stepped through the door. Kohaku stood for one moment, debating on whether he should go in with everyone else or investigate the forest. He shook his head, deciding it better to leave the exorcist's job to an exorcist, and ran inside the house.
"So where did you say they were heading right now?" Shadow asked the one with the map. That poor person happened to be Rubus. Vitex had managed to talk his way out of the job, leaving the older twin to suffer.
"Um…Oxford." Rubus said, looking at the map. Shadow looked at it and grabbed the map.
"First thing, you're holding it upside down." He sighed. The Noah had learned to deal with this part of the twins. They had never learned how to read English, though they spoke it almost fluently. He read the map and pin pointed where they were. "It looks like were about 10 miles away. We'll have to walk i-Rubus! Where did you go!"
He spun around to see the Italian twins eying a store. He sighed. "Steal whatever want. Don't get caught." Shadow then left the twins to do their happy work. Road walked out from behind a building and looked hopefully. "Yes, you too. What were you doing back there anyway?" He got no answer when the girl ran off.
"Earl, I have a question." He muttered to himself as the twins and Road out of the store with things in their pockets. "Am I on a mission or am I just babysitting?"
"So then, he was taken into the hot room of hell and never seen again!" Curtis finished off his story and cackled madly. Almost everyone in the room scream. Everyone but Erik, who just rolled his eyes and cuddled closer the taller male. Julien and the others calmed themselves down.
"That was scary." Zosia said. "You are very good at telling these." She said. Allison shrugged and nodded.
"I wasn't really that scared." The fiery haired girl muttered.
"Of course you weren't." You could feel the sarcasm dripping from Curtis's voice.
"I wasn't!" Allison assured, stubborn as ever. Kelso giggled. It was more like the group was a bunch of teenagers on a camp out that on an actual mission.
Suddenly Kohaku's head shot up. There was that noise again. "What's new, pussy cat?" Saeki asked, using her nickname for the boy.
"You hear that, right?" He asked. She was about to respond when there was a crashing sound. Everyone flinched.
"Okay, Curtis and Erik, this isn't funny." Kelso stated, clutching Julien's arm. Julien slowly nodded.
"It's not us." Curtis said. There was more crashing, and everyone clenched there eyes shut. Except for Erik, whose scarlet eyes stayed open to watch what happened.
A small ringing sound filled the room, and suddenly the door had a ring of shining silver like around it. Then all the noises stopped, and there was a voice. "What are you doing?"
Everyone else opened their eyes to see who it was. It was a young boy, probably about nine, standing in the doorway. He had brown hair that was pulled back in a short ponytail and big green eyes. His apparel was odd, and it had a Gothic look to it. It was basically a white shirt with black pants and a long black coat with a white British lace ribbon sticking out the top. "Who are you?"
"U-um, I'm Julien. This is Kelso and these are Zosia, Allison, Kohaku, Saeki, Curtis, and Erik." Julien responded, eyes wide. This boy was oddly almost see through. "Do you live here?"
"Of course I live here. Alexander and all the servants left, so I'm the only one left." The boy explained. "My name is Daniel, by the way."
"Who is Alexander?" Allison asked. There were more of these odd people. What was with this boy? He was so weird.
"Alexander was the master of the household. He was my father's best mate, and when my parents died I became his ward." Daniel seemed to have an immense amount of patience for their questions, for he was able to answer them all calmly. "May I ask again, what are you doing?" Unusually polite for his age.
"You startled us." Saeki said. "How long have you been living here?"
"I don't understand why I'm being interrogated in my own house." Daniel said. He then crossed his arms and answered her question. "Since I was three. Alexander pretty much raised me."
"Daniel, do you mind if we stay here for a while?" Kohaku asked. Daniel smiled.
"Really? I'd love it if you would." He stated. "I've been alone for the past three months. This will be a great improvement."
Kelso's eyes widened. Who leaves a nine year old boy on his own for three months? He began to feel as though the situation was familiar. Odd.
"Come, I'll get you situated." Daniel said and lead them away. Over the next few days they slowly became accustomed to their situation. Eventually Kelso brought up a question to Allison while they were chatting on the deck.
"Hey, Ally, aren't we supposed to be doing something?" Kelso asked her. Allison gave him an odd look.
"What do you mean? We're just staying here along our journey. We'll leave in a few days." Allison assured him and went back to talking about whatever she wanted. Kelso nodded, but was a bit anxious in his head. He was sure he was supposed to be doing something. "You look troubled. Perhaps you should go for a swim in the pond nearby. I know that being in the water calms you."
"Yeah, you're probably right." About an hour later Kelso was on top of a tall rock near the large pond in the forest. He had stripped himself of his exorcist coat and was now just in his white shirt and a pair of black shorts. His hat was hanging on a tree so his midnight blue hair was loose to the water and the wind. He jumped off the rock and allowed himself to fall head first into the water.
When his head came up his mind was much more clear. "Now, why have I been so anxious the past few days." He thought. "It doesn't feel like it's only been a few days though. It feels like it's been two weeks." He put on his deep thinking face and began to talk out loud. "Why is everyone talking so oddly. It's as if it's the previous century. Even I'm doing it."
"Why are you talking to yourself? You sound like moi." A joking voice came from behind him. Kelso smiled as he turned around and swam over to Julien. The Frenchman sat next to the pond and patted Kelso's head. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"How about a pound?" Kelso suggested. Julien laughed and shook his head. "I'm just thinking about this whole place. Everyone's beginning to talk like it's the 18th century, and it feels like we've been here longer than it seems." Julien shrugged.
"You're merely concerning yourself my friend." His eyebrows then furrowed. "Although, to speak honestly I've noticed some changes. Daniel must be rubbing off on us."
"I guess."
About 2 weeks later…
"I don't get it, where is this place?" Road yelled in frustration. The four Noah had been walking for ages in the middle of a dark forest. "We've been walking forever! My feet are starting to hurt."
"Shadow, make the principessa stop whining." Vitex complained. Shadow sighed, blocking them all out. He looked at the map.
"What the hell?" He was shocked by what he found. Rubus walked up to the leader.
"What is the problem?" The elder twin asked. Behind the Road and Vitex were arguing.
"The forest isn't charted on this map. There's no forest here, let alone a castle." Rubus's eyebrows furrowed, obviously as confused as Shadow.
"What's wrong, Shadow-kun?" Road asked the Noah. Shadow stayed quiet, attempting to think of a way to break it to her.
"Um…we're in a a forest that according to the map doesn't exist." Shadow said calmly. Road just looked at him. The twins flinched and quickly covered their ears, and Road screamed. At that moment, life was chaotic.
At the moment that the Noahs were freaking out, the Exorcists had their own problems. The castle was shaking and falling apart. "Find cover!" Saeki yelled. As if they didn't already know that. The three girls all huddled underneath a table. Kohaku ran over to them to keep them safe. The final four (Kelso, Julien, Curtis, and Erik) hid in the cupboard in the stairs. When Daniel walked into the room the shaking became slightly better, but didn't stop.
"Daniel! Get in here!" Kelso yelled. The boy just looked at him oddly. After a continuous cycle of being ignored, Kelso did what no one had done. He jumped out at grabbed Daniel.
At least, he thought he grabbed Daniel. When he closed his arms, he found nothing but air, and the boy was no where to be found. When he stepped back, Daniel reappeared in his spot. "H-how did you do that?" Daniel gave him a curious look.
"What do you mean? I was just standing here." He said. Everyone just looked at him, and Erik stood and walked over. He swiped his arm through Daniel and the boy's body disappeared and reappeared again. Erik looked up at Kelso, who was slowly putting things together. Zosia beat him.
"Oh…oh my." She said and paled. Kohaku nodded not knowing how to respond. Saeki and Allison helped to keep Zosia sitting up. Curtis and Julien seemed to be the only people who didn't get it.
"What's going on?" Curtis asked. Julien nodded, wanting to find out as well.
"It seems that Daniel is a ghost." Kelso said. Erik nodded in a agreement. However, the boy in question gave them a horrified look.
"What are you talking about? I'm perfectly alive!" He proclaimed. Everyone just looked at him. "You all must be daft." He brought his hands up to his ears and began shouting angrily. "I'm not dead! I'm not dead! I'm not dead! I'm not dead!" With every shout the shaking grew worse, and they screamed as they fell to the floor.
"Daniel, stop! Stop this right now!" A voice was suddenly heard, a deep male one. Daniel was shaking and crying a little, but quieted down and turned. A white light flashed in the doorway and out stepped a 30 year old man with platinum hair and golden eyes. "What have I told about tantrums?"
"A-Alexander!" Daniel shouted. Everyone just looked on in silence, watching the interaction of the two ghosts. Daniel ran up to his elder and hugged him tightly. "Why did you leave me for three months? Why are all these people telling me I'm dead?"
Alexander sighed. "Daniel, you are dead. You, I, and all the servants died in an earthquake, but you didn't follow me. You stayed behind. It's been 100 years."
"But, all I remember is there being some shaking and waking up the next morning." Daniel said. "It's 1764! I know it is!"
That is when Saeki stepped in. "Daniel, it's 1864. You've been dead for 100 years." Daniel stepped back from Alexander and looked up at him. He nodded.
"If Alexander says it is so, than it is." Daniel submitted. Alexander smiled gently and held out his hand. Daniel quickly grabbed. "Goodbye everyone! I'll see you later." The two walked toward the doorway and white light appeared. Then they were gone. So was the house, and so was the forest. They were surround by a few trees and the rubble of a castle that had fallen to pieces.
"Oh my god, we've been here for a month!" Kohaku said, rubbing his hand through his hair. "It only felt like five days." Kelso nodded.
"Let's get moving." Julien said. Everyone agreed, and as they walked no one spoke a word. They were all too shaken.
The Noah looked up in astonishment as the forest around them grew to a few young trees. "Was this all an allusion?" Shadow asked out loud. "It must have been."
"That means we've been walking in circles through a fake place." Rubus said. "How could we not have known?"
Vitex paused to think. "We didn't touch anything. Perhaps if we touched a branch or some foliage we may have noticed."
"I personally think you're idiots." Road said. "Although I couldn't tell either." The twins were about to retort when Shadow cut them off.
"Come on, we've lost enough time as it is."
H: Oh god, that took forever.
R: And we didn't even type it.
J: That was all me. We all came up with ideas, but I just for five hours with no breaks. My fingers hurt.
H: Whatever.
R: No one cares about you.
J: Sadness. Anyway, R&R. I'm going to go dip my fingers in ice cold water now.