Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, this one is 4,000 words which is almost double what I usually write. Please read and review, and tell me what you think.
1 Day update: 1,500 – 2,500 words
2 Day update: 2,000 – 4,500 words
He simply sat there as the water splashed continuously on his back as he was leant over. He physically couldn't bring himself to stand up, it was if the metaphorical weight of what he had witnessed was bringing him down, literally.
He bashed the wall with the side of his fist in frustration. His hair was a tangled, matted mess that clung to his forehead, while his headband and eye patch both lay off to the side. He clenched his teeth, as well as his fists as memories flooded his brain. Once again, he smashed the side of the shower, denting it slightly. He glanced down at his feet, watching the red water swirl away into the drain.
He sighed once more…everything that was happening was just… too much.
He still didn't know why the Panda, nor Lenalee could wake…it didn't make any sense. Lavi let loose a low growl, he was sure Bookman would know what to do next in this situation…
It was odd to admit it, but Lavi had started to sorely miss the random kicks to the face, as well as slaps to the back of the head….in his own way, Bookman was showing affection. Well, that's what Lavi assumed…or rather, hoped.
He sighed once more as the warm water trickled down his head, forming torrents that flowed off his face. He gnawed his teeth together as he tried to think of how to proceed in the investigation. Maybe they should interrogate the criminals! It was a good idea.
They may know something about Allen, or may be able to actually explain just what the hell was going on. Coming to a conclusion, he stepped out with an added spring in his step, dressing quickly and leaving his sorrows, frustrations and fears behind. He was a Bookman, he had no heart for any of those emotions to be placed anyway…
He emerged to a room full of voices- Some yelling, others muttering, some even whispering 'sorry'. Glancing around the small room, it was not difficult to figure out there was some form of argument going on.
Finn had his fists raised as well as his jaw set in a firm line. It was obvious Krory was attempting to same, but without teeth it looked….odd, to say the least. Miranda was on the ground, sobbing and clutching her head, as it seemed the ever present dark rims around her eyes had darkened at least three shades.
It appeared on the opposing side of the argument the two Noah were slumped over the ground, seemingly uninterested in whatever they were arguing about. Lavi was the first to break the increasingly awkward silence by coughing daintily. All eyes in the room were immediately focused on him, except for the unconscious Lenalee and Bookman of course.
He gave a small sheepish smile in return as he rubbed the back of his head.
"So, um, what is going on?" he remarked, shrugging in time to add emphasis on the question. Finn was the first to speak up.
"These 'Noah' won't tell us why your clothes were…stained." He spat, adding so much loathing to the work 'Noah' it seemed he would start yelling any minute, which was entirely possible.
Both Tyki and Road shrugged nonchalantly as if it was none of their business. Lavi tried to give a comforting smile, to calm his comrades down, but it came out as an oddly shaped frown which raised more than a few eyebrows. Road decided that they were getting nowhere, so she stood up, effectively gaining the attention of every occupant in the room.
"I think someone should take Lenalee and Bookman back to the Order so that they won't become a burden…." She trailed off, looking at the ground slightly guiltily. Her suggestion earned her glares from almost everyone in the room, except for Tyki, of course, who just smirked at her statement. Lavi didn't stop the scowl that soon covered his face, even though her suggestion made sense, he still wanted to believe that they would wake…hell, he was more than believing, he was praying that they would!
"Why won't they wake? Did you DO something to them?" Finn snarled in response, raising his fist once more. Both Tyki and Road merely chuckled at this, before Road's face turned into one of mockery.
"Are you people that stupid that you haven't realized it yet? It's easy to tell that they won't wake…" she smirked at the audible gasps she achieved from everyone in the room. Tyki chuckled once more as Lavi grimaced. As much as he didn't want to believe it, he knew exactly what Road was talking about. After no one interrupted, apart from Tyki, she continued her explanation while tapping her fingers in time to something.
"It's easy to tell, because their heartbeats are….off. They aren't normal... this usually happens when a victim is in a coma, so I only assumed they are in coma-like states."
Once again, the whole room murmured in shock and worry, as Lavi clenched his fists once more. Even though he knew that was coming, it didn't make it any easier to hear that the only person one earth like you may never wake. Tyki spoke up this time, interrupting the chorus of whispers.
"Now, on to who should stay, and who should go…Road, will you do the honor?" he asked nonchalantly, grabbing another cigarette from his back pocket. Road grinned in response before turning back to the group, pointing to everyone in turn.
"You." She said pointing to Miranda.
"You worry too much, and are too nervous, which won't help in getting information, or finding Allen. Your Time-thing might be able to help the sleepy-heads." Her gaze shifted once more, until she was staring at the gaping Krory.
"You could help us, but from what I've seen, you get lost a lot and don't know much about life outside a castle….oh and you can't talk. Definitely a minus. You too should help with the sleepy-heads." She looked around once more, noticing the very-red, pissed off Finn. She smirked as she listed his flaws.
"Again, you COUDLD be helpful, but you let emotions rule over your common sense. I think you should also help those guys, seeing as you would make an excellent spokes-person…"
Her voice held a slightly mocking tone, which drove Finn over the edge. He lunged with precision, grabbing hold of her throat and squeezing it slightly. In an instant, Tyki was by her side and had knocked the enraged man to the floor with a single, swift blow. Road smirked at the finder once more with fake innocence as she pouted.
"Hey now! No need to be so violent. I was just pointing out, Miranda is probably too nervous to talk and Krory can't!" she smirked once more, her argument made sense, but in truth she was just egging him on further. He growled once more from his position on the floor, as Tyki put his boot on the man's head.
"Guys, guys stop!" Lavi yelped, running over to try and put an end to the argument. Road smiled at him, surprising him to his very core.
"I guess you're the only who makes it then, right Lavi?"His cheeks reddened in embarrassment as he gave a quick nod. It took him a moment to realize the reason why he rushed in the first place.
"Oh yeah! I was thinking we should go talk to the criminals, they might know something." Both Tyki and Road nodded, as the rest of the group wore utterly confused expressions.
Road shook her head slowly before replying "We would tell you, but you all work for the Black Order, which means in turn, the Vatican. Who knows what they would do to get information out of you…" she trailed off, as both her, Lavi and Tyki shuddered simultaneously. The rest had no clue what they meant, but shrugged it off anyway.
It took hours of arguing, convincing and plain old throwing around insults until everyone finally gave in.
Finn was the most reluctant, but he was more disgusted at the thought of staying with two Noah, even if they weren't technically Noah anymore.
This ended in the situation Lavi, Road and Tyki currently found themselves in.
They were….lost.
Lavi was much too stubborn to admit it, which lead to repeated circled around the neighborhood. Even after seemingly hours of wandering, Lavi refused to admit it and just kept walking.
Tyki was growing inpatient, especially since Road had given up on walking right after they started, and had once again found a 'comfy' spot….Which meant giving his 'sister' a piggy back, achieving many odd glances along the way. It had been awhile since she last talked, until she broke the heavy silence.
"Look, Tyki, the rabbit is lost." Tyki chuckled at the nickname, he was sure he had heard it before. He was too absorbed in the comment to notice that the so-called rabbit had stopped moving…which lead to a collision, as well as a heap of bodies in awkward positions on the ground.
"Wh-what did you just call me?" Lavi stuttered back to Road, who was giggling childishly.
"Rabbit. It suits you…but wait, there was another name Allen told us… oh yeah!" she cried, punching the air with her fist. She smirked as she turned back to a confused-looking Lavi.
"Usagi." She drawled, her smirk widening as Lavi's expression turned into a beaming smile. He pointed behind him, still with the smile plastered over his face. Road realized what he was pointing at, the pulled Tyki's shoulder so he would see it to. He burst into laughter when he laid his eyes of the shabby looking building in front of them.
"So you finally found it, ay Usagi?" Lavi grunted in response, hauling himself to his feet, then helping both Road and Tyki in turn. The trio strode towards the doors, wondering if they would actually be able to talk with the criminals. With combined effort, they swung open the double doors to reveal a bustling police station, with policemen and detectives running left and right, either with papers or coffee in their hands. Almost instantly, Lavi spotted the chief he talked to earlier, and walked over to where he was frantically sorting through paper work. Lavi gave the chief a brief smile, before getting down to business.
"We are from the Black Order as you know, and we need to interview each of the criminals." The chief nodded shakily. He ran off, disappearing into the crowd as Lavi turned back to Road and Tyki, grinning like a maniac. Road broke into a grin as the two began to mutter to each other.
"Sure is fun scaring that guy."
"Yeah! Im surprised you can do it by just telling him where you're from!"
"Can't you do that too? I mean you're from the Clan of Noah and all…"
"Baka Usagi….do you think we just walk around in our Noah forms all day?"
"Well, I…" Lavi trailed off, rubbing his head, while smiling sheepishly. "…maybe?" Road collapsed in a fit of laughter, earning more than a few curious glances.
"Well, most of the time, if I tell a regular human that I'm a Noah….. They say 'that isn't a girl's name, sweetheart' Or something along those lines…." At this, it was Lavi's turn to have a laughing fit, while poor Tyki stood there, rubbing his temples, in a vain attempt to soothe the oncoming headache.
"You two should really act your age… I swear, even though you're, what…18? And you're….yeah, that one I don't know, but you both have the mental age of a 12 year old…." Lavi's grin doubled in size, and to his surprise, Road randomly sat down on the floor, proceeded to lie flat on the stone then crossed her arms over her chest.
Again, almost everyone was staring at the strange group of people, along with the little girl who seemed to be sleeping on the floor. Tyki was embarrassed…to say the least.
"Road! What are you doing?" he yelped, grabbing her hand and pulling her upright. She broke out once again into a wide grin.
"Acting my age, of course...I mean, I would be in the ground somewhere, right?" Tyki shook his head exasperated…that was NOT what he meant. Fortunately for Tyki, luck seemed to hold him in favor as the chief soon darted through the crowd and appeared in front of them, still wearing that anxious, slightly frightened expression that didn't fit his stature at all.
"Your first interview is ready now, please come along." Everyone followed obediently, though Lavi and Road were whispering to each other in hushed voices as Tyki was trying desperately to zone-out.
Before they knew it, they were pushed into an interview room with one single desk in the middle as well as a grandfather clock in the corner. On the opposing side of the desk, there was a man who looked no older than 20, staring at his cuffs without emotion. He had long, untamed black hair as well as emerald eyes. Lavi was the first to take a seat, still intently studying the man before him. He was also the first to speak up.
"So… what is you name?"
No response.
"What was your alias?" At his, he bit his lower lip before replying.
"Eman." Lavi nodded thoughtfully before responding.
"The Monster Without A Name…. What does it mean?" The man nodded before answering.
"Message."
"Message? What do you mean?" Lavi inquired, his fake grin set firmly in place.
"The first part of the message I must deliver." Lavi visibly tensed.
"To who?" He asked, only barely able to keep his calm.
"Tyki, Road, Lavi." Lavi gaped, as did both Tyki and Road…
How did he know their names?
"Who told you our names?" Lavi demanded.
"He did."
"Who's he?"
Silence.
"I asked, Who's he?"
"The Monster."
"What do you mean?" Lavi almost shouted. The man shook his head, as if in despair before gazing up from his cuffs to look at Lavi straight in the eye.
"The second part of my message." Lavi instantly stood up, sending his chair flying backwards, as the two Noah were able to retain their calm….barely.
"örökkévalóság" Lavi's jaw almost dropped off, as he quickly pulled out a notepad and scrawled down what the man had said.
"What does it mean?" asked Road, worried at Lavi's reaction. Lavi quickly wrote its translation underneath.
Eternity
"What is the time?" the man asked, with a smile too tragic, it was hard to keep their faces completely emotionless.
Road glanced over at the tall, grandfather clock before replying "It is 1 minute to 1pm." The man's head fell as his gaze lingered once again on his iron cuffs.
"Goodbye…" he muttered. Road, Tyki and Lavi all tensed, having heard his farewell. They turned once again to face him, as the ticking seemed to grow louder and louder.
Tick,
Tick,
Tick…
Lavi almost missed the single tear that fell from his eyes, as the clock chimed loudly, only once. In an instant, the man was clutching his chest in pure agony, before he fell, face-first onto the table, dead.
Lavi, Tyki and Road were stunned, to say the least. They left the questioning room, shivering all over. All three were forced the sit in the waiting room while the next interview was being prepared. Many people had questioned them over the death of the criminal, but no action had been taken seeing as they were from the Black Order.
Lavi was gnawing at his nails out of nervousness, and Road was finding it difficult not to do the same. Tyki continued to smoke cigarettes, as only the increased pace at which he tore through each packet indicated some form of inner turmoil.
They all practically jumped out of their seats when the chief returned, leading them once again to the interview room.
This time around, there looked to be a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his mid 40s, sitting at the table calmly with a smirk plastered on his face. He had reasonably short brown hair, that was so oily, if a match was dropped on it, it could explode. He was wearing thick-rimmed glasses with such intense gleam that if shone white, covering the color of his eyes completely. Lavi was the first to sit down once more, but to his surprise, road was the first to speak up.
"I'm guessing you're 'A' from The Monster Without A Name." The man's smirk widened once she spoke up as he stared at her intently.
"Good, you must be the trio I am to deliver the message to. I find it better as we get this over with as I don't have much time left…." He trailed off, glancing at the ground as a very slight flicker of fear danced in his eyes.
"részére" he stated coldly, as Lavi pulled out his notepad and scrawled it down along with the last one. It took him a moment to translate it, but soon he had finished with two words on his notepad.
Eternity
For
Lavi noticed the man staring at the clock, as he too turned around to face it.
It was 1:59…
Tick,
Tick,
Tick.
The man's smirk stretched ear to ear as the clock chimed twice, for 2'O clock. He too involuntary clutched his heart for a split second, before collapsing exactly like the first.
There was no doubt about it…
He was dead….
Lavi shuddered…
Why was this happening?
Was it their fault?... just, just who?….
The day seemed to repeat itself, as the chief walked in to the interview room once more, only to discover a new dead body. He knew that he shouldn't let these strange people just kill whoever they felt like, but it wasn't like he was a choice. If they Vatican found out he disobeyed…he could be tried for heresy, or even worse, his family could be taken from him. That was something he couldn't let happen, so he blindly began leading the mysterious three people towards the third criminal. He opened the door for them, and left without a word, silently praying they wouldn't feel the need to kill the third.
The third criminal was different than the others.
He held not even the slightest bit of sanity, blabbering about what he was going to do in his garden the next day. It didn't take long for Lavi to realize that he was recounting his life…. Luckily they had arrived to interview the third earlier than the first two, about 20 minutes past two, so if his suspicions were correct, he shouldn't die for at least 40 minutes….
He didn't count on the criminal wasting the short time they had.
'Gardens, Pot plants, blah, blah.'
It was the most boring thing he had ever heard, and Lavi had heard the Panda give a lecture about the cultural history of chopsticks…yeah, he was pretty sure that had given a new meaning to the work 'dull'.
Something caught his ear, maybe it was how the man's face gleamed with pure happiness, or maybe it was what he was saying…
"Every week I would receive a letter see?
It would come, no matter what it would come. There was never a return address, or name, but it would come!
It was like I finally had a friend who understood me! I always did whatever the letter told me to, and then he told me to kill this guy. At the start I was all against it, because I thought murder was wrong, but then the letter came early, helping me get passed it.
Then, then I did what it said and killed him, at the time and place it told me to. I was too scared to run, and then these police came out of nowhere!
Oh, and um, there was something else; the letter told me to give you three a message. It told me you would come, and that when you did, my time would be up. I'm not scared though! Not me, never! But here's the message.
'Fog alszik'."
He immediately shut up, for once, staring at the clock with sad eyes.
Lavi wrote down what he said as fast as he could, and then turned his attention back to the criminal facing impending death. Still in his abnormally fast voice, he continued his rant.
"My plants, I loved them. They were like my family, they kept me company…but then they left me. I made sure my plants would never do that too…the letters never left me either.
I'm sad, because now I won't get any more letters, and I won't be able to take care of my plants.
But… I'm happy, because now I'll get to see my family again…." At that moment, Lavi realized that the clock had chimed three times, and now the man who previously wouldn't shut his trap, would never open it again…Lavi glanced down at the note he had written, quickly translating it as well.
Road and Tyki both peered over his shoulder, curious to read what it said.
Eternity
For
Shall Sleep
Sighing, they all left the interview room with yet another corpse laying there…it was turning out to be a more horrible day that Lavi could have ever imagined.
To their surprise, once they left the room, they were questioned by the chief on their reasons, and motives behind the murders.
Lavi, chosen as official spokes person had little luck convincing him that they actually played no part in the murders. Before they knew it, it was almost 4'O clock.
They rushed back into the interview room, as soon as the chief had released them. This time there was a woman sitting quietly in the room staring at her hands.
"Umm.." Lavi tried to start a conversation, but he already knew it was too late.
She glanced up, smiling at the trio before whispering "Tud én" Lavi once more, recorded what she had said, but not before smiling tragically back at her. She too, clutched her chest tightly as soon as the chime of the clock echoed through the stone room.
Lavi sighed rubbing his temples, as even Road had lost most of her ecstaticness.
Eternity
For
Shall Sleep
Know Me
Lavi allowed a low growl to escape his throat, this was making less and less sense by the victim. Road and Tyki both had bewildered expressions also, while they were staring at the notepad, attempting to make sense of it.
Lavi began biting at his nails in frustration.
They really needed to question the victims earlier, but by the looks of things, they would only just make it to the last before 5'O clock. It took a ridiculous amount of time for the chief to set up the interviews, though Lavi thought it was actually because he suspected himself, along with Tyki and Road.
For the fifth time, they were being lead to the same room.
Swinging the door open, the first thing they noticed was there was no occupant in the chair. Instead, there was a completely terrified looking man in his mid thirties huddling in the corner of the room. The chief had left instantly, as Lavi attempted to approach the cowering figure.
"What's wrong, 'The', what are you doing?" Lavi asked in the kindest voice he could muster. Tears began to steam down the man's face as he attempted to compose a response.
"Y-you guys are here…th-that means it's my turn… Please!" he cried, lunging at Lavi, desperately clinging to his shirt.
"You have to run! The Monster will find you! Please…. I-I'm done for… just, just get away while you can!" Lavi patted him on the head as gently as he could. They still needed the part of the message this guy had, and apart from that, he actually felt kind of sorry for the poor bloke.
"Sorry, we can't do that." Tyki replied, from his position on the chair. Road and Lavi nodded slowly in agreement, as 'The' shuddered horribly.
"Then, then I can help you! I, I heard him talking once…there is someone, the 'only survivor'. He, he is at a hospital near here! My…my message is… Azok ki.." he muttered, still whimpering loudly. Lavi raised an eye-brow, he had already translated it in his head, and if anything, it made the rest of the message much more confusing.
The clock began to chime….
Once,….
Twice….
Three times….
Four times…..
Five times….
The man clutched Lavi's shirt as he choked out one last dying word.
"Backwards" Lavi raised his other eyebrow while scribbling down the last part of the message.
Eternity
For
Shall Sleep
Know Me
Those who
Lavi still didn't understand… "Backwards?" he muttered to no one in particular, forgetting he had company.
"Lavi!" screamed Road in a higher pitch voice than he had thought possible. He turned around to see her frantically pointing at the scribbled notes.
"What?" he asked, in a harsher voice than he had meant. "I see it….the message…read it backwards…."
Those who
Know Me
Shall Sleep
For
Eternity