Hey guys! Hooray for a relatively quick update! Be proud, be very proud. Kanda and Lavi are finally getting some time in the spotlight! If it seems like any characters are acting, well, a little out of character, please let me know so I can improve!
Once again, I shower all my reviewers and supporters with much, much love.
When Lavi awoke, he was instantly aware of two small details – one: his head didn't feel like multiple holes were being drilled into it, and two: it was snowing.
What?
He cautiously pushed himself to his feet. Somehow he was outside, out of the Ark, and Kanda was nowhere in sight. It must have been snowing for a while now; the field that he was standing in already had a fine layer of the white fluff, which was getting thicker by the second. The wind had also begun to pick up, rustling the snow off the nearby trees into a light, icy cloud.
And it was deeply quiet.
"Hey!" Lavi called, not necessarily because he hoped someone would answer. He just needed something to shatter the silence, even if it was his own voice. "Anybody out there? Hello?" No response. Great.
The unease he felt in the pit of his stomach intensified. It wasn't the fact that he was alone in the middle of a snowy field – it was that he couldn't remember how he got there. And Bookmen never forget. Had someone tampered with his memories? Could a Noah do that sort of thing? He scowled at the thought of someone probing around in his mind.
With his air whipping into his eyes now, he belatedly noticed that his bandanna was missing, although his eye patch was still in place. Well, standing around wasn't going to get much done. He started heading to the trees to find some sort of shelter before the mild wind evolved into a full-blown blizzard.
And maybe the walk would jog his memory.
When Kanda awoke, he was instantly aware of two small details – one: his new surroundings weren't as dark as his previous cell, and two: he was not alone.
Tch.
"I know you're there," said Kanda gruffly as he got back on his feet. The room he was now in also sported black floors and walls just like its predecessor, but a large chandelier adorned the ceiling, casting flickers of light on the walls, ultimately leaving large areas in shadow. From one of those shadows in the corner of the room drifted a long tendril of smoke. And then a low chuckle.
"My, my, maybe you won't be so boring after all, Exorcist." Yellow eyes flickered open and the Noah of Pleasure melted into the light, letting his cigarette fall to the floor, still smoldering. "I think I can have a lot of fun with your healing ability, don't you think?"
Kanda said nothing, motionless, instinctively committing his environment to memory like any seasoned warrior. There was a door just across the room, and he could only assume that it led outside – where exactly, he didn't know, but he was never one for fine details.
Tyke ambled forward lazily, running his fingers through his slicked back hair with a small dark smile. "How much would you guess that your body could take before it fails to fix itself? Shall we find out?"
Kanda shifted his weight forward slightly. His fingers twitched, as if they missed a familiar hilt. He knew that they hadn't destroyed Mugen yet – he would have known, would have felt that piercing jolt of emptiness if the Innocence had been destroyed.
"Hey," he started bluntly, "where is my sword?" Tyki frowned. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting.
"Why would I tell you?" Tyki responded, before his lips curled at Kanda's impatient sigh.
"What are you, slow? I'm obviously going to get it back after I'm through with you," the Exorcist sniped, "I'll find it whether or not you tell me, but maybe I'll spare you some humiliation of being beaten if you speak."
Kanda's only warning was a snarl and a flash of furious eyes as Tyki vanished from sight. He had no time to react when he felt a hand curl around his throat and two fingers press against the side of his neck.
"You foolish, cocky creature. I don't think you quite understand the situation you're in." Tyki's words breathed just outside of Kanda's ear. The fingers pushed in deeper, the hand tightened. "I think my Tease would love to give you a try. What do you recommend? The aorta? How about an eye?" The fingers brushed up to the side of Kanda's brow, resting lightly. Unfortunately for Tyki, he didn't sense the slow shifting of Kanda's foot as it moved just behind his own.
Perfect.
Without hesitation, Kanda ducked, using his foot to pull Tyki off balance before whirling around and launching himself upward to drive his palm into the unprotected jaw. Hard. He felt the pleasurable crack of the Noah's teeth slamming together as he began to fall back, but Kanda wasn't done yet. Continuing his spinning motion, he used his momentum to explode into a reverse kick, striking Tyki on the chest with the heel of his shoe. He hoped it broke a rib or two.
The force of his blow knocked Tyki far across the room, cracking the wall on impact. The Exorcist may have been swordless, but he was not helpless.
Without waiting for a chance for the Noah to recover from his surprise attack, Kanda bolted for the door, not bothering to close it behind him.
Closed doors really did nothing to stop a man who can move through walls at will.
The snow was falling heavily now, weighing down on Lavi's uniform with every passing second. How long had he been walking? He could have sworn he had been heading for the trees for the past fifteen minutes, and yet the tree-line seemed just as far away as it had been when he first woke up. To make matters worse, the steadily dropping temperature was slowly having its effect on the junior Bookman. His ears and nose had moved past the point of aching from the cold to simply not feeling the cold, or anything for that matter.
"WHY IS NOTHING MAKING SENSE?" Lavi bellowed, doubled over in exhaustion. For a moment, only the howling wind was his response, before his frozen ears picked up a faint voice calling his name. His head snapped back up despite his complaining neck as he tried to peer through the sheets of snow. Was that…? Someone was standing just outside the forest. Someone small. Actually, it looked rather like–
"OLD PANDA!" Lavi cheered. And it was – the older Bookman was standing just at the edge of the field, hands clasped together in his usual pose. With a new burst of energy, the redhead ran full tilt towards his mentor.
And still, neither he nor the trees ever seemed to get closer.
Frustrated, he yelled, "Gramps! How do I get to you?" In the distance, Lavi could see him gesturing and speaking, but the wind had picked up too much, halting any communication between the two Bookmen. I'll just have to keep trying.
And then his heart stopped.
Body numb, he stood in a horrified stillness as he watched a small child-like grey figure emerge from the woods. He could make out the wings, he could see the halo, but this was no angel.
Time itself seemed to slow as Lavi felt himself scrambling to his feet again, mouth opened in a wordless cry.
Bookman appeared to not have noticed the Level 4 Akuma creeping up behind him, still trying to communicate with his apprentice.
"Gr-Gramps!" Lavi struggled out hoarsely. He had to get to him, he had to save him, but he just couldn't. Get. Closer. "Turn around! TURN AROUND!" The Level 4 grinned, holding one finger to its lips and the other arm to the back of Bookman's head. A dense ball of light began to collect at its fingertips.
The world stopped in a blaze.
Bookman's dark eyes widened, his mouth forming a silent "Oh!" of surprise as he perched frozen in position.
Lavi couldn't breathe as he watched the pentacles blossom over his mentor's skin, he couldn't think as the expression on Bookman's face seemed to shift from confusion to sadness, as if the last thought running through his mind was the one that Lavi couldn't bear:
Why didn't you save me?
And then he was gone, his ashes carried away by the wind. Lavi fell to his knees.
He didn't even get to say goodbye.
When Lenalee had told him that Bookman was dead, he couldn't believe it. And here, here he had a chance to save him, to save the man who had been the only father figure in his life. And he failed.
The wind almost seemed to mock him, whispering his name over and over again, the world of white swirling into darkness.
Lavi…
Lavi…
Lavi…
"LAVI!"
A green eye snapped open to a black room and one very angry Kanda Yu, who had his hand raised as if the redhead was due for an imminent slap.
"You stupid rabbit, what are you doing just standing there? You're lucky that I found this room."
What was he doing? Where was the snow, and the wind, and–
Lavi closed his eye once again, fatigue flooding through his body as realization hit him like a train.
It wasn't real. None of it had happened. He never remembered arriving at the field because he never went. Instead, memories of Road taking him away and locking him in her room filled the gaps in his memory. It had just been a dream, courtesy of the Noah of Dreams. That meant…
"Kanda… the old man's really gone, isn't he?" croaked Lavi as he moved to lean against the wall for support. Kanda, who had been tearing apart Road's room looking for anything that could hide a sword and hammer and finding nothing, angrily kicked the sofa he had been standing next to and fixed Lavi with a glare.
"Yes. What part of being the only ones left did you not understand?" He headed for the door now, smacking Lavi in the back of his head as he passed. Ignoring his yelp of surprise, he continued, "We should leave as quickly as possible to find Lenalee and our Innocence. I don't think a few broken ribs are going to stop that Noah, and who knows where that annoying blue-haired girl–"
"A few broken… what?" Lavi interjected. "Are you crazy? He's going to want you dead now!" He hurriedly climbed back to his feet to follow Kanda out the door, shaking his head in disbelief at the other Exorcist's next words:
"That's nice. The feeling is mutual."
When Tyki awoke, he was instantly aware of two small details – one: his mouth was filled with blood, and two: he was very, very angry.
I'm going to kill him.
He stood up, ignoring the screaming pain in his chest and stumbled to the door.
Which way…?
"Tyki? Everyone's waiting for you at the meeting. What are you doing?" It was Road, leaning just outside the door twirling Lero idly. She spoke with a child's air, seemingly oblivious to his limping gait and bloody mouth. But Tyki knew better, he could recognize that teasing, mischievous glint in her eyes anywhere.
"You know exactly what happened," he grumbled. "When I find him, he is dead. Forget about keeping them alive, I'll kill them all." He started down the hall, not caring if that wasn't the direction that insolent little Exorcist took. He was in no hurry. He was going to find him sooner or later.
But a gentle tugging at his wrist forced him to pause, looking back down at the petite Noah.
"Tyki," she smiled, although her words were laced with a dark warning, "the Earl is waiting. You can find him later." She paused, thoughtful. "You know, I haven't see you having this much fun in a while."
"F-fun? Does this look like fun to you?" he spluttered, gesturing at his damaged face. But Road wasn't listening, skipping away from with him a lively tune dancing on her lips instead. Tyki took a calming breath despite the sharp pain. Feels like two broken ribs and a fracture, he mused, I guess that meeting will give me enough time to heal, and afterwards…
…let the hunt begin.