Silence
D Gray Man
Dead End

Arrive within the area that they thought was a town, Lavi and Verinty found they were wrong. It was clearly a ghost town. There was no one there and all the buildings were half rotted falling apart. The whole place was dusty, empty and rotting, awaiting the day when someone would either destroy it to start anew or they would try and save it.

At the moment, Lavi and Verinty stood in front of what used to be a tavern. The sign had fallen in front of the door and three windows were broken, one was broken outwards, which led Lavi to question if someone or something had been trying to escape the building. They could see inside it, a few feet. A broken table, the chair pushed over and a chair that was fine and covered in dust. Then darkness ran over everything and there was nothing more to see.

Lavi walked on, looking in a few other buildings. All and all the place looked to be fell and haunted. There wasn't even a train station to this place anymore. They had to walk several miles from the last one. People had given them funny looks when the two of them had set off for this place – now Lavi could see why.

He heard Verinty cry out in pain and he turned to look at her. She had her one finger in her mouth, she had stepped closer to one of the windows and was standing in front of it. Lavi hurried to her side and pulled on her hand so he could look at her finger. She had clearly cut it on the glass of the window.

"Ah, Veri…" he sighed. "C'mon get away from that window. You're not wearing your shoes again" He drug her away from the window and waited until she slipped on the boots he had made sure to get her. She seemed to really hate shoes. She moved her feet in an odd way after putting on the boots and looked up at Lavi again, frowning, her finger still dripping blood.

He took a cloth and wrapped her finger in it. Red stained the bit of white cloth within a few seconds and he sighed. Verinty's eyes were questioning but she didn't say a thing. She hadn't since they spotted the fallen place. She walked up to a tree a few feet from the tavern. It was black and half fallen over. She placed her hand on it, rubbing its trunk. When she pulled her hand away it was black. Her brow furrowed.

"Lavi" she called holding up her hand, but he already seen it. He walked up to the tree and touched it.

"Its been burnt…but none of the buildings around it seemed to have suffered. Curious" he wiped his fingers off, as they had gotten the ash from the tree on it as well. "No wonder its dead" She brushed the ash off her fingers as well. She backed away from the tree. She looked at it like it was an evil, evil thing. She paced in a large circle around it and turned to look at another building. This one almost looked like a school

"This place is fell….and evil" she whispered. Lavi walked over to her and patted her shoulder, a comforting gesture and grinned at her. She looked at him for a long moment before smiling a little as well.

"Well I wonder why we were sent here" he said, moving a away from her a little until he saw the graveyard. He stopped there and then something clicked in his head. Could Verinty's father be actually dead? But the way that woman at the village – Erica? – had spoken, he was still alive! A cold pit formed in Lavi's stomach.

"Veri, come over here" he motioned with his hand. She looked up and he felt that cold pit twist like a knife. He hoped he was wrong. She seemed to want to protest him calling her that name, but there must have been a look to him that made her shut her mouth. She walked over to him and stood by his side. He looked towards the cemetery and she followed his eyes.

She looked at it for a long moment and then before he could grab a hold of her – her reaction was so sudden! – she dashed towards the graveyard. He followed; he couldn't let her go alone. She could get hurt…And he had to record this! This would be important, maybe, someday. Lavi followed her, listening to her boots hit the ground and watching her carefully, if she fell he'd be there for her.

She reached the gate to the graveyard and pushed against it. It didn't budge. She pushed again, her body arching trying to use all the strength she had to open the door. It wouldn't move for her. Lavi reached her side and pushed as well. With a loud creak the door swung open, the metal banging against the fence. She went to hurry inside but Lavi grabbed her wrist. She turned fast, placing her hand on his.

"Let me go" she said, her voice desperate.

"Where are you going Veri?" he asked voice gentle. "There's nothing here, let's go before you see something that you don't want to see" She tried to pull her tiny wrist from his hand, but he just stepped closer to her, he was a little taller than her and he had to glance down to make eye contact with her. "C'mon Verinty"

"No…! I have to…" She turned to look further in the cemetery. She finally pulled her wrist from his hand and she turned and ran through the cemetery. He dashed after her. The cemetery was older than the town, many graves couldn't be read and it was dark since the sun was covered by heavy dark clouds. It was creepy and Lavi felt vulnerable, like some monster would show up and attack him.

Alina stood in a crumbled room. A crib sat on one side, a broken doll lay on the floor, half of its head missing. Bones, literally human bones, were lying in the corner as well making the place forbidden and scary. She was afraid, of course, but she didn't say it. She stood there, dressed as a man instead of a woman because that's what the master told her to do. She heard voices in the abandoned village below and peeked out a window to see the girl and the boy with the eye patch. He had a silver tongue on him.

She backed away from the window, so she wouldn't be seen. She was waiting for someone but they still weren't there. A few minutes later a young man entered. Well, he was actually older than she was by almost four years. He was panting and looked like he had run a long way.

"I'm sorry" he panted. "I had to go around back, because of those two. They were running towards the Cemetery when I last saw them"

"Damn it!" Alina let the curse slip past her lips and glared at the older man. "If you weren't my older brother, I swear I'd kill you myself" she said and then she sighed, looking towards the graveyard where the two kids would surely be. Her brother stood behind her, fidgeting. "Do you have it?" she asked, not bothering to turn back and look at him.

"Yes, but they're just kids…" his voice trailed off.

"Damn it, Russell!" she growled turning back to him. She walked up to him and pointed her finger up at him. "Don't mess this up for us. The Earl will give us everything if he wins against them"

"Or he'll kill us" Russell gulped. "Please think about Alina, he hates humans. Sure we have money and we'll do things for him that the Noah can't, but really think Alina. He'll kill us. I know he will"

Alina glared at the ground. "Maybe that's everything we deserve Russell…We're bad people, we're serving a Devil instead of a God…Our parents died because of the Akuma, this war has brought only sadness to our family, but I don't care" She looked up at her brother then. "This is all I have, this is all I can do. I'll do it." She walked half-way around her brother and then stopped. "If you can't do it, give it to me" She held out her gloved hand.

"Alina…" his voice was soft and full of protest.

"Russell, give me the damn thing" she wiggled her fingers impatiently. He sighed, his face looking confused and maybe even a bit lost. He reached into the pocket of his black jacket and pulled it out. He shoved it in her hand.

Her fingers wrapped around the handle of the gun and she walked out of the room, leaving Russell there to regret what he'd done.

Verinty was being pulled by an invisible string; to find something…something she wished wouldn't be here. Only the dead lay within graveyards and the dead end she had been dreading also would lay here and when she found it, it would lay all her hopes to rest. She would never find out who she really was or even what. She didn't she believed Erica, or at least what she had said about her parents loving each other. If they did, wouldn't they have stayed together?

Of course they didn't and so here she was…running to the place where everything would end.

She was aware of Lavi behind her. He kept calling for her to stop. Every once in a while, he'd catch her arm and stop her but she shake it off, like a dog riding itself of a flea and then she'd run again, boots pounding against the ground.

She turned and ran in between a row of grave markers. She stopped then and Lavi caught her again, grabbing both her arms this time and shaking her lightly. She couldn't pay any mind to him. She had suddenly got a really bad feeling. She looked at Lavi, he was speaking but she wasn't hearing him.

"Veri?" he asked. Her eyes darted around. She could have sworn she heard a branch breaking somewhere. "Veri? What's-"

She suddenly tackled him to the ground, pushing him down. Just in time too as a gun fired and the bullet went over where he had just been. He looked at her with a wide eye and then she got up, dragging him up with her. She turned and started running down the row of gravestones.

She pulled Lavi behind a large one and ducked down. Her heart was pounding and she couldn't help but press her back against the tombstone, and pant, trying to catch her breath. Lavi was doing similar.

"Who…What's shooting at us?" she asked, keeping her voice low. She looked over to Lavi, feeling afraid.

"I have no idea…" He replied his voice low as well. She didn't want to also think that they were shooting at Lavi. She heard another shot fire and she closed her eyes and automatically covered her ears. She peeked up over the gravestone and saw a man standing there with a gun.

He aimed the gun up in the air and shot again and she ducked down before he could see her. She heard him begin to walk slowly forward, towards them. He wasn't looking right at the gravestone so maybe he didn't know where they were. She looked over at Lavi. "What should we do? He's coming"

"Your power" he whispered back. She looked even more scared for a moment then swallowed hard and nodded.

"You're right…" she agreed. It might be the only way to get out of here alive she thought to herself. "Okay, run…I'll write something in the dirt to stop them and join you when I'm done" Lavi touched her shoulder; it was an almost caring gesture.

"Be careful Veri" She nodded and he got up, running low, to hide behind the gravestones as he escaped. She began to write in the dirt. There was another shot fired, closer this time. She flinched a little and hurried, writing faster. The dirt was hard to write in with her finger and she could barely read what she just wrote, but it would have to do.

She heard their steps now, clear and easy, they were close. She finished writing and leaned over the words and began to read them in a clear whisper. She read quickly, careful not to stutter over the words or mispronounce anything. She heard them even closer now and another gun shot pierced the sky. She didn't stop and then the last work left her lips.

"Aha!" gasped the man and Verinty looked up to see she was mistaken. It was not a man but a woman. Would that affect her words? The woman lifted up the gun, looking unhappy. "Where's the boy with the eye patch?" she asked.

Verinty didn't answer. The woman pointed the gun to the sky again and pulled the trigger; the gun clicked. She looked at it, puzzled. Verinty was happy that her words had worked. Without waiting she quickly grabbed the woman meaning to take the gun from her hands so she couldn't come after them again but the woman hit her hand away and took a step back onto unstable ground. She slipped and fell, hitting her head off a tombstone. There was a sickening crack and the woman lay still.

Verinty's hand flew to her lips, covering a gasp. The woman didn't move yet, not even to breathe. Verinty felt like she was going to be violently ill but she had no time to worry about that. She backed away from the woman slowly, not knowing if she were alive or not and then turned, running the way Lavi had. She didn't hear the woman stir.

She felt tears in her vision. She had killed that woman. She knew she did. She could make up excuses, saying it was the woman's fault, but still all and all, she had killed another living person. The thought didn't sit well with Verinty. Finally she found Lavi waiting by a mausoleum. The door to it was open and he was sitting just inside its strong iron door.

As soon as he saw her, he jumped up and trotted over to her. "Did you stall them?" he asked

"I killed them" she answered and then she turned away as her stomach heaved. She coughed and wiped her mouth afterwards. Lavi helped her to the mausoleum steps so she could sit down. She did and just looked up at the sky. He didn't ask, he just watched her waiting for her to speak first.

"I didn't mean to kill them" she whispered. "It just…happened" Lavi rubbed her back.

"It's okay" he said. "You didn't mean it"

"That makes it okay?" she asked her voice dropping to a whisper.

"It was self-defense." He answered, after a thoughtful silence.

"Of course" She got up, walking away and glaring down at a grave. It said 'Mana Walker' across the top of the cross-shaped marker. It was rather plain and this grave looked newer than many of the others but Verinty couldn't really care about this 'Mana' or otherwise. She turned and looked at Lavi. "Can we go back now?" Something sounded broken and old in her voice. Surely her father's body lay in this graveyard, which meant it was over anyway. She just wanted to go back to the Order and try to make herself useful. Might as well. It wasn't like she could live a regular life.

Lavi followed after her and kept pace with her. They took the long way out, careful to avoid the dead woman. Verinty didn't think she could look upon her sin and be alright. She just wanted to get back to the Order, go back to just knowing nothing.

"Today…was a bad day" she whispered to herself but Lavi gave her a sad look, and touched her arm. That was close to comfort as she knew she'd get.

When they returned to the Order, Verinty became even more aloof than before. She would barely come out of her room and when she did, she never said more than a few words. Lavi was worried about her, but when ever he expressed it to her, she'd walk away. It frustrated Lavi. She had given up. They didn't know if her father lay in that graveyard…Or maybe it was the fact that she had given that graveyard a new resident. Either way, that person had been trying to kill them…

It was a usual morning for Lavi. He woke up early, got dressed and went to Verinty's room to pull her from her nightmares. They plagued her horribly. When she'd first wake up, she'd always look like she was still stuck in where ever the nightmare had placed her. She'd be pale and look almost sickly. Sometimes she'd just sit there and stare off into the distance like she was seeing things that only she could see. It did worry Lavi. He was worried about her. She was fading away from the real world and curling into herself. He had no idea how to help her.

When he woke her up that morning though she look at him, directly at him, like she was fully awake right away. She grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. "That woman…that shot at us" she said. He had not known it was a woman, she had not told him before but he nodded, knowing what she was talking about. "She was after you Lavi…She wasn't trying to shoot me. She was trying to shoot you" Then she let him go and he stumbled back. She sat up, her eyes wide from her nightmare, sweat making her hair stick to her face. She trembled and let go of him.

"Why didn't you tell me right away?" he asked her.

"I…I don't even know why I'm telling you now" she said, her eyes dropped to her lap. Her hands lay there.

"Veri!" he exclaimed, touching her shoulder. She looked up at him, her mismatching eyes wide. "She wasn't after you!" Now her brow furrowed. "Don't you know what that means?" he asked. She clearly didn't so instead of waiting for her to admit that he went on. "Who ever sent her, wants you alive. We have to go back"

"No!" she cried, she pulled away from him.

"Veri, where else are we going to find them? If we go back there, maybe we can catch one of them…Then we can question them and find out who you are. You want to know don't you?" So maybe Lavi was using her emotions against her, but he supposed that came with the label of Bookman. He was already plotting. It couldn't be that hard to capture one of these people that were stalking her. There had to be more than one right?

They catch one, they question them, let them go and then Verinty has all her answers and so did Lavi. He could record it and go on being a happy Bookman. It was all so simple. All he had to do is get a few things. He was sure that Bookman could help out. He was sure Bookman would also approve of this and even if he didn't, Lavi knew how to be sneaky. He wasn't sure how well it might work with his mentor, but of course he could try.

"Ar…are you sure?" she asked. Her voice was soft, resigned. She was trying to deny that his words were true. He could see it in her eyes, but she closed them and looked away. "When will we leave?"

"Two days" he said, his face was serious. "If I can get everything around in that amount of time. Don't worry, Veri. I'll take care of everything. Just rest up" then he turned and left the room, thinking of the things he would need before their journey in two days. Going back to that fell and haunted place was not going to be easy on either of them. They'd stay out of the graveyard though. They'd search the town. He'd have to fill in Veri of his plan before they left.

For now he just had to plot and get Bookman to approve of this plan. Of course Bookman would probably say that it could go horribly wrong, which it could but Lavi was confident that he could keep it from going wrong with his nearly perfect Bookman observing skills. So he had a lot to do before they left. He knew he better get to work or it might not be done in time.

Two days later they were standing in front of the town again. Verinty was half hidden behind Lavi, her fingers tangled into his coat, biting her lip so hard it looked like it might bleed. He touched her hand and she grabbed his hand, holding onto it tightly. She looked at him and he saw the fear in her eyes.

"Something's wrong here" she whispered.

"No, it's fine Veri" he assured her and then he walked forward, keeping her hand in his. It meant nothing, so it was alright and besides, it wasn't like Bookman was there to yell at him. She seemed a bit more comforted by the fact that he was holding her hand too. She followed behind him, glancing around her eyes wide.

They walked until they reached the bar again. He stopped there and put his bag down. He turned to her and she looked worried. She still held his hand and he looked down at their hands. She was trembling, she was really afraid. Lavi swallowed hard and then tugged her forward and hugged her, wrapping both arms around her in a comforting embrace.

"Really, it's alright. I promise" he said softly to her, trying to get her to relax. He didn't want her worked up and scared. No she shouldn't have been scared. She might be getting her answers. There was no room for her to be scared. She had to be ready to learn who she really was. Why she had the power that she did. She was strong, she had to be strong. He let go of her and smiled a little. He saw her hand go to a small bag that hung across her body. She reached in it and pulled out a black book and a pencil.

"Tell me how I can help" he voice was soft but the way her mouth was set, she looked sure. He grinned at her. She was really changing. She wasn't the girl he had met. She may have lost her mother and some other members of her family that she had met but that didn't mean she was weak. No, now that Lavi looked at her, she looked strong.

"Alright, that's the Veri we need!" She frowned at his nickname and he was glad to see that she was relaxed enough to frown at such a small thing. "Alright, we need to set a trap for them. We need them to know you're back.

"How are we going to do that?" she asked, looking skeptical.

"They knew we would be coming last time, maybe they knew we'd be back too!"

"Well if they knew we'd be back, couldn't they guess about this trap?" she pointed out and Lavi frowned. He doubted they could. How would they know what he or Verinty were thinking? They wouldn't, thus they would be able to trap them. It would be easy.

"Don't worry so much Veri. We just have to work with what we have here" he said.

"Alright" she still sounded skeptical as she looked but at least she was going to listen to him now. He went on to explain exactly what she needed to do and they were able to set up the trap fairly easily. He smiled when they were done and leaned against the wall of the bar. He looked over at Verinty with a satisfied look. She was leaned against the door frame of bar, she seemed okay with the place now.

She looked hopeful now too though, even Lavi could see the hope in her eyes, She was hoping that this might work and that the truths might come out. She wanted the truth to come out. She flicked her dark hair out of her face and then took a deep breath.

"Now all we have to do is let them know I'm here" she said. She got her pencil back out and reached for the notebook when they both heard the sound of guns clicking. Verinty dropped her pencil and whipped around to look inside the bar. Lavi jumped back, just as a huge chunk of ice shot through where he had just been standing. His fingers were on his hammer and he drew it from his pocket, ready to fight.

"We don't want you hee!" a voice called and then two figures jumped from the inside of the bar. They grabbed Veri, each one grabbing an arm.

"No!" she screamed and she struggled. She managed to kick the one in the shin, making the dark haired boy curse and let go of her. She hit the blond one and he dropped her to cover his face and whimper. As soon as she was free she ran towards Lavi again. They both dashed towards the graveyard, the only place they could hide and lose the two boys.

They heard them cursing and growling from behind them. They didn't look back though; they just ran, almost blindly through the rows of gravestones. They found a huge one with what looked to be a rose on top of it and ducked behind it. It was all so familiar to what happened last time.

"What are we going to do?" asked Verinty. Lavi couldn't tell her. His plan had gone wrong. These guys did want Verinty though, she had been lucky to escape from the two of them. Suddenly he heard Verinty squeak and he turned to look at her. A hand was coming through the tombstone and was over her mouth.

"Verinty!" Lavi cried but before he could grab her, a man walked through the tombstone and was holding Verinty. He had her wrists in one hand and his other still covered her mouth. She looked afraid. Lavi stood, his hammer ready.

"You think you can beat me?" the man asked. "Well would you risk hurting your poor friend?"

"Let Verinty go!" Lavi growled. Verinty looked really scared and Lavi wanted nothing more than to save her. "Let her go now!" Lavi readied his hammer to attack the man but he heard a gun go off. He looked to the side and barely dodged another chunk of ice.

"You two actually going to make some use out of yourself?" the man asked as the two boys balanced themselves on the tombstone that Lavi and Verinty had been hiding behind.

"Shut up!" growled the one that Verinty had kicked.

"She's a mean girl! Mean! Mean! Mean!" crowed the other.

"I don't see- Ow!" The man let go of Verinty, pushing her to the ground. It took Lavi a second to realize she had bitten his hand. She was up in a second, dashing towards him. Lavi was tense, ready to bolt the second she was by his side again. They had to get out of here and they had a long way to the next town. They would get out of here somehow though. He would get them out of here.

Suddenly something hit Lavi from behind. He fell, smacking his head off of something. The world flashed and colors swam. He heard Verinty calling out his name, but he couldn't answer her. He couldn't even move. Verinty screamed and he tried to get up, he really did but he just couldn't. His body felt so heavy and in the end he passed out.

Lavi wasn't sure how long he had been out, but he knew he hurt. His head was pounding. He felt his head carefully and felt a bump but no dried blood which was good. His hammer was still in his hand. He stood carefully, grabbing onto a tombstone to steady himself. He looked around. It looked like not much time had passed. He looked around.

"Verinty?" he called. It was silent. He walked among the tombstones, looking for her, any sign of her.

"Verinty?" he called again, his voice louder this time. He was truly worried about her now. Where was she?

"Verinty? Answer me!" He picked up his pace and searched the graveyard and then walked out to the ghost town. He walked to the bar and found her pencil laying there. "No…" he whispered to himself. How could thing have gone so wrong? He had such a good plan to and now…Verinty was gone.

Where had they taken her? Maybe Bookman would know. He found his bag and his communications golem that he had actually thought to bring. The guys at the Order had given him and Bookman one each, but they usually only used the one. The other one would be back at the Order. Hopefully Bookman had it with him.

"Hey! Old man!" he called into the golem, silence. "Panda?" he tried.

"Don't call me a Panda" came the gruffled reply.

"Verinty! She's been taken away, we have to find a way to save her! Do-"

"No. It's better that she's gone. Come back to the Order Lavi"

"Wh…What do you mean its better that she's gone?" Lavi's mind raced. Was there something wrong with her?

"You were becoming too attached to that girl. Come back to the Order Lavi. You have other Bookman duties that you have to attend to" Lavi gripped the golem hard. He wanted to tell Bookman to shut up, that he had to save Verinty, but Lavi saw the truth in his words.

"I'll be there as soon as I can"

Well I got this chapter out faster so that's good
So Lavi is going to abandon Verinty? Oooh, drama~ Well I hope you all liked this chapter as well. Please leave me a couple of reviews to read, they make me really happy :)