Well this has been quite an interesting year so far. I've been having lots of fun so this is something that I'd thought would give you all.
First I'm giving thanks :)
-PrincessWindNight for the review :D
-minglingsing for the favorite :)
-Lumihiutale89 for the favorite :)
-plus to all of the people who fav and follow Not :One: of Us.
Thanks to all of you! Now let us begin~ x)
Chain Seven: Little Liar
"Allen...?" the hushed words slipped from her lips as the Allen lowered them both. All other words wouldn't come out from beyond her throat. Many other words, that along with scraps of memories of him, yearned to be let out. In the end, though, they only surfaced as a murmur of his name and tears that were threatening to well in her eyes.
"Mister...Clown?" the little girl called a bit perplexed.
"I've shown you such a dreadful performance," he spoke and his voice was just like she remembered. "I'm sorry... Be careful on your way back home."
"It is you..." Celia mumbled finally able to speak. He spared her a glance that made her gasp slightly. His expression was emotionless but in those silver eyes even she could she the desperation, the sadness, and the always present childishness she possessed. It's him, she thought to herself as joy overwhelmed her and a tear trickled down her cheek, It's really Allen. The faintest of smiles tugged at the corner of his cheek and he raised his left hand, and just as he did with the girl, carefully wiped away the tear that stained her face.
"You have no idea..." he mumbled. "Just how glad I am to see you alive again."
Again...? Before she even had time to ask, Johnny had unintentionally pushed her when he lurched himself at Allen in a hug. Almost falling back, Celia stood not far from them and heard as Kanda approached. While Johnny was crying his heart out, Allen interrupted him when he grabbed his arms and began to stand up. In an instant, Allen ran out wanting to make a run for it. "He's getting away!" she called and before she could move Kanda was already two steps ahead. He grabbed his hood pulling him back, tripped him and pinned him down on the gravel.
"Kanda!?" Celia exclaimed at his sudden ruthlessness towards Allen. Well, the ruthlessness had been sudden but not unexpected, so she couldn't intervene. After his ranting, Celia noticed how Allen simply remained quiet at Kanda's inquiry. This, quiet frankly, scared Celia a bit. Could he have changed...?
"Give me something to rub with," Kanda called out to Johnny and her beckoning with his hand outstretched.
"Huh? Ah..." Johnny searched through his bag of belongings and pulled out a towel. "Here."
Celia's head tilted a bit to the side, "What are you-"
But her question was cut short but loud screams from Allen, "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" Allen's body suddenly shifted, "Wait. Are you trying to peel the skin off my face, Bakanda!" And just as swiftly, Allen kicked Kanda on the back of the head.
"Beansprout," Kanda said in thought.
"It's Allen!" Allen exclaimed.
"It appears that somehow you haven't turned into 'the 14th' yet, huh?" Kanda said quite nonchalantly.
Celia looked directly at Allen's face that was now free of the clown's make up. And just like Kanda had said, he didn't seem to have turned into the 14th Noah. He was hanging on there. Celia collapsed to her knees beside Kanda and Allen heaving a great sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that," she murmured along with her sigh.
"First, answer me one thing," Kanda began with haste. "That CROW...How come Howard Link died?" Immediately at hearing of Link's death, Allen's expression changed into confusion.
But before Celia could hear what else Kanda would have said, her ears starting ringing rather annoyingly. She held fast to her ears trying to figure out where the ringing was coming from but she just couldn't make it out. It wasn't until she saw separate wholes beginning to open beneath them. Scrambling to her feet, she backed up fast just as more Akuma began to appear.
They're fast to catch up. It was Ambrose, could he sense the Akuma like Celia could? Or were the intuitive feelings Ambrose's altogether? Celia looked up only to see Allen being hoarded upwards while Kanda and Johnny and her got away from its snapping jaw.
"Allen got-" Johnny started as Kanda carried him away from harm followed close by Celia.
"He'll be fine. With just something like that..." Kanda assured them and as if on cue, the Akuma that had trapped Allen inside it exploded due to Crown Clown. Undoing the ties on Mugen's form, Kanda activated it.
Drifting on her feet, Celia turned to Kanda, "Yu!" Forming Albus' saber, she stretched her free hand towards Kanda.
"Don't call me that!" he yelled back and joining his hand with hers just long enough for Innocence to activate.
"When!" Allen called to them as Celia left to fight the Akuma that kept emerging. "When did Link die!?" Kanda followed Celia suit going after the Akuma. "Please tell me! Link...!"
Johnny seemed almost relieved as he sprinted after them with their stuff in hand. That's when he exclaimed to Allen about Link being found dead after he had escaped from prison. Celia jumped up and attacked one of the Akuma destroying it and landing beside Allen and Kanda who were back to back. But the Akuma that began as a few were soon going to become a handful for more gates opened beneath them warning their arrival.
"This isn't good," Celia cursed under her breath. Suddenly a slight ringing came to her head. It hadn't been the annoying one that told her about the hoard of Akuma that attacked them. This signal was much more subtle but curiously enough more precise.
Where? she thought as her intuition brought her to scan around the crowd. There were a lot of people clammed about them as if watching a show. Looking around she couldn't imagine what she would fine until the ringing came to a dead stop just as her eyes landed upon a certain male figure. Someone that, oddly enough, she recognized much too well.
Suddenly from behind she heard the swept that Crown Belt had made as it extended towards the roof of a Church. "Beansprout!" Celia heard Kanda called out to him. Celia turned around just barely to see Allen glance down at them...with regret.
"Allen, don't!" she exclaimed in vain only to see him take off through the rooftop. Right then, she felt the annoying ringing that had been relentlessly echoing in the back of her head, had begun to ebb away. Looking down, she noticed that the gates that the Akuma were using were beginning to close. They're going after him, she caught on. She could hear Kanda and Johnny arguing as Kanda was urging him to leave the luggage behind and go after Allen with him.
I can't go yet though, Celia thought hearing the soft ringing that had so abruptly started and stopped. She turned towards the direction where it, once again, stopped. Taking a step away she was stopped by a hand that held firmly to her wrist.
"Come on!" Kanda yelled pulling her away.
"Wait!" she called pulling harder and making him turn to face her. "I'll catch up with you guys later. Don't worry, I'll find you. So go before you lose Allen."
"No way," he snarled.
"Please!" she called urgently needing to find out what was bothering her senses so much. Kanda fervently stared into her amethyst eyes with his own cobalt. He sighed and let go of her hand.
"I won't be able to help you this time," he warned her.
"I'll be fine," she said with a slight smile. "Now go before you lose him!" He nodded and followed behind Johnny who had left before them all. Turning to the crowd, Celia sidestepped and entered it through another opening. If she went head first in with the enemy it would be to obvious and stupid to say the least. Instead, she skirted around the crowd until she got near the place were the ringing seemed to secede while making Albus disappear from her hands. It was surprising to her how oblivious the crowd was of her presence when just seconds ago she was, also, fighting against the Akuma. It seemed as though the chase caught their attention rather then her escape.
Well, it wasn't like she was complaining anyways. The longer she remained unannounced, the better. Walking around, she clearly heard the people's whispers as they began talking about what had happened. Many stayed behind watching in astonishment as the pursuers left but nobody paid attention to her. She was lucky for that since her uniform was only covered by a coat that came just short of her white shorts. Although the fine embroidery of the clothes wasn't visible, one could hear the clinking of the ornaments. She clicked her tongue annoyed; she'd have to get rid of that coat sooner rather than later, it had already turned into a burden.
Slowly she caught a sense of what exactly she was feeling. Digging deep into pieces of her memory she noticed something familiar about this feeling. "But from where?" she thought biting her bottom lip as she carefully scanned the crowd as she walked through it. Stopping she scanned more carefully until her eyes landed on a great monument that stood close to the entrance of the town and away from the street. Her sight stopped short towards two people, a young man sitting upon the foot of the monument itself and another, someone a bit older than the first, standing close to him with a lit cigarette in between his lips.
"Use the Eye Dante's ability," Celia heard Ambrose, curiously enough, whispering in her mind.
"What are you talking about?" she mumbled trying not to be overheard. She wasn't going to be bothered by such pesky thing as why he was whispering to her. She slowly began to make her way towards the two all the while listening to Ambrose as he continued.
"You've used it once. Back at the North American Branch incident, you used it's power as the 'Eye of Truth' to see what Alma Karma's true being was." Again, Celia noticed Ambrose's whispering that only seemed to get quieter the more she approached the two men.
"How do I do that?" she hissed tired of the riddles. She had stopped a few feet away from the two but thanks to the crowd that was there, it was packed enough for them not to see her without looking thoroughly.
"Just ask Albus! Tell him that you 'wish to see the truth'!" His hissing back got her to think that he seriously didn't want to be heard outside of her own head but who, pray tell, would be overhearing the voices inside her head.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe how the world outside suddenly quieted all at once. "I wish to see the truth, Albus. Let me see...what I cannot." A sudden pulse emanated from her whole body and she felt how the power itself channeled through her at it rose. A warmness came to her whole body and not knowing whether it worked or not she opted to open her eyes to try it out.
At opening her eyes, the light amethyst color that they were had been changed by a bright scarlet that shone by themselves. Scanning the people, she instantly noticed how the scenario had changed into the way she had seen it the first time she talked to Ambrose. Although the sky had remained as it was, the people were a still a translucent green with their soul hovering and burning brightly in the same color. Looking down at her own hands, she even noticed that she could see her own body being translucent but instead of green, what she could see of herself was all a very vibrant amethyst color, like her normal eyes. Then she directed her eyes towards the two that she had suspected. She gasped at seeing them. Like all the others they were translucent; the color of their aura and souls, though, was a dark purple, almost black. The oldest one, however, was the one that shocked her the most. His whole aura and soul were more black than purple but mixed in with the coal blackness were shades of bright amethyst. The same color that her own was.
"W-What the hell...?" she mumbled to herself feeling a bit of cold sweat crawling on her back. Blinking once was enough, plus the anxiousness, to get her eyes back to normal. A ball had formed in her throat preventing her from swallowing the great anxiety she had gotten all of a sudden.
"Don't approach them..."
Ambrose's sudden words of warning made Celia even more determined not to. Turning about, she planned to leave but the crowd trapped her inside its core. If she didn't get away she would most probably vomit from the nervousness that she was getting.
"I-I can't!" she hissed back, desperately trying to push people away to make her way out and back to the group. Back to the one person whom she knew would restore her sense of security. She needed to get back to Kanda. Now.
"Try harder." Celia suddenly heard a sudden pull on her chest. She felt so distressed that it even her heart began to hurt. "Get away! Now-"
A hand upon her shoulder was enough to render Ambrose's words to silence. Celia gasped snapping her head towards the hand's embodiment. It was the oldest man with the other; the one who's soul was as dark as the pits of hell but had tinges of amethyst like her own. She tried her best to appear nonchalant but inside she could have sworn that her heart stopped from the fear.
"Milady, you seem lost," his voice was pure silk to Celia's ears but all the same it sent shivers down her spine. "May I help you?"
She had to appear calm and collected. If not this could all go very wrong, very fast. She attempted to go for a sly smile, "I-I appreciate your concern but it is unnecessary." Well, so much for the calm and collected part.
"Well," he chuckled and Celia could almost feel her knees wanting to buckle. "Pardon my imprudence but I disagree with that...Miss Exorcist."
Celia gasped completely given away by her outfit of her profession. "What are you talking about?" Celia tried playing it smooth. If only she could get away.
"You are known by many names," the first man came up to Celia's vacant side as the second man began walking alongside Celia making her move away from the crowd. "Celia Evernly, the only heir of the Evernly Family. Celia Everlott, daughter of Cecilia Evernly and Kingsley Everlott. And Celia Valentine, one of the Exorcists of the Black Order. But right now you seem to be none of those and all at the same time. All because you remember but don't really know who you are at the same time."
Celia chuckled her nervousness away and began to slowly collect herself. "Well, I don't think there's anything escaping you gentlemen."
"What the hell are you doing?!" Celia could barely hear the harsh whisper that Ambrose gave her.
"Buying time!" she hissed "I need time to think of a way out."
"I'm sorry to say that you have no way of escaping. So if I were you I wouldn't bother to concoct up a plan, Miss Valentine," the first said.
"What?!" she gasped at his knowledge.
"Shit."
"Would that be Albus?" he continued tilting his head inquiringly. "Or could that be another Innocence that lies within you?"
"Let me guess," Celia said keeping her cool. "You must be the infamous Noah clan."
"We've got a winner," the oldest called and stood before her as he blew out a cloud of smoke in her face. Waving it away, Celia noticed for the first time in a while that they had stopped. They were apart from the crowd and more secluded: an alleyway. "Now tell me little Miss Exorcist, I've got a question for you."
"Interrogation?" she asked bluntly with a scoff. "Wouldn't a dinner be required prior to this?"
"Funny one, you are," the other called while standing behind her. "But this is a simple question. Only one simple question we will ask. Just be truthful and depending on your answer-" His eyes glanced at the oldest one. Celia's eyes widened just as his right arm was engulfed in a dark skin, his fingers forming claws. "will we decide upon letting you go."
"Oh, so I'm your guys' hostage now, am I." Celia didn't dare give her back to the arms man. The dark aura he had given off still warned her of him yet if worse came to be then she would have to fight her way out. Then again, there was another option. "Alright then, ask your question."
A smile crept to the first's face. "Very well then. Celia Valentine, you are a child of blasphemy. Something that was not meant to be part of this world and yet you are here, alive. Many times has life attempted to correct a human mistake and just as many has it failed. Your existence causes nothing but harm to others and I'm sure that you are aware of this."
Celia ignored his comment there. She wasn't a mistake. She had proved it. She saved so many lives trying to amend for being such a burden to others. She wasn't a mistake. She was helping Allen and Kanda and Johnny. She wasn't the mistake.
"But you persevere to exist. Your sin was always the matter of your existence but now not even life itself can change your course. Now it is only a matter of choice. Time has begun to tick away and there are only two options for you. Either submit to your own sin and empower in its darkness completely changing your being and lose yourself in order to save others or save what is left of your will and act accordingly knowing that the consequences that will follow it will all be devastating for all you know." His words lingered in her ears and her mind. What was he talking about? Her eyes glazed over hearing him but a piece of her mind kept reminding her that this was a Noah she was talking to. She couldn't be taken over by a mere talk. "Leaving the chit chat aside, this is my question? When the time comes for the dark to claim you, would you embrace complete darkness to preserve the light of others?"
Darkness was something she was completely familiar with. It wasn't the absence of light; it was the absence of everything. Having no memory was a part of it. Losing something was losing it to the dark and letting its humble silence and bliss absorb you into submission. That feeling was the same exact one she felt when she died at Khalia's hands after leaving Alice behind. That dark place was so quite and peaceful. She would wholeheartedly admit that that darkness was bliss and that she wanted nothing more than to lose herself completely into that peacefulness.
Yet it was empty.
It was an empty place to lose yourself in. It would mean completely turning empty herself. Forgetting all and being one with the dark. Being not a being of the light and struggle with it but be a being of the dark and live at peace with it. For any, peace was better than to struggle but peace only meant giving up. She wasn't about to do that.
"Even if it cost you your friends? Your family? Your love?"
He had spoken again. Had he?
She didn't want the price to be them though. Not Allen and the guys. Not Alice, Janus and her father.
Not...Yu.
"I would." The answer came just like that. There was no thinking further; no more doubting. If it risked them then she would go to that darkness.
A sudden crackle of energy made her pivot on her heels and face the older man. A wide grin stretched on his face and now his other arm was also black skinned. With a sing song voice he called, "She's lying~" Her eyes widened in shock just as he stepped forth to strike.
"Move!" another voice called pushing her out of the way and letting him strike onto the concrete floor. Being pushed to the floor, Celia looked up to the one who interfered.
"Janus?" she whispered confused.
"Get out of here!" he called pulling her up from her forearm. His words came and went like nothing through her ears. Celia's mind had stopped working the moment that Tyki had spoken those two words.
She's lying.
She wasn't. She couldn't have possibly been lying. She knew her own mind, God damn it! And yet his words left him stupefied beyond belief. Some thing deep within her told her that he wasn't the one lying. If not him nor her, then who?
"Move, Valentine!" Albus' yells in the back of her head brought her back with a jolt to the ground. Blinking twice she finally saw Janus fighting in his sabertooth form against the Noah, barely breaking even. He'd told her to run but how could she?
Standing up she took a leap towards the other Noah; towards the one that had spoken in her mind. Swiftly taking Xiao, she stroke out towards him but he avoided it letting the blade whistle against the empty space. Taking a stance, she saw as he landed just out of the alleyway.
"Augh!" Celia pivoted to see as Janus was thrown against the brick wall back to his human form, completely battered. Falling only to hit the cobblestone street, he could barely move anymore. Tyki stood there with both his hands transformed and ready to strike the ending blow.
Just as she was about to strike for him, the chiming of that familiar bell stopped her in her tracks. But instead of it giving her a threatening feeling, it was a much smoothing sound. That's when at its' second time around it came accompanied by a soothing voice.
You and him are connected. Only you can stop him by stopping yourself.
That voice... Safe my, son.
"Ah," Tyki's faint groan came just as he grabbed his lower abdomen. Out of nowhere, he had felt the sharpest pain ever that overlapped the scars made by Allen Walker. He could feel the same ghastly pain that he had back then but only this time the wound bled. "What in the..." Looking up he saw that across from him almost at the end of the alleyway, there stood the small brunette girl bend double as if pain had gotten onto her as well.
It had happened instantaneously and, in the split second she had between Tyki striking and hearing the voice, she had turned Xiao's blade towards her and took the hit. Yeah, it hurt like a motherfu... but she would regenerate just like she had before. She was Innocence now and only one thing could destroy Innocence: Noah power.
The important thing was that she had stopped him from hurting Janus any further. She'd done it. Now, however, she was too debilitated from the force of the attack to take Janus and her away from the scene to somewhere safer.
"You have me, remember?"
"Huh?" And out of the blue, Celia could feel her body moving. Even through the intense pain of the stab, she was moving so swiftly that she leaped towards Janus' limb body and took him away like nothing. The pain was nothing compared to the euphoria that she felt from being able to move so well. "Ambrose?"
"I'll explain later. For now getting away is our priority." Nodding, she let him control her body for as long as it took them to get to a reprieve from the attack.
"Well, what did just happen?" Wisely said comically as he walked nonchalantly towards Tyki as he still held his stomach. They both watched as the two escaped their grasp.
"This pain..." Tyki said removing his hand and finding the wound gone. He could have sworn that the feeling that he had gotten had been the same as when the Sword of Exorcism has pierced through his body. It was the same yet this made him bleed. How?
"It's because of her blood," Wisely said changing into his Noah clothes since there was absolutely no crowd to see them. Seeing this, Tyki did the same still mesmerized of the phenomenon. "And yours as well. Tell me, did you ever come physically in contact with her blood, in any way?"
Letting out a tired sigh, Tyki finally dropped his hand seeing as his wound had healed itself. Thinking back, he couldn't quite remember. Many things came to his mind about the Exorcists he had killed. He vaguely recalled her, though. "I suppose I have."
"You suppose?" Wisely inquired with a clear question mark drawn on his face.
"I think it was almost a year ago. Close to Barcelona, I had come across this small town. I killed a male Exorcist," he massaged his temple trying vigorously to remember. "And I think I came across a girl one too. I stroke her straight through the heart." He snapped his fingers, "It was her." He turned to Wisely, "I punctured her heart and she died. I saw her die, I saw the light go away in her eyes. She was dead for sure. Why is she here now?"
"Mmh," Wisely said quite intrigued. "Why indeed." Out of the dark of the dead end, one of the Earl's Gates opened as from it came Sheryl accompanied by Fiidora. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" Wisely asked as Tyki and him approached them.
"The Earl has called us," Fiidora said.
"For what?" Tyki asked.
"To discuss his wishes," Sheryl added. "Apparently, he was so pleased with the first that he wishes to accomplish a more perfect toy out of an Exorcist."
"Aren't the Thirds enough?" Tyki inquired again, pissed off enough to be dealing with this.
"He wants a real Exorcist as a weapon," Sheryl said turning to Wisely making him understand just what exactly he meant. At this, Wisely grinned and entered the Ark along the others.
He had spoken to the Earl about this beforehand. Ever since Celia Valentine's return from whatever Limbo she had landed on, three different parties have gone through loops to get to her. The Order had her in their claws but fortunately enough, the brat was smart enough to escape. Evangelique Evernly was desperately after her, was what he concluded. After all why else would she have used that Alyth, the hidden Ace she had? And last there was them, who, on the Earl's whim, were after the human-turned-Innocence being for pure amusement. Or that was what the Earl seemed to let on at least. Even now he doubted the Earl's motives. However all the three parties had a goal in common respective to Celia Valentine.
One way or another, all three wanted her with one objective in mind: to turn the girl into the massive weapon of destruction that she truly was.
I AM SO SORRRRYYYYYY T-T
I know that I havent updated at all since probably the beginning of the year but I've been so busy with school. Specially since I'm graduating in like 2 months already.
Well I wanted to five you guys this before I got any more busy. Hope you liked it and please review! And don't worry if I don't upload so much, I will never forget the stories and you guys most of all. I will finish this and all that I still have pending! :D
