The Shadowed Coin

Chapter Eight: Invitation

POV: Krio

"Goddammit!" I yelled I paced back and forth in the infirmary. "How!? How!?" Allen waved his hands, "It's okay, Krio. It's probably nothing. I'm sure he-" "Yeah well I'm sure that they're gonna want to kill him! Even more than they already do!" There was a knock on the door, "It's Tervik." I sighed and tried to calm myself down. "Come in." The door opened and in walked Tervik and Talimal.

"Did you find anything?" Allen asked Tervik calmly. Tervik shook his head, "No, not a trace. It's as if he just disappeared." I huffed, "Now that sounds familiar." Allen turned to me, "Krio, there's no reason for Ashamar to leave again, is there? He probably just went out for a while and will be back soon." He was just trying to be optimistic; I could tell.

It was silent for a minute. "So," Tervik spoke up. "Did you guys find anything in here?" Allen and I both shook our heads, "Nothing." I thought for a second, "Well, nothing except for the window being open already but that was probably just the nurse." Allen nodded in agreement. Tervik sighed, "I guess we'll just have to wait for the others to see what they found."

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About half an hour had passed since everyone else showed up, and not a one of them had any idea as to where Ashamar went. We all just sat around in the cafeteria but none of us were eating. Well, except for Allen and Talimal, but they don't count. "I just hope he's okay." Rosalia said in a worried tone. Kanda made his classic, "Che", as if he didn't care, but I think he did to some extent. The rest of us were worried sick, some more than others.

"So what if he doesn't show up?" Lavi asked, with his casual inquisitive stare. Tervik shrugged, "There will be a search probably." He didn't sound too sure himself, though. "And then?" Lavi continued to question. "If they find him, they'll detain or possibly kill him. Or at least they'll attempt to." Lavi squinted his eye with a little more curiosity. "And if they don't find him?" Tervik didn't answer that time.

Lavi didn't bother to ask again, probably realizing that none of us had the answer. "It's not fair." I said finally, and a few of them looked at me. "Ashamar did so much for the Order, he's been here longer than any of us, but now he's not only suspected of murder and collaboration with the Noahs, but the Order wants him dead. It's not fair!" I slammed my fist into the table. I wanted to hit something, I wanted to make the higher ups change their minds, I wanted Ashamar to come back. But that wasn't going to happen, it seemed.

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Krio..." Rosalia started. "Hey!" Someone screamed from the hallway. We turned and saw Reever. "Krio, Lavi, Lenalee! Komui has a mission for you three." I stared down at the table. "A mission?" I said in a slightly irritated tone. "Yeah, something about a party. But you better hurry up. He doesn't have time to wait today." Then he walked off. I grunted irritably, still staring at the table. "Come on." Lavi said standing up. "We should do as he says."

When the three of us got to his office, we were appalled at the amount of papers scattered around the room. I mean, it was at least twice as messy as it usually was. "Good, you're here." Komui said from behind the tallest stack of papers ever. "I have a mission for you." I sighed. "Do you mind moving to where we can actually see you?" I heard a shocked gasp as his head poked out from the side of the stack. "Is this good?" He asked. I sighed, "It'll do." Lenalee shook her head with disappointment.

"Okay, soooo..." Komui trailed off. We waited a few seconds, but he didn't respond. "Komui?" I asked. Lavi sighed and walked up to him, snapping his fingers in front of Komui's face. Komui jolted back to reality. "Huh-what?" We all sighed. "The mission, brother." Lenalee reminded him. "Oh right, yeah." He reached down under his desk and pulled out a few specific papers. "This is all the information." He handed me the papers.

I glanced at the papers for a few seconds, then I looked up. "We're going to a ball?" Komui nodded. "We have heard strange reports around that area, specifically around the times they have there fancy gatherings." He pushed up his glasses. "They have parties of different sorts on a regular basis, and only recently did strange things happen during them."

Lavi leaned over to look at the papers. "You suspect it's innocence?" Komui nodded. Lenalee glanced at her brother. "What kinds of things have been reported?" Komui shrugged, "Usual stuff. Bizarre lights, earthquakes, etc." I nodded. "We'll get going right away." Komui sighed happily. "Thank you, that's one less thing for me to deal with." Then we set out.

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POV: Ashamar

Several hours ago

"Hurry up!" We'd just landed in front of the mansion, and I hoped we just weren't late. It was the middle of the night, Road hated it when people were late. I bolted for the front door and stopped just short of knocking to straighten my clothes. "Not the time!" "I have to dress properly when here at the Mansion. The Earl would wouldn't like me being messy." I was wearing a nice black suit and flat bottom shoes that we stole from some store on the way here, since I didn't actually own any proper clothes aside from the Exorcists coat.

"Done?" I nodded, and then knocked on the large wooden door. After a few minutes I got a response. "Hello?" I heard through the door. I didn't recognize the voice. "It must be an akuma." I nodded in agreement. "Hello?" The voice asked again, a little more confused this time. "It's Ashamar." I answered. There was silence for a few seconds. "Who?" Goddammit. I thought to myself. "Yeah, they must be new if the Earl hasn't told them about you.

I sighed in irritation. "Road's expecting me. Can you bring her to the door?" I asked hopefully. There was silence again, this time for a little longer. When I listened more carefully, it sounded like the akuma was talking with someone on the other side of the door. "What business do you have with Miss Road?" Another voice said through the door. Before I could respond, there was a loud scream from further in. I couldn't understand it, but I could here the akuma whimpering.

"C-come on in Mr. Ashamar." Tarrin huffed, "Finally." I heard the sound of several locks being undone, and then the large door slowly opened. Inside were two akuma, one was a knight in a full suit of armor, while the other was a big blue crab. "Sorry for doubting you, Sir." The knight said with a bow. The crab tried to do the same but only managed to fall over. "Thank you." I said in a plain tone. Although Tarrin was laughing at the crab's failed bow.

I walked inside and the large door closed behind me. There was a long, dark hallway with a dark red carpet across the floor. I'd been here before so I knew where everything was. The were two doors on each side of the hallway, each one leading to a stairwell. Downstairs is where the akuma servants would live. Upstairs would be some of the Noah's rooms. Road, Tyki, Skinn, Fildora, and Maashiima were up the left staircase. Maitora, Sheryl, Toraido, Jasdero, Devitto, and Wisely were up the right staircase. They each had individual rooms, each one looking significantly different than the others.

The only people that didn't live upstairs were Lulu and the Earl. All the through the hall was the dining room, and past that is another, shorter hallway, which at the end was the Earl's room. I had never been there, or even that hallway. Lulu tends to sleep wherever she wants. I'd been down to the akuma quarters, but there's not much to see down there.

We walked down the hall towards the dining room, where nobody was at the moment. They're probably sleeping. I thought. "J-just wait here, we'll go get Miss Road." The crab said, and the two of them went off back down the hallway. "Guess all we can do now is wait" Tarrin stated, and I nodded.

About twenty minutes later, I heard footsteps from the stairwell. I turned to look down the hallway, and I saw a little purple haired girl come out from one of the doors. She turned towards the dining room and a huge grin appeared on her face. "Ashamar!" She screamed with joy as she ran towards me.

I smiled and held a finger up to my mouth, and she got the message. That didn't stop her from tackling me with a hug, though. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck, staggering me backwards. "I almost thought you wouldn't show up." She said happily. I chuckled, "I'm not late, am I?" She moved her head back to look at me, a small grin on her face. "You're ten minutes late." "Oh no." Oh no. Tarrin and I said at the same time.

"You know what that means, don't you Ashamar?" I nodded, smiling nervously. She jumped off of me and grabbed my hand. "Okay then, let's go." She pulled me along down the hall and one of her doors appeared in front of us. I could hear Tarrin whimpering inside my head, knowing what was going to happen. The door opened, and Road stopped and turned her head towards me. "This is your punishment for being late, Ashamar." Then we stepped into the door.

Inside was a very dark purple space, several present boxes floating around. Road's dream world. It may not look scary, but I had all the reasons to fear it. We were standing on the edge of the door, while Road was staring at all the present boxes. "Hmm..." She thought out loud. "How about...that one." She pointed to an orange present box and we immediately started floating towards it.

"Umm, Road?" I asked nervously. "Yes?" She responded. "What exactly is the punishment?" I asked her. She smiled, "We'll find out when we get inside the box." "I don't like that response." Neither do I Tarrin, neither do I.

When we got to the edge of the box, we phased through the wall, and the inside was something to fear. It was a castle dungeon, with stone walls, torches along the walls, shackles chained to the walls, and large cells filled with skeletons. "Okay then, this should be a quick one." Road said, somewhere between happy and disappointed.

"Ashamar." She said, and I looked over to her. "Go hang your arms from those shackles." She pointed to the shackles on the wall, and I nodded. I didn't want to, but it wasn't right to anger Road, so I obeyed. I went over to the wall and put my hands into the shackles, and they closed on their own. The shackles moved further up the wall until I was several feet off the ground.

"Okay." Road appeared across the room from me, ten candles floating around her. "One candle for every minute you were late." She said, and the candles started to spin around her. "Ready?" She asked, I nodded slowly. "Oh, and no breaking the shackles or stopping the candles, because I know you can. Let's start." As soon as she finished, the first candle came forward.

The candle struck me right in the center of the chest. I winced, but I could hold. "Our body regenerates, so it's okay." The candle hurts Tarrin as well as me, making it that much worse. The second candle flew towards us and it hit me right in the shoulder. The next one hit me in the leg, and the next one in the wrist. I was still holding it together. "Four candles down, Ashamar. Can you keep holding in the pain with six more?" I grinned at her, "Of course." Road smiled at my response.

The next two candles came at the same time and hit me in both of my eyes, but I still didn't scream. Those two fell out and my eyes turned black. "Ashy!" Road yelled. "Never heard her call you that before." Tarrin joked. "That's cheating! You can't use any of your dark matter powers!" My eyes turned back to normal and I frowned. "Really? That's no fun." Road rolled her eyes at me, "It's supposed to be fun for me, not you."

I sighed and nodded, waiting for the next four candles. "These two are going to be twice as strong because of that." I gulped. They both came and hit me in the eyes again, taking the place of the last two. "Rgh" I grunted as they hit, barely holding on. Two more. I thought to myself. The next one came and hit the right side of my chest. "Rghh" I grunted again. "One more, Ashy~" Road said in a melodic tone. The last one is always the worst, or best in Road's mind. She's a strong believer in the saying "Leave the best for last."

"Here it comes." I could hear the sound of the tenth candle beating against the air as it came towards me. It hit me straight in the heart. Everything seemed to stop for a few seconds as the pain sank in. "gh-AHHH!"I screamed, the pain burning into me. "Make it stop!" Tarrin screamed. Road laughed at the scream I gave. The sadistic happiness in her voice was exactly what gave the Noahs their reputation.

When Road finished laughing, the candles disappeared and the shackles opened, and I fell to the ground on my knees. My body started to regenerate, but I could still feel the pain inside me. "That was great, Ashamar." Road said, walking towards me. "Try not to be late next time." She snapped her fingers and I was back in the mansion, in the dining room.

But not on the floor. She opened a door on the ceiling of the dining room, and I collapsed onto the floor. "Ow." I said quietly. After laying for a few seconds, I felt something lick my cheek. When I opened my eyes to look at it, I saw a black cat with a golden bell hanging from it's neck. "Oh, hey there Lulu." I reached my hand out and petted her head. She purred happily and rubbed up against me.

I picked up Lulu and stood up, and then I saw the family sitting at the table. They were all looking at me, and I laughed nervously. "Hey." I waved at them. "We've been waiting for you, Ashamar." The Earl said from the end of the table. "Road said you would visit today." I nodded, "Yeah, too bad I was late." All the Noahs looked at the holes in my suit and winced, realizing what happened.

"Sit down." The Earl said, motioning me towards the seat on the opposite end of the table. I put down Lulu and sat down. Everyone, except for Road, was here, and they were all watching me. "Ashamar." Tyki said, and I looked to him. "Have you ever been to a ball?" He asked me, and I cocked my head at him. "Why do you ask?" Wisely cleared his throat "Because we're going to one."

I stared at him, only just realizing what they meant. "Oh, and you want to bring me along." Wisely nodded. I sighed, "Why are you going to a ball?" They were silent for a second. "I can answer that." the Earl said suddenly. "We found out that there is some innocence there, and the Exorcists are going there." My eyes widened, "Which ones?" I said quickly. "The girl with the boots, the bookman with the hammer, and the one with the scythe. I looked down at the table, "Krio."

"One of your friends?" Sheryl asked. I nodded. There was silence for a minute, then the Earl spoke. "Nobody will hurt him then." I looked up at him, "Really?" The Earl nodded, "Because you'll be the one fighting. We want to see how strong you've become in these past years." I stared at the table silently. "Well, will you do it?" The Earl asked. I chuckled, "Will I do it?" My eyes turned black, darkness started to swirl around me. I looked up at him with a big smile on my face, "I think you know my answer."

Rage here. Sorry about the wait on this one, guys. I've been busy with school and stuff. I haven't had much time to write, but that won't stop me. You might not get them very often, but you'll get your chapters, I can guarantee that. I have fun planned for the next chapter, so be patient, and you can join in.