Disclaimer: D. Gray Man is Hoshino Katsura's property.
A/N: nothing much happening in this chapter, really. But I don't want to rush things since I can hardly imagine writing something like 'they all went to rescue the 14th, succeeded, then he turned back into Allen, Kanda tells him he loves him and they live happily ever after.' Anyway, the next chapter should be posted tomorrow or in 2 days, so be patient :]
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Chapter 9
"Lenaleeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Komui literally jumped on his sister as she stepped out of the Ark.
"Bro-Brother, let me go! I can't breathe!"
"But I missed so much! And I was so afraid you would get hurt!" Komui said tragically.
"I'm fine, as you can see…"
"By the way, why isn't Cross with you?"
"Ah… that is…"
"We don't know where he is." Kanda cut.
They had to be careful on what they were saying, since not only Komui, but also Leverrier and Link were present, obviously waiting impatiently for the Exorcists' report. Bookman was also there, silent.
"Is that so? Well, it doesn't surprise me." Komui replied happily. "Anyway, I suggest you get some rest, then…"
"Then you report to me in an hour. All of you." Leverrier cut sharply. "And you'd better not be late."
That said, he left, followed by Link. Komui sighed.
"I suppose he's pretty pissed off that we didn't warn him about you going to the Earl's location…" he said, looking at Lenalee and Kanda. "But we were in a hurry at that time and I couldn't afford to let him know, he'd probably have refused to let you go."
"It's ok, brother. Anyway, there's something that we all need to discuss about, later." Lenalee lowered her voice, as if she feared that Leverrier could still hear her.
"Panda, we may need you help too." Lavi told his mentor, who punched him in his head.
"Don't call me Panda, stupid one." He simply said.
"Leverrier must not know about it." Kanda added. "When can we meet?"
The supervisor thought for a second, then:
"Hmmm, how about 7 a.m. in my lab, tomorrow? I'll pretend you all have to undergo some examinations under my care. Checking you Innocences, stuff like that." he said, with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Ok, brother. But there's no way you are going to actually check our Innocences. They work perfectly fine." Lenalee replied quickly.
"But-but…" Komui started to whine.
"She said our Innocences work perfectly fine." Kanda interrupted him, his sword suddendly on Komui's neck.
"Ah ha… I can see that, Kanda… You don't need to show me that close." The supervisor sweatdropped.
With that, Kanda left the room without adding a single word.
"Sorry, brother, since our failure to bring Allen-kun back, he's in that kind of mood. You'd better not irritate him too much." Lenalee said apologetically.
"It's not really a change…" Lavi muttered.
--
Three hours later
Lavi, Lenalee, Kanda and Miranda were at the cafeteria. Lavi sighed:
"Damn, I'm glad the report meeting is finally over. I thought I was about to hit that guy with my hammer."
"But it's fine. We managed to keep the matter of the device secret." Lenalee replied.
"Yeah. Still, you saw the look on Leverrier's face when we said that Allen has turned into a Noah? I think he was about to kill us for not having preventing it from happening… that bastard…"
They all remained silent after that. The only thing left to them was to put their hopes in that small device given by Cross.
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Cross was locked in a rather large room, well furnished, with all the comfort he needed. A golden prison, indeed. Well, he didn't really mind that the Noahs were treating him with consideration, he could enjoy fine food and wine, the only thing which was lacking was a nice woman to spend his time with him.
He heard the room's door being unlocked, then a person came in.
"Cross Marian, the Earl would like to see you right now. If you will please follow me." Tyki asked kindly.
"Geez, what does that fatty want?" Cross asked, but got up from his seat anyway. When he passed next to Tyki, the latter stopped him, and handcuffed him.
"Just in case." He said with a smile.
The Noah of Pleasure took him to a huge room which looked like some sort of research laboratory. The Earl had his back turned to Cross, working on something. The 14th – in Allen's body – was sitting next to him, also handcuffed, looking bored to death, and Lulubell was keeping an eye on him.
"Earl, Cross Marian is here." Tyki said.
"Oh, very well, thank you, Tyki-pon. You may leave now."
As the Noah did so, Cross entered:
"Hey, fatty. What do you want with me?" he asked arrogantly.
"I'm not fat. And I have a question for you, since our dear 14th here doesn't seem to be very cooperative." The Earl answered sweetly.
"But I told you I didn't know at all!" The 14th complained.
"Whatever." The Earl turned to Cross, delicately holding Timcampy in his gloved-hand. "Now, here is the question: where is the lacking data?"
Cross raised an eyebrow.
"Lacking data? What do you mean?"
"That you have obviously removed some pieces of data from your golem, and I wish to know where they are, and what they contain."
"Dunno. You took my golem and dissected it by yourself, so maybe you've erased them by mistake." Cross sneered.
"Don't be so unrespectful!" Lulubell snapped.
"It's fine, Lulubell." The Earl said in his usual cheerful tone. "Anyway, Cross, would you happen to think that I'm stupid? I've already analyzed everything your golem held in its memory, and I highly doubt that the data is complete."
"Beats me. Ask the 14th, he was the one to give me Tim, and I merely took it. Never really bothered about what could be lacking." Cross answered.
"Hey, hey, Cross, don't put all the blame on me." The 14th cut, bored. "I put the data in Timcampy fine, but you could have broken it somewhere and erased the data, by mistake." He added, imitating Cross.
"Duh, I wouldn't be so careless. Maybe you fucked up when you put the data because you were being chased by the fatty one."
"You…" the 14th started, a hint of annoyance in his voice, but the Earl cut him:
"Now, now, stop bickering like kids, you're giving me a headache. I'll be nice for today, and let you go back to your rooms with no punishment. But be careful, next time, I might get angry if I don't have the answers I want." he said, like he was talking to unruly brats.
"Oh, no, Daddy's gonna punish me. I wonder how?" Cross asked mockingly.
The terrifying look which suddenly appeared on the Earl's face could have frozen all the flames of Hell, but Cross was worse than Hell, so he didn't even care.
"You may not want to know yet, Cross. But to give you a hint, my dear Road is rather skilled when it comes to punishments. Now, Lulubell, please take them back to their rooms."
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Komui was examining the device Lenalee had just given him in his working room.
"Well, I suppose the only thing we can do is to put this into a golem and see what happens." he told the five present people, namely Lenalee, Kanda, Lavi, Miranda and Bookman.
He then opened a drawer of his desk, took an empty golem out, and carefully inserted the device in it. The golem immediately flapped its wings and remained floating in the air, then a projection suddenly came out of it. All had their eyes on it. It was a recording of Cross.
"Ok, since you were clever enough to know what to do with this device, I'll be short: the data I've put in this will allow to locate Timcampy, wherever he is, and to have access to the location without being noticed. Use the Ark. I can't really explain what will happen next since I've never used this function before, it'll be up to your brains, if you have some. Oh, and better take the old Bookman, just in case."
The recording ended there. There was a second of silence, then Lavi said:
"Wait, wait. He's telling us that we have to use this thing to go to him, but he didn't even said how to activate that function!"
"I have to admit that wasn't really clear. He didn't say why I have to go too." Bookman agreed. "Did Cross tell any of you something else back there?"
Lavi shook his head: "No he… Yeah, he did!" he turned to Lenalee: "You told us he said something like 'piano room', right?"
"Oh, true! I completely forgot about that…" Lenalee nodded. "Does it mean we have to go to the piano room in the Ark?"
"Yeah, I suppose so. He said in the recording 'use the Ark" so that must be it. Well, shall we go now?" Lavi asked happily.
"Now? Without any kind of preparation?" Komui asked.
"What preparation do we need, really? It's not like we could be better prepared by waiting any longer."
"But…"
"I agree with the rabbit." Kanda cut suddenly. "The quicker we act, the less time Leverrier will have to react."
"Yuu! Thank you so much for supporting me! I'm very touched, you know…" Lavi cried out in joy as he hugged the Japanese man.
"Get off of me, you sick rabbit!" Kanda replied as he hit Lavi in the face.
"Fine, fine. Still, are you that much in a hurry to get your beansprout back? That's so cute!" the red-haired asked teasingly.
The death glare he received was enough to shup Lavi's mouth.
Komui sighed, but he couldn't hide the small smile on his lips.
"I suppose you're right. Then let's go to the Ark now. I'll call Reever there too."
So all six of them headed for the Ark's room, where Reever was already waiting for them.
"So, what's the problem, boss?" the Australian man asked.
"Hi, Reever. Well, we need to send them into the Ark now." Komui replied.
"Oh? Where to? I didn't hear of any mission lately."
"To be honest, I don't have any idea as to where, it will be up to them once they go in." Komui said, pointing at the Exorcists behind him.
"Huh?" Now Reever was obviously intrigued.
"I'll explain to you later. For now, let's open the Ark quickly. It would be bad if Leverrier were to come in right now and ask unwanted questions!" Komui said cheerfully.
"You mean… he doesn't know about this?"
"Nope."
Reever scratched his head, then smiled:
"I get it. Let's do it then."
Both of them activated the Ark's entrance, as the Exorcists and Bookman were getting ready to get in.
"Kanda, we stay in contact via your golem." Komui said.
"Fine." The Japanese man replied.
They entered the Ark, and the entrance closed behind them. They found themselves in the middle of a circular room with several doors, the usual room they were in each time they used the Ark.
"How do we get to the piano room?" Miranda asked.
"You see the black door?" Komui's voice asked. "Count four doors on its right. There's a corridor behind it, take the corridor, and it's the 14th door on your left."
"Ok."
They reached the door, and Lavi opened it. The room was like the first time he had set foot in it: white, empty but for a single black piano in the middle.
"Damn" Lavi muttered, "it reminds me of that time when I first came here. Allen was the one who had saved us all from the Ark's download. I kinda feel nostalgic, don't you guys?"
"True… I was so glad you and Kanda and Krory-san were alive back then." Lenalee replied softly.
"Oi, we don't have time for that kind of useless talk." Kanda said sharply.
"Yuu, you're meaaaan! Don't you feel even a bit grateful towards Allen for saving your life?"
"Che, I don't care about that moyashi. Never asked him to save me."
"Is that so? So why are you joining us now? You could stay at the Order." Lavi asked maliciously.
"Shut up. I don't want to rot there."
"Hehe, whatever Yuu-chan…"
"Don't fucking call me by that name!"
They were interrupted by Bookman who coughed slightly to bring back attention.
"Miss Lenalee, can you let the golem out?"
"Oh, sure." She said while taking out the golem with Cross's device.
As soon as she released the golem from her hand, it flew right at the piano and landed on it. Then it opened its 'mouth' and a projection came out of it; it was the Earth globe, and there was a small glowing spot on it. Miranda pointed at the spot:
"Look there! Maybe it's where Allen-kun is right now?"
"Yeah, or at least, where Timcampy is. But the probability that Allen is there too is high." Lavi said. "It's in Japan. But how do we get there now?"
"Look!" Lenalee said. "Weird symbols are spinning around the globe!"
Indeed, some strange luminous symbols had also appeared and were turning around the globe. All the Exorcists were gazing at that odd projection, not knowing what to do.
"I see… that is why Cross Marian said I'd better come with you…" Bookman said quietly.
All of them turned to him.
"What do you mean, Panda? You know what these things are?"
"Yes, I do, stupid apprentice. It's the sorcerers' writing."
"Sorcerer? Like Cross? How come you never told me anything about that?" Lavi asked, surprised.
"Cross is a sorcerer?" Miranda interrupted.
"Yes, he is. And a powerful one." Bookman replied. "Now back to this."
The old man pronounced a word, and the symbols suddenly changed, more letters appeared, floating in the air. The room went dark, only lit by the projection. In the end, the whole thing looked like a glowing text, which only Bookman seemed to understand.
"It's an incantation." He said. "Fine, I suppose I'll have to read it."
He started chanting. As he did, the piano started playing alone, as if an invisible person was hitting the keys, which made Miranda jump and the other Exorcists stare in amazement. Even Kanda looked somewhat impressed.
The melody kept playing while Bookman was concentrated on reading the text for several minutes. The music had something entrancing, a soft melody which could soothe any tormented mind and make them forget all their worries. Exactly like when Allen had played it.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, the music stopped, bringing back the Exorcists to reality.
"I'm done" Bookman merely said.
"Geez… You have a knack of spoiling the atmosphere, you know, Panda." Lavi complained. "Damn, I thought I was going to fall asleep."
"Stop whining and rather have a look here." The old man said, pointing in front of him.
They all looked at the direction he showed, and saw a passage which had opened; it looked like a corridor but no one could see what was inside, for it was pitch black.
"Now listen to me well." Bookman went on. "It seems that this passageway will lead you to your destination; I have to stay here to keep it open, so you'll have to do without me. I think I can keep it open as long as I want, but don't slack. And take the golem with you."
They all nodded, and Lenalee put back the golem in her pocket.
"Then, shall we go?" Lavi asked as he walked to the dark corridor and entered it. As he put a feet in it, small lamps suddenly appeared on both sides of the corridor, lighting the way. He was soon followed by Kanda, Lenalee and Miranda. Together they started walking silently through that strange passageway.
"I didn't imagine anything like that…" Lenalee spoke to herself. "The 14th has some strange tastes."
As they were walking, white music notes appeared on the path as to show them the way. No one could tell how long they walked, and no one really talked during that time. Miranda looked as anguished as ever, Lenalee was staring at the ground, Lavi looked bored, and Kanda…
Kanda was deep in thoughts. Actually, he was since he had returned from Austria. Why? Because of Allen's words back then: 'you toyed with me' 'you betrayed me'. He didn't want to show it, but it rather bothered him; what was the meaning of those words? Of course, he could put it on the fact that Allen wasn't really himself at that moment, but still, Kanda felt that there was something wrong. He tried to remember what could have made the moyashi pronounce those words, but nothing came to his mind. For sure, they weren't the best friends in the world, but Kanda never did something to betray Allen.
Something else was bothering him: the fact that he couldn't get Allen out of his mind. He wouldn't admit it, but he felt particularly concerned for the silver-haired boy, though he didn't know why, and it troubled him that a mere boy could affect him to that extend. The others were right: he was more touchy than usual, and Allen was the cause of it.
Finally, after what seemed ages to the Exorcists, a white door appeared in front of them.
"Think it's the exit?" Lavi asked.
"One way to know." Kanda answered as he immediately reached for the handle.
'I'm coming, Moyashi, so you'd better be safe or I swear I'll finish you off myself for all the trouble.'
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So, as I said above, I'll try to post the next chapter tomorrow or in 2 days (probably in 2 days, though). Allen's rescue will start then ;) Hope to see you all there, and as always, many thx to those who read/rewiev this story :]
