The mob had managed to bind Lavi's hands behind him, despite the force and struggle he put up. He dug the heels of his boots into the ground as far as they could go, but it seemed like no use. He simply couldn't stop them. Much of the village had suddenly turned against him, believing him the source of the odd happenings around town, first the appearance of the akuma, then Father James's death, then the incident with Vanessa on the hillside. While he was partially responsible for the second, the first and third weren't exactly his doing. He was just an observer.
"Lemme go!" he shouted at them, fighting against their strength. While Lavi was considerably stronger than he appeared from lifting books and traveling, he didn't have the strength to fight several grown men who made a living off bending metal and cutting wood.
They dragged the redhead into the town square before they finally let him go, throwing him rather hard to the ground. Jeremy the blacksmith placed a firm foot on Lavi's back to ensure he didn't move, effectively pinning him to the ground. The younger children who had been playing in the street all scattered horribly frightened. Some of the older children stayed, staring at the scene as if they were trying to figure out if it were real or not.
"What are you doing, Jeremy?!" Sandy, Ronald's wife, fussed at him. She'd come out of her house after hearing the scream but didn't follow the mob. She had her children to watch after, returning to her house to let Ronald take care of the situation. When the commotion returned, she nearly leapt from the house, brandishing a ladle at the blacksmith. "Let him go! Stop it!"
The blacksmith frowned, pushing her shoulders to knock her off balance then disarm her, forcibly pulling the ladle from her hand and tossing it behind him. "The bat can no longer poison the children."
She'd heard of the rumors surfacing around town, even attended the sermons given by Father James. She knew they were all false, that the father was just spreading lies. She couldn't understand why a devout man would do such a thing, and she'd felt herself quickly losing her faith.
But she didn't actually believe anyone would carry out Father James's vicious sermons, hoping to forcibly exorcise the demon or even kill the vampire bat. It was ridiculous, and even the uneducated woman could understand this.
"You don't even have children!" Sandy logically shot back. "He's done so much good for all of mine! He's not poisoning them! Open your eyes 'n see the damn truth, you fool!"
The tailor and the wood carver stepped forward, placing a hand on either of her shoulders and held Sandy back, preventing her from interfering. They had to be rid of this menace and not let a demon roam around the town, lest there be more deaths on their hands. They had enough trouble with diseases. They didn't need demons too.
"A week ago, we all thought Mr. Bookman was a godsend!" Sandy continued protesting, fighting best she could against the two strong men holding her back. She wasn't very strong herself, most of her strength stemming from caring for the children and carrying supplies. "Do you truly believe what he'd said was right? Are you seriously that blind?!"
"Father James opened our eyes to the truth," the tailor answered sharply, firmly believing that Sandy was the wrong one.
Lavi had a strange sense of curiosity to know what the priest had actually said. He'd managed to turn the opinion around so quickly, in less than a week. The people here were barely educated. Most couldn't read, write, or do math. Education was a rarity, and the Bookman brought it to the village at such a cheap price. He never spoke about himself, which was undoubtedly suspicious. And then there was the battle with the Crow, something Lavi couldn't fully explain to the villagers. The Father's planting a seed of doubt among the men was probably relatively easy.
"And now we end this!" the blacksmith announced triumphantly with a hint of cockiness in his voice, pulling back a hoe over his shoulder. "Good bye, bat!" He brought the hoe downward, aiming the blade at Lavi's neck.
This was it, wasn't it? Lavi had no way of calling for help and the few friends he had left in this village couldn't do anything to stop them. There were too many turned against him. Fighting against them was pointless too. They had quickly overpowered him. He'd skirted death many times, but now his luck was finally out. How stupid he was for deciding to stay in the village. How stupid they were for believing such lies.
He hated them. He truly did.
I don't want to die yet.
"Stop~ "
...
Ronald stumbled down the hillside. The side of his face was bleeding, yet he was still conscious, still alive. The Bookman had tried to save him but the mob had been too much for the both of them. There was still time to stop them. They couldn't have gotten that far.
Sure enough, he could see them amassed in the street as he stumbled out of the wood's edge and into the village. He sped up as much as he could to stop them, to prevent them from doing something they'd regret for the rest of their lives. They weren't murderers. They were just misled by a deceitful man. They all had trusted Father James, and he misled them all.
He suddenly stopped when he noticed no one had moved, as if everyone had suddenly frozen in time. Time couldn't just stop. It wasn't possible. And yet there everyone was, paused, unmoving. James had nearly killed Lavi, Sandy was in the middle of screaming for him to stop, and the children had all huddled up together in fear.
Ronald peered around the corner and spotted the source of the pause. It all completely made sense now. There she stood, a familiar form he hadn't expected to see ever again. "The Goddess of Life..."
...
The so-called Goddess of Life approached Lavi with a bit of a skip. "Lavi-pon~ " She'd taken her suited form, choosing a large floppy hat with several feathers and beads just for the rescue.
Lavi opened his eye, hesitantly as if looking would make the Earl go away. He was letting his mind run rampant with fear, but what else could he think at the moment? He was a Bookman, a supposedly logical breed of human that surpassed all other of his kind. But in truth, he was just as vulnerable as the rest of them. The people of the village had suddenly turned against him and attacked him like he was a wild and vicious animal out to kill the children.
He looked up towards the sky, his eye quickly widening with surprise when he saw how close the blacksmith had gotten to him. They were all frozen stiff like a collection of statues eternally stuck in a tragic situation, and Lavi's head was still very much attached.
Tyki and Rhode arrived, both dressed rather formally. Tyki had kept to the formal suit, much like his predecessor, though he preferred to not wear a top hat. He pushed his glasses further up his nose, waiting for Rhode. She reached him with a skip in her step, wearing her white Noah outfit with the ripped black tights. Together, they pulled the shocked Bookman out from under the weight of the blacksmith's foot and away from his attack. They set him on his feet, and Tyki simply phased the rope through Lavi's arms.
"I'm so glad to see all'a you," Lavi sighed with relief. "I thought that'd truly be the end." He patted his neck with one hand as if he weren't entirely certain his head were still attached. After he was satisfied with the effort, he wiped the blood off his forehead with his sleeve.
"You've died once," the Earl replied, wagging her long slender finger at him matter-of-factly. "We won't make that mistake again~ "
...
Ronald couldn't believe his ears as he listened to the unusual scene. He'd tucked himself behind the building but still within range to hear the entire conversation. He'd kept himself out of sight and attempted to keep quiet as he gaped at what the Earl had said. The Bookman had died. And he personally knew the Goddess of Life and these strange, definitely not-human people. What was he? Thoughts and ideas crossed the cobbler's mind, many of which were fantastic and probably belonged in legends and not reality. But possibly, just possibly, could he have been an angel instead of a demon?
...
Lavi smiled, relieved and pleased that they still accepted him as their own. It still hadn't quite sunken in that he remained in their Noah memories. He was just a human among them, someone writing their history as it happened. He was vulnerable and breakable. He'd already died once, that blade through his chest where his heart should have been. He thought everything would change at that moment, changing for the worse as he'd lost his family. He felt detached, attempting to hide his emotions for five long years. Yet here, as they stood in the middle of the town with an angry mob frozen in action, everything felt different. It wasn't as the redhead as expected. It was like before the final battle between the Noah and the Exorcists. He was back where he belonged.
"I shoulda listened," Lavi stated flatly, shaking his head. "Ya were right. These people won't accept me."
"That's how humans are," Tyki frowned, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Fickle and violent creatures who can't accept things they don't understand. You're better off with us, Brother."
"You're right," Lavi agreed, glancing back at the near tragic scene he'd been pulled from. They were easily swayed by a religious fool, swayed so much they'd resort to murder.
"And I won't let anything else happen to you~" Rhode added, wrapping her arms around him possessively. She didn't like it when people tried to break her family.
Tyki broke away from the group, approaching the blacksmith. A single Tease fluttered from within the Noah's hand into the blacksmith's heart. "That should take care of things," Tyki said, turning back to his family, a rather hollow Noah-like smirk spanning his soft features. He needed to replenish his supply, return his army of butterfly golems back to his possession.
"Let's go home~ " the Earl offered, summoning an Ark door behind them.
The other three nodded, following her as she skipped happily towards the door. Rhode followed suit, skipping happily while the two men preferred to simply walk in.
"I gotta ask," Lavi added before they left the scene. "Who did that?" he thumbed at the frozen crowd behind him.
Tyki and Rhode both replied by pointing at the Earl.
That made sense, though the redhead hadn't seen much of the Earl's power in action in his previous record. "Gotcha," Lavi nodded as they all disappeared through the door, which simply folded itself up into a neat square before disappearing as well.
The scene resumed as soon as they'd left. The blacksmith drove the hoe into the ground, nearly knocking himself over with the sudden momentum. The mob looked on, completely dumbfounded. The redheaded victim was nowhere in sight. He'd disappeared in an instant.
"What in the world?" the blacksmith stammered. "He disappeared! I knew he wasn't human!"
"He's not," Ronald stepped out from beside the building. Unlike the rest of the onlookers, Ronald had seen and heard everything. "He was rescued by the Goddess of Life. He wasn't a demon. I think he was some kinda angel. He's back with his own kind."
And Lavi truly was, though not in the manner Ronald thought. Lavi had returned to his family, a family of Noah that was just reawakening. The war between the Noah and the Exorcists would surely rear up again. Both sides had experienced heavy losses, and both would no doubt return to their original power. Yet this time, Lavi was certain the Noah would finally end this, and he would be there to watch every moment of it.
…
Author's musings
So I can't really kill the main character twice, yanno. Well I could but I won't be that much of a douche. I really wanted the village to be completely twisted in the wrong direction by that Father, and boy are they so jaded by his preachings, they're driven to murder someone they believe a demon. The power of charismatic suggestions. The church is starting to turn into this huge cult here. (Funny story, I've lived near a major cult before.)
But anyway, I did need a reason to drive Lavi out of the village and back into the arms of his Noah siblings for good. I think this does a pretty good job of that.
Originally, this was the endingof the "epilogue". Yeah, pretty bad way to finally end the series. Open ended with new characters and a darker Lavi. I've gotten quite a few comments, asking me why I ended the original the way I did, and this is why. There was originally supposed to be an epilogue, but I got carried away and turned it into its own story.
