Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I don't own DGM
________________________________________________________________________________
When Allen opened his eyes, he found himself in a clearing in a forest. To his left there was the beginning of a mountain range, a spring falling from a cliff four feet above his head into a small lake. Right beside the lake was one oak, with branches that looked thick enough to hold his weight. No other trees forty feet around it, just that oak by the waterfall. It seemed like a nice place, and Allen jumped on one of the thicker branches, twelve feet above the ground, laid down and leaned on the trunk. About half a mile behind the tree-line, he could see a town. Suddenly, he felt a weird itch in his left arm. Allen used his right arm to try to scratch his arm, but then the feeling vanished and he just stared at his right hand. It had turned back to its normal flesh-color. He looked into the lake. His hair was still black and his head was still gray. Maybe it slowly spread over time, Tyki had mentioned that he had been asleep when the transformation occurred. Allen shrugged. He had time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesaia found he lacked the patience to follow through with this mission. Even though they had taken a gate, at least as far as the Finders dared to go, they were lost. Even cold and calculating Friedrich, who was using his ax as a machete, was getting annoyed. Jesaia would have burned the whole forest down if they would have let him. The only one that remained calm was Val. She had her usual emotionless expression, and nothing seemed to be able to shake her, not even walking through this stupid forest for four hours. Suddenly, she turned and pointed towards their left.
"I can see some light over there, it might be a clearing." Even her voice was absolutely emotionless.
"Are you sure?" He didn't see anything, but she didn't seem to be the type to tell lies.
"We keep going this way." Friedrich interrupted. He didn't seem to like her questioning his authority.
"But we've been here before." She answered in her lifeless voice, pointing at a few branches Friedrich had cut of more than an hour ago.
"She's right, we've been going in circles!" Jesaia didn't believe it. Friedrich ground his teeth. He pushed Val out of the way, hard enough to make the girl slam into a tree, and stampeded in the direction she had pointed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than an hour had past since Allen climbed the oak. A look at his reflection told Allen that he almost looked like his human form again. The gray skin-tone had slowly withdrawn and vanished in the cover of his currently still-black hair. His eyes were still golden, but Allen guessed that his hair and eyes would change in a few minutes as well. He was still pondering about what to do now that he was a Noah. Returning to the Order was not an option, they'd probably try to kill him on sight. Working with the Noah? It didn't seem like a great option either, he didn't want to fight and kill the people that had saved his life. Though the Earl had said he didn't expect massacres from him, it was unlikely he would just let him sit around in the arc enjoying family life. But with Cyril around, that was dangerous as well. And Allen still had no idea how to get Lulubelle on his side, or at least off his back. His thoughts were interrupted when three people came stumbling out of the forest to his right. They were wearing the uniforms of exorcists.
'Don't tell me they already sent people to kill me. And if they did, how did they find me?' Allen silently cursed.
"Don't be hasty. It's probably a coincident they're here. They don't look like they'll attack you right away, in fact, I don't think they've even spotted you yet. Fortunately, you look neither like a Noah nor like the Allen Walker the Order knew right now. Pretend you don't know them if they see you, and hide your left hand, they're no idiots!" the musician advised.
He was right. They probably wouldn't recognize him and it was just foolish to attack three people with unknown powers, especially since he had no idea about his own. That and he simply didn't want to attack them. If they attacked, he would simply flee and hide until the arc called him back. But there was one thing Allen couldn't help but wonder.
'If they're not after me, what are they doing here?' He looked again. 'Besides arguing.' He then added before his adviser could get smart on him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Great, no sign of civilization, just some stupid grass! We're still not any closer to our destination. Scheiße!" Friedrich cursed and glared at Valkyrie. Jesaia stepped in-between them.
"Well, at least we've found a place to camp, so in in case we can't find the village tonight, we have water. And since our oh-so-wise leader has already chopped enough wood to make a bonfire, maybe the village will find us. That is of course, should he decide to go back and get it." He grinned while Friedrich looked like he was trying his hardest not to chop Jesaia's head off.
"Listen up match-boy," He growled instead "you are under my command and I have all the rights to punish you in any non-lethal way I see fit. So if you try to get smart with me again, I'll make use of that right. Are we clear, chandelier?" Jesaia was not about to just take such insults and prepared his reply, consequences be damned, when he spotted a boy in the tree by the waterfall.
"Hey, there's someone in that tree!" Friedrich snorted.
"If you think I'll fall for that, then you're even more stupid than..."
"There is a boy in that tree." Valkyrie interrupted him in her usual tone. Friedrich turned around and saw the black-haired boy laying on the branch.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen was simply amused by what he was seeing and hearing. He had deducted that the big brute with the ax was the leader, and a pretty big asshole as well. That ax was probably his Innocence, it didn't look normal. He was certain that Komui hadn't been the one that gave the skin-head the authority, in fact, he was willing to bet that Levrier had made that decision. They just looked like they would get along. The blond kid with the sharp tongue was more of a laid-back joker, though right now he seemed pissed. The insults ax-man had thrown at the boy indicated that his Innocence had something to do with fire, good to know. As for the girl, Allen wasn't sure. She seemed like the brains of the group, but something didn't feel right. She seemed more like a doll than like a person. And they seemed to search for a village, not him. Maybe even the village Allen could see from his position. But why go there? Allen could only think of one reason: There was Innocence in that village. This could get interesting, but if Allen wasn't careful, it could also turn ugly. He noticed that they were carrying a Finder backpack, though it seemed bulkier than the ones he knew. What did that mean? Then they spotted him.
'Okay, stay calm and polite, then they shouldn't notice a thing.'he thought to himself and smiled at the group, while making sure they wouldn't see his left arm.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HEY! YOU UP THERE!" Jesaia called. Despite what he had said to Friedrich, he was relived that there was a pretty good chance they wouldn't have to spend the night out here. The boy in the tree seemed to wince.
"I'm not deaf, what is it?" At that moment Friedrich decided to take charge.
"Come down from there, boy!" The boy merely smiled.
"Why should I? I can hear you fine from up here." Allen knew that if he climbed down, those guys would notice his hand. So it was better if they thought he was rude, than blow his cover to just be polite. Then he noticed baldy seemed ready to cut down the tree, and added "So, how can I help you?"
"We're looking for a village, but we're lost. Do you know how can get to the nearest village?" The blond boy called, and seeing the look on Friedrich's face, he whispered to him "We're in the middle of nowhere. The closest village will be the one we're looking for." Friedrich nodded and turned his attention back to that brat in the tree, who pointed straight forward.
"If you go half a mile in that direction, you should reach a village. In fact, I can see it from up here." the boy said.
"Thanks for the help." Jesaia called.
"It was nothing."
The group of exorcists had almost reached the tree-line, when, as if to mock them, bells, probably from the village church, started to chime. "Hurry up!" Friedrich shouted as he started to run "We'll let the bells lead us to the village!" Both Jesaia and Val started to run, but Jesaia looked towards the tree again. It was empty. The boy was gone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen had activated Crown Clown and jumped to the treetops. This way was much faster and he had limited time. While jumping on the treetops, he thought about the exorcists and himself. The blond seemed pretty funny, a bit like Lavi. Maybe they knew each other. When he had looked at the girl, Allen had been filled with sorrow, even though he had no idea why. But what he found most disturbing was his reaction to the bald man. He had been filled with an intense hatred, like he had never felt it before. His left arm had twitched, seemingly wanting to kill the man himself. At first, Allen had thought that it was the Noah inside of him recognizing his mortal enemy, but if that was the case, why didn't he feel like that when looking at the other two? It was like the human in him, the Noah in him and even his Innocence seemed to hate that man to the point of wanting him dead. But why?
"I have no idea. But something tells me that there is a good reason. I'll admit, not even I have ever felt such intense hatred before." the musician stated when he sensed Allen's question.
'We'll find out eventually, I'm sure of it.' Allen thought as he reached the village and jumped on a roof. Not even five seconds later, the exorcists came running out of the forest, just in time as the last chime of the church bell echoed away. They looked around and Allen swiftly hid behind a chimney. By now, he was completely in his human form, his hair back to its normal white color. Fortunately, that made his head invisible to the exorcists, thanks to a large cloud in the background.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, any idea where the Innocence might be?" Jesaia asked. He didn't expect an answer, but Val suddenly raised her hand and pointed to the top of the church's tower. Jesaia blinked. She was right. Right there, in the center of the crucifix, was a green-glowing crystal.
"Now this is almost too easy." Jesaia laughed, but Friedrich's next words immediately silenced that laugh.
"I agree. Harlequin, go get it." Friedrich sounded somewhat disappointed, though Jesaia had no idea why.
"What? Why me?" Jesaia was really upset. 'That bastard is making me do all the work!'
"Because I am ordered not to reveal my Innocence and Nocturn's Innocence is unsuitable for such a situation." Jesaia couldn't argue with that. "Also because I am your commander and I order you to, match-boy. Just see it as your punishment for insulting a superior." That was it! But how to get revenge? Then Jesaia had an idea.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." He turned towards the crucifix. Friedrich was right behind him, Valkyrie a few feet to his left. Excellent. "Innocence activate. Ifrit." His fingerless gloves caught fire and a Celtic-Cross appeared on the back of his hands. "Jetstream." Fire shot out of his gloves as he used them like an engine to shoot towards the crucifix. He landed, grabbed the crystal and turned around. It had worked! Friedrich was covered in smut, while Val didn't get a single piece of ash on her. When he returned to them, he smiled.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I thought you were already out of the way. Really, it isn't smart to get so close to a fire." He could barely hold his laughter. There was nothing Friedrich could do and they both knew it. He had ordered Jesaia to lift off and hadn't gotten out of the way in time. While Friedrich knew the brat had done it on purpose, he had no proof, which meant he couldn't even take revenge. And there weren't any Akuma, or even better, Noah around to vent his anger on either. Hell, he would have taken a broker if there had been one. But right now, all he could do was silently take it.
"We return to headquarters." He growled, grabbing the backpack with the equipment.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the building, Allen was silently howling with laughter. That was brilliant. Served him right. And he learned the abilities of another exorcist. Not that he would ever tell the Earl, but it was good to know in case they'd have to fight one day.
But now the smut-man grabbed the backpack and started to turn a few knobs. Suddenly, a gate appeared in front of them. Allen knew that if he wanted to do something, it was now or never. Not that he wanted to fight them, but maybe he could grab the Innocence and disappear. If he managed to bring back an Innocence now, the Earl might not send him on a mission that required killing someone anytime soon. Also, Allen could see the Innocence was glowing rather weakly, and suddenly he just knew that it wasn't the heart, but a very weak piece of Innocence.
'I don't know why, but I feel weaker myself.' he thought.
"You're in your human form. In that form, your strength is reduced so you won't attract attention while with other humans. Change into your Noah form if you want more strength. By the way, congratulations, it usually takes at least six months to regain your human form. Also, since your Innocence is deactivated you won't get a power boost from it either." The musician answered Allen's unspoken question. Allen turned into his Noah form and was about to jump...
...When suddenly a gate appeared around him. His two hours were up! Oh well, too late to do anything now. He straitened up as he landed back in his room inside the arc. Somehow, he was not surprised seeing Road there.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When they returned, Friedrich went to wash off and report. Val brought the Innocence to Hevlaska. So Jesaia had free time he intended to spend with Lavi.
He found him and Lenalee in the infirmary, visiting Miranda and Crowry, who had been too exhausted after that fateful day. Jesaia heard that the head nurse had pulled them out of service and into those beds for three more weeks, though Crowry would be released tomorrow. He looked around for Timothy, the boy who could control people and even Akuma, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"So, where is the boy you told me about? Timothy, I believe."
"On a mission with Marie and Kanda." Lenalee replied. This seemed to be news to Lavi as well.
"Wait, Timothy and Yu are on a mission? Together?"Lenalee nodded "This can only end in a disaster." He then moaned.
Jesaia decided to change the topic. "Can I see your Innocence, Lenalee? I heard it changed twice."
Lenalee nodded and activated her Crystal Boots. They had been renamed, mainly because they were no longer black. Now they were snow-white from the ankle up, except for the one black plate that guarded her knee. At the ankle, there were three white rings, but you could see that the boot was black between them. Everything below the third ring was black. It looked pretty cool, but then Jesaia finally realized what Lenalee had just said. His head snapped upwards.
"Lenalee, did you just say Yu Kanda is away on a mission?"
"Yes." Lenalee seemed confused.
"And who is responsible for everything right now?" Lavi asked, catching Jesaia's drift.
"Levrier, why?" The boys just grinned at each other.
"Let's go!" They both said at the exact same time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen was dining with the rest of his 'family'. It had almost become a table of conflict. Allen was sitting on one side, again next to Road and Tyki, the twins next to them. On the other side, Cyril was glaring at Allen while Lulubelle was simply eating in silence next to him. Allen tried not to let it bother him while he swiftly but mannerly eliminated food as fast as the Akuma maids could bring it. Then the doors opened and everyone stopped eating, so Allen stopped as well. The Earl entered. When he saw the table, oh seemed surprised.
"Looks like I have to get a round table for family meals." With that, he simply took a seat and started eating.
The atmosphere was pretty relaxed, at least until the twins jumped on the table. Jasdero started to juggle with a few apples, the he suddenly threw them to Allen. Allen, having spent some time with a circus, caught them and juggled with them. David, inspired by this sudden action, threw more food towards him, and Allen ended up juggling with seventeen fruits. 'I was never this good.' Allen thought to himself 'I never managed more than twelve.'
"As a Noah, your reflexes are far superior to a humans, so is your strength, your agility and your speed. How else could a Noah be able to keep up with a Parasitic-type Innocence user?" His adviser explained.
Allen juggled a few more seconds, then he caught them all in a act of balance. The fruits were resting on his arms, his shoulders, his left leg and his head. Tyki, Road, Jasdevi, the twins and even the Earl applauded. Allen dropped the fruits on his plate, bowed and smiled. "Thank you, but you really shouldn't play with food."
The Earl laughed. "Very true. But since we're done munching, let's talk about work." Allen, who was about to bite in a banana, the last survivor of the juggling act, froze.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Levrier didn't believe it. How could he have been so stupid?! Central had been informed and was very upset with him. He was in big trouble, and the paperwork would be a nightmare, especially since this time, there was no way to duck the blame. He couldn't believe he made such a mistake.
Not only did he give Lavi and Jesaia more than half an hour time together, he had been foolish enough to do so while sending the only person capable of stopping their havoc, Yu Kanda, away on a mission during their time together. And he immediately payed the price.
This was a new record. They had started a food-fight in the cafeteria and used the confusion to pour a laxative in the soup, sabotaged the main elevator, greased the staircases, poured ink in the Orders laundry, burned almost all of the paperwork Levrier had spent hours to design (It had served no other purpose but to punish the science division), and worst of all, unleashed two of Komui's toys, these Komurins. The damage was extensive, but nobody seemed to have seen the boys. But while Levrier noticed practically only his people fell victims to these pranks while the usual staff somehow evaded most of the them, he couldn't prove or do anything. Again.
He found the boys in the infirmary, claiming they had nothing to do with any of the problems. He was extremely angry, but he knew that the only way he had to stop their current reign of terror was to separate them. Since Jesaia had just returned from a mission, it was time for Lavi to leave. How could they have caused this much chaos in so little time?
"Lavi, you, Lenalee and Crowry are going on a mission to Ireland first thing tomorrow morning, so rest while you can. One of our Finders overheard a broker informing the Earl that he thinks he found an Innocence plus operator, but isn't sure yet. Your mission is to get that person before the Earl does. Understood?" They nodded. Once he had left them, Levrier sighed in relief. With these informations, the mood would be to serious for more jokes. All he had to do now was make sure Kanda was back before Lavi returned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Allen, you, Tyki and Lulubelle will go to Ireland, I've just received a call from a broker who thinks he's found an Innocence-user. You will see if it's true, and should that be the case, you will destroy the Innocence and kill the operator, should that be necessary. But we still have some time, so you can leave tomorrow morning." Allen was shocked. He didn't expect his first mission to come so soon.
The twins raised their hands. "We wanna come to!" The Earl seemed suprised, but then he nodded in agreement.
"Very well, I don't see why not." Allen hardly realized what had been spoken. He was still in shock about what the Earl had said.
'Kill the operator if necessary...' Allen would do everything in his power to spare him. He nodded and bowed, as did Tyki and Lulubelle, and returned to his room.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a small, Irish village, Luciano de Fuego, half-Italian, half-Irish, looked up to the sky. He suddenly had a very bad feeling, but he didn't know why. He shrugged it off and turned to pick up his sister, Sophia.
________________________________________________________________________________
And that was chapter 9, done at last. No important questions, just the usual: How did you like it, what can I do better, was there something you especially liked, and any ideas for Cyril's Noah-memory? I apologize for grammar mistakes, as I mentioned before, English is not my native language. By the way, how do you like Jesaia's Innocence. It has way more power than what Ive revealed, but how's the first impression? (Since Ifrit is a fire spirit, I thought it was obvious what his Innocence can do.)
Also to Lord Edric: Enough destruction for you? I had planned on it, but they just didn't have enough time at their first meeting. Also, I don't think you've realized this, but before the school-week from hell, I was updating practically on a daily basis. Any faster and the quality will suffer. In fact, I will reduce my update speed to every two days at best, so that more people find time to review. But thank you for the review, I respect critics.
As you've seen in this chapter, I try to fulfill requests from my reviewers, as long as it doesn't interrupt my story. I've described Lenalee's Innocence, raised havoc with Lavi and Jesaia and tried to sucker Levrier. I'm still working on the twists, it's not as easy as it sounds. In the end, an author is but a servant to his readers, so if you have a reasonable wish for this story, I will try to grant it. Ideas and characters are also appreciated.
All reviews but flames are welcome
Please review
