Title: Dragon's Lies
Author: Knux33
Summary:Dragons add madness to the tale and the Order is moved. All are shocked when Allen finally reappears,with a dragon and two children in tow. As truth and fiction mingle, who can be trusted with truth, and which heart is rotted with lies? DRAGON'S EYE SEQUEL
Disclaimer: I don't own D.Gray-Man. If I did, there would be dragons. :)
10. Answers
"Brother sick?"
Komui didn't answer.
"Me told Brother fishy-tuna bad idea."
The man leaned over the side of the boat, turning paler at the mention of food.
"Tuna smelled fishy, Brother shouldn't of swallowed it down. Nope, nope. Tuna was fishy."
"Please, stop talking about the tuna ..." Komui groaned at the winged lizard on his head. "... I think I'm going to lose my lunch ..."
"Brother didn't have any lunch!" Gremlin reminded him ever-so-helpfully. "Brother said: 'Me sick, no lunch.' So no lunch for Brother!"
Komui swallowed down metallic-tasting saliva that seemed to automatically fill his mouth right before his stomach heaved, and prepared for the worst. It came but a moment after.
Gremlin made a whining sound as Komui lost his not-lunch overboard and held on more tightly to Brother's head, keeping Komui's hair out of the way of the falling stomach contents.
The man knew ginger wouldn't help his stomach any until the bad tuna was out of his system (hopefully, the contaminated substance was what had just been 'tossed' overboard), and they were almost to the New Headquarters anyway, so Komui had thought it wouldn't be too bad having a slightly upset stomach on the last leg of the journey.
He had been wrong.
Wishing he had at least brought some of the substance onto the small boat he was now on, Komui spent the last hours of his travel hanging miserably over the side of the ship, feeding whatever sea creature down below that liked bits of partially-digested sushi.
Almost there Komui, you're almost there ... He thought to himself, thinking of getting back to civilization, where they had pills and medicine for such food poisoning ...
"You alright Sir?" One of the few sailors on board the vessel asked. "We'll be within sight of our destination in a few minutes if this fog lets up enough ..."
"I'm fine." Komui mumbled, really not in the mood for opening his mouth.
Gremlin glared at the poor shipmate. "Don't bother Brother! Brother feeling ill."
The sailor scuttled away, probably not used to being addressed by talking reptiles, and Komui watched the horizon in hopes that something would appear to take his mind off of his ailing stomach. Within moments, a large mass appeared in the fog, slowly growing larger as they approached the coastline. And, after glaring into the fog-sheet blocking their view long enough, a large building was revealed.
Komui was impressed despite himself. It was a massive structure, built right on top of a rocky cliff facing the ocean, the spray from the waves pounding themselves against the rocks adding a salty-wet taste to the fog.
Dozens upon dozens of windows adorned all of the walls that he could see, and if he wasn't mistaken there was a large flat piece of roof around the center of the pointed pyramid-like spires that dominated the roof-space, suggesting a possible landing space for future use if it was stable enough to hold out under a full-grown dragon's weight ...
Gremlin flapped his wings atop Komui's head, settling them again against his body nervously.
Komui noticed the claws on his scalp tighten ever so slightly. "What's wrong?"
"This place like a castle ..." The green lizard said, little eyes wide.
"What's wrong with castles?" Komui asked. "We are fighting a war you know. And our last Headquarters was a lot like a castle too."
The dragon looked confused. "Last home looked like a tree."
Komui felt a bit better and decided to continue the conversation. "A tree?"
"Taaaaall," Gremlin lifted a forepaw in demonstration. "And roooound, like middle of tree."
"I still don't know why you don't like castles, besides some obvious reasons." Oh yeah, castles had knights, and knights used to slay dragons ... I think ...
Gremlin licked his jaws, contemplating the question along with the salty tang in the air. "Castles always have war inside. Only sometimes have war outside. Everyone want to be King of the castle." The reptilian face twisted with worry. "Brother very close to being the King of a castle."
Komui laughed, startling the lizard. "I'm not the King here. Not even close." He reassured the tiny dragon. "If anything, Inspector Malcom will be King of this castle."
Gremlin looked curiously down at Komui, his little face upside down because of his position on the Chief scientist's head. "Who's he?"
Komui sighed, stomach finally beginning to settle after the 'tuna-attack,' but a strange sour feeling was building up to replace the nausea he felt before, and this ill-feeling had nothing to do with food. "A very important person, so please don't bite him."
"Why would me want to bite him?"
Komui tried not to laugh. "Just a hunch ... and a lot of people usually get that impulse around him."
"Why? Does he have an ill-temper too?"
"... No." The fresh sea-spray felt nice, Komui reflected, looking into the maw of the cave mouth that opened-up before them to permit sea-side entry into the new Headquarters. "I think he became sick with something else a long time ago ..."
Gremlin looked very curious. "And? What else Brother?"
Komui shook his head sadly, and Gremlin hung doggedly onto the man's head, though Komui wasn't really trying to shake him off. He straitened up and prepared to face whatever may be waiting for him inside. "And I think it's far too late to make him even close to well again. Like a tree rotting."
Gremlin looked sad. "Rotted tree is a dead tree."
Komui had nothing to say to that. He only brushed to dust off of the shoulders of his jacket, and reached up to head to adjust his hat, only to just remember that a scaly lizard was there instead. Frowning, Komui toyed with an old thought.
"I'm starting to think you wouldn't make a very good hat ..."
Gremlin just smiled, laughing all the way down the gangplank back onto land and to their knew 'home.'
/DRDRDR/
'Ask Allen.'
That's what Smudge had said.
Two hours after they had gotten Speck and Isaac started with their stories.
Now why hadn't he thought of it before? It was so simple, so straightforward, so obvious.
Lavi wasn't really happy to have such a simple fact pointed out to him by a dragon ... a big, smart, black dragon mind you, but still a dragon. Really, he was 'Bookman Jr.' here! He should of thought of just asking Allen ages ago!
Sure, the guy had been sick and unconscious and such, but that didn't mean he wasn't up for questioning ...
Lavi stopped thinking, remembered what sort of 'questioning' he had been going through right before he had last left Headquarters, shivered, then rebooted. He wasn't going to ask those types of questions, just the important things he needed to know. Like which dragon he had really picked up during his adventures.
That was simple enough. Just walk up to him and ask--
Lavi jumped, just narrowly avoiding being run over by a speeding Branch Head and his assistant. Bak was chattering something about 'blood samples' and Wong wheezed behind him. They ran down the hallway, away from the infirmary and out of sight.
The red-head sighed. He continued on at a casual pace, not really in any rush. He had been looking forward to seeing how the dragons reacted to questioning ...
Deep in the 'what ifs' of the possible situations, half of which weren't even remotely possible, he stroked into the waiting room, only to find the silence there extremely unnerving.
Five people sat in the room. Three were exorcists: Lenalee, Krory, and Miranda. The other two were local scientists: Lo-Fwa and Li-Kei. No one spoke. They even seemed to be taking pains not to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. When Lavi strolled in, it almost seemed to make everyone jump from the repressed tension.
Lavi would of laughed at the doodles still on the two scientists faces, and filled the room with chatter under normal circumstances. These circumstances were far from normal.
Lavi took one look, and asked just one question. "What happened?"
The answer was even more puzzling than what he had expected. Lenalee was the one that looked him in the eye to answer. "We don't know."
He didn't even have to prompt a more detailed response when Miranda blurted out, "W-we heard screaming, and then all o-of the nurses ran inside and shut the d-door." The woman seemed far more nerve-racked than usual, and Lavi wasn't surprised.
"Who screamed?"
"I think it might have been the little girl," Krory said. "But I can't be sure."
Lavi's one free eye drifted the the locked door, muffled sounds of commotion from the inside seeping through the wooden barrier. "So, no one's going in or out?"
A collective sigh formed, breezing through the air. "No."
Lavi, worried but distracted, gave one last glance at the door before strolling right back out again. It looked like he was going to have to interrogate the dragons after all. He no longer thought of the duty as 'intriguing' or 'entertaining.' It was a job to do.
Because, as he thought about it, he realized something that should of grabbed his attention a long time ago. Why would anyone want a dragon to lie anyway? And about such an easy-to-see lie too?
He could think of only one group of humans that would want to confuse the Order on such a matter. Well, they'd want to confuse the Order about anything at all, really, if it gave them the upper hand in the War.
The Noah Clan.
Lavi turned his walk into a fast-passed march, ignoring the scared looking civilians he pasted and not really caring what could work them up so much. He already knew that Ammy and Sunny were 'sight-seeing' today. He knew most of the people here wouldn't be used to mythological beasts walking around.
Let that be the staff's problem. He had his own mess to deal with.
He wondered again. Would a dragon react the same way when lying as a person would? Would they be more open with their own kind that a human questioner?
Would, would would would would. Lavi mentally berated himself, his inner nag-voice sounding surprisingly like the old Panda. Just get back and get on with it.
So he got on with it.
/DRDRDR/
Mark snored, oblivious and asleep on the floor a few yards away from three chatting dragons, and not really caring about missing the conversation. All the talking they had been doing had been getting boring anyway.
Speck glanced over his shoulder at the child every once and a while, but otherwise he was left to sleep.
"It would be so much easier if you both just told me who was lying." Smudge was explaining. "Then we wouldn't have to go through all of this boring 'tail-chase-like' talking."
Speck and Isaac glanced at each other, then proclaimed in a perfect chorus: "He's lying." Then they both glared at each other.
Smudge sighed. "Lavi is going to ask Allen right now anyway. It is obvious who is lying will be found out very soon."
Both looked at him blankly.
"I not lying." Speck said, gazing at Smudge earnestly.
The black dragon turned his gaze to Isaac. The white beast smiled at him, reptilian lips curling upwards. "So, I'm to be found out 'very soon' now am I?"
Smudge smiled back. Finally! "Now that wasn't so hard now was it--?"
"Me told you!" The speckled gray dragon said, full of exasperation. "Me don't lie! Now me see Allen?"
Smudge shook his head in negative. "Mr. Lavi has to come back first."
Speck groaned. "Why?"
"Well," Smudge said seriously. "I we don't know what he wants done, besides the fact that he wants neither of you to leave the room. So you won't."
The gray dragon sighed again, but smiled. "Smudge good dragon ..."
"Why, thank-you." Smudge glanced at the white dragon lazily laying on the floor. "So, why did your chosen want you to lie?"
Isaac yawned. "She said something about 'keeping an eye' on her brother when he 'wakes up.' But I doubt he'll be doing so anytime soon. The best way for me to do that was to stick around. I obviously needed a valid reason, and since I already knew a lot about Allen--" He shrugged. "--it seemed a good enough opportunity."
Smudge and Speck shared a confused look. "Why?" Speck asked, while Smudge said in a questioning tone: "Your chosen's brother?"
Isaac grinned playfully at his kin. "Because she worries about him sometimes. Her brother really isn't really on the list of those that take particularly good care of themselves."
"Who is her brother?" Smudge asked directly.
Isaac looked surprised. "You didn't notice?"
"Notice what?"
"Spit out!" Speck exclaimed, not liking waiting for answers.
"The Fourteenth." Isaac said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Smudge 'oh!'-ed with clarification. "I noticed that. But you don't surely mean--?"
"Yes, I mean it." The white beast glaze at them both. "He is in Allen."
Smudge looked sad. "That ... is not good. Not good at all. When-- How do Noah-- What will--...?" Smudge was at a lose of what to say first.
Isaac smiled at them both. "Don't worry, Allen Walker is still very much awake, and will probably be so for a long time to come." He pondered. "Though, I really don't want to have to tell my chosen that ... maybe there is a way to prod the memories into awaking ..."
Smudge was still very worried, and was about to ask just what he meant by 'awake' when Speck coughed. "Allen staying Allen."
It was the white creatures turn to look curious. "And just how do you know that, little Speck?"
"Allen mine," Speck said with a 'well, duh' tone. "Me made sure Allen stay Allen."
Isaac looked intrigued. "How?"
Now the small gray dragon fidgeted nervously. "Well ... me bite Allen. Speck didn't mean too!" He exclaimed quickly. "But Speck did, and it did good too! When me tried to get venom out, me see Bad Memories, so me keep venom in, so Bad Memories stay out of Allen!"
"..."
'Okay ... what did he just say?' Was what was going through the older dragon's minds. Isaac swatted the sleeping Mark with his tail lightly, waking the boy up.
"You, translate." He ordered.
"Ugh?" Mark asked blearily, rubbing at his eyes, trying to get the sand off of them.
"He's trying to say something important, but we don't understand, please translate." Smudge explained.
Mark yawned, stretched, and got up. "Okay Speck, what's up?"
The dragon repeated himself, going slowly and carefully. Mark listened.
After thinking for a moment Mark open his mouth and declared: "Well, I'm lost."
Isaac laughed and Smudge blinked and asked: "But you have been with Speck and Allen for a long time, surly you know what he's talking about?"
"Nope. Not a clue." Mark stretched again, becoming more alert. "But, then again, Speck never seems to make much sense when talking about past or future events ..."
Isaac turned thoughtful. "So, he bit Allen in the past ..."
"Didn't mean to." Speck added.
"... and your venom can ... suppress memories ...?" Smudge guessed.
"Bad Memories!"
"... and that is what is keeping my chosen's brother from 'waking up'?"
"Yes!" Speck exclaimed, quite joyful over being understood.
Isaac smacked him with a wing, effectively bowling him over. "Than all the fun I've had was for nothing!" Isaac exclaimed, while Speck picked himself up, bristling.
"That hurt!" The gray dragon growled loudly.
"Well my chosen is going to be disappointed with me!" Isaac growled right back. "And she was so looking forward to having her brother back after so long too ..." The white dragon moped.
Mark looked very confused. "Does ... that mean Allen really doesn't have two dragons, or has he just spontaneously turn into a girl?" He said, in reference to Isaac's 'she.'
"Allen is not a girl," Smudge clarified, looking shocked. "How could you think such a silly thing?!"
Mark rolled his eyes. "Says the giant talking dragon ..." The boy coughed and said with more volume, "It would have been awesome for him to have two dragons though."
"Impossible." Smudge declared.
"It would have been really cool anyway." Mark mumbled.
"Allen mine." Speck announce quite happily.
"You can keep him." Isaac said, quite good-naturedly in Smudge's opinion in comparison to the fighting that had been going on. "We'll ..." Smudge didn't like Isaac's grin. "... until he isn't himself anymore."
"Allen is staying Allen." Speck growled, glaring.
"We'll see." Isaac stretched, arching his back like a feline, and stood. "I think it would be useless to stay here any longer. Farewell!" He walked to the large double doors that were the exit.
Smudge quickly blocked him, and frowned. "You are leaving?"
"Yes," Isaac barked out a laugh. "Who knows what will be done to me here. I have chosen someone your people do not like very much, and I have lied to them. I don't think it would be very ... healthy for me to stay."
Smudge understood, but didn't agree. Mr. Lavi had told him to keep all dragons in the room, and that's exactly what he was going to do. The black dragon slid between Isaac and the door, and so did the smaller 'speck.'
Speck glared, quite ready to attack. "Liars never prosper." He said with surprising clarity.
Isaac grinned back. "They never proper ... only when they're caught." With that, the white dragon jumped to the door, but not before smashing the large Smudge on the bottom of his jaw with an ear-cracking tail-slap. The scale plating on the bottom of the dragons jaw is just a bit thinner than in other places, making it a brilliant place for a blow like that, ultimately sending Smudge to the ground, dazed, and almost squashing Speck under the force of the larger dragon's bulk.
He quickly pushed opened the large and heavy door, only to pause in astonishment. There, leaning on the outside wall, was Lavi. The exorcist was wearing such a look that Isaac was sure that he had been listening to the whole conversation.
The dragon smiled. The exorcist stared with a cold, emotionless look.
"Thank-you for the food and company. But, as you undoubtedly know, I must be going."
Lavi continued to glare.
Isaac knew there was nothing the human could do, the apprentice Bookman didn't have his innocence. He slid out of the room, stepping into the hallway.
Mark ran out past him, surprising both Isaac and Lavi, before ignoring them both and darting in the direction of the infirmary. Issac snorted. "Hatchlings." He voiced in a dismissive tone, turning down the opposite hallway, intending to leave.
Well, he had intended too anyway. As it turned out, a certain pony-tailed exorcists stood there ...
"Kanda!" Smudge cried out joyfully, sticking his head out the door behind Isaac, rubbing tenderly at his sore jaw. "There you are--!"
"Were you just going to sit there and let him walk out the door?" It was on of the longest sentences Kanda had ever said to him. Smudge nodded slowly, ashamed to confirm that he had failed in his given mission. "Che." The samurai drew his sword.
Isaac smiled yet again. "Oh, does this all have to end in violence ...?"
Kanda answered by charging, and Smudge quickly ran fully out of the room to cover Isaac's rear and escape. Speck poked his head out but stayed within the chamber they had all been occupying before, perhaps sensing he would only get in the way of the coordinated attack.
Isaac, white dragon that had chosen a Noah, was still smiling.
Well, it seemed it would all end in violence ...
The beast stood his ground and prepared himself for the coming assault, grin going wider as he watched the exorcists activate his weapon on the run and felt the air stir behind him as the black dragon moved to block his back.
And what a violent end it will be, Isaac pondered before unleashing a battle-roar that shook the very facility to its stone core--
/DRDRDR/
It was weird. She had been talking, laughing, complaining about green vegetables, and then she had been bleeding. And screaming.
Everyone had panicked.
The nurses swarmed into the room, grabbing several medical tubes and needles, the doctor ordering the shutting and locking of the door as they set to work like a small hive of bees, buzzing and hovering frantically around the girl.
Even Howard looked surprised. At least, he looked surprised from the angle Allen saw him at. He could only see so much, and he couldn't see anything on Val's end of the screen. But from what the nurses and doctor said, he quickly figured out what had sent them all into a state of furious activity.
She had begun bleeding.
From her eyes.
And they had absolutely no idea why.
/DRDRDR/
There was blood on the walls. And on the floor. There was even some on the incredibly high ceiling.
Well, that's what you get when you have a couple of giant, winged, creatures battling in a very enclosed space.
Kanda was watching like a hawk from the ground, innocence activated to Double Illusion Blade, waiting for a the target to come within striking distance. He didn't have to wait long. Smudge was constantly forcing Isaac to go lower, aiming for the white dragon's fragile wings from his higher position.
Kanda leapt at the precise moment Isaac was close to the ground, rebounded off of the wall for a higher jump, and landed squarely on Isaac's back. Using both swords, he mercilessly cut into the wing-joints on the beasts back.
With a pain-fulled scream, the dragon was painfully grounded, falling at lease ten yards to the ground. Smudge circled in for a landing, hesitating in giving away his superior position above the enemy. Kanda jumped off of the wounded beast, before de-activating his blood-covered innocence and sheathing his sword. He ignored the fact that he was covered in gore himself.
"Done? So soon?" Isaac said through clenched jaws, slowly coming to his feet. His wings hung limply, trailing to the floor and dripping bright red blood. His front arm was clutched to vis chest, as if from an injury on the landing.
"You're not going anywhere." Kanda pointed out. Smudge landed, watching the other beast closely for any hostile movement.
"Are you sure?" After all that, the creature still had the gall to smile.
Kanda took one glance at the bloodied body before him and "Che."-ed dismissively.
Isaac smiled all the wider.
Smudge frowned thoughtfully, rustling his still unfurled wings nervously. "Kanda--"
The samurai turned his gaze to the black dragon, and Smudge took that as the cue to start talking.
"--I do not think we will be able to hold him here for long."
Kanda continued to glare.
Smudge blinked. "He has chosen a very strong human. You call them ... 'Noahs?'"
Isaac tried to lick at his bleeding wing-joints, but they were to far for his tongue to reach, so he settled for codling his right arm instead.
Smudge continued, "And if I am right, his chosen may come to get him--"
Lavi glanced curiously at the stains on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Isaac was creating quite a few puddles of dragon blood where he was standing, ignoring the conversation and trying to judge whether his arm was broken or sprained.
"--And that may be a very bad situation for those who live here."
"Ya know Yuu-chan, Smudgy does have a point." Lavi said, overlooking the damage done to all parties. Isaac was by far the worst off, and Smudge only ad a few scratches. Kanda, though covered in blood, seemed fine, judging by the strength of his glare. "We may want to warn Bak of the possibilities."
Isaac, having determined his arm was broken in at least two places, turned to them with his now-customary smile. "Oh, no need to get yourselves worked up. She is already on her way."
Kanda glared at him and Lavi asked: "She who?" Already narrowing down the possible Noahs.
Just by the 'she' Lavi could tell that it was either Rhode or Lulubell. His thoughts grew grim. Both of them would be able to get into the Headquarters easily without raising the alarm. Far to easily.
Or ... it could even be one of the other thirteen. God knew they didn't have nearly enough information to identify each and every Noah out there yet--
"Why, I'm surprised you've forgotten about her Mr. Bookman Junior. You two did play once before, and she's told me just how much fun you are to play with."
Lavi flinched. That nailed it. If there was only one Noah he knew that would call fighting with an exorcist 'fun' and 'play,' it would be Rhode Camelot. And if Rhode was on her way ...
Lavi did a quick screen of the hallway, looking for an overly decorated heart-shaped doorway in ever corner. He didn't see one.
Smudge was gazing at Isaac, and Speck had come out of the room now that the battle was over. "Can me see Allen now?"
Lavi shook his head in a negative. "The infirmary's closed up, no one's going in or out."
Speck sighed, and looked at Isaac. "You caught."
Isaac twitched his tail dismissively, as it would have of been to painful for him to shrug with his wing joints injured as they were. "Not for long."
Smudge looked to Kanda. "So, how are we to keep him in place?"
The dark-haired samurai opened his mouth, about to speak, when the floor under Isaac's feet somehow ceased to be floor anymore. In fact, it was now a large, red, heart-shaped door, slowly opening--
Smudge lunged forward, almost to fast for even the two exorcists to see, and clamped into Isaac's quickly falling figure. To be more precise, he bite right onto the white dragon's tail and held on. Not the smartest thing Smudge has ever done, as the other dragon's weight (plus gravity, remember the door was in the floor) began to pull him down into the opening in space.
Speck, not one to let them both fall threw the hole, quickly grabbed onto Smudge's tail with his teeth, though God knows what was going through that little dragons mind as all of them were slowly beginning to slide down, down, down--
And then, against all odds, the sliding stopped. For a moment. In that moment both Lavi and Kanda rushed forward, about to try anything to pull all of the beasts back, including grab on themselves, when the calvary arrived.
Lenalee and Krory seemed to run into the situation out of nowhere, both grabbing on for dear life next to Lavi and Kanda.
"Hey," Lavi greeted, grinding his teeth in the effort of trying to pull something several times his weight and size. "Come to join the party? Aw ... you didn't bring any cake ..."
"Lavi, I do not think this is the time for jokes--" Krory grunted, his own innocence giving him super-human strength, making him one of the ones working hardest at the moment.
Smudge was half-way in the hole, back claws scrabbling at the tiled floor, trying to get some purchase to try to climb back out again. Just as the exorcists started pulling harder, actually reversing the falling process, there was a yelp from the hole and a few tons of weight were removed from the equation, making the pulling-back-up considerably easier to do.
They saw why once they pulled Smudge all the way back up, as his jaws were no longer around the white dragon's tail and his face sported quite a few sharpened candles that had been thrown at him. Although the black dragon looked like a very colorful, wax-made porcupine had slapped him, he seemed no worse for ware, and none of the projectiles had gotten into his eyes.
The poor dragon looked horribly sad though.
"I tried to hang on." He said as the exorcists went about the job of pulling all of the birthday candles out of his face. He winced as Krory pulled out one particularly close to his eye. "But the little girl threw all of these things at me, and it hurt." He looked apologetically at Kanda with one great, big, dragon eye. "I'm sorry I let him get away ..."
Kanda just rolled his eyes with a: "Che." Before pulling out another candle stuck deep into Smudge's muzzle.
Speck whined. "Sorry me bit tail." There were quite a few holes there now too.
"It is okay," Smudge reassured him. "I am really glad I did not fall into the hole." He looked around at those who had made sure he hadn't gotten pulled all the way in. "Thank-you all, very much so."
"Hey, that's what friends are for!" Lavi said quite cheerfully. "Though you could stand to lose a few pounds." His eye glinted with mischief. "Kanda, I don't think you're feeding your dragon properly."
"..." Kanda wasn't really paying attention. He was trying to clean some of the more prominent gore off of his sword and onto his thoroughly-bloodstained jacket.
"Yeah. He seems to be a little ... heavy."
"..." The blood always seemed to be hardest to scrub off at the hilt ... and it wasn't very easy spotting dark-red liquid on a black sword you know. You have to get the light to shine on it and spot were the light didn't shine back.
"Mr. Lavi, are you calling me overweight?" Smudge asked calmly, licking at the bleeding holes in his face with his long tongue.
"Yup."
"Oh." Lick at face.
"..." Scrub at sword.
"I'm going to the library now." Lavi announced, very put-down by the lack of reaction.
Lenalee and Krory looked from Lavi's retreating back to Kanda, to Smudge, to Speck, then back again; feeling very out-of-the-loop.
"I'll ... go tell Bak." Lenalee quickly excused herself and was off. Krory, undoubtedly feeling a bit nervous alone with two dragons, also excused himself on behalf of his stomach, and jogged away in the direction of the kitchens.
Smudge had finished cleaning the wounds on his face and was going for the teeth-holes on his tail when Speck mentioned quietly, "Not three?"
The black dragon gazed at him questioningly. "Three?"
"People. Lee-na-lee, Kro-ry, and Me-ran-duh?"
Smudge blinked. "Oh, yes. Miss Miranda probably stayed at the infirmary, since she is not here."
Speck slowly looked around at the stains now decorating the hallway. "Blood lots."
"Yes." Smudge said absentmindedly, now concentrating on the puncture wounds that were still bleeding.
"Isaac lost."
"Oh no, he's probably with his chosen right now, getting himself cleaned up."
"Allen getting better."
"Of course. That is what he was brought here for."
"Mark worried."
"Well, his sister is sick. I would be worried to if Kanda were sick."
"Isaac still want Allen."
Smudge stopped licking. "Why do you say that?"
"Because his girl wants Allen."
"His girl?"
"She poked holes in face."
"Oh, that girl." Smudge licked thoughtfully at the wounds still present but closing quickly.
"She want Allen, so 'Saac want Allen."
"Well ..." Smudge tried to say it correctly. "... she is a Noah. A 'revived' memory. Allen has a Noah memory too. So, she just wants the memory, not 'Allen' per-say."
"They want to kill Allen." Speck whimpered, and Smudge quickly saw the error of continuing the conversation on this route.
"No! They just want ... to ... uh." He tried again. "A memory cannot kill someone."
"'Not?" Speck echoed.
"No. Memories ... are a humans makeup. They ... are what makes a human an individual, what gives them their own personality. More memories only change a person's personality slowly. And they cannot change the core of who a person is."
"Core?"
"Center. Soul. Self."
"Oh." Speck pondered for a moment. "So ... memories not hurt Allen? Not kill Allen?"
"Well ... I don't know. How many memories are we talking about?" Smudge asked, remembering that, right now, Speck was somehow suppressing them.
"Many." Speck said, then thought again. "Many ... knowing memories. Few feeling too."
This all went over Smudges head. Knowing? Feeling? "What does that mean?"
Speck suddenly looked very happy. "Me go wait. See Allen with Mark." And so, he trotted away.
"Wait!" Shaking himself down(adding a few more drops of blood to the floor), Smudge jogged after the smaller dragon. Maybe the nurses at the infirmary would have some dragon-sized bandages anyway.
/DRDRDR/
Miranda Lotto, exorcist and 'chosen' of Sunny, was very depressed at the moment. She had been following Lenalee and Krory after Mark had run into the infirmary waiting room, huffing and puffing out the details of Isaac's attempt at escape, and they had all been gone to help the others to detain the dragon.
Well, Miranda had tried to go help. She had run as fast as she could, but she was no match for both Lenalee and Krory, who were running as fast as their innocence could take them. And that was pretty fast.
After the two had pulled out of eyesight, Miranda realized something. She didn't know where to go. Lenalee had been the one leading, and know that she was far ahead, along with Krory, that left Miranda a bit ... lost. Very lost.
Okay, totally without a clue.
So, what does Miranda do? She decides to wonder around until she finds someone to give her directions. Simple enough. Except that the first person she sees runs by without a word, and seemingly ignores her. The second person does the same thing. And the third. And the fourth, fifth ...
Miranda decides to head where the people are running from, just to see if that leads her to a populated area with people that would actually speak to her. So, she walks. It really doesn't take long to find what the people are running from.
"Miranda!" Sunny cheers, Ammy right behind her. "Have you seen the libraries this place has! Or the people? Or the floors? Or the doors? Or the--"
"Do you happen to know where they keep the food?" Ammy demanded. "I am quite peckish."
A few people on the third floor hallway/balcony make sounds like half-strangled screams of despair.
"Y-yes, there is a cafeteria," Miranda told her. "B-but I'm afraid I have become a little lost ..."
"Down the hall and to the left!" Some person yelled, apparently from their room on the second floor.
"Why, thank-you!" Sunny returned, and the strange group began moving. "I daresay, these people are strange. I haven't seen one without it running away after!"
"I believe they think we are going to eat them." Ammy commented.
"Oh! But I would not! They would probably taste like dirt, if their smell is anything to go by." Then Sunny hastily added, "But not you Miranda! You are probably the cleanest human here!"
"Oh, I'm probably not ..." Miranda denied.
"But you are!"
"Oh, no I'm not ..."
"Are!"
"Not ..."
"Are!"
"I'm really not ..."
"Are!"
/DRDRDR/
My eyes hurt. It's not a burning, or stinging sensation. It's more like an ache really ...
"Bandages! Get me more bandages! It's bleeding through!"
It feels like something is trying to ooze it's way out of me ... like in one of those fantasy novels ...
"Doctor she's still bleeding!"
It's not trying to hurt me, it's just trying to get out ...
"Val!"
That was Allen ... I hope this doesn't look too gruesome ... oh, well. He probably can't see past the screen anyway ...
"Doctor, the blood--!"
It's out. That's when Val fainted.
/DRDRDR/
Pace, pace, pace, turn, pace, pace, pace, turn--
"Kid, can you please stop that? You're making me dizzy just looking at you." Li-Kei complained.
Pace, pace, pace, turn--
"Leave him alone Li, can't you see he's worried out of his mind?" Lo-Fwa defended.
Pace, pace, pace, turn--
"It's not healthy, and it's still making me dizzy."
Pace, pace, pace, turn--
"It's his sister in there!"
Pace, pace, pace, turn--
"Fine ..."
Pace, pace, pace, stop.
In the silence, you could her the door unlock with a soft 'click.' The doctor poked his head out hesitantly, as if expecting someone to try and cut it off the second he stuck it out. Spotting nothing resembling an ax or sword, he came out all the way. He spotted Mark.
"I think you should see this."
Mark was in and the door was shut again before you could say 'let me in too!' And believe me, Lo-Fwa tried.
The scientists sighed and settled into their chairs once more.
Mark, on the other hand, was astounded. His sister looked fine, beside the bandages being removed from her eyes. And even then, there was no sign of blood or gore or anything alarming. That is, until he spotted the basin filled with the red liquid.
"What happened?" Was all he could find the words to say.
"She started bleeding from her eyes," The doctor said quickly. "And after a large amount had bled out, the bleeding stopped."
"Why?" It seemed the only logical question.
"We're not really sure--" The doctor began, "--but the blood has been acting very strangely--"
As if the emphasis the point, the blood in the basin solidified, as if flash-frozen on the spot. It looked like red crystal ...
But it didn't stop there. As the nurses made sure to stay well away from the unstable substance, it slowly gathered itself into a ball, forming a spherical shape, before the dark red began to turn lighter.
Mark was pretty sure the doctor said "What the hell--?" Just before the stuff settled into the form of a pearly white egg the size of a baseball. Looking remarkably, Mark noted, like the same egg his sister had eaten a few months ago, just before she had gotten sick.
Oh ... duh ...
That's when it all made a bit more sense.
END 10.
BAD NEWS/AN: Hey. Yup, that was it, and I'm strangely not very happy with it ...
Bad news is that I won't be updating for a while ... anywhere from weeks to months ... yeah,months. So don't be looking for a new chapter anytime soon, I haven't written them yet.
The reason for this? Well, because the plot has split into three loudly screaming heads that are all demanding attention RIGHT NOW and all my homework is eating my brain RIGHT NOW and home life is very strange RIGHT NOW.
That's a little too much for a 16-year-old to deal with at once if ya know what I mean ... so I'm going to wrestle with the plot until it only has one head again, valiantly fight back my homework before it takes over my mind, and try not to let my sister eat me.
Thanks for sticking with me, and i hope you'll all be a bit patient as I work out how to do fanfiction and real life at the same time again ...
Oh, and Gremlin sayz hi.
-knux33