The D. Gray-Man characters are under copyright or license by Katsura Hoshino, Shueisha, Madman Entertainment, Viz Media, Kaya Kizaki, TMS Entertainment, Funimation Entertainment and/or Manga Entertainment. The Karneval characters are under copyright or license by Tōya Mikanagi, Ichijinsha, Madman Entertainment, Yen Press, Manglobe, Funimation and/or Manga Entertainment. This is a work of fanfiction, for no monetary gain.

Chapter 10 – My Brother's Keeper

Gareki set the surveillance system in his room, both audio and visual, to the loops he'd created, with a casual few strikes of the keyboard, and then, free from being monitored, he tapped far more deeply into the Ship's surveillance system with contemptuous ease. Hirato knew more than he was saying. That four-eyed turd always knew more than he was saying, but this went beyond that. He'd be damned if he'd let that bastard keep him in the dark and obediently do the grunt work the Sheep weren't only capable of doing, but were specifically designed and engineered to do.

He set the bypass program to notify him when Hirato left his cabin, and then activated his Shepherd program, which allowed him to both monitor and control every Sheep onboard. Excellent. Sheep 23 wasn't one of the ones he'd already modified, and it had just completed its current task. One Sheep more or less wouldn't harm the Ship, and what he was doing could well save it, one day. Gareki summoned the Sheep, instructing it to enter through the usual route, from the maintenance shaft to the vent in his room, so the cameras in the corridor wouldn't show a discrepancy with the loop now playing in his room.

Gareki was eager to continue work on his pet project. He'd only been able to get so far at school, not because access to the armory and the explosives it contained was so stringent, he'd infiltrated there within his first week on campus, but because of the lack of Sheep to alter and implant with the special robotic explosives he'd designed and created.

Less than a half hour later, just after he'd finished modifying the Sheep and set it back out to continue with maintenance work, Hirato was called to the Control Room for something that looked like it would take a sufficient amount of time. Gareki replaced the loop in his room with live feed and set the program to loop the feed in the corridor outside Hirato's cabin and the one intersecting it, so it would look like he was continuing on to the supply compartment. Then he left his room and headed down the corridor, silently counting, to keep within the exact window of the loops, and so he would arrive at Hirato's door after the override unlocked it.

He entered Hirato's cabin, exhaling in relief. Unlike the rest of the Ship, Hirato's cabin was not actively monitored. Of course, it was originally designed to be, but Gareki had discovered a bypass program had been implemented years ago, and was regularly updated, with a similar loop program to the one he used. His, of course, was better. He smirked and headed for Hirato's terminal. He was eager to try out some of the new hacking tricks he'd learned at school on the Ship's computer, and Hirato's console had the widest range of access in the entire Ship, save for the Control Room, and was far easier to breach than the latter, without discovery.

Gareki found it hard to believe that, in all the time Circus had existed, no one had come across Varuga like the ones they had fought. Captain Tsukitachi had gone so far as to question whether they really even were Varuga, before he and Hirato had realized he was listening, which was ridiculous. What else could they possibly be? But the two Captains had exchanged a look which made him think that perhaps they knew something important that they weren't telling the rest of them, for reasons he couldn't guess.

He accessed the search engine, using a backdoor code he'd figured out before leaving the Ship and receiving any formal training, and typed in the search phrase "Black Star Varuga Virus," hoping to get a lead on the strange Varuga and the deadly virus. The computer immediately responded, offering him two options: files created by Dr. Akari and last updated earlier in the day, or Eyes Only files of unspecified date and origin, the latter requiring both a Council password and access code. Heart pounding, he immediately chose the former, to stall for time. Eyes Only files were top level security clearance files, meant exclusively for the Council only, files not even Ship Captains had unauthorized access to. What do they know? What are they hiding?

Gareki connected his portable drive and downloaded Akari's files onto it as he debated what to do. Could the hacking program he'd created in school, the one on the drive he'd already attached, actually crack the Council's files? Do I risk it? If they catch me, I'll be expelled. He'd be unable to achieve his dream to return to Ship Two as fully fledged Combat Personnel. He might never see Yogi and Nai again.

No. It's good enough. I'm good enough. Without further hesitation, he initiated the program to hack the password and access code, knowing there would be a timer and alarm for entering the proper responses.

Gareki grinned in triumph when the password and access code fields populated and he entered the forbidden data system, but then his heart froze when he saw a warning flash on the screen, even after he realized it was apparently just a standard message, that it didn't mean they had caught him: Unauthorized access to this database is punishable by full memory wipe, lifetime incarceration, or death.

Shit. But it was too late to stop now, regardless of the potential penalty. He had to find out more, including why Circus might be willing to kill their own members to keep the knowledge from them.

Heart racing, he read the folder titles his "Black Star Varuga Virus" search revealed:

COURT-MARTIAL CASES 0136 AND 0137

THE BLACK ORDER

PERSONNEL FILES

He had enough storage space in his device to copy all three folders, but there might be additional passwords for which he'd need to be in the system to crack, to access the subfolders or files.

He opened the first folder, COURT-MARTIAL CASES 0136 AND 0137, revealing two subfolders:

0136 Defection of Ship Captain One Marian Cross

0137 Defection of Ship Captain Two Mana Walker

He clicked on the second subfolder, and then on the first file within, only scanning the first document, to ensure the text was legible and not encrypted. Then he hastily backed out of the file and subfolder, and copied all three folders onto the device, without researching them further.

Then he backed completely out of the system, logged off, and shut down Hirato's computer, yanking out the drive, realizing his hand was shaking, as he stared at it. Post adrenaline rush. Not fear. He reached for the door and cursed, seeing the time displayed on his watch. He'd almost made a rookie mistake. He couldn't leave yet. The corridor programs weren't set to engage the second loop yet, for the return trip to his cabin.

He waited, heart pounding, looking guiltily at the computer on Hirato's desk, half expecting it to come back to life on its own, or for alarm claxons overhead to start shrilling, or for an army of Sheep to be waiting outside Hirato's door.

He opened the door the second his watch indicated he could and exhaled silently in relief. No claxons. No Sheep. I did it! The mental yell was triumphant and foolish. No, idiot. You know better than that. You're not safe until you're back at your operations base. No, not even then. This might still come back and bite you on the ass, remember that.

Grim faced and subdued, Gareki headed back to his cabin. He had files to read.

0 0 0

Hirato headed back to his cabin. He'd no sooner gotten there, than his communication's console buzzed and flashed. When he saw the outside communication priority code was Ultraviolet, he cursed. UV was reserved for only the most catastrophic events. "Captain Hirato," he said, wondering what calamity had happened now. When he heard his brother Tokitatsu's voice he almost disconnected the call in irritation, until his words registered.

"Damn it, Hirato! How the hell did you get hold of my Council access code and password again? You promised you'd stay away from those files. You already know everything that's in them. I know you don't like me, but are you actively trying to get me killed?" Tokitatsu accused.

"What are you talking about? I haven't touched those files since the last time you yelled at me for them," Hirato denied.

"Bullshit. You accessed them not five minutes ago, from your terminal. I warned you we'd increased security. If I didn't have an alarm and delay linked to those files, you could easily have been caught. Although I have to hand it to you, looking at them now, there's no evidence at all you were even there. You've certainly upgraded your hacking skills, unless you were just sloppy before. The alternative, that you actually had someone else hack for you this time, isn't something I even want to think about," Tokitatsu proclaimed.

Hirato felt his stomach drop to his feet. "Damn it. Which files, exactly, were accessed? The ones on the courts-martial, the ones on the Black Order, the personnel files, or all of them?

There was a moment of absolute silence from the other end of the line. "Good God. Please don't tell me it wasn't actually you, or someone acting under your orders?" There wasn't only shock in his brother's voice, there was something he'd only heard once before: true fear.

"Then I won't tell you. But if it's any consolation, I'm 99% certain I know who the culprit is, and he's not a security risk," Hirato promised.

"NOT A RISK? Tokitatsu thundered. "He apparently broke into your office, commandeered your computer, cracked our most well-guarded password and access code, ones we change daily, might I remind you, accessed and actually bloody copied our highest level security files and then successfully erased every trace of his presence, and you claim he's not a risk? Maybe I should make him Captain of Ship Two in your stead," Tokitatsu threatened.

Double damn. For his brother to say something practically guaranteed to make him go ballistic, he must be badly shaken by this. "Never mind my end. No one will be able to see what you've done, or overhear this call, correct? You haven't endangered yourself by trying to warn me off, have you?" Hirato asked, with unaccustomed concern. He despised his brother, but he didn't want to see him killed, especially not for trying to protect him.

"I'm nearly 100% certain I'm safe," Tokitatsu said, suddenly sounding decades older than his years. "Do you think Father had any idea what he'd done? How much he and Cross shook up the Council by leaving the way they did?" he asked tiredly.

"For a moment I thought you were referring to how many illegitimate children Father sired. I still wonder if we've found all of us," Hirato said drily. "But it sounds as if you mean that all future Circus personnel would be subjected to mandatory partial memory wipes, and that interpersonal relationships between Ships would be strictly forbidden, to ensure all Ships were completely autonomous, in case one ever had to destroy one of the others?

"No, I doubt either he or Cross realized the draconian depths to which they dragged Circus. Though of course, it's not as if they truly had a choice in the matter. Neither of them wished to live in exile, after all. At least they had each other." He sighed. "For a while, anyway." Because neither the Circus hierarchy nor he and his brother had just let them fall off the map. They'd watched both men, from afar. Hirato knew what happened to their relationship, to his father.

Hirato wondered, sometimes, if his own relationship with Tsukitachi would have taken a different form, had they not known from the start an intimate relationship was untenable. Ultimately, being a Ship's Captain had meant more to them than anything. Not to vindicate their fathers, of course. Hirato and Tsukitachi both still knew of the men because Tokitatsu had secretly arranged to have his own memory left intact, and had ensured that Hirato's and Tsukitachi's were restored, as soon as it was safe for him to arrange it.

In spite of his bond to Tsukitachi, and what he suspected of the far more intimate bond between their fathers, the moment Hirato had met Akari, at the time his professor, he'd known he was fated to make the man his. Of course, that had yet to go as well as he had hoped, but he was a patient man. At least Akari no longer thought of him as his student, as a child.

"Damn it, Hirato, are you even listening to me?" Tokitatsu demanded.

"No," Hirato admitted.

"Never mind. I have my suspicions, but at least I'll truly be able to claim ignorance at my trial, if it comes to that," Tokitatsu griped melodramatically.

"Good. Then if you're done, I'll be going. I have a felon to catch," Hirato said, disconnecting the communication, without giving Tokitatsu a chance to utter any final words.

0 0 0

Gareki stared at the computer screen. He'd skimmed the description of the Black Order, and gone to the file entry on Akuma, the name for the demons the Order fought. He was currently reading the entry about Mavrosasteridialysios, the Black Star Dissolving Virus:

Vaccination: no known
Antidote: no known
Treatment: no known
Mortality Rate: 100%
Incubation: seconds

He shivered and then yelped when his locked door opened unexpectedly. He quickly blanked the screen, and was relieved he'd done so, when he saw it was Hirato.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" Hirato asked, far too innocently, closing the door behind him and locking it again.

"No," Gareki lied.

"Really? If I were to access the security feed from this camera, would it report otherwise?" Hirato asked, pointing to an innocuous looking section of the ceiling.

Gareki smirked. "No. I set it to play a loop, any time I don't want you to know what I'm doing," he admitted honestly. He'd done something similar in his old room with Nai, back when he'd been on the Ship the first time.

"I see. Sound as well?" Hirato asked.

"Yeah, I killed the bugs, too," he admitted.

"Well that's something at least. Gareki, are you aware those files you copied can get you, me and even a Council member executed?"

Executed? Then that warning was serious, and not just a scare tactic? But a Council member? And Hirato knows about the files? Shit, are they on their way to arrest me? Where did I screw up?

"I know you and I have had our differences since you came aboard. I do recognize that's not entirely your fault. I certainly take responsibility for my own shortcomings. I seem incapable of having the appropriate filial relationships with my siblings," Hirato said calmly.

"Siblings?What the hell are you… are youtrying to tell me you're my brother?" Gareki asked, stunned.

"Damn. I was told you accessed and copied those files. Apparently you hadn't actually read them yet. You're not supposed to know about us. We're not supposed to know about us. We don't undergo mandatory memory wipes to forget out families just to protect them. Emotional ties weaken Circus. At least, that's what the Council chooses to believe. It's been my personal experience that we fight far more fiercely when we are protecting our shipmates, than when we allow them to die, for the sake of the mission," Hirato said coolly.

"They would never execute you. You're a Ship Captain," Gareki fished, arguing against his earlier statement. Surely the four-eyed turd is just saying that to discourage me from reading them?

Hirato sighed. "I'm afraid the Council takes a rather dim and draconian view of treason. And Tsukitachi and I are already skating on thin ice, merely because of the bonds of our respective blood. Both our fathers were accused of treason, after all. That's why publically we keep up such a careful front of rivalry. The last thing the Council wants is to have two Ship Captains at once turn traitor again."

"Again? You mean your fathers were Walker and Cross? They were both Ship Captains? Why did they betray Circus?" Gareki asked.

"They didn't. At least, not intentionally. They had the extreme misfortune of saving the life of an Exorcist, a General in the Black Order by the name of Yeager, who was carrying four pieces of Innocence with him. Innocence is an extremely powerful raw form of the weapons the Black Order uses, something quite similar to Incuna cells. Two of the pieces of Innocence he was carrying resonated strongly with each of them. In short, they were the Accommodators for the Innocence, the hosts, if you will. Chosen by God, General Yeager told them. They had no choice in the matter. And crucial as our war with Kafka and the Varuga is, for the safety of humanity, the Black Order is fighting a foe no less deadly: the Millennium Earl and the Akuma. We misidentified those creatures we defeated earlier. They were Akuma, not Varuga.

"There are only 109 pieces of Innocence in the entire world, many of which have yet to be found, and fewer still whose Accommodators are known. When our fathers learned about the Order and their enemy, they decided to resign from Circus and fight as Exorcists. Unfortunately, the Council refused their resignations. They were not allowed to leave and were instead arrested, a mistake on the part of the Council. They escaped, of course. It was quite a messy situation for everyone concerned. Had one or the other been chosen, the other would likely have never left. They were inseparable."

"But what about their families? You and Tsukitachi, and your mothers?" Gareki asked, leaving himself out. He still couldn't believe he might truly be Hirato's brother.

"Tch. There are plenty of warm beds and willing women in the world, when they tire of one another, or fight. Any offspring that result have never been their concern. Those two men never loved our mothers or us. Or likely you or yours, sadly, if Father even knew about you. They loved only themselves, and each other."

Hirato said it as if he weren't one of the sons, as if it didn't matter. But Gareki knew all too well the pain of that rejection. He'd been abandoned by his birth mother, sold by his initial foster parents, and because of his own actions, abandoned by the foster brother from his new family. "So I'm really your brother? That asshole who's your father is mine too?"

Hirato shrugged. "Unfortunately, you can't choose your relatives."

His words were like a bullet to the heart. Idiot. You know better than to care."Yeah. Guess you got the worst possible hand dealt to you, huh? A jerk like that for a father, and me for a brother, right?" Gareki asked, hating how his voice hitched on the word "brother".

"Idiot," Hirato said, confirming his thoughts, but when Gareki looked him in the eyes, expecting to see scorn and derision, instead, Hirato's eyes softened, and he saw only affection. "As fathers go, we might have both been dealt a poor hand, but we didn't do too badly at all when it came to brothers. Just don't ever tell Tokitatsu I said so."

Gareki's eyes widened in shock at the implication. "Councilman Tokitatsu is our brother, too?"

Hirato grimaced. "Finish reading those files. When you're done, we need to wipe and then destroy that drive. We can't risk that information leaking to anyone, or being caught with it in our possession. And don't try to hack the system again. You might have been caught if Tokitatsu didn't have his own security on those particular files. Never become overconfident."

"Tch. You're lecturing me on that?" Gareki scoffed, as Hirato opened the door to go. Gareki turned back to the computer, ignoring his departure. Annoying four-eyed turd. So why did he feel so much lighter inside, like a rock that had been crushing his chest for years was suddenly lifted?