Meeting
"Are you sure this is wise? It may not be true and, even if it is, it must be a trap!" Hearst said to the other two, walking to the small entrance of the tower, doubt obvious in his voice.
"We can't leave them alone like this. It's our best choice, why not take it?" Yasuhara asked while fixing a backpack to distribute its weight more evenly. John Brown also had one and, Inside, there were some things they bought including some food and torches along with a modified golem and, in John's case, his priest things and the small book with the tale. They weren't light weights.
Their guide only sighed, knowing that nothing he could say would make them give up.
They soon reached the entrance and Hearst could only gape at the boat that was waiting for them. Yasuhara narrowed his eyes at the broken pieces on the surrounding area, giving an ominous feeling.
"I guess it's true…"
"Yes." The voice giggled again.
"So transport for two né? All taken care of. Hope you have a nice trip."
"Wait" the blond John started "where is that transport?"
"Why, isn't it obvious? By the only entrance you humans have used this last century. Anymore questions?"
"What game?" Both John's looked at Yasuhara. They didn't even thought about it.
There was silence and they feared the girl had disconnected until she answered "Ask Mai-chan when you get here. She knows."
The voice went silent, static being the only sound coming from the golem.
- SPR-
The part timer pocked the food on her plate uninterestingly, mind straying from reality, thinking of the events until that point.
They received a job, travelled to England to a small town/village, entered a tower that, apparently, was the headquarters of a supernatural Order (that is if the names Akuma and Exorcist meant anything). Then, she had a freaky dream (well, freakier than the usual 'job dreams') in which she met a creepy little girl that wished to kill her and 'invited' her to play a game and then, she was saved by Gene, who was actually being made prisoner, that helped her wake up with only some wounds and some psychological scars. What did she miss?
'Right, the fact that now we can´t get away in any case?' The bright side of this thought was that she now could help Gene. The worst part was that now they couldn't retreat on any case. They were stuck. She sighed, oblivious to the glances the others stole.
The brunette stopped playing with her food and got up, excusing herself from the table. Someone followed her but she didn't comment, opting to walk to the closest window and looking outside, thankful for the opportunity of fresh air.
"Mai, are you alright?" the self appointed miko asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I just don't feel like eating much…" she decided not to go on detail of the reason and Ayako didn't pursue it.
As both watched the scenery go by, the youngest fingered the charm in her pocket, appreciating the comfortable silence. Well, until it was broken to pieces by an unfamiliar voice.
"What are two beautiful ladies doing alone on a place like this?"
The 'ladies' turned in surprise, ready to chant something to protect themselves. The person who spoke had his hands in the air the moment he saw their suspicious eyes land on him.
"Whoa! I'm not going to do anything!" The person was a young red headed man, with a bright green eye (the other was covered by an eyepatch as if he was a pirate). A bandanna held his hair in the air. His clothes were black but two things caught the SPR members attention: one was the small hammer on his belt that had an almost imperceptible glowing green cross; the second was the Rose Cross sewn in the jacket, above his heart.
"An exorcist?"
-John Brown & Yasuhara -
The journey was uneventful. There was the occasional bump that shook the boat but nothing more. They reached the small dock fast.
"I suppose this is the entrance…" muttered Yasuhara, eyes studying his surroundings. John nodded while grabbing his rucksack, and carefully got out of the boat. Nothing happened the next minutes so they relaxed a little.
"It seems there's nothing here…" the blond one whispered.
"Che. More idiots?" Yasuhara and John jumped in surprise and looked around, searching for the owner of the annoyed voice. "Che." Before the pair a young man suddenly appeared, his dark blue eyes glaring at them. He seemed Japanese with his long hair in a high ponytail. He was wearing what seemed to be an uniform, a katana secure on a belt. A Rose Cross was visible, sewn in the jacket, right above his heart.
The priest was tense, ready for an attack. The university student was the one to ask "Who are you?"
The spirit regarded them silently and che'ed before saying something else that was not the answer "Are you with the other idiots?"
"Do you mean Naru-san and the others?"
"Che. Seems you'll be coming either way…" the annoyed mutter was barely audible and both SPR member glanced at each other in confusion until they noticed the exorcist was looking beyond them. They turned and could only stare as the boat they travelled with melted, slowly mingling with the water.
"Che."
- Naru and the rest -
They all watched worriedly as Mai and Ayako got out of the cafeteria… or now known as base. They finished their food in silence.
After the meal Lin was on the laptop, the hourglass near him, Naru was reading one of the books Hearst gave him, Bou-san glanced every now and then at the door and Masako sat quietly, trying to locate the spirits.
The medium snapped her eyes open and got up unexpectedly, attracting the attention of all.
The girl stared at an empty space for a few seconds "Who are you?" the others were quiet and alert by then. The teenager blinked, confusion on her face when, apparently, she received an answer.
In a blink of eyes, another girl appeared. At first, she was see through but, eventually, they could almost swear she was alive and corporeal.
The girl in question seemed Chinese and slightly older than Masako herself, if not the same age. Her raven - with a tint of green- hair reached her chin and violet eyes watched them, amused by their reaction. She was wearing a type of uniform with a jacket and shorts and she was using black boots until the knees. A butterfly was at each heel and an almost impossible to distinguish green glow came from a cross in front of each boot. Sewn in the jacket, above her heart, was a Rose Cross.
She smiled softly "Hello."
Naru narrowed his eyes and nodded in acknowledgement of the greeting.
"Are you an exorcist?" Bou-san asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to make sure.
"Yes. You are Takigawa-san, right?" at the nod received she said the name of the rest, ending on Naru, satisfied she got their names correctly.
A frown appeared on her face "Where are those two?" she whispered.
"I'm here Lena-lady, along with Mai-chan and Aya-chan!" they turned to the pirate wannabe who had just entered the room, followed by the two girls. "Where's Yuu-chan?"
A sword met his neck, the cold metal barely touching the skin "Don't call me that baka Usagi!"
The spectators stared at the trio until someone entered the room "Whoa, now that's a reunion." Everyone turned to him and Mai smiled and greeted him and the other that followed "Yasuhara-kun! John-san!"
"You need to get better guides for this place. Ours was a little grumpy." The university student grinned while saying that though, he wisely shut up when a certain death glare was directed at him.
"That's Yuu-chan for you! Yikes!" while the read head ran from his friend's sword, John couldn't help but comment "Aren't they lively?"
"Don't you see the irony in that statement?" Monk remarked, sweat dropping at the scene.
"Don't mind them, this is daily stuff." The Chinese girl informed. 'Right…' the rest sweat dropped again.
"How did you come Osamu-san, Brown-san?" Naru inquired them, keeping an eye on the exorcists.
"By boat but, we won't be able to use it again…" the blond priest trailed off. Naru's eyebrow rose up in a questioning manner. His silent question was answered by the Japanese spirit with a scoff and then the actual reply "The boat melted."
"Say what?" Ayako blurted before she could stop herself. The ghost gave her a glare.
"Well, that's a new trick…" said Lavi "How about we introduce ourselves! I'm Lavi, the grumpy samurai over there is Yuu Kanda - Kanda if you're not used to deal with him and his sword - and the lovely girl here is Lenalee Lee! Oh, this is the occidental way."
"You don't have a surname Lavi-san?" the brunette pointed out. The boy only grinned.
"Why have you shown yourselves? You have been avoiding us yesterday." Masako looked at them intently.
"That was when we were thinking of scaring you for you to get out of the tower. As you can see, that is kinda difficult right now for you." the spokesman (Lavi) told them. "And maybe we could help each other seeing you are, well, stuck here and aren't going to get out of here if we don't finish the… game." he was gazing at Mai when he said the last word, a dead serious (no pun intended) expression on his face.
"Great, mind telling what game is this? A girl decided to say that we were participants too."
They turned to Yasuhara "You talked with Road?" Lenalee asked.
"Er… yes."
"That's a new one…" she muttered. Speaking louder "This game… it started as a promise between us three and a fourth. The girl you talked with" at this she gave a look at Mai, John and Yasuhara "decided to play hide and seek with our friend as a… hostage. Well, that's the very short version at least."
"..This girl, Road… is she a Noah?" the exorcists tensed and looked at Naru, expressions carefully unreadable.
"Why do you say that?" Lavi asked, all traces of the joking personality they met gone.
"In this book" the SPR boss explained, showing the book he had been reading "there's the presence of a family called the Noah, enemies of the Black Order. Each person had a power. Road is one of them. The Noah of dreams..."
They all blinked and suddenly Lavi was beside Naru, the book on his hands. A smile stretched in his face, the joking persona back "I knew I had seen this book somewhere! It's old panda's notes."
"'Old panda's'?"
"Yes Mai-chan. Bookman's nickname." 'Never thought of it but I really miss the kicks he gave me…'
"What relation did you have with him?" Lin questioned, curious. The Bookman clan had disappeared, discredited by many people. Nowadays, anything by Bookman - the rare surviving copies - were considered some of the best stories ever written.
"Che, Baka Usagi was his apprentice."
"Is that so…" Bou-san doubt was obvious.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot... and John Hearst.
This is my Christmas present for those who reviewed, alerted, favorited and, everyone who read this~
Merry Christmas~
Please review ^-^