A/N: Back again for the weekly update. I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter; sorry again it was so short, this one will hopefully be more of the regular length. Enjoy:)
From: NinjaChipmunk
Q: This is cruel and unusual form of punishment, making us all super excited that you're back but making it such a short chapter *you can't see it but I'm pouting right now*. BUT YEAHHHHH! BRING ON THE CROWN OF THORNS! And I cannot wait for Cross to come back into the picture, as he is one of my favorite characters.
A: Wah! Sorry, I feel realty bad it was so short *bawls* Well, Cross will be here soon enough, glad you're excited for him.
From: Keelan1210
Q: Well, well— *swivels in armchair, smoothing the fur of a white, Persian feline in a Bond-ish manner*— I've been expecting you... *glomp* You're back! I shall never allow you to escape again! I will cling to you as much as Allen clings to Cassandra!
A: *laughs for 10 million years* Okay then.
From: TitanOfStone
Q: *claps like a seal* Yay! Finally a new chapter!
Short as it may be, You've had me SOLD after the first few paragraphs. Jesus I am at absolute mercy of your writing skills ;D
Love their in-the-head interactions, love how Allen was at Cas' complete mercy, love it oooolllll ;)
Will be waiting with great interest! Well done!
A: Thank you, thank you, I am eternally flattered. I'm so happy you liked everything!
From: AkaneZuki
Q: You came back, :-}. Thank god. I miss you so much, you've work so hard, and I'm glad you made it. The morning moments in this Chapter is sweet as chocolate, even though they said 'Good morning' to each other, still makes me really happy, or even intensively happy. \( ö )/.
I be waiting for the next chap.
A: Awww, thanks. I missed everybody too :D I'm glad you enjoyed the Callen fluff and I hope you like the next chapter.
From: Anime no Akuma
Q: YESSSS! NEW CHAPTER!
So, it's just really, really cute how Allen is so easily embarrassed. Also, I can't wait for all of them to get stuck with Tyki again ;-) That'll be fun alright.
A: Allen is the adorable fluffball of embarrassment indeed ;) If by 'fun', you mean toxic and horrendously problematic, then yes it will be fun.
From: Chymera-Dragon
Q: You have done it again! I mean poor Lou Fa, that poor girl must be traumatized as I put that on the same plane as accidentally walking in on your parents doing the do!
A: Thank you! I don't know if anything is quite that bad, but it certainly couldn't have been comfortable. That's not the last time something like that will happen either;)
From: xXChaoticOrderXx
Q: AYE CAPTAIN! I mean...yes I am ready to see Crown of Thorns in action! Fo shizzle. And yES ALLEN BEING BODY POSITIVE IN THE NEW UNIFORM THAT IS WHAT I AM ABOUT. Nice bounce back from the height comment! Haha I am all over the place but welcome back from the hiatus, glad to have you back! Even the Ethically Questionable Q&A Session *giggle snort* accurate title is accurate. (Well actually not that, I skipped it this time. X'D) I'm glad you like my stoned-cat comparison. I can't believe it might be one of your favourite reviews for this story though, that's hilarious. But man, I was so happy when I checked my email this morning. Thanks for the new chapter~!
A: WELL I'M GLAD FOR THAT XD Lol, body positive or just feelin' himself? That's the question. Thank you very much, sorry I was away for so long. Life can be a bitch sometimes. Don't skip the Ethically Questionable Q&A Section! That's where all the still unresolved sexual tension and Allen torture resides. I liked that review because it made me laugh my clumsy ass right off my bed. You're very welcome;) (By the way, I started the anime from your profile Pandora Hearts. Help. It hurts)
From: pendora59
Q: Tout simplement génial ! Je suis heureuse que tu mettes une suite , je l'attendais depuis longtemps
J'ai hâte de voir comment tu vas faire pour modifier le prochain arc avec Cass dedans.
A: Sorry, I had to put your review through Google translate because I don't understand a lick of French *nervous laugh*, so I hope I at least got the gist of what you're saying and I thank you very much for it :D
From: Jayla Fire Gal
Q: ME! I AM READY! Time for the amazing Crown of Thorns! I got the update notification, and I was like "I Dream in Ashes... What was that one again?" So I clicked on it and immediately "freaked out" as my sister put it. I am so happy this updated! I am also excited for Nea~ I mean, he is my favorite Noah (Sorry Tyki). Since Cas and Allen's minds are connected, will she also see the Fourteenth's reflection? Or is the connection more superficial? I am eager to see how this plays out.
A: Oops, guess that goes to show how long I've been away *bawls* NEAH?! YOU'RE EXCITED FOR NEAH? YOU MIGHT REGRET THOSE WORDS ONCE HE SHOWS UP AND GETS RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF CALLEN MWAHAHAHAHAHA
And yes, yes she will see his reflection and cuss at it…because that is Cas's response to things.
From: Tick Tock Follow the Clock
Q: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. NEW UPDATE!
A: YEEEEEEEEEEEEES INDEED Btw, is your name a Doctor Who reference?
From: Great
Q: AHHHH I DIDN'T EXPECTED THIS I'M SO HAPPY! Welcome back!
Allen getting jealous bc of Bak... How cute 3
I can't wait to see both Allen and Cas in action! That cliffhanger at the end killed me XD
A: I'M HAPPY YOU'RE HAPPY YAY Thank you!
Allen is a cute bean in general tbh
Woot woot! The wait is over ;D Well, you should be expecting those kinds of cliffies by now lol
From: MayatheRipper
Q: WE MISSED YOU ITS GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK! An I hope everything is going ok with you as of now
A: THANK YOU I MISSED ALL THIS TOO And yes everything is better now, I appreciate your concern;)
THE ETHICALLY QUESTIONABLE Q&A SECTION
Me: *looking at the floor* Tyki…You have to come out some time.
Tyki: No! I refuse! Nobody likes me up there so I'm just going to stay down here!
Cas: Oh don't be so dramatic, Tyki. Just because I'm with Allen now, doesn't mean I don't like you.
Me: And I like you too. You are a lovely character who's face I enjoy looking at, and I'm sure many of the readers feel the same. Or at least they love to hate you…
Tyki: *pokes his head through the floor* You mean it?
Allen: *sitting in Cas's lap* I don't like you.
Me: Shut up, Allen. I'm trying to motivate him to answer the questions.
Tyki: Feel free to start without me *drops back down*
Cas: Oh fine! This first one's for Allen anyways, from Keelan1210: "Allen, schematics, my fellow, fun-sized comrade. You may not have completed the deed, but you are most definitely not a virgin anymore. Seriously, even Cross would have to acknowledge that."
Allen: *tomato-faced* I don't even want to think about what Master would have to say about this.
Me: "Anyway, speaking of your teacher, I've been wondering for a while, but what would you do if Cross walked in on you and Cassandra having a rather explicit moment?"
Allen/Cas: *screams*
Me: See a later chapter to find out…Anyways, moving on: "Cassandra, which Noah, other than Tyki and Lulubell, do you think is the most physically attractive?"
Allen: Since when did you find Lulubell attractive?
Cas: That's news to me too. To answer your question-
Me: Sheryl, speaking from the future.
Cas: Who? Tyki's brother? I guess that's a safe bet.
Me: "Tyki, was it my imagination, or did I cause you, the Noah of Pleasure, to feel uncomfortable in that way? 'Cause you crossing your legs was very suspicious."
Tyki: *still in the floor* Shut up!
Me: "Could it be that you've thought about being, ahem, intimate with Allen before? Don't be such a lying liar who lies, and don't try to evade answering by acting like a tsundere or change the topic. Answer my questions, or... I have nude pictures of the Earl dancing the Macarena."
Cas: *laughs*
Allen: I don't want to imagine that…at all.
Tyki: *pokes his head out of the floor* I'm the Noah of Pleasure, darling; I've thought about being intimate with EVERYONE…you included. Does that answer your question?
Cas: Since you're up here, Tyki; here's a question for you from TitanOfStone: "Tyki-samaaa, sorry to ruin your mood last time ;c awwww here's a thing to make you feel better! *gives him pillow with naked Cas printed into it*"
Tyki: *snags it and dives back into floor*
Cas: Hey! Tyki, give that back!
Me: Don't worry about that. Have another question: "Cas, how's the catsuit? I won't ask Allen cuz we all know what he thinks. And I don't ask for its practicality, I'm asking how are you FEELING about it? XD"
Cas: Girl, you know I'm feelin my fine ass self in this thing.
Allen: *snuggles* I DO enjoy it. Very much.
Me: She adds: "You red octopus, stop teasing the smol (Allen)! ...unless it's sexual. Sexual jokes are good"
Cas: I will tease the smol as much as I want. It's my only means of humiliation until I can get my hand on decent rope and tie him up.
Allen: *groans*
Me: Another question for you, Tyki! " Last question, Tyki-san, what would you do if Cas is turned into a man for one day, locked in a room with you?"
Tyki: *pokes his head up* Two words *points at himself* Seme *points at Cas* Yuke *drops back*
Cas: *calls after him* As if!
Me: Moving on! Questions from Anime no Akuma. First: "Allen, what would be the most embarrassing name Cas could call you?"
Allen: *flushes* I-I don't know…She hasn't really-
Cas: Well, considering the way you were behaving last night, maybe I should start calling you my slutty-boy.
Allen: I am not a slut-Get your hand out of my pants!
Me: "Cas, are you an Allen going to hide your relationship or just do whatever?"
Cas: *pauses in her groping of Allen* Why would we hide it? There's no reason to.
Allen: No, there really isn't.
Cas: I mean, I suppose we should keep it on the downlow in terms of the Earl and the Noah. Don't want our enemies to have that kind of information.
Me: Tyki! Chymera-Dragon has another question for you! "So as I am making an effort to be nicer to you Tyki (*shivers* sorry new feeling) how about you just vent? I mean you were pretty upset last q&a."
Tyki: *yells out of the floor* First of all, I'd like it if everyone were a little nicer to me! I mean, what did I do to deserve this?!
Cas: *takes out a list* Where should I start?
Tyki: *pokes his head back up* I'm upset, okay? I thought I had a legitimate connection with someone and then she goes and bangs *points at Allen* that child.
Allen: Hey!
Me: Well, I'm sure more of this will be solved in story, so stay tuned for that. Anyways, that's our cue to move on to the chapter proper. Onwards!
Chapter 11: Green Blood
Fear. It's the first thing I feel as I step through the Gate. A sensation like a million needles striking my skin at once, leaving it pinpricked and trembling.
Allen, get Lenalee.
The girl's screams shake my insides, her panic spreading like wildfire throughout my body, but I feel Allen move away from me, and the notion makes me quiver slightly; however, my attention is ripped from him almost immediately.
I feel the cool pallor of Crown Clown's snow white presence, and Puppet of Thorns activates almost immediately to protect it, a new invigorating fire burning my insides with conviction.
The light ripples around me like heated air in a drought, it's fragmented, the pieces exploding before my eyes like a window breaking in slow motion.
Through the haze, the light, the color, the shadows, I see two familiar figures squaring off with a third.
I dive forward, swimming through the air; Puppet of Thorns rippling effortlessly around me. I feel the power surging through, my Innocence singing in my veins, an armada of thorns and roses that spring up from every touch of my feet across the ground.
One tentacle strikes the Akuma through the eye. It's a Level III, and it shrieks as it's mask-like face splits down the center and it collapses, a nest of yellow roses unfurling from its freshly spilled corpse.
Two more tentacles wrap around the two Exorcists that had been fighting it, familiar exclamations of alarm and anger are heard.
"Put me down, you slimy son of a bitch!" Kanda thrashes around in one of my spineless tentacles, waving Mugen around wildly.
I grin at him through my mask. "Hey, Boy Toy. Long time no see."
Kanda freezes. "Cas?!"
"Hey, Cassandra," Lavi called from where he's casually dangling from another tendril "Where'd you spring from?"
"Allen!" Lenalee's voice alerts my attention.
Allen is standing around her, Crown Clown falling around her small, crumbled frame like freshly fallen snow. He shields her from the Earl, the will of his Innocence spreading out farther then should have been thought possible.
The Earl's large frame almost seems dwarfed in comparison.
Despite Allen being several yards from me, it feels as though Crown Clown ends only just where Puppet of Thorns begins. A field of red and white spreading out like the duel wings of armored angels, covering everything marked in shadow, in darkness.
Edo is gone, all of it destroyed; the wood of their buildings, the bones of their citizens crushed down to a formless dark power and then crystalized to the black glass under our feet, under our forms, shrouded by our Innocence.
The Noah stand around the Earl. I see Road and Lulubell as well as three I don't recognize: a big man and two skinny teens all bearing the umber skin and cross-shaped scars of the Noah Clan.
The twisted corpses of Akuma are scattered throughout the scene. Standing amidst the rotten forms, I spy Krory, Miranda, Bookman as well as General Tideoll, Maire and what looks like some survivors from Lady Anita's crew.
"Well, well," the Earl's deep voice is like a shadow that paces over the glow I feel at seeing my old comrades again after what feels like years. "If it isn't Allen Walker, the old thorn in my side."
"I believe that euphemism is misplaced, Lord Millennium." That voice, the voice that belonged to the person I'd failed to notice, I hadn't wanted to notice.
Lavi and Kanda dangle between me amidst my nest of glistening flowers and twisting tentacles as I turn my attention to the person they'd been fighting.
Tyki Mikk, perched on the remains of a rooftop, having been dragged to ground level, smiles that smile that makes my entire body instantly want to collapse like a puppet with cut strings.
He looks a little worse for wear, his clothes are rough and tattered, his tailcoat discarded so only his dirtied white shirt remains. His hair has lost its style and falls in loose curls around his shoulders. The Tease, those damned butterflies, hover around him on papery wings.
I look at him, and I'm afraid. I'm afraid, and I hate myself for that. The fear remains as much as I try to push it down, but the longer I stare Tyki down behind the shield of my mask, am I filled with such an intense, unbearable rage I find it nearly difficult to breathe.
Tyki smirks at me, seeming to enjoy my discomfort, how visible it may be. "Miss me, darling?"
"Cassandra, what happened to you?" Lavi asked, interjecting his Bookman curiosity into the conversation.
I glare at him, my mask unfolding at the center and peeling back down my neck, the hat unfurling into a nest of roses around my shoulders.
"Ah, there you are. Rather hard to see under all…whatever that is," Tyki remarked.
"This?" I arch an eyebrow as I regard him, lifting up my arm and a half dozen tentacles spring out from my shoulder to my wrist, snapping at the air like hungry snakes. "This is Innocence fully realized." A small, cold smile spreads across my lips, "And I'm going to use it to kill you, Tyki Mikk."
My hands snap down, and tentacles explode out of my shoulders and back, erupting out from my body like a great flower violently blooming out the threads and knots of its petals that are full of hungry, burning and sharp monstrosities that snake through the air in a twisted ,warped dance, speckled with brilliant roses that fall
Puppet of Thorns is massive but weightless around what remains of my body, what hasn't already become one with the Weapon that lives and breathes from my body, a literal extension of every one of my limbs. Some stray tentacles strike the Akuma that linger on the perimeter, spellbound by the monstrosity that has come to destroy them all.
It breathes its own air, it pumps its own Blood through it's body that it takes from my willing being, from the bright green cross that burns in my chest.
I feel a thrill in the pit of my stomach when I most certainly detect a glimmer of concern in Tyki's golden eyes. "Is that so…?"
"It was so very rude of you to arrive to our little party so late," the Earl remarks to Allen, twirling the pink parasol called Lero through the air, "Especially since you stole the Heart from me." He gestured to Lenalle, who was curling
My eyes widen at his declaration.
Allen seems to mirror my surprise. The Heart? As in the Heart of Innocence?
Lenalee's the Heart? I snort. Somehow, I doubt that.
"You're not to lay another finger on, Lenalee!" Allen snarls.
The Earl merely looks amused at his outburst, the permeant smile on his goblin-like face gleaming menacingly in the light of the moon.
"You'll challenge me, Pierrot? That's a gamble, even for you, boy."
"Allen!" the warning barely leaves Lavi's lips before the Earl lunges at Allen, Lero suddenly transforming into a gigantic black and gold broadsword as big as me, even with my new height.
I pivot to fly to Allen, but the Tease pounce on me before I've barely turned. One strikes near my ear but I've barely registered it before a tentacle has sliced it in half. There's a flurry of movement, crimson and thorns as the tendrils slice through the swarm of insects with ruthless precision.
I'm in awe of my own power; I barely need to think, and my Innocence is already jumping to my commands, protecting me, guarding me.
I turn back to me, and I feel the slight tingle of the flecks of green sparking in my eyes. With a flourish, I finally set Kanda and Lavi down. "Sorry, boys; this one's mine."
Tyki grins tauntingly, "Come and get me, beautiful."
I don't need to be told twice. Puppet pounces, and my hands become spears, my fingers melting in single spikes as the rage within me comes to a boil in my throat.
Daisya's bloodied corpse lying in the guttar in the streets of Spain, Suman's body dissolving in a flutter of black wings, Allen's screams as his body is mutilated in the darkness of the bamboo forest.
It comes pouring out, and I scream as my arm connects with Tyki's arm as he's barely raised it to protect himself, a violet glow divides us, like the sharp petals of a foreign flower.
Behind me, I feel the clash of Allen's clawed left hand connecting with the Earl's sword, beating him back.
I pull away from Tyki as I see his white grin shining in the darkness, and he runs at me.
I inhale, and drop, and my body collapses under me, and suddenly I'm nowhere I can see.
"Cassandra!" Lavi's startled voice as I slither across the ground, the Bloodied brambles before reemerging, reformed from liquid and lunge again, tentacles snapping.
One strikes Tyki's shoulder, and I hear him grunt in pain as I flip over his head.
He turns in time to match me again; the Tease are in my eyes as we strike and parry over and over again, skirting across the crushed Edo like dancers across a polished dance floor.
I draw back, sliding easily against the slick Earth. Do I have feet now? I don't even remember, the seamless flow from flesh to Innocence conceals all notion of where I stop and Puppet begins as I strike at Tyki and his Tease over and over.
This is nothing, not the flailing and the screaming and the Blood pouring on the cobblestones.
This i
My back hits Allen's, and it's white in red or red in white. One becomes the other as our bodies mold around each other.
Movement becomes preemptive, faster than thought, and suddenly my spears are connecting with the Earl's large blade, his silver and gold eyes, crazed with malice and hunger, are filling my gaze, shielded by my mask that fits as natural as my skin across my bones and Blood.
"There you are, boy," Tyki snarls, slashing with his purple spears as Allen's threads pin him back.
Strike, strike. The Earl's sword cuts tentacle after tentacle, but there's always another that comes after it.
Allen is a blur of white frost that floods Tyki's purple lights and the Tease are swallowed in his threads and glow and silver mask.
Red and white. Silver and gold.
Allen steps back, and I move before I remember it, and my body melts through his own, stopping halfway, and suddenly neither of us are each other as the thorns turn green and red is on the white threads that erupt out like the wrapping of a present in an storm, piercing the hearts of every Akuma within a mile.
The Darkness evaporates, the clouds seem to disperse as each abominable stain upon Edo's destroyed service seems to evaporate a bit more of the shadows, and the Earl's hold weakens.
This exhilaration, the battle has always been a thrill, but nothing like this.
The Innocence is singing in my ears, Allen is burning in my Blood and roses fill my eyes, roses everywhere.
I pull back out, and strike at Tyki's body over and over. His grunts of pain as a few of my attacks find their home are the only thing that can break through the bliss this power brings as it seems to consume me fully.
"Allen!" Lenalee screams, struggling to stand. I catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye; her hair has been burned to her scalp, and her legs are covered in bandages from ankle to thigh. She crawls helplessly, barely able to walk.
The Earl sees her too. Allen manages to knock him aside, and his large body skirts slightly. There's a crackle like lightning and suddenly the air seems too aware.
"Tyki-boy!" the Earl calls, a chuckle that makes my Blood run cold leaves his lips, "I'd advise you take cover!"
"Lenalee!" Allen yells, breaking from the Earl as he jumped into the air.
"Sayonara, sweetheart." In a blink of my peripheral vision, Tyki was gone.
"Allen…" I hurry over to him as he bolts for Lenalee.
"You might want to reconsider running towards her like that!" the Earl called to us. I look up in time to see him return Lero to his true form, only for a ball of black energy to bloom quite suddenly from the umbrella's pointed tip.
Looking at the energy, and I felt like the air had been ripped from my lungs, like all the moisture had been sucked from the space surrounding that spear as it grow and grow, swallowing everything in it's path, all light, all breath…true Dark Matter.\
"Allen, wait!" I snag his arm and yank him back.
The Earl throws the ball of Dark Matter.
"Cas-" He falls back out of the corner my eye, and I allow myself a small spell of relief.
It's the last thing I feel before I feel nothing at all.
Allen, you idiot.
I don't even realize it's struck me right in the chest until the world seems to turn green then white, then black…
"CAS!" Her name rips through my thoughts and my mouth as I fall back, and she rushes ahead of me, throwing herself between me and the Dark Matter blast.
It hits the ground like an atom bomb, sucking every piece of sound and light from my senses, consuming Lenalee and Cas in its shadow.
The Earl is laughing, and the horror building in my chest is constricting my insides. I can't breathe. The dust is around me, it stings my eyes or is that tears?
I can't focus, my ears are ringing.
Cas…?
The dust clears.
My eyes water and sting and it's a long moment before I can process what I'm seeing.
Cas and Lenalee are gone. In there place some strange structure appears to have erected itself. It's a great crsytaline statue, like an ice sculpture, it glows faintly and it's a familiar, brilliant green.
Innocence, raw, beautiful Innocence.
My body shivers to look at, the fingers of my left hand trembling.
I can't move. I'm too shocked, too horrified.
"Ah, I see. Little Miss Heart appears to have shone herself yet again!" the Earl declares.
The Noah look confused.
"What exactly are we looking at?" the dark-haired of the two scraggly Noah twins asks.
"The Innocence of the Exorcist actively came to its Accommodator's aide," Lulubell explained, "It has garnered enough self-awareness to know when it's user is in peril, and rush to their defense."
As my eyes began to adjust to the vibrant glow of the Innocence, I begin to make out the strange and yet familiar silhouette peering out from within the crystalline confines of the armored Innocence.
It's Lenalee, floating within her Innocence's center like a fly in amber.
My insides quiver, and I have to close my claws as best I can. There's something not right about all this.
"Living Innocence!" the Earl sums it up, sounding like it was the best thing ever. "Sounds like the Heart to me!"
"Pretty impressive, isn't it?"
A voice nobody recognizes speaks up, and immediately everyone's attention snaps to its source.
I look up to the top of the massive structure to see Cas sitting astride it, looking rather pleased with herself. Puppet of Thorns had all but melted away, and now she's just wearing its bare minimum that takes the form of a sweeping crimson gown with a neckline that plunges deep enough to reveal the green cross at her chest.
"Cas!" I jump up instantly, overjoyed and afraid simultaneously.
Cas's head snaps in my direction, and instantly that fear overshadows everything else as she looks at me with a face I'd come to memorize, but an expression I'd never seen before that looks alien on her face.
My stomach drops, and I suddenly feel so small to see Cas looking down on me with a face that doesn't appear to be hers, with eyes that are burning into me: green eyes. Fully green, not just flecks and pieces.
"I'm sorry, Cas can't come to the phone right now. Would you like to leave a message?"
That voice.
It's not Cas's voice.
The voice is familiar, it's nagging at my mind, but all the terror I'm feeling at seeing this change suppresses it almost immediately.
"Anyways, like we said, it is impressive," the being that has become Cas-or has Cas become them?-drops down from the top of the structure, the skirts of their dress rippling around their body as they walk a wide arc around Lenalee's crystalline Innocence, their hand running across its scarred surface.
"Innocence that has grown so attached to its Accommodator that it puts itself at risk for their sake. Such a beautiful bond," Their eyes sparkle, that sickening green. Too much green. "But we do choose our children well."
Then they laugh.
The laugh is bright, blinding, the auditory equivalent of staring directly into the sun. It burns my ears, and fills me with a new kind of anguish.
For this laugh is heavily tinged in madness.
"Ah!" They spreads their arms wide with a flourish, a gesture far too delicate for Cas's gait. In this instant, her entire body seems to have become transformed by whatever it is that has taken hold of her.
But where has Cas gone? What is this…this thing? A person? An Akuma? What?
I'm frozen, too horrified to move, to speak.
The being within Cas spins on the spot, the flowing skirts of their dress spinning around her in a mesmerizing manner that draws everyone into her further. She is the eye of the storm, the center of this battle and everyone present cannot bear to take their gaze from her, for even a moment.
"But it is good to be back! Oh, how I've missed this!"
"You…" The Earl is the first to speak. The emotions in his voice are hard to place: surprise, confusion…anger? "Who are you?"
The figure pauses in their carefree movements, seemingly genuinely perplexed by the Earl's words as they regard him, staring down the Earl of Millennium without a qualm. "Don't you remember us? It hasn't been that long? Has it?"
"Who. Are. You?" There is definite anger in the Earl's voice, a kind of deep, seething rage that festers from deep within. The kind that no one wants to be on the receiving end of.
And yet, this being in Cas's skin looks up at him with a strange expression that does not house even a tint of fear.
"We've had many names," they calmly reply, "I remember this one as Rose, I believe. Yes, that's it. Rose."
The Earl's response is unreadable in his pulled, pinched goblin face, but it is dark, whatever it is.
My heart hammers, anger mixing with the fear in the soup of my insides. This being that has possessed Cas, this being called Rose, is going to kill her.
I manage to make myself get to my feet, even though my knees knock uselessly as I do so.
"Yes, out name is Rose," the being steeps a heavy bow with an almost mocking flourish, "And it's high time we returned to this war, we've sat out for far too long. Rose, they call us, for what we are is without measure. We are…every Innocence, you might say. Innocence is our will and our will is Innocence. We are every Innocence."
A murmur spreads throughout the gathered Noah.
I hear something that sounds like 'Apocryphos', but I don't dwell on it.
"Regardless, if this is the game you play, with our children upon your stage, then allow us to cast our own hand." Rose's hands move across their chest, pulling back the petals of their sloped Blood dress like one might pull the brambles apart of some brush. "If you want our heart Earl," the dress exposes the green marked cross burning out from their skin like a beacon, glowing brighter than ever. "Come and get it."
There's an explosion, a sound like a thunderclap.
I hear a scream and a shatter, and the whole world breaks for an instant, tearing down the middle in a flash of white light where the Earl and the Noah had stood.
It comes and leaves quick as lightning, and instantly the world repairs itself again.
The Earl of Millennium and the Noah are gone.
The Akuma are ashes, and everyone left on the battlefield is left filled with a silence that makes me want to scream.
I'm running towards Cas or Rose or whatever, I don't care! I'm running to hold her, to shake her, to slap her, whatever it takes.
I'm running for my Cas, towards something I don't know what or what it will do to me.
But I need her.
Cas drops to the ground, suddenly; her body collapsing from the neck down like a marionette with cut strings.
I dive forward, but her body slips from my grasp as she hits the ground and starts convulsing.
I feel the color drain from my face as I see the tear in her chest, the Blood seeping from it.
However, it is not like any Blood I'd ever seen before.
It's glittering, hot, green.
Green Blood.
Innocence.
That voice that had come from Cas's lips, that voice that was not her own; their words echoed in my mind.
We are every Innocence.
A/N: This chapter isn't as long as I wanted it to be, so I hope you're not too disappointed. I think it's just the nature of this arc that the chapters may be a little shorter. I dunno. We'll see.
Stuff happened though, so I hope you liked that at least XD
I'll see you all next week. Leave a review on your way out!