Author Notes: PHWOAR! Suddenly, the Black Order Headquarters remind me of Hogwarts. And I have submitted two chapters in one day once more! XD
Disclaimer: I don't own D.Gray-Man or anything related to it.
Like Tiedoll mentioned in the note, the directions to the Black Order were neatly handwritten below the small message. When Kanda finished, he immediately grabbed his suitcase and ran to find the street that was mentioned in the directions because there was a time limit written at the bottom of the note: Be at the gates of the Black Order by 5 o'clock.
'Curse him and his stupid tests!' Kanda thought as a chain of different ways to torture his master afterwards came floating into his mind.
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Lifting himself up with the last of his strength, Kanda lifted up his head above the rocks with his suitcase's handle held tight in between his teeth. 'Why the hell is the Black Order headquarters in a place like this?!' He tried his best to glare at the black towering building in front of him with black microscopic looking creatures fluttering around the building. 'Are they bats? What is this place, Dracula's castle?' He had heard the story about the famous vampire from his master one night on the train when they had caught glimpses of bats in the sky.
Finally managing to lift the rest of his body up, Kanda picked up his suitcase from where he dropped it onto the ground just seconds ago. Trying his best to dust himself off from all the dirt and dust, Kanda continued walking towards the dark building. As he neared the building, he noticed that the seemingly microscopic creatures fluttering around were not bats after all; they were small, yes, but they weren't animals. The small things had a long wing span and they were all black despite some of differences in shape. All of them had a camera of some sort planted in their main bodies which took up most of the space.
The Japanese boy ignored the creatures that watched his every move and continued to walk to the front gates of the castle. The castle had seemed so big in the distance and now that he was up close, Kanda just stared up at the towering building that seemed to block out the sun that was starting to set behind the horizon. Despite his effort to ignore the small creatures flying around him, he started to get really annoyed at the constant flapping noise that their wings made. One of the creatures separated itself from the rest of the group and curiously stared at Kanda.
"Who are you, and what is your purpose here?" A gentle yet strong voice came through from the creature that continued to hover in mid air and look at Kanda.
Kanda turned to look at the creature, "I'm General Tiedoll's pupil. He has sent me here; he should be in the headquarters…" His voice trailed off.
"Ah, Kanda Yuu, yes? General Tiedoll is here alright. Mind if you get a scan from our gate keeper first before you enter the headquarters?" Kanda nodded but he didn't exactly know what to expect. A scan? What scan?
Soon enough, a face's features appeared on the small wall between the two front gates of the Black Order. Kanda stared at the emerging face uncertainly while his fingers looked for the hit of his katana. Then it hit him like a rock – when he was climbing up the cliff, his katana had slipped and fell down back to the dark depths of the earth. Cursing under his breath, the strong gentle voice came again, "Don't worry, the gate keeper won't hurt you."
The gate keeper's head bent forward all of a sudden with his eyes bulging out of his sockets. Then the gate keeper's low voice bellowed, "X-Ray examination! This will distinguish whether you're an akuma or human!" Kanda still looked warily at the gate keeper as a ray of light passed over his body. Seconds later, the gate keeper's head shrunk back into the wall and two circles appeared in his eyes while he bellowed again, "He's clear. He's not an akuma."
The voice from the fluttering creature travelled to Kanda's ears, "I'll send someone to the front gates to meet up with you, Kanda." The gate keeper's face once again became blank as his eyes stared straight ahead. There was a loud rumbling noise and then the gates beside the gate keeper's face opened up and revealed a man wearing a white coat with rolled up sleeves and a white shirt and matching pair of brown pants.
The man in the white coat made his way over to the twelve year old Japanese boy and greeted him, "Welcome to the Black Order, Kanda. I'll introduce myself; I'm Reever from the Science Department. Head Officer Wales sent me to meet you." Reever held out his hand to Kanda, "Nice to meet you, Kanda."
Kanda held out his hand in return and shook the Australian man before the pair of them entered the castle and the large gates shut behind them with a loud bang as it came into contact with the ground. Inside the ground was tiled and chandeliers hung from the tall ceiling. People with white coats like Reever and other people who wore casual clothes rushed to and fro of the hall. At some doors, guards with black and purple uniforms held spears beside them as they guarded the doors. When they saw the young Japanese with Reever, they muttered things to one another about another kid being forced onto the battlefield.
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"I was so afraid you wouldn't make it, my lovely pupil!" Tiedoll sobbed as he embraced Kanda in a bear hug. Kanda only stood there seemingly petrified. Reever could only stand there and stare at the general while he listened to Kanda's mumbling about stupid tests and something else about the general.
When Tiedoll finally released Kanda, Kanda seemed like he had already suffocated. To their right, a door opened to reveal a young man with long brown hair tied in a ponytail. When he spoke, Kanda recognised him as the one who had spoken to him through the small black creature, "I'm Head Officer Wales. Nice to meet you Kanda; well, would you mind coming in for a chat?"
The Japanese boy nodded and entered the room alone while the man's eyes twinkled as he shut the door behind the boy. Kanda looked around the room while a bad feeling shot through his body. Head Officer Wales produced a small pouch with bright light leaking out of its opening. Kanda caught the pouch when it was thrown to him by the Head Officer. Tipping out its contents onto his palm, he saw that it was a small golden cube. 'Innocence…' He blinked at it as the light reflected off his eyes.
"I've heard about you and the Innocence from General Tiedoll. It seems that you're an equipment type." Head Officer Wales rummaged around a shelf in the room which seemed more like a lab. Kanda had learnt about the different types of Innocence from his master already; there were two types – equipment type and parasitic type.
Equipment type was like Kanda and Tiedoll. The accommodator would only be able to activate their Innocence if it was with them or in their weapons while parasitic types are when Innocences are inside the accommodator's body and could be activated anytime even without a weapon because the Innocence was a part of the accommodator's body.
"General Tiedoll has also told me all about you and your background… I suppose for a weapon you would choose a katana of some sort?" Head Officer Wales lay out a bunch of katanas that were all styled differently. Kanda's eyes scanned through the pile of swords but found one particularly unique. The sword's handle and sheath was pitch black with a line of white straight through the middle. Kanda put the Innocence back in the pouch and placed it on the operation table that stood before him and picked up the black katana. Unsheathing a tiny section of the sword, Kanda found it odd that the sword had a black blade instead of a silver one like all the other normal swords. Unsheathing the rest of the katana and swinging it around swiftly to test it, Kanda found it lighter than all the other swords he's ever encountered. "Hmm… So you like Mugen?" Head Officer Wales said with a tint of interest in his voice, "Mugen never gets chosen because of the black blade. People say it's weird for a sword to have a black blade."
Kanda sheathed the katana and held it out before him, "Heh, interesting. I'll take it."
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By the time Head Officer Wales and Kanda emerged from the room, General Tiedoll was gone and only Reever was left behind waiting in the corridor. "General Tiedoll's gone to the canteen for dinner already." Reever informed Head Officer Wales.
The brown haired man nodded, "Reever, you can go have dinner as well if you want. I'm going to take Kanda to Hevlaska." Reever nodded and left the two in the corridor. "Right then, come along now!" Head Officer Wales rushed Kanda along down the lit corridor.
Minutes later, they emerged from the dimly lit corridor into a large space. In front of them was a platform of some sort that hovered in mid air. The pair went on the platform and when the brown haired man was pressing buttons on the keyboard to operate the machine, Kanda stared around him in awe. Surrounding them were different levels with doors lined on each floor. Each door looked identical; if a person didn't know their way around, they would easily get lost. Not long after, the platform started to descend. Head Officer Wales caught Kanda staring at the doors around them and explained, "Those are the exorcists' quarters, most of them are empty though. All exorcists leave from the headquarters so they call this their home. However, there are some who don't want to come back. Generals are usually on long missions so they're usually not here, but if they're not on missions, they usually come back."
When the platform descended into a dark hole, the ceiling above their heads closed and candles were lit all around them as they continued to descend. When the platform finally stopped, a glowing white figure appeared from the shadows and several people with hooded black and gold uniforms sat at a distance away, staring down at the people on the platform.
"Hevlaska, take a look at him and tell us what you think of this kid." Head Officer Wales smiled warmly at the white glowing figure that had wavy hair that flowed all around its face, covering her whole body and face except for the lips. Kanda's grip tightened around Mugen when strands of Hevlaska's hair wrapped around his body and lifted him clear off the ground. He wasn't sure what Hevlaska will do to him, but he could feel an aura of kindness around the white glowing figure, telling him that it would be fine.
"You're the first to not struggle against my touch, young boy…"Hevlaska's gentle voice echoed through the dark. Kanda didn't reply but simply kept still. Putting her forehead against his, she started to slowly mumble percentages, "60... 70... 80..." Then Hevlaska stopped and placed the twelve year old back on the platform where he had been before, "It seems that your highest synchronisation rate is currently 80."
Head Officer Wales clapped, "Impressive, Kanda! I'm sure you'll become a fabulous exorcist!"