Alright! I'm back (and on time! I know amazing! I have surprised even myself) and with a new chapter and no horrible excuses because it's actually on time (what a concept) Well now that I've started carrying on about nothing that makes any sense. I swear I'm not drunk! Don't even like alcohol.
Dear 15th, first off is it okay if I call you this? I'm incredibly ecstatic that my chapter made you grin like the Earl. I can't tell you how nice it is to hear that you like the fight scene. I always worry about them and hope that my readers see it as vividly as I do in my head. I just have to tell you how much your review meant to me. At the time that you were typing your review I had been out in a field in the rain chasing a horse for 45 minutes (took me another 15 to get him in the barn) when I got home my shoes squished they were that wet. I dry off and open my email to start working only to find an email with your review. It brightened my horrendous day and made me smile for the rest of the weekend. Not only was there another review but you spoke of the story, what you like about Luca, what you hoped to see, and your own thoughts on the entire thing. You spoke (wrote?) encouraging words to me, things that every writer needs to hear. As I said in my bottom author's note I will reveal the events that caused Luca's view of brokers at a later date and I'm happy that you understood Luca's decision about the broker even if some readers didn't like it. Cross will find out about Tyki and it will be an interesting conversation because he is the distant father figure! I'm very excited to see what you think of Joyd and Luca's interaction but that's not for several more chapters. I will say that China and the ark will be hard places for Luca to be. Also don't worry about your English, learning, reading, writing, or speaking another language is hard. English is my native tongue and I butcher it all the time! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
As always I only own Luca, Scor, Harlequin, and the plot. The rest of DGM and all it's wonderful characters belong to Katsura Hoshino!
After having to double back to Il Trascurare to grab her stuff that she had hidden upon sensing the Noah's presence Luca didn't make it to Montenegro until after dark. Checking into an inn for the night Luca groaned upon remembering that she had call Komui again not to mention make up a lie about her love showing up agian. Getting up from her bed with a whine she went back to the front desk to ask for a phone.
"Luca! Why are you so bad at keeping in touch? I swear I cannot handle another exorcist like General Cross who just disappears on me all the time. Central is already annoyed that we can't seem to keep track of him but if I lose you too they'll freak!" Luca sighed as Komui started right in on her. "You better have a really good explanation for why you didn't call yet again!"
"Are ya done?" she asked blinking a few times while waiting for her hearing to come back.
"Yes now explain yourself young lady!" he snapped. Young lady, she made a face at that thought crinkling her nose.
"Remember how I told you that the manager Palazzo gave me the creeps?"
"Yes..." he answered allowing her to continue.
"Well he was a broker and sold me out. He drugged my dinner. I didn't wake up until sometime in the afternoon and when I did I had company. There were a bunch of akuma that I had to deal with. Not to mention the broker." she sighed. The Chinese man was quiet for a moment.
"What happened to him?" She took a deep breath.
"He's dead. Can we please just leave it at that?" Komui thought for a moment. Perhaps it was best to not press the issue. He could here the fatigue in her voice and knew that sometimes Luca did things she wasn't proud of.
"Very well. Did you get out safely?" She smiled glad he was letting it go.
"Yeah I just got into Montenegro."
"I'm glad that you are safe. Go get some sleep but please try to check in with me in the morning." She laughed at his almost whining tone.
"Well hopefully nothing exciting will happen but I really will try." As the line went dead Komui looked at the phone for a second.
"Reever had we heard anything about Montenegro lately? I feel like I just read something about it." The Australian looked up.
"Yeah I think you might be right. I'll see if there's anything in recent paperwork." He rushed off muttering the name under his breath to keep it in his mind.
Luca slept later than she meant too and got a late start on her trek across Montengro. Instead of taking a train which would've taken longer give the terrain of the country she would be walking, flying, and hitching rides where she could. It would be an interesting few days she could already tell. Currently she was sitting on the back of a farmer's wagon heading northeast. She still needed to go up through Serbia to get to Romania and Moldova. At the rate she was going she would catch up with her brother and the others in Ukraine as she projected. Glaring up at the sun for a second a thought came to the girl.
"Harlequin." The liquid unwrapped from her skin allowing her to stick her hand into it. It slid smoothly across her skin like candle wax. Digging around for a second she pulled the top hat with the shiny red ribbon out. Leaning back she placed the hat over her forehead shading her eyes from the sun. "I knew that I would need this." she grinned at Scor who came to rest on her shoulder. The cart stopped moving.
"Oh look an exorcist sleeping on the job." Luca groaned hearing the akuma's voice which grated on her ears. Pushing the rim of the hat up with a single finger the exorcist glowered out at the group of level 2s.
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to go away would you?" The group of akuma howled with laughter. She could hear the farmer making strange noises. "You've got to be kidding me!" She groaned looking up just in time to see the farmer himself change into an akuma. "Fantastic."
"Hold still little exorcist." hissed the one comparable to a lobster.
"Yeah, hold still. Hold still. Hold still." chanted the demented bird akuma as it dove for her it's large beak open wide ready to swallow her whole. Rolling off the cart she landed in a low cat like crouch.
"You think you can escape us foolish exorcist?" snarled the former farmer.
"Do you have a mute button?" she asked in annoyance. "Activate!" Harlequin shot through the farmer as it's mistress rolled under the cart to avoid the hail of bullets from the level 1s.
"Get back out here you nasty little creature!"
"If you insist." Twisting herself out from under the cart she summoned her weapon back to her over her arms into the familiar pair of gauntlets. Using the cart to gain height she jumped up onto the lobster who was still talking not that she was listening to it.
"Get off!" it hollered right before she punched through the shell protecting the head.
"Oh just die already." she groaned pushing off yanking it's brain out with her as she fell right onto another one who tried to buck her off. The level 1s trained their guns on her. "Great." Wrenching the akuma around she ducked down using it as a makeshift shield.
"You little witch!" it howled before she tore it's head off.
"You've left yourself open!" she groaned as the bird screeched.
"Did I?" Harlequin changed into a sword as she fell. "Or are you just stupid?" she asked though the severed head didn't answer, not that she expected it to do so. "What a mess," she looked over the cart. "and of course the wheel of the cart is busted and the horses ran." Grabbing her things from the back she jumped onto the newly formed board. "Guess I'll fly for a while."
The next morning was quiet and after finally getting a couple nights of real sleep Luca woke with the sun as she would normally if she were at home. It felt strange to call the Order home but she knew it was probably the closest thing that she would find to that word.
"Maybe today I'll actually be able to get my shopping done." she spoke to the little golem perched on her shoulder. The sunshine was nice and kept her warm giving a nice balance with the breeze that was blowing through. Wondering around longer than she should have the procrastinating girl was just about to head out when she heard whispering.
"That man hasn't come back yet." the apple vendor was leaning over next to the butcher's ear.
"Maybe he moved onto the next town. It is in that general direction right?" The apple vendor shook her head.
"That's not how you go to that town. Not a soul would have told that nice young man to go that way. Everybody knows that field is haunted." The butcher quirked an eyebrow.
"He's been gone for several days. If he didn't go to the next town they only thing out there that would provide shelter would be old man Jevrem's place. He couldn't be staying there could he?"
"Jevrem hasn't been seen in months. I'm almost certain he's dead. Probably in his house." the woman answered.
"Maybe he was just curious about the legend?" the butcher suggested.
"It's not very well known and he wasn't from around here. He looked I don't know I want to say Portuguese." Luca stopped walking surely the apple vendor couldn't be talking about him. After all he wasn't the only Portuguese man in the world. Obviously. She rolled her eyes. It couldn't be him. Great it's like I'm looking for him or something. Man I need help, or it could be that I'm bored. Akuma are more annoying than entertaining but when being compared to him they didn't have much of a chance. Ugh I'm doing it again, she mentally groaned.
"He was very polite. Well mannered and pleasant." The butcher noted.
"Very handsome too. I don't normally like moles but the one under his eye was cute." the apple vendor grinned. The butcher laughed.
"Better not let your husband hear you say that."
"He was too young for me. He didn't really look like a traveler though." The butcher nodded.
"Yes you are right. His suit was too nice to be a traveling in." Sighing Luca made her way over to the gossiping pair.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but I couldn't help but over hear your conversation. You said that a well dressed young man went into a haunted field?" They looked her up and down a couple times.
"Yes he came here a few days back and spent most of his first day in town asking around about the field. The next morning he asked for directions to the field. Some of us tried to convince him not to go but he insisted that he would be fine. That was the last any of us saw of him." The apple vendor's brown eyes locked with hers.
"Are you looking for him?" the butcher ruffled his blond hair.
"Not quite. It's my job to look into strange phenomenons. However I wouldn't want anything to happen to him." Well nothing that I don't inflict myself, she added on silently. "Could you tell me the legend please?"
"Back in the last century there were countless witch hunts. The field was where they were hung or burned for being witches. It happened so often that it's now called veštičenje. Witch torment. It's said that the last witch they burned there was the real deal and she cursed it. Now it's said that anyone who enters the field is cursed to do her bidding as he own personal slave." Luca nodded soaking up all the information.
"Though they are more like zombies." The blond man added on.
"What about the man you mentioned earlier. Jevrem right?" Luca winced knowing that she was killing the man's name.
"Poor Jevrem bought the field and built a house out there. His wife was pregnant and they didn't have much money and it was cheap. They lost the baby, then his wife Emilija went crazy and tried to kill him before taking her own life. He never really recovered from it. With each passing year that he lived there he grows more zombie like. He hasn't been seen in a while." She looked up at the taller man who was telling the story.
"That's terrible." It was all she could think of to say. Both nodded.
"It is." The apple vendor looked at her again.
"Are you going to check veštičenje out? You said it was your job to do so didn't you?" She nodded.
"Yes I am. I need to make sure that it's just a legend and see if I can't find the man in the top hat. Could you please give me directions?" After the green eyed girl left the apple vendor looked up at her friend.
"I don't recall saying that the man had a top hat." The butcher was quiet for a moment replaying the entire conversation in his head.
"You didn't." They stared after the strange young woman who left town in the same direction that the man had gone. Her heavy dark brown messenger bag bounced again her hip as she jogged over the the forest's edge. The leather was in very good condition but still had some scraps that needed to be taken care of. Their eyes widened in shock when the silver thing that had been sitting on her shoulder flew off.
"This is bad Scor, if My Love is here that means it's not an akuma and the Earl thinks it's innocence. He's probably already gone and the piece destroyed but I still have to check. Komui won't be happy. I really need to figure out how he's moving around. Nothing should move that fast. He's keeping up with me and Harlequin moves faster than any boat, train, or carriage. So how the hell is he doing it?" Luca was more than a bit frustrated with the Noah once again. Every time she thought she had something about the man figured out she found a new thing that didn't make sense. She was also losing her temper with all the branches that were at just the right height to hit her in the face or get tangled in her hair. Groaning she tucked her braids up and tugged her hood over it. "Why couldn't I be taller?"
Finally stepping out of the forest she found herself at veštičenje and staring at a bunch of akuma who were gathered around where the tall grass started. They hadn't noticed her yet, instead they stared intensely at the field waiting for something to happen. The puma like akuma pushed the strange human like one covered in spike forward.
"Go check on Master Noah." it ordered. The spiky one whirled around and growled.
"We can't get through the barrier! All I would be doing was getting myself killed. I'm sure the Master will be out shortly."
"Well maybe we aren't too late after all." the exorcist murmured to her golem. "Activate!" The liquid pierced the skull of the puma akuma before they even processed what they had heard.
"Exorcist!" the walking pincushion snarled before it too was dead.
"Thank you for telling me that the Noah is still here. I was worried that I was too late."
"You are!" hissed another one as she strode through the grass towards the group.
"If I was you all wouldn't be here. Besides you can't get through which means that the innocence is still active." Waving her hand the metal finished off the rest of the akuma. "Well time to visit My Love. I can't believe that I actually missed him. I can never let him know this fa-" she trailed off as she stepped through the barrier. Lying in the tall grass of the field was the Noah unmoving on his side with his back to her. "My Love?" she questioned walking towards him slowly. His hat lay on the ground on it's side. "What kind of a trap is this?" Bending down she rolled him over half expecting his hand to grab her by the throat but nothing happened. "Okay not funny anymore." she told him as she started to shake him. "Alright time to try and kill me now." she singsonged while shaking him a bit harder. Her eyes grew heavy before they started to drift close. What's happening? she wondered struggling to stay awake. The Noah still didn't move, if anything all she was doing was tiring herself out which shouldn't be happening. I'm getting really sick of this, was the last thought that crossed her mind as her world went black.
Luca opened her eyes only to immediately shut them again, the sunlight streaming in through her window burned her eyes. Blinking slowly to allow her eyes to grow accustom to the light she noticed an arm draped lazily over her side. Her hand rested on top of the bigger one their fingers intertwined with each other. She could feel his presence behind her, his breathing even and steady. He's still asleep, she thought yawning as she glared at the rising sun. Looking back down at their hands she couldn't stop the grin that made it's way onto her face as she caught sight of the gold wedding bands. It had been one of the best days of her life. He was hers and hers alone.
"A good dream Butterfly? You're grinning like the cat that ate the canary." His deep baritone voice rumbled in her ear. She turned her head to look at him.
"Just thinking about our wedding day." He leaned over and kissed her cheek causing her to roll over to face him.
"I'm still convinced that you're an angel especially on that day." His dark eyes met her emerald ones. She giggled.
"My Love we've talked about this, I'm no angel." He pressed his lips against her forehead.
"You are to me." This time she laughed.
"Wow, who knew you'd be so cheesy when you first woke up?" He snorted at her.
"Way to ruin the moment." She grinned and pulled at the blanket so she could get up. His arms wound around her waist pulling her back down against his chest. "You think that you can just get up and leave after that? No you need to be punished." She grinned tracing the lines of his face, the shape of his nose, the line of his jaw. He was perfect in her eyes. She blinked a few times.
"When...," she trailed off for a moment.
"When what? What's wrong?" he sat up slightly, eyes narrowing slightly in concern. Tyki stared at his wife in concern. He knew she wasn't normally a morning person but now she was worrying him.
"When did we go to bed last night?" He blinked a few times at her.
"When did we get in bed or when did we go to sleep?" he joked trying to get her to smile, she sorta did smacking his chest lightly.
"You know what I mean." she paused again. "I can't remember what happened last night or how I got here. Were you with me or here before me?" His brow furrowed as he thought back trying to remember in an attempt to quell the fear that he could see rising in her eyes.
"It's okay, I-" he trailed off his own memory fuzzing, like it was missing a piece. Tyki watched his wife rise to her feet to go look out the window. "What is it?"
"You need to come see this." The tone of her voice told him that she was serious. He joined her at the window. Spanning out under them was a giant castle. Past that was the normal wall that protected it and a massive golden field as far as the eye could see. A knock at the door sounded.
"Your majesties? Are you awake yet?" There was a moment of quiet. "You have a big day ahead of you."
"Oh yeah we're fine if you could just give us a minute I need to discuss a few things with my husband in private." Luca called staring up at the Noah.
"What's going on?" he hiss quietly to her. She waited for a second until the maid's footsteps disappeared.
"How should I know? Okay can you use your powers?" He thought for a moment before putting his hand against the wall.
"No, normally I have to trouble phasing through things but nothing's happening right now. What about you? Do you have your innocence and if so can you use it?" Luca pulled at her skimpy nightgown to look at her arms and collarbone.
"No, it's gone but I'm guessing you didn't take it since you asked me." He shakes his head.
"Trust me I wouldn't still be here if I had. Even without your innocence I'm sure that you would still find a way to hurt me Butterfly." He reached over to brush a piece of her long hair out of her eyes. She looked up at him.
"You're right. I would've." she paused reaching up to place her hand on his face stroking his cheek with her thumb.
"What?" he asked wondering why she was staring.
"Is this your natural coloring? I've never seen you out of your Noah form before." He looked down at his own hand noticing his pale skin for the first time since he woke.
"Yeah, why were you expecting something different?" When she didn't answer him he looked up from his hand to her face. She was still staring at him.
"No not really, it was just strange. Despite never seeing you without gold eyes and gray skin I recognized you easily." She dropped her hand. "Okay so this isn't real. We need to retrace our steps to figure out how we got here and how do we get out of here. First question why are we married?" Both looked at the rings again.
"I have no idea really. I'm completely lost. Though if I woke up like that every morning I'm not sure I'd mind." he grinned down at her and moved closer.
"If you need to get back in bed and get up again to wake up from that dream then I'll wait." she answered in annoyance while pushing his shirtless chest away from her with a roll of her eyes. Groaning upon remembering her own state of undress. Digging around a bit she found her clothing.
"Aw don't change on my account." Tyki cooed. The vase that she threw at his head shattered the window when he ducked and fell into the courtyard with a loud crash upon landing in pieces.
"I can hurt you." she reminded him as she put her boots on keeping her back to him while he got dressed.
"You can't say that you didn't like waking up in bed with me. I saw the look on your face." He came to stand by her signaling that he was done and they could go. His grin never left his face despite having another vase tossed at it. The fact that she didn't hit him either time said that she was only throwing it halfheartedly. I can work with that, he decided to keep that thought to himself.
Luca paused in the open doorway a grin pulling at her lips in a devious smile before she spoke, "I never said that I minded waking up in bed with you but if it had been up to me you would've been in handcuffs." She kept her giggles to herself despite the fact that she could only hear her own footfall. "Maybe I broke him." she hummed to herself. It was several more feet before he started jogging to catch up with her.
"When we get out of this I may just take you up on that." She smiled up at him innocently.
"I don't have the slightest clue what you are talking about." The brown haired maid rushed over to them.
"I was so worried, I checked your room but you both were gone. I was terrified that something had happened to you. Especially with so many people being unhappy. Not to mention that Lord Sheril has put a bounty on milady's head." The maid continued fretting while the pair just blinked at her.
"It's okay, is there a place that," she paused glancing up at the Noah for a moment "my husband and I could talk privately. We need to discuss what to do about Lord Sheril and it's best without an audience." the maid nodded.
"There shouldn't be anyone in the study at the moment and I will keep everyone from it if that is what you wish." Tyki nodded.
"That would be great." I've seen her somewhere. Where was it? An exorcist? No couldn't be, Butterfly's the first female exorcist he had ever met. Until her he hadn't known they could be. Where was it? Had to be some place. I know I've seen her before, he racked his brain for where he had seen the maid but couldn't come up with anything. Blinking he looked around and found that while he was thinking Butterfly must've pulled him into the study with her.
"Well that just made things a lot more complicated. Does the name Sheril ring a bell for you?" she asked looking over at him. He sighed sitting down in one of the leather chairs while she moved to the window.
"Sheril is my brother's name but he can't possibly be here." She looked over at him.
"Would he be trying to kill me if he knew?" The Portuguese man raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm trying to kill you." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Not very well, besides there seems to be rules to our game." He huffed at her.
"I just don't feel like ending the game so soon. You're the most fun I've had on this side of my life in a while. I'm not bad at my job or anything."
Luca couldn't help but giggled at him. I would've never thought that a full grown man would be cute when he was pouting, her train of thought was cut off by a realization.
"It screws with our minds!" The Noah jumped several feet in the air clearly startled by her sudden shouting which probably didn't make any sense as she didn't bother with any context whatsoever just yelling her revelation to the world.
"Do you want to explain what you just said or are you going to leave me in the dark?" he questioned glaring mildly at her as she rushed over to sit next to him in another leather chair.
"This! All of this isn't real. It's in our heads. Which explains why you can't use your powers and I can't find my innocence." He blinked at her a few times. He could see the logic in that.
"Okay so how do you know I'm not a figment of this place?" She laughed in response.
"I don't know your brother's name yet you didn't even blink. Had you been a figment you wouldn't have known either. The maid would have had to tell you who it was. Thus you are real." He pondered the idea for a moment.
"So how do I know that you aren't a figment of this place meant to fool me?" She paused looking away to make a face while thinking.
"Hmm that is difficult. I don't have an answer at the moment." He leaned back in the chair.
"This isn't the first one you've been in. So why should I believe that you are the real Butterfly?" Her eyes darted back up to him and she opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.
"Your majesties you must flee!" A maid with blonde hair rushed in. Francesca has sold you out to Lord Sheril and he has sent an assassin! Francesca let him in!" Luca groaned rolling her eyes. "Run!" Grabbing the Noah by the hand she yanked him out of the room just in time to see a tall man with short dark hair and a familiar gun standing in the hall.
"There you are! I've been looking for you!" Eyes wide she ran the other way still dragging the very confused Portuguese man with her.
"Who's that?" He glanced over his shoulder only to see one of the bullets fired just barely miss the end of his nose.
"Somebody I never wanted to see again." Her voice shook as they darted down corridor after corridor trying to escape the madman the fear evident. She was clutching his hand so hard their knuckles were white. The part of her face he could see was white as snow.
"Run, run as fast as you can!" Tyki looked over his shoulder again.
"Why is he shouting nursery rhythms at us?" Instead of terror now she only groaned.
"Well that's how you know that I'm real." she jerked him into a closet and shut the door as quietly as she could. They heart the assassin go thundering by and down a different hall. Opening the door just a crack she peaked out.
"I don't see how that proves you are real." he stated staring down at the exorcist.
"That gun he had. It's my Master's. Why I'm so good at dodging is because he would shoot at us to teach dodging, pain tolerance and increase our stamina. He'd yell that as we ran. Either he was trying to be funny or encouraging. Either way that's from my mind. So know we know that the other is real." They moved silently down the deserted halls creeping around checking before each corner.
"I don't recall an exorcist general who looked like that." She paused to listen to his whisper before turning away from him.
"I said the saying and gun was from my Master. The man..." the girl trailed off.
"He's from your past isn't he?"
"Yeah, how did you know?" He sighed looking around before taking the lead. Whoever the man was he had certainly rattled the girl.
"Because the maid Francesca is from mine. She attended a ball that my brother hosted. She and a partner used the ball to kidnap Tricia to use as leverage against my brother. We were less than thrilled." She nodded slowly absorbing the information.
"Well that helps with my theory." He blinked at her.
"It does? You just said that it screws with our minds. How does Francesca help?"
"She betrayed the trust you and your family put in her by kidnapping Tricia. Therefore you don't trust her now and she betrayed us in this world." she explained tapping him on the shoulder pointing to a hidden door behind a tapestry.
"So what about the assassin? I highly doubt that your master really tried to kill you." She shook her head.
"No, Master was only training us. Despite what he says and how he acts sometimes he truly cares about my brother and I. No this man, he was the first to ever try to kill me. I've..." he waited for her to take a deep breath to calm herself. "I've never forgotten him because of it." Tyki didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth only to close it again. He repeated this process several times.
"I guess that explains why you weren't surprised when I tried." She smiled as she shut the hidden door.
"No I wasn't. It's been almost ten years since that day. I'm used to people trying to kill me now," He raised an eyebrow at the sudden stop in the middle of the sentence like she was thinking of something. "But you are by far the cutest that's tried to kill me." Using the wall to find her way in the dark she led the way. Luca could faintly hear him muttering.
"Not cute. I am definitely not cute. Girls are cute. Puppies are cute. I am not!" The Hungarian struggled to keep her giggles under wraps. Finding themselves in the kitchen of the castle they relaxed. The assassin would never look down here for them.
"If you're done," he glared at her but she just grinned. "We need to find this piece of innocence so we can get out of here."
"That's great and all Butterfly but we have no idea where to look. This castle is huge and no clues to go on." He pointed out. She thought for a moment.
"Okay let's start from the beginning. Did the Earl send you or did you stumble upon it?"
"The Earl sent me. I thought that it might have just been a rogue akuma, it happens once or twice. I heard the legend and dismissed it as such. It wasn't until I stepped into the field that I realized it was innocence but it over took me before I could get out. I've been through several different "worlds" is what I guess I would call it. Now what about you?" She shook her head.
"I was just passing through. It's quicker than taking a train because there are no straight route across Montenegro. I was shopping for a few things that I needed when I heard some vendors whispering. I started to eavesdrop. The more they spoke the more I knew I had to check it out and then they started talking about a foreign young man that sounded like he was Portuguese I realized it was you which only worried me more." she shrugged.
"I'm going to go ahead and assume that the akuma I left outside the barrier are dead, right?" he sighed when she shrugged again.
"They would've been dead anyway. When I got there one of them was trying to push another to go check on you. I did you a favor."
"Idiots." He groaned resting his face in his hand. Why were they all so stupid? I don't have time for that, he thought realizing that the list was way too long for this moment.
"Yeah, kinda." she shrugged again.
"Okay so you killed they akuma and then what?" He asked getting them back on topic.
"I stepped through the barrier. You were on the ground unmoving. I walked towards you slowly because I couldn't decide if it was a trap or not. You didn't move. I shook you and still got no response from you. All I did was make myself tired. I passed out and then woke up in bed with you." He nodded.
"I still don't see how that helps us know where to start." She sighed with a roll of her eyes.
"I actually listened to the legend. There are two people that could have activated the innocence. The witch who cursed the field or the wife." Tyki blinked at her.
"Why the wife? She's dead. Why not Jevrem he's the only one that's still alive." He pointed out but she shook her head.
"It's possible but I wouldn't count on it. Think about it. A woman who's just lost her baby? You might as well hand her to the Earl on a silver platter yet she didn't become an akuma. I think that something about losing her baby caused the innocence to activate to protect her from the Earl."
"But she's dead. Every time I've killed an exorcist the innocence's power deactivates." The girl smirked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Is she?" He blinked at her several times.
"They said she was." She sighed.
"Oh My Love, believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. If I just lost my baby and I had actually wanted it," she muttered the last part under her breath but he still caught it. "and I had a piece of innocence that would allow me to create any illusion I would create my own perfect world where my husband and I were happy and safe and our child was alive. Maybe a better life where my husband didn't have to struggle to put food on the table and I could just take care of my baby without having to stop to do housework." His eyes widened.
"You think she's in here?!"
"I can't say for sure whither or not Emilija's physically alive but I believe that she's here mentally. I think that when her body started deteriorating because she refused to deactivate her innocence because that would force her to come back to the real world, she moved her entire consciousness here."
"So how does she survive?" She gave a sad smile.
"Jevrem. He desperately wanted to make his wife happy and in their perfect little world they both were happy, but they couldn't survive like that. Jevrem would leave to get food and water to sustain them. It's why the townspeople said he was like a zombie because he basically was. He has to eat enough to keep him and his wife healthy. I think that Jevrem is dying or just died. They only have a little time left until you stepped into her reach. I think that they have built a world around our memories to make it seem real to keep us here so they can use our bodies to survive." There was nothing but silence between the two. Luca herself was struggling to pull her emotions from Emilija's who was starting to take over.
"Well we need to get out of here quickly. I'm still in control of my body but I can feel Jevrem eating away at me." She nodded silently agree with the Noah.
"My best guess is Emilija is the host and she has the innocence with her. I think we should check the nursery."
"I have no idea where that would be." he stated. She sighed.
"Me either."
"I thought woman were supposed to know everything about children." he groaned at her. She smacked his chest.
"I know nothing of children except that I'm pretty sure I don't want one." She snapped back at him. How on Earth does he manage to get under my skin all the time? It's so infuriating, as soon as the thought crossed her mind the entire castle shook.
"Do I wanna know what that is?" She looked up at him as he steadied her.
"It could be a number of things. A monster from your mind, a monster from mind heaven knows I've got plenty, or something Emilija's conjured up to keep us busy. Either way I don't want to stick around to find out. If it was me I would keep the nursery up high to keep the baby safe." The floor started shaking again and the pair fell back against the wall. Once the quake had subsided Tyki released the girl from his grip.
"Good plan." Racing up the stairs was hard especially when the floor shaking under them. "I'd really like to know what that is." he hissed as they moved down the hall.
"I really don't think you do." He supposed she was probably right. How come she's always right? he questioned mentally. The hall was surprisingly quiet. "I think we're in the right place. She wouldn't want something crashing through her scaring the baby." she whispered in his ear.
"I think I hear somebody singing." The pair moved silently until they reached the door where song was coming from.
"Emilija?" Tyki was surprised when the girl slowly opened the door to the nursery announcing her presence.
"Go away. Why can't you just enjoy this last day that we've given you. We tried to make it painless." Luca looked at the woman dressed in a deep mahogany dress with her blonde hair tied up in an elegant updo and a gold crown on her head, the giant ruby glistening in the sunlight streaming through the window.
"Emilija, you know this is wrong. Our lives are not for you to take. I know that you miss your child but this one," she pointed to the babe that the queen was rocking. "isn't real. You are already dead and your husband is or will be soon. You need to let go. You can't move on like this. You can't find peace here. Please don't deny Jevrem or yourself that peace."
"But I-I-I-" the woman struggled to control her tears. "I don't want to lose my baby. I can't stand to be alone." Luca smiled gently.
"Your baby is already in heaven just waiting. Your real baby. If you let go everyone will find peace. You and Jevrem can be a family again with your child and my mother won't spend the rest of her life wondering why my fiancé and I didn't come home." Emilija broke down.
"I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." Luca smiled at her.
"There's no need." Emilija smiled one last time before the entire world dissolved.
Luca opened her eyes to the sun for the second time that day only to immediately close them. Groaning she rolled over onto her side. Slowly opening her eyes a second time she found a pair of gold eyes staring back at her.
"Well I think we're back in the real world now." She groaned again causing him to snort.
"I think I liked waking up the other way. There was a bed and you were actually happy to see me." Luca pushed herself up but didn't turn away from him.
"It has nothing to do with you I just hating waking up in general and now I really need another cup of coffee." He nodded sitting up though he crossed his legs.
"So it's not me." He paused for a moment. "Another? How many cups of coffee do you drink?" She smirked at him.
"Several. At least three. In the morning." He raised an eyebrow at that.
"I don't think that's healthy." She shrugged at him.
"So I've been told. It's not going to change."
Fair enough." he thought for a second. "I thought the Order didn't allow contact with family." She glanced over at the Noah with an arched eyebrow.
"They don't?" He pulled a cigarette from his pack and started digging around for his matches. Sighing Luca reached into her bag and pulled out her lighter and lit it. He blinked at the offered light a few times before using it.
"Then why did you say that your mother was expecting us back?" She shook her head at him.
"Because as a mother that would have the most weight with her, but it doesn't matter my mother hasn't worried about me in a long time." Her eyes lost their glow.
"Bad relationship?" he prodded gently careful not to set her off.
"She's been dead for 12 years so I guess that would put a damper on the relationship, yeah." she gave a dry laugh.
"I guess that could cause problems." He blinked at her a few times thinking. "Alright can I ask you a question?" A lazy smirk pulled at her lips.
"Besides that one?" He made a face at her.
"You know what I mean." She laughed.
"Yeah, okay. What is it?" He sighed when she shrugged.
"You know that I'm Portuguese but I can't place where you're from. You don't have an accent so where are you from?"
"I'm from Hungary, I was born on the boarder in Transylvania. I don't have an accent because I was eight when I learned English. It's the one I use the most."
"You speak more than one language?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"How many do you speak?" He debated on answered her counter question or not.
"Two. Portuguese and English. You?" She grinned.
"I win! I speak three." She's such a child, Tyki thought with a laugh though he was intrigued.
"English and..?" he prompted.
"English, Hungarian, and Romanian."
"Huh. What happened to the innocence by the way?" Luca grinned and held up her hand, the green glow seeping through her fingers. He held out his hand for it but she just shook her head. "Butterfly," he warned giving her a disapproving look but she just kept grinning.
"I can't give it to you. You know that." He lunged for it but she rolled away and onto her feet.
"Give it to me Butterfly." Luca didn't bother waiting for him to get up merely picked up the hat and hightailed it across the field.
"Nope! It's mine now!" Scrambling to his feet the Noah took off after her still yelling.
"I'm serious! Get back here Butterfly! Give me the innocence!" She didn't slow down.
"Nevah!"
I hope you all liked this chapter! I try to mix things up so it's not always the same thing. I know it would get boring like that. As always I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes that have slipped past me, feel free to let me know if you see one and I'll fix it right away. I know the top author's note got a little long but it needed to be said. I hope you all enjoyed Stranger Things (bad title pun I know but I couldn't help it!), I'll be back next week with chapter twelve: Get Out Alive! Chess out~!