*UPDATED*
Believe it or not, the story is nearing its end. Nearing, not ending-next-chapter or anything. Nearing. But I've only written two or so chapters ahead of this, so they may not be uploaded as often as they have been. (My week-off was because I was in DC without a computer for vacation, so naturally I couldn't upload.)
But thanks for reading so far; I would love any reviews; and I don't own it.
Chapter 12: In Proteggere
To Protect
Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
-Dylan Thomas
Everyone stared wide eyed at the newly dead corpse. Debitto was frozen in shock and horror as his cousin's hand went limp in his. Tyki and Road froze, and the tears came for all three. Noah acknowledged the loss as well.
"Not… not the little pest too! This is too much!" Tyki said quietly, sorrow filling his voice.
Lavi recovered from the shock first. He bolted out of the room in time to see Aleister rounding the corner. "Get back here!" he shouted. But it was too late, Aleister was too far ahead. The redhead slowed, then turned back and rejoined the others.
"I'm going to pull this one out." Lavi told them from outside the door as he grabbed the fatal stake. It came out slowly, making a sickening sound as it came free. The exorcist rejoined the others inside, dropping the stake against the wall.
Allen removed the stake from the slender boy's chest, and Debitto caught Mujaki's body as it fell forwards. The white haired exorcist then freed his other arm.
"I'm so sorry…" Debitto held Mujaki's broken body close to him. "If I had just stayed with you, maybe at least I would have died too and been freed from this hell…"
Road's eyes traveled to the blood splattered wall. She gasped at what she saw. "No!" Tyki looked at what had caused his niece to react so.
"Road? What is this about?" The oldest Noah present asked uncertainly.
"I remember now… his eyes…" She buried her face in her hands. "He was that boy with Innocence I was supposed to kill. I used an akuma there. It was his brother… then I made it self-destruct." Road felt as if her heart were breaking. "This massacre… it's all my fault."
Allen stiffened. "You mean… Aleister is the guy from then?"
"Why would he kill exorcists if Road was the one who made the akuma self-destruct?" Tyki asked thoughtfully.
Lavi looked around at the group solemnly. "If he knew Allen didn't get there in time."
---
*In one of the buildings in Noah's Ark.*
"What the hell?!" An angry shout was heard from an upstairs floor.
Lulu Bell looked towards the stairs, where she presumed Noah's Pain* would soon appear. And she was right.
Mendo stalked down the stairs. "What the hell is with this? Hey Lulu, what's going on?" He angrily brushed the wetness from his gray face. "You have all of five seconds to tell me why the fuck these tears keep coming!" He growled.
The Lust of Noah sighed. "Mendo, you already know that if Noah cries, we all do…"
"Then why the hell is Noah crying?!"
"I have no idea." the black haired woman said. Lulu was nearing the end of her patience. "Go ask someone else."
"Tch." Mendo's golden eye twitched. He, like Road and Lulu, wore his human form a lot, but not when he was in the Ark. He turned and headed for the door, then stopped. "Where's everybody been?"
Lulu Bell took a deep breath. Mendo was enough to grate on anyone's nerves, especially when he's even more irritable in the middle of the night. "In bed. It's only two or so hours from dawn."
"Like hell they are." The Noah with shoulder-length black hair scoffed. "The rooms Mujaki and Dakuto use are near mine. And empty."
"What?" Lulu looked sharply at Mendo.
"Twins, headaches, Road, and that Tyki are all gone." After a second thought, the cross Noah walked over to a chair and flopped into it. "Damn. This is really annoying." Mendo grumbled as he rubbed at his eye. "Wonder who died. Hope it was Jasdevi." he muttered the last part.
The woman shot him a look, but wondered the same herself. 'Why is Noah crying?'
---
Road and Allen walked downstairs. Lavi followed the two, wanting to give Debitto some time with Mujaki, who had all but worshipped the air he breathed. Tyki stayed with him, to pay his respects as well as to keep an eye out for the murderer.
Road sighed. "I can't believe all of this killing is our fault. My fault." she corrected.
"It is kind of… I don't know. It makes me feel guilty." Allen sighed, too.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. What's done is done." Lavi said wisely. "All we can do is try and keep it from happening again."
Allen stepped from the stairs, glancing up at the gorgeous chandelier dangling overhead. He leaned against the banister. "I just can't help but think that if I had gotten there in time, Lenalee would still be alive."
Road's eyes widened as the chandelier began to sway, slowly at first. Suddenly, the chain was cut from the ceiling.
"No!" she shouted, dashing across the room and knocking Allen out of the way.
Allen's eyes widened as a split second later the chandelier crashed down and struck the ground next to them. The two hit the ground, Road landing on Allen.
"What was that noise?" Tyki and Debitto came running, fearing the worst. Of course, the first thing Tyki saw was his niece laying on Allen, their faces inches from each other.
"Oh, no, now you've done it." he said angrily. "Get off him, Road! What am I going to tell your father? Wait until he hears about this!"
"I-it's not what you think!" Allen insisted, face red.
"Tyki. The chandelier fell." Debitto changed the topic, not out of concern for Road or Allen, but wanting to know what was going on. "What the hell happened?"
"It just fell, honest." Lavi said. "Road knocked Allen out of the way."
Road jumped to her feet, reaching down a hand to help Allen to his feet. "It almost hit my Allen." She hugged Allen. "Since its my fault, I won't let you get hurt." the Noah told him.
Allen's face turned red again.
Tyki looked at Road, eyebrow raised. "I'm watching you."
"Was it Aleister?" Debitto asked Lavi, walking down the stairs towards the redhead.
The red head thought. "Well… Probably. But I can't be sure, since I didn't actually see him here. It just fell." Lavi eyed the sharp ends of the heavy chandelier. "If that had hit you, Allen, you would've been killed for sure."
---
Aleister sat on the bed that had been used by the twins. He had an image hovering in the air between his hands. The spiked cuffs on his hands were what caused the image to appear, or even be possible. Those cuffs were the reason Leine was the akuma that Road told to self-destruct; the reason Allen had been there in the first place, that time not that long ago. The reason he was able to kill all of these people, and the reason he had taken a tree on a hill and from it created a banister and house to go with it. Yes, the reason the house was there.
His Innocence.
*NOAH'S PAIN: Mendo Toya, another OC who obviously is from the Noah Clan.
I don't know the personality of Lulu Bell very well (HA! I rhymed!), so forgive any OOC-ness. That segment of the story just popped out as I was typing. It surprised me, actually. And as for Sheryl, he's asleep at that time. The only one with common sense, sadly and apparently. Don't even ask why Lulu was awake. She just was.
~*Well, thanks to glon morski, I finally have a chapter without a death. –Gasp.- Wow. Shocker. And I will say this was thanks to her, because she pointed out a critical error, which prompted the re-write.*~
