A/N: Konnichiwa minnasan! I've decided to post this chapter early since I've already been planning the scenes in the chapter for quite some time now...Also, it's officially been a year since I've started writing this fic. Time do really flies...Not forgetting as well, to all my reviewers, a BIG thank you to all of you, you guys are the best! =D Before going ahead to start the chapter, here's the disclaimer:
Disclaimer: I do not own D gray man and Tsubasa Chronicles. Both of them are owned by Hoshino and CLAMP respectively. All I own is the plot of this story.
Ok, with the disclaimer done, now on with the story! Enjoy! =)
Recap
"We've reached the gate." Kanda announced, coming to a stop at the cottage just like the two akumas had mentioned earlier before.
The cottage did look deserted, almost like the one Kurogane and Kanda had encountered in their previous mission. However, instead of a normal door, there was a black slab with a number imprinted at the very top of it. That was unmistakably the gate to the noah's ark.
"This is it, everyone. Let's enter."
One by one, the group entered the ark by passing through the barrier which seems as if it is made out of liquid. Syaoran had stepped through the barrier last. He felt the liquid on his skin as if he was stepping through water and was certain he was going to be drenched the moment he reached the other side. However, Syaoran realised there was not a trace of liquid on him.
"Surprised?" Allen smiled, "it's probably some kind of magic they used." He continued explained.
"That's true, I can sense the magic coming from within this place. It's rather strong." Fay commented, scanning the area while removing his disguise, "the noahs seemed to have a taste for gothic decoration...kinda reminds me of Halloween"
"Yeah, the previous ark didn't look anything like this. The previous one was full of whitewashed buildings as far as I could remember." Allen replied as the group wandered through the seemingly endless corridor.
"I wonder where Sakura is..." Mokona wondered out loud.
"Can't you use your powers to find her?" Kanda whispered, given under normal circumstances he would have shouted instead.
"I can sense her...but she's really faint..." Mokona replied, lowering her head in disappointment.
"It's all right, Mokona, we'll find Sakura, no matter what it takes." Syaoran reassured Mokona.
"Which way should we go?" Lenalee asked suddenly stopping. Ahead of her, the corridor had been split in three different directions and each of them seemed to look the same as the other.
"hmm....it's a difficult choice...Mokona, do you sense Sakura anywhere?" Fay paused, turning to her.
"I can sense her but she's seems to be too far away for me to tell exactly which direction she's in." Mokona replied.
"I see, then we'll just have to try our luck with one of these corridors. We can't afford to split up since the noahs might take us down more easily." Allen replied.
"Yeah..." Lenalee agreed.
As the exorcists carefully decided on which route should they take, Allen looked around, noticing the portraits hanging on the wall. Every portrait showed the noahs and the Earl...and strangely there were portraits of a human as well. "Strange...the last time I remember, the Earl and the noahs couldn't care less about humans so why is there a portrait of a human here?" Allen thought as he made his way closer to the particular portrait.
The portrait's background was unlike the other portraits which contained one or two noahs standing or sitting behind a dim background. The portrait, however, had a much brighter background. Within it, the man was wearing a suit as well as a top hat, a monocle over his left eye and there was a strangely calm expression on his face as he sat on chair which was rather exquisitely designed and from the looks of it. The furniture might have been manufactured during the Victorian era.
"How is this man connected to the noahs?" Allen wondered, his gaze wandered to the other portraits that had noahs in it, some of which he had recognized while there were others which he didn't recognised at all.
"They're probably the previous noahs or noahs that we haven't met yet..." Allen muttered, staring up at all the portraits. Unconsciously, his mind began to wonder about the 14th. Would his portrait still be up here among if he hadn't betrayed the Millennium Earl and the noah clan? If the 14th hadn't betrayed them, Allen would have been free of all the current problems that he had with Rouvelier and the central, most of it, that is.
"Go left, you'll find what you seek..." a mysterious voice suddenly sounded, catching Allen off guard.
"Who's there?" he looked around wildly for the source of the voice.
"Go left, you'll find what you seek..." the voice had once again repeated.
This time, Allen had realized that the voice had belonged to the 14th. The others didn't seem to notice the voice had given them directions as Allen turned behind, none of them appeared to have heard anything at all.
"Maybe we should continue on straight, by going in a straight line, you'll never know that it's the right path." Lavi suggested.
"No, we should go left." Allen objected as he walked towards the group.
"What makes you think so?" Kurogane asked, turning around to face him.
"umm....how should I put it...its just intuition." Allen replied, smiling slightly, hoping that the others would agree with him without any objections.
"Allen, I hate to say this but you don't really have a good intuition..." Lavi started jokingly.
"But I think it's best to follow Allen-san, you'll never know that the path is actually the correct path." Syaoran said.
"If the boy agrees, then I'll just follow along."
"Me too!" Both Fay and Mokona raised their hands into the air.
"Looks like we have a majority." Lenalee smiled.
As the exorcists headed in the direction, Lenalee had lightly grasped Allen's hand and moved towards the front of the group.
"You're the leader for this." Lenalee said, answering the white-haired exorcist's unanswered question.
"Hehe...you two are just made for each other..." Lavi snickered, earning a glare from both Allen and Lenalee.
"That's right! Aww...they make such a sweet couple." Mokona agreed, hopping from Fay's to the bookman's junior shoulder.
"I agree..." Syaoran replied too.
This time, Allen and Lenalee had only blushed, not turning back in case the teasing might take a turn for the worse from their point of view. Unknown to the exorcists, their presence in the ark had already been known. A figure stayed within the shadows watched intently as the small group moved along the corridor.
"Kanda-san, is there something wrong?" Syaoran turned, noticing that the samurai had stopped momentarily.
"...it's nothing..." Kanda replied shortly after he had given the area a final look before continuing on.
"there's something or someone watching us, right?" Syaoran asked, trailing behind Kanda.
"...how did you know?" Kanda was surprised for a moment but quickly masked his expression.
"Kurogane-san had taught me when we were in Ōto country." Syaoran replied.
"I see..." Kanda was rather impressed that Syaoran was able to notice the strange presence he had felt earlier.
"Ah, I can see something up front." Allen called, coming to a stop.
In front of them, there were six identical doors which only can be distinguished by the respective numbers labelled on them.
"What now? Hey moyashi, use your intuition again." Kanda folded up his arms impatiently.
"That won't be necessary." Another voice replied, before Allen could. Somehow, this voice had sounded strangely familiar to Allen, Lenalee and Lavi.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Kurogane demanded, taking out his weapon and activated it. The others had done the same, ready for any surprise attack that may be in store for them.
"Patience." The voice came again.
"ALLEN! LOOK OUT!" Lenalee screamed, as a rather large stream of liquid headed towards the exorcist's direction at a high speed.
Allen turned upon hearing Lenalee's warning and had just managed to avoid the impact directed at him the help of crown clown. After making sure that he had landed safely, he realized that the voice had belonged to none other than the noah of lust, Lulubell.
"Lulubell." Allen acknowledged the noah.
"That's Lulubell?! She looks completely different the last time we saw her." Lavi noted, surprised.
"Yeah, this is her true form." Allen answered while he kept his guard in case Lulubell launched another attack.
"Glad that you still remember me." The noah answered coldly, "now, you have to pay for foiling my previous mission!"
Before anyone could answer, the noah of lust had charged towards Allen with a newfound speed and the latter had barely managed to block himself by quickly transforming his anti-akuma weapon to a broad-edged sword.
"Allen-kun innocence could do that?" Fay asked, seemingly taken aback by the transformation.
"Yeah..." Lavi answered, "now, let's go and help Allen!"
"Mokona, hang on tight, it's going to be a little more fast-paced." Lenalee cautioned as Mokona had moved onto her shoulder.
"Ok."
"Dark boots, activate!" the blood-red rings on both of Lenalee's ankles began to glow and transform into the all familiar dark boots. Bending her knees slightly, Lenalee kicked off, almost causing Mokona to fall off from her shoulder.
"Mokona, are you alright?" Lenalee asked worriedly.
"I'm alright. Just concentrate on the fight." Mokona answered.
Lulubell's liquid form had proved it difficult to find a weak spot. Like water, solid objects had no effect on it, including innocence. Then again, although she may be liquid-like, Lulubell could unleash attacks which would not miss.
"See? This won't have any effect on me! Now it's my turn to attack." Lulubell laughed before attacking.
"She's fast; haven't had this kind of opponent in a while." Kurogane smirked as he skilfully dodged the incoming attack.
"Looks like Kuro-sama is enjoying this fight, right? Yuu-chan?" Fay asked.
"Don't ever call me by my first name again!" Kanda replied, giving a murderous look.
"Looks like he's having fun himself." Fay chuckled to himself, as he defended yet another attack by the noah.
"Ah, Lavi-san, could you use a lightning based attack to finish this off?" Fay called, after noting that Lavi's innocence was capable of using various elements.
"That's right, why didn't I think of that earlier?" Lavi smacked himself on the forehead, "Everyone, please try to get away from Lulubell!"
"Circle of Fire! Circle of Heaven! Combo seal: Strong thunder of the heavens!" Lavi yelled as he swung his hammer right at the noah.
Immediately, a combination of flame encircling lightning emerged from one of the hammer's end, taking the shape of some kind of dragon. The dragon immediately went straight for its target which had seemed unfazed about the sudden move.
"Smart move. But this is also pointless." With a wave of her hand, a ball of energy appeared and hit the dragon, diminishing it completely.
"Like I've said, your attacks are no match for me." Lulubell continued, enjoying the shocked expressions on their faces.
"Damn...it didn't work..." Allen growled.
"Lulubell, you might want to stop for now, killing the guests now would not make the Earl happy." Another voice suggested. This time, none of the exorcists recognized it.
"Surprised?" the older man asked, as the group turned to face him, "Well, let's start with the introductions, my name is Cyril, Tyki's big brother."
"I'm not here to do any damage today but you all are invited to join us for the party." Cyril continued, noticing that the exorcists had not made any move to reply.
"Umm...we're really sorry but we're not in the mood to join the party right now." Fay replied, deciding to play along.
"Hey...what are you saying?" Kanda quietly snapped at the magician who made no reply.
"Just let him be; Fay-san knows what he's doing." Syaoran replied.
"Che..."
"Really? I must insist that you attend the party. We've already invited one of your guests here and it's not very nice to just leave her alone here." Cyril smiled, watching as shock was slowly etched on their faces.
"Where's Sakura!" Syaoran asked, realizing where the noah was going.
"Be patient, boy, you'll see her soon enough." Cyril smiled, immensely enjoying the conversation, "Ah, speak of the devil, here she is."
Sakura emerged from the shadows, accompanied by Road. The exorcist uniform that Sakura had previously worn had been replaced by a simple black dress, with laces trimmed at the edges complimented with a matching choker around her neck.
"Sakura!" Syaoran called. The girl did not respond but instead stared blankly ahead. Syaoran tried to move forward but was soon stopped by Fay.
"Hold on, something isn't right." The magician said, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"You're quite observant. Anyway, are you ready to join the party?" Cyril asked, his tone suddenly turning serious.
A/N: Chapter 14 is completed! This chapter might be a little different from the other chapters due to the number of page breaks. Somehow, I didn't feel like doing any page breaks for this chapter mainly because I've only focused on one scene for this chapter. I just noticed this, the 14th made his appearance in the 14th chapter of my story! It's just coincidence, I didn't plan this. I swear! xD. Anyway, more action in the coming chapters ahead. Unfortunately, I've got some bad news: this fic is going to end soon...in another few chapters or so...but don't worry, there's also good news: I'm planning on writing another fic but I'm not sure which anime/manga category I should start on. I've put the poll on my profile and please take some time to vote. Thank you very much^^
Please read and review too! =)