Hana: My morning is noticibly less hetic than it was yesterday.
Richie: ...what's that gotta do with anything?
Allen: Who knows? -shrugs-
Lavi: Well, whatever. Han-chan doesn't own D. Gray-man, by the way~
Hana: Just Ri-Ri~ Happy reading, everyone~!
... ... ... ...
+ - Night 21 – Debts and the Noahs of Bonds - +
"This corridor is really long…how long 'till the next door?" Chaoji asked after some time of walking.
"Who knows?" I asked. "Honestly, I'm getting to a point where—huh? Lenalee?"
"Kanda…told us he'd catch up when he finished…"
"He was probably beaten by Skinn, lero~!" The umbrella said with glee.
I visibly scowled, "No one wants your opinion, y'damn jack-o-lantern."
"He certainly is running late," Krory then pointed out… "Richie…wasn't it? I was told your eye can see things like Allen's can…"
"Unfortunately," I sighed, "I can't for the life of me 'see' anything within the Ark."
"But didn't you say you 'saw' the Ark when we got here, Richie?" Allen asked.
I was going to make a comment about that, but then I realized what Allen said was true. I did 'see' the Ark before I ever even heard of it. So why couldn't I 'see' anything now?
"I-I'll head back to check up on him." Chaoji volunteered, before running back. He was stopped by Lavi grabbing his wrist before he could make it far.
"Yu's just fine." He said.
"You're telling me that punk killed Skin?" Lero asked. "No chance, lero! The Noah are immortal!"
"Immoral, perhaps." I pointed out, "But immortal, I honestly doubt."
"While it's true that they haven't died so far," Lavi began explaining, "But isn't that just because they've never faced opponents stronger than themselves?"
The comment caught Lero off-guard, but it was quick to recoil, "Th-that may be so, but once the new Ark's done downloading its data, the room he's in will be destroyed!"
"We'll definitely find the door before that happens." Allen stated, "All we can do now is believe in Kanda and press forward."
"Man, Allen. It's almost like you've become really strong." Lavi seemed in awe in that moment.
"When Kanda returns, I won't let him call me a beansprout anymore."
That bothers him more than he'd let on. I thought with a knowing smirk. "He's a jerk and an idiot, but he'll pull through somehow."
"Did you give him an actual compliment, Richie?" Allen asked as a grin formed on his face.
"What in the hell are you getting all smug about?"
"Nothing~"
"You're acting super weird." I muttered. "Alright, maybe Irmão needs to check on your brain."
"Eh? N-No, not needed!" Allen quickly amended. "Anyway! We should be going! Yeah, let's go!"
"That's what I thought."
(* - *)
We were walking for a while more when the sound of rolling glass broke our comfortably tense silence.
"Huh?" Allen had noticed them first, stopping as they slowly came into sight.
"Alcohol bottles?" Lavi asked confused.
"Why are things like that…?" I looked at them all, confused as to what they were even doing there.
"Is this a trap or something?" I asked.
"A bomb's hiding among these bottles!" A voice called out. "I wonder where it could be~!"
"A bomb?"
"If you don't find and deactivate it, you'll all go 'BOOM'!"
I blinked once, twice, and pointed at the bottles that had come to rest at our feet. "Do you guys hear a ticking too?"
Lavi and Krory were first to respond, picking up bottles, and frantically trying to find the ticking one.
"Find it! Find it!" Exclaimed the red-headed male.
"Which is it?" Krory asked. Lenalee and Chaoji quickly got to work.
"Richie! Help us find it!" Lenalee called, breaking me out of my stupor.
"Ah! Uh, right!" The ears on my head twitched, as I joined in on bomb search. Tails were swishing languidly. "This would be so much easier if I could 'see' which one it is!" I scowled.
"Hurry it up!" Lero ordered us.
"Then help us out or just shut the hell up, umbrella!" I retorted back.
"I recognize all of these alcohol brands…" Allen's tone seemed maybe a little dead, and it caught my attention. Looking over my left shoulder, I looked at him, taking notice of how he hadn't moved even once.
"Shortcake?"
"They're definitely…all brands of alcohol I had to buy for my master."
"For General Cross?" Lenalee asked.
"And they're all on the bars' tabs…" We all suddenly had the urge to back away as the flames of hell started sprouting from Allen's aura, they were gone as he continued his rant, "That was a harsh servitude. 'Your tab is piling up' and 'I've no more saké to sell to the likes of you!', 'Even if you say that, if I don't bring some back he'll be pissed off.'… 'You've gotta cut me a break! Please!' If I begged and apologized, I'd finally be able to bring some wine home!"
"Allen…is this really the time to be remembering things like that?" Lavi asked.
"The most expensive alcohol here is…"
"Lavi, I'm pretty sure he's broken." I said.
"I'm starting to think so too." Admitted the hammer wielder.
"SHUAMTSU!" He jumped suddenly, landing right before a bottle that honestly wasn't too far from where I was seated. My tails barely got out of the way in time. "This one!"
"WATCH IT, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" I scolded. The ticking seemed louder now. "Huh?
"THE BOMB'S IN THAT ONE!" Chaoji exclaimed as the glare from the glass had been removed.
"Eh?"
"DEACTIVATE IT!" Krory frantically shouted.
A freaked-out rabbit exclaimed, "HURRY!"
"HOW!?" Lenalee was frazzled.
"THE TIMER INSIDE'S GONNA RUN OUT!" Chaoji had noticed the timer.
"SHORTCAKE! THROW IT AWAY! HURRY!"
"HURRY! IT'S GONNA BLOW!" Lero.
"Allen! Pitch!" Lavi quickly ordered the youngest.
"S-Sure!" Allen didn't need any more questions as he threw the bottle. Lavi, extending his hammer, knocked the bottle out of the park like a professional baseball batter. It flew down the hall, before the bomb inside had gone off. I was mildly surprised the glass never shattered when it was hit.
We all sighed in relief. "Thank god."
Behind me, everyone nodded. "That was magnificent, Lavi." Krory praised.
"It was nothin'." Lavi modesty said, giving a thumb's up. "Ri-Ri calling out for Allen to throw the bottle gave me the idea when we really needed it."
"Glad to be of help?" I wasn't really expecting to be credited for anything. "I was just a frantic mess, really…"
"Why was Master's favorite alcohol here?" Seemed Allen had other problems. "By some chance…could Master Cross be in the Ark?"
"He could well be, Allen." Lenalee said.
"Your master would set a bomb trap for his student?!" Chaoji was maybe astounded by this revelation.
"My master would never do something like that!" Wasn't that maybe too quick to defend someone like that guy? "Is…what I'd like to say."
"There it is." I emotionlessly stated.
"Well, in any case, let's keep movin'." Lavi suggested as he deactivated his Innocence, and placing the small hammer back in its pouch.
Allen sighed in defeat, "To think my master could be lying in wait somewhere…I'm not sure if I want to keep going anymore."
"There's no rest for the wicked, and we sure as hell can't afford it right now either." I pointed out. "C'mon, let's hurry before anything else can happen."
Allen nodded reluctantly, and we continued on our way. It wasn't too much longer later when we were suddenly trapped. Looking up, I paled, tugging on whoever was near me to look up and see what I was seeing in that moment. "We're about to get skewered!" Krory exclaimed.
"Hey, aren't those…?" I asked seeing thing flowing down to the ground.
"Cards?" Allen finished in confusion.
"You have to make the hand we tell you to within three seconds." A new voice stated.
"If you can't, you'll all become shish kebabs~!" The voice from earlier cooed.
"Hands…you mean like in poker?" I mused, the atmosphere suddenly changed the moment 'poker' left my lips. I looked to the source, taking notice of Allen's form. "A-Allen?"
"Three of a kind!" Came the first command. I watched in amazement as Allen quickly grabbed five cards. Ten of spades, six of diamonds, and three aces of cloves, diamonds and spades.
"Done."
"Correct! Now, a full house!" Once again Allen's right arm struck at each card like a cobra striking pray.
Jack of hearts, cloves, and three sevens of hearts, spades and diamonds. "How in the hell are you doing that so quickly?"
"Got them."
"Correct!"
"That…was fast…" Krory said.
"Nothing less from you, huh…?" Lavi mused.
"You've seen him like this before?" I asked.
"We'll…tell ya later." The red-headed male promised. "Fun story."
"Ah."
"Royal Straight Flush!"
Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of spades. "Easy."
"Correct!"
"Amazing, Allen!" Lena praised, she was definitely awed by Allen's ability.
"This is child's play." He said, brushing it off.
I chuckled, uncertain of what was even going on. "I'm sure it was…"
"You might've won, but we're still gonna crush ya!" Called out one of the voices. We all looked up in time to see the ceiling coming at us quicker than ever before.
"How cruel!" I heard Krory shout out.
"Bad, bad, bad…" I was admittedly freaking out. "LAVI!"
"Good call, Ri-Ri…" Lavi sighed in relief. We were lower to the ground, but with Lavi's hammer blocking the spikes, we were safe. "Alright, now's our chance!"
We nodded, as Allen started crawling forward first. Using his knife-like claws on his left hand, he slashed away the metal bars that otherwise kept us prisoner. One by one we followed him out, all the while Lavi kept the death trap from killing us all. When we were all free, Lavi quickly dislodged his hammer, having a flashy exit, jumping out of the way just as the ceiling came crashing down.
"That was too close for comfort." I admitted. "We should be on our way though. There's no time to really stick around here."
"I can agree with that." Lavi said, as he shrunk his weapon down.
"Let's go," Affirmed Krory. None of us needed any further encouragement. Despite my words, I looked the direction for which we came. Kanda still hadn't caught up with us.
"Don't break your damn promise, JerKanda." I whispered, before running off to catch up with everyone.
"Alcohol followed by cards…" Allen muttered, a little lost in his tormented thoughts.
"They're all items centered on General Cross, huh?" Lenalee asked
"Yeah…" Our youngest admitted.
"What in the hell is that supposed to be?" I asked, having spotted something up ahead.
It was Lavi who pretty much answered my question, "Now it's roulette?"
"Allen, let's not bother facing them, and move on." Stated the only other female in our group. The ears on my head twitched.
"Yeah, I agree."
I looked up, something really didn't feel right…did I hear shuffling from the ceiling? That couldn't be possible though…
"Richie?" Krory had noticed my reluctance to move.
"Hold it right there!"
"Yeah, I figured that was the case." I muttered. "What do you two want?" I called up to them.
"Eh? How'd you…beh, forget it! Listen up! If you don't take the challenge, then it's 'boom!', for you!"
"You're lives are the chips!" The other voice exclaimed. "Gonna pick black? How 'bout red?"
Krory asked, panicked by the situation, "O-Our lives are the chips?!"
"Are you kidding me right now?!" I asked. "What kind of sick game are you playing?"
"If you chose the wrong one," The first voice called out, "You're through!"
I heard Chaoji making some sort of fearful whimper, accompanied by Lero's complaints of "I don't want to be torn to shreds!"
Allen chuckled darkly, soon catching all our attention. "Er...Shortcake?"
"Well life itself is a gamble~" Oh shit. Black Allen returned.
"A-Allen?" Lenalee was as creeped out as I was.
"No matter which we choose, there's a 50% chance we'll die!" Chaoji was definitely a glass half empty guy.
"No helping that." Allen shrugged it off. "So, we'll accept their challenge?"
"Are…we really?" I asked.
"We'll leave this to Allen, Ri-Ri." Was that really a good idea? Lavi didn't really assure me of anything. "He's a better gambler than the rest of us."
"And considering my eye doesn't seem to work in here…" I groaned in annoyance. "Fine, I'll trust you won't let us die, right?"
"We're counting on you, Allen." Krory told the white-haired boy.
"Got it." I wasn't sure who he was answering, but I'd guess it was basically all of us. He took a deep breath, before looking over to us. "Everyone on red." He ordered us. I looked down, seeing I was already on a red square. Those who weren't, migrated to where I stood.
"Do your thing, Shortcake." I said.
He nodded once, before turning his attention back to the game. "Okay. Start the roulette!" Allen spun the wheel, and something small and white caught my attention. They really were in the ceiling. I noted. The ball — that's what I realized it was — was dropped onto the roulette wheel, and began to roll opposite of the spin of the wheel. The ball was soon caught in one spot, though the wheel continued to go. We watched in anticipation as the red and black wheel began to slow down.
My stomach dropped when I could plainly see the damn thing was on a black space. It shifted spots, when I picked up on a small 'thunk' that humans probably shouldn't have been able to hear. Did…Allen just…?
"YOU CHEATED!" The voices from above accused.
"Do you have any proof?" Allen retorted.
"Your leg bumped the table! It bumped it!" The more immature sounding of the duo complained. So that's what I heard.
"Oh? Did it really?" Oh how silly this scenario was…I really wanted to join in…so I did.
"If he had done any of that," I called out, pointing to my foxlike ears "I would've heard it. But I saw nothing, heard nothing, and as such, I know nothing of this cheating you've claimed him to do."
"He's got some balls…" Krory mused. "And you've got some guts to actually go along with it."
"You guys were tempted as much as I was." I said, grinning madly. "Besides. It's like I'm dealing with Daisya again."
"It's a matter of experience." Lavi reasoned. "Experience."
"That's unfair!" Both voices cried out.
"People who won't even show themselves have no right to dictate what's fair." Allen informed the hidden duo.
"Fine, then," The first voice stated. "We'll show ourselves to you. Keep going straight down. We'll be at the end of the hall."
"If you can there, that is~!" the other voice teased.
With those parting words, we were about to start walking forward when all of a sudden, Allen turned to face behind us.
"Something wrong, Allen?" Krory asked.
"I just thought I heard a noise behind us…"
"A noise?" Krory inquired, "What kind of noise?"
"Like something break—" As though on cue, the floor had suddenly just given way, just as Allen finished his thought. "—ing?"
"THE FLOOR!" Several people screamed as we managed to find our footing, and rush on. "IT'S GIVING WAY!"
I must've personally cursed in several languages as we raced against the crumbling tile beneath our feet.
"It's coming! It's coming! It's coming! It's coming! It's coming!"
"JUST HOW FAR WILL THIS CORRIDOR GO ON?!"
"Umpf!" I looked behind, only to see that Chaoji had fallen.
"Chaoji! Clown Belt!" White ribbons were quick to grab hold of the fallen man, said person screaming in shock from the sudden movement.
"Good one, Allen!" Lavi called back.
"Enough talking, more running!" I called out, "This freaking sucks!"
"Let's cut through it." Krory's voice was close, and I looked just in time to realize he was running faster than I've seen him do so before. "Hang on tight, brats."
"Wait, is this still—AAAAHHHH!" We were moving faster now, I had my arms around Allen's neck as tight as I was able to, who held on to Chaoji with his right hand, all the while Lenalee hung to Krory's shoulders, who in turn had a grip on Lavi as he ran faster than the hallway could crumble.
"As expected from Krory-kins!" Lavi called out.
"Hey! Why did you get on board too!?" Chaoji asked, I had my answer when I heard a familiar voice of one annoying pink umbrella.
"Don't be stingy, lero!"
"Richie! You're choking me!"
"Sorry, but you're gonna have to deal with it, shortcake!" I loosened my grip a little either way.
"Ah! Look! Over there!" Allen had then called out, using his left hand to point at what was fast approaching. "The corridor ends!"
Krory jumped with amazing speeds, allowing us to make into our next destination. When he landed, most of us went flying. That was everyone save for Krory himself, and Lenalee. I groaned in pain, when I skidded to a stop. In the next instant, I almost had the breath knocked out of me.
"Chaoji." I growled. "You're freaking heavy. Get the hell off of me."
"Ah! Sorry!" He quickly did as bidden, and I sat up, the hell of my palm on my forehead.
"This place…" Allen looked around, as he spoke, "this room hasn't been downloaded to the Ark yet."
"A huge library…" Lavi said, as he eyed all the books that surrounded us.
"I bet you could die happy here." I teased the junior bookman."
"Ah-ha-ha. Funny…but I'd probably be set for a long time here…" Lavi mused.
"Yo, Exorcists." We all looked around, before finding the source of the voices. "I'm Devit."
"I'm Jasdero." The other said. "Combined, we are Jasdevi!" I realized Jasdero had these weird strings across his mouth. I wondered, if I tightened them, would that make at least him shut up? It was tempting to try…
The duo in question were seated upon the central monument in the room. It in itself was rather tall, but I couldn't figure out what its use could possibly be for.
Devit and Jasdero, I realized, were teens like most of us here. Devit had shorter black hair, while Jasdero had long blond hair. They were both dressed rather weird, sporting leather as their clothes…if that's what they really were. "Great, delinquents." I sighed.
"Jasdevi! What about your job!?" Lero called out.
"Shut up!" Both scowled.
"These two are even weirder than the others we've seen…" Lavi stated. I nodded in agreement.
"Right now…we're in a bad mood!"
The twins raised their guns, pointing them at Allen, "Allen Walker!" Both called out.
"We have nothing against you personally." Devit stated.
"But we have a grudge against your master, so we're going to take it out on you!" Both teens shouted out, firing out their first attack. "Take this!"
"Ah!"
"Allen!" Lenalee called out.
"Wait! What did you say about my master?!" They were fast, having already gotten in front of Allen, both with grins that were maddening.
"You're going to pay for what your master did to us!" Devit cockily stated.
Both then shouted out again, "Loading, Blue Bomb!" A ball of ice was aimed right at Allen, from bullets to that?!
"The power of the gun changed?!" Lavi exclaimed, as we all bore witness to the event that occurred.
"Allen!"
"Ha. It's not the gun. The bullets changed." Said Devit in a snarky manner.
"So that's how it is." I murmured.
"Are you…" We heard Allen mutter, "Are you the ones pursuing my Master? If you're angry at him, and want to take it out on me…then he must still be alive." That seemed like a pretty interesting thought to say the least.
The duo were knocked away by Allen's attack, as he landed before us again.
"Allen…are they after you!?"
"So it seems. But be careful, those aren't normal bullets they're firing. They have special properties." From where the two teens had landed, they emerged from the pile of books which had previously landed on them.
"It seems like this could be fun…" I heard Devit say.
"Hee-hee! It's been a while since we last got violent, right?" Jasdero asked, before looking back at Allen. "Tell me something, disciple…if we take you hostage, will Cross come for you?"
"No."
"Gyah-haha! That was fast! You donf't trust Cross at all, do you?! Hee hee!"
"You didn't even think of that." I said, my eyes wide.
"Such a quick reply!"
"Then…Jasdevi's gonna enjoy this game~" Devit grinned, his gun pointed at his own head. "Better hope your master taught you enough…stu~dent."
... ... ... ...
This chapter was fun to write, it really was. :) I can't wait to post the next chapter xD
Y'all know the drill! Despite how much I might need it, R&R ain't for Rest and Relaxation! Leave a review and lemme know how i'm doing, and show this story some love by favoriting this work! Follow to stay up to date with a new chapter as it goes live, and until the next time!
I'll see you again on...
Clean Slate!