Chapter 21: Endless Cycle I
This is going to be a 2 part mission, so keep alert of the next chapter; it will be coming out soon.
This awesome plot belongs to Rein Walker. I don't own -man, but I own Skylar! Please review wither you love it or hate it, visitor or user.
[Raven POV]
After Christmas party last night the Order back to business. I still tired because didn't get enough sleep and bad feeling I having. Tsumi and Kiseki tell me to ignore it but I know they worried too. Especially since I'm magnet for trouble.
Today Sky-chan suggest three of us to hang out like a normal teenager since she said it's been awhile since last time we hang out together. So here we are, inside my room with snack and soft drink.
"Why we doing this again?" I asked them, Hana and Sky-chan look at each other and look back at me "But we didn't have chance usually and so now we have"
"Beside it's not like we have mission, I'm bored actually" Hana put her chin inside her palm. I sighed, I still slightly annoyed because Hana stop me from my 'hunt-the-perverted-mind-rabbit' game. Wait…I forget my original plan. Smirking slightly and I look at Hana. Time to payback.
"Say Hana…I know you like pi- I mean Lavi but you don't want to confess at him?" I asked, she blushed and fluttered "W-What do you mean! I d-don't like him!"
"Hana…your face show everything" Sky-chan point out, she pouted and glare at me. "Don't you dare do your Operation Match Maker II Raven"
"Sorry but already does"
She crossed her hand "For some reason it doesn't fair because we don't have anything to teased you" crap, Sky-chan nodded in agreement "Yeah, because she the only one who don't have any crush with anyone"
"Because I'm genius, got it memorized?" I poke my temple slightly "Beside my plan working on Sky-chan right? So it must working on Hana too"
"But why you like Pirate, Hana?" Sky-chan asked; she played with her hair like a giddy teenager "I mean, its Pirate"
"Um…he…handsome…nice and always help me. And his name isn't Pirate its Lavi"
I jaw dropped "H-Handsome? N-Never mind…I just pretend I didn't remember what I want to say"
Then we heard knock, the door been open with creaking sound "You guys here?" Lenalee asked.
"What's wrong?"
"Nii-san asked me to called you guys for new mission"
Finally… I cheered inside my mind and keep my poker face while heading toward Komui room with other.
[skylar's prov]
The day after Christmas and, we already have a mission. Ray-chan looked very happy at the order for a new mission and to get away from all this normal stuff; Hana seemed disappointed that we couldn't relax more but was happy for the new mission. I was also happy about the new mission. As much as I believed that having somewhat of a normal life was important, this 'normal teenage life' was frankly boring. And boring was never fun. We all hopped off of our seats and rushed toward the door, quickly making our way to Komui's office.
"You guys seem anxious to be going on a mission the day after Christmas" Pirate commented chuckling as we rushing into Komui's office. Ray-chan stopped quickly to glare at Pirate causing Hana and I to slam into Ray-chan back making us all fall to the ground.
I groaned trying to get Hana and Ray-chan off of my back "What was your first clue Pirate?"
"Well…" He was about to start acting like a smartass when Yu walked in. Yu had a slight confused expression that by the look of it, only I noticed.
"Yu-chan are you jealous Skylar isn't under-" Pirate began to say when a certain scythe and sword were dangerously close to Pirate's neck.
"What were you saying Lavi?" I asked deathly calm in a sugar sweet tone, using his first name. I was going to kill him.
"Uh… I was…uh" He looked frantic between Yu and I "please don't kill me! I'm too young for this beautiful face to die!"
"Then stop with the sexual jokes" I growled.
"It's not my fault you two bring it upon yourselves!" Pirate cried dodging Yu swinging his sword at him. I glared at Hana and Ray-chan as they were cracking up, rolling on the floor.
"How did we bring all these jokes upon ourselves?" I yelled at him but didn't bother going after him.
"Because-" I didn't hear the rest because when I turn around Yu ran right into me making us tumble onto the ground. I closed my eyes shut, trying to prepare for impact. When I opened my eyes, I was blushing madly at the awkward position Yu and I had ended up in. Yu had somehow ended up between my legs and I was hold onto Yu's neck of dear life. It was probably to reason I hadn't suffered any brain damage. Yu's hands, that were firmly holding both of us up, resided on either side of my head.
"That's why. Hey Yu-chan, were you really that jealous?" Pirate joked, standing in front of me. Yu quickly got off of me a slight pink tint was shown on his cheeks even though he was trying hard not to show it.
"What did you say?" Yu barked.
"I said were you really that jealous." Pirate prodded "You were practically having-"
"Okay, well it seems everyone's here" Komui walked in carrying a pile of papers but stopped when he was all of us. Pirate was, once again, being chased by Yu. No one bothered to try stopping them. Ray-chan and Hana were still laughing at the earlier scene. And I was still sitting on the floor, shocked by the earlier position Yu and I had been in.
"Can we begin?" I spoke, finally snapping out of me daze.
"Uh sure" Komui handed all of us our missions "Kanda and Lavi will be on a mission together and Skylar, Hana, and Raven will be going on a different one. Oh and your trains will be leaving in 20 minutes~"
"What?" We all yelled, everyone in the room was either threatening to activate their innocents or had already activated theirs.
Komui laughed weakly hiding behind his desk "If you don't go now you'll miss your train"
"…Crap he right" Ray-chan muttered pulling Hana and I out of Komui's office and toward the train. We quickly hopped into our train car. All of us crashed onto the chairs, Ray-chan getting the seat to herself this time.
"So, who has file Komui gave us?" Hana asked; I passed out the files Komui had handed me quickly before being dragged out. I briefly skimmed over the file. In Ireland…missing finders…
"No way in or out?" I read aloud. Was this going to be a case like when they had found Miranda?
"Sounds like a death trap" Ray-chan muttered, looking like she was analyzing every part of the file, memorizing it inside and out.
"Amen to that" Hana and I both nodded our heads slightly.
"Ireland… I've always wanted to go to Ireland" Hana commented zoning out after.
"This mission is going to be difficult" Ray-chan turned to me setting down the file. I nodded in agreement. No mission was ever easy, per say. Missions would always be very time consuming or a noah would appear or hundreds of akuma out numbering a few exorcists or innocents would cause people to disappear. I had a feeling this was one of those missions. Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it, Erica grumbled inside my head, giving me a minor headache. I agree, Max gave off the a same negative energy Erica did. All the negative energy, swirling in my head, was making the minor headache worst.
"I'm gonna take a nap" I muttered closing my eyes, welcoming the feeling of tiredness sending me into a deep sleep.
***After the nap***
… "Skylar…Skylar wake up" I heard a familiar voice ushering me to wake up. Ugh…five more minutes… I growled internally.
"Hold on let me try, Oh Skylar~" Oh no. I felt a face near mine, leaning close to my ear "WAKE UP SKYLAR!"
My eyes shot open. I failed my arms around trying to get Hana and Ray-chan away from my personal space bubble. But due to my flailing, I became very acquainted with the extremely uncomfortable floor.
"Aren't there more pleasant ways to wake people up?" I glare Ray-chan, slowly lifting myself from the ground, rubbing the ear that was yelled in.
"Not for you; honestly if the Earl attacks while you're asleep you wouldn't know till you had a sword at your neck. Maybe you wouldn't even know then" Ray-chan laughed at my struggle to get up and fight the grogginess from my nap.
I stuck my tongue out like a child, "Whatever, let's just get this show on the road"
We quickly made our way off the train, dodging coming and going people in the station, meeting up with the finder that would be helping us. Shortly after, we made our way through the town and headed for the area the files had said the finders disappeared.
The walk to get to the sight had taken about fifteen minutes, give or take. The area itself was beautiful, pristine houses, cut grass, clean streets; it defiantly wasn't a place I would expect to find innocents or for people to go missing. We slowly continued down the long street that seemed to carry on forever.
I turned to the finder "Were you giving a specific area on the street that the innocents would be found in?"
The finder stared at me for a while, looking like they were too frightened to talk; probably a newbie. Finally, he looked through a file that looked different than ours, filled will more background information on the scene and the surrounding area, "It just says that it's at the end of the street"
We nodded silently and ran toward the end of the street. Suddenly as we reached the end of the street the finder stopped following us, like a wall was stopping him from continuing with us.
"I'm fine you guys continue" He ushered us to continue. I really don't have a good feeling about this.
There are a lot of akuma here; Erica warned keeping my head on a swivel. And the innocents is close too, I think it's the reason the finder couldn't get through. Max concluded. Then how did the other finders go missing? I asked but got no answer in response.
"How many akuma are there?" Ray-chan had known that using Max and Erica's power a could tell how many akuma were residing on this street, or really how many were looking for the innocents.
"There are-"
"Oh hello, we don't get many visitors. My name in Karen McClean, nice to meet ya" a woman in her mid-thirties greeted us with a thick Irish ascent.
"Hello" I returned the smile, forcing my English ascent back "We heard some talk as we passed through the town and people said there were some weird things going on"
She looked at me like I was crazy, "Child, you shouldn't believe everything ye' hear. Nothing here is out of the ordinary"
"Oh well thank you for your time" I started to lead Ray-chan and Hana to a pub so we could recollect.
"…That woman was creepy" Ray-chan grumbled, ordering her lunch at the crowded pub.
"She was definitely hiding something" Hana recalled the cheery woman. I nodded as they kept talking to each other, not really listening any more. Out of the corner of my eye I notice a man with Blood red hair and a hat covering him face. At least he's still alive. Suddenly I felt a dark aura disrupting the peace that was somewhat being held.
I slowly closed my eye trying to block out all outside noises. I was only focusing on the auras around me; each one was like a figure print. It had been something Master had said would be very important to learn. He said 'People could lie strait to your face but, if you can see their auras, they can never lie'. Ray-chan and I's auras were constructed a little differently because there are three different souls stuck in one person. The aura I was looking for should be fairly dark, darker than the rest of the aura's here. There! I opened my eyes and walked toward the mystery person.
"Hey Skylar, where are you going?" Hana asked from behind me dragging Ray-chan with her before she could get her food. I ignored Hana, even though I knew it was rude, trying to follow the aura.
"Hello" I force a smile on my face as I found the person the disgusting aura belonged to.
"Hello there, wench" He smirked. 'Wench'? What it this Medieval Times?
"I heard that there are some weird thing going on here, cause to explain?" I asked there was slight accusation in my tone.
"I don't know nothing" His smirked weakened but was still clear as day.
"Oh really, cause in sounds like you're lying" I heard Ray-chan say behind me in an annoyed tone.
"Listen" He growled "I don't know nothing 'bout these akuma attack!"
I smirked; finally he cracked "I never mentioned anything about akuma"
He looked like he was beating himself up over his slip up. He grabbed the collar of my exorcist coat and snarled "Listen girlie, I you and your little exorcist friends are too late. The akuma are already hot on the track of the innocents"
The man dropped my collar and went back to drinking his heart out. Ray-chan grumbled attempting to attack this strange man after he released me but, I put my arm up to stop her from going anything seriously stupid. She glared at me, annoyed that I had stopped her.
"He's not worth it" I muttered to her leading her and Hana out of the pub "We should start our search"
"Where should we start?" Hana looked around at the different building.
"..." I couldn't come up with an area that we could start looking. That was, until I could sense the akuma again. My head shot up, I could hear their faint cries piercing me ears making me want to cry myself. I once again started to pull Hana and Ray-chan behind me "This way, there are akuma"
"Please help us…please…save us!" I heard the akumas cry. Why is the pain of seeing these akuma so much worse than ever? I cringed listening to their cries.
"Skylar, what's wrong?" Hana yelled from behind me.
"The akuma…they're so close and…in they're in so much pain" I stopped running their pain and cries giving me a throbbing headache, bringing me close to tears "We have to save them"
Hana and Ray-chan nodded helping back to my feet and we head toward the akuma. We all activated our innocents and ran in the direction. I could feel a growing pit in my stomach like I was making a bad decision. We chased the akuma to a small city part, the tree rustling, the grass swaying. It was too quiet.
"It's good to see you again Skylar Walker" AS cold voice walking up to me "I am glad you didn't die at our last encounter"
He leaned closer to me, too close for comfort really, and licked my ear. I tried to knee him wear the sun don't shine but his hand stopped me knee before I could. He tisked me "Now, now if you continue to misbehave I'm afraid you may not be the only one paying the price"
I turned my head to find Hana and Ray-chan having to fight off some akuma. I struggle to break his grip on my knee. I yelled frustrated "Why are you following me?"
"Orders, duh. The Earl has been keeping special tabs on you, The 14th or Allen as you call him, Raven, Hana and for some reason that wannabe samurai boyfriend of yours"
I froze "Why does he had tabs on them"
He chuckled and patted me on the head much to my annoyance "All in due time"
Seeing that he had momentarily put his guard down (and lowered his hand), I quickly punched him in the jaw. As he cradled his jaw for a second a kneed him where the sun don't shine and kneed his face for good measures. While he was down I ran to go help my friends.
"Sorry that took me a while" I yelled reactivating my innocents. I sent Feria to help Ray-chan and I was helping Hana.
"It's fine" She gave me a bright smile "Go help Raven she's battling all the dangerous akuma. I gave her a skeptical look but summoned Feria a commanded her to protect Hana. As quickly as I summoned Feria, I ran to go help Ray-chan.
"Good to see that creep is away from you" Ray-chan shot her gun, aiming for akuma that were apparently behind me.
"What you're back apparently Earl is keepin a tab on you" I swung Winter's Grace, setting five of the akuma souls free.
"Interesting" She muttered "Wait where's Hana?"
"She said-" I was cut off by a horrible, blood curdling scream. Oh god…Hana…I thought, pained. We both shot off running in the direction of the scream. It felt like it had taken forever to get to Hana.
When we got there, I saw the angel-demon that is Allick's and the Earl's servant holding Hana's limp body by her neck. There was blood running down her forehead, dripping onto the grass.
"I told you, dear Skylar, if you kept misbehaving you wouldn't be the only one to pay the price" He reminded me, wiping some blood off his cheek and onto his bloodstained shirt.
"Y-you killed her…" I was too shocked and sad to come up with an insult. It was as if time had slowed down, leaving suck in the horrible moment. It was my fault she was dead. He had warned me and because of my ignorance she was dead.
"Indeed I did, now unless-" I cut him off. I blinking away tears and yelled at him yanking Hana you of his grasp "YOU KILLED HER, YOU ASSHOLE! O-One of my best friends and you killed her!"
"Tisk, tisk I gave you fair warning and it isn't very lady like to use such vulgar language" he shook his head lightly "Hmm it seems the Earl needs me. Well, until next time"
A cloud of smoke appeared out of nowhere and made it impossible to follow the jerk. For an hour and a half, I went searching for him but with no luck. Ray-chan cradled Hana's head, her bangs covering her eyes. 'I told you if you kept misbehaving you wouldn't be the only one to pay the price', his words rang in my head.
"I'm so sorry" I whispered, not trusting my own voice. My body racked with sobs, It was all my fault, she's dead because of me.
"I-I-It's not your fault" But she refused to look me in the eye.
"What are we going to do…?" My voice died as I tried to say Hana's name.
"Let's just go to sleep for now, we'll figure it out tomorrow" She moved Hana's head and put my head into her lap, hushing me into sleep. We ended up both crying ourselves to sleep.
[Raven POV]
This is second times my beloved person dies in front me, first sis and now Hana? What if Sky-chan next? And what if all people I loved in Order receive the same fate? It's not fair at all, if all of them gone then why I still alived? Why I can't exchange place with them?
Those things keep repeating inside my head like a broken tape, keep playing and playing. The darkness surrounding me, I don't even care to wake up because I know what happen not just a mere nightmare. It's a truth and I need accept it, same as Sky-chan. It's not her fault but my FAULT. I realized the bad feeling I keep having; I realized that I like a Shinigami, people who attached with me dies. Silent tears fall from my closed eyes, I hug myself tightly.
I'm scared…I'm terrified….
I'm sorry Sky-chan….Hana….
It's….lonely….
Rain-nee….
I miss you…..
"Time will be rewind"
My eyes shot open, sweat fall from my forehead; I can feel my heartbeat going fast. I grip my sleeve as I tried to stop myself from shaking but failed. I look around and found myself inside Komui room, beside my Hana and Sky-chan look at each other, both of face pale as mine. Komui and Pirate look at us with worried expression and Kanda look at Sky-chan with a concrete look. I gulped, headache start attacking me.
What in the world just happen?
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-Oz the Magician