My updating schedule is dependent on my mood, so sorry for the wait. That goes for you, guest who always asks me to update. Seriously, I appreciate how much you like the story, but calm down.
"How is it that Komui can book us a train straight to Romania, and then when we have to go back, we have to transfer trains in Paris?" Blake asked.
"Actually, it's confusing to me, too. These tickets are round-trip, but apparently…" Lucia studied her ticket, hole-punched twice from her two trips so far and then destined to be punched again when they left Paris. "Komui is like that, after all. He rarely does things the straight and narrow way. Kind of like you, actually."
"I may be odd, but don't ever compare me to Komui. I don't even come close to him," Blake claimed.
Lucia gave him a skeptical look. "Mm-hmm…"
"Hey!"
Lavi, as the observer, chuckled. Choosing to join Blake and Lucia for the laughs if not for helping them was totally worth it.
While Blake and Lucia were discussing things like their superior's annoying mannerisms, Krory was looking wide-eyed out the window. He had never seen a train before, much less been on one, and so he was marveling at how fast they were traveling, the scenery outside, and so on. It was amazing how quickly he recovered from the villagers' abuse.
When they had left the village, Blake and Lucia had explained everything about Krory; that Eliade was manipulating him, that the villagers who were killed had been Akuma, and that Krory was not a vampire. However, the villagers had immediately rejected what, to them, was an outlandish and completely unbelievable fairytale not even worthy of a little kids' storybook. And when they saw that the Exorcists stood by that story, they immediately banished all four of them from the village.
Incidentally, Lavi and Lucia had to restrain the very peeved Blake from destroying the village after they were banished. "It's just a small mountain village with no connections!" Blake had protested. But Lavi and Lucia wouldn't hear of it.
The train whistle blew, signaling their arrival in Paris. The Exorcists quickly gathered their bags and got off the train.
Lucia looked around, seeming oddly content despite the hustle and bustle of the station. "Welcome to my hometown," she said.
"It's a lot like London. Not surprising at all, considering they're both big cities," Blake commented.
"Yeah. The only real difference is the spoken language," Lavi added, keeping a close eye on Krory, who had already wandered off and gotten himself into trouble several times on their way there.
"Blake! Lucia! Lavi!"
Blake and Lucia turned their heads to see, to their surprise, Allen, Lenalee, and Bookman sitting or standing near a wooden bench nearby. Lavi and Krory turned as well, and Lavi smiled cheerfully as he waved back at their friends.
"The other Exorcists, Krorykins!" Lavi explained to the surprised Krory as he happily led him to Allen, Lenalee, and Bookman. Blake and Lucia followed, just as overjoyed to see their best friends.
"Allen, Lenalee, Bookman!" Blake greeted. Allen got up and gave Blake a quick hug, patting him on the back twice as Blake did the same. "How are you all doing?"
"It's great to see you guys again!" Lucia added, hugging Lenalee.
"The same to you, Blake, Lucia, Lavi!" Allen returned.
"Oh, right! Let me introduce you to Arystar Krory III! He's a new Accommodator that we found! Krory, the white-haired boy is Allen, the pretty girl is Lenalee, and the old man is my master, Bookman!" Lavi introduced.
Lenalee smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you!" she greeted.
"L-likewise…" Krory said, turning his head away in shyness.
"He's lived in a castle his whole life while barely going out, so he's a little shy, but his powers are really amazing!" Lucia explained.
"Well, then, you're not the only one with a new comrade!" Allen turned to the woman sitting rather demurely on the bench next to him. "This is Miranda Lotto. She has the power to temporarily turn back time in a limited area."
Lavi's eyes were wide. "Say what?"
"Yes, it's truly amazing. Any injuries that we get are instantly healed, until we leave the area. It's…complicated," Lenalee explained.
Lavi looked at Miranda, appraising her. "Well, she's very pretty, so welcome to the Black Order!"
Miranda blushed. "T-thank you…"
"She's shy, too," Allen said.
"That so? Maybe these two can help each other out!" Blake dragged Krory over to stand next to Miranda. Both of them looked very timidly at each other before Krory tried to assume a confident posture and held out his hand with a smile.
"Arystar Krory III, miss," he offered.
"M-Miranda Lotto. It is a pleasure, Mr. Krory." Miranda took his hand in both of hers and smiled back.
"Please, just Krory is fine."
Allen smirked at Blake. "Matchmaking?" he whispered.
"Oh, please," Blake muttered back, although he had a smirk of his own on his face.
"It's good to see that we're all relaxed, but I believe now isn't the time for that. We might have two new Exorcists, but Miranda, at the very least, wasn't easy to recruit," Bookman said.
"What do you mean? How many Akuma did you have to deal with?" Blake asked.
"Not Akuma. We ran into Road," Allen said.
Blake froze, and then smiled. "I didn't think you were that clumsy," he said, wryly.
"You know what I mean, Blake!"
Blake's mood instantly changed. "Goddammit, Allen! I was in denial for a moment! I knew exactly what you meant! I just didn't think it was possible!" he snapped.
"What are you guys talking about?" Lavi asked.
Blake glared at Allen. "Road Kamelot…"
"Yes. She's back, along with the Millennium Earl. She hinted that Tyki Mikk, at the very least, was also still alive," Allen replied.
Blake swore harshly under his breath. "But I thought that…"
"We both did, and we thought wrong. The Noah Family is back, or maybe the Generals didn't destroy all of them. Whatever the case, Road Kamelot was the one who tried to stop us from getting Miranda's Innocence," Allen said.
"The Noah Family?" Lucia asked, confused. Bookman began to fill Lucia, Lavi, Krory, Miranda, and Lenalee in on them, while Allen and Blake continued their discussion in private.
"Are you ready for this, Allen? Are either of us ready?" Blake asked.
"For Level 3s, we could be ready. But the Noah are a different story. We barely survived our encounter with Tyki three years ago, and even though I've gotten much stronger since then, Lenalee, Miranda, and I only got out alive because Road let us go. We were in her dream world; she could have broken our minds or torn us to pieces if she wanted to," Allen explained.
"But she didn't. And if we want to win, we're going to have to make her regret that decision," Blake replied.
"You know, Blake, it's not like you to get nervous," Allen teased.
Blake smirked. "Well, then, that just shows how frightening they are, doesn't it?"
"True enough. All right, they're done talking." Allen ended the conversation there.
"Allen, Blake…is it true? Are the Noah really more powerful than a Level 3 Akuma?" Lenalee asked.
Allen and Blake exchanged glances. "Neither of us has really fought a Level 3 before, so I can't make a fair judgment. However, there's no doubt that the Noah have powers over Dark Matter that far exceed those of any Akuma we've ever fought before. You saw yourself how powerful Road was, and she's still not the most powerful member of that family. There are others, even besides the Earl, that make Road look like a floundering child," Allen replied.
"She kind of is, though," Blake pointed out. Allen shrugged.
"Well, then, we'll just have to kill all of them, won't we?" a gruff voice broke in.
The Exorcists turned to see a scowling Kanda a few feet away, with Toma at his side. He smirked when he saw Allen glare at him. "What are you looking at, beansprout?"
"You want to die, damn Kanda?" Allen snapped back, stomping up to him.
"Cut it out, guys," Lucia stepped between them before turning to look up at Kanda. "Kanda, what a surprise to see you. What are you doing here? Is it really safe to leave the Black Order with no Exorcists?"
"Before you guys left, Komui called back the other Exorcists. They are all in the process of returning to the Black Order Headquarters. As of now, the only one who's actually back is Suman Dark, but he's powerful enough so that Komui thought I should come out here. This is also why he sent tickets that would let you transfer in France. We have one more mission here before we can go back," Kanda explained, holding up a file.
"What is it this time?" Blake asked.
"See for yourself." Kanda tossed the file to Blake, who easily caught it and took out the contents. The others except Bookman crowded around him to see.
"The Phantom Thief G…he's still around?!" Lucia exclaimed. At the others' incredulous looks, Lucia explained. "The Phantom Thief G is a complete mystery. He hasn't been around for as long as Allen or Blake has; he started out a little before I left to join the Black Order, so about a year ago. And like Allen, he was seen often, but he's never been caught."
Lavi nodded. "Right. We've been trying to catch this guy for a long time, but since he was in France, and his crimes were only theft, no burglary or murder like Allen and Blake were accused of."
The others took the time to glare at the former thieves, as if reminding them of all the grief they had caused. Allen and Blake gave a hapless but unregretful shrug.
"And now that Crown Clown and Fantasy's Requiem have been apprehended, Komui put Phantom Thief G on highest priority because a new report just came in. It looks like G has the power to possess people, and he's just started doing it to Finders," Kanda explained.
"How do they know that he can possess people?" Allen asked.
Blake found and flipped through the report. "G wears a mask, just like we did. Only his mask covers his entire head, and it's shaped like a jewel, with a single eye in the middle. He's been unmasked several times, but it's always a different person; sometimes male, sometimes female, and all of differing ages. Even more so, when those people were found and questioned by the authorities here, they all said that they didn't remember what they did; what they stole, how they did it, how they even got there, nothing," he read.
"Don't you think that G just has a huge group of people who are really loyal to him?" Lavi asked.
"It would take brainwashing of some kind to be loyal to that extent; these people were all grilled by police and had to deal with the stress of being caught committing a crime they don't remember," Allen pointed out. "And besides, if G is brainwashing people or possessing them to do his dirty work, we still have to catch him whatever the case."
"Exactly. Komui said to decide amongst ourselves what to do with this. Of course, I'm going to be a given on this case; it was my mission. I'm only here because the idiot ordered me to brief you guys. I don't need any of your help," Kanda snapped.
"Oh, please, someone of your simple mind would be easily taken over by this guy," Allen scoffed.
"How about I cut you into pieces?" Kanda growled, putting a hand on Mugen.
"Just try it, bastard," Allen spat, flexing his Innocence arm.
Lenalee smacked both of them. "Enough! Let's decide who's doing this!"
"No need. I already have a proposal. It's all based around logic," Blake smirked.
"Let's hear it," Lenalee said.
"Kanda, Allen, and Lucia will stay here. The rest of us will take Miranda and Krory back to the Black Order," Blake said.
"NO WAY IN HELL!" Allen and Kanda refused loudly and simultaneously. They glared at each other before continuing their protests.
"Why should I work with this beansprout?!"
"Why should I work with this idiot?!"
They glared at each other again. "You wanna die, dumbass!" they yelled at each other again.
Blake walked between them and glared at them both. "Cut it out! Let me explain. Kanda is already a given, as he said. Allen is the one who knows thieves, better than I do. He can probably outthink this phantom thief if all he has is possession or brainwashing. And Lucia not only knows her way around France, but she's strong enough to stop both of you from killing each other. Am I right?"
He wasn't wrong, but no one wanted to say it. Lenalee voiced her opinion. "I agree with Blake's plan. It's not optimal, especially with this little oil-and-water mix," she gestured at Kanda and Allen, "but Blake's idea does have some sound points."
"Yeah. And besides, it's better to have more of us bring Krory and Miranda back to the Black Order. Official induction into the Black Order's ranks would go faster that way," Lavi added.
"Then it's decided. Allen, Kanda, and Lucia will stay here. " Bookman said.
Kanda and Allen reluctantly gave in, while Lucia gave Blake a look that said, Really? Blake bowed his head a bit in return, in apology and affirmation of his trust. Lucia wearily shook her head, accepting her lot.
Kanda, Allen, and Lucia waved goodbye to their friends as the train left the station. "So what's our first move?" Allen asked.
"Information. We should ask the local police for their opinion and any information that they have," Lucia said.
"I would begin with what we know, which is up both your alleys. Lucia, what do you know about G?" Kanda interrupted.
"As I said earlier, not much. Stay close to me. We should start moving." Lucia began to lead the way out of the station as she talked. "G appeared a little before I left here. I know that he has never been arrested, but he has been seen. I also know that his behavior is like that of a child's. He's always playing with the police, chanting and mocking them that he'd never be arrested. And then the police always fail to catch him in the end."
"Gee, I wonder who that reminds me of…" Kanda growled, glaring at Allen.
Allen glared back. "Hey, at least I took my thievery seriously, unlike this guy. He's practically begging to be caught. Anyway, do you know anything about his previous heists, especially the targets, Lucia?"
"It's mostly jewels, from what I've heard. The interesting thing is, he's never targeted anything on a grand scale. He hasn't stolen any jewels with actual names; he's just taken average-grade gems and such things," Lucia replied.
Allen frowned. "Which means that he's trying to sell them for money rather than keep them for himself."
"How do you know that?" Kanda challenged.
"These are average-grade gems and jewels. They can give you a decent amount of profit when you sell them, but they're nothing compared to the value of flawless or named gems, so one would generally not try to keep them for himself or herself. And then at the same time, they're perfect when you want to stay anonymous while selling them because fewer people are on the lookout for them. If G had stolen a named gem and then tried to sell it, then it would have been child's play to find him," Allen explained.
"Interesting. But I think your information is a little outdated, Lucia," Kanda said.
"That's to be expected. So what's new?" Lucia asked.
"G has started to go after more highly valued items. The recent heists have been after things with a slight but steady increase in value from their last ones. It's in the report," Kanda explained.
"Okay, so there's that."
"That means that he's either really arrogant or gotten enough money and wants to look the part. Either way, we should catch him soon, or we'll lose him forever. If he thinks he's gotten enough, then he might be thinking about retiring from a life of thievery and go into luxury. If that's the case, it'll be harder to find him then, and as we all know, it's hard enough to find him as it is," Allen added.
"We're wasting time with this. All you're doing is talking about how hard it's going to be to find him," Kanda snapped.
"Relax, I have my own ideas on how to find him. But first, I think we should establish where we're going to stay while we're here," Allen said.
"That's already been established," Lucia said, suddenly stopping and hailing down a coach. She began to communicate with the driver in French, which neither Allen nor Kanda understood. Before long, the driver smiled and patted the coach, gesturing for the Exorcists to get in.
"Merci," Lucia thanked. Allen took it as his cue to open the door and let Lucia and Kanda in before getting in himself. Lucia called out to the driver again. "Rappalez-vous, Monsieur, a la maison de Remier."
"Oui, Mademoiselle." The driver snapped the reins, and they were off.
"My French is terrible, but did I just hear you ask the driver to take us to your house?" Allen asked.
"That's right. I'm actually curious to see exactly how my family is doing," Lucia replied.
"We're on a mission, not your…" Kanda started to grump, but Allen cut him off.
"Let her do this. Neither of us have families anymore, so we have no right to stop her, and besides, if my family were alive, I'd want to see them too," Allen murmured.
Lucia looked at Allen with both happiness and regret, while Kanda only scoffed and turned his head away.
The coach stopped at a modestly sized house in a well-to-do neighborhood, and Lucia got out first, followed by Kanda, and finally Allen. "This is the place. Don't worry about the language barrier, my parents both speak English."
The door to the house opened to reveal a silver-haired woman who looked a lot like an older version of Lucia. "Lucia! My angel!" she cried.
"Mama!" Lucia ran into her mother's arms and embraced her tightly while Allen and Kanda looked on. "Mama, these are my new friends from the Black Order. That's Yu Kanda, and that's Allen Walker. Guys, this is my mother, Felicity Chanelle Marie Dubois Bellerose Remier," she introduced.
"It is my pleasure to meet you both! Thank you for looking after my daughter!" Felicity Remier greeted, hugging them both in turn and making Kanda very uncomfortable. "I hope her eating habits aren't too much trouble for the Black Order!"
Allen wryly showed Felicity his own left arm. "Not really. Trust me, we can feed three of her per meal and still have enough for the rest of the Black Order," he said.
"Oh! So you…"
"Yes. In fact, there's another just like us back at the Black Order. He's one of our best friends, and all three of us were born with our Innocence. It's still very unusual, but don't worry, Lucia fits in just fine," Allen assured her.
"Thank you for telling me that. But come in, come in! I was just about to make lunch! I wasn't expecting to have to feed so many people, though!" Felicity led them towards the house.
As Kanda walked, he caught Lucia's eye. "Do you have a long name like that?" he hissed.
Lucia smiled. "Yes. My full name is Lucia Camille-Yvonne Tamia Remier," she replied.
"You're kidding, right?"
"No, I'm afraid my family has quite the penchant for long names like those. But when I interact with the outside world, I generally avoid the full name and just give the first and very last ones," Lucia giggled.
Kanda's eyebrow twitched.
They entered the house, where a stocky man with Lucia's green eyes and his own black hair beginning to gray greeted them. "This is my husband, Bernard Henri Richard Gunther Remier," Felicity introduced.
"My daughter!" Bernard embraced his daughter just as warmly as Felicity had.
"I'm back, Papa!" It was clear to both Allen and Kanda that Lucia shared a very special bond with her parents as Lucia re-introduced them to her father.
"Allen Walker." Allen held his hand out to shake, which Bernard accepted.
"Yu Kanda." Kanda gave an archly stiff bow before offering his hand.
"Pleasure to meet you both! Come, we will talk while my dear Felicity makes lunch, yes?" Bernard offered.
"Would you like me to help you with that, Mrs. Remier? I wouldn't mind learning a few more recipes," Allen offered.
"You can cook?" Felicity asked.
"It's a given when you're born this way and then abandoned by your bastard of an Exorcist General master," Allen replied, only half-joking.
"I see. Well, then, Allen, I would appreciate the help. Come with me." Felicity and Allen walked into the kitchen, leaving Kanda with Lucia and Bernard.
"Papa, I'm warning you right now, Kanda is not much of a talker," Lucia warned.
Bernard gave Kanda and Lucia a wry smile. "Really? Well, then, this will be interesting."
As it turned out, Bernard failed in getting Kanda to say more than five sentences, at six words per sentence throughout the entire two hours that Allen and Felicity prepared lunch. Luckily, lunch for the Remiers was a relatively silent affair, save for the loud munching that Allen and Lucia both displayed.
Felicity now knew that Allen was not exaggerating when he insisted that they would need way more food than usual; at least forty courses. She watched with shock as Allen consumed his food at a rate easily exceeding that of Lucia.
Still, despite the noise that Allen and Lucia were making, all of the Exorcists were keeping their eyes and ears open for any possible attack. A normal person would have been focused on the eating, but when there was a dull thump upstairs, Allen, Lucia, and Kanda all stopped.
"Do you have any pets?" Allen asked.
"No, why?" Bernard asked.
There was the sound of shattering glass, and Kanda shot out of his seat. "Beansprout!"
"I know!" Allen and Lucia shot out and all three raced towards the door. Allen threw it open to see a human garbed in white land a few feet in front of him.
"Phantom Thief G!" Lucia screamed.
Allen was about to tackle G when his Akuma eye suddenly activated. "Get back!" he ordered. Both Kanda and Lucia had enough discipline to obey just as a set of Akuma bullets were shot at G, who agilely leapt backwards just in time.
People screamed as twenty or so Level 1 Akuma led by twelve-foot tall Frankenstein's monster-like Level 2 with a huge array of swords stabbed into his back approached G. "You! Give us the Innocence!" the Level 2 roared.
Allen, Kanda, and Lucia exchanged glances. Innocence? Their eyes were full of this question.
G grinned. "Come on, you stupid monsters! You can't catch me! No one can! I'm Phantom Thief G, remember?" he taunted.
The Level 2 roared again and ordered the Level 1s to attack, but nothing happened. The Level 2 gave the order again, and when nothing happened again, he finally turned around…
…to see them all slashed into pieces. Allen and Lucia blinked, rubbed their eyes, and looked at their side. Kanda was not there. He was outside, having just finished slicing up each of the Level 1s.
Allen turned to Lucia with wide eyes. "Could you follow any of that?"
"…I didn't see when he disappeared, if that's what you're asking. I just saw him cutting up the Akuma," Lucia replied, her eyes just as wide as Allen's.
"That sounds about right," Allen confirmed, having just barely caught Kanda's movements as flashes of light.
Kanda smirked at his comrades' shocked expressions. "Why are you idiots gaping like a pair of brain-dead fish? I told you I've gotten stronger, didn't I?"
"You! You're an Exorcist!" the Level 2 growled, stomping up to loom over Kanda.
"Wow, just like that bull we fought. The more brutish you look, the stupider you really are," Kanda smirked.
"You! You dare call me stupid!" the Akuma bellowed. The swords in his back shot out and glowed with dark matter, all of them pointed at Kanda. "I'll skewer you into a million pieces!"
"I prefer to slash, like so." In the next instant, Kanda was behind the Akuma, sheathing his sword.
Allen was now looking on with less surprise on his face than before, but when he asked Lucia the next question, his voice was distant with surprise. "I counted about eight. You?"
"Six, followed by some more flashes of light," Lucia replied in the same dazed tone.
"Hmm."
The Akuma turned around, grinning. "Ha! You didn't even do anything, and you're giving up already! The Exorcists are weaker than I thought!" Kanda ignored, walking up to and glaring at the shocked G instead. "Hey! Don't ignore me! I'll…!"
"So it looks like the Millennium Earl skimped on two things; your intelligence and your nervous system," Kanda said.
"What are you talking about? My nervous system…?!"
"Take a look at your swords," Kanda interrupted.
The Akuma looked again to see his swords all beginning to fall away and corrode into dust. "You…! When did…! I'll kill you!" The Akuma attempted to raise his fists, but he couldn't move them.
Kanda finally turned around to glare witheringly at the Akuma. "You really are a real dumbass. You've been dead for the past thirty seconds."
And then the Akuma felt the pain from twelve huge slashes spread throughout his body. He screamed as they cracked his metal body and joined together to form even larger cracks, and a few seconds later, he crumbled away, joining his swords and his already exorcised comrades into oblivious freedom.
"Now, then, G…" Kanda growled. G quickly clambered up a building and raced across the rooftops. "Really?"
"Let's go, come on!" Allen growled, activating Crown Clown and holding on to Lucia as he swung them after G. Kanda gritted his teeth and followed G across the rooftops.
"Incidentally, how many times did you cut him?" Allen asked.
"Twelve, just as you saw, or more likely that you didn't see," Kanda replied with a cocky sneer as he sped up.
"I am actually glad he's on our side," Allen murmured.
"We always need powerful allies like him," Lucia pointed out.
"Too bad he's such an idiot," Allen growled.
Lucia groaned and let it slide. They all had more important things to do…namely, catching Phantom Thief G.
So, did this take any of you by surprise? G has appeared much earlier than he should have, and if you've read the manga, don't spoil what happens in this arc. There's no real point, actually; I didn't read the actual G arc, although I know what happens, so my version will be quite a bit different from the manga's.
Leave a comment below if you so wish.