Author's Notes:

Another chapter full of revelations for you! I had some troubles here and there, making up my mind where to include which scene. Most of what will happen towards the end is still vague in my mind, but the stations on the way there seem to become clearer.

I wanted to update fast, seeing as I actually do have time and the inspiration to write. No point at all in making you wait unnecessarily, especially as – after such a long time – there are still people reading! :3

/Dialogue written in slashes/ means that it's said on the other end of a transmitted conversation!

Disclaimer: D. Gray-man belongs to Katsura Hoshino


The Lotus Charm. What he had once thought to be his only chance at strength and ultimately revenge had fast become a nightmarish burden on his heart. 20 years he had had to live with its effect, 20 years he had paid for one thoughtless moment. Long and bitter nights where he had stared at the flower, at the petals on the floor and wondering exactly what he had given up to have received such a dark gift. He had looked at the petals, at times hating, at times indifferent, at times crying but often fearing all to perish and he with them. The flower, delicate as it was, proved to be the strongest shackles, none he could possibly free himself of. He thought to have realized what it really meant to pay with destiny; humans were meant to be born, to live their lives and to die. He had both given up the right to choose how to live and the ability to die when the time would have been right.

"Okay, listen up closely, brat," Cross said, Kanda glaring at him for the insulting way of addressing him. He might be a lot, but at almost 40 he surely was no longer a brat! "I'm only going to tell you once, so you better pay attention." The man took a longish pipe from Kanda's night table and put it to his lips. Kanda watched how the smoke that Cross blew out swirled around and then rose to the ceiling where it evaporated. "If there's anything I don't like then it's not knowing what's in store for me. To be always one step ahead is what has kept me alive despite the danger I'm constantly in. Other than you I don't react that well to having my head chopped off. Ignorance will get us nowhere in this battle." Kanda nodded slowly, not entirely sure what the General was on about. "When it comes to Ellen Walker," here the man snorted, shaking his head in what seemed to be bemusement, "well, let's just say that she's one hell of a woman. Exceedingly difficult to read, even more difficult to get to core of what she's thinking or feeling." Kanda narrowed his eyes, then he wiped his hair out of his face.

"Tell me something I don't know yet," he said through clenched teeth. Cross blew out smoke, unimpressed by Kanda's interruption of his soliloquy.

"Then what do you know?" he challenged and Kanda put his hands back on the silky bedcovers, looking up at the red haired man sitting next to his bed. Kanda pressed his lips together for a short moment.

"I know her real name, I know how the previous Noah of Destiny has died, I know that she was married to the 14th who wants her to continue whatever he's been doing. I know that she chose me instead to carry this burden and I know that she has gone through trouble to get me this far. But I do not know why she did what she did or why she does what she does. I don't know what she's feeling and I don't know where she's standing in this war." Cross looked him in the eyes, studying him for a long moment, before he closed his eyes, drawing the corners of his lips up into a grin.

"Well, at least it's more than most people will ever know of her," he said, then he got up, putting the pipe back down. He walked to the window, looking out with a solemn but calm expression. "I've heard of her before I actually met her. I've read and researched her as much as I could, but nothing I knew actually helped me one bit when I was standing before her. The human aspect of her is actually quite easy to penetrate, but you never quite know what you're dealing with anyway."

"Because of her Noah side...," Kanda added and Cross nodded, his back still turned towards him.

"I knew that when the time for battle comes, what she chooses to do will be crucial for how it'll go. I knew that she had Innocence, I tried to get her on my side, but could not succeed. There was something else that I wanted of her though; next to being compatible and a Noah, she is also a powerful magician. After Mana had been destroyed by her hand her body was in a lamentable state, which is why I taught her how to control her Innocence. In return she had to teach me some of the darkest spells in her arsenal." Kanda studied the back of his head with a frown. He remembered what Rabi had found out, he remembered the letters.

"Necromancy," he spoke up and Cross turned his head to look over his shoulder at his grumpy guest. "Rabi, the Bookman, looked into some documents for me. There was an exchange of letters between you and Xavier. Necromancy was mentioned there," Kanda explained. Cross turned around again, crossing his arms over his chest, nodding.

"Yes. The art of necromancy and what the Earl does with his Akuma and human souls isn't all that different. It's ancient magic, very, very ancient. And dark of course," Cross said, a grin on his lips.

"Which doesn't seem to worry you one bit," Kanda said with a snort and the other General laughed.

"Why should it? If I want to do something then nothing will stop me, not using dark magic, not using an enemy to teach me. Everything goes," he explained and Kanda just furrowed his brow, not quite sharing this view. "In any case, the Lotus Charm is essential about necromancy. Powerful spells need powerful energy to fuel them and strengthen them. Can you follow ?" Kanda raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes?"

"Now, the Lotus Charm is not a conventional spell. It is in no book and it probably is the most powerful protection spell there is. You are essentially immortal; you will not age one day and you'll survive even death itself…" Cross sat back down on the chair next to the bed and grabbed Kanda's kimono. The young man widened his eyes when Cross pulled it down from his shoulders to reveal his chest. "But other than being all chipper about it as any other immortal would be, you can't help but being grim about it." Cross studied the markings on Kanda's chest that extended over his shoulder and down to his shoulder blades. He seemed content with what he saw and looked up in Kanda's eyes. He pushed his gloved finger into Kanda's chest, poking him almost painfully. "Because however you try to think about it, it all boils down to the fact that you have no time and no life force of your own." He took his hand away, clapping his thighs and then grabbing his knees while bending closer to Kanda. "You're a corpse running on borrowed time." Kanda widened his eyes, staring at the general in front of him. He, other than Kanda, was completely calm.

"What…? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you still have your soul, so I shouldn't actually call you a corpse." Kanda still stared at him, not quite being able to make sense of what he's just been told. He was dead? But he was alive!

"Did I die?" Was the only thing Kanda managed to ask and Cross rolled his eyes.

"Laypeople. You don't get anything about magic, do you?" Kanda glared at him.

"Well, I do know that you just told me that I'm dead! I'm pretty sure that being dead is a consequence of dying!"

"Dead is also a consequence of not living. And what you lack is, as I'm sure I told you before, life energy. You don't possess any of it. Mortality, if that's more to your liking. What is essentially human – the fact that they have time and energy that runs out – you lack. You've got the soul, you've got the body, you've got the blood pumping through your veins, but you do not, by magicians' standards, live. At least not your own life time." Kanda looked at him, still with that mix of irritation and confusion on his face. "This is the crux of the Lotus Charm. Do think you can at least pretend to understand that? Or else it'll be pretty useless to even try going through this stuff." Kanda clenched the fabric of the bedcovers angrily, but the nodded.

"Good. I have never tried anything as powerful as the Lotus Charm, but I have made little experiments. I cannot tell where your own life energy has gone to," Cross continued, chin held in his hand, elbow on his knee.

"My destiny and my mortality are what I gave in exchange for the spell," Kanda told him, but Cross shook his head. "That's what I've been told."

"Yes, because it's been 'overwritten' with something else, so to speak. Ellen, no matter who she is, cannot take away your destiny. What she did to you would just open up possibilities while closing others. Maybe you'd be somewhere else right now if she hadn't given you the Charm, but you'd still be fighting in this war, the fact that you can make a difference in it would not have changed." Kanda sighed, shaking his head. "In any case, your mortality should still be somewhere. What necromancers can do is effectively manipulating energy, something crucial for life."

"So, my life has been transported to the Lotus which ages in my stead?" Cross fixed his eyes on him, his mouth set in a displeased line.

"You haven't got this yet, have you," the red-head said with an exasperated sigh, touching his fingers to his forehead. "Now I understand why Ellen said she's only teach those that are already proficient in magic…" Kanda looked at him with a grim expression, not happy at all that he was being made fun of in such a situation. Cross lifted his head again, touching the tip of his finger to the side of his head. "No, think a bit. Your own life power is not getting used up at all, it's frozen, stored away somewhere; either in your body or somewhere only Ellen knows. But, this I repeat, it is NOT being used." Kanda continued glaring at him, but then he widened his eyes. "Ah, you got it. The Lotus, whatever it actually is, supplies the life force that you are living on." Kanda might have understood that, but it still was puzzling. "Ellen used necromancy to bring this dead thing back to life. That was step one, then she established a connection between you and the revived object; your markings are a sign of it. Then the life force of the object got into your body, replacing your own life force which Ellen had either taken out or just suppressed."

"I can't remember her taking anything out of me," Kanda told him, but Cross just snorted.

"This does not mean anything. Magic happens without great rituals or gestures. Sometimes you don't even notice it – that's what powerful magic is. Though it does leave signs," Cross said, flicking his finger in the direction of Kanda's chest. Kanda sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"So, I can actually get rid of the curse if I get my own life force back and terminate the connection between me and the flower…," he mused, talking more to himself than to Cross. Cross still chose to answer.

"That won't be easy." Kanda looked up at him. "I told you that there was a problem. With magic as powerful as this, things can go wrong. Unaccounted for things can always happen, that's something magicians have to live with when they bend the rules of nature to their liking. Putting the Akuma curse aside for a moment because I've dealt with it, there is still something else." Kanda nodded, remembering that Cross had told him before. What else could have gone wrong? "The problem with necromancy is that a dead person might get revived but it still does not live. If you revive a person and then link it to a foreign body, which has happened in your case, the traits of the dead body get linked to the new one as well. Even though the dead person was revived in terms of life energy restoration, its soul is not connected to the body anymore." Cross tapped his finger on his knee restlessly.

"Ellen can't bring back a soul… Only the Earl can," Kanda stated and Cross nodded, "that's why she couldn't bring Mana back, at least not without the 'help' of the Earl…" The older general shook his head, a humourless laugh escaping his lips.

"Even if there is no soul, restored life energy is peculiar in its own way. It's very tricky to handle, even for small revived objects. The revived person has a life of its own, even though it cannot properly live it due to missing a soul or a proper body. The Lotus is an immobilized object, however, it is also tied to you because its life force is flowing through you and it both. What this revived object tries to do is in its instinct."

"Instinct?" Kanda repeated the word, puzzled. "So you say it attempts to live." Cross nodded.

"Yes and no. Fact is that before its life was terminated it had its identity, its traits, its own fate in the world. Death is usually the end of all of this, but if you bring it back, well, it'll pick up where it stopped. Whatever the Lotus flower used to be, it's trying to get you – its host, its parasite, whatever you want to call it – to be it." Kanda lifted his hands.

"Wait. What? It wants to go on living through me?" he asked incredulously and Cross put his hand on Kanda's shoulder. Kanda flinched at the heavy weight and the intense stare he received.

"In this aspect it's very much like Innocence; life power is a raw energy, a dark energy now because it's been pulled back from death. Traits, genetic information, its very own severed destiny, this is all entering your body. Your body has no life force, so it can barely resist this overwriting process. The markings on your chest are a sign of this process. It's progressing rapidly now, most probably because the seal I put on you is almost gone." Cross gave his shoulder an almost painful, but still comforting squeeze, before he leant back in his chair, studying his fellow exorcist. Kanda put both of his palms to his face, thinking with his eyes squeezed shut. He then drew his palms down to his lips, opening his eyes and looking at Cross grimly.

"So," he started, lowering his hands entirely, "I think I get it." Cross nodded, but didn't say anything at all. "What she had revived has never been something as simple as a flower… It was a human." Cross nodded yet again, but this time he offered some additional insights:

"The greater the sacrifice, the greater the result. I mentioned that. Complicated magic gets you further than easy one does. And nothing is more complex than a human being, its restored life force is far greater than that of a measly flower." Kanda cursed, hitting the mattress with his fist, his entire face showing his agitation. He didn't say anything for a long time, but his thoughts were running wild. He almost didn't dare to say it, almost didn't dare to hear the answer.

"Do you… think that she might have tried to revive Mana a second time?" Cross shrugged, a far too carefree gesture Kanda thought.

"It's possible." And this simple answer hung in the air between them, heavily, darkly.

-o-

Kanda was not really prepared to face Ellen when she slipped back into the room. The atmosphere was still tense, even after silence had reigned in the room for quite some time.

"You are done then?" Ellen asked, clearly avoiding looking at Kanda, not that he noticed, because he was busy avoiding looking at her too. She couldn't possibly know what Cross had told him or the conclusions he had drawn, but she could at least guess the extent of Cross' knowledge about her spell. In any case, it must have made her uneasy enough to not face him.

"There's only so much a man can take in at once," Cross said in an uninterested tone, sipping sake. Before Ellen could reply, he set the cup back down on the night table rather noisily and turned around in his chair to face both of them. "Okay, listen. You're probably not only here in Japan because your pretty toy needed maintenance," Kanda glared at him indignantly, "but because you're on a mission."

"Exactly, on the mission to find and aid you, General Cross," Kanda replied, "and to bring you back afterwards," he added.

"General Kanda," the red-head started mockingly and Kanda wrinkled his nose in annoyance, "that is exactly what I was waiting for. So here's the deal." He propped his elbows up on his knees and bent forwards. "My long term mission was to find the Akuma egg and to destroy it. Doing so would effectively cut the Earl's Akuma supply." Kanda chanced darting a look at Ellen to see if she showed any kind of reaction to that, but she was still calmly leaning against the night-table, looking at Cross without a discernable expression on her face. "I know exactly where it is now, I was merely waiting for the time when the Earl put the Egg back inside of the Ark. This, my comrades, is our once in a lifetime chance to both severe the connection of the Ark to Edo and to destroy the egg. IF," here he tilted his face towards Ellen, trapping her with his piercing look. She grabbed the edge of the night table a bit firmer, Kanda could see the knuckles of her pale hand turning even whiter. "Ellen here is willing to help us."

"Me?" Ellen asked sceptically, but Cross just laughed hollowly.

"Drop the naïve act, you know exactly that you're crucial to this endeavour. You are the one that can severe the connection, you as the player. You as the one commanding the Ark can give us access to the Egg." Ellen's face changed to a displeased frown that made Cross snort. "I bet your General agrees." Cross looked at Kanda and his face mimicked Ellen's frown. "If you're an exorcist then there's not one question to be asked, it's your mission, you do it."

"I understand," Ellen said into the silence after a while and Kanda looked at her. Her gaze was directed to the floor and she had her hand on her left upper arm. He heard the sound of a chair scratching the floor and he looked up to see Cross standing up. He walked over to Ellen and took her chin into his hands, peering down into her face. Kanda widened his eyes, but he didn't move from his spot on the bed.

"Do you understand, darling?" Cross said darkly, pulling her chin upwards so that she looked at him, "Do you?" He let her go again, but didn't step back. "You have to make a decision. Either you help us or you go away; we absolutely cannot afford you to stab us into the backs when we're there! If you let us in then the Earl will probably know what is up; if you agree to fight on our side then there's no backing out again. Is that clear?" Ellen squeezed her eyes shut and he grabbed her shoulders. "Is that clear?" Cross repeated slowly but forcefully. Ellen nodded and he let her go. "Well, I'm sure you want to think about it before. Go to your room and think hard." The girl lowered her head, then she walked past him without another word or a gaze directed at Kanda. Quietly she opened the door and quietly she closed it after herself. Cross snorted into the silence taking the flask with sake from the table and gulping it down.

"Well, pretty boy? Don't you want to get your ass up and be useful?" he asked and let himself fall down on the chair. Kanda drew his lips into a tight line, but then he threw back the blanket and left the bed. "I was being serious."

"About what?" Kanda asked, already halfway out of the door. He looked over his shoulder, but Cross was staring out of the window.

"She has to decide now. Brace yourself and decide what you want to do if she won't help us." Kanda took in a deep breath and left the room.

"Yes." He closed the door and walked down the corridor. Just what was he supposed to do? Was this the crucial moment? The moment where humanity's fate would be decided? Just like that? What if she really made up her mind to not take the risk, to not help them? Would there still be a chance to get her on their side later on? Would he have to use force to convince her? Or… would he have to use force to take her down?

"She is crucial to this battle… What if she's…" he almost didn't dare to think about it, but he had to, "what if she's disposed of? Would the Earl still have a chance without her? Would we have a chance without her?" Kanda stopped and kicked the wall in frustrations. "God, I hate prophecies!" He leant his head against the wall, thinking, trying to calm himself. Cross was right, there was only so much a man – any person actually – could take at once. But it must have been the same for Ellen, maybe she wasn't feeling well with the situation either.

Kanda's fear that what he dreaded was actually stood between him and her like a shadow. Was he really nothing more than a resurrected, twisted continuation of Mana Walker? Was he just a copy of her tragedy with him? Was that all there was? Was that in the light caresses on the hourglasses surface? Was that in the pained looks she showed him? Was that in the promise that the world still had hope as long as he lived? Was that in Ellen's reassurance that Mana's cause was not lost? Was it just that?

Still… Still, he opened the door to the room where Ellen was in. He didn't know it was her room, but intuition had led him here, just as if he could feel her. She was sitting on the futon, hands in her lap, completely still.

"I'm… sorry. Is this a bad time?" Kanda asked carefully. Ellen shook her head.

"There is no good time, it seems, for anything right now," she replied and looked up when he sat down on the futon next to her with a sigh. Silence again, but then Ellen turned towards him.

"What did Marian Cross tell you…?" she wondered, almost fearful. Kanda was taken aback slightly by her expression, but then he rubbed his neck, thinking about what he should tell her.

"Why don't you want me to know anything about it…? It's about me after all…" Ellen frowned, but remained quiet. "He told me that whatever or whoever you used as life source to replace my own has it stuck in its mind to overwrite who I am. Whoever that person was, he wants out of the Lotus and into me." Ellen clenched her teeth, her eyes narrowing, shaking her head.

"That should not be happening…!" Kanda raised his hand to put it on her back reassuringly, but she turned towards him. He blinked at her, but she just wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Ah- what?"

"I don't want this to happen! First the Dark Matter and now this! I just want things to go as they are supposed to just for once!"

"You want me to become your tragedy?" Kanda asked calmly and Ellen drew away from him enough to look into his face. "Because isn't that what I'm supposed to be?" Ellen lowered her head and he could only see her white hair falling into her face. She lifted her head again and looked at him, her mouth was set and her eyebrows lowered. She parted her lips lightly, Kanda waiting for her to say something, but she just put her hands on the side of his face and kissed him. Kanda raised his eyebrows in surprise. She put her weight against his chest, forcing him to lie down. Kanda was not sure what to do, he had no idea, but he put his hand on her hips and let her kiss him. She drew back slightly to wet her lips with her tongue and as their faces were so close her tongue touched his lips as well. She bent down again and put another short kiss on his lips, before she sat up enough to be able to look him into the eyes.

"I would never want to make you my tragedy. You're different from what I had expected," she said, her voice uneven and she slipped her hand under his kimono, feeling his warm skin. Kanda didn't know what to say at all, he didn't even know what to make of the fact that they were so close. Ellen sighed deeply, but then she bent down again, slipping his kimono off his shoulders, kissing his lips passionately.

"W…," Kanda pushed his hands against her stomach and she flinched, stopping her kisses at once, "wait a moment." She sat up straight, looking down at him, both flustered and insecure. He put his hand on Ellen's shoulder, sitting into an upright position. He looked rather dishevelled with his hair a mess from tossing around in is feverish sleep, his kimono undone, half of his upper body showing. "Why are you doing this all of a sudden…?"

"All of a sudden…? I've been meaning to do this for quite some time now," she whispered, her honesty surprising him. She sighed, fingers against her forehead. "I'm sorry. My head is all messed up…"

"I… can relate to that, but…," he couldn't find anything to say.

"You know that I used to be a prostitute and that I enjoy being intimate with men… But… this wasn't about that at all. It's…" she shook her head, laughing silently, but more because of the irony of it all. "I'm really sorry. There must be so many thoughts in your head… Because I can't make up my mind you aren't in a position to know how to judge my actions either…" Kanda sighed, patting the pale ankle he could see from underneath the hem of her kimono.

"So you still can't make up your mind?" Ellen shrugged her shoulders listlessly. Kanda sighed, then he let go of her ankle and got up on his feet, tugging the kimono back up. She looked up at him uncertainly.

"I give you some time to think, I guess I only confuse you with being here…," Ellen frowned, but Kanda already turned around, "I'll go check if there's any usable telephone in this building in order to check up on Rabi…" When he was at the door he looked back at the girl sitting on the futon. "When I'm done I'll be back. We'll continue then." She blinked up at him, just catching an ambiguous smile on his lips that made her blush despite herself. He left her room and closed the door. Kanda walked some steps before he actually let out a shaky breath he'd been holding. Just… what exactly had happened in there? Had she made real advances, just like that? Kanda shook his head in confusion, walking around the mansion.

"What are you looking for?" Cross' voice appeared out of nowhere. Kanda gave a start but turned around to find the man leaning against the wall, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"A… telephone."

"A telephone…," Cross repeated flatly, then he laughed, shaking his head. "There's one in my room, though I'm not sure if it works anymore. But if you want it to work, I'm sure it'll will," he said mysteriously and Kanda eyed him suspiciously. "My room's at the end of this corridor. Be on your way!" Kanda still frowned, but then he turned around, finding the room and entering. It was quite dark inside, but it looked like all the other rooms in the mansions did; luxurious. The only thing that made this place look like it actually belonged to Cross were shelves lined with leather bound books, many bottles of various alcoholic beverages and a stack of pictures Kanda rather not looked at too closely. He saw the telephone stand on a tower of books and Kanda grabbed the receiver and put it his ear. It was silent. With a frown Kanda sill turned the dial. Suddenly there was static noise and a voice answered:

/Black Order Asia Branch Information Bureau?/ He was a bit surprised, but because Cross had warned him about this apparently moody piece of technology before, he could get over it rather quickly.

"This is General Yu Kanda. Get me a connection to Rabi." He was asked to wait for a moment, then Rabi's cheerful voice greeted him:

/Yes? Is that you General?/

"It's Kanda," the dark haired man said flatly and heard Rabi laugh silently on the other side of the line. "We're in Japan, I'm on Cross' phone."

/What? You actually found him?/ Rabi sounded incredulous and Kanda couldn't hold it against him. /What happened?/

"Nothing much. We've been travelling through Japan, but I've been out cold for quite some time. Ellen found him… When I woke up again I was in this mansion and he was there…" Rabi was quiet, probably too surprised to say anything. "Listen," Kanda continued, sighing heavily, "I've got quite a bit on my mind, just tell me something to distract me."

/In a good or in a bad way…?/ he heard Rabi reply and Kanda straightened up immediately. He grabbed the phone from the tower and sat down on Cross' bed with it.

"What have you found out?" he urged and Rabi sighed.

/You won't like it…,/ Rabi warned him, but Kanda wanted him to tell him nevertheless, /I've gotten my hands on an older tome of the Bookman chronicles. It's got all sort of dodgy random stuff in it, like-/

"Get to the point," Kanda hissed and Rabi coughed uneasily.

/It speaks of a pact,/ he began and Kanda raised his eyebrow in confusion, /it has been made a long, long time ago. I'm going to read out the entry to you because I think this is relevant to you as well. I translated the important parts of it, so listen:

When the earth was still in the old days, the grey days, the world has found a balance between the Light and the Dark. With either sphere being too strong or, reversely, too weak, the world that lay between would suffer great calamities. Still, the age of grey that ruled between will come to pass, sink into the dark ocean, only to rise again. But altered, divided. Cruel light and darkness even worse. Humans cannot live in either one of them, they will perish anew should the balance topple again.
For the end of the world, the end of that time, the divided battle field must be complete. One dark entity must call for its counterpart, one light entity long for its darkness. This is to be the rule observed. Only if there is balance can the fight for supremacy begin. This is what we have seen.

This entry is from around 850, but that's just the first time it's been recorded. The knowledge of the pact between Light and Dark has been around for much, much longer./ Kanda was puzzled, scratching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, right. But what exactly is the big news in that? We know that Innocence and the Noah are two opposing forces… So both sides need the same amount of power to start the war for good. Fine, but we have no idea how to find out if the number is evenly distributed. And even if-"

/I know it seemed random. But there's a prophecy linked to it,/ Rabi interrupted him and Kanda groaned. Prophecies! He heard the rustling of paper on the other end of the line, before Rabi muttered: /I told you, you won't like it…/

"Right. Just go on…"

/I found the note of the prophecy in my search for some more clues about the Noah of Destiny. I've had to do quite a bit of digging through old records, but I found it. It's from around 1300. And it says: "Dark must be the days of humans when the army of old descents upon us again. Human generation, upon human generation, the added up weight and wisdom of countless lives will be forged into one; the Dark Fate will emerge. She will have three faces; one sees the dark, one the light and one is as blind as any human eyes. The Dark Fate is powerful, both sides are in delicate balance within her frail body. But the Pact will not be fooled, the pack decrees a warrior. And he will be born; he will emerge from the Grey. He will have the sight to behold her, he will the magic to comprehend her, he will have the sword to slay her if it is the will of the world to survive."/ Kanda remained silent, trying to process what he had just been told. /Well, it says elsewhere that the Warrior of Grey has special magical abilities and can wield an arsenal of weapons, of which he will choose a sword… But it's all rather vague…/ Kanda snorted and he could hear Rabi fidgeting on the other side.

"What is it?" he gave in. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear still more.

/You know that his is about you…,/ Rabi said quietly and Kanda remained silent. /When Ellen first turned into a Noah, you were born./

"Yeah, I remember that it was the same year," Kanda said, "but that-"

/It's not only the same year. It's the same day, the same hour…!/ This properly managed to make Kanda stand up at once, knocking the tower of books over. He started cursing, but stopped in the middle of the word, his eyes wide. /Yu…? Is everything alright?/ Kanda was holding the telephone in his hand. It had no cable. It was plugged into nowhere.

"I… I don't think that anything is okay," he answered tentatively, rather disturbed by what he had heard and the magically functioning telephone didn't help either.

/No… I don't think so either… Something is utterly wrong here… Not just the prophecy, but everything. How everything seemed to be planned and not even only by Ellen, or Destiny actually…/

"What do you mean?" Kanda asked, trying to remain calm.

/I found a letter… It's from your grandma./ Kanda hauled the phone against the next wall, his eyes wide. Sweat was dripping from his face and he panted. /What was that noise? Are you alright?/ And still the voice came out of the receiver lying next to the broken metal. He could hear it crystal clear as if Rabi were standing right next to him.

"Read it out," Kanda managed to say even though breathing was difficult right now. He had to calm down…! He had to- But his grandmother! For Christ's sake!

/Everything is in place. My grandson will soon be born. I have been able to read the signs, there is no doubt about it. He is the one. I am ready. Send me the secret Innocence cube, its century long secret slumber has finally come to an end. I will make sure that he will find it in due time. Signed, Tsubaki Kanda/ Rabi's voice had been silent, but clear enough to hear every world. Every painful word and Kanda could almost hear his grandmother's voice speaking, like a faint echo to Rabi.

"… Thank you…," Kanda whispered after a while.

/Don't… thank me, Yu. I've done nothing but dig up painful stuff… I'm so sorry,/ Rabi replied, /and all you've wanted were some words to cheer you up from whatever troubled you… I should have kept my mouth shut until later…/ Kanda sighed, shaking his head.

"No… You've been great…," the general said, wiping his forehead.

/I'd hug you now if you weren't in Japan, you know? It makes me feel so jittery when you praise me,/ Rabi told him and Kanda couldn't help cracking a smile despite his rather subdued mood. /Oh, I almost forgot. There's also something else I'm not so sure if you'll find good or bad./ Kanda groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

"Try me," he said and Rabi laughed.

/Hanako is on her way to the Asia Branch,/ he announced and Kanda lifted his eyebrow.

"What? Why?"

/I'm not sure. Soon after we left for China, she must have made up her mind to leave Headquarters as well. When Linali received a mission that would have her report to the Asia Branch she must have taken the opportunity. Komui told me they're all on the way here…/ Kanda sighed deeply.

"She should just have waited for us to return. We could have taken her to any other branch in the blink of an eye. There's no need to expose herself to danger…!" he argued, shaking his head.

/I agree, but she's an adult. And besides, Linali is with her. They should be here by the end of the week. How about you contact me again then?/ Kanda eyed what was left of the telephone suspiciously, but he just agreed. /Good, then I'll speak to you then! Take good care, Yu and say hello to Ellen for me. And… I don't know, salute the venerable Cross for me or something like that./ Kanda had to roll his eyes. As if there was anything venerable about Cross… The connection finally died and Kanda let himself fall back on the bed. It smelled of tobacco.

-o-

It smelled of tobacco. Ellen looked around uneasily. She had left the mansion shorty after Kanda had gone outside. She really needed to sort out her thoughts. Wandering further away from the mansion, her feet took her through the derelict village into the forest that led to Edo. It was cold, especially as she only wore a kimono whose purpose was more geared towards decoration than warmth. And the smell of Cross' mansion… It stuck to everything. Ellen hated to smell of tobacco in the cold.

"Hey," Ellen widened her eyes and felt a hand on the back of her neck, slipping down slowly. "If it isn't my dear girl." Ellen looked over her shoulder, her eyes wide. Tyki Mikk blew out cigarette smoke into the air, then he let the cigarette fall down, crushing it with his foot. Ellen took one step backwards, seeing the dark grin on his face. "Straying in the dark!"

To be continued


Notes:

Hello Tyki Mikk, I'm not sure if we've missed you!

I too, like Kanda, hate prophecies, they make me all crazy in the head thinking about how to make them complex and clear and vague at the same time.

The sudden Kanda-Ellen moment might have broken the flow up a bit, but I just wanted to have it in before she ran across Tyki.

I'd be happy to hear what you think! ^3^

P.S. Some of you might have already seen it, but I drew a picture for NoD with which I inspired myself to go on writing. I wanted to have it ready for last chapter, but university got in they. You can find the link on my profile page / dA page!