Chapter Twenty Eight
The Fortune Teller
"That will be a hindrance to our mission!" Lulubell stomped her paw as Allen chuckled lightly at her reaction.
"Sure, the exorcists made a stop over, and I completely understand why you're ticked off Lulubell." Allen sat down beside her as the two of them watched down at Elin and Lenalee from a roof. "We'll be delayed, I know, but let's look at the brighter side and just think that we'll get another chance to destroy another fragment of innocence. Of course, if they DO find it. And if we're extremely lucky, it could be the heart."
"Hmph. But the exorcists are taking too long. If they let us handle it, we'd find it in a second."
Allen's face became darker as he spoke. "Yes, but you know they won't let that happen. We can find an innocence fragment in a second, but just think how looking for Cross Marian will most likely take us a year at least."
"That annoying man," Lulubell said between licks of her paw. "He's causing so much trouble not only for our side, but his own side as well."
"I don't even know if that person has a side at all! He's just a wandering demon."
"He can get into trouble just by walking….I really hate it that we're just sitting here and complaining." Lulubell flicked her tail faster in a steady beat to show her impatience.
Allen knew perfectly how impatient Lulubell could get…especially when she was in her cat form, and at their current situation he couldn't really say that he wasn't getting tired of being the exorcists' watchdog either.
He looked up at the sky, and squinted at the sun's rays. He observed stormy clouds moving towards their direction from the horizon, and he just knew that a hard rain was coming. He was going to have to ask Mimi for another umbrella soon.
Allen's eyes turned back to the sun, then suddenly the shadow of something long flying in the sky blocked his sight. The rays suddenly went back to his eyes, and he was momentarily blinded. He blinked a few times to get the burning sensation out, and when it was gone he quickly trailed his eyes after the unidentified object. When he looked down to tell Lulubell what he saw after the thing disappeared in the distance, he saw that even she was looking where the thing had descended.
"Oh. Backup's here." She said in a nonchalant voice before she went back to licking her paws.
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Lavi, Krory, and Bookman looked at the lake from a distance.
"Not much water at all, is there?" Lavi frowned and did his signature pose, which included putting his arms behind his head. "It's no wonder no water's reaching the town."
Bookman suddenly knelt down on the ground, and Lavi asked if he found something.
"The water is still receding." The older exorcist replied before he looked where the water was starting to gather.
The lake's current level was evidently not enough to sustain a town as big as Shen's, and even at the first look anyone could tell that something supernatural was causing the water to stir. It was even already starting to swirl in the middle where down in the depths of the water someone or something was causing the water to disappear.
Krory started scratching his head and furrowed his eyebrows. Bookman found out that the water was receding just by kneeling? He thought. Incredible.
"You're right. As if the town weren't in enough trouble."
"What does this mean?" Krory kept on scratching his head. Everything was so confusing, his head was starting to hurt.
"Well, if we can't see any of the water heading towards anywhere else, it's most likely that it's being drained right within the lake." Bookman stood and nodded at Lavi's deduction.
"Then we should jump in and look around!" Krory took off his exorcist coat, but before he could do anything else Bookman raised his hand and told him to wait.
"What's the matter?" The vampire asked, and Bookman pointed at the treeline where men from the nearby village were hiding armed with guns and other weapons. "Who are they?"
"The rest of the townsfolk, probably. They're guarding what water's remaining. "
"It would be most inconvenient if their water were to disappear. Their whole village depends on this little lake, I understand how they must feel. Jumping into the lake in front of them may have unexpected repercussions."
"Then how are we going to investigate?" Krory thought about how they were trying to help, but the villagers looked like they weren't going to let them. Maybe if they tried explaining…
"Don't worry about it!" Lavi cheerfully pointed out. "When darkness falls they likely won't be able to guard the entire lake."
"I see! We'll have to wait awhile."
The three of them went near a cliff, where they rested and waited for the night to come. The villagers never left the area, though. They were guarding the lake with their lives, and they knew well that the fate of even the women and the children in the town depended upon them. If they really were that determined, then there would be no chance for the three exorcists to sneak into the lake to investigate.
Krory wished that Lenalee and Elin had more luck than them.
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Meanwhile, two men in their forties stood up in the cliff overlooking the three retiring exorcists.
One was a man with brown hair that slicked together in the ends so much that his hair became pointed, and his chin protruding as well, while the other had short dark hair and a stubby chin. Both had dark eyes, and the characteristics of a Chinese folk.
"It's the exorcists!" The one with brown hair looked down below.
His companion looked at him sharply, and replied. "We have to find it before the exorcists do."
"We must kill all the exorcists."
"We'll do it tonight."
"We'll do it tonight!"
Both of the unidentified men chuckled at each other, their eyes emitting a purple light and a deep expression of desire to kill, as they started planning on how they were going to go with their plan.
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"A—A fortune teller?" Lenalee asked with disbelief thick in her voice.
She and Elin had already started going around town, asking the folks about any mysterious happenings about last month. Anything strange that had happened could provide a great clue as to what was causing the waters to disappear, and probably confirm the exorcists' suspicion that an innocence fragment was behind this all.
At the moment, they were speaking to an old woman who was looking out from the window, who claimed to know something.
"Yes, and quite a famous one!" She chuckled lightly. "With a crystal ball that could predict almost anything. Since last month though, the fortunes have just dried up."
That's about the same time the lake waters started to recede, Lenalee thought.
"Can you tell me where this fortune teller lives?"
"Right there, down the street."
Lenalee looked to where the old woman was pointing, and she gaped at the relatively large structure where, according to the woman, the fortune teller resided. Even from the distance, she could already see tall white buildings within the big walls. Lenalee deduced that if this person was the whole town's fortune teller, then the people must have made sure that she lived comfortably. Kind of like Elin's case.
She beckoned for Elin to follow her and together the two of them went to the fortune teller's house, to see whether she had any connection to the town's plight.
They were halfway there, when suddenly Elin spoke.
"Do you believe that this person really is a fortune teller, and that he or she can really predict anything?"
Lenalee looked at Elin and smiled. "Of course I do! There's no harm in believing, right? We'll find out if it's true when we get there."
Lenalee quickened her pace, and Elin followed steadily. She observed as the younger girl looked around at the oriental buildings, and touched almost everything she passed. Lenalee remembered that the girl had never been to China, and that they never had time like right now to actually savor the sights and to glance closer at the structures. It was a really sad thought that they had come here on a job errand. And Lenalee doubted it that there would be any time in the future where they could just come here to enjoy.
"Is this the house?"
Elin spoke, and Lenalee was brought back from her thoughts. She observed that she was starting to get lost in her thoughts more often recently.
In front of them was a big red gate, and since it was too tall there would be no chance for them to look inside unless Lenalee used her Innocence to hover high up in the air. But since the two of them didn't want any attention they just decided to do it naturally.
"Oh, uhm, yes. Let me see if there's anyone home." Lenalee said, then she cleared her throat to make it easier to shout. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
Elin joined in as well after no one came at the door even after a minute of calling out.
"Hello?"
But still, the gate was left unopened.
"I guess no one's home." Lenalee said dejectedly. She put her hand on the gate to try knocking this time, but when her hand made contact with the hard wood the gate opened slightly without effort like it wasn't even locked in the first place.
The two exorcists looked at each other, before peeking into the small opening where they saw an old man leaning on a cane who was staring at them.
"Who are you?" The man asked harshly, and the two girls lost balance and they tumbled forward. "Why have you come here?"
"W—well, you see…" Elin said as she rubbed a painful part of her head.
"Um…we hear you've been unwilling to predict the future since the river stopped flowing here." Her companion spoke for the two of them.
'That's no business of yours!" The man with long, graying beard continued to speak in hostile tones. "Get out of here!"
The old man raised his cane as if in an attempt to hit the exorcists, and the two quickly crawled out of the gate where they were continued to be chased by the harsh old man. He pushed them outside, and as they spoke protests he almost slammed the gate in their faces.
"Please wait!" Elin pleaded.
"Why have you stopped making predictions?"
"I don't have to tell you anything!"
"Please don't be like that."
"Shut up!" The man tried more and more to get rid of the meddling travelers in his front door. "Get out! Get out!"
"We're investigating the recent drought, you see. Will you please…" Lenalee's eyes went further, and she caught a glimpse of a little girl standing in a distance, watching them argue with the man. "Oh, who's that?"
At the mention of the little girl, the man's temper shortened once more. "Get out!" He screamed, then he pushed Lenalee which caused her to fall on the ground. Elin dropped to the ground beside Lenalee, and they looked up as the man shouted for them never to come back, and that there's nothing for him to tell them. Then he loudly slammed the gates closed.
"What was that all about?" Elin turned to Lenalee, but the girl just looked back at the gate as she thought about the little girl who the old man seemed to be protecting from them. He must've thought that they were going to harm her, and the old man must've been her grandfather.
But…Lenalee thought. Who WAS that girl? Could they somehow get to talk to her when her grandfather was not in their presence?
Could it be, that the old man had acted so hostile, because he knew that his granddaughter was somehow connected to the drought?
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After their encounter with the old man, the two immediately returned to the kind villager's house, where they set up a golem that floated freely in the air to transmit their messages to Lavi, Krory, and Bookman's golem as they recounted what they had found out from their investigation.
"We'll look into it again tomorrow." Lenalee spoke when they were almost done. "But we're positive that the little girl and the old man have some kind of connection to the water's disappearance."
The message ended, and Elin sighed as her shoulders slumped as a sign of defeat.
"No luck on their end either then?" She said, but Lenalee continued to speak to her in a cheerful tone.
"They did say that they'd investigate the lake after sunset. We'll just have to try again tomorrow."
"That's true!" Elin's face suddenly brightened up. "Maybe if I think in an even more positive way, we'll finally get to find out what's behind this all!"
Lenalee chuckled at Elin's disposition.
She didn't have to worry. They'd certainly solve this mystery, like they did with the previous ones.
Right?
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"Thank you very much, Mimi." Allen told the akuma maid before she bowed and disappeared to fetch Lulubell's food.
The akuma had found them a place to stay in for the night, and Allen could say that it was more than he and Lulubell needed. He didn't mind that they were actually staying there after Mimi killed the previous owner after he refused to be hospitable. The house was big, comfy, and fully furnished. It was a house for five. There was also enough food to last for a year if Allen was to eat them all, which he wasn't exactly in the mood for, and the place was quiet.
But of course, there was the problem with drinking water.
It wasn't such a bad idea for Allen to take a short bath, but he wouldn't want to waste water at this time. Maybe he'd bathe in the next town, where surely there would be more water.
The best about the house, though, was that from the window near Allen's designated bed the house where the exorcists were currently residing in could be seen.
They could see whether anyone came in, and if the exorcists were planning to come out. And if they were, Allen just knew that it was going to be to head to that house where the grumpy old man and his little granddaughter resided.
When the exorcists had split up, Lulubell decided to follow the three male exorcists who went to the lake to investigate, whilst Allen stayed in the town to keep an eye for the two girls. And so, he witnessed that little scene as the old man successfully made the exorcists leave their premises.
The door opened and Lulubell came in, back in her human form.
Allen admitted, he missed that form, but who's to say that he preferred that over her cat-form?
"So, you find out anything?" He asked, to which she grunted.
"No, not a thing. I could say that I wasted my time following them around. Right now, they're even just…sleeping on the grass! They're too lazy for my taste. I'll come back there after sunset. That's when they're planning to jump into the lake, where they'll investigate what's draining the water. How about you? You learn anything?"
"Nah, didn't learn much, either. Except that there's a strange fortune teller in town."
"Oh." Lulubell said, in her expressionless voice, before she went on her bed to get a little nap.
Allen sighed at her disinterest, then he looked out the window and at the exorcists' house.
He also knew, that contrary to the exorcists' belief, it was the little girl and not the old man who was the fortune teller.
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"It's about time!" Lavi sat up from the grass as he stared at the beautiful sight of the setting sun. Krory and Bookman followed, but after a moment Bookman turned around cautiously as if he was sensing something.
"What's the matter, gramps?" his apprentice called out worriedly. It seemed to him that Bookman found out something.
"You two check out the lake yourselves."
Lavi and Krory jumped back at the sudden change of plans. The three of them were supposed to go in together! What could have made him turn? If Bookman was acting this way, then surely he must've sensed something wrong?
"I'm going back to town. Good luck."
Great. So now Bookman was planning on leaving them?
"Wait, Gramps!"
Lavi and Krory kept on calling for Bookman to stay, but the man continued walking until at last he disappeared behind the treeline.
Something was definitely wrong.
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Lenalee sat on the desk, under the dim light of a candle, as Elin was sleeping in the room beside hers, as far as she knew. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and Lenalee asked if the knocker was Elin. But the voice that replied was a female's, yet it somewhat belonged to a younger individual than the other exorcist.
"Please let me in!" The voice called out.
It was already night, and it was strange for someone to knock at Lenalee's door at that time of the day. Therefore, it must've been about a very important matter.
Lenalee opened the door to find the little girl from earlier, the hostile man's granddaughter, hiding beneath a cloth wrapped around her head in an attempt to hide her face.
She entered hurriedly inside Lenalee's room, as if she was hiding from something, and Lenalee's eyes shined with recognition.
"You're…" the older exorcists said, and the little girl nodded her head.
"Hello. I'm sorry if I bothered you…but anyway, my name is Meilin."
"I'm Lenalee." The exorcist introduced herself as she closed the door behind Meilin to give them privacy. She led the girl to a chair, made her sit, and retired on a chair in front of her as well.
"You're the fortune teller's granddaughter, aren't you?" As Lenalee spoke, the girl started clutching the hem of her clothes nervously. "What's the matter?"
"Um actually, I'm the fortune teller."
"Oh, is that so? I thought—"
"My grandfather was just worried about me. That's why he sent you away like that."
"Don't worry about it. Why did you come to see me, though?"
"U—uhm, I…well, I'm worried about the town. There's no water." Lenalee nodded as a gesture for the girl to go on. Then suddenly, the girl started tearing up, and Lenalee couldn't' make her feel better since she still didn't know what was causing the girl to cry. "I liked all the attention the people gave me as a fortune teller. But now, everyone's in so much trouble…"
"Could it be that you know why the waters have receded?"
At Lenalee's statement, the girl's head snapped up.
"Oh, uhm…no." The girl's answer seemed to hesitate.
"Say, you ARE a fortune teller, aren't you?"
"I-I am, Miss Lenalee."
"Just Lenalee is fine."
"Lenalee, then."
"So, Meilin, your fortunes are never wrong, right? Why don't you try to find out what's causing the drought?"
"I…I can't do it anymore." Meilin's head drooped so low in shame.
"Why?"
"I don't have the crystal ball I need to tell the future. Um…my grandfather and I threw it away."
She must've seen something horrible in the crystal ball, which made them throw it away, Lenalee thought.
"When? And where?" With this new piece of information, Lenalee found herself even more puzzled.
"A month ago…in the lake."
Lenalee almost gasped in Meilin's presence.
Could it be…?
"A month ago in the lake at the river's source?"
"Yes."
"My goodness," Lenalee whispered to herself. "Could that be the source of this phenomenon?"
If it was…then the crystal ball was most likely a fragment of Innocence.
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Lenalee went on to explain to Meilin about the concept of Innocence, and how her crystal ball could have been one.
"Innocence…It's a material with special powers. Say, Meilin, why did you throw away your crystal ball? Will you tell me the reason?"
"W-well…I-I…"
Meilin started crying even more, and she looked away from Lenalee as she clutched her head tightly.
"A-Are you alright Meilin?" The older girl became afraid that she had asked the wrong question.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Elin came inside while clutching her shoulder.
"Lenalee! Demons!" She shouted before she grunted and collapsed in pain.
Lenalee looked out to see a couple of level ones gathering outside in the sky, then one of them aimed and shot it's bullets in Elin's hunched figure. The doorway exploded with fire and smoke, but Lenalee was able to pull Meilin away from the explosion.
But Elin was the direct target.
"Elin!" Lenalee called for her comrade. An akuma appeared in the doorway that was destroyed from the bullets, but Elin emerged from the rubble and used the fire to hurl it at the akuma. The girl got busy with the akumas, and as the enemies were preoccupied Lenalee hid Meilin beneath the desk, gave the girl her coat, and told her to remain hiding.
As Lenalee was preparing to activate her innocence, Meilin caught sight of the Rose Emblem on Lenalee's uniform, and she started crying and grasping her clothes again. She stood up for awhile to touch it as Lenalee looked on , bewildered, and her visions ran wild again.
She saw a vision of the Rose Emblem, bathed in blood, and the vision shifted and she saw herself wearing a uniform like Lenalee's, and four other people with the Rose Emblem lying dead around her. The visions shattered, and Meilin cried out.
Lenalee tried to comfort her, but to no avail, and when she couldn't take it she ran away as fast as she could. The exorcist called for her, but she didn't stop as her visions replayed over and over in her head. She continued running until she was out of the premises, but once she was outside there was a man who stood in front of her, blocking her way.
"I've found you…" The man said.
"W-who are you?" Meilin said in a shaky voice as she tried to be brave. She could see no point in running in the other direction, as well, since both of them knew that the older man would easily outrun someone with a frail body like hers.
"How'd you like to come with me?" The man suddenly shouted with a booming, mechanical voice, and he turned into a metallic dragon-like monster. He grabbed Meilin before Lenalee could arrive at their location, and with her he flew away into the sky and farther away.
Lenalee caught a glimpse of Meilin in the demon's clutches, but when she activated her innocence to catch up with them more level one akumas appeared behind her to stop her from getting away.
The akumas started shooting their bullets at her, but Lenalee just dodged easily using her dark boots, and killed a whole group of the akumas with one kick.
When she turned around though, the akuma with Meilin had already flown too far, and more akumas were appearing in front of her. She couldn't get rid of these while keeping in track of Meilin's abductor. Her chest pounded as she tried to think of anything she could do, but much to her relief Elin reappeared and started taking on the level one akumas gathering around them.
"Go, Lenalee!" Elin shouted before killing another of the akumas, and Lenalee obeyed immediately and flew towards the akuma as fast as she could.
She almost caught up with them, but the akuma had a heavy weapon on its tail and flicked it to hit her. She coughed up blood as she lost balance and control over herself as she doubled over in pain.
"MEILIN!" Lenalee screamed as she fell into the ground slowly, the akuma getting farther and farther away from her until it looked like nothing but a speck in the sky.
Allen: It's now time for our new segment!~
Me: Yeah! Woohoo! Yeah! Yeah!
*silence as everyone stares*
croo...crooo
Elin: Okay, anyway, this new segment is called, "If-Ever-The-Author-Was-too-Forgetful-To-Say-Something-or-She-Wasn't-Clear-About-An-Explanation-Then-It's-The-Time-To-Ask-Her"
Me: In short, it's an Ask the Author (okay, and the characters) about your questions!
Lavi: Yeah, like Elin said, if there's something not clear to you, or she ^ forgot to mention something. You can put your questions in the reviews, since the author doesn't look at the private messages much...blah blah. I dunno, it's just her thingamajigs.
Me: thank you, Lavi. I believe that aside from asking questions, people would be more active in telling me what's their thoughts on the chapters. Anyways, there's this one thing I'd like to clear up.
Lenalee: Many people have been wondering about Allen's innocence. Did it evolve? When's he going to use it? And such...
Krory: I've been wondering about that too...
Me: Well, I don't think I explained it further in the first few chapters, but I did say that Allen's innocence HAD evolved during his stay with the Noahs. As Allen trained with Tyki and Lulubell and the other noahs, his resolve became stronger, and everyone knows that your synchronization rate deeply depends on that. Allen also used the innocence's "allergic reaction" to dark matter to force it to evolve.
Allen: It was painful, alright? There was even one time when it almost completely disappeared as I was using Tyki's dark matter. Felt like my arm was crumbling...and people, there's really no use for me to activate it, right? :D I mean, I AM in the cool-er (Yeah, go Noahs!) side of the war, and I don't really need to fight the akumas. Besides, the Earl gave strict orders that I couldn't use it in the presence of the others, or I would blow my cover and let people know that I was an innocence wielder.
Me: Blood Robert, You know when I read stories like mine I ALWAYS wait for the moment when Allen activates his innocence in front of Lenalee and the others. And they'd be like, whut? And Allen's like, Yeah, heck I'm THIS cool! :D But, unfortunately, Crown Clown won't be showing sooner. (sigh).
So, send in your questions, and let us answer it! :D
Krory: Eliade...
Me: Uh...what? ^
Patrick the almighty observer: Still experimenting. People get confused whenever I suddenly switch POVs, and some say I should only focus on one in a chapter. :D I read other books, and so far I never saw a book with many point of views in one chapter...Maybe it's just me? XD I was thinking that maybe I should try focusing only on one to make it clearer...but it becomes too short (the chapter, I mean.) But I returned the Many-POVS-In-One-Chapter in this chapter! So...what are your thoughts? :D
Witchsoul531: Uhm...I'm sorry, but I didn't understand your review? (Forgive the clueless) :D
DJ Crescendo27: Oh, that really "warms" (I'm quite cheesy today...) my heart...thanks! Hope you continue liking it! :))
kyuubi19: I believe I answered some of your questions up there! :D And as for Lenalee and Allen (nudge nudge, I betcha you're an AllenxLenalee! XD) I'll get them to talk soon. :)) You're free to send more questions!
Kat: Thanks for the continuous support! :D
Aika-tan: Really niiiice emoticon you got there~ :3 You're free to give longer reviews! :D
Again, to the other guys out there, Review and tell me watcha think! *WINK* Send in your questions as well!
