A/N: Alright! Vacation was fun, but I'm glad to be back home. Meanwhile, I'm a few chapters ahead, and now that I don't have ridiculous quantities of sketchy-internet-access time, I'm not sure how my writing will progress. Not to say I won't keep up on this, but I have other things in the works that might suffer. (Not that anyone but me will notice, as they're not out yet. Though there's this one I'm hoping to put out soon, only I've restarted it, um, three times, and it's getting annoying.)
Thank you to neah20, Katherine Sanderson, Noblesse976, karina001, Dragon Silhouette, Animejessi, and Yami-The Lord of Darkness for reviewing!
Title: Fear of Infinity
Author: liketolaugh
Link: drive. google. (com /) open?id=0B4a0w418KzaUc1lJXzJtX1lTZzA (remove the spaces, remove parentheses - it did not want me to put that there)
Rating: T
Pairings: None
Genre: Drama/Adventure
Warnings: None
Summary: When Loki mentions two more Infinity Stones, aside from the Tesseract, that fell to Earth thousands of years before, the Avengers are thrown into a centuries-old war between Dark Matter and Innocence - also known as the stones of Mind and Soul.
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man, and the Avengers are but a dream that is not my own.
Timothy was in the infirmary. This was not because he was hurt; it was because he was bored, and there were a lot of interesting people to listen to there.
Interesting people who didn't know he was there.
"How did Alexei get recruited?" Allen was asking Tony, looking mildly concerned.
Alright, so Timothy was mostly listening because they were talking about his new friend. But it was important! There weren't any kids Timothy's age here, and now, boom! Friend. Timothy was more excited than it probably warranted, which led him to do, well. Things like this.
"Spying is wrong, Master," a voice said beside him, sounding amused and resigned.
Timothy barely spared Tsukikami a glance. The manifestation of his Innocence was a constant, and while he treasured it more than anything, sometimes he was pretty sure it thought it was more helpful than it actually was. "Yeah, yeah," he said quietly, so no one could hear but Tsukikami.
"They tied him down," Tony said, grim for just a moment, and Timothy's eyes widened. "I'd say it was awful, but the Order seems to suck and so the rest of you probably weren't any better, yeah?"
"Yeah," Allen said with a rueful smile. "I got recruited off my father's grave. I was useless for the next month, too." For a few moments, he was silent, and then he shook his head and smiled. "But never mind that, it's not important. Did you see him use his Innocence?"
"You bet I did," Tony said, momentarily gleeful, cackling quietly. "Those things didn't know what hit 'em! You should've seen the looks on the finders' faces, too. Ha!"
Allen chuckled, too. "How was he at using his Innocence?"
"Took to it like a fish to water," Tony said cheerfully. "They're peas in a pod. Birds of a feather. Bullets of a caliber." Allen stared at him. "Tell you what, though, he nearly passed out afterward. We were fighting, what, a few hours?"
Timothy snickered, too quietly for the older exorcists to hear, and Tsukikami gave him a proud glance, smile just a twitch of his lips. Ha! He'd passed that stage ages ago, and now he could use his Innocence forever! He'd just have to make sure Alexei caught up to him, so Timothy didn't leave him too far in the dust.
Allen nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's pretty normal." He paused, and then his voice dropped slightly. "While we're on the subject… How is yours doing?"
Tony's face smoothed into seriousness. Timothy's eyes widened. Tony had an Innocence? A real Innocence, not a weird one like the other Avengers? He was an exorcist?
Why hadn't they told anyone? Why were they being so… oh. That's right.
Timothy knew what happened to exorcists. They got used. He forgot that sometimes, 'cause Nyne always looked out for him. And Tony had responsibilities as an Avenger, so he was being careful 'cause he had a job outside of the Order and needed to be free still.
Tsukikami looked down at him, suddenly much more serious, and placed a hand on his head with a grim nod and a hint of regret. "Never forget, Master," he said quietly.
Right. Timothy understood, and silently, he made a gesture like he was zipping his lips. He wouldn't say a word to anyone. Tsukikami smiled at him again, and redirected its attention to the room, allowing Timothy to do so as well.
"It's a little weird," Tony admitted, rubbing his chest slightly. He made a face, slightly playfully. "Makes me feel like more of a madman than I already am, voices in my head. I don't need that shit." Then, more serious again, "It's getting easier to use – got an upgrade last time 'round, so even if the armor gets torn up, which it did, I can still fight."
Allen smiled. "That's good. Your synchro rate must be rising; your Innocence is becoming more versatile."
Timothy nodded to himself firmly and then, as Allen and Tony's conversation turned to other topics, he scurried off, out of the infirmary. Tsukikami followed with a much more even stride.
He wandered around for a while, pretty bored. He didn't want to train right now – he'd been training all day! But there really wasn't much else to do, unless he wanted to terrify the finders or bug the scientists.
Then he bumped into someone and hopped back a step to keep his balance, frowning up. His eyes widened, and a grin spread across his face.
Loki, looking down at him in some puzzlement.
"Hi!" Timothy chirped, grinning up at him, crossing his arms, struggling not to seem as excited as he was. Tsukikami chuckled, shaking his head at him, and glancing at Loki with faint amusement.
"Hello," Loki returned, clearly still puzzled.
"You're one of the Avengers, right?" Timothy chattered, pleased. Loki was like an exorcist, only not, 'cause he was an Avenger! But exorcists did sort of the same thing - saving the world, right? That's what they told him, anyway. "What do you think of the Order? It's cool, right?" He didn't wait for an answer. Of course it was cool! They fought monsters! "But hard! Even for me! I bet it's hard for you, too, right?"
"Somewhat," Loki replied slowly, surprised. "I have been in more difficult battles, but this has not been easy." Not as he had expected it to be.
"Of course not!" Timothy sniffed up at him, affronted. "Exorcists die a lot, you know, and that wouldn't happen if it were easy." The grin returned. "But not me! I can possess akuma, you know? I can do all the way up to a level three now!"
Tsukikami smiled at Timothy again, and nodded. "With a little more work, you'll be able to do level four as well," it said to the boy, whose grin widened slightly, eyes sparkling with delighted anticipation.
He looked so proud of himself that Loki had to chuckle, starting to walk again, now with Timothy beside him. "Is that so?"
"Yeah!" Timothy grinned. He tilted his head up, eyes sparkling, and asked, "So what can you do?"
"I have no Innocence," Loki told him. "However, I can simulate its signature, which lets me destroy akuma."
Timothy sniffed at him again, scowling in reprimand. "You don't destroy akuma! You purify them, so the souls go free!" Allen had told him so, and Nyne and Tsukikami hadn't said otherwise.
"Of course," Loki agreed, hiding his amusement this time. "My apologies."
Timothy scowled, and then brightened again. "But you don't have any Innocence at all? How do you fight? Does it really work? I thought every time someone tried that it went to shit!" Like, really to shit. Let's-never-do-that-again-ever grade shit. Tsukikami scowled, something he rarely did. Discussion of the artificial exorcists always made him bad-tempered.
Loki shot him a surprised and mildly alarmed look, and then said, "It is as though I have an Innocence. It works fine, I assure you."
"Huh." Timothy looked thoughtful now. "I wouldn't have thought that'd work." Then he shrugged. "Well, whatever! Innocence is still cooler!" Tsukikami grinned at him fondly.
Loki chuckled. "If you say so, Mr. Hearst."
Timothy frowned at him. "Don't call me that! I'm Timothy!" He smirked, puffing his chest out like a superhero. "I'm the youngest exorcist, you know, and since I can fight, that means I'm really good!" He frowned suddenly. "I'm not the youngest ever, though. Think that was Lenalee…" He pouted, and didn't mention his second mentor. He never did.
"Very well done," Loki assured him.
Timothy grinned. "You're not bad yourself," he said modestly.
Loki raised an eyebrow, a flash of self-recrimination darting through his eyes. "No?" he asked, tone brimming with skepticism. "You say that, even after what I did?"
Timothy suddenly turned serious. His smile disappeared, and he slowed down slightly, hands falling from where they were gesticulating wildly. "Yeah, I do." He looked down, kicking at the ground. After a moment, he asked suddenly, "Hey, did anyone ever tell you 'bout the Phantom Thief G thing?"
Tsukikami glanced at Timothy, looking faintly surprised, but Timothy didn't look back.
Loki frowned, wondering what relevance that had. "No, I haven't heard anything about it."
"I was in an orphanage, you know, 'fore they found me," Timothy told him, eyes on the ground, frowning. "And it was really low on funds, y'know? It was gonna shut down, but I didn't want it to. And I'd found out 'bout my Innocence by then – I could possess people, too, make them do whatever I wanted. So I made them steal things, so the orphanage could get money." He shrugged. "So I kinda get it, okay? I figure you had your reasons."
Loki stared at Timothy thoughtfully, long after the boy had fallen uncomfortably silent.
"Thank you, Timothy," he said finally, and somehow, he really meant it.
Timothy shrugged, discomfited, and flashed a grin up at him out of the corner of his eye. "'Sides, the Order wouldn't have let you take over the world anyway. So it didn't matter."
Loki knew a great deal of people who would very much disagree, but instead he chuckled.
"Timothy. There you are."
Both of them looked over to see Nyne approaching them briskly, expression mildly annoyed but mostly fond as she set her gaze on Timothy. Tsukikami gave her a respectful nod. Timothy didn't know why, since she couldn't see it, but it always did. Maybe it was trying to install good habits into him, in which case it was wasting its time.
"I've been looking for you," she continued as she approached. "We have a mission. Come on."
Timothy's eyes lit up. "A mission? Awesome!"
"You too," Nyne added with a nod to Loki. "You and your brother both."
Loki remained mildly uneasy, but just nodded to the general, who nodded crisply back and led Timothy on, with Loki following half a step behind. Timothy tilted his head, frowning.
"Hey, this isn't the way to the stupid sis-com's office!" he objected.
"That's Chief Komui to you," Nyne reminded him, sighing at the futility of it all. "And we're going to fetch someone first."
"Ohh," Timothy hummed in realization. "So we're going with someone! Who is it? Who?" He was nearly dancing with excitement. "Is it that mean guy Kanda? We haven't worked with him yet! Or Allen – no, he's still in the infirmary, right? Is it Marie? Marie's nice." Loki had to chuckle.
"Calm down, Timothy," Nyne reprimanded, which was funny, since Tsukikami had just said the same thing. "You'll see when we get there."
Timothy pouted, but didn't say another word the rest of the way to the training room.
In there, Kanda was slashing viciously at a set of dummies, Thor was sparring with Zokalo with a broad grin, and Natasha was patiently teaching Miranda to fight, working with exaggeratedly slow motions and coaching her through it.
Nyne stopped at the edge, watching them for a while, and then waved her hand for Timothy to stay put. Timothy pouted, but obeyed.
Nyne approached Natasha with a swaying walk, eyes narrowed, Lau Jimin chittering about her shoulders. Loki glanced between the two, brow furrowed for the briefest of moments, but then his eyes settled on Natasha, he chuckled, and he moved on to breaking up Thor and Zokalo.
"Palm strike," Natasha coached, staying light on her feet but fairly relaxed, even for a spar. "Straight for my solar plexus, I showed you earlier – I'm wide open, Miranda." She spread her hands for emphasis.
"But I don't want to hurt you," Miranda worried.
"You won't," Natasha assured her, dry. "I promise. Go on, hit me."
Biting her lip, Miranda struck, surprisingly quick and accurate. Natasha just let it brush her, showing Miranda that she'd hit the right place, before nullifying the impact by jumping back.
"Good," Nyne said before Natasha could, nodding to Miranda, who started violently, already flushing with mortification. "Keep training like that and no human, at least, will ever take you down. Natasha." She addressed the other woman, keeping her gaze as even as the one that met hers. "I'm pleased that you decided to teach Miranda to fight. It's about time she learned."
Natasha nodded slightly, keeping her gaze on Nyne. "Yes, I'm surprised she hadn't learned already, place like this."
Nyne shrugged. "What can I say? We're always busy, and the fact was that she wasn't really a combat exorcist. It wasn't a priority." Miranda flushed and ducked her head. "I'm afraid, Miranda, that I'll have to steal your instructor for now," Nyne added to her. "I'd suggest you practice whatever she showed you in the meantime, and perhaps do some strength exercises." A humorous glint flashed in her eyes. "I suspect Walker could show you some while he's teaching Alexei. Some of the things Marian made him do are quite… interesting."
Miranda nodded quickly. "I will!" she promised, determination in her eyes. "I'll go practice right now, and... I'll talk to Allen as soon as he starts training!"
She ran off, giving Natasha a quick smile and a heartfelt "Thank you!" as she went.
That left Nyne and Natasha, staring at each other with an identical even gaze.
Finally, Nyne smiled. "Well, I have to say I was quite surprised to learn your true identity," she said lightly, faintly amused.
In return, Natasha allowed a slight smile to curl her own lips. "Well, that is the objective."
"That it is," Nyne agreed. "Still, I never followed the Avengers like a few of the younger exorcists. Miss Lee is quite taken with you, you know."
Natasha had noticed, even if it had been subtle. "Yes, I know. I suppose I can see why." After a moment, she continued, "I assume that this talk wasn't your only reason for speaking to me, though."
"Of course not," Nyne agreed, with another slight smirk. "You're with me, mission to Spain – it's another akuma nest." She sighed. "I'm not especially fond of them myself, but they make good training missions, and Timothy needs all the training he can get before we storm the Black Ark."
Worry, almost unreadable, crossed the general's eyes. Natasha could hardly fail to miss it.
"Of course," she said quietly.
"Up for it?" Nyne asked, swiftly recovering to give Natasha a raised eyebrow and a look up and down, lingering on the still-stark bruise on her cheek.
Natasha stretched out, testing the general soreness of her body after the beating Jasdebi had given her. Yeah, that still hurt. Then she smirked confidently.
"Always."
They met in Komui's office, same as before, this time again with another group – Natasha counted four: Steve, Kanda, Lavi, and Lenalee.
Komui smiled at all of them, tired. "Hello," he greeted cheerfully, making a visible effort to perk up. Natasha wondered what he'd been doing that made him so tired at the moment. "As you all can see, we have two groups at the moment." His smile turned apologetic. "I know that we have a rather greater density of missions than any of you are used to, and I do apologize. But needs must – we all know that." After a moment of brooding in which no one objected, he brightened again. "In any case, General Nyne, as I've already told you, you'll be taking your group to deal with an akuma nest in Spain." His eyes turned serious. "I warn you, we're fairly certain that Road has taken up residence there after she fled her last known point, and you've heard stories about her, I'm sure."
Nyne nodded curtly. "We'll be fine, Komui."
Komui smiled briefly, and then continued, "Captain, Kanda, Lavi – you'll be going to America to fetch an accommodator that's appeared there." Steve started, Lavi smiled, and Kanda crossed his arms and frowned. "I'd like to remind you to be extra careful, and do try not to scare her away." He handed them a mission file with a kind smile.
"I'd never scare a girl away," Lavi said dismissively, grinning. Kanda 'che'd.
"You scare girls away when you smile, stupid rabbit."
"I do not!"
"Lenalee," Komui interrupted them, giving his sister a small, fond smile. "You're going on an independent mission; an Innocence retrieval in India." His smile turned strained, though he held it firm. "Do be careful, hm?"
"Of course, brother," Lenalee assured him fondly, taking the offered mission folder. "Don't worry. I've been doing this longer than some of the generals!"
Komui chuckled ruefully and nodded in agreement, then redirected his attention to the rest of them. "As Allen is still rather indisposed, Link will be guiding the rest of you to the appropriate gates."
Lavi whistled. "Beansprout really has been everywhere, huh?"
"He had to be flown specially to make a gate in America," Komui admitted. "He was assigned a few missions specifically so he could make gates."
"Bummer," Lavi muttered. "So old two-spot's gonna show us where to go? How the hell does he know what's what in that maze?"
"Practice, Bookman Junior," Link said crisply, appearing out of Komui's piles of books. "And some navigational skill. Shall we go?"
Done and done~! Also, if you look, I've gone back and smoothed out a few slight inconsistencies, mostly relating to injuries, which I've been having trouble keeping track of. (For instance, Thor's side wound spontaneously changed into a concussion. Oops.) Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!
Edited 7/30/2015