36. Whats Not Yours
"Komui," Allen asked as he collected his paperwork to fill out concerning the details of his last mission. "What's in the chest?"
The Supervisor shrugged lethargically, still only just beginning to gulp down his morning cup of caffeine. The chest sat in front of his desk like a snowball the tropics: completely out of place."No idea. It's from the dragon in Russia."
"It looks like it came from the bottom of a lake." The Exorcist commented, bending down to get a closer look at the item that seemed like something someone would find in a sunken ship, complete with dried-up barnacles and rotted-looking underwater plant life. He poked the greener bits to see of they were still squishy and wet or not. It was dry, and felt vaguely sticky.
Allen gazed at the rusted metal holding the old box together, and also examined the dented lock that kept the chest closed. He doubted that even unlocking the crusty relic would reveal what was inside, because of how sealed the metal frame keeping the wooden box together had become.
Though, The Exorcist noted, it looks like someone else had already taken a crowbar to the hinges ...
He could see where the box had been pried apart, and carefully placed back together without touching the lock. Guessing that those investigating all the items and letters going in or out (Central's goons) were probably responsible, he frowned.
"Hey," The Supervisor protested weakly when he finally noticed how closely Allen was examining the chest. "You shouldn't play around with that; it's not yours."
Allen shrugged, collected his paperwork and left with a wave to Komui and a final curious glance at the obviously already violated and once-waterlogged box. My thoughts exactly.
//DRDRDR//
"Tyki," A windy, whispering voice asked. "Where are we going?" It had to have been the third time Eeze had asked that question, but the Noah wasn't frustrated by the repetition. It was an understandable thing for a child to ask.
"Eeze, I've told you before, and I'll tell you again. It's a secret." The Portuguese smiled at the end of this comment, taking a long and content breath of air from his cigarette. He was particularly happy because he had convinced his friend to shove the Innocence-ridden creature into a very small, and very smelly suitcase for the duration of any and all train rides using the argument that other people would freak out if they saw a dragon.
It was a perfectly logical thing to do. Well, the fact that the small case had no air holes wasn't very logical, but Eeze didn't have to know about that part until they reached the next station, now did he?
Oh yes, the Noah was feeling quite satisfied with himself indeed. And he would be more than happy to get rid of the corpse of the lizard for his little friend, no problem! All he had to do was find a nice secluded spot where he could crush the little annoyance into dust in the wind, and all of his problems would be as good as solved.
The orphan sighed and rubbed at his sunken eyes, looking out the train compartment's window. The small child seemed half-dead, yet he was never at a loss for energy. It was a strange contradiction. Tyki knew that Eeze had trouble sleeping a majority of the time because of his troubled lungs, but caught snatches of rest throughout the day to compensate.
"Can't you tell me now?" It wasn't a whine, like Rhode's usual demanding voice, just a tired question.
The Noah laughed, a bit halfheartedly, and ruffled the child's golden hair. "Now that would go and ruin the surprise, wouldn't it Eeze?"
The little boy sighed, and continued his aimless gazing out at the dull trees passing by. There was a grief in his eyes, and Tyki knew where it came from. The unexpected loss of two friends was eating at him too, but he tried not to let the emotion show. He still had living people to worry about; namely, the kid in front of him, and the other 'child' back at home doing god-knows-what with a white monstrosity.
The Noah simply sighed, and breathed in another lungful of smoke. Kids were such a hassle.
"Is it nice? The place we're going to?"
"It's okay." Tyki was still trying to figure out how he was going to ask Sheryl for the extra room, and tell the family that he didn't want his small, asthmatic friend to end up in several neatly cut pieces strewn about the yard for the dog to play with. "Just ... try to be as inconspicuous as possible when we get there."
Eeze nodded. It was a simple enough request, and he had heard it said many times.
"Stay out of sight, Eeze."
"Make sure nobody sees you, Eeze."
"It won't turn out well if they get their mitts on you, Eeze."
The dusty, distant voices of the past intoned with poorly hidden worry for his well-being. But a fresher memory slid across his thoughts as well, with a small scaly creature grinning up at him as it spoke.
"The humans of this world aren't so different from my kin, Chosen of Mine. They love what they choose to love; hate what they choose to hate. For all the light and bright joy one man shows you, he is hiding an equal amount of darkness and tragedy for someone else. It is a fair exchange—a payment, if you will—and I understand it as any competent deal maker should." The strange, white eyes had glowed brighter. "Do not be fooled by the mask any man shows you. Because with his love he can hate just as well."
The child snuck a look at the man smoking in the seat across from him, confused. Tyki cared for him. But, according to Nathan—who Eeze knew to be very smart on many aspects after living with the dragon for a few weeks and relying on the creature for food and housing—Tyki must also have an uncaring side too.
A moment after the thought, Eeze realized he had already seen a bit of it. Tyki (along with two other names Eeze didn't want to think about; it still hurt too much) played crooked games of poker to get money regardless of the opponent's current financial standing. He played for money, and he played to win; end of discussion.
And the man would leave for months at a time to go to his 'secret' job whenever the employer had called, regardless of anything else that was happening at the time. Again, the reason was for the much-needed inflow of cash that the job provided.
But ... Eeze had never seen Tyki hate anything. The child wondered if the man really did have a side he never saw; a personality that was hidden from him. He shook his head to himself, and decided that Nathan was wrong about people.
Especially about Tyki.
//DRDRDR//
Link was surprised. The blue had never requested help from him before, and the dragon seemed fully capable of looking for whatever he needed himself. So, the Inspector decided to ask the dragon sitting on his desk: "What exactly do you need flowers for?"
Luke 'erased' the writing, and then added: Someone I knew died. I would like to do a proper service.
Howard raised a pencil-thin eyebrow. "I was under the impression that you didn't know very many people."
I don't. The blue explained. I know You. Allen Walker. Section Leader Reever. Gremlin. And the scientist Quan Hertright. The scientist died. I would like to do something to mark his passing, so that his spirit knows that his departure is not totally unremarked upon.
The man sat up straighter, mildly surprised. "So you want to get him flowers?"
And a few other things, the dragon wrote, but I know where to get them. I just don't know where to find the flowers.
Link wasn't sure on where to find the plants either. They weren't an essential item, and he had never found a need for specific growths of that type before. The Inspector pondered for a moment, trying to remember if any other person he knew had ever mentioned plants of that nature before.
And then he got an idea. "Arystar Krory was filed to have had a variety of plant life before joining the Order." He told the blue. "So, it's only logical that you ask him for advice on finding some plants for your own use."
Luke smiled, and did a small hop to show his joy. I will see if I can find Lerrel in the kitchen. He will know where Mr. Krory is. But, the blue did not immediately zoom away, and instead asked one more thing.
Link, he wrote. What is the normal human custom for respecting someone's death? I know that flowers and black clothing are usually involved, but everything else ...
A shrug. It varies too much. You humans have more customs than dragons have colors.
The Inspector felt a twinge of curiosity. "And how many colors are there, exactly?"
Depends on who you ask. The blue said, and pondered. I believe there are only fourteen colors: brown, black, gray, white, red, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, gold, copper, silver, and bronze. Those are all the colors I've seen or heard of being seen.
Erase. More writing. A few whites and blacks believe their color to be the base of all other colors, reducing all other colors to a intermediary shade between white and black. Browns like to believe that all colors are just another shade of brown, and that they are the source of all the other colors. The small dragon barked what sounded like a short laugh at the idea. But most like to believe that there are fourteen colors. Though, small groups here and there also like to think that there is one other color. An All-Color, from which we all came from.
Link gave a small 'hmm' at all of the information. It was a strange thought; that dragons already had set ideas and beliefs all their own. Luke thought for a moment. There are more beliefs than that. I doubt that I could name them all and get flowers for Quan too though.
"I'd suggest that you get going then." Howard said. "I have a mission report to fill out anyway. I won't be going anywhere."
Luke smiled and jumped off of the desk. The little dragon opened it's wings in flight and then disappeared, the door opening itself magically after that, and then closing.
Link sighed to himself, and opened his desk drawer to acquire a pencil to start in his work with and paused. The drawer was filled with novels.
The German grabbed all of them and lifted the books out and onto his desk, noticing that there were many bookmarks sticking out of every single novel, and flipping one of the books open at random, he saw that there were notes scribbled in the margins.
-Have men actually done things such as these to one another? Is a 'Guillotine' a real object? The dictionary said it was. But for such a thing to happen. I do not understand. A.L.L.
The Inspector flipped to front of the novel, and pondered over the title. A Tale of Two Cities. Not something he'd expect a dragon to pick out. All of the other books were also fictional stories. Maybe that was why these were the books that Luke was having trouble with; Link hadn't explained the difference between Fiction and Non-Fiction yet. Though, it seemed that the dragon already had an inkling that the stories were not totally true, based on the notes.
Looking at the pile of novels, Link wondered when the blue was planning to ask his questions, and when the dragon was going to return all of the 'borrowed' books back to the library. And he wondered vaguely what 'A.L.L.' could stand for, but brushed the thoughts aside along with the novels onto the floor.
He had paper work to start on.
//DRDRDR//
Tyki stared at his bag in disbelief. Several coin-sized holes had been made in the case's leather shell, and a white iris glared at him through one of the claw carved openings. 'You'll have to try a lot harder than that to get rid of me.' The look said, and the Noah briefly wondered if he could get away with tossing the luggage (dragon and all) into the nearest lake.
"Tyki?" The child's head poked into the compartment, clearly wondering what was taking the man so long.
Damn. The opportunity to get rid of the pest 'discreetly' had already passed.
For now.
"Just admiring the mess your small new friend has made of my bag." The Noah answered, lifting up the case for Eeze to clearly see the damage done.
"Oh." The boy fingered one of the air holes, careful not to widen the puncture. "Bad Nathan." The child said in a whisper, obviously trying to not draw any unwanted attention to the bag. "Sorry Tyki."
"It's not your fault." Tyki reassured the child and collected the rest of their luggage. "Lets just get going."
They left the train and the station quickly enough, but kept the pace slow. Eeze's legs were short, and his health was less than adequate for any real strain to be put on him. Mikk tried to keep his stride small, and held all of their luggage on his own.
Silently, he attempted to plan out how he was going to properly 'introduce' his companion to the family. So far, the scenarios he'd predicted hadn't been good. The only Noah Tyki knew that was allowed to keep an actual human around regularly was Sheryl, and he had a legitimate excuse to do so. Having a wife at his age was a social standard for men of his standing, and it helped him blend politically.
Acquiring a child (an asthmatic one at that) with no background would be more of a scandal than anything else.
And ... oh, hell. Another thought crossed his mind like an unlucky black cat.
Either he found a way to get rid of the dragon before they walked the last two miles to the Camelot Estate, or the beast would surly be found out when they arrived. As much as the Noah wanted to destroy the creature himself, he was sincere about making sure the child at his side didn't have to watch.
"Eeze," Tyki announced, realizing he need more time than he had. "How about we stay at an inn one more night, before we arrive? I need to make some extra arrangements."
The child looked up curiously, but did not comment. He didn't mind staying anywhere, as long as Tyki was with him.
Inside the bag, Nathan snorted to himself. 'Extra arrangements?' The dragon guessed it was more likely a stop to try to get rid of him.
They arrived at an adequate inn quickly enough, and unpacked. The brown virtually exploded out of the suitcase the moment it was opened, flying over to roost on the bedside table and mumbled crossly to himself, obviously disliking the ride he had just gone through in the suitcase.
The Noah threw a disgruntled look at the lizard but didn't comment; instead he went searching for a phone. He had a call to make.
Alone with Nathan, Eeze sat experimentally on the bed, smiling behind his facemask when he found the piece of furniture to be soft and the sheets unstained. The dragon snorted at the child's delight. "I could find you a place where you would sleep in feather-stuffed beds as long as you wanted."
"I want to stay with Tyki." Eeze answered as if this as a conversation they had often had before.
"I could find you a life of luxury."
"I'm happy with Tyki."
"You'd be just as happy with full meals and me to take care of you." The dragon 'huff'ed from his spot, "If you'd just give me a chance."
The golden-haired child looked at the sulking brown, eyes sunken and old. "You have to give Tyki a chance first."
Nathan glared at the window, pondering the statement in a broody silence, and flew over to the sill to stare outside. After a while, he spoke. "That man smells like old death. I do not trust him. We should leave, so I may find you a proper place to dwell." The dragon abruptly turned and flew to Eeze's lap, rubbing his muzzle affectionately against the boy's neck. "I will do want you want, but only as long as it is in your best interest. If you ignore the threat this man you call family poses, I will be forced to take drastic measures to assure your safety."
Eeze laughed as the brown's warm breath tickled his skin. "Tyki protects me, Nathan. Just like you."
The dragon gave out his short bark of a laugh. "Not like me, Chosen. Not like me."
//DRDRDR//
Tyki leaned in a slouch against the wall as the payphone rang, waiting for someone in the Camelot house to answer. After only a couple of rings, one of the akuma servants answered in a disgustingly cheery tone.
He would've ordered the servant to seek out Sheryl, but there was a commotion on the other end of the line.
"Tyki!" Rhode crowed, and the named Noah flinched at the high-pitched female voice. "I thought you were taking a vacation?"
The man sighed. "Well, yes, but something came up—,"
"A couple of dead somethings, I would guess." The Noah of Dreams cut in. The words sent a chill down Tyki's spine. Before he could demand for her to reveal how she knew that, Rhode continued: "Meet me at the house."
The line went dead, and Tyki was left staring angrily at the phone, grip so tight that his knuckles turned white and his hand ached.
It just was one of those days.
//DRDRDR//
Luke poked his head into the kitchen, slightly cowed by the noise of moving pans, the combating smells of different foods, and blasts of hot air from the ovens. Invisibly, he shuddered. There were so many people!
He would have to cling to the wall like a gecko to avoid being discovered, and it was a long crawl from the entrance to where the twin-headed purple was snacking on sugary sweets. With a deep breath, Luke carefully dung his claws into the wall and started on his trek.
The blue was sure that at least two of the cooks did a double take when small cracks appeared in the wall where they should not, and steam from a pot of boiling water almost gave him away: the evaporating water condensing and liquefying on his scales faster than he could scramble away, giving the dragon an outline of water droplets for a few precious moments before he shook them off.
Eventually he reached his destination, confusion and bewildered cooks left in his not-so-invisible wake. The purple paused, licking its chops clean of icing and crumbs.
"You're late." Both heads said in hushed tones, glaring where the blue was: still invisible.
Sorry, Luke wrote, careful to make sure that the writing was at an angle that only Lerrel could see. But I did not know I was expected.
Rel chuckled, and said: "Ask your question. We have things to eat and tomorrow to ponder."
The blue took a calming breath: purples could be confusing to deal with. Do you know where your Chosen is? I would like to ask him a few things, and I am not sure where the best place would be to find him at this time.
The purple, both halves if it, laughed.
"Look up, little blue, look up!"
"You found him skywards!" (Trans: "You'll find him skywards!")
?, Luke couldn't help but project.
The other just laughed all the harder, and ate his—their—cake. It was so fun to confuse people; or dragons, in this situation.
The blue shook his invisible head at them, and left. The only way he could go now was up, and who knows what he would find there ...
//DRDRDR//
'Illogical.' Herus snorted.
'Heartless.' Speck retorted.
'Stupid.' The colder gray asserted.
'Selfish.' The other returned.
'You are blinded by emotion, biased, and can not make the right decision on this matter on your own, let alone explain to someone else what you're doing!' The gray who was curled up with his eyes closed almost yelled inside their heads.
'Well, you are obviously failing to grasp the concepts I have tried time and time again to explain to you about my Chosen's dire situation.' Speck, who was watching Arystar Krory as the Exorcist watched the skies for any signs of returning dragons, replied in the silent way that only grays can. 'Yes, the truth will be shocking, but I'd rather it come in a controlled setting than an uncontrolled one. And, I will tell him far away from other people, so that he can get over the fact by himself, without an unwanted audience.'
The conversation was quick, and heated. Thought by thought the words played out, unbeknown to Krory, who sighed to himself as he waited on the roof. Lerrel had told him that a messenger would arrive to ask him something important—apparently on the roof—but he had yet to see anyone besides the two gray dragons that were lazing about on their own, and they didn't have anything to say to him besides the usual: "Hello!"
Well, Speck said hello. The other hadn't said anything at all.
'What makes you think your Chosen will take kindly to knowing that there is a Noah waiting to take over his body lounging about within his mind?' The silent one questioned. 'And what makes you think he will take kindly to you shuffling about inside his head as well, little Speck?'
'Well, as you pointed out, I am inside his head.' Allen's gray tried to explain calmly and reasonably. 'So I know how Allen will react to certain things.'
Aloud, Herus laughed, surprising Krory. The Exorcist had no way to know (no one had a way to know) that a silent conversation was going on. Silently, Herus added: 'Humans are not as predictable as they seem to be. Sometimes, even my own Chosen does things I do not expect, or understand.'
'Oh?'
'He is more comfortable when he's around people who are cold with him, and gets confused when people try to be nice. And, sometimes his attitude reverses, then switches back for little to no reason at all.'
'He is a child, no matter how much information of your own you share with him.' Speck answered with authority. 'So, Cain is likely to change very much as he grows depending on where he goes and who he meets.'
The gray Lord huffed, and finally elected to look Speck in the eye, regardless of the curious and confused bystander. 'And what would you know about human growth?'
'Inside Allen's head.' Speck reminded with a roll of his black-and-white eyes. 'I've got several years of documented growth to shuffle through.'
'Your Chosen is not that much older than my Chosen.'
'Again. I remind you that Allen is currently sharing mental space, and I have generations of Noah memories to go through as well.'
Krory watched the gray faces move and react to something, but nothing he could see.
It's almost like they're talking, he thought to himself. But, the creatures obviously aren't saying anything at all ... are they?
A small cough downward caught his attention, and Arystar looked to his feet. There, a small blue dragon sat on its haunches, looking up at him.
"Hello?" Krory asked it, catching the attention of the two 'speaking' grays as well.
"Blue!" Speck exclaimed, struggle to work the works that came so easily in thought out of his mouth. "How long you there?"
Luke looked from the gray to Krory, and fidgeted a bit nervously as it unfolded a wing. Amazingly enough (to Krory, anyway) the little dragon spread out a wing, and writing appeared.
Excuse me, it wrote, but do you know where to find flowers?
//DRDRDR//
Lavi shivered, and wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck. The Junior Bookman was currently hiding within a tangle of snow-covered bushes, trying not to let his extremities freeze off.
Damned Greenland: whoever named this place was either an idiot or colorblind. And damn all of these akuma. I can't walk anywhere in plain sight; according to Ammy, the creatures are everywhere.
Apparently, the continent hadn't changed much since the last time Lavi had been there. The place had become just like Japan (right underneath the rest of the word's nose too), a nesting ground for the Earl's standing army.
Or a just part of his standing army. Or a fraction. It wasn't like he could stop and do a head count.
Lavi sighed, watching the steam swirl away from his mouth like smoke. The Exorcist held his beloved weapon in his right hand: ready just in case the passing travelers spotted him and turned out to be less-than-human.
That was the reason he was currently hiding in the bushes; he couldn't be sure whether or not the passing people were actually people. The last time he had been here, he had seen far too many high level akuma to take any chances.
His dragon/irritable companion was currently holed up far from any human outpost (and him) because it was far harder to hide a giant orange dragon than it was to hide a single Exorcist. And as much as the fact irked Amaterasu (Ammy, for short), she had enough sense to agree.
Though, the dragon had warned him just that morning that if he got himself into any trouble that was bad enough to make him unable to carry out his 'Servant duties,' she would personally roast him. Lavi rolled his eyes at the memory: it wasn't like he didn't know how to take care of himself.
The travelers/possible akuma were out of sight, and had been for a few minutes. The rabbit crept from his hiding spot slowly, senses on high alert and still not at ease. He had covered his Exorcist uniform with civilian clothing to help himself blend, but the Bookman knew better than to rely too much on the camouflage.
Pocketing his Innocence, he stuffed his hands into the folds of his jacket, and tried to think about warm things. The Exorcist clothing beneath everything else was more that sufficient enough to keep his body warm, but his face and fingers were not happy with the current climate.
Lavi couldn't help but feel jealous; his orange dragon had shown no signs of discomfort at the cold and was even cooped up in a warm hiding spot right now. They didn't want to risk Ammy being seen until they were sure that they had found what they were looking for.
The Exorcist froze at a sound from further ahead, then scrambled to hide behind one of the scrawny, pathetic bushes yet again. Lavi believed that he would have to rethink his strategy soon: the further away from the coast he got, the more mountains, ice, snow, and rocks there were, and progressively less vegetation.
Reaching a gloved hand into his pocket, his gripped his hammer reassuringly. It felt very good to have his weapon back where it belonged after so long of going without, and the redhead was going to be far more careful about how he used it in the future. He really didn't want it breaking again.
The new traveler walking down the road looked terrified, her eyes wide and glancing everywhere. If Lavi was one to guess, he would say that the local akuma weren't doing much to hide their presence from the humans.
And then the level two came barreling around the corner that traveler had come from: laughing madly. The human screamed, started to run, and was cut down before she could move more than three strides.
Half went one way, and the other half went the other: amazingly still screaming, chest cavity undamaged.
Lavi felt his muscles tighten with the need to run, to fight, but he forced himself to stay still. It was too late for the woman, and he didn't want to give away the fact he was there by destroying an akuma if he didn't have to.
The screaming turned to choked sobs, and even those stopped as the body turned back and crumbled into dust, leaving the only evidence of the murder to be the woman's clothing.
The akuma, a twisted creature that looked like a strange mechanical mix between a horse's body and a crocodile's face, congratulated itself for getting the 'suspect' and trotted on back the way it had come.
Disturbed, but curious as well, Lavi slowly thought about what he had seen. He decided that it could be worth the trouble to avoid the roads all together now, and just take the round-about way to the next town.
And maybe poke around a bit, to see what the whole mess with the woman 'suspect' had been about ...
//DRDRDR//
The city was in a state of blind terror. At least, that was the way Lavi saw it from his vantage point. The rabbit was currently creeping around the small alleyways between buildings, and sticking close to the shaded areas that offered some protection from sight.
The buildings were closed up tight, and all the windows he saw had their curtains drawn. A few of the homes had their doors broken down, and akuma walked the streets free of their human skins as they prowled about, gleeful of the fear that was almost a reeking scent drifting in the air.
Mostly, they were level threes. But a handful of level twos scurried about, docile and careful around the more powerful creatures. Lavi even saw the akuma he had seen before breaking into one of the boarded homes, and watched as it cursed and kicked with hooved feet to get the people outside of the building: herding them somewhere. Other akuma were doing the same.
The question on the Exorcist's mind, was why the akuma weren't slaughtering people outright, and where the demons were taking them. So, creeping and hiding, he made his way in the direction the akuma were going in. It was a risk, but finding out why the akuma were showing such abnormal behavior was worth some peril.
After numerous close calls, and several moments where Lavi was sure he was going to either get caught or at least spotted, the Exorcist was led to the north side of the town, where inside a great crowd of akuma and covered in chains, a dragon was caught.
The Bookman was stuck keeping close to the cover of the town buildings, so he couldn't get a clear look, but when he first saw the scaly beast writhing on pain he had frozen: for a moment scared with the possibility of it being his dragon.
After a few moments of frantic deep breaths and creeping as close as he dared, he let out a relived sigh. The coloring—mostly hidden in red from old and newly shed blood—wasn't orange, and the beast had the horned head of a male.
It was yellow. Half of one horn was missing, leaving a jagged stump where the yellow bone should have curved up proudly. The chains were made of metal that was probably tainted with Dark Matter, because it held the dragon down easily and seemed to be rubbing the scales raw where they touched. The wings looked to be in horribly ragged shape; they weren't even properly folded and looked like they were broken in several places.
The dragon snarled, revealing a mouth missing several of it's dagger-teeth, including one of the upper canines, and Lavi spotted the level four just as it kicked the Innocence-creature on the mouth, efficiently shutting it up. The yellow coughed up another tooth, and glared murderously at the akuma, claws digging into the ice-hardened ground.
No, it wasn't his dragon, but it was what the Exorcist had been looking for.
The lower leveled creatures lined up several of the towns folk in front of it, and appeared to wait.
The mockingly-angelic level four giggled, and Lavi felt automatically nauseous at the sound. His hammer seemed to warm reassuringly in his hand, but he didn't pay much attention to it: the dragon had begun to speak.
It was a slightly garbled Danish dialect, but Lavi understood it.
"Bring out all of the humans you want: you will not find mine.(1)" The yellow spat out, along with some blood that stained the reddened snow around it's body further.
All the akuma laughed, and the level four smacked the dragon's head again with a crack.
"Shoot." The strongest demon ordered the others, and the humans that had been lined up turned to dust.
That was all the information Lavi needed: apparently the akuma were looking for the dragon's 'Exorcist' counterpart.
Why the akuma didn't just torch the entire town was beyond him—until the Exorcist realized that it was in the akuma's best interest to leave a few survivors. A few grieving widows, orphans ... a few tragedies.
Lavi heard snow-crunching footsteps coming his way, and pressed himself against the wall of the alleyway and into a small niche, hoping that whatever was coming wouldn't see him. Unfortunately for the rabbit, the noise got louder as the humanoid got closer, walking right by the corner of Lavi's alleyway.
But, the newcomer looker human enough and scared as a mouse in a room full of cats. While that look of nervous fear was enough to argue of humanity, Lavi knew better. The Bookman kept as still as possible, and waited for the maybe-human to get close enough to where he was hiding for him to properly look at it.
The Bookman couldn't tell what gender the person was, or even give an estimate to the person's age; the bulging winter-clothing covered the shape of their body, and a back scarf was coving most of the stranger's lower face.
But, it didn't look like the newcomer was going to be of any trouble to him. The person was staring, more horrified now than terrified, staring at the dragon bound and chained to the ground, and being abused by the akuma.
It took a split second for Lavi to realize just who the person was. The person the akuma were looking for. In that split second he started to reach out; trying to grab the person and pull them out of sight and into safety, to get them out of there.
It was a second too long.
He missed the stranger's jacket, fingers brushing against the fabric as the Exorcist vainly tried to get a grip on the clothing, and the person slipped away. Straight towards the dragon.
Straight towards the akuma.
Lavi couldn't bear to watch. He kept his back against the wall, his Innocence still clutched in one hand, and tried to ignore the sounds that came next.
He could picture it all in his mind's eye: the look of curiosity on the akuma's faces as the human came running up, the yellow's dawning realization and horror.
"No!" Lavi heard the cry bellowed, and couldn't help but flinch.
There was a laugh, and then a wet crack echoed across the ice and snow. The Exorcist had lived through enough battles to know the sound of a breaking neck when he heard it, but the next sound he had never heard before. A sound so curious, the Bookman in training couldn't help but cautiously peak around the corner of his alleyway to look.
Afterwards, Lavi would look back on this moment in time and wonder why he had bothered. In the coming war, he would see it enough times to make the sight a familiar one.
The sound he heard was the dragon's body starting to decompose at a rapid pace. He could already see bone poking through the ash-like flesh as it slid off easily to the ground, peppering the ice gray, and the eyes were nothing more than shining black tear-trails down the gaunt cheekbones. Then the bone, too, turned into ashes, and nothing was left besides a pile of the powder.
A few yards away, the corpse of the dragon's Chosen remained: an unmoving pile of cooling flesh in the snow, head twisted in an impossible angle.
Like a crowd leaving a theater, the akuma dispersed. They were no longer needed here and there were other places they had to be, apparently. One level three stepped towards the dragon's 'grave,' and dug around in the remains.
It soon found what it was looking for. A glowing green cube.
Lavi was shocked to see it; did the dragon's revert back to that form automatically once their 'Chosen' was dead? Did this information hint at an important detail about the species? Did the akuma know how the dragon would die as they looked for it's Chosen human?
And where had the level four gone?
The akuma was starting the fly away, Innocence in hand, though it looked like it pained the level three akuma to hold it that way. There were no other akuma in sight.
Lavi was torn; he didn't know if he could take on a level three by himself. The last time he had faced one, he had definitely come out of the battle worse off than his enemy, though Lenalee had taken care of it herself.
And almost died.
Grating his teeth, Lavi watched as the akuma flew away. And then his Innocence did something it had never done before: it burned him. With a barely constrained yelp, the Exorcist reflexively let go of the hammer and watched as it hit the snow by his feet. The frozen substance began to melt almost instantly, and warm steam rose into the air.
Confused, hand still throbbing, Lavi inspected his weapon. The black metal of the hammer was sending off visible waves of heat into the air, and steam kept rising. He looked from the Innocence to the akuma still growing steadily farther away and got the message quickly.
"Want to go after it?" Lavi whispered, still unconsciously trying to keep a low profile.
The reaction made the answer clear; the air cooled back down to normal freezing temperatures quickly enough and the Exorcist picked up his weapon. The hammer was warm, but not uncomfortably so. It was actually kind of nice, compared to Greenland's early winter weather.
Lavi sighed aloud at his weapon, not finding the fact that he was talking to an inanimate object weird at all. "Now if we get in over our heads, I'm blaming it on you, got it?"
The Exorcist felt pins and needles briefly go through his hand, as if he'd sat on it for too long, and took it as an affirmative answer.
"You know, I hope you know what you're getting us into." It wasn't really that much of a stretch to believe that his Innocence could talk to him; Ammy could talk to him, and she was technically Innocence too.
Gripping the handle, Lavi was about to shout out his usual 'extend!' when the hammer stretched out before he could even give the command. Surprised, but somehow gladdened by the response at the same time, the Exorcist concentrated on creating a good and hot Hi-Ban(2).
Has my synchronization rate had gone up? The Exorcist wondered, mind working even when his first fiery serpent was launched. The akuma was obviously damaged by the attack (unlike the last level three), adding confirmation to his stray pondering.
Realizing that he was grinning, Lavi grabbed the innocence right out of the akuma's claws as he shot by on his hammer, looking back cheekily at it before landing and giving it a good whack with his Innocence.
The akuma exploded, no longer a problem, and the Bookman felt his heart soar at the ease he had destroyed the creature.
Wait. Lavi put a damper on the emotions that had started to mess with his mind quickly landed, looking for cover to hide in. How could I have been so stupid, announcing my presence to anyone bothering to look up?
He quickly made his way along a rocky incline away from the town, trying to start back to the small camp he and Ammy had with a Finder. Lavi rolled his eyes, the heart of the yellow in one hand and his hammer in the other. "You see what you get me into?"
The Innocence was silent as it always was and had returned to normal temperature, denying the Exorcist any feedback. The cube glowed softly in Lavi's other hand, warm but alien. He wondered if the dragons inside felt anything at all as they were carried around, fused into objects and used for human purposes.
And then Lavi realized that his attack had been seen, and he didn't have to luxury to ponder such thoughts. There was the level four, waiting for him just a little further ahead as if it had known exactly what he was going to do before he did it.
The Exorcist pocketed the Innocence and turned on the transmitter in his earing, hoping to get Ammy on her way so he could have some hope of coming out of the confrontation alive.
"I'm going need some help here—!" Was all he got out before the high level akuma moved faster that his eye could see, cutting off his ear lobe and the earing attached.
END 36. Whats Not Yours
AN:
(1): all underlined dialogues will be languages that are NOT ENGLISH. I will specify which languages in the surrounding descriptions. Hopefully, this will help with clarification.
(2) I'm a little embarrassed to say ... I don't know the exact English translation of Lavi's attack ... sure, my manga (vol 5) tells me that it's 'Hell-fire' and 'Pillar of Fire,' but I think I'll just try sticking with Hi-Ban. Because everyone knows what I'm talking about when I say Hi-Ban, and a few might just get lost when I start talking about Hellfire or Pillar-of-Flames. I'll take feedback on the subject though ...
Hmm, cliffhangerlishious. Now, poor Lavi is no longer in one piece (though most of his ear is still intact), and help may or may-not be coming. Hm.
Beta: Nooo! Run Lavi, run!
Update will come as soon as I finish the next chapter. Review please (though I see a nice amount of you are doing that already, and I thank you all wholeheartedly for it)!