Hi all or some! Sorry about the late update, work really picked up this week. Here's a little bit of investigation. As usual, thanks so much for the support!

The bodies in this room must have been cleaned somewhat, but that wasn't enough. Not nearly. Marie counted slowly to one hundred and forty four, then back down again as Kanda picked around the crowded room. Occasionally there was some sick, sloughing sound as he tossed aside one body to get a good look at the one underneath. Magda had said they had to stack them. It was only depth of the church basement and the late autumn weather that kept the basement morgue cold enough to keep the rot slow.

"You haven't found her?" asked Magda.

"No," said Kanda, shoving something back in place with a meaty slap.

A thin, hissing sigh left Magda. "I'm sorry, there is only the churchyard left. There are so many bodies that…Mother Jolanda asked permission to build a plague pit. Down here are just the corpses from yesterday, we should have them in the ground very soon."

Somewhere further off, he heard a laugh from Kanda. This irony was more bitter than funny.

"Gertrud may not have made it here," Marie explained. "As a traveller, she would not have had any help to find her way here."

"I see."

They waited another minute in the terrible, stinking air before Kanda gave up.

"She's not here."

"Oh…well," breathed Magda.

Expecting her to say something, Marie waited for the right moment to speak. She didn't. In fact, she didn't even lead them back up. Something about this place seemed to calm her down, which was unsettling to say the least. Still, she couldn't be an akuma. The human sounds he listened closely for were all there.

"Let's go, Kanda."

"Mm."

"Yes, we should go, shouldn't we?" Magda murmured, like she couldn't hear them.

Kanda led them on to the stairs, climbing the slick, shallow troughs in the stone where thousands of feet had stepped before them. He kept a grip on Marie's hand just in case, going slowly. Magda seemed to trail behind even their pace. She didn't speak until they reached the next story up, coming out into large, low-ceilinged room set into the floor of the main church. People had hidden in these vaults below the church two hundred and fifty years ago, during the wars of religion.

He'd been listening during the climb, to hear her breathing get heavier like his. Whatever catatonia she'd slipped into had her short of breath as well as absent, but somehow the exertion didn't seem to have an effect on her. Instead, she just slowed to a crawl. It made sense for a machine. No human worked like that.

"You both are exorcists," she said at last, perfectly even as she came over the top step to where they were waiting.

"Yes," answered Marie. It was best not to give too much away at first.

At a snail's pace, they returned to the stairs.

"You call the undead back to their graves, then," said Magda.

He heard Kanda scoff too quietly for anyone else to hear. The boy wasn't taking this seriously. Their footsteps echoed quietly in the tall stairwell.

"Akuma aren't undead," he said quickly. "There's no simple explanation, but you should think of them as a kind of automaton."

"A…machine."

"No. A body with something other than a soul. An akuma might come from someone who passed on, but their will is something different. Only a few can remember their lives, and even those would never let that stop them killing whatever gets in their way."

That wasn't true, either. Exorcists chatted and shared the details of their missions, to make sure none of them got unlucky or made the same mistake twice. There were many akuma who seemed to live like humans, or acted as if they had a conscience…which was against doctrine. According to the Order, all akuma were a threat.

Marie had his own thoughts. He remembered so many that seemed so human. But, in the end, he always killed them before they killed him.

"But it is still true you can…send them back?" There was a flicker of hope in Magda's voice.

"I don't know. We can kill them. What happens after that is in God's hands."

"Oh."

"It's hard to stomach, I know."

"No, it's…not that," said Magda. "Thank you. It's good to meet an exorcist. We are all taught the signs, but few ever come here."

Kanda hadn't chimed in where he thought he might. He gave off the impression that he was listening now.

"Count it as something good. We're a danger to others. Akuma don't bother about the people that get caught in the crossfire, when they're hunting Innocence. They'll shoot their own kind."

"It's like that with humans, also," murmured Magda.

"Not all of them."

The echoes above them were quieter and replaced by the bustle of the infirmary, so Marie was surprised when Magda pulled to a stop before they reached the peak.

"Can I ask…what is your name? Before you go—who are you?"

"I'm Noise," he answered judiciously. "My apprentice is Kanda."

"I'm pleased to have met you, Noise. And you, Kanda," she said as an afterthought.

"I'm sorry about the circumstances. Thank you for helping us," Marie said.

Some part of him stayed on alert until Magda started moving again, taking them back the way they came to the door.

"It's my duty as a child of God, and as a citizen here. Will you come again?" she asked as they crossed the threshold out into the grey light.

There was no reason to, now that they had confirmed Gertrud and the Finders' absence. Marie turned on the rough stone outside the door, wishing he could use the Organum to get a better idea of her.

"No. But Magda, there's something you should do. You can't bury the dead. Even if the families want to see a body, you have to burn them all. Can you tell that to Jolanda? Dig your pit, but throw in some wood and pour oil down on top of it, then burn the bodies."

He waited, turned towards what he hoped was her face. Then again, with the cloth across both their faces, it woudn't make much difference whether or not he guessed right.

"Can you do it?" he asked again.

"Yes."

"Thank you, then. Keep well."

"Yes…"

To his relief, Kanda started walking. An excuse to leave quickly. Marie moved lightly from one foot to the next so that he didn't catch on any of the cobbles. Once they were halfway down the path and heard the creak of the door shutting, he could relax.

"That lady was weird as hell," said Kanda darkly.

"She had a heartbeat," he answered. "She's a human."

"I know. Doesn't mean she's can't be connected."

Kanda had a point. There was something so clearly sad, empty about her that reminded him of the few shells of people that sometimes formed around akuma. Then again—

"It's not always akuma. Humans are allowed to be odd. They often are."

"Not like that," said Kanda, and that was the end of that.

The day had started off with a wet chill, which seemed to be crowding in on them as the stink of the city took on the smell of rain. Thank God. It wouldn't start coming down just yet, which was better for them. Maybe a good shower would wash some of the sickness out of here.

Kanda led them both back along the same way they came, down a slight slope into the walled centre of the town. The sounds were no louder, though they'd shifted somewhat from the barking of the morning. The hawkers had stopped their business and sat down for lunch, talking amongst themselves and still laughing. Maybe it would have seemed strange to someone else. He knew well enough that joking and talking was one way to get used to death.

Too well, maybe.

Would he cry? Sometimes he wondered how it would feel for someone else not to come back from a mission. Exorcists died plenty, but since his team were killed it was only Antonina that had come close to affecting him. Then, he just felt sorry for her and not himself.

Life sometimes seemed like it passed by just outside of him. He was still working at moving back into it. But, it was hard to tell whether he was still capable of feeling something new, or if everything that hurt him until now was just a recycled version of that one, single hurt from years ago. Did he react, or did he remember?

If Kanda were to be killed, he was sure it would hurt. He didn't know about the others. Whatever the answer was, he was sure he wouldn't want it.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Kanda.

He must have drifted off. They were nearly at the inn now.

"Gertrud and the others were probably killed," he said simply. "We need to find the akuma and wipe them out."

"Yeah, but they could be hiding."

"We'll draw them out. Can you be bait?" he asked.

Kanda laughed. Of course, he'd be proud about it. The kid was more about hitting problems than thinking about them.

"I'll assume that's a yes," Marie said.

"Yeah. When do I start?" asked Kanda.

"Not now," he warned. "I'll set up a golem to call Lenalee and Daisya about the situation. We'll scout within the town today, then meet up with them tomorrow."

They didn't have a choice. There were reports of an army, which was hard to keep hidden in a city like this, but there had to be something that drew the akuma's attention before the plague.

Time would tell whether he was right.

…

Lenalee froze when she heard the golem crackle to life, and didn't relax when she realized what it was. Looking from side to side, she cut off from the path and walked into the field. This was no time to let down her guard. There was never any time to let down her guard, outside the Order.

"Hey, was that a golem? Where are we going?"

"Marie's calling," she said. "We need to make sure there are no akuma listening."

"I know, I know," said Daisya, chasing after her. "Good thing it's just chaff, because those farmers can get nasty about their stuff. He's probably just checking in."

She took them most of the way across, stopping along the fence between this field and the next. Since the path they were on ran right between the forest and the fields, there was still a chance there might be some hidden akuma tracking them that they hadn't picked up. Here, they were out of earshot, and anyone trying to spy on them would have to come out into the open.

It was a sad, grey day, but she was thankful that there hadn't been much rain. Actually, it was sort of comfortable. The air felt heavy and warmer than the soggy chill on top of the ship. Though where the sound of waves had been soothing, though, the sound of much squelching under Daisya's heavy footfalls ruined the mood.

"…are they?" her golem spat out. That was Kanda's voice.

"I'll be there," she called. "I just need to get you out of my pack."

Crouching on the ground, she swung the heavier pack down and unlaced one of the many pockets stitched neatly on to the outside, pulling out the small black ball. It blinked gently in her hand, unfurling its wings and giving them a few experimental flaps as the quiet sounds of conversation came through. Daisya leaned on the fence beside her, cracking his neck.

"You shouldn't do that," she whispered. "It's just going to hurt when you're older."

"It hurts now. Who says I'm going to live that long, anyway?" muttered Daisya.

She made sure he saw her roll her eyes, then stood up and tossed the golem into the air to hover.

"Hi Marie, we're here," she said.

"That's two of us," Daisya chimed in.

Over this short of a distance, there was no delay on the response. Marie carried on like they were speaking face-to-face.

"You haven't found any akuma, I guess."

"Nope," said Daisya.

"Lenalee?"

"No," she confirmed. "It's pretty dead here, there were some carts that I heard on the nearest road, but I don't think we've seen any people face-to-face."

"Are sure Daisya didn't scare them off?" asked Kanda.

"What are you talking about, I look great from a distance!"

While Daisya brushed his clothes off theatrically, Marie pulled them back on track.

"Good. Did you find any water sources, then? It might be better for you two to stay outside of the city tonight," he said, then added, "If you feel safe. I just don't want to risk drinking the water here, and you're still young for harder alcohol."

She'd kept the morning's goal in mind. "I think there might be a stream or a creek in the forest. We mostly stayed on the path, so it would take time to look."

"We're going to want to boil it," said Daisya. "There's going to be a lot of runoff from these fields, if it's this close by."

"Then drink the city water, you'll die faster."

"Kanda." Lenalee had to sigh.

Even though there was no way for it to travel, Daisya still made a face at the golem. He did seem to be smiling.

"We'll have to boil our water too," said Marie diplomatically. "Kanda and I will be staying in the town until tomorrow. We found no evidence that any of the Finders visited the hospital here, though we can't rule out that they were too weak to seek help. Assume that they were killed by akuma."

"Then will they be expecting us?" she asked. "There might already be akuma looking."

"I don't know. There is a chance they were killed as soon as the akuma spotted then, meaning that they wouldn't know we were called in. Alternately, if they managed to catch some akuma first, then the captured akuma would notify the others."

"That's not very helpful," said Daisya, winking at her. Maybe he had an idea, or maybe he was just fooling around.

This was going on for longer than she thought, so she hopped up and balanced herself on the fence, which creaked threateningly. She was starting her growth spurt, so she was still getting used to what could and couldn't hold her weight.

Hm. There was something here that didn't match up.

"Marie, my brother didn't say anything about there being sickness, right? The akuma were probably here before people started dying."

"Yes, I think so."

She tested that line of thought further, watching as the clouds got darker in the distance. If it rained tonight, they would have to move into the forest.

"Then the mission should be the same. We want to find out if there's a Noah," she said. "Maybe there were akuma here looking for the Innocence that the Finders were investigating, and they only started to build an army when they found out there was cholera in the town?"

"That's a theory," said Marie. "We don't know if there was an army, only that Gertrud was probably killed by akuma. That means there were at least a dozen or so, since those Finders were experienced. The reason I asked you to search for akuma first was because I thought it was better to find out more about the situation before we start planning."

Too many things didn't add up, here. Marie was right, they didn't have enough information to solve the mystery, but it was just a lot at one time. Plus, since she and Daisya were outside of the city, either Marie thought they'd find something out here, or he was more scared than he was showing. They were standard pairings for combat, one short-range and one long-range. But if it was only that, then Marie could have taken her and sent Kanda with Daisya out here.

"Of course, I was just thinking, did the akuma find the Innocence, if there were so many of them?"

"Who knows. If we find akuma, we'll kill them," said Kanda.

"Yeah, Kanda, who cares? It's not like the Innocence does anything, anyway," Daisya yelled from where he was now lying on the chaff-scattered ground.

"It doesn't if you're careful," Kanda grumbled.

Maybe Marie had split them up like this to keep them on-task, so that Kanda and Daisya didn't get caught up and forget that they actually had a mission. Somehow, it felt like they did nothing but talk.

"There are a lot of things I'm not sure about, Lenalee," Marie said gently. "Let me know if you think of anything, and for now, keep looking for any traces of akuma or Innocence, or anything else that might be wrong. And Daisya, see if you can hear the sound of a water source with the Bell. It shouldn't give you away at a low synch rate."

"Sure!"

Now that something was going on Daisya got back up from the ground. He brought a bunch of barley stalks with him, stuck all over the back of his woollen cloak.

"Will you be okay in the city?" she asked.

"We'll be fine," said Kanda. "Stop worrying."

"Hey, ask me nicely," said Daisya.

"I haven't sensed any akuma yet," said Marie. "So long as we boil our water, there isn't any more danger than we usually face. If you don't call before the end of the day, I'll contact you when we've finished."

"Okay," she agreed. "Please stay safe, both of you. Goodbye!"

They signed off in a flurry of byes and a parting shot from Daisya, and then they were back standing in a soggy field just before lunch. Daisya was kicking the Charity Bell from foot to foot and grinning. That was a relief. He'd been getting bored as they went, and like that, she wasn't sure what trouble he'd get into just for kicks. She worried about him, sometimes. Not that he'd ever believe her.

"So," he asked, "When are we eating?"

"We should wait. I think we should keep our supplies for later, if we can? There should be a farmhouse close by, maybe we can buy some food."

"Fine, I get it. Aren't you a growing girl? You should be starving."

She followed Daisya back to the path, feeling the fuzziness of a bad night's sleep and a small breakfast.

"I didn't say you couldn't eat, I said we shouldn't. Besides, isn't it nicer to eat in someone's house?"

"Food is food," Daisya muttered, but he kept walking after her.

As it turned out, they found a farmstead around two hours later. Lenalee pointed out to Daisya, while he was shovelling fried egg and pickled cabbage into his mouth, that it had turned out to be a good idea to wait. He made as much a face as he could while still eating. She laughed.

Maybe this wasn't so much of a dire situation.

It's been the Daisya and Kanda show so far, and this fic will stay that way, but I wanted to take the time this arc to follow the other characters! I don't have as good a grip on Marie and Lenalee as I'd like, so hopefully it's not too rough. Marie and Lenalee are like the big brother and little sister in my mind, but they've got different relationships to the each of the main characters. Marie feels protective and closer with Kanda because of how they met, but he's spent a lot of time with Daisya recently trying to train him up. He's not afraid to call Daisya on his shit. On the other hand, we know Lenalee can speak honestly with Kanda and talk back to him. I feel like Lenalee gets along with Daisya and obviously cares about him a lot, since he shows up in her 'friends' collage, but at this point she's just getting to be a teenager and I think she'd get frustrated with how much he gets injured. To her, it feels like he keeps faking her out. She worries, but she wishes she didn't have to. Let me know if you guys have any opinions on how those relationships might play out!