A Lost Soul
Hey there guys! I'm back with the last leg of the Holiday Updating spree! This is Chapter 13 of "A Lost Soul"! Did you know that we're around 5-7 chapters away from the end? I know! I can hardly believe it myself!
Anyway, this chapter is scheduled to be a long one, but I hope that you'll all enjoy it! I've gotten a lot of great reviews, and I hope for even more with this new chapter!
A Lost Soul – Chapter 13 – Lumiere Mansion
"Doo, doo, di dah…"
It had been at least four hours since Xavier had left Ren's lodging in Tokyo. He had been walking since then, Lost over his shoulder, quite unconscious. To hide her odd "condition" from locals, he simply explained to anyone who had inquired that his sister was ill, and he was taking her back home.
"Dah, di, di, daaah…"
Lost was slung over Xavier's shoulder, her dress borrowed from Jun still clinging to her body, though extremely rumpled. Her hair was frazzled and sweat coated her pink face. She had yet to wake, and Xavier found no better situation to find himself in.
"Why can't you see…?"
And now, Xavier was walking through a forest, singing a popular song he had heard while walking along with Lost. His coat and hat were draped over his shoulder, and he had already smoothed down his clothes and hair from his fight. All that seemed different from before he had entered Ren's home was the fact that his glove was missing, and he had Lost now in his control.
"I see you've returned, brother."
Xavier stopped singing abruptly and looked up to see a girl about his age with long brown hair that was gathered into a ponytail. She was of western decent, like both Xavier and Lost, and her wide eyes were a sharp hazel, much like her brother's. She had an air of royalty around her; high cheekbones and sharp lips. She wore a sleeveless black dress that was lined with purple and had a purple flower design dusting across the bottom. On her dainty pale feet were black heels with rhinestones set into the toe.
But the thing that was most peculiar about the girl was her right arm. On it, matching both Lost's back and Xavier's hand was the symbol of a large circle with five smaller circles and a cross through the middle of the design.
Her symbol was larger then Xavier's, but smaller then Lost's; just covering her upper arm. She walked towards Xavier, her head held high, waiting for a response.
"Hello Amelie," Xavier grinned victoriously. "You got it. I've got her."
"As for her…guard?" Amelie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Disposed of."
"Good," Amelie smirked triumphantly and then walked over to Xavier and touched Lost's face. She shook her head and sighed. "Don't you know anything Xavier? You should carry a woman in your arms, not over your shoulder."
"You carry her if you disapprove of my methods so much," Xavier said, throwing Lost off his shoulder into Amelie's arms. Amelie buckled under the weight, but slowly rose, gathering Lost into her arms with great difficulty. It was obvious she didn't possess a lot of physical strength. "She was getting heavy anyway."
"Come on," Amelie remarked, frowning. "Father's waiting."
With that, Amelie, Xavier, and Lost all made their way through the rest of the forest, coming up to a clearing that led to a road.
"Th-this…is where that idiot lives," Ren muttered, standing in front of the Flame Inn in Tokyo. Yoh Asakura resided here, along with his short friend and a few other friends. Ren looked at the door with slight frustration and humiliation welled within his conscious.
He was dressed in his battle clothing, and his Kwan Dao was in his hand. Bason stood behind him, as did White Phoenix. Ren gulped and walked slowly into the gate of the Inn.
"Master Ren!" Bason stopped his master, but Ren didn't bother to turn around. "Are you…quite positive Master Ren?"
"Bason…it pains me to do this," Ren growled. "To work with these people who's skill is so below my own. But the fact that I lost to Yoh Asakura, even if it was just a fluke, gives me some reason to think that he might…" Ren didn't continue, and the words trailed off. "I'm going."
With that, Ren walked up towards the door, stared at it for a few seconds, and then knocked on the framing.
"Yoh! Someone's at the door! Answer it!"
"Ahh, c'mon Anna! You're closer to the door!"
"I'm watching television. Didn't I tell you to go get the door?"
"Manta, can you get the door?"
"Yoh, I'm making dinner! Stop being lazy and get the door!"
"Hooorrooo…get the door, please?"
"Rorry Roh! RI'm reating right now!"
"Are these imbeciles EVER going to answer the stupid door?" Ren asked, a vein throbbing in his head.
"Fine, fine!"
Ren almost gasped as the door slid open to reveal none other then Yoh Asakura, still dressed in his tired school uniform and looking extremely tired. He looked at Ren, and frowned. "Ren! What are you doing here?"
"Such insolence!" Bason scoffed. "You will address him as--"
"Ren?" Manta gasped, running to the door, still dressed in a white frilly apron. Ren looked down at Manta, and he gulped, obviously scared of the ominous Chinese Shaman. "T-T-Tao Ren? Wh-wh-what are you doing here?"
"Ren?" Ren looked up to see the Ainu idiot Horohoro walking up to the door. After his match with Yoh, he must have been paying a visit, or free-loading, whichever came first. Ren wasn't well acquainted with him, but just by seeing the bag of potato chips in his hand and the salsa stains rimming his mouth, Ren knew that he couldn't have been of much consequence. "Him? That villain guy?"
Ren didn't really appreciate being called "villain guy", but since the opinion of the blue haired idiot wasn't much to him, he let the comment slide off of him.
"So what are you doing here Ren?" Yoh asked, curious. "I hope it's not a fight. We can't fight until our match. Those are the rules, ya know?"
"I'm not here to fight," Ren said matter of factly. "I doubt you would be much of a challenge, anyway."
"Arrrgh! How rude!" Horohoro frowned. "Yoh just got back from his training in Izumo, and he's even stronger then he was before! So you'd better watch your mouth, buddy!"
"Have you actually seen this new strength?" Ren asked, narrowing his eyes. Horohoro gave a nervous laugh.
"Uhh…not actually," Horohoro admitted. "But he says he's stronger, and I don't doubt him!"
"Anyway," Ren said. "This isn't the point. The point is," he paused, took a large swallow of his pride, and proceeded, "I need your help."
There was a pause as the three looked at him with odd expressions. Finally, Horohoro spoke, looking extremely frustrated.
"Are you joking?" he asked, eyes flaring. "You come here, insult us, then ask us for help? No way are we helping you!"
"How are we supposed to know whether this is a trap or not?" Manta whispered to Yoh. "You'd better be careful, Yoh."
"You pointy-haired jerk!" Horohoro growled. "We have absolutely ZERO reason to help you out!"
"I didn't ask for your help, idiot," Ren growled. "I'm asking for Asakura's help."
"Why should he help you?" Horhoro asked. "You haven't exactly been Mr. Sunshine to him!"
"Horo…" Yoh murmured, but Horhoro was not to be stopped.
"You're his enemy! You're a murderer!" Horohoro snapped. He turned his back and Ren and took a few steps back into the house. "You asking for help from someone like Yoh has got to be a joke!"
Clatter…
Horohoro, Manta, and Yoh's eyes widened as they turned around and looked down to see Ren on the ground, his palms on the stone, his Kwan Dao fallen to the floor. His face was hidden and he was begging. "I need your help! Please!" he barked, angry and frustrated. "I'm…I'm begging you!"
There was a pause. Yoh smiled and held out his hand to Ren. Ren looked up, then stood up, not taking Yoh's hand. "So you'll help?"
"You got it!" Yoh said, sporting his usual smile. "What are friends for, right?"
"You and I are not 'friends'," Ren remarked coldly. "This is one-time necessity. Next time we meet in battle, I will kill you and become Shaman King."
Horohoro growled, obviously frustrated, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. The three looked back to see none other then Anna standing behind them. "The program ended," she said, staring at Ren. "Don't stand in front of my house all day," she muttered. "Come in and tell us what we're gonna do."
"Father!" Xavier and Amelie walked towards the road and up to their destination. "Father, are you there?"
The three had reached a gigantic mansion that seemed abandoned and desolate. The windows were covered with cobwebs, faded curtains, and decades of dust. Door knobs and gate posts were rusty, and the porch and wooden stairs were decayed and rotten. The weeds around the house made up the garden, which consisted of yard tall grass and dandelions.
The two walked up to the house, avoiding holes in the stairs and porch. Xavier grasped the rusty doorknob and opened the large door into a dark hall. The two walked in without hesitation and grabbed a candle from the left wall.
"Let me," Amelie sighed. She held her fingers out to the wick of the candle, and a bluish light came from her fingertips. The candle lit, and the damp, dark hall was illuminated to be just as gray and decayed as the exterior.
"Let's go," Xavier said to his sister. "Father's probably waiting in the control room."
Amelie nodded and the two made their way down the decayed hallway, the candle their only source of illumination. They made their way towards the end of the hallway, supposedly a dead end. Xavier sighed, then grabbed a picture frame and flipped it up.
A pad with an imprint for a hand and many odd buttons showed itself. Xavier pressed his hand to the pad, a second passed, and a green light lit up. Slowly, Xavier and Amelie began to move downwards on an elevator built into the floor.
When they reached the ground floor, they stepped off, making the elevator lift into the air once more. They were no longer in a dingy old mansion, but now in a steel walled hallway that led to a larger room where three figures could be seen.
"Father! Xavier's back!"
"Took you long enough!" remarked a high, childish voice. "Father, Alphonse and I have been waiting here all day!"
"Don't exaggerate Genevieve," Amelie remarked, narrowing her eyebrows. "You were probably fooling around or playing games while you waited for us."
"Hmph!" Genevieve remarked as the two entered the room. Both the man and the boy in the room had remained silent.
Genevieve looked to be the same age as Xavier, Amelie, and Lost. She had long light brown hair that matched her sister Amelie's color almost exactly. However, her's was more bouncy and ended about her mid back in wavy curls. She wore a crop top with red short sleeves, a white torso, and a V-cut neck. Also, hanging on her hips was a red miniskirt with pink and white frills underneath. She wore tall red boots with white soles, and on her bare stomach was the common symbol that was shared with the other three children.
The boy, Alphonse, had pale blond hair that grew into a sort of tail at the base of his neck. He had green eyes, like Lost, and oval shaped glasses. He wore a white tee shirt underneath a green jacket with undone buttons. He also wore baggy olive colored pants that reached the ground and folded over his black shoes. His face was sullen, and he looked upset by the happenings. On the right side of his neck was the familiar symbol.
"What do you want to do with her, Father?" Amelie asked, putting Lost on the ground. "Lock her up?"
"No," the man finally spoke, shaking his head. "She's waking up already, and we should probably greet her."
In truth, Lost's eyes were fluttering open as she lay down on the cold, hard ground. She lifted herself up, shaking on her arms, and looked at the five people that surrounded her. "Wh-who are you…?" Lost asked, her eyes wide with fear.
The man stepped forward, and he bared his teeth in a large grin. "Good morning Marguerite," he said. "Welcome home."
The man stepped into the light and Lost almost cried out as she saw who was standing in front of her. "Jean-Paul…"
There was no mistake. Although he looked older and exceedingly more tired then in her dreams, he was the same Jean-Paul. He still had long brown hair, a color that matched Genevieve and Amelie's, but it had grown longer and was tangled and matted. He still wore his glasses in front of his hazel eyes. But instead of the simple outfit she had seen him in her dreams, he wore a dirty white lab coat with torn burlap pants and a stained shirt underneath. He had a stubble of hair growing on his chin, and his eyes looked mad with hate.
"Remember my name do you?" he asked cruelly, frowning. "Remember these people?" he motioned to the four children around him and Lost looked at them all.
"Xavier…" she pointed at her kidnapper. "Genevieve!" she gasped, looking at the corresponding girl, who was staring at her with a look of loathing. "And…Alphonse?" she asked, looking over at the blond boy, who diverted his gaze. She looked over at Amelie. "A-Amel…Amelie?"
"So you remember them as well," Jean Paul smirked. "These, Marguerite, are my children. All four of them."
"Why do you keep calling me that?" Lost asked. "Why do you keep calling me Marguerite?"
"Because that's your name, of course," Jean Paul said.
"Her boyfriend had been calling her 'Lost' or something like that," Xavier piped up and Jean Paul looked at him.
"Oh?" Jean Paul smirked evilly, his eyes growing wider. "A little pet name you picked up, my dear?"
Lost shook with fright as the man kneeled down, looking Lost straight in the eye. "Well, let's set a few things straight, shall we? Your real name is Marguerite. Marguerite Lumiere."
"Lumiere?" Lost asked, narrowing her eyes and looking at Xavier. "B-but that's…Xavier's…"
"You've got it," Jean Paul smiled. "Xavier's your brother. And since I'm his father, that means that you…"
Lost looked up, her lower lip trembling with fear. Her eyes were watery, but she had no energy to cry. Everything was becoming clear. She was remembering. The memories were flooding back to her, hitting her mind one after the other in a consistent barrage of thoughts and painful experiences.
"Father…" Lost murmured to Jean Paul, and he nodded.
"Hello, daughter dearest."
"You sure that they went this way, Ren?"
"Yeah! We've been walking for like two hours!"
"Be quiet. I'm sure we're on the right trail."
Ren, Horohoro, Yoh, and Manta were all traversing through the forest that Xavier had walked through only yesterday.
"So what do you need our help with?" It was the night before, and Ren was sitting in Yoh's living room with Anna, Manta, and Horohoro. Yoh had just questioned Ren. Anna listened intently, sipping a drink.
"…My wife has been kidnapped."
"WOAH!" Horohoro jumped up. "Your wife? You're actually married? No way! I don't even have a girlfriend!"
"Man Horo," laughed Manta. "You don't have to go nuts. He's obviously just kidding."
"I'm serious."
"Huh?" Manta raised an eyebrow. "Th-that's impossible. You're too young to get married. Even in the most lenient of prefectures, the marriage age is sixteen."
"I don't have time to explain," Ren snapped.
"So your wife's been kidnapped?" Yoh asked. Ren looked over at Yoh with a confused expression. So far, Yoh had been the only one not to question Ren. "By who?"
"A young man named 'Xavier Lumiere'."
"Weird name…" Yoh said, putting on a weird face.
"It's French, you dope," Anna remarked, shooting Yoh a look. "Anyway…I'm curious. Does this girl have blonde hair, lighter then mine, and a little long then mine with bangs?"
"Umm…yes," Ren nodded.
"Green eyes?"
"Yes."
"Pale complexion?"
"Yes. Have you seen her?"
"Never heard of her," Anna remarked, closing her eyes and sipping her drink again. Ren decided not to press the subject.
"So where'd he go?" Yoh asked. "Do you know?"
"He's going to a house with a grave…" Ren told him. "And long grass. At least, that's my speculation."
"You don't even know where the guy is?" Horohoro asked. "There are thousands of houses around here! It would take forever to find the one you're talking about."
"It should be a foreign looking house as well," Ren said, ignoring Horohoro. "Not Japanese or Chinese. Western."
"That's still tough! Western houses are becoming more popular, you know!"
"I know of a house," Anna spoke up and the group turned to her. "It's outside of town, past a forest. Really hard to find though. Supposedly it's abandoned and haunted."
"Where'd you hear that Anna?" Yoh asked.
"Halloween gossip. It's a common dare on Halloween night to go to the house and throw a rock in the broken window," Anna said.
"I know about that too!" Manta nodded. "They say an old hermit lives in there with his four spirits."
"Four spirits?" Yoh asked. "Like what?"
"Some say they represent the elements," Manta told him. "Earth, water, wind, and fire. Others say that they represent the celestial beasts: Genbu, Seiryu, Byakko, and Suzaku."
"Anyway," Anna snapped, not happy about being interrupted. "Rumor has it that a kid who threw in a stone was captured by one of the spirits and never came back… He was a fool to go all alone."
"Woah, how creepy!" Horohoro and Yoh said together. Ren had an "oh brother" look on his face.
"Of course…" Anna murmured, looking up. "It's a ridiculously false story. If he went all alone, how could anyone have known he got captured?"
Yoh, Horohoro, and Manta all fell over, and Ren sighed.
"I'm not here to hear these ridiculous stories," he remarked coldly. "All I want to know is where this house is."
"I told you. On the edge of town through the forest," Anna told him. "Anyway, I'm going to sleep. I suggest you four get some rest too."
"I have to go save Lost," Ren remarked, rising to his feet. "You really expect me to sleep?"
"Fine, your funeral," Anna remarked, walking to her room. "Get yourself killed out of exhaustion."
"Anna's right," Yoh smiled to Ren. "Let's get a good night's sleep, and then first thing in the morning we'll set out."
"Lost might be dead by then!" Ren growled.
"Ahh, don't worry!" Yoh grinned at Ren and Ren scowled again. "Everything will work out!"
Ren looked at Yoh, then shook his head and made his way over to the couch. "We leave at dawn."
"No sign of this place!" Horohoro complained, his snowboard strapped to his back in an odd fashion. "Kororo's getting tired." The tiny Koropokur stuck her head out from behind the snowboard and panted.
"I could care less about your idiotic doll," Ren snapped.
"ARRGH! YOU BIG JERK! KORORO IS NOT A DOLL!"
"Hey, I've got an idea!" Yoh said, dressed in his battle attire and carrying his sword. Manta followed close behind him, his dictionary under his arm. "Amidamaru?"
"Yes, Lord Yoh?" Amidamaru asked, poking his head out from Yoh's memorial tablet. "Have you found the location yet?"
"Can you fly up and scout for the house?" Yoh asked his spirit partner. "It'll be a lot easier for us if we know which direction we're going in."
"Yes, Lord Yoh," Amidamaru nodded, rising into the air. The group watched as the ghost samurai looked around the area. "Lord Yoh! There is a dilapidated looking house due north! We are very close!"
"Thanks!" Yoh called. "You can come down now Amidamaru!"
Amidamaru flew back down to Yoh's side and the group continued their trek through the forest. Soon, they came upon a clearing and Yoh looked into it. "Sweet! We found it!"
The group jumped forward to where Yoh was looking and gasped as they set eyes on the gray dilapidated house. It had once been a grand mansion like home, but now, it was reduced to a poor state. Ren stepped forward. "Lost is here…I can feel it."
"If you say so, Ren," Yoh nodded. "But I don't see a grave…"
"This way…" Ren motioned to the group, and they began to walk through the tall grass, Manta barely able to keep his head afloat. They kept walking until they came to another clearing, this one well taken care of. "Here…"
He pointed to grave stone slab, and the group stepped over to it. It was plain and gray, but still stood out amongst its natural, unkempt surroundings. The group read it slowly. "Giselle Lumiere…" Yoh read out loud. "March 6th, 1969- July 12th, 1991. Woah. She didn't live long did she?"
"Yeah," Horohoro nodded. "Only…twenty two. Pretty sad."
"Hey?" Manta glared at a bit of faded writing. "What does this say? It's in western characters."
"It says 'Assasine Par Child'," said Ren, reading it. "It's in French, I believe. Lost told me about this gravestone. This is where Xavier forced her to eat that dirt. We're here…" Ren looked up at the mansion. "This is definitely where Lost is."
Yay! We're diving in now! Next chapter will be really exciting, so don't miss it, okay? Please review! Ack! I've got to keep writing! I'm on a deadline, and the rest of this writing is due!
Until then,
Ciao for now!