Hello again! I'm back in town, and our good friends Kanda and Marie are leaving! Thanks again to all readers great and small, keep the DGM fires burning.
IcyLady phew, what a relief! Sorry to keep you in suspense for another week but I promise, next chapter-
"Hm, now what could that be?"
"What's happening, lero?"
Road leaned forward, pointing along the length of the umbrella. The fabric of the awful dress flapped in the wind around her. At least it was warm. These sunny days were the worst, freezing cold and miserable. She liked the gentle cool of a cloudy night a lot better.
"I thought I told my akuma to stay quiet. But, it looks like we have some help."
Her eyes narrowed, picking out four, five, six akuma and one disintegrating dust cloud. Hm. So they were under attack by exorcists…but not these exorcists. That was interesting. Maybe there was someone over there whose brain was worth turning to mush. But then who would send two little children like that right where their Finders had died? It didn't bear thinking about.
"There is no discipline these days, lero," the umbrella squeaked. "The Noah's word is law, even if it doesn't make any sense, lero!"
"Hm? And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked lightly.
"Sorry, Miss Road!"
At least the sight of akuma there might spook these two. The young girl was going fast enough leave them behind, and the dead boy's Innocence was surprisingly effective. Already, most of the Level Ones had fallen back or shattered with a bong. What kind of an Innocence was that, anyway? And why did he have it on a string like a fishing lure? Tyki would make fun of her for weeks if she came back and told him she lost troops to a—a kid with a string toy. The moment the girl stopped, he would just have to die. Quietly. But not before she got some answers about what had happened to her plan.
"Do you think they found the Innocence?"
"What Innocence, lero?"
"The Innocence that was supposed to be here, silly! You don't think we predicted the plague, do you?"
"Um…" The umbrella clearly considered its words. "You're right, Miss Road! They must have found the Innocence, lero."
Road huffed in satisfaction, watching the girl exorcist trip and move jerkily close to the tops of the trees. She was a little slow, but at least now she was panicking like she should be. She watched her whirl around at a distance, trying to keep her balance in the air and see the battlefield. There was no point, really. There were enough bodies in houses or mass graves that Road could make another army, chase the Exorcists wherever they wanted to go.
"Well, this is great! But I will have to punish one of the Level Twos later for being out of line. Do you think one of the Exorcists over there is a general?"
Two more of the townward akuma disappeared in clouds of smoke. The little Exorcists didn't seem to notice what that meant, since they kept hobbling forward just fast enough to stay ahead. Oh, the poor things. They trained them not to think at the Order.
"I'm sure you'll find one, lero!"
"Hey!" she snapped. "It's not like I lost any in the first place, it's the Order's fault that they didn't send one out right away."
"Of course, Miss Road."
She tilted the handle of the umbrella down to arc up in the air, trying to see out of the akuma. The girl was still having some trouble flying and the akuma coming up from ahead were thinning. But, there were even more taking to the skies now, so she had the upper hand. They were gaining.
All she had to do was wait.
And then the girl fell. Straight through the tops of the trees. Funny, that there wasn't even any hesitation, no last-ditch attempts to stay flying, the two just dropped like a stone. Only the dead boy flailed a little.
"Did you see that?" she asked.
"See what, lero?"
"Gosh, you're so useless."
"What happened, Miss Road?"
Flicking the umbrella handle with one hand, she shaded her eyes with the other, trying to spot any hole in the canopy where the girl would have gone through. They were still too far away to see exactly what had happened, darn it.
"Our little exorcist couldn't stay up, it looks like. You!" She pointed vaguely at the akuma in her group. "Follow me."
Steering downward, she skimmed along the tops of the trees as akuma rushed to form up behind her, searching for a gap. Now that they were closer, she heard a very quiet roar up ahead.
A minute later, she had to shield her eyes from a drifting cloud of dust. Oh, what a clever little kid. Road had seen it all before, but she wasn't going to hold it against her that the Exorcist only managed the most basic feint.
She swooped down without a signal, diving through a hole that was a little too small for her, hemmed in by needly branches that were doing a number on the dress. At least that meant she wouldn't have to wear it again. The akuma filtered through much less neatly.
And of course she saw the ruts she'd been looking for. Hah! The girl wasn't that tired after all. She'd just been using the forest as cover to get ahead, further than Road could see right now. Oh, well. It wasn't like she could escape. She was just buying time.
"Tell the akuma in town to sweep along the ground as they come back, they should be moving through the forest," she said to a Level Two that had some extra wind powers. "She's very small, so don't miss her. Listen for the sound of Innocence."
The Level Two signalled back and rose up, breaking through the twiggy ceiling again and zooming off in a comet of its own making.
Now, this was starting to be fun. Road held on to the umbrella tightly with one hand and picked bits of tree out of her hair with the other. If the girl had some energy left, she would have zoomed forward far enough to be out of sight. They'd be hard-pressed to spot her bobbing through the trees if she veered off the straight course. This might even be a little bit of a challenge!
But no one could outrun her forever.
…
"Kanda, hold on—"
Feet sliding on the rooftop, Kanda managed to stop before he reached the edge. The unburnt energy of the jump turned back on him as he caught his breath, watching more and more akuma drift up from the streets like flies. They'd be free, for now.
He looked over his shoulder. Marie signalled to him, leaned against a chimney for support as he caught his breath. Damn. He'd been trying to go slow enough for him to keep up, but it looked like he was still getting tired.
"What?" he asked. "I can go ahead."
"No," Marie said sharply. "Come here."
Kanda took a second to make sure they were clear. They'd been cutting their way through akuma as they rushed away from the city centre, but the attacks had let up for a minute. A few seconds ago, the akuma stopped running to them and started running away. He'd been ready to chase them over the red rooftops no matter how long. If they still ran after he stopped attacking, then he'd be sure. They were being called to help out with a different problem.
And they still went. There weren't any he could see waiting for them to drop their guard, so he sheathed Mugen for the moment and ran back to Marie. It was a good thing this place had solid wood-and-shingle roofs, Marie wouldn't be able to keep up this long if they were thatched. It was hard to fight akuma from the ground in narrow streets.
Staring hard into the distance one last time, straining to hear anything outside the shouting town and rattling engines, he ran back along the slippery tile.
"What?" he asked again. He slid in beside Marie, watching over his shoulder.
"I think Lenalee and Daisya are trying to reach us via golem, but the transmission isn't very good," Marie murmured. "I'm not sure if there are any Level Twos staying in disguise, so better to be careful and stay up here. Can you get it out again?"
Kanda obeyed, slipping it out of his pocked and into the shadow the harsh light put down between him and Marie. Sure enough, the patchy noise it was emitting was only loud enough to hear once he'd got it out of his pocket.
"…nda? Marie? Ple…res…nd…" It was Lenalee.
The reception was as bad as earlier. Something about it put Kanda on edge. It was hard to work when the mission was this fucked-up and they couldn't even communicate. Sickness or no sickness, he was starting to think they should have stayed together. At least then if they died, they'd all know it.
"He…nyone there? We…" Daisya was loud enough to hear, but not for long.
"…hhh, quiet!"
So they were hiding somewhere. Both of them. And it was safe enough to call. Kanda let Marie do the talking. The sooner they could finish this and regroup, the better.
"Lenalee, Daisya, what is your situation?"
"Marie! Is…da there?" said Daisya's voice.
He saw Marie make a face, and smiled a bit. Some things didn't change.
"Yeah," he said. "Where are you?"
"In…orest, we fl…halfway ba…ttack…"
Marie nodded, so he must have caught that.
"You escaped the akuma attack and you've hidden in the forest halfway between your position this morning and here, yes?"
"…ah, but the…oah," said Daisya.
"We mis…for now, but the…out soon…eed help," Lenalee added. She didn't sound so good.
Looking at Marie's face, there was a reason for that. He'd turned ashy in a matter of seconds, holding tightly on to the chimney like it was the only thing keeping him up. Kanda just hoped he wasn't going to be sick. Maybe it was just getting woken up for second watch, but even he'd started sweating cold under his coat. His heart was beating fast and light, sending waves of heat up and down his body that didn't help the nausea.
"I can't hear you very well," Marie said carefully. "I'm going to confirm that you and Daisya encountered the Noah. You were able to outrun it and hide temporarily, and you need us to find you."
Kanda's stomach turned.
"Yes…right."
"All right. Kanda and I will move toward you through the woods. Move towards us if you can. We can exchange positions through the golem. Try to pick landmarks no more than a few hundred metres apart. Where are you right now?"
The sun was high now, and hot. It sank through Kanda's black hair and black jacket and made sweat roll down the side of his face. Fucking weather. It shouldn't be hot and cold at the same time.
"…ear a turnstile…the path. Three…dred metres int…orest, I thi…" said Lenalee.
"Understood. Kanda and I are leaving from near the inn. It will take us a few hours to reach you, even if we move fast. You will have to move as fast as you can while avoiding the Noah," Marie said shakily.
"Ye…ee you!" said Daisya.
The line ground into silence, and Marie looked up at Kanda. He nodded.
They would eat. They would walk, until they reached the edge of the woods. Then they would run like hell.
Kanda pushed the bangs out of his face before he reached in their packs for rations. They slicked back easy, stuck with sweat.
…
The clouds had rolled in after the bright morning, fading out the forest to an even tone. Kanda had to admit it was a relief. Sharper contrasts made it harder to pick out one tree from another, which didn't help with keeping lookout. Marie could only go by noises. And the forest was full of those, quiet ones, squirrels or their own footsteps or crow calls. None of it was loud. None of it had a pattern. Besides, akuma could move through the air without making a noise.
Kanda had to find any threat before it found them.
"—passed a grou…ree dead trees…spruce."
Without looking, he tapped the golem on his shoulder.
"Nothing here, but I can see a bush with red leaves, two or three hundred metres ahead."
"Oka—" The golem cut her off. Close enough. Lenalee would call again if she needed confirmation.
Kanda led them both on a northern tack, steering through the clearer patches where there weren't as many trees to hide behind. It was hard, they'd gone along the far edge of the woods. It was a lot more tangled. If they did get a call for help, they wouldn't make it in time to make a difference. Carrying Marie, he'd be too slow. Leaving Marie behind wasn't an option. At least, it was hard to think about. So he didn't.
Just another half an hour and they'd reach them.
It was going to be a long one.
He'd thought Komui was overreacting. As usual. Finders died all the time. They were being sent out as a precaution because the higher-ups were nervous about the flood, that was all, and Komui just hated letting his little Lena out of his sight even now that she could lift him off the ground. But those were enough akuma coming out of the town to kill anyone else.
"Rocks," he said.
"Understood," Marie answered.
He slowed down, walking beside Marie through the rougher ground. Marie had dropped the passive Innocence to save energy and used his emergency instead. That was another reason Kanda couldn't afford to get distracted—his hearing wasn't augmented right now, which meant that he couldn't pick up much more than Kanda's ears. A few hours in, nothing had happened. They still had a long way to go.
"They should be able to stay hidden," said Marie. "If that's what you're worrying about."
"I'm not."
Marie was right. It was hard to track down someone in this big an area. Even with the number of akuma here, the four of them had cut down the number that could be searching for them. They could also afford to get caught once or twice. Maybe not Daisya, but Lenalee could kill them quietly enough. They just had to be sure no akuma in the area would be smart enough to track them down from the evidence.
But even if there was no Noah, the akuma would still attack. It was what they were made to do.
"You thought we'd be a target, because of the Innocence," he said at last.
"Yes."
"The akuma know that we have it. They should be coming after both of us. There's no reason to keep hunting them."
"We don't know that they are."
He scuffed the ground with his boots. All this waiting was pissing him off.
"You're not stupid, so don't act like it."
"Kanda—"
"Lenalee can take care of herself. They'll kill Daisya, let her get away, then target us."
"Daisya won't go down so easily," Marie said mildly. "He's at least as good as I was with sound manipulation. Creative, too."
"It doesn't matter, he'll keep fucking up. Water, move right."
They cut around where water was starting to seep up from the ground. The stream Daisya mentioned probably came by near here. Long grasses were growing up between the thinner tree trunks, swishing at his legs.
"You've been training Lenalee, I've been training Daisya. If you can't trust him, trust me. You can't follow him everywhere."
There wasn't anything he could say to that, so he just laughed. How low could he get? People could fight or die. It was that simple.
"I said I would. Low branches."
He could walk straight under them, a few of them picking strands of hair out of his ponytail. It was a mess. Marie was the one who had to duck an extra foot. The two of them passed under the spindly tree with their boots squelching in the grass, then moved back on to a path as the forest closed in again. The marshy ground gave way to packed dirt. Kanda could spot the sparrows still hanging around for fall, jumping around the branches, but he still couldn't see any akuma.
"You could have asked to go with him again," Marie said after a while.
"Why? It's a bad plan," he said honestly. "They only survived because Lenalee flies."
"Yes."
"I want to stay alive."
"We have that in common."
Kanda chewed on his lip, tearing off a piece of skin. It healed over before it could bleed.
"Hm. Yeah. You too," he said.
"I know."
"Good."
Every comment I get is a gift! Four years later, I'm still reading them. Best wishes to all you reading this in the year of our lord 2021, even if it's just You-Know-Who-You-Are. I'm glad to have every reader here with me. Maybe, one day in the 2030s, we'll all be able to read the end of DGM together. Until then, take care!