Chapter 4
A/N: I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. Let me know what you think of this chapter.
The wind begins to pick up as the young white-haired man and the young woman reveal their abilities.
'Exorcists?' I think, as I am stopped just inside the gate. I open my mouth to announce my presence when the demon man cackles.
"Do you know the old eastern proverb, 'he who fires in the end shall hit the mark', and with bullets like these how can I miss?" He raises his umbrella once more and orders the Akuma to fire. Without thinking of the situation, I rush forward and throw my arms out wide.
"For every person, in every hour, send us now the greatest power, brick and mortar, wood and stone protect our center, protect our home!" a green glow emits from my torso and spreads to form a translucent green dome around myself and the other four humans around me. The dome manages to hold out against the first wave of Akuma bullets. As the smoke clears a deafening silence takes hold. My layer of protection holds for the first bullet of the second wave; however, it begins to crack with the second. Seeing the weakened state of my barrier a third bullet is shot at the white-haired man, it manages to break through and make contact. Once the barrier is breached, I grit my teeth and try to focus once more to seal the hole when the voice of the young child shakes me to my core.
"Allen!" The boy calls out and I freeze. All of my focus dissipates and what remains of my barrier begins to flake away in the wind. 'Alan?' I think as I stand frozen in my spot. The Akuma direct their next attack at the young boy, however, I am stuck in my own head as memories of my brother flash across my eyes. By the time I notice the incoming bullets, the young woman has jumped into play and activated her innocence. She manages to grab the young boy and move him towards the man with the bandaged face. Once the boy is back on his feet she leaps into the air and comes down on top of the Akuma hopping from one to the next like stones in a river.
"Ah so another insect has appeared in the sky." The demon says as he directs the Akuma's guns towards the young woman. In a moment of clarity my focus goes laser sharp, and I raise my hand in the direction between the woman and the Akuma's guns.
"I call to thee, pure maidens fire. Through vortex flow the heavenly mire. Cleanse brackish aura of debris, from dark to light, sweep history!" A spiraling vortex of wind and fire extends from my palm and into the path of the attack, stopping all the bullets. The woman flips around and lands on a fence for a second before leaping back up and onto the face of another Akuma. As she jumps away towards the next one the young white-haired man joins the fray, tearing apart Akuma with the huge claw like arm. Slowly the two of them begin to thin the numbers. Unfortunately, an Akuma manages to land a blow that caused an explosion which sent the woman flying into the steeple of the church. I step forward once more as the young man leaps to the woman's side. The demon orders the Akuma to aim for the couple however I reach them first.
"When you find your path is blocked, all you have to do is knock." One door appears in front of me while another appears in front of the two exorcists.
"Make them see, what cannot be. Flames that leap to make them flee." As I walk through the door and appear on the roof of the church a wall of flames springs to life between me and the arsenal of bullets. I reach under my traveling cloak and I pull a small cylinder from a pocket. I hold it horizontally in front of myself as I hold my left hand above my right.
"Engorgio" I mutter as the cylinder extends into the bow staff that Tiedoll gave to me.
"Wanton powers in this staff yield, penetrate that which would shield." I mutter again. With my spell complete I spin my staff and begin to lower my wall of flames. As my flames dissipate the young man and woman stand and we begin to jump around incoming bullets. With each Akuma that appeared in front of me, my anger grew and I used even more force and strength to destroy their heads. Finally, the numbers thinned to just one. The one that the demon was sitting on. I land on the ground with the woman while the young man manages to land an attack on the last Akuma. The demon opens his umbrella and begins to fly away.
"We will take our leave for now…but make no mistake, I'll be back." The demon calls out, at the demons parting words the young man hollers out.
"Earl!" At that name I do not hesitate I throw my hand up and aim for the demon.
"Oh yes, these exciting exercises have merely been a prelude, my boy… Akuma are continuing to evolve all over the globe...and the ground work is being laid for an end of the world spectacular. Behold! I am the Millenium Earl… The maker of Akuma… The one who will defeat your disgraced and powerless God…and destroy this pathetic world with my weapons. No matter how hard you Exorcists strive and struggle you will never be able to save yourselves…Never!" He cackles
"I call to thee, pure maidens fire. Through vortex flow the heavenly mire. Cleanse brackish aura of debris, from dark to light, sweep history!" The vortex of wind and fire flashes towards the Earl and manages to graze his coat. In that instance I can feel his eyes on me, before he fades from view.
"Earl" I whisper. "So that's him. Now I know who to look for." I grit my teeth and I clench my fists. As the white-haired man mutters. "We'll see, next time." Before he collapses to his knees. I stand back as the three others rush towards the man.
"Allen! Are you okay?" The young child asks.
"I'm alright, just tired is all." At his answer the boy jumps on the man while sobbing.
"John?" The young man says as the boy continues to sob and force out choked words of apology. I take a step back before I turn to the gate and grab my rucksack from the ground. I straighten and turn back towards the group I notice the three adults standing and looking at me. It's the young woman who approaches me first.
"My name is Lenalee. Can I ask who you are?" She holds out her hand. I reach out and grasp it and follow with one firm shake before replying.
"Tara Middleton." I look at the white haired man as he approaches.
"You were able to destroy some of those Akuma. Can I assume that you have innocence." I nod my head before informing them of my plans.
"I was found and trained by General Tiedoll. Once my training was complete he sent me to find the Black Order to become a full fledged Exorcist."
"General Tiedoll!?" The woman seems shocked. "We haven't heard from him in months, and he never mentioned a student."
"If you don't believe me I do have a referral letter for a man named Komui. The General sent it with me just in case." I dig through my rucksack for the letter.
"Oh I believe you! You don't need to prove anything."
"My master sent a referral letter too, I wonder why yours didn't just mail it like mine." The white-haired man jumped into the conversation. "Ah! My name is Allen Walker by the way." He holds his hand out and I can only stare at his face. It took a second before I reacted and reached out to shake his hand.
"Sorry, My General said it would be easier if I just carried it with me. He said Komui isn't really the most organized person." As I say that I can see a sweatdrop appear on Lenalee's face.
"Yeah, the General is right, my brother can barely keep his head on straight."
"Brother?" I ask as she chuckles and scratches the back of her head.
"Yeah, Komui is my older brother and the Chief of the Black Order HQ."
"I apologize for my words then. That was incredibly rude of me to say."
"Oh! No worries. Its all true." She smiles then walks past me to the gate. "Well shall we head out? I am sure my brother would love to meet you."
We walk the young boy named John home and rested for a few hours until dawn before beginning our walk to the Black Order Headquarters. Lenalee leads us through an underground passage that ended with an elevator that took us up into the actual building. We no sooner make it off the elevator before a tall man wearing a long white coat, glasses, and a matching hat rushes towards us with tears in his eyes. He promptly hugs Lenalee to his chest as he cries out.
"Lenalee! Where were you? Oh! How could you stay out all night without telling me?" The man proceeds to rub his face all over Lenalee as Allen walks to a man in the back and hands him the box that John sent. I can only assume that the man is John's father. Quick as a flash Allen activates his Innocence and holds it in front of his face as a yellow smoke bursts from the box. The smoke left almost everyone coughing with the exception of Lenalee's brother who was now laying on the floor at Lenalee's feet. I glance down at him as he looks up at me. We stare at each other for a moment before he leaps to his feet.
"And who are you? You should know we don't accept outsiders, I am afraid someone will have to push you off the cliff." The man says as he straightens his jacket. I can feel a sweat drop glide down my neck as I wordlessly hand the man the Generals letter. He takes it and opens the envelope before unfolding the paper and reading softly.
"Student…Tara…Exorcist…Take Care…" He finishes and looks at me. "You were trained by General Tiedoll?" He asks.
"Uh, yes sir. My family were killed by Akuma and after I myself was shot in the chest by an Akuma bullet, a piece of innocence fused with my body. It saved me from the poison and healed the wound. Afterwards General Tiedoll and another Exorcist killed the Akuma. That was four years ago. Since then I had been traveling with the General while he taught me everything he could. About a week ago he told me I was ready and sent me on my way here." I inform the man who simply nods before a terrifying smile spread across his face.
"So you're a parasite type huh? Those are extremely rare…and to think you're the second one in the last month." I take a step back at the sinister sound in his voice. I glance around and look for Lenalee only to find her missing. I glance back at Komui as he creeps closer to me.
"It's time…for a full physical!" The next hour was the most terrifying time of my life. I laid strapped to a metal table while Komui took blood and ran several tests. Once he deemed the physical done he then lead me to an elevator which descended into a dark pit. There I met the great Generals as well as Hevlaska. That gave me another heart attack as the whispy tentacles encircled my body. I stayed silent frozen in terror as one of the tentacles touched the middle of my chest.
"25…32…49…57…64…71…87…93…93% is the current synchro rate between you and your innocence. Tara…you are the savior of the damned, the one who will bring hope back to the land." Hevlaska says as she sets me back on the elevator. I stare up at her as she apologizes to me.
"I could feel your heart rate spike, I apologize for scaring you. I simply must touch an accommodator to fully grasp the synchro rate of the innocence."
"Ooooooooh! Savior of the damned? That sounds so cool!" Komui coos behind me as I turn to him with a glare on my face.
"A little warning would have been nice Komui!" I scold him sternly.
"Ah yeah, I always forget to tell new Exorcists. Anyway! We just have one more stop in the science section. Johnny has to take your measurements!" I cock my head at him in a questioning way.
"For your new uniform." I take a quick inhale before nodding. It doesn't take us long before we reach the science division and I am approached by a man with curly hair and really thick glasses. He holds a tape measure in his hand and a clip board under one arm.
"Before I start measuring you, are there any requests you have for your uniform?" He asks as he pulls the clipboard out.
"Requests? For my uniform? I get to decide what it looks like?" I ask
"Well yeah, you're the one who is going to be fighting in it. So what would you like."
"Um, tight pants and top with no sleeves. I would also like a traveling cloak if I could get one."
"What about shoes?" He asks as he scribbles on the paper.
"Boots are fine." I say.
"And you're a parasite type right? So you don't need a holster."
"Actually if I could have a utility belt with some pockets for supplies, that would be great." I add.
"Okay, I can do that! Now lets measure you." He smiles at me before unfurling the tape measure. It had been a while since anyone had really gotten this up close and personal with me. Johnny measured my bust line, my waist line, the length of my legs, and even the length from one shoulder to the adjacent hip before he was finished.
"Alright! I should have the uniform done in about a week. I think the boss is about to give you a tour so you better head on over to him." I turn and look at Komui who is talking to Lenalee. I walk over and the conversation cuts off abruptly.
"Ready for your tour Tara?" Komui asks as Lenalee leaves the room.
"Sure." I say as I follow him out the door. He leads me through the different floors showing me the training halls, the bathrooms, the medical center, and even the door to his private lab, he even cracked it for me, although he closed the door pretty quickly I was certain I saw a long white pillar of some kind in there. Once he was done with the lower halls he lead us back up stairs to the dormitories. He walked me to a door and handed me a key.
"This is your room. The one to the left of yours is Allens and the one to the Right belongs to Lenalee." He says as I unlock the door and find my rucksack laying on the bed. There was a painting above the bed that had a pond that was covered in Lotus blossoms with a blossoming wisteria tree standing proud behind the pond. I smile faintly as the painting reminds me of my home.
"Now if you will follow me, I will show you to the dinning hall. Komui says as he turns and begins walking down the hall. I quickly follow, taking a second to close the door and lock it. It takes us 4 minutes to get to the hall that I assume led to the dining hall based on the smells of food in the air. We end up meeting up with Allen and Lenalee who look like they are heading to get something to eat. I am overwhelmed by the amount of people sitting at tables and the amazing smell of food.
Allen leads the way to a counter where there is line of people waiting. He turns to me with a smile.
"Once you get to the window tell Jerry whatever it is you want and he will make it for you. No matter what." Allen says as a dreamy look takes over his face.
"Anything?" I ask.
"Anything." He answers. It isn't long before Allen gets to the window and orders enough food for twenty people. I smile as I feel a satisfied feeling of familiarity. Once Allen finishes he stands aside as I get to the window and see a man wearing sunglasses with purple dreads.
"Well hello cutie pie! My name is Jerry. What can I get for you?" He asks in a flamboyant way. I glance at Allen and he nods encouragingly at me with a knowing smile on his face.
"Can I get a large Italian pizza, one order of loaded Nachos, twelve orders of Mitarashi Dango, two orders of Pork belly ramen, 5 Japanese breakfast fish, 3 large helpings of Greek salad, and 5 slices of chocolate cake? Can I also get 3 grilled steaks with a large side of steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes." Jerry's smile nearly doubles in size.
"Oh! Your another special little cutie aren't you!? Coming right up Honey!" Jerry says as he gets started on making the food.
"Lets go sit down, Jerry will bring our food out to us since there large orders." Allen says as he leads the way to a table. I glance over my shoulder and see a different chef taking orders now. By the time I finish my food, the dining hall is starting to empty.
"You know Allen…I think I am really gonna like it here." I say with a smile on my face, I glance at Allen who is wearing a similar smile.
"Me too, Tara." He replies
A/N: Let me know if there is something wrong with this chapter!