Chapter 5: The Aria of the Land & the Clear Skies 1
In the early hours of the morning at the Black Order Headquarters, a blindfolded Kanda is in the forest that surrounds the building to practice his swordsmanship. As Allen is doing his workout routine in his room by balancing on the top rail of the chair with only his right thumb while doing pushups.
"298… 299… 300…!" Allen mumbles counting when the sunlight blind Allen. "The sun has risen."
In Alice's room
Alice gets up and goes over to her desk. On the desk is her bracelet, Silver. She grabs Silver and starts to wear it on her right wrist. Then, there is a knock on the door.
"Alice!" Allen's voice calls. "You up!?"
"Yeah!" Alice answers and puts Silver on before opening the door. "Let's go." She says to Allen and they go to the cafeteria and there they see the head chef, Jerry serving breakfast.
"Here's the B-set!" Jerry says. "What's next?"
Allen peeks his head out and Jerry spots him.
"Hm!? A new recruit?" The chef asks when Alice moves beside Allen and Jerry is looking at them both with sparkles. "Wow, and two pretty kids!"
"Nice to meet you…" Allen and Alice greet.
"What do you want to eat? I can make everything!" Jerry exclaims cheerfully
"Allen, you go first." Alice tells Allen which he put his finger on his face and thinks of what he wants.
"Okay then, I'll get… lasagna, potatoes, dry curry, ma-po tofu, beef stew, a meat pie, calpaccho, nishigoren, chicken, potato salad, corn, a luppa, tomyank and rice. For dessert, I want mango pudding and 20 mitarashi dangos." Allen tells Jerry.
"You can eat all that!?" Jerry asks stun.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Someone shouts making Allen and Alice turn around to see the commotion. "YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN!?"
"STOP IT, BUZZ!" Someone tells 'Buzz'.
"Be quiet!" Kanda's voice demands seeing him at a table. "My meal taste bad when you're talking about dead people."
"IS THAT HOW YOU SHOW RESPECT FOR YOUR COMRADES!?" Buzz shouts. "We, the Finders, support you with our lives... and you… you…" He pulls his arm back, ready to punch Kanda. "AND YOU'RE SAYING YOUR MEAL TASTES BAD–!" Buzz goes for the hit, but Kanda dodges it and then grabs Buzz's neck. "UGH!"
"'Support us'?" Kanda repeats. "All you can so is 'support' us, you guys are the ones who weren't chosen to carry the Innocence." He tightens his grip.
"GAH…" Buzz starts to drool.
"If you don't want to die, run away, your insignificant life can be replaced right away."
Allen then walks over and grips Kanda's wrist. "Stop it." He tells him. "I'm sorry to interrupt you when I don't have anything to do with this, but I don't think this is a good way of resolving things."
Kanda looks at Allen. "…Back off, Beansprout."
'Beanspr…' Allen thought annoyed. "I'm Allen!" he corrects.
"Heh, if you don't die within a month, I'll remember your name." Kanda smirks. "There are many that die here, like this guy."
Allen's grip on Kanda's wrist tightens and Kanda releases Buzz's neck. Buzz fell to the floor. "As I said, that's not a good thing to say." Allen states which Kanda glares at him.
"You're gonna die soon… I hate your type."
"Well, thank you." Allen answers.
"Head Chef…" Alice calls and Jerry looks at her.
"Yes?"
"I'll get a melon-pan and green tea." Alice said.
"Yes..."
Alice then walks over to them. "Allen." She calls.
"What?" Allen said glaring at Kanda.
"You shouldn't fight." Alice looks at Kanda, who is glaring at Allen. "Kanda, you shouldn't either."
Then Lenalee and Reever appear around the cafeteria while carrying some things in their arms. Then they peek at what was the commotion about, seeing Allen, Alice, and Kanda centering around the commotion.
"Oh, there they are!" Reever says and walks over to them. "Kanda! Allen! Alice!" He calls. "Eat your food in 10 minutes and come to the Supervisor's office. You've got a mission!"
Allen, Alice, and Kanda resume back to eating breakfast.
~10 minutes later~
In Supervisor Komui Lee's office
In Komui's office, his desk is messy with papers and the floor is too. Kanda, Allen, and Alice go to the Supervisor's office as they were told with Lenalee standing next to them.Reever walks over to to the sleeping Komui to wake him up.
"Supervisor." Reever says while shaking Komui. "Supervisor Komui!"
"Nnnnn…" Komui groans.
Reever then whacks his head but no reaction. He then leans down to the supervisor's ear and whispers, "Lenalee's gonna marry someone~"
"LENALEE~~!" Komui cries and hugs his precious sister desperately not letting go. "HOW CAN YOU GET MARRIED WITHOUT TELLING YOUR OWN BROTHER!?"
Kanda, Allen, Alice, and Lenalee are speechless at how Komui is acting. Reever sees their expressions.
"Sorry about that," He apologizes. "It's the only way to wake him up."
After Komui calms down, Reever left and Allen, Alice, and Kanda are sitting on the couch in front of Komui's desk. Lenalee passes out the information about the mission.
"Err, sorry about that, I didn't go to sleep until daybreak, so– hahaha–" Komui says.
"Umm, neither did I." Reever says.
"All right, we don't have much time, so after hearing the summary, move out. If you want more detailed info, just read this while you head to your destination." Lenalee's brother explains causing both Allen and Kanda look at each other stun. "You three will go as a group." Komui tells them which Allen and Kanda look at him. "Err, what? You already aren't getting along? But no excuses!" Komui pulls down the world map. "We've found Innocence in Southern Italy, but it may get taken by an Akuma. Your job is to destroy the enemy and secure the Innocence."
Underground water path
Allen and Alice get their uniform (Allen wears a long coat over his clothes and white gloves. Alice wears a short coat with shorts and a half skirt over it).
"It's a bit big." Allen says. "Do I have to wear this?"
"It's proof that you're an Exorcist." Komui answers. "Don't worry, it's made for battle." Allen looks at his left-handed glove which the older man sees this. "And I tuned your glove a bit." Allen's left sleeve starts to move and Timcanpy pops out.
"Timcanpy!" Allen calls surprised. "Where the heck were you all this time?"
Alice and Kanda got into the gondola and Allen follows them on. A finder starts to row.
"Timcanpy has the ability to project the past of someone he's been with. I got to see your adventures with him. That's why I didn't sleep-" Komui shouts.
The gondola is now farther away.
"Later!" Komui said. Allen sees Komui held his thumb up and smiles.
"I'll be back!" Allen shouts and they head towards their destination.
~Later~
It is seen that the three Exorcist and a Finder are running towards somewhere as Allen reads the booklet that holds his mission specification. The contents tell of Mater, an abandoned town in Italy, and the "ghost" that resides in it.
"Umm." Allen asks while reading. "THERE'S ONE OTHER THING I DON'T UNDERSTAND."
"JUST WORRY ABOUT THE TRAIN FOR NOW!" Kanda shouts. Allen, Kanda, Alice, and their Finder, Toma jump and land on a platform. They saw the train coming.
"Please hurry, the train has come." Toma shouts.
"WHA–T!? WE'RE GOING ON THAT?" Allen asks stun.
The four of them jump and land on top of the train.
"Illegally boarding a train…" Alice states.
"We've always done it this way." Toma tells her.
Inside the train
Toma, Kanda, Allen, and Alice go into the train that they landed on.
"Excuse me, passengers!" The worker says. "This is the 1st Class train, and normal citizens are supposed to be in the 2nd Class train… and you guys just came in from there…"
"We're the Black Priest, please get a room ready." Toma instructs.
"The Black…!?" He sees the Rose Cross. "Y-yes sir!" He bows and goes to get a room ready.
"What was that?" Alice asks.
"The Rose Cross that you carry on your shoulder is the symbol of the Vatican, and it allows you to enter any place you desire."
"Hmm…" Alice says looking at the Rose Cross.
"By the way," Toma says. "I will be supporting you until we reach Martel. The name's Toma, I'm one of the Fimders. Nice to meet you." He greets.
In one of the 1st class rooms
Allen and Kanda sit on opposite seats. Alice sits next to Allen and Toma stands outside. Allen takes out the booklet he was reading earlier.
"All right," Allen says and Kanda looks at him. "The question I was wondering about earlier… what does this eerie legend have to do with Innocence?"
Kanda looks at Allen with eyes saying: Too lazy to explain. "Che. An Innocence is…"
'He just 'che'ed me!' Allen thought annoyed as Kanda looks out and explains.
"A substance that has changed over the years, from the time of Noah to the Present. In the beginning, it was sunk at the bottom of the sea, but... as if the power of the stone lured is to it, we discovered it. But its appearance changes every time, and it could appear out of nowhere in any form. The stone always causes eerie illusions. For some reason…"
"So that means the 'Ghost of Martel' might have something to do with Innocence?" Alice says.
"Yeah." Kanda answers and both he and Alice take out their booklets too and flip to the page where Allen is on. "'In an eerie place, there lies Innocence. '" Kanda recites. "That's why the church investigates these kinds of places, and whenever they feel that there's a high possibility of an Innocence being there, they send us in."
'Eerie…' Allen thought. He looks at his left hand. 'Just being there, it lures in many things due to its energy. If they find a body, could it be into an Anti-Akuma Weapon… a weird stone… if the existence of an Innocence is what's causing strange things to happen, then… what the hell is the Ghost of Martel…?' Allen's, Kanda's, and Alice's eyes widen.
"That's right." Toma speaks through the door, also hearing the conversation. "I too was part of the investigation, so I have seen it before. The Ghost of Martel is…"
In the Land of Martel; In a stone building
The two mysterious figures, one shadowed adult and the other a child, who are hiding from the Level Two Akuma that is steadily getting closer to where they are.
Wherever the Level Two Akuma is
"Where are you~? Ghost of Marte~~l." It says. "Oh my, this place is like a maze. And it's so small! But then, it's like a treasure hunt, so it's fun! Ghooost I'll definitely find you."
Wherever the two mysterious figures and the Finders are
"Damn… there aren't any other places to run." Finder B says.
"At this rate, we'll be caught soon…" Finder C says.
"Lala, run…"The shadowed adult says.
"No, I'm all right Guzol. I'll stay with you." The child says. "You're the only person that'll accept me, Guzol."
The door opens and there was a face. The face belongs to the Level Two Akuma.
"Found ya!" It says.
Outside of Matel
Allen, Alice, Kanda, and Toma have just arrived. They are now hurrying towards the city.
"The ghost of Martel is only a doll…" Allen says.
