Chapter 18: Signs and News of Cross Marian

It's been four days since Allen, Lavi, Krory, and Alice regroups with Lenalee, Bookman and Timcanpy. As the group of Exorcists walk through the streets of China, searching General Cross, Allen's Cursed Eye activates.

'Six of them.' Allen thought as he activates Cross. "Lavi, Alice, please duck."

"Eh?" Lavi says as he looks at Allen and Alice moves away from them. Lavi's eyes widen when he sees Cross Beta in front of his face, ready to shoot. He quickly ducks the shot. "WHAAA!?"

The attack hits an Akuma and Allen continues to destroy them one after another while counting down how many are left. Once he says 'one', the final Akuma appears behind him.

"HIBAN!" Lavi shouts as he destroys the last Akuma.

Once everything calms down, Lavi exhales a deep breath. "Phew." Allen looks behind his shoulder and smiles. "THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD WITH THIS. YOU'RE SCARY!" Lavi yells to Allen. "YOU'RE FREAKIN' SCARIER THAT THE AKUMA!"

"Eh? What's wrong, Lavi?" Allen asks, confuse as to what Lavi is talking about.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHOOT WITHOUT WARNING!" Lavi shouts angrily.

"WELL, I COULDN'T HELP IT! I WANTED TO KEEP THE DAMAGE DOWN, EVEN JUST A LITTLE!" Allen shouts back.

Off to the side, Krory and Bookman are drinking tea from a nearby tea stand. Allen and Lavi continue to argue and Alice notices something is seen falling from the sky, heading towards to the bickering couple and Alice.

"Allen. Lavi." Alice calls.

"WHAT!?" The two Exorcists yell.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Someone shouts from afar and the two quickly move. The two groans when the impact hit them a bit. Lavi and Allen see who came crashing from the sky and were a bit intimidated by who it was.

"I'm back," Lenalee says with a cat clinging on her arm. When Lavi and Allen don't answers and Alice stares at Lenalee with wide-eyes, she looks at them in confusion. "What are you three doing?"

"Welcome back, Miss Lenalee." Bookman says as he steps on Lavi's head. "How did it go?"

"Good! I caught it!" Lenalee responds as she peels the cat from her arm and shows it to Bookman with a wide smile. "Here! It hasn't even been eaten yet!"

In the cat's mouth is Timcanpy and it spits the golden golem out, then quickly leaves once release.

Ah- isn't that great, Tim?" Allen asks as Timcanpy flies to Allen and rests on top of his head.

"Without this little dude, we don't have a clue about which way we should be going..." Lavi says. "But, he's been well chewed..."

Alice looks at Timcanpy that is resting on Allen's head. "Timcanpy, you be a little more careful too!" She scolds at Timcanpy.

Timcanpy didn't answers, he stays silence on Allen's head.

"Even so," Krory says. "How long is it going to take us to arrive at General Cross' location? We've been in mainland China for four days already. We went the way Tim directed up to go, but there's no sign or clue in sight." Then panic appears on Krory's face. "Could it be... that the General has already been killed...?"

"That guy doesn't die even if you kill him, you know." Allen assures.

"It's strange you can say that, Allen." Lavi says.

"But in a country this far to the east... I wonder what mission has led the General Cross all the way out here." Lenalee wonders.

Alice nods in agreement to Lenalee's statement, but then notices something odd. Her eyes move toward Allen's left arm which seems to be trembling.

"Allen," Alice calls as she grabs Allen's arm. "Let me see your arm."

She pulls Allen's sleeve back, revealing his arm. Some pieces from the arm crumble off, surprising everyone.

"WHA!?" Lavi shouts. "HIS... HIS ARM IS CRUMBLING!? HEY!?"

"It... it's fine. It's not an injury, right?" Allen says quickly, trying to assure the three. "Look! It's just because we've been fighting Akuma continuously as of late... I say it's just that the weapon is a little tired..."

"I ain't ever heard of a weapon gettin' tired..." Lavi states, suspicious of Allen.

"Wonder why... maybe it's because it's a parasitic-type?"

"You're just saying that, aren't you..."

"It's true that ever since your left eye healed you've been fighting twice as much as us..." Bookman points out.

"I had a thought so before, but..." Alice says quietly for only Allen to hear. He looks at her. "Your left arm... is a bit fragile..."

Allen is surprised to hear that and Alice lowers her head a bit. He waits for her to say more, but she doesn't. "Alice?" He calls.

"Made her cry!" Lavi shouts.

"You made her cry." Bookman adds.

"You have brought her to tears." Krory joins.

"E–H!" Allen says in shock.

As for Lenalee, also hangs her head and closes her eyes before she thinks back to her nightmare she had at the station with Bookman while waiting for Allen, Alice, Lavi, and Krory. In her dream, she saw a black sea, ruins of a building, and a body floating on the black sea. It pains her to think about, but she can't help it. She then shakes her head and suggests, "Anyways, let's continue to search for General Cross."

"That may be the best choice we have." Bookman agrees.

"Hey, Alice." Allen calls. "Let's find the Master, okay?"

Alice nods and the Exorcists split up to get the information where General Cross is. After splitting up, Allen comes across a man - who sells manju - who says that he's seen Cross around. Allen buys a manju and shows the shopkeeper a nicely drawn picture of Cross.

"Ah~~ I know that guy! A red-haired foreigner wearing a strange mask, right?" The manju seller says in Chinese.

"Muhn!?" Allen says in English.

"If you buy another 10 manju I'll tell you everything~~" The Manju seller adds in Chinese. Allen quickly finishes his manju.

"Wa... wait! Chinese makes no sense..." Allen exclaims in English. "Le... LENALEE! SEEMS LIKE THIS GUY KNOWS SOMETHING!"

~Later~

Using the manju seller's directions, Lenalee leads the group after listening to his information. On the way to where the direction lead, Lenalee tells everyone what she heard from the manju seller.

"The mistress of a brothel?" Lavi says as the group finally at the destination.

"The owner of that manju shop says that General Cross is the new lover of that mistress!" Lenalee says.

"Somehow that's a typical rumor of the Master..." Allen mumbles.

"But this is flashy-" Lavi begins.

"They say that this is the number one brothel in the port." Lenalee adds.

"Finally, we've found General Cross... It took so long..." Lavi says to Krory.

"And we traveled far..." Krory adds.

"I thought we never find him." Lenalee says.

'Damn, we found him...' Allen thought gloomily.

"Let's go in." Alice says and begins walking toward the entrance with everyone follows after her.

"Hold it right there!" A woman says in Chinese as she appears at the door. They stops and their eyes widen at the sight of a burly woman. "We don't left first-timers or brats in here." She adds as she cracks her knuckles threateningly.

'He's... he's huge...!' Allen thought.

'Eh!? No way he has boobs!?' Lavi says.

"We... we're sorry. I don't understand what's going on, but... sorry!" Allen quickly speaks in English and he holds his hands up as a way of saying he's no threat.

"NO WAY! HE'S A SHE!?" Levi exclaims in English.

The burly woman picks up both Lavi and Allen with her hands.

"WHA–, LENALEE!" Both Allen and Lavi screams in terror.

"Let go of my friends! We're not costumers!" Lenalee says in Chinese.

"Please go around to the back door." The burly woman whispers in English to the two Exorcists in her hands.

'English...!' Allen thought in surprise.

"Because you can't got through to the Mistress' room from here." The woman adds and sticks her tongue out, showing a tattoo cross. "We are supporters of the Church."

Everyone follows what the woman tells them to do, going around the back and entered the brothel. Inside, the burly woman meets them inside and leads them to the Mistress' room.

"Welcome, Exorcists." The Mistress says with a smile. "I am Anita, the owner of this shop. How do you do?"

Everyone blushes at Anita's beauty comments her beauty and Lavi goes into one of his STRIKE phase.

"My apologies for being so blunt, but Master Cross is no longer here." Anita says.

"EH?" Everyone says in disbelief.

"Eight days ago," Anita begins. "He left to go on a journey. And..."

~The next day~
In Anita's shop

"Uh-huh... As soon as the ship is prepared, we'll leave on the morning after." Lenalee says through the phone. "We probably won't be able to get a signal through to Headquarters from here on out. Besides, it's an island country out there, so I'll contact you when we return. Thank goodness there was a telephone in Anita's shop."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to the Supervisor?" Reever asks.

"I'm sure. If you hand him the phone, then what was the point of calling you instead?"

"Well, you always do seem to know when the Supervisor is taking a nap, are you psychic?"

"Hehe... I just know." Lenalee says. "... Many died. Is everyone being overworked? Are they getting enough rest?" She asks.

"We're doing fine, just fine. We geeks have more guts than you think. Just make sure that you and your unit come back safe and sound..." Reever says.

On Lenalee's side of the phone, she cries silently.

On the boat

General Cross' pupils are looking out over the ocean. Allen has gotten up on the yard and places a hand on the main topmast to keep him steady. Alice joins him and is sitting on the yard. Timcanpy flies near Allen's head.

"Timcanpy, the Master is beyond this ocean?" Allen asks and Timcanpy nods. Allen smiles.

"Allen." Alice calls and he faces her.

"Although, I didn't want to go to that country if I could help it..." Allen says. "Stupid Master... if you've died, I'll hate you for it."

"I really believe that the Master didn't die, but I, too would hate you of you've died." Alice adds as the wind blows.


"Just now..." Lenalee speaks. "What...?"

"The ship that left with Master Cross on a journey eight days ago," Anita repeats. "Has been sunk at sea."

"Where is the proof?" Bookman asks.

"We sent aid to other ships from which we received S.O.S signals. But neither ships nor man could be found." Anita explains. "There were eerie remains of the ships, and a sea of poison spread from it."

"Where was the Master headed?" Allen asks.

"Where was the sunken ship headed?" Alice adds getting Anita and their fellow Exorcists look at the two in surprise.

"Our Master wouldn't have drown so easily." Allen says and Alice nods once.

Tears come to Anita's eyes and they stream down her beautiful face. "...You think so?" She asks with relief as if both Allen's and Alice's words give her hope that General Cross is alive. She then delicately wipes her tears away and faces the burly woman, who's been standing at the door. "Mahoja, prepare my ship." Anita rises from her seat and she brings her hands together, making her sleeves look connected (because her sleeves are longer than her hands.) She closes her eyes and lowers her head slightly. "Since my mother's generation, we have been supporters of the Church, providing aid from the shadows. If you will pursue Master Cross, we are at your service." Anita says and opens her eyes. "Our destination is Japan. Edo."


Allen sits down on the ward. His head leans against the main topmast and Alice's head rests on his shoulder. She falls asleep while listening to the ocean's waves. Suddenly, Allen's Cursed Eye activates as Alice wakes up from sensing Akuma.

'Akuma!?' Allen thought.

'Still far away. From where though...' Alice thought and they continue to search. Their eyes widen when they finally finds it.

"EVERYONE! AKUMA ARE COMING!" Allen shouts.

From far away, a swarm of Akuma heads toward them.