Edit: Sorry, I hadn't realized it came out as a code of gibberish. Here's the real chapter 2. Also, fyi, ya boi isn't using Japanese honorifics because...well, I'm American. Relatively.
Yo. Four years too little, too late, and I'm not gonna lie, I did write that first one on a whim. If anyone out here is reading this, just know, this is finally updated. Also, no lie, some things are probably gonna be out of chronological order, but I'm gonna try my best. Especially considering how I'll have to rewatch, not one, but TWO animes. Hennyways, hope I still got this.
Young Lavi was shocked, as a barrage of needles sped towards him at incredible speeds. He shut his eyes as he braced for impact, however it never came as it encapsulated him in a 360 degree sphere. In the sphere, there was complete darkness.
'W-what's going on?'
Ratatatatat!
He felt the erected wall rumble, and though he was only in the fifth grade, he felt that using needles was not the sturdiest of materials to make a wall. Yet, despite this notion, the needles held surprisingly well.
"Hey brat!" the muffled voice of Bookman breached into the barrier, "Can you hear me? You'll be alright in there, but don't touch the needles! You may be an accommodator, but you're still a devil and you can still get hurt pretty badly!"
"B-Bookman?!" Lavi's muffled voice replied, nervousness in his tone.
Bookman knew that being an accommodator was no easy thing to burden as a devil. No matter what age you were, the moment you wielded innocence, you were outcasted by society. However, discovering that you are an accommodator at such a young age, and being casted out at such a young age...well, it would not have done well for a child's psychological needs. That was why he decided to trail him; to keep an eye on him and make sure everything was alright. It angered him to see how easy it was for children to isolate their peers.
'Society never changes,' the older man thought somberly.
"No matter. I will deal with you, and we will leave," he spoke softly at the gigantic demonized balloon, as his eyes narrowed. The akuma kept its onslaught of bullets strong against the barrier protecting the young boy, and over time, he saw that his barrier was beginning to fall apart.
"Lavi!," he called out, "Your hammer! Where is it?"
"O-On the ground, here with me!" Lavi shouted back.
"You'll have to use it! Do you understand?! My barrier won't hold for long! I'll distract it, and you'll conjure your Innocence and attack it!"
"I-I don't know how! When that thing...popped up out of dad, the handle grew super hot and it hurt to hold it!"
"Don't be afraid of it, boy! Feel its warmth and accept it! Let it fill you up and become one with it!"
As the barrier continued to fall apart, Lavi saw streaks of purple light breach the cracks of the barrier. The muzzle flash of the shots continued to highlight the horrifying caricature of a clown, and as he stared into the soulless eyes of the akuma, both fear welled inside of him. The thought of knowing that was his father and a monster conflicted his reasoning in retaliating at it.
'That monster...that's my father,' he thought, as he gazed at the fallen hammer, and he bent down to pick it up. His fingers brushed the handle and warmth began to fill his fingers. Slowly, he grasped the hammer, as warmth and determination spread throughout his tiny body.
As the rest of the barrier continued to break apart, it exposed more and more of Lavi to the dangers of the Akuma's bullets. Eventually, Bookman could see Lavi's top half, and a smile graced his face, as he saw the young Lavi grip his hammer confidently, determination glinting in his eyes.
"Are you ready, brat?!" Bookman yelled, "My barrier's coming down!"
"Yeah, gramps! I gotcha!"
A tick mark appeared on the elderly man's head for a split second before unrolling a scroll.
"Here goes!"
A bright light erupted in the form of a compass, and Bookman shouted, "Heavenly Compass! Compass of Spells! North Crime!"
A barrage of needles punctured the distracted akuma, and upon being hit, it redirected its attention to its new target.
Click-click!
The many barrels protruding the spherical body now aimed at the panda-eyed man.
"Go boy! You'll know what to do!"
Lavi stared in awe at the magical prowess of the needles, as they embedded themselves into the floating target.
"Okay, here I go!" Lavi shouted twirling the hammer, seemingly out of instinct, "Innocence activate! Little hammer, big hammer, grow grow grow!"
As he chanted, the hammer began to grow in size, and within the next couple of seconds, the hammer was now at least twice the length of his little body.
"Hraaaaaa!"
With a shout, he swung his hammer with as much force as he could muster, and the mallet smashed into random assortments of furniture in the room before striking the distracted akuma. As he pulled through with his swing, the Akuma depressed into the striking point, and it seemingly popped in a loud explosion.
"It's…, "Lavi panted heavily, flopping onto the floor, as the hammer shrank back to its original size, "It's over…"
"You did good, brat," Bookman said as we walked up to the tired boy, "This life that you will now live will not be an easy one. And this will be the first of many that you will encounter along the way. However, with what happened to your father, have and will happen to many others. Come along, I will take you in."
"My...father...he's not the only one that will become like this?"
"Unfortunately, no. There will be many others. Many others who have lost their loved ones have fallen into their grief, and many others who will will lose themselves to the grief of their loved ones. So long as the Earl has people's grief to take advantage of, this may never stop."
"The Earl…? Who's that?"
"A truly evil being, indeed. We're not sure if he is a human, devil, angel, or what-have-you, but he is a sickening thing who encounters those who are so grief-stricken with the loss of a loved one. He offers those a chance to bring them back, but little do they know, he forces the ones that were called back to kill their summoner, and instead take their place in their flesh."
"So...he did that to my father…? My father was hurting so much, he was looking for any way to bring my mother back?!"
"Unfortunately so…" Bookman solemnly replied.
Lavi felt heavily saddened at the fact. After all, he had lost his mother, and now he had lost his father as well. His overbearing grief had turned him into this, apparently. It was a sickening thought, knowing that people would turn into...that, because they lost their loved ones.
A long silence ensued, allowing Lavi to soak into his thoughts.
"A historian doesn't have to just record the present world for the world's future," Bookman said, interrupting the silence. Lavi's eyes jolted upwards to meet his.
"A historian can also record the present for themselves. For the people around them. So that, in the future, people can look back and see what it was that you did. What he did. What she did. These nameless people here, like your father, your mother, your classmates, that random person on the street; you can record their present so that if anyone ever finds your recordings, they'll know that whoever it was you're recording, they'll know these people were alive. And they won't be nameless."
"I...I want to be a historian! I'll do it!" Determination filled in his voice, Lavi pumped his fist, "So that everyone will know what happened today, and everyone will know that these monsters exist!"
Bookman smiled, "Come along then, brat."
"You got it panda!"
Thonk!
"Ow!"
"Don't call me that!"
It had been a while since he came back to Hell, but he had never stepped into royal houses like these before. He stepped off the magic circle that teleported the two here, and he was met with a gigantic room. An office, most likely, as he saw a desk, centered to one side of the room, piled high with paper work, a coffee table and two sofas at the center of the room, and shelves filled to the brim with books.
"Woah….," Lavi's eyes gleamed, as he saw the different books on the shelves.
Ah, yes. Books. Perhaps one of his great weaknesses.
"I really wanna read all of these!"
"Ah, never have I ever seen a youth become so enamored by books," a voice spoke from the doorway.
Lavi turned his head to face the voice, and what he saw shocked him.
There, leaning against the doorway, was a relatively young man, with long, shoulder-length crimson red hair. His cerulean eyes, though exhibiting mirth, had a glint of authoritativeness to them. He was wearing a rather regal white suit, adorned with navy blue shoulder pads, and accessorized with gold buttons and chains.
Lavi's only gaped, as he pointed weakly, "G-General...Cross…?"
Thonk!
"Mind your manners, brat!" Bookman yelled, as he delivered a swift strike to Lavi's own mass of red hair, "Sorry about that, Lord Sirzechs. My apprentice, Lavi, it seems, still has much to learn."
Bookman bowed, and Sirzechs let out a hefty laugh, "Hello Lavi! It certainly has been a while, Bookman! But there's no need for formalities here. I've known you for how long now?"
Sirzechs entered the office, and offered them a seat by the coffee table, in which both historians sat down gratefully.
"Certainly a while," Bookman sharply turned his head and glared at his apprentice, "but still! Know your manners, boy!"
"Ah, sorry, sorry," Lavi brushed off his glare with the wave of a hand, before focusing his attention to the crimson-haired man in front of him, "I thought you were someone else from the Order for a split second. Sorry about that."
Likewise, Sirzechs waved off his apology, "General Cross? Ah yes, we do get mistaken as relatives sometimes. How is he? I heard he disappeared off to...somewhere. And his apprentice, I heard he was an angel?"
"Yes, Allen Walker," Bookman spoke up, "the one who will complete the prophecy. It looks like the Noah are stepping up their game. Many more akumas seem to be popping up."
Sirzechs' face became serious, "Actually, that was why I called for you. There have been many disappearances in the town we have jurisdiction over, in Kuoh. I was wondering if you can recon there for me. You know, record the going-ons there, and send a transcript to me. The Order, actually has asked for the same thing, so it'll be killing two birds with one stone. No, wait…," Sirzechs suddenly entered a happy daydream-like state, "you'll be killing THREE birds with one stone! You can also send me recordings of my dear sisterrr~~~-YEOWCH!"
Sirzechs' mood was interrupted by a rather mean looking pinch in the cheek.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Lord Sirzechs," a rather cold and monotonous voice said from behind the crimson haired man. Lavi looked behind the culprit of the pinch, and he saw a beautiful maid, with silver hair, and just as silver eyes. Lavi stared wide eyed, his mind going, "STRIIIIIIIIKE!", as he took in the beauty through his retinals.
However, Lavi shuddered, as he kept switching between her pinching hand and the maid before him.
'That pinch is so terrifying, it looks like she could rip his face off,' he thought, as his un-eyepatched eye twitched.
"Gwayfiaaaaa ouch, stop that hurts!"
Bookman can only look at the situation with amusement.
"Hello Miss Grayfia, a pleasure to see you again. This is my apprentice, Lavi," Bookman bowed as he stood up.
Lavi snapped himself out of his stupor and he bowed as well.
"Mr. Bookman, a pleasure seeing you again," she bowed in return and shifted her gaze to Lavi, "And seeing as though Lord Sirzechs can't give me a proper introduction, my name is Grayfia Lucifuge. I am Lord Sirzechs' maid and wife."
Lavi sweatdropped, seeing that, despite her formal introduction, not once had she released Sirzechs' cheek, "A...a pleasure…"
"Let's go, brat," Bookman said, and they began to walk towards the exit.
"Wait, allow me," Grayfia's voice caught their attention, and she formed a magic circle on the ground. Lavi and Bookman stepped into the circle, and Grayfia continued, "This will take you to your apartment in Kuoh. Sirzechs has already made preparations for both of you. Lavi, you will be attending school in the campus nearby (To which Lavi replied, "Ehhhhhhhh?!"), and Mr. Bookman, you will be teaching on campus. That is all. And please, keep an eye on Lord Sirzechs' sister," she finished as the circle began to glow.
"Wait," Lavi began, "Who's Lord Sirzech's sist-"
The circle teleported them away.
"Lord Sirzechs…you didn't tell them who your sister was?!"
Sirzechs was rubbing his swollen purple cheek, "Ehhh, shouldn't they have known already? I mean, they're historians, and I've worked with Bookman before."
"Still, you shouldn't assume anything!"
"Yeowch! I'm sorry Gwayfia! Please stoooooooop! It hurts! OH SHIT IT HURTS!"
"So this is our apartment, huh?" Lavi looked around, the red glow of the magic circle illuminated the dark living room.
"They already provided us with furniture," he pointed out, as he saw two sofas lined against the walls and a TV facing one of the two sofas. He also noted that the kitchen has multiple pots and pans already hanging by the wall for use.
"Yes, it seems they have," Bookman replied, as he too looked around, seeing a single hallway that had four doors. He deduced that two of those were a room, one was a bathroom, and the other was a closet.
Lavi walked over to a couch and flopped onto it, "Hey wait do you know who Sirzechs' sister is?"
"Hmm, can't say that I do. I've worked with Sirzechs many times in the past, but that was long ago. Plus, I never really dove into his family life. I mostly recorded work for him."
"I see…," Lavi contemplated, "It shouldn't be too hard to find her. I mean, she most likely has the same hair as him."
"Very true. Anyways, go choose a room, and go to sleep. You'll be attending school tomorrow," Bookman said, entering the dark hallway. The sound of a door closing resonated into the living room.
"School, huh…" Lavi stared into the dark ceiling before realization struck.
"Wait, AGAIN?!"
"Eurggghh," Lavi groaned, as he slumped into his seat. Class was so boring! History? A breeze! Math? A breeze! English? Even more of a breeze! French? Though he wondered why that class was included in a Japanese learning system, still a breeze! He didn't need to learn or relearn this. He was multilingual for crying out loud. He could fluently speak four different languages, AND he was on his way to learning a fifth one. Math? He was there when Stephen Hawking was coming up with the math for general relativity, AND he was there when Newton and Liebnitz duked it over who invented Calculus...no he wasn't. But Bookman was there, and Bookman forced him to learn about the history and the mathematics, so he can damn near take credit for being there.
"Only one more to go…," He muttered.
"Ara ara," a melodic voice came from behind him, "So you're our new student?"
As Lavi turned around to see who got his attention, his eyes fractionally bulged. In front of him was, what he considered, one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on. Her figure was just absolutely breath-taking, with...ahem, gigantic assets, and her long black hair tied into a ponytail that reached her legs.
'S-STRIIIIIKEEEEEEEE!'
"Y-yeah, that's me, ahah…" He rubbed the back of his head, closing his singular visible eye.
By now, he could feel the terrifying gaze of some of the males in the classroom. No, scratch that. That might be all of the males in the classroom.
"Ah, but where are my manners? I'm Akeno Himejima, ufufu…"
"Err...Lavi...Lavi Deak…" he replied, unsurely.
Riiiiiiing!
"Ara, that was the bell. I should be getting to my next class. Hopefully, I'll see you around, ufufu." She giggled into her hand before exiting the class.
Lavi exhaled a breath he did not know he was holding. Saved by the bell, at least.
'Alright, so who's my next teacher?'
That answer, was soon to be answered.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Lavi exclaimed, as he saw the panda-eyed historian sitting cross legged on the ground with his eyes closed. Students walked around him, and they stared at his outburst, before sitting down. Though, they were also staring at the fact that their teacher was...meditating before class as well.
"No, I am not kidding you," Bookman replied, slowly opening his eyes before standing up, "Get to your seat, I'm starting class."
"Geh, I've already been through this," Lavi mumbled, picking a window seat and slumping into it, not noticing the familiar flock of crimson red hair passing by him.
Bookman started, "I looked through your syllabus, and where you all are at in the course, so today we will be starting with energy and work."
A student raised their hand, "Um, sir, you're new here, are you not going to introduce yourself…?"
Bookman looked the student in the eye.
"No," and he continued, "Energy can be observed in many forms, but the two we will be focusing on today is kinetic energy and potential energy. Can someone tell me the formula for kinetic energy?"
Bookman eyed the students, his gaze passing left and right before he noticed an obviously contrasting color compared to the standard black, brown, and blonde hair.
"You, with the red hair," He pointed, "Do you know the formula?"
Lavi stared out at the window and began, "Yeah, yeah, old man it's-"
"One half of the mass times velocity squared," a beautifully feminine voice finished. Based on the slight echo, he knew she was a couple of rows behind him. Lavi was a tad confused; he said red hair, and as far as he knew he was the only one with red...hair…
He turned back to the origin of the voice, and like the beautiful and busty raven-haired beauty from his last class, he saw another beautiful and busty beauty. Though her hair was a fine shade of crimson, and her cerulean eyes seemed to shine, despite the sun's rays pouring into the classroom.
'STTTTTRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!'
As he stared at the beautiful woman behind him, he shook his head and realized, 'Wait. Crimson red hair? Cerulean eyes? That's almost like…'
An image of Sirzechs popped up into his head, albeit with a death-crushing pinch hooked onto his cheek.
"Correct," Bookman stated, before moving on. Once again, Lavi decided to drone out the old panda's voice.
"Oh, that's her," he muttered softly, and he could have sworn, but it seemed as if they made eye contact for a split second before she returned to her notes. Lavi returned to staring out at the window.
Soon enough, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest.
Riiiiiing!
The bell, along with the sound of bustling and zippers being opened, woke Lavi up from his slumber. Damn! What a nice sleep. Especially after that whole mission with Krory, and heading into the Underworld, and coming here; not even last night's sleep could beat the napping of an in-class session.
Although, those do hit different. Let's be real here.
Lavi yawned and stretched, adjusting his eyepatch before looking around. People were either leaving or already packing up.
Thump!
"Wah!" Lavi jumped in his seat, and he looked ahead, a heavy stack full of papers and an irate Bookman now in front of his desk.
"Jeeze, you old panda, you scared that shit out of me," Lavi laughed, as he received a quick thwack on the head with the pile of papers on his desk, "Ow! Hey, I'm pretty sure I can report you for assaulting a student you know."
"Don't call me panda, you damn brat! And for the record, DON'T SLEEP IN MY CLASS!"
"Alright, alright, no need to get your...clothes...in a twist…" Lavi looked at the older historian's attire. It was strange seeing the old man out of his uniform, instead donning a relatively casual suit and tie.
Lavi scanned the entire room. Though it was almost empty, they were causing a scene in front of the few students left. A bit more scanning, and it also seemed he drew the attention of a certain red haired beauty.
She looked at the duo curiously before exiting the class. As she did, students from the left and right continuously greeted her.
"Hello, Rias!"
"Rias, you're beautiful, as always!"
"Rias, please sign my stomach!"
Et cetera, et cetera. Though that last one was sort of left field. Sort of.
As Rias continued down the hall, greeting people left and right, her thoughts traveled back to the new student and the new teacher. Those two looked like an interesting duo. The new teacher, she thought was...endearing in an old man, type of way. He was incredibly comprehensible, and she thought that he was the best teacher at physics by far. Especially considering that even she had a bit of trouble with a few of the topics that they covered, and so spent a bit of extra time having to study for that class in particular. What was odd though, was the new teacher's lack of introduction. Not so much as even a name from him, and he never bothered to learn anyone else's name.
And that other red head. She didn't think she would encounter someone else with red hair like her, though his seemed to be more ginger red. And what was up with that eyepatch? And who wears a bandana like that? He looked like the trouble maker type.
Either way, it was relatively strange how a new student and a new teacher popped up on the same day. Especially considering how the two interacted after class ended. Maybe they're relatives? Though, they didn't look like it.
Ah well, she had business to tend to, now that classes were over. Her thoughts of the two dispelled as she continued her walk all the way to the old building across the courtyard.
"So, the new student, you had class with him before I did?" Rias asked, changing the position of one of her pawns.
"I did. His name is Lavi Deak, apparently, ufufu," Akeno replied, retaliating by placing her pawn in front of Rias' advancing one.
"He has an eyepatch," Rias stated, advancing another pawn.
"That he does. I wonder why? Chuunibyo? But Rias...you can feel something from him, right? It feels kind of…," Akeno trailed off, jumping her knight from its starting position over some pawns she hadn't moved yet.
"Dangerous? I felt it a bit too. Almost like holy power," Rias concluded, as she moved one of her bishops from the back.
"Did the church send people here?"
"Not that I know of, otherwise, we would've at least been contacted."
The conversation died down a bit, as they continued their chess match.
"And what about Issei?"
"Still keeping an eye on him. Nothing out of the ordinary yet, but I can tell there's something there," Rias paused for a moment, "Checkmate."
"Ara ara, I tried to make it more challenging for you too," Akeno said, as the sound of perverse giggling made its way through the open window, and into the
room.
Rias and Akeno both looked outside, seeing three male students huddled around a wall of a building.
"Boys will be boys…" Rias said, as she spotted a mop of red gingery hair heading towards the three.
Rias watched the new student from above. Once again, her thoughts from earlier resurfaced. Just who was he? Why is he here?
She watched him creep up to the three huddled boys, hearing a faint, "What'chya guys doin?", before the three jump in startle. One of the three boys, she should have known, was one Issei Hyuudo.
"Don't creep up on us like that, man! We thought we for sure got caught."
"Eheh, my bad, my bad, you guys looked like you were having fun," she saw Lavi rub the back of his head, his eye closing, and giving a sheepish smile.
"You're the new student right? I'm Issei," Issei said, holding his hand out, which Lavi took, and they shook hands, "And these are my friends, Motohama and Matsuda."
"A pleasure! I'm Lavi Deak, but you guys can just call me Lavi."
Rias continued to watch in wonder.
"Lavi Deak..." she muttered to herself, losing herself to a train of thought, as she began blanking into space at the scene in front of her.
"Rias, look," Akeno shook her out of her stupor, and she saw the large buxom girl point.
She sweatdropped, when she realized that Lavi was now joining in on the peeping with the three other boys. Lavi was scrunching himself into the little peephole that seemed to barely fit three, and awkwardly fit four.
"Ara ara, I hadn't realized that our new student was also such a lecher."
"Yeah...me neither," Rias replied, before looking away.
What she hadn't realized, however, was that the moment she looked away, a single eye gazed into the open window.
"Well, that was all fun and games, guys, but it's time for me to go," Lavi said, waving the trio off, before exiting the scene. Though it seemed that they were too into it to acknowledge it. Not one moment later, he heard a gigantic commotion of bodies toppling over each other, and a sliding door being opened aggressively.
"YOU THREE AGAIN?!"
"THREE?! YOU MEAN FOUR OF US?!"
"WAIT, WHERE'D HE GO?!"
"SHIT GUYS, LET'S GO!"
"GET BACK HERE!"
"Ahhh, good thing I left when I did," he muttered, his gaze once again returning to the window where he was sure he was being watched from. He didn't have to look, to realize he was being watched. Being an exorcist, one would have to know when they were being watched, and that ingrained sense of paranoia really helped to keep one aware.
He tore his head away from the lonely building, walking down the walkway until he met up with Bookman, the elder man waiting with his arms folded into his sides.
"Hey gramps, don't those clothes get uncomfortable for you?"
"Why youuu….!" Without warning, the tiny elder man swiftly drop-kicked the taller boy in the chest.
His body crumpling at the impact, Lavi let out a pained groan as he hit the floor.
"What the hell did you do that for?!"
"Stop calling me gramps!"
"Stop abusing me in the open!"
Sheesh, you would think that being in an open space, SCHOOL, MIND YOU, would at least make the old man be more discreet in the way he deals physical pain. But he supposed not.
When Lavi recovered, the two began their trek home.
"So, I found her," Lavi began, "she's in our class."
"Yes, I'm aware. Why do you think I called on her in class today?"
"Did you? I wasn't paying attention, eheh…" Lavi scratched his temple with his index finger.
"You little shit, pay attention in class! Especially my class!"
From there, 'til home, the bickering continued between the two.
At home, Lavi wrote. His desk was piled high with multiple parchments and books. Ink flowed from his pen as he switched between a vintage-looking green book, and a roll of parchment. Yes, despite the newfound technology and advancements in writing, Lavi liked to stay a bit old-fashioned. Writing in parchment was more aesthetically pleasing to him, especially considering how lined paper these days were so flimsy and distracting with the blue lines.
'Thus, this concludes today's report in Kuoh. XY/XX/XXXV.'
"Phew, there we go. Done with that," Lavi sighed, as he leaned back into his chair, the flexible back of his chair leaning in with him. He rolled up his parchment letter and tied it neatly. Now he just needed to get it delivered.
Removing a pouch from his bag, he untied the pouch, and a black object flew out in a drill type of manner. When it reached eye level, it halted its ascent and unfurled itself, revealing a teardrop shaped body and a lone gigantic eye. Its black wings beat softly as it
flapped, lone eye meeting lone eye, as it stared curiously.
"Okay little guy, I need you to send this over to the Asian Branch over in China. And then they should send it over to Komui all the way in Europe. Can you do that for me?" Lavi asked, as he handed the black golem the rolled up letter. It seemed to nod in understanding as it somehow took the letter before flying out of the open window. Hopefully it won't take that long.
Alright, see y'all in four years.