goddessofshadows7212: Thanks. ...Does her being kind of dead count? :P

"Gagagaga noisy mimi wo fusaidara… Omae naiteiru koe wo kiita, saikyou nanka kurete yaru…"

Tsuchimikado Motoharu frowned, glancing around for the source of the noise. The singing voice sent strange shivers up his spine, as if the owner of the voice was a dangerous, psychopathic killer. But he couldn't quite place who the voice seemed to belong to, so he forced himself to shake off the feeling.

It finally hit him that it was a ringtone. And since it was obviously not his, and nobody else was around, it could only belong to the girl he was currently carrying. He placed her down gently, making sure not to hit her head against the hard ground, before searching her for her phone.

It wasn't on her, of course.

Tsuchimikado rolled his eyes and swore at himself for being so stupid. Magic didn't mix with science and technology, so of course she put everything electronic in her bag before handing it to him while she worked magic.

He shuffled through her bag, searching for the elusive cell phone. Miraculously it was still ringing. The caller was either very persistent and stubborn, or was desperate to reach her.

"Hello?"

"Idiot! Where the hell are you?" The voice on the other end demanded.

Shudders ran up and down Tsuchimikado's body. He knew very well who the owner of the voice was. Too well. And he dreaded Accelerator's reaction when he answered the phone instead of the girl Accelerator was looking for.

"Oi! Kusotare!"

"Hey, Accelerator," Tsuchimikado said.

He could practically hear Accelerator stiffen at his voice. A silence fell, and Tsuchimikado could only the white haired level five's breathing for a long moment.

"Tsuchimikado," Accelerator snarled, voice quiet.

"Y-yeah," Tsuchimikado cursed himself for stuttering, for feeling so nervous even though Accelerator was miles away.

"What the hell are you doing with my Celeste's cellphone?"

He heard the possessiveness loud and clear. Tsuchimikado felt like moving to the Himalayas right about then. Accelerator wouldn't be able to find him amongst all those mountains… Right?

"She's right here. Except she's kind of… asleep? Unconscious?" Tsuchimikado fished for a word that wouldn't drive the other boy to comb through the world to hunt him down.

"Why," the word was practically hissed.

Tsuchimikado could almost see Accelerator's eyes narrowing, almost feel the bloodlust washing over him, paralyzing him. He felt the sudden urge to sit down as his legs started to feel like jello.

"She tired herself out," Tsuchimikado said quickly, before realizing how easily the situation could be misunderstood. "And it had nothing to do with me! I do not have any type of relationship with her, aside from partn—friendship, so pleasedon'tkillme."

"What is she doing with you?"

Oh, kami. The bloodlust did not fade at all. "She had to do something. Magic related. So I went with her."

"Why."

Tsuchimikado might just hate that word from now on. "Because she's a Crowley."

Strangely, he felt the bloodlust subside. Apparently Accelerator knew about Crowley, knew about magic.

"When will she wake up?" Accelerator asked, now sounding genuinely curious.

Tsuchimikado fought the urge to fake a bad connection and hang up. He stood there speechlessly, unable to find a good answer. What was he supposed to say? Accelerator had never heard the phrase 'don't shoot the messenger', or even if he did, he never practiced it. The boy didn't shoot the messenger. He maimed, stepped on, and killed the messenger in a painful splatter of blood before turning the messenger into nothing but a human sized puddle of crushed bones, flesh, innards, and blood.

"Erm…" was the genius reply Tsuchimikado came up with.

He could feel the bloodlust wash over him again.

"Is she going to wake up?" Accelerator growled, voice low.

"…Maybe?"

Not exactly the best answer for the situation. But it was the best answer he could come up with. He didn't know if the blood soaked girl on the ground would wake up. For the hundredth time, he put his fingers at her neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there, and it wasn't exactly weak, but he didn't know how long that would last.

She had given herself fifteen minutes to use magic and complete the ritual, and had used her ability to try and make her body capable of becoming Lucifer's core. Yet…

"Bring her back. Alive," Accelerator snarled. He didn't even need to say what would happen otherwise, but Tsuchimikado understood perfectly.

"Y-yeah," he gulped, and the moment he stood listening to the dial tone, he shut the phone off and replaced it in the bag.

And then he allowed himself to collapse onto the ground next to her.

The summoning wasn't the prettiest thing he had ever seen.

There was a bright light, almost blinding. Telesma, perhaps. Through his sunglasses and a squint, Tsuchimikado had seen a figure that looked almost like an angel, with black wings, and suddenly the bright white light was laced with black and red. He saw Celeste reach out, saw her mouth move, and the light disappeared.

Then the screaming began.

Tsuchimikado didn't move. He couldn't. He could only watch helplessly as the summoning ended, the fallen angel entering her body and fusing part of itself with Celeste, its new core. Its sacrifice.

For a long moment, everything fell silent, the girl on her knees. He wondered if she was dead, and gulped, wondering how he was supposed to explain that to Aleister and Accelerator.

But then she stood, eyes blank, practically dead. She took one step, and then another. When she got close enough, he saw that one eye had turned a deep purple with a tinge of crimson. Then she coughed up blood, with more of the red liquid pouring from her eyes and ears and nose, and she collapsed.

He had panicked, immediately checking for a pulse, and finding one, he relaxed. Only slightly. She was alive, at the very least.

Except she wasn't quite alive.

She had lost consciousness, and had not woken in the past few days he had been carrying her. He wasn't sure she would ever wake up. It was probably the minimum price she would pay for being a scientific body dealing with extremely powerful magic forces.

Tsuchimikado sighed, hoisting her onto his back once again. He would know for sure when they returned to Academy City, and Heaven Canceller took a look at her. If he could heal her, then good. If he couldn't…

Well, Tsuchimikado thought, the Taklimakan was probably a nice place to live. He should probably leave once he dropped the girl off with the doctor. A head start before Accelerator destroyed everything would be perfect. And he would only return when the girl was alive and well.

That was a good plan.

Tsuchimikado sighed again. Of all the places she had to bring them for the summoning, it had to be somewhere without a single person, without a GSP signal. He had to get her to somewhere where he could actually ask someone where they were, so he could call for someone from Academy City to pick them up.

He just hoped the girl would wake up and save Academy City—and himself—from becoming massacred.