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Lot's of changes have been made. Firstly, I have changed my habited 'dialogue' to "dialogue". I only do single quotations because I don't have to hold the Shift key, which is kind of time/energy/finger power wasting. Secondly, if you see an asterisk * after a word that means it is explained in the Author's note at the end of the chapter.
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"Bodyguard?"
Desdemona sat in the royal red Victorian Chaise three-seater, in front of Komui's desk in his private office. For once, this place was not piled with paper. But instead, heaps of luggage bags. Komui sat at his desk, leaning his mouth against loosely clasped hands.
"Yes, I will need a bodyguard. Preferably an exorcist." The Supervisor nodded as he spoke.
"But it's just a short trip to Northern Germany. It's not that far."
"I know it's a short distance away," Komui confessed with a shrug, "But it's still possible for akumas to attack, robbery to occur and many unpredicted things to happen. After all, I am a very important person. The Order doesn't want me injured."
Desdemona's eye twitched. Important person? If he was really that important he wouldn't need to go himself. Just send some random person over and all's well.
"Why do you need to go anyway?"
Komui scratched his head, "Allen is badly injured. I need to go fix his arm."
Desdemona's eyebrow rose sceptically, "You can just transport him here. It won't take long."
"I also need to see Bookman, to consult with him about an important matter."
"Bookman? What's he doing in Germany?" she asked incredulously. Bookman and Junior travelled the world. It was rare for them to be so close to Headquarter unless they were summoned. Maybe they were summoned after all. But then again, why didn't they just come to Headquarter?
"Fine. I asked them to go there because I need to assign them to a mission from there. It's quite urgent. Also, gather some of your belongings. You will also be sent on a separate mission."
"What mission? Can't you just send me off from here?" The more he explains, the more unreasonable it is.
"You are awfully inquisitive today, Dem." Komui pointed out. He stood up and disappeared behind a pile of luggage bags, reappearing seconds later. He was armoured with two helmets, camouflage clothing, a thick bulletproof vest and thick soled boots. He was armed too, a small portable machine gun was in his hands. On his heavy belt, there were daggers, grenades and strips of spare bullets for the gun. All the armoury and weaponry made it look hard to breathe in.
Desdemona sweatdropped. "That is because you are awfully uninformative," she retorted.
"Ah, whatever you say. You just need to come to Germany with me. It's an order." Komui said with a superior tone, almost threatening.
"Fine." The Eurasian girl stood up from the Victorian Chaise and stretched. Something was dumped at her feet. She looked to the Supervisor, standing cautiously at the doorway. He looked back and forth in the corridor while the door frame shielded most of his body. Komui ran outside and hid behind a pillar, pointing the gun in random directions as if he was a war-time soldier.
Desdemona stared at him in dismay. Is this really the genius scientist the Order employed?
Suddenly, he screamed. That was when Desdemona realized he was already half-way down the hallway. "OOOIIII!"
"What?" Desdemona rushed to the door to check on her subject of protection. He stood there, perfectly fine.
"Oi, Dem! Please carry those bags down to the dock! Then go gather your own stuff! Meet you at the dock in 20 minutes!" Komui ordered.
Desdemona looked back at the spot she was standing before. Six large luggage bags sat on the floor. She went over to pick them up and swung two of them over her right shoulder, two of them hung from her bent right elbow and the other two carried with her left hand. The size of the bags already made it hard to move around, but the weight only made it worse. Komui put solid lead into those, didn't he?
She went after the supervisor down the hall. While she was having a hard time walking in a straight line, Komui ran in zigzags from pillar to pillar and was always pointing his gun around.
Then he suddenly did a detour from the way down to the dock. He turned a corner and went into his private storage room.
"Komui! Where are you going?" Desdemona called after him.
"Getting equipment to fix Allen's arm!" Komui shouted back.
She quickly continued walking to the dock before he could dump any more weight on her.
Komui lowered his seventh luggage bag onto the floor beside the bed and took out an enormous drill. He also put on a helmet.
He was in a medium-sized hospital room. And as most hospital rooms are, everything was white. From the white wall, the white curtains, the white window frame, to the white window sill jutting slightly out from the wall. The white bedside table stood beside a white hospital bed, which was covered in white sheets. On the white bed slept a white-haired boy wearing a white dress shirt. White bandages covered the majority of his skin and his left eye.
Next to the boy stood Komui, who was rolling up his sleeves in anticipation. He picked up the drill and smiled innocently at his patient, showing a row of sparkly white teeth. The Supervisor lifted his head up and looked to the doorway. Standing there, were two exorcists.
Desdemona stood in the hallway, leaning against the opposite wall. Her dark uniform contrasted greatly with the white wall. In addition to that, the sunlight shining through the white window at the end of the corridor tinted her hair slightly red. But the most eye-catching one would be the taller male leaning against the door frame. The bright red spiky hair, the orange long scarf, the light green of the bandana and his sea green eyes made Lavi the most colourful one in this entire building.
"Lavi, Dem," Komui said, catching the two's attention, "Don't let anyone in."
"Gotcha!" Lavi said enthusiastically. Desdemona nodded. They both knew what he meant. It wasn't the first time they witnessed a Parasitic-type being repaired. Back in the Headquarter, those screams of agony reached down to the underground canal. Having Equipment type is a form of blessing.
Komui flicked the switch and the drill slowly started to spin. It became faster and faster, the mechanical noises it made became louder and louder. The grinning Supervisor lowered the penetrating tip of the drill towards Allen.
Just then, a silver eye slowly opened in the white. They blinked a few times to register what was happening. At the sight of the all-too-familiar giant drill, Allen froze. "Ahh!"
"Yo!" The Supervisor greeted Allen, "You're awake?" Komui lowered the drill even further. A mix of shock, fear and confusion showed on Allen's face.
"Komui? Where am I?"
"Where?" Komui echoed, "The Hospital, of course." The innocent grin reappeared on the Supervisor's face.
Lavi and Desdemona flinched as another round of ear-splitting scream echoed through the hospital. As predicted, many doctors and nurses came to check on Allen. By the time they got to the door, Allen's screams had already faded. The nurses insisted on checking on the boy. The screams may have faded but the loud mechanical sounds of the drill did not. It took many efforts for Lavi and Desdemona to coax the anxious nurses into believing it was nothing, just the Supervisor doing some repairs.
Allen sat up after the repair was done. He cradled his left arm and attempted to move it around. Komui sat down on the chair next to the bed, pulling the helmet back so it rested on his back. "We got a 'town returned to normal' message from the finders we stationed outside the town." Komui began, referring to the so-called 'Rewinding Town'. "Good job on the mission." He flashed a smile towards Allen.
"The town?" Allen questioned.
"Ms. Miranda was here earlier. You just missed her."
The white-haired boy lowered his head, as if in deep thought. He looked back up at the chief after a few seconds. "Come to think of it, why are you here, Komui?"
"To repair you, of course!" The older male winked.
"Seriously?" The younger male doubted.
"Actually, neither of you will be going back to Headquarters. We have to assign you to a long term mission from here," Komui took off his helmet completely, "We will go into the details later when Lenalee wakes up."
The cursed boy was alarmed by the news, "Lenalee hasn't woken up yet?"
"It's due to nerve damage…" Komui continued, "but…"
"She'll be fine," an unfamiliar voice came from the doorway, "Gramps is taking care of her as we speak. She'll be back to normal in no time."
Allen turned his head in the direction of the voice and spotted a red-haired exorcist leaning against the door frame. Looking past him, standing in the corridor was Desdemona, talking to the Head Nurse, clearly getting impatient. Allen's gaze returned to the stranger in the doorway.
Seeing Allen's confused look, Lavi flashed a warm smile. "I'm Lavi. Nice to meet you."
"…Nice to meet you." The younger boy said hesitantly.
"Seriously, Lavi. If you can stand there and chat, why can't you help me deal with some ignorant old women?" The Eurasian girl walked up to the doorway and punched Lavi's arm with a frown. Lavi let out a nervous laugh.
Komui chuckled. "Oh, right. Allen." The boy turned his attention back to the Supervisor. "We have a message for you from Ms. Miranda." Komui lifted his head and nodded at Desdemona. She sighed and walked away from the doorway into the corridor and out of sight. She returned seconds later, carrying a large brown luggage bag. She dumped it next to Komui's equipment bag on the floor.
She straightened up as Komui bent down to unzip and dig through the many papers in the bag. Even though she saw him chuck the letter in at the very top, it seemed to have sunk into the depths of the bag.
At the mean time, she looked down at the white-haired boy on the hospital bed. Bandages were wrapped around his forehead, some of his silvery-white hair hung over the bandage and over his face. His hair had grown pretty long, slightly passing his shoulders. A cotton eye-patch came out from beneath the bandages and covered his left eye. On his right cheek, another cotton patch was taped to his skin.
The boy caught her stare and flashed a smile. Desdemona didn't look away. Instead, she continued to stare into his eyes. He too did not look away, she noticed, like he always did.
"Ah! I found it!"
Both exorcists turned their heads towards Komui, holding up a crumbled piece of letter written in German. The chief passed the letter to Allen, who willingly took it, opened the letter and began to read.
Why does she always have to do these types of stuff? Ranging from grocery shopping, errand running, sending messages, problem solving to babysitting, everything that doesn't fit in anyone's job description gets written, in invisible ink, in hers. She doesn't understand why she always ends up doing these things.
The thing is, no one will do these things, but they must be done. If she doesn't do them, no one will. But someone's got to do it.
The Eurasian girl looked down at the apple in her hand, its half-peeled skin sat in a spiral on the white plate on her knees while she continued to peel the rest of the apple. She challenged herself to keep all the skin in one piece, without it breaking. But wait, why is she doing this?
Desdemona sighed. And why was she here again? Because a certain intelligence deprived exorcist can do nothing but sleep and eat. She glanced to the side and saw Allen's sleeping form. His one visible eye closed and saliva dripped down the side of this mouth which he used currently for breathing rather than the nose. At least sleep in a more elegant manner, then. But no, he must have his blanket all accumulated on his stomach while spreading his limbs as far as they can go without falling out of their sockets.
The boy suddenly jerked. Desdemona jumped, the red skin of the fresh apple broke off and dropped onto the white plate. Turning to the side, strangling himself with the blanket. "Mitarashi dango…" Allen muttered.
Desdemona sighed again. The people at Asian branch would have warned her of sighing away 10 years of her life. Is that all he thinks about? Food, food and more food. He made her slice the skin and made it fall apart. Why is it so frustrating? Why is he so frustrating?
The girl hurriedly finished peeling the apple and chopped it into small pieces for ease of consummation, considering Allen's fully bandaged hand, neck and head.
Now she needs to go out and buy some Mitarashi dango. So troublesome.
But wait, no one told her to go. She doesn't even have to go. Only because he muttered in his sleep. She doesn't have to go. There's no point in going. It was just him, muttering in his sleep.
Then why is she out here in the cold, standing in front of a Japanese restaurant, with a bag of Mitarashi dango in her hand?
Desdemona facepalmed. She doesn't understand. Why does she make herself do all these unnecessary things? Well, since she's out here already, maybe she should go buy some of those bags of Blue Mountain coffee Komui had been dropping hints about. What about those herbs Bookman mentioned to Lavi?
But no, they never told her to do those things. She doesn't have to do them. She doesn't have to…
She'll buy some chocolate for herself, yeah, she should do that. But hey…she just remembered that on the way to the sweets shop there should be a coffee shop and an Chinese herbs shop…
Bookman examined Allen's crushed left eye. The white-haired boy sat on the edge of the hospital bed with Timcampy perched on his shoulder as always. Lavi leant against the wall at the foot of Allen's bed.
"This is strange. Your crushed right eye is starting to regenerate. You won't be able to see anything for a while but at this rate, it'll be back to normal in 3 or 4 days. My needles aren't necessary. It seems to be…cursed," continued the Bookman, referring to Allen's eye.
The boy lifted his left hand and held it over his cursed eye. Timcampy, sensing its master's down cast mood, removed itself from Allen's shoulder. "It's a wound I got a long time ago, when I turned my father into an akuma."
"Allen Walker," Bookman muttered under his breath, "the child that the prophecies called 'The Destroyer of Time'." The old man extended a hand; the tips of his fingers were protected by some sharp-tipped cases, specifically designed for acupuncture. "We are mutual colleagues know as Bookman. Because of our abilities we both became exorcists. That brat over there is Lavi, I have no name. Just call me Bookman." Allen extended his bandaged left hand took the Bookman's offer.
When Bookman turned to pack his needles up, Allen glanced at Lavi, holding a small piece of apple and dropping it into his mouth. "Hm! Nice apple!"
"Hey! It's mine!" Allen jumped out of his bed and tackled the redhead.
Lavi backed away with both palms facing Allen. "Calm down, calm down, will ya?"
After Allen calmed down, he suddenly realised something. "How did these apples get here?" He raised his eyebrows.
"It must be Dem." Lavi said, using Allen's head as a support for his elbow. Allen narrowed his eyes at Lavi, he was just trying to emphasise the height difference, wasn't he? Lavi waved a finger in front of the boy's face. "Even though she doesn't look like it, but she's pretty caring. She silently does all the small things that need to be done but no one ever does." Lavi smiled at Allen's contemplating face. He lifted his elbow off Allen's head and shrugged. "I wonder if she's out helping me get those herbs she overheard Gramps talking to me about. Great! Saves me the trouble. I've got to thank Dem in advance…Ow!"
Bookman appeared next to Lavi and pulled him out of the room by his ear. Allen stared after them, feeling pain in his earlobe too.
"I heard that! Go get the herbs yourself, you lazy brat!"
"Yes…gramps…yes…"
When Bookman and Lavi left the room, Allen reattached his eye-patch to his face. He took out his previously tied up hair. It had grown quite long over the past weeks. He gazed at the plate of apples for a while before picking a piece up and chucking it in his mouth.
It tastes good, the apple.
Allen looked up at the clear, blue sky. It snowed all night last night, that's why there's a thick pile of snow on the ground, with which the two teenagers were building snowmen with. Well, only Lavi was, actually. Allen was just staring out to space.
"So…how old are you?" Lavi began.
"About 15." Allen answered.
"I'm older! 18!" Lavi chimed proudly. "15 years old…because of that white hair you can't see any dandruff. You can call me Lavi, though some call me Junior. Dem sometimes do." Lavi stacked a smaller ball of snow on top of a larger one.
Now that he mentioned the girl, Allen realized he hadn't seen her for the entire morning. "Where is she?" Allen asked.
"Dem? Probably gone to buy things. Probably gone to get those herbs gramps needed, and probably some coffee for Komui too. And maybe something for Lenalee and you. Don't forget her own chocolate." The redhead smiled, proud of his deduction.
Silence then stretched for a couple of seconds as Allen went through some of his own thoughts and Lavi piled more snow onto a large, round snowball.
"Can I call you bean sprout?" Lavi suddenly said.
The reaction from Allen was as exaggerated as Komui when you tell him Lenalee is getting married.
Lavi took that as a no. "But Yuu calls you that."
Allen looked confused, "Yuu?"
"Didn't you know? It's Kanda's given name. He's Kanda Yuu, yeah?" Lavi stared at a slightly surprised Allen. "That's right. You don't know. Everyone just calls him Kanda." The redhead flashed his mischievous smile. "Next time, try calling him that. His eyes are gonna bulge. But you probably won't be seeing him for a while until this business is finished, eh? Seems to me the next mission is going to be a long dragged out fight. The Earl is making his move. That's what the appearance of Noah's family means."
Noah. The Noah Road said... Next time, it will be part of the Millennium Earl's scenario…
Lavi, noticing Allen's distressed expression, said, "But don't worry about it too much."
Allen ground his teeth. His left hand was balled into a tight fist while his right hand grabbed around his left wrist. "I became an exorcist to destroy akuma. Not to kill human beings…" He turned sharply and stomped out of the courtyard onto the street.
Lavi called after him, "Bean Sprout!"
"It's ALLEN!" the boy corrected. "I'm going for a walk. Just go back without me."
Lavi scratched his head. He smiled, "Yep, a brat."
Desdemona walked through the streets of the city. There's a lot of shops here, selling a lot of different things. She held 3 paper bags in her hand. One filled with Mitarashi dango. She wondered if it will be enough for him, his stomach is an endless hole after all.
Wait, no. Why is she going to carry the extra weight for his sake? No reason. Therefore, she's not going to do it.
In the two other bags she had a pack of Medium ground Blue Mountain coffee, a parcel of herbs and 2 packets of chocolate. She wondered why she went to get those…
Suddenly, Allen appeared and stomped across the intersection before her, almost like he was angry. She raised an eyebrow. His eye isn't healed yet, right?
Following close behind was Lavi, his fiery red hair unmistakable.
"Junior!" She called. Lavi stopped in his tracks. He turned his head and saw Desdemona walking towards him from the right side of the intersection.
She carried many paper bags, sealed at the top. Lavi could already guess what was in it.
"Hey," Lavi lifted his hand in a half wave. "Got to go chase after Bean Sprout."
Desdemona pointed a finger in the direction Allen went, "What's Allen doing out here?"
Lavi shrugged. The girl blinked a few times, "Oh."
The redhead heaved a sigh. "Well, got to keep an eye on him." He pointed his right index and middle finger to his temple then away in a light-hearted salute-like gesture and hurriedly ran down the street to chase after the white-haired boy.
"Hope he's still alive." Desdemona muttered. She turned and headed back the way Lavi came.
Even before she could take ten steps, a loud 'BANG' came from the general direction of where Lavi just went. The ground shook and loud screams were heard. Desdemona turned around, just in time to see Lavi skidding into view. His Innocence activated. He jumped out of the way just before a round of bullets rained down. His hammer grew big while he was in mid-air and with the aid of gravity, brought it down on a Level 1 akuma.
Many civilians were evacuating, most of them ran down the street Desdemona was on. Should she go and help? She continued to observe, there seemed to be only Level 1s.
A sudden bone-chilling air made her hair stand on end. She quickly turned around and pulled out Thora. A middle aged man stood behind her, his hands lifted as if he was about to grab her. She backed away a few steps and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. At the same time she activated her Innocence, the black whip glowed green.
The man smiled a sickly smile, "Miss, you should run this way. There are murderers on that street."
The exorcist continued to back away from the man. A running little girl bumped into Desdemona from behind. She looked back to see the girl sitting on the floor, crying. She felt a rush of air coming towards her and looked back at the man. Only there was no man. Instead, a Level 1 lunged at her. Desdemona lashed out her whip. The leather cut into the flesh of the akuma and the machine exploded into dust.
Just as she was about to relax, something hard and narrow was pressed into her lower back, the tip of a gun. The girl froze. She tilted her head slightly to catch sight of what was supposed to be the little girl, only it was a half-transformed Akuma. The flesh on her arm was twisted to a point, and at that point, the tip of a gun pocked out from within her flesh.
"How…" Desdemona breathed.
The akuma let out an ear-shrieking laugh. "Idiot exorcist. Originally, I just wanted my dear Level 1 to level up, but who knows it found an exorcist! Gyahahahaha!"
"Tch," Desdemona's jaw clenched. She was not in a good situation here.
Then suddenly, the ground shook as she felt something large and heavy landed behind her. The pressure on her back by the gun was gone. She quickly turned and backed away. A huge black hammer now stood where the akuma had been.
"Hey, don't let your guard down." Lavi said, a bit amused.
"Don't need you to tell me."
A large shadow fell across them. They looked up to see three more fully transformed Level 1s. They jumped out of the way as they started shooting.
"Why are there so many?" Lavi complained as he jumped up and hit an akuma squarely on the back with his Size Shifting Hammer.
Desdemona wrapped Thora around one of the remaining akuma. She yanked on the whip and the Level 1 headed towards her. She ducked, it sailed past her head and crashed into a house. She then threw the akuma forwards, throwing the akuma at the remaining one. She withdrew Thora just before the two crashed into each other. The impact threw them both into another building. One of them burst into dust. Lavi brought his hammer down on the last one and it too burst into dust.
"This can't be a coincident," Desdemona murmured. "Lavi!" The redhead turned his head at the mention of his name. "I'm going back to the hospital. Leave the rest to you."
Lavi flashed a smile and did a thumbs up. The pose did not last very long since another round of akuma bullets rained upon him.
Desdemona held Thora in a loose coil, but not yet deactivated. She turned to run towards the hospital. She had been holding the bags for the whole time, she just realised. No wonder she felt so handicapped.
She hurried back to find the two finders that were at the door were now nothing but two pools of blood and piles of clothing on the floor. The familiar end of those infected by Akuma virus. She carefully twisted the knob and pushed the door open.
Pieces of paper were scattered all across the room, carpeting the floor in a thick layer of white, a sight that was too familiar. Komui was carrying Lenalee; they stood at the far corner of the room. Straight in front of Desdemona, three Level 2s lay limply on top of each other against the wall. Bookman stood in front of them, not a single scratch on him.
"Why did you come here?" Bookman interrogated.
"He…he he he he he he…" one of the akuma laughed, "The Millennium Earl has a message for you… 'Time is up. The one thousand year prologue is over. Now the drama will unfold. When you hear the bell for the curtain call, don't run! You exorcists are our performers! '"
Suddenly, the arm of an akuma lifted up over Bookman. A bunny's head detached itself from the arm and flew over straight at Komui. It transformed into a menacing looking fish's head with eyes all over itself. It opened its mouth, revealing long sharp teeth.
As it neared the Supervisor, it suddenly blew up, creating a screen of smoke that hid Komui from view. "Komui!" Desdemona called out but no response came.
When the smoke cleared, instead of a burnt Supervisor, there was Lenalee with Dark Boots activated. She lowered her uplifted leg, turned and smiled at her brother.
"Lenalee…" Komui breathed.
Bookman tucked his hands into his sleeves, "So you woke up."
Desdemona frowned at the akuma that just shot out a bunny head. "I think Bookman is done interrogating." She muttered to herself. Thora lashed out and both Level 2s turned to dust.
"UWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" A loud scream came from outside, and was approaching fast. In less than 2 seconds, the window shattered. Two exorcists came flying into the room, riding Lavi's giant hammer. They crashed straight into Bookman and continued to slide across the room until they hit against the opposite wall, toppling over a tall pile of paperwork on top of Desdemona and buried the other three.
"You used that to fly again, Lavi…" Komui said, accusingly.
A certain redhead emerged from the dust and paper. He scratched his head and laughed nervously. "Ahhahaha…my bad! This thing is really convenient. But it's damn hard to brake! Though it feels real good, right Allen?"
"…"
"Allen?"
A towering dark shadow loomed over Lavi, he looked up nervously. There Allen was, draped over Bookman's head limply. His face looked like he was about to give out pretty soon. Then there was Bookman. If looks could kill, Lavi wouldn't have seen another sunrise. A stream of blood flowed out from the old man's right nostril, his mouth was drawn into a downward scowl, and his eyes sparked a dangerous light.
Lavi froze, "Alle…?"
Popping out from beneath the paper, an equally murderous Desdemona pulled on Allen's and Lavi's collar, dragging Allen off Bookman's head and strangling Lavi.
Bookman released a breath of rage, steam came from his nostrils, ears and mouth. "You….DAMN…..BRATS!"
The next thing that happened…you don't want to know what happened. The sight was gruesome enough for the author to not want to describe. This is only a T-rated fanfic afterall.
Desdemona sat in the comfort of the Order's horse carriage. Her elbow rested on the armrest as she stared out the window. The uncomfortable shifting, the creaking of the spring on the opposite seat and a variety of different sounds that came from the two teenagers irritated her to an almost unbearable extent.
Allen and Lavi. As their punishment, they had to sit with their legs under them the whole time on the carriage. Watching their face was greatly amusing, actually. Lavi looked like he just ate a lemon. Allen looked as if he was constipated. Sitting beside them was Lenalee. Feel sorry for her. Desdemona was seated luckily on the safe side, with Bookman and Komui.
Komui coughed into his hand as an attempt to get the others attention. "Now then, let's talk about the mission." He paused and looked at the two exorcists sitting in seiza*. They don't seem to be listening at all. "OK, you two?" Still not listening. He looked to the side, Desdemona wasn't listening either. Is the scenery out there more interesting than him?
The Supervisor sighed. "A few days ago…a General was murdered."
The two males instantly snapped their heads towards the Supervisor. Allen's eyes widened in surprise. Lenalee lifted her hand to cover her mouth in order to hide a gasp. Desdemona turned back to look at Komui.
"The one assassinated was General Kevin Yeegar," Komui continued, "Even though he was the eldest of the five Generals, he was always the type to fight on the front lines."
"W-what happened to him?" Lenalee asked.
Komui lowered his gaze and shook his head, his expression grave. "He was found in Belgium. Nailed backwards to a cross. The words 'God Hunt' were carved onto his back."
"God Hunt?"
"Komui, does that mean the Innocence...?" Lavi said, pointing a finger to the ceiling.
The Supervisor nodded, "Looks like it. The General carried a variety of Innocence with him. He had 8 of them in his possession. Including his own, 9 were stolen in total."
"Nine?" Desdemona repeated, disbelievingly.
"He was crucified and suffered from multiple fatal wounds, on the verge of dying. But he kept singing until he took his last breath.
'The Millennie is searching,
Searching for the precious heart.
It wasn't me,
Next who'll it be…'"
"The 'Millennie'?" Lavi questioned.
"Looks like it's the Millennium Earl's nickname. The Noah that Allen and Lenalee encountered called him that too."
Huh? What Noah? Allen and Lenalee met one? Desdemona frowned. How come she wasn't told anything?
"Um…" Allen began, "What is the 'Precious Heart'?"
Komui took a deep breath, "One of the 109 Innocence that we are searching for, the core of all Innocence. It's called 'The Heart'. It is the root of all power of the Innocence, and can turn all Innocence back to nothingness. If we have it in our possession, it will be the first time that we can gain the power to stop the end. And that is the Earl's target."
"Then where is that Innocence?"Allen asked.
"Don't know." Komui simply shrugged.
"Huh?" Allen said incredulously.
Komui pushed his glasses up, and muttered a whole lot about how incompetent the Order is. "Actually it's very annoying. The cube had nothing noted in it about what kind of Innocence it is. Nothing about signs or distinctions. Nothing. It may even be that we have already collected it, or maybe someone might have been its host already. You know, we have already tried to get Hevlaska to look at the Innocence in our possession, and considered it from many angles. No matter how brilliant I am, there just aren't enough clues. No clues at all. It's a real problem you know. I'm really busy too. These Ancients should consider that and at least write a hint in there. They are so stingy. The General is only the first victim."
Komui sighed. His seriousness returned. "The Earl probably thinks that of all the Innocence hosts there are, there is a good chance that 'The Heart' resides in people with most power. The appearance of the Akuma and now Noah's family and the heightened military strength are all probably because of that. The exorcist Generals have become their targets. That is probably the meaning of the message as well. It is very likely that the same message was sent to other exorcists too. At any rate, the host for that Innocence would almost certainly have as much strength as a General. Still, a simultaneous assault by Noah's family and the Akuma would be too much, even for a General."
Komui scanned the faces of the exorcists. A variety of expressions ranged from shock (Lenalee, obviously Komui looked at his sister first. Oh, how adorable is that shocked expression), surprise (Allen) to bored (Lavi, of course. He already knew all that). Desdemona's face he couldn't see. Sometime during his speech, she resumed her scenery watching out the window.
"Exorcists from all over the world are being recalled and divided into 4 groups. The mission this time is to guard the Generals. The four Generals left are General Froi Tiedoll, General Klaud Nine, General Winters Sokaro and General Cross Marian."
Komui pushed his glasses up. They didn't seem to be sliding down, but he still does it anyway. "Lenalee, Allen, Lavi and Bookman, you lot will guard General Cross." The four mentioned nodded. The Supervisor then turned his head to the side and addressed the window-watching girl. "Dem." She tore her gaze away from the window again, quite unwillingly. "Head to Spain. Tina, Gwen and Sol are there, go meet up with them. They will give you the details." He pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it. "Your train arrives in 2 minutes."
The horse carriage pulled to a stop on top of a bridge. Everyone looked out. To the right side of the bridge was a 30 meter drop onto the train tracks. To the left below was the train station.
"You always do this to me." Desdemona shook her head.
"That's why you should be used to it already." The Supervisor smiled.
Desdemona sighed. She grabbed her suitcase, pushed open the door and jumped out of the carriage. She looked inside one more time, the two idiots were still sitting in seiza but they seemed to have forgotten the pain…or maybe their legs were too numb to feel anything. Lenalee did a small wave with a warm smile. Desdemona returned the smile, "Well, guess I'll see you guys lat-"
Choochoo Choochoo
The train whistle sounded, it was followed by a mechanical chuffing sound, signalling the arrival of the train. The exorcists watched as a train came from the right side of the bridge, disappearing under the bridge and reappearing on the left side, pulling into the station.
Desdemona quickly threw something back into the carriage, turned around, ran to the left railing, jumped and disappeared.
... ...
Lenalee blinked a few times.
... ...
"Um…" Allen began, "What is this?"
Lavi looked over at Allen, holding a large, brown paper bag. He opened it and seemed surprised. "Oh." Allen reached a hand inside and pulled out a small parcel labelled Bookman. He handed it accordingly to Bookman. The old man opened the parcel to reveal herbs packed tightly into a bound square. In an instant, Bookman jumped up and hit Lavi squarely in the head.
"Ow! Old man! What was that for?" Lavi exclaimed, rubbing his head. Bookman 'hmphed' and sat back down, putting the parcel into his sleeve.
Allen took out a pack of grounded coffee, labelled Komui, so he gave it to Komui. The Supervisor took it, smiled and threw himself at Lenalee. "Dear LENALEE! Please make more of your delicious coffee of love for me!"
"Yes, yes." Lenalee replied with a forced smile, probably thinking how embarrassing her brother is…
Allen glanced into the bag. There's something else in there. Another paper bag. He took it out and read the label. The Idiot it said. "It's Allen!" Allen muttered to himself, not really knowing how he knew it referred to him.
The white haired boy opened the bag and found many sticks of Mitarashi Dango organised into neat columns. He beamed.
She's forgiven, for calling him an idiot.
* Seiza: traditional formal way of sitting in Japan. It hurts if you are not used to it. Bookman is using it as a form of punishment for the two. (Thanks khr lover for the correction :D)
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