Disclaimer: I make no claim to -Man, its characters or setting and other affiliated things; this is a work of fanfiction for non-profit
And No Man Shall Touch Her…
Feneris
Chapter 3: The Bookman
The world slowly started to come back into focus for Lenalee. Blackness faded from her vision as she opened her eyes, blinking at the light shining in through the windows. She was lying on a couch in the lounge, with Miranda sitting on a nearby chair reading a book.
"You're awake!" her friend cried, the moment she noticed Lenalee open her eyes. "You gave us all quiet a scare when you fainted like that."
"Where's Walker?" she asked, giving her head a shake as she pulled herself up.
"Talking with your brother," Miranda told her. "Komui's convinced he had something to do with you fainting. What happened anyway?"
"I was getting a new mortar and pestle for Komui, and the stool broke. Allen caught me."
"The poor boy!" Miranda gasped. "I'll make sure to give him something for the burns."
"He didn't burn," Lenalee muttered.
Miranda froze. "What!? Are you sure?"
"Completely. I saw his hands after he caught me. Wasn't even singed."
"What does that mean?" Miranda whispered. "Komui got his fingers scorched just helping me move you onto the couch."
"I'm not sure," Lenalee admitted. "I just hope Komui's not being too hard on Walker."
xXx
Heavy curtains were drawn across the windows, casting the small room into darkness. A single small candle burned on the table. Allen was tied to a chair looking utterly bewildered.
"So tell me again, what happened?" Komui asked, pacing in front of Allen, all the while twirling a nasty looking knife in his hands.
"Miss. Lee was getting something from the cupboard, the stool broke, I caught her, she asks to see my hands, and then she fainted."
"I see… Show me your hands then!"
"What!?" Allen held out his hands, secretly wondering if the entire family just might be crazy.
"You're lying," Komui declared. "You're hands aren't burnt."
"What does that have to do with catching her?"
Komui's grin was positively evil. "My dear sister has a very nasty curse on her, and if any man so much as touches her, he gets burned rather badly. Therefore, unless you are willing to admit you are not a man, you cannot have touched her."
Allen blinked at him owlishly. "Pardon me for saying so, but are you sure that bump on the head didn't make you go mad?"
Komui ripped off his glove to show his burnt fingers. "Do you think these came out of my mind!?"
"You probably burnt yourself yesterday," Allen shrugged. "I am not lying. I caught her when she fell off that stool and I am perfectly fine. If what you said was true. I should have burns all over my hands, arms, and chest. I do not."
"Well than," Komui reached into a drawer and removed what looked to be a handheld industrial augur. The kind normally reserved for digging wells through solid rock. "Maybe this will help speed this interrogation up."
The boy went as white as a sheet, and emitted a sound reminiscent of a mouse being crushed under a wagon wheel.
The door was suddenly thrown open, casting a great swath of light into the room.
"Komui!" Lenalee yelled. "What on earth are you doing!?"
"Just trying to figure out what happened," Komui answered cheerfully. "He's obviously lying when he says he caught you."
"He's not."
Komui froze, his mouth moving like a fish out of water. "But… wha… hands… not…"
"I know. That's why I fainted," Lenalee answered.
"You mean…"
"Yes."
"Could someone please untie me?" Allen hissed frustration and confusion plain across his face. "And tell me what in hell is going on!"
xXx
"You mean this curse is real!" Allen exclaimed, nearly spilling his tea in shock. The group had made their way out of the small room and up into the lounge, where a pot of tea and some hasty apologies had managed to restore a civil mood.
Lenalee nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Miranda cast a nervous look at her friend before adding, "I've seen it happen. Someone bumped into her in my shop, and he burned and blistered where he made contact. It was like someone had splashed boiling oil on him."
"So why didn't anything happen when I caught Miss. Lee?" the pianist asked.
"Not a clue," Komui admitted, cheerfully pretending he was not the person that had threatened painful death on the boy moments before. "Never has this happen before at all. Not a single mention of it in five hundred years." He politely coughed into his fist. "Err… I actually placed a call to a Bookman in London. He sounded very interested when he heard about this little discovery. Umm… He's going to be coming up here to check it out."
"A Bookman?" Allen raised his eyebrows in interest. "They're more historians than curse breakers."
"Yes, I realize that," Komui admitted. "But this one said he had experience with curses before, and he might know more about how they might be broken then we do."
"I know a bit about magic and such things," Allen admitted. "If you need my help, you have it."
"Thank you," Lenalee replied. "That means a lot to me."
"No one who doesn't deserve it, should have to suffer under such a curse," Allen answered.
"If I have anything in my shop that might help, you're welcome to it," Miranda added. "Sorry I can't offer more…"
"You've help me more by being a friend all these years," Lenalee reassured her. "It means a lot to me."
"Well!" Komui grinned. "Now that that little misunderstanding is straightened out. I believe we need some lunch in us!"
xXx
The clock struck twelve. Allen lurched upright in bed, his stomach growling. Timcampy snuggled deeper into his hair, used to Allen's daily routine of midnight snacking.
Being mindful not to wake anyone, the boy darted down the hallway and into the pantry, where he promptly began making himself a beef sandwich, using an entire loaf of bread.
Piano music wafted down from somewhere upstairs. Timcampy stirred, shook himself lightly and started to fly towards the music. Allen grabbed his sandwich and quickly followed the golden golem to the lounge.
Lenalee was sitting at the piano, carefully going through the motions of a simple song. Timcampy fluttered through the door and settled himself on the music stand, his tail swishing through the air like a metronome.
Allen entered the room and seated himself, being careful not to disturb her. She glided over the keys, the notes flowing from the heart of the instrument.
Allen politely applauded the moment she finished the song. "You did well Miss. Lee."
"Thank you, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to practice a bit. Err… what are you doing up this late?"
"Midnight snack," Allen mumbled, pointing to the sandwich. "What's keeping you up Miss Lee?"
"Please, call me Lenalee," she answered. "I was just thinking about the curse."
"What about it?"
"Everything," she sighed. "Everything about this damned curse. I don't know what to do about it anymore."
"Don't worry," Allen tried to reassure her. "I'm sure between us and the Bookman, we'll find a way to lift it."
"What if you don't? I've never heard of someone actually managing to lift the curse off anything before. I hate it when I hurt people, just by being near them. I'm tired of no one wanting anything to do with me, because they're all afraid of me. I'm tired of Komui getting hurt with his experiments and I'm unable to do anything. I'm tried of it all!" her shoulders sagged in defeat. She suddenly threw herself from the piano bench and threw her arms around Allen. "Why you?" she sobbed. "Why don't you burn? What's so special about you?" Her body shook in his arms as he hesitantly held on to her. "Everyone before has! My father did, Komui does, even the boy on the street who shines shoes has!" She took a deep shuddering breath, tears running down her cheeks. "Why me? What did I do to get stuck with this? What horrible things have I done to deserve this punishment?"
Allen merely held onto her and waited for her sobbing to subside. "Lenalee, you've done nothing to deserve this. You have one of the purest souls I have ever seen. To see you suffer like this is one of the greatest injustices I have witnesses." he whispered.
"Y… you think so?"
"I know it is so," he answered. "My uncle, he was more than just a pianist. He was also a magician. I saw him lift a curse from a magic mask once, so I know it can be done. He told me as well, that all curses have a counter and that as long as you do not give up, you will find there is always a way to lift them."
"Thank you." Lenalee pulled away from his embrace and wiped her eyes. "It feels good to finally get that all out."
Allen smiled as he removed a handkerchief from his pocket. "Here wipe our eyes. If you ever need someone to listen, I am always here."
xXx
The Bookman arrived a few days later.
Allen had been guiding Lenalee through a new song, when the doorbell rang. They had opened the door, to be greeted by an old man with dark circles around his eyes, and a young man with an eye patch, who was laden down with a large trunk.
"I am the Bookman you called," the old man explained. "I'm here to investigate Miss Lee's curse."
"Ah, of course, come in Mr…?"
"You may call me Bookman," the old man answered. "This here is my apprentice Lavi."
"Pleased to meet ya!" the young man waved.
"If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the lounge," Lenalee offered. "Allen, can you go find my brother?" Allen nodded and ran off. Lenalee lead the two Bookmen upstairs, where Lavi dumped the trunk on the floor and both seated themselves in chairs. Allen and Komui joined them shortly.
"So, tell me about this curse," Bookman asked. "What exactly does it do, what triggers it, and how long has it been active?"
"She's had it since she was born," Komui explained. "Basically, every man that touches her is burnt; like he has touched a hot iron."
"And Mr. Walker does not trigger this effect?"
"I didn't even realize anything was out of the ordinary," Allen answered.
"Interesting…"
Lavi snickered. "Maybe you're not affected because you're not a man."
Allen glared at him. "I know what gender I am, thank you very much," he hissed.
"Ye, touchy aren't you," Lavi retorted. "I'm just saying that the reason may be simpler than we think." He got up from his chair and walked over to behind Lenalee. "Maybe you even broke the curse and didn't even realize it." He reached down and placed a hand on Lenalee's shoulder. "F---!" he jerked his hand back in alarm. The skin was burnt red and blisters were already forming on his hand.
Bookman's eyebrow jumped up with curiosity. "Thank you for giving me a first hand glimpse of the curses effect. Idiot apprentice." he cleared his throat. "Lavi, get the idol out of the trunk please."
"Yeah, yeah, Panda," Lavi muttered, cradling his burnt hand. "F---, that hurt!"
"I can get something for that," Lenalee added. "We err… keep a supply of burn slave handy."
"He'll be fine," Bookman snapped. "It'll teach him not to be so brash with his actions."
"Sadistic old man," Lavi hissed, as he flipped open the trunk and retrieve a parcel wrapped in thick wool cloth. He placed it on the center table and undid the strings binding it together. The cloth fell away to reveal a stone statue of… something. It was a creature that looked to be a combination of a squid, a bat, and a goat.
"Take off your glove and touch the statue," Bookman instructed Allen.
Allen stripped off his gloves, reached out and placed his had on the stone. He jerked back immediately with a yelp. "It zapped me!"
"That idol has a minor curse on it," Lavi explained, as he quickly warped the idol back up. "It zaps you if you touch it with your bare hands."
"That proves that your apparent immunity to Miss. Lee's curse just extends to her curse. It's not some sort of blanket immunity to curses in general."
"So what does it mean?" Lenalee asked.
"It means that there is something about Mr. Walker that exempts him from the curse."
"And what do you mean by that exactly?" Komui asked.
"Basically, Mr. Walker should be affected by the curse, but isn't," Bookman clarified. "The most likely reason is that something in the curse itself is set so that people like Mr. Walker are not harmed by it. What exactly that is, I do not know. Most often, these exceptions are the casters, who do not want to be caught by their own curse."
"Really…" Komui cast a suspicious glance at Allen.
Allen went white. "Don't look at me! I can't cast a single spell, let alone place a curse on anything!"
"Sure…"
"Mr. Lee," Bookman interrupted. "Can you tell me anything about how this curse came about?"
"Well, there is a story in our family that says, in a nutshell, that one of our ancestors caught the attention of a demon and when she rebuffed his advances, he cursed her so that no man should ever touch her again." Komui explained. "How much truth is in it, I do not know."
"There is usually a grain of truth in all stories," the bookman remarked. "Has any of your previous research come close to discovering who the "demon" is or was?"
"The only thing we have is the name "Lord Medon" circled in a diary."
Lavi started laughing. "Sounds like we might have our demon. Medon is obviously an anagram of the word 'demon!'"
"That seems a bit…"
"Obvious? Yes, but demons seem to like seeing how obvious they can be without getting caught," Lavi remarked. "One demon went under the name "Iam Nothuman" say it slower and you have "I am not human." It was decades before anyone found him out."
"Some don't even use aliases," Allen remarked. "They can have their demonic names well known, and as long as they look human, people will believe it is just coincidence."
"You know this how?" Komui leered.
"You'd be surprised some of the things you can pick up just traveling on the train," Allen shrugged.
"So you think this Lord Medon might be the demon that placed the curse?" Lenalee asked.
Lavi shrugged. "At the very least, he's someone we should check out. Maybe he's the one responsible for the curse, maybe he's not, maybe he is a demon, maybe he's just a man."
Bookman nodded. "When attempting to break a curse, it is always good to learn about who cast it, and why."
"Medon…" Allen muttered, tapping his head as if trying to remember something. "Tim, where have we heard that name before?" he asked the gold ball sitting on his head.
Timcampy opened his mouth to project an image of a large manor in the air, a grand ball room, and the image of a hundred people crowding the floor.
"Medon Manor!" he exclaimed. "There's a place just outside of Oxford called that! I played piano for a ball there once."
"A good place as any to start," Bookman agreed. "Mr. Walker, do you think you could find it again?"
"Easily," Allen nodded. "I can't remember if the lady who hired me was a Medon, but it's better than nothing."
"Lavi, you and Allen check out this place," Bookman suggested.
"I'm coming with them," Lenalee insisted. "I'm tried of sitting around the house."
"But…" Komui started to protest.
"I'm not helpless," Lenalee sighed. "Besides, we're only going to a house to ask questions, not storming a castle!"
"Then me and your brother shall examine the more local resources," Bookman stated.
"I'll go get tickets to Oxford then," Komui sighed in defeat.
Lenalee smiled cheerfully. For the first time in her life, she felt hope.
Authors Note: Well getting onto the main flesh of this story… how it goes from here I can only hope I live up to your expectations…
Again… what did I do wrong? Did you find things confusing? Too fast paced… too slow paced what?
