"So, let me get this straight. You're both students from London here with Cameron and Gale Miles, two Hispanics who just happen to be your cousins, in order to learn more about America? And you somehow managed to lose all your paperwork? And you don't have passports or ID or any of your old transcripts? You don't have back-ups or something?" The school secretary looked mightily suspicious. Allen could already feel sweat dripping down his back. He hoped it wasn't obvious how nervous he was. He hated to lie, but he knew that there really was no way around it. No one was going to believe their real story.
"Right-o!" Lavi cheerily answered, swinging an arm around Allen's shoulders. Allen resisted the urge to facepalm. Their story sounded slightly fabricated. It didn't help that Lavi had wanted to put down 'street performer' on Allen's application under the Occupations heading.
"And you lived on 404 Grotto Swamp Lane in the Rainbow Forest of Skalandia?" the secretary asked, becoming ever more incredulous as she read off their applications. Allen shot a murderous glance at his friend, who'd taken it upon himself to come up with their backstory and identities. Lavi's smile froze in place as he realized his mistake. He'd put that down as a joke and had meant to erase it. Woops.
"Sorry, sorry! I, uh, was getting a little too creative, and I forgot to put in my real address. It's, uh…" Lavi pursed his lips as he tried to come up with something suitably boring, when Allen piped up, "Fifteen-oh-one, South Remington seven, Knightsbridge area, London." Lavi's eyebrow rose at the mention of the Order's address – or what would've been the Order's address if it had existed. The lady behind the desk made the change to their transcripts on the computer (a contraption that had taken Lavi practically days to understand – and, quite peevishly, only hours for Allen to crack).
"It says here that you wanted to be put on the juggling squad," the dry woman asked, looking straight at Allen, and Allen again turned a glare worthy of a serial killer on his friend. Lavi tried to keep a straight face.
"I, uh, used to juggle. I think that was a bit of a mistake on my friend's part. I don't do much juggling anymore," Allen confessed, rubbing his face. Lavi tried hard not to snicker as the woman sighed through her nose. He could understand her irritation. This office was absolutely dreary. The walls were concrete and some sort of strange, fuzzy dry board that could be moved around as needed, and the colors were almost monochrome. Cheap, happy slogans on morality and behavior plastered the walls in bright colors, and they only seemed to highlight just how boring and dull the office happened to be.
"Well, fine then. Oh, and your hair. School policy doesn't allow for solid color dyeing," the lady said, not even bothering to look up, and Allen cast a confused glance to Lavi, who shrugged. Suddenly realizing what she was talking about, Allen stated dejectedly, "This is my normal hair color." The lady looked at him over her bifocals with a withering glance that could've brought a Level Four to its knees.
"Really?" she drawled from the side of her mouth, and Allen could feel his knees shake. How was it that the women in this era were so scary! Lavi coughed into fist politely, and he said, "Ma'am, that really is his hair color. He, uh, has a disorder that turns his hair completely white. There's no way to change it, and we don't bother to dye it." Sheesh, Lavi had a smooth tongue. Of course, that was partly the truth. Allen had once tried dying his hair, and the dye had washed out as soon as he'd taken a shower. It didn't matter what he did, his hair remained a solid white.
The lady was quiet for a minute, and she shrugged.
"My apologies, dear. It's not the weirdest thing I've come across," the lady sighed, and she continued typing.
"We did it! We're in!" Lavi exulted, and Allen laughed. The redhead had been depressed for the past few days, and this sudden success had definitely cheered him up. After the initial culture shock had worn away, the two had decided that this world wasn't so bad, as long as you got used to the multitude of ringing, beeping machines.
Lavi did a little jig down the front steps of the school, and Allen snickered, "Stop it! People are staring at you."
"They can stare all they want. Who wouldn't wanna look at this? Besides, it's not like I'm running around in nothing but my birthday suit," Lavi quipped back, hands on his hips. He skipped down the steps as fast as he could on his long legs, and Allen stuck his hands in his pockets, perfectly happy to watch his friend be, well, perfectly happy. If there was anything that Lavi loved, it was when a plan came to fruition. He'd spent a disproportionate amount of time creating their identities and backstories, pulling up references from the Internet (which they'd only discovered about two days ago) and going off what Cam told them of modern life so far. Despite the oddness of his first name, Lavi had decided to keep it, and Allen's name was still modern enough to pass without suspicion. They didn't have to worry about Kanda – he had decided that school was going to be a waste of his time.
The ensuing argument between Miles and Kanda could have made tornadoes look like a summer breeze. He'd stomped out of the apartment two days ago, and he hadn't come back yet. Though they all knew he was a big boy and could take care of himself, they were beginning to worry about what had happened to him. Incongruously, Allen probably worried the most (though, more for other people's welfare rather than Kanda's own, given his volatile personality) and Lavi the least. Bookman, of course, supported the bid for education, but he didn't bar Kanda's right to refuse it. To their knowledge, Bookman was the only one who was aware of Kanda's whereabouts. Considering the old man hadn't said anything else on the matter, the stubborn teenager was most likely in the safest possible hands, those being his own.
"You think Miles'll be back for dinner? I'm starved!" Lavi gushed. Allen rolled his eyes.
"Lavi, you're always starved," Allen noted, and Lavi scoffed.
"Says the living garbage bin," Lavi shot back, and Allen scratched his face in embarrassment. They were currently eating Miles out of house and home. They'd managed to completely clean out every cupboard in the tiny apartment, along with a good percentage of the fridge (another device that Allen kept in mind to take back with him when they found a way home). At the rate they were going, Miles was either going to have to take up another job, or the two black holes in her house were going to have to find their own employment. Bookman had supported the latter, and he was already looking through newspapers for apartment buildings and jobs.
The past few days had been a busy whirlwind of errands and the like, mostly running to the store for assorted snacks and getting job applications. The boys had to earn their keep, usually by doing chores. However, it was obvious money was getting tight. Miles' internship was coming to a close pretty quickly, and she had just enough time to study for exams before letting Cam, Lavi, and Allen do whatever it was that they did during the day. She'd already told them what she expected of the group, and that after she finally become a fully fledged police officer, she'd be making a little bit more in terms of income. Unfortunately, it obviously was not going to be enough to support nearly four other people.
"Speaking of garbage bin, has the sanitation company sent anything back?" Allen asked, cracking a small smile. Lavi made a face. They were putting in any and all applications, including trash man. Lavi was the only one old enough, besides Kanda, and it was obvious that Kanda was probably going to be vacating the premises pretty soon for greener (and quieter) pastures. Lavi had half a mind to burn the application and tell Bookman that it'd gotten lost in the mail or that they'd rejected it on basis of too little information. However, a job was a job…
"No, they haven't, and I hope it stays that way. You could still get a job doing handstands and hanging off of rooftops," Lavi retorted, and Allen winced. He'd had enough of that lifestyle. Though he'd enjoyed his days as a circus clown and acrobatics expert, he'd rather not go back to that. There were too many memories he'd revisit jumping back into the performing business. However, cheating at poker sounded even worse and, as they kept telling themselves, a job was a job.
"I might consider it if nothing else comes through. I'm not sure if anyone will hire me themselves given my age. There are these things called child labor laws here that only let people of a certain age work," Allen sighed resignedly, and Lavi raised both eyebrows.
"Really? I hadn't known about that. What's the legal working age, then?" Lavi asked, and Allen mused, "I think it's sixteen." Lavi laughed as he trotted down the sidewalk in his new shoes, and he noted, "The Order would be in so much legal crap right now, then. A good portion of the Exorcists are almost too young, not to mention all the errand boys." They walked on in silence past tall brick buildings with spray-painted facades done in colors of green and yellow and black, all of them in some indecipherable street language that neither of them could ever hope to understand. Suddenly, Allen asked, "Why do you think so many children have Innocence synching to them?" Lavi frowned. He'd wondered that himself time and time again. Small kids were playing the street, throwing a baseball. He watched it arc through the air as it accidentally rapped on a window, and a lady popped out, screaming obscenities as they raced away.
"I guess kids just have the right perspective. Besides, there aren't that many kids actually fighting for the Order. There was Timothy, and then there was you and Lenalee. I guess Kanda counts, if you take into account his biological age," Lavi mused.
"What about you? Don't you count?" Allen asked with a puzzled expression. Lavi shrugged.
"I'm more observer than fighter. I'm only supposed to interfere if my life is in immediate danger," Lavi sheepishly stated, rubbing the back of his neck. It was the middle of summer in this dimension, and it was blazing hot. In no time, Lavi was going to look like a very well cooked lobster. His fair skin didn't do well under the sun. Allen laughed, realizing just how times Lavi had broken that rule. He'd saved his life more than once. That definitely counted as interference.
"It's so strange. To walk down the street without looking over your shoulder," Lavi muttered quietly as several girls passed by, all of them chattering to one another like birds. He looked back, almost wistfully, and Allen noticed the expression on his face.
"You miss it. The fighting," Allen stated, and Lavi shoved his hands in his jean pockets as he stared at the sky overhead. The clouds were fluffy white, and there was just this feeling of tranquility. Lavi couldn't deny that it unnerved him.
"When you've lived with it for so long, you tend to get used to it. It feels wrong when it's gone," Lavi admitted. One of the greatest things about his culture shock had been the general lack of violence, at least openly. Their early encounter with crime had been a fluke. From what Lavi could see, most everyone seemed perfectly safe, though he did note that the seedier parts of town around Miles' apartment gave a distinct air of danger. Perhaps it was the fact Lavi hadn't quite tasted the distinct flavor of risk from this world. He was sure it was just lurking beneath the surface, waiting to burst like a cyst. The witches had shown them that.
"I find it odd, too. But not a bad sort of odd," Allen added, looking over at Lavi. They turned another corner, and they were met with a sudden drenching of cold as well as the smell of clovers, patchouli, and motor oil. Lavi immediately removed his hammer from its new spot on his belt, and Allen was quick to activate his arm. As of late, they had been relatively unmolested by the witches after the debacle in the mall. It seemed that they were backing off after realizing the actual prowess of the targets involved. The four had been waiting for some sort of retaliation.
A lone witch stood on the sidewalk while playing a mandolin. A large case was open at her feet, and the lull of the mandolin was like the plucking of puppet strings towards the pair's pockets, as if small fingers of suggestion were stroking their minds into relieving some of their spare coins. Recognizing the literal stench of magic, the two continued to be on guard as they walked past. The witch looked up at the two with knowing, black-lined eyes as she continued to play. Her case was full of bills and coins, almost completely filled to the brim. She smiled at Lavi, twitching an eyebrow at him. He gave no outward signs of having seen it.
Finally they were past, and the tension in the air eased.
"I hate it when that happens," Allen said, rubbing his black wrist as he disengaged his arm. He looked back over his shoulder, gray eyes tracking the witch who was strumming her spell. Allen knew there were probably dozens like her, and only a select few were sensitive enough to the world of energy and magic to truly understand what she was doing, which would ultimately be robbing people of what pocket change they had. Allen's sense of magic had grown exponentially from Cam's tutelage. Lavi already had a very, very basic education in a different sort of magic, and so he was used to picking apart these sorts of things.
"Tell me about it. And there's not a single thing we can do," Lavi muttered as he replaced his hammer. That was the second witch they'd encountered here in the seedier part of town in the past few days. They were more common than both Allen and Lavi had thought, but Cam assured that out of the entire city, there were probably only seven witches per thousand people. Farther south in Dallas, the witch population was significantly denser at nearly eighteen per thousand. Most of those witches were 'latent' – their powers had yet to actually show, and most likely they'd never realize them without being shown by another, 'awakened' witch.
They reached the apartment with plenty of time to spare. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, and they'd already had lunch. However, upon reaching the apartment, they noted that they smelled the familiar aroma of magic, that musty smell of ancient power layered between the stink of clay, bleach, and thyme. It looked like Cam was at work on something. They soon found out when they opened the door, and they found spray paint all over the walls. Allen almost tripped over his own feet as he stared at the odd symbols of stop signs and archaic lettering all over the walls and doors. What was worse, all of their stuff seemed to have disappeared.
"What in the world…?" Lavi muttered, and Cam, splattered almost completely in paint, stated, "Oh. You guys are home early. Dang it, I was hoping to paint over these before you came back." She stood next to Miles' door, a spray paint can in her hand. She shook it up, and she sprayed her sister's door with yellow and black stripes.
"What are you doing?" Allen asked incredulously as he headed towards the spot where the couch used to be. Bookman was obviously out – otherwise, this travesty would've never happened.
"I'm warding the apartment. I'm not very good at it, but Miles won't touch magic, not unless it's dire. I'm not sure I can convince her that this is dire enough, though. Some toughs tried to get in, and what's worse they had a witch with them. Did you guys notice anything funny on the stairways?" she asked nonchalantly as she shrugged off her paint-stained jacket. Lavi ran a hand through his hair, and he stuttered, "N-no, not at all." Cam smiled, showing even white teeth. The expression turned her round face simply impish.
"Good! I didn't know if I'd be able to explain the bent stair rails to Gertrude, so I tried fixing them," Cam stated. "The blood was a little harder to clean, though…" Allen walked over to a ward that was a red circle with a white line through it plastered to the front of Cam's bedroom door.
"How do these wards work?" Allen asked, tempted to wipe the paint. Cam suddenly shouted, "DON'T TOUCH!" Allen flung both hands in the air away from the impromptu painting. Cam sighed and stated, "I haven't programmed them yet, so they don't know which people are safe and which people aren't. I'm pretty crude at magical programming, so I'm going to need Gale's help, but at least I can paint over them before she gets home." Lavi suddenly tried to get into the bathroom, and he was thrown ten feet backwards into the kitchen. He managed to knock down everything on the table, covering himself in a multitude of cups, juices, books, and coffee.
"Lavi!" Allen shouted, and they both hurried over to the downed Exorcist. He sat up amid the wreckage and coughed, "Lazarus bite me, that was strong." His hair stood straight up, and his headband was askew. He looked slightly dazed, but otherwise he was fine. He pointed to the door as Allen helped him up, and he asked, "It does that every time?" Cam dusted him off with a chagrined look, and she nodded.
"Sorry. I hadn't meant to make it that forceful. It's a repellent ward, which means it flings people. To answer your question, Allen, it sucks the energy out of these lithium batteries I've spray painted that are around the apartment, and I program them afterwards to recognize people. They're like force fields, except… well, not," Cam explained. After getting Lavi looking fairly human, Cam started to paint over the wards with a paint roller and some primer. Allen and Lavi helped the best they could, but it eventually devolved into the two of them flinging paint at each other.
"Hey, quit it, you two! Just because there's nothing in the room doesn't mean hiding paint on the floor is easy!" Cam complained as Lavi held Allen's arms down with his knees and threatened him with a fully-loaded paint roller.
"Noooooo!" Allen moaned as he tried to squirm out from under the forty-pounds-heavier teenager.
"This is payback for Jakarta!" Lavi cackled, and he started to roll the paint on his face. Allen retaliated by getting an arm free and socking him in the stomach.
"Say, where's all the furniture, Cam?" Lavi grunted as he put a massive dab on Allen's forehead. Allen picked up another paintbrush, slapping Lavi in the face with it. A massive white swipe covered his astonished face as Cam answered, "I put it in an extra-dimensional zone that's analogous to the room. That took me longer to do than the actual wards themselves. Don't worry about it; the minute I open up the extra-dimensional zone, everything kinda just pops back into place. I have to use the spare generator to support the spell, though, and extra-dimensional zones are only little pockets of space- Hey! Don't get it on me, hahahaha!" Cam suddenly joined in on the paint war, both her and Allen ganging on up on Lavi as the older teenager found himself being rollered to death. Cam had cast another spell to keep the paint from hitting the floor, and so far the carpet had stayed relatively clean. They'd saved the front door for last, which was covered with what Cam called an 'inactive ward' that wouldn't turn on until she gave it some programs. She'd figured the other bedrooms and windows could do with a regular, autonomous ward.
"Come here, you little -!" Allen shouted as he grabbed the paint tray. Lavi, devilish as always, had used the 'force field' around the floor to completely splatter Allen's pants, and he was naughtily running towards the front door. Cam helped Allen chuck the paint tray, and Lavi ducked, expecting to hear a massive thwack as it hit the front door.
Instead, the front door opened, and there was a very distinct 'squish' noise as the paint hit someone square in the face. Lavi looked up from his half-crouch to stare into the face of a very paint-laden, obviously unhappy samurai whose entire head was covered in white primer.
"…Run," Lavi squeaked, and the three of them made for the bedrooms, screaming, with Kanda hot on their trail. Cam managed to unlock the ward on her bedroom and let Allen into her room, but Lavi was just a little slow. He smashed into the closed door, sparking the ward as it threw him back straight into the arms of his pursuer. Kanda looked like the poster child for a seriously pissed off serial killer who had a particular liking towards redheads. Lavi could almost feel the animosity and rage wafting off of him. He gave a small finger wave.
"Uh…hehehehehe, hey, Kanda-chan, imagine finding you in a place like – NOT THE FACE! NOT THE FACE!"
Allen and Cam pressed their ears to the door as they listened to Lavi plead for his vanity. Allen winced as he heard something crack and snap, and Cam muttered a low, appreciative, "Ouch." They both tried to keep from snickering as the sounds of exaggerated pain grew louder.
"AAAAAAH! That's not supposed to bend that way! Kanda, come on, it was an acci- YEEEEOOOOW!"
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" The booming voice was most definitely feminine, and Allen and Cam froze.
Gale was home. This wasn't going to be good.
Reluctantly, the occupants of Cam's room slowly made their way into the living room. Lavi was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a distinct bump on his forehead, while Kanda loomed over him. Bookman had followed behind a gently steaming Miles. She had her arms crossed, and her foot was tapping against the mostly clean floor. Flecks of paint stuck to her slacks where the force field had deposited them, and her eyes were narrowed as she stared at them.
"Cam, go to your room. I'll finish the rest of the wards myself. I got the rest of the story from Sergeant Clance. Boys, stay here. We need to talk," Gale said, her tone icy. Cam slunk to her room in a cloud of teenage belligerence, and she muttered under her breath about being left out. Gale suddenly sighed through her nose, and she looked around the room. She was tempted to use magic for the rest of the job, but she knew that unless she was desperate, she shouldn't even bother. She toyed with a crucifix around her neck, something Lavi took rabid note of from his perch on the ground.
"My apologies. You'll have to make do with standing or sitting on the floor until Cam brings everything back from her little dimensional pocket. There've been some… developments," Gale stated. Bookman stepped around her, his face especially drawn. Lavi's eye flicked between the two of them, realizing that this was going to be a doozy. He motioned for Allen to sit down, and the younger boy followed. Kanda only crossed his arms and glowered, dripping paint on the floor. He'd cleaned off his face, but his hair was still matted with primer.
"Our situation has just been put into perspective," Bookman grumbled, taking the forefront. He threw a file on the floor, opened to reveal two pictures clipped to a report. Both pictures were stark contrasts from each other. One was a smiling girl of three with pigtails holding a rabbit. The other was the same little girl, very obviously dead from a slit throat, in a garbage bin with several dead animals. Allen touched the photographs, confused and disturbed.
"Daisy Hutton was found in a Dumpster yesterday afternoon by some local kids about five blocks down from where you four appeared from your little dimensional hop-over. That general area is also controlled by the Wrench Dogs, who're allied with my old coven, Ravenlight, at least for the moment. I've investigated other cases like this with my colleague, and they almost always have to do with summoning," Gale explained.
"The witches had obviously expended a tremendous amount of effort getting us – or their intended target - here. I am familiar with the style of magic these witches practice. The sacrifice of a child is a very serious matter, and whatever they meant to bring must have been big. So far, they've found another three children, from ages four to nine, in corresponding Dumpsters within the area," Bookman iterated, and Allen felt as if he'd been sucker punched. To bring them here, four people, all of them children, had had to die. That was the cost of breaking the dimensional barrier. Four little lives, needlessly snuffed, just to cross over…
"Bookman and I want to warn you three to be on your highest guard. Getting these children off the streets took a lot of effort, along with the other animals for the sacrifice. They are not afraid to kill children, and they most certainly are not afraid to kill you. I do think that the current head of the Ravenlight coven will try to keep you alive in order to use you as fuel for the next summoning, but there's no telling what a rogue witch will do for twenty grand a pop on all of you. I know we haven't had any activity besides that little break-in today, but you can't ever let your guard down," Gale said, her voice cracking at the mention of children. Lavi logged away the corresponding emotional response for later review. It wouldn't be hard for them to keep up a vigil, of course. They'd lived their entire lives looking over their shoulder. This would be no different.
"Cameron, come out and fix the living room. We're having take-out again," Gale sighed, signaling an ending to the meeting. Kanda immediately walked over to the bathroom, and Lavi shouted, "Kanda, KANDA WAIT-"
The samurai flew through the air and smashed into the table, breaking the already abused piece of furniture. Gale slapped her forehead as she shouted, "Cam, you're supposed to put up a program BEFORE you paint the wards, dope!"
"Woops! My bad!"
Kanda got up, face livid white, and he muttered, "Any more surprises you want to tell me about?" Lavi winced, and he shook his head. The redhead stood up, and Kanda abruptly pushed him over as he walked towards Cam's bedroom, probably to rail about her being an idiot. Lavi was used to such abuse, and he went with it. However, he noticed that Allen was still staring at the pictures with a morose look on his face.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Lavi asked, standing over Allen. Several pieces of furniture suddenly materialized in the room, and Lavi jumped. Allen didn't appear fazed, however.
"These kids had to die just to get us here. What will it take to get us back?" Allen asked, looking up at Lavi with a pained expression. Lavi bent over to pick up the file. It wasn't very large, only a few pages thick. Daisy's life had been short. Painfully so, in fact.
"I'm sure these guys can think of something that doesn't have to involve sacrificing kiddies to some higher power," Lavi muttered as he looked at the picture of the smiling child with her rabbit. He felt a tug at his heart, but habit squashed the feeling. This kid had been long dead. The most the parents could have hoped for was to find their child, dead or alive, either to give it a better life or give it a good funeral. The latter seemed to be only option right now.
"I just can't believe they'd kill children," Allen said as he sat down on the newly-materialized couch. He looked almost comical, completely covered in paint yet looking for all the world like a sad clown. Lavi studied the face in the photograph, and such a clear photograph it was. Looking at Bookman, Lavi did something he knew he shouldn't be doing. He memorized the girl's entire face, her smile, the color of her hair. He read the dossier, the small, inadequate biography, wishing he'd had more.
"It makes sense. They're a lot harder to track," Lavi murmured as he continued to store away the girl, her life, in his memory. Hopefully there, she could be immortalized, if just for a little while. Lavi had seen many, many little lives like this cut short. He'd been lucky to find a few that had complete stories like this one that he could store away, keep alive, hang on to.
Lavi set the folder down gently on the coffee table that had popped back into existence only moments ago. Sadly, he took up a seat next to Allen, and the white-haired Exorcist stated, "We have to stop them somehow. The witches. We can't just let them… let them do this-"
"Now, now, Allen, before you start a crusade, you need to think about this. We're in a completely different world right now. From what I've seen, vigilantism is not exactly favored. There's a lot more press on the police and the government than there is on the citizens. For now, there's nothing we can do but hope that Gale finds a way to send us back home," Lavi tried to reason, but Allen already had that look in his eye.
"I know, but… I have no idea what we're supposed to do about this," Allen sighed.
"We've been trying for years to figure out how to fight the witches, actually," Cam suddenly said, walking over. She looked mildly perturbed, mostly because of Kanda's less-than-appraising tirade. She ran a finger through her paint-thickened hair and said, "Gale has been trying to figure out ways to nullify magic for a while, and so far she's come up with nil. She decided to join up with the police department purely for the fact it would allow her access to information she otherwise wouldn't have been able to get. I've been fighting them the only way I know how – going and kicking the crap out of the first malevolent witch I can find. It's not hard to find them, either."
"And I keep telling you that doing that's going to get you killed!" Gale shouted from the kitchen. Cam smirked, and she muttered, "But I'm not dead yet, am I?" Lavi patted Allen's head, and he assured, "We'll get them back at some point. Hey, maybe we can be some sort of anti-witch squad or something! We're good at that sorta thing, you know?"
"Then quit talking about it, and actually do it," Kanda grumbled as he flopped on the couch and picked up the TV remote. He flicked through a couple of channels while Allen mumbled, "We would, except for the fact we're not pigheaded and actually think things through."
"More like none of you have the backbone to go out and get things done," Kanda retorted sharply. Allen spat back, "And you have room to say that, when you've been gone for nearly three days?"
"I haven't been sitting around waiting like you morons. I've been doing what I've been trained to do. I've cased the entire neighborhood out," Kanda growled, jerking a finger at Allen. The white-haired boy threw up his hands.
"Oh, very productive. Because we wouldn't have already figured out the layout of the entire neighborhood just by living here!"
"Hey, I know every hotspot for most every witch within a ten mile radius," Kanda challenged, and the room fell silent. Gale broke the silence by leaning against the kitchen counter and asking, "How could you possibly know that? You've been here a total of two weeks. It took me double that time to find out where all the major hotspots are." Kanda suddenly looked uncomfortable, sinking into the couch and glaring at the TV as he stabbed the remote button to another channel.
"Care to share?" Lavi asked coldly, and Kanda looked at the redhead out of the corner of his eye. Cam suddenly gasped, and everyone looked to her. Bookman muttered, "Great. What now?"
"You can see it, can't you? All this?" Cam breathed, twirling a finger in the air. Kanda didn't answer. Gale motioned for Cameron to come over, and Lavi jerked a finger towards the two to Allen. The alabaster-haired Exorcist slowly got up, always glaring at the Japanese Exorcist who was sullenly losing himself in his own mind as the TV ran.
"Alright, so if you've been so productive, what've you found?" Lavi asked. Kanda crossed his arms and propped up his feet on the table, not caring he was getting paint everywhere.
"They've been watching us. They have something monitoring the building, and I think they're just trying to get a feel for our routines. And there's word on the street that they're bringing in something big," Kanda told him tonelessly. "They're not playing any more. Apparently, you scared a little witch, and now she's gone crying home to Momma. There's a special price for you in particular. Not to mention they want you alive so they can have a little fun with you first." Lavi winced. He hadn't thought that his actions would bring around such serious repercussions. Screw Newton's law; this was not an equal reaction.
"What should we do, then, Mr. Inside Job?" Lavi asked in a joking tone, though it was very obvious he was being completely serious.
"We lay low. We wait," Kanda tersely answered, and Bookman suddenly interjected, "I agree. They can't try anything too dangerous, not yet. They're still gauging our strengths. It's a waiting game."
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Allen got himself a glass of water, keeping an ear out for whatever Gale and Cam were talking about near the fridge.
"He's got a basic sight range. Cam, he's a warlock," Cam stated excitedly, and Gale shushed her.
"Look, we don't know that. There are plenty of guys who've got Vision that can't tap into the ergomund. He could be one of them," Gale reasoned, but Cam pressed forward, "You don't understand, Gale. I looked into the ergomund, and the guy lights up like a Christmas tree. For some reason, he's got a massive store of energy, more than any of our batteries or crystals could contain. He practically reeks of potential magic use. We have to start tutoring him before he can't control it." Vision? Ergomund? Warlock? Kanda? They were trying to say that he was a male witch? Where did this come from? Allen realized that his cup was overflowing with water, and he frantically turned off the water as it spilled over his hand.
"Look, he cased out the neighborhood in two days. I can test just how good he is, but it took me nearly a week to follow all the trails and everything with my Vision. That sort of aptitude means that he's got some serious focus to keep his Vision going for longer than a couple of minutes at a time. Gale, you can still tap into the ergomund with your Vision, so why don't you-"
"No. That's too much of a temptation to start using it again. I'm not going to rely on it, Cam."
"Ugh, fine. Your loss. I'm serious, though. This guy's legit. He's just cranky as a woman on menopause." Allen snickered, and the two looked at him. Realizing he'd blown cover, he whistled as he walked away with his glass of water, their eyes boring holes into his back.
"They think you're a warlock," Allen stated simply as the three stood on the fire escape.
"What? They think Kanda's a –Ha! Maybe he should start wearing a cape and wave around a wand," Lavi joked, and Kanda shoved him. He gave his usual answer, 'tch', but he looked off over the neighborhood, not deigning to answer. Lavi and Allen suddenly fell quiet as they realized that they might've hit a chord.
"Are you… a warlock?" Lavi asked, and Kanda looked at them with a dead stare.
"No. I just… see things," Kanda admitted. "Half the time, I wonder if I'm just going nuts from staying around you two." Allen glared, but Kanda didn't seem to notice. He just looked out, his harsh face still pensive.
"What do you mean, see things?" Lavi asked, leaning against the railing. Allen was sitting on the ladder while Kanda had his back to the rail. The ground was nearly forty feet away, but they didn't care too much. None of them were very scared of heights.
"Lights. Shapes. Lines." Allen scoffed.
"Maybe you just need glasses," Allen quipped, and Kanda pulled Mugen out of its sheath about an inch in threat. Lavi got between them hurriedly, hoping to keep his current platform intact. It wouldn't do them any good to have a demolition derby on the roofs. There wasn't an Order here to foot the bill for any damages done.
"Come on, guys, let's not start this. We can't keep fighting with each other out here," Lavi stated seriously, and the two warring rivals narrowed their eyes at each other. Mugen slid back into its sheath, and Kanda went back to lazily leaning against the rusting rail.
"So you can see the magic realm? The ergomund?" Lavi asked, and Kanda flicked his gaze at Lavi uncertainly. Allen frowned as he asked, "You know what the ergomund is? I heard Cam and Gale talking about that as well."
"The ergomund is the world of free energy. There are different levels to it, from the people embedded layer to the spirit layer to the kinetics and potentials layer, but for the most part it's all about the energy that's floating around and being manipulated. Bookman has been explaining the witching world to me," Lavi explained. Kanda grumbled about useless information, and Lavi theatrically pretended to be wounded. Allen sighed to himself.
"That sounds awfully handy, whatever it is, Vision. It appears I no longer have the upper hand in this war," Allen snarked, and Lavi smiled. That was true. Allen's cursed eye was probably no good in the realm of witches. It was good for spotting Akuma, seeing the world beyond the pale, but otherwise…
However, it could see souls. That may be useful yet.
"Don't knock that eye of yours, Allen. You never know," Lavi assured, and Allen shrugged.
"So we're in a war," Allen realized, "with just ourselves and an entire race of witches." He ran a hand through his clean, white hair. It had taken ages to get all the paint out.
"Yep. It looks that way," Lavi sighed.
"Figures," Kanda muttered, throwing a rock down the stairwell, watching it as it went clunk, clunk, clunk, all the way to the bottom. They talked for several more minutes (or, more like, Allen and Lavi talked while Kanda stared at the city suspiciously, probably eyeing the ergomund as they spoke) before Allen called it a day, going back inside, and Kanda jumped down the stairwell a clear forty feet.
"Where do you think you're going?" Lavi hissed, hoping to keep the neighbors from hearing. Already, he'd been berated by woman with a chest so ample that Lavi couldn't believe it was real (and a few questions later he realized they weren't) about being so loud on the stairwell because he'd been singing. That lady had even chucked this odd, gun-like device at him with a long cord! He'd only just figured out it was something called a hair-dryer. They had so many odd, useful, but whimsical devices…
"Leaving," Kanda stated simply, and Lavi whisper-shouted, "I know that, but why?"
"I'm not like you, you moron. I can't just sit there in some dumb school where I don't know anything while I wait for someone to shoot me," Kanda retorted. Lavi opened his mouth, but then he shut it again. Kanda had a point. Though Lavi and Allen had a basic understanding of most everything, Kanda had absolutely no formal education. In fact, Kanda could just barely read, much less anything else that involved higher thinking. It wasn't that Kanda wasn't intelligent – it was that he'd never been taught. Starting an education now would probably be disastrous considering his personality.
"Well… fine. But come home every once in a while. We miss you," Lavi said. Kanda looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow. There was a moment of silence before Lavi finally said, "Okay, okay, I miss you, you fat lard. Now get out of here. Shoo. Go find some happier abode somewhere else without me. Oh, how will I ever survive!" Kanda rolled his eyes at Lavi's dramatic display of loss, and he began to walk down the alleyway as a lady started to scream at him from the window above. Kanda shook his head as he headed out into the night. He knew what he was doing.
Mostly.
A/N: I've been doing a lot of writing lately! Having so much time at my grandma's has kicked off a bit of a writer's spree. That's much much better than the polar opposite, writer's block. Or worse, writer's maze. Or, as in my friend Olivia's case, writer's PB&J, but that's another thing entirely. What matters is that I got this chapter going! Right! Now if I can just get over my feeling of inadequacy...
Big thanks to toadstoolteaparty and karina001 for their reviews! I love what you've told me so far on the story. I loved the amount of information you gave me, karina. And the note about making you laugh is always helpful, toadstool!
However, my armies of followers and favoriteers are massively depleted! Quickly! We need more troops! And the Doctor wants YOU!
Now, as per usual, the discussion questions! This chapter had a plethora of different events - what are your thoughts on them? What sort of emotional response is there to the current crisis? Can the prose be fixed to be more decisive or less descriptive? How in character are the canon characters? What made you laugh? How do you think the magic will affect the story? What elements of the story should take the forefront - action based story telling or a less urgent, more leisurely pace? What would be preferable - more on the reactions of the canon characters or on the search for their way home? Or should it be an equal mix of either?
Well, that's all I have. I apologize for the un-beta-ed chapter - I decided to get this out while I have internet.
God bless you and happy reading!
