Waaah! I got dick again TT.TT -hacks- I havent gotten colds this often ever... -sniffles- gaaah, I cant even sleep... I need RodAl...
Ignore this part
..and I'm watching Bleach right now... STUPID ORIHIME! RUKIA'S IN CONTROL RIGHT NOW, SO ATTACK THE IDIOT WHILE SHE WONT DEFEND HIM! DON'T MAKE A SCENE RIGHT NOW, I KNOW IT'S A PLOY TO MAKE A FRIENDSHIP ARC, BUT THAT'S NO EXCUSE TO MAKE ORIHIME A TOTAL BAKKAAA!! X000
No DGM this week, and this is short because there was difficulty writing Lenalee... she's so amazing, especially compared to other female manga leads, but she's so difficult to set a personality on... Inspiration running low, and spellcheck is the most evil thing ever. This is reporter Akky, with the news.
...it's one thirty (A-frickin'-M), cant I be entitled to act a little loony? -sigh- And I couldn't take the risk of writing a very graphic torture scene with Allen cuz I'm at my dad's house, which is small enough to hear the maniac laughter whenever I write things like that... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Disclaimer: If I owned D.Gray-Man, ALLEN WOULD ONLY WEAR HIS VEST AND PANTS, WEAR GLASSES HAVE HIS MASK ON MORE OFTEN AND PREFORM ON THE STREETS REGULARLY! -weeps with the image in her mind-
Lavi sighed, tired and breathless, his left shoulder aching horribly from the that the reamining larger Akuma had landed. The bluish fire itself had faded after a few minutes of being latched onto his arm, but the effect was not yet gone. A flesh wound for once. He should be elated that the Akumas hadn't managed a bad blow, and in a non-lethal place as well.
Still, it hurt as he staggered through the streets, still trying to figure out where exactly Lenalee and Miranda had gone. And so he found himself, as previously stated, staggering through the streets, asking people, anyone really, even kids, where a woman called Miranda Lotto lived. Of everything stupid he had done while being Lavi, this had to be very high up on the list of stupidest. Asking for a regroup while not knowing where the hell they were going to regroup.
That would teach him to not listen to Lenalee. Next time, he would just let her stay and help with the Akuma. It would make life so much simpler... No, no, don't bother regrouping, we're all already here!
At that point, a loud clanging sound filled he street and Lavi's forehead burst into metaphorical flames as he hit a lamppost. He fell backwards, clutching his head as what felt like a migrane set in. Several people in the streets turned to stare at him as he swore in German, which he saved exclusively for such times as these. Then he blinked. Shit, he was in Germany. Oi, that was just a great bag of dung. He abruptly switched his language to French, which had no real reason for him to be— Dammit,Germany bordered France, didn't it?
Ah, screw it. He went for Japanese. It was practically a dead language now, only used by Japan survivors and people who happened to know the survivors. Lavi had been taught all the words he knew by Kanda, because the Bookmen didn't all know Japanese, sadly. There was absolutely no way anyone in Germany— or any country that happened to boarder Germany— could know Japanese. It certainly wasn't the ideal language for swearing, being mainly focused on manners, but it certainly had enough words and phrases to get his point across.
In his rage, confusion and embarassment, Lavi failed to notice the window opening above his head until the dark haired maiden in the window called out his name. And a few Chinese profanities, as well. It was roughly along the lines of 'come up already', if the world absolutely had to know. "Fichu," Lavi muttered, somehow forgetting about Japanese and switching back to French. He turned on his heel and dashed into the apartment as Lenalee brought her head back in.
"Lavi!" She screeched, running up to catch him as he tripped on one of the stairs, almost resulting in another injury. He silently thanked whatever celestial being up there that Lenalee was the fastest person in the Order, second fastest to Yu when her Innocence wasn't activated. Lavi sighed. He was having very bad luck today. Lenalee pulled him back up on his feet and almost carried him (not truly, but it seemed like she was, as she took all his weight onto herself), leading him into Miranda's apartment, where Lavi noticed the older woman immediately.
She was slumped against a large grandfather clock, which was ticking steadily as she wiped the glass frame that protected the pendulum, muttering something very dark.
Very dark.
"...Wh... why is she...?"
"I explained about... us... and she's been that way ever since..." Lenalee muttered in response to his question. Lavi suppressed a shudder. She was... depressing... Not that he'd admit that out loud.
Lenalee picked up a first aid kit from the table. When Lavi raised and eyebrow she just said "No one ever comes back without a scratch" and proceeded to force him into a sitting position to bandage his arm. At first glance at the inflamed wound, she scolded him for being so careless as to get hit like that. Thankfully, she concluded for herself (Lavi had tried to say he didn't think it was as servere as it looked, but she wanted to decide that for herself) it wouldn't be very servere or long-lasting, only paining him for a day or two at most until the skin would be healed. She dabbed serum, which at first was frigid but soon heated Lavi's entire arm uncomfortably, around his would and very thinly over it before wrapping it in a thin cloth bandage several times. At the end of everything, Lavi looked like he had an unnaturally large muscle.
"What happened to the Akuma?" Lenalee asked as she neared finishing, hooking a clip on the end of the fabric and pinning it to his arm, making sure it would not slip and allow the wound to inflame anymore. Lavi stalled, feeling his arm and seeing how much he could move it with the bandage on, trying to decide how to explain exactly what had happened, which he had no clue how to, even after his stall time had run out.
"Well... the Akuma sort of... ran away..." He said slowly, still working on a way to explain it effectively. The confused look Lenalee was giving him certainly didn't help much with his nerves. "I mean, hey just kind of... stopped attacking really suddenly and then they just started panicking."
"Why?" Lenalee asked sceptically. Akuma never ran, after all.
"I don't know," Lavi admitted, "But someone ordered them to return..." Lenalee gave him a look. "Really! They just froze and I heard someone say 'get back now' and then they just took off!"
"Who?"
"I don't know, I didn't see them," Lavi cried. He only had one eye, but it had never failed him before, "But it was a guy, and I remember what he sounded like!" His one eye widened in joy at his half-redemption. Lenalee laughed weakly at his enthusiasm. Unseen, they were both trying to devise some solution or explanation as to why the Akuma had obeyed the male's voice.
"Lavi..." Lenalee muttered, "Do you think there might be a Noah?" Lavi gagged on air. Lenalee sighed. "I'm Komui's little sister, Lavi, I know about them just as you do being a Bookman and the others do with experience," Lavi blinked and nodded. He supposed that made sense. Lenalee had also been in the Order longer than anyone else, she had probably even seen a Noah a few times. He shook the questions out of his head, Lenalee had already confirmed she knew of the Noah, no need to hide anything he knew of them, then.
"I doubt it was the Noah, they don't need to speak to communicate with the Akuma," He said. "More likely it was a higher level Akuma what was in charge of the lower levels," Lenalee nodded, his theory made sense.
"But those were level twos, right?" She asked, "That means there's an even higher level Akuma or a Noah in here, doesn't it?" Lavi gulped.
"And we cant get out without getting the Innocence before they do..." Lenalee nodded and gulped as well. They both turned and stared at the woman who was still weeping and washing diligently the grandfather clock, muttering promises and obsanities, darkly asking no one in particular why it absolutely had to be her. She was their only link to the Innocence and the only way out of this suddenly very dangerous city.
"Miss Miranda, please help us."
000
Road groaned softly as Allen rolled his palms and twisted his wrists on her back, moving up and down her spine. He lightly dug his fingernails into her skin, but it was actually rather enjoyable. She rolled her shoulder blades out impulsively with his hand's movements. He was some sort of God, or he had magic hands, or whatever. All she knew at that point was that his back rubs were god-send after a long day. And it really had been a long two days. She was tired after an all-nighter.
Despite how she usually preferred to put herself before everything, she only had four Akuma in the city before the time had begun to rewind and she had to make sure to have them last until at least the nearing-final battle with the exorcists, when she could leave the city again. With the Akuma as stupid as they were, that was no easy chore. As the thought entered her mind, she realized that Allen had only brought back three Akuma.
"Allen, what happened to the last Akuma?" She asked. Allen's hands kept in motion as he answered promptly.
"An exorcist destroyed one before I was able to arrive."
"What?" She lept up, throwing Allen back into the wall with the force. He remained silent as Road towered over him. Silent and patient for the rage she would take out. "We don't have many Akuma right now and we cant get out of town before the Innocence stabilizes or is destroyed, and you're telling me we're down an Akuma?" She kicked up, into his gut. Allen gagged and hacked as his back scraped up the wall, lifted several feet by the force of her kick. He clutched his stomach as he hit the floor again. He should have had the wind knocked out of him and been in nearly impossible pain.
"Allen, we're in trouble!" She screeched, "I'm not getting my hands dirty fighting them, but three Akuma wont stand up to two exorcists!" She gripped the collar of his shirt and pulled him off the ground, shaking him roughly and banging his head into the wall. Strings of color dotted his white hair as blood tinted it closer to dark pink. It didn't even register that she wouldn't even have to get her hands dirty if she really wanted to kill them, it wasn't Allen's place to say such a thing in any case.
She dropped his collar and he slid limply to the floor again, hands at his sides. He waited for her to give the say-so to get up again. Road didn't say anything, she turned away and stalked around the hotel suite she had Allen get for her. She was never quite sure how he had gotten it, nor did she really care. The fact was, no one would disturb her in here. Though she would have been quite fine with just killing all of the hotel staff, she knew it would not work well if word got around there was a serial murderer on the loose who could kill so many people in a single night.
She sighed and walked to the door, then paused and turned around. "Well?" She barked angrily, "Are you coming or what? I have a job for you, dumbass!"
Allen quickly managed to get onto his feet, his wounds healing over as he moved, and he walked past Road and held the door open for her. Road smiled smugly and glanced back at the slight bloodstains on the otherwise white wallpaper before snatching a shawl off the coat rack and walking out the door. Now that gave her an idea.