~Author's Note~
I feel like crying here, people. Although I wasn't certain whether I wanted to update this or not, I decided that I'll concentrate on this fic and that I'll try to be as creative as I can for the other pending stories I have in the FFN database. Soo… For those who followed my Inu/Bleach crossover and Fairy Tail fanfiction, gomen ne. I've totally lost inspiration but I'll try hard to get it done.
Also, why are there 10 follows but only two reviews? *sweatdrops*
Mou, I feel so disheartened.
But! I'm updating Between Flames because it's Kuro-chin and then there's an upcoming drabble fic, not necessarily drabble but it's a collection of one shots of stories I'm planning to make into long term lengths and I need your opinions.
It'll be up at around January or February 2015 since I have to train for the upcoming mountain climbing I have to do on March.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ MY AUTHOR NOTES BECAUSE THERE'S A REASON WHY I PUT THEM UP AND SO YOU GUYS DON'T MISS ANYTHING IMPORTANT.
Special thanks to:
Puncakegoddess: Thanks for reviewing! I was worried no one would be interested in this because at best, it would be left alone and I was expecting to get no reviews at all. I can't promise a total update though because well, I'm a kid still in school. What'd you expect? I'll do my best in finishing this story. Wouldn't want angry readers now do I?
TraitorousFreshman15: Hey Nat, I'm not sure if you've watched Blue Exorcist but this fan fiction is dedicated to you. Good luck on your overseas program!
Blue Boys (Guest): He will enroll in True Cross Gakuen but that progress is still way off the charts and I have a multitude of crazy twists just to make this fic extra angsty. Don't be mistaken though, I wrote this fic to make the GoM understand their mistake. What in the world was wrong with athletic rainbow guys hurting friends anyway? Jesus.
Dedicated to:
TraitorousFreshman15
Puncakegoddess
Blue boys (Guest)
Chapter 1: Dilemma of an Insane Leader
…
Fists clenched, gritted teeth, infuriated expressions filled with boiled anger, annoyed tappings of flesh against hard polished wood, clothes rustled in fluttered hurry along with groans of exasperation, shouts of rage and loud cursing was evident in the huge room with beams near multiple carved out glass windows embroidered with thick swirls of color, depicting God and his holy messengers.
The Head Pope sitting in the middle of the huge high table could only watch in concealed irritation at his fellow members as they bicker amongst themselves, completely disregarding the fact that they were openly screaming their old withered lungs out in the whole place. He could only sigh and rub his bloodshot eyes with his wrinkled age hand and ignore their senseless idiocy.
"Let the child decide!"
"What would a child know!?"
"He's already six! He has the right to decide on his own!" one of the newly appointed Paladins hissed out in rage.
"Preposterous!" one of the Grigori shrieked out at the outrageous man's accusation, nearby people cringed at the unusual high pitch belonging to the old man. Already reaching his limits, the said Paladin abruptly stood up and knocked off his chair at the same time, outstretched palms slamming onto the wooden table with force; a scandalous expression on his already angered face.
"You know what? FUCK YOU!" the Paladin roared out, snapping the Grigori's patience into a broken mangled thread.
It had already been half a year since the Blue Night incident was executed and tensions in the True Cross Order was skyrocketing off its charts, still arguing over the past problem and accounting in restlessness within the public including the Vatican. Sleepless nights weren't welcome but they were the only source they could cope with during the moment, just so they would be able to escape from nightmares filled with blue flames and the tragedy the beautiful warmth brought forth.
He vaguely could remember the repeats of each dream perfectly, flawlessly.
When he closes his aged hazel eyes, he could recount the hopelessness that permeated the air. When he glimpses at the bodies the Medical Team had brought in for inspection just what felt likes weeks ago, which was an actuality of six months, each of their brazened flesh burnt to near ash and clearly rotting to its coaled bones; he could still see it. The screams, the open mouthed silent pleads for help, the maddening cackles, sounds of flesh torn by large vicious claws and blood spluttering into the air as its container was ripped apart to pieces. What made him sick to the stomach even more was that the cause of all the tragedy was a fearsome thing.
Blue flames.
Blue flames that swirled around in its dark beauty.
Flames that portrayed gentleness.
Only for it to nip at you with vengeance and tear your very soul.
"-ope! Si-! Head Pope SIR!" the bellowing voice boomed out and forcefully snapped him out of his stupor. Shaking his head to rid of the unwanted images, he found himself being stared at by almost half of the committee, each with blazing fury at the matter in hand. Once again, he felt his head spin slightly in concealed annoyance and wondered if the bloody court truly needed him to finalize such brutal decisions; were they that incapable of such simple actions?
"I-"
"I WILL NOT LET A MERE PALADIN DO SUCH THINGS! Sir, please allow me to-"
Finally, the stupid fool decided that he had know the Pope longer and that the wizened old man wouldn't mind if one of his precious Grigori interrupted him in his speech and he did just that; which was an offence in the act itself. It happened quickly though, quite a shame for the audience since they had waited for this sort of thing to happened and when it did; it was brief and short, straightforward.
"You dare speak without my permission, *Tertius?" the Pope asked amusedly but anger was concealed in his overbearing patience, not letting a single trace of said emotion flow out lest he scare his third-in-command. It was a test really, a test of worth whether the man he calls *Tertius was trustworthy of his current position as the high ranked Grigori. But he didn't blatantly let it show his intentions, deeming it unnecessary for the others to know.
And so as the test began, the time ticked by. Reveling in millions of threads, some on the verge of breaking, some abruptly disconnected, very few were thickening to look like blood being held tightly in its bonds and the rest were left untamed, sitting in the dark with the shadows caressing them in delight.
The man scoffed daringly in the open audience with a sheepish look on his face, thinking that the Pope had made a compliment for him specially, and the onlookers cringed at the obvious declaration on the delirious old man's wrinkled features; faces scrunched up in discomfort. It was obvious but they didn't know whether the man was oblivious to the sudden tension or just ignored them.
"Don't need to be so open about it, Sir. I'm the best among *Dux and *Secundus after all! The Grigori wouldn't be completed without me as *Tertius to finish off everything, I'm the master of the*Rana household after all" he boasted out loud, beaming proudly at the mention of his clan's house. They snickered quietly at the mention of the *Rana house, who wouldn't? It was the lowest house amongst the Seven *Sacerdotium and by far the worst.
The Head Pope silently judged the current situation as the man obliviously rattled on and on about his obviously not impressing clan house. The other onlookers silently observed the serene man's movements and promptly ignored the old graying piece of shit that was still in his daydream.
"Actually Milord, did you know that Lady Herpentia from the house of *Accipiter was found consorting with one of the maids last Thursday? The maid was named Pegna, I believe. Such a waste on a beautiful name and bringing shame to one of the most prominent families from Italy! If Milady wasn't such a treasure, I would've-"the rambling man stopped his loud musings when he felt pressure on his neck.
"My my, *Tertius. I didn't think you were such a gossip whore and how'd you found this piece of information actually? I believe I entrusted half of the *Volta League to not allow either you or the others to get such impure data, only *Dux and *Secundus was permitted" the once kind man's words fluttered over the room like poison sweetened with too much honey and the room temperature seemed to get colder instead of being warm due to the sunny rays penetrating the glassy large windows.
*Tertius felt his air constrict and he tried with vain to remove the magi chokehold the Pope had initiated on his only source of breathing. The Head Pope only stared down at the gasping man cursing in Latin with disdain evident in dark hazel, temper quickly rising to amazing heights.
The frightened man panicked, seemingly sober now that he could feel the underlying anger boiling under his Superior's façade, futilely trying once again to escape the magic bounded in his throat and then the Pope struck again.
The old leader didn't hesitate to tighten the magi and *Tertius' face had turned an ugly shade of sickening green mixed with suffocating dark blue. The rest looked horrified at the abhorring color, others grimaced in sympathy and many snickered cruelly, obviously toying with the pitiful mess's life.
"Hurgh-Argh-Mi-Lord... GHA!" *Tertius gave a loud shriek at the end of his incoherent babbling as he was rudely dropped from the tormenting chokehold, the caster abruptly letting his fingers relax from the familiar use of magi, already exhausted due to his graying age, and then they tensed again when he nosed his hand into the hems of his white priest robe pockets.
What he pulled out from his pocket had them sweating in incredulity and slightly feeling nauseous.
"Si-sire?"two seats from the Head Pope, a dark brown haired man wearing a single monocle on his right eye raised his hand up timidly, the clean white Paladin uniform fitting his rather small stature, gold lining it in thin streams and old dusty black boots thumping quietly as he shaked in slight fear, feeling the Pope's eyes bore onto his form. It was obvious he was one of the new Paladin recruits.
"Yes? Mr…?"the Pope enquired, certain mischievousness apparent in his once angry eyes. The newcomer gulped in slight apprehension and could feel himself grow more and more ridiculed by the Head Pope's multi-change of personalities.
Snapping himself out of his reverie, the monocle-wearing man steeled himself into a change of behavior; lips taut, eyes steely with respect, legs no longer shivering, back straightened (nearly looking like a stiff) and right hand over the spot where his heart would've been located.
Head Pope raised a wry thin brow at the act of honor; it was quite rare for someone to remember the old traditional ways of addressing the True Cross Order after all, let alone the act wasn't used for over half a millennia.
"Eins, sire. My name is Eins Amicus Delegantia" the newly appointed Paladin said, silently pleased and patting himself at the back mentally for not cowering in front of his Superior, it was enough that people mocked him that his brother was much useful than he was.
Head Pope once again doubled over in laughter, the jovial sound booming in the background as they got the scare of their life by their dear Pope unexpectedly. The Pope wouldn't stop laughing; he really should but the problem was that he didn't want to!
Too many surprises and this is what happens to the Pope in each impending obstacle. Finally taking a rein on his insane fit of laughter, he smothered a hand over his beard and stroked it like some contemplating grandfather over taking care of his grandson, eyes still dancing in joyful mirth with the look that sauntered over the man identified as 'Eins'.
"From the *Gloria house, aren't you?" the Pope 'tsked' in amusement when Eins flinched, eyes darting anywhere but the amused elder.
"Yes"
"That's impossible, *Pontufex. Just a year ago almost half of the *Gloria Family's Foundation was destroyed and from what our sources told us, there were only eleven survivors from the Blue Night. Names all registered under the 10*Gradus" next to the Pope's chair was another old man but his features were slightly distinct, graying black hair in tufts of white, watery brown eyes, a rusty silver band on his right and the standard Grigori uniform.
Murmurs of agreement rang into the room like wildfire and the Pope could feel Eins sweating nervously when some curious eyes peered over at him and some sneered while a few more just went into more murmuring, scaring him into a stone statue with his feet almost mechanically sitting down on his chair.
The audience swore they could hear the creaking of gears.
CLAP! CLAP!
Eyes snapped to the sound so sudden that they knew they would pay for pain later on and watched as the cowering man just moments ago clapping his hands to silence the loud room, but glowers were then directed to the cheerful scum as he clapped like the world was revolving around him. They snorted audibly at the stupid ponder.
*Tertius could rot for all they bloody care.
"Now now everyone! That isn't a way to treat a family of one of the *Gradus, now isn't it?" the man winked at Eins in what he thought was a seductive look and received a shudder which he mistook as for lust.
Eins was horrified. An old Grigori member had just winked at him. Bloody winked at him. He felt disgust and hate creeping up his spine at the obvious means of act; how dare the old mongrel try to get him out of this mess by winking at him and not so subtly asking him to get out of the conflict! It was enough the Pope nearly made him think that Eins himself had gone insane and now the bumbling traitor dare ask forth a favour! In front of the esteemed Pope's clear vision no doubt!
He settled for a heated glare but the shameless freak had it mistook as a signal that Eins would help him. Eins couldn't help but growl dangerously at the action, missing the Head Pope's looks of utter mirth twinkling behind the huge Priest hat he donned and the visible shaking of suppressed inhumane laughter.
"Act Between the True Order, Section 196: Paragraph 26. Was that right, Camaican-sama?" a small voice inquired, smooth and sultry but slightly edgy. The eyes that were once aimed at Tertius was moved to Eins, the Pope's mirth quickly doubled but he didn't dare to make another disturbance with the dangerous glint on the new Paladin's brown eyes, the sun making them look a bright shade of red.
"Y-yes" he stuttered with an attempt to hold his laughter, he had never seen anyone angrier than Eins and he didn't even make any worth of addressing the man for his rudeness in mentioning his name.
Tertius had paled and was shaking even more so than earlier when Pope Camaican had put a magi chokehold.
He knew of what the boy had implied on Section 196, it was quite gruesome to be honest but he couldn't believe that the younger generations had read the Act of Order and due to that, no one had the guts to detain him for his illogical acts since they had never known of the Act of Order, it was possibly ancient rules.
"If any of aforementioned members of the True Cross Order, for example The Grigori, were to make an attempt to try and evoke any punishment with illegal help by force, blackmail, slavery or discrimination; he would be dealt with the *Act of Punishment, Section 18: Act 12, Archive of Torture and Level 7, Pits of Hell Basement. "Eins finished, snapping the brown leather book close with a loud smack.
Within the silence, a single clap was heard. Then millions of flesh hitting flesh was heard and the sound permeated the air, Eins bowed and smiled cheerfully, a malicious hint behind upturned lips with satisfaction at his revenge. Tertius backed away in horror and tried to scramble to the exit when all of a sudden, he tripped on thin air.
((00pagebreak00)) ((Minutes before Tertius' attempt to escape))
Shiro sighed tiredly for what had been maybe the fifth hundred time that day whilst rubbing his temple and watching his charge tiredly with silent wonder. Either the boy knew he was watching and just ignored him or was too fixated on the huge binding of a book sitting on his small thighs, he just didn't know.
They had arrived hours before the meeting and all Shiro could do was stare incredulously at the bickering that involved multiple cussing , shouting and tables slamming or just mere crashes. He had an inkling that the old man was probably enjoying this multitude of insults flying in midair, judging by the few times the man had let out an insane laughter and scared the living daylights out of most of the order. He wasn't startled exactly since he knew of the Pope's insane and twisted way of looking at things; well that's what made the Jiji even more interesting anyway.
"Fujimoto-san" he turned and raised a delicate brow when his charge called his name, having not heard the boy's voice even once during his care for him.
"What is it, Tetsu?" he said gruffly, and then suddenly sucked in a breath when big blue eyes the colour of the sky turned to him questionably. Pink tinged his cheeks at the cute but blank look and he felt relieved when his six-year old charge didn't comment on the blush clearly marring his face.
"Can I sit next to the door please? I feel… strange" Tetsuya said politely but at the end, his voice sounded uncomfortable. Shiro hesitated, against the idea of him sitting next to the entrance for fear of the boy running away at an opportune time but then his resolve broke when he saw how the boy's eyes darted from the front where Pope Camaican was sitting and the Eins boy shaking with rage.
He nodded mutely, not trusting his voice lest he let out a girly-…err, manly squeal when Tetsuya fidgeted and got up from his chair, trying hard not to stumble and make a huge ruckus. He finally settled next to Shiro's right and stayed quiet while reading the book Shiro had lent him just moments ago, eyes silently darting on the pages of the book of whatever he was reading.
Sighing again, he decided against making talk with his charge (as the boy was quiet in nature and flipped out a white folder from his coat, marked with a blue tag and written in huge bold letters:
Kuroko Tetsuya
Charge's appearance: sky blue hair and eyes, slightly gold flecks in eyes
Charge's particulars: (a) Age: six
(b) Orphan
(c) DOB (Date of Birth): January 31
Charge's progress (health/education): Shows sign of early intelligence, reads books meant for research, learns Latin English French and German.
Charge's behavior/personality: Polite, quiet in nature, observant, smart and obedient, causes no troubles at all.
Relatives: Deceased foster mother
Relative(s) particulars: (a) Name: Shikigane Haya
(b) Age: Twenty-seven
(c) Occupation: Shrine Maiden of Iwagara Jinja, retired Paladin recruit of 12 years
(d) COD (Cause of Death): Blue Night victim
(e) Injuries sustained: not given, body completely charred and burned to a degree of no injuries recognized
(f) DOD (Date of Death): 27 December
"-the *Act of Punishment, Section 18: Act 12, The Archive of Torture and Level 7, Pits of Hell Basement.
Shiro looked up from reading the profile and was in time to listen to the Eins brat's final speech, a twisted smirk on his face at the mention of the Archive of Torture. He saw Tertius' face pale considerably to an unhealthy shade of paper white and chuckled darkly at the look of horror, finally.
He watched as Tertius prepared to make a dash for the door and he panicked, knowing he couldn't get there in time. But then, Tertius tripped and face-planted on the floor; making Shiro freeze.
Wait, he tripped on thin air?
That's when his nerves felt like they were shot as he caught a glimpse of sky blue locks and he groaned mentally at the boy's unintentional way of getting into trouble. Polite or not, quiet or not, intelligent or not, the boy has a knack for these situations and Shiro couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh at the boy's trouble magnet stuck on his head like a beacon.
Fujimoto Shiro cursed his fond little charge's obliviousness.
*Explanation notes*
Grigori:
*Dux: Latin for 'leader', the First-in-Command of the Grigori whose decisions are necessary in political arguements or such and he is in charge of keeping the Grigori members in line.
*Secundus: Second-in-Command, takes care of arrangements for meetings with the order or Pope and issues missions or assassinations of any kind if proposed by the Pope or by vote of the Order, in charge of the Volta League. Second in Latin.
*Tertius: An assitant, its not necessary for the Grigori to obtain a Third-in-Command since two are enough but this position does most of the paperwork and organizes events as well as other trivial things that could be easily solved with ease. Third in Latin.
True Cross Order (reference):
7 Sacerdotium:
There are seven power houses in the Sacerdotium, the word Sacerdotium means 'hierarchy' in Latin and due to the public's insistence of wanting to be categorized differently among their peers, they are categorized by power and name, along with the public's regard for the house's inhabitants and masters.
Rana House: 'Rana' means 'frog' and is the lowest in the Sacerdotium due to its unpopularity and reputation for taking drugs and doing illegal acts of enslavement, bribery and blackmail. *Tertius is the current head of the house.
Accipiter House: The house name means 'hawk' and is the fifth highest in hierarchy. They control half of the transportation rates for the Order and they mostly comprised of meat factories, producers, hunters and farmers who bred animals in Turkey, Germany and Lithuania.
10 Gradus:
The 10 Gradus are arranged neither by power or popularity. They are arranged nil and represent the acts of humans, demons or angels. Orphans found with special abilities are put in one of the houses and are trained to defend the Order and country. There are at least five branches along with the 7 Sacerdotiums in five continents but the main branches are in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Ikebukuro, Honshu and Wakuya prefecture.
Gloria House: The Gloria house is the house for those who hold honour in their grasps tightly and are skilled in negotiations and smooth talking, they are trained to assassinate any threats to the public of non-Exorcists and are not placed to guard the Order or country. Only 12, including Eins, survived the Blue Night where the House was wiped clean.
True Cross Order:
Volta League: The League is in charge of the Forbidden Archives, The Seven Archives of Sins, The Archive of Torture and any information that the Pope doesn't want to be leaked out of. There are three levels to the Volta League: (a) Policia Security (b) Archivist Recorders (c) Forbidden Guardians
Addressing names:
*Pontufex: High Priest/ Head Pope
~Author's Note~
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