Chapter 18

The last free days before our job was due to begin went by quickly. I had taken to hiding out in the library in an attempt to avoid not only Ricardo but Prince Bakkhos and the boy from the training ground as well. The heat made my temper rise up, and I wasn't good at dealing with people when I was angry. It worked out better for everyone, or at least it did in my own selfish mind. For the last three days, and this morning as well, I had been sitting curled up in one of the armchairs in the library reading books about Greek mythology while wondering whether innocence had ever come in to play in the country's history. Not that I was going to pick up a proper history book and find out.

That was then. Now I was busy getting ready for guard duty at the palace, for the celebration of Prince Gregorios's (or Greg as I had decided to call him) sixteenth birthday. Bookman had still been unsure about the likelihood of any Akuma attack, so I was going to take the initiative and prepare for the worst case scenario. Not that I would be doing anything different either way, it would just mean that if something did happen I could say that I had expected it.

Staring at the clothes I had lain out on the bed I tried to decide what I should wear under my jacket. It was too hot to wear my uniform shirt, so I eventually picked a white tank top. Picking it up I went into the bathroom to change, since that was the only room where I knew Sebastian wouldn't suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Exiting the bathroom I went and sat down on the edge of my bed. My uniform was all black, so I knew I would be burning up unless they had some decent air conditioners. I quickly pushed that line of thinking to the back of my mind, concentrating instead on shoving my feet into my combat boots. Once that was done I got to my feet and turned around to face my bed. I picked up Athena, holding it in my hands for a moment before strapping it to my waist. Today was the one day I was actually allowed to wander the halls with my katana, so I was going to take advantage of it.

There was a loud knock at my bedroom door, and before I had a chance to say anything it swung open, revealing the young red headed exorcist as he wandered into my room. And that was yet another reason why I had taken to changing in the bathroom.

"Hey Jas, are you ready to go?" He asked, sounding more serious than he usually did. I nodded; giving my hair a quick tug to make sure it wasn't going to come out of its ponytail. Turning around fully I straightened my jacket before following him out into the hallway, shutting the door behind me. I had no idea where we were going, because I was a bit directionally challenged, not to mention I hadn't exactly made an effort to learn the layout of the palace.

"Lavi," I started nervously, unsure how to word what I wanted to ask. He turned his head to the side, watching me. "umm… do you think they'll let us eat lots at the party?" I chickened out. What had I been going to ask him? It was nothing particularly embarrassing, but it just didn't seem like a good time to ask.

He laughed, acting light-hearted again even though I knew it was an act. Today he was absolutely, 100% serious, and I decided that it was because of the uncertain circumstances of what we were going to be doing. No-one out of the loop seemed to seriously expect anything to happen, but there must have been other incidents before the one I had heard about in town, otherwise there would have been absolutely no reason for the monarchs to ask the Black Order to provide them with security.

Lavi pushed open one of the double doors and held it open to let me walk in before him. The throne room had been decorated extravagantly, with tables and seats and all sorts of expensive looking party decorations. It seemed a bit overboard, my birthdays since Sebastian came had been even more subdued than they had been when my parents were around. I had never been to a party that had so many… streamers everywhere. I'm sure Greg was going to be rather embarrassed once he stepped foot in the hall.

Re-orientating myself I turned and walked up towards the dais, stopping just before it and opting to lean against one of the columns to wait out the party. Lavi could stand elsewhere and Bookman somewhere else again, and then if something happened we would hopefully be able to help everyone.

Pretty much no-one was here yet. I guess the important people where going to be making their grand entrances in due time. Since I had nothing better to do I took a good look around the throne room, taking in all the things I hadn't noticed the first time, such as the massive glass sliding doors at the opposite end of the hall. They had been opened up, and they led out onto a large expanse of lawn, past which you could see citizens lined up by the gate at the edge of the palace boundaries, hoping for a chance to see good old Greg I assumed.

A trumpet sounded and I flinched, standing at attention nonetheless. I mean seriously? A trumpet? That is way too old-fashioned for my liking, but there was nothing I could do about it, not without trying to claim the throne, which was definitely not up there on my to-do list.

Thaleia and Alexandros swept into the room in all their majestic royal people clothes, followed shortly after by First Prince Bakkhos and Second Prince Gregorios, also in extravagant clothing that I would die wearing. I averted my gaze, not wanting to accidentally make eye contact with that irritating Bakkhos, who I still couldn't think up a nickname for. He was the bane of my existence, for now anyway, with the way he gave me that knowing smirk when I dared to look up.

.:Sometime a little later on:.

Greg was not enjoying himself. He had on one of those fake smiles that famous people always managed to perfect, but I knew it was just that, a fake smile. No sixteen year old in their right mind would want a party like this, it was too adult and too extravagant, even for someone raised as royalty. I felt bad for him, and I almost went over to him so that he could talk to someone his own age, but then I remembered that I was only security.

"Lady Jasmine, where have you been all week?" A voice asked from my right. Turning my head I saw the Captain standing next to me, looking frantic.

"In the library." I threw back at him. It wasn't a lie; it was just going to sound like one. He had actually looked for me in the library a few times, but whenever I had heard the door opening I would hide behind the chair, avoiding contact with palace employees and members of the royal family alike.

A strange hush fell over the room as two sets of footsteps could be heard heading towards the dais. Turning my gaze to them my heart skipped a beat and I almost forgot to breathe. There were two men heading towards the monarchs, and one of them looked a hell of a lot like my missing, presumed dead brother Richard.

They didn't seem to notice the hush that followed them; they seemed too intent on walking to the dais. Something felt off about the whole thing, so I quickly pulled up the hood of my jacket before making my way over to intercept them.

"State your name and purpose." I demanded coldly, holding my arms out and averting my eyes so that my hair fell in front of them. The older man laughed, giving me a quick look.

"Oh isn't that cute? They have exorcists here." My head shot up at that, hood falling back and revealing my face. The person I thought to be Richard let out a strangled noise of confusion, and I stared wide-eyed at the older man.

"What do you mean 'they have exorcists here'?" Richard and I called out in sync, both utterly confused by what the man with oddly grey tinted skin had just said. He looked vaguely amused by our synchronised outburst, studying us both.

"Siblings? How cute. But now is not the time for precious family reunions." There was a loud explosion, and Richard's worried violet eyes met my own before I looked past them only to see a small army of Akuma streaming in through the doors from outside.

"LAVI!" I yelled over the noise as people started to realise that they were under attack and began screaming and running around. Really, why do they always run around? It just makes it harder for the saviours to do their thing.

I jumped back a step, pulling Athena off of my belt as I watched the approaching cloud of what I hoped were level 1 Akuma. The grey man smiled, while Richard looked a bit unnerved by it all, but he wasn't moving either way. I saw rather than heard Lavi activating his innocence when a giant hammer came into view, smashing several Akuma to the ground.

"Now would be a really good time for you to work…" I mumbled quietly to myself, taking a deep breath. There was a strange sensation in my throat, and something told me that I shouldn't breathe out while facing towards anyone. So I faced the oncoming Akuma, lifted my chin, and exhaled. To my surprise, along with probably everyone else in the room, what came out of my mouth was not air, but fire. I was breathing fire.

The Akuma screamed as the flames hit them, the army disintegrating one by one as they fought amongst each other, using each other as shields to try and get past me. When most of them were gone and Lavi was dealing with the rest I managed to find the off switch. I was exhausted and drained, but before I had a chance to do anything the older man had appeared in front of me.

"Jasmine! Get away from him! He's a Noah!" Lavi's voice reached my ears amongst the chaos but I couldn't understand what he was saying. Noah? As in the Noah from Noah's Ark? That was completely absurd. The man grinned, tilting his head ever so slightly to one side in a way that made his fringe move, revealing a series of black crosses on his forehead.

"What the hell?" I managed to whisper, the only thing running through my head at that moment in time being why on earth anyone would choose THERE to get a ton of tattoos.

"Well well girly, it seems you are a real exorcist after all. I thought you might have just been playing dress up, what with the way you were acting, but no, you are the real deal." I self-consciously placed a hand on the back of my neck, covering the innocence fragment embedded there.

"That innocence of yours though, it's a very strange one. I'm sure the Earl would want to see it, but I don't really have the patience to be lugging around two extra people." I stared at him, not fully comprehending what he was saying.

"Who are you?" I demanded once more, trying to sound stronger than I was feeling. He straightened up, hair falling back into its original place. Leaning closer he whispered in my ear.

"Tyki Mikk. I'm the one who killed your parents." He then proceeded to put his hand THROUGH my neck, I'm not even joking, he went straight through it, and tried to grab the innocence fragment. I froze up, not daring to move in case something awful came about from it. I saw him frown as he flexed his fingers, trying to grab it but apparently not being able to.

"It figures." He muttered angrily. "If it is the Heart then maybe it has some special defences." He tried one last time, only to be repelled by a flash of almost sickly purple light, forcing his hand out of my neck. I let out a strangled cry of shock before sinking to my knees on the stairs, holding my neck as though my head was going to fall off.

A/N: Well this just proves it. I really can't be bothered studying for exams. I should be trying harder really, but I'm not. Next chapter update? I have no idea. But 3 in four days is pretty good if I do say so myself :) Until next time loyal readers. Oh, and did you guess right? Did you guess that it would be Tyki? Or did you think it might have been Road? If you guessed right you can have a cookie :)