Chapter 21: The Past Revealed
A young girl, twelve years old, walked happily up the stairs of her mansion like house, bag hanging off her shoulder. She had just gotten home from school and wanted to talk to her brother about something that one of the guys in her class had brought up. Dropping her school bag in her bedroom she kicked off her shoes before padding down the hallway in her long black socks.
"Richard?" She couldn't be bothered searching through the entire house trying to find her brother, so she resorted to shouting instead. "Richard, are you here?" He hadn't had school that day, since his school had had a teacher only day. She got no response and she frowned, tugging on a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes.
"He must have gone out…" Now rather depressed the girl wandered back downstairs, heading for the kitchen to find something to eat. Normally her mother was somewhere near the kitchen when she got home, but today her mother was nowhere to be found. She bit her lip, starting to get worried. At least one of her parents was always home when she got back from school, they had to be since she wasn't allowed to be at home alone.
"Mum? Dad?" She got no response, so she headed through to her parents study. She wasn't supposed to go in there without permission, but sometimes when they were in there they couldn't hear what was going on in the rest of the house. The door was open partway, and she pushed it open even further, stepping into the room.
"Mum?" She called out one last time before her gaze drifted down to the floor. Her eyes widened in shock and she screamed as she stared into the lifeless eyes of her father as he lay face up on the carpet. Her screaming ripped all of the air out of her lungs and it echoed through the house, amplifying as it bounced off the walls.
No-one ran to her aid, no-one else was home. Her mother's lifeless body was also in the study, by the window, and she turned around, still screaming, and ran out of the room. She ran outside and collapsed in the garden, sobbing and trying to catch her breath. That was when the hands came out of nowhere, clamping over her mouth and dragging her away from everything she had known.
I blinked back tears, taking a breather from telling Lavi the story of my life. It was the only way I could think of that would help me to explain what was happening, but it was the first time I had actually told anyone about it. I hadn't needed to tell Sebastian, he had already known when I summoned him. Lavi stared, watching me with patient eyes, waiting for me to continue, since he knew I wasn't finished.
Echoing voices brought the young girl back to consciousness. Her violet eyes scanned the room she was in, wide with fright and confusion as she saw shadowy figures at the edge of her vision. She tried to move, but found that she was tied down. Lifting her head she glared at the shadowy figures, flinching when something brushed against her neck. She hated it when people touched her neck, because of her strange birthmark. That was why she had begged her mother to let her grow her hair out as long as it was.
A figure stepped forward out of the shadows, but she thought that her eyes must have been playing tricks on her since they still seemed to be shadowy, a strange grey colour. As they stood in front of her she felt the straps loosen, letting her move. It was only a momentary relief though, for someone grabbed her arms and forced her to her knees on the ground in front of the grey figure.
She glared up through her fringe at the person, who knelt down in front of her and reached out. Their hand seemed to disappear when it reached her throat, and she tried to cry out in fear, only to have a hand clamped over her mouth once more. The hand reappeared and the grey man scowled, slapping her face and causing her head to snap to the left, making her let out a muffled cry of outrage.
Something hot pressed up against the small of her back and her eyes widened, tearing up as she tried to scream through the hand over her mouth. The heat dissipated, and the hands let her go, allowing her to fall forward to the ground. The figures retreated from the room, and a loud click confirmed that they had locked the door behind them.
She reached behind her to feel her back, but she couldn't tell what they had done. Picking herself up off the floor she spun around in a slow circle, examining the room. Groaning she sank back to her knees on the dark floor, seeing no way for her to escape.
"My parents are dead…" Reality was sinking in quickly, and she stared at her hands, fisting them. Crying out in frustration she punched the ground, catching her knuckle on the floor which made it bleed. She muttered a curse as she cradled her hand, ignoring the blood which dripped slowly to the floor.
"I would give anything to get out of here." As soon as the words had left her mouth she knew it was true, and an ominous wind swept through the windowless room.
"Would you be prepared to sell your soul?" The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. She climbed to her feet, injured hand momentarily forgotten about. As far as she could tell she was still alone in the darkened room, but still, the voice had to be coming from somewhere.
"If I let you have my soul will you help me?" There was silence for a moment, and she was scared that she had scared off her potential saviour. The darkness intensified in front of her before disappearing to reveal a tall black haired man with red eyes. He stepped towards her, and she held her ground.
"In that case, I shall do as you desire until the time comes." He held out a hand to her and she accepted it, cringing when he dug a nail into her arm. When she looked down her arm wasn't bleeding like she had expected it to, instead there was a glowing purple pentagram.
Something clicked in her mind and she remembered one of the stories of her ancestors that her mother had told her. It was rumoured that her great great uncle's butler hadn't been human, and his appearance matched that of the man standing before her.
"Sebastian Michealis." The two words slipped from her mouth before she had a chance to think it through. The man gave her an odd look.
"I haven't been addressed by that name in 70 years. Where did you hear it?" She shook her head, holding her hands behind her back.
"Not now, I shall tell you later. For now I want you to get me away from here." The demon occasionally known as Sebastian nodded, preparing to get her out of the strange building where she had been locked away.
As the memories resurfaced I flinched, reaching up to my throat. That particular part of the events had been blocked from my mind for the entirety of my life since that night, and they shocked me as they poured out of my mouth. The man from my memory had a shocking resemblance to the man who had attacked me today, with his frightening obsession with putting his hand through my throat. It was more than a little intimidating to think that I had met him more than once in my life.
"Jas are you okay?" Lavi asked, having snapped out of his calculating daze when I froze up and stopped talking. I shook my head, hugging my stomach as the events kept replaying themselves in my head. I saw shock in Lavi's eyes before I felt the slight pressure on the bed and the breath on my throat.
"Mistress? What is it?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before responding to Sebastian.
"I just remembered something about that night. I know who it was now, who is responsible for everything. That man, the one Lavi said I should stay away from since he was a Noah, he told me that he killed my parents. Richard was with him. He was there too, that night. He tried the same thing just now that he tried on my 3 years ago." I glanced down at Lavi, before shutting my eyes again against the tears which once more threatened to overflow.
"What are you talking about Jas? You've met a Noah before?" I blinked in confusion.
"What? There is more than one Noah?" My thoughts drifted to the strange girl I had seen while I was 'dead'. "He must have forgotten what I had looked like, since he didn't show any signs of recognition until Richard got all fidgety."
There was a knock on the door which made me jump a foot in the air, which was an impressive feat since I was sitting down. A voice called out, calming me down since it was only Bookman. I nodded for Sebastian to let him in, giving Lavi a stern look as he did to make sure that he wasn't going to tell Bookman what I had told him.
"All of the guests have left the palace, and all remaining Akuma which had been hovering outside the palace have been dealt with." He reported in a monotone, giving me an odd look when I quickly hid my arm from his view. Picking my jacket up off the floor I put it back on in order to avoid a confrontation.
"I have also contacted headquarters; they will be sending the Ark for us in an hour, so you had best get ready to leave." I exchanged a confused look with Sebastian before turning to face Bookman.
"What is the Ark? What happened to the jet?" Bookman stared at me with a look that seemed to me as if it were saying I-can't-believe-you-don't-know before he cleared his throat.
"When we get back to headquarters we will talk. I have never seen innocence like that. It's elemental, and it shall require more research." His black rimmed eyes were serious, and I looked to Lavi for some sort of reassurance, but it seemed he couldn't give me any. He was too far lost in his own thoughts to be of any help to me. Bookman must have sensed Lavi's distraction, for he marched over and slapped Lavi, hard.
"Bookman!" I protested, shocked by his actions. It was only the second time I had ever seen Bookman beating up on Lavi, but it appeared that it was a common occurrence. Lavi held his head, muttering curses under his breath as he glared up at the old man. Bookman grabbed Lavi by the ear and pulled him to his feet, dragging him over to the doorway before pausing and looking back.
"I expect to see you in the throne room in an hour, with all your things, prepared to leave." With that he disappeared out into the hallway, dragging Lavi along behind him. Climbing unsteadily to my feet I looked over at Sebastian, sending him a confused look which he ignored.
"Do you know what the Ark is Sebastian?" He glanced at me over his shoulder as he started gathering my clothes which had become scattered around the room.
"I have no idea, although it would seem that it provides some type of transport considering we are using it instead of the jet plane." I rolled my eyes; I had figured that much out for myself, so I hadn't needed him to tell me what I already knew.
I watched as he packed my things away before picking up Athena and strapping it back to my waist again. Sebastian picked up my bag and watched as I opened the door and headed out towards the throne room. Sure I was going to be there early, but I would rather wait in the throne room than in my bedroom.
A/N: Yes, this chapter has a lot of flash-backs, but that is how I felt it was best to go about the explanations instead of just having them talk about it. 3 uploads in one day! New record :) Reviews are welcome, obviously, there shall be some more characters introduced in the next few chapters I think, there's one in particular from KSJ anyway, can you guess who?