Chapter 23: The Asia Branch
"Where are we?" I asked bitterly, uncomfortable with all the people who had gathered around upon the appearance of the Ark. It was more than a little bit unnerving, considering I didn't know any of them; I didn't even recognise any of them. There was a girl with glasses who was full out staring at Allen, who seemed oblivious to the attention that he was getting.
Allen laughed nervously and took a step away from me as Sebastian came up behind me, glaring at everyone from over my head. I brushed my hand through my fringe, moving it out of my eyes as I waited for someone to take responsibility and tell me where we had ended up, since it was obviously intentional and not a mistake on Allen's part.
A person pushed their way through the crowd to stand in front of us. The clothes he was wearing sort of resembled Komui's uniform, and it was then that I noticed that everyone else crowding around appeared to be wearing the same uniform as the guys from the Science Division back at headquarters. Sighing irritably I locked my fierce purple gaze on the new guy.
"This is the Asia Branch of the Black Order." He started, making me frown in confusion. I could think of no good reason for us to go to Asia instead of back to headquarters so that I could go home. "My name is Bak Chan and I'm the leader of this branch." He held his hand out to me to shake, which I ignored in favour of glaring at Allen.
"Allen why are we in Asia? If you didn't want to go to headquarters you could of at least sent me back to the Oceanic Branch so that I could go home." Bak seemed disappointed that I was ignoring him, but I didn't have time to worry about being rude to people I didn't know.
"It was my idea Jasmine." I jumped, startled as Bookman spoke up at last. Bak also seemed to be a little surprised with Bookman, although whether it was because of what he had said or because Bak just didn't like Bookman wasn't for me to know. Turning around I glared down at the old man, wondering whether he actually wanted me to beat him up or he was just being a pain because he thought that I wouldn't dare to hit an old man.
"Bak, I want you to accompany me and my idiot apprentice when we have a little chat with Jasmine."
"Hey that's not okay Bookman! You can't just decide that sort of thing without asking anyone!" I protested, annoyed. I didn't want Bak to sit in on the two sided interrogation. I knew that Bookman wanted to talk about my innocence, and I wanted to get information about the Noah. Lavi rested a hand on my shoulder and shook his head, clearly stating that nothing I said would change Bookman's mind.
"Are you going to be okay with this?" Sebastian asked, leaning in close on my other side, making Lavi drop his serious face and look outraged instead. I really wondered what went on in that boy's head sometimes. The fact that Bookman had called him his apprentice explained why they always seemed to go on missions together, but what was he apprenticing for?
"Yeah, I'll be fine." I assured my ever wary butler and protector, gaze shifting between the three older men in question. I didn't really feel like it was a good idea to harass anyone about the Noah while Bak was around, so I would have to talk to Lavi about it later.
The Science Division people seemed to have realised that there wasn't going to be any big introduction or anything, so they slowly drifted back to their respective stations and got back to work. Looking over at Allen I wondered what he was going to do while we talked, but then I remembered his appetite and decided that he would probably go and eat a heap of food.
"Sebastian Bookman won't let you come with us, I can almost guarantee it, so I think you should stick with Allen for the time being." The demon didn't look happy with my decision, but I wasn't in the mood to take any crap from him, so I just sent him a serious glare before submitting myself to my questioners.
I followed Bak, Lavi and Bookman through the corridors of the Asia branch, not having a clue where we were going and deciding that it was going to be impossible for me to find my way back to the Ark on my own. I was horrible with directions on a whole. At home I was fine, since I'd lived there for a long time I could find things fine, but all these new places were all blurring into one thing in my mind and I would forever be looking for hallways that didn't exist. Eventually we stopped outside a door, which Bak opened and ushered us all into. It was a rather plain room, with a table and some chairs. And no, they weren't armchairs or La-Z-Boy's, they were hard plastic chairs, like an interrogation room in a police station, not that I knew what they actually looked like, I had only ever seen them on crime shows.
"You can take a seat Jasmine." Bak told me, trying to be nice. I flashed him a thankful smile and sat down in one of those hard plastic chairs. Lavi took the one next to me and I thought I saw annoyance in Bak's expression before he decided to lean against the wall instead of taking a seat. Ignoring his possibly very normal behaviour I turned to face Bookman, dreading what was to come.
"Well first things first. Jasmine, how long have you had that innocence fragment for?" I unconsciously covered the back of my neck with my left hand as I stared at Bookman.
"It's been there for my entire life. I suppose I was born with it. If I wasn't born with it then I sure as heck don't remember when it got there." The old man frowned but nodded, apparently finding my answer to be acceptable.
"Uh Bookman? I hate to interrupt, but why am I here?" Bak asked nervously, earning himself a cold glare from the panda.
"Next, had you ever used your innocence before today?" It seemed that he was purposely ignoring Bak until he was required, so I figured it was best to just answer his questions.
"No, never. Hevlaska said something about it being sealed? I don't really know, but I'd never tried to use it before then." Honestly I never had. It had never crossed my mind to actually try and do anything. Although that may have been because I wanted it to be a joke. I hadn't really wanted anything else out of the ordinary infecting my life, it was messed up enough as it was.
"Bak, when she used her innocence she breathed fire. What do you make of that?" Bak was caught completely off guard by Bookman's question.
"What? You mean like a dragon?" Bookman narrowed his eyes, not in the least bit amused.
"Try and act your age Bak." The division chief shuddered suddenly, standing up straighter as he leant against the wall.
"Well have you figured out what sort of innocence it is?"
"All I've confirmed is that there is no way that it can be parasitic type innocence, because she copes fine while eating minimal amounts in stark comparison to Allen."
"Uh… right, okay. Not parasitic. Maybe seeing the innocence fragment might help?" I sent him a curious look, not really understanding how that would help at all, but I had a feeling that being around Bookman was messing with his logic, hence the dragon comment.
"Jasmine, is that acceptable to you?"
"Sure, why not. Go ahead." Bak walked over to me and waited, not knowing where to look. Gathering my hair in one hand I twisted it up on top of my head, allowing him to see the back of my neck.
"That's odd…" He muttered to himself. "I've never seen purple innocence before…" I dropped my hair, throwing Lavi a frightened look. His eyes had widened slightly at the mention but he quickly regained his composure and motioned for me to do the same. There was no reason to let Bookman get suspicious about anything.
"Okay then…" I started before being interrupted by someone opening the door.
"Bak there's something on the news you might want to see." Bak glanced over at them before telling us all to follow him. It sort of surprised me when he took command, since he had let Bookman tell him what to do until now. Nevertheless I jumped out of my seat, eager to see what was so damn interesting on the news today. We hurried down the corridors which honestly all looked exactly the same to me before coming out in a room that had a bank of computer consoles on one wall. Another thing I never would have expected to see.
"What is it?" At Bak's question someone pulled up some footage on the main screen. It was quite obviously a news station, although not an English one. I was about to leave, not really interested in foreign news, when Sebastian stopped me and turned me around.
"What are you…?" When I looked back at the screen I saw myself being approached by two men, Richard and Tyki. It then skipped forward to when the Akuma had arrived, and while the footage briefly showed Lavi and Bookman fighting the cameraman seemed more interested in trying to hear the conversation between the three of us. Of course the footage was enough to confirm the whole fire-breathing thing to Bak, while at the same time leaving the rest of the room speechless. When the Akuma were more or less gone the camera zoomed in on my little group, as if anticipating that something was going to happen. That was when Tyki decided to put his hand through my neck. After that the footage ended and the news announcer came back on the screen.
"Oh hell no…" All eyes in the room locked onto me and I had to resist the urge to touch my neck, telling myself that if the innocence had been there a minute ago then it was still there now.
"Where did they get that footage from?" Bak demanded, sending the crowd back to work.
"Hey Bak, what time is it in New Zealand right now?" I asked quietly, fearing the worst. He did a quick calculation in his head before replying.
"It should be about 6pm, why?" I tensed, shoving someone out of the way and taking over their computer, messing around with the satellite signals until I found the TV 3 news.
"A short while ago we were sent a strange video. We have yet to confirm its validity or what the purpose of it is, but we have decided to show it tonight regardless of the circumstances surrounding it." The announcer informed before the same video began playing. Her voice came in over the video. "We have reason to believe that the girl featured in the video may well be the same girl that was recently held hostage by Greek rebels. The rumoured Greek Princess Jasmine Dionysus has apparently been caught up in a wave of unpleasant events in her homeland, as the anonymous supplier of this footage claims that it is from the royal palace. As to whether or not that is true we have yet to confirm, but it would seem as though terrorism in Greece is getting more extreme."
"I thought as much." I muttered to myself, clenching my fist so tightly that my nails may very well have pierced my skin. No-one except Lavi knew that Dionysus was my last name, but the video was pretty self-explanatory. A hand rested tentatively on my shoulder.
"Jas?" Turning around I plastered a fake cheerful smile on my face, relaxing my hand and letting it fall to my side.
"I guess this is the perfect excuse not to go back to school."
A/N: Shittiest. Chapter. Ever. Well, except for chapter 2, which I was considering rewriting because I decided I didn't really like the whole being kidnapped twice thing, but I can't be bothered going through all the other chapters and removing references to it.
Umm sorry that it took a while to upload, but I had some writers block, plus my mind was stuck in Naruto mode, even after I 'finished' Daughter of the Sound.
It's a little early, but Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and uh.. what else is near now? Hanukkah? (if I spelt that wrong don't kill me) So uh Happy Hanukkah too? Idk...
Oh, and to Yorukifon, I love you, you're officially the first person to fav this story or anything at all! Thanks :) It made me smile