Ashes And Rain

DGM

Chapter 14

Briefing

Komui sat thoughtfully at his desk. He was looking over each exorcist profile, going through all successful and unsuccessful assignments and more. He had to pick out a few exorcists to go on that mission. That very important mission. They would all take off early tomorrow morning. Before then, Komui would have to brief them. The difficult task in finding the necessary exorcists is that he has a limit of time and candidates. Perhaps that wasn't the hardest part about it.

Yes, the hardest part about it was that Cross would be leading this group. "You know very well Lenalee is going to have to be one of those exorcists to go." General Klaud interjected on Komui's train of thought.

He looked up at the three Generals he had asked to be here and actually showed up. Komui wasn't sure if the messenger relayed Komui's message to him. Cross did have a tendency to scare men off and if it was a woman, god he doesn't want to know. Besides, it could be good he didn't show. "I know," Komui sighed, "I know. I've had that planned from the beginning and listening to her in the dining room the other day. . . I knew she had to go. As much as I don't want her to."

"MIranda Lotto seems to be a helpful hand. Why not send her?" General Tiedol mused.

"Lavi and Bookman also seem to be good candidates here. Cross' team may need their knowledge." Klaud added, La Jamin agreeing with it. Or so Komui thought.

"Yes, I agree with you, but I also wanted to send Kanda. Timothy shows great potential for this specific assignment. As do Daisya Barry and Noise Marie. Allen Walker is already going, that was decided by Cross himself. In fact, I don't think he even gave Allen a choice in this matter."

"You should have known that." Sokolo grumbled.

"Why don't you send Arystar Krory? If you line up the team with people Allen knows well already and they know him then they're bound to do excellent. In this matter I would suggest Lenalee Lee, Lavi, Bookman, Miranda, Kanda, and Krory." Tiedol offered with a sense of knowing it was good.

General Klaud nodded in agreement. "Timothy is not ready for a mission such as this yet. I'm afraid you'll have to leave him out of it."

"So Daisya, Marie, and Timothy will get left behind? That includes you three, of course." Unfortunately they could not send all the Generals as tempting as Komui thought it was. Cross was the only permitted General. "But that tallies it up to a assignment of eight people. We've never sent this many before on any assignment." The more Komui thought about it the more reasonable it sounded, but it was risky. . . .

"You've never given out any assignment like this before either." Klaud retorted.

Komui rubbed his temples, thinking long and hard about this. He had a few hours left to pick and brief. He might as well go with Tiedol's and Klaud's suggestion. Why did he ask Sokolo here again. "Yes, yes, very well. Reever, call all the exorcists to my office. I will brief all those at once. . . This assignment is every exorcists' choice." Komui said.

Once that was asked of Reever, he nodded politely and send out people and himself to find the said exorcists. Knowing this was to be difficult for the exorcists, he asked the scientists from science division to make it sound normal, get rid of the urgency. When they had a hard time gathering the exorcists because they had no clue where to find them all, they used the golems to transmit the message to all exorcists.

Allen and Cross were the last exorcists to get to Komui's office. Allen seemed a little huffy-puffy with him again. Both looked as if they had been training. You could even see a new bruise on his right arm as he pulled down his sleeve. Clearly Allen changed clothes before arriving. "That's everyone, Supervisor." Reever entered the room behind Cross and Allen, looking a little. . . exhausted in an unusual way.

"Yes, thank you, Reever." Komui was also looking different. His tone was serious and stern and yet, he still had that sympathy and cheeriness. "Before any questions are risen I would like to explain as simply as I can."

Allen felt a tightness in his chest and stomach. Something was bothering him about this. He knew what Komui was going to explain the assignment he had with his master. For some reason, Allen sensed bad news.

"Five years ago General Cross was given a lengthy and difficult task. Only a few had knowledge of this so it's clear that they would say he ran away-though he later did just that-"

"I already explained to you idiots about it. I did not run." Cross interrupted coldly.

"Whatever." Komui waved this matter away. It was unimportant.

"What was General Cross' mission?" Bookman inquired.

Komui folded his hands and leaned on his desk. "To locate and destroy the akuma egg the Millennium Earl possesses. The egg-as we have discovered-is made of dark matter and that egg allows the Earl to make his akuma. So, if we force this out of the equation. . ."

"We'll stop akuma production." Allen said firmly, trying to push his own memories away of the process. "Or slow it down."

"Exactly."

"And did the General do this?" Bookman asked.

"No, I only had the time to find the egg since you morons decided to so annoyingly bring me back here to this dump." Cross growled, then he pushed back his hair. "However, I was planning on taking my idiotic pupil with me to destroy it, but before I got the chance to speak with him, you all stepped in. Lenalee is given the exception of not being an idiot."

"Can you just get to the point?" Kanda snapped.

"We are sending General Cross back out to destroy or if possible, retrieve the egg. The General has made it clear that Allen Walker is coming with him one way or another or no one at all. However, this is where things get tricky. Where you'll be going is a highly akuma populated area and there is a chance the Noah clan and the Millennium Earl will be there. At least one of them. By sending you there, we're sending you to hell. None or few of you will come back alive is one of your risks. The eight exorcists we've decided on is Lenalee Lee, Bookman, Lavi, Yuu Kanda, Allen Walker, Arystar Krory, Miranda Lotto, and General Cross Marian, but remember, you will also have to protect the General with your lives. This choice is yours. Will you go?"

Allen blinked. Cross made it seem like he had to go. . Then. . . "Master?"

Cross laxly looked at Allen. "If I had given you a choice not to go, would you have chosen differently?"

Meeting no eyes, Allen pressed his back against a wall, thinking long about this. The mission was suicidal. They could be walking in the hands of the Earl, and the Noah. That meant he would see Road and Tyki again, most likely. Then there's the level three's. . . He had spoken to Bookman yesterday and Komui about that. Nobody other than Allen and Cross has faced level three's. The risks were high, but to be able to stop the manufacturing of the akuma, to let even a few lives rest in peace and a few more lives to be saved. "No, I would go either way." Allen raised his head with more confidence than he thought he had.

Komui was sort of shocked. Before he realized the question he asked, it came out. "Why?"

Allen smiled. This smile was more like one of Cross' smirks, one of those incompetent grins. "For one, Cross is my Master and I must protect him, and being an exorcist we risk our lives everyday, on every assignment. I'm confident we can succeed this assignment."

Cross laughed. One good thing about his pupil, he was always amusing even through his idiocy. "I'm going, too." Lenalee informed.

Allen glanced at her. She was smiling also. He could safely say she must have thought the same thing as she. Before they all knew, everyone was agreeing to. Till Kanda was all that was left. "And you, Kanda?" Komui asked.

"Tch," Why did he have to get stuck with them? They were all insane. Bookman might be the only person he could stand. "Whatever, I'm not afraid of them."

"Then it's settled, you'll all be leaving tomorrow." Komui informed.

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