Another Requiem

V: Stuck

"Here we go."

Daisya and Kanda had already climbed onto the roof and were now taking care of the akuma problem outside while Marie and Eva attempted to restore some order in the train.

As soon as the explosions had started, the previously bored passengers had turned berserk. There were screaming ladies, crying children, panicking gentlemen, and very nervous conductors running to and fro. Eva had to feel sorry for Marie and his acute hearing.

"No honestly, calm down everyone. Screaming really isn't going to help," she called out in French and then again in German. It sounded rather unsympathetic in both languages.

Her words did however seem to have a surprising effect on the scared passengers- the volume was decreased significantly. Though that may have been because the screaming ladies had just fainted.

"There seems to be a level two out there," Marie muttered, listening to the akuma outside. The train shook with the amount of exploding going on. Luckily however, only the tops of a few vehicles had received any damage so far.

Eva had several bawling children clinging desperately to her skirt. Their mothers had probably just fainted.

"I guess we should join them then," she replied, carefully prying off the tearful youngsters and handing them to one of the conductors.

It still took the two exorcists a bit more time to wade through the crowd of anxious passengers and get to the nearest exit- not before commanding the personnel to not let anyone out of the train, of course. Only the suicidal people had attempted get outside, seeing that there were explosions going on all around.

Though it was still pouring outside with akuma surrounding them, Eva could not help feeling a bit relieved when she and Marie finally managed to escape from the clutches of the panicking masses. As much as she liked children, there really wasn't much she could do with dozens of hysterically sobbing ones.

"Oh dear." She let out a small whistle as soon as they were outside and on the roof.

"I know, a lot more than we expected, huh?" Daisya commented in between kicking his innocence around.

"No, I meant that I can't see anything in this rain," Eva muttered in response, though no one seemed to be listening to her anymore.

The other exorcists were having no trouble identifying their targets according to the continuous akuma destruction all around. Eva just sort of skipped around, holding her weapon close and trying not to get shot or fall off the train. The rain made all this very difficult.

"Why did I come up here? I'm not helping," she pointed out to no one in particular, helplessly watching the edge of a vehicle disintegrate.

Jumping away from the hole, she somehow managed to collide right into Kanda, who had been chasing the very elusive level two down the entire length of the train and back. Needless to say, he was already quite annoyed. The rain wasn't helping either.

"Get out of my way!" he barked at her, having miraculously regained his footing very quickly. Eva was clinging to his arm for balance, her halberd swinging dangerously close to his head. She had to yell to be heard through the thunderous sound of rain and an akuma being destroyed by Daisya somewhere down the train.

"Sorry Yuu-kun, I- whoa!" she yelped, pausing mid-sentence to pull the younger exorcist aside and block an attack from the level two with her own innocence. The akuma he had been chasing had snuck up behind them, ready to chop them in half with its axe-like wing things.

"Che."

Kanda was never going to admit that this woman had just saved him from a whole lot of pain. Luckily the other exorcists hadn't seen that- or at least, he hoped they hadn't. That would just be embarrassing.

Snapping out of his temporary daze, the pony-tailed samurai quickly took the chance and swung his Mugen at the level two. Eva had somehow managed to hold it off with a surprising amount of strength, though her arms felt like they were about to fall off from all the strain.

Kanda's attack came just in time, and she involuntarily chose that moment to slip and fall off the train. At least she managed to avoid the explosion that way.

Marie had partnered up with Daisya a while ago, paralyzing the rest of the level ones with his innocence while Daisya took care of them with a few well aimed shots. Just as the last one was blown into pieces, they had been able to witness Eva practically shoving an annoyed Kanda out of the way to parry an attack from the level two.

Daisya had actually let out a snort of laughter at the scene, happy that he now had something to tease Kanda with. Marie had smiled a bit, having figured out what must have happened by the sound of that 'che'. He then felt the need to confirm that there were no more akuma around, so he took Daisya with him to patrol along the length of the train.

As soon as the axe-winged akuma was gone, Kanda shot a glare at the spot he expected that woman to be- only to blink in confusion upon realizing that she was nowhere to be seen. He looked around for any sign of that noticeably large weapon of hers, but no glint of bright metal gave away her location. At least the rain had gone down to a light drizzle.

"Yuu-kun!"

His eye twitched at the call that came from somewhere in the darkness that surrounded the train. He was just about to ignore it and leave to find Marie when he heard more.

"I know you can hear me! I need help."

The already irritated exorcist groaned inwardly, turning on his heel and walking to the edge of the vehicle he was on. Looking down he could spot Eva standing there close to the side of the train, the light from within illuminating her smiling face. It didn't look like there was anything wrong.

"My feet are stuck in the mud," she told him as soon as she could see his annoyed expression, "could you pull me up?"

With that she held out the pointy end of Siegfried, careful not to poke the other exorcist's eye out. To her relief her weapon was long enough to reach Kanda, who hesitated before grabbing the pole arm. He had considered just leaving her there before remembering that she had sort of just saved him from being chopped in half moments before. Maybe helping her onto the train would make them even.

Some of the passengers were staring out at Eva through the windows. She managed to give them a reassuring smile before being pulled out of the surprisingly sticky mud and back onto the roof.

"Thank you dear," she said pleasantly, giving him a pat on the shoulder once she was safely standing next to him.

Kanda considered pushing her off the train again. Instead he simply 'che'd and turned away to go and find the others. He didn't need to however, since they were already approaching.

"That's all of them," Daisya called once he was close enough to be heard, "And what happened to you?" he had to ask at the sight of Eva.

Her boots and the hem of her cloak were covered in mud, though the now light rain was steadily washing it away- leaving a trail of brownish water to run along the roof of the train where she stood.

"I slipped and fell off," the young woman explained matter-of-factly, acting as if this was something she was used to doing. It wasn't, really. She was just acting. Kanda was already walking away down the train towards the first-class section.

Daisya raised one eyebrow- and then the other, when he noticed the mud handprint slowly being washed off by the rain on Kanda's shoulder. He looked over at Eva, who was gathering rainwater in her cupped hands.

She grinned sheepishly.

Soon enough they were back inside the train, Eva being left with the task of calming down the flustered personnel while the other three returned to the first-class compartment. There were a few holes in the roofs of some of the vehicles, but nothing too major.

As soon as they were assured that there were no more 'exploding monsters' outside, the more courageous conductors climbed on the roof to do something about the holes, while others walked along the tracks to check if they weren't damaged. It was soon announced that the train would be on its way shortly. Apparently the tracks were safe enough, now that the rain had died down to a soft drizzle.

"What's taking Eva so long?" Daisya asked when the woman in question had not returned to their compartment for nearly an hour. The train was already on its way to Dijon.

Their cloaks had effectively kept the heavy rain away from their clothes underneath, so there was no need to get changed. They had only taken off their uniform cloaks and hung them in an empty compartment to dry. Daisya and Marie were seated comfortably while Kanda was pretending to sleep again.

"She may have been detained by a group of needy children," Marie answered simply.

Eva had somehow ended up with another crowd of children flocking around her. At least she had managed to take off and hang up her soaked and heavy cloak- her dress was only slightly damp. Her boots however, were leaving muddy footprints everywhere, though nobody seemed to mind. The passengers were all too busy calming down and assuring each other that they weren't going to die just yet.

"There there, dearies," she was saying, ruffling the hair of the two youngest children wrapped around her waist.

There were now around a dozen youngsters fighting for her attention while she made her way through the train, trying to return them to their respective families. Apparently the fact that she seemed so calm and in control made her a natural magnet for panicking children, though it may have had largely to do with her being one of the only women still conscious.

Evidently these children had been playing near the first-class area of the train when the attacks had started. Since running back to their parents required leaving the vehicle, they had been stuck there during that frightening half hour.

"That's my Mama!" one of the children yelled as soon as they reached the next compartment, tugging on Eva's sleeve as if shouting wasn't enough. It did not take much longer for the rest of the kids to find their parents, and there was much crying and rejoicing as the now conscious and nervous mothers were reunited with their darlings.

"No really, there's no need to thank me," Eva muttered to herself when she was ignored yet again by a flailing mother and her child (who had, just seconds ago, been clinging to her).

Perhaps one day she would have her own children to mollycoddle. Her fellow exorcists were far too old for such treatment after all, though the thought of fussing over that stoic Kanda was quite amusing. Eva could understand why Tiedoll was so fond of the Japanese. There was an odd sense of accomplishment that went with ignoring Kanda's cold demeanor and watching him twitch at being treated like a child.

When she finally returned to the first class vehicles, the female exorcist had to go past a compartment that contained a small group of extravagantly dressed French ladies who were chattering excitedly about something. Eva stopped dead in her tracks when she overheard their loud conversation through the door.

"Oh but he was so handsome- the way he rushed into danger without hesitation!" one of the ladies was saying, fanning herself blissfully. The others sighed dreamily in response.

"He looked Asian, didn't he? Mondieu, and that hair!"

Eva chuckled. Deep down inside, she agreed with them.

The rain had stopped, but it was well past bedtime for the children when the train finally arrived in Dijon. The sleepy old man behind the ticket window rubbed his eyes before staring out at the sudden flood of people on the station. Shaking his head, he pulled down the shutters and went back to his nap. He was obviously dreaming.

A soft tap on the glass made him frown. He tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't stop, so he opened the shutters hesitantly. A hooded young woman greeted him with a polite smile.

"Excuse me, monsieur. Could you tell us when the next train to Calais or Paris is leaving?"

The ticket seller blinked at her before eyeing the almost empty station behind her. He couldn't seem to decide whether he was still dreaming or not.

"Well, mademoiselle," he began, scratching his head and shooting glances at the three men in black cloaks standing nearby, "the train tracks are being checked this week, so there won't be another train heading out for at least three more days."

"I see. Thank you very much," she said after a bit of speechless blinking.

The old man stared after her as she joined those three suspicious looking men. He suddenly felt quite sorry for her, having caught sight of a particularly harsh look that she received from one of the men. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly before pulling down the shutters once more. Young people these days- always in a hurry.

-to be continued-

A/N: Reviews make me happy. Tell me this, are my chapters too long?