So. You want to know what's wrong with this chapter, do you?
Get ready for it.
The drama. There's drama everywhere. I kid you not. I feel this is turning in to a sappy soap opera or something.
But hey! You get some more David/Lenalee goodness inside this one! The last chapter just didn't have any. How sad.
Give advice, please, and enjoy!
(Oh, and this is a little something for the end of the chapter: No, they do not die. Of course not. They are my main characters. It'd be pretty pointless to kill them off.
You'll see what happens.)
Sometimes David wondered why he had agreed to go with the stupid 'Road is my little sister' façade in the first place. It was just that no matter what he did, whenever he did, he never got any benefit from the stupid act. Never.
Especially now.
Sitting in a stiff-backed chair with his legs crossed, he glared at his supposed 'little sister' from across the room. Stupid Road. Stupid cube. Stupid Noah. Stupid Black Order.
Will they stop staring at me already? He thought sullenly. I'm not their stupid lab experiment.
"Fascinating," Komui said, rubbing his chin as he stared at David's new arm. "Truly fascinating."
Yeah, you want to know what else is going to be fascinating? My foot going up in your ass. I don't care if you're Lenalee's brother. You're going to be in a shit-load of pain if you keep examining me like this.
"Sir, what kind of matter is it?" Reever asked, peering at the arm in scrutiny. "It is obviously not Innocence, but it is not one of the Noah genes, that's fairly certain."
Touch me, buddy, and I'll show what's certain to happen to your face.
"You're right, Reever. I suppose that we can assume that it is a type of matter designed for Noah. We'll have to test its abilities soon, though." Komui took a sip of coffee from the ridiculous bunny mug he was holding in his other hand. "I wonder, though, what are the Gods planning?"
Duh, it's obvious. It's a new weapon for the arising New Age—wait a second, what do you mean, 'test its—
"Sorry we're late!"
David's heart stopped for the briefest of seconds before starting again at hyperactive speed.
Lenalee raced in through the doorway along with Lulu Bell, breathing rather heavily. David couldn't help but notice the way her hair was falling around her face, the way her eyes glinted in the light, her flushed face, her lips—
Oh, come on, the voice snorted. I bet she's still really mad at you for what you did. Don't get caught up in your stupid teenage fantasies before finding out how she feels.
What are you, my mother? David retorted.
No, I'm your conscience, stupid, so shut up and listen to what they're saying already!
David grudgingly obliged and tuned back in to the conversation in front of him.
"Well, Lenalee, it seems to be a matter designed for the Noah themselves. It's almost like Innocence, except not," Komui explained to his younger sister, taking another sip of coffee from the stupid mug. "We'll have to do some more research about it in the future."
Lenalee suddenly looked nervous. David noticed that her hands were starting to shake, and concern flooded into his conscience. He wanted to reach out, comfort her, but at the moment, he really just didn't know how to do that. "What do you mean by 'research', brother?"
Komui suddenly looked guilty. "Well—"
"Don't tell me you're going to perform more experiments with this matter!" Lenalee gasped.
Komui, reluctantly, nodded his head.
Lenalee looked thunderstruck. David felt panic. If Lenalee was reacting that badly to the 'experimentation' thing, how bad could these experiments be?
"Brother, you can't!" the girl almost shrieked, tears rising to her eyes. "Please, don't! We can just have him spar against me or someone else to see what it will do! Just please, don't make him go through that, please!"
David's heart twisted at her tearful face. He really didn't want to worry her, especially just after they had a fight.
"Lenalee," he spoke. Startled, she turned. Their eyes met each other and for a moment (no matter how cheesy it sounded) it seemed like they were the only two people left in the room. "Lenalee, I'll be fine. Don't worry."
"Don't worry!" she said, almost swelling with indignation. Inside, David cringed. Did he say something wrong? "Don't worry, when you'll be strapped to a table? Don't worry, when you'll be almost dead after these experiments are over?"
"Lenalee—"
"Don't you 'Lenalee' me, David!"
David shut up.
"The point is that I don't want to have to see you go through that, David." The tears finally spilled over onto her cheeks. Several people in the room looked away guiltily. Others shuffled around, their faces sad and understanding. "Please don't let them do this to you, David."
They looked at each other for a few more moments. The scientists looked at them, back and forth, back and forth, to see what would come out of this.
Finally, David said, "Fine. I won't. I agree with Lenalee."
As her face brightened, David felt the old sensation of blood rising to his cheeks. He had made her smile! He stopped her from crying!
Through his happiness, he could hear someone whisper, "Well, we see who certainly wears the pants in this relationship."
Quietly, in the corner of his elated mind, he vowed to later find who had said that and rip their intestines out. That is, if it was all right with Lenalee.
It probably won't be, the voice said.
At this point, I don't care, David replied blissfully.
The voice sighed. Kid, you are so over your head.
---
Brant gulped down the rest of the wine left from the cellar and slammed the empty bottle down on the table. "Great stuff, wine. Too bad it's a human drink." He grinned drunkenly, not really caring that his voice was slurring and his vision was blurring.
Adam sighed, pushing away his untouched glass that was offered to him by Brant. "You know if you keep drinking this concoction in large amounts, you will die." He raised a fine eyebrow at him sternly.
Brant waved a hand at his partner. "Hey, don't be such a sourpuss. Besides, this is the first bottle I've had since—"
"—last week?" Adam interrupted, smiling just faintly at his partner's now frowning face. "Brant, I think we both know you have to stop."
The black-haired Akuma snorted. "Yeah, yeah. I get it." He threw the bottle across the room and laughed as it shattered. "Man, I never get tired of that." Snapping his fingers, he beckoned for the level three sitting in the corner. "Hey, you. I want you to gather your level three friends and, uh, do some evil stuff. Yeah."
Adam raised an eyebrow, and then sighed. "Do as he says. Just don't push it, all right? We would like at least one of you to come back to report your findings."
The level three nodded and turned, barking out a few commands to the others in the corner of the room before leaping off and out of the bar.
Adam sighed again. "Some leader you are."
Brant laughed and reached for Adam's glass. "Yeah, yeah. 'S still great."
The other closed his eyes, and then reopened them. "Do you think we should clean up this mess?" He swept his hand across the room, revealing the bodies turned to ash and the blood splattered over the floor.
Brant laughed harder and downed the glass. "Nah. Later, maybe, we'll get a couple of level twos to clean it up."
Adam smiled. "Fine."
---
"Martha, darling!"
The girl dropped her basket on the ground at the voice, swiveling her head towards the direction it came from. "Yes, Mother?" she called back, silently wishing that she didn't have to call her. She really didn't feel like doing her chores today. Couldn't she ever get a break?
"Martha, darling, come back inside this minute. Your brother is in need of a changing."
Martha sighed and picked up her basket. "Fine, fine. Com—"
A shadow loomed up behind her and she turned, expecting to see a lost traveler of sorts. It happened often in this part of the region. "Well hi, are you los—"
She stopped, words stuck in her throat.
The monster in front of her grinned and put the gun to her head. "Hey, honey. Don't worry; I've found just what I wanted."
---
David swallowed the glass of water given to him and nodded in thanks to Lulu Bell, handing the empty glass back to her. "Thanks."
She nodded, and then gestured for him to stand up out of the chair. "Come on. You have to go talk to Lenalee. She was really worried about you, you know."
David groaned and flopped back into the chair, covering his eyes with one hand. "I know, I know. I just don't know what to say to her. I mean, I know I was really nasty to her and all. I don't know if she's even forgiven me yet."
Lulu Bell smiled. "I think she has. Still, you have yet to apologize to her."
David peered out from between his fingers at his cousin. His brows furrowed. "I thought I just had to talk to her."
"Oh, you do. But you also have to apologize for making her worry."
"But I'm not good at apologizing," he protested, looking rather nervous. "I don't know what to say to girls for apologies. The last time I said sorry to a girl, I had my toes stomped on. They swelled up for weeks."
Lulu Bell actually snorted. David stared in surprise. "Please. You're a man, are you not? It's a man's job to go and apologize to the woman he injured."
"I didn't injure her—"
"You injured her heart," Lulu Bell interjected. "You injured the heart that cares for you and your wellbeing, and you should go apologize to her. Now." She glared at him, and David cringed back reflexively.
David crossed his arms. "But what should I say?"
Lulu Bell sighed, obviously frustrated. "Just say that you're sorry, and that you won't say those things to her again."
He groaned. "But I don't know how to without her crying."
"Oh, for goodness sake, David! Just go and—"
There was suddenly a siren sounding throughout the chambers. The two Noah looked up, puzzled.
"Attention, attention please!" Komui's voice said over the intercom. "There has been a serious Akuma attack in the North region. I repeat, there has been an attack in the North region. All Exorcists and Noah must depart this instant for battle."
The two immediately got up and, in a flash, were out the door.
---
Lenalee pursed her lips as she sailed down the hill and towards the town. Already she could see the smoke rising in the distance in the North, could hear the screams rising and reverberating in her ears.
Please let me make it on time, she prayed. Don't let all those innocent people die, please.
She felt her heart squeeze as she pushed forward, accelerating until she could hear the wind practically screaming in her ears.
Please, please, please—
"Lenalee!"
Her heart almost stopped before she turned around, heat already rising to her cheeks as she saw who was racing just behind her. "David! What are you—"
"I'm part of the same mission too!" he called out, breathing heavily as he started to lose the distance between them. "Come on, wait. I need to tell you something."
"Now's not the time, David."
"I know, I know! But just—just wait, okay?" His face more ashen then usual, he raced up beside her and caught her arm, tuning in to her speed as she continued to accelerate. "Wow! How fast are you going, anyways?"
"About seventy miles an hour," she said through her teeth, continuing to push with her heels. "It's not that fast, really. But now that you're here, what is it that you want to say to me?"
David took a deep breath. Lenalee could feel his anxiety and nervousness at this. "Look, I just wanted to say that—holy shit, Lenalee, move!"
Her brow furrowed just as a huge shadow loomed over them. "What are you—"
There was a sickening crunch, a yell (David? She thought blearily), and then Lenalee's vision went black.
---
"Lenalee!" David screamed, grabbing her as she began to skid off to the side. "Lenalee, wake up! Wake up!"
She didn't move. Blood was oozing from the right side of her body from multiple cuts and bruises. Her face was growing paler by the minute, and her breathing became ragged and moist-sounding.
"Lenalee!" He screamed again, shaking her in an attempt to wake her. "Lenalee, please, wake up! Don't die, Lenalee, don't die!"
She coughed, and little flecks of blood landed on her chin, some dribbling down to the hollow in her throat. Her body began to shake and she kept right on coughing. All the while, David clutched her protectively as the Level Three Akuma advanced on the two of them. Its shadow loomed over them and it grinned sadistically. "Too bad, boy. I could've gotten the both of you if she hadn't been in the way."
David could barely hear it. He was breathing raggedly, trying to hold in the hysteria rising inside and the old memories coming back to haunt him.
Ashen hand, lying on the pale white stairs of Noah's ark, a beautiful hand with chipped black nails—
"No," he gasped out. "No, please—"
Golden hair pooling across the floor—
"Make it stop," he choked out, curling in on himself and Lenalee's broken form. His left arm was throbbing. Why won't it stop throbbing? He thought dully. "God damn it, make it stop."
Golden eyes, once bright with life now dull as the blood seeped into the beautiful hair and turned it red—
"Don't worry boy," the Akuma said cheerily, raising its fist high above its head. "I'll make it stop."
And then he swung down.
---
David himself wasn't too sure what happened after that. All he was sure about was that no matter how hysterical and panicked he himself had been at that moment, his new matter sure hadn't been.
"What?" the Akuma said disbelievingly. "What is this?"
David felt his arm shaking under the weight of the Akuma's fist as he slowly came back to his senses. He looked up, stunned at what he saw.
His arm, the markings on it now positively gleaming and spinning around like whirlwinds, had turned into some sort of hardened material that gleamed silver-gray in the sunlight. It stood firmly against the Akuma's weight, shaking just slightly as the Akuma pulled back and leapt a further distance away, watching warily.
David pulled his arm down just slightly and gazed at it, still stunned, turning it over and over to get a better look at it.
"Is this really my arm?" he whispered, voice hoarse.
And then, just like that, a word floated in through his mind. He knew what it was.
"Salvatore," he said wonderingly, watching the arm gleam even brighter in response. "That's your name, isn't it? Savior."
Just like that, the arm shone to its brightest and, at the shoulder, began to spike up. It hardened there, forming a solid ridge around it and shining white in the sun. The material began to spread all across his body until it stopped just under his jaw, leaving the right half of his body and his face still made of flesh.
David chuckled a bit, feeling the hysteria wearing off a little more. "I guess I still can't fully synchronize with you, even after this."
The arm's light shone off and off, as if laughing with him.
He glanced back down at Lenalee and felt guilt and anguish settle down in his heart.
"I wanted to say that I was sorry," he whispered. "I wanted to say that I was sorry for saying those things to you and for making you worry so much. I wanted to say that, but I guess it may be too late now."
Having no choice, he set her down on the ground and stood up, facing the Akuma as he pulled out his gun with his right hand.
They looked dead on at each other for moments. As they did so, David felt his anguish being replaced by something else—hatred. Rage. Fury.
"All right, Akuma," he snarled, flipping the gun in midair before he grabbed the trigger. "You ready? 'Cause I am."
The Akuma laughed and opened its fingers wide. Inside, David could see tiny pieces of string hanging there before they started shooting out towards him, ends pointed and almost transparent in the sun. "Oh, I am ready, Sir Noah. I am far, far more than ready."
---
Something isn't right.
Lenalee opened her eyes and stared out at the darkness in front of her in wonderment and panic. "Where am I?" she called out. "Is anyone here?"
Her words echoed around, glimmering silver before vanishing into thin air.
"Hello?" she hollered.
"No need to shout," a voice said from behind her. Almost shrieking, Lenalee spun around to find no one there. "Oh, don't worry, I'm here," the voice said. It was soft, slightly jagged at the edges as if it were a picture, and slightly masculine. "I'm just choosing for you not to see me."
"Why?" Lenalee called out into the dark. "Why can I not see you? Do you have a grudge against me?" You sound really familiar, she added to herself privately.
The voice was silent for a few moments before responding. "Something of that sort."
Lenalee felt her brows furrow in response. "What did I do to you?"
The voice didn't respond.
"Sir, please answer me." Lenalee swiveled her head around and yet, she could not sense anyone there. "Sir!"
"You took someone away from me," the voice said suddenly.
Lenalee was taken aback. "Oh." She remained silent for a few more moments before responding. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember killing anyone in my life before except Akuma."
The voice laughed this time; Lenalee cringed. It wasn't the happiest of sounds, nor was it the most pleasant. "It's not that kind of taking away, Exorcist. Think—what other ways can you take someone away from another?"
Lenalee put her hand to her chin. "Well, seperation is one thing."
"What kind of separation, Exorcist?"
Lenalee was puzzled. "Um…seperation of lovers? Family?"
"Close."
She was getting frustrated. "I took away your family member?"
"Guess who."
Lenalee finally lost her patience. "Just come out and confront me already. I don't like playing these guessing games, and I'd appreciate it if you could be courteous to me as I've been so far to you."
The voice was silent before it laughed again. Lenalee noticed a figure, shady at first, and then growing stronger as it condensed.
"Amused?" she asked hostilely.
"Very."
And then the figure stepped forward—
---
"You can't run, Sir Noah!" the Akuma shrieked. Pieces of string flew everywhere, their tips burying into the ground while others shot through trees.
One sharp tip of a string barely missed David and he breathed out a sigh of relief. My right side is still made of flesh and bone, he thought miserable, and so is my head. Why couldn't the material have spread all the way? I could have taken this thing down ages ago!
Spinning out from behind the tree, he fired a series of shots—ice bullets, he thought to himself, smirking. No way that thing can dodge this many of them at once.
Indeed, it didn't. One bullet shot right through the Akuma's chest and it screeched as its blood dripped out of the hole. "You bastard!" it howled. "You bastard, Noah!"
"Man, you still aren't dead?" David called out. "You guys sure are tough!"
He twisted his head to look down at Lenalee's body. He strained to hear for a breath and, to his relief, he did. He let out a sigh of happiness, though it wasn't that happy. I need to finish this, he thought desperately. I need to finish this now.
But you can't leave Lenalee here! The Akuma might try to take her hostage! His conscience shrieked.
I'm not going to, David responded, watching the Akuma carefully as it continued to pat its chest frantically. But first I need to—
Pain suddenly shot through several points in his right leg, and David suddenly felt himself drop to one knee. Several spots of blood began blooming on his thigh, and he winced, seeing the pale threads running through his leg. Man, these things are sharp.
"You can no longer stand, can you?" the Akuma yelled, laughing maniacally, lifting its hand from its bleeding chest. "My strings are accurate beyond measure! They pinpoint specific parts of a human's body and attack them, bringing them down far faster than a single blow could! While I might not be able to attack your left side, I can still bring you down by piercing your right! Now tell me, Sir Noah, how does it feel to be the one on your knees, hm? Tell me!"
David grinned. "I feel that you're the worst sucker in the universe." Cocking his gun towards the string, he yelled out, "Red bomb!"
The strings ignited and the fire, quick as ever, shot up towards the wide-eyed Akuma. "Wha—"
The flames soon reached it and instantly, it burst into flames, screaming and writhing on the ground. "You!" it shrieked. "You—you—you!"
Breathing shallowly as he broke off the burning string away from him, he pointed his gun at the Akuma. "Well, it's your fault for keeping your strings attached to your body. White bomb!"
In mid-scream, the Akuma vanished along with the flames, and David was left with an injured Lenalee and thigh.
The material on his body glowed, and then began to shrink, crawling back across his skin and into his arm, where it then turned back to a normal shade. "Decided you couldn't stay any longer?" David asked the arm. The arm glowed a bit before the glow vanished completely.
A sudden wave of exhaustion fell upon him and he fell down on his side, coming face to face with Lenalee.
His heart twisted when he saw how broken she looked. Like a discarded doll, he thought sadly.
"I need to get help," he whispered. The words came off his tongue clumsily. They felt like lead. "Someone…"
He pushed himself up as far as he could go, testing his leg before it collapsed under him again. "Hey!" he yelled out. "Cyril! Tyki! Lulu Bell! Road!"
Nothing.
"Exorcists!"
Silence. There was no sound except for the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.
"Anyone! Please! There are people injured here—" A wave of dizziness twisted his vision and he fell back down again, breathing raggedly. "Someone help her, God damn it!" he screamed, even when his vision kept twirling around and around in circles, bringing bile up to his throat. "Help her! Don't let her die!" His throat began to close up. "Someone," he whispered heavily.
And then everything went black.