A/N: ... Okay, so... yeah, last chapter was ... weird for me to write, ok? :P Hope you liked it though. I'm still debating how to break things to you steadily without giving too much information too quickly~
Anyway, onwards! A little short, but the next one shall be even more interesting and longer ;))
Chapter 6: Evil is the madness within
Whether it showed on her face or not, hopefully not, Road was concerned for the red-head on the floor she was rather... oddly cheerfully staring at. She had come here right after she had been fussed over by her 'mother', Tricia; and Desires had unleashed all of his megalomanic daddy-tendencies on her as soon as she'd appeared before them. The joke was getting rather tired, she decided, but it was good to put up with as it gave a nice cover for... well, everything. Not that she was going to need it any longer soon enough.
Lavi was sleeping, as it seemed, rather peacefully considering his condition. Road sighed and rolled on her back on the bed, her head hanging upside down over the edge. It was boring! Looking at that pretty face was nice enough... well, it was still a rather pretty face, but she hoped he'd wake up soon.
Road knew she'd need to leave the Noahs soon. And true to her real nature, when the time came, she'd make sure to bring these morons that had gotten themselves captured, along with the ride. Just because she was that nice.
"Eve..." she whispered softly, and closed her eyes. It had been... ages the last time she'd truly appeared before them. She had associated herself with Neah for a good while around forty years ago, yes, but she had not made any real contact with the other Noahs. The last time... the last time everyone had last seen her was when the disastrous birth of the 14th had occured.
Road could still recall with haunting precision the mixed feeling of despair she had felt when she had confronted the dying woman riddled with guilt, sorrow and bitterness about it. Sins. They all had made mistakes and for that she couldn't blame her the slightest.
In fact, she'd merely helped her right some of her wrongs, even though due to some well-kept secrets and her actions, it had definitely stirred up quite the storm within the family.
"Who... the heck is Eve?" a wheezing groan came from the floor. Road instantly rolled over to face the kid the right way and gave small sly grin.
"No one for you to worry about, sweetie," she smiled and reached her hand over to poke him in the calf, inflicting a small groan from him. "Hmmmm... you know, I was going to play with you after you woke up, but I think you really are no fun like this. I think I'll go tease that Panda geezer instead." She giggled manically and hopped off the bed.
"Don't you *cough* dare touch him!" Lavi groaned and struggled to move to a more upwards position.
"I don't think you're exactly in the condition to do much about it, though," she said and crouched in front of him. "But don't worry, I won't hurt him. I'm just going to... have a nice little chat with him!"
"I don't... care... *cough*... what you... *cough*"
Road watched as Lavi struggled to move to a painful looking sitting position and clucked her tongue. He really was in no condition to be moving around. She suspected his intrails were fucked up as it is: Fiidora's germs had been inside him for a disgustingly long time already and if they weren't nasty enough as they were, they affected you more and faster if you constantly moved your body.
Road stared at the pathetic human in front of her. Now, she was going to be nice to them... but that didn't mean a little bit of playing wouldn't hurt if it was going to benefit them in the long run...
She smiled sweetly, kicked him lightly on the side to make him groan and fall on his back on the cold floor. She quickly straddled his hips and brought her face close to his.
"Now, be a nice Bookman and don't move. It's good for you, you know? Not moving. Have a nice laydown and try not to make a sound: I really do think that throat of yours is history if you do. I'm going to talk to that geezer of yours of getting you two idiots out of here, ok? I'll come see you again, pretty boy!"
She gave a small sound of glee as she swooped a small chaste kiss on Lavi's cheek. The expression on his face was of pure shock, and after unleashing a mild enough nightmare in his head to keep him sedated, she got off of him and walked to the corridor in search for the other room where that Bookman was in.
Road knew she was being watched from afar, but was pleased to know it was merely Tyki. At this point she knew she could take him on, if it ever came to that. She had felt his Noah facade fading slowly and being the only one who knew what really was going on ensured that she could call up on those powers to hinder him as well...
She sighed and opened the door to reveal the short Bookman meditating in the middle of the room, deep in thought. She released a fake dimension inside the room to keep out any of the Noahs from meddling with the negotiations that were about to unfold.
With her shoes clicking loudly on the checkered floor, she approached the man who now had his eyes fixated on her.
"Good evening, Bookman. What a nice time you seem to be having, despite your apprentice's state of health," she said, moving to sit cross-legged in front of him. She cocked her head. "Not going to greet me? Where are your manners, old man? When I'm here to strike you a little deal and everything!"
"You Noahs have broken the golden rule of not to directly mess with the Bookmen. I have no kind words to give you, nor do I wish to indulge you in your little games," he drawled solemnly, closing his eyes once more and lowered his head slightly towards the floor.
"Now now, I know this visit hasn't been the nicest one, but that's going to change! I'm going to help you get out, with your poor apprentice healed and everything," she smiled at him.
"Just that you can play some hide-and-seek with us, I presume? Are you really that bored with the state of this war, 9th disciple?"
"While I do admit I am a little bored, Panda, human toys aren't what I'm after," she clapped her hands on both of his cheeks and turned his head towards her.
"I AM going to help you out, but I do must admit that comes with a little price. While I know your cause is important, naturally, I know a generous amount about your little regulations," she whispered, still forcing him to look her directly into her eyes. "I'm sure you've come across some files where it states I may or may not be slightly different from my other siblings. Not that that matters right now~! What does matter, however, is that your apprentice is dying and I know you know for a fact that he's the last one you'll ever have time to train to carry on your legacy. Are you willing to hear me out?"
Bookman merely grunted and turned his head from her grasp and adopted an expression to indicate he was listening. Road gave a small giggle and laid her hands in her lap. Whatever Bookman was expecting to hear from her mouth next, it definitely didn't seem to be the following.
"Eden must activate."
Bookmans eyes widened at the quiet whisper and he quickly snapped his head back to look at the Noah in front of him.
"But that's...!"
Road gave a haunty laugh, which irked Bookman even further. She raised her golden eyes to look directly at him with a manic glare.
"Merely a silly sentence that as your ancient rules dictates you must stop recording the history for an undetermined period of time upon hearing it. It is to be used only when the time is right and only once during this war, no matter how long it continues. So this is what I'm proposing: in exchange for your freedom you stop recording until the time is right again. I don't care if you two become a pair of silly street performers, doctors or whatever strikes your fancy... just do not associate yourselves with either side of the war directly any longer. Preferrably, hide and don't come back."
Unspoken anger and disbelief were swirling in Bookmans eyes.
"What I do not understand is how someone like you knows of this... as far as Bookmen codes and rules go, this is the only one we share on our deathbeds to the successor, and to the successor only," he growled at her and she answered him with a small giggle.
"You're right on that notion, surely enough! You do seem to forget, however, is that I've been around pretty much since the beginning of time. Well, slightly later than that. Anyway, let me tell you a little secret, geezer..." she paused dramatically and smiled at the inridiculous face of the Bookman. "I know the person who made that little pact with the first of your clan."
Bookman glowered at her and closed his eyes. "Who is that person?"
"Bzzzzt. The next question should've been 'what do I have to do to make sure this little escape plan works?' " she stood up and started hopping, making sure to stay on the white tiles.
"Now listen carefully. I know you've been asked much of my relationship to Neah and what is his purpose in this world. The only thing I need for you to do is lie. Preferrably... hmmm... let's see..." she fell silent, trying to think up a decent story.
"I know! Tell them that we secretly hit it off well because he liked his big sister so much! Well, that and how much I liked him and grew particularly fond of him after I realized he could be our express ticket towards a new era with his powers of destruction. He was rather powerful after all. Adam, or the Earl, merely screwed things up when their petty fights just kept growing and finally blew out of proportion. As I recall, around forty years ago, the social circles were in the headlines for months as they fought for everything under the sun."
"Saying I must lie about all that means everything you said was not true?" Bookman said, staring directly into her golden eyes.
"Yes and no, but that's all you need to know," she smiled mysteriously. "Now, I can influence Desires quite magnificently and when he gets involved... I'm sure we can get Fiidora to get rid of those acids from your apprentice for you after you've 'loosened your tongue' for a bit. After that... when the chance comes, we run."
"Tell me, why are you doing this?"
Road cocked her head at him and pouted. "Funnily enough, because I want to. I AM different from my siblings, after all."
Suddenly she grew serious and with her face void of expression she said, "I am the 8th child from the family of God's disciples, the Dreamer. And no one can stop me from dreaming things beyond our limited view of the world we've been forced upon admist this chaotic madness, even if the unconciously applied methods to opress that ability are hash."
Bookman stared at her suspiciously. "What does mean exactly?"
"That's for you to... perhaps never to know," she smiled at him sweetly.
"Road?"
Road's head snapped back towards the door just as she let the dimension fade away.
"Tyki?" she called back and the door opened to reveal a haggard and annoyed looking Tyki.
"What are you doing here, Road?"
She giggled and gave the Bookman a small poke with her foot, while giving him a meaningful glare.
"Just playing. Thought it might loosen him up if I played some nice pretty images of his darling apprentice inside his head a little. Who was looking rather energetic earlier, by the way. I toyed with his mind as punishment."
Tyki groaned. "Hope you do a better job at making him talk than the rest of us then. Not that it matters much, as you're here now. All Desires has been on about is your relationship with Neah. Anyway, I hear there's a little mission for us. The Akuma in the all over the country are in a frenzy, the lot of them moving restlessly around doing nothing and we need to go find out why. Even the Earl woke up for a moment, feeling moderately sane and said we need to go."
"Hmmmm... something's stirring up the tension here in the UK, eh?"
"Come on, we'll get around faster with your doors. And be warned, Desires is coming as well, so it's going to be a chaotic carnage whether there's anything of importance or not. Apparently he hasn't gotten his hands dirty in a long time and he wants something to kill to relieve some stress."
Road laughed. "We all need our stress relievers sometime, Tyki. Would do you some good too, no doubt. You're looking even more horrible than when I first came here. And that was merely hours ago."
"Well thanks, sis. So are you," he grunted and looked sternly at the Bookman. "Be lucky we're not going to torture you more. For now. I think I just might relieve my stress on you after I get back, geezer."
Bookman merely stayed silent and observed the interaction between the two as they bickered about Road's cute charms all the way until they disappeared to do their evil deeds.
No recording from this point forward, then. Bookman hoped that that sex-crazed dunderhead really was still alive, or at least in a condition he still had a chance of survival, as he was going to obey that almost forgotten ridiculous unwritten law, no matter how wrong it sounded. They were in the middle of the war and by the sound of it the things were heating up, too. But it would buy him their freedom and for that he was moderately glad.
Today sure was an interesting one.