Reckoning
Chapter 6
trapdoors
It turns out Marie was right. I was only tired, and we were back on the road. What was kind of annoying was that every time we came across a new scene, the General had to sketch it. There we were, waiting on a bridge for Tiedoll to finish his sketch. Turns out that there was someone else there, too.
His name was Alphonse Clouse, and he was an artist. We were on a carriage, listening to Alphonse and the General converse about art and architecture. "These three are my travel companions. The two men are Kanda and Marie, and this young woman is Akicho."
Alphonse smiled warmly and held out his hand to Kanda. "It's nice to meet you." Kanda sent a glare at the man's hand and looked away, scoffing. It seemed that's what he did an awful lot. "Eh?"
Tiedoll seemed to find it somewhat amusing. "Don't mind him. He's kind of shy, but it's nothing personal." It turns out that he was going to visit Yon's Mansion. Kanda commented that it was stupid, but no matter what, Tiedoll decided to go along with them.
However, our pleasant ride was so rudely interrupted by a small group of level one Akuma. Kanda and I jumped out of the cart. "You take left, I'll take right!" I shouted over the shots. He nodded and soon enough, all of them were destroyed. "That was too easy." Kanda smirked. But two had gotten away from Kanda and Marie. But the cart had left us, forcing us all to walk.
We did so, walking to the next town. "The Akuma got here first, didn't they?" I asked, looking at the clothing that was sitting up in the restaurant. Marie found them, and we chased all of them east. Kanda destroyed two or three, and Marie got the one, but the last one escaped. It lead us to the Mansion.
Three Akuma were waiting for us. They invited us in, and we went, not without the General advising Alphonse to leave. Kanda growled at the Akuma's invitation, as he considered it to be their idea of them mocking us. Inside the mansion, the first thing we ran into was a dead end.
"Great, now what?" I mused.
Tiedoll and Marie were inspecting a rope, which the former decided, in a moment of sheer brilliance, to pull. A trapdoor opened underneath Kanda and me, shooting us through the floor. I landed on my back, while Kanda landed on his feet, Mugen unsheathed. Marie and Tiedoll followed quickly, coming out through another door.
The General only seemed amused at Kanda's defenses. "Take it easy, Kanda. Our enemies haven't even appeared yet! Besides, you remember what Alphonse said, right?" Kanda sheathed Mugen and turned towards the one door in the room as Tiedoll helped me up. "This house was designed with fun in mind, after all, Novak spent forty years building this house. He poured every ounce of playfulness he had into this mansion."
As soon as Kanda touched the doorknob, it swung open right on his face. It swung back into place. He held his face in pain. I raised one eyebrow and giggled a little as he sent a dangerous glare my way. That door just didn't seem to like him. "The floor plan isn't that simple."
We kept traveling through the mansion, experiencing every strange thing we could, thanks to the General. Some of it included masks, staircases, and trapdoors. Lots and lots of trapdoors. And of course, the one time that Kanda warned General Tiedoll to not touch anything, and he didn't listen, we were surrounded by Akuma that were staying in the roof of the room.
I immediately jumped back and created an oversized fireball. Holding it up, I made it release a vortex of fire, engulfing a huge number of the Akuma. Kanda, Marie, and General Tiedoll were slicing through the Akuma. "That's all of them?" the General asked, peeking out from around the bookshelf. "Well, then let's get a move on, shall we?" He approached the door and was about to open it when Kanda stopped him.
"Sir, let me open it." Kanda tugged on the doorknob, twisting it left and right, but it wouldn't budge. He pulled harder, almost ripping it out of the door. "Damn thing won't open!" he snapped.
I put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Kanda. I get how to open the door. Step away for a minute." He looked at me, half glaring, half confused. I simply smiled smugly and opened it by sliding it open. "See?" I jumped back as Kanda unsheathed Mugen; there were dozens of Akuma behind that door. "Oh damn it!" I cried, falling back. Kanda charged forward, slashing through the Akuma that were behind the door. I sent another huge fireball at them, successfully destroying them as we chased the Akuma down the hallway, Kanda finishing them off as we arrived in another room with a high ceiling.
A loud cackle rang through the room as Marie and Tiedoll arrived. "Welcome, Exorcists!" The three Akuma that led us in here were standing up on a high beam. They were going after the General. "Why don't we set the stage for this battle?"
One of the Akuma pulled a lever on the wall. The room started shifting and Alphonse fell through, landing in front of Tiedoll. I looked around and watched as shelves and ladders rose. Kanda jumped on top of the moving shelves and Marie was pushed up by a ladder. I created an ice-blade and pulled Clouse over to one of the shelves. "Get in, and stay quiet," I whispered harshly. Kanda went after the smiling Akuma and the rest of them came after him. The sad Akuma wrapped itself around Marie. As Kanda and I ran to help him, we got trapped in separate cabinets. The happy Akuma went after Kanda while I faced the angry one. "Die." I knew that their faces were their weak spots.
"Damn you, Exorcist!" the Akuma cried. It flew out of the cabinet faster than I could go. The cabinet sliced in half, courtesy of Kanda, and he dashed after the Akuma. I heard a cry for help somewhere in the room, and I realized; I'd left Clouse completely unprotected.
I hissed and cursed, "God damn it!" Rushing towards the shouts, I kept slicing through the shelves. "Stupid shelves, stop popping up everywhere!" I yelled, still cutting through the room. I finally found Clouse, hiding underneath a broken shelf. "You are nothing more than trouble." He looked sheepishly apologetic as I pulled him across the room towards Tiedoll. I growled a little as the Akuma forced all of us together. "You know, I really hate you guys right now."
A strong breeze picked up around us, growing stronger and picking things up. It was like a vortex, swinging things around and such. Several broken cabinets swung into the wall, loosening bricks and all sorts of things. Tiedoll's smile grew. "Looks like her Innocence is evolving."
Kanda looked at him in mild shock. "Are you saying that her hatred and frustration is making her Innocence stronger? Like the bean sprout's arm?" Tiedoll simply nodded. The room was completely destroyed as I finished with the vortex and fell to my knees, panting. Kanda stepped in front of me and spat, "Now there's nowhere left for you to hide."
The Akuma were only standing there. "That was quite a show… but you over did it." We looked down; the floor was cracking and shaking. We all fell through the floor, Marie grabbing onto Clouse and Tiedoll and me landing safely on one of the ledges. Kanda aimed Mugen, but it kept sliding until it hit a log, shaking the Exorcist off. He reached out for the ledge as he fell, but missed by less than an inch.
I gasped. "Kanda!" Diving down to grab Mugen, I slammed it into the wall while grabbing Kanda's hand.
He looked up and said lowly, "Let go, or you're dead, too." How could he say that? He was going to fall and he told me to let him go, and fall to his death? He was my teammate. I wouldn't let him die like that.
Smirking, I held on tighter and began to pull him up to the ledge. "I'm already dead. And I'm going to save you."
He didn't reply, only scoffed. "Che." I pulled him up and handed him back Mugen. Tiedoll had pulled out his Innocence as I pulled Kanda up. The Maker of Eden was destroying the wall, letting us down, and forcing the mansion to collapse. He attacked the heart of the mansion and saved all of us. I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I opened them, I noticed the Akuma were above me. Kanda raised his sword as Marie trapped them. He sliced all three of them in half and landed.
Almost an hour later, Tiedoll was still weeping over the collapsed building. "That doesn't make any sense! He's the one who destroyed it!" Kanda protested quietly. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"I think it's just the way the General's mind works. He destroyed it so Clouse could have his own spotlight and build what he wants." I looked over to the excited architect and the General who were eagerly discussing the plot of land and all the ideas in Clouse's head for a house. "We should get going. General." He looked over. "It's time to go."
While we were walking away, I felt a familiar push at the back of my mind. Only one thought hit me. Noah, I thought fiercely, whirling around. Luckily, the other three were all in front of me, but I noticed him. He was tall, and slightly fat, with a lollipop in one hand. He was looking around, his gray skin noticeable. He noticed me, too, and our eyes locked. It was him. Skin Bolic, the Noah of Wrath, was staring back at me, a grin on his face. He popped the candy into his mouth and raised a hand to wave at me, before he faded.
A noise behind me told me that Kanda had noticed him, too. "Something wrong, Kanda, Akicho?"
Shaking my head, I replied, "No. Just thought I saw someone. It's nothing." Kanda agreed, and we continued to walk, leaving the ruined mansion behind.
First Tyki, and now Skin? Something big is going down…
You have no idea... I hate how this is so short.
I guess it's because the next chapter is a totally separate idea from this one, which was an actual episode, so I wanted to split it. Plus, I haven't updated in a while, so I decided to be mean and just totally leave you with a cliffie. You can kill me later. :)
Anyways, 15 chapters of Rainbow Shooter are up, and now, I am going to put up another poll on which story you'd like me to work on the most now. I've been working with one-shots most of the time so I don't know where my inspiration will strike next. I can't guarantee that the story you choose will be my main one, but I will try. :)
Choices:
-07-Ghost
-Air Gear
-Bakuman
-Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)
-Bleach
-Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist)-Darker than Black
-Death Note
-Durarara!
-Fairy Tail
-Fullmetal Alchemist-Haruhi Suzumiya
-Hetalia: Axis Powers
-InuYasha
-Naruto
-One Piece
-Prince of Tennis
-Tokyo Majin
-Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
-Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru
-Uta no Prince-sama
-Vampire Knight
I hope you enjoyed! Review, please! :D