DISCLAIMER: Mizuki and Toki are mine! Everything else is…NOT mine!
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He sniffled and tried to ignore the biting wind that was blowing against him. The night air was crisp and cold as the foreboding moon waned above him. He stood at the bow of the ship and rested his head in his arms on the railing.
"We're not their allies. We're only involved in order to record history…" he paused and sighed, thinking. My reason for being here…what I've dedicated my life to…with war comes death. Always. "A bookman has no need of a heart," he mumbled into his arms.
"There you are!"
Lavi turned around and quickly put whatever he was holding back into his pocket. Mizuki was standing innocently with her head cocked to the side. "You all right? We were wondering where you were…" she walked over to where he was standing, and looked up at him.
"Hmph," he huffed and averted his gaze.
"Hey!" she flicked the side of his head.
"Ow!" he winced and looked at her. "What was that for?" he asked, rubbing the side of his head.
"What do you think? For being an idiot all day today! First you make Lenalee cry, and now you're mumbling nonsense to yourself," she rested her chin on her folded arms in front of her.
"But –"
"No buts," she said firmly. "As long as you're human, you have a heart," she said softly, her gaze steady.
"Now, when you two are done blathering…" a menacing voice came from behind them.
Both Exorcists drew their weapons quickly, but before they could even ready themselves they were blasted off their feet.
The sound of scurrying footsteps could be heard all about the ship as everyone came to see what the commotion was.
"The main mast has been broken!" a sailor shouted.
As the dust subsided, it revealed a humanoid-looking…thing.
It was floating over something and held his hands as a director of a movie would while viewing a scene. "Title: Corpse of an Exorcist," Its voice was deep and grating.
"Arrrrrrgh!" Mizuki burst out of the rubble and whacked the back of the Akuma's head with her weapon. "Get away from my friend, ugly!" she unsheathed her blades and went in for a lunge.
It simply flew away and Mizuki fell forward, following the momentum of her thrust.
"Gouka Kaijin…HIBAN!" Lavi had snuck up behind the Akuma and landed a direct hit, engulfing it in flames. "Dammit. Such pointless injuries," he panted.
After a few seconds…"Title: How did you recover?"
"What? But you hit him head-on didn't you?!" Mizuki cried as she got up.
"I thought I did!" Lavi growled. The Akuma was forcing the hammer away from its head with his hands. Lavi tried putting more pressure on it. The Akuma simply threw the hammer off and flew up into the air.
"I-it can't be a level –" Mizuki stammered. "– three?"
Lavi's gaze shifted to the Akuma above and then to Mizuki and his eyes widened. "Oh shi-" He pushed Mizuki out of the way as the Akuma flew down and said, "Title: Escape Sealed!"
"LAVI!" she screamed.
The Akuma was about to land a punch, when he was suddenly stopped mid-punch. Mizuki barely Bookman say quietly, "Heaven Compass. Needles of Spells: North Crime!"
She sighed in relief and turned her attention back to the battle. The Akuma was caught in a blast of light and was getting impaled by the black needles.
"Gramps!" Lavi sighed gratefully.
"You idiot, getting us worried over nothing. Now," he said, speaking directly to the Akuma. "I will finish you off, but not until you answer a few of my questions. Where did you come from?"
"Title," came the Akuma's voice from the needle mummy before them, "Eshi was created from the soul of a Japanese painter."
"You would not have attacked us in the middle of the ocean if you were hunting humans." Bookman's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you under the Earl's orders?"
The Akuma grinned evilly from under the needles. "Do you wish to know Cross Marian's current condition?" Just then, the Akuma jumped up and grabbed Bookman with his teeth, dragging him into the sky as it flew upward. "Title: Immortality Reversal."
"SHIN!" Lavi extended his hammer and took it upwards towards his mentor.
"Lavi!" Krory shouted.
"As long as they don't go too far from the ship…" Miranda said to herself.
"What? What do you mean?" Mizuki whirled around to face Miranda.
"Once you're out of range of my Innocence's power, the time returns to the present."
They looked upward to see Bookman falling from the sky as a shower of needles came down.
"Bookman! Lavi!" Lenalee jumped up and began running on the handle of Lavi's hammer. "Innocence! Level Two!"
"Lenalee! No, he's too powerful!" Mizuki tried running after her, but Krory grabbed her collar, yanking her backwards.
"You stay here," Krory tightened his grip and looked up. "Damn, what happened to Lavi? And Bookman?"
"LENALEE!" they could hear Lavi's shout from the clouds.
"Krory, let go! They need me!" Mizuki struggled against the tall vampire.
"Stop it." Krory spun the girl around and forced her to face him. "You can't fly! You don't have an Innocence that can extend! What do you think you will do? We cannot help them up there. The most we can do is protect the ship and the people here. You need to think, Mizuki. Don't just go running around recklessly."
She took a moment for his words to sink in and slumped her shoulders. She hung her head, letting her bangs cover her eyes. "I just hate feeling helpless. And I don't want what happened to Alle-"
He shook her forcefully. "Focus on what's happening now. Only what you decide to do now will determine what will happen."
Krory could make out the beginnings of a smirk on Mizuki's lips. She looked up at him and gave him a full-on smile. "Heh. Thanks Krory. Even if your lectures are sometimes boring, they do make sense."And she ran off, leaving Krory, who appeared frozen.
"My lectures are…boring?" Krory's eyebrow twitched. He shook himself mentally and decided to shrug it off. "Whatever gets the job done, I suppose. I'll deal with that runt later." He smiled menacingly, and activated his Innocence, baring his fangs.
A huge explosion on the ship's deck knocked everyone off their feet.
"Huh?" Miranda blinked after being knocked to the ground. "I'm not hurt. What's going on?" She looked up and saw several of the crew standing over her, protecting her from the blast and taking it themselves.
"Miss Exorcist, are you all right?"
"You all! When the time returns to itself, your wounds…they'll…" Miranda managed to choke out.
"Oh this? Don't worry. We already took a few good hits earlier. We already realized that our deaths are inevitable. Since we can't be saved, we might as well become your shield." A sailor gave her a cheeky grin.
"AAAARGH!" Krory screamed at the clouds. "They're all lurking in the clouds, those cowards!" He deflected a blast with his cape.
"What should we do, Krory?" Mizuki redirected a blast using her bō. "Unh! We can't ward them off!"
"Hiban!" A tower of fire surrounded a bunch of the blasts.
"Well it's about time," Mizuki grumbled, despite the grin on her face.
"Sorry to keep you waiting Mizuki, Kuro-chan."
Krory turned to Lavi, his brows furrowed. "That reminds me, stop calling me that."
Bookman jumped up on top of Miranda's clock that was keeping the ship together. "Leave this to me. Needles of Protection: East Crime!"
Lavi raised Oodzuchi Kodzuchi and readied himself for his next attack, "Raitei Kaiten! I'm counting on you Kuro-chan!"
"Leave it to me!" Krory flew forward and grabbed the mallet-end of Oodzuchi Kodzuchi.
"Ten Ban!"
Lightning burst forth from Lavi's Innocence and dispersed into the clouds above.
Krory landed next to Mizuki. "Did we get them…?"
"I don't think so!" Mizuki shoved Krory out of the way and blocked several blasts headed in their direction.
"YOU MISSED THEM COMPLETELY, YOU IDIOT!" Krory bellowed as he recovered and continued to dodge the Akumas' attacks.
"Che! So just firing at them won't work at all, huh?" Lavi gritted his teeth.
"Well we can't just keep on – ahh!" Mizuki yelped as she and the others were thrown to the ground by the rocking of the ship.
"What's going on? An earthquake?" Krory shouted over the roar of the ocean.
"I…can't turn…the helm!" came Mahoja's voice from the wheel.
"Uh oh…EVERYBODY GRAB ONTO SOMETHING!" Mizuki shouted as she jumped onto the mast, as the ship began to sink.
"What is this?" Miranda fell to her knees. "Even though the Time Record's limit hasn't been reached, it –" she looked down at the Innocence on her arm and saw glowing purple chains. She reached over to try and take it off. It gave off some static discharge and she winced upon contact.
The waves began to climb up on all sides of the ship, as they sank, trapping them in what seemed to be a funnel of ocean.
"Grow! Grow! Grow!" Lavi commanded. His weapon was now big enough to cover quite a large area of the ship and deflect the Akumas' attacks.
"Will Lenalee be all right by herself?"Krory wondered, looking off into the distance.
Lavi tightened his grip on his Innocence and his expression darkened. "Lenalee said to protect the ship." Then he looked back at his friends and smiled. "If the ship is destroyed, Lenalee will have nowhere to return to."
"Now that's the fighting spirit!" Mizuki playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Now, let's go kick some Akuma ass!"
After about an hour or so of fighting, the battle began to take a toll on Krory.
Attacks rained down faster than the Time Record could keep up with.
"Uhhhhh…" he moaned weakly.
"What's wrong Krory?" Mizuki called over to him from several yards away. He was clutching his head in pain. "You're paler than usual."
"I've run out of demon blood," he groaned.
Lavi jumped onto the mast and began running down it to get closer to the Akuma. "Dammit! We have some persistent bastards here –" he lost his footing and slipped. He didn't even hear Mizuki's shouts as three blasts forced him into the unforgiving sea.
With a snarl, Mizuki dropped her weapon and dove into the ocean. She made out his sinking body and grabbed him by his scarf, pulling him to the surface. She dragged him to the ship where Krory quickly yanked him out of the water.
Krory bent down to Lavi's neck and began sucking out the demon blood that had entered Lavi. When he was finished, he shook the unconscious redhead. "Lavi! Lavi!"
Mizuki threw herself onto the ship and leaned over Lavi's face, checking for signs of breathing. She quickly laid him down and unzipped his coat. His bare chest was unmoving. "If you die on me, I'll kill you."
She gently lifted his chin and tilted his head back as she placed her lips over his. Pinching his nose, she puffed as much air as she could into him. She watched out of the corner of her eyes as his chest rose. She kneeled over him, placing her hands over his heart and pushed, doing compressions. She bent down and breathed into him again. Compressions again. She bit her lip and her eyes began to sting. "Wake up you idiot!" She did her third set of breaths. Except this time, when she tried to lift her head to do compressions again, she was stopped by something holding the back of her head. Her lips were pressed firmly onto Lavi's and she blinked, her tears falling onto his cheek. When he released her, he sputtered and coughed a bit, but still held a grin on his face.
Then she slapped him.
"Ow!" Lavi yelped.
Mizuki was breathing heavily, her still hand stinging from the slap. "You IDIOT! I was saving your life. Save the romance for another day!" she half-shouted, the tears in her eyes making him blurry.
"Ah, but it was totally worth it in my opinion. Eh? What's this?" Lavi felt up his neck and fingered what appeared to be puncture wounds.
Mizuki wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Krory."
"I'm revitalized…" Krory said happily, holding his fist in front of himself.
Lavi quickly pulled down the collar of his coat and revealed semi-bloody bite wounds, which came from none other than Krory.
"You have no idea how disturbing it was to watch him do that…" Mizuki made a disgusted face.
"How lucky for you. It seems I'm able to suck out the demon's poison before it spreads. Thanks for the meal." Krory flashed his razor sharp fangs.
"…sucked it out?" Lavi turned a few shades green as Mizuki made gagging noises. "What kind of meal is that?"
"Idiots!" Everyone jumped at Bookman's voice. "How long do you plan on standing there talking? Get out there and defeat the enemies, you stupid pieces of trash!"
"Ouch, Bookman-san," Mizuki winced at his harsh words.
Krory gnashed his teeth together. "How dare he say such a thing to me?"
"Why aren't you using the Wood Seal, Lavi?" the old man shouted.
His student's eyes widened. "Oh! That's right! I do have a move like that. Jeez, what kind of idiot am I?"
"Several kinds," was Mizuki's response as she picked up her weapon.
"You guys, come over here," Lavi grabbed the vampire's pointed ear, beckoned Mizuki over, and began whispering intently.
Mizuki put a finger to her chin. "Well, that's an interesting idea."
"Yes, I see. But with this footing …" Krory scanned their surroundings.
"If we can't do it, we'd best say goodbye," Lavi said with an unwavering expression
"I won't accept a death like that," Krory grunted.
At that moment, the ship began to shift once again, but this time resurfacing.
Krory glanced at Lavi. "Now's our chance!"
Bookman agreed. "Go, Lavi! Take them out!"
"Yes, sir!" Lavi jumped up into the air with Oodzuchi Kodzuchi and brought out a ring of seals, each with a different kanji on it. He brought his hammer down upon the one that had the kanji for 'wood' on it, and shouted, "Moku Ban: Tenchi Bankai!"
A single ray of light shot into the sky, coming from the seal. Once the light reached the clouds, lightning appeared to rip open the sky and scatter in all different directions. After a moment, the clouds began to disperse and the twinkle of the moonlight off the Akumas' armor could be seen.
Mizuki and Krory grinned at each other and jumped up into the air.
"Here...we…go!" Lavi used the end of his hammer to give his two teammates the momentum they needed to reach the Akuma in the sky.
Krory landed on one, then jumped to another without them noticing.
The third, Mizuki landed on and tapped its head with the blunt end of her blade. "Oi! Up here!"
"Huh?" the Akuma tried reaching for Mizuki, but before it could, she slammed her blade into its skull. Then, wrenching it out, jumped off to join Krory as it exploded, gaining the attention of the other two Akuma.
"E-Exorcists!" they yelled in surprise.
Krory scoffed at them. "So it was just you three, huh?"
"And they're all level two's at that!" Mizuki sneered.
"What the….my body is acting strange!" one of the Akuma cried as it slowly disintegrated.
"M-Me too!" the other one said.
"I've injected you with my blood," Krory explained. "I'd love to drink all your blood this second, but you've killed far too many of my comrades for me to do just that. Now you will suffer as they did. My blood is filing your body with Innocence as we speak. It's like poison to you. Suffer and die." The two Exorcists jumped back down to the ship as the remaining two Akuma exploded.
"Red…snow?" Miranda wondered as the Akuma remains fell down upon them.
Krory and Mizuki landed with a thud, startling Miranda and the crew.
"Crimson. Snow teeming with the scent of blood," the moonlight glistened off Krory's fangs. "Lovely, isn't it?"
"You know, Krory…" Mizuki began, as she dusted off Akuma from her coat, "sometimes you're a bit creepier than you realize. I really don't think you needed to explain in great detail exactly what you did to those Akuma." Thud. "Eh? Krory?"
Krory had collapsed face-down. Miranda shrieked and crawled over to him. A sailor lifted him up, "He's really pale!" Miranda screeched. "It's anemia! Didn't you drink any demon blood?"
"S-shut up," he managed to say.
"Hey! Look over there!" A crew member pointed to a column of golden light that was disappearing fast.
"…Lenalee?" Mizuki wondered aloud.
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A/N: Sorry for the wait again! But much shorter this time, no? Let me know what you guys think about the story! Keep on the lookout for the next chapter! Thanks so much for reading and thanks especially to the reviewers! You're a big help!
Diclonious57 – yeah I agree, not enough OC stories. There's so much yaoi! And don't worry, Mizuki won't turn into a Noah…I have different plans for her….MUAHAHAHAHA!
Kouyan – thanks for reading!
Jessikherrka – thanks =) your support means a lot. Let me know if there's anything I can improve on!
Holly-Batali – haha yeah there was definitely droolage going on during that scene. GUHHHH.