Chapter 8: The Necromancer out on a mission

Dragging her bare feet on the rough and dry ground, she breathed heavily and dryly under the blazing sun. Wobbling side to side, her vision blurred as the heat began to take her.

Finally, she dropped to the ground, her so throat dry she couldn't let out a chock. She was so thirsty and dehydrated, no tears could come out. Her eyes became dull and she lost consciousness on the road.

In the distance, a young boy walked carrying a basket barely full of food and crops to sell. Wiping the sweat off his chin, he pulled the basket up and continued walking in the hot weather.

"Hm?" He saw the body lying on the ground and his eyes widened, "Ah!" Running to the girl's side, he got down and picked her up from the dirt road, "Hey! Are you okay?" The girl didn't respond and remained limp in his arm. Putting his basket down, he took out a small barrel and cracked it open. Taking a scoop of water in to his hand, he brought it to the girl's mouth.

Feeling the cold water to her mouth, the girl cracked her eyes opened to see the boy looking down at her.

Are you okay?" The girl stared at the boy and closed her eyes again, "Ah-! Hang on!" The boy gathered his stuff and picked the girl up in to his arms, rushing back to his house.

Allen looked through the papers for the mission and looked up to Sharon sitting across from him. Sharon seemed to be distracted with the passing views outside the train. Allen smiled at the girl.

"Is it your first time on a train?"

Sharon turned to him.

[What makes you think that?]

"Eh? Well, you seemed interested when getting on. Am I wrong?"

[No, you're right. This is the first time I took a vehicle for transportation.]

"Heh, I see."

"Che-" Allen glared at Kanda who sat next to him.

"Is there a problem, Kanda?"

"Betsuni, just, why do we have to bring her along?" Kanda asked.

"Sharon wanted to come and Komui-san said there was no problem. There's no problem with that."

"Che." Kanda spatted again, "Just don't get in the way."

Sharon nodded in response.

"Sharon won't get in the way, Kanda!"

"Shut up, bean-sprout."

"It's Allen!"

Sharon was staring out the window again with the passing views. She stared at the farming fields and houses passing by. She saw a small girl crying as an older boy; most likely her brother; patted her head trying to calm her down. The girl looked up to her brother with her tear stained face and put on a smile. Her eyes watched the two and felt a small pain in her heart.

After a long train ride, the three got off on a platform in Belgium and met their finder. The Finder guided them through the city to rest at a hotel. Sharon walked behind the group, looking around her surroundings. They blue sky, now covered by a shroud of gray, threatening to scatters tears on to the earth. Not only was the sky, Glum and dull, the aura of the City was gray and dull as well.

"Let's play~" a taunting voice called out to her.

She glanced back to see a cloaked figure standing in the crowd. Suddenly, everything became slow and monotone. Time had stopped for the two for a salutation.

"Let's play~" The figure raised her head and smirked at her. "Necromancer~"

Sharon just stood staring at the figure unprovoked by the presence in front of her.

"Sharon?" A voice called out. Sharon turned to Allen letting the tension vanish and time to move again. He walked over to her side, "What are you doing? You're going to get lost."

Sharon took one quick glance back to find the figure gone.

"Sharon?" She turned back to Allen, "Is something wrong?"

Sharon shook her head.

[No, it's nothing. Sorry.]

"You don't have to apologize," Allen told her with a smile.

Sharon sat on a soft bed alone in a room, as the others were in the other room having a short meeting. She looked out the window, watching the harsh rain pound against the window. Turning away, Sharon laid down on the bed resting on her side. Her long black hair fanned out on top of the covers and her shoulder. Resting her eyes, she waited patiently for the others to finish their meeting as she listened to the pounding rain. The sound of nature seemed to relax her at times. But that all became futile with a cold laugh.

"Let, us, play~"

Sharon opened her eyes, but remained still on the bed.

"Right, Murderer?"

The others in the room jumped when they heard the sound of glass shattering and quickly stormed in to the room. Allen's eyes widened to find the window completely destroyed, the bed completely shredded by glass shards. He turned to Sharon, who was sitting on the ground.

"Sharon!" He rushed and got down to her side, "Are you okay?" he asked.

Sharon nodded calmly with a straight face.

"What happened?" He asked.

[I don't know myself, the window shattered suddenly]

"Was it an akuma? Or one of the Noahs?"

She shook her head.

[I didn't sense any of them.]

"Really…" Allen sighed and got up, "Anyway, it's good that you're not hurt." He put his hand out pulling her off the ground.

"Oi, bean-sprout." Kanda cut in, "We're going to head out."

"Eh- Already? Didn't we say we're going to head out at midnight?"

As the two conversed, Sharon's focus remained at the bed. Even through sound of the harsh winds and pounding rains, she still heard the voice calling out to her.

"Murderer…"

"Are you going to be okay?" Allen asked as they stepped out of the hotel at the time of a new day. Sharon nodded.

[I'll be fine, don't worry about me. You are going to be here right?]

"That's true, but…"

She placed her hands on her lap and stared at the ground. Allen was still worried for her, he felt a tense air surrounding Sharon ever since they came to the city. He sighed deeply finally giving in. Sharon gave a glance towards Allen and lifted her notepad.

[Don't worry about me, just watch out for yourself]

"O-Okay…"

The group was lead by the founder to the abandoned mansion near the city by the finders. According to the reports, an old family who were murdered use to live in that mansion decades ago, and due to the fear of it being cursed, the mansion was left unwanted. But recently, people would see smoke rising from the mansion and hear the sounds of music at times. Akumas also have been scouted around the area.

Sharon glanced around the place sensing multiple presence in the area. Multiple akumas were in the woods and mansion scattered, some felt stronger than others. Also, there was a single presence of a human sitting in the middle of the large house. Sharon focused all her five senses for one last count.

"Here we are," the four stopped at the worn out entrance of the mansion, "We can enter from here." The finder informed them, "But please be careful, the floors are quite old on the upper floors."

"Ok, got it."

Allen stepped forward, but was stopped with a grasped on his sleeve. Allen turned to Sharon, who was looking straight at the door with narrow eyes.

"Sharon?"

"What are you doing? I'm going to leave you behind, bean-sprout." Kanda hissed heading in to the building first.

"Ah- hey-!" Allen turned his attention back to Sharon, "Sharon?"

The young Necromancer stood in place for second before she finally let go of Allen and heading in herself.

"Eh? Ah- Sharon!" Allen followed after her.

The two join Kanda and the finder.

"You two search this floor and down," Kanda ordered, "I'm heading upstairs-"

Sharon suddenly grabbed his arm and looked up with determination in her eyes. Kanda glared at her.

"What?"

[Allen and I will head upstairs, you will stay here.]

"Ha?" he hissed as his glare sharpened, "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Releasing his arm, Sharon turned, grabbing Allen's arm and pulled him towards the stairs.

"Eh- S-Sharon?! What-"

Walking up to the second floor, Sharon released his arm and headed down the hall. Allen stared at her with confusion as she quickly paced down the hall.

"Sharon?" He quickly followed after her and took her hand, "What's wrong, Sharon? You've been acting weird." Sharon didn't reply as she pulled out of his grasp and headed down the hall.

The creaking wooden floors and dripping ceilings gave off an eerie aura to this mansion, but Sharon kept moving forward not minding that a single bit. Sharon looked around the area cautiously, the presence of Akumas were still in the building, but they were nowhere in sight. The human presence hadn't moved from it's place either.

After walking through the build for another few minutes, Sharon came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the hall causing Allen to bump in to her. He jumped and quickly apologized, but then noticed her eyes focused on to something in the dark hallway.

Allen looked up down the hall to see if he could see anything, but there was no presence of an akuma.

"What is it, Sharon?"

She looked up to him and took out her notepad.

[Don't say anything and follow closely.]

Allen looked at her and saw the seriousness in her eyes, then nodded.

"Yeah,"

The two continued wandering down the endless hallways of the mansion till they reached two large doors. Then the air chilled quickly and a clash of lightning struck down adding to the eerie feeling of the mansion.

Sharon easily pushed open the doors and walked in to the dining hall. She walked in and looked up to the figure hiding in the shadow at the end of the table.

"Welcome, to my humble to my humble abode, Necromancer~"

Another stroke of lighting rumbled, lighting the room long enough to show the face of the figure.

A young girl with short hair sat at the chair with a grin. Raising her hand, she snapped her fingers in to the air lighting the old candles of the mansion making her fully visible at all times. Short platinum blond hair with sharp red eyes, she wore a simple blue dress with white frills.

Rising from her chair, she lifted her dress slightly to curtsy towards Sharon.

"I'm Laqueta Z. Lundenberg," She introduced herself, then looked up with an sly smile, "I have come to kill you, Necromancer, no, Murderer."