Author's Notes:
I'm very sorry that it took me so long. My computer crashed and I couldn't access anything. My computer is still dead but my data has been saved and is now stored on an external hard-disk.
Anyway, here's the Matel-Mission Chapter and I hope you can enjoy it even though you probably have heard it a thousand times already. X3
Important Warning concerning the next chapter at the end!!
Disclaimer: D.Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino
Kapitel 13: Moving Hearts in a ruined Town
When the train finally pulled to a halt there was no stopping Yu Kanda to get off.
"Kanda! Where", Ellen stopped to heave her suitcase out of the train and stumbled, "oh dear. Kanda!". She pouted like small child, then she turned to Toma who now helped by carrying her suitcase until she had put on her coat. "My, what impatience. Really terrible", she complained and combed her hair with her hand, then she took the suitcase back from Toma. "Thank you very much for your help", she told him and he chuckled as she still wasn't able to get rid of her angry pout, even though she tried to.
"You're welcome. Let's follow Mister Kanda", he suggested and Ellen nodded, albeit sourly. That was just not the way to behave! To jump up in the middle of a (one sided) conversation and to run off without as much as a: we're leaving. She didn't even know why she was that irritated by it. She guessed that it was because she had thought that she and Kanda had established something like a friendship. Which apparently was not what Kanda thought if he tried to run away from her.
"If my mother were here, she would give him a stern scolding", Ellen said and Toma let her talk as there was no sense in trying to stop an agitated young woman. "That she would. My, I should give him a stern scolding! I do not mind Master Cross to be impolite, but Kanda should help a lady out of a train!". She stopped abruptly causing Toma, who was trotting behind her, to do the same. She turned to him, determined face, and held out her suitcase. "Toma, could I hand you the suitcase for just a little while? I need to chase Kanda", she asked him and he nodded.
"As you wish, Miss Walker", he told her, even though he was a bit sceptical – it was quite clear that Ellen just wanted a reason to go chasing him. Ellen smiled, then she started running towards the town. She was quite fast on her legs, passed people and the first buildings on the outskirt of town, and then she finally spotted Kanda, walking a few meters ahead. Ellen smiled to herself and sped up. But the swordsman stopped suddenly, which nearly caused her to run into him and into the blade his outstretched sword.
"Beansprout?! What…", he started, but then an explosion nearby caught his attention. "Che. We have no time to fool around, it seems that there is an Akuma nearby!". Ellen looked at him quite shocked.
"What? But our Mission has not even started yet!", she exclaimed but was wise enough to take the glove of her left hand off. She felt it; her arm pulsated painfully and her eye started to burn. The cries of people filled the air and the Akuma appeared behind a building. Ellen winced as the pain in her eye intensified, Kanda, noticing it, turned to her. He could just stare at her when he saw her face. "Kanda?", she asked, quite confused to see his mildly shocked expression. The white of her left eye had turned black, whereas the iris shone a bloody, bright red. He chose not to comment on it, but to point to the single Akuma.
"Go. Kill that thing", he told her and she turned her head to see the Akuma approaching. The ghost chained to the weapon was moaning and crying, it made Ellen sick to hear it and brought tears to her eyes.
"It is so terrible", she whispered and Kanda looked at her, not knowing what she was referring to. "The poor thing…".
"Che. Stop having pity! Go, kill it! Only like this you can free the soul trapped inside!", Kanda urged her and pushed her forward. Ellen looked back over her shoulder uncertainly, but then she nodded and ran towards it. She raised her claw and hit it, which just resulted in a few scratches along its metallic surface. Ellen frowned and the weapon pointed its canons at her, firing instantly. Kanda pressed his lips together and watched the fight; he would only intervene if she was in serious danger, but the bullets of an Akuma were deadly if they hit her. But the younger exorcist was surprisingly agile enough to evade the first bullets and raised her huge claw – Kanda thought that it was even bigger than it normally was – to block the next. Before it could fire another round of bullets Ellen pushed her claw neatly into the body of the Akuma, breaking the surface and reemerging on the other side of the weapon. It let out a loud cry and then it exploded, Ellen protecting herself from harm with her claw. Kanda waited for the dust to settle and when it did he saw Ellen still standing, but then she dropped to her knees. He went to her and saw her crying, eyes wide open, but both in their normal grey colour.
"Oh my… I would not have expected it to be like this…", she whispered and Kanda put his hand on her shoulder, "and I told myself I would not kill again…"
"That's the way it is. Be happy, you saved a soul and you did surprisingly well", he told her and saw Ellen smiling up at him.
"Thank you… Yes". Kanda pulled her to her feet and Ellen dusted off her dirty knees. "We should hurry or we will miss the next train". Toma joined them and Ellen took back her suitcase. They ran to the station just in time for the train to leave.
-o-o-o-
They passed the remaining train journey quietly, but upon arriving at the newly constructed Gotthard tunnel Ellen was pretty exited.
"Did you know that this is the longest tunnel in the world?! My! Oh, I cannot sit still!!", Ellen said, hands on the glass of the window.
"Get a grip, you idiot. It's only a hole in a mountain", Kanda snorted and Ellen showed him a pout, but then everything went a few shades darker and Ellen clapped her hands in delight. Kanda heard her take a seat next to him.
"Kanda. A tunnel is not to be underestimated. Show some respect", the young lady told him and Kanda rolled his eyes. He had no clue how Ellen could utter new "oh"s and "ah"s all the time for 15 kilometres even though there was nothing but black and faint yellow light bulbs to be seen. But when they got back into the light Ellen looked completely pleased.
"How wonderful. I cannot find words to describe this stunning experience!", she said and grabbed Kanda's arm, looking up at him expectantly. He groaned.
"What do you want? I'm no poet, idiot. I told you; it's just a hole in a mountain". From Ellen he got quite a sceptical look, then without a further word she pinched him in the sides. Kanda nearly jumped out of his seat and turned to stare at her, fuming. "Hey!". Ellen started to giggle, hiding her grin behind her hand.
"Serves you well, Kanda. If you tease me, I tease you in return", she declared and Kanda stared at her unbelievingly, then he groaned.
"I'm not one of your girlfriends, and neither am I as young as you. I'm an adult, such childish things will only make you look stupid", he told her, hoping to hit her pride as an aristocratic lady, but Ellen just laughed it away and leant nearer to him.
"But there is no one to see, right? And I am sure you would not go telling on me, right?", she asked him slyly, which took Kanda by surprise. She started poking Kanda in the ribs and he tried to ignore it as best as possible, failing miserably.
"Stop that!", he roared and grabbed her hand, to force it down into her lap, "keep your hands to yourself!". Ellen huffed and turned her face away.
"You are a spoilsports", she announced and Kanda twitched.
"And you are a stupid beansprout, behaving as if you were 10!"
"And you behave as if you were 50!", she argued and stared at him grimly, but then she sighed. "Oh well. You are right. I am sorry", she finally said and Kanda raised his eyebrows. "I should understand that travelling as an exorcist with you is not the same as travelling as a child with Mana".
"Che. Took you long enough to figure it out…", the Japanese youth replied, even though her sudden change of heart was quite strange.
"It will take us another day to get there, right?", Ellen asked and Kanda nodded, observing how she bent down to get her suitcase, "I wanted to ask you something concerning the Mission".
"What? That's pretty late now, why couldn't you have asked when we were discussing it?", Kanda wanted to know.
"I was quite excited back then and did not think much about it. But now I have calmed down…", she explained, then she smiled, "and I have even fought my first battle against an Akuma…". Kanda looked at her sceptically, remembering the change of her eye, but decided that now was not the time to go asking about it. Ellen opened the report and looked for a certain page. "Ah, there you go. The aim of the Mission is to get the Innocence out of this moving doll, is it not?". Kanda nodded wordlessly, "And it is the Innocence's influence that makes the doll move?"
"That we assume…", Kanda told her, then he sighed, annoyed that he had to do the theoretical teaching about Innocence; another thing General Cross should have done. "Innocence causes supernatural occurrences wherever it is located. If there are any rumours about such occurrences, Finders investigate. Innocence is always located at mystic places"
"Mystic places?", Ellen repeated.
"The Innocence cubes can take other forms than its basic one; it can also merge with certain objects. The mysteries of Innocence have not been understood yet. Take in your arm for example. You were born with it, right?" Ellen nodded and looked at her hand, "Innocence gets in contact with people and if they're compatible it can merge with them, becoming a body part or a weapon. But when did you have contact with it? Apparently when you were still unborn", Kanda thought out loud and Ellen furrowed her brows, thinking about this.
"My, I have not known this. It really sounds peculiar… my mother has never been one to travel to places which are rumoured to be "mystic"…"
"They do not have to be at mystic places… It's just one possibility for Innocence to manifest…", Kanda told her and watched Allen study her hand, lost in thoughts.
"Is Innocence being passed on from the parents to their children? Could that be?", the girl wanted to know and Kanda thought about it for a while.
"I have not heard of it… It's not even guaranteed that a child born from exorcist parents is compatible", he answered and Ellen tapped her finger against her mouth.
"So if I had a child I would not need to worry about dragging him or her into this war?", she asked and Kanda was quite embarrassed to even consider this.
"I… Idiot", he told her and turned his face away, "Stop thinking about such things!". Ellen raised her eyebrows.
"Are you blushing? Why?", she wanted to know, but Kanda just kicked her leg to make her shut up, staring out of the window. "My… Such childish behaviour…", the girl complained and nursed her abused shin. "I did not say: if we had children"
"Che. Just shut up, will you?", Kanda groaned and Ellen huffed indignantly, turning her head to look in the other direction. Kanda looked at her from the corner of his eyes, squeezing them together in annoyance.
"Damn that beansprout…", he thought, "Che. Why can't she just behave like a normal exorcist? Linali doesn't want to talk about such things!". He knew it wasn't really her fault, because she had been raised to become a lady. Things like a good marriage and children were important for her. They would have been important for Kanda too, but he had other things to concern himself with. There was no woman who could keep up with the way he lived. Well, maybe Linali, but Komui's defensive nature kept Kanda from even considering a relationship with her. Ellen on the other hand… "Che. What am I thinking?! Idiot!". Ellen turned to Kanda as she heard him snort.
"Are you alright?"
"Sort of", he answered and Ellen raised her eyebrows, "It doesn't concern you", he lied and Ellen pouted, but turned her head again. "I just have to make sure she survives this mission… Then she'll no longer be my responsibility", Kanda decided and got comfortable with this thought. "We are exorcists. We only need to fight"
-o-o-o-
They were only a short distance away from the city of Matel. Toma was trying to get a connection with the Finders stationed in the town.
"It's of no use. I can't connect to them", he announced with a grave voice, which made Ellen worry.
"Were there Akuma when they last contacted you?", Kanda wanted to know and Toma nodded.
"Yes, they said that a group of five Level 1 had been sighted at the outskirts of town. They told me that they were still able to fend them off", he said and Kanda folded his arms over his chest.
"Well. Maybe there were more of them"
"Are they alright?", Ellen wondered, her face quite pale. Kanda groaned, but shook his head. Ellen widened her eyes and started to run a few meters.
"Oi! Where are you going, beansprout?!", Kanda called after her and was glad that she stopped.
"We need to help them, now! Please, come!", Ellen begged and pointed in the direction of the town. "Hurry!"
"Don't be rash! Keep a cool head, idiot! There will be more than only one Level 1, got it?! If you rush into a fight before you're prepared you'll die!", he caught up with her, Toma trailing behind. Ellen grabbed his sleeve, looking up at him with determined eyes. Kanda stayed silent for a moment, then he nodded. "Fine. We leave immediately" Ellen smiled in relief and they started running towards the abandoned town.
-o-o-o-
It didn't take them long to reach their destination and Kanda was amazed that Ellen was able to keep up running for the whole time. He guessed that she was too nervous and concerned about the Finders to think about not being able to pull through. They stood on a hill overlooking the town, circularly built on a hill. The brown buildings were still standing and it was eerily quiet, the howling wind was the only thing to be heard. Kanda saw Ellen put her hands to her chest.
"I feel a shiver going through my entire body. There are Akuma, my arm aches", she told Kanda and looked over the town, "What is this uneasy feeling in my chest?".
"You should focus", Kanda told her and she nodded, "the Finders will most likely be dead, so don't cry over it. You need to concentrate". Ellen was biting her lower lip, not saying anything. Kanda pulled in air through his nose in annoyance and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to look at him. "Listen well, I'm only going to say it one time. This here is no longer your nice protected world, this is the battlefield. Get that into your head, beansprout! If you let your emotions run wild, you'll lose control over the situation. Don't! Just don't!", he told her and let go of her shoulder. "If I'll get the feeling that you'll endanger the mission I must abandon you to complete it. In war you need to make sacrifices. Just because I'm here today does not mean I will safe you. You're an exorcist yourself". He knew that his words were hard, but if she relied on him she'd die too easily. This was above all a mission and it didn't look good. Securing the Innocence was most important. Ellen looked at him with an unmoving, grave face.
"Fine", she whispered. It was different than she had expected. Kanda's words were cold and harsh and he would not protect her. But she was calm, as if the Innocence in her arm soothed her.
An explosion in town interrupted her thoughts and she could see the Akuma firing at something.
"Okay. There they are…", Kanda said.
"Then that is were the Finders are as well", Ellen replied and before Kanda could stop her she ran down the hill into town to safe whoever was still alive. This was her mission, her test to see if she could really be an exorcist. Her opportunity to prove to Kanda that she was worth his time. Even though her action just now might be called rash, she had to do it, her innocence pushed her into running and she complied.
She reached the street where the explosion came from and invocated her arm. Now she was feeling breathless and even scared, but there would be no backing off.
"Mana, Mother, give me strength", she prayed silently, then she turned the corner, observing. There was a huge figure, standing in the middle of the street. Her eye suddenly started to sting and she had to try hard to keep it open. "It looks different, what is this thing?", she wondered and looked at the ghost connected to the monster; it was in a worse shape than before – a confined skeleton starting to dissolve. Ellen grimaced but then she drew in air, trying to muster enough courage to start attacking. Apparently this huge Akuma commanded the other ball-shaped ones, which were constantly firing at something. "I must safe the Finders and destroy the Akuma so I can free the trapped souls!", Ellen told herself, then she pushed away from the building's wall and attacked the Akuma. It turned around just in time to block her attack with its own hand.
"What are you?", it asked, its clownish face looking at her. Ellen was afraid, very much afraid, but she pulled herself together and freed herself from the Akuma's grip. She took a few steps back and looked around herself, while the Akuma still observed her with a stupid look on its face. There was not enough space to move freely, she had to be careful. She extended her arm to the nearest building's wall, sticking the claws into the cracks in the stone, and forced her arm forward. The wall broke and she hauled it against the Akuma. It blocked the attack with its arms, but Ellen took this change to rush past it, bring her claw into its back, so the Akuma was thrown into a building. Ellen panted and looked at her hand; she hadn't know that she was that strong. But she didn't have time to think about it and ran towards where the Finders were. She heard how the Akuma was screaming, but kept running. She saw Kanda jump from a nearby roof, attacking all the other Akuma at once. They exploded and dissolved. Ellen saw how Kanda reached the Finder, who was lying on the floor, not moving. But because Ellen had watched Kanda, she hadn't paid attention to the other Akuma and only realized her folly, when she felt its huge hand connecting with her side, sending her flying into a wall, whose old stone broke immediately.
"You are an exorcist! And there's another one!!", Ellen heard the thing call. She bit her lips and got up on her feet, her ribs aching. She climbed outside and saw Kanda looking at her, two figures in his arms; one of them must be the doll.
"You idiot! You didn't listen to me!", he shouted and Ellen winced, "and look what you got yourself into! You're facing a Level two Akuma!"
"Level two?", Ellen though with bewilderment and looked at the clown-figure which just stood there, apparently not knowing what to do. "These things can evolve?".
"Beansprout!", she heard Kanda call and looked to where he stood, "don't expect me to help you!!"
"No. You have the Innocence, I am glad. Just go on. I will defeat this monster", she answered and raised her claw. The Akuma faced her and grinned madly. Kanda didn't reply, but he left. Ellen had calmed down again and looked at the monster. She hadn't been fast enough to safe the Finder, the only thing she could do now was to defeat the Akuma, so she attacked, the Akuma doing the same. The force of the attacks send both Akuma and Ellen to the floor. Ellen hurried to get back up to her feet, but the Akuma was faster; she could feel his presence behind her, something pushing against her back and then pain shot through her. White claws tore through her uniform and stabbed into her chest. Ellen was paralyzed from the shock and the pain, but then laughter resounded behind her. She finally turned her head and stared into her own face.
"Got you, exorcist!", her mirror image said. Ellen could still see a soul attached to it, so it had to be the Akuma. Ellen raised her claw and tried to hit the monster, resulting in her release. She stumbled forward, normal hand pressed to her chest, where the blood was seeping through her clothes. She stared at the Akuma, who was transforming back, but kept her upper body and the claw hand. "That's my special ability!", it shrieked. Ellen raised her hand to attack, but she was too slow; the Akuma raised its copied weapon, transforming it into a trident, and attacked her instead. Ellen raised her hand to block, but she was still sent flying backwards into the building.
"Oh… This hurts", she breathed, as she got back up on her feet. She could hear the Akuma laughing in the distance. "My…!", she whispered, then she looked at her arm, which had two long gashes in its surface. "Oh… Dear goodness! Kanda, I would need your advice now…", she told herself, but still decided to get up and continue fighting. But the floor under her started to crack and send her falling into the floor, Ellen shrieking loudly.
-o-o-o-
Kanda looked up.
"Was that the beansprout?", he wondered. He had retreated to an ally, far from Ellen's fight. The doll - an old ugly man - and a young girl were with him.
"We should move to the underground, it is safer there", the girl suggested and Kanda tried to turn his attention to her, but he still listened if he could hear the younger exorcist.
"Underground?", he asked and the girl nodded.
"The people of the town also build a city under the earth's surface to escape the heat".
"Fine. Do you know the way?", Kanda wanted to know and the doll nodded,
"I have been here for 500 years, I know every secret passageway", he said and Kanda sighed.
"Mister Kanda?". The exorcist turned to his golem.
"Toma, is that you?", he wanted to know.
"Yes. I am currently hiding in a building. The Akuma is nearby, chasing Timcampy", he heard the Finders voice. If Timcampy was there, Ellen had to be nearby as well.
"What about the beansprout? The girl I mean", he wanted to know, waiting for a positive answer.
"It seems that the Akuma has the ability to copy anything it sees; he copied Miss Walker and her Innocence weapon. She was thrown back into a building, her whereabouts are currently unknown, but I heard a cracking sound. My take is that she broke into the floor". Kanda groaned.
"I'll go look for her, bring Timcampy with you, we need his recording ability"
"Understood", the connection was terminated and Kanda turned to the girl and the doll.
"I need you to show me the way". The man nodded and got up from the floor, shaking slightly. He took the girl by the hand and led the way to a hidden stairway, which was embedded into the floor. Kanda opened it and they descended into the darkness. If Ellen had really fallen into this underground system, he had to reach her eventually.
-o-o-o-
When Ellen opened her eyes she was lying in a big hall, on top of the stone which had fallen with her.
"Ooh… That was stupid…", she said and sat up, holding her chest. "Uh…", she drew in a shaking breath, trying to ignore her wound and got up on her feet. She saw a corridor leading away from the hall. "How peculiar… Is this a city underneath the city?", she wondered and walked inside the corridor, hand on the smooth stone wall. "How will I get back up? I told Kanda I would destroy the Akuma…" She kept walking, sometimes arriving at conjunctions, until she thought that she was lost. "Oh no… Where to? Am I lost? What will become of me?", she asked and arrived at a long corridor. She leant against the wall, sliding down, her wounds leaving a long blood stain on the brown wall. "Oh no…", she repeated, laying her head down on her knees. "I know I should not cry… But… Oh mother…"
-o-o-o-
Kanda taught that he had heard something and stopped the two in front of him.
"Let's head this way", he told them, pointing down a long corridor, and they nodded. He went ahead and was sure that he could hear faint crying. He started running, forgetting the doll for the moment, and found Ellen sitting against the stone wall, blood around her.
"Hey!", he shouted, half relieved and half concern, knelt down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Ellen lifted her face, tears leaking from her eyes.
"K… Kanda?"
"Are you hurt?", he wanted to know, looking at the blood and her torn clothes. Ellen still looked up at him, then threw her arms around him.
"I am so sorry, I was not strong enough! I failed you!", she whispered against his chest. Kanda lowered his eyebrows uncertainly, but put his arms around her.
"Stop crying…", he told her, "I'm not angry".
"Mister Kanda?", he heard Toma's voice calling and looked at him standing alone in the corridor.
"Shit! They're gone!", he shouted, finally realizing that the doll and his little companion have disappeared while he wasn't watching. "Toma! Have you seen them?!", he let go of Ellen and approached the Finder, who shook his head and handed Kanda a pile of golden stones, which reformed into Timcampy. "Damn it! We'll find them later!". Kanda ordered the golem to show him his record of the fight between Ellen and the Akuma. Ellen, now quite relieved that she had been found by Kanda, dried her tears with the sleeve of her coat.
"Hm. The Akuma copied the beansprout, but it looks like a mirror reflection, see? Its curse and the hand are on the wrong side", Kanda said. "Che. This thing is stupid".
"Mister Kanda…", a voice croaked and Kanda turned to look at the corridor, where a figure appeared from the corner next to Ellen. The copied Ellen's face was void of any expression and wide eyed.
"Such an idiot", Kanda said and invocated his weapon to attack. Ellen, hearing the commotion, lifted her head and stared at her reflection.
"There is no soul", she breathed and jumped to her feet, extending her claw hand to stop the strange insects Kanda's sword had released to attack.
"Hey! Beansprout! What are you doing!?", Kanda shouted, but Ellen didn't turn her head.
"Did you not see? There was no soul attached to this person's body! This is no Akuma!", she shouted and tore the fake skin away, revealing a nearly unconscious Toma. Ellen jumped up at once and turned around. "Kanda! Toma behind you is the Akuma!!", she yelled and Kanda widened his eyes.
"What?!", he shouted, but wasn't fast enough to attack. The Akuma disguised as Toma raised its fist with loud laughing and slammed Kanda into the wall, both of them disappearing into the next room.
"Kanda!!", Ellen shouted and ran to the hole just to see Kanda getting sliced by her copied claw. She couldn't move, she was in too much of a shock. Kanda was still standing, his uniform torn and hair open, trying to stay conscious while the Akuma was still attacking him with roaring laughter.
"Die! Die! Die!!", it screeched, then let go of Kanda to see if he had died. Ellen could hear him whispering something, but then he was silent and his eyes glazed over. "Ha!", the Akuma exclaimed, "He'd dead! He died while standing!!". Now Ellen felt something rushing through her body; it was hot and made her move on her own – rage. With a loud cry she rushed towards the Akuma, claw making impact with the monster, tearing his upper body from its legs and sent him flying through many walls. Ellen didn't look where the Akuma landed, because the hole was blocked by fallen stones, and rushed to Kanda.
"Kanda! Kanda, do not die!!", she yelled and pressed her head against his chest, "I can feel his heart, but faintly!", she said and he collapsed against her body, nearly sending both of them to the floor. Ellen could feel the stickiness of Kanda's blood against her own body and his laboured breathing hot against her neck. Ellen squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry, and tried to lift Kanda. He wasn't that heavy and with the help of her claw she was strong enough to carry him. With Kanda in her arms she went back to the corridor, where Toma still lay on the floor.
"We have to find a safer place where you can rest", she said. She managed to get hold of both of the wounded and dragged herself and the others through the corridors.
"Miss Walker… Leave me here… You are also injured…", Toma spoke up silently, but Ellen shook her head.
"I would never do that… Please, pull through", she answered, but then she raised her head, "Is this singing?", she wondered as she heard a faint melody coming from the end of the corridor. She took a deep breath and walked ahead. The corridor opened up into a huge hall, with moonlight shining in from a round opening in the high ceiling. The floor was covered with sand, there were only a few places where there still was stone left. Ellen stood at the entrance with the two others and saw a young girl with bright blond hair and something looking like metal on her head. She was singing, another person, an old man with a distorted face, next to her.
"This girl… She must be the doll…", Ellen thought and approached them. The two heard her and turned to her in surprise. "Oh, please, do not be afraid. I am an exorcist. My friends are wounded, we just want to rest…", she said and put Kanda and Toma down on the stone floor sticking out of the sand. She turned back to them, "You are the doll I assume?". The girl glared at her darkly and rose to her feet. Without hesitation she grabbed a huge fallen column and hurled it towards Ellen. The girl shrieked and dived to the floor, just barely avoiding the column. "Oh, come to your senses! I do not want to harm you!", Ellen yelled and extended her claw to grab the next column the doll has heaved up with immense strength. The girl looked up as Ellen carefully lifted the column out of the doll's hands and put it back down. Ellen smiled at her, "really. I do not want to harm you… I promise", she told her. The girl dropped to her knees.
"Please! Don't take my heart just yet! Guzor's time is nearly up! You can have my heart, but please let me stay with him until the end!", she pleaded and lowered her head. Ellen looked at her, then she patted her head.
"I will not take it…", she promised and the doll smiled in relief, "My name is Ellen, and yours?"
"I'm Lala", the doll introduced herself, then she went back to sit with the old man, "and this is Guzor…". Ellen smiled at him, but he just nodded his head. Ellen went back to where Toma and Kanda rested, Toma was well enough to sit up.
"Kanda was pretty hurt…", Ellen mused and took the first aid bag Kanda had given her from underneath her coat. She also pulled her coat off and folded it into a pillow. "Toma, could you put this under his head?", Ellen asked and handed him the folded-up uniform. Toma nodded and Ellen lifted Kanda's head carefully. He only moaned silently, but still stayed unconscious. Ellen opened his coat and winced, the white shirt he wore was completely drenched in blood. She opened the shirt and her first aid bag. She tried to clean the wound a bit and then she started bandaging it, but wasn't really able to do it. "Oh… This looks terrible…", Ellen said and pushed Kanda's sweaty bangs out of his pale face, "I do not know what to do in this situation…"
"We can't call for help, it would take too long. You're the only hope we've got left now. You should better rest, Miss Walker", Toma said and Ellen nodded. The young exorcist turned back to Lala and Guzor. "Tell me about yourself, please…", she asked Lala, hand on her chest, hoping to be able to sustain the pain of her wound better.
"I… I was built 500 years ago, to take the people's mind off of their hard lives… But Matel was a doomed city… So people started to leave, abandoning me. People have come to the ruins, but as soon as they saw me, they were calling me a monster and attacked me… Then, long ago, a small boy was left behind here and I found him. He was the only one who accepted me as a doll and we've been together ever since…", Lala explained and rested her head against the old man's chest. "Guzor doesn't have much longer… Please… Let me stay with him until the end, let me be his doll! I want him to be the one who stops me! I don't care what happens after Guzor dies! You can have my heart, but please let me be his doll until then!", she begged and Ellen sighed, moved by what she had said.
"No!". Ellen turned around to Kanda, who was sitting up, panting. "We should wait until the old man dies?"
"Kanda…", Ellen whispered, but the young man ignored her.
"Considering our current situation we can't grant her this wish. Take her heart, NOW!", he yelled, surprising both Lala and Ellen. The younger exorcist got to her feet, looking at Kanda, not daring to answer. Kanda stared at her, his eyes going in and out of focus and he still tried to catch his breath. "Why do you think we have come here?!". Ellen looked at her feet, then she raised her eyes to look at Kanda.
"I… I cannot do it", she replied firmly and Kanda stared at her incredulously, "I am sorry. I do not want to take her heart". Kanda grinded his teeth and threw her coat at Ellen. She just raised her hands to shield her face and let it drop to the floor.
"You idiot! This coat is not a pillow for the wounded. It's what we exorcist wear! And you are an exorcist now!", he got up on his feet, grabbing his sword and slung his coat over his shoulders. As he approached her Ellen took the coat form the ground and pulled it on wordlessly. "I told you. There is no war without sacrifices", Kanda told her as he passed the girl.
"Don't… Don't take it", Lala said as Kanda pointed his sword at her.
"Fine Kanda. I understand you perfectly well…", Ellen said and stood in front of Kanda's sword. "No war without sacrifices, that is how your world works", she said, her eyes piercing his. "Then let me be the sacrifice" Kanda froze as he heard her words and slightly lowered his weapon, "All they want is a little time. Until then I will not take the doll's heart!", she insisted and raised her arm as to shield Lala and Guzor, "if I… If I kill the Akuma, everything will be fine, will it not?". Kanda still stared at her, wordlessly and unmoving, "A war that can only be won with such sacrifices… It would be so senseless…", she whispered. Kanda narrowed his eyes, something in his body clenching painfully, and connected his first with Ellen's cheek. The girl didn't even try to evade and just let herself drop to the floor. Kanda's legs also gave out under him as his head spun. He held his chest, hissing in pain, but raised his head to look at Ellen. "You're so naïve, beansprout…", he told her, but she didn't even react, "You sacrifice yourself for people you don't even know just because you're pitying them…?" He grabbed her upper arms. "Is there nothing you hold dear?!", he shouted furiously. Ellen sighed and turned to look at him, her cheek red where he had hit her.
"I do… but I also destroyed what I love… It… I am not doing this because I have pity… I just do not want to see such heart wrenching things… That is all…", she smiled sadly, "I am just a girl, right? I want to protect what I can protect! Do you not understand?!", she yelled desperately, her hands gripping the fabric of Kanda's coat. He stayed silent but he could understand her. Before he could speak up there was a loud bang and Lala's breathless "Guzor" reached their ears. Ellen and Kanda turned to watch them; a hook had pierced Guzor's and Lala's bodies and was dragging them back into the sand swiftly. Ellen's eyes widened in shock, whereas Kanda, his free arm wrapped around the girl protectively, raised Mugen.
"He's here!", Kanda shouted. The Akuma emerged from the sand, the lifeless doll in one hand and Guzor pierced on the other; the innocence on the tip of its claw.
"I have the Innocence!!", it shouted and dropped Lala and Guzor to the floor. Ellen rose to her feet, Kanda wanted to stop her, but hesitated when he could see the look on her face. Her cursed eye had turned black and red and her anti-Akuma weapon was reforming into a huge grotesque form of white flesh.
"Give back the Innocence", she whispered darkly and approached the confused Akuma. "Give it back", she repeated.
"Miss Walker… Her weapon is changing!", Toma said and Kanda lowered his brows.
"Because she is the host of a parasitic Innocence she can control it with her emotions. It reacts to her rage", Kanda explained, but gritted his teeth. "But what immense rage must be filling her at the moment", Kanda thought, "it looks as if it takes form in the shape of her weapon". Ellen jumped into the air, ready to attack. "No! Beansprout stop! The weapon hasn't completed changing yet!!", he yelled as he saw what she was up to, but by the time she got near the Akuma she held a canon like weapon in front of her and shot bright beams of light at the Akuma.
"She… She shot?!", Kanda shouted in bewilderment and watched the girl attack the Akuma, which sought shelter into the sand.
"Har har! You cannot harm me! I'm made of sand!" It called and rose up to swallow Ellen. Kanda gritted his teeth but he couldn't do anything right now. He felt that Ellen was still alive even as the Akuma stabbed its form of sand in which the girl was trapped. The exorcist broke free from her sand cage, the claws of the Akuma stuck in her weapon. She broke them off and at the tip of her Anti-Akuma weapon a blade of light formed. "A sword?!". Kanda widened his eyes and saw the girl slash the Akuma; its sand protection vanishing.
"The Innocence tells me what to do… This must be what Kanda told me…", Ellen mused while attacking the Akuma, "I am not scared, neither do I feel pain… The Innocence is urging me to fight, but it is not the same as back then when it killed Mana…". The Akuma yelled, but Ellen didn't give it enough time to form a new sand protection. The weapon turned back to the canon and she started shooting at it. The Akuma raised the copied claw and tried to block it, but to no avail; Ellen's attacks were stronger and the claw started to dissolve.
"What?! How can I lose?!", it yelled, but Ellen ignored him, shooting with all the rage she felt. She had failed to protect Lala and Guzor and she had failed to fend for herself.
Suddenly something inside of her chest contracted and she started to choke up blood. She dropped to her knees at once.
"Wh… What happened? Can my body not keep up with my weapon?!", she thought and looked at her red arm - the invocation had stopped itself. She tried hard to breathe regularly and her fingers clenched around her throat. "On no…!" The Akuma realised what had happened and saw its chance to attack:
"Got you, exorcist!!", it yelled and rushed towards Ellen. But Kanda was faster and blocked the claw with his sword. Ellen looked up at him.
"Kanda!?", she shouted in surprise.
"Che!", he spat, sweat forming on his forehead and new blood stained his bandages. "You idiot! What are you doing?! Why do you start slacking now?!", he yelled and Ellen flinched. "Didn't you say you wanted to protect them?!" Ellen looked up at him and smiled tiredly.
"Oh Kanda… Thank you…", she said and he groaned, "I was not slacking. It was just resting for a little bit", he told him and got up on her feet.
"Che. Thank me later, now we have to kill this thing!", he announced, and the Akuma tried to get away. "Let's go!!", he yelled and started his attack. Ellen raised her hand and fired.
Their attacks combined and formed a huge blast of energy which caught the Akuma and made it explode. Kanda swayed and Ellen caught him.
"Kanda…", she whispered and dropped to the floor, her upper body bent over his form on the ground. "Thank you for saving me…". He opened his eyes and saw her looking at him on the verge of tears. The Innocence was lying next to him, glimmering slightly. He reached out his hand and touched Ellen's cheek.
"Don't cry… It's not over yet…", he told her and she turned to look at the Innocence. She closed her eyes, but then she grabbed the innocence.
"Please… Make Lala alive again. Just for a short time", she pleaded and pressed the Innocence to her chest, her tears dropping on Kanda's pale face, "Please, Innocence… Please…".
To be continued
Notes:
Maybe it's only me who thinks that it is strange that Allen is born with Innocence in his body. Maybe we just don't know enough to say whether this is strange or not. Maybe I'm overanalyzing again. XD
Anyway, Kanda's stupid but he still thinks that it's strange. Hihi.
I guess this chapter saw some character development on Kanda's side. At least I hope so.
Oh, my big warning:
It's already on my profile page but the next chapter originally contains M-rated Yullen material. I'm not too sure about whether people really want to read it, or if I want to "taint" Ivory Tales with (not too explicit) M-scenes XD
Any opinions (and general remarks to the chapter??)? :3 :3 :3