Author's Notes:

First: Thanks so much for all the reviews for last chapter! I was pretty surprised! :D :D :D Of course, I cannot give any answers that would spoil the story (I have to be mean I guess). I hope you will be able to get some information from this chapter! I'll try to keep no questions unanswered over the course of the story, if there still are things that seem strange to you then you're always free to leave a review and / or PM me :3

Now to this update: This chapter might be a bit too much… It turned out worse than I thought… Forgive me for sounding harsh in this chapter, but I guess that's part of the framework that Hoshino set up. It's a cruel, cruel world sometimes…

P.S. Title for this chapter is quite evil as well.

Disclaimer: D.Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino!

Kapitel 27 The Bowels of Faith

The clouds ahead were moving fast over the sky, blown by very strong winds. Ellen could hear the sounds of the wind howling through the forest, shaking the pine trees. The temperature seemed to drop a few more degrees. Ellen's breathing was irregular and rapid while she stared at the thing creeping out of the well. It didn't attack her yet, but it was moving towards her. Ellen tried to calm down as fast as she could. It was a shadow, not too big and there was something solid in it. She invocated her Innocence just in case, which seemed to trigger a reaction in the monster as well. It froze suddenly and looked like a black something suspended in mid-air, but then it moved again. Like an arrow or a bullet out of a gun, it shot forward. Ellen shrieked, but a wall of fire suddenly appeared and separated her from the threat.

"Ellen!!", the girl heard Rabi's voice and the young man ran towards her. The other exorcists appeared as well, standing all on Ellen's side of the fire wall.

"It…", Ellen spoke up, staring at the monster through the flames. The object rushed back into the depth of the well before anyone else could react. Ellen stared after the apparition.

"Ellen, Ellen are you alright?", Linali called and shook her friend. Ellen turned towards her and blinked in surprise.

"Linali?", she asked, stopping her invocation. The Chinese girl sighed in relief.

"I'm so glad! You're alright!"

"Man that was close! Did anyone catch sight of the thing?", Rabi asked and made the flames disappear. It instantly grew darker around the well, but nobody was concerned about that, as the villagers came to them with candles and lights.

"The women of this village are no longer safe", Bookman said after a while, then he turned towards Ellen, "what happened? Were you hurt?"

"No… No, nothing is wrong with me, I just got a fright", Ellen confessed, "I… I saw it… It was Innocence", she breathed. The others looked at her in surprise.

"You saw more than this black shadowy mass?", Rabi wondered, "we all saw that, you know".

"Yes… I went to the well to investigate, then I felt something react to my Innocence. And then this so-called monster came out of the well. Only that it is no monster. It is Innocence, there is no doubt about it. It was a dagger and it was dripping blood". Ellen stumbled and Rabi caught her in surprise.

"Hey! Little beansprout!!", he called worriedly. Ellen held her hand to her head.

"I saw… something when I was looking at the blood drenched dagger… There were a lot of pictures but… It went all too fast to recognize anything properly"

"You had a vision caused by the Innocence?", Rabi wondered in surprise and Ellen nodded.

"There was blood and women and a dark corridor… Then erected old stones, babies and water… I cannot sort it out…", Ellen said, feeling sick because of it.

"You don't need to", Bookman said and the others looked at him, "I found out some things. Now that you mentioned the dagger everything becomes clear".

"What do you mean by that Bookman?", Linali asked, studying him with a frown.

"Well… I looked around the village, asking people about various things. And I was told very helpful information relevant to this case… There was a murder at this village, here where we are standing", he said.

"Isabel…", Linali and Ellen said and Bookman nodded.

"Isabel was a prostitute back in a not too far away city. She fled into this village when she was chased away by her relatives because of the work she did. Even though this village is pretty secluded, it was not the best place for a refugee to seek shelter in. The people here won't just accept a former prostitute into their village. Isabel was shunned and when it became obvious that she was pregnant it only got worse. She was killed here at the well by a man called Filip. He was a doctor here in the village, but he had disappeared on the day Isabel died. Along him an artefact was also gone from the church"

"An artefact?", Rabi wondered.

"Yes. It was a dagger, it is said that they received this dagger when the Christian villagers defeated the pagan people living here in this region before them. It is said to have magical powers, because it had been used in human sacrifice rituals".

"Yes, we can confirm this…", Rabi said and looked at Crowley, who nodded.

"While looking for the missing children we came upon a strange ruin not too far into the forest. It was a place where the trees have been burnt down to make space for a cult place. There was a circular stone plate on the floor, tomb like stones, covered by moss, were erected around it. I convinced Rabi that we might have to dig a little", the older exorcist said and Rabi shivered.

"We did find something… And it was quite terrible…", he said, "I can't even bring myself to say it". Crowley just rolled his eyes.

"Corpses. The clothes have been rotten away, but the corpses were still looking fresh, even though they must have been buried there for hundreds of years. We saw marks on their bodies, longish and thin, probably done with the dagger", he explained their findings.

"And are you sure that these corpses are really as old as you assumed?", Bookman wanted to know. Rabi nodded, recovering from his disgust.

"There were etchings on the stones, as well as some objects laid into the graves. I could see at once that these graves must be about 200 to 300 years old".

"Hn. I see… The picture is getting completer with every new bit we're told", Bookman said deep in thoughts, then he turned towards the major, who has also dared to appear on the town square.

"He asked him what else they are hiding and that they must have been aware of this cult place", Rabi translated what the Bookman was saying.

"This is all a bit too wicked for my tastes", Ellen mumbled and Linali had to agree.

"At least we know that it is Innocence", she tried to calm her friend, but it didn't help much. Ellen just uttered a humourless laugh.

"As if that would make it any better", she whispered and Linali could say nothing to that.

"The major says that they were aware of it. They knew that Filip and Isabel were the cause of the whole ordeal", Rabi continued translating, "The villagers wanted to have her out of the village, because she was bothering them with her sinful being. Filip was a very agreeable to God he claims and so they asked him to sort this out and he did"

"You let him kill a woman?!", Linali shouted, which Rabi instantly translated.

"It had to happened!", the English speaking man replied, loud enough for all to hear. "This city was built on the foundation of human sacrifices! The ground is flooded with the blood of those that have died by the hands of those cursed heathens! The village itself is damned because of them, we cannot have this woman defile the villager and its innocence inhabitants even more! Filip agreed to take the sin upon himself, thus liberating us from it!"

"That is NO reason! I cannot believe your reasoning!", Ellen shouted now fully recovered from the assault, "you sacrifice a human just because you don't want to be guilty of any sin?! What kind of twisted up logic is that?!".

"Ellen is really angry…", Rabi observed, "but I can't blame her… I don't get you people either!", he added loudly.

"We didn't mean for this to turn into such a horrible trail of events! Who would have known that Isabel would come back to haunt us!"

"That is no ghost", Bookman said, remaining the calmest out of all the exorcists, "this is Innocence. We will recover it and nothing will plague this village anymore", he explained, also repeating it in the language of the villagers.

"What…? We will be free?", the English speaking guy asked in disbelief and talking filled the normally so empty town square.

"But, Bookman!", Linali argued, but the old man just lifted his hand.

"This does not concern us. We are merely here to recover Innocence. It is not our duty to set things straight in a messed up village".

"But they sacrificed a human!", the Chinese girl argued, but Rabi put his hand on her shoulder.

"Linali. It's okay… We are in no place to judge them… For the sake of the community a lot of people get sacrificed… Sad as it is, this is common practice. I'm sure that you know…", he said gently, but Linali just stared at him with wide eyes and then she started trembling slightly. Rabi comforted her and Ellen just watched them in confusion.

"Are you alright, Ellen?", Crowley asked and Ellen looked up at him in surprise.

"Baron… Yes… Yes, thank you…", she replied and Crowley smiled at her.

"Upon investigating the graves we realized that they sacrificed mostly women and some children, never adult men… Rabi and I were worried that one of you might get attacked when you investigate… That's why we hurried to come back…"

"Thank you… But I doubt that it would have hurt me… Even though I am not entirely sure how to fight Innocence with Innocence…", she confessed. She sighed and turned to her friends. "Let us go down into the well"

"But Ellen! That's dangerous!", Linali argued, "we are not sure what awaits us down there".

"We have to stop it, do we not?", Ellen replied and walked up to the well, putting her hand on the stone, "there are no Akuma, only Innocence. Let us do our duty now". Nobody else had any complaints and they were given some lights to take down into the well. Rabi volunteered to use his Innocence to get them all down. He held his hammer over the well, pole looking upwards and extended it deep into the well until it touched bottom.

"Okay, it's down. Who wants to get down with me?"

"I advise that I go first with you, none of the ladies should be left alone down there just in case the Innocence attacks them again", Crowley suggested and Rabi had no problem with that. With Rabi's help he descended down into the well. When he reappeared again he made a grimace.

"What did you see down there, fool?", the old Bookman wanted to know. The young red-head shivered, but he replied:

"There's blood down there… And it reeks", he replied, then he took Linali and Ellen down, before also going back up to fetch the Bookman. Ellen did understand what he meant. When she had looked down with her cursed eye she might have seen to the bottom of the well, but because it was black and white she had not realized that the water had a reddish colour. The water itself was only ankle high and there was a narrow corridor leading away from the well. There was a trail of blood flowing from somewhere within the corridor into the water of the well. The stench was terrible and neither exorcist could help making a disgusted face.

"W… Well then…", Ellen started, "let us go", she said and wanted to walk into the corridor, but Crowley stopped her.

"Young lady, I cannot have you take the lead in such a situation. Allow me to shield you", he said.

"Hey! Hey wait a minute! I'm the one that's in charge of protecting Ellen!", Rabi protested while Crowley just threw him an annoyed look.

"There is another woman here that might want your protection. Why don't you offer it to Linali? I owe Ellen something for the hair", he said and Ellen couldn't help sighing – they were still going on about the hair then. She would probably be hearing about this for ages.

"Yes, please Baron, after you", Ellen finally said, while Rabi contented himself to play guardian for Linali:

"Come one, fair princess, let's head into the dragon's lair!", Rabi said and Linali had to roll her eyes at him.
"Stop pretending, we all know that you are scared, Rabi", Linali said and the red-head sighed in defeat.

"You're all so cold…", he muttered and followed the other exorcists into the low tunnel. It was just wide enough to walk in, even though Crowley had to watch his head. They followed the trail of blood further into the reeking darkness and Ellen activated her cursed left eye as well as her Innocence, while Crowley was still shielding her dutifully.

"The ground is rising slowly", Linali stated and indeed did the tunnel lead up now, even though it was barely noticeable. Suddenly a cracking noise broke the silence of the dark tunnel.

"What was that?!", Rabi exclaimed, raising his Innocence hammer immediately, ready to attack.

"I stepped on something", Crowley confessed and looked down, "bones…".

"Bones?!", Rabi repeated and looked down at Crowley's feet. There were some bones scattered around them now and once Crowley lifted his lamp a bit higher they could see that the corridor in front of them was all covered in skulls and bones, the skulls mostly attached to the wall.

"This is really macabre...", Linali said, shuddering slightly. Rabi put his free arm around her, a very welcome shelter for the Chinese girl. Ellen was still keeping her calm and tried to observe the situation.

"This reminds me of catacombs…", she said and looked around.

"Yes, you're right", Bookman agreed, "but I doubt that this should serve as catacombs. Unless this is the place where the Christian villagers have buried the pagan people they had defeated"

"You mean they didn't only chase them away, but they actually slaughtered them?", Crowley asked in disbelief, "how cruel!", he continued as Bookman merely nodded.

"Let us not dwell on this", Ellen said, walking on, "let us just recover the Innocence. If there is something like justice in this world, then the villagers will be judged according to their actions".

"How dark, Ellen", Rabi mumbled, "but do you think that the whole village should be guilty because of the misdoings of their ancestors?". Ellen shook her head and looked at Rabi over her shoulder.

"No. Every person is responsible for his or her own actions, be they good or be they bad. I firmly would like to believe that one will get rewarded for the good deeds and get punished in some way or another for the bad things one did… However, it is not our place to pass judgement on them. And I also believe that people have the right to redeem themselves…", she said and then she turned her head back around, looking into the dimly illuminated corridor in front of her.

"You're still a very remarkable girl Ellen…", Rabi confessed, but Ellen chose not to answer. "Are you looking for redemption as well?".

"Rabi", Linali said disapprovingly and Rabi looked at her apologetically.

"I probably am", Ellen replied after a while, "but I cannot offer anything but my body to kill Akuma… And I can try offer forgiveness as well, hoping that I might receive some in turn". Rabi studied his friend's back for a while and then he sighed silently.

"Such strength… why can she continue being this optimistic… And is she really?", Rabi wondered to himself, "I sure do wish that Yu would be here, maybe he would stop her from being so painfully selfless…".

"Hn. My teeth are starting to ache", Crowley said after the corridor was getting wider and the stone and skeletons were covered by moss and mould.

"Which means that the Innocence is nearby. Watch out for the signs! Dripping and the sound of an arrow", Bookman reminded the younger exorcists.

"Which is pretty hard to do because the whole corridor is dripping", Rabi muttered and looked to the ceiling where water was pushing through the stone.

"I do not think that we have much to fear", Ellen said after a while, "when we were first at the well, the Innocence did not dare to attack. And once you came it retreated. I am sure that it does not dare to attack us because we are so many".

"But Ellen- ", Rabi started, but Bookman cut him off:

"She might be right. However, we have not thought about the reason for the attacks of the Innocence yet. We do know for a fact that Innocence that has materialized in an object can cause strange phenomena", he said and Ellen remembered the one time in Lucerne where the Innocence had also possessed an object and caused storms, "however, Innocence is known to just protect itself that way and not attack people"

"And what does this mean? This Innocence is apparently attacking people!", Linali said and Rabi frowned.

"Gramps, do you want to hint at the fact that there might be someone controlling the Innocence?", he asked with a half grin, "that's just-"

"Shut up you fool and be content to learn!", Bookman interrupted him yet another time, "Let's go. We have something to retrieve!". Ellen was pretty bothered by the old man's words, but she still followed Bookman and Crowley further up until they arrived in a cave, with faint light coming from an opening at the back of the cave. Linali put her hands in front of her face, while Ellen just paled upon seeing what lay before them. There was a hill at the end of the cave, leading up to the surface. This little slope was lined with old, moss covered stones, sticking up like gravestones from the wet ground. The slick floor was also covered in water, blood, bones and corpses.

"So this is where you have taken the stolen babies", Rabi managed to say, looking at the corpse of a baby just next to him. It probably wouldn't have t taken long for it to be born, but now it was lying on the floor, a wound on its chest.

"Filip", Bookman spoke into the dark. Ellen finally became aware of someone sitting among the corpses, skeletons and gravestones. It was a worn looking man, he was dirty and his clothes were torn and stained with layers of dry and fresh blood and he had the dagger – the Innocence – sticking in his chest. Ellen walked up next to Crowley, looking at the man at the floor with wide eyes. The trail of blood had been leading to him, as the wound in his chest was continuously bleeding. "We have come to retrieve the Innocence".

"Heh", the man hissed with something resembling a humourless grin on his face, "as you can see it's stuck in my chest", he whispered hoarsely. Bookman was unfazed and the others were still too shocked to even address themselves to the murderer.

"How did this happen?", Bookman wanted to know. Filip put his hand up on the handle of the Innocence.

"I have taken this out of the chapel to dispose of Isabel and it cut… wonderfully", Filip said, laughing slightly. "After the sin had been committed I threw the baby down the well, then I followed it, intending to add myself to the ranks of these godless heathens in these catacombs, because I knew that I was headed for the same place. Then I stabbed myself with the dagger"

"But it did not kill you", Crowley spoke up, a mixture of hate and pity flashing in his eyes, even though the anger was stronger.

"No, it did not. And I became aware that there is still more purging to do…", Filip said and Ellen looked at him in surprise.

"Did you… intend to kill all the people in this village?", she whispered and the man shook his head with a laugh.

"No, young lady", he said, finally looking up at her, "but I wanted to drive them out of these cursed lands. Nobody who would be buried in this damned soil would ever arrive at Heaven's gates. I knew it from the moment I pushed this blade into my heart".

"That's why you killed all the unborn children, so that they would leave out of fear", Bookman summarized and Filip nodded. "I see. Well, apparently you have nearly reached your goal"

"Nearly, yes, but then you appeared, you that carry arms made out of the same material than this cursed knife", he said, "and I could not finish what I started".

"You… you've destroyed countless lives!", Linali finally shouted, "of course we would stop you!"

"Linali… Getting worked up won't help…", Rabi said, holding on to her shoulders.

"But-"

"Filip, come. You control this Innocence. You are, as you have rightly guessed, a tool for God to purge the lands of the evil. However, you don't have to turn against the humans, what you should focus on are the Akuma", the Bookman said and Linali and Ellen stared at the old man.

"You cannot be serious!", Ellen breathed in shock, but nobody said anything to her, "you intend to bring this man to the Order?! He who has killed countless children and caused so much grief? You cannot be serious!", she repeated.

"Ellen… The Innocence has chosen him as a conformer…", Rabi said, "to be an exorcist is not a question of age, neither does it care whether its host is a sinner or a saint…". Ellen stared at her friend, clenching her fists at her side.

"No! An army of God cannot be made up of sinners!", she shouted but Rabi's sombre look made her flinch. What was she saying? She as well, she had sinned as well! She had killed Mana! She just shook her head, still not able to accept it.

"Let's go then. Filip, you'll come with us, we are heading for China". Filip started laughing again.

"Don't bother", he said, "I have no interest in becoming an exorcist. I've been a tool long enough, it's time for me to go to hell", he said and started pulling out the dagger, fresh blood soaking his already soiled clothes. He held the dagger up with a shaking hand, studying the blood dripping from the blade. "But isn't it ironic? God is pretty unscrupulous, isn't he?", Filip wondered and then he turned to look at the pale Ellen, "girl. Catch", he said and then he tossed the knife at her. Ellen widened her eyes but she still managed to react, invocating her Innocence hand and catching the knife without harming herself. Filip laughed breathlessly.

"You wanted it, right? How ironic… How ironic God is…", he whispered, then he closed his eyes.

"Well. There is nothing left for us here. Let's leave this place", Bookman said, passing the dead Filip.

"Why has he died now?! Didn't the Innocence keep him alive?", Crowley wondered.

"Sometimes humans are stronger than Innocence. He did not accept it anymore. That's all. We're done here", the old man replied, climbing the slope. Linali walked up to Ellen, who still started at her claw closed around the bloody dagger.

"Come…", she whispered to her friend and took her by the hand. "We've seen enough now…". Ellen lowered her head and let herself be guided out of the cave.

--

The exorcists left the village with the Innocence. The villagers had thanked them countless times, but nobody felt like they received the gratitude. Bookman's parting words had been:

"Leave this village. It's better for you", which had earned himself confused looks.

"This was one heavy mission…", Rabi said after they fetched a new train that would get them to China, "I'm glad it's over".

"Me too… I'm sure it will leave some bad memories though…", Linali said with a deep sigh, then she turned to Ellen. The girl had the dagger resting on her lap, while she continued studying it. "Ellen…"

"Filip's words have reminded me of something that Rhode mentioned…", the white haired girl said with a sigh, wrapping the white piece of cloth around the dagger and putting it into her suitcase.

"What do you mean?", Linali wondered and Ellen looked at her.

"She claimed that there was no difference between God and Devil… I will never forget that, neither will I forget what I have already seen until now. This world is more than I had always thought it would be", she said and shook her head, smiling sadly, "I thought that I knew a great deal about the world because my mother kept teaching me and because Mana kept showing me what mother tended to hide… But… This is still very different".

"Ellen, I understand what you mean… But this part of the world, this dark happenings, this are things we will stop…", Linali assured her with determination, "don't take all on yourself! I'm here to help as well! Together we will make our own dreams come true, right? Do you remember what you told me on the way to Germany?". Ellen blinked up at her in surprise, while the men in the compartment kept quiet – this was a thing between women, apparently…

"Linali?"

"You told me that this war would not last forever! That we fight to make it stop and then we both will do what we dream of: you'll marry a nice man and I'll stay together with my brother – and marry too, eventually!". Ellen looked at her friend, who was now blushed slightly, and then she smiled gently and thankfully.

"Thank you Linali…", she said and embraced your friend, "I have not forgotten". She smiled at her and also nodded at Rabi, who did look a bit concerned. "I'll continue to believe that we will stop the Earl. I'll continue saving humans!". Rabi smiled, Crowley as well, while Bookman stayed silent, but he nodded approvingly.

"And when it's over you'll marry Yu, right??"

"Rabi!!"

To be continued

Notes:

Finally, enough damage done! Next chapter; China! :3

Feedback would be great! :D