Century Breakdown- 'Part One'

The vast library that smelled of old stationary and plume was filled with students of fifth year from class A to class C. All seats and tables were occupied with books piled up high beside each of the students. There was this one table though that had only one occupant and the seats around it were vacant as though no one wished to sit or be near the red head guy.

"Mind if I sit here?" He heard someone spoke, so he tore off his eyes on his book and looked up to see the green haired boy, smiling at him with a book in his arm.

"Just keep your trap shut or I'll smash you up." Said, or more like, threatened Dilan.

Liam quietly pulled the chair and sat on it. He then opened his book and started reading. "Say... Dilan." He spoke after a long silence. "Can I spend the night with you?" At his words, Dilan snapped his head toward the green haired guy, looking bewildered.

"What are you smoking?" Asked Dilan in which Liam had to raise a brow and struggled to hide his laughter though he failed resulting into a fit of giggles. Dilan, annoyed at Liam's reaction, glared at the boy. He patiently waited for the boy to calm down before giving him a look that said to explain his self.

"Haa... sorry about that, Dilan. Hehe. Did you think that I'm a homo or something? That's why you asked me that? Well, sorry. You got it wrong. I just wanted to avoid my sister tonight. I don't want to end up as her guinea pig again."

"Did she make some ridiculous drugs again?"

"Yup. Last time Rotasu was the victim. He wound up having to shave his arms that grew hair." Liam giggled behind his palm.

"Hush!" They heard one of the students who were studying in a quiet yet irritated tone. Liam looked back and apologized.

Meanwhile, in one of the rooms of the girl's dormitory, Lian Lee locked herself up, grinning to herself as she lifted the vial with malicious pink liquid in it up to her eye level.

"Now, to whom shall I test this?" Asked the green haired girl to herself, wondering if her twin brother would volunteer.

The day soon ended and the students and teachers alike prepared to retire for the night.

Outside the huge building was a tranquil eve as the snowflakes fell down from the heaven's, swaying along with the mild winter breeze, and covered the earth like a soft blanket. Soon, the night was not young anymore. Everyone inside the building was all fast asleep except to one person. Footsteps appeared, starting from the back door of the building, and disappeared into the woods. Following the trail that was on the snow-covered ground, it lead farther from the building and ended in front of the pearly white chapel designed with golden and delicate swirls where a dark haired boy in thick gray winter jacket stood on the door step. It was his first time to see the chapel up close, and so he gaped at the beautiful, well made structure. His eyes widened in admiration as his gaze travelled upward, marvelling and absorbing its features as though he was enchanted. However, he was woken up from his stunned state when he heard a sort of sound, a melody coming from the other side of the door. It was a quiet tone muffled by the walls, yet he could tell that it was some kind of a lullaby. He had been curious as to why such a beautiful piece of art was off limits to them students, and had been waiting for the day to come when their mentor will introduce it to them. He had been waiting patiently, but now he could not wait any longer. The song that he just heard made him want to see what inside was. The song seemed creepy at the secluded place, but the boy felt no fear as his right hand reached for the doorknob subconsciously and pushed the door open, wincing at its creaking sound.
What he saw inside was a tall white crystal-like coffin, standing at the aisle, illuminated by the moon's light that penetrated through the glass that was right above the said coffin, making it look like it had its own glow. The boy walked in and stopped right in front of the coffin, leaving the door open. He leaned his face closer to it to have a good look.

"What's this?" Asked the boy. "A white fur?" Just then, he noticed something that resembled a small hand. "This is interesting." He said as he smiled to himself.

The next day, during breakfast at the cafeteria he told his friends about what he saw last night, but they just laughed it out, thinking he was going nuts.

"The drug that my sister forced you to drink the other day seemed like it has another effect." Said Liam who sat beside his twin sister and across the navy haired boy. "Hey, Lian. Are you sure the antidote is effective?" He asked his sister who shook her head as she took a bite of her sandwich, making him feel like a bead of sweat rolled down at the back of his head. She's never sure of anything she made.

"Believe me! Inside the chapel is a coffin. It was dense so I didn't see clearly what's inside but I saw the fur! It was white. And, there's a kid's hand! I'm telling you!" Said Rotasu; his hands slammed the table, leaning forward.

"Hey, you're so noisy, monkey."

All heads turned to the source of the voice only to find Dilan, standing behind Rotasu with a tray of his breakfast. Just then, Rotasu saw the looks of other students who were having breakfast at the moment. They all stared at him accusingly for breaking the school's rule.

"Oopsie." Was all what he could say, and as if on cue, the speaker from the auditorium spoke.
"Mr. Rotasu Kanda, please see the supervisor in her office." They heard the golem said, and so Rotasu sighed.
"That's what you get for being so loud." Said Lian, finishing her breakfast, and stood followed by Liam who gave him a sympathetic look.

"You really are a noisy monkey." Dilan, who sat a meter away from him, snorted and took a sip from his green tea.

"Dilan..." the dark haired boy cried quivered.

"Just go and face your doom already. You're so annoying." Grumbled the red haired boy whose long red hair was now tied in braid.

The short dark haired boy, Rotasu Kanda, sighed once again and said, "Will I live today and die tomorrow? Or will live tomorrow to meet the mad scientist wannabe again?"

Dilan whipped his red locks that framed his face and rolled his eyes. Just as Rotasu was about to leave, he reminded the Japanese to put his guard up in which Rotasu had to shiver at the thought of having those hair on his arms.

After an hour, the first bell rang, informing the students that classes will start in ten minutes.
The snow had stopped falling that morning, but the weather was still cold, colder than last night, and the sky was gray, not letting much of the sunlight to pierce through the thick gray clouds. Unbeknownst to them, said kid who was inside the coffin in the chapel shifted as the cold breeze blew pass the open glass window and hit against the coffin. It was as though the kid inside could feel the cold. And, from a distance, twelve pairs of golden orbs that hid behind the shadows glistened excitedly like they had been waiting for the day when the baby was born.

"Li~am!" Called the green haired girl, Lian, as she skipped through the hallway, smiling brightly to herself. "Where art though, Liam? Your precious li'l sister has something for yah~!".

At the intersection of the hallway stood Rotasu, who had just finished his task which was cleaning the laboratory as punishment, hiding behind with Liam squatting beside him. He peeked to see the retreating back of Lian who was still skipping and turned right, disappearing in their sight. He sighed in relief as he leaned back on the wall and slid down, joining his friend. "She's gone." He informed Liam.

"Yeah. We're safe for now. I know you aren't her target today, but..."

"You don't have to say it. I'm always been her second option without you."

"... Right. Even though she is my precious little sister, I could not afford to surrender myself and be her guinea pig."

"That's a cruel way to put it." Commented Rotasu.

Lian glanced at him, asking, "Think so?"

"Yup."

Later that afternoon, the students crowded around the bulletin board which was at the middle of the hall at the ground floor. The date of the Winter Exam had finally announced.
Dilan made his way from the very back to the very front of the bulletin by sending glares to the students who won't get out of his way. On the bulletin, he read the announcement to himself.

ATTENTION!
The Winter Exam will be on 25th of December 20xx at 9 a.m. sharp to 4 p.m.
C-class: Written Exam at 9:00-11:00 a.m. in Room 36W
B-class: Hands On Exam at 12:00-2:00 p.m. in Science Laboratory.
A-class (Reg and Spec): Battle Exam at 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the training grounds outside.

I'm sure that monkey will cry once he learned about this. Dilan smirked and went back to his room.
There was one week left to prepare for the examination.

At the common room that night, Rotasu, who successfully evaded the attacks courtesy of Lian, did cry upon hearing the news from Dilan. He was crying comically as they could not stay up all night to celebrate the Christmas Eve and was complaining how the Black Order did not spare some time to decorate the place for the holiday in which Liam and Lian had to remind him the custom the Black Order had. And that was to prepare all at once on the day before the celebration. Furthermore, the Order could not afford to not celebrate the Christmas. Rotasu then asked, "Why in the world they chose the 25th of this month of all days?"

"It's because, it is the day that the Heart met his father" said Dilan who sat on the other couch opposite to Rotasu's and the twins, reading a book. He could feel the stares the three directed at him, silently pleading to elaborate what he had said. What a bunch of snails, so slow. He mused mentally as he sighed and rolled his eyes, closing his book. "Look here." Said he. "It was written in our book, The History of The Late 19th Century Holy War that the Heart's birthday was on the 25th of December. He wasn't born on that day though, but he was adopted by the clown he met on Christmas."

"You sure know a lot of things, Dilan." Chorused the twins and Rotasu added, "He's from the lineage of Bookman, so it's to be expected that he knew those kinds of things."

The red head twitched a brow and he said, "You heard me said 'our book' right? Don't tell me you did not read your books?"

They smiled sheepishly, making the young future Bookman to stare at them as though he had suddenly lost interest on the thing he once liked.

"You're hopeless..." they heard him said and stood.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Asked the Japanese.

Dilan glanced sideways to look at the navy haired boy and answered, "To my room. Why? Wanna come?"
At his question, Rotasu had to chuckle it off. He could tell that death awaited him in that room.

"Don't you want to come with me? I'm going there tonight."

The twins looked at each other and back to the Japanese while Dilan glued his eyes on him, making the latter to feel uncomfortable.

"Rotasu, you know that it's off limits" Liam reminded him.

"I know, but it really is worth something." He smiled a smile that held a promised in which the twins and the young Bookman shared a look, silently agreeing. They, too, were curious as to what inside that chapel was.

The night was not calm as strong wind with snow blew furiously. The branches and twigs swayed along with it, making a strange sound. From afar, there was a group of teens, three boys and a girl, walking toward the chapel where the Japanese boy wanted to show them the coffin where a kid resided. Little did they know twelve pairs of golden eyes hiding behind the woods and shadows were watching them like predators.

"I think this is a bad idea." Said Lian as she struggled to move forward with the deep pile of snow that had accumulated on the ground. "Once we get back alive I'll make sure to have you drink the vial with pink liquid in it."

Rotasu took a second or two to pause as he was draining the color of his face. He paled not because of the cold, but because of what Lian said.

"Y-yes." He stuttered.

In spite of the bad weather, the teens continued on going farther from the school's building to the chapel, struggling against the strong blizzard. They knew the consequences of breaking the school's rules, but they were determined to reach and see the place up close and to find out why it was off limits to them students.
"Wait." Dilan, who was walking behind them, suddenly stopped on his track as he told them to halt. The three looked over their shoulders and asked if something was the matter. "Did you hear that?" Asked the red head, making the twins to look up, and listened to their surroundings carefully.

"Apart from the sound of blizzard, we did not- wait." The twins said in sync and cut their own sentence when they heard something else and asked, "Is that a melody?"

"That's the melody I heard last night. It's coming from the chapel." Answered Dilan. "C'mon. We're almost there."

They resumed on walking and it was not long before they arrived at the chapel.
It was Rotasu's second time of seeing the beautiful chapel, yet he still could not get over it. Like him, his companions all gaped at the sight that welcomed them. Their eyes marvelled at what they think the most, or one of the most eye catching things they had seen so far. Rotasu was the first one to snap out of it as it was not his first time of seeing it and said, "Alright, it's close your traps or let the fly in. It's up to you." Which effectively brought them back to reality.

"Man, it's no chapel. It's a freaking castle!" Exclaimed Liam, eyes still on the infrastructure. His twin raised a brow, placing her hands on her hips and said, "Liam, it's obviously a tower."

"No, Lian. It's a castle." He stole a glance at his twin and gestured to the chapel, saying, "Just look at how huge that is!"

"As far as I can see... it's a tower. Look, it's so tall!" She imitated her twin's actions.

"Uhm...guys, it's a chapel in case you can't see the fact clearly." Rotasu could feel the sweat forming on his forehead despite the coldness they were feeling.

Upon hearing him said it,the twins turned their heads at him and said, "It's a castle/tower, Rotasu. Are you blind?"

"Hey. It's getting colder here you know." Complained the red head, shivering.

The Japanese then clicked the door and pushed it open. One by one, they made it inside and Dilan, who was last to enter, closed the door behind him and joined the others who were standing in front of the white crystal-like coffin which was at the middle of the hall and was standing vertically which was unusual for a coffin.

Dilan took a step forward when he saw the circle line on the tiled floor, encasing the coffin and told Lian not to step pass the circle as she will get her ears hurt since she was not an accommodator and explained that that crystal was part of the innocence, protecting its wielder that was inside it, and that he learned it from the books, which were exclusive for the members of Bookman clan, that he had read before they could even ask.

"How many facts did you store in your brain?" Asked the twins.

"You know, Dilan. You already revealed so much facts than you are allowed to." Rotasu commented as turned around to face him.

"It can't be help. Dad told me that I inherited this part of personality from our ancestor who can't keep the things he knew to himself." He scowled.

Rotasu smiled to himself and told his friends to gather around just outside the circle to have a closer look of what was inside. The coffin was dense as though thick fog accumulated inside, and so they all leaned slightly toward it and Rotasu pointed the thing which looked like a kid's hand. They all widened their eyes, thinking that inside was a kid's preserve body. Just then, said hand twitched as if it was disturbed by something. They were unsure if it really moved, so they waited for a while to see if it will move again, focusing their eyes at the hand, when suddenly, out of the blue, a small face made its way closer to the surface with his eyes wide open, showing his large silver orbs. It took three seconds before the teens screamed out of utter fear and run outside only to get back inside within five seconds as the weather got worse.

Dilan suggested staying in the chapel for the night, but the three protested; however, they did not have any other option but to stay.

Seeing their fearful faces, Dilan sighed and went to check the coffin again only to find a sleeping face. Upon seeing it, he felt light and comfortable.

"He looks like a fallen angel in deep slumber. I think there is no need to be afraid of this kid. He's just sleeping peacefully when we came and disturbed his sleep that's why he stirred and check to see who woke him up." Dilan explained without tearing his gaze at the sleeping angel.

"So... is he sleeping again?" Asked Rotasu, still wary of the kid inside the coffin.

"Seems so. Let's just keep quiet to not wake him up again."

"He's not dead?" Liam asked as he held his sister closer to him.

Closing his eyes as he sighed, Dilan turned around and walked closer to the three and answered, "No, because he is the Heart of innocence, the source of all innocence's existence." He sat on the floor; the three followed his example. "Which means…" He continued. "If he dies, all of the innocence fragments will be destroyed."