Chapter 45- Back to the Black Order- Arisa
I was at a loss. The exorcists had all vanished, so I couldn't follow them, and the only other place I thought about going to was Athens, Greece. However, that was a long way from Edo, Japan.
It took almost two weeks for me to get there, and I was not feeling well by the time I did get there. I was tiered, thirsty, and hungry. I felt like vomiting at any moment, and then passing out right there, on the path.
"Are you all right, Madam?" Someone asked. I looked over to my left to see a plump man smiling at me. He had short, light brown hair, glasses, and dark eyes. He wore a black suite, and I thought that he must be very warm in that with the scorching heat.
"I'm fine. Thank you for asking, though." I lied. I tried to walk away from him, but fell to my knees. The man knelt beside me.
"You look like you've been traveling a long distance," He said. "Have you had anything to drink and eat recently?"
"Yes," I lied again. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink for a few days, but I wasn't about to take anything from a total stranger. Besides, I got a weird vibe from the guy.
"Is a guardian near by?" The man asked.
I nodded. "My aunt lived right down the road. I'm staying with her for a while."
"Perhaps I should help you the rest of the way," He said.
"I'll be fine," I said. "I just need to sit here for a minute, then I'll be ready to move onward." I sat there, hoping that he would leave me alone. Unfortunately, He just sat with me.
"My name's Abe Crace," He said, holding his hand out to me.
"I'm... Anka Bamer," I said, shaking his hand. I didn't want this Abe guy knowing who I really was.
"It's nice to meet you," He said. "Your accent sounds British. Did you come from somewhere over there?"
"Yes," I said. "My parents sent me over here to visit my aunt. They said that an adventure would be good for me."
"It's not every day a family lets a young woman out to explore without a chaperone," Abe said. He started to clean his glasses with a kerchief.
"It's a tradition my family has had for centuries," I explained. "Whenever a child reaches their eighteenth birthday, they have to find their way to another family member's place- even if they live far away."
I didn't know why, but the words just came out. It was almost as if I had practiced them many times before. Even the fake name seemed to be familiar. Once again, I cursed my memory for keeping me out of the dark whenever I needed answers the most.
"You look angry," Abe said.
"I'm just a little frustrated,' I said. "I don't really know why I decided to come to Greece. I have family that's closer, yet I came here. I'm not really the person who likes long distance travels." Another lie. I loved to travel. It seemed like everything I had been saying was lie after lie. I had lied to that boy in Edo, and to a lot of people I met on my journey.
"Traveling such a distance that you have, I'm sure that you must have been able to think about some questions as to what you want to do with your life," Abe said. "What do you want to do when you get older?
Now that question I knew the answer to without having to lie. "I want to be a dancer," I said. "I've always loved the grace that dancers have, and whenever I do dance, I feel free."
"That's a wonderful dream!" Abe exclaimed. "How long have you wanted to be a dancer?"
"For as long as I remember," I said.
"That's been how long now- two and a half years?"
My eyes widened, and I stared at Abe Crace. "H-how did you know that?"
"I know a lot about you, Arisa Lane," He said, his voice echoing.
"Who is Arisa Lane?" I asked, slowly standing up.
Abe stood as well, laughing. "Why you are. Of course, you wouldn't remember anything about your life in the Order. The Heart has been talking a lot about you recently. It's a shame that your life will have to end here. I'm sure you would have become a dazzling dancer, Child of Noah."
"What do you- ah!" I screamed as strange plants sprouted from the ground, surrounding me, and allowing no path to run. They were so tall, that I couldn't even see Abe as he laughed.
"You're a curse," He said. "Even if the Heart talks kindly about you, you are still a curse. You and your brother are exactly the same- scum that should have never existed on this world."
"I have no clue what it is you mean!" I yelled. "I don't have a brother!"
Abe sighed. "You think you don't have a brother, but you don't remember anything from your past- not even your family."
"Someone help!" I screamed. No one seemed to take notice.
"No one will hear you," Abe said. "We are in a realm just between that of life and death. No one even knows you're here."
"Actually, someone does," A voice said. Suddenly, the plants all fell to the ground, and I saw a tall boy about the age of nineteen or twenty standing in between Abe and me. He had messy, black hair, gray skin, and strange make-up. He was handsome, I do have to admit that; but the dangerous and evil aura around him told me that he was not one to mess with.
"Stay out of this, Noah," Abe snapped.
The boy started to laugh. It was strange, as if two people were laughing instead of one.
"You're that thing that Tyki has been looking for seven hundred years," He said. "What's your name again? Apocrap?"
Abe snarled. He started to change into a hideous human-monster thing. He seemed to radiate heat as he took a step towards us.
I screamed, and backed away. The boy was smiling like a mad man as he too started to back away.
"Ah," He said. "is the big guy throwing a temper tantrum because I'm taking his prey away? I'll leave you to that, then."
He grabbed my waist, and pulled me near to him. I yelped as the wind started to whip around us, and I found myself standing under trees. The moon shone through the leaves, casting a bright glow on the ground, which had snow on it.
I looked at the boy, scared and confused. He was smiling at me, and I saw a flash of hunger flash through his eyes. He quickly glanced down at my body.
I pushed away from him, and crossed my arms over chest, more out of insecurity than defiance.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"What, no thank you?" The boy asked.
"Not until I learn how you knew who that guy was, and where we were, and what the hell just happened," I said. I felt an even bigger sense of distrust with this guy than with Abe.
The boy sighed, and leaned against a tree trunk. "The name's Davi. As for how I found you, I used a little tracking spell to find that guy. He's known as the Apocrypos. I know nothing else about him, except for the fact that we're sworn enemies because we're on opposite sides of a war that we're both fighting. He was trying to attack you, but I have no clue why. He doesn't attack normal humans unless he has to, so he must have had a reason to kill you."
Davi walked over to me, and grabbed my hand. He kissed it. "And what about you? It's not every day I get to meet such a beautiful girl like you."
Usually, a comment like that would make me blush, but when he said it, I just felt a shudder run through my spine. I tried to get him to let me go, but his grip was too tight to escape from.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "Don't you trust me?"
"Get away from me," I said. I tried to slap him, but he was faster. He pulled me close to him, and smashed his lips against mine.
My eyes widened, and for a moment, I didn't know what to do. My mind flashed to the kiss I shared with the boy Kanda. Was he completely shocked and grossed out when I had done this to him? If he was, then I was starting to feel sympathy. Davi was a freak that much was certain. Whether he would hurt me, I had no clue.
When I got my body under control, I pushed him away, and slapped him hard across the face. "You're insane!" I stomped off, anger flooding through my veins. I also felt sad. Kanda had most likely felt that same thing two years back. The thought of him hating me made my mood even worse.
I looked back to make sure that Davi hadn't followed me, but he wasn't there. It was like he had disappeared into thin air. I didn't care, though. I was just happy to get rid of him.
After a while of walking, I realized that he had transported me all the way to England. I groaned, not wanting to think about having to go all the way back to Athens.
"Don't think about that," I scolded myself. "You need sleep, Ari. You can decide what to do in the morning."
I found a tree that had two branches near the ground that formed a V shape. I climbed up to them, and sat on them, my back against the trunk. I fell asleep within moments. I wished that I hadn't fallen asleep though, because all I dreamed about was death and blood.
I was standing in a corridor that looked familiar. I figured that it was just another memory, but decided against it, when a girl ran passed me. She was wearing a short sleeved- camisole like shirt, and short shorts. Her feet were bare. She had really short hair, but it didn't take me long to realize that it was Lenalee.
I ran after her, calling out her name. She didn't hear me. The boy with the eye-patch that I saw the day they were loading the ship in China ran through me-literally. It was as if I was a ghost.
"Lenalee, where are you going?" He yelled.
"I have to talk to Hevlaska," Lenalee said. She kept running until she ran into a man.
"Take them," The man said. "You know your orders."
Two men grabbed Lenalee's arms, and two more grabbed the boy's.
"Brother, what's going on?" Lenalee asked.
"Since both of you don't have working innocence, then you cannot join the fight," The man said. "We are still looking for Kanda."
Lenalee started to yell at her brother, but I couldn't tell what she was saying, because I started to fly away from them against my will. I found myself inside a giant room that was covered in dead and bleeding bodies.
Allen, the boy I had met at Edo, was fighting like a mad man. I saw more people around him, more of the exorcists who were also fighting. They were outnumbered, and it was clear that they were losing. I mentally willed them to keep going, and to keep fighting. I didn't want them to lose. I still had a lot of questions to ask them.
The stench of blood and the sounds of screams were overwhelming my senses. I didn't want to see the rest of the battle.
Suddenly, my eyes flung open, and I sat up, screaming. Of course, I forgot about being in a tree, and fell off the branches, and onto the ground.
"Ow," I said, slowly siting up. Still, the pain was better than any dream about death of people who were supposedly my friends.
That dream had really scared the heck out of me. For days, I didn't sleep. I didn't want another terrible nightmare, and I was afraid that if I did sleep, my next dream would be about the funerals and those who had died.
Was Lenalee dead? That was the question that seemed to linger in my mind. Every time I thought about it, I couldn't help but freak out. Lenalee was a sister to me- or so I thought. If she died, it was as if there was nothing to go back to. Except Kanda, who obviously hated people.
Finally, I decided that I had to do something more than traveling around the world to find anything that might jog a memory. I needed to speak with people that I knew, and the only way I was going to do that was if I went back to the place started everything. I needed to go back to the Black Order.