Alright here's part three! I had to cut off the end for lengths sake, so the next chapter should be a bit shorter than this one. Thanks to Alice Nyte, TheParadoxicalOtaku, and April Marciano for the lovely reviews/favorites! Warning: things are kind of dark in this chapter. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: You already know I don't own D. Gray-man or the works of Hermann Hesse/Richard Strauss.
Part Three: Beim Schlafengehen
"Hands, stop all your work. Brow, forget all your thinking. All my senses now yearn to sink into slumber."
Hermann Hesse
The world must have been ending, for Lady Arienne was going out by herself today. Apparently she was headed to a ball for the local nobility, and children were not invited. Rhian was to keep an eye on all of them, but still he was to watch over the Walker boys. She left with Lord Camelot and Lord Tykki. Like always, Road and Sophia came to call. They would be spending the night at Walker Manor, for the adults would not be back until late.
The Walker boys and road soon grew tired of their usual games. Since it was too hard to keep an eye on all three Walker boys if they were to split up, Lady Arienne had forbidden Neah and Mana from going outside. That didn't matter much since it was too dark, cold, and wet to play outside anyhow.
"I'm bored," groaned Road. She was lying on her back staring at the ceiling. The fabric of her dress was spread out like ocean waves covering the beach at high tide.
"Read a book," suggested Mana. He was doing just that as he lay on his stomach on the Oriental rug covering the floor.
"But that's boring," replied Road. She turned onto her left side to look at Neah. He was staring out the window at the last remnants of sunlight. "What do you want to do, Neah?"
"I don't know," he said. Gitano saw his hands twitched. He knew that Neah probably wanted to practice the piano, but ever since Road's temper tantrum over that he had refrained from playing in her presence.
"You're being dreadfully dull today," she giggled, "almost as dull as Rory."
Rory had been sitting on the rug playing with Mana's toy train. He looked down at the carpet at Road's words, tears brimming in his eyes. Sophia began to look through her apron pocket for a clean handkerchief.
"I know!" exclaimed Road, sitting up on the carpet. "Let's play a game!"
"What kind of a game?" inquired Neah.
"Hide-and-go-seek!" she cried out in delight. She stood and ran over to Neah, taking him by the hand. "It will be lots of fun! Such a big house must have loads of places to hide."
"I want to play!" shouted Rory. Neah looked down at his twin on the floor. "Please?"
"Everyone has to play, even Mana, Sophia, and the Git," stated Road.
"I've never played before…" said Sophia, wringing her hands.
"I'm not sure Lady Arienne would like if we joined," Gitano admitted.
"Nonsense! She can't say anything if I ordered you to play with us," said Road. She stared at the two servant children. "Now the two of you are going to play Hide-and-Seek with all of us and act like you are having fun."
"Yes, m'am," Gitano and Sophia replied. Great, now he had to play with the brats. This would completely ruin any sense of authority he may have had over them.
"I don't play games," stated Mana.
"Yes you do," retorted Road. "You played Train with us the other day. Don't try to say that this is a dumb 'children's game,' Mana Walker. Hiding is an important life skill, especially for our kind."
"What are you all up to?" asked Rhian. She was carrying a mop and bucket up the staircase in the foyer.
"We're going to play Hide-and-Seek," responded Road casually.
"Alright, but I'm going to make a couple rules," said Rhian. They all looked up at the old woman. "First off, no climbing the curtains. Second, if you move something in the kitchen or my quarters then you put it back. And lastly, no one is to go into the basement. That one comes from Lady Arienne herself."
As soon as Rhian was out of earshot, Road turned to conspire with Neah. "Why do you think we can't go into the basement?" she inquired.
"I don't know," replied Neah. "There's probably something down there."
Gitano was pretty sure what it was; Lady Arienne had volunteered to keep the 'Innocence' in her house until Uncle Adam needed it again. As curious as he was he was definitely keeping them away from the basement today.
"What is it?" whispered Sophia in his ear.
"Can't tell you about it now," he stated quietly. "I do know that it's pretty strong though. It's something that makes certain people stronger, maybe even stronger than Lord Adam."
They looked at the door. He didn't notice that they weren't alone in this action.
oOo
He volunteered to seek first. It would just make the whole process easier since in the end he would have been chosen to look for the others anyhow. That didn't mean he would have to find them right away. Gitano decided to take his good old time finding the brats. It would be nice for him to have a half hour to himself. If he found Rory or Sophia, then that wouldn't be too bad either. Plus, he was pretty sure Road would throw a temper tantrum if she was found first.
Gitano walked around aimlessly in the foyer for ten minutes before he slowly began his search. Luckily no one decided to hide under the stairs or in the closet by the front door. He moved on to his quarters and the Rhian's room next door. No one had hidden in there either. All the better, he thought. He was beginning to like Hide-and-Seek. Gitano was pretty certain that everyone would have hidden upstairs or maybe in the sitting room, but he'd give it another five minutes before he headed in that direction.
His search moved to the kitchen where he took a small apple from a bowl of fruit by the window. He would need some nutrition to continue his 'arduous' search. Gitano smirked to himself, but then wiped the smile off his face. He didn't want the brats thinking that he was actually having fun. That would entirely ruin his good mood; for he was sure Neah and Road would never let him live it down.
He really wished things could have stayed that way, but he was horror-stricken when he opened the kitchen door. The basement door in the hall just outside was wide open. Gitano ran to the now-open doorway and peered down the stairs. He couldn't see any light, but he heard a voice.
"Rory!" it hissed. He recognized it instantaneously. It was Sophia. "Rory! You shouldn't be down here."
"Well then what are you doing here, Sophia?" the little boy asked. He seemed a bit annoyed. Gitano looked out in the hall for a candle and a small box of matches.
"I saw you going down here," she replied. "You heard what Rhian said. We shouldn't be down here."
"I heard what Gitano said too," stated Rory. His words seemed to bite into the darkness that was practically tangible in the open door. Gitano finally found some matches in a drawer of an end table. He struck the first one, but it fell out of his trembling hands. He quickly stamped it out. "He said that there's something strong down here- something that might be able to make me stronger than Uncle Adam."
Gitano froze at hearing his words repeated almost verbatim by the tiny seven year old. He resolved then and there that if he got the two of them out of the basement without anyone having known they were there, then he'd never tell secrets ever again.
"That's still only a might," pleaded Sophia. "Please come back upstairs with me!"
"I'm weaker than all of them!" Rory cried. "I'm tired of Mama and Mana thinking that I'm fragile! I'm tired of Road seeing me as nothing but a weakling! And I'm tired of Neah thinking that I can't be as strong as him! He keeps muttering things like 'he's not like the rest of us' and when I asks what he means he just walks away! I don't want to be left behind any longer!"
Neah knew, Gitano realized in horror as he attempted to strike another match. This one broke in half. Neah had somehow figured out that Rory did not have the Noah blood even though the two of them were twins.
With the third match he was able to light the candle. He then ran as fast as he could down the basement stairs without making noise. "I swear," he growled, "you two better get out of here right now. Come on."
He could see Rory standing in front of a once-chained wooden crate. A large pair of hedge trimmers sat on the ground next to the broken chains. At any other time he would have been impressed with this feat of strength by the little boy, but now was not that time. Rory placed his hands on the lid of the crate.
"Can you hear it singing?" Rory asked Sophia. He seemed to be in some kind of trance now, his silver eyes glazed over.
"I-I don't understand," said Sophia. Gitano looked over at his friend and saw that her eyes had a glazed-over look to them as well. "I hear a voice singing too. Rory, please, let's go back upstairs. It's scaring me."
He was worried. Now the two of them were hearing voices.
"Sophia is right. We're going back upstairs now," he asserted. He grabbed Sophia's closest hand.
"Don't you hear it, Gitano?" inquired Rory.
"I don't hear a damned thing," he responded. He moved to grab Rory as well.
That's when Rory opened the crate.
"Rory, no!" screamed Sophia. She moved in front of Gitano to grab at the little boy.
Whatever was in the crate exploded in a burst of bright white light. Gitano yelped as he fell to the ground. Sophia fell beside him, shrieking and clutching her hands over her ears. He heard Rory hit the ground too. The light subsided some and Gitano looked up to check on the other two.
Sophia appeared to be fine. She was still screaming, but he didn't see any serious injuries besides a small bump on her head. "Are you okay?" he asked. He wanted to be absolutely positive that she was okay.
She stopped screaming and began to cry. She let go of her ears and grabbed her knees as she curled up into a ball on the floor. Gitano picked her up so that she was sitting next to him clutching her knees. "I-I-I'm f-f-f-f-fine," she gasped between sobs. "I-I-I-I was j-j-just s-so s-s-s-scared." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
Then he looked up to check on Rory. The little boy had sat up. He looked perfectly fine, except there was something wrong with his left hand. There was a little green cross glowing on the back of his left hand. Gitano had never seen anything like it. Sophia stopped crying and also stared at the mesmerizing green light.
"What is this?" questioned Rory. He lifted his hand to look at the green cross.
He heard a pair of feet pound down the stairs. "Are you all dumb?" he heard Neah inquire. The boy kicked the now flameless candle across the floor. "Rhian said not to-"
Neah stopped and stared at his twin brother, and Rory stared back into Neah's golden eyes. The golden-eyed twin lunged forward and grabbed his twin by the collar of his shirt. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" hollered Neah.
"I don't know!" exclaimed Rory, clearly overwhelmed by his now furious twin. "I just opened that crate over there and it exploded in my face!"
Neah's eyes narrowed dangerously. He then proceeded to drag Rory up the basement stairs. "You really are an idiot," he grumbled.
Gitano helped Sophia to her feet, and they climbed the stairs after the twins. "Neah!" he called.
"I've got this under control, Git, so just stay out of my way!" shouted the boy.
By the time he had reached the top of the entrance hall Neah and Rory were already on the second floor. He heard the door to Neah's room open and slam shut.
oOo
He didn't know what to do. He'd left Sophia on the cot in his room and followed the twins upstairs. That was when he had discovered that Neah had locked the door. Gitano had tried everything: asking nicely, pleading, begging, threatening, yelling, but the door did not open. He was about to go down to the kitchen and grave the butcher knife and cut the door knob off when he saw Mana come down the hall.
"I thought we were playing Hide-and-Seek," he said. He looked very bored.
"Where's Road," asked Gitano. He didn't want to ask her- for he had no idea if Road would react the same way as Neah had- but he could really use her space warping abilities right now.
"She fell asleep in the nursery about an hour ago," replied Mana. "Neah sure doesn't like to play fairly at Hide-and-Seek."
"Yeah…" he stated in agreement.
Mana took out a pocket knife and began fiddling with the lock. "Neah never locks his door right," Mana told him. He heard a click and the door swung open.
Gitano was pretty sure he had seen Neah's room before, and this room was not Neah's room. It looked like a small city filled with pure white buildings. "What?" he inquired.
"Great," groaned Mana. "Now we're going to have to search the entire ark."
"Pardon?" Gitano questioned. He really hated being in the dark on this matter.
"You know how Road can warp space," said Mana impatiently. Gitano nodded. "Well Neah can control doors to this place. It's called the ark. Now where would he hide in here?"
"Hell if I know," he practically spat. "I thought he and Rory went into his bedroom."
"Rory went with him?" asked Mana. Gitano nodded once again. "That's odd. I do suppose that Neah's room is the best place to start though."
Mana walked through the door into the white city. Gitano followed him with caution. Something seemed to be off about this place, almost as if it was evil itself. He wouldn't be surprised, seeing as it was controlled by Neah of all people. He noticed that Mana continued on into the center of the city. The further in they went the higher up they got. Pretty soon they were in a tower climbing a spiral staircase.
He heard a scream. Mana tensed up and then quickened his pace. "Neah, leave me alone!" yelped the voice.
"You don't understand! It has to come off! It's evil!" yelled Neah.
Gitano began to run up the stairs. He passed Mana, and as he did the boy also began to run. Another scream sounded, this one closer.
"You're hurting me!" he heard Rory shriek.
"Stop running around! I only need your hand!" bellowed Neah.
"NO!" shouted Rory.
He reached the door at the top at the same time as Mana. Rory was backed into a corner opposite to the door. Neah held a sword in his two hands. It was plain wrong seeing such a scene in this room, for it truly was a beautiful room. There was one wall that was completely covered by glass windowpanes that looked over the entire city. Gitano funnily enough, was pretty sure he hadn't seen the window from outside. A plush white carpet covered most of the floor except for a small section covered in light wooden paneling. It was on this wooden section that a stand-up piano made of pure white wood sat with a matching cushioned bench. There were a couple chairs, a table, and a sofa to match this set.
A large bucket filled with a steaming, foul smelling liquid sat next to the table. Several sharp metal instruments sat on top of the table. Gitano saw the sheath for the sword Neah was carrying was among the objects.
"Neah," said Mana. He took one step into the room towards his two younger brothers. "What the hell is going on?"
"Keep away, Mana," threatened the younger boy. "I have to do this."
"Neah, you look like a mad man. Let Rory go," stated Mana. He took another step forward.
"Can't you see this?" asked Neah. He yanked Rory's left hand forward to show his elder brother. "He's become a monster! He synchronized with the Innocence that Mother was keeping for Uncle Adam!"
The green cross shined as it was exposed to the light of the white room. It stuck out even more from Rory's now raw red arm.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIS ARM?" he hollered at Neah. He started to walk forward towards Neah, but Mana flung an arm out to stop him.
"Rory, are you okay?" he inquired. Rory only sniffed in response, his large silver eyes looking up at Mana. "Just hang tight there for a moment."
"LET ME GO!" Gitano yelled at Mana. "NEAH WILL KILL HIM!"
"I know," replied Mana.
He was horrified. It seemed that Mana was perfectly willing to let Neah continue on with the sword.
"That's why I'm not going to let him," Mana finished. He stepped forward, his raven hair waving back and forth as he walked towards Neah.
"Why even bother? Uncle Adam will kill him even if I don't," said Neah.
"We don't have to let Uncle Adam find out," snapped Mana. "If we all keep our mouths shut then we can just pretend that it didn't happen until Rhian can find a way to remove it."
"You don't want to fight me, Mana," snarled Neah. "You know I'm stronger than you are. I control everything in this place."
"But this won't be leaving this room," responded Mana, "because you value your privacy too much. Only I know how to find you in the ark, and I will always find you."
The piano began to play itself and another door opened. Neah shifted the sword to his right hand and grabbed Rory with his left. He disappeared quickly through the door, Mana right on their tails. Gitano barely made it through the door before it closed.
It seemed like the whole situation was turning into some messed up version of Hide-and-Seek. He was beginning to despise the game now. Neah kept opening doors that Mana would somehow manage to sneak through or find moments after they'd disappeared.
"Just give up already!" screamed Neah over his shoulder.
"If you kill Rory then Mother will never forgive you!" Mana shouted back. The last door had disappeared a moment before Mana could grab it. They were in the middle of what looked like the town square. There must have been over a dozen doors in that part of the ark. He was stunned when Mana reached for a door to his right and opened it to reveal Neah and Rory.
"Mother will be even sadder when she learns that Rory synchronized with the Innocence that she was supposed to protect," spat Neah. He was holding Rory in a headlock. Rory whimpered like a kitten about to be drowned. "Uncle Adam would never forgive either of them. Do you want both Mother and Rory to die? I wasn't even planning on killing him. I was just going to cut his hand off."
"That would kill him anyhow, you idiot!" yelled Gitano. He was at the end of his fuse. Neah was really going to get it this time if he didn't stop with this nonsense.
Black tendrils shot out of the cracks between the cobblestone street and wrapped around Neah's arms and legs. He dropped Rory.
"Take Rory and run!" bellowed Mana. "I can hold him off for a bit! Take him to Rhian and see what she can do about this!"
He didn't need to be told twice. Gitano grabbed Rory by his unhurt arm and began to run through the streets of the ark. He wasn't entirely sure where he was going, for almost every street looked the same. The door back into the house should still be open, he thought. That meant that if headed out far enough he would reach the edge of town and the door back home would be waiting there for him and Rory.
After fifteen minutes of navigating through the twisting streets Rory finally spoke. "Could we slow down a little?" he begged. "I'm so tired."
"Neah might catch us, though," he reminded the boy. Rory looked ready to cry again. "How's your arm."
"It stopped hurting a little while back, but I can't seem to move it," sniffed the boy.
"I'll wash it off when we get back," said Gitano. He heard a door begin to open up behind them. "RORY RUN!" He pushed the boy in front of him, and fortunately Rory had a enough sense to follow his command. He felt something hit him a few minutes after Rory disappeared around the bend of the street. He fell onto his face. Before he could pick himself back up and foot landed in the middle of his back, forcing him back down.
"Oh, it's just you, Git," Neah sneered. "Where's my brother?"
"I have no bloody idea where either of those brats is," he snapped back. "Get off of me!"
"I don't want to know where Mana is," barked Neah. "Where is Rory? Mana sent him off with you."
"I said I don't know!" he yelled. He felt the blade of the sword come to rest next to his neck.
"I'd start thinking, you liar," stated Neah coldly.
"Neah, you're fighting me. Let Git go," said Mana. Gitano tipped his head up enough to see the older boy enter from a door farther down the street.
"Fine," replied Neah. He felt the blade move away from his neck and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't realized until he sighed that he'd been worried at all. "Obviously he's still in here somewhere. I doubt Git came back to rescue you." Neah opened a door in the air in front of him and disappeared.
"Where's Rory?" asked Mana. He looked much disheveled at the moment, long strands of his black hair escaping his low pony-tail.
"I sent him off because I heard a door opening, so I thought it was probably Neah," he replied. Gitano stood up and looked around the street. "I suppose I should go towards the door. Neah will just follow me if I go looking for him."
"That's true," said Mana. "I'll follow as soon as I find Rory." He turned and began running down the street in the direction Gitano had sent Rory. Suddenly he stopped. "Do you really think Rhian can turn him back to normal?"
"It's worth a shot," he responded. "She'll at least know how to handle the situation."
Mana nodded at him and then continued on his way. Gitano took a side street to continue on the downward sloping path. After another ten minutes he found the open door to Walker Manor. He was about to step through when he heard shouting.
"Mana! Neah! Stop it! Please don't hurt Mana, Neah! Please!"
Damn it. Of course they'd all run into each other now. He looked at the door and then he looked to his right up a street where he had heard the noise coming from. He turned right and bounded up the street. As he suspected Mana and Neah were fighting in the middle of a street. Neah was swinging the sword wildly at his older brother. He obviously had no idea how to use it, but he was still pretty close to hitting Mana a couple times. Mana was picking up chairs and flower boxes that he used to black Neah's blows. Occasionally he sent up a weak shadow to block the blow instead. Obviously he was close to running out of whatever power this was.
Several of the objects were knocked out of his hands into the neighboring buildings. The door behind him was taking a very bad beating. Gitano could even see dents in the door. He was going to have to avoid ever getting into a fist fight with the Walker boys. They'd probably be beastly strong by the time they grew up.
With a good kick, Neah swept Mana's legs out from under him. He fell with a yelp in front of the younger golden-eyed boy.
Neah went to stab his older brother but a small pair of arms grasped onto his to prevent the sword from lowering. "I said to stop it!" shrieked Rory.
"GET OFF OF ME!" roared Neah. He shook Rory off and turned on him.
"Rory get out of the way!" hollered Mana. He pushed Rory away from the path of the sword.
It didn't look like he had pushed Rory hard. That was why he was surprised that when Rory crashed into the battered door that it gave away. Both Mana and Neah froze in their spots.
Gitano ran over to the door. "RORY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" he called. He had to stop himself on the doorframe, for when he looked inside he saw nothing. There wasn't even a room there. Only pitch black emptiness. "W-where did he go?"
He turned to look at Mana and Neah. Neah looked plain shocked, but Mana's face was filled with horror.
"You pushed him through the nothing door," said Neah blankly. He dropped the sword.
"I-I-I didn't think it would give out," replied Mana. "Where does that go?"
"Uncle Adam said to never go through the nothing door," stated Neah. He sunk down to the ground. "No one knows where it actually goes."
"You mean Rory's gone?" Gitano asked incredulously.
Tears were pouring down Mana's face. He looked up at the sky and uttered a guttural cry.
"Yes," said Neah. He hadn't even looked at Gitano or his older brother the entire time. "He's gone."
Wow that was a really long chapter. Poor Rory! Whatever shall his mother say? Props to whoever thinks they've got Rory figured out now. ;) Please review!