Wow, the song for this chapter took forever to find. It's really hard to find good art songs that are not love songs (seriously, there's no reason to use love songs when talking about kids XD). Anyhow, I happened upon this song after listening to a lovely recording by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf of another aria from the same opera, Die tote Stadt. I'd recommend it if you're a classical music nut like I am. ;) But seriously, the title just happened to be a coincidence considering the clown's name. XD Thanks to NicaXiaoyu for the favorite!
Disclaimer: Maybe someday I'll finally have a copyright for something… but it will never be D. Gray-man.
Part Six: Tanzlied des Pierrots
"Intoxication and misery, illusion and happiness: Ah, this is a clown's destiny."
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
It was almost like they had switched places. Back at Walker Manor it had been the brat who was showered in praises for his academic skills, good looks, and manners (towards adults). The people at the circus, however only wanted to talk to the Magnificent Magician Cross. He was almost starting to forget that people had once called him Gitano. It really didn't matter to him what they wanted to call him, so by the end of two years time he had ceased to be Gitano.
Mana, curiously enough, seemed to be fine with just being ordinary errand boy Mana Walker. Perhaps it was because he could be his true self. When Mana wanted to be rude, then he was rude (though if he went too far then Matilda would surely go looking for him). He didn't have to pay respects to his elders, he didn't have to take a bath, he didn't have to tie his hair back with ribbon, and he didn't have to live up to whatever expectations the clan of Noah had once held for him. It was as if he had evolved in some ways. Mana still had his mannerisms and personality, but it was like he had once been a dog on a leash that now was experiencing true freedom for the first time.
Cross, as he was now called (people couldn't go around all day saying 'the Magnificent Magician Cross), noticed this mostly in Mana's interactions with the clown Pierrot. Pierrot was very fond of children, and Cross would have found it creepy if the clown did not have a wife and young son of his own. Lowell was only two years old when they joined the circus, and the fair-haired child was much too young to start clowning yet. He spent most of the time playing with the trained dogs or following his mother Arabella around the circus grounds. Pierrot, having no partner for his act, found it fit to teach Mana how to juggle.
He was sitting outside enjoying the lovely spring weather of the southern half of the Italian peninsula. Mana tried to appear as busy as possible upon seeing Pierrot approach him with a crate. The golden-eyed boy turned his attention back to securing one of the posts holding up a small tent for about the third time in ten minutes.
"I'm sure you don't want to be the errand boy forever," said the clown as he set down the small crate full of multi-colored balls, scarves, and pins. "Plus you're talented. It would be a waste to let you hide in the shadows all the time."
"Really, I'm fine with the shadows," replied Mana as he finished nailing in a pin on one of the smaller tents. Cross could not have agreed more, but he held back any comments. He wasn't sure what people at the circus would think if they saw any of Mana's 'magic powers.' They could very well get thrown out.
"At any rate, it's a good way to pass the time," stated Pierrot, throwing a couple pins into the air. The clown juggled as the two boys watched. Cross was pretty impressed at Pierrot's coordination, for the clown could not only juggle in front, but he could throw the pins behind him and still catch them. He had not known that there were different forms of juggling.
Suddenly Pierrot threw one of the pins at Mana. The golden-eyed boy caught it before it hit his head. "You have pretty good reflexes," said the clown. "Why not give it a try?"
Mana huffed, but he picked up three of the multi-colored balls from the crate. Pierrot smiled as he exchanged his pins for juggling balls as well. "How do you start that whole thing?" asked Mana. He looked at the two balls he held in one hand and the third one in the other as if they would jump out of his palms and begin dancing at any moment.
"First off, you should hold two balls in your right hand. It will make things easier in the long run," instructed Pierrot. He moved to stand beside Mana. "You'll throw one of the balls from your right hand up into the air first. When it's centered in front of you then it's time to throw the one in your left hand."
"So I'm making a triangle essentially," stated Mana.
Pierrot grinned at the boy. "Yes, it's like making a triangle," said the clown.
oOo
Whenever Cross went looking for the golden-eyed boy after that he would always find him practicing. Mana would blush slightly upon seeing him and set down whatever objects he was using to practice.
Each time the conversation would begin in the same way. "Practicing again?" he would ask.
To this Mana gave the customary response of, "Yeah. So what?"
"I thought you didn't care," he would reply.
"Shut up, Git," the golden-eyed boy would say with a glare. With that he would pick up his juggling balls or pins or scarves and walk away from Cross. The young magician would shrug and pull out whatever magic book he happened to be reading at the moment.
After several weeks of this Mana finally had the basics of juggling down like a pro. Cross couldn't help being proud of the brat. He had helped raised him and trained him in the ways of normal life. To see the former member of the clan of Noah blending in with human society so easily was almost inspiring. When Mana showed the clown Pierrot his newly developed skills, the clown clapped him on the back and wore the largest grin Cross had ever seen on anyone's face. Mana actually smiled back at the man.
It was then that Cross realized two important things about his former charge. The first was that Mana Walker was having fun living in this crazy place that people called a circus. Mana Walker was not one to have fun. He had been the aloof older brother who never smiled and watched everything with a look of scorn on his face. It was abnormal seeing the boy wake up in the morning eagerly running to complete the morning errands so that he could practice new juggling tricks to show to Pierrot. The second thing was that Mana actually liked the clown. After lecturing Cross with his younger brother about how weak humans were and that someday all of them would die, the brat was becoming attached to a clown of all people. If Lady Arienne had not died of a heart attack already, she surely would upon hearing that her eldest child was growing to like humans.
Cross smirked to himself as he watched Pierrot juggling with his former charge. He was beginning to like this new Mana. The clown's son walked over to the two jugglers, his bright blue eyes watching the colorful juggling balls fly through the air. Mana stopped juggling and handed one of his balls to Lowell. The little boy began throwing the ball between his two hands in an attempt to mimic his father. Mana patted the boy on the head with a fond smile on his face, the kind of smile he used to reserve only for Rory.
Pierrot stopped juggling and picked up Lowell, spinning the toddler through the air. "That's the spirit, Lowell!" he exclaimed. "Someday I'm going to teach you how to juggle just like Mana!"
Lowell giggled as his father continued to spin him through the air.
oOo
That had been a year ago. It was unfair for a small three year old boy to die so young. Lowell had come down with consumption as Ziegler's Circus toured the Austrian countryside, and a week later the little boy was dead. Pierrot, of course, was distraught, but not as much as Arabella. According to Jacqueline (the trick rider was a shameless gossip) the clown's wife had had a difficult time conceiving even one child. The likelihood that she would ever give birth to another was practically zero.
A priest in a nearby town was kind enough to give Pierrot and Arabella a place to bury the child. The one negative aspect of being a circus performer was that it didn't generate a large income. Lowell would have been dumped in a common grave had it not been for the benevolence of the father. The entire circus showed up for the funeral, and Mr. Ziegler even gave a touching speech about the little boy. Afterwards they drifted away from the cemetery and back to the circus.
Mana had been very quiet the entire trek back to the circus. There were tear tracks clearly visible on his pale cheeks. Perhaps the once cold-hearted Walker boy was actually truly saddened by the loss of such a young life. Cross knew how fond Mana was of Pierrot, but he had not imagined the brat to be so moved by Mr. Ziegler's speech.
"Are you alright?" he asked after a while. They had fallen pretty far behind the other mourners walking back to the circus grounds. Mana looked up at him surprised. "What? It's been a pretty tough last couple days for everyone."
There was no way that he would ever let Mana know that he might actually care about his wellbeing. Ever.
"I'm fine," sniffed the golden-eyed boy while focusing his gaze once again on the path before them. "I've just never been to a funeral before. Are they always like that, Gitano?"
He wasn't an expert, but Cross had seen several funeral processions before he ended up stuck at Walker Manor. He'd also been to a funeral for an old lady. Cross had fallen asleep on her doorstep one cold winter afternoon, and she had let him inside later that evening. The lady had even fed him. The next morning, however, she'd taken ill and by nightfall she was dead. The townsfolk thought that he might be her grandson, so they'd bought him some black clothes and dragged him along to the funeral. She only had a ring to her name, which they gave to him. Cross had tried to refuse, but they said he was her only family. He had not wanted to let them know the true circumstance, so he'd take the ring along, thinking he'd just pawn it off later. Cross still wore it on a chain around his neck.
"Yeah, pretty much," he replied. He wasn't a great comforter (he'd tried many times before with Sophia, but most of his attempts had made things worse), but he'd have to give it a try. "I'm sure that Lowell wouldn't want you to cry like this."
"I'm not crying!" snapped Mana, turning to him with tear-filled eyes.
"Sure you're not," Cross said. "It's okay to be sad, but we've got to keep living. Pierrot and Arabella will need you more now than ever. You're like a second son to them."
Mana looked at him with big golden eyes. It was the same kind of look that had graced Rory's face all too often, a look of childhood innocence. Cross had never thought that the youngest Walker child resembled Mana in any way, but now he could see how they were related. "I suppose I should go see them whenever we get back," stated Mana.
"Yeah, that would be a good thing to do," responded Cross. He crossed his arms behind his head and looked up at the storm clouds gathering in the sky.
He was surprised when Mana spoke again. "Could you come with me?" inquired the golden-eyed boy.
"Fine," grumbled Cross. Mana must have figured out that he might care. Now the damn brat would always take advantage of this weak point. It seemed to Cross as if he'd never truly be free of those Walker brats.
oOo
As they approached Pierrot's trailer they heard Arabella talking to someone. Cross could tell that it was not another member of the circus, so he motioned for Mana to follow him behind the trailer. They'd just have to wait for whoever the visitor was to leave, so Cross planned to look for something that Mana could juggle in the back.
One of the windows on the other side of the trailer was open, so it was even easier for him to hear what was being said inside. He had been trying to give up his habit of eavesdropping (there was honestly nothing better to do when he had had to serve dinner for Lady Arienne and her guests), but when adults made it this easy it was hard to resist.
"What y-you are s-s-saying is-" stammered Arabella.
"Yes, I can return your son to you," replied a rough sounding man's voice.
Cross was now very curious. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, though he couldn't remember for the life of him who it was. Mana picked up some medium sized twigs to juggle, but he motioned for the brat to put them down quietly. That voice seemed to strike some sort of chord in him, a chord that told him that they needed to run away.
Cross, unfortunately, did not listen to that voice and crept closer to the trailer. There was an over turned crate just under the window, conveniently big enough for two boys to stand upon it. He stood on it and stole a glance into the trailer. Arabella was sitting in a rocking chair holding one of Lowell's old shirts. Her swollen red eyes were filled with hope as she looked at the stranger. The stranger was tall and very fat. His nose and ears came to sharp points and a toothy grin was plastered across his face, making Cross think about all the descriptions of goblins he'd ever heard. A lit candle on a nearby table cast a glare on the man's glasses so that he couldn't see the man's eyes. He wore a tan coat over his bulky frame and the entire ensemble was finished off with a long beaver fur top hat. Cross could not recall seeing the man before. He felt Mana stand up silently on the crate beside him.
"T-thank you!" cried Arabella, clasping the man's hand in her own. Tears fell down her pretty tan face. "When do I get to see him?"
"He's right here," stated the man, gesturing to the other side of the room.
Cross was pretty sure he knew Lowell pretty well. The little boy had his father's light brown curly hair and blue eyes, but he was tan just like his mother. The man had gestured to what looked like a metallic skeleton, and Cross knew that that thing could not be Lowell. What kind of game was this man playing at?
"All you have to do, Arabella, is call out your little boy's name. He'll hear you and come running to his dear mama," continued the man.
"Lowell!" called out Arabella. Cross was stunned to see the metallic skeleton move its head.
"M-mama?" asked a young boy's voice. He almost fell off the crate. That had been Lowell's voice. Cross could not understand it. He'd been in the cemetery and saw the tiny pine casket get lowered into the ground with Lowell's body inside.
"Lowell! Come to Mama, honey!" cried out Arabella. Her face was filled with the utmost joy.
"Don't mama!" shouted the skeleton. It took a hesitant step forward as if it were against its will.
"Be a good boy, Lowell, and hug your mama," said the man. An even larger and more sinister grin spread across his face.
"No!" shrieked the skeleton, but it moved steadily forward. "Mama! Run away!"
Cross was very confused by this point. The skeleton continued walking towards the smiling Arabella even though it screamed to run away from it. It just seemed like one giant contradiction. He looked over at Mana and saw that the golden-eyed boy was just as confused as he was.
The skeleton now stood in front of Arabella and wrapped her in an embrace. Arabella rocked back and forth crying with the skeleton in her arms.
"Alright, now I order you to kill this woman, akuma," declared the man.
"What?" asked Arabella, looking up at the man. It was too late, though, for the skeleton grabbed her slender neck in a tight choke hold. She coughed and tried to scream, but she couldn't get any noise out of her throat.
"I'm sorry, Mama," sobbed the skeleton as it continued to strangle Arabella.
Cross wanted to do something. He wanted to run and holler for help, but for some reason he couldn't move from the spot he where he stood. Mana didn't even look away from the scene, his mouth hanging open in horror. Arabella gave one last shuddering gasp and then fell limp to the floor. The man walked over to where she lay and checked her pulse.
"She's dead now," he proclaimed to the skeleton. The skeleton stood there crying invisible tears. "Now in you get."
"I-I don't want to!" gasped the skeleton through dry sobs, but its limbs began moving against its will once more.
Cross wanted to faint as he watched the skeleton stick one throat down the deceased woman's throat and then the other. The stranger sang some sort of upbeat tune the entire time as he watched the skeleton finish sliding into Arabella's body. Mana was gripping the outside of the trailer tightly, his hands turning even paler than they usually were. Arabella stood up and brushed her long dark brown hair out of her face. Cross saw a pentacle now sat in the middle of her forehead.
"Now you are complete, my akuma," sighed the stranger. He patted it on the shoulder and handed it a scarf that Arabella had often used to tie her hair back. "Cover up the mark before your husband gets home. We wouldn't want him discovering that something's wrong too soon. Wait until it gets dark before starting on your duties, so that no one can link the disappearances to you. I'm expecting great things from you. Don't stop until the entire circus is dead. You might even become a level two if all goes well."
He took up a pink umbrella that sat by the door. "Let's go, Lero," he said to it. "We've got a lot of calls to make."
"Yes, Lord Millennium!" exclaimed the umbrella. Cross pushed Mana up close to the trailer as the fat stranger rose up in the air with the umbrella. They sat there for several minutes after he disappeared over the hills. When they were sure the cost was clear they ran far away from the trailer towards the elephant pen.
"What the hell was that?" he asked no one in particular. The elephants looked at the boys but then went back to eating hay and swatting away flies with their tails.
Mana had lost his breakfast as soon as they reached the tent. He remained completely still on his hands and knees as his hair dangled dangerously close to the remnants of his food. "I can't believe it," he muttered, not even turning his golden eyes up to Cross.
"Can't believe what?" he inquired. "Do you know what that 'akuma' thing was?"
Mana sat back on his heels and stared up at him. His eyes looked completely lost. "Don't you remember hearing us talk about akuma at dinner?" questioned Mana.
Cross suddenly remembered Lord Adam talking at the last family dinner about akuma and the Innocence. "Wait, that akuma thing was one of Lord Adam's creations?" he asked.
"Yes," replied Mana. "I didn't know that they wore people's skin, though." He proceeded to vomit again. This time Cross took some pity on him and held the boy's hair out of the way. As soon as Mana had finished he leaned back against one of the posts of the elephant pen.
"So this Lord Millennium fellow-" began Cross.
"He's called the Millennium Earl," said Mana. He flinched as he said the name. "He's sort of the one pulling all the strings for the whole wiping out humanity plan."
"He looks like a psychopath," he commented.
"He probably is one. I've never met him in person before," stated Mana.
"No wonder. Ror- all of you would have had nightmares for weeks after meeting a bloke like that," replied Cross. Now would not have been a good time to bring up Rory. Mana didn't need any more reasons to throw himself into the lion cage than the discovery about akuma.
"Did you feel that he was familiar at all, though, Git?" inquired Mana. He looked up at Cross in way that said he expected the magician to know more than he did.
"I felt like something was off, like as if he couldn't sense us," responded Cross. He thought a bit more about it. "There was something about his voice that was also very familiar…"
"I should have asked somebody more about him when I was at home," mumbled Mana. Apparently the boy was no longer listening. Cross frowned at the brat. If he was going to bother to ask his opinion, then the brat might as well finish listening to him first. "I bet Uncle Adam would have known him. Uncle Adam would always tell us his plans and everything."
That was when everything clicked in his mind. "Mana, I think your uncle does know him, and quite well for that matter," said Cross. "Don't you find it odd that being the head of the whole operation that the Millennium Earl has never shown up for dinner?"
Mana's eyes widened. "I'll admit that that is very strange. Mother was such a staunch supporter of his work," replied Mana.
"Well I think he was there," continued Cross. "He just didn't look like the Millennium Earl."
"What are you getting at?" inquired Mana, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Didn't the Millenium Earl sound a bit like Lord Adam?" questioned Cross. He wasn't going to beat around the bush with this one.
Mana's golden eyes looked like they would pop out of their sockets. "H-he did a bit," agreed the boy. "So you think-"
"I'm pretty damn certain that the Millennium Earl and Lord Adam are the same person," stated Cross. "He just uses magic or something else to disguise himself in one of his forms- probably when he is the Earl. I have yet to see any living thing that could possibly give birth to an ugly mug like that."
For some reason Cross had expected Mana to gain some sort of momentum from this, but the boy's shoulders slumped and he bowed his head into his chest. Cross quirked an eyebrow and bent down to Mana's level. When he looked into the golden eyes he saw that the boy was crying. Great. Just great.
"Why would Uncle Adam do something like that?" cried Mana. He was shaking now. "He said he was going to create a better world, but he's killing people with those-those monsters!"
Cross summoned a clean handkerchief out of thin air (Jacqueline had used his other one earlier during the funeral- gross) and handed it to Mana. "I'm going to be honest," he said. "Lord Adam is not a nice guy. In fact, he's just plain crazy. That's something you're going to have to accept."
Mana began to cry harder. Cross gave him some time before speaking again.
"Now if you're finished being shocked or wallowing in self-pity over your evil uncle or whatever is going through your mind, then we've got some work to do," he stated.
"What do you mean?" sniffed Mana.
"That akuma is planning on killing everyone here in the circus," replied Cross. "It was given orders, however, not to start until sundown. I don't know how much we can do to stop it, but we've got to warn as many people as we can."
"They'll never believe us," hiccupped Mana, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Who's actually going to believe that Arabella was killed by Lowell's soul attached to a metal skeleton that's parading around in her body?"
The kid had a good point. Cross wasn't sure he'd believe it himself if he hadn't seen it. "We'll have to make something up then," he said. "We could say the lions got out."
"They'd check on the lions," grumbled Mana. Cross decided to boy must have fallen into some sort of depression over the past day. He was back to his more onerous self.
"How about the monkeys? If we let them out, then they wouldn't cause too much damage. The monkeys might make it all the way to town, so we'd have an excuse to look for help there," responded Cross.
Mana stood up and walked over to the magician. "You don't get it, do you?" he hollered. "Akuma don't discriminate depending on circumstances. They have only one instinct and that is to kill. It will do whatever it can to achieve this objective. No matter what roadblocks we throw into its plan it will just blow them up! Only an exorcist can stop them, and even then they can't stop them all the time."
"So we're just sitting ducks?" questioned Cross. He could feel his left eyebrow twitching.
"Pretty much," replied Mana.
"That's not good enough for me," he said, walking away from the elephant pen. "I'm going to do what I can to stop that thing, and that will start with telling Pierrot. Do whatever you want."
He only walked about five meters before Mana was running to catch up with him. "This is mental," muttered Mana. "The sun will set in a couple hours, and we have no idea if the akuma will like it was told to do."
"It will," stated Cross. "It didn't even want to be born in the first place."
oOo
They were lucky in the fact that most of the circus had gone into to town to get a drink. One of the acrobats named Bryan had spoken about how it was a tradition in his homeland to celebrate the life of the dead after the funeral by going out for a drink after the funeral. This meant less potential victims for the akuma. It seemed that only the snake charmer had stayed behind. They decided to ask him about Pierrot.
"I know he didn't go out to town with the others," said Ormand as he continued to scrub out the urn his snake lived in. The little serpent was entertaining itself by wrapping itself around one of the support poles for a smaller tent. "He came back late in the afternoon and said he was going on a walk in the hills. I'm sure he should be back at any moment."
"Thanks, Ormand," replied Cross. They ran towards the edge of the circus closest to the hills. Cross sat down and took out a magic book. He rifled through the pages looking for anything that might help in blocking akuma. He doubted that he'd find anything, though.
"Do you really think that Lowell is still aware of himself?" asked Mana after a long silence. "Mother always talked about akuma like they were some sort of a tool without feeling."
"I've never seen a tool cry," retorted Cross. "Correct me if I'm wrong."
"Do you think we should tell Ormand?" inquired Mana.
"Pierrot should know first," he stated. "Ormand said that he should be back any minute. I think he should be fine for a couple minutes. If you want you can see if he'd like to join us."
"That might be a good idea," said Mana. The boy ran off to go talk to the snake charmer.
Cross looked at the horizon where the sun was beginning to set. The first stars of the evening began to wink at him in a menacing way that made him want to shiver. It was time for the akuma to begin its attack. He spotted the red and purple striped pants and the saffron jacket before he saw Pierrot's face. The clown looked like he was in a severe melancholy, but he was still in one piece.
"Pierrot!" he called out to the clown.
The clown looked up from the path at him and cracked a small grin. "If it isn't young Cross," he said. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"There's something important I've got to talk to you about," began Cross. He really wasn't sure how to go about this. "There's something wrong."
"Wrong?" asked Pierrot.
Before he could continue the sound of gunshots rang out in the distance. Cross looked towards the sound and saw a fire spring up at what would be one of the smaller tents. "Mana," he muttered under his breath. He ran off in the direction where he knew Mana and Ormand should be.
When he reached the path that ran up to the tent he had to duck behind a crate as the akuma continued to shoot. He could hear Ormand cursing under his breath, clearly frightened. He peaked out from behind his hiding spot and saw that Arabella's hand had transformed into some kind of gun. The grotesque weapon was pointed at a pile of barrels beside the tent where Ormand and Mana must have been hiding.
Cross took a risk at calling out to them. "Are you two alright?" he asked over the sound of raining bullets.
"If getting shot at is alright, then yes," shouted Mana in reply. Cross was relieved to hear the boy's voice.
"Try to get away from here and then split up. It can't follow both of you," he stated.
"That's much easier said than done," hollered Mana. "We tried moving earlier but it blocked our escape route."
This was definitely tougher than he imagined it being. "I'm going to try distracting it then," he responded.
"What?" bellowed Ormand. "That's suicidal, Cross!"
"I can disappear," he replied. "It should give you guys enough time to run to a more secure hiding spot."
He really didn't want to do it. Cross wasn't even sure he'd be able to disappear in time. He'd only ever disappeared as a performance trick, and in order to transfer his entire self he would use up a lot of energy. Plus he could only transport himself short distances. In all likelihood he was probably going to die out there, but somebody was going to have to take a risk. He ran out into the path right behind the akuma.
"HEY!" he shouted at it.
"STUPID GIT! GET BACK BEHIND THAT CRATE!" shouted Mana, his head poking out from behind the pile of barrels. The akuma seemed to be confused on which direction it should shoot now.
Cross wanted to smack his head and yell back at the brat, but now was not the time. He began gathering energy around himself. "I'm talking to you, Lowell!" he called. "I know you don't want to do this. Why don't you call it quits?"
The akuma whipped around so that Cross was now facing the barrel of the gun. He saw Ormand run out from behind the barrels and duck down a path. Cross was fairly certain that the snake charmer would not be returning to Ziegler's anytime in the near future. Mana, for once, took his advice and ran down a different path than Ormand.
"Can you hear me Lowell?" he asked the akuma. Cross was almost certain that he saw the glint of tears in the akuma's eyes. Unfortunately the glint was brief and the akuma fired. Cross felt himself twist through space as he released the magica energy he had gathered. Miraculously he was unharmed and had managed to travel a good ten meters to the other edge of the circus grounds.
"Are you alright?" he heard Mana ask. He looked up to see the boy standing a few strides away from him.
"Well, I'm not dead," said Cross.
He heard a gun click as the safety was released. Cross turned slowly to face the akuma. This was not part of the plan, he thought to himself. He wasn't even sure how the akuma had found them so quickly.
"Arabella?" called out a voice.
Three heads turned to face Pierrot. He was standing about two meters away from the three of them. "Pierrot! Run away!" shouted Mana.
"Is this what was wrong, Cross?" inquired the clown. He took a step towards them.
"Generally speaking," he replied. "But Mana is right. You should run away. It was ordered to kill you first."
"As terrifying as that does sound, I can't," said Pierrot. "How would I be able to live with myself if I let kids get shot at first?"
"It's not thinking! Please, Pierrot!" hollered Mana.
"I know that this is not my Arabella," continued the clown. He took another step forward. "I was afraid of succumbing to my grief like this, so I took a walk out in the hills. When I'm out there it's almost like Lowell is still walking beside me. I had heard stories of the lonely being turned into killing machines by some monster, but I never thought that one of them would be my Arabella. What a terrible husband I am."
There was only about a meter left between them and Pierrot. Mana twitched as he stood in his spot, obviously wanting to run and pull the clown away from his chosen path but too afraid of exacting the akuma's wrath in the process.
Cross, although scared, was impressed by Pierrot's knowledge. "You knew about akuma already?" he asked.
"I've only heard barroom tales and horror stories from old ladies, but yes," responded the clown. "They can't help but want to kill every living being they set eyes upon. My Arabella was never like that, though I suppose if what I've heard is true then that is no longer Arabella."
The clown stopped walking and spread his arms wide like in the images Cross had seen of Christ's crucifixion on the stained glass windows of churches.
"NO!" cried out Mana. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
"I wasn't there for Arabella earlier today. It would be a shame if I wasn't there for you boys now," said Pierrot. He smiled at Mana. "I'm really sorry that things have to end this way, Mana. Please try to smile whenever you think of me."
Cross had not noticed the akuma adjust its aim from his face to the clown. He wanted to reach out and grab its arm, but it fired before he could even move a centimeter. The bullet hit the clown on his left side, causing blood to spill out staining the saffron coat. Cross watched as the red blood full of pentacles spread across the coat and the striped pants. Moments later they began to sprout all over the clown's skin. He smiled at them even though Cross could see the pain blazing strongly in his blue eyes. Pierrot then turned to dust and the blood-stained clothes fell to the ground.
Mana screamed and began to fall to the ground on his knees, but Cross knew they had no time for that. He grabbed Mana by the elbow and began to run with the boy. Somehow Mana managed to keep up. The akuma tried to shoot at them, but they quickly turned a corner and weaved through the trailers and tents that dotted the circus grounds.
As they reached the edge of the circus they were greeted by Mr. Ziegler and the other performers. Cross felt his heart sink.
"We missed you boys in town tonight," said Jacqueline, throwing an arm around Cross' shoulder.
Mr. Ziegler seemed to be more perceptive. "You look like der Tod himself, Mana. Are you alright?" inquired the manager.
Cross heard a humming above them and looked up at the sky. Floating like a second dark moon was a metal orb with cannons sticking out at all angles. On one side sat a white face that looked like a clown made up for a show, except there was no smile painted upon its face. He knew at once that this was the same akuma that had just killed Pierrot.
The performers began to gasp, and he heard some of them even scream upon seeing the akuma. "Everybody scatter!" he shouted at them. They didn't need to be told twice. The akuma began to fire at them, but it appeared to have terrible aim so it missed despite firing into a large crowd.
He saw Mana sink down to the ground nearby him. Despite better judgment, Cross ran over to the boy. "Mana!" he shouted. The boy didn't move. "We don't have time to give up right now so get up, you idiot!"
Cross heard the akuma adjust its cannons to face the two of them. He did the only thing that he could at the moment and tried to cover as much of Mana as he could with his own body.
Cross heard an explosion that somehow didn't hit him. He looked up to see a chain lodged in the side of the akuma. The akuma now wore a look of complete shock on its face, one that Cross was certain mirrored the look on his own. He turned his head to see where the chain was coming from. An older man dressed in black robes with golden trim stood with one arm extended, holding the chain. Another chain the extended from his other arm and with very little effort he threw the akuma to the ground. It exploded upon impact sending bits of metal flying in every direction.
"Is everyone alright?" inquired the man. People began to duck out from behind hiding spots. When they saw that the akuma did not rise back up they came out to talk to the man. Pretty soon everyone who had come in from town had gathered back at the entrance to thank the stranger in black.
"Zank you for saving our circus," said Mr. Ziegler, shaking the man's hand.
"How did you do that?" asked one of the acrobats.
The man smiled and turned towards the acrobat. "I'm with the Black Order," he stated. Someone in the crowd whistled. "I saw the fire and heard gunshots as I was passing through the hills. I'm just glad that I arrived before it was too late."
"Pierrot is missing," announced Matilda. "So is Arabella and Ormand. Besides them everyone is accounted for."
"Ormand ran away when he saw the monster," said Cross. He was surprised he could even find his voice at the moment. "The monster got Arabella and Pierrot, though."
He heard Mana sniffle beside him and several others gave out cries of despair. "I am sorry," replied the man.
"Zere ist nothing ve can do now," announced Mr. Ziegler. "Zey are with zeir little boy now. Let me zank you again Herr-"
"Yeager," responded the man. "I'm called Kevin Yeager."
After the fire was put out and several more rounds of thanks that man from the Black Order went along his way. Cross and Mana watched him until he disappeared over the horizon.
oOo
He didn't sleep well that night. Cross would have been surprised if he had fallen asleep at all, so as the sun began to rise he left his small trailer to take a walk outside. The sun was just starting to melt the frost, but there was still enough present for him to see a set of footprints freshly pressed into the grass. He followed them out to the front entrance.
Mana was walking away with a small pack on his back. A bit bewildered, Cross called out to him. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Mana turned back, surprise etched on his tired face, but still he replied. "I think it's time I went along my way," he said. "I've learned pretty much everything that I could have learned from you about working for a living, plus I've got some performance skills now."
"The next town is miles off," he reminded the golden-eyed boy.
"I know that," stated Mana. "I thought about it all night. I don't think I could stay here after what happened to Pierrot. I know it's not really my fault, but I still feel in some ways it is. Don't tell me that I'm crazy, though. While I've been living here I've still been Mana Walker, pretty much the same Mana that left Walker Manor."
"I wouldn't say that," scoffed Cross. "That Mana was a complete brat."
Mana laughed at Cross' poor attempt of a joke and smiled at the magician. "Perhaps you're right. Still I think we're running a big risk travelling together. What if Uncle Adam had seen us yesterday? We would've been caught and taken back to Walker Manor. And… I don't want to go back. Never again. So like how you've ceased to be Gitano, Git, I've got to figure out who Mana is."
"That's pretty philosophical for a rich brat," he remarked. He sighed and ran a hand through his auburn hair. "But perhaps you are right. Do you really think you're ready?"
"I believe I am," declared Mana. He walked back to stand in front of Cross. Mana seemed to be unsure of how to say goodbye, so Cross just extended his right hand. The boy shook it.
"We should meet up in a year, you know, just to catch up and make sure the other guy is still alive. Rhian would never forgive me if I let you loose and never spoke to you again," said Cross.
"I know the circus schedule," replied Mana. "So I'll see you next year in St. Petersburg?"
"St. Petersburg," repeated Cross. He patted Mana on the shoulder. "Now off you go. I'll let the others know that you've gone."
"Thanks for everything, Gitano," stated Mana. With that he walked off down the road away from Ziegler's Circus.
Mana Walker never performed with Ziegler's circus, nor did he ever set foot on Ziegler's circus grounds again.
Okay I've finally finished this chapter. Probably the longest one in the story so far. I hope you guys enjoyed the very brief appearance of our cannon guest star, General Yeager. Do you guys think Mana will be able to survive out on his own? How do you think Neah is coping with things at home? We'll be finding out more about that in the next chapter. ;) Please review! If you have any questions I will respond to them by private message!