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Early update! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Chapter Four - Chess Pieces

As Nicholas made his way to his suite once more the young man thought back to the news that Lord Millennium had delivered to them over dinner. A group of Exorcists were being a particular nuisance to his plans of making a vast army of Akuma and thus he had decided to make a sort of example of them.

A shadow crossed Nicholas' golden eyes as he thought about this death sentence that had been delivered to the group from the Black Order. It was true that he didn't know the Exorcists in question, and the Noah inside of him was screaming for their deaths, but Lord Millennium's decision to kill them set the gears in the young man's mind into motion.

In a matter of seconds Nicholas made a decision that could alter the course of his life, or even end it, should any of his 'surrogate' family find out about it.

"Nicky-pon!"

The Musician bit back a swear word as he heard the childish voice that was calling out to him, once again using the nickname that she knew he loathed. The news from Lord Millennium had caused him to completely forget about his promise to entertain Road after dinner. He recovered quickly however and turned to offer his 'sister' a smile. "Give me ten minutes and then I shall meet you in the drawing room."

Road seemed placated by these words and she nodded. Turning away from the Musician the girl skipped off down the hall, singing a creepy little song to herself as she went.

With a sigh Nicholas hurried to his suite, knowing that he only had ten minutes to do what needed to be done. Reaching out the young man grasped the door handle with a white-gloved hand and quickly pulled it open. Stepping inside the Noah's golden eyes scanned the room, searching.

"Tim," he called out the moment he spied what he had been looking for.

The little golden creature immediately fluttered over to his master, hearing the urgency in Nicholas' voice.

Walking over to the small writing desk that was positioned in one corner of the opulent room Nicholas quickly wrote out a message in his flowing script. Then, once the message was complete, the Noah of Praise folded it and held it out to Timcanpy.

The little golem seized the paper in his mouth.

Once Timcanpy had the message grasped securely between his teeth the Musician walked over to the room's single window. Reaching up he unlatched the window and opened it just enough to allow Timcanpy to squeeze through. "Go Tim. And make absolutely certain that none of them see you."

With a brief nod to his master Timcanpy flew off into the night.

"Let's set the pawns into motion," Nicholas muttered to himself as he walked away from the window, leaving it open so that Timcanpy could reenter upon his return. "This should ensure that I have Marian's trust."

Nicholas was well aware of the fact that the Exorcist General didn't completely trust him, not that he could really blame the man for that. He was, after all, only using the man to gain information on the Black Order. Until now he hadn't really given Cross any information that would be detrimental to Lord Millennium's plans but this time he would be directly preventing an attack.

It was a calculated move on the part of the Musician and one that the Noah hoped would gain Cross' trust.

As he thought about this chess game that he was playing with the Exorcists a face suddenly appeared, unbidden, in his mind's eye. The face of an angel framed in shining chestnut hair.

Nicholas growled low in his throat as he shook his head in an effort to rid himself of this wholly unwanted image. Walking over to the door the Noah strode out into the hallway and made his way to the drawing room, where he would be forced to entertain Road for the next several hours.

But his mind was already focused on what would take place after that.

Maria was awoken from a sound sleep by the sound of someone knocking rather loudly on the door. In fact it almost sounded as though someone were ramming something into it.

Getting to her feet the blond Exorcist made her way over to the door, quickly unlocking it and pulling it open.

"Lyssa is that…"

Her voice trailed off as she pulled the door open to reveal… nothing. Maria was irritated for a moment, having been woken from a sound sleep by someone's apparent prank, however her mood changed when she happened to glance down.

There, lying on the ground, was a folded piece of paper.

Leaning forward Maria picked it up and carefully unfolded it. Her blue eyes scanned the page and then it fluttered to the ground as she gasped in shock.

"Honey," she called out as she bent to retrieve the message, using the endearment that she only used when the two of them were alone. "You're going to want to see this."

Grumbling due to this uncalled for wake up call Cross never the less got to his feet and walked across the room to the spot where his wife was standing. The moment he was at her side Maria handed him the message and waited patiently while he read the contents.

"Damn it!" Cross swore, irritated over this summons from the Musician. Who the hell did the brat think he was, ordering them to meet with him again? And at some unholy hour of the morning no less. "Go and wake Lyssa."

"Right," Maria said, rushing over to the bed and grabbing the robe that she had left hanging on the bedpost. The blond Exorcist quickly pulled on the robe and then made her way to the room next door.

Knocking loudly on the door she called out, "Lyssa, wake up! We have a mission!"

A few moments passed and then the door opened to reveal Lyssa, clad in her nightgown. "What's going on?" the young woman asked, her brown eyes still bleary from sleep.

"We received a message from the Noah," Maria said, focusing an intent gaze on Lyssa so that she could judge the girl's reaction to this news. "We have to meet with him in a couple of hours. Apparently he has something important to tell us."

"I'll be dressed in five minutes," Lyssa said, turning away from Maria without another word.

Maria had seen the spark that had appeared in Lyssa's brown eyes at the mention of the young Noah but was choosing to ignore it. She had meant what she said about having faith and trusting that things would work out.

Closing the door Maria turned and made her way back to her own room. When she entered it was to find her husband pulling on his Exorcist's coat and, deciding that she should probably get dressed as well, she made her way over to the small closet where she had hung her uniform. Like Lyssa she wasn't one for the skirt that came with the uniform and chose instead to wear a long black dress under her Exorcist's coat. It would have impeded the fighting abilities of most but with her rather unique Innocence it wasn't an issue.

Ten minutes later the three Exorcists were all assembled in the room that Cross and Maria were sharing. Grim expressions marred all three faces as they discussed the possible reasons for this summons from the Noah of Praise.

It had to be something serious to warrant a meeting in the middle of the night and right after a previous meeting no less. Nicholas had expressed a desire to keep the meetings spread out since he said that his 'siblings' tended to take interest whenever he went somewhere alone and yet here he was ordering another meeting less than ten hours after the first.

That set off warning bells in Cross' mind but he chose to keep this from the two women who were sitting together on the bed. Pacing around, with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, the Exorcist general thought about the possibilities.

A. This could be a trap or
B. Should the brat be telling the truth then the Millennium Earl was planning something major.

Either way Cross didn't like it.

Everyone was either occupied with something or had retired for the night when Nicholas finally decided that it was safe for him to slip out of the manor. This was a big risk for the Noah of Praise as it would be much harder to explain why he was leaving in the night but the young man was determined to make this move.

It was of the utmost importance to the chess game that he was playing.

As Nicholas quickly made his way through the darkness he felt a familiar weight settle on his top hat. Reaching up he absently tugged on one of Timcanpy's little wings. "Did you deliver the message Tim?"

A thump on the side of his hat, courtesy of the little creature's tail, was all the answer that Nicholas received for his question. But it was enough. He had already known, without having to ask or receive a reply, that the message had been delivered.

Timcanpy had never failed him.

"Prepare to witness my best performance yet," the Musician said as he walked along, cloaked in shadow. A grin spread across his face as he thought about the news that he was about to deliver to the Exorcists. The news that four of their own had been targeted for execution by Lord Millennium.

In no time Nicholas arrived at the site of their previous meeting and when he did it was to find the place empty. Gazing around the Noah vaguely found himself wondering if maybe the Exorcists weren't going to show. That would indeed be a mistake on their part since the message that he had to deliver was of the utmost importance to them.

But if they chose to ignore his summons then it would be on their heads.

Now that they had arrived at the designated meeting place Nicholas reached a hand up and seized Timcanpy, before the golem had the chance to flee.

He had plans for his little friend and in order for them to work he couldn't allow the Exorcists to see him. Couldn't allow Timcanpy to be connected with him.

"Sorry Tim," he whispered as he shoved the golden creature into the inside pocket of his top coat.

A few minutes passed, during which the Musician stood around and stared off into the darkness, and then the young man heard the sound of footsteps approaching. His guard was immediately up but, after the passage of a couple minutes more, a familiar red haired figure emerged from the darkness.

Followed closely behind by the two young women.

Nicholas' gray eyes lingered on Lyssa a moment longer than the others but thankfully, with the darkness, it was impossible for her to notice.

"Alright brat," Cross said as he came to a stop a few feet away from the Noah of Praise. 'We're here so tell us what the hell it is that you want."

Nicholas felt his anger rise momentarily but he forced it aside. He was the master of his emotions, never losing control, and the Musician refused to allow Cross to anger him. "Calm down Marian. I just thought that you might like to know that a group of your comrades, and I use that term lightly, have been targeted by Lord Millennium."

Out of the three Exorcists, Lyssa was the only one who voiced horror at this news. She gasped as she heard the words that were so calmly spoken by the young member of the Clan of Noah.

Four Exorcists were targeted for death.

Her brown eyes were filled with horror but the young woman did her best to push her emotions aside. Now was not the time to get emotional and she refused to give way to the approaching tears. Clenching her hands into fists Lyssa strengthened her resolve.

She could collapse into tears later but for now something had to be done to prevent this murderous plot.

Nicholas watched the calculating look that appeared in Cross' one visible eye as he heard this news. The faint moonlight allowed him to gauge the man's reaction however the women were both bathed in darkness so he couldn't read them as easily.

Although judging by the small gasp of horror he could tell that Lyssa at least was adversely affected by the news.

"Which group of Exorcists are the target brat?" Cross demanded, still attempting to gauge whether or not the Noah brat was speaking the truth.

"They're stationed in Italy," Nicholas replied calmly, fully aware that the red haired general only half believed him. It didn't really matter if Cross believed him, only that he followed the tip and witnessed the attack. That way, no matter the outcome, Nicholas would seem to be on their side.

This should cement their trust in him.

The pawns were in place and the move had been made. Now all that was left to do was for the Musician to sit back and watch the game unfold.

"You don't know their names?" Cross asked, his glaring gaze focused squarely on the brat that was standing before him. He was aware of the fact that this could all be a trap and was looking for any hint in the Musician's demeanor that would point toward deception.

"Lord Millennium didn't share that information with us," Nicholas replied calmly. "He merely stated that he would take care of the problem."

"So the fat ass intends to kill them himself?" Cross demanded, finding this odd. The Earl was NEVER personally involved in things like that.

"No," Nicholas said, shaking his head ever so slightly. "They aren't worth the effort. He's taking some Level Three Akuma to do the dirty work and merely going along to supervise."

That statement had the ring of truth to it and Cross knew that, despite his reservations, he would have to look into the brat's claim. "We'll take care of it. Thanks for the information."

Nicholas inclined his head.

Turning Cross prepared to walk away. They didn't have time to waste; he and the girls would have to travel to Italy and hope that they made it in time to save the targeted Exorcists. "We'll be in touch."

"I look forward to it," Nicholas said, bowing slightly as the group of Exorcists walked away.

The Exorcists quickly made their way down the path that would take them back to town. Nicholas watched their departure until they were out of sight and then he reached a hand inside his top coat and pulled out Timcanpy.

Timcanpy was irritated over having been shoved in the Musician's pocket and, the moment he was free, the golem made a move to bite his master.

Nicholas narrowly avoided having the flesh of his nose seized by the irritated little golem and he was forced to hold him by the wings in order to prevent Timcanpy from trying the move again.

"I'm sorry Tim," Nicholas said. "But I have an important job for you and I couldn't let them see you. No one can connect you back to me."

Timcanpy settled down at this point and Nicholas released his hold on the creature. "I want you to follow them Tim. I need to know how this goes and I won't be able to question Lord Millennium about it. That would be too suspicious."

Timcanpy nodded and then flew off in the direction that the Exorcists had departed in. Nicholas watched the golem leave and then turned, a satisfied smirk appearing on his face.

So far all was going according to plan.

A/N - I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, please be kind enough to leave a review and tell me what you thought.