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Chapter 22: The Prophecy of Nova

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Nova's POV

"Hevlaska," I called out to the strange glowing creature as she rose up from her slumped position. I peered up at her in awe as she reached out with a tendril and gently passed a wisp across my cheek.

"Dear child, you've returned," She replied in an ancient tone, her voice echoing throughout the basement of the Order. I smiled back up at her and reached into my pocket with my free hand, taking out my barely held together Innocence. I could sense Hevlaska's surprise emanating from her being as I showed it to her, bringing my arm out across the railing.

"I need to know…is it still repairable? Am I still able to fight?" I asked with a sliver of hope, letting my Innocence be lifted in the beautiful creature's tendrils. She was silent for a moment, staring at the Innocence for a minute before she lifted her head and tilted her head towards me.

"You have an injury, what happened?" She inquired, her voice expressing true concern. I was about to lash out at how Rouvelier had done this to me when I remembered that there was some kind of coldness between the two, and shut my mouth before I could say anything.

"Nothing Hevlaska, I'm fine. Please, just tell me." I gave her a small smile as I avoided her question easily, seeing her nod in understanding.

"Very well child," As she brought the Innocence to her forehead, a bright glow came from nowhere and blasted into my eyes, blinding me for a moment. When it slowly ebbed away, I uncovered my eyes and hesitantly peered back up at Hevlaska. She lowered her hand till it stopped in front of my face and I widened my eyes in shock when I saw that it was that green glowing cube once more.

"H-how?" I gasped in awe as I took it from her hand, staring at it with bright eyes. I heard the blue glowing being chuckle slightly as I felt the wisps touch my cheek.

"Simply because I am the Guardian of Innocence does not mean that I cannot do anything else with them." I beamed back up at her with gratefulness and was about to leave when she stopped me with a light feathery touch to my wrist.

"Wait child, there is something that I must say to you first. When I repaired your Innocence to its original state-something that Komui cannot even do-I discovered that your Innocence sync rate had dropped dramatically. I'm afraid it will be a while before you'll be able to go out and fight. You will need to train immensely with your Innocence in order to regain the Innocence rate that you once had." I frowned in disappointment at this but clenched my fist nonetheless. I'd need to be more careful from now on if I ever wanted to fight with my Innocence again.

"Alright, thank you Hevlaska,"

"One more thing," I paused mid-step towards the door and turned fully towards her, wondering what else she had to say. "That Innocence you hold belongs to a prophecy. You are to join with the Destroyer of Time and defeat the Millennium Earl. But I saw that when you join with the Destroyer of Time, you would not be a part of the Order anymore. You will go through many troubles towards this path in the prophecy, and I cannot assure you that you will be safe through most of them."

"M-me? In a prophecy?" I restated towards Hevlaska, about to ask her more about it when I heard the lift suddenly clang down on the bottom floor. I whirled around to see Rouvelier stalking towards me with that predatory smirk on his mouth. Behind him were to scientists from the Science Division who looked freaked out about why they were down here.

"What do you want? I just needed to talk to her. Can't you leave me at peace for just a damn second?!" I snapped as I glared angrily into his eyes. Suddenly, his hand lashed out and wrapped around my wrist with the Innocence, opening my hand and staring at it with wide eyes.

"We've discovered something about you Nova," He quietly replied back to me, meeting my gaze evenly, with a growing smile on his face.

"And what is that?" I stared at him with suspicion as the two scientists moved behind me and grabbed me by the arms, giving me a feeling of déjà vu. As I struggled against them, I felt the Innocence disappear from my hand and looked up to see Rouvelier holding it between his thumb and forefinger.

"What're you doing?" I demanded just as Hevlaska lowered herself to my height.

"Rouvelier, unhand this girl's Innocence right now." She warned, the air down in the basement suddenly ten times colder.

"Nova, we've discovered that because you're from the Krest lineage, you might be compatible to your Innocence merging inside of you. With your Innocence inside you constantly, there's no way you'll ever lose it now. You'll have an increase in power-everything you gain from merging with your Innocence will guarantee our victory in this long lasting war with the Earl. If you merge with it now, I'll forget that I even mistrusted you." I lowered my head as he explained, clenching my fist as my shoulders began to shake in anger. I heard about what Lenalee had seen years ago-secret operations of children trying to merge with their Innocence, and coming out as a failure, dying instantly.

It was cruel, what they did to them. And now they wanted to try it on me-because I might be the key to winning?

"There's no way I'd agree to that!" I yelled back at him furiously, pulling away from the two scientists and cuffing him on the cheek with my hand. Immediately as I took a step back, a hand grabbed at my throat, lifting me up off the ground.

"Rouvelier! Stop this now!" Hevlaska demanded as I felt her tendrils wrap around my stomach, attempting to pull me out of Rouvelier's grasp.

"Hevlaska you will not aid this girl! She is hereby ordered to merge with the Innocence, on the Chief of the Black Order's word. Take this Innocence and merge it with her body!" The man demanded harshly, handing me over to Hevlaska's hesitant tendrils.

"Komui? He wouldn't do something like that!" I protested as I was lifted high into the air, staring down into Rouvelier's gaze. He simply smirked back up at me as I was being brought closer to the Innocence that was in Hevlaska's other hand.

"Hevlaska, don't do this! It isn't an order! Komui wouldn't order you to do something like this!" I tried to convince her desperately, my eyes locked on the cube of Innocence that was getting closer.

"I'm sorry Nova, Rouvelier is someone who I cannot disobey." I widened my eyes at her words and realized that there was a bright glowing emanating from my abdomen.

"Stop!" I screamed as the blinding light lit up the entire basement along with an explosion of pain in the middle of my core. The light was so bright that everyone lost sight of what was going on around them.

The excruciating stabs of pain I felt was now escalating towards every part of my body, making my entire being felt like it was on fire. I gasped as I tried to catch my breath, my vision hazy in front of me. I was on my hands and knees, the only thing I was feeling, pain. Behind me, I could hear a growing laughter-one that was awed by what they were seeing. One that was sick, and horrifying.

"I was right! I was right! Krest you are the perfect weapon!" Malcolm Rouvelier called out behind me as his joyful laughter filled the large room. I groaned as I tried to stand but fell back down on my knees, clutching my stomach in pain. Just what will my Innocence be now? I still couldn't see. All I saw was lines of blurriness of the steel floor beneath me. Just why did all of this have to happen to me? Couldn't it have happened to someone else who could tolerate this pain?

Suddenly, I heard another clang of the lift hitting the bottom floor and footsteps rushing. In that next moment, I heard yelling-soon building up to a clamor of curses-and someone getting punched. Rouvelier's laughter stopped. Someone's hesitant hands pulled me into their lap, wrapping their arms around me.

"Just what did they do to you?" I heard Kanda whisper in my ear quietly. When I was about to reply to him, I felt my heart stop. My eyes snapped wide open and I felt something tear open in my wrist and something splash over my hand. It felt sticky and as I glanced down at it, I saw that it was my own blood.

"Komui, what's happening?" Kanda demanded over his shoulder. The Chief, who looked stiff with shock, walked over and bent down next to him, watching the scene that was going on.

I saw the blood that had pooled around my hand start crawling up my wrist. With surprising speed, it covered my entire right arm and moved up to my shoulder and switched to the other shoulder, moving down my left arm with an icy coldness. Then, as it solidified, I felt my right eye start to burn for no reason. As I reached up with my right hand to cover it, I saw that my skin was now coated with a black solid substance and as I continued to stare at it, I could see the cross cut on my wrist-where my blood had come out.

Just…what is this Innocence?

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I woke up staring at the white ceiling of the infirmary-again. I could tell by the silence that no one else was in the room but me. As I sat up, I caught sight of both of my arms, covered in a black solid substance. I stared at it with a curious expression when I remembered that my eye was burning. I dashed out of my bed, and was about to curse at the pain that would follow from my sprained ankle when it didn't come. Stopping for second, I looked down at it and saw that it was no longer in a splint. Nor did it hurt.

"What in the world?" I wandered over to the bathroom and glanced up at the mirror, doing a double take at my appearance. I leaned closer to the mirror and saw that it was no mistake. My silver eye had turned deep, velvet purple. I looked down at my arms and wondered how this was really Innocence when the door to the infirmary opened. I stepped out of the bathroom to see Allen and Lenalee walk in, their eyes widening when they saw me.

"Nova! Are you alright!?" Allen asked as he looked at my condition, his eyes locking on to my purple eye.

"Wh-what happened there?" He inquired as I sat down on the edge of my bed, still not knowing how this happened to me. Was this really my Innocence?

"Rouvelier had merged me with my Innocence." Lenalee stiffened for a second and what happened next, surprised me. She lunged forward and pulled me into a hug, crushing me with her tight grip.

"I'm glad you're alright, I'm so relieved. If you had disappeared forever…." She whispered in my ear as she buried her face in my shoulder. I hugged her back silently as I met Allen's relieved gaze with a weak smile.

"I still need to figure out though how I'm going to use my Innocence. I mean this? Allen, could you-" Allen beamed back at me brightly at my question.

"Sure thing Nova! I'll come by your room later."

"So what happened to Rouvelier?" I asked hesitantly as I caught Allen's narrowed eyed gaze.

"He's currently talking with an infuriated Komui. We only found out that you were in some sort of accident just an hour ago. Did Rouvelier force you to merge with it?" I nodded solemnly as I sighed, and ran a hand through my hair exhaustedly.

"Where's Kanda?" I inquired as I stood up and grabbed my exorcist coat off of the chair, slipping it on smoothly.

"In the dining hall, he's pretty upset about this situation." Lenalee piped up as I made my way towards the door, the two of them following behind.

"Thanks," I replied as I gave them a wave over my shoulder, walking down the hall away from them silently.

As I reached the dining hall like Lenalee said, I realized that it was empty, only a single candlelight lit on one table. And sitting at that table was Kanda who was staring at a cup of tea in silence. Before I entered, I turned to see the stars of night bright in the sky from the windows. It must be late.

"Yuu," He whirled around at the sound of his real name and met my gaze with wide eyes. I grinned back at him as I approached, offering him a wave.

"I just wanted to see whether you'd reply," I explained as I sat down on the table, glancing at him as I tried to brighten the mood. Kanda stared into my eyes intently before he reached up and cupped my cheek in his hand, his thumb stroking my cheek gently.

"That damn Rouvelier did this to you didn't he?" He quietly asked as he continued to hold my gaze in a mesmerizing stare.

"He really is a crazy man," I whispered as I closed my eyes and leaned into his warm hand, smiling. I sensed Kanda move and relaxed as his arms slid around my waist and pulled me into a hug, his head buried in my shoulder.

"This shouldn't be happening to you. You don't deserve to feel this pain all the time," He softly muttered into my hair, stroking it comfortingly.

"Pain comes with being an exorcist doesn't it?" I retorted back to him as I pulled back and stared into his eyes with a small smile.

"It's something that comes to us naturally," He smirked as he leaned his head closer, his breath mixing with my own as we were centimeters apart from closing the distance.

"It's up to us to fight back against pain right?" I asked as I wrapped a cold hand around the back of his neck. Kanda's cobalt eyes met mine before they closed and he leaned in to close the kiss, a smirk forming on his lips as I responded, wrapping my arms around his back, pulling him closer.

As we continued kissing, I didn't notice that he had set me down on my back, his hand cradling my neck gently. I could felt the need to breathe again and stopped for a second, Kanda planting little butterfly kisses on my neck. I chuckled slightly at this and was about to say something when he captured my lips once more. I could sense the intoxicating sense of lust starting to rise within him as he shifted on top of me, making something creak under us. That's when I realized that we were on top of a table.

The thought for some reason made me chuckle, making our make out session go on pause as I lay on my side, covering my chuckles with a hand over my mouth; at some point during my laughing fit, I had knocked the cup of tea over and doused out the candle the lit the dining hall, covering us in darkness.

"Why are you laughing so much?" Kanda asked gruffly as I tried to calm myself, only to go back into the state I was in before.

"It's…pfft…nothing!" I replied as I took deep breaths, sitting up as I ran a hand through my hair. I heard Kanda hop down from the table and followed suit, grabbing his hand.

"Hey if you're mad that we had to stop, I'm sorry." I said as I moved in front of him, meeting his eyes as we walked backwards. He simply stared down at me with a raised eyebrow and kept walking forward till my back hit the rail, cornering me with his hands at both of my sides.

"I just haven't had a single moment to talk with you. Not when you're under constant watch by that damn Rouvelier," He growled as he fingered a lock of my hair, averting his gaze from my own. I reached up and turned his head towards me, meeting his stare seriously.

"I know things are rough right now, with this whole problem, but things will get better. You'll see. Though I'm not sure about myself…" I trailed off, the prophecy that Hevlaska described, clear in my head.

"What do you mean about yourself?" Kanda suspiciously asked, this time being the one who makes me look back at him.

"I…I'm not sure I should tell you," Kanda stiffened at this and pulled away from me, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What, don't you trust me? Am I not good enough to keep this secret of yours?" He demanded as he stared into my uncertain gaze. He turned and took a few steps away from me when I grabbed his wrist.

"It's not like that…"

"Then what?" He snapped over his shoulder angrily.

"I…I'm just afraid of what will happen to us."

"…go on," I sighed and closed my eyes, letting go of his wrist as I leaned back against the rail.

"Before Rouvelier showed up, I was already down there with Hevlaska. I wanted to know if I could still fight with my Innocence. She told me I could, but she also added that…I would be in a prophecy. She said that I would join with the Destroyer of Time to defeat the Earl. But I won't be with the Order when I do that. That's what I didn't want to say. What if the Order sees me as an enemy and sends you all to come after me? What will happen to us then?" I asked as I stared down at the floor with conflicted emotions.

"Whatever happens, whether we're supposed to go after you, we'll always see you as our comrade. We wouldn't betray you." Kanda replied after a while, taking my hand in his. I nodded in agreement as he pulled me into another hug, resting his chin on top of my head.

Whenever this prophecy would happen, I just hoped it wasn't soon.

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Yo! I'm alive! I realized it's been a while since I updated so I put off homework just for this purpose! Don't worry though, I'll head straight back to it after this! What did you think of the chapter? Was it better than the last? Do you like where things are going? Please let me know!

FallenWing21