Kenna could feel her legs weaken when Road signaled the start of the so-called "game" she had cooked up. She knew this would be a recipe for disaster, either her getting killed, or much worse, seeing her friends close to her get killed.
"Oh? Why so scared, red-head?" The female Noah questioned in a cooing voice.
Kenna growled, her fists clenched to the point that her nails made crescent-shaped wounds on her palms. "I'm not scared, you brat. I'm just waiting to see what kind of 'game' you have plotting in your twisted mind."
A sinister grin appeared on Road's face, followed by a clap. "You are? Well, that is exciting to hear."
A moment of silence occured before Kenna sliced it in half, "So what are you going to do? Fight me? Or just stand there and do nothing? Because I'm fine with you doing nothing. I could stand here all day."
"No, silly!" Road giggled. "I'm not the one that's going to fight. And trust me, I have something better to do than standing around, not having a care in the world."
Kenna raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what would that be?"
"You'll see." Road grinned. "But remember, she is the one...that you have to fight."
The female exorcist's eyes widened when she heard footsteps from the distance, but for some odd reason, they were small and tiny. Kenna slowly turned her body around in the direction of them, hoping it wasn't just some strange creature Road created. But as soon as she saw a familiar little girl, her heart sank. She took in the pink plaid dress, the pink shoes, white socks, and short, red hair-which was put into pigtails with two pink bows supporting them. The large, red eyes stared back at the young woman, and her eyes stared back at the child figure as well. ...That...that can't be...Kenna could feel her whole body tremble, her eyes widened in horror. That's me...when I was younger...
"This...can't be possible..." Kenna muttered to herself. "It just can't!" She could feel the aura inside of her building up as an orb emerged in her hand. Then with a swift movement of her body, she aimed the orb right at the figure. This has to be some kind of illusion! This kid can't be here!
But, to her surprise, the little version of herself took one step forward, slowly lifting up her hand and resting it upon the Innocence. Kenna watched in shock as cracks started to form on the orb. The pieces then crashed to the ground, almost like pieces of glass. Kenna's hand trembled. "H-How...did you do that...?"
"Space manipulation." The younger Kenna spoke up, but it came out kind of odd, like the voice was merged with another voice, which to the best of the exorcist's knowledge had to be Road's. "Your spirit exists here in this realm, but your Innocence isn't."
Kenna's mouth gaped open, not knowing what to say, let alone trying to find them. The voices then seemed to break apart when Road chimed in. "But let's not get into too much detail about it. As you know, Kenna, I am the Noah of Dreams, the sheep of the dreams. And now, with you in my grasp, you are now the sheep in mine."
Then, as Road let out a twisted laugh, Kenna slowly turned towards the Noah, her eyes widened in fear. And before her very eyes, the realm started to merge and spin around, almost like that of a tornado. The monochrome color soon dissolved in many different colors.
_
Lavi felt his body being thrown back and hitting the ground hard. Small bursts of air escaped his mouth as he struggled to get up. The Bookman could feel a trickle of blood escaping from his lips and tickling his skin until it reached his chin. It really didn't bother him, though, since it happened often.
The male exorcist watched as Tyki dug his feet into the wall, then thrust himself towards him. His shoes made a light tap against the ground when he landed. "You exorcists seem to be much more weaker than last time." he scoffed, wiping the blood from his mouth with a swift movement of his hand. "Is it because of the beautiful red-head with you?"
"No, it is not!" Lavi growled, though he had to admit he has feelings for Kenna. "We exorcists are still as strong as we were back then. Kenna joined for the same reason as well, only she hasn't been here for as long as we have. So you better just shut your mouth."
"Oh, somebody's getting feisty here." The Noah of Desire laughed. A huge, radiant star appeared in his right hand. He then charged at the junior Bookman. Lavi stumbled once the star was pinned against his hammer, but he managed to maintain his balance. Small clouds of dust emerged from the back of Lavi's shoes as he was being forced back into one of the edges of the tower. Lavi looked over his shoulder and gasped, seeing how far it was if he fell.
So, with all his might, he swung his arms back, then forward, causing the star to shatter and Tyki to fall onto his back, skidding across the ground. A few limited coughs escaped his throat.
"What are you and Road planning to do to Kenna, anyways?" Lavi growled. "Because I sure hope she is not going through the same thing I had to last time."
A sudden moment of silence emerged as Lavi waited for his answer. Krory, Allen, and Lenalee were waiting as well. When a few minutes passed, a smirk crossed Tyki's lips as he looked up, laughing.
"Oh, it is far more worse than yours, Lavi." he said, his tone a tad cold. "She has to see something that she's been wanting to get out of her mind for years."
Lavi's eyes widened, and so did the others. "And what do you mean by that?" Lenalee asked, worried.
"It's for me and Road to know, and you puny exorcists to find out." Tyki smirked.
"What in God's name is this place?" Kenna looked around. Before her stood a normal, peaceful neighborhood, with kids running about and playing.
"You don't remember?" Road asked, and the redhead sharply turned around. She didn't see the doll form of the Noah before her, just Kenna's younger self.
"I-I don't..." Kenna blinked and looked around again. She looked unsure as she locked eyes once more with Road. "Should I?"
"Well, yes. It was a place in your past...or dare I say, the last place you saw before that tragic event?"
Kenna's eyes widened when she said that. It started coming back to her. This is when Kenna was just arriving back home from school with the letter in her hand. And just as that thought escaped her mind, she saw a little girl with semi-long, red hair, making her way to her house. She was supporting a blue, plaid dress, with white socks and black dress shoes. Her red eyes were beaming with excitement and joy.
Kenna then happened to see a figure in the window. She couldn't make it out well at first, but when it opened the door and stood on the porch, she gasped. It was a young woman, around her middle 20's. She had long, black hair, tied into a braid, and a simple white dress. Her eyes were red, exactly the same eye color as Kenna's. There was a few markings on her neck, crossing each other. "Oh my god..." Kenna's mouth was dropped open. "...T-That's...my mother...b-but how?"
"This is a realm that shows an exorcist's past to them." Road replied. "..And shows them faces from their past, especially yours." A twisted smirk finished the sentence.
"Why, you-!" Kenna had her fists clenched to the point that her fingernails made crescent-shaped wounds on her palms. But then the sound of her once innocent, happy self came into view.
"Mommy, Mommy!" The little girl called, her short, red hair bouncing behind her with her every moment. Kenna took a closer look at the letter in her younger self's hand, and saw that it was a progress report. Kenna's eyes widened. "...That's...my progress report." Kenna recalled to herself. "That's when I came home all giddy and happy about getting straight-A's."
She then watched as her younger self reached the patio, greeted by outstretched arms. She was then lifted into the air and spun around. Kenna felt a sting of pain in her heart when she saw her mother's warm smile. "...And that was the last time I ever saw her smile...that smile always cheered me up whenever I was feeling down." She could feel tears reaching the tips of her eyelids.
Kenna's mother laughed. "That's my Kenna! Congratulations!" Kenna watched for a few more seconds before continuing. "...And afterwards...she became very ill about the news of my father in Vietnam."
"Oh, really?" Road smirked. Kenna sharply turned around, seeing that Road had changed back to her doll form. "Would you like to go that time, then?"
Kenna's red eyes widened as she walked forward, yelling, "Don't you even dare!", but it was too late. The realm started to spin around like a tornado, making the whole place a blur for a couple of minutes. When it stopped, Kenna saw that they were in the exact same place as before, only that the sky was much more darker, signaling that it was nighttime. The streets of the neighborhood were empty, and Kenna could feel an eerie wind brushing up against her skin.
Road then smirked, and snapped her fingers, teleporting them to her parent's bedroom. Kenna's child self was at standing at the edge of the bed, looking at her mother's pale, ill face. Tears were running down, her small, round cheeks.
"Mommy!" The voice came out in chokes. "Please! You can't go!" Her mother turned her head slightly to look at her child. She slowly stuck out her hand to Kenna. It was trembling.
"...Sorry...but this sickness has not gone away...and is getting worse by the minute..." Her mother's voice was weak, which surprised Kenna, but also hurt her. She didn't like seeing her mother like this.
Her mother coughed up some blood, drips of it staining the wooden floor. The little redhead gasped, and placed her tiny little hands in her mother's outstretched hand. "No! Mommy, I can make it better! I can make it so you can survive and not leave me! We've already been through the grief of losing Daddy to the war. I can't stand to see you go! I love you!"
"...I...can't stand to leave you, either, honey...but sometimes it is time for the person to leave Earth and enter the heavens..." With each word, her mother's eyes start to close.
"...Mommy?" Kenna's child self called.
No response came from the dying entity. All Kenna heard was the three, meaningful words, "I love you..." and then one last breath.
Kenna and her child self both gasped, their eyes widened. Kenna covered her mouth to hide a river of tears that were constantly running down her face. Her child self kept on calling out her mother's name, nudging her to see if that would help. But nothing happened...it was too late.
All of a sudden, Kenna and her younger self heard the sound of guns getting ready to fire...or so they thought. Kenna's child self ran to the window to see what it was. Before her was an army of akuma, which Kenna knew right away were Akuma. A sharp exhale escaped her throat as she stuck her hand out, calling out to her younger self. "No! Run! DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" She raised her voice higher to see if her younger version could hear her.
A chuckle came from Road, which received a glare from Kenna. "It's not going to work, Kenna. She can't hear you or see you. This is just a realm, remember?"
Kenna gritted her teeth together in annoyance. Road was really starting to get on her nerves. Before she could say anything else, the canons of the Akuma aimed right at the window, firing multiple bullets at a time. Kenna's younger self shrieked and run for the door. She felt several shots of pain while doing so, and when she finally managed to barge through the door and onto the grass outside, she fell to her knees, sobbing. She then looked behind her, seeing that her mother was no longer there; ashes replaced it. That only made the tears fall down more and dropping into the ground between the grass.
A wicked grin soon transitioned onto the Noah of Dreams' face, and she teleported herself and Kenna to where the younger version of the female exorcist was. Kenna's eyes widened as tears run down her face. She felt like an arrow just shot right through her heart.
"...W-Why...did it have to be this way...?" The 5-year old asked herself, choking on a couple of the words. "Why...? Mommy...Daddy..."
Kenna felt her eyes sting. She couldn't bear to see her younger self going through this, let alone seeing it again after 14 years.
But then, the both of them heard another Akuma approaching, which was a Level 1, the same as the others. As soon as the younger Kenna saw the light orange aura radiating from the canon, she felt her adrenaline kick up. She shielded her eyes with her arms just in time as something blue dashed past her and destroyed the Akuma in a blink of an eye.
When the dust subsided, the younger Kenna moved her arms away from her eyes, she saw a tall, young woman standing before her. The young woman had long, blonde hair, which was blowing smoothly in the wind. She had dog ears, which is unusual for a human. She had a long, purple dress on, with a wrap around her waist that resembled that of stained glass. Same went for the collar of her dress. As the woman turned around to look at her, the younger Kenna's eyes widened to see that they were a bright blue color.
Kenna's younger self looked surprised when it hit her. This wasn't a regular human. It was an entity, like her mother was!
"W-Who are you...?" Kenna hiccuped. "...Are you related to Mommy?"
"No, I'm not." The blonde entity smiled. Her voice was warm, almost soothing. It reminded Kenna of her mother. "But I did know her. She was a good friend of mine, and it's sad to see her go because of those Akuma."
"Akuma?" The younger Kenna tilted her head. "What are those?"
"They are machines created by the Earl to help assist the Noah in destroying the world." The entity laughed and shooed the subject off with her hand. "But enough about that. What is your name, little one?"
Kenna's younger self squeaked. "K-Kenna. Kenna Vikasa."
The blonde entity smiled and knelt down one one knee in front of the little girl. "Nice to meet you, Kenna. My name's Tiaoshi Oku. I was assigned by Solaria to protect you and keep you from any danger. But you'll find out about him later on." She then wrapped her arms around the little kid, hugging her. "But I'm sure I will stick to the oath Solaria gave me to protect you...Kenna."
Kenna blinked, not knowing what to do. Smiling, she wrapped her little arms and hugged Tiaoshi back.
"Oh, here." Tiaoshi blinked, and stuck out her hand, the little Kenna's red eyes following it. Once it happened, a light blue aura appeared in the entity's hand. The little Kenna's eyes widened in awe.
"I was told to give you this." she continued, handing the aura to Kenna, who carefully held in her hands. Her hands slipped a little, and she freaked out. Tiaoshi laughed and helped her out. The younger Kenna then watched the aura sink into her hands, soon pulsing through her skin. The feeling felt weird, but soothing...but it only lasted for a few seconds.
"W-What was that?" The younger Kenna's voice came out in a squeak.
Tiaoshi couldn't help but giggle. "That was me copying my powers and inserting them into your body. Whenever an entity is assigned to protect a human they believe is special, or has a purpose. So I'm giving them to you. I will teach you how to use them."
"O-okay..." The five year old didn't know what to do. "...So basically, you'll become a mentor?"
"Oh, more than that. You're going to be my adopted daughter."
"Adopted daughter?"
"Yes, dear." She then hugged the little redhead once more, who hugged back in return.
The hugging seemed to go on or a few minutes, and Kenna's face started to soften. But, out of the blue, Tiaoshi's face went all grim and dark, and her eyes were hidden. An orb forms in her hands, but it is now pitch black...not the innocent-looking light blue.
Before Kenna could call out anything, her mouth dropped open in horror as Tiaoshi stabbed the 5-year old right through the back, the black aura dripping for the tip. Everything transitioned to silence as the younger version of the redhead began to sway, and then fell onto the grass head first, motionless.
Kenna blinked a few times to make sure this wasn't real, that this was just her imagination. "No, no!" she started to raise her voice. "That is not true! Tiaoshi was kind and caring and took me in instantly. She didn't go behind my back and kill me!"
Road only chuckled; it was obvious seeing that she enjoyed seeing what happened, let alone Kenna's expression. "Oh, you really think so? You think that this is not true? Well, it is...even though it's a realm. You deserved to have your parents killed since one of them was an entity. You never really cared about them, did you?"
Kenna felt her eyes sting. "You're saying a bunch of lies, and you know you are! What are you trying to do, saying such things like this?"
"Ah uh uh, but I wasn't quite finished, Kenna." The spiky haired Noah lifted up a finger. "You never opened your heart to anything after your parents had died. You thought the world was cruel, for letting this happen. And that's when that lovely blonde friend of yours stepped in." she added a sarcastic tone to the end of that sentence. "She was sent by some god from another planet to look over you, but she never knew that you wouldn't accept her as your new mother, the one that will take care of you until the time comes for her to go away. So in that case, she stabbed you...making sure you weren't ever seen again. She had despised you from the start, Kenna."
Kenna's head was starting to throb at all the lies that Road was saying. She could feel her veins pulsing in rhythm with the headache. All of a sudden, she knelt down to her knees after feeling something pass through her brain like a bullet. The unspeakable pain Kenna felt was expressed by her yelling.
"S-STOP!" She She screamed from the top of her lungs. "If this...is from the load of baloney that you're telling me...then you need to stop this instant!"
Road giggled, and stepped forward, leaning down so that her eyes were at the same level as Kenna's. "Oh, you want me to stop, you crybaby? Well, too bad." She then stood up, turned around, and walked a few feet before stopping. Her back was now faced at Kenna. "...And don't you dare say that is a load of whatever that word is. You know that it's true, Kenna. You know that this darkness in your heart has been inside you all along. You had waited for the right moment for your father to die in the war he was in, and for your mother to fall ill and basically die from it."
"It seems that you might be...dare I say...have a Noah gene that have these fun and twisted traits." she continued, tapping her index finger on her chin. "Or if not, you'd make a perfect sidekick for us."
Kenna growled. The pain was only getting worse. "...How dare you say that! I didn't expect my mother or father to die! And I don't have darkness in my heart, let alone having the Noah gene inside of me. I am a normal human being, given the powers of an entity's by Tiaoshi, and I love her like a second mother! She would never, ever try to kill me!"
She had to take a deep breath. "This is all part of the illusion you've trapped me in." Blood was starting to drip down from her lips, tickling her skin. But she ignored it. "I would like to get out of here and away from your sick, twisted face."
Road just blinked and smirked. Her golden eyes glew with anticipation, signaling that there was something behind that smile that Kenna didn't know about. "Fine then!" Road snapped her fingers and transformed into Kenna's younger self once more. "That's your wish. But just a note: You won't be escaping so easily this time."
Kenna rested a hand on her forehead, the pain was becoming unbearable. "...And what do you mean by that, you imbecile?"
A limited laugh escaped the Noah's throat as she lifted up a hand, the palm of it facing Kenna. "You'll see." Then, with a flick of her wrist, the whole realm started to spin around, only that it wasn't switching to another one. Kenna felt the pain start to spread to the rest of her body. A blood-curdling scream escaped her mouth as she was forced back to reality.
After another round of fighting with the Noah to see if he would blurt out the reason why they're doing this to Kenna, Lavi and the other exorcists waited patiently to see if Kenna would come to. It seemed that fighting Tyki was out of the question, since that was the future Bookman's first choice, so they had to face the silence corrupting the place.
Finally, for what seemed like forever, Kenna's body slowly started to glow, then stopped. A few more minutes passed by before the redhead slowly started to lift up her head.
The exorcists gasped in relief. "Oh, thank god!" Lavi exclaimed.
"Kenna, you're alright!" Allen exclaimed. "We thought we lost you!"
There was no response, of which the exorcists had expected one to come out of Kenna's mouth.
"...Kenna?" Krory blinked, wondering what was going with her, as well as the others. "Are you alright?"
Still, nothing.
"Kenna, can you hear us?" Lavi called out. "Kenna?"
After he called her name several more times, she blinked, her eyes were radiating a white aura, which caused Lavi to flinch.
Then, a strange, black mark appeared below both of her eyes, almost looking like that of wings. Lavi recognized that all too well as Kenna started to get up, activated her powers.
"...Oh no."