After walking for some time, Komui and Krory came to what they figured was the edge of the forest.
"Keep up, we're almost there." Komui called to Krory who was lagging far behind him, huffing and puffing as if he were going to pass out at any moment. With his head turned towards Krory, Komui didn't see that the path he was walking ended sharply. Tripping, Komui fell off the side of a short cliff and landed on his stomach on the ground beneath it.
"A-are you alright?!" Krory cried from the edge of the cliff. Komui, who had been writhing in pain a moment ago, suddenly jumped up in embarrassment.
"Yes! I am fine. Perfectly fine." He called over his shoulder, making it a point to do a few stretches to show how fine he was.
It was then that Komui looked at what was in front of him, the city of Mater. With all of his books and research, he had of course heard of it. It was said that the city had been abandoned long ago for some unknown reason. There were stories that it was because of a monster; a great beast, but such a thing could not exist.
No ones come here since the city was abandoned. This is quite a find, but there's no chance we could find help in an empty town.
Suddenly, a dim light in Komui's peripheral vision caught his eye. At the far end of Mater, past the rows of empty dwellings, emerged and tall, ominous castle. One of the windows near the highest peak of the castle was shrouded in light.
The lights are on so, crazy as it seems, someone must be home.
Telling Krory to climb down carefully and follow the path that he took to the castle, Komui began the trek through the abandoned city to reach help. He had to tread carefully because the ground was littered with debri. Some of it was dangerous like nails, shards of glass and even the odd knife left in piles of discarded wood and straw. Other things on the ground were just hazards because he could trip on them much too easily. Even when being careful he managed to stumble over things more than he should though he managed not to fall over anything and tumble onto the ground.
It was a while before he reached the gates of the castle. They were large brass gates that had been weathered and worn, but it still seemed to Komui as if they had been cleaned and polished recently. This only made him more certain that he was right about someone living in the castle. The gates were hanging open and he easily pushed them aside more so that he may gain entrance.
Glancing up, he thought he saw a shadow move across one of the windows on the second floor, but it moved so quickly and fluidly as if it were a flash of light and Komui quickly dismissed it. Going through the garden, he had no idea that he was being watched from the shadows. A stealthy creature on the sidelines watching him carefully being ready to judge exactly when he's gone too far. Komui was making his way to the door to knock when he caught something out of the corner of his eyes.
It was a rose bush, he had seen them before, but none like this one. It grew so many roses on just the one bush that it seemed more like a tall pile of rose buds. Even though everything in the empty city was dead and without light, these roses were utter perfection. Complete perfection as far as the eye could see, they were big and vibrantly colored with not a sign anywhere that they had been damaged or gnawed by insects in any way. Each one was just as beautiful as the next and Komui was soon entranced by them.
Allowing himself to be drawn away from his path towards the door of the castle, Komui stopped in front of the amazing flowers. Yes, upon further study he could tell that they were flawless. Excited by the thought that he had never seen anything so precious in his life and wishing to give one to his lovely sister, he reached his hand out slowly as if possessed and plucked a flower.
He brought his prize to his chest and began to maneuver it into his coat pocket. No sooner had he made to pocket it then he heard a horrifying growling coming from behind him. He turned around only to be thrown twenty feet into the side of the castle.
"Ack!" Komui felt like he was coughing up a lung as he struggled to open his eyes much less stand after the force of the impact. What was that? The panicked thought reached his head as he felt cold claws wrapping around his neck to hold him to the wall. Opening his eyes, he was greeted with a terrifying as well as confusing sight.
In front of his face holding him to the wall was a young man or what must have been a young man. The boy had gray eyes and the frostiest white hair Komui had ever seen. His face was young and would have quite pretty if it was so frighteningly twisted into a mask of such irrepressible rage. He had a grotesque, red scar running down his face and over one eye. It even ran over the eyelid. The arm pinning him to the wall exerting an almost inhuman strength, was a giant claw just as silver as his eyes. His other arm was normal enough, but was fisted tight in anger.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded, angrily.
At first, Komui didn't say anything. It wasn't that the boy was holding his neck too tightly for him to speak, he just couldn't find the words through all the shock.
"What are you doing here? Answer me!" The boy yelled in his face, becoming angrier with Komui's silence. He had to do something or who knows what the little psycho would do. Komui tried to channel his inner politician and make his voice sound calm and sincere.
"Hello," Komui cleared his throat in an effort to get the shaking out of his voice. "My name is Komui. What a lovely home you have here." Damn! That last part sounded pathetic and stupid.
The look on the boy's face became even more hostile if that were even possible.
"You stole from me!" The boy cried, a feral look in his eyes. It took Komui a long moment to realize what he was talking about, but when he did, he paled visibly.
"What? Oh, this?" Komui smiled nervously as he extracted the single rose from his pocket and held it up between them. "I only picked one small flower. It was so beautiful, I couldn't help myself." He tried to sound light-hearted to calm the monstrous child, but it did nothing to help as the "boy" let out another chillingly horrendous growl.
"You stole it!" He accused, his animalistic eyes boring into Komui's.
"I didn't know it meant that much to you, you have so many just like it. Here, I'll give it back." Komui began to panic, letting fear take over.
"You've already picked it. It's too late for that now." The boy said. His eyes and facial features lost their sheer anger only to be replaced by the coldest look Komui had ever seen on a kid. "Kanda! Lavi! Get over here and deal with this!" The boy called turning his head towards the side of the castle shrouded in shadow.
The boy pushed Komui one final time into the wall, hard, before releasing him and allowing him to fall to the ground. Scrambling through the pain to sit back up, Komui just barely saw the two forms emerging from the shadowed area as if materializing on command. Flanking him on either side, the two individuals each grabbed one of Komui's arms and hoisted him up onto his feet.
The one on his left was clearly the eldest of the three. He had long black hair tied up into a ponytail. He had a very pretty face which was marred by the stern and somewhat aggressive expression plastered across his features. On his right was a slightly shorter male with bright red hair. One of his eyes was hidden by a black eyepatch while the other one showed a vibrant green color.
"You called?" The red-headed individual asked. He seemed to be trying to sound amused, but his eyes held so much seriousness.
"Put him in the dungeon and leave him there to rot." The boy said before turning on his heels and walking off. Komui was in shock at what he had just heard. He was so shocked he didn't even hear when Lavi spoke up.
"Isn't that a little harsh?" He shouted after the boy haltingly. The aforementioned boy stopped for a moment before speaking the words "don't question me" and then continued to walk away until he was out of sight. "Come on." Lavi sighed as he and Kanda began to drag Komui in the direction of the dungeon. This seemed to snap Komui out of his stupor as he began flailing in their arms.
"No! No! Let me go right this minute!" Komui cried hysterically.
An almost sympathetic look crossed Lavi's features though Kanda only gained an annoyed look at having to restrain Komui. "Gee, I really wish we could, believe me, but we have to do what our master tells us to." Lavi explained, strengthening his grip on Komui's arm.
"You don't understand!" Komui tried. "I have to go back to Lenalee!"
"Lena-" Kanda said in surprise.
"-lee?" Lavi finished for him, equally surprised. They hadn't expected him to have a significant other. "Who's Lenalee?" Lavi asked, trying to gain clarification.
"She's my little sister! She can't survive alone! She'll be so lost without me!" Lavi felt a pang in his chest. They were imprisoning a man in charge of his younger sibling and splitting them up. How horrid. He thought.
Kanda, however, had gotten over his surprise and got right back to business. "It's our orders." Kanda said simply.
"Yu…" Lavi started, but Kanda promptly silenced him.
"We can't disobey the moyashi's orders." Kanda used his nickname for Allen. These words were aimed more at Lavi than at Komui.
"I know. Your right." Lavi conceded and the two began to drag off the struggling Komui. No one noticed the frightened coachman, Krory, running from the castle back to the forest.