TWP: I'm sorry for the sucky ending in the last chapter. Let's hope I can make up for it now.
Disclaimer: I don't own D . Gray - Man.
"Will Ava and Lenalee be alright by themselves?" Krory asked as he hid under Lavi's giant hammer, avoiding the attacking Akuma's bullets . He turned to Lavi who stayed silent. "Lavi?" He saw the boy tighten his grip on the handle and he sighed.
"For now, all we can do is trust them. They told us to protect the ship. If we can't do that much," The boy glanced at his elder over his shoulder, "-then they won't have a place to return to afterwards." He smiled when Krory flapped his cape and gave him thumbs up before leaping into the air and into the bullet rain.
As she was being pulled towards the depths of the ocean, Ava's wing snapped back into its original shape before it had been broken by the level 3 Akuma, then it deactivated and retreated inside her body. She sunk faster now when the Innocence wasn't out to fight the chains of Dark Matter anymore. Then, a green light grew on her back and it consumed her body completely. The chains were forced out and were now in a wide circle around her, not restricting her movements anymore but still they caused her to sink faster and faster into the dark depths of the ocean. Suddenly they fell off and she slowly began to rise up towards the surface. Inside the green ball, Ava rested unconscious, the wounds on her body slowly healing themselves. The Innocence had decided that it wouldn't sink to the bottom of the ocean, even if it that had meant it would have stayed safe from the Millennium Earl. If the Heart was destroyed, then it would die anyway. There was no use in hiding from the enemy.
Lavi had left the ship to find Lenalee and Ava, but had only come upon an Akuma that claimed to have been modified by General Cross. He was also carrying a huge crystal with Lenalee trapped within it and for the sake of Lenalee, he had grudgingly agreed to take them back to the ship but not before he knew where the other Exorcist was. Ava would never have left Lenalee alone in such a state, least of all with an Akuma, modified by General Cross or not.
"Where's Ava?" He asked before they left and the Akuma stared at him quizzically. "Who, cho?" Lavi felt dread spread through him when he realized that the Akuma was not playing games with him.
"The girl who was with Lenalee!" He growled but the Akuma shook his head.
"I only found this one, cho. The one you speak of was nowhere in sight, cho." Lavi's eye widened as he remembered the scream of pain from earlier. He hid his eye with his hand and gritted his teeth. It had been Ava. It had been Ava who had screamed! The reason as to why they hadn't seen her fall was because they had managed to move the ship away before it began to sink. They had been too busy with trying to guard against the attack to notice anything else. If she had fallen, if she had died, then her body would probably be on the bottom of the ocean by now. There was no way a human body could survive the pressure down there. And the worst part was that they wouldn't be able to find her body. She would be forever lost at sea.
"Shit… shit, shit, shit!" He cursed silently, angry at Lenalee, angry at Krory, angry at Bookman but most of all, furious with himself for not paying more attention. "Not Ava too…" He looked up again and motioned for the Akuma to follow him with Lenalee. The Akuma nodded and did as ordered but halfway back a spot in the ocean began to glow green. Lavi stopped and so did the Akuma. He readied himself for an attack but was shocked at what he saw.
Coming up from the water was a glowing, light green egg and the person inside…
"Ava!" He hurried over to the egg and carefully put a hand against it. It was warm to the touch but did him no harm. Inside, Ava was half-way curled up in a ball, while her hands held onto her shoulders, her arms crossing each other over her chest. The relief he felt melted away as he briefly pondered how to get her back to the ship. The Akuma was having his hands full by just carrying Lenalee and Lavi himself wouldn't be able to carry it without falling off the hammer. He tried pushing it and noticed that it easily moved in the way he pushed it but did neither descend nor ascend in height above the surface of the water. Positioning it in front of himself, he sped back to the ship. He may not know anything about what was happening but the old man might.
The crew, Exorcists and Bookman were equally surprised when Lavi came back with a crystallized Lenalee and Ava. Lavi had hoped his sort-of adopted grandfather knew something but the old man didn't.
"An Equip type Innocence acting on its own is unheard of! It's rare with Parasite types too but it has happened. Though I don't understand how this can protect her." Bookman put a hand against the egg before knocking. It was hard as steel so he took back his previous statement.
"But how are we going to turn them back to normal?" Lavi asked and Bookman shook his head. "I don't know, Lavi. Even if there have been cases with Parasite types I don't know how they turned them back."
"This means we have to wait and see what happens, right?" Miranda asked and Bookman nodded as Krory went up to the egg and touched it too. 'Ava… are you alright?' He thought but then a voice echoed through his head.
"Why ask?" He stumbled back in shock. "I think she just spoke!" He exclaimed though the voice hadn't sounded quite like Ava and now that he thought about it, how had she heard his question? She had neither moved nor spoken inside the egg, as well as not having reacted when the others spoke. Before the others could ponder on it though, they were interrupted.
"Lenalee! Ava!" Anita cried out and ran forward but once she closed in on Lenalee she froze. Her head began to throb with unbelievable pain as noise, no a song, filled her mind and she fell sideways, in front of Ava. She panicked when she found she couldn't breathe.
"Stay back! Only Exorcists can come close to the Innocence! The force of it will hurt you." Bookman called and his eyes widened when he went to help Anita and got a look at Ava, whose eyes had opened. But instead of amber, he was greeted by glowing eyes, the same color as the Innocence embracing her. And those eyes were staring at Anita, wide open. He pulled the young woman away and the girl's eyes slowly closed again. It unsettled him. She had almost seemed… hungry.
"What I am wondering about is why didn't other Equip type Innocence do the same when others died in the war?"
"Like Daisya and General Yeegar?" Lavi asked and Bookman nodded.
'Is it because it is Lenalee's? Or is this perhaps an important historical event?' He thought. He glanced at Ava. 'In that case, then this is also an important event. Two different types of Innocence protecting two accommodators at the same time… this has never happened before. Could this mean that one of them is the Heart? If so, which one is it? No, Ava's Innocence has protected her before, at that time when General Yeegar was attacked.' Bookman gritted his teeth. He didn't know what to make of this and it unsettled him. This could be one of the most important historical events he had ever heard of or experienced and he didn't know what to do.
"Maybe one of them is the Heart, huh?" The Akuma that had carried Lenalee pondered as he hovered behind Lavi. "Then it would most probably be that short haired girls, since it's an Equip type." Lavi grew annoyed and whacked him with his hammer. The Akuma squealed before he ranted angrily.
"What the hell's wrong with you, cho? I already said I'm on your side, cho!"
"Like I'm supposed to believe that!" Lavi yelled back but Bookman told them both to shut up. "Cross Marian is the only human in the world who can modify Akuma." The Akuma gloated behind Lavi, who just wanted to whack its head off. Then he demanded to be thanked for keeping the ship from sinking when they were attacked by the Akuma in the sky.
"Come on, say it, cho! Thank me, cho!"
"No way!" Lavi said but the Akuma glowered at him and he bowed his head. "Th-thank you very much." When Bookman asked if a level 2 would get more power after being modified the Akuma said that there was no way a level 2 could do anything about a level 3. He pointed at Lenalee.
"This time you have to thank her for surviving, cho." The others stared at Lenalee again before the Akuma called for their attention. He had a message from General Cross and it was quite short and getting straight to the point. Either be of help or get lost. A simple message but it was truthful. Japan was the center of the Earl's production of Akuma. There was almost nothing but Akuma in that nation. The General's mission was to destroy the Akuma factory in Japan. Only one thought passed through the Exorcists minds.
'The General is actually doing his work?' It may have been a thought that made the crew around them wonder how they treated their superiors but it was only those who knew of Cross, whether personally or not, who could make such a statement.
As the level 2 continued to explain the situation, no one noticed that Lenalee had begun to move inside the crystal until it was engulfed in a bright light that shot up high into the sky and once it died out, Lenalee, with weird markings on her legs, fell to the ground. Immediately Lavi and Miranda ran over to the girl and picked her up.
"Lenalee! Are you alright?" The girl opened her eyes and stared at the two of them as tears poured down her face.
"Lavi. Am I… am I really still part of this world?" Lavi's own eye widened as tears ran down his cheeks too, and he hugged her. "You crazy kid."
'If we enter Japan, will there be more suffering like this waiting for us?' Bookman thought as he watched. As detached as he was, watching young and, or, innocent people get hurt and die was still saddening.
"Why do you care?" His head snapped up and he looked around, trying to identify the one who talked to him. The voice had been young and innocent, holding no malice at all, it had sounded like girl child. "You're a Bookman, why do you care?" He turned towards Ava and gasped as he saw her glowing eyes directed at him.
"You can read my thoughts?" He narrowed his eyes. "We are nothing but a living substance… We are part of everything in this world… We are a Parasite Innocence that invades our accommodator's bodies…" His eyes widened again.
"Everyone, stay away from Ava!" The others looked up at him, then at Ava and gasped too. "She's awake!" Miranda cried out happily but Bookman got in front of them and forced them back.
"Do as I say, now!" The eyes followed his every move and it unnerved him.
"Ava? Oh Ava, I'm so sorry!" Lenalee cried out and tried to get up on her feet but it only resulted in her falling down on her stomach. She glanced at her legs, not being able to move them.
"Lenalee, are you alright?" Miranda asked and the girl nodded before turning back to Ava who still stared at Bookman. "You think us… a threat?"
"You're not giving me many options." Bookman spoke out loud- It was either the real Ava or the other Ava who was speaking, and if it indeed was the other Ava, the one who had surfaced when General Yeegar fell, Bookman knew they had to be cautious. "What the… Am I the only one hearing a voice in my head?" Lavi asked as he held his head in wonder. The other Exorcists shook their heads, also looking at the girl in wonder.
"You once thought of us as a great ally of humanity… no, not us…" Bookman stared at her in confusion, his eyes narrowing more. "You once knew us… as the Innocence Feather…" Bookman's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Impossible… that's over forty years ago!" 'And that Innocence… I'm sure it was destroyed!'
"Gramps, what's she talking about? What are you talking about Ava?" Lavi turned to Ava when he realized that Bookman wouldn't answer him. The girl glanced at him.
"Ava? No… We are the Innocence you… call Angel…" Bookman held his arm out in front of Lavi, motioning him to be quiet and to stay back and let him do the talking. "What happened to Ava?"
"She's sleeping… dreaming… wishing… praying… forgiving us for taking her life… forgiving us for killing…" She turned her face down to the ground and Bookman growled. "Answer me!" Her head snapped up, eyes wide, and it was terrifying to look at, as the partly visible tattoo on her back began to glow too as well as the tattoo around her right eye.
"We're growing… turning into one at last…we're finding our real form… the real us… like any other Innocence wishes to do with their accommodator… We're not a threat!" Only Bookman heard this last reply before her body convulsed and she curled completely into a ball.
"Gramps, what's happening?!" Lavi asked as he and the rest were pushed away from Ava by Bookman yet again. Something was happening, and it may not bode well for them. Bulges appeared on her back, it looked like something was striving to get out of her body. It was almost sickening to watch but no one could look away. Suddenly, wings burst through her back and the egg began to grow but so did the wings and suddenly the egg cracked. Bright, green light blinded them and they took a few steps back as they covered their eyes just as the egg shattered, sending pieces flying everywhere. Once it died down, they could see the form of her Innocence.
Her wings, still white and angel-like, were smaller now, just a bit bigger than her own body. They had tribal markings on them, the same design as the tattoo on her back. Her arms and legs didn't glow a faint green anymore, enhanced by Innocence but instead curved scythe blades protruded from them, gleaming threateningly as the sun rays hit them.
"We are one… Human and Innocence… We are not weapons… We are not just a piece of history… that you can put as ink on paper… no one are… We are living beings too…" She spoke out loud now before her eyes stopped glowing and amber eyes stared at the empty space before light slowly returned.
Ava stared at her hands, and then the wings on her back as she did the blades and then, her legs gave out on her. Krory ran over and caught her just in time as her Innocence deactivated. She stared at him wide eyed before grabbing her throat and then letting go, striving to get air back in her lungs. What had she gone through before she lost consciousness, the others wondered.
"A-Arystar…" She whispered, her throat sore from all the sea water she had swallowed. "Tell me I'm alive… don't tell me that you've all died as well." Tears gathered in her eyes as he smiled at her. "We're all alive, cousin. We've made it through the night." She smiled before burying her face in his cape.
"I'm so glad!" She hiccupped and the mood on board turned light and happy again. Lenalee crawled over to Ava, embracing her as she apologized over and over again.
"I'm so sorry. I couldn't help you! Please forgive me, I couldn't help you." She cried and Ava cried just as much. "It's alright, it's alright! We're both safe! We're both alive, I forgive you!" The others smiled in relief that they were both alright and all of the Exorcists huddled together but Bookman wondered now, who really was the Heart. Was it Ava's Innocence, since it had actually spoken to them, or was it Lenalees' Innocence, that despite being an Equipment type, acted on its own? Whatever the case, when he had told Lavi earlier that Ava's Innocence was of no importance to them, he had been dead wrong. Her Innocence was very important now, it seemed like it had developed a consciousness and that was something worth recording that the Order needed to know. Now it was even more important to get to land.
"Hey Lavi." Ava suddenly asked, her voice low and still raspy, and the red-head looked at her. "What's with the bite marks?" she asked and he sent a glare at Krory, who whistled innocently.
TWP: The plot thickens! I think… yeah, it does xD Yes Lavi, what did you and Krory-kins do, hm?