His memory skyscraper was collapsing. Even in this meditative state where he was not really inside of it and not really outside of it, where he was in that place between the mind and the material, he could see that his accumulation of memories was beginning to crumble together into one single place. No longer were they neatly compartmentalized - rooms were running into other rooms, the memories segueing into one another in a patchwork pattern. It scared him, because this showed the state of disrepair his memories were in.
Yet, at the same time, he could see progress. Walls were being rebuilt here and there where he'd painstakingly began to reconstruct the partitions between his personalities and memories. He could see where the division was becoming more and more apparent. It helped that Esperanza and Lavi had made an agreement - it would no longer be acceptable for either of them to interact more than needed. After much discussion over the matter, they had realized that Esperanza could aggravate his mental symptoms as well as assuage them. This new change was made easier by the fact that Esperanza, as of late, was terse and brusque. She had learned something from a friend of hers, but he knew not what, and it had shaken her foundation just as soon as they'd begun to repair it. It pained him to know that the camaraderie they had shared must come to such an abrupt end, but there was nothing they could do for it.
Too many people were getting hurt. They had to think of others before themselves. They didn't belong to themselves. They were owned by the people they protected and whatever God the Order served.
Just as he thought of this, he drifted into a memory. It was painful - he could remember every single moment of it, and yet the moment itself had been false. None of it had been real, save for the last part. It had all been smoke and mirrors overlaying the real world.
Lavi watched through his own eyes as terrible monsters that put the Akuma to shame traipsed around him, taunting him and snapping at him. He remembered the adrenaline pouring into his system like white hot metal through thin tubes. His body had been jittery, afraid.
His hammer had smashed into the monsters, some of them dancing away. At long last, he hit one with a good, solid feel. He was winning against them, and that flood of euphoria when one realizes that an enemy is about to be vanquished suddenly assailed him. Everything tilted and shifted as the monsters, no doubt Akuma of the Earl, maybe even something worse, continued to prowl around him. One approached him, almost nonchalantly -
The real world crashed around him like massive sheets of colored glass. Everything splintered around him as the true information of the world blasted through him, and instead of Akuma, he saw people. They were appalled, mouths hung open and eyes disapproving, wary, frightened. For several seconds, he did not understand until Esperanza restrained him, and he shrugged her off. Her hands locked around his wrists, and she spoke soothingly to him in Spanish. He stared at her in perplexity, answering in kind with fluid Spanish, foregoing his facade of ignorance.
He saw her, then. The woman he'd hit full on in the head with his hammer. She had a massive gash down the side of her face, blood pouring out of her cheek and forehead. White bone gleamed in the light, and Lavi felt sick. The blood reached his nose, and he realized that the smell had actually triggered his return to the real world. His heart pounded in his chest, and his eyes began to prick with tears. He could've killed that woman, and he wouldn't have ever known it. No one had been able to stop him. Lavi was a very powerful man, and it looked like Esperanza hadn't even dared to get in his way.
He jolted out of the memory, and he realized that a tear had slipped out from under his eyepatch. He wiped it away, and he stood up from his spot on the floor. The Order had given him lodgings in the headquarters after Esperanza and Lavi had decided to split after the hallucination incident. Bookman had actually called in, and he had agreed to meet Lavi there within the next two weeks. He'd felt a small feeling of elation to finally meet an old face, both literally and figuratively, but there was also a certain amount of uncertainty. He had no doubt in his mind that Old Man Panda would probably crack down on his meditations, how well he remembered his history, and how best to tackle this problem.
For now, though, Lavi was merely investigating Lulu Bell's whereabouts, the reasons for Dominguez's presence within Sao Paolo, and what the hell object that Darrin had with him.
Speaking of Darrin, he immediately turned down the marble halls towards the old man's residences. Seeing as he was a high-profile target, they'd decided it would be better to keep him within a fortified room of the Order. They'd tried numerous times, with rather hilarious results, to separate his object from his person, and so far it had turned up nil. As Lavi headed towards the labs that happened to be right next to Darrin's apartments, he figured they were trying yet again.
"Hey, guys. How's Project Separation going?" Lavi joked, his mirth significantly dulled. The meditation had done its job, but it always left him feeling slightly... disjointed. Still, it was better than the alternative. The eggheads all looked up from their contraption, and one of them, Roberto, stood up and perkily answered, "Going great! We've got this thing all revved up and ready to go. We've been studying how that cylinder's stuck to him, and it looks like some sort of homing device. We think we can denature the homing device, seeing as it uses magic and some sort of protein indicator..."
Lavi took a look at the device they were proudly beaming over. It looked like Satan had met a mechanic and had a little chat with him, because this thing was a massive canister on wheels that had runes carved all over the place. It looked like it would eat him the minute he touched it, but he had no doubt that the Science Department knew what they were doing.
"Have you tested it yet?" Lavi asked, and everyone sheepishly looked in different directions.
"Uh... well..."
"There's... there's this, uh..."
"...haven't... really gotten that far..."
Lavi sighed. Of course they haven't. They'd probably just thrown it together about ten minutes ago. Roberto shrugged, and he said, "It's supposed to work... in theory. And besides, Darrin's kind of worn out. He's had to dodge that stupid canister about fifty different times today, so we're giving him a break." Poor Darrin had the unhappy task of either catching (or dodging) the canister when it flew back to its original owner. It was that or he would try to guess where exactly it would instantaneously appear again, if they managed to separate them that much. Lavi had seen the bruises. They were still in their purple phase, but it looked like the newer ones were a lighter yellow and green, so that had to mean progress, right?
"Is he in there?" Lavi asked, pointing to the apartment door, and the group of scientists nodded. He saluted them, giving them a cheery smile, and he walked towards Darrin's humble abode. Behind him, he could hear them fussing over their new contraption, no doubt adding things and subtracting things. If he could, he'd help them with the math aspect, but he'd promised Bookman that he'd try to focus on the Argentine deserts, myths of the Andes, and other such topics for clues on what the artifact that the Noah wanted could be. That also meant cracking the object that Darrin had with him, and he'd been at it every day for nearly a week.
The object that Darrin had with him was a canister about a foot long and six inches in diameter. It looked like a carrying case for a rather large scroll, and it even came with a chain. It was also equipped with a set of dials made of some sort of white stone inlaid with strange, sharp numerals that were in English. Lavi had managed to find the translation for most in an old text in the anthropology library of one of the local universities. It was a primitive number system from the very tip of the South American Cone. However, there were six dials spaced out every two inches, each of them containing ten numerals. It was the equivalent of a tumbler-locking system, and the only clues they had to unlocking it was a small riddle written in another obscure language in between all the dials. While Lavi attempted to translate the riddle into English, Darrin had been working on finding the right combination.
Lavi knocked on the door, and Darrin shouted gruffly, " 'S unlocked! C'min, I'm decent!" Lavi winced as he remembered an instance where he'd waltzed in unannounced to a Darrin who liked to sleep in his birthday suit when he was alone. One of the problems with having a perfect memory was that Lavi could remember things in perfect detail. Darrin's bare behind was not something he wanted to know about in mind-numbing accuracy. The redheaded Exorcist opened the door, cheerfully shouting, " 'Lo! Just came to check on you. I heard the eggheads have been working you ragged. I thought you might like some company." Darrin was sitting on his couch with the canister sitting next to him, gleaming bronze underneath one of the lamps in the ceiling.
"Got that right. Them fellers got a mouth on 'em, 'at's fer sure. Can't hardly figure out a darned word they're sayin'. Glad t'have some'un that's half way normal," Darrin grumbled as he ambled towards the icebox for a beer. The canister immediately strapped to his back, and Darrin payed no mind. Lavi guessed that he was already used to its presence. Darrin slammed the chest closed and said, "So, I heard you 'n Miss 'Speranza done broke up." Lavi's eye twitched. Not only was the question awfully misleading, Darrin's now-open beer was giving him a headache. Even the smell of booze practically knocked Lavi off his feet these days. Walking into a restaurant was the equivalent of a living nightmare. Food still held little appeal for him, and he'd dropped almost fifteen pounds in three weeks. Heh, Bookman was right: "Want to lose weight? Stop eating."
"We didn't 'break up'. We moved apart. It wasn't good for either of us to live in the same hotel," Lavi stated with a subdued smile. Unconsciously, he looked off, and Darrin caught the look in his eye. Darrin guffawed, and he asked, "Is that what you tell yourself at night when yer sittin' all alone with a bottle a' Jack and huggin' a picture of her in nothin' but her underthangs? Hahahahahaha! 'At's a good one." Lavi was taken aback, and he blinked several times before stuttering, "W-what? No! That's - No! That is so wrong. You're disgusting!" And, true to his nature, his mind conjured up the image just as Darrin described it, and Lavi facepalmed. Darrin snorted as he tried to cover a snicker, and he shook his head while he headed back to the couch.
"Ain't told me about what's goin' on lately, y'know. Had to ask some o' the eggheads back there. Somethin' 'bout all those hallucinations, wanderin' off in broad daylight with stars in yer eyes, nearly gettin' yerself killed, talkin' to things that ain't there..." Lavi frowned, as he looked back at Darrin. The old man knocked back, and he took a glance of the redhead out of the corner of his eye. In that moment, Lavi knew that Darrin had heard all the dirty rumors that had spread about the Apprentice Bookman's mental fragility.
"Don't remember you sayin' anythin' 'bout that since I got here. Course, most of it's probably jist smoke 'n mirrors, ain't nothin' real," Darrin stated, shrugging, but Lavi could tell that he was formulating his own opinions. Lavi rubbed the bridge of his nose. Darrin was just waiting for him to tell him the truth, but Lavi didn't know if it was his place to tell Darrin about these private matters that probably only existed within the Bookman clan. Lavi sighed, and he decided to use an age old tactic.
Change the subject.
"How far did you get on that canister? Any luck yet?" Lavi asked. Darrin deliberated, and he said, "I didn't get too far. I think a few're lockin' in place right, but I ain't no safe-cracker. This thing's shut up nice 'n tight." Darrin patted the cylinder fondly, and he took another swig. Lavi took a seat, and he looked out the only window. The city bustled as usual, but Lavi was beginning to miss the country again. Even with the lack of people, at least he didn't feel like he was sucking in smoke and tar every other breath. No wonder this place aggravated Esperanza so much. Lavi was getting sick of being cussed at every time he crossed the street. Granted, he tended to cut across cars when he did, but...
" 'N you? What about that riddle? Got any clue to it?" Darrin asked, and Lavi shook his head. He'd assumed at first that it was the same language as the numerals, but it hadn't made any sense in English. He'd checked several other languages from that time period, but none of them made any sense in English either. Perhaps Bookman would get a little bit farther ahead.
"Nope. I've got nothing. The thing's near impossible to translate," Lavi grumbled, finding it absurd that he'd been so easily defeated by this unknown language. He sat there thinking, and it remained silent as Darrin took swigs of his beer. The redhead dragged a hand through his unkempt, fire colored hair, and he said, "Was it lonely out there? By yourself?" It was quiet as Darrin deliberated.
"Yeah. It was pretty... pretty quiet. Had to sell my mule back up near Caracas. Near killed round Buenos Aires, just about got my head taken off in Rio. Poor girl, by the time that mule got to Caracas, she was ready to drop of a heart attack. I'm sorry I let her go," Darrin murmured, holding his beer tenderly as he remembered his faithful mule. He'd done it for her benefit, but he missed her greatly. He'd raised her from a small colt, ugly as she was, and she'd been with him for nearly ten years. Seeing her go had nearly brought the man to tears.
"Well," Darrin said gruffly, regaining composure, " 'nough about that. Ain't nothin' to - boy, are you cryin'?" Lavi's lip quivered as he protested weakly, "No!" He was remembered Chuleta. That was... was such a good horse... even if that dumb horse nearly sent him down the mountain every now and again for a patch of grass... Thinking about Darrin giving up his mule was just as bad, if not worse.
Darrin rolled his eyes, and he muttered, "Yella belly." He drank the last of his beer. Lavi sighed, wiping away another non-serious tear from his face. They sat in companionable silence for several more minutes before Darrin said, "I ain't heard from Ranza lately. 'S there some reason she ain't been up to see me, or is she just mad about this li'l thing?" Darrin held up the drawing he had of Lavi and Esperanza embracing in their sleep, and Lavi narrowed his eyes. Darrin snickered as he put it away in his breast pocket.
"Esperanza's been tied up trying to get her Innocence reintegrated," Lavi explained. Darrin gave him a confused look, and Lavi further explained, "Her weapon's been smashed to itty bitty pieces and they have to try and put it back together again." Darrin nodded in understanding with a receptive 'aaaaah'. He suddenly belched, and Lavi just about fell over from the stench. He scratched his stubble, and he said, "I think I'm goin' ta sleep 'fore them science fellas come back in and ask me to catch this thing again." He held up the canister, and Lavi nodded. Lavi thought that meant the man was going to go to his bedroom, but instead he seemed to fall asleep right on the spot, instantaneously snoring. Lavi raised his eyebrows at the sleeping old man, and he crept out of the apartment on tiptoe.
But, of course, there was a pen in his pocket. No points for guessing what happened to Darrin's face. He also managed to lift a certain drawing...
Lavi snickered as he left, passing by the scientists still working on Project Separation. They were still conferring among themselves, and Lavi was tempted to help them. All those formulas... he wouldn't be too unhappy to help them with that -
His track of thought was suddenly halted as he caught sight of Esperanza. He felt his heart thud in his chest as he felt a wave of dejavu wash over him. She was wearing a white outfit reminiscent of the Second Exorcist uniforms. Lavi watched her pass through the hall past the scientists bickering over their contraption. She was being escorted by several doctors and scientists as well, and they all looked... tense. Lavi frowned. He didn't like this. He was getting bad vibes. Lavi generally listened to his bad vibes. These were the type of vibes that would send elephants heading towards higher ground.
Lavi looked up and down the hall. There was no one watching... save the eggheads, but if Lavi gave them choice gossip (and he had a lot of that), they usually keep quiet for him. He'd gotten out of trouble more than once by bribing a scientists with a bit of dirt on some of their fellow colleagues. They were worse than a gaggle of old women.
Deciding it was safe, Lavi began to follow the group. He made sure to stay inconspicuous, hiding behind pillars now and again, turning around when one of them looked in his general direction. Now if he only had a newspaper... Eventually they ended up going into one of the deeper floors of the Science Department, and Lavi felt his stomach begin to fill with dread. This was the room they used for the really dangerous experiments that had the potential to completely obliterate things in a fifty meter radius. What were they planning on doing down here? And what were they planning on doing that involved Esperanza?
Lavi felt guilt settle over his mind like a thin layer of oil. Despite the fact that he had basically sealed himself off, more or less, he still felt for Esperanza. It was a close friendship that was hard to end, and it still lingered like the aftertaste of chocolate. Lavi was still fighting fondness, especially for his friends back at the Order in Europe, and having one friend so close to home definitely didn't make that any easier. He shouldn't feel this way, though. It was asking for disaster, and he felt like he was betraying Bookman after telling him he'd try harder to control his emotions and keep everything at arm's length.
Esperanza walked into a large vault in the midst of an entourage of scientists, doctors, and a few suits. Lavi slipped in behind them, suddenly glad that he was wearing his civilian clothes. His Exorcist outfit stood out too much, especially around a headquarters with such a small number of Exorcists. Lavi hung back as they journeyed down a rather close and cloistered anteroom. It was darkened, lit by glowing consoles. A large pane of glass separated the actual experimental area from the anteroom. Esperanza went through a steel door leading to the experimental area, and Lavi watched as several of the scientists busied themselves at the controls.
The experimental area was mostly empty save for a strange shrine in the middle along with an EEG, EKG, and a pedestal full of shards that was, no doubt, Esperanza's innocence. They were hooking her up to the EEG, EKG, and the shrine. Suddenly Lavi was struck once again by the resemblance to the Second Exorcist Program. This was so similar... They couldn't be thinking -
"Lavi! What are you doing here?" a voice whispered furiously. Lavi turned his head towards the voice, finding Ricardo, another scientist that Lavi had befriended through a mix of prank-topping and dirt-bribing. The sandy-blonde haired Uruguayan looked both distraught and terrified. He hurried over to where Lavi was half-hidden behind a machine, and he whispered, "Lavi, you shouldn't be here right now. This isn't your business." Lavi decided to take that as a suggestion, and therefore ignore it completely.
"What are they doing to her? That looks an awful lot like -"
"Forceful integration? Believe it or not, Alfons was against it, but some of the Vatican higher-ups were willing to give it another shot and suggested it, Lavi. There were... were files, files that should've been destroyed, but the high commanders are getting desperate. Esperanza's trapped. It's her only out or she goes to Central, and they're not as nice as we are. Besides, she had traces of her Innocence in her bones, so we thought maybe she was still compatible enough that this might not be as damaging as in the Second Exorcists trials," Ricardo muttered nervously. He shifted from foot to foot as Lavi digested this information. There was a reason there was a similarity - in essence, this was the Second Exorcist trials.
"Ricardo, there's only ever been one true case of complete integration in 90 years. What the hell makes you think that it can work?" Lavi whispered fervently. Ricardo looked towards the experimental area behind the glass, and he whispered back, "Because they call the shots. No one says that we think it'll work, Lavi." He gestured to the suits, and Lavi felt lead fill the pit of his stomach.
"Inicio en cinco..." Lavi frowned.
"...cuatro..." Lavi shook his head.
"We've got to stop them. They'll kill her with that thing."
"Once it starts, stopping it could kill her just as -"
"...tres..." Lavi began walking towards the console, Ricardo following on his heels, yelling at Lavi to wait.
"...dos..." Lavi pushed past the other scientists so fast that they had no time to react as he began to unlock the door.
"...uno..." He realized he wasn't going to make it as the shrine arced with a strange energy, and Esperanza stood, supposedly unfazed.
And then the screaming and blood started. Why did it always have to be screaming and blood?
Lavi watched as Esperanza raised her hands to block the sudden wave of energy rushing towards her through the electrodes connecting her to the pedestal, and arcs of blood flew away from broken skin as the energy overloaded her body. She shouted involuntarily, gritting her teeth as she fought the urge to scream. The Innocence rose from the bowl, drifting into a more uniform shape for all of a few seconds as Esperanza strove to stay standing. Lavi's single green eye widened as it seemed that, just for a moment, her Innocence was going to reintegrate with her -
The session ran its course, and the energy disappeared. Esperanza fell to her knees, a bloodied mess, and a voice said, "She's a tough one, isn't she?" Lavi nearly jumped out of his skin, alongside several other scientists who'd failed to notice the intruder pushing around them, and he choked out, "G-gramps! When did you get here? Hell, you just about made me pee myself..." Bookman 'hmphed' derisively before turning to stare at the spectacle behind the glass.
"They're dragging this old trick out, are they? Hmph. Serves her right letting them try," Bookman grumbled, shaking his head. His lined face looked like it had been carved out of a block of wax. The tracks in his face looked deeper than usual, but Lavi put that to the lighting of the lab. The two Bookmen stared at the EEG and EKG machines, watching the lines blip ominously. Lavi resisted biting his lip as two scientists walked into the room and hauled Esperanza to her feet. She was shaking, but she was recovering.
"I'm surprised she didn't die automatically. Even Kanda didn't hold up for very long. Of course, he was probably about nine at the time, and she's twice his age," Bookman said. Lavi muttered, "Almost. She's seventeen."
"Eighteen. Her birthday was three weeks ago. Idiot Apprentice, you've been slacking in my absence," Bookman grumbled, slapping Lavi on the rump. Lavi yelped on instinct, rubbing his sore seat.
"Your smacks haven't gotten any lighter. If anything, they're harder," Lavi grumbled as Esperanza stood up straight. She shook her hands out, and she said, "Do it again. We were close." Lavi frowned, running a hand through his hair.
"Again?"
"Apparently. You haven't gone deaf as well, have you, Apprentice?"
"Shut up. I haven't been that bad." Lavi subsequently found himself on the floor, cheek stinging from a kick to the face. Several scientists watched in horror, most of them already looking sick from witnessing Esperanza basically turn into a human equivalent of hamburger.
"Lavi! Oh... Bookman. I-I'm sorry, but the two of you need to leave, like, right now," Ricardo muttered to the two. He glanced back, where two CROW were staring at the intruding pair rather... obtrusively. "If you don't, I think those two are going to say something, and by 'say', I mean 'forcefully remove.'" Lavi and Bookman glanced at each other, and Lavi said, "All right, all right, Ricardo. Don't get your panties in a knot. I know how painful that can be." Ricardo grumbled something along the lines of 'dumb redhead' as Lavi and Bookman made their way to the door.
" 'Scuse me, pardon me, woops, my bad. Hey, sorry, 'scusez moi, old man coming through, make way for the elderly- OUCH!" Lavi rubbed his head. That was twice! The crowd gawked as Lavi audaciously scootched his way to the door, and he opened it for Bookman. The old chronicler made no comment as he passed through, and as Lavi left he caught Esperanza's eye. The two stared for what seemed like a very long time when a scientist said, "Oisteis la mujer. Intentamos uno mas. Inicio en cinco..."
Lavi left, and Esperanza braced herself.
"Give that to me." Lavi was surprised when Bookman suddenly snatched a rather offending piece of paper from Lavi's breast pocket. Lavi felt momentary panic as he realized what his master had in hand, and he stammered, "W-wait a s-sec here!" Bookman hopped away over several pieces of furniture in Lavi's room, and he surveyed the picture critically from his perch on top of Lavi's couch. Sardonically, he muttered, "Rather good likeness if you ask me. I didn't think you were so good at art."
Lavi tried to pull the piece of paper out of Bookman's hand, but the old man just held Lavi off by shoving a hand in his face and holding away the piece of paper, still looking it over.
"So this is the girl? Odd that you'd learn to like the woman who'd nearly murdered you," Bookman commented, and Lavi stopped flailing for the picture in a minute of shock.
"You know about that? And you still let met get paired up with her?" Lavi screeched incredulously. Bookman scoffed. He folded the picture with one hand, and he tucked it away inside of his robe. It seemed that Lavi could never get his hands on that thing for more than a few minutes at a time before someone took it from him. Lavi sat on the couch and sulked, a bit peeved. Bookman had set him up!
"It taught you a valuable lesson, didn't it? Impartiality," Bookman said. "No feelings for anyone, even those we hate...or love." Lavi looked away, suddenly thrashed with guilt. He stood up, and he walked towards the window. He leaned against it, one arm supporting his body from the frame of the window. Bookman stared at Lavi, and the old man stepped to the ground.
"You have told me everything, young Apprentice. And yet something else ails you," Bookman said. Lavi chewed his lip as his usually cheerful demeanor gave way to his troubled inner thoughts. He closed his one eye, and he could see them. His nightmares always seemed to hover just on the edge of waking. All of his fears seemed to circle like wolves along the edges of light. No... they weren't wolves. They were monsters of smoke, things he couldn't just catch and kill. They seemed to seep into his waking life and truly come to life at night. He dreaded sundown. It marked the arrival of the demons he himself had made.
"Apprentice, you are fragile. I take it that you have had a harrowing two months in the Argentine wilderness," Bookman said quietly. Lavi had recounted most everything, from the torture he'd suffered at Lulu's hands to the collapsing memory palace to the synesthesia and waking dreams. He hadn't even left out the problems he'd had with Esperanza and, whether he liked it or not, his attraction to her. He hated that he could no longer control himself, mentally and physically. He felt like he was losing control of everything, and he'd lose everyone he ever cared about if he let it continue. The episode near the docks with the hallucinations had shown him he could potentially kill his friends if he didn't get this under control.
"I don't know what to do, Gramps. I'm losing it. How am I going to fix this?" Lavi asked, his voice cracking as he thought about that poor civilian who'd had the misfortune to get in the way. The city moved underneath him, lights flaring bright from lamps and electrical bulbs. Cars trundled, and the trams still ran. Even with all that was wrong with him, the city didn't care. He was just a dot. If he wasn't careful, the city would swallow him, and his problems along with the rest. He'd be another splash of ink in the city's logbook. Maybe that was best...
"Lavi, the only remedy I can tell you is to continue making progress with your memory manifestation. Once it's in order, these problems should disappear. Sufficient meditation and mental compartmentalization will take care of the rest, but you have to keep it up, Lavi. However...from what you've told me..." Lavi looked back at Bookman. He'd trailed off, thinking hard.
"You struck yourself with lightning, correct?" Lavi nodded with an almost pleased cringe. That was a dumb idea, but he'd been fine afterwards. He'd suffered worse. Bookman sighed, and he gave a sad glance to Lavi, almost guilty even.
"Perhaps... it will not only be meditation that can save your mind. Lightning strikes frequently aggravate states of disorientation, behavioral imbalances, and, most of all, preexisting mental illnesses. Your condition may not be entirely within your mental realm. Your brain itself could have problems as well. I will talk to the pharmacist for some medication. We'll not use it much - you should be fine once we begin on a mental exercise regimen. You've already broken contact with Esperanza?"
"Yeah. We're both busy anyways. We haven't had much time to talk."
"I'll need to thank her. She's done a good job of keeping your condition in check. She's a natural. I noticed that from speaking with her over my golem. She would've made a good Bookman." He scratched his chin in thought.
"This business with your memory manifestation is especially troubling. I am afraid that Lulu Bell pushed you into that state much too early. Most don't even have the ability to access a memory manifestation under normal conditions, much less under torture. You weren't supposed to approach such a mental journey until you were twenty-one, and by our standards that is already very early indeed, though not entirely unheard of," Bookman sighed. Lavi felt a small glow of pride that he kept carefully banked. However, he basked in its glow despite the fact that this pride stemmed from the object of his sanity's demise. The old man scratched the base of his question-mark ponytail, and he began to toddle off to bed.
"If it helps with the nightmares, take a sleeping pill from my medicine bag. They're the blue pills in the side pockets. There's red ones mixed in with them, but don't take those - you won't want to, trust me," Bookman suggested, poking his head out of his bedroom before shutting the door. Minutes later, soft snores emanated from the closed room, and Lavi nostalgically shook his head. Hearing the old man roar in his sleep brought back memories, and it made things seem almost normal.
Lavi sat on the couch, and he dug through Bookman's medicine bag, finding what he'd described exactly as Bookman had said. He popped a blue pill in his mouth, and he stretched out on the couch. Momentarily, he wondered how long it would take the pill to take effect -
-and then it was lights out.
"If it is in there, why do we not go and fetch it? What is the use of sitting here, waiting?" one of the men whined, leaning back in his chair. Dominguez slapped the younger man up the side of the head, and he said, "Estupido. Es una sede central guardado. You can go in by yourself, if you want."
"What? They're only priests and scientists. Not like they got weapons or anything," he complained, but he seemed a little bit more hesitant to question the older man. Dominguez looked behind him to the small army that Lulu had sent him. They were all Akuma, and every single last one of them freaked him out. They were just... unearthly. A lot of them just stood still through out the day, some of them ventured out and killed a couple of people, here and there one or two might actually play cards. Dominguez hadn't even been aware they had the mental capacity to play card games, and that little sign of actual cognizance and intelligence worried him. He'd thought they were merely dumb machines, though he didn't doubt their dangerousness.
"They have what we want, and we can let them have it... for now. Lulu told us to sit tight. We blew cover a few nights ago. They weren't supposed to know we were here," Dominguez breathed, and his eyes tightened. He scratched his thick mustache, thinking on the events that had transpired between him and the redheaded man on whom Lulu seemed to be so intent. She'd said that they needed him, and they needed him alive, but the girl was proving troublesome. Dominguez knew that she spoke of Esperanza, who amazingly was once his old housekeeper by some twist of coincidence, and he felt pained to know that she would have to die. He had no wish to see that headstrong, forthright girl come to a painful end.
"Besides, I have a special ending for her. One, I think, that will give you great joy to watch. I invited a certain someone here, just to set the record straight, because she does, after all, believe you to be no longer of this world," Lulu had stated, inspecting her immaculate French tips. The mention of the drug lord's daughter had sent a pang through him as he realized he knew what deal Lulu had struck with her. His daughter, as fragile as she was, happened to be akin to a snake - quick, cunning, quiet, and, best of all, forgettable in face, if not in action. He'd taught her from a young age, and, realizing this folly, attempted to steer her on a more conventional path and convince her out of the life she was headed towards, a life he himself had lived and found wanting. Still, once started down that hill, it was impossible to get the ball to stop rolling, and so his greatest tool and best love was now a plaything for a higher, less gracious power.
"Man, I am so bored, though. Ain't nothin' to do here. Can't even get in to the red light district and see some of the girls. We're always on watch to see if the two idiots leave," the young man grumbled furthermore, but Dominguez ignored him. The young man had not yet learned discretion, and he would pay for it one day. Then again, that was the only way young fools learn. They had to burn the hand they used to touch the fire in order to understand that it was hot. Dominguez shook his head. He watched as a cat sat quietly outside of the cafe, mewing plaintively and staring straight at him. He narrowed his eyes and stolidly ignored the cat, knowing full well who it was.
He knew that he could no longer go back, and she was his daily reminder. He was a dead man, and he had to see this out until it was finished. Though his daughter believed him to be dead, that did not mean there was not hope that perhaps he could still save her, if he could bind that wretched creature to an oath of some kind.
How far had he fallen that he would pin his hope to a thing such as Lulu Bell the Noah? How desperate was he to bend before a creature spoken of in his nana's worst bedtime stories? He knew his profit was ill-gotten and his profession was distasteful before God, so perhaps this was his punishment.
So be it, he thought to himself as he cautioned a glance at the cat preening herself in the doorway. It will all be over tomorrow. And then she will be free. If I have my way.
The cat stared, tail flicking back and forth. Dominguez's looked soured.
When I have my way.
A/N: So, I have a total of one new favoriteer named Miss Tiggy, in whom I am pleased. However, I have noticed a lack of reviews for the last chapter, and that gave me a wake up call.
What did I do wrong this time? That is the overarching question for the entire discussion, though there will be other discussion questions branching out from other topics. I really need feedback on this - I was shocked that no one said anything for last chapter (or subscribed - even without reviews, subscription and favoriting tell me people enjoy the story to an extent), so I'm assuming it was so lackluster no one decided to comment on it at all. For this, I apologize - I realize I was not at my best when writing that chapter, and it probably threw some of you guys for a loop, leaving a bunch of: '...what did she just hand us? Is this something she expects us to read?' 'The detail really isn't there.' 'This is really boring.'
I would greatly appreciate your reprimands. That sounds odd, but I really would. Long, short, detailed, general - I don't honestly care as long as they're somewhat definitive. I really need to know what I did wrong so that I don't do it again. If you want, rant for an entire page; take up practically the entire review box if you want. I just need to know what I need to do better on and what you want to see more of (which is basically all reviews are - it's kind of their point).
Now that I've had my rant, I'd like to thank you guys for sticking through the story, even through the dull parts that don't make sense and you'd much rather get to the fighting and usual craziness. I apologize for my slackish writing.
So, other discussion questions: Are you enjoying the characters? Is Bookman's introduction in character and acceptable? Are Lavi's mind-freak-outs too unsettling or not unsettling enough? What was your favorite part of the story as a whole (including all 20 chapters)? What was your least favorite part of the story? What do you think is the greatest character flaw for Lavi, Esperanza, Darrin, Bookman, Dominguez, etc.? Are the villains believable? Does the plot make any sense? Do you have any suggestions for future story ideas dealing with the South American continent as a whole?
Now, understand you do not have to answer all of these. This list of questions is just to get you started on a review, and you can pick and choose what you want to answer and what you don't. You don't even have to pick one of these questions! Make up your own, or go off on your own little spiel about something that either peeves you or delights you concerning Chasing After The Wind.
So, I'm finished, and all I have to say now is, God bless and good reading to you all. May you pour over literate fics and receive the hope that authors with actual grasps of plot exist.