She walked into the training room with a slight sigh. The smell of sweat permeated the air, despite the lack of people. The football length room was full of training equipment, but she wasn't going to need any of it, not right now anyways. She stepped towards the middle of the room, her eyes roaming around her with a familiar sweep of her environment. It paid to know where the exits were in any situation, even in 'safe' places like this. She did a few stretches to limber up her arms and legs, hopping from one foot to the other and swinging her arms in front of her crosswise.
"I see you're here already. You want to begin?" a familiar voice said from behind her, and she turned to the scientist wearing his lab coat, clipboard in hand. She nodded.
Reever called out, "Lenalee, she's ready! Go ahead and come in."
The young Chinese girl walked in sprightly, though with a bit of a limp. Her broken leg wasn't completely healed, but for now she was able to walk around and jump to an extent. She knew better than to underestimate Lenalee Lee, even with a cracked femur. The girl was strong for her size, and that was even without her Innocence giving her an added boost to her inertia. She stood at parade rest as Lenalee chatted briefly with Reever and pulled out a pair of shoes from a bag at her side. She watched her, noting how surprisingly exact Lavi's description of-
Never mind that.
"Alright. We'll do it just like last time. Go ahead and go into an easy spar. I'll tell you what to test," Reever assured as he took up a spot on a bench near the wall. He gestured for Lenalee to step into the makeshift ring, and she did so obediently.
"Are you excited, Miss Castillo?" Lenalee asked politely as she took up her stance on one end of the ring.
Bright blue eyes merrily twinkled. Esperanza enjoyed sparring with Lenalee. She didn't hold back.
"Si, senorita."
"I'm going to start the stopwatch. Ready? And... time!"
The moment he shouted the ultimate word, both women exploded into action. Lenalee's Dark Boots activated almost instantaneously as she leaped off the ground to come down with a hard, flying kick. However, that infinitesimal delay was enough to give Esperanza time to activate her own Innocence - Joseph's Gift. The cloth of her coat rippled, and the sleeves hardened into claws around her hands. She blocked Lenalee's kick and threw her to the side lightly.
"I see your defenses are strong as ever," Reever remarked as he scribbled on his clipboard. He looked up at the two circling women and said, "Lenalee, if you would, describe what it feels like to kick against those claws?"
"A bit like trying to kick a concrete," Lenalee said, panting already as she danced out of the way of a single claw-swipe.
"Alright, then. Now, it's my understanding that you were more familiar with projectile weapons, Miss Castillo?"
Esperanza nodded as sweat dripped down her face. It was everything she could do to keep up with Lenalee's fierce agility. The girl wasn't just strong - the Dark Boots gave her the advantage of speed as well. If not for her guard, Esperanza would've easily tapped out by now. A roundhouse kick materialized as if by magic to her left, and she grasped the leg on instinct, the cloth creeping around the foot like a quick-growing vine. Lenalee landed on a single foot, wobbling off balance, as the two of them stared at Lenalee's other, trapped foot.
With a hard yank, Lenalee jerked the foot out of the clingy cloth, and it tore like thick cotton. Lenalee bounced backwards to get out of range of those arms, and she smiled.
"New tricks?"
"I didn't know I knew any. This is a surprise to me as to you."
Reever held up his pen and frowned. "Now, Miss Castillo, if you could try and form a projectile weapon..."
Esperanza deflated slightly. How many times had she tried? Ten? Twenty? She put her arms out and attempted to imagine she was a gun. That was what those zen thinkers did, right? Soy una arma, soy una arma, soy una arma -
Too much time! Lenalee had come around for an attack to the right as she was concentrating. Esperanza rolled out from under a swift sweep of the leg that would've taken out a few ribs had she stood still. Esperanza bounced back to her feet and put her arms up in front of her as a guard as Lenalee barreled in with a kangaroo kick. Joseph's Gift hardened against her arms into lightweight concrete, and she pushed her back. The younger woman landed on her feet, and the two were left to ponder their next move again.
"Hello? Sorry Mister Reever, I know your research is important but, uh - Miss Castillo! Miss Castillo, I have someone on the line for you!" a young telephone operator suddenly said, barging in with a telegraph waving in the air. The two discontinued their match, and they looked with question at the scientist on the far end of the room. He waved a hand irritably.
"Go on, go on. You both need a break anyways. Lenalee, we should probably put you back on bed rest after this one, and Miss Castillo, just be mindful of feeling any strain when using Joseph's Gift," Reever replied. He patted his legs and stood up, leading the way out of the training room, and the plucky telephone operator gestured for Esperanza to follow him. The Argentine girl frowned as she walked behind him, briefly glancing to Lenalee and Reever's backs. The two were gabbing, thick as thieves, and she felt a spike of envy in her heart. What she'd give for something familiar in this place.
The transition had been a bit difficult. She was away from friends and family. The South American Branch had been much more lax about letting Exorcists see family. Here, it was strictly forbidden, to the point where CROW were involved if any type of contact was attempted. She felt suffocated and more than anything lonely. She was unfamiliar with the white man's world, and here she was in the middle of the very thing she'd sought to destroy all those years ago. How fitting that God put her here.
If only she-
No, there was no use to that. She followed the operator almost mindlessly into the telephone room, and he patched her into her call. Now, who would want to talk to her? Probably some scientist interested in her reintegration. They were all swarming her with their amazement that her Branch could've managed something like that with the funds and expertise they had. Pfeh. The South American Branch had done greater things with less...
"Hello?" she asked.
"Miss Castillo. I understand I may not be... the most welcome voice to hear at this time."
Her face set into a fine mask as she closed her eyes and marshaled her emotions. She sat down in the nearest chair, aware that this might be a long talk. The room was mostly empty, which was good. The fewer to hear, the better. In the dim lighting, she could barely make out the other telephones in the room, as well as the operator at his desk, trying to handle the myriad of calls coming in from Finders across Europe. She did not envy him his job.
"Go on," she merely answered.
"I believe I have need of your services again," came the sighing reply, and her eyes snapped open.
"We cut ties," Esperanza said with great care to dictate every consonant. Her eyebrows began to merge, her brow furrowing. Her left hand gripped the phone cord until her knuckles were nearly white.
"I know. I believe that was... a possible mistake."
"That comes a little late. It's nearly been a month."
"You know I would not have called if-"
"My recuperation being in the European Branch is important," Esperanza stated, trying to keep her voice level. "I am near to be fully reintegrated, and I had no plans coming back to Argentina until you both left to come back here. It would only serve to set back my recovering and-"
"He overdosed."
Esperanza sat, dumbfounded. Her heart ticked on without her, and she tried to process his words.
"What is this word? I don't understand." The urgency she understood all too perfectly.
"He took... too much of the drug we gave him. He-"
"No es muerto," she stated. Why would he call her if-? Wait, what if... he was considering her for a replacement? No, that was impossible. The idiot'd always said it was a lifetime sort of thing, something you had to start young. Maybe they needed another Exorcist? Or did he need her for something else, something more personal like a... like a eulogy or-
"No. He's not dead. He went into psychosis - loco, I guess you'd say - and he wandered off on his own."
"So what do you need me for?" she spat.
"You know him, you know this disease, and you can help."
"He will not like to see me. I burned my bridges."
"I don't much care. This is for his own good."
"You mean like how sending me away was also for his own good?"
The acid sat in the phone line for quite a few seconds of dead air. Finally, Esperanza hung up the phone, her hand lingering on the handset a few seconds longer before pulling away. In the dark phone room, she sat by herself and thought on all she'd heard, her mind bubbling with unwanted thoughts. Good memories, bad memories, they all surfaced, and she found herself getting up and walking out of the room.
She had better things to do than reminisce.
The first few days after his accident had been awkward. People had tiptoed around him, and he'd been left mostly to himself. However, once things got back to a normal rhythm, once Lavi was sure he could tell that the monstrous shadows on the walls were not real, once he could assure himself that one pill was enough to keep Doug, his little Self, and the nightmares at bay, everyone followed behind him in stride as he took grand leaps forward.
He would do better. Or so he prayed.
To be honest, the daily card games helped him and his concentration. It brought some livelihood to camp life, seeing as they were traveling to their next destination, despite still puzzling over the first riddle they'd been handed. Now, they were on their way to lake Titicaca in Guatemala, considered the cradle of humanity in South American folklore. However, it would be a long while before they got there, and to whittle away the days of travel, games were used liberally. It had been difficult to find a card game that Allen couldn't easily cheat at, but find one they did.
"I hope yer ready ta wear that dress, par'dner," Darrin said as he lay down another card from his stack onto the pile. They were playing with two decks, to spice things up. An ace of spades laid on the bed of cards.
Ricardo scoffed and flipped over another card on top of it with trepidation, and everyone's eyes glued to it as it fell down. A queen of hearts.
Lavi licked his lips and lay down his card from his small deck. A jack of diamonds.
Allen flexed his fingers and finally lay his card down with a crack on the table. Seven of diamonds.
There was a mad flurry of hands as they fought to be the first to slap the card, hands pushing at faces and rude names echoing in the air as they fought to at least not be the last to take the towering pile of cards. Once the dust settled, they surveyed the battlefield. It was clear who was the loser. Darrin guffawed as Allen grumbled under his breath and scooted the small pile of cards into his own, face-down deck.
"Thank God for Pedro suggesting Egyptian Rat-Slap," Lavi muttered to Ricardo, and the scientist snickered. They all knew how good of a liar Allen was, and no one dared play him in any game that required bluffing, much less poker. To play Texas Hold'em with Allen was to lose every peso on your person, as well as a good bit of dignity. However, all cards were quite literally on the table in Egyptian Rat-Slap, and there was no way to know whose card would be the same as the person's to the left. This was a game of pure chance and reflex.
"Alright, who starts? Loser?" Allen sighed with a begrudging smile, staring squarely at his red-haired friend. Lavi only grinned.
"Yup. Loser starts next round. Man, Allen, your stack's gettin' a little heavy. You're not opposed to pink, are you?"
"Oh, very funny. Luck may not be on my side now, but it won't necessarily be on yours either," Allen said, wagging a finger at Lavi as he shuffled his cards single-handedly. Finally, they started in earnest. One after the other, they laid down card after card, though without any matches.
"When are we reaching the lake?" Ricardo asked. Three of hearts.
"Gramps said another day and a half, and we'll be there," Lavi answered. Queen of spades.
"I don't know if I can take another day in that truck. I've gotten lazy since we got a hold of the Ark," Allen sighed. Four of diamonds.
" 'n I dunno if I can take th' lack a innertainm'nt," Darrin said. "Not a single bar fer seven days. 'is place's drier 'n my momma's baked chicken." Two of clubs.
"Baked chicken doesn't sound too bad right about now, actually," Allen countered. Ricardo sighed longingly. Ten of hearts.
"Anything sounds good, honestly. As long as it's not tortilla soup," Lavi moaned. Five of diamonds.
Seven of clubs. Two of hearts. Three of clubs. Nine of spades.
"You get any closer to figurin' out that riddle?" Darrin asked. Ten of clubs.
"No, not really," Lavi groaned. "I can't make heads or tails of it, honestly. As far as I know, the answer could be written on the bottom of Komui's shoe. I've looked that feather over a dozen times, and I can't figure out a single thing from it. Maybe it's got magic properties or something. God, I hope not." Jack of hearts.
"Well, what else could it be?" Allen asked. "It's just numbers, right?" Seven of spades.
"The cylinder has a total of ten possible numbers and five dials, which puts the chances of finding the right combination somewhere towards-" Lavi started.
"- A whole dang lot," Darrin finished for him as Ricardo laid down a card. Jack of hearts.
"Ah, I see. Wow, this is a rather long run," Allen noted as he put down another card. Queen of clubs.
On and on, it kept going, with their middle stack growing ever taller. They were all sweating bullets now, thinking of the wager they'd posited before beginning the game to up the ante. After all, just any old game of Rat-Slap would be boring. No, they'd raised the stakes quite a lot for this one. Five days in a truck will make a man do desperate things to keep himself laughing and happy.
"Good thing your grandfather has eyeliner, Lavi. We can add it into the deal. That stack of yours is awful tall," Ricardo said with a devilish grin behind his glasses. Lavi narrowed his eye and put down another card. Nine of clubs.
"You'd just better hope those girls don't get jealous that you look better in that dress than they do," Lavi countered as Allen drew. Three of spades.
"Well I'll be darned, would ye lookit that, they match," Darrin said, squinting. The three dived for the pile, but at the last minute stayed their hand. They stared at the devious little clubs and spades before them and turned to Darrin with much grumbling.
"That's cheating!"
"All's fair in love 'n war."
"Hey, come on, now, that was a close one..."
"Phew, mi Dios..."
By then their stacks were getting mighty thin. Other men had gathered around to watch the goings-on, and they were down to their last ten or so cards. By now men had begun placing bets, and the boys were all trying to contain themselves. All of them jumped at the nearest sight of a club and a spade or a diamond and a heart, but no true matches had occurred.
Darrin suddenly raised his hands. "Out!"
Several men groaned, and money changed hands. Ricardo was fanning himself by now with his remaining cards, pulling at his collar, and Lavi was hunkered down as close to the cards as he could get without being considered a squatter. Allen drummed his fingers with anticipation as they began the elimination round.
At last, Allen lifted his hands and said, "Out! No dress for me!"
Again, men groaned, this time much louder, and money again changed hands. This time, Allen got a cut of the cash, having seen an opportunity to make a few pesos with his stake on it. It was purely habit, of course.
"Just you 'n me, Ricky boy," Lavi said with a wide smile, and Ricardo frowned deeply.
"Dio, salvame," Ricardo whimpered.
Ace of spades. Two of hearts. Four of diamonds. Queen of diamonds.
There was a mad scrabble on the table as the men fought to be the first to slap the card, and after all was said and done, it was very clear who the winner was.
Ricardo found himself under the table, screaming into his hands, while Lavi let out a loud whoop of victory and did a victory lap around the table. Men were booing and cheering simultaneously, and bills were reluctantly handed over to new owners while Lavi was given pats on the back. Allen and Darrin were laughing so hard that one of them fell out of his chair and the other nearly choked on his glass of water.
"Hope you like lace!" Lavi yelled at Ricardo, and the scientist wearily pulled himself up by the table.
As the crowd continued their cheering, Lavi caught a glimpse of something farther back into the camp between the groups of men who were laughing among themselves. He could dimly hear a few men making kissing noises at Ricardo, who waved them away unhappily. His eye wandered back and forth over the avenues of tents, sure he'd seen a familiar wide-brimmed hat, a flash of a woman in a vaquero's clothes walking past a tent. However, no matter how hard he searched or stood on tip-toe to look over the masses, he couldn't seem to find her.
"You alright Lavi?" Allen asked as the men began to disperse.
"Yeah, I... I just thought I saw someone I knew," Lavi said hesitantly, too aware of the implications that offered. He looked at Allen and shrugged.
"Guess I was imaging things."
Allen smiled, though there was a tilt of worry to his expression. He nodded his head back towards their tents and said, "Come on. We should get ready for bed. We've got to get up early tomorrow."
"Yeah..." Lavi agreed, drifting off as he continued looking between the tents. His heart twinged in his chest. Finally, he turned around to follow Allen back to their tent for the night. Half of him hoped that what he'd seen was an apparition.
And the other half cringed at the very thought of her coming back to haunt him in the flesh.
Bookman turned the feather in his hand. He'd taken to keeping it, rather than allow Lavi to lose it somewhere in the mess he called his tent. Surely, he wouldn't truly forget it somewhere, but Bookman had no doubt he'd somehow step on it, dump it, break it, or scuff it in some way. As disciplined as he was, Lavi was still a teenage boy, and teenage boys were given to... disorder.
The old man turned it between his index and thumb, both fingers covered by metal caps. He chuckled a little, thinking of how at one point his apprentice had stared in horror as he took the caps off one day some years ago. The boy had honestly thought the caps were a part of his hand. They allowed him a greater degree of control over pens and artifacts, and they made handy weapons when the time called for it. Right now, they were doing an awfully good job of allowing him to hold the long amphithere's feather without leaving fingerprints or smudges along its shaft.
"Ask the Feather Snake for a scale of light..." Bookman recited as he spun the feather.
His tent flap was suddenly pulled back, and he turned around slowly. He stared at the doorway for a few moments before turning back around.
"Come in," he said, placing the feather in a quill holder next to a pot of ink on his small, portable desk. The tent was just spacious enough that he could afford these small amenities, as well as room for his many, many books. Lavi could've also fit in this tent with him, but he preferred Allen's company. The older man had been hesitant to allow it, but he thought better of separating the two after seeing Lavi's apparent progress.
His sharp decline, however...
"You sent for me."
Bookman sighed. He hated to do this.
"Yes. Thank you for coming, Miss Castillo," Bookman said with chill as he hopped out of his chair and turned to the woman standing just before the door of his tent.
She looked just as she had when she'd left them. Her hair was still long and black, with a slight wave. Her scars were slightly less apparent now that her skin was a lighter tan from lack of sun, and her face seemed fuller, perhaps because of a richer diet. She wore a fine waistcoat richly embroidered, a kerchief tied at the neck. A wide-brimmed hat hid her face in slight shadow, though two eyes seemed to glitter out.
"What exactly am I here to do? You never told me," Esperanza drawled, crossing her arms across her chest. Bookman folded his hands behind him and drew himself up to his full height.
"You are to assist us in the area, officially," Bookman said.
"I do not know Guatemala," Esperanza pointed out sardonically.
"I know this, yes," Bookman retorted. "But Komui and I are very good friends. And he thinks you know Guatemala well enough."
Esperanza did not express any reaction, but perhaps that said enough on its own.
"Your actual reason for being here, of course, is to keep an eye on Lavi," Bookman stated, getting back into his small camp chair and removing the amphithere's feather to contemplate its mysteries once again.
"And how do I do that? I have lost his trust," Esperanza asked with a flat voice.
"You need only observe. Perhaps intervene, if you must. I'd prefer you not make the same mistake a second time," Bookman sighed.
"Si, senor."
Bookman turned to look at Esperanza, who stolidly stared at the far wall of the tent. Her face was neutral, and her stance was defensive but not overly antagonistic. She was an unhappy Hispanic woman, if ever he saw one. Oddly, the surface of her coat seemed to have bristled into scales at her shoulders and back, as if she were a cat that had been startled or a dog with its hackles raised.
"I am sorry that I have put this burden on your head. If it is any consolation, it is a burden on mine as well," Bookman said, but even to him the words felt hollow. While Bookman lived with the possibility of losing Lavi in this war to his illness or the fighting, Esperanza would lose him no matter what happened in the end. It had been better when they'd been given a clean break, able to separate and collect their thoughts, readjust to living life without each other. Now, these two would collide once again - just to be torn away.
"Si, senor. Comprendo," she said tersely. "What have you found out since we last met?"
Bookman held up the feather in his hand.
"We have this clue. It is a riddle in and of itself."
The old man thought about the encounter he'd had with the feathered snake after it had given up his apprentice. He almost shuddered to think of its strangely humanoid face staring down at him with age-old animosity. Esperanza furrowed her brow as she looked at the iridescent feather and asked, "Que es la problema?"
"Our riddle says we need a scale of light. Instead, we get this," Bookman grumbled, shaking the feather at her. "It has no markings whatever to indicate what number needs turned on the canister. Nor does it give any indication of how it can be a scale of light. For now, it is merely a very fancy pen."
He tossed it back into the pen holder, sighing to himself. The amphithere begged his attention at the back of his mind, the memory of its last words in Mayan digging into his scalp. The shortest fires burn the brightest.
And thus had the serpent dropped his limp, half-dead boy at his feet. The brightest fires, indeed. It was a wonder Lavi hadn't gone crazy before that.
"But we will continue to this... lake?" Esperanza asked, searching her words carefully.
Bookman nodded.
"The next clue states that we must go to a lake of tears and plumb its depths. They refer to Lake Titicaca, the lake that was formed when the sun god Inti cried at the state of humanity living in such heathen darkness. Once we arrive, we will go from there. For now, it would be best for you to stay out of the way unless our convoy is in danger. The men are skittish about -"
"Mujeres en pantalones."
"Yes."
"Comprendo."
"That was all I truly needed to tell you. I understand you must be tired. It will be no hardship to get on without you for a night," Bookman said. Esperanza nodded and turned on a heel to leave. Bookman continued sitting at his desk, feather before him like a tantalizing answer hiding behind a locked door.
As Esperanza left the tent, Link walked past to get to a truck in which he'd left a switchblade. He watched the young woman go with interest before changing course to the Bookman's abode. He walked in swiftly, pulling back the door.
"I take it that was the young woman from before?"
Bookman looked over his shoulder in surprise.
"Ah, Link. Yes. That was."
Link nodded his head and stared at the ground.
"Then perhaps you will no longer be... needing Mr. Walker's and my services?"
Bookman tapped his fingers against the desk. He'd considered the idea, and they did have too many Exorcists for this single endeavor. However, he couldn't help but notice the improvement in mood and overall well-being Lavi exhibited. Still, friends... friends were a liability. He'd asked Lavi to guard his heart, but his heart was an open gate. It was a hard choice to make, and neither seemed the right thing to do.
"No, no. I... believe we will still require your help. I just ask you keep a better eye on your charge, rather than allow him to gallivant into the jungle," Bookman quipped. "Don't mind the young woman. She is extra help as well. I believe after we reach the lake, you both will be free to tackle Komui's next project. I had heard he needed people to scout out some place in Samarkhand, last time I talked with him."
"Oh joy," Link muttered as he slipped back out into the night. Bookman grumbled to himself and picked up his tobacco pipe. If there was anything good to be had of this day, it could at least be a nice smoke before bed.
"You're going to have to move faster than that!" Lavi shouted as he swung his hammer around. The extended handle was nearly twelve feet long, and the head of it almost caught Allen's foot as he jumped sprightly over it. Allen blocked a sudden hammer blow with his black arm, and he swung out from under the great crash that it made.
"Goodness! Lavi, don't push yourself so hard! Your heart's in pieces as it is!" Allen said with concern as he backed away and lifted the edge of Crown Clown's mask.
Lavi retracted his hammer back to a smaller size and stretched.
"Ah, come on. It needs a workout! We've been cooped up in those trucks for days," Lavi whined as he jogged in place. There wasn't a whole lot of room for running around, right at the edge of camp near the jungle, but there was just enough room for him to get a little bit of exercise, at the least.
"This is supposed to be cooperative training, though. Only go as fast as you feel you ca- HEY!" Allen dodged another downward strike of the hammer, rolling out of the way, only to be strike in the side as Lavi lifted up and to his left. Allen rolled with the hit. Apparent that he was not about to take it easy (and since when did he ever?), Allen decided he'd just give his friend what he wanted - a good, fair fight.
The two of them sparred for a few minutes, Allen easily swatting away Lavi's hammer-blows and Lavi tripping up the younger Exorcist with fancy footwork and a bit of strategy.
"For someone who's supposed to be sick, you're awfully fast," Allen huffed.
"For someone who's so opposed to hitting a sick guy, you punch hard," Lavi complained.
The two circled each other. Lavi almost backed up into a tent, and he realized they'd almost wandered right back into camp. Suddenly, Allen lunged for him with a clawed hand, and Lavi let out a high-pitched squeal as he realized he had nowhere to go. He ducked, Allen's knife-like fingers cutting through the canvas like cheese cloth.
"Easy!" Lavi shrieked girlishly.
"You wanted a fight, so I'm giving you one!" Allen retorted with a gleam in his eye.
"Allen, be gentle!"
Realizing he'd bitten off more than he could chew by pushing his friend, Lavi tried to bowl through the tent behind him, only to find more resistance than he expected as the whole thing collapsed - along with something more solid than just tent poles. There was a brief curse in Spanish before the whole structure fell over in a mess of canvas, rope, and wood. Lavi rolled off of it after it dawned on him that he'd landed on a body, and the two boys helped extricate the trapped person from the tangle they'd made.
Lavi frowned as they uncovered delicate hands and a long mess of black hair, a body inside of a vaquero's clothes and a beautifully embroidered coat, and he backed away a little as the woman stood up and straightened herself out.
"Oh! We're so sorry," Allen said as he backed away as well.
"No problema. It was an accident," Esperanza said as she brushed herself off coolly. She looked up at the two of them, and Lavi kept his expression neutral, as did she.
"So you've joined us," Lavi said, innocent statement.
Esperanza nodded.
"Si, senor."
"We'll help you set up your tent. Sorry about cutting it. I'm handy with a needle, so I can fix it for you if you'd like," Allen offered as he began to pull the tent back up. Lavi hesitantly did the other side as Esperanza responded, "Esta bien, senor. Puedo hacerlo."
"Pardon?"
"She said not to worry about it. Allen doesn't speak Spanish," Lavi explained without looking, tying a tent peg.
Why was she here? Allen was talking to her, so obviously she was real. That was a relief, seeing as that meant he wasn't hallucinating last night. Was this Bookman's doing then? Had he put her up to this? True, he'd lapsed hard after she'd left, but that didn't mean he needed a babysitter. She'd been little more than a nanny for Bookman, spying on him and keeping tabs on him and taking care of him, making... sure his nightmares didn't become too much, and forcing him to... eat and bathe...
But that was before he knew. He'd thought that was all her own goodwill, her friendship. Instead, it had been her duty, and that changed everything. He was nothing more than a job to her. Just like she was nothing but a job to him.
His own medicine was bitter as wormwood, it seemed.
"Hey, Allen, could you do me a favor? It looks like there are a few broken tent poles. I've got spares next to mine," Lavi said, straightening up slowly. Allen gave him a questioning look, but then he nodded and walked away. The air seemed to thicken between the two as they were left alone, and Lavi continued to pull the tent into shape.
"So you've come back. I thought you were going to stay in Europe," Lavi said, trying to keep his voice blase. Esperanza pulled the other side of the tent up, and she answered, "Yes. They've fully reintegrated my Innocence, and we were still doing tests when I was called."
"Bookman?"
Esperanza didn't answer, merely tied down another peg and inspected the damage to the canvas. Lavi stood up and tried to reign in his anger. So yes, Bookman had once again hired a nanny.
"It was not what I would have wanted," Esperanza admitted as she tugged the two ends of the torn canvas together.
"No, not what I would've either," Lavi said with mock cheer, and Esperanza's eyes cut to him quickly.
They stood there in silence for several more seconds. They could hear Allen's footsteps approaching, the herald to the end of their conversation.
"Allen, you go on ahead and help her. I'm a little winded and I'm going to take a break," Lavi said, walking away from the two. Allen stood there with the bundle of tent poles in his arms and sighed. Of course he was going to leave Allen to do the hard work.
"He always was a lazy git," Allen said playfully as Lavi retreated deeper into the maze of tents. Esperanza watched him leave with unreadable eyes.
A/N: Well, here's another chapter for this (very long... very drawn-out...) story! I'm hoping I can actually finish it, seeing as I've never finished a whole story, and that'll be a real milestone. Anyways, I'd love to hear what you guys have to say. I know I put out the last chapter quite a while ago.
Anyways, thank you so much to my reviewers. To selbbircs - I've always liked Lavi a lot as a character, and exploring all his different facets is a wonderful character exercise for me. I'm so glad you found him a riveting and full character to read. To Antagonizing Exorcist - that's what I like to hear! It always makes me happy to know that somebody enjoys the characters, and this is very much a character driven story. To gilraenstar - your enthusiasm is very much appreciated. It helps me put in the effort to write!
And finally, your favorite part: discussion! Do you think this story is getting cluttered with characters? What kind of conflicts do you expect now that Esperanza is back? So far we haven't moved far from Guatemala and into the next riddle - do you think these could be shortened a little? How much do you enjoy tension and suspense in a story? What would you classify this story as, genrewise? Is there a good flow for the overall story?
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll try to write the next as soon as I can. God bless you readers, and have fun fic-hunting!