I almost forgot to upload, but my roommate came barreling in and reminded me. He is apparently more excited than me about most of my fics?
Beta'd by Shippo704 and Azurimi.
I do not own D. Gray-man.
~~!~~
Chapter 3 – The End(ing has no meaning)
Lavi took off after the injured entertainer. He followed the distinctive clothing down alleyways, nearly losing him a few times, but Crown was easy to spot in his completely white outfit. He was also in the only open area in the alleyway, everyone moving out of the way as he passed. Crown was greeted by many people and he waved back.
A few minutes passed quickly and Crown reached what looked like the back door of a building. He jogged up the stairs and Crown knocked on the door. While he waited, he poked at his forehead until there was a click. A short man wearing headphones and large glasses appeared and began to say, "How many times have I told you not to c- Crown! What are you doing here?"
There was a hand motion and the mask was removed from his face. Lavi couldn't see as he was behind the entertainer.
"Ah, jeez that looks like a doozie! Let me get Doctor Reever! Come in, come in." Crown was rushed in.
Lavi got up to follow. He was quickly spotted by the doctor who did not move. Lavi pulled out the badge that granted him access anywhere and the doctor grunted, obviously not pleased that he was being over ridden, but let him through.
"Any word of this reaches the public eye and I can guarantee that most of the Red District will want a hand in harming you."
Lavi got the message.
The historian followed the foot falls of Crown down the hallway and into a room. The door closed, but Lavi did not want to get closer for now. He waited until a doctor opened the door and left it ajar before approaching it.
Lavi opened the door to see a doctor holding a bloody cloth and gently patting the top of Crown's forehead, where the rocks had broken skin. A firm hand had a chin clamped in its clutches. It took a moment for Lavi to register that Crown's mask and crown were lying on the desk next to the doctor and that the face he was seeing was the hidden visage of the Red King's Support.
"Ah!" Crown flinched.
"Hold still, you know the more you squirm, the harder you make this."
"I know…" Crown tried his best to stay still.
The examination afterwards went a lot smoother with Crown cooperating and the doctor finished washing his face, moving on to looking into Crown's eyes with a small flashlight.
"Alright, it's looking like it was a simple knock to the head, but no concussion and your left eye is working as it should. Just simple cleaning and bandages for a few days and it'll heal right up. Also, until told otherwise, don't drop anything on your head just in case. I mean it, and please be careful."
"Alright. Thanks, Reever."
"Never a problem. Just come back before you head home, alright? I want to check up on it in a few days."
He got a positive nod from his patient before the clown sighed. "He's not going to be happy."
"Yeah, I know, but Cross will have to deal. He can't blow a gasket like last time, remind him of that for me, alright?"
Cross? Who was Cross?
"Yeah, I'll do that." Doctor Reever got up and gently pat the top of Crown's head.
"If you want to take a quick nap here, go for it. Just tell Johnny when you leave alright?"
Crown nodded. "I think I will."
"I'll notify the others to not use the room and I'll send word to Cross. Lights on or off?"
"On, so I can see when I wake up."
Doctor Reever nodded, picked up the mask saying he was going to wash it and walked out of the room, giving a wave. He turned to see Lavi.
"Not a word, understand."
"Yes."
"And I don't care about your badge, you are not to go in there and harass him, nor are you to wake him up. This is my clinic and therefore my rules."
Lavi nodded.
Doctor Reever looked him over and walked away.
Lavi waited a few minutes before he walked in and looked around the room. It was a standard little, private room with all the basic tools of health care, but that wasn't what he was interested in.
The historian looked to the examination table to see the sleeping clown. He was facing Lavi and the teenager took in the sight. The pale face, relaxed in rest, was marred by a red scar covering the entire left side of the clown's face. Lavi observed that it looked like Crown had been in a fire several years ago, judging by the age of the burn. Lavi also made note that Crown did not look all that old, no more than seventeen or eighteen or so. A lot younger than he had guessed him to be.
Crown had removed his gloves and Lavi took in the slim fingers on the right hand, but could not see the left hand as Crown was using it as a pillow.
"You learn something new every day…" Lavi said to himself.
Lavi took this quiet moment waiting for Crown to wake up to organize his thoughts. What he had learned was all neatly filed away and in order to be recorded when he had a proper writing desk and began to come up with questions to ask Crown when he woke up.
The Crown Clown woke up two hours later and Lavi registered the silver eyes peering around the room in temporary confusion. A side note was made about his left eyelid taking half a second longer to open after the blink.
"Afternoon," Lavi said.
Crown nodded, slipping on his gloves before Lavi could see his left hand.
"So, have a good nap?" Lavi asked.
"You know my face." Crown ignored the question.
"Yeah, I'm a Historian after all! I record top secret stuff!" Lavi said proudly.
"You can't tell anyone. If you do, the King will have your organs hanging from the windows." Crown said as he ran a hand through his hair. Completely natural, no roots.
"Isn't the saying 'he will have your head'," Lavi offered.
"My King has a flair for dramatics."
Lavi nodded. That was true enough. "Can I ask some questions?"
Crown sat up. "It's not like you're giving me a choice."
Lavi asked his name.
"Crown Clown." Crown picked up the mask that lay dry and clean by the sink, dropped off by the doctor named Reever while he was still asleep.
"No, what is your name," Lavi prompted.
"That's personal."
"Why?"
"I am Crown Clown."
"Why?"
"Because he is a symbol to the people. Notice how they reacted when someone threw a stone at me? That was a break in the script. They live for their script, they know their cues." Crown looked down at the mask, running a finger over the crack on the bottom left.
"How was he created?"
Crown frowned. "I don't really remember. I was young and felt suffocated."
"Do you know why your King refuses to partake in war?"
"Well, wars are never fought between citizens. They are fought king to king, so why should the common folk be involved?"
Lavi went to ask another question but Crown beat him to it.
"Look, I have to go. My King will have my head if I am away any longer." The mask slid back onto the face, crown snatched from the counter and the clown took off running towards the Core.
Lavi frowned. Most people knew that when questioned by Historians, they were sworn to honestly. He sat there, thinking about it, but figured it wasn't the time so he stood up and brushed himself off, preparing to go back to the hotel room where he hoped that Bookman had grabbed his suitcase he had left behind.
As he was leaving, he was stopped by the doctor who had taken care of Crown.
"Just a warning; stop harassing Crown. The King will hear about it and detain you. We answer your questions but at the end of the day, you are still citizens and can still be punished. Remember that." Doctor Reever walked away.
Lavi sighed. He should probably call it a day, after all, he was tired from running all over town and just the general fact he was running on little sleep.
He made his way back to the room he shared with Bookman and noticed the old man had not returned from his…whatever he was doing. The redhead shrugged, pulled out his suitcase to discover he had somehow managed to overlook packing sleeping clothes and just decided to sleep in his underwear and a spare shirt. There were worse things to forget.
Like setting an alarm to make sure he didn't miss breakfast. Which is what happened.
"What is wrong with me this trip? I'm never this out of it…" Lavi said to himself as he wrestled on his shirt and sprinted down the hallway to see if he could still catch the tail end of the breakfast rush.
He managed to grab some toast and eggs, sitting down and noticed that everyone was still dressed to the nines for the Gathering which reminded him of needing to get back to it.
Making his way to the Core again to find people, Lavi ran through what he had found out during his interviews from people and focus on the questions he desperately wanted answered. They were easy answers, why wouldn't people answer them?
Lavi found the Wind Kingdom's advisor on foreign events talking with Lenalee. Lavi remembered his name was Komui Lee from the report he read before the Gathering.
"Brother!" she said.
"Lenalee, I heard that Crown was assaulted. Is that true?" Komui asked.
"Well, someone threw rocks at him. Lavi said he was alright, but I would still go ask him. He might answer me honestly."
"Please do Lenalee, we are all worried about him." Komui shooed off his sister and she took off to find him.
Lavi took off after Lenalee, curious. Lenalee was heading towards the underground meeting room. It turned out he was right when he entered the room and saw her standing to the side and talking to Crown. The fool was balancing a knife on the nose of his mask.
"You okay, Crown?" Lenalee asked.
"Yeah, fine," he said slowly, most of his concentration on the knife balancing.
"That was a nasty bump."
Crown hummed, hunching to keep the knife on his nose.
That was when Lavi decided to slide in.
"Crown, I still have questions," Lavi said as he approached the white figure.
"Please stop," Crown said, removing the knife from his face and loosely played with the handle.
"But I'm a Historian, I need this-"
Kanda came forward. "You saying you are a Historian is admitting you are a nosy little rodent who does not understand when and where he is welcome." Kanda snapped as he pushed Lavi out the door and slammed it in his face. Lavi could hear the lock catching and Lenalee call Kanda out for being rude.
Lavi stood there, stunned for a moment. He had been kicked out? Why had he been kicked out? Why was everyone being rude? What was going on?
Turning around, he spotted Advisor Lee and Lavi ran after him.
"Can I ask some questions?" Lavi asked him, not bothering with an introduction.
"Of course, concerning?" Advisor Lee asked, looking up from the documents in his arms.
"Crown Clown."
The advisor stopped and took in Lavi's appearance further. "Ah, so you are the Historian, let us move out of prying ears." Komui led the youth into an office and told him to sit.
"Now, what did you want to know."
"What is the Clown's name?"
Komui looked at Lavi and sighed. "I take it you've asked several people and no one has answered."
"Yes."
"There's a reason for that."
"What?"
"Ask that elder Historian you travel with." Komui shooed Lavi away, clearly trying to get rid of him and deal with the growing pile of paperwork created every year during the Gathering.
Lavi began to walk towards the hotel. What was going on? Lavi didn't think that his questions were that invasive.
Hopefully Bookman would answer his questions.
~~!~~
Bookman was furious.
"How did this happen?"
"What?" Lavi asked as he made his way through the door of the room.
Bookman held out a note to Lavi.
This is a written warning.
You have already received a verbal warning on various occasions.
It was signed by various people Lavi hadn't heard of but knew to be important. Lavi read it again but was still confused. "What is it about?"
"Do you not understand what being a Historian is about?" Bookman asked.
"To record history from all sides," said Lavi as if it were obvious.
"Idiot! What are you doing?"
"Well, I'm investigating some stuff from the Red Kingdom-"
"Please don't say it had anything to do with the clown of the crooked crown…" Bookman interrupted.
"Yeah, why?"
Bookman groaned and ran his hands down his face, smearing his makeup. "That is a topic you never ask about! Each of the Kingdoms has one. Orange does not talk about the mines and their locations, Wind will not discuss their wind riding technique, Lotus is just an angry nation in general and Red does not talk about the clown or the royal family."
"How was I supposed to know if you don't tell me."
"Boy, if you had an ounce of common sense, you would have stopped when you were told the first few times! Now you are compromising our position and privileges here!"
"Don't we overrule normal rules?" Lavi was getting confused again.
"Everywhere else, yes, but this is the Gathering. The Gathering is a bold political move in and of itself. You know the history, right?"
"Of course, it was established fifty years ago as a peace action from the Red Kingdom and each kingdom sacrificed a small piece of land to create the Centre. The area is outside most laws but even then they are even stricter about laws here, which makes the Centre harder to get by in."
"And because of that, Historians have a very tentative standing here, because we are so close to the royals. I have explained to you that Supports to the royal families are outside our standing. They can tell us to stand down and we must listen. I understand that you spoke with a particular doctor and he has very close ties to politicians. You have stepped on far too many toes in a single day and then the Lotus Support throwing you out of the chamber today…"
Lavi could tell he might have screwed up a little more than usual.
The rest of the week passed without incident. Lavi had been removed from the main events and Bookman had told him to stay put.
"If I bring you next year, do you promise to listen and do proper research?"
Lavi nodded. He had learned his lesson.