Hello and welcome back, one and all! It just snowed a foot and I for one wish I were out there running around in it. Thank you so much to everyone for reading. I hope you enjoy this one! I did the math the other day and realized that I've been writing this for longer than it's taken the characters to grow up. I think Daisya should be 16-turning-17 right about now.
I've been having some trouble getting this to post, so if anyone gets weird notifs then that's the reason why!
Daisya pushed himself back up on his elbows and then stood, dripping mud, throat burning, to run the last attack. That chime he'd just done got most of them. There would be a few stragglers coming in from the area sweep to pick off. Nothing more than that.
Damn, that was the most fun he'd had in weeks! Trying to figure out what to do when it was so far past what he ever planned for. They were supposed to do this mission as a team, he and Kanda, finding Innocence and picking off an akuma or two, and here he was with two dozen kills already. With a few more on top of that!
He hiked back up the streambank and scanned the ground. There it was! The Charity Bell, sitting primly on a pile of dust. He skipped on by and picked it up on the tips of his toecaps. Good old doorbell. It never did a bad job. Even if the Dark Boots did look cooler, Daisya bet no short-range exorcists could wipe out fields of akuma like this even if they wanted to. They had to hit them each into oblivion. Daisya just needed one trick kick. Even Kanda couldn't keep up with that!
Bouncing the football-sized bell from foot to foot, Daisya started up in an easy jog. When he was a kid, this was the sort of dream he'd have. Saving the day alone because he was just that much smarter than everyone else. He could outrun and outfight and outwit any bunch of idiots who wanted to mess with him.
The grown-up him liked it exactly as much as he thought it would, except, grinding away at his brain was the nagging he'd got over the years. He could have as much fun as he wanted, and he could have more fun if he was safe. He should get back to Kanda right after this. The Innocence was what they were supposed to be after here.
Daisya sighed. Come to think of it, the sensation in his chest was starting to move from burning to scorching. A little rest couldn't hurt—
Something flew past, taking a chunk out of his cloak as he crouched down.
—or maybe not.
Thunder cracked, along with the branches of the trees, and Daisya threw himself headlong. How did it get here without making any noise? He wouldn't sensed it! He would've heard the rustling it made through the trees even without the Bell activated, damn him! It couldn't have come here from their little hideout. Hang on, that was it. One of the ones already here, chasing him, it must have stopped firing! He thought he'd got them all with one hit.
The shots bit the dirt right behind his own heels. No time to attack, the only way he got out of this was if he zig-zagged fast enough that the akuma couldn't correct its aim. He hoped like hell it was just the one. What a joke! He could still make it through this. Where was Kanda?
Not here, Daisya answered himself. Like he'd always said would happen one day.
He flew over the soggy ground like a scared hare. Saying it like that, it wasn't that far off from the truth. He needed a better kind of metaphor if only he had time to think.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, why did the akuma have to start planning like this? He didn't even get a good look at it! It just shot him from behind. If he hadn't relaxed, ducked at that exact second, that would've got him!
Staying ahead of those guns was taking everything he had right now. Skipping around obstacles while mixing up the lengths of each tack back and forth forced him to stay on task, when right now he just wanted to run mindlessly or, actually, stop and hit it. He just had to get a lead. Some kind of lead. Then he could use his Innocence again. He couldn't afford to miss this shot—he had to use an attack that would work without contact.
For that, he'd take a page out of Marie's book. Paralysis.
Daisya wasn't just any exorcist. Even covered in muck he could lead the akuma on a hell of a chase in and around the blasted tree stumps where their legion had just been firing at shadows. He vaulted over logs and dashed to keep pace where the ground sloped, even just a little bit.
The problem was, it was hard to keep track of direction when you were focused on getting away. Daisya didn't know up from down after two minutes of this. Didn't matter. He could find his way back when this one stubborn good-for-nothing Level One was dust.
Finally, he spotted a patch of evergreens spaced more closely together. That should be too narrow for the akuma to pass through.
Daisya veered to one side, then threaded the needle between the tight-packed trunks so that the akuma had to skirt the edge to find him. That gave him just enough time to toss the Innocence up ahead of him. He'd been clutching it in one hand since it first shot at him.
He had to make sure he hit it right. Daisya let himself zone out into the half-awake state he was in at the end of a long run, or when he was trying to get a tough shot. His body was good enough at this that it could do everything for him. He just had to let it.
The Charity Bell flew up through the thin top branches of the trees then reached its peak. It hung in the air while Daisya got into position below. There was one opening wide enough, he could feel, that he'd be able to kick right before he came out of the glade. The Bell was falling now. Coming down right in front of him, gathering speed, gathering steam, all building towards his own finishing touch.
Leaping over a mess of roots, Daisya called out.
"Activate!"
The air sizzled like water on a hot pan. He concentrated on the noise as he crested the jump. Loud, insistent, high ringing. Not a chime. He had to spread it out over the entire area instead of hitting out with one sound.
He kicked. It sounded.
His feet hit the ground, and no bullets came after them.
Had he done it?
Daisya looked around.
The Charity Bell hovered in its own lightning cage ahead of him, giving off a silvery noise that pinned his pursuer in place. He could see it mid-crash through the branches of one fir.
Armies didn't matter. If the demons and devils in the world wanted a piece of Daisya, they weren't getting any!
Daisya felt the laughter bubbling up inside him. Maybe he looked like a mess—this cloak was definitely going to need to be replaced—but he'd come out on top! Kanda didn't even need to help him. For one second, he was the only exorcist in the world who could've beat them.
Then he fell quiet.
The waves coming off the Charity Bell had finally washed into the middle distance and brought his radar with them. There was another troop of akuma closing in. They were out of sight. Not out of mind anymore. The stragglers he'd been heading out to catch before another distraction came up.
Daisya dug his feet into the dirt.
He'd got this far.
The strength of the paralysis signal wouldn't be enough to catch all of them. He'd have to wait until they all got close. Then take them out at once. The problem was that if he let it down to prepare for a toll, this one here now hanging over him would shoot him before he could whine about it.
What a pain. Now he wasn't running—there wasn't anywhere he could run to—it was starting to catch up to him. He hadn't lost his advantage before. No, that was just him changing plans. He'd used up his real last bit of luck sensing these guys.
Anything left was going to be hard work. Kanda wasn't even here for him to get all mixed up over. This wasn't any heroic attempted rescue. This was him making one mistake.
The rain was coming down in buckets now. The frozen akuma by his side just stared at him with its clown's face. It sounded like an empty pail. Would've been funny any other time, except for he felt like the clown now, dancing around for the akuma in tonight's one-time-only show.
He felt them getting closer.
Everything that had urged him on until now was gone. The fun evaporated like liquor in an open bottle, leaving him empty of everything. Well, almost everything.
Daisya sank to his knees, eyes closed.
There was still exhaustion. He swayed from side to side in the mud, with no strength to straighten up as he focused on his Innocence.
If even one akuma survived this, he was really dead on his feet. Knees. Same thing.
The Charity Bell shone off all the circling branches. Through his eyelids he saw red.
Maybe it was late to admit it, but he never thought he'd see the day where someone else failed to swoop in, right at the last moment, and save him. Someone. Any other exorcist would do. It was still Kanda he saw when he imagined it. He'd got used to him. The first time it had been a surprise, but Daisya had long since realized that Kanda wasn't out for himself. His own body was just a tool to keep the Order going.
Daisya should have known better. Even now that Kanda was over that whole "I'm not saving you" bit, there were times he didn't have any choice. Lenalee wasn't here to worry. Marie wasn't going to bail him out.
What do to with his last moments?
He wasn't going to mope about it, first of all. He was a genius for getting this far. Did that mean he should've died ten minutes ago? The old man had said something about this. This day was coming all his life. He just didn't realize it until he grew up. Daisya had delayed his execution for five entire years. Not a lot of exorcists could do that, now, could they!
"At least…" he muttered.
At least what? Daisya supposed that now would be a bit too late for a prayer. He didn't even know where southeast was, to turn and face it. That was what he remembered he was supposed to do. The right way. He hadn't prayed like that since mom forced him to, as a kid.
Finally, the last of the akuma came into range. There was nothing else to do but hit 'em.
So he did.
Daisya hummed.
The Charity Bell worked best if you got inside something. That didn't always have to happen. All it meant was, the soundwaves only entered them from the side the Bell was on, instead of penetrating from all angles. These akuma wouldn't rattle to pieces. He just had to shock the exposed faces so hard they all shattered at once. He made a good effort at it. He hummed until his face went numb and his throat hurt.
When he set the chime, he heard the trees splinter. Crowns fell to the ground. There were no echoing bells, just one, single toll that coated everything in that tar-like suspension. Even the raindrops were blown off course. The wind whipped his hood away from his head and dried his cheeks, like it was readying him for the casket.
Finally, the dust cleared.
He didn't need to look to know that his extermination had been so close to complete. Only two akuma of the lot had survived.
Daisya kept his eyes glued shut.
He didn't need to think to know what was going to happen next.
The akuma would take their chance to wipe out the remaining threat to their mission. Whatever it was.
His breath hitched.
They'd hover while they caught up with that had happened to them. They'd tilt their guns. A shot each, and it was goodbye Daisya. The last memory he'd have was the race between bloodloss and the virus for the privilege of killing him.
There was no other way this could go.
Through the rain Daisya's heightened senses picked up the hiss before the powder ignited on each shot. They had got to be kidding him. Only two left? He should get an army for his execution. Or a—
A stream of sharp noises made it too loud for any final thoughts.
Daisya gasped. The bullets thudded into flesh with only one sharp, wet sound. A few made a tearing noise as they ripped through fabric. It was quieter than he expected.
Less painful, too. In fact—
Daisya's eyes flew open.
The akuma hadn't hit him.
Huh?
Blinking black spots out of his eyes, he saw the akuma's faces first. Pale. Horrified. Painted. Just like his, probably. Two pale smears of light made each of them stand out like moons hanging in the blurred night. Their shells were dripping wet and glittering.
As Daisya's eyes focused, he could see someone silhouetted between them.
Kanda.
The image was barely a flash in front of him. He didn't need more.
Kanda moved so fast he didn't move at all. The outline in front of Daisya barely wavered while the two lights, Mugen and the phantom sword, left afterimages along two straight lines. Not moons. No, now the akuma were stars streaking to earth.
One strike from each hand, was what he'd seen, and they were gone. The akuma were just more mud in this soaking godforsaken patch of woods.
Kanda was standing alone again.
Swaying. Tipping. Daisya breathed in hard. Oh god, he wasn't going to fall over, was he—
Scrambling up, Daisya caught Kanda's body with an arm around his shoulders. It was like holding a carpet. Heavy, compact, unwieldy. He could only be thankful that Kanda wasn't eight feet tall with a tendency to unroll. His head fell against Daisya while he kept him steady. He was panting like he'd sprinted here. He probably had. He hadn't even felt him coming.
They were steady now. Daisya gave him the once-over. Glowing from where Kanda's hands hung down by his sides, Mugen's light was still bright enough to show them clearly. It shone off the Charity Bell too, resting on the ground a few metres away.
Kanda seemed tired.
His sleeves weren't munched up at the edges like they'd be if he was in a firestorm. In fact, he would look just fine outside of the pockmarks all up and down his legs.
And stomach.
Oh God.
The little bits he knew about anatomy told him all those colours of flesh shouldn't all be visible at the same time. Or visible at all. Daisya would've thrown up if the rain wasn't already cleaning out most of blood anyway.
He could deal with not visible. Or visible as long as it was not on Kanda. Or not pressing up against his own body. Any of those were fine on their own. All of them at once were sending him down a real bad path.
"You do not look good," he muttered. "Let me get those out."
Kanda groaned.
It said a lot that he didn't argue with him. As Daisya crouched down, Kanda followed, letting himself be laid out like a rag doll. He must really have been out of it.
Daisya took a chance on moving one arm to prop Mugen's solid blade up in the dirt. It wasn't the best lamp. From what Daisya knew, though, those bullets were going to stay in for a long time if he didn't remove them. Most would get pushed out by the pressure of Kanda's tissue healing, but if two were stacked or overlapped somehow, they would just heal into the flesh.
Trying as best as he could with cold fingers, Daisya peeled off what was left of Kanda's shirt.
Daisya was his own testament to how that sort of power could go wrong. His ribs were solid, his lungs were whole, and anyone who took a look at his bare skin would see that there was something really wrong with how they were put together. He hadn't been able to touch his toes right since the last real beating he took. Nurse had told him not to break anything again.
A few birds flapped overhead. The noise must've woken them up.
Daisya was about to go looking for the glistening slugs when Kanda grabbed his hand and pressed something into it. A pocketknife. He'd probably done this to himself before. Daisya had been feeling pretty awful about having to fish out the bullets with his own hands.
"Thanks," he said.
The rest went fast.
Kanda didn't get as shot up as he'd feared. More likely the akuma didn't think Daisya'd take much to exterminate. With the storm still passing through, Daisya was keen to get done here as soon as possible and get somewhere to warm up. He didn't know if the healing factor was any help with hypothermia. He sure as hell wasn't about to find out.
He sniffed. His nose was running something awful in this weather, and his fingers were getting warm with blood.
"You're mostly good," he said at last. "Just give me a sec, I'll check if I missed any."
Moving inch by inch over Kanda's body, Daisya checked for any irregular shapes in the semi-healed flesh. Just stay steady. Act normal. What was normal? He was normally talking. Yeah.
"What were you doing back there, anyway?" he asked. "I had to get all of them by myself!"
"Not—" Kanda ground out. "—all."
"Okay, fine, most of them."
Daisya started picking out the shreds of fabric buried in the wounds. No more bullets that he could see. Somehow the muscle was already closed over. The organs would be fine. All that was left for him was to try and snatch out the debris before it got covered over by the stretching skin.
"Innocence," Kanda breathed. "Hiding in the village. Turned it into a maze. The Finders knew it was there but—" he stuttered where Daisya pulled out a button that was almost buried in him. "Took time. To get it."
A pang of something had spread through Daisya at the sound.
"That's all of it," he said.
He laid a hand on Kanda's for a second before he went back to the job. It took time, did it? His own fight had felt like ages when he was counting on Kanda showing up, but taking that time to find a buried Innocence? He must have been racing.
Daisya looked aside.
And saw something glittering in Kanda's eyes.
He swallowed. "I'm still alive. Thanks. For that."
Too late he saw Kanda's body tense. He put a hand out to his chest to keep him from moving but—no, Kanda was already sitting up. The bleeding that started up again from the unclosed holes made Daisya wince like they were his own. Oh, well. It was Kanda's body. He guessed he had to know his limits.
Instead, Daisya just moved the one hand to try and block the flow. The other, he slipped around Kanda's back to support him.
Things had changed.
"No," Kanda said.
Half a year ago, they changed.
Daisya had known all his life that he'd never be able to stay home. Taking over the shop wouldn't satisfy him. Even if he smiled when he got mom's letters, he'd chafe if he had to see the travellers come through town knowing he'd never leave it in his life. He wasn't just going to be able to be the same type of person as anyone else.
So when the old man asked him to come with, that was the best thing he could ever hope for. Exorcists weren't expected to be any type of person as long as they went where they were sent. Collected Innocence while they were there. Nothing too boring. Even the adults at the Order didn't talk about their lives before it. It was a closed world. They weren't supposed to think about before and after.
Daisya thought, and waited. The fatigue of the last day was coming down on him like a hammer. There was no way he could move like this. He was rooted to the ground, knees folded up beside Kanda's.
"I know you're not just going to watch me die, dumbass." He smiled as much as he could. "It's what you do. I'm still going to say thank you."
There was no reason to think about before and after if now was fine. It was hard to think of anything that was going to thrill him like just barely winning a fight. The only thing that could maybe match it was knowing that he'd found a challenge he might be able to beat.
"For what?"
From the start Kanda pushed back against him whenever he tried to talk about anything. Too annoying. Too loud. Too dumb. Well, Daisya might be two of those things, but he wasn't stupid. He knew Kanda was going to be tricky. Daisya could work on him for years before finding out even a little bit of something new. He didn't disappoint, either. Magic, mystery, powers that brought them both back from the dead, secrets that got them both away from the Noah.
Nothing quite came up to what would happen now. What happened then. He felt warm blood pooling under his palm as Kanda leaned towards him. Daisya waited.
"Beats me. Being yourself?"
Kanda pressed a free hand to his cheek while Daisya's pulse crawled up, beat by beat. He didn't even glare. It was like he was reading Daisya for some secret he wouldn't give up.
Fat chance of that! Daisya had no secrets.
No. The deepest, darkest thing in him was just that he was happy.
Happy going around for some Order that kidnapped little girls and broke their legs, killing the things that people loved enough to call back from the dead. Only, it wasn't a long time ago he realized that there was more to being happy than just that.
Daisya didn't know how to give Kanda what he was looking for. Whatever it was, it wasn't hiding. It was there to be found.
Kanda kissed him.