DGM fanstory ~ Volume 4 "Deadly Menuet" [Chapter 61- Chapter 80]

Schwindelmagier · Jul 9, 2009

I kind of felt like putting Volume 4 together in this thread. Just as snoogen/rhapsody blue I may put the chapters into a pdf.-file to read. For the time being, I'll post all chapters belonging to volume 4 here:

My first fighting chapter! since we have a lot of action in thi volume I hope you like this. I won't give any special musik this time because it would slow down the reading ^^

Flames looked at his enemies. They're humans but somehow his instinct tell him not to get to close to them. He holds his new Innocense, the very soul of the God of thunder in his left hand, and started his move. Sparks emit from the tip of the spear and he aim with it at Gabrielle. "INNOCENCE ACTIVATE!" he screams and lightning shoots torwards Gabrielle and her two companions. Gabrielle smiles draws her Gun and shoots at the ground. "Foolish" replies Raphael as a huge wall of ice grow before them causing as explosion as the lightning hits it.

"Did you really think we go into a fight against demons with normal weapons? You're so called Innocence is useless against the true chrystal of god Jaques-sama granted us!", says Raphael.
"Common Raphi he's nothing but an animal with a large pointy stick. What do you expect? He can't know that my precious Hel can freeze everything because I haven't told him yet. Oh by the way look at you're right hand abo---ut now." says Gabrielle in a cocky manner. Flames looks puzzled as he suddenly feels a sharp pain in his right hand. As he looks at it he sees it completely frozen and the ice wandering slowly up his arm. "You have about five minutes to punch me unconsious or the ice will reach your heart killing you in a few seconds. So better cool down and fight or should I say heat up?"

"You stupid brat!" shouts Flames running towards Gabrielle. If i can't hit her from the distance I'll have to use close range attacks. With a swift series of strikes he attacks her but she avoids them until they reach the wall. "It's over you bitch!" he screams and his aims at her chest. suddenly his attack is stopped by a sword and Flames has to draw back to avoid the slash. "Don't you forget us my Loki is bloodthirsty!" Michael screams as he divides into four shadow like beings. Flames sends beams of lightning against them but only hits air. The shadows draw closer and Flames rams the spear into the ground. "Thounder plains!" he shouts as blue sparks wander over the ground. Suddenly three shadows dissolve and the last one collapses changing back into a now slightly burned and unconscious Michael.

One down!

Flames takes his spear and want to start attack Gabrielle again as he feels a familliar pain in his left shoulder. The cold piercing pain blurrs his vision, every breath hurts.. suddenly all he sees is how the ground draws closer.

"Is he dead?" asks Raphael. "No you morron you know we're not allowed to kill anyone, I already stopped the ice from growing, he's just K.O. you would be surpised what can be survived. Take the spear and then lets go and wake Micheal up or you'll have to carry him." answers Gabrielle. "Why do I have to carry that bull? He is about twice as heavy as me I could break my nails!" Gabrielle tries not to laugh and just ignores him.

As the two guardians want to go hey suddenly hear a noise. They turn around and see a young woman inject some strange liquid into Flames. "Hey what do you think you're doing?"

"It's still just an experimental drug but his wounds should heal." says Ying as she looks at Flames.

"Gabrielle you stay behind I'll chop this ugly girl into pieces." says raphael angrily, " the world only needs beauty and strength."

You're order has fallen.
This words we're as sharp as they we're logic. Lione was alone, betrayed, wounded and tormented by the worst hangover ever. He thought about his companions. I bet they don't have it easy aswell. The're all fighting. like I would... like hell....I... can't

"I CAN'T GIVE UP!!" He screames all of a sudden.

Yes the chapter ends here since i bet Tune and Deathshadow want to write about that fight aswell and I want to end th lione,jak-kun fight in chapter 70.
I hopw this chapter was fast enough for an action chapter. Of course you are all free to write about Lione and jaques if you have any ideas (to be honest i have none ^^)
Again i have a character that ended up deferently then i first intended him to be. Raphael was supposed to be a nice guy but after finishing Shin megami Tensei Lucifers call (buy it, play it, love it^^) I simply wanted someone who could be aligned with the Kotowari of yosuga. Anyway this last bits are a bit long now so I'm ending this
now

A/N:

I know the title is a sucky pun. Get over it. =)

Chapter 62 - Rock Song

PART UNO:

"Don’t let him touch you!”

Tabby’s voice resonated through the tunnels as she shoved Eny and a pair of Finders out of the way of the charging I.A. The other Finders followed suit, getting out of his way. “Wha-?” Eny started to ask, but I.A. was coming again and Tabby had to charge to the other side of the tunnel to pull Daniel out of his path. Frantically, Tabby’s eyes searched the tunnel. She couldn’t keep protecting Eny and the Finders like this. Her thoughts whirled as I.A. turned to charge again. “Tabby.” Eny’s voice came from beside her- how had Eny gotten there? “We cannot merely keep dodging. This tunnel is quite small. We will run out of space,” Her voice shook slightly as she assessed the desperate situation. Tabby nodded quickly, drawing herself closer to the tunnel wall. “If we don’t do something quickly, we will all die. I-I don’t wanna die. I don’t know what to do.”

It was obviously a new concept to Eny. Tabby frowned. Okay, Eny was freaking out; the Finders really couldn’t help that much… looked like it was up to Tabby this time. I.A. had stopped trying to run the crowd through; instead, he stopped before Tabby, Eny, Daniel and some other Finders. A sick smile was on his face. “Hello, pretty ladies, and other people,” He said silkily, stepping forward. “Aren’t you going to fight me?”

Silence was his only answer. Eny stepped closer to one of the Finders, her breathing betraying that she was holding back fear. Tabby instinctively held her arms up, shielding the Finders and Eny.

His smooth smile slid from his face. He took another step forward.

PART DUEX:

Tabby seized Eny and one of the Finder’s arms, shoving them to the side. Eny shrieked, burying her face in her hands as I.A. swept forwards the deal a blow to Tabby’s left side.

Tabby yelled something- Eny didn’t hear or want to hear what she said. (1) A high, piercing sound that Eny couldn’t quite make out filled the stifled air. It was soaring and indistinguishable, and anything beneath that church right now seemed to be the sound of battle, but it was beautiful. She parted her fingers, peering through them.

A small being seemed to have stopped I.A.’s attack. Eny gasped, but the figure disappeared. Tabby swore under her breath, turning and stepping backwards in Eny’s direction- away from I.A. She nearly tripped over Eny, who stood quickly. “What wa-?”

“Spirit. Innocence. Ideas, please?” Tabby said quickly, as I.A. shook off the shock of being stopped. Eny’s calculating gaze quickly swept around the tunnel. A gasp of recognition arose from her, and she hissed in Tabby’s ear.

“Keep him busy. My superior intellect has hatched a plan.”

“Easy for you to say,” Tabby mumbled. Eny rolled her eyes.

“Don’t complain, just do!” And with that, she hurried from behind Tabby towards one of the larger Finder groups who stood huddled away from the battle.

Sighing, Tabby turned back to I.A.

PART THREE:

He lunged at her, his movements smooth, but she danced out of the way of his gloved fists, which collided with the rock wall. Several inches of old rock fell away. Tabby backed up, and he sprang again. This time, his gloved hand clipped her shoulder as she ducked his hit. On this went, until Tabby’s back was against the opposite wall.

Quickly, she spat out the Earth spirit’s name. It blocked a blow before disappearing. Her eyes flew over I.A.’s shoulder. Eny’s eyes met hers. ‘Almost,’ the younger girl mouthed. ‘One minute.’

I.A. threw another punch to Tabby’s stomach and Tabby lurched forward. Speedily getting out of the way of a kick, she straightened. ‘Can you make it any less?’

PART VIER:

“Daniel!” Eny shouted.

“Right next to you…” Grumbled the Finder, rubbing his ear as he watched Tabby and I.A.’s battle. She glared up at him.

“Gather all the Finders and get them to a concentrated area, preferably away from Tabby and the Noah,” Daniel nodded, a headed off. “Oh, and Daniel?” He turned. Eny’s eyes flew to the fight as Tabby took another hit. “Make it fast.” He nodded understandingly.

“Oi! Everybody, over here!” He called, summoning the other Finders away. Standing close to one wall, he looked to Eny, Tabby and I.A. Eny had taken the bazooka from its position strapped to her back. She cocked it on one shoulder, and aimed.

“Now!” He heard her shriek.

PART GO:

Tabby’s eyes flew to Eny at her yell, and took another blow for her trouble. Eny’s giant gun was aimed at the ceiling above her and I.A. Her eyes widened as she realized what Eny planned to do. “En-!” She started, but was cut off by a gunshot.

Tabby ducked under I.A.’s arm as he swung to hit her again. Sprinting, she seized Eny’s wrist- the younger girl let out violent screams of protest- and pulled her towards the crowd of Finders. The group was a shrieking mosh-pit of terror as Tabby and Eny plunged into the middle. Around them, the tunnel was collapsing.

Shoving Eny into the group’s depths- where she ended up, Tabby wasn’t quite sure- Tabby began to sing. She pushed her eyes shut, hurrying along through the song as soon as her Innocence fed the words to her brain. She felt a rock falling from the tunnel roof skim her left arm. She could feel the energy building, and at last she burst out the last unknown word to the song.

PART SITA:

Eny shrieked, clinging to the nearest Finder. This had not entered into her calculations. Her deduction had been incorrect, perhaps she had not aimed correctly, whatever the reason, they were all going to die, all because her IQ had not been there when she needed it. She buried her face in the Finder’s arm- she heard him mumble something, perhaps a prayer or a good-bye to one he loved. The earth shook with a great and terrible power.

The falling rocks stopped.

Slowly, Eny pulled her face to look around. A being stood- well, it didn’t really stand, as it had no legs- in the center of their group. Around their tightly knit pack, the rocks had fallen to build a dome around them. The spirit twisted, and was gone. They were stuck, but they were safe.

Beside the place the spirit had been, Tabby collapsed into the waiting arms of a Finder.

Quickly, Eny fought her way towards the Finder and Tabby. “Is she okay?” She asked. The Finder nodded, a slight smile upon the older woman’s face.

“She’ll be fine,” She confirmed as Daniel fought his way over.

“What the hell was that?” He burst out. Eny let out a shuddering sigh.

“I miscalculated the strength of the tunnel. It will never happen again,” She said slowly. It was hard for Eny to admit she was wrong. She sank to sit on the ground. “The Noah-?”

Daniel shrugged. “I dunno,” He sat down on the floor beside Eny and the older Finder who held Tabby. “Maybe he got out. Maybe he didn’t. What do we do now?

“We wait,” The older woman answered, smoothing back the fallen Tabby’s hair as she laid her out of the ground. “What else can we do?”

“Nothing,” Daniel agreed. Eny groaned.

“I hate this!”

PART SJU:

Tabby stirred. “Kid!” Daniel’s voice called out. Eny let out an indistinguishable noise that might’ve been happiness. Slowly, Tabby opened her eyes. Eny and Daniel stood over her. She groaned.

“It worked?” Eny nodded.

Tabby groaned again. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I figured it out wrong, okay?” Eny snapped. Daniel winced. A near death experience aside and those two were still arguing…

“That’s apparent! I had to save all our asses!”

“It was a small mishap!”

Daniel grinned slightly as the pair fell into their usual pattern of arguing. Sure, they were stuck beneath a church with or without a Noah somewhere around, but with those two fighting, every seemed a little bit more… normal.

Maybe they might be okay after all.

A/N:

If I.A. is dead or not is someone else's choice. x3 Can you tell battles are not my forte? Also, the numbers go- Spanish, French, English, German, Japanesse, Swahili, then Norwegian. =3

- At the house in Kanto -

Legno and Koko were so suprised to see what they have never could believe. "How is it possible that those lines suddenly appear? It makes no sense. Illogical I would say" said koko. Legno didn't know what to answer, somehow he felt that Koko was right. Entering an empty room, nothing unusual, the book doing some supernatural stuff leaving now some latin lines on the wall; no scientific explanation of such an event for Legno too. Legno suddenly feared what fortune or unfortune this quest could bring to him and koko. "Hey, back to reality, you snapped out Legno we need to examine those lines" said koko. "You're right, but let's be careful we never know what might happen" said legno back.

The strangest conclusion that both koko and legno could make, was the fact that the wall was written full of one same line. Coincidence you could call it, but both legno and koko were mumbling the line: "qui cogit iustus, malus est, qui cogit malus, iustus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum". Soon an echo came into the room. Several times legno and koko heared: "qui cogit iustus, malus est, qui cogit malus, iustus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum. qui cogit iustus, malus est, qui cogit malus, iustus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum. qui cogit iustus, malus est, qui cogit malus, iustus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum." Suddenly darkness entered into the room creeping on the walls, the ceiling, the ground, the windows. "What now" asked legno. Legno and Koko stepped back, trying to evade the darkness. Coming near, the worst thing both our heroes feared, happened. Standing with their backs against the wall surrounded by the darkness. "qui cogit iustus, malus est, qui cogit malus, iustus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum. qui cogit iustus, malus est, qui cogit malus, iustus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum. qui cogit iustus, malus est, qui cogit malus, iustus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum.": echoed a lot. "What's happing, darkness, a voice echoing, no person in the room". "You have to do something, legno-sama" asked koko. Before Legno could activate his innocence, both legno and kok were taken over by the darkness...

- times laters -

"where am I? Am I sleeping?" Legno opened his eyes. "What's happening have I become blind?" Legno couldn't see anything, it was complete darkness. "Legno-sama, you aren't blind it seems that we are in a dark matter, a dark room, or something like that but it certainly has something to do with that darkness". "True, but how do we get out of here?" asked Legno himself. "Well, not to be rude, but isn't that up to a bookman to know how to get out?" Well not that Koko couldn't see it, but this was a point where Legno couldn't keep his laughter.

"Okay, let's think clear. The latine line? What does it mean?" asked Koko. "That's certainly not a difficult one. It means: who knows the right, is unjustified. Who knows the wrong, is justified. Everyone who wants to come, come to me". "Okay that's nonsense, who would come up with that? The earl yeah, a stupid noah." said Koko. Koko would go on damning the evil of the world, of humans, of excorsists,etc. but before he continued, Legno interuppted him. "Koko you're so, great. You like the fire who puts my candle in fire. Of course, this is earl and noah talking." "And what are you going to do about it" asked Koko. "Okay this is what we are going to do. The line, we mumbled, we are going to switch the words in a logical order. The line we'll say, is..." "No need to explain that, I am not that dumb" replied Koko. "Okay let's go" said legno. Koko and Legno started to mumble: "qui cogit iustus, iustus est, qui cogit malus, malus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum." Koko and Legno, hoped this would work, and it worked. Echoes were sounding in the darkness:"qui cogit iustus, iustus est, qui cogit malus, malus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum.qui cogit iustus, iustus est, qui cogit malus, malus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum.qui cogit iustus, iustus est, qui cogit malus, malus est. omnis, qui veni voluntam veni meum." A light appeared." Legno and Koko saw the light. "Let's go to the light" said legno. Legno and Koko walked towards the light, and as soon as they stepped into the light leaving the dark room. Legno and Koko couldn't believe their eyes.

There they stood, in the middle of wood. Straight ahead a light. "I remember this. It was due to my attention to the light in the forest, we got seperated. I was walking this forest, but couldn't get near to that light. It was like an endless walk to it" "Well now It seems no endless, we're nearing it" said legno. There was one key Koko couldn't solve. 3How did you know to get out of the darkness?" Lengo answered:" easy, that line on the wall was for noah and the earl. They would be pleased to say. What's good is wrong, or what's rong is justified. Complete darkness, it's like a trap. They never would or could say the line we used. Remember this is all made by a noah traitor" said Legno. Koko understood it completely, and was a bit proud the solution was a bit his part. Then, Koko and Legno stood there in front of it, what the light was...

Chapter 64: Breaking The Chains That Bind

Hey guys Its me DS and I have to say that I'm really happy to be writing another chapter for you guys. My chapter will be covering a little bit of everyones fight, also I'm setting a up a huge fight, Lione vs. Jacques. I'd like to thank djmewmew first for taking a long time with her chapter because she let so many d.grayman chapters pass which in turn helped me with my story.

The air was heavy, or maybe he was just tired but Blade could feel fatigue setting in. With each strike of her katana he could feel the weakness setting in his muscles. This could be it...

"Is this all you have exorcist?! Don't make me laugh! Do you want to save your little girlfriend? Is she not precious to you?"

Suddenly with a renewed strength at the mention of Stephanie he stood straight and held his sword firmly with both hands. A faint smiled creeped across the noahs lips as his sword began to glow.

"Oh I see, I hope you know that after I'm done with you I plan on massacring your precious sweetheart." She began circling him looking him over reading his body language, after all she spoke the language fairly well and from what she was hearing if she wanted a remote challenge she would have to make this guy really angry. "Yes I plan on it, maybe I'll keep you alive long enough to see it too. Oh YES! That is it, watching her die slowly right in front of your eyes. I can't Ima-"

A fiery swipe cut the air beside Magier, singeing a few strands of stray hair. Magier slashed back quickly only to meet the Bookmans sword. "Don't you even begin to think of harming her!" Blade swung his sword sending an icy blast in Magier's direction she swung her sword negating his blast with her own.

"Your starting to get on my nerves pretty boy!"

Blade stood there pondering how the hell would he would be able to take a Noah down by himself

"You Can't." Magier siad to herself.

Stephanie was flying through the air again, her sister had now thrown her into the church above headquarters. She fell on her back sending a thick cloud of dust in the air.

"Sister dearest, looks like you have become to dependant on that boy to help you out." She walked closer to Stephanie "Yes, I am all you have and I have to say fraternizing with him has made you soft and WEAK!" Stephanies twins face became sinister and demented she aimed her hand at Stephanie and sent her surge of green ribbons at her malevolently.

Stephanies ribbbons wrapped around her tightly protecting her from the piercing green ribbons, but then her sister wrapped her ribbons around Stephanie and sent her flying again towards the pews. The ribbons around her released and they began to spiral as she spinned. The long ribbons began to make the whole room cloudy with dust as one of the long ribbons knocked a pew in the evil twins direction.

The Twin used her ribbons to cushion the blow but it knocked her to the round. Then a ribbon flew through the cloud of dust and penetrated her. "Unh!"

"Sister it looks like you are the one getting weak. Maybe working for evil has made you weak."

Stephanie stood over the squirming body of her sister "!!!" The body of her sister began to move violently and then burst into a rush of ribbons rushing in her direction. One of them grabbing her around the neck.

"HahahahahAHAHAHAHA!" the twin cackled as she stepped into Stephanies view "Your weakness is pitiful sister!" She raised the exorcist into the air as she struggled to break free.

Amaterasu rolled a giant rock off of him cursing those little brats. He got up and looked at the collapsed entrance shaking his head he decided that the only way he could get those little bitches were too go around to the main entrance which was in the city in a dilapidated church. He stepped out of the collapsed tunnel and into a small grassy clearing in the forest. The sun was shining between the branches of the trees before him. He walked a few more steps until

"Eeeeeeergh!" Amaterasu sat down on a big rock and pulled off his shoes revealing his bare feet, he tipped the shoes over and shook out a giant rock, he went to go put his shoes on but then decided against it "I think going barefoot is a good idea." Amaterasu put both feet on the ground and began his walk into the city. The trip would be pretty long and people might find him a bit suspicious, but he was a Noah anyone get too close and they would turn to dust it was simple. "All that would be left would be dust and nobody will think anything of it, they'll probably just think they were kidnapped or ran away." It wasn't the first time something like this has happened.

"Hello sir!" waved a little girl with curly blonde hair, and big brown eyes.

Amaterasu waved back at her smiling

"Oh yes I have made quite a few people go phantom, It's almost a shame she was my favorite."

Amaterasu reached the edge of the forest, only a silhouette visible through the suns strong beams, behind him lay a desert wasteland.

"Flames, The drug I injected you with should stop the ice from reaching your heart. I'll back you up." Ying stood at Flames side ready to back him up.

Flames staggered to his feet the ice on his arm throwing him slightly off balance. He looked at his arm and saw that the ice had indeed stopped all the way up to his shoulder. He turned to the Noahs pawns, on a normal day they might have earned his sympathy, but today was the anniversary of the day that Poloma and the entire village had been massacred by himself. He was not going to go easy on him.

The fire at the center of the village crackled in the sunsets glow as akuma blood splattered into the flame.

The wolf-man leaped into the air its jaws catching an airborne akuma ripping it into 2 with its ferocious claws spraying blood everywhere, scared women and children cower as the akuma blood shower them.

Flames eyed the 2 opponents it was one on one, his brain quickly drew up a map of the space they were in, he then figured that both he and Ying were at a disadvantage. They were in a pretty wide hallway, but the Noah pawns had that girl with the gun who would be able to do alot of damage. Also he was sure that they knew the abilities of both Ying and himself and he only knew the girls abilities. Flames gnashed his teeth as his tattoos flared and he howled ferally.

Madeline picked herself up and leaned into a pole in the room, the poison was still working through her system and that man had bruised her real good. If she had her way he would be pushing up daisies. The room was filled with high tension, the girl with wings was fighting the guy who had poisoned and beat her up and Lione was fighting the Noah. Those two were obviously the most powerful in the room. Lione opened his mouth and something, what it was she could not hear because she fell unconcious

"Rivnak, oh what did you expect? Love? I hope not, because that would make you far less attractive than I can imagine."

Uriel was his name now the Amiti she knew was dead, gone and never to return. Rivnak tried her best to activate her innocence but her emotion was too strong. Grief swept through her and her knees buckled beneath her and she fell to the floor. Rivnak remembered the first time she felt the little twinge in her heart when Amiti had given her the ring, hot streams of tears rolled down her cheeks as she remembered when he was in the library researching Pandoras Box and how she daydreamed about the adventure of opening the box together. It was all gone. dashed together with Amiti and all that was left was Uriel.

Blade was frustrated, every attack he had used was ineffective.

"What happened to that fire you had a moment ago exorcist? Did I douse it already?" Magier dragged the edge of her sword in the dirt, kicking it up and swiped at Blade making him blind to her attacks for the time being and slashed him across the chest his blood spraying her in her face taking her previously innocent visage an turning it deranged and psychopathic. Magier stood above him her eyes full of glee but her mouth unsmiling "I am beginning to think you like this, does that girl do this to you as well? HAHAHAHAHAA!".

Blade laid there wondering when it was she was going to kill him, but then he remembered her threat to kill Stephane before his eyes make him watch her suffer and the life leaving her eyes. His eyes began to burn and and his sword began to glow.

"!" Magier saw his sword glowing and decided to finish him off, and slashed towards his head, but he blocked her and threw her back.

"I will protect Stephanie with every breathe I take, because I love her" Blades sword began to shine real bright

"Like a weak exorcist like you can kill ME!"

Blade took his sword and charged at the Noah, she steadied herself for the the blow. When their sword clashed it pushed her back and Blade parried her attack and swiped at her feet making her jump into the air. He stopped midswipe and turned the blade ready to do a rising swipe, she noticed and brought her katana down to block but since she was in the air still he sent her flying.

"What are you planning EXORCIST!" Magier screamed as she vaulted higher and higher in the air

"You'll see!" Blade jumped high, still below Magier but both were still ascending "LEVEL 5!!!" Blade aimed his sword at Magiers Body and 5 rays of light shot ou of it creating a ring around her suspending her in the ring . There were 5 swords each embodying a different element. The air around the first sword swirled, the second one flickered with fire, the next shimmered like water, the fourth crackled with lightning, and the last was made of earth. Blade was still rising and he swiped at Magiers suspended body with his spent sword then he appeared next to the wind sword and slashed her from the left, he grabbed the water sword and swiped her from the right, then he began swiping her with all five swords in succession and at a rapid rate hitting her from all directions. He then grabbed the spent sword as all the swords began to coalesce and become one again and with that Blade smacked her into the ground. He then floated motionless for a few seconds and then desended.

He landed next to the small crater with the Noah at the center thinking that he had won, until he heard crunching footsteps coming from the crater.

"Wow! That would have really hurt too bad you were moving so fast that you didn't see that I used my sword to block almost all of your real damaging attacks."
She lifted up the all that was left of her sword, "Only the Tsuka and a stump of the Blade, This was a very special gift and there is only one person in the world who can fix this."

"Hephaestus?!" Blade whispered with almost all of his strength

"Oh you know him? Thats not him though, The person who will fix my sword is his great great great great great...granddaughter."

With that Blade passed out.

Stephanie stuggled to break free as she dangled in the air from her twins ribbons. Both of her hands gripped the ribbon trying to get it to release its hold on her.Both of her own ribbons dangled down to the floor Stephanie thinking of a way for her to break free.

"Sister, oh dear sister my sympathy for you is waning. I keep hoping that you would be strong enough to fight me by yourself, but you dissapoint me time and time again." the evil twin was increasing the pressure of the ribbons. "I think that I might just out you out of your misery!"

A red ribbon shot up through a crack in the wooden floor and severed the green ribbon holding Stephanie up in the air, she fell on her hands and knees as she gasped for air. Another ribbon flew through another crack in the wall aiming for the twins head but she ducked and charged at stephanie her ribbons forming into a sword. Stephanie then released a flourish of red through the floor sending her downwards toward the base except a green ribbon flew upand wrapped itself around her ankle and pulled her along into the pitfall.

Flames rushed toward the two, he zig-zagged so that any shot the girl would use wouldn't be a critical hit. She pulled the trigger but not at Flames but at Ying. She stood still but before it hit her she flickered just feet away.

"Damn she's fast! Do something about her Ralphi!"

Raphael charged only to meet Flames in the way, he blocked the attack and was kicked back towards Gabrielle. "Savage, I hope you know you're not long for this world!" Raphael opened his coat revealing more hand-axes "Don't worry about me going easy on you!" He threw the axe in his hand and Flames ducked to the side Ying ran forward caught it and went to throw it back at its owner, but it instead sent 5000 volts of electricity through her body, except the only appearance of injury was a slight wince as she sent it flying. At the same time Flames ran forward readying a powerful electric attack for Gabrielle.

Raphael caught the axe and released it again this time aiming it at Flames. Ying runs forward only to have two axes sent into her direction, she dodged them with the grace of a ballerina and the skill of an experienced fighter and leaped over Raphael and she felt one of the axes in her side, she just winced again and kept running.

"Haaaaah! You have a high threshold for pain but you can keep running those axes are attracted to a special electro-magnetic charge that I have placed in you so you can keep running but it'll come after you!"

Flames screamed as the axe hit him, He fell to the ground in pain. He looked at his frozen arm only to see that it had shattered. The pain was blinding, but he had no time he had just one chance to help Ying. He charged his spear with electrical current until it was crackling then he hurtled it toward Raphael. He had made a mistake, when he thought he had won. He like every other typical bad guy revealed his plan when he thought victory was sure. So Flames decided to change the electro-magnetic charge on the axes by using his Spear. As the the spear flew it passed the axes turning their charges and have it follow the spear instead of Ying, and the spear was headed towards...

"Bastard YOU DIDN'T!" Raphael ran for his life towards the exit that 'The Savage' had used to let the researchers escape they were moving faster then Raphael and he thought that he never would have made it, until he didn't. The spear pierced his leg and pinned him to the wall, his back to the axes that would soon end his life. Then 2 shots were heard and the 2 axes fell to the ground frozen.

Ying pulled out the axe in her back as she looked at Flames who passed out from the pain.

"Looks like it's just me and you ugly." Gabrielle said as her white dress swayed from a non-existant breeze

Rivnak stood up as her wings burst through the back of her uniform. Each feather glowing in the darkness

"I will kill you Uriel. For killing Amiti I will have you dead at my feet."

"You kill me? I would like to see you try." Amiti charged at her his gloves glowing. He punched the spot where Rivnak was just moments ago, but she flapped her wings and left the ground. A small crater was left in the spot where Amiti had struck. He looked up at her and grinned "Darling, no need to be afraid I'll make sure it'll be quick!" Amiti leaped into the air next to Rivnak surprising her "Whats wrong? Does the difference scare you? I told you we are 2 different people Amiti and I" and with that Uriel kicked Rivnak into a wall that lead into the library. He landed and jumped through the hole rolling across a pile of books that had been knocked over when Rivnak crashed through.

"I was holding back." the sound was coming from everywhere

"Pffffft This immature."

"I thought that you maybe, would still be there Amiti that is, but I know one thing for sure that Amiti wouldn't hit me"

"Oh please! You barely knew him! I thought you were the least feminine girl and I didn' think you would be so sensitive"

"Don't give me that bull! Just because I'm independant doesn't mean that I don't believe in love!"

"Hmph! Where are you?" Amiti's eyes were now dodging through the library looking for an oncoming attack. The books under him began to slide under his feet knocking him over. "!"

A gust of wind filled the library all of the books began to lift slowly as one of the bookcases blocked the hole the 2 came from creating a gale in the room. Pages scattered eveywhere and at the center of it all stood Rivnak. "This is a ring I have created, it has some feathers in it and if I throw you against it you'd be shred to pieces."

"Looks like your finally serious about dying."

Lione stood heaving, his exorcist coat had a giant hole in it. He ripped it off of himself and threw it to the side. He was feeling agitated and his hangover was still pounding at his head like someone hitting the bongos.

"Well if you won't give up!" Jacques rushed Lione, however Lione sidestepped his attack and tapped his shoulder, Jacques swiped at himbut Lione ducked and pulled Jacques feet from under him, Lione went to punch Jacques head, but he rolled to the side before he could. Both rushed to their feet. "You are definitely better than me at hand to hand combat, Koen-ken with some of the Hagakure style, am I right?"

"Your sharp, but I hope your quick wits can keep up with my speed."

"Don't worry about me, I'd worry about yourself first!" Jacques heat up the air inside the dark chamber and walked toward Lione. "Looks like you're having a hard time breathing, is the air to hot? Maybe it'll be able to burn your lungs." Jacques walked even closer, Lione was staggering and he collapsed facedown. On his bare back was a rather large tattoo, the tattoo was black and the writing was:

Is Quisnam Permoveo Ut Manus manus Of Deus

"He who moves as the hand of God...blasphemus, how dare you as an exorcist believe YOU are acting in the name of GOD!"

Lione laughed as the air cooled, the tattoo on his back was changing form the letters were changing as the ink swirled over his back forming new words.

"Thats quite rude, you trash."

On Liones back the ink formed and said

[highlight]FUCK YOU NOAH![/highlight]

The ink slid off Liones back and went towards Jacques, he moved away from Lione as he moved Lione got to his feet. The ink slid back onto Lione. "I think I'm ready to use my Innocence against you" Lione leaped into the air and dropped his leg down the ink on his leg. Jacques jumped to the side as Liones leg cracked the ground where Jacques had been moments ago. Lione wasn't letting up he kicked a piece of debris into the air and shot it at Jacques with his other leg. Jacques dispersed its molecules turning it into air but Lione was already in his face, he kicked him in the side of his head but Jacques grabbed his leg and started his Coup de Grace which sent Lione a surge of unbelievable pain.

"You see, all I need to do is touch you and your dead."

Lione used a rush or strength to launch the Noah off his leg and sent him tumbling "Shadow Eclipse" The ink swallowed Liones entire body

"I think this might help against that ability of yours."

The air heated up again "Try what you want, it'll be futile" Jacques grinned as he used the air around him to melt the floor creating molten lava.

Lione had a hard time breathing as the air became so hot that it felt like one deep breath might melt his lungs.

"I only have one ability that can counter this." Lione whispered to himself as Jacques' passive face looked upon his passive face that he was holding diligently.

"Shadow Rave" The ink that covered Liones body sunk into his pores and appeared in his eyes turning them black "I have saturated my blood with my Innocence now you will get to see my ability at its finest." Spikes rolled down Liones back as he shot them towards Jacques, Lione charged as the Noah used the air he heated into a blast that shot them back towards Lione. Lione ducked but a tentacle wrapped itself around Jacques.

"What is this?!"

"Your face is finally showing a little emotion, its relieving because I was starting to wonder if you had any face muscles. This power is a special ability that not many get to witness. I use my Ink to suck up akuma, the ink destroys all of the akuma and uses the blood to replicate the akumas abilities."

"Shadow Rave"

The whole port turned into quicksand and all of the akuma sunk beneath it, as they did so did the body of Julia.

"I'm sorry Julia" As the entirety of akuma and finders sunk under the sand Lione turned the port back into normal

"I just hope it doesn't effect my memory again" as Lione contained his Innocence again he fell to the floor.

I hope you enjoyed my chapter. I personally think that I didn't translate it as well as I could have from my head to the screen.

I have one request I want Flames to be captured and maybe even Blade. If anyone else wants to be captured I have no prob.

I'd like to thank Magier for being the greatest writer I have ever known and I'd like to say many thanks to Snoogen for posting my chapter. If it wasn't for her I'd be reading the chapters and not contributing. Also I hope I didn't ruin anybody's plans, and one more thing Flames arm is gone shattered into millions of pieces of ice.

Bye everyone! :bye

Author’s note:

I’m not too sure on how to progress the other chapters… so as to play safe…
If anything is messed up or not correct, pls post

To get electrocuted, a person has to touch the source of electrocution and be in contact with the ground to complete the circuit

and onto the short (really) story

Heaving the unconscious Flames awkwardly, Ying turned towards a collapsed wall which revealed the night sky. Gabriel was striding menacing towards her targets, her shadow stretching across the corridor as she passed a frozen and glistering shattered window.
Gabriel: Do not interfere, brat.
Gabriel muttered with annoyance as she swung her rifle towards a figure slightly visible beneath the exorcist, and fired a shell without warning, freezing the spot where Ying and Flames stood.
As the mist from the cold shot cleared, Gabriel frowned and turned towards the broken window, glaring at a shadow suspended and swinging along the roof of the opposite tower.
Without taking aim, she threw two shots, crackling and freezing the roof into a shade of silver as they missed their target.
Gabriel cursed spitefully as her preys escaped through a window.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Flashing under the illumination of the full moon, Ying ran down the winding stairs as Flames started to stir.
Flames: … I’m fine to move about.
Ying: We will meet up with the intruders with your current pace.
Flames: … what about the medical teams? Did you fight the enemies back there…?
Ying: They had evacuated safely. The intruders are not worth the battle; this place has long fallen, at least for now…all that is left is to regroup from this internal collapse.
Flames: …! But, Lione and the others…! –
Ying: Do not talk or move.
Ying stopped abruptly in her tracks while Flames leaned heavily onto the wall of the narrow stairway as rushed footsteps and arguments echoed.
Ying: Black Tribulation – Eclipse

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

???: –I just said it wasn’t my fault!! Those dogs ran!!
???: yeah, so, how’re we going to report? “Darling Gabriel was too frail to finish off a half-dead exorcist and brat”—?
Gabriel: so why weren’t you able to wrap up the job in the first place!? Anyway, we’ve got what we wanted and those small fries can do nothing in the face of Jaques-sama’s plans.
Raphael: That innocence was skewered into yours truly!! You did less than nothing, ehh—?
Gabriel: *glares—*
Michael: Big talk coming from someone who’s getting a free ride… if you two kids would stop bickering; we would have reached Jaques-sama sooner. I will personally dispose of the scum who dares lay a single finger on Jaques-sama.
Raphael: -- now, what have we found~?

Flames lay sprawled on the narrow pathway in the distance, motionless. Ying was sitting at the shadowed junction, staring blankly at her knees.
Raphael mused.
Raphael: Perfect timing! The savage is dead as you can see, and the trash is as good as dead. Would you like to observe the grand finale, Gabriel?
Gabriel: No thanks; I’m in white today, play flashy after we’re out of sight. I’ll make you eat you words and more if you’d fail.
Gabriel deadpanned as she strides away.
Michael: Let me deal with the savage, Jaques-sama will be the one to pass judgment onto this defiant soul.
Michael added and dragged Flames by the back collar, following Gabriel.
Raphael: Don’t just take your time! Or you’ll get in the way!!
The two guardians nonchalantly passed the impatient axe man into the unseen distance.

Kneeling low and grappling his axe handle with both hands, Raphael prepared to lunge at an unmoving Ying.
Ying: So it was the gloves you wear… I wonder if you were to know what could happen if you don’t have them on…
Raphael: --? There isn’t a need for a corpse to know!!
Landing his axe blade down behind him, Raphael aggressively circled through the ground twice.
Ying whispered monotonously behind Raphael as he swung an upward slash down the narrow corridor.
Ying: That is true. This is nothing special, but do you know of dead possums?
Raphael felt uncountable surges of bolts through his body before looking back. The charges roar from his missed blow and electrocution, sending multitudes of shockwaves across the corridor, engraving deeply at the surrounding slates of granite.
Tiptoeing on one foot on a torn piece of fabric, Ying stared impassively at the uncontrolled jerking of the guardian.

Gabriel: That stuck-up show-off!
Michael: you’re the one to say, after trying to push the blame.
Michael mumbled while trudging an unbreathing Flames behind him.
Gabriel: Did you say something~?
Gabriel piped dangerously sweet.
Michael: No. Nothing at all.

Raphael: …yOU… FilTh…
Raphael growled while crouching low beside his axe, jerking in post-electrocution as he glared wide-eyed at the blurry image of a blood-trenched figure in front of him.
Without warning, Raphael swung his axe at the image, sending the axe flying.
The darkening figure seemed to have leaped and caught the axe mid-air.
???: it won’t work airborne.
In his fading sight, a glimmer of blade sparked, closing in.

PS: some things that might happen by playing dead

the corpses are:
1. left in peace
2. mutilated
3. [situational]

Hey everybody. Sorry about the small (for me XD) wait for this chapter......Pirates of the Caribbean:3.....is distracting........mostly, Will Turner is VERY distracting <3 Also, my teachers are pulling the 'WE"RE WORKING RIGHT UP UNTIL THE END =DDDDDDDDD!!!!!!11!!111!!!" crap. But 'cha Rinvak angst ahead. I've wanted to write this chapter for a while now, but I've always had more.....immediate ideas. I'm actually glad I waited, this is the perfect spot to stick this in. Partially inspired by the song "To the Moon and Back" by Savage Garden, though I like the East Clubbers' version better, it contains only the Rinvak-ish part and is much catchier ;3

Theme for Opening + Final - Yellowcard - Way Away http://www.sendspace.com/file/ba40y2

“Looks like you finally serious about dieing”

Wind, feathers, and pages whirled around her. Even as her head continued attempting to reject the concept that Ami-Uriel was the enemy, her heart was already slipping into its defensive state. It simply closed itself off, like it had so many times before.

Theme - Regret - Gackt http://www.sendspace.com/file/gzxpgi
“Mommy, am I evil?”

“Honey, why ever would you think that?”

“Mrs. Richards next door called me it. She said she wouldn’t let me play with Cassie anymore. Mommy, what’s so bad about me?”

“Nothing is wrong with you, my angel.”

“My angel”. Her Mom had always called her that. No, it was only after her 4th birthday her Mom had called her that. That was when the wings had poked out from her back. That was when people started looking at her different. That was when her Mom got sick.

It was tuberculosis that took her Mom away. Slowly. But since it was diagnosed only weeks after her wings had appeared, people began to blame Rinvak. Something that had been the village’s miracle, an angel born on earth, was suddenly a demon in disguise, something here to harm them all. As her Mom ebbed away, Rinvak was shunned more and more. Children who were her friends where told by their parents to stay away. People gave her glares whenever they saw her. They called her things her Mom told her never to repeat. But as sick as she was, her Mom was always there, taking the place of all the friends she’d lost, to comfort her when she came home crying.

She was told that her Mom would probably die, but when your 8 years old, it doesn’t seem possible. That the one who tucks you in, knows how to make your sandwich just right, knows exactly where to tickle to you so you’ll laugh yourself silly, can one day, be gone. It was so sudden. The day before had been one of the rare days she felt well enough to go places. She’d taken Rinvak to into town to buy her a new dress. When they got home though, she’d started to cough up blood. By the next afternoon, she was gone.

After her death, Rinvak’s life became hell. Her Dad became depressed, and began to believe what the village had for a long time. It was Rinvak’s fault. He didn’t beat and hit her, no, he never did anything physical, but the things he said, constantly said, left her heart with scars no one would ever see.
And the death was just the final confirmation of her evilness for the village. The names, the glares, the rejection got 10 times worse. Even the children, being fed a steady stream of “don’t go near her” began to join in. It was cool to play cruel pranks on her, to make her cry. So she closed off her heart

By the time she was 13, she was desperate. She thought about running away, but she had no money, and the first village that wouldn’t know who she was was days away. Even then, what if the people there were just as cruel? And the stupid wings were too small to fly with. She was even being to believe she was evil too. She thought about suicide, but every time she’d try, she’d get scared and chicken out. So she shut down her heart.

By the time she was 14, she was a walking corpse. Her mind was following the heart’s example. Then one day, a woman came to town. She was tall and blond, wearing all black. She had a monkey, which amused the children to no end. But people were a bit wary of her, because half of her face was covered in huge scars. Rinvak was mostly indifferent to her arrival, just like anything else, if anything a little happy because the monkey kept the kids enthralled and away from her for minutes at a time. But Rinvak knew she’d be gone, just like everything else, so she didn’t think about it. But the woman, the woman sought her out instead. One day as Rinvak was sitting on an old rundown dock staring at the sea. She spent a lot of time here, since the dock was falling apart, no one was around to bother her. The woman came down and sat next to her.

“So are you are the one the town’s been talking about.”

“…………” Rinvak kept her eyes locked firmly out to sea.

“They weren’t lying, you’ve really got them!” the woman said, indicating her wings. There was no trace of malice in her voice, just surprise and openness.

“……….” Rinvak had long given up trying to hide them.

“Well, my name is Cloud Nine. What’s yours?”

“………”

“Ok. This is tiresome. Are you going to talk or what?”

“…….What does it matter? You’ll be gone in a couple of days anyway. Just a memory.” Rinvak finally said, her eyes never leaving the horizon. The older woman’s eyes narrowed.

“I can’t stand people like you. Who’ve accepted their sorry state, and don’t strive to get above it. Those wings, they’re something called Innocence. What everyone says about them, is bullshit. With those wings, you can’t fight the real evil in this world, akuma. You’re an exorcist. The Black Order, that’s the organization for exorcists, would love to have you. We need you.” Involuntarily, Rinvak’s eyes swung over to the woman’s face. She was staring intensely back, a look of determination on her face. “You can prove to all these people that you’re more than what they say, prove to yourself. Will you come?” Rinvak so did want to go, to leave this place, be free of this torment…..but this was the only home she had ever known. Could she really leave it? What if everyone was just as cruel, what if this lady was lying? Rinvak looked back up into the woman’s face. No, she wasn’t lying. Her eyes were too passionate, too determined. She really might need her. For someone who had shut down her heart for a couple of years, this idea hurt. But in a way, it was good. She made her decision.

“This…..isn’t my home….anymore. There’s no one here who cares.”

“Well then, how we go find you a new home.” The woman stood up, offered out her hand. Rinvak took it.

“I could never kill myself for myself, but I will die if means protecting those I care about. You, unfortunately, are not one of them anymore.” This time would be different, she’d only shut down part of her heart. No, she wouldn’t shut it down; she’d kill the part of her heart the belonged to Amiti, and bury Uriel with it.

So, didja like it? Rinvak had no past, and I had this one line in my head "Mommy, am I evil?" The rest sorta followed from there. I know we haven't really met Cloud yet, but she came off to me as some who lives life, wears her heart on her sleeve, and is independant. So I wrote her like that. =D I still wanna know more about her <3 School's almost over for me, and my sis's gymnastics schduale is pretty busy (she's like, really good and stuff), so I get the feeling I'll be around a lot this summer. And be a heck of a lot more prompt with my chapters.

Chapter 67 - Two sides of the same coin

Gomen, I could not wait. I promise to study now but I really, really had to finish this chapter >_<

The dawn had broken and dipped the port of Boston into a light red tone. The black shadow who joined the colourful festivity, let the red appear deadly. The shapes of gulls, cawing in the fresh morning breeze, flitted over the stony ground which was discoloured by the foam. The person with the creepy shadow lifted the arm to down a white drink with one gulp, before it raised the gun in the other hand and silenced one of the gulls in an unsavoury manner. White smoke soared up of the barrel and the person who identified as the strange pirate girl Lione had meet in the bar, put the gun back to its familiar place. She looked at the empty bottle, bent her brow, then threw it carelessly away. The bottle landed somewhere between two wooden, lettered boxes at the port and bursted into thousand pieces. The fragments sparkled in the upcoming sunlight and a last, loose drop of rum trickled onto the ground.
"Great", the girl muttered. "everything for nothing."
Her look wandered to a box full of rum that stood right behind her. The voracity for this alluring alcohol mirrored in her dark eyes. Her ala of the nose vibrated when she turned her look towards the sea to resist the desire to drink. But the pirate girl was satisfied with the embosomed sight of the water in front of her, her second love besides rum.

"Maybe...just almost for nothing", the female pirate added. "He sent me to Boston to find an important box -How was it called? Ah yeah, something with pandora...- and then, he orders me today's morning to retreat cause the business with the box is already settled. Why did I went through whole Boston then?" She sighed.
"In the end, I wouldn't have found it anyway, so it doesn't matter. But he should know that walking on land is a doing I am loath to do. However..."
A happy yet astute look appeared on her face when she recalled last evening.
"However, being on land has also some good sides. He was really cute, I hope I can meet him again one day. The day, when everything is over."

A sudden rumble wake her up from day dreaming and caused her hat to fall to ground. When she bent down to lift and brush the dust off, her look wandered to an away area at the edge of the city called Boston. From her knowledge, the girl remembered an old, abandoned church to be placed there. Her eyes narrowed when she kept staring into that direction. She was obviously interested in the event that was going on there but she had other things to accomplish first.
"Akuma...huh? I wonder what is going on there but I have no time left", the girl said and took out some records she had produced. The old paper blew in the upcoming wind before the pirate put them away again, hiding them in her dark-red coat.
She stepped forward, moving towards the sea. Right in front of the water whose foam sprayed against her black shoes, the pirate adjusted her hat. The remaining gulls flew away as if they felt danger approaching. Two fingers of her right hand touched her lips and a whistling sound echoed over the port and faded away when crossing the endless sea. Slowly, then quickening, bubbles appeared on the surface of the water. The splutter of it was the only sound that broke the silence. A smile on the face of the girl disclosed misfortune, misfortune to everyone who dared to fight her.

Within seconds, a figurehead, then a first mast, finally the whole keel emerged on the water surface until the ship was noticeable in its whole glory. It had just appeared out of nowhere. A person who was not familiar with this phenomenon, might had screamed. The pirate looked at her pride an joy. Her own barque, a ship with three main masts. From its appearance, it looked like a normal wooden ship but once the captain entered it, it changed into its other form. A form that perfectly fitted to the pirate's emblem, the "Jolly Roger", also known as the common pirate flag.
The ship was made of shapely, black painted wood, scaled some sizably metres, white sails blew in the wind and a figurehead that resembled a beautiful woman with a dove in the one and a saber in the other hand, decorated the bow. The foremast and the mainmast were rigged with three sails, the mizzen mast, which was placed abaft, with a lateen sail.

A rope suddenly landed in front of the girl. But when she grasped it, the threads began to loosen and to disengage a little. However, the female pirate did not seem to care about this fact and entered the ship at once. Her hand caught a hold of the wooden railing and with a jump full of verve, she landed on the deck.
"Well, well...it seems as if we have to set sails and turn our backs to this city, you malodorous landmen", the girl said while unbending.
She stared into the faces of several Akuma but among them were also some humans, southerners who seemed to be less scared of the strange creatures than normal people from country and city. It was an implicitness for people who wanted to be hired in this crew. The encounter with the despair and the stubbornness of the world and its result, the Akuma, was inevitable.
"Get this ship out of the bay!", the girl ordered.
"Aye, Captain Anlen!"

Anlen did not let herself ruffle when the excitement behind her back got under way but she slowly moved towards the figurehead. Every single step she took, let the wood under her feet cracking. Her hand slowly caressed the railing. Strangely, it began to rot until it reduced to the shape of bones. Her skin darkened and crosses appeared on her forehead, halfway covered from her light green hair. The ship was about to transform into its hidden look. The figurehead was not exempted from the metamorphosis. It lost all its beauty and a skeleton superseded. The whole ship condemned its unique glory and embraced the aspect of a ghost ship. Raddled black sails, rotten wood and bony elements asigned the creepy guise. It was a curse. A curse that just rested on the captain. Bound to the ship and an imposed thraldom that had taken her freedom as pirate away, Anlen was not able to enjoy the gorgeousness of her once beautiful pride. Nonetheless, she still regarded it. Actually, it had the same functions as a normal pirate ship, owned the same solidity, even surpassed that of a normal ship although the appearance of it might cause viewers to be beset by doubts.

A little marine animal, obviously a crustacean, fell out of her hair and dropped onto the bony railing. A hand squashed it like a bug, grasped and led it to the mouth. A cracking sound echoed through the rush of the crew who prepared everything for departure when Anlen broke the shell of the poor small animal with her teeth, then spitted the remains out.
"Maybe...", Anlen said. "It is not as bad as it seems. After all, the sense in being a pirate is to spread fear and terror. With this...", she knocked the railing and some chippings broke away. "...I will certainly scare my opponents."
Anlen's look lost fortitude when she stared at the floor where some of the slim remains of the railing spent their existence. The corner of her mouth quirked and her figure almost slumped down but she kind of managed to keep her countenance.
"Fear and terror...", she mumbled and approached her cabin which lay, as it befitted the captain, at the back of the ship but not before signifying her crew not to disturb her unless a heavy storm was coming up. Anlen opened the door to her cabin and revealed a room full of books, maps, burning candles and a host of bottles full of rum spreat over the whole ground. The captain kicked an empty bottle carelessly away and collapsed into a chair which was almost completely buried under tons of papers, bottles and other indefinable items. She took out the records from earlier and observed them for a little while.
"I wonder why he needs those documents", she finally said.

Magier stepped towards the unconscious bookman who had hoped to be able to beat the creepy Noah. Unfortunately, his wish did not come true. The female Noah looked at her broken sword and a slightly disgusted face was mirrored in the blade's remains. She put away the fragments with caution, then scowled at the Bookman who was lying in the dust of the fight anew. She approached Blade with sinister steps and every footfall contained her disgust for humans. Just the look of such a pitiful human made her sick, this and the fact that the bookman in front of her owned a better relationship with his beloved than she did with Jaques.
"It's absolutely sickening", she screamed and collared the boy. "Why does everyone have luck in life except of me?!"

It was quite obvious that Blade would not respond since he had fallen in a faint, nonetheless his silence made the girl angrier and angrier until she finally stroke in his face. Magier's annoyed gasping just stopped when a desperate smile took the place of it. She seemed to calm down a bit but it was just appeared outwardly, she did a slow burn and inwardly disintegrated.
For a short moment, silence occured but it were broken by a melancholic song.

"Bookman, the trash of humanity...I love to strangle, to kill, to tear them.
Bookman, the vermins of all living beings...aren't even worth to be pitied.
Kill them, tear them, strangle them, viscerate them, play with them.
Send them to hell, let them betray."

Magier bent forward while singing and crows began to gather around her left arm. She collared Blade with her right arm as strong as she wanted to choke him to death here and now. The eye-patch that had covered her injured eye, came loose and revealed a horrible scar that crossed it.

"God, those cowards...their time keeps running away.
Like the blood that flows out of their dead bodies.
Bookman, the trash of humanity...I love to strangle, to kill, to tear them.
Bookman, the vermins of all living beings...aren't even worth to be pitied..."

The crows departed from Magier's arm with a horrible cry that sent chills down the spine. Long, sharp claws sparkled in the upcoming light of the day. Claws, that directly pointed at Blades throat, then began to wander downwards until they had reached his stomach.
"Where to begin? Since you've destroyed my beloved weapon, I think I have to use my hands to rip your intestines and every single vital organ out of you." Magier laughed. "It's a shame that you can't experience this. It's so much fun. However, it makes definitely more dirt than a sword."

Magier was about to ram her claw into Blade's body when she felt the stony ground under her feet crumbling. A "Tse!" flashed over her lips before she jumped back with Blade in tow and landed on a more steadier ground of the street. Her look passed along the street until she could figure the reason for interruption out. She stood up, the poor Blade still collared with the right hand and the claws threateningly clicking.

"What do you want here, Amaterasu?", anger resonated in her voice. "You should not interrupt me. It's for your own sake."
Amaterasu stepped forward. Every footfall caused the ground to crumble and a trace of decay lay behind them. A cloud of death resembling the curse of nothingness the Noah had brought upon it, floated above the city behind his back. A crazy smile underlined the scenario.

"You know that Jaques would not like too see this Bookman viscerated like a rotting carcass", Amaterasu responded. "Moreover, it's a disgusting thing a girl like you should not do."
"What do you know about me, huh? You're just interested in yourself", Magier rejoined.
"I know more about you as you can imagine, darling."

Arghs, I hope you can imagine how the ship of Anlen looks like although my description of it is kinda...lame. It's really hard to write about a ship's appearance but imagine it in the head is easy.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Destiny Dances as Death Watches

Author’s Notes: Pre-reading

I lie; I am posting it today. Might as well do it now before everything goes crazy for me.

I always wanted to do a title involving the word “dance” but I couldn’t think of the other words. Suddenly, I had this great idea to use alliteration and well, this title is hard to say really fast. Try it and you’ll understand.

There is nothing special in this chapter except the continuation of the battles. I hope you enjoy though and I’m positive that this one is not as long as Chapter Sixty In fact, it’s only a third of the length :amuse

Once again, ++++++++++++++++++ separates the sub-arcs/battles.

Enjoy!

Part One

Stephanie frantically tried to dig her hands into the wall as she fell into the pitfall. If the long trip in the elevator taught her anything, it would be that it would be a long and painful fall. Despite her effort to slow down her descent, she couldn’t get a firm grip. The exorcist stared down, straining her eyes to see her sister who was much further down.

Upon spotting the Akuma, the girl angled her body, quickening her plunge. If she was going to crash, she might as well do as much damage to her enemy as much as possible. As if she was sensing her plan, her twin sent her green ribbons to greet her. Stephanie dodged them and counterattacked with her own until they locked onto their target.

Using her Innocence, she dragged herself closer to her twin and punched her opponent’s stomach. However, due the close proximity, the Akuma was able to strike back resulting in the exorcist get slapping in the face. “Stephanie” laughed as her hand connected to her sister’s face, “Did you really think I would take it without any kind of response? Bitch please!”

The exorcist rubbed her cheek and laughed. “Of course I didn’t. I’m your sister so I didn’t expect less of you.” She slammed her head into the Akuma’s face and kicked her stomach as she pushed herself away. They had reached the critical point and she had to brace herself for the crash. Stephanie encircled her ribbons around her, hoping that she had enough to cushion the fall.

Part Two

:: CRASH :: Despite her best effort, the exorcist still felt impact of the fall. Still, it was better than splattering on the floor. As she got up, Stephanie summoned her ribbons to separate and examined her body. Her hands were bloody from her desperate attempts to stay on the land while she had bruises and cuts from her fight.

She quickly wiped her hands on her uniform and turned her attention to the surroundings. The dusts were slowly clearing up and the sight that awaited her made it difficult for her to breathe. Rotting corpses of Finders and staff members infected with Akuma virus laid on the ground. At that moment, she was grateful that she did not eat any breakfast for she would have thrown up by now. Seeing this was making her recall painful memories that she wanted to repress.

As she leaned again the wall, she reasoned, “Just breathe. Everything will be okay.” After she calmed down, she studied the area in order to locate her sister. The last time she saw the Akuma, she had pushed her opponent against the elevator shaft. Common sense would lead her to believe that her twin would be around that vicinity.

Walking to the area proved to be more of a pain than walking in the male dormitory. Stephanie had to be careful not to step on the bodies of her fallen comrades and the debris from an earlier battle blocked her way to the shaft. When she arrived at the site, she cautiously moved the rubble. Any sound caused her to become more alert and her ribbons were ready for any surprise attack.

Upon removing all the debris, Stephanie was puzzled. The Akuma should have been around the elevator shaft but there was no presence of it. The impact should have injured her twin but where could she have gone?

Part Three

“Looking for me, sister?” came a voice from behind her. Before she could attack, a green ribbon wrapped around her neck and slammed her against the elevator shaft. More ribbons were wrapping around her as the Akuma approached her. “Did you forget that as an Akuma I have abilities that no humans have? Like I can fly? Or the fact that I can’t get hurt or die from a simple fall?”

She tugged at the exorcist’s hair and giggled. “Lady Magier asked me to bring her a rare exorcist doll so she could rub it into Lady Road’s face that she actually obtain and manage to keep one. I offered you as a sufficient toy.” The Akuma turned her sister’s face towards her and whispered in the girl’s ear, “However, I never did promise that what condition I would give you to her.”

She threw her sister into the interior part of the shaft and pushed the elevator button. Stephanie could hear the gears of the machine working and stared above. The elevator was now coming down and if she didn’t react fast, she would be crushed. She turned to her other part who was grinning. “Isn’t it amazing that this elevator is able to work after all this mess? The Black Order is truly amazing with all its technology.”

Stephanie began struggling as she tried to get out of the Akuma’s grip. Her ribbons were tangled with her opponent’s weapons so it would require some time and concentration to get them out. By that time, the elevator would have already arrived. She heard clapping and turned in the sound’s direction. “If you make it out of this bind, maybe I’ll give you to my mistress in one piece. However, I can’t promise you that she’ll treat you well. She does have a habit of breaking things once she’s bored with them.”

As the elevator came closer, Stephanie closed her eyes and began concentrated. She had no choice but to use the only alternative at hand.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Part Four

Magier stared at her brother angrily. How dare he ruin her fun! But more importantly, how dare he claim that he knew her! The Noah still had not released her grip on the Bookman and she still heard his shallow breathing. This deeply upsetted her more but before she could do anything, else she felt someone pry her arms away from her prey.

“Magier dear, I already told you that we can’t kill him. Rough him up, yes. But kill him, no!” scolded Amaterasu as he separated his sister from her opponent. He felt her nails digging into his skin and clenched his teeth. His eyes met her glare and his face turned dark. “Don’t take out your anger on me, brat. Unlike Jacques, I won’t have problem punishing you.” He swung her to the ground hard and watched as she slid until she stopped.

The girl lifted her body off the ground. She was sore from the battle but this rough treatment from her own brother was worse. She wiped the blood off her lips and muttered, “Just because we’re siblings doesn’t mean that I don’t have to kill you.” Amaterasu just stared at her blankly and laughed. “You wouldn’t dare do that. After all, we’re key components in the Duke Millennium’s plan.”

Part Five

He breathed a sigh of relief once he realized that he had successfully knocked some sense into Magier’s head. Today was already stressful enough and the last thing he needed was inner strife within the family. The Noah walked towards the Bookman who was now lying in a sea of his blood. Damn it, he thought. We’ll have to heal him up or else we might lose vital information.

“So what should we do with him?” came a voice that snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to his sister and demanded, “You’re the one who broke him. Fix him up yourself!” He turned to walk away, mumbling, “Because of you, I’m losing precious time exorcist hunting especially the pretty girls.” Magier rolled her eyes and whispered, “Go ahead and leave. The church is down that hill. Besides unlike you, I’m not stopping my siblings from having fun.”

Part Six

“Greetings Lord Amaterasu, Lady Magier,” said a figure as it approached both the Noah, thus preventing another argument. The Level 5 Akuma was limping towards her masters and Amaterasu decided to stay a bit longer. Usually these models didn’t get hurt that easily so he was curious about what caused this change.

Magier grinned at the Akuma. This meant only one thing—it had successfully completed its mission and she couldn’t wait to hear it. As she pointed to Blade, she demanded, “Where is my doll? I wanted to cut it up right in front of him.” The Akuma raised her bloodstained hands and replied, “She went bye, bye.”

The Noah began to giggle hysterically, frightening her kin who was distancing himself away from her. She began dancing around the Bookman’s body, singing some randomness about how she killed his love. Amaterasu was getting a headache just listening to it and placed his hands on his forehead. As he started to shake his head disapprovingly, he looked up and screamed, “Magier, look out!”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Part Seven

Green ribbons shot out and struck the dancing Noah’s side. Magier turned angrily at the Akuma as she held her waist. The Akuma appeared to be struggling against an unknown force. “Lady Magier…” it began and pointed her finger to the church. The Noah strained her eyes and noticed an exhausted figure, leaning against its wall.

Stephanie was panting as she tried her best to control her sister. She had never tried this attack before so she was grateful that it actually worked. She recalled how she manipulated the threads of her red ribbons into entering those of her twin. Her Innocence stealthily moved along the green ribbons until they came into contact with the Akuma. Then, they infiltrated her enemy’s body until she had complete control of her enemy.

The exorcist was grateful that she managed to master this technique in time. Not only was she able to escape from getting slammed by an elevator but she was able to make it back up in time before that Noah did anything to Blade.

Part Eight

Magier squinted her eyes and smirked as she noticed the tiny red strands connecting the two sisters. I underestimated her, she thought. The entire time I thought she was some fragile exorcist. She turned to the fallen Bookman and mocked, “Usually, it’s the girl who needs the rescuing, not the boy.” She licked her lips and continued, “It looks like you might be able to see me kill your girl.” The Noah tried to pick up her broken sword only to have the Akuma’s ribbons push it further away.

“Akuma! Why aren’t you fighting back,” the Noah screamed angrily. The Akuma shook violently as she pleaded, “I’m trying, Mistress!” “Stephanie” felt her black blood, oozing from the back of her head down her body. The pain and this out of body sensation were unbearable but she was trying desperately to regain control. After that, she would make her sister suffer for what she did.

Magier was getting annoyed at the Akuma. It was clearly obvious that the Akuma was not trying hard enough. The battle with the Bookman and her spat with Amaterasu had clearly taken their toll on her for she was panting heavily as she tried to dodge the green ribbons. However, as she ran past the Akuma, she noticed something that caused her to smile.

Part Nine

The vibrant red ribbons were slowly turning black and could only mean one thing—the Akuma virus was spreading and eventually would infect the Innocence. The irony of the situation was too much for the Noah as she hid before a huge rock. All she needed to do was stay hidden until the opponent released her grasp on the Akuma or became infected. Then she’ll strike.

Stephanie slowly was beginning to feel dizzy and she leaned against the wall for support. This attack was draining a lot of energy and concentration, causing her body to tremble. Get Blade, she commanded her sister. Get him and keep him safe. She eyed the female Noah’s position as she forced her sister to move to the Bookman. Any sudden movement from Magier would result in her getting attack.

Unfortunately, the exorcist was reaching her limit and her vision was slowly getting blurry. Just focus a little bit longer, she commanded her body. As long as she could get Blade and herself away from the situation, it would be okay. Then she sensed it—a poison was moving towards her. Her red ribbons started to wilt as the Akuma virus started turning them black. If the virus reached her Innocence…

Seeing the exorcist’s panicked face, Magier got ready to pounce. She was planning to wait for the Bookman to wake up before she killed the exorcist but she was getting impatient. Perhaps showing her dead body to him instead will be a satisfactory replacement.

Part Ten

Before the Noah could make her move, she felt something hard slam into her body. Stephanie has hit her with the Akuma and crashed them into the only church remains. The exorcist started panting after she had released her ribbons from her sister’s body and the Akuma’s blood sprayed all over her.

She concentrated hard on the rubble where she slammed her opponents, trying to distinguish any movement. A Noah and Level 5 could not be defeated that easily but if that was enough to slow them down, she could live with that. Still another thought plagued her mind. Lione (and the Main Branch) would be having a heart attack after seeing the mess she made. The bill would be worse than the Opalo incident.

The exorcist sprinted to Blade’s location while thinking up a strategy. As long as Blade and she could hide and avoid detection, they might be able to escape. Hopefully, they would be able to catch up with Lione and the others and regroup. But that would depend on if the others were okay.

Upon reaching Blade’s body, Stephanie tried her best not to gasp. She could barely recognize him with all his blood matted to his clothes and hair. How much did he suffer, she pondered as she ran her hand through hair. Still, she needed to get them out of here before that psycho Noah and her sister return.

Part Eleven

As she got up, Stephanie placed her arms under Blade’s and held him close to her. Before the exorcist could move him, she heard some distant running and then felt someone knocking her down to ground. She glanced up at the foreboding figure standing before her and instantly knew from the crosses that he was a Noah.

“You know, I really wanted to go exorcist hunting,” stated Amaterasu as he glanced at his hands. “Who knew that an exorcist would come this way? Usually this would frustrate me since that ruin part of the fun but you’re pretty so I forgive you.” Stephanie started backing away while eyeing Blade’s location. She had heard reports of this Noah from Tabitha and Rinvak but her first encounter with him was more frightening than she could imagine.

Part Twelve

“Are you worried about him?” the Noah asked as he glanced at the Bookman. “If you like to know, I did save his life. To show your gratitude, I would like you to entertain me for a bit. At least try to avoid captivity long enough.” He charged at her but Stephanie barely dodged it. She knew that she had used her body past its limit and that she really didn’t have a chance against him in her current condition. But she couldn’t abandon Blade.

With his back towards her, she sent her ribbons in the Noah’s direction hoping that she had enough strength left to subdue him. Unfortunately, it backfired as he grabbed the ribbons and pulled her towards him. Wrapping her ribbon around her neck and his left arm around her waist, he slowly began tightening his grasp. The exorcist started struggling but this only excited the Noah more.

Amaterasu whispered in her ears, “The more you struggle, the happier I become.” The Noah began to squeeze harder, digging his nails into the girl’s skin. Her yelps filled the air and he felt blood running along his glove. He motioned in Blade’s direction and continued, “Every man has his needs. I wonder if he considers you one of his.” And then, Stephanie’s world turned black.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Part Thirteen

Uriel smirked as he assessed the condition he was in. Part of him wanted to laugh about his predicament but he somehow managed to contain himself. At the moment, he was surrounded by razor sharp feathers in the presence of a vengeful woman—the situation seemed grim. Still, he could not give up hope that easily; after all, he still had a purpose to serve.

“I’m glad that you’re finally resolved to battle seriously, Rin,” he commended. “The last thing I wanted to do is defeat someone who doesn’t have the will to fight.” Upon saying that, he slammed both of his fists to the ground, creating a force that was strong enough to scatter the feathers until they hit the walls.

Rinvak stood her ground, using her wings to protect her from his attack. Several minutes ago, she had made a vow to herself. She would not shed a tear for him nor would she try to reason with him. The boy she knew as Amiti, the boy that she really cared for was a lie and she was determined to destroy her false love. That would be the only way for her to get over him.

Removing her wings, she immediately leapt into the air. Where she once stood now existed as a small crater with a familiar figure kneeling down. His left fist had connected with the floor while his right hand rested on his knee. The Bookman looked up, eyeing the flying angel. The exorcist glared at him though she couldn’t help but wonder what he was planning to do.

Part Fourteen

As he got up from the ground, he straightened himself up and smiled. “Wait! You’re not going to talk to me anymore. I thought that you would be more mature than to give me the silent treatment.” He glanced at Rinvak, causing her to jerk back a bit. She always hated it when he gave her that look. It would make her blush and despite her present anger at him, the look still had some effect on her.

Before she could recover, she felt someone lunge at her, slamming her against the wall. Sharp pain shot up her body as she felt her own feathers that were stuck in the walls entering her body. She let out a scream as she tried to push her opponent off her.

Instead, Uriel held her down and whispered in her ear, “Why are you trying to push me away? I finally got you and that I thought that this would make you happy. Besides, let me at least hold you when you die.” The guardian could tell that the girl was weakening as she began struggling less and her heartbeat was slowing down. Her blood was gradually soaking up her clothes and slowly staining his. He stroked her cheek and admired her pale face. One down, so many to go…

Part Fifteen

Suddenly, he felt something bristle by his cheeks and leapt out of the way before countless numbers of feathers could pierce him. Still, some managed to get him, causing him to cuss. Rinvak’s Innocence was now covering her body, acting like shield.

As she moved away from the wall, the exorcist mumbled, “Amiti, did you really think I would die that easily? For someone who acts like a know-it-all, you don’t know me.” She landed on the floor and leaned against a bookshelf. She had lost a lot of blood but she was positive that she would survive this battle. At least, she hoped to live.

The redhead broke some of the feathers off and threw them aside. The sensations he was feeling right now hurt but they weren’t as painful like the time the Noah stabbed him. He quickly clapped his hands together, aiming the shockwave at the exorcist. The exorcist jumped out of the way but she could still feel the impact as it hit the wall. The ground was shaking and she could now see the interior of the hidden room because of a giant hole.

She heard him clap again and felt pieces of stones falling from above. She quickly crawled away before a huge stone landed on top of her. Rinvak glanced at the Bookman and noticed that he had a crazed look. At this rate, he was going to destroy everything in room even if it meant that he would die.

Experiencing an adrenaline rush, she began running around the exterior of the room, hoping to get Uriel’s attention. Apparently, it worked because she felt the area behind her, getting blasted. The exorcist was approaching the Bookman and she prayed that her plan would work.

Part Sixteen

Before he could send an attack towards, Rinvak leapt into the air and sent a barrage of feathers. Uriel dodged them but he didn’t have time to rest. The exorcist kept assailing him with bombardments so he had to keep moving to avoid getting hit. However, the speed of her attack did not allow him to counter.

However, the next time she sent an attack, the Bookman felt himself falling and quickly grabbed the edge of the cliff. He surveyed his surrounding and realized that he was in the crater that he created earlier. “Damn it! I let myself get caught,” he muttered as he looked down. It appeared like a bottomless pit, growing darker with increasing depth.

The sound of fluttering wings caught his attention and he turned to see Rinvak standing by the edge, staring at him. Her look looked stern yet sympathizing. She appeared formidable despite the obvious fact that the battle had drained a lot out of her physically and emotionally.

“Rin! Help me! I can’t stay dangling along this ledge forever,” pleaded the Bookman as he flashed a pitiful look. It was her weakness; she couldn’t resist it before so why would she resist it now? He reached out his hand for her as he noticed her resolution wavering. She began to kneel down and was leaning towards him, her right hand heading in his direction.

Part Seventeen

The optimism of the Bookman was quickly dashed as he felt his hand getting slapped away. The exorcist now had both of her hands on her knees as she spoke, “No. You betrayed the Black Order, your friends, and your brother for your own selfish reasons. You don’t deserve anyone’s help especially mine.”

She got up and left the helpless Uriel hanging. She quickly turned towards Lione’s direction. Though she could not see the battle clearly, she knew that it was a brutal one. The sounds were overwhelmingly loud and the earth was quaking with each attack.

Rinvak spread her wings and turned towards the ceiling. Even though she wanted to help her leader, she knew that she could not interfere with his fight. Besides, he entrusted her to get help so she had to follow his order. She glanced at the hole and wondered if this would be the last time she would see Lione. The girl quickly admonished herself for thinking such grim thoughts and prepared herself for the next task.

Thanks to Uriel’s destructive nature, he had created an opening to the sky, allowing her to escape. As the exorcist soared through the air, she forced herself not to look down. What was lying there was a façade and not worthy of regret. Still, she could not help herself when she whispered, “Good bye, Amiti.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Part Eighteen

Upon hearing his opponent’s words, Jacques had to smile. This was the Lione whom he was so eager to battle. The Noah closed his eyes and raised his hands as if he was going to surrender. “Mr. Exorcist, I must say that I am deeply honored that I am one of the select few to see you at your full potential,” he acknowledged. “However, I feel that the difference between us is too great even for someone as capable as you.”

The priest gathered all the water in the air and began to dilute the ink tentacle that was holding him. Once he was released from its grasp, he aimed bursts of water towards his opponent who adeptly dodged them. Even though he was in his most powerful form, Lione knew that he was in no condition to fight. He was still recovering from the hangover and his top priority was to escape with Madeline. The Noah was right after all—the Order had fallen and he had to pick up the pieces. There would be plenty of opportunities to fight Jacques again.

Part Nineteen

Spotting his fallen comrade, he made an attempt to reach her, carefully eyeing the Noah who was across the room. He looked ready to pounce and the exorcist knew that this was the perfect time to make his move. As the branch leader ran in Madeline’s direction, an explosion coming from the library knocked him down. He turned in that direction to see a bloody Rinvak on the ground. Lione cursed himself, hoping that no one in the Order was suffering for his incompetence.

As he lifted himself off the ground, he unexpectedly came face-to-face with Jacques. As the Noah stabbed Lione with a pointed energy blast, the priest taunted, “How many times did I warn you? I am your opponent. You shouldn’t worry about your friends. After all, you’ll be seeing them soon.” The sight of gushing blood was excited the Noah and he began to wonder what would happen if he twisted the weapon just a bit. Would the exorcist scream? Would he beg for his life or to die?

Part Twenty

Instead, Jacques was surprised to hear the exorcist chuckling. Lione was digging his hands into the Noah’s arms like the way his sister did on the walk to Boston. The Noah was puzzled and demanded, “I’ve never seen anyone who seemed to be so delighted to die. What do you think you can accomplish in your current state?”

Lione’s eyes darted to Madeline and glared back at Jacques. He answered, “Agent of the Earl, I deeply apologize if my blood stains your shirt but I’m sure you understand that this is just one of the many consequences of war.” After saying that, he sent his Innocence towards his opponent, successfully hitting him in the abdomen and arms.

The Noah backed away and stumbled to a pillar in order to prevent himself from falling to the ground. The sensation of pain felt weird to him but in a way, it gave him an unusual rush. He stared at his opponent and watched as the ink covered the wound that he had inflicted. The priest stifled his urge to laugh as he wanted for his body to recover. He hadn’t had this much fun in a while.

“You were right to apologize to me, Mr. Exorcist,” Jacques replied as he removed his robe and priest collar. “You know, if you had just accepted your defeat, you would have made your life so much easier.” Gathering all of the electrons in the room into his two hands, the Noah flashed a clownish smile, “I guess I’ll just have to discipline you.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Author’s Notes: Post-reading

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and these fight scenes lived up to expectation. I wanted the story to be darker and more suspenseful. Anyway, here are some clarifications:

~ Blade and Stephanie are captured and will somehow live
~ Magier and “Stephanie” are alive. Their bodies (and maybe egos) are bruised.
~ Rinvak did defeat Amiti/Uriel but she’ll have to battle some Akuma once she exits
~ Amiti/Uriel will live but I’ll leave the rescuing up to Raijatsu (I’ve been screwing you over with this and the last chapter; my bad). And yes, he is an @$$hole but that’s why I love him. He fooled everyone including the audience.
~ Lione did get severely wounded; the ink was just bandaging it up, not healing him.

If anyone needs any more clarification, just comment.

I’m taking a break from the story for a bit. Some stuff have come up so and I need to sort them out. I’ll still be around to read the chapters though. Promise

Note

If you’ll remember back a volume and some chapters, somebody took off Zeran’s eyepatch which allowed Hei to destroy the original NA branch. Just wanted to clarify it was Uriel who did it >>

Opening:

Opening: http://www.sendspace.com/file/aa0o4r

Part 1

Am I too late? Zeran dashed as fast as he could towards the source of all the commotion. There’s way too many Akuma here! Damn it… “Innocence hatsudou,” he said and rained hundreds of blades down on the swarms of Akuma. Is this supposed to be the new HQ? Destruction was everywhere along with the carcasses of the fallen Akuma. He heard some more commotion above him and activated ‘Heaven’s Song’. Using the distraction to his advantage he quickly sliced apart some more Akuma. However, something caught his attention Isn’t that… Rinvak?!? The poor exorcist girl tried to stay in the air but she had a hard time breathing.
“OI! Rinvak! Loudmouth! I’m over here!” Zeran called out, not aware of the seriousness of the situation. But all Rinvak did in response was falling to the ground.
“You’re kidding me,” Zeran swore and chucked Tengoku so that it caught her clothes and into a wall where she dangled. He walked over to her and manipulated Tengoku to allow her to drop. He caught her but nearly lost his balance. Am I getting weaker or is she a lot heavier than I imagined? What does this girl eat?
“Rinvak!” He set her down on the ground. “Wake up! What’s happening.!”
“Noahs attacked… everyone… fighting… Amiti… traitor…,” Rinvak said with difficulty. “Amiti is… Uriel…” She closed her eyes and tears trickled down her cheeks.
“So you liked him, huh?” Zeran grinned. “I personally thought he was a dipshit, but right now the Noahs are more important. You can rest now, the Akuma probably all think you’re dead.” He picked up Tengoku and walked inside the shattered *new* HQ.

Part 2:

Magier and “Stephanie” dug themselves out of the rubble in anger. “Where the fuck is that girl? I’ll rip, gut, tear her to pieces and feed her to the Akuma!” Magier yelled in anger and pain.
“Calm down sis,” I.A. said. “They’re both unconscious, and there’ll be no need to kill them. We can use them for information.”
“I DON’T BLOODY CARE!” Magier yelled and punched Stephanie’s face. I.A. winced and stopped her from delivering a second punch.
“Hey if one dies, the other won’t talk,” I.A scolded her. “If we keep them both alive, we can torture one to make the other talk. On the other hand if one is dead, the other will feel no necessity to talk because they’ll be dead too, emotionally speaking of course.”
“GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH” Magier punched a wall. “I HATE IT WHEN YOU’RE RIGHT!” However instead of responding to Magier’s tantrum, IA turned and looked back at base. “Something’s wrong…” He muttered.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Magier said tiredly. “We heavily injured most of the exorcists already, so there should be no one who hasn’t sustained heavy injuries. Meaning they should all be fodder for the Akuma.”
“Did we miss one or two exorcists?” IA frowned. “It seems like quite a big commotion for wounded exorcists to be making.”
“Don’t be ridic-,“ Magier began. She suddenly remembered the night she almost went beserk. The exorcist who had a black metallic hand and a white sword like marble. “Him…” Magier gritted her teeth. “He’s still alive.”
“The guy you went kamikaze on?” IA asked in surprise. “He’s not an opponent we can fight in our current state. You getting pummeled by the girl and the boy and me getting caught in a cave-in. We’re definitely not at our best. Well… maybe we could fight him… but one of us would definitely die or near die.”
“Che…” Magier scowled. “What do we do then?”
“You should get Jacques and his little minions first and run away. Take as many prisoners as possible, including these two. It’d be best if you two,” he indicated ‘Stephanie’ “Split up and look for survivors.”
“What are you going to do?” Magier demanded to know.
“Hold him off of course,” IA gave a fake charming smile. “Then I’ll make my escape as well.”
“I hate running away, especially from an exorcist,” Magier gritted her teeth.
“As do I,” IA’s eyes turned arctic cold. “As do I…”

Part 3:

Too many Akuma Zeran gritted his teeth It’ll take forever to get through them all. “Gates of Hell!” Zeran yelled and skewered more Akuma. “Gates of Heaven!” which absorbed all the Akuma he missed. “That should be fine now…” That crazy Earl. What the hell does he have planned? And why is the power difference between us so great? Zeran ran through a hallway and heard sounds of crying. He turned the corner and saw a collapsed hallway along with Tabitha, Eny, and some finders. (They haven’t been mentioned in a long time >>) To his surprise, Eny was the one crying.
“Oi, brats, are you okay?” Zeran said nonchalantly.
Eny rounded up on him at once. “IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” and continuously punched him. “IF IT WASN’T FOR THE FACT YOU DESTROYED HQ, WE WOULDN’T BE IN THIS DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING SITUATION! AND FERMIUM WOULD BE SAFE! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”
“It’s true it is partially my fault,” Zeran said coldly. “But if you don’t blame yourself, you’ll get nowhere in life. Who decided to become a bookman? Who decided to fight Akuma? Who decided to travel with the exorcists? It’s all you. If you wanted a trip to Candyland then you might as well resign. Because there’ll be more and more life threatening situations like these and if you’re not prepared then you might as well pack it up.”
“I KNOW THAT!” Eny sobered up. “This was my first time in a situation like this, so I lost my cool, but I assure you it won’t happen next time.” She felt a hand patting her on the head.
“Good girl,” Zeran said cheerfully. (ZOMG Apocalypse!) “You did a good job as well didn’t you Tabby?” He patted her head as well. “You were the only exorcist and you managed not to panic too much. You’ve become stronger.”
“It’s an all out attack on this base,” Tabitha said quietly. “We met up with a Noah, but he couldn’t have penetrated this entire facility on his own. All the Noahs in North America must’ve gathered here.”
“Well I’ll just have to stop them won’t I?” Zeran grinned and sent 2 swords at the Akuma behind him. “Collect up all the survivors in this base and anything else of value.”
“THE PANDORA’S BOX!” Eny gasped.
“What?” Zeran said.

Part 4:

“Oh look, it’s Magier,” Gabrielle walked briskly up to the Noah. “We’ve brought a prisoner. I’m sure it’ll please Jacques-sama. What do you have?”
“I have TWO prisoners,” Magier smirked, feeling happy she had one up on Gabrielle. It was evident that Gabrielle was not happy she lost.
“So what do we do next?” Gabrielle glowered at Magier.
“We leave,” Magier said. “Reinforcements have arrived for the exorcists.”
“What?” Michael laughed. “How many people did they bring? 100? 200? The Akuma should kill them all off right?”
“One…” Magier said quietly. Gabrielle and Michael immediately shut up.
“Does this exorcist have a weird eye?” Michael asked quietly.
“If I remember correctly, yes he did,” Magier said suspiciously. “Why?
Gabrielle elbowed Magier in the back of the head and Michael punched her in the gut, successfully knocking the young Noah girl unconscious.

*flashback*
“Jacques-sama! What happened to you?” Michael yelled in surprise. The bloodied Jacques sighed and answered. “I am fine, I will recuperate soon. I will not die.”
“That’s not the point Jacques-sama!” Gabrielle whined. “Nobody can wound you this badly unless it was… him”
“No, it’s not him,” Jacques sighed. “It’s an exorcist.”
“What exorcist would have enough power to do so much damage to you alone?” Raphael said in shock.
“Don’t tell this to Magier, but it was an Asian exorcist with a cursed eye,” Jacques said quietly. “I killed someone close to him as revenge, and the curse made his eye and his personality completely different. His power was so overwhelming, and he toppled me within a few minutes. If you see him coming, run. This is an order. And also, if Magier does somehow find out, I order you to knock her unconscious the next time she meets him. Is that understood?”
“Yes,” The three bowed and left.

*a few days later*
“So it was an Asian EXORCIST who hurt Jacques that badly?” Magier screamed. “I’ll kill him!”
“Heh heh heh,” Uriel grinned.
*end flashback*

“Carrying 4 unconscious bodies is not fun,” Gabrielle scowled.
“We have to find Jacques-sama and escape,” Michael said reasonably.

Part 5

“Here it is,” Eny pushed her way through the rubble. “I have the Pandora’s box!”
“What’s inside?” Zeran asked nonchalantly.
“We presume it to be Innocence,” Eny said.
“Let’s just take it and go,” Tabby said nervously.
The two embedded crystals shone dimly as Zeran took a closer look. These look familiar… “What’s wrong?” Eny said. “Shouldn’t we go?” Zeran shook off his daze and followed Tabitha who was already out of the door.
“Two questions,” Eny said abruptly as they walked down the corridor.
“Hm?” Zeran looked at her.
“One, how did you get here? Two, how are the townspeople of Boston?” Eny asked.
“Hmm…” Zeran pondered. “The answer to your first question…”

*flashback*
“There’s no way I can take the train,” Zeran gritted his teeth. “The way the Earl said it… His plans are coming into fruition right now… A train would take too long to get to Boston. I can’t fly on Tengoku… Since Jigoku isn’t in its sword form, Tengoku’s speed would be lowered considerably since it bears my weight alone… Damn it…”
Wait… If I can materialize swords… maybe I can materialize wings? Zeran thought about it. Rinvak seems to have no trouble flying. Maybe I should try it too? Zeran concentrated and materialized wings. With this, I’ll be able to fly to Boston!
*10 minutes later*
“AH SHIT!” Zeran yelled. “The wings are disappearing! I’m gonna cr-“ (Zeran hit a tree)
“I still can’t hold materialization products for a long time… Need a new idea…”
He then noticed a young man working on a strange device.
“What’s that supposed to be?” Zeran asked the guy.
“It’s an internal combustion engine,” the guy explained. “It’s still in development so it can’t go very fast, but it’s a mode of transportation.”
Forgive me… Zeran knocked the guy unconscious. It’s not in my nature to steal but… He quickly tried out various ways to start the automobile until it finally worked. It’s still not fast enough… I need to materialize something else…
(note: Zeran can’t hold materialization for a long time but by materializing a device which increases his speed, his kinetic energy will keep him going for a short while before he has to materialize again)
*end flashback*

“What did you materialize!??!” Eny asked impatiently. “How would you be able to improve the efficiency of an automobile if that was your first time riding one?”
Zeran shrugged. “You’re a genius, think of something that I would do to make the damn junk heap go super fast.” (Crashed into several objects)
Eny scowled. “Fine, I’ll figure it out on my own later… But what about the townspeople?”
Zeran looked solemn. “Quite a few died, the Order is going to have trouble covering this up, but most of them had enough sense to stay away from destruction.”
Eny suddenly noticed something, “Where did that brat go?”
“Aren’t you both brats?” Zeran said casually and earned him a punch in the gut.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” Tabitha screamed.
“Damn it,” Zeran ran towards the source of the noise. When he finally arrived on the scene, “You’re…”

Part 6:

“Jacques-sama!” Michael, Gabrielle and four accountable unconscious bodies came into the room where Jacques was fighting.
Jacques glance briefly back at them. “It’s nice to see you caught some prisoners but why is Magier unconscious?”
Lione noticed the company and yelled, “FLAMES, STEPHANIE, BLADE!”
“You don’t want to worsen your injury by yelling,” Jacques glanced at him coldly. “I’ll be back to deal with you shortly.” He walked over to the 2 guardians.
“The one you warned us about is here,” Michael explained. “So we followed your orders and knocked her out.”
Jacques nodded. “Where’s Uriel and Raphael?”
“Raphael stayed behind,” Gabrielle said. “The idiot’s probably dead since we haven’t heard from him in a long time.”
Jacques looked down at the ground. “A moment of silence for him then…” (a moment later…)
“Jacques-sama, we must leave now!” Michael yelled. “If the one you mentioned is as strong as you say he is…”
Jacques gave him a cold glare to shut him up. “I have a fight to attend to, do you expect me to be a coward and run?”
“No but…” Michael protested.
“I ran from that exorcist last time,” Jacques growled. “I’m not running again.”
“Hahahahahaha,” Lione laughed out loud (LOL!) and winced. “You’re giving Zeran too much credit. He has a fatal flaw, but you can’t even notice it?”
“No more talk… From now on, we fight…” Jacques glared. “You two, grab those 4 and leave! NOW!”
“As expected of someone of your status,” Lione grinned.
“We’re not running away anymore Jacques-sama!” Michael yelled. “If you stay then we all stay!”
“Thank you…” Jacques said quietly. “Exorcist… Can you win? There’s no one to here to support you…”
“That’s irrelevant,” Lione grinned. “Just watch me, I’ll win somehow.”

IA quietly concentrated on his recovery. Come quickly exorcist… If you don’t… I’ll kill everyone here! A malicious smile appeared on IA’s face.

Part 7

“Oh…” Ying looked up at Zeran. “Long time no see…”
“Tabitha, why did you scream?” Zeran asked.
“There’s a dead and bloodied body!” Tabitha winced (><)
“Sorry about that,” Ying grinned. “I got caught up in the moment.”
“Strongest finder alive is what you are,” Zeran sighed.
Eny panted. “How dare you leave me behind?”
“I dare to do a lot of stuff, like installing cameras in the women’s bathroom back at the old HQ,” Zeran said and got punched x 3 again.
“Even though I know you didn’t install any cameras…” Ying said silently.
“THEN WHY’D THE HELL DID YOU PUNCH ME!?” Zeran yelled.
“It seemed like fun,” Ying grinned.
“You…” Zeran grabbed Ying’s cheeks and pinched them hard. “Ah… never mind… Let’s get going.”
Ying grabbed Zeran’s face and pushed a pill into his mouth. “Ergh,” Zeran became dizzy and fell unconscious.

*Zeran’s subconscious*
“What happened?” Zeran clutched his head.
“Woken up have you?” a figure grinned at him.
“You’re… Hei…” Zeran glared.
“Bingo,” Hei grinned evilly. “This is our first and last meeting, Zeran Kusanagi. We fight here and the survivor takes control.”
“Is this supposed to be a Bl**** reference?” Zeran asked confusedly.
“Yea, but nobody should know about it,” Hei coughed.
“Innocence hatsudou,” they both shouted. Hei’s weapons were the complete polar opposites of Zeran’s so their moves were exactly the same.
“Gates of Hell!” Zeran shouted. A mass of swords were aimed at Hei, but he smirked.
“Gates of Heaven!” Hei yelled and absorbed all the swords. Using this as a distraction, Zeran dashed behind him to cut him down with his claws, but Hei blocked with his own. “Too slow…” Hei said and kicked Zeran. Zeran landed 20 feet away form where he was.
“Face it…” Hei grinned. “I know all of your moves, and can send it back at you two-fold. You can’t win.”
“Even if I can’t win,” Zeran stood up. “There’s an annoying bastard I have to prove myself to, and two girls I said I’d definitely protect. So here I come!” Zeran charged again and yelled, “Gates of Heaven!”
“That move is worthless against me!” Hei yelled. “Gates of Heaven! The two vacuums will negate each other’s effects!”
“Too slow,” Zeran said from behind. “GATES OF HELL!”
“No way,” Hei’s eyes widened in shock.
Hundreds of swords skewered both Hei and Zeran at point blank range and then disappeared. Hei however sustained more damage than Zeran did. “The fight’s not over, Zeran.” Hei giggled. “If you want to cut me, you’ll have to cut down these two!” He materialized an image of Shia and Riena out of nowhere. “Even if they are illusions, do you think you can cut them down to get to me?” Hei grinned.
“Zeran! Help me!” illusionary Shia yelled.
“Zeran! I don’t want to die!” illusionary Riena cried.
“Idiot,” Zeran whispered while clutching his chest. “Hei, you really are an idiot.”
“Oh and why is that?” Hei grinned. “You can’t cut these two down.”
“Tengoku! Tenkai no Raionkei no Ryuu!” Zeran yelled and unleashed a furious lightning dragon through the two illusions and Hei.
“How…” an astonished Hei asked. “How could you attack the ones precious to you?”
“Because you screwed them up,” Zeran said coldly. “Shia would have tears in her eyes and say ‘Please kill me Zeran, if it’ll help you even a little.’ And Riena would say, ‘Idiot, hurry up and cut through me. You want to win right?’ The two girls I hold the closest to my heart would say that, and for that I care about them more than anything. That’s why… you lose.”
“Cheh,” Hei groaned. “I’ll be back one day, and when I return, I’ll know exactly what your downfall is, and then I’ll tear you limb from limb! REMEMBER THAT ZERAN!”
“Do you want to know why I’ll always be the King and you’ll always be a horse?” Zeran asked quietly. “The horse cannot become a king until he understands how and why a King thinks the way he does. So the Horse will forever be a horse…”
“Bastard…” Hei slowly disappeared into darkness.

Zeran woke up and shook his head. “That hurt like shit,” he groaned. “Ying, why the fuck did you do that?”
“You were running away,” Ying said. “That subconscious surfacing drug I gave you made sure you couldn’t run away anymore.”
“You could’ve warned me,” Zeran complained. “He wasn’t a pushover you know…”
Zeran noticed his right arm’s metallic coating had shattered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the hilt of his broken Jigoku. He quietly concentrated and the fragments rearranged themselves into a sword. He sheathed it and sighed. It’s good to have you back…
“We have to hurry!” Tabitha yelled. “We still haven’t found Stephanie, Blade, or Lione!”
“Yeah let’s go…” Zeran clutched his head.
“There might’ve been some side effects to that drug,” Ying said calmly. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m really going to kick your ass one day,” Zeran growled weakly.
“As if you could,” Ying smiled as usual.
When they reached a clearing, they found someone blocking the way.
“Good day exorcists…” IA stood gazing down at the remaining members of the NA Order.
“AH! It’s that guy from before!” Tabby yelled.
“He’s still alive?” Eny said in surprise.
“…….” Ying said nothing.
“I’m guessing I’m the one you want to fight?” Zeran said.
IA grinned maliciously. “Let’s see your power, exorcist.”
Zeran took off his eye patch. His right eye clicked mechanically. “My name is Zeran you bastard.”
“Zeran, exorcist, dog shit,” IA continued grinning. “It’s all the same to me.”
This guy’s… He’s completely different than the last time I met him… His overwhelming coldness is making me shiver… I’m… going to lose…

Part 8

That bastard Zeran Riena growled. He left me all alone on this train. The train came to a sudden halt and Riena was thrown forward. BUMP! “Itatatatata…” Riena rubbed her head. “Where am I?” Riena looked around. “This isn’t Boston…”
The PA came on and said clearly, “Due to some technical difficulties we will have to make a pit stop at this small town. We will be ready to leave in two days time, so please rest until we have everything fixed.”
Riena sighed More delays? She got off the train and looked for the nearest inn. However, she was so engrossed in her search she accidentally bumped into a girl her own age. “AH! I’m sorry! Are you alright?” Riena bent down to help the girl up.
“I’m fine, I guess,” the girl dusted off her clothes. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
“No, it’s all my fault,” Riena laughed nervously. “What are you doing in a place like this?”
“Just passing by…,” the girl said mysteriously, as if there was a hidden meaning behind her words. “How bout you?”
“I’m making a pit stop here until the train gets fixed,” Riena said. “But I’m looking for a place to stay, do you know any good places?”
“Sure,” the girl walked ahead of Riena. “I’m going there too, let’s both go together.”
“Thanks a lot,” Riena sighed in relief. “What’s your name?”
“Mine?” the girl faced Riena. “My name is Road Kamelot.”

Insert:

Insert song: http://www.sendspace.com/file/9q3s4g

Part 9

When the two girls arrived at the inn, it was already full from the passengers of the train. Riena groaned. “This is bad… I’m going to have to sleep on the floor tonight.”
Road grinned, “There are other places to go, you know.”
“Where?”
“There’s a place two blocks across from here.”
“Let’s go there then.”
However, as soon as the two girls left the inn, pandemonium broke out. Two Level 1 Akuma erupted from the inn and shot everything in sight. Riena did the sensible thing, and pulled Road out of the firing range. Crap, Akuma are here… There’s no exorcists nearby… Am I going to die before I meet Zeran? Road looked questioningly at Riena. “Do you know what those things are?” Road asked.
“No I don’t, but they’re shooting everwhere!” Riena complained. “Isn’t it obvious we should get out of their way?”
One Akuma discovered the two girls and aimed its guns at them.
“Road! Hurry up and run!” Riena stood up and protected her. “You won’t touch her!”
“Don’t you know that you’re going to die?” Road was strangely calm.
“I know that…” Riena said in a breaking voice. “But I’m not going to let someone else die while I can still protect them! It’s what someone once taught me.”
“Humans are so interesting.” Road giggled.
“Road…?” Riena looked back at her.
“My name is Road Kamelot,” Road said and her skin turned from white to black. “I am a Noah, the allies of the Millennium Earl and Akumas!”
“Road… That means you…” Riena gaped at her. With a swift motion of her hand the Akuma blew up.
Road giggled. “These Level 1 Akumas are so dumb. They don’t even know who their masters are.”
“Are you going to kill me?” Riena asked uncertainly.
“No,” Road grinned evilly. “Even though you didn’t know who I was, you still protected me. Most human filth wouldn’t have done that. Humans are greedy, sinful, and dirty, which is why we Noahs exist, to cleanse this Earth. You’re welcome to join us, if you want.”
Riena shook her head. “You can’t base humanity on the majority. Sometimes it’s the minority who will make a difference. Like you Noahs. Aren’t you guys a minority as well? If you wipe out humanity, then you’ll also be killing off the minority that matter.”
Road laughed and laughed and laughed. “What… kind… of… nonsense… is... that?”
Riena blinked and looked at her. “Did I say something wrong?”
Road stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes, “You’re really funny. As a present…” She created a doorway in the alley. “You can use this to go where you want.”
“Really?” Riena jumped up and down. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” She hugged Road tightly. “I can really use it?”
Road smiled brightly. “This is a one-time thing. The next time I see you, I’ll kill you.”
Riena suddenly felt shivers slide down from her brain to every part of her body.
“If you’re not with us, then you’re against us,” Road said menacingly. “It’s simple as that Now all you need to do is think of the place you want to go, and you’ll instantly appear there. Have fun…”
Riena gulped and thought strongly of Boston, and she walked through the door…

Part 10

A silent figure walked amidst all the chaos and destruction that was Edo. Akumas were swarming in their human disguises. Only the strongest, the bravest, and the dumbest walked through these parts alone.
Two on the left, two on the right… The stranger thought.
“HEY!” A level 3 Akuma shouted from the rooftops. “What’s a human like you doing here?”
“I’m not an exorcist, and I have no reason to hurt a follower of the Earl, please step aside,” the stranger said.
“If you know that much, you should know we Akumas EXIST TO KILL!” 4 Akumas jumped him from the top at piercing speeds.
“I told you already…” the stranger appeared from behind them and ripped one’s arm off. “But since you won’t listen to reason…”
“YOU BASTARD!” the others lunged at him.
“Move again and I’ll kill you,” the stranger unleashed a chilling glare.
The Akumas were frozen stiff. “Who are you?” the Akuma asked.
“Takuto Kira, a shinigami,” he grinned. “But you can call me Lucifer.” He then proceeded to ripping the rest of the Akuma apart with one hand. “If you’re weak, don’t fight. If you think you’re strong, then you’ll wind up dead.”
He walked a few steps and then paused. “Come on out level 2 Akuma. I know you were watching.”
A whimpering Level 2 Akuma came out of its hiding place. “I saw your power great master, what is it you ask of me?”
“You apparently have the ability to conceal yourself in the shadows…” Lucifer said. “Well whatever, I want you to take me to the Millennium Earl.”
“EH!?” the Akuma jumped in surprise. “Why?”
“If you don’t do it, I’ll kill you,” Lucifer threatened menacingly.
“Yes… right this way…” the Akuma meekly replied.

Part 11

“Yes? What is it?” The Earl stood up from the chair he was sitting in.
“Greetings to you Millennium Earl,” Lucifer bowed his head slightly.
“Why are you here human?” the Earl tilted his head.
“I seek a means of transportation off this island of Japan,” Lucifer said. “I came here looking for something but did not find it.”
“Oh? And that would be?” the Earl grinned malevolently.
“My two swords…” Lucifer faced the Level 2 Akuma who brought him here and gently put his palm on it. “And a strong enemy…” He tightened his grip and the Akuma exploded.
The Earl clapped. “My, my you are the strongest human without special powers I know <3. You can kill Akumas without Innocence? You do know that if they aren’t killed with Innocence the souls of the dead will never find redemption?”
“Do I look like I give a shit?” Lucifer grinned.
The Earl grinned. “You are a very interesting human. It’s a shame you aren’t a Noah.”
“I have hatred towards all Exorcists and one Noah,” Lucifer said simply. “That one Noah I’ll never forgive.”
“And that would be?” the Earl asked questioningly.
“Jacques…” Lucifer gritted his teeth. “Here’s the deal, you get me to where Jacques is or where the greatest concentration of exorcists are and I’ll kill as many exorcists as I see.”
“Hmm… but what if you kill Jacques as well?” the Earl thought deeply about it. “It’d be troublesome to lose a Noah.”
“Here’s some down payment,” Lucifer stretched out his hand and held out three Innocence fragments.
“OH!” the Earl beamed. “You are quite the naughty boy you are. Very well, the greatest exorcist gathering currently is in Boston.” The Earl opened a gateway. “Coincidentally Jacques is there as well… Please don’t kill him yet <3 I have wonderful plans in store for all my Noah.”
Lucifer stepped up to the doorway. “Maybe, but I won’t be able to guarantee that.”

Part 12:

I wonder if I’ll see Road again… Riena thought. If she’s a Noah, that means she’s an enemy. I have to tell Zeran. She noticed a stranger clad in black with chilling lifeless black eyes come out of an alleyway.
Who the hell is that? Riena shivered. He looks creepy…
I’ve finally found you Jacques… Lucifer grinned evilly My family’s MURDERER. You’d better be prepared Jacques…
Zeran… Riena noticed a part of the city up in flames and started running towards it. Please be safe…

My body won’t move… Zeran struggled with all his strength. This guy is beyond human!
“Leave this to me,” Zeran said weakly. “The rest of you… RUN!”
Ying nodded and led the two kids and other finders away.
“Noble to the end eh?” IA chuckled maniacally.
“Even if I can’t move my body,” Zeran’s eye whirred. “I can still block your attacks. But if you think I’m just going to stand here… INNOCENCE ACTIVATE!” A burst of light erupted from his swords.

Those are… my swords? Lucifer sensed the power. So they’re here too? It’s my lucky day… He dashed towards the destroyed base.

“What are you waiting for?” Lione groaned at his wounds. “Hurry up and fight…”
“You’re rushing to your death exorcist…” Jacques growled.

Ending

Ending: http://www.sendspace.com/file/xgucjp

Author’s Notes

What will be the outcome? Nobody knows… Will Lucifer retrieve his swords back? Will Zeran win? Will Lione survive? Will Riena rush to Zeran’s side and get in his way like so many female characters do? Will Magier and Eny’s pride recover? Will I shut up? Lolz. I won’t be able to write for a while since I’m heading back to Taiwan… I have more exams coming up so I couldn’t make it turn out the way I wanted. Hope you thought it was good…
Uriel: I’m still stuck here… SOMEBODY HELP!!!!!!
Shut up…

Okay after AZ chapter i needed to heavily change my plans I still hope all this makes sense ^^

Ameratsu grinned looking at his prey. “It seems to be the first time to go all out. Oh! What a wonderful day!” He pulls his gloves off with his teeth. “It seems to be the first time you morons witness my power” He lunges at Zeran pinning his finger through Zeran’s black shoulder leaving nothing but a cross-mark. “Twelve of them and your arm is gone.” He whispers in Zeran’s ear.
Hey idiot! Common use me! We’ll tore him up together

Zeran was in a pinch. HEAVEN’S GATE Two swords of light flew in IA direction.
But IA simply avoided the swords. And he started another series of attacks against Zeran’s shoulder. “Nii, san, yon, go, roku! Halfway to go for you kiddo!” Quickly Zeran removed the Eye patch.
Even though he is suppressed I can call forth some of Hei’s power. Slowly he adapted IA’s move patter and started to reflect the punches. IA’s own power send him flying. “Fascinating just as Jaques and Magier described it. You’re reflecting the attacks just as I would try to kill myself. But kiddo…” He pulls out a small ball out of his jacket, “don’t you think we would prepare something just in case we would have no other choice but to fight?” He throws the ball before Zerans feet. With a bang it explodes emitting a sharp smelling gas and smoke.
“Shit my eyes! I can’t see a thing! Where is that bastard?” Zeran tries to hit IA with a flurry of attacks but he only hits air. “If you can’t see it you can’t do a thing kiddo. And it seems that demon the others described is sleeping.” IA slowly places his attacks on the shoulder, “Hachi, kyu, ju, ju ichi, ju ni, and last but not least thirteen! Witness the ultimate power of Noah kiddo!” the thirteen crosses on Zeran begin to shine. A sharp pain rushes through him forcing Zeran to kneel on the ground. With a sizzling noise his black arm, the power he thought of as ultimate dissolved into dust leaving the shining innocence hovering in the air. Zeran’s world grows black.

Gabrielle and Michael are watching the battle. “Gabby what do you think is that guy strong? He seems to be really weak, that ink he uses can barely hit Jacques-sama.” Gabrielle looks at Michael with a stern face “He is strong, very strong indeed even a blind idiot would feel that. But somehow he seems to suppress himself. Something keeps him from using some terrible power.” “Then should we help?” “No we’ll die if we get any closer either through his or through Jacques-sama’s hand. Anyway Jacques seems to have the fun of his life. You might learn something there. So keep watching.”

The branch leader tried to keep his consciousness. Shadow Rave was useless, his wounds were closed with ink but how long will he be able to keep that up? And before him stand his worse enemy. “He uses electrical discharges in the distance and his strength in close quarters. I can barely hit him with shadow rave because he uses water to wash the ink away. But he seems exauhsted because his throwing distance shortens. I can’t attack directly but I have a chance if I use my brains.” But before he can think about something the Noah strikes again. With ease he gathers electrons in the right hand and runs towards Lione.

It’s now or never.

Lione barely avoids the thunderbolt. “3 meters distance now.” Shadow spike!
A small piercing shadow goes after Jacques who avoids it until it does not grow anymore.
“Nice try but it seems I’m faster Branch-Leader-san.” Jacques launches another attack combo while Lione stretches the shadows around him. This time he hits. Lione screams in pain and falls back. “He reached one meter of distance. With the next attack it’s settled.”

Shadow Crush!

Jacques looks surprised as he feels the earth shake. It cracks and under his feet shadow threads bind on him pulling him down. Two hands of stone grow attempting to crush him. In a blast the hands draw near him hitting him simultaneous, they explode and burry the Noah.
“Using the shadow and ink to control the environment, swallowing it in the darkness that is my power but as you see the destruction is not worth the victory. I lost to many things that are important to me because of this.”

Lione takes Madeleine and wants to leave the scene. On his way to the startled Guardians his sees a small book on the floor.

Flashback

“Father what is this?” a small boy asks. “This is my very first bible I translated by myself. It’s my only treasure. No, I think there is something more important to me.” A small tubby man looks into the serene sky “What is it Father?” the boy asks. “The most important thing is something you can’t explain for every one. For me it’s this abbey and every child in the orphanage. Someday you’ll find something so important so there will no sacrifice too much to protect it.” The boy looks at father Francesco. “That means you would sacrifice your life for us?” “Yes, Lione even my life is worth less than a smile on your faces”

Flashback end

“Father Francesco’s bible? But how is this possible?” Lione tries to comprehend this.
“If I were you I’d leave it where you found it. The most important person in my life gave it to me.”

Lione turns around in terror. The pile of rubble is still in place but the voice was unmistakable. Slowly a familiar face appeared in the air. Molecule after molecule combined themselves to the monster Lione hoped he defeated. “I’m sorry but next time you should make it sure to kill instantly. Bones will brake, flesh will be torn but you can’t imprison me.” Jacques rushes towards Lione impaling in the stomach. “You fought well, excorcist but this time I’ll make it certain. Even if you survive it will be a miserable life for you. But in your last moments let me tell you that this attack was not for the fun of it. Thanks to my researches I found the innocence compatible to my guardians.” Lione is shocked and tries to speak:, “F-fa-fal-len” He coughs blood as his sight grows dark he sees Jacques terrible smile: “Fallen? Sorry but that won’t happen I found a method to convert your fake crystal of god making it usable for nearly everyone. Oh and be sure I have a proof for it. There is a man in this world, a demon even worse than me; the “Bringer of Light” can use his innocence thanks to my efford. And he’s not the only one.” Jacques pulls out his arm of Lione.

“Your order has fallen.”

“This is it kiddo. Sorry but now I lost interest since you can’t even hear me. Since Jacques seems oh so afraid of you I guess I should not take you with me. But that innocence will make up for it although it seems dull.” Ameratsu looks at it. Suddenly he has a smile on his face, Oh that’s nice kiddo! It belongs to the “Bringer of Light” not to you! Your not even a full fledged excorcist just someone who plays with one of Jak-kun’s failed experiments!” Ameratsu clothes the hand crushing the innocence. “I wonder what will happen if he hears you lost one of his swords. I’ll leave the other one with you I have no intention to meddle with that maniac.” Ameratsu leaves the scene.

I the distance steps are heard.

Jacques goes to where he things Uriel is. With a quick pull he gets the exhausted Guardian. “Uriel! Congratulation you were able to hold on so long! I seems we are done here. Do you have what you wanted?” Uriel pulls out a small box “Yes Jacques-sama. I left several fake ones all around the headquarter just in case they would search for it. I would like to see their faces when they open on of them.” Uriel giggles in a childish manner. Jacques looks at him with a kind smile and says: “Well, well, but now let’s go we found many interesting things so let’s go. Gabrielle and Michael need help with the carriage.”

In the darkness the Noahs and their companions disappeared.

Lucifer draws closer to his sword. He looks a the bloody but breathing Zeran. “It seems you can’t use my swords properly. You even lost one of them. I should kill you for that!” Lucifer takes the white sword from the ground and points it at Zeran’s thr. “Nah that’s no fun. I’ll just take my sword and let you die like the dog you are. If you should survive you can try to claim it back.”

Lucifer looks to the west and goes away.

“Boss! Boss wake up!” Lione wakes up in a hospital bed. Ying, Tabby and Eny looks at him. “Hey there, how long did I sleep?” “You slept for two days.” Ying answers. Lione tries to remember what happened before he collapsed. “Tell me the status Ying.” Eny answers:
”Casualties are among the finders and the medical staff. There are some civilian victims aswell. Rinvak is awake and has a good recovery rate, Sister Madeleine is okay too. Zeran is in Coma he seems to have lost his innocence to the Noahs. Flames, Stephanie and Blade are now in hostage, and THEY HAVE MY PRECIOUS FERMIUM!” Ying continues because the sobbing Eny is not able to speak: “One of the Noah party is killed I’m currently analyzing their strange weapons.” Lione looks exhausted. “That’s enough for now I need some sleep.” The three leave the room. Ying thinks with a worried face: “ When I found him his ink was wrapped around his body closing his wound. I never heard of anything like that. Such high synchronization it saved him of his own will is at least general level maybe even higher. But how should I tell him..

He will never be able to walk again.”

At a fire a young girl with mauve hair is humming as song. “Belle come hear it’s time for the evening sermon!” Sais Jacques to her, “Today you’ll officially be the fourth Angel Belial.”

So for everyone who need a summary at the end ^^
Raphael is dead
Eny,Tabitha and Ying are fine and currently in charge for the rebuilding
Zeran has lost his innocence and is now in Coma, Riena should be with him by now
Lione is paralyzed and can't move his legs
Flames, stephanie and Blade are with the Noahs
Lucifer goes after Jacques but hasn't reached him yet, he's carrying his white sword

I hope you liked it ^^

Chapter 71: Phoenix

A/N ONE:

It’s all at HQ. No Noahs + captured Exorcists, sorrieh. And, I just realized, I haven’t been here all that long and this is already my second clean-up after a huge fight. (That’s good. This is the kind of stuff I like writing.)

PART ONE:

The three youngest members of the North American Order moved in an almost dreamlike state, administering pills and reaffixing bandages. The attack seemed to have drained them all, not only physically- Tabby couldn’t bear to think of Lione never walking again and it was hard to see Zeren lying still- but emotionally- Rinvack was distant, Eny was hysterical, and Tabby herself could barely find the will to respond to the Finders’ pleasant attempts to start a conversation.

Sighing, Tabby slipped over to Rinvak’s bed, counting out the amount of pills Ying had told her to give. The elder girl sat up, her wings flapping idly. Tabby smiled cheerfully. “Hey, Rin! You’re awake, huh?” Rinvak nodded slowly. Tabby’s smile faded a bit. Sheesh… She’d never seen Rinvak so down.

“I’m not sad, you know.”

“Hmm?” Tabby looked up from the pills she was counting. Rinvak was looking down, twisting the ring on her finger, but her gaze drifted to look Tabby in the eye for the first time in the last two days.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Not one of you has mentioned… what happened around me. Not even Eny- I suppose you’ve had a little chat with her on being considerate-!” Tabby smiled sheepishly. That was true. “-but I’m fine, okay?” Her voice broke a little on her last sentence, destroying the finality in her words. Tabby frowned, sinking on to the edge on Rinvak’s bed.

“We won’t think any less of you if you’re sad, Rinvak,” She said carefully, allowing the pills she’d been counting to tumble onto Rinvak’s beside table. She shot a bright smile Rinvak’s way. Rinvak returned to twisting the ring. Tabby’s eyes went to the band. “What are you going to do with that?”

Rinvak seemed to think over the question. It had been a gift from Amiti. It hurt in an almost physical sense to look at it, but… “I’m going to keep it,” She said finally. “It was a gift, right? Why shouldn’t I keep it?” Tabby smiled.

“Okay. Now, take your pills!” She said cheerily, picking them off the table. “Open wide!” She stated in a sing-song voice.

“I can take my own damn pills!” Rinvak protested loudly as Tabby attempted to force-feed the elder Exorcist her medication. Tabby grinned inwardly, giving a half-hearted retort, not letting up. Now that was the Rinvak she knew.

PART TWO:

“Lione.”

“Hmm?” The branch leader stirred. At the end of his bed, Ying stood leaning on the metal frame. “Oh. What is it?” A shadow of trouble passed over Ying’s face… but he blinked and once again her expression was blank. “Ying?”

She was silent. He frowned. “Ying, what is it?” Lione demanded, struggling to sit upright. His arms couldn’t take his weight, and he collapsed back onto the white pillow. Still silent, Ying helped him sit up, propping another pillow on the bed so he didn’t need her support. “Ying?”

“I am not quite sure how to put this,” Ying confessed finally, allowing him to slowly fall onto the pillows she’d just fixed. “Your recovery is going quite well, if you take the circumstances into account. If not for your Innocence, there is not doubt you would’ve died. But, I’m afraid your life comes at a cost.”

When she didn’t continue, Lione prompted her. “Ying?”

“We’ve tried everything we can, Lione,” She said finally. “But… I’m afraid you’ve lost all mobility from the legs down. You’re paralyzed.”

This news was met with a shocked silence from the branch leader. Ying waited. Finally, he sighed. “I…” He stopped again, a quiet, small smile of acceptance dawning on his face. “I suppose I’m alive, aren’t I? There’s… nothing else we can do, correct?”

“Yessir,” Ying answered dutifully, “Eny has already begun work on a chair to fit your needs.” Lione smiled sadly, forlornly patting his forever immobilized legs.

“And I don’t suppose I could have any rum?”

“No sir, you may not.”

“I thought so.”

PART THREE:

Eny parted the curtain that separated Zeren’s bed from the rest. As she had expected, his little girlfriend - who had arrived two days ago in a panic, spouting frenzied words about Noah and demanding to see Zeren – sat quietly in a chair beside his bed, staring blankly at his empty face. Eny coughed lightly- a cough that meant “Hello? Notice me!” Riena turned, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m supposed to change his bandages,” Eny offered a curt explanation, holding the linens up as evidence. She hadn’t been in the mood for conversation these past days. Her cat was gone- and all sorts of other madness had gone down, but mostly Fermy was in the Noah’s clutches.

“I’ll do it,” Riena answered just as sharply. Eny snorted, placing her hands on her hips.

“Well, fine. Tend to your little boyfriend.” Stress was not good to Eny- or rather, people within Eny’s general vicinity. Riena began removing the bandages. Eny stood huffily at her side, holding out the new ones. When Riena handed her the old, bloodied ones, she winced, looking away. Her eyes fell on a familiar pistol at Riena’s side. “Hey!” She said, eyebrows knit. “How’d you get that?”

Riena’s glanced at where Eny looked. “Zeren gave it to me,” She answered, reattaching the new bandages to Zeren’s wounds.

“You had no right to give that away, you big dummy!” Eny glared down at the not-responding Zeren. “That was mine! Give it back.” She addressed Riena shortly. Riena ‘hmphed’ and placed it sharply on Zeren’s bedside table. “I meant to me!” She said, her voice growing louder. Riena returned to fixing Zeren’s bandages. “Listen to me! Give it back, it’s mine! You stupid idiot!” She returned to addressing Zeren. “You loser! You moron! It was mine; did I say you could give it away?!? Failure as an Exorcist, you stupid, dumb buffoon!” She was yelling now. “Yo-You bringer of trouble! Everyone would be better off if you just died!”

“Don’t talk about Zeren like that!” Riena burst out. The pair dissolved into a loud argument. Neither appeared to even be listening to the other. The curtain flew open. Tabby grabbed Eny’s forearm- she squealed and began insulting Tabby, along with Zeren and Riena.

“You, stop! You, stop!” She yelled, pointing at both of them. Both fell silent. “Sheesh! Ri… Rita? Riana? Ri…whatever. Finish that, wouldja?” She didn’t wait for an answer, dragging Eny away. “Just because you’re a miserable brat doesn’t mean you have to take it out of the only person who can’t defend himself!”

“I am not a miserable brat!”

“Yes you are!”

“Ta mère est une chienne!” Eny reverted back to her native language. (Your mother is a female dog)

“Ou-yay uck-say at-way ife-lay!” Tabby shouted. (You suck at life)

“Ta mère aiment de petits garcons!” (Your mother likes little boys)

“Ou-yay are-way a-way itch-bay!” (You are a bitch)

“Mon Q.I. est deux fois à vous!” (My I.Q. is twice yours)

“I-way an't-cay understand-way ou-yay!” (I can’t understand you)

“Je ne peux pas vous comprendre!” (I can’t understand you)

“At's-whay e-thay atter-may ith-way ou-yay?!?” Tabby finally shouted. (What’s the matter with you?!?) Both girls turned away abruptly and stomped in opposite directions.

PART FOUR:

Rinvak quietly slid off her bed. Ying had decided she was fine whenever she felt ready, and Ying looked like she needed help- Riena was covering Zeren, but there were still other injuries to treat, and Tabby and Eny was both brooding- so here Rinvak was, slipping through the curtain around her bed, still twisting the ring on her finger. “Need any help?” Rinvak asked sardonically as Ying walked swiftly past, carrying more then her fair share of bandages. Ying looked over her shoulder.

“Please check if Lione needs anything,” She said promptly, ducking behind another curtain. Rinvak nodded, pulling back Lione’s curtain. He sat up, swishing the water in his cup around.

“Need anything?” Rinvak asked. He looked up, and shook his head. She shrugged. “Okay.” She sat in the chair beside his bed.

“You’re alright?”

“I’m out of bed, aren’t I?”

“With… everything else,” He met her eyes. “I know you really love Amiti, but…”

“Amiti’s dead, Lione,” Rinvak said flatly. “There’s only Uriel now, and I don’t love him.” Lione smiled.

“Good. Could you get me-?”

“No rum.”

“Nevermind.”

PART FIVE:

Night fell. Nearly everyone had fallen into sleep, besides the medics. Even Tabby, Rinvak, and Sister Madeline- who had joined the healing effort shortly after Rinvak- had retired to bed. Ying still remained awake, making sure all preparations were complete for the wounded. Riena had fallen asleep, her head on Zeren’s side table.

Lione smiled despondently. It seemed to have been a very long time since headquarters had been quiet. The battle was two days previous, but it seemed so much longer. Slowly, he felt himself drifting into sleep, but he saw his curtain open. Eny stepped in, yawning. He, too, yawned. “Hello.”

“Hi,” She said shortly, giving no other greeting. Instead, she just stared at him.

“Um… You need some-?”

“What are we gonna do, Lione?” She cut him off. He looked at her quizzically. “There are two Exorcists, one Bookwoman, twenty-seven Finders and thirteen medics-including Ying - are functional at the moment. Two Exorcists are incapable of fighting and for both it is unlikely they will ever fight again. I’ve done calculations. It would take merely thirty level one, ten level two, or one level three through five Akuma to completely decimate us in our current condition. I didn’t even bother to figure how long we’d last against a Noah. I-It’d be a laughable sum,” Her voice broke. “F-Four of our Order a-are captured- Blade, Steph, Flames, and F-F-Fermy,” She sniffed, tears gathering in her eyes. “W-What are we gonna do?”

Lione was silent.

“Y-You’re our leader. You haffta tell us what to do.” Lione caught sight on Ying standing just beyond the curtain, and at once he knew this wasn’t just Eny he was answering. Everyone needed answers. They were scared.

“I don’t know what to do,” He said finally. The tears that had bunched in Eny’s eyes were let free, and he heard a heartrending gasp from behind the curtain- probably Tabby. “But… We’ll be okay, alright? We’ll deal, just like the rest of the times. We’re like cockroaches,” He smiled, looking to the clean linen sheets.

“We just won’t die.”

A/N TWO:

I give DJ credit for the French/Pig Latin fight. I was her idea. X3 Again, sorry not too much happened, but the transition chapter had to be done.

Chapter 72: Behind That Innocent Smile Lies a Mischievous Devil

Author’s Note

Hey, this is snoogen’s sister! She is very busy right now because she has to get ready for the MCAT and whatnot so I will be writing this chapter. Umm…yay? Anyway, this is my first time writing so please be nice. I will try my best to introduce the new character, but it is kind of hard to do so in this stage. Anyway, enjoy!

Part 1

Somewhere on the coast of Brazil, three months ago

The bustling city of Rio de Janeiro were filled with the shouts of vendors shouting their wares to any passing costumers who would also argue back with said vendors to bargain and the happy screams of children as they ran down the streets. At the same time, the noise of the squawking chickens in their cages intermingled with the warning growls of dogs guarding their masters’ wares. At the ports, sailors were telling each other about their travels and bragging about their exploits as several screeching seagulls flew past by.

From the patio of a cafe, a young woman wearing a black breezy dress with silver linings and several colorful jewelries watched these scenes unfolded as she drank her cup of coffee while her companion, who wore a tan-color coat and a huge telephone on his back, looked around warily for any suspicious activities. ‘I don’t think this is a good idea,” he hissed at her as he tried to crouch behind a pillar and some plants. “We are in a crowded plaza and Akuma can easily pop out of nowhere and attack.”

Not even glancing up, she replied, ‘Relax, O Pessimistic One; nothing is going to happen. Besides, you are making all of the other costumers nervous because of your paranoia so just sit down and enjoy your goddamn coffee.” He started to protest but realizing that it was a lost cause, he just sat down and decided to glower at her instead. “If you insist, I will drink your coffee for you then,” she said as she shrugged her shoulders. She reached over the table in order to grab his coffee.

Part 2

Suddenly, a gigantic bullet flew by where her head has been just moment before and hit the pillar where the Finder was hiding. Seeing this, the rest of the customers knocked over their chairs and fled with fright. She and her companion looked up to see four humans staring back at them. “Greetings, exorcist,” one of them said. “We finally found you.”

“Did you guys really look for me?” she asked incredulously. They nodded simultaneously as they transformed into Level 1 Akuma. “You guys are really sad; I have been here for three whole hours!”
The Akuma ignored her comment and prepared to charge their weapons. “Can’t it wait?” the exorcist asked politely. “I really want to finish this coffee because I spent a whole lot of money get this and goddamnit, I want to drink it while it is still hot. So can we hold this fight off until a little later? We can fight at the plaza over there since you already scared everyone away. Does that sound reasonable?”
Instead of accepting her offer, the Akuma launched their attacks at her as she immediately jumped onto several wooden tables and started running. “Now, now…you are too eager to fight; you guys really need to relax.”

Her Finder, who was also running away dodging bullets, became exasperated. “Are you trying to piss them off, Ms. Lyra!?” As he scrambled behind upturned tables and nearby pillars, the Finder yelled furiously at the exorcist, “I TOLD YOU THAT THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! DID YOU LISTEN? NOOOOOOOOO~! NOW WE ARE GOING TO DIE HERE!”
“Really,” muttered Lyra annoyingly as she put her left arm behind her back, “I wish you have a little more faith in me.” She pulled out an ivory bladed staff and aimed it at the Akuma. “Innocence, activate!”

Part 3

Several energy shots came out of her staff and hit the Akuma, pushing them back. Not waiting for the smoke to dissipate, Lyra shouted, “Extend!” and her staff’s size increased. Using it as a pole vault, she launched herself toward the closest Akuma and landed on top of it. She immediately pierced the top of the Akuma. Before it could react, three large Innocence-fused energy bolts came out of its body, severely damaging it.

At the corner of her eyes, she noticed an Akuma about to fire its bullets at her. Lyra shifted her body and used the remnants of the defeated Akuma to shield herself. Then she proceeded to fire through the body toward her opponent. Hearing the second one exploded, she pulled out her staff from the first Akuma she injured before it detonated. The exorcist shrank her weapon back to its normal size and jumped onto a nearby building.

Landing on top of the café’s rooftop, Lyra did not have time to rest because two Akuma blasted at her but she luckily jumped out of the way. She grunted as some of the plaster debris hit her. This is bad, she thought as she shielded her eyes from the flying dust. I am in a bad situation right now.

“Ms. Lyra, they are right above you!” her comrade shouted. The exorcist quickly extended her weapon and propelled herself upward as bullets went flying past her. She saw herself between the remaining Akuma who were still aiming downward where she had been a few seconds ago. With a quick spin of her extended staff, she managed to hit both.

Part 4

With the battle over, Lyra jumped down to where her Finder was hiding. “Thank goodness that you were not hurt!’ he said with great relief. He adjusted his glasses and looked disapprovingly at her. “Luckily, no civilians were in the crossfire. You should be more careful next time.”
Lyra just grinned at him and said, “See? I told you everything will turn out fine, O Ye of Little Faith.” The Finder just groaned. Does she ever listen to me? Suddenly, she grabbed him by the collar of his coat and pulled his closer. What is she doing? Why is she staring at me intensely? Is she thinking of doing something to me?

Instead, she tossed him behind her. Because of his surprise and the strength of the momentum, he tripped and fell into a nearby fountain. “What the hell-?” the Finder screamed in frustration but stopped until he heard the explosion and saw a crater where he had been standing.

“Another Level 1?” Lyra questioned as she studied her opponent. “Does the enemy think that I am THAT weak? Don’t know whether I should take that as a compliment or not.” The human Akuma with its transformed hand fled since the element of surprise was lost. “At least he was smart enough to try and run away.” She gave chase and followed him toward the café.

Part 5

The Akuma abruptly spotted the café owner crouched behind the counter and grabbed him as a hostage. “Drop your weapon and surrender now, exorcist,” it demanded as it pointed its gun toward the terrified old man. She paused and stared at the Akuma. “My my,” she said softly. The Akuma pushed his gun against the hostage’s neck. “Do it now or else he’s dead!”

She shrugged and announced in an over-dramatized manner, “Oh dear! You got me! Whatever shall I do? I guess that I have no choice but to do as you demand.” She dropped her weapon at her feet and the Akuma laughed as it pointed its weapon at her. “Farewell, exorcist!”
However, the Akuma never fired. It stood frozen with shock as it looked down to see its chest was impaled. “How…?” it muttered in shock and followed the trail of the weapon from his chest down to….”Your foot?”

The exorcist grinned with pride as her right foot tapped her staff. “Didn’t you know? I guess I forgot to mention this, but as long as I have any contact with my Innocence, I can still control it.”
“You bitch!” the Akuma responded as it lost its grip from the hostage who stumbled toward his savior. Ignoring her enemy’s shouts, Lyra quickly extended her staff further away from the café owner and into the sky. The resulting explosion filled the sky.

Part 6

The café owner grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. “My café! My café!” he sobbed as he spoke in Portuguese. “My business is ruined!”
Not understanding a word of what he was saying, Lyra comforted him and smiled reassuringly. “There, there. Everything is okay now. I took care of all those horrible monsters for you. Everything will be a-okay, Mr. Hostage.”
This did not help the owner at all. He kept on ranting about how he was supposed to pay for all the damages, his reputation, etc. Luckily, the soaked Finder, who finally arrived at the scene, understood what he was saying so he calmly took him aside and explained how the Black Order will compensate him for everything.

After that was resolved, her companion sighed with exasperation as he watched Lyra continued to try to comfort the now-pleased owner and finally allowed himself to relax. Unfortunately, just as he sat down, he received a phone call. “Hello? Yes, this is he. A new mission? I see….Okay, I will tell her then. Good luck? Thanks, I’m going to need it.”

Part 7

“Ms. Lyra?” he shouted at her. “We have a new mission!” She stopped chasing the owner and looked toward him. “Eh? What is it?”
He walked toward her and explained, “You are being transferred to another branch.”
She looked surprised. “What? I’ve been only here for only a month. They must really love me because they are sending me away.” She noticed the confused look of her partner. “You know, absence makes the heart grows fonder.”
Luckily, Lyra did not hear her Finder muttered underneath his breath, “I think it is more likely that they just wanted to get rid of you.”
“Did you just say something?” She gave him a smile that invoked death. He shuddered. “Um…nothing.“

“Anyway, whatever happens happens,” she concluded cheerfully. “So where are we going now, and what is the mission?” The Finder skimmed through his notes and read them aloud, “We are going to the North America branch to reinforce the Order there. You are to provide assistance and follow the direct orders of the Branch Leader, Lione Parcoeur. Oh, you know him!”
She looked at him quizzically, “Who?”

Part 8

The Finder looked at her with resignation. “You know, ‘The One who Lacks Patience’? ‘Mr. I Am Too Practical to Do Anything Else that is Fun’?”
Recognition dawned on her face. “Oh…THAT guy. Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” The Finder started to say something to her but decided to whisper to himself, ‘But I already did.”
“Now is not the time to grumble, Grouchy One!” she scolded as she went to grab her small bag from the dirty floor and proceeded to dust it off. “We need to get ready to leave. Please get our belongings from the hotel and I will check to see if there is any ship that is planning to go to Boston.”

After she sent her Finder to gather their belongings, she looked around and was amazed to see her coffee was still there on the table. “At least my coffee is still intact,” she said with a relieved grin on her face. She began to sip her coffee but immediately frowned. “Damnit, it’s cold!”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Part 9:

Present Time
Tabitha poked her head through the curtains that separated Lione’s bed from the other patients’. “May I come in?” she inquired. Her superior looked up from all of the paperwork that he was reading and nodded. “Anything news to report?” he asked as he placed the stack of papers on the bedside table next to him.
The exorcist began her report, “Eny said that your motorized wheelchair is 25% complete done. She estimates that it would take at most two weeks to finish it. While we are waiting for it to be done, Ying said that you can use this wheelchair to get around and that you should get some fresh air.” She pointed to a traditional wheelchair that was at the corner of the hospital room.

She then pulled out three pieces of paper from her clipboard and gave them to him. As he studied them, the young exorcist explained, “I found these hidden between two bookshelves while I was cleaning up the control center. They are communication logs from the Main Branch from a few months ago. Based on what I read, we are supposed to have a new exorcist coming here soon.” Why does she have a feeling that Amiti was the culprit behind this?

“A new exorcist, eh?” Lione muttered as he glanced at the file. “Let’s see…’We will be sending you reinforcements in order to help you in the war against the Millennium Earl’.” He grabbed the second page and continued reading, “’We will be sending you an exorcist from the South American Branch’…Apparently, she set sail from Brazil so I believe that she will be arriving soon. We should get ready then.” Tabitha nodded and wrote a quick note on her clipboard. “Here is the information about the new exorcist…’Lyra Winslet’. Oh, I know her!” he exclaimed as he read the last page.

Part 10

“You do?” Tabitha became interested and sat down on the bed. She rarely heard much about Lione’s past beside the fact that he was an orphan before being discovered as to be an Accommodator. “How did you know her, what is her Innocence’s power, and what is she like?”

Lione smiled with great amusement. “Aren’t you little nosy?” Tabitha just stuck out her tongue for her response. “Well, I met her four years ago while I was going back from a mission. She was trying to hide from her parents and her fiancée so she begged me to help her, which I did. Because of that, she started to spend time with me and became friends. To keep it short, she found out that she was an Accommodator and decided to join the Black Order. I trained with her for a year or so, but I have not seen her after that.
“Her anti-Akuma weapon is a short bladed staff. There are three parts to her Innocence. Most of the time, she creates several energy bolts and fields to attack her opponents, but that is not her Innocence’s true powers.”

“Her true power?” Tabitha questioned. Lione nodded and clarified, “She can increase an exorcist’s synchro-rate with his Innocence. However, they need to be in her area in order for it to work and there is a time limit. She can also use her Innocence on herself to increase her agility, her strength, etc. However, she rarely uses both of those power because she becomes exhausted using this.
“When she first introduced this move, she was only able to increase the synchro-rate of any exorcist in a 1 meter radius by 0.01% for only 30 seconds. Based on this report now, she can now increase it at most by 3% for 5 minutes for the maximum range of 800 meters. Likewise her internal usage is similar but her power increased by 15%.”

Part 11

“Only five minutes? That does not sound like a lot,” Tabitha said doubtfully. That might help in a battle against several Level 1 Akuma or maybe a Level 2 but against a Noah? It does not sound helpful at all.
Noticing her concern, Lione reassured her, “Those five minutes can influence the outcome of a battle.”
“If you say so…” Tabitha was still doubtful but decided not to say anything more about it. “Now to answer the last question: What is she like?”

The Branch Leader gave a weak laugh. “What is she like?” he repeated to himself. “Let’s see….how to describe her? It’s so hard to explain her personality, but the only thing I have in my head is that she is very colorful.”
Giving him a weird look, Tabitha mentioned, “What’s that supposed to mean?” Before he could respond, Eny began yelling for Tabitha to help her give new bandages to the other patients. The annoyed exorcist got up and gathered up her belongings. “Sorry about that,” she apologized, “You should be resting not talking to me.”

Lione shook his head. “I don’t mind. It was a nice needed break from doing the same routine. Whenever you have any free time, come and visit sometimes.” He gave a slight nod as she waved good-bye to him. It was hard to imagine that Tabitha used to be very spoiled and avoided responsibility whenever possible and now she has become a mature and selfless young woman. Looking outside the window, he wondered aloud, “I wonder if she has changed as well…”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Part 12

A Couple Miles/Meters Off the Shore of Boston, a Few Days Later

The Finder woke up early and looked out the small circular window. It’s still foggy outside, he thought. He also figured that it was around six o’clock in the morning since there was a little light outside. As he got ready for the newly arrived day, he heard a knock on the door and answered it. “We will be arriving in Boston shortly,” a sailor reported to him. “Please get ready to get off the ship when we arrived at the port.” He thanked the young man and closed the door.

Well, I better get her up. He walked over in front of her bedroom door and hesitated. He much preferred her when she was asleep; at least it was peaceful and he did not have to be on the alert. After a minute or so, he took a deep breath and began knocking on the door. “Ms. Lyra?” he called out. “It’s me. Just wanted you to know that we are approaching Boston soon so we better get ready,”
He heard a groan coming from the room and her coming out of the bed. Based on the sound of water being poured out from the pitcher and into the basin, she was probably washing her face. Since he knew that she was getting ready, he shouted through the door, “While you are getting ready, I will inform the North America Branch of our arrival and will check if the ship is serving breakfast right now.”

Hearing her mumble that she understood, he proceed to walk to the common room (they were staying in first class) to make the call. “Alarm clock?” He heard her call out so he turned around. Her head with disheveled hair covering her face peeked out from the door and if he looked past the room, he could see her jewelry scattered all over the dresser and her exorcist uniform tossed onto a chair. “What is it?” he politely asked.

Lyra gave him a small smile. “Thanks for waking me up.”

Part 13

“That was a great meal!” Lyra stretched her arms and placed them on the railing. She was now outside and was planning to enjoy the view except that it was still a little bit foggy. Somewhat disappointed, she rested her head on her arms. At least I could hear the ocean and the seagulls flying past by.
“Thank God that we arrived during the summer. I don’t know if I could handle the cold…” she muttered to no one in particular. Now that she thought about it, she was usually placed in areas with warm climates. This would be the first time she would be placed in a region with a cold season. ‘Well, at least I can finally see snow; maybe this is an early Christmas gift.”

After a few minutes of contemplating, Lyra decided to head back to the room and reread her report. I might as well get to know who I am working with…I wonder if Mr. Stiff-Lips learns to have some fun once in a while. As she turned to go, something caught her eyes. She immediately stood up and squint her eyes toward a far-off distance.
It was hard to see, but she could barely pick up a shape. It looks like another ship with three masts sailing away to someplace unknown. It appears that it was made out of woods, which was painted black and some type of figurehead decorated the front of the ship. However, the thing that interested her was the flag that was flapping in the wind. Could it be? “A pirate ship?” she whispered softly.

Part 14

“Ms. Lyra! There you are!” her companion’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she turned around. She jumped a little and snapped, “Don’t scare me like that!”
“My apologies,” the Finder responded. She sighed irritably. My God, can he be a little less formal toward me? “I just come to inform you that they are expecting us and that they sent a Finder to show us the way to Headquarters. Also, we should grab our belongings right now since we are about to land soon.”

He realized that she was not paying any attention to him, but instead, she was leaning against the rail and staring out toward the sea. After watching her look around right and left and muttering, “Damn! I lost it!”, he finally asked with exasperation. “What on earth are you doing!?”
She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. She was upset that she lost sight of that ship, but she dared not tell him about it. If I tell him about the pirate ship, he would definitely flip out. I better keep this a secret. “Oh, it’s nothing,” she lied as she hopped down from the railing and walked past by him. “I just felt like doing that.”

The Finder just sighed as he followed her inside. I swear that I don’t understand that girl sometimes.

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Part 15

The port was filled with passengers as they bustled out of the ship. Walking through the crowd, Lyra and her Finder looked around for their guide. It was nearly impossible to find him through and they began to wonder if they would have to stay the night at a nearby hotel when they suddenly noticed a tan-coated man was waving at them.
As they walked toward him, her companion became worried and pulled her closer to him. “What is it?” she asked as she looked straight ahead. He cleared his throat and murmured in her ear. “I think it would be best if you should be in your best behavior. After all, people judge you based on their first impressions.”

Lyra started to protest but decided against it. “Fine,” she answered. “I will be on my best behavior.” He sighed with relief; maybe she finally learned something from him. However, his relief transferred into horror when he heard her greeted the other Finder.
“Good day, good sir!” she said with a singing voice. “Lovely weather that we are having here, isn’t it? I hope you did not have to wait that long for us.” The other Finder was speechless at first but finally spoke, “N-no, it’s fine; I just got here.”
“Really? That’s good to hear,” she beamed. The other Finder looked at her companion and gave a look that said, “Are you sure that she is really an exorcist?” He just shrugged and gave him a weak smile. Why is she mocking me?

The Finder just coughed and started walking. “Anyway, I better show you the way. By the way, my name is Wesley and I will be your guide. I know that you are Lyra Winslet, but you are?”
Before he could reply, Lyra interrupted, “Oh, my companion here is known as ‘Seasick Green’ because he turns green whenever he becomes seasick.” Ignoring Wesley’s chortling, the embarrassed Finder continued walking and wished that she would have used another nickname instead of that one.

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Part 16

“Lione, you better get ready to greet the newest member,” Ying said as she wheeled in a wheelchair toward his bed. Lione nodded and allowed her to help him into it. After checking to see if everything was fine, she released the brakes and wheeled him toward the grand entrance where Madeline and Rinvak were waiting for him. He had decided at the last minute to have them be in the welcoming committee since these are the two he trusted the most.

Ying set the wheelchair between the two women and after setting up the brake, stood right behind him silently. Madeline gave him a small smile while Rinvak squeezed his shoulder. He smiled back at her to assure her that he is okay. With that done, Lione turned his head straight ahead toward the elevator in order to ignore seeing the other remaining members tried to their best to pretend that they were working and not trying to see the new exorcist.

The sounds of the elevator alerted them that their company is arriving soon. “Remember what I told you: Expect the unexpected,” Lione warned the people next to him watching as the elevator doors opened. He recognized Wesley as the one who held the door for the two guests stepping out of the elevator shaft. Even though he has not seen Lyra for three years now, Lione knew it was her because of the colorful jewelry that jingled as she moved. Well, here goes… he thought as he took a deep breath.

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Part 17

Rinvak shifted her body a little bit as she studied her newest comrade who was looking around the place. For someone who supposed to be older than I am, she sure act like a child. Lyra (Was that her name?) would linger around at a spot for a few seconds to inspect every single detail of the place like she was a drill sergeant while her Finder tried to nudge her to move forward.

At the corner of her eyes, Rinvak was relieved to see that Madeline was tapping her foot with great irritation. At least I am not the only one who is annoyed…. She looked down at Lione and mouthed, “What is she doing?” He just gave her an apologetic look and mouthed back, “Just let her be. She will stop it eventually.”

After looking up at the high cathedral ceiling, she observed Lyra who stopped walking and looked at her Finder with a huge smile on her face. “Wow!” she beamed. “This is not THAT half as bad as I expected! I imagine this place to be more stuffy and cramp; it is actually quite airy!”

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Part 18

Lione winced when he heard her comment. I can’t believe she just said that. He turned to look at his companions and judged by their expression, they were horrified as well. Madeline was gasping while Rinvak was covering her gaping mouth. Not that I blamed them, he thought wryly as he glanced up the ceiling, which was filled with holes caused by the Akuma’s attacks. Noticing that Lyra was oblivious to what she had caused, he cleared his throat really hard to get her attention.

She turned around, smiled at him, and walked over toward him with her Finder in tow. Stopping a few steps in front of him, she held her hand out, and greeted, “It has been awhile, Impatient Taskmaster!” That, of course, caused more horrified reactions from everyone. In fact, her Finder was hissing an admonishment in her ear, but she just tuned him out.
I knew that I forgot to mention something… Lione sighed and gave her a desperate look. “You haven’t changed at all, Lyra.” She covered her face embarrassingly and laughed as she waved her hand as if she was shooing a fly. “Oh, stop it! You praise me too much.”
He said to her flatly, “That wasn’t a compliment.”

Part 19:

Deciding that he should get straight to business before anything else escalates, Lione became serious. “Lyra, as you probably heard from Wesley, we suffered a heavy loss when some members of the Noah family attacked this place. With only four exorcists left, we are in dire need-”

“Who is the other one,” Lyra interrupted, “besides you and those women next to you?” She nodded toward Madeline and Rinvak who just stood there stiffly and did not say anything. “Man, you guys are way too serious.”
Lione disregarded that comment and answered, “This is Rinvak and this is Sister Madeline.” He pointed to each of the women as he said that. “And the last one is named Tabitha.”
“So you are telling me that besides you, all of the exorcists here are women?” she asked questioningly. “Geez, Lione, I didn’t know that you are a pimp. That does not seem like you at all.”

Before he could reply, Madeline scolded, “Ms. Lyra, stop making those unnecessary comments! There are male exorcists here, but unfortunately, two of them including with a young woman are captured, one is in a coma, and another one is in a mission in Japan.”
Unfazed, Lyra whistled with surprise. “So you are saying that the boys here are weak? Wow, the rumors were right…this headquarter is really messed-up.”

Part 20:

Suddenly, someone blurted angrily, “How dare you insult this branch? You don’t know anything, you jerk!” Everyone looked up to see a furious Eny glaring at Lyra from the second floor balcony; Tabitha was trying her best to calm the young Bookwoman down. So that where they were hiding… the welcoming committee thought at the same time.
Lyra just shook her head as she covered her ears from Eny’s shouts. “You are such a noisy little munchkin…that’s it! You shall be known as ‘Noisy Munchkin’!”

While she looked pleased about it, Eny was not. Instead the Bookwoman looked like she wanted to lunge the exorcist and attack her. “Noisy Munchkin!? You take that back! My name is Eny Vachir the Bookwoman prodigy! I don’t care who you are; I am gonna let you have it!” she screamed while Tabitha and a group of Finders and medical staff held her down before she jumped off from the balcony.

“My, my,” Lyra mused, “children are so energetic these days. Now, now we can play a little bit later.” Hearing that, Eny started to shout obscenities at her. Lione covered his face with his hands. I am going to have a headache from this. He sighed. She is still manipulative as ever.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” he said wearily. She just gave him a devilish smile and winked. “Of course.” Lione frowned. This is going to be a long day. How he desperately wish to drink a nice glass of ice cold rum right now.

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Part 21

After everyone – mostly Eny – settled down, they decided that Lyra and her companion needed to rest from the journey. Rinvak sighed as she watched Lyra lingered in the hallway. That was a weird experience. Remind me never to do that again no matter how much Lione asked.
“Ms. Lyra?” she looked to see Lyra’s Finder calling out to the tan-skinned exorcist. “I will be getting the luggage from upstairs. Please behave.” Lyra just gave him a blank look but answered, “Okay.”
Watching this interaction, Rinvak could not stop herself from wistfully wishing that the Finder was actually the exorcist and that Lyra was actually some random Finder who just wanted some attention. Maybe this was really a prank that someone was pulling.

“Eh? Is this the hospital room?” She turned to see Lyra was in the hospital and was asking that question to a medical staff. The staff member nodded and cautioned her to be quiet right now since the patients were resting. Having a bad feeling about it, Rinvak quietly crept over to the doorway and kept an eye on her.
Lyra was conversing with the staff member as they walked around the room. She suddenly stopped and pointed to one of the patients. “What’s wrong with sleepyhead over there?”

Part 22

Rinvak’s eyes followed where Lyra was pointing and was stunned to see that she was pointing at Zeran through the small opening of the curtain. She also noticed without any surprise that Reina was still there and holding his hand. Luckily, she was too busy guarding over him to hear that comment.
“That is Zeran,” the medical staff member answered quietly. “Sister Madeline mentioned about him earlier; he is the exorcist who is in the coma.”
“I see…” she responded. “What’s about her?” She stared at Reina who tried her best not to yawn.
Her “appointed” guide hesitated but finally answered, “I believe she is Zeran’s friend named Reina. She has been taking care of him that in fact, she refused to have anyone else take care of him.”

“So you’re telling me that she has been in that room for the entire time without any rest?” Lyra raised her eyebrows in disbelief; he nodded. “Unbelievable…let me knock some sense into her.” Before he could say anything, she already marched over to Reina.

Part 23

This I gotta see… Rinvak walked over to where Lyra was standing and watched the whole scenario.

Reina was staring at Zeran with great intensity that at first, she did not notice a presence was standing right next to her. “What do you want?” she snapped when she saw this weird stranger was looking at her curiously. Can’t she see I am busy?
“Oh nothing,” she replied in a perky voice. “I was just admiring the bags underneath your eyes. They are quite lovely!”
Annoyed, Reina gave her a death glare and ordered, “If you have nothing else to do, then get out.” However, the lady just stood there and refused to move. “Did you hear me? Get out!”

Instead she looked at Zeran and asked softly, “Is this your friend? How long has he been like this?” Reina lowered her face and muttered, “For a week now.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks but she wiped them away quickly. I don’t want this stranger to see me like this.
“It’s okay to cry, you know.” She looked up to see that the lady was looking at her. “And it is also nice that you really care for him, but pushing yourself to exhaustion is ridiculous especially when there are other people who are willing to help out.” She nudged her head toward the nurses and doctors outside of the room.

Part 24

Reina looked at her defiantly. Who does she think she is? My mother? “I can’t!” The woman gave her a questioning look. “This spirit told me to keep an eye on him!”
“Honestly, this brat needs to grow some backbone,” she muttered aloud so that Reina could hear her and she felt her face flushed with anger. As she was about to say something, the woman looked at her straight in the eyes and challenged, “So if this ‘ghost’ tells you to jump off a bridge, would you do that?”

Reina became silent and decided to look at Zeran’s face to calm herself down. She was seething with anger but refused to lash out. She is probably just trying to provoke me. Well, I won’t let her! She felt the lady’s staring at her but ignored it. She will leave sooner or later.
Suddenly, she felt her wrists being grabbed and her body’s being dragged off the chair. “What are you doing!?” she demanded. The lady just smiled. “I think Narki over there needs some alone time so I thought it would be nice if you spend some time with me.”
She began to protest, but the stranger was too intent on her task to pay any attention to her. “Someone, please help me!” she screamed at the hospital staff who was staring at them. “This wacko is trying to kidnap me!”

Part 25

Lyra bit her lips to prevent herself from yelling at the girl. Instead she forced the brat’s right arm behind her body and wrapped her arm tightly around the girl’s waist so the girl is forced to walk in front of her. She tried to squirm her way free, but Lyra refused to budge. Clingy Brat then tried to step on her feet so hard with hopes that she would let go. Oh well, I guess I have to resort to that.
“OWWWW!” the girl yelped. Lyra has pulled her right arm back until she felt that the arm might come out of the socket. “I swear, you’re worse than my little brother when I had to give him a bath,” she whispered gravely in her ears. “If you don’t start behaving any time soon, I will make the next one a whole lot worse.”

She stopped screaming but continued to pout. At least it is tolerable. Keeping her grips on her, Lyra looked up and smiled at the spectators. “Everything is fine here!” she assured them with a smile on her face. “We are just getting to know each other. In fact, she agreed to show me a tour of the place.” They gave her a dubious look but decided to continue their works so they would not get involved.
“Umm…” Lyra looked at the girl. The girl shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve never been outside of the hospital room.”
“So you’re telling me that you don’t even know your way around here?” The girl did not react. “That is pretty sad.” She looked around and immediately spotted an exorcist trying her best to sneak away without being notice – and failing miserably. Lyra recognized her as the girl standing next to Tensed-Up Boss. “Hey, you!”

Part 26

Rinvak frozed. Please don’t let it be me. She turned around slowly and saw that Lyra was looking at her. “Yes, you!” she said firmly. “Give us a tour of headquarters.”
Rinvak replied, “Shouldn’t you rest first? You have been traveling for a long time now and you must be exhausted from the journey. We can give you a tour later when you are fully rested, Lyra.”

Lyra shook her head stubbornly. “Nope, I’m fine and I want to explore this place. Besides I think this girl needs to take a break.” She glanced at a displeased Reina. “If you are so worry about him, I can have a medical staff keep an eye on him. If your boy toy wakes up, the staff can call us and you can go running back here. Does that sound fine with you?”
Rinvak realized that she was looking at her now. Probably because Reina is refusing to talk to her. “Yeah, that sounds fine,” she finally answered and sighed. “Fine, I will give you a tour.” With that said, she reluctantly lead the way for a happy exorcist and her unhappy hostage.

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Part 27

“Oh, she is going to pay for that!” Eny ranted as she and Tabitha walked down the stairs. The latter just rolled her eyes and pretended to listen to the Bookwoman’s tirade. “She is going to regret ever messing with me!”
Looking ahead, Tabitha suddenly noticed Lyra’s Finder walking past by the stairs. “Hey, wait up!” she shouted as she scrambled down the stairs. She heard Eny’s yelling at her to stop but continued running. The Finder stopped walking and waited for them.
“You look like you need some help,” Tabitha said as she pointed at the large pile of luggage scattered around him. The Finder let out a deep breath of relief. “That would be greatly appreciative,” he said as they gathered them together. He looked at Eny and gasped, “Hey, I recognize you! You are that noisy girl from earlier!”

Before Eny could bite his head off, Tabitha covered her mouth and gave him the most innocent smile. “Oh yes, that’s her all right! By the way, my name is Tabitha and based on what you heard earlier, her name is Eny.”
“Nice to meet you, Tabitha and Eny,” the Finder gave them a slight bow of his head. “I am sorry about what happened earlier. Ms. Lyra has trouble remembering people’s names so she likes to give them nicknames, which are usually…how should I put it mildly…offensive. By the way, don’t try to get back at her. All those who tried caused their lives to be more miserable. The reason is that she believes that they are trying to be friendlier to her so she will give them more attention so dear God, don’t even try.”
“I see,” Tabitha began, but she knew that Eny did not believe a word that he said. “Oh yeah, before I forget…what is your name?”

“Oh, my name is Obedient One,” the Finder said without skipping a beat. Eny and Tabitha gave him a weird look. Eny coughed. “We meant your real name.”
The Finder laughed sheepishly. “I’m sorry. Let me start again…It’s Panic Butler.”
“That is still not your real name,” the girls repeated. He blushed with embarrassment. “My apologies. Let me think…” He finally gave a nervous chuckle. “To be honest, I have been with Ms. Lyra for over a year now that I have forgotten what my real name is. In fact, the last headquarter that I was in use my nicknames instead whenever they called me. If you give a minute, I am sure that I will remember.”
As the Finder began muttering to himself, Eny and Tabitha glance at each other and a horrifying thought filled their heads. Will that be our fate as well?

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Part 28

“And this is the Laboratory.” Rinvak pointed to the room to the left. Lyra nodded as she glanced into the room while Reina just followed unhappily. After walking for a while, Lyra has decided that it was okay to let her go since the hospital was far away now and the girl admitted defeat.

Getting unnerved by the awkward silence that followed, Rinvak continued, “As we walked up the stairs to the second floor, we can see the courtyard below. We used that as a training area sometimes if it is raining outside, but most of the time, it is used as a place to relax.” Looking down, she noticed the hole in the wall. Based on Ying’s report, that was where Flames broke that hole in the wall, which allowed the medical staff to escape… She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. Calm down, Rinvak. You can do this. “Now as we go through this corridor, we will enter the Gym…”

Part 29

The tour was going along smoothly after that, which Rinvak very much preferred. Lyra and Reina (well, mostly Lyra) would ask questions once and awhile, but they were easy to answer. This is not that bad; maybe I should do this again. she thought to herself proudly. However, she started to regret that idea at the next destination.

“Is this the Library?” Reina asked quietly. She froze at the entrance of the library and saw several bookshelves toppled on top of each other. This is where I fought with Uriel. Without realizing it, she began walking around the room and avoiding the scattered books on the floor. She saw some dried blood on the wall – her blood – and came into a halt when she almost fell into the crater in the floor. In the aftermath, she flew down the hole to check to see if Uriel had fallen to his death but did not find any body, which meant that he had escaped.

She forced herself to stop looking down at the seemingly bottomless pit but she noticed the hole in the wall that leads to the secret chamber. That was the place where Lione had lost the ability to walk. If only she was there to help him, maybe he would still…
She did not realize that her body was trembling slightly, but Lyra must have felt that something was amiss because she said quietly, “I think we have enough of this place. Let’s go someplace else.”

Part 30

The tour finally reached their final destination. As Rinvak opened the heavy ornate door, she looked at Lyra. “This is the women’s dormitory. We have ten beds; five on left and right sides of the room. Each girl has their own night stand, which include a small towel, pitcher, and basin, and an armoire to put her clothes away.” She pointed to the small wooden table next to the right side of the bed and to large wooden wardrobe which was on the left side of the bed. “Your bed is the third on the left based on the stack of luggage placed on that bed.”

Lyra nodded and walked over there. “Which one is yours?” she called out as she inspected her new bed. Rinvak answered, “Mine is the first one on the left.” Thinking about it, she decided to tell the rest. “Tabitha’s is right across from me while Eny’s is next to hers. And the bed between ours is Stephanie’s, but you won’t see her because…” She struggled to find the right word, “she along with her boyfriend got captured by the Noahs.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” the new exorcist said apologetically. “I am sure that she is a very nice girl.” She decided to change the subject and called out to Reina who just stood at the doorway. “See? We have extra beds so you can sleep here whenever you need to take a nap if you want. You can take the one across from mine. Don’t worry; the bed is very comfortable compared to that hard chair you were sitting in earlier.” She pushed down on the fluffy mattress to prove her statement.

Zeran’s friend just nodded her head but continued to be silent. Sensing that she was still worried about him, Lyra piqued, “See? What did I tell you? Narki is fine. Nothing bad has happened to him or else someone would have called us during the tour, right?”
Reina muttered, “I guess you’re right…” She looked at Lyra reluctantly. “Thanks.” She turned to Rinvak and bowed her head. “Thank you for giving me a tour of this place. I believe that I now understand what all of you have been going through these past few days. I think I am ready to head back now.” Rinvak nodded and told Lyra, “I will show her the way back while you can unpack.” Lyra just nodded to show that she understood so the two girls started their walk back.

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Part 31

Rinvak sighed. As soon as they arrived at the hospital room, Reina immediately started running over to check on Zeran, who was, as Lyra has predicted, still unconscious. At least I can finally relax… she thought as she opened the door that led to the garden outside.
“Hey, Rin! Where have you been?” she winced when she saw Tabitha waving at her like crazy. Eny was with her and she looked very pleased with herself – Rinvak decided that she did not want to know – and Lyra’s Finder was with them as well. She plopped down on the bench next to them.

“I was giving a tour of the place for the new girl and Zeran’s friend,” she mumbled tiredly. Tabitha gave her a look. “So the incident in the hospital was true?” Rinvak raised her eyebrow. Words spread really fast. “I don’t want to talk about it. And why are you so happy?” she snapped at Eny who was talking to herself.
“Oh, nothing,” she boasted happily, “except that little wench will feel my wrath. I have placed a nice surprise in one of her belongings. I can’t wait to hear her screams!” Eny started to laugh evilly that Rinvak and Tabitha became uncomfortable and looked away.

She noticed Lyra’s Finder muttering to himself, “I think it starts with a ‘G’ or was it an ‘H’?” He looked like he was concentrating so hard that he did not pay attention to anything that they said earlier. “What’s up with him?” she asked finally.
Eny answered with a snicker, “Oh, he is just trying to remember his name. Apparently, he has forgotten it ever since he was with that witch.” Rinvak gave them a “You got to be kidding me” look but they nodded with great seriousness. “How long has he been doing this?”
Looking at the clock, Tabitha replied, “For over a half an hour now.”

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Part 32

Lione looked out of his office window and took a deep breath. He could not stop himself from staring out to the ocean and wondered if that green-haired pirate is doing well. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to take in the scene. Everything was peaceful again, which he enjoyed wholeheartedly. A knock on the door interrupted that serene moment unfortunately. “Come in!” he shouted, but he has a feeling that he already knew who it was.
A smiling Lyra opened the door and walked into the room. She was carrying her anti-Akuma weapon and a satchel bay hung from her shoulder. He pointed to the chair right in front of his desk, but she ignored the invitation. Instead, she just sat on top of his desk and crossed her legs – not that he was surprised. “I think we should have a little celebration,” she said with a wink. “I got this when our ride stopped at the Caribbean islands to restock on supplies…” She opened the satchel bag and pulled out two small glasses and…

“A bottle of rum? Lyra, you’re a life saver!” Lione said happily. She gave him a rueful grin as she pulled it into the glasses. “But I thought you cannot drink any alcohol since you always pass out after drinking one shot.”
“I know,” she began as she gave a cup to him and raised hers up, “but you are going to drink mine. After all, it has been over three years since we last met. Cheers?”
“Cheers!” They toasted their glasses and Lione drank his glass. After he finished his share, Lyra gave hers for him to drink up. “Sorry that the rum is lukewarm,” she apologized. “I was planning to put it in the icebox, but I heard from Friendly Greeter (Wesley) that everyone was hiding alcohol away from you. Honestly, don’t they know that a leader has his needs? You should charge them for insubordination! I should discipline them.”
Lione gave a weak protest, “They have my best interests in mind.” But Lyra just rolled her eyes and muttered, “Whatever you say.”

Part 33

“Anyway,” he cleared his throat, “I heard about the hospital fiasco.” He gave her a disapproving look. “You should know that using physical force to make a girl do what you want is wrong.”
Lyra just shrugged. “Oh puh-lease. We were just having fun, and besides, I thought she needs a change of scenery.” Lione just looked at her silently and sighed. He knew better than to scold her because she would just tune him out and does something more outrageous the next time. Based on experiences, he knew the best thing to do is humor her. Now that he thought about it, Headquarters probably sent her here since he knew how to handle her.

“By the way, what is up with Old Hag?” He has a feeling that she was talking about Madeline, who was around the same age as he, which meant that she was not THAT old. “She reminds me of my mother! The way that she was glaring at me, I thought she wanted me to do penance or something like that.” That was probably true, Lione thought to himself, and knowing Lyra, she would make a show out of it.
“Let’s change subject,” he quickly interrupted. “This is supposed to be a happy occasion, remember? By the way, what happened to your dress?” He pointed to the multi-colored paint that splattered her exorcist uniform.
“Oh, this?” she glanced down at her dress. “Someone put an exploding paint bomb in one of my suitcases, and when I opened it, it exploded all over my clothes.”

Hearing that, Lione immediately knew the culprit. “It has to be Eny.” He noticed Lyra gave him a puzzled look and clarified, “Noisy Munchkin.”
“Ah…her,” Lyra nodded with a far-off look on her face as she placed her hand under her chin. “I will have to think of doing something nice for her then.”
“Please don’t,” the Branch Leader begged as he covered his face. “I don’t want to have another headache today.”

Expecting a snarky comeback, he was startled to find Lyra’s face was a few inches (centimeters) away from his face. “Wh-what are you doing?” he asked nervously as she was studying him with a great intensity.
“I knew that you were acting weird as soon as I met you,” she mumbled. Suddenly, she has a huge grin on her face. “I knew it!” she exclaimed. “You finally got a girlfriend!”

Part 35

“What!?” Lione tried to back his wheelchair away but to no avail since he just backed himself to the wall. “Don’t be ridiculous, Lyra!” She continued to stare at him and admonished, “Don’t lie to me, Lione! You know that you are a horrible liar especially around me.” She gave him a pleading look. “Besides, you promised me that if you ever find a girl, you would tell me about it, remember?”

*Flashback*

“So what types of girl do you like, Overprotective Archeologist?” Lione turned his head and looked at Lyra whose head was resting on her arms. They were admiring the endless ocean on the second floor deck of the ship and having a conversation about random nonsense when she asked that question.
“Types of girl?” She nodded and tilted her head toward him. He thought for a little bit and admitted, “To be honest, I never have a girlfriend before.” She gave him a pitiful look. “Wow, you are more pathetic than I thought.”

He frowned at that comment but decided to ignore it since he has no idea what to say to that blunt response. “Don’t worry!” He looked to see the girl was smiling at him. “I’m sure you will find one sooner or later, but you have to promise me,” she moved closer to him and looked at him straight in the eyes, “that you will tell me everything about her. I have to give you my approval first.”
Lione gave a weak laugh. “Aren’t I older than you? You are acting like you’re my big sister.” She gave him a stern look. “Okay, fine. I, Lione Parcoeur, solemnly swear that if I ever have a girlfriend, I will tell Lyra Winslet so I can get her approval. Happy now?”
Lyra grinned. “You bet I am.”

*Flashback Ends*

“Yes, I remembered,” Lione said flatly. She smirked and began her interrogation, “Where did you first meet her and what is she like. Lover Boy?”
The Branch Leader answered, “I met her at a bar a few weeks ago. I was having…personal problems so I decided to take a break. While I was contemplating about my life, she noticed that I looked a little down and offered me a sip of her rum. I don’t remember much that night, but all I remember is that she has sea-green hair and a carefree personality.”
Lyra nodded as she listened to his words. “At least you got her name and you will see her again, right?”

Lione cleared his throat and grinned sheepishly. “I…err…was too drunk that I forgot to ask her for her name, and I probably won’t see her again since she is a pirate.” His confidante groaned, “I have a feeling that you were going to blow it! And here I thought that you might have a chance to not die a virgin! If only I was there…”

Part 36

Lione became annoyed so he countered, “So what’s about your love life? Are you still following your so-called ‘Rules of Love’?”

Flashback

Lione looked at his newfound friend and said dryly, “And based on how you are criticizing me, I bet you have plenty of boyfriends.” She gave him a modest smile and said casually, “I have dated five, but they are mostly my parents’ picks. However, I usually scared them away. In fact, my longest relationship lasted two months.” Seeing her personality, he actually believed her. “So what have you learned from your past relationships?”
Lyra looked at him and started to ponder. “Hmm…I guess that I know what I want from a guy. I have two criteria, in fact; I’ll call them my ‘Rules of Love’.” An amused Lione asked, “And what are they?”

She held out one finger. “Number One, I will never date a friend.” After looking around to make sure no one was there, she lowered her voice. “I once dated a friend, and I tell you this: he is a great friend, but a horrible boyfriend.” Since she did not elaborate, Lione decided not to ask. “And the last one?”
“I will never a guy who is older than me,” she said as she held up two fingers. “I don’t know why but they tend to be so boring and take life too seriously. Even their conversations are so dull.” Lione has no idea why but felt like he had to apologize (maybe it was because he was twenty-seven years old). “It’s okay, Mr. Never Been Kissed; you’re an exception. At least you have an exciting life.”

“So you like younger men because they have so much fun?” he inquired. She nodded but added, “Plus I can easily boss them around.”

Flashback Ends

She shook her head. “Unfortunately, I am too busy fighting Akuma to think about my love life. Furthermore, it would complicate my life more than necessary.” Lione gave her an evil grin. “Are you sure? And what’s about your Finder? You seem to be having fun messing with him,” he teased.
Lyra started laughing so hard that she has to hug her waist because it hurt so much. “You mean my babysitter?” she finally gasped. “No way! One thing, he is such a party pooper and he acts WAY too old for his age.”

Part 37

“But enough about our sorry love life, how are you holding?” she said seriously as she glanced at his legs. “It is probably rough for you not to be able to walk.” Lione became somber but said quietly, “I’m still not used to this yet, but I will manage. Right now I am still trying to find a way to alter my fighting style.”
He became depressed thinking about it. If I was more careful and did not get distracted by Father Franceso’s Bible, I would have never been in this position. This thought has sometimes entered his head whenever he has trouble sleeping or thought about what happened.

*smack* Lione felt a light hit on his head and looked up to see Lyra’s worried face. “I never saw you this down before,” she said concernedly. “It is hard to imagine you like this, Angsty Cripple.” He opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind. For some reason, he did not feel comfortable talking about his situation right now.
“Here.” Lyra gave him another glass of rum. “I know that drinking your sorrow away is a bad idea, but I will have an exception.” He took it readily and gulped it down. Looking at the clock, he mentioned, “It is almost time for dinner. We better get ready.”

She nodded and jumped off the table when he stopped her. “Wait. Where are you going to hide that bottle of rum? You can’t hide it here because everyone searches my office to confiscate any alcohol.”
“I realize that,” she replied. “In fact, I know a perfect place to hide it. No one will expect it.” He listened carefully as she whispered, “I placed it in that missing girl’s closet; if I specify, I think I will make you blush.” Lione did not know whether or not she was kidding.

As he wheeled his way to the door, he stopped himself when he saw his appearance in the mirror. “I can’t go down there now!” he exclaimed to Lyra. “My face is too red that they will get suspicious.”
Lyra deliberated for a little bit but finally got an idea. “Don’t worry! If they asked, I will tell them that I told them some embarrassing stories that cause you to blush.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Part 38

The cafeteria was crowded as usual when Tabitha and company entered the room. They finally found an empty table and sat down to eat. “Thank God!” Rinvak muttered as she chow down on her lobster roll, “I’m starving!” At the corner of her eyes, Tabitha spotted Reina getting her dinner and walking down the aisle, which was a surprise since this was the first time she saw her outside of the hospital.
Some of the medical staff saw her and invited her to sit down with them. She chatted with them for a little bit but declined, saying that she wanted to eat in Zeran’s room. As she watched Reina waved goodbye, Tabitha mused that it was a start.

A little later, she saw Lione and Lyra entered the room. Madeline immediately walked over to them and gave a suspicious glance at Lione when she saw his face. “It’s okay, Strict Mother,” Lyra said without skipping a beat, “I just told him some embarrassing stories especially about my feminine problems, if you know what I mean.” This caused Lione to blush even harder and Madeline looking embarrassed for him. After telling Lyra not to do that again, she wheeled an extremely red-faced Lione to a table.

Tabitha suddenly realized that the new girl was scanning around room and stopped at her direction. She grinned and walked over toward them. That was when Tabitha noticed that her dress was covered with multi-color coating of paint. “Pssst,” she hissed at Eny, “Earth to troublemaker, she is coming this way.”
The Bookwoman shrugged. “So?” She grabbed another bite of her clam chowder. “I’m not scared of her. If she wants to do something bad to me, I will fight back.” Why can’t she let this go? Tabitha glanced at Rinvak who just shook her head. Well, I should be happy that I am not her target anymore.

“Hello!” They looked up to see Lyra smiling cheerfully at them. “Hello,
they echoed back. “Um…do you want to have a seat?” Tabitha asked nervously. For some reason, she felt a terrible feeling of dread.
“It’s okay,” Lyra answered. “I already have a table.” She turned her glance toward Eny. “Well, hello again, Noisy Munchkin!” Eny just grunted, but Tabitha noticed that she tensed up. “I heard that you are the one who caused my clothes to be like this.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” the Bookwoman challenged. Lyra just smiled. “I just wanted thank you. I have always hated the blandness of the exorcist uniform that this really brightens it up. To show my gratitude, I have ordered the staff to destroy all of your clothes and give you new ones. Let me show you one.” She pulled out a pink frilly dress that only a baby would wear and gave it to a vivid Eny. “I think this matches your personality perfectly!”

As she walked away, Eny threw the clothes down to the floor with great fury. She was about to jump over the table, but the two exorcists and several Finders restrained her. A sudden shout caused everyone to stop what they were doing except for Lyra who continued to walk to her table with a look of great satisfaction on her face.
“I finally remember it now!” Everyone looks at Lyra’s Finder who was jumping up with joy. “I just remember my name; it’s John Smith!”
Everyone turned to Lyra’s direction with great incredulity. How could she forget such an easy name?

Author's Note

That's the end of the chapter! I hope you enjoy it even though it is just a character's introduction and boring chit-chatter.

Lyra and Lione's past will be more detailed in a later chapter. I decided to have a little sneak peek of it and to show some interactions that they have during their first meeting.

BTW, Eny is forced to wear those clothings for a while now, but everyone else will find her to be adorable. :amuse

I think Lyra and Eny's interaction will be entertaining to read.

Anyway, excuse me while I :paperbag

.

Chapter 73- A House of Cards

Authors Notes

Hey guys, sorry for the wait my internet got messed up seriously and I couldn't get my chapter out in time. This'll be my last chapter for awhile cause I'm going into overtime when it comes to summer activity. But if you guys get to the captivity scenes before I come back, I give permission to snoogen to use the scenes I already thought up.

Fuzziness was everywhere, everything seemed as if it was being viewed from the bottom of a bottle of rum. The exorcists of the NA branch disappearing one after another, just a shadow appearing before each was taken. Lione felt himself trying to run but it wasn't happening. His legs weren't responding to his will. He looked down and there was nothing and he heard a voice, a voice thats usual monotonousness wavered slightly saying “… I’m afraid you’ve lost all mobility from the legs down. You’re paralyzed.” The words were like fingernails to a chalkboard except that it was fingernails on his soul and the pain was excruciating. He felt himself begin to vanish. Systematically each finger disappeared and then his feet, hands, arms, legs, torso, and neck leaving his head which was fading fast.

Lione opened his eyes gasping for breath, as his lungs filled with air heavy with dust he choked a little only to see Ying beside his bed. She was mopping his brow.

"You had a fever while you were sleeping, but it passed." Ying placed a thermometer on the bedside table. "Lione...I have news"

Lione closed his eyes as he heard her words, drinking them in slowly. "Good or Bad?"

"I'm afraid bad, we got news from the European Headquarters."

Lione had felt this coming for a long time, he shook his head wishing that maybe he was still asleep or maybe that he was dead "Let me guess they want to shut down our branch?"

Ying nodded "Yes, but they want to hold you up for judgement against...the council, we've been setting up a room so that they may transmit a signal and hear your side of the story before they make the decision."

Liones eyes grew wider, shutting down his order was one thing but having him stand trial before the council was a little harsh. He tried to steady the stress in his throat before he began to speak "So when-" he failed, but he decided to continue but Ying put up her hand to stop him.

"In Five days Lione." the bed creaked as Ying lifted herself up from it.

She left the room and when he could could barely hear the sound of her footsteps he threw the bedcovers off with a flourish. He tried to swing his legs off the bed but it wasn't happening. Liones face fell crestfallen as if it was the first time he tried to do this. Over the past week since he recieved the news all he did was try to will his legs into moving. Lione was a fighter and the ability to walk was imperative. A vision of Jacques flooded his mind, the bastard that took his legs was also someone who was connected to him from his past. Remembering him say that the bible translated by Father Francesco was something that belonged to someone he cared for. Was it possible for Jacques to know Father Fransesco too?

Then with a sigh of resignation, Lione closed his eyes and leaned back awaiting his judgement.

Lione did all that he could do to try and not think about the upcoming trail. He played with a deck of cards, but found out that he could only play solitare which at the moment he was finding very depressing so instead he decided to build a house of cards which was knocked down when the 'gruesome twosome' (Tabby and Eny) showed up.

"Heeey Lione!"

Lione looked at Tabitha for a moment, she wasn't her usual cheery self. "Hey Tabitha, what are you here to tell me?"

"Oh nothing really important, except that the council has sent several people here to setup the room.....oh and Daniels missing."

Lione would have been surprised but instead he tried to will his legs out of paralysis for the the thousandth time. I need to start moving my branch is falling to pieces without me

"Lione? Are you okay?"

Lione looked up to see Eny's face, these days it was filled with worry for her kitten and now her worry was directed towards Lione, he then looked and saw Tabby with the same expression on her face. Pity wasn't something he enjoyed he was too proud of a person but right now he didn't have room for pride in his heart. It was filled with anguish and fear. Lione looked at the 2 girls who stood in front of him and he smiled. "Tabby, Eny" he said "I thank you for your worry but I'm okay...really"

"Bu-" Tabby began but was interrupted by Eny

"The chair should be ready by the time of the trial."

Lione nodded and the two girls made their way towards the exit. "Girls!"

They both turned around with expectant faces hoping that Lione would show a little grief.

"Bye."

The girls nodded and left the door clicking as it closed. It wasn't pride that kept him from telling them the truth. It was the mere fact that he was their leader and he needed to be strong.

The day of judgement was arriving quickly and he heard from Ying that the trial might be moved up by a day. She also confirmed what Tabby and Eny had said, Daniel was missing. Not only that, the paperwork he had to go through was mostly done. When he questioned about who had done it, his answer was recieved with a knock on the door.

"Lione its me." It was Madeline.

"My door is open to all." Lione replied

Madeline walked in she wasn't dressed in her usual clothes, her hair was in a braid that hung beside her head on her right. She was wearing green scrubs and her beautiful eyes were glinting even in the flourescent light of the medical wing. "Hey Lione, are you feeling all right? I was in bed the whole time I finally snuck out so we can speak."

Ying appeared next to Madeline "Is that so?"

Madeline was shocked and turned slowly confirming Yings presence."Ying! I didn't know you were here! I was just out getting som-"

Ying waved her hand "No need, you may continue but be quick I need to make sure you are 100% for the trial"

At the mention of the trial Madeline's face sunk, her cheeks paled and her head drooped. "Okay I'll be fast"

Ying stepped through the door and disappeared into the hallway leaving Madeline and Lione alone.

"Trial?!" Lione asked

"Yeah" Madelines cheeks flushed a little more "I'm being put under trial for leaving the Black Priesthood without any notice or anything. So you see you aren't alone. I haven't eaten for days and Zeran isn't doing so well himself, cause he's still in the coma."

"Zeran is under trial too?!" Lione gaped but then his memories rushed back "Oh yeah, let me guess he is under trial for destroying the last HQ."

"Yeah, but that isn't all. He is also under trial for insubordination, reckless behavior, and the toughest for him is that he has no Innocence so they might kick him out of the order for good."

Lione sat back, which was what he did alot and shook his head. "Did you know what I'm being charged for?"

"Yes, but I thi-"

"Failure to Lead, Losing 3 Exorcists, Losing 1 Bookman, Enemy Infiltration, Failure T Kill A Noah and for good measure Harboring a Fugitive of The Black Order...thats you"

Madeline sat quietly next to Lione "I'm Sorry" Lione looked at his legs wishing that he wasn't so helpless, but looking at Madeline made him feel even more sorry for her than he did himself.

"Don't worry about it Madeline" She looked up and he looked into her beautiful eyes, the eyes that reminded him so much of that person who he lost.

"Madeline, I'd like to ask you a question"

She looked at him with those eyes "Sure, what is it?

KNOCK

Ying walked into the room "I need to give you the poison purging shot again"

Madelines face drooped "Sorry Lione, I have to take this. The poison Amiti put into my tea had a reproduction effect which means I have to take these shots until its all out of my system" She turned around and followed Ying into the dark hallway.

Lione was alone now, his thoughts racing they will judge the three of them. Zeran, Madeline and last but not least Lione. He spent the whole day doing paperwork and that last conversation had tired him out completely. He then remembered that he was the one who did the paperwork, damn that Shadow Rave it was killing his memories again. Then the soothing noises of the medical wing lulled him to sleep. Then his dreams of disappearing exorcists began.

The fourth day before the trial was the worst, he had had that dream again and when he woke up he had a headache from hell. On top of all that Ying let him have visitors. That meant everyone was coming into the room, and the first person waiting to see him was Lyra.

When she showed up, it was her and her finder the one she brought with her to the NA HQ. His name always seemed to evade Lione.

"So your trial is tomorrow huh?"

Lione nodded his head

"Why aren't you talking?"

Lione just raised his shoulders.

Lyra started to get pissed her fist tightened and she was trying her best to keep her face from cracking into a look of rage.

"I understand me and ou have some history but that should make it easier o ou to talk to me."

Lione just stood still.

Lyra broke down and grabbed Lione by his collar and pulled him up to her face. Liones face static as ever.

"Listen Punk! If you don't start talking to me I'll pump you up with akuma blood! I found it in that comatose guys belongings!" She pulled out the vial of akuma blood. "See!"

Lyra's Finder rushed to the 2 exorcists and he slowly pried the vial out of the womans hands. "Ma'am I think hurting the branch leader is a bad way to start out here."

"Who cares?! He might not even be the leader for much longer!" she stood up straight and pulled on her uniform. "You might be looking at the next branch leader of North America."

Lione knew that the fastest way to get rid of Lyra was to not talk to her, but he hadn't expected this. This was a little to much to hold back and he might have taken her head had Ying not step in because of all the ruckus.

"Excuse me, you're appointment is over."

"I'll say when my appointment is over, thank you." when she said this Ying appeared next to her and chopped Lyra in the back of the neck She fell down and the finder caught her.

Ying helped the finder carry Lyra out of the door. Then she pulled out a remote and pressed a button to beep the next person.

Lione spent the rest of the day in camraderie with his other exorcist friends. Most of the finders who visited were really worried about Daniel. They thought he might be dead. Lione reassured them and told them that he probably just got scared after the incident and went back home to work at 'Nortons Quick Carraiges' in New Grove East, even though Lione knew that naming a city New Grove East was kinda wierd especially since it was west.

His last appointment for the day was Rinvak. She didn't show up.

Lione couldn't sleep that night so Ying gave him a special shot to put him into a dreamless sleep. The effect was immediate.

Lione's eyes snapped open. He was in his hospital room and the time was 5:38am the sun probably hadn't risen yet.

He looked around the room, and he saw the chair that had been promised to him by Enpitsu. He felt like he was going to have a heart attack his heart beating outside of his chest. The monitor on his left let out an alert warning the medical staff. They came in and gave him some sedatives to lower his heart rate, it finally started to kick in. They gave him another shot that Ying had given him the previous night. He fell asleep again.

When he woke up he was in his exorcist garb and he was inclined in a sleeping position in his new chair. He was in a room with Madeline and the unconcsious Zeran.

"Good Morning, Sleepyhead." Madeline smiled. "You ready for the day of judgement?"

Lione nodded. "Well, when does this thing start?"

Madeline sat down and shu her eyes "Any moment now, It'll be Zeran first, then me, and finally you."

"I guess they were saving the best for last."

Madeline chortled at his remark "I guess so"

Lione fiddled around with the chair trying to get it to seat him in a upright position he hit a button and this time his seat fell into a 180 degree angle. "Just a question, how do they plan on putting Zeran on trial when he's in a coma?"

Madeline came over and fiddled with the seat and got it to seat him properly "Well Ying being the genius that she is, came up with something to shock his brain into function for at least 1 hour."

"Well she is remarkable, but where is she?"

Madeline sat down again in her seat. "She is speaking with the council, along with everyone."

"Huh?!"

"Well the council is trying to get stories from the other people in the branch to see if its worth being kept open." she hugged herself and added "Their also trying to see to build up a case against us." She turned to lok at Lione and their eyes met. The worry on Madelines face was evident and a ping was heard in the room. Right above a door that Lione hadn't noticed was a red light and it was flashing.

A set of double doors swung open on the other side of the room and in came Ying with 2 tough looking Finders one on each side of her. She walked past Madeline and Lione. The look on her face was inhumanly indifferent. She went over to Zeran with both of the finders watching her every move intently one of them went to her ear and whispered a whisper that was inaudible to Lione but he read his lips and he said "Don't do anything stupid."

Ying pulled out a needle, and the 2 finders looked like they were on guard as if she put up a fight before. She put the needle up to Zerans temple and pushed it into him and he came to life with a gasp. 2 more finders came through the door with the red light and pushed the bed that Zeran was on through the doors as Ying was escorted back through the doors where she came from.

Lione and Madeline stood silent for a few minutes, as if waiting to hear the screams of Zeran come from the other room. When they didn't come they let out a long breath.

"What was that about?" Madeline finally asked

"I'm not sure but they really have us locked down."

Madeline sighed and they just sat in silence until the red light above the door started to flash again. Lione gave a look to Madeline that said good luck and she smiled at Lione as she entered the room of judgement. Lione sat quietly his thoughts starting to scare him. He was alone and what would they do to him? Then the lights flashed red again.

2 gruff looking finders walked in through the doors and they pushed Lione through the doors that would change his life.

The room was the very same room that Lione lost his ability to walk in. except it had a few modifications Inside it was dark and he was rolled onto a platform. The platform felt like it was being raised and then it went darker. a spotlight fell on him and then a spotlight fell onto the members of the council. They were on a platform raised even higher than his own effectively giving him an imposing feeling deep down in his gut. All 5 of them wore black cloaks covering their faces and they were as scary looking as ever. Lione had only 2 encounters with the council. Once when he was given his Innocence, and the second after they gave him the job of Branch Leader.

"Lione Parcoeur, I'm sure you know why you're here?" one of the voices under the cloaks said. It sounded as if it was an old man.

Lione nodded as he looked up at the coucil

"Cat got your tongue? Or are you going to just give up?!" This time this voice seemed to come from a younger male

Lione smiled "Neither, it just seems as thought you have already made up your mind. I was just waiting for th judgement."

A female voice answered "Very Well Lione Parcoeur, We have recieved many stories about you, the powerful leader of the North American Headquarters. The undefeatable man." She chuckled as she said this "Even though you couldn't defeat a single Noah. It seems as though you have brainwashed them. Just know that we the council know everything about you, and we know otherwise."

Another male spoke up different, from the previous 2 his voice was a little higher pitched "We know everything."

The next voice was most obviously the leader. His voice was strong and authoritive. "The judgement has been decided" he paused " The North American Branch will be disbanded"

The beach was beautiful, the sand was as white as snow and the seafoam colored waves hit the sand leaving a body on shore. The body was of a woman her hair long and black unkempt each strand of hair haphazard . Her eyes slowly crept open as the salty water spray hit them casing them to sting her eyes. She rolled farther up the shore waiting for her mind to clear. The thoughts of the branch and its destruction were the first thoughts to come and it woke the girl with a shock. She pushed her body up her clothes peeling off the ground, she surveyed the surroundings trying to see if there were any landmarks that maybe she could use to find her way home. There was none. She tried to stand but her legs were weak and couldn't hold her weight. As she fell she saw a figure in the distance it was on a rock a good way away.

She couldn't stand so she crawled. As she got closer she began to recognize features of the figure, it was a man and he was young. When she arrived to where the figure was it was sitting on top of a rock. He was sitting leaning back on one arm his other arm resting on his knee and his other leg wasstretched out. His long blonde hair blew gently in the salty ocean breeze as he gazed out into the ocean, as of he was a artist contemplating his next masterpiece.

The girl tried to stand again, this time she was able to stand but barely so she leaned against the rock. "Ex-" her voice was hoarse and weak so she summoned all of her energy "Excuse Me Sir."

The figure turned around, It was Blade his features lit up as he gazed upon the wrecked woman. "Stephanie!?"

Stephanie, Stephanie that name sounded so familar. Is that me? I hope so. Who is this person? Why does he know who I am? How do I know him? When I look into his face my heart palpitates leaving me breathless. His features are so attractive, but who is he? "Who are you?"

The look in the handsome strangers eyes sunk, but they lit up again. "Stephanie! It's Me! It's Blade!" He got up and he stood in front of her.

Blade? The name sounded familiar, this stranger was Blade. Then like a waves slapping the rocks her memories started linking like a chain creating this image and linking it all together. The disaster all came together and the Noah and this stranger, no this person was Blade and the last time she saw him he was injured badly. "Are You Okay Blade?!"

His face brightened even further. "Yeah, those were just scrapes. I 'm more resilient than that." He smiled but then his face changed a look of heartbreak swept across it. "But more importantly, how are you? I was worried about you I stared into this ocean looking for signs of you, I was beginning to think that you didn't make it." His eyes began to water and he moved closer to Stephanie holding to her hand tight "I'm so happy that you are alive Steph" He moved closer and one of his other hand moved behind her head his thumb stroking her cheek. He was moving closer his lips inviting and just before their lips met she saw a single shining tear roll down his cheek. The kiss was amazing, sending electricity down Stephanie she was feeling the kiss down to her toes. Her hand tightened in Blades hand, but something was wrong his hand was disappearing in hers. She opened her eyes and seen that Blade was dissolving in the soft ocean breeze. She peeled her lips away from Blade.

"I'm so sorry Steph."

Stephanie began to cry but then a gust of wind came and took the rest of Blade turning him into sand. The sand that was once Blade swirled around her blowing her tears away and then it disappeared. Stephanie fell to the ground her legs hitting the sand her tears flowing freely now. Then a shock moved through her body a splash of cold water.

Stephanie moved out of the trance, her tears now mixed with salt water. Magier stood above her, her face as sinister as ever.

"That was your 100th nightmare. I think I might want to torture your soul another 900 times." Then Magier let out a inhuman cackal that tore through Stephanie sending fresh tears down her face. 900 more nightmares of her losing the person she loved most was unbearable. She'd rather have been killed a thousand times than go through one more of those dreams.

I didn't have time to write much, but I really did want to write something, anything, so I turned something I'd hoped to write as an omake into a larger chapter.......thing............Well, after camp, I'm going to have (most) of the summer to myself, so my next chapter will be much bigger!

Woosh……Thunk

Woosh……Thunk

What the heck? Tabby looked around to try and locate the source of the noise.

Woosh………..clatter “ARGH!!!”

Lione…? The noise was coming from the room on her left.

“My GOD, you really are horrible at this!”

Lyra?!?!

Tabby had to see this. She opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Sure enough, it was Lione and Lyra. Lione was blushing and Lyra was almost in hysterics. But what were they doing? Tabby tried to open the door a little more to get a better view. The door though, decided at that moment to creak. Loudly.

Oh crap, Busted! Sure enough, both of them turned to look at her. “Um……sorry for intruding, I just was walking by and some weird noises…..and…um….yeah,” Tabby said blushing.

“That’s okay, Kitty! We were just playing darts!” Lyra said with a smile, gesturing towards a dart board on the far wall. “I thought Angsty-No-Fun-Cripple needed to do something other than brood all day about the end of this branch. But as you can see, he’s not that good.” There was one dart on an outer ring, one in the wall, and one on the floor. Lione shot her a look.

“Oh, that’s nice…….wait….Kitty?” Tabby questioned. Lyra just kept smiling.

“That’s your name, right? I remember it was something cat-ish like Kitty or Persian.”

“It’s Tabitha. Tabby for short,” Tabby sighed.

“See? I was right Kitty!” Lyra said, obviously pleased with herself.

Well, ‘Kitty’ is thousands of times better than ‘Angsty-Cripple’ Tabby idly thought, I’ll just let it go. “Can I try?”

“Sure, do you know how? ‘Cause I’m already going to have to teach Butterfingers here how to, you can watch that.”

“I already know how. My brother taught me,” Tabby said as she attempted to pull the dart from the wall.

“Oh? You have a brother? What’s his name?”

Lione and Tabby stiffened a bit. “Ah……Lyra? Her brother is well-“ Lione started to say

“Edward.” Tabby interrupted, her voice flat, returning with the darts.

“That’s a nice name! How old is he?” Lyra asked as Tabby proceeded to put the three darts in between her fingers. “Hey that’s a funny way to hold darts, isn-“

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Both Lione and Lyra’s jaws dropped. Two of the darts were in the bulls’-eye, the third in the second closest ring.

“Oh darn it!” Tabby pouted.

“What are you talking about, that’s amazing!” Lione managed to say.

“Yeah, you’re a billion times better than Soap-hands here!!” Lyra exclaimed. Lione shot her a look. “Wow that was cool! You threw those like kunai huh? Amazing Ninja-Kitty!!!”

“It-t’s not that great, Edward could get all three in the middle, every single time!” Tabby said with a reddening blush.

“Really?!?!?!? Your brother is frightening! When can I meet him? He sounds like fun!” Lyra said with a big grin.

“Well, you see-“ Lione started, sure that Lyra’s bluntness and curiosity would cause Tabby a mental breakdown.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not possible. He died a couple of months ago.” Tabby said, looking at the floor with a sad smile on her face. “…But yes, he was a lot of fun to be around!” She said turning to look Lyra in the face with a big smile.

“And I bet he was cute too,” Lyra pouted.

“As his sister, I’m really not the best judge of that.” Tabby said with a laugh.

“That’s probably true.” Lyra sighed. “Well, anyway, after that performance, my teaching motivation is out the window so I think I’ll excuse myself.”

“Wait.” She turned around to see Lione looking somewhat guilty. “There is something that I have to tell you. A week ago, I had this weird experience in which you threatened me and tried to become branch leader. You were pretty scary.”
Lyra gave him a weird look. “I might be scary, but you know that I am not that type of person. Besides, I don’t want that kind of responsibility. You must have been hallucinating.” A stern look appeared on her face. “Were you taking any drugs?”
He nodded and admitted, “It was to help me calm down.”
“I thought so.” And with that, she left. Tabitha decided that she does not want to know what was going on.

“She was the one who made that awful throw, right?” Tabby asked as soon as she was gone. “I heard someone shout ‘ARRGH’ right before I came in, and unless you can suddenly change genders, I don’t think it was you, Lione.”

“Yeah, that was hers,” Lione said. There was a sort of awkward silence.

“Well, I’d better get going, I was on my way to help Ying and now I’m really late.” Tabby said, starting for the door.

“…You handled that very well, Lyra’s questions about Edward.” Lione suddenly said.

Tabby stopped. There was another silence. After a minute, Tabby seemed to find her voice, “I did, didn’t I? …I guess you could say I’m over it. I mean, it still hurts to think about, but I’m not crying at the memories. I know I’ll never be perfectly fine with it, but I also know that he can’t come back, and that dwelling on it just holds me back.”

“I meant to say this earlier, but I think you’ve grown quite a bit.” Lione said with a small smile.

Tabby turned to look at him, and gave him a small smile back. “Thanks.”

Down in the cafeteria, Eny was still fuming. “Noisy Munchkin” was bad enough, but this, these dresses, were unforgivable. If Lyra had meant to get Eny to stop, she had failed. She had just poured gasoline on the fire. But a Finder didn’t know this as he sat down across from her.

“Nice dress.” He commented. Eny gave him a death glare. “Err……sorry.” That was a pretty good prank though; you have to admit, with the dresses. A little harsh, but the best prank I think we’ve had at this branch. Out did your paint bomb and Steph’s green hair by a mile!” Eny glare deepened. That was the other thing she was pissed about, more than the hideousness of the dress. She’d been outdone! That stup-wait.

“Stephanie’s green hair?” Eny asked.

“You haven’t heard about that? Apparently, a year ago on April Fool’s Day, Tabby replaced Steph’s shampoo with green hair dye. It took a week for her to wash it out!” Suddenly, Eny’s face twisted into a sadistic grin.

“You’ve just given me a wonderful idea! Come on!” Eny said jumping up and pulling the Finder with her.

“Wait!” He complained. “I didn’t get to eat!!!”

Eny's gonna try to dye Lyra's hair hot pink with permanent dye. =D I would have written it, but I don't really have permission to do that XD So if steph's sis wants it to happen or doesn't mind, I guess Lyra could just show with the pink hair ((Or a new hat)) I think it'd be funny if everyone knows something has happened to Lyra's hair, they just don't know what. And I really hope I got Lyra right. *crosses fingers*

Chapter 75 - Conflict

Boah, this is definitely the longest chapter I've ever written. Never wrote that much in English and I put all my effort in it. I am sorry for the length but there are a lot of things happening, happening in a row, so there could not be a break. I hope you can understand everything I wrote and nothing is too confusing ^^". It's very Lione-Anlen centered, I am also sorry for this. xD
Here it goes.

Anlen took an old and dirty cloth from the upper area of an old bookshelf, picked some spider webs of it and properly hid her top section under it so that the meal she was about to ingest, would not defile her clothes. A plethora of rings made of different materials, from gold to pewter ware, chinked at her fingers while the pirate fixed the dusty cloth that once had shone in pure white, at her flounced collar. Seven rings decorated her long fingers just for the purpose of presenting her captured goods. Actually, these were just a small amount of her secret treasure that was somewhere hidden in the world. Only she knew where it was stashed as well as she was the only one who could tell how much coins, rings, chalices or gold chains it counted. It was a secret of which even the Millenium Earl did not know. Why should he anyway? Even a father did not know everything about his daughter's little mysteries.

"Finally some discipline on this rotten ship", Anlen announced to the audience which was intrinsically not there but replaced by silence, emphasized by the monotone flicker of the candles in their black candelabra. A person of good breeding had not thought of a dirty cloth around one's neck as an act of discipline if he had seen the female pirate's table manners. It was more...a manner of necessity. The way the girl hold the knife in her hand was not different from the handling with a dagger or a saber. Anlen almost massacred the piece of chewy meat on her slightly broken plate. Of course, a gleaming bottle of rum always joined her meal. Anlen finally managed to brutally spear a piece of frazzled meat on her fork, which could remind someone of an impalement, when a sudden bluster caused the fork to get out of her hand and drop onto the floor. The Noah eyed the silverware and the puny chunk of meat with disfavour. The corner of her mouth quirked when she observed her laboriously elaborated work, in her opinion at least. Anlen sighed cumbersomely before she stood up and slowly approached the door to the deck. On the way outside, she carelessly kicked some bottles and books which bared the way, away. She really should clean her cabin one day, Anlen decided, but this was minor. The door banged open and the crew immediately stopped in their actions when they saw the captain's angry face.

"Death and devil! I should keelhauling every single ordinary seaman of you dimwits. Do you know what discipline is?!", Anlen complained. "I-"
"Captain? We-"
"Shut up, you stupid Akuma. Don't you notice that I ream you out right now?!"

But some men did not back down and tried to steady their captain's unknown anger with, in Anlen's point of view, feeble-minded hand signals. The girl could not stand this anymore and roared at them what caused the crew to shrink back.
"What?!"
"W-we've reached our destination, c-captain Anlen", a brave southerner who crumpled his red bandana up, stutteringly answered. Anlen's facial expression lost its fearsome aspect and turned into the kind face, Lione also knew. Akuma and humans breathed again. None would be sent over the plank into the shark-infested waters with a knife in the back, most propably the one the captain had used as cutlery today. The female Noah clapped the southerner with the red headgear on the shoulder. "Nice work", the girl said smilingly before she rammed the gun barrel of her silvery pistol into his stomach and pulled the trigger. With shocked eyes displaying this unforeseeable intention, the sailor collapsed on the ground, revealing the captain's waywardness to his comrades. Cold eyes stared at the tanned human whose blood spread and covered a little part of the wet deck with a dark red puddle in which the dumbfounded eyes of the crew were reflected.
"My meat...wasn't done", Anlen said, "Think about it before you serve it to me next time. Unfortunately, it's too late now, ship's cook."

The girl turned her back to the crew that was rigid with fear. But a quiet objection from one of the sailors caused her to turn around again. Her braided pigtails that swung by the sudden movement gave the Noah a molifiied touch. However, this was deceitful. Her caprice was as variable as the vast ocean, her mood as uncharted as many places on earth.
"Never trust a pirate" was the first lesson an anxious mother taught her child like Anlen were taught at the place where she had used to grow up. Even among sailors, it should be a common, well-known principle. But it seemed that the members of the crew Anlen had hired, forgot about it many a time. The fact that she herself had hammered blind trust in the captain into her inferiors in order to avoid a mutiny, was easily forgotten by Anlen as well. Contradicting herself but she did not care, not to mention that the girl most probably did not notice this fact by her own anyway. In short, trust or don't trust the captain depended on her mood which was as safe as jump into the ocean somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

"What's your problem?", Anlen finally asked while staring at the world-weary sailor in front of her. Now that his captain looked at him with shrewd eyes, he was not sure if he was still able to stand his ground. Not until a comrade poked into his back, he answered.
"T-this wasn't the ship's cook", he stammered. "I-it's me."
"Oh, I am terribly sorry for this mistake", Anlen responded and at the way, the excessive deference resonated in her voice, the ship's cook should have better noticed the disaster he just had fallen in. A bullet met his heart and caused it to burst. He slipped to the ground like a wet bag, immediately died of the damage he had received. His comrades made way for Anlen when she impassively passed them. They apparently felt guilty for turning their mate promiscuous in...apparently.
"I hope you will be able to find a better place to stay than this ship, ship's cook", Anlen whispered before she entered her cabin again. "Let the wind be with you and the heaven extend you cover."

She slowly closed the door behind her. Why did her room look like a narrow, doomed cage just now? The Noah walked towards her chair and collapsed into it. Accompanied by the constricting dim light of the candles and the inhumane clutter that surrounded her (she really should clean up!), her look crossed the lifeless being of the knife and the chunk of meat.
She bent down and reached for it but it felt like weights of guilt were pressing on her shoulders. It was a pain just to grasp the cold knife and lift it. With discontent struck, the girl champed at the chewy bit. Her fist enclosed the knife like the throat of a person she wished to choke to death until she threw it against an antiquated globe where it got stuck with the peak bored into the precious, artfully painted wood. Anlen tried to smile when she saw herself in the huge mirror close to her but it did not want to succeed. Instead, she observed an Anlen with reproving look. It displeased her profoundly but a mirror had the ability to show the truth and truth cannot be denied, just hidden. So, the Noah turned around to face herself.

"It was just for his own sake, believe me", Anlen said to her mirror image, "If I had not killed him this way, without any pain, he had suffered from the crew's cruelness. Akuma really can be barbarous. He was human after all. A torture or quick and easy?"
Her reflection clothed the face in recrimination and drummed her fingers on the armrest of the chair that was draped in red.
"You know", it finally responded serenely, "Two men died because you could not keep your temper! If you had not killed the sailor, the-"
"That's not true", Anlen screamed at herself, burying the nails into her own skin which then began to rot and reveal some bleak bones. Staring at some sinews twining around the bones and skin renewing, the girl calmed down and softly touched the healed spot. Benison and curse at the same time. Her look wandered back to the mirror when her image began to raise its voice from anew.
"It can't be helped but the Earl doesn't trust you, ya know. You regret your decisions, that's a bad habit for a Noah and a pirate. Moreover, you have a mind on your own. Something the Earl is loath to."
"Shut up", Anlen shouted, took her red coat from the back of the chair and threw it over the mirror in order to smother the annoying mirror image entirely and put it to silence.
"As if a mirror could tell me something I don't know yet."

When Anlen led her steps to the door, her hands reached out for a bottle of rum that stood on the swaying table. Actually, everything was swaying on this ship, every single furniture, but not in such a mass that a brave sailor could be bothered by this fact. The little flames of the burning candles clearly showed the direction, the ship was swaying towards. As if an invisible ghost commited nuisance with them, like the ship's kobold who was feared among sailors. Nonetheless, when this kind of kobold appeared all of sudden in the mist of the morning or in the dim light of the moon that shone through the cloudily night sky, the crew knew that they had to check the ship to avoid trouble and damage. Even though pirates are no people you should trust easily, they are good story-tellers and some of those creepy stories obtained popularity among the sailors. Some of them were true, some not, but a pirate did not care about the established truth as long as he could have fun and was able to drink some liquor.
Anlen downed the drink with one gulp, put it away and marched through the door into the upcoming rain just for the purpose of entering another familiar door whose wings gaped when the Noah approached it.

--------------------------------------------

Anlen entered a dark room, just a single spot was illuminated. The light emphazised the figure of a slightly lumpy person with strange headpiece - apparently, the Earl of Millenium. He was just crocheting, when his elves-like ears were shrugging and
apprehended the sound of approaching steps which belonged to the Noah he had ordered. He turned around and Anlen could eye the broadened smile on his face.
"Long time no see, Anlen, pirate and Noah of the sea", he welcomed her friendly. Anlen just responded with a simple hand signal, took out the records and handed them over to the Earl. He thankfully accepted and eyeballed them before he gave them back to the surprised Anlen.
"Is anything wrong?", she asked with asperity in her voice, "They are perfect."
"That's why I give them back to you. You will need them, I guess."
"I-I am afraid I don't understand, Earl. Why did I come in the first place?"

When the Earl stood up in a clumsy way, the wooden chair he had just sat on, creaked and Anlen observed it flipping back into its going-in position with interest. She looked up when he came back with some more records he delivered up. Anlen took them in both hands and felt the heaviness of the paper.
"What's this?", she asked, no clue of what she was holding in her hands until she thumbed through the loose papers. Her eyes widened when several photos of exorcists came unstuck and fell to the dark floor...among them, a familiar face.
"It can't be...", she whispered and her hands trembled when the female Noah lifted the photo of the North American Branch leader. His image was reflected in her green eyes, his friendly, easygoing smile recalled in her memories. The night in the bar was portrayed like a broken video in her mind's eye. His sad face, the rum, their talk, his silky yet tousled blond hair. Although Anlen could just remember single pieces, they were enough to recognize the person on the photo.

The Earl popped up behind her like a shadow but his cold, creepy voice was just mutter in Anlen's ears.
"Bomb...Innocence...power...destroy...kill everyone!"
A little box which was thrown ungently on the pile of papers, brought the pirate back to reality. She touched the box with surprise and felt something disgusting sleeping in it: Innocence.

--------------------------------------------

A few days later:

"WHAT THE F**K!!", Eny screamed and her voice echoed through the filled hallways of the HQ. Lione just sighed, covered his ears with the fluffy white pillow, he already stroke up a friendship with since it was of precious use during the last days. A happy Lyra with pink hair (what caused Lione to dart a look at the woman) rushed through the endless corridors, followed by a screaming and extremely angry Eny. When dark wads of smoke suddenly popped up behind the corner, the leader's jaw dropped and he felt like puking here and now. He did not dare to think about the mess, the two of them just caused.
"Haha, Noisy Munchkin, don't swear", Lyra yelled through the whole hallway in order to get over the distance that receded with every annoying sentence Lyra delivered Eny whose head seemed to burst under the pressure of fury and anger. However, Lyra apparently had no idea of Eny's massive accrual of irascibility, since she just turned on her heel to announce Lione that the secret hideout of his rum was found. Lione almost fainted while the hunt continued. Hearing tables, chairs, important equipment and even Finders flooring, Lione decided to escape from the mess called North American HQ, even if it was just for one night.

The moonlight caressed the wooden edges of the box that rested on Anlen's legs. The girl herself leaned against the mainmast of her ship and stared at Pandora's box for a while before she turned her attention to the photos of the Exorcists, the Earl had handed her over.
"This guy looks really a little bit too crabby", Anlen said when she took a photo of Zeran and eyed it, "I knew that being an Exorcist is not easy but...some people have a face as long as a fiddle whereas some of them seem to be hopped up on drugs. The world is strange. Haha."

But her laughter stopped when the photo of Lione crossed her eye-sight. Anlen touched it softly and wonders if the face she saw on the picture would look as happy as it was there when he learnt of the truth. Killed by a cannonball that had the power to destroy whole Boston once the Innocence instilled its potency in it, was no glorious future for the Exorcists. The Earl knew that Anlen was gifted with the skill of manipulation, something she had learnt in her hometown over the years. It was easy to extract the Innocence's power and vivify that of something or someone else, as if one poured a drink down someone's throat.
Unfortunately, the Innocence was very fragile in this sort of mode. The girl had just one shot, one single shot to smash the city to pieces. Of course, the Innocence would be destroyed as well. Unsurprisingly, the Earl had wanted to see the records Anlen had produced during her sojourn. Measurements, wind direction, undulations...everything that could influence the cannonball's
flight path was controlled, recorded and calculated. Anlen sighed when the thoughts swarmed through her mind. Working under pressure was something she was definitely loath to.
The female Noah rolled the wooden box in her hands and the disgusting feeling flew through her whole body anew. She would be glad when this feeling vanished but on the other hand, she hoped that there would be another way for it to disappear. If she destroyed it by the power of her hands, the Earl would find out and only the devil knew to what he was able then. Just the very thought of it sent chills down her spine.

Deeply in thoughts, Anlen did not notice a young sailor approaching her. He was drenched in sweat, nonetheless a smile decorated his tanned face that was nestled in long black, felted hair, bonded to some pigtails.
"Captain?"
Anlen shrinked back when she heard a voice from the right hand side and dropped Pandora's box. A thud proclaimed its end of fall and the ungently landing on the floor which was bespattered with foam in patches. Confusion mixed with amazement was reflected in her green eyes when she stared at the man close to her.
"There are worms on your head", the captain said and pointed with a finger at his hair. The sailor looked puzzled at his superior, cogs were spinning in his mind until he figured out of what she was talking. A desperate smile occured on his face.

"M-my captain, these are no worms, it's my hair. Dreadlocks."
"Sure that these are no worms?", Anlen asked emphatic.
"Y-yeah, I'm sure, Captain Anlen", he said, getting more uncertain about the captain's seriousness, "But that's not why I'm here. I have good news."
"Good news? The Earl has scurvy!?", Anlen replied exultant. The young, black-haired sailor was at the edge of craziness. He would have loved to knock some sense into the girl's head. But even if she behaved in a manner where one could doubt her sanity, every member of the crew knew that her temper was far more dangerous than the sea. So, the tanned man tried to stay calm.
"No. We reached Boston, Captain", he responded easefully yet did not win praise nor reaping a friendly face but a startled scream that echoed through his ears.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Anlen banged up, headed towards the prow and fished an old brazen telescope out of her coat although this was unnecessary because the shore could clearly be seen. Boston extended in its whole pomp and circumstance, to Anlen's disfavour.
"But I did not finish thinking", she muttered, still looking through the telescope, "Time, I need more time! Why do you appear so early at the horizon, damned Boston?!"
The sailor who acquainted Anlen, popped up behind her, Pandora's box in his hands. He handed the box over to his captain who took it with disapproval. Anlen stared at the black pirate flag at the top of the mainmast. As if it felt Anlen's incertitude, it began to blow weaker and weaker in the wind. They had to slow down, the port came closer and closer and with it the last hours of Boston. Suddenly, an idea crossed her line of thought and hope flared up in her eyes, captivating her whole body.

"Any orders, Captain Anlen? Shall we prepare the cannon?"
"No, don't prepare the cannon yet", Anlen responded quickly, "I'll go ashore first. Saving the rum from its perdition. And when I am ashore, dive under, understood!?"
"Aye, aye, Captain", the sailor saluted and passed from view. The girl turned her back to the badgered crew and eyed Boston from afar, rotating the little box absent-minded in her hands. The wind revealed a sanguine face, spirited by the well-meaning soul of having saved a little bit more time.
"I have to find him, no matter what", Anlen thought.

--------------------------------------------

Anlen jumped onto the port's ground, looked back, nodded thus motioned to her crew to dive under. She had convinced her crew of looking for some remaining rum in the city before they would smash it to pieces and with it the precious liquor. But her true intention was something else.
It was still night, shortly before midnight, when the girl left the port in the direction of Boston's center. Except of some seagulls and drunken transients, the port was empty. The city looked still the same: Vacant alleys, stray cats, entwined street lamps that threw a spot of light onto the cobble stone, light that was turned on here and there and shone through the windows, framed by black facades and scattered, drunken people who lingered in front of the well-filled bars and taverns.
A little bit more atmosphere, some musical instruments, more alcohol and trouncing people and Anlen had thought of this as a
congenial place. Anlen sighed when she recalled memories. Somewhere in the middle of the sea, there existed such a place and she acknowledged it as her hometown although it was not her original one. Her road led to a familiar bar but she was wary about entering it or not. A blond shock of hair Anlen guessed to recognize, finally decided and she entered the bar. Cigarette smoke blew in her face and the body of a drunken guy landed directly in front of her and bared the way. However, the pirate did not care and while stepping over the abdomen, she just "borrowed" the man's wallet. As usual, the Noah's look wandered through the room, eyeballing everything in an unbelievable speed and so she crouched just in time before a flying bottle had been able to hit her head. Anlen slowly began to have fun but the blond man in her sight extenuated it. Nonetheless, she could not just spin on her heel and let the person she seemed to miss badly, die so easily. All the more because she was unsure about her feelings towards him and the uncertain truth.
Anlen staggered to the bar and took seat close to Lione who turned around in suprise when he saw her. He never believed that he would see her again, the bottle of rum should have been the only keepsake of the short meeting. But the fate seemed to resigned itself to Lione's heart's desire.

"Long time no see", Anlen said tersely, looking at her glass of liquor she just had ordered. Lione stared at her in a puzzled way. The girl next to him did not even face him although she was talking to him. Shortly after the pirate emptied her glass, she took the one of Lione and drunk it off at a gulp. Her manners were in the dumps, Lione thought desperate.
"Ehm", Lione said as try of starting a discussion, "I never thought to see you again. I am glad that the opposite came true. What are you doing here in Boston, ehm-"
"Anlen."
"Lione Parcoeur. So, what are you doing here, Anlen", he responded smilingly, putting a special accentuation on the last word.
"Great", Anlen thought with disfavour and the documents of the exorcists that also had listed the name of every single person who had joined the Order, popped up in her mind, "I am surrounded by misfortune. He's really this damned North American Branch Leader."
She turned around with dash and the rum in her second glass she had ordered, almost slopped over. Her countenance was serious, nearly a way too serious and Lione had to cushion a laughter. But the words that came out of her mouth were not worth a laugh or a smile and Lione understood that the girl was in earnest.
"It's dangerous to stay in this city! Get out of it as soon as possible!", the Noah said determinedly but Lione was just suprised by those words, admittedly in a confused way. The leader stared at her for a while before he slightly laughed in a way that signified his incomprehension.
"I-I am afraid I don't understand you, Anlen. Why should I leave Boston?", Lione asked.
Anlen drummed her fingers nervously on the bar's polished wooden surface. She was not aware of his doubt about trustworthiness, so she had not thought about any additional reason beforehand. Anlen bit her lips and turned her head away from Lione who kept looking at her. He should not see her thinking about a reason only now. The female pirate eyed some drunken men passing their seat and remaining alcohol swaying in the green-coloured bottles. This gave her an idea and Anlen turned around again, finally a halfway rational explanation in mind.
"A storm is coming in. A storm surge is very likely when you consider Boston's position. Believe me, I am captain of a pirate ship that already sailed the seven seas and it would be bad if I had no idea of navigation or the weather, aye", Anlen justified her previous statement. But to the girl's displeasure, Lione just waved her substantiation away with a gesture of his hand like an annoying fly and commented it with the argumentation of Boston's safety. Anlen's patience slowly began to snap. Why couldn't he just leave this place without hesitation, inconsistence and request? The girl hated uninfluenceable persons but on the other hand they sometimes could be interesting when they struggled a little.
She took her glass and poured the remaining liquor into Lione's face. He stared at the girl dumbfounded, his hair dripping wet and adhering to the forehead. While Anlen ordered another bottle of rum, Lione responded angrily with a reproachful but at the same time incomprehensible look in his eyes: "What was that for?!"

The girl took the bottle, drank some gulps and crossed her legs before her look finally found that of Lione. She fidgeted with her hand in front of his face and indicated that it had been his own fault for acting so stupid.
"It's unhealthy to object against the captain of a pirate ship. It's the first step towards mutiny", she said, "Remember this, understood?!"
The leader just nodded slowly, absorbed in thought as his custom then was. He was a ruminative human, never mind that some people were apparently fond of teasing him for this habit. Anlen kept staring at him with a slightly worried face. He seemed to think about something important which Anlen surely would not enjoy. Lione leaned forward, bracing himself with his elbows that lay on the bar's surface. His head fell wearily on his hands and a tired smile decorated his pale face. The Noah had to bend down a little to be able to catch sight of Lione's face which were almost buried in his palms.
"You know", he said, "I can't leave Boston because I'm responsible for my family. It's indeed a huge family, so it's not easy sometimes. But I am doing my job with pleasure and it's a great feeling when you achieve something that seemed to be impossible from the very first beginning. I, no...we can't leave this city, for the sake of the people who live here. Even if we are...ordered to do so."
He desperately laughed in his sleeve. "Moreover, it's quite impossible for me to get out Boston at this moment, in my current state." Lione pointed at the wheelchair to which Anlen had not paid attention till now.
"My legs are paralyzed for the time being, caused by an accident. I don't know when I will be able to walk again", Lione explained, "Bound to a wheelchair, how embarrassing."
"The noise I heard back that time", Anlen thought, "It was really a battle. The exorcists were attacked but not just by Akuma. Noah!"
"I am sorry", the girl finally spoke out and placed her hand on one of his legs. Suddenly, a disgusting and burning feeling went through her whole body and it was onerous to keep a straight face. It was like an acquittance when she let go of him.
"It's not dead! His Innocence is still defending itself, that's the proof of its stay. It's just...frozen and hinders his legs from moving!"

"Is something wrong?", Lione asked politely.
"No", Anlen answered immediately, "Everything is fine."
"But your hand is trembling."
The blond man embedded the girl's hand in his what caused Anlen's face to blush a little. His hands were skinny and cold as ice, most probably because of the stress that prevailed at the Order and because he had been bedridden for a long time. The female pirate felt an extraordinary desire raising up in her body. Fortunately, a brilliant idea popped up in her mind, an idea that could meet her demands, moreover it could be of help for the paralyzed man. Nonetheless, the outcome was concealed to her. The effect and acting of the Innocence was uncertain. It was just a possibility but Anlen decided to grab the chance.
Her face slowly approached his, her hands broke away from his embraced affectionateness and touched his chilly cheeks, giving off heat. Lione seemed to know what Anlen's intention was but he did not struggle. Either because he was too drunk or because he simply did not want to. So, he granted.
"If there's just one chance to give him back his pride and a way to defend himself, I would grap it. He's an exorcist but also a human. So do I", Anlen thought before she kissed him on the lips.

The kiss were not as surprising as the strange event that took place almost simultaneous. A stabbing pain went through Lione's head and legs before he saw something unforeseen in his mind's eye. Something Anlen had not considered.

--------------------------------------------

+flashback+

"Anlen, my daughter, always remember: Pirates are bad, sneaky and abominable creatures. They are not worth living."

A hapless twist played with the fate of the girl whose mother once had warned against. She became a feared pirate, a "creature" how her mother had called them, not having the right to be considered as human. "Muck of sea" was a popular expression in the city where Anlen had used to grow up. However, sooner or later, the way of a pirate would end where all ways expired: the gibbet.

"Is she the captain?"
"Yeah, a dirty pirat, the worst of all."
"I totally agree. But I have heard that she was acquitted of a charge."
"I wonder why there's a hanging matter then?"

The mutter of the obtrusive audience clashed in Anlen's ears. Obsessed with seeing culprits stepping up their last way to death, the infantry scrambled to the scaffold. But their way was bared by soldiers who lined up, marked and defined the cobbled way the pirate had to walk along. The jingle of chains accompanied the girl on her path. They were her companions but at the same time they resembled the burden of sin and heresy that cut into her wrists. Anlen's red coat and light green hair blew in the upcoming wind and her emblazonments rose a song of death. Her last minutes were broken. The wooden floorboards creaked under every single step that led further to perdition and halter. The crew observed its captain with sorrow. Every single sailor of her brave crew was doomed to witness the hanging, a hanging that should have been valid them if Anlen had not vouched for her crew's crimes all alone.
And so, they stared heavy-hearted at the girl who stood on the wooden scaffolding, the gibbet's beam above her head, the halter calmly in front of her eyes. It had been night when soldiers of the East India Trading Company had charged the pirate's ship, overwhelmed the shocked and confused sailors and conducted the crew and its captain under escort. Someone had betrayed them, unfortunately it was already too late to figure out the truth. Anlen was fed up with recalling the event that would cost her life which she just had begun to live and enjoy to the fullest. She bit her lips when she felt the rough rope being put around her throat, frapped tightly so that it was guaranteed that the halter choked her to death unless the girl's neck broke beforehand. Latter was rather at the will of Anlen. Quick and easy was the motto the audience was definitely loath to. They gasped for a suffering pirate whose legs trashed around while he was agonizing.
The announcer coughed slightly so that he was able to command attention from the town's people. He unrolled a scroll of parchment on which the insignia of the sovereign could clearly be seen. Apparently, it was a hanging order.

"Captain Anlen, declining the offered part of piracy under the state's watch and vouching for your crew's activities, you are convicted for the following crimes", the man in ceremonial clothes announced, "Bloody crime, treachery, thievery, receiving of stolen goods, heresy, ..."
"Why doesn't he just say "piracy" ", Anlen whispered irritated while the man continued to list her malefactions.
"...and disavowment", the announcer ended and let the scroll snap in.

While the audience excitedly discussed about the things heard, someone behind Anlen began to fish a black cloth out of his pocket, then covered Anlen's eyes with it and tied it up together at the back of her head, so that she was unable to see anything. No people, no gibbet, no light - just darkness and the mutter and noise of voices echoing in her ears, were attending. "Any last words?" was the question that dominated over the upcoming promiscuity of steps, voices and the disgusting breathing of the person behind her. Suddenly, everything was quiet. Even the halter stopped scrunching in its frowningly matter. Anlen nodded slowly and a smile appeared on her face when she opened the mouth to communicate her very last words. Her voice might have sounded shaky but nonetheless, she stood her ground and never felt as confident as now.

"I may die but you, my brave followers, should cling to your freedom. Keep on dreaming your dreams and hope for them to come true one day. My dream ends here but I will hand it over to you", Anlen said and tears began to drop down her cheek but the smile remained, "You're born as pirates, so do what a pirate is bound to do: Sacking, stealing, slaughtering.
Piracy is your life. Live and die for it! Honour the codex or be lost with all hands, aye?!"

Tears, inexorable like the rough sea, were rolling down the crew's cheeks, they nodded and saluted a last time for Anlen, responding her order with an "Aye, aye, captain.". Silence occured, then a dapper wave of a hand and Anlen lost the ground under her feet. Every second the halter was tightening more and more around her throat, brought her closer to death. The sudden hitch and the absolute evolvement of the halter's deadly power pierced through the girl's body like needles of pain.
She was not dead yet, no neck broken though the most agonizing pain was facing the death, feeling one's own body losing all its strength until the fight for struggling for breath was over. Every single breath of air was precious but would not last for long. The sight became blurred and coldness conquered the body. It was over. The clockwork stopped operating.

"You are not dead, not yet."

+flashback | end+

Lione slided down his chair and landed unconsciously on the cold and dirty floor of the bar. Anlen who had no idea of what Lione just had experienced, stared at him. Her look was a mix of embarrassment and sense of guilt.
"I had not thought of his Innocence giving such a testy reply. Maybe I overdid things...shit."
But suddenly, Lione's right leg jerked for a short moment. Nonetheless, it was enough to give record of his Innocence's activities and the returned movement of his legs. The pirate looked at it for a while until a big smile decorated her whole face from ear to ear. She really had managed to provoke his Innocence in a matter that it had to activate itself and unfreeze his user's legs.

"I am so damned good", Anlen blew her own trumpet, turning around to order another bottle of the most high percentage drink the landlord had. "Mister, two bottles of your best liquor for my friend and me. Hurry."
The landlord watched incredulously at the powerless person at the bar's feet and raised an eyebrow. But without reluctance, he served the girl two bottles of rum. After all, he got his money one way or another. Yet, Anlen eyed the drink suspiciously, snapping one of her fingers against the bottle's glassy surface before she straightened herself and fished a green-coloured liquor out of her red coat. The bottle was small but the crystal-like glass that reflected the dim lights of the room, let it appear valuable and the smell that escaped once the girl had opened the phial, was acrid so that the plump man behind the counter screwed up his nose.
"Some drops of my favourite admixture absinth and I will be on cloud nine", Anlen said and dripped a little bit of the addictive alcohol into the rum, "There are advantages if you can't die, haha."
The bitter taste of the drink sidled slowly downwards her throat like a warm, thick mass. Some vices stayed vices, before and after the gibbet and no one had been able to dissuade it out of the girl. Besides, schooling a pirate was almost impossible. The one who tried it, would risk to lose his head. The church clock nearby the puplic bar signified that midnight had broken and the people in the bar welcomed the new day with an additional drinking orgy and opened a new round of their foul poker play.
But the Noah stared at Lione who lay on the cold floor and decided to lend her coat to the exorcist, thus throwing it over his body in order to function as blanket for the night. Catching a cold was the last thing, he was able to afford, Anlen thought before her head fell onto the bar's polished surface, overthrowing the bottle of rum and let the remaining temptation in it gushing out and scattering over the bar and the ligneous floor. Her sight became blurred and a veil of mist conquered her mind, dousing her senses in a lake of tiredness and lightsome sounds. Anlen immediately fell alseep. Absinth was the only drink that was able to set her in a state of unconsciousness, the only admixture that made her really drunk.

--------------------------------------------

Lione tried to open his eyes but the bright daylight forced him to let them closed. He felt dull, powerless and a disgusting hammering proceeded in his head. He wondered where this feeling came from, so the man looked around to search for any evidence but he just found some or rather many empty bottles, spread over the bar and its floor, here and there some puddles of alcohol that reflected the morning sun in a venomously manner. It looked in shambles, Lione thought and pitied the landlord.
Suddenly, he startled up as if awakening with a start from a horrible nightmare.
"Oh my god", Lione bursted out shocked, "I...I didn't drink THAT much, did I?"
"No, you didn't", the landlord replied, appearing behind the counter all of sudden what caused Lione to shrink back, "Your girl drank all this out. You just had one bottle if indeed. A little boozehound, this girl...huh? If she didn't wake up, I would assume that she's dead."
"She's sleeping?", Lione asked, surprised at this strange behaviour, Anlen displayed in his opinion. "I thought she was able to hold her drink. However, it was a bottle overmuch this time, huh?"
When he sat up and stared at her sleepy and peaceful face, Lione recalled what he had seen before he had fallen unconscious. It was no dream, Lione was sure about this fact but on the other hand, the outcome of the event he had descried, was too absurd to be real. The blond man approached her, badly hoping that the girl did not overdo it and was really dead when he felt a heavy cloth dropping down his shoulders. His look wandered downwards and lay eyes on several weapons of all kinds that spread over the floor, resplendently in the raising sun. He was about to touch a silvered gun that immediately leaped into his eye because of the amazingly beauty owing its richly ornamented barrel when a terribly hard kick met his stomach and sent him flying away some meters, causing him to ungently land in a bunch of chairs that stood every which way. Lione rubbed his head but a sinister shadow chafed in front of him. It was Anlen who brandished the gun, every time the danger of pulling the trigger by mistake.
"Don't dare touching this gun or I will keelhauling you, you vermin onshore", Anlen snapped, not realising whom she was talking to until Lione tried to make a sound as pacifier. She rubbed her eyes. Apparently, she had been still half asleep when she had blamed Lione for touching her precious gun.
"Oh, Lione...it's you. What are you doing down there? Did I...hit you?"
The leader just nodded determined.
"Lo siento mucho (I'm terribly sorry), Lione. Everything alright?", she said apologizing and grasped his hand to help him up. Lione dusted himself down before he betook himself to the bar. He did not notice it by himself so he shrinked back and wondered why Anlen was screaming for joy, ran towards him and hugged him. Suprised by her reaction and sudden tenderness, Lione was unsure what to do.
"I am so happy. Your legs...you can finally walk again", Anlen said with elation in her voice.

It took minutes before Lione realized what was going on and got infected by the girl's joy and happiness. A long missed feeling soared within his body, calling attention through the unfurling smile on his face. A feeling of strength and assurance conquered his once by depression lined heart and opened the gateway for new prospects. The past days had been dominated by perdition that menaced the headquarter, obviously caused by all the misfortune and inferiority they had shown against the Noah and their army of Akuma. A single night was able to turn the events to a good or a bad account. Lione experienced both. Even though the bad account had dominated until now, all that counted was the present time and this definitely displayed the good site of life for the moment. Now, it was just up to him and his new gained strength to convince the council of annuling their decision.
However, no matter how badly Lione delighted his regained movement, he could not stop thinking about the cause that made it possible for him to walk again.
"How is this possible? Even Ying had problems to figure-", Lione thought but was interrupted by Anlen who offered him a drink in order to celebrate the grateful event.
"Cheers, Lione!", she said, finishing the bottle with cupidity yet enjoyment.
"You're really a strange girl, Anlen. It's early in the morning, yet you are able to drink a whole bottle of this stuff. As pirate, you can really take some liberties, huh? My guys are killing me with their look when I'm just thinking of alcohol. Maybe I should become a pirate, haha."

This random comment caused the pirate to lift her head and it looked as if she would listen to a far away voice which whispered a secret in her ear. An unknown glitter appeared within her green eyes and for an outsider, it might have looked as if the girl achieved enlightenment.
"Lione, you're a genius. That's it!"
"What?", he asked, completely unsure of Anlen's intention. Lione knew scarcely in what trouble he slipped into.Taking some orts of a former guest's dish close to him, he precariously stared at Anlen. But her face was covered with her light green hair so that seeing the smile that hid behind it, was impossible. She licked the spittle of deep conviction from her lips and wondered why she had not thought of such an exploit in the very first beginning.

--------------------------------------------

Usually, just a few people were rushing through the dusty hallways of the HQ that early in the morning but the past days had not been normal days as usual, so lots of Finders, remaining Exorcists and a few people of the medical staff ran, walked or rushed through the maze of the once hidden Order. The decision of the closing of the North American Branch spread like a wild fire and everyone was in uproar. Madeline tried to stay calm but the trial was still embedded in her bones and the voices of the council resonated within her body with every step she took. The woman held a tablet with warm clear soup in her hands, on the way to deliver this meal to the leader. Madeline entered Lione's room but without knocking at the door because she did not want to wake him up if he was still asleep. However, when she drew the curtain, an earpiercing clang made noise, echoed through the hallways and into the deepest corners of the headquarter. Tabby, Eny and Rinvak came rushing in Lione's room and immediately looked at the reeky soup on the floor and the thunderstruck Madeline.
"What happened, Madeline?" Tabby asked and jumped over the puddle of chicken bouillon with extra pieces of carrots, "Everything alri-!?"
Tabby stopped right within her sentence when she saw the empty bed in front of her. The bed where Lione was supposed to be in.
"The wheelchair is also gone", Eny said, pointing at an empty corner of the room. Worry mirrored in their eyes. Where did Lione disappear to? He knew the corridors and secret passages like the back of his hand since he had clearly studied their new hideout and the surrounding area in the first nights they had spend here. Moreover, it was a necessity for a leader to know the place that had to function properly under his guidance day after day. After the four had informed Ying and Lyra about Lione's disappearance, they decided to part in groups of two to search for him in whole Boston.
"Let's find "Mr. hit-and-run" and bring him back to this colourless house of hilarious gestalts", Lyra said in order to cheer the depressed and worried group a little bit up, "I am sure we can find him."

--------------------------------------------

"Thank you for accompanying me", Anlen said solemny, grinning at the blond guy close to her.
"I am glad to be able to take a look at your ship, Anlen", Lione responded, "Moreover, I don't want you to make leeway into the next bar."
Anlen laughed, nudging his side. Although the sun still shone brightly, rain clouds approached, covering the sky in a dark grey. Here and there were rays of light that broke through the cloud ceiling. Rapid steps echoed through the side streets of Boston. Scarcely heard, they already disappeared in the shadows of the brick buildings. The steps were close but the glittering horizon in front of Lione and Anlen with the steep cobble-stone pavement, on which they were walking, directly pointing at it, let his friends fading in Lione's back of mind. Just steps separated the Exorcists from their leader but it was as if a magical barrier bared the way to the desperately searched person who had no idea of his comrades' doing. He just kept on walking towards the hidden truth whose revelation lay in the proximity of time, yet still overshadowed by a happy but mischievous smile of a person nobody should ever trust.

"The port is right over there", Anlen said, pointing straighforward with an empty bottle of rum she had picked up as souvenir. Lione's look followed the line the bottle descriped and his ear caught the sound of refreshing waves. Anlen lifted her hands and put them close to her ears in order to hear the soothing sound of coming home in a better way. The pirate closed her eyes and the upcoming wind blew some strands into her face, giving her the appearance of a girl whose wish for peace and a welcoming home had come true. Lione stared at her, amazed by the beauty that could so easily crumble away. His trance lasted until the girl grasped his hand and led him to the empty port.

--------------------------------------------

"Madeline!", Lyra screamed in order to call attention to herself.
The woman rushed towards the direction Lyra's voice had come from and entered a bar she thought of recognizing. Undulating her way through chairs, tables and bottles -some empty, some still filled with liquor-, the woman met Lyra at the bar who analyzed the wheelchair Lione had forgotten. Both nodded, thus signifying that it was definitely that of the leader. Lyra sat up and her searching look wandered through the whole room until she spotted the plump landlord.
"Hey, do you have seen a blond guy, just about as tall as me with a kinda drowsy and pitiful face?", Lyra asked, "He used this wheelchair here."
The landlord nodded but no word came over his lips. When Madeline slowly approached the man, he fell forward, his head hit the bar's surface and blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth. He was dead. A little silvery dagger stuck in his back and a little skull with a grimace like the one of the devil decorated the handle. Lyra pulled the weapon out of the man's body, staring at it for a little while before she broke the silence. "Where are ehm, the depressive "I am still strong-minded" girl and the Kitty?"
"The girls headed towards the port because they wanted to search the neighbourhood there", Madeline replied and closed her hands for a prayer.

--------------------------------------------

The clouds could not bear the warning any longer, ripped open and revealed one raindrop after another. First slowly, then quickening but Lione had no eye for the caution and just kept following Anlen, his hand still embedded in hers. However, after a little while just walking along the shore, he wondered where Anlen's ship was until she stopped all of sudden, causing Lione to bump into her.
"Where's your ship, Anlen?", he finally asked friendly and his look searched the whole port, even the horizon but he could find nothing, just the movement of irascible waves. Anlen let go of Lione's hand and he felt the coldness of the rain conquering it until it was as soaked as the rest of his body.
The pirate raised her voice but she did not turn around. Nonetheless, the man was able to understand every single word, although the rain dropped on the stony ground like the beat of a drum, leaving a tapping in his head behind.
"There's something I forgot to tell you, Lione", Anlen said monotonously. Unsuspecting, Lione kept looking at her back, a slight smile was still on his face. "You will be a part of my crew from now on."
Lione's look turned puzzled and as if he did not understand properly, he asked anew. "C-crew? What do you mean, Anlen? And where's your ship?"
Anlen's hair, a braiding of cobweb-like engulfed raindrops, was blowing in the wind when she turned around full of vim and vigor, her finger pointing downwards, a mischievous smile decorating her wet face. Almost simultaneous, a ship emerged from the depth of the dark and dangerous sea, churning it up. The leader's eyes widened and he shrinked back when the barque appeared with roaring and wash of waves on the water surface. The blond man was too suprised to say something, too shocked by the nightmarish appearance of a pirate ship, seemingly swallowed and disgorded by the sea it sailed.
"Indeed, that's jaw-dropping, aye?", the pirate said with pleasure and content, "Be proud to be able to sail with such a gorgeous ship."
The girl slowly approached him but Lione did not move back. Either because he was too suprised or he thought he slipped into a nightmare. For a good dream, the scenario was definitely too abnormal and sinister.
"There's a second thing I need to tell you", Anlen continued, "It's about your reawaken Innocence."
By now, Lione knew that he was captured in a nightmare. It could not be that the person he mooned over the whole time, knew about the Innocence, unless...

The tapping in his head was unbearable and his heart was enclosed by a cold wave of salt water, yet Lione tried to hold up his sanity.
"Do you wanna know why your Innocence is working again, why you can move your once paralyzed legs?"
"Please, it can't be...Don't let it be...", Lione thought in desperation and his hope stifled under the pressure of foreshadowing.
But Anlen just ignored Lione's inner cry for help and kept going.
"Your Innocence froze your leg's movement, I guess you already knew of this. But when I kissed you, my power provoked it in a manner that it just had to wake up and defend itself. After all, I could have had the intention of destroying it, haha. And this leads me to my third point. I really forget a lot when I'm drinking. I'm sorry."
"No, no. no...!"
Every word that came out of the girl's mouth was like needles, piercing through the body in order to reach their destination: the human heart with its emotions, memories and happiness.
"I begged you to get out of this city, getting out of Boston. I said that danger approached but you didn't listen to me and now, it's here. You have to know that pirates are no gladly viewed guests. They just bring misfortune to all places where they mooring, even if it's their original hometown. Nobody likes them. Pirates are just gladly seen at one place: the gibbet, struggling to the death. So you see, the danger I warned against, just emerged from the sea and it will bring misfortune to Boston and its inhabitants."
Lione felt the barrel of a gun pushing against his stomach and Anlen was close in such a way that he could clearly see her skin getting darker and crosses appearing on her forehead. The nightmare was completed. He fell in love with a Noah.

"You have to know...", the Noah said, "I have no other choice but kidnap you then, if you don't want to get out of here voluntary. I don't want you to die and I can't act against the Earl's will. I really like you, Lione, and I don't want this feeling to vanish under the dust of hailing down cannonballs."
Lione jumped backwards with all the remaining strength in his legs. Even though his Innocence untied his legs from the burden of irremovability, they were still weak. He would not be able to stand a whole fight with them, especially not against a Noah.
"Oh", Anlen raised an eyebrow, "I am saving your life and you are ungrateful? That's not very nice, ya know?"
"You want to bombard Boston? Why? Just because there's a half-destroyed and doomed Exorcists' Order?", Lione asked and a blaze of indeterminableness was mirrored in his eyes. Yet, he did not know how to behave towards Anlen. He liked her a lot but she was a Noah, a foe. On the other hand, the girl seemed to be different from her family members. Affection could not be bring on a person who occupied hatred against humanity or lacked of feelings much less faith in humans. Lione's current mind was an expanse of ruins and it even beat the headaches he had during the chaotic time in the Order the past days.
"Oh, you're a smart man. Unfortunately the power of your belauded Innocence will destroy you", Anlen said and fished Pandora's box out of her coat. Eyeballing Lione's startled look and the own one wandering between the box and the man, Anlen sighed.
"I see, so you have not realized yet that the box Uriel left behind, was a fake one? My god, we have a lot to do before you can become a real pirate, dear. I guess, I'll have to teach you to notice the difference between the original item and a pinchbeck at first sight. I'm really disappointed, Lione. I don't wanna know what got fobbed on you and your Order already."
The girl wanted to step forward but something hindered her leg to move. She looked down and saw a shadow that climbed it up. Lione had all effort to hold the blockade, sweat dripped of his forehead and he felt morbid. However, to his disfavour, Anlen was rather amazed than dismayed. Her eyes shone in a strange brilanncy when she eyed the trap she just slipped into.
"Interesting, really. Unfortunately that won't help against me", the Noah said with pleasure and her leg switched. Immediately, Lione captured Anlen's arms, covering it with the shadow. Anlen forcefully lifted her left arm and approached it with her right hand, Pandora's box had already disappeared into her coat's sleeve. Seemingly, Lione had to struggle more than Anlen. Why did his Innocence have to refuse at a time like this? Apparently, he needed to cure longer than he thought. The fight with Jacques really had stretched him to the limit, even surpassed it.
"This might be a little bit disgusting now", the pirate announced, grasped her arm with the right hand and ripped the forearm out of her elbow. A sound like a heart-piercing cry echoed through the cloudy, grey morning accompanied by monotonously rain. The girl fished a forearm, almost just the bone with few flaps of skin and sinews assembled, out of her sleeve and threw it carelessly away. Then, she took advantage of Lione's state of shock and the loosened grip of his shadow trap, rushed towards him, floored the man and kept him quiet or rather in a state of irremovability by ramming her knee into his stomach and pointing the silvery gun at his face, straight between his eyes.
"I don't want to hurt you but I also would have been bored if you just gave in without struggling. In this way, the game is much more amusing", the Noah said and stared into the leader's eyes that were as golden as her most precious treasures.

Lione gasped, his look clamping onto Anlen's left part where her forearm was just about to reconstruct. A skeleton-like hand grasped his shoulder just before it turned into a normal fleshy one again.
"One of my several abilities", Anlen said, letting the trigger of her weapon snapping in, "A shadow of one's former self, I'm a...let me say...half undead. Well, maybe it has more to do with me being a Noah. I dunno but it's quite useful. The limbs I can tear off are limited of course. I can't just tear off my head for example, haha."
Lione did not felt like laughing with a gun, whose trigger was in a dangerous position, pointing at him. On the other hand, Anlen's laugh was not as cold as the one of other Noahs (*Magier sneezed*). It still had a warm, even if it was fearsome from time to time, aspect that resonated. "A wild, untamed and undisciplined appearance but a kind, happy and beautiful nature", this was the definition Lione had determined for Anlen. But soon, he would learn of hidden aspects that were buried more deeper in a squelched soul that was doomed to be barred from freedom. Finally, Lione raised his voice.
"Y-you are different from other Noahs, Anlen. Your heart is stubborn and doesn't submit to the Earl's will. Even at the point of death, you can smile. I admit you for this. But Exorcists are at enmity with the Earl, the Akuma and even the Noahs. We can't-"
"Shut up!", Anlen screamed, pushing the gun against the leader's forehead, thus putting him to silence, "Don't say things like this. Don't speak of "enmity", Lione. If you do so, you just act the same as the Earl and my siblings."
The rain became heavier and both, Lione and Anlen, were soaked to the skin, whereas the ghostly ship just creaked untouched, the raddled sails weakly blowing in the wind.
"There's nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. I spend this whole night with you, had fun, even though I knew you were an Exorcist", Anlen said and Lione was unsure whether the water that just dropped down her cheek, was a tear or a raindrop. "How can I hate someone, I've never met before?"
She slightly cocked her head what caused the whole serious athmosphere to sweep. "Maybe the marines are an exception. They're bad from the very first beginning."
The pirate laughed anew and Lione felt the heaviness that beared him down, loosing. Anlen finally stood up, laughed in her sleeve and saved the trigger of her gun from being pulled by mistake. "I am not just a bad Noah, I am also a bad pirate, huh? Haha, no wonder that the Earl has no faith in me."
The girl reached out to Lione, who first hesitated, then grasped the wet hand in front of him but he was still unsure about its stableness when recalling the disgusting scene he had just seen. However, this was a fault.
Anlen pulled him closer, lifted her right arm and let the hilt of the gun dashing downwards, thus hitting the back of his head. The blond man immediately fell unconscious.
"Lesson One: Never trust a pirate. Failed!", Anlen replied, "Remember: A pirate is a master in lying and cheating. You've sealed your stay at my ship on your own, Lione. Congrats."

I don't think Anlen will bomb Boston. I assume that something happens to the Innocence...maybe it got lost during the little fight? xD Hihi, who knows ^___^. But Lione is captured though.

Well, it’s short but I hope you like it. ^^

The fme. You could have some good drinks there and the men where nice as well.” She said with a glimpse to her unconscious lover. Slowly she pulled Pandora’s box out of her jacket emale Noah looked at the city she was about to blow into pieces.
“What a shatook a deep breath and opened it.

After Prometheus gave fire to mankind and was punished. Zeus decided to punish humanity. Thus he created Pandora gifted with beauty, grace and curiosity. He gave her a pithos (a storage pot) never to open. However Pandora’s curiosity was stronger and she opened it. From then on mankind was plagued with terrors, old age, death and fear.
And after all the terrors of mankind left the box there was a light on its bottom. A light called hope. But was it a way to live with the terrors or truly the worst of them?

Anlen looked inside the box and with a shocked face closed it. She turned to Lione and screamed: “What the hell have ya done? When you wake up you can scrub the deck!” She throws the box at him and it opened through the impact.

Empty

In a tent a young man was working in his improvised laboratory. It was not what you thought of when entering the tent and its state was somewhere between poor and “If you are a professional you’d sell your soul for it”. A slender red haired man enters the tent. The young man turns around, he wears a silver rosary, and begins to talk: “Did you bring it here? Are you sure it’s yours?” Uriel pulls the shiny innocence out of his pocket it begins to glow even brighter. “Of course Master Jacques the reaction is characteristic for its conformer.”
He puts it on the working table. Jacques examines it closely. “I’ll need three days to corrupt it then you can use it without fear. Choose the form of your wings by then my angel you will wear them for the rest of your existence. How’s the work on the beast going?” Uriel took some papers and began his report with a smile.

“It is just as you said. Its original innocence is the one in his body. The spear is just the innocence’s effect. I presume from what I heard about late Raphael’s thrill during the battle it was his. Too bad we can’t prove it…….

Ying looked the black axe in front of her. She had taken it from the dead body of her victim shortly after the battle and was analyzing it since then.

It’s not innocence but has similar powers. It’s charges itself with energy according to the users personality activating an individual power. But everyone can use it. My test showed even a Finder activated its effect. Trying to chop wood he nearly blew himself up. A terrifying weapon yet still I admire it’s developer. No wonder he can even manipulate innocence

Tabby packed her bag. She knew it was a stupid idea but as she asked Rinvak. Much to her surprise she agreed right away. She took the bag and walked out of the dormitory.

Suggested song http://rapidshare.com/files/43490628/01_-_Lost_Carol.mp3.html

At the same time a young girl practices tonight’s sermons hymn. But before that he had to prove worth in the most cruel way she could imagine. “So kiddo are ye ready to fight? This is not a test I’ll kill you if you loose.” Said Gabriel, she is clothed in a tight pants and a shirt pushing her breasts up in a unnecessary way. Belial held her baton over her head and started spinning it. “I’m r-ready INNOCENCE ACTIVATE!” Sizzling flames appeared round the baton’s tip forming the shape of a fox. With a quick shot Gabriel froze it with a second she crushed it. “You got to do more than creating cute animals, kiddo.” She said aiming at Belial’s chest. Suddenly Gabriel’s is surrounded a walls of fire. She shot at them but the walls kept growing back. After minutes she collapsed breathing heavily.

Shit that kid never intended to fight me it just waited until I exhausted myself

The flames grew back revealing a unconscious but unhurt Gabriel. Seconds after that Belial fell unconscious as well.
“What do you think Jak-kun? Is she impressive?” Magier and Jacques discuss the outcome. “She’s strong because of her pure heart. But she’ll never kill someone. We can’t rely on her.” Jacques said smiling. “But for now let’s prepare the sermon.

Rinvak was watching the town from a distance. She saw someone approaching from the distance. That someone is Tabitha Brown. “You’re late Tabby now let’s go. Rumors say a strange wandering preacher is seen near Plymouth. The others are most likely there.”
Tabby looks at Rinvak. “The plan is going there create an uproar getting the others and run away. No necessary risks.” She said with a determined look. “Well do you need some help then?” Both turn around to see Ying and Eny stepping out of the shadows. “You two? What are you doing here?”, says Rinvak. Thoughts are running through her head and are disturbed by a loud Eny. “Do you think I’d let you save Fermium without my help?”

“And mine Munchkin!” Lyra slowly walks to the others a shy Madeline behind her. Madeline said with a timid voice:
”Lione got hurt because of me I’ll fight too this time.”
Her ring starts to brighten a little. Lyra begins her speech: “Ok now that’s the plan. We step in. Kill every bad guy inside and save the others! No just kidding we stick to the uproar plan. And we need to look for Lione I’m kinda worried.” Eny interrupts her:
”Why? I bet he just went for a drink or two!”
“No is Munchkin-silence time okay? Usually when he goes drinking he comes back Plien comes un russe.(drunk like a Russian) But he comes back before midnight. He didn’t so he must be in trouble.” Every one looks at the ground with worried faces. Lyra starts speaking again taking a heroic pose:

”Then let’s start our glorious rescue mission! The true heroine of this story is going to save ya all!”

That’s all ^^ nothing really important happened here. I wanted to start the rescue I hope you’re not angry with it.I'm sorry for making Lyra so wacky.

Chapter Seventy-Seven:

Author’s Notes (Pre-reading)

Wow, it’s been a while since I have written a chapter. That may be partly to blame on studying, classes, and the fact that I had run out of ideas until most recently. I thought I would focus on I.A. since not much is known about him except that he has a habit of turning animated objects to dust (an idea made by his original maker) and that he likes pretty girls (a quality that I came up with though with less perverted thoughts at the time -_-;

). I wanted to expand on his character so show his wickedness since he appears… meek? I hope you enjoy his development!

To tell you the truth, I’m kinda nervous about posting this (I feel like Kelly Clarkson when she released “My December”). I really hope that I don’t turn you off. It might be ummm… graphic so if you’re a prude/squirmish/really young, don’t read Part Five. If I had to rate this, it would be PG-13 or an R. Read at your own risk!

I divided each sub-arc in parts so it would be easier to read.

Part One

”Are you positive that your source is right?” came a questioning voice from the back of the group. Rinvak turned around and nodded at Tabby as she sat on a bench, waiting for the train to arrive. Surprisingly, the now defunct Order had enough money for them to purchase tickets to Plymouth though the exorcist was quite suspicious that Lyra and Madeline were lying. She could have sworn that she saw them buying only three tickets, which definitely wasn’t enough for the five people gathered here.

Tabby was pacing anxiously along the platform. She like everyone else was worried about their captured comrades. With the disappearance of Lione, they all feared for the worse. Could he have been captured as well? The North American branch’s luck was getting worse every day it seemed. Maybe the main branch was right to shut it down…

“Stop pacing around, worry wart! You’re making me nervous!” scolded Lyra who was laid sprawled out on a bench. Her head was leaned back with a sheet of newspaper covering her face in order to block the blazing sun rays. The exorcist always hated spending the afternoon outside especially when the seasons were changing. They were too hot but during the evenings, she was too cold. Still she seemed too relaxed in a situation like this, which caused the Bookwoman to glare at her.

The teenager stopped and apologized. “I’m just worried about my friends. What if they’re tortured and suffering? What if we’re too late and they’re already dead?” Her voice cracked upon saying the last statement and she turned away. No, she had to have faith that they were alive. After all, that was the only thing she had left.

She felt a warm hand placed upon her shoulder and turned around to see the motherly face of Madeline. “It’s okay,” the nun comforted. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. They are exorcists and it’ll take a lot more to bring them down.” Though the words may have quelled Tabitha’s fear, the woman knew that deep inside her words were just producing false hope. Deep in her mind, she knew that this task was not a search and rescue mission; it was instead a “seek and recover” job. Recover the dead bodies so they could be buried properly.

The train’s whistle echoed throughout the area, causing everyone to turn in its direction. Eny grumbled, “It took it long enough. Hopefully, there won’t be any more delays or else our actions will be in vain.” Before she could grab her bag, someone grabbed her wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going?” questioned Lyra with a small smile on her face. Eny slapped the exorcist’s hand back and angrily replied, “Where else? With the rest of you guys to get my cat back!” Seriously, was this lady dumb or something?

The female didn’t react at all and brought her hand back. She quickly moved her fist forward and for a second, Eny thought that the carefree person was going to punch her. She covered her face with her arms, anticipating the impact only to hear “Pick a stick, you pipsqueak!” In front of her, she noticed Lyra’s holding five sticks in her hand, the girl’s eyes staring at her commandingly.

“What?” escaped her lips and she looked around confused. It seemed that everyone else except Madeline shared her thoughts because their face reflected the same puzzlement. “Pick a stick. That’s all you have to do,” replied Lyra patiently. This girl claimed that she’s a child prodigy but apparently she couldn’t follow simple directions.

The Bookwoman looked at the exorcist defiantly. “Why should I? As far as I know, it’s probably some trick. Is something going to explode once I pick one up? Or is there poop at the end of them?” Lyra placed her left hand to her face and shook her head annoyingly. She was really questioning Eny’s credentials now. She gave the girl a bewildered look and curtly replied, “Why would I hold a piece of $#!+ in my hand, you piece of turd?”

Before the argument could get any worse, Madeline interfered, “Eny, you and the others must understand this. We cannot leave headquarters unprotected. If the enemies know that all capable exorcists have left to rescue their friends, then they can easily attack the base, leaving countless more casualties than their earlier assault. Besides, if we are going to attack their camp, we must have a small number so they won’t detect us. I’m afraid a group this big might be noticeable, decreasing our chance of surprise. That’s why we’re going to decide our teams this way. Whoever gets the smallest sticks will go while the others will stay behind.”

Silence overtook the group, contrasting the exorcists from the bustling atmosphere around them. Suddenly, Rinvak approached Lyra and grabbed a stick. “I hope I get a small one. I really want to punch that Urea, Ariel, or whatever that punk calls himself nowadays.” She gave an encouraging smile to Tabby who followed suit. Eny noticed that Madeline had picked hers and she reluctantly took one from Lyra. “See I didn’t bite,” teased Lyra as she looked at the remaining stick. “Who got the small ones?”

Eny turned to look at her companions as she raised her hand and much to her displeasure, only Madeline did the same. “Na uh! No way! You purposely rigged this, didn’t you?!? You think that I would let you torture me before we get to the Noah’s base!” she exclaimed as she shook her head violently, her fists flying around causing those around her to move out of the way. Lyra shot a puzzled look and placed her hand on the Bookwoman’s forehead. “Are you feeling okay? Did you take anything that might have messed up your psyche?”

Trying in vain to get away from Lyra who was holding her tight, Eny replied, “No! Why would you say something like that?” The exorcist released her and answered, “You did say that I was trying to explode you or give you a piece of turd. You make it seem like I have something against you.”

Before Eny could respond, Rinvak handed the girl her bag and whispered, “Just go! I’m sure Madeline—or Lyra—wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Besides, don’t you want to see Fermium again?” She gave the Bookwoman a reassuring smile and continued, “If you see that jerk, shot him in the face for me.”

Tabby pushed the girl into the train and yelled, “Good luck! Headquarters will be safe in Rin and my hands! Don’t you worry about us!” Along with Madeline and Lyra, Eny watched as the two exorcists grew smaller and smaller. She felt someone grab her hand and turned to find out that it was her “sworn enemy” doing the deed. Lyra winked and asked, “Shall we go to our cabin? It will be a while so we should rest up a bit.” The girl just stared and then nodded. Perhaps she would have sweet dreams of her reunion with Fermium.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Evening had arrived and the cold air nipped Madeline’s face. She was standing outside, watching the scene change around her at a ridiculous speed. The train had faced various delays that caused her to worry. Did the Noah know that they were coming? Or was God truly against them?

She heard footsteps behind her and she turned to punch the uninvited visitor. The person dodged it and raised her hands as if she was surrendering. “Whoa! What happened to the warning “friend or foe’?” Madeline deactivated her Innocence and quickly answered, “Sorry, Lyra. You caught me off guard.” The exorcist laughed and stood next to her, leaning against the metal rails. She appeared like a night elf with the blue moonlight reflecting off her body and her hair dancing in the wind.

The two stood in silence for a while until the nun broke the silence. “Is Eny asleep?” Her companion nodded and joked, “For a moment I thought that you were on the same medication as her. Seriously, do I give off some kind of aura that turns people off?” Madeline bit her tongue and decided that it was best to leave that question unanswered. “Did you leave Rinvak instructions on what to do if we fail?”

Lyra continued to stare at the night as she responded, “Yes. I left them on her bed before we left. If we don’t return in a week or two, she will know we have failed and that she is in charge. Hopefully, she would have moved headquarters by then.” She turned away from Madeline and sighed. “I sent my Finder as well as two others ahead to scout the area out. By the time we arrive there, they should be able to give us a report about the area.” The nun nodded and nervously began tapping the train’s railings with her fingers. “Do you think we’ll succeed, Lyra? Do you think that they might actually be alive?”

The girl laughed nervously and glanced at her companion. Madeline looked like a formidable woman but deep inside was a gentle person who needed assurance during troubled times. She leaned her back against the cold banister and answered, “To tell you the truth, I really don’t know.” The exorcist noticed the sister’s crestfallen face and added, “It is beyond our control right now after all.”

Her words didn’t make Madeline feel better. The nun knew that it was a dangerous mission and despite the facts that she had undergone missions that were as dangerous or even more, she always became anxious. “It’s going to be okay, Mad!” cheered Lyra as she looked up to the moon. “After all, we have the child prodigy with us.” The exorcist smiled at her companion, causing her to eventually chuckle.

“You purposely wanted her to come. I know that,” retorted Madeline. “That was really nice of you.” Lyra gave her a dumbfounded look and innocently replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She was scratching her head in an attempt to play dumb but the nun saw right through it; she did use to teach mischievous children in the past.

“If you say so,” muttered the woman as she headed back inside the train. “I can’t believe you convinced the ticket person at the train station that the North American branch was still active.” Lyra laughed, “Would you have rather stayed in coach?” Madeline shook her head and walked to the cabin where a sleeping Eny awaited her. Maybe this was another reason she was so eager to join this mission. By succeeding in this mission, the Black Order might reconsider and keep this branch open. Perhaps this would make Lione happy again; this would be a fair trade to thank the man who saved her life.

Part Two

The dim candle light did not hide the grim face on the girl’s face. Yet Magier tried her best to hide her disgust as she watch Gabrielle take her spot next to Jacques, serving him some salad that she had made. Even though they only had family dinners on special occasion in Japan, her brother always insisted that they have them together during their stay in America in order to preserve the family feel. She did like that idea but should that woman even be considered a part of their family?

Her sentiment must have come across for Amaterasu looked at her and smirked. “You would like to switch places with her, wouldn’t you? Maybe if you weren’t so fixated on mutilating your doll, you could have worked your way up in Jacques’s favor.” He quickly dodged the knife that Magier threw at him and laughed.

“Stop it, you two!” commanded Jacques who was still reading his Bible at the table. “We’re family and we shouldn’t be fighting each other.” His sister stood up and pointed angrily at I.Amaterasu. “He started it! He makes it seem like my work is pointless. As far as I know, he has been slacking off.” She glared at the blond Noah who was staring at her amused. “Has the Bookman started talking? Oh wait, you wouldn’t know! You have made Jacques’s guardians do your dirty work while you do absolutely nothing but feed that dumb cat!”

Jacques raised his hands to bring back order, making shhh-ing noises to calm them down. He hated playing babysitter. Didn’t they realize that their bickering only brought shame to the family especially in front of the other members? Gabrielle grinned as her eyes traveled to the other guardians who appeared that they didn’t know whether to laugh at such a scene or to pretend they didn’t notice.

“It’s okay, Jacques!” she said as she played with the food on her plate. “We live to serve you and if your siblings ask for assistance,” she continued as she moved her eyes to Magier, “we’ll be more than willing to help.” The female Noah now began to fight the urge to throw her fork at her but sat herself down, slamming the table with her fists in the process. She knew that if she aimed carefully, she would hit that bitch right in the eye.

The priest looked at the woman and nodded. “I know that I can count on you and others to do your job.” He looked at his brother who looked defiantly at him. The Earl had always told him that Amaterasu was a troublemaker but for some reason, the Duke had faith in Jacques’s ability to calm him down. “Brother, please do your part. That Bookman is essential for the Earl’s plan and it isn’t fair to make others do your work.”

Amaterasu ignored his brother’s admonishment; did the priest actually believe that he was being lazy? He did have a plan after all but he liked to see other people fail first before he flaunted his victory. It was more fun that way after all. Noticing that his words did not have any effect on the boy, Jacques sighed and turned to Uriel who was seated to his left (his help in the destruction of the North American branch had brought him up in Jacques’s rank). “Did you have any success with him? He is after all your comrade.”

The redhead shook his head disappointedly. “He refuses to listen to me and calls me a traitor to our clan. Even after using him as a punching bag, he would not budge and reveal his secrets.” Uriel stared at his reflection on the back of his spoon, muttering how Blade was the fool. Jacques pretended not to notice the crestfallen face of his guardian and asked aloud, “Did you consider sending that Akuma that looked like that female exorcist we obtained? He appeared to have an attachment to her after all.”

Magier bitterly mumbled as she stabbed a tomato, causing its juice to squirt in the eyes of Michael who sat next to her, “We already tried that but that bastard knew it wasn’t her.” The Akuma had even threatened to kill her sister in front of Blade but he only laughed at her empty threats. If you kill her, then it would only cause me to restrain myself more, he had said, enraging the Noah more.

Amaterasu yawned loudly, drawing the attention of the table. “I don’t understand why you’re obsessed with my prisoner and my success with him. It’s not like you’re doing anything important with your trophy, Jacques.” The guardians stood up to protest at the Noah’s rudeness. How dare he mock their work and their leader when he had not accomplished one thing!

The Noah laughed and threw his napkin down on the table. “Listening to you guys made me lose my appetite. I’m off,” he said over their angry screams. As he headed out to out the tent, he mocked his annoyed family members, “You guys are so silly. You obviously don’t understand humans.”

Part Three

The cold air betrayed the fact that the autumn was approaching. How many days, weeks, or months have they been in this godforsaken place? It seemed like ages since they have had the freedom to move around in Boston. Even the faces and voices of their friends could not be recalled so easily. Did they abandon us?

Dreadful thoughts entered Stephanie’s mind as she sat with her knees against the cold earth. Still, the girl refused to shiver lest her captors know about her discomfort. Her once proud uniform was now tattered under the abuse she had gone through. Yet it still hugged her body as if it refused to abandon her, refused to let her forget that she was an exorcist. It was the only identity that she had left.

Every so often she would try to yank her arms in a vain attempt to release them from the ribbons (Magier had the great idea of using her own weapon against her—minus the Innocence core, of course) that bound them to the tent’s wall. However, it would only result in her cutting her wrists and the exorcist tried her best not to squirm as she felt the warm blood move down her body. The Noah had been quite sadistic and had blindfolded her so the exorcist could not detect Magier’s presence nor be able to determine whether it was day or night. Such a simple deed had confused her, messing up her sleep cycle and slowly deteriorating her sanity.

The wind blew louder and she heard the tent door opening. She froze and pretended to be unconscious. Stephanie had done this before and it had work in the past. The female Noah only like to play with her when she was awake and even if she beat her, the exorcist still kept up with the act until Magier would leave disgruntled. Hold your breath and don’t move, she commanded her body.

However, the thing that brushed across her face was nothing she felt before, causing her to jerk back. She cursed under her breath for revealing her guise and prepared herself for her punishment. Instead, she felt the stranger circle around her, rubbing her body and face affectionately and instantly knew who it was. “Stop doing that!” Stephanie hissed only get a “meow” in response.

Fermium prompted himself onto the exorcist’s lap, making himself comfortably. It had been a while since he seen someone from the Order and though the person wasn’t Eny, he was quite satisfied. The sentiment wasn’t shared by Stephanie though. Despite the fact that she could not see, she knew that the cat had gained a bit more weight, causing her to bitterly think of the injustice that an animal was getting fed more than she. The girl could not recall the last time she had eaten.

“Fermium!” pleaded the exorcist. “Be a good cat and chew away these ribbons!” Deep in her mind, she finally began to realize the extent of the damage the Noah had inflicted on her. My God, she thought. I’m talking to a cat.

Suddenly she heard chuckling, causing her heart to drop. Someone else was in the room and she turned in the laughter’s direction. Amaterasu moved away from the shadow and approached the prisoner. “Fermium? Is that its name?” he asked as he knelt in front of the girl. He placed his gloved hands on her cheek but it only caused her to turn away from him.

He smirked and removed his hand. “What? Has my sister broken you so badly that you won’t even speak to another person?” He turned away and reached into his pocket. “Here, kitty kitty,” he said as he dangled a piece of meat in front of him. Despite Stephanie’s protest, Fermium leapt from her lap and rushed over to Amaterasu. “Traitor,” she muttered under her breath.

Hearing her word caused the Noah to flash a clownish smile. “’Traitor’? I’ve heard that word so often for the past few days that it has lost its meaning to me.” He patted Fermium’s head, causing the cat to purr happily. “Animals are amusing creatures,” he continued as he gently placed the feline on the ground. “They can be mean to you for a second but present them with something they like, they’ll change allegiance and show you affections like that.” Upon saying the last word, he snapped his finger near Stephanie’s ear, causing her to flinch.

The girl smiled and angrily responded, “Are you comparing me to a cat?” The Noah only chuckled and began to stroke her long black hair. “Heaven’s no! A cat may keep me company but it can only do so much. Humans are better bedfellows in my opinion.” He began rubbing the girl’s face which made her move away from him. He brought his face closer and whispered to her ear, “Are you afraid of me? I have plenty to teach you if you like.”

The girl spat at his face and laughed. “Afraid of you? I’m more afraid of what will happen if you don’t stop touching me.” She struggled to move her arms in order to hit the Noah but the bonds restricted her movement to a few inches. Amaterasu reached into his pocket and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe his face. After doing so, he coldly muttered, “At least you still have your fighting spirit. I was worried for a bit that my sister might have actually broken it. I do like feisty girls.”

He slapped Stephanie’s face and he watched as her body recoiled from the blow. He walked over to the edge of the tent and removed Magier’s blade from its sheath. He placed it under the exorcist’s eye and asked, “Watch your tongue or you’ll experience the unpleasant sensation of having dust in your mouth. Or would you like me to kill you instead?” He lowered the sword to the girl’s neck, caressing it as if he was preparing to chop it off.

Stephanie started shaking, her heart racing in beat with the metal’s movement. This had to be a cruel nightmare concocted by that Noah, she thought as she recalled Magier’s cold eyes. This isn’t real. She felt the sword’s withdrawal and then heard its swift motion towards her. She silently said a prayer as she prepared herself for the blow.

The arms hit the ground hard and her body followed suit. She let out a cry as she laid in fetal position for a bit. This wasn’t a dream for she felt extreme pain all over her body. Stephanie lifted herself off the ground and removed the blindfold. Unfortunately, her eyes met those of Amaterasu who was standing before her. Fermium was rubbing against the Noah’s legs and as the girl had predicted, he was chubby with four stubby legs supporting his round body.

“Well, aren’t you going to thank me? After all, I did liberate you from that horrible contraption,” spoke the Noah as he lifted the girl off the ground. His gloved hand cupped her chin and he forced his lips upon hers. She struggled greatly against him but it only encouraged him to squeeze her tighter, his hands caressing her. He felt a sudden pain in his knee cap and let her go.

She repelled herself away from him, wiping her mouth. Stephanie felt as if he was trying to suck away her soul, his taste still lingering on her tongue. She considered herself lucky that she managed to kick him away while she had the chance; who knew what else would have happened if she didn’t do that? She glared at him as she watched him hold his knee annoyed.

He spoke through his clenched teeth, “Do you have any idea how many girls would like to be in your shoes? Not many people are lucky to spend a night with a Noah. Besides, is this how you treat your savior, you ingrate?” His eyes were full of anger, hatred and lust at the same time. The girl before him had no idea how long it had been since he had been able to touch another person lovingly. Every girl he had encountered had turned to dust before he was able to control his power with the Earl’s help. After accomplishing that, he was determined to fulfill his corporeal needs. But how could he when girls rejected him upon finding out his secret? Even his bratty sister rebuffed him.

Sensing the anger of its new master and the possible outcome, Fermium ran out of the tent, leaving the two humans to settle their fight. Stephanie stared at the cat as it disappeared, thinking that it was a coward for doing that. The Noah was approaching her and she franticly tried to find something that she could use against him. Her ribbons were useless without their Innocence core. Desperate and finding nothing at her disposal, she tried to dodge him by running past him. Unfortunately, he yanked her hair, causing her to fall into his arms.

With his left arm around her waist and his right cradling her neck, Amaterasu whispered, “Did you really think you could escape your fate? No one is going to save you. In fact, rumor has it that the Black Order has closed down your worthless branch so no one is going to come for you. Not even that Bookman whom I have locked up in a cage.” Upon hearing that last sentence, the girl began struggling more, requiring the Noah to use more force.

“Does he mean something to you? Because if he does, I have a proposition for you. Are you listening?” he continued. The exorcist stopped struggling, her nails digging into the Noah’s arms. He was getting too touchy feely and she was doing her best from preventing him to feel anymore of her. She looked into the man’s eyes and nodded.

“I can save his life. I can even spare the werewolf’s life but of course, it’ll come for a price,” he said in a sickeningly sweet voice. He turned her body around so she would face him. “Their lives for your innocence. It sounds like a fair trade to me, don’t you think?” He let her drop to the ground and walked away from her. “Think about it.”

As he prepared to leave the tent, he felt someone grabbing his hand. He turned to see Stephanie looking at the floor ashamed and he smiled.

Part Four

::BAM:: Jacques immediately woke up upon hearing the loud noise and jumped out of his noise to investigate. He had an inkling on the cause (or shall he say causes) and the priest rushed to prevent something more serious from occurring. The sun was slowly raising and the dew from the ground glistened in the light. The crisp air felt refreshing to him but the Noah was in no mood to enjoy it.

He opened the tent and screamed, “ENOUGH!” causing his two siblings to stop their fight. His intimidating figure struck them with fear, his chest heaving with anger. Magier had her sword drawn while Amaterasu hid before a knocked over table. The interior was a mess—furniture were turned over, broken plates and other objects littered the ground, and the clothed walls were ripped.

Jacques sat down onto the only chair that had not been abused by the battle. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Bible, hoping that some passage calm him down. “What happened?” he inquired as he began to read the story of Solomon and the two mothers. By this time, his guardians had arrived and sensing that their leader had taken control of the situation began cleaning up the squalor.

With her sword slicing the air in irrational motion, Magier complained, “Jacques! That punk that we call brother came into my tent and messed with my stuff without MY permission.” She shot a dangerous look at Amaterasu, fighting the urge to stab him. He was clearly showing no remorse, his face reflecting his glee.

With his eyes still not leaving the pages, the Noah asked calmly, “What did Amaterasu touch?” It had to be serious if she was getting all emotional about it. Before she could reply, their brother laughed and answered, “Oh I played with her sword… and her exorcist doll. Other than that, it isn’t important.” He smirked and removed himself from his hiding place.

This only infuriated his sister more who lunged at him. Uriel and Michael grabbed her arm, telling her, “You’re making Lord Jacques upset.” She calmed down and looked at her brother who still seemed captivated by the wisdom of King Solomon. “I demand retribution, Jacques! My doll is no longer in mint condition and I refuse to play with anything that HE has violated.”

At this point, the priest finally raised his head and rose. He confronted his brother who still remained in a haughty pose. “Is it true? Did you really do that to Magier’s toy?” Amaterasu grinned wider and nodded quite happily only to receive a slap from his brother. “You know what Tyki and everyone in our family says. ‘Nothing can come from a love between a Noah and an exorcist.’” His eyes met the frightening eyes of Jacques and for the first time, he trembled.

His eyes averted, the boy replied, “I know that but no one said anything about the lust between a Noah and an exorcist. I guess you don’t comprehend the greatness of my scheme with your closed-minded ideal of abstinence.” He anticipated another smack but instead he heard Jacques walking toward Magier.

“I think a fair trade would be giving Magier your exorcist trophy. In exchange, she’ll give you hers since you have defiled it,” ordered Jacques who was busy comforting his sister. Amaterasu looked on with disgust and then nodded. He turned to leave, thinking happily how everything worked out the way he had planned.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Is that all you’re going to do?” asked the girl. Her anger was still boiling. She was recalling what she witnessed late last night and thinking about it made her more aggravated.

Upset about Gabrielle’s closeness to Jacques and Amaterasu’s outburst, Magier decided to go out for a walk. Perhaps she would come across some stupid human to kill. She just needed something to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, no victim came and she decided to call it a night or in this case, a day.

As she approached her tent, she sensed something was wrong. The flap was opened and she heard noises coming from it. Magier ran inside to find her room in ruins and her brother on her bed with her doll underneath him. Was fate mocking her lack of love again?

She only heard her brother sigh and watched as he sat down again. “Our brother is going through a strange period, that’s all,” he explained. “I’m sure that once he had his fill, he’ll calm down.” He noticed her befuddled look and added, “When you’re old enough, you’ll understand.”

Gabrielle moved towards him and gently placed her hands on his shoulders, slowly massaging them. The Noah continued reading his Bible and spoke, “Gabrielle, if I had known that he was like that, I would have asked you to take care of him.” The woman laughed and replied, “Is that how you think of me? My old profession? You know that I’m not like that anymore.” To Magier’s displeasure, she was rubbing her hands harder and faster.

Still, Jacques did not make any kind of response. He had finally come upon an interesting passage and was too busy analyzing it to come up with an answer. This did not deter his guardian who continued, “Besides, I’m not his type. He always wanted to an innocent girl preferably one of those fallen angels of the false god.”

The Noah finally looked up and sighed. “I guess you’re right.” He turned to see Magier who was now helping the others clean up to avoid seeing such a disgusting sight. “I hope you never have such dirty thoughts, sister. It seems like you’re the only pure one left in our family.” Hearing those words made Gabrielle giggle, stabbing Magier with its shrillness.

Part Five

As he rubbed his hand against his right cheek, Amaterasu recalled Magier’s face when she walked in on him and smiled. It expressed horror, anger, and a pinch of jealousy; he wished that she could have seen it for he was positive that she might even had have a good laugh. Last night was definitely worth punishment he had received.

He stopped his trek once he noticed footsteps following him. “Are you going to discipline me as well?” The Akuma did not answer but sent ribbons that flew by the Noah’s head. “I don’t care what you did to my sister and I don’t want to know if that’s what you’re implying.” He rotated his body to face her. Though she was the mirror image of the girl he spent the night with, he could sense a dark aura enveloping her. That probably was the give away for the Bookman in the stupid attempt of his sister to fool him.

“If you don’t care about her, then why are you so eager to attack me, Akuma?” he asked as the ribbons danced around his head. “Does the overprotective sister complex still exist in your metal frames and you disapprove of me?” This was the first time this servant had ever lashed out on him and at the moment, it amused him. Could this Akuma still have its soul despite its many evolution?

The eyes of “Stephanie” still fixated on him as if she was still strategizing her next move. She suddenly withdrew her weapons and snapped, “Don’t confuse your loyalty to my mistress with the love for my sister.” This rejoinder didn’t satisfy the boy though for he turned around and continued walking ahead. “Silly Akuma,” he admonished as he distanced himself away from her fierce gaze. “Try that again and I might have to kill you.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Less than a mile from camp, the Noah finally stopped walking. He stared at the hole in the ground, looking quite pleased. The alcove which was guarded by two Level 3 Akuma didn’t take long to build but that was expected when you had more than 100 Akuma willing to help out. As he climbed down the dirt stairs, he could have sworn he heard someone moving.

“I’m glad to see that you’re awake. Are you enjoying your accommodations?” he asked the figure who lurked in the shadow. Upon first impressions, one would not believe that the unkempt person covered in dirt was once a proud Bookman. Blade smiled and replied, “Oh it’s wonderful. Why? Would you like to trade places?” Metal bars separated him from this unwelcome guest who unlike him was looked clean and polished.

Amaterasu unlocked the door and entered the cell. As he examined the room with disdain, he teased, “No thank you. I’m quite happy with my living accommodation.” He gave the Bookman a clownish smile and continued, “After all, I try my best to live comfortably and with pleasure.” Blade stared at the Noah bewildered. It was as if the man was trying to entrap him.

“Of course, I can assure you better living conditions if you agree to talk. I am your master until later today.” That statement made the Bookman laughed mockingly at his guest. This guy was absolutely clueless; did he actually believe that he would betray his clan just to get a better room? He ruffled his brown hair, resulting in dirt flying around him. “Not a chance.”

Surprisingly, the Noah looked on amused; the boy was still quite defiant. He casually thought to himself that perhaps if they weren’t on opposite sides, they could have been friends, causing heartache and pain to friends and family. He dug into his pocket and tossed a silver button towards Blade. It glistened in the dim light long enough for him to catch it.

“Stephanie” was etched on it and he immediately knew what the person before him was implying. “What did you do to her?” he demanded as he formed his fists. If he had done anything to her, he swore that he would kill the guy. Amaterasu sat down on the ground and inquired, “Why does it matter to you? Is she that important to you?” He swatted the air with his right hand as if he was brushing away the Bookman’s question.

This only infuriated Blade more and he began to charge at the Noah. Unfortunately, this only drew the attention of the Akuma guards who rushed him, slamming him against the dirt wall. He heard the boy’s clapping and his voice greeted him, “Oh I guess you really want to know.” Amaterasu started pacing the room, never letting his eyes off the Bookman as if he was eager to see the prisoner’s reaction.

“Did you know what a magnificent creature she is? She is truly a darling thing, very willing to do anything to help her friends.” He walked up to Blade and whispered in front of him. “She gave herself to me in order to protect a scum like you.” Amaterasu watched in joy as the Bookman tried to kick him only to be subdued by the two Akuma.

“I guess that means that I own her now though I doubt she minds. I can still hear her moans and cries in my ear and I can still feel the sensation of her nails digging into my skin. I never knew a girl’s body would be so flexible but it was quite amazing,” he continued as he noted that the more he talked, the more enraged the Bookman became. The Noah began to lick his lips as he mentioned, “Her taste still lingers in my mouth. Like Adam, don’t think that I will stop at just one bite of the forbidden fruit.” At that last statement, Blade managed to break free from the guards’ grasp only to suffer a punch in his gut from Amaterasu.

The Noah grinned as he held the exorcist in his arms, whispering, “I guess you never experienced such pleasure. What a pity. Of course, this would have never happened if you had only talked.” He dropped the boy to the ground and headed towards the exit. “Akuma, beat him up until he spills out. This is his punishment for his obstinacy.”

As he listened to the pounding and grunts, Amaterasu glanced back at Blade and added, “Mr. Bookman! When I grow bored of her, I’ll return her to you. Just don’t be surprised if she calls out my name instead of yours.”

Part Six

As the girl opened her eyes, she felt extreme pain throughout her body. She tried to recall the events of what occurred last night but the only memory that she conjured up was seeing the eyes of the Noah staring down on her, his body pressing against hers. Stephanie immediately brushed her arm over herself as if she was confirmed what her thoughts. She noted that her tattered uniform had been replaced with a short white dress that stopped mid-thigh.

Someone grabbed her wrists, causing her to yelp. She turned to face her own reflection, her gaze looking at her sternly. “I knew that he was lying,” muttered the Akuma as she let go of her sister’s hand and began stroking her hair. “I knew that you would be too stubborn to let any person touch you.” She got up and retrieved a wet cloth, placing it over her sister’s forehead.

Stephanie struggled to move and asked, “What happened to me last night?” Her body ached as she tried to sit up. Her sister slammed her down and admonished, “How would I know? Stop moving around; how can I make you presentable to Lord Amaterasu if you keep wiggling. And don’t worry; I was the one who changed your clothes. Your purity is still intact.” The Akuma noticed tears coming down the exorcist’s eyes and curtly demanded, “What’s wrong now? I thought hearing that would have made you feel better.” Stephanie was always the crybaby of the family.

“You’re my older sister. You’re supposed to protect me from situations like this,” retorted the exorcist as she slapped her mirror image’s hand away from her. She forced herself up and glared, “You should have never let this happen to me or to anyone else.” The girl noted how tense the Akuma was going to be and closed her eyes in anticipation for the slap.

To her surprise, she felt someone embracing her, reminding her of the countless times her mother held her after she had dreamt a nightmare. “Silly sister, did you actually believe that I can actually disobey the Noah?” The Akuma looked at her sister’s face and wiped away from tears. “I serve them to redeem our family for supporting the Black Order over that Earl. Do you realize how much a burden it is for me to bear?

“But I forgot that you’re quite a selfish person. You were spoiled rotten as a child and have always been that way. Perhaps you really don’t care about your comrades despite your profession that you care about them. If you actually did, you wouldn’t have allowed them to suffer.”

The tent flap opened and “Stephanie” released her sister. “Swallow your pride, girl,” she advised as she abandoned her sister to the presence of Amaterasu. As the Akuma passed the Noah, she stared directly into his eyes; the boy did the same though his look was colder. “I won’t betray your secret if that’s what you want to hear.”

As he looked straight ahead, he muttered, “Keep it that way. If I hear anything, I will personally destroy you no matter how useful you might be.” The Akuma nodded but she exited, she said in an innocent voice, “By the way, I hope you don’t mind if I messed with my sister’s mind. Manipulating her was part of my favorite pastime.”

Part Seven

Amaterasu ignored the ramblings of the Akuma, more worried that she might actually blab to Magier; she was more faithful to his sister than she was to him. He couldn’t afford to lose face especially all the effort he spent making an elaborate scheme. But that variable was beyond his control so there was nothing he could do now except makes that lie become a truth.

He stared at the girl who was sitting on his bed and recognized the stark difference in her appearance. Yesterday, she was rebellious and quite bitchy to him; today, she appeared meek with her hands pressing her skirt down against the mattress. Did she not remember what happened after she rejected him like those countless others?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Stephanie had laughed at him that night, saying, “Do you actually believe that I would buy that? Even if I sleep with you, would you actually protect them? I don’t trust your lies.” Her eyes contained a fire that irritated him; she felt a blow to her face that caused her to crash to the ground. Blood was dripping from her forehead as she cowered before the Noah.

Amaterasu was heaving heavily, revealing his cold bloodedness. He would not stand for insubordination, not even from a weak human whom he was prepared to rescue. “You’ll regret saying that. When I’m through with you, you actually think my sister was an angel,” he threatened as he dragged the girl by her hair. Her screams fell on empty ears as he beat her with his fists. He watched on callously as she tried to defend herself, her uniform falling apart.

The Noah threw her on his sister’s bed and proceeded placing his hands around her neck. “I want you to beg for me to kill you,” he commanded as he tightened his grip. Her nails were stinging his hands but he ignored them. The dim moonlight reflected her skin, making her irresistible. It’s her fault that she’s making me do this, he thought as he watched her struggling less with each passing second.

The girl finally stopped moving, her arms falling down besides her. Amaterasu stared on, confused. Did he kill her? He was relieved as he noticed her chest moving up and down subtly and placed his hand on her face. She appeared so peaceful, so angelic in her sleep. She wouldn’t mind if he took a bite, he thought as he removed a silver button on her uniform…

But before he could anything else, the tent suddenly opened, causing him to turn around swiftly. The look on Magier’s face terrified him at the time, so full of anger and shock. “What are you doing here? What have you done with my possessions?” She immediately grabbed her sword and aimed it towards him. She had an idea on what had happened in her absence though she was in complete denial of what had transpired.

Her brother lifted himself off the girl and replied mockingly, “My cat came into your room and I went inside to fetch it before it scratched any of your belongings. After all, the last thing I need is to hear more additional complaints.” Amaterasu was now cleaning himself up, not only to make himself presentable but to imply what “act” he had done in the girl’s tent. Magier was the type of person who would jump to conclusion without rationally thinking.

“I noticed that your trophy was in my shape so I tried to fix it,” he added, grinning widely as he tilted his head towards the unconscious victim “We are siblings so we are supposed to share toys.” He had to duck to avoid a possible decapitation. His sister glared at him and cussed, “Damn you!” How dare he leave his dirty imprints on her doll! She chased him out of her tent and into the dining area. The girl didn’t care about all the noise they were making; as long as she made him pay, whatever punishment Jacques would exact on her would be nothing.

Part Eight

He didn’t need to say anything to her; she knew who was in the tent with her, causing her to tremble. Stephanie did not know if she could trust her sister though her words echoed in her mind. “Swallow your pride, girl” had harshly brought her back to reality. Was she really that selfish?

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a scarlet liquid dripping from Amaterasu’s gloved hands and her heart sank. Before she could say anything, the Noah confirmed her deepest fears. “This is the results of your defiance. His blood is on your hands, not mine,” he mentioned placing his bloodied hands on her face. “Taste its bitterness if it satisfies you. After all, you are the type of girl who likes to hurt those who love her.” The boy laughed wickedly as he placed a finger in the exorcist’s mouth, making her cough.

He walked away from her and examined her. With the delicate white dress on, she resembled a virgin bride, he thought. But white doesn’t suit her. “I told that boy about our little adventure last night. He didn’t seem to appreciate it though,” he said aloud as he wiped his hands clean with a towel. “I don’t understand why.”

“Nothing happened last night,” retorted a pissed off voice. Stephanie’s hands squeezed the red sheets, shaking with rage. How dare he imply that she had cheated on Blade with him! She threw a comb that was on the nightstand at the Noah but he simply dodged it. He looked thoughtfully at her and added, “Is that what your sister told you? Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. You will submit yourself to me eventually; I am your new master now.”

Seeing her shocked face was almost as funny as Magier’s. “Oh, she didn’t tell you? My siblings also believe that something transpired between the both of us last night. My punishment was to take my sister’s damaged goods in exchange for my trophy, the Bookman. You know from your experience how she likes to abuse her things.” He admired the change in her expressions from shock to horror.

Hoping that his plan would actually be completed, he continued, “Of course, you can save him from such a nasty fate. My offer still stands; all you have to do is consummate it with a single kiss and we can continue from there.” Amaterasu leaned forward, his breath against Stephanie’s face. “You might actually enjoy it.” He could feel her heart racing, her breathing faster.

The boy pressed forward only to get shoved off the bed. The girl was panting hard as she gave him a dirty look. She covered herself with the bed sheets and seethed, “Don’t think you can manipulate my love for him into getting what you want.” For a brief second, she considered the offer but something inside of her couldn’t stomach letting the man touch her. Besides, the words of a Noah were not to be trusted no matter how sincere they may be.

Her gaze was met with the equally pissed eyes of Amaterasu who was trying to regain his composure. This was definitely going to be harder than he thought but he shouldn’t complain. It would be more entertaining and more gratifying this way. He got back onto his feet and dusted himself. He mumbled, “Stubborn girl! Would you have rather I presented you with his heart instead?” The exorcist cowered back a bit as if she was readying herself for another hit.

However, he turned his back towards her and made a slight grin. Amaterasu knew that he couldn’t complain. Everything had worked out according to his plan: the Bookman was now talking. Jacques was off his case because he had miraculously caused this to occur. The others looked like fools for their failures. And he successfully stole his sister’s doll though she was being uncooperative.

As he headed towards the exit, the boy cried out to the trembling girl, “The deal will still be available as long as you remain here. But when you finally accept it, I expect you to crawl on your knees and beg me to love you.” She would eventually break and succumb to him; he just had to be patient and await for that day to come.

Author’s Note – (Post-reading)

So I hope that I made the story darker. Did I trick you guys into believing that something actually happened between Amaterasu and Stephanie? Because I hope I did because I’m wicked like that (though not as wicked as Amaterasu). He is quite a naughty boy.

I don’t know if my character plans on accepting his offer; I just like writing open-ended endings so I won’t have to deal with it. -_-;

I’ll leave that to the upcoming writer(s). I’m sure that you’ll make the right decision.

I left Flames’s torture scene up to ds since he already had an idea. Besides, it’s his character so I think it’s best that he abuse him :amuse

I think I’ll take another break. My sister might write a chapter using my account though.

I hope that you liked reading.

Chapter 78 - The Exorcists Struggle

Hey Guys! Sorry about the wait again! I guess I have punished you guys alot this summer, causing you guys to wait in anticipation. All I have to say is that I really enjoyed everybodies chapters this time around ans Steph is evil for making me think that I.A did dirty things to the lovely Stephanie. Okay enjoy!

Lione's eyes shot open, he observed his surroundings and found himself in a decrepit room with a single cot. He pushed himself up, and as the floorbards creaked he heard a clamor outsode of the door. He creeped to the door and pressed his ear against the clammy surface where he heard the voice of a young man.

"There is pandemonium on the deck Hans!"

"Wha' aboot Remy?" an older raspy voice replied

Remys voice fell to a whisper "The box she had was empty!"

Hans gasped in shock "Shou' we prepare for Defcon 1?" his voice held very copius amonts of fear and Lione was able to see the power that this woman exuded over her men. He felt a twinge of jealousy that she ran a tighter ship than he did, well now that he thought about it he could barely control a couple petulent teenage exorcists. He leaned up against the door and begin his self-deprecation, a new routine he had started ever since he had lost his fight with the Noah Jacques, and had resigned himself to a life in a wheelchair.

He heard some ruckus above his room and he closed his eyes, Remy said they there was pandemonium on the deck and when he closed his eyes he could feel a gentle rocking which meant one thing he was on the ship. The mysterious stranger, Anlen, was a Noah. He had to reconsider a few things, were his feelings real? Did he really love this...Noah? Of all the forbidden and half-cocked things that could happen this had to be one of them. Lione let out another sigh, he better not think about it, but he couldn't. He recounted the events that took place at the bar, well at least the things he could remember: The kiss, the kick, the walk to the port and the...the...the walk to the port? Walk to the port? Maybe it was just a dream? He was apprehensive at first, of setting himself up for a let down but there was a definite twitch in his leg muscles. Elation swept over Lione this meant that there was a chance for escape.

It was raining, the city of Boston had a look of dreariness that was reflected on the face of a young girl looking through a window of a dusty and abandoned church. "Its been 2 days Rin."

"I know, I'm worrying about this alot too but it doesn't help us sitting here waiting for them Tabs."

The girl briefly turned towards the woman, since everyone had gone she had been more comfortable, like being in the leadership position suited her better. When she turned back she began watching the passing townsfolk going along with their busy little lives. "I forgot how it was having a life that wasn't so complicated."

Rinvak turned on her heels and began to walk toward the pulpit where the controls were to go back down to the base "Tabitha, you shouldn't worry about what you don't have just be glad for what you still have."

Tabitha felt a burning in her eyes but she quickly choked them back she was right there was too many things that were lost, that she needed to hold onto the few precious things she had left.

"Are you coming?" Rin said from the pulpit

Tabitha took one last look out of the window and the people walking with their quiet lives and turned around walking down the aisles of dusty pews and walked up to the pulpit.

<Knock Knock>

Rinvak looked annoyed and then stepped down and went towards the door. When she opened the door there were several figures standing in cloaks that were billowing in the rain and wind.

Rinvak stood tense "Who are you?"

One of the figures threw the hood over his head "Hey Rin!"

Rin looked at the figure his long wet hair was blocking most of his face and she couldn't figure out who it was "I'm sorry?"

He pulled his hair back in a look of somewhat aggravation "Its me! Daniel!"

Madeline was sitting at the window in their cabin, she was awake both Lyra and Eny had fallen asleep from the lull of the moving train. They had just went through a storm and suffered an 8 hour delay due to the conditions. Now the sun was breaking through the departing rain clouds as she stared out the window, in her hand her Innocence rolling it around in her fingers.

[Flashback]

"Madeline Price"

Madeline's hands were trembling from the pressure. "Y-yes"

"Daughter of Julia Shefield, conformer of the same Innocence you possess the Spectrum Ring."

Madeline stood shaking the rest of the council baring their judgement on her.

"I'm sure you know why you are here?"

"Yes Father"

[End Flashback]

There was some stirring on the bed and Eny was cuddling with her pillow, a ray of sun broke through the clouds and fell on Madelines face accentuating her piercing blue eyes, eyes that belonged to her mother. She stopped playing with the ring and put it on her fingers, the gray jem emitted a glow.

The woods ran thick and the stink of animal feces was potent. Jacques walked through though as part of his daily routine. He had already ran his 5 miles, taken a shower in the river and now he was on his way to his little playtoy.

"Eeeergh, Monsieur Jacques I don't see why we have to do this everyday! Its already been 3 months can't we just kill him?" Michael complained as he had just stepped into a heap of dung

"I'm not complaining..." Belial said under her breath

Michael threw his shoe thats bottom was caked in dung at Belial who ducked and it hit one of the trees thick trunks. "I don't have time to deal with you trying to be a suck up!"

Belial reached for the baton on the belt of her pants but a pebble pierced her hand causing her to scream in shock.

In a cool and deliberate tone said "Enough of this tomfoolery, I receive enough of it from my insipid siblings."

Both of them looked at each other frowned and continued following Jacques. The woods continued to thicken, but then they came upon a clearing and at the center was a stump. Jacques walked over and placed his hand at the center which caused a compartment to flip open on one of the trees. Belial walked over and flipped the switch which made a depression in the ground around the stump, then the depression formed a set of stairs spiraling down into darkness.

"Where is Michael?"

"He went to go get the spear." Belial responded robotically in order not to incur Jacques wrath.

"Here he is."

Michael walked through the clearing to the head of the stairs where Jacques had moved. He was drenched.

"Watch what you're doing Michael! I don't want to get wet."

Michael shot Belial a deathglare, then he looked pleadingly at Jacques similar to the look Magier gives him except without the girlish coyness. "Monsieur Jacques, Do you really have to keep that spear at the bottom of that lake?"

Jacques began his decent down the stairs and his two henchmen followed after him. "The reason why I surround the perimeter with animal feces, why i hide the spear under the lake, and why I made an elaborate contraption to keep my hostage underground is because unlike my siblings, I don't underestimate him or the others."

They came to door and they walked into it. In the room was full of scrubs and medical utensils lined the walls. In a corner there was a place with discarded suits and some of them were splattered with blood. The 3 men went to put on the medical scrubs and Belial saw a huge bite mark on Jacques' leg.

"Monsieur Jacques, I know it isn't any of my business but where did you get that mark?"

"Your right it isn't any of your business." Jacques stood up dressed in scrubs and walked over to another door in the room, it led into a long hallway where there was another door that held a horrible beast. But before he even walked through the first door he turned to Belial and said "I got bitten by a werewolf."

He then turned and walked through the door.

Lione snuck out of the door when the 2 pirates named Remy and Hans dissappeared to prepare for Def-con 1.

[Flashback]

"Lets go Hans!"

Han's voice lowered a few decibels, but Lione was still able to hear him "I'm not suppos'd ta leave 'im 'ere alone y'know"

Remy sat there thinking for a few seconds, then he made a noise that sounded like a snap and said" He doesn't have to know your gone."

Lione could actually hear the enlightenment dawn on Hans face. "Yerright Remy! Lets Go!"

[End Flashback]

Lione found himself running around crazily, dodging glances and hiding from the crew. He was walking down the hall and he heard Hans yelling

"Def-con 1! Def-con 1!" and he was heading in the direction that Lione was walking up. He ran into a room and locked the door behind him. Hans passed by yelling loudly and he could hear the crew heading to the deck. He looked around and surmised that this might be the captains quarters. Books were splayed about and there was a giant map with planned out sea routes, and candle lit wicks everywhere. As if he didn't have enough evidence, the floor was full of empty bottles or rum that the pirates must of pillaged off of countless ships and towns.

"I knew she had an affinity for rum, but this much is a little ridiculous..." Lione walked about the room snooping in every place to find something that maybe he could use, until he heard a crashing at the door and a figure burst into the room.

"Remy! I found 'im!!" It was Hans he was as old, but not as old as Lione had pictured him. His skin was literally falling off his bone revealing the akuma skeleton beneath. Lione thrust forward his tattoo moving to his hand and he destroyed Hans, but as his body fell Remy cut through it with a twin pair of schmiters almost decapitating Lione. Lione hopped into the air to dodge one of Remy's swipes to his legs and he landed on the blade and he kicked the other schmiter out of his opponents hand and it landed in Liones. Remy pulled the blade out from under Lione and the two began dueling with swords. Each of them matched the others strike the swiftness of their moves blowing out candles and chopping books caught between their blades to mulch. Then Remy made a mistake and Lione jumped on the chance like lightning and disarmed Remy and placing his blade on his throat.

"Hehe Lione, Lione my friend you can't kill an akuma with a sword not endowed with Innocence!" Lione took the sword and cleanly cut Remy's head off.

Lione picked up the sword and pulled the ink back onto his body and threw the sword aside. "You can when you have Innocence like I do...friend."

"Daniel! Is that really you?!"

"Yeah it is Rinvak! I look alot more powerful don't I?"

Tabby stood in shock, the scrawny boy that was here about 7 months ago was nothing like the man that stood in front of her today. The Daniel in front of her had long untamed red hair and his hazel eyes were set on freckled skin. He looked more muscular like he had been training this whole time he looked... "Dreamy..."

"Did you say something Tabs?" Rin asked

Tabby blushed furiously and then shook her head.

"Well where the hell have you been? Lione has been worried sick! You've missed alot!"

Daniel looked solemn and lifted a pistol into the air, it glowed with the power of Innocence

Rin looked shocked "Are you kidding? Your an exorcist too!"

Daniel nodded and threw off his cloak revealing the exorcist uniform then the rest of the entourage threw off their hoods and stepped inside from the pouring rain.

"Daniel, who are these people?" Rin was on the defensive she stood up straight and was prepared for a fight.

"Calm down Rin, we're the Decomissionment Committee. We're here to reassign the exorcists, finders, and researchers at this base and clean up any evidence of our presence in North America. We actually spent the last month cleaning up the wreckage of the old base."

The people in cloaks threw them off now casting them to the side and moved about the base freely among the many bodies Rin saw only one other exorcist who was wearing a blindfold and he walked over to Daniel and gave him 2 folders with the word 'Reassignment' on them. Daniel perused through the 2 and walked forward and handed one each to Rinvak and Tabitha.

"Here you go." Daniel handed it to them and walked away Tabbitha looked at hers and seen that she was being sent to the Asian branch she looked up at Rinvak who showed her that she was being reassigned to the European Branch

"Thats not fair! Your splitting us up!" Tabitha screamed at one of the passing members of the DC who ignored her and walked by.

Rinvak sat helplessly together as the Decommissionment Committee gave out reassignments and tickets for boats, trains and all other forms of transportation to the NA branches members. While Tabitha fell asleep on Rinvaks lap the other exorcist walked up to Rinvak.

"My name is Zane Dannover, a member of the European branch and I have a few questions for you."

Rinvak was already bored with this guy, he seemed like a typical military man. "Go ahead."

"I'm already aware of the deaths of the Exorcists Stephanie and Flames and the death of the Bookman Blade but what is the whereabouts of Lione and Lyra the Bookman Enpitsu, and the fugitive Madeline?"

Rinvak sighed inwardly and began the explanation of Liones Dissapperance and the pursuit by Madeline, Enpitsu and Lyra. The look of worrry spread across the mans face, as he sat there and absorbed the situation.

"Pursuit is necessary." he finally said "You and Daniel will come with me the child will stay. We leave immediatly, I'm going to prepare the horses grab a cloak before you leave, the raining is torrential."

"Wait a second! Why do we have to pursue them?"

Zane turned around "Madeline is a fugitive and we can't afford to lose anymore bookman or exorcists." He continued walking and left Rinvak alone.

Daniel showed up a minute later carrying a spare cloak for Rinvak. "Zane paged me, come on Tabitha will be ok by herself."

Rin walked outside in the arin and saw several steeds there and Zane sat on top of them with a strange shaped hump under his cloak. She put up her hood and walked toward the toughest looking horse. She couldn't get up by herself so she asked Daniel for some assistance. As Daniel helped Rinvak on the horse she asked about the hump on Zanes back.

"Oh that, thats Zanes Innocence its a guitar, cool huh?"

Daniel ran to his horse and mounted with the fluidity of an experienced rider. "These are the fastest horses I have! There bred for speed and not for comfort so be prepared for a rough ride!"

The train was stopping at the station in 2 minutes and Lyra was still in the bathroom, Eny tapped her feet and shot deathglares through the door. She then went over and slammed her fist on the door "Hurry up Lyra! If your in there any longer we'll miss our stop!"

Lyra swung the door open knocking Eny over "Okay jeeeez I'm done." Lyra walked past Eny and to the seat next to Madeline. "Hello Madeline, are you ready?"

Madeline glanced at her hand with the ring on it and she grabbed her bag and headed for the exit. The other 2 followed her to the exit where the train was just screeching to a halt. They stepped out into the platform and began their search

They questioned storeowners, barmaids and other townsfolk who would possess information. They stayed out and rendevoused at a local inn and exchanged the information they recieved.

"I heard from a tavernmaster that there was a group traveling by ship who made off with a whole months worth of rum." Eny began

Lyra's ears perked "Tavernmaster? Who let a pipsqueek like you in a bar?"

At that remark Eny reddened "I followed a drunk lady in and said she was mother."

"And thats all?" Lyra said her eyes narrowing

"Well I kinda said that I was looking for my daddy who was a criminal..."

Lyra stood there and then broke out in laughter, in between the fits of laughter she managed to ask Madeline about her intel.

She stood up and with a look of authority demanded their attention. Lyra quickly stopped laughing and she turned serious again. "I have some news I have obtained from a shop owner about a group of nomads who came through here and bought alot of supplies. Except I doubt it was the group we are pursuing."

"Why's that?" Eny asked

"Because when they were here they saved the shop owner from a bunch of bandits. Well Lyra what about you?"

It was Lyras turn to stand and she pulled out a map and she pointed to a mountain about 50 miles west from the town. "I overheard a camper telling his neighbor about a recent trip of his to the mountains, when he was there e could hear howling from a wolf."

"That could be anything! Wolves live in mountains you know!" Eny shot out.

"I thought of that too and I went to the library to do a little research, it turns out that mountain is home to Wildcats and there aren't any wolves around here in the south."

Madeline sat pensively for a few minutes " I guess its the only option we have" then a giant explosion erupted through the floorboards knocking the girls to seperate corners of the room. From the hole 2 level 2 akuma appeared and they seemed to be twins.

"Hello exorcists!" one of the twins said

"Welcome to our lovely Inn we're here to accomodate you!" said the other.

Flames eyes shot open, but all he saw was absolute darkness, a door opened and a sliver of light shone into the room. His eyed blurred, and a voice echoed
throughout the room. It sounded like it was close but its noise was muffled. Flames tried moving his body but it wasn't reacting.

"So your finally regaining conciousness?" The blurry figure bellowed as he paced around the room. Flames followed the figure with his eyes starting at the light. He followed him until the figure appeared at the light again which led Flames to believe he was in the center of a room.

"I wonder, why is it that you wield 2 Innocences? I think I've figured it out finally, but I think I might want to do a little more...experimenting on
you first."

Flames eyes, were still blurred as he tried to comprehend what he was hearing. He was lost in the fog of his brain as he tried to get up he went to lift his
body up with his right arm but it wasn't responding. Then through the haze the moment when he lost his arm shocked through him like electricity. He went to
scream but his vocal chords were worn and sore so only an inaudible cry escaped.

"Oh Sorry! I meant to flip the other switch haha" said a different more demented voice.

In another moment the lights were on, and Flames eyes squinted in the surrounding light. The room was large and he was at the center in a cage.His eyes burnt in the intense light. The room was white and a few feet away from his cage was an operating table. Flames ran his left hand on his body and felt stitches in places, tears rolled down his cheeks as he imagined what horrible things they had done to him.

"Oh scared huh? You should be, I don't see any hope for you or your friends. If I tell you the truth I think you might have it the worst. Hehehe You know while you were unconcious you bit Monsieur Jacques on the leg? I have to admit you have quite a set of jaws." another voice said

Flames looked up his vision clearing he saw 3 sets of silhouettes and one of them came close to the cage and started rattling it

"Oh look at him Monsieur Jacques! He really is an animal!" The person rattling his cage was the same person who possessed the demented voice from before, and from what Flames could remember his name was Michael.

"Enough of this! Belial hand me the spear!"

Belial twirled the spear in her hands a few times before she gave it to Jacques. Spear in hand he approached the cage, he was being careful but he still moved with authority. With each step he took Flames could feel his Innocence Lycanthropy breaking free of the binds that the ancients put on him. The hair was growing rapidly out of his pores and he could feel his teeth elongating and sharpening, eventually he began to grow a snout.

"Michael flip the switch!" Jacques screamed

Electricity was flowing through Flames moving through his body it felt as if it might cause his blood to evaporate but then Jacques plunged the spear he held deep into Flames chest cuting deep. The electricity seemed to channel into the spear and eventually Flames passed out.

Jacques pulled the spear out of the natives chest. "The unification procedure is complete" He took the spear and discarded it to the side and he and the others left Flames in a pool of his own blood in his cage.

Chapter 79: Nothing Personal

Part One:

Rinvak clung to the horse’s mane. Daniel hadn’t been lying when he said this wouldn’t be comfortable. The wind ripped at the area’s of her bare flesh, the borrowed cloak flying out behind her, her wings drawn close to her body.

“Daniel!” She shouted, giving the horse another kick. It gave a quick burst of even greater speed, and she was galloping alongside the other Exorcist. He didn’t seem to notice her presence for a moment, but she called his name again, and he looked over, grinning.

“Rin! You need something?” Her face darkened. “You’re not mad at me, are you? C’mon, don’t be mad. It’s not like it’s anything personal, I’m just doing my job…”

“Nothing personal?” Rinvak scoffed. “Nothing personal. Danny, I’ve been doing this longer then you and you want to know something? Everything’s personal,” She said, twisting the ring on her finger. “In this business, all of it’s personal.”

Daniel sighed. “Don’t call me Danny. Listen, Rin, anything you guys need, I’ll do it, okay? I don’t want this to be a huge thing.” She snorted. “Seriously, Rin! Anything you guys ask of me!”

“Where are the others being reassigned?” It was obvious to Rinvak that this was one of the subjects he’d been hoping to avoid. His next words were carefully chosen.

“I’m not allowed to talk about that.” Rinvak suddenly tugged at her horse’s reins. She veered into Daniel’s path. The other Exorcist gave a shout, and yanked his reins. The horse stopped short. “What the hell, Rin?!? Hey, Zane, wait a second!” He shouted to the other Exorcist, who halted a bit away.

“Tabby and I are being split up. It’s not just us, is it?” Rinvak had realized this during the first hour or so of their ride. Daniel avoided her eyes. “Daniel.” He looked up with a pleading look in his eyes.

“Listen; don’t shoot the messenger, okay? I even asked them-I did, really- not to split you guys up, but they think you’re all trouble. They fig-!”

“Where, Daniel?” Rinvak cut him off. He winced.

“Err… You’re going to Europe; Tabby’s off to Asia, Lyra’s being reassigned to the African Branch, Ying’s headed to Australia and Eny’s being sent to the South American base.” He confessed, raising his hands in a mock-surrender. Rinvak’s eyes narrowed.

“That’s not all of us.”

“Zane and I also have,” He said with an outtake of breath, “Three confirmations of death, one order to apprehend, and two notices of dismissal from the Black Order.” This was met with a stony silence from Rinvak. Quietly, she kicked her horse into a trot. Zane followed suit. Only when the pair had started to gallop again did Daniel urge his horse into a gallop. Great… He finally gets back and half the group was dead or MIA, Rin was mad at him and Tabby was the only one protecting what was left of the former North American base. This was shaping up to be an incredibly crappy day.

Part Two:

Tabby yawned, stretching and sitting up. “Gee, thanks for not wak-?” She stopped short. She’d been trying to thank Rinvak, but she wasn’t there. “Rin?” She asked the space where she’d been. “Rin? Dan? European dude?” Standing, Tabby strode to look out of the room and into the hallway. The other three Exorcists were nowhere to be seen, but the quiet and imposing presence of Ying was. Tabby raised an eyebrow. “Ying? Where are-?”

“Daniel, Rinvak and Zane left an hour or so ago,” She supplied, slipping a single paper out of the manila folder in her grasp. Tabby seized it from her.

Miss Brown- The letter began, in an unfamiliar script- Miss Rinvak, Daniel and I have begun a pursuit of the fugitive Sister Price. I am afraid this leaves you as the sole protector of the former base and its people. Miss Ying will give you the pager I left with her; please use this to keep in contact with us. Stay safe. Zane Dannover

“Stay safe?” Tabby spoke angrily to the paper, as if it could reach the others. “Stay safe, you stupid pompous ass? Pager, please?” She held out a hand to Ying. Nothing came. She looked over the note to Ying’s face. It was impassive, as usual.

“You can’t yell at them.”

“Watch me. Stay safe? He tells me to stay safe when I’m the only one not out there? Stay safe, and they could all be dying? But, no, someone has to take care of you lot,” She sighed finally. “I’m not gonna yell at him.” Ying raised her eyebrows. “I promise.” The medic nodded, and passed the pager to Tabby. “Tabby to Dannover, over.”

The device crackled, and the militant voice of Zane came over the radio waves. “Zane to Miss Brown, what is the problem? Over.” Tabby rolled her eyes.

“Tabby to Dannover, no problem. Just making sure these work. They’re pretty cool! Over!” Tabby prattled cheerfully, waving Ying away and walking on, holding the walkie talkie to her ear like a phone.

It crackled, and Zane spoke again. “Zane to Miss Brown. These are not toys. Only use them in emergencies. Over.” Tabby let out a gasp of annoyance, glaring at the pager like it was Zane.
“Tabby to Dan, over.”

More crackling as Tabby sat down on one of the hospital beds. “Daniel to Tabs, what is it? Over.”

“Zane to Miss Brown and Daniel, I was serious Miss Brown, over.”

“I was serious Miss Brown,” Tabby mimicked, annoyed.

“Daniel to Tabs, you’re still pressing the button, over.” Tabby blushed, pulling her finger off the button, angrily dropping the communicator onto the bed and standing. As she walked away, she could’ve sworn she heard the device crackle, and Zane’s voice come over one last time.

“Zane to Daniel, I don’t really sound like that do I? Over.”

Part Three:

Lyra swore. Beside her, Madeline activated her Innocence, and Eny hoisted her gun onto her shoulder. That was stupid of them. How did they walk into a trap? They should’ve thought of that. “Innocence Activate!” Lyra let out a shout. Madeline was off, fighting one of the twins. The other Akuma danced out of the way of Eny’s bullets. She was firing off stunning shots like there was no tomorrow. Lyra sprinted behind the younger girl, firing off a single short burst of color- pink. The attack had not exactly been something they’d been hoping for.

Great, colorful shapes flew left and right- Madeline wanted this over with, and Lyra’s own Innocence wasn’t exactly the dullest thing you’d ever seen. Only Eny’s dark bullets sent streaks of black across the lobby.

As she ran behind it, the front desk flipped. The Akuma Eny had been shooting at had escaped her range- from over the Akuma’a shoulder, Lyra could see Eny hauling her weapon to an overturned table, sliding behind it and attempting to snipe the Akuma Madeline was dealing with. Lyra swung her staff, knocking the Akuma aside- it flew and slammed into a wall, but as she ran to meet up with Eny, she saw it get up. She baseball-playing, base-stealing slid to behind Eny’s table. Eny didn’t even look up. “This is… quite the hold-up.”

Lyra cracked a grin. “Yup, Noisy Munchkin. This could take a little bit.” Eny scowled at the name, loading another round of bullets into her gun.

“Madeline can’t do this alone,” She said, glaring at Lyra, who grinned and took off.

Part Four:

The horses slowed to a gallop as the trio came into the small town. “You!” Rinvak barked out to a passerby. He halted, looking awkwardly up at her. “Have you seen a little girl and two women?” She asked. “Girl’s whiny, ladies are pretty nice, and one has all this crazy jewelry…?” The man appeared to think, before nodding and gesturing in the general direction of the edge of town. Daniel and Zane hung back, until Rinvak urged her horse over to them. “They’re over-!”

Her voice was cut off, and Daniel shouted as a great blast shook them. Zane’s horse neighed nervously. The wall of a building in the direction the man had told Rinvak of had a hole blown in the wall. “There.” Rinvak finished unnecessarily. They exchanged glances, and trotted towards the inn.

Part Five:

Tabby sighed, playing idly with the walkie talkie in her hands. Ying was nowhere to be seen. All the survivors of the North American Order’s latest tragedy had been sent away: the Finders and medics were either reassigned, let go, or quit. Only Tabby, Riena, Ying and Zeren were left now. Keeping the walkie talkie clutched in her hand, she stood, sliding into the elevator, allowing it to bring her to the decrypted old church. Collapsing into a pew, she laid her head down on the back. She felt, for a moment, so incredibly old, staring out the dusty old windows at a group of young people passing by. They were laughing at some jest the youngest girl had made, poking at the younger male. One of the other girls was- none to subtly- attempting to strangle the youngest. The others laughed, calling her off. They passed out of Tabby’s sight. Other groups passed by, but those faces stuck in her mind.

She sniffled, laying her head in her hands. It seemed ages since they’d been like that. In that group, she’d seen another- a group that sat on a train, laughing, with no problems but green hair dye. A girl who was late for tacos with a big brother to come home to. A group that was now scattered in small pockets across the East Coast.

Tabby closed her eyes. Someday, they’d be like that again, she promised herself. She could almost see them- herself, gray hair, laughing, as an aged Rinvak ran her fingers through bright pink hair. Steph and Blade, still together after all the years, laughing at Rin’s plight. Zeren, fully recovered, smiling. Lione, grinning and old in his wheelchair. Madeline, a smile cracking across her ancient face. Ying, a smile, rare even in those years. Eny, bad-tempered in her old age, shouting at being outdone. Flames chuckling. Lyra, congratulating Tabby on her great prank.

Tabby snapped out of her daydream as her walkie talkie crackled and Daniel’s voice came over. “Daniel to Tabs and HQ. We’ve found them. Sending back up to stay with Tabby. They know she’s alone. Over.”

Part Six:

Eny swore, backing up, her hands shaking as she attempted to lock in a new round of bullets. One of the Akuma headed towards her. Madeline and Lyra were busy with the other. She’d blasted a hole behind her, but that hadn’t helped. The Akuma grinned. Eny’s shaking hands dropped her bullets. The Akuma swept forward. She shrieked, but a hand on the back of her dress silenced her as she was hefted into the air. “Wha-?” She turned laboriously has she was plopped onto the bare back of a horse. Daniel grinned back at her, pointing his pistol at the Akuma, cowboy-style. “Daniel!”

“Militant Musician!” Lyra’s joyful voice rang out as Zane dismounted beside her. Rinvak galloped up behind Madeline. The Akuma twins looked at each other nervously. Eny loaded her gun, clinging to the horse’s mane to keep her balance.

“Maddy!” Rinvak’s voice was worried. She dismounted, running, pulling the horse behind her until she stood beside Madeline. “Quick, get the hell out of here! They’re from the European Branch. You’re to be apprehended!” Madeline stared quietly at Rinvak. “Madeline! Get on the horse!”

“I knew what I was doing when I left. I’m ready for this,” Madeline explained hoarsely as Zane, Daniel, Lyra and Eny dealt with the Akuma behind them. Rinvak looked with sad eyes at the reins in her hands, before holding them out again to Madeline.

“But we’re not ready, Mad,” She said finally. Madeline looked at Rinvak, who determinedly held out the reins again. Sighing, Madeline mounted.

“You’re not helping anyone, Rin,” She said down to Rinvak, who grinned devilishly, slapping the horse. It galloped away, Madeline clinging to its mane.

Part Seven:

The group was subdued after the battle. Zane and Daniel had explained their presence to Eny and Lyra, who had explained what they’d learn, and Rinvak lied through her teeth about Madeline’s daring escape. They sat quietly around a campfire. Eny yawned, nearly falling asleep on Lyra, who protested loudly. Daniel smiled, looking at the three across the campfire. “Zane,” He said suddenly. “I called for Ty to go stay with Tabs, m’kay?” Zane nodded slowly.

“I think,” He said slowly, “that I will go after the fugitive tonight. You follow with them.” Zane told Daniel, who nodded. He stood, mounted a horse and head off. Rinvak and Lyra caught each other’s eye across Eny’s head. Rinvak stood.

“Hey, Dan?” He looked up. She stood over him. “Can I see your Innocence?” He grinned. He’d wanted to show it off! He slid it out of his pocket, holding it out.

“Cool, huh?” He grinned up at her. She smiled.

“Sure, Danny.”

“Don’t-!” He started, but a swift kick to his knees made him let out a gasp of pain. He dropped his pistol. Rin grinned, crouching to pick it out of the dust.

“Sorry Danny. We’re going after our friends. It’s nothing personal,” She said sardonically, spinning his pistol in her hand. His eyes widened, and a look of true apology came to her eyes. “It’s just business.”

His world faded to black as Lyra knocked him unconscious.

A/N:

Again, sorry this took so long. Nine year olds are hard to take care of. xD I just assumed Zane and Lyra kknew each other from Europe.

decided to write it before going on ym trip. It was pretty late when i rwrote it so please overlooks the spelling errors ^^

Flashback

The train was crowded luckily Lyra was able to “convince” a group of people to leave the cabin. “If we ever get separated in town” she started her speech in the worst thinkable way. Madeline was shocked by that thought while Eny looked annoyed because she knew a better way.
“If we ever get separated go into a Restaurant called “Green Olive Creek” it belongs to a friend of mine wait there for one hour if we don’t get there go back to the HQ. Everyone understood that?”
The cabin was quite again.

After her escape she rode around town then she sent the horse into the forest and walked back to their meeting point.
As if god gave her a favor a hard rain washed away the horseshoe marks and kept the people inside their houses. Nobody should have seen her she thought.
To her amusement the restaurant’s owner was a male copy of Lyra and quickly offered her something to warm up. Madeline waited drinking a hot cocoa with, as the owner described it, a special seasoning (Rum) and a bit to warm up (even more Rum).
Half an hour has passed as a knocking woke her from rum-dizziness.
“Cousin Grim I’m home have you seen a,” shouted Lyra as she entered the building, “Oh you really found it! Where have you send or militant musician?”
She made herself comfortable on the other side of the desk Eny and Rinvak took the remaining two seats.

“This place belongs to your cousin? Why didn’t we go her right away?” asked Eny still shivering.
“Because she owes me quite a sum of money well to be exact her father owes my father quite a sum of money you munchkin. And my name is Grimoir not Grim. So when will you pay cousin Lulu?” said Grimoir with a tablet with three cocoas on it.
“As soon as my Mission is over so don’t worry Grim. But for now let’s think about our next steps the nomads are about three hours away from here we could be there by sunrise and the rain disguises hour scent and trails.
Rinvak you better get back and send Daniel and Zane on a little vacation trip just tell them we threw you of the horse as soon as we left the camp.”

Our group of three made their way to the camp. Rinvak still sat in the Restaurant thinking if she should have let them go that easily.

Belial sat in front of a mirror.
“A skin like porcelain, hair like the nightsky yet still, all she gets from Jacques-sama was a caring touch on the head while Gabrielle sometimes even gets a kiss. That woman is the embodied sin yet still his most precious guardian.” Quickly she dismisses the thought. “Envy is a deadly sin.”
She whispered to herself and began practicing the song for the morning sermon.

Jacques and Gabrielle lay on the bed sheet. Gabrielle took care of his wounds while moving closer and closer to him.
“How long will you keep up the play?” she whispered in his ear, “I know you’re no priest, the earl knows, you know, everyone knows. Abstinence is simply not suited for a body like this.”

He leaned back resting his head on her shoulder.
His skin turns black “When I get my dearest toy. This body is for your use.” he said with a hungry tone.
Suddenly he backs away, his skin turning back to white.
“It’s better of you go now Gabrielle. I feel a storm coming.”
Gabrielle stood up putting her dress back on. “Say what,” she said as she leaves, “it is already pouring.”

The three arrive at the campsite. Despite it being after sunrise already the storm clouds still keep it pitch black.
Suddenly it becomes unpleasantly bright in front of them.
“Wow Gabby, Bel,” said a male voice,” we’re lucky running an errand for Jacques-sama this late. We where supposed to deliver the captives’ innocence to Uriel and now we get to smash some cockroaches for free.”
“It would be easier for us if you don’t tell them our number you moron!” said Gabrielle.

This was the worst case scenario for them.
Being caught off guard by three enemies melted away their chances of success.
Suddenly Eny jumped in front of them. “Where is my Fermuim?” she screamed pointing her bazooka at the three angels,
“That Fat cat?” answered Gabrielle,” it’ with Master Ameratsu and that Akuma’s sister on the other side of the camp. Right next to Jacques-sama’ s tent.” She points roughly at the north way through the camp.
“But I fear you won’t get so far kiddo.” said Michael while drawing his sword.

Flashback
Eny and Ying are inside Ying’s Lab.
“I need a bookman to record my data of the enemy’s weaponry.” Said Ying holding up the axe of late Raphael , “It’s seems they found away to turn scraps of destroyed Akumas of a high level into forgeable material giving the weapons the ability too turn emotions into energy very similar to innocence.
I think I could do that as well with the akumas destroyed during the ambush.”
Eny looks at Ying and asks “ So you could make me a weapon with it? Something to get my fermium back?” Ying shock her head making a strict face like lecturing a pupil.
“You know what Akumas are made of? These are crystallized souls, the darkness inside the human being. This is what they collected. It lives! It grants power but the price is your own soul. You still want to use it?" "Yes will I have the right idea for it don't worry.”

“I only have three of these shells but I guess angry as I am now I do not need any more.” She things while pulling the trigger.
After that the situation becomes a mixture of light and noise and all whats left after it is a big chasm between Madeline and Belial, and Eny,Lyra, Michael and Gabrielle.
Lyra looked at eny, who was still amazed of the new gained firepower and tried to sort out the facts. One was out of reach the other nowhere to be found. All they could do was to follow the obvious thing.
The shining objects in the hands of the two angels running front of them. The trap was soo obvious but at least these where no Noahs.

Madeline and Belial where looking at each other.

“Innocense activate!” the both scream simultaneous.

A fox of fire shot towards Madeline who shielded herself with a blue cube.
Madeline thinks

“My barriers a stable for about 30 seconds in this heat. Changing the colour need 3 seconds. She need about 20 seconds to create a blast and another 5 the reach me. It looks like time is on her side.”

She changes to yellow and sent small triangles towards the angel while heightening the distance between them. Belial shields herself with a strong flame shield and barely avoids the shots.

“My projectiles are a lot faster and her fire can only slow them down.”

thinks the nun. She changes her strategy and charges at Belial while firing different shaped barriers at her. Belial gets hit and is thrown back by the impact. Madeline changes to red and creates a cube around the guardian.
“Don’t even think of destroying this, I would have send you down the chasm before it would even show signs of instability. Where are the captives? And why didn’t you fight seriously?” asked Madeline shocking Belial.

“You’re look just proofed my theory, while you where defending your flames where a lot hotter then while you attacked me otherwise my shoots would have wounded you.”
Belial looked at the nun and suddenly started crying,
“I simply can’t do that. You’re deceived by a false god but you’re still human. Killing is a sin I cannot commit.” “But your master killed people and your fellow Noahs did as well.”
“The Noah clan are gods holy apostles they do not seek salvation but instead they will die for us ending this hellish world offering us gods eternal bliss.
But first the world must be cleansed with fire.”
“You are talking about Genocide! A God born suffering can never create a paradise.
Accept this world and change it by your own. This is god’s true will!”
Belial suddenly looked at Madeline like a child that heard Santa Clause did not exist.
Such pure faith could not be from a bad person.

“Well it seems you two have a hearty conversation about religion. May I join?”

The Noah looked at the red barrier around Belial and with a swift strike he scattered it.
“Belial, t seems you failed capturing another toy for magier-chan but don’t you worry I’m not angry with you.” Belle looked at Madeline an thought about Magier’s way of treating her “toys”.
“Jacques–sama could you please spare this woman? She could become a new warrior for god.” The Noah’s expression changed into the well known smile.
“I fear not Belial this woman is already too much poisoned by impure thoughts.
You heard her speech.”
“But didn’t you say every man, every sinner can be helped and brought to salvation?” Jacques took a step to her direction.
“Well this was not quite correct you could even say I lied. Yes lying is the right word for it.” His skin turn black and his smile becomes a grin.

This face would hunt both women in their dreams from that day on.

Belial looked at the man in front of her. The man, who dragged her out of the darkness and bathed her in the light of hope, now he looked like the darkness itself.
“What bout bringing mankind salvation?”
“I lied”
“What about bringing us god eternal bliss?”
“I lied.”
“What about saving the exorcists from the poisonous innocence and relieving their sins?”
“I lied”
The girl fell on her knees,
“What bout always loving and caring for Magier, Gabrielle and me?”
Jaqcues took another step towards her.
“Magier is my dearest sister and Gabrielle a very useful tool but again I lied.
I will destroy mankind and turn this world into hell.
This is the mission given to me by Duke Millennium as the Noah Jacques LaCoix.”

Suddenly a red prism surrounds Belle and Madeline moving them deep into the forest.

Lyra and Eny ran for minutes but the could not catch up to the Guardians.
In the distance they saw a glowing red object moving through the forest and Lyra decides to go after it.

“Won’t you go after her Jak-kun?” said Magier stepping out of the darkness.
But the male Noah simply smiles and steps into the camp while his skin turns back into normal.

His rosary lies in the mud slowly thinking into oblivion

I hoped you like it ^^ yes Jacques is now officially no priest anymore.
which also means no abstinense (this is a little present for you magier-chan ^^).
I hoped you liked it.

now: off to Leipzig! yay Games convention XD

DGM fanstory ~ Volume 4 "Deadly Menuet" [Chapter 61- Chapter 80]

Schwindelmagier

MH Senpai