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Innocent Rain	By : saxonjesus Category: +. to F > D. Gray Man Views: 3947 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Chapter 14�Many Meetings

August 24, 2013�The Dark Order, Main Branch

�� He didn�t really
understand how or why, but for some reason, the leather couch was surprisingly
comfortable. It was a stereotypical deep burgundy, but it smelled as if nearly
everyone�s ass had touched it. Lavi grimaced. In such an organization, it
wasn�t surprising that many people took to the psychiatrist. Not that he wanted
to be here, but he was under strict orders that even he couldn�t bypass. If he
was still a Bookman, he might have been able to get out of it, but the fact was
that he no longer had that status. He was an ordinary�well, slightly
extraordinary, as he was an Exorcist�human being now.

�� The psychiatrist
walked into the room, carrying a chart and frowning down at it. He wore the
quintessential round glasses of a mental health professional, a tweed sport
coat, and khaki pants. His receding hairline, large ears, and moustache-beard
combo made Lavi yelp and shrink back into the couch.

�� You�re Freud!� He
shouted, pointing at the psychiatrist. He wasn�t sure if he was acting or not,
but fear pooled in his stomach, regardless.

�� No, I�m Larry,�
the psychiatrist said flatly, obviously unamused.

�� Oh, sorry Larry�are you sure
that�s your name?� Lavi asked, scratching his head.

�� I could ask you
the same question,� the doctor responded.

�� I chose Lavi
because my sun calls me Lavi. If you are referring to my real name, I�ve long
since forgotten it.� He felt his face shut down into the practiced mask of a
Bookman. Larry looked shocked at the sudden change in his patient, and he
scribbled something on the chart.

�� So, you seem to
have some pretty unique Innocence,� he commented, gesturing at a folder on his
desk. Lavi looked over at it, somewhat interested, and then gazed back at the
man.

�� Yes, I rather
enjoy Oodzuchi�s company,� he remarked offhandedly.

�� Er, it says here that your Innocence is named Tettsui.�

�� But�but, I don�t like that name, and it lets me call it
Oodzuchi Kodzuchi instead.�

�� The Freud-esque man lifted a bushy, gray eyebrow pensively. �I was
looking at your x-rays just now, and I noticed something unusual that I thought
you�d like to know. It appears that all the metal in your hands has� eh,
disappeared. It�s all bone now.�

�� Yeah, and it
feels a load better. The metal was too clunky, and it limited my movement. I
assume Oodzuchi changed it back for me. I�ll have to thank him later,� Lavi
said, still doing his best to sound nonchalant.

�� Well, I suppose
we should get down to business, then,� the psychiatrist said, sitting down in a
high-backed chair. He adjusted his glasses and lifted what Lavi assumed to be
his chart closer to his eyes for further inspection. �I have a feeling you�re
not going to be very cooperative with me.�

�� Well, that depends, doc,
do you want the textbook answers or the real ones?� Lavi questioned, gazing
disinterestedly at his right fingernails. He enjoyed how the green streaks
looked against his skin, and he realized something horrifying. Over the past
few weeks, he had not been paying as much attention to his surroundings, and he
immediately sought to fix that. Bookman or not, he still had the training, and
he didn�t think he�d be able to live without it, even if he was more relaxed
without his Bookmanly duties.

�� I would prefer
the real ones, if you don�t mind,� Larry said.

�� Well, see,
there�s the problem, doc. I don�t wanna,� Lavi
replied, giving the room a practiced sweep. He took everything in�the lamp and
its coffee-stained shade that was tilted just a centimeter to the left, the
desk that had a full deck of cards underneath it in an attempt to keep it
balanced (though Lavi noticed that it now sloped just slightly), the horrific
green carpet that had mysterious brown stains near Larry�s chair, the three
large shelves filled with thick psychological tomes that Lavi wanted to read
immediately, and a plethora of other things down to the minute details that
everyone ignored. A second later, he stared at the psychiatrist and grimaced in
distaste.

�� You�ve got a
strangely-shaped mole on your left arm�you may want to get that checked out,�
he said. �It looks oddly like the beginnings of skin cancer.�

�� The doctor looked
taken aback. After a moment of abashed silence, the doctor took in a breath.
�I�d like to try something with you,� he said, taking a pocket watch from inside
his ugly tweed sport jacket. Lavi saw it glint off the industrial lights above.

�� Aw, not this
trick, Larry!� He complained.

�� Just give it a
try,� Larry said bracingly, and to Lavi, it sounded like he was convincing
himself that yes, he did have to work with an impudent brat like his current
patient.

�� Well, I did
always want to try everything at least once,� Lavi said, shrugging. He doubted
that he would even allow himself to be hypnotized, but on the off-chance that
it did happen, he wanted to know what it would feel like.

�� He lay back on the
putrid-smelling couch and immediately regretted it. Still, he closed his eyes
and tried to relax. �Do your best, doc,� he said, grimacing, more against the
smell than the actual situation.

�� Okay, then. Lavi,
take a deep breath�� Lavi breathed in slowly, waiting for the next instruction.
��and as you let it out, begin to feel yourself relaxing�� Lavi complied.
Larry�s voice had gone soft, almost gentle, and Lavi found it very useful as
the man had him relax each body part slowly. After maybe ten minutes and three
seconds, Lavi felt relaxed, and for some reason, the Freud-esque
man�s voice had become very soothing.

�� Now, Lavi, tell
me your age.�

�� He felt very
relaxed and focused. If this was hypnotism, he figured he ought to do it more
often. He didn�t even need to scan his mind to come up with the answer. The
many people who were not real never had the same birthday, but he always
remembered that the tenth of August was his true date of birth. He thought it
somewhat ironic that his last alias had used it as well.

�� I am one hundred
and thirty-six years of age,� he replied, his voice blank and concise, as if he
was reporting to Bookman.

�� On what day were
you born?�

�� I was born on
August tenth of the year eighteen sixty-eight.�

�� When did you
become a Bookman?�

�� This is the only
date I don�t know exactly, as my Forgetting took place over the course of a
week. According to Bookman, I was in a trance for nearly a month afterward. I
do not know the official day I became a Bookman, because I have forgotten it.�

�� Could you try to
remember for me?�

�� Things in the
past should be left there, especially things that want to be forgotten. You
see, when an apprentice is taken on, he has the option of forgetting his past.
I took that option, so obviously, it was a past worth
forgetting. I have no desire to remember it.�

�� I believe it
would be good for you to��

�� No.�

�� And the relaxation
was gone. Lavi threw his eyes open and sat up, walking briskly from the room and
slamming the heavy wooden door behind him.

---

�� Yuu�s bed was warm
and comfortable with its cinnamony blue sheets. Lavi
lay comfortably in it, relaxing each body part in turn. He had been impressed
with the concentration force that had come with hypnosis, and he wanted it to
return. Maybe he could use it as a way to absorb more information. He wistfully
fantasized of telling Bookman about the possibilities of this procedure as he
relaxed himself further. After a good while�approximately twenty-three minutes
and forty-one seconds�Lavi finally felt himself drift into a similar state to
the one he�d been in that afternoon. He let his mind wander as much as possible
and found himself pondering his past. The one thing he wanted to remember, even
if that was all he remembered, was his name. He desperately wanted to know his
name�it was the only thing Bookman had ever withheld from him, telling him it
could possibly trigger the other memories. Lavi didn�t care, though. He wanted,
needed, to know his name.

�� The answer swam
lazily through his head, somewhere in the middle of the square the four corners
of his mind made.

�� Liam. His name had
been Liam.

�� He didn�t need to
know more, but for some reason, his hypnotized mind delved deeper. Liam Flynn, son of Riley Flynn and his wife, Lisette
Bonnet. They were not abusive parents, but they were poor and desperate.
They rarely had time for their son, and they rarely wanted to. Unbidden, Lavi
was sucked into a memory that Bookman�s needles had driven from his mind.

�� The stranger walked up to the house, and
though he looked old and was very, very short, Liam cowered behind his mother�s
threadbare skirts. The stranger swayed, his tall hair wobbling precariously at
the top of his head, and he fell just as he reached the edge of the small Flynn
property. His mother grabbed up her skirts and ran over to the man, her long,
graying blonde hair flowing behind her. The man groaned as she poked him,
checking for signs of life.

�� Liam
followed more slowly, observing the stranger just as he did everything else.
The world was so interesting, with an infinite amount of information just
waiting to be discovered, and Liam felt that he could discover it if he only
looked long enough. The stranger made a low sound and tried to stand up. Liam�s
mother pulled the man up and supported him as she took him into their house.
Liam followed again. For some reason, this stranger was more interesting than
any other. He carried a scroll of some sort, and Liam thought he saw needles
poking out of one section. The man looked distinctly Asian and rather wizened.
He carried himself with a straight dignity, though, one that was unbefitting of
the peasant�s outfit he wore.

�� The
man smiled and thanked his mother with a strange accent as she placed a bowl of
steaming potato soup in front of him. He ate slowly and with class. Judging the
man as nonthreatening, he went into the corner with the small pile of books
that he called his own. Something glinted in the light that filtered through
the window, and he saw the unmistakable edge of a small knife. His mother
walked past him, patting him on the head, and he tugged subtly on her skirts.
She leaned down, and he muttered, �he�s got a knife, be careful,� before holing
up in his corner with his father�s copy of Plato�s Republic. It was a tough read, but Liam found himself
understanding most of it.

�� After
a while, the man made a movement, and Liam looked up over the top of his book
to see him taking a goose feather from his mother. The stranger pulled the
knife from his pocket and proceeded to cut it into a finely-shaped quill. Liam
found himself entranced at each of the man�s skillful cuts, and when the quill
was finished, it looked almost perfect, like one from a high-ranking craftsman.
The man caught his eye, and Liam looked back down at the book, continuing on
with the page he was reading. Within seconds, he was turning the page again.

�� It
was the footsteps that first indicated to him that the man was walking toward
him. Liam frowned slightly. He hadn�t heard the chair scrape across the wooden
floor. Still, he knew the man was in front of him, and when he looked up, he
was rewarded with a smile from their wrinkled old visiter.
This close, Liam thought he looked rather like a panda, as both his eyes were
painted black with something Liam had never seen before. The smell of something
peppery wafted toward him, and Liam wrinkled his nose against its sheer
strength. It wasn�t unpleasant, merely strong.

�� Is
there anything you�d like?� He asked the stranger politely. The man cracked a
light grin.

�� That�s
quite a big book you�re reading,� the man commented.

�� Size
has nothing to do with contents,� Liam replied almost coldly.

�� May
I see it?� The man asked, and Liam shrugged, handing it to the stranger. The
old man made a strange noise, something similar to a cluck, as he looked at the
book.

�� It�s
nothing particularly special,� Liam said, shrugging again. �If you can�t read
it, I can recite it for you.� He knew most people weren�t literate, and as this
man was most definitely Asian, he probably couldn�t read English well, even if
he could speak it.

�� Can
you now?� The man asked archly. Liam nodded and repeated, word-for-word, the
last two pages he�d read. With each sentence, the man�s face grew more and more
interested. When Liam finished, the man cleared his throat. �And did you
actually understand a word of that?� He questioned. Liam repressed the urge to
scoff. If he could repeat it, of course he could understand it. Sighing softly,
he explained to the man exactly what Plato had meant.

�� The
man�s eyebrows went so high up that his strange black eye coloring cracked. He
made a hmmm-ing noise and turned to Liam�s mother.

�� Your
boy is very smart, ma�am,� he remarked. Liam�s mother blushed.

�� Yes,
monsieur, my little Liam sees and
remembers everything. His father and I are so proud of him. We hope that one day, we can get him some proper schooling.�

�� I
am Bookman, my dear lady, and I believe your son may be what I�m looking for,�
he said. His mother looked at him with a questioning expression.

�� That
is a strange name,� she commented.

�� It
is a title. Bookmen must give up their names in order to be completely
objective. We record the secret histories of this Earth. It takes a very
intelligent, observant person to become a Bookman, and I believe your son has
the potential to become one.�

�� Well,
I�m afraid his father wants him to continue working on our farm,� his mother
said, looking abashed.

�� They
talked for a while, and Bookman tried to get Liam�s mother to consider the
idea, though she would not budge. At one thirty, his father walked into the
room, just as he always did.

�� Lisette,� he said gently, despite his heavy walk. Liam�s
mother immediately got up and dished him out a bowl of soup.

�� Here
you are, darling,� she said, placing the bowl in front of him and handing him a
large spoon. She sat down next to her husband and gestured for Liam to join
them as well. Liam poured himself and his mother a bowl each and sat quietly at
the table. Bookman sat next to him, and Liam felt the man�s eyes on him the
entire time, watching him eat, watching him watch his
parents speculatively. It was an eerie sensation, but Liam couldn�t make
himself hate it. It was interesting having someone pay such close attention to
him. It was more attention than his parents could ever afford him, and even
though it was some creepy old man, he enjoyed it nonetheless. As his parents
chatted away about crops and such, Liam turned to the stranger.

�� What
do Bookmen really do?� He asked in a hushed tone, as if talking with the man at
all was a sin.

�� Just as I told you. We discover and record things that
others don�t. Our sole purpose is to write the histories no one else will
write. We report facts. We are unbiased,� Bookman replied, also speaking
softly.

�� Intrigued,
Liam commented, �I love history. It�s more interesting than Plato. It would be
really neat to be there, watching it unfold.�

�� The
man hummed lightly and smiled down at him. �I think you have the mind to be a
Bookman, and you definitely seem to have the drive and curiosity. You notice
things others don�t, am I right?�

�� Liam
nodded, but his movement triggered his father�s attention, and the Irishman
looked over.

�� Lisette said you�re a Bookman,� he stated, and the stranger
nodded. �She said you want our son to join you.�

�� The
stranger nodded again. �Liam seems to have certain traits that I look for in
apprentices. I have been looking for a good many years, though I have been
searching more actively lately, as I am getting on in years. It is very
important I have an apprentice, and I believe Liam would be perfect.�

�� His
father nodded grimly but remained resolved. �Liam is our only son. I need his
help on the farm to harvest crops. We�ll lose it if I don�t have his help.�

�� If
you are looking for monetary compensation, I am happy to oblige,� Bookman
bartered, taking a clinking bag from somewhere inside his large cloak. His
father looked interested immediately, and Liam felt an arrow of rejection rip
through his heart.

�� How
much do you think my son is worth?� His father asked.

�� Bookman
dumped the bag of coins on the table, and both his
parents gaped at the sum.

�� We
could hire someone to help tend to the farm for a few years�we could have
another child,� he said thoughtfully. His mother looked a bit scandalized, but
Liam had seen how wide her eyes had gone at the sight of the money. He knew she
would cave, just like his father had already.

�� Riley��
His mother said, but she looked back at the money, and Liam knew he was being
sold.

�� And
you say he�ll have a proper education? He�ll be properly taken care of? You�ll
never abandon him anywhere?� His father asked. Bookman nodded gravely, and the
money was passed.

�� Bookman
stayed for many weeks as his parents judged his character. Liam, too, judged
the man, and the longer he was around him, the longer Liam felt a strange
companionship. He couldn�t really put a finger on it, but he simply felt understood when he was with Bookman, and the man was
able to challenge him in ways that no one had been able to before.

�� Lavi sighed as the
memory finished. In the next town, Bookman had sat down in their shared room at
the inn and asked Liam if he had wanted to forget. Liam had nodded, had said
yes, and Bookman had obliged. The hypnosis shattered again, and Lavi found
himself curled tightly into himself in Yuu�s soft yet firm bed.

---

August 25, 2013�The Dark Order, Main Branch

�� Green met weary
gray in a glare so strong that the other man flinched from it. Lavi was back in
the counseling room on the couch that still smelled of ass. Lavi found himself
gagging lightly at the smell, but he ignored it, folding his arms in
indignation.

�� Shall we begin,
then?� Larry said after clearing his throat. Lavi narrowed his eye further.

�� I am not doing
that again,� he said coldly with a rock-hard undertone. Larry raised one of his
bushy eyebrows.

�� Really?
I thought we made some significant headway yesterday,� the psychiatrist said
lightly. Lavi made a noise that sounded dangerously like a hiss.

�� You made me dream
about who I used to be. It�s not pleasant to remember that your father was
looked down upon for marrying a Frenchwoman, that you came from a poor family,
and that no one understood you because you were too intelligent. It wasn�t
pleasant to remember that my parents sold me to Bookman.�

�� And how do you
feel about that?� Larry asked gently. Lavi�s vision tinted red for a moment.

�� How do you think I feel about that, asshole? I
already fucking told you, it wasn�t pleasant.� Anger gnawed at Lavi�s psyche
like nails on a chalkboard, and he had to force himself to take a deep breath
and hold himself still.

�� Care to
elaborate?� Larry asked, still doing that infuriating soothing voice.

�� No,� Lavi spat.
The doctor backed down, obviously realizing that it wasn�t the time to push the
topic. Not that it ever would be. �So, as you can see, doc, I�m perfectly sane,
so you can fucking let me go now.�

�� Larry shook his
head, and Lavi felt his hands curl into hard fists.

�� How about we do
something different, Lavi?� The doctor asked bracingly. After a tense moment of
silence, Lavi decided he was stuck in the position of a patient and gave in.

�� What is it?� He
asked resignedly.

�� I want to do a
bit of word association��

�� Must we do
Freudian things? He was an old kook who endorsed cocaine as a miracle drug, had
a tiny wiener, and thought his mother was sexy,� Lavi complained.

�� Yes, because
despite all that, Freud had a very good theory of the mind. For you especially,
I believe the iceberg theory of the unconscious and conscious minds is very
applicable.�

�� Are you saying my
mind is an iceberg?� Lavi asked incredulously, throwing his fisted hands onto
the leather surface of the couch and supporting himself on them.

�� Yes.� This man
had no idea what he was talking about.

�� Well, it�s not.
My mind is a square,� Lavi said, getting up to leave. The psychiatrist caught
his arm as he passed the man�s chair, and Lavi was forced to stop.

�� A
square?� He asked, using his other hand to stroke his beard
thoughtfully. �Why do you say that?�

�� Because there�s four corners, now let go.�

�� The man obliged,
but he remained staring at Lavi and eventually gestured for him to sit again.
Not knowing why, Lavi sat again, waiting for the man to speak.

�� Tell me about
these corners,� the man said in that damned soothing voice that grated at
Lavi�s nerves, working in tandem with the nails and chalkboards.

�� I don�t think I
will, it�s too far at the bottom of my iceberg,� Lavi quipped. Larry sighed in
frustration, bringing a hand to his forehead, kneading it gently.

�� Well, then, we�ll
have to dig deep.�

�� Do your best,
mind-surgeon.�

�� Alright�I want
you to tell me the first word that comes to mind after each word I say.� Lavi
rolled his eye. He had this one in the bag.

�� Home,� the
psychiatrist intoned, and it began.

�� Sun,� Lavi
replied promptly.

�� Breakfast.�

�� Sun.�

�� Book.�

�� Man.�

�� War.�

�� Bookman.�

�� Love.�

�� Sun.�

�� The psychiatrist
sighed heavily, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration. �Okay, sun.�

�� Cinnamon!�
Lavi exclaimed with a bright smile.

�� Moon��

�� ing for my sun.�

�� Larry shot him a
strange look and cleared his throat. He continued on, and Lavi�s answers
gradually became more varied as the prompting words became more obscure. After
nearly fifteen minutes, Lavi felt himself becoming bored.

�� Butter.�

�� Voice�I�m bored,
can we stop now?� Lavi asked desperately. It distressed him how many times he
had thought of Yuu.

�� I�m very
interested in your choice of answers. You know, for over half, you answered
either �sun� or �Bookman.� Do you have any idea why?� The psychiatrist did his
trademark eyebrow raise, and Lavi began to seethe.

�� Yes, I do. You
spend most of your life as a Bookman, allowing yourself no other identity or
thought process, and see if you don�t think mostly of that. And my sun is very special to me. Sometimes, I think my sun is the only thing that keeps me sane,� Lavi said
matter-of-factly before half-walking, half-racing to the door. He was out
before Larry could say another word.

---

August 26, 2013�The Dark Order, Main Branch

�� Lavi decided he
didn�t like therapy. Not only did he now remember who he had been, but he was
having� nightmares. Lavi shuddered.
He�d already lived through more war than he�d cared to remember, and now he was
recalling it in excruciating detail. Throughout it all, a dark presence at the
back of his mind was pulling at him. Lavi hoped the presence was trying to get
rid of all the memories, because Lavi wasn�t sure how much more of them he
could take. Especially with Yuu away in fucking America.

�� He sighed and
flopped back onto Yuu�s pillow. It no longer smelled of the man, but Lavi knew
all he had to do was change the sheets. Even washed sheets would smell a bit of
his� what did he call Yuu? Lover? But that wasn�t
right�Yuu cared for him, probably a lot more than he knew himself, but it would
be impossible for Yuu to actually love
him. No one had, after all.

�� But I
love you� Said a small voice in Lavi�s head. It
sounded familiar, and its accent was decidedly Irish, though something was off.

�� What? Lavi asked himself dumbly. His
mind had probably made that up to make him feel better.

�� Oh, shit. You heard me? The voice said
again, sounding panicked. Lavi�s heart skipped a beat.

�� Wait, I�m actually crazy? There�re voices in
my head now? He though, panicking himself.

�� No�no, no, no. You�re not crazy, I�m your
conscience. And, er, I love you because we�re a
narcissist. Right?

�� Lavi gave himself
a questioning look and then realized how futile the effort was. Sighing, he
gave up the whole voices-in-head issue as a bad job and flopped back onto the
pillow. At some point, he had sat bolt upright, and he had no idea when that had
been. For some reason, that thought disturbed him, but he ignored it and tried
to push himself into a dreamless sleep.

�� He failed. He
couldn�t sleep no matter how hard he tried, and he ended up in a stupor of
sorts, remembering visions of little children being burned alive in their
homes.

�� There was a knock
on the door, and someone entered. Lavi finally managed to pry his eye open, and
his stomach dropped as he noted who had just come in. He hastily reached for
his eye patch and replaced it over his right eye as the doctor took a good look
at him. He felt the bed shift as the man sat down.

�� You do know
you�re in the wrong room, right?� Larry questioned, and Lavi scoffed.

�� I�m right where I
want to be, doc, so can you leave me alone?� Lavi said,
turning his head into the pillow but leaving his good eye cracked open, staring
at the doctor.

�� You missed our
appointment,� the psychiatrist stated. Lavi grunted.

�� That�s what
happens when you skip things,� he growled. There was no point in feigning
politeness with this man. He didn�t deserve it, not after that hypnosis trick.

�� So I decided to
bring the appointment to you.�

�� No, thank you,
Larry,� Lavi said, though his voice was heavily muffled as he talked through
the pillow.

�� I don�t remember
giving you a choice on the matter,� Larry said delicately, examining his hands
closely. �I was given your case so you could be evaluated.�

�� You�re not
evaluating me, you�re trying to heal me when I�m already as
healed as I�m gonna get,� Lavi said, his voice growing tight with anger.

�� Well, it was my
professional opinion that you are not well and need therapy. I know this may
sound harsh and may be a blow to your ego, but you need help, Lavi, and I�m
here to give it to you.�

�� Lavi glowered at
the old man. �You�re not helping me,
you�re giving me nightmares.�

�� Nightmares can be
good. We can probably see them as progress, in your case.�

�� Not when the
nightmares include little children being burnt, people being crucified, and
intense, remembered pains from when you were shot,� Lavi yelled, pulling Yuu�s
sheets over his head. He didn�t even care that he could no longer see the man.
Being half blind and a Bookman left him with phenomenal senses, and Lavi used
his hearing to locate the man�s exact position and actions.

�� Do you want to
talk about it?� The Freud-esque man asked quietly
after a long silence.

�� No, Larry, I just
want to forget,� Lavi said, repressing a groan of frustration. Was the man
incapable of understanding, or did he think Lavi really needed all this ridiculous
psycho-shit?

�� The man in
question stirred a little and then got up. �I will visit you again in four
days� time. You will be here, I assume?� Lavi nodded from beneath the blankets.

---

August 30, 2013�The United Nations Building in New York, New York, USA

�� He was tired. There was no other word to
describe it, either in English or in Japanese. He was simply exhausted past the
functioning point. Long ago, he would have been able to work through it, but
after spending days listening to his father cackling over him as he raped and
beat him, he didn�t have the energy to keep going. Wearily, he saw a rather
uncomfortable-looking bench and stepped up his sluggish pace. He needed to sit
down. Their lunch break would be over soon, and the United Nations meeting would
begin. Nearly every political or world leader was here, as well as several
representatives from each country. The entire world was here, watching, and Yuu
knew he needed to be aware, as the Earl would not pass this opportunity up at
any cost. There was bound to be an Akuma attack, and it was imperative that Yuu
be competent at that point.

�� Yuu barely made it
to the bench before collapsing on it. His eyes were already shut, and the lack
of any movement pulled him into the immediate grasp of sleep. He tried to activate
his Innocence as he slipped away, but he was gone before he even realized what
was happening.

---

�� Amanda grimaced as
her stomach gave a loud growl. She looked around sheepishly but was glad to
find no one staring. She watched as Allen approached, and her grimace turned
into a full smile.

�� Hey, Amanda, I�m
starving. Let�s go get some food,� he said, placing a hand to his stomach as he
came into earshot.

�� Amanda nodded
earnestly, and they walked over to the food court. She ordered a cheeseburger
as Allen listed off his food choices to the dumbfounded cashier. They walked
over to the condiment table, chatting agreeably about neutral topics that did
not include the war. Absently, Amanda added a good amount of mayonnaise and an
even larger portion of both ketchup and mustard, smiling evilly as she noted
Allen�s scandalized look.

�� Does that even
taste good?� He asked incredulously, and Amanda shook her head.

�� No, but it was
worth seeing your face,� she quipped. Allen snickered, and they made their way
over to the nearest bench.

�� As they rounded
the corner, Amanda stopped short, and Allen�s grin grew dangerously wide.

�� Heh, heh, heh,
look at Kanda. He�s awfully cute, lying there all defenseless and sleeping.�

�� Amanda got the
hint, and they walked over. As they came up next to him, she reached out a hand
and poked him at the crown of his head. The man didn�t move at all, nor did he
make a sound, and Amanda saw Allen frown from the corner of her eye.

�� I know Kanda
doesn�t sleep that heavily, especially when he�s on a mission. He must be
drugged or something. We should get a doctor to look at him.� Amanda was
surprised to find genuine worry in Allen�s voice.

�� I don�t think
so,� she disagreed, taking a bite of her burger while still leaning over Kanda.
She watched, horrified, as a huge glob of mayo-mustard-ketchup fell with a
plopping sound onto Kanda�s head, dripping down his hair ominously. Amanda
gulped and flinched back, waiting for Kanda to get up and kill her in one swift
move.

�� Only he didn�t
stir at all. Allen chuckled nervously and poked Kanda a few times. �Are you
sure, Amanda?� He asked doubtingly.

�� He hasn�t been
sleeping well. Actually, no, he hasn�t been sleeping at all. I�m normally
asleep by two, and I can still hear his ragged breaths as I fall asleep. This
entire week, I�ve woken up every night around three in the morning to his
screams. There hasn�t been a night when that hasn�t happened. I don�t even
think he realizes he does it. I tried to mention it once, but the glare he shot
me made me think I could ignore it for a while.� Amanda shuddered. After a
moment, she took another bite, and she flinched again as more condiments fell
into Kanda�s already-ruined hair. Amanda shrugged and continued to eat, more
condiments slopping into Kanda�s hair with each bite.

�� Really?�
Allen asked, seeming somewhat concerned as he stuffed a roll into his mouth.
Timcanpy swooped down from his shoulder, pilfering a bite as Allen grabbed a
sandwich from his large pile of food.

�� Yeah.
I�m tired as fuck, lemme tell ya.
I can never seem to get back to sleep when I hear Kanda�s masked sobs.�

�� Allen choked. �Sobs?� He wheezed, and Amanda moved from
above Kanda to pat his back, smearing her disgusting mixture of condiments on
the back of his jacket. He swallowed and gasped for air with almost greedy need
before he choked out, �Kanda can cry?�

�� I know,� Amanda
said, grimacing. �Shocked me, too.� She returned to
her position next to Kanda�s head, but as she reached his side, a strange smell
tickled her nose. The sneeze came unexpectedly, too quickly to be stopped or
suppressed. She tried rolling her eyes as high as she could, but her usual
trick held no avail, and she felt herself throw her burger as she raised her
sticky hands to cover the spray of spittle and food.

�� Eyes watering
slightly, she looked over and saw the meat from her burger fall into Kanda�s
lap. There was a pickle on Kanda�s nose, and bits of melted cheese, lettuce,
and extra condiments littered his face.

�� Amanda turned to
look at Allen and saw her horror-struck expression mirrored on his face.

�� I�m dead,� she
whispered. And then Kanda woke up.

---

�� Something cold and
wet dribbled over his head, but he didn�t care; he was so tired. His sleep was
so peaceful, and he needed to get some actual rest. Lenalee would be by
eventually to get him up for the meeting, but until then, he could�

�� Something impacted
his face, and he felt that same something hit his lap. He cracked his eyes open
and stared blearily down at his legs. There was something half-moon-shaped
there, and he picked it up, throwing it away in disinterest. There was a
strange smell surrounding him, and he wrinkled his nose. He froze. There was
something on that selfsame nose. He reluctantly moved his arm up and plucked it
off, holding it in front of his drooping eyes. There was no way he could
mistake the smell, tired as he was. There was a pickle in his hand, and it had
previously been on his face.

�� He sighed lightly,
and the movement made him note something cold and wet
dripping at the crown of his head. He disposed of the pickle by throwing it to
his side and brought both hands up to his hair. An expression of horror grew on
his face as he felt the goop. He ran his hands through the entire length, and
as he pulled them away, he saw a disgusting, orange-ish
mixture of who-knew-what. Yuu heard a noise from above his left ear, and he
looked in its direction. The Infernal Girl was standing, her hands outstretched
and covered in the same orange stuff. She looked absolutely terrified, like a
Level One Akuma at the end of his chokuto.

�� Yuu couldn�t bring
himself to do anything, tired as he was, so he stood up, a great shudder
running through his entire body. Lenalee walked up, and her face took on an
alarmed expression.

�� Kanda-kun!
What happened?� She said, reaching out to touch his arm but stopping herself at
the last moment.

�� Amanda whimpered.

�� Do you want me to
help you get that stuff out of your hair?� Lenalee asked. Yuu shook his head.
Lenalee cut his hair, but he didn�t want her hands anywhere near his skull.

�� I�m capable of
taking care of it myself,� he said, and he walked off to find the nearest
bathroom.

�� We start in ten
minutes!� She shouted after him, and Yuu nodded briskly, wondering if she saw
it or not and then deciding he didn�t care.

�� He ended up being
an hour late, and he threw the doors of the large meeting room open and walked
in with his head up. He met no one�s eyes, and he lowered himself into a chair
as if he had been there the whole time.

�� Lenalee looked
over at him.

�� I couldn�t get it
out,� Yuu muttered, scowling at the room.

�� I can see that,�
she whispered back, looking as if she was suppressing chuckles. Beside her,
Allen gave a mighty guffaw. The meeting recommenced.

�� It was boring,
mostly, and it was a formality. The United Nations discussed with the Exorcists
the notion of having the entire world�s military backing them. Over the course
of the next three hours, they whittled down details and came to a tentative
agreement. Yuu began to doze after a while, but every time he got close to
falling asleep, the pungent smell of mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard jerked
him awake again.

�� You don�t realize
how many people you�re going to lose by doing this,� Tuan Chu implored in a
last attempt against the military presence. �Millions�billions�of people are
going to die. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. They will die. Every
day, Finders die all over the globe, and even though that is regrettable, they
chose that. You intend to reissue the draft, I assume?�

�� At least half the
representatives nodded uneasily.

�� Then you are
sending countless children and adults alike to their deaths. And not only
that�when people find out, you will have so much turmoil on your hands that you
are now risking the stability of all of your countries, if not the whole world.
If you are going to do this, you have to make it voluntary. Explain to your
people the dire need we are in, tell them what is going on. We can no longer
afford to keep this a secret.�

�� I understand your
view, but very few people would join your cause without a draft. You have told
us your mortality rates several times, and they are not impressive,� one of the
representatives stated imperiously.

�� I don�t think you
do understand. If you draft people to
fight for us, they would not be helpful. They will only be cannon fodder. If
you don�t want to be out there fighting Akuma, the Noahs, and the Earl, then
there is no power that could make you do it�unless you carry Innocence. Many of
us did not join this fight voluntarily. Families were torn apart, people were
killed or bribed, and children were kidnapped just to force them to fight for
the Dark Order.� He turned to his fellow Exorcists. �How many of you actually
joined the Order of your own free will?�

�� They all shook
their heads. �They said they�d pay for college,� Amanda said quietly. �They
didn�t tell me that it was only if I lived.�

�� It was the only
path left forward for me,� Allen added.

�� I was taken from
my brother right after our parents died,� Lenalee said in a hushed tone.

�� There was nothing
else I was successful in,� Miranda pitched in.

�� My sister and I
were kidnapped�our parents still haven�t �found� us. We thought that was for
the best. They don�t need to know what we�re doing now.� Lolek�s voice was
defeated, and Miranda reached over and placed a hand over his comfortingly.

�� It was better
than home,� Yuu said. Lenalee gave him a surprised look but nodded knowingly.
Yuu was mystified.

�� It was either
this or go to jail for drug trafficking,� Artemis piped up. Yuu stared at her
incredulously, and he saw his expression mirrored in several of the other
Exorcists� faces. The only one who didn�t look fazed was Lenalee, surprisingly.

�� And they bought
me,� General Chu concluded gravely. �The only reason our mortality rate is so
low is because we have to fight seriously, or else everyone will die. We don�t
get the choice to fight�either we refuse and the world dies, or we fight and we
have a chance at saving innocent people. So please, give them the choice we
didn�t have. Because quite honestly, almost all of the soldiers who go to this
war will never come back. If they�re lucky, they�ll die quickly, but this war
has no luck. To the enemy, humans are expendable�they�re little breakable toys
that they bought at a garage sale. They take them apart and make new toys out of them.� No one needed him
to elaborate.

�� Allen chuckled
quietly, and Yuu had to resist the urge to punch the boy again. Tuan Chu sat
down, and the debate resumed.

�� Hey, Amanda,� Moyashi said in a stage whisper, leaning
over both Lenalee and Yuu to get close to her. Yuu shrank from the contact.

�� What?� She stage-whispered back.

�� Why did the
President cross the road?� He asked, suppressing another chuckle. Yuu scowled. Moyashi was invading his space to tell a
joke?

�� I don�t know,
Allen, why?�

�� To
get to�OH MY GOD!!!�

�� Yuu flinched as Moyashi�s voice grew shrill and
pain-ridden. He felt something hit his thigh and looked down. There was a spot
of something red, and a moment later, another one joined it. Allen was shaking,
and Yuu looked into the younger boy�s face. His left eye was entirely black
with a dark red pupil, and blood was seeping from it like the agonized tears of
the statue of the Virgin Mary. Allen let out another wailing scream, and his
hand twitched to his eye.

�� Behind him, the
wall shattered. Simultaneously, seven Exorcists activated their Innocence,
surrounding the incapacitated Destroyer of Time. Suddenly, the world became
shaded, a black tint that Yuu couldn�t blink away. All around him, the chained
souls of Level One Akuma rose from the crowd. A row of Level Twos followed
behind them. Yuu tightened his grip on Mugen�s hilt. There were too many to
fight off easily, but he figured they�d all survive none the worse for wear.

�� Allen screamed a
third time, and the Crowned Clown flared to life, its mask falling over the
boy�s blood-filled face. It shone like a white beacon in the dark world.

�� The world spun,
and Yuu was abruptly facing the huge hole in the wall. A platoon of maybe fifty
Level Threes swarmed in, their souls crying as their mechanical bodies rained
destruction on the nearest UN representatives. He felt the first wave of
hopelessness as three Level Four Akuma emerged, flying
directly toward the group of Exorcists. Even with three well-synched Generals
and a group of some of the most powerful Exorcists, these forces were too
strong to defeat. At least a few of them would lay down their lives in this
battle. Nausea hit him as something else flew in, its angelic white wings
shining nearly as much as the Crowned Clown.

�� It sported a
shining golden halo above its too-human features. It would have been human, had
its body not been cartoonishly out of proportion.
Too-long legs sparkled a metallic silver, and
long-fingered hands stretched down to its knees. Its wrists and ankles were
riddled with big, gaping holes, and its forehead was speckled with smaller
ones. It had a flat nose and huge, strangely-shaped eyes. It couldn�t have been
taller than four feet. It was skeletally thin in places. Its soul shuddered at
what it had become, and Yuu heard it begging to be killed in the most pitiful
whimper. The soul itself bore no resemblance to the glorious human it had once
been. It was withered and darker than black, and it hovered tremulously just
above the Akuma�s halo. Its eyes were gaping holes of an even deeper, denser
black, and gray tears fell from them in weeping sobs.

�� Yuu felt his
nearly empty stomach rebel at the sight of what must have been a Level Five. He
tried shutting his eyes against the sight, and he even put an arm over them,
but his efforts didn�t help. The soul still burned in his retinas as if he was
still looking at it, and the way it moved made him realize that Allen�s curse
was still allowing him to see, even with his eyes closed.

�� A collectively
unspoken thought dispersed the Exorcists: Allen, Lenalee, and Chu set their
faces in determined masks and launched themselves at the Level Five. Artemis
and Amanda flew into a deadly storm of projectiles as they began to take down
the numerous Level Ones and Twos. Lolek�s gauntlets sprouted from his arms like
sharks� fins from the ocean. He was slashing viciously at a Level Three,
Miranda shooting short, thin rods that altered space-time after him and hitting
the Akuma with sickly proficiency. Yuu pulled Mugen to chest height and ran his
fingers down it in a calming gesture�he no longer activated his Innocence that
way�and braced himself for his overwhelming fight against the three Level
Fours. He knew already that he would not survive.

�� Running forward,
he engaged the nearest of the Level Four Akuma. His Innocence shone bright red
with an eerie blue glow around it. He didn�t even need to speak the words�his
Hell�s Insects flew from it at just the thought. Twisting through the air, they
struck the Akuma, and it turned to face him, a smile marring its face. It
giggled in a high-pitched voice and flicked its wrist. A beam of bright, purple
light flew at Yuu, and he swung Mugen through it to divert its destructive
path. Behind him, he heard screams, and he chanced a glance to see how many
people he would be protecting. His heart lurched as he saw the American
President, his Secretary of State, the British Prime Minister, and the Russian
President all standing with horrified looks on their faces. He positioned
himself directly in front of the group.

�� Run,� he hissed
as quietly as possible to avoid drawing too much attention to them. They
couldn�t move, and Yuu no longer had time to concentrate on them. The Level
Four attacked. It flew at him, and he ran forward to meet it. Swinging his
re-formed blade, he managed to stop and parry a punch, only to be thrown back
by the force. Into the Level Four that had snuck up behind the group. He
couldn�t help it, he screamed.� A purple
explosion hit him in the back, and he flew forward toward the first Akuma.

�� Getting up on
unsteady limbs, Yuu activated his Second Illusion. The original Level Four did
not have time to dodge. His attack did not make so
much as a scratch. Cursing, Yuu braced himself and unleashed the Third
Illusion. He raced forward in a fury, slicing at any inch of Akuma he could
get, and though the Level Four was nimble on its feet, it was unable to prevent
the deep channels that Yuu rent through it. He continued on dodging Akuma
bullets and purple light alike, all the while carving the Akuma like a
Christmas turkey.

�� As the Akuma in
front of him exploded, he saw Miranda running over to help. A quick glance at
Lolek showed the man had everything under control. More rods of space-time flew
out from the dots on Miranda�s Time Record, racing past him toward the
remaining two Level Fours. She pulled the Record back and it flung still more
rods out like a slingshot. Then she did something unexpected; she flipped her
Record. Yuu gasped as he recognized the face of a clock. Solemnly, Miranda
wound the minute hand counter-clockwise. A brief beam of yellow light shot past
him, almost grazing his left ear. There was a sickening gasp, and Yuu turned to
face his next opponent.

�� A time ring
encircled the foremost Level Four�s waist. Yuu watched, transfixed, as it
slowly lost its form, breaking up into nearly one hundred Level Ones, Twos, and
Threes. Amanda darted past, her Discus whistling by with destruction in its
path. Artemis�s steely gray arrows shot in high arcs and pelted Akuma as they
descended. Yuu shared a look with Miranda, and she nodded. He took point
against the final Level Four. Space-time rods rocketed past him, displacing his
hair with their sheer velocity. Mugen�s third illusion�which, thank the Lord, had
stopped draining his life force once he had hit Critical�surged forward with
him, flashing like wings on his arms. He hissed at the harsh impact on the
Akuma�s metallic skin but kept on with his attack.

�� A metal arm flew
out of nowhere and threw him back. He felt his back snap as he hit the ground,
right next to the group of politicians.

�� Che,� he scoffed, riding through the pain.
Thankfully, his spinal cord hadn�t snapped, which made it easier for him to
heal. Clenching his teeth and staying watchful, he waited for the Lotus Spell
to do its work. He saw Miranda slingshot another round of space-time rods
before flipping her Time Record again. Within moments, the time ring was in
place, though it took long minutes for the Akuma to dissolve. Yuu hissed as his
back realigned with a harsh snap that
drew the politicians� attention.

�� What was that?�
The American Secretary of State said in a shaking voice.

�� That was my spine,�
Yuu bit out through gritted teeth as he stood up.

�� Didn�t we just
hear that break a minute ago?� The Russian President asked brusquely.

�� Yuu sighed and
resisted the urge to scoff at the guy. He arched his back and felt a very
satisfying crack! The politicians
flinched at the loud noise, and Yuu met the Russian man�s eyes. �Not anymore,�
he said before turning on his heel to return to battle. He stopped, and his
eyes widened in horror as he saw an enormous spike flying rapidly toward him.
He quickly calculated the trajectory and was momentarily relieved when he
realized it would go past him. And then his heart skipped a beat. It would hit
one of the politicians behind him. He sprung into action without even thinking
about it. He could heal from the Akuma virus; the politicians could not. He
threw himself into its path.

�� The spike thudded
through his chest, piercing him just next to the Lotus Spell�s large mark. Yuu
felt himself thrown back into the wall a few meters behind him, taking the
politicians he was trying to protect with him, before he felt the beginning of
the burn of the Akuma poison.

---

�� Allen emptied the
contents of his stomach on the marble floor, choking as he began dry heaving a
moment later. Not even the soul of a Level Four could compare to the disgusting
sight of the Level Five�s. Allen felt tears pouring down his face, mixing with
the still-flowing blood, but he did nothing to stop it. He clenched his right
arm tightly around his left wrist and pulled on it until it became his sword.
Running forward, the Crowned Clown�s cloak-like form flowed out behind him. The
rapid clacking footsteps of Lenalee�s boots alerted him to her presence at his
right side. General Chu sprinted up to his left, and as one, the three of them
launched themselves at the Level Five Akuma, resolved to destroy it.

�� Lenalee used her
newfound ability to literally walk on air to launch an overhead attack, and
Allen enhanced it with long, sweeping lunges at the Akuma�s tiny body. It flew
out of reach, never staying in one place for more than a split-second. All the
while, it cackled lightly, smiling excitedly at what seemed to be a game to it.
The rat-tat-tat of Chu�s Machine Gun
Innocence echoed loudly throughout the large hall, adding a steady beat to the
cacophony of the fight. The Level Five danced out of the way of each bullet
with extreme ease. Its smile had not yet fallen, and Allen expected it would
not as long as it considered the battle to be fun.

�� The beat stopped
as the Level Five charged at Tuan Chu, stopping with precision barely five
centimeters from the man. Tuan�s bullets bounced harmlessly off of the Akuma�s skin.
Reaching out a hand, it poked him lightly on the shoulder. Tuan went flying,
and he didn�t stop until he crashed into the opposite wall, making a deep
crater in it. The General coughed blood and fell to the ground, unconscious and
bleeding out. He saw Miranda turn from her battle with the Level Threes and put
Tuan�s time into her Innocence. In that time, he, too, was hit.

�� All he felt was an
intense, blinding pain. Taking gasping breaths, he slowly sat up. He became
aware that there was nothing underneath him. Looking around, Allen came to the
horrifying conclusion that he was tangled in a chandelier. He tried to
extricate himself by flailing wildly, but that only succeeded in getting him
stuck further. Sighing, he took off his arm and in one swift motion, cut the
chandelier from the ceiling. It hit the floor with a satisfying crash! Allen felt himself jarred by the
impact, but as he stood up and dusted himself off nonchalantly, he thought
himself no worse for wear.

�� Lenalee soared
past him, looking worried. �Are you okay, Allen?� She called as she struck a
glancing blow on the Akuma. It staggered back, looking appalled. It paused, and
its smile grew wide and evil. It shook its shoulders and its wings grew spikes.
Giggling, it dislodged two of them and lightly flicked them at Allen, others
following in quick succession. Allen ignored the pain as he threw himself to
the ground to avoid the spikes. A shout from behind him indicated that one had
struck home. Turning around wildly, he saw Kanda blown back into a small line
of gaping politicians.

�� Unable to give him
more than a cursory glance, Allen wrenched himself back into the fight as
Miranda dropped to Kanda�s side. He joined Lenalee and Tuan, and they moved in
tandem. Allen shot out numerous Clown Belts, but none of them were able to
touch their target. The Akuma made contact with his chest, and Allen flew back
once more, a fountain of blood erupting from his mouth. He felt a rib break.
Coughing, he felt Miranda�s Innocence encase him, too. Immediately, he felt
better, and he ran once more at the Level Five. Something flashed behind him,
but he paid no attention as he brought his sword to bear.

---

�� The virus scorched
his veins as it traveled through his system. His eyes were closed against the
pain, and with the last of his mobility, he raised a star-spotted arm and
wrenched the bullet from his chest. Yuu screamed and began convulsing. Nothing
mattered anymore but the liquid fire that blazed through his body. The world
faded from his mind, leaving only the excruciating pain. Yuu had never felt an
all-encompassing burn like this before, and he considered himself particularly
lucky. He never wanted to feel this again. Breathing was becoming harder and
harder, and he choked on something thick and coppery. Someone was turning him
on his side, and lava burst from the bleeding hole in his chest.

�� Time Record, take
his time,� Miranda mumbled next to him, and it took all of Yuu�s concentration
to reach out a fully-darkened hand, despite the unbearable pain.

�� Don�t,� he
croaked. When had his voice gotten so scratchy? He hoped he hadn�t shamed
himself screaming.

�� Kanda, I have
to��

�� Wakatta, but� let me� heal� from the� virus��
Yuu choked out. Talking was harder than breathing, which had become nearly
impossible. He felt a hand in his and managed to look up at the blurry black
man overtop him. �Don�t� touch� hole�� he managed to say, ��poi�son.�

�� His eyes closed,
and he felt himself shaking again. Something foamy was in his mouth, and sound
disappeared from the world. All that was there was the pain, the agonizing
throbbing in his chest and the receding fire in his veins.

�� Abruptly, he felt
like he was floating, and a series of cracks and pops echoed in his mind as his
body mended itself with a pace the Lotus Spell could no longer keep up with. He
cracked an eye open and saw several of Miranda�s rings of time around him,
healing his injuries. There were more than he�d thought. He even felt his old
scars relinquish themselves to smooth skin. He looked gratefully over to
Miranda and nodded sharply. She smiled at him, and he saw tears falling from
her eyes.

�� I am likely
dead,� he said, sitting up. The black man next to him looked startled.

�� But you look
healed,� he protested. Yuu fixed him with a straightforward stare.

�� Miranda�s
Innocence only delays the inevitable. I survived the Akuma virus because I am
immune�the curse that keeps me alive will not be able to heal such a fatal
wound. It no longer has that capability.� Nodding
curtly, he strode over to Allen, Lenalee, and General Chu. He would finish this
fight.

�� Shigento,� he
said dangerously and threw himself into the battle. His sword extended into a
double-edged staff in the palm of his hand, and he twirled it expertly. During
the final year, after he had reached Critical, he had spent many hours
perfecting the usage of this weapon. He would not lose. He threw it forward and
hit the Level Five dead-on. It reeled back as Mugen cut clean through it and
soared to the ground. A blue string of light flew from his hand, and he
recalled the weapon, cutting it through the Akuma again.

�� He kept no
restraints on his power, pushing it past its limits. Yuu and his opponent
attacked and dodged with the smooth, deliberate motions of a choreographed
dance, and though Yuu did not hit the Akuma again, his opponent was unable to
hit him.

�� He did not feel
the usual drain of life-force that came with his highest level of invocation,
and as Mugen sailed back into his arm in a sweeping arc, he noted it was no
longer the deep red of crystal type. Rather, it was clear, glowing around the
edges with a familiar blue color that he had come to miss. A grim smile touched
his lips. How ironic that it took his death to bring about Mugen�s second
evolution.

�� Shinde,� he hissed, redoubling his efforts. He
flew in and out of reach, hitting the Akuma with nearly every attempt.
Sometimes it managed to block with its long, thin arms, but mostly it sat
still, shocked at actually being hit with real, damaging blows.

�� With a final
effort, Yuu shoved Mugen through the Akuma�s chest, extending his arm farther
than was wise. The Akuma tried to take advantage of the mistake, but it gasped
out a choked breath. Launching his Innocence (to which the Level Five was still
attached) upward, he nodded to the idiot Moyashi,
who had been standing still, gaping, the entire time. Moyashi flinched at Yuu�s gaze and then nodded in understanding. Gesturing
to Lenalee and Chu, he set his idiot face into something that approximated the
look of a General. Mugen hit the ceiling, and Lenalee grabbed each of her
companions� hands in her own, bending her knees into a low squat. In a moment,
the three of them streaked up toward the ceiling. Moyashi scratched out with his claw as Lenalee arched back for a
kick and General Chu unloaded a storm of Innocence bullets. The Level Five
exploded mightily under the fire, and the world seemed just a little bit lighter,
despite Allen�s curse still being activated.

�� The three hit the
ground, and Yuu recalled his Innocence to him. The Fourth Illusion dissolved
into the now-clear blade, and Yuu turned collectively with the others to finish
off the rest of the lower-leveled Akuma.

�� Kaichu: Ichigen!�
Yuu shouted, releasing his Hell�s Insects with a backhanded sweeping motion.
The blade dissolved, and the Insects swept across the sea of Akuma like a
deadly plague. They cut through Level One after Level One, leaving only explosions
in their wake. Lenalee and Allen turned to fight with Lolek, and General Chu
joined Artemis and Amanda against the level twos. Yuu worked alone, cutting
down the numerous Level Ones. He noted Miranda was now out of the battle, the
time of so many injuries and firing rods of space-time having tired her out too
much to move from the politicians� corner.

�� As the last of the
Akuma exploded, Yuu wiped his clear blade off on his sleeve, being careful to
get everything off. Finally satisfied at the general hygiene of his Innocence,
he re-sheathed it. The blade sunk easily into the clear circle on his left hip.
He walked over to the spot where the rest of the Exorcists had gathered.

�� I can�t hold your
time much longer,� Miranda moaned, holding her Time Record to her chest as if
that would allow her another minute of activation.

�� You can release
me,� Lenalee said. Amanda, Artemis, and Lolek nodded along, and Miranda dropped
their times, looking slightly relieved.

�� That didn�t give
me much time�yours was so light�but I can hold on long enough for us to get to
a hospital, I think.�

�� The others nodded,
and Yuu found a miraculously undestructed chair and
sat in it. Lenalee limped over to him, looking very battered now that Miranda
was no longer keeping her in her best state.

�� Kanda-kun, is
there anything you need?� Lenalee asked in a hushed, kind tone. She crouched
down. Yuu shook his head and stared at the disfigured marble floor, unable to
look down into her pitying eyes. �You sure?� She
added. Yuu took a bracing breath and glanced into her deep brown eyes. They
were swimming with tears�as usual�but there was no hint of pity in them.
Instead, he saw only sorrow and something� sweet.

�� I� am a bit
thirsty,� he finally conceded. Lenalee chuckled but got up from her crouched
position.

�� I�ll be right
back. One of the politicians just called an ambulance, and we�ll all ride over
to the hospital together. But I�m sure you�ll want your water first.� She
walked off with a light smile, though her eyes belied her sadness. She returned
just a few minutes later with a paper cup. Yuu drank deeply, his parched throat
feeling relieved as the water went down. He could vaguely taste blood and bile,
but he couldn�t bring himself to care. Suddenly, water was the one thing he
needed, and he gulped it all down until he was tipping the cup for the last
dregs of liquid.

�� Only
a bit thirsty, Kanda-kun?� Lenalee teased lightly, walking off and
getting him another cup. Yuu finished the second cup just as quickly, cursing
himself as he slopped water down his front. After all the mess of the day,
though, he didn�t particularly care. And he was thirsty, dammit.

---

�� The ambulance
arrived after only a few minutes, and as they loaded themselves in, Allen told Miranda
to release him. Though he collapsed from the sudden re-breaking of his rib, he
managed to only grimace in pain.

�� Nothing compared
to the headaches Fourteen likes to give me,� he joked half-heartedly. It fell
flat, but everyone except Yuu laughed anyway. Yuu snorted�only Moyashi would joke about something as
morbid as that.

�� At the hospital,
General Chu immediately demanded to be released, and a team of doctors rolled
him away on a gurney, shouting orders to scared-looking interns. Yuu gritted his
teeth.

�� I know I�m going
to die, but I assume the doctors will try to revive me anyway. If that�s the
case, I�d prefer someone more� experienced.� His tone and expression held no
room for argument, and a wide-eyed girl not much older
than him nodded and ran off. A minute later, she returned with three older
doctors.

�� Nodding grimly at
Miranda, he braced himself. �Release me,� he said gravely. Miranda looked
conflicted but complied. Yuu screamed out as the hole in his chest returned.
The last thing he felt was a sharp crack
as his head hit something very, very hard�

---

August 30, 2013�The Dark Order, Main Branch

�� Exactly four days,
three hours, twenty-seven minutes, and forty-one seconds after his meeting,
Larry returned to Lavi�s room�well, Yuu�s room.

�� I trust you�ve
been well?� He asked, pulling Yuu�s desk chair over next to the bed. Lavi
retreated slightly, now stretched out at the other side of Yuu�s bed. The
psychiatrist gave him a contemplative look but said nothing, a fact for which
Lavi was glad. The man�s glasses were dirty today, covered with several small,
white dots. Lavi thought they looked remarkably like Komui�s after the man had
brushed his teeth vigorously. Unbidden, Lavi began to chuckle, genuinely amused
at the memory, even with the doctor�s presence so close. Larry raised an
eyebrow.

�� Sorry�you just
made me remember Komui for a minute,� Lavi said, still snickering a little bit,
though most of his laughter had calmed.

�� Today, I would
like to talk about this �sun� of yours,� the psychiatrist said, pushing his
glasses up to the top of the bridge of his nose. Lavi unsuccessfully stifled
another bout of light snickering.

�� Oh, I can do
that,� Lavi said, feeling relieved. �I can talk about my sun aaaall day!�

�� The doctor looked
skeptical. �What exactly is this �sun?��

�� My sun keeps me
warm,� Lavi replied, point-blank.

�� You mean the sun
outside,� the doctor commented.

�� No, I mean my sun. It shines through me and keeps
me warm.� Lavi was getting annoyed. Why was Larry so dense?

�� Listen to me,
Lavi. This �sun� is something inside you, something that isn�t real. I need you
to understand that, okay, Lavi?�

�� Why was Larry
trying to make him doubt his sun? �But it�s not
inside me!� Lavi protested, leaning forward despite his growing distaste for the
man.

�� Yes, it is, Lavi.
Your sun does not exist, do you get that?� Larry talked slowly, as if Lavi was
incapable of understanding what he was saying.

�� But my sun is Yuu,� Lavi said softly, looking down at Yuu�s
sheets.

�� I�m not your
sun,� Larry said firmly, �no one is. Your sun does not exist. It is a figment
of your imagination. It is a way for your mind to cope with the tremendous
stress of being an Exorcist.�

�� Lavi glared
hatefully at the man. A movement behind the psychiatrist caught his eye, and he
gasped in horror. A petal on Yuu�s lotus flower fell, and it was quickly
followed by another. He stopped paying attention to the man in front of him,
focusing solely on the actively wilting flower. For a long time, nothing
happened, and just as Lavi was about to force the psychiatrist�who seemed to be
ranting or something�to leave, a third petal began to shrivel up. Lavi�s mind
recoiled from the implications, and he shivered. Suddenly, he was very, very
cold.

�� You�re right,� he
said softly, and the annoying man�s voice quieted immediately. �There is no
sun.� His sun was very injured, probably dead. Yes,
his sun was most likely dead. Or
mortally injured and about to die. But his sun wasn�t there at all, was
he? No, he had not seen his sun in a very long while. Too
long. His sun must be gone. Because otherwise, his sun would be here with him. His sun
was definitely, definitely gone. He no longer had a sun. The warm glow that had
filled his body seeped out of him like air from a punctured balloon, and he felt
himself swimming away. What had he been doing? Who was�

�� That�s right,
Lavi, there is no sun,� a voice said, and he became aware again of the man in
front of him. Who was the man? He only knew that he hated the man. But wait. He
didn�t know who he was again. Hadn�t he had this trouble before? But he just couldn�t remember, and he felt himself
drifting in a freezing ocean. Maybe he would hit an iceberg�

�� Meaning left his
mind, but one question remained, so he spoke it: �who�s Lavi?�

�� The man drifted
out of view, but he thought he saw the man look very, very distressed. Good. Served the bastard right.

�� He shivered. �Yuu,
it�s so cold�� he muttered as his eye drooped.

---

�� He looked up, his
eye snapping to attention as he straightened his back. Glaring hatefully at the
man in front of him, he yelled, �you son of a bitch,
you broke him again!�

�� The idiot Larry
looked taken aback. �What?� He asked, blinking.

�� Lavi�you fucking broke him, and he was finally almost healed enough for me to
start juxtaposing myself!� He kicked the man in the kneecap, more out of
frustration than anger, though there was a good amount of that as well.

�� Who�?� The psychiatrist asked.

�� He rolled his eye,
scoffing. �I�m Liam Flynn; I�m who Lavi used to be�and what he would be if he
didn�t suppress everything he felt.�

�� I heard you had a
penchant for acting, Lavi. I see my sources were correct.�

�� I�m not acting,
you fool!� Liam shouted, kicking the man again. �Doesn�t the accent give it
away? Twenty-tree and a turd, man!� Really, didn�t he know that Bookmen didn�t
have accents?

�� Well, you did
switch from your perfect English accent to an Irish one, but I don�t see how
that makes a difference,� the doctor murmured, shrugging his shoulders.

�� So you don�t
believe that Lavi could possibly be a multiple personality?� Liam asked
incredulously. Really, was this man blind?

�� It�s a rare
condition; normally, children with extremely traumatic experiences develop one
or two as a way to protect themselves, but I hardly see how that applies to you,�
the doctor said. Liam kicked him a third time.

�� So you don�t
think that seeing children burned alive and people being disemboweled, raped,
tortured, shot at, eaten, buried in mass graves, and crucified merits any
second personality? You don�t think that watching an entire fucking genocide
isn�t traumatic enough for a seven-year-old to be scarred by?� Liam shouted, rising to his feet as his voice increased in pitch until
it was a screech.

�� The doctor looked
horrified. �What?� He croaked.

�� Bookmen aren�t
allowed to feel, so Lavi repressed all of his emotions, pushed them into a back
corner of his mind. And it just happened to be the same place where all of his
memories before the age of six were located. And it was also the place where he
sent the disturbing images he didn�t want to remember. I am Liam Flynn�his
six-year-old self�grown up with the experiences of any Bookman heir.�

�� He pulled open
Yuu�s bedside table�s drawer and grabbed the letter opener from Bookman�s room.
After Yuu had left, Liam had taken over Lavi�s consciousness during the night
and stolen over to his former master�s room. He had taken the letter opener. It
was the only thing Bookman had left behind, so Liam wanted it. Deep down, he
knew Lavi wanted it, too. He sat down on the bed again and played with the
letter opener absently, twirling it in little circles.

�� You know, Lavi
was doing so well lately. You see, we�re both a little depressed, and when Lavi
finally started to allow himself to feel things, he
got a lot of sadness, too. He didn�t know how much he cared about Bookman, you
see. I am sorry I tried to kill us,
though. Lavi was just hiding in the back of our mind, so I came out�I couldn�t
just leave him staring there apathetically, after all�and Lavi was feeling so
depressed. He just wanted to disappear, and I didn�t really want to be here if
Lavi wasn�t�I mean, he�s a part of me, or I�m a part of him, I�m not really
sure anymore�so I just� tried to end it. I mean, we didn�t have anything to
live for. But then Yuu said he cared about us, and that was the first time
anyone�s ever said that to us, including our parents, and we knew we cared
about him a lot, too, and suddenly, we had something to live for. We had Yuu�he
kept us warm at night when Lavi couldn�t function and I was still unable to
move to the front of our mind. That�s why Lavi calls him his sun, you know��

�� The doctor raised
both bushy eyebrows, and Liam sighed. �His sun was a
person?�

�� Of
course, you dolt! He even told you! �My sun is
Yuu,� he said. He was talking about Kanda Yuu, the Japanese Exorcist. If you
weren�t such a fucking narcissist, you would�ve realized that Yuu�s pretty much
the only person we�ve been around for the past couple of weeks. Seriously,
don�t you check your patients� backgrounds? You already seemed completely
ignorant of what a Bookman�s job entails. I mean, come on, Lavi�s mentioned war
before, hasn�t he?

�� And back to my
other point, Yuu was his sun, which is why Lavi equates sanity with warmth.
When he said �it�s so cold,� that�s because he was going fucking insane,
retard!

�� I got so fucking
tired of listening to all the shit you�re trying to get him to believe when
none of it is fucking true! Yuu is our sun. We live for him. Or at least we
did, until you took that away from us! Behind you is Yuu�s lotus flower�two and
a half petals just wilted, meaning Yuu is either very, very injured, mortally
wounded, or dying. Which is
basically three ways of saying that he is going to die very, very soon, because
the lotus flower isn�t healing him fast enough anymore. You�ve
undermined one of the four corners of our mind�we use these four corners to
keep us sane, and by taking one of them away, well, you�ve made it a triangle.
And triangles just don�t work. Lavi has four very important ways of seeing
himself. He�s got a corner for his Exorcist self; a corner for his Bookman
self�I�m in there; a corner for his sun�which you took away; and a corner for
him to eventually put his main personality�which he�s still trying to figure
out. It�s like a stool with only two legs! It just doesn�t work! You can have a
stool with three legs and four legs, but you can�t have one with two!� Liam
shouted. As he listed the number of legs, he started ticking them off on his
hand with the letter opener for emphasis. The psychiatrist looked completely
blown away. Liam felt no small amount of satisfaction.

�� Now, I�d like it
very much if you would leave. You�re never to come near Lavi again, you
understand? I will disappear eventually, because at some point, Lavi�s going to
have to incorporate me, and the process has already started. But you see, he�s got no way to deal with my complete and utter
depression. And there�s absolutely no way he�ll regain his sanity if he
remembers everything we�ve both seen together. Because right
now, he�s not sane. If Yuu comes back, then he might have a chance at
regaining that sanity, but that�s unlikely. Every time Lavi sees you, his
sanity slips further, and it�s really painful to watch. Or feel. Or whatever. Just stay the fuck away from us.�

�� The psychiatrist
scuttled from the room, and Liam lay back on the bed, still fingering Bookman�s
old letter opener. He sighed. He wasn�t strong enough to stay in control much
longer, but he couldn�t let Lavi out at this point�he would be next to useless,
and he didn�t want their body to waste away with Lavi in control.

---

August 30, 2013�A Hospital in New
York City

�� The photographer
scrolled through his camera�s pictures with great interest. Though the media
was not supposed to be at the UN meeting, the photographer had been able to
sneak himself in. He had stayed on the outskirts of the battle, and he had
taken some very excellent pictures of it. His boss was going to pay him a
shitload for this.

�� He had followed
the ambulance to this hospital, as he wanted to document the Exorcists�
injuries as well. It was amazing, how that one woman had been able to reverse
their damage. That was cool. He�d gotten a few pictures of that�especially the
one with the Chinese guy who was seizing with some sort of black poisoning with
President Obama�s hand in his.

�� Perhaps he could
sell these pictures to other papers, too. He�d make an even larger sum. He
smiled to himself and continued looking at the pictures. He couldn�t make
himself delete any of them�they were all so unbelievable. The entire battle had
been that way.

�� There was a light
whimper, and the photographer looked up in interest as he saw an Exorcist
jacket out of the corner of his eye. The blonde Mediterranean girl was being
led by a large, muscled man. He snapped a picture�could he make this into a
scandal? He decided to follow, snapping another picture as a strange-looking
door appeared out of nowhere. He cursed quietly as the flash went off.

�� The girl looked
around, and something desperate shone in her eyes. Switching his camera to
video capture, he poked the record button. She mouthed something at him before
the man urged her through the strange door that had just appeared. It closed
behind them and disappeared.

�� Something in the
back of his head told him to find the other Exorcists. The photographer thought
that perhaps they should know�because, after all, he was not a bad man, and
that had been fear shining in that
girl�s eyes.

---

A/N: The statue of the Virgin Mary has stumped scientists for years. It
has been seen weeping a strange, red liquid (or simply clear liquid, depending
on the statue). This has happened for other statues as well, but the one of the
Virgin Mary is the most well-known.
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