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The room is large, ovoid, the walls and ceiling and floor pure white and made of a material that resembles marble. It’s the type of place where you would expect your voice to echo… except somehow, it doesn’t, even though it’s empty without so much as a carpet to break the monotony. Light reflects off every polished surface, coming from the large golden chandelier hanging high above the center of the room; the crystal facets alone cast off the shadows, since there are no windows to speak of.

As in all such rooms, you feel out of place, somehow discomfited by it all. The color, the silence, the size — it’s stifling, and you yearn to escape. Before you, there’s a door with a bronze doorknob, the only exit, and you hasten toward it, feeling the atmosphere bearing down on you. You have to get out before—

And something changes. Somehow, without turning, you can feel the air shift, and you freeze, a cold chill running down your spine. You turn your head slowly, looking over your shoulder, just in time to see a man stepping casually out of the wall.

He’s dressed in a black suit, his black hair swept up into a top hat. Golden eyes, set into a tanned face, rest on you; your own gaze is drawn to the line of crosses carved across his forehead, and you find yourself unable to speak. You know who he is, and you fear him more than anything. Every instinct yells at you to run, but you have the feeling that it would be in vain. If you go, he will follow.

Tyki Mikk. You never found him terrifying before, but then again, this is the first time you’ve ever been face-to-face with him.

For a moment, he glances away from you, one white-gloved hand reaching into his jacket pocket and drawing out a card. You stare at it, at the black-and-white diamond pattern on the back, as he reads your name and looks up at you once more.

“You’re an Exorcist,” he states calmly. “I’m going to kill you. Don’t take it personally.”

“I don’t have Innocence,” you manage to get out, but you know it’s a lie. You don’t know how you know, or even what form your Innocence takes — just that it is with you, and you don’t know how to use it.

Tyki just smirks knowingly, the hand holding the card dropping to his side. He takes a step forward languidly; almost involuntarily, you take a step back, mind whirling. Inwardly, you’re measuring the distance between the two of you and the distance to the door. If you make a break for it, will you be able to get out before he catches you? Dare you turn your back to him in the first place?

And then he moves, swiftly. In the blink of an eye, he’s standing in front of you, and you inhale sharply. His gaze meets yours again, triumphant — and then he plunges his hand into your chest.

You feel it. You feel it inside you, a coldness reaching through your skin and your flesh, wrapping itself around your heart and squeezing. You choke, and then suddenly it’s moving, and…

And the coldness is gone, and you’re left looking dumbly at Tyki’s hand. The white glove is slowly being stained with blood, and he is clutching an organ. As you watch, it pulses in his hand once.

Your eyes slide upward, catching sight of Tyki’s face. He looks mad, absolutely insane, a psychotic, thrilled grin splitting his face. The pleasure of Noah. He lives for the hunt, the scent of blood… and the kill.

The heart — your heart — beats again. A single drop of blood slides from Tyki’s hand, falling to the floor.

With that, you know you’re dead.

You gasp, eyes flying open, sitting bolt upright in bed. The phrase “cold sweat” never used to make sense to you, but by now, it’s entirely too familiar.

Gradually, you become aware of your surroundings. The golden light of this room is dull, the glow having to escape through blinds and curtains. The floor is carpeted, the walls covered in wallscrolls and definitely not made of marble. Instead of dead silence, cheery birdsong can be heard from outside, almost anticlimactic considering your dream.

The only thing that remains the same between your nightmare and this reality is that you are alone. You’re alone, but there is no Tyki stepping out of the wall, readying himself for murder.

“That’s it,” you mutter to yourself, lying back down, resting the back of your hand on your forehead, and closing your eyes. “I am never watching D.Gray-Man before bedtime again.”

That’s a lie, and you know it. Your obsession can’t be sated, and your love for the anime compels you to watch it, whether you’ll dream of crazy Noahs afterward or not. Tyki is hot, you have to admit, but you don’t particularly like what he’s doing in your nightmares. They’re not the sort of dreams that you can control at all, or change the course of, no matter how hard you try. In fact, you’re not entirely sure you know you’re dreaming when you’re having them.

The funny thing is that you’re not really afraid of Tyki — at least, not in real life, not when you’re awake. It’s only when he’s coming for you, telling you that he’s going to kill you, that you’re absolutely terrified.

You shake your head, opening your eyes. The corner of your mouth quirks up into a smile as you’re met with the sight of a white-haired boy, and you let out a sigh, relaxing. It’s just a dream, after all. None of that was real. …the fact that you have a poster of Allen Walker on your ceiling because you ran out of space on your walls is proof of that.

You giggle, swinging your legs over the side of the bed and standing up. A glance at the alarm clock tells you that it’s 8:30 AM, which is a bit too early for your tastes, especially since it’s summer, but oh well, what can you do? Stretching, you walk around your bed, eyes shifting from poster to poster as you do. There’s one of the Exorcists in a group, then another where they’re fighting Akuma… another featuring Allen with some of the Noah in the background…

Your eyes land on Tyki in that picture, and you pause. You feel… nothing. Not even a vestige of emotion from your dream. All you can think of is that he looks as sexy as he always does. You roll your eyes, continuing on your way. Dreams are separate from reality, after all, so it’s no wonder that it doesn’t affect you when you’re awake and in your right mind.

It’s strange, though. This marks the sixth day that you’ve had the same dream. It’s unnaturally lucid, and you remember it so clearly when you wake up. Besides, aren’t you not supposed to be able to die in dreams? Granted, you don’t exactly experience the actual death part, but without a heart, what else could happen?

Well, it’s not like it matters much. You’re just a normal DGM fangirl, that’s all. Maybe with a slightly unhealthy obsession with all things DGM, granted, but a fangirl nonetheless.

Still, you just can’t shake your anxiety. The hand in your chest — the pain — it doesn’t have the same shadow-effect that most dream-sensations do, so that when you look back at it later, they seem to be identical to what you would experience in reality. Your only possible explanation for that is that you’re going psycho. And the heart—

You grimace. Normally, you don’t allow your thoughts to get so gory. The obvious answer here is that you’ve been having the same dream because you had it once and then you’ve been thinking about it every night before you went to sleep, thus leading to repeats. You’re not even an Exorcist. Exorcists aren’t real, and even if they were, you aren’t one. Superhuman fighting capabilities and you just don’t mix. Besides, what form would your Innocence take, a laptop?

You have to snicker at that, even as you enter the kitchen and pour yourself a bowl of cereal. That would be awesome. You could basically write the worst fanfiction ever and thus save the world. “The Akuma appeared, but they were no match for the Exorcists, who blew all of them up in two seconds flat. And then the Noahs appeared too, but they saw how cool the Exorcists were and decided they could live as good guys after all. And then the Earl of Millennium appeared, and he was annoyed, and an epic battle ensued between him and Allen Walker. Except that Allen was never hurt. Finally, he managed to stab the Earl. The Earl died. That threat was gone forever. The end.”

And it would all happen exactly as you wrote.

Of course, there’s the slight problem of laptops not existing in the D.Gray-Man universe, at least as far as you know. It does take place in the late nineteenth century, after all, with a few well-placed and extraordinarily large loopholes to account for things like Komurin.

You finish off your breakfast and stand, wandering to another room of the empty house. Your parents are already gone, off to work or something, leaving you alone with nothing to do on this nice summer day. You feel like staying home today; somehow, the dreams have been killing your desire to have a social life, and you prefer to laze around here and play video games.

There’s one thing you want to check, though. As ridiculous as it may sound, you just can’t shake the image of that beating heart. Call it your wild imagination, but it doesn’t really look like the cartoon sketches in your biology book. It’s too detailed, too… well, you don’t know if it’s accurate, but hearts in your dreams usually look like the ones that float around people’s heads when they’re in love, rather than anatomically-correct ones.

So, despairing for your sanity because you’re actually researching something that’s most probably only a figment of your subconscious, you turn on the computer, open up your browser, and do an image search for the human heart.

A few minutes later, you shut it down again, lean back in the chair, and close your eyes, taking a few deep breaths.

It is accurate, disturbingly so, down to the twisted colors and slick appearance. Apart from the one in your dreams being covered in blood, you can find no difference between the pictures of hearts on the Internet and the heart Tyki holds in his hand.

You’re relatively sure you’ve never seen a real heart before, human or otherwise, nor have you sought out a picture of one for any reason. No, this is the first time you can say that you’ve actually looked closely at any human organ, biology class drawings notwithstanding.

But what does it all mean?

There are three simple answers to that. Either your subconscious is a lot smarter than you give it credit for, there’s some really freaky coincidence going on, or you really are going insane.


~*~*~

You really are stupid.

No matter what you tell yourself, you just can’t break the habit of an episode of D.Gray-Man before bedtime. As luck would have it, you’ve reached episode 39 — the one where Tyki fights and kills Daisya, leaving him hanging upside-down from a lamppost with his Innocence destroyed and one of his internal organs missing.

It really isn’t the best thing to be watching when you’re already having nightmares about Tyki murdering you, but you suspect it won’t matter much anyway. It’s not like it can possibly change anything, except maybe that he might shatter your nonexistent imaginary Innocence before pulling out your heart.

Sarcastic and morbid. Yeah, you’re really getting tired of that dream. It comes as no surprise when it starts playing again as soon as you drift off into slumber, the same as always on this seventh night.

A circular room. White marble floor, ceiling, walls. A golden chandelier, crystal, light reflecting all around you. Fear, nagging in your heart — you have to get away, escape through the single door with its bronze doorknob before it all ends.

You know what will happen. You’ve seen it all before, even if this is completely new to the dream-self that takes part in the events as they unfold.

And then Tyki’s behind you, walking through the wall like it isn’t even there. He looks over, sees you. Then he’s drawing the card out of his pocket, looking at it in an almost bored fashion, and reads out your name.

“You’re an Exorcist. I’m going to kill you. Don’t take it personally.”

“I don’t have Innocence,” you say in a futile attempt to save your life.

Tyki just grins maniacally, striding forward as you stumble back. Your eyes flit to his hand, knowing what’s coming.

“Not yet, at any rate,” Tyki responds, and, startled, you look up, into those golden eyes. All you can think is that it’s different — something’s changed.

And then, while you’re still numb with shock at the realization, still staring dumbly at him, his arm shoots out in a blur, almost too fast for you to see, heading for your chest. You stop breathing, trying to brace yourself for the inevitable, not that it’ll do you any good—
You wake up.

There’s a feeling of momentary disorientation, in which you don’t know or understand anything. You’re torn between reality and the dream — the dream that seems to have become different, for some inexplicable reason. For the first time, you didn’t die… and for the first time, Tyki said something else. You’re not an Exorcist… yet. But it’s still ridiculous. Innocence and Akuma don’t exist in real life.

Slowly, you become aware that you’ve left the dream world behind, and that your heart is still inside you and pounding furiously. Then, after that, it takes you a little while longer to decipher that reality is different now as well. Instead of the soft light of morning, the room around you is still filled with darkness. There are no birds chirping outside your window, or any sounds at all, for that matter; you can almost hear the weight of the silence. You have no idea what woke you, thus saving you from the Tyki in your dream.

You open your eyes, watching lazily as your bedroom comes into focus around you. It’s much the same as always — identical, in fact, until the mattress shifts, and you recognize that the shadow on the end of your bed is actually the figure of a seated person.

Out of nowhere, a light flares, and you blink owlishly until your eyes adjust. It seems to be coming from a pink-and-black striped candle, hovering in midair, with a dangerously pointed tip. By its flame, you’re able to barely make out the features of the small girl watching you. She smiles, seeing that she has your full attention at last.

“Hi~ there~ Miss Exorcist~! ♥”

Your mind feels almost ready to explode from the multitude of thoughts whirring through it. You know who she is. Any true D.Gray-Man fan would recognize Road Kamelot. All of the questions you want to ask vie to be the first: Is she really Road? Why is she here? How did she get in? Why is she calling you an Exorcist?

Finally, you pick one, seemingly at random, and blurt it out. “This is just another dream, isn’t it?”

…way to sound intelligent.

Road giggles, swinging her legs idly. “Nope! Not at all~! ♪” She pauses, a slight frown tugging at her face. “But you wouldn’t believe me if I said that, would you? Because even if this was a dream, I would probably say it wasn’t.”

You can do nothing but stare. “…um.”

“I can prove this is real!” she tells you brightly. “Give me your hand.”

You do so warily. Her small hand grasps it, warm and soft beneath your own, and you wonder if this is her proof; you’ve never had this much sensation in a dream before. You glance up at her, meeting her dark eyes and noting that they aren’t that tawny shade that signifies her Noah side. Road squeezes your hand gently, almost reassuringly…

And then the candle flies down, stabbing itself into your palm and making you cry out. As the candle removes itself, crimson liquid begins to flow freely, and you gaze down at it, wide-eyed, in too much shock to actually fully feel the pain.

“There,” Road states, sounding satisfied. “See? You don’t hurt in dreams, so this has to be real!”

When you say nothing in return, she cocks her head to the side. “You should take care of that or you’re going to pass out or something, and that’s no fun.”

You bite your lip, trying to hold back the tears welling in the corners of your eyes. She went relatively easy on you; the candle didn’t pass through your hand, but it still isn’t what you’d call a minor wound. “My parents—”

“They’re too deep in their dreams to hear you!” she informs you.

…oh yeah, Road can do that. Not good. You can’t help your scowl as you look back up at her. Yes, she’s still cute, but you don’t fully appreciate how crazy she is until her sadism is directed at you. “Did you have to do that?” you demand, grabbing a corner of your bedsheets and attempting to staunch the flow of blood.

“It was the fast way~! ♥” she sings, not at all disturbed by the pain she has caused you.

A short silence ensues, during which you apply more pressure on your hand using another section of the sheet. “…you’re Road Kamelot,” you state at last.

“Yup~! They said you’d heard of us,” Road answers, sounding positively delighted about it.

Well, if she really is Road, you can guess how she got in here, as surreal as it is. “Why did you call me an Exorcist?”

“Because you are,” she tells you plaintively, as if expecting to not be believed.

She’s got that part right. “I’m not.”

“You are,” Road insists, leaning forward eagerly. “You just don’t know it yet.”

“…I think I’d know if I were an Exorcist.” She merely smiles, and you shake your head. “Okay, then. Why are you here?” A chill runs down your spine as you realize the only possible reason. “You’re going to kill me?”

“Nope!” Noting your surprise, Road hops off the bed, standing in front of you with her hands clasped behind her back. “I don’t have to kill you because you don’t know you’re an Exorcist. I’m here because I’m bored.”

…it’s so very Road-like and so completely strange that you give her a deadpan look. “…you come in here and stab me because you’re bored?”

Road grins, swaying slightly. “I want to play. Will you play with me, Miss Exorcist~?”

“It’s (Your Name),” you respond absently. “(Your Full Name). Are you really allowed to play with Exorcists?”

“(Your Name)-chan, then! ♪” Road laughs, and you almost want to hug her. Almost. …then the pain in your hand reminds you that you shouldn’t be quite so fond of her. “Well, Tyki and the Earl said I shouldn’t come and talk to you, but they don’t know about this~! And I don’t see why it matters anyway. ♥”

“…you shouldn’t…” you begin, but Road beats you to it.

“Yeah. Because you’re in a different dimension than we are and you can’t do anything here so they want you out of the way. Bo~ring.” She pouts. “But I don’t care. If they won’t play with me, you will, right~? ♥”

“…Road…” You’re at a complete loss for words, but once again, she seems to understand.

“Come on, come on, I’m bored! You’ll come with me, won’t you? And then we can play!”

You’re not quite sure about Road’s definition of “play,” and you’re not sure you want to know. “To your dimension? Er — the one in D.Gray-Man?”

Road looks uninterested, eyes resting on one of your wallscrolls. “Oh, is that what you call it? I guess.”

“But I’d be leaving everyone here—” you begin unsurely, though you have the feeling you really don’t have any choice but to say yes. One doesn’t exactly go around denying the super-powered little girl, after all.

She gives you a slightly creepy smile. “They’ll be fine. Besides, how d’ya know this is real? Maybe this dimension only needs you so nothing else matters!”

“…okay…” You don’t get that at all, but you suppose it’s her way of saying that it doesn’t bother her in the slightest. With a sense of foreboding that says you’re about to make a very, very bad decision that isn’t really a decision at all, you answer, “Fine, I’ll go.”

Road lets out a cheer, leaping forward suddenly and wrapping her arms around your waist, and you yelp, falling back onto the bed. “Yay~! I knew you’d say yes! Lero gets boring after a while, you know.”

“…ah.” You don’t know what to say to that, and suddenly, there’s one of those huge, heart-shaped portals sitting right next to your bed.

Road gets up, walking over to stand next to it, and regards you with something akin to concern. “I’m gonna have to leave you alone for a bit. Don’t worry, I’ll find you when I wanna play~! ♪”

You force a smile. “I’m sure you will.”

“Be good,” she orders, suddenly sounding serious, and you blink.

“Road…?”

Her eyes almost seem to glow white in the darkness. “You better not decide to kill Akuma or anything. You better not fight us. Or else Tyki will come and get you like he did in the dreams.”

And then it all clicks — Road sent the dreams, sent them as both an invitation and a warning. You got the point. You don’t want him to do that to you.

“…I…” you whisper, but you can’t get another word out, whether or not it will save your life.

But Road is suddenly back to normal, grinning at you, beckoning you toward the portal as the doors swing open. “Come on~! Let’s go! You want to come, don’t you~? ♥”

“…yes,” you murmur truthfully. She disappears through the doors, the light between them brightening slightly as she does. For another second, you hesitate, staring at them, knowing in your heart that you really have no choice…

And then you follow her, and the doors swing shut and disappear behind you, and you leave behind everything you’ve ever known and loved.


~*~*~

You find yourself blinking owlishly in the bright sunlight of a small town. You’re standing in what you suppose would be the center of it, with a stone fountain next to you, the shape of a manatee spouting water into the air that falls back in neat arcs to reach the pool. It’s very quiet, peaceful, with birds chirping happily; in other words, not at all a place that you would think to be a favorite vacation spot for a Noah. Oddly, your hand is now messily wrapped and you’re not wearing your pajamas anymore, which you suppose is a good thing; you would be highly embarrassed if you popped into the middle of nowhere during daytime wearing fuzzy slippers and all. The downside, though, is that you’re currently stuffed inside a frilly Gothic Lolita dress, of the type Road likes. Oh well, at least the boots aren’t too uncomfortable.

“Road?” you call softly, warily, stepping forward. There’s no answer, which somehow scares you even more than it would if the tiny girl had actually been around to torture you some more. Either you’re abandoned in the middle of an unfamiliar land with no way to survive on your own or you’re used as a dress-up doll for a sadistic child. The fact that you would prefer the latter is somewhat disturbing.

Then again, this isn’t the world you’re used to. There are no cars, no technology, no one you know to call for help… but most of all, there are Akuma, monsters living inside human skin that could kill you at any time. You know of their existence, and you know of the secret war. That knowledge, and your inability to protect yourself when it all comes down to it, will be enough to make you completely paranoid given a sufficient length of time.

“Road! Where are you? This isn’t funny!” You start walking at a brisk pace, maybe a little bit faster than normal, your eyes darting from side to side restlessly. There’s no one in sight, and that only serves to increase your nervousness. “Hey! Answer me! Is anyone here? Is there someone…”

You falter, feet slowing, as you come to a section of the street that’s torn apart. The buildings are destroyed, rubble and pieces of walls littering the sidewalk and road, but as you look around, that’s not all you see. Twisted pieces of metal… strange, curved surfaces, like torn from the side of a sphere… something that looks eerily like a horn…

And then you’re running before you even realize what you’re doing, running away, your breath coming in short pants because you’re not in shape, at least not by the standards of the Exorcists in this world. You’re terrified, and that scene has just struck home that you’re here, you’re really here, in the D.Gray-Man universe. Not only that, but the silence of the town has taken on a new and horrible meaning. Now that you look, there is absolutely no one to be found, no signs of movement in the shops, in the alleys. Maybe every now and again you see clothing lying discarded, and that just gives you a burst of adrenaline, making you run faster than you ever thought you could. The grim quiet scares you, and you find yourself strongly compelled to break it before you go insane.

“Road? Road! Come on, I don’t like this! I thought you said you wanted to play! If you wanted to play hide-and-seek, you should’ve told me! Don’t leave me here!”

You can die. You can really die, in a place like this. It’s not something you ever considered before, when you thought of the DGM world, but it’s a distinct possibility. You’re weak, frail, fragile — you can break even without Tyki getting involved.

She’s not here. The thought’s crossed your mind before, but it’s even more obvious now, as you find that you’ve reached the limits of your energy and slow to a stop. Every fiber of your being is yelling that you have to get out, you have to get out of here, maybe not all the Akuma are dead, maybe there are some more that weren’t killed and they heard you yelling…

“Road,” you whisper hoarsely, which is all you can manage, but you’re sure she’ll hear if she’s watching you. “Road, come out. Come get me, now. If you don’t, I’m not going to let you play with me anymore. You know how I can do that, right?”

No answer. You’re really all alone. Your shoulders slump, more frightened than relieved, and you collapse on the ground, wrapping your arms around your knees. Why would she go and do that? You thought for sure she’d at least put you in… another dimension, or that weird dark place where she and the other Noahs are always talking with the Millennium Earl, or maybe even in Noah’s Ark.

So Road has abandoned you in a town once inhabited by Akuma. You wonder if she knows that you have no idea how to get along in this world. Sure, if she’d at least left you a map, you could find a way to the next human habitation and possibly work for food or something, but what are you going to do here, wander lost? You suppose you could see if there’s anything left for you to scavenge, since it’s not like the people who lived here will be needing anything anymore, but that just feels wrong.

Wait. If there were destroyed Akuma back there, that means there had to have been Exorcists, right? Since Innocence is supposedly the only thing that can kill them and all. So that means, if you’re lucky — which, from the way today’s going, you probably aren’t — they should still be nearby, right?

Right. You push yourself to your feet again, though your muscles scream in protest — forget hurting tomorrow morning, they’re going to be sore for the next week from all this running. Though instinct tells you to go far, far away, you return to the place where the fight occurred, looking around desperately for signs of any Black Order employees, Finder and Exorcist alike.

Nothing. No one. And then you’re sprinting again, probably ruining the dress somewhat in the process. Road would hurt you terribly if she was here to see, and you shudder to think what will happen to you when she finds out the state of “her” clothing. No, wait, scratch that. You should be more worried about what’ll happen if you decide to actually go with the Exorcists.

In the end, it’s a toss-up between two sides. Either you join the Black Order — the good guys — and rely on them to keep the psychotic Noahs from exacting revenge on you, or you go with the Noahs, the bad guys, and know that they won’t kill you on purpose. There’s still a very good chance that it might happen “accidentally,” though, which means you’re probably going to die either way.

If that’s the case, then you know who you would like to side with.

Your legs are screaming at you, telling you that it would like it very much if you decided to lie down and sleep for a few days straight to give them time to heal after so much overuse. You ignore them, heading for the edge of town, partly because you have no idea where an inn would be in this place and partly because, if so many Akuma are dead, the person’s probably ready to head back to where they came from, right? Though you have no idea which direction they would’ve gone in, which makes this like searching for a needle in a haystack that might have vanished long ago.

The outskirts of town are in sight now, and you continue on as fast as you can, searching for people. There’s a stitch in your side and you can hardly breathe because you’re panting so badly, but you don’t dare to stop, not now. You try to call out, but it comes out as more of a squeak, so you focus on running instead — running and searching. No one there, a flash of movement that turns out to be a cat, birds taking off from a roof—

And then you look out across the fields, on the road spiraling out of town. There, a distance away but nothing you can’t handle, you can see two figures moving away. They’re dressed in black, one significantly taller than the other and with a telltale splotch of red hair. It can’t be — it must be—

You put on a burst of speed, feeling that you’re using up the last of your strength as you do so. That surprises even you, since you had no idea you could even go for this long. Luckily, the Exorcists are moving away at a walking speed, so you’re catching up at a decent rate. “Hey, wait!”

They stop, turning back curiously, and it only takes you about another half-minute to reach them. You fall to your knees, sliding to a stop, and take deep, gulping breaths in an effort to get air into your lungs.

The redhead leans down in front of you, looking a little worried. “Hey, you okay?”

“My legs feel like they’re about to fall off, but otherwise, fine.” You glance up at him and almost stop breathing again. Yes, you were right. It’s Lavi, his red hair falling over his eye patch, his single green eye regarding you curiously and probably with suspicion you can’t read. He’s even more handsome in real life. You take a deep breath, falling back into a sitting position. “I don’t suppose you have any water, do you?”

Bookman — for the short, older man turns out to be Lavi’s mentor — hands you a flask, and you take it, drinking deeply before setting it aside. “Thanks.” You return to gazing up at them. You didn’t actually think about this part. “So, uh…”

“Do you need help?” the boy asks.

That’s a good question. “No, not really,” you lie through your teeth. Is there a subtle way to put this at all? Seriously. “It’s just… back there…”

The two Exorcists exchange glances and their expressions soften somewhat. “Do you live there?” Bookman queries.

You shake your head. “Nuh-uh. I’m not from around here. …actually, I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”

“Jacyl,” Lavi informs you, and when that earns him a blank look, he elaborates. “Southern Switzerland.”

You blanch at that. You forgot that DGM encompasses practically the entire world. You’re sure to run into problems like, oh, say, language barriers? “Oh, great. I don’t speak Swiss.”

“…Swiss isn’t a language.”

“…I totally knew that. It’s a cheese, though.”

“How can you be visiting a country, not speak the language, and not even know where it is?” demands Lavi.

“…that’s a long story,” you mumble, looking away. “And I’m not even sure of the details myself.”

“Let’s go,” Bookman orders, turning away. Apparently, they feel no compulsion to help a strange person. Or maybe it’s just that you’re obviously a traveler if you came here on your own, which means you should be able to take care of yourself.

Sadly, that isn’t the case. “Hold on!” you call, reaching out to grab Lavi’s pants leg and missing. “Lavi!”

They freeze, and you realize, in that instant, that you shouldn’t have said that. Both turn around, this time without bothering to hide any suspicion, and there’s suddenly a hammer pointing at you. “How do you know my name?” the redhead wants to know, voice deadly.

You answer with the first thing that comes to mind. “I’m not an Akuma.”

Yet another bad move. “Oh, so you know my name and you’re not an Akuma. That’s helpful,” he says easily.

Bookman isn’t nearly as amused. “Lavi.”

You can only stare up at him, trying to convey your desperation. “I’m as human as you are,” you whisper. “The gatekeeper can verify it.”

“And she knows about the gatekeeper, too!” The grin on his face is obviously fake. “You’re a very well-informed Not An Akuma.”

“My name is (Your Name),” you reply, biting your lip. “And no matter what you say, I’m not.”

Lavi kneels down in front of you, the hammer still pointed at your face; Bookman just watches silently. “Oh? Then how do you know so much?”

“I can’t tell you,” you murmur, anguished. “I want to. You wouldn’t believe me and you wouldn’t understand. But don’t leave me here. Please don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone, I have no idea where I am, and if you do, she’ll come for me.”

“‘She’ being…?”

In answer, you silently lift your hand. Lavi looks puzzled but unwraps the fabric tied around it. The makeshift bandage falls away, revealing the stab wound on your palm, and Bookman inhales sharply. “Noah.”

“She’s not going to be happy if she finds out I was talking to you,” you tell them, and you can see in Lavi’s eye that he finally believes you — after all, Miranda and Allen suffered the same kind of wounds, and with his memory, he can easily pick out the similarities. “I don’t want to go with her. I don’t want to be her toy. I know she’s going to end up killing me.”

“Well?” Lavi asks Bookman.

“What do you want to do?” the old man addresses you.

You’re silent for a moment, running a finger over the dried blood on your palm. “Take me to the Black Order,” you answer at last. “I’ll be safe there, right? Relatively?”

The hammer recedes. “You’re that frightened of her?”

“She gave me dreams,” you say reluctantly. “Of Tyki. And…”

You don’t need to say any more. Bookman sighs, walking forward a few feet before stopping. “Well, come along, then. We’re heading back anyway. We’ll report this to Komui at the next town.”

“Thank you, Bookman,” you tell him softly.

He doesn’t seem surprised that you know his name, either. “If the Noah clan is interested, then there’s reason enough to not let them get their hands on you.”

“We’re watching you, though,” Lavi warns you.

You smile a little, though it’s forced, for the most part. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

“So you know about us through her?” he asks, straightening up.

“No,” you admit, wincing at the mere reminder of the girl waiting for you. “It’s… something else. I might tell Komui, and you someday, but not now, not when…” You take a deep breath, remembering Road, remembering your terror of Tyki. “…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Well, if you’re a normal human and not an Exorcist or Noah or anything, I guess I understand.” Lavi scrutinizes you closely, and then shrugs, apparently giving up on getting anything else out of you. “You coming?”

“Yeah.” You push yourself to your feet as well, only to promptly fall over again with an eep. That earns you two odd looks, and you grumble, finding that your legs refuse to cooperate. “Still don’t believe I’m human?”

“Maybe,” Lavi concedes, and Bookman seems to think you are.

“You should. Have you ever seen an Akuma collapse from exhaustion?” you retort, spreading your arms out to show that you don’t trust yourself to stand.

They only stare at you — and, for the first time, Lavi laughs, reaching out a hand to you. “You’re really something, little Not An Akuma,” he teases.

“I told you, my name is (Your Name)!”

He ignores your protests, swinging you up onto his back, and you squeak. After a moment, though, you relax, closing your eyes and letting yourself rest. You know what he feels — you’re warm, with a beating heart, maybe one that’s going a little too quickly after all the excitement you’ve been through.

“I’m scared, Lavi,” you mumble into his ear.

He says nothing, but you know he hears your confession. And from the way he tenses, the way he moves, you know he, at least, understands the need to be on guard.


~*~*~

“A-ah…”

Lavi pauses, watching you with a now-familiar grin on his face. “Something wrong?”

“It’s big,” you say bluntly, staring up at the gate.

“I thought you knew that.”

“Bigger than I expected.” You blink. “My sense of proportion is all… weird.”

“Are you going in?” Bookman asks, unimpressed by your amazement. “Komui’s expecting you, so they should be ready to do a scan.”

“Um. Oh yeah.” You step forward, and the gatekeeper opens his eyes, making you squeak and move back to your starting position again. “…big. Really, really big.”

“Scared?” Lavi mocks.

“…more like startled out of my wits.” You gulp, forcing yourself to move forward with that big, bug-eyed gaze trained upon you. You bow, feeling that it never stops looking at you. “Um. Hello. I’m (Your Full Name). It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Alestina Drow Joanason P. Robathon Gia Amadeus V.”

“How do you know my name?” the gatekeeper booms suspiciously, making you flinch.

“Ahahaha…” You sweatdrop. “…somehow, I have the feeling I’ll be getting that a lot.”

“You should claim you’re psychic,” Lavi remarks beside you.

“No, I’ll just say you told me all about them.” You glance at him, feeling suddenly shy. “You don’t think I’m an Akuma anymore?”

“Of course not!” he dismisses. “You would’ve given yourself away already if you were. Either that or you’re a very good actor.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence…” And with that, you step forward to be scanned.

It doesn’t take long. Unlike Allen and Krory, you don’t have the problem of carrying pentacle marks anywhere on your body, so the scan only lasts for a few seconds and comes up clean. As the gate is lifting, Lavi elbows you in the side. “See? No problem.”

“…Lavi, I don’t need you to assure me that I’m human.” But, smiling, you enter anyway, looking up and craning your neck back to get a good view of the headquarters of the Black Order.

“Like what you see?” Lavi asks, and you nod, awed. “Good. You’ll be stuck here for a while.”

“I’ll leave her with you, Lavi,” Bookman says as soon as you get inside. “I’m going to our quarters.”

“Hey! But what about Komui?” protests Lavi.

Bookman waves it off. “You can debrief him yourself.” And then he’s gone, leaving you and the redhead alone.

You stand in silence for a few seconds before you venture, “So, uh, are you going to give me the grand tour?”

“Actually, Komui wanted to see you in his office first,” says a voice behind you. A very, very familiar voice.

It’s so familiar, in fact, that you don’t even stop to think as you whirl around, automatically glomping the owner of the voice. “Allen!”

“Ack!” He falls over under the attack, and you almost purr, staring at his fascinating, almost-natural white hair.

Someone pulls you off the poor beansprout, and Lavi complains, “You didn’t do that to me when we first met.”

“Would’ve been weird,” you reply, brushing yourself off and sticking your hand out to the younger boy. “Hi, Allen! I’m (Your Name). Lavi’s told me all about you.”

Allen takes your hand tentatively and shakes it. “He has?”

“Everything,” Lavi whispers dramatically, as if to impress upon him that you supposedly know every little detail about him that Lavi does. “Here running escort duty, Allen?”

“You could say that,” Allen replies, sweatdropping. “Lenalee’s out on a mission right now.”

“Aw, and I wanted to meet her, too…”

Lavi snickers. “Komui’s going to kill you.”

“Possibly,” you say, trying to repress the thoughts that the word “kill” brings to mind. You don’t need to worry about that, not when you’re finally here… “So we’re going to see Head Officer Komui, right? Lead the way, Allen!”

And he does, pointing out various places to you along the route, and you “ooh” and “aah” as expected. It is interesting experiencing these things in real life, such as when you peeked into the mess hall and saw Jeryy serving food, or Reever hurrying by on some sort of job. You make a mental note to get a door plaque for your room or something so as not to get lost, looking up through the central shaft at all the identical rooms in the upper levels, and that maybe you should use their training rooms for the purpose they were intended and actually try and get physically stronger. Lavi’s never let you live down the fact that you collapsed after so “little” running at so “slow” a speed.

Finally, you stop in front of a door, and Allen announces, “This is Komui’s office.”

You sweatdrop, looking around and finding that you have absolutely no idea where you are, not even what floor you’re on. You’re inclined to blame the Black Order for building this place. “Uh, thanks. …you realize I’m going to be dragging you around for a while until I memorize where everything is.”

“You don’t already know?” Lavi asks you under his breath while Allen isn’t listening.

“I don’t know everything,” you retort, just as softly, “and even if I — found out, it’s not like I would remember. Unlike you.”

He just grins shamelessly, and the door swings open to reveal a familiar room, the floor littered with discarded paperwork. It makes you twitch, and you vow to somehow clean Komui’s office. Stepping on dirtied, trampled pages that have been here for who knows how long is disgusting.

“Come in, come in!” a jovial voice sings, and you look across to the desk to see Komui, a wide, slightly crazy grin on his face and his glasses glinting so you can’t see his eyes. “We’ve been expecting you!”

“‘We?’” you ask skeptically.

“Using the royal plural now, Komui?” Lavi adds, smirking.

Komui pouts, his amazing introduction having fallen flat, and readjusts his glasses. “I was just trying to make a good first impression,” he complains, pouting.

“First impressions kind of require, you know, it being the first time…” You trail off, not quite sure how to complete that sentence, and glance at Allen. Sure, Komui’s probably been filled in on your “eccentricities,” shall we call them, but you’d rather not drag Allen into this as well.

Komui follows your gaze and apparently picks up on your hesitation, for he smiles. “Allen, why don’t you step outside for a moment?” he suggests.

“Ah…” The white-haired boy seems confused, looking from you to Lavi to Komui and back again. He definitely thinks something’s up, but he has no idea what.

“It’s almost lunchtime,” Lavi points out, and you cover your mouth to hide your snicker.

The distraction tactic works, for Allen perks up at the reminder of food and immediately forgets your strange statement. “Oh! That’s true.”

“Run along now, Allen, I’m sure you’re hungry after showing us around,” you laugh, making a shooing motion. “…wait, you’re probably hungry anyway.”

He chuckles at that, obediently leaving, and Lavi shuts the door behind him. Then, suddenly, the atmosphere changes, and the two males’ piercing gazes are directed at you, the center of their attention. You sigh, dropping any happiness or pretenses thereof that you may have been keeping up, allowing yourself to embrace, once again, the darkness of your true situation here in this world. “Can I at least sit down first?”

Komui nods, and you move to seat yourself on the couch, in an area clear of the papers that litter the floor elsewhere. Lavi remains standing, leaning against one of the arms of the couch, and you lace your fingers together, staring down at them so as to avoid looking at the two seeking answers. “…um. What do you want to know first, I guess? Though I can’t answer everything.”

“Are you a Noah?” Komui queries.

The question catches you by surprise. You would’ve expected him to first ask how you know so much about the Black Order. “What? Of course not!”

He watches you keenly. “If you were, the gatekeeper wouldn’t have caught it.”

You c**k your head. “Really? Come to think, you’re right. He just looks for pentacles, the sign of Akuma, right? So if a Noah tried to get inside, he wouldn’t know better. Has that ever happened before?”

Both of them ignore you. “She’s not a Noah,” Lavi reassures Komui, using your head as an armrest (and making you scowl at him). “We’ve been with her long enough. If she was, she probably would’ve tried to kill us.”

“Unless her goal was to kill the head of the Black Order,” Komui counters.

“Well, you’re not dead yet,” you mumble, shoving Lavi off. “And if I was a Noah and I really wanted to, I doubt one Exorcist would be able to stop me. Besides, why would I just waltz into Black Order HQ? If I were a Noah, that would be suicide.”

“She’s got a point,” Lavi comments, finally flopping down on the couch next to you and stretching back.

“So probably not a Noah,” Komui concludes. “But not an accommodator, either?”

You spread your arms wide. “Hey, if I’m compatible with Innocence, no one’s ever told me.” Except Tyki in your dream… and, in a way, Road.

“Then how do you know so much about us?”

Ah, the question you knew was coming and yet were hoping you wouldn’t have to answer. You hesitate, thinking it over. What do you tell them? That they’re fictional? That you know roughly what’s going to happen to a certain point in the future? That Road fetched you from your world into this one? “…I don’t know.”

“Oh, I think you do,” Lavi replies, and once again, there’s that look on his face, a sort of dangerous, forced grin.

You shake your head, staring at the ground, the papers no longer bothering you. “I do, but… it’s complicated. What am I supposed to say? It’s like… I know a lot, but not everything. And I don’t want to say how I know. If I do, you’re going to ask for more, and I don’t know if I can… give you that. I don’t know.”

That confusing statement is met with silence. “Do the Noahs know you know?” Komui asks, and you nod silently. “Do they know how?”

“Yes,” you whisper.

“What do you know about the Clan of Noah?”

“Not much,” you admit, still refusing to meet Komui’s eyes. “Probably less than you do. I can name five, maybe six members, but I don’t know how accurate my information is. And if I tell you…” You trail off, remembering a pair of golden eyes, a singsong threat. “You better not fight us. Or else Tyki will come and get you…”

Lavi says nothing, silently watching the scene unfold. “Look at me,” Komui orders, and you shudder but refuse, lost in memories of a girl with a sadistic smile. “(Your Name)?”

And then there’s a finger tilting your chin up, and your gaze flashes to Lavi, looking serious and concerned, before going to Komui. Lenalee’s brother scrutinizes you for a long second, and you shrink back a little, frightened not of him but of the people who brought you here, to this dimension, in the first place. After a moment, he nods as if satisfied, leaning back. “It won’t cause trouble for us if we don’t know?”

You shake your head wildly, not sure how true it may be but willing to do just about anything to not have to answer.

“Komui?” Lavi questions, sounding a bit shocked.

Komui sighs. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re probably going to give her a breakdown if we force her to answer that.”

“Probably,” you mutter, your eyes dropping down to stare at the floor again. A hand ruffles your hair fondly, and you decide you can probably forgive Lavi his insensitivity, just this once. As for Komui, he’s definitely a lot scarier in real life, even when he isn’t going on one of his Lenalee-rampages.

“Just two more questions, then,” Komui says, his voice a bit kinder. Probably because he’s realized you’re absolutely terrified by this point. “What’s your connection to the Noah?”

You wince, unconsciously fingering the half-healed wound in your hand. “…ah. Not really all of them. I’ve only met Road — she was the one who found me, and she left me in the town where I met Lavi and Bookman. She…” You hesitate before plunging ahead. “In so many words, she wanted to make me her toy.” You can skip the rest — like why she supposedly brought you here, you of all people.

“From what I’ve heard of her, that sounds about right,” mutters Komui.

“She showed me… dreams. Of Tyki. Threatened me with them.” You try to repress them now that you know how real they can be… a still-beating heart in his white-gloved palm… “That’s it, I think.”

“Sounds like fun,” Lavi tells you sarcastically.

Komui gives him a warning glance. “I can see why you’d want to come here.”

You try your best to smirk; it comes out more like a grimace. “I didn’t want to take chances with her or her family.”

“All right, last question.” You stiffen slightly, resisting the urge to curl up in the fetal position on the couch. Somehow, you feel like this is all about to get worse, even though you know there’s no way that’s possible.

“What?” you query through clenched teeth.

“Would you like to meet Hevlaska?”

You glance up, startled, to see Komui smiling at you. Lavi’s grinning, too, somewhat apologetically. It seems that they’ve forgiven you your inability to tell them everything they want to know, and you nod slowly, trying to make yourself relax. “Can I?”

“We can see what she thinks of you, too,” Komui informs you, and somehow, the thought isn’t at all threatening.

“Can Hevlaska sense Noah?” you wonder, curious. You know she’s the accommodator of the Innocence cube, but not much else, much less how she got to look that way.

“We don’t know. She’s never met one.” Komui stands up, walking over to the door of his office and opening it. “Come on, this way.”

“What about the Great Generals or whatever you call them?” you ask. “Do I have to meet them? The impression I got was that they sat in hovering chairs above where Hevlaska is all day.”

Komui and Lavi snicker at that. “You don’t have to,” Komui says. “I’ll just tell them you’re fine and we’ll be keeping you here for your own protection.”

You sigh deeply. “Thanks.”

“See? Nothing to worry about!” Lavi tells you cheerfully, and you duck out of the way as he tries to ruffle your hair again.

“Lavi!”

“Relax,” he reassures you, somehow getting close enough to whisper in your ear. “It’ll be fine.”

“Tyki—”

“Is free to try and get through a whole castle full of Exorcists to get to you if that’s what he wants,” Lavi points out. When he puts it that way, you’re a little more relieved.

Komui leads you to the strange floating platform in the center of the tower, keying it to go down. The fact that it even exists makes no sense at all to you; this is supposed to be nineteenth-century England, so why do they have technology that doesn’t even exist in your early twenty-first century? If you ask, though, you’re likely to just get some answer about the Black Order being very well-funded for technological research by the New World Alliance, so you don’t even bother.

The elevator-thing descends until you’re surrounded by blackness, slowing and coming to a stop, leaving you to blink and look around, trying to catch sight of anything. A distinct snicker comes from beside you, and you reach out, feeling around in an attempt to whack Lavi. “This isn’t funny, you know!”

“Oh, but it is~” he half-sings.

“I know what’s coming, so I’m not going to be scared!” you scold him. “…that much.”

There’s a definite note of amusement in Komui’s voice as he calls, “Hevlaska?”

Then, suddenly, there’s movement, of a glowing figure below you, and as you peer over the railing, it uncoils itself. It isn’t even vaguely humanoid, but you weren’t expecting it to be; however, Hevlaska looms high above your head, and you find yourself staring up at her with a mix of awe and maybe a little actual anxiety.

“This is (Your Full Name),” Komui introduces. “I think I’ve mentioned her before. (Your Name), Hevlaska.”

“Very nice to meet you,” you respond politely. “But if you’ll excuse me for saying so, you’re really, really big.”

Lavi and Komui burst out laughing at your less-than-intelligent comment; for her part, Hevlaska leans down so she’s a bit closer to your eye level. “I apologize,” she says, and you can tell that she’s smiling.

You smile back. “No need. It’s not like you can help it or anything.”

A few of the — tentacles? — come toward you, but stop, waving uncertainly a few feet from your body. “May I?” queries Hevlaska.

You glance at Komui. “I was under the impression that you usually didn’t ask…” He simply grins that Komui grin, shrugging, and you sigh. “This is going to feel really weird, isn’t it? Go ahead.”

She picks you up gently, strands of her body wrapping around you like arms and lifting you off the platform, though somehow, you feel perfectly safe, knowing she won’t drop you. You peer down, finding yourself a dizzying height above the ground, but at the moment, you’re more fascinated with the glowing, pulsating circle below you, inside Hevlaska’s body. Most of the holes are empty, but there are some in which you can see the spheres, and you find that your mouth has dropped open in awe.

“So that’s Innocence in its raw form?” you question. “It’s… very pretty.”

There’s something beautiful, almost mesmerizing about the way it shines, like a welcoming and protecting light, meant to act as a weapon and a shield for all of humanity. Hevlaska is still, allowing you to get a good look at the complex design beneath you.

“Innocence…”

You look up at her, curious, to find that she’s no longer looking in your direction, but staring into space in a way. You frown, wrapping one hand around the appendage that grasps you. “Hevlaska? What’s wrong?”

“Hey, look down!” Lavi orders, his voice full of irony, and you do so, puzzled.

One of the spaces is glowing green, and as you watch, it rises, lifting itself from its place nestled inside the array and hovering in thin air. It shines, somehow different from all the rest, more familiar, almost like a long-lost friend. It’s coming toward you, and even as you’re entranced by it, some part of you groans. You should’ve known. They mentioned it, after all, and you tried to deny it, tried to deny that you could be, but…

And then Hevlaska is looking at you again, and the Innocence is drifting upward, through her, stopping for a moment before exiting her body. You put your hands out instinctively, and it falls into your cupped palms, fitting perfectly just like it belongs there, which you’re sure it does. It’s almost like it has a mind of its own, emotions of its own, because you can almost swear that the white-green glow feels happy, content… welcoming.

“Well, isn’t that convenient?” Lavi says sarcastically, completely breaking your moment.

“Exorcist,” Hevlaska murmurs, acknowledging you as one of her comrades, before setting you back down next to Lavi.

Komui seems a bit troubled, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “That was unexpected. Well, at least now we know you’re not a Noah.”

You clutch the Innocence to your chest. Even though you know, deep in your heart, that it will spell your doom sometime in the near future, the longer you hold on to it, the less willing you are to let it go. “Are you sure about that? Maybe Noahs can be compatible with Innocence too.”

Lavi leans toward you, poking at the sphere, and you stick your tongue out at him and move away. “That would be weird. What would they do, fight themselves? And you’re acting like you want us to think you’re a Noah.”

“I’m not.”

“Exactly.”

“You realize this changes things.” Both of you look over at Komui, argument temporarily forgotten. “If you’re compatible with that Innocence, you will have to become an Exorcist. It might even be more dangerous than… your other option.”

You swallow thickly. An Exorcist. Facing death every day, fighting the Akuma, living with a constant paranoia born of the people around you… it’s so much harder now that it’s actually real, now that you actually have to do it. Plus, you’re going to have a couple Noahs on your tail as well. You couldn’t have asked for a better situation in which to get yourself killed.

“I know,” you whisper, your throat suddenly dry. “And I’ll do it.”

Lavi says nothing, just watching you, and you try to ignore him. Komui nods. “Good. Give some thought as to what kind of anti-Akuma weapon you’d like to have.” He moves toward the control panel and pauses. “…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you tell him, and it seems you still can’t get your voice to work properly, for it doesn’t come out very loudly.

“Bye, Hevlaska,” Komui calls as the lift starts ascending again.

You swallow again and manage to get your volume up high enough to call out, “It was nice meeting you!” before she disappears out of sight.

The ride up is uncomfortably silent, mostly because you’re still considering this new turn of events. You’re a normal person. You can’t be an Exorcist; you don’t have the strength or the skill or the disposition. You know what it’s about, sure, and you know some things about Akuma and the Noah clan, but that’s not nearly enough…

You try not to think of the Noah clan. Road’s going to be furious; this is exactly what she told you not to do.

“Did they know?”

You glance at Komui, confused. He’s not looking at you, but rather, the Innocence in your hands, which you’re clutching so tightly your knuckles are turning white. “The Noahs,” he elaborates. “Did they know you’re compatible with Innocence?”

You look away, staring down at the floor and biting your lip. You have no idea how they did it, and yet…

“Yes,” you mumble, and they ask no further questions. That one word is enough.


~*~*~

“It’s your first mission! Aren’t you excited?”

“I’m gonna die.”

“Not with us around, you won’t.”

“…I’m still gonna die.”

“You’re saying that like you don’t trust me! C’mon, don’t worry about it. It’s not that hard, and we’re used to fighting Akuma anyway.”

“Will you two shut up?” a new voice snaps.

You and Lavi are quiet for a few seconds, staring at each other, until you venture to speak again. “…he’s the reason I’m gonna die.”

“Haa… I see what you mean.” He chuckles nervously. “But really! Yu’s not all that bad!”

“Don’t call me that!” Yu Kanda snaps, and you eep, cowering behind the redhead.

“Sorry, Kanda!” you call apologetically, trying to sound sincere.

“Tch.” He spins around, stalking away moodily. “Why the hell am I stuck teaching amateurs, anyway?”

“Aw, c’mon, Yu, don’t be like that!” Lavi runs forward, keeping pace with the Japanese Exorcist. “Be nice to her. She’s a special case, you know.”

“You make me sound like I’m screwed up in the head or something,” you remark, hurrying to follow them.

“Aren’t you?” Kanda bites out.

“Yu!” Lavi scolds. He actually somewhat glares at his best friend for a second before turning back to you, his gaze softening. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

“Oh, great, a town full of people who refuse to die. I wonder if that extends to the Akuma, too?”

“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Lavi scolds you jokingly, draping an arm around your shoulders.

“…off, boy.” You roll your eyes but don’t do anything to dislodge him.

“If this is caused by Innocence, it won’t affect the Akuma,” Kanda tells you over his shoulder. “Akuma are hurt by Innocence, so coming in contact with it to that extent would probably kill them.” He pauses, almost like he’s done, before adding crushingly, “Idiot.”

Your shoulders slump, and you sigh theatrically. “And here I thought for a second you were actually being nice. And helpful. Telling me something useful, but nooo…”

Kanda turns around, glowering dangerously at you, his hand drifting to hover near Mugen. “Stop. Talking. Or I’m going to kill you.”

The look in his eyes startles you, and you freeze for a second. Golden eyes, a smile, a lilting voice, a dark smirk, a man standing there…

And then you snap out of it as Lavi suddenly reaches past you, whapping Kanda lightly on the head. “Hey, hey, none of that. Didn’t anyone warn you about the block words?”

“Lavi!” you wail, just a little bit upset. “Don’t do that. It’s embarrassing.”

Kanda just stares at you for a second, twitching, like he’s considering beheading Lavi. “…tch.” Then he turns on his heel and keeps walking, obviously expecting you to keep up.

“Why is he here, anyway?” Lavi wonders in an undertone. “We could probably take care of this with just you and me.”

“Komui wanted me to meet him,” you deadpan. “He thought I would like it.”

“And do you?” he asks curiously.

“…well, yes, I was excited at first.” You look away, sweatdropping. “And then I realized that he actually would stab me if I touched his hair. And that I wouldn’t be able to dodge. And that killed all my hopes and dreams.”

Lavi chuckles. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ve all had our fantasies about playing with Yu’s hair.”

“…you are so weird, Lavi.” And that leads you to a mental image of Allen beaming and braiding Kanda’s hair. Ow. You were using that brain.

Kanda stops suddenly, looking in the distance at a collection of buildings, and you slow down as well, staring at it. “Is that Maevlin?”

“What do you think?” he retorts brusquely, and continues moving.

You look helplessly at your other, more helpful traveling companion. “Lavi?”

He glances at the town for a moment before looking at the sky, seeming to consult a mental map. “Well, we’re still in Portugal, anyway.”

“I guess that’s good?” Yeah, you’ll just trust the two boys to not get you lost.

It doesn’t take long to reach your destination, and before long, you’re walking the streets of Maevlin, watching the people out of the corner of your eye. Maevlin, the city where no one ever dies… literally. Its residents live to ridiculously old ages, limited only to when they leave, and accidents of all sorts never kill anyone. As Komui put it, they could probably be run over by a train that throws them over a hundred-foot cliff and still be alive. As amazing as it sounds, it isn’t all that great, since the injuries remain and living through something like that would probably be rather painful.

Well, at least you can console yourself that you might fall under that same protection as long as you’re here, searching for the Innocence. What you don’t know, however, is if it extends to poison from Akuma blood as well, and you’d rather not find out. Lavi’s a tad bit concerned