Third Encounter, parts 1 and 2
Alias 40: Sun Yi
(Third Encounter pt 1)
“Help me with my homework, Lavi ♥” Rhode threw herself onto his shoulders.
Despite being surrounded by piles of books in the Earl's expansive library, Lavi always seemed to be found. And when Rhode found him, Rhode came first before the books. He had tried to object a few times but ended up surrendering in the end. He had doomed himself when he first took one of her workbooks and filled in all the correct answers.
“Which subject?” Lavi inquired, closing the encyclopedia he had been reading.
Still hanging on his shoulders, she shoved the book in front of him. “Bi-o-lo-gy.”
Lavi looked at the bookmarked page. Anatomy. “This seems more like Tyki's subject. He could just pull someone apart for ya.”
Rhode giggled. “But he's not home!”
Lavi reached out and pulled a book from the stack, then opened to a particular page. Turning it sideways it revealed a large diagram of the human body. “This'll help, yeah?”
“Oh it sure will!” Rhode agreed, leaning over his shoulders. “Sennen-ko sure has a useful book.”
“The Earl has a lot'a good books here,” Lavi added. It was a pretty extensive library. Somehow when he thought he'd read half the books, it somehow turned out that he had barely touched them at all. Maybe the Earl was moving books around when he wasn't there. Or maybe it was magic or something different entirely? Whatever the case, it kept him busy with new books for over two years.
“Oh, there you are, Lavi.”
Rhode and Lavi turned to find Tyki walking through the door, pulling on his gloves. Rhode latched onto Lavi's shoulders. “He's mine right now, Tyki,” she said possessively, narrowing her eyes at him. “We're doing homework.”
“It's a mission from the Earl, Rhode,” Tyki stated, adjusting his hat.
“Oooh~,” Rhode wined.
“This book'll do ya just fine,” Lavi grinned at Rhode.
“I'm taking you to China on my way to India,” Tyki explained.
Lavi had been carefully gathering information in the the Middle East when he caught wind of Exorcists heading east. China, the man selling maps had told him. Three of them were heading in that direction.
And that's just where Lavi found himself, west China along the Yellow River, at a city along one of the routes he discovered during his recordings under the alias Sun Yi.
It was his 40th alias, 13 at the time. He'd recorded so much history, so many wars, but this was a different mission. He was to learn about the war of the three kingdoms, which happened centuries ago, and the hidden history this city held about it. Hidden history was what Lavi loved the most about being a Bookman. It was knowing something few knew, knowing the secrets of the world, and it was what tantalized him most about the Noah as well.
Sun Yi was a strange character for this town to see: a redhead with one brilliant green eye. This city had seen many foreigners, but Yi was by far the most unusual. Regardless, no one ever seemed to question why a redhead had a Chinese name. Perhaps it was that the old man looked Chinese himself. Lavi had always figured him to be from some East Asian country, but since all Bookman cast off their born identities, Lavi never bothered asking.
But this time, Lavi was alone with a different mission. The people here had learned he was a historian, the specifics kept secret however, and allowed him to ask whatever questions he liked. Lavi had only been here a short time, but he was distinct enough that the people here might remember him and let him ask whatever he chose without question. And with access to the whole world, Lavi acquired traditional Chinese attire, similar to what he wore as Yi.
Lavi opened the door of a small familiar tea shop and was greeted by a familiar face.
“Sun Yi!” shouted the waitress. “I never thought I'd ever see you again!”
Well that answered any questions Lavi had. “Xiao Li, it's been a long time.” He plastered an inviting smile across his soft features and she practically melted, hugging him invitingly.
“What are you doing here? More history?” she inquired excitedly. During his time here, the waitress had served for good information on the current happenings around the city. Being a waitress in such a central location in the city gave her access to the city's gossip, events, and general chatter.
Lavi nodded. “More recent history,” he replied. “I'm lookin' for people in black coats with silver crosses. Ya seen anyone like that 'round here?”
She nodded, happy to help out an old friend. “Come have some tea, and I'll tell you everything.”
With a smile, Lavi took a seat at one of the tables, and Li brought them both a fresh pot of tea. She sat down across the table from him and poured both of them a fresh cup. “I've seen a good number of them come through the area, two separate groups, but only one came in for tea.”
Two groups? Where was everyone headed?
“The first group passed through here about a week ago, heading south, the other's probably still here,” Li continued. “I saw them this morning.”
They were here, then. Lavi took a sip of tea. It was as good as he had remembered. “Three of them?”
“Wow, you're really good!” Li exclaimed. “There are three of them. A tall man with a sword, another tall one wearing something on his ears, and an old man with lots of scrolls wearing a brown cloak.”
Lavi recognized the other two as Kanda and Marie, but the third he'd never heard of. Had the group picked up a third Exorcist between Turkey and China after Tyki had killed Daisya? Whatever the case, with Kanda nearby, Lavi had to be careful. He had been training with the Akuma Hammer the Earl had given him, but that didn't mean he could be reckless. But with the city knowing him as Sun Yi, hiding would be much easier.
“Did they say anythin' 'bout where they were goin'?” Lavi inquired, pouring himself another cup of tea.
She tapped a finger on her chin, recalling what she had heard from them in particular. “Well the old man said something about Edo and the man with the sword was protesting, carrying on in a foreign language.”
Of course, she didn't understand English. This was going to be difficult.
“But the old man did ask about the scenery around here,” she added. “He said he wanted to draw some memories before they left.”
“An artist?” Lavi never expected to find someone like that with the Order. Probably some low-level pacifist easy to gain information from. “Where did you send him?”
“The waterfall,” she replied. “You remember that place, don't you?”
Lavi remembered that place very well. He'd stood there before with Li, watching the beauty of the water fall down the cliff face, creating rainbows within the spray of the water as it hit the river. It was one of the rare times he'd ever marveled at the scenery since the sky on his first day as a Bookman. He remembered it so clearly.
“Thanks, ya've been a great help, Xiao Li ♥” Lavi smiled softly, reaching into his pocket for some coins.
“No need to pay, Sun Yi,” Li protested. “Consider this my treat. I hope that you'll stop by again sometime.”
“Maybe sometime in the future,” Lavi smiled sweetly. His words were incredibly convincing.
Lavi exited the teashop in hopes of finding out more about the Exorcists' movements in the area. If two groups had traveled through here, someone had to know about the first one. As he had asked various people he'd known as Sun Yi, he soon learned that no one really knew much about the first group. The observations described various group sizes, ages of its members, descriptions as well. It seemed the group had split up and traveled through pretty quickly. The one commonality everyone seemed to remember, however, was a boy with white hair. There was only one Exorcist who fit that description. Allen Walker. Were all the Exorcists heading to Edo?
This was big news. The Earl had to know.
But it would be some time before he'd meet up with Tyki. Even for a Tease, it would probably take some time to reach India, so Lavi chose to wait it out before Tyki was to return. Lavi had a grand opportunity to find this old artist traveling with Kanda and gather information from him.
And just as Li had said, the old man was there, sketching the waterfall, by himself at that. Kanda was nowhere in sight. Lavi approached the old man, but before he could say a thing, the man turned.
“Why don't you join me?” he invited. Pushing up his glasses, he smiled softly. The man seemed harmless. But as Lavi approached, he quickly stopped. The man's coat was lined with gold instead of silver. Tyki had told him that only the highest ranked Exorcists wore that sort of coat. This man was a general. Lavi silently reached for the hammer in his pouch.
“I'm not going to kill you, Bookman,” the man stated simply, returning to his sketches. “There's no reason to do so. My name is Froi Tiedoll.”
“I have no name,” Lavi replied. It was actually the truth, but Lavi was not about to give this Tiedoll his current alias. Tiedoll seemed unphased by Lavi's response and simply continued sketching the waterfall.
Withdrawing his hand from his pouch, Lavi ventured closer. Tiedoll didn't seem to move. He felt completely unthreatened by Lavi's presence, although he seemed to know exactly who Lavi was. Lavi wanted information, but there was no way a General would give him anything. Lavi was surprised he offered his name so quickly. The redhead finally sat down next to Tiedoll and looked out at the waterfall. It really was a beautiful as he remembered. Soon this world would be free of war and more places like this could exist.
“It's so beautiful, isn't it?” Tiedoll admitted, flipping the page to do another sketch. “I couldn't leave without taking a memory.”
“Sure is nice,” Lavi agreed. It was a genuine response, however, he followed up with one which had a deeper intent. “Where're ya goin'?”
“Now you know I can't tell you that, Bookman” Tiedoll replied, carefully sketching the water flowing around the rocks at the base of the waterfall. “Neutral or not, you are staying with the Noah. I can't put my team at risk.”
Tiedoll couldn't blame Lavi for trying at least. This man was incredibly calm and honest. Lavi had never met anyone quite like Tiedoll and wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Pity he couldn't get any information about the Exorcists from him.
But their conversation was cut all too short as Lavi found an all-too familiar blade at his throat. He'd let his guard down. Kanda had taken him completely by surprise.
Third Encountered
(Part 2)
“I've found the white rabbit,” Kanda smirked, sounding rather pleased with himself.
Lavi didn't move. He wasn't about to lose his head.
“Yuu-kun, there's no need for that,” Tiedoll stated, looking up from his art.
“Don't call me that, old man!” Kanda shouted at him. “And don't be so fucking stupid!”
“But I always call you that, Yuu-kun,” Tiedoll protested calmly.
“That's not the point!” Kanda fussed back. “This Bookman here's been giving out our location to those Noah!”
It was incredibly true, although Lavi would just vehemently deny it. Lavi continued to stay still, or at least that's how he appeared. He had quietly managed to slip his hand into his pouch unnoticed and wrap his fingers around the hilt of the tiny hammer, and remove it from the pouch.
Kanda tightened his grip on Lavi. Blood began to trickle down his neck and it felt almost painful to breathe. He had hoped to simply weasel himself out of the situation, but it seemed he needed to use his trump card.
“Grow,” he commanded, sending the head of the hammer straight into Kanda's stomach. The sudden force threw the Exorcist backwards, thankfully not taking Lavi's head off in the process as Kanda suddenly lost his grip on Lavi in surprise. Lavi shot to his feet, bringing the hammer head down to the ground, resting the handle on the bottom of his lower arm allowing the length of it to fall behind his back. Lavi was on the defensive, but switching to offense wasn't out of the question. He was horribly outnumbered and to top it off, one of his opponents was a General.
“Che,” Kanda spat, recovering from the surprise attack. “Fucker's got a weapon now.”
This of course made the encounter more challenging for the Exorcists, even with numbers on their size. They knew nothing of this new weapon. Where it came from, what materials were used to make it, or even what it was capable of doing. For all they knew it was a weapon Lavi could manipulate its size, but was there more to this hammer. “What happened to your 'just an observer' business, huh?”
“That stopped when ya tried t' take my life,” Lavi shot back. “A Bookman always defends himself.” The specifics of defensive maneuvers were not something Kanda needed to know. Instead he should have realized to simply back off and let Lavi leave, but that never was the case with this man.
And as luck would have it, Noise Marie also showed up. It was now a sole Bookman against three incredibly powerful Exorcists and no way to contact a Noah to help. Lavi had no ability to command Akuma, either. He wasn't a Noah, just a human among them.
“Are you alright, General?” Marie inquired.
Tiedoll nodded. “We were just having a friendly chat before Yuu-kun interrupted us.”
Kanda's eyebrow twitched.
“Friendly conversation?” Marie sounded incredibly surprised. “You are aware of who that is, yes?”
Tiedoll nodded. “I am.”
Lavi simply stared. Was Tiedoll defending him? This was unprecedented.
Marie also stared, while Kanda simply scowled. Lavi had never seen another expression on that Exorcist's face. It was almost as if it had gotten stuck that way.
“Mugen, activate!” The words brought Lavi's attention back to the bad situation at hand. While Tiedoll didn't seem to want to fight, Kanda couldn't wait for it. Lavi resumed a defensive stance. He knew not to get the hammer too close to the Innocence. After all, it was crafted from Akuma parts, which was weak to Innocence. Lavi wasn't sure how strong the parts were, they could be of Level 4 parts for all he knew, but he wasn't about to test the physical strength and possibly destroy his only strong weapon.
With a sharp twist of his wrist, Lavi brought the hammer in front of him, then gave a command, “Waves of the Great Flood!” Synchronously with the command, he drew the hammer upwards, tracing an invisible line from toe to opposing shoulder. Water flooded quickly from his action, flowing intensely towards Kanda and Marie. Kanda attempted to slice through it, but the elements were a bit stronger than his sword and he simply found himself soaked and knocked over. Lavi took the opportunity and made a mad dash for it, tucking his hammer back into his pouch and running quickly past the Exorcists and into the city.
Kanda scowled, pushing himself to his feet just in time to see Lavi make his escape. “Follow him.”
“Yuu-kun,” Tiedoll suddenly interjected.
Kanda turned to him, seething at the name.
“Don't put people in danger over this,” the General warned.
Kanda frowned, “Che,” then headed off into the city.
Lavi was quick, but not quick enough to avoid Marie hearing him. The Bookman had a pretty decent lead on them and was widening the gap. His slender body made it easy for him to run very quickly. Unfortunately his speed was dropped sharply to a halt as he nearly collided with Li.
< Xiao Li, get inside, > Lavi warned her, his expression serious for once.
< Sun Yi! What's going on? > she worried. She'd never seen the redhead so upset before. In fact, she'd never seen him do anything but smile. Then she suddenly gasped.
Lavi turned to see Kanda dripping wet and seething with anger. Marie was behind him.
“Let the girl go, Bookman,” Marie demanded calmly.
< What do you want! > Li shouted in Chinese at the Exorcists, gripping the back of Lavi's tunic.
< Has he hurt you? > Marie inquired, speaking perfect Chinese.
< No! > she shouted back. < He's my friend! He hasn't done anything wrong! P-please don't steal his history books! They're important to us! >
“He's got the city in his hands,” Kanda hissed.
< Xiao Li, go inside. I'll take care'a this, 'kay? > Lavi offered her a reassuring smile. He was tempted to tell her lies upon lies, turning the city against them, but their actions did that for him.
She nodded, skittering quickly into the building, as did most of the city, shutting themselves in, hoping that they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.
“You've been here before, haven't you, Bookman,” Marie noted aloud.
Lavi didn't answer. He pulled the hammer back out of his pouch, preparing for another fight. He didn't want to reveal another one of his techniques, but for his life, he would.
Kanda twirled Mugen around in his hand a bit before pulling it back, preparing for an attack. Lavi brought the hammer to size, bracing himself.
“First illusion,” he called out a spell which released what appeared to be insects from his sword.
Lavi had never seen anything like it, but he'd only been faced with Kanda's blade alone. It seemed Kanda had a similar ability to his own, able to create illusions instead of elements. Lavi brought the hammer around with both hands, bringing it over his shoulder and then straight to the ground with the words, “Seismic Barrier!” A wall of the ground jutted up quickly, dispersing Kanda's attack.
But his success was cut short, as Noise Marie caught Lavi in a trap of wires wrapping around his wrists and pulling him to his knees. Losing his concentration, Lavi dropped the barrier. He lost to their expertise on the battlefield. Lavi was an observer, not a fighter, and in the end, it was what got him caught, and Noise Marie tangled him up quite well, restricting any possibility of escape.
“It's time to die, Bookman,” Kanda hissed, walking up to him. This was hardly a fair situation.
“I don't think so,” said a voice quite sourly. Delicate hands wrapped with freshly painted black nail polish around Lavi's shoulders followed by the face of a young girl with black hair and golden eyes. “He's mine.” She stuck her tongue out at the Exorcists childishly.
Kanda stepped back a few feet, however keeping his sword drawn and activated. This was a Noah, a seemingly young one at that. He'd only seen Tyki before, and this one was very different. Where did she come from? How did she know that Bookman was here? This also affirmed his believe that the Bookman was not neutral.
Rhode stared at Marie, her eyes glassing over and he suddenly withdrew his wires back to his hands, then proceeded to rub his hands, unsure of what just happened. Kanda scowled at the young Noah. Was she responsible for this?
She summoned a pink door behind her and dragged the Bookman through it with her, leaving Kanda gawking at the door when it simply disappeared from existence.
Lavi looked a mess when Rhode pulled him back into the Noah's home. He was bleeding down his neck and right arm, his tunic was torn in various places from Marie's wires. Despite all this, he smiled at Rhode. “Thanks. I woulda lost my head back there.”
“Tyki's running late, so I got you myself,” she grinned back.
“I've got important information for the Earl,” Lavi explained.
“He's got company,” Rhode stated.
Still a mess, Lavi peered around the corner into the main dining room with Rhode. The Earl sure did have company, human company. Lavi recognized the company as a high ranking French noble who was tangled up in a small, localized battle a few years prior. The nobleman stood up and shook the Earl's hand then glanced up for a moment, spotting Lavi and Rhode, who both quickly slipped back around the corner.
“I shall be meeting you later, Earl,” the Nobleman said with a bow.
“Ohoho, yes indeed ♥” the Earl agreed before seeing the Nobleman off.
With the Nobleman gone and out of sight, the Earl returned to his normal form. “I know you're there, Lavi, Rhode.”
“Sennen-ko!” Rhode bounded around the corner and threw herself on the Earl's shoulders. “I went to get Lavi and he's got good information!”
“Oh?” the Earl inquired, Rhode still hanging happily on his shoulders.
In a way, Lavi wanted to ask what he and the Nobleman had been talking about but he knew in time, he'd learn what had gone on. Or it could have been something incredibly trivial such as comparing the colors of the flowers in their gardens or what cheeses they'd had last week.
“The Exorcists're plannin' somethin' big,” Lavi replied. “Two separate teams passed through China, a week apart. The first group has an unknown size, but Allen Walker's with 'em. The second one's Kanda Yuu's group with General Tiedoll now with 'em.”
The Earl probably didn't care about the groups but the last bit of information was incredibly important. “The first group's headin' for Edo, 'n I'm positive the second one is too.”
“Ohoho~♥” the Earl chuckled lightly, despite his opposing expression. “They think they can get the upper hand? We'll just see about that~♥” After unlatching Rhode from his shoulders, the Earl promptly left, snickering to himself.
“Pay attention, Lavi,” Rhode said, a rather devious smirk drawn across her face. “Things're about to get very interesting.”