Missing: one golden golem (tag to Lavi, open)
Allen trudged to the cafeteria with less enthusiasm than usual. He always liked meeting with his friends, but he was weighed down with the feeling that something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but it was making him incredibly anxious - which was something he typically never was. The not knowing was the worst, he decided, and he glanced
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He should play it off, he knew. That's what Lavi would do. Joke around, make fun of him for being too sentimental and, what, did he think this was the end of the world, or something? They'd died and come back too many times to count! How was this anything knew? But just thinking the words gave him cold shivers. Lavi couldn't get them past his teeth.
"Allen," he finally said, still facing forward, his arm still held behind him, his hand still gripping Allen's hand. He knew why he wanted to shove Allen away. That's what the old man always wanted. Bookmen are always alone, and blah blah blah , the same old bullshit. Lavi understood all that. But why did he-- He found himself hugging Allen without meaning to, his arms wrapped around Allen's shoulders and holding tight. It felt like embracing a ghost.
Lavi pulled back completely as if he'd been physically shocked, and he laughed hollowly, scratching the back of his neck and looking anywhere but Allen's eyes. "You had a... A thing on your shoulder. I got it, OK? Let's just-- We're almost there, c'mon!" Lavi turned and tromped down the stairs without waiting for a reply. Running away? Yeah. He was running away.
What the hell had gotten into him today?
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"All right," he said softly, following along without any ceremony or thought. If he just quit thinking, maybe things would get better.
He ran down the stairs to catch up, but he didn't speak - he just walked side by side with Lavi, forcing his mind to any other subject.
"What do you think our next mission will be?" he asked, forcing the smile back to his face. "I haven't gone on one with you in awhile, have I! Do you remember when we went and found Krory in that castle?"
He was babbling and he knew it, but Allen didn't mind so much as long as the haunted look left Lavi's typically cheerful gaze.
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Following Allen's lead, Lavi babbled on mechanically, "Man, Kro was so scary back then! And digging up those graves? We shouldn't have to do that stuff! I remember this time Kro bit me. Seriously, has he ever bit you, Bean Sprout? SCA~RY! We're lucky he's on our side!"
It was second nature to Lavi, to fill the air with talking. He could go on and on, if Allen let him, talking and saying nothing. But that supposed second nature was hard to hold onto right now. He kept... half-remembering things. Like Krory. There was something... Something about Krory that he was forgetting. What was it?
Lavi went silent without realizing, his mind sifting through his memories like fingers across files. Things were missing. He knew it; he could feel it. Where had those memories gone?
"If this's Innocence doing this," Lavi said in low tones, too quietly for Allen's golem to pick up. "I'm gonna smash it into dust."
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Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. "I can't remember," he blurted, stopping and putting his back to the stone wall, staring at Lavi as though perhaps he could do something to fix this madness. "When I think about Krory, or Kanda, or - or you, I get this feeling inside that I... that I've forgotten something, or that I'm not supposed to be here!"
He knew his voice was slightly on the edge of panic, but at that exact moment he didn't care. He needed to speak his worries, needed Lavi to hear them - maybe needed to know if he was just going crazy. "Maybe that we aren't supposed to be here," he whispered, touching a gloved hand to the stone wall behind him. "If it's Innocence causing this... shouldn't someone know by now?"
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Wait. Didn't he? Why did he get the feeling that--
Arg, it was so frustrating!
"Isn't it always like this?" Lavi sat on the steps, because he was getting nowhere mentally, he figured bitterly, so why not match it with the physical? He threw his arms across his knees and absently picked at the sole of one of his boots. "Something weird goes on, so we all figure it's gotta be Innocence behind it, even though we've got no clue where it is or what it looks like. 'S the nature of the beast."
With a sigh, Lavi flopped back until he was sprawled across the steps. "We should just wait for the Akuma to attack. Then we'll know."
Of course, it was a ridiculous notion, letting the Akuma attack Headquarters. ...this headquarters. Wait.
"The level four." Lavi mumbled, sitting up. "Hey, Allen. Didn't... I mean. You remember the first level four we fought in this building?"
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He opened his eyes again and looked down the stairwell and to the hallway beyond. How long had it been since he'd set foot in this place, really? Obviously he'd woken up here in his own bed, but...
"Lavi," he finally said, turning to look at the other Exorcist. "You said you met an Exorcist named Maria, but Master... he, ah..." He blinked owlishly, suddenly confounded with how exactly he was going to say Master uses a corpse named Maria in a giant coffin bound by chains and she sings on his command. "Master knew a woman named Maria," he finally finished lamely. His train of thought returned, though, and he looked at the redhead intently. "Have you met Daisya? Daisya Barry? He's shorter than me, and his coat has a hood with a bell attached, and he has... tattoos on his face, I think. Have you met him?"
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