Someone can slap me now.
Title: Wonder, Faith, Choice
Chapter Title: Family Reunion
Summary: In this world, there are three different Noahs. These Noahs-the children of “wonder”, “faith”, and “choice”-will tear the Black Order’s delicate balance to pieces. Yullen TykiLavi RoadLenalee OC
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don’t own D. Gray-Man. I own Mie. That’s about it.
Warnings: Blood, future violence, spoilers through chapter 143, and an OC (I think it’ll be just one…)
Pairings: Lavi/Tyki, Road/Lenalee, Kanda/Allen, Miranda/OC if no one objects (all slash)
A/N: You don't want to know how long this has been sitting on my computer. I actually posted it on FFN, but somehow forgot to put it up here. I'll post the next one (same thing for that one) in the next day or two.
Anyway, here we go. We get some answers this chapter, and another plothole gets filled in.
Please R&R!
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Two weeks ago, during the attack on the Black Order Headquarters
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Kanda felt completely useless. Mugen was broken, and with it his only way to help was gone. Lulu Bell’s attack was unstoppable, and they would lose the “egg” to the Noahs…
The Noahs.
In desperation, Kanda left the mess hall and headed for his room. It was a stupid idea; he knew that. Making a deal with the devil was bad enough. Making a deal with a so-called Child of God was even worse. But it was all he had to fall back on.
Kanda entered his room and headed for the bedside, where the shards of Mugen lay, wrapped in a cloth.
What are you going to do, Yuu-chan? a familiar voice asked in his mind. What can you do? Mugen is broken.
That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually, Kanda replied silently, evenly.
Oh? The voice was suddenly interested. Go on.
Satisfied that he had her undivided attention, Kanda asked, Can you fix it?
In five minutes. She was smug about it, as always.
Will you?
Do you want me to? she countered, sounding like a five-year-old being offered a three-scoop ice cream cone.
Kanda hesitated only a moment. Yes.
Then I will-on one condition.
What condition? Kanda asked warily.
That you bring me the other shattered Innocence as well.
Nyoibou? Lavi’s hammer? Kanda was surprised. Why?
I like experimenting, she said sweetly. Will you do it?
Kanda hesitated. He made a policy of not letting her mess with anything that didn’t belong to him… But he had also sworn, a long time ago, that he would never be useless again.
All right, he answered finally, and left to get Nyoibou from Lavi’s room.
---
She didn’t even come to Headquarters. Within five minutes, just as promised, Mugen and Nyoibou were both fixed. Kanda took the hammer and headed back to Lavi’s room to drop it off.
Unfortunately, Lavi showed up before Kanda could get out.
“What are you doing?” the Bookman Apprentice asked.
Kanda turned. Lavi was watching him with one suspicious green eye. “Komui and Hevlaska managed to fix our Anti-Akuma weapons,” he said. “I was dropping yours off.”
Lavi stared at Kanda. The Japanese Exorcist didn’t even blink as the redhead stared him down. Of course, he’d have to be a good liar, Lavi thought wryly. He’s like me that way. But who really fixed the weapons? Did Kanda really go to her?
“Thanks,” was all he said aloud.
---
Today
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“Who is she?” Cross repeated when Lavi didn’t answer immediately.
Lavi glanced around the area, sensing rather than seeing Cross tense. The General was still unsure of Lavi’s alliance; it would have been depressing, if the news of an unscheduled family reunion hadn’t already put him too much on edge to care.
“Her name is Mie Amora,” he answered when he was finally sure that no one was listening. “She’s the Noah Child of ‘wonder’.” He hesitated then, unsure how much more he could safely say.
“Why are you so scared of her?”
Lavi sat down in one of the couches. This would take some time to explain without getting anyone killed. “I’m not scared of her,” he said. “I’m scared of what the Black Order will do w-if they ever find out about me. And she’s the only one who’s likely to tell them. Road has made it perfectly clear that she doesn’t consider me family anymore,” he explained, thinking of the parade of corpses, “so she won’t claim any relation with me, including by calling me a Noah. Tyki has enough experience with playing human to understand that I don’t want to be exposed, and to respect that. But Mie…” He sighed and shook his head. “Mie wonders a lot. She’ll wonder, sooner or later, what the Black Order would do if it knew that one of its ‘precious Exorcists’ is a Noah… and she won’t care that what she wonders is exactly what I’m afraid of.” He stopped himself from adding any other names to the list of people Mie might expose.
“You’ve met her?” Cross sat across from Lavi, watching him intently.
“Once.” And what a cheery meeting that had been. He’d barely joined the Black Order and a sister he’d never chosen wanted him to sneak her “toy” in under the Gatekeeper’s nose-without letting said “toy” know who was behind it. “Other than that, what I know about her is from news reports or genetic memories of the Child of Wonder.”
“Genetic memories?” Cross asked.
“We all have them,” Lavi told him. “I don’t like accessing them… It’s hard to remember me when I look at all the past Children-” He stopped abruptly, realizing just how close he’d come to telling Cross what Child he was-the only bit of information he could never afford to give away, especially not now that the panda was awake again. “…Like me,” he finished finally.
Cross seemed to realize how close Lavi had come to letting something slip, because he looked disappointed as he nodded and stood. “Well, we’re leaving tomorrow,” he said. “Make sure you’re ready.”
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Like always, they were taking a train to the town where the attacks had been happening. Unlike always, they actually had tickets this time.
On the train, they split into pairs and headed to various compartments. There was no purpose to their being all in one place; if the train was attacked, which considering the danger of this mission was an unprecedented likelihood, it would be better for them to be spread out so that they wouldn’t present such an obvious target.
Cross joined Lavi, which the youth had expected. Less than half an hour into the train ride, though, Cross got up to ask Bookman something (which set Lavi immediately on edge), and Lavi was left alone.
“Hello, otouto,” an all-too-familiar voice said a few minutes later. Lavi’s head whipped around to see Tyki Mikk sitting next to him, smiling calmly.
“What are you doing here?” Lavi demanded, rising from his seat, one hand going to Nyoibou.
“Please, sit, otouto,” Tyki said in what was clearly meant to be a soothing voice. “I’m not here to hurt you-or your friends.”
Lavi watched the older Noah for a long moment before sitting down across from him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “I wouldn’t have expected you to leave the town you were so eagerly terrorizing.”
Tyki smiled calmly. “Don’t lie, otouto,” he replied. “You fully expected that from me. You expect that Black or White, I will always look for the greatest amount of fun to be had. The person you didn’t expect to abandon the town is Mie, the self-declared scientist who likes to find one lab and stay there; and she did not disappoint your expectations. She and Lulu Bell are still in the town.”
“What about Road?” The idea scared Lavi more than he would admit. If Road was there, then she would be headed for-
“Road came along,” Tyki said, smiling. “She’s looking for an opportunity to meet with her ‘doll’.”
Tyki’s smile was a little too friendly, his move across the compartment to sit beside Lavi a little too casual. Lavi pressed himself against the wall, but he didn’t bother to try to move any further away.
“You know, Black or White, I fully expect you to be an insufferable flirt,” he snapped, “but I never realized that you’d direct that kind of attention at your family.” He spat the word out. He claimed no relation with these people. He never had.
Tyki’s smile turned amused. “Oh, dear otouto,” he said, “you know better than that. Though we may call each other siblings, we are no more closely related than you are to Road’s ‘doll’, or to Mie’s ‘toy’.” He frowned. “And it’s something I will never understand why you reject us, yet you will smile for them. You will let them touch you; you do not shy away from them; you call them by nicknames and treat them as family.”
“Why wouldn’t you understand that, Tyki?” Lavi asked, eyes narrowed. “I chose a different family. Why is that so strange?”
Tyki’s smile faded. For once in his many lives, the Noah of ‘pleasure’ looked serious. “It isn’t just strange, otouto,” he said. “It’s insanity. We know everything about you. We know what secrets you keep hidden under your headband and your eye patch; we know about the hammer hanging at your side and everything it means. We know it, and we accept it. There is no secret you can tell us that will banish you from our family. But the Black Order knows only of the hammer you wield, and cares to know no more. Everyone you call a friend will no longer be such if they learn even one of your secrets.”
“Then I won’t tell them,” Lavi returned, trying not to show that his heart was pounding. He knew the truth of Tyki’s words.
“You can’t hide forever, otouto,” Tyki told him, pleading golden eyes boring into green. “It’s a terrible truth, but you know I’m right. Your friends will abandon you when-not if, but when-they find out why you wear that headband.”
Lavi was paralyzed. How could he tell Tyki to stuff it when he knew from experience that everything he was saying was the honest truth?
Tyki smiled sadly and stood. “I won’t interfere with your train ride, otouto,” he said. “That’s not why I’m here. I wanted only to tell you that when you change your mind-when you decide to stop bleeding-our family is waiting, and we will welcome you.”
With that, he left. Lavi tried not to stare after him.
---
Kanda and Allen had somehow wound up being stuck together in a compartment, much to Kanda’s fury.
Allen had been playing Solitaire for most of the train ride. Kanda had just been staring out the window-or trying to, anyway. Somehow, every time he tried to focus on the scenery outside, he inevitably found his gaze drawn back to the other Exorcist.
You could be with him, you know.
Kanda jerked. Allen looked up from his cards. “Something wrong?” he asked.
Kanda shook his head and went back to looking out the window, or rather at Allen’s reflection.
Come on, Yuu-chan. I can see through your eyes. You can’t tell me you don’t like him. You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool yourself-or me. He’s stronger than you. He stands up to you, tells you things you don’t want to hear. He’s just compassionate enough to balance out your cynicism, and you’re just realistic enough to balance his naïveté.
Kanda tried to act like he didn’t know what the other person meant.
It didn’t matter anyway. Allen was definitely off-limits to someone like him.
---
Cross listened closely to what Bookman had to tell him. The panda was much more open about the Noah family than his apprentice was, and even if his information was less complete, his honesty was something Cross had to be grateful for.
Bookman answered the question of “What Noahs are there”, a question that Lavi had always refused to answer point-blank. When Cross followed that question with “Is there any way a Noah can use Innocence”, Bookman stopped and watched him for a long moment. Cross met his eyes calmly, waiting for the old man to answer.
When he did, Cross’ unmasked eye widened. He asked for more information, and by the time he stopped asking, he knew why Lavi had always been so careful not to mention the Noah Child of Choice.
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Otouto-Japanese for “younger brother”
A/N: What do you think?