Destined Interlude[Entry Eight Posted][PG-13]

[Haruko]

Hello, everyone here at Fanfiction. This is my first fanfiction, entitled "Destined Interlude"; without the =- next to the name. It's a DGray-man, a manga by Hoshino Katsura , inspired fanfiction that I've had in the works for a while now but just recently got the nerve to write; and just now got the nerve to post.

While the only one to have a bit of a tongue in the fiction will be Xavier and Auriemma, I'm rating it PG-13 for violence(fantasy or not), reference to alcoholic beverages and sexual innuendo.

While the Vatican and the UN is involved and stated, this fanfiction is not based on any religion what so ever, and is not biased.

With these disclaimers, I hope you enjoy Destined Interlude.

-prologue-

April 13th, 1993

The clouds overhead thickened as the destruction seemed to grow worse at the town of Washington's Edge. A man with a hand of what seemed to be a sword of dark light like matter went around killing the children on land; without mercy as the blood spattered onto his clothing. Above ground were these demonic balloon like creatures, which were killing off any being that seemed to move; animal or human. The small town of Washington's Edge; which prospered the day before, now sat in ruins. The only sound to be heard was the patter of rain drops as it seemed the gods were crying for his fallen children; and a single child's cry for his fallen parents as he sat above their bloodied bodies, covered in a black substance.

“What do we have here?”The bloodied man looked at the singular child with interest as the child continued to cry for his parents. The substance; thick of oil, contained a virus that the demonic balloons contained. It would destroy a living being on contact; but why not this child? The murderer, covered in blood, smiled a curious smile as his right arm glowed a mysterious light as it changed from the weapon that killed most of the village – a sword made out a dark light and the gray, metallic skin that covered the base, into a normal human hand. “You reek of this pitiful worlds god; yet I cannot see innocence on you.”

He picked up the child; who by now had stopped crying due to the introduction of this interesting man, and looked around his body. On his neck was the Greek symbol for Omega, and as the man covered in blood saw this, he busted into a fit of laughter as he put the child back on his parents. The child, who's brown hair was now soaked from the rain, looked at the man curiously as the fit of laughter ceased.

“The Earl is going to kill me, you know? I killed Sydney and Xin, his two favorite Noah's.” He bent down to the kid. “He never liked me in the first place, controlling this damn innocence filled arm of mine instead of giving it to him.” His red eyes looked down at the kid, then smiled. “I have no time left, so I thought I'd take a town with me before I killed myself off. But what was my chances of finding a Prophet, of all places? And a tyke, at that.”

He smirked as he reformed his right arm, and chopped off his left. The child backed off in horror at the sight, but was instantly picked up at the collar by; what some would call insane, man, and placed back on his parents as he took a good chunk of the blood and wiped it on the back of the child's neck.

“I'll hide my powers in a prophet; and put that damn Millennium Earl in his place.”He worked furiously on what seemed to be some rune on the back of the frightened child's neck as the man disappeared into the wind at the final stroke; laughing manically at the end. The child fell asleep on top of his parents bodies; the sole survivor of the past nights carnage and now; holding something mysterious within him.

As the rain stopped and the sun rose; a woman walked on the horizon dressed in a black suit, surveying the damage done.

=-destined interlude-=

Entry One:Alone
July 11th,2007

The summer's bright morning sun dawned through a window of a Long Island Bed and Breakfast. The sheets instantly; almost as if a reflex, covered the head of the resting brown haired male. He moaned and rolled around in the sheets as the sun continued to rise. He sighed as he sat up slowly, his brown hair covering the left portion of his face as his right eye was exposed to the brightness of the new day. He held his head as he slowly got off the bed, only dressed in boxers.

“Where'd Auriemma go..”The man walked around the room aimlessly, barely able keep his eyes open. The room was littered in cans of beer and a few glass bottles of whiskey and vodka; mostly not finished, but still populated the floor with the rest of the empty recyclables. He slowly made it to the table; which was surprisingly clean despite the piece of paper and few paper notes of money. He looked at them for a few seconds before blowing his hair out of his face, and taking the piece of paper.

“It's time to go to Black Order like we were told to, hun.”He read out loud, almost wanting to laugh out loud at the last part; for Auriemma, his adoptive mother, always called him by his given name and no pet names.”Unfortunately, I cannot go there at this time, so you must go to them in my steed! Take care, my beloved Garrett!”

“That..”Garrett crumbled the note with his right hand, furious. It was last month; while they were in China, when they were given the order to meet up at the United State's branch, located near John F Kennedy Airport. However, Teresa Auriemma, a General in the Order, was known to dislike staying in one place at one time; and refused to have her and her apprentice son, Garrett Keigwin, go and stay at the branch. “So is that why you decided to get me drunk last night? So I'd wake up late?”

“Damn women..”He sighed as he walked into the bathroom, coming out ten minutes later; washed and clothed. They had typically shared a drink or two together nightly; for Auriemma had an affliction with drinking and Garrett never needed to worry about getting sick with alcohol; which always made Auriemma drink more. But they had a good bit too much last night, which was probably something Auriemma had planned from the start. “I guess I'll have to go then..”He mumbled, looking in his wallet. It had seemed that his so-called adoptive mother had taken the rest of his money and left only enough for a taxi to JFK, so then he could get the car that would drive him to the Order's headquarters.

He quickly placed on black work shoes to go with his typical dress of what got him teased daily by Auriemma – a pair of dress pants and a white collar shirt with a deep blue neck tie. Too serious, she'd say, always looking like you're going to a funeral. But in all reality; it was a wonder he didn't, with all the lives he couldn't save. He strapped on a belt around his waist and placed what seemed to be two short swords on each side. He quickly cleaned up what he could; leaving the rest to room service as he locked the door behind him – Auriemma had also seemingly taken his belongings, like most of his clothing besides one clean outfit, and rushed down the flight of stairs to the lobby.

“Good morning, sir!”The woman behind the desk said as he handed her the keys to the room, and she smiled as she placed them back on the appropriate hook. “Will that be all?”
“No,”Garrett shook his head, his brown hair that was layered and down to his neck flowed with the shake.”May I borrow your phone for a second?”
“Yes, most certainly.”She smiled and pulled the phone onto the counter. “Is that an Australian accent? It's so nice!”She burbled out, and Garrett flustered for a second as he picked up the phone, nodding his head.

“I need a taxi from the 'Luminous Maiden' Bed and Breakfast in Islip, New York to John F. Kennedy Airport.”Garrett said through the phone as the women behind the counter blushed at the young man's beauty. As he hung the phone up with the verbal transaction complete, he smiled a small bit back.
“Good day now.”He waved nervously as he walked out nervously. As his hair moved while he walked, the woman caught a glimpse of something on his neck; but the door closed quickly as she tried to get a closer look.

It took the taxi ten, no maybe fifteen more minutes than it was originally said to arrive, and Garrett sighed in frustration as he sat down in the back seat. Always have to be on time, never be late; always get the job done right was his motto. And yet this taxi cab came late and the driver was still as happy as ever; how could people live like that!? Garrett wondered this furiously as the cab driver started to drive, and tried to make a conversation.

“So..you're a foreigner?”The driver asked as he drove, a Spanish accent in his voice much like Garret's Australian. “Where from?”
“Australia, but I've never really lived there.”Garrett replied, looking out the window as he tried to ignore the fact the driver was late. “I've been travelling with my mom all my life, so I've never really had a home before.”
“Oh, that's quite interestin'!”The driver smiled to Garrett as they drove onto the highway. “You ever go to Spain?”
“Once.”Garrett replied dryly. It wasn't the most pleasurable experience to recall, for him at least.
“It's quite a nice place, I've been there..say once?”The cab driver said as they switched lanes. Garrett counted all the New York plates on the cars, or the New Jersey ones, and tried to keep a tally of them all.

“Those things I saw on your waist; you're not going to get them past security in JFK, you know.”He stated the obvious, but Garrett wasn't stepping inside of JFK; yet was waiting for another car to pick him up to take him to the ferry transport. That, itself, would take him to the Order's island headquarters. Most commoners would have no knowledge of it; which is why he wasn't surprised of the cab driver's naivety.
“They're for a weapon's show.”Garrett lied. The car was filled with silence until they hit Queen's County; and almost upon entering it; the parkway seemed to hit a traffic jam.

“Not good..”The driver mumbled as his fingers seemed to drum against the side of the car; the traffic was to the point where some of the cars were turned off completely. The whole parkway was met with noises of horns and people yelling; and yet there was something ahead of them that was blocking traffic. An accident?

Garrett rolled down his window and put his head outside the window as he looked up at the sky, and the first glimpse was the only glimpse he needed. In the distance; there were at least three level one Akuma; that is, beings devoid of emotions that looked like a gray balloons with black cannons coming out of their hides. They were more than likely here to kill and try to advance to level two; maybe there was one with them as well. Garrett sighed as he opened the car's door, and stepped out as he left the money on the seat.

“Hey, where are you going!”The driver yelled at Garrett as he looked in the distance one more time. He looked back at the driver one last time in annoyance.
“To get rid of this traffic jam.”Garrett replied, and he started to run down the lanes of stopped cars, towards the 3 Akuma that seemed to be a bit gun happy. As he quickly approached the three – running after Auriemma made him have quite a good leg structure, he took out the two swords on his sides, and they glowed as he jumped on the roof of one car.

“Innocence, ACTIVATE!”He smirked at the 3 Akuma that stood before him. The sword on his left suddenly lit itself on fire as the one on his right glowed a brilliant blue hue of cold light. He jumped off the roof of the abandoned car – they had ran away from the sight of the Akuma, or simply demons, and onto the next abandoned car as he used them to give him enough leg strength to cut the 3 flying Akuma in half.

As Garrett jumped off the last one and to the first Akuma, he quickly looked to the ground as he could've sworn he saw two other people there. Ignoring them, he sliced the first Akuma in half and allowed himself to fall to the ground, the destroyed Akuma blew up in the air. The wind blew as a bright light seemed to occur after; something that normally didn't occur in battles he had with them. He looked behind him to find that the two people he ignored before were Exorcists, or the black order's militia against the Akuma. A male with a parasitic gun, which seemed to be loading another bright beam charge at the third, and a woman with..well, red hair. He couldn't locate her innocence anywhere.

“Wait, you!”She yelled at him as he turned his back to her. As he did, she got a glimpse of his neck, and the symbol of Omega on it.

“You're a..”
-----------

That's the end of Entry One. Um, rate away? ;x etc..

[Haruko]

Entry Two: Meeting

“From witness' report, they appeared out of the sky and started to destroy cars on the Belt Parkway five minutes ago.”Marie briefed the two exorcists in the helicopter as we closed in the scene. Marie; the supervisor for the Long Island – no the North American Black Order Branch, was always more on scene than the director, who could be found behind piles of paper. The red haired one nodded, the ocean blue earrings on her ears glinting from the sun light as she did.

“They're just level one, and since there are civilians this time, just use your shielding abilities, Alleria.”Marie looked at the red haired girl, who nodded in agreement. The boy next to him rolled his eyes, knowing what this typically meant. He was on offensive. “We'll be trusting you, Xav, with the removal of the Akuma.”

“Roger.”He briefly said; no other words coming out of his mouth. Xav, as he was called, was more content looking down below at all the cars along the parkway. The helicopter came to a halt before the scene, and let down a ladder for the two to climb down.”Lets make this quick, I don't like dealing with weaklings.”

“But it's nice to get out of the headquarters too, Xavier.”Alleria sighed as she rushed down the ladder, Xavier following after. As they landed, Xavier's left arm, which was previously gloved and was covered by the black sweatshirt like uniform, glowed as from the hand up started to transform. In no matter than seconds, it was no longer human, but now something similar to a silver cannon with tubes connecting onto a gray skinned arm. When the light diminished from the transformation, the three demonic balloon's, or the level one Akuma, looked over to see the two of them getting ready, Xavier's cannon loading.

“What's that!?”Xavier held off his cannon at the last second as a flash of fire and a blue light went through the Akuma he was aiming at, destroying it in an explosion. He growled lowly as what seemed to be the flash landed close. Alleria looked at it, and nodded to Xavier.

“I'll go see who it is.”Alleria told her team mate, and before any objections, ran off in the direction of the flash. As the debris cleared from the minor explosion of the sky, she made out a silhouette of a thin man holding two short swords."Wait, you!"She yelled out to him, and as she examined him as she ran, his hair swayed away from his neck and she could make out a birthmark similar to the one on her stomach – the greek symbol of Omega.”You're a..”

“Exorcist? Well, I have innocence..”He turned around, showing his emerald eyes to the woman of eighteen years. She blushed quickly as his brown hair swayed around his hair briefly as he turned around to view her. “But I'm not associated with the order.”
“Well..”She seemed flustered as two explosions went off in the background, signaling Xavier had taken care of the rest. Her rose cross, the symbol of the order which gave them full recognition by the United Nations, shined briefly in contrast to the man's plain outfit. He sighed as the woman seemed to remain flustered, and poked her nose after deactivating his swords.

“Hey, you okay there?”He looked at her, and she nodded. He laughed slightly and she looked away as Xavier stormed over to them, looking at Alleria in anger.
“Who is this person?”Xavier asked Alleria, seemingly mad from the fact that she didn't come back in time to perform any of her duties. Xavier looked at the brown haired man, and sensed no harm from his emotions – all he could sense was curiosity. He calmed down and looked at the helicopter, which dropped down it's ladder again as it flew back from being at a safe distance from the battle.

“I'm Garrett Keigwin. I was on my way to the order when I saw these; but I didn't think I'd run into exorcists here.”Garrett said coolly, annoying Xavier.”I'll just hitch a ride with you two then.”Alleria smiled as Xavier sighed, getting on the ladder and climbing up. They each climbed up and sat in the helicopter as it headed back to the order; a distilled silence among them – even Marie; who took one look at Garrett and nodded before writing the paper on the incident.

The helicopter landed after a few minutes onto the top of the Order's building, which sat on a privately owned island off the coast near John F Kennedy air port. The spiraled, cone shape building was gothic in appearance, unwelcoming to most. Garrett sighed as he walked off, uncomfortable being in another headquarters. It was the Vatican's orders, though.

“This way,”Marie led him, and as they walked down into the building, the unwelcoming exterior led into a warming interior. The halls were lined with rug, the walls painted a cream as they passed the library's top floor door in order to get to the elevator. “Alleria and Xavier, you two should come as well.”

“Why?”Xavier asked coldly, and Marie folded her arms as he sighed. Alleria nodded as they walked into the elevator, going from the top floor of the huge building to the fifth. Xavier seemed to grow impatient the longer the elevator took. Garrett rolled his eyes at the inpatient sixteen year old with the sandy hair and blue eyes; who seemed to be acting like a spoiled brat. As he thought these thoughts, Xavier sent him a sharp glare; Garrett almost backing up into Marie as the chills ran down his spine. The doors opened as the number on the LED screen read “5” and they walked out, passing down what seemed to be offices for the generals before finding the one for the director.

“Come in, come in!”A voice shouted from behind the door, and Marie slowly opened the door. Much to her dismay, and the rest of the groups horror, the room was still a mess. Papers seemed to be everywhere, along with important parts for the science department. “I'll..be right..”The voice continued; this time coming from behind the paper topped desk. In one foul sweep, the paper landed on the floor; revealing a Japanese man of his mid thirties. He smiled as he looked at the four, not surprised by the appearance of Garrett.

“I'm Shouta Watanabe, the head of Science and the Director here at the North American branch; but I'm sure General Auriemma has told you about me.”He smiled, taking something from a drawer before walking ontop of his papers carefully. Marie winced as he did this, and Garrett laughed – the other two only watched in horror.
“Yeah, she's said you're a complete wreck.”Garrett replied, “I can see thats true.”
“Well, she's still as sharp as ever.”Shouta smiled back, walking over to the group. “Her drinking habits?”
“Still horrid.”
“She wouldn't be herself without that, personally.”Shouta replied.”Now, going beyond chitchat; we've been trying to reach you – Garrett, because we here in the Vatican and the Black Order are trying to win the war against the Millennium Earl.”

“I know this story; the whole Innocence cube was washed away in the great flood and separated into fragments. Another thing that was found pertaining to the innocence was the about a fight between the wielder of the Innocence cube and the Millennium earl before the flood – they say the flood was the result of the battle.”Garrett replied dryly. Alleria looked at him in a bit of shock for remembering that all; but Xavier just rolled his eyes. Shouta smiled as Garrett continued. “The earl has waited until now to try to destroy this world again; I don't understand that bit.”

“Well, it looks like Auriemma did teach you a little while she was sober.”Shouta teased. “It is true, the innocence was scattered and existed among ages; but why has the Earl shown up now? This is the question we have most recently developed a hypothesis for.

Starting around 1985, humans that have called themselves 'Noah' showed up at scenes with Akuma. These humans had devastating powers; one the ability of illusions of dreams, the other of a super enhanced body. We've counted seven so far, but two are known to be dead and one is missing. These humans apparently follow the will of the Earl by their own free will, for unknown purposes. However; as of May of 1996, we got a lead. And now, with you and Alleria there; our hypothesis about why the Earl showing up now has strengthened.”

“It's because of you, the Prophets. You're the white to the Noah's black; humans who can control innocence and have self defensive abilities granted by god. The Earl has shown up in this period because you, the prophets, and the Noahs, were around in the time period of the last fight with the innocence as well. He's going to try to recreate the Great Flood, burying this Earth in water. The scene is perfect – the innocence is here; although scattered, we have coincidently brought some together to help fight against him. The prophets are here and the Noahs. We only have three Prophets right now; but we are sure there are more scattered out there, hiding. We will win this war, the flood is not written in stone.” Shouta finished, sighing and taking a breath.

“So this guy is a Prophet?”Xavier asked, doubtfully. “What does he do, then? Able to breath underwater?! At least he'll survive the flood then.”
“Actually, Xavier, I was just about to show you.”Shouta laughed, then smiled as he took out what he had taken from his drawer – a pocketknife. “Sorry about this, Garrett.”

With one fell swoop, Shouta aimed and pierced into Garrett's left arm with the knife..
---------

Next chapter should be posted Wednesday.


edit: Unfortunately, the chapter will be delayed until Thanksgiving due to proofreading errors and being busy.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

[Haruko]

Entry Three: Normalcy

With one fell swoop, Shouta aimed and pierced into Garrett's left arm with the knife, it going through the white shirt and into the muscle of his arm. Alleria, Marie and even Xavier gasped in horror of what their Director had done to him as the blood dripped down Garrett's arm and onto the white paper below. Shouta glared a little in annoyance at it, then took out the knife.

“Look,” Shouta nodded to the arm, and Garrett nonchalantly looked away as the blood that fell onto the paper seemed to do a rewind. The blood that fell onto the paper seemed to be pulled back to the arm by some force, and it all crawled back into the wound as it closed up. Alleria looked in awe as Xavier looked away in, what could be embarrassment for his previous statement.

“So, he's immortal or something?” Xavier asked, looking away and at the wall full of books. He got annoyed at the situation more and more by the minute; someone new just showed up and out betters him. The guy was acting like it was no big deal at all as well.
“I just recover from my wounds, I'm not immortal.”Garrett replied to Xavier. “My cells take more to recovery than aging; so I might start to age slower sooner or later..”
“So you are immortal!?”
“Not really, Xavier, ”Shouta intervened. He then made a motion across his neck. “He can still be killed by natural means, or by beheading. And the first one will happen sooner or later; his power just delays it a little longer. Just like your power allows you to..”
“My power is mine, you don't have to go babbling about it to others.”Xavier said, and Shouta sighed; the typical rude Xavier was more rude today than others. Xavier headed for the door as Marie stopped him, grabbing his thin left arm.

“I gathered you all here due to the Vatican's orders, in hopes that maybe we'll find more Prophets – starting with the three of you. If we can possibly locate them all; or even the majority of them, we may have an upper hand in this war of the Earl's,” Shouta finished, and signalled to let Marie have Xavier go. In a huff, he left and Garrett rolled his eyes at the immaturity. Shouta looked at Garrett in a bit of desperation before getting back to normal.

“Alleria, why don't you direct Garrett to his room, #495?” Shouta told her, taking the key out of his pocket.
“Yes, Director.”Alleria nodded, taking the key and leading Garrett out of the door. As the door shut, Marie looked at Shouta; who's face went from playful to serious. He took out a sealed file that bared the Vatican's seal, and Auriemma's signature.

“There is another reason, right?”Marie asked solemnly as Shouta read through the report. “The Vatican was just fine with Keigwin and Auriemma travelling randomly until a month or so ago; even if they knew he was a prophet all this time.”
“There are some minor suspicions, and they want Garrett under a better eye for now.”Shouta said quietly, his face buried in the folder as he continued to read the file. Marie sighed and left the messy room to the Director's lonesome again.

--

“So, how much do you know about the Black Order?”Alleria asked Garrett as they casually walked around the halls, looking on the doors for his room number. “I mean, your mom was a General, but you've never spent much time in a building of one, right?”
“The Black Order is the militia against the Millennium Earl and the Akuma. Using Exorcists and the Innocence-forged weapons they carry, they throw them into the battlefield carelessly.” Garrett kept his hands in his pockets as he repeated what he believed, things that Auriemma taught him. “They protect humans from the Akuma and are trying to prevent the Earl from doing what he pleases with it.”
“So..you know a lot?”Alleria laughed a little, and he nodded in response. Apparently, the small chat she was trying to make went nowhere. To him, he was a mysterious traveller who's seen many things – unbound. She was always bound by something; this order or her former career. “These earrings..are my innocence.”She pointed to the ocean blue spheric gems on each ear; each ear having three earrings. “And I take it those swords are..”
“Hi and Koori; I had them forged in the Asian Branch so I only thought it was honorable to them to name them Asian names.”He told her as he examined her earrings. They looked normal, what kind of attacks could they do? Or were they a defensive-type innocence? And what was her..

“495, this is your room.”Alleria stopped besides the door. Garrett did as well, and thanked her for taking him as far as the tenth floor of the building.”It's all I can do, my room is the next floor and this floor is mostly..unoccupied. So if you need any company, I'm up there. Xavier is a floor below.”
“He's a bit of a brat.”Garrett flat out told Alleria; which made her laugh.
“He's just not friendly to anyone new.”Alleria told a small white lie. Xavier just had a hard time around anyone, it was only her that he seemed to open up to, her and Marie. “Well, I have to go write a few letters, I'll see you in the cafeteria around four.”

He waved her off and opened the door to his room. It smelled of cleaning polish, with the wooden desk that sat against the wall freshly dusted. The bed parallel to the door and the head had a window above it. A pastel white covered the room and wooden floors. It was a lie of a prison; just a cage for him. He sighed as he closed the door, and sat on the bed. Looking at his left arm, there was a hole where the so-called Director stabbed his arm.

“Just because I can recover my wounds, doesn't mean I don't feel pain.”He puffed, falling backwards onto the bed, looking up onto the ceiling. A black ceiling..

--

After Garrett's arrival, the North American Headquarters hit a dry spell in big missions. Any small missions were given to singular Exorcists; that is, a normal exorcist that wasn't in a unit. The three; Alleria, Xavier and Garrett, were to perform any and all missions they were assigned to together. Another stipulation, during the first week, was to eat lunch together in order to try to get to know each other. This ensued in many fights between Xavier and Garrett, amongst one of them having their innocence drawn.

The most noted event was Garrett trying to escape the Order several times during the week, at night. However, these attempts were met with failure; for each time he'd slow down with the swimming and the boat patrol would catch him. This mostly amused Xavier, who didn't know why life outside the order was so great to his 'rival'.

The day arrived, a week later. Garrett was laying down in the lounge, dressed now in his Black Order uniform – black pants and a black jacket, the only hint of white was the box border around the Rose Cross. He wore it open, showing a white dress shirt and a black tie. Xavier was walking around, dressed in his typical sweatshirt like uniform, and Alleria was in her room when the fax came in.

“Xavier Ackerman, Garrett Keigwin and Alleria Stefano, please come to the top floor pad immediately”Marie's voice yelled overhead on the intercom. Garrett jumped up, a smirk on his face.

“Mission time.”Garrett jumped up from the couch and landed up onto his feet, as if those were the words he was waiting for all day. He walked down the hallway and met up with Xavier, who seemed to be smiling about the mission as well until he saw Garrett. He grunted and sighed, looking at his new team mate in a good bit of distrust.

“I'll leave you out there for dead, you know,”He said, looking away as they entered the elevator.
“Same here.”
-----------------------------------

Next chapter should be a bit better, I hope. Hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving.

Entry four should be up by Monday.

[Haruko]

Entry Four: Tension

They briefed the mission over as they took the jet from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to General Mitchell Intl. Airport in Milwalukee, Wisconsin. It seemed simple enough; lately Lake Michigan was experiencing water spouts, and random disappearances of peoples that would fish the lake. The distilled, eerie silence filled the jet until they landed, Alleria making almost ten attempts to make conversations, to no avail. It was until they got out of the taxi, in front of a hotel building, that someone spoke up.

“I'm not sleeping with him.”Garrett glared at Xavier, and walked on ahead; taking his briefcase with him. Xavier rolled his eyes in dismay of his so-called teammates immaturity.
“Same here!”Xavier yelled, then looked at Alleria.
“We can share rooms.”Alleria smiled warmly, making Xavier blush briefly. “We only have enough in our budget for two rooms anyway; so it's probably best for us to get a two person and him a single until we know him better.”
“Oh..yeah.”Xavier nodded, the red in his face drained. They walked on ahead, and got a two person room across from Garrett's one person room. The split up group quickly reassembled after they checked in with the order, and reformed up front.

“We should hit the lake first and check the lake.”Xavier looked to the general direction of the lake; which was to their west. “All the strange phenomena has been happening there, we should investigate before doing anything else.” Alleria nodded in agreement, but Garrett only gave a slight chuckle.
“No, we should be asking people who work around the general area and see what was generally happening prior to the events. Was there a strange light? Weather? Any Akuma?”Garrett looked at Xavier. “We need to look and make sure Akuma aren't near; especially since if this is innocence, it'll be a bit of a pain to get.”
“Is that what Auriemma taught you?” Xavier looked at Garrett defiantly. Garrett glared at him as Alleria looked between the two immature men. “I'm not going to even fight with you, go do whatever the hell you want to do. I'll go to the lake.”
“And I'll go around the city.” Garrett looked away, huffed and started to walk away to the east. As Xavier did the same, Alleria sighed at the two men in disbelief, and ran off with Xavier – the one she was more used to. Garrett stopped and looked behind him as he saw them peacefully walk off, and laughed to himself.

“Good riddance.”

He crossed the street and to a small cafe, ordering a coffee as he looked around. In the corner of his eye, he saw a newspaper. Placing the dollar and change on the counter for the paper and drink, he grasped the newspaper in his hands.15th Murder This Month! was written in the lower left corner, with the page number 'A17 ' underneath for it. Walking to a chair and table at the cafe, he sat down and placed his drink down, flipping around to the page.

“From witness' around the victim's apartment, there was a loud noise and light before the time of death.” Garrett read to himself, then placed the drink down. “There was no blood or strangle marks found on the victim like the other fourteen; along with no signs of struggle.”

'15th this month; along with the consequences..'

--
"How does he think he can get away with that!?”Xavier fumed as he quickly walked down the streets, towards the lake. “He pisses me off; just how can someone like that be raised by a general?”
“I..well..”Alleria tried to give him an answer, then sighed. “There is a good reason behind his actions, probably.”
“I hope so, he better not be bullshitting.”Xavier glared, then stopped. He looked in a window at a clothing store; a scroll hanging down besides a dressed mannequin of a teenager talking on a cellphone, her hair a blond with teal eyes. Alleria stopped and froze in place as she saw the poster, then looked away.
“You can't walk away from your past, you know..”Xavier looked at her, feeling the pings of regret that Alleria's own teal eyes showed.
“It's all I can do, in order to keep on walking down this road..”She sighed, and walked ahead of Xavier. He shook his head in disagreement, but quickly caught up with her. He could already feel her faking the emotions of happiness again – how long could she keep this facade up?

They continued to walk five more blocks, a view of a park on the shore of the lake on the horizon, when Alleria stopped her feet. Xavier looked ahead too late; the once park on the horizon was covered in smoke from explosions, with a cloud of level one Akuma above it. In hysteria was a mass of people running from the explosions, some covered in blood or just in ash from smoke; or some were covered in the oil from the Balloon-Akuma's bullets. These didn't last long, as they seemed to disintegrate into the air in a matter of seconds. As they ran past Xavier and Alleria, a fierce gust blew by.

“Innocence, Activate!” Xavier said, pushing up the sleeve of his left arm to show a thin, starved purple arm. It quickly transformed into silvery, inhuman arm that widened at the end, opening roundly as if it was some sort of gun. From around the hole itself seemed to be thick vein like tubes coming out and in; as if the arm was half human, half mechanical. “Alleria..there may still be people around here, so..”

“I know, just the first.”Alleria replied, and the first earing on the set of three on each ear glowed a yellow light. “Innocence,support, level one.”As she finished saying the hollowed out words, her body pulsated lightly until she touched Xavier's arm. The arm itself seemed to shine from her touch, and Alleria nodded. “I'll keep up a shield now, lets go.”

The duo started to run towards the cloud of ten, or maybe fifteen level one Akuma. The glitter-like shine didn't stray off of Xavier's parasitic gun, as the light on Alleria's first set of earrings stayed strong. As they caught the Akuma's attention, Xavier started to fire off quick shots at them, taking off one or two at a time.

“Your enhancements really are amazing, Ally..”Xavier nodded at her as he continued to shoot them down quickly, Alleria quickly blocking the incoming shots from the akuma with her shield. She turned and nodded, but in that time she noticed a single level one behind them, aiming a shot for Xavier.

“Level two, offense!” Alleria shouted as she turned around completely to face the oncoming Akuma, and the second set of earrings glowed as the air in front of her vibrated. The Akuma looked around in fear as it seemed to feel something inside of it set off from the inside, and in almost a second it imploded. The second set of earring's stopped glowing as soon as the implosion stopped, and the air stopped vibrating.

“I told you not to do that!”Xavier yelled at her as she went back to keeping up shields, and she looked away from him. As he fired off the last blast and killed the last Akuma, a fierce gust from the final explosion blowing forth. Shielding them from the debris, she sighed as she finished, exhausted as her innocence deactivated.
“I owed you, for last week.”She smiled and he sighed. As they started to walk away from the scene, Alleria's face grew pale. Her body felt weak instantly as the toll from using level two started to take effect, and she fell onto her knees. “Let me..catch my breath here, you go and find Garrett.”

“Why find him?!”Xavier looked away in a huff as Alleria took out a small black ball with what seemed to be nylon wings. It floated up in the air as it seemed to open up a single black eye.
“Because with those many Akuma here, there might be more somewhere and maybe a level two. I'll look for the innocence around here after I contact headquarters.”

“...fine.” Xavier rolled his eyes and ran off, Alleria smiling a little as he ran off towards Garrett's direction.

As Xavier ran in his direction, Garrett walked away from the hotel and cafe with the paper in his hand. There were 15 murders in one month, all had some relation to two sisters; said the paper. As he pondered to himself, he found himself near a small park-like clearing. This was probably the best place to ask a few people before having to use his cross for some interrogation of the cops and detectives of the local bureau. He looked around for someone to question, but even if it was the perfect time of day to go for a walk, no one was out.

Besides what seemed to be a small, blond haired girl in a white laced dress..

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Getting Alleria's innocence down was a pain, as well as finding a good place to finish this chapter.

5 will be up on Thursday.

[Haruko]

Sorry for the slight lateness. Got caught up in my MMO and well, yeah. Forgot to proofread it and noticed that last night, so I had to ditch the deadline until today.

Entry Five: Time

Garrett walked into the barren park as he saw something shine in the corner of his eye. As he turned his body around, he found what seemed to be a small, kindergarten aged girl in a white laced dress. She smiled and laughed in joy as she held what seemed to an glowing green egg surrounded two spiked rings; a fragment of innocence. Behind her seemed to be three level one Akuma, one a bit wet.

“Watch out, kid..”Garrett got out his twin swords, activating the flames on Hi and the ice on Koori. She stopped her laughter and looked at the two swords, then at Garrett. The smile that flashed on her face was tremendous as she walked over to him, carrying the fragment. Garrett quickly stepped back, positioning his swords away from the girl.

“Excuse me, mister, are you Garreth McAckert?”She looked up, her blond pigtails swaying as her gray eyes deeply pierced into Garrett's. He shook his head and she frowned. “But you look a lot like him, are you sure? My sister wants to see him.”
“No, I'm Garrett Keigwin.” He replied to her as she backed up. She smiled again as she threw up the innocence, one of the level ones catching it in their mouths.
“Thats good enough!”She laughed, and before Garrett's eyes the small child transformed. From a small girl in lace to what seemed a teenage girl with grayed skin; piercings around her body with wild black hair. Her body seemed abnormally skinny as a poofed up, ripped up prom dress hung from her body. Her eyes seemed hallowed out and, well, she didn't have hands. At her wrists seemed to be a metal attachment where a metallic whip could be controlled from a slightly thick hole. As Garrett examined her in shock, she laughed. “I have one more on my list before I can hand that innocence I just got to Gracia; and it seems he left town. So you'll do!”

“So you're the one responsible for the murders then?!”Garrett looked at former small child, who simply just laughed and nodded. “So, I'm taking it..”
“I evolved? Leveled up?! Yep!” She laughed in joy. “Lady Gracia helped me level up, she liked me so much! She said I should celebrate and try out my power, so I did. Plus I was getting lonely.”
“Lonely? Level two Akuma's don't feel anything..”
“We feel more than the need to kill, like our dear level ones here.”She smirked, whipping one of her level one companions playfully. “This one here was my beloved mother. She was the last kill, and she went so peacefully too..”

Tired of chatting with the level two, Garrett got out of his defensive stance and quickly ran at the teen aged skeleton. His swords quickly met her whips, which seemed to easily reflect them, although the ice on Koori froze down the left whip. Glaring as the civilians around the park yelled and fled in panic, she quickly withdrew the whip.
“She chose to revive me, my big sister.”She looked at Garrett as both kept their stances. “When I died, she was the only one who cared! So I'm carrying out her will and letting her play with her friends and family! Isn't that what you'd want?” She said, then smirked.

“Oh yeah, you don't have a family, right?” She laughed as Garrett looked away. Taking the moment of surprise, she wrapped her right whip around his legs, picking him up and slamming him down onto the ground, his arms dropping the two swords from the velocity of the slam. “It's in your eyes, I can see everything in your pitiful soul when I look into them!” She laughed as she picked him up with the right whip again, bringing him down from an even higher height and slamming him down. She walked over to him as blood started to poor down the back of his head, and his shoulders bent forward in the look of dislocation.

“You don't..know anything..”Garrett looked at her as she tilted her head above his as the wounds slowly healed. He quickly kicked her face with the end of his boot as the dislocated arms started to realign themselves. She sighed, her head twisting as it had to realign itself as well from the kick. Her right whip continued to remain tightly around Garrett's chest, as Garrett tried to crawl towards Hi or Koori, she'd quickly drag him back.

“I don't know anything?” She laughed, “Well, I apparently can't kill you; so maybe Lady Gracia can make you into a doll for me? I need a boyfriend anyway and you're a good bit cute.” She smiled as she lifted Garrett up with the right whip, the left one still frozen from Koori's ice. “Two innnocences and a boyfriend in one day, a job well done.”

Garrett desperately tried to free himself of the metal based whip as he hung from midair, knowing that if someone – Alleria or Xavier – were to come to him and see him not able to take down a simple level two, he'd be hanging his head in shame for weeks. Especially if it was Xavier. He had to free himself and try to kill it before the level two tried to use it's power, however simple or complicated a power could complicate things in a small battlefield. Especially with three standby level ones..

“Now, I just need to make you stay still.”She smiled, and withdrew the whip into her arm slightly; drawing Garrett closer in. As he reached to be only a few feet in distance from her, she looked into his eyes. “You're useless.”

As she finished those words, the surroundings changed around Garrett. A ship deck on fire, pillars and doors falling down; the sounds of small children screaming for the parents – some of those screams ending in agony. Garrett himself sat on the deck, unharmed by it all as if he were a ghost, but in front of himself..

“Why am I back here?!”

--

Garrett's body slumped as his eyes closed from what seemed to be an ability of the akuma's. She threw him down against a tree, which surprisingly didn't wake him up. A sigh escaped her mouth as she walked slowly towards Hi, whose flame was now extinguished since his owner was asleep.

“I might be able to watch him be tortured a little, but you're not going anywhere near an innocence.” Xavier said from the entrance of the small park, facing the back of the Akuma as he fired off a quick shot; his parasitic weapon still enhanced by Alleria's own innocence. He could feel the weight of the enhancement take it's toll, as his stomach growled in hunger. He missed by a hair, almost quite literally, although he managed to fringe some of the Akuma's black hair. She growled as she turned her head, looking at Xavier eyes in anger.

“Why can't I feel anything from you!?”She yelled at him as the ice melted off her left whip, and started to aim them at Xavier, as he quickly shot them down in ease. He smirked, as if she didn't know already. He took the glove off of his right hand, revealing the symbol of Beta.

“My feelings are mine alone, and I feel those around me.”Xavier looked at her, throwing the glove aside. “I feel your hatred for the fact that you can't pierce through my empathy, for one. The fact that my so-called partner there got affected by yours means he's too weak.”

“You..”She glared, but as she went to go try to whip him, she noticed the tips dull and singed from Xavier's blast. As she noticed this, the three level one akumas that floated behind her started their assault on Xavier in hopes of killing him before he got to their level two. As the bullets hit Xavier, the oil dripped off of his uniform as he smirked.

“Parasitic, doesn't do shit.”He laughed manically as he quickly shot down the three one after the other, Alleria's enhancement in full effect. The level two backed up as she dropped the innocence from the lake.

“I'll save your pitiful soul, Akuma; so maybe you can wear that prom dress in the afterlife!”His face showed a bewildered smile that should only belong to the devil, as his arm started to glow..

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editix should be up Monday, tuesday at worst.

[Haruko]

Entry Sixaviour

“I'll save your pitiful soul, Akuma; so maybe you can wear that prom dress in the afterlife!”His face showed a bewildered smile that should only belong to the devil, as his arm started to glow. The silver, almost mechanical arm turned a bright gold as the singular cannon at the end narrowed and multiplied until there were eight, smaller cannons. A golden scope fitted over his left eye, almost like a patch, as the transformation completed itself. “Level Two, commence!”

As he quickly fired a round of shots at the level two Akuma, she dodged them with ease as what seemed to be two more metallic whips appeared where the former ones once were. Using the left one, she quickly grabbed onto Xavier's ankle; getting a tight grip as she turned him upside down and slammed him against a tree. Yelling in pain as he felt a rib crack and his right arm dislocate, he glared at her as he took careful aim with his left eye. He sent two shots at her left arm, quickly getting her to let him go. He fell to the ground hardly, and slowly got up as the Akuma glared at him, a part of her puffed up prom dress burned from his bullets.

“You..you..”She yelled in frustration as he smirked, rolling from his back onto the ground, and getting up slowly to where he could see her in plain sight. “This was the dress my sister was to wear to prom. And you..”
“It's a very ugly dress.”He smirked as he aimed another 2 bullet blast at her dress, this time closer to her legs. She jumped up to avoid the blast, but the very edges of the dress got caught in the cross fire. Her sullen eyes looked at Xavier in pure hatred at she landed on her feet, and he met the look with one of amusement as he shot the ground with a full round before getting up on his feet, the adrenaline rush making him ignore the pain in his chest.

“Fine then, you're the funny one.”She looked at him, and disappeared quickly, appearing next to the sleeping Garrett with her whip out. “Let's play a..”
“Game? I'm sick of them.”Xavier looked at her, closing his right as he looked at her completely through his scope. Seeing this, she ran at him; lashing her whips at him in distraction. Rolling out of the way but still taking aim, it was a minute later until he got the perfect aim.

“I hope your souls are saved.”He whispered, and the scope glowed as the eight barrels shot out multiple rounds of a yellow light at the akuma. Trying to flee to no avail, she fell to the ground as her body disintegrated, two wisps of light intertwining before leaving the body. Before the pile of ash was the fragment of innocence, and as if he just didn't want to hear anything else, Xavier fell to the ground, his arm turning back into the starved purple creature it normally was.

What seemed to be an eternity passed before he heard a car door open behind him, and what he thought to be Alleria running towards him. He sighed, the authorities always took so long to get to the scene; then again, it was more than likely to save their own skin. Sitting up, he looked at Garrett, who still seemed asleep. Alleria walked past Xavier and picked up the fragment of innocence, and then gathered Garrett's two swords.

“What happened to him?”Alleria asked, walking over and nudging Garrett, to no avail. Xavier shrugged, a lie; he saw that Garrett got his ass kicked, but he wasn't sure why he was asleep..although there were strong feelings of regret and sorrow radiating from him. Enough to send shivers down his spine.
“No clue, he's not waking though; maybe he got knocked on the head too much.”Xavier chuckled, and met the end of Alleria shoe. Wincing and glaring at her, he sighed. “It might have something to do with the level two's abilities..”
“There was a level two?! Why didn't..”
“You already used some stamina at the pier, I don't need you passing out here like the aussie.”He poked Garrett as he heard a siren go off in the background, more than likely cop cars to inspect the scene. “He seems..”
“Yeah?”She said, looking at him. He sighed, unsure if he wanted to help someone that he disliked. Someone who just came waltzing into his..
“Never mind. If he doesn't wake up by tonight I'll do something about it. For now..”He looked at her, and went to go put Garrett on his back. It was then when he felt the sharp pain in his right arm, and a much more sharper pain in his ribs. He flinched as he looked down, remembering when he had heard them break. “Damn it..”
“I'll get a police officer to take us back, I need to do the papers on this anyway..”Alleria sighed, and walked over to two detectives who were examining the corpse of the level two. As soon as they saw her rose cross shining on her chest, they assigned a lone officer to help pick up Garrett, who seemed to be tossing and turning as if in a horrid night mare, and take them back to a hotel.

“I don't get paid well enough for this job,”He told Alleria, who comforted the man on the way to the hotel, which wasn't a long ride at all – it would've been a walk despite the two boy's conditions. Alleria looked on at them as the cop carried Garrett up the elevator and to the room; with Xavier following right behind, and sighed just like a mother would. When the cop left and it was only the three again, Alleria took out her golem – a small black sphere with wings.

“Shouta, we got the innocence.”Alleria said after waiting for the connection to go through. “However, I think Garrett is under the influence from the level two's abilities and Xavier is injured.”
“Xavier heals easily enough.”Shouta laughed, and Xavier quickly glared at the golem. “What's Garrett's symptoms?”
“He's having a nightmare, big deal.”Xavier yelled at the golem, which then flew over to him. He glared at the small object with the desire to use a fly swatter, but with none near by, he resorted to just flicking it.
“You sense any..?”
“Yeah, strongly.” Xavier replied, leaving out that he pretty much saw Garrett pass out in front of the level two. “You know how much I dislike doing this, though.”
“Yes, we all know Xavier.”Shouta rambled. “But if your don't, the next maintenance on your arm will be..”
“You better not!!”Xavier yelled into the golem, which backed up. Shouta sighed with Xavier looking away. “Fine, I'll do it; but I better not get any bullshit the next time I order from the cafeteria.”
“Fine fine.”Shouta assured him, and then flew the golem back to Alleria to hear the report. Xavier glared at Garrett, who was currently sleeping on Alleria's bed. The emotions he was radiating were strong enough to be felt from across the room, what kind of nightmare was he in?

“Alleria, When I pass out put me on my bed.”He ordered her as he got off of his chair, and walked towards Garrett. Alleria nodded as he sat besides Garrett, and flinched as he slowly used his left arm to move his dislocated right arm's hand over Garrett's eyes.
“Oh, and after this I'm getting this popped back in.”He glared at her, to her amusement. He then looked away from her and at his hand, which was still gloveless and showing his cursed birthmark, the one of Beta. Concentrating on it..

'Concentrate, even if you hate him..'He repeated.'Concentrate on the feelings of regret..'
---
The smell of smoke rose in the air as the night sky was lit ablaze. Screams of men, women and children could be heard from all directions as explosions seemed to go off. Xavier looked around, below him was a ship's wooden deck, next to him was a cast metal wall for rooms. Above him, the sky was littered with level one akuma, some being 'saved', as he called it; but for every one killed, two more took it's place.

“Where is he now..”Xavier looked around, getting up and walking through the fire; he was much like a ghost in this shattered dream reality than anything else. “He needs to be..”

It wasn't far of a walk when he found what appeared to be a thirteen year old kid, with brown hair in a crew cut and emerald eyes. Holding a sword imbued with the power of ice, he looked up as he kept his left arm interlocked with what seemed to be a smaller child. In front of him was what Xavier could assume to be a level two akuma; due to it's appearance of what seemed to be something out of horror movie. It's left arm was made of a chainsaw half way down, and it's body was green skinned; much like Frankenstein. The only difference was that it had a small, pivoted cannon coming out of it's neck, and what seemed to be rockets for feet.

The imagination of the Earl at it's worse, really.

The child looked up at it in fear as the girl next to him went behind him, holding his sword up in defence as the level two slammed the chainsaw down.

“Lets have some fun, kiddo!”He looked at the two in glee as the fires continued to consume the ship.

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Next chapter's name is Convictions.

Sorry for the small delay.