Tainted Innocence [Tyki Mikk]

Chapter #29

"I'm going down now." He mentioned to his adoptive nephew.

"Huh? Wait Joyd!" Wisely wanted to stop him, as going to Mei now wouldn't exactly be a smart idea when the Earl was fighting Nea.

"I want to ask her something." Tyki was adamant.

Wisely crunched over and put a hand to his forehead, shaking his head. He used his other hand to wave him off, knowing that he couldn't actually stop or change his mind. "Yeah, just go then."

He averted his attention away from them for the Earl, who was now engaged in battle with Nea. He wanted to honestly sigh at them – they were family, yes, and he cared for them due to being bound by memories – but he was also tired because it seemed like a never-ending debacle with them wanting to kill or love each other.

Can they just decide already? Wisely sighed to himself, knowing full well that that can't just happen so easily. He knew that Nea wanted to kill the Earl, but he was unsure of why. So, because he wasn't a fighter, the only thing he could do was observe and make sure that the akuma and Noah were in cohesion.

Yep, definitely not a fighter.

~~~~~

His green eyes opened as he felt the ground rumble. He didn't know whether or not it was morning or night; he had lost track of time.

How long has it been? He wondered, lifting his head. He was stuck on the same chair as he was before, bound by ropes.

He chewed the inside of his cheek lightly, feeling the bruise on his face ache.

Ouch...

He grimaced and sighed to himself. Not only did his face hurt, but his body as well. The repeated torture was bearable, but it just ended with him getting beat up.

Lavi looked to his side, wondering how Bookman was able to get out. With his incredible memory, he didn't remember being awake from the time that Bookman was let out. All he remembered was that Bookman was threatened by Sheril, and he was the thing he was threatened with.

With another sigh, he tried wriggling his fingers and toes, finding that he was able to do so even with the tightness of the ropes.

Should I escape? He glanced around the area, seeing nothing out of place, but then realised that the Noah may come back. His brows furrowed as he listened quietly. Was the Noah here? Were they going to come?

What surprised him was that there was barely any sound. It felt strangely empty compared to the other times that he was there, which made him wonder if the akuma and Noah were there at all.

Suddenly, the door opened soundlessly.

Lavi nearly jumped out of his seat at the abrupt motion. He expected someone to be on the other side, but there was nothing. He stared at it with his mouth agape, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest.

"Gho...st...?" He gulped down the lump forming in his throat as his mouth went dry. Was he going to die by a ghost or by Noah? He thought it was by the Noah or an akuma at first, but after a quick thought - probably a ghost.

He wanted to scream, but he felt something covering his mouth, stopping him from doing so. His green eyes widened and he wanted to scream at the sensation – it felt like a human hand.

"Fancy seeing you here, Bookman Junior."

Lavi knew this voice. He stopped whatever he was doing and stared at the direction where the hand came from.

"Cross Marian?!" His voice came out like a squeak, which made Cross raise a brow at the young adult.

"Yeah, I'm alive," Cross didn't even bother to stop his cloak of invisibility. The reason being that there were others in the current Ark that he would rather miss the opportunity to see. Namely, the one that he thought was a nuisance in every way of the world. "Apocry-ma-what's-his-face is here too. Go with him and go join the war or something."

Cross took out a knife from his belt and cut the ropes that tied the exorcist – releasing him from his shackles.

Lavi thanked the General, rubbed his wrists and stood up, stretching his limbs. It felt like a long time since he'd been able to do just that, having been stuck on that chair for a while under the Noah's gazes.

"Wait a minute, General – what's this war you're talking about?" How out-of-the-loop was he? He never heard anything about a war, apart from the usual one between the Noah and exorcists.

Cross just looked at him for a moment, then sighed, "I can't explain it all now, but it's a war between Noah, exorcists and Mei and Nea."

Lavi's jaw dropped, "Mei started a war?! And what, the 14th has overtaken Allen?!" The disbelief in his voice became more evident the more he spoke. He was missing out a huge chunk of information, and he didn't know how he felt about that.

"...of it, oi, snap out of it!" Cross hit a fist on top of the red head, annoyed that he would ignore him when he was tight on time.

Lavi didn't even complain when he frowned and rubbed his head. His thoughts were circulating and trying to piece everything together.

"I told you that the monster's gonna come, so follow that guy."

Lavi cocked a brow, weighing the options. He wasn't too sure whether he wanted to go with Apocryphos – who he didn't know was stuck in the same place as he was – and risk his Innocence being absorbed by him all to protect the Heart; or if he wanted to go where Cross was, which may be as dangerous as being with Apocryphos.

With a long, drawn out 'hm...', Lavi picked the latter.

Obviously not being with a monster is better than being with one.

"I'm going to follow you." Lavi declared confidently.

"What the hell can you do? You'll just weigh me down." Cross started walking to the door. "Follow Apocryphos, kid."

"No." Lavi followed where the footsteps went, oblivious to the fact that Cross looked like he wanted to punch something.

Having no time and effort to want to argue, the General rolled his eyes and chanted some words under his breath, allowing the younger exorcist to see him.

Lavi, surprised by being able to see the General, wasn't surprised in the least when he saw that he looked exactly the same as before, just with rowdier hair.

"Let's go."