Chapter Text
“Master, they’re coming.” said Marie half turning toward where General Tiedoll and Yuu Kanda were working to get through the protective barrier surrounding the Innocence they had been sent to retrieve.
Glancing up from his supervision of Kanda’s efforts, which were becoming more visibly frustrated the longer success eluded them, Tiedoll’s eyes scanned the area momentarily before settling on his other apprentice. “How many Akuma are there Marie?”
Frowning slightly the tall, broad shouldered man cupped one hand against the earpiece of the headphones he wore, listening intently before replying. “Six… no seven of them in the first wave. There could still be more coming after that.”
“Hmm, …then we’re running out of time.” murmured Tiedoll under his breath, seeming almost as if he were talking to himself.
Kanda huffed, picking himself up of the ground from where he had been thrown when he was repelled once again by the Innocence’s barrier. A slight swish of movement sounded through the air accompanied Kanda’s annoyed grunt as he swung Mugen out to his side, clearing the dust from its blade which had gathered when the sword had fallen from Kanda’s grasp. “Tch,… then we’ll just have to quit wasting time, drop all the ‘finesse’ junk, and bust through this barrier.”
“Yuu, have a little patience…” began Tiedoll returning his attention to Kanda with a soft sigh, his tone mildly paternal.
A low growl cut through whatever else Tiedoll might have said as Kanda shot him a dark look. “Quit calling me that, old man.” muttered Kanda spinning away on his heel after a moment to storm off toward where the Akuma were approaching from. “You can sit here and be patient if you want. …I’m going to deal with the Akuma.” Having said that Kanda darted off, the glow of Mugen’s blade flaring to life under his touch, as he covered the distance with rapid leaps and strides.
“…Master?...” asked Marie his expression questioning as he turned away from Kanda’s retreating form, waiting for Tiedoll’s instructions.
Tiedoll shook his head at his younger apprentice’s aggressive, teenage impulsiveness, before nodding in confirmation to Marie’s unspoken question as the first of the oncoming Akuma rose into sight above the tree line. “…Go with him Marie.”
Wordlessly Marie lowered his head in a solemn nod before setting off after Kanda.
Once Marie had gone, General Tiedoll stood watching for a moment as the first of the akuma in the distance fell to Kanda’s blade, the teenage exorcist having reached the front of the group. Letting out a breath Tiedoll returned his gaze to the Innocence in front of him, a portion of his attention remaining on the battle taking place in the distance. Between Kanda and Marie both, he knew that the Akuma would be easily taken care of, and that more than likely Marie’s primary role would end up being that of restraining Kanda from pushing too far. The young Asian exorcist, who appeared to be in his early to mid-teens, possessed a reckless disregard for avoiding physical harm, which was not at all helped by his remarkable healing abilities. Still both Marie and Kanda alike were his precious pupils, so he would readily abandon his task of collecting the Innocence, and step in if need be.
Some distance away from General Tiedoll, Mugen swung through the air with a barely audible hum, unearthly white creatures bursting from its blade at Kanda’s command as he targeted another of the Akuma. The creatures swarmed toward a second Akuma in a vicious, deadly cloud shredding through its metal skin, causing the sinister machine to disintegrate with a violent explosion.
As Marie drew up alongside him the strands of his Innocence, Noel Organon already unfurling from his fingers, Kanda spared the other man a brief glance before gunfire raked the ground between them. A level two and several more level one Akuma hovered in the air above them, and in the distance Marie could faintly hear the metallic grinding that indicated a second wave of Akuma were closing in on their location.
“Kanda, there are more of them on the way.” said Marie as both he and Kanda leapt apart to avoid the Akuma’s next round of gunfire and give themselves more room to fight.
Even without his headphone’s enhancement of his hearing Marie could easily perceive the ruthless smirk in Kanda’s voice as the teenage exorcist replied. “Then we’ll be waiting for them… right after we wipe out these. …The level two on the left is mine.” added Kanda, the words ending in a battle cry as he launched himself up from the ground, shouting out a command to Mugen for his next attack as he swung the weapon.
Marie nodded in agreement, sending the strands of his Innocence toward the level ones with a flick of his wrist. The metallic threads tangled themselves around the Akuma binding them tightly, preventing them from moving, though Marie could feel the tugs and pulls through the wires as the Akuma fought to escape. Clapping his hands together in front of him, the waves of sound created by Noel Organon’s aria reverberated around Marie and the Akuma he had snared, triggering their destruction. Marie could feel the strings of Noel Organon fall loose as the sound of the Akuma’s explosion faded, and turned his attention toward tracking the movements of his comrade, checking up on the progress of Kanda’s battle with the level two he had chosen to fight.
After a moment of Marie picked out the sound of Kanda’s heartbeat, pulsing quick and fast with adrenaline as he fought with the level two Akuma. As he listened Marie could also hear the smooth rush of Innocence slicing through steel, along with the quieter sound of panted breaths ending in a huff of effort as Kanda jumped off of and away from the damaged Akuma. A quiet thump followed, momentarily stilling the rustling of grass nearby as Kanda landed in a half crouch, Akuma oil raining down from above to patter against the ground around him, before a tremendous explosion blotted out all other sounds.
When the near deafening noise fell silent Kanda gave a satisfied sounding grunt as he flicked his sword through the air to remove the remaining traces of Akuma oil from Mugen’s blade. Stepping back toward where he had been, both he and Marie braced themselves to wait for the next wave of Akuma that had been detected earlier.
Meanwhile a short distance away from Kanda and Marie’s battle with the Akuma, General Tiedoll was beginning to make progress toward breaking through the barrier in order to collect the Innocence. While the barrier around the sculpted fountain that held the Innocence was indeed strong he had found that certain portions, unlike the side which the sculpted figure of a woman was facing which Kanda had been attacking earlier, the sections that lay outside the statue’s sight were weaker. By moving in a slowly inward curving half circle pattern, Tiedoll was now close enough that within a few more repetitions he would be close enough to touch the lip of the fountains lowest basin. From there it would hopefully only be a simple matter of stretching high enough to remove the small globe that contained the Innocence from the statue’s hand.
“…Now then,…” murmured Tiedoll coming to a stop at the side of the fountain a minute or so later, resting one hand on the rim as spoke. “You’ve allowed me to come this close,… are there any further challenges you’re going to present?” …Still… continued Tiedoll to himself. …I am glad that it is beginning to seem as if damaging such a fine work of art as this will prove to be unnecessary. Apart from the removal of the Innocence itself, of course.
Turning his gaze away from the glowing green orb of Innocence, Tiedoll shifted his focus toward the direction that Kanda and Marie had gone. Judging by the lack of noise after that last large explosion, the battle had reached a temporary lull, while his students awaited the arrival of the second group of Akuma which Marie had predicted might come. While Tiedoll was grateful for the slow approach that had given him ample time to study and appreciate the fountain’s beauty, he decided that it was best that he hurry to finish his task now. The sooner they were able to retrieve the Innocence that was drawing the Akuma to this area and endangering the villages surrounding the plain and nearby forest, the better.
Tiedoll turned back to the fountain in front of him as the report of heavy gunfire began to echo across the clearing once more. Reassuring himself that Kanda and Marie had the situation in hand Tiedoll settled his attention fully on his own task. Letting out a breath Tiedoll closed his eyes for a moment then following some instinct he couldn’t quite explain, dipped his hand into the faintly glowing water, swirling it around so that it splashed up to thoroughly soak his skin to the wrist. Lifting his dripping hand from the water Tiedoll reached up toward the sphere of Innocence, his fingertips being rewetted by the trickle of water that streamed from the small slit that lay between it and the woman’s palm.
A faint tingling sensation traveled across Tiedoll’s hand as he came into contact with the Innocence, causing him to pause for a moment before pushing forward. He had just taken the Innocence in hand and was lifting it from its base when a violent cracking sound, as if part of the forest was being felled split the air along with a shout, followed by a pained yell. Tiedoll instantly recognized the first voice as Marie’s calling Kanda’s name, just before Kanda had cried out in pain.
Wasting no more time Tiedoll yanked the Innocence free, cramming it hastily into his coat pocket as he ran toward the site of the conflict, Maker of Eden already in hand and activated.
Upon reaching the scene a quick glance showed Tiedoll more than a dozen Akuma, which were a mix of level ones and twos, circling Marie who was slicing them apart with his Innocence as quickly as he could. Kanda was nowhere in sight but a line of fallen and smashed trees leading deeper into the forest gave some indication of where he might be.
“Art!” proclaimed Tiedoll as he brought the two parts of his Innocence together, with a flash of light, driving the end of the chisel into the soil. In response a glowing, slightly translucent arm rose from the earth, its hand smashing into the nearest Akuma slamming it to the ground.
“Marie, I’ll take care of things here now. Go to Kanda.” ordered Tiedoll as he came to a stop beside the eldest of his three students.
Marie nodded and quickly turned toward the destroyed trees, confirming that much of Tiedoll’s assumption about what had happened.
As Marie departed one of the Akuma broke away from the group to pursue him, only to be caught by the grip of the arm Tiedoll had formed earlier. “Leave him.” commanded Tiedoll, his tone shockingly cold for a man that typically brimmed with warmth and humor. He eyed the other Akuma warningly as he continued speaking. “Your fight is with me now, Akuma. …I’ll no longer allow you to harm my precious children so imprudently.”
Raising Maker of Eden once more, Tiedoll slammed the cross piece down onto the chisel. “Art!”
A pair of giant figures rose from out of the ground to tower over the treetops, they hesitated only a moment before moving as one to attack the swarming Akuma. The screams of dying Akuma filled the air around Tiedoll as his creations began tearing the Akuma apart, his face was stony as he watched the carnage, his cloak billowing and twisting behind his shoulders as the force of explosions all around him kicked up dust and wind.
As silence returned to the clearing a few minutes later, save for the soft sound of leaves shifting in the wind as a normal breeze resumed, Tiedoll let out a breath his shoulders sagging. Turning, he tucked Maker of Eden away as he hurried toward the swath of destroyed trees where Marie had been headed. Winding his way through the rubble of broken branches and shattered tree trunks Tiedoll came to where Marie was working to dig his way through a massive pile of them.
“Marie…” called Tiedoll as he approached, a concerned frown coming to his face once he saw what Marie was doing.
“Master, Kanda is under here.” said Marie in response to the unspoken question that might have been the next thing asked, momentarily turning his head toward the sound of Tiedoll’s voice.
Tiedoll’s breath caught at Marie’s words feeling a surge of dread rising in his stomach, even though he knew that Kanda was able to recover from virtually any injury, but he started forward without any visible hesitation to begin helping Marie clear away the mound of debris to rescue Kanda. The two men worked together for some time, at one point assisted by the giants created by General Tiedoll’s Innocence in moving the larger tree trunks, before finally managing to shift enough of the fallen trees out of the way to reach Kanda.
Pushing back his initial reaction to the obvious signs of the injuries Kanda had sustained General Tiedoll moved toward Kanda’s head, carefully positioning his arms around his student’s upper body to support Kanda’s head and neck as much as possible while lifting him. “Marie,… help me lay him out flat over there where it’s clear.”
Marie quickly moved to obey gathering up Kanda’s legs, one arm moving to try to support his hips as well, wincing as he heard the faint grinding of shattered bone fragments moving against each other. As they settled Kanda on a flat, relatively clear patch of ground to one side of what remained of the pile of trees he had been buried in, Marie cocked his head to one side listening for a moment before looking back toward Tiedoll with alarm. “Master, his breathing stopped!”
Tiedoll’s eyes widened at Maries statement, and he moved to kneel hastily at Kanda’s side one hand already reaching for the young exorcist’s shoulder. “Yu, no…” he murmured, clearing his throat before continuing more firmly. “Yu,… wake up!” commanded Tiedoll lightly slapping Kanda’s cheek in an attempt to rouse him.
“Kanda!” called Marie kneeling at Kanda’s other side, opposite Tiedoll, as he pressed one hand to his headphones monitoring Kanda’s heartbeat while listening for the faintest hint of his breathing resuming.
A handful of breathless moments passed as Tiedoll continued trying revive Kanda, then a wet, agonized gasp broke the silence as Kanda suddenly inhaled. Sagging as tears of relief welled in his eyes, Tiedoll reached out to tenderly brush Kanda’s bangs back from his forehead. “Yu,… you mustn’t scare your father like that.”
Marie let out a breath, bowing his head for a moment as he reached out to rest a hand on Kanda’s other shoulder as the sound of Kanda’s breathing began to stabilize.
Looking back up briefly Tiedoll reached out to carefully shift Kanda’s head and neck so that they weren’t twisted or turned to one side. Afterwards he scooted sideways taking hold of Kanda’s arm, pulling lightly on it before stretching it out to lay straight along Kanda’s side.
“Quickly now,… We need to make sure his body and limbs are straight so that any broken bones will heal properly.” instructed Tiedoll making sure that Marie had heard him and moved to obey.
When Tiedoll and Marie had finished their task, with Tiedoll verbally fussing over Kanda while they worked, the general finally found a moment to turn his attention to his other student. “…And you Marie, are you all right? You weren’t injured?” asked Tiedoll frowning slightly in concern as he studied Marie for any sign that he had also been hurt.
Marie shook his head giving the general a small reassuring smile, as he reached across Kanda to rest a hand on his master’s shoulder. “No, I’m fine.”
Tiedoll let out a loud sigh. “Ah,… that’s good.” He murmured, finally allowing the worried tears he had been holding back to flow. “I’m glad…” continued Tiedoll, his voice beginning to choke up. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, as he began crying in earnest. “I’m just-… so glad you’ll both be-… all right…”
On the ground between Tiedoll and Marie, Kanda stirred slightly then turned his head to cough out a mouthful of blood before speaking. “…Shut up,… old man…” panted Kanda, sounding a bit breathless as he let his head drop back to its former position. “…Quit… bawling.”
Marie and Tiedoll both chuckled softly, feeling reassured that Kanda would recover with time if he was already displaying his usual abrasive attitude. Sniffling Tiedoll rested one hand on Kanda’s shoulder as he began to compose himself, pushing his glasses onto his forehead to wipe his nose and eyes on the back of his sleeve. As Kanda huffed at them in annoyance, likely shooting a glare at both himself and their master, Marie simply smiled quietly settling his hands in his lap as he relaxed.
Sighing Tiedoll sat back, keeping his hand on Kanda’s shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly in time with the faint hitches of pain in Kanda’s breath as his body began working to knit itself back together. Now that the crisis had passed and there was a moment of calm while they waited for Kanda to heal enough to be moved, looking back and forth between his students, Tiedoll finally took the opportunity to ask about what happened.
“We were all right until just after the second wave of Akuma…” began Marie absently running his fingers across the rings of his Innocence as he spoke. “Kanda was taking care of a more difficult level two, and I was handling a mixed group of ones and a level two that seemed to have recently evolved. …There must have been another level two that was hiding while we were distracted by the others. It sounded like Kanda had been hit by the Akuma he was already fighting, and had just gotten back up when it came out of the brush behind him. …It managed to grab hold of Kanda, and threw him with enough force to break through all the trees that were destroyed. …I wasn’t fast enough to stop it before it could…”
“I see…” murmured Tiedoll when Marie had finished, glancing down for confirmation at Kanda, whose lips were twisted in an annoyed grimace as he closed his eyes turning away from Tiedoll’s inspection.
“Were you able to collect the Innocence Master?” asked Marie pulling Tiedoll’s attention back to himself before Tiedoll could press Kanda for more.
“Ah, yes. …I have it right here.” said Tiedoll pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose before reaching into the pocket of his uniform coat and withdrawing the glowing green piece of Innocence.
Between Marie and Tiedoll Kanda sat up with a grunt, hissing quietly between clenched teeth as he wrapped one arm around his torso to support his still healing ribs. “…Then there’s no reason to stick around here any more.” Kanda muttered as he shifted, intending to push himself to his feet.
Tiedoll reached out to stop Kanda, only to be brushed off with a sharp “Tch”. Tiedoll watched for a moment as Kanda managed to get his legs under himself long enough to stand before swaying and stumbling a few steps sideways before being able to catch himself on the trunk of a tree that was still standing.
“Yu,… at least let one of us help you… You were badly hurt, and shouldn’t be moving.” said Tiedoll as he and Marie got to their feet as well.
“I’m already healed.” retorted Kanda in an aggravated growl, locking his knees to keep himself from slumping to the ground as he straightened away from the tree he was leaning against to make his way over to the pile he had been buried under. Gritting his teeth to suppress a groan as he bent to retrieve Mugen, Kanda slid the weapon into its sheath before turning toward the village that he, Marie, and Tiedoll had been staying at.
Tiedoll sighed as he scratched the back of his head while watching Kanda, who was utterly resistant at the moment to any attempt to assist him. “…At least rest once we get back to the inn,… There’s no reason we can’t extend our stay here.”
“Whatever.” muttered Kanda as he continued walking, leaving Marie and Tiedoll to follow behind him.
In spite of Kanda’s insistence that he was fine and had already healed sufficiently, by the time they reached the edge of the village Marie had taken hold of Kanda’s elbow along the way, and it appeared from Tiedoll’s perspective behind the two young men that Marie was subtly supporting the teenage exorcist as they walked. …Yu is ever the stubborn child…
As they reached the inn Tiedoll picked up his pace slightly to move past the pair, noting a faint pinch at the corners of Kanda’s eyes that indicated he was straining to mask his exhaustion and the residual pain of his freshly healed wounds. By now Kanda was leaning more heavily against the support Marie offered seeming as if only his powerful force of will and the efforts of his fellow exorcist were all that was keeping him upright. Kanda walked with his head slightly bowed while they made their way up the stairs to the room the three of them were sharing, stumbling slightly over the threshold as he entered once Tiedoll had opened the door.
Marie and Tiedoll entered the room as Kanda made a beeline toward the bed closest to the corner of the room, with as much stability as he could manage while still trying to make the short walk seem casual after having shrugged off Marie’s hand on his upper arm. He barely took the time to undo and remove his boots before collapsing onto the mattress. Kanda settled Mugen on the bed beside him, keeping his hand loosely wrapped around the sheath as his breathing deepened, easing toward unconsciousness and sleep.
Across the room Tiedoll watched for a moment as Kanda settled himself then looked over at Marie. “Now Marie, if you aren’t too tired as well …Shall we see about finding someone who will sell us some meals? I think we could all use a good supper. …And I’m sure that Yu would appreciate having something to eat too once he wakes from his nap.”
A snort that carried only half its usual level of derision came from Kanda’s side of the room. “…’M not asleep old man.” muttered Kanda without opening his eyes, the half-asleep tone of his voice sounding very much like that of a pouting child insisting that he wasn’t tired.
“Of course not.” replied Tiedoll with a tolerant, fondly paternal smile as Kanda huffed in response. Touching Marie’s elbow briefly to signal that they were leaving the general turned toward the door looking back over his shoulder. “…We should return shortly.” Tiedoll added watching as Kanda carefully rolled onto his side giving them both his back as he curled slightly around Mugen.