To Find An Exorcist (Sequel to TBAE)

Cinco

Ghost stories.

They were fun to tell, unsettling to hear. Stories of a phantom in the midst of everyday human life made one's skin crawl in fear, apprehensive of souls with destinies unfulfilled. And for the Black Order's headquarters, there was one particular ghost story that all who lived there knew of. The story of the pianist and rogue exorcist, Rebecca Oliver.

"Here's how the story goes," Lavi Bookman said. He gazed at his audience with a mischievous grin. Allen, Lenalee, and even Kanda had attended, all four sitting in a circle on the ground in Lavi's room to hear his tale. These days, they hadn't much else to do. They were forbidden to leave headquarters, and Leverrier's team restricted almost every activity and training.

"About twenty years back, there was an exorcist named Rebecca Oliver. She was one of the Order's finest exorcists, and yet a reclusive young woman. It's said that the only person from the Order that she was remotely close to was Cross Marian."

At the mention of the general, the party turned to Allen Walker expectantly, waiting for him to confirm the statement Lavi gave. "U-um," Allen stuttered out, raising his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. I actually don't know anything about this. Go on, Lavi. Finish your story." He put his hands down in his lap, and the group redirected their attention to the mentioned redhead.

The young Bookman chuckled. "Alright. Anyway, this exorcist had one notable hobby. She played the piano. The current exorcists of the time remarked Rebecca Oliver as a robot of a player, playing exactly what a score demanded of her, and nothing else. The music was almost eerie at times, and some people had begun to think of Rebecca as cold, heartless even. But the majority of people? They hadn't a care in the world for the pianist. She did her job as an exorcist well enough. That was all that mattered to them."

"Get on with your point," Kanda interrupted, growling in impatience. "You're dragging out this story and it's becoming annoying. So what if she played piano? What does that have to do with anything?"

"You mean you haven't heard?" Lavi blinked. There was a glint of mischief in his eyes. "No one from the past will speak about this. In fact, the Order went through a lengthy process to cover-up Rebecca's history, but not all can be hidden from the watchful eyes of Bookman. Why go through so much trouble to annihilate the record of one woman? What could they possibly be trying to hide?" And now Lavi leaned close to his audience, knowing he had expertly baited their attention, like fish to hook. "...she fell in love with the Fourteenth."

The three leaned back, awestruck. "The Fourteenth?!" Kanda repeated, utterly shocked.

"Neah Walker," Allen mumbled. He had heard that name for the Noah man used before. Neah Walker had been Mana's younger brother. But truth be told, Allen had never met Neah, or at least never had any recollection of it. As far as he knew, Neah had perished long before Allen came along Mana's path.

"Please, Lavi. Go on with your story. What happened...?" Lenalee pleaded.

"Ah, so now you're all interested~" Lavi teased. "Alright, alright. I'll tell ya. Neah Walker was apparently a long-time friend of Cross's. One day, he came by undercover to speak with Cross regarding some important matters, but stopped as he passed by Rebecca Oliver's room. He walked in to comment on her piano playing, and did the same thing nearly every day. And at one point, the secret came loose. An exorcist had fallen in love with a Noah. And even more oddly, the Innocence she possessed didn't reject her, but rather changed in spirit as she did, as if becoming tainted." Lavi took a breath, then continued to speak. "When this came unraveled, both the sides of the Order and Noah were furious. The love was forbidden. Within a snap, the lovers had gone rogue and disappeared..."

"That's all??? Kanda interjected, crossing his arms. "...that's not very-"

"I wasn't done," Lavi whined. "Let me finish my story."

Kanda snorted, but otherwise kept quiet. At this point, he had become too intrigued with Lavi's story that he didn't care about having to hear his "annoying" voice anymore.

"Well, rumor went around that Neah came back to his family. Not on friendly terms, he decimated a large populous of his family before being ultimately stopped and killed by the remaining Noah," Lavi explained. "But unlike Neah, Rebecca didn't return. And it was around this time that General Cross began disappearing. It was said that the general searched far and wide for the former member of the Order..."

"So where was she?" Lenalee breathed. By then the story had come to fill her body with anxiety. She leaned on Allen, curling against his arm.

"She was killed. By Neah." Silence ensued. The air seemed to still. And when no one spoke this time to interrupt him, Lavi added, "they had a child. With an unknown name, she too was murdered. But that's about all the information we've got, factually."

Allen's lips curled downwards in a frown. "I see... that's... really unfortunate... I wonder why he did it..."

Lavi shook his head a bit, shrugging. "Beats me, but-" he leaned a little closer once more, and his party leaned in with him. "...it's said that even today, Rebecca's melodies could still be heard. In the latest hours of evening when man finds himself in between sleep and consciousness, they enter a frequency in which her music can be heard. Songs she once played on the piano can be heard by the select few. They say that her playing yearns and begs for her lover, Neah Walker, despite what he did to her. And others say it seeks revenge. I suppose it all depends on the aspects of a person..."

Kanda stood up, sighing. "Like hell anyone's going to believe that story, Usagi."

"It's not a story! It's real!" Lavi pouted.

The samurai rolled his eyes. "Sure. And while we're adding onto this ridiculous ghost story, let's also say that Naomi Kurosu is their kid, right? Christ. How childish can you get?..." He growled. Kanda stuffed his hands into his pockets, kicking Lavi as he walked past him. "I'm going to bed, baka Usagi."

Lavi fell over on his back, whining. "Ow, ow-" But he went serious at the mentions of Kanda going to bed reached his ears. He watched as the cold-hearted exorcist walked off, slamming the door behind him. "..." Lavi sat up, staring at the remaining two exorcists in his room.

"So now what?..." Lenalee whispered.

<~~~~>

Grumbling as he stomped down the halls to his room, Kanda at first didn't notice the sweet melodies that began to fill his ears. But as moonlight struck his eyes, the man stopped dead in his tracks, jerking his head to the Order's lift that could bring one up and down levels of the building.

"...hell..."

Kanda hurried over to the lift, practically jumping across to it. He pulled at the lever, bringing the lift up slowly to the highest floor where the building still accommodated lodgings for exorcists. Very few people belonged to these rooms, secluded as they were. Kanda stepped off the lift, making haste to the door at the far end of the hall.

"It can't be..." Kanda shoved open the door to the room. Empty. Lonely. And furthermore, the cleaned out room of Naomi Kurosu. The man's face fell with disappointment, looking at the ground of the dim room. "...right," he mumbled, slowly shutting the door again.

Doldrums weighing down the samurai, Kanda made it to the front door of his room a while later, pushing open the door with lackluster. The hinges of his door whined with pity for him as he closed it, a destroyed expression upon those matured facial features. Plopping down upon the bed, it seemed even more impossible to fathom sleeping as he laid there on his stomach, staring emotionless at the floor.

But that didn't mean he had stopped hearing that psychotic melody.

The melody of Rebecca Oliver, whose soul yearned for Neah Walker.

And there laid Yuu Kanda, whose soul yearned for Naomi Kurosu.