Hope In The Midst Of Destruction (D. Gray-man Fanfic)

Chapter 24

"Lavi, you better not stare up, or I'll personally make sure you don't survive after this!!" Allen warned, hand desperately holding onto the ledge of the room that just exploded. The rabbit latching onto her leg did not help matters.

'Allen, you must be purified, purified I say from that parasite's touch as soon as possible!!'

'Although I agree that is of utmost importance,' Crown Clown agreed, voice slightly strained, 'Another thing that is of utmost importance is getting away from this situation in the first place!'

'Crown Clown, I'm sorry but can you lift us up? Keeping Lavi and I from falling is taking most of my strength,' Allen asked, voice just as strained if not more (whether from holding on to the ledge or incoming annoyance and anger, or both).

Clown did as asked, and slowly brought the duo back into the room that held the (now dead) carnivorous plants. Sighing in relief, the exorcists sat on the almost destroyed floor.

'You should have just kick the guy off!' Neah suggested, annoyed with the young Bookman. 'So his presence can't contaminate you more.'

'I can't do that, no matter how annoying he is. We are comrades, after all.'

Catching her breathe, Allen looked around, and spotted something interesting in the courtyard.

"Hey Lavi, isn't that a graveyard?" Allen asked Lavi, who was currently emptying the contents of his stomach nearby (and Allen's opinion of the guy went ).

Lavi, just finishing up, looked at where Allen was pointing, "Yeah...the graves look really shabby, though."

"Let's go take a closer look," and with that, Allen jumped down. Lavi gaped at her soft and graceful landing before groaning after realizing he had to get down too.

Several minutes (and ton of Lavi-bashing in Allen's head courtesy of the two voices) later...

"Hmm, there's eight graves," Allen commented, "And that Eliade did say she was going to bury that other villager before he was eaten by the plants."

Lavi shivered at the mention of those carnivorous plants, "Y-yeah...So are they the graves for the victims? But wasn't there nine people who were killed."

Allen nodded, "But don't you remember: the first victim turned immediately into dust so there would be no body to bury."

"Now that I think about it, the mayor did mention that."

Allen narrowed her eyes when she spotted something ominous, "But that's not the important part. Look at the ground around this grave."

Lavi, curious, widened his eyes at the sight, "That's...! If that's the case, then that one villager that was eaten by the plants would also be...!"

"Black pentacles, meaning the Akuma's virus. And if my hunch is correct..."

The two checked the other graves to see that each were the same as the one they saw; all of the graves had black pentacles on the ground's surface. Digging the graves up and opening the coffins (read: Allen forcing Lavi to open the coffins through threats and sickly sweet smiles), their suspicions were confirmed.

Inside the coffins were not the white bones of humans, but the black skeleton of an Akuma. Moreover, the inside of the coffins, too, were covered in black pentacles.

(Inwardly, Allen cheered because now she had proper proof of Krory actually being an exorcist.)

Allen's eyes narrowed at the sight while Lavi gagged at the smell and sight of rotting flesh nearby, "These pentacles must be due to the insides leading out after the flesh degraded."