Pelican Bay
The Noah clan discovered their captive, Lavi Bookman Jr, possessed the Heart. It was no shock to anyone his comrades fought like hell to free him regardless of losing his exorcist abilities. It was in fact, the indisputable shock of the century when what seemed like the ghost of Cross Marian strolled into the Order – Heart in hand, miraculously intact. His only demand (a side from his later requested reward of full access to the Order’s winery) being no one, not even the Pope, ever inquire by what means he successfully delivered the Heart to the Order.
Max synchronization was automatically reached by all innocence accommodating exorcists. That was one of many things that happened upon the Heart’s mergence with the unaccommodated innocence residing in Helvasca. Knowledge flowed into her at an alarming rate; her screams sent haunting echoes through the Order’s hallways for days. Bestowed upon the Order through her was the one simple solution – Noah Exorcism. “Mercy of the Heart”, was a way in which each “Noah” including the Earl reverted back into their human origins and lost their fearsome abilities, whist keeping all their memories but also regaining their humanity. After all, the relic was amply named the Heart. It was in every sense of the word a miracle for the Order.
Kanda could not deny his heightened synchronization with Mugen when he was briefed but he didn’t swallow the other half of the news so easily. He wasn’t going to risk Allen’s safety. Still, once Neah heard, who by then completely took dominance over Allen’s body whenever he pleased, he wasted no time in making his way to destroying the Heart on his own. Five days of battle later Allen Walker was the first man to be exorcised from a Noah. The rest of the Noahs were no exception. A draw back with the Mercy of the Heart was once exorcised the Noah soul would not vanish, but find the Earl and reside within him. This was a double edged blade; the personality, memories and abilities of that Noah would all embed themselves with the Earl. By time the Order fought the Earl, though he was beyond Unworldly power, the man was driven insane containing each Noah in one vessel – all of which clashed for control. The battle with what the Earl had become lasted half a year. But in the fall of 1893 the war had been won. A side from the already existing akuma in the world, that the Exorcists would easily turn to dust, never again would departed loved ones be summoned back from their peaceful rest to be enslaved for the Earl’s bidding.
….
It took Howard Link almost 3 and a half years of specialized Crow techniques to heal Mana’s tattered mind and the merged memories of Neah, being the only Noah memories other than his own that remained after the Last Exorcism. After all, he was just a human man born with Noah remnants in his make-up that took over. The Order did not want any unnecessary bloodshed, and the poor man was a danger to himself and others after all he’d been through. So much so, that nothing considered harmful to him was let onto the island. Meaning most cooking utensils, more importantly to Link, his baking utensils were out of the question. Finally though, Link could leave the God forsaken island they had been stranded on for this whole process. He’d be back on main land in 3 weeks. Komui, who constantly relayed the latest gossip to Link at the end of each of his reports, made an annoyingly absurd fuss that he attend Kanda’s Birthday Lenalee and the rest threw every year. According to him it was made into a tradition since they all agreed that man would most likely never go to anyone else’s party! (the first year he attempted not even attending his own, and failed thanks to Miranda’s Time Record) Link didn’t want to give Komui the satisfaction of telling the others he’d won him over, but he was actually looking forward to seeing them… or anyone’s face other than Mana’s to be frank. Again, thanks to Komui he already knew the just of each of their current goings-on, but maybe it was the sure presence of cake that sold him…
On June 6th Link arrived to a small house right on the corner of Pelican Bay. He raised an eyebrow. “That street name seems so unfitting for Kanda.”
An all too familiar mop of bright red hair and ear to ear grin of a man answered the door promptly. “No WAY!? Guys, LINK is here!”
Slightly startled by the abrupt noises from inside getting closer and Lavi’s generous hug, Link flinched, making him drop the sword sharpening stone he had made from island rock for Kanda. It fell. On his foot. Which in-turn made him yelp, followed by a hint of an embarrassed blush.
“Hahahahaha! A few years of seclusion has made u a bit of a klutz hasn’t it?”
Link didn’t have to look up from inspecting the scuff on his new shoe to know who’s slightly obnoxious-too chipper of a voice that belonged to. He decided ignoring the comment all together would tick Allen Walker off far more than a smart come back. Setting his present very securely amongst the others on the table near the door, he walked in further to see Miranda making her way towards him.
"We're all so happy you could make it!" She helped him put away his coat.
"Thank you, Miranda. It's good to see you all doing well. Where's Kanda?" Link asked.
"He's upstairs!" Lenalee said as she came off the ladder she used to fix a slightly crooked birthday banner. "He's not to come down till we finish up" she gave Link a generous hug "I don't think he minds that."
"I think I'll go up and greet him properly then, wouldn't want any rules broken on my account!"
Lenalee smiled. "He'll be in the room to your right most likely."
"Thanks."
Lavi had just made his way back to the greeting committee. "Krory will be in soon, Julia is finishing up the cake. He's over joyed you could make it, Link. Krory got married just almost a year ago!"
Link chuckled. "I had heard from Komui he did, lucky fellow got him a good cook too, good for him."
Allen piped in "Good? Her baking skill rivals your own. You'll like her."
Link glanced over, patting his old friend on the back "No doubt you do too then." They both shared a smirk admitting to their shared gluttonous habits. “I’ll be back in a sec,” Link started up the stairs, “Curios to see if that boy finally aged…”
Link gently knocked on the door to the room on his right.
“I’m in here, Link” responded a half muffled answer coming from the left room.
Link opened the door to a small study, catching a glance at a painting of a half crumbled, though elaborate church that was undoubtedly General Tidal’s work right above the desk Kanda was still turned to. “Sorry to intrude, Lenalee thought you’d be…”
“She thought I’d be sleeping, that’s what,” Kanda snapped while turning to him, “I swear she thinks all I do is meditate, mope, or sleep! I suppose that’s what got me into this mess” He gestured one hand to the papers on the desk and rubbed his face wirily with the other before getting up to give a brisk hug to his comrade.
“What are those? Order reports?”
“God, no!” spat Kanda. “I haven’t set a foot there since the Last Exorcism.”
“Oh? But this house is so close by…” Link was puzzled.
Kanda let out a heavy sigh. “Though it’s the place I despise the most on this Earth, it’s the one and only thing I have left that’s real connecting me to ‘Him’.”
Link was quite taken aback with Kanda’s openness.
“I’m sure you must’ve felt the same with your fellow Crows…”
“Oh…” Thought Link. “I see.” He said. Link didn’t want to linger on saddening subjects, after all, it was Kanda’s birthday, maybe he’d re-open the topic another visit. “So then what are the papers? You seemed quite immersed.”
Kanda let his head fall to one side and glanced back at Link. “Heh, I’m grading papers.” The begrudgment was audible in Kanda’s voice. It took Link half a second to recall Komui mentioning Kanda had taken on teaching at a dojo that was on the verge of closing, but the topic was cut short at the time thanks to one of Mana’s episodes. “If Lenalee wasn’t so damn persistent I most defiantly wouldn’t have ever thought of teaching little brats.” Unbeknownst to him, the idea was actually Allen’s; they knew Lenalee was the only one who could get Kanda to do it. “At the very least I don’t get any grief from the town’s folk for carrying Mugen.”
Somehow Link sensed an actual fondness in his tone at “little brats” that was quite unexpected. Link could hear the opening of the main door down stairs. Shortly after, a shout from Lavi,
“Link, Krory and Julia are here! Kanda, you stay up there!!”
At the base of the stairs Link greeted Krory and a beautiful, smiling red-head.
“I’ve heard so many interesting things about you, Inspector Link.” Julia had a firm hand-shake despite her slender hand.
“Oh, just Link is fine, Madame,” he reassured her, “and as have I, about you! I haven’t had a decent cake in years.”
Julia blushed.
“Butternut cake is her specialty.” Krory exclaimed, beaming with pride. “How have you been, Link?” Krory asked.
Allen yelled from inside the kitchen , “Julia, did you happen to bring your cake cutter again, no way Kanda has one."
Julia excused herself from the two before yelling back, “Walker, don’t you dare lick a morsel off that icing, so help me… I’m not covering it up like last year!”
Link replied to Krory, “Quite obviously not as good as you. How did you two meet?”
Krory took a seat in one of the near-by chairs and gestured for Link to do the same. “She’s a science division botanist from the American branch. She transferred 3 years ago to be closer to her uncle in London. She was quite impressed with my additions to our London branch garden and was the only one who knew how to care for them properly when I was sent out for missions. I guess things just set into place and we clicked. Never did I think I’d meet someone else in my life time, but I did, and all thanks to my grandfather’s pets, might I add.” Link noticed his bit of fidgeting when he talked about her, he clearly was in-love.
“Krory!” Miranda came in looking for him. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I just need you for a moment, Krory. Kanda is so tall, I can’t reach his cups in that cupboard, would you mind?”
Krory got up. “Oh, sure thing.”
Link followed towards the kitchen, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“YES,” exclaimed Lenalee while tying up the last few streamers “keep Allen and Timcanpy out of here away from the food! Gosh, the two of them still haven’t grasped that puppy-dog eyes and whimpers don’t faze us.”
“Geez Allen, have some tact.” Link cautioned, as he swiped a croissant from the edge of the counter.
Allen smirked, trying his own luck, reaching for one.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, I’ll let it slide for Link this time, but did you actually think you were gonna pull a fast one with a Bookman standing gurad? Get walkin, Walker.”
Back in the living-room Link retook his seat and Allen sat down too. “Any chance you’d share that?”
“Ahhh, no.” Link’s grin hadn’t been this genuine in what seemed like forever. “So tell me, last I heard, you were doing carpenter work. How’d that come about?”
“Well I had to do something other than just therapy after the exorcism since the Order refused to let me dive right back into work. The claw goes through wood like a short knife in butter; I’ve even gotten artsy with it actually. I don’t just get repair requests anymore; I’ve gotten orders for full sets of furniture a few times.” He pointed to the kitchen, “That table is one of mine. I practically had to break Kanda’s old joke of a table myself to get him to keep it though, stubborn mule.”
Link put his hand on Allen’s chair armrest, “Allen, we should have a session some time about the fragmented memories. I know so much now about them since working with Mana, I’m sure I could give you far better answers than anyone else from the Order.” he was serious.
“Thank you for that, I figure with you back, the Order would make that arrangement anyway sooner or later.”
“Most likely yes, but I wanted you to know I’d do it as your friend, not just to follow orders.”
Allen smiled, then he caught a glance of Lavi passing by in the kitchen helping Julia with the candles. “Actually, for the most part we’re all doing rather well, all things considered. All but Lavi. He’s the Order’s Bookman now, but doesn’t have his innocence since it needs to be kept with Helvaska for the rest of us to stay fully synced up. It still baffles me he had the Heart... I think he for some reason feels less apart of the team without his hammer. All he can do watch History and record it.”
Link nodded. “I can imagine him feeling excluded”
Allen nodded back. “The Order sends him out, he doesn’t tell us to where and doesn’t write until he’s almost back home. I don’t know, it’s just not like him. I’ve asked him, but he just claims to have been busy. It not that he’s not WANTING to communicate with us… he’s always bringing gifts back and tells us all sort of new things about the different places, but never about his mission. I’m worried the Order has him doing something shady.”
“I’ll defiantly see what I can do to find out more on him for you.” Link promised.
A giddy Krory emerged from the kitchen. “Ok, everything is ready, could you two go and tell Kanda he could come down now?”
Link and Kanda came down the stairs looking very unamused with an ecstatic Allen grasping the ends of both their pony tails behind them yelling “Faster Starlight, Faster Midnight! Giddy-up!”
Link was too busy thinking just how much teaching children must have soften Kanda since he would’ve already attempted slicing Allen in half in the old days… in fact Link considered threatening to doing so himself if he hadn’t been so baffled by Kanda’s change in behavior.
Only Lavi dared let out a chuckle at the joke and then Lenalee decided she had better make a move before the party turned into a murder scene. POP, went a rather large round of confetti over the three followed by a loud “Happy Birthday Kandaaa and Welcome Back Link!!” Krory ushered the two in front of a cake with those exact words written on it.
Link got lost for a moment, he didn’t know if it was just the contentment he’d felt or if it was the sight of that glorious cake, but whatever it was, he was really quite thankful to Komui for persuading him to come. He was brought back to reality hearing Kanda grumble to Lenalee that the messy confetti wasn’t necessary, followed by a Thank you. Link thought it was probably the first time he personally heard Kanda say it. Man, he was going to have to get adjusted to things fast.
Julia cut the cake as each of them got their drinks.
“Link, try this, it’s spiked with some of the real good stuff Tyki brought Kanda as an early birthday present before he left for his mission.” Miranda gave him a glass.
His eyes widened and he couldn’t hide the look of sheer confusion on his face.
Miranda giggled “Oh no! Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”
“Know what!?”
“Oh my, it seems you really don’t. After they underwent Mercy of the Heart, the former Noah members were recruited as Akuma Locators, basically being in charge of our Finders. It makes sense actually, even after regaining their humanity they still had their Noah memories, so of course they knew where a lot of the Akuma hide outs were. They really are quite helpful and very much part of the team now. In a way I’m sure it helps them find redemption.”
“Their spread out between the American, London and Asian Braches,” added Krory. “We have Tyki, Road and Wisely here.”
“Luckily for me!” Allen raised his glass “Tyki is almost as bad at cards as Cross, I’ve made so much money off that man. I just don’t get why he’s so dead set on beating me. I don’t even cheat with him anymore – the man has rotten luck!”
Link downed his glass and asked for another… he didn’t think he could take many more surprises sober.
“Lenalee and Road are quite the duo!” continued Allen. “In Greece they took down 53 high level akuma in 2 weeks. They’re kind of scary when they team up for pranking too, so watch out for that Link. Wisely seems to like working with Miranda. The boy hates pain so her Time Record is a plus. Oddly enough he relentlessly teases you, though Miranda. If you ask me, I think he likes her.”
“No! It’s not like that at all, Allen, I assure you… I think…” Miranda’s face was practically a strawberry.
“This cake is divine, Julia!” Link changed the subject saving Miranda from more incomprehensible babbling about Wisley.
“Here Kanda, open these first!” Lavi dragged over the present’s table closer to Kanda. He opened the box and carefully pulled out 3 silk garments and then another small box packed full of sandalwood incense.
“Oh, good thinking Lavi, incense! For God’s sake, put those in your laundry room Kanda.” Allen was smiling with an eyebrow raised waiting for a brutal response.
“I’m going to throw your present in the trash, Walker.” Kanda didn’t disappoint.
“Picked those up while I was in Taiwan just a few weeks ago,” Lavi pulled a stick from the incense, “just one should be potent enough for the whole house. And I hope those fit you Kanda.”
“I’m sure they do, thanks Lavi, they’re great.”
Allen and Link shared a quick glance, if Lavi was all the way in Taiwan, no doubt he was summoned to the Asian Branch.
Kanda grabbed a small rectangular package. “Huh, from Link? What could be this heavy?” He tore open the wrappings. “Woah, I actually needed another one of these. Where did you find one so big?”
“There were plenty of suitable rocks of that kind on the island; I used the same stone for my blades. I made that one myself.” Link knew a swordsman would appreciate the size.
Kanda smirked and gave him a nod of appreciation, reaching for the next item - a pot holding some sort of herb shrub.
“Ah, that’s mine!” Krory made his way over. “These plants are the BEST pest repellent, I’m sure training outside with the kids in summer is quite hard with all of the mosquitoes. Dry out these buds on top once they flower and plant their seeds around the perimeter, you barely have to water and you have a bug barrier!”
“If only getting rid of Akuma were that easy…” shugged Kanda.
“Actually we’re working on something like that for the bug type akuma.”Julia chuckled.
The next present was a chrome bag from Lenalee. Kanda’s face was puzzled when he pulled out an Order’s golem.
“Komui helped me with modifying it. It’s a much older model, so no one would miss it from inventory. It’s no secret Kanda, at least not to us, that you’ve been slaying akuma whenever you get word. We actually appreciate your help. That golem has zero tracking and this way you can hear for yourself where the threats are and if you can engage without crossing paths with the Order’s Finders.”
“Tch. …I see. Well I appreciate it. I’ll make good use of this Lenalee”
Next up was the rather large box that no doubt was Allen’s. “Well thank you all for your gifts, you guys really shouldn’t have...”
Allen stood up, grabbed the box and dropped it in Kanda’s lap.
“Oomph! Shit Allen, what’s in there?”
Allen bent down right in his face with a menacing grin. “Open it and find out.”
Kanda tore through the cardboard to reveal a five piece stainless steel cooking set. “Shocker, it had to be food related.”
“You can’t just say “Thanks Allen, these are much better than the aluminum crap I’ve been using… you’re such a pal!” now could you?”
Kanda set them aside. “The aluminum at least gets hot far quicker than these heavy beasts will.”
Miranda shot up from her seat “Oh, wait, you’re not done yet, Kanda. One moment.” She hurried into the kitchen, coming out carrying a box with holes in the top; she set it gently on Kanda’s lap and released her Time Record that was encasing it. “Now, easy does it…”
Kanda obviously didn’t like where this was heading as he lifted the lid to see inside. He looked up with the best forced smile he could muster but his eyes screamed “help me, I can’t be crude to polite-as-always Miranda of all people”. “You got me a kitten?!”
Miranda smiled back hesitantly. “He has all his shots; he’s fixed and already potty trained!”
Kanda pulled the little fellow out for the rest to see the tiny blue eyed and grey kitten. For a good while he was silent, deliberating on how he should phrase “I don’t want it.” without causing Miranda to have a panic attack.
The kitten turned right around, looked at Kanda and gently pressed his paw on Kanda’s cheek. His head ever so slightly jerked back, he wasn’t expecting that. This didn’t go unnoticed to his guests, all of which were at the brink of tearing into manic laughter.
The first to break was Allen. “The kitten bopped Kanda! Hahahah!” The kitten turned his way, pounced off Kanda’s hand and strolled over towards him. Timcanpy instinctively hid behind Allen’s shoulder. “Aww, hey little guy, I know, Kanda is grumpy. I’m much nicer.” He pet the kitten and it made its way up towards his chest. “Ohh, you may need your claws trimmed a bit, ouch…” with no warning at all the little animal lunged it’s self at the hovering yellow ball behind Allen, Allen jerked back so quickly he squished Tim to the chair and hit his head on the wall behind him. “Oh my God!!!” He shouted.
The kitten only mildly startled, strode back to Kanda and pawed at his loose hair strands. At this point everyone was giggling at the little entertainer. Kanda looked over to Miranda.
“So what do you think?” she asked.
Kanda looked back down at the little fur ball. “I think his name is Karma.”
Fin.
