Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / D. Gray-man Fan Fiction ❯ Ice On Ice ❯ A Strange Kind of Mansion ( Chapter 23 )

SailorStar9: Chapter 22 goes up. This is Chapter 23. Read and review.

 

Disclaimers: I do not own both the animes. However, I do own the pairing, I hope.

 

Chapter 23: A Strange Kind of Mansion

 

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“Beautiful.” Marshal Tiedoll remarked, glancing at the lake as the group crossed the bridge.

 

Taking out his sketch board, he started to draw.

 

“Marshall!” Kanda rebuked.

 

“Yes?” the Marshall asked.

 

“We don't have the time for idle drawing.” Kanda retorted.

 

Ami bit back a giggle when the Marshall cut Kanda's protest short when he pointed his sketching carbon in front of the swordsman's nose.

 

“I may come here just once during my lifetime.” The Marshall told the swordsman. “This may be my only chance to draw this scene.”

 

“I'll be done soon.” He assured, returning to his drawing.

 

“The view from over there looks wonderful, as well!” He gaped, dashing over the bridge to the other side of the lake.

 

“It's no use.” Marie told the shorter Exorcist. “That's just the kind of man he is.”

 

“I know.” Kanda replied.

 

“Don't you dare…” he glared at the female Exorcist with them.

 

“Sorry…” Ami held back her giggle, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

 

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“My, oh my.” The Marshall sighed. “Someone's beaten me to it.”

 

True enough, a bespectacled man was sitting at the spot the Marshall had intended on.

 

“Oh, good day!” The artist smiled.

 

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On a horse-drawn carriage, the Marshall was going through his new friend's drawings.

 

“These are quite good.” He remarked.

 

“Why, thank you.” The artist replied.

 

“You've drawn an awful lot of buildings.” The Marshall noted.

 

“I studied architecture at the University of Prague.” The artist explained.

 

“I see, then this is just a hobby.” The Marshall commented. “You're…”

 

“Alphonse Klaus.” Klaus replied.

 

“I'm Froi Tiedoll.” The Marshall introduced himself. “And these are my merry traveling companions, Maris, Kanda and Marie.”

 

“It's a pleasure.” Klaus replied.

 

“I'm sorry. That's how he is.” Ami apologized as Kanda simply ignored Klaus.

 

“Don't take it personally.” The Marshall added.

 

“Right…” Klaus replied.

 

Ami just smiled at the annoyed swordsman.

 

“You came from Prague, right?” the Marshall asked. “I suppose the only reason you'd be in these mountains is to see Jan's mansion.”

 

“Yes!” Klaus replied. “You know about it?”

 

“Only what the rumors tell.” The Marshall added.

 

“What is this Jan's mansion?” Marie asked.

 

“Long ago, a somewhat eccentric man named Jan Nowak lived in the village up ahead.” Klaus explained.

 

Taking out his drawing, he added, “He owned the general store. His shop would be crowded with people every day. One day, tough, he closed his shop. Jan used all his savings, and began building a house with his own hands. The villagers all thought that he would tire of it and give up but he never did. He kept on building the house as he saw fit. He built on and on for forty years, until he finally completed a proper mansion. That's the story of Jan's mansion. Reading this story as a boy is what made me want to be an architect. I've always wanted to see Jan's Mansion with my own eyes.”

 

“Ridiculous.” Kanda scoffed, earning him a rebuking nudge from the ice wielder beside him.

 

“Oh, you were listening?” the Marshall inquired.

 

Kanda sweatdropped before retorting, “Should I not?”

 

“I thought you weren't interested.” The Marshall noted.

 

“Not in the slightest.” Kanda replied.

 

“Jan's Mansion is a work of art, a testament to architecture's ability to entertain and aspire!” Klaus argued. “Its amateur construction has opened architects' eyes, and sparked the minds of countless artists and authors! It's a treasure that should be preserved for future generations!”

 

“That's right.” The Marshall agreed. “Though I don't suppose an antisocial humbug like yourself would understand.”

 

Kanda silently fumed.

 

“Yuu…” Ami tried to pacify the enraged swordsman.

 

“What are those!” the carriage's owner exclaimed.

 

“Move!” Kanda retorted, pushing Klaus aside as he leapt off the carriage.

 

“I guess he just needs to let off some steam.” Ami remarked amusedly as the swordsman dispatched the small group of Akuma fairly easily.

 

Marie's strings stopped some more in their tracks.

 

“Noel Organo.” The blind Exorcist unleashed his attack.

 

“After them, Marie!” Kanda instructed as the remaining Akuma retreated to the forest.

 

“Who died and made you leader?” Ami joked, unleashing a torrent of icy water on the three Akumas covering the back.

 

“Shut up!” Kanda retorted.

 

“Cranky today, aren't we?” Ami teased.

 

“Che.” Kanda snorted.

 

“Right!” Marie nodded. “Marshall!”

 

“There he goes…” the Marshall sighed as the carriage's owner drove off rapidly, leaving the travelers behind.

 

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“No one's home…” Klaus remarked as he returned back to his house.

 

“How can this be?” he gasped, once the group entered the house and the architect looked at the leftover food on the table. “It looks as though someone was here just moments ago.”

 

“It's the Akuma's doing.” The Marshall replied.

 

“Akuma?” Klaus echoed. “You mean those monsters we met earlier?”

 

“Correct.” The Marshall nodded.

 

“They're all dead.” Kanda added.

 

“Oh no!” Klaus gasped.

 

“I hear them! To the east!” Marie reported.

 

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The group ran into the forest, only to be met back the onslaught attack.

 

“These guys just never give up, do they?” Ami kidded, using a water bubble to shield the group, before turning the bubble into a wave of water to force the Akuma group back.

 

Kanda took this opportunity to slice through an Akuma in front of him. Blocking the second Akuma's bullets with his sword, he cut through the Akuma.

 

Marie used his strings to cut through another.

 

“Last one.” Ami remarked, preparing to use an Ice Bolt.

 

“Stop!” Kanda called, running after the escaping Akuma, the group following his lead.

 

“Wha…” Klaus gasped as he ran.

 

“That's…” the Marshall blinked as the group stopped in front of Jan's Mansion.

 

“That's Jan's Mansion!” Klaus beamed.

 

“Here at last, Exorcists?” one of the three Level Twos mocked. “We had to kill all those villagers just to pass time.”

 

“Now, come inside. It's time to play.” Another added and the three leapt back into the mansion.

 

“Why do I get this feeling this has `trap' written all over in capital letters?” Ami sighed.

 

“They're badgering us!” Kanda retorted. “Those bastards!”

 

“Stop!” Marie warned. “It could be a trap!”

 

“I don't care!” Kanda snapped. “I must destroy the Akuma!”

 

“Oh well, nothing for it.” The Marshall sighed.

 

“We'll check it out.” He told Klaus. “We can't let them run amok in that mansion, now can we?”

 

“But…” Klaus gasped.

 

“We'll be just fine.” The Marshall assured him. “You get home.”

 

“You've seen it right?” Ami told the architect “Leave the rest to us.”

 

“Right.” Klaus nodded.

 

“Um…” he started as the four Exorcists approached to the mansion. “Please, take care of the mansion.”

 

“I will.” The Marshall replied.

 

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Inside the mansion…

 

“A dead end?” Kanda inquired, pressing his hands against the wall.

 

“Is this it?” the Marshall asked, finding a rope lever. Pulling it, the Marshall blinked as Kanda fell through a trapdoor.

 

“Definitely a trap.” Ami noted as she went after him.

 

“Damn it Peacock!” she scolded as the pair landed on an underground room and Kanda immediately drew his sword.

 

“Don't be so paranoid. The enemy's nowhere to be found.” The Marshall remarked as he and Marie slid down another hole.

 

“It's as Klaus said, this house itself is a game.” He added as Kanda rescathed his weapon. “Jan made this entire house to be played with.”

 

Ami noted, “If we had a basic layout of this mansion, it'll be so much…”

 

Her sentence was cut short when Kanda was slapped on the face by the door.

 

“Forget I said anything.” She sighed.

 

“You'll have to watch both doors and floors while we're here.” The Marshall advised.

 

Going through the door, the Marshall then stepped on a button on the stairs, causing the staircase to slide.

 

“How interesting!” the Marshall noted.

 

“Oh my, how strange!” he added, getting doused in water sprouting from a moose's head.

 

“Master..!” Marie gasped.

 

The Marshall laughed as Marie was almost trapped under a metal sheet, Kanda preventing the sheet from crashing the blind Exorcist.

 

“This is a damn maze.” Ami remarked as the four found themselves on different staircases in a room.

 

“This is unexpectedly fun, isn't it?” the Marshall smiled, pulling onto a rope lever, causing the masks on the wall to open and shut their mouths.

 

“And here I thought I went through everything with Marshall Cross…” Ami shook her head.

 

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Entering the library…

 

“Now this is a bookworm's heaven.” Ami noted.

 

“Marshall, you must take care when touching things.” Kanda warned as his Master fingered a book.

 

“What?” the Marshall asked. “Did you say anything?” and pulled on the book lever.

 

The ceiling opened to reveal a group of Akuma above.

 

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Up in the observatory…

 

“Here they come, here they come!” the three Akuma chanted.

 

“All's going as planned.” One of them remarked. “But no matter how many level ones we send, they won't be beaten.”

 

“That's fine with me.” Another replied.

 

“Yes, we have but to lure them into this room.” The third Akuma added.

 

“I see.” The first Akuma noted.

 

“Then, we'll be able to finish them off.” The second Akuma added.

 

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Down in the library, the three younger Exorcists made quick work of the Level One Akumas.

 

“Is it over?” the Marshall asked, peering from a bookshelf. “Well then, let's press on.”

 

“I'll do it.” Kanda offered when the Marshall laid his hand on the doorknob.

 

“You're thick as usual.” The Marshall sighed as the swordsman struggled with knob. “You simply assumed the door was hinged.”

 

“Told you so.” Ami muttered as she slid the door open.

 

“There, you see.” The Marshall smiled. “You have to think outside the box once in a while.”

 

“Marshall!” Kanda hissed a warning, preparing to attack.

 

“Oh that?” Ami raised an unamused eyebrow.

 

“Aqua Rhapsody!” She simply materialized a watery ice harp with her hands, strumming the strings, causing streams of icy water to attack the Akuma outside the door simultaneously.

 

“What do you take me for? Stupid?” she joked, turning an amused look at her stunned fiancé.

 

“She's a smart one.” The Marshall smiled.

 

“How did you end up with her?” he asked his younger disciple.

 

Ami smirked at her fumbling lover.

 

“You want to answer that or should I?” she teased. “Although, I can't guarantee I won't leave out the embarrassing details.”

 

Kanda scowled, she was enjoying this too much.

 

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Outside, Klaus gasped when the mansion's roof exploded.

 

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Back in the mansion, Kanda and Marie were making quick work of the remaining Akuma.

 

“Welcome Exorcists!” the three Level Two Akumas greeted as Kanda burst into the observatory after slicing through the last Akuma.

 

“Yuu, what did I tell you about jumping into battle without the rest of us?” Ami chided.

 

“We meet at last.” The Marshall replied.

 

“It's a pleasure, Marshall Tiedoll.” One of the three Akumas replied.

 

“Oh, you know who I am?” the Marshall asked.

 

“Of course!” the second Akuma answered. “We've come to collect that Innocence of yours.”

 

“I'm terribly sorry, but I can't allow that.” The Marshall replied.

 

“Is that so?” the third Akuma mocked. “We'll just have to take it by force then. But first, a change in scenery is in order.”

 

“You!” Kanda hissed as Klaus fell through the roof.

 

“By change in scenery, did you mean him?” the Marshall asked.

 

“No!” one of the Akuma replied. “He came in on his own accord! Take a look, the stage is nearly set for our battle.”

 

“For Level Two Akumas, these guys ready talk a lot.” Ami remarked.

 

“I'm sorry.” Klaus apologized. “I was just worried… there was a hole leading into the hallway…”

 

“Well, no use griping about it now.” the Marshall replied.

 

“What's this?” Kanda asked as the bookshelves started to rise from the ground.

 

“This is it!” the first Akuma laughed. “This is our stage! And soon it will be your grave!”

 

“This room can change its shape.” Klaus explained. “It's this mansion's biggest secret.”

 

“And what a funny mansion this is.” The Marshall added.

 

“You think so too?” one of the three Akuma taunted as Marie was lifted by one of the rising bookshelves. “I quite agree, my friend!”

 

“Shall we shut them up?” Ami asked her partner.

 

Kanda's smirk told her his answer and the pair leapt from one bookshelf to another.

 

“Oh, stop it!” the Marshall told the Akuma. “I pride myself on avoiding friendships with Akuma.”

 

“Is that so?” the Akuma mocked. “Well, that's unfortunate!”

 

Kanda defended the Marshall with his sword.

 

“Marshall, fall back!” he advised.

 

“I had every intention of doing so.” The Marshall replied and took off with Klaus in tow. “My, my.”

 

“Too slow.” Ami remarked, as she appeared under the Akuma.

 

“Goodbye.” She added coolly, unleashing an Ice Bolt.

 

However, the Akuma laughed as it regenerated.

 

“What do you think?” it mocked. “Isn't this a wonderful body I have?”

 

“Oh my, this could be a problem.” The Marshall noted.

 

“Okay….” Ami blinked. “Never saw that coming.”

 

“Kanda, Maris, get down!” Marie instructed, firing his strings at the three Akumas.

 

The pair ducked as the strings entangled the Akumas.

 

“That won't work!” one of them taunted as all three slithered out of the way.

 

“Marie!” Kanda gasped, coming to his rescue.

 

“Oh my, isn't this fun?” another taunted, raising a bookshelf to prevent to rescue. “And the game's just beginning too!”

 

“Yuu!” Ami gasped.

 

Trapped within a bookshelf, Kanda sliced through a ghastly hand that had reached in to grab him. The hand regenerated, falling back and appearing behind the swordsman, knocking him off.

 

“Now then, how long will you last?” the Akuma mocked. “What's wrong? Done already?”

 

“There!” Kanda realized, stabbing his swords through a gap in the box. “So your face is your weak point.”

 

The Marshall watched on as the swordsman sliced his way out and freed Marie.

 

Turning to the last Akuma, the swordsman stabbed at it.

 

“Run away!” the Akuma gasped, materializing beside its comrades, fleeing from Kanda's assault.

 

“Stop it!” Klaus gasped as Kanda cut his way to the three Akuma. “Please, stop! Don't destroy the building! This place, Jan's Mansion, is my dream!”

 

“If you wish to live, stay right where you are.” Kanda warned.

 

“Beasts of the Underworld!” he unleashed his wraiths at the bookshelves, causing them to recede back to the ground.

 

“Now, there's nowhere to hide.” He told the three Akuma.

 

“My, oh my, you've really done it now.” one of the Akuma replied. “But it seems you've destroyed a little too much.”

 

“That was definitely overkill Peacock.” Ami shook her head as the ground crumbled under their feet.

 

Forming a water bubble, she encased the group within it before they were crashed by the gears beneath.

 

“Gears… should've figured.” Ami sighed.

 

“My goodness!” the Marshall gasped in awe.

 

“The mansion's power source!” Klaus added.

 

“Now, fall into the gears!” the Akumas laughed.

 

Klaus gasped when his drawing of Jan's Mansion fell out of his bag, falling into the gears as Ami's bubble leaked a hole at the bottom, the ice wielder struggling to sustain her bubble.

 

“My goodness, you destroyed the room, and the floor with it.” The Marshall sighed. “You've a lot to learn, I'm afraid. Klaus, you risked your life to see this mansion. Remember it well.”

 

“Eh? Right…” Klaus nodded.

 

“Maker of Eden, activate!” the Marshall activated his Innocence the second Ami's Innocence receded back to her orb. Kanda grabbed her, using his sword to dig into the wall as Marie used his strings to prevent himself and Klaus from falling.

 

“I'm alright.” Ami assured the swordsman, a glint of worry flashed in his eyes. “Never had to use my bubble in this way.”

 

“Then again,” she smiled at him. “There's always a first time for everything, right?”

 

“What's he doing to do?” one of the three Akuma inquired, seeing the sudden rise in light.

 

“Art!” the Marshall unleashed his power, his shoulder straps preventing him from falling into the gears.

 

“What the hell?” the three Akuma gasped as the light spread onto the gears below, a hand emerging from the circle of light and demolishing the surrounding wall.

 

“It's crumbling…” Klaus gasped.

 

When the dust settled, the Marshall dug himself out of the debris, Marie climbing out of a stone slab, with Klaus still strapped onto him.

 

“I told you.” The Marshall told his stunned disciple. “You have to think outside the box. If you want to leave them without a place to hide, you've got to do it right. Above you. Take care of them.”

 

The three Exorcists needed no prompting as Marie used his strings to trap them. Ami speared all the three Akumas in place with her ice spears. Kanda finished the job as he jumped and sliced through the three Akuma.

 

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“It's so terrible that a wonderful mansion like that had to be destroyed... it's so sad…” The Marshall wept over the debris.

 

“And here I thought we've gone through this.” Ami sighed.

 

“What the hell? You did it yourself!” Kanda retorted.

 

“That's so like the Master, isn't it?” Marie inquired.

 

“You see, my father fell ill.” Klaus suddenly said. “That's why I had to leave my studies. I thought to sever myself from the world of architecture. I'd like to see Jan's Mansion and be able to give up my dreams. But now…”

 

“Mr. Tiedoll, I've made a decision!” He told the Marshall. “I'll continue studying architecture. So many ideas are rushing into my head! If I were to build a new mansion here, how would I go about it? Now that Jan's Mansion is gone, I know what I must do. I have to build an even greater building myself!”

 

“I see…” the Marshall nodded, wiping off his tears.

 

“Did the Master destroy the mansion because he knew this would happen?” Marie asked on the sidelines.

 

“That's none of my business.” Kanda retorted.

 

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“I leave them for one minute to get some snacks, and look what happened.” Skin hissed, stepping on a cracked mask of his destroyed subordinates.

 

“I wonder if they like sweets.” He pondered as he looked back at the group walking off. Popping his three lollipops into his mouth, the Noah disappeared.

 

Ami's eyes widened when she sensed a Noah behind them and turned sharply back to the demolished mansion, only to find no one was there.

 

“What is it?” Kanda asked the ice wielder.

 

“Nothing.” Ami replied, the nagging feeling not leaving her.

 

Kanda raised a skeptical eyebrow at her.

 

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SailorStar9: Phew, I've finally got this chapter down. Read and review.