Work Text:
~A for Alphabet~
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"A, B, C, D, E, F, G. H~J, K, L, M, N, O, P."
Ea frowned. Something was missing when Landkarte sang that song.
"Q, R, S, T~V. W, X, Y, and—"
"Where are the 'I' and 'U', Landkarte?"
Landkarte smiled childishly. "Hm… Right here, maybe?" His fingers formed a 'heart' shape, right on the center of his chest.
Profe giggled cutely, Ea looked at him with question mark above his head, while Zehel just laughed on the spot when he saw what Landkarte did.
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~B for Blind~
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He was blinded, lost his sight right after he knew that the traitor was his first comrade he ever had.
But he didn't regret for losing it, though.
His biggest and only regret was…
"Landkarte… I'm sorry… I… couldn't… save… you…"
… he couldn't save his best friend who've fallen into the darkness; Landkarte.
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~C for Culprit~
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They did know that the culprit who've made Teito a Pandora Box and incited Raggs Queen was the Pope.
But what they didn't know was the main culprit behind the Pope action.
Who could've thought someone cheerful and childish like Landkarte would be the main culprit, back then?
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~D for Different~
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"Quit talking about poison when we're eating, will you?!"
"Uhm, sorry. Forgot about that thing—"
"Last one is mine!"
"Ah! Zehel stole the last piece of cake!"
"WHERE DID HE GO?!"
Ea watched the scene in front of him with his hands still cleaning tea stain around his mouth. The place where he lived before was a calm and well mannered—yet, a cold one. But here, in the Barsburg Church, where the 07 Ghost lived together from different districts and had different personalities…
…he preferred to be here than living in that golden cold cage like before.
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~E for Enigmatic~
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In Ea's eyes, Landkarte was an enigmatic people.
First, he introduced himself happily and made him knew what a 'comrade' was. He approached him like nobody ever did before and smiled at him innocently every time they met.
But then, when the Raggs War happened, everything changed.
He looked sinister when he cut Profe, Relikt, and Fest's heads and took away Ea's sight with him. He didn't mind if the war happened to reach his own goal.
And he didn't wish for his own redemption.
Then what did he wished for, actually?
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~F for Fool~
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He was taught to get a high position in the empire when he was still alive. He knew how to read, how to count, and how to do everything perfectly.
But after he met with Landkarte, he felt like a fool.
A fool who didn't know how to make a friend perfectly likes what Landkarte did before he betrayed them all.
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~G for Guess~
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"What do you call something that's black, tall, and hot—in term of taste?"
"Electrical post with chili on it*."
"Mention a cloth that only consist of an alphabet."
"K tok**, isn't it?"
"Two nights ago, I saw a thousand stars shining on the sky—but when I saw it again last night, I only saw 998 stars there. Where did the two stars gone?"
Ea frowned. "…that I don't know. I give up."
Landkarte smirked teasingly. "It went to your eyes; they're shining brightly in front of me now."
A wink, and Ea was really speechless.
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~H for Home~
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[ "Welcome back to real world, Ea. How're your days in the Book of Hades?" ]
The dark-haired man smiled softly. He walked straight to the mansion in front of him. Even though he has lost his sight several years ago, he could still walked to the right way perfectly.
When he remembered the smile and greeting that guy gave him every time he returned from the Book of Hades, his chest felt painful.
Nobody gave him that kind of greeting every time he returned to the mansion (and his current home) now, anyway.
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~I for Irresistible~
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For him, that guy was irresistible.
He could never truly refused what that guy wanted; from taking him to the Book of Hades, accompanying him every evening to drink tea together, and playing 'hide-and-seek' that he won when he knew the light-haired guy's betrayal…
Even after Landkarte took his sight away from him with his bloody scythe, Ea could not resist himself from looking after him for ten years in military.
Simply put, Landkarte was the only person whom Ea could not resist in his life as the Awaking Spirit.
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~J for Joke***~
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It was the time where birds were singing beautifully outside when Landkarte suddenly came to Ea and said something horrible.
"Ea?"
"Yes?"
"I'm pregnant with your child."
Fest and Relikt choked when they drank their morning coffee.
It didn't take much time to realize that he was just joking. Ea immediately hit him with his scythe's end, while Landkarte ran away and laughing innocently.
But when the two bishop Ghosts saw Profe with a child that bear great similarity with Ea and Landkarte that afternoon, they debated with their own selves about the truth of Landkarte's joke.
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~K for Kreuz~
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Kreuz: man who acted as Vertrag before and when the Raggs War happened.
Kreuz: the second prince of Raggs kingdom, younger brother of Weldeschtein Krom Raggs and older brother of Krowell Raggs.
Kreuz: the black sheep of Pope's crime and risked his own life to protect his beloved nephew, Warheit Tiashe Raggs.
Kreuz: the poor man who always got Landkarte's death glare whenever he became too close with Ea—the time where he wanted to show the youngest Ghost a book he might like and getting insomnia after seeing a devil appeared beside Ea was the proof of this statement.
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~L for Liar~
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Landkarte was a great liar.
He lied to him about his real name when Ea asked it; he lied too when he acted like he got amnesia when Ea's 'birthday' arrived.
But now, when he took away Ea's sight and his comrades' souls after they knew about his betrayal…
Someone, please tell me that it's just his lie again!
…Ea was hoping in vain. His intention to make a pure world without love or hate by using Verloren's power wasn't among his lies.
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~M for Meeting~
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Their first meeting was when they met at the Barsburg Great Church. With a wide smile on his face, Landkarte extended his hand to shake Ea's while introducing himself.
Their last meeting was when Landkarte, helped by Teito (or someone else?) got out from the ninth sphere of Hell, 'returned' to Heaven. Ea comforted him before Landkarte gone, and followed him soon after having a small talk with the Prince of Raggs.
Simply put, they never could be parted for a long time—exception for the ten years since Landkarte's betrayal, of course.
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~N for Naughty~
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Landkarte was a naughty Ghost.
At least, that was he in Ea's eyes.
He loved to tease Ea until the Awaking Spirit went berserk and lost his cool; saying that he just wanted to shoo away Ea's annoying poker face with childish laugh when he did that.
And it's only Ea who didn't realize that Landkarte never did the same thing to the other Ghost. When he asked Profe Landkarte's reason to do that, the only female Ghost in that era replied with a giggles and, "Children only tease the one they loved the most, don't they?"
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~O for One~
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The one who Ea couldn't deal with the most: Landkarte.
The one who Landkarte only teased when he lived at Barsburg Great Church: Ea.
The one who Ea considered as his first comrade: Landkarte.
The one who comforted Landkarte until he cried before he returned to heaven: Ea.
The one—and only one—who saw Landkarte and Ea's relationship as more than friend or sibling: Profe.
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~P for Percentage~
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"How, according to your opinion, high is the percentage of Ea hating Landkarte?"
"Um… fifty percent?"
"Then how about the opposite—Landkarte loved Ea, in term of friendship?"
She hid her disappointment very well. "Fifty percent too, maybe."
"…I bet you'll answer with a hundred percent if I changed the term into a lover one, won't you?"
Profe smiled innocently and sweetly. Fest just knew her too well until he could guess her mind that right.
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~Q for Quiet~
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"Ea~! I've brought some cookies for you! You like the last one I brought, don't you? I've brought it again!"
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"Ea~! Let's play hide-and-seek with the orphans!"
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If there's anything else about Landkarte beside the 'people-I-can't-deal-with' in Ea's eyes, it's just about his behavior—he never kept his mouth closed.
"Would you please, be quiet for a while?"
Landkarte laughed happily. "Never until you throw away your poker face!"
Ea sighed—both loudly and tiredly. Just like what I've predicted.
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~R for Run~
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"Don't you dare to run away, you moron!"
-AAAH! There he comes—
"I said: STOP RUNNING!"
"I won't!"
"Give me back my Book of Hades, will you?!"
"Won't do it!"
"How on earth I can—"
"I won't give it back to you! You won't meet me again if you've became too concentrated inside this book!"
Ea sighed and facepalmed immediately; Landkarte's motives to do something childish like this would always made Ea wondered about what he really had inside his mind.
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~S for Scribble~
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Ea frowned. He didn't know whether the problem was in his sight or not, but the paper Landkarte gave to him was really full of scribbles.
"What're you reading, Ea?"
Ea gave the paper to Vertrag, and asked him to translate the writings there into words that he could understand.
But Vertrag's face turned white instantly when he saw the paper.
Later, after Fest translated the writings for him, Ea could be seen pursuing Landkarte with murderous intent; yelling, "WHY ON EARTH YOU THREATED HIM NOT TO BE TOO CLOSE WITH ME, YOU MORON?!"
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~T for Tea~
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Landkarte was good at making tea; Ea admitted it.
He enjoyed drinking tea his comrade made every evening with him, talking about something that usually started by Landkarte himself.
And he missed it very much after they became separated for several years.
Because of that, Kurena and Teito could only wandering why did the man always drank tea when evening came; sitting alone and facing the window like an old man—they didn't know the reason was the certain loafer who took away Karu's sight with him.
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~U for Undo~
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"Hey, Relikt?"
"Yes?"
"Could you change someone's past with your power?"
"Well… I can do the time traveling, but changing someone's past isn't allowed to be done."
"…oh."
"Why do you suddenly ask it, Landkarte?"
The one of two youngest Ghosts didn't answer. He just shook his head and thanked him, then walked away with his usual expression.
If only someone realized that his eyes were full of sadness, they could guess what his reason for asking Relikt something like that.
"If only I could change 'his' past, he wouldn't need to hide his sadness from everyone, would he?"
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~V for Vilify~
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There's a rumor spread in the Church about their real relationship.
When they heard about that, Ea's poker face was gone in seconds. Landkarte just smiled mysteriously after seeing Ea's furious expression.
"Who, in the earth, is the one who spread that vilify?"
The Sisters looked hesitant to answer.
"I repeat: WHO IS THE ONE WHO SPREAD THAT VILIFY?!"
"UWAAAH! IT'S GUIDO-SAMA!"
Later, Zehel spent his afternoon with avoiding a furious Ea.
Mental note: never mention about his relationship with Landkarte—especially if 'lover' word was add to it.
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~W for Wardrobe~
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"Um, may I ask something, Karu?"
"Go on."
"Is this just my feeling, or the two of you—you and Landkarte, I mean—have the same fashion taste?"
"…what makes you think like that?"
"You wore robe when we met for the first time, and now the two of you're wearing military uniform too. And the other Ghosts didn't wear robe; three of them were wearing Bishop attire, Profe wore a dress, and Zehel wear black clothing like Frau."
"And why did you ask me something that I don't know the reason too?"
Facepalm.
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~X for Xylophone~
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"Never—EVER—ask him to play that again, Fest. Please, I beg you."
Landkarte pouted. "I'm not that bad at playing xylophone, ain't I?"
Ea stared at him in disbelief. "If cracking those windows' glasses and endangering everyone's ear are classified as 'not that bad', you jerk, then what's the worst?"
While the two youngest Ghosts returned to their usual verbal fighting, Fest could just saw that scene with sweats hanging behind his head. But this time, though, he agreed with Ea.
Next time, he wouldn't ask Landkarte to play xylophone again if there's an event in the Church.
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~Y for You~
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"Who is the one that you can't deal with?"
"You, of course."
Landkarte huffed. "Next question: mention something that annoys you the most."
"You—no doubt," Ea answered with his usual poker face.
"You're mean~"
"Don't care about that."
"Well, the next one is…"
"What?"
Smirk. "Who'stheonethatyoulovedthemost?"
"You—wait, what?"
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~Z for Zero~
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"How many friend you have before you acted as Ea, Karu?"
"Zero."
Sigh. "How much time do you have for answering this question?"
"Zero, actually."
Teito almost slapped his own face when he heard that. "The last one…"
"…got a bad feeling for this one."
"How much percentage do you have about hating Landkarte? Profe said that he always annoys you in the past."
That's. "Could you please, just ask another question?"
"Profe also said if you said that, then your answer is 'zero' too."
Ea felt like wanted to curse himself for being born as a kuudere like this.
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The end.