The Village Where the Witch Dwells (novel chapter)

is the second chapter in the first volume of the D.Gray-man: Reverse novels. The story focuses on Kanda's mission to recover missing finders in a village where a witch is rumored to live. It takes place just before Allen's arrival at the Black Order and elaborates on Kanda's search for someone.

Plot
While sitting in his room, Kanda watches an hourglass with a lotus inside. His contemplations are interrupted when Komui calls for Kanda and gives him a mission to go to a town in northern Germany, Dankelm, and search for missing finders.

On his way to Dankelm, Kanda travels through a forest that has come to be known as "Forest of No Return". He is attacked by a level-one akuma, and Kanda quickly dispatches it. Moments later, he finds Gozu, one of the missing finders. He reports that his two companions are already dead, but before he can continue much farther, four more akuma attack. As they fight, one takes Gozu hostage and threatens to kill him. Kanda dismissively tells the akuma to do what it wants, shocking them both. Terrified, the akuma releases Gozu and flees. Suspecting that he is headed toward the village, Kanda follows.

Upon arriving in the village, Kanda and Gozu find it empty. Gozu urges Kanda to clean the akuma blood off of himself as he is probably scaring the villagers, but Kanda refuses. They enter a general store and find an old man. Kanda attempts to question him, but he is unable to help their investigation. Instead, he offers the pair the available guest bedroom and they accept.

When they are called to dinner, they meet the shopkeeper's daughter, Sophia. She tells them she works in the town past the forest, Mittel Barth, and has only returned ten days ago. She says that she had not noticed anything odd on her return home. When Gozu mentions a witch, the shopkeeper becomes nervous and leaves. Sophia explains that the "witch" is an old superstition and is in actuality just a harmless, eccentric old lady that lives in the forest.

As they all prepare for bed, Sophia gives Gozu a bag of jelly beans. When Kanda awakes in the night to find the door open and Gozu gone, he rushes outside and finds a trail of jelly beans. He follows it to a hut and kills an akuma that attacks him, surprised to hear it beg for forgiveness as it dies. Inside the hut, Kanda finds Gozu, bound and gagged, with the shopkeeper beside him. As he is unbound, Gozu hurriedly explains that the shopkeeper was trying to help him and that he had woken up here after having a dream of following a steak. The shopkeeper, meanwhile, urges Kanda and Gozu to leave and never come back.

Kanda decides instead to return back to the general store, where he finds Sophia. He questions her about the witch of the forest and she explains that the role of witch is given to a woman without relatives until she dies and then it is given to someone else. In exchange for food, clothing, and a place to live, the woman would be hated by the village and blamed for any hardships. Sophia explains that the last witch died while she was working in Mittel Barth and her twin sister, Angela, was chosen as her replacement.

Angela, however, was ill and only lived ten days before dying. Sophia returned five days after her death and learned the truth. Grieved, she buried Angela and built a small tombstone for her before the Millennium Earl approached her and helped her resurrect her sister at the cost of her own life.

Sophia, now clearly an akuma, explains that in revenge she killed the children of the village and buried them under the witch's hut. She then killed the remaining half of the population and turned the other half into akuma, forcing them to kill any who approached the village.

Gozu and Kanda flee the general store so Kanda will have more room to fight and Sophia thoughtlessly kills her father, claiming he deserves it. Overwhelmed by the tragedy, Gozu begs Kanda not to kill Sophia, but Kanda ignores him. Sophia summons the akuma in the village and Kanda begins to kill them. When he notices Gozu is in danger, he quickly protects him, much to the horror of the other, who realizes he has been infected by the akuma virus. Kanda simply says he is immune to it and orders Gozu to find safety. Sophia praises Kanda's fighting skill and Kanda suddenly finds himself back in his room. There, he sees the lotus flower in the hourglass wither and die. Shocked, Kanda can only watch until her hears Gozu's voice. Realizing that he is hallucinating, Kanda slashed the air and stabs Sophia, dispelling the illusion. He explains that although Sophia tried to show him what he most desired, she did not understand what his wish truly meant. Kanda kills Sophia and Gozu holds her as she dies. The mystery of the village now solved, the two men returned home.

Back at the Order, Gozu apologizes for calling Kanda cold-hearted, but Kanda dismisses him. Suddenly an alarm goes off, alerting the members of the Order that a boy with a pentacle mark has approached them. Believing it to be an akuma, Kanda grabs his sword and prepares for battle.

Trivia

 * This story was later adapted into episodes 33 and 34 of the D.Gray-man anime.
 * Although the lotus flower mentioned in the story has yet to make an appearance in the manga, its role in the anime is more heavily emphasized.