Old Man of the Land and Aria of the Night Sky (Part 5) (土翁と空夜のアリア⑤, Tsuchi Okina to Kūya no Aria 5) is the thirteenth chapter of the D.Gray-man series written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino.
Synopsis[]
As Allen carries the unconscious and injured bodies of his fellow Exorcist Kanda and the Finder Toma, he hears someone singing a “painfully beautiful melody”.
Elsewhere, Guzol asks the doll Lala if she is crying, noting that she sounds sad, to which Lala replies that she is only a doll.
When Lala asks Guzol why he lied to Kanda, Guzol answers that he does not want anyone else to destroy her. He then asks Lala to stay with him until he dies, assuring her that he will break her, himself, before he does.
Lala assures Guzol that she belongs to him, and that she will only let him break her. She then asks if he would like for her to sing another song, to which Guzol only replies “I am an ugly… ugly human being…”.
It is then the two notice Allen standing nearby, and when Allen reveals that he knows that Lala is the doll, Lala picks up one of the fallen support pillars in the room and throws it at Allen.
Despite Allen’s attempts to verbally calm her down, Lala continues throwing pillars at him. Allen sets Toma and Kanda aside and activates his Innocence, picking up one of the pillars, himself, and throwing it back. The pillar does not hit Lala, though, hitting and destroying the nearby others instead.
Allen points out to Lala that there is nothing left for her to throw, and asks that they talk it out, instead.
Now willing to talk, Lala tells Allen that Guzol is dying and begs him to not take the Innocence in her heart until that happens.
Lala then tells Allen what happened to her and Guzol.
In a flashback, it is revealed that Guzol was abandoned as a child in Mater because of his physical deformities.
Lala, who had become physically frightening due to years of neglect, offered to sing Guzol a song, deciding that if he, like the first five children she had made the same offer to, attacked her and would not let her sing, she would kill him.
Instead of reacting like she had feared he would, Guzol smiled and asked for a song.
In the present, Lala explains that she has been with Guzol for eighty years since then, and that he was the only human who would ever let her sing to him. She wants nothing more than to continue to be his doll until he dies.
Kanda, who has regained consciousness, denies Lala’s request, stating they have to retrieve the Innocence before the Akuma attack again.
Kanda then orders Allen to take Lala’s heart.