Disclaimer: I own nothing. Recaps will replace the disclaimer, don't want to say it every single chapter.

Alma†Karma

1. Lotus†Pain

Kanda was the one to hit the ground first, slamming on his back with a silent gasp. For a few moments there was no sound and no movement until the samurai who lost his sword guided the two of them against a wall, Alma on his chest. Alma, body full of cracks, looked up at Kanda with pupiless eyes, soulless almost. The only reason he was still in this world was because of the orb in his chest, his Regenerative Core.

Kanda's core, or rather the tattoo, was split by his own bodily cracks. It was then that Alma knew his love wouldn't have a new life with him, that the chase they've had for so long would be ending. The search for the lotus flower, while it was found, will never be done again. No more will a warrior come after Alma with only the sights and smells of those beautiful flowers to guide him. No more will they be able to dream or try again for a paradise... for their end has come. And this time, it won't be by an Akuma.

"Y-Yuu..." Alma whispered, tears falling from blind eyes, face weakly and slowly twisting into a look of never ending pain. Kanda's own face mirrored his, ocean-colored orbs bright with crystal tears falling down sickly white skin.

"I know," he said almost complacently. "But even if the game is at its end, Alma... remember this: the lotus never wilts. We'll find each other again, in the next life... I'm sure of it." A sob escaped the torso of "Akuma Alma", cracks echoing within the ruins as they formed.

"And I... Yuu..." A shaky hand lifted and Kanda brought it to his cheek, bringing his lover closer. Alma pressed his lips to the nineteen year old's, their breaths mingling as he spoke. "In the next life... discover me quicker... I'll get to you faster... I swear, on all th-that is holy, I will be with you... and... we'll have a new... adven-ture..."

The long haired man chuckled weakly, his own body forming more cracks as he did. "Yeah... our next life will be... magical. Che, o-only you would... dream of something like that..." But he, silently, wished for the same.

The two lovers from a past incarnation closed their eyes for the last time, a dim glow emitting from them both as their cores failed before combining and fusing together to form one heart, the heart splitting into an item for each person: a crimson orb. When Alma's cells momentarily died, the Third Exorcists "died" and were transported to their Parent Body in the form of chartreuse colored rings. During that time the cracks on Alma's torso healed and the rest of his body was restored. Two rings went on each ankle and wrist, the last around Alma's neck.

As each of the Third Exorcists subconsciously worked together to get the main core functioning for two people, Alma's eyes opened revealing light blue orbs with a white pupil. Vision hazy, he stared ahead confused. He swore that he had just bid the world farewell with his Yuu...

Surprised when he felt his body was restored, he slowly pushed himself up with a lot of effort, incredibly weak. When his vision cleared up, he saw the broken body of his best friend and previous incarnation's lover. His eyes teared up.

"Yuu..." Not seeing the tattoo on the ex-samurai's chest, he looked down at himself to see nothing but the almost tattoo purple claw over his supposed heart.

Keeping himself calm with an ease he never had before, blue eyes glanced around until they stopped on two small crimson colored orbs beside his hand, close to the wall and by Kanda. Cautiously, he picked them up. On them were the symbols their own cores had.

'Is... are these our cores? How did they get out of our bodies? No, how are we still alive?' He could clearly tell which was his—his own core radiated a black light, if that made any sense. Kanda's... there was nothing. No light, no warmth like his own had, it was simply cold and dead in his palm. Dread filled Alma, he facing his friend with snow white hands on white cracked cheeks.

"Yuu... Yuu! I'm still here, I'm still alive... Come on! You have to wake up! ...Yuu!" Nothing. Disbelief made its way to the partial Akuma's face. He laughed weakly.

"Okay Yuu... I'll just wait for you to wake up, then. You always did like your sleep." And then, as if his friend had responded, continued. "Oh, Yuu, remember that time we pranked the scientists with all that mayonnaise? I convinced you to replace Edgar's shampoo with it. I did the same with Twi's lotion. Remember that?" He then huffed, pouting.

"But I was always the one who get in trouble. You never did! It was so unfair..." He glanced over to Kanda, who was clearly not even breathing. He looked away, posture strained.

"And... and you asked Edgar where humans came from. He was so embarrassed while explaining to you, and you were just so uncaring despite having asked. And then... we always fought. And you always killed me. But then, I always killed you, too. And we always came back, because of our cores. Over and over and over again... I didn't like fighting with you, but... it was funny when we did, because... there was always so much blood. Yet we always came back. Isn't that right, Yuu?"

Another glance. Alma cringed, forced on a very fake grin, and kept retelling events of their single one hundred ninety three days together in the Sixth Lab, better known as the Six Institute. Every now and then Alma would look over to his friend, as if waiting for a reply, and then he would look away crestfallen.

Alma, for his memory and any idle thing he could think of, somehow ran out of things to tell. He had no idea how long they've been in the ruins of Mater, but he knew it must've been hours if not a day, judging by the light. And Kanda still hasn't shown any signs of waking up or any kind of reaction to anything at all.

Alma paused, hand gently gripping Kanda's core. "Right... That's right, Yuu... no wonder you won't wake up. You're... probably on your next life already. This... body is... dead. Well, it's no different from our first incarnations, huh? I just have to find you. Somehow. Or you'll find me. Yeah, you will. Because... you always go off on a search for your lotus flower. Every time. You'll find me, I know it, but I'll look for you too, anyway, and hope to speed up the process."

He picked up the ex-samurai's body, setting it so that Kanda's arms were over his stomach. Alma straightened up and gazed at the two cores in his left hand, clenching them tightly to his chest.

"I hope you don't mind me keeping your core, Yuu. I don't want my memory to start failing me. That won't be good for either of us... Well, I guess I'll... go start looking for you, Yuu. If I can figure out how to get out of these ruins... Wish me luck, and I hope you find me soon, my warrior."

With only a hesitant, slightly fearful state lingering on the dead body of Yuu Kanda, Alma Karma turned around and headed for the only exit out of the chamber without a glance back, despite his steps being shaky and sobs escaping him.

It was only ten years and ten days after he left Mater when Alma ironically found his first bout of magical happenings, not that he knew it at first. Curious, from his place in the dense forests near Crowley, he shifted into his "human" form (Really, it was just his hair turning black, pupils becoming normal, ears rounded, disk and tail and armor on his shoulders disappearing along with his clawed hands and feet. The tattoos stayed, strangely, the chartreuse colored rings staying as well.), of which consisted of him wearing black jeans and a black sweater with white boots. He tucked the cores securely into his pocket before setting off.

It took awhile, as he got lost, but he eventually left the Crowley district and came near Spinner's End. It was on a far hill where a park was situated where Alma discovered the source. It was a red haired girl, a girl with black hair and a boy that was the same nearby. He watched from afar as the red haired girl had a daisy bloom from the palm of her hand, awed blue eyes watching in secret. When the boy stepped closer, the flower wilted as the black haired girl yelled about telling on the red haired one. Alma frowned. 'How petty,' he thought, watching the clearly jealous girl storm off. His eyes drifted back to the two again.

While Alma could detect something odd coming from the both of them, it was much stronger in the girl. He observed the two until the sun began to set, of which was when the girl bid the boy farewell before going down the hill the girl from before had done. The boy stood by the tree for a few long moments, staring after the redhead. He seemed to shake his head before going in the opposite direction.

The second time found what he learned to be a magic anomaly was ten years and fourteen days after Mater, in a pub that most everyone passed by. He hummed quietly to himself, stepping his way in, having no problem seeing in the dim lighting.

"Why hello," Alma turned to face the jubilant man with brown hair slicked back, glass and rag in hand. He had a grin on his face, brown eyes warm. "Haven't seen you around here before. You're new to the area?"

Alma smiled at the man emptily, not that he could tell. "Ah, yes. My brother has never been strong enough to go see the magical world himself, so I elected myself to take notes for him to give him something to look forward to. I learned that Magical Britain had the highest magical population in the world, next to America, so I ventured here. My name is... Alma Karma, pleasure." If the man caught his hesitation when introducing himself, he thought nothing of it.

"Good to meet you, Mr. Karma. You can just call me Tom. If you've never been here before, I should give you access to Diagon Alley." Despite the unfamiliar words, Alma only smiled and nodded. He was led through a back door to a brick wall. Tom tapped the bricks in an order the twenty year old memorized instantaneously and it opened like a doorway.

"Have a good time, sir, and try not to go down Knockturn Alley—it's a dark place, and dangerous." With that said, the bartender went back into the Leaky Cauldron, leaving Alma on his own. He inhaled, the cores in his pocket seeming heavy. Well, maybe not totally...

Stepping in the alley, the bricks closed behind him, leaving him forced to wander. And wander he did. He eyed the white bank called Gringotts with weariness—he had a bad feeling that if he ever went in there, nothing good would come from it. He made sure to avoid the building as best he could. He didn't bother going inside any of the stores, knowing that he would want to buy something for which he had no money for. He stopped at the fork when he made a u-turn, catching a sign that said Knockturn Alley.

On one hand, if he should go down an alley that was promised to be full of unholy and borderline truly dark happenings, he would probably laugh and call attention to himself. But then, if he didn't, he'll probably be bored for who knows how long with nothing to do. Both options were unpleasing to him. And it isn't as though he can casually ask where their magical people were centered at. That's just asking to get arrested.

So as to not have the slightest possibility of going down Knockturn and being labeled as something he isn't, Alma didn't turn down that path. Instead he went back to the brick wall, tapped the bricks in reverse order, and went back through the pub. From the clock on the wall he saw that he wasted two and a half hours—a feat for him.

"Have a nice trip, Mr. Karma?" Alma smiled boyishly. "I did. There was a lot to see, though I didn't buy anything because I'm saving up. I must be going now, though. Have a nice night."

"You as well, sir." Alma strolled out of the dim pub, looking at the humans passing it blindly with bemusement. 'Must be a magic thing.'

"Yeah... our next life will be... magical." The twenty year old in body paused mid step, hair covering his eyes. He then kept on walking, never actually stopping.

I'm aware that Mater isn't in Britain, but instead Italy, but I feel as though Allen's first mission should've been in Great Britain. And I thought it was at first, too, until the one episode in Hallow. Or maybe it was the wiki... not sure. Either way, in this story, it's in England.