"Hey Neah…." A wheezing voice cracked out from the living corpse's mouth. Neah sat atop the remains of a mausoleum, a cigarette in his mouth. Smoke drifted up to circle his head in a mock halo. He tilted his head to acknowledge the dying girl's words, signalling that he had indeed heard her. He grinded his cigarette against the rock he sat on, and looked down at her with pitying eyes.
"What is it, little songbird?" He asked with a voice like syrup. For once, there was no secrets hiding in his words, no hidden agenda disguised in his eyes.
"When…. I'm gone….. do you think….. anyone will notice?" Her voice cracked with misery, dirty tears streamed down her filthy cheeks. Neah frowned, and jumped down from his perch. He strode over to where she lay, body broken and dying.
She looked like a fallen angel, he mused, studying her fallen form. The remains of her once proud Exorcist's uniform were tattered and torn, stained with blood, grass, and dirt. Her once white hair was splayed around her head like a halo, dyed a morbid shade of red from her blood. A gaping gash slashed through her torso, painting her clothes and skin red.
He crouched beside her, and looked her in the eye, fierce amber meeting dull silver with a look of faint respect. He gave her a sad smile, and brushed her hair away from her face.
"My songbird, you will be missed dearly, by all the lives that you've touched. You've been a blessing to your friends, and a formidable fighter, might I add. It will not be the same without you, my little Valkyrie." He whispered, and she smiled softly, blood staining her lips and chin.
"Before…. Before I go….. Could you… could you sing for me?" She croaked, breaking into a fit of painful hacking. Blood dribbled down her chin, and Neah wiped away the blood with his gloved hand.
"Of course, my little Valkyrie." He whispered, and he propped her up against a nearby headstone.
And as the bloody sun set on the graveyard turned battlefield, Neah began to sing.
So the little infant fell into a deep sleep.
Among the grey ashes in the flames shining...First one, then two ...
Surfaces numerous of your faces
A thousand dreams trickle back to the earth
On the night when the silver eyes were trembling, the shining you was born
Across millions of years,the prayers have already returned back to the earth
I will still continue to pray
Please bestow upon this child your love
Upon our joined hands, leave a gentle kiss
So the little infant fell into a deep sleep.
Among the grey ashes in the flames shining...First one,then two ...
Surfaces numerous of your faces
A thousand dreams trickle back to the earth
On the night when the silver eyes were trembling, the shining you was born
Across millions of years, the prayers have already returned back to the earth
I will still continue to pray
Please bestow upon this child your love
Upon our joined hands, leave a gentle kiss
I will still continue to pray
Please bestow upon this child your love
Upon our joined hands, leave a gentle kiss
The final, mournful note left his lips, and it hung there for a moment in the air, before vanishing.
"Was that okay, Allen?" He asked quietly. When he received no reply, he turned, to look at the girl.
She was slumped against the cold stone marker, eyes shut in an eternal slumber, a peaceful smile hanging on her lips. Neah smiled sadly, and caressed her cooling cheek. Tears leaked from his amber eyes, and he chuckled.
"Goodnight, my little Valkyrie." He whispered, before dispersing into millions of lights, that rapidly vanished. And yet, he had never really been there in the first place, rather, he had been an illusion to a dying girl who sought the comfort of in her final hour.
Allen Walker was killed in action on the evening of September 3rd, 18**, by a Level Four Akuma. Her team had been massacred in the hours previous to her demise, and the Black Order only knew of her demise by the Ark Gates shattering and vanishing upon the death of their mistress.
The white-haired exorcist, who had not even reached her seventeenth birthday, became the latest casualty of the Holy War. But she was far from the last.
