In the Darkest of Times, for You
He was being contained in a room far from the dorms, the cafeteria, and the Science Department- basically, on the opposite side of the vast compound from anywhere there were people. At first there had been monitoring devices, and golems to keep an eye on him, to try to discern the pattern that dictated when the 14th was dominate and when their sweet, lovable Allen was. But the Noah got bored easily, and had made a game for himself in dispatching the bugs. Continuously replacing them soon became troublesome, and Inspector Augustine ordered the Science Department to cease and desist. The truth was, they saw Allen less and less, and when they did, his mental state was under great stress. As often as not, he was the one who destroyed the golems.
Allen Walker had borne solitary confinement bravely for two years.
Komui Lee resigned his post as Head of the Science Department after his sister lost her legs in battle, and retired as an exorcist. The Bookman's apprentice adopted his 51st persona and departed with his master when it became evident that there would be no more history made on the Black Order's side of things. They each relinquished the care of their Innocence to the Science Department before leaving. Similar tales could be found everywhere, be heard from anyone you stopped to ask.
Kanda Yuu was hospitalized for complications from old, outlawed experiments that had recently been legalized.
Aystar Krory was no longer allowed solid food because of the fear that he would somehow damage or tire his Innocence.
Chaoji Han had developed severe arthritis in his hands, arms, and spine, causing his fingers to contort into claws and his back to hunch violently.
Miranda Lotto's paranoia and desire to please had escalated to the fact that she unsuccessfully attempted suicide when an angry superior suggested it.
Noise Marie rested, left deaf following his most recent mission, while the Science Department struggled to adapt his Innocence to account for this newest handicap.
Howard Link, well…
Howard Link was well aware of these stories. He knew the rumors as fully as he did the facts. Rumors of exorcists buckling, physically, mentally, beneath the pressure. Facts that, finders were dropping like flies even though there had never been so many volunteers.
He knew all this- knew it. But it didn't stop him from wishing with uncharacteristic fervor that there was…something he could do to help. To lighten the load on the Black Order. To lift the weight of burden from the shoulders of the man he had shadowed faithfully for almost two years.
But finders were useless, and he wasn't a scientist. And exorcists couldn't be made. So he submitted himself to the Akuma Merger projects.
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You know that we can do it.
I can't leave my friends.
They managed to leave you just fine.
That doesn't matter.
Doesn't it?
Besides, Master said to stay put. He's not dead you know.
Neither is the Earl. Our business is not finished.
Your business, you mean. I want no part of this.
Too bad. Two of his most earnest opposers in the same body. The swine must be drooling at the opportunity.
Two birds with one stone.
More like two gods with one bullet.
Gods, huh.
And what would you prefer?
A little humility would be nice.
Two problems, then?
And one solution. That works.
Brat.
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Allen was weak. Bones protruded from the oddest places, and his skin was losing pigment and elasticity. The tips of his fingers were dark with old blood from the scraping and scratching that accompanied his fits. His vocal cords were raw, and speaking was difficult.
He almost wouldn't be surprised if he had forgotten how to. Visitors were few and far between, and the Noah heard his thoughts just fine.
The Noah…
Leave here.
The Noah was always there. Nothing was safe inside his head anymore.
You know that we can do it.
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The room was round.
There were no furnishings, or carpet. He had a toilet, a mat and a blanket, and a metal cup, bowl, and spoon. Food came twice a day, water four times.
Food twice, water four…
He lay on his back, staring up at the domed ceiling blankly. His arms were thrown wide like wings.
His eyes were half-closed. Blinking lethargically, Allen rolled his head towards the barricaded door. It wasn't wood; the Order had replaced it with steel after the 14th broke through the second time.
There's someone on the other side.
I know. I can tell.
There was a kind of ceremony to opening the door; they were extremely meticulous about it. He could hear the beginnings of it now. The uniform thumping of the steps of many man, the ping-ping of bolts being worked free and the sweeping of pens on clipboards.
When the ceremony was complete, Howard Link stepped in.
Allen blinked a few more times, and smiled. Link had visited four times before, to tell him about Kanda, and Lavi, and Lenalee and Komui. He was grateful, but somehow Allen found it hard to mourn his friends' troubles. They didn't seem real to him.
"Hello."
The inspector approached him slowly, placing one foot in front of the other. He knelt with a soft grunt and folded his legs.
Allen's eyes rose to his languidly.
"H-h…hello, Link." His voice granted against his throat. Disuse was apparent in the raspy undertone.
Wonder who got hurt this time. The Noah wondered wickedly.
Allen repeated this.
Link paled slightly. He cleared his throat awkwardly, one of his hands coming halfway up to his mouth before dropping to his lap. He was shaking, he was nervous.
"No one."
"Then why are you here?"
Not that he minds the company.
"I came to tell you that I am donating my body to the Akuma Mergers."
Allen was surprised. So was the Noah.
"Why?"
The blonde man looked down at his lap. When he spoke again, his words came with a breathy sigh that Allen hazily recognized as hopelessness.
"Because I want to help you."
"Me?"
"T-the Order, I mean."
Interesting.
What?
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Six meals and twelve cups of water later, a sudden boom rocked the foundations of the Headquarters so fiercely that stone dust rained down from the ceiling. Allen paused in his pacing and looked up, squinting against the sprinkles that fell.
What happened?
Who knows.
You don't think it was…
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I think it was.
Allen couldn't respond.
Link had come back, sixty-two meals and one hundred and twenty-four cups after the mysterious boom. Only, he didn't use the ceremony to bypass the door, this time.
What are you talking about. He didn't use the door at all. The Noah laughed rapturously.
But Allen still ignored him. He didn't rise from his mat, either. He gathered moisture in his mouth and prepared to use his voice.
"L-link, what have you done?" He rasped, barely audible over the sirens.
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The inspector did not remember much.
Pain. The morphine they had given him didn't take, whether because he was naturally immune or because they didn't allow time for it to, he wasn't sure. And, there was always the chance that it just hadn't been enough.
His body felt strange to him after the procedure. Too large and too small, too tight, too loose; too weak, too strong. The contradictions, the confusion, the absolute mess of uncertain sensation set his head spinning.
Where was his head?
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He didn't respond either, but was it because he couldn't, or just wouldn't?
Allen rose unsteadily from his seat, ignoring the way his legs wobbled and the sound of the 14th's smooth chortles reverberating in his skull. Tears spilled over, down his cheeks as he crossed the room, but his face was a mask.
He stopped inches from Link, and breathed in deeply through his nose. His chest expanded.
"First Lenalee." He began, emptily. "Then Lavi, and Kanda, and Krory, and Miranda, and- and…"
Heheheh…
"Wh-…" The mask cracked. He took another, shuddering breath.
"Why would you do this?"
The Akuma-hybrid with the familiar face, but the soulless eyes stared into his unblinkingly as it bent foreword, and wordlessly pressed a gentle kiss on his dry lips.
Allen felt heat, like a fever through Link's skin. He sobbed against the inspector's touch.
Link leaned back, the poisonous red marks that marred his face, around his eyes, and clashed with those puzzling dots on his forehead thrown into sharp contrast under the flashing alarms. A chilling voice that sounded so much like he remembered, but still froze the heart in his chest, came.
"To help you."
Well, there is a reason for this ball of darkangstyfic, and that is-- summed up-- I spent Thursday tired and pissed and I felt like writing and...weeeell, I also thought it would be fun to ruin some lives :D Just kidding. I don't normally write this kind of stuff, but I don't know, I kind of like it. The vision is cool.
Though, hopefully very different from the REAL ending. Whenever it gets here.
Buut...tell me what you think, pretty please? I would love to know, and critism is welcome.
-Oceans