Summary: When Kanda is forced to take to care of a blinded Allen, everything changes. Suddenly Kanda is forced to choose between the boy he loves and the rules he lives by. But it is not just Allen his choice could kill...Yullen, Yaoi, Lemons.
Rated overall: M, for non-explicit lemons in later chapters.
My offering for Yullen Week Winter 2010 - First chapter will be posted soon. Feedback is always loved :)
Brand New Eyes
Prologue - Blindly Searching
It all began with a boy and a music box.
The tune was delicate and chilling, like a feather brushing up his spine as his fingers caressed the swathe of silk that covered the box. The sound of rain droplets faded into the music as they dropped from his face to the cold marble floor. Together, he thought, they made a perfect melody of sweetness and sorrow.
The music entwined around him curling like smoke, echoing in the emptiness of what must have once been a grand ballroom. Now, though, it was a hollow reminder of distant glory in the remnants of a fallen mansion.
The ceiling was half-crumbled, leaving cherubs limbless, clouds torn apart and children missing smiles. The magnificent staircase curled skyward for a few paces before it ended in a tangle of intricate wrought iron banisters and fallen stone. The once ruby-red walls were faded and powdered with dust. In one corner remained a ball-gown on a mannequin with a half-sewn sleeve in front of a full-length gilded mirror which remained perfectly pristine.
He sat on the cold floor - alone - as outside his comrades fought against the hordes of Akuma that had claimed the once peaceful town of Étoile.
Breathing slowly, calmly, his fingers fell from the silk-covered box as he wiped the rain from his chin. At that moment he caught a brief movement in his peripheral vision and he rocked back onto his heels with a start his Akuma eye veering wildly around the room.
Suddenly the mannequin began to cackle hysterically, its sinister voice echoing in the empty ballroom as the boy leapt to his feet, all other thoughts abandoned as he clutched his arm and called on his Innocence to protect him.
The Akuma-mannequin gained large, doll-like eyes with a stitched button mouth, screaming out a battle cry as pins flew from the thing's half-stitched arms.
The boy dodged as he ran to duck behind the staircase. The pins embedded themselves harmlessly in the walls, sending flakes of red paint falling like snow to the floor.
The thing let out a plaintive wail and pointed it's detached sleeve in his direction.
"Run, boy," it hissed before it broke down into insane laughter. "Yes, run - while you can!" it screamed delightedly before launching another attack and leaping at the terrified boy.
He criss-crossed across the ballroom, pins flying past him like deadly raindrops, firing off counter-shots when he could before the Akuma let a shrill cry that set his nerves on edge.
Without warning, the pictures in golden frames twisted on the walls, morphing into the hunched, tortured shapes of level two Akuma.
The boy's eyes widened, his left eye cycloning red and black as it showed him the souls manipulated by the Earl. His eyes followed each shape as it spasmed into true form.
Twenty-five.
Panic sliced down his spine as his blood ran ice cold.
He could not take on twenty-five level two Akuma all alone.
Abruptly his mind crashed back to reality as the Akuma began to attack. He cursed under his breath and ran for the nearest object to hide behind as the air filled with smoke and fire. A single pin grazed his arm as he hid behind the beautiful mirror.
Then the air was filled with shards of glass, falling like tiny, razor-edged petals, slicing his skin before they carpeted the floor.
Crying out in pain, the boy searched frantically for the Innocence with his eyes until he found it, lying half-way across the room.
He gritted his teeth and sent up a silent prayer before shooting blindly upwards as he ran desperately for the delicate music box so essential for the mission. His fingers reached it, tearing away the silk cover just as the ballroom doors opened.
A boy stood in the doorway, so beautiful and so deadly, like a vengeful prince as his eyes found the younger boy clutching the music box.
The younger boy thought of the stories of the box that held a jewel so bright it blinded those who looked upon it and his fingers found the carved pearl clasp.
"What are you doing?" demanded the tall boy as single tear fell from the other boy's eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Kanda," The boy whispered, his voice breaking on the other's name.
Kanda noticed then, the boy's fingers on the clasp of the box and his eyes widened in a rare fit of emotion.
"No! Wait, don't open-!" He shouted as the boy began to open the box.
Kanda closed his eyes frantically, his lips forming a plea.
The last thing the boy saw was the boy he loved mouthing his name.
Allen.
Then the world flooded with burning, blinding light before falling into darkness.