A/N: In celebration—again—of WIP week, I'm here once more with another rewrite of an old story that I've been looking forward to continuing. The original remains under my account by the name Music To My Ears, if any of you remember it! I hope you enjoy!
This, like all my other fanfiction, is beta read by amazing boyfriend: PapaLavi!
While Komui had deemed this mission perfect for Lavi and Lenalee, Lavi had serious doubts. What few details they did have pointed at a rogue piece of Innocence or a rapidly evolving Akuma, but those details were strange beyond expressing. The whole town was rife with preposterous rumors that sounded like something torn straight out of a nightmare. But to the misfortune of those sent to investigate, the gossip mills were a credible source for once.
This problem held the concern of more than a few townsfolk; they had begged the Black Order to come do something—anything—to free them of the menace that reached into the minds of other people and stole their memories away. People awoke to find their names scrawled onto marriage documents, co-signed by people they'd never even heard. Family photos had become a puzzle with a missing piece. Properties were transferred to next of kin that didn't even know the ones that had disappeared. These people were believed to be family, yet not a soul had a memory of them, save for those few scraps of paper that still existed.
What surprised Lavi more than the content was that similar cases had started cropping up two years ago and it was only now when they requested assistance. In a few months time, it had become a widespread occurrence and the root cause of the unrest in the city.
At least, that's what they'd been told, but navigating through the local hot spots in search of every scrap of information available, Lavi found that people were anything but how Komui had described them.
The people of the city were brimming with glee, so much so that Lavi was hard pressed to think that they had ever been dealt with hardship in their lives. It was unnatural—forced.
They were running on empty when they finally stepped into what Lavi wagered was one of the last few spots in town.
The bar was booming with life, though the rolling laughter he could hear from down the street had since died down in favor of listening to the sounds of a piano's keys being touched down by skillful fingers. What was odd was how not a single set of eyes strayed from the stage when the bell attached to the door jingled.
Most people would've looked—that was just human nature.
When an unfamiliar voice joins in the melodic drone of the piano, understanding washes over him. With a voice like that, he can see why nobody would want to turn away. Though the voice belonged to a young man, it was rhythmic and drew in everyone in the tavern. It was a voice so soft and sweet that it drew even Lavi in with ease. The song pulled him in, bidding him to push aside the crowd and make his way to the front to see who breathed out words so brisk and bright that Lavi might credit him with the rising of the sun every morning.
It was like the source of it had taken him by the hand and directed him to the front of the stage, something that likely should have disturbed Lavi, but knowing that did little to help him heed his own warning. Instead, all thoughts were pushed away in favor of gazing at the exotic beauty seated at the piano's keys. Hair whiter than freshly fallen snow framed a pale face while glossy lips parted perfect around every lyric.
Entranced, he pushed aside the last onlooker to find himself at the front, offering little more than a half-hearted apology and a false smile to those in his path. A green eye looked on, watching the angelic beauty weave each lyric around the depression of the piano's keys that lay spread out before him.
Gorgeous, Lavi couldn't help but think as he joined the crowd in front of the stage. He pushed past the other onlookers with a few half-hearted apologies and false smiles before finding his way to the front. He rest his elbows against the wooden stage, staring up at the angelic being who wove the lyrics around each depression of the piano keys spread out before him.
The melody was heartbreaking and Lavi stood, still with awe as he listened to every word. Time passed slow in the background, going unnoticed by all those caught by the musician's charm. Their smile enchanted everyone in the audience and the one time their eyes met his, his heart threatened to leap into his throat. For someone to wear such a grin while singing something so tragic had to be—
"What are you doing, Lavi?"
Lenalee's words pierce through his trance, breaking whatever spell was cast on him by the song that filled the air. Lavi looks away from the young man on stage to give her his attention instead, feeling a strange pang in his chest that felt like something akin to anger over it.
Amethyst eyes bore into him and it takes a moment of staring at the concern evident in dark eyes to fully come to his senses.
"Ah, well..." he said, rubbing the back of his neck. Telling her that he'd been charmed by the singer on stage wasn't an option; they weren't here for leisure, after all. They had an important mission to complete that could spell disaster or otherwise for this town and the last thing Lavi wanted was to spend an evening getting lectured.
"I was jus' thinkin'... Maybe he knows something?" Lavi suggests, gesturing at the performer as the song drew to a close. He glances at the woman, trying to gauge her opinion on the idea. It was a brilliant lead—or that's what he hoped she thought, anyways, though the cause of his investment in him wasn't something he understood.
"There's a crowd, so they probably came ta see him, right? He might'a seen someone suspicious with all the people that come and go."
"It's worth a try," she says, showing off a familiar smile that seemed somehow less vibrant than normal. To say he felt weird would be a vast understatement. It was like all the color in the world had become muted, less interesting as his thoughts lingered longer than he'd like on the boy with so many adoring fans.
But their resolve didn't end his performance. One song bled into another, then another again as the audience howled for an encore from the pianist—Allen, they had learned from a fan that wouldn't stop yammering on about him—but eventually, it did.
Allen departed the stage with a brilliant smile that glowed so bright he thought it might've been born to replace the sun in the sky. People crowded around him hoping for an autograph, but all requests were deflected without his smile faltering. He was accustomed to this, Lavi realized as he watching the calm dispersal of the crowd that obeyed him with little convincing.
For a brief second, Lavi swears that smile drops when the crowd turns to leave. The persona falls, but silver eyes spot them and a transparent smile is donned. It's too convincing. Had he not seen that momentary drop in his persona or been the same way, it likely would've gone unnoticed.
"Can I help you?" he asked with a subtle British lilt as they stopped in front of him.
"You were pretty amazing," Lavi says, figuring it was better to start with a compliment than a long string of questions. "I didn't even notice ya had an accent."
When he laughs, it's like wind chimes being rocked by a gentle breeze and Lavi's heart soars for the first time since the loss of one of his closest friends.
"It's not any easier to hide one than it is to fake one."
Now that wasn't something Lavi had expected. A green eye blinks incredulously at his recent acquaintance when Lenalee joins in his laughter. It wasn't that bad, was it? Sure, it was fake, but only Lenalee had pointed it out before—as a joke, at that, though the same stunned silence is what gave him away then as it did now.
"That's what I told him."
But as quick as her laughter came, it subsides just as fast in favor of the burning questions she's no doubt dying to ask.
"Allen, wasn't it? I'm Lenalee and this—"
"I'm Lavi," he chimes in, pushing his way back into the conversation with unparalleled ease. Well, he would call it "unparalleled" if Lenalee wasn't standing there staring at him with furrowed brows, like him introducing himself was somehow out of the norm. "It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you both, too, but I don't have a lot of time for small talk..."
"Actually," Lenalee starts, stepping closer to Allen, offering him a smile as she did. "We were wondering if you'd heard anything about this supposed memory snatcher?"
A soft hum emanates from Allen as he drums his fingers against the top of the piano. White eyebrows knit together as he gathers his thoughts and Lavi's impatience builds faster than Lenalee's, who stands by with her hands neatly folded in front of her as she awaits his answer.
"Supposedly, someone comes and steals the memories of your loved one's away and nobody can remember they existed. More than that, nobody seems to be able to find them."
His words are punctuated with a cheerful laugh that could bleeds color back into the world that doesn't fade away as he speaks.
"It sounds to me like some men got cold feet about getting married."
Lenalee laughs at his joke, but her heart isn't in it. Lavi can hear that it's anything but genuine and he's hit with a pang of guilt that, in a way, she's lying to Allen. But before he can chide her for not being more sincere, she speaks.
"You're lying."
This time, silver eyes go wide, as does Lavi's one green eye.
"What the heck are you sayin', Lena? He just told you that he didn't think anything of it."
But this time, Lavi didn't miss the subtle dip of his lips as the smile disappeared for a fraction of a second, speaking volumes about Lenalee's claim. His claim to ignorance was a lie and the ache in Lavi's chest, where his heart should be, only cemented this betrayal. But why would he lie? Was he being blackmailed or maybe threatened?
It didn't matter. Lenalee's accusation had attracted the gazes of those that remained. Whispers of stunned disbelief could be heard in the bar that now lay in silence.
"Ya know," Lavi starts, stepping up to be shoulder to shoulder with Lenalee—or as well as they could be, given he was a good bit taller than her. "If you have crucial information, we might be able to use that to save a lot of people."
His bright smile does more than falter; it falls, replaced by furrowed brows and glassy eyes that had Lavi's stomach twisting into knots. But the answer Lavi gets is far from what he'd hoped for.
"I'm sorry, I don't know any more than what I've told you," he says, much to their dismay. Even Lenalee's gaze turns downcast as he rejects them, continuing to hide... something. A voice from the back room calls Allen away before either of them can convince him to share information that might prove vital to them solving this puzzle and he disappears into the other room with a quick apology.
He takes one step towards that door and he doesn't have to turn and look at her to know that Lenalee's arms are crossed and that she's giving him her best stern look. He'd say she was practicing for the children she might have in the future, but he and Yuu qualified already.
"You're not about to do what I think you are, are you?"
"Probably, yeah," Lavi said with a shrug, following Allen before Lenalee can further protest his lackluster plan. After passing through the door marked by a sign intended to ward away customers, Lenalee follows after him. As much as she wants to follow the rules, her curiosity is as tenacious as Lavi's own and this boy has both their attention, though it can't be claimed they have the same reasons.
They move down the subsequent hallway, Lenalee's pace faster and quieter, despite her shorter strides and the heels made of Innocence that she wore. It was as they reached the end of it that he heard something that alarmed him. The crack of skin against skin echoed off the empty walls and down the hall like a strike of lightning down his spine.
"You ungrateful little brat! I feed you, clothe you and give you a roof over your head for nothing and now you're refusing to work?!"
"I'm not refusing! But if I keep performing daily, everyone will—"
The horrifying sound of a slap came once more, silence Allen's familiar voice that was a sharp contrast to the other voice. It was rough and deep, devoid of even a hint that Allen mattered to this man. Lavi didn't have to see his face or know more than he already did to come to the conclusion that this man didn't care about Allen in the least bit.
"We've talked about this! It doesn't matter!"
"It doesn't matter?! How does it not matter?!"
Allen's voice raises an octave and from somewhere in the room, Lavi can hear glass crack. More than that, Lavi could feel his blood pressure skyrocketing. His hands were shaking from the urge to beat him into the ground.
"Lavi?" Lenalee whispered from next to him. He barely spared her a glance to spot her brows knitting together with confusion not by their intended course of action, but by Lavi's uncharacteristic anger.
"Don't you dare talk back to me!"
His hand raised and from where they hid, Lavi watched as fingers curled into fists clenched so tight that knuckles turned white. And before that open palm could collide the reddening cheek, Lavi steps out of the shadows.
"Hey!" he yells, opens his mouth to continue, but the tension in the room boils over before he can continue. A wine bottle shatters, bursting as if someone had slammed it against the table it was seated on.
"What— Who—"
Somehow, Lavi is unphased by the bottle's spontaneous explosion. Even he doesn't understand how he's so fixated on this one issue right in front of him. Even Lenalee stared at him as she approaches him at the side, wondering the same thing that he was: What the hell is happening to him?
"Who the hell are you?" he asks in a gruff voice. At least he's not poised to hit Allen again like he had been a moment before the bottle of wine had ended up as a mess of glass shards and fermented grape juice in the corner.
"Who am I?" Lavi repeats, gesturing with his hands to emphasize his disbelief at the audacity of this man. "Who are you and who the hell do you think you are, beating up on him like that?"
Even the silver eyes belonging to the boy he'd just leapt in to try and protect were set on him, wide with a mixture of shock and confusion. But despite how his attention is set on the boy, it's Lenalee's inquiry that alarms him the most.
"Are you bleeding?"
Lavi glances at her, then back at the boy, scouring pale skin for any sign of what she claims before he saw the red stain on his cheek too dark to be anything but. The minute Lavi's gaze found it, a gloved hand came up to hide it.
"It's— It's a scar!"
Lenalee crosses the distance between them and Lavi watches, feeling defensive of her approach, as silver eyes dart between the three other occupants of the room. But Lenalee offers him a warm smile as she takes his free hand in her own. He flinches, but doesn't stray from her touch and Lavi isn't sure what puts him on edge more.
"Come on," she says with a voice so gentle that it could've melted even a frozen heart. "We'll get you cleaned up."
Lenalee isn't deterred from leading him out of the back door of the bar and into the setting sun, pulling him towards the inn they'd be staying at for the time being. She turned her back and missed the last look Allen shared with his abusive guardian—but Lavi didn't.
Over his shoulder, he pleaded him with only his eyes. Without words, he begged to be saved, to be pulled away not from the man who'd just hit him multiple times, but from the woman that tugged him in another direction.
The way the boy walked with them—rigid and stiff like he'd rather be back at "home" with the man who'd just attacked him—made Lavi wonder... What the hell was this guy hiding?
A/N: Okay, guys! I hope you enjoyed! Thank you so much for reading!