The smell of the sickroom wasn't something that you could easily forget. The harsh smell of antiseptics and the lye soap they used on the sheets. The sickly sweet smell of ether that hung in the air on occasion. And the smell of blood and torn flesh underneath it all. The combination was enough to make someone, quite sick to their stomach.
But not Allen Walker. His stomach growled and he shot Linali an imploring look.
"Couldn't I have just a little something to eat?" He begged, hoping the sad look was enough to sway her.
Linali smiled and shook her head, moving her piece of chocolate cake a little further from Allen's reaching hand.
"You aren't getting anything until you win a hand."
Allen groaned, and looked down at his cards. Nothing. He had nothing. He looked at the pile of food surrounding Linali and cursed himself for being a fool. Why had he agreed to teach Linali cards and then boast he could beat her, even without his famed cheating skills? And why had they settled in their lunch and dinner items as currency for the game? It must have been the pain killers, that caused that lapse in judgement.
His stomach growled again and he considered slipping that card out from beneath his bandages, he had reserved for "just in case." But then Linali wound a piece of her lengthening hair around her finger and smiled at him so sweetly that he broke out in a sweat.
She knew! Allen hunkered down and considered what he had left to lose. A stale cracker and a glass of warm milk. These were not appetizing items, by any means, but they were better than nothing. Should he cut his losses and have a little of something or gamble everything for a chance of a decent meal?
Linali's good hand brushed by the piece of chocolate cake and dipped into the frosting. Allen's eyes were riveted to her chocolate coated finger as it slowly rose to her mouth...and then he lost it. His hand of useless cards tumbled to the ground and he stood-well, rose to his knees and leaned against the wall since he couldn't really support himself-and glared.
"Now you've gone to far! You may have seen my innocence's ultimate form, but I assure you, that it nothing compared to the wrath of Allen Walker when taunted with food."
Linali smiled up at him and from her seat on the floor and begin to laugh. She dropped her cards as well and bent over nearly double with laughter, clutching her ribs with her good arm.
"What's so funn-"
A shrill warning noise cut Allen off mid sentence. Blood chilled in Allen's body as he remembered what that meant. Headquarters was being attacked.
The strong calm voice of the head nurse cut through the dark.
"No one panic." A flickering, small light walked towards them. "The sick ward has been sealed off. You are to stay in your area until given further notice. Anyone attempting to fight, will be sedated." The nurse shot Allen a pointed look, once which was made rather scary by the candle light. She then turned towards the far end of the room. The patients in critical condition were partitioned off at that end of the ward. A year ago, they would have been isolated in a separate room. But now, there were just too many wounded to place each one separately.
Allen slowly slid down the wall and back to the floor with Linali. By the time he reached Linali's side, the room was dimly lit by more candle lights as the nurses attempted to treat their patients and prepare them.
"Don't worry, I'm sure your brother will be fine. And I will always protect you, Linali." He took Linali's hand and squeezed it. "Even if I cannot activate my Innocence right now, I will let nothing touch you."
Linali's head was bowed, so he could not see her face. Where she had once been bent over laughing, she now was silent as if she was concentrating on the cards scattered around her.
"I believe you Allen. But I can't help worrying about Oni-sama, he's so....Allen, did you put this card in the deck?"
Allen was a thrown a little off center by her question. He looked down to see a joker card between Linali's fingers. Only the figure was not drawn in the same manner as the others. Instead of the usual motley outfit of the jester, the figure was an elegant man with a butterfly on his hand. His face was hidden in shadow, only the gleam of a white teeth and the flash of an eye visible in the dark. Recognition swam in Allen's mind and his throat begin to close.
"No. I've never seen that card before. But I know who that is and so do you."
Linali's eyes stared up into Allen's, their center's huge and black in the near dark. Her lips parted and a word started to form in them. Then the bobbing, flickering flames of the nurse's candles went out. And there was nothing.