Playtime: (by timydamonkey)
Disclaimer: DGM is Hoshino's toybox, not mine. I'm just a fan!
Author's Note: This is dedicated to my friend picaropicara, who I wrote the first three quarters of this story to via messenger quite some months ago, back when she was working rather vigorously on her High Seas stories. She's a very good -Man writer if you're looking for more stories.
This is rather disturbing - but then, it is Road. She's one of my favourite DGM characters. I wanted to write a scene of her interacting with Allen, and this was the result. First DGM fic unless you count the crossover, reviews are much appreciated.
(It's a bit lame how this site has a DGM category but it eats the fandom name!)
Crouched on top of a roof, Road looked down into the city stretched out around her, spiraling downwards. The streets were filthy, and little caricatures of people were moving around. Given how far away Road was, the people looked unreal, everything about them hidden; they looked like painted pieces of a toy.
Luckily, Road didn't need to be able to see much. She only had to spot a specific uniform - since stealth, apparently, was lost on these people - and then she'd be done. It didn't take too long, either.
Road smiled and stood up, moving backwards away from the sight line of the street - not that anybody would have been looking where she was - swinging the umbrella in her hand.
"Ahh! Mistress Road!" Lero complained.
"Aww, this is just getting interesting!" Road said instead.
She'd chosen her targets carefully, because she knew what she wanted to do. She hated to be boring and predictable.
"Come on, we need to go collecting," she remarked, and started heading down to the street.
"Collecting?"
"Doing this the regular way would be a real waste. Just watch!" Road laughed. "And don't spoil the fun!"
Road's secondary target wasn't so difficult to find, mostly because she already knew where it was. She could feel it.
She strode through the streets of the city feeling cheery. She wasn't the greatest fan of cities; they were incredibly boring. She did take some pleasure when studying any at school, though, that she'd probably been there. She just didn't attach names to the places very often, as they didn't matter to her. Besides, there were other Noah who'd know. Road had no desire to be a cartographer.
As she reached this next target, a woman was kneeling down, saying, "Hey, what's the matter? Are you lost?"
A toddler in little more than rags with blue eyes and curly blond hair stared up at her. The little girl didn't speak.
"Come along," the woman said instead, reaching out to grasp the child's arm when no reply was forthcoming. She stared at it as if it was an alien object, but didn't fight to be released.
Road did it for her, grabbing the hand of the child and dragging it roughly behind her. The child did struggle a little, until Lero whispered, "Be calm."
Road wondered if the woman had heard, then decided she didn't care. The woman meant nothing to her, and the child should mean nothing to the woman, even though she had a look of obvious wariness.
"My little sister!" Road exclaimed, despite the total lack of resemblance. "We should really be going. Thanks for looking after her!"
The woman, obviously knowing something was wrong, objected. "Wait just a minute-"
Road's hand holding Lero swept upwards to point at her. It may have been an umbrella, but the threat was clear. "I really wouldn't argue if you'd like to keep your comfortable little world view."
At that, Road chuckled slightly and dragged the little child down the road after her, silent and dragging her feet.
"What was all that about?" Lero queried.
"Surely you know enough to guess?" Road suggested. "Because if you don't, I'm not telling you." She stuck out her tongue.
"Don't be so brainless this time," Road was instructing the child. "Now go and walk down there."
For a moment, the child didn't move, and so Road pushed her in the back. She went forward and kept moving, while Road lamented her brainlessness. This was why Road was going to have fun, because otherwise she'd be useless. If this worked, Road could feel less annoyed.
She stood back and watched.
The moment the boy saw the toddler it was obvious. His hand clattered up to his eye, covering it, and he was pale. Paler than normal, Road suspected.
Now, Road thought. It seemed to have more effect than auditory cues as suddenly the child ripped open like a discarded costume, and an akuma burst out, ready to fire.
The other Exorcist muttered a curse and went for his sword. Allen - oh-so-entertaining Allen - seemed to stand frozen.
That was the plan. Road loved mindgames, and if she got to play some outside of people's minds, she was all the happier. You had to mix things up, or they'd get predictable.
"Can't let them have all the fun, can we?" Road remarked to Lero, "But let's not spoil the surprise."
Road ran. She launched herself at Allen from behind, and she felt him tense in surprise. She almost felt the moment he recognised the trap, and smiled, her cheek against his. She had him in her embrace, arms wrapped around him.
She hadn't let go of Lero, and angled the umbrella across Allen's throat like a knife.
"Allen!" she exclaimed. "You didn't like my present? I saw her and thought of you."
"A child that young..." Allen murmured. "How?"
Leaning in to his ear, she said, "You don't want to hear the specifics, Allen. Trust me. It'd make you scream!" She laughed, and he felt her breath. Road could feel his heartbeat, quickening, but she wasn't a fool. Allen Walker was far from helpless. Road didn't like people who were helpless, and she liked Allen. She was more likely to stamp on their fingers and watch them fall with a smile.
By this time, the other Exorcist had dispatched of the akuma child. Either he hated children, just didn't care about the vessels akuma came from, or could hide it well. Road presumed the second.
How amusing, for an Exorcist.
"You look cosy," remarked the other Exorcist stonily.
"Allen makes a great pillow," Road stated, chuckling.
The man looked unimpressed, moving his sword into an obviously threatening position. Road felt like pouting: this man seemed to be no fun at all. He could really do with a sense of humour.
"Are you sure you want to risk it?" she asked, practically baring her teeth at him.
"You're a Noah." He observed instead, and Road noticed that he actually looked younger than she'd initially suspected, though not as young as Allen. He was obviously perfectly capable of coming up with his own conclusions about things. An eyebrow rose at his apparent dismissal of his colleagues life.
"Your friends are the worst," she remarked to Allen, who'd finally unfrozen and elbowed her. Taken somewhat by surprise, and being quite young and light, she was knocked backwards. She managed to recover herself quite respectably, she thought, though Lero faired less luckily. He skittered out of her hand and across the cobbles with an "oof!". The Exorcists didn't give any sign that they'd heard.
Wiping her hands on her clothes where they'd skimmed the floor in her fall – small rivulets of blood had began welling up in one palm, but it was only a mild sting – she surprised them by grinning again. Road wasn't an idiot; she knew how tough Allen could be, and while the other Exorcist wasn't one she knew, their reputation as a whole was for being quite resilient. The long-haired boy – for he was a boy – somehow managed to look even more poised to attack than before.
"Oh, do you want to duel?" She sneered at him, well aware of Lero's absence. "That's not going to happen. You're boring. I only play when it's fun."
"Road-" Allen started, the but the other boy cut him off.
"You seem to be under the impression you have a choice."
She couldn't help it; she burst out laughing. "Oh, but you make me laugh!" Her voice suddenly lost its playfulness, becoming clearly threatening. "Don't misjudge me because of how I look, Exorcist. You can't force me to do anything."
Road had been in the city for weeks, recruiting. It was why she'd been so eager to break free of the monotony in going to see Allen, and now it was going to be her way out. Silently, she called the akuma under her command who'd been quietly gathering, and a few early arrivals walked mechanically into the area. Allen made a small noise of pain, not covering his eye this time. It made him look like some sort of experiment.
"Much as I hate to do so, I'll have to love you and leave you, Allen!" She exclaimed. "We can continue our game some other time. I believe it's your move."
Looking distinctly dangerous himself, Allen's face was expressionless. She could tell he was still affected by the little girl, though: he couldn't hide that from her. "This isn't a game, Road-" He began, but her akuma had finally started arriving in numbers, and whatever else he said was lost in the noise. The Earl would doubtless be annoyed at the loss of some forces, but they were only a temporary distraction. It wasn't as if there weren't hundreds of other candidates.
With a wicked smirk on her face, Road strode over to pick up Lero, shaking him when he was silent. "I wouldn't have thought that fall was hard enough to knock the sense out of you," she said.
"It was undignified, Mistress Road!" Lero complained, which she happily ignored, holding the umbrella by the handle and letting it dangle from her hands so that it tapped against the floor every time she took a step. He made muffled protests as she walked.
"Aw, come on, it beats being stuck here forever babysitting. Let's at least enjoy the fun while it lasts!" She said cheerily while, behind her, came the sounds of a skirmish and muffled explosions.
Her grin widened. It had been a productive day.