So, even though it might kill me, I have written another story. This is for gaara king of the sand who messaged me a long time ago with an idea, and wished for me to write it. Finally, I got my lazy ass over to my computer to type this. This'll be a short chapter, because it's just the prologue. Also, if it isn't very good, please remember that I haven't been writing in a while. I have to get used to it all again. :)
Prologue
~XoX~
It was horrifying.
The colour was horrifying. Tainted. Sinful.
Help…
Had he said that aloud? Or was it a simple thought? A thought willed into happening by what was before his very eyes, which were flooded by hot tears.
"…Mana…"
That was out loud. He knew it. He knew it. But… he didn't understand… Why had this happened to him? Tears broke free, sending the dam that had walled them up crashing down, allowing the liquid to pour down over his reddened cheeks. His pale lips trembled, and then parted, another soft plea slipping past them. "Mana… Wake up… Please wake up…"
No response. With that, the young, auburn-haired boy reached out with severely shaking hands, horrified at how stiff his father's shoulders were as he placed his gloved hands upon them. He shook Mana's shoulder, roughly, even when the vigorous shaking of his hands could have done the same thing for him. His voice grew louder, and broke into a higher pitch, his eyes wide and frantic. "Mana! Mana! Please! You have to wake up!"
There was still no movement, not a twitch from the cooling body before him, which slowly went into rigor mortis, stiffening further. Still, the silver-eyed child refused to give up, even with the dark, lurking knowledge that his father was dead residing in the back of his mind. Finally, he tipped his head back, gritting his teeth before screaming at the top of his lungs in one final plea.
"Manaaaaa!"
…
Nothing…
No… The boy – Allen, as Mana had named him – still gripped the shoulder of his father's coat desperately, shaking, even with the awareness that it wouldn't do a single thing. He was as good as… gone…
Mana's gone…
Those two words reverberated around his brain, sending him into hysterics, his body falling limp to the cold ground. He pulled his knees in, tucked in next to the body beside him, ignoring the blood that soaked into his clothes. He wailed, wailed as loudly as he possibly could, knowing there was nobody left to hear him. His tears fell to the reddened stones, mingling with the blood, and even as his throat grew raw with the volume of the screams and wails, he did not stop. He couldn't. He was alone again. He had hope… he… he had believed he had finally found the person he could stay with… the person who wouldn't look upon his left arm in disgust and dub him the Devil's child.
He was a child of the Devil. A monster. Because no human would kill their own father. This was his fault. This entire thing… was his fault. Even like this, as a child of barely ten, he hated himself, more than he had loathed anything in the entire world. He was no better than Cosimo. He was no better than the Devil himself.
Right here, in this moment, lying with the dead body of his father…
He wanted nothing more than to die.
Stupid hope… Stupid arm… Stupid, stupid, stupid… The word rattled in his mind, and it hurt, but he deserved it. He deserved the burn of his cheeks and tears rolled down them, he deserved to barely be able to breathe as his small body shook with violent sobs, and he deserved the ache in the very centre of his heart that he felt would never be cured.
It was cold, it was dark, it was painful, and he deserved nothing more than just that.
~XoX~
The creaking of the branches had once frightened him, late at night when he was so tired that his eyes closed of their own accord. Now, they sounded comforting, they were the only things that would talk to him. They sounded like home.
Who would have thought that home would be a grave. The grave on top of the hill. The grave beneath the old, creaking tree. The grave with the words Mana Walker inscribed upon the stone.
It was freezing, and the wind played with his dirty hair, but it was okay. He was… content here. Lying on the turned dirt, knowing his father's body was just six feet below him. He believed… that other people would find that weird – no, the behaviour of the Devil's child – but he did not care. He didn't have to do what they expected…
"What's a young boy like you doing here~? Shouldn't you be with your family~?"
Allen looked up, eyes devoid of any emotion whatsoever, heavily shadowed beneath by the lack of sleep he had adjusted to since being on this cold hill with the creaking tree. The man (was it a man?) was leaning around Mana's grave, touching Mana's grave, and he hated it. But, in the long run, he couldn't do a thing about it.
This… creature, the one who had spoken to him, did not seem human, or friendly. His smile was huge, and Allen had no doubt that a mouth that big could easily bite his entire head off, especially with those sharp canines… He was also rather… fat, if he were to be incredibly blunt about the fact. It's not like I'm straight up telling him…
And those eyes, the eyes beneath those shining glasses, they unnerved him. They were gold, bright gold, like a predator. They flashed with the same gleam that a predators would too, as he knew from the circus, where they had plenty of wild, ferocious animals. This man was like one of them, but… turned into a person…
The man didn't seem to like Allen's lack of response, and repeated his second question again. "Hmm~? Shouldn't you be with your family~?"
"Family…" Allen repeated softly, voice barely audible over the whispering of the wind. He didn't like that word, or use it, not anymore. It sounded foreign and awkward on his tongue. There had been many times that he had seen families holding hands as they walked through the streets, or eating together in the warmth, smiles being shared around the table. He had never had that, and he doubted he ever would. No, he was perfectly content to waste away here. He was with Mana here.
"No… I don't…" Allen trailed off at that, casting his eyes away, up to the bright moon that cast light down upon them.
"Ah…" The big man sounded sympathetic, Allen supposed, but it didn't suit his grating voice. There was something in there, something that remained very… dark. Even the vibes the man gave off confirmed that. Allen had always been an ace at reading people and their behaviour, so he was well aware that what he believe of this man was likely true. And someone like this should not be anywhere near his father's grave. "So this… Mana Walker… must be your father…?" It was both a question and a statement, somehow, as though this creature was asking, but already knew. Still, Allen answered, voice wispy.
"Yes."
"I could bring him back, you know?"
Allen did not think he had ever moved quicker in his entire life. In a second, maybe even less, he was bolt upright, staring at this round man with wide eyes. The man giggled in response, moving away from Mana's grave, swinging a pink, pumpkin-headed umbrella that Allen was surprised he hadn't noticed earlier. Against all logic in the world – although Allen supposed there was no logic in someone being that fat and still able to walk – the umbrella screeched each time it was swung, but that wasn't that had truly peaked Allen's interest. All previous thoughts, beliefs, were abolished in the face of hope, something Allen had believed he had taught himself not to do. Seemed he wasn't even listening to his own advice. "…You could bring him… back…?"
"Of course I could! I could bring your father back to life; bring him back from that dirty God who claimed his life." With a wave of his gloved hand, a large, metal skeleton appeared beside the grave, glinting in the moonlight. The man's everlasting grin twitched just the slightest bit wider, gleaming teeth shifting as he spoke. Everything about that should have put Allen on edge, but the warmth that spread through his chest seemed to push all thoughts and common sense out of the way. "All you have to do is call his name~"
Funny, the things people will do when they've lost a loved one. They don't consider the consequences, the logic, the danger; they only consider themselves. Selfishly, they wish to bring back what they have lost, for themselves. They believe, for some reason, that they can bring someone back from the dead, which – if truly considered – shouldn't be a possibility at all. But they held a foolish hope, let it nestle its way into their heart and take over their system, and they acted for themselves because of their own sadness.
And that was exactly what Allen Walker did, and as he opened his mouth and shouted out the words, a new hope sparked deep in his chest, one that had been extinguished from the day Mana had pushed him out of the way of that carriage, filling the void that had been created on that fateful day where his only family had been killed. "Manaaaa!"
Allen waited in anticipation, watched on hopefully as the single word was engraved into the forehead of the skeleton in looping, cursive letters. Maybe, he could apologize, apologize for killing Mana, say sorry for being the Devil's child. And maybe, just maybe, Mana would forgive him. Mana would still love him, just like he had before.
Slowly, the skeleton twitched, breaking away from the box that held it up, creaking in a way that resembled the tree above them. Its head tilted, as did its body, and Allen had to fight back the urge to cringe away from that awful grate of metal on metal. Mana, he could have Mana back, he wanted his father back, he-
…..?!...
Allen paused, distracted by the sudden thought – one that didn't feel as though it were his own – entering his head. It was like a shout, but… he couldn't actually hear it…
…A- …!
What…?
"Allen…" Allen's head snapped up, and the odd thoughts were forgotten completely as he stared in awe at the large skeleton before him, a smile twitching at his gaping mouth as it moved toward him. Mana… That's Mana's voice… Could it… could it really be…? Could he have his father back…? Could he once again be with someone, be happy, be part of…
A family…?
Those thoughts were pushed away quite quickly as Mana spoke again, a purple aura surrounding him life flames, voice angered. "Allen! What have you done?! You've turned me into an Akuma!"
"N-No, I-" Allen stuttered in a search for words, but none made it past his tongue. Tears pooled in his mercury eyes, stinging like when he cut himself on a piece of glass, and the tears that were welling was the replacement for the blood that would usually bead on his pale skin.
And at that moment, it began to snow. Slowly, lightly, small white flakes drifted down from the heavens above, so pure and untouched, sparkling like the pretty rings some ladies wore on their fingers. Shamefully, Allen could not live up to how pure they were, already too deeply tainted to ever be alright. So, as the snowflakes swirled on the icy wind, down to the ground, he could only think of how they would soon melt away, forever gone from this earth.
…Ru-!..
"Take this boy's skin!" The fat man cackled in glee, his glasses flashing as moonlight bounded off of the glass, and Allen knew he should have trusted his original instincts, having related him to a predator. "Kill him and wear his skin as you own~!"
"I curse you! I curse you, Allen Walker!" A loud scream was torn from Allen's lips as he ducked, tried to escape the claw swung at him by his own father, but was too late by a fraction. A single finger dug into his left eye, and he could only screech in pain as the flesh was torn, a single seam from his forehead down to his cheek. Pain also began to sear in his left hand, the one that was always so useless, the marking of the Devil upon his cursed body. Maybe… he was right all along. This was what he deserved. He had killed Mana, and now Mana would kill him, a seemingly fair trade.
Run! Allen, you have to run!
Who the h-?!
Before he could even finish the thought, it felt as though he were shoved, and quickly he discovered that…
Where was he?!
All he could gather was that he was somewhere desolate, dark, a wasteland, and he sat upon a stone chair like a king would his throne. Two wings protruded from the chair, but that didn't help at all. It was cold and dark here, like on the hill, but in no way did this feel homely. In a way… it felt sickening, but in a familiar aspect. Like he had been here before, spent hours and hours sitting right here in this chair, waiting, when he was fully aware that he had done nothing of the sort. I need to know! What's going on?!
Shut up! I'm helping you!
But-
QUIET!
That startled Allen into not speaking, completely. The voice had changed, from being gentle and patient to anger, just like that. He could almost feel the heat of that anger rubbing on his skin as the single word was yelled, and that was enough for him to know to stay nice and silent. Thus, he waited, thudding heart slowing beneath his ribs, his breath coming back to his body as the adrenaline drained. He felt that he should be feeling pain, panic, fear, but… there was nothing. It was just… bleak. Not quite content, but bordering on it. The white-haired boy kept his left eye closed, but seemed unharmed now, as no blood could be found dripping from the laceration he had received from…
Mana…
Before he could even begin to dwell on his darkening, crushing thoughts, there was a pause – but more of a mental one. And then, gently – in a way that Allen would sheepishly admit soothed him – the voice from before spoke.
I'm sorry about that. I could not let you be killed, or let that Innocence activate. Not yet. …I am the 14th. I have control of your body right now. That's all you need to know.
What?! That's nowhere near enough information?! What the bloody hell am I doing here, huh? How did you… get control of my body? Answer!
There was a sigh then, an exasperated one, one that warned Allen to just stay quiet for now. I said that's all you need to know. End of.
Well… Allen supposed that for now, he could only sit on this rather uncomfortable chair, stare into the darkness before him with his opened right eye, and wait.
Ta daaaaaaaa?
So anyway, this seems like a fun story to write, and I'm pretty excited about it (even though I have other stories to write ahahaha help), but I'm glad I've gotten back into the flow of writing. Well, kinda. I might need a bit more practice. :/
Please review, I'd love to hear your opinions, etc., etc.!
CryDon'tSmile