This is my first attempt at a romance fan fiction and this was one of the few ideas that got stuck in my head which eventually forced me to write it down...
Disclaimer: I don't own -Man or the characters within this Fan Fiction. The only character I do own is Xuilan Xu (I'm not going to bother stating the names of minor OCs in the disclaimer).
Edit: Changed the Title from Crossroads to Nightmares and Reality and did some revisions.
The body of a young male exorcist was lying down on the ground, his eyes wide open unblinking. The stump that was his left arm was slowly letting out blood to the ground.
There was a heavy fog surrounding the male exorcists general area. Completely hiding his body within the bamboo thicket.
The fog around him began to gather within his left arm, slowly being sucked into his body...
An oddly large crescent moon was reflected by the lake before him.(1)
Allen was vaguely aware that there was a figure crying at the ruins that the lake reflected back to him. The reflection within the lake was completely different from the landscape he found himself at.
Allen attempted to approach the crying figure within the reflection to provide some sort of assurance or even try to ease the pains of the female's heart. As soon as he tried to approach the figure through the lake however, a hand suddenly grasped his right arm. Looking down, he was quickly pulled into the water before he could take a proper glimpse at the figure pulling him down.
Allen awoke with a start, he was breathing heavily. Before he could think more about the dream, a voice beside him shook him out of his stupor.
"Are you alright?"
Turning his head towards the voice, he found himself looking at a young woman wearing a Chinese Dress which had an elegant design of a white lotus, and had a coal like colored hair tied to a bun. She had amber colored eyes that, the present look on her face was one of worry. She had a fair flawless skin and was about 5 feet tall.
Taking a moment to recompose himself and let his breathing return to normal, he replied, "I'm fine... Thanks for asking."
The young woman gave a sigh of relief, "You really scared me there. I'd feel terrible if you suddenly died on me."
"What exactly happened to me?" Allen inquired.
"I was hoping you would tell me what happened."
"I – I can't really remember..." Allen admitted. In the dream, he found himself thinking about the crying maiden and why that person was vaguely familiar.
"You - you lost your memories?" She gasped as she put the clues together.
"I – I don't know... I know my name is Allen Walker, other than that, I can't remember anything else..." Allen honestly replied.
"Oh dear... I'm so sorry." The young woman shook her head in disbelief at the misfortune of the teenager before her. Something traumatic must have happened to the boy that forced his mind to erase anything involving the incident.
"Don't worry ma'm, I'm sure it would come back to me eventually." Allen flashed a reassuring smile towards the young lady. He then looked over the state of his body, and found himself to have a stump at his left arm.
The young woman noticed this action, "We found you at the forest missing your left arm and right hand broken and bleeding... We had to bandage it up to prevent more blood loss. We were hoping to ask you how you lost your arm, but seeing that you don't remember anything, it's moot point."
Allen nodded and accepted his predicament rather calmly. He figured that he should have been more alarmed but something inside him told him that he never actually had a left arm, or rather, not a normal one at the very least.
"Where am I exactly and how long have I been out?"
"You're currently at the Xu family hospital, oh and I forgot to introduce myself... my name's Xuilan Xu. I'm the daughter of the Fong Xu the owner of various big time businesses around China." Despite the fact that she basically stated that she was one of the most richest people in China, somehow her face seemed a bit glum. "As to your second question, you've been out for about two days."
"Thank you for taking care of me... but I can't really repay your kindness. I don't have any money with me."
"Oh don't worry about it." Xuilan said with a smile. "I couldn't just let someone die, knowing I had the means of saving it."
Allen was touched by her words and could only say 'Thank you' for her kindness.
It was another 5 days later that Xuilan visited him at the hospital. By then, he had miraculously recovered despite his extremely bad shape a week before. He still had the dream about the turquoise colored hair girl, he couldn't quite realize who the girl was but he always felt a twinge of guilt ring throughout his heart whenever she heard her sob.
Xuilan had taken an interest on Allen Walker. He looked peculiar with his white hair, his odd shaped scar at his left eye and the missing left arm. Despite looking like a traumatic teenager, he exuded a gentle reassuring feel that never failed to captivate her curiosity regarding Allen Walker's past. Allen's habits were extremely formal and respectful, the epitome of a gentleman. If Allen truly did lose all his memory, then he must have been raised as a gentleman.
So she took Allen towards her home to give him a temporary living space until he can work for his own or until he remembered his past. She was sorely tempted to take the latter option.
At first Allen insisted that he couldn't impose anymore after what Xuilan had already provided, but after much convincing, Xuilan decided to make Allen her body guard so he would accept living at her mansion.
The mansion that Xuilan lived at (her father usually traveled from city to city to inspect how business was running), was extremely spacious and had a touch of Western design while its garden, which was located at the large backyard of the mansion, had a touch of Japanese. The mansion was located in the middle of a forest, not far from the bamboo thicket where Allen was found. It was quite isolated from the city near it, but it was protected by a barrier that made it invisible and untouchable to akumas.
One thing that Xuilan noticed about Allen Walker (aside from his physical appearance) was his large appetite. The word large however, seemed to do Allen's appetite no justice. Allen just seemed to eat like his stomach was a black hole. She secretly wondered if he had found out the secret of staying slim and fit despite eating enough food for a family of 10.
Xuilan's father had unfortunately noticed that Xuilan now has a body guard. After informing her father about Allen's circumstances, he agreed to have him as a paid body guard only if he learns Chinese kenpo as a means of physically keeping anyone with less than clean intentions away from his daughter. Whether it was because of her father's intimidating expression or Allen's nightmares, Allen had begun training with a fierce passion.
It was also due to his nightmares, that Allen had finally began to remember something from his past. The name Lenalee was as engraved into Allen's mind as the nightmare to which she appears at. Xuilan suspected that this Lenalee is someone extremely important to Allen as he remembered it much earlier than anything else.
It had been two weeks since Allen's release from the hospital, he was currently training in kenpo at the dojo that Allen was directed to by Xuilan's father. Xuilan on the other hand, was trying to figure out whether she should break it to Allen that when she found him, he was wearing the Black Order's exorcist clothes which signified that he was an exorcist. The problem however, was that Allen doesn't seem to have an anti-Akuma weapon like those that she had seen before. She speculated his anti-Akuma weapon was destroyed along with his left hand. She knew enough that you can't be considered an exorcist if you don't have an anti-Akuma weapon, so she eventually decided to keep it a secret until Allen recovered more of his memories.
Taking a short break from her present work for the company, she looked outside her window towards the garden of her family's mansion. Allen occasionally mentions that he could see disfigured beings floating above certain people with his left eye. She noticed that his left eye had changed when he would have these visions. She didn't know what to do, she had heard rumors that if an akuma isn't destroyed by an Innocence, the soul that is trapped within would be consumed by the dark matter eradicating them from existence. She was powerless to do anything and if Allen found out the truth behind those tortured souls, he would undoubtedly put his efforts on finding away to putting the soul to rest, even if it cost him his life. It was in his very nature to protect and save those he could, so she made up a lie that he was only seeing the soul of grieving people, and even ordered him to not come into contact or notice the souls. He was perplexed upon the command, but seeing as she is the boss he accepted it, albeit reluctantly.
"I'm home!" The voice of Allen rang through the mansion, and by the sound of it he was extremely exhausted.
The maids in the mansion had started a rumor that Xuilan was in love with Allen due to her abnormal drive and interest on finding about Allen's past. This of course had gotten the poor boy on several misunderstandings with possible suitors. Eventually Xuilan was forced to make an announcement to the staff and her father (who obviously heard about the rumor) that she's in no way romantically involved with Allen. She even went as far as telling Allen to refer to her as her big sister (she didn't really know how old he is due to his amnesia), so people would mistake her drive for being an overprotective big sister. Despite this, the staff of the mansion refused to believe this as to the way they treated each other with such 'casualness.' One maid had even mentioned that they acted like old married couples; Allen of course, was totally oblivious to the rumors and had only focused on his training and his job.
"Welcome back Allen!" Xuilan greeted after she got out of her room. Allen's training started from 8AM to 2PM and took place everyday unless Xuilan needed to go somewhere during those times. "How was training?"
"I'm getting better, but I still can't beat master." Allen then plopped onto the living room sofa. He was obviously too exhausted to think about how a gentleman should act in such a situation. Allen was wearing a blue tank top t-shirt with a hakama.(2) This was the clothing he usually wore to training. Seeing it now, his clothing was an utter mess.
Xuilan giggled at Allen's state. He was finally getting used to casually acting around the house. Allen was still a gentleman, but it eventually toned down to something bearable in Xuilan's standards (that and she would keep berating him if he was too formal when they were alone). Since she herself would be what one would call a princess, she had seen her share of men acting like a gentleman when in reality they were just trying to woo her. Allen on the other hand, had his actions carved into him so she wasn't repelled by Allen's actions.
"Don't feel so down Allen, Master Wong was already praising you for your prodigious pace on learning kenpo, and for beating nearly all of his students without even having two hands."
"I suppose... So do you plan on going somewhere today?" Allen asked. It continually amazed Xuilan on how fast Allen could recover from the most rigorous work outs.
"Nope. I'm helping father on managing the debts of various investors." She then noticed that Allen shivered and cold sweat appeared at the sound of debts. She mentally placed it in her memo of lists of things that could awaken Allen's memories.
"I'll help..." Taking a moment to sniff himself, "...after I take a bath."
"Don't worry about it! It's the family business so it's my responsibility as the prospective successor!"
"No, really I insist. I don't have much to do anyway. Besides, you're my nee-san so as the otouto, it's my job to help you."
Reluctantly, Xuilan nodded, "Meet me in my room once your done."
Several of the maids nearby gasped at the possible implications.
'Damn!' Xuilan mentally berated herself for that unchecked reply. She really needed to carefully word things involving her and Allen. "Well?" Addressing the maids, "Aren't you all suppose to be cleaning?"
The cleaning staff returned to their work and immediately left Xuilan's immediate area, for fear of her rather explosive temper. The cleaning staff could still clearly remember the last time Xuilan's famous temper exploded, the poor man to be the target of such anger was turned into a whimpering idiot at the mere sight of Xuilan.
Returning to her room she began to calculate the debts, until Allen came in and Xuilan taught him what to do. Surprisingly, Allen could quickly calculate the math in his head and they got finished a lot faster.
"So... Allen how was your trip going to and from the dojo?" Xuilan asked innocently, while placing the last of the papers into a folder.
Allen always wondered why Xuilan would always ask how the trip was going from the mansion to the dojo and back. "It was fine. Though I do feel that someone is always following me or staring at me..."
"Just ignore them Allen." Xuilan immediately said while within her thoughts, those fan girls are definitely not worthy of Allen... Wait where did that thought come from?
For some reason she was becoming protective of Allen. Ever since Allen was brought out of the hospital she had took great effort of taking care of him, so she immediately chalked it up to her being protectiveness as being akin to one an older sister would feel over a younger brother. 'Speaking of people being worthy...'
"Have you been having dreams of Lenalee recently?" Xuilan asked. Oddly enough, Allen's dreams of Lenalee stopped two days ago. She didn't know what it meant, but hopefully her initial gut feeling regarding the subject was wrong.
"No, not really." Allen then scrunched his eyebrows together as he tried to remember his dream the night before. "But I'm beginning to feel something again."
The something that Allen referred to was the feeling that he had been missing in the last two nightmare-less days. Xuilan took this as a good sign.
After having dinner, Allen hit the hay as soon as he reached his room.
In a Ship sailing at the China Sea.
A young turquoise colored short-haired girl (3) was currently asleep. She was once again in the nightmare that had began to haunt her the night she left Allen alone to fend off the Fallen and the Noah.
She was within the ruins again, with the body of an exorcist at her lap.
Taking a moment to look at the person, she realized it was Allen Walker.
She let out a strangled sob as her hands covered her face to stifle the downpour of her tears.
"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry..." Lenalee quietly said in between sobs, chanting it like a mantra.
She didn't know how long she had been saying it, but she suddenly became aware of a presence at her left side.
Slowly looking towards the person, she found herself looking at a rather sketchy looking boy.(4) Upon further scrutinizing, the boy looked a lot like Allen with the same scar where his left eye was.
The boy then began to speak in a very familiar voice, "Are you alright? Is there anything I can do to help?"
The voice was undoubtedly Allen's!
Quickly looking down at her lap, the body of Allen was no longer there. As she returned her gaze to the young boy, she found herself looking at Allen – alive, very much alive with the exception of his missing left arm. He wasn't wearing his exorcist clothing, but a blue t-shirt and a light brown hakama.
Lenalee slowly moved her left hand to reach for Allen, and Allen slowly began to reach for her with his own right hand.
As she was about to reach him, a blinding white light engulfed her field of vision. The sudden change startled her and she called out to him, desperately hoping to reach him, touch him, and assure her grief stricken heart that Allen was alive.
"Allen!"
Author's Notes:
(1.) This is the dream that Allen witnesses right before he woke up at the Asian Branch. The only difference is the fact that he didn't clearly see the shadow that grabbed his hand.
(2.) I won't be specifying the clothes that Allen wears all the time. Here however, he is wearing a blue t-shirt (just like in the anime when he was training with Fou) but wearing a light brown hakama (like Terra from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep).
(3.) Ok, this is one of the few plot changes that I'll be making, this dream occurs after the level 3 Akuma attacks the ship in which the exorcists heading to Edo are. Basically during the two days that Allen hasn't been having a nightmare, Lenalee was out cold and dreamless. As soon as her body recovered enough (without the help of Miranda's Innocence) she began to dream again.
(4.) The sketchy reference is to how Allen looked like during his dream before waking up at the Asian Branch. (This could be found at the last page of Chapter 58 or Chapter 59 page 9)
As this is an AU, things that happened from canon might not happen in this fan fiction. This fan fiction would however not completely stray away from the canon plot until after the Noah's Ark arc (though there will be extras and changes to make Allen and Lenalee to realize there feelings for each other much faster). After that, the story would start (slowly, not suddenly) drifting away from canon but would still take ideas from the manga. Due to the changes here, Allen had not met anyone from the Asian Branch...
I don't know how often I'll update this fan fiction or if I'll complete this... it all depends on how this is accepted by the general public (I'm not asking for a lot of reviews... but it would surely help to motivate me to write more or update faster), or if the manga can keep me pulled in despite its monthly updates.
My grammar isn't perfect and I tend to miss stupid mistakes until I read it again or someone points it out to me. So if something is horribly wrong (spelling, grammar or unclear sentences), please notify through reviews. I might revise this later on when I feel that something is missing from the chapter. Just as chapters is subject to revision, so is the title of this story.
Another thing, I haven't actually 'thoroughly' read the manga. So some information may be off...
