Guardian, a d.gray-man fanfic

"Once more!" he shouted, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. Fou nodded sharply, turning her arms back into scythes. She swiped at his face but only succeeded in slashing off a few white hairs. Walker really was getting faster. She lunged again, chopping down in a wide arc. He blocked her with his good arm and she could hear the groan of his not-yet-healed bones through the bandages.

She remembered when she first found him; she had thought he was dead- far long gone. Blood lapped at his chest like ocean shores, overflowing to the ground where it coated a deck of cards like an oil slick. One of his arms was grotesquely twisted, the other ripped from its socket. Just a mangled corpse- not the exorcist Bak had told her to search for. But his eyes, she thought, his eyes were alive. That was how she knew he would survive- somehow, someway. He had the look of a man tortured, his eyes so full of anguish and hope and rage that she looked away as soon as she saw them.

A fist clipped her in the jaw, sending her flying backwards. Her scythes gouged deep lines in the stone floor.

"Fou!" Allen ran towards her, brows creased in worry. Shit. She wasn't allowed to get distracted like that, a guardian can't get distracted. Even when she dulled her scythes and reduced her speed by 15%, she still had to take Walker seriously.

"What the hell was that?" she jeered. "Where's your spirit, Walker? You need to hit me a lot harder than that." He looked taken aback, but he gave her a decisive nod and fell once more into a fighting stance.

"Very good," she praised, dashing forward once more.

"Fou," a voice called her out of the wall. She poked her head out, vision blurry with sleep. It was Bak, standing over her with a glow-torch. "How's Allen's progress?"

"Walker's hopeless," she said, slipping out of the wall. "He still has shit on his mind- worried about being some kinda hindrance to the Asian Branch or whatever." All right! Lets give up on Walker! Bak had said, and she was surprised how readily she defended him. We just need to put the will back into his heart, she said, and she thought she could do that. But despite her urgings, he was still unfocused in training. His eyes would cloud every once in awhile and he would forget to call out his innocence.

"I just don't know how to help him," she looked at her feet, gritting her teeth. Bak put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and murmured 'get some sleep'. He doused the glow-torch and left the divine wall, leaving her in darkness. Tomorrow, she decided, she would cheer Allen up. Whether he liked it or not.

Allen Walker wiped the sweat from his brow, trying to hide the utterly defeated look that threatened to surface on his face. His shoulder ached- the limbless one, that is. I can't even remember what it was like to have that ugly arm, he thought.

"It's pitch black…" he mumbled, hanging his head against his bandaged arm. Fou saw him --heard him-- through the walls and she felt her heart pang. She slid out of the wall nearest him, stretching out her hand to- what? Touch him? Hug him? Tell him everything was okay? She grimaced, hating herself for not being able to help him. Damn it. It was her duty to help him, turn him back into an exorcist…right?

Her body morphed into another form as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Walker-san," she cooed, trying to be as comforting as possible.

"Eh?" his head whipped around and she jostled the glow-torch in her hand. He promptly screeched, clambering his way to the other side of the wall.

"Lou Fa?!"

But, while all that kindness may make you feel like you must keep fighting, does it also cover up other, even more precious feelings? She had seen him stiffen and his eyes go wide, dazzling with respect. Respect for her- she drank it up. She leaned in, wanting to revel in his very essence. He sat there, shocked, and bent towards her unconsciously, almost as if pulled down by a leash.

But then the actual Lou Fa had to come prancing around, ruining everything. She reminded herself that he hadn't given her a look of respect. No, he thought she was Loa Fa. She let her hair fall over her face, biting her lip as she ranted and explained her impersonation and how she was still super super pissed off at him. Everyone laughed, relaxing, and she put in her two cents about how he needed to fucking pull himself together so she could kick his ass properly. He immediately cheered up, giving her one of his blinding 'thank you' grins

and proceeded on to the sparring room. They all departed, happy that the mild hurdle was past. But as Fou started towards the training area, she noticed Bak leaning against the opposite wall. He gave her a wry grin and a knowing look, and disappeared back into his office.

Today she saw his cursed eye.

The training session was only supposed to be an hour, trying to reconstruct the innocence with short situations of life-or-death combined with thoughts of Allen's precious friends. But even as the dust of his innocence thickened in the air, there was still no other change in his progress. Until his eye activated. She was about to attack him with a move that could decapitate a human when he suddenly gripped his head in exasperation.

"What's wrong, Walker?" He looked up in panic, his hand shielding the left half of his face- the half his curse mark was on.

"It's nothing, I-" He feel to his knees. She felt others gathering. Bak shouted orders through the transmitter golem. Allen gasped in pain and removed his hand to lift himself up.

Lou Fa screamed. His eye, his beautiful, trusting eye was replaced with a…a demon's. It convulsed and twitched and rolled around in his socket like a child in a tantrum. A crude monocle of some sort magnified the whole pretty picture. He said he could still go on. She praised him for his willpower. Calling out her scythes, she brought them both down in a tight, twisting arc.

"Innocence," she heard him call pleadingly. The demon eye ruptured again, bringing him to his knees.

"Get medical attention for Walker!" someone screamed. It might have been her.

"So he's going to be okay?" she asked Bak. He leaned against the corner of his desk and shrugged.

"He said it's happened before," he sifted through files in a manila folder. With a sly grin, she said: "Looking at pictures of Lenalee? I don't understand the obsession you have with that girl." She winked at Wong, preparing him for the inevitable bout of hives Bak would have. He merely looked up from the file, his eyes as hard as sapphires.

"You mean like your infatuation with Walker?"

"My-" Fou coughed and spluttered, face turning bright red. He walked towards her with a confidence, a first for Bak. She was still tripping over words, blubbering on about how she didn't know what he meant. He touched the side of her cheek with his fingers. She shut up. They were rough and dry, and somehow she could feel all his strength in just the light touch on her cheek. He was so close, and he leaned in towards her almost subconsciously, just like Walker had. She had enough presence of mind to process Wong's uncomfortable look before she absolutely snapped.

"BAKA-BAK!"

Fou stormed out of the office, leaving chopped up blocks of wood and shredded papers in her wake. Goddamned shit-brained contemptuous baka-Bak. How dare he? She huffed like a bull, storming through the halls in lieu of traveling through the walls. Something just pissed her off about being a guardian for this place- for him. She might have blown a whole in the stupid 'divine' wall if not for the tremor of unease that ran through her. What was that? She felt it again. Was the branch being attacked? Was it a demon?

Panic swept through her. She checked through the outside walls. Where was it? She spread her eyes through every wall in Asian Headquarters, searching in vain. A bitter taste formed on her tongue. She sounded the alert, right before something broke her spine.

Blood exploded in the back of her throat, her body scrambling to heal itself. Something was tearing through her inside, ripping a whole in her chest. She felt rotting claws bore through her ribs and heard howling in her head. So this is where the entrance was, the demon said. Shock lanced through her.

Level Three.

A voice called her name. Shockwaves shook the building and the alarm whistled its dread. Oh no. Oh God no. She had to protect the Branch! The voice called her name again. She had to protect…

"Bak," she called, her voice hoarse. "Bak…Bak!" The demon threatened to explode her from the inside. "Hide Walker!"

Allen was deathly pale. She could see straight through him and it made her heart break to know that she didn't prevent it. Stupid. So stupid. How could a demon break through her barrier? Bak sprinted through the halls with her on his back. She could feel his heart beat.

"Fou," he murmured. "Fou,"

"I can hear you, baka-Bak." A muscle in his shoulders relaxed at the sound of her voice.

"Fou, I'm sorry. I may need to leave everything to you."

"I know," she rasped. Bak thrust his palm out, the sacrificial marks already on his hand.

"Guardian Deity," he cried. She jerked at the sound of her true title. "By my blood, I order you: Seal!" Her power leapt from her body, pouring into the walls around her. In return, the walls granted her with her divine right. Fou drowned in her own power. The demon barreled through the walls, destroying everything she loved.

"Fou!" Bak called. She nodded and walked towards the wavering form of Allen. She rested her hand on his cheek, learning the composition of his form in order to transform. His skin was soft. Is this what Bak felt when he touched her cheek?

"What are you…?" Allen's eyes were pleading, and in that moment she realized just how young he was. Too young to be an exorcist.

"Since I'm just a guardian deity and not an exorcist, it's likely I wont defeat him." Realization dawned in his eyes as he saw her morph into his body. "But I can at least buy you some time," she said, unable to look away from his tortured expression. "So get out of here." Desperation crept into her voice. She saw Bak in the corner of her eye looking away, lips tight. Closing her eyes, she prayed for their safety, then jumped form the Sealed room to face the Level Three demon.

Her whole body ached. Was this the strength of a demon? She lay in something wet. Was it the lake or her own blood? Either way, it was unbearably heavy, and it threatened to drag her down into its depths. But no, she had to stay and fight. The demon brought its crushing weight down on her chest.

"Be destroyed," it sneered. Her power faded, the deity leaving the walls of the building. She started to get tunnel-vision. I'm dying. I'm dead. I'm going to die. A bright shape leaped from the air. Was it an angel? Suddenly the pressure stopped, and she noticed the demon had been flung off her. Allen stood before it, his translucent form shifting like a ghost's. No. He was going to be killed.

"Bak was crying," she heard him whisper. Then she blacked out.

"Fou," Arms shook her. "Fou!" Panic laced the words. She looked up at Bak as his arms encircled her, cradling her to his chest. He shuddered against her, and she wondered if what Allen said was true.

"Bak," He stiffened, relief shining through his eyes. "are you really crying?" A tear hit her cheek and he crushed him to his chest, telling her everything was okay, ordering Wong to get her treatment. You're fine, you're fine, he said. She wasn't even sure he was talking to her. Voices danced around her. What about the demon?

A blinding spear of purple ripped through the air. And pierced through Bak's chest. She couldn't get words to form on her lips. His form wavered, then his body cracked like a broken vase.

A bandaged hand stuck out from the lake. Walker's. So it was over, Allen Walker was dead. Fou tried to go to him, and vaguely realized she had been shot too. How could it end like this? She wanted to scream. The demon burst towards them, laughing like an old insane man. Then, a hand burst from the lake. No- Innocence burst from the lake. Its aura coated her with soothing warmth. A mask shot up through the waters, cleaving the arms off the demons.

"Walker's Innocence," she whispered, wonder in her voice.

"Pitiful demon," Allen said. "Let your soul be saved." He was wreathed in the blinding Innocence, and his right hand was gloved in white. Love for the humans, it seemed to ring in her ears. Allen flexed his left hand, his new left hand, now adorned with stakes engraved with crowns. Its aura was dark and foreign. Love for the demons, it hissed. So this was the power of an exorcist. The gross essence of the demon disappeared from her senses, and with tears stinging her eyes, she passed out again.

After wishing Allen goodbye, the Asian Branch mourned. He promised to visit, his new-found strength radiating through his entire core. It was going to be lonely there without the exorcist- the Crowned Clown.

"Maybe he's the Heart," Bak said. Wong grunted in response. Fou looked wistfully at the ark.

"I couldn't save you," she said. They glanced at her in surprise. "I couldn't kill the demon." She was a shit guardian. Her beloved home was in shambles, people had died. On her watch, in her Headquarters.

Bak ruffled her hair. "Yep!" he said, voice eerily akin to Komui's obnoxious one. "You couldn't save our asses at all, Fou. What the hell's wrong with you?" Fury ignited in her.

"Baka-Bak! I saved the whole goddamned place! And I got Walker's Innocence back, just like I said!" Bak cupped the back of her neck, scooping her up into a crushing hug.

"Fou," he whispered, tucking her under his chin. "My brilliant, beautiful Gaurdian."

~fin~

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A/N: I must admit, Fou is freaking hard to write. I tried to convey unique relationships in this, but I may have just written a boring replay of a handful of episodes. Also, in my haste to post this, I think my writing suffered a great deal. I hope you enjoyed anyway.