Allen slowly blinked open his eyes, taking in the white ceiling that stretched over him. His mind began to slowly process the situation that he's in.
As he sat up, the covers that had been draped over his body rustled. Blinking again, Allen witnessed his surroundings. A small and simple room with a desk, a chair, a body-length mirror, a small window, and a closet. Underneath him, a plain bed carried his weight.
On the desk, a pair of circle frame-less glasses sat there.
Taking a moment to recollect what he last remembered, Allen's eyes narrowed at the seemingly ordinary room.
'This place is awfully ordinary to be Heaven…'
Quickly pulling out the covers, he slipped out of bed. The mattress creaked as he moved. Tossing the blankets away, Allen realized with a start that he was dressed in fresh clothing. A clean white dress shirt and black slacks replaced what previously used to be ripped, bloody clothing.
Hesitatingly, Allen's hands began unbuttoning his shirt to see his wound only to start staring at his right hand. His skin had turned a shade darker but not as dark as a Noah would have been. His eyebrows furrowed, Allen slowly made his way down, taking the buttons off one by one.
After he released the last button's hold, he opened up his shirt.
Allen at his torso in disbelief. He brought his right hand up to touch the flawless darkened skin. The wound he had received from the Crows was gone as well as the other scars he had gained during the Holy War.
Abruptly standing up, he made his way to the stand-up mirror. His bare feet silently stalked over the smooth wood floors. When he finally approached mirror, he could stared at the new appearance that appeared before him.
Bright green eyes reflected back as it revealed the new image Allen possessed. Mana's curse was still marked on the left side of Allen's face, and the dark skin of his Innocence was still on his arm. The rest of his body was markless, with no noticeable streaks that will remind Allen of the injuries he attained.
Leaning closer, he brought his left hand to tentatively touch his eyes, halting when he realized that the gem that had been embedded on the back of his hand was no longer there. He tried to activate it, but the rush of synchronizing with his Innocence was nonexistent.
A loud click sounded behind, causing Allen to whirl around and crouch in a defensive position. A man stood at the doorway with neatly, combed dark hair and dark suit complete with a black tie, black gloves, and black dress shoes. But what caught Allen's attention were the eyes the man has. The very same color Allen currently has. Rectangular frames with four decorative lines on each arm settled on the man's face.
The man had raised an eyebrow at Allen's current state but didn't comment on it, instead beginning his introduction.
"I see that you're awake. Greetings, Allen Walker," the man's flat voice was stern, yet calm, which made Allen relax for a bit. "My name is William T. Spears. I'm in the Management Division of the Grim Reaper Dispatch. I am responsible for overseeing the dispatch of Grim Reapers as they are sent to retrieve souls and make sure their behavior is proper and acceptable."
"Grim Reaper?" Allen questioned. "As in the ones who wields scythes and take souls?"
William adjusted his glasses. "Yes. You are officially dead to the world have become one of us."
"Become one of you?"
"Suicide is considered a crime to one's soul. As punishment, you must continue to live on, but as a Grim Reaper and do their work until you are forgiven by God."
Allen stared incredulously at William. "God?"
"Yes. There is a God. After all, he created your important crystals to defeat the Noah family and Millenium Earl."
"You know about that?"
"Of course we do. We do keep record of souls, after all."
Allen's eyes widened. "Wait, if you are to collect souls, how come-"
"-we don't appear whenever someone dies, the Earl comes, or when the soul is exorcised, am I correct?" William intervened.
Allen nodded.
"We Grim Reapers are of a neutral party," William explained. "We have made a deal with the Earl that he is able to use the souls as long they're properly exorcised by you exorcists. Of course, there were times of self-destruction, but there is nothing much we can do about it except feel annoyance for making our jobs harder."
"How did you know about me being an exorcist?" Allen asked. "In fact, how did you know my name?"
"I was the one in charge of collecting soul and scanned your entire memories and life. Rather than dying naturally, you to decided to kill yourself. By doing so, you would have to live on longer, to witness death again when you're already dead as punishment. You became a figure of a type of God that oversees death.
"And as you might have realized," William glanced pointedly at Allen's left arm. "Your Innocence will no longer respond to you since the crystal itself took host somewhere else. And before you ask me, I do not know where."
Allen glanced toward his left arm. "So even I can't die peacefully." He looked up at William and shot him a bitter smile. "Continuing to walk after death. I guess I can get used to that."
William pushed his glasses further up on his nose bridge. "I see. Well, you still have to go to school in order to completely be comfortable doing Grim Reaper duties."
Allen blinked. "School?"
"Yes, you will have school to learn the ways of the Grim Reapers. You already have magnificent strength, speed, and endurance that is beyond norm of regular humans and already have knowledge on usage of handling weapons. However, Grim Reaper duties are actually dangerous. We collect what are called 'Cinematic Records'. They show us the memories of the humans and help us determine they are to die or allowed to continue on living, which is a case that is rare. There are times when Cinematic Records become dangerous and go wild, causing trouble to even experienced Grim Reapers.
"Now rest up. Seeing that you are able to get lost easily, I will come by to your room. By 7 o'clock in the morning tomorrow, you'll begin your studies as a Grim Reaper. Don't be tardy. Your clothes are already given to you in that closet. Also please start wearing those glasses on the desk. You may been able to navigate your way around with those blurry eyes of yours when you were human but soul collecting is an extremely serious business so I require you to start wearing glasses. Anything else you need to know, you can tell me tomorrow."
William turned to the door, but before he left, Allen remembered another thing.
"William, wait! Nea-"
"Nea D. Campbell is not a Grim Reaper. Although your minds were intertwined, it was your own actions that killed him. But even so, it was simply the memories you destroyed, not the whole Nea."
And with that, William left with the door clicking behind him.
Allen stared at the door for a while longer before heading back to the bed. H e free-falled onto the soft covers, landing with a soft fwump. Raising an arm over his face, he pondered on just what happened.
'Until God has forgiven me, huh? God's most beloved, is it? Huh, God sure loves to create obstacles for me,' Allen mused.
He removed his arm from his face he turned his head to meet the pair of glasses on his desk. He reached forward and grabbed it.
His alter's memories flooded into his mind, feeling the fragile temples and cool lens of the glasses on his hands. He placed the glasses on his face, relishing the familiar weight resting upon his nose bridge.
Allen blinked, staring around his room with clear vision.
"Ah...I should've wore glasses more often. I can really get used to this."
Some important things that I headcanon that will be relevant in future chapters:
- Allen had terrible vision when human during both his past and present life, although he eventually got used to it
- As the new Grim Reapers continue to become Grim Reapers, they gradually lose their sense of humanity
- Allen's curse will continue working, although for akuma only
- Past!Allen and Allen Walker are being referred as two different people, but memories are fused together. However, Allen still refers to his past as a separate person