Not mine.
Three years later.
It was barely light when Allen walker made his way into London, briefly pausing at the pedestrian checkpoint in the cities' towering stone wall. the alarm mounted on the arch of the broad entrance that was flanked by guards bearing anti-Akuma bullet loaded guns. Night was encroaching steadily, and Allen turned to the sky one last time before tugging the black hood of his coat more snugly over his head and entering the city beneath the suspicious stares of the two guards.
Their suspicion was obviously directed at his broad hood, which cast his entire face in shadow, but Allen was not in a mood to deal with people staring at his scar and hair at the moment, so he passed them quickly and barely paused to look around the lit London streets before remembering the map and turning on his heel to jog towards the west end of the city.
"Curfew's starting in twelve minutes" one guard called after him. He didn't answer.
Timcanpy started inside the hood from the noise and flicked his tail irritably over his ear.
All citizens found outside their homes during the curfew were to be forcibly detained for two days after disobeying the curfew law. The populace knew to be timely about that. after all, the night law keepers of London weren't known for their lenience on the matter, but Allen wasn't worried.
If life under Cross had taught him anything-it was how to lie, bribe, and sneak.
If he met with any un-bribable guards near the West-Wall, he could always simply display his innocence as proof. That would, of course, immediately notify the black order and probably the Earl as well of his existence; but it was a small price to pay for the price of preserving the three innocence he carried with him.
He had walked briskly along for at least twenty blocks or so when the chime of the beginning curfew finally rang.
So soon?
The sound of footsteps on cobblestones clattered from up ahead, and Allen quickly darted into a gap between buildings. This was no time to be apprehended or noticed. He slipped along the passage, silently, shushing Timcanpy when the golem tried to wriggle out from the hood to see what all the sneaking was about.
There was a dark gaping hole in the wall, and Allen backed into it, craning around its edge to look at the entrance to the main street.
He didn't have to wait long. A few long minutes later, the sound of precise footsteps had grown louder. A pair of men in navy-blue and silver jackets strode past the entrance to the alleyway, quietly conversing among themselves. They didn't even glance in his direction.
A few minutes later a single guard jogged by.
Then a trio…
After waiting another fruitless five minutes trying to figure a way to return to the relative safety of the main street without resorting to kidnapping and stripping guards Allen groaned in surrender and quickly slipped down the meter-wide passage and into the tangled webs of London.
He could see why-despite-the formal curfew, those streets were so rarely seen to.
different from London's main, they crowded together like eels in a tub, tangling and twisting, and they stunk of refuse, sickness, and death. Allen released Timcanpy to fly ahead with a strict order to not under any circumstances approach any cats, and walked behind it, glancing warily about for signs of trouble. As he walked, telltale signs of Akuma activity made themselves known. The metallic scent of Akuma presence laced the air, long gashes from missed Akuma fire slashed the ground in multiple places, as did the pentagram dappling of Akuma virus.
Despite all that, periodically, he saw the huddled forms of humans of homeless men and women, glassy-eyed and wiry as cats, though he suspected there would've been more without Akuma scouring the slums.
It was eerily silent, but Allen was almost grateful for the silence, thinking of all the people that had likely died in this vast deathtrap, forced from the protection of the government and citizens by poverty, and the simple fact of being different.
Two hours later, it was night. No light lit the recesses of the alleys, and Allen was very much unwilling to risk the high streets again. Especially after he passed a street where a Nightman armed with a baton was beating an emaciated man dressed in oversized clothing while three of the nightman's fellows watched, laughing and edging him on.
they didn't notice Allen as he quickened his steps to pass out of sight.
Soon the vast silhouette of West Wall was towering above him. Allen whistled a shrill note and Timcanpy turned from where he'd been flapping ahead and landed on his shoulder with a flutter of golden wings.
"Good job, Tim" Allen smiled, pulling his hood down and letting the faint eastward breeze ruffle his hair. The golem's 'face' contorted in a self-satisfied manner and his tufted tail twitched happily.
"Alright… now to remind myself of where this is going." Allen glanced around to check that no one was near enough to see him, then pulled off the glove covering the warped red skin of his left hand. A stylized green crystal cross was embedded into the back.
"Activate." he said, and the cross flashed. Meter-long, metallic, curving claws twisted outward as his hand expanded. He used the longer reach to gently hook a stone protrusion in the wall and vaulted himself onto the nearest flat rooftop, landing with little pain on his feet. It was cooler up there, and the sour stench of city refuse was all but a memory. Timcanpy flapped after him, and this time, landed on his head. Allen grinned.
whatever people said, Innocence could be damn handy even when one wasn't fighting Akuma.
The exorcist settled cross-legged on the roof and placed Tim in front of him. The tiny golden ball looked up at him expectantly. He always wondered how it was that Tim could see without visible eyes; perhaps it was an infrared light-sensing system? or he had multiple microscopic optics that worked together to create a single image? Cross had never bothered to explain it to him.
But that wasn't the most incredible thing about the golem.
"I need the latest recording Cross sent regarding the innocence plan." Allen said, pulling the drawstring pouch with the Innocence into his lap.
Tim rocked his body in a nod and gaped open his toothy maw.
I say- does this count as a cliffhanger?
on a different note-WOFWalker was a GREAT help in writing this.
on yet another note-you've probably noticed some very major differences between this world and DGM world in general. If you have any immediate questions then please comment or PM.
on a third-and more personal note-I'm sorry if it wasn't good. I'm still trying to figure out how to write stuff.
on a....
you know what? nevermind.
just know that I have no idea when this will be updated. (if you care about such things) My primary interest is art, so most of the time i'm drawing, and right now i've got waaaaaaaayy too many requests going on. i also write/draw personal stuff. Like stories/pictures about seven foot tall bird-monsters. So that takes away time too. ask me about my inner world some time, if you've got nothing better to do.
it'll definitely make one of us terribly happy.