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Eater Of Souls; Chapter Three "Forgiveness is a bitter smile"
There was a heavy silence over the entire ship. Nobody smiled, nobody laughed. It was nothing like it had been before, full of laughter and hope. Bookman and Lavi were in their own corner of the small cafeteria, all the sailors were on the other side.
Lavi kept swirling his spoon around in his soup. His one eye was dark and lost.
"You're thinking about what happened," Bookman observed.
Lavi didn't look up. "What else would I be thinking about, old panda?"
"You're thinking about Allen." Lavi looked up at the observation, pain on his face.
"Yeah, I am. I-I just don't understand-," the redhead said, not finishing. Bookman sighed. "Why would Allen ever do something like that? He let those crewmembers die, just to make sure that Lenalee would be alright."
Bookman had seen what Walker had done, choosing not to stop the mast from coming down on the still-alive sailors. He had chosen his Chinese friend over that. It wasn't a matter of romantic love, obviously. Walker showed no interest in Lenalee Lee as a lover (unfortunately, his own apprentice was not quite so decent). "You don't like his decision?" Bookman questioned.
"No, I don't! We exist as exorcists for humanity! Allen made a big mistake when he let them die! It was right of Lenalee to slap him," Lavi said angrily.
Bookman looked over Lavi's shoulder, seeing the mentioned white-haired exorcist standing a few feet away. Walker had obviously heard what Lavi had said, which was bad timing. Lavi didn't see him, a good thing. Lavi would have felt even more terrible had he known how much his words had hurt his own friend. Walker's face was twisted, painful, for an instant. The expression disappeared quickly. Walker turned, and left the cafeteria.
I think that was my idiot apprentice's fault, Bookman thought. He's succeeding in isolating Allen Walker, possibly the Destroyer of the Millenium Earl, from his comrades. Of course, more important was the fact that Lavi was getting too close to them all.
"You're a Bookman, Lavi. Don't group yourself with the exorcists of the Black Order." Bookman leaned in close. "There's more to Walker than you think. Judging him at this moment would not be wise."
"What do you mean?"
Bookman pondered over the fact that there had been four level-two akuma in the sky, and Walker had defeated three of them within minutes. Walker also exorcised a level-three akuma (something that hadn't been seen before, by the exorcists) quicker than Lenalee, Lavi, and Krory had been able to do, combined. Something had changed.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Bookman said, and left it at that.
Allen had heard Lavi's words, but ignored them. They didn't matter. He didn't need any support or trust from his friends to protect them.
He wasn't hungry anymore, at least. Neah had warned him that the more he used his akuma senses, the hungrier he would get. Allen had a few days before the lust for blood-oil set in. Neah had also explained that, as part human, he would need a small amount of normal food, and about two hours of sleep. Neah had known him quite well, in the past.
Allen's eye was sensing an akuma again, but it felt weird. The akuma didn't emanate a will to kill like other akuma usually did. It was just above the deck.
He opened up the bedroom door, leaving the quiet darkness of his shared room. It was nearly noon, and the cafeteria was crowded. No one noticed as he slipped up the stairs, and onto the deck.
Mahoja was on the far front of the ship, turning the wheel. That was good. The akuma was on the opposite side, so hopefully Allen could converse with it before anybody noticed it.
One of the giant sails was half down, the akuma hiding behind it. Allen could clearly see its chained souls floating above the sail. Those souls didn't scare him, it was only his own that did.
Briefly, his stomach rumbled, as he smelled the souls on the wind, but the hunger was mild. He was full, just a little peckish.
"Hello," Allen said quietly, as he stood behind the sail. Mahoja couldn't see them both.
The akuma jumped, if it could, in midair. It turned towards him, with no visible eyes, but obviously seeing Allen's floating mass of souls. "Wh- You're an akuma!"
"Shh, don't let Mahoja hear you," Allen said quickly. "What are you? What are you doing on this ship?"
"I'm an an akuma altered by General Cross," the thing said. It was a shiny, metal machine, with a tiny face inside its jaw. "What are you? I've never seen an akuma like you before." It looked above him, probably observing the souls around him. "Whoooeee, that is a ton of souls. What level are you?" The voice was on the feminine side. A girl akuma? (Akuma did have gender, usually based off of the soul they were first made from. Allen was a boy-akuma.)
"I'm also altered, a level four," Allen said quickly. "I'm traveling with these exorcists. You can't tell them that I'm an akuma, though. They would lose their trust in me." If I haven't already lost it, he thought bitterly.
"If you're on a mission assigned by General Cross, I won't reveal you. I didn't know that General Cross could alter level four! I'm Chou."
Allen smiled, breathing in ocean air. Safe. "I'm Allen." It was nice to talk to something that had the same morals as him. An akuma like himself. Chou wasn't disgusted at him, but admiring of his level.
Cross alters akuma based off what he learned about you, Neah said. Why'd you lie about your level?
You said I'm the only level five ever developed, and the Earl doesn't like me. Obviously I'm not telling one of his army minions who I really am, even if they're altered.
You're so dreamy…
Shut up, Neah.
"I have a message from General Cross," Chou said. Allen nodded.
"I'm going to get the rest of my exorcist friends, so you can tell it to us all. Um," Allen paused. "Can you pretend to never have met me? I don't want to make things weird."
"Sure! Whatever you say, senpai!"
Allen sweated. The level-two akuma was using Japanese honorifics on him, that didn't really fit the situation. He crept out from behind the sheet, making sure Mahoja still was at the mast. She was. He silently walked down the stairs to the cafeteria, over to where Lavi and Bookman were. Lenalee and Krory had joined them.
"Hey," Allen said, and they turned around. He met their eyes, but quickly looked down. Lying to someone was harder when they were looking at a person with genuine trust. "There's an akuma on the deck. I'm sensing it."
In an instant, all four exorcists were up out of their seats. Lenalee had her Dark Boots activated. "No, wait!" Allen put out his hands. "It's not a normal akuma. It's not here to kill u.s., I think."
"How do you know?" Lavi asked.
"I… can tell with my eye, if an akuma has a will to kill. This one doesn't." A partial truth.
The exorcists followed him up to the deck, quietly, so as not to alert the rest of the crew of the situation. Chou was still floating behind the back sail. Allen gestured towards her. "The akuma is behind that."
"Akuma! We see you! Come out!" Lavi yelled to her. Slowly, Chou peeked around the billowing sail. She saw Allen, and relaxed, coming to a stop a few feet away from them.
"What are you?" Lenalee said. Chou's tiny little face, inside its jaw, spoke.
"I'm an altered akuma, by General Cross. A level two. I come with a message from him."
"General Cross altered you?!" Krory said. "Wow. That's… good. He's still alive."
"Amazing," Lavi said. "And a little creepy. You could kill us all in our sleep."
"If altered akuma still had a will to kill, you'd all be dead by now," Chou said. Allen winced. Chou wasn't talking about herself, but his friends couldn't tell that. Hopefully.
Timcampy had been resting inside of Allen's shirt, and flew out suddenly, landing on top of Chou's head. "Oh, hey, Timcampy! See, Timcampy knows I'm telling the truth." Chou looked towards Allen, waiting for him to verify her claim.
"General Cross is the only man in the world who can alter akuma. Not even the Black Order knows this. Only I do, and now you," Bookman said, before Allen could say anything.
"What's your name?" Krory asked. He didn't look like he was thirsting for Chou's blood, which was good. He had deactivated his Innocence.
"Chou."
"It's nice to meet you, Chou," Lenalee said, giving a hesitant smile. "You said you had a message for us?"
"General Cross says, 'Go home.' You'll only slow him down. He's near Edo, but can't go in, because of the ark."
The ark! Man, I miss that thing… Neah sighed.
What is it?
A transporting machine-thing. You can use it go across the world, if you want. It also has a city inside of it, for living in. I could call it up, right now, if I wanted.
Please, don't.
"The ark?" Lavi asked as well.
"A factory for manufacturing akuma. Cross is going to destroy it," Chou explained. "He doesn't want you to mess with his mission."
If Cross knew that you've woken up, he'd definitely want to meet up with you, Neah said. I'd recommend continuing. Plus, more akuma souls for you to eat in Edo.
More.. souls. Allen pushed down the urge to let his akuma teeth show. His hunger for killing couldn't become a problem. It was an asset, to help him protect his friends.
"We're going to continue." Lenalee's voice was firm, strong, like the woman she was becoming. Allen smiled. His Chinese friend could appear fragile at times, but she had a core of pure steel.
"Yep. Our mission's still to find Cross. No turning back now," Lavi said.
Chou sighed. "I guess it's not really my choice, I'm just a messenger. I'm also supposed to help protect you, but compared to some, I don't think I'll be useful."
"How do you mean?' Lavi asked. "Level two akuma are pretty fierce to fight, and us regular exorcists aren't that amazing."
"Never mind," Chou quickly said, seeing Allen glaring at her with one fist cracking menacingly. "I j-just meant c-compared to h-h-higher levels- Never mind!"
Allen groaned internally. Darnit, she's gonna reveal me before we even get to Edo. I've never liked level two kauma!
Realizing what he had just thought, Allen's eyes widened. He felt like there were memories of level two akuma, memories of before he was an exorcist, that were just under the surface. Neah.. I-I think my memories are starting to come back!
There sort of something in your mind. It's like a locked room. Maybe it'll unlock with time?
Maybe.
But do I really want these memories back?
Adam, the first apostle, sat up in bed, gasping for breath. There was sweat dripping down his face.
"Master? What's wrong?" Road asked, from his bedside.
"O-one of my akuma s-soldiers has been found. His b-blood is singing."
"What do you mean? There aren't any lost akuma soldiers- Oh my gosh." Road's eyes were wide, she searched the Millenium Earl's face. He looked away, an affirmative.
"Eater has returned."
It was the last stretch of sea, before the exorcists were saying goodbye to Anita's ship, and boarding a smaller boat. All the exorcists were gathered in a cabin, resting, before they made the final journey to Edo.
Allen was falling asleep on one of the couches. His friend's voices lulled him to sleep, slowly.
That's when his first memory came back.
"Good job, Eater. You've done well on this mission," his master said, patting the level four on the shoulder. Eater flipped his red hair, puffing out his metal-plated chest with pride.
"Thanks, master! Although.." the akuma looked sheepish. "I ate a few more souls than was necessary. Not a lot, just a few. They were annoying."
Master laughed. "Just remember the rules."
Eater nodded furiously. "I do! One, always introduce yourself politely. Two, listen to the masters Noah. Three, family is priority." He smiled, pointed teeth gleaming. "That's my favorite. You all are my best family! Especially Neah and Road and sometimes Wisely, but he can be a jerk sometimes…"
Adam sighs, watching his best soldier fall into a long tangent about his family, talking only to himself. Eater loved to talk. He was like a little kid, sometimes. A rebellious, sassy kid.
Glancing up at the mass of souls above Eater's head, Adam was reminded of the fact that whatever he was, Eater was very, very powerful.
"What if I leveled up?" Eater said, excitedly. Adam blinked, frowning.
"No. Leveling up to anything past a four is not good. You should stay right where you are." Eater sunk down in his chair.
"But I'd be more powerful, then. Why's leveling up bad? It's not bad for one-to-fours."
"It just is!" Adam yells, scaring his soldier into silence. The akuma sulks, glaring at the wall behind Adam.
"I'm hommeee!" The fourteenth Noah enters the room on the arc. Eater jumps up, laughing.
"Welcome back, Neah! You slow poke, I coulda killed those exorcists in half the time you did."
"Shut up, Red."
"Never, my friend."
Chou was being interrogated by the exorcists on the ship. She (for the akuma thought of herself as female) felt nervous. Her senpai was asleep on the couch, and couldn't protect her.
He was the coolest senapi she'd ever had! Level fours were super rare, and they would usually try to eat her on sight. Luckily, General Cross had altered him. Allen was staying in human form.
What would his akuma form look like? Level fours often looked all the same, but there were a few exceptions. Hmm… He'll probably have fire around him, and super-cool red eyes, and long vampire fangs, and a long cape, and-
"Do akuma eat?" the red-haired exorcist in front of her demanded. Chou shook her head.
"No, akuma don't eat real food. We gotta consume souls, though, to subdue the dark matter's will to kill." She didn't really have to worry about revealing too much, since she didn't actually know that much.
"What about sleeping?" It was the pretty Chinese girl asking. She sat on the couch, at Senpai's feet.
"Nope! No sleep, either. We're not at all like humans. No pooping. No-"
"Okay, I think we got it." the younger Bookman exorcist said, looking weirded out. "A little bit too much info."
They were all sitting around her, Miranda on another couch, resting, Lavi and Krory on the floor, and Bookman in a chair.
"What I'm really curious about," Bookman said, "is how General Cross alters akuma, like you."
Senpai snored on, and Chou assumed that he wouldn't mind her telling his comrades how they were altered. "I'm not really sure how my master does it. I saw part of how he did it, once.
"He had another level two in front of him, and he put some human blood onto its number, and said a few words. It was a spell. Then, he reached into it, and yanked on something, pulling it out of the wires. It was a glowing white light."
"That's confusing," Krory said. "What was the glowing white thing?"
"The beginnings of the akuma's soul."
"What?!" Lavi, Lenalee, and Bookman all said at the same time.
"Akumas have no soul, they just have… evilness," Lavi said.
Chou sighed. Lavi was including her in that statement. He was completely correct, it was just irritating to be referred to as 'soulless.' There was only so much a girl could take.
"Akumas start out with an ego. As they level up, the ego sort of develops into what could be called a soul. Master said that he pulls the growing soul out of the clutches of the dark matter, so that the akuma can resist the will to kill, at least for a little. He calls it the 'Eater Method.'"
Allen yawned, waking up. "mm...someone called me?" he mumbled. Everybody went silent. The white-haired akuma opened his eyes, realizing where he was.
"Allen, you idiot! We didn't mean eater of foods. Chou's telling us about altered akuma," Lavi said, grabbing her senpai's shoulder, and pulling him off the couch. He hit the wooden floor loudly.
"Lavi, stop it! You're a jerk," Allen whined. "I heard the word 'eat,' and woke up cause I thought there was food."
Senpai seemed nervous, though. Any akuma would be, surrounded by exorcists. Chou kept a careful watch on Krory, out of the corner of her eye. Those fangs looked nasty.
"Excuse me, exorcists?" Everybody looked up at the voice. The captain of the ship, a woman called Anita, was at the doorway. "We've… reached a stopping point. You can board another ship to go the final distance to Edo, in about fifteen minutes."
The news was received with dark, sad looks. Chou looked around, confused. "You guys look pretty sad. Why the long faces?"
Nobody wanted to answer, but her senpai was the first to speak up. "All the crewmembers will die as soon as Miranda deactivates her Innocence." The white-haired akuma's voice was blunt, without feeling.
"Allen!" Lenalee cried. "That's not-"
"He's right, Lenalee. It's okay. There's no point in sugarcoating it," Anita said, giving a smile to both of them. Allen looked away from her, eyes on the floor. "The crew is enjoying their last minutes, as am I. You all should feel no guilt for what has happened."
Anita stepped over to where Allen was sitting on the couch, gently cupping his chin. Chou watched her senpai with interest.
"The only hatred I feel is towards the akuma that killed my mother over twenty years ago, not the exorcists that fight to kill akuma," Anita smiled, letting go of Allen's face. "I have no qualms against you."
"Anita!" a crewmember called from outside. "We need you out here." Anita bowed, and left. The rest of the humans left in the room were all looking at Allen. He had a twisted expression, and was pale.
"You alright, senpai?" Chou asked. Allen stood up.
"I'm fine. I need to go to the bathroom."
Chou watched him leave, all dressed-in-black and menacing, with a huge lump of souls above his head.
Senpai's so cool!
Allen barely made it to the toilet in time, before he threw up. When Anita had told him that she didn't blame him for her mother's death, only the akuma that had killed her mother, a soul had slipped down from above him, into his line of sight.
It was the soul of Anita's mother. It cried and screamed, and he could hear it.
The memory it brought up was pushing its way to the surface of Allen's mind, and he tried to stop it, but couldn't.
He was on the run with Neah, the final days before Neah's memory was implanted in him. He had been a level five akuma for less than a week, and his appetite had only increased.
They were in China, at the moment. Neah was asleep, inside an abandoned shed they had found in the forest. Red was walking around the town nearby.
There were so many souls. So many souls.
He couldn't consume them, though. Adam would know where they were if he heard of a massacre. A group of Chinese merchants passed by on the road, and Red pressed close to the shadows of shaggy-looking buildings. A week prior, he had been dragged into the body of a human baby. There was no soul in the body, it was simply a shell. For some reason, Red's own soul was now attached to the body, like it was his own. Like he was human.
The child had red hair, as did he, which made him stand out among any crowd. For two days, Neah had watched over him without sleeping, as Red's body groaned and shuddered with aching pains. He grew from a child to a man in a few hours, then back again. It had stopped at the age of a twenty-year-old, and he was still in that form.
Somebody brushed Red, and he shuddered. It was getting worse. A lot worse. His human teeth were turning into akuma ones.
He slipped into an abandoned building, seeing no one near it. For a few minutes, Red just breathed in and out.
Then, he smelled the souls.
There were two of them, in a dark corner of the room. A mother and a child. They were huddled on the dirt floor, watching him. The mother pushed the child, a girl around ten, behind her, taking an aggressive stance.
Red couldn't stop it. He went into partial akuma form, one hand a giant claw. In front of the child, he quickly killed the mother. It was a bloody mess, red splattering everywhere. The soul tasted amazing, full of fear and pain and fear and pain and mmmmm
It was pure bliss, until he opened his eyes, and saw the child. The little Chinese girl was crying silently, curled up, watching him eat the dead carcass of her mother. Red had never had a problem with killing, whether it be children or adults, he'd never been squeamish.
He became aware of the blood, covering his hands and face.
That was the first time he'd felt guilt for killing.
I was the one who killed Anita's mother.
I didn't know that. In the months that we traveled together, you sometimes disappeared for a few hours. I knew what you were doing, but not the specifics.
Allen flushed the toilet. I must be the only akuma afraid of souls. I mean, I eat them for meals. How can this happen?
Maybe it's your guilt, Neah offered. You have a human conscience now. I do too, but I'm a Noah, so it affects me differently.
Can Noah see akuma's souls?
Yeah, but we usually choose not to.
Allen watched his eyes in the mirror. They briefly flicked to that of an akuma's, black, with white pupils, then became blue again. He had to look away quickly, because the souls around him began to settle.
"Maybe we were too hard on him," Lenalee said, wrapping her arms around her knees.
She meant Allen. At first, she had hated him for a little bit, choosing to save her over crewmen. Slowly, Lenalee had been able to understand. Maybe, in his shoes, she would have done the same.
She had seen his hurt expressions, when he thought she couldn't see them. When he looked pale and sick, but wouldn't tell them the cause. "Allen's different, and I don't know why."
"He got scared when the Noah attacked him, maybe?" Lavi said, from the chair across from her. "Something spooked him into losing his innocent smile."
"What if you knew what it was?" Chou spoke up. Both Lenalee and Lavi jumped. They had forgotten she was still in the room.
"What do you mean?" Lavi asked.
"Maybe senpai's holding on to a big secret, and doesn't want to hurt you guys. You are his friends, he doesn't want to lose you."
"A big secret? What would Allen have to hide?" Lenalee voiced.
"He's-"
"Chou." Allen had appeared, and had a hand on the gold akuma's shoulder. He nearly growled her name. "You should leave now." A furious fire burned in his gaze, and Chou could've sworn it was burning through her metal armor.
"S-s-sorry!" the level two cried, running out.
A secret? both of Allen's friends wondered. "Did you hear what she said, Allen?" Lavi asked.
"Yes, I did," Allen sighed. He looked at them expectantly, waiting for the imminent question.
"Are… you hiding anything?" Lenalee said.
The white-haired akuma smiled. "No, guys. I'd tell you. No thoughts in this brain of mine but food and killing akuma." His hand clenched around the shard of Innocence in his pocket, making it cut into his palm. The blood would be oil, if he pulled his hand out.
His friends smiled back. "That's good. You had us worried for a bit, but you seem back to normal," Lavi said, wrapping an arm around the shorter exorcist. Allen laughed with them, a forced laugh.
Nothing in this head but lies and twisted love.
AN: Some questions readers may have.
Is Allen going to level up? Yes. (I'm not saying anymore! ;)
Any pairings? Nope. Just tons of fluffy and dramatic friendship.
Any character-hating? I love all of Hoshino-sensei's characters, except for Chaoji and Apocr-what's-his-face (they could fall off the face of the earth and I wouldn't care), so even if someone is portrayed as the bad guy, I'm not gonna bash them.
akuma!Allen is a little dark... Yep, he is. He's been through a lot. (but doesn't that make him totally awesome? ;3 )
Is Neah a bad guy? Not really. I didn't want Neah and Allen to be enemies, since Neah's pretty darn cool, so I'm portraying them more as good friends.
Exactly how strong is Allen? You'll find out fairly soon, but he could take on a few generals and level fours, and still win. I'm not going to overpower him, though. He has a few gigantic weakness (i.e. his friends, mirrors, his own Innocence taking over him and killing him)
Thank you so much for reading!
