Me: I can't actually cry when sad, though I almost always come close with this part...
Allen: You...can't cry when your sad?
Lavi: Well, that's interesting. We got to learn about something new of Han-chan!
Richie: Heh...nice. This chapter is rated 'T', do to the death of characters, Allen's arm, I think some angst, minor violence, and minor cursing from JerKanda and myself. -shrugs-
Lenalee: Hanashi has no ownership over D. Gray-man, but she does take credit for her OC, Richie and her Golem, Escuro.
Kanda: Che. Just read the damn chapter.
Fourth Chapter: Let the Lullaby be Heard!
Mater was called 'the land forsaken by god'. Living in despair, the people started to create dolls in order to forget about their situation. Joyous dolls that danced and sang. This was exactly what I read for the report. Allen and I had just started out by watching the doll sing. If I should describe it, it was a terribly beautiful melody. A lullaby sang by an artificial flower.
We heard the song before we heard them talking. "Are you crying, Lala?" An elderly man's voice asked.
Paused. Then an answer, "That's a strange question to ask, Guzol." A younger voice, which I believed belongs to the one called 'Lala', replies.
"I can hear something like sadness." The old man—Guzol—said, explaining himself.
"Why did you lie about being a doll?" By then we had gotten closer to the duo. Their voices clearer.
"I am a very...ugly human. I didn't want you to be broken by strangers. Lala, stay by my side...and when I die, let my hand be the one that breaks you."
"Yes, Guzol. I am your doll. What shall I sing next?" It was at this time Allen and I had made it to where the two were speaking to each other. Something must've given away our positions, because the next thing we realize both the old man and the doll were looking right at us.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but..." Allen contained staring at the duo, before continuing; "...you are a doll, aren't you?"
"Allen! Heads up!" I warned, just as the doll, Lala, started attacking.
"Richie! Take care of these two!" He ordered me. Not feeling like fighting, I just did as bidden, watching from the sidelines. He was nearly hit by a pillar of all things. "W-w-wait a minute! Calm down let's ta—GAAAH!"
"Allen! I doubt she's going to listen!" I warned him. He might've heard me. His arm activated, and he managed to stop the pillar that was coming right at him. Using said item, he destroyed the pillars surrounding the area, destroying the potential weapons Lala could've used.
"There. Now there's nothing left for you to throw." He said, "I don't want to fight a cute girl." There was silence for a while, before Lala would start talking again.
"Please...please don't take me away from Guzol! I'll give you my heart, just let me stay with him to the end!"
This was how we ended up in the situation we were currently in. Allen had removed his coat, folding it, and using it for a pillow that Kanda could use. Though I'd bet my lunch that he'd be pissed when he awoke. Even more so if he found out I was the one carrying his sorry ass. Well...what he doesn't know, he won't know, right? I had just finished tending to Toma's wounds, who in returned helped me with a few of my own. When he was done with me, he was then checking up on Kanda.
I sat beside Allen, listening to Lala's story; "A long time ago, a human child cried in Mater." She began, "It had been five-hundred years since the citizens of Mater left...it wasn't the first time a human had gotten lost in this place...this child was the sixth. When I asked five others before him if they wanted to hear a song, they attacked me all of a sudden. They shouted 'monster!', as they knocked me down. Even though I had only asked if they wanted to hear a song. I then decided that if the child in front of me also...doesn't accept my offer...I would kill him. Just like the five before."
"Wow." I said, at a loss for a better word.
"Shh," Allen warned me. "Lala, if you will?"
"I am a doll made by humans, to move for humans is the reason I exist. I just wanted someone to hear me sing. Eighty years since then, Guzol has been with me ever since. However...he's going to stop moving soon...his heartbeat has been growing quieter and quieter...all I ask is to let me be with him until the end. Once Guzol dies, I don't care what happens to me. In all my five-hundred years, the only one who had accepted me as a doll was Guzol. Let me live with him until the end! Please!"
"No!" A familiar voice shouts. I turned the same time Allen did to see Kanda had woken up. "You want to wait until this old man dies? We can't grant his wish. We came here to protect the Innocence!"
"As touching as her story is, Allen, " I began, "I actually have to agree with JerKanda. We need to take that doll's heart now." Lala is a doll that wished to stay with Guzol until he died. I don't like agreeing with Kanda on some things, but this was some thing we have no choice but to.
"What did we come here for!" Although it was meant to be a question, I could tell he was ordering Allen to tell him the exact reason why we were here. I half expected the kid to say 'We came here to retrieve the Innocence.' or something. But no. Allen isn't like that.
"I...Can't do it. Sorry. I just can't." Out of anger, Kanda threw the Exorcist's coat at the younger teen.
"This coat isn't a pillow for the wounded! It's the uniform of an Exorcist!" That said, Kanda placed his own coat over his shoulders, and walked passed the white-haired boy. "There are Sacrifices that must be made, rookie."
"Please! Don't take it!" Lala pleaded with the samurai. I stood up, and put a hand on Allen's shoulder.
"Listen, Allen, this is how it has to be." I really, really hated agreeing with Kanda.
"Then I'll be the one!" I ended up jerking my hand from the younger male's shoulder, looking at him with mild shock. "Will it be enough if I'm the 'sacrifice' for these two?"
"Shortcake, what—"
"Until then, I can't remove the Innocence from this doll! If I...if I destroy the Akuma, then there isn't a problem, is there? To make sacrifices all in the time in order to win the war...it's futile!" I watched as Kanda punched Allen in the face. He fell to to ground, from the force. Still recovering from his own wounds, Kanda fell to the ground himself.
"Che. How incredibly naïve." He sneered, "Selling yourself out for some pitiful strangers?" I've seen Kanda mad plenty of times in the past. But this seemed to really get him. "Isn't there anything important to you?" He yelled.
"Yeah...there was something important. But I lost it a long time ago." Allen explained, "It's pitiful...I don't have a noble reason...I just don't know to see something like this happen. That's all."
"Allen...have you...?" At some point, a hand was on my shoulder, I looked behind me to see it was Toma. He silently told me to stay quiet. I nodded, and just watched.
"My heart is moved by what's in front of my eyes, not by what the whole world needs. I can't just abandon what's in front of me. I want to protect everything I can!" No sooner did he finish, I started seeing quick images. It hurt my eye, and I clutched at it, screaming.
"Watch out!" I managed to get out, but too late. I watched as Lala and Guzol were stabbed by what appeared to be a claw. "Damn it! It's the Akuma!"
"I got the Innocence!" It taunted, holding a lifeless Lala, morally wounded Guzol, and...the only thing we had come here for. The Innocence. "Oooh!~ So this is the Innocence!" It was then I suddenly felt an eerie presence from behind me. I quickly turned around to see that Allen's arm was morphing.
"Return it. Return that Innocence." Allen's voice was dark, and menacing. His aura full of the intent to kill. "Return it."
"Master Walker's anti-Akuma weapon...it's changing!"
"We parasitic type users...we can manipulate according to our emotions." I explained, clutching at my left arm.
"In his case, it's reacting to his anger." Something seemed to have occurred to Kanda. "Hey, brat, your Innocence has more than one appearance now, doesn't it?"
"I don't like using it." I muttered. "And there's only you to blame for that one, JerKanda." It's true. I could change the claws to something else, but that was the day I broke Kanda's jaw. I was pissed because he'd chopped my hair off the week before. I was really angered, and my Innocence had morphed much like how Allen's was doing now. But that form, I vowed to never use. Suddenly, Allen went in to attack. "DAMN IT Shortcake!" I shouted after him.
"Idiot! Your weapon hasn't fully formed yet!" Kanda called out. Just as he said that, Allen's arm seemed to have become a kind of cannon. He fired from it. "It fired?" He shot at the Akuma, but the damn thing ended up using the sand to hide. He landed on one of the rods he had fired.
"You can't hit me when I shift into sand!~" The Akuma taunted. It attacked Allen head on, and even though he dodged, he was swallowed by the monster. "Gotcha! It's over for you! Now...how many times do I stab you before you die?"
"Shortcake!" I shouted out, watching the Akuma using the copied arm to stab itself while trying to get at Allen. "Damn it..."
"He's fine." Kanda said, staring at the Akuma. Sure enough Allen came flying out of the back of the Akuma, confusing it.
"It changed again?" I asked, seeing how the weapon turned into some sort of saber. He sliced at the sand, causing the Akuma's guise to split in half.
"Ah! My sand skin!" It screeched.
"That's your real body, huh?" Allen said a smirk on his face. "I won't give you the chance to change your appearance again! This is for you!"
"Hehehe! But I still have your arm!" The Akuma thought it would win. But Allen's weapon was proving to be much stronger. "Sh-shit! What? Even though I used his hand? Why did I lose?"
"Pathetic." I sighed. "Just pathetic. They may have the same weapon, but the users are different. That's what your thinking, too, right, JerKanda?"
"Che." Was the only reply I got.
"Kanda, something's wrong..." I said, watching the sudden look of pain on Allen's face. "Allen!" I quickly went to his side the moment I saw him coughing up blood. His arm soon deactivated. "Hey, Shortcake, you alright?"
"It's...a rebound..." He breathed, "I can't keep up...with the morphed wea...pon." Another quick vision, and I quickly activated my Innocence, and using my nails, quickly blocked the attack. Kanda right beside me, doing the same with Mugen. "K-Kanda? Richie?"
"You idiot!" We both then shouted. I chose to let Kanda continue the rant from there, "You useless idiot! What do you think you're doing running out of power at the last minute? You were the bastard that babbled on about protecting these two!"
"Don't suddenly go weak on us, Shortcake." I warned, shoving against the claw.
"I hate the waynaïve people like you do things...and even more so, I hate people who don't keep their damn promises!"
"Please, you hate just about everything, JerKanda." I said rolling my eyes. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself, Shortcake?"
"First, my name isn't Shortcake, it's Allen. Second, whichever it is, you'll hate me anyway, right Kanda? It's not that I've run out of power or anything like that...I'm just taking a little break."
"Everything you do is irritating." Kanda said.
"Word of advice, Shortcake." I said, "In battle, there is no room for a break. If you do that again, you just might die." This was in all seriousness. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal." Allen answered noticing my deathly aura.
"Let's go!" I exclaimed, removing my arm all the while used Mugen to cleanly slice off the claw of the Akuma. "Innocence," We all said at once, "ACTIVATE! SCATTER!" The Akuma might've cursed us. But all was lost as the three of us aimed our attacks at the enemy. The force was great, and it caused the three of us to eventually fall to the ground, all source of energy just about gone.
(-)0(-)(-)0(-)(-)0(-)
It was three days since then. Allen had never once left Guzol and Lala. Kanda and I were at the hospital, but mostly to his own wounds. "Seriously, how is it you can heal so damn fast?" I questioned him. Those wounds should've taken months to heal. But his did in just three days.
"So what?" He asked, answering both me and Komui, who was on the phone.
"Give me the phone too, JerKanda." I muttered, knowing I wouldn't get an answer from him anyway. I could vaguely hear Komui on the other end.
"What?" His voice sounded, "I'm jealous, damn it! It's been three days since you defeated that Akuma!"
"Komui," "Irmão," We said at the same time, "Stop shouting and shut up!"
"Oh? Richie, you're there too?"
"Yeah, I'm here too. That piss-ass Akuma got me into their mission. I'll report now, Exorcist Allen Walker has shown great potential for the Black Order. He just might be able to do much good for us."
"Is that so? Komui said. "Tell me then, where is Allen now?" This time it was Kanda who answered, all the while tearing out the IV drips.
"He's still in that city with the doll."
"That doll called Lala, it'll be soon right?"
"I'd say so." I sighed. "It's been working for over five-hundred years. But..."
"It's not the same doll." Kanda finished. "It'll stop by itself." The door burst open, revealing the doctors that were working on Kanda. This should be good.
"What the...? What are you doing?
"I'm leaving. Claim your money there." Kanda explained, pointing his thumb towards Toma.
"No, no! You're condition is critical! It should take you five months to recover!"
"I'm healed." Kanda said, stressing the last word. He'd taken the bandages off, and shoved them at the good doctor. I looked over to him, a little angered he took the phone away. I'd known this guy for almost two years of my known life (which in technical terms is my whole known life) and to say I'd seen him shirtless before would be lying. It was the first time for me, though what caught my eye was a tattoo on his chest.
"Kanda, did you always have that tattoo?" I asked, interrupting what ever he was going to say before.
"Idiot." He answered, before pulling his shirt over his shoulders, and quickly buttoning it.
"Hey! Answer me, JerKanda!" He ignored me, and I just followed him out of the hospital. "Jeez! Such an ass! If you need me, I'll go check up on Shortcake." I said, running past him and Toma.
(-)0(-)(-)0(-)(-)0(-)
When I had first came to, back in the ruins, I'd heard singing. Despite the pain, I had gotten up to see what was going on. I saw Lala moving again. But...it wasn't Lala. I could tell at first glance. It was once again the doll for which Guzol had first met almost eighty years ago. Even to this day, I was surprised that the old man was able to stay alive through out our battle.
"Master human...I am a doll...I sing..." Lala's voice, once full of its own emotion was lifeless. "Master human..." I wasn't sure if Guzol was aware Lala had returned to her original state. But he seemed happy to see his doll moving again.
"You would sing for me...?" He had asked her, with a smile on his otherwise distorted face. "Lala...I love you."
"Are you asleep? Then, I will sing a lullaby." This was three days ago.
"Hey, how you holding up?" I asked the younger Exorcist.
"M'fine." Allen was sitting on one of the steps of this ancient city. His knees were brought up enough so his arms could rest on them, while his head rested in his arms. Tim and Kanda's Golem were flying around the white-haired boy. It was around sunset when Kanda approached us. I was staring at the sky, and Allen hadn't moved from his position.
"Che. What are you sleeping for? Stay on guard." He ordered.
"Relax, there aren't any more Akuma here. And if there were a surprise attack, at any given moment, I'd know about it." I sighed, still staring at a passing cloud. "Shortcake would too, come to think of it."
"Whatever." Kanda muttered, "I got a message from Komui. I'm going ahead with my next mission. You and the brat are to back to headquarters, and deliver the Innocence."
"Yeah, yeah." I said. Not really paying attention. Huh, that cloud reminded me of a bird...
"Understood." Allen replied a little after I did. His voice sounded defeated. I got my head out of the clouds, and looked over to the depressed Allen Walker. Kanda did the same, then sighed.
"If it's hard to bear, then stop the doll. It's not even Lala anymore, right?"
"But, it's their promise." He replied, still not moving. "The only one who can break Lala is Guzol."
"You're naïve." Kanda said, turning his attention elsewhere. "We're destroyers, not saviors."
"Something must be wrong with me." I said out loud. "I'm agreeing too much with JerKanda."
"But I..." The wind picked up when it occurred to all three of us. Lala had stopped singing. I followed Allen into the ruins, to see that Lala did, in fact, cease her haunting melody.
"So, she really did stop." I sighed, standing by Allen. "Three nights after Guzol died, the doll finally stopped."
"Yeah." Allen agreed. "I'll retrieve it."
"No one's stopping you, Shortcake." I crossed my arms behind my back, and watched as my comrade knelt down to the lifeless doll. What caught us off guard was when Lala started talking again...in the way she used to when we met her.
"Thank you." She said, using the last of her strength, "For letting me sing until I break...the promise has been ful...filled..." She collapsed soon after. I watched as Allen caught hold of her.
"Allen?" I asked, just as we heard Kanda asking us what was wrong. The boy was crying. I wanted to cry too, but it's impossible for me to cry out of sorrow. All I could do was watch the younger cry. Like he was crying my share of tears too.
"K-Kanda...although what you said is true, and you may agree with him, Richie, I still want to become a destroyer who can save."
And so ends another exciting chapter of Without a Past! Did you like it? Hate it? R&R! Doing so will give Allen all the Mitarashi Dangos he can eat!~ (and then some...) (^-^) I also wanna thank everyone who reviewed so far! I love you guys! -gives everyone who reviewed a virtual hug-