The Arc I've been looking forward to is next! The Black Order Arc! :D
I hope you guys enjoy one last chapter of Nea and Allen (and Tim!) fluff before we get to the Black Order, and then things get serious(er).
Enjoy!
See you soon!
I don't own D Gray-man. If I did, Lenalee would have been reunited with Komui sooner!
"I made friends with a police officer today, err, yesterday." Was the first thing out of Allen's mouth after he had summoned Nea.
The summoned corpse in question cocked a brow as he yawned, stretching his arms above his head (more of a habit than actually needing to stretch.) "No, "Hello Nea, how are you tonight?" or the simple,"Hey Nea." at all? I'm hurt, kid." Nea shot Allen a pout, placing a hand dramatically over his heart.
Allen rolled his eyes fondly. "I know how you're doing, Nea."
Nea pretended to look affronted. "You don't know everything about me, Little Master! I might be doing bad, or hurting, or something else besides tired and amused."
"And sassy, don't forget sassy," Allen said sarcastically. He gave a laugh as he ducked the half-hearted punch to the arm Nea threw at him. "What? You can't say you're not sassy. After all, you're made of, 'Sarcasm, sass and sin!'" He grinned at the corpse as he began down the cobblestone road, his suitcase in one hand. The moon above was full, small stars twinkled here and there. There was no wind tonight, the only sounds heard was that of the babbling brook on one side of the path, the beating of Timcanoy's clay wings and the noises insets made. The occasional owl hooted from the trees nearby.
Nea rolled his eyes, a small part of him regretting telling the kid that a few months ago. "You made friends with a police officer?" he asked, attempting to change the subject as he followed silently after his master.
Allen nodded, his grin fading slightly into a smile. "Yeah. It started with Timcanpy-" he waved a hand at the golem, who was flying in circles above them. "- getting eaten by a cat-"
"Again?" Nea cut Allen off with a scowl directed at the troublesome golem. "Really, Tim? Do you do it on purpose or something?"
"I think he's got the curiosity of one," Allen muttered as Tim smacked the back of Nea's head with his tail before settling in the man's hair. "Why he even goes near them..." He shook his head before continuing, "He got eaten by a cat, then the cat ran into this church at the edge of a town-"
"No name?"
"I wasn't paying attention, was a bit busy chasing the cat." Allen gave Nea an unamused look. Nea grinned back. "And the church I was able to grab the cat – but the cat had a tag along. Sort of? There were these police officers, one of them – my new friend – had picked up the cat and when I had grabbed it she came along."
"You didn't see her?" Nea asked skeptically.
"Well... I wasn't paying much attention to the surroundings, and I was surrounded by a flock of bats the other officer had awoken with a scream when the cat brushed up against him."
"Ah." Nea nodded. "Go on, Little Master." He took pleasure in seeing the slight twitch Allen gave at being called little.
"She cuffed me." The white-haired Exorcist chuckled faintly at the memory while his companion snorted in amusement. "Moa – that's her name – then proceeded to tell me that the town was thought of as cursed and then asked me what I was doing there and why..."
"Cursed?" Nea hummed, looking over at Allen thoughtfully. His gaze landed on the boy's red scar before he turned his gaze back to the road.
"Yeah. The church's pastor's wife – Moa's sister – was killed in an accident there-"
"And the Earl paid a visit," Nea concluded.
Allen nodded. "Yes. Pastor Marc – or Mrs. Claire really, killed people who visited the church. They'd vanish-"
"Leaving nothing but piles of clothes and bullet holes."
"Yeah." Allen nodded again. "The townspeople started calling the town cursed because of this. Moa told me she doesn't believe in curses though. She was pretty upset at finding out about Akuma, especially when her sister killed her fellow policemen. Moa's taken up the position of temporary-Chief, until a new one can be appointed properly."
It was Nea's turn to nod. They walked a few minutes in silence before- "I had a twin brother when I was alive," Nea said suddenly, his lips quirking upwards when Allen stumbled in surprise. The white-haired Exorcist stopped in the middle of the road and turned his head to stare at the corpse in surprise. Ever since Allen had asked him about his life those few years ago, the man had avoided the topic of his life like the Akuma avoided him.
"What?" Allen asked, staring dumbly at Nea.
"I used to have a twin brother," Nea repeated, amused by the stunned look Allen was giving him. Apparently the young man had never thought that he'd tell him something like that. "We were close, growing up. He was often sickly, but he adored music. Our mother used to play the piano for us, and she taught me when she could. I was a natural and picked it up quickly. He loved listening to me play," Nea recalled, a faint smile adorning his lips as he talked about his brother. It vanished, however, when he continued, "We didn't know our, ah, distant family growing up, and when we were mostly grown they approached us. We got along, well, he more so than I. I was a bit of an outcast, honestly. I didn't mind as long as by brother loved me... And then things changed. His second personality took a liking to the family, and they to him."
"Second personality?" Allen's tone took on a curious nature.
"Mmhm. There are originally thirteen members of our family that develop these second personalities. They say that those who do are reincarnations of those who had been before – as they had the memories of the original souls. These old memories sometimes threaten to swallow a person's personality whole – it nearly did my brother, but didn't really touch me. You see, my brother and I both have the same second personality, something that never happens." Nea chuckled sadly. "They do say that twins are half of each other's soul..."
He shook his head to clear it before continuing. "I made the thirteen fourteen, and the others who had been 'swallowed' by their original memories didn't like it and shunned me, while loving my brother. As I said, I didn't care as long as my brother loved me still, but our original memories started to consume him, the others encouraged this..."
Allen glanced over at Nea at hearing his tone darken and a shiver ran down his spine at the look on the corpse's face. Rage was the most prominent emotion, hatred that Allen had never felt nor seem before, and hoped never to again. He turned his head quickly and listened to Nea continue on, "They encouraged his psycho babble of needing to 'be one' again. One evening, while in one of his 'psycho' moods, he attacked me." A glance at Nea told him the hatred was pushed back, the man's sadness returned. "I fought back, defensively of course – I'd never hurt my brother... But the next thing I know, I'm lying against a wall, bleeding out. The mutual friend of Marian's and I's was telling me to use him, to house my soul, my memories, in his body, but... Something went wrong, I suppose."
Nea shrugged, turning his head to give Allen a grin. Allen noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Because the next thing I remember after that is waking up to a poor, little white-haired kid being attacked by Akuma. I was never thanked for that, by the way." Nea sniffed.
Allen rolled his eyes playfully, a sadness to them as well. "And it'll be longer before you get it." Nea gave a quite chuckle.
"I know my brother is alive, and a part of me knows that the memories have finally consumed him... I want my brother back. I want to find a way to get him back, but I'm stuck here with you, kid," his tone came out a bit harsher than he meant for it to, and he felt a bit guilty at seeing Allen flinch, but a smaller part of him (one he didn't want to admit having) felt pleasure.
"Oh..." Silence fell between them for a long time. "Hey, Nea?" Allen said suddenly.
"Yeah, kid?"
"I'm sorry."
Nea paused, his eye widening in surprise as Allen turned to face him, the kid's emotions was clear on his face – there was no pity, just understanding. Allen knew what it was like to lose someone dearly, even if it was in a different way than Nea – his brother was as good as dead to him, but a small spot inside of Nea's cold dead heart still held hope.
Gold looked into silver and Nea smiled sadly, apologetically. "Me too, Little Master... Me too..."
"I met the Earl again," Allen said one evening, as if explaining the holes in his clothing and why his arm was in a sling as Nea stared at him, his yawn halted.
"What?!" Nea started, his one eye widening.
"Yeah, he summoned a bunch of Akuma nearby and had them attack me. I destroyed them with Cross Grave and he left shortly afterwards, with the promise that we'll never be able to stop him." Silver eyes rolled.
"That explains the holes, but how did you get your left arm hurt?" Nea asked, pushing the thoughts of the Earl aside for at the moment, instead concern spread across his features as he stepped near Allen, fussing over the injured arm in question.
"I was shot." At the alarmed look the corpse gave him, the boy elaborated, "By Akuma bullets. I was protecting a friend – a kid named John. His father works for the Order and John's been reading a lot of his work, especially about Akuma and the Earl. The Earl was actually there for John, his friend Leo's mom died and-"
"Leo was turned into an Akuma," Nea finished, his expression turning grave as Allen nodded. "Did the Earl recognize you?"
"Yes, but only after he saw my curse." Allen's hand rose, his fingers brushing against the pentagram as he spoke. "He recognized me as Allen Walker, the kid who turned his father into an Akuma. He then proceeded to attack me and John with the horde of Akuma. Crown Clown and I-" He raised his uninjured arm – his Innocence – proudly. "-took them down with Cross Grave." Here Allen's smile turned a bit sheepish. "After the Earl disappeared, I may have passed out from blood loss..."
Nea resisted the urge to smack his forehead and instead scrubbed a hand over his face. "We have such a troublesome Master, don't we, Tim?" He turned his head to look at the golem that was settled on his shoulder.
"Hey!" Allen protested a bit indignantly. He knew he got into trouble a bit, but it wasn't that bad...
"Not just Akuma, but Marian's debt collectors, people he swindles in poker. He constantly gets lost, doesn't pay much attention to his surroundings while in thought..." Nea continued on, ignoring Allen's protest. The little golden golem dipped its head in agreement with each thing Nea listed.
"You two are the troublemakers!" Allen accused, pointing a finger in their direction.
"Who? Us?" Nea shot his Little Master the most innocent look he could manage – the white-haired boy snorted in amusement at seeing it. "I sleep most of the time in a coffin buried six feet under," the corpse pointed out. "You and Tim are the only ones I interact with. If either of us are the troublemaker, it's Tim. He's the one who gets eaten by ca- ow!" Nea scowled at the golem, who had just bit him.
"At least Tim can't talk," Allen mumbled.
"Little Master!" Nea said exasperatingly, clutching his hand dramatically as he slumped his shoulders.
"I know, I know. No mumbling." Silver hues rolled. "You've told me six-hundred, ninety-four times."
"Aww, you kept track." Nea pretended to swoon as Timcanpy settled into Allen's hair. If golems could glare, he would be at his maker.
Allen shook his head. "You claim I'm the troublemaker..."
"That's it," Allen said clearly, just stopping himself from mumbling. His gaze was trained on the dark, looming castle in the distance. "That's the Black Order... I think."
"You think?" Nea chuckled at Allen. He grinned when the white-haired boy sent him an annoyed look. "You're prone to getting lost, Little Master. I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the Black Order, but I'm certain it is," he added reassuringly at seeing Allen slump a bit.
"Yeah." Allen straightened, looking at the castle with a bit of hesitance and uncertainty. Which Nea of course noticed.
"Something the matter, Little Master?" the corpse asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"This is going to be goodbye for a while..." Allen admitted quietly. "Master Cross warned me not to do any necromancy around anyone from the Black Order, or even mention it really. Same goes for magic, but... It's going to be weird not having you around so much anymore, Nea." He had gotten used to having the man as a traveling companion, as a friend, as family...
A smile spread across Nea's face as he took a step closer to Allen, lightly flicking the young man on the side of the head. "Don't think of it as a goodbye, Little Master. Think of it more as a "I'll see you soon," okay? You'll see me sooner than you think, and hopefully in a good way. I know you you're not easy to kill, but don't go and die on me just yet, okay?" He grinned at Allen, who returned the grin with a smile of his own.
"Of course," Allen promised. Closing his eyes, took a breath to steady himself before opening them and his smile returned. "I'll see you soon, Nea." The white coffin rose from the ground behind Nea and creaked open. Nea gave a yawn before chucking and before the coffin could claim him, he stepped forward and his arms wrapped around Allen's smaller body, and the boy stiffened in surprise.
"See you soon, Little Master." Nea released Allen, took a few steps back and into the coffin, his eyes slipping closed and the coffin's top closed. Silver chains flew up from the dark hole in the ground and wrapped themselves tightly around the coffin, pulling it back under. Before Allen knew it, the coffin containing his best friend disappeared, the hole in the ground covering itself.
Allen's smile flickered, but it didn't die as Timcanpy perched himself into Allen's hair. The young man's gaze once again turned to the looming castle in the distance. A glint of determination entered his eyes. "Black Order... I'm on my way."
And that's the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! Next week starts the Black Order Arc! Woot!
Comments, criticism, or just want to say what you liked about the chapter? Please leave a review! Reviews and constructive criticism helps keep me motivated! (All flames will be used to set my bonfires this summer, and roast marshmallows. Yum!) Liked what you read and want more? Please Follow and Favorite if you haven't!
I'll see you guys next week! Until then,
~Snowy.