Chapter seven, in which stuff happens. Apparently.
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Prayers Returned
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Commandeering one of the lifeboats, they bid the crew goodbye and row towards the land faintly visible in the thickening fog whilst those remaining on the bigger vessel set about preparing for their own departure.
The ship that they leave behind might not be in pristine condition, but it is still perfectly seaworthy and manned by a crew most eager to leave themselves. In a way, Allen very much understands them, even though he doubts that any of them will make it back to shore, knowing who ‒ or rather what ‒ resides among them.
Despite feeling some semblance of responsibility for ultimately leaving them to what is likely to be their untimely deaths, Allen keeps this piece of information between Timcanpy and himself and obviously the third party that had gone unseen by most.
After all, the lot had signed onto this for reasons that were entirely their own. If anything, they had already outlived their life expectancy and done that largely thanks to Allen's own interference. After all, had he not acted when he did and had the sense to plan ahead for most eventualities in order to minimise the number of actual casualties, then the ship would have gone down and those deemed largely irrelevant to the fate of the world would have gone down with it.
Besides, seeing to the fact that the enemy hiding amongst them had taken such a long time to reveal herself, that she had ultimately only done so in Allen's presence ‒ well, Timcanpy's too if one sees the need to nitpick ‒ and that she had not killed anyone onboard to the extent of Allen's own knowledge, certain conclusions could be drawn.
First and foremost, Allen figures that an imminent massacre is extremely unlikely to take place now that the exorcists have vacated the ship. As mere humans, the members of the crew are after all of lesser importance and as such highly unlikely to become actively targeted; that is unless they are misfortunate enough to have an unforeseen encounter out at sea. However…
He tugs lightly at his hood, surveying their surroundings with eyes that are both wary and weary, all whilst the last of them get out of the boat and step onto the docks that they had happened upon. Surrounding them are cliffs and blooming cherry trees that scatter their petals in the slight gusts of wind that goes through them on occasion, parting the fog that they had navigated their way through with Timcanpy's assistance.
As they had reached the docks, Allen's eyes had gradually moved from the cliffs and the dark ocean to the cherry blossoms and to the lit lanterns scattered about along with scraps of ofuda spells; protections? How ironic.
In addition, despite the dark staircase leading uphill beneath a row of torii gates and the looming atmosphere that it presents, Allen cannot help but ponder the fact that the lanterns are all lit; it is almost as if they are being welcomed, and perhaps they are.
He looks up briefly at the waning moon as it hangs in the skies. Then he shifts his attention back towards the case of stairs climbing steadily off into darkness.
Behind him, the others are still bickering about what to do next.
Really, if Allen hadn't had his own reasons for wanting to find Cross, then he would have been perfectly content with suggesting that the rest of them would take the lifeboat and head back to the ship. After all, if it was still afloat, they would probably be able to catch up to it if they so wished.
Obviously though, Allen is fully aware of the fact that this suggestion would have been shot down immediately. Thus, he doesn't bother; it would have been a waste of time and energy after all, and at the present time, he possesses neither in such an abundance that he would feel content in allowing them to go to waste. Obviously.
He inclines his head slightly and ‒ accompanied by Timcanpy ‒ starts making his way up the stairs, making it a few steps before attention is even paid to the fact.
"Hey! Wait up!"
If anything, he picks up his pace a bit at that, and ultimately reaches the top of the stairs a few seconds before the first of them and a good half a minute before the last of them.
There are no akuma in the immediate vicinity; not anymore, that is. After all, the telltale signs are all there, along with the remnants of what he presumes to be a number of Level Twos, akuma that with all due likelihood had the misfortune of falling victim to Level Threes; the latter did after all have a penchant for preying on those less evolved out of their kin.
Again, he feels the familiar twinge of a sense of responsibility taking hold. Resolutely, he shakes it off, and it retreats with a great degree of reluctance that manifests in the shape of an actual shudder.
His emotional balance is still off by miles compared to how it ought to be, which obviously isn't good at all. Whatever had ultimately sparked his rather violent physical reaction back out at sea, it had ultimately messed up his control, primarily the one that he had over his emotions, as had already been made perfectly evident from the other incident. In hindsight, Allen reasons that he ought to have looked pretty damned pathetic, considering the fact that a supposed enemy had seemingly lost her inclination to eliminate him, having borne witness to his wrecked emotional state.
Obviously though, there are other viable reasons for the other's aborted attempt on his life, though he by all means wishes to overlook the possibility of such, seeing to the fact that the future prospects of it are so utterly damning. Then again, it is largely due to those other reasons that Allen ‒ had it not been for Cross ‒ would much rather have headed off as far away as bloody Hell possible in the opposite direction, had such an opportunity conveniently presented itself before him. However…
He spares a look at his hand ‒ his right one, as opposed to his left ‒ and flexes his fingers a couple of times, quietly relieved that it remains the colour that it is supposed to be as opposed the way it had been back then. Really…
He directs his attention forward, tracking the distant presences of akuma headed towards a certain area; assembling there from the looks of it. All things considered, said location is probably Edo, and in Edo is…
Allen steels himself, drawing upon strength that he had not even known himself to be harbouring.
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They make it to Edo, managing to be relatively discreet about it as well. However, it does them very little good in the end, because his travel companions are rambunctious as a whole and the Earl is expecting them, as expected.
The showdown in Edo goes about as well as expected, with people fighting akuma giants and members of the Noah family to the left and right. The fact that no one manages to get themselves killed in the midst of it is admirable to say the very least, though it is a fact that can at least partially be attributed to a sudden addition to their forces, consisting of an exorcist general ‒ Tiedoll, Allen learns ‒ and said man's apprentices.
It is soon after that that it happens, whilst a few of them are in the middle of regrouping.
Without warning, the ground opens up beneath them, baring a black void that soon thereafter swallows those unfortunate enough to be standing right on top of it.
Naturally, the aforementioned bunch includes Allen himself.
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Landing inside of the Noah's Ark, they find themselves forced to participate in a game. And obviously, it's not just any game but one putting their lives at stake, seeing to the fact that the Ark is crumbling by the minute and will be completely erased within just a few hours of them having fallen into it.
Simply put, it's a godforsaken death trap. However, it is also a challenge of sorts, likely directed at him, for reasons that are blindingly obvious.
After all, he has by no means forgotten recent events and if the actions of the Noah family serves as any type of indication, neither have they, though they have yet to call him out on it in the open.
Then again, as far as the latter is concerned, he ultimately reasons that it is likely only a question of time, and he is right, even though it takes a far greater amount of time than anticipated before it takes place in reality.
Those unfortunate enough to be dragged into this mess with him all fight valiantly. In the end though, they all fall victim to the abyss lurking below as the crumbling pieces of the Ark gradually plunge into it. Well, technically speaking, some are spared or rather slotted to become witnesses to something all the more troublesome.
On the plus side of things, Cross finally rears his ugly head in what should have been the ultimate showdown, interrupting Allen's ongoing duel with the Earl, turning it into a bloody hostage situation.
Allen is barely able to grasp the situation before control is ripped from him. He struggles against the influence of the Carte Garde, trying to override the given commands with a sheer force of will only to be issued new ones that leave him nearly insensible.
Cross and the Earl are talking, exchanging pleasantries and insults no doubt, but he finds himself in no condition to properly comprehend; he is just dimly aware of their presence, and far more aware and focused upon the muzzle of Judgement which is pressed firmly against the side of his throat.
It is not a good position to be in; not in any situation. However, Cross' screwing with his mental facilities ensures that he won't be able to think about it with much depth. That which is going on as a whole is a dizzying array of chaos to him, and the cold metal pressed firmly against his throat is the only thing that makes one lick of sense to him; it is tangible and it keeps him grounded to some degree, even as his eyes fall shut of their own accord and he feels his head loll limply to one side.
If he makes it out, it occurs to him that his neck will probably hurt in the morning.
If he makes it out and if he is put back in control of his own body, then his neck is not the only thing that will hurt in the morning. Nay, if he makes it out of this situation, there'll definitely be Hell to pay and it won't come cheap, because that which has been done to him is an obvious violation; a physical one as well as a mental one.
Having reached such a tentative conclusion after much struggling, Allen finally relents and allows the scenario to run its course, relinquishing what little remained of his conscious hold of his body in exchange for the return of thought. He relinquishes most of his emotions as well; forcing emotions of a more raging quality back down beneath the surface, as it has always been a fairly standardised method for him to deal with things that would otherwise have risked sending him into something akin to a state of rage or one of panic. Instead, he becomes cold and calm, hollowing out his emotions and becoming mostly empty.
From his new position and the mental awareness accompanying it, he is finally able to properly tune into the ongoing exchange, though with all that he has already missed out upon, he reasons that it is probably highly unlikely to make him any wiser.
"A most peculiar bargain," the Earl comments, somewhat puzzled from the sound of it, whilst Allen himself is decidedly puzzled about what kind of bargain might possibly be underway.
"Peculiar, yes, but a valid one nonetheless."
A long pause follows Cross' statement, and Allen finds that he can just imagine the Earl tilting his head to one side and then to the other, seeking to determine whether or not Cross had finally gone off on the deep end. Allen himself on the other hand finds himself positive that Cross Marian knows exactly what he is doing; something that is by no means reassuring as far as Allen himself is concerned.
"And if such a proposal would be denied?"
The muzzle shifts slightly, no longer digging as harshly into his throat. Instead however, it's repositioned so that it's resting against his temple, pointed at a horizontal angle that would no doubt do its part in blowing his brains out in case Cross opted to do so.
Mildly put, it is not a very good position to be in.
Mildly put, it is hardly any situation that he has expected himself to be in within the foreseeable future; a future that had obviously gone straight out the window as of late.
"Then judgement will be passed."
He finally cracks his eyes open, having recovered his mental capabilities to such a degree that he is finally able to start analysing the current situation, mentally taking a step back, adding new pieces of information to the only still only partially solved jigsaw puzzle.
For a long time, the bits and pieces of it have lain scattered about in a fairly disorderly fashion. Now however, with the addition of new pieces of information and proof, they have begun to form an image; it is yet incomplete, but it is gradually taking shape and said shape actually means something to him, just like it apparently means something to the rest of them.
The fact that the man ‒ that the Millennium Earl himself ‒ actually seems to abstain from attacking ‒ that he appears to be hesitating ‒ speaks volumes about the situation, even with the Ark still crumbling all around them. The Earl obviously knows. He obviously-
Had Allen been a mere exorcist, then being shot with one of Judgement's bullets might not have done him much harm. Being shot through the head however isn't a thing that people tend to survive, exorcist or not. Besides, as had been made painfully obvious as of late, Allen himself is hardly your ordinary exorcist and if he, God forbid, has some Noah within him, then little good would obviously come of him being shot in the head by an anti-akuma weapon.
Death, he privately supposes; alternatively running amok due to a sudden forced awakening of his Noah abilities.
Either way, the result would hardly be a pretty one.
Again, there is the muzzle of the gun digging into his temple, seemingly for the sake of snapping him out of the daze in which thoughtfulness had left him. It is there to remind him of the fact that yes, he is in effect something akin to a hostage in all of this, and yes, he is expected to actually play the part; to go along with it.
Despite a sudden urge to turn on Cross and to commit horrible or even unspeakable deeds, Allen allows the travesty to play out as intended.
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The secret room of the Fourteenth is blindingly white to him; white floors, white walls, white ceiling, white piano and a mirror that comes in the shape of a window, and that reflects far more than is actually physically present in the room.
Having effectively hijacked the remaining systems of the Ark through playing the score provided by Timcanpy, Allen sags in relief at the mere realisation that the situation is back under control and that he isn't sporting any new holes either.
At the same time though, he feels rather irritated, seeing that in hindsight, it is perfectly obvious just how Cross has been stringing him along at his own convenience and that he has, even unconsciously, been playing right into the man's hands as of late.
From where they are, they can keep an eye on the now mostly restored townscape of the Ark, along with those who had previously fallen into the abyss, people who are now coming to terms with the fact that they are for some reason still alive, along with the fact that the supposedly destroyed Ark remains virtually as good as new.
Well, truth to be told, the Ark is virtually restored with the exception of the Akuma Plant, which Cross had the sense to destroy prior to it being completely transferred to the new Ark. Said new Ark had apparently been commissioned since the original had been tampered with by the Fourteenth, whose consciousness now ‒ if recent intelligence could be trusted ‒ sleeps within Allen himself and would at some point awaken and then gradually take over whilst eroding Allen's own consciousness as a nice bonus.
It would suffice to say that Allen isn't exactly ecstatic about the news. Admittedly, there is some relief in finally having some answers, though said relief is swiftly obscured ‒ no, more like drowned ‒ in the righteous anger that suddenly rises in its place.
"And now?" he asks, thundering emotions still reined in but only just.
The smoking Cross levels him with a disdainful glare that implies the redundancy and utter stupidity of the question.
Suddenly very much aware of the implications, Allen feels himself on the verge of bristling. However, he once again exercises restraint. With Cross, reason generally tends to work better than violence, though obviously not always whenever Cross is involved. However…
He sucks in a breath and releases it shakily, repeating twice before opening the eyes that he has screwed shut previously, one hand pressed against his forehead as he looks towards his mentor. "You. Have got. To be. Fucking. Kidding me."
"No." He lifts his head, straightening his posture. "Hell no."
"I'm not joining the Order." He shifts his stance, defiant. "With a freaking Noah still snoozing within me, joining the Order would not be just a bad idea; it would be a bad, bad, bad idea that would have me receiving a visit from the bloody Inquisition."
"The Ark would no doubt even out the playing field, but if I go, then Central will no doubt interfere, and if I cannot trust them with something as trivial as my life, then why the Hell should I trust them with this?" He foregoes making a vague gesture towards his general surroundings in favour of stepping up towards the window-like mirror, wilfully planting his palm against it and attempting not to flinch when the reflection ‒ it isn't his ‒ mimics the motion.
Cross' expression ‒ visible to him through the mirror now that his own back is once again turned ‒ is mostly unreadable but is as ever tinged with disdain. Allen doesn't even have to look in order to see it; he would have been able to imagine it freely and to absolute perfection even without visual reminders, so he looks to the shadow instead, meeting the luminescent orb-like eyes that are above a decidedly broad Noah-like grin. Absentmindedly, he also takes note of the fact that the shadow is wearing what looks to be a white or a cream-coloured coat. However, whether or not this has any actual significance eludes him and it might as well, seeing to the fact that there are bigger things at play and certainly some big fish to fry as well.
As things are, his mental jigsaw puzzle remains incomplete. However, though certain vital pieces ‒ certain knowledge ‒ are not yet in his possession, he finds that he can fashion the general outlook of them through looking at the surrounding pieces that he has managed to click into place, some of them only just recently.
"You wanted me there." Allen keeps his palm plastered right where it is but turns the rest of his body in order to properly look the other in the eye, though the latter has shifted their gaze elsewhere where they stand, leaning up against the wall at the opposite end of the room with a newly lit cigarette in their mouth.
"Knowing what I was, you wanted me in the Order," Allen continues flatly, because in hindsight, that much becomes perfectly obvious. Still… "Why?"
There is no answer; not a proper one at any rate. Allen can once again feel anger simmering within him, because obviously, it hurts to have been betrayed, and it hurts even more because he has been stupid enough to trust; to put his faith in a man to whom he knows that lying and manipulation comes as naturally as breathing.
In hindsight, he feels like an idiot for thinking that he has been more than just a pawn in Cross' schemes; that they had at some point evolved from being master and apprentice to being actual partners-in-crime for the sake of beating the Earl and his cohorts once and for all.
However, discovering that he is apparently quite possibly one of the latter on top of being an exorcist due to being an accommodator of Innocence and that Cross has presumably known about this all along and made blatant use of his continued ignorance in order to manipulate him in order to further his own means, Allen finds that he isn't quite sure as to what to think anymore. Obviously, he has always known that Cross is a manipulative sod and a complete arsehole, but still-
"If you're that goddamned eager to get us both killed, there are much simpler means."
Allen finally tears his hand away from the surface of the mirror, eyes narrowing dangerously.
"You obviously don't agree that much with the Order and with their way of doing things anyway, even if you hide within their ranks. You know why I think that is?"
He pauses briefly, but he's nowhere near done.
"It must've been convenient, I figure," Allen goes on to say, disdain evident. "It must've been convenient to be able to move around like you have, hiding beneath the radar and beneath the wing of a much greater organisation, decreasing the risk that the Earl would land his focus solely on you, who unlike most of them is a truly dangerous existence, following the doctrine of someone outside of the dichotomy, and you're not alone in that either."
Not alone; nowhere near alone.
"You're just the tip of the iceberg…" Just the tip…
"… the red herring…" …meant to lure the attention of the different sides away from the real issue at hand.
"You are a distraction…" and a decoy "but you're also an indicator…"
Yes.
"You're connected to someone of great importance to the Earl, which is why the man has had people hunting you and people connected to you, myself included…"
Which is why…
"It's him, isn't it? The Fourteenth."
He points to the mirror again; to the shadow reflected within it.
"It's him, and because he's in cohorts with you, it makes sense to assume that he's no longer allied with the Noah family. A traitor, I suppose…"
He laughs.
"A traitor to the Earl and a heretic to the Order, and he's inside me, who is a heretic through and through, making me a dangerous existence to either side, which in turn makes me useful. However, as with all weapons, when or until they've gotten what they want from me, they'll lock me up and then try me ‒ be it as a heretic or as a traitor, because the result's pretty much the same anyway. Hell, I even think the Earl will have the courtesy of killing me quickly as opposed to resorting to needless torture, which is exactly what the other party will end up resorting to, so… no."
He smiles.
"You can take that kind 'suggestion' of yours and stick it right where the sun doesn't shine, seeing that I am fairly sure that it doesn't shine out of your bloody arse."
"Besides," he goes on to say, his previous smile vanishing in that very instant. "The only reason that I've been willing to dance to your tune is if I could at the very least see how it added up to something that I could agree with. My strings however…" He makes a slight gesture to above his head, as if gesturing at actual strings. "They're not yours to pull; yours or anyone else's."
Nearing the end of his tirade, Allen turns his attention towards the pulled up monitors that still display the exorcists milling about in the restored Ark; looking for them, no doubt. Well…
Allen moves towards the piano.
Cross makes no move to stop him.
Arriving at his intended destination, Allen turns around to face him anew. "For the record, I'm not beyond offering up some humanitarian aid every now and then, but seriously… I'm not suicidal enough to try my luck at winning over the fanatics," he offers simply, remaining standing but leaning back against the instrument. "But by all means, feel free to try it out for yourself. Go back to the Order and find yourself some new puppets to play around with. Go back; get yourself killed…"
"It's perfectly alright," he then proceeds, remaining where he is. "It is perfectly… alright, because none of those who care will know and none of those who know will either care or be foolish enough to turn you into an akuma…"
"After all, once is enough. I have learned my lesson."
"Have you?"
Cross scoffs, cigarette still in mouth. "You'd be managing very poorly without me, brat."
Allen tilts his head slightly, questioningly. "So…?"
The smouldering cigarette butt falls on the floor, and is soon thereafter put out and crushed beneath the heel of the man's boot. "Cut the Edo connection and open up one to the Asian Branch," Cross eventually instructs, already in the process of lighting up another cigarette. "We'll dump any additional baggage over there."
"And then?"
"Then we disappear."
The tip of newly lit cigarette smoulders.
Recent events and developments aside, Allen feels a smile tugging at his lips.
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