A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter, guys! I was really lazy with the editing, so sorry if it's pretty lackluster.
Minor edits done on 04/23/2015.
When Lavi and Crowley joined him on the battlefield, the contented feeling from earlier blew away. No longer did he fight alongside his Uncle and Innocence, but beside Crowley and Lavi. A pain spread throughout his chest, like someone pressed down on it. One false move and they'd know everything in instant. Every breath he took in felt as though he wasn't getting enough air; it was like he was suffocating underneath the pressure.
It was hard to remember whether he hid his abilities so his friends wouldn't get caught in the crossfire of the Earl's madness or because his friends would hate him for them.
Even if neither were pleasant, Allen knew which he feared more. A pang of guilt shot through him. To worry more about his friends hating them than their wellbeing was disgusting. It didn't matter regardless. These four Noah were a threat that had to be eliminated in order to protect his friends.
Jasdevi had been "saved" and if Allen was lucky, he'd be able to exorcise the Noah from Skin and Road, too. Tyki was amother matter.
His Noah couldn't be exorcised for the simple fact that it remained asleep in deepest, darkest part of its vessel's subconscious. The attempt would awaken it and put his friends into the kind of situation he would never wish on them. Tyki had helped him more times than he could count, so of course he didn't want him die, but keeping him alive wasn't an option.
Sometimes, Allen forgot that they were supposed to be enemies. No matter how friendly Tyki seemed, Allen would always have his Innocence attached to him. He would remain the traitor that had tried to destroy to Noah family thirty-five years prior. Even so, Tyki wasn't a person that Allen would relish in killing. No, he would cry—and not just because the innermost parts of his Uncle did.
Those thoughts plagues Allen as he bounced around the battlefield, cardling the blond man in his arms as he evaded the attacks of the other Noah. His left arm was intact now, but too occupied with protecting Jasdevi to combat the Noah coming after him. It wasn't luck that made it easy; the Noah were helping him in that endeavor. They were as unwilling to let Jasdevi get hurt as Allen was, even if he was no longer a Noah.
Allen couldn't help but smile at that thought. He only wished that the Black Order had been as kind to him.
One of Tyki's Tease nicked him on the right arm, but Allen did nothing to indicate he'd felt the prick of the small creature taking a bite out of him. It was pain that Allen didn't care enough about to heal. If Tyki embed another butterfly in his chest and had it eat a hole in his heart again, he doubted he'd feel that, either. This pain was nothing. His Noah blood would heal a hole in his heart as easily as it would a nibble on his arm.
Too many wounds had been inflicted on his heart for him to be brought to his knees by one of Tyki's attacks.
"Duke Millennium, I'll handle this," Tyki said before charging not at Allen, but at the two who'd just joined them on the battlefield. Allen's head swiveled to look at them, eyes wide. There was no way they could beat Tyki; they weren't yet strong enough for that.
"You—"
Allen could hear in that one word that Lavi's typical upbeat and cheerful voice was gone, but the rest of the conversation was blotted out when Allen was attacked. In one fluid movement, he threw Jasdevi onto his shoulder and thrust his left hand out to defend against the perpetrator: Skin Bolic. His fist was caught by Allen's own and a small smile spread across his face.
"Hello, Skin," Allen greeted, though Skin met his pleasantry with a feral growl that didn't sound human. The shock that traveled up his arm told him what the Noah thought of him.
A light laugh escaped Allen. In a different life, this man would have been his "brother", yet here they would fight to the death—or until Skin was exorcised.
Funny how all his enemies seemed to be people he would get along with, were the circumstances different.
"I don't really have time to play with you," Allen said as he glanced back to where his two friends were. Tyki landed in front of them, started talking to them and would soon engaged them. He didn't want them to fight. He didn't want them to get hurt. Once, he'd watched Crowley die and Lavi had disappeared. Allen didn't want to repeat that sequence of events. He wanted them to be alive.
Whether he was here or not to see it, he wanted them to be happy.
Crown Clown wanted the opposite. She kept her thoughts to herself, but the tiny pulsations of anger beneath his skin couldn't be hidden. His blood burned like she'd set it on fire.
He ignored her. He hated to do it, but injustice was against him; it was his right to choose their punishment and chose to protect them.
"That's too bad," Skin said, crunching down on the lollipop caught between his teeth. Allen pushed Skin away and leapt away from him. When Skin leaned back to observe him for a split second, Allen chose then to turn on his heel and flit out of sight. In only a second, he stood next to his friends, appearing next to them like an apparition come to haunt them.
Tyki's amber eyes went wide at his sudden appearance. He could see what Tyki was thinking when he met his gaze. Allen could match Tyki's own inhuman speed with ease and as far as the Noah was concerned, that shouldn't be the case. If he continued like this, they'd figure out that he was neither human nor an Exorcist. The Noah family wasn't the easiest to hide from when their blood was the same, but he was pushing his luck. He was making it easy for him.
Maybe that was the point.
Even Lenalee would have a hard time keeping up with him. To anyone looking, it should've been obvious that such abilities couldn't be born from the Innocence wrapped around his body. Even his friends jumped when he appeared next to them and Lavi swung his hammer at him; it came within inches of his face. If not for his left hand blocking the attack of its own accord, he would've been hit.
Given that the hammer was made of Innocence, it probably would've stung a little, too.
"Um, Lavi?"
"What the— S-sorry, Allen," Lavi said, pulling the hammer away and casting an apologetic look at him. The redhead's focus turned to the blond hoisted over Allen's shoulder as several of their friends joined them on the roof. "Who's he?"
Allen gave a simple answer. "Jasdevi."
As he said the single word, he passed the young man to Masao as they joined them on the roof.
Lavi blinked curiously at him before asking, "Anyone I should know?"
"Until a moment ago, he was a Noah," Allen said and Masao nearly dropped the blond in his arms. He held him as far from himself as possible, as if he had an infectious disease, and sputtered as anger and shock rose in his brown eyes. "I exorcised the Noah from him."
"You— You exorcised—"
"Why are you protecting this monster?!" Chaoji's yell cut off what Tyki had started to say and gray eyes shifted to look at him. "They're responsible for the deaths of Anita, Mahoja and the others! Why don't you just kill him?! Are you going to betray us?!"
Allen hunched over and even to the Noah right in front of him, his gray eyes were no longer visible behind his white bangs. His words struck far deeper than he could possibly imagine. He hid the hurt in his eyes and ignored the pain in his heart so he wouldn't be overwhelmed by his own emotions. To Chaoji and so many others, he was a monster whose only redemption would be in death. Even if he didn't realize Allen was included, that didn't make him feel any better.
"Noah don't become such because they want to, Chaoji," he said, lips shaking as he tried to form the words. "They fight to stay human until their bare hands are wet with their own blood before they give in. Even awakened, some struggle to accept the blackest part of their heart, their 'inner Noah' that encompasses everything that they are. They're damned by the whole world before they even bat an eyelash and left alone to wither and die."
His words were formed from personal experience; they were too personal to be anything but. Allen wondered if anyone—Noah or otherwise—would connect the dots and he realized that the more he thought of that, the less he cared about whether or not they realized what he was.
"At least that's what I think," Allen said, looking up and no longer hiding behind his hair. "Am I close, Tyki?"
"Funny, I don't remember telling you my name, Boy."
Allen chuckled, but the sound was distant and apathetic. "Maybe you're getting old," the white-haired Exorcist said, his usual hollow smile taking its rightful place on his face. The joke fell flat without a tone to carry it. No one laughed and neither did he.
"You seem different, Boy," Tyki said, piercing golden eyes seeing right through his flimsy facade. The false smiles and halfhearted laughter didn't fool him and Allen quietly confirmed the man's suspicions with his nonexistent reaction. "You're broken."
Still, the expression stayed glued on his face. It never drooped nor did it ever meet his eyes. It didn't connect with his voice, so he opted out of lying for one. He said, "That's true."
Not denying it was a testament to how close he was to the bottom. Long ago, he'd teetered and fallen off the edge and there was no getting around the fact that Allen Walker was little more than the walking dead.
Lavi swiveled to look him in the eye, no longer interested on the former Noah he'd passed on to their comrade.
Save for the one who'd said the words, Lavi had he been the only one who heard them. It was a good thing, he'd wager. It made focusing on the issues in front of him easier. Allen flashed his friend a weak smile, trying to calm him, but it didn't help either of them.
"That's a pity, Boy," Tyki said, combing a hand through his hair and pushing it back to reveal his forehead lined with stigmata. "I liked the fight you had in you."
Allen chuckled, but it lacked the soul it should have had. "There's—"
Plenty left, Allen wanted to say, but he cut himself off when someone stepped in front of him and threw their arm out, putting a wall between him and Tyki. Allen's mouth opened to ask Lavi what he was doing and why, but no words came out. Instead, his insides stirred like butterflies fluttered inside his chest. Seeing Lavi step between him and Tyki, like he wanted to protect him, had his eyes wet with tears.
It felt like it had been a hundred years since anyone besides the two voices in his head worried about his well being, yet here was Lavi putting himself between him and their enemy.
Allen couldn't help but smile at the warmth that flooded his chest. The weight on him shoulders didn't feel half as heavy with Lavi standing in front of him. Lavi couldn't possibly know how much it meant to him, but when everything was revealed, his burden would weigh more than it ever been before. He'd forget how to carry it alone.
"The one with the beauty mark is mine! None of you interfere!"
"L-Lavi?" Allen asked quietly. A single green eye turned back to address and his gray eyes widened at what he saw there. Anger. Never before had Allen seen the emotion so intense in Lavi's eye and it was hard to resist the urge to shrink away from him.
"I won't feel satisfied until I beat the living shit outta him!" The words came out in a deep growl and Allen's could've sworn his jaw came unhinged in that moment. Why was he so angry? What sparked this overflowing rage that all but consumed him completely?
Despite Allen's inner turmoil, Tyki looked bored. In another lifetime, he and Tyki could've been friends, but their circumstance made it impossible. Had it been possible, Allen would've liked to change that.
"Oh my," Tyki said, a hint of sarcasm evident in his voice. "Why are you so angry? The cheating boy isn't even dead. Are the two of you friends?"
"Shut up."
A subtle, sick smile spread across the Noah's face as he spoke, "Oh, so you are friends, then?"
"Shut up!"
"Is that cute girl over there a friend of his, too?"
Lavi's eyebrows dipped down, his mouth drawing back into an uncharacteristic snarl as he screamed, "Shut up!" It only served to widen Tyki's sadistic smile and Allen felt his stomach twisting into knots at the mere sight of it.
"I have them, too, you know. Friends, that is."
Lavi made to repeat himself for what seemed like the tenth time in the last couple of minutes, but stopped to swivel his head around when Allen grabbed his arm. "Lavi," he said, his voice soft and smooth. The look in Lavi's eyes—the malice, the anger, the raw rage—made Allen flinch when their eyes met.
That was what calmed Lavi down: The was Alley recoiled when his scornful eye was directed at him, even if it was meant for someone else. A feminine gasp sounded from somewhere behind them, but Allen couldn't say if it was because of Lavi's anger or his reaction to it.
"Allen?"
Lavi's gaze softened and his voice dipped low with worry. His words were tentative, like he thought Allen would crumple into dust at any moment and he brought his hand back to grab Allen's own. All that rage was swept away in that one moment, replaced by the gentle kindness that was so much more familiar.
"Don't let him get to you," Allen said after licking his lips to moisten them. He looked up to where Tyki stood and released Lavi, pulling his hand from Lavi's comforting touch as he rounded him to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him."Tyki's the kind of person that likes to mess with people however he can."
"And what do you know of me, Boy?"
"More than I'd like, sometimes," Allen said with a small, wistful smile. "It'd be easier to kill you if I thought you were a monster."
"He tried to kill you, Allen," Lavi said, though it didn't diminish the remnant of Allen's faded smile. Instead, he chuckled. Everyone he knew and loved had tried to kill him at least once, so what did it matter if Tyki had?
Lavi didn't know that, though. He knew precious little.
"I know," Allen said, his tone verged on forgiving to the shock of not only his friends, but the Noah in front of him. "Anytime someone's tried to kill me, it was either because of Crown Clown or my Uncle—" Allen paused only to take in the confusion etched in Lavi's green eye at the mention of a relative. "—so it's kind of nice that someone tried to kill me for being Allen Walker for once."
