-By His Side-
-By: DeathHeiress88-
"Little by little, like flower buds slowly blossoming, we turn into someone else and influence others to also change… We will never be the same again as the person we were the second before… We can never change back; all we could do, whether we turned for the better or for the worse, is to walk forward and let it be as we change yet again by the day."
Disclaimer: I don't own DGM...
Warning: Spoiler Alert! Up to chap 196! Everything before this chapter is the same in this story but after it...
Changing in Rhyme, Dancing with Time
Watching as the cogs of time turn slowly
We didn't see ourselves changing steadily
Regretting the things that did not happen
For people that were lost, feeling sadden
In hindsight, he should have expected this meeting to come.
He was in their home, he was with them…and, in a way he didn't want to recognize, he was one of them. So, Allen shouldn't have been shocked, he should have anticipated this.
"How are your injuries?"
The Earl, in his human form, sat a distance before him. Their gazes locked and Allen immediately heard the echoes of a wish in his mind.
By his side…
I want to be by the 14th's side…
…By the 14th's side…
The 14th's side…
The Fourteenth…
Does that mean by Allen's side or…
By his side…?
Allen laced his fingers together to stop their trembling and closed his eyes.
Once upon a time, when he simply exists for the sake of humans, when he only knew of the Noahs in passing, when The Fourteenth never existed, when Kanda was just an idiotic jerk and not the lone survivor of a terrible experiment of the Order, when he knew not of the Third exorcists, he wished to kill the Earl.
He wished to avenge Mana, to right his mistake of dealing with the Earl caused by his grief and childishness.
But now…
Now that his world was no longer separated by the clear line between black and white, where the Earl was once on the Black side and the Order was once sitting on the pristine White…Now that his world was in indistinct Gray, now that he's unsure of who really needed saving and who needed to be fought…
He no longer knew what he wished to do.
He opened his eyes, albeit not meeting the Earl's, and unconsciously touched the patch in his stomach where Mugen ran through. It no longer hurts… by now, it was nothing more than a new scar.
Just a new scar…
"Whose fault do you think this is...? Why Alma became like that...Why the third exorcists are transformed into monsters...?"
"Fine…I guess."
The Earl bobbed his head in mindless agreement and they lapsed into the silence that had stretched within the room when the Earl first stepped into it.
Seeing things in different perspectives
Describing the old with new adjectives
Every second we keep changing in rhyme
As we danced with a tune as old as Time
The Earl hadn't cared about the Bookman and his apprentice, he probably didn't even notice they were in the Ark. Their Patriarch had been too concerned with The Fourteenth and Sheryl didn't know whether to be grateful for the distraction or to be pissed off since everyone seems distracted by Allen Walker.
Road twirled Lero around, she seems happy, humming a tune that Sheryl didn't recognize. She seems unable to stop talking about Allen, Allen, Allen, always damn, fucking Allen!
"The ball will be tomorrow night. Have you picked your dress yet, Darling?" Sheryl asked, stabbing his bacon with more force needed. Road spun around to face him, and beamed, "Not yet, will you help me pick one out, Daddy?"
"Of course, Sweetheart." He replied sweetly, chewing his breakfast in a not-so-graceful manner. Road only giggled a reply and twirled out of the room, Lero in lithe hands.
The remaining Apostles in the dining Hall remained quiet. The only noises were the clinking of utensils, Tyki's absentminded comments about the food and Sheryl's, vain, attempts at a real conversation.
He narrowed his eyes at Tyki, who was frowning at his own sausages. Damn, his brother's mind is flying somewhere else again.
'Hovering over a certain white-haired teen perhaps?' Sheryl's mind suggested.
He grind his teeth, he didn't like it. Road and Tyki being so…caring for that boy. He didn't like it one bit but…
"You never liked him at all, Noah-sama. Back then or now."
Tyki and Lulubell raised their eyes to Wisely, who was smiling at Sheryl. It was only now, a little too late for him top save his dignity and thoughts, that Sheryl remembered that Wisely was, and still is, a nosy bastard that liked to poke around people's minds.
Damn, stop jabbing around my head.
To this, Wisely only cocked his head sideward and smiled.
Our thoughts altered as our emotions sway
The thin line between friends and foes hover
And then become clear as a cloudy day
What are you now, my once foe, once lover?
Truth to be told, he expected swords to be unsheathed and blood to be splattered. He would not be surprised if Akumas jump out and charged at him to kill. He expected bloodshed and the like.
But he never got any.
"Kanda Yuu escaped the Order."
Allen looked up from his hands, which were suddenly the most interesting things for him this past hour.
"What happened to…Alma Karma?"
He asked, a lump forming in his throat. He already knew the answer, though.
"It died of course. Kanda Yuu killed it."
It…
It…The Womb…
The Mother of the Third Exorcists…
'Kanda killed her…'
He wondered forlornly whether Kanda realized whom it was he had killed…
Yuu is the only person I didn't want to lose!
Something rose inside him, a feeling that he instinctively knew but has no exact words for. It bubbled inside him as memories of thoughts not his echoed.
Nine years ago…
"I finally understand…why you betrayed me, Yuu…"
You destroyed me and lived on, Yuu…
"It's because of you that I become an Akuma!"
"I'll wait for you…I'll wait forever…"
But that was to keep your promise, huh…?
He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth somehow to stop the turmoil inside him. He didn't know why he was so affected…Why he felt something like grief when thinking about Alma and Kanda…
Could it be…?
He felt eyes on him and this time he forgot that it was The Earl in front of him. His eyes became locked with golden orbs and the Earl whispered idly, "You're taking this quite calmer than I expected."
The golden eyes were cold, but beneath the mask of indifference, he could a few hints of emotions. Shock…and amusement perhaps?
There was a slight buzz in Allen's head and a tiny voice in his mind kept on asking him what the hell he was doing, twirling around with Noahs, sleeping in beds of Noahs, chatting away with Noahs…
A scoff escaped the boy's lips.
"It's probably because I've already lost my sanity."
Yes, that is doubtlessly the reason why he was still here.
A strange feeling enveloped him, a feeling of queer lightness and sense of freedom. He felt free but then he realized is body was starting to act oddly. A smile slowly curved his lips and Allen didn't really know why.
And snippets of conversations invaded his mind.
"—by your side."
"—to be the Earl—!"
"If you take care of Man—"
He didn't realize that his silvery-blue orbs morphed into golden amber.
Our world changed for worse and then for worst
The transformation's inevitable
We knew it and promised not to get lost
But then we did something regrettable
Everything was a blur.
He didn't even remember how he escaped the Crows that went after him. He wasn't even sure if he managed to kill Al…
That person…
He don't know, and didn't want to know, whether the warm liquid flowing on his cheeks was blood or something else. He groped at his side for Mugen, only to remember that he had left it in the fray.
He felt weak…powerless…
In his mind, the images of three persons mingled, merged then separated and mixed again.
Alma… The lonely boy that can still smile even after he beat him up.
The girl that dances among the lotuses… Alma…?
The beansprout…the one that radiates innocence that irritates him.
The one he turned into a Noah…
"Take a look at Alma…"
A soft touch on his shoulder, a vain attempt to dislodge the sword he stabbed through the boy's stomach…
Blood showering them both…
Lotuses becoming tainted with red…
He closed his eyes, mindless of the tears underneath his lashes. He needed to forget, even just for some time…
Before he totally gave in to sleep, Kanda Yuu wondered if he 'd wake up again.
Memories of days that gone by and died
Haunted the scared us when we tried to hide
So now, the bright haze of our cherished youth
Is the only thing that to us can soothe
He wanted to ask The Earl about many things, but none of them came out. It was as if…as if…
Someone else was controlling his body, making him say thing he never thought he knew.
"Why did you betray me?"
The Earl's voice was quiet but it was strong. This has been the first time Allen had seen The Earl in his human form, the first time to hear him talking in his voice tinged with humanity. But…it was familiar.
"You already know why I did." his mouth, but at the same time not his, had replied.
"No, I don't."
The Earl rose and started towards the bed and an odd thrill ran through his body. It was…
Fear? No…
Shock? Not really.
Anticipation …?
"Yes you do."
"Do we need to play this game?"
A smirk found its way to Allen's, but not really Allen's, face and in a mocking voice he said, "You used to like our games, Adam."
The Earl was closer now, and Allen cannot see how this man in front of him be the same with the fat man that taunted his dreams, awake and sleeping. He looked like…Man—
"Neah, you—"
The Earl had taken a hold of his wrist, and it was the first time the Earl had shown him any real emotion.
Fury.
But as quickly as he had sprang on Allen, The Patriarch rapidly coiled back, as if the touch of Allen's skin burned him. Allen reflexively cradled his wrist, vaguely noting that his control in his body was back.
The Earl quickly whirled out of the room, but before he closed the door, he whispered tightly, "Rest for today, Allen."
But Allen didn't rest. Instead, he sat on Tyki's bed, still cradling his wrist and wondering what in the bloody hell happened.
We faced each other again and wondered
Where in the world the old us had wandered
Now I don't know who you are anymore
Nor myself for I'm lost forever more
This chapter is…pivotal for the plot…so please bear with the 'stillness' in it…It's kind of boring in my eyes but necessary…
I can't help but put a little of Human!Earl/Neah , so sorry for those who didn't like it. Let me tell you though that I like Human!Earl/Neah (not that much though) so you'll probably read another paragraph or two of it in the next chapters.
I'm gonna change the pace and writing style next chappy so please stay tuned!
PWEASE WEVIEW~! NYAA~!