(Edited 21/1-13)
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The Fallen One
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"Boy!" Tyki called. "We're getting off now, so hurry up before I go and fetch you myself!"
About three seconds later, a very tired white-haired teen dressed in a long black coat stepped out, exiting the train and landing very ungracefully on the platform below. "I feel like shit…" Allen muttered, steadying himself as he got back to his feet, brushing some dust off of his clothes. "Remind me never to participate in a drinking game with you ever again."
Tyki laughed, offering the dissatisfied teen a hand which was courtly swatted away as the teen straightened up before he eyed the place out, getting accustomed to his new surroundings. "Do you like it?" Tyki asked with a smirk, earning himself a glare.
"Does it matter?" Allen asked shortly, still not over the fact that he had actually participated in a drinking game with Tyki of all people. Sure, he had technically won, but the only thing he actually managed to do was to award himself with a Hell of a hangover. After downing another round of pills, Allen swore that he would never ever do it again… unless the next drinking game involved ridiculously large amounts of money. Otherwise, he had a hard time seeing why it would be worth it, seeing that he didn't even like drinking in the first place. "Tyki, if I'm an alcoholic by the end of the month, I'm blaming you for it."
"It wasn't exactly like I forced you to participate or anything…" Tyki said, feigning innocence, not that the whole charade seemed very believable. "Besides, it wasn't like I actually drugged you or anything, as you seem perfectly capable of doing that on your own…"
"I'm gonna need a lot of sedatives if I want to avoid strangling you…" Allen growled.
Tyki raised an eyebrow. "If you wanted something to wear you out, why didn't you just say so?" he asked. "I know of a very good method…"
Allen didn't miss the rather seductive tone in the latter statement and neither did he appear miss the implied meaning of it as his cheeks flushed. He muttered something under his breath; it sounded like a curse in some foreign language. Then he looked up at Tyki with a very unfriendly expression. "Tyki, shut the Hell up or I'll add to my report that you've been harassing me."
Tyki pretended to look offended, but Allen could tell that he was snickering beneath it all. "My, my, someone's cranky today…"
"Someone's got a hangover."
"Someone's been drinking on the job…" Tyki replied with a smirk.
"Someone coaxed me into it!" Allen hissed. "You're bad influence!"
"I'm badass…" Tyki smirked. "I can't help it."
Allen continued cursing under his breath as they left the train station and moved into the more or less crowded city streets. Say whatever one wanted about India, but it certainly smelled. Some scents were actually pleasant, but others were downright horrible, making him want to retch. He didn't however, since that would be like showing weakness and that was one thing he certainly didn't need. After maybe an hour of walking, Allen asked the unavoidable question. "Where are we going?"
"We're going… out for a snack," Tyki replied. "Are you hungry?"
"I am hungry, but I'm also slightly nauseous and I don't think I'd be able to hold it down anyway. Besides, we're not here for sightseeing."
"We're not?"
Sightseeing or not, how the Hell they ended up visiting Taj Mahal was completely beyond him. On the other hand, perhaps that was for the best, since they just happened to run into three exorcists hunting for their General.
Chaker Rabon.
Kazana Reed.
They both died so easily for Tyki's hand. Sure, it wasn't like Allen just sat around and watched; he did participate in the killings, just not with his Innocence. He had developed quite a skill with throwing knives and was using these exorcists as target practice.
Suman Dark.
He was the one quivering a bit further away, pleading for his life. "Please… I don't want to die…"
Pathetic. How utterly pathetic.
Allen had just been about to put him out of his misery when Tyki had stopped him.
Suman Dark escaped the encounter with the Noah with his life, but only after selling out his own comrades and allowing his body to be used as a breeding ground for Tyki's Tease butterfly golems. He had betrayed the Innocence and Allen knew well that it was only a question of time before the other became a Fallen One, which was definitely not the most pleasant way to die. Allen made a mental note to try to avoid that fate at all costs.
Knowing the location of another group of exorcists, Tyki and Allen went hunting.
Sol Galen.
Tina Spark.
Gwen Frere.
Once again, Allen only knew their names because they were on the back of the silver buttons on their coats. It proved pretty satisfying to collect them; they were made out of silver after all. Tyki had already laid claim on all the golden ones, since he had promised to give them to Eez.
In three days, they had killed five exorcists and the sixth was on the road to destruction even without any interference at all. Still, his Innocence would have to be recovered later, which could be a bit troublesome. Still, the Earl sent his regards and compliments on their achievements, telling them they could take a few days off before heading towards Shanghai. They got to Shanghai anyway, only to find that the prime target, namely Cross, had already left a couple of days prior. Seeing no real reason to rush, they went gambling.
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They had been in Shanghai for almost a week before they were notified that Suman Dark had indeed become a Fallen One. They were informed by Lulubell, who also saw it fit to inform them that a couple of exorcists had been sighted in Shanghai. On this point however, the Earl's orders were very clear, telling them to stay clear of them until further notice, saying something about a trap laid in Edo.
Absentmindedly, Allen let his gaze wander across the room before settling on the cards he had on hand; he had Full House and he wasn't even cheating, not yet, at least. But, seeing that his opponents were all crooks in one way or another it wasn't like it mattered anyway; they all assumed somebody had to be cheating anyway. Hell, Allen was even willing to bet money on that he was up against at least two cardsharps. But the bets had already been placed, Allen having betted a couple of the silver buttons he had acquired relatively recently.
They were pure silver, fine silver, probably worth quite a decent sum of money to some. The other players wanted to obtain them, but Allen wanted to keep them, saving them for memory and for later, when he would use them in an attempt to deal a significant blow to the fighting morale of the comrades of the people they used to belong to. Yes… It sounded like a great plan. A little evil perhaps, but still well thought out.
Sol Galen. Tina Spark.
Allen lost that game, but he didn't care much about it seeing that putting his efforts into winning every single round would put an end to his fun quite prematurely, seeing that no one would agree to play with him then. Still, even if he had lost two, he still had three more silver buttons anyway and one more if they managed to get Suman's, seeing that, their instructions were only to leave the Cross team alone and said nothing for the wayward exorcist headed right for his own doom.
Timcanpy was getting restless, way more restless than he had been a few days previously. Allen blatantly assumed that it was because they were closing in on Cross' location. It would not be a very pleasant reunion, but if Allen got his way then it would be their last.
He made his way out of the bar, looking around for a possible ambush; after all, it wasn't like people would be leaving him alone if they learned that he carried around a decent amount of silver in his pockets. Ah, the greed of humankind. It never ceased to amaze him.
Allen knew well what greed could do to people, but even so he knew he too was greedy. Greed came with being a human, as an opposing force to things like kindness and generosity. On the other hand, speaking of generosity…
Tyki Mikk was, for once, nowhere to be seen, namely since he was at the moment… occupied… with charming a load of prostitutes. Just for information of course, even though Allen suspected it was merely an excuse as Tyki did not have anything against drinking copious amounts of alcohol and flirting with people; in this particular aspect, he and Cross were frighteningly similar. To Allen, when it came either to be harassed by prostitutes wanting to cuddle with the "cute little boy" or gambling with crooks at some local bar, it was not a very difficult decision for him to decide on the latter. Besides, seeing that he hadn't even made a serious effort to win, losing meant nothing more than a change of pace and also a change of scenery as he finally exited the bar and looked up, finally paying attention to the fact that he couldn't hear Timcanpy anymore. Said golem was just about to be devoured by what looked like an awfully well-fed stray cat. Another great way to start the day as it seemed. Seeing that Timcanpy had the ability to locate his elusive drunkard of an ex-Master, Allen assumed that he didn't have any other choice than to hunt down the cat and retrieve his golden companion before the cat swallowed it whole. After all, in such a case he would probably have to kill the cat, which would be a pity, seeing that he easily took a shine to felines in general.
Lulubell counted as a rare exception to this, as Allen doubted that cat woman would ever be capable of showing affection towards anyone but the Millennium Earl. Hell, if Lulubell started purring when Allen was around, he would have to be seriously concerned for her health. After all, when it came to the Noah Family, one certainly had reasons to harbour concerns of the "Please-let-me-know-what-makes-you-snap-so-I-won't-do-a-mistake-and-end-up-getting-killed-because-of-it" type. Come to think of it, maybe Allen himself wasn't all too mentally stable himself. Oh well, blame it on the genes, blame it on the genes…
Regardless, he had to get back to this whole catching the cat thing, before the annoying little pest got too much ahead of him.
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Silver buttons fell to the floor as their new owner, a bit drunk, was backed up against the wall at sword point. "Where did you get them?" the black-coated youth hissed, clearly meaning business.
Silver was valuable in itself, but certainly not valuable enough to get die for. "A-a white-haired kid with a red scar! Take them!" he shouted, kicking the silver further away. "Leave me alone!"
Dark eyes narrowed, but the sword tip was slowly withdrawn as another of the strangers – a redhead with an eye patch – started picking up the silver from the ground, looking at something. When he looked up he was wearing a very serious expression before speaking up. "Sol Galen. Tina Spark. Both have been reported missing for about a week along with their teammate Gwen Frere."
Gasps were heard. "Does that mean…?" the last part remained unsaid, but the one with the sword simply said what everyone else was thinking.
"Isn't that obvious?" he spat. "They're dead, just like the other missing exorcists are presumed to be."
He's here. In this time, at this place, He is here…
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Suman Dark fell from grace earlier than expected, in Allen's own opinion at least, as the white-haired teen was relayed with a special assignment which temporarily put a stop to the headhunting he and Tyki had been busy with lately.
Hearing this, Tyki had merely shrugged, looking somewhat disappointed; Allen himself hadn't been all that happy about how things turned out either, since it had delayed his plans of hunting down his former master and killing him, but in the end, he supposed he couldn't have everything in life.
Now, what was with this new mission? Not only was it extremely dangerous, but the rate of success was also very – very – low. Allen just didn't get the Earl sometimes; why did he seem to want to risk everything they had accomplished so far just to go through with this sort of reckless mission? Surely, if the mission succeeded against all odds, then Allen supposed it could be seen as a brilliant albeit risky move. And sure, Allen was pretty certain that he was the only one capable of pulling through, even though it didn't actually please him to know that. Besides, if Allen didn't succeed, it wasn't like the Earl had actually lost anything other than a potential future enemy. Regardless, Allen didn't feel up to failing on purpose; it just wasn't an option as it was a total opposite of everything he had been working towards lately.
Allen sighed heavily as he stood on top of a tall tree, looking out at the vast landscape while taking mental notes as Timcanpy flew around him in the light breeze. His clothes were quite bloody and had been partially dirty, at least before he fell right into a freaking lake after retrieving the Fallen One's Innocence, battling a strange thing looking sort of like a body without arms, legs and head in the process. Man, whatever that thing had been, it was going to give him nightmares for quite some time. Allen found himself wondering exactly what this God meant by making Fallen Ones look like that. Allen also found himself wondering why God still hadn't caused him to become a Fallen One, but then again, one could only assume that there even was a God in the first place.
Regardless, after crawling out of a lake while looking like a drenched kitten, he had surrendered the Innocence to Tyki who had held onto it while they waited for the beginning of phase two.
Now came the rather tricky part.
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The wind rustled the leaves of the bamboo forest which surrounded them. They stood there, facing each other with a couple of metres of distance. Summoning his Innocence and shifting his position, Allen spared a short look in Timcanpy's direction; Timcanpy was going to record everything from that moment and onwards, so Allen knew well that his performance had to be perfect. As long as Tyki doesn't screw up…
Allen narrowed his eyes, taking stance as Tyki stood a bit further away, smoking a cigarette with a quite mirthful expression on his face. "Well, well, Boy…" the Noah of Pleasure said. "I certainly wasn't expecting to see you here…"
Allen snorted, keeping his eyes trained on his opponent. "You probably thought you had killed me back in India," he hissed. "Where's the Fallen One's Innocence?"
Tyki's smirk grew wider and he pulled said item out of his pocket. "Do you possibly mean this one?" he asked, still smirking. "Honestly kid, what's up with you and your obsession of getting in our way?"
"I swore that I would stop you!" Allen hissed, his muscles tensing before he dashed off, taking his opponent on in an extremely risky frontal assault, knowing well that the other would not go easy on him even under circumstances like these. "I will find the Heart before you do!"
Tyki blocked his strike with ease, snickering as he did, letting go of the Fallen One's Innocence. It fell to the leaf-covered ground with a light thud as he grabbed onto a fistful of white hair. "You're so bothersome now that you've regained your own will, Doll," Tyki snickered, before his expression became very sinister. "Road asked me to recapture you if possible, but at this rate bringing your corpse along might be acceptable as well, don't you think?"
Allen clawed after him, but as Tyki was about to strike back the white-haired teen abruptly withdrew by jumping backwards, the cloak of his Innocence billowing around him. The smirk returned with full force onto the Noah's face. "You're getting awfully wary all of a sudden; did something bad happen to you, Boy?" Tyki asked, his tone mocking.
"I know very well what those hands are capable of!" Allen hissed, tensing up. "I know exactly what that ability of yours can do!"
Tyki snickered, summoning a Tease into his hand. Allen's eyes widened slightly, feigning surprise or shock, even though he was silently calculating his next move on the inside, keeping his cool. He took a deep breath before he launched another frontal assault, barely avoiding a bolt of Dark Matter fired at him. Engaging in close combat with Tyki was far from Allen's preferred technique; however it had been deemed necessary in this situation, as Allen knew that in order to make the fight look more believable, blood would have to be spilled; his blood. He swallowed involuntarily; this fight wasn't one of life and death, but it really wasn't just sparring either and his Innocence cloak closed in on him, closing in around him protectively as if sensing the oncoming danger.
"I really shouldn't let you live with that knowledge, Boy," Tyki said in an almost seductive manner as he leaned in close while they were locked in what looked like mortal combat. "But I like you, so I might let you live if you answer me this one question…"
Allen grimaced slightly with the strain, on his Innocence and on his body alike. Gritting his teeth, he narrowly avoided another strike before he sent a well-aimed kick in direction of Tyki's abdomen, which got blocked. His ankle was grabbed, and knowing well what was about to happen, the white-haired teen aimed a strike at Tyki's chest area instead, only to be hit in the shoulder by an attack from the rear by one of Tyki's butterflies. Allen's eyes widened in surprise and he gasped in pain, freezing briefly in his position, which was enough for Tyki to grab a hold of his hand with a triumphant grin on his lips. The white-haired teen had barely registered what was happening before a surge of destructive energy shot through his Innocence, causing Allen to scream and, with a surprising amount of force, pull back before he jumped to the side, landing a few metres further away, breathing heavily.
The pain was absolutely agonizing and he didn't even have to look at his Innocence arm to know that he had been dealt some serious amount of damage. Cracks had already started appearing on arm, and Allen suspected that he could have internal bleeding as well. His mask fell over his face again and his body moved, as if by itself, while the white cloak moved around him. Another surge of pain ran through him as light erupted from the cross in his hand before it surrounded his entire being. Seeing this, Tyki blinked with surprise before his face resumed his sinister, albeit slightly amused, expression as he pulled out the card with the Cell Roron.
"So sturdy," Tyki commented, picking his top hat off the ground while flipping the card to the other side. "Boy… Would your real name care to be… Allen Walker, perhaps?"
The ethereal glow surrounding his Innocence dulled slightly and Allen gave him a very unfriendly glare while the wind ruffled his hair. "So what if I am?"
Tyki snickered, letting go of the card as it began hovering in the air. "In such case, it's a real pity; I'll have to kill you then… Boy," he said, pausing briefly. "I did enjoy playing poker last time though, I really did…" he continued, sounding somewhat disappointed.
Allen found himself wondering if Tyki was just acting or if he was serious. In case he was serious, Allen had a distinct feeling he would be in an even greater need of painkillers very soon. Yup, he thought while studying Tyki's sinister facial expression. I'll definitely be in a lot of pain after this… unless he 'accidentally' kills me of course…
Using his sleeve to wipe away some blood from his mouth, Allen really couldn't help but sneer at it all before once again resuming his position, even with his shoulder bleeding and hurting like Hell and his Innocence – clearly damaged – sending waves of intense pain throughout his entire body. "I won't go down that easily you know," he snorted. "Not without a fight…" – He dashed off, throwing himself onto the ground while narrowly avoiding an attack from Tyki's butterflies, sweeping up the Fallen One's Innocence from the ground in the process, throwing it in Timcanpy's direction. "Tim, catch!"
Timcanpy – for once following his orders – opened its mouth and swallowed the Innocence with ease before dashing off, hunted by a whole swarm of butterfly golems.
Now only Tyki Mikk and Allen Walker remained, in company of one of the bigger Tease. Tyki lit another cigarette. "Was that really wise, Boy?" he asked.
Allen took a deep breath and deactivated his Innocence before he walked up towards him, stopping when they were merely half a metre away from each other while Tyki summoned the butterfly back to him, giving the white-haired teen a rather sympathetic look. "Are you ready to 'die', Boy?" he asked.
Allen gave the Tease sitting on top of Tyki's palm a slightly disgusted look. "How could I ever be ready for something like this?" he sighed. "This is going to hurt badly, isn't it?"
"It will, but this has to be convincing, right?" Tyki responded, shrugging mildly. "Besides, seeing to the fact you're carrying Noah Memories within you it isn't like you're likely to die or anything…"
Allen snorted. "Just for the record… Tyki, if I die because of this, I'm definitely haunting you and I promise it won't be pleasant, not pleasant at all… Now get it the Hell over with before I'll do something we'll both regret."
"In such case, I must ask you to stand very very still…" Tyki said, holding onto the Tease; its teeth were clattering.
"…Says the guy who's just about to use a cannibalistic butterfly to plunge a hole into my heart," Allen snorted, standing still even if he felt this sudden urge to hit somebody.
"I am such a heartbreaker," Tyki said, shoving the Tease inside him.
Allen opened his mouth, spitting blood at him. Tyki pulled out the Tease, looking at his bloodied glove with surprised after having wiped his face with it. Then he gave Allen a rather surprised look. "You got my gloves dirty," he commented as the Tease retreated back into his body. "I guess it does hurt pretty badly then…"
Allen's only reply was to throw a weak punch at him, one which Tyki easily evaded, catching his wrist before bringing Allen's hand up to his mouth and kissing it. "It was a real pleasure dancing with you tonight, White Devil…" he whispered before letting go of the white-haired teen's hand as said teen began his descent to the ground.
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