Ok, I was thinking of trying a new style for the oneshot series, and this is what I came up with. Hope it's to your liking.
I don't own this.
--
Lavi burst in through the doors of the infirmary, spotted Komui and a nurse at one of the beds in the corner and rushed over. Hearing his approach they turned to face him, and the Bookman saw an unconscious Allen lying in the bed.
'Wh-what happened to him?!' His voice cracked slightly, 'Yu-Chan said Road captured him and then gave him back but he couldn't wake him up...'
'That's pretty much the sum of it.' Komui sighed heavily, 'Allen doesn't appear to have any physical injuries that could cause this, but it seems he's in a coma. Timcanpy has been taken to the science lab in order for us to view the recording and figure out what happened, but for now we're at a loss-'
'Supervisor!' a scientist called from the door, 'You're needed!'
Komui nodded, gave his farewells and left. Lavi stared at the figure lying in the bed, then reached for a chair and sat down in it. Allen looked pale and unwell.
The boy had left with Kanda for a mission a week ago, and Lavi had gone on a separate mission. He'd gotten back today, and when he'd asked where Allen was, he'd been told of the events that led to his hospitalisation. The redhead sighed and reached forward to tuck a stray bang on the boy's hair behind his ear. He looked smaller and more fragile like this.
That bitch Road better not have hurt him irreversibly, or so help me...
He clenched his hands into fists. He knew first hand what the Noah girl could do to a persons mind. His last encounter with her had left him about to murder the very boy in front of him, the very boy he'd fallen in love with but had not realised until that moment when he'd managed to take control of himself and turn the fire seal on himself.
He sighed. Bookman had guessed of his feelings for Allen, but after assuring the old man he would never act on them and assuring him it was a mere crush that would fade away, he'd been allowed to stay at the order. The Panda was on a mission, but when he returned he wasn't going to be happy when he found out Lavi was skipping bookman duties in order to spend time with a coma patient.
--
Visitors for Allen soon came from all areas of the order bearing flowers and balloons and stuffed animals. They'd stay sitting and talking with Lavi, then leave. The most frequent visitors were Lenalee, Miranda, and the science department, though while they only stayed for an hour or so, Lavi found himself staying until late at night, and getting up early in the morning and repeating the cycle. Throughout the day he'd think "I'll just stay for another half hour in case he wakes up" but he never found the urge to leave. After three days of this, Komui came in looking tired.
'Any idea what happened to him?' Lavi turned to look at the older man.
'Not completely...' Komui sighed and sat next to him, 'But... From the footage we saw in Timcanpy's mind it seems that Road has trapped Allen in his own memories.'
'What...?'
'Yes, it shows her standing above Allen, and she says that since she can't have him to herself she wont let anyone else have him, and Allen asks what she means by that, and she explains she's going to seal him inside his own thoughts where his mind will be destroyed and where he can't get out. We've went over the footage countless times to examine it in case we missed something, but all that happens is she places her hand on his head, there's a flash of light, and that's it.'
'Hm... Why didn't she destroy his innocence?'
'She says in the video that it would a shame to ruin his body.'
Lavi chuckled dryly and leant back in his chair, staring up at the blank ceiling. He breathed deeply before continuing.
'So... How do we get Allen back?'
'We're working on that right now, but it's going to be difficult as we don't actually know what's wrong with him... But don't worry!' Komui smiled cheerfully and stood up, 'I'm sure he'll be alright!'
'Yeah...' Lavi nodded and attempted a smile, 'He definitely will be. Allen's too strong to let this keep him down for long.
Komui said goodbye and left out the door. The teen stared after him for a moment, then back at Allen. He smiled, leaned forward and stroked the side of his face with his palm.
'Hear that Allen? You're going to up and about in no time. I'll tell you what, if you wake up soon, I'll take you to the best All-you-can-eat restaurant in the universe, and you can eat all you want on my shout. I know heaps of good places too, even better then Jerry's food! Uh, but don't tell him that, he might try to poison me...'
For the next half hour, Lavi talked to Allen's still form, about his day, about what the others were doing, and about what they could do once he woke up. He wanted to go on, but to his surprise, he found tears running down his cheeks.
What the... When did I start crying? Why am I crying?
He asked himself those questions, but he already knew the answer. He was crying because for all his talk he didn't believe Allen was going to wake up.
Upon this thought, Lavi felt all the more compelled to stay with Allen. He supposed it was some kind of denial even though it was acceptance at the same time. He kept talking, encouraging him to wake up, gossiping about the goings on of the order, anything that came into his mind. Then, when he was so tired he couldn't keep his eye open, he leant his head and torso on the mattress, clasped Allen's hand in his own and went to sleep.
--
The redhead stood in darkness, confused about where he was. He looked down, and to his shock he couldn't see what he was standing on. He bent down and felt the surface of the ground. It felt smooth and cool, like marble. He wondered if he'd gone blind, but he could see his hand when he waved it in front of his face.
Just then, up ahead, a small light flickered on.
'Hello?' Lavi called, 'Anyone there?'
No answer. Curious, he started to walk closer. As he got nearer, he saw the source of a light was an oil-lit street lamp standing a few meters above the ground, piercing the darkness around it, revealing the ground to be a black, shiny stone.
Lavi walked nearer still, instinctively drawn to the light, but when he was only a few meters away, he noticed a person lying beneath it. The redhead stopped and his hand flew to his hammer, but to his shock and discomfort his innocence weapon was gone. He eyed the person cautiously, and gasped. It was Allen.
'Allen!' Lavi called and ran the rest of the distance. He fell to his knees and turned the exorcist on his back. He tried to wake him, shaking him and calling his name, but the boy lay there, not making a move. His skin felt like ice.
'Allen, come on buddy!' Lavi gently patted the boy's cheek, 'Snap outta it, we gotta go found a way outta here!'
'Suddenly, Allen's eyes snapped open, causing Lavi to jump back in shock, but at the same time a wave of relief washed over him.
'God Allen...' Lavi sighed and smiled nervously as the younger boy sat up, 'You scared the shit outta me... Allen?'
Allen had stood up and started walking away from the lamp post. Lavi jumped up and called out to him, jogging to catch up with him.
'Hold on, Allen! We gotta stay together, don't-'
He reached out to grab his shoulder. At his touch, the boy froze, and suddenly faded away. Lavi gasped in shock and stumbled back, but hit a wall. Surprised, Lavi turned to find a large stone wall had risen behind him. When he turned back, the black landscape had changed to a wide snow field. It was a valley, with the white stone surrounding the field in high, jagged, daunting cliffs similar in appearance to solid ice. The sky above them was a deep indigo colour, lit up by a pale blue moon. It was beautiful and unnerving at the same time, for although it appeared to be winter, Lavi wasn't cold.
'God, where the hell am I?! Allen!'
He called for the boy and started walking forward, his boots crunching in the snow beneath him. He could easily see the entire valley's corners just by turning around and looking in each direction and Allen obviously wasn't there, but... He couldn't help but shake the feeling he was.
--
Lavi collapsed against the stone, exhausted from searching. He was starting to feel the cold now, and shivered slightly, wishing he had his coat with him.
'Dammit Allen, why can't I find you?'
He drew his knees to his chest and rested his head on them. He was getting sleepy...
Just then, he heard a noise. He looked up, and found to his surprise his location had changed. He was now in some kind of cave, but not just a normal cave. As he stood up, images flashed all over the rock walls like a TV screen. There was a little kid with brown hair being beaten up by bullies, mocked for his arm, then on another wall he was trying to find food, and in another, he was sitting beside a grave crying, then an Akuma slashing his face...
Lavi gasped and looked around as he realised the boy was Allen. Were these his memories?
They must have been. As he walked, looking at the memories on the wall, Lavi realised that they were all bad memories, showing the death and sadness and destruction in the young boy's life... But Lavi was sure the boy had good memories too! Where were they?
He stopped. There was a young boy sitting in the corner, his back facing the redhead. He was sobbing.
He had white hair.
'Allen...?' Lavi took a step forward. Suddenly, there was a loud crack, and a wall of ice rose up in front of him, blocking his path.
'Allen!' Lavi knocked on the ice with his fists.
'Go away...' The little boy's voice sobbed, 'Leave me alone...'
'I can't do that; I have to bring you back home! Come on, I promised I'd take you to that restaurant. Please?'
The boy stopped crying. He slowly turned to look at Lavi though the ice, wiping the tears from his silver eyes.
'I-I know your v-voice...' He sniffed and hiccupped, 'you... You were saying all those nice things about food and those people... W-Who are you?'
'I... I'm Lavi. Don't you recognise me?'
'No... But I heard your voice a little while ago, you seem to know me.'
'Yeah, I do.' Lavi smiled and nodded, 'We're friends.'
'Fr-friends?' Allen choked as he shook his head, 'We can't be friends, No one loves me...'
'That's not true!'
'Yes it is...'
The boy turned back to face the wall. Lavi furrowed his brow. He backed up, and ran into the ice, shouldering it hard. He backed up again and repeated the motion, trying to make it break.
'Stop that...' Allen sobbed, 'I want to be alone...'
'No you don't! No one wants to be alone, Allen! Come on, come with me and we'll go home. I'll take you to that restaurant and you can eat ten times your weight in miterashi dango, then we can go tease Yu-Chan and pull a prank on him, and we'll go talk to the science department and try to fight off Komui's latest experiment! Don't you wanna go home?'
'I don't know what you're talking about...' Allen shook his head and clasped his knees to his chest, 'I don't... Remember...'
Lavi stood back, massing his sore shoulder and feeling desperate. He backed up a final time, and delivered a hard kick to the ice. A small crack appeared after coming in contact with his steel toed boots. He smiled, and tried another kick, and more cracks appeared. After one more, the ice shattered like glass, and Lavi stepped through.
He knelt beside the sobbing boy and took him in a warm embrace.
'There There...' Lavi smiled, rubbing the boy's back like a parent would to comfort a distressed child, 'No need to cry, is there? Friends hate to see each other cry, you know.'
'B-But... I can't... No one loves me, everyone's abandoned me...'
'Like I said Allen, that's not true. I love you. I love you very much, and there are more people at home who love too, and none of us would ever abandon you...'
'R-Really?'
'Really...'
Allen nodded slowly, and leant his head against Lavi's chest, falling asleep. All around them, the sound of glass cracking could be heard and pieces of the memories fell away from the wall, flying around the room in a frenzied whirlwind. Lavi leant over Allen to protect him from the flying glass, but suddenly the wind stopped, and when the bookman looked up again, there were memories on the wall again, but they were good ones. It showed a boy playing with his father, a teenager laughing with his friends, and the cave had the atmosphere of a happy place. Lavi looked down at the boy in his arms and discovered he had turned into his fifteen year old self again. Allen slowly opened his eyes, blinking confusedly. Lavi grinned.
'Ready to go home, Allen?'
Allen looked uncertain, but after a second, he smiled and nodded.
--
Lavi started and sat up, panting. He was back in the hospital ward, sitting next to Allen's bed. He looked at the exorcist's pale face, searching for signs of wakefulness, but he remained sill. The bookman chuckled harshly to himself and leant his head in his hands.
Idiot, it was just a dream...'
'Lavi?' A voice yawned as the figure in the bed shifted.
Lavi gasped and looked up. Allen was smiling sleepily at him.
'Allen!' Lavi cried cheerfully, leaping forward and catching the boy in a tight embrace, 'I'm so glad you woke up!'
'Argh! Lavi, you're crushing me!'
'Sorry...'
The redhead let go, smiling ear to ear. Allen propped himself up in his pillows and grinned back at him.
'Now what was that about taking me to the best all-you-can-eat restaurant in the universe?'
Lavi sweatdropped.
'Heh, you remember that, huh?'
--
Wow that took ages to write! Almost an hour and a half! Well, i don't like it that much, but please review.
