Irrelevant Stuff

AWI: So, these convos here are going to be less crazy and I think they will slowly phase out. These voices are fading from my head to be replaced by some new ones, so… yeah.

Celine: Apologies to any who actually care. I may remain the characters AWI has created to help make me a more dynamic character will probably change. Most notably, AWI has developed my relationship with Michael further and we apparently have a son who might show up in these convos (though I doubt you care).

Michael: So, there you are.


Relevant Stuff

AWI: I know what you're thinking: 'Holy Shit! An update! And AWI didn't even give me any warning or any signs of a possible update! Holy SHIT!'

Kasey: Indeedy! An update. For some odd reason, she was reading through all her author's notes for this fic and was suddenly inspired to continue!

AWI: I've got my mojo back, bitch!

Celine: She's also swearing a lot more, nowadays, just to warn you –sweatdrop- That's usually my job…

Michael: We don't own –man. Never have and never will. AWI aspires to be a manga translator which doesn't produce an impressive income. Thus, she will never make enough to even hope to buy –man.

AWI: Disclaimer done. On another note, I have not changed anything of the previous chappies. I reread the more recent ones and decided they weren't as bad as I was making them out to be in my head so I've decided to leave them alone for now.


NEW WARNINGS: adult themes, blood, death, disturbing content, shounen ai/slash/slight gayness, violence


So, new warnings have been added, most notably the shounen ai. I've tweaked with my plans for this fic a bit. No major changes, but I am deciding on pairings. There will be one or two light gay pairings because it makes the story more dynamic and I'd hate to discriminate. The entire world isn't straight, after all; not even back then. Plus, it will really help build interesting minor conflicts throughout the ficlet.

I've also figured some relatively disturbing content in the future, mainly focusing on the relationship and realities between Cross and Maria. Just thought I should warn you.

The adult themes warning has been added because I'm going to expand on the past of certain characters, such as Allen and Lavi. There will be some adult themes in them but nothing so explicit as to warrant an M rating. There will be no smut or sex scenes, only hinting at the occurrences.


I repeat, nothing so explicit as to warrent an M rating will be added. The fic is just going to be a higher T range, so there's no need to freak :) However, if shounen ai is not your cup of tea, you may have a problem with this fic. The shounen ai will not be IN YOUR FACE but it will be present and a somewhat pervading theme later on.


Chapter 8: Bleed (I Must Be Dreaming) [Evanescence]

Shadows drift across an empty plane life smoke, forming eerie shapes almost resembling living things. Allen cautiously steeped into the smoky apparitions. He had half expected a sharp cold from the ghost-like forms but there was nothing of the sort apparent. Shaking his head, the boy continued walking across the plane.

Its emptiness rang in the silence to the point of a dull pain in the back of his mind. An ache of indeterminable sources.

He continued to wander aimlessly, eyes hollow, with no destination in mind. In this vast, empty world, there was nowhere to be and nowhere to go. Simply a pervading numbness and… ache. A deep, hollow ache.

The boy glanced up, as if searching for stars in a cloudless sky, but saw only a mirror. Where was the ache coming from? He didn't know. He didn't care.

Intangible clouds lilted through the "air," their origins and purpose unapparent.

Finally, though. Finally. Something changed—there! On the farthest horizon of a plane with no end, was something. SOMETHING! Oh, the strangeness of something on such a nothing plane!

A dull spark lit up in Allen's grey eyes. Slowly, at first, he began to speed up his step and grew swifter and swifter and grew to run. He bolted across the vastness, never seeming to get any closer—

Suddenly, though, he was right there. Right where the change was. A man. He hung from a plank hovering in the air. His lifeless body twisted morosely on the rope until turned around to the point where Allen could see his face—

"Mana!"


Cautiously, cautiously, Lenalee made the bed. She smoothed the covers so slowly, ensuring total silence. The still air of the room remained undisturbed, even as she carefully, carefully set the pillows in their places. Each motion was done so meticulously that it was undetectable by the ear—

Or so one might hope to think.

"I can still hear you, Lena," a small figure announced from the doorway, amused beyond refute.

The girl sighed. "Tsk, tsk, Allen. You should know better than to ruin my fun!" She pouted adorably.

Allen sighed. "I know, I know. But I'm afraid our little game has come to an end."

"Whadaya mean?"

The boy held a long pause over the pair, his face turned down so that the light shadowed his face. "…I think you know, Lena…"

Her shoulders visibly drooped as she released a long, slow sigh. "…Yeah… I reckon I do…" Abandoning her task of the bed-making, she turned fully to him, but kept her eyes just slightly averted, focusing them on a point just 7 centimeters left of his shoulder. Just so. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Nobody does. This's just the way things have to be."

"Well, maybe this shouldn't be the way things must be!" she shouted. Tears gathered in her eyes and soon spilled. "All-en," her voice cracked. "This isn't right. And it never will be, no matter what may come of it—"

"Nonetheless, Lena, I can't afford to put my own selfishness ahead of what really matters. …I'm sorry."

He raised his head, revealing bandages crossing his eyes. "Lenalee." His voice spilled over with emotion as regrets bubbled up to the surface. "I'm so sorry—"



The cellar door burst open and Lenalee excitedly pounded down the stairs, her brother not far behind. Settling at the foot of the stairs, the pair smiled at the cellar's occupants, waiting for their patience to break.

Finally, one of the trio relented. "What?" demanded Cross. He scowled at the two of them, eyes hazy.

Komui immediately lost his grin, reverting to a condescending frown. "Now, Cross, I know I placed my expectations too high when I figured you would leave the wine down here along but that you are now drunk disappoints even me." His seriousness was suddenly lost: "What kind nasty things could my precious Lenalee get into her head when all the conscious company she has down here is a drunken womanizer~!"

"Ah, buzz off, Komui." At the same moment, the girl thwacked her delirious brother over the head with a handy empty crate. "Now what did you want?"

"Ah, right," Komui muttered. "Well, you see, Bak's ship will be leaving tonight, so we need to arrange transportation. I don't want to get caught. Who knows what Leverrier'll do? So, the planning needs to be done now," he announced decisively.

"Well, who else will be going?" the taller man inquired.

"Lavi, Bookman, Kanda, Maosa, Reever, and… Johnny, I think," Lenalee tallied, marking each name with a finger in the air.

"Well, are carriages too conspicuous or so conspicuous as to not be conspicuous? Because, if so, I opt for the carriage," Allen intoned from his cot.

Cross's eyes snapped to the prone figure, unaware that he had been awake. He quickly readopted his notorious aloof manner and turned his gaze back to the Lee siblings. The younger looked confused for a moment at the boy's strange wording but soon connected the dots, the small epiphany apparent on her heart-shaped face. The older, meanwhile, remained oddly stoic. The redhead's eyes narrowed.

"I was thinking carriages should be fine, as long as we are careful about which cabbies we use. Any ideas for trustworthy fellows?"

Lenalee's eyes shifted to Allen nervously. "...Chaoji, I think," the white-head said after a moment of thought, his voice weak. "We've used him once before and he seemed trustworthy enough to get the job done. We could ask Anita for any other ideas." The girl's eyes grew doubly worried at his dead tone.

"Probably," agreed Komui. "But we haven't the time to contact her and arrange enough carriages at this point. Another solution must be in order. I'll have Lavi call up this Chaoji and ask him to look around for others. He should return promptly." He turned to his sister. "Do you have any other ideas, Lenalee?"

She shook her head. "Not at the moment. Maybe later. I'll have Johnny send the word out to everyone. We also need to start discreetly packing. So, that will probably take all day since we'll be doing it between work and other duties."

Cross nodded. "Well, then, get to it. I'll ensure the house safety."

With a nod and wave, the Lee siblings headed back up, Lenalee casting a final concerned glance in Allen's direction.


'This isn't right'
'I'm sorry'
'I'm so sorry' 'I'm so sorry'
'I'm so sorry'

"—Allen!"

"Eh?"

"Baka deshi! What the hell is the matter!"

The boy stared blankly at his shishou for a moment before turning his eyes to the blanket covering his legs. His eyes grew hollow in memory of the dream. "I had another strange dream. Though… this one was nothing like anything I've ever had before…"

Maria stepped forward from the shadows. "In what way?" she asked with a melodic lilt.

Allen turned irritated eyes to her masked ones. "Could you stop doing that? I'll answer truthfully, even if you don't hypnotize me into it!" he snapped. Cross nearly growled at him and the boy forced himself to cool down. "It-it was just strange. The first part wasn't even a real event that could even happen. It was just an empty plane…" he trailed off as he recalled Mana's body. "The only real thing there was of the past. I saw—M-Mana…" The two stared at him, nonverbally commanding him to continue. "H-his body after they'd—mur—h-hang-hanged him…" His eyes clouded over.

The older pair looked to each for a moment, contemplating the information. Odd, indeed, their eyes conveyed. After a long silence, they turned back to the boy on the cot. He had curled into the fetal position, bombarded by memories better left behind.

"And the second part?"

Taking deep breaths, Allen re-gathered himself. "It must have been a scene from the future. Lenalee and I were in a room and… I-I think I was blind. She was attempting to be as quiet as possible but I heard her. I also had bandages over my eyes. …I didn't understand any of the conversation, though. I knew nothing of the context, but I know that it will deeply affect the both of us…"

"Do you recall any specific part of the conversation?" Maria asked, the hypnotic tone absent from her voice this time.

He took another breath. "No. It's mostly faded now. I just remember a deep feeling of regret. And… how I apologized like I would never have the chance to do so again…." Perhaps it was a vision of my death coming? Or another of hers coming?

Nearly twenty more minutes of discussion and contemplation went on before Cross sent his beloved doll out to check the perimeters.


"Hey there, Johnny!" Lavi called out appreciatively. "I see you've got lunch, there!"

The smaller man smiled up at him. "Yup! My employer occasionally hands some food out instead of the usual currency. Would you like some? I got a lot today."

"Oh, I'd sure as hell appreciate it!" The redhead grinned widely, only to have his head whammed into by a figure that looked suspiciously like a panda. "Gah! Oi! Panda-jiji! What was that for! He offered it before I asked!" he screeched.

"We have food! Leave him to enjoy his own!" the man growled. He turned to the terrified younger man. "Was there anything in specific you wanted other than this idiot's company?"

"Uh… Well—"

"Hold up!" Lavi yelled. "There's actually something I needed to talk to you about, Johnny, my favorite boy!"

The curly-haired man looked up suspiciously. "And for what purpose might that be?" he asked cautiously.

"Ah, there your prime upbringing shows through! Good job, John!" The redhead then proceeded to smack the small man on the back exuberantly, as some form of… congratulations?

Shoving Lavi off poor Johnny, Bookman spoke lowly, using Lavi's background ruckus as a cover: "Johnny, we meet at the docks 3 hours after sundown. Work as a runner and inform the others." After receiving a nod from the other, the panda stalked away, ignoring his apprentice's calls of "panda" "jiji" "old coot" and various other name-callings.


AWI: Whoot! It's done! Be HAPPY, dear readers as I have just finished this at 11:56—

Celine: On a school night.

AWI: Yeah, yeah. Shut up.

Kasey: You've got two tests tomorrow.

Celine: Yeah, staying up so late is far from wise, my very young padawan.

AWI: SHUT IT! So, be glad, readers. Also, I've noticed that my style seems to have a changed a great deal. I don't know if you noticed it but it's blatant to me! Just a warning, this update by no means suggests that I'll be regularly updating from here on out. Schedules are just as crazy as ever with the new semester and mid-winter break coming up. I suggest you enjoy what little this update gave you and then move on with your life. I might update again someday in the distant future… ah, a dreamy prospect!


Word Count: 2,047