Ch 10
Days passed peacefully in Resembool. In the mornings Allen allowed himself to sleep in, woken up only by the smell of fresh coffee and whatever Pinako made for breakfast. He never quite ate his fill, but he ate enough. After the meal, he trained with Alphonse, who was stubborn and doing better with each passing day. They paused for lunch and continued afterwards, only giving themselves an hour or two before dinner, to chat or read. Allen discreetly learned about the new world, while Alphonse studied complicated, alchemical works. Sometimes Winry joined them during that time and the hours were spent talking, until Pinako called them for dinner.
But that was the past and he was surprised at how bitter he felt about reality catching up with him. The routine shattered into pieces that morning, when Allen went down to find everybody already there. He thought idly that it was unusual for Winry to come before him, but, before the words left his mouth, he realized that all three of his hosts were reading the newspaper with expressions of horror of varying degree on their faces. Whatever happened, it was bad and Allen felt horrible that, even as he frowned, he felt his heart beat faster in excitement.
The military headquarters had been attacked by something. The journalist did his best to describe a humanoid of great size, gleaming red in the darkness of the late evening as it smashed with its bare hands through the solid building of the military. The journalist had no idea what the monster was and Allen wished he could say the same, but the description was good enough for him to imagine the level three that had brought Kanda's body to the Black Order. Out of the horrors he had seen in his life, that day would surely remain in his memory till the day he died. It was unfair, because Kanda wasn't the first Exorcist Allen had known to die and that was yet more true for Komui and Lenalee, but it was the truth. That day marked a new era for the Order.
It was the era of fear and a part of Allen was glad he was away from it, but it only made the other part of him guilty because he knew that he and Kanda were among the strongest Exorcists and with them gone, who would protect the Order? He chased away those worries because, no matter how much he thought about it, there was nothing he could do about it. The Order had survived until he showed up and would have to continue without him. They would manage, he wanted to believe. He had another problem.
There was a demon in Amestris, and not just any demon. It was a demon that had managed to achieve what the Noah of Wrath had failed and Allen had an uncomfortable feeling that the level three wasn't in Amestris on its own. He wasted no time, apologizing to his hosts and leaving the moment the news sank in. From the days of observation he knew where the train station was and, by the time he got there, he managed to steal money enough for a train ticket. He felt guilty about it, but the images of the demon throwing a bloodied body to the ground kept him moving.
For once luck was on his side and he just managed to get onto a train to the Central City. It was relatively full, but he still managed to find a seat for himself, right behind a group of men in blue uniforms of the Amestrian military. Their worried faces told Allen that they heard about the events and he congratulated himself on his choice, hoping he would hear something from their conversations. He wasn't disappointed. The train didn't start yet and Allen already knew that the soldiers were being called to the Central to replace the casualties of the previous day's accident.
'They sure don't waste time in the Central,' one of the soldiers commented. He didn't seem happy to be leaving the sleepy village. 'The attack was last night and already they passed urgent orders,' he added, which got general agreement from his companions.
'Rogers called me last night,' another said, creating a perfect silence. Allen listened carefully. 'He said he wasn't going to be able to sleep after what happened and you guys know Rogers, he's the toughest of us all,' he paused, letting a murmur of acknowledgement pass. 'He claimed the Flame Alchemist was powerless against that creature,' he said. The Flame Alchemist, Allen had learnt, was the man whom Edward referred to as the bastard general and so the one who had called Edward to the Central. The soldiers sounded very worried and surprised.
'There were some other people, Rogers said, fighting that monster,' the soldier continued and Allen straightened in his seat. 'He said there was a freak with blades growing out of his arm and some guy with a hammer that would change size,' he said. Allen's heart skipped a beat: Lavi! Lavi was there after all! It was a great relief and he already knew he what he would do as soon as he got to the Central. That he wouldn't have to fight alone was the best news he could hope for.
'You mean like we've seen Fullmetal do with his automail?' one of the soldiers asked and Allen forced himself to listen again, knowing that Fullmetal was none other than Edward. The soldier who spoke before told them that Rogers couldn't see any metal on the guy with blades and that the blades themselves didn't look to be made of metal anyway. It was definitely a parasitic Innocence, Allen knew, but who could it have been?
'It's an interesting question, isn't it?' asked a silky voice from in front of him and Allen literally jumped on his seat, focusing on the man seated in front of him, facing him with a small, mocking smile. He was speechless as he took in the elegant redingote the man wore and the black curly hair framing a pale face. The golden eyes were boring into him. 'I actually don't know that Exorcist either,' Tyki Mikk said.
'Was the attack your doing?' Allen asked angrily, keeping his voice quiet. He didn't want anybody to hear their conversation. Actually he didn't even want to have the conversation, but getting additional information would be priceless in the later fight.
'I wish,' Tyki laughed shortly. 'One of my precious demons lost control when the samurai princess had the parasitic Exorcist invoke,' he said mockingly, sounding thoroughly amused as well. Allen blinked, the meaning behind the words sinking slowly. He nearly forgot to breathe when the only possible candidate for Tyki's derisive description popped up in his mind. Could it really be Kanda? A brief image of how he had seen the Exorcist last time crossed his mind, but he chased it away, hope swelling in his heart.
'Don't get that look, Cheating Boy,' Tyki muttered with displeasure. 'The princess is in a poor shape. It seems that Amestris hasn't been treating him well,' he said slyly, visibly satisfied at the worry Allen was sure showed on his face at his words. 'Bookman Junior, on the other hand, managed to fit right in. As expected from a Bookman really. If he hadn't butted in to save the other two, I wouldn't even know he was around. And let me tell you that I was aware of your presence since I arrived.'
'Kanda needed saving?' slipped past Allen's lips in surprise. Tyki raised an eyebrow and Allen scowled at him, annoyed that his appreciation for Kanda's skills was audible in his tone. 'What are you doing here?' he asked, deciding that a change of topic was due. Behind him, the soldiers went on to more cheerful topics. Across the aisle, a family was sitting and Allen became unpleasantly aware of the little space he had, should Tyki attack. Tyki smirked.
'Would you like to play a round of cards?' he asked. Allen stared at him incredulously. 'What's with the expression? I knew that the news of the demon will reach you and you will rush to the rescue and I cannot let you, you see. But I wanted to play one last round with you, so here I am,' he explained, making it sound perfectly logical.
'What are-' Allen started, pushing himself up, but Tyki stopped him short, raising a hand.
'Not a move, Cheating Boy,' he said with a sharp gleam in his eyes. 'My three demons are sitting on the roof of this train. Did you read what one has done to a massive building last night? Can you imagine what three can do to a flimsy train? You will never manage to save everybody and they will die because you recklessly attacked me,' he chuckled. Allen fell back onto the seat, feeling as though his energy was completely spent. Then a thought occurred to him.
'There are demons on the train?' he asked. Tyki nodded.
'Your eye doesn't react, does it?' he asked back with a smug smirk, as though reading Allen's mind. 'I had a demon follow you for three days, from a distance of course. Thankfully you didn't activate your Innocence, it seems that my demons crave it so much they ignore any orders to get it once it's activated,' he informed Allen, who paled at the realization of how close he had been to a disaster. He had been so tempted to activate Crowned Clown just to convince himself that he wasn't going crazy, but he always stopped himself, worried that somebody would come in on it.
Resigned, he watched Tyki deal out the cards and he took them mechanically. His mind was running a mile an hour, trying to figure out how to overcome the crisis. He didn't doubt that the three demons were of the new kind and there was something in the way Tyki said "my" demons, which he didn't like at all. It was certainly worth consideration, however. He played the first move.
'So you're a scout now? You're preparing the ground for the Earl in the new world?' he asked, keeping his tone neutral and his expression blank. Tyki smirked and played a better card, making Allen scowl momentarily. He wasn't prepared for the possibility to play cards, damn it, and he really didn't like to lose. Losing in cards was something Allen just didn't do.
'Actually no,' the Noah stated. 'I'm sick of being a puppet,' he told Allen, visibly pleased at the surprise on Allen's face. He even went as far as laughing shortly. 'You see it was me who found the passage to this world and it was me who figured out how to render the demons immortal, at least to a certain degree. There are no Exorcists here. Or at least soon there will be no more and I will have the world to myself. All the amusement I can think of, can you imagine?' he asked, his eyes gleaming with greed. Allen pursed his lips.
'I crossed over from the other world,' he pointed out. 'You saw Kanda and Lavi and some other Exorcist, so they also crossed to this world. How can you know more will not come?' he asked as he played another card, knowing it was too weak to win. A chill ran down his spine when Tyki smiled this time. In a way he didn't even need the answer.
'I took care of the doorway, you know. I left some of my Tease in that room, some of the ones who drank the immortal blood of your precious comrade. Their orders are two: eat whoever tries to cross to this world, Exorcist or Noah, and to eat the door. Now the door might take time, but Tease don't die and those ones are particularly robust. In the meantime whoever tries to cross here will get eaten,' Tyki announced gleefully and played his card, winning again. Allen, however, couldn't bring himself to care for the moment. He had a horrible vision of Lenalee arriving to the white place encountering a flock of violet, carnivore butterflies. 'It's only the four of you against my three demons,' Tyki continued. 'Three of you have lost once already. If I move fast enough the samurai princess will not have the time to recover, Bookman Junior will be easy and the parasitic one is not experienced. Which only leaves you, Cheating Boy, as any sort of possible threat,' he finished.
'If you want to fight, let's fight somewhere else,' Allen said, putting away his cards. Tyki scowled with displeasure at the gesture, but then his face smoothed into a mocking smirk. He took all the cards and carefully put them back into the well-worn box in which he carried them.
'Who said I wanted to fight?' he asked. Allen frowned. 'I just want to kill you, but there will be no fight. Fighting bores me,' he explained. 'This game was very boring as well, but now it's over, since you refuse to play,' he added, putting the box of cards into his pocket. He barely finished speaking when the train shook violently. Allen stared at him in mute horror, while the soldiers jumped up, loudly talking about going to check what happened. Tyki smirked. One of the kids across the aisle from them started crying, scared. Allen shook his head, snapping out of his shock.
'I won't let you kill all those people,' he said firmly. As though in reply, the train shook again and somebody, who went to look out through the window, shouted that the back of the train had derailed. Tyki looked amused, even more so when Allen called up Crown Clown. Five seconds later, an explosion in the front shook the train and the ceiling was ripped off. The members of the family across the aisle screamed, as did some other passengers.
'Perfect timing, also: right when we are passing over the ravine,' Tyki commented quietly, but Allen wasn't listening, too busy staring at the demon who had killed him. The demon stared at him as well and for a couple of heartbeats neither moved. Suddenly the floor shifted under his feet and Allen looked at Tyki. The Noah smirked and waved before jumping out and, caught by the demon, disappeared.
The train was falling.
Allen tried to pick up as many people as he could into the threads of Crown Clown, but he only got half of the family and two soldiers. He jumped up, trying to extend one to the broken bridge and it attached but the pressure was too much and he was forced to release the hold. As he was falling, wagons below crashed into the ground, splintering as though they were made of cardboard. A thought, that this tragedy would not attract the Earl, crossed his mind as the ground kept racing towards them. In desperation, he extended Crown Clown downwards, trying to make it a spring that would slow them down.
He released them from his Innocence just before impact, so that they didn't all fall one on the other, but late enough so that they didn't fall too hard either. He realized his mistake too late: as the ground rushed towards him he barely managed to break the fall. Crown Clown and his hands slowed him, so that when his head hit the rocks below, it did not split. Pain exploded and darkness took everything.