Disclaimer: I do not own the Dgrayman characters, they belong to Katsura Hoshino. This is done solely for the sake of fan-girlism.
As always, feedbacks and comments are welcomed and appreciated. :)
Father of the Child
by Sceaduw
{Part X}
"Brother!" cried Lenalee as Komui hugged onto her, "Are you alright?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine, Lenalee! Oh my poor Lenalee! What have they done to you?" sqeaked Komui. He examined Lenalee from head to toe for any possible injuries. He gave a gigantic sigh of relieve when he found none. Then he bent over from his own pain. His injuries reminded him of reality.
"Brother, you shouldn't be moving around," said Lenalee, face grimaced with guilt. If the Noahs weren't after her, her brother wouldn't be hurt. It was all her fault. She helped him back onto the hospital bed.
Reever stood aside in silence and watched the two siblings reunited. He was surprised to see Lenalee appeared out of a portal door. Technically, she was being pushed out from it by a Noah. Reever didn't tell Komui, fearing the man would freak out by the Noahs appearing again. He just led the girl to his supervisor and told him that she had returned safely. Whatever happened to them, Reever prayed that it was all over.
"Brother, I'm sorry," began Lenalee softly, "I failed to protect you. My Innocence..." She swallowed hard and tried to hold back her tears. Komui stroked the few strands of hair from her face.
"No, Lenalee... I failed you. It's my fault that you suffer so much."
"Brother...?"
"It's me. I'm too selfish to let you go... My dear Lenalee! I can't bear to see you with another man!"
"Brother...! What are you talking about?"
Seeing the faint blush over his sister's cheeks, Komui began to cry hysterically.
"Lenalee! My sweet angel!"
"Brother! Pull yourself together! Are you still upset over the marriage?"
Lenalee pouted and patted Komui gently on the head. Komui whimpered and sniffled, but he managed to squeeze out a question. A question that he was scared to death for asking, fearing the answer he would hear from his sister's lips. Summoning all the courage he could have in his life, he asked with trembling lips, "Lenalee, do you, absolutely, with no regret, and must, with no alternatives, love Allen Walker?"
Reever couldn't believe his ears. This called for a celebration. Komui had finally asked the question. It was an ultimate breakthrough. He quietly left the room for the sake of their privacy and waited outside.
"Reever? What are you doing here?"
The lab scientist looked up and saw two exorcists. Lavi approached Reever with a smile, followed by a grumpy swordsman. Reever could tell the two had sneaked out of the ward again, judging by the nervous glances shooting around by the two. The Head Nurse would surely be mad to find out patients were sneaking out again. Lavi was about to steal a glance at what was inside the room when Reever stopped him.
"Give them a moment, I'm sure they don't want to be disturbed now," said Reever.
"Lenalee's inside?" asked Kanda, pushing past Lavi.
"Well, yes. She looks fine except in a bit of shock," replied Reever. He looked at the two and was surprised to see how they remained so calm after Lenalee and Komui had been kidnapped by the Noahs. He then widened his eyes knowingly.
"Kanda, tell me what you've been doing since you returned from your mission," asked Reever. Kanda looked at him, face muscle twitched slightly as he made a small noise of irritation.
"We just came out of the ward, Reever. I think we got straight to the ward when we came back... didn't we?" said Lavi but his voice quivered slightly in uncertainty. Kanda remained quiet. He couldn't recall anything after the mission.
"Well, so Lenalee's fine! I need to get some rest now, stupid Lavi!" said Kanda and he turned to leave. Lavi tried to stop him but a cold stare from the swordsman kept him at bay.
"Everything's fine now. Go get some rest, you two." Reever pushed Lavi away and gestured him to follow Kanda. After the two disappeared down the corridor, the scientist gave a heavy sigh. So that was the special experiment Komui was experimenting on a few days ago. He never thought memories could really be erased... just like that. He leaned tiredly back against the wall and hoped Lavi and Kanda could regain their lost piece of memory by morning.
Hey, what caused Lavi and Kanda to lose memory? Cold sweat began to rain from Reever's forehead. Did the exorcists activate whatever Komui was experimenting on?
"OH NO!" He pushed himself off the wall and fled down the corridor.
"Brother, I love Allen." replied Lenalee. Her words were clear and strong. Not a quiver and with no hesitation. "I love him as much as I love you," she gave her brother a cuddle. Komui held onto her affectionately and patted her on the back. He had always knew. But he just refused to acknowledge it.
"I'm sorry for all this, Lenalee. I won't stop you two from seeing each other again. I promise," said Komui.
"It's alright, brother, Allen will understand... But...," the girl trailed off into a whisper.
"What is it?" Komui let go of her and asked.
"It's just... I think Allen thought I have someone else's child... I know this sounds absurd! It really is! How could he..." Lenalee stopped. She quickly wiped her face with her hand and flashed Komui a weak smile. Komui's heart clenched at his sister's strained smile.
"Don't worry Lenalee! Brother will fix everything! Once Allen comes back, I'll clarify everything!" roared Komui. He wasn't going to just stand around and let Lenalee cry. No one shall make Lenalee cry! ... Besides, it was him who told Allen that Lenalee was pregnant... Who would have thought Kanda was the first one to notice Lenalee's odd behaviour? If not for the swordsman's keen observations, he would still have believed Lenalee was carrying Allen's child.
"Allen's still in the ark!" gasped Lenalee. Blushing furiously, she recalled the events before she was pulled away by Road. There was no way Lenalee could get back to the ark by herself. She was frightened. What if Road and Tyki joined forces and attacked Allen? Allen would be outnumbered! What if the Earl...
She closed her eyes tightly, trying to shut out the images of the Earl. What if the Earl got hold of Allen? Lenalee trembled and dared not to think further. She was afraid of losing Allen. How could she be so useless? Why wasn't her Innocence responding? Why was all this happening? Why wouldn't the Noahs leave them alone?
"Lenalee!" cried Komui, catching hold of Lenalee when she suddenly fainted. He touched her forehead and realized she had a high fever. "Reever! Reever! Get the Head Nurse! Get her here NOW!" he shouted but there was no response outside.
"Allen...," the girl whispered as she passed off into blackness.
.
.
The Earl picked up the teen by the collar. He grinned at the young face.
"Neah!" said the man as he leaned closer. His nose nearly touched the teen's.
"Hello, brother," said the boy and he caressed the man's face. His fingers traced the jawline slowly before his hand withdrew from the coarse chin. The younger Noah then whispered, "Betrayed, you say? What can this little boy do to possibly betray me?"
The Earl gave out an unwilling shiver as Neah glanced at him coldly. He was wearing that same eerie smile as the day he betrayed the Noahs. The man quickly released him. The teen laughed as he watched the Earl staggered backwards.
"Neah! Come back to us! Come back to me! Leave Allen Walker behind! Leave them all!" pleaded the Earl. He could kill his sibling right here; he loved him but he also hated him. Still he loved him too much to destroy him. Killing him once was more than he could ever bear in the next millennium years.
"Why should I? I'm happy as I am now! I enjoy being Allen Walker!" said Neah, looking off into the distant blue sky. Who would want to live inside the ark? This beautiful sky... was fake. Everything was fake, fake and fake here. Nothing was real in the world of the Noahs. Everything was the imagination of the Earl himself.
"You enjoy being the shadow of an exorcist? That is absurd! Blasphemy against our family!" exclaimed the Earl. What was this kid thinking? "This exorcist life, it's not real! You're living behind the mask of Allen Walker!"
"Oh? I can take off this mask whenever I want actually. I just choose not to. I enjoy... his life, his feelings, his everything!" said Neah as he turned from the Earl. The more Neah got to know Allen, the more he couldn't resist putting on this mask. He envied Allen's life. A real living life. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a life to live!" Neah paused then he added, "don't try to interfere with Allen Walker... or else!"
The Earl bit on his lip and tried not to scream with rage. He felt the blood in his veins boiled with anger. The dirty, little lamb! How could he, for the second time, turned his back on his own true family? The Earl drew out his sword and cried. Neah swirled around, startled and unexpecting the attack. He dodged the sword swing just in time.
"You want to fight with me, my Earl?"
"No, Neah! My dear, dear, dear Neah! I want to love you!"
The Earl gave Neah a big sad grin before he plunged his sword at the teen. Neah dodged backwards again but this time he bumped into someone. The Earl swung his sword around and torn the vest Neah was wearing. Neah did not back off enough from the Earl and received a sword scratch across his chest. Blood began to soak out immediately. He glanced behind in fury and saw a surprised Tyki.
"You!" sneered Neah and he punched Tyki in the face. Tyki gave a muffled wail and knelt onto the ground, rubbing his cheek in confusion. Neah tried to kick him but his leg passed through Tyki's body as if the Noah was made of thin air. Tyki stood up instantly and took a step away from his dangerous sibling.
"W-who... Neah?" asked Tyki, "Why are you here?"
"Tyki-pon! Get out of the way!" The Earl, smiling, landed his sword right next to Neah as the two younger Noahs jumped out of the way. The ground cracked open painfully, leaving behind a large hideous scar on the neatly arranged stone pavement.
"Look out, Earl!" screeched Tyki, "You nearly hit me!" What was going on? Tyki couldn't work out what had happened. He only left for a very brief moment with Sheril and when he came back, Neah magically appeared and all hell broke loose.
Oh... so this was what Sheril warned him about. How could he had totally forgotten about it? This was the 'ugly' thing! Tyki swallowed hard and tried to back out from the scene. He didn't want to get involved in Neah and the Earl's affairs. Last time when the Noahs got involved, they were all killed. No Noahs, sane or insane, would want to do that again.
"Tyki! Don't worry about Lenalee! After I slain this bad lamb, she'll be all yours!" grinned the Earl. Neah shot Tyki a nasty glare, his golden orbs as if going to pop from their sockets. Tyki's face went pale. His determined plan to snatch Lenalee was dismembered by Neah. Well, he was planning to get Allen jealous and angry, so he could have a duel with the teen. It would be an excellent plan to 'lose' his 'beloved' woman to another man, so he had every right to refuse marrying any others again. A dignified and noble character so it would appeared to be. But not Neah. Definitely not Neah. With Allen, it would be a duel; with Neah, it would turn out to be a suicide. Tyki shook his head desperately at the Earl's statement and tried to say something but it was too late.
"F*ck you! You are so dead! Noah of Pleasure!" sneered Neah, "You dare to steal MY WIFE?"
"Technically, my dear Neah, it's not your wife! It's Allen Walker's wife!" smiled the Earl and he rested his sword on his shoulder, "You see how this whole thing is going ridiculous? Come back to us Neah! Leave Allen Walker, let Tyki have the girl and everyone will be happy!" Surely, Sheril would be happy too, thought the Earl.
"Everyone? Don't you see why I leave in the first place? I hate you when you do this!" screamed Neah and he jumped the older man, knocking him over. He snatched the sword from the Earl's hand.
"Now, now, Neah...," began the Earl, eyes locked on the teen's.
"Time after time! You're still like this!" roared Neah. Tyki tried to edge himself away from the scene but he was spotted by Neah instantly. Tyki froze on spot. One wrong move and Tyki would taste the icy blade again.
"My dear Neah, I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Earl, you always keep things to yourself! It's never about Tyki getting a woman! You want the Heart, just say it! Don't keep it to yourself! Don't always be the one who shoulder the burden!"
The Earl's eyes widened in horror and then he relaxed a little, shifting his pose uneasily. He had always known Neah was a special one. Neah was the only one who truly knew him. This fledging would understand him more thoroughly than anyone else. Not even Road would read him like an open book. Not even Waizurii would dive so deep into his thoughts. Unfortunately, Neah had always been the one who hurt him the most. Tyki tried not to listen to anything. He didn't want to know. He just hoped he will survive this time.
"Neah, you know about... the 'Heart'?"
"I knew it right away when I saw what you were trying to do back at the wedding!"
"Neah, I... I just want to end this battle! Once and for all!"
"That's enough! That is not what we wanted! That is not what I wanted! That is just want you wanted!"
"That is what the Noahs wanted! All of us! We must end this war! I MUST END THIS WAR!" The Earl boomed. The surrounding white washed buildings trembled. His voice thundered and echoed around the ark. It lingered and no souls dared to speak or move until it faded away.
Sheril stiffened at the portal doorway. His legs felt numb and he watched helplessly as Tyki cringed at the Earl's anger. Neah, on the other hand, stood firm. The teen looked so sad that even Sheril felt a clench at his heart.
"You... still not get it. Why I did what I had to do thirty-five years ago," whispered Neah, barely audible to Sheril.
"Watch out Earl!" shrieked Sheril as he saw Neah raised the Earl's sword. He used his fine threads to restrain Neah's movement. Seizing the minute, Sheril rushed over to Tyki's side and pulled him far away from Neah. The threads did not hold the teen still for long before he broke away from Sheril's control. Lucky for Sheril and Tyki, Neah was too absorbed with the Earl to notice them. No matter how much they wanted to flee the place, it was their duty to protect their Earl. Their leader and their brother.
"Stop this nonsense at once, Neah!" yelled Sheril from a distance. He knew very well he was no match for the Noah with the Earl's sword. This was proven during the last massacre when Sheril was slain by Neah with ease.
"For the love of Road, looks like history is repeating itself," muttered Sheril. He trembled slightly when Neah turned his head slowly and glance over to the two.
"Stay out, brothers. Don't make me shed blood again," hissed Neah with a gleam in his eyes. He turned back to the Earl and smiled, "let me settle this, my Earl. For once, this time, let me take the burden."
-to be continued-