"So, what exactly is going on here?"
They were now walking towards Nea's room, which was, according to Nea himself, the most likely place to find a memory.
"In layman's terms the Ark's shut down, which is lucky for you, because it automatically locks all its doors. The Order won't find you in here."
"Well that's… a relief, I suppose."
"Don't sound so blue, it buys us more time to figure out what's going on. You'll have to close the door to Headquarters when we turn the Ark back on though."
"Yeah, I'd kind of guessed that. Is there any particular reason everything's gone grey?"
"Oh, that's not because it's shut down, it's a reflection of your emotional state. This place now recognises you as one of its "administrators" like me, and as such will bend to your will."
"Can I make it slightly less cold?" asked Allen, shivering and clutching his coat around him.
"Not while it's turned off genius!" said Nea, laughing. "But you should be able to once it's back online."
"Good."
They walked some more, in companionable silence. After a few minutes, Nea spoke:
"We're almost there."
"Why is so far to get to your room without teleportation? This had to of been inconvenient."
"Hey now, just because the door to the Order is far away from my room doesn't mean everywhere is. Besides, I like privacy."
"Yes, I could tell by the complete lack of doors and windows in your room. How are we going to get in anyway? I seem to remember Cross using sorcery to get in last time and while you may be able to walk through walls, I certainly can't."
"Don't worry I, unlike Cross, know how to get in."
"I suppose the Noah didn't know how to get in either, going by its continued existence."
"How to get in? Please, they didn't even know where it was. As much as I enjoy impossible structures, even I can't build a Joyd-proof room. To tell the truth it doesn't really exist on this plane of reality."
"Oh God." Muttered Allen, sensing more headache-inducing explanations. Nea apparently noticed this because he smiled bemusedly at Allen then opened his mouth to speak, but Allen quickly cut him off.
"I really don't need an in depth explanation of how your room works, especially if it's as complicated as my time powers. All I need to know is how to get in."
"Oh, it isn't nearly as complex as them. It's just basic sorcery really, although it does have links to your powers. You remove objects from the time dimension, I remove them from the space dimension. Simple really."
"How didn't the Earl find it? I hear he's quite the sorcery master."
"Allen, credit me with enough intelligence to make it impossible for the other Noah to access. You can't plan a coup without a base, can you?"
"Humph, well I still don't see you showing me the way in, genius."
"That all depends on whether you're prepared to do some more sorcery. You still seem quite tired from overusing your time powers."
"I am, but I think the sooner we find these memories the better, don't you?"
"Ha, well spoken. Don't overdo it though, the last thing I need is my host dying on me."
"So what do I have to do?"
"Watch me and repeat the words and movements."
Nea demonstrated the spell and Allen watched carefully as he moved his hands. He then copied Nea, and once again a feeling of peace settled over him. As soon as the last word left his lips a hole seemed to tear itself open in front of him ripping the air apart and exposing the familiar inside of Nea's room.
"Impressive."
Allen glanced over at Nea who was looking appreciatively at the portal.
"I didn't think you'd get it the first time around."
"Why? I've done sorcery before."
"Not without my help you haven't. This is some excellent sorcery though, did Cross teach you any?"
"No. The only thing he taught me is how to live on the streets and fight Akuma."
"Useful skills for someone in your position."
"I'll be the judge of that."
"Hahaha, fair enough. Shall we?"
Nea extended his hand towards Allen, who promptly walked through it and into the portal. Nea rolled his eyes and followed.
The inside of the room was much the same as when Allen had last seen it, a mirror on one wall, the piano in the centre and a sofa off to the side. Unlike the rest of the Ark, however, it had maintained its blinding white interior. Allen was somewhat gratified to see that he and Nea now appeared separately in the mirror.
"You going to close the door or what?"
"It's just the same spell again right?"
Nea nodded in confirmation. Allen closed the portal and watched transfixed as the space seemed to collapse in on itself until there was just a blank spot on the wall. He turned to examine the rest of the room.
"So how will I find these memories? It's not like I can see them. Do I just stand around and wait until I get a vision or something?"
"Oh goodness no, that would be horribly inconvenient. Besides you can see them, provided you know how to look."
"I have magic vision now do I?"
"I'm sorry, are you not the only person in the world that can see the souls of Akuma or am I just imagining that?"
"Akuma souls yes, memories no."
"You'd be surprised what you can do with that eye, Allen. Try activating it now."
"I can't just activate it on command, that's not how it works."
"It does now. Have you tried using it since I woke up?"
"No, but-"
"Just try it Allen. Don't worry, it should come naturally."
Allen sighed and thought about how to go about activating his eye. He thought about how he felt whenever it activated, it was automatic, a reaction to sensing a nearby Akuma. Then again, so was his Innocence and he could activate that whenever he liked. He concentrated on looking at the world around him, trying to get it to shift somehow. Suddenly the edges of his vision went dark. He turned and the mirror behind him was now a black void, the room had grown brighter and the shadows had grown darker. Something was different as well… the piano. It wasn't white like the rest of the room, it glowed a light blue, and the air around it seemed darker than everywhere else.
"See something?"
"The piano is glowing, I suppose you can't see through my eyes when you're like that."
"No, but I don't really need to to. To be honest it's much more convenient having my own set of eyes." Nea paused and looked at the piano, tilting his head slightly. "So it's this old thing. I can't say I'm surprised though, it has quite a bit of sentimental value."
"What do I do, play it? I hope the memory isn't stuck in there though, it'll be a job to haul that thing around with us."
"Aha, no. I'll show you how to change the memories into a more convenient form once you see this one. And yes, you'll probably have to play it. Well, to convert it into a different form anyway. The key is to interact with memory holder in the same way as whoever did in the memory. For now, just sitting at the piano should let you see the memory."
"Okay."
Allen walked over to the piano then tentatively sat down. For a moment he thought it hadn't worked, but then everything suddenly went black. He heard a voice behind him and the world began to fade in again.
"…and this is my room." Allen couldn't mistake that voice if he tried, it had been more or less the only thing he'd heard for hours. He turned and sure enough it was Nea. He looked younger by three or four years and there was a slightly less tired look about his face. Right now he was smiling widely and beckoning someone else over to him. He hadn't noticed Allen there, and Allen hadn't supposed he would of, this was, after all, only a memory. The person he was talking to seemed to be coming over because he opened the portal wider and stepped inside.
"Beautiful isn't it?" He said, the question apparently directed at whoever was outside the portal.
"It's very much your style I'll give it that." The voice was extremely familiar, wait... he'd heard it in a vision before. No it couldn't be-
Then he walked through the portal and Allen's fears were confirmed. It was him.
He looked older than he did now, more serious, but somehow less world-weary. He had glasses, which was unusual, because he didn't need them now, and his hair was longer. It was the same unnatural shade of white though, it seemed trauma was unavoidable no matter what life he lived. He looked at Nea, bemused.
"I suppose this is your "base" then?"
"The one and only. How do you like it?"
"It could use some organisation."
His past self was right, in sharp contrast to the nearly bare room at present, this one, while still a pristine white, had bookshelves, a desk, a table, a sofa and several uncomfortable-looking chairs. That wasn't to mention the amount of paper, it was everywhere, all over the desk, sticking out haphazardly from books, you wouldn't have been able to sit on the chairs even if you'd wanted to, because they were covered in it as well. It reminded Allen strongly of Komui's workspace, although it was much cleaner. Nea walked towards the desk carefully avoiding the paper scattered over the floor.
"That's what I have you for, my dear. I have no doubt this place will be organised into alphabetical folders by the time you're done with it."
"I hope none of these documents are important, because I will tread on them." His past self was trying to manoeuvre his way over to the sofa (the only thing barring the piano that wasn't covered in paper) without ruining anything, and so far was doing a pretty good job.
"Not to me, but I do know someone who'll be very miserable if you do."
"This is your brother's work then?" Past Allen asked, dropping onto the sofa with a sigh. "I didn't think he would be the type throw his work all over everywhere."
Nea smiled. "Hmm, you haven't seen him when he's working on a project have you? I can assure you that all of this mess is very strategically placed." He said fishing out a book from under a mountain of paperwork. "Well, it is to him, anyway."
"Method in the madness then. What have you got there?"
"A music book."
"Going to play me a piece? How sweet of you." Allen had to smile slightly at the sardonic tone of voice. Nea raised his eyebrows.
"No, but you're going to play one for me." He then threw the book at Past Allen's head. Fortunately, it seemed Past Allen had good reflexes, because he caught it without batting an eye.
"Any preference?"
"One from the back for a change."
Past Allen then rose and started making his way over to the piano. Allen briefly wondered what to do, he might stop the memory if he stepped away from the piano, on the other hand he wasn't at all keen on his past self sitting on him. He decided to risk standing up. It seemed that he didn't need to stay in contact with the memory holder for the memory to play, which was useful if the memory started to move into other rooms. Past Allen finally reached the piano and sat down at it. He opened the book at the back and flicked to a random page. Nea had made his way over to the piano to by this time and perched himself on the edge of it. Then he began to play. It was quite an upbeat tune, like the kind a marching band would play, and for a while it was just that. After a minute or so, however, the piece started to get more intense, and with it the room began to change, the mirror turned black, then splashes of colour appeared, until gradually they made a scene. It was a garden, on a hot-looking sunny day. It looked like it was somewhere in the Mediterranean, the entire thing was very picturesque.
"That looks nice, I wouldn't mind spending a day there." Nea observed, pacing over to the mirror.
"Well I certainly would." Nea sent him a questioning glance. "It looks horrendously hot for one thing, and for another it right in the middle of a danger zone."
"I thought that business in Italy had blown over?"
"Well it hasn't, at least not according to my contacts."
"Fair enough, we'll leave it for today."
Past Allen played a short chord and the mirror returned to normal.
"Actually I should probably check on my brother, he said he'd be here by now." Sighed Nea, opening the portal once more.
"Well I'm coming with you, goodness knows I have nothing better to do."
"As you like."
As they walked towards the door the room faded out once more and back to its original, empty state. Nea looked expectantly at him.
Well, you guys get a super long chapter this time! And on time for that matter as well. This one came out fluffier than I expected, but I suppose Allen deserves a break after what he's been through in the previous chapters. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!