"My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite…"
-Juliet; ('Romeo and Juliet' act II, scene II)
When the Black Order Acknowledges Theater
Disclaimer: I don't own any manga/anime…
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Romeo and Juliet (part one)
Allen would agree that fundamentally, if 'Romeo and Juliet' was to be compared to 'Hamlet' as a tragedy, the later would surely surpass the former. Shakespeare was more experienced when he had written 'Hamlet' though of course, so it is not much of a surprise. Regardless, when it comes to which play is able to touch more people, and which play has come to be the most popular, without a doubt, it would be 'Romeo and Juliet'. Allen does think of the play as an absolute lyrical masterpiece. Though be that as it may, that is exactly why this play is also very depressing, despite how beautifully romantic it is it ends badly. Allen wonders if people had thought Romeo and Juliet would end up with one another. The play was a tragedy… Such a thing was only to be expected, no tragedy of Shakespeare's ends with the foremost couple living happily. Entirely natural, but it is such a shame. To most people, the pairs of the tragedies are the most beautiful, and they are more in love than the pairs in the comedies are. This is probably why, Allen thinks that despite his understanding of how the play will surely end, he still finds himself wishing that somehow, a miracle would come about, and the words of this play will change. The outcome of the events happy, the antagonistic forces diminished. However, Allen knows, that is impossible. He wonders if the impending tragedies he predicts in his own life could somehow not happen, but it seems that so far, his fate is as sealed as that of the characters of 'Romeo and Juliet'… Not that it was too bad to die, especially if it was with the one you love... It was just that Allen thinks that even the ending of 'Romeo and Juliet' might be too good for him… He'd known it for a long time… He was cursed, not entirely, but if it makes sense, in the most important ways, he is…
Allen threw is copy of 'Romeo and Juliet' not caring where it landed in his room. He had read it around five times now, and it was troublesome. He had just gotten back from yet another mission, and still, Kanda was not back from Japan yet. It was beginning to become annoying. 'Making someone wait is taking part of their lives away, wasting it!', Allen thinks, despite knowing well that Kanda doesn't even know he's making someone wait at all. Allen is sure Kanda did not expect that Lenalee wanted to wait for him before the next meeting. It seemed that Lenalee did not want to have anyone miss more than
one meeting. Allen knows Lenalee is holding this club as a distraction though, so he could be distracted from his problems. Although Allen also knows Lenalee hadn't intended for the club meeting to be held for that reason. He really appreciated what Lenalee was trying to do, but somehow, meeting with her to discuss a few part of 'Romeo and Juliet' every few weeks as they waited for Kanda made him even more anxious… Topics they went to made him uneasy. Lenalee would always talk about things related to the love parts of this story… Those parts made Allen really uneasy in many ways, it reminded him of things, and he had no idea, why most of the scenes Lenalee would say she loves, reminded him of experiences he had with Kanda… Allen thinks it's too soon, love is too strong a word, care maybe, yes, care. Still whatever the case, the love talk made him uneasy. He tried to talk with Lavi instead once, but he got even more uneasy, because Lavi would always talk about the most 'adult' parts of the play…
There was one thing however that Allen wasn't so uneasy talking about, it was, who of all the characters his favorite was. To his surprise, Romeo wasn't Lenalee's favorite, it was in fact Juliet. Lenalee had said that it was taken aback by Romeo's too swift shift of affection form Rosaline to Juliet. Allen thinks that it is not Romeo's fault though; Romeo might have only thought he loved Rosaline, but when he met Juliet, he just realized how wrong he was. Yes, Romeo was Allen's favorite character. Being so in love as to kill yourself when you see your beloved laying cold, it was the most beautiful gesture Allen had ever read in a piece of literature. Allen doesn't think at all bad of Romeo for killing Tybalt; in fact he admires him for it. As much as he did indeed love Juliet, he still wasn't blinded by affection to how important friendship was as well. Allen knows it isn't really good to kill, but given the right reasons… He guessed it was alright if he found it tolerable… Maybe though, he was just really getting a bit off his head lately…
A long sigh of exasperation, then Allen decides to drift of to sleep…
……………………..
"I think I'm just making it worse Lavi…" Lenalee said, covering her face in dismay, squeezing her palms more firmly onto her face she said with a muffled voice "… Maybe I should stop the club…"
"It's not your fault…" Lavi says "…Moreover, please stop tightening your grip on your face or you'll be suffocating yourself…"
Lenalee removes her hands from her face "…Sorry…" she sighs weakly "…It's just that, I think I've been giving the two of them quite a bit of trouble… going over Shakespearean plays is a landmine for memories of emotional trauma when it comes to those two…"
"They just take a lot of things to heart… One shows it more than the other… But…" Lavi smiles "…They are really so similar…"
"To think my plan would backfire this much…" Lenalee sniffled "… When they were fighting in that meeting on 'Hamlet' I was so sure something had gone terribly wrong… Why did things have to become like this? Why of all times is it now that Kanda's past chooses to haunt him?"
"Well you know… I think 'Romeo and Juliet' explains that pretty well…" says Lavi "…It's the inevitability of fate isn't it?"
Lenalee nods. She looks down to the floor gloomily. Fate, people would think that it something that a higher supernatural assigns to an individual. People who think that way couldn't be more wrong… Fate is something which is inevitable, because society brought it about, or an individual's own personality brought it about. It is inevitable, because reality is plainly like that, and most things turn out the way they are, because with the way the world is, it's inevitable. From that, Lenalee thinks that most misfortunes we experience, we ourselves bring about. Though she knows she does have everything to do with what has been happening to Kanda and Allen. She seems to represent a part of society… Although she knows the past would haunt them eventually, she knows she just hastened the haunting…
"With that troubled look… I'm guessing you're getting confused about things aren't you…" Lavi says, making Lenalee flinch
"Ah…I…" Lenalee looks tense, but then sighs and eases up "…This must be how Allen feels…"
Then they are silent for a few moments, and then Lavi tells her "It'll be fine…"
"Do you… really think so?"
"Yeah…Don't think about it too much…"
"But I…"
"Things will turn out well…" Lavi grins "…after all, they aren't Romeo and Juliet…"
………………………
"Haven't those two been getting along so well lately?" Lenalee smiles fondly as she sees Allen and Kanda are once again eating on the same table at the cafeteria. Kanda doesn't even seem too bothered by it. "What do you think Miranda, there is definitely romantic tension right?"
"They… Are they not just becoming good friends?" Miranda reasons
"Nope definitely love…" Lavi sets down his tray on the table and takes his seat across Lenalee, Crowly sits beside him
"Right! Right! Isn't it Lavi!" then Lenalee looks towards the pair with a pout "…but lately… I fell no advancements…"
"It's because they don't know anything about their feelings…" Lavi says with a laugh "If just one realizes something I think it'll definitely end well…"
"How do we get one of them to realize that?" Lenalee sighs
Lavi grins sheepishly.
"We are not locking them up in a broom closet until they make-out or… or what ever it is you're thinking…" Lenalee scowls at him
"I said nothing!" Lavi exclaims, receiving another glare from Lenalee "Fine… just a thought…" he raises both hands in surrender
Miranda looks at the two nervously as they plotted, but suddenly Crowly said…
"Ah, I forgot!"
"What is it?" Lenalee and Lavi ask in chorus
"I am returning 'Othello' to you tomorrow." He says to Lenalee
"That's it!" Lenalee shouts banging her fist on the table as she stood
"What's it?" Lavi asks
"We'll start a club."
The three blink at her.
"A club for Shakespearean plays! I'll choose plays which are all tinted with romance… When they analyze that surely they'll discover something themselves!" She exclaims
"May-Maybe…" Miranda stutters "…But… What if they end up thinking of more… painful things…" Miranda knows some of Lenalee's more beloved plays are the tragedies
"No, I'm sure this'll work…" Lenalee says with a smile
"Just might…" Lavi says
"Although I am against meddling with the love affairs of other people… I am all for starting a club!" Crowly says
"Then it's decided!" Lenalee says firmly "In a few weeks the Black Order's Shakespearean Play Club will have it's first meeting!"
…………………………..
"But you know… Despite saying all the plays I'd choose were tinted with romance… The first three I choose were just so… unhelpful…" Lenalee says
"You really surprised me when you chose 'The Comedy of Errors'… I mean 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Hamlet' do both have romance… I understood they could both help the situation… But 'The Comedy of Errors'?" Lavi laughs
"I couldn't help it! I became hesitant since the first meeting brought no advancements…" Lenalee said
"Well, at least 'Twelfth Night' was a great choice; even though Allen's emotional epiphany is not as happy as we would have hoped…"
Lenalee sighs "I guess… But I wonder if 'Romeo and Juliet' was a good choice… maybe I should have chosen something that ends well…"
"It does end well in a sense…" Lavi says, earning a weird look from Lenalee "...well… Not for Romeo and Juliet, but I mean… The feud between their families was resolved wasn't it?"
Lenalee sighs. "I think that sort of happy ending is even more discouraging… Couldn't they have gotten along without death? And couldn't love have conquered it all?"
"Did you ever seriously believe loving was enough?" Lavi says with a laugh, then he sighs and stares at nothing in particular, his expression quite melancholic
"What's wrong?" Lenalee asks
"….Nothing…" Lavi says "I need to go… I'll see you…"
"See you…" Lenalee raises a hand to wave goodbye, but Lavi doesn't notice
……………………………..
Allen's eyes widen as he reads the letter in his hands. "Th-This… He's… since when!?"
"Two days ago it seems, he'll arrive here in a week, he has his nephew with him." Komui says "…I thought you should be the first to know…"
Allen shrugs off on how Komui would have found out about his epiphany; he knows it was probably Lenalee anyway… "But… how… this soon? I mean… He was in… Shouldn't it have taken longer?"
Komui laughs nervously "I think he scared the captain of the ship so much that he made it go faster…"
Allen thinks that is likely, it was Kanda after all… It was Kanda… "When will he get here?"
"A week at most… But knowing him, he'll be here sooner… he's like that…"
Allen smiles "Thank you… I'll be going now…" He hands Komui the letter
"Uhm… All right…."
Allen smiles inwardly… Kanda was only a few more days away…
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(a/n: I can't believe it… I am so lame… Ahahaha… Rome and Juliet will have six parts maybe… This update is late if you've noticed… But I've been busy…and I was exhausted for the past three days so I wasn't able to write this… Anyway, I've decided I will use a few sonnets sometime… Anyway… I have nothing to say about this chapter really… except it is actually quite short… and weird… Anyway, I hope it's not too bad! BTW: I'll fix the typos another time…)
