Requiem of Time: Chapter Ten - Lavi & Allen
Lavi's one eye widened upon hearing that. That was not how it was supposed to go. "Italy? Don't you mean Germany?"
Bookman folded his hands inside his sleeves, giving Lavi a hard look. "Lenalee and Marshal Walker are already handling things at the Rewinding Town. Why would we go there?"
Allen being there is supposed to be reason enough! Lavi cursed inside his mind. We are supposed to be recording he that is destined to destroy Time! "No reason then, I guess," he tried to play nonchalantly, but Bookman's sniff before turning his head told him that he knew he was lying.
Shouldering his hammer, Lavi sighed. Italy it was, then. Already the pages of history stored so perfectly in his mind were beginning to crumple. The ruins in your wake, Allen…
In other news, he was no where closer to solving the puzzle he had taken upon himself on saving Chomesuke, but he was still turning it over in his mind, pressing the Eliade soft-spot on it, seeing if anything would give way. Just what did make Eliade so special as to resist the Earl?
****
In the future, around a month later, Allen finally arrived in Belgium, alone, and found Marshal Yeeger via golem uplink. The kind, elderly man had been stunned to see someone as young as Allen wearing the coat of a Marshal, but he recovered soon enough.
Smiling, Yeeger acknowledged, "I've heard rumors of a new Marshal, but I took the teenager part to be merely gossip. Good evening, I am Marshal Kevin Yeeger."
"Good evening," Allen returned pleasantly, removing his top hat and bowing formally. "My name is Allen Walker. I'm afraid I bring bad news, Marshal Yeeger."
Yeeger sighed, but his smile didn't slip. "One such as yourself are too young to be burdened by bad news. Please, come inside and we will speak over a meal. I see that you are a parasitic-type; I have plenty of food." Allen smiled sheepishly and followed Yeeger inside the carriage.
****
Lavi was in the Headquarter's library, reading some of the books he had missed the first time around, when Lenalee entered. Knowing they were alone, he smiled at her and they shared a soft embrace. Past Witching Hour, there was little chance of someone walking in on them.
Setting the book down with Lenalee still in his arms, Lavi asked, "So how was Germany?"
Lenalee was quiet for a moment, her head resting against his chest. Then, "Rhode didn't remember Allen. He snapped."
Lavi sucked in a breath. He hadn't even thought of that - the effects of removing such a key part of Allen's life. Rhode was the glue that had held him together when there was nothing left. With her gone - torn away, actually - Allen would have to snap. Not even Marshal Walker, not even the Musician, not even Allen could be expected to pull through that on top of everything else.
Much quieter, he asked, "What happened…?"
And Lenalee told him.
****
"Noah?" Yeeger asked with only the slightest grimace.
Allen nodded, shuffling his cards idly after a satisfying meal. "Though I'm afraid not just one," Crucified and insane, he remembered. That had Tyki and his wi- former wife written all over it. The pain was still there, but Allen noticed his improvement of ignoring it when thinking of Rhode; the cards whirled about smoothly in his hands, with no stutters.
Yeeger sighed.
****
"Brother, you need to send us and as many others as you can to Barcelona as soon as possible!" Lenalee pleaded.
Komui had sobered immediately after she first mentioned the invasion, and now he regarded her seriously from his desk. "How can you be sure of this? We have several Finders and even an Exorcist in Spain currently and they have reported nothing. What proof do you have of this invasion?"
Lavi stood off to the side with Bookman, though the redhead knew the panda was looking at him as much as Lenalee. He knew something was up. He always did.
"Al- Marshal Walker and I found something while we in the Rewinding town. It involved the Noah…" Lenalee started uncertainly. Lavi felt Bookman tense next to him. Already a personal interest of most bookmen, Noah were especially important to the two who had been sent to work as Exorcists.
Komui was on his feet in a flash. "Noah? At the Rewinding Town? Why didn't anyone tell me of this?! Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"
Lenalee deadpanned at this. After a second of her brother's fawning, Lenalee snapped, "I'm fine! Right now I'm worried about everyone who's going to die in the near future, as you should be." That stopped Komui, and his river of tears dried as if they never were. "Please, trust me brother, I know what I found."
Reluctantly, Komui sat back down, sinking into his deep thinking position, with his hands folded under his chin, and his frown was worried. Lenalee knew he was as concerned for her as he was for everyone she predicted would die; Komui had not deserved to die. Ever. Director Leverrier would pay for that.
With a sigh of a decision made that was just too much, Komui said, "You may go… But there is a condition." Lenalee blinked at that, but if it came to saving lives, she would listen.
The next day…
NEVER AGAIN! Lenalee screamed in her mind. Never again will I agree to such a stupid, foolish, burdensome, cruel demand by an overprotective, thoughtless crybaby!
"It really is comfortable here," Lavi quipped pleasantly, rubbing his face against Lenalee's breasts, much to her frustration. Bookman bopped him in the head for her, although their roughhousing nearly had her fall again.
Miranda was sheet white, staring at the ground with eyes the size of dinner plates while crushing Lenalee's middle despite her malnourished appearance.
Despite her high synchronization with her Dark Boots, Lenalee struggled carrying THREE Exorcists besides herself all the way from London, England to Barcelona, Spain. Lavi's gropes and Miranda choking the life out of her did not help in the slightest. And they hadn't even reached the water yet…
****
It was a rainy day as the carriage bounced and jostled down the road. Allen feasted like a king during as he gazed out the glass window, seeing only wet trees and muddy ground. Across from him were Yeeger and a Finder, both currently in a conversation about something that happened in the past.
As Allen reached to devour the last of the soup, he heard the horses whiney through the rain, and the carriage lurched suddenly. The force of the stop sent the pot almost into his head. Immediately, the Finder stepped outside to see what the trouble was. Allen was already replacing the ace of spades in his top hat, knowing what was going on.
A moment later, the Finder shouted, "Marshal!"
Yeeger glanced at Allen before stepping outside. The white haired Marshal took a second to fight down the rising nervousness, ignoring the grunt from Yeeger outside. Then, taking a deep breath, he stepped outside.
Allen saw two rather massive Level Twos, pitiful to one Marshal, really, and laughable to two, before he was suddenly knocked back. "Allen!" He nearly slipped into the mud from the force of Rhode Camelot crashing into him.
****
The three Exorcists stumbled after Lenalee let them down, all green in the face. Miranda shamelessly emptied her stomach. Even Bookman had a hand over his mouth. Lenalee, however, smiled happily at their motion sickness.
"Lenalee-chan," Lavi groaned weakly, "Please warn us before going Mach 1." The other two nodded as vigorously as their sickness would allow.
Lenalee, unable to hold it in any longer, laughed to herself before apologizing. Her crystal-type boots had allowed her to go Mach 2 in later stages. Now that was a rush.
Having arrived earlier than expected, once the others recovered they took up residence at a nearby inn. The bookmen and women had their own rooms, though for the first night they all crammed inside the bookmen's so that they could make plans.
"Did the Noah happen to tell you when this attack would be?" Bookman asked seriously.
Lenalee actually hadn't known, the attack having been so many years before, but Lavi luckily had told her the exact date before they left the Headquarters. "I believe in a week or so, but I'm not certain."
Bookman nodded. "That gives the Finders and other Exorcists more than enough time to move in. Just this morning Komui had messaged me saying that the Finder's had noticed teams of Akuma all headed in this direction. With your heads-up, the casualties may be much lower."
Lenalee nodded and carefully removed her boots, studying them for a moment. With a glance at the amber band around Miranda's right wrist, she decided that tonight would be best to finally achieve her Innocence's evolved form. It would give her time to recover from the blood she would lose, as well as strengthen the bonds between her and Dark Boots.
Lavi watched Lenalee as she held her Innocence, half expecting it to melt there in her hands and her drinking it. Instead, she gave them all quick smiles and bid them goodnight, wishing to rise early the next day to check out the lay of the town. Lavi knew the least suspicious way to be there when Lenalee drank would be to go now.
"Lenalee-chan, wait a second!" he called out as she stepped out of the room. He hurried to catch up with her, closing the door behind him before entering her room. If he had left later, before or after Miranda left, Bookman would wonder exactly why Lavi wanted to leave, suspecting anything from secret lover to maybe even "both were sent to the past from a future when both were close friends." Lavi wouldn't it put it past the panda to puzzle it out with so little information.
Speaking of puzzles… Lavi stopped that thought and focused back on Lenalee. The woman had sat down on her bed, staring solemnly at her Innocence. After an uncomfortable silence, he asked, "So you are regaining your evolved Innocence tonight?"
Lenalee nodded. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but she was cut off when the door opened and Miranda entered. Both Lenalee and Lavi's eyes were drawn to the crystal-type Innocence on her wrist, and the German woman shifted uncomfortable under their gaze. "Am I interrupting something?"
Lavi smiled and shook his head, so Miranda closed the door behind her and sat in one of the padded chairs. "You're doing it tonight?" she asked Lenalee, and Lavi answered for her.
Miranda stared down at her own wrist after hearing Lavi's affirmative, her left hand spinning the gravity-defying ring around once. She couldn't believe what had happened back in her home town, with the struggle for her Innocence…
The pain of two bloody holes in her hands was nothing to Miranda as she saw the gaping wound in Allen's shoulder, with blood oozing and an almost charred black mass of flesh surrounding it. She gasped at the wound, horrified still at what they did as Exorcists on a daily basis. If she had her way, they would all be locked up at the Dark Order's tower where they could no longer be hurt.
Reaching out tenderly, Miranda felt along what she thought was burnt skin. To her surprise, it was icy cold - sucking away the heat from her fingers. Right before her eyes, amazingly, the blight of whatever it was was slowly receding back to its origins. She had never seen such a wound before, but she knew it had to be bad by Allen's groans.
"Can you still fight?" Lenalee asked, and Miranda was horrified at the concept of Allen heading out again in his wounded state. She needed her Innocence back, so that she could keep him from such pains. Everyone from such pains! She felt her uncontrollable Innocence stir.
To her relief, Allen answered in the negative. But then they couldn't do anything, and the black Crown Clown was still a threat. They needed Miranda, she knew it, and she was tired of letting them down. Compared to their burdens as actual fighters, two miniscule holes in her hands were nothing. She hated being useless.
As if responding to her depressed, frustrated, and furious emotions, Time Record - in its unchained form - activated in a fury of power. Miranda felt it swell around her, within her, and she felt the hope and joy of being useful again. Nothing felt better than watching the clocks rise away from Allen's wound. That gave him time.
A crushing despair, however, hit Miranda when she saw the blight unblemished by her Innocence. Nothing couldn't be healed by her, not even wounds derived of Dark Matter! It made no sense. Was she getting weaker? Without her Innocence chained down was it still random in effectiveness?
Miranda bit her lip as the black faded away on its own time, and she felt even worse when both Allen and Lenalee stepped outside to face the insane (not Allen-ized) Rhode and false Crown Clown.
No longer worrying about her friends dying on her, the struggle over her Innocence came to her in a sudden burst. Unchained as it was, the Innocence was more powerful than ever before, and she felt how much stronger it was compared to its enslaved form. That great strength railed against her, threatening to consume her completely. She knew that she couldn't control such a beast without the medium she had had before. She was beginning to feel tired just by keeping it activated.
But then, watching Allen charge forward to save Rhode - Miranda didn't even notice she was in distress - his Innocence at maximum power jolted something inside her. The beast that was her wild Innocence was strong, yes, stronger than her in fact, but she knew how to synchronize with her Innocence.
Instead of taming the beast, work with it. It was so powerful, so much stronger, that Miranda knew she could be so much more valuable to her friends if she had that instead of her chained one. And that was her goal, her drive: to protect and support her friends. Allen, Lavi, Lenalee, Crowley, Maire, Kanda, Chouji, and so many more.
Her motivation was not to fight but to support those that did. For the longest time Miranda had wondered if she would even discover an attack with her Innocence - her anti-Akuma weapon - but never had such an ability revealed itself. Now she was beginning to understand that she wasn't there to fight, and while fighting to synchronize with her wild and unchained Innocence, Miranda realized that it was her 'fight' to protect her friends.
Allen made no secret that he gave his left arm for the souls of Akuma and his right for humanity. Miranda understood that, now. Her right arm, that which bore Time Record, it was for the Exorcists. Chaining that, weakening it, only weakened the help she could offer.
Time Record no longer seemed so strong against her, yet still it raged and pounded and threatened to consume. Was it getting weaker? No, Miranda realized; she had synchronized more.
And that's what she fought for, not for Akuma like Allen, nor her 'family' like Lenalee; Miranda Lotto fought for the Exorcists, her friends. She fought to protect them, keep them safe - both in battle and out. She would turn back Time itself if it meant saving them. That was her duty, as an Exorcist…
With a cry of joy, Miranda relished in the feel of success. Finally, she synched enough to overwhelm Time Record and the storm now pulsed to her own raging emotions. She felt a warmth go through her, her Innocence responding to her. It was wild, unchained, yet they would use that to support.
And upon deactivating it, once all was said and done, Miranda could only smile as her Innocence trickled out of the clock like the Sands of Time before crystallizing around her wrist.
By the time Miranda was finished reminiscing, she saw that Lenalee's Innocence was already in its liquid form. Both she and Lavi blanched when Lenalee tilted her head back and drank the black glob of Innocence. Sure, they knew it was coming, but… Ew.
****
As much as he hated it, a great warmth rose from within at the feel of Rhode lithe form against him. Not a physical warmth like the first time she had hugged him - no, she was wet and cold from the rain despite Lero - but the warmth of affection. He was trying so hard not to think of her as his Rhode; she was not!
Instead of giving him a kiss on the lips, Rhode turned her head to smile widely at Tyki. "I have dibs on Allen!"
Tyki sighed, one hand covering his face. "What are you doing, Rhode?"
Rhode pressed tighter against Allen's exposed chest. "He promised he would play with me." On impulse, Rhode rolled her shoulders in the way the fragmented memory told her to. She smiled, pleased, as the coat slipped from Allen's shoulders.
Allen went cold inside when he felt that particular movement against his chest, and the sliding of his coat was simply too much. He roughly jerked his arms to keep the coat from falling away completely, and he stepped out of Rhode's embrace. She was not his Rhode. He would not allow himself to take advantage of the knowledge of his first life to make her a puppet in this one. That's all she would be if he did.
Still, Allen reminded himself, that was no reason not to be polite. He was on the border of laughing as he tipped his now damp hat at the Noah Clansmen. "Good afternoon, Rhode, Tyki. How are you two today?"
Tyki smiled back, returning his own top hat to his head. "I like that attitude, boy. Marshal Yeeger, Marshal Walker, I'd like to have all the Innocence you have in your possession. Yours as well, of course, although that parasitic-type may be a little difficult, boy."
"Do you honestly think I'd just give it up?" Yeeger asked, his pendulums appearing in his hands with a sharp sound.
"Your Innocence is not as good as Allen's," Rhode said with a smirk in Allen's direction. At Tyki's look, she gushed, "It looks just like Millennie's sword!"
When both pairs of golden eyes turned towards him, Allen shrugged and drew his Sword of Salvation. Tyki gasped at that, while Rhode smiled in pleasure at being right.
The very moment the sword was clear from his arm, however, three black apparitions began appearing between the Noah and Marshals. Rhode lost her smile instantly, while Allen moved closer to her with a frown on his face. Both Tyki and Yeeger appeared to assume it was the other's doing. After a moment or two, they solidified into three perfect copies of the black Crown Clown.
Wary of the black cloaks, Rhode stepped back into her shadow and appeared suddenly by Tyki's side. He looked surprised that she had used that move; both he and Allen knew she only used that in the most serious of situations. She preferred the use of her showy Door's when travelling dimensions.
Sheathing his sword, Allen sighed. "It is good you already sent your Finder's away, Marshal Yeeger. Right now we have greater troubles than the Noah." With a glare, Allen added, "These cannot be hurt by Innocence. Please be cautious." Yeeger nodded, although he looked confused.
"Rhode, what is this? Is this your doing?" Tyki asked, studying the three black sentries from his place.
Rhode shook her head. "Be careful, Tyki." Tyki looked startled at her caution before turning a dark look towards the floating cloaks with masks. The wings of Tease appeared from his hands.
"Since I can't exactly hurt these things," Allen called out to the Noah, "Would you mind giving me one of your candles again, Rhode?"
Rhode couldn't keep the gleeful smile off her face as a sharpened candle came whizzing through the air in a direct path towards Allen's eye. He caught it at the last second, blinking at the sharpened tip only millimeters from his cursed eye. That was close. It was because of that he didn't see the second one until it pierced his flesh.
Allen did not cry out, opting instead to merely roll his eyes before removing the candle from his left shoulder. "That wasn't very nice, Rhode." He held a sharpened candle in either hand like knives. The girl grinned back at him. "Please stand back for the moment, Marshal Yeeger."
Both Rhode and Tyki watched as Allen took only a single step forward. Immediately, all three black cloaks reacted.
A round of giggling revealed nothing more than Allen's Level Four eye already did, spewing the black corruption of an Akuma curse in its activation. Five Level Four Akuma were here waiting for him. Finding single fragments of Innocence used to be so much simpler, Allen remembered.
The Music threatening to pound through his head, the empathetic agony of seeing the cursed souls with this higher level eye, and that Rhode was angry at him for exorcising another Noah Clansman all should have sent Allen to his knees by the sheer intensity of each. Instead, dressed in his Marshal's coat unzipped with matching slacks and the elaborate top hat that Tyki had given him, Allen looked a serene calm and tipped his hat politely.
"Good evening, Akuma."
More giggling, and four of the five revealed themselves in a circle around him. A sudden barrier snapped into place, and Allen nearly sighed in the relief of no longer feeling the souls' pain. "Hehehe! So you want to play, Exie?" one asked, a finger near its smiling lips childishly.
MODIFY THEM! a voice shouted inside Allen's head, but he crushed it along with every other voice in there. Turn them into your army to fight the Earl. Magic with Magic! That voice was always reminiscent of Cross, though it was not real.
Exorcise them. Simpler words, belonging to Crown Clown if it had a voice.
Save them. Mana.
Embrace me, command them, send them to slay the First Noah! All is within our power; the Music is our strength. That voice was real, and almost constant. The Fourteenth. The hardest to ignore, and the most devastating to himself if he didn't.
Smiling through the voices, some real and most not, Allen drew his sword. At the same time, the white cloak bloomed into existence and wrapped around him comfortingly. A hug from an angel, really, though Allen would have preferred Rhode at any given moment. Then, Crown Clown peeled off of him and hovered by his side - the unlikely ally.
Two against five were much better odds, Allen figured. The warmth of Crown Clown was an affirmative. Smiling now, Allen charged. Crown Clown was with him, Crown Belts and the spikes of its morphing cloak going out to exorcise the Akuma.
Spikes of black had shot out instead, from all three cloaks, which Allen jumped over easily. It was only upon landing that he realized those had just been a diversion.
"Tyki!" Rhode yelled, a distance away from where she had been earlier.
The Noah of Pleasure was already wrapped in one of the black cloaks, and the same moment Allen saw that, Tyki began screaming. His Tease had all been slain by the cloaks. The sound of Tyki screams of agony sent shivers down Allen's spine the same way Rhode's had. These two were Noah, of those better in control of their emotions at all times. Allen had only seen Rhode scream in pain once before, and Tyki never, not even when Allen had rammed his massive sword in his stomach and the powers of God had tried burning away Tyki's Noah. Yet both gave out such inhuman sounds when wrapped in that black Crown Clown. What the hell was it?
Moving forward with the intent of helping out his former brother-in-law, Allen cursed as both of the remaining cloaks struck out against him, as well as a warning Crown Belt from the one around Tyki. The dozens of Crown Belts from one cloak had been a ridiculous struggle, and now that with a second cloak striking out as well was impossible.
The second false Crown Clown had risen up on its stilt-like spikes, the way Allen would have at times, and charged forward as well as sending out additional spikes. Try though Allen did, his options of dodging was too limited and in moments the second Crown Clown's stilt spikes surrounded him, the cloak itself direction above him only by feet.
Allen half-expected it to suddenly shoot downwards and wrap around him, as it did with Tyki, but instead the stilts became crown belts and merely trapped him, pinning Rhode's candles to his chest - thankfully not in - and rendering him unable to move. Still, Tyki was screaming, collapsing to his knees if the smaller lump of black was any indication.
With a look Allen's way, Rhode created more candles and approached Tyki, a scowl on her face directed towards the black cloak. At the same moment, Yeeger took a step towards Allen to try to help him. Both acts proved to be a mistake.
Rhode wasn't even halfway to Tyki when the third cloak was upon her, dancing expertly between the darting candles in its shape-shifting ways, before finally embracing her. Allen screamed as the mask fitted itself over her face and the black cloth swirled around her arm in an imitation of Crown's Edge. He didn't want Rhode to be in pain again. Not ever.
The false Crown Clown still hovering above Allen didn't have near as much difficulty with Yeeger, simply gliding through his pendulums and wrapping around him immediately. If Allen had eyes for anyone but Rhode, he would have been surprised to find it actually surrounding an Exorcist when it hadn't done such a thing to him nor Lenalee before.
Three wretched screams tore unhindered through the pounding rain, and after an uncertain look at one another the Akuma moved to help their masters. None moved a full step before the cloaks destroyed them all with Crown Belts. Again, if Allen had looked he would have seen what happened to the souls of those Akuma.
Struggling as he was, Allen was shouting his rage at the black cloaks for what they were doing to his Rhode. His Rhode! With a howl, he activated his left arm. The appendage of Innocence unsurprisingly passed through the black material without harm and Allen was surprised to see the candle still clutched within its grip. Grimly pleased, Allen moved with singular determination.
With a quick slash, Allen cut himself free and hit the ground running with a straight course to Rhode. With a candle in each hand, Allen was a whirlwind as he slashed through any encroaching Crown Belt and whatever else attempted to hinder his progress to Rhode.
With a dual thrust, Allen tore large holes inside the black material of the black Crowned Clown and Rhode's scream stopped immediately, though the cloak squirmed fitfully - hopefully in pain. With his human hand, Allen gripped the metal mask and ripped the cloak off of Rhode and slammed it into the ground with as much force as cloth would allow. Remorselessly, he stabbed the cloak and mask until he was sure it would stop moving.
Giving a good, hard look at Rhode for any signs of damage - he saw only what he saw last time: exhaustion, lingering pain, bored child - he moved on to the next closest cloak, recognized to be Tyki only by the sound of the scream. Rhode watched him in silence the whole time, both fists clenched tightly.
Desperation and fury were lessening now like the uncoiling of a snake, but still Allen moved with swift and sure movements. In moments he had removed Tyki's cloak and later destroyed it or killed it or whatever the hell happened when it stopped moving. Tyki was breathing hard afterwards, sprawled onto his back in the mud and staring at the rainy sky neutrally.
With only one left, Allen turned and moved fast towards Marshal Yeeger. Before he got there, however, Allen was surprised to hear the screams dying down. No Crown Belts or spikes or any form of attack was sent as Allen arrived at the Marshal. When he reached out to remove the cloak, Allen went cold as the black material was absorbed inside the Marshal.
No trace was left of the former opponent as Yeager sat there on his knees - eyes closed, breathing unsteady, arms slack, and Innocence dangling uselessly in the mud. Allen crouched in the rain next to him cautiously. "Marshal Yeeger, are you alright?"
Yeager didn't open his eyes, but his mouth cracked and a raspy exhale was the sound of attempted speach. More rasps were heard until the voice finally caught up and Allen backed away fearfully.
"..rching… S…rching for the precious… heart… It wasn't me… next who'll it be? …The Duke Millennium… Is searching… Searching for the precious heart… It wasn't me… next who'll it be? …The Duke Millennium…"
"Y-Yeeger?" Allen's voice caught as he asked. "What are you…?"
"…Searching for the precious heart…"
Allen pinched the bridge of his nose with a shuddering sigh, removing his top hat as he stood up. He felt like crying, but a churning of thoughts kept pushing the tears to the background. What happened? "I'm sorry I failed you, Marshal Yeeger." Why did the cloak go inside of him? "I wanted so much for someone like you to live this time." What happened to it? "You don't deserve this." What the hell is that cloak? "Please, forgive me." Why? Why does he sing that song? "May God have mercy on your soul and accept you to his kingdom for all eternity." WHY DOES HE SING THAT SONG?!
Allen regarded the pain in his eyes the same as the pain in his shoulder: something to be repressed. He turned around to look at the two Noah he had saved. A wife and an uncle-in-law; a sister and a brother. Both were standing side-by-side, strangely quiet and neutral, though after that experience Allen couldn't blame them for a complete shutdown on their emotions.
As Rhode's door rose behind her, the Noah herself smiled at Allen. "Next time we'll play for sure, Allen. I promise."
With that damn song in his head from Yeeger right behind him, Allen smiled back and nodded his acceptance. Tyki turned without a word and walked stiffly through the door. At Allen's nod, Rhode giggled and blew him a kiss before skipping inside quickly. The door closed behind her.
Allen wouldn't deny the joy he felt at Rhode's small act of affection as he sighed and faced the still singing Marshal.
****
Allen replaced his top hat as he stepped outside the hospital. The haunting song still reverberated through his head, and each note was a renewal of guilt from not being able to save Marshal Yeeger in this second chance. Allen had left the escaped Finders responsible for contacting the Order about what had happened.
Also in the hospital, Allen had left a note for whoever came for Yeeger. The note explained that he was heading east to find Marshal Cross and other things required in a monthly check-in. Also in the note, however, Allen finally explained his interactions with both the Noah and the appearance of the false Crown Clowns, including a description of them and an altered turn of events as to what happened (he couldn't very well say he had saved the Noah).
Belgium with the destination of Anita in China. That would normally take Allen a month or so by train, considering he managed to take trains around or through certain mountain paths. However, knowing his master as he did, Allen was planning on a nice, curvaceous route that involved rural villages and no wine shops/brothels. His master would never expect him that way, right? No debt invoices that way, right?
Taking a deep breath, Allen readied himself for another pursuit for his master. If he remembered correctly, and he damn well knew he did on subjects like this, not a single invoice had been delivered to him on the first path he took to China with Lenalee and later Crowley, Lavi, and Bookman.
Who knows, maybe Lulubell would be there to meet him again. He could do with a visit from the Noah of Lust.
AN: And there you have it, folks. For some reason this story is getting more detail than I initially intended, though I suppose only I can complain about that. Anyways, the truth is this story doesn't even really 'start' until I get past where the manga is in repeating events, so everything until then is... simply entertainment? 'Cept for the fact that I have no idea what to do once I get there...
And that, my dear, few readers, is a true author's note, or perhaps just a ramble related to the story. Anyways, reviews are much appreciated. Cya next time.