12th Dusk: An Exorcist

Dylan had a huge problem on his plate, his dream last night had scared him senseless. His dream was somehow connected to the meaning of Hevlaska's Prophecy. 'The Innocence will grow into a most dangerous power indeed, properly nurtured, it will become a great aspect in the battle. But be it nurtured poorly, with anger, distrust, or distraught, it could prove to become a grave enemy.' What he knew at this point was that he most definitely nurtured his Innocence poorly; but what of becoming a grave enemy?

He supposed that it meant if he ever got this far like this, he would have, for one reason or another, turned completely against the Order. But he hasn't turned against the Order, almost the opposite in fact. He ran away from the Order, to be sure, but he did it in an effort to protect them, not with intent to harm. Then there was his dream.

It seemed as though the Earl and Cloud were just figureheads in his dream, representing his internal struggle against and for the Order. And his Innocence appeared to be the crossroad that would make the decision in the end. If you know which one is really yours. He thought of those words from his dream, and thought of how two identical blades were in front of him, when he finally chose one, he figured everything would find its place one way or another.

The biggest problem was that his dream had physically activated and morphed his Innocence in reality, which meant there was a direct link between his Innocence and this dream. He half wished he could ask his Innocence what was going on, the other half was afraid of what it would tell him if he could ask it. His head hurt from all of this, he wished he had someone to talk to about this, but he was all alone, and that would be how he would have to deal with it.

"Would you like the check sir?" Dylan snapped back to reality for a moment when his waitress asked him.

"Oh, yea, thanks." He replied, paying the bill for his meal then leaving. He took one step out of the restaurant and sighed, he had absolutely no clue what he was doing out here. He figured the easiest thing for him to do was just travel around and destroy Akuma when he saw them, but whether or not that was the best choice he wasn't sure, if he traveled around in search of Akuma, he might accidentally run into the Order, and who knows what they would do if they found him.

After thinking about it for a long while, he figured it didn't matter what he did from here on out, he would never have a good life, never a happy life, and most certainly never a normal one; that ended with his the death of his family. He made up his mind...

1 year later

Dylan swung down his Innocence on an Akuma, an emotionless expression on his face as he put the sword on his side instead of de-activating it. He now wore a light brown cloak over him, like one you see on people who wander about the desert a lot.

"Oh, thank you!" A young woman exclaimed, walking up to him.

"Don't mention it." Dylan replied blandly, no feeling in his voice.

"Please, if there's anything we can do for you-" She started.

"Food, I'll be leaving soon." Dylan said. That was all he ever asked for, along with a hot bath or place to sleep every now and then. He never asked for money or anything else, all he wanted was enough to get by on. He had lived like this the past year, moving endlessly from town to town, luring out Akuma with his Innocence, which he never de-activated anymore, then killing them, getting food, then moving on as quickly as he could.

He never stayed in one place for long, continually moving was the best way to keep from being noticed by Akuma and the Order alike. From now on he would live in solitude, striking down Akuma as he found them to protect humans, and he would try his hardest to figure out the puzzle of his dreams, which gradually got worse and worse. He hoped if he figured out that riddle, that he could finally go back to the Order with peace of mind. But the ladder frightened him, of if he figured it out, and went completely against the Order. However, he wasn't sure how or why he would turn against them at all feeling this scared about it happening, he would understand if it did though, thinking about the "why's" wasn't going to get him anywhere.

After eating the food the people of the town gave him, and taking a bit extra for the road, he was ready to leave. "Thank you for the food." He said, bowing respectfully and turning for the door.

"But wait, must you leave so soon, what if more of those monsters are lurking around?" The girl asked.

"Don't worry, if there were anymore around, they would have shown up already. But a piece of advice, if a fat man in a suit appears to you, don't listen to what he has to say, and make sure to pass that along to the other towns people." Dylan said, and left.

He was only a little ways out of the village when he heard someone cry out from behind him. "Wait," When Dylan turned, he saw an old man walking toward him. Being too precautious, he grabbed the handle of his Innocence, ready to cut him in half if he turned out to be an Akuma.

"What is it?" Dylan asked impatiently.

"You forgot something back in town." The man said. He had a beard that covered his expression, but the man's eyes made Dylan grip harder on his handle.

"And what is it I forgot?" Dylan asked accusingly.

"Your death!" The man shouted, morphing into an Akuma.

Dylan swung his Innocence backhanded, aiming for the mid section of the man, but the Akuma had been a level 2, and as such too smart to fall for that, jumping out of the way when he revealed his true form. The Akuma had four lances as limbs that came out of a small center part that made it resemble a spider, and it didn't have a visible face.

"I'm going to tear you apart." The Akuma yelled, its voice now low and sounding as if angry.

Dylan made no reply and waited. When the Akuma jumped and swung down one of it's lance limbs at him, Dylan swung his blade and blocked it. But then his blade shifted into a long chain and wrapped around the leg, holding the Akuma still. Then a shot fired, Dylan had changed the end of his hilt into a gun barrel and fired it though the center of the Akuma, and that destroyed it, then morphed his Innocence back to the form of a regular blade and putting it on his side, then continued his journey.

With a years worth experience of fighting Akuma under his belt now, Dylan was able to easily defeat even level 2 Akuma, though some were harder than others. Dylan wasn't sure what his Innocence's synch-rate was, as Hevlaska was the only one who could check it. But seeing as he was now able to transform parts of the weapon into different things, he guessed it was probably somewhere between 40% and 55%.

When night came round, Dylan was in a forest, he didn't have anything to make a shelter out of, so after he ate some food he got from the last town, he just slept on the ground. Dylan couldn't help his Innocence de-activating when he fell asleep, but activating it again was always the first thing he did when he woke up. And when Dylan did fall asleep, he had his dream again.

Like always now, he started off with nothing around him, but after he walked forward, he saw his Innocence in the distance, and ran.

Once he reached for the blade, Cloud's voice broke the silence. "Dylan, Don't do it!" Dylan didn't say anything, just waited for the dream to progress. "No, don't give in to it."

"There is nothing wrong with your sword boy," The Earl appear. "Go on and take it, if you know which one is really it." The Earl told him, and the second sword appeared.

The two of them began to try and tell him what to do, trying to make themselves louder than the other, more convincing. Although Dylan moved as he wished now for the most part, he didn't try to pick up one of the blades. Once Cloud vanished, Dylan drifted toward the Earl, and after a moment of the Earl laughing, Dylan's sword plunged through his heart, and he woke up, no longer reacting to the pain he felt in his chest, to find his Innocence in the form of a sword, though it should have de-activated when he fell asleep, and as it was when he woke up after a night he didn't have the dream.

It was dawn, the sun only just starting to appear over the horizon. Dylan ate the remains of his food, then starting walking again, not bothering to try and get anymore sleep. After a few hours, Dylan found another town, which was good since he ran out of food.

Once he entered the town, he moved his cloak so his Innocence was visible. Like always, the blade had a slight glow to it, which was the first thing that told Akuma it was Innocence and lured them out. Dylan wandered around the town for a while, but no Akuma were showing up. A few people backed away from Dylan when they saw his blade, which was to be expected if they were human. After going around a lot, he hid his Innocence behind his cloak, pretty sure there weren't any Akuma around.

However, soon after reassuring himself, he heard someone from behind. "Master, that man is an Akuma." The words made him stop dead.

He turned slowly to who had said it, and saw a young child with white hair, but Dylan realized the boy was the least of his worries. The person he had referred to as master was wearing an Order coat, more specifically, he was a General. Dylan fallowed the boys gaze and saw the man he was looking at, but why did he think he was an Akuma?

The man he specified turned toward them, and stopped at the sight of the Order cloak. "Exorcist," He whispered, barely audible, then he tore out of his skin to reveal himself as a level 1 Akuma. The people around him screamed in terror, and Dylan gripped his Innocence, about to attack it, but then remembered the General, he could take care of it, he wasn't going to blow his cover.

"Innocence, activate!" To Dylan's surprise, it was the boy who shouted these words, and with them his arm transformed into a huge metallic claw, and ripped into the Akuma, destroying it.

Dylan stood still for a moment, then looked over at the General, at his discomfort, the General was looking back at him, and he had seen Dylan's blade. Dylan straitened up and covered his sword, then began to quickly walk away. As he did, he could feel that the General knew that his sword was Innocence, he needed to get out of here fast.