Hana: -bows as profusely as Miranda when she's apologizing at a million miles per second-
Kanda: Cut that crap out! It's fucking annoying!
Hana: -winces-
Allen: -pats Hana's shoulder- Hey, it's okay, Hana...stuff happens, right?
Hana: ...BUT I'M NEVER A FUCKING DAY LATE! I still have to post Clean Slate's chapter today, too.
Allen: Erm...you can do that once you're done here, right? At least you can get that one on its update date...
Hana: I don't even have OCD...yeesh...okay guys, I don't own D. Gray-man, XavierForest doesn't own D. Gray-man. Neither of us are Katsura Hoshino, but enjoy the new chapter, and again, I'm so sorry about missing yesterday...
... ... ... ...
+ - Chapter 25 - +
"Checkmate." Eliade said with a smug grin on her face. "Seems like it's my win, Arystar."
"H-huh!?" Krory blinked, looking at the board in disbelief. "I could've sworn I had you this time..."
"I believe your problem is your lack of paying attention." The blonde-haired bombshell pointed out. She placed a hand on her womb, smiling softly at the growing life within her.
Krory's features softened, and then he reached over the board to gently clasp one of his wife's hands. "Amazing, isn't it?"
Eliade smiled and gave her husband's hand a small squeeze. "I never thought I'd get this." I Never thought I'd be allowed this.
"You haven't been overexerting yourself, have you, my love?"
"No more than what I'm used to." Eliade said, setting her husband's concerns at ease. "I will admit that a lot of my leads have lead me to dead-ends recently."
"So you are worried about Allen."
"He is rather young, Arystar...I believe his twentieth birthday has come and gone."
The bell downstairs rung at that moment, and Krory stood, "I'll go see who's needing assistance. Rest a while, Eliade."
Eliade sat back in her chair and breathed out a sigh. "You're always telling me to rest these days."
"Because I care." Krory said, before kissing his wife, and heading downstairs.
"You always do." Eliade found herself musing. Well, she could put away their game.
. . - * - . .
Moa yawned, for what felt like the umpteenth time that morning. "Things are pretty slow, hm?"
"Very slow." The police woman sighed. "Not even a robbery. I feel like we may be out of the job."
Her co-worker dryly laughed, "Funny, I was sure that'd be a good thing."
"It is," Moa assured her colleague. "Though I suppose I should be thankful for that. For us, boredom is good."
"It's not really what I signed up for." The other officer huffed. "When I came from the academy, I was expecting to beat up those shits, and send 'em behind bars."
"You'll drop that way of thinking soon enough." Moa sighed, "Being a police officer isn't really fun and games. Nothing at all like what you see on TV."
"But still!"
"No arguments." Moa sternly stated. "Everything is overly dramatized so they could get those ratings they hope to get."
"True," the other officer agreed, though that didn't stop the boredom. "Sometimes I just wish there was more action."
"Well, saddle up officer." Both cops looked up in unison, neither expecting their chief of police having entered, "Because we got a scene to get to."
"Looks like you're in luck, rookie." Moa said, as she stood. "Seems like there is going to be some action to get to."
"Har-har."
"For your sake, I hope it's not another cannibalism." The moment that the last word left her lips, Moa had to hide a small smirk when she saw her co-worker's face pale in horror. Well, that's what he got for being so eager for a disturbance.
"...cannibalism?"
"That was the case which made my last partner quit."
. . - * - . .
Kanda wearily eyed the wall, where the blood of the victim was currently decorating the weathered surface. This was overkill, and for him, that really was saying something.
"What the fuck?"
"That's what I want to ask." Kanda groaned, turning to face Robin who had finally entered the scene. "What the hell took you so long?"
"Didn't think I would be missed." Robin joked, before eying the scene for herself. "God damn, did someone watch too many slasher movies or something?"
"Anyone would think that." The male said, having also come to the same thought process. "Looks like their death wasn't quick and painless."
"I thought the cannibalism case was bad." Moa's voice rang out, taking in the morbid scene. "Kanda, Robin."
"Hn."
"Heya."
"...you know those two Hess?"
"In cases like these you'll be working with people like them a lot." Moa calmly explained. "Do you got an idea for what happened here?"
"We're waiting for Bak to take a look at the body." Kanda informed the officers, gesturing to the man kneeling before the body that was slumped under where the blood splattered. "Until then, there's not much we can do."
Moa allowed her blue eyes another chance to take in the scene of the crime before she adjusted her round glasses and said, "Well, I guess right now all I can do is hope that I don't lose another partner." She gave her current partner a quick once-over, and could only sigh when she saw his pale face. "I hate working these cases."
"Something would have to be wrong with anyone who actually doesn't." Robin pointed out. "Hey, Bak, find anything?"
"She's been dead for three days before we found her." Bak said as he stood, and then turned to face the police and FBI.
"Three days?" Moa asked in disbelief. "And no one even smelled the decaying body here?"
Bak gestured around the area, "There's quite a bit of trash in these dumpsters. I hate to break it to you, but it's really a wonder our Jane Doe was even found period."
"Sheesh." Robin grimaced at the thought. If the body had been too decomposed when it was finally found, almost all of the evidence would have rotted right along with it. "People need to clean up more."
"Who do you think did this?" The now sickly-looking officer inquired.
"Hell if we knew." Kanda grumbled. "Whoever did this are—"
"Agent Kanda! Agent...Robin, I have no idea your last name." Another policeman had called out.
"No one does." Robin said with a shrug. "It's too hard to pronounce. 'Robin' is just fine."
He nodded, before clearing his throat, "There's another body."
"Another one?" Kanda queried, and by his tone, the rest of the group could tell that the Asian officer was anything but pleased. "Fuck."
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this." Robin muttered, already leaving the first scene to check up on this new one. "Moa, whatever your name is, check around this scene. Kanda and I will check the new one."
"Roger." Moa said with a salute.
"So, that means I don't need to be former with you either."
"Oi."
"Um...Hess, maybe you shouldn't poke the bear..." To which the female officer only shrugged, before getting to work on the grizzly scene.
(* - *)
Taking in scene number two, Kanda felt ice running through his veins. "Fuck."
"You're acting as though you already know something."
"Because I'm not acting. I do know. This is Apocryphos' work." Unlike the scene straight out of a slasher movie, this one was done without being flashy. The slit in the victim's throat was more than enough for Kanda to know the exact kind of weapon the crazed 'priest' used.
What he hated the most was how all these bodies that just kept piling up were the work of the person who'd taken the Sprout.
There was a throb in Kanda's chest at the thought of the Brit. It'd been a while since he'd so much as seen Allen.
"God fucking dammit it all to hell." Kanda grumbled.
"Something wrong?" Robin asked.
"No."
Robin quietly observed her co-worker, before shrugging and returning her attention to the bodies. "If you say so."
"I say so." Kanda grunted. Bastard must be planning to lure him out again...but that wouldn't make sense, considering he was using my old man as a new Crowned Clown...what is his aim?
Hell if he understood anything properly anymore. Everything had pretty much gone to shit once his ass of a father had appeared.
"Che." That asshole was going to be beat black and blue when the FBI agent got to him.
. . - * - . .
"NO!" Allen screamed, sweat was beading on his form, his hand was clenched over his heart, and he hadn't even registered that people had rushed into his room to see what had happened. "No, no, no, no, no..."
"KID!" Raku's voice rang out, and only then Allen slowly come down from his all-out panic attack. "God, the fuck were you dreaming?"
"That wasn't much a dream, Raku." Mother chastised, though she herself had panicked when she heard Allen screaming in terror. With how the younger had been just moments ago, she could've sworn a mugger had gotten into her home.
"Well what else was I supposed to call it?"
On his bed, Allen flinched away from the voices while gasping for breath and grasping his sheets close. While his eyes darted from person to person, his chest ached. He felt sick and ready to vomit.
"Baba! Small rubbish bin, now!" Mother called over her shoulder. About thirty seconds later, the dark-skinned male managed to get the bin, and hand it to Allen, who greedily took it, and ended up emptying his stomach's contents into the bag-lined pail.
"You dreamt about that place, didn't you?" Raku muttered, allowing his remark to go unheard by the others. God dammit, how do you recover from something like that?
How can you recover at all, Raku? Give him time to collect himself.
Great, he was hearing his lover's voice again. He sighed, knowing that replying to what wasn't really there wouldn't be in his best interests at that moment.
Allen tiredly looked up at Raku, his throat sore and his mouth tasting vile. "Mmm." He held the bin closer, and grimaced at the smell of his own vomit.
"When you think you're done puking, sit with your head between your knees." Raku sighed. "I'll get you some water."
Untrusting of his voice, Allen nodded. Anything to get the taste out of his mouth.
"Best give him some space, then. Baba, get the kettle started, I doubt I'm sleeping for the rest of the night."
"Okay, Mother." Baba said, already on his way to the kitchen.
"Feel free to join us when you're better, alright?" Mother told the younger male.
Again, Allen nodded his response. He really felt like shit after that horrible night terror. Because nightmares were far more merciful.
Nightmares didn't leave him in a cold sweat and with a painfully high heart rate when he thrashed around until he woke at some ungodly hour of the night. They weren't as scary.
Raku didn't mention any of the things he noticed while observing his son's lover; he spoke of neither Allen's trembling nor the anguish in those dull eyes, figuring that the kid wouldn't want any more of his condition pointed out.
After all, there wasn't much he could do given the British male's state. He could only pray to whatever god that existed for this young one to come out strong after all of this bullshit.
"Come, Raku. We'll leave him be for now." Mother told the older man in the room. She was given a nod, and both older adults left Allen with some breathing room.
Allen was thankful that the others had vacated the room. He preferred being left alone in situations like these so people didn't see him at his weakest. Being like this was humiliating, so he sure as hell would rather keeping this shameful display to himself.
Tears escaped passed his defenses, though Allen did nothing to wipe them away. "...I miss him..." Allen muttered, his thoughts having drifted momentarily to the man he loved. Yu always knew what to do knew how to make him feel less like he was in this moment.
It wasn't just Kanda he was missing so much. He missed Lavi, Lenalee, Timcanpy, the kids...he wanted to at least know how they were doing...but he knew he wasn't in any shape to do even that.
Having contact with them would be... He knew they would be worried now, but he had to keep the current him from their knowledge. Allen wasn't in the shape to be seen by those he cherished most.
No matter how much it hurt, he wouldn't see them until he was capable to do so himself. That's what Raku was trying to help with, right? The hardest one Allen found to trust, was doing what he can to earn it...even if some ways weren't exactly agreeable to most people.
...and by that, Allen meant a mentally unstable man is trying to earn his trust, and help him heal.
Raku would need help too. Professional help, if the guy was still conversing with his dead lover.
Not that he could blame his fiancé's father. If Yu were to die... Allen might just become the same. Insanity would creep up on him, and it wouldn't be anything like the first couple times. He'd always been close to breaking, so he was almost sure that losing Yu would be the tipping point…If not to the point he'd be thrown off the cliff of sanity. Allen took a breath, only to wrinkle his nose when the smell of his sickness from the bin invaded his senses.
"I'm gonna get sick again with this near me..." Allen muttered, placing the bin on the floor, and as far from him as he could currently get it.
This was so stupid. He was supposed to be getting better, not giving his partially-digested food to the bins.
Then again, the road to recovery isn't what I would call easy... He thought with dismay.
... ... ... ...
Like I said, I completely forgot about the update for Light within Darkness yesterday. I have no idea how I could've forgotten, but perhaps it's the stress of the last few days...my dog was put down literally the day after my birthday, and about a week ago, I found that the university I was fighting tooth and nail to be accepted into...just wasn't what I thought it would be. (I actually talked about it in my twitter if you're curious, just look for GuitarinStar, that's me)
So, a lot happened recently...and now I'm working on getting into two different facilities...and trying to figure out stuff. If I got accepted into the first one, these two should literally be child's play in comparison. Like, no joke. Anyway, I guess I'm done rambling here. Sorry 'bout that.
I promise, the next chapter will be up, and for those of you maybe looking forward to Clean Slate today, I'll be posting that right after I've posted this chapter.
R&R doesn't stand for Rest and Relaxation! No matter how much I need it. Leave a review and let us both know how we're doing! Show this sotry some love by favoriting this story, and don't forget to follow so you never miss a new chapter when it goes live! Check out my co-author's work as well, and until next time, we'll see you again on...
Light within Darkness!