Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-Man! Really, I hope that you should all realise that by now :P
AN: Helllllllloooooooooooooo! Is it just me that feels it has been too long since I last updated? Or is it just that a lot has happened? Or did I skip a week? Whoa...sorry guys! I think I've been really out of it all week with a disgusting hacking cough that makes me sound like an old man. On another sobering note, can we have a moment of silence for Jerry Nelson, the wonderful voice of Count Von Count (Sesame St) who died yesterday. He was truly awesome. Hope you enjoy this chapter, I think it ends quite nicely, and I hope that cheers you up :)
Allen was woken by a light tapping from behind him and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He turned around to the coloured glass window and stifled a yell as he saw Ai perching outside the window. He wouldn't have known it was her if not for the panes of clear glass as well, she was just a black shadow when he looked through the coloured glass.
Wait, what floor am I on….how did she get there?!
"Is something the matter?" Howard sat up from his temporary sleeping arrangement on the floor, sounding just a little groggy. Ai made a shushing motion and disappeared from view.
"N-no! I…I just thought I heard something. Sorry to wake you," he said sheepishly. After pretending to settle down, he waited until he heard his 'guard' was breathing steadily and softly again before creeping up to look out the window. She was back and motioning for him to go over. He shrugged and pointed to Howard, shaking his head. She looked annoyed and put her head in her hands to think. She made a motion for him to wait and disappeared again. After a few minutes, she was back and she tilted her head sideways to show the golden earpiece they had received from Bak. She pointed at it and mouthed into it. He nodded, picking up his own and placing it on.
"Hello?" He heard her ask and he nodded. "If you can't talk, just listen to me, and when you need to say something, write it on a piece of paper." she sat against the windowsill, leaning her back against the wall so she was looking at him.
"Alright! Now, you need to find a way to tell me in the shortest amount of words possible what's going on." she pointed to the paper. While Howard had given her the privacy of sleeping on her own, he was being watched 24/7. Allen didn't know why she was being supervised as well, but she seemed to be the only one who could also see that…figure, shadow, whatever that thing was, behind him. He owed her some sort of explanation.
"Start off with the….score thing," she prompted. "What is it?"
"It is the musical score I used to play the song to control the ark. Tim projected it." There didn't seem much point in hiding anything from her, and she had a right to know.
He scribbled down as fast as he could and held it up. There was a pause.
"A musical score that Tim projected? Hm…alright, what do you know about the…14th, was it?"
"As much as you. The room in the ark with the piano, the figure was there too."
"You're the only one who can read the score?"
He nodded.
"So how do you know how to read it?"
He hesitated, wondering how much he should tell her. Would telling her put her in more trouble?
"Allen…" she said menacingly, and he could hear the crack of her knuckles from here.
He hurriedly raised a hand, making a 'calm down' motion.
"I just can."
"….Fine, I won't push you to tell me, but at least try tell me if anything happens?" she sighed exasperatedly. "I'm sick of being left out of the loop, yet forced to be punished for something I don't know."
"I do not know much either, I'm sorry."
"Haha, Allen, don't apologise. You worry about other people too much. Be selfish some time, alright? Flaws are what make us human, sad as that sounds." He heard the wry smile in her voice and there was a gentle thud as she leaned her head against the window.
"So you are saying I am not human?" he smiled jokingly as he raised the paper up. Though even he wondered sometimes, his eye, his arm….
"Pffft, are you kidding me? You have plenty of flaws! Your over-politeness, your ridiculous selflessness, that damn martyr complex of yours…! " her voice became increasingly loud and he almost heard it through the window. He felt Howard stir and quickly put his finger to his lips, telling her to stay quiet.
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry." she grumbled. "So, you can control the ark with the song, no one else can understand the score but you, and you can miraculously play the piano in the 14th's secret room. I gotta say, things aren't looking good for you."
"I know…" he sighed quietly.
"Which begs the question, why am I under supervision too?" she said, frustration and annoyance evident in her voice.
"I would not have clue. You are able to see the weird figure behind me too, right?"
"Oh yeah! Why can no one else see it? Maybe there's something wrong with us," she sounded thoughtful. "Wait a sec, didn't Cross tell me to show you….?" She stood up suddenly, turning around. "Hey, Allen, can you see my back through the glass?" she asked, turning her head around. He nodded, tilting his head in confusion. In one swift motion, she lifted up the back of her shirt, baring her entire back. He felt his face heat up and immediately looked away.
"Stop being a gentleman and look, you idiot! There had to be a reason Cross told me to show you!" Ai said. Still feeling a little embarrassed, he looked up and at the black shapes on her back. He felt himself jolt in surprise, eyes widening at what he saw.
"Hey! What's wrong?"
Thoughts whirled through his head faster than he could comprehend, and he tried to find words to explain the situation. But there weren't any, there was no way to explain it, it was actually inexplicable.
There was no explanation for why the characters him and Mana had created were now moving slowly across Ai's back.
When he first saw the shapes on her back on the boat, he had thought they were familiar, but they weren't together enough for him to make the connection. Now, they were in a much more familiar array, not quite in the circular formation, just floating around like a planet that had an erratic gravitational pull. It was unmistakeable.
"Allen?" Her voice was a little fearful and she turned around, peering into the glass.
Allen had been silent for a while now, and when I peeked in, he was looking down at the paper, like he was thinking of what to right. His white hair glowed silver in the moonlight and obscured his eyes, I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all.
"It's the music score." Allen spoke so softly I wasn't even sure he spoke at all.
I walked along the ledge outside the building, not looking down at the huge drop beside me. The size of this building was ridiculous, and it had taken all my guts and trust in my ability to balance to find Allen's room. I kept close to the wall, trying to concentrate on walking and not falling, which I had to admit was difficult with the recent information I had learnt. The score that only Allen could read, that Timcanpy projected in the secret piano room, it was on my back? The score that controlled the ark? I had a feeling Cross knew something, he had that look that said he knew everything.
That bastard…why didn't he tell me anything?
Is this what he meant when it wasn't a coincidence I would be involved? Nothing made sense! I was just a hand away baby that ended up in the hands of an assassin. I was just a random off the streets who happened to be compatible with innocence. . Compared to these problems, I was happy with that. There was nothing special about who I was….
Yeah, that's why you got captured by the Noah, genius. An annoying voice jeered in my head. As long as it wasn't the other, smooth, alluring and absolutely terrifying voice.
Maybe it was Cross….? I don't know, maybe he put it on me?
Argh! I don't know anything!
I teetered on the edge as I let out a frustrated growl. I had parted with Allen after agreeing to meet like this to avoid Howard's observation if we had anything important to say. He insisted that he was alright, even if he looked anything but.
That guy always seemed to force a smile, even if he was struggling inside because he didn't want others to worry. He was so young, younger than I was, and he already had to deal with so much. It was a wonder he hadn't gone insane yet. Actually, maybe both of us had already gone insane, it would kind of explain why we were seeing the same hallucination. I sighed, opening the window to my room. I grabbed the top of the opening, swinging in legs first onto my bed. I didn't count on the fact there would be someone in my bed, and I ended up landing on them. I tumbled off the bed onto the floor, rubbing my head. Whoever I landed on must've been a deep sleeper, because they only stirred a little.
"Hello…?" I squinted through the darkness. "Lavi?!" My jaw dropped open as I saw the blurry eyed red head raise his neck.
"What are you doing in my bed?" I asked.
"Hmm? Wha…? Bu'…this is my room," he said sleepily, slurring his words.
"It really isn't." I assured him, who was now making sleepy grumbling/ mewling noises as he shifted on the bed.
"Mmmm mmm," he mumbled what I assumed was 'It is…"
"Get out of my bed, idiot." I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the bed onto the floor roughly. He was unbelievably unresponsive, only rolling over onto his back and blinking at me with half lidded eyes.
"Yer pretty…" he slurred with a drunken smile.
"Did Komui do something to you?" I asked, ducking down and pressing my hand against his forehead. It was a normal temperature but he almost snuggled into my hand as I tried to pull it back.
"Mmmmm….he gave me something funny to eat…it tasted like red," he giggled. I shook my head pitifully and sighed. With a big heave, I managed to get him back onto the bed and threw the blanket over him.
"Your stomach is going to go through hell tomorrow. Alright, just sleep it off in here. I'll go sleep in your room."
"Wait, don't….wass the word…." he waved his hand.
"Go?" I offered.
"Thass the one!" he said happily.
He sounded absolutely ridiculous and I had to choke back a laugh.
"Go to sleep, bookworm." I smiled, walking up to the bed and pulling his tangled bed covers up. He was wearing a black, thin pullover with three quarter sleeves, but from all his tossing the jumper wasn't even covering his stomach anymore. I rolled my eyes at his child like behaviour even when sleeping.
"But ahm havin' a nice dream." he mumbled.
"This isn't a dream. Let go of my arm, bookworm." I shook the arm he was hugging and cuddling up against like a puppy.
Huh. I should hit him.
But I couldn't bring myself to hit such an innocent looking sleeper. He was even drooling a little. I gave up, letting him have my arm and collapsing onto the floor beside the bed.
"Sweet freaking dreams, bookworm."
"Then I'll dream about Ai…" he mumbled with a sleepy grin and promptly fell asleep. Under the cover of darkness I was allowed to flush a brilliant red.
AN: MAHA Ai went red when she thought no one was looking. Silly girl. Everyone knows :P Thanks for reading!