Old chapter 50.
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The Thirty-Sixth Testament
– The Overture –
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"Say, Allen…"
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"We're family, right?"
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He resisted a sudden urge to shake his head – to dispel the resurfacing memory – before he was somewhat abruptly torn from his thoughts by a voice addressing him; startling him almost.
"Enjoying the party?"
He shifted his attention to Road where she stood by his side on the large balcony overlooking an even larger ballroom, featuring a quite fancy staircase along with a vast number of people who undoubtedly belonged to the uppermost of the upper classes if their style of dress and general demeanour served as any sort of indication. Then again, they – more specifically Allen and Road – were also very much dressed for the occasion, even though Road herself seemed to be able to conduct herself in an appropriate manner with a great deal of ease. Then again, it wasn't exactly as though Allen struggled to do so either, seeing that he really had no desire to do adapt anymore than absolutely necessary. Admittedly, neither did he have that much of a desire to stand out very much either, which was why he had – after having been persuaded into turning up and into wearing the fanciful clothing that had been prepared for him – kept a decidedly low profile, not leaving the upper balcony to which he had first been guided, even if spending an extended amount of time on the aforementioned balcony did equal sharing the company of not only Road Camelot but also that of the Earl and that of Sheryl Camelot, the latter of whom obviously disapproved of him being there in the first place.
Then again, it wasn't as though Allen himself very much liked to be there either now, was it?
Apparently, Tyki – who was now navigating the dance floor down below with much fluidity and a great deal of ease, exchanging pleasantries with people down below – had reported at least some part of the theories and information that Allen had possessed the poor judgement of sharing with him to the Earl, who had evidently responded with reeling them back in through issuing an invite which was less of an invite and more of an order unintended to allow room for disobedience.
Truth to be told, Allen himself would have been perfectly satisfied to disobey. However, since he found that he didn't quite fancy the thought of being locked back up in some gilded cage again, he didn't offer up a whole lot of resistance seeing that he knew it would have done him little good.
The Earl had – after all – already made up his mind. And, if Allen showing his face and moderate compliance did mean that his seeming fate of being physically confined again could somehow be avoided, then all the better.
To be completely truthful, Allen found that he had rather sickened of the relative tediousness that had come to inhabit his more regular surroundings. However, that by no means meant that he found himself more at ease in the most recent setting or with the new challenges that it no doubt presented to him. Then again, he sincerely doubted that he would come to inhabit it for very long; if so, then he might even have to remove himself from it, seeing that it was him both ill-suited and quite repulsive as well, all things considered. It was after all but one side of society, and he had – both in the past and more recently – been acutely aware of the other side of it – the not necessarily uglier, but certainly poorer side of it. He had – after all – been a part of it, hadn't he?
"This really isn't my idea of fun," Allen finally admitted, tilting his head slightly to cast a sideways look at the people accompanying him on the balcony before once again surveying the dance floor down below. "But there are worse places to be," he added, admitting it both to them and to himself.
Admittedly, there were also better places to be; maybe not for him, but with all due likelihood for others. Truth to be told, Allen briefly found himself wondering if there was actually a place where he would rather be before concluding that indeed, there was such a place – several of them, as a matter of fact. Truth to be told, he would rather be back at the graveyard out in the cold and preferably also on his own. Then again, if the recent tendencies of others served as any sort of indication, the latter alternative was currently not a viable one in the eyes of others.
"I imagine that there are," the Earl noted with a minor degree of amusement, stirring his tea but pausing in the action as Allen turned partially to level him with another look. "Though I struggle to imagine what you could possibly be thinking of, child…"
Allen retained eye contact for a few more seconds before turning his back towards the man anew.
Obviously, there were far worse places to be. After all, there were still…
His grip on the railing tightened as he forced the vivid impressions – were they truly mere dreams or fragments of memories? – back down along with the visible shudder that would no doubt have accompanied them, had he not moved to suppress it where he had.
"Not a child," he finally corrected, dully, overlooking the things taking place down below.
"We're all the Earl's children, Allen," Road said quietly, a hand on his sleeve. "Regardless of age."
"Right, daddy?" She shifted her posture slightly, grinning at Sheryl Camelot where he sat, conflicted expression giving way to a partially genuine and partially forced smile and a voiced affirmative.
Allen tore his eyes from the spectacle. However, feeling the burning of eyes bearing down upon him, he directed his own gaze back towards the Earl. The latter was indeed watching him intently, even whilst lifting the teacup to sip from it.
Family; it was such a foreign concept to him. At one point which did not lie all that far back, he had considered it a highly inconceivable notion, because obviously, family was not…
Beside him, Road startled slightly, and her hand immediately flew to the side of her head, her eyes widening slightly just as her adoptive father's eyes narrowed and the latter turned his head to look at the Earl.
Allen watched the silent exchange out of the corner of his eye, knowing well that they were having a conversation from which he was excluded. It proved very brief though, as an obviously displeased Sheryl Camelot soon rose from his seat, sending a withering glare off in Allen's general direction before stalking off.
Having given Allen a slight pat on the arm and a smile that looked both very genuine and a tad strained, Road bounced off after her adoptive father before latching onto his side, turning only briefly to wave as they headed for one of the grand staircases, leaving Allen very alone in the company of one that he had not been left alone with since the time prior to the events in Edo and the relative period of chaos that had followed them.
"So…" He turned around fully, leaning back slightly against the railing, slouching. "The verdict?"
The Earl removed the rim of the teacup from his lips, placing the cup back onto the saucer with effortless elegance even whilst keeping his eyes very firmly fixed upon Allen himself. It was an action which did prove to be somewhat unnerving, but still much less unnerving than was to be expected. "If your… hypothesis proves correct, then the need to rethink matters might arise…"
"The evident tampering, you mean."
"Have a seat, Allen." The Earl made a vague gesture towards the chair that Sheryl had recently vacated. "Humour me."
All things considered, he would rather have remained standing. Then again, standing largely meant remaining at the railing and its quite spectacular view aside, it was a very exposed position to be in if he really thought of it. Then again, so was remaining in close proximity of the Earl, wasn't it?
Then again, it was a matter of definition when it all came down to it, wasn't? "How?"
"Speak, child," the Earl urged, once again stirring the liquid contained in the teacup. "Your stubborn silence troubles me greatly."
Without comment, Allen claimed the chair that had only just been made vacant. Having done that, he reached into the recesses of his unnecessarily fanciful clothing, pulling out a tattered volume of Macbeth and pulling one of his knees up to support the book against it. Admittedly, it was hardly any way for a gentleman to sit. Then again, he was neither a gentleman nor of particularly gentle birth now, was he?
"One day, at the circus, there was a clown," he began in a perfectly neutral voice, continuing on even as there was the sound of china clinking rather suddenly. "A mad clown with a dog named Allen in a tow…"
In spite of the rather sudden clink of china, Allen did not look up from the book in his hands. Instead, he merely opted to turn the page, though it was mostly for show and to keep his hands busy. Suddenly, he found that he missed his old playing cards, having lost them somewhere along the way; though he found that he could not quite recall just when or how such a thing had occurred, which was mildly annoying actually. Then again…
"I hate clowns." He flipped through an unknown number of pages, not really paying all that much attention to what was going on within the book itself, seeing to the fact that he knew the story pretty well by then, though by no means by heart. "Crowds too, but clowns in particular."
"I didn't like the circus, but I didn't hate it either." He slammed the book shut and rose from his seat, laying the book down there instead as he walked up to the edge of the balcony, leaning against the railing slightly as he overlooked the spectacle still taking place below. "Like me, it drifted… and I drifted too, along with it."
"Then," he went on to say, keeping his back turned. "There was a clown – a mean one – and then, there was a mad clown – a kind one, with a dog."
"The first taught me how to hate."
Cosimo.
"The second…" He closed his eyes. "The second taught me that nothing lasts; that people die… and that eventually, so would I, in one way or the other."
"Innocence reacts to and feeds upon heightened emotions."
"It was my hatred for the first clown that awoke it."
"I came to resent the world and the people in it…"
"When the other clown came – the mad one – I…"
He hesitated, pausing. Then, he tore his eyes from the spectacle below and moved on to study the elaborate architecture, high ceilings and all. "I felt something, I suppose. Sickening, but…"
"He was already broken."
"I got attached."
"He died."
"And then…" He finally turned, levelling his eyes on the other. "You came along."
For a moment, the Earl remained silent; contemplative. "What now then, Allen?" he then enquired, mildly but as ever with a hidden edge to it.
What now, indeed? Much depended on Allen's decision; many lives hung in the balance, including his own. "You're about to launch a strike against the Order, aren't you?" he finally began. "Regarding the Second Exorcist Programme."
"Should I take it that you wish to partake in this operation then?" the Earl eventually asked, continuing to eye him intently.
Allen did not respond immediately. "What if I do?" he finally asked.
"And if I were to request that you eliminate one of those former companions of yours?"
Allen did not move; outwardly, he remained the same but inwardly, his heart skipped a beat, seemingly intent on betraying him once more. Then, he lifted his gaze, staring at the other, unwavering. "My Innocence probably wouldn't allow me to go through with it."
"Ah, yes… that." A look of disdain crossed the other's features, lingering. "Should it come to trouble you further, then the matter can swiftly be dealt with. However…"
The other's eyes wandered off to rest upon the arm in question where it hung in a sling. "You may view it as something akin to insurance."
"For my protection," Allen commented, because it wasn't really a question.
"For now, yes," the Earl affirmed, though he did not appear to be quite happy with the arrangements. "Though I must admit that I was surprised by how it behaved back in Edo, I take it that you haven't been able to invoke it since?"
Allen shrugged mildly in response. "It's not like I've actually tried," he finally said, making a slight gesture with his other hand towards it. "I just know that it won't work… because our interests no longer coincide."
This time around, the Earl did look mildly intrigued but said nothing, seemingly aware that there were still words to be exchanged between them.
"Say…"
The Earl continued watching him, waiting for him to continue.
"You've got someone in the Order right now, right?"
The Earl inclined his head ever so slightly, interlacing his gloved fingers. "Perhaps."
"Any news on Cross Marian?"
The quiet scrutiny continued, though the other's eyes narrowed slightly; dangerously.
"What?" Allen finally snapped, seeing that the other had wordlessly demanded some type of explanation for this enquiry of his. "An elusive bastard you've sought to eliminate since forever returns to the Order and turns up assassinated by someone who didn't act on your behalf. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, what more a man who already knew too much could possibly have learned in order to sign his own death warrant?"
This time around, the Earl actually chuckled. "Quite a lot, I'd reckon."
"Regardless of motive," Allen retorted. "There's someone – something – moving about in the Order."
No longer chuckling, the Earl considered him seriously for a moment before responding. "Yes."
"And there is someone – something – that's tailing me."
The considering look sharpened slightly. "Since Edo," the Earl calmly noted, eyes once again flickering towards his left arm. "Since your Innocence began acting up."
Allen said nothing, leaning slightly against the railing.
"Still…" the Earl finally began, continuing to watch him intently. "You're not feeling it now, are you?"
"No," Allen offered simply as he left his spot at the railing and made his way back to the chair, picking up the book that he had discarded over there and reclaiming his seat as he finished his statement. "He – it, whatever – is out of range."
For a while, the Earl said nothing, continuing to scrutinise him no doubt as he continued reading right where he had left off. "If it changes, you are obliged to inform me," the man finally said as an attendant – more likely an akuma than not – appeared to refill his cup before disappearing just as quickly. "You're also forbidden from taking independent action against them."
Allen finally tore his eyes from the book, shifting slightly to give the man a look. "So it is alright to pursue as long as I bring along a friend?"
"You are not to pursue," the Earl clarified, voice sharpening. "If you wish to come along, then you must remain with me; at my side."
"Should you run off again…" the Earl went on to say, responding to his unasked question. "Be it in pursuit of truth or vengeance… then I shall not be lenient. Is that clear?"
Allen slammed his book shut. "Crystal."
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"Say, Allen…"
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"We're family, right?"
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For as long as Allen himself could possibly recall, he had never quite grasped the whole concept of family, or rather not the perks of having certain people to whom one was closely or distantly related by blood and to whom one therefore owed some type of obligations. In the Noah family, said obligations included protecting the Earl, though the man himself hardly seemed in need of much protection from anyone or anything but his own madness in Allen's general opinion.
Then again, with Allen being the way that he was and having acceded to his – to say the very least – precarious position as the host of the Fourteenth Noah – the one who attempted a coup d'état, for reasons entirely his own – he was not exactly in any position to question such fundamental principles of the whole family concept. There was after all a fair deal of his supposed kin – most prominently those whose company he had generally been spared – that were perfectly ready to pounce at him, should he exhibit any open signs or mere indications of anything but his loyalty to their cause.
Said cause was obviously serving the Earl, but also included serving the Earl's interests, and the latter did with all due likelihood also extend to eliminating perceived threats to the man's life and authority, into which category Allen himself was no doubt included. Then again, with his own track record and his possession of an Innocence that the Earl still – for reasons largely unbeknownst to them – persisted in keeping intact, Allen would by no means have awarded himself with any greater degree of trust had he been in their position. Then again, putting his faith into anything beyond the notion that he would end up getting screwed over eventually no matter which choices he ultimately made would prove problematic to say the very least, because even if one side or the other did uphold their end of the bargain, there was always a third side – of an inner or an outer nature – ready to interfere, should it be deemed necessary.
Then and there, in London, standing at the Earl's side as the latter greeted the latest addition to the family, Allen did level the other with a look to determine whether or not this newly awoken Demon Eye Wisely – representing the Wisdom of Noah – would come to actively play a part in plotting his imminent demise or if they would be perfectly satisfied to have others bringing about it. After all, with the possible exceptions of Road and Tyki and partially the Earl, there was really no-…
The newly awakened one – with hair drained of its colour and three additional eyes on his forehead incorporated into his stigmata – snapped their head up; it was a fairly small motion, but very much noticeable to Allen as it signalled a sudden shift in the other's attention, tearing it from their aching head and then projecting it straight onto Allen himself.
In turn, Allen began paying more attention to the Earl's movements all whilst Road – who stood by his other side, having insisted upon holding his hand – moved her head slightly as Wisely stared, first with confused suspicion, then with a momentary flash of something – rage, perhaps – and finally with a smile that looked far more predatory than friendly. Perhaps even a tad gleeful, judging from the way in which Wisely's attention shifted from one of those assembled to the other, no doubt fishing for information. Then, the smile turned anew towards the Earl and then towards Allen by default, widening, all whilst the Earl wished the other a good morning. Momentarily, the other's attention shifted back to the Earl, but it swiftly returned to Allen where he stood, staring right back at him now, unwavering.
"Thirty-five years, huh?" Wisely began, eyes sweeping briefly over those assembled before once again being drawn back towards Allen where he stood. "Plenty of new faces…" he went on, sounding like he was relishing in it all very much as he rose to his feet. "Good morning. Long time no see, my masters."
Above them, the moon hung low; full, neither growing nor waning, yet surrounded by darkness and seemingly ready to be swallowed up all the same as it was at new moon, before it was born anew through reflecting the light of another's brilliance.
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"Say, Allen…"
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"We're family, right?"
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He spared another glance at the moon, taking it in before dismissing it, levelling his eyes upon those far needier of it as the Earl turned to face him.
"Are you ready, Allen?"
He slipped his hand from Road's grip, and she in turn moved to stand at the Earl's other side. Then, he extended his hand – his human one – towards him.
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"Say, Allen…"
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"Don't you have any friends?"
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One heartbeat.
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"Still… They stayed with you for a long time, didn't they?"
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Another.
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"Aren't you sad?"
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"Aren't you sad, Allen?"
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He held out his hand for the other to grasp. "Let's move forward," he said. Together, he tagged on inwardly as he perceived the bitter aftertaste that the previously used – borrowed; stolen – words had left on his tongue.
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"Say, Allen…"
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"What happens now?"
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