Angel Fantasy: Exams on your birthday? Talk about unfortunate. Well, happy birthday to you. Shoulda told me earlier, I mighta been able to try a double update or something. Hope the day was full of relaxation and happiness.
Requiem of Time: Chapter Forty-Two - Allen
A holographic screen emitted from a table showed a virtual display of Moscow, and above it was an obvious image of the Earl's own Ark. Or, the Saint Basil Cathedral floating over a hundred feet off the ground, similar to the 'Box' in Edo. Around that were the standard structure of buildings, parks, walkways, and such for a three mile radius.
Allen pointed at a spot directly under the cathedral. "I can open a Gate directly to here. The entire government and I'm guessing city is controlled by the Earl, and likely the 'people' are really just disguised Akuma. Maria can hide us, while Master, I believe you know how to get in the Earl's Ark?" The man nodded. "Once inside, things will be a maze of rooms, similar to what you saw coming here. I can guide us, but it won't be easy. The Ark is a pocket dimension, and the Earl uses it to hide his countless Akuma. Even between the five of us, progress will be slow."
"So the plan is simply guns blazing?" Tiedoll asked, then nodded. "Well, at least you can't argue anymore, Sokoro." The masked man chuckled, and it sounded especially gleeful. "But what about the Earl himself? And the other Noah?" The way he said 'other' implied that he still considered Allen as one of them.
Allen frowned, pausing in answering. His hands moved, and the holographic image altered to showing just a large view of the Earl's Ark and spinning it around a few times. Then, still staring at the rotating building, he said, "The Fourteen once beat all the Noah by himself, and only just barely lost to the Millennium Earl. I can hold the Earl to a standstill and have been able to for some time. If even one of you were able to help me, we can beat him."
"If you're so good, why do you need us?" Cloud Nine asked, still geared for battle and watching him with her purple eyes.
"Don't slow!" Allen yelled. "We have to keep moving! Edge End!" The wave of energy cleared a small path for them, and Allen inhaled sharply as the release of souls dimmed the pain in his eye slightly.
Crowley hissed and sent his blood forward, shredding Akuma almost too quickly to see. Lavi, Kanda, Lenalee, Cloud Nine, Tiedoll... They all attacked, and the battle began.
Allen met her stare with grew eyes like steel. "In a fair fight, I can beat any of the Noah. In a fair fight, the Earl and I are evenly matched. When we go there, it will not be fair. There will be Akuma in the billions, Noah fighting like guerillas, and the Earl laying as many traps as humanly possible as we progress. We can only hope we have enough firepower to simply blast right through all that to the heart of it all."
"B-Billions?" she gasped, the one visible eye widening. Even Winters was struck silent.
Tiedoll looked pained. "Are you sure about that number? It would be troublesome dealing with that many before the actual conflict."
Allen grinned lopsidedly. "Quite sure."
The aged Marshal did not share his amusement, eyes tightening with sadness. "All this time... I've killed hundreds of Akuma a week, and I always thought that we were killing them at an equal rate to the Earl producing them. I thought we were at a balance. With that many, he could have wiped us out ages ago... Tell me, do you know what stopped him?"
Allen's smile tweaked as he cleared the holographic display and drew a single object with his finger. Tiedoll saw, and he understood. A heart. The Heart. The only thing known to be capable of defeating the Millennium Earl – the Heart of Innocence. "With that still unknown, the Earl's fate is unknown. He is desperately searching for it, always." Allen's voice trailed, his eyes glazed.
The finger that drew the simple shape moved again. With three slashes, the symbol of love changed. Humming slightly, Allen turned it upside down, then nodded, happy. A spade of rainbowy light now rotated before all of them, and the silence suddenly gained weight.
"Allen..." Cross murmured. The young Marshal remained transfixed, smiling at the projection. Cross's eyebrow twitched. He did not like being ignored. "Oi, brat..." His arm came up for a backhand. "SNAP OUT OF-"
Allen caught the arm by the wrist without looking. A pregnant pause, then he turned his head only slightly to look at Cross through the corners of his eyes. One of the grey orbs shone gold, like a Noah. "I believe I told you that the next time you hit me, Master, I would beat the shit out of you."
Cross met the stare gruffly, without his usual suave. The other Marshals watched uncomfortably, tensed – save Winters, who was itching for a fight. "Try it, brat." He made no move to pull back his arm. Allen tilted his head, grinning widely. Cross narrowed his eyes.
Then, a change came over Allen. The grin vanished, his hand wretched away from Cross's arms. Even in the dim light, they could make out the sudden drain of color in his face. Then, he spun on his heel and marched straight out of the room.
Just before he passed through the door, the ex-Marshal muttered, "Get some rest, wherever you'd like. Meet back in here at seven." Then, the door clicked shut behind him.
Cross glanced at the others in the room, and they returned the look. There was no mistaking it; Allen had been horrified by something just before he left.
XXXX
What was happening to him?
Allen buried his face in his palm as he sank down on his bed, sitting on the edge still dressed. More and more often, those... episodes have been taking him, and he was beginning to notice. It was like when the Fourteenth took control, almost exactly like it, except without the accompanying headache. Without something to fight.
And it scared him.
This new – trick? attack? – problem was different than those before. It had no warning, like the headaches, and without something to fight, how could he stop it? It wasn't a grasp for control of the body, this was something else. How could he stop this? What was it?
Fourteenth? I need to talk to you, Allen thought to himself... No reply. Fourteenth? Silence. Wonderings. Fourteenth!
Allen scowled. This wasn't like the man. Lustul is naked. That had to work. It always did.
The top hat of white and black, silver and gold went from his head to his chest as Allen leaned back, bouncing softly against his empty bed. Still no answer. Something was wrong, and worst yet Allen was alone. No Rhode, no Lulubell, not even Tyki or Lavi or any of his friends.
And now even the Fourteen was absent, and the man lived in his bloody head!
Allen laughed then. Not a full guffaw, but a chortle under his breath. It left him wheezing, clutching his stomach, but still the sound was soft. Tears stung his eyes, Allen noticed, and he briefly brushed them away with his left hand.
His one dream come true – the Fourteenth gone – and he was getting moody about it. Irony. He so very much loved irony.
Tomorrow, he would go to fight the Millennium Earl. He would bring the fight to Adam's doorstep yet again, and likely this would be the last of it. The Earl would finally die there, or Allen would in the effort. At the same time, his mind seemed to be unraveling and the one voice he could always count on was no longer there. Better yet, he couldn't even enjoy a final night with his wife. And because he didn't want his real friends aware of this plan – Marshals only – he couldn't even confide in Miranda or Lenalee.
His bed was cold, the nightmares looming, the first girl he ever liked didn't recognize him, and he wasn't aware of how many or to what extent the Noah have reawoken to their past (future?) lives. Everything was in uncertainty. He was in uncertainty.
Allen's hands came up to his head and he pressed his palms into his eyes. A tightness gripped his stomach, chilled him despite the warmth.
What he wanted was some stability. Something that said, "Even though the world is falling part, I'm still right here." He wanted Rhode here, to provide that feeling. Rhode, or someone else. Just someone to be here and hold him.
What kind of man didn't even have a woman to hold before war?
Allen stopped there, pulling one hand away to stare at it in the light. These weren't the thoughts he could afford right now. He was supposed to be a leader, and leaders were steel. Allen hardened himself, closed off his emotions. His bleeding heart clotted with ice; the whirling emotions in his mind became logic and calculations.
Sitting up, Allen allowed his hat to fall to the floor as he unlaced his boots. He shrugged off his coat, then snuffed the room's lights. Once under the cover of blankets and darkness, Allen closed his eyes.
No yearning, no worrying. Tomorrow he would fight. They would win, or he would die. That was all there was to it. Love, fear – those concepts were behind him. Victory, defeat – those defined the future.
With a sweep of the Sword of Salvation, the Millennium Earl would die. Adam would become human and saved from his darkness, while the idea behind the Millennium Bringer would die. Akuma would be universally freed, and the Noah unbound from their duties.
XXXX
"Because even the strongest man can break," the Earl of the Millennium chirped happily, grinning widely behind his spectacles.
Lenalee, dead. Crowley, dead. Lavi, dead. Kanda, dead. Everyone from the Science Department to passing faces with names, all dead. Allen was on his knees, surrounded by the faces of his enemies and sometimes friends. Rhode was absent, strangely. So was Lulubell.
The Fourteenth commented on that, kneeled next to Allen. The two of them made a pair, yet they weren't enough. Allen's heart tore with the loss of Crown Clown. The loss of everything, a maelstrom of anguish.
"Lulubell-chan?" the Earl asked. "No, no. You see, she can only torture the body. I'll admit she is the best for that, but what we're after today is your minds." He turned towards one of the surrounding figures. "Wisely, you may begin."
The man smiled, and then the true horrors began.
Allen slowly opened his eyes, feeling flushed and sweaty. More nightmares, just what he needed to start the day. He stretched his arms to the side, groaning as he absorbed the feel of an empty bed. Waking was never as harsh as sleeping, but never was it pleasant to be alone in either. Brushing sleep from an eye, Allen sat up and thought of the previous night.
Changes he didn't want or need, and whining about being lonely. He sniffed derisively. Those many, many people counting on him couldn't afford that.
He washed up and changed into new pants, donned the coat and hat, then proceeded to the kitchen for a hearty breakfast. Finally, Allen strode back into the dubbed war room (most likely the navigational room formerly). Only Winters and Tiedoll were there already, with ten minutes left to spare.
The hologram emitter was displaying Moscow again, with the disguised Ark hovering above it. Tiedoll was studying it.
A few minutes later, a fully geared Cloud Nine entered, giving Allen a brief nod. Then, it became a waiting game as Cross showed up fifteen minutes late.
"Now that we're all here..." Allen growled, while Cross just humphed. "Let's get the show on the road."
"Amen."
XXXX
For a normal business day, Russia was quite barren.
Allen stepped out of his Gate to a city that seemed entirely empty. The sun provided little warmth during this time of the year, but at least there was no snowfall. The other Marshals soon followed, so that the fivesome in black and gold stood together. Anyone who knew what the colors meant would be gobsmacked to see so many Marshals together at a single time.
The Gate closed behind them. Hopefully Miranda and Lenalee wouldn't notice that they had come and gone, though he knew little about their whereabouts since arriving with the Marshals on the Ark the previous night.
"Master, do this fast," Allen muttered, watching the black windows as if they were eyes of the enemy. Cross grunted, but moved ahead of them. Almost in unification, the coffins of Maria and Sarah began to rise.
Cross and Allen looked at each other and nodded before chanting. "On... Abata-ura-masarakato-on-gataru! Grave of Maria Limit, Release!"
"On... Abata-ura-masarakato-on-gataru! Grave of Sarah Limit, Release!" Allen synchronized.
Preparations made, the group of now seven began walking. Cross took calm, sturdy steps, not hurried in the slightest. His measured paced forced them to stay slow, as only he knew where he was going, but that it was irking them was obvious.
"Oh yeah..." Cross mentioned suddenly as he just stopped in the middle of a courtyard, almost directly beneath the floating Saint Basil Cathedral. He gave them all a grin. "Callin' forth the dead Exorcist like this... It kinda brings the attention of every Akuma in a three mile radius." Click.
Judgment was in his hand, brought from under his coat. Allen's eye activated into the gear, and he saw the approaching purple from nearly all directions. Immediately, Crown Clown burst to life around him, the white cloth swirling up and down his form until he had a cloak and his left arm was the black, bladed claw. Lau Shimin turned from the adorable monkey to the ferocious giant, while Tiedoll held both parts of his Maker of Eden. Winter's spiked shoulder rings slid down his arms and connected with a clap, the blades of Torment extending with their wicked serrated edges.
And then the Akuma began flooding towards them. Level Ones, Twos, Threes... even a speckling of Level Fours.
Cross's grin widened, just as the others tensed to react. "But thankfully we don't actually have to fight any of them. Maria!"
Allen had expected 'Magdala Curtain,' to hide them from the approaching damned, but he was surprised to hear to lifting melody of 'Carte Garde.' That was only used for controlling, not...
A black shadow suddenly deepened from under them. A square-shaped shadow with a small, red '1' on it. It opened wide enough to be under all seven of them, then opened to suck them all in. The five Marshals and two corpses fell through the Earl's Gate suddenly, with it closing behind them quickly.
They had entered the Earl's Ark, into Hell.
AN: Things are underway.
