Hana: We're just about done with the world of the past...soon it's time to open your eyes, and deal with the real world.
Richie: ...things are going to go pretty far south, aren't they?
Allen: Ehh...yes. Most likely.
Richie: Hana doesn't own D. Gray-man, thank god for that.
Hana: Rude. Enjoy the new chapter everyone~!
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+ - Night 50 – Awakening - +
Yu was persistent as he helped the still otherwise injured Exorcist out of the room he'd found him in. The only way he could think of to get out of that place without anyone knowing the wiser was to go through the air ducts above. A tight squeeze for Marie, but the child still somehow dragged the larger man along as he went.
I wasn't exactly sure why I was crawling after them. Perhaps I was curious. Or…maybe it was a hunch that I'd find Allen and Road…I hoped so. I had no idea how I kept going between Alma and Kanda like I have been doing.
"Honestly though, kid. You're pretty strong." I heard Marie say, and I only nodded in agreement. Marie was nowhere near being easy to carry around like that. Especially for someone who currently only stood up to maybe below my bust?
"My body isn't exactly normal." Yu grumbled, continuing to drag them both along the vent's floor. "And stop calling me 'kid'."
"Yes, but what can he call you then?" I queried mostly to myself than anyone else. After all, they couldn't hear me, nor could they see or feel my presence. "I wonder what's going on in the real world…"
"Then, what should I call you?" Yu said nothing, realizing something I wasn't really sure of…or maybe…this was why he eventually had everyone call him 'Kanda', because the name of 'Yu' had a lot of bad memories to it for him? I quickly remembered that he never got the surname of 'Kanda' until after he met up with Tiedoll...that was an interesting moment to behold through my eye.
"…you sure are calm." Yu instead said, changing the subject.
"Are you talking about the artificial Exorcists?" Marie implored, before chuckling dryly. "No way, I'm about to go insane with fury."
I don't think I had ever once seen Marie lose his cool, now that I really thought of it.
"But for the meantime, I'm able to stay sane. Thanks to you." Make him sane but drive me insane. "Because you're here next to me. If I were alone…I don't know what would've happened to me.
Unbeknownst to the larger male, he had given the small Accommodator a resolve of his own.
Alma…I'll find him and get out of here.
Things…don't go as planned. It was proven the moment we reached the end of the vent. Yu was walking with purpose, Marie somehow being piggybacked by the smaller frame. It took everything in my power to not laugh at the site.
It was because of the blind male where Yu no longer cared about the Order or the battles. His negative emotions were locked away. So long as he could be with his friend.
The next place we found ourselves was the Womb Room. Cold mist rising and falling around the room as it always had done since the beginning. It was there he had found Alma.
"YU! You're safe!" The older of two said in joy.
Equally happy to see his friend, he made to call out his name, only to stop midway as he really took in the surroundings.
"Who's the big guy behind you?"
Blood.
Bodies.
Red.
Death. Edgar's form was still impaled on the Innocence that Alma had managed to synchronize with. "Oh my god…"
"I'm happy to see you, Yu…" Alma somberly said, any cheeriness there before was gone. "But, I've got to kill you now."
There was little time to react as Alma attacked his best friend. Yu had to run as fast as he could, with Marie still on his back. "Alma!"
The next attack was a close one, Yu was barely able to parry it with his newly formed weapon. "So, you've synchronized with the Innocence too, Yu?"
The next swipe of Alma's…arm blade(?)…took the arm of Yu, as it fell to the ground. It was a sacrifice the other boy had to make as he managed to shove Marie off and away from him.
"KID!"
"Why…?" Yu asked, coughing blood, and trying to catch his breath. 'Why' what though? Why was he doing that? Why had he killed those he thought of as friends?
"Day after day…all alone. I kept wondering as I waited for my friends to wake up. I kept wondering why they didn't wake up…ha…there's no way they'd wake up, right? They wouldn't even want to wake up, would they?"
I gulped, looking again at the scene. There was so much carnage.
"Ah, and there I was, probably annoying the crap out of them by talking to them every day. I mean I have a loud voice and all…I read books to them so that I wouldn't run out of topics to talk about."
"You don't mean…" Yu breathed, looking to the one he called his friend that was looking down on him from his place on the steps. "Your old memories…is that why you killed them? Edgar…all of them?"
"It's nonsense, isn't it?" Alma dryly laughed, "It's almost as if…I'm an Akuma…"
"ALMA!" The words had set the other boy off, as he charged right in, attacking the other Second Exorcist.
"No matter how many times I destroyed my body…IT WOULD HEAL AGAIN! I CAN'T STOP IT, YU!"
Another attack was lashed out, but rather than go for the younger boy before him, it had instead hit the one behind them. Marie was sent flying into the wall, falling over the ledge, and losing consciousness. I knew he was alive, but it didn't make it any less terrifying to see one of my big brothers getting pummeled as hard as he had been in this instant. "MARIE!"
Behind me, I heard flesh being pierced, and I quickly turned in time to see that in his moment of distraction, Alma had taken the opportunity to stab his treasured friend in the back, the blade protruding out of his front. "Yu…you understand me, right?"
I could hear the desperation in Alma's voice as he spoke. A need to be understood for what he had done. To never again have to live through hell.
I found…I truly pitied Alma Karma in that moment.
"As long as we're alive, the humans won't admit that they're wrong. In order to win this holy battle, they'll continue to use us as tools."
But I knew he wouldn't adhere to Alma's wishes. There was someone Kanda wanted to find. His beloved from the life he barely recalled anymore.
"We have nothing worth protecting anymore."
I looked down to where Yu had fallen, a pool of his blood around his small frame. His remaining hand was reaching up, as though trying to grasp something, when there wasn't anything there.
"Together…Yu…?" The other boy had risen, his body healed faster than I had ever seen…the beginning of his ambition. The beginning of his quest to not die…
"I'm sorry. I want to live." To not die, until he would find that person. "EVEN IF IT MEANS DESTROYING YOU!"
"Richelle." Surprised, I turned to face the one who called out to me, Allen was with Road, but it was the Noah whom called out to me. "I think we're almost done here."
"Almost done…?" What could she mean by that?
Screaming out, Yu Kanda had begun to continuously attack his best friend. Cutting him down again and again…I turned back, watching the scenario play out, as it perhaps has done many a time in Kanda's mind.
Enough…this was enough, wasn't it?
The continuous sounds of flesh being stabbed was almost never-ending, I could feel myself becoming weak, as Kanda's younger self repeatedly killed Alma. "Stop it…stop it, please…no more…"
"Y-you…." I heard Allen's voice from behind me, in the tell-tale annoyed tone he often used when anything had to do with Kanda. Or anyone that got under his skin from what I could tell. "You…you…You…YOU IDIOT, KANDA!"
Allen's fury radiated off of him in waves, more than enough to snap me out of whatever trance I'd apparently found myself in. "Shortcake…?"
The aura around the younger teen was practically manifesting itself, forcing the ground we stood on to crack and begin to crumble. It took me a moment to realize that it was actually him subconsciously invoking Crowned Clown through the world of Kanda's memories. He raised his arm, the cross on the back of his hand glowing vibrant as he held out his left arm. "How long do you plan on letting this crap go on for?" The British male hissed, "Allowing that turban-wearing bastard to use you...invading your memories…WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR QUICK TEMPER?!"
I wasn't completely sure what was going on anymore, and neither was Road as we both stared blankly at Allen as he went in, ready to punch someone.
In the next instant, the world shattered around us, and I'm just in time to see Kanda tumbling backwards from the sheer force of Allen's powerful pissed-off punch. "Holy hell…" I was half annoyed I didn't get the chance to sock him like that…but still rather satisfied seeing Yu Kanda of all people getting knocked out by a punch from my little brother.
"Hitting someone on the forehead with your Innocence…that's cruel, Allen." Road said, as she began to sit up, back in the doll form we had saw her in previously.
"Hey, I'm not complaining. I'm rather proud right now." I said.
"That's how our relationship has been from the start." Allen stated, seeming proud of the fact he one-upped the asshole of a samurai.
"I kinda wish I had a shot at giving him a left hook…dammit, missed opportunities are the worst."
Road stared blankly at me. "Are you sure you want to punch him?"
"The hell are you talking about? He's an asshole since day one. I wanna get back at him for all the BS I dealt with…and it has nothing to do with the hair cut from two years ago."
"Either way,'" Road mused, before turning her attention forward again, "Perhaps it was a little late with getting us out of there."
"Huh?" Both Allen and I asked in confusion.
"WALKER! LINHAGEM!" Allen and I were quick to snap our attention to where we heard the voice, and much to our bewilderment, Tokusa was entangled in many of the tubes that had suddenly come to life.
"TOKUSA!" Allen called out.
"The womb! STOP ALMA KARMA!"
"Shit!" I said, quickly invoked Raposa to get away while I could. Whether I was seconds too early, or late, I wasn't sure, as the moment I got out of the way of one snake-like tube, another had crashed into me, knocking me off course. "FUCK!"
It was in that moment, however, where I caught a glimpse of everyone else ensnared by the pipes, though I was more than certain most of this must've been going on while we were trapped in Alma and Kanda's memories.
"It hurts…"
"Help me..!"
"EVERYONE!" Allen called out. Bak, Reever, Johnny…literally everyone was trapped by those damn things.
"Allen…I think you may wanna see this!" I called out, my attention having been grabbed by a large mass of what I assumed was energy. I could just barely make out a figure within it.
"What is that…?" Allen breathed, the fear evident in his voice. "Alma?!"
"THE AWAKENING OF ALMA'S HATRED IS BEING TRANSFORMED INTO THE DARK MATTER ENERGY WITHIN HIS BODY!" Bak called out.
"Then…!?" Allen wanted an explanation quickly, and I didn't blame him.
"THIS IS BAD, YOU TWO!" Johnny called to the both of us, as Allen landed beside me. "AT THIS RATE, ALMA KARMA IS GOING TO BE AN AKUMA!"
"No way!" I was in disbelief. "You're serious?!"
"That can't be!" Allen exclaimed.
"SHORTCAKE!" The entire space soon became consumed by a blinding light, this was worse than bad…
"Kill them~" I could vaguely hear the Earl order the newly created Akuma.
Could I do it in time? I raised my hand faster than I could register my actions "Coisa Obscura!"
Everything was consumed in darkness.
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-cracks her knuckles- Wanna hear a fun fact? Back when this story was still "Without a Past", Richie wasn't going to be the original main character. In fact, she only came to be when I scrapped the idea of an author insert fic. I'm glad this was how it turned out~!
That random bit of information aside, R&R doesn't stand for Rest and Relaxation, no matter how much I might need it. Leave a review and lemme know how I'm doing! Show this story some love by favoriting, and if you wanna stay up to date with new chapters as they go live, please follow! That's all I need to say, so until next time I'll see you again on...
Clean Slate!
