Here's to making up for lost time- a super quick update! Enjoy the read :)
My surroundings were grey scale almost, almost too dark to see. Looking up I could see the moon clearly: it was a quarter-full. It's color was the opposite its reflection on the lake behind me: a stark white above and a bold black below. The trees surrounding the lake were bare, camouflaged skillfully into the dark of this place. This world didn't seem real at all. Something cold landed on my exposed face. I put my hands out to catch the falling snow, having just realized it was snowing for the first time. Each flake melted on impact as it met my gloved hands, leaving behind small water imprints.
A small sound came from behind me. Curious what the wet sounding distraction could be, I faced the lake that seemed to go on forever. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, that I could discern anyways (as I wasn't familiar to this place), the water might hold the answer. Not worried about my pants picking up dirt from the cobblestone I stood on, I kneeled down on all four, using my arms to bare the brunt of my weight. I had looked across the lake once before, but this time it's appearance changed.
Looking deeper into the water, the strange buildings remains protruded from the surface of the lake. This had not been here previously. The wreckage of the oddly familiar building structure bothered me. I had seen it before; I had been there before, when it stood unscathed. These ruins had been home for everyone. Where was everyone? Just a little deeper, the water had turned a vibrant, gorgeous sunset color. This color made everything that lay submerged under the water with it stand out, defining shapes of the ruins: roofs, archways, pillars and unidentifiable pieces that used to be something.
The black quarter moon was even more prominent reflecting against a color so vibrant in contrast to its own. I could catch a glimpse of a person now. A woman probably: long ponytails that seemed to move as if a breeze was blowing. None of this made sense. It was Lenalee. I would know her anywhere. She was covering her face, and her head was down. Was Lenalee crying? And who was that lying in her lap? Their head was turned away so I couldn't make out their face.
The left arm of the stranger hung limply from the girl's lap, and their hand confirmed my suspicion: this hand, what little showed despite the long exorcist coat sleeve, was red and marred with black nails. It was my own hand, before crown clown. Why was she all alone? I needed to go to her. I disrupted the calm surface of the lake with my hand, something doing the same but from below. It moved quickly and I didn't have time to pull my arm back fast enough before the hand had grabbed my wrist.
"No," I say, wanting to fight the hands grip on me. Before I can focus on the problem in front of me, the sunset hue vanishes along with Lenalee and my presumably dead body, a layer of ice forming and freezing the lake quickly.
"Lenalee!" I cry out. It's useless. She can't hear me. "Let go!" I demand, the unseen attacker doesn't seem to hear me or care. The ice has stopped just before the last spot of liquid surface in front me freezes.
I look down again, and this time my body freezes too: it's that damn face again. Every time I look in the mirror, when I feel myself losing this fight, I see them. That damn smirk.
"Why can't I win? Why can't you just leave me alone!" I yell at the Noah's grinning, all knowing gaze. It's eyes are pupil less like usual, and I can't look at it any longer.
"I don't want to be anyone else. I just want to be Allen." My strength starts to falter in holding my hand above the water, and I feel the wet on my face that's different than the snow. My voice fails me and sounds weak. I can tell I'm about to be pulled into the lake when I hear another calling.
"Stay alive," Kanda's stern voice ordered.
"I'm saying that you are Allen Walker. You made me love you. And if that isn't enough reason to believe in you, Allen, not a Noah, you, then I don't know what is," Lavi's voice, caring and strong as always sounded. Lenalee's gentle tone followed after Lavi:
"All I care about is my friends. That's because they are my whole world... Even if just one of my friends dies, to me, it's the same thing as part of the world being destroyed. You're my friend too Allen. Don't forget that."
"I can do it. If I don't, Kanda will have my head for sure, Lavi would never forgive me and Lenalee would make sure I remembered my friends that have always had my back. And Fou, she would make sure I got the beating of a lifetime." I made sure to meet the 14th's eyes as I spoke. I wasn't letting it win today. "So I'll be taking my hand back. Because I know I'll be needing it to defeat you as many times as I have to." I matched the Noah's grin confidently, it's grin in turn falling away. The pressure on my hand loosened, and the 14th disappeared below the lakes surface, the ice finishing it task. I felt my eyes close, and didn't feel like I should fight it. I was happy to let sleep come.
Conscious enough to know I had probably woken up from what had to be a dream, I felt a similar pressure on my hand as I had in my supposed dream. Still not sure what was reality, I panicked. Opening my eyes, I found a sleeping Fou resting her head on her arm, fast asleep on the bed. The hand that held mine was nothing like the one in my nightmare. This one was warm, and much smaller. It wasn't the enemy. The girl's face looked peaceful. Small shadows had started to form under her eyes, due to lack of sleep no doubt.
"Lenalee," I said quietly. I wanted to talk to my friend I hadn't seen in a long time, preferably without startlingly her awake. Squeezing Lenalee's hand softy, still firmly, she seemed to get the message. Rubbing her eye awake with her free hand, Lenalee found me quickly, perking up instantly.
"Allen! You're awake!" She joyously exclaimed. I laughed, responding just as happy as she was, "I am." Lenalee hugged me tightly. I welcomed the embrace wholeheartedly and eagerly. Whispering, as though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it herself, still holding me, Lenalee muttered, "I thought you were dead." I wanted to comfort my friend, to console her. I wasn't dead after all, I was very much alive and kicking.
"I'm sorry you had to believe that. But I'm here now, so you don't have to worry anymore. I'm not going anywhere." She nodded, seeming to agree, and loosened her hold now meeting me face to face. She wiped her eyes quickly, and smiled bigger than she had in a long time.
"Welcome home Allen." Fou had awoken too, and still looking half asleep, but still aware of everything, she chorused, "Welcome home Allen."