The eighth instalment (wherein there are a few revelations)

-.-.-.-

Revelations

-.-.-.-

If there is will, there is way, and if there is way, well−

"Yeah, that's definitely better."

The beneficiary adjusted his glasses, eerily unfazed as he moved through the corridor; it was almost as though the phone call and ensuing conversation that had happened just minutes prior had just been a fever dream or a mass hallucination of sorts. "And whoa, this place is a mess."

Lavi honestly could not help but stare. Because really− "The other Allen Walker said the exact same thing, you know."

The beneficiary paused briefly and then simply shrugged. "Makes sense."

"Why?"

"Because it does."

Except it really didn't. Then again, few things did at this point.

The current – or past, depending on the perspective – Allen Walker had snatched Lavi's phone, spoken familiarly with Bookman Senior, asked about the date, asked about the cryptex, and then paused, puzzled, after receiving info on Tyki's age. It had been a strange conversation, to say the very least.

"Wait… just to make sure: How old are you?"

"Twenty-seven."

"Okay… since when?"

"Since Christmas day actually."

"Right… And how old am I?"

"… Sixteen?"

"Sixteen? Since when?"

"Since Christmas day."

"Okay… and who's this?"

"Allen Walker."

"Oh. Are you sure about that?"

They had received the results from the DNA sample, so yeah, they were pretty sure.

"Did he say anything else?"

It took Lavi a moment to recall what, or rather who, they were talking about. Right. Allen. "He also voiced an interest in torching the place to cash in on insurance."

The beneficiary paused briefly, blinked, and then− "Okay."

"Is that really necessary?" Tyki asked, speaking up for the first time in minutes; up until now, he had simply followed the events with a mixture of wariness and keen interest. "It's such a nice old building…"

This elicited a slight but choked laugh, followed by a stumble.

Tyki proved astonishingly quick though.

For a brief moment, there was little movement; just the sound of the beneficiary gasping, slumped forward against Tyki's arm. Concerned, Lavi was slowly inching closer when the beneficiary suddenly lifted his head, blinking owlishly for a few moments before reaching up to touch the glasses.

Moments thereafter, the glasses were flung down the corridor with a violent force.

"Tyki," the beneficiary said at last, sounding strained. "Get me the fuck out of here. Please."

Going by the tone, it seemed as though the normal Allen was back. Which was a relief. Or not.

Then there was Tyki. "Got it. I'm gonna pick you up, okay?"

And Lavi, Lavi just watched numbly as Tyki scooped up the beneficiary, who nearly immediately hid his face in the crook of the vagrant's neck. Even Tyki seemed to be surprised the sudden clinginess. He seemed to recover fairly quickly though, and not at all inconvenienced.

"Yeah, so…" he said, looking towards Lavi. "We're going. You coming?"

-.-.-.-

Thus, Lavi found himself getting back behind the wheel, trying and failing not to glance at the pair in backseat through the rear-view mirror.

Tyki really did not seem to mind the situation an awful lot though. He had his eyes closed and looked fairly relaxed with Allen curled up against him, eyes closed and forehead resting against his throat.

Looking at them now, Lavi wondered whether he should feel relieved as opposed to concerned.

On one hand, it seemed as though leaving the house itself had been enough, given that Allen had not insisted on going any farther.

On the other hand, nothing that had taken place had really presented any new answers, only new questions. And Tyki, talkative as he might have shown himself to be, was not up to answering questions at the moment, and Lavi would rather not bother Allen now that the beneficiary seemed to have calmed down again after this latest… fit of his.

But really: What the Hell? Lavi had so not signed up for this.

Still, on the other hand, he was undeniably curious about both the mansion and the beneficiary, so…

"So…" Lavi said at last, locking eyes with the oddly-coloured, almost yellow eyes through the rear-view mirror. "Did your episodes also involve that kind of thing?"

Tyki said nothing, but going by the look in his eyes, it was rather likely.

And since there was no rebuttal, Lavi would have pursued the matter further, but then−

Tyki lifted his head, gaze much sharper now. But he was not looking at Lavi as much as he was looking past him, pulling Allen closer in the process. It was a protective but also undeniably possessive move that worried Lavi about as intensively as anything that might have provoked it.

Even so, Lavi directed his attention ahead.

Someone was coming.

-.-.-.-

Fortunately, it was someone that Lavi would classify as an ally.

"Ah, Junior!"

Barba was large and tall, balding head hidden by the customary straw hat as he stepped out of the beaten old pickup. He was wearing his usual attire, and cheerfully as ever, closed the distance in-between them in a matter of a few long strides. "You should've told me you'd be coming over. I would've−"

But then the man noticed the people in the backseat. A beat of silence followed, and then, the man's face brightened like the sun. "Allen! You've grown so much!"

Lavi could not help but wince a bit at the volume, because Barba had basically shouted right into his ear and− And then, wait−

Lavi snapped his head around just in time to see Allen's eyes opening, his head turning in direction of the noise.

"Barba?"

Barba's expression grew even more radiant.

Tyki's expression meanwhile darkened noticeably, but the man still loosened his grip when Allen moved, reaching for the door handle.

"Yes, Allen, it's me," Barba said, immediately reaching inside to shake his hand. "Mother always said you'd be back, but then she−"

Barba's voice broke momentarily, eyes wet, but then he smiled again, holding Allen's hand with such a tender look in his eyes that Lavi had never seen anything quite like it. "Will you come visit us again, Allen?" Barba asked, giving the hand a light squeeze. "Soon?"

Absentmindedly cataloguing the entire exchange, Lavi watched as Allen nodded.

"Today?" Barba asked, sounding hopeful.

Allen shook his head, pulled his hand away and curled back up against Tyki, who proved very willing to accommodate him. "Not today," Allen mumbled, closing his eyes again. "Tomorrow."

Lavi did not know what to think anymore.

-.-.-.-

Everything was weird. Weird, but not necessarily in a bad way, because he wasn't scared, not anymore. He had been scared when he had found himself in the hallway, wearing a pair of glasses. Because he had obviously lost time, and going by the location and the company, he had not been idle.

"Tyki, get me the fuck out of here. Please."

For some reason, there had been no doubt in his mind that Tyki would listen to him. For some reason, Tyki made him feel safe.

There was no logic behind it of course, and for now, Allen was too tired to care. Tyki did not seem to mind it an awful lot though. If anything, then−

"Allen! You've grown so much!"

Barba was there. Why?

"He's here for you, you know."

The voice in his head was quiet, but there nonetheless. Had he gone over the edge at long last?

"Not really. You've merely started Awakening."

Awakening?

"That's right."

What the Hell was that supposed to mean?!

"…Didn't Cross tell you anything?"

-.-.-.-

Allen awoke with a start. He was back inside the car.

Tyki was there, close, and Lavi was there too.

Allen opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, unable to decide on how to express what he had just experienced.

"You okay down there, Boy?"

Okay? Okay? "…There's someone inside my head."

Yeah, and that sounded insane.

"We know," Lavi said. "We already talked. He seemed fairly cosy with the Old Man."

Okay, and that wasn't any better. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

-.-.-.-

Allen felt way better afterwards. Not directly after puking of course, because he had felt fairly awful at the time. But after rinsing his mouth and showering, Allen felt a lot more like himself again. Granted, he was wearing someone else's clothes, but all this was supposedly his anyway, so who gave a damn?

"Better now?"

Allen did not feel the need to respond. Instead, he simply flopped down unto the bed before continuing to dry his hair.

"I've got a hairdryer," Tyki offered, motioning for his bag.

And Allen appreciated the offer, really.

But anyways− "Can we just run this shit by me one more time? I'll go ahead and start: I was looking into ways of dealing with my late guardian's debts when this guy−" Allen pointed to Lavi. "−decided to fucking abduct me, just because I could read some scribbles."

Tyki shot Lavi a decidedly pointed look. Lavi just smiled and waved, because who gave a shit at this point.

"I was tasked with finding and delivering an Allen Walker who could read the script to the office," Lavi said at last, when it became apparent that Allen was not about to say anything about his motives. "And, as I mentioned earlier, he's the fourteenth Allen Walker I've had to deal with. And, as I might've not mentioned, he was a definite flight risk and freaking armed at the time."

Allen shot him an irritated look, but what Lavi was saying was true, so, so what?

"And, according to the DNA results, we've definitely got the right person," Lavi continued. "And that's about as much as I've got to say about the matter, but the Old Man can probably tell you a lot more. He's coming over by the way. He should be here in a couple of hours."

"Who's the Old Man?" Tyki asked Allen, who simply shrugged.

"He's Mr. Bookman, the executor of this estate," Lavi said, impatiently. "And he's spent thirty-some years on this case, so the least you can do is stick around until we've finalised all the paperwork. Got it?"

Allen shot him a look which indicated that he would be more than willing to run for the hills, simply for the sake of inconveniencing Lavi.

"I think you should take it," Tyki said, matter-of-factly. "I mean, if you don't want it, someone else might be willing to pay a pretty penny for this place. Or the stuff in it at any rate."

"This place has me hearing voices and getting possessed by dead people," Allen said, equally matter-of-factly. "I think we should torch the place."

Both were sound arguments, but Lavi would rather die than admit it out loud. That said however− "Are we like going to completely ignore those 'remembering' episodes? Because that stuff's not normal. At all."

Tyki looked to Allen. Allen looked annoyed.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said.

"We don't need to," Lavi said, holding up the cryptex. "I just wanna know who taught you to read these."

Because Lavi knew for a fact that neither Barba or his late 'Mother' had known it, and barring Cross Marian, they would have the most likely candidates as far as Lavi himself was aware, but−

"No one," Allen said, averting his eyes. "Mana and I made them."

Yeah, but− "Did you really make them up or did you 'remember' them?"

-.-.-.-

Cross Marian was dead.

'Mother Marian' was dead.

Mana… whatever happened to him again?

-.-.-.-

"I didn't sign up for this," Allen said, pulling the oversized coat closer to himself. Because it was getting quite chilly, and Tyki had insisted on the coat. "I don't care about what that other guy said. I don't want him inside my head. I don't care about any of this. As for the house, they can do whatever. Sell it. Repay my debts. Keep the change. I'll just−"

"You should consider buying something though," Tyki suggested. "How about a car or something? I could teach you to drive."

It seemed as though Tyki would follow him. This should have unnerved him, yet even so, Allen found that he was surprisingly okay with it.

"So," Tyki said at last, nodding to the cross. "You wanna talk about it?"

Not really, but at this point, he might as well. "I don't remember much," he said. "When I was ten, Cross found me in the cemetery, covered in blood and who knows what else. I only knew two things: 1) Mana was dead, and 2) Mana tried to kill me."

For a long while, Tyki said nothing. "Looks to me like you got him instead," he said at last, matter-of-factly. "And if he went for you first, then that's legitimate self-defence."

Insensitive, perhaps, but strangely comforting nonetheless. "I used to wallow in it," Allen admitted, still staring ahead. "I used to look at the happy memories I had and wonder where I went wrong, what I'd done wrong. Because I used to think that I must have been at fault; that Mana was always good to me and that anything that contradicted that was fabricated."

Tyki let out a thoughtful hum at that. "Was it the other way around?"

Was it? "No," he said at last, with relative certainty. "Mana never treated me badly, not on purpose, but he was like a child in the body of an adult; an adult with a shitty memory and single-track mind. He always tried to make me laugh, making these idiotic faces at me…"

Allen felt his throat constrict and his eyes tearing up, but he forced them back, because he was already over this, goddammit! "Mana always told me never to be sad. He said that tragedy called out to 'the Earl'."

Tyki said nothing for several long moments, apparently lost in thought. "Which of them cut up your face like that?" he asked at last.

"Does it matter?" Allen asked, lowering his gaze to the ground. The grave was covered in grass, completely devoid of flowers. "As far as I'm concerned, they both died that night. But do you wanna know what's really fucked up about it all? I have this vivid image of him thanking me for it…"

"Maybe he thought it'd be better to die than live, if living meant he'd have to kill you," Tyki eventually said, sounding thoughtful. "But even if that was the case, it wouldn't change the past…"

For supposedly having a five-month memory, the guy sure had a lot of profound wisdom to share.

"Do you think I should do it?" Allen asked at last. "Do you think that I should open up this can of worms just to see if there's something remotely worth knowing at the bottom of it all?"

Tyki took a moment to think about it. "If it was me, I'd probably go for it," he finally said. "But wasn't the thing about Pandora's box that the good stuff was what remained afterwards? Besides, at the very least, you won't ever have to worry about money again, right?"

-.-.-.-

The rest of the lot seemed surprised to see them return. Granted, a few of them hid it well, but they were surprised alright.

"Tyki convinced me not to torch the place until we've unravelled all its secrets," Allen offered as his greeting before turning to Lavi, who actually took half a step backwards. "Call in your tech guy. We're mapping out the secret tunnels."

-.-.-.-