CHAPTER EDITED: 11/24/2017
Thank you very much for all the reviews! I really appreciate them!
I don´t know if I´m supposed to reply to them or not, though... Am I?
I thought my original version of this chapter had the Earl too emotional, so I attempted to rewrite it. And now, he just seems like he doesn't care. So I tried to make him have more emotions in the second half. This chapter is a mess. My sincere apologies! I'll try to align the last chapters and see if that'll work.
I'm trying to learn how to write better, so bear with me. (Dogeza).
And! I need a lot of thoughtful critiques...
WARNING: Lots of overused words like but, except, easy, etc.
Earl
Random Excerpt: From A Time Long Past
He knows he could make akumas right now, but…
This child. What if he wakes up alone? What would his small, fragile heart think? What if he has a nightmare and he's not here to calm him?
That's plenty a reason not to go. It's not like he needs more akumas right now anyway, he reasons. He can stay here for now, like a dark guardian over this cherub.
Cherub.
Thinking of the annoyed, puffed up lips, and cute, narrowed eyes have the ghost of a smile on his face. This little one won't particularly appreciate that title. He threads his hand in the boy's brown hair, and lowers his head back on the pillow.
Yes, for now. For now, he doesn't need to make akumas.
Earl
The Earl and the crowd stood at a standstill. Whether they paused because he asked them to, or they were terrified of his presence, he's not sure. It matters not what people think, or how people perceive him. What does matter, his heart whispers, is that child up in the air.
Lero nudges him behind his back, what are you doing?
He does not know what he's doing.
But the moment he gets a clear view of (familiar) amazed grey eyes, he is lost.
He knows those eyes.
Such expressive, familiar bright eyes.
Tiny gray eyes peer at him. A boy named Red. "I hate clowns."
His head pounds and the fist-sized muscle in his chest thumped. He's not sure why - he's not sure about a lot of things.
Especially this one: what is he supposed to know when he sees his own mark?
How curious that a child would have it on his face like a scar. The Earl had not doubt that the kid did not voluntarily ask to have it. All things that belonged to him have that star. It marks the child as his, just like his akuma are his poor demented puppets.
And right now, someone was holding his (not his) child up in the air. He'd rushed in, he might as well finish what he started.
"Unhand him." He repeats, and the one holding the boy drops him back to the ground. Bastard! The Earl sees the boy rub his back tenderly, and is taken aback with the force of his fury. The tall man who had held the kid cracks his knuckles threateningly, appearing to be the leader of these group of scums.
"Tch. You should run along, prissy noble." The man acts tough. "See this kid here? This little brat's master owes us. A. Lot."
The men agree with their leader, their raucous support ruins the silence of the night. Again. The leader subtly looks more confident. The Earl's tempted to handle this like how he's dealt with most situations: Drown these human waste with his akumas' bullets. He would order for their execution, except he doesn't want to traumatize the child. He's not sure why this one's different. He just is.
Right now, the only thing standing in the way of total massacre is a small child.
What to do? To kill or not to kill? What choices does he have that are non-lethal? None. He made killing weapons, not diplomatic maneuvers. He doesn't have a lot of experience making people do his bidding without an akuma bullet pointed to their head aside for…
Money. Selfish, greedy men all loved their gold. He feels a horrid plan build in his mind and internally grins. The Earl shifts his attention back to the grown men who didn't mind manhandling children for the currencies and narrows his eyes.
"How much?" He mentally sends an order to Lero, who had grown quiet behind his back, to transport back to Sheryl and ask for a big bag of money. And then get back here just as soundlessly. Best not to alert any human to his sidekick. Sheryl will surely wonder why he needs money to make akumas. But the risk was worth it.
"How much does he owe you?" He asks.
And immediately regrets it.
The kid's master owes a lot. As the crowd keeps listing out ridiculously high sums, he asks Lero through their connection for a bigger bag of money. Holy cow. Maybe a better course of action would be to murder the kid's master instead. How could one man owe this much?
Then the Earl sees the kid's horrified eyes after listening to the same roll of financial ruin and reluctantly puts a lid on his deadly plans.
He feels Lero sneak back inside his coat and raises a gloved hand to silence the men. He reaches the other hand into his coat, and Lero hands him the heavy bag of money too bulky to have fit in his coat. He mentally sends Lero back to Sheryl - he needs only himself for this plan to work now.
He reveals to them his money, making a show of the clinking of coins as he shakes the bag. He relishes in the blank looks they give him.
"There's enough money here to pay for a small army of men. Release the kid," He gives them a look that clearly conveys how little he thinks of them. "And you can have it."
Nobody does anything, or say anything.
Maybe he broke them? Not all of them are broken, though as the kid visibly drops his mouth in shock. This is a huge amount of money that he's giving out to scum, but seeing the boy's astonished face made everything worth it. Not that it's a big victory. It just feels like a big victory. It's not.
Their inaction is pretty surprising. He had thought they would jumping to get their fortunes back using any means, even a child at that.
Was no one going to take the money? A little impatient, he chucks the gold coins in their direction. And gold falls everywhere.
Chaos follows.
He smirked. Humans and their riches. Works all the time.
The greedy men take off after the money, all thoughts of the kid and him probably gone.
He uses this to his advantage. He sneaks closer and puts a hand on smaller shoulders. The boy looks at him, rendered speechless by the absurdity of the scene before him. The Earl thinks that the white-wig the child was wearing was more absurd than this moment. Why white, of all colors? Maybe the kid was trying to pretend to be one of those stiff nobles with white wigs to symbolize wealth? Power?
He motions for the boy to be quiet, helps the lad unto his feet (his tiny fingers easily mold with his, like he's held them before), and they disappear into the streets.
Why is he going so far for a human boy? He asks himself as they run.
He's not sure why.
But something beckons him closer to the child, almost like he wants to steal the boy away. Wasn't that a very tempting thought? He's sure he can do a better job than the kid's current master. But then again, he himself wasn't very responsible.
As he had considered before, it's not that he doesn't want to. He would love to.
Still.
What would he even do with a child?
He is snapped out of his thoughts when he finally senses that something had been following them for a while now. He narrows his eyes. Maybe it was one of the debt-men? Why would any of them follow their escape? Did they think he had more money? If they had been tracking the two of them for a while now, then there was no use running even more.
He stops, ready to face their stalker when he forgets one minor detail. He had stopped without warning, and the young boy he was pulling along… Well, the poor kid crashed into him. With a burning face, the boy jumps back, spewing apologies.
And the Earl can't help but notice how tall the boy actually is. No, the child isn't exactly tall. Yet, for some reason, he expected the boy to be… a little shorter, a little younger. It's the first time he actually gets to have a good look at the kid. He has a cute face - a little bit smudged with dirt - but an adorable one either way.
Really, something about this kid made him more charming than all the other kids he had seen before. And those cheeks. Do. Not. Pinch. Cheeks.
Where was the passiveness he was carrying earlier? He wants it back. Something about the boy awakens… these reactions that he had never felt before. Or felt like he had never had them before.
"It's okay," he barely remembers to say it. He rubs the back of his neck. "It was my fault, suddenly stopping like that."
"No! I should have been paying attention!" The kid furiously shakes his head. It felt very unusual. So polite. Why was the child so polite? It was weird how the child is so nice and sincere and honest about his feelings. He expected… a tough exterior, maybe even a little 'Watch where you're going, old man!" or something.
Not that he knows why he thought the kid would be disdainful. Bah.
He needs to stop making these predictions of how the boy is supposed to be. It's not like he's met the kid before, right?
Right. Back to their stalker. Where are they? The Earl can't sense them anymore. He starts to grow a little apprehensive. A small sound from the kid has him focusing back on him.
"Um…." The kid had grown quiet, fidgeting. The kid unexpectedly bows to him. It was such an innocent sight, that it has the Earl itching to pinch the kid's cheeks. Again. Hruuuuuuuuuh. Self-control. Self-control. Self-control. "Thank you for saving me! But I can't pay you back right now! Please let me work for you until I pay all of it back!"
Note to self: Do not approach children. Especially non-spoiled grateful kids who would look nice as little clown assistants. Did he say clown? No, he didn't. The Earl laughs.
It is not an amused laugh, like he hopes it sounds like.
It's a laugh out of pain. Do not pinch. Do not hug. He has to have some dignity in being the loathful Earl. He repeats: do not touch, do not hug.
"It's alright. I paid because I couldn't let such a young child possibly pay for that by himself." His hand shakes with the iron will that he uses to hold them back. Just one touch. Just one! His eyes find itself drawn to the white wig. It won't be weird if he curiously pats the kid's head, right? It's perfectly normal to wonder why the boy chooses to wear white hair.
Oh.
It's soft.
That was not what the Earl expected it to feel like. It almost felt like real human hair.
"Wha-! This wig is really soft." He exclaims, messing with the hair even more. "Speaking of wigs, why are you wearing white hair?"
The boy looks confused. Tiny fingers pick out a lock of white hair and summarily tells him that it's his real hair.
His eyes widen. What? How? In all his years as the Earl, he has never met a white-haired child before. Not once. He looks back to the owner of the white-hair and laughs. How ironic! A young child with white hair, yet he, more than thousands of years old, had dark, youthful hair.
When the kid asks him if the Earl wants to know why a child has white hair, he smiles. He doesn't need to know the reasons. Genetics just worked that way. Besides, the white hair kind of grows on him after a while. Even if he was still itching to dye it brown.
He wants to say more, but he finally finds their stalker. Right behind the kid.
This was the kid's master? He'd expected a sleazy bum, but it's a wealthy-looking man in a suit with black hair. Something churns in the Earl's guts. This man left a kid to pay his debts. It doesn't put this man in a favorable light.
"Master Cro-?!" The kid starts, but his master prevents the boy from saying his full name. The man scowls at him, and he feels his own eyes throw daggers back. Watch how you treat your (knowing that the kid isn't his burns like acid running down his throat) kid, he wants to telepathically pummel to the man.
"I thank you for taking care of this wayward pupil of mine." It clearly irked the man to have to say that, and the Earl can't help but relish the man's displeasure. However, that satisfaction popped when the kid's master begin to lead the little child away.
And something murderous and possessive growls within him. It would be so simple to just send an akuma after the boy's master.
Yet, he catches sight of those caring grey eyes looking back at him, and once again, those eyes undo him.
His wrath dissipates.
Was this it? This was something he shouldn't fight. The boy should stay where he belongs.
And the thought of that leaves him crestfallen. He had no right to stop them from leaving. After all, he's just a stranger to them. He's only the Earl, and it's better this way. He shouldn't get attached to humans anyway.
His heart throbs in dull pain. Go to him, it tells him. But he can't. He knows he can't. What would he do if he did? They'd still leave.
This was a mistake. He really should have left the kid by himself. He should have never come here in the first place.
And something he didn't know he had dies in him. His head begins to pound. He needed to stop this foolishness. It was simply a human child. The kid meant nothing more, nothing less.
Stop! Stop thinking.
His headache from before is back, and it's a full on migraine. A scene flashes behind his eyes as his head pulses in agony.
"Look, it's the cursed kid."
"Oh, you're right…What's that man doing with it?"
"Eh? Do you think he doesn't know?"
"Why do you even bring that kid with you?"
"It's bad luck to hang around the...disabled."
Derisive whispers reach their ears, rude fingers pointed, and glares followed them around the town. No, it didn't follow them so much as it followed Allen around. He noticed them ever since he started hanging around this small, guarded child.
It didn't bother him, the opinions of lowly humans didn't matter. But to this little one, he knows it hurts him. The boy bristles at every insult, and juts his nose in the air like what was being said didn't matter.
Except when the boy thinks no one is looking (even if Mana is).
His shoulders slump, and his head hangs, and he seems to shrink smaller, seems to be more vulnerable to the world than he already is. He is tinier then, and his wary air around people starts to make sense. This boy holding his hand likes to act tough, but in the end, he's merely a child. He's been hurt before and Mana can see that the cruel words left cuts. They dig wounds so deep, the scars they leave will be just as painful.
They entered an emptier street. Worried grey eyes would glance up at him, then flicker away just as quickly.
"Their opinions don't matter." He assures him.
"But, Mana…." The boy hides his face with his brown hair, but he can still see the kid biting his lips, downtrodden shoulders, and his eyes are watery from trying to hold back tears. It is both a heartbreaking and touching sight. "You'd be better off without me. You would make more money, too, since they like you. People will treat you better."
"I don't want to be a bother to you anymore." The voice saying them is shaky, and he can feel the boy trembling. "You'd be better off without me."
Except that the hand he's holding is gripping tightly as if telling him
don't go. Stay.
Stop!
What blasphemy is this? He remembers no kid with disabilities, he knows not where this memory came from. The hallucination came and left so quickly, he's left reeling and confused by what it showed him. Who was that? Why was he with him? Was it even the Earl who had this memory?
He was so lost in his thoughts that his mind barely registers it when he feels small, warm arms wrap around his waist. What? What was going on? He looks down to see the kid hugging him.
He feels his brain short-circuit. This... The child is overwhelmingly warm, and he can't help but compare him to the boy he saw in his head. The only difference was that the kid he saw had brown hair and grey eyes, and this kid in front of him had white hair, an akuma star scar, and grey eyes.
But he likes this one better. This kid who broke away from his master to run to Adam, and left the kid's master staring at them in irritated surprise.
He feels the kid tense through the hug.
Oh no. Did he take too long to reciprocate? Before the kid could leave and think that he hadn't appreciated the small act, he lifts the little child up, and embraces the tiny figure in his arms.
And oh, how he fits so perfectly in his arms, like the Earl's done this before. An unknown feeling of endearment fills him, and he melts into this moment. There's something overly familiar about this embrace, and he savors the warmth it provides him.
He doesn't know why this makes him so… happy.
"You're right." He starts in a matter - of - fact attitude. "It would be much easier without you. People would let me in in bars, and I won't be refused from any of the hotels around town."
The little boy looks like he's about to cry, but Mana knew he has to hear this. It was necessary to be said so that Allen understood.
"Life would be so much easier without a kid."
Allen begins to pull away, but Mana grasps the child's hand tightly.
"It would be so much easier, but." He lifts the struggling boy up, and settles him on his arm. "But who would I practice with without you? Who would I share the extra cup of hot cocoa with?"
The kid looks astonished and confused - sadness forgotten - and that's how Mana knew he was getting through.
"Who would I tuck into bed at night when it's late? Who would I dance the Clown Dance with? Who else would wake up next to me in the morning with the funniest bed-hair?" If not you? He
beams at Allen, whose eyes have gotten wide. "Who else would be my little, adorable child?"
"I think," he added, his voice softening, "I'd rather be with a bother who's not much of a bother at all."
And then the boy flushes scarlet, and oh no-
why is he crying? Shouldn't he be happier? Two steady streams of salty water drip down the flushed face and Mana can barely tell that this kid is fighting back a smile through his tears.
"So you see, I'd rather keep you with me." He's about to add more, but the boy slaps one tiny hand over Mana's lips.
"Sh-shu-SHUT UP, OLD MAN!" Even Allen's ears have turned red now. "Don't say s-s-such embarrassing things in public!"
"But Allen, no one's around." He murmurs through the hands over his mouth as he pointedly looks to the left and right of them. They're on a deserted street.
He didn't know it was possible to turn even redder than Allen already was.
.
The boy may not know it, but he's already become an inseparable part of the man named Mana Walker.
"Thank you!" The small child mumbles from Adam's neck, and Adam holds him tighter. "Thank you for saving me!"
"It was a pleasure." And indeed it was. He's glad he wasted all that gold to save this child. He feels lighter than he's felt in years. "Always." He'll always save him. No matter what.
He sets boy down after a while.
"I'm Allen Walker," the child's cheeks are red, a grin so bright on the child's lips. The boy holds out a hand.
Allen? That's his name?
How uncanny that this boy has the same name as the one in his vision. Maybe he really did know this child? Surely, he would have remembered. Surely.
"Adam." He shakes the boy's small fingers. Really, why did they fit so comfortably? Adam doesn't mind where they are now, but he looks up. His hat tilts with his head as he notices the child's-Allen's-master having to walk back towards them. The man has annoyed face.
He's going to take the boy - Allen - away.
Adam wants to fight back.
Stay with me, he almost says.
By now Allen, too, remembers that he left his master behind to hug Adam (he's not feeling smug about it. Of course not).
What could he do?
He can't just whisk the kid away (do it! His heart urges). What to do, what to do? His hat shades his eyes from the lamplight in the streets. What could he do that wouldn't end in the murder of the man before him? A small breeze blows, and his hat sways.
His breath stutters.
His hat.
He could leave his hat! Brilliant!
He grins. Without further ado, he pulls his hat off his dark head. He theatrically cleans it, then fits it on the boy-Allen's-head. There, even if it's a little big
And that's when things went wrong for him.
Because the sight of his hat on the boy's head is beautiful. Beautifully significant, and he doesn't know why. And his heart is pounding.
I know you.
No, he didn't. He met the child tonight.
"I won't keep you waiting." He vaguely aims that at the man behind the boy's master. He hopes the kid doesn't notice how shaken he is. "It was nice meeting you, Allen Walker."
And then Allen is pulled away. As soon as the master, who is glowering at Adam, stomps away Adam is itching to be anywhere but here. Something (memories) he can't quite recall threatens to bury him.
The moment the child looks away, he is gone. He flees - not flees - to the top of a secluded rooftop and bids his racing heart to calm. Who was that boy? He had looked so familiar, his heart twinges. Remember, remember, remember-he chants in his head.
Who are you, Allen Walker?
From his position on the roof, he watches the two figure walking away. Little Allen hugs his hat, and he feels himself soften.
Who the boy is doesn't matter.
"So…" He almost jumped. He did not notice when Lero had gotten back to him. "Who was that kid~Lero?"
"Allen Walker." He informs the umbrella.
Lero looks like he wants to ask more, but he doesn't even know what he's doing, nevermind why he's doing them. How could he answer anything? He swiftly transforms into the Earl. He looks exactly as he always does except that he does not have his hat with him. His bare head is uncomfortable and new. Lero opens its mouth to ask-
"Let's go, Lero." He opens up an ark door before the pink umbrella could voice its question, and jumps through. "We have more work to do."
Allen Walker
"Brat. Throw the hat away."
"No."
It's been two weeks since that fateful night. Two weeks since he's gotten his new hat-the very same hat that Master Cross, who had de-transformed immediately when they got to their room, having apparently used the Grave of Maria to conceal himself (Allen asked why he felt the need to hide himself, but his master simply glared at air every time he did so), had been trying to throw away the last two weeks.
Allen has no idea why. It's a pretty cool hat.
He wears it everyday and everywhere barring the times when he's doing dirty work in the fields or at sea. He doesn't want to get it dirtied, and every time he looks at it, he thinks of the man who helped him. Mana-man, Adam. And can't help but smile.
Still in his thoughts, he wasn't prepared for the bag that would be thrown at him.
Marian Cross
This brat…. He…
He won't throw the Millennium Earl's goddamned hat away. The sight of the Earl's top hat on the kid's head had nearly given him a heart attack. And that embrace. The Noah had seemed to like it. What kind of divine intervention made the fourteenth´s vessel friends with his sworn enemy? A dangerous man parading as Mana had rescued his pupil. Already, all the men he had owed money in this town were mysteriously dying. The only thing left of them were their clothes doused with sand as if they had disappeared on spot.
He can't believe this kid's luck. To have garnered the protection of the Earl's akumas from Cross' debts. He had been planning to make his apprentice work to pay the bills, yet at this rate, any debt he accumulated would result in a dead man. What have had his apprentice gotten himself into? He mentally despairs.
They're going to be on the move for a while, might have to disappear from the Earl's sight until this all blows over. He kicks his bag to the kid without any warning.
"Hurry up, brat." He kicks the door open. "I have some business in another town I wanna get to."
No, he doesn´t.
"Eh? So suddenly?" The brat looks up at him in disbelief, the bag safely clutched in the boy's stick arms.
"Brat?"
"Y-yeah?"
"We're upping your exorcist training."
EXTRA
Earl
He's forgotten about Sheryl.
After he makes three more akumas, he had been ready to call it a night when he comes back to the Noah of Desire lounging gracefully on a chair, sipping wine. Waiting for him.
It had completely slipped his mind how inquisitive this man was. He had asked the man for the money he used as a diversion when he was saving Allen Walker. Now, he's about to pay for it.
The Noah looks up and gives a small noise of incredulity. He follows the angle of Sheryl's eyes and discovers it aimed at his naked head. Where his hat used to lie.
Then Sheryl smirked, understanding glinting in those dark eyes.
"Lero tells me that you had a pretty interesting night," the Noah of Desire starts. "Something about a kid, a pocket change, and now, it seems, your missing hat."
"Lero! I know what happened to his hat~Lero! He gave it to-"
"I gave it to a child," he finishes, narrowing his eyes at Lero. "I saved him from a mob."
Sheryl gives him a contemplative look before he leans forward. "Earl, have I told you about the benefits of having children?"
"What?" How did they get there?
"It's a fantastic feeling! Nothing more profound and more satisfying than watching your own little girl grow up. Take my Road, for example. She's the paragon of beauty, an angel-" Sheryl drones on about Road, and Adam settles in another chair beside the man. He lets the man talk, taking a ball of yarn and some knitting needles out of nowhere.
¨Ahem. Ahem." Sheryl coughs for attention after talking for a long time. "As I was saying, children are necessary for the basic enjoyment of life."
At least someone shared his obsession with children. Then again… Sheryl really only loved one child: Road. Who was not a child.
"Have you considered adopting the kid you saved?"
He almost stabs himself with the knitting needles.
"What?" Lero and him both exclaim.
"What are you talking about?"
"If you've truly saved him, then he must be immensely grateful."
His thoughts flashed back to Allen's gleeful expression and their hug. Yes, the kid had been grateful.
"He might not mind being adopted. Who would? He would be proud to have the Earl as his father." Sheryl pauses. "But, of course. He won't be able to compete with my Road in any way."
We're jumping straight to episode five or six after this.
Question: Since I am rewriting a few scenes that I've already written, what would you like to see?
Any particular Noahs? Exorcist? Scientists?