Disclaimer: Don't own D. Gray-Man, never will.
Special Thanks To
The awesome beta-reader , All who reviewed, All who faved, All who subscribed, All who voted and All who reads
Follow me on Twitter! (Name: Kavilene, see my profile)
Betrayed…
What?
Betrayed God…
You again. What are you talking about? Who are you?
He betrayed God…
Who? Who betrayed God?
Gauntlet…destroy…
I don't understand.
…
Am I dreaming?
Desdemona opened her eyes and looked around.
Everything is dark. I'm probably dreaming.
She lifted a hand and looked at it. There was no light but she was able to see herself, somehow. She closed and opened her palm a few time. This is her hand…
Fallen…
She quickly turned around to the direction of the voice. There was nothing but darkness. That voice…it's really familiar. From where? When? Why did she forget? What else had she forgotten? She closed her eyes and searched her mind. Nothing, still nothing.
Exorcist…fallen.
She looked up. Who are you? What are you talking about?
Something flashed at the corner of her eye. She turned around. There, in a spontaneous spot within the darkness, a single bright dot shone. She reached to touch it, but felt nothing as the dot passed right through her hand.
Watch…
Suddenly, the bright dot expanded into something that looked like a screen. Desdemona stared at it. There's nothing on it, it's just shining white. As she stared harder, longer, some vague grey forms started appearing.
Gradually, they became clearer, more colourful. Desdemona tried to make out the image. She saw a mountain, vegetation, a small village at the foot of the mountain with small wooden structures. Asian structures, like China. But what she was extremely puzzled over was the thing that hovered above the village.
It was very large, almost as tall as the mountain. It resembles something like a human body without the head and limbs. A halo-like thing hovered above its severed neck. At its waist, millions of wire-like tendrils came out and wove together to make a 'base'. On the right side, the flesh seemed to the rotting away. A deep, void-like dent on the chest was where the heart should be.
Fallen…Has fallen…Betrayed God.
Desdemona tried to piece together all the information she was given. So this weird thing, whatever it is, has betrayed God, and thus be called 'fallen'. Like a fallen angel?
No. Exorcist.
What? That thing's an exorcist?
Yes.
Suddenly, screens started showing up all around her. They soon all displayed different images.
Images of an exorcist with combed back black hair. That's Soman. Desdemona recognized. She looked at the other pictures. Soman walking with his comrades to find General Sakaro. Another man with black hair in a formal set of tuxedos. He had a line of pointed black crosses along his forehead.
Desdemona leaned forward. That man, must be a Noah. Those exorcists, he killed them. What he the one that killed Tina, Sol and Gwen too? More images showed up.
Soman, still alive and covered by his comrades' blood, shaking and kneeling in front of the Noah. His face showed fear, extreme fear.
The exorcist wanted to live, he betrayed God.
You mean…Soman wanted to live so he asked the Noah to let him live?
Yes.
Some new images replaced the old ones. Soman, with fear in his eyes, talking into his golem. Soman talking to the Noah. The Noah walking away. Soman collapsing.
Then it all went dark.
Betrayed God.
After a few seconds of complete darkness, another screen slowly showed. It displayed an image of a very frail Soman, lying in a bed. A little girl, middle aged woman and an old man were bent over him. Soman woke up. The little girl carried a bucket and ran out. Soman clutched his neck in agony. And…
Desdemona widened her eyes.
Instead of Soman, in his place was the mutated human body without head or limbs.
Soman Dark. Betrayed God. Has fallen.
Fallen. That thing. What? Why does that happen?
The voice sighed. I'll explain.
Desdemona gasped as something large was forced into her head. There was no sound, no light, just heaps and heaps of information drilled into her head. Her head started hurting, it was too much in this short amount of time. The pain became more and more intense. She clutched her head and fell to her knees. Too much, too less time. She tightened her jaws and a bead of sweat rolled down her face.
Finally, it all ended. Information stopped being pressed into her head. The headache stopped. She dropped her arms from her head to the ground, supporting her weight. She digested all those information that whoever it was just drilled into her head. She suddenly she understood fully what 'fallen' meant.
When the sychronisation percentage goes below zero…betrayed. Innocence will destroy the traitor. One who betrays God is the enemy of the Innocence…
Soman…is being killed by his Innocence…
Yes…
Is anyone doing something about it?
The screens showed up again. This time, it returned to the fallen Soman hovering above the village. Another image showed up, it displayed a whole cloud of akumas attacking Soman. Soman destroyed them all with a swipe. The view lowered into the village. Three small black dots were seen amongst the dust that rose with Soman's destructive attacks. The view zoomed. Desdemona looked closer and her mouth fell slightly agape.
That's…that's…Lenalee. Lavi is over there. And then…here's Allen.
They are fighting Soman. To prevent him from doing too much damage. And to prevent the akumas from getting his Innocence.
They have to defeat Soman and get his Innocence before the akumas do.
Yes.
Another screen showed up. Allen was thrown into the mountain, causing a large dent into the rocks. He had a lot of injuries and scratches on him. He was screaming to Soman. He activated his Innocence. It was larger than usual. His hand was large enough to grab Soman's form on the whole. Allen squeezed, more energy rushed out, destroying some akumas in the process. Allen then slammed Soman into a neighbouring mountain to immobilize him.
By that time, Desdemona was literally leaning on the screen. Allen. His right hand was bleeding, there are spots where his hand seemed to be degraded.
Allen Walker. The voice began. Shouldn't have done that. He will break.
What do you mean by he's going to break?
The screen flashed a few more images of Allen trying to talk to Soman.
Is he…trying to save him?
Rip~
Desdemona thought she heard something rip. But there was no sound around her. Just something in her head. Allen's left arm deactivated. It reached its limits. Something tugged at Desdemona's heart. Something…quite unable to be put into words.
Her left arm started feeling hot. It's probably just an illusion. But the heat didn't stop. It became hotter and hotter until it was almost burning. She clutched her right hand to her left upper arm, to a familiar place where once an injury left the scar she hated so much.
Allen Walker…Is breaking.
Allen…is this what Allen is feeling now? The pain. Must be a hundred times more intense that what she's feeling, because at this level she was still able to bear it. The temperature continued to rise. And gradually, the pain became unbearable. She clutched her left arm to her stomach.
Why do you care?
What…What are you talking about!
One day…
Desdemona sat up, a bit too quick. Her vision spun. She shook her head and put a hand to her forehead. When her vision finally stopped spinning, she lowered her hand and looked around. She was in a train cabin. Her coat was draped over her. She looked to the chair in front of her, Master was nowhere to be seen.
General Klaud agreed to come back to the Headquarters, so they caught the train that goes back to Moscow. They will arrive in another day and a half, that's probably tomorrow around noon. Desdemona smacked herself in her head. How could she fall asleep again?
Her dream suddenly flooded back to her. She lifted her right hand to feel her left upper arm while at the same time she raised her left hand. She closed and opened her left hand. It's not hurting anymore. Allen… She looked out the window. Somewhere to the South-east, her friends are fighting. She can't go help them. She has to get her Master back to the Headquarters.
That brought her back to reality. Well, her dream is reality. Somehow…it felt real, it felt like now. Desdemona frowned. Who is that voice? Why is it so familiar? How did it know what was happening? Why did it tell her? It's all so confusing. Doesn't make any sense.
She sighed. Better not think about that now. She has to find her Master. Somewhere on the train, probably. She hoped her Master wouldn't go back on her words and jump off the train….
Her worries were unnecessary, though. Just as she stood up and was putting her coat back on. General Klaud walked in from the door that connects to the carriage in front. "So you woke up. Seems like the battles took a toll on you."
"I'm fine." The girl replied.
"Is that the only thing you can say?"
"…" Desdemona looked back outside the window. General Klaud sat back down on her seat in front of Desdemona and facing her. The girl sat down too.
Allen…
I heard something rip…it hurts.
Allen laid on the cold hard ground. His left arm was shaking.
My left hand won't make it. It hurts. I can't fight anymore.
He tightened his jaws.
I can't do anything.
Slap.
A small, golden paw slapped at Allen's cheek. Timcampy peered out from beneath the hood. It slapped Allen's check with its tiny little paw repeatedly. Allen glanced sidewards. "Timcampy…" he breathed.
All of a suddenly, Timcampy opened its mouth and bit down hard on Allen's ear.
"OW OW OW OW OW OW!" Allen sat up and managed to get Timcampy off his ear. As soon as Tim's teeth were removed from his flesh, blood flooded out from the teeth marks on his ear. "Wha-What are you-…?"
Timcampy flew in front of Allen's face. It opened its mouth slightly and some small flickers of fire flowed out.
"Huh?" Allen said, confused at this weird phenomenon. "Wait…" He began, finally understanding Timcampy's odd behaviours. "Are you…Mad at me?"
As soon as Allen said it, Tim opened its jaws up wide, revealing two rows of tiny but very sharp teeth.
"Uahh!" Allen exclaimed. Tim was about to bite him again. "Sorry ok? I'm sorry!" Timcampy didn't seem to want to stop.
"I'LL TRY!" Allen screamed, on impulse. He stopped suddenly realizing what he just said. "I'll try…" he repeated again, with a quieter voice. Tim closed its mouth, satisfied with the answer.
Within 24 hours, a fallen one must die. Time's nearly up. The body floating in the sky was decaying away. At the centre of its chest, the blood-red void where Soman was, was also gradually degenerating.
"SOMAN!"
The near-death man looked up from the void. There, above him, was the white-haired exorcist.
"Exorcist." Soman croaked.
"I'm Allen." Allen offered a warm smile.
Soman looked sadly at Allen. "My life…will end soon. I'm going die. This monster will probably disappear too. I'm sorry. I wanted to see my family. Forgive me." The man's skin turned transparent, his skeleton were able to be seen through the skin. Two streams of tears flowed down from his eyes and had an extremely sad smile.
I heard something rip….
Allen threw his broken left arm to the side and activated it. It was crumbling…
But I didn't care.
"So…this is the 'Headquarters' you've been talking about." Desdemona, 11 years old, said as she tailed behind the woman named Klaud who brought her all the way here to France from London.
"Yes, this is the Headquarters of the Black Order. The 'home' of exorcists." Kaud replied as she led the girl through the maze like corridors.
"This place is sooo big!" Desdemona commented, folding her arms behind her head. She looked around the corridors, like a little puppy being walked by its Master.
"Well, of course. It has to accommodate the exorcists, the scientists, the workers and the finders. That's over thousands of people."
"Wow!" the little girl said with wide open eyes. Klaud smiled.
"Well, what we have to do now is to find a suitable job for you. If my assumptions are correct, you may be able to go back to London. I believe you still have some loved ones over there."
The girl stopped short. She never told Klaud about the Chapmans or Tempest. She was sure that she never even hinted it. The woman simply smiled.
"Again, if my assumptions are correct, you can resume your former profession if you wish. But you will need to keep an ear out for any information that we might find useful and report them to the headquarters. You will be paid too, so you won't really be depending on your heists that much." The General shrugged.
Desdemona thought about it. Maybe this isn't such a bad idea. She can still live her normal life with the addition of making a few extra calls and then she gets paid. She doesn't even need to be separated from Tempest and the Chapmans.
The two walked into the Science department. There were a lot of people and weird looking machinery around here. They passed through the Public laboratory, it was horrid. Paper, paper, and paper. There virtually wasn't anything else in sight.
Finally, they arrived before a large pair of doors. General Klaud knocked on them three times and pushed on them. The large doors opened with a creak and then a bang as they hit the wall.
"General Klaud! Welcome back." A man sat at a desk directly in front of the door. He had the same white coat all those scientists had on with the addition of a white beret cap. A pair of glasses sat on the bridge of nose and he smiled warmly. On his desk was…a blue mug with a pink bunny on it and…paper. Desdemona looked around the room. Paper. Mountains and mountains of paper. Just like the outside.
"Good morning, Komui. This girl. I found her and thought she might be of use." General Klaud got straight down to business.
This Komui person stood up from his desk and walked towards Desdemona. "Girl? At first glance I thought it was a little boy."
Desdemona looked down, she still had on the same clothes as three days ago…
"Well, that seems to be a common misconception. I myself made the same mistake." Klaud confessed.
Komui looked back at the girl. "So…what's your name?"
"Desdemona." She replied.
"Desdemona? What about your family name, then."
"Don't have one."
Komui frowned, "Don't have one?"
"The reason I found her was because she tried to steal my wallet." Klaud explained. Komui nodded, understanding the situation.
BANG!
The doors were slammed open again as a pair of scientists rushed in. "KOMUI! KOMUI!" They exclaimed at the top of their lungs as they ran in and stopped in front of Komui. They caught their breath.
"What's the matter?" Komui asked.
"Hev…Hevlaska…" The scientists seemed to have a hard time talking since they were breathing so heavily. "Hevlaska said…someone compatible…is somewhere very…very close."
Komui walked towards the two scientists. "What did you say? Somewhere very close? Could it be that, that person is currently inside the headquarters?"
"Well…" The scientist talking swallowed. "She said…that…there's someone…new here…here and…that person is compatible…"
The Supervisor thought about it. Someone who isn't usually here…
Instantly, his head turned and he looked at Desdemona. The girl looked back up at Komui, totally confused about what exactly is going on. The man looked back to the General. "General Klaud. Looks like we'll have to take her down to Hevlaska." Desdemona looked to the woman who brought her here. She was staring down at her with an unexplainable stare. "Yes. I'll come with you."
Without knowing how, Desdemona was pulled onto an up-side-down pyramid that was suspended in thin air. At first she was scared, what if this thing falls. But then, she became curious and started examining the suspended platform. Behind her, General Klaud and Komui were having an incomprehensible conversation. She doesn't want to comprehend them anyway, just going to make her head hurt.
The suspended, miraculous prism descended downwards. Desdemona ran to the side and looked down. Her hair stood on ends. Down there was a very very dark void, she can't even see anything. But she can feel the chilling air that rose up from that void…It looks scary. Where on earth are those two weird people bringing her to? Gradually, but fast at the same time, they descended far enough that nothing was visible anymore, just darkness. Suddenly, the platform stopped moving so the young girl returned to the two who were having a heated conversation.
"Compatible…but doesn't that mean we'll have to keep her here? I have promised that we'll let her go back."
"But it's the Order's rule. We can't let an exorcist go when we find one. You must already know that finding a compatible person is very rare."
Well…Desdemona doesn't understand most of the conversation but she does understand one thing…maybe these people aren't letting her go back to London because she was some kind of a rarity.
"Well, let's not decide that too fast. Allow Hevlaska to check first."
What? Hevlaska? That's an odd name? Who is that?
A chilling air rose up from behind Desdemona. Out of instinct, she turned right around to face what looked like a monster with a woman's lower face. Desdemona stepped backwards. It is frightening.
"She is…it's her…that's right…" The monster said. It was shaking uncontrollably.
"Hevlaska. Are you alright?" Komui asked with concern in his voice. So this monster is Hevlaska…Desdemona shuddered. Whatever she needs to be checked for, she does not want to be checked by this monster.
"Komui…let the girl come closer. I can feel the Innocence being attracted to this girl. I don't know which one yet…let her come closer."
Komui pressed a hand on the girl's back, who was backing away. "Don't worry. Go closer. Hevlaska won't hurt you." The Supervisor gently pushed the girl forwards.
Desdemona reluctantly approached the weird being named Hevlaska. What is this place? A freak-show or something? …wait…General Klaud said something about Church…Are all churches like that? With monsters in them? It's more like a satanic organization if you ask, but she's never entered one so she wouldn't know. As she approached Hevlaska, it shook more and more violently.
"Ahh. I can feel it. The Innocence. It wants to come out." Hevlaska threw it/her head back. Something bright shone from beneath the railing and Desdemona leant out to see. Down there, was what looked like the inside of this monster. In its body, there was some form of complicated symbols weaved into a large symbol. There were slots in that large symbol, a lot of them. But only a few were filled with something. Those somethings shone with light. Suddenly, something near the edge of the symbol flashed. Its light appeared and disappeared in a rhythmic pattern.
That's your Innocence…
W-what? Who? Who's that voice?
That 'thing' shone brighter and brighter. Hevlaska opened her mouth and that shiny 'thing' shot out from inside her and exited her body from her mouth. Then, with a dashing speed, it flew towards Desdemona.
The girl was shocked to the point that she couldn't move. She was only brought to her senses by that 'thing' hitting her hard in the chest. She flew backwards and landed on her bottom. "Ow!" She exclaimed.
There was something in her hands. She opened her hands and looked at that 'thing' carefully. It was like a cube with two orbiting rings around it. But only half. Half a cube with two half rings orbiting it.
"That's…" Komui breathed.
"Yes." Hevlaska answered. "That is the half-Innocence that we found. The other half was nowhere to be found. It is the God of thunder…Thor."
As if proving Hevlaska right. A loud clash sounded from outside the building. And just right after that clash, came the loud sound of heavy rain hitting metal. That loud clash was…thunder.
"Then…"General Klaud began.
"I'll check her percentage." Hevlaska suddenly said, cutting Klaud off her sentence. Desdemona watched horrified as Hevlaska lifted her up from the platform and held her tightly in tentacle-like things. Desdemona wanted to struggle but often when you are caught like this, there's no way of struggling out of it. And plus…that Komui said Hevlaska is not harmful, right? …Desdemona decided to trust this unreliable-looking person. Just this once.
Hevlaska gradually lowered her head and gently touched her forehead with Desdemona's. Something very uncomfortable is going on. Desdemona feels like there's something searching through her body.
"12%..." Hevlaska said quietly. "18%...25%...31%...36%." She stopped counting and paused for a long while. She then removed her forehead from Desdemona's and set the little girl back onto the platform.
"Currently, her highest synchronization percentage is 36%. The maximum she could reach is 50%. Since we don't know her percentage with the other half, we don't know her exact percentage for the Innocence." Hevlaska explained to Komui.
Komui looked down and though with his chin in between his thumb and index fingers. "That brings us into an entirely different situation."
"No matter what now, she has to become an exorcist." Klaud stated.
"Yes. That's the only way." Komui said as he lifted his head up again. "Desdemona, you have to become an exorcist."
The little girl looked up at the two adults and one monster. What the hell are they talking about?
"Exorcists." General Klaud began, "are people chosen by God to defeat evil. Once a person becomes compatible with Innocence, they will have the ability to destroy Dark Matter."
"What?" Desdemona frowned in extreme confusion.
"General Klaud." A booming voice said, it sounded like it came from above them…A bright light shone down from the wall next to them. There were five spotlights. Under each of those spotlights, a person sat on a chair with an insanely tall back. Each of the people wore a long, black coat with a white cross on their left shoulder, they all had a hood that covered their face from view. Desdemona couldn't see their face, but she was sure they could see hers. "That is an ineffective explanation." The same booming voice said again, coldly, but in such a formal way too.
"Let me explain." Komui volunteered. "Listen, Desdemona. This is a story only known to the Black priests and the Vatican…And also, the Earl of Millennium. It all started nearly a century ago…one cube was found and it began there. That cube, was the first Innocence found and on it, recorded a message from our ancestors. It said 'To our descendants…we won against the darkness, and some were destroyed. As you travel along, trouble will surely arise, to prevent this trouble, we leave you with this message.' The message was an instruction on how to use this substance, called Innocence. It was called 'God's Crystal' on the cube, we call it the 'Innocence'. That's the substance you are holding right now, in your hand."
Desdemona looked down at her hand, at the shining half-cube-with-rings.
"We process the Innocence and turn it into weaponry. The weapons created are called anti-akuma weapons because they have the ability to destroy akumas, machines made from Dark Matter. On the cube, it was recorded that the maker of the cube used the Innocence and faced against the evil, the Millennium Earl. It was said that they succeeded but in the end, the world was destroyed. It happened about 700- years ago and in the old testament, it was referred to as 'Noah's Great Flood'. However, the cube tells us that those were the 'Three Days of Darkness'. According to the cube's prediction, the world is bound to meet its end at the hands of the Millennium Earl."
Desdemona processed the information given. The situation is a lot clearer now. But what does it have to do with her?
"So far, the cube's prophecy is correct. The earl has returned to this world. Due to the cube's prophecy coming true, the Vatican decided to follow the Cube's message. This is the revival of the Innocence and the Black Priests. The cube said, 'Father then apostles! One Innocence brings forth one apostle. An apostle is a compatible person. Without an Innocence-compatible person, the power of the Innocence cannot be used'. And those Innocence compatible people…are you exorcists."
The little girl looked down at the Innocence in her hand. She sort of gets it now. They need her to help them defeat the Millennium Earl because she, somehow, is the only person who can use this Innocence.
"The Earl hasn't forgotten the past either He has created armies to destroy God. Those are the akuma. If the Innocence is the white then Dark Matter is the black. Akumas are made from Dark Matter, but with just Dark, it's a dead machine. That's why the Millennium makes use of a human's weak heart and trick them into summoning their dead loved ones' soul into the machinery. With that, the soul of the dead will be forever trapped inside the machinery until the akuma is defeated by Innocence. The more it evolves the stronger it gets. The Earl wants to destroy the Innocence and stop its revival.
"There are 109 Innocence in total but were scattered during Noah's Great Flood. We are to find all the Innocence and find all the compatible people to form an army and counter the Earl's army. The Earl, on the contrary, is on the move to find the compatible people and the Innocence and destroying them. It's a race to obtain the Innocence. If we lose the race, the end will be just as the prophecy foretold."
Desdemona finally gets it now. So these people want her to help them fight against the Millennium Earl not only because she was one of the few people who can use this power but also one of the few people who can defeat their enemy. So, by the sound of it, she is pretty important to them. If she is important to them…she might be able to ask them of a few favors before she agrees to help them. She was important, right? Well that is a wealth in itself, she was never wealthy nor important, so when the chance presents itself, she will definitely seize it.
"Fight! That is your duty as one who has been chosen by the Innocence." Another voice, different from the one before, said from the high platform where the people-on-weird-chairs were.
"Please wait a second." The little girl said to the five important looking people. They seem to have the most authority here. "Does that mean I will be required to stay and work for the Order?"
The Generals didn't answer, instead, Komui did. "Yes. That's the case."
Desdemona shrugged. "I'm sorry, then I will not do it." The whole place fell silent.
One of the people sitting up under the spotlights suddenly stood up, as if in anger. The one next to him held him back and pushed him back down onto his seat. "May I ask, why is that the case?"
"I have a family back in London." She confessed. "They are financially struggling to survive. I cannot just leave them there."
The calm one thought about it. "Then, what would you like to do about it?"
Desdemona smiled, that one's smart. "If I join you, I will not be able to help them. The Church is spread world-wide, right? Then will it be a problem if you could please rent five horses a week from Chapman's Horse rental in London?"
"Five horses? Each week? That'd ridiculous, why should we ever rent horses from a small, unknown, horse stable?" The one who angrily stood up said in exasperation.
"No. We will rent horse from that place. In fact, from now on, all horses needed for use in Europe will be rented from there. No, better yet, we will buy that stable and employ the people there as the keepers. We will move all the horses in the Headquarters to that place to be taken care of. Please do not worry, those people there will be paid generously."
Desdemona smiled even wider. That's better than she expected. "Thank you, Mister. That'd be very good."
"But…" The aggressive one tried to object.
"We WILL do as I say." The calm one said in a threatening tone. The aggressive one lowered his head and fell silent.
~x.X.x~
"Since you are an exorcist now, you need to know how to use your Innocence and determine which physical form is it most fitted to." Komui said as they headed back to his office. "We don't know what physical form it is most fitted to. You are the only one that knows."
"What? How am I supposed to know?" Desdemona asked.
Komui shrugged. "The Innocence will tell you that."
"What?"
Komui turned around. "Well, let's start at the beginning. When you think of thunder, what weapon do you think of?"
Thunder…makes a loud noise…that sounds like…something Bidelia used…something…like…a whip. A whip. "How about a whip?" Desdemona suggested.
Komui made a face that obviously said: how did you come up with that? But through his lips, he said, "A whip, interesting. Let me try making that Innocence into a whip…"
Fate. It is really cruel. It seems to enjoy destroying hope and watches in delight as people wallow in their despair. It really seems to enjoy it, that's why it sets up so many 'coincidences' and 'accidents' to drive someone into an inevitable situation. And in that particular situation fate itself had set up, fate will give that person hope, hope that is so close that he could almost reach out and touch; but fate destroys that hope just before you could touch it. Despair comes so quickly and severely. The pain amplified by the fact that hope was destroyed while it was so close to him, while it was within his reach…He was the one who allowed fate to destroy it. That's what makes it so painful.
Soman sat unmovingly in front of Allen. He is nothing more than an empty shell, with no soul.
Suddenly, Soman's body bursted into a pool of flesh and blood. "Soman? …" Allen breathed. He stared at the unmoving pile of Soman's remains.
The white-haired exorcist felt a very dark presence behind him so he gradually and cautiously turned his head to glance behind. There, standing behind him, was a man in his twenties. He was wearing a top hat, a black coat down to his knees and black dress pants. He wore white gloves over his two extended hands. A row of pointy, dark crosses were lined up on his forehead.
Allen recognized this man from Soman's memories. He was the one who killed Soman's comrades and the one who used Soman's will to live as a tool for his defection. He was a Noah.
"Come, Tease." The man said gently but yet in a commanding tone. Spurt. Allen looked back to Soman's remains. From within the flesh and blood, butterfly-like creatures appeared. The first few that appeared flew to the man and hundreds more followed. They all flew into the man's palms where there seemed to be two black-holes and sucked in everything. As the butterflies all disappeared into the man's palms, Allen looked back at where Soman should be. There was nothing left of him.
The man smiled. "Bye bye, Soman." Allen turned back at the man with hatred in his eyes. The man opened his two palms and two extremely large butterfly-like creatures appeared while the man muttered something about growing bigger.
"You! What did you do?" Allen questioned the man. The man looked up with confusion in his eyes, as if just noticing the boy's existence. "What? Aren't you that cheating boy 'A'?"
"Huh?" Allen replied in confusion.
"Oh I see. You probably can't recognize me as I am now. I actually though you might have. Could you actually be Allen Walker?" The man ranted to himself.
Allen gritted his teeth in anger. He lifted his arm and took a swipe across the man's face. His left hand hit the man in the face while at the same time, knocking the man's top hat off his head. Allen's left hand fell back beside him limply as it shook uncontrollably. It hurts. "Cut the crap! What did you do to Soman? Why did you kill him! Answer me!"
The man rubbed his swollen cheek and smiled playfully. "He was my enemy, shouldn't I kill him?" The man sat down on the ground with crossed-legs. "Since you wanted to know about my power, I'll tell you about it. This butterfly thing is called a Tease. It's a golem that the Earl made. Blah blah blah…"
Allen looked down and frowned. This is bad. With his body like that, he couldn't even stand, let alone fight. If only I was stronger…if I was stronger…
"Blah blah blah. But those are just a tool and my ability…is this." The man lifted a hand and stabbed his arm into Allen's chest. Allen was woken up from his thoughts. "Don't worry, boy. You won't feel any pain. My body can pass through anything except for what I want to touch. So let's say that perhaps, while I'm pulling out my hand I think to myself that I want to touch your heart…" The man said as he gradually pulled out his hand. "Without making a cut on your body…I can take hold of your heart and rip it out. I can take out your heart while you're still alive."
Allen widened his eyes as he felt something close over his heart. "How do you think that'll feel?" The man continued. "This is how your friends died. Boy. Will you die too?" The man closed his hand tighter around the boy's chest and looked up with a triumphant smile on his face. But it altered when he saw the boy's expression.
Allen stared straight into the man's eyes with no hint of fear or despair anywhere on his face.
Fate and this man enjoyed seeing people suffer. Then he will not let fate nor this man see him suffer, despair nor fear.
The man blinked in shock then boredom. He withdrew his hand without causing any harm to Allen. "You ruined my fun. I won't take it. My gloves would get dirty anyway. That's why I usually let the tease eat them. Soman cooperated with me a bit, so I turned him into a nursery for the tease. Thanks to him, there are a few more of them now."
The man retrieved something from his pocket. Something like a poker card. "Too bad boy, I wanted to play cards with you again. If we met at another time… But right now, I'm wandering around killing the people who are connect with a certain man." The Noah looked at the card, it was floating by itself. "Boy. Are you 'Allen Walker'?"
Desdemona stood up again, for the millionth time that night. She couldn't sleep, no matter what, she couldn't sleep. Maybe she slept too much in the day, maybe she wasn't used to sleeping on the train. But that can't be, she had fallen asleep more easily on the train than her own bed. What on earth is wrong with her? There's something that's bothering her, what is it? She paced the length of the train cabin, back and forth, back and forth.
"Calm down, silly girl!" General Klaud said with annoyance in her voice. Because of Desdemona's constant pacing, the General couldn't get any sleep either. The General took out her pure silver pocket watch, it's already 1:24 in the morning and the two of them haven't slept a wink. "Stay still! Stay still!" Klaud used an overused phrase from her beast-taming years.
"Master, but I can't! There's something going on out there. I don't know what it is. It's so irritating. There's nothing I could do but everything I should do. And I don't even know what I am supposed to do." Desdemona opened her mouth and an avalanche of words fell out. She doesn't even know what she was talking about. She frowned at herself in dismay.
"Just what are you blabbering about?" Klaud asked with a frown of her own.
"It's…It's…" Desdemona struggled for the correct words to explain what she think was going on with her…but came up with none. She sighed in frustration. Luckily, they had the whole entire carriage to themselves so her behaviour didn't disturb any other passengers. "Master. Just…don't mind me. You should get some sleep before we get to Moscow."
"As if I can sleep with you pacing around like that." Klaud rolled her eyes.
Desdemona sighed and shook her head. "Just…I said…Just don't mind me, Master."
Klaud sighed and closed her eyes.
Desdemona started pacing again. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. In the totally silent train carriage, the sound of her heavy boots hitting against the floor became extremely loud. At first it was bearable, but it became louder and louder to the point that she herself can't even stand it anymore, so she took her boots off and pace around with only the bandages on her feet.
The loudness wasn't because of the silence of the carriage, but actually because her footsteps have become a lot more frantic.
With the boots off, the paced at a quite inhuman speed around the carriage. All the while, her brain was filled with either things that she doesn't even understand or a montage that went by too fast so therefore lost its meaning.
Lenalee…Allen…Lavi. What are they doing now? Is Allen OK? Was my dream even real? It felt so real though. But that pain…was so intense. Allen…is there something happening?
Calm down.
Desdemona stopped in her tracks. That voice…
You again. Who are you?
That doesn't matter. The Allen Walker you are talking about…compatible with Crowned Clown…
Allen? Crowned Clown? Is that the name of his Innocence?
That's not the main point. Stop pouncing on every detail I say and just listen.
But…Allen? What happened?
That's why I said LISTEN!
…
Will you lend us your power?
What?
You can help…if you lend us your power.
How?
You don't need to know how, just answer me. Will you lend us your power?
…
Will you?
… … Fine, even though I don't even know what you mean.
…
All of a sudden, Desdemona felt her head getting light and her legs giving out. Her body felt extremely tired and weak. One last thought popped into her head before everything went dark…
Allen…
I put this story as a romance story and there isn't much romance going on…I'll quickly skip to the Asia branch part and then quickly skip the arc so that they'll be back together and I can start doing some fluffy stuff. Since I don't read heaps and heaps of shoujo manga, if anyone else has fluffy moment ideas, please, please, please tell me! I need help from your guys!
If you're like me and don't read lots of fluffy stuff, then help by reviewing and point out my mistakes! Please!
REVIEW!
\/