Disclaimer : I don't own -Man
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Chapter 15
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"We're getting him back."
"Allen! That's the same as suicide!" Lavi was the first to react and object Allen's suggestion when Allen told them what was in his mind. When Neah turned his back to them, none of them know what to feel. Lavi always had a feeling Neah would side Tyki as soon as he found out the culprit in the kidnapping cases of leaf tribes, or more precisely, he knew for sure Neah would act like that. Even so, he had prayed silently that Neah did not.
They did not want to lose any comrade.
As Neah walked further and further away from them, they remained stoned to the ground, not even feeling the need to move an inch in order to stop Neah. Even Allen held himself back from running to the escaping duo and dragged them back. He had thought that maybe Allen decided to give up on thinking Neah as a comrade. So, when Allen suddenly announced that they will be getting Neah back, the first thought in his mind was that it was an illogical thing to do.
Not only Neah is now in the enemy's base, what if, just what if, Neah turned into their enemy? Will they be able to fight against him? Are they strong enough?
Allen was taught by Neah, so Neah, logically, knew all of Allen's weaknesses.
Will that still be fair for everyone?
"Lavi, we must get him back! That leaf tribe looks weird too..."
"Weird?"
"Yeah, it's like he does not exist there..."
Now that got everyone's attention. "Does not exist there"? What exactly does it mean? Was it like literally, or was it just an expression of Tyki's appearance?
"... Allen, that leaf tribe—"
"—Is Neah's partner, I know. What I meant was their connection is severed. The signals given out of that leaf tribe can be sensed by Neah but that leaf tribe can't sense any of Neah's released signals. If they are bonded together, that should not have happened!" Explaining from what he observed, Allen could not help but to worry for the black flower's current condition. Will he still be safe with that leaf tribe in such conditions?
"What if... Neah is bonded to him, but he is not bonded to Neah?" Kanda voiced out his opinion after giving it a thought.
"You mean it's like a... One-sided thing?" Leenalee suggested hesitatingly.
"No, they are both bonded to each other, that's for sure. Their signals were reaching out to each other all the time, however, that leaf tribe could not receive any of Neah's due to some..." Allen knitted his eyebrows at the unknown word to describe what he felt, "...I would say disturbance, between the bonds, though I'm not sure what that is."
The leaf tribes stared at Allen silently, their minds still trying to process what Allen said. Soon, they gave up and stared questioningly for the flower's explanation.
"... In short, when Neah's signal was sent to that leaf tribe, there was an unknown force reflecting the signals back to Neah."
A sharp gasp could be heard from the group, though it was unknown who was the one who gasped.
Who would do such heartless thing? Forcing the partners not to return to each other when they die, and even causing the lost of memories of their partner for the rest of their lives.
"... Someone is messing with Neah's and that leaf tribe's lives."
When a bond is disturbed by force, both parties suffer the pain of forced rejection towards each other, causing their inner self to eat them up alive from the inside. It was not a fast process, so no one will even realize it started until one of the both parties started losing control of their mental condition. To make things worse, when one loses their mind, there is no way to save him or her. The only result was to wait for him or her to carry our self-destruct or having their partners to end their lives to avoid too much self-harm to themselves. Then, when one partner dies, the other will unconsciously follows its footstep and slowly stepped into the world of madness before reuniting with their loved ones in the afterlife.
But what happen when only one part of the bond was disturbed by force, just like Neah's case?
— Neah would be the only one suffering from the rejection and die off alone.
And that, was the only thing Allen could not allow to happen to his mentor.
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Things are getting a little out of hand since Neah left.
Allen was worried, for both his leaf tribes and Neah.
He's right, something was wrong with Tyki. Even I can feel the difference between the past Tyki and the current one.
After listening to Allen's description of what he felt, I... I didn't know how to react.
I never thought someone would interfere with one's bond in such ways.
Not able to return to their love one? That's plain torture.
I understand how Allen felt, how worried he was for Neah. But I must stop him.
It's too dangerous.
Not only that, our clan was falling apart, little by little. I'm not sure if Allen realizes such situation, but — Our clan is currently in rebellion mood. Since the spreading of rumors on how much Allen favors me, our leaf tribes have stopped trusting us.
They tried to take over.
Some even turned their weapon towards their flower, Allen.
That is something I'll never forgive.
I raised my sword against them instead, way before they could reach Allen.
The spreading of crimson in the woods, I'm pretty sure Allen witness it all, for he had yelled at me with such painful expression when I returned to him every night.
He didn't want anyone to die; I didn't want anyone to kill him.
He shook his head hard, telling me that he understood my intentions, but he refused to accept such thinking.
For the first time in our lives, we fought, for different reasons.
He wanted the others to live;
I wanted him to stay alive.
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Yuu. K
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Tyki knelt before his flower once again, his request for the past few days remained unchanged as he continued begging his flower to approve his wish.
"...Tyki, you are my leaf tribe." His flower sneaked a glance at him, then back to the swamp where they had locked the black flower up, her purple eyes narrowing slightly, not liking where the conversation was going.
Tyki chose to stay silent at the flower's comment. He didn't want to accidentally piss his flower off and ruin his chances of getting what he wished for.
The flower before him sat quietly, a cup of tea still in her hand as she knitted her eyebrows more and more. What to do, what to do? Slowly tasting every bit of tea in her mouth, she swallowed it all down in one gulp with a little hint of unwillingness.
"... Get out, Tyki."
"Flower —"
"I said, get out."
She could feel the stares of her leaf tribe on her a little longer before said leaf tribe stood up and slowly walked out of her resting place. As soon as she sensed Tyki out of her reach, she leaned down against the tree behind her with a loud sigh escaping from her lips.
This is not suppose to happen!
Alright, maybe it was her fault letting Tyki going to that new clan and causes Tyki to meet up with the black flower unexpectedly... Wait, it's not like she knew that black flower would be there! Well, actually, she knew there would be a black flower in that new clan, but she certainly did not expect it to be... that black flower.
She had long thought Neah D Campbell died along his leaf tribes, excluding Tyki of course.
Perhaps that was why Tyki was so hard to revive back then? Because Neah was actually still alive and kicking? She wondered.
"Flower?"
Her leaf tribes snapped her awake from her thoughts, she lazily glanced at them with her half lidded eyes, "What is it?"
"Well... Tyki he..." The leaf tribes looked troubled finding the suitable word to report it to her, though she don't understand why is it so hard for them to say it out.
It's not the first time this happens.
"He went to the swamp again, didn't he?" She answered for them, allowing her eyes to wander back to the direction of the swamp.
"Y- Yes! Should we —"
"Shush, nothing happens without my command." She understood what they were implying completely.
They want Tyki dead.
"Why of course, dear flower. Just so you know, we are prepared. Any time will do, dear flower." She simply nodded and sent them off.
Sigh, one problem after another.
Neah D Campbell, a fallen flower, yet he is somehow still alive. Fallen flower usually dies off slowly as madness consumed them completely, but she could not sense nor see and signs of him being mad. Then again, Tyki's in the picture, so that should be the best explanation for it. Next, she had erased Tyki's past memories of Neah because she thought Neah was dead, wanting to lessen the rejection inflicting on Tyki. It worked, Tyki had no sign of rejection even when he's not with Neah. It's a good ending. If only Neah is dead, that is.
The main reason she sealed his memories was to let Tyki live on happily even after Neah's passing, it worked so well until now.
Neah D Cambell is freaking alive.
Yes, its a good news. She was happy to know that as well.
And then she remember what she did to Tyki's memories of Neah.
What a way to ruin her mood, one moment she was so happy she could hear the singing of the angels from heaven, the next second she fell down back to earth and straight to hell.
If they continue meeting each other, one day Tyki's memories will return, and then Tyki would be suffering too. So she locked Neah up as soon as he reach her territory.
What surprised her the most was, however, Tyki's reaction towards Neah's lock up.
Did he remember? Just how much did he remember?
In the end, it turned out that Tyki just felt that something is wrong. He hasn't remember anything.
She let out a relieved breath, only to be stabbed mentally once again when Tyki started begging her to free Neah from the swamp.
"I'll watch over him. He's powerless now anyway." he said.
No no no, that's not the main problem there. The main problem is you meeting up with him! Oh how she wish she can say it out!
And that white flower! Accepting magic-using leaf tribes without even testing their loyalty towards him?! Just how naive is he?! Even his leaf tribes are as stubborn as him! To think that she had to remove their magic elements by force before sending them back to where they originally belong...
And to make it worse, that white flower seems to be having the same case as Tyki and Neah.
"Flower, Tyki he —"
"I know it already! You guys reported the same thing just 5 minutes ago!"
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It's cold.
Not a sound could be heard, Neah continued relaxing his body in the dark water. Or some would call it a swamp. It doesn't seem to look any different from dark water in Neah's point of view. The particles he felt on his fingertips... Are those the water particles? Or something else? He couldn't tell. His senses were getting numb slowly. Soon, he knew, he will lose the ability to see in the dark water as well.
The bond vibrated slightly, signalling the presence of a certain leaf tribe into the swamp.
Knowing who it was, Neah smiled to himself.
Who cares if his senses went numb? Who cares if he can't see in the darkness anymore? All he need, was having Tyki by his side.
"... Here again?" Neah started, only to realize how tired his voice sounded like.
There was no reply from the presence before him.
"... Tyki?"
"Hang in there, flower will let you out as soon as I manage to convince her that you're no threat to us."
Ah ah, seems like his hearings were diminishing as well, even though Tyki was just in front of him, the volume of sound he heard from Tyki was surprisingly small. Perhaps... the rejection is finally beginning?
"Neah... Can you hear me?"
No, it can't be the rejection.
He lost Tyki long ago, the rejection should be then. So, now... What is it?
"...Eah!...!"
Tyki's voice was slowly fading away.
"...!...?!...!"
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It's cold.
I can't feel anything...
I can't...
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Hear...
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TBC
A/N: Sorry this took so long. Writer's block happening A Well, still glad I manage to write out this much for "The Lost Hope" ;) Thanks a lot for all the reviews. They helped me get through the writer's block QVQbb
REVIEWS :
Tokyo10 : Thanks! Glad you enjoy it ;)
Shadow Spears and Silent Death Walker : Earl and Leverier was actually my first and second choice for Tyki's new flower. But later I found someone else that fits more into the future chapters xDD The clue given in this chapter was only the eye color, but personally I think that's a big giveaway xDD
Kanna Raimi : The Earl was once my second choice for his new flower ((Leverier being the first)) but I soon found out someone else that is fits more into that character :3 I personally think that her eye color is a big giveaway for her identity ;)
DarkestWritterEver : Thanks a lot~~