Disclaimer : I don't own -Man
.
.
Chapter 19
.
Blue roses were only white roses that were painted with paint. Besides, the flower language for it was — the impossible.
~Literature Maiden Vol 4, The Fallen Angel Who Was Framed
.
.
"You're the only one who can save him."
My lips curved upwards, albeit still not taking him seriously.
"Road, you can save him." The white flower said beside me, his silver eyes shone with hope.
Shaking my head slightly, I gave them a bitter smile.
I pointed to the direction of the swamp, "Neah's in there. Don't go in, you can only look at him from the top." God knows what will happen if I let them in.
"Road!"
"Go or leave." I stood by my opinion, glaring at each one of them with stern eyes.
They appeared to be a little lost on what they should do, throwing glances among each other, they knitted their eyebrows together before staring at me with pleading eyes.
"Let us take Tyki with us." The blue-haired leaf tribe stood before his flower, shielding his flower from me and demanded me. The white flower shyly peeked from his side, still staring at me with those pleading silver eyes.
The white flower was worried for Neah, even I can see that. His blue-haired leaf tribe then proceeds to calm him down a little by swirling some of their strands together.
I remembered seeing such situation before.
Back in those days, when Neah and Tyki were both still intruding my territory.
Neah would swirl his hair with Tyki's when Tyki least expected it, causing the leaf tribe to blush slightly before moved to hide behind me, all the while saying that Neah's a pervert. Every time, Neah would laugh. Just for the sake of my own entertainment, I would just push Tyki back to Neah, ignoring Tyki's cries of unwilling, then both my strands and I will laugh alongside Neah as we observed every respond Tyki made.
Leaf tribe and flower falling in love, a forbidden love in the eyes of the world.
Yet, dare I say that their love was the purest.
"Go or leave." I repeated.
Their stares harden, disbelieved looks started to take their turn appearing on their faces.
They won't understand.
I wanted to protect what was left pure in this world.
To me, those like Neah and Tyki are the only purities left. Not even my leaf tribes were as pure as them.
For that reason, Tyki shall never see Neah again, I'll make sure of that. Some may call me selfish, but in order to let one of them to keep on living, I must separate them, or else they'll both die.
"We won't leave." The white flower announced. "Tyki must come with us."
Without even thinking about it, the roots attacked the white flower before me, their sharp ends spiraling their way to the flower, just like how my newly-formed rage was all thrown towards that stubborn white flower. Kanda Yuu acted quick as he held his flower in his embrace and made a wind shield against the roots. The other two leaf tribes, however, were too stunned to even move an inch.
"Tyki will not go with you."
"You can trap him like that! It's pure torture for one to feel their partner die off as they helplessly grieve for their demise. You knew it well, don't you Road? It's the same feeling when you lose your strands!"
"I know!" It was a screamed I cried out. They probably didn't expect me to react like that, as they had stepped back a little as my screams echoed throughout the woods.
"… Then why? Why are you stopping Tyki from seeing Neah one last time?"
"He already saw him before Neah chased him out." Looking at the white flower who questioned me, I swallowed down the aching feeling in my chest. "He already saw Neah so many times when I locked Neah up since day one. I did not stop him."
"Why stop him now?"
"Anymore and he'll be affected!" I pulled them to the entrance of the swamp and pointed downwards, "Can you not see how bad Neah's condition is now?! Any closer to our black flower, Tyki will- He, he will—" I could not even bear to say it out loud. I dropped to my knees as my tears started to stream down my cheeks.
"So you choose to give up on one of them?" I could feel the only female leaf tribe knelt before me, her hand gently patting me on the head.
"You choose to give up on Neah? Just to save Tyki?" She pulled me into a tight hug.
"… This is the best I can do. So please, leave Tyki out of this."
"Tyki needs to be here to stop the rejection." The red –haired leaf tribe commented.
"He will die if he comes here now—"
"He won't, Road. Trust us."
No, I don't want to take any risk. Tyki is the only one I have left —
"Do you want to save Neah?"
Don't, please, don't tempt me.
"You can make it happen, Road. We need your powers to let them both live."
This is impossible, I'm a blue rose. This is totally impossible—
"You are a rose that does not exist naturally, you're a miracle."
If I'm a miracle, why would I fail to save my strands back then?
"I said—" A sudden burst of magic cut me off. Surprised, I turned to the direction of the massive magic burst, to only find out it was from the tree I residents in.
That amount of magic flowing out of it… Tyki?
He remembered?
"…ad! Road, kill me now!" That hoarse voice… Neah!
I turned back to Neah beneath me, Neah stared back at me with those familiar gold eyes. He must have felt the bond reconnecting then, almost immediately, I launched the nearby roots into the swamp, hoping to end everything for Neah before it was too late.
Three leaf tribes of not my own appeared before Neah and protected him from the roots.
"Road, believe in yourself! You can save them both!" Allen Walker ran to me and shook me hard. "Believe in your existence! There's a reason for everything, you exist for a reason!"
Neah yelled out in distress behind me, those bursts of magic before me—
I want to save them both.
"Trust your own ability to save them both! You can do it!"
No more death, no more grieving. That's all I hope for.
If I'm a miracle, then shall my every wish come true?
The bonds were reconnecting in such high speed, accompanied with Neah's despair.
I closed my eyes, allowing my own self to wander around my own body. Feeling a familiar warm feeling around me, I slowly raised my hands to my shoulder height, one to the black flower, the other to the leaf tribe trapped in my tree, concentrating on spreading the warm feeling to them both from me.
They'll be safe.
I'm certain of that.
Before long, it was all dark before me.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Allen lay against the rough tree bark behind him, his legs swinging here and there below the tree branch he sat on. A certain blue-haired leaf tribe climbed up the tree carefully, before settling himself down beside the white flower, twirling their hair together as he did so. Allen on the other hand gently lay his head onto the later's shoulder.
"… Regret what you did?" The leaf tribe did not push him away, he simply grabbed Allen's hand softly as he lay against Allen's head as well.
"… Kind of."
"At least you were thinking for Neah and Tyki when you did it." He comforted his flower.
"But was I in the right? Did I make the wrong choice doing so?"
Kanda raised his head and tilted Allen's face up with his slender fingers, "Do you think what you did was wrong? If you could reverse time, would you rather not do that?"
All was silent.
Allen stared at Kanda in silence, the latter stared back patiently, allowing Allen to think everything through clearly.
"… I guess I'll still do the same, though I'll regret the outcome a little…"
"And why exactly are you regretting? The fact that they both—"
"No! It's better this way!" Allen interrupted Kanda, his voice rising slightly in panic.
"Well then, you have nothing to regret, you did nothing wrong, Allen."
"I hope so…"
The wind blew gently against them, whispering the message of the others to them clearly.
"Allen, Kanda, get down here."
Looking down directly below them, a blue rose stared at them with a weird look. Her now shoulder length hair was still short, though it had gotten a little longer since that day. Yes, her strands started growing once again. Though it will not be the same strands anymore, her current strands will only act like a normal flower's strand, instead of the past strands of hers that were able to communicate with her.
Allen proceeded to jump down, only to be stopped by Kanda's hand around his waist.
"… Yuu?"
Kanda ignored his calls, apparently busy glaring at the blue rose beneath them in alert.
Road, who noticed this, sighed loudly.
"For the last time, I am not interested in Allen Walker."
"You may not be interested in him, but who knows what you'll do to him?"
Allen had the urge to face palm himself so badly.
Not again.
Seems like Kanda was worried that Road will snatch him away from Kanda by forcing Allen to reproduce off springs with her or something along the lines. Thus, Kanda being the overly-protective leaf tribe slash bonded partner, would always find a way to avoid them both being together alone without his presence.
As much as Allen finds his ways of protecting him was kind of sweet, he must admit that this kind of protection from Kanda is a little embarrassing.
Oh, speaking of reproducing, how exactly does a flower reproduce anyway?
He knew that flowers of both genders will first twirl their hair together… Then what? An offspring is born? Just like that?
But Kanda always twirls their strands together… If that's the case, then shouldn't he be… pregnant by now…?
With a dark blush on his cheeks, he turned away from Kanda and stared at somewhere else far away.
"…Allen? What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing's wrong!"
Before Kanda could once again tighten his hold, Allen struggled out of his hold and squirmed away from the two, his face still blushing madly.
Road and Kanda both stared at Allen's running figure, after a while, Road slowly moved her sights to the leaf tribe above and started her staring.
"What do you want?" Annoyed, Kanda snapped out.
"…"
"What is it?!"
"… You did not just impregnate our dear white flower, did you?"
"What— NO!"
Road was somehow disappointed at his answer.
"You did not?!" She yelled in surprised, "He's in the best condition to carry off springs now! Don't you want some cute little saplings?! Imagine them when they matures and give birth to flowers that have your or Allen's features!"
It was then Kanda's turn to be surprised.
"… Saplings? Allen will give birth to saplings…?" He had thought Allen will give birth to small and tiny flowers…
Road stared at him with an I-can't-believe-you-don't-even-know-about-this look, "Well duh, saplings are literally the medium for pregnancy. Just like humans, human babies grow inside their mother's womb for months before stepping onto the world; sapling works just like a womb, it gave the young nutrients and shelter before giving birth to them."
"…."
It was then Road remembering her real motives to come and searched for Allen and Kanda. "Get Allen to the tree as soon as possible. There's something you need to see."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Lavi and Leenalee continued looking curiously at the two figures lying in the base of the pond near their tree.
"… Wow." Leenalee said in awe, "This is the first time I've seen something like this."
"Me either." Lavi replied the female leaf tribe with his eyes still gluing at the two figures in interest.
At the base of the pond lay Neah D Campbell and Tyki Mikk, sleeping soundly in the water with their strands twirling against each other. Road had managed to save them both, however both of them were heavily affected by the rejection before Road managed to save them. For that, they need to rest underwater for years before they could leave the water and live on normally. Allen had blamed himself for not being able to convince Road to use her magic on them soon.
After saving them, Road had brought all of them back to her old territory, the place where Neah, Tyki, her strands and she relaxed in the past. She placed them both in the pond near a large tree, always visiting them and checking for their condition from time to time.
Their condition was getting better as time passed, but the reason Road gathered them around was because of that tiny little sapling residing in between them with some parts still connected to their strands. Well, mostly Tyki's strands.
Soon, the two flowers arrived with a leaf tribe.
Road simply pointed at the tiny sapling between Neah and Tyki before turning her head to take in the expression of the pair beside her.
"Allen, Kanda! Look! A sapling! Oh my gosh, this is the first time I've seen a sapling born from a flower!" Lavi stated excitedly before adding on with an awkward smile, "Well erm… From a flower and a… leaf tribe?"
Both Kanda and Allen simply stared at the tiny little sapling underwater in wonder, before Allen started to smile a large smile on his face.
"Well, Neah and Tyki will be able to leave the water in 2 weeks time, and they have already produced a sapling. So—" She dragged her last notes teasingly, "When are the both of you produced your saplings?"
Lavi and Leenalee turned to the pair in sync, their eyes shone with awe and hope, causing Allen to squirm towards Kanda in slight fear.
"Will you perform it before us? Show us how saplings are formed!"
"Fuck no!"
"… Yuu doesn't want any saplings?" Allen muttered sadly.
Everyone turned their attention to the white flower, who was sulking behind Kanda silently.
"Saplings are cute, aren't they, Allen? There, there, it's just your stupid leaf tribe that does not know the beauty of saplings—" Road was suddenly pulled away from hugging Allen by a certain long-haired leaf tribe.
"Hands off."
Lavi and Leenalee asked excitedly, "So, you guys will perform—"
"We'll do it in private. You guys, fuck off!"
Laughter filled the woods. It was another peaceful day in their paradise.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"When is yours going to bloom, Allen?"
"Probably tomorrow, yours?'
Neah smiled a proud smile at Allen, "Soon."
"Well then, congratulations. Now get away from him, Neah." Kanda appeared behind Allen ad started glaring daggers at the black flower.
Neah placed his hands up as a "I give up" gesture and continued humming a calming tune to himself, the smile on his face never fading.
"Oh, hey Neah?"
"Yeah?"
"How do you determine bonded partner by birth?"
At that, Neah stopped his humming and gave it a thought, "The twos that shared the same place of birth, at the same time. The time may not be directly accurate, it can be a year late, or even a decade late. And they need to bloom at the same place, for example, this bud here," Neah pointed at one of the bud on his own sapling-turned-tree, "When it matures and turned into a flower, the next bud that happens to mature at this exact place, at similar time will be it's partner. Which explains why pairs of leaf tribe and flower are so rare. Usually the place the bud used to be would hardly been taken by the leaves of the tree.
So that was how Yuu and I turned into a pair….. Allen smiled to himself.
"Staring at it so intensely won't make it bloom earlier, Neah." Tyki shook his head slightly with a smile on his face.
"That's right, so stop staring and get me some food, Neah." Road whined beside Tyki.
"Get it yourself, I need to look after my sapling." Neah said in a proud tone, ignoring the fact that he was still using the term "sapling" even though his so-called sapling had grown into a tree.
"You sucks, Neah," Road shoved her tongue out at the overly-proud black flower before continues whining to the other two leaf tribes around them.
Allen looked at his own tree, noticing a small white bud hanging on one of the branches with another raven-colored bud hanging on other branches.
"IT'S BLOOMING GUYS!" Lavi's loud voice gained everyone's attention to Neah's tree. Staring at the bud on a tree branch, they saw it trembled slightly before the protective layer slowly came off, revealing a new-born flower inside.
Neah and Tyki were so happy they couldn't stop the smile on their face.
"…?"
The white bud on Allen's tree trembled as well, snatching away the spotlight from the newborn flower, before blooming slowly as it revealed a smaller version of Allen inside, still curling in a circle with his eyes close.
It was silence for a while, before cheering came from all directions.
.
.
Hope was never lost, just like our main character in this novel.
He may have lost his ways in the progress, but there's always a way for him to return to his goal. A lost hope, can still be found as long as you'll willing to go after it.
~Flower Of Animosity Vol 4, Facing The Truth.
.
.
END
A/N : Well, seems like I'm able to finish this story in this chapter O _ O I hope it's not rushed to you guys... ^0^lll Oh, did anyone here read the novel "Literature Maiden"? It's a Japanese mystery novel, it's really nice to read as long as you're patient xDDD And the part about reproducing was what I imagine, the original novel just mentioned that flower give birth to trees, trees give birth to flowers, no more details ORZ
To all my reviewers : YOU GUYS ROCKS! Thanks a lot for supporting this story until the end ^^ Oh, as for the age gape question, they don't really have age gape. In flowers and leaf tribes, age meant nothing to them so those age gape us humans talked about? It doesn't exist in their life.
Once again, Thank you so much for supporting this story! Hope to hear from you soon in other stories!