Authors Note: This…was written at odd times.
Teacher: So, what are you doing?
Me: Beowulf…like everyone else.
Teacher: Really? What part are you on?
Me: Beowulf's kicking some ass.
Teacher: Yes, yes, but I don't recall a character named Kanda in the Beowulf epic…
Me: Really? You should reread it.
3AM yesterday morning:
Brother: (gets up to get a snack and sees me on my laptop) What the hell?
Me: incoherent mumbling
Brother: Must be writing fanfiction….noob.
I really need to find a better way to write. Lmfao
Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-man, I just wish I could even work for Hoshino-sensei…
"Inspire Me"
Chapter 3: What We're Here For
Allen sat uncomfortably at a wooden table in the dining area of the hotel. Kanda had woken up and showered, not even once bringing up the fact of their closeness the previous night. They all had to order small meals since they were already short on money.
"Say, Allen," Lavi started, spraying some chunks of food out of his mouth as he was not done chewing yet, "Where do you think we should look next?"
"Che," Kanda spat, "Don't ask Beansprout. A baby has a better sense of direction than he does."
"Honestly…" Allen sighed, choosing to ignore his venomous comment, "Well…do you have anything in mind, Lavi? You were the one to bring it up."
Lavi gave a toothy grin, "I miiiiight have found a lead."
Kanda suddenly had the bookman in a headlock, "How about I crack your head open and find it myself?!"
Lavi shouted for forgiveness and was roughly let go of, tumbling back into his seat. Straightening out his disheveled appearance, he began to explain, "There are a lot of people who seemed to notice that when people came back from their shrine, they would act strange. Most of them would end up dead in a few days…"
"So where is this shrine?" Kanda asked, smirking.
They climbed the hill for what seemed for forever. Allen began to think it was more like a pilgrimage to go to this shrine rather than some weekly thing like church. The higher up they went, the colder it got. Winter was just settling in, and he found himself what it would be like back at Headquarters, how long Lenalee's hair had grown, how big had Timcampy gotten?
He chuckled a little to himself, but then he felt a chill go down his spine, and this he could not dismiss as just cold. His akuma eye had awakened, and gone berserk. He heard shrill cries that neither Kanda nor Lavi seemed to hear.
"A…akuma…" Allen stuttered. The exorcists turned around in surprise to look at Allen, who clutched at his eye, shaking, as his eyes shifted rapidly all around, searching for the akuma.
"Are you all here to pray?" Three heads whipped around to stare at the new voice. It was childlike, yet something about it wasn't right.
"Akuma…" Allen repeated, mesmerized, and it smiled wickedly, shedding its human appearance, a number 5 in bold on its stomach.
Allen stared in horror at the damnable akuma. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The soul inside was even more tortured than the level 4 that was released into the Black Order's previous HQ. The soul screamed at the unknowing exorcists, begging to be saved, begging for anything to put it out of its misery.
"If not to pray, then you've come to PLAY with me?" The akuma laughed, but the soul inside only seemed to burn with more sorrow and hatred. Never had Allen seen something so loathsome, something so nightmarish, "Maybe you should start praying? Hehehe."
Allen's body convulsed, causing him to fall to the ground, heaving up what little contents he had in his stomach, not once being merciful to the boy when he started to hack up spit and foam. His breath came out in short sporadic gasps. His hands were at a loss--what could he hold on to? The ground to steady his convulsing body? His stomach in an attempt to soothe its unrelenting attack on him? Or maybe he could reach up to his face to wipe his mouth?
And the tears spilled uncontrollably from his eyes, thinking of how long this akuma--this person, had to suffer to get to such a level, such a state. And he thought of his friends, although they couldn't see the tortured soul, facing a level 5 akuma would be fatal, even with their talent. He thought of what he could be able to do to fend of this monster created by the Earl.
And as his body yet again wretched, as he clutched at anything at an attempt to make the pain and the seering memory of the akuma's face disappear. But he felt cool hands run over his forehead, smoothing down his hair away from his face. Pressing into the hand, he noticed that another was placed on his back, rubbing it tentatively.
Looking up, Allen met Kanda's cool dark eyes, thankful. Kanda moved himself slightly in front of Allen in a defensive position, his eyes now locked on the akuma before them, every now and them making side glances at Lavi.
"Are you alright, Allen?" Lavi asked, his voice wavering, he knew he could see the akuma, and couldn't even imagine how bad seeing a level 5 could be.
Allen peered out from his position to look at the akuma once more, and now, that burning soul new his name. It called out to him, beseeching him to do his job as an exorcist, calling out to Allen to save, to move, to do anything but sit there.
And so he did what he was asked, and, still crying, the boy sat up, activating Crown Clown, preparing himself for the worst thing that may happen.
"Allen-kun?"
"Yeah, Mana?"
"Did you ever think about what you wanted to be when you grew up?"
"What do you mean?" A young Allen looked up at a tall man in a large coat and hat, who, in turned, laughed at the small boy.
"Like...would you like to be a dentist? A scientist? A lawyer? Maybe a clown like me!" The man once again laughed heartily.
Allen scoffed, "Nah. I hate doctors, and dentists are no exception. Scientist are so smart that they're stupid. And all lawyers want is your money." Allen stuck his tongue out at his foster father before adding, "And who wants to be a clown anyway?"
They both laughed and Allen received an affectionate pat on the head.
"Well, Allen, is there anything you would like to do?"
"Maybe...I dunno, helping people."
Mana smiled and kept walking along the road they were traveling on, and they stayed in that silence for a long while until they were about to chance upon another town.
"Allen...no matter what happens...keep on walking okay?"
"Mana?"
"--llen!"
What?
"ALLEN!"
Lavi?
Allen slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by a familiar head of red hair, unmistakenly Lavi's. He tried to sit up, but found the shooting pains all over him too much to bear with, and chose to just lie for a few more moments and try again later,
"Beansprout?" Kanda's voice held a key of worry in it, which Allen found could be one of the best tones he's ever heard come out of the Japanese's mouth.
His eyes finally cleared and refocused, shaking unconsciousness from them, "Hi."
"Hi?" Kanda looked annoyed.
"You amaze me, Allen," Lavi said in between laughs.
"You suddenly realize that now?" Allen joked, "But seriously, why?"
"You had us worried. I thought ol' Yu-chan woulda had an aneurism." A vein popped in Kanda's head, emphasizing the point.
"I'm fine...the akuma?"
Kanda quirked a fine eyebrow at him, "You destroyed it," he stated simply.
"Yeah...you were scarier than Kanda."
So, the three were sent back to Headquarters, with the Japan threat destroyed...yet no innocence to gain from their struggle.
Kanda spent most of his time meditating and training, but Lavi was convinced that he was thinking about Allen during that time. Lavi had all the secret pictures he took of his best friends from the trip developed and tucked them away into a scrapbook, then went on ahead to do all the normal sort of work he did as an apprentice bookman. Allen spent most of his time resting and recovering. Apparently, although Allen didn't remember much, he fought long and hard against the akuma, earning him many serious injuries and exhausting his innocence.
However, one day, two weeks after their mission together, the tree would finally meet at the cafeteria, all staring at each other, as if to say something, but deciding not to, and walked in, ordered their usual, and sat together, as if being there was the most normal thing, as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered to them at that moment was just sitting together without worrying of danger for the first time in a long time.
Authors Note: So…yes, there's still going to be more after this! Haha
Please review.
I know I totally skipped the akuma fight scene, but I didn't want to imagine it one way and have Hoshino-sensei create something totally different, so I didn't want to give away any of its fighting abilities I had planned it to have in the first chapter…