The Devil's Symphony
Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray -Man. And I hope it continues soon.
Chapter 5: Enigma
A/N: Enjoy.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Voices…
"I… I really don't know..."
Her voice…
"Calm down, Yuu! We can't expect her to know what just happened!"
Another voice…
Then, an irritated growl.
"Well, maybe this stupid bean sprout knows what's going on. Let's wake him up."
"Ah, Yuu-!"
"Kanda, don't! He needs to rest!"
Allen chose that moment to speak.
"What are you arguing about?" he croaked, his voice hoarse from not having spoken for a long while.
"Allen-kun! Are you alright!?"
"Fine."
He opened his grey eyes to receive the bright glare of the ceiling light.
They snapped shut again.
"Wha-"
He opened his eyes again, but did not falter, unaffected by the light.
He caught sight of a familiar face-besides Lenalee.
The face from the figure in the shadows that he had fought.
His eyes widened.
There was a potential enemy amongst them.
It didn't look like neither Lenalee nor the red-head seemed to realize this.
Allen jumped out of the bed, startling Lenalee.
Blood began to seep through his bandages; the wound on his shoulder had re-opened.
"You!"
The stoic-looking man raised an eyebrow and looked at him as if he were crazy.
"What?"
"You're the brute I was fighting in the shadows!"
He waved an accusing finger at his former opponent.
The raven-haired man raised an eyebrow.
Lenalee noticed the blood seeping through the boy's shirt.
"Allen-kun! You're wound's reopened-"
"Lenalee this guy is dangerous! He attacked me when we were back at the tunnel-"
His voice caught in his throat.
The world suddenly began to swirl around him suddenly.
Everything was spinning.
"Wh-"
And he blacked out again.
-
Allen sat up for the second time that day.
Blinking to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness of the room, the snow-haired boy attempted to sit up.
"Ah, Allen-kun, don't! You shouldn't be moving!"
Lenalee had been seated in a chair beside the bed.
He cast her a stubborn look.
"Heck. I'm fine. Now where's that bastard-"
He pulled the covers off and attempted to get off the bed in one quick motion once more.
A screaming pain ran up his left side and he froze with a gasp as the air in his lungs escaped him.
He gritted his teeth in an attempt to not scream.
He crumpled on the floor, almost writhing in pain.
Lenalee rushed to his side, helping him up.
Ignoring the I-told-you-so stares the girl sent him, he asked, "Where is he?"
"You mean Kanda?"
Allen rose slowly, and crawled shakily back into the bed.
"Is that his name? He attacked me. Do you know him?" he asked.
"Yes, I do. And he didn't attack you. We were looking for you and he got to you first. I think it was you who took it the wrong way."
"Right…"
Lenalee watched as Allen scratched his bandaged head irritably, with an annoyed expression on his face.
"A-Ah! No offence though, Allen-kun."
"I'm not worried about that…" the boy muttered.
He looked around him wearily, casting his gaze around the room as he took in his surroundings.
"More like, where am I?"
"You're at a private hospital."
Allen's gaze fell on the red-head whom had just spoken.
"I'm Lavi. Nice to meet ya."
He offered the white-haired boy a hand.
He gladly shook hands with his newfound friend and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you too."
Then the door opened.
The one who'd assaulted Allen in the tunnel- from his point of view- stepped into the room and took one look at him before letting out a disgusted sigh.
"The bean sprout is awake, eh?"
Allen looked away sheepishly.
"Uh… Yeah… I'm sorry about earlier. I think maybe I over-reacted. So, I apologize."
He wasn't proud enough to go on without apologizing for his mistake.
"Che. Whatever."
Allen chanced a glance at the raven-haired teen in the corner with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah, Yuu doesn't like people much," Lavi explained.
There was a visible vein threatening to pop on Kanda's head.
"How many times do you need me to say it for you to get it in that thick skull of yours?!"
There was suddenly a very sharp tip of a katana pointed threateningly at the Adam's apple of the red-head.
"Stop it you two."
Lenalee spoke this time.
She smacked both of the bickering teenagers with a clip board.
It seemed to have come from the side panel of Allen's bed.
Kanda went to some secluded corner by himself as Lavi came to stand next to the bed once again.
Allen was unaffected by the development of the conversation between the three.
"How long was I out?"
Lenalee locked her fingers together.
Obviously she knew what time meant to Allen.
"A-A couple of days…"
"How many exactly?"
"Four…"
The boy groaned.
'Now how am I going to repay master's debts? I missed so many days of my job at the coffee house!"
Noticing her friend's frustration, Lenalee decided to change the subject.
"A-Are you hungry, Allen-kun?"
The boy ran a hand through his hair.
"Not really."
Truth be told, he was.
And his stomach decided to contradict his words entirely.
It led out a loud low growl.
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Ah, crap…"
"You are hungry! Allen-kun, if you tell us you're not hungry when you are, you won't get better quickly!"
"Yeah, moyashi. You're still growing aren't you? You need to eat so you can get taller! If not, no-one will be your girlfriend!"
He nodded at Lenalee with a grin.
The girl flushed and using her almighty clipboard smacked Lavi on the head hard. Really hard.
Allen almost thought he'd heard a soft crack sound.
"Lavi!"
"Ow, what?" he asked innocently.
Lenalee sighed, shaking her head.
She decided to let it go.
She had hit him already, after all.
"Nevermind."
She turned back to Allen.
"I'll go tell the doctors that you're awake, and maybe get some food for you. Lavi, Kanda, watch him and make sure he doesn't move too much."
Smiling, Lavi waved the ebony-haired girl off.
As soon as Lenalee was out of earshot, he turned to face Allen.
And suddenly, his playful demeanour had become serious.
"What were those things we were fighting in the tunnel?"
Allen gulped nervously at the intensity of the red-head's stare.
"I-I don't know."
"Lena-chan said you told her it was something called an akuma, correct?"
The white-haired boy was confused.
He'd said that?
His eyebrows furrowed in uncertainty.
"I can't remember anything."
At this point, Kanda had had enough.
He strode across the room from his secluded corner of the room and grabbed Allen's shirt.
"Look you short bastard, I know what I saw. I saw you and your freakish arm in that fucking tunnel and I know you know something."
By this time Allen was pissed off.
What was with this guy?
Why was he so persistent?
The raven-haired man stared him down with a dark cold glare.
Allen glowered straight back with burning silver orbs.
There had been no reason for him to use such vulgarities and rude, aggressive actions.
How uncivilised.
His head began to throb.
"Look, I don't know. I only remember up to the point where…"
Suddenly dizzy, memories of the time in the tunnel flashed in his head.
Him shoving the door open…
The train conductor transforming into this strange ugly monster…
Lenalee coming from behind…
Her voice…
Then, another monster…
One red eye, one grey eye…
A world of black and white…
The sudden taste of iron on his tongue…
A sticky red liquid on his face…
Lenalee's gasp…
Blood on her face…
The fear reflected in her eyes…
He was the monster…
Allen gripped his head as the memories continued to haunt him from the inside, throwing him into a fierce series of convulsions.
"Oi, Allen, Allen! Get a hold of yourself!"
There was shock evident in his friend's voice, worry etched in along with it.
But he could not hear anything.
"Hey! Yuu, go get the doctor!"
The samurai left without a word.
Allen's spasms continued as he thrashed about in the bed, the memories irking him.
Lavi caught sight of the red liquid streaming down the younger teen's left cheek and was suddenly alarmed.
"Allen, Allen!"
He caught the fifteen-year-old by the shoulders, shaking him forcefully.
But Allen continued to tremble in paroxysm.
"Hey, Allen, Allen!"
The red-head continued to shake the boy's shoulders.
There was a clang of porcelain and shattering glass on the tiled floor from behind them.
-
He was talking to it.
"Save me! Save me, please!"
They were pleading.
What is this…?
They were screaming. Their bloodied faces, charred with hatred.
They were so pitiful…
"Thank you… for freeing us…"
-
"Allen-kun, shush, Allen-kun."
A soft voice…
A warm embrace rocking back and forth…
He opened his eyes.
He could feel the salty liquid of his tears slide down his cheeks, and his eyes were wet with tears.
But the terrifying visions were gone.
And in place of the cold chill that had taunted him, there was a warm tenderness.
Someone was hugging him.
"L-Lenalee…?"
Immediately the warmth drew back and Allen regretted calling her name.
It was cold again.
"Allen-kun! Are you alright?!"
Lenalee was seated on his bed.
She had tears at the sides of her eyes.
"Yeah, Moyashi. Gave us quite the scare ya know."
"Lavi!"
"What?"
Lenalee sighed.
She wiped the salty liquid from her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse.
"I-I'm fine. Just…"
He was dizzy again.
The memories were calling him back into the darker corners of his mind.
He shook his head, trying to clear any vexing thoughts.
This resulted in a sharp pain. His brain felt as if it were suspended in water and was being thrown about.
He rubbed his temples painfully.
"What happened?"
"You had a form of seizure. Are you alright?"
"Yeah. Just a bit dizzy."
'And cold…'
"And Lenalee had to hug you just for you to stop shaking! Wow! The charm of women."
Lenalee's cheeks reddened.
She nearly slapped him, and Lavi flinched.
Lenalee caught herself before she harmed Lavi very painfully, the redhead ending up with a simple whack in the shoulder.
"LAVI!"
"Ow, what? Lena-chan is extra violent today…"
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
Allen was too out-of-it to grasp the situation.
Cheeks still flushed lightly, the ebony-haired girl poured Allen a glass of water.
"Here, have some water."
The white-haired boy had no idea how his friend had just read his mind; his throat felt like sandpaper.
With shaking hands, he gratefully reached out for the glass of water that was being handed to him.
Upon contact, the cold forced him to draw his hands back. The glass slipped through his fingers and fell, shattering.
"Ah… I'm so sorry…"
His right hand came up to cover his eyes and he gritted his teeth.
'This is so embarrassing. I'm so weak.'
"It's alright Allen-kun."
Lenalee moved off the bed to pick up the pieces of broken glass.
"H-Hello…?"
The small voice had come from the doorway.
Everyone looked up.
'So familiar…'
"Shouko-chan?"
"T-This is Allen-nii-chan's room right?"
The white-haired boy still had his hand over half of his face.
'Crap.'
He bit down harder.
"Ah, yes it is."
"I-I brought back his violin…"
He couldn't see what was happening, but he sure as hell knew he didn't want to be seen bedridden and weak in front of the little girl.
"Ah, Onii-chan. Are you alright?" she asked, crawling onto the bed.
He finally took his hand off his face.
With a smile, he replied, his voice only slightly gruff, "Yeah. I'm fine."
It sounded too unconvincing. 'Damn hoarse throat.'
But he had the little girl fooled.
"I'm so happy Onii-chan is okay!" the little girl exclaimed. She beamed.
The smile he had plastered on was effectively masking his pain.
"How are you, Shouko-chan? Did you and your Mama get out safely?"
"Y-Yes! Mama got out safely with Shouko! Both of us are okay!"
Allen reached out and patted the girl's head.
"I'm glad to hear it."
The little girl was still beaming.
"It's all thanks to Onii-chan and Lenalee-nee-chan!"
Her violet eyes were sparkling.
"Aw, Yuu, we were forgotten."
The redhead feigned hurt.
Kanda simply put on an irritated expression and looked the other way.
"Stupid rabbit."
Kanda's gruff reply surprised Shouko and she ducked behind Allen's shoulder.
Lenalee decided to address the little girl and clear up her confusion.
"Shouko-chan, these two Onii-chans helped us."
"O-Oh…"
Face half hidden behind Allen's left shoulder, she stuttered, "T-Thank you, onii-chans."
Lavi laughed.
"Now, that's more like it."
"Lavi!"
"What?"
Shouko completely ignored the other conversation within the room and instead questioned Allen, a worried frown plaguing her expression.
She looked him up and down.
"What's wrong Shouko-chan?"
"Allen-nii-chan, are you okay? You have a lot of bandages on you…"
He smiled in the most reassuring way possible, giving the girl a thumbs-up.
"I'm fine, don't worry. They're just little scratches."
Shouko's innocent violet eyes blinked.
"Ohh…That's good. But it'd be better if Onii-chan was totally un-scratched or anything!"
With a pout, she leaned on his shoulder.
The hidden wound pulsed painfully under his skin.
He could feel it tearing.
It was hidden in the collared shirt, and was obviously invisible to the young girl.
Allen was struck with a painful jolt and he could almost feel the vicious inner nature of his left arm pulse in malicious want for blood.
He gritted his teeth.
His breathing halted entirely and he stilled, unmoving.
Lenalee noticed this action and immediately relayed it to Lavi.
She turned to the brown-haired girl.
Something bad was going to happen if she didn't do something about Shouko on Allen's shoulder fast.
Allen's right hand had curled into fist by that time. And his face was as white as a ghost's.
Lenalee could see the veins pressed against the pallid skin of the back of Allen's hand, and his knuckles had turned pale.
"Shouko-chan, I think it's time to go now. Visiting hours are almost over and your mother will be worried," she said.
"Oh."
The little girl hopped off the bed.
She skipped to the doorway before turning around to face Allen again.
Face still slightly ashen, he smiled and unfroze himself a little, giving a little wave, so as not to alarm the little girl.
She didn't notice his rigidity and smiled sheepishly.
"Get well soon, Onii-chan. Then we can play together! I'll come visit you every day until you're better!"
She waved before disappearing around the doorway.
The smile left Allen's face the instant Shouko disappeared from sight and the sound of his haggard breathing filled the uncomfortable silence.
Lenalee gazed at him worriedly.
"Are you really okay, Allen-kun?"
"Yeah… Just… a bit… breathless…" he replied in between gasps.
-
Lenalee sighed.
Allen had fallen into a serene, peaceful asleep after his dinner, and everyone had left for the night.
Komui had reluctantly agreed to her decision; she would spend the night with Allen until he was discharged the next day.
Lavi had discussed the topic of the akuma Allen had mentioned and his memory loss with her and Kanda outside as the white-haired boy continued to wolf down his dinner under the supervision of the hospital nurses.
The red-head had said that Allen hadn't known anything about what he'd said or seen earlier, and even when Yuu'd threatened him, he had insisted he knew nothing and tried to explain when the spasm had interrupted their conversation.
As if it was trying to prevent him from telling them.
A soft whisper in the silence jerked Lenalee out of her thoughts.
"Mana…"
Lenalee was confused.
Allen was talking in his sleep.
If she wasn't careful, he might just start bleeding from the eyes again.
The white-haired boy continued to whisper.
"He's gone... All my fault…"
Allen was mumbling in his sleep about a… dead person?
This thought branched out infinitely in Lenalee's mind as she wandered curiously on the topic of the boy's past, forgetting entirely the possibility of massive blood loss from Allen's eyes.
But she had other things to think about. Her curiosity won over.
He was just fifteen. How could he have wound up here all by himself?
Lenalee had never thought of that.
She knew well that Allen had a master who had taught him music.
What about before that, though? What life had the white-haired boy led as a child?
She didn't know.
And the fact that his hair was white intrigued her further.
Shock wasn't able to cause that drastic a change in physical appearance could it?
And that boy from so long ago…
The ebony-haired had meant to ask Allen about it earlier, but the topic had never risen in conversation, and in her hesitance to ask, she had totally forgotten about it.
But as she watched his chest rise and fall as she had done that boy from long ago, the uncanny resemblance they held resurfaced from the corners of her mind.
They both had profoundly snow-white hair, a deformed left arm, and it had been Cross Marian who had taken the little boy she could have treated as a younger brother for her at last.
The age fit well, for both the boy from back then and Allen that was here with her, sleeping soundly with the same steady rhythm she had seen in the boy's breathing long ago; both had been younger than her by a year.
And that scar.
The unforgettable, entirely unmistakeable mark that had been freshly cut in when she'd first seen it…
Maybe there were people with similar marks all over the world…?
What about those things though?
The akuma…
Lenalee shook the thoughts from her head. They were terribly troubling.
And they concerned Allen's past.
It was none of her business, worried though she was.
He wasn't obliged to tell her, even if she did ask.
The girl looked at the wall clock, and her mouth pulled into a frown.
It was already so late, and she should be getting to sleep.
There was a sofa in the corner.
And she left her brooding questions for the morning.
-
Silver-grey eyes opened to darkness.
'So cold.'
4.00AM in the morning.
Allen sat up painfully.
His back was aching and his left arm was limp at his side.
Mana…
He'd dreamt about him again.
Dreamt about the mass of blood he'd seen when Mana had died.
"Keep walking forward, and don't stop."
The words echoed in his head, as other tiny voices spoke up.
"There is nothing more important than your instrument."
"No matter what happens, you must never lose sight of your goals."
"You have to love your music more than food."
The words bounced off the walls of his skull, and he felt his head splitting open.
He decided to try and think of something else.
His eye activated suddenly, squirming restlessly, out of control.
The bandages came off his forehead.
The blood streamed down his forehead, reaching his eyes, but he did not budge, did not blink.
He had been thrown into a horrendous nightmare.
The walls turned red with blood, and the sheets lay stained at his feet.
He pulled his legs up and folded them in front of him, resting his chin on his knees.
He hid in a futile attempt at making everything disappear.
His heart rate quickened and he struggled to control the increasing rate of his pulse.
The hyperventilation would start otherwise and that would lead to an even quicker heart rate, triggering the machine that was tracking his heart condition; they wanted to keep him on safe alert, just in case something happened in the night.
He didn't want to wake Lenalee up.
The moment she came into his mind, an image of Lenalee's mangled body taunted him from the sofa, but in the silence of night, he could hear her quiet breathing.
Lavi and Kanda lay in a similar state in separate areas of the room, crushed and broken, their faces a mess of angry red burns and blood.
Thoughts of the 'akuma' Lavi and Kanda were so uptight about clotted his mind in the stillness of the blood-stained nightmare.
He had definitely seen them.
He remembered it all now.
He had regained his memory of the event during the back-splitting spasm he had had earlier.
The monster had spoken to him.
Pleaded to him, shared with him its suffering.
And then he had become a mindless monster, slaughtering the poor creatures whose souls had cried.
But he knew he'd saved them. Now all that was left was to convince himself of the final resting place of the souls in heaven.
Dazed and disoriented by the red liquid that had materialised from his dreams, he looked up subconsciously.
Unknowingly, his gaze wandered around the room and settled on the sleeping form of the blood-showered ebony-haired girl in the corner.
He continued to throw his gaze around the room, searching the darkness for the violin case Shouko had brought in earlier.
His eyes settled, staring ahead in the obscurity of the most gruesome early morning he had ever dreamed of.
He stumbled out of bed, his arm limp at his side still.
He could taste his blood in his mouth.
The smell of iron and the taste of metal.
Sweet and delicious.
Allen was disgusted with himself.
He really was a monster.
Every step caused the boy a stab of pain in each of his feet as he splashed and sloshed in a pool of ankle deep blood.
But finally, just when he had thought that he would never reach the precious instrument that had been loaned to him before he'd go utterly insane, his searching right hand grasped the fabric of the violin case.
Relief washed over him.
He felt like a blind man in the night shadows as he clutched the violin case with one hand and stuttered back to the bloodied bed, his other arm groping about in the darkness weakly.
With only his right hand, he carefully unzipped the violin case in the dim moonlight and flipped the cover over.
There was close to no light at all, and for that, he was grateful for.
A red velvet cloth covered the violin and finally, after lifting it as gently as he could with one hand, he brought his half-numbed left hand up and lifted the violin, the only object in sight that was not covered in the unsightly iron-smelling liquid, carefully out of the place.
The violin was as beautiful as when he had seen it for the first time at the old man's shop.
Perhaps more stunningly striking with the effect of illuminated moonlight.
Enchantment was an understatement.
A tear slipped down his cheek.
It fell with a plop on the polished russet brown body of the violin and Allen couldn't help but stare at it, gazing at it with gentle eyes.
He winched it up to his shoulder and rested his chin on the dark wood that was the chin-rest and drew the bow as the first light of day filtered in from behind the translucent hospital curtains.
-
Lenalee awoke to the sound of a gentle vibrato in the morning silence.
The gentle melody was angelic, weaving in and out, and she could feel light sunlight warming her face.
Her amethyst eyes finally opened, and the sun caught in them.
Immediately, they closed again, and the ebony-haired girl allowed them to adjust.
The peaceful melody began to fade, and Lenalee's head shot up in alarm, eyes snapping open.
She didn't want it to end yet.
-
The music enveloped him as he allowed his fingers to play across the strings, shifting up and down the fingerboard with each separate phrase of notes.
The bow whizzed up and down in perfect sequence as the music continued to engulf him gently, its soft melody wrapping him up in momentary bliss.
The other instruments in the orchestra had taken their places in his head and had begun to play themselves, the sounds merging with those of his own instrument, forming a melodious tune.
-
Her eyes wide and searching, she sat up, scanning the room.
At the far corner, Allen stood, the sunlight glinting off his silver hair.
Lenalee could make out a violin rested between his chin and shoulder.
His hand had drawn the bow halfway down the strings as he stood unmoving, cemented into place, like a perfect statue carved by angels.
She figured he had been playing.
Lenalee realised what she had just thought and immediately blinked in puzzled amusement.
Then something caught the sunlight and the ebony-haired girl was pulled away from her thoughts.
Violin in his left hand, Allen turned around and faced her, shock evident on his face when he realized her presence.
"L-Lenalee!"
Immediately, the arm with the hand gripping the bow went to his eyes, and he brushed away the tears she had just barely glimpsed.
When he had removed his hand, a light blush had crept up his neck and to his cheeks.
"Y-You didn't see that."
Lenalee looked at him with a soft expression, her eyes gentle.
"No, I didn't."
Allen shuffled nervously.
"Did you compose it?"
"Y-Yeah…"
"What's it called?"
The boy scratched the back of his head with his right hand.
"M-Moonlit Smiles…"
Lenalee smiled.
"It's a beautiful piece."
Allen could only continue to blush furiously.
"Thanks."
It was just the cold.
Just the cold.
A/N: Okay. That's all. (: Yes, there's lots of blood because I love blood. (;
And Moonlit Smiles is just a title I came up with. I have no idea if it actually exists. Thank you all who reviewed or left alerts or favourites~! I love you all~!