A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed-- it really does help. :3 Sorry for the slight delay, I know I promised a new chappie up by the end of the week, which I did mean to be sooner.
I have to apologize for all of the explaining in this chapter. xD It was necessary.
Some people have asked about pairings; the truth is, I have no idea. xD I'm sure they'll come to me as I write. One thing for certain: no yaoi. I know that there is a very large fanbase for it in this fandom, but I don't write it. (Or read it.) -Tentative- Sorry?
oxo
--Dead Like Us--
Chapter Two:
...And Lived
oxoxoxoxo
"Aren't I supposed to be...going somewhere?" Allen asked, slightly worried. He wasn't quite sure if he trusted these people with his life (death?) yet.
"Why? You in a hurry?" the man inquired, quite chipper.
"Well, no, but..."
By now, Allen was quite perplexed. This was not how Death was supposed to be-- clad in white and smiling. (Or so he thought.)
It was most definitely night time now, and the city was brightly lit with various neon glowings. Still he followed the two through crowds of people, and he didn't even know their names yet. Come to think of it, Allen didn't even know if grim reapers had names.
Occasionally, the man would stop to say a "pardon me" or an "excuse me" and squeeze past a particularly crowded area (Allen was beginning to like the fact that all he needed to do was phase through people) and, curiously enough, they all complied with a "sorry", or a "certainly". Wasn't Death supposed to be dead?
"Uh...w-where exactly are we going, if you don't mind me asking?" Allen didn't know if grim reapers could condemn you to hell or not or something of the sort (as Allen wasn't quite sure on the subject), so it paid to be polite to those who had the power to kill you and take your soul from your very body.
"Oh, it depends..." the man stopped, and the girl and Allen followed suit.
"Allen Walker" --how did he know his name?-- "first off, welcome to the afterlife." Again, he offered a kind smile, and then the man continued, "I am Komui Lee, and this is Lenalee Lee. Technically, Lenalee's the only reaper here, but I qualify. We're both, ah, dead, of sorts."
"If you're dead...how come people can see you? Why can't they see me?" Allen said, somewhat incredulous as another person walked right through him and dodged the other two.
"Well...we're undead," said the man whose name was Komui. "Meaning that we have physical bodies and, if we so choose to, we can interact with the living."
"Undead? Like...a zombie?"
Komui laughed, and Lenalee gave a giggle. "Not quite."
Allen furrowed his brow, clearly not understanding.
"You know...? The Grim Reaper?" Allen maintained his perplexed look, and Komui gave up with a laugh. "Lenalee?-- You take over."
"Our job as reapers, or part of it, is to escort you to your next life-- and help you say goodbye to this one," Lenalee explained. "So, where to?"
Allen was taken aback by the question. "Huh?"
"It's your choice. We're the ones who have to take you across, but only you can make amends with this life. You must lay your own soul to rest. So-- where to?"
Allen blinked, looked downwards, and thought--who was there to say goodbye to? His apartment manager? The classmates he hardly knew? He wasn't particularly close to anybody...
Allen couldn't think of anything he wanted to do-- other than be alive again, of course. He had gone on in his head about all the things had had left unfinished, and yet...when they had given him the chance to finish them, he could think of nothing.
"I...I guess..." he struggled to think of something-- anything. "I really can't think of anywhere I'd go, or anything I could do..."
Komui blinked. "Nothing?...Well..."
There was a pause, and Allen sighed resolutely. "Where...where do I go now?" If he had to die, he might as well do it with dignity...he gave a brave smile. "Onward and upward?"
"Ah...yes and no..." a sly grin spread across Komui's face. "Onward, not upward."
"What?" Allen's head shot up, and his smile faded. "But...but I don't wanna go to hell!"
Komui blinked, surprised, and Lenalee laughed. "Where in the world did you get that idea?"
It was Allen's turn to blink in surprise. "But...then...where am I going?"
"You, my little friend," Komui smiled and poked Allen's shoulder, strangely solid. "Are going to be a grim reaper."
-oxoxoxoxo-
"So...what?" Allen said, shifting awkwardly in his seat. "Do I get a scythe or a cloak or something?" And then, suddenly more aware of himself, added, "That's...how it goes, right?"
The two undead reapers exchanged amused glances at Allen's question. Lenalee and Komui sat across from Allen in a booth in the small café, menus before them. It was their idea to stop in the café, as Komui declared that it would be easier to talk without the ruckus on the street. The inside of the building was decorated with a nostalgic kind of feel in mind, but only made Allen feel even more out of place.
"Death has evolved with the times, Allen...we haven't done that gig since the 1600's," Komui told the boy in a joking tone. "I suppose we have some explaining to do-- ah!"
The waiter, a tired-looking overworked sort of man, stopped at their table and said, "Can I get you something?" with a notebook in hand.
Komui drum-rolled on the table dramatically and then exclaimed, "Reever! What a coincidence!"
"You come here everyday," The waiter, Reever, said, obviously familiar with the two. "And we're busy today, so hurry it up."
"Oh, so rude, Reever..." Komui handed the menu back to the waiter with an expression of mock sorrow. "I guess I'll have the number four-- eggs instead of bacon, waffles instead of pancakes, and don't forget the coffee. Please."
Allen was hungry. True, he ate a lot, and true, he was dead, and therefore was not supposed to eat or be hungry, but he couldn't help himself. He was starving. He hadn't eaten anything since lunch, which had hardly filled up his sometimes seemingly-endless black hole of a stomach. His mouth began to water the minute Komui had started dictating his order.
"I'll just have some orange juice and a fruit bowl, please," smiled Lenalee and she handed him her menu.
Reever took it and scribbled down the orders, and then looked to Allen, who had been staring absently at the menu full of delicious-looking food. "And for you?"
Allen jumped and looked questioningly at Komui, who smiled back. Surprised, he leaned forward and hissed to the undead man, "I thought you said no one could see me!"
"That was before you became a grim reaper," he replied. "Go ahead-- order."
The waiter cleared his throat, and Allen turned to meet him, slouching back into his seat. "I'll...have...what he's having...?" Reever made a sound, scribbled again in his notebook, and promptly walked away.
"Now I am definitely confused..." moaned Allen and laid his head on the table.
"Well... That's normal. I would be more surprised if you weren't...Let's start with this..." Lenalee said with a chuckle, and settled herself in her seat. "Hundreds of thousands of people die every day. Bodies can be taken care of-- but what happens to the souls? Where does your essence go?
"Well, that's where we come in. We 'reapers' make sure that your soul is undamaged when your body dies and escort it into the next life-- wherever that may be."
"You mean, you don't know?"
"Well...no. We've never technically 'crossed over', you see...Traditionally, we're called 'grim reapers', but the Order has another name for us."
"Order?" Allen asked, inquisitive.
"The Black Order-- the system of reapers. They send out the information of who's going to die and when, and we, ah, do the dirty work," the girl shifted slightly. "Their official name for us is the 'Exorcists', but hardly anyone uses it."
"I...I still don't get the 'why me' part... not everyone becomes a reaper or an Exorcist or whatever you call them when they die, right?" Komui nodded, and Allen went on, "And they don't just pick people out randomly, do they?"-- It occurred to Allen that he really didn't know who 'they' were, but continued anyway,-- "So...why me? I'm...nothing special."
"Ah," Komui said, with a strange cryptic tone. "But you are."
Allen gave the other man an odd look, but was distracted by Reever, who had come back with drinks in hand. With a "Your meals are coming out soon," he scooted away to serve the late-night rush, leaving behind coffee and orange juice.
"Now..." Komui purred, reaching for the cream. "Where were we?"
"The whole 'why me part of the conversation?" Allen couldn't help being irate.
"Right, right..." Komui dropped three cubes of sugar into his coffee with a disapproving look from Lenalee, gave the liquid three good stirs with his spoon, took a sip, and then used the utensil to point at Allen. "You were chosen by the Innocence."
"The...what?"
"The Innocence," he said, and used his spoon again to point to Allen's left hand, taking another sip of his coffee. "You were destined to be an Exorcist from the moment you were born."
Allen gave a confused look.
Komui gave him another calm smile, and put down his coffee. "The Innocence...is what indentifies you as an Exorcist. You were born with it. For the rest of us, the Innocence takes the form of everyday objects-- a treasured toy, an item-- and when we make contact with it, our fates are sealed. When we die, we become Exorcists."
It finally hit Allen, what Komui was talking about 'being born with'-- his left arm, disfigured and blood-red. How did Komui know about that? He had never told anyone. Ever since he was little, Allen had wondered what the cross embedded into the back of his hand was for--but, it the reason he had met Mana...
"The world can't go around full of reapers, though," it was Lenalee's turn now, and her voice brought Allen from his reminiscing. "So when a reaper takes the soul of another to-be reaper-- a person who has made contact with and has been chosen by the Innocence-- the newly-deceased replaces the older Exorcist. You don't know where that is until you make the reap. Needless to say, you might in the job for a while. You took Suman's place, and he was allowed to...move on."
"What does that mean?"
Lenalee shrugged. "I don't know. No one does. As close as we are to death, we still don't know what happens after we die..." she trailed off, and Komui entered.
"It is your fate to be a soldier."
"A soldier of what?" Allen asked, his brow knitting. He wasn't quite sure if he liked where this was heading.
The man shrugged. "Death," he said simply, still smiling, and downed the rest of his coffee.
The two kept throwing around words like 'fate' and 'destiny', but Allen had never once heard the word choice. That's probably because he didn't have one. If it had been his choice, he would've rather not have had to die, and he would have rather not had to take souls for a living. But from where he could see, he was stuck either way.
Defeated, he once again slouched into his chair, and the conversation was dropped, though he had a feeling it was far from over and done with. Within five more minutes, the food had arrived, but Allen had lost his appetite. (Which was indeed saying something.)
"Now comes the matter of your lodging," said Komui, who had finished off his own meal and then gone on to pick at Allen's, as Allen no longer had the stomach for it.
"Huh?" Allen's head rose off the table to look the other man in the eye.
"Well...We can't very well have you sleeping on the streets!" Smiled Komui, and it dawned on Allen that these people were very toothy for being the embodiment of death. He continued, "At least, until you get your feet on the ground."
"Brother..." Lenalee leaned in to address her fellow reaper. "He could...stay with me," Komui's disposition altered instantly. He looked horrified at the very thought, and brought his fist down onto the table, catching the attention of several other patrons, but before he could say anything else, Lenalee added, "Just for tonight."
This did not mollify Komui any. "Ab-sol-utely not! My dear, sweet sister, locked up in some apartment room with a boy she hardly knows--"
Komui's outburst would've been comical to Allen on any other occasion, but under the current circumstances and through his hazy mind, all he could say, was, genuinely surprised, "She's your sister?"
Komui stopped his wailing and stared.
He blinked, and Lenalee mirrored him.
There was an uncomfortable silence in which Allen squirmed under the gazes of his fellow reapers, and then Komui patted Lenalee on the back and said happily, "I'll wager you'll be just fine."
Allen merely sat, confounded.
-oxoxoxoxo-
The key clicked in the lock, and Lenalee opened the door to the apartment with a small squeak.
"Be right back," Lenalee said over her shoulder to Allen as she retreated further into the apartment, setting her keys into a dish by the door.
Allen made a noise in acknowledgement and closed the door behind him with a soft click.
The apartment was moderately large, and most of the walls were painted with warmer colors; yellow, orange, and red all gave the effect that it was smaller, but all the more cozy. It was tidy (his own apartment had always been messy and disorganized, no matter how hard he had tried to clean up) and smelled strangely like oranges, but it was warm, and the most inviting place Allen had in been in since his death.
To the left of the entrance was the kitchen, relatively small, but certainly enough space to cook in. Further inside, Allen saw a hallway leading to what was doubtless to be the occupant's bedroom.
Lenalee emerged from the hallway with an armful of blankets.
"Sorry," she walked into the living room, a small space that held a small TV and a loveseat couch and not much else, looking a little frazzled. "My place is really quite small, and...only has one room..." she acquired a slight tinge of red in her cheeks.
The girl draped the blankets over the couch, and Allen, understanding that he was to sleep out there, nodded.
"Thank you," Allen said, eyeing the couch wearily and flashed her a small smile.
"No problem," she said, returning his smile, and once again retreated down the hallway, clicking off the lights as she went. "Let me know if you need anything else."
The newly-undead Allen collapsed into the couch as soon as the door to Lenalee's bedroom clicked shut, pulling the blankets over his head. The couch was comfortable, the blankets drenched in the sleep-inducing scent of oranges, and Allen was terribly tired.
A little part of his mind screamed that this was wrong, all wrong, and that he should run while he still could, but he was tired, and these people were kind, if not a little strange...
Perhaps he still held onto the hope that when he awoke, he would be in his own bed, late as usual for school, that all of this would have never happened and he would have never died. He knew it was absurd, really, but still, the hope persisted.
Allen's eyes drooped-- his head swam with visions of Death's scythes and the girl and her brother, of dinosaurs, long dead in their graves, and men in business suits...
Within minutes, Allen was asleep, though it was a fretful sort of slumber.
Lenalee peered out from her room, checking on her temporary roommate, her hair let down from her habitual pig-tails. She let out a sigh, and, even though she knew he was already asleep, gave the boy a sympathetic look.
As she made to close the door, she muttered, "Sweet dreams, Allen...You're going to have quite a road ahead of you..." and extinguished her light, casting the apartment into darkness.
--End. Two.--