Level Two
A little girl ran on the recently soaked dirt road, terrified. Her breathless whimpers rang loudly in the silent night. She peered behind her and let out a scream of terror. The metallic floating object with its multitude of canons poking out of its bulbous body seemed to mock her effort, as after the long run, it's still as close to her as it had been before. The exhausted girl collapsed onto the ground, spent. The mask of a face planted atop the creature's front contorted to a twisted sneer, and the sound of machine gun fire shattered the quiet.
The girl shut her eyes tightly, but the pain doesn't come. Death doesn't come. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. She took in the silvery claw and pale green light emanating from it with wide eyes. Meanwhile, Allen sighed with relief. When he saw the purple light of akuma gunfire, he was afraid that he might be too late, but there the little girl is, safe and sound. He's going to make sure it stays that way. "Are you all right?" He asked her. The girl nodded her head yes. Now... What to do? He can't fight when he has to protect the girl. Allen surveyed his surroundings, "Do you see those woods around there? Please head for that direction." The girl took off for the forests. The boy turned back to the akuma. He sees the soul, with the same feeling of regret and sorrow as every single time he faced them. Trapped, chained and imprisoned. The pained, the agonised, the tortured. For some reason, this soul seemed to be more pained than any other he'd met so far. Seeing that, he couldn't help but soften his voice, a tone that bordered on tenderness, "Sorry to keep you waiting." Even though he knew the akuma couldn't answer him.
"Huh?" The soul... Allen stood with his mouth slightly ajar as the vaguely human shape stretched into horrifying forms, not resembling anything. Slowly it settled into a shape slightly reminiscent that of a person hugging their knees, shoulders hunched and wrapped in torn bandages. Before Allen could decide on a course of action, the akuma's metal shell cracked and tore.
Laughing filled the air between Allen and the akuma. "I am akuma. I think therefore I am akuma." The voice sounded it belonged to neither a man or a woman. Out of the akuma came a freak of a- no, this is akuma. Allen sees the soul, but any other person would not have realised that this is the same thing as the akuma it came out of. "It spoke." The sound is one of disbelief. An akuma spoke. Then the boy saw the number on said akuma's chest. 2. Does this mean it evolved? Allen knows that akumas evolve, but he had no idea how. Is this the form of an evolved akuma? An ironic smile tugged at Allen's mouth. The outer appearance of an akuma becomes more human-looking while the soul inside becomes less and less human every time it kills? Sounds like something the Earl would do. What does he know of the Earl anyways? It doesn't matter. There's a soul in front of him right now. He won't let it suffer any longer than it already did.
Allen gasped, more out of pain than surprise, though he would never admit that. The akuma cackled again, noise grating on his ears. The boy steadied himself on the grassy and uneven field. His silver eyes darted from side to side. He caught sight of something to his left and swung his claw that way. The image of the akuma is ripped apart, but the soul is absent. No! That's not it! Where is it? This play of hide and seek is wearing on Allen's nerves. The akuma hid in the shadows it created and struck at him when it sees an opening. A chill ran down Allen's back and he ducked just in time. If he'd stayed there for a second longer, he'd be hospitalised for three months at best. He used this opportunity to aim his anti-akuma weapon at it, the silver claw turned into a gun in an instant. Yellow rods of pure energy shot out, impaling the akuma, which Allen now confirmed to be the real one and not an illusion. "Damn you, exorcist!" It snarled and made to retreat back into it's shadows. The boy is not going to let that happen. Turning his weapon into a crude saber with no visible sharp point, he chased after the humanoid dark splotch in the corner of his vision. Leaping forward, desperate not to lose sight of the akuma again, Allen slashed his arm down onto the dark splotch that he knows to be the akuma, he sees the shadows disperse and the chain locking the soul away snap, the soul once again that of a human. Allen smiled, sad and relieved. Then he collapsed.
"Miss police officer, this way." The little girl tugged on Moore's sleeve timidly. Inwardly, she sighed, having long given up on explaining to children that 'police officer' is in no way part of her name. The girl had wandered quite far from town, and her parents are hysterical by the time they found the girl. The girl, however, had insisted that they come back out here to look for 'a white-haired boy' who saved her from a monster. Of course, Moore didn't believe something like that. There is no such things as monsters. At first, the female officer had been concerned whether the girl had injured her head, but it soon became apparent that apart from slight fatigue, the girl is fine. Hence why Moore is here rather than taking the girl back to her family. If there really is a boy out there, she would have to take care of him too.
A gasp escaped her lips as she beheld the boy, collapsed on the field not fifty meters from the woods. As the little girl had described, the boy had white hair, though as it is now, it is darkened with blood. Moore ran to the boy, "Hey! Young man, are you all right?" She checked his breathing, relieved that while shallow, it's even. They'll have to get him medical attention fast.
Allen opened his eyes, not surprised that he woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. He's long used to it while he traveled. What did surprise him is that he has no recollection as to how he got here. He thought back, and sat bolt upright, then grimaced at the pain that stabbed at him in different places of his body. He had been more injured than he thought. While every cut he sustained aren't much by itself, it did amount to quite a critical condition when they piled up. He must have passed out from loss of blood. Probing some of his more painful wounds, he realised that they are all cleanly bandaged. He looked around the room. He's not in the hospital, even though the sheets are white, the rest of the room isn't. It's coloured in shades of brown, caramel and cream, with minimal furniture and small, but homely.
The door at the other end of the room opened with a slight creak. "You awake?" Can't you tell? Allen answered, "Yes. Thank you for taking care of me while I was unconscious." A brunette in her mid-twenties came into the room, holding what Allen hoped is a very large breakfast. As the boy scarfed down the food in record speed, Moore watched him carefully. "Ne, where did you get that scar?" Allen's hand flew to the deep crimson line on his left cheek, mind scrambling for a convincing lie. "Uh... I had it ever since I could remember... so I don't know." The brunette seemed to accept that answer. "I haven't seen you around here before, a traveller?" He nodded in confirmation. The woman stood up, "Anyways, you can stay here for your cuts to heal." Once she left, Allen lay back down, "Level two, huh? I guess I have to step up a little too." He smiled wryly, thinking of his condition from fighting just one level two.
In the end Moore didn't ask the boy about his run-in with the 'monster' the little girl talked about. She's not sure if he would like to talk about it or not, seeing how he reacted when she asked about the scar on his face. Anyways, monsters definitely isn't part of an officer's work, as long as the civilians are safe, she didn't really care.
"Moore, has the boy woken up?" She smiled back at the beaming couple, "Yes, thanks to your care, the boy woke up way earlier than I thought he would." The husband said with a voice filled with relief, "Thank goodness, I thought the boy might die, having lost so much blood." Moore nodded in agreement, then looked at the couple again, "Mark nii-san, Clare nee-san, did something good happen?" At that question their smiles widened still, and Clare put a hand protectively over her stomach. Moore's eyes widened, "No way!" Clare laughed, "Moore, you're going to be an auntie soon! Do you want to name the child?"