Shadow
Ten Seconds Of Time
"You're mad," Xavier mutters whilst crossing his arms. Alli laughs at his efforts.
"Come now," she says. "I'm pretty sure you're the mad one here.
"Helena."
"You're saying that I'm Helena?" Xavier asks quizzically. The golden-haired woman continues to smile at the man.
"Of course I am!" she exclaims. "You've obviously been seen through your little facade, so you can at least give up."
Xavier stares at her for a moment. He then laughs. "Wow, you are something. No wonder Maggie couldn't kill you; you're an animal!"
"What's that suppose to mean!" Alli asks offended. Xavier grins.
"Why are you after me?" he asks. "Is it because I haven't seen the Earl since Neah? Or is it something else?"
"I'll tell you," Alli begins. "But first you have to help me escape here and tell me where my sister is."
"Not happening," he says bluntly. Alli smirks.
"Then I'm not telling you why I'm really here," she states boldly. He growls.
"Fine." Xavier stands from his chair and hovers his hand over Alli's wrists. The chain begins to rust to the point of decaying off her wrists. She stares at them impressed. He suddenly smacks her upside the head. She blacks out.
:+:
". . .wake up," some one says. Alli barely hears the voice. The person grows impatient.
"Wake up, Allison!" the person shouts again. The golden-haired woman bolts up to find her head colliding into another. The person groans in pain whilst Alli looks around her. It's a dark place; she has no clue where she could be. Looking up, she finds the moon shining above her with no clouds blocking its view. She turns back to the person.
"Where are we?" she asks. The person angrily rubs their head as they answer her question.
"We're in London; on the outskirts of town in the forest," they explain icily. Their voice sounds feminine.
"So, are you back to your original form?" Alli asks mockingly. Staring at her, the golden-haired woman sees a blonde woman sitting next to her. Her eyes are blue, just like hers, and wears a red dress with boots. Her arms are crossed in frustration.
"Only because you know who I am," she says heatedly. "Tell me why you're here."
Alli remembers her conversation with the blonde. "Of course, but you didn't have to bang me upside the head," she says whilst rubbing the side of her cranium.
"It was the only way to escape," Helena defends promptly.
"Yes, but you could've done it in an orderly manor," Alli complains. "The Earl wanted me to bring you back to the ark before Apocryphos found you."
"Apocryphos? That bloody walking innocence that's trying to take the fourteenth?" Helena asks in disbelief. "Surely you've got your facts wrong."
"I'm sure I don't, seeing as though you've already met him," Alli counters angrily. The blonde's eyes widen.
"I did?"
"At the market; you were portraying your Xavier character quite well and didn't even realize he was one of the first customers; it's why I left in the first place," Alli mutters. Helena stares at the ground.
"But why would he want me?" she asks out loud. "I don't have anything that he could possibly want."
"Time," Alli answers solemnly. "He wants time."
Helena continues to stare at the ground. "In that case, I should warn Maggie-"
"Already have, remember?"
"Right. . ." Helena suddenly pins Alli to one of the trees. Her eyes burn with anger as she realizes what happened during when they last met the woman with glasses.
"I did if you were wondering," Alli says, reading the blonde's mind. Helena punches Alli in the face suddenly. The golden-haired woman slides down the trunk as her nose bleeds from the impact.
"You're sister is in my possession, as I recall, so I wouldn't mess with me if I were you," Helena says dangerously. Alli sniffs some of the blood and grins up to the woman.
"I didn't actually say that Maggie was dead. I only wanted to take her as my prisoner so we could have a trade," she mocks with a small laugh. Helena grabs onto Alli's shirt and lifts her against the tree once more.
"You think this is a joke?"
"Well, I do certainly think this is enjoyable-"
"Shut up!" Helena shouts. She slams Alli into the tree to silence her.
"Look, we both have something we want," she explains as her expression darkens. "Either give me what I want, or I'll kill what you want. You have ten seconds before I make up both of our minds; ten-"
"What do you mean by-"
"Eight, seven, six-"
"You're joking-"
"Four, three, two-"
"All right!" Helena shouts angrily. "I'll come with you!"
"Good choice."
:+:
"Maggie!" Helena shouts as she runs to her apprentice. The woman battered and bruised from Shadow questioning her.
"I'm fine," Maggie assures. "I need to heal after some time, but I'll be fine."
"What did they do to you?" Helena asks as she examines her friend's body.
"I merely smacked her until she told us where we could find Gabby," Shadow says nonchalantly. Alli turns to her in disbelief.
"When I told you to watch her, I didn't mean beat her to shit," she says with a frown.
"She's probably had better days!" Shadow defends whilst gesturing to the bruised woman.
"You really need to listen more," Alli sighs. Shadow glares at the Noah.
"You're the one to talk-"
"All right! Enough of your bickering!" Helena exclaims annoyed. "Now, where am I to go now?"
"Tell me where my sister is, then we'll discuss your safety precautions," Alli explains.
"You'll have to take me with you," Helena states whilst crossing her arms.
:+:
"You could've told me that it was here! I wouldn't have had to bring you just to open some back door to a pub!" Alli complains angrily. They stand in the reckless part of London; most wouldn't want to travel there, but they had no choice. Helena opens a rotted door roughly and barges into an empty room. On the floor in the corner lays an unconscious girl in tattered clothing. Her face is covered in dirt and arms scraped from being dragged by something.
"Gabby!" Alli shouts loudly. The girl's head lifts immediately in alert. Her bright orange hair is covered in grease as her green eyes stare at them with surprise. Realizing who they are, she sighs. Alli walks over and unties her bonds.
"It's about time you came! I was worried you wouldn't be able to find me!" Gabby exclaims in relief. "I would've escaped, but she placed an aging spell on the ropes so that they would stay firm until she came back."
"Well, I needed you to stay quiet until I obtained the information that I wanted from you," Helena defends. A sudden explosion occurs from outside. They hurry to where the sound came from. There, lying in the street, is a couple of akuma. Kanda stands there, with Johnny not far, staring at the amputated bodies of what was once the weapons of the Earl.
"Kanda Yuu!" Gabby exclaims in disbelief. "I thought he was-"
"Dead, yes, but he came back," Alli finishes icily. She suddenly feels something pierce her chest.
A tip of a feather.
She turns around to find Apocryphos standing with his wings spread out. He has Helena by the neck, and Maggie is on the ground with feathers coming out of her eyes. Blood stains her clothes and chest.
"I'll be taking her now," he says coldly. Alli stares at him as the feather removes itself from her chest. She falls, but immediately gets back up to attack. More feathers pierce her body. He leaves as Gabby runs over to Alli.
"I guess you'll have to find a new way to get Helena back," Gabby says before Alli slips into unconsciousness.
Oh my, it's been two weeks since I've updated! I'm terrible! (Yes, yes you are.) Any who, I needed to take a break so that I could collect my thoughts and come up with a new arc! Now that Helena's been taken, Alli's going to have to search for another potential key target of Apocryphos. Can you guess who that is? *wink wink*
Disclaimer: I don't own DGM, Hoshino does!
Claimer: Anything not mentioned in DGM, belong to me!