Here's the next chapter. Enjoy~
None of you answered my earlier question, though, the one about a new story. I don't plan on starting a new one, I still have this and my other to work on. For future use.
Anyways, on with the chapter.
The dust cleared away, leaving a considerably large crater (For a 'bullet', anyway) in the ground. Allen sat off to the side, pretty much just gaping at the Level Four.
Mini Flashback~
Allen sighed and closed his eyes, gathering his bearings. He heard a slight shuffling sound, so out of curiosity he opened his eyes. Only, he had to go cross-eyed to see what was pressed against his face.
It was a gun. Of a Level Four Akuma.
"-!"
Allen quickly drew back, landing painfully, his head cracked against something and for a moment he could have sworn he saw stars.
He gathered his bearings and sat up, realizing just how close he was to death. It wasn't the bullet's poison that worried him, it was the fact that it was aimed for his face. That's kind of hard to survive, you know?
He bit his lip in contemplation and waited for the dust to clear.
End Mini Flashback~
As said dust cleared, he looked up to the grinning face of the Level Four, who in turn frowned at seeing him still alive.
"Oh, you're still alive. Shame, you're nimble." Allen shivered at the childish voice, and tried to keep his eye from activating.
"I'm surprised you expected less from an Exorcist. Then again, you're only an Akuma. I'll do you a favor and save your soul quickly." He responded, mentally invocating his Innocence. He felt a warm sensation come over him when his precious Crowned Clown wrapped itself around him and felt a small smile, or maybe smirk, tug over his lips.
"Save me? Hah! Like I'd want to be saved!" The Level Four took aim once again.
Allen quickly decided to use his Exorcist sword, knowing that a Level Four was not something you wanted to screw around with. He grabbed his wrist and tugged, until it became said sword.
He tilted his head to the side, an unreadable expression on his face. "You know… I still have to get my revenge for you trying to shoot my face off." He then smiled (...or was it a smirk?) and swung his Exorcist sword once before lunging.
Lenalee paused and hastily wiped the tears from her eyes. She could have sworn she heard some kind of explosion, so she waited for a few seconds, calming her breathing. She didn't hear anything, so she settled into a somewhat shaky walk.
Little did she know that there was someone trailing behind her, a curious Akuma. For some reason the Akuma was waiting. For what? Only said Akuma knew, and maybe the Noah Family.
If she had been paying attention to her surroundings, she would have noticed the Akuma. And the fact that Allen had yet to catch up to her.
Lavi looked around, he had an air about him that practically spelled 'Hyperactive Rabbit'. "Oi, Panda-Jii-jii, aren't Lenalady and Moyashi-Chan supposed to be here by now?"
Bookman slapped him upside the head (A/N: REVENGE OF THE PANDA!) with a glare before answering, ignoring Lavi's indignant cry (Whine). "They only left a few minutes ago, unless they used Lenalee's Innocence to search the area quickly – Which, might I add, would be rather careless – Then it will take a while. Idiot apprentice."
Lavi calmed down if only by a little and stretched as he responded. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Something doesn't feel right, though. Perhaps we should split up and search for them."
"In a few minutes." Bookman sighed, knowing that was the best he was going to get out of Lavi, and vice versa.
Lavi fidgeted restlessly but let the subject drop for a while.
Allen ducked a kick and swung his Exorcist sword, making the Akuma retreat. He straightened up and panted. Damn, it just had to be a Level Four.
"Tired already, Exorcist?" Said Akuma laughed, its voice sickeningly sweet. It made Allen shiver in disgust. "Perhaps. But that doesn't mean I'm giving up yet." For some reason Allen took note of those wings and felt the urge to rip them out. Such graceful wings for something so demonic.
Allen gripped his side, where he had been shot. It was bleeding profusely, he made a mental note to patch it up as soon as possible when given the opportunity.
The Akuma opened his mouth, Allen had thought it was only going to say something, so he mentally prepared himself for that childish voice. But what came out had got him completely off guard.
The Level Four let out a literal ear piercing wail. Allen cried out and dropped to his knees, his hands over his ears and clenched his teeth. That did nothing to help, though. He felt something wet and stick rolling down the side of his face, and instantly knew it was blood. He felt his vision blurring, and by the time the Akuma stopped he never took notice.
Getting such a close up of the shriek had made him lose his sense completely. He was still gripping his head, a silent scream passing through his throat. The Akuma sat back and admired its work. It didn't want to kill the Exorcist off just yet, he still was out of it.
After a minute or two, Allen's hands slowly dropped down to his sides. He was panting harshly, and glared up at the Akuma. Said Akuma opened its mouth, and started mouthing words. Yet nothing reached his ears. Surely the Akuma was joking, right? Playing a harsh trick on him?
Just to test it Allen opened his mouth and tried to speak. "What are you…?" Was what he had been planning on saying. Again, nothing formed. It turns out that this wasn't the Level Four's idea of a joke, after all.
Allen's eyes widened just a fraction before they narrowed again. It was nothing that Bookman couldn't attempt to take care of once he got back. He shakily stood up and pointed the broadsword at the Akuma, who was obviously taking joy in his momentary deafness. He frowned lightly and charged forward, with a new burst of strength.
Unfortunately for the Akuma, it hadn't expected the Exorcist to be so quick and before it knew what was happening it only had one arm. It screamed curses, not that it would reach the Exorcist's ears.
Allen drew back, but the Akuma wasn't done just yet. It reached out, quick as lightening, and grabbed onto Allen by his hair. Allen's hands reached up to try to pull the Level Four's away, but he never made it.
He was quickly and mercilessly slammed onto the ground a few feet away. Allen rolled before coming to a stop, where he numbly sat up. He gripped the side of his head, ridding of the feeling that he was swaying.
He stood up, leaning on his sword, and observed the Akuma. He was gripping what was left of his arm, hatred flaring in his eyes.
They both lunged at the same time, one of anger and one of desperateness. After sever minutes of simply dodging and attacking, landing a few minor hits on the other, the Akuma got frustrated.
He ducked under the lunging Allen and within seconds said Exorcist was once again sent flying, a new wound on his stomach. He groaned and attempted to stand up, when somebody's foot was placed, not so lightly, upon his chest, adding just enough pressure to add a numb pain. Well, Akumas certainly knew weakness points, that was for sure.
He relaxed back onto the ground, knowing that if he struggled it would only result in a broken rib, or completely crushed chest altogether.
The Level Four reached down, hand enclosing on Allen's neck, and pulled him up, not giving a shit if he was choking the Exorcist or not. Then again, Allen did not give a shit about how the Akuma had one arm missing, courtesy of him. No shits were given.
Said Akuma tightened its grip, until it had the Exorcist gasping for air. Good. "I'm afraid play time is over, Exorcist." It grinned and had been fully planning on ending the Exorcists life when it felt a sharp pain in its chest. It looked down and saw what the pain was. Hard not to, when you see a sword sticking all the way through you.
It growled and cut off Allen's air supply completely. Allen's eyes narrowed but he didn't panic. He tightened his grip on his Exorcist sword and twisted. He either didn't notice or didn't care about the fact that him and the Akuma were nearing the edge of the land, below, enough feet down to give you a free fall, was the river, its current obviously fast, if the splashes against the rocks or the darkness meant anything. Just as he felt his vision blurring, he was able to breathe.
He greedily sucked in the air and opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them. He saw the Akuma, having let go of its grip, fall down to the ground, where it exploded a few seconds later. He landed unsteadily on his feet, heels over the edge.
He looked into the distance and saw Lenalee. She was running as fast as she could, using her Dark Boots. Her mouth opened and formed words, but once again Allen couldn't comprehend what she was saying. But it looked like she was saying, screaming, "Allen".
He blinked slowly, and was prepared to take a step forward, when he felt the world spinning. His eyes widened in surprise, and he looked down to the ground. Or rather, up at the ground. His feet had slipped, or perhaps the edge had crumbled away, leaving him freefalling to his guaranteed death.
Lenalee gasped and ran forward as quick as she could. Yet, no matter how fast she went, she couldn't catch up to him in time. His expression had only been mildly surprised, as if he had been expecting that.
She flew over the edge, just in time to see Allen's body crash into the dark waters, and widened her eyes in shock. "A-Allen-kun…" Her voice was already cracking, she felt a dull pain in the back of her throat, the first signs that she was going to break down into tears.
She rose back up onto the ground, where she dropped to her knees, and within seconds something wet continuously hit her legs. She realized them easily to be her tears, seeing as how her vision was blurred and she felt something running down her cheeks.
She stayed there for she didn't know how long, until she heard soft footsteps making their way over to her. She raised her head hopefully, hoping that it was Allen. That it was a mean joke, or that he had even climbed out and back onto land. She'd be happy with either, as long as he was safe.
She couldn't help but feel disappointed when she saw it was only Lavi and Bookman. Lavi, whom had been looking around in astonishment at the damage, immediately ran to her and kneeled down to her level. "Are you okay? What happened?" Bookman slowly made his way up to the two, and looked around.
As Lenalee gave her side of the story, which wasn't very much, she tried her best not to come to tears again, but that ultimately failed.
Lavi frowned and pulled Lenalee into a hug and looked over the edge. "And the Akuma is gone? Allen must have had a tough fight, a Level Four."
"Y-yeah, I think so… there are Akuma remains on the ground." Lenalee managed to respond.
"..We should search along the river to see if we find him." Bookman suggested, and automatically started walking.
Lenalee nodded numbly and followed, that last image of Allen in her head. The last thing she saw was him smiling reassuringly up at her, not his Mana smile, but a genuine one.
A few hours later
An Akuma made its way to the Earl's office. He seemed to be carrying something, and it most certainly wasn't lightweight. It proceeded to report to the Earl. "Ooh! 3 This is perfect! Our plans will become that much easier without Walker fighting us now! 3 You are dismissed, my dear Akuma." The Millennium Earl cheered gleefully, and the Akuma dragged the cold body out of the room, away to who knows where. The body's head drooped to the side as it was carried away.
Okay, I finished it. I did my best to make it longer, I hope this made you happy (No sarcasm at all intended.) ^^ Please do review.
And don't worry, I'm not done with the story yet. I still have a while to go, so don't give up on me yet, please.
Mwahahaha! Major Cliff-Hanger? Yeah, yeah, go ahead and flame me, it won't change what I did. Once again, I repeat, it had to be done for the story. If you read this far by now and don't like what I just did, then you're a little weird, seeing as how there was Allen-torture at the beginning. This is based on a dream, and I plan on sticking to the dream.
And in case I don't manage to get a new chapter out before then, Happy Valentine's Day! I am single and proud of it! *dances* Pfft, who needs a Valentine's partner when you have anime and manga? Not me, that's who!