Mizu: Wow…It's been a really long time since I've updated hasn't it? I really didn't mean to let this one to get away from me. It's just that I kept losing all of my ideas for it…That's not much better is it? Disclaimer: I don't own -Man. It's actually probably a good thing that I don't own it cause the chapters would be even further spread apart than they are now. That is if this story is anything to go by. Btw, sorry for the really jumpy chapter.
Innocence's True Form
Chapter Nine: A Rogue Bastard
"So what now?" Allen asked as he and his innocence walked towards the cafeteria, "Can I still use you in battle?"
"Yeah but for right now, I would appreciate it if I could walk around by myself," C.C. chuckled, "I really am enjoying having my own pair of legs."
"But if I'm in a bind, how do I...activate you?" Allen questioned, wondering if that terminology still applied.
"Just like you normally do," C.C. said, "But it might drain your energy faster when you do."
"What?" Allen gasped, "Why?"
"Because your energy is my energy, baka," C.C. explained, "To change back into your weapon, it takes a lot of energy to achieve the correct form."
"Then why not change back into my arm before we go on a mission so I don't die cause I pass out from exhaustion in the middle of the fight!" Allen growled.
"What? And miss being able to mess with your head?" C.C. laughed.
Allen pouted, "You're a jerk."
"And you're a martyr that doesn't know how to pick his battles," C.C. smirked, "I have every right to be a jerk to you."
Allen just responded by pouting at his innocence. The innocence smirked at his immature wielder. He placed his left hand on top the teen's mop of hair and playfully ruffled it. Ignoring the glare he received, C.C. proceeded to march into the cafeteria.
"Good Morning~!" C.C. greeted as he dragged his accommodator in.
"Moyashi-chan~!" Lavi and O.K. cheered from their seats.
"You two seem to be in a good mood," Allen sighed as he sat next to the bubbly redhead.
"Who wouldn't be?" Lavi laughed, "I just watched Mugen chew out Yuu~!"
"Wha?" Allen gaped.
"Yep~!" Lavi nodded, "Apparently she was tired of him eating nothing but soba."
"Mugen actually can't stand the stuff anymore," O.K. chuckled as C.C. appeared with Allen's mountain of food.
Allen just groaned upon seeing all of the food, "I never thought there would come a day that I would hate to eat…"
"Well, things happen," C.C. chuckled, "So where is Mugen?"
"She stormed out after Yuu when he tried to retreat from her nagging," Lavi said, pointing to the doorway.
Allen watched as C.C. looked at the doorway longingly, "Go on, jerk."
"Huh?" C.C. blinked.
"You want to spend some alone time with Mugen, right?" Allen asked, shuddering slightly as his cheeks dusted lightly with red, "Go ahead. Don't let me and that BaKanda stop you two from being together."
C.C. just stared at his wielder for a second before pulling him into a tight hug, "Thank you!"
With that, the piece of innocence rushed off to his lover. Allen sighed as he closed off his mind and continued to eat. Slowly, a small smile tugged at his lips.
"Why'd you do that, Allen?" Lavi asked as O.K. helped himself to some of Allen's food.
"Do what?" Allen blinked.
"Let C.C. and Mugen get together today," Lavi pointed out while O.K. managed to cause a food avalanche, trapping himself.
"I just figure that it won't be long before we all become so busy that none of us will have any time to ourselves," Allen explained, eyes gaining a faraway look to them, "Besides, they haven't seen each other in forever, right?"
Lavi smiled warmly at the boy, "Right."
"Um…A little help here?" O.K. nervously chuckled from under the pile of dishes.
C.C. raced through the corridors, speeding past finders and fellow exorcists alike. He knew just where to go to find his beloved. After all, there was only one place she could even possibly be. With her accommodator, Kanda Yu. And where did Kanda spend most of his days when not on missions? Training. So, all C.C. had to do was head to the training rooms and-
The innocence stopped just before reaching the training rooms. He felt the tell-tale signs of separation from his accommodator. Cursing at how large the Order's building was, C.C. stomped back a little bit before leaning against the wall. His left arm ache slightly. How he wished that Allen's body could handle more distance between them. Hell, the kid's body couldn't even stand the average distance.
The innocence impatiently fiddled with his fingers, 'That's it. Baka and I are going to train his body to handle distance. No offence to the kid, but I do enjoy my alone time…'
Allen sighed as he walked through the halls of the Order. He saw Komui, Johnny, and Reever all heading his way along with Bak. Smiling, he continued to walk towards the four scientists until he felt it. Stopping midstride, earning himself some weird looks from the scientist, Allen froze as he felt pain starting to fill his body. It was a dull aching but he knew what it meant. He and C.C. were too far apart. Growling to himself, Allen turned on his heel and begun to walk in the opposite direction after apologizing to the scientists.
'That's the fifth time since C.C. and I separated for the day,' Allen thought to himself, 'I mean, I'm happy that he's getting to be with Mugen but if I had known that this would keep happening, I think I might have kept my mouth shut.'
Allen sighed as he yet again felt the dull aching throughout his body, 'Damn it, C.C.! Where are you! On the freaking first floor?'
"C.C.?" Mugen blinked as she walked out of the training rooms, "What are you doing here?"
C.C. smirked, "Baka gave me the day to spend however I want."
"Oh really?" Mugen smirked as she raised an eyebrow, "And what is it, may I ask, that you'd like to do?"
"Who me?" C.C. chuckled, pulling the female innocence into his arms, "I just want to spend the day with you doing things that will make our accommodators hate us later."
Mugen's eyes flash mischievously, "And what exactly would make them so furious at us?"
"You'll see," C.C. laughed as he picked her bridal style before he took off down the hallway.
Kanda walked out of the training room with his face tinted red, "Damn that baka Moyashi…"
And with that, Kanda effectively shut his mind off to his innocence.
Allen grumbled to himself as he slowly stomped down the final flight of stairs to the first floor. He had been randomly wandering around the Order all morning. Most of which was spent trying not to yell at the random finders and scientists who had yet to find out why he only had one arm. He couldn't even count how many times one would just gawk at his floating sleeve. Honestly, it wasn't his fault he didn't have his left arm, now was it? Nope. It was all genetics and C.C.'s fault.
"Excuse me," a male's voice sounded next to him as he stepped off the final stair.
"Huh!" Allen gasped, jumping to see the source.
When he finally spotted the source, Allen let out a soft sigh. The man who had spoken had light brown hair and was only about an inch taller than himself. Wire-rimmed glassed adorned his face. His clothes were all black and his top opened up to reveal another white top underneath. At the wrists of his black top had white, thick crosses on them. Around his neck was a cross…
'Is he a Cardinal or another clergy man?' Allen thought.
"Oh, hello there sir," Allen greeted, pasting his false smile upon his face, "What can I do to help you?"
"Yes. Do you know where I can find Allen Walker?" the man asked, returning his smile.
Allen flinched, "Th-That would be me."
"Really? Splendid," the man chuckled, "I would greatly enjoy a private audience with you."
"M-May I ask why?" Allen nervously laughed.
"I heard from Leverrier that your Innocence, Crown Clown, had reached its truest form," the man said, smile still in place, "I would love to find out more about it."
Allen watched as the man started down the hallway. He didn't know why, but just being around this man made the hairs on the back of his head stand up. Trying to shrug it off, the white-haired teen slowly followed behind the man. It wasn't that he wanted to. It was just that he didn't want to give Central anymore reason to distrust him.
Sighing, he rubbed his left shoulder. He ran his hand over where C.C. had once been attached to his person. His heart let out a slight ache as he thought about his innocence. The cursed teen just put it off as the piece inside of his heart missing the rest of itself. Looking around, the exorcist noticed that they seemed to be heading towards the entrance to the Order.
'That's strange…' Allen thought, 'Why would we go out this way? There really aren't any rooms down this way and it is pretty busy even if everyone is using the ark.'
"Any sign of akuma in town today?" Komui asked the group of three finders that stood in front of him.
"No sir," one shook his head.
"Good," Komui smiled.
"But…" another finder spoke up.
"But?" Komui repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"There isn't any sign of akuma," the second finder said.
"But there has been a string of random murders in town," the final finder said, a little uneasy, "They don't appear to be related to akuma in anyway but it might be a good idea to avoid the town for a while."
"…what kind of murders?" Komui hesitantly asked.
"It appears that whoever is doing this shoots the victim before they notice them," the first finder explained.
"Then it depends whether they're a man or woman," the second finder added.
"If the victim is a man, he just shoots them in the head and goes on his merry way," the third finder finished.
Komui gulped, "And if they are a woman."
The finders looked at each other nervously, "…Let's just say that it's not as benevolent as the quick, sudden death he serves the men…"
"R-Right," Komui stuttered, "Until the culprit has been captured, order all finders to return to the Order. No one shall go into town without an exorcist or at least some other form of protection."
"Yes sir!" the three finders said in unison.
"Yu-chan~!" Lavi cheered before rushing to glomp his self-proclaimed best friend.
"Don't call me that!" Kanda growled, holding off the rabbit with his hand, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"He got bored looking for Moyashi-chan," O.K. chuckled leaning against the wall.
"Yeah so we came here instead cause we knew that you would either be here or in the forest training," Lavi laughed.
"Che," Kanda scoffed.
O.K. laughed to himself as Lavi proceeded to pester the Japanese male to the point where he finally took to trying to physically hurt the rabbit. Not that there was a lot that Kanda could do without Mugen but that didn't seem to matter at the moment. As Lavi attempt to flee from Kanda's fists, O.K. took to looking out the window. This was nice. Being able to walk around freely, not having to worry about the life of his accommodator every second of every day. It was nice to have these lazy days.
"Ōzuchi Kozuchi…" a soft, female voice sounded in his head.
O.K. froze as his heart began to race, 'H-Heart…'
"Thank goodness," the woman's voice sighed, relieved.
In his shock, O.K. failed to notice Lavi's freezing when he realized that O.K. had failed to close off his mind, 'Wh-What's wrong?'
"I have a job for you and your accommodator," the Heart said, suddenly serious.
'Anything for you,' O.K. said.
I have a major problem on my hands," the Heart seemed to whimper, "It has to do with the Apocryphos."
'Apocryphos? You mean your current right hand helpers?' O.K. asked, confused.
"Right," the Heart sighed, "But it seems that I have a rogue Apocryphos on my hands now."
'What do you mean by a rogue Apocryphos?' O.K. questioned, still confused.
"There is one among them that does not approve on how I'm allowing C.C. to handle Allen and the fourteenth Noah," the Heart explained, "He's positive that C.C. won't be able to stop the Noah because he's grown so attached to him."
'That's nonsense!' O.K. snapped, "C.C. loves that kid more than anything in the world! That kid is like a freaking son to him! He's been with Allen since literally before the kid was even born! There's no way he would ever let anything happen to Allen!'
"I know. That' what I told him," the Heart said sorrowfully, "But he wouldn't listen. He kept proclaiming that if something wasn't done soon, Allen Walker would turn against us. He wants to join with Allen to prevent that."
'What! That'll kill Allen!' O.K. shouted, ignoring how Lavi's face drained of all color, 'The kid's body can barely take being fully linked up with C.C.! Even if that bastard Noah were to act up, Allen would die and he would lose the body anyway. We all know that if the Noah wants to take over Allen's body, he has to do it when Allen's alive. He'd have to break the kid's very soul to conquer his body but that's not possible. The kid's too damn stubborn.'
"Right," the Heart agreed, "But Allen's also gullible and will trust anyone he meets that doesn't activate his left eye. That's why I need you to find the bastard before he gets to Allen."
'Why tell me thought?' OK. asked, 'Why not just tell C.C. about this?'
The Heart was silent for a moment, "H-He's…He's busy right now…"
O.K. blinked and stifled his laughter.
'What are we going to be looking for?' Lavi asked, startling O.K.
"Anyone who does not belong in the Order," the Heart said bluntly.
'How are we going to do that!' O.K. whined.
Lavi just glared at his innocence and pointed to himself, 'One word. Bookman.'
'O-Oh yeah,' O.K. nervously chuckled.
"I don't know where he is right now but I would guess that he's in the Order searching for Allen as we speak," the Heart stated.
'And it just so happens to be the day that Allen gave C.C. some freedom to go have some alone time with Mugen,' O.K. sighed.
'Moyashi-chan really has rotten luck,' Lavi sighed.
"I suppose so," the Heart chuckled, "Please tell C.C. that the next time I see him, I'm going to clock him."
'R-Right,' O.K. nervously laughed.
"Good luck you two," the Heart said as her voice faded away.
"Well," Lavi said finally backed away from Kanda, "Let's go find Moyashi-chan and treat him to lunch, O.K."
Kanda just blinked as he watched the redhead and his innocence depart. He knew that something had just transpired between the two. He also knew that they were up to something. But he was having trouble wrapping his mind around one thing. Lavi had been quiet for a full ten minutes!
Allen leaned against a tree as the strange man tried to lead him even further away from the Order. His breath came in short pants while his heart pounded inside of his chest. He could feel sweat start to drip down his neck.
"S-Sir?" Allen called, trying to remember why he had even followed the man in the first place, "I really shouldn't be this far out from the Order."
"Don't worry about it," the man smiled, "I'll make sure that everything works out just fine."
"N-no," Allen shook his head, "I need to head back."
'I'm too far from C.C. If I go any further, I might really hurt myself. My body might even call C.C. to me while he's…busy,' Allen thought.
"Very well," the man sighed, "I suppose we can do it here instead."
Allen blinked at the man, "H-huh?"
Suddenly, Allen found his arm pinned to the tree above his head.
"This," the man sneered, bringing his face close to Allen's.
Before Allen could scream. Before he could even open his mind to C.C.'s, a shot rang out. His silver eyes widened as his jaw fell open. Pain filled his very being as a high scream escaped his throat. AS he screamed, the clergy man pinning him to the tree che'd and turned to face the source of the gunshot.
"Looks like a stumbled upon something interesting," a man chuckled darkly, holding a smoking gun in his hand, "A sinner in a priest's clothing trying to take advantage of such a beauty."
Lavi and O.K. sighed for the nth time since the Heart had contacted them. The two of them were scouting out all the areas for a familiar head of white with no luck.
"How hard is it to find this kid?" O.K. whined, "I mean, come on! It's not like he can actually hide very well with his features."
"True," Lavi agreed, noticing that they had reached the front entrance, "You don't think that he would have actually left the Order for a walk, do you?"
"No way," O.K. chuckled, "Not even Kanda would be dumb enough to leave the Order without his innocence."
"You're right," Lavi laughed, "There's no way Allen would be-"
The two froze when they heard a loud scream come from the other side of the entrance. The two exchanged nervous looks. That scream sounded a lot like…
"Shit!" the two snapped before racing out of the Order.
The clergy man released Allen, allowing him to slide down the tree. The exorcist clutched at the left side of his chest where the bullet had entered him. Never before had he ever thought that there was something that felt worse than being shot with a level one Akuma's bullets. Gritting his teeth, the white-haired teen made a solemn vow to find and destroy all guns when the chance was given to him. As his blood seeped out of the wound, Allen glared at the two men in front of him.
"Such a shame," the man with the gun said, "It looks like the girlie there won't be making it."
"Girlie!" Allen snapped, grimacing in pain.
"Such a feisty one at that," the man smirked before shrugging, "Oh well. I guess I'll just have to make due with adding another two bodies to the count."
"I despise interruptions," the clergy sighed.
'And I hate being thought as a girl and nearly molested by idiots like you,' Allen added mentally, preparing to open his mind to C.C.
"Oh well. You are such a horrible human, I'm sure no punishment will come from disposing of you," the clergy said, readjusting his glasses.
"Oh yea, old ma-" the gun wielder started to say.
Before he could even finish, the man was stabbed through the chest by some strange extension coming from the clergy man's hand. The man let out a horrible death rattle before falling face first onto the ground. Allen's silver eyes locked with the still standing man. He felt a chill run down his spine as the man smiled at him.
'Wh-What the hell just happen!' Allen screamed inside of his head, 'H-He just killed that man! I-Is he an exorcist?'
But if he was an exorcist, why was he filled with such terror just being around him? He had never felt this fear towards any other exorcist before. Even when confronted by General Socalo, Allen had never felt this fear towards a fellow innocence wielder. He couldn't even be sure if he had ever been so afraid in his life-
Allen's eyes widened even more. That was it. There was only one other time he had ever been so filled with terror. The night he was supposed to have died. The night Tyki Mikk ripped C.C. from his body then left him to die after placing a hole in his heart. That was the only other time he had been so afraid. When he was faced with the prospect of either dying or living but never again as an exorcist.
Gulping, Allen's eyes never left the man's face. Ignoring the pain coursing through his body, Allen struggled to stand. He had completely forgotten about opening his mind. His body stumbled backwards as the man walk towards him. When the man's mouth opened, the exorcist turned and sprinted back towards the Order.
'I-I just have to get back to the Order! H-He can't get to me there!' Allen thought as he ran, 'Th-That's why he led me all the way out here! He couldn't kill me inside of the Order! There's something that stopped him from doing so in those walls!'
He felt his spirit lift when he finally came in sight of the Order. A smile broke out on his face when he spotted two heads of red run out of the Order.
"Lavi!" Allen shouted on the top of his lungs, "O.K.! Thank goodness!"
"Allen!" Lavi shouted back, not noticing the man behind Allen.
O.K.'s eyes widened, "No! Behind you!"
Allen didn't even have time to turn around when he felt something hit his back, pushing him passed Lavi and his innocence and into a wall of the Order. Letting out a pained gasp, the white-haired teen tried to free himself when he felt something surround him and hold him to the wall. He could hear Lavi and O.K. screams for him before they were sending silent. Fearing the worse, Allen tried yet again to free himself.
"Not as strong without that idiot here to protect you, are you Walker?" the man whispered into his ear, "Don't worry. We'll take care of that little problem right now."
He could feel something drill into his body from a multitude of points. His body began to pulsate as a foreign power raced through his veins. Through his very cells. The exorcist let out an anguished cry, far louder and laced with pain than anything that had ever left his body. Nothing had ever hurt this much. Not even when he stabbed himself with C.C.
Lavi tried to free himself from the tree that he had been pinned against by the same strange solid substance that was drilling into Allen's body. He looked to his side and found his innocence also trapped. His eyes snapped back to Allen when he heard the most soul chilling scream ever emitted from the boy.
"Allen!" Lavi cried.
"Damn you, Apocryphos!" O.K. snapped, "Leave that boy alone! You're going to kill him!"
"H-He's the Apocryphos!" Lavi gasped.
"No," the now reveal Apocryphos shook his head, "I'm not killing him. I'm saving him."
"Damn it!" O.K. cursed.
"Where's C.C.!" Lavi shouted, "Shouldn't he have gotten here by now!"
"Allen's mind is still closed off to C.C.," O.K. growled, "That bastard has him so filled with terror that he's running off of instincts."
"Then why didn't he open his mind!" Lavi demanded.
"Think about it!" O.K. snapped, "Allen's never been without his innocence! Without it joined to him, he can't even defend himself! So his survival instincts took over when the bastard first revealed himself to Allen! He forced Allen's mind to overlook opening to C.C. in favor of responding to his Fight or Flight instinct!"
Lavi gritted his teeth, "Allen! Open your mind, Allen! You've got to tell C.C.!"
"Shut up, boy," the Apocryphos chuckled, "Walker is no longer able to call upon that idiot."
Allen never stopped screaming the entire time. He could feel something forcing itself through his body. It was searching for something. Not that Allen cared. He just wanted it to stop. Just to stop hurting him. It wasn't like he could do anything to stop…Suddenly, he felt something press against his heart. It sent out a wave of pain that was far more intense from anything before. But this pain somehow cleared his mind enough to think clearly for one thought.
'C.C.' Allen thought wearily as the world started to fade from view.
The white-haired teen quickly forced open the mental link between him and his innocence. Ignoring all of the sudden images that flooded his mind, Allen managed sent a single message through the link.
"C.C….H-Help!" Allen cried out, not even realizing that he had said it aloud.
C.C. sighed happily as he stared at his now sleeping lover. Smirking, the innocence made a mental note to thank his wielder immensely for allowing him the day to himself. As he stretched slowly, he felt the link between the two open.
"Looks like baka finally worked up enough courage to talk to me now," C.C. chuckled, accidentally stirring Mugen from her slumber.
"R-Really?" Mugen yawned, rubbing her eyes.
She noticed C.C.'s eyes widened as his entire body tensed. Before she could ask what was wrong, he disappeared in a flash of light.
"Wh-What's going on?" Mugen asked, quickly getting out of bed to dress and find her own wielder.
"Allen!" C.C. shouted, filling his wielder with his own power to push out the trespassing innocence's, "Damn it!"
Lavi blinked as a bright light surrounded Allen. When his eyes could see clearly again, he saw the Apocryphos standing a distance away from the white-haired teen, clutching at a hole in his chest. Looking back to where Allen had been, the redhead let out a sigh of relief when he saw the said exorcist being cradled to C.C.'s chest.
"Thank goodness," Lavi weakly smiled at his innocence.
"Don't relax just yet," O.K. growled, pumping his own power into Lavi's being to free them both from their entrapment.
"Fuck," Lavi growled as his senses were flooded with power, "Is that what Allen feels every time he uses C.C.? Damn, I don't know if I could handle it."
"Good thing you don't have to," O.K. chuckled before getting serious, "Apocryphos aren't push overs. They are some of the strongest pieces of innocence out there."
"But what about C.C.?" Lavi asked, suddenly worried.
O.K. sighed, "Truthfully, C.C. should be an Apocryphos but he chose to stay with his accommodators to allow himself to be used better on the front lines."
"Is that a bad thing?" Lavi asked.
"No," O.K. shook his head, "Just means that if these two go for an all-out battle, C.C. will be at a disadvantage because he has to protect Allen."
"Damn," Lavi cursed, "So should we help out?"
"Well duh," O.K. joked before changing into his weapon form, 'It would be stupid if we didn't.'
Mizu: *growls very angrily* I. Hate. Apocryphos.
Lavi: Then why did you write about one!
Mizu: Because it's a bloody good idea for a conflict! But just because it's a good idea and makes for good story telling, it doesn't mean that I have to like them! It's like Leverrier! Nobody likes him but yet we all write with him in our stories. Just because we don't like him doesn't mean that we are willing to miss out on the opportunity to keep an even greater story by using him as a pawn.
O.K.: That makes a fair amount of sense.
Lavi and C.C.: *nods thoughtfully*
Mizu: Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take my frustration of college out on several other stories. Remember that I love all reviews and suggestions. Ciao for now!
Lavi: But wait…Why did you do all of that to Allen and that random guy!
Mizu: Sorry, can't hear you over the sounds of my typing Lavi!