It was beansprout, lying on the floor in an unnatural position in a pool of his own blood. Lavi's yell had apparently roused him slightly, and he tries to open his eyes. "Lavi, Kanda is that you?" So beansprout was still alive, inexplicably a rush of relief runs through Kanda. He still hated the guy, but no one deserves to die like that.
"Yes, what on earth happened to you fuckhead?" Kanda was angry, extremely angry, angry because he was worried and angry at the fact that he was actually worried about the guy. What the fuck was the beansprout doing here, out of all places bleeding all over the ground?
"Later. One of you, bike, go to order- get Lenalee, tell her innocence damaged, bad." Apparently, she wasn't supposed to die today, or at least the God she served needed her for a bit longer, Lavi hesitates for a moment before turning to Kanda.
"I can't fight as well as you, I'll go. You stay with Allen. Allen where is the order?" Lavi is dead serious, something that only happens on the rarest of occasions.
"Main road off waterfront, largest building can't miss." Everything was wavering; she could feel herself descending into the black again, one last thing. "Kanda, bag, stop bleeding." Lavi sprints out the door and onto the bike, while Kanda looks around for the bag Allen had told him to look for. It looked like the thing had been tossed roughly against the wall. But there was a first aid kit of sorts inside, and a couple of other things Kanda had no idea how to use and puzzled him slightly.
Fuck, there was a lot of blood, too much blood. What the fuck was beansprout doing, getting their body slashed up like that? Yes, slashed- those were claw marks. Pressing down on the worse of the wounds Kanda notices something odd about his arm. It was red, and that sure as hell wasn't blood. It was also so horribly disfigured that the only reason it could be recognized as an arm was that it was in the same shape and the same size as one.
"Lenalee, I need Lenalee." Lavi had hurried into the building as fast as manners would dictate, he brings his request to the woman behind the counter, a shorter woman with dark green hair cut to frame her face.
"I'm Lenalee, what happened?" The woman stands abruptly.
"Allen, said innocence is damaged bad?" Lavi still didn't quite understand the words Allen had told him to repeat, but he couldn't exactly argue.
Her face pales, and drags a very confused and worried Lavi through one of the doors. "Reever get Komui, level 4!" That phrase makes even less sense, but the room that they had just entered erupts like a hive of hornets. "Do you know if Allen completed the mission?" This was directed at Lavi, all Lavi can really do is shrug his shoulders.
"This is bad," Looking around wildly she sees a man entering the room, a large case in his hands. "Come on, we have to get to the van, you'll have to show us exactly where Allen is, you didn't leave her alone did you?"
"No I didn't leave Allen alone, Kanda is with them." Her? Allen was a her? This new revelation shook the already extremely shaken Lavi even more. He kept the thought in his head as a very frantic Lenalee pushed him into a large van and she jumps in behind him.
"Sorry about that, you don't have any idea what happened do you?" She smiles tightly, her fists clenched in her lap.
"I don't know anything, Allen's a girl?" Lavi finally asks the question that had been burning in his mind for the past few seconds.
"I let that slip didn't I? Don't tell anyone, please dear lord don't." Sighing Lenalee shakes her head. "You're that one guy Allen's been talking about, not the infuriating one but the person who suddenly decided that they were going to be her best friend, Right?"
Lavi nods his head, he hadn't been aware that Allen had talked about him. "Yes, I guess. The infuriating one would be Kanda, who is with him- her right now. Lavi at your service." Allen, she sure did do a good job at hiding things, her sex especially. It jarred him thinking about just how little he really knew about Allen.
"You're the first friends she's had for a while you know. She was left on the streets as a toddler; it was safer to pass as male than be a little girl. She doesn't exactly feel safe if people know that particular secret if she doesn't know that they do, so I suggest once we get her stabilized and such you tell her- not around Kanda though." Lenalee smiles again, sadly.
"Lenalee, we're almost there, so get the stretcher ready" A voice from the driver's seat sounds and Lenalee gestures for Lavi to stand, as soon as the van stops she wheels the stretcher out of the back.
"Lavi show me where you found her." The man that must be Komui still has the case with him, and Lavi rushes into the building. A worried Kanda was walking in circles around the unconscious Allen. On hearing the car parking loudly outside he sighs, knowing it was probably Lavi coming back.
"Oh my god." Those were the first words out of Lenalee's mouth when she saw Allen. The only other exorcists she had seen in this bad of condition were dead, the wounds an akuma gave were filled with poison and no one could last long with them in that number.
"Did you try to stop the bleeding?" Komui asks suddenly, leaning over Allen.
"Yes." Kanda had actually managed to stop most of it, to his immense relief. He knew how much blood you could loose and be fine and how much would kill you, Allen had been in the second stage.
"Thank God, he'd be gone by now if you didn't." Komui gestures for Kanda to help him lift Allen's body on top of the stretcher, Kanda notes that the beansprout is a lot heavier than he looks. As they straightened his body, Allen's eyes flutter slightly.
"Akuma gone." Seeing Komui above her she lets herself feel true relief, she was going to live. But she needed to tell him as much, since he couldn't tell himself. Her voice is so faint that she can barely hear it herself, but Komui apparently catches the words.
"Thank you Allen, I'm going to put you under now okay? You're in pretty bad shape." Komui takes a syringe and flicks it before inserting it into Allen's normal arm.
Allen had been in surgery for the past three hours, they hadn't even brought him to a hospital. That Lenalee chick was apparently near tears, the name rings a bell in Kanda's head but he can't quite recall where its from.
"You're Kanda right?" Lenalee needed to thank the man; she had already thanked Lavi after all. She didn't particularly want her best friend dying on her, Allen was like a sister. The man named Kanda nods slightly. "Thank you for staying with Allen, I don't know what I'd do without him, he's like a brother to me." There, she didn't slip up this time around. How Allen would be proud of her.
"What the fuck was the beansprout doing there?" There, the question she had been sort of dreading, she sees Lavi lean closer from a chair nearby.
"Well, its sort of a complicated thing. The order, it sends exorcists after Akuma, you call them demons." Twiddling her thumbs, she thinks a moment before continuing. "We're short on exorcists, that thing nearly killed another of our best exorcists, we had to send Allen alone."
"So you kill them." Kanda was actually taking this well considering; it gave a reason as to why the hell the beansprout was so fucking strong and good at fighting. It also made up for the fact that his tea the day before had been terrible, demons were worse than bad tea.
"Not exactly, you can't actually kill them. You can only send them back where they came from; this particular akuma was extremely strong, like it had a physical body and everything. Usually they have to possess something." Lenalee feels like crying, they shouldn't have sent her alone, Allen was good but that was a suicide mission.
"Allen is stabilized, we need to get him out of that apartment though Lenalee, its not exactly safe to keep him in a place like that." Komui sits in a chair near Lenalee having entered the room unnoticed, and elaborates; his voice makes Lenalee jump slightly. "I've been planning on moving him for a while, a house the order had bought and were renovating. I think I can finally get him moved after this incident though."
"Brother how's Allen doing, like is he going to be okay?" Lenalee's words don't particularly take either Kanda or Lavi by surprise, there was a slight resemblance between the two.
"He's going to be fine, by some miracle. He won't be able to do much for a while, but I imagine knowing Allen he'll be up on his feet again in a few days. No broken bones or anything, just a lot of nasty claw marks to clean and sew up." Allen was stubborn, and didn't much mind pain if there were things to be done, Lenalee knows its been her downfall before. She just cared about others more than she cared for herself, so she put them first.
She hurt, a lot. Like every part of her body was throbbing with pain sort of hurt, if she hadn't had worse before she probably wouldn't have been able to move. "Don't you dare move Allen Walker until Komui gets in here or as soon as you recover I will beat your ass." Lenalee, after opening her eyes Allen could see her sitting in a chair in the corner of the room.
"You're an idiot by the way, and those friends of yours are worried sick about you. Even Kanda, though he won't say he is." Lenalee smiles at Allen brightly. "He's funny you know, so is Lavi. I don't know why you and Kanda fight so much though, he's a grump but not that bad."
"You have no idea. How long was I out for?" Allen remembers all the times that their verbal arguments escaladed to full out fistfights that Lavi had to pull Allen out of (mainly because pulling Allen out was safer than pulling Kanda, Kanda would turn on you and beat your ass too)
"A while, Lavi came and got us around nine the night before last, you got out of surgery around midnight that night. Its 8 in the morning right now in case you wanted to know, brother had you under all yesterday." Grinning widely Lenalee hops off her chair and gives Allen an air hug as to not hurt her any more than she already was. "Why didn't you leave? You could've just come back and had me come along, then there would have been two of us, why didn't you?"
"It was, well it was actually terrifying. Frankly, I was afraid if I left, it would leave the warehouse and I wouldn't be able to find it again. I just barely was able to get rid of it." Allen shudders slightly at the thought of that particular akuma, the rows and rows of teeth and sickly blue skin, and at the similarities to that one night so long ago.
"Oh wow... How on earth are they getting this strong, do you think the Noah are back?" This worried Lenalee, if in fact that the Noah were in fact back the order would have more work than they could handle. They were running so low on exorcists, having only seven in presence spread around the world.
"I don't know- I hope not. You should try to get Kanda to join, he's good." Allen really hated to admit it, but Kanda was very, extremely good at fighting, though he carried himself like he was more used to using a weapon than going without. Still, he was decent at hand to hand as well.
"Oh really, how good is good?" Lenalee raises an eyebrow.
"He couldn't beat me but he was pretty close." This makes Lenalee gape a bit; Allen was built for her work. She had the best track record out of the order with that sort of thing due to her mentor and the life she lived before coming to the order, though no one knew all or even most of the details except Allen- and she wasn't talking. Allen Walker was a mystery even to those who knew her best.
"I'll talk to brother." Really, saying that just as said brother waltzed into the room might've not been the best idea, since well, that led said brother to hugging Lenalee excessively.
"What did my wonderful sister wish to talk to me about hm?" Komui said. Komui Lee was possibly the bane of Lenalee Lee's social life. Mainly because he was an extremely doting older brother in his forties, and was under the impression that no man was good enough for his sister and chased them off as soon as they showed an interest.
"Oh, Allen was saying that Kanda would be a good candidate for the entry program." Lenalee expertly maneuvers her way out of her brother's hold while speaking, to the vast amusement of Allen who starts laughing.
"I'll take that into consideration. Oh, yes Allen, good to see you awake. You young lady, are extremely lucky to be alive. Also, you will no longer be staying in that horrible apartment." Komui's voice takes on that authoritative tone that had won him the head position in the building. His transformation from doting older brother with a slight sister complex to serious head of the science division never stopped puzzling Allen and Lenalee.
"I thought you said no moving?" Her face growing pale she manages to keep her voice steady. Allen really didn't want to move, it was bad enough having traveled all of her youth, but not really having somewhere solid to come back to was wearing on her.
"Well this isn't a far away move, so you don't need to worry. Its actually a ten minute walk away from the order here, a nice little house suited to your needs perfectly. Of course, this would be the last move- I can assure you that. You'll still be traveling and such, but we'll keep you stationed here in the long run." Komui's words actually came as a surprise to Allen. The order simply didn't give you housing unless you lived in the building- or if you were extremely important to the order.
Allen couldn't say that she was the latter at all, she was only an exorcist that nearly got herself killed the other night, and was only alive because her friends came to the building shortly after. "Really? You really didn't need to do that you know. I'm fine in that apartment, it's not like I have much."
"Allen, you've more than earned it. So no arguing, the higher ups agreed so it's all yours now, and it will be for a long while yet. It was paid in full a while back so you'll be fine. You'll just have to buy the furniture, though I don't think that will be a problem with your uh, talents." Allen knew exactly as to what Komui was referring.
The fact that Allen could rake in thousands in a single night seemed to entertain Komui to no end, and he tended to bring it up when it suited his interest, which unfortunately was often. "Oh." That's all Allen could really say, since well-, she was rather shocked. Surely someone else would make better use out of it than her?
"Uh, Komui how long do I need to stay in this bed? I have a cat and a golem at home that require my attention." She'd left food for Moshi before she had left for the warehouse but she was rather worried about both if she had to stay more than a few days.
"You're healing up well it seems, that innocence of yours purged all the poison out of your body within minutes of it entering, which is why you were in such bad shape- it takes a toll on your body you know Allen. You basically have a bunch of very nasty cuts and bruises, so you'll probably be able to go home if you really, really wanted to tomorrow. Not that I advise it, I spent too much time last night putting that arm of yours back together since the nerves were damaged." Komui would rather her stay at least a week, but Allen hated imposing on people and would insist on working even while injured, so it'd be best for her to go home when she was up for it.
Why did she need to be like that really? She couldn't stand other's taking care of her because the care was something she'd prefer to go to others. God knows she and Lenalee had argued about it enough.
"The Black Order is an organization that takes over the exorcisms that the church can't handle. After a certain point an Akuma- or a demon if you prefer- gains enough power that it becomes extremely dangerous for anyone to handle that isn't specially trained and is an accommodator for something we call innocence." Sitting before Komui were both Lavi and Kanda, he figured he might as well test both of them since they were both here.
"Why can't the exorcists from the church take care of it?" Lavi asks intently, this was a well of new information and he was determined to squeeze out every last drop of water he could.
"They would get killed to put it simply. If the akuma is powerful enough it goes past a simple possession, it starts killing to gain more power. The akuma Allen fought last night was extremely powerful; it had actually gained a physical form. That however is rarer, more often you'll find them using the body of a dead human or animal." Komui didn't voice that Allen rightly shouldn't have been able to exorcise the akuma last night by herself, but had managed anyhow due to her innocence keeping her alive and her stubbornness.
"So you're asking us to join this order thing. What's in it for us?" Kanda wasn't too keen on rushing into this after seeing the beansprout last night.
"Depends on if you are an accommodator or not. Really there isn't much in it at all, its pretty much thankless dangerous work. Do you want to join in with us idiots?" Might as well put it bluntly and tell the truth right out.
"We will." Lavi speaks for both, and Kanda gives a death glare that both Lavi and Komui ignore completely. "And how is Allen doing? You wouldn't tell us earlier."
"Allen is in stable condition and is likely to be out and about by tomorrow at the latest knowing him." Komui still wasn't too thrilled about that. More like if he didn't know it would do more harm than good he would force Allen to stay here longer.
"Wait how the hell? He was bleeding out on the fucking floor the night before last, how is he going to be up and about tomorrow?" Kanda really couldn't fathom just how Allen could recover like that- not that he was one to speak. He was known for healing extremely quickly.
"Allen is extremely stubborn, and that innocence of his puts him back together at an unnatural rate. Now before we can do anything with you two we need to test you to see if you are accommodators." Standing Komui leads them through the large building into the basement, where a large locked door waited.
"What's with the door, and what's innocence." Kanda was already wary after what happened to the beansprout last night, and how is he going to be up and about tomorrow? Most of his body was slashed up.
"That's not something I am at liberty to talk about unless you prove to be an accommodator, I'm sorry. Well come on you two." Taking the ring of keys from his pocket Komui unlocks the three locks one by one. The door opens with a large metallic clatter.
Kanda and Lavi weren't really expecting anything like the scene beyond the door. Truthfully, they were hoping for something a bit more exciting, not a room filled with fog. "Go on, get in there you two." Komui pushes them in and closes the door behind him.
Lavi strides further into the room, but Kanda stays put by the door. There was absolutely no reason to move farther into a room he couldn't see the far wall of. Lavi was being an idiot, fucking putting that huge ass IQ to waste. You don't do that in an unfamiliar area. The fog grows even thicker around Kanda, he can't see his fingertips. Breathing it was like breathing fire, a fire that ran through his entire body.
He wanted to scream, it hurt damn it. Like that fucking fog was actually full of nails that he was being forced to swallow. It felt like he was suspended there, he couldn't move and the fog kept growing thicker and thicker- he pushes a wave of panic down. You can't panic, it'll cloud your mind and you won't be able to think straight.
Suddenly everything cleared, and glancing down at his wrists, he found two black tattoos. Lavi had apparently been lucky- the fog hadn't forced its way into his body but had formed itself into a hammer that plopped down into his hands.
"Well it looks like God is with us today. Two new accommodators, Hevlaska will explain the other things to you." Komui said from his place leaning on the wall by the door.
So he had to be an exorcist now, he guessed he should blame it on Allen, but really he blamed Lavi most of all. Lavi and his crazy ideas, his manipulative nature that he hides behind a mischievous eye- yes it was his fucking fault.
It was his fucking fault that they had to talk to that woman who told them that their innocence were weapons. It was his fault that the fucking innocence made a katana out of his blood. It was his fault. And Allen Fucking Walker's fault for getting them all into this.
Because Allen was the one of the only full exorcists in the area he'd be acting as their fucking mentor for half the time. Which pissed Kanda off to no end, Allen Walker annoyed the fuck out of him and Kanda frankly couldn't read him, Kanda couldn't fucking predict his movements and it pissed him off and put him off edge whenever the beansprout was around.
"Yo Allen." Looking up from the keyboard Lenalee had brought out (To keep Allen in bed and for the most part still) Allen smiles at the redhead.
"Hey Lavi, sorry about the other night, also thank you for helping me out there, I really appreciate it." Letting her fingers glide over the keys she picks out a faint tune, which rather surprised Lavi. He hadn't known that she could play, but his mind goes back to the keyboard in her apartment and he mentally berates himself.
"So Lenalee told me to tell you that I sort of know about you being a girl, also I'm not going to tell Kanda so don't worry." Allen glances up at Lavi from her place on the bed, her fingers still on the keys of the keyboard resting on her lap.
"How'd you find out?" She'd been so good at hiding it, she had dodged all the questions without suspicion- how had he found out?
"Lenalee let it slip when she was worried sick about you." Oh, so it was Lena, she wouldn't have let it slip unless it was an accident.
"As long as you don't tell anyone." Lavi was safe for the most part; he knew when to keep his mouth shut- something Allen had noticed over the weeks they'd been friends. She looks idly out of the window and starts a new song, one that had played in her mind ever since she could remember. It was familiar, like a blanket that kept you safe and warm.
Piano was her escape, from the moment she had laid eyes on one when traveling with Mana. He taught her to read the music, and the proper way to play. She caught on quickly to Mana's joy; he said it reminded him of his brother Neah who had passed away years before. He also taught her the notes to the song, the one that had played in her mind each day she lived in that half-demolished building.
The song that led her out of her nightmares of demons and needles, a make believe Earl who ruled the world. The last note fades into silence, and Allen finally meets Lavi's eyes once more. He simply stood and walked out of the room, his face unreadable.
"Allen played the lullaby for you, didn't she?" Lenalee watched the redhead stare at the wall, a far off look on his face. It struck her again just how perfect he was, despite the patch on his eye.
"Is that what's it called?" She understood the tone in Lavi's voice. The lullaby, it was like a lament, sad and heart wrenchingly beautiful. It was like Allen, when she let her guard down completely, however rare that was.
"That's what I've always called it. Allen refuses to name it." Lenalee can still remember the first time she heard it, she was sixteen at the time- Allen had just arrived after being dumped by Cross. She had wandered the halls- Lenalee hadn't known she wasn't a boy at the time (she only found out when Allen asked her in a panic why she was bleeding out of her vagina) until Allen found the grand piano tucked into a corner. Then she sat there and played, the song echoing throughout the order.
Komui had thought it was a ghost, and had sent the others out searching for it while he was tinkering with yet another robot. But they found Allen instead, head bowed down in concentration as her fingers flew across the keys.
"I feel like I've heard it before." Lavi keeps his voice quiet, holding the notes in his mind. Everything about it seemed to come from some far off place.
"I think it happens for everyone Lavi." Laying a hand on his shoulder the two hear the song start up again from Allen's room, not being able to see the quiet tears dripping from Allen's eyes down to the piano.
Mana, she missed him so much. The days he spent teaching her what it was to be loved and a human- the games he'd watch her play with the acrobats. They traveled so often, from city to city across England. He took her to doctors to try to fix her arm, but the doctors all refused to have anything to do with it, saying it was impossible.
The nightmares haunted her, the demon's screeches as it came for her. Then Mana, he had pushed her out of the way and he had died instead. She was supposed to have died that day, not Mana. It was her fault, she couldn't save him.
The sound of the door slamming closed breaks her from her memories, and sees Kanda glowering at her from the end of the bed.
"You are a fucking shithead. What the fuck were you doing there alone, and what the fuck is wrong with your arm beansprout?" Kanda demands angrily.
"I was fighting and got too close. Also I have no idea, its been like that for as long as I can remember jackass." He was pissing her off, to the extreme. The way that he looked down on her with his eyes full of anger, his clenched fists- neither of them noticed the door open slightly then close again. Or the fact that Lenalee and Lavi were whispering furiously.
"Oh my god they are going to start, good thing Allen is confined to bed otherwise they'll brawl." Lavi wanted to laugh, he really did. He knew for a fact that the reason Kanda hated Allen so much was because Kanda was extremely attracted to Allen and didn't realize it.
"Is it always like this?" Lenalee is trying to look through the small window set into the door without anyone noticing, though it was rather doubtful considering that they both were wearing glares that could kill and were arguing angrily.
"Usually its worse, you know the deal, bad words and fistfights. Its oddly entertaining." It was, though Lavi usually had to break them up at some point due to the fact that he didn't want to take people to the hospital.
"You weren't kidding. This is actually really adorable- don't tell Allen I said that. She'd kill me, well not really but she'd make me pay for her lunch." Lavi cringes, he'd seen just how much Allen could eat in a sitting and that was guaranteed to clean out most anyone's wallet. How the woman stayed so thin was a mystery.
They were screaming at each other at this point, obstinacies about lineage and dietary habits. It was really quite amazing, Lenalee hadn't seen Allen break down this much in the entire time she's known her, and break down meaning her accent coming back full force and the slang she picked up on the street slipping off her tongue. She guessed the only reason the argument was still verbal was because of the fact that Allen was in the infirmary bed covered in stitches.
"Seriously I half expect them to either kill each other or start kissing." Lavi said shaking his head.
"I know what you mean, how often are they like this?" Lenalee asked, her brow furrowed. She found herself agreeing with Lavi's statement, observing it all on the outside it looked like a long suffering couple arguing after one of them did something stupid.
"Pretty much at least once every time we hang out, though usually it doesn't get this far." Lavi grins, and Lenalee grins back at him. "I've been trying to put them in the same room as much as humanly possible actually, mainly because I find it hilarious."
"You are evil. Absolutely evil, seriously are you playing matchmaker or something?" asks Lenalee.
"Yes. Exactly that. Kanda and Allen would kill me if they found out, like they would both come after me screaming and waving around sharp objects. Not something I figure to be a good thing, so I'd appreciate if you'd not tell." Lavi said, he remembered on one occasion that nearly happened, only he jumped out the window and made a run for it. If he remembered correctly, it had something to do with suggesting that they sleep together.
"Actually I think I might help." Replied Lenalee, watching the two who were now not talking to each other but were each seated, Allen glaring at Kanda while tapping out a song on the keyboard. (That really is the best way to keep Allen occupied, though she had had to steal her house key and grab it from her apartment after feeding the cat.)
Lavi didn't say anything, grinning he dragged her down the hall (Lenalee furiously hoped Komui didn't see, she really didn't want Lavi subjected to the horrors her brother would cook up) and into the dining hall, where he sat at one of the tables. "So here's the thing, you're a trained exorcist too right?" Lavi asked, at Lenalee's nod he continues, "So you're going to be my mentor, and since its not a good idea to have more than one if you are trying to cram as much into a person's head as possible- Allen is going to be Kanda's."
Yeah I know the update is two days early, I'm just not going to be able to have access to the internet on friday through the weekend and am going to be super, super busy tomorrow.
I apologize if its going to quickly, or if anyone seems OOC.
And thank you to all the people who reviewed or followed or favorited, it always makes me smile seeing that notification in my inbox
Aariah out~