Hello all~
In this chapter: The revealing about Adam and Brant's past and how they became Akuma! A appearance by Tyki (finally - I don't think he's shown up in a while)! More Tokusa! And finally:
A kiss.
No, not the happy couple's. I'M GETTING TO THAT, OKAY? :(
But it's a funny kiss? I hope? Though not from the most popular pairing (I think I'm the only person who supports it, ha ha).
NO FLAMES ABOUT CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS/ETC. here. GO EXPRESS YOUR ANGER ELSEWHERE.
The first thing that the Level Two noticed when walking into the room was that it was incredibly dark, aside from the fire burning in the corner. It glanced around nervously, twiddling its fingers behind its back. It bit its lip.
"Lord Adam? Are you here? Sir Brant wished for me to bring you back to the balcony. He says that he needs to speak with you. Lord Adam?"
There was no reply, only a deadly silence that seemed to reverberate around the room like an echo.
The Level Two was seriously getting scared, which happened very rarely, proceeding to frighten him even further to the point of hyperventilation. When there was no answer, it slowly began to back out of the room. Screw this. If Sir Brant was angry, then that was his problem. Not Level Two's.
"I am here," the soft voice of Adam called out.
Oh. Well, that was sort of embarrassing.
"Are you coming, Lord?"
There was another silence. The fire crackled in the corner, little red flames licking the air. Now that the Level Two knew that Lord Adam was there, it scanned the room again. Sure enough, there was a shadow darker than the others standing near the window, but it was standing far enough so that the light did not catch its form. No wonder that the Level Two had not seen him beforehand.
"Lord Adam—"
"Come here, Level Two." The quiet voice of the higher leveled Akuma drowned out what the Level Two was about to say next. Obediently, it came closer to where Adam was and stood by him uncertainly. Through the darkness, it could make out the cropped dark brown hair falling forward around the superior's face, hiding whatever emotion Adam might have been feeling at the moment.
"I have not felt like myself lately," Adam said suddenly. He sounded ancient, and the Level Two felt his unease deepen. "I have even been questioning myself if this revolution is worth it. Is it? Freedom from the Earl, from mankind and all of its cruelties—is it worth it?"
"Lord Adam, Sir Brant is waiting—"
Adam held up his hand. The Level Two stopped immediately in the middle of what it was saying.
"Shall I tell you a story, Level Two?"
Level Two felt shaken and kept silent to not convey his uneasiness. To him, Lord Adam did not sound like he was in his right mind at the moment. He sounded almost…human.
Adam took the silence as a cue to keep going. In a voice flat without emotion, he began to speak.
"Once in a small lonely village a very, very long time ago, there lived four children. Human children who, of course, were too innocent for their own good. But they were happy…"
Adam's voice trailed off there for a few moments before continuing.
"These four children were extremely close, almost siblings. They had joined together after rogue gangs passing through had slaughtered their parents. Drawn to each other, they kept close to one another and put all of their will into surviving. It was an odd friendship, but they were happy." Level Two could hear Lord Adam's hands digging into his false flesh.
"As they grew older, they grew closer and closer until they were bound by soul. They did not want to lose any of them, no matter what.
"But then that happened."
Adam was silent then. The Level Two, now enthralled, spoke up timidly.
"What happened, Lord?"
Adam chuckled bitterly. "A very foolish, inhumane thing.
"Two of the children, though they were not children any longer, had gone out to find more food. The other two had stayed behind to try to fix their shelter, as it was coming apart from wear and tear damage.
"The two who had gone out were searching for food when there were human shouts from the outside of the forest they were lurking in. They had stopped, confused. There had been no sign of other human life besides them in this area for years. Who had come here? Fools that they were, they did not bother to hide.
"And from the forest burst out a group of people, screaming and raving and absolutely mad with bloodlust and alcohol. It was another rogue gang who had wandered to the area after a kill, and they were absolutely delighted to find two people here in this area supposedly abandoned by the rest of humanity.
"The elder of the two tried to protect the other from harm, but he was hurled into a tree headfirst. His skull broke and he was impaled on a particularly sharp branch. He died instantly.
"After seeing this, the members then turned and violated the second child. Finally, after leaving the child sobbing in humiliation and pain from their torment, they stabbed the shell through the heart before scurrying off to find the place from which the two had come from.
"The gang ran through the village, trying to find more people to kill, but the two remaining hid from them in a hiding place devised years ago. Frightened, they watched as the rogues tore down everything that they had worked for before, hooting with laughter, left the place in remains. It was only until they could not hear anything anymore that they came out from their hiding place and began to search for their comrades.
"The remaining two soon discovered that the other two were dead after searching the forest frantically. Naturally, they fell into despair. Their only comrades, killed? Inconceivable.
"And it was only natural that they would want them back."
The Level Two felt like it had just been doused in cold water. It kept silent as Adam kept going.
"And of course the Earl came after hearing their cries of despair. The two, of course, accepted his terms without knowing they would become masks for the most terrible machines on this world.
"And then, of course, they were turned into Akuma."
Adam lifted his head, and Level Two saw that he was smiling a terribly bitter smile.
"Brant may have forgotten, but I never will forget the cruelty of man."
Then abruptly, he straightened, his face smoothing over into a mask of calm and collectiveness. "Well, we might as well go to him now. Brant is such an impatient fool."
And then he swept out of the room, leaving the stunned Level Two standing in the darkness.
---
"Too slow."
David panted as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Lenalee stood sweetly to the side of him, watching and commenting occasionally as he continued to punch fervently at the swinging bag in front of him.
"David, I know that you're faster than that. Come on, move your legs," she teased lightly.
"It's kind of hard to," he protested, but he sped up anyways, slamming the bag harder and harder until, when coming back, it almost slammed him up the jaw. Luckily, he dodged it just in time. "Shit—"
Lenalee giggled. "You big baby."
David flushed, his lower lip jutting out a little. "Shut up."
Tyki, who was lying in the doorway, watched absently as his nephew continued to beat the bag. "You're really a wimp, aren't you, David?"
David promptly grabbed the bag and twisted his head so that he was glaring daggers at his uncle. "Oh shut up, you useless vagabond! And what the hell are you doing here, anyways?"
"Watching you make a fool out of yourself," Tyki responded immediately, yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes. "And because Cyril forced me to come here. He wants me keeping an eye on you before he came here himself."
David sneered at the elder Noah. "Can't even refuse big brother, huh?"
Tyki raised an eyebrow at David. "Really? Have you never been scared of my brother before?"
David stopped to think about this for a minute.
And then he shuddered so violently that the bag he was holding shook along with him.
Tyki glared. "Yeah."
Lenalee, who had been watching them interact with curiosity, laughed slightly. "Cyril isn't really that bad, is he?"
Tyki and David both turned to stare at the girl in collective horror. She leaned backwards slightly, eyes widening. "All right then. I stand corrected."
David gulped. "You haven't seen him at his worst, Lenalee. Then you'll be really scared."
"So far, I'm already a bit afraid."
"What are you two doing out of bed?"
Lenalee and David collectively gulped and turned to face the nurse standing ominously behind Tyki (who also looked slightly petrified at the sheer power of this woman). They all swore later that they could see flames behind her. Dark. Black. Flames.
She's scarier than any demon, David and Lenalee thought at the same time as the flames loomed higher.
---
Tokusa honestly didn't know how he kept bumping into such strange people lately. Staring at the babbling man in front of him, he patted the man's shoulder comfortingly, although slightly awkwardly.
"It's all right," he consoled, even though he had no idea what the man was saying. "Calm down."
"But I can't find them!" the man cried. He looked almost ready to burst into tears, with black hair trailing along his face.
"Can't find who?" This guy's off his rocker, Tokusa thought to himself.
"My darling brother and son! I can't find them anywhere! And I told them I'd meet them, too!"
"Well, where do you think they are?"
"I don't know!"
Oh, lord. Tokusa resisted the urge to clobber this man over the head and leave him dying in a pool of blood. "Well, why'd you tell them that you'd meet them if you didn't even know where they were going to be?"
"Because I thought that David was still going to be in his room! But he wasn't!"
"David?"
"My son!"
Oh. Okay. That didn't help one bit.
"Well, why don't you go back to his room and wait for him there?"
The man stopped. He stared at Tokusa.
Tokusa felt a few drops of sweat run down the back of his neck.
"That's…" the man's eyes welled up in emotion. Tokusa leaned back and flailed as the man scooped him up in his arms and whirled him in a circle. "You are a genius, my good man, a genius! Thank you so much!"
And then—and Tokusa could not believe that it really happened—
The man kissed him. Right. On. The. Lips.
Oh. Dearest. God.
"I owe you!" the man chirped before setting a dazed Tokusa back on the ground and racing back down the opposite way of the corridor.
Tokusa just blinked.
"He…" he stuttered. "He just…"
The man had just kissed him.
Oh God.
Tokusa promptly turned on his heel and began running down the other way to barricade himself somewhere safe. He couldn't be too careful. There was a pervert on the loose, after all.
He really hated this place.
---
"I'm here. What is it?"
Brant glanced up. Adam blinked at the look on his comrade's face. Brant's green eyes were wide open, his lips pressed together in a thin line. His skin was paler than usual, but that was probably because it was so dark outside.
"Brant?"
"I had a bad dream, Adam."
Adam raised an eyebrow elegantly. "I did not realize that you could sleep."
"Yeah, well, I tried. It isn't fun." Brant sucked in a breath heavily, pulling back his hair with one hand. Dark strands contrasted with white skin, and Adam glanced away.
"I dreamed of trees."
Adam froze.
"I think I was in a forest. There was another kid with me. We were looking for berries or some shit like that."
His muscles were tensing up, trembling.
"Then I felt something hit my skull and tear open my stomach, and—" Brant sucked in a breath. "Adam, I think I died in that dream."
Adam couldn't look at him. He just remained staring off to the side blankly; he felt his mind processing what was being said, but his mouth not saying what he wanted to say. Little pieces of memory flashed by his eyes, hands on skin and screaming and pounding and laughter, cruel laughter of humanity—
"Adam?"
Adam parted his lips.
"That's all? You called me out here for a nightmare? Honestly, Brant, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were becoming human."
Brant didn't flinch, but his eyes narrowed down into slits. "Do you know anything about that dream, Adam? Was that dream reality? Is that why you've stuck by me for so long, ever since we were Level Ones? Adam, was that kid in my dream you?"
Adam didn't answer.
Brant strode over to him so fast that Adam barely saw him move. Towering over him, Brant growled, "Adam. Answer me."
Adam looked up at him coolly and smiled condescendingly, the mask fitting easily on his skin. "It's a foolish thing, to be manipulated by a silly dream, Brant. Do not let your emotions get ahead of you." Turning on his heel, he exited from the room and began to stride back down the corridor.
"Victory is the only thing that matters here," Adam said over his shoulder at the still Brant outlined by darkness. "Remember that, Brant. We have no time to stop for dreams."
Even though they are so close to reality that it hurts, he added to himself.