Chapter 12
Innocence
Allen landed near the group of orphans—he counted six boys and girls total-huddled under the ledge. His eye was activated, but the closest Akuma was nowhere near them.
The boy knelt down beside them.
"Are any of you hurt?" He asked quietly. A few children merely sniffled, some shook their heads, and others did nothing at all. "That's good; and you are all being very brave."
One, a girl, looked up.
"Are you going to help us?" She asked between sobs. Allen nodded as gently as he could despite his surprise. She was indeed brave to have found her voice.
"I will do my best," he answered.
"How?" demanded a frightened little boy. His voice was shrill and bitter. "Those monsters killed everyone else. What's going to stop them from killing us li—"
Allen held up a single hand, which effectively shut the blabbermouth up. He took a few seconds to try something to calm and reassure the small band of survivors. An idea came to mind. A simple action.
He smiled with all of the hope, courage, and kindness he could muster.
"Think. You probably know this place better than anyone else. Are there any special hiding places that only you know about?" he prompted. The children blinked at him, then took comfort from his smile.
"The sewers—"
"Good," Allen praised."When you see the Akuma follow me, I want you to go there."
"Are you going to die?" the girl asked. Allen struggled to keep the smile on his face.
"I'll try not to," was all he could promise. Otherwise he would be lying or completely crushing their hopes. "Don't worry. I used to be a clown. Have you ever seen one before?"
"Yes. He outran a lion; no one could catch him."
Allen's mouth twisted into a grin.
"Exactly."
::+::+::+: ϒ :+::+::+::
Allen narrowly dodged a barrage of bullets. He tumbled back onto a single hand and launched himself onto an Akuma (they're all Level 1). He landed like a cat, and waited until all of their guns were pointed onto home before leaping off boy inwardly thanked his foster father for inadvertently teaching him combat training. He would certainly not be alive without acrobatics at this point.
Allen hit a building roof at a run. He yelped as his foot caught onto a tile and sent him sprawling onto his stomach. Above him, two Akuma collided into one another and bounced away violently. The boy looked up with a frown. He couldn't figure out if that had been an example of his good luck or his bad luck.
Allen shrugged it off and pushed himself up. He was about to continue on his merry way when he saw the dazed face of a youth slumped against the wall. A sword lay by his hand, not that it would do much good against the Akuma about to shoot him. Allen felt a plan formulating in his head, and he began to silently curse his own stupidity.
The boy took half a dozen steps back. Then he took a running jump off of the roof.
He landed painfully on the Akuma just a second before it started firing. His weight tilted the spherical body enough to send a spray of projectiles away from the teenager. Allen felt his body rolling off and he forced himself to flip onto his feet. He hit the ground with a wince.
"That was definitely a stupid plan," he muttered in conclusion. His ribs and hips felt like they had been shattered by the impact, but it was worth it.
The recovered Akuma swung to face him, weapons at the ready.
"I'm over here," a gruff voice growled. The Akuma's guns swiveled towards the long-haired youth who was holding the sword at the ready.
"What are you doing?" Allen demanded angrily. He had just saved that person's life!
"I am not letting you die on me when I just found you!"
"I don't intend on dying!"
"Neither do I Baka Moyashi!"
Allen was speechless for a moment. He had only been trying to HELP and this was the thanks he got?
"I AM NOT A BEANSPROUT!"
Back and forth the two argued, leaving the Akuma confused as to which on it should kill. It decided that the white haired one was the easiest to deal with.
Allen opened his mouth for another come back, instead crying out in pain as a bullet pierced through him. He fell to his knees, staring up at the Akuma.
A blade cleaved the body in two halves. Allen smiled in satisfaction as the chains trapping the soul released it. So he had been able to help save a soul after all.
Black stars slowly began to appear in his skin. A strong pair of arms scooped him into a cradled position.
The person holding him—probably the teenager—started shouting at him, but Allen couldn't understand a single word he was saying. His ears ahead be one deaf and even his eyes were losing sight. Why did it seem to be happening so slowly? All he could do was think and wish about having been stronger. Allen felt full of regret.
"If it were in my power, I would give my right hand to the humans," he whispered. A tear fell out of the corner of his eye. "And my left hand to the Akuma."
Allen's skin began to darken into the color of wet ash.
"You are a fool Allen Walker. You sound like you want to save the Akuma. You are their destroyer," murmured the youth. The boy was surprised he could hear such soft words, and was even more surprised by the gentleness.
Allen put his left hand over the hand of the person he now knew to be an Exorcist, the hand was over his heart."I want to be a destroyer who can save. What is so wrong with that?"
Allen could practically taste his own death on his tongue.
"Nothing is wrong, except I have not seen you try a damn thing to become one."
Allen smirked. Ah, the stranger was right. Here he was, lying on the ground dying full of wishes and regrets.
"Fight with me once more," Allen begged softly. He closed his eyes, less than a second away from being dust.
Innocence...Activate!