Author's notes: I want to thank my beta for doing such a wonderful job betaing the first chapter and this one. I also want to thank you the readers, I didn't expect there to be so many! I don't have a lot to say about this chapter but, I wanted to give you an impression for how Tyki feels about things and how long he's been in this particular town.
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Of all things, Tyki hadn't expected to find a dying Allen Walker in an alleyway, shivering as if it were winter and rapidly losing the battle for his own life. It had been the capper to a terrible day, and had the boy died, probably the notch on his wall for another week of hell. If he had been smart he'd have left Allen in that alleyway, but the boy had saved his life a few times, during the war and after it. If there was one thing he refused to do, it was leave his debts unpaid.
That had been yesterday. Today, he stood over the cast iron stove, balancing a skillet on the burner and using a wooden spoon to maneuver a pair of eggs around. Tyki counted himself lucky he was living on the edge of town where all of the farmers lived. He did hard labor for them and in return he ate better than he did in most places. They let him live in a small house just off the edge of their fields. It was temporary work. Good work always was. Ah well, it wasn't any skin off his nose.
While he didn't mind the day to day grind of society, the Vatican made it difficult to find a place to settle down. He couldn't count how many times he'd had to leave a town or city he'd found that might have lasted him a while before wanderlust urged him to move on. The Church was everywhere, like a disease that had infested all of the vital organs but hadn't built to a life threatening level yet.
It had been this way for little over a century. Complaining about the issue now when he hadn't been alive to try to thwart their advance was a wasted effort and he knew it. It would never change how frustrated he could get about it, and that was the problem. He didn't have Cyril's education (nor did he want it) and he wasn't like Road, who could step into her dreams, effectively escaping each and every time. Tyki got by on the strength of his back and what work he could find in the world that was the same as it always was. There was nothing wrong with that.
But only if you ignored the war, for the sake of humanity's very survival that had happened only a handful of years past hidden in the secret chapters of history. He was still bitter about how little had changed but, Lavi had told him last time they ran into each other, 'Don't expect much to change, the hidden history only changes our overall course, not the whole damn world'. He'd been right (damn him), but that didn't mean the Noah had to like it. His only comfort was that several Exorcists had died in comparison to two of the clan. But even that was starting to lack venom to it.
It was another wasted effort he didn't feel like bothering about. He transferred the cooked eggs onto a plate on top of the slices of bread he'd toasted with the generous slices of mushroom and tomato making a cushion for them. He should probably eat it too, but no, it was for his brand new trouble. Tyki carried it out of the kitchen into the small bedroom. The fire had died down during the night, leaving behind bare embers to light the room. He took a moment to stir the fire back up before he proceeded over to the bed. It didn't matter that he'd changed the sheets last night - the coppery scent of blood permeated the room. Tyki frowned while he set the plate on the nightstand. Allen had bled as much as some of the earlier Noah had, it was possible… "Damn it, I liked this mattress."
Speaking of the boy, his eyes drifted over Allen as he slept. His hair had been stripped of the tiny remains of color it had left and now grew long enough to reach past his shoulder blades. It was a surprise to see Allen's skin was the same color as his, the rich tan standing out on the sheets.
Tyki lightly shook the boy with one hand on his shoulder. "Oi, cheating boy. It's morning."
The boy gave a grunt and curled up, his head disappearing under the sheets. Some days he really hated kids, they were stubborn things that didn't want to do as they were told. "Walker!"
He growled as he seized a handful of the sheets and yanked them off the bed. To his credit, Allen didn't do much more than sleepily glare at him. "What do you want?"
The boy's voice was slurred with sleep but thankfully was still understandable. The elder Noah pointed at the still steaming plate of breakfast. "Eat, then we'll talk."
He didn't even need to say a word; Allen had snatched the plate up before he'd even finished his sentence. It was like watching a wolf tear out the throat of a sheep, quick and very violent. Of course it could be blamed on blood loss and the high energy demands of crossing over, but Tyki was willing to bet it had other factors involved. The food was a mere memory moments later while Allen licked the tip of a finger to get the last smidgen of food left.
"That was really good! Who made it?"
He
carefully set the plate back where it had been and took advantage of
the sudden silence to stretch his arms over his head. "I did
but, that's not
important right now, boy. For the next few days
we'll be staying here until your body settles."
Tyki lit a cigarette with a quick flick of a match before he continued on like a teacher giving a lesson or a warning. "Don't go out of this house; stay back here if I tell you to."
His command was met with a raised eyebrow along with a very confused expression from his charge. He ran a hand through his hair and tapped the wall with his knuckles. "If you're seen, we'll have to leave immediately. Don't ask why, you know why."
Allen shut his mouth in mid-question, his expression shifting from confused to thoughtful. Tyki sighed as he reached out and ruffled Allen's hair. He didn't say anything else before he rose to collect the plate.
"Tyki?"
He paused at the soft question to look over at him. "Yeah?"
Allen studied the bedsheets to avoid looking into his eyes. "You said we had a lot of ground to cover before."
A shadow passed over the elder Noah's face before he sat right back down. "Don't you want to wake up first? This will take a while and it's a pain in the ass to repeat it."
The boy blinked then sat back a little. He wasn't sure if he wanted to wait until the fog of drowsiness lifted. It seemed important to hear what Tyki had promised him last night. Or had it been yesterday morning? His sense of time had become skewed during his crossing over. His silence seemed like an answer to Tyki. He ran a hand through his dark curly hair and got up again. "Come into the kitchen when you've made up your mind."
Before anything else could be said he left the room, the door gently shut behind him. Allen sat on the bed and stared at his bandaged hands. He couldn't believe how dark his skin was or how everything had shifted. His new senses were almost difficult to handle due to the unfamiliarity of their strength. He took a cautious sniff, but couldn't sort out everything his nose told him. Not yet. It was all too new still.
It didn't help that he still felt exhausted. The logical decision would be to lie back down but Allen hadn't ever been one for logic. Not when he could push his body to the limits and keep going. It was easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission someone had once told him (he assumed it was Cross due to the nature of the advice). He slipped out of bed cautiously, his toes touching the hardwood floor before he allowed the rest of him to follow. Unfortunately, his body was all for being practical and logical today. His knees buckled the moment he put his weight on his legs and he was sent crashing to the floor.
At
the last minute he seized a handful of sheets but that did him little
good. Stars exploded across his vision when his chin made contact
with the
floor. Allen was no stranger to pain but it was pretty
embarrassing that his first attempt to stand had ended in disaster;
the heavy sound of footfalls
alerted him just how loud that had
been. Tyki opened the door and looked at him with an expression that
he could swear was almost amused. "I forgot to mention with the
amount of blood you lost, you might want to stay in bed a little
longer."
One gray eye glared at him from under long white bangs as Allen hissed in pain. "You're an arse."
He was still glaring at Tyki even when he was helped back into bed. His bandages were inspected once he settled. "It got my point across. You're too weak to worry about the bigger picture right now."
The older Noah left the room long enough to get bandages and a bowl of warm water. He set the bowl down on the nightstand but didn't do anything further with it until he started to unwind the boy's bandages. They fell in a pile on the floor, the dark almost brown stains a testament to how much Allen had been bleeding. Allen stared at the mess in rapt fascination. There was something about all of the damage that almost impressed him. With Crowned Clown each change had left him feeling renewed, like the aftermath of a spring rain shower. His Noah (he'd never get used to referring to his powers like that) left him feeling drained and ravenously hungry as if he'd emerged from the desert after being lost for a few days.
"How long will it take for me to heal from this?"
Tyki looked up at him when he tentatively asked
his question but didn't answer him. It varied for each Noah how long
they took to recover. Some
memories were stronger than others -
seeming to reach through time for the sake of continuing the desires
of Noah himself. "It depends, you might recover pretty quickly
or you might not."
The answer didn't satisfy the boy at
all, but the older Noah didn't seem to be very forth coming in his
replies right now. Was there really that much to talk about that he
wanted to do it later? He didn't ask anything else, even when Tyki
winced at the scabbed cross on his throat. As if his
previous
question had been the last drops of strength, he suddenly
felt tired again. The fresh bandages felt snug against his wounds and
when he reached up to tug at them his hands were batted away. "Stop
that."
"But they're too snug, Tyki."
He
smiled in reply to the measured stare directed his way; he wasn't
trying to be difficult it just happened to turn out that way. The
bandages were
readjusted until Allen didn't complain (they only
needed to be readjusted once) before he finally admitted he needed
rest. "You promise you'll tell me everything when I get
up?"
Tyki paused while he was gathering the sheets and blankets up to dump over him. "...Do I need to repeat myself, lad?"
The boy frowned at the answer as he lay down. "I'd rather know what I'm getting into as soon as possible than rest up not knowing."
His displeasure was enough to make the other bend just a little in his resolution to make him heal first. "...If you're feeling up to it, I will."
To look like he wasn't giving in, he pulled the sheets over him. The spare blankets he'd collected from his bedroom were spread over him, their earthen colors making Allen's changes seem less unusual and more like he'd been that way all his life. There was no Earl to wish the boy Happy birthday or to take him under his care and coach him in the ways of the Noah. He strongly suspected Allen would have been killed instead, but the past was the past...Even if he was slightly bitter about it (more than a little) there was no helping it. The boy was one of them. He caught himself reaching over to ruffle Allen's hair and let his hand fall to his side despite the drowsy and curious look directed his way. "I won't be far, if you need anything."
"Alright,"
The boy settled in the bed and made himself comfortable as Tyki strode for the door. He paused when he heard him clear his throat. Even slurred slightly with the onset of exhaustion, the polite and rather grateful tone was pretty clear in Allen's voice, "And Tyki, thank you."
Tyki shrugged his shoulders and lingered in the doorway for a moment. "Think nothing of it."
It didn't seem right to say
they were family, yet the bond was unmistakable regardless of how
either of them felt about it. He left the room and shut the door
behind him. He didn't have to work in the fields today so he could
continue with his usual routine. On days off, Tyki would go into town
and
stock up on supplies. The less he had to see of the town the
better. He never knew who was in league with the Vatican and willing
to turn him in. For the sake of survival he'd become a bit of a
hermit.
He gathered up his coat from the chair he'd thrown it
over and pulled it on as he strode through the kitchen. Allen would
sleep all day and even if he
didn't...he'd cross that bridge when
they came to it. The dark brown coat covered his usual work clothes
as he mussed up his hair until it looked far more unkempt than usual.
He pulled on a pair of ratty gloves on his way out of the house and
locked the door behind him. It never hurt to disguise himself a
little and it kept his white side somewhat.
Since the war's end it felt like he lived a gray life. It was a muggy morning in England, almost unnaturally so and he was forced to tie his hair back while he trudged down the dirt road leading into town. He didn't keep a horse or borrow those from the farm. Animals were too much trouble. He walked in silence for most of the way only nodding in greeting to any farmer he passed. Tyki liked this simple life - as much as he once had loved plunging deep into the fray and cutting down his opponents with his Noah power.
He paused at the edge of town, something telling him it wasn't too late to go back and disappear from the world entirely. He'd had this feeling since the Earl had fallen before Exorcists' united attack. Was the cycle really broken? Would the Noah genes continue to awaken within chosen humans or were they the last? It was too early in the morning to worry about this. Allen was a sign of hope for their kind even if Tyki still couldn't believe the boy had crossed over. He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets as he crossed what felt like a border between the world he'd once belonged to and the world that ceased to change no matter who died for it.
It was a small town, with dusty streets and wooden buildings. As far as off the map towns went, it was the same as any other he'd seen in his years of traveling. The people were the same as others as long as he was friendly and showed he was just another guy from the outskirts that made his living ensuring the farmers pulled in their crops on time. For once he belonged, if only for a little while, and he both loved and hated the feeling. The general store was a bit too close to the church in his opinion. As he mounted the steps to the store, he had to keep from glancing over at it and sneering in defiance.
Cyril had once told him that meetings between nations sometimes required religious ceremonies before they could begin. He hadn't understood at the time why his brother had laughed so hard about it. After living in this town for a few months he could understand the urge. Every Sunday he had to sit in that blasted church and act somewhat normal. It was a chore to keep from laughing. He cast one last glance in its direction and missed the priest that peered at him from the window. If he had lingered a moment longer he'd have seen the recognition in the man's wide eyes.
Mark; the shop owner smiled at him as he came in. "Hey, Raul I didn't think I'd catch you this week!"
"Eh, ya know us farm hands. We have ta make sure we're all stocked up before harvest season is over."
He scratched at his face
and laughed a little at that. He'd been here so often since he'd come
to this town that there was a list of things already
packed and
waiting for him when he came in on his usual day. "Ya got my
supplies all ready? A man needs to keep from spendin' more than he
has ta."
Mark chuckled as he set a bound sack on the counter and a few parcels. The paper wrapped parcels were unusual but Tyki figured he'd explain the reason for them soon enough. The man didn't disappoint him. "I know you've only been here so long, but winters are tough out here, especially on your folk way out there far from town. I made sure to include some blankets and winter gear in your usual order."
He smiled again, setting one more parcel on the stack. "Free of charge this time, next time you'll have to pay. You're settling in our little humble town right?"
This
was the hard part, he couldn't stay. He was born to wander in his
opinion. Even so, the Vatican was going to hound his every step until
he was
dead. That wasn't a pleasant thought. He shrugged in a good
natured way as he rubbed the back of his neck and sighs. "Ya
caught me at a confusin' time. I'm not sure what I'll do. I do need
ta double my order this time. Picked up some wounded kid, couldn't go
leavin' him out in the cold."
The other man blinked before his eyes went wide. "A boy? Have you brought him to the town doc? How bad off is the lad?"
He scrambled to grab
the extra supplies as he fired question after question at Tyki.
"Raul, you can't just go picking up a kid and not tell anyone!
We
take care of any way ward stranger, you know! If you need any
help we're always willing to lend you a hand with him."
He hadn't expected that sort of answer but it made sense in this area. The town was friendly to anyone who dropped by. It wasn't a far fetched idea that he'd have all the help he needed until Allen was able to travel. Whether that bought them enough time to be two steps ahead of the Vatican remained to be seen. "Thanks, I'll let ya know if I ever get in over my head."
In the Church the priest had stole to one of the phones. There was static on the other end before a soft voice spoke up. "Hello?"
He looked around nervously as sweat slipped down through his pale blonde hair. He'd been a Broker long ago, when the war had been going on. He knew who he'd seen enter the store. It had been sheer luck to realize who it was. The great Lord Tyki Mikk, it was a rare find that would ensure the Vatican didn't hang him. "Y-yes, I've found sighting of one of the Noah. L- I mean Tyki Mikk. They say he lives with the farmers on the edge of town."
The voice said nothing for a few moments before it spoke again. "Are you absolutely sure? It could be no one else?"
The priest looked towards the window where Tyki was leaving the store with a lazy whistle and all the supplies he needed. How careful the Noah seemed to be to the Broker. All of the Earl's supporters had suffered yet they roamed freely with their lives intact. "Yes, it could be no one else."
"We'll take care of it then. You've done the right thing. Monsters like that have no place in our world."
