Chapter Six
"Hello, class…" came a strict, short voice from the doorway of the classroom as a tall, middle aged, and thin lipped woman walked into the classroom. She walked over to her desk and put her bag under it. Now, who may I ask are you?" the woman asked curtly, raising an eyebrow at Road, who was sitting in the back row, hoping not to be seen. Road groaned and stood up, bowing politely to the teacher.
"Hello. I'm…" She started, debating whether to use the name that Allen knew her by, or her birth name. On that note, what name did the teacher have her under? She was legally adopted by Tyki Mikk's brother, so her last name really was Kamelot. But she wondered if it was really wise to use that name in her current situation.
"Yes?" The teacher asked impatiently, leaning forward and pushing her spectacles up her nose with her index and middle fingers.
"R-Road Kamelot, ma'am," Road said quietly. The teacher looked at her chart and nodded once.
"Of course you are, Miss Kamelot. You're the transfer student, correct?" she asked rather shortly. Road shivered slightly at the teacher's cold tone, but nodded.
"Well, then. Please come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself."
Road nodded and stood, walking to the front of the class, and standing there, making an attempt at a smile. It came out more as an awkward grimace, though, and Road bowed to the class.
"I'm… Road Kamelot," she said quietly, not elaborating at all. Most of the class just stared at her, but one boy, who had a cocky smirk on his face, raised his hand.
"Yes Ian? You have a question?" The teacher asked from behind Road. Road hadn't been expecting to have to answer any questions.
"Yeah. Why are you so skinny?" he asked, getting several laughs from the rest of the class, causing Road to turn pink in embarrassment. In the middle row by the window, Allen sighed and shook his head. He knew Ian by reputation. He had a penchant for being a class clown. Apparently the teacher knew this too, because she scowled at him.
"Does anybody have any serious questions for Miss Kamelot?" The teacher asked, still scowling at Ian. When nobody raised their hands, she sighed and sent Road back to her seat. Road quickly left, glad to be out of the spotlight. She didn't really like being the center of attention. She used to be good at keeping the attention of a crowd back in her days as a Noah, but she couldn't say that she ever enjoyed it. She went to parties, and was polite and pleasant as she was introduced to rich and powerful people, and as men flirted with her. She always tried to find a way to escape the center of the crowd, though, stalking off to the side so that she could be alone and eat her candy, which she had started doing as a nervous habit. It wasn't that she particularly liked candy. She knew that it was bad for her, but she never seemed to get sick from it, so she didn't really care.
Discretely, Road slipped a chocolate bar out of her pocket and opened it, hoping that nobody would notice. Unfortunately, as soon as she opened it, the teacher looked up and saw that she had it.
"Miss Kamelot, since you're new, you probably don't know yet that I don't allow food of any kind in my class. Please save it for later."
"A-alright… S-sorry, ma'am."
"Call me Mrs. Porter," the teacher said curtly.
Road nodded and tried to settle in to listen for the rest of the class. Unfortunately, she could feel at least ten sets of eyes on her. She had always had a minor social phobia, but she had managed to cover it up with a superficial charm and a fake smile. As long as she was able to keep those two things, she did alright in social situations. She had seemingly lost the ability to smile as much as she used to, though, and her charm seemed to have gone right out the window along with her near perpetual good mood. Now, she felt her breathing rate increasing, and her chest growing tight. Her whole body was shaking, and she felt herself slowly being covered by a cold sweat.
She took even more rapid breaths, mostly to try to cool herself down, and to give her body enough oxygen to continue on. She could feel herself getting really dizzy, and her entire world was spinning now. Had anyone been paying close enough attention to her, rather than just staring absently at her, they would have noticed that in the time since she entered the classroom, she had gone several shades paler, and that her skin now resembled nothing so much as a chalk white. Her insides seemed to retch with every shuddering breath that she drew, causing her to feel like she was going to throw up. She knew that she couldn't. She had to at least stay semi-composed until class ended.
Even in her old school, she had been quiet and reserved. She rarely talked to anyone, and those few that she did talk to still didn't know very much about her. That was partially to protect the Clan of Noah. However, it was also to keep anyone from getting too close to her. Now, her entire head was swimming, and this time, it wasn't the peaceful feeling like she had in the hospital. It was a feeling as though she was drowning, like she had been thrown into ice cold water even though she couldn't swim. Ice cold waves of air hit her every second, causing her to gasp desperately for air. By now, even Mrs. Porter had noticed something was wrong. She went over closer to Road and said, "Miss Kamelot? Are you… feeling ill?"
It seemed a dumb question, because at that moment, she stood up recklessly, running toward the front of the room, shoving Mrs. Porter aside and tearing out into the hall. Mrs. Porter stood up, slightly bedraggled from being pushed so hard and she looked out the doorway, watching as Road turned the corner and disappeared. Allen stood up, trying to get past Mrs. Porter without her noticing, but she turned around and looked at him, adjusting her glasses.
"Where, pray tell are you going, Mr. Walker?" She asked sternly, fixing him with an almost ghoulish stare.
"I um… Have to go to the bathroom," Allen lied. He knew that it wasn't a very good lie, but it would have to suffice. The teacher nodded and pointed out the door.
"Make it quick, Mr. Walker. And if you run into Miss Kamelot, tell her she needn't worry about coming back to class today."
"I will," Allen said with forced patience as he rushed out to find Road. He knew that he couldn't actually go into the girls' bathroom. But he could wait outside for her until she was done. He knew the school quite well, having been a student there the previous year as well, and he followed Road's path toward the bathrooms and finally got to the girls' room after what seemed like forever. So, he sighed and leaned up against the wall, waiting. As he did so, though, he watched several girls pass and giggle, stealing glances at him.
Apparently, white hair, blue eyes and a facial scar in the shape of a pentacle were enough to make a boy very popular, because Allen had no shortage of admirers in the school, and no shortage of irritated guys either. As much as Allen had wanted to keep a low profile, he was rather noticeable with snow white hair and a scar that looked more like a tattoo. He found out quickly, though, who were actually nice people in the school, and he made a few friends. He never really felt that close to them, though. He had always felt that he had more in common with his comrades from the Black Order. Even Kanda understood him better than the people at this school.
In his inattention, he half dozed off, and didn't notice when a girl approached him and began staring at him, leaning in closer and slowly shifting her head from one side to the other. Her scraggly brown hair was pulled back into a braid and she wore thick glasses. Suddenly, she spoke, snapping Allen out of his doze.
"Hey! If you're looking for somewhere to sleep through break, standing up in the hall isn't really the best place to do it. Why are you waiting by the girls' bathroom? You aren't a peeping Tom, are you?" she asked, her questions and comments coming at Allen rapid fire so that he barely had time to shake his head clear before she was assaulting him with her rant.
"H-huh?" he asked stupidly, rubbing his eyes. As his vision cleared, he noticed the girl, still practically nose to nose with him, staring right at him. At realizing this, Allen nearly fell over, but managed to save his footing and ducked under the girl, causing her to fall forward. He slipped behind her, though, and grabbed her arm, holding her up.
"A little bit too close for comfort there…" Allen said with a polite smile. The girl turned around and advanced on Allen again. She wasn't acting like some of the other girls, who just seemed to want to waste time flirting with him, though. It was more like she was studying him, staring at him like one would at an interesting species of insect. All the more disconcerting.
"I'll say! I almost hit my head on the wall there. Thanks!" she said obliviously, not even connecting that she was too close to Allen, and apparently, extremely hyperactive. Allen tried to keep his smile, but backed off a few steps, only to be advanced on again by the girl, who was beginning to annoy him slightly.
"Say, how long have you been watching me?" Allen asked politely, trying not to let his annoyance show.
"Oh, maybe ten or fifteen minutes. You looked like you were having a nice daydream and I didn't want to wake you. You were mumbling about a road. Were you dreaming about your hometown?"
"Oh… Um… No. I was actually born here…" Allen lied. The girl laughed in a rather childish giggle, shaking her head and wagging her finger somewhat tauntingly.
"You shouldn't lie. It's very unbecoming. You don't have to tell me about your dream if you don't want to, though. Anyway, why are you here?"
"I'm waiting for a friend. She wasn't feeling well, so she came into the bathroom."
"A fellow teacher? How long has she been in there?" the girl asked quickly, leaning in closer to Allen, her eyes widening slightly, bulging out a bit behind her spectacles.
"Um… Well, what time is it?" Allen asked groggily. The girl checked her watch and gasped. "Wow. It's almost 9:00. You must have been here at least half an hour, because class started at 8:15, and I passed you at 8:47:35. It takes at least seven minutes to reach a state of sleep where you wouldn't notice someone right in front of you meaning that you've probably been here since about 8:37."
"Um… I-if you say so. Anyway… D-do you think you could go in to see if my friend is doing alright?" Allen asked politely, becoming more unsettled by the minute by this girl who seemed extraordinarily bright, but terribly unfocused.
"Well, I don't know if 'alright' is really the right word to use."
"What do you mean?"
"Right now she's crying pretty hard. I can go try to get her to come out for you."
"Yeah… um… thanks. Maybe that'll work…" Allen said doubtfully. So, the girl walked into the bathroom and pushed open one of the stalls. When she saw what Road was doing, though, she shrieked. Even from outside the bathroom, Allen could hear them yelling back and forth, so against his better judgment, he ran in and saw much to his horror, a bloody mess all over the bathroom. It wasn't the new girl's blood, though. It was Road's. She had been cutting herself, and quite a bit from the looks of it. Road had bloodstains all over her clothes and running down her arms and hands, dripping onto the floor, leaving puddles of blood. Allen noticed the new girl was throwing up in the toilet. Apparently she was squeamish. Allen noticed that Road was about to start cutting herself again, so he ran over to her, trying to wrestle the razor out of her hand, but in panic, she lashed back at him and slashed his wrist wide open, causing a large spurt of blood to fly out into Road's face.
Immediately, Road dropped the razor, and ran to Allen who had grabbed his wrist in an attempt to stop the bleeding. His wrist was bleeding profusely, and it had already soaked half of his white sleeve, and was now dripping onto the floor, having saturated so much of his sleeve. Allen felt his stomach retching. He hadn't lost that much blood since the final battle, and he had almost died in the final battle, but because of internal bleeding, not a wound to the wrist. Seeing all that blood, now, was making him sick to his stomach. It had been a horrible day all around, and he could feel his arm getting weak. He couldn't hold it up anymore to stem the flow of blood. After another moment or two, it dropped to his side, and though he still had it grabbed tightly, it was starting to bleed heavily now.
"Well!!!??? What are you waiting for!?" Road screamed at the new girl. "Go get the nurse! We need help, dumbshit!!"
Allen's breath came in short, shallow bursts, trying desperately not to faint. He looked at Road, wondering how she could have cut herself so many times and still be okay. The answer had to be that even though most of her Noah powers were gone, she still had faster than average healing time, causing her wounds to seal much quicker. She had lost much less blood than it seemed, and Allen was rapidly being sapped of his strength. He could feel his knees becoming weak under him as he was forced to his hands and knees. Road put a hand on his back and held him close to her, tearing off a piece of her own clothing and wrapping it around his wrist as tightly as she could.
Hot tears stung Road's eyes as she looked miserably into Allen's eyes. Allen just smiled at her, though, and picked up his "good" arm, cupping her face and kissing her on the lips. He wasn't angry at her. He knew that she didn't mean to hurt him. He had probably just frightened her when he moved toward her, and she lashed out like any cornered creature would. Maybe he was being a bit too understanding. After all, he was probably going to die. But he couldn't find it in him to be angry at her. Road looked at his bleeding wrist, and that was when it hit her. There was still a chance to save him. She grabbed the razor and cut her own wrist open again, grabbing his wrist forcefully and pressing the two of them together. She had never experimented with sharing her blood with an exorcist, who was full to bursting with Innocence, while she still had Dark Matter in her veins. She had used her blood to help Tyki heal once, though, and the Exorcists themselves had used Akuma DNA to make more powerful exorcists. That gave her hope that it might work. It would speed up Allen's own healing process and cause his cells to rapidly regenerate like hers did, and seal off the wound. She watched as the bleeding finally stopped from Allen's wrist and he fainted in her arms.
Just as he did, the nurse came in and picked Allen up, putting him in a wheelchair, and beckoning for Road to follow her as well.
When they got to the nurse's office, there were members of the church there already. The leader apparent asked the nurse to leave. He said that they would take care of Allen and Road. The nurse glowered at them suspiciously, obviously not trusting them one bit, but the man glared back at her, going into his pocket, maybe to show her some official document that they had jurisdiction. So, she finally left, and the man stepped forward, glaring down at Road.
"Perhaps you managed to fool your last interrogator. He was a kind, gentle man to begin with. He was not a fool, but perhaps a bit too optimistic for his own good. I can assure you, now that you have broken the terms of your probation, you will be punished for the crimes that you committed as a Noah, for breaking probation, and for assaulting Allen. He was an important member of the church, and fortunately for you, it looks like he is going to make it. Tell me, you didn't do anything to him beyond the initial attack, did you? Answer honestly. We will know if you lie."
"I wrapped his wrist in some cloth f-from my sleeve," Road said truthfully. She had indeed wrapped his wrist. What she didn't tell them, though, was that she shared Dark Matter with him, probably an offense that would get both of them executed.
"We are charging you with attempted murder, breach of probation, and several thousand counts of crimes against humanity. Before we charge you, though, we must ask if you wish to deny any of these accusations."
"I do not. I will plead guilty to all of them," Road said quietly, not looking any of them in the eye. Slowly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Allen shifting in his bed. He was waking up. That might have been a good thing, although it was also bad, because at that moment, he shot up in the bed, forcing the four men to use all their strength to restrain him. Finally, Allen settled down and took a deep breath, realizing that he could breathe again. He removed the scrap of cloth from his wrist and looked at the cut, which was healing over quite well. The four men looked at it in disbelief, then stared at Road, who looked away, not sure that she wanted to meet Allen's gaze.
"Allen, Miss Kamelot is pleading guilty to all charges. This is probably the last time you will see her before her execution," one of the more sympathetic looking men said. Allen gasped and then shook his head.
"No she's not. She's pleading not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect," he said plainly, causing the four of them to stare stupidly at him.
"Allen, she isn't insane. That defense hardly ever works. What makes you think it will work this time?"
"I watched her in class. She suffered temporary insanity due to an extreme emotional disturbance. Just like some people bite their nails when they are nervous, Road eats candy when she's nervous. However, her reaction to being denied the opportunity to so calm her nerves is much more violent, as demonstrated by the slash marks up and down her arms. I moved to try to take the razor from her, and she lashed out in her disturbed state."
"Do you really think that's going to work? I mean, she was temporarily insane because she wasn't allowed to eat some chocolate? That's a bit of a stretch, Walker."
"Maybe, but it'll tie you goons up in the court system for a few years at least. Even if we lose the first case, there's always the appeals process, and believe me, I will exhaust the appeals process. By the time I'm done with you guys, you'll be begging to release Road…" Allen said with a confident smirk, smiling back at Road, who could only gape at Allen's self-confidence. She wondered if he was really so well versed in the law, or if he was grasping at straws as they would have him believe. Something told her that he really did know what he was doing, and that he wouldn't stop fighting until they were both dead, or she was free.
"Allen! You d-don't have to do this! Don't put your head on the line for me!"
"Quiet, Road!" Allen said sharply, looking back at her discretely and winking at her. Yeah. He had a plan, and apparently, it was quite devious if he needed so much time to pull it off.
"Hello, Cy…"
"Don't say your name. I'm not sure if we're being listened to. Is your brother there?" Allen asked. Cyril's eyes widened, but after a moment, he smiled pleasantly and spoke again.
"Well, hello. How is Kyoko doing?" he asked politely, using Road's birth name, as if having read Allen's mind.
"And the answer is yes, son. I can indeed. Let me see… Kyoko is not doing well and you need me to send my dear brother over to bring her back to health, so to speak? And why should I do you any favors? You took away many of my comrades, and have not returned Kyoko-chan to me."
"Because if you don't, your precious Kyoko-chan will die, and if you do, both she and I will come to you. When we get there, you can do as you like with me. If you must kill me to satisfy yourself, so be it."
"My. You're really going the extra kilometer for my daughter. My brother was right. You two really have fallen in love, haven't you? Who'd have thought it possible? A love forbidden by circumstance. Like Romeo and Juliet. Let's hope it doesn't end just as tragically."
"Yeah. That's great. For now, Kyoko is safe. I've tied them up in the system with a bullshit defense. We have at least three years, if not more, but send your brother over ASAP. I hope to get some of my friends in on it as well. But remember, this will make me a traitor, and by helping me, you are putting yourself in danger. Don't come unless you are willing to die."
"Boy, I was willing to die the day I adopted Kyoko. Now, there is a surveillance team near enough to you that they could pick up if they get too much closer. Goodbye. I'll find my own way."
"Good. Bring plenty of monster blood."
With that, Cyril hung up and walked off. Allen then went over to the table, where several of the members of the R&D Department, Lavi, Miranda, Arystar, and Timothy Hearst (Phantom Thief "G") were all sitting there, looking expectant. Allen sat down and sighed.
"Now, I know that none of you really like Road, so I ask that you please only do this if you're willing to risk your life for her."
"Why should we!? She was a Noah! She deserves to be executed!" Lavi said. Arystar looked at him disapprovingly and shook his head.
"I agree that she made bad choices, Lavi, but nobody deserves to die. I'm in. If what you say is true, then she's being unfairly punished, anyhow."
"I suppose that if it's for you, Allen, I'll join you as well," Miranda said kindly. She had really changed a lot since he first met her in the backwards city. It meant a lot to him that she was trying to save the girl who tried to kill her.
"You guys couldn't possibly pull it off without me…" Timothy said with a wide smirk, putting his hand on the table in agreement.
"And we're also in. We owe Allen at least this much. Right?" One of the R&D guys said. The others all nodded. Seeing that everyone else was joining him, Lavi sighed and nodded his assent.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked, sitting back in his chair leisurely.
"Well, Road is in the prison beneath the church right now, as you all know. Arystar, we'll need your superhuman powers, so I've arranged for the former Noahs that are going to join us to bring enough Akuma blood that you can use them for the duration of the mission. Miranda, your ability to use temporal regression is important. We don't need to remain completely uninjured if you're able to regress our injuries while we escape. Lavi, if you're still willing, I need you to create a distraction. Your hammer should suffice for that. Timothy, how many people can you control at once with your anti-Akuma weapon?"
"Maybe 50 or 60. It'd be a tenuous control, though. At best it would addle their brains for ten or fifteen minutes. They won't know what hit them, but they also won't be in complete control."
"Good enough. With the distraction on the upper floors, there will be fewer people on the prison floor, so Timothy, hopefully you won't have to stretch your power too much. As for the Science Department, perhaps a few explosions and escapes are in order? Do you have any new experiments that are dangerous, or any animals that might escape?"
"Plenty, of course. We'll let it all loose."
"Perfect. Now, we all need to act for the next week or so as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The Order will expect you to shun me because of my zeal in helping Road, so you need to act as though you want nothing to do with me. That'll suit us and Road just fine. I'll be down in Road's cell most of the time, so I can scout out the area and check for good escape points. If all of this goes smoothly, you'll likely never see me again. If the plan fails… Well, you probably will never see me again. So either way, it's been an honor working with all of you. Goodbye. And if anyone asks, you came over here to convince me to stop defending Road. It's a perfectly reasonable excuse."
