Requiem of Time: Chapter Six - Miranda

Lying on the ground with a massive sword through her, Miranda laughed in the joy of revenge fulfilled. It was amazing, really, how Allen's sword could not harm a human, and using it for the plan had been a stroke of genius. An Akuma of all things agreeing to help had just been icing on the cake.

She watched the Akuma through the corner of her eye, seeing it laughing pleasantly. It was almost easy to forget what it was. Yet again she wondered what Allen saw when he looked at it, or an Akuma in general. Lavi had said that Allen could show other people the souls within Akuma with his Level Two eye, but after his description she never brought herself to ask.

A second black clothed form sailing down from the sky and crushing the Akuma flat was no surprise, and Miranda's laughter died to little chuckles. One explosion later revealed Lenalee, her exotic green hair long and blowing in the wind along with her Exorcist's coat. That alone told her that Lenalee was indeed the same one she knew. She had always worn a black dress when traveling back then (meaning now), and definitely had been wearing one when she first met Miranda.

Just as soon as relief and understanding reached her, frosty anger emerged from its confinement. A recent argument between the two of them had been eating at Miranda ever since its abrupt ending and lack of conclusion. She just couldn't think of Allen the same afterwards.

"Marshall Walker, you really should be more careful with Akuma, especially a Level Two," Lenalee cautioned with a forced submission.

Allen only smirked at her, having reached the same conclusion Miranda had. "You can stop the act."

"…What do y-"

Lenalee's blank look was simply too much for Miranda. "We know, Lenalee," she added meaningfully.

Miranda wondered if Lenalee even considered that she would tell Allen the truth by the look she gave her. After a sigh, Lenalee smiled sheepishly. "Caught me."

****

Once Allen left to catch Rhode entering her hometown, Miranda dragged Lenalee back to her house. Closing the door behind her, the German woman deposited Lenalee in one of her chairs and sat across from her.

Miranda gave a hard look to Lenalee, who merely looked confused. "I just lived with Allen for several weeks. He is not insane." And then Lenalee grew cold.

Miranda smiled in exasperation as she passed by Allen's bedroom door. His laughter could be heard from the outside, and she was glad to know that he was at least enjoying himself. The laughter followed her all the way until she was too far to hear. It must have been a good joke.

The sound of footsteps behind her had her turn. She smiled at the sight of Lenalee, the Chinese Exorcist looking distracted, and waited for her to catch up. Lenalee snapped out of whatever daze she was in once she reached Miranda, and smiled apologetically for not noticing her earlier.

"So who is Allen with this time?" Miranda asked with a smile, knowing that Lenalee must have passed his door as well. Instead of a smile, Lenalee frowned, something that confused her.

After a prolonged silence of Miranda staring at her quizzingly, Lenalee finally stated bluntly, "I don't think Allen is sane anymore."

"Haha, I thought the same thing when he married Rhode." Miranda laughed nervously. Surely Lenalee wasn't serious… But why was her face so earnest?

Lenalee stopped walking and shot Miranda a hard look, stopping her laughter short. "This is not something to joke about, Miranda. I'm afraid for Allen."

Miranda put her hands on her hips and shook her head disbelievingly. "I think I would know if Allen suddenly went mad. Why on Earth would you think that about him?"

Lenalee hesitated, glancing back towards Allen's room. Then, a determined look took a hold of her, and she turned back to Miranda. "Think about it. It makes sense. His childhood is haunted by bringing back Mana and exorcising him, not to mention being cursed by the one he considered a father. From then on he's seen the souls of Akuma, witnessed their captivity and the corruption of the Earl influencing them. From what Lavi told me, that's enough to make anyone crack."

"So?" Miranda cut in sharply. She would NOT think of Allen as anything but the smiling, polite child he was. "Just because someone should doesn't mean they will. Allen can and has preserved."

Lenalee didn't stop there. "For YEARS he has battling against the Fourteenth for his very mind, Miranda, and his curse has gone beyond what it was before. And now that that damn Director is recruiting even more Finders to become half-Akuma… His eye bleeds every time one of them kills a real Akuma, and I've seen him risk his life to prevent a single soul from that horrid death. Do you have any idea of what he could be seeing that would prompt him to be that reckless, with all that rests on his shoulders? I sure as hell don't, Miranda, but it certainly cannot be butterflies and rainbows!"

Lenalee was breathing hard after that, tears brimming in her own eyes. Miranda had taken a step back at the force of Lenalee's rant, and her face had paled at its implications. In a calmer tone, Lenalee continued. "Haven't you noticed the signs? Haven't you heard him talking to himself? Or stabbing things with his Sword of Salvation that don't exist? Don't you remember last Easter?"

Miranda gulped. She remembered. That night they had all discovered Allen in his room, skewered by his own sword and unconscious with a smile on his face. The next day he denied remembering anything. Rhode had taken him away for three weeks after that, and when they returned Allen had seemed back to normal.

"Still…" Miranda tried to wet her lips, but her mouth felt dry. "Allen isn't-"

"You asked me who he is with currently," Lenalee cut her off, eyes downcast and voice hollow. When she looked up again, Miranda noticed the tears in Lenalee's eyes were falling freely. "The answer is no one. He's been in there by himself - laughing - for the last two hours, Miranda. Can you still say he's sane?"

Jaw set, Miranda pressed onward. "He's behaved perfectly fine with me the entire time. You are wrong, Allen is still Allen. He laughs at funny things, speaks only to other people, and he hasn't drawn that sword for anything but a harmless prank."

Lenalee's purple eyes narrowed only slightly. "It comes in bouts, Miranda. You know that. He could go a week - or a month - before suddenly carving his need for God's grace across his chest, or laugh with tears of anguish in his eyes."

"That's not true," Miranda snapped angrily. "He hasn't done either of those!"

Lenalee's icy expression did not change. "Hasn't he? When he's alone, or with Rhode, can you truly be sure? Do you think all those scars across his chest are the doings of others?"

"Yes! You should know, Lenalee; you were there for most of them!"

"Perhaps," Lenalee muttered neutrally. "But that doesn't change the facts."

"What facts?" Miranda growled. Does Lenalee have no faith in her comrades? Her Friends? "Allen is sane. He has to be."

"You know what I'm talking about, Miranda. I don't like it just as much as you don't, but I've accepted the truth. Allen Walker, our Allen, is insane. You know it is true."

"I know he is not!" Miranda shouted. It was then she noticed that the door had opened, and she turned to see Allen standing there, looking surprised.

"Is something the matter?" Allen asked, only halfway in the room.

Still fiery with anger, Miranda shook her head roughly, while Lenalee only smiled and said, "Welcome back, Allen." Miranda wondered how she could say all that about him and then turn around so completely.

"I was wondering if any of you are interested in going to the bar downtown," Allen offered uncomfortably. It was obvious to the girls why he was suggesting that, but the matter was still unresolved.

Lenalee's polite smile didn't change as she said, "It might be best if you go alone, Allen-kun. It'll give us a chance to finish up." Allen nodded and was gone as soon as she was done, still looking uncomfortable.

The moment the door clicked shut, Lenalee turned back to Miranda. "Do not deny that you haven't seen signs such as the bouts of bleakness that have taken him increasingly over the last year. The war was consuming him then, and that isn't something that just goes away because he was sent in the past to do it all over again. Remember Kanda!" The harshness of the last sentence was only amplified by her cold mask.

Miranda shivered despite herself.

The world went white with the explosion of the Level Five, blinding all that were present save Allen. When it finally receded, all that was left of the monstrosity was the blue haired corpse of Kanda. Lenalee fell to her knees, crying, while Lavi removed his headband and wiped his forehead - he was still in shock, unable to accept that Yu-chan was… dead. Miranda was with Lenalee, attempting to bury her own sorrow by comforting the other woman.

Allen was alone as the fifth level of his eye receded back into his skull. The sight of it still gave the other Exorcists shivers - the curse had leveled up when the Level Five appeared and killed Kanda, as if to match the Akuma.

Removing his top hat, ornately decorated with gold and silver, Allen gave one prayer for Kanda's soul… before he gave another prayer asking for forgiveness for what he was about to do. All had looked up at that, staring at the black swirl of his newest tattoo as much as what he was doing.

"On… Abata-ura-masarakato-on-gataru! Grave of Kand-"

*Slap*

Of the series of horrified faces, only Lenalee had moved enough to stop him. Allen stared at her blankly, while Lenalee trembled with rage and a fresh batch of tears. "You… You… Allen, how could you? How could you try to use Kanda's corpse like that?! Are you even human?!"

Allen - dressed in his unzipped Marshal coat with its gold trimming, exposing the many scars littering his chest - wordlessly replaced the top hat, embroidered emblem angled to the left. Then, he turned and continued walking towards the room's exit without an answer.

"Come on. Remember, if we don't kill the Earl today the Order will kill us themselves." With that chilling reminder, Allen opened the door and walked through. No one mentioned what he tried to do, no one looked back at their fallen comrade as they followed. The war would end that day.

Resisting the urge to vomit, Miranda glared hard at Lenalee for the low blow. She didn't know what was worse: the Level Five Akuma, Allen's Level Five curse, or the concept of using Kanda's corpse. "And Marshall Cross? Do you accuse him of losing his sanity for using Maria like that?" Lenalee didn't answer, so Miranda continued. "Why are you so fervent on believing Allen is mad? Why do you not trust him? He fights for you, for all of us, and you are… are… abandoning him like this. Why?!"

Lenalee recoiled as if struck, and her chair scraped the floor as she stood. Slapping the table, Lenalee glared at Miranda. "I am not abandoning him. Insane or not, he is still Allen, and I will fight by his side until this war is over or we are dead. Do not misunderstand me!"

Miranda stared up at Lenalee, her face blank after that. "Then why?"

Miranda blinked when she saw Lenalee's cold façade finally crack and tears began to fall. "Because… I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Miranda. I'm afraid that I can't trust his judgment anymore, afraid that I will wake up one day with him hanging above me with that damned smile on his face."

"Then stop believing that," Miranda pleaded. "Stop believing that and you'll see that he is still Allen."

"I'm afraid I can't," Lenalee whispered, sobs muffled by her face in her palms.

"Then stay away from him," Miranda said firmly, standing as she did. "You are wrong; he is perfectly fine."

Miranda was almost to the door when she heard Lenalee ask, "And if it's you who is wrong?"

A pause. Then, "Stay away from him." Miranda shut the door behind her with a frown, ignoring the neighbors' repeated argument.

It is you who is wrong, Lenalee. I hope to God it is you who is wrong.


AN: Perhaps cruel of me to switch back to this right in the middle of Allen and Rhode's... err, reunion I suppose, however I'm not willing to violate my pattern quite yet. As one of my few reviewers said, it is important to include things that happened before getting sent back in time, which I am mostly portraying in flashbacks. This is kind of obvious but the story itself is seen with Allen and the past-that-is-future is with the other character's chapters.

Anyways, I'll see you folks next chapter...