Requiem of Time: Chapter Seven - Allen


A-L-L-E-N. Rhode wrote that in the air. "Allen Walker, 'the one who can see the souls of Akuma.' Duke Millennium talks about you, sometimes. He says that you became an Exorcist to save the souls of Akuma, because your beloved father cursed you."

Allen barely listened, staring at the almost carbon copy of his Innocence's completed form in a different color. Why wasn't it as comforting as Crown Clown was? Why was he… afraid? His Innocence went cold in his hand in response.

"That's why I told myself that if I was going to get involved with anyone, it would be you."

Allen looked up sharply, a hope blossoming that died just a fast. Of course, she had said that before. She had also told him what she meant by that. "Involved" had best been described as 'screw with' or 'play.' Until later, of course. Then the lines became blurred.

"Eh, I wanted to show you what an Akuma self-destructing is like, but you seem to have killed them all already," Rhode finished with a frown, looking around as if there was still an Akuma or two she had forgotten about.

"Rhode," Allen cut in sharply. "Is this your doing?" It couldn't be- How could she know what the Crowned Clown looked like?

Rhode leaned forward on the umbrella. "Oh? I thought it was yours."

Allen cursed to himself. This wasn't right. His Innocence was nervous, his eye nonresponsive. If it wasn't Rhode's, who's was it? Why didn't he remember it from the first time?

Allen took a step forward towards the false Crown Clown. Then he leaped back, adrenaline pouring through him in a sudden burst. The thing had responded immediately, striking out at him with its version of Crown Belt. Rhode watched intently as the black object followed up with its attacks.

Allen barely weaved his way through the dozens of Crown Belts. There was no holding back now, whatever this was. It was like fighting Crown Clown instead of fighting with it, and Allen was disturbed that it apparently had the same speed and skill he did with it. He didn't want to find out if it had the same power.

He scowled as his top hat fell off from his last flip. Hitting the ground at a run, he slipped past the belts and reached the cape itself. He wasn't too surprised to see a false Crown Edge waiting for him, and he swung hard to meet the attack. This time, Allen was surprised as his sword passed through Crown Edge as if it didn't exist. Then, the Edge pierced him, and he knew it did.

Allen let out a scream of pain unlike any other before, feeling the corruption of whatever it was powering the false Crown Clown seep into him on top of the wound itself. Rhode leaned forward, even more interested.

Allen kicked off the ground to get away from the mockery of his Innocence, landing on his back and breathing hard. Blood gushed from the wound, and his sword clattered from his hand as he lost the ability to hold it. With a hiss, Allen picked it back up and forced himself to sheath it. Perhaps the Sword of Salvation couldn't touch it, but his Innocence could.

Forming his arm into the gun, Allen began firing bolts from his stationary position. To his frustration, the golden bolts passed through it the same way his sword had. More Crown Belts headed his way. Unable to move in time and with no way to block, Allen faced the attack callously.

With his left hand for Akuma and his right for humanity, what did he have left for this thing? He only hoped he could see his Rhode in Heaven.

However, apparently it wasn't his time just yet. Lenalee arrived with enough time to get them away, carrying Allen away from this new enemy. "What is that thing?" she asked breathlessly.

"I don't know," Allen growled, "But I can't hurt it."

"Neither can I," Lenalee informed, frowning down at the stationary black form. She set them down near Miranda, whom had her hands unbolted from her Innocence.

"Rhode-sama, we really should get out of here, lero!" Lero warned, wiggling under Rhode's feet. "Bad enough that you took me while the Millennium Earl was sleeping, but if that thing can hold back a Marshal…"

"Not when things are just getting fun!" Rhode whined back, eyes not straying from the interesting and unexpected ally. It was inactive once again.

Miranda sucked in sharply once she caught sight of Allen's wound. While not near his heart, it oozed blood at dangerous levels and was surrounded by a murky black blight. The diseased flesh was cold to her touch, although strangely it was receding slowly with time. Miranda had never seen such a thing before, but by Allen's groans she knew it was bad.

"Can you still fight?" Lenalee asked, all business as she glared at the false Innocence which stared back like a statue.

Allen lifted himself into a sitting position, but that was as far as he got before hissing and clutching his wound. "Whatever that attack was is taking all my strength to fight off. Lenalee, please do not-"

"I know, Allen," she cut in sharply, but she turned a gentle look on him to lessen the sting. Then, she scowled at the black Crown Clown. "But what the hell are we going to do if we can't touch it and you are out of the fight?"

A burst of light and what sounded like rushing wind interrupted their minute planning. Both turned to see Miranda before her grandfather clock, her wild Innocence activated and forming the dome of clocks. By her stern look, Lenalee understood what to do and quickly brought Allen inside the dome to recover.

Allen didn't object as clocks began seeping from his wound, the faces portraying scenes of what happened. To all's surprise, the stream ended with a black circle of the blight that didn't get sucked away, yet Allen could still feel the burning cold of it against his flesh. Never before had there been a wound that Miranda's Innocence couldn't heal.

Once the blight finally receded into nothingness, having nothing to do with Miranda, Allen recovered his top hat and stood beside Lenalee. Together, they both exited the clock dome to confront their seemingly unstoppable foe.

Staring at the false Clown Crown with an intrigued smile, Rhode gently floated forward on Lero, testing to see if it would react to her as it did to Allen. It didn't.

"So you are on my side, are you?" she asked as she circled around it. Lero muttered to itself, eyeing the bold cloak and mask. Stopping by its side and facing the Exorcists, Rhode commanded, "Attack them."

In her confidence, Rhode did not foresee its reaction. In a flash, the cloak swirled around her, the mask fitting itself over her face, and the Clown Edge worked its way over her arm like a gauntlet. The force of the sudden intrusion knocked her off Lero. She screamed as she fell, a scream that Allen recognized as actually being in pain. Several candles appeared and shot towards the invading cape, but the only one that hit only buried into the black cloth.

"Rhode-sama, lero!" Lero shouted in shock.

Allen reacted despite Lenalee's shout. At a full sprint, Allen's white Innocence arm suddenly pulsed and enlarged into a massive claw made of green light. "Innocence, Maximum Power!"

Crown Belts shot from all directions towards Allen as Rhode - still covered in the black cape and still screaming - hit the ground. Allen deftly dodged them in his fury. His Rhode or not, she was being hurt.

The massive green claw reached her first, yet it passed through the false Crown Clown and Rhode alike. Allen yelled in frustration as he finally reached it. Human arm cocked back, he punched the mask with all the force of his jump. To his surprise, flesh came in contact with cold metal and the mask snapped back with the blow, sliding off Rhode's beautiful head like it should have.

Not caring about the how or why, Allen yanked out the imbedded candle, grabbed handfuls of the black cloth, and began stabbing it in a way he knew wouldn't hurt Rhode. Allen didn't care that he was screaming, nor did he care about how similar the form looked to his Innocence as his wild stabs first cracked, then shattered the mask. Holes tore through the cloth until it was nothing but rags, and when that slid off Rhode into a pile on the ground Allen stabbed even that, still yelling.

When he finally ran out of breath, Allen used both hands to impale the sharpened candle into the ground through the tattered cloth and dark metal shards. His face felt hot and flushed, his throat raw, and a dampness on his cheeks signified tears Allen didn't notice. He was breathing hard by the time it was over, hands still on the melted wax yet not feeling the pain.

It was only a concern that he couldn't ignore that had Allen look up, to see if Rhode was alright. She had stopped screaming the moment he first hit it, and she was standing there now with a neutral expression her face.

"My hero," she said faintly, with a smile that wasn't quite amused. It was only because of experience that Allen knew what she was hiding. She was exhausted from whatever had happened to her, and in pain as well - and that wasn't the 'good' kind of pain she liked. To anyone else, they only saw a bored child. Shrugging, she added, "Well, I guess I'm defeated." Her door emerged from the ground behind her.

Allen's grey eyes remained locked on her gold orbs before she finally turned to leave. She hadn't even taken one step before she felt the tip of his sword brush against her scalp.

Rhode whispered only half-heartedly. "Don't kill me."

Behind her, Allen only smiled. "Actually, I just want to make sure you didn't leave with my coat."

Rhode laughed, this time with a genuine amusement that Allen noticed. It lifted his spirits as much as it knotted his heart. Turning and facing the sword fearlessly, Rhode shrugged off Allen's Marshal's coat. Stepping past his sword, she wrapped it around his shoulders and surprised him by kissing him on the cheek.

She smiled at him after that. "You are too kind, Allen, to let one of the Noah go free without a fight."

"You said it best," Allen said, tipping the top hat that he had recovered. "I fight for the Akuma - not the Noah."

Rhode stared at him for a moment longer before stepping back - a muffled Lero in one hand. As she vanished into her door, she called back, "We didn't play, but you were fun, Allen. We'll meet again, next time in the Duke Millennium's scenario." The door shut.

Allen was still in a state of bliss from the kiss to notice the world collapsing around him. A kiss on the cheek from Rhode was so common a thing it should mean nothing, really, yet to receive it from this Rhode that was not his wife was such a shock, so unexpected from what Allen had thought would happen, that he couldn't help but feel grounded even as he fell through the world.

****

Allen woke up to Miranda's bedroom, and he saw both Miranda and Lenalee lying on either side and both still unconscious.

He sat up quietly and read Rhode's note on the wall written in Miranda's blood. "Fuck you, Exorcist." Unable to help himself, Allen chuckled. He quieted though when the others began to stir.

Miranda groaned before her eyes opened. "My Innocence is still activated. I'm sorry, Allen."

Leaning back with his hands folded behind his head, Allen didn't appear to care about what was coming. "It's fine, Miranda. Thank you."

With a single nod, Miranda deactivated her Innocence. Forcing herself to watch Allen's wound reopen was only interrupted when Miranda heard a soft hissing sound near her wrist. She stared with wide eyes as the Innocence flowed out of her clock, looking like sand before finally solidifying in a ring around her wrist. No, not solidifying. Crystallizing.

Lenalee didn't pay attention to Miranda's new realization. She gave Allen a small smile as the pain of his wound ripping open hit him, loosening the collar of her coat as she did so. "Don't worry, Allen. I promise I'll keep the nightmares away."

Allen gave her a grateful nod before the last of his recovered strength slipped away. And his world went black.


AN: Strange, really. This is the first story I've ever been 2-3 chapters ahead of what's posted. This is old news for me. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed.