Requiem of Time: Chapter Forty-Six - Allen


Getting in wasn't near as difficult as Allen thought it would be.

Simply, it was the same way Lulubell had used during the invasion in his first life. Humming to himself, Allen opened a Gate to the very bottom of Hevlaska's pit, and once it was in place he opened the door and entered.

"-sure the Innocence is safe? If the Millennium Earl has infiltrated us once, he can do so again," a loud voice was saying. Malcolm Leverrier.

Allen closed his Gate and backed up slightly, so he pressed back against the circular wall, a black shadow staring up at the platform and the massive form of Hevlaska herself. He hadn't expected anyone being here already. He would have to wait for the conversation to run its course, and hope that Hev didn't betray his presence.

The one hundred year old Exorcist had gained a secretive smile at Allen's entrance, but she kept her gaze on the Inspector. "I can assure you, the Innocence within me are as safe as they can get. Everyone within the Headquarters will be alerted of any dangers long before they can access my chamber, let alone assault me and steal the Innocence."

Leverrier stared at her with a hard look, knowing what his family had done to hers, and then he disengaged with a smile and backed up. "Of course, my dear. Remember, Crow will be only a thought away if anyone were to... make you uneasy."

Hevlaska watched the man in silence, her eyeless stare following him and the platform out of the pit. Once the chamber was sealed off again, she lowered her head and smiled wider. "I wonder what he would say if I were to call on those Crow because he was making me 'uneasy.'"

"He'd gain that look in his eye like a rabid animal, snarl some insult and threaten something you still hold dear, likely bring up your past, then storm off," Allen listed thoughtfully as he detached himself from the wall and glided forward on entirely silent feet. He had learned stealth, though he only fully displayed the talent in times of need.

Hevlaska turned then, and she craned her large head around so that she was staring down at the boy she had once scanned to be a Marshal. "Allen Walker. Your name has grown quite popular in recent days."

Hev was an old friend to him, and Allen saw something on her face that he recognized. "You have all your memories, don't you?"

She moved closer so that she could pick him up, and her voice sounded... forlorn. "Time has a different hold on myself, where the Innocence can whisper facts of the past and future. However, in the confounding period of the Destroyer of Time's presence at the Headquarters, I was forgotten as someone in need of its removal. I have acquired these memories the same as anyone else would, yes."

"I am sorry to hear you went through that," Allen said, but regretfully those were only the words of a friend. He was relieved to have her back, in truth. "So I was right then. Those black Crown Clowns, they are the supposed 'Destroyers of Time' my Innocence was destined to create? That prophesy doesn't mean I'm to defeat Adam, nor create that Level Two that sent me back?"

Hevlaska stared down at the boy in her tendrilous arms, and her tone grew emotionless. "That is correct. You are not the one destined to defeat the Millennium Earl; in fact, you were destined to fail in your quest to destroy him. I'm sorry, but through your Innocence I have seen that you will never destroy him."

The blow of that simple statement hit Allen hard. "W-What?"

"I have seen what I have seen. I'm sorry, but I can say no more," Hevlaska muttered solemnly.

It wasn't her fault; he couldn't blame her for that. But... How could she possibly say he'll never win? That his task was futile and all that he had worked so hard for and sacrificed so much for was useless? He could already hold Adam to a standstill. With the tiniest advantage, Allen could beat him!

Shaking off his rising frustration, Allen pursued the real reason he was there. "Hev, the Destroyer of Time... How can I stop it? I can't allow it to keep going on. Those riots... It affects everyone, not just Exorcist or Noah. I can't even be with my wife without them harming everyone around us."

"Interesting questions that you ask, Allen Walker," she said simply. "Not about what it is, not what caused it, not how it works, but how to stop it. It which brought you back that wife, which returned to you many friends."

Those were good questions too, but if to be given only one answer, Allen wished only for the solution. "Can you help me?"

Hevlaska set Allen back down on the ground, but then she leaned even closer to him, her eyeless and ethereal face only inches form his own. Her smile was back. "I wish to leave this place, Allen. Komui is a good man, many of those within this building are good men and women, but so long as Leverrier is here it is not them who make decisions. Unchain me from this pit I have been exiled to for eleven decades, move me into your own Noah's Ark, and after doing so, I will help you in whatever way I can."

Allen agreed immediately, glad to have her company. But she wasn't finished just yet.

"When we go, Allen, I have one request... Kidnap the Exorcist known as Meilin."

XXXX

"So you had foreseen our defeat two weeks before we had actually left?" Allen asked, surprised.

The pair of them were on his Ark, seated at a table in one of its many rooms. This room had a homely image to it, them seated at a kitchen table with the shelves and cabinets fully stocked. The girl across from him was the one called Meilin, the little Chinese girl he had met and almost became Master to back before he had left to Japan.

A useful girl, her Innocence was but a crystal ball. She could see the future with it, both the immediate and occasionally the distant. When it was unchained, the ball had exhausted her quickly. However, as with most Equipment-type Innocence users, the Innocence was crafted into a new form and had its uncontrollable power chained to her command. Now, she could freely exert her will over the ball, and she had apparently become a huge asset to the Order.

However, the interference of the Vatican had changed things, and she was to be shipped off to the Pope soon. By the time Allen had reached her room, ready to spirit her away against her will, he had found her already packed and waiting eagerly for him. She knew the kind of life she would have at the Vatican, was glad for his alternative.

"Yes, there was nothing you or the other Marshals could have done to win against the Earl at that time," Meilin answered uneasily. She knew first hand that some people did not like hearing of the future, especially things that were bad. Allen had raise no hand against her nor ever betrayed any anger, but instincts forged of experience were hard to ignore.

"Meilin can see the future much clearer than I can," Hevlaska mentioned from her place. She had reduced her size to that of a normal human, though she was still the ghostly white and ethereal. "She sees the actions of the future, while I see only the destinies of people through their Innocence. You could use her abilities much better than you could use mine, though I will try to help when I can."

Allen thanked her, and after speaking with them awhile longer about what he could and should do, he found them rooms and left them. He needed to be alone with his thoughts.

Hevlaska's words bothered him.

Never to destroy the Millennium Earl? He wanted to deny her, shake it off. But then, never had Hevlaska's prophesies been wrong before. As much as he hated it, as much as it made him want to rant and rage, Allen forced himself to consider the possibility of defeat.

Perhaps it wasn't a total defeat, not the Earl crushing the Order and Innocence, slaughtering all of mankind before starting his rule here. Perhaps it meant that Allen was to keep getting close to killing the Earl, keeping the man on his toes, and then someone else deals the blow at the last minute. Perhaps someone would find the Heart and end it once and for all.

Allen could only hope, but the other possibilities loomed.

Lost more than he ever had been before, confused as to what he should be doing, Allen set to work in opening his emergency Gates. Hopefully a friend would come back on their own. In the meantime, he needed to think.

A room with a waterfall and an endless buffet sounded perfect. Calling Kawamura to him, Allen entered the room in question, giving her a meal order the size of a mountain.

Allen then collapsed onto a rock with a cushion on it, resting near the rim of the geyser of water, and folded his legs to him. The swirling water's relaxing quality took him, and he felt his troubled mind ease itself to begin the task of focusing on the problems.

Destroyer of Time, cannot destroy the Millennium Earl, losing control of the Fourteen, friends and allies missing... He had enough on his plate without the absence of Rhode and rising feelings for Lulubell. Much too much in the way to deal with pleasantries or feelings.

Now, what to do about the Destroyer of Time...


AN: Bah, no complaining about short chapters! That's just the way things are and will have to be. I dun decide this, the ominous and mystic Outline does. At least next chapter will be a fun ride. :D