Book Thief101: 0.0 You actually...? You have no idea how much that review made me smile. :D Thank you, and welcome back.
Requiem of Time: Chapter Forty-Eight & Forty-Nine – Lavi & Noah
Lavi watched as Allen stepped through the door. The Marshal that was his friend was hard as stone, his eyes steel. So it was back to the Allen of before, then. A shame... Allen met Lavi's gaze and gave no reaction, other than pausing his movements.
"Yo, Beansprout!" Lavi greeted with a grin, trying to get a rise out of his friend. Chomesuke stirred next to him, and his arm went around her automatically.
Much had happened in the recent weeks' travel to the pyramid's emergency Ark Gate. After some pestering from Bookman, a few accidents involving baths, and a long chat with Chomesuke, Lavi finally admitted to his feelings for her. To his joy, she responded enthusiastically, and now they were officially together. Additionally, Bookman relented in his insistence Lavi shirk from his duties as an Exorcist, not quite convinced over but no longer actively confronting him over it. His mentor back on his side, the two discussed the revelation Lavi had had, and Bookman agreed fully.
They had reached the Gate, and Bookman had his first real look at an Ark. Inside, Lavi had found both Meilin and Hevlaska of all people, and they informed him Allen was out looking for answers. For the first time in a few months, Lavi felt... right. That insistent tugging in his mind, pulling him this way or that as Allen moved around... It had vanished once he stepped back on the Ark, and things somehow felt like they were as they should be. He was strangely content.
Allen, however, didn't change a wit at Lavi's baiting. "Lavi, just who I wanted to see. If you have news on the outside world, tell me now. I am under informed. Please, walk with me. We have things to do." Without waiting, Allen strode forward, somehow looking more than twice his size by presence alone.
Lavi kept pace, mind jump starting back into soldier-mode. Allen could lead, so he allowed himself to follow. This was the man who would win the war against the Earl, no doubt. Those scars that marred and mutilated Allen's chest, though... Lavi's eye hadn't missed them, and he could only wonder what horrors Allen had undergone in the two months they had separated.
"Only rumors of rumors in the south of Asia and north of Africa. Wars, chaos, revolutions, riots, things of that sort coming from Asia and Europe both. Bookman and I filtered most of the trash, but we both agreed many of the riots seemed plausible... However, the sheer number of them... It couldn't be possible," Lavi listed thoughtfully, Chomesuke keeping pace with him. They passed a few of what could only be modified Akuma, strangely, going about on miscellaneous tasks.
"Shouldn't be, but it is," Allen growled. Perhaps he was just simply speaking, but the focus currently driving him made it come out harder than usual. "You better believe those. Hundreds of riots from eastern Europe through the middle of Asia to the coast. But we have bigger problems than that currently. Remember those black Crown Clowns?"
Lavi started at that. In the force of getting swept into Allen's aura of command, he had almost forgotten his reason for coming all the way down here in the first place. "Hey Allen, about that... Those cloaks, you need to know something about them. They-"
"They are a single entity. The Destroyer of Time Hevlaska prophesied about in the first place, all those years ago. Yes, I know," Allen cut in, still flowing fast down the halls with long strides.
Lavi, however, had come to a complete stop, gaping at the Marshal's back. Allen refusing to slow and Chomesuke giving him a little tug had him move quickly to catch up. "Y-You know already?"
Allen slowed only to glance at Lavi, then looked forward again. "I found out earlier this morning, before kidnapping Hevlaska and Meilin from Headquarters." At the mention of the morning, Allen suddenly looked extremely tired for a moment. He masked it again quickly, but Lavi noticed. How much sleep was Allen getting? Knowing his odd disorder, he suspected not much.
"...Well, that saves me some time," Lavi muttered, grinning in exasperation when Chomesuke gave him a cute look. "It does make this trip kind of useless, though... Where are the others? Miranda? Lenalee?"
"Gone," Allen answered simply. "I don't know where. I don't know where the other Marshals are either, or Crow, or any possible ally... But I know where my wife is, and I'm going after her."
Lavi almost paused again. "Wait, Rhode? What could possibly happen to her?"
Lavi didn't think it was possible, but Allen's face grew even harder. "...The Earl discovered us. He is holding her as a way of punishing me."
"Sounds more like a trap," Lavi put in immediately. "How else would you hear about that? That family let's nothing slip accidentally." No Rhode? For how long? How was Allen sleeping?
"That doesn't matter," Allen shrugged off. He slowed, then rested a hand on a doorknob. "We're here." He opened it.
The trio entered a new room, and Lavi quickly spotted Meilin in the middle of a conversation with Hevlaska. Oh... Oh shit. "Allen, you can't be thinking of going after her alone. That's suicide, even if it's not a trap."
Allen just stood there, staring at Meilin. The girl finished her sentence to Hev, then turned almost eerie eyes towards Lavi and Allen. "Your friend is right. It is suicide alone. You will make it as far as her room before the Earl stabs you with that black sword, turning you... into something strange. He then will use magic to destroy you." Turn Allen into the Fourteenth, then destroy the Dark Matter that leaves him a Noah, Lavi translated in his own mind.
"I know that already," Allen said in that confident voice Lavi had grown accustomed to. "I'm here for the alternatives."
"Well..." Meilin hesitated, pulling out her Innocence and activating it with the typical phrase. "There is... one way. But the outcome is not clear, you could very well die in this one as well."
"What is it?"
"Me, you idiot apprentice," a deeper, smoother voice drawled from the side. Lavi's head snapped that way.
Cross Marian sat there reclined back with his head tilted against the seat's back, staring at the ceiling. A cigarette burned away in his hand, his Marshal coat and black jacket were swung around the seat, leaving him in the white undershirt. He had all the appearance of a man who had been there for a long time, yet Lavi remembered glancing to that side of the room and seeing nothing.
"Master," Allen greeted. "I see you are no longer with the others. You intend to go with me, then?"
...Could anything shake Allen up anymore? Lavi's friend had changed so, so much since he first met him. Long gone was the kid whose eyes lit up with hearts at the first mention of food, who cowered comically at things concerning his master, and who faced life with a measure of innocence and determination... In his place was... this. This man with a young face, unfaltering and unflinching, driven by the singular motivation of defeating the Millennium Earl – in whatever method that may be. Lavi at times questioned Allen's sanity – who didn't, at this point? - but the one constant was that Allen always did was best for everyone, and he could not be deterred from defeating the Earl.
"Keep close and keep quiet, I'll lead you right to her room. This time, no foolish blunders," Cross snapped off, standing with a slight sway before his towering confidence took hold. Likely the only man who could measure up to Allen in presence. Lavi had to wonder if the two together was a good thing – they could work off each other – or a very bad thing, where titans clashed by nature alone.
"One leer at my wife, and I will drop your ass," Allen deadpanned, but he had already agreed to it.
Lavi felt small, standing between the two. He had the strangest inkling that the two together was the latter...
Rhode. Was. Bored.
"Uuuuggghhhhhhh," she groaned out for the n'th time. Sheryl, her adoptive father and current 'babysitter' looked up at that, smiled apologetically, then went back to reading his book.
So he was no help. This was soooooo ridiculous. Why was she being held, anyways? Not being allowed to visit Allen in his cell was one thing, but now she wasn't allowed to leave her room at all except for school. Millennie was going to have some SERIOUS explaining to do once he let her out!
Rhode groaned again as she looked down at her current school work assignment. So pointless. Why should she care that one hundred years ago, the United States broke free of British control? The Noah family were the ones to plant the anarchy in the first place! But she couldn't write that for her assignment, and she was left trying to forge an answer from whatever bull the school had twisted the truth into.
Allen. He was always a good distraction from homework. How was he holding up through the torture? She had heard Lulubell replaced Wisely after the third day, and that worried her, knowing how skilled her sister-by-clan was at interrogation. Since then, things had been quiet. Had the Earl just decided to kill Allen?
The thought struck her cold, and she worked at banishing it from her mind. No, happier thoughts. This was Allen, her (former?) husband. He had had his heart eaten out by a cannibalistic butterfly, and he had also been impaled clean through that heart, and despite both grievous wounds he had lived. He was too stubborn to die, bless his little heart.
So, he must have escaped by now. Rhode smiled slightly, her face resting against her textbook. So he had escaped. How was he doing, then? Likely plotting another harebrained plan for killing Millennie. So typical of him. But, she knew, however 'typical' he got, he always did something new and exciting, like this escape she must hear about in detail.
Hnnn, Rhode wondered how far along Allen and Lulubell had gotten since her holding began. How much a relief it would be to hear he had finally accepted Lulubell when she was finally let out. She was tired of his stubborn 'I love her but won't do anything' routine, or that pathetically human guilt he would have if something happened.
Sheesh, if it was some human girl Allen tried romping around with, of course Rhode would be angry, but this was just Lulubell. If there was one thing Millennie taught her, it was to share with family. So if Lulubell wanted Allen, or more importantly if Allen would be happier, then Rhode would gladly share with her sister.
So long as Lulubell wasn't stealing her Allen away, of course, but Allen always had a heart too big for his own good. That wasn't an issue. Moments like this, when she and Allen were separated for whatever reason, it would be much better for him to have Lulubell with him than to be alone. And when Lulubell was occupied, she herself could have her Allen. And if both she and Lulubell were free to be with him, then all the better. The last few years she had grown to like Lulubell almost as much as she liked Tyki.
What was the chain smoker doing, anyways? He had only visited her in here a couple of times, and both occasions were the only relief she had had in some time. Her brother-by-clan and uncle-by-adoption could always make her feel better by his presence alone, more so when he was willing to play a game of some sort.
But, Rhode reminded herself, as much as she loved her dear Tyki, she preferred Allen much more. Hugging Tyki just wasn't the same as hugging Allen, and Tyki didn't do all the interesting things Allen did.
Thinking of Allen also brought some of the worrisome thoughts. Was he sleeping well? Was the Fourteenth still giving him problems? Was his psych doing any better? Now, Rhode liked her Allen a little off his rocker, it made him more fun, but she didn't want him off the deep end entirely. No, no, that would actually break her heart to turn him into another of her dolls, but it was a careful balance to keep him fun and not a mad fool.
For a moment, Rhode felt a little loneliness herself. She was never actually alone in her room anymore, but she missed the physical touch of another person (read: Allen). She could go jump her father, feel him react lovingly and hug her back, but that could never compare to having Allen's arms around her, feeling his lips leave little patches of fire over her skin, being able to nuzzle his toned muscles, or just having that comforting presence that Allen was near. What she wouldn't do to have Allen here right now.
The door to her room opened.
No one was there. Both Rhode and Sheryl looked at the door in mild confusion. Why would the door-
The door closed.
They both watched as the door leading out of her room, wide open, moved on its own and just shut itself. What was going on?
Rhode looked at Sheryl, saw him look back at her, blinking in surprise. Sheryl stood then, leaving his book on the nearby table, going to go check on the oddly behaving door.
Thump!
Rhode's father slumped to the floor suddenly, unmoving.
Now Rhode was getting scared. What was going on? She nearly screamed when three people appeared out of thin air, standing next to her downed father. One frantic heartbeat later, she saw who it was.
"Alllleeeeeeennnn!" Rhode screamed, throwing her textbook into the air in her haste to get to him. She leaped into her widely smiling husband, felt his strong arms wrap around her possessively and comfortingly. She let out a little sigh of happiness as that blotch of Innocence on his chest breathed sensation into her through her blouse.
Rhode, arms and legs wrapped around him inside his jacket, tilted upwards and rolled her shoulders in a way she had learned a long time ago. Allen's jacket slipped back – not off because of his arms around her – and she giggled at his exasperated look.
Allen had no idea how happy she was to see him. Sure, she was bored, but it was so much more than that. This meant he was still alive, safe from the torture and the threat of Millennie killing him when Allen's usefulness ran dry. Not to mention, she was JUST thinking about him. How cool was that, wishing he was here and suddenly he was?
"This time, dear, I'm busting you out," Allen whispered to her, his voice soft and loving, just what she wanted to hear currently.
Rhode giggled again, heart beating fast at what that would mean. Millennie wouldn't be happy, but he was being so unfair right now. And also, when had she ever cared what Millennie thought? Her stealing Lero despite his scoldings ought to tell that much already.
Rhode gave one last radiant smile to Allen before she smothered him with a kiss. Allen responded hungrily, just as needy as her, all the way until Cross cleared his throat and they broke apart, Allen blushing slightly.
After one more smaller kiss, Allen smiled sheepishly at her. "Could you open a Door to get out of here? It would make things significantly easier."
The moment he finished saying that, the door to her room opened again.
The Millennium Earl himself, along with several other Noah, walked in, everyone grim except for the Earl's eternal grin.
The man Rhode was bound to guard for an eternity gave her a piercing look. "Do not open that Door, my little Rhode-chan." And Rhode knew she could not go against his wishes.
AN: I am DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL FOREVER! ...Sorry, just needed to shout that out somewhere. :D
Whelp, I promised to make this chapter worth your while, and there it is. Two chapters at the same time, and posted early. Imagine that. Think of it as a gift for all you reviewers who have remained consistent, the readers who have stuck around this long to listen to me ramble on, and to myself so I can get this story done and over with. xD
