PikaDigi: for the sake of this story, you can't open a Gate onto another Ark. Especially since Allen doesn't have the control over the Earl's Ark that he does over his own Ark.

jat: lol, it's okay. This isn't a story I'm too concerned about. I just want it finished with. Instead of massive chapters, I changed things up with tiny chapters. Seriously, Ladies has 50k word chapters, Nemesis has 20-40k chapters... BUT, books like Harry Potter only have 3k word chapters, so stuff like this isn't too bad. Just let me take a break, for once. :P


Requiem of Time: Chapter Fifty – Allen


The following silence was heavy.

Rhode's feet slowly lowered back to the floor as Allen and the Millennium Earl locked eyes, but the action went unnoticed in the sudden tension. Allen tightened his arms around Rhode unconsciously, to protect her from Adam or as just a tense reaction. Rhode, insides icy with guilt at getting caught, was glad for the comforting presence.

"Good evening, Adam. How are you this evening?" Allen asked finally, breaking the silence. Cross was next to Allen, perhaps the two most hated Marshals in all of history.

The Earl's eyes glinted under his spectacles. "My evening just got a whole lot better, truth be told. I'm afraid I can't let you two leave here alive."

"And what do you think your chances of killing us are, fatass?" Cross drawled, his own discomfort expertly hidden in his mask of confidence.

"Ah, my dear Cross-chan, what do you think your chances of escaping are? Ehehehe." Earl chuckling, never the most pleasant sound. "For too long you two have evaded my traps, destroyed my lovely Akuma, humiliated my precious family, and the Fourteen here went so far as to almost turn my Rhode-chan away from me. I cannot forgive you."

Is delaying a good idea? Allen wondered. While it allowed time to think of a way out, it also allowed time for more Noah to show. Right now, he concerned himself with only getting out alive and with Rhode.

"Oh, and what do we have here?" the Earl asked as there was a rumbling from the ground. Grave of Sarah was rising. "The student takes after the master, right Fourteenth?"

Allen, Rhode, Cross, and Maria stood on one side, standing besides the gold cross inlaid coffin. The Earl and four additional Noah – Mightra, Fiddler, Tryd, and Mercym – stood at the other, faux relaxation defining them.

Allen's human fingers curled to where only the first two were pointing out, the rest balled, and began chanting, "On... Abata-ura-masarakato-on-gataru! Grave of Sarah Limit, Release!"

Two amateur, childish magicians versus the world's greatest sorcerer, Allen noted to himself. Adam could likely demolish the chain of magic holding the two corpses in animation, given a morsel of time. As Cross had mentioned once, a long time ago in the book Allen had read, the fight against Adam could never be one of magical nature. No, the Earl was too skilled in that regard. However, having knowledge of magic and spells, an understanding of it, allowed defensive measures to be taken when dealing with it.

Before the tension could escalate to an open brawl, a slight delay gave an advantage to Allen's side. Five black, swirling blobs, twisting and shaping itself until five aspects of the Destroyer of Time hovered in between the two groups. The active Terra's Touch Innocence had inspired the cloaks, in interaction with the Noah across from it.

Allen had a sudden wariness for the black cloaks, now with his knowledge of what they were. It wouldn't change anything, nor how he would defeat them, but he now knew that they were corrupted shades of his own Innocence, theorized to have been born of Crown Clown's activity in the body hosting the Fourteenth, some merging of Dark Matter and Innocence, given life by the twisting impossibility of being sent to the past by an Akuma. Far too complicated for Allen to comprehend the nature of what was done, but not the solutions.

Destroy Crown Clown, the initiator. Destroy the Fourteenth, the corrupter. Destroy the Millennium Earl, the source of all Dark Matter and its creations, including the Fourteenth. Three impossibilities. A fine pickle Allen was in.

"Rhode, please," Allen begged in the stillness following the DoT's appearance, "open a Door for us to get out of here... AMOVEO TERRA!"

The attack was multi-purposed. Hundreds of spires rose from the floor, the walls, and the ceiling, impaling the cloaks before they could react. However, the spires expanded and merged, linking themselves to form a wall between Allen and Adam to replace the Destroyer of Time.

Rhode hesitated, for the first time in too long uncertain about something. Not a 'which dress to choose' uncertain, but about a decision that's result would forever affect her life. To open her Door would be to forever alienate her against Millennie, a man she loved almost as much as Allen. Millennie and the Noah were her family, her true place among them, and never again would she be able to join them or be welcome among them. However, to not open a Door – to not allow Allen a way out – her husband would die. Allen would die, and his blood would be on her hands. No more of his touches, no more of his raw determination, no more of anything that made him stand out from the rest of the world. Could she live without Allen? Could she live without her family?

"Rhode, please open a Door," Allen repeated, his voice now carrying traces of anxiety. He also knew of the results of this encounter. "Please, Rhode..."

With a loud boom, the wall Allen had formed explode outwards, a wave of concussion and debris hitting the smaller group. Allen cursed and ordered Sarah to form a new one, more spires merging a layer between them.

Before that wall could finish, the Millennium Earl, calmly striding forward, sang out, "Rhode, I command you to fight them. Kill the man known as Allen Walker." She could not disobey, not a direct order.

Still Rhode hesitated, inadvertently defying the Earl with her delay. Her inactivity was helping no one, and her decision would decide it all. Her grey face was stricken, horrified by either outcome.

Allen's heart clenched at what Rhode was being forced through presently, but he had his own need here. He hoped with all his being that she would choose him over the Earl, and he hoped that no matter her decision, she wouldn't allow herself to be consumed with guilt afterwards. If she found that she must obey her brother and master, the founding Noah Adam, then let her at least live free of guilt. This decision would tear her apart, regardless.

The new wall finished, muffling off the other side, yet again Adam reached it and it exploded outwards uselessly, battering those on the other side with its force. Adam was no longer in his Outer Layer, now the matured gentleman with the long face and short stubble. His gold eyes were sad and betrayed, his expression pleading himself.

"Rhode, please listen to me. We are family, and he is a human. An Exorcist. Kill him," Adam insisted.

"He..." Rhode squeaked, the sound cutting off short with her indecision. Two men she loved dearly, family and husband, and she must choose which between them. Live the traitor, on the run from her family with Allen, or live the Noah, as she had for centuries, with Allen's death on her hands. Her hand slipped into Allen's, clutching it so tightly it hurt, and he squeezed back. He would understand, no matter her decision. He loved her.

Rhode closed her eyes, feeling them sting with welling tears. She had decided. Her power swirled up inside her, out into the air, the purplish flame of Dark Matter. Forgive me...

Her eyes snapped open, glistening with tears and blurring her vision of her family and Allen alike. Millennie is my family, and Allen is just a human, an Exorcist... Choking back a sob, Rhode managed, "But he is also my husband."

And with her power, the power of roads, she touched Allen and Cross and the two corpses, and then transported herself and all of them away.

XXXX

For hours Rhode just cried. Allen supported her, muttering soothing words. He felt near tears himself, relieved and overjoyed. Rhode had chosen him over her family, and now they could be together forever. No more hiding from their factions, no more forbidden nights together, no more worrying over if someone found that they weren't in a place they should be. They were husband and wife again, for real now, in all ways but the ring and paper.

Salty tears had dampened his chest as Allen held Rhode, rocking her back and forth, though he did give her a handkerchief for the rest. One hand cradled her to him, the other gently stroking her hair. For once, Rhode was more interesting in the contact than the pain, her distraught face pressed against the right part of his chest – away from the electrocuting pain of the blotch of Innocence.

Finally, though, Rhode settled, sniffling to herself as the sobs quieted. Allen's efforts didn't soften, not until it was all out of her system. He parted the bangs of her hair, and he kissed her forehead, left hand still rubbing her back.

Eventually, even the sniffling stopped, and then there was just silence as Allen held her. They were on their bed in Allen's Ark, while Cross had been deposited elsewhere. As the silence stretched, Allen thought Rhode had merely cried herself to sleep, and he allowed himself to just hold her as he stared up at the ceiling, reflecting on what had just happened.

"I betrayed Millennie for you, Allen," Rhode mumbled against his chest, revealing that she hadn't actually fallen asleep. Allen looked back down at her and smiled slightly, watching as she moved her head to meet his gaze. Tears stained her cheeks, eyes horribly red.

"I know, love," he whispered to her. And she only briefly matched his smile before her expression fell again.

And then it hit Allen.

If she had... and they could.. And... and... Allen's eyes grew wider and wider, until he had a brilliant smile at a crazy idea. "That's it!" His arms around Rhode clutched her to him tighter in excitement.

"What's it?" Rhode murmured, but she felt the effects of his enthusiasm trying to banish her dark mood. She lifted herself a bit, staring down at him. She recognized the look on his face. "Allen, what are you planning?"

He told her.

"...And how do you plan to do that?" Rhode asked, eyes wide at his idea. Hope bloomed inside her. If he pulled that off...!

Allen winked. "Very carefully."


AN: You are all in for a pleasantly long chapter, coming up next. ONLY FOUR CHAPTERS TO GO! WOOOOOO! Then an epilogue. :D Bad news, though, next chapter'll take me longer than a week to post... I think. Maybe not.