Night
Falling snow
Dead trees
Gray stoned pavement
Dark lake in front of him
"Where am I?"
He looked up.
"A huge white moon?"
Looked around
"This world doesn't seem real at all."
..
.
"Am I already dead and this is the afterlife?"
He looked at the lake.
"Huh?"
He looked up.
"The moon is white up above."
He knelt in front of the lake and leaned.
"But the moon reflected on the lake is black."
He leaned further,
Trying to understand
But beyond the water surface
Was no longer a reflection of the above,
But ruins.
Ruins of a castle, a church
With a lady sitting on top
Crying
He recognized her
He recognized the ruin
"What happened?"
"Where is everyone?"
"What happened to the war?"
"Why is Lenalee all alone in there?"
His heart swelled with yearning and grief
Seeing her like that.
"I need to go to her."
He reached towards the water.
"Lenalee."
Before his hand could even touch the surface.
Another hand shot below the water and grabbed him.
"Don't"
Voice eerily sounded like his gravely warned
The water in the lake started to freeze.
"No!"
The frost shrouded Lenalee.
"Let go!"
She vanished from his sight.
"Lenalee!"
The frozen ice broke like glass,
Revealing a shadowed man holding his hand.
"Do not."
Allen could only stare back at him.
"Who are you?"
Gray eyes blinked opened. The first thing they saw was the thatched ceiling. Where am I? Allen looked to the side and saw a table full of bowls and jars and bandages. He tried to sat up but found it quite hard to do so. He tried moving his left arm. Only then did he realize that he no longer have that arm. It was destroyed last night. He tried moving his right arm and felt intense pain. Upon closer inspection, he found out that his arm was bandaged, especially his hand. Allen tried flexing his fingers to no avail. They were firmly enclosed in all the wrappings.
He tried sitting up, more carefully this time. After a few tries, he finally succeeded. He took a quick glance around. He concluded that he must be inside a bedroom. They were no decorations but only humble wooden walls and floors. His bed was not as soft as what he was used to but it's comfortable. There was also a window. A breeze entered gently. The air was fresh.
Allen slowly swung his legs towards the bedside. Once his bare feet reached the floor, he pushed himself off the bed, careful on not agitating his injured hand further. He stood for a moment, gathering himself. He took a tentative step forward. Then another. And another. Since he was now missing an arm, he need some getting used to so he could achieve the proper equilibrium again.
Upon reaching the window, Allen was pretty confident that he could walk normally. He looked outside and saw nothing but green and brown. Bamboo trees and the ground with patches of grasses here and there. Another breeze gently touched his face. Allen closed his eyes as he tried processing an important fact.
I'm alive.
Why?
I'm alive.
How?
I'm still alive.
So what now?
I should have been dead. Allen thought deeply as he stumbled inside the house, trying to find a way out. The Noah should have killed me already. I felt dying. I felt Death. I should be dead. He finally found an open door, leading outside. Allen walked towards it. The light was blinding and the sunlight was warm. But Allen can't really see it and he felt terribly cold inside. Tears slowly fell from his eyes. I am alive, but is it really a good thing? Allen didn't know the answer. He was so confused. He was already prepared to die and not to live. Definitely not to live. He had already accepted the fact the he was going to die. Tears continued to flow despite his wish for it to stop. What now? He no longer had an Innocence. He can no longer save Akumas. He can no longer fight. Everything in his life is now at a dead end.
He walked outside and into the forest. And walked. And walked. And walked. With no particular place to go to. He's so lost. In soul. In heart. In mind. In body.
I don't know what to do anymore.
Help me.
Mana.
Wenhé dipped the wooden pail into the river. Then after getting enough water, she pulled it back with all her might. She poured the water into the urn carefully placed in her barrow. That was the last one, the urn is completely filled. She sat at a rock and placed the pail beside her feet. The old woman rubbed her aching back. I'm getting too old for this.
Birds chirped above her. The sound of the running river soothed her senses. She took a deep breathe, enjoying the fresh air. It's good for the body. She looked up and saw the sky ever so blue and clear as if nothing terrible had just happened.
She remembered her husband who frantically came home with a young and strange unconscious boy in his arms last night. Hair as white as Mingzhi's, an unusual scar, unfamiliar clothes but with a very familiar insignia…She stopped her thoughts at that as awful memories came rushing back. She sighed. Enough rest. Still have work to do. She slowly stood up, trying hard not to strain her knees too much. Then Wenhé took her pail again.
She walked slowly, her still sharp eyes examining the plants she passed by. She needed to find more medicinal herbs. Her stock was all used up when they saved the boy from death since night till dawn. Spotting a few in a nearby tree, the old housewife knelt down and started picking them then putting them into the pail.
It's been years since she saw another person aside from her husband. Normally when there will be a near encounter with an outsider she will immediately run and hide, fearing the harm they could cost on her loved one. When she saw him first, Wenhé thought he was an old man, the mist blurring his face from afar. She then took Mingzhi's walking stick, ready to beat up the man that dared bring danger to her home. But then as they got nearer and the mist slowly cleared, she saw the look of worry in her husband's eyes. Taking a longer look, she realized that it was actually a gravely injured child. Her motherly instincts suddenly took over and she immediately prepared the medicines and tools needed to help him.
She almost regretted her hesitation as she and Mingzhi took off the boy's clothes and cleaned his wounds. It was distressing to see such a small body like his so terribly hurt. The boy looks no older than fourteen but he looks as if he had fought a vicious battle.
He was deathly pale. His body covered with ugly bruises and cuts. His right hand was seriously hurt, his fingers all broken. But the most terrifying injury was when she fumbled on his left sleeve and discovered that he was missing an arm. The boy lost his left arm.
They gently removed his left shoulder from his heavy black clothes. They were fully expecting a great amount of dried blood, torn flesh, or protruding bones. But what they saw was absolutely strange and disturbing.
There was no blood or bones or flesh. It was clean. There were no cut marks or anything of that sort. It was like his arm just vanished. When her husband inspected it further, they discovered that the small part of his arm that was still attached to his shoulder was nothing like a normal part of a human's body. The small arm was made of a sturdy scaly skin. The skin was very thin. Then it was hollowed with a fleshy bottom. It looked like could be filled with who knows what. The boy didn't seem to have any bones for his left arm at all.
Wenhé tried to convince her husband that it may be better if they bring the boy to a more knowledgeable healer. He could die in their hands. Mingzhi refused, saying that they were already enough help for him. That there was no way for him to die just like that. And that no healer could ever understand or help him in his unusual condition. No one. Except for the very rare special ones.
It was then that she realized that there was more to the boy than what it seems. He was like her husband. Different. Special.
Her thoughts came into an abrupt halt when she felt someone looking at her. She turned around and she saw a white child with green eyes. Then it spoke.
"Wenhé, the boy woke up. He's walking towards the border."
The old woman's eyes widened at that. She immediately left her work and followed the floating child across the forest.
That ungrateful boy! Why is he up and about already? He'll be in grave danger! He must not cross the border!
Allen didn't know how long he had been walking. He didn't even know where he is. But… Never stop moving. Keep moving forward. He thought repeatedly. A mantra that keeps him together in his life so far. Mana's last words and Allen's eternal promise to him. I will still walk forward no matter what happens to me But...where? To where will I go now?
He can no longer go back. He has nothing to go back to. He can't stop either. He has nowhere to stop to. How about trying a different path?
Allen briefly stopped. Becoming a finder? A person who will only just be able to watch the Exorcist fight? He could still help but he refused such an option. I can't. He walked forward briskly. As if running away from something. Each step he took made his body ache. But the shame and disappointment he feels for himself was much more painful.
He made a promise. To save the Akumas. To fight with his friends. To save everyone. To keep moving forward until he dies. Yet last night, he threw it all away. He gave up so easily. Letting a Noah destroy his Innocence. Now he had nothing. Nothing. He cried as he continued walking. The only path I have in this life is forever closed. I no longer have any Innocence. I have nothing! Nothing!
He favours you too much to left you nothing.
Allen almost tripped in surprise at the voice that suddenly spoke. He looked around. There was no one.
An Archangel can never be destroyed so easily.
Allen was confused and scared. He can hear the voice but there was no one around him. Have I gone mad? But that voice. It sounded like someone he had heard before.
Allen almost snapped his head to the side as he heard something coming towards him. Fast. The white haired boy became worried. He was in no condition to fight. He's absolutely sure that it was not an Akuma. His eye didn't activate. But what if it's a wild animal….and he cannot run. Oh no! I don't want to be Panda food! No. Wait. Lavi said they're vegetarians. But he still didn't want to encounter any wild animals!
Then he heard a shout. Huh? It sounded nothing like an animal. He cannot understand a single word it says but it's definitely not an animal. In fact, it sounded more like a woman scorned and out for a bloody revenge. Allen paled.
…
..
.
On second thought, maybe meeting a wild vicious animal won't be so much as a bad thing.
"Uncle Zhou?" the little girl, Xaoxi tugged at his coat. "Where is the Uncle Grumpy?"
Zhou knelt down to her eye level. "He went to do something very important."
"Will he come back soon?" The youngest boy asked.
"I'm not too sure, Rentu." He smiled at him before ruffling his black hair.
I'm not even sure if he would come back at all. He thought. For someone as old as him, Yao could be considered as brash and stupid. He just had to go to Edo to aid the Exorcists. The man had no sense of self-preservation at all. Zhou even had a slight suspicion that that self-assigned mission was the older finder's version of vacation.
But as he remembered Yao when he asked Director Bak his permission to go to Edo as well he can't help but feel a bit of admiration and jealousy. Admiration because asking such a thing despite the obvious results was nothing but courageous. And jealousy because he would never have the guts to do or attempt something like that. He was also envious of the man's great self-confidence…or maybe not. Yao has a bit of an inflated ego. Really, bringing only three talisman enhanced barriers? Granted the new equipment may be able to withstand Level Two's but just three of it?
His snapped out of his reverie when the doors to the laboratory opened. The scientists made a last check-up to the children. Zhou was their assigned caretaker in the Asian Branch since he's the one that brought them in. He had no problems with the added job. He loves taking care of children. It gives him a taste of what his life should've been like before everything went wrong.
"Koshu!" the two children cried as they welcomed their brother with a hug.
"Xaoxi, Rentu." The bug brother among the three greeted them gleefully.
Zhou could only smile at the scene. The scientists were smiling as well.
"We've finished their check-ups. None of them are really Accommodators." The girl with braids and round glasses told him.
"They could still live a normal life." The finder stated.
"Or as normal as it could ever be." The scientist with black hair and small eyes added.
The other two scientists glared at him and he asked "What?" The girl could only shook her head.
"Please don't mind what Shifu has said. You can take them to their new rooms now." The scientist with brown hair apologized. Then he addressed the children. "See you around then! Koshu, Xioxi, Rentu."
The three scientists left them and went to their work as the children said thank yous and laters to them.
"Umm…Sir?"
Zhou glanced at the oldest child and smiled warmly. "Zhou. My name is Zhou. I'll be your guardian from now on."
"Really?" the child's brown eyes glimmered with obvious glee. "Oh…what I meant was is that so? Well, I don't really mind if somebody else will look after us instead but if it's you then-"
"Oh stop the act big brother! We know how grown-up you are already!" his sister cut him off.
"Yeah! You made the monster go poof!" the little boy chimed in.
Koshu turned red. "Stop embarrassing me already!"
The younger siblings just laughed at him.
Zhou had never seen something as innocent as this for a very very long time. The finder unconsciously laughed at their antics.
The three children stopped their arguments and looked at him. Then they gave him a hug. Zhou could only blinked in bewilderment.
"We just want to say thank you for everything." Xaoxi started.
"You saved us." Koshu continued.
"And you brought us to a new home!" Rentu finished with a big smile.
Zhou's heart swelled. I'm doing something. I'm capable of helping. "It's all right children. You don't really have to thank me."
"Now that's grown-up talk, Koshu." The little girl teased her older brother again.
"I said stop it already!" Koshu chased the girl in annoyance.
Zhou felt like the Asian Branch is going to be livelier in the next years because of the presence of these children.
He felt little Rentu tugged at his uniform. He took the boy and carried him in his shoulders. "Yes, Rentu?"
The boy rested his chin on his head. "When will Uncle Grumpy come back?"
The other children stopped at their game of tag at the question asked.
"Yeah when will he come back?" Xaoxi asked.
"We want to say thank you to him too." The older brother added.
"I don't really know." Zhou admitted reluctantly. "But I'm sure he'll come back sooner or later." He added quickly as he saw the deflated faces of the children. "He's pretty stubborn. So I'm sure he'll come back because stubborn people always do so." He's not that suicidal. He'll live for sure.
Hope came back at their faces. "Well if Uncle Zhou says so! Then I'll believe him!" the oldest proclaimed.
"Me too!" the girl raised her hand in agreement.
"Me too!" shouted in his head. "Uncle Grumpy will come back for sure!"
If Yao is going to come back, his name is going to be a very serious issue. Zhou chuckled as he walked with the children towards their rooms. An evil plan hatched on his head. "I'll give you kids a tour of the Asian Branch. But first I'll tell you Uncle Grumpy's real name…"