Synthetic Soldiers
11 – Paranoia
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"More important than Allen Walker? Madam, what are you talking about?" demanded Leverrier and, this time, his disbelief wasn't an act.
The tall blonde woman sent, to his surprise, a malicious glare towards their youngest participant. The teenager seemed to shrink into himself as, once again, every eye in the room turned towards him.
"Are you willing to clarify matters to us, Mr. Chan?"
And though the boy's body language was clearly intimidated, he still answered with unexpected dryness. "Not particularly, branch head."
Her eyes narrowed. "Then I will do this favor for you," and turning her attentions back to everyone, she added, "the seal of healing many of you seem so interested in is still within our reach. Its secrets and answers lie with the Apostle I am referring to."
"Only synthetic bodies-" started Chan tentatively.
She waved him off with ease. "Yes, we know. Only artificial bodies were ready to receive the seal, and only once, wasn't it?" she asked, and the teenager shifted uncomfortably. "The first version, that is."
Eyes shone with hope and less savory emotions. "So there is more than one Seal of Healing?"
"As the leader of my own Artificial Exorcist Project team, the Third Exorcist project, I have always been one of the few people outside the laboratory who got to accompany the progress of the second exorcists. I knew it when one would be born and when one would die, and received reports on their progress in synchronization and also the steady rate of deterioration of their bodies. The first Apostle died a decade ago. The second one was described as very close to death a week before the laboratory's downfall, while the third, our famous nemesis, still enjoyed a relatively new seal.
"I found it fascinating, then," continued the woman he would now classify as very dangerous, "that they spent so much effort into keeping his crumbling body alive and that, after the laboratory's destruction, no remains of him could be found. Coincidentally, a certain Zu Mei Chan hurriedly visited the laboratory the morning before its end, wishing to do a certain procedure that could save the second Apostle..."
Her palms hit the table loudly, and made a few jump. "Do you follow me, ladies and gentlemen? The creator of the seal performed a certain technique and, hours later, we have broken remains of an once expensive and innovative facility plus two Apostles – and their Innocence – missing."
"Why have we never been informed of this?!" demanded one loudly, "Innocence disappeared! That is a scandal!"
"Silence, Morris!" snarled Leverrier. The meeting that had previously been under his control now seemed to be spiraling into insanity. Could the woman's reports really be true? If so, he hadn't been wholly informed. "You mean to say a new seal of healing has been performed into this... Yuu, and he left together with Allen Walker?"
Epstain clapped slowly with a saccharine smile. "Indeed."
It was easy to believe Allen Walker, who should have recovered his memories, to do so. But what of the other Apostle? Was he an ally of the legendary exorcist?
"That would prove an astounding amount of intelligence and blood thirst for two Apostles who, when all is said and done, should have been reduced to a pair of ignorant, young children!" exclaimed Fermi.
"It seems these ones are special. What if the memory erasing wasn't perfect? What if it only worked with Alma, the first Apostle, but never with the other two, and they had their past selves slowly resurfacing while carefully maintaining the childish pretense and elaborating a plan to flee the place while killing each and every laboratory worker in their way out?"
Silence filled the room, and they could imagine it – in the underground laboratory, two children with adult minds and already used to bloodshed, growing bitter because of their new harsh reality and eventually murdering the whole team, scientists and sorcerers alike.
"The seal..." murmured one after a couple of minutes, and Epstain nodded in approval.
"Yes, the seal. Walker's is an ordinary one, working merely because he hasn't been put under forced synchronization for longer than one year. But the second Apostle... he is the one we have to watch out for. Whatever the genius sorcerer Zu Mei Chan did that night, it was a seal able to be written over someone who had been under it already, and, more than that... it was a seal compatible with any human being."
Murmurs broke from practically every leader present, and they eventually became louder, until someone impatiently exclaimed for order.
"The seal cast upon the second Apostle is the Chan family's finest creation. Revolutionary. It can ensure anyone's health, and can be applied once more after expired. Visualize an army of exorcists and sorcerers immune to wounds, to the point of almost instant bone and flesh regeneration."
She smiled at everyone's wide eyes, and Leverrier finally understood this powerful woman had had the whole meeting under her control from the very start.
"This seal, my friends, will win us this war."
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"-General Cross then went to this brothel," continued Laboun, "following the patterns we are used to."
"But the interesting thing," pointed out his partner, Reed, "was that he didn't stay only for a night, as he is used to, but for three whole days."
Allen nodded. "That can be considered quite long for an exorcist in the run."
"And, while he stayed," continued Laboun, "two men and one woman also got in. We are separating them from the average patrons because they either went in during non business hours or also stayed for more than a day, and their departure was quite... hasty."
Allen tilted his head. "How so?"
"The thing is, the meeting, or whatever was happening inside the brothel's walls, was interrupted by an inspection. It seems we weren't the only ones following the General around, as a finder, five Crow and an exorcist demanded to take a look at the place. We didn't see General Cross get out – the last we saw of him was through a window in the third day, and then he was gone and the Order was left with their hands empty. But these three we have pointed out... they fled the establishment even before we noticed the Order's presence, with noticeably inhuman movements, and one guy even... transformed for a moment," he said, giving Allen a pointed look, "before taking off."
"Son of a bitch!"
"A… Allen?" Said Reed weakly. He looked disconcerted.
"How could Akuma be inside a city?!" demanded Allen furiously.
"We don't know," said Laboun with an apologetic shrug.
"Ah, whatever. What matters here is that Akuma were near a bunch of ordinary people and a powerful exorcist, who stayed with them for days and did nothing! What is that dickhead thinking?"
"Uuh..." said Reed helpfully.
"I hate him! Aaargh!" Allen pulled at his hair in enragement. "I don't know what he is doing, but it must be something bad. What could that arsehole be planning? Guys?"
The two men stared at him dumbly. Ever since they joined, they had learned about Allen's angry reactions at the mere thought of the promiscuous redhead, and wondered about the day the General and Allen would meet each other and whether a death battle would ensue. For now, however, they only patted Allen's shoulders, willing the boy to calm down. No matter how many times it happened, it would always be strange to see him cursing.
Allen's shoulders sagged and he took a couple breaths, before raising his head from his hands with a peaceful, bright smile that just didn't fit.
"Sorry, you two. Sometimes General Cross unhinges me a little bit, haha," he said with a friendly grin and a violently twitching eye, ignoring the other two exorcists exchanging knowing looks. "You've done a great job, but almost got caught by the Order! I'm very sorry you had to go through that. Here is a reward."
The boy then extended a white, closed hand towards Laboun, who opened his own hand with a curious expression, before Allen let the item drop.
"Ooh, thank you, Allen!" said Laboun brightly, staring at his new, shiny, limited edition pog. "I didn't think I would ever get this one."
Allen leaned towards him with a conspiring, evil look. "That's just the tip. There's more where that came from," he stage-whispered, before leaning back. "So please keep doing a good job."
"I don't see any reward for myself," complained Reed with a smirk.
"You don't have a hobby," grumbled Allen, before everyone chuckled and the men went back to the camp.
Allen observed the other exorcists as everyone reunited once more. He had sent them in teams of two to gather info about Cross, whose help would be needed very soon. Allen had been the only one left alone, settling in a ruined building in the outskirts of the city Yuu and Miranda had invaded. Now, a week later, they were all together once more, and it was a great relief. No matter how much he planned things out, the possibility that someone would not come back always tormented him in more ways than one.
"You are the kind of person who needs a family... so I'm glad you have one."
Yes, he needed a family. That's why he had a bleeding hole in his heart that only started healing once Yuu came back. But as he stared at the group reunited around an itchy Crowley who was on cooking duty for the day, he couldn't classify them as such. He cared for them, but, in the end, they were together out of necessity. None of them would do anything for his person. They only cared for his ideals, for the dreams he stood for.
The only person who would stay with him even if he fell, powerless and defeated, was sitting a few dozen meters away from everyone, in a silent place where he could meditate.
He marched towards Yuu, who sat in a perfect lotus position below an enormous, gnarled tree. Allen made sure to make his steps as light as possible, before sitting in front of the man, mimicking his posture. He stared closely at the man's closed eyelids, looking for some sort of movement, but found none. The breaths were very slow and rhythmic, hard to detect without paying attention. He was still deep in, then.
Allen waited, watching the other exorcist during a comfortable moment, before he finally observed the signs that meant Yuu was leaving the meditation.
Suddenly wanting to take a chance at an idea that had pestered him lately, he quickly got up and kneeled behind Yuu instead, placing his hands over the man's shoulders and leaning towards him.
"Wait. Don't break it yet," whispered Allen into the other's ear. "What have you seen today?"
"Still the same goddamned flowers," murmured Yuu in an equally low voice, and Allen chuckled discreetly. Yuu was so very used to having a dirty mouth he would say bad words even as he meditated.
"Okay, let's try something new, then. Keep the flowers in mind, don't let the image break. Now, I want you to visualize something else. Stop looking for new memories. Instead, I want you to create new things in your mind, with the flowers and the lake you already see as a basis."
"How so?" murmured Yuu, and Allen knew he had his attention. His previous reluctance about teaching Yuu had waned away; he would now do anything to help his friend recuperate his past and, until now, Yuu had been unable to do so, but today they would try something new.
"Calling forth new memories seem impossible because you have no link to them. We need a mental map to search for way to old stories, and you only have a piece of it. So I want you to imagine random sceneries around the flowers. We are trying to discover what was around them in your original memory. Were they in the middle of a forest? Was it a pond, with a nearby house? Was there someone with you? But the first thing you imagine, it has to be very unlikely, something that surely couldn't have been. You can... you can try to imagine that the pond and the flowers are inside a huge library."
Yuu stayed silent for a few seconds before saying. "Alright. Done."
"Good. Now remember the faint sensation of rejection your mind has at such a questionable setting. This means your guess is wrong. Now, I want you to imagine possible scenarios. Be creative, and think about things that could have been around this lotus filled lake where you once were in. Imagine, visualize, and hold it for a minute or so. If you still feel a sense of rejection, throw the idea away and elaborate a new one. We are trying to get elements of the original scene right, so they call forth the rest. Alright?"
"Yes," said Yuu simply, and Allen watched as he fell back into his trance.
Allen stayed like that, close to the other's warmth, though he knew Yuu didn't need him anymore for today's session. In his own mind he remembered the many moments they stayed close to each other like this, just sharing warmth many meters below the ground, in that monster of metal that was their cage. The situation was still like back then, with the two of them circled by a world filled with monsters and people they couldn't trust, but it was so relieving to be able to be together again.
The white haired boy got up and was sitting casually by other tree far away from Yuu's with speed and stealth only an Apostle could have, looking for all intents and purposes as distant before a third person entered their place.
"Guys, food is rea-"
Lavi abruptly silenced himself when he noticed the quiet ambient of the clearing, and the Japanese exorcist's meditating state. Allen raised a finger to his lips at the redhead's raised eyebrow, and the usually loud teenager nodded.
"Today it is rice with mushrooms uncle Crowley and I got from the capital", Lavi whispered, "are you guys coming?"
I'm going to wait for him, Allen mouthed and, even considering the darkening twilight and the great distance between them, he knew Lavi could see his lips moving. Useful, but also quite disturbing. Save something for us.
The redhead nodded before disappearing, and Allen could only be glad he hadn't witnessed the small moment of intimacy.
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The war. Ah, it was growing tiring. It had lasted a few thousand of years too long.
This eternal battle between the Noah Family and the wielders of sorcery and then, later, Innocence, used to be a source of amusement to his always superior clan. They would sit back in their thrones in these ancient times, watching as humans, always pathetic and ignorant, fought uselessly against them. Organizations were created and then erased at any Noah's whim; a member of his family would be able to end the strongest human in Earth by snapping their fingers. Sometimes, they would even allow the enemy groups to grow and become stronger, only to end them in the same quick and violent manner of the rest, proving again and again the difference in strength between them and the creatures they considered as little more than animals.
But if there was something unexpected about humans, it was the astounding speed with which they acquired and earned control over new knowledge. They had been little more than insects below the Noah's feet for thousands of years. Now it seemed like the clan's arrogance had cost them greatly. They had the chance to control and subjugate humanity centuries back, but didn't use it, and now they paid the price.
Innocence. Sorcery. So many things threatened their dominance. And now, a new problem of this era – human awareness about history and his most powerful creations, Akuma. His soul-fueled machines of destruction had been kept in the shadows for long, until the Order decided to spread the truth to the world and the whole population became aware of the existence of Akuma and how they came to be. Whereas demons and the 'supernatural' were considered mere legends or villains of fairytales years ago, now almost every human, even children, knew about their existence and were warned against their creation. Convincing a human to follow the crucial steps to the creation of one became a harder task, as even the most grief stricken refused to call for him.
He had found a way to strike back, of course, and there was always a way to take advantage of those who lived outside of the sheltered communities controlled by the Black Order. Still, the battle wasn't the same as it had always been. Instead of a constant one sided win, the Noah family now actually had to work hard to keep on par with humans who became more intelligent and absolutely ruthless. He would praise them, if that didn't make him so angry.
But those weren't the last of his problems.
Oh, no, far from that. A bane greater than any of those threats aforementioned tormented him ruthlessly for the past century.
Because at one point, and only one point in his whole story of seven thousand years ever since he ended the first Innocence wielder, only once he had vanished from this world.
And he couldn't remember a single moment of that time.
What he knew was that he, the Millennium Earl, had a brother, absurdly enough – a sibling, a replication of his self or a conjuration from Hell, he didn't know, but he out was there, he was alive.
And he was an enemy.
Willing to do anything to win the war, the Earl killed his brother – or, at least, he tried to. It was horribly unpleasant but necessary for the Noah's survival, and he just had to do it, but he miserably failed. And that failure was costing him so very much.
Nea had been tracking and tormenting him, the Creator, ever since. Nea, whom he had killed not once, but twice – first by devouring the black haired twin he had grown with, and then by decapitating a head of red hair.
And now Nea was back, a fearsome predator clad in white.
His heart clenched with that old but suffocating fear he had lived with for years. The Earl would kill Nea, for the third and last time.
He had to, if he wanted to survive.
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A/N: This story has lots of important characters with memory problems, right? The Earl is the last one, though.
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