EDIT: I have been accepted and then turned down weeks after the fact by two betas now. (Well, one just stopped responding for a month, but you get the picture.) If any of you have beta skills, or you know a good DGM beta WHO IS ACTUALLY FUCKING ACTIVE, message me. Not a review, a real message, so I know you are serious. I'm getting a bit desperate. Either they don't want to commit to a long story, aren't active, they don't like threesomes, or they aren't literate enough for me to even consider. Please, help me with this. (And to the two failed betas: I'm not mad. I understand life gets in the way. But it is kinda frustrating to be accepted than ignored.)
Whhhhaaaatttt? I planned something? Me? Surely not. Surely the duality was not planned from the beginning. Of course it wasn't, because we all know how bad I am at foreshadowing and planning events ahead of time. I'm positive that this has no plot relevance whatsoever. We all know that I am far too incompetent to ever leave hints within the text for any of the yet unanswered questions that you may have. Naturally, this message will not lead to you going back within the story to look for said hypothetical hints, because they obviously don't exist. I'm positive there will never be any future hints that you should look for, because I am incapable of such things.
Some of you seem to think that Allen wouldn't actually get his ass kicked. Of course he does! I promised an beating, and goddamnit, he's gonna get whiped. Hard. This will be the first REAL fight that Allen and Kanda have. Also, you guys have totally forgotten the reason they went out to sea in the first place, eh? Probably because I can't reveal much about The Order at this point...which sucks, because I DO have it basically mapped out, but our babies are focusing on more important things right now. We'll probably get a little more insight on the surroundings in the next couple chapters. People have constantly been asking about the Noah...I just don't know. I want them in the story, but just inserting random characters with no purpose isn't my style, and so far the only antagonists we've needed is Merfolk traditions and time.
Have you guys noticed the change in how I'm writing Allen? How he's a little more strained, a little less alien? Or am I being too subtle about the changes in his character?
PS: Have fun screaming in frustration at the end. If you are confused by what is said at the end, go back and re-read chapter 7.
Yet another three days passed.
But rather than becoming even more restless, Allen was just tired. Tired and weak and Ouch.
"Oi, Beansprout. Keep up." Jab.
Allen wasn't entirely clear how things had gotten to this point. At first, Link had really been against this. So had Bookman.
"Eyes forward, dumbass." Smack.
But after a few hours of begging for any kind of activity, they had both agreed that it would be good for the boy to get some exercise. Of course, Allen had requested a sparring match with Kanda, which had made Link laugh in his face. He'd spent the rest of that day pouting to Miranda, who'd stuttered at Krory, who'd sniveled at Rohfa, who'd made puppy eyes at her superior, and the next day Allen was being dragged away from his lunch period for 'exertion and examination,' whatever the hell that meant.
"Pay attention." Oww.
Which would have been fine. Except that it had apparently meant that Link would leave to get a break from his babysitting duties and someone else would watch while Kanda beat Allen within an inch of his life under the guise of teaching him self defense. Of course, Allen was fairly certain that Kanda was under orders to simply wear him out and not teach him anything that could be used against anyone, because even now they were still being overly cautious. So really, it was just Allen getting smacked around for no reason.
While Allen did enjoy actually being able to use his muscles, he wasn't really keen on beatings.
But for some reason he'd decided to come back the day after that.
Bam!
This had more to do with the babysitter left in Link's place than anything else.
A fist cracked across Allen's jaw and he spun uncoordinatedly and fell to the ground on his stomach. For a moment, he stayed there, thinking that it would be very nice if he never had to move again. But, then he was reminded of why he was here and looked up.
Lavi.
The red head had been sent to observe their sparring the previous day and Allen had nearly had a heart attack when he'd seen the man, sitting in a chair beside the area he was supposed to be using for 'learning'. Naturally, he'd been a bit distracted by this, and really had 'gotten his ass kicked.' But today, he wasn't going to let that happen. He was going to prevent as much bruising as possible and try to talk to Lavi afterward. Not that he knew what he would say, but Allen decided he'd figure it out when the time came.
So, he stood up, only to get knocked down again. And again.
This really wasn't getting him anywhere, and he knew it. He was keeping his mask up on purpose, because he still wasn't sure how to act around Lavi. Neah really wasn't suited for this. Neah was too formal and polite.
"Come on, you aren't even trying." Allen looked up at Kanda, who hadn't even broken a sweat, saw him sneer in disdain.
Allen was getting a bit fed up with him. It was bad enough that he was getting knocked around; he didn't need the verbal beating too.
"Neither are you." Allen said, letting his act drop in his frustration.
"Excuse me?"
"I know you're holding back. I also know that you aren't actually trying to teach me anything. If you aren't going to bother doing what you said you would, you could at least stop insulting me by pulling your punches."
There was a swift kick to his ribs that was noticeably harder than previous attacks that left Allen gasping for air.
"I'm doing exactly what I said I would do," Kanda growled, hooking his foot around Allen's ankle, tripping him. "I'm kicking your ass."
"You're not doing a very good job." Allen wasn't sure what was making him goad the other man, but he couldn't seem to stop himself.
Kanda didn't wait for Allen to get up this time, instead delivering another kick to the other side.
"Shut up, punk. First you're all up tight, now you're copping an attitude."
Another kick.
"You come here and mess everything up. You think I don't have better things to do?"
Yet again, this time straight to the chest.
"You look like some scrawny brat that's had a curse placed on him, Moyashi." Kanda snarled the last part in Japanese, and Allen knew that if he were able to see straight he'd once again witness a beautiful and terrifying god of fury.
One more and Allen was flat on his back with the taste of blood in his mouth and black spots invading his vision.
"I don't like you."
'Yeah, I'm not all that fond of you either.' Allen thought.
"Yuu, stop!"
For a while, all Allen could do was try to catch his breath and wonder why the impacts had stopped.
As his vision cleared, Allen lifted his head the few millimeters that he could manage to try and figure out what happened.
He was struck by a strange sense of déjà-vu, almost experiencing two scenes at the same time.
Lavi was holding Kanda back, trying to keep the taller man from killing him.
After a few moments of tense waiting, Allen realized that he wasn't dead yet and opened his eyes to see Lah-vee holding the other man back.
"What are you doing? He asked for it!"
"You can't go on like this, you'll kill him!"
"What the hell are you doing, Lavi!" Cah-n-dah shouted.
"Wait, Yuu! You can't just kill it!"
Allen blinked, trying to shake off the unpleasant memory.
'Once again, the human saves me. He's always saving me. Will he help me escape yet again? Do I deserve it?'
Kanda released a guttural snarl, a blood chilling exclamation of his rage. He forcibly yanked himself out of Lavi's grip, and stalked out of the room, only pausing to glare daggers at the white haired boy on the floor.
Allen let his head drop, closed his eyes, and tried to just focus on breathing and fighting through the pain for a moment.
He heard a sigh and after about half a minute, footsteps coming toward him.
"Are you okay?"
Allen opened his eyes to find Lavi leaning over him, looking a bit concerned, but his eye still had that sickening stillness to it.
"I-I think so..." Allen tried to sit up and winced as pain shot up his side. "Ouch. Or maybe not."
For a moment, it looked as if the red head was about to say something, but then he seemed to shake himself and closed his half open mouth. Lavi put his hands around Allen's waist to hoist him up, visibly cringing at the physical contact.
They walked/limped to the chair that Lavi have been sitting in before, and Allen let out a sharp hiss as he sat down, muscles creaking in protest. Every inch of him felt battered and bruised, and he really just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep forever.
"Thank you," Allen breathed.
It was only once the other man started walking away that Allen realized that he and Lavi were here alone. This was his chance.
"Ah, wait!" Allen flung out an arm to try and catch Lavi's sleeve, clenching his teeth both because he missed and because it really, really hurt to move right now. He put his arm back down gingerly.
"No, I've got to get someone in here to check your injuries." Lavi was sounding more and more emotionless as this went on, and Allen felt a slow brewing of panic and dread build in his stomach.
'Stop pushing me away, Lavi. You're the only one I can count on right now.'
"But, uh," Allen scrambled for an excuse, anything to keep him here, to keep him talking. "Can't you just take a look?"
"I'm not qualified to do that." Lavi took another step away from the white haired boy, putting another foot of distance between the two of them.
'How do I make him believe it's me? What can I say to get that look out of his eyes?'
Allen wasn't sure what the right thing to say would have been, but whatever it was, it didn't come out of his mouth.
"Do you really think the mermaid was a monster?" The question came out weakly, and Allen was surprised at how much the thought of Lavi saying 'yes' hurt.
The other man just looked at him skeptically for a moment, and then turned around completely.
"You've obviously hit your head pretty hard. I'll be sure to tell them to check for a concussion." He said as he walked away.
'No, Lavi, wait! Don't leave me alone. I can't do this by myself! You don't really hate me, do you? Was everything really just an act? What did I do? What should I do?'
Allen's head was reeling, and he was suddenly terrified of taking down his mask. He didn't want to be rejected. If Lavi really thought him so horrid, surely telling the red head was the worst thing he could do. The white haired youth despised the deadness in that emerald orb, didn't know why it was there. He wanted to see the happy, care-free face from Neptune's Pearl, not this emotionless thing. The cold emptiness in his expression was scary.
But still, this was his only chance. So, he threw caution to the wind and did the only thing he could think of.
"Shaer taer cestal!"
To My Reviewers:
fire-ball-kyo-DLM- I'm going to answer your question with the same answer I've given all the questions like that: Maybe. Though, I will say that I like this theory. It's almost as good as Cross implanting Neah into Allen, or Multiple Personality Disorder being a side effect of the spell.
ChiKazex- R-Really? Wow! Thank you sooooo much!
Slake Honda Lol- Uh...hi!
AzureKurashin- Was this soon enough for you? *giggle*
Hinata's Shadow1- I like writing from multiple POVs...I think it really gives the story more depth.
scrletfyre- Nope, not gonna do that with Lavi, lol. It will probably be his POV next chapter, though.
TotalAmuto- OF COURSE, THREESOME! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT FROM THE BEGINING!
Kurazilssia- RAWWWRRRR! Lol, every time Allen and Kanda get together, they fight. Silly boys. *cuddles you all*
Oaken Wren- I think last chapter was a bit short, though it's hard for me to tell. I am notoriously bad at writing long chapters. No, that's not too dramatic, it's pretty spot on, actually. I miss them talking too.
weirdsquirrelgirl- Yeah, Allen can never catch a break.
Hanashi no iu- I hope you liked this too!
blackirishawk- Lol, glad you liked it. I have a bit more trouble writing for Kanda than Allen and Lavi, so it makes me happy to know that you think I did well.