You don't normally see angels pray.
But if you do, you should keep silent and listen.
Because an angel's single prayer is worth a thousand of your words.
Allen thought that every single day that he spent with the Black Order clan was much better than the yesterday before it. Miraculously, he fit into the demons' lives just perfectly like a missing piece of an unfinished puzzle. True, he was still shackled by his wrists and ankles, but Allen decided to let bygones be bygones a long time ago. The shackles had ever-moving symbols carved into it, the language still foreign even from Allen's intelligent mind. But from what Allen had gathered, this magical item was able to stop Allen from flying away and also trap his innate powers so that he couldn't escape the castle grounds and Lavi's territory. Allen was undoubtedly rooted to the ground as if his wings were nothing more than just petty decorations.
"Ho dear…" Allen sighed, watching the slow clouds pass by as they rode the wind contently, "… It's like being in a golden cage indeed,"
To distract himself from the very thoughts of entrapment and imprisonment, Allen took the opportunity to join Lavi in his demonic studies that were taught by none other than Bookman himself. Through those –boring, even Allen had to admit- lessons, Allen had increased his knowledge about demons and their way of working, their code- driven hierarchy and rules of each section. Bookman sated Allen's unsatisfied thirst for more information about a certain topic, and Allen particularly like it when Bookman told stories of past demons and their victories that made them infamous. Although, I think Bookman's trying to avoid the discussion of angels and the like…
"Pay attention, stupid lord!" Bookman hit the Demon Lord on the head with an encyclopaedia. The sleeping demon grumbled to the reading angel when Bookman walked away, "geez.. What crawled up his ass and died there?"
Allen stifled a snort as he used his open book to cover-up his moving mouth to chide Lavi, "It's your fault for not listening, Lavi.. How's your head?"
Lavi moved away when Allen tried to reach over his head. Allen hid the hurt from his eyes, but a soft shrug from Lavi assured him that yes, his head is fine and no, he does not need to be babied. Ever since the Chimera incident, Lavi kept his distance away from Allen. It made Allen quite confused; he was so sure that they were making progress in their relationship. But it would seem that every time Allen tried to reach out to Lavi, the Demon Lord would growl threateningly and then only allowed Allen to come close after some time. One step forward, Allen inwardly sighed again, two steps backwards.
"Lavi!" Komui rushed into the library with panic in his eyes, "I got a message for you!"
The Demon Lord waited for the message, but when he heard nothing, he glared at his older friend. Komui was looking hesitant, his eyes brushing from him to an unaware angel that was sitting beside him. Lavi only waved his hand and rested it behind the angel's chair, allowing the demon to speak the message in front of the angel too, "Malcolm was spotted at the edge of the terrain!"
Allen didn't know who Malcolm was, but from the way that Lavi had immediately stiffened and the way that his wings quickly sharpened, he knew that this Malcolm fellow was bad news. He saw Lavi standing up and growling with that demonic voice that scared everyone in the vicinity but him, "eraperp rof elttab,"
Allen raced along the many winding corridors, already losing sight of the running Lavi and Komui ahead of him. His wings tried to give him the familiar burst of speed, but with the limitations of space and the presence of the shackles, Allen can only run so fast. Allen had never wanted to curse anything so vehemently in his angelic life before, but he was nearly there. Father, these things are really a nuisance! Allen rolled his eyes as he tried to catch his breath from running a long distance. He continued walking in a brisk pace; his mind automatically knowing where Lavi would've gone to.
Everywhere he looked around the courtyard were demons preparing for battle. He artfully dodged moving demons who carried strange weapons and kept his wings folded so as to avoid knocking over stacked bottles and bags filled with smoked potions. The entire castle was in motion with this new piece of news, making Allen wonder just who was this Malcolm and how did he cause such a ruckus till Lavi himself had to intervene? His silvery eyes caught sight of a familiar demon mage with two long ponytails and beautiful, grey wings trailing behind her.
"Lenalee! Lenalee! Over here!" Allen ran to his friend's side, matching his pace to her own as she carried a wooden box filled with glass bottles. He took the box away from her without breaking his stride as he enquired, "Who's this Malcolm? What's going on?"
Lenalee growled as she marched along the paved way, "The worst demon you can ever encounter upon. He doesn't care about clans and the only thing he's after is blood and power. He's also the only Demon Lord around besides Lavi," Lenalee hissed, her eyes glowed bright red and her wings sharpened, "I don't trust him at all!" Lenalee led them towards the entrance of the castle, where the main party of soldier demons were awaiting for the Demon Lord's orders.
Lavi rolled his neck to hear the satisfying pop sound as his stretched his wings out fully. Summoning his familiar black and red armour, Lavi removed his childish headband away to –futilely- smoothen out his wild red hair. The shadows that appeared with the demonic armour began to surround Lavi like slithering snakes, the grass underneath him were already showing signs of wilting and decay. His black halo was over his head, mobilised only when Lavi has intentions to use his full power as Demon Lord of the powerful Black Order clan. His very appearance struck fear into his enemies' undead hearts while his powerful devilish aura made the nearby demons chock. Nobody within the area was unaffected by Lavi's demon state.
"Lavi!"
Apparently, 'nobody' did not include 'angel'.
Lavi watched as the innocent angel ran towards him, only stopping just a few steps in front of him. The two strong opposing forces made the close demons take a few steps back; Lavi's deathly aura mingling dangerously with Allen's lively own. The angel's eyes were in deep worry now, his pretty face distorted by a miserable frown. The angel had his hands clasped together in tight fists as if praying to him, a Demon Lord, "Lavi! You can't go! I have a bad feeling about this!"
Of course, this thing stops me just because of a 'bad feeling'… Lavi smirked with a taunt ready on his tongue. But when he saw the angel's eyes still unwavering in steely determination, he held the words back. This creature was far from being reckless, Lavi had learnt. The very fact that this angel had bravely stood against the strong Chimera with no weapons but his wings made Lavi rethink his opinion.
The spiritual being was nothing less than an unexpected addition to his clan; constantly asking questions to further his understanding, always helping his clan members regardless of his own troubles, looking after the children happily whenever their parents were off doing patrols and duties. Everyone who knew the angel had nothing but praises and good comments coming from their lips; and the creature was supposed to be their natural archenemy! Heck, he couldn't even remember when was the last time that a demon sharpened their wings around the angel and when had the angel stop curling his own white wings around his small body protectively. The very fact that his clan was so comfortable with the angel and vice versa had sent Lavi's mind reeling.
The angel had done more than just earned the recognition of his clan members; he had earned their respect as well.
Lavi sighed and bowed his head, his sharp wings coming to rest as they touched the tips of Allen's own fluttering wings as poor assurance, "I promise I'll be back. So stop worrying, short beansprout,"
Without waiting for a reply, Lavi took off into the sky. His demon soldiers following behind him faithfully as they flew to their target with speed and haste.
~.~
Miranda was humming to herself as she arranged her potions on the shelves. She took a curious glance at a silent Allen, who was deep in reading with full concentration. Allen can barely string demonic words together through verbal means, but Miranda was proud to say that Allen can at least understand what others were talking about now. The little angel had even begun to read simple texts effortlessly!
"What're you reading there, Allen?"
Allen didn't take his eyes off the page as he replied back with stubbornness in his unbroken voice and a visible pout, "Lavi's going to come back with injuries, and I just know it. At least, if I understand how potions and other spells work, I can help him,"
So CUTE! Miranda squealed in the inside. She patted his fluffy head with a book as she looked out of the window from her infirmary and saw a patrol of demons flying towards them, "Oh, they're back so fast?"
~.~
Meanwhile, Kanda was asking for Lavi's attention, "Hey.. Why do you think Malcolm decided to attack the outskirts for?"
"I don't know, Yu," Lavi growled, his eyes trained on his destination rather than the reason.
Komui picked up on Kanda's words and he too, started to wonder closely, "You're right… There's practically zilch out here; no food, no patrol, no treasures… Why would Malcolm come here… When there's nothi-"
In an instant, Lavi felt his blood crawl as the sudden realisation hit him straight in the face. How can I be so blinded?!
~.~
Allen's senses screamed at him once again, "MIRANDA! WATCH OUT!" his warning made Miranda turn to avoid a screeching arrow that was originally aimed at her chest. Allen quickly jumped to her side; the arrow embedded itself in Miranda's right arm instead. His eyes saw the oncoming demon patrol. But there was nobody he recognised, judging by the bloodthirsty look on their hungry faces and the malicious weapons that they carried. Allen called out in anger as he raced in the corridors after making sure that Miranda was safe from death's clutches, "LENALEE! GET EVERYONE INSIDE!"
~.~
It's a trick to get us out of the castle- Lavi cursed as he raced back to his oblivious clan and a defenseless angel who had nothing to do with this. Lavi clenched his hands tightly as he doubled his speed back –Shit, it's a bloody trap!
Ta Da! Oh dear, I put Allen in trouble again, didn't I? I'm a terrible person XD I'm also terribly sorry for this short chapter, I'll get to work on the next one ASAP, so please forgive me! Here, have some tidbits about a Demon Lord's mode:
When he summons his armour, it means that he's getting serious into a battle and that he's going to use his full-power. Frankly speaking, Lavi doesn't like summoning his Demon Lord armour and powers most of the time because it takes too much energy out of compensate for that lost energy, Lavi sucks the life energy out of every living creation around him. Demon Lords are known for their dominance and almighty powers, but Lavi likes talking and bonding with his clanmates more than showing off. Maybe that's why Lavi goes around in his daily life in his normal clothes instead of constantly wearing his battle armour.. Because he knows that his clanmates won't approach him when he's in his Demon Lord mode. If you ask him why he doesn't like wearing his armour, he'd answer you with a, "because it makes me feel lonely," (demons love interaction; you don't usually see a lone demon because solo demons tend to go nuts and lose their sanity)
So maybe that's why Lavi was so surprised that Allen remained unaffected by his Demon Lord side; Although Allen is a stranger and still new to the demons' way, he is also the only one who can approach Lavi in his demon Lord mode. That discovery must've took Lavi by surprise a bit, since he had long accepted the fact that he was unapproachable to everyone whenever he wears his armour.
So far, Allen is still oblivious to this fact. He's still our naive little angel who thinks "Why doesn't anyone go near Lavi? I don't sense any difference from Lavi; Oh! His armour is beautiful!"
With Allen around, I don't think Lavi feels lonely anymore...
That's it for now! I would love to hear from you nonetheless as motivation! Throw me a comment if you have the time, I treasure them all. Have an awesome-filled day! =D