paradisalost | Allen and Cross Thread

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Allen and Cross Thread

Who: Allen (

crossanova)
What: Spoiling Allen for chapter 167 :Db;;;;;
When: NOW?
Where: Allen's room, 506
Rating: PG-13?

Cross hated this place. Not only was it a reminder of headquarters, but the fact that they were kept prisoners to the whims of something or other too afraid to show face. He'd operated too long on his own, subverting orders while staying just enough in line to get the job done. When he'd left for Central, he'd made a compromise: his knowledge for the chance to speak to Allen Walker.

Of course, this happened instead. The kid was here, free from Rouvelier's dogs. Kind of inconvenient, but what can you do? Originally, he was fine letting the boy remain in the dark. Telling him now would be fruitless and without the gaze of Central...

Cross stopped in front of 506, plucked a cigarette from his jacket and kicked in the door. "Oi, show some manners, idiot!"

Even more than this place, he hated the trade off the 14th made. A brown haired sniffling punk, just like before. Tch, so much for laughing at Tiedoll. What a pain.

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Allen had been cleaning up the last remains of a video game system, one that had been mauled to the point of no return. His (something he was still getting used to) golem sat on his head, clearly proud of the work it had accomplished despite Allen's scoldings. "I wonder if it was jealousy that caused this," he muttered as he dumped the last of the broken plastic and chewed wires into the trash.

It was then he heard the kick at the door and the familiar voice from the other side of the door. Seeing the irony and feeling instant irritation aside, Allen was confused. His Master had only come to his room a few times in the past - and never for a casual visit. Something was going on.

Going over to the door, he opened it up. Sure enough, it was him. "Master? What are you doing here?"

Cross eyed the golem as it suddenly flew frantically at his head. When it perched, he flicked something black from his eyes. A wire...? With a slurping sound, it disappeared. It's gonna break itself one of these days.

Walking to the window, the general snatched Tim from his head and dropped him as he passed Allen.

"You've wanted to ask me something," he muttered around his cigarette, pausing to strike his light. "Right?"

Catching Tim, he stared down at him in his hands before turning his gaze back at his master. There was things he wanted to ask him, one thing more than anything...but he didn't remember, right? That was his loss, that's what he said. Unless...

"Yes...but nothing you could answer here..." He said as he shut the door to his room, never taking his eyes off his master. "Right?"

Perhaps it was crueler to tell the kid now about his fate than to let him wonder what that creature in his mind was. Of course, this was all set in motion from the beginning. This world was borrowed time. Prophecies are rarely ever kind.

He sighed as if he were dealing with an invalid and turned back to face Allen, arms wide. As if it were obvious.

"Of all times to play the idiot brat, geez."

He tilted his head. "You should really know by now."

That.

Horrible.

Bastard.

Before any rationality or self-preservation could stop him, Allen was on the side of the room. A fist flew out aimed directly at his Master's face. People had said after his loss that he was a lot calmer than he used to be- they must of simply not of seen this side of him.

"You were lying to me?! This whole time?!" his voice bordered on a yell. "Why? Of all things!"

He could have avoided the punch. Cross had watched the boy since he was a child, trained him since Mana's death. Allen's anger was predictable. He lashed out like the kid he was. But Cross took it, this one time, and snatched Allen by the collar when he was finished. Tossing him across the room was easy work.

"Calm down if you want to know anything. It's nothing you want to hear."

Allen collided with the floor, narrowly missing the far wall. He was used to being thrown...farther than this even. He glared up at Cross, but didn't dare rising to hit him again - his rational was starting to come forward a little. Even if his Master was horrible for lying to him, this was what he had been waiting for.

"Why.." He heaved out, trying to keep a cap on his anger. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

He focused on his cigarette.

"This place wasn't in my plans. That's all you need to know."

This world was unpredictable. It tampered with them daily, and in an instant, you could be gone.

"You want to know about Mana Walker."

He looked away for a moment at the mention of Mana. Before that...hidden room in the Ark, Allen had never really thought of Mana as being part of the war. He was a pierrot, one that had found and given a child unwanted by all a home. He had loved the child until he died, and then the child went to war against the Earl. Even though his master had found him in the snow so soon after that night...Allen had never considered that there was a connection.

But now...

"Mana," He managed a look back up at his Master, pulling himself back up. "He had something to do with the 14th, didn't he?"

The 14th...

Protect Mana Walker, that had been his job. In the end, there was just a boy with the same last name. Or should he say, in the end, there was only the 14th.

"Yes. There was only one person with the 14th up until he betrayed the Earl and was killed. That person was his older brother, Mana Walker."

Allen's eyes widened. Mana had...he didn't know that he had...of all..

"A brother?"

He never claimed to be a good man, but even this...

"After the 14th died, I promised to watch over Mana. If I did, then the 14th would return to him."

This was a senseless deal, but that's exactly how wars are won, aren't they?

"You promised me that, Allen. You've noticed, haven't you? You've had the 14th's 'memories' implanted within you. You're the host needed for his revival."

...What?

He stared at his Master, shocked and in disbelief. Implanted with 'memories'? When? How did this happen? Why him? What did it even mean?

If it wasn't from the pain from the throw, Allen would of been frozen in place.

"What...what does that mean? When?"

"The reason you were able to play the piano despite never having played before is because those were the 14th's memories."

He flicked ash from his cigarette. "You saw something then, didn't you?"

If the boy had been here as long as he claimed and still maintained this much of himself... Without the Earl and his akuma here, this was a break from their war. Cross debated if that was their luck or their burden. Aw, well.

"As for when, I don't know about that, sorry."

His eyes averted down to the ground again, giving away his answer about seeing something. He had felt something in him, something gross...but that? How could it even happen- why him?

"You don't know at all?!" How could something like that happen to him...and not even recall it? It scared him, scared that someone could do that to him and he was completely unaware.

He scratched the back of his head with a gloved hand. The 14th, the 14th...

It should be a myth, but the proof was alive.

"Oh, wait... must've been before the 14th died."

There was a pause, either to wait to hear if Cross had more to offer or in disbelief at the vague answer.

"That's it?! That's all you know about when?!"

Cross waved a dismissive hand. "I already apologized, get over it!"

He dropped into a chair and draped an arm over the back. That the 14th would've been able to pull off the transfer at all was impossible to believe.

"I didn't buy it myself, until you appeared. The 14th and Mana's lives were hell, constantly on the run from the Noah."

The truth of the matter was, this was just Allen's bad luck.

"The 14th didn't have the luxury or 'who' or 'when.' When he had the chance, he probably chose whoever was nearest as his host. He wanted to kill the Earl with is own bare hands."

So all of this...was because some man had a vendetta. One so deep they'd be willing to do this to an unlucky stranger they came across, implanted things into them and-

"What's...what's going to happen to me?"

He wanted to ask about Mana so badly, he wanted to know if he had known about this all along. But he couldn't form the words yet, they kept crumbling in his mouth.

He stared straight at Allen.

"The 14th's 'memories' will erode away the host and take over."

This place was a luxury. It was expensive. It gave him everything he wanted and the women in the city were like the women of Paris. While he generally approved of beautiful things, this chair was uncomfortable. Cross stood.

He was already fishing for another cigarette when he said, "You will become the 14th. You must've seen the signs."

Erode away....

Allen became frozen in place on the ground while everything spinned around him in his mind. In his own body, he was going to be eroded away until something else took it over. Everything that he was, his body...

What about him? Would he die? Is that what would happen when he was eroded away? Or would it be worse than that? After all these years he had struggled to keep on living, keep going - it was just going to be taken from him and given to someone who had already lived their life without him making a single choice.

"That's..." He could feel himself starting to shake slightly.

"What the hell. That's..unfair."

"Hey," Cross barked and moved to him.

In a quick motion, he slapped Allen. It lacked the violence from times before. Even someone like Cross couldn't expect a different--

"This conversation won't get anywhere with you frozen like that."

Maybe Tiedoll would laugh at him. Wouldn't that be a picture for his gallery.

He flinched from the blow, even if it lacked the power his hits usually had- it still stung. You could always count on his Master to take the violent approach to things.

He knew what he had to ask.

"Did..." he swallowed, unable to complete what he wanted to ask like that. It hurt too much to think about it that way.

"...When Mana said, he loved me. Did he mean me or-" another swallow, but the question was clear. Did Mana just love the thing that was going to erode him away? Was Allen nothing more than a host for his deceased brother to Mana?

He recalled the moment when the dirty stray picked up by Mana was killed and an exorcist was created. The cemetery was stark white, save for the blood on the boy. That was the day he took in another warrior for their cause. He never thought...

Cross knelt in front of him. "Mana seemed to lose it after the 14th died. Who knows if he remembers the past or not. At least, I couldn't tell."

It was ironic.

"He should have picked some good-for-nothing as his host," he said evenly as he pulled Allen against his chest with one hand. Instead of a kid like this.

This was war. In the end, it's the same refrain. Sacrifice something to protect something. Well, that would probably happen ...but not in this world.

Not yet.

Seemed to lose it...maybe he didn't remember the past. Allen wanted to so badly believe that. Even if it was possible it was another one of Master's lies he would like to tell...it was one he wanted to cling to.

There was no response from Allen to the hug and regretful words, not a return in embrace or an effort to push him away. If anything, it just made him more upset inside. If not even Master could be heartless about this...

He wondered why his usual tears did not seem to come.

"I can't laugh at Tiedoll anymore."

When he released, he laid a hand on the boy's head for a moment before standing and glancing toward the window. The sun was shining horribly and the sky was clear blue. He eyed the landscape with distaste; Cross wished for rain.

"It's possible that information is useless here," he muttered as he ran a hand through his hair. "At home, that's the way of it. Here... time is irrelevant. You should think about, Allen."

"Time is irrelevant...?" He said to himself. He remembered a time when Naruto and him lamented about not growing any taller or aging since coming here. It was so trivial but..."You think that there's a chance that I won't become the 14th here, don't you Master?"

Allen could see the irony of it all. The one place that he despised and had been trying so hard to escape was the one place...

It was twisted.

He turned his back on Allen and produced a fresh cigarette. Damn, it never rained here. He hated that about this place. He used to watch the rain with beautiful women, but he always preferred Chinese showers. Cross couldn't remember why.

"It's a possibility. If they don't know we left home..."

In some way, this was the only respite for an exorcist. No wonder it couldn't last.

"In a castle that won't let the dead rest, do you really think this place would allow that transformation?"

Maybe as a loss, Allen thought bitterly but decided not to voice. It was hard for him to feel relief at the possibility that it wouldn't happen here. If anything, it made him feel torn. The options of going home and staying here were both full of painful sacrifices.

"Maybe. I'll...try to figure out if that's the case," he said quietly.

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Allen and Cross Thread

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