Day 24: Lunch

[jei]

Not wanting to be dragged along on whatever Mission of Annoyance Schuldig had planned for himself at lunch, Farfarello instead headed straight into the cafeteria, alone

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[broken_exorcist]

Allen followed the nurse, his head still fogged with a thousand questions. But, he remembered, she'd said there was food. He could smell it before they entered the cafeteria. He knew the drill. Allen picked up a tray and started through the line, picking up several of everything that looked good. He reached for a second helping of chips when he felt it.

He whirled around, his tray forgotten. Had another Akuma infiltrated the Order? His left hand twitched at his side and he began tearing away the bandages. His heartbeat quickened and the familiar black and white world returned. Akuma were near, very close now! His left eye became black, the pupil a glowing red as he found his targets. Several of them! He counted at least five just in the cafeteria!

He didn't have time to consider how it had happened, he was just lucky he'd seen them before they'd seen him. He left his tray behind, running full-tilt toward them, targeting the largest and closest first.

"Innocence, activate!" he yelled, placing his right hand on his left shoulder to help absorb the shock as his arm changed into a more powerful weapon.

Only... it didn't. There was a sputtering of the usual light that flared up from his shoulder, then pain, sudden and intense as the invocation rebounded. It shot through him like fire and he winced, doubling over and tripping over his own feet. He tumbled to a stop only inches from the largest one.

He bit back a cry of pain. Few things he'd encountered hurt as much as a failed invocation. He was dead. Several of them, one of him, and he couldn't even invoke his weapon. Even if it was hopeless, he had to try.

"I'll destroy you," he said in a tiny voice as he struggled to get to his feet.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji watched the entire process with the bemused expression of someone that had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. He had no clue what this kid's problem was - maybe he was a Quincy? - but he'd never heard of anything called Innocence in connection with those. He set his tray, now half full, down somewhere convenient, and then grabbed the back of the kid's shirt, using that to "help him to his feet."

In reality, he kept the kid dangling a couple inches off the ground, similar to the way one would scruff a kitten. In his own weakened state, he wasn't strong enough to do that indefinitely, but it'd work for now.

"That was kinda rude," he commented. "You could at least get to know me before you start tryin' to destroy me. The fuck's your problem?"

[broken_exorcist]

Allen expected a number of responses. Gunfire, stab wounds, killer butterflies, but not getting picked up by the back of his shirt. This Akuma's human form was huge, at least a foot taller than him, and held aloft like he was, he couldn't even reach him to do any real damage.

Not that it stopped him from trying.

"I know enough," Allen coughed. The pitiful soul, trapped inside an Akuma, he had to save it. Had to destroy the false body so the soul could be set free. "I know what you are."

[stray_shinigami]

Renji stared at Allen curiously. "Really?" he asked. So maybe this was a Quincy, after all. But he decided to play dumb, for now. "So what am I, then?"

He yawned for good measure.

[broken_exorcist]

Allen's helplessness was infuriating. Why hadn't anyone gone for help yet? Surely he couldn't be the only exorcist here! He couldn't tell what level this one was yet, but he didn't enjoy playing these games. Was this one really so slow, so uninformed that he didn't know what Allen was? He was missing the usual cross on the left side of his chest that signified his rank, but...

"Akuma," he said simply. He struggled in the puppet's grasp, then tried again to invoke the weapon. Even if it was only a basic invocation, anything! But again, he came up with nothing but a sharp and biting pain that ran up and down his arm. This was pathetic! Was all his training for nothing?

"What are you doing here?" he managed. Maybe... maybe if he could just keep it talking until another could get here and stop this madness.

[muted_flame]

Roy had not forgotten his promise to meet up with the man named Renji who had written to him on the bulletin board. He figured it had something to do with weapon forging, seeing as that was all anyone wanted him for these days. He remembered how it had been a few weeks ago, when there weren't nearly as many patients and he could spend most of his dayshift speaking with the people he knew from Amestris rather than being hassled all the time.

Red hair and tattoos... That certainly wouldn't be difficult to locate. And the alchemist caught sight of the man almost right upon entering the cafeteria, mainly because he was holding another patient up by the back of his shirt.

A younger patient, at that. Roy frowned, moving over to the two quickly. He drew up next to Renji. "I didn't know you were in the habit of tormenting children," he said dryly.

[stray_shinigami]

Okay, definitely not a Quincy. Which meant that this bad blood could be cleared up, eventually. If this guy was willing to listen, which he doubted.

"Shinigami," he corrected, sounding bored. "Don't make me hit you so hard that your soul falls out of your goddamn body."

Renji shrugged. "Same as you, gettin' lunch. Before I was so rudely interrupted. You're not in your own world any more. The rules're different."

Before he could continue on, he was interrupted by someone he hadn't met before. He looked over at the man, still holding Allen up. "Only when they're tryin' to..."

He looked at Allen. "You were tryin' to attack me, right? I'm guessin', since you're callin' me a demon. Even if you did fall on my feet." He raised an eyebrow. "If I set you down, are you steady enough, and will you not try to do...whatever it is you did?"

[broken_exorcist]

Shinigami? Allen had a feeling he should remember what that meant. Then again, maybe it was just a name the Akuma had given itself. It hadn't killed him yet, so maybe, like the other Akuma, it's job was only to bring him back and... that meant he'd get to Rinali and the others sooner.

But if what the Akuma said was right and he really wasn't in his own world anymore, then... maybe this was a part of the ark. But... regardless of what world they were in, an Akuma was an Akuma.

"It doesn't matter what world," Allen replied. He'd never actually... had to reason with an Akuma. Well, there was Eliade, but she'd been different. Different circumstances. "I'll still save your soul." His existence... was meaningless if he couldn't do that much. If an exorcist couldn't fight, they might as well be dead.

Allen tried to reach behind his neck to pry the fingers that held him loose. It didn't seem to be doing him much good. And after trying to invoke his weapon twice already, he didn't know if he would be able to stand if the Akuma actually did set him down. Someone else had arrived, but they seemed oblivious to his plight.

"Please, for your own safety, I must insist you take cover sir! This man is terribly dangerous!"

[muted_flame]

This was one of the stranger situations he had happened upon, mainly because Roy couldn't reason out what was actually going on. The teenager was more or less talking nonsense, but it seemed like the basic concept was that he had tried to attack Renji... For some reason.

"I believe you're overreacting," he told the silver-haired boy. "If you're new here, that's understandable. But what do you have against this man?" He glanced at Renji - while he was tense and looked more than a little irked, he wasn't carrying himself as if he was ready to fight.

"Did you do anything to provoke him?" he asked the redhead. While Roy wasn't the best at mediating, he and Renji were supposed to have some sort of talk, and that couldn't happen until this was figured out. It was irritating, but there was no point in complaining about it.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji looked at Roy, his expression actually relaxing a little, since apparently Roy might have a better chance talking some sense into this kid. "Not a damn thing," he said, his tone reasonable in spite of his rather informal language, "unless this one's offended by people like me eating. Which could be a problem, since I got no intention of starving."

He looked back at Allen, his expression becoming firm. "My soul doesn't need to be saved," Renji said, doing his best to still sound reasonable. He continued, in the tone he normally reserved for dogs and retards, "I am a Shinigami. A... hm... death god. So this is a really stupid idea you're havin', here. I'm most likely not from the same place as you, and whatever way you're talkin' about savin', I don't need it. It's my goddamn duty to watch over the livin'." He smirked slightly. "Even if some of you are squirmy little bastards."

His arm was getting a little tired, but he kept Allen suspended for now. He didn't feel like having the kid gnawing on his ankles.

[broken_exorcist]

Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong. Had the other man not heard him correctly? Was he the only sane person here? He supposed it was possible... that this wasn't the Dark Order at all, that this was some other place, but that didn't change the fact that the man in front of him was an Akuma.

This one was even so presumptuous as to refer to himself as a type of God! The Noahs at least were only claiming to be his apostles, but wasn't that going too far?

He looked to the dark-haired man, what other hope did he have? "I know he might look like your friend, but this man is dead! He's no longer the person you knew! He works for the Millennium Earl and he's terribly dangerous! There are others here too, several!" His eyes were pleading, almost on the verge of tears, "You have to believe me! I'm an exorcist, so I can-" He paused, trying to make himself believe the words as well, "I can handle this!"

He squirmed in the red-headed Akuma's grasp, trying to get a leg up since his arms couldn't reach, maybe he could at least get his feet far enough.

[muted_flame]

While Roy had no idea what a Shinigami was, he knew that Renji wasn't dangerous - at least, not toward other patients. While he had never met the man personally, he had heard only good things, so it seemed that this was all a misunderstanding on the teenager's part.

To be quite honest, he was getting sick of his protestations, especially when it was obvious that Renji wasn't trying to hurt him or anyone else. He drew toward the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it firmly.

"You've just woken up here, correct? I'd advise that you calm down, take a few deep breaths, and listen to us before one of the nurses comes over and pumps you so full of drugs you can't see straight. You're bringing a lot of attention to yourself, and you'll soon learn how bad of an idea that is." The colonel happened to be good at verbally smacking unreasonable teenage boys - he only hoped that this one started to come to his senses already.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji sincerely hoped that Allen would listen to Roy; if they attracted too much attention, he might get sedated too, since he already had a bad reputation with the nurses. And that would be very unhelpful.

"I've been dead for quite some time, longer than this gentleman here could possibly have known me," Renji said, calmly. "This is nothing new. Really. I'm Vice Captain of the Sixth Division of the Gotei 13, which is something I figure makes no sense to you. Just like your babbling makes no fucking sense to me, or to this guy here. So chill the fuck out, would you kid?" He sighed. "I'd really like to put you down before you get both of us up shit creek."

[broken_exorcist]

It wasn't the first time someone hadn't believed him about an Akuma. Most people didn't know much about them in the first place. He often wondered why the Vatican didn't publicize that sort of information.

"But..."

And if this wasn't the Order, where was it? There were so many things that didn't make sense. He could only hang in the air and stare after Mustang for a few moments, his mouth hanging slightly ajar. Why would he be afraid of the nurses in the first place? None of them could possibly be worse than Komui. And they never drugged him unless there was work to be done on his anti-akuma weapon.

And there was more. Vice Captain? Gotei? The words were completely unfamiliar, but... but... why hadn't the Akuma attacked yet? Or even transformed?! The behavior was so strange. And if this wasn't the Order... how was he going to get back to Rinali and Ravi and Miranda and the others? The last Akuma had said they were in danger, that the Earl might kill them at any moment! He didn't have time to waste in this... this... whatever game this was!

What was he supposed to do? The only constant he'd ever had in his young life was to destroy Akuma. Ever since he'd been cursed, his left eye saw things so simply, so clearly. Almost like black and white. Akuma or human. Those he could see, he would destroy. He was a weapon. But now... now if he believed these men, that constant was no more. He was shaken.

"No," he shook his head, not even noticing the tears that were beginning to spill over his cheeks. "No, that's impossible! I have to-... I have to..." If he wasn't an exorcist, if he didn't destroy the Akuma, what purpose did he have?

[muted_flame]

Renji was dead? Had been for a long time...? That was a little abnormal, and made him think of the homunculi, but it obviously wasn't the same thing. Here, it wasn't that much of a concern, anyway. Technically, Hughes also dead, wasn't he?

The terms the shinigami was spitting out didn't really matter, as he was just trying to make a point to the boy. It seemed that with their combined efforts, they were finally getting through to him.

But then the tears started flowing. Roy sighed.

He nodded to Renji, an indication that he should put the boy down now, and he backed away slightly to regard the new patient carefully. "Calm down," he said, trying to make his tone softer than normal. "Now, are you willing to let us explain? You'll feel much better once you have a better idea of what's going on."

[stray_shinigami]

Renji agreed with Roy on this one. And seeing the tears on the kids cheeks... well, it just made him feel like the biggest asshole that had ever walked the world. He carefully set the kid back down on his feet, though he kept one hand on him long enough to make sure he was steady.

Really, if it were anyone else, he would've just hugged them. But he doubted this kid would appreciate it, and he wasn't about to get all mushy like that in front of Roy. He did, however, ruffle the kid's hair.

"Hey, it's okay," he said. "Everyone's in the same boat, here." He sure didn't have any Hollows to slay, though he certainly had his other duties to do, and a purpose. "If you want to do your duty, protect people, there are much better ways than coming after me... or any of my people. We're on the same side, here. It sucks, but if we fight together, we'll get through it." As always, when he said those words, as cliche as they sounded, it was obvious that he believed them. And while he didn't know what Allen's duty might be exactly, he could still guess that it was basically protecting people from... something. The way he'd told Roy to run had certainly been an indication of that.