(no subject)
About: Part 2 of the Mana & Allen untamable side story.
Part 1
**
And so it was. Through the whirlwind that university (and Mana's life in general) became once his younger brother joined him, Mana studied hard and somehow managed to keep both their necks intact despite all the ugly (and sometimes rather funny, even if the 14th had firmly informed him they were never again speaking of the Rentboy Incident ever again) messes the two of them found themselves in.
Eventually, he became the laywer he'd set out to be, specializing in real estates, and a few years later the 14th was becoming a criminal laywer himself.
The new job was the thing that somehow managed to contain all of the 14th's energy at long last. He focused on every client's case like it was the last and only one, spending all that energy and intent in his clients' best interests. In that aspect, Mana was extremely proud of his little brother, even if he gained a reputation of recklessness and effectiveness, as opposed to Mana's own of reliability and sometimes even brilliance.
Mana's life became something a little calmer, more stable, now that the 14th had finally found something that kept him grounded enough that Mana felt he didn't really need to worry too much. Even if the 14th's preferred line of work tended to involve flagrant cases of corruption and injustice involving underground alpha dogs or anything along those lines. The 14th as terribly smart, after all, and so charming (and partially utterly insane) that he could simply talk himself out of the trickiest situations most of the time. And in case that wasn't enough, he'd decided to take up martial arts during university. He may not be very experienced, but he wasn't completely defenceless either.
They talked on the phone very often, and saw each other at least once every other week - they remained as close as they'd ever been. Only now they didn't have to elbow each other for enough room at the table, and if they had a fight they could go to their respective houses rather than sulk in neighbouring rooms. Not to mention that Mana even acquired a dog at some point, which neither of them had ever experienced because their father had been allergic. He'd named it Excalibur.
Their parents' deaths on a car accident a few years later came as a sudden blow that nearly blew Mana's nice life to smitherens; the violent and completely unexpected way it all happened was almost too much. For both of them. The stern but fond presence of their father would no longer be there for them, or their mother's gentleness and easy affection. There one minute, gone the next. Mana mourned, and coped as well he could, and tried to move on.
It had a more visible and lasting effect on the 14th, and on a positive side. The maturity he'd always been lacking before, despite his age, somehow made itself apparent. He remained the same, of course, still raw power and charm and slight insanity, but more prone to seriousness every now and then, more subdued. His pace went from lightspeed to merely abysmally fast, and he began reflecting a little more on his decisions. He was still reckless and chased after people he shouldn't, hanging out with old friends from university that ran shady businesses and knew shadier people, but there was a heaviness to the 14th's presence that hadn't been there before.
This time period was the only one in Mana's life up to that point that ever made him consider labelling his own life as a calm, boring one. Everything was normal, safe and expected (occasional idiotic behaviour and consequent sulk included) and if Mana wasn't exactly happy he was, at least, content.
Until that afternoon, and that phone call.
Mr. Mana Walker? This is about your... brother, I believe..."
Even before the soft-spoken woman on the phone had finished explaining how they'd found his number, Mana let the phone fall from his lax fingers and fell to his knees on the cold tiled floor of his kitchen, thinking, he can't be dead.
--
Mana's life had never been dull, or sad, or normal. A great part of it was owed to his parents and their support of his own mild quirks. Having them taken from him had been excruciating.
The biggest part of it, however, had been all because of his genius, insane little brother of the irresistible charm and infectious smiles, all he had had left, the only one he still had to protect. And he was gone. The day before, he'd phoned Mana, laughing and eager, telling him how he was just about to nail this one guy he'd been after for ages, how he'd carefully planned everything to catch the guy with the hand in the cookie jar. How that mess he'd been up to his neck in earlier? With this, he'd be totally free to walk away, it was brilliant. Mana had lifted an amused eyebrow his brother couldn't see but guessed and scowled at anyway, and told him to be careful.
And now, messed with the wrong person, they said. Entire warehouse went up in flames in a matter of seconds, they said. Seen inside just before the explosion, they said.
Well, no one could blame Mana for going a teensy little bit mad.
Yet it wasn't the drinking, the not sleeping, or the not eating that eventually made it all go to Hell. It was the robber.
The next day, Mana was so stressed he ended up taking it all out on his boss at work, in a shouting match worthy of the annals of History and by far the most aggressive he'd ever been in all his life to anyone. And so Mana got fired.
With no money, no job, and no family, Mana didn't see any point in hope or in moving on, and added 'no house' and 'no memories' to the list. And because Mana couldn't quite leave him behind, he brought the dog with him.
That was how he came to be out in the snow a few days before Christmas, at a shelter for homeless people, playing a part as a clown to cheer everyone in exchange for a bit more meat on his soup, and finally met the strange little boy with white hair he'd seen once or twice before.
**
Allen, as he came to find was the boy's name, was a complicated little person. Living in the streets, he'd built up a thick wall between himself and the world, an armor with the shape of the "tough guy" he really wasn't. Or, well, it wasn't all of him. The child was very strong indeed - he just didn't quite know how to use his strengths to his advantage, and instead tried to project an image of what strength was to him.
Mana wasn't at all surprised when he caught the boy harrassing some old woman for some change, scowling like he'd hit her and run if she didn't do it quickly. That may have been the first time Mana had felt a pang of, of something a little possessive towards Allen, when he'd stepped up and lowered a hand to his thin shoulder, and told him he'd get farther in life if he wore a smile instead of a scowl.
It had inadvertedly turned into a life lesson for Allen, who seemed to quickly understand the meaning and take shameless advantage of. In that way, he reminded Mana of his deceased brother, and the enthusiasm with each he'd speak to whomever he'd be trying to con into doing something for him, and how with a certain smile at the right moment anyone would always give in.
Allen was like that, a little - a force of nature, capable of lighting up an entire room with a smile when he was truly happy (and he was quickly learning how to do it even when he wasn't so the cooks would sneak in a little more into his plate), possessing a determination quite unlike any Mana had ever seen.
They talked, nearly every day, because in all his complexity and yet pure simplicity mixed in there, Allen was so very interesting, and so like... Mana wouldn't think about him.
Allen kept coming to him, with a broken toy, or a book he wanted read or some bizarre tale about another of his days on the streets.
It was really no wonder when, slowly, Mana began to feel more like himself, and less like the Earth had been ripped from under his feet and he'd lost his center. Allen became the one he could look after, and help, and protect. He became someone dear to Mana, and for him Mana felt the resolve to take back his old life and give Allen the opportunity to have one as well taking shape and strengthening in his mind.
After he found out about Allen's arm and how it was the reason he'd been abandoned at the orphanage he'd ran away from and, despite how wrong it looked, how it must be awful to have something like that for an arm, he still couldn't make himself abandon that idea.
Mouth hanging open in shock at having someone freely and unconcernedly accept his defect, Allen could only let out a choked 'yes' when Mana asked him if he'd be interested in having Mana adopt him.
**
A YEAR LATER
Dear Mana, I hope this note finds you well. It is splendid here in Hawaii! The women are gorgeous! Tell Marian hi for me, yes?
14th
Mana's eyebrow twitched.
He'd lost his job.
His money.
His house.
Even his dog.
In the terrible grief that had enshrouded him, Mana had been barely able to see any reason to live anymore. Because his little brother had been hideously murdered and taken from him. Because he'd failed his brother, and let someone hurt him. Mana had, admittedly, gone mad for a while there, missing his brother and his voice and all the stupid things he said.
And now he got a... a postcard. With a pretty topless woman smiling in her straw skirt. From freakin' Hawaii. With a dried flower attached.
For the second time in his life, Mana Walker threw his arms up in the air and let out a wordless scream of unbridled rage, wishing he could just take his anger out on the entire world.
"Mana?" came Allen's uncertain and slightly worried voice from the kitchen.
"It's nothing, little one." Mana bit out with some difficulty through clenched teeth and a forced smile. "Just some.... very good news." The man ignored Allen's disbelieving expression when he poked his head through the door to look at him.
Oh yes. Very good news. Now he'd have the pleasure of killing his brother himself. Because Mana was going to kill him. He wa going to kill him and this time he was going to bloody dance on the grave.
.End
Part 1
**
And so it was. Through the whirlwind that university (and Mana's life in general) became once his younger brother joined him, Mana studied hard and somehow managed to keep both their necks intact despite all the ugly (and sometimes rather funny, even if the 14th had firmly informed him they were never again speaking of the Rentboy Incident ever again) messes the two of them found themselves in.
Eventually, he became the laywer he'd set out to be, specializing in real estates, and a few years later the 14th was becoming a criminal laywer himself.
The new job was the thing that somehow managed to contain all of the 14th's energy at long last. He focused on every client's case like it was the last and only one, spending all that energy and intent in his clients' best interests. In that aspect, Mana was extremely proud of his little brother, even if he gained a reputation of recklessness and effectiveness, as opposed to Mana's own of reliability and sometimes even brilliance.
Mana's life became something a little calmer, more stable, now that the 14th had finally found something that kept him grounded enough that Mana felt he didn't really need to worry too much. Even if the 14th's preferred line of work tended to involve flagrant cases of corruption and injustice involving underground alpha dogs or anything along those lines. The 14th as terribly smart, after all, and so charming (and partially utterly insane) that he could simply talk himself out of the trickiest situations most of the time. And in case that wasn't enough, he'd decided to take up martial arts during university. He may not be very experienced, but he wasn't completely defenceless either.
They talked on the phone very often, and saw each other at least once every other week - they remained as close as they'd ever been. Only now they didn't have to elbow each other for enough room at the table, and if they had a fight they could go to their respective houses rather than sulk in neighbouring rooms. Not to mention that Mana even acquired a dog at some point, which neither of them had ever experienced because their father had been allergic. He'd named it Excalibur.
Their parents' deaths on a car accident a few years later came as a sudden blow that nearly blew Mana's nice life to smitherens; the violent and completely unexpected way it all happened was almost too much. For both of them. The stern but fond presence of their father would no longer be there for them, or their mother's gentleness and easy affection. There one minute, gone the next. Mana mourned, and coped as well he could, and tried to move on.
It had a more visible and lasting effect on the 14th, and on a positive side. The maturity he'd always been lacking before, despite his age, somehow made itself apparent. He remained the same, of course, still raw power and charm and slight insanity, but more prone to seriousness every now and then, more subdued. His pace went from lightspeed to merely abysmally fast, and he began reflecting a little more on his decisions. He was still reckless and chased after people he shouldn't, hanging out with old friends from university that ran shady businesses and knew shadier people, but there was a heaviness to the 14th's presence that hadn't been there before.
This time period was the only one in Mana's life up to that point that ever made him consider labelling his own life as a calm, boring one. Everything was normal, safe and expected (occasional idiotic behaviour and consequent sulk included) and if Mana wasn't exactly happy he was, at least, content.
Until that afternoon, and that phone call.
Mr. Mana Walker? This is about your... brother, I believe..."
Even before the soft-spoken woman on the phone had finished explaining how they'd found his number, Mana let the phone fall from his lax fingers and fell to his knees on the cold tiled floor of his kitchen, thinking, he can't be dead.
--
Mana's life had never been dull, or sad, or normal. A great part of it was owed to his parents and their support of his own mild quirks. Having them taken from him had been excruciating.
The biggest part of it, however, had been all because of his genius, insane little brother of the irresistible charm and infectious smiles, all he had had left, the only one he still had to protect. And he was gone. The day before, he'd phoned Mana, laughing and eager, telling him how he was just about to nail this one guy he'd been after for ages, how he'd carefully planned everything to catch the guy with the hand in the cookie jar. How that mess he'd been up to his neck in earlier? With this, he'd be totally free to walk away, it was brilliant. Mana had lifted an amused eyebrow his brother couldn't see but guessed and scowled at anyway, and told him to be careful.
And now, messed with the wrong person, they said. Entire warehouse went up in flames in a matter of seconds, they said. Seen inside just before the explosion, they said.
Well, no one could blame Mana for going a teensy little bit mad.
Yet it wasn't the drinking, the not sleeping, or the not eating that eventually made it all go to Hell. It was the robber.
The next day, Mana was so stressed he ended up taking it all out on his boss at work, in a shouting match worthy of the annals of History and by far the most aggressive he'd ever been in all his life to anyone. And so Mana got fired.
With no money, no job, and no family, Mana didn't see any point in hope or in moving on, and added 'no house' and 'no memories' to the list. And because Mana couldn't quite leave him behind, he brought the dog with him.
That was how he came to be out in the snow a few days before Christmas, at a shelter for homeless people, playing a part as a clown to cheer everyone in exchange for a bit more meat on his soup, and finally met the strange little boy with white hair he'd seen once or twice before.
**
Allen, as he came to find was the boy's name, was a complicated little person. Living in the streets, he'd built up a thick wall between himself and the world, an armor with the shape of the "tough guy" he really wasn't. Or, well, it wasn't all of him. The child was very strong indeed - he just didn't quite know how to use his strengths to his advantage, and instead tried to project an image of what strength was to him.
Mana wasn't at all surprised when he caught the boy harrassing some old woman for some change, scowling like he'd hit her and run if she didn't do it quickly. That may have been the first time Mana had felt a pang of, of something a little possessive towards Allen, when he'd stepped up and lowered a hand to his thin shoulder, and told him he'd get farther in life if he wore a smile instead of a scowl.
It had inadvertedly turned into a life lesson for Allen, who seemed to quickly understand the meaning and take shameless advantage of. In that way, he reminded Mana of his deceased brother, and the enthusiasm with each he'd speak to whomever he'd be trying to con into doing something for him, and how with a certain smile at the right moment anyone would always give in.
Allen was like that, a little - a force of nature, capable of lighting up an entire room with a smile when he was truly happy (and he was quickly learning how to do it even when he wasn't so the cooks would sneak in a little more into his plate), possessing a determination quite unlike any Mana had ever seen.
They talked, nearly every day, because in all his complexity and yet pure simplicity mixed in there, Allen was so very interesting, and so like... Mana wouldn't think about him.
Allen kept coming to him, with a broken toy, or a book he wanted read or some bizarre tale about another of his days on the streets.
It was really no wonder when, slowly, Mana began to feel more like himself, and less like the Earth had been ripped from under his feet and he'd lost his center. Allen became the one he could look after, and help, and protect. He became someone dear to Mana, and for him Mana felt the resolve to take back his old life and give Allen the opportunity to have one as well taking shape and strengthening in his mind.
After he found out about Allen's arm and how it was the reason he'd been abandoned at the orphanage he'd ran away from and, despite how wrong it looked, how it must be awful to have something like that for an arm, he still couldn't make himself abandon that idea.
Mouth hanging open in shock at having someone freely and unconcernedly accept his defect, Allen could only let out a choked 'yes' when Mana asked him if he'd be interested in having Mana adopt him.
**
A YEAR LATER
Dear Mana, I hope this note finds you well. It is splendid here in Hawaii! The women are gorgeous! Tell Marian hi for me, yes?
14th
Mana's eyebrow twitched.
He'd lost his job.
His money.
His house.
Even his dog.
In the terrible grief that had enshrouded him, Mana had been barely able to see any reason to live anymore. Because his little brother had been hideously murdered and taken from him. Because he'd failed his brother, and let someone hurt him. Mana had, admittedly, gone mad for a while there, missing his brother and his voice and all the stupid things he said.
And now he got a... a postcard. With a pretty topless woman smiling in her straw skirt. From freakin' Hawaii. With a dried flower attached.
For the second time in his life, Mana Walker threw his arms up in the air and let out a wordless scream of unbridled rage, wishing he could just take his anger out on the entire world.
"Mana?" came Allen's uncertain and slightly worried voice from the kitchen.
"It's nothing, little one." Mana bit out with some difficulty through clenched teeth and a forced smile. "Just some.... very good news." The man ignored Allen's disbelieving expression when he poked his head through the door to look at him.
Oh yes. Very good news. Now he'd have the pleasure of killing his brother himself. Because Mana was going to kill him. He wa going to kill him and this time he was going to bloody dance on the grave.
.End