[Fic] Faith, Judgment, Why, Resistance
All of which go together, hence why they're all in the title. This throws in a bit of a theory I have...um. You should pick up on it at Allen's portion at the end. *nod* No pairings, no nadda, warnings for angst blood and violence...also an Akuma that is--soul-less yes it will make sense. if you think about it.
Yes it's 4AM in the morning and I'm still up. Also the journal has been edited since LJ wasn't a b*tch about the length
All of these prompts were asked for/by panda_pon COMMENTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED
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.:Tokusa - Faith:.
Or lack of it. He smiled grimly at the littered bodies, decaying, bubbly mess--before looking up at the--figure.
Because he couldn't call it human. And he hated it. Because now--more than ever--faith was something they needed. But didn't have.
Somewhere off to the left he heard Allen Walker groan in pain--fighting, internally and externally with himself. It was no secret the stigma forming on his forehead--slowly and painfully--
He. Was losing.
Their faith was losing.
How foolish to place such hope on such young shoulders He looked at his arms, stumps, theoretically--and now he was worthless.
Absolutely utterly useless.
He should be dead now, if it wasn't for that boy's actions.
Where was the faith in that? In kind words? He was as useless as these corps turning to liquid goo as their worst nightmare (or one of them) continued to run around blindly--
An angel in every appearance except for the souls and blood it stole.
The Level Five. Perverse in beauty--reveling in pain. And--
He heard someone curse, and then a high pitched laugh--
And the redhead was falling like a limp lamb. But still standing--growling--
"Fuck this."
Tokusa frowned. This? This what? So vague. He leaned his head against the rock he was hiding behind and wondered--this yes--situation, this--monster in front of them--
"Why does it hurt."
His eyes widened, and he whipped around again.
"Fuck this, fuck this."
Faith wasn't something that Tokusa had.
He knew that. Now--with the boy rolling to stand--
"That was--Lavi--wasn't it?" Breathing--panting, trying to force himself up, despite the pain he was sure he felt--if anything truthful reflected back in those gray eyes.
"Maybe."
"Answer me."
"See for yourself." He nodded his head to the bloodied and mass of redhair forcing itself up --and those gray eyes widened, "Not that you can do anything."
"But--Lavi."
"Not that you can do anything." Tokusa repeated--wishing he could reach out and stop Crown Clown Activated--and another high pitched screech coming from the abomination--
"I can."
Tokusa didn't believe in faith.
He made a point not to.
But when he watched--white hair, sweat, and grey skin, walk with too firm steps--into the midst of a battle that would be deemed 'lost' by many--
He couldn't help but think--maybe--
Maybe there was salvation for the corrupt. If it was enough. If it was enough to believe--in the thing humans called 'Faith'.
.:Link - Judgement:.
When he had first begun, Link knew--more so than others--that judgment must be served with a harsh, impartial hand. No matter the circumstances, the rules must be obeyed, the judgment to be served.
Yes. That's what he had thought after strict years of teaching. Strict years of an unbreakable code and punishment at the slightest mishap.
But now--with the figure cloaked in white, staggering out from behind the safe hold--to stand in the way of the enemy--both Innocence and Noah vying for power in the same body--he had to wonder.
Had Judgment done this? Had the judgment truly been correct? Could punisment--could Judgment cover this?
The rules said yes.
He said no.
So he stayed--coughing up dust and cringing with the rest of them --when Walker cried out in pain as he invoked his Innocence--drawing the heavy blade in an equally as heavy hand.
Judgment be damned.
He'd rather be damned.
.:Lavi - Why:.
It had hit him with the force of something very very foreign. Something he didn't necessarily--want. Need. Like.
But then he figured, it was never that nice--was it? When he felt his own blood leak out of him--as his back hit the ground--and he was sure he cried out, Innocence burning in his grip as it threatened to hold on--screamed against the pain of the binds that held it.
It doesn't deserve this He knew it didn't.
Why me?
"Why...does it hurt...?" He wheezed, hands ungloved because he didn't like gloves and Tessei screaming--yowling--along with the Akuma he was sure was going to gut him now. Because he /couldn't/ get up. Even with the hand settling on his shoulder--hefting him up--
Even with the added yell of a very familiar beansprout--Why?
Why? Why? Why was he being saved? Didn't they--know? He clenched his hammer a little tighter at the panicked voice--"It isn't stopping."
He didn't even ask why Link was the one here--why he hadn't run when he was sure Allen had screamed for them to get away. That was just like him wasn't it?
"n' Inspect'r t'th' very end, eh?" He managed to get his lips working enough to wheeze out, gripping Tessei, and using it as leverage, to push himself away--ignoring the hand trying to force him down--"S'okay--"
"You're in critical condition." Ah, his eye flickered, as pain seered up through his right arm, to tingle somewhere behind his eye patch--Why was it hurting?
"Ya dun think I know tha' mister IN-spec-tor?" He wondered when he started to slip into a slur that was an accent and not just 'Lavi', but did it matter?
No. No it didn't. Neither did the warm blood soaking through his Exorcist Jacket. None of it mattered--
"You need to rest--"
"Y'need ta get Toku-chan outta here." He could barely register two feet from two inches but it was enough to see the blond flinch and turn his head to the hiding place where Tokusa lay--helpless.
How was it like being helpless?
/Why/ did they have to be helpless?
Why? Why? Why?
"Why does it hurt?"
Green eyes widened, "What?"
"Jus' go." He had heard but that didn't matter much either, when his hand traced up and pressed against his eyepatch --
*Why did it hurt? He --Why?
/Goddammit/
"Lavi!" It wasn't Allen that called him.
It wasn't--
And maybe he would regret it, when he saw silver turn to gold and focus on him. Him, him /him/.
Maybe he almost regretted it when--another searing tendril of pain shot through his hand and--he dropped Tessei
He dropped his Innocence.
Maybe he nearly regretted it when his eyepatch wasn't there anymore. When he could see--through spread fingers. It was there.
There with the cross embedded on his palm.
Maybe he regretted it when the Innocence screamed. When the binds broke.
But like with everything--rules were meant to be broken.
Or so he'd like to think.
.:Allen - Resistance:.
It was in retrospect that Allen figured--maybe being labeled was for his own good, as a hand scratched at the newly forming stigma--the sign--crossing his forehead like a burn--like a beacon. He couldn't turn back after this.
He knew this. Resistance was futile--is what it--is what the /14th/ seemed to be saying. But what was a fight without resistance? He wouldn't lose--no--no he wouldn't--
"Why...does it...hurt...?" He wondered, though he more than knew the answer when he pushed himself from the ground--to look up--because--he was --he couldn't lose and--
Was that a body? Red hair mixed with red blood, in a way he never wanted to see. Ever. Ever--
"Fuck this, Fuck this." He hissed out--hand hitting the ground as Tokusa--ah Tokusa was here, staring at him, wide eyed in shock because--haha--who would've thought he'd still be fighting?
No one, not really.
"That was--Lavi--wasn't it?" He breathed, wincing--eyes trying hard to remain focused on Tokusa's own--which was hard. Harder than he expected, but he saw the flash of recognition in him. He wasn't the 14th. He'd never be the 14th. Not really. Not if any reminant of himself could be --salvaged after this. No. No --talk like that.
"Maybe." The reply was hesitant at best. As if he was--
"Answer me." Maybe enough force would --
"See for yourself." It seemed to work, and Allen's eyes found that bloody mass again--eyes widening because--that--it --was Lavi. "Not that you can do anything." It was an after thought, snide and more than just a little bitter.
He'd just have to prove him wrong, "I can." So--he did just that, standing on shaky legs, and invoking Crown Clown--as always, ignoring the burn, the threat of Falling because-how could he fall when he was the only hope?
Their faith. He had to fight. No excuses.
So he stood there--in front of the Level 5--watching as it's wings spread--gruesome, and so angelic and--the soul. He readied himself for the painful blast--but none ever came. It was so natural now and--
And--
Soulless?
He barely had time to block an attack--but he knew he had to. He had seen Link rush forward, out of the corner of his eye, when everyone else had retreated--Link was still there, by Lavi's body.
Lavi. Lavi must be protected.
He couldn't be dead. He couldn't be--So he blocked--even if it --no. He wouldn't die either. They would come out of htis alive--like Komui had said--they would--there was no if.
So he grit his teeth and blocked again--even when he heard garbled voices, and heard Link say--something--something and then--
And then. And then--
His eyes widened, and he whirled around, "Lavi....?"
Because there was blood. Blood. ON the hand. On his shoulder.
But it wasn't Lavi.
That wasn't Lavi--couldn't be Lavi--eye patch off, and--smiling in a way that just--
And then he was in front of him. Tessei extended out, eyes closed--and--the seals were called out--in the familiar way that they always were.
But now--there were--chains--
"So it really happened." It was a whisper, words nearly foreign to Allens' ears--"Well I suppose it's fine now. Neh, sorry 'bout that. I suppose." and just like that--the seals--each
Each, each, each--
Broke.
Shattered. Reformed--more intricate.
And the Akuma screamed And Allen's eyes widened--wait /what/--?
"You're--You're--You're--!" One finger--raised--pointed--eyes (if they could be called that on such a beast) widening, "The--the--the Heart! The Earl--I must--THe HEART! The Hear--"
And that's when Allen saw them. Black--chain-like tendrils of dark matter. Slowly working their underneath the Akuma--who was currently trying to use its wings to escape--
Only for the tendrils to shoot up and--
The Akuma screamed once more--as a wing was torn, bloodily, from its back--the other fluttering more frantically --only to be torn a second later--and land in a bloody heap next to its legs.
But--but--
"The...Heart....?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't see the point in you telling the person who's trying to kill me." the black tendrils reached out and around and--
Each. Scream. Each. and Every. Scream.
Of the. Countless. Humans. Akuma. Allen staggered for a moment--covering his ear--as each black tendril pierced through a different portion of its metallic shaded body--
"Especially if he's already seen me."
And then--with an even louder screech than before--the Akuma rose up--and--
"And here we go~"
A wall of earth surrounded him. Surrounded as he heard the Explosion, as the ground beneath them shook --trembled as if--as if something--
Allen thought he might be sick. But he remained --eyes widening--when
Those eyes turned back to him.
A smile, "Sorry about that. But I can't have the Earl knowing just yet." And then a finger reached out--and traced the stigma on his forehead--the touch burning, but at the same time healing the flesh wound, "After all, he hasn't even kept /his/ promise yet.--so--You've done your best."
Allen blinked, eyes widening just a bit more as--what? The--the scars were--healing--?
"Just something for your efforts. I really should be going now."
"But who--"
"Don't worry about that. Not right now, please." both eyes closed, and the hand retracted, to trace at his right eye--the one always covered--on 'Lavi' --"I--am currently being yelled at so..." He turned then, on his own two feet and Allen watched--watched--as he walked back over to where his eyepatch Lay, forgotten on the ground, and picked it up, slowly, tying it around his head in the next minute--smiling the entire time--
"If you want to know more--then ask your Master."
And then, just like that--he was gone. Leaving Lavi's body--to stagger, sway--to--
Put up little resistance.
What little resistance they had. And--
"Lavi!?"
"Sprout?"
A cross. embedded in his palm.
And blood.
Was this their resistance?
Yes it's 4AM in the morning and I'm still up. Also the journal has been edited since LJ wasn't a b*tch about the length
All of these prompts were asked for/by panda_pon COMMENTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED
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.:Tokusa - Faith:.
Or lack of it. He smiled grimly at the littered bodies, decaying, bubbly mess--before looking up at the--figure.
Because he couldn't call it human. And he hated it. Because now--more than ever--faith was something they needed. But didn't have.
Somewhere off to the left he heard Allen Walker groan in pain--fighting, internally and externally with himself. It was no secret the stigma forming on his forehead--slowly and painfully--
He. Was losing.
Their faith was losing.
How foolish to place such hope on such young shoulders He looked at his arms, stumps, theoretically--and now he was worthless.
Absolutely utterly useless.
He should be dead now, if it wasn't for that boy's actions.
Where was the faith in that? In kind words? He was as useless as these corps turning to liquid goo as their worst nightmare (or one of them) continued to run around blindly--
An angel in every appearance except for the souls and blood it stole.
The Level Five. Perverse in beauty--reveling in pain. And--
He heard someone curse, and then a high pitched laugh--
And the redhead was falling like a limp lamb. But still standing--growling--
"Fuck this."
Tokusa frowned. This? This what? So vague. He leaned his head against the rock he was hiding behind and wondered--this yes--situation, this--monster in front of them--
"Why does it hurt."
His eyes widened, and he whipped around again.
"Fuck this, fuck this."
Faith wasn't something that Tokusa had.
He knew that. Now--with the boy rolling to stand--
"That was--Lavi--wasn't it?" Breathing--panting, trying to force himself up, despite the pain he was sure he felt--if anything truthful reflected back in those gray eyes.
"Maybe."
"Answer me."
"See for yourself." He nodded his head to the bloodied and mass of redhair forcing itself up --and those gray eyes widened, "Not that you can do anything."
"But--Lavi."
"Not that you can do anything." Tokusa repeated--wishing he could reach out and stop Crown Clown Activated--and another high pitched screech coming from the abomination--
"I can."
Tokusa didn't believe in faith.
He made a point not to.
But when he watched--white hair, sweat, and grey skin, walk with too firm steps--into the midst of a battle that would be deemed 'lost' by many--
He couldn't help but think--maybe--
Maybe there was salvation for the corrupt. If it was enough. If it was enough to believe--in the thing humans called 'Faith'.
.:Link - Judgement:.
When he had first begun, Link knew--more so than others--that judgment must be served with a harsh, impartial hand. No matter the circumstances, the rules must be obeyed, the judgment to be served.
Yes. That's what he had thought after strict years of teaching. Strict years of an unbreakable code and punishment at the slightest mishap.
But now--with the figure cloaked in white, staggering out from behind the safe hold--to stand in the way of the enemy--both Innocence and Noah vying for power in the same body--he had to wonder.
Had Judgment done this? Had the judgment truly been correct? Could punisment--could Judgment cover this?
The rules said yes.
He said no.
So he stayed--coughing up dust and cringing with the rest of them --when Walker cried out in pain as he invoked his Innocence--drawing the heavy blade in an equally as heavy hand.
Judgment be damned.
He'd rather be damned.
.:Lavi - Why:.
It had hit him with the force of something very very foreign. Something he didn't necessarily--want. Need. Like.
But then he figured, it was never that nice--was it? When he felt his own blood leak out of him--as his back hit the ground--and he was sure he cried out, Innocence burning in his grip as it threatened to hold on--screamed against the pain of the binds that held it.
It doesn't deserve this He knew it didn't.
Why me?
"Why...does it hurt...?" He wheezed, hands ungloved because he didn't like gloves and Tessei screaming--yowling--along with the Akuma he was sure was going to gut him now. Because he /couldn't/ get up. Even with the hand settling on his shoulder--hefting him up--
Even with the added yell of a very familiar beansprout--Why?
Why? Why? Why was he being saved? Didn't they--know? He clenched his hammer a little tighter at the panicked voice--"It isn't stopping."
He didn't even ask why Link was the one here--why he hadn't run when he was sure Allen had screamed for them to get away. That was just like him wasn't it?
"n' Inspect'r t'th' very end, eh?" He managed to get his lips working enough to wheeze out, gripping Tessei, and using it as leverage, to push himself away--ignoring the hand trying to force him down--"S'okay--"
"You're in critical condition." Ah, his eye flickered, as pain seered up through his right arm, to tingle somewhere behind his eye patch--Why was it hurting?
"Ya dun think I know tha' mister IN-spec-tor?" He wondered when he started to slip into a slur that was an accent and not just 'Lavi', but did it matter?
No. No it didn't. Neither did the warm blood soaking through his Exorcist Jacket. None of it mattered--
"You need to rest--"
"Y'need ta get Toku-chan outta here." He could barely register two feet from two inches but it was enough to see the blond flinch and turn his head to the hiding place where Tokusa lay--helpless.
How was it like being helpless?
/Why/ did they have to be helpless?
Why? Why? Why?
"Why does it hurt?"
Green eyes widened, "What?"
"Jus' go." He had heard but that didn't matter much either, when his hand traced up and pressed against his eyepatch --
*Why did it hurt? He --Why?
/Goddammit/
"Lavi!" It wasn't Allen that called him.
It wasn't--
And maybe he would regret it, when he saw silver turn to gold and focus on him. Him, him /him/.
Maybe he almost regretted it when--another searing tendril of pain shot through his hand and--he dropped Tessei
He dropped his Innocence.
Maybe he nearly regretted it when his eyepatch wasn't there anymore. When he could see--through spread fingers. It was there.
There with the cross embedded on his palm.
Maybe he regretted it when the Innocence screamed. When the binds broke.
But like with everything--rules were meant to be broken.
Or so he'd like to think.
.:Allen - Resistance:.
It was in retrospect that Allen figured--maybe being labeled was for his own good, as a hand scratched at the newly forming stigma--the sign--crossing his forehead like a burn--like a beacon. He couldn't turn back after this.
He knew this. Resistance was futile--is what it--is what the /14th/ seemed to be saying. But what was a fight without resistance? He wouldn't lose--no--no he wouldn't--
"Why...does it...hurt...?" He wondered, though he more than knew the answer when he pushed himself from the ground--to look up--because--he was --he couldn't lose and--
Was that a body? Red hair mixed with red blood, in a way he never wanted to see. Ever. Ever--
"Fuck this, Fuck this." He hissed out--hand hitting the ground as Tokusa--ah Tokusa was here, staring at him, wide eyed in shock because--haha--who would've thought he'd still be fighting?
No one, not really.
"That was--Lavi--wasn't it?" He breathed, wincing--eyes trying hard to remain focused on Tokusa's own--which was hard. Harder than he expected, but he saw the flash of recognition in him. He wasn't the 14th. He'd never be the 14th. Not really. Not if any reminant of himself could be --salvaged after this. No. No --talk like that.
"Maybe." The reply was hesitant at best. As if he was--
"Answer me." Maybe enough force would --
"See for yourself." It seemed to work, and Allen's eyes found that bloody mass again--eyes widening because--that--it --was Lavi. "Not that you can do anything." It was an after thought, snide and more than just a little bitter.
He'd just have to prove him wrong, "I can." So--he did just that, standing on shaky legs, and invoking Crown Clown--as always, ignoring the burn, the threat of Falling because-how could he fall when he was the only hope?
Their faith. He had to fight. No excuses.
So he stood there--in front of the Level 5--watching as it's wings spread--gruesome, and so angelic and--the soul. He readied himself for the painful blast--but none ever came. It was so natural now and--
And--
Soulless?
He barely had time to block an attack--but he knew he had to. He had seen Link rush forward, out of the corner of his eye, when everyone else had retreated--Link was still there, by Lavi's body.
Lavi. Lavi must be protected.
He couldn't be dead. He couldn't be--So he blocked--even if it --no. He wouldn't die either. They would come out of htis alive--like Komui had said--they would--there was no if.
So he grit his teeth and blocked again--even when he heard garbled voices, and heard Link say--something--something and then--
And then. And then--
His eyes widened, and he whirled around, "Lavi....?"
Because there was blood. Blood. ON the hand. On his shoulder.
But it wasn't Lavi.
That wasn't Lavi--couldn't be Lavi--eye patch off, and--smiling in a way that just--
And then he was in front of him. Tessei extended out, eyes closed--and--the seals were called out--in the familiar way that they always were.
But now--there were--chains--
"So it really happened." It was a whisper, words nearly foreign to Allens' ears--"Well I suppose it's fine now. Neh, sorry 'bout that. I suppose." and just like that--the seals--each
Each, each, each--
Broke.
Shattered. Reformed--more intricate.
And the Akuma screamed And Allen's eyes widened--wait /what/--?
"You're--You're--You're--!" One finger--raised--pointed--eyes (if they could be called that on such a beast) widening, "The--the--the Heart! The Earl--I must--THe HEART! The Hear--"
And that's when Allen saw them. Black--chain-like tendrils of dark matter. Slowly working their underneath the Akuma--who was currently trying to use its wings to escape--
Only for the tendrils to shoot up and--
The Akuma screamed once more--as a wing was torn, bloodily, from its back--the other fluttering more frantically --only to be torn a second later--and land in a bloody heap next to its legs.
But--but--
"The...Heart....?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't see the point in you telling the person who's trying to kill me." the black tendrils reached out and around and--
Each. Scream. Each. and Every. Scream.
Of the. Countless. Humans. Akuma. Allen staggered for a moment--covering his ear--as each black tendril pierced through a different portion of its metallic shaded body--
"Especially if he's already seen me."
And then--with an even louder screech than before--the Akuma rose up--and--
"And here we go~"
A wall of earth surrounded him. Surrounded as he heard the Explosion, as the ground beneath them shook --trembled as if--as if something--
Allen thought he might be sick. But he remained --eyes widening--when
Those eyes turned back to him.
A smile, "Sorry about that. But I can't have the Earl knowing just yet." And then a finger reached out--and traced the stigma on his forehead--the touch burning, but at the same time healing the flesh wound, "After all, he hasn't even kept /his/ promise yet.--so--You've done your best."
Allen blinked, eyes widening just a bit more as--what? The--the scars were--healing--?
"Just something for your efforts. I really should be going now."
"But who--"
"Don't worry about that. Not right now, please." both eyes closed, and the hand retracted, to trace at his right eye--the one always covered--on 'Lavi' --"I--am currently being yelled at so..." He turned then, on his own two feet and Allen watched--watched--as he walked back over to where his eyepatch Lay, forgotten on the ground, and picked it up, slowly, tying it around his head in the next minute--smiling the entire time--
"If you want to know more--then ask your Master."
And then, just like that--he was gone. Leaving Lavi's body--to stagger, sway--to--
Put up little resistance.
What little resistance they had. And--
"Lavi!?"
"Sprout?"
A cross. embedded in his palm.
And blood.
Was this their resistance?