Forever Holding On

Chapter 16

My eyes widened, Allen had his hands out in defense and he slowly stepped forward. I put my hammer down. "What the hell are you doing here?!" I growl slightly. "How did you even know where I-" Allen drops his hands. "I was spying on you okay?" He says calmly. I lowered my head and growled again. "Why?! That's invasion of privacy Allen! I wanted to be alone!" I plop down and pull my legs to my chest again. I bury my face in my legs with just my eyes showing. Allen stood beside me and looked at me. "You don't have to leave Ivory, just trust me..." He bends down and takes a seat beside me.

I shake my head. "No, I don't belong there Allen, how many times to I have to say it, everyone hates me there, thanks to Lavi my reputation is shot, ruined!" My voice cracked, I knew I was in the verge of tears, but I couldn't cry infront if Allen. "Face it, I won't be coming-" I was cut off when Allen takes my wrists and pulls them apart so my face was shown. His eyes burned into mine with all seriousness, I nearly choked on my own breathe. I started to get scared.

"Ivory, listen to me. Just because you're part Noah, part enemy, part hero, doesn't mean that everybody hates you. I'll give you a reason, when I first met you, I didn't care how mean you really were. I, fell in love with you, from the minute I saw you. You are the most, beautiful person I have ever seen. That day, during the mission, when Lavi got angry at you, I thought I would never see you again. My heart was melted to the floor, when you came back, a month later, I couldn't have been happier. So here I am, spilling my heart to you, to make you feel better. I'm not lying to you either Ivory. I swear, with all my heart and soul, I really do, truly love you for who you are. I want you to remember that Ivory, I love you. Please don't be sad."

One salty tear drops onto my cheek, my lips quiver and my body shakes. Allen remains calm and he just touches his hand to my cheek. I give a small whimper as I wipe my eyes, Allen had spilled his feelings to me, and I had never felt so much relief flow into my heart. My cheeks warm a dark blush, and my heart rate picks up, I don't look away from Allen, his gaze us locked on mine and we sit there.

We don't speak after that, I reach up and touch his hand with mine, holding it against my cheek. I felt like the piece to the missing puzzle of my life was complete, fitting perfectly. I hiccup slightly when he moves closer toward my face. My first kiss was about to be stolen, right here. My eyes widened and my mind starts to jumble, Allen closes his eyes and takes both of his hands, pulling my face to his. Finally, his lips press to mine, and we kiss. His lips were soft and smooth, and warm as well. I kiss back with ease as my eyes close. The sunlight reflecting off the water hit us, it felt like fireworks went off inside me.

Allen put's his forehead to mine and brushes his thumb along my cheek. I open my eyes again and look into his, we stare at each other for sometime. Suddenly, I smiled, widely, I couldn't help it. Allen starts to smile too, his other hand rested against mine. "See? I told you I could make you feel better." He says, in the calmest voice. I look at the ground and laugh slightly. "Y-Yeah." I nod at that, but how was I going to explain myself to everyone, Komui, Lavi, apologize to Kanda, or not.

"Do you want to go back now?" Allen stands up extending his hand to me, I look at his hand for a few seconds. Soon I take his hand and pull myself up, we press together and Allen wraps his arms around me again. His face nuzzled into my shoulder, he had to hunch over because of how short I was compared to him. I hug him back and press my face to his shoulder. "Allen." I say. "What if they don't want me back?" I ask him, my voice quivering. Allen holds me by my shoulders and looks me in the eyes. "They will Ivory, trust me, I know a way. Do you believe me?" He cocks his head to the side. After all those times I yelled at him, and ignored him, gave a bad attitude toward him. I realized one thing.

Allen is my savior.

I look at him and give a small smile. "Yeah, I believe you." I say. Allen holds my wrist gently and starts to walk. "Come on." He said. I followed him slowly.

***

"Komui." Allen said sternly. "Just listen." He says, Allen was still holding my wrist. Komui was continuing to ignore Allen as he went through his paperwork. I look at Allen with a frown, he releases my wrist and heaves a sigh. "Komui...." He says. Komui shook his head. "Just give up Allen..." He says. Allen's eye twitched. I stay off to the side and stared at the ground. Allen slams his hands against the desk. "LISTEN TO ME!"

I jump when I heard him yell, it caught me off guard and I held the wall to keep me from falling. I glance at the two, Komui leaned back in his chair, wide eyed from Allen snapping. He stayed silent and pursed his lips together. Allen's nails dug into the wood of the desk. "Give her a damn chance would ya?! Just because Lavi says she's a monster doesn't mean it's true! He is just mad, Ivory wants to stay here, and protect the world, how many times do I have to say it to get it through your head!" Allen snapped

Komui looked off to the side. "Well, why didn't she say it earlier?" He crossed his arms. Allen lowers his head. "Because she was scared, can't you see her? Does she actually look like she wants to cause the world harm? She's only fifteen and she's been through alot in her life. If anyone can just see it I-"

"Allen you need to stop freaking out and calm down." Lavi leaned against the doorway. I feel a jolt go through me and I snap my head up, Allen turns to Lavi and narrows his eyes. "No Lavi, don't tell me to calm down, you're the one who's causing harm for Ivory, she is your little sister and you call her evil, a monster. She went missing for a month! You didn't even care! Can't you see how hurt she is? She's corrupted and broken because of how horrible you made her feel. So if you want to tell me to calm down, think twice, because this is your fault too." He puts his finger on his shoulder.

Lavi uncrosses his arms and just stared at Allen, he opens his mouth to say something. "Tch..." He turns away and narrows his eyes. "I..." He can't say anything. Allen glared intensely. "Well?" He tips his head. I finally walk up to Allen and stand beside him, feeling stronger than I was. I cross my arms and look at Lavi with one eye. Lavi looks down at me and he stares for a while, looking at my eye, my arms and just my expression. His big green eyes looked at the ground and he rubbed his forehead. "Ivory...I..." He shakes his head.

"I told you Lavi, I was scares, because I knew this whole thing was going to happen. You didn't listen to me." I say, my voice cracks. Lavi nods. "I know I know...I just...I don't..." He stays quiet. "Remember that day, I questioned why your hair was white?" He looks at me. I look at the ground, he remembered.

~Memory~

I woke up that morning, I was eight years old then. I do my daily routine by looking at myself in the mirror, and fixing up my red hair. When I waddled toward the mirror, my eyes widened, I stifle a scream and I fall on my butt. My red hair, my brick red hair, had faded to white. The Noah inside me awoke, and had changed my appearance. I cover my face and shake my head. "I have to cover this up, I have to..." I say in a quiet voice.

~End~

"Yes, I was eight." I look at Lavi, cringing at the memory. Lavi heaves a sigh. "So you didn't really strip your hair from it's color did you?" He tips his head. I look at the ground and shake my head. "No, that was the Noah awakening in me." I say slowly, it was extremely hard to explain to Lavi the whole story, but I had to. Lavi turns around slowly and puts his hands on his hips. "I see.." He mumbled tapping his foot, Allen and I look at each other then back at Lavi.

Lavi then turned around, he looked down at me. Reaching out, he held my shoulders gently, and then, he pulled me toward him and hugged me. "Don't ever keep anything like that from me again Ivory, you should have told me way sooner, then I wouldn't have acted like I did." He says into my ear. I suck in a sharp breathe, tears sting my eyes and I grabbed the back of his shirt. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry Lavi." I say quivering. Lavi nods slowly and puts his hand on the back of my head.

"I'm sorry too."