the last request

chapter 4

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Allen's head snapped around and he looked at his door. Who would want to talk to him, especially after the way he had treated everyone. He thought for a moment. He hadn't been horrible to Miranda, Krory, or Timothy… Or any of the Generals. In fact, the list of people that he had been rude to was far smaller than the list of people he hadn't been rude to… yet. Maybe Lavi was there to yell at him. He had seen the look on Lavi's face. He seemed pretty annoyed.

Knock, knock!

"C-come in!" Allen said breathlessly, upon hearing the knocking on the door again. He was further shocked, upon seeing Lenalee walk in, and he shot up in his chair, nearly falling out of it and hitting his head on the wall.

"Geez, Allen-kun… Are you alright?" Lenalee asked, smiling sympathetically.

"I'm fine…" Allen lied. "Did you leave something in here? I haven't found anything…" Allen said quietly, not daring to look Lenalee in the eye. Lenalee walked over, and dragged the chair with Allen still in it over to the bed, and then sat down on his bed next to him.

"No, dummy. I'm here to talk to you. I just wanted to apologize for what I said to you, and…"

"No… Please don't. Y-you're right to hate me. I've never done anything to deserve such good friends…" Allen said melancholically, glancing away from Lenalee for a moment. Lenalee grabbed Allen's cheek, though, and forced him to look at her.

"Allen-kun… Look at me. Stop staring off into space. You haven't done anything wrong, and you didn't deserve to be treated like I treated you. I was angry, and maybe just a bit jealous that you said so blatantly that you had slept with Road. But I'm still curious. You killed her, and yet… you were talking about her in your dream. Y-you aren't… in love with her, are you?" Lenalee asked, looking worriedly at Allen as though his answer would define their relationship forever after. So much pressure. How did he put it?

"I'm not." He replied honestly. "It's strange. I used to hate Road. To me, she was a monster in league with the Earl, and she needed to be destroyed. But in her dream world, she told me that she loved me, and that all she ever really wanted was for someone to truly love her back. She could have been lying. She's probably a pretty good liar, but I felt bad for her, and felt like if I was going to kill her, I could at least grant her last request… Even if it wasn't nearly as special for me. I did it for the information. I did it so I would have the chance to kill her… So, I exorcised her with my Sword in her dream, and then cut her with my Edge in the real world, and I ended her.

"After that, though, I kept thinking about her, because of strange dreams that I kept having where I would see a fleeting shadow of her, or hear her giggling. Then, last night, she appeared and told me everything that had happened. She had transferred her powers to me. Her regeneration. She said that her powers were mine to do with as I wished, and that, similar to Neah, her soul was now inside me. Her wish was that after we defeated the Earl, that I meet her one last time, and free her soul to depart to the afterlife. I agreed. But that doesn't mean that I love her. I'm grateful to her for helping us the way that she did. She went to great personal risk, and gave up her life to give us a chance at victory. But, more importantly, I'm glad you're here. Because… I-I need to tell you something important. I-I love you…" Allen muttered, blushing heavily, and causing Lenalee to turn slightly pink as well. Allen saw this, and quickly added. "I-I was p-pretty sure that y-you didn't feel th-the same way, b-but I had to t-t-tell you… O-or I'd feel like I'd missed my chance to tell you. K-kinda like…"