Thou Shalt Love

A Crown of Thorns

Awareness came to Allen slowly and painfully. Through blurry eyes he could make out Kanda, his angry expression cast in shadow, his hands firm on Allen's arms. Behind him Johnny stood stiffly while chanting in a language that mirrored that of Cross' magical incantations. None of this made sense in his still foggy mind. The agonising pain flooding Allen's whole being to the brim didn't do him any favors. Allen bit his lip to hold back the scream that was ready to rip itself from his throat; blood pulled in his mouth from his effort. It felt like something was being torn from himself violently.

In that moment all his mind could focus on was getting away from this feeling. Nothing in his life, despite how many grievous wounds he'd had, had ever felt as bad as this. Even the ever present 14th seemed to have faded from his mind some. His arms thrashed out on pure adrenaline, unquardenated but with his usual strength behind it. Kanda was swore as he fought to keep him pressed against the bed. Had he the presence of mind to do so Allen would've gladly thrown Kanda into a fucking wall before bolting out of the room like a bat out of hell. But as the pain seeped even deeper all Allen could do was let go and scream in anguish, pulling harshly on his vocal cords.

With the damn broken Allen couldn't hold back any longer; his screams filled the room and grew louder by the minute. The hands holding him down flinched before gripping his arms tighter. There was some vicious part of him that felt deeply satisfied at the reaction. It would serve the two of them right; to force him into such a state was disgusting. They hadn't cared to explain anything, or even so hello, before doing this to him.

That train of thought was cut short when Allen noticed the new presence forming beside him. Dark matter swirled around a dark figure, featureless and still. The very air itself was weighed down with a familiar way. It was so close to the time he'd fought Tyki in that unexplained second form. Not exactly but close enough to draw the parallel. Still Allen could only pay attention to it so much with his mind lost in the flaring pain of his soul splitting in two. His throat burned as the screams reached a fever pitch and Allen's voice gave a pathetic crackling sound.

An eternity seemed to pass before the pain eased enough for Allen to feel human again. His body sagged in relief. Only a dull throb from his forehead remained beside the ache that had been left. With enough brain power now to take in what was around him, Allen scanned the room. Somehow Kanda actually had been thrown against the opposite wall; wood splintering around him. Johnny was crouched down next to him, shaking like a leaf, with wide eyes directed towards where the shadow had been.

It was the smooth voice of the 14th that broke through the thick silence that had settled in. "Well, this sure is a shit show." Allen stared at the unsettling that was stretching across the 14th's face. He looked just the same as the last time Allen had seen him. Those sharp golden eyes and short messy black hair that almost covered the stigmata that swept across his forehead. Unlike the laid back presence he'd had the last time they'd met, an edge of rage simmered from the 14th. All of them tensed while Allen and Kanda prepared for a fight.

"Wha-" Allen attempted to say before a wet cough stopped him. A cold hand brushed against his check; its caress a strange comfort that soothed an ache Allen hadn't even been aware of. Without his permission, Allen relaxed and his eyes slipped shut. In the back of his mind the whisper of a memory of Mana rose up. He pushed it back before the melancholy consumed him.

"My dearest Allen," Nea said fondly as he drew circles on Allen's check with his thumb. "you always manage to get yourself into the worst situations don't you?" The resignation in his tone didn't go over his head, nor did the familiarity. "But this time really does take the cake."

He pulled himself away from Nea and said, "Explain you twat." Any bite to his words had been washed away by the lingering exhaustion. The smile on Nea's face was soft and indulgent as he let Allen go.

"Y'know, I'm not the one you should be asking." Piercing eyes locked onto their target with the ease of a well versed predator. With such intense attention directed at him Johnny froze like a startled deer. "You should be asking glasses over there, since it was his fuck up that got us here."

This pushed Kanda into action, unsheathing Mugen at lightning speed. He was worse for wear but ready to fight. The dark determination in his eyes hadn't changed at all. It hurt to see him again, the uniform of the Order on him once again. Those chains that Allen had helped him break were once again in place. That burned in a way that Allen didn't want to think about much. His brain was still trying to grapple with the separation of Nea from his body already. Everything was confusing and nothing made any sense to him. All the while the throbbing at his forehead continued on.

Nea, leaving Johnny be for now, turned his eyes back to size Allen up. "At least you'll be able to pull off gray, though." The teasing nature did nothing to stop the panic from gripping Allen. There was no way, no way that what he implied was happening. Without Nea awakening inside him anymore the transformation should stop right? He couldn't have gone through all that pain at the seperation just for him to become a Noah! Yet the feeling of skin breaking on his forehead spoke differently. Allen felt numb as blood slipped out the wound. Johnny gasped as he saw the crosses forming on his brow.

Within seconds, Kanda's sword was pressed tight to Nae's throat. Face twisted up with rage he looked ready to kill. "What the fuck did you do to him you freak?" Kanda demanded. Not caring to answer, Nea brought his foot out at an alarming speed and kicked Kanda squire in the chest. In mid air Kanda twisted to land better with a string of curses following him. Allen tried to get up, to do something, but collapsed back onto the mattress. Grey eyes met gold as Nea moved to hover over him. He wanted to yell out his rage but hadn't the voice left to do so. Instead Allen glared at Nea as the throbbing spread deep into his skull.

The growing pain also brought unfamiliar images that swirled around his brain, full of blinding emotion. Sorrow, grief, joy, anger. So many all at once in a slurry of information that was too big to comprehend. Every new feeling shoved inside him chipped at his mind's defences in ways that Nea never had. This was him fighting something that was actually meant to be a part of him. He knew this on such a deep level that resisting wasn't even a thought in his head.

Distantly Allen could pick up the sound of his own desperate screaming. Using what little motor control he still possessed Allen held his head in a frail attempt to comfort himself. There was no one else in this moment that Allen could think of. Only raw pain and a deluge of emotion remained.

Nea's voice managed to break through it all in his mind. "I'll be taking you away from these two idiots now. Humans like them who play around with things far beyond their understanding are dangerous to be around after all." The blinding light of an Ark gate filled the room with light. Noise exploded around him but it bounced off him without registering. It was as though a thick pane of glass surrounded his ears. Everything felt far away from him.

As his body sank back into the gate Allen started to lose any grip on consciousness. The worry that had been ever present faded with it. He felt exhausted of all his energy from whatever those emotions were. Just as the darkness took him in its embrace Nea's voice broke through his head. "What an interesting member of the family you'll make, Allen Walker." There was no presence of mind for Allen to feel the horror those words deserved as he blacked out.