Chapter 15 -Plan and Plan and Plan-

"But first of all..." Allen grumbled, his hands on his hips, "how do I get out of here...?" There he stood in the -room-, a white space with no walls or shadows, but only a bed placed beside him. He saw it all, the entire past. It was a bit hard to take in, but Allen decided to accept it.

Allen... He... Actually wasn't even supposed to exist.

From the very start, "he" was actually a Bookman, a Bookman from the holy war 3,000 years ago. Despite being a "Bookman", something happened that caused him to become a "Someone," that a Bookman was not supposed to be. Gifted with the power of Innocence, he was driven to start the holy war, where he dragged a dear friend of his, the Earl, into this complete mess. The Earl had never planned to destroy humanity. It was because of himself that the Earl changed so much... Into what he is now. After all, this is what will happen when a Bookman becomes a "someone." It's plain destruction.

For an instance, though, Allen didn't understand why the Innocence kept him, -Noah-, alive. He really couldn't. Yet after staying within this space for a moment, he began to understand. Staring into the soft lights, the distant and endless white, he felt a small connection.

The Innocence... Crown Clown, cared for Noah.

That's why... Allen came to be. Crown Clown "made" Allen, in order to save Noah.

Because Noah... Is lost, he's a lost child. So "Allen" was made to lead Noah back home.

With Nea, of course.

Nea was one thing, despite being a memory, not to mention a Noah memory, he was able to withstand this space created by Innocence. How? Allen's only explanation was that he is a-

"Handsome warrior."

-Cockroach.

Allen sighed, "Nea, are you reading my mind...?" He wasn't sure how the man was supposed to read minds, though. Nea laughed.

"Well, apparently in this space, what ever you think, I can hear. At the same time, what ever I think, you can hear it to. So in short, our privacy is destroyed."

"... Oh"... Wow.

Yes, I know. Innocence sucks, let's just destroy them all.

Nea, you're just thinking about that on purpose aren't you.

Well, it's just interesting.

... Let's use our mouths.

Agreed.

"So, what now?" Allen said, looking around in the white room, "there should be a way out, right?" It's not like I can open an Ark gate in my own mind, right?

"It'll be way too convenient if we could use the Ark," Nea mused, observing the scenery. "... But I know what we can do," he smirked.

Allen's eyes widened with disbelief after hearing Nea's inner thoughts, "Are you crazy?!" Was what he could only say.

"Me? Crazy?" Nea laughed, "We're all crazy, now let's just do this! Besides, I miss that dark gloomy mind-scape of your's with those white trees."

"No way!" Allen retorted, I'll never be someone like you, who forcefully take control someone else's body! And shut up about my mind-scape!

But hey~ You're basically a "persona" of Noah, aren't you? A character who was created so Noah could later on take over. Even so~ You're basically the same person! I think that Lavi guy? Isn't he starting to become a "Someone," too? It's sort of like that.

Sort of like what...? "Lavi is... Becoming a someone...?" Allen raised an eyebrow.

"Pfft, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Nea said, crossing his arms over his chest, "by how much he cares about his 'friends' and all."

"... That's..." pretty bad... Isn't it...

Nea sighed.

You just don't want him to end up like -you-, don't you?

Allen nodded solemnly.

"Then get to it!" Nea said, "borrow my power -dark matter-, and break through! Be the annoying pest that you always think I am!"

Ugh... Allen scratched his head, "... Okay, fine, so?" How am I even supposed to get through?

Nea smiled.

"I'll help you."

After thinking for a bit, Allen thought to himself, the reason why Nea could even exist within this space (since that Innocence and Dark Matter does not mix well together). Could it be... Because he's the Earl, too? Maybe the Innocence knew that the Earl used to be Noah's friend, a very important friend.

"First, close your eyes," Nea instructed, "imagine a gate or something, or an opening."

"An opening...?"

Nea sighed, "Yes, or simply a blinding light or something. Now, reach for it."

"... Okay..." Allen lifted up his arm, reaching out to the "gate." Nea made a small smile.

"Keep reaching, let your 'mind' be open, keep reaching for the outside," Nea continued as Allen attempted to do as instructed. "Allen, your mind is actually pretty strong, compared to Noah, that is. As expected of a bookman. Never expected that it'll open that quickly... Huh. Ha, even I had a hard time when it comes to your body..."

"...Huh?-" Before Allen knew it, the -room- vanished from his vision, his eyes meeting a familiar black.

Lavi, for one, became more closed ever since Noah came. He became more like a proper -bookman-, that he's supposed to be. Lenalee and Johnny did notice, but they decided not to say anything about it... After all, they understood why.

Noah and Allen, both of them have the same face, the same voice.

Seeing Allen like this, was...

A nightmare, kind of.

Noah was strong, both as a leader and as a fighter. He, too, was very smart; it just seemed like he knew everything. It was like he knew everything to the point that he was a bit similar to General Cross (although they preferred the General actually, rather than Noah). Kanda, at the other hand, didn't seem to care anymore (there's just too many things going on in that beansprout after all).

Walking down the hall, Lavi was instructed by Bookman to follow Noah's footsteps, to record his every moments. After all, this was a big change within history, something that must be recorded. Despite that, a conflicted feeling could be felt within the heart.

Was this really alright? The "Time Destroyer" Allen... Was this really alright?!

Timcanpy had disappeared for a while now, almost as if missing something. General Cross was already gone, now... It's Allen that it knew, too. Even as a golem, Timcanpy probably felt sad. Very sad.

Glancing up a bit, Lavi looked at Noah's back. He wasn't much different from Allen's form, they were both kind of short. That fact just made him felt worse. This... Really wasn't alright... Right?

Slowly, he began to close his eyes. Just in that moment, he saw Noah shifted his movements a bit. Suddenly, Noah slumped down, falling on to his knees, as if tripping. Confused, Lavi considered helping him up, but something in him told him not to. Yet suddenly, "Noah" looked up frantically, as if he was surprised by something. Now Lavi was very confused. Sighing, he approached the man, "Oi-"

"L-Lavi?" That voice, Lavi's eyes widened. That voice.

"Noah" turned around, a clear look in his grey eyes. That expression, Lavi recognized it. Bewildered, Lavi stumbled backwards as "Noah" suddenly grabbed him by his shoulders.

Something about the look in the man's eyes was different from Noah's, Lavi realized. Yet it seemed so familiar... Very familiar...

Ah, wasn't he...

"Allen...?"

It was Allen, not Noah.

"Oh my god... Lavi, listen to me carefully-" Allen quickly said, sweat rolling down his face, "I... I don't have enough time to explain, it's about Noah...!"

"Wait... What...?" Lavi muttered, still shocked by Allen's sudden appearance. Didn't Allen disappear or something? Yet why... How come? How did he come back? What happened... What really happened? Suddenly, a train of thoughts came through Lavi's head, overwhelming him.

Why did Allen become a child in the first place?

Why did Allen disappear from the start, turning into that kid?

"Noah..." Allen said strongly, his grip on Lavi's shoulders becoming tighter, "He's a bookman-!"

Allen opened his eyes, staring at the empty white space.

"Ah... I came back, huh..."

"You did what you had to, didn't you?" Nea said, watching the scenery with him. "As a bookman, that message was probably sufficient enough," He smiled, glancing at the white haired boy.

"... Hopefully..." Allen muttered.

"No one knew that Noah was a bookman, not even his close friends, only the Earl and the Bookmen who looked down upon him," Nea stated, "once that bookman apprentice learned about that fact, that he's actually a bookman, too... Or was... That apprentice... He'll surely be able to connect the dots." After all... He'll find a plot hole, within his nice and tidy bookman log.

"... He's a bookman...?" Lavi whispered quietly as the man's body collapsed, lying on the cold floor.

...

..

.

A bookman, but no, a bookman isn't supposed to be something who practically owns the whole Innocence itself, he's not supposed to be someone as big as the 'main hero' who fought against the Earl. Yet wait. A bookman, a bookman. A dark look in his eyes, fighting the earl... Allen, but who's he? Wait... That doesn't make any sense... Something... Just something...!

Noah is... Or was, a bookman. Lavi thought slowly.

He was granted with Innocence, fighting against the Millennium Earl and the Noahs.

But...

Lavi's eyes widened.

How did the war even started in the first place?

All of the secrets are hidden within that one picture book.

It's hard to explain a lot of details within the story; Though there's actually some symbols hidden... Which explains of the way I wrote it (laughs). Though I don't want to bother writing what the symbols mean, it's too complicated to explain with words (it's more about feelings). So, for the people who don't really get what is going on, I wrote below...

The story so far in a nutshell (and chronicle order):

So Noah was a bookman (his very first name being 'Allen'), who turned into a "hero," then one day he got killed by his best friend (the Earl), but was kept alive by the Innocence (who turned him into a part of itself), then continued living for the next 3,000 years in the Innocence with his memories being kept in a picture book's form, but was returned to the world as a child (because of his wish of having an adventure, the Innocence becoming his left arm to keep watching over him), and then he met Mana, he turned Mana into an AKUMA, and then he met Cross, and became an Exorcist known as 'Allen Walker,' but then because of all the stressed of being accused of being a Noah, the Innocence decided to turn him back into the child with no memories because Allen was very hurt, but then because the picture book was ripped (the culprit being Tyki), the broken pages was absorbed by the boy, his memories returning...

And he's back to being Noah again (planning to destroy the world actually).

And Lavi's about to find out the whole truth.

The main concept of the story being: What if Allen was an "ancient hero" who fought against the Earl 3,000 years ago?
The original concept actually: "Hey let's make some angst about Allen crying and dehydrating! (prologue: crying)"

Thank you for reading!