A/N: Should not be starting a new fic. But this was already written so I'm like "Why not?!"
--Chapter 1--
--ALLEN POV--
I heard the screech before I saw it. The sound seemed familiar, yet foreign. I spun on my heels and came face to face with it.
"Allen!" I heard Lenalee scream from somewhere behind the akuma. But I couldn't move. My blood froze in my veins and my eyes were wide. I was afraid. I was truly scared. Especially when I saw its face. That face. That face was the one that had started everything. It was the reason I joined the Black Order in the first place…
Mana.
There I stood, face to face with a level four akuma who was wearing the face of my beloved Mana. And I felt utterly defenseless.
"Move, Allen!" Someone screamed too late. I was flying through the air. The blow to my stomach hadn't caught up to me yet. Even after I hit the wall with a sickening crunch.
Waves of people called my name as members of the Black Order stormed the hallway. I could barely pick out Lenalee and Lavi—I was too angry. This creature had stolen the face of Mana and attacked me. He would not leave this world unscathed.
With a scream of pain and anger, I launched myself off the wall while invoking my innocence once again. Lenalee was right behind me with her dark boots, surging ahead of me at unimaginable speeds.
"Hasn't been long since the level fours started showing up," Lavi commented when he joined my side. I looked at him and noted his scratches and cuts, way too many for having only been fighting for a few minutes.
"Yeah," I replied. "But this is the second one to attack us from within." The first one had evolved to a level four so fast. I was unprepared, much like this instance. Except for one key difference: I had experience with them. I may not have gotten stronger since I fought them, but I knew what they could do. "Where's Master?" I wondered.
"Allen! Look o—" But Lavi's warning went unfinished as I felt something pierce me; I gasped from the sudden hit. My eyes trailed up from the blackened, spear-like arm that had impaled my abdomen.
"Mana…" He threw my body like a rag doll and I hit the brick wall with a hard, loud crash. I felt the wall collapse on top of me, but there was nothing I could do. I was pinned and weakened. I gasped for air and felt the load on my chest lighten, brick by brick. Beyond the sounds of the bricks shifting, I heard gunshots. Distant bangs that began to fade.
My eyes shut; I was too weak to hold them open any longer. I heard murmurs of people calling my name.
"Allen!" I heard Lenalee's desperate voice.
"Hey, help me get him out of there!" the voices began to seem hollow and I tried to open my eyes, but the vision that they revealed made me wince.
Lavi's bloody face and Lenalee's tear-filled eyes blocked out anything else.
"Allen," Lenalee whimpered. It broke my heart to see her like this. I failed her, I realized. I had promised to protect everyone. Lavi was hurt and I made Lenalee cry. I may not be able to heal Lavi, I thought, but I can try to get Lenalee to stop crying.
I attempted a smile, ignoring the sharp pains that came along with it. "I'll be okay," I tried to say, but it came out distorted and I, myself, could barely understand it. Soon enough people were bustling around me, shouts of orders. The gunfire stopped and I heard Master come up next to me.
"What have you done to yourself now, you Idiot Apprentice…" he muttered, poking and prodding at my scratches and bruises. I cried out, unwillingly in pain, when someone nudged my leg.
But the sounds around me grew distant and hollow and my vision blurred. I couldn't hear the voices anymore, but as my eyes shut, I saw Lenalee burst into another round of tears. The last thing I felt before I left all consciousness was guilt.
Guilt for making Lenalee cry. Guilt for not protecting everyone. Guilt for not even being able to protect myself.
Guilt for being weak against the Akuma with the face of Mana.
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Review or no more…