"Twenty Years" (part 6) AllenxLenalee

[Sinamon]

Twenty Years

Part 6 (Written 3/19/11)

Present Time
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The furor in which Lavi was received was immeasurable. Everyone was sure he must have news regarding the Earl and Lenalee was no exception. But he had been swooped up by The Vatican the same day he arrived. Lenalee barely had enough time to hug his beaten and battered body and look into his wizened, weary eyes. Without words, they had noted the change in each other as well.


What was made publicly known was that for nine years, Lavi and Bookman were in an extra-dimension where the Earl and Noah existed and thrived. Though they never actually saw him, they had heard references made to Allen arriving there as well. Things were eerily quiet as they were held captive most likely for use as leverage at any point but they had started to lose track of time. However, just a few months before Lavi had returned home, he reported that things came to head drastically almost overnight.


Some unknown force had freed him and Bookman, and then they were immediately drawn into the already ensuing war between the Earl and the Noah! Not all the Noah were on the same side but the odds seemed equal in terms of numbers. The result was the utter annihilation of the Earl of the Millennium and nine of the Noah clan in total. Of the survivors that remained were Tyki Mikk, Rhode Kamelot, Neah the 14th, and Lavi. Bookman had perished in the war, leaving Lavi as the new Bookman. It seemed, for now, the threat to the world was over as the 14th took over as the Earl and planned on moving forward with his family without interfering in humanity's fate. He had sent Lavi back home that same night.


The Vatican kept Lavi for a few months, determined to squeeze every detail from him as possible. Being the new Bookman, he was not short on information kept recorded in his head for nine years.


Before Lavi was sent off to Turkey to observe and document the war with the Russians, he made a brief stop-over at Headquarters to see Lenalee, specifically.


Late in the night, he, Kanda and Lenalee met in the library at the appointed hour they had mutually agreed upon.


Lavi and Kanda sat on opposite ends of the large windowsill as the lightning outside briefly illuminated their forms as a backlight. Lenalee pulled up a chair closely between them. Timcanpy took his usual post on her shoulder, having had shrunken back to the size of a tennis ball. If it weren't for that, they may never have handed him over to Lenalee so easily back then, though she would have persisted.


"You're still mourning for him, aren't you?" asked Lavi, quietly.


"I have no more tears to shed, Lavi," she had replied.


"That's not what I asked."


"It's been over nine years since he left. But I don't know when I can stop," she'd said, her voice breaking a little. This was the first time she had talked directly about Allen in years and it was like tearing open an old wound and making it even bigger. Timcanpy's tail twitched.


"What exactly happened, Lavi?" asked Kanda, resting his arm atop Mugen, as if they had never parted ways.


"Did you ever see him, Lavi? Did you see Allen-kun there?" she had asked, hoping beyond hope.


"No. I never did," Lavi had replied. "By the time we were freed, it was Noah against Noah and their world was being leveled. We had heard rumors about Allen being brought back with them many years ago but then we lost track of our captor, Cyril. He made less and less of an appearance. Then we didn't see him for a few days on end. We knew something big was going on."


"Why were they fighting each other?" Lenalee had asked.


"We think that had to do with the 14th."


At that, both Kanda and Lenalee looked at him directly.


"The 14th, named Neah, told us in no uncertain terms that he meant to finish what he started and kill the Earl and that he had taken the past several years to slowly win over his family, or however many he could of them. He wasn't able to convince them all but it was obviously enough when it came down to it. I think, with our help, it tipped the scales slightly in his favor. I think that's why he let us out of there, on that condition. It was a long, meticulous and gutsy plan nine years in the making; I have to give him credit for that. I don't think The Order or The Vatican could have foreseen just how powerful a familial overthrow could work in our favor. The 14th basically did our job for us."


"Did he say anything to you about Allen at all?" Lenalee had asked, desperately, not really caring about the goals of their organization.


"I certainly wanted to know. Before he sent me back here, the only thing he would say was that, as the 14th, he had now claimed his own body and was going to live his own life; that we no longer needed to concern ourselves with Allen Walker's fate."


That was last year.


(To Be Continued in the reply right below so I don't break this chapter into another post...)

[Sinamon]

They had parted ways that night, lost in their own thoughts. And here she was again, standing alone in Allen's room, thinking the same thing in her head that she had that night and had been thinking for the past decade. I want to believe in you, Allen-kun…

How do you let go of someone who had so firmly rooted their self in your heart and mind that to uproot them meant changing the entire landscape of your own life? She couldn't forget him nor did she want to. But she didn't want to be miserable for the rest of her life either. Her brother's worried looks made her heart sick and she wanted to live for him as much as she ever did, before she lost such a huge part of her world.

She looked around the room once more; a room she saw so often that she had memorized every detail of every surface. Initially, she had been torn about whether she would clean it or not. She didn't want dust to pile up but she also didn't want to remove the distinct scent that was Allen's. His pillowcase, his coat hanging on the hook, his gloves….they all carried remnants of him and she was loath to erase them in washing. But it was starting to smell mustier than it did of Allen and she knew she had to make a decision soon.

Timcanpy circled the room as he usually did and finally settled on the shelving above the bed where he'd often powered down in the night.

Lenalee looked fondly at the golem. It used to be that whenever she saw Tim, Allen was close by. She thought it wasn't too far from the truth even now.

"You're really all I have left of him, Timcanpy. Thank you for staying with me all this time," she said, earnestly.

Timcanpy made a noise that sounded like a cross between chewing and grunting.

"Let's go. It's getting late."

Usually Timcanpy would immediately alight on her shoulder but not this time. He just stayed in place.

"Timcanpy…come on…"

No movement.

Lenalee walked toward the golem and leaned over the bed to reach for him. He scooted a few inches back further into the shelf.

"What is it with you tonight…?" she said, as she reached out. In doing so, her foot slid in further under the bed than it normally would and she kicked something hard and solid.

"What's this?" she wondered aloud, bending down to uncover the dusty bed skirt.
She reached under and pulled out a small trunk covered in a checkered pattern. All at once her heart started racing. This was Allen's personal affects. There was nothing in his quarters that wasn't just left out in plain view…except for this. Even if it was just an empty box, it was something that belonged to Allen she hadn't seen before and it was like being in his room for the first time. She didn't recall Allen bringing anything with him but his suitcase when he had first come to The Order. Perhaps he had this sent for later on.

She remained like that for a while, sitting before the trunk, torn between respecting his privacy and opening to find more things that would prove he once existed, causing more heartache. Timcanpy flew quietly down then, hovering next to the trunk, as if he himself was curious to peek inside.

Lenalee braced herself and opened the unlatched trunk. Inside, she saw some worn out colored balls, books on magic, a small violin, and a doll. She had known about his previous life in the circus with his adoptive father so the other items were understandable but what was Allen doing with an old doll, she wondered, as she picked it up.

Once she held it in front of her out of the shadow of the trunk, Lenalee's breath caught in her throat. Though the other items were tattered, this doll was kept in pristine condition and she recognized it immediately, there was no mistake.

Lenalee took the doll and raced to her room, Timcanpy following behind her. Once she reached it, she dove into her stack of stuffed animals and dolls on her bed. And there it was: The same ragdoll that she found in Allen's trunk, it was undeniable. Why? How could this be a coincidence?

She raced over to her brother's office with Allen's ragdoll in hand. Timcanpy picked up Lenalee's in his mouth and followed.

"Nii-san!" she shouted as she barged into his office.

"What it is, Lenalee?" cried Komui, standing up from his chair and dropping his pen.

"You said you gave me this doll for my birthday…"

"Yes, I did. I have one, too, you know…it's kind of like its twin," he said, unsure of this situation was supposed to be a light-hearted or serious one.

"That one's mine," she said, referring to the one Tim held in his mouth, "but this is Allen-kun's!" she exclaimed as she thrust the ragdoll out in front of her for him to see.

"I don't understand…"

"I found it in a trunk in his room just now! Why does he have this, nii-san? Where did you get the doll you gave me?"

"Lenalee….you have to calm down…"

"How can I? This has to mean something!"

"Just sit down and breathe…"

"Is there something you're not telling me, nii-san?" she demanded, her eyes wild.

"You don't have very many memories of when you were a child, Lenalee…"

That made her stop. She knew there were blind spots in her memory from when she was very young. Some things she actually wished she could forget and others, she didn't have a choice about. But things were hazy to her the day she found out her parents had been killed. The only thing she clearly remembered was waking up and arriving in a carriage with her brother at her father's office in England. The entire town had been decimated. Her father's building was a pile of burning splinters and ash. There were still screams coming from the edge of town and suddenly she felt a painful jolt in her legs. Her brother caught her before she fell down but they both noticed the pulsating green lines that were starting to form from her ankles to her knees. Something she could only describe as a large monster came flying down the alley near them which was being pursued by a figure in a black coat. The person destroyed the monster and approached Komui who was still holding her in his arms. "You need to come with us," he had said. And it was that day she was ripped away from her brother for nearly three years.

But, for the life of her, she couldn't remember anything before then. It was all the same to her, though. If there were happy memories of her parents, she didn't want them to be rendered useless because of the events of that day.

Lenalee slumped down in the chair in front of Komui's desk, barraged with images she didn't ever feel like remembering again.

"The day I gave you that doll, was the day we found out about mother and father, Lenalee," Komui began to explain. "You've never wanted know about anything that happened before that…"

Lenalee focused her eyes on her brother and carefully listened to each word he spoke.

"It was your 6th birthday and I had taken you out to celebrate while our family was visiting England. We had gone to the circus…"

"The circus…" repeated Lenalee. Her mind immediately flashed on the trunk she had found under Allen's bed, the items inside and the checkered pattern on the outside…

"I won this doll for you at the gaming tent that day; you were so happy," he continued.

"But…but why does Allen-kun have the same one?"

"I don't know Lenalee. They could be very common dolls, don't you think? Maybe he got one from his short stint in the circus as well."

"What else, nii-san? she prodded, when Komui felt at a loss for words, his mind firing on all cylinders. "What else did we do after you won us two dolls?"

"Well, I actually won three dolls…" he responded, absently, still thinking.

"What?"

"I had won three dolls during the games but I think you must have dropped the other one somewhere. It was a crazy day, Lenalee. I think it must have gotten lost when we ran from the park."

"The park? I thought we were at the circus?"

"We went over to the park because…" Komui trailed off.

Lenalee suddenly had an image of a fountain and a garden. She didn't know where these pictures came from as she had no recollection of ever visiting a park in England.
"Nii-san…was there a big white fountain there, next to a garden?"

"Why yes…are you remembering, Lenalee?"

"Why were we there?"

"You had planned to meet up with someone."

"I did? Who would I have known there?" she exclaimed, incredulously.

"You had gone to a show while I was resting a little and apparently you had met a boy who worked at the circus. He wanted to show you around because…" Komui stopped mid-sentence, latching onto something I thought.

More images flooded into her mind, unbidden: a man juggling and balancing, a checkered trunk, fake flowers….a small boy…a mangled, bandaged hand…

Lenalee's head felt heavy and she almost teetered off the side of the chair before she caught herself on the armrest.

"How could that be…it couldn't have been…" she muttered to herself, as she started to tremble.

Komui looked at his sister with utmost urgency as he came around to kneel in front of her.

"Do you remember the boy's name, Lenalee?" he asked, though he knew the answer.
"He said his name was…" she started slowly but then bolted from the chair and out of the office.

Astley's Amphitheatre – Lambeth, London England

Lenalee took off as fast as her Dark Boots would take her. Komui didn't stop her. He must have come to the same conclusion and he knew there was no stopping her now. All the memories of that day came flooding back once the damn had started to leak and break open in her brother's office. She distinctly remembered the name of the park where she was supposed to meet the boy and she found out the name of the circus by proximity. She thanked heaven that both were still open.


(To Be continued in the reply post below because there's a character limit...)

[Sinamon]

She arrived at the circus grounds in the late afternoon and looked for the house where she had met that boy but it wasn't there anymore. It was him that day, she knew now with all of her heart. His hair had been brown then but she remembered why his hair had turned white. As she toured the grounds, she noted that nothing was where she had recalled them being before. Why would they be? It was silly for her expect anything to look the same after 20 years.

She looked at her pocket watch and it was nearly five o'clock. I will be there this time, Allen-kun, though it's too little too late. It will still mean something to me.

Lenalee walked over to the fountain and sat down on its edge. It wasn't as large as she remembered it but then again, she had looked at it through the eyes of a six year old the last time. But the flowers that surrounded the fountain and the garden behind it were still beautiful.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the aroma of the surrounding flowers, remembering the ones she was given on her birthday so long ago that had no scent. Lenalee smiled joyfully for the first time in years, clutching both her doll and Allen's doll that she had brought with her. Timcanpy, who never let her out of his sight, chirped happily on her right shoulder.

Timcanpy stopped crooning and a few seconds later, Lenalee heard light footfalls abruptly stop a few yards in front of her. She looked up.

"You came," was all he said, smiling.

The young man looked upon her with warm, knowing grey eyes, his long white hair pulled back in a low ponytail down his back. And in his hands, he held a very small, very real bouquet of flowers.

"Oh god…" began Lenalee, stunned. Her vision blurred with the stinging tears that wouldn't stop overflowing, even after she thought she'd run out of tears long ago.

The dolls fell from her hands and onto her lap; they continued to fall to the ground as she slowly stood up, her legs quivering. She wouldn't question how or why. That would come later. He was there, in front of her. Now. If she was hallucinating, she didn't care. Timcanpy leisurely alighted onto the top of the young man's head as if it was the natural thing to do.

"Thank you for keeping your promise, Tim," he said while still looking at her unwaveringly, his own eyes brimming with tears. "And thank you for keeping your promise, too…Lenalee."

Before she knew it, her body leaned forward and closed the distance between them. Crushing him in a fierce embrace, her body was wracked with sobs as she cried his name over and over again. For ten years his name couldn't escape her lips without feeling the gaping hole that was left in his wake. But now, each time she said it, it filled that emptiness more and more until her heart overflowed.

He wrapped his arms around her tentatively, testing his own sanity, making sure not to crush the flowers he had picked from the garden again that day, hoping beyond hope. He welcomed the familiar scent of her and pulled her into him fully. She was alive, she remembered him and she was here at last. They held each other for as long as they could, even as passerby's gawked at them and the sun began to sink low into the horizon.

When Lenalee's cries turned into faint whispers of his name, he pulled apart from her. He had thought she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen when he was a small boy. Then when he met her again at The Order, he was taken aback by her loveliness, even though she had long forgotten him. And now, standing before him, was a woman of such beauty and caring that he could hardly believe they were reunited again. He handed her the flowers he had been waiting decades to finally give her.

As she accepted and took in their fragrance, Lenalee didn't speak another word for fear of breaking the spell that must have been cast on her. Even feeling his real warmth in her arms, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"You have a habit of dropping these dolls there, Lenalee," he said lightly, gesturing to the ragdolls that had fallen to the wayside when Lenalee stood.

"I don't regret dropping that one," she said, shakily, pointing to the doll that she found in Allen's trunk.

He smiled and picked them up, not letting go of Lenalee's hand all the while.

"Shall I show you all of the secrets of the circus now? I still know my way around."
She threw her arms around him again, unable to get enough of him. Allen had grown into an even more handsome young man and was taller than she'd remembered him, but he still had the same familiar, lanky build. It was him. He was that boy back then. He was this man now, she knew with all of her heart.

"Just don't…don't ever…" she muffled into his jacket.

"I won't. I won't ever again," he assured her, closing his eyes. "Believe in me, Lenalee."

THE END, Kinda...

(Epilogue (aka part 7) is posted)
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A/N – Okay, I realize that I can't just end it there so I'll post an epilogue soon explaining what had happened to Allen and how he was able to separate from the 14th. It won't be a super good explanation but it will have to do. But I have to stop this chapter or else it'll just keep going and go downhill.

Lastly, sorry for not mentioning Chaoji. I'm too tired and lazy to go back and stick him in somewhere when Lavi comes back. I guess I just don't give too much of a damn about him lol.