† There's a light, there's a sun †

[likethelight]

Who: Allen Walker, Lavi, and later Lux
Where: Takamagahara
When: June 27th
Summary: Prayer #20: Spring Cleaning. Lavi and Allen come across a giant area boss muck ayakashi the day both of Allen's shinki are bonding on their own British mission halfway across the world. This will only end in blight and tears yet somehow a very sad shounen victory, clearly. The idiots rolled a 20 out of 20.

[ Takamagahara. The streets are sticky with more than just a bit of spring mud as it would seem like a bog has risen up from the ground, through storm grates and whatever place it could find to ooze from. Sucking down anyone it could who treads without care--and appearing just a bit too translucent to be truly solid. Too otherworldly to be truly grounded in reality.

Something that builds up and up until it slowly begins to tower like a lurching mountain. A heavy schlucking sound as it moves; first a roil of blob that becomes a mountain. Begins to reach almost as if it's trying to grow arms--before slushing in a heavy wave against a building. (Growing more solid?

...More intelligent? Something that will blight anything in its path that it can.)

It's why Allen arrives at the outskirts of its floodpath somewhat breathlessly. Breathless--and noticeably without either of his shinki as well. But keeping at a safe height on rooftop, coming cresting finally where he could see the devastation the ayakashi--the biggest he's seen aside from the harmless whale-like one in the sky before... he has to stop and suck in his breath, his left eye adjusting to the presence that spreads out almost as far as the eye can see from its epicenter.

It's tainted half the city... ]

Comments

[lostinshadows]

[What was he doing here?

It had been on some part of Lavi to stumble upon this tainted city, seeing the way the streets were filled with some kind of muck, sticking to whatever it can. He had heard of Takamagahara, but not once did he expect this.

The ayakashi that did this--

He walks up behind Allen, staring at the destruction the ayakashi had left in its wake and he can practically feel the negativity in the air as it seems to move around the streets.

Lavi presses his lips together, staring at the streets before he glances over at Allen.

Where was Lux?]

Allen.

[likethelight]

[ The voice from behind catches Allen offguard, caught up in the sight of the wake of devastation, given how he jerks a little as he turns around, his cursed eye immediately on the other with how he's turned. But it's not that he looks surprised to see Lavi—it's that he looks pained. Because it hurts, looking at such a thing and what it's done (what it's become). Even if it's perhaps the pain Allen is used to the most and would never willingly give up even to his dying breath.

And yet despite that is also glad to see the other as much as he's probably the last person Allen expected to see.

Though is it really? Even with every painful thing that's between them now, it isn't the first time he's looked back when facing danger and seen the shinki right behind him. ]

Lavi.. [ The way he says it—it's like a soft-spoken, fluttered kind of "thank goodness" where hope trumps disbelief.

He also can't help but notice the other seems alone.

Had they both come here to fight it then? Did that mean Lavi's god was nearby? ]

I didn't think that a single one—affecting so much... [ Even in their world, where a single akuma could be so powerful and nearly destroy their entire home. But to become such a degenerate thing that tainted so much that even the air itself seemed like it was beginning to rot... ]

[lostinshadows]

[Seeing that cursed eye again, it sends a chill down Lavi's spine, and certainly not in a good way.

But even now, even when it was just the two of them, some part of the redhead honestly believes that the two of them can do it. If it's the two of them, regardless if they're not a god and shinki pair, they might be able to succeed.

Right?

(He ignores the part where he hadn't told Cardia where he was going and how doing this - the possibility of being blighted - will hurt her)

Lavi frowns a bit at hearing Allen call his name in that kind of tone, as if he wasn't expecting Lavi to be there.

Then again, he can't blame him.

But the pain is hard to ignore, so he places a hand on Allen's shoulder - too brief, too fleeting to know if the touch was real or not.]

It's definitely a big one.

[He feels choked, but Lavi isn't one to back down.

A faint look of amusement as he musters up a small smirk at Allen.]

But we can get rid of it if it's two of us, right?

[likethelight]

[ If it's the two of us?

He will get a surprised look from Allen at that. The briefly awestruck kind. Since after all, Lavi...

...usually it would be Allen who would say that. With the redhead being so much more distant than Allen was used to. On again and off again.

These days, at least. Much to the continued deepening grief the younger Exorcist continues to shoulder between all three of the shinki he knew from before. ]

R—of course! [ It's a little blurted as he's still blinking for a second. It's not that he had any intention of not fighting it to vanquish it, but for Lavi to, Lavi who tried to run away from their first fight and do anything but fight together...

...for a moment be so much like Lavi... ]

I just didn't think— [ maybe he should stop talking, don't question a good thing—dont question something that hurts that you ever have to question it in the first place ]

—you're alright with that...?

[lostinshadows]

["--you're alright with that...?"

Lavi can understand Allen's hesitance, he really does, and in some way, he does feel a little bad.

Just a little.

But with his differing opinions on Allen, it can't be helped. He wants to stay far but draw close; he wants to help, but at the same time, fight the god. He's not sure why that is, but Lavi doesn't like dwelling on it.

Dwelling means wondering and wondering can mean--

That smirk widens into a reassuring grin.]

If I wasn't, I wouldn't have said so in the first place.

[He trusts Allen, yet at the same time, he doesn't.

A little nudge of their shoulders, a little bit of Lavi that Allen knew once before.] What was it that you've told me? We're comrades.

1/3

[likethelight]

[ ...! ]

2/3

[likethelight]

[ Stupid Lavi. ]

Haha, I did... [ It's a weak laugh but it feels good, even if the god scrubs a little at his cheek for a moment. Just offhandedly. Since that is, after all, probably the hardest part of the whole thing for Allen. The hardest thing to try and cover up.

I miss you. ]

3/3

[likethelight]

[ There's a rumbling from down below, where the ayakashi has attempted to rise up again and solidify. To rise this time like a drooping skull of sludge and slime. One that seems to be made of smaller heads that drip off it, moaning in chorus as they slide back into the muck.

To most people, it'd be chilling. Horrifying.

And it's something that, as Allen's attention turns back to it—renewed now, with a greater sense of purpose—makes him look with a sobered kind of pity. And he taps the other boy's shoulder briefly before indicating. Alright; the task at hand. ]

The main part of it, the center— [ His voice...

It gets softer, actually. Like it's with... surprise—but the surprise at seeing an old friend. ]

—I can see its soul. [ Not just sense it, the ayakashi's presence. Or their true forms more easily and quickly than most. The otherworldly phantoms that feed off the darkness in people's hearts. This one has one singular, recognizable soul.

If it were still recognizable in any real capacity, the poisoned heart of it deep within that mass of everything else it's absorbed. ]

[lostinshadows]

[A curt nod as Lavi pays attention to the ayakashi.

He tilts his head, listening to Allen, and just--

Soul.

It makes Lavi's lips twist into a frown.]

But can we get help it if we reach its soul?

[If they can, somehow, manage to reach its soul, can they get rid of it? But there's another rumbling, enough to shake the buildings now.

Lavi studies the ayakashi briefly before studying the layout of the city as much as he can.]

[likethelight]

[ But can we help it?

It gets a slightly surprised expression from Allen, who tries to read the redhead's expression for a moment. Just lightly so. Before he turns back to the ayakashi below and gives a nod. ]

I believe that's why we exist.

[ Absolute conviction, plainly and simply said. Easing the darkness in people's hearts—

It means helping the living and the dead. ]

[rememberher]

[ The sun had set nearly an hour ago, but she dared not move him. Thankful that the warmth of summer had begun to really take hold of late, she sat in solemn silence, unmoving from the very spot where they eased him into the shallows, to purify the painful blight that afflicted him. Time passed slowly, and once Lavi left, asking, begging her to not allow Allen to pursue him, she was left with the quiet–save for her own raging thoughts.

The first few fireflies beginning to filter in, floating around them like a twinkling star scape of faint luminosity, she had long since readjusted herself, unsure of how long they might be there.

That, and her arms ached so. Long past the point of the pain of being blighted by the man she held, jagged violet bruises from where it had spread working their way down her bare arms to her shoulders, slowly spidering over her collar bone and under her chin like a painful piece of jewelry. Her arms only draped over him, holding him but less desperately. Like one might when a loved one was sleeping. Fighting against the pain that burned and ate away at her, the only sign of any sort of discomfort being the way her shoulders gently shook.

But she would not move.

And while faint, it wasn't only the fireflies that illuminated the river behind their little church, yet Lux had not seemed to really notice, staring forward rather than down at herself. That she herself had a very faint glow about her, like light trying to escape from a crack under a door. Sitting vigilant, the Exorcist god rested carefully against her, her mind wandered to a great and many things. ]

1/3

[likethelight]

[ And after about an hour like that, having passed out against his will as Lux and Lavi had both helped to carry him to the small springs, Allen begins to stir. Slowly at first, with a fluttered sort blink through the groggyness, because it's hard to pull his thoughts together. But he recognizes the church grounds and it's a relief; thank goodness, they made it.

And for one sleepy and unguarded moment as he waits for his eyes to adjust, the disconnected realization of ah,

...it's nice like this...

But something seems off. Because he's cold... in water? But it's nice, like cool water on a burn, and the other half of him is also warm—comfortable—like.. ]

2/3

[likethelight]

[ Like— ]

3/3

[likethelight]

[ Lux.

He recognizes his situation the moment there's a reflected sense of the blight that stabs through him. Sticky and burning, because even if he feels better than he did before and it's been cleansed from his face, his back still feels like there's a slow-burning acid eating away at it. But this sense..

He's already so startled at realizing he's just woken up half in the springs in her arms that he starts to jerk up for a moment, apologies on his lips at realizing that she's there and something is wrong and where's Lavi and—

...

...and he stills again when he's only just half twisted around, pale eyes widening in what is distinctly horror, even if he can only see part of her. Like he suddenly dare doesn't move. Not even an inch. Because that reflected sense of blight—

..it didn't come from him. ]

Lux...

[rememberher]

[ At first, she assumed that he was still unconscious, so his first waking moment or two were spent suspended in that comfortable half-sleep half-awake fog, her arms draped delicately around him. But the moment he moved, she too startled because, ah, she wasn't expecting him to move so suddenly. To jerk in place only to immediately grow still, staring at her in what appeared to be horror.

She matched his look with one of startled surprise, her back suddenly quite straight and her arms beginning to jerk away from what had been a comfortable, loose embrace. Hands held suspended, as she was very clearly not sure what to do with them, she quieted the moment he said her name.

Act natural. Act like nothing was out of the ordinary–

Well ok, no, there was no way on heaven or earth that he would believe that.

So instead, she offered a smile. But it was dim, and instead of catching in her eyes, it highlighted the amount of pain she might have been in. ]

...Welcome back.

[ Thank the heavens, she was beginning to worry... ]

1/2

[likethelight]

[ Welcome back...

Quite frankly, in his sudden panic and concern over the blight that's spread across her there's very little she could have said he would have actually heard enough to jar him from it. But that, especially since she doesn't remember, doesn't remember how important it is, everything they said to each other about that, is certainly it.

Lux... To yourself, why would you...

(This is his fault.) ]

2/2

[likethelight]

...

[ He's still half in her lap, something under other circumstances he'd fuss and flounder a little over, but he really can't be bothered to be bothered by that right now. It'd be ridiculous. So he just sits up a little bit. Just enough so that he can shift around—

—and pull her against him. Very delicately, arms caging around her in such a way where his sleeves and gloves, soaked in the holy water, brush against the blight marks that streak across her neck and shoulders with a faint cleansing hiss.

Why would you let yourself get blighted so badly with the water to cleanse yourself right there. ]

Mn... [ It's soft, but his throat is tight. Too much he wants to say when he knows he can't and with so much to apologize for he wouldn't be sure where to begin—or if to voice them would just make matters worse.

So his fingers tighten for a moment, conflicted, and he hugs her a little tighter. With his head bowed so deeply it almost makes her the taller, he'll probably re-blight himself from how his cheek is pressed by her neck and his gaze over her shoulder. But it's really the last thought on his mind at the moment. ]

I'm sorry, I'm home now.

[1/2]

[rememberher]

[ Because it was her penance, a way to try to atone for the fact that, by doing something that honestly should have involved the three of them, by excluding him with a simple and teasing "shinki-only business", he got in this mess. Not only blighted by so far gone that, left to let her mind wander, she feared if he would even wake again.

The pain was nothing compared to what he and Lavi went through.

(This was her fault.)

But she was so relieved when he did wake that, mild startlement and a winced smile later, it almost didn't seem to matter. She could push the pain (partly) from her mind. He was awake. That was good. That was really good, thst it seemed something that she should say, even if she wasn't quite sure why.

Welcome back to the world, she was so glad he was still with her... Feeling the beginning of tears begin to well, she tried to laugh them away. Don't let him see her cry; keep smiling, don't let him realize how upset she was... ]

[2/2]

[rememberher]

[ She expected him to say something perhaps a little bittersweet, because in the short time that she had been with Allen in the Far Shore (not known because, well... she couldn't be sure of the details of that, and refused to let herself even think about it most of the time), that simply was his way. At least with her—she couldn't be too sure about anyone else.

Yet she didn't anticipate that he would move, that he would act in such a way that seemed both extremely impulsive and very deliberate at the same time. To shift and to throw his arms around her in such a sudden and almost threadbare embrace; one that took her breath away.

Taken aback couldn't even begin to describe it. No, she was struck. Even as the acid-like bite on her neck and shoulders seemed to abate, she sat there frozen, not sure of what to do or what to say—should she say anything, she felt like she should say something!

The night suddenly seemed a bit brighter in their little area of the spring, and not just because of the fireflies dancing nearby.

She didn't flounder, but there was a very distinct roll of panic as she sat there for a moment, her heart hammering in her ears and feeling very distinctly like she didn't know what to do. Should—should she embrace him back, she became very keenly aware of proximity and just where and how they were sitting.

His cheek rested so close to her neck in such a way that two not-quite-strangers-but-she-isn't-quite-sure-what-they-actually-are should be doing!

But wait— ]

A-Allen, the blight..!

[ Hearing him speak however, that rise still high in her chest and beginning to spread in telltale pink on her face, she slowly quieted. Because that...

Ah, what could she even say to that... Suddenly wanting to settle into that embrace, but at the same time feeling conflicted on so many levels, she finally letting her arms start to settle around him again... then promptly stopping when she felt a bit of a burn. Ah. Shoot. This was a lot more awkward than initially anticipated, on multiple levels. ]

1/3

[likethelight]

[ Why is it weird!! It was for a practical reason and it's not the first time they've hugged like that! ... here, even!! That she would remember!! IF SHE FINDS IT WEIRD HE'S GOING TO FIND IT WEIRD AND THAT'S JUST STUPID

Let's call it strange serendipity that she mentions the blight when she does, because it does make him blink and refocus on that. Even if it's with some curiosity as he pulls back, not out of embarrassment but a little blank surprise and— ]

2/3

[likethelight]

[ and, well

with a briefly quirked expression.

Lux you were the one ignoring your own blight with water to cleanse it with right there for how long??

Let's be honest, he does seem a bit crestfallen for a second. ]

3/3

[likethelight]

[ But no matter. He isn't one to point that out because honestly he can start to guess why that might be... which is why he.. sighs a little, actually. Quietly so, even if—

—even if it's to pull the sodden hem of his coat up for a moment. And yes, Allen does pause to consider that a moment as he does so. Because it is his uniform from Blanc; the coat of a Rook bearing the badge of one and everything that entailed. The rank to protect all the rest. Nearly a year's worth of time spent trying to be good at that so he could protect everyone he could. It'd been so long since he last wore his Exorcist coat...

...what had it felt like, again?

But she didn't bring a cloth or bowl or anything to scoop water with that he can see and there's nothing else here, so.. ]

Being worried about something like that... [ It's said softly as he takes a corner of his coat between thumb and forefinger, then thumb and forefinger again... and pulls.

Riippp.

Using his teeth briefly as well to improvise, he tears a strip of his coat off to work as a makeshift cloth that he wraps around his hand, eyes slanting back to her as he does so. Softly somber as he does so. ]

...shouldn't you have been concerned about that already then? [ Just under her chin—

It's a neutral (safe) enough place to touch the cleansing cloth wrap to. To dab away the corruption as gently as he can—and with complete disregard to how his entire back is still aboil like that. ]

Getting yourself blighted from me as well... [ He trails off a little quietly just because—he's not quite sure if it's something he should ask but he has to. ]

Why...?

[1/2]

[rememberher]

[ It's not weird, it's just... unexpected? A bit spontaneous??? Something that she was perfectly (somewhat) okay with until they had a certain conversation, but now things are just slightly (slightly...) different and embracing her suddenly like that is—

...You know what, yeah, let's not talk about this. Not when— ]

[2/2]

[rememberher]

[ She felt him move, fidgeting with something before hearing the sound of ripping cloth. Lux leaned back rather suddenly then, blinking in surprise as she watched him rip the front of his jacket; first with his hands, then with his teeth. Looking so absolutely dumbfounded and a bit concerned as he did so with a sigh, like it was something strangely heavy.

So similar it was to what she was wearing when she arrived, save for the color and the badge, but clearly from the same place. At first she thought that it was because she was his shinki, that of course they would be dressed similarly, but knowing admittedly what little she knew now, and quickly being able to add two and two together, her brows raised. ]

Allen, your jacket—

[ The uniform they both shared... That's what it was, wasn't it? Although what kind, she couldn't tell. Not that she would be able to ask, both because he wouldn't answer and because he had already gotten to work, dabbing the fabric under her chin.

It took her a moment to speak after that, both because of how natural it seemed to him, and because his question actually caught her off guard. Made her hesitate to answer. ]

It was all we could do to get you here, and if I left you here as you were...

[ And Lavi wanted to make sure he was long gone before Allen woke up again. Given his situation, she couldn't blame him.

But that did bring something to mind, and allowing Allen to continue with his work, she looked away. ]

You named him. Why..?

[likethelight]

[ Because it isn't the first time they've recovered after a hard battle. But he won't say that.

And she didn't really answer his question, but he pauses at that. His hand stilling, and—eyes flicking up to her almost a little... guiltily? (Yes, guiltily. Briefly like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.) And he doesn't answer for a moment, opting instead to re-wet the cloth and keep his eyes cast down for a moment. Thoughtfully—and a little heavily, expression hooded by snowy lashes falling to half-mast. Even if Allen does smile a little—it's a soft and sad sort of thing that doesn't quite reach the rest of his face. And yet...

It's fond. ]

I'm pretty sure he would have struck me again if I hadn't. [ It isn't quite the answer, but it's the important one to Allen.

He takes a moment to dab again at the blight spidering along her shoulder; wring it so the water can actually cleanse it before he repeats it. He'd named Lavi, yes... And he could tell her... he could tell her it was because the situation was dire and demanded it. That there was no time. And while on one hand that's true, on another he still could have summoned her. But he also knows that's not it at all. Because to name Lavi, someone who is a friend of so many years, who doesn't see Allen as one anymore, to make him a Nora... to make him his shinki which is something on one hand so fundamentally abhorrent to him if one considered the idea of "servitude" between shinki and gods. But he hates that anyway; could never see it like that and won't. They're his friends. The people he wants to fight besides. So deep down...

...deep down maybe that was just something he still needed to believe in. ]

"If it's the two of us, we can do it." [ His gaze flicks down again, like he's looking at something distant and not there anymore.

Lavi. You left before he woke up and he can understand that, but...

...what about releasing you? ]

I think that's just something I needed to believe.