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thenearshore2017-03-20 06:13 pm
likethelight) wrote in thenearshore2017-03-20 06:13 pm
† There's a light, there's a sun †
Who: Allen Walker, Lavi, and later Lux
Where: Takamagahara
When: June 27th
Summary: Prayer #20: Spring Cleaning. Lavi and Allen come across a giantarea 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... ]
Where: Takamagahara
When: June 27th
Summary: Prayer #20: Spring Cleaning. Lavi and Allen come across a giant
[ 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... ]
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He's there to cleave it through and give it enough of a sting to recoil, the appendage that whipped out from the phantom as it takes a more solid form the longer it fights them, but not before it's managed to strike the other boy. Who he will stand protectively in front of then, bodyblocking as anyone very used to being a human shield would be, his sword held to one side and his back to Lavi.
He tries to keep his eyes forward on the ayakashi that looms above them again and seems to drool for a moment (ooze, black ooze) and consider them, but he throws a glance back over his shoulder to the other as well. ]
Lavi, are you.. [ But he cuts himself short, realization dawning. Shit, blight—
Never matter that it clings still to Allen's face where it was able to take hold. By the way he stands it's clear he's not paying it any attention. ]
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(He will have to apologize to Cardia shortly after this)
Even so, he gets up to his feet, fighting through the pain and spares a glance at Allen. The blight is still clinging onto Allen's face and there's the brief thought of whether or not either of them will end up getting out of this alive.]
I'll live.
[He's not fine, but he'll live.
As soon as both of them can come up with a plan that will defeat this ayakashi.
Speaking of, he looks up at the monster, watching it take on a more solid form and it snarls at them.]
1/2
Feeling corruption spreading deeper within.
It's why his concern lingers for a moment longer on Lavi, because isn't it worse for a shinki. Or at least Allen will believe it's alright for him to bear more of it longer. He isn't the one who would fall into corruption.
He'd just die.
Well—again.
He cracks a thin and entirely humorless kind of wry smile for a moment. ]
This thing gives me a bad feeling... [ haaaaaah.. how to even approach defeating it when a direct blow from Crown Clown barely phased it. But... ]
2/3 I lied
It's the cue for the ayakashi to attack again apparently though, a wave of much becoming an arm to slosh at the god, and he darts out of the way as someone nimble and light-footed would. Dancing backwards and to the side almost like...
..he's trying to be bait? ]
I think I can weaken it if I keep striking it. Lavi, if you can—
3/3
That's smart, it distracted him so he didn't realize just how high above him it'd begun to draw itself. Look, Lavi. It's learning. ]
!!! [ ok, this time it's more like a tidal wave.
One that slams down atop him with all the weight of a small landslide. ]
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Again.
Lavi darts forward, though, to grab Allen and move somewhere a bit safer. The blight hurts - of course it does - but it isn't necessarily unbearable. He just fights through the pain as he gets himself and Allen away from the ayakashi before it decides to attack again.
Of course, they don't get very far, considering just how destroyed everything seemed to be with the ayakashi filling the city with its corruption.]
What was that you were about to say?
[He may sound a bit irritated, but he's keeping his focus on the ayakashi in case it decides to move again.
He keeps running through his head the many scenarios in which they can actually either die or succeed. So far, the former seems to be the dominant, but there is something that crosses Lavi's mind. Something that he keeps to himself because he's not sure if he wants to go through with that.
Not until he's sure they've exhausted all of their options.]
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But in counterpoint to that... in response to that the boy just reaches out for Lavi's hand actually. In a simple but heavy, meaningful kind of way, just resting his Innocence-clad hand atop the others. Innocence, so he shouldn't spread any further blight to the shinki because it's still acting as a buffer from the actual corruption that's taken root, but.
It's almost apologetic. ]
Lavi... [ It's soft actually. Gentle as it is heavy, and he doesn't lift his head to look at the other boy yet. This isn't what he was going to say, but if this is how this fight is going...
His hand tightens for a moment. Threadbare and like someone who wants to reach out, I'm sorry, but... ]
...I think you should leave.
1/3
[Lavi stops when he feels that hand on top of his.
His eye widens briefly at the suggestion.
"...I think you should leave."
For some reason, that just stirs anger in Lavi and the memory of him yelling at Allen for to not risk his life. It's enough to have Lavi clenching his jaw, his grip on Allen tightening because now it's just not his weight that Lavi's carrying.
He's carrying an idiot with a martyr-complex.]
2/3
[He hisses it out, angry, and that might not exactly be the best emotion to feel because the blight seems to worsen at that, but he doesn't care right now.
Lux is going to kill him - them.
Lavi can't leave Allen behind.]
Who in their right minds would leave their comrades behind? [Lavi is angry now, but the emotion feels right for this occasion because--
Because Lavi shifts a bit so that he can properly punch Allen before grabbing his shirt.]
Haven't I told you before? Don't risk your life.
[Releasing him, the redhead scowls and--]
3/3
[Lavi's voice is cold, emotionless even, but that anger is still there.
He knows it's wrong to suggest such a thing. It's frowned upon, after all, but right now they didn't exactly have another choice.
A god and a shinki pair has to be what takes an ayakashi down. That's the rule. A stupid rule, but Lavi doesn't care right now.
He needs both of them to stay alive.]
For now, use me as your shinki.
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There is, as Allen is briefly manhandled and then socked right in the face, the look of most wide-eyed disbelief. Stunned both by Lavi's outburst and then immediately cold reaction that he...
Allen couldn't even tell you what it is. Amazement and horror both. He can't even protest the treatment—or blame the other. But anger... when the first day they met again here and he and Lux had both had to stop the other boy from just ducking out—
It really is Lavi as much as it isn't when he becomes so cold. And he blinks and swallows hard for a moment, lifted slightly off his heels by how his coat's been fisted up. ]
Lavi... [ He falters after that however because.. what you're asking—it's actually not that Allen believes it's a terrible thing to be a Nora. Or rather, that Nora are somehow a lesser shinki. What about friends that want to fight together? But someone who would use one as a discardable thing... yes, Allen would bear a particular loathing for a god like that.
In general, honestly he just hates the idea of shinki "serving" gods. It's as uncomfortable to him as it is unnatural. Lux is perhaps the only exception, simply because for her—perhaps because she was the first one he named and thus forged that sort of bond with, perhaps not—she is a part of him like his own Crown Clown and a different category entirely. So for Lavi, that kind of thing, saying it like that...
He looks as horrified by it as he is awed.
We aren't like that. ]
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Even if there is some conflict on Lavi's own expression because in all honesty, phrasing it like that could have been better, but he's just too pissed off right now to think coherently.
He's promised Cardia he wouldn't go to Allen, especially not to have him as his God. Lavi didn't care about being a Nora so much as him not wanting to betray his own goddess in any way. Fighting with him--there was a torn desire to do so while at the same time, to push away.
His hand flexes, feeling another urge to punch Allen, but the ayakashi is still there.
It's going to start moving again the moment it gathers itself.
Lavi's hand curls into another fist, practically sensing whatever hesitation Allen's radiating off because yes, he understands.
Their first fight together, Lavi wanted to run. He hadn't wanted to fight with Allen and Lux, but this is different.]
Allen.
[Don't hesitate.
Never hesitate.
A sharp glance back at the ayakashi before he looks at the god he's currently holding up.]
I've told you, if it's the two of us, we can do it. ["We can deal with the consequences that can come after."]
Do it.
1/2
Again, Lavi, if you only knew how much those words could possibly mean to Allen. How much they ache as much as Johnny's overt friendship would one day from making Allen realizing just how lonely he was. How much loss he'd tried not to let himself feel.
So the young god goes quiet at that, swallowing again for a moment as his expression sets and he raises his chin. Steeling himself as he takes a breath--lets his invocation of his Innocence go entirely. So that he has both hands again, and so he can bring his left up to rest over the one that's fisted his coat. Firm but gentle acknowledgement. It's alright, you can let go--
Because his eyes flick back up to Lavi then, clear and bright, as he tucks his chin and gives a solemn nod. A counterpoint to the darkness that rolls off him the moment he's let his Innocence go, consuming in how it clings around him and is probably far worse than it would appear, given his clothes and uniform cover him entirely from the neck down.
And for the moment being at least, it seems not to be something he's paying even the slightest attention to.
--I'm okay now.
If the other will allow him, he'll tug Lavi's hand loose so he can stand on his own--pale grey eyes becoming nearly white with an inner luminescence as he begins to speak—and holds up a gloved finger like someone beginning to invoke or to pray. Like there's something else inside him that starts to wake up at that; at the Naming.
Something brilliant and from within that pushes at the darkness of corruption clinging to him still— ]
2/2
...Yet he didn't re-invoke his Innocence.
Even if he might be as possessed by it as he is to a degree by Crown Clown. The appearance of which has those that don't know any better mistaking him for an angel (a devil)—a clown—and what mirrors the new name he bears with all the rest.
(Even "Allen"—it belonged to someone else.) ]
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He could feel himself develop a sense of trepidation, wondering if he'll end up regretting this decision. It's most likely, especially since he'll be breaking his promise, but at the same time—
He can't completely regret it either.
There's no time for regrets.
Almost on instinct, Lavi could feel a strange power take hold of him, overpowering him as he's forced to acknowledge Allen— no, as he was forced to acknowledge Michael. Because Allen and Michael are different; right now, he's being forced to acknowledge the Archangel.
He's bright, like the endless glimmering rays of the sun.
Lavi bows his head, obedient and quiet.
His instincts as a shinki were strong; there was no backing out now.]
1/2
The reincarnated archangel pauses for a moment, his expression gentle and weighted; like someone who is used to bearing a great many sorrows and regrets and feels them so keenly right now. Very Allen—and it's why he reaches out.
Reaches out not to begin to draw the stroke order of the shinki's new name in the air, that sort of gesture that commands one to kneel and obey—but to touch Lavi's shoulder and lightly pat it once. Twice.
Please don't bow your head.
He really couldn't bear this if you did. ][ It's not the typical way a god will name someone. It'll never be the typical way a god would name someone. Especially with Lavi, who he could never see like that—as subservient. Maybe that's why all his shinki are grossly independent and more prone to not listening to him as much as they would.
And Allen would have it no other way. ]
2/2
仲. The naka in nakama. ][ Lavi's hand—he'll squeeze it briefly with his left in reassurance. Before he lets go and finishes drawing the new name with his right hand.
And will then raise his voice, eyes not so much bright as alive with an inner light.
It's a good thing, because from behind there is a squelching, sucking sound. A giant thing drawing itself higher up; a warbled, nasal voice like a distant child just barely being able to whisper "sᴍᴇʟʟs... ɢᴏᴏᴅ..." ]
1/2
A god who's about to name him.
But when he feels that gentle pat, Lavi lifts his head in order to look at Allen, fingers curling into fists.
No, not his god—at least, not one Lavi will actually have to bow down to. That wasn't in his nature, even if being named to a god, feeling that character imprint itself on the back of his neck.
And the next thing he knew—]
2/2
He feels so much more aware this way, stronger, but that's not right.
It doesn't matter.
The ayakashi is looking over them now and Lavi can feel a power searing through him, as if to accommodate for his new God.]
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Regardless of sight though, what Allen sees...
What Allen sees he already knew—already figured even if he didn't want to dwell on it—but it still doesn't lessen how much it stings. That Lavi was dead, certainly. He'd died, but... to an akuma, Lavi?
After everything we've been through?
(What did Lenalee say when she found out? Bookman, Krory?)
There's a small but very angry tear trail down the side of his cheek, which he scrubs away for a moment. And that the ayakashi is right at his back, he should probably run, fight, something—the god is actually incredibly calm now and seems to pay it no mind for the moment. Shoulders dropped.
Lavi, you idiot... ]
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But alas, Lavi is aware of the ayakashi, of the looming presence over them.
A nudge.]
Allen.
[Dont think about the past. Don't think about his death. Lavi is aware that whatever Allen's feeling at the moment is because of him and he just—
(In the end, was it a good idea?)
The ayakashi is snarling at them, finally moving to attack the still god.]
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He's just unafraid now, too. And Crown Clown whips down from his shoulders, cloaking him once again in the softer white that he would feel suits him more, not the fierce brilliance of the archangel within from a moment before. More like the way the moon reflects the sun.
To lift his chin skyward and nod slightly in the shadow of the ayakashi. ]
Mn. I know. [ It's okay.
Even if, more head than body, the ayakashi lurches forward and means to swallow him again with a groan, its brief return to humanity lost again. Dwarfing the god who stands there as if oblivious...
And who blocks it square across its maw with the broad length of his sword once again as it drops. Using it as much like a shield as a weapon, the flat of it braced along his back. The sword which, unlike before, comes alive in a searing white flame. That curls up and corkscrews protectively around like a living shield, like—well... not like a snake.
Like a dragon, almost.
And is thus another reason for Allen's calm and sobriety. Ah, this flame...
(His visible eye slants back towards it, more aware of it than he can see it. His eye which too has paled again, like it possesses a white fire as well.)
...it's both something so familiar, that both his god-instinct knows is Lavi and his new form and he knows as the Exorcist's flames, and not—it's white. Searing and bright, yet he feels no heat.
Holy fire.
Maybe it really is like before. When Lavi's flames hadn't burned him when he thought certainly he was dead. When it had burnt everything else to ash, including itself—and it begins to bake the muck dry, searing it in an instant as chunks of the spirit beginning to crumble harmlessly away and it gives a confused gurgle.
He hasn't even moved to seriously strike it yet, but his eyes cast down for a second, voice soft. This is important. ]
Thank you, Lavi...
[ He'll turn then and strike the creature through without hesitation. With brutal mercy. ]
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Allen's light wasn't as nearly as bright as the Archangel's, but it's still bright.
The silvery shimmers of a moon overshadowed by the sun.
Somehow, it doesn't really come as a surprise for him to realize that this power of his, as Allen's shinki, is fire. It feels almost completely natural, the way those flames twisted up to take the shape of a dragon.
But never one to hurt his comrade.
It does the trick though, cutting through the ayakashi, turning the muck and everything else around it into ash—the dragon of holy fire responding well to Allen's emotions, to his determination—conviction.
As if it's known all along on how to move effortlessly with the young god, acknowledging him not as their latest god, but as someone Lavi doesn't and didn't want to hurt.]
1/2
A dragon of purifying fire...
It makes a part of him wonders too of Tianya and Lianyi. The dragon lost in his grief Allen had been forced to slay in order to destroy the dungeon and release its lonely and grieving master's soul—to be brought back to life by the phoenix wife he'd banished in his rage before.
The phoenix with holy fire who'd been so kind to him and Lux, even if she nearly killed them in the process of testing their will.
Are they still alright, he has to wonder, seeing that dragon of holy fire now. The young god with the crown ring of phoenix ash and draconic armor plating made from blessed dragon scales sewn into his uniform; the pact with Lux and her present to him one Christmas in another world. How do you still make it right, all those promises to so many people.
—like the promise he wants to make to Lavi to find a way to help him return to himself, his memories. And the promise from forever ago—to exist for the corrupted souls that everyone else has forgotten.
To save everyone he can. ]
Being such a sad thing... [ He speaks softly, even if his left eye is trained up on the heart of the ayakashi that teeters above them still. Precariously so, as the fire following the path of his sword has carved the majority out from under itself. Aware na akuma ni..
It's familiar and good, even if it feels so heavy on his heart at the same time. Being able to fight something with this like you again Lavi... even if as the eyepatch covering up his human eye. It's still fighting by his side, isn't it? "I wouldn't be able to do this right now, if not for you."
Please forgive him for being selfish. ]
2/2
Please let your soul be saved!
[ One final strike, to cleave up through the middle. A pillar of fire into the sky, straight into the heart of monsterous ayakashi—straight through the the soul at the center of its being he saw earlier.
As his shinki now and covering his eye—would Lavi be able to see what Allen does with his god ability, what is the same kind of ability he's had since that day he was cursed?
Allen couldn't say, but—he genuinely hopes it wouldn't be the case.
His sight being something he would feel naked and less than himself without, he still wouldn't curse anyone else with it. ]
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End here?