towerofanimus | So whatever happened to that smile?/Mana Walker

Entry tags:

So whatever happened to that smile?/Mana Walker

Characters: Allen Walker and you!!(?)
Setting Floor 48 (the graveyard)
Format: Either or, starting with some prose
Summary: With Lenalee now gone, Allen begins to take in all that's happened to him since coming to the tower. For even the most cheerful and determined individual is allowed to let it all out...
Warnings: Some minor self mutilation, perhaps.

The graveyard...

Allen needed to confirm some things. A dear friend of his had come back into his life, or what could be considered a facsimile of life in this hell of a tower. And times seemed like they were almost normal now.

But a deep, sinking feeling brought Allen up all of the stairs to the dark graveyard floor. As there was the gravestone marked "Mana Walker" stood as gloomy as ever underneath the statue of an angel, beside it was a relatively new looking grave just to the right. He knelt down and inspected the name on the tomb, inadvertently confirming his fears--

"Lenalee Lee."

So she was gone for good now. Instead of just a piece of her world, the entire thing came down. His hands tightened. Timcanpy--a golden sphere that had been Allen's companion since day one--moved uneasily, flitting as close as it could to him without making contact. Allen Walker's hands soon rested on the statue of the angel.

Was it all meaningless? Or was this all just a night terror he was having? For the first time in a long time, Allen wasn't quite ready to accept this. Everything was coming down now. Perhaps several times before it was time to grieve, and he took them, but they weren't to last forever. This was, for lack of any other fitting term, very long term. Just when there was time. Finally, there was time to ask her some very important, very personal questions...

Timcanpy stopped its flitting about upon noticing the newcomer and soared over to them, hoping to find a place to land.

Allen has not much to offer. Other than clenching his fists and staring at the newcomer with eyes that don't look sad at all. In fact, he's smiling. Full of passion and charm, but this was merely the mask he often wore to fool others as well as himself. It could almost feel like a glare--only thing is, the glare is not directed at the newcomer at all...

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Said newcomer was only working here. He isn't dragging himself along the graves like he used to. Rather, he has an air of determination pushing through sadness. Often looking as if he's on the verge of tears but never crying, he moves from grave to grave, whispering encouragement.

He looks up when the little creature from before flits into view.

"Hello again..." And he looks past him at Allen. "And to you, too." He knew something was off in the smile Allen wore, though he couldn't tell exactly what... "Are you all right?"

The walker had arrived. The man, Enoch.

"..Oh. Hey there."

Mr. Walker sounded as happy as always, if a little tired. Tim hovered at eye level with Enoch for a second or two before taking a place at the top of his head.

"Sorry if I started you at all. Heh, it's kind of gloomy here, isn't it?"

It was more of that inside. There was once that saying...'Heaven beside you, Hell within'. That fit rather well.

"Of course it is. It's a monument to the many, many people stranded all alone with the corpses of their loved ones for company." Enoch looked down at a gravestone beside him, and ran a hand over its curved top.

"I'd imagine everyone is having trouble, considering Ruana's game. It's hard to sleep."

"I was about to say that."

His voice suggested it was no big deal. Only it wasn't a matter of sleeping.

"Everyone who's ever been is here. A past, a present, but no future. Unlike us, the ones they left behind."

Allen's clenched hands found a soft home on the statue again. Tim stirred a little bit atop Enoch's head, but no movement was made.

"They may still have a future, if the worlds can be restored."

Enoch's hand left the gravestone to tentatively try to pet the little winged thing sitting on his head.

Tim gripped his head hard and stayed as still as it could as the fingers ran past what counted as its head.

Allen, however, remained motionless. The dead coming back to life? Was this place even alive to begin with?

"The admins really think this would deter us from working towards that, don't they?"

Mr. Walker talks as though he's already there, monotone, as his fists clenched as tight as he could manage.

Enoch took his hand away when the little claws clenched in his hair.

"I recall Dax saying he had requested a memorial for these people... Riki interpreted that as a graveyard."

"These are memorials."

Only, not the ones anyone really needed to see.

"And they're just one of many. And they exist for people who left, for no reason at all..."

His right hand--ungloved and quite human looking--pounded the angel statue with force that would normally shatter it. Fitting that it would not break under any stress.

"Ah-..." Enoch reached out as Allen lashed out at the statue, as if to try to stop him but not fast enough.

"We can make things better for them. And for us, as well."

It is at this point where Allen begins to half-mutter, half-yell to himself, as if being forced to confess to a crime he feels quite guilty of committing. Tim stirs a little at its makeshift perch.

"Never stop walking, no matter what. I promised. Even if everything falls down, just keep walking. Mana...."

Allen Walker pounds the statue again. And again. And again. A previously-unseen wound on his right arm opens again, smearing blood all over the statue of the angel as he continues.

"...even if my world falls apart, I can't stop..."

At the sight of blood, Enoch follows through with that gesture and reaches out to take his wrist, to keep him from injuring himself.

"Stop. You're right. We can't stop, not with a deadline. But we'll set it all right. We'll set it all right..."

The hand catches, although it is far from motionless. The arm is full of pent up tension, fostered by years of abuse. Even Tim can't help but rejoin its master, hovering just before his face.

"Tim..."

It turned its head around--for what counted as a head, at any rate--at him.

"Tired? I think it's a bit early to say anything."

An invisible conversation, to anyone that isn't the master and his golem.

Enoch looks between the two, confused but not letting go of or letting up on his arm.

"What did he say to you?"

"It's not like he really said anything..."

Tim took its old place at the crown of Allen's head, landing as light as a feather.

"I can just understand it. There's no one on Earth--or any "Earth"--I know more."

Sheba would be a close second, though. His old master didn't exactly spend a lot of time with him that didn't involve a crippling debt.

"What is he?"

The golem had his attention now, and it seemed the subject wasn't one that would induce any more self-harm, so Enoch released his hold on Allen's wrist.

chaos often came to the graveyard to mourn over lost friend and to help those who were doing the same. So, when he saw and sensed Allen, he wandered over to the person, hoping to help. A normal person might not have noticed Allen's mask..but chaos wasn't an ordinary person. He had quite a bit of experience with people.

"It is alright. You need not wear a mask around me, Allen. I am sorry about your loss..but what shall you do about it?"

Mr. Walker laughed to himself. No getting around this one like a fool, then?

"Heh, you got me. But I wouldn't worry too much about someone like me."

Even though his head still remained on the statue of the nameless angel. The eyes of the statue seemed to weep in his stead.

Timcanpy--a being noticeably without eyes--viewed chaos as if he were a foreign substance.

Nope. It was hard to get around a six-thousand year old person like that. Especially when that person was a failsafe.

While Tincanpy was interesting, Allen was the person chaos was more worried about right now.

"Might I ask why? You are angry and in pain. If I can, I would like to help pyou."

After seeing and confirming Mitsuru's grave with his own eyes, Minato walked away after giving her a silent promise. To never give up and keep on fighting, even if he became the sole SEES representative, or the only person left from worlds like his.

Minato looked up at the strange, golden creature with a curious look.

"Hello. I haven't seen something like you before."

His eyes lowered and spotted another person, not that far from him, smiling. The owner of this creature? Whether he was or not, that smile seemed...unsettling.

"...Hello. Are you its owner?"

The creature hovered just before the young man, looking at him with a curious, unseeing face. Allen Walker still retained his unseeming smile as he spoke.

"Yes. It's name is Timcanpy. Or just Tim, for starters."

After a quiet, contemplative moment, he stood himself up again, straight as an arrow. There was a lot going on in his head. There would always be a time for mourning for someone's loss--he's been doing it since long before the tower--and the time to do so now has ended.

Without any semblance of a face, Minato would have to read Timcampy's mood and temperament from observing the creature's actions. He quietly hold up his right hand, offering it as a possible perch.

"Hello, Tim. I'm Minato Arisato."

After his greeting, he glanced over at Allen. Since the other young man was here in the graveyard, he can think of a few reasons why. A job...or seeing a friend's grave.

"What kind of creature is it?"

It took a place at the offering. The young man's hand was weighted down by the small thing known as Tim, which turned its "center" towards him like an adorable stare.

"It's a golem. A creature brought to life by magic. Timcanpy is my personal one."

His attention was on Mr. Arisato. "And I'm Allen Walker." There was no formality in his body. Little was there to convey other than sadness.

As the voices faintly whispered in his subconscious, he slowly lowered his hand to take a better look at Timcanpy. It's strange, but adorable in his eyes. A part of him was almost tempted to pet it, on the head (body?) and wings.

Minato looked up from the golem, his gaze turning over towards Allen. "It's nice to meet you, Walker-san."

The silence grows thick at Allen's lack of a reply. His hand returned to the statue.

"...yeah..."

It's a meager reply. As if someone wasn't paying attention in class.

Tim directed an eyeless attention to the hand. It knew the idea, but it was new to the person. The gold palette looked unliving yet it moved with the vibrancy of any other living being.

"...Are you here because of a job, or to check something?"

Finally, he asked the question. Minato raised a hand and gently pet Timcampy with his free hand, however his eyes were still on the other boy.

Perhaps the question was a little prying, but when Minato see a person like this and saying their responses in that way, he couldn't help but get worried.

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So whatever happened to that smile?/Mana Walker

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blame my internet for being late

no worries