2Chapter 1: Something worth fighting for
Allen Walker is general stationed in the south. But he is a special case. In 2010 he was taken to the army, he was only 12. At first, the only thought he'd had was 'I gotta get out.' but soon, he gave in. he was forced to fight in wars. So much fighting… for four years. When he finally made to general, the ones who'd done terrible things to him cowered in fear. Allen just smiled at them when they past each other. Allen wasn't a bad guy, plus, if he had to be in the army, he might as well win when he could.
Kanda Yuu wasn't really different, he as well was taken when he was 12 in 2010, and also a general, but in the East. But he knew why he was taken, as Allen did not. And he accepted his fate. He was the only able bodied man in the house, if he'd said no, they would've taken his sister, and his youngest brother, who wasn't even old enough to reach Kanda's thy. So, he went, and he turned out to be one the their precious 'gems'. He used to be a happy child, but it all went to hell the day he dropped his title as a child and was forced into being an adult.
Allen's POV.
I had just woken up. I get up, and put the next mark on my wall. 1569 days. I've been here for 1569 days, exactly.
I groaned, "I wonder when they'll deem me unfit to fight? Probably never…" I groaned, getting into my green general's uniform, which whenever I could, I just didn't wear it.
Everyone already understood that I just don't wear the hat.
I wash my face and walk out, in which case I'm saluted.
"Good morning General Walker!" Colonel King saluted.
"At ease, good morning Colonel King." Allen said with a smile, they both saluted each other shortly and walked in their separate directions.
"Allen Walker, there's a call for you on line 10." the lady at the desk said to Allen as he walked by, it's like the people at the desks are always higher than anyone else, I mean, they don't salute when we walk by, and they don't salute if you salute them in thanks.
I went to a phone and went onto line 10.
"General Walker?" a voice asked me.
"Depends, may I ask who you are?" I responded politely.
"CC2, does that suffice General?" CC2.. Damn, and I paid him such little respect. CC2 was the one who runs the whole army.
"Yes, please excuse my idiocy sir." I say like I'm standing up straight, but I'm slouching.
"Anyway, I'd like you to come to my office right away, I have some important news." CC2 stated.
"Yes sir, I'll be there as soon as I can, sir." I state.
"That'll be all, thank you." CC2 thanked.
"Okay, I'll see you in a minute sir." And he hangs up. I breathe out, and start sprinting to the fourth storey.
When he says in a minute, he means, be there in a minute literally. I swear, I think I'm getting more exercise by being called to his office than by fighting.
48 seconds, gone. I'm almost there… Made it!
59 seconds. Door opened. One minute.
"Good job as always, General, you made it here just in time. Please, take a seat." CC2 gestured towards a seat across from him. CC2 was an old type man, the kind here you know he's been through hell and back a few times, but you still respect him greatly for it.
"Yes sir." I say as I sit down across from him.
"Allen, do you like it here? I want you to be honest, nothing is going to happen for you being honest." he smiles.
What do I say? The truth? Am I being relocated? Might as well say the truth, the worst thing they could do is execute me by torture… "The truth, sir?… I'll be honest, no, I hate it here, and I hate being in the army. Please sir, do not take any offense." I bow my head waiting for him to yell.
"Please General, lift your head, I'm not mad, I was actually going to send you on an under cover mission with a man in the same situation as you." CC2 said with a smile. Same as me, he was forced into the military, just like me? They caught more kids other than me… what kind of place is the army really, behind all the uniforms and guns…?
"Sir, I'd be honored to take it." I say respectfully.
"Well then, I suppose you'll be shipped out tomorrow. Get a good night's sleep and be at the train station at 9:00 A.M sharp. I trust you can make it, general?" CC2 asked, I nod my head. "Dismissed." CC2 said, and I sped out of the room.
I get to leave tomorrow, I get to see something other than war… other than a bunch of gross people. Other than a bunch on sickos that bring children into the military. What if I get the chance to see Mana again? I wonder what the other guy is like, being forced into the military, just like me. Wait, but what if he's a total old guy, maybe he was forced into the military like 50 years ago. Ugh, I'm gonna be sick.
I might as well go to bed, and maybe I'll make it onto the train on time.
I go to my quarters and fall asleep….
I awake by a blaring alarm screaming in my ear. 8:00 A.M time for me to get up.
I put on my clothes, pack my bags, blah blah blah, all that stuff you do before you leave to go somewhere, yeah, that's what I'm doing.
Once I'm done, I go to the front door, this would be the first time for me, leaving the front doors by myself.
I open the doors, and the sun is beautiful. There's a black car waiting outside for me.
I walk to the car and get into it. "Good morning, Reever." I say happily, Reever was the one who helped me the most throughout these three years, he was kind of like my best friend.
"Good morning General." Reever smiled.
"Call me Allen. Anyway, do you know who it is I'm meeting up with?" I ask, and he smiles a bit brighter.
"Your partner will be the prestigious Kanda Yuu." Reever looked at my reaction, I was so happy! Kanda was the person who I shared my cell with for a year, until we were both deemed allowed to leave, more like allowed to move to a bigger and more tempting cell.
"I haven't seen him in three years, I wonder if he's doing well." I say.
"He's a General, just like you are." Reever said stopping at a stop light. When did he start the car?
"Wow, things surely change in a few years." I state.
"Yes, they do. A few years ago you came in screaming and crying so much that they had to put you to sleep so many times, some of us were worried you'd never wake up at some point with the doses they were giving you. You had dead eyes, but now, I see you're doing a lot better, I'm sure little Kanda is as well." Reever babbles.
"Yes, I'm sure his dead eyes are strong now, I wonder if he grew out his hair like I'd asked him to?" I start thinking happily about where we're going. Wait, where are we going? "Hey where are we going?" I ask.
"You guys are meeting up in America. California, actually, so when you get off the train, you'll head onto a plane." Reever said. "That's the train station you're going to be boarding your train on. It'll be train 1773." he said as we parked in front of it. He saluted me and I got out.
"Alright, thank you." I said as I stood by the window of his car and saluted as he drove off. "Alright then… 1773 then… I guess I'll be waiting." I say to myself, and I ignore all the staring I get by bystanders.
There were no open seats so I decided to just lean on a pole.
A woman came up and tapped me on the shoulder, "You can have my seat sir," she says.
I smile and say, "Please, have your seat, I'm just fine right here." She looks like she wants to fight back, but doesn't.
"Okay sir," she says, and almost says something else but,
"Please just call me Allen." I say happily.
"Please forgive me for asking, Allen, but how old are you?" she asks.
"16." I say simply, still smiling. Her eyes fill with tears.
"Oh my, my son is the same age, my oldest, he was taken away from me, four years ago… do you know him? Is he okay?" she asks desperately. That's a first, I'm used to getting pity, but a woman who's son was also forced into the army… rare.
"Your son was also forced into the army? Was he 12?" I ask.
"Yes! He was!" she looks up at me hopefully.
"Was his name Yuu Kanda?" I ask quietly.
"Yes, yes that's him! Please tell me he's okay!" she had tears in her eyes.
"I'm actually flying over to America to meet with him. Your son is fine." I say.
"Take me with you! Please!" she begs, she was smiling, but still had tears in her eyes.
"I can't do that. But give me your address and I'll be sure to give it to kanda myself." I say.
"Yes, here it is!" she says quickly writing down a mixture of numbers and letters and handing It to me.
"I'll be sure to give this to Kanda." I say putting my hat down and bowing.
"Thank you, but, when was the last you saw him?" she asks.
"Last time I saw him was when were both relocated, for a whole year, we both spent our time in the same cell, we're both Generals now, so be happy for him. Though I know that he wants nothing more than to die right now." I say truthfully.
My train pulled in. "Good bye ma'am, I'll be sure to give this to him." I say as I board the train, she waves goodbye. You think what I said was cruel? No, that was a far cry from the cruelest thing I could've said. I could've said "your son was killed when he was brought in." I'd be lying, but that's what the army wants us to do. And then the family they thought to be dead comes home. It's cruel, but atleast now that old lady has some hope.
I sit down, and quickly fall asleep and I have dreams pf Kanda and that woman, one day meeting again, after so long. But I also dream of me seeing Mana again. Has he taken in another child, just like me? Maybe he's forgotten about me. I guess I might never know….
I awoke to the sound of a train screeching and me being jerked violently awake.
I guess it's time for me to actually get off the train and transfer to a plane? even though it's almost midnight…
Oh well onto the plane.
People step away from me and I end up getting on the plane first.
"Sir, we were asked to give you a special room." he says, I nod.
The next person was a little girl. "Little girl we can't take you on, now go home." the flight attendant stated.
"She's with me, let her on please." I say with a smile, and I take he hand and we walked to my special room.
"Little girl, where are your parents." I ask, maybe I shouldn't have taken this little girl me…
"In America. They left me here, but they're in America. Please mister! Take me to America with you! Please don't let them take me away!" she pleads I smile and say,
"Yes, you can sleep. And I'll wake you when we're getting off." I say, and she happily sleeps the whole time, as do I.
I feel the train halt to a stop. Right in front of the airport. I gently shae the girls shoulder to wake her up, and her eyes slowly peep open before she rubs them.
"Come now, it's time to board the plane." I say softly.
She yawns, and obviously doesn't want to walk. So I pick her up and take her off the train myself.
We walk into the airport and we were allowed to skip the line directly into first class.
I set the girl down and put my earbuds in to listen to music. I was slowly lulled into much needed sleep.
I wake to the planes slight turbulence. I open my eyes slwly and look around.
it's the middle of the night and almost everyone in first class are sleeping.
I look too see the girl sleeping right where I left her. Outside I can see that we're flying over the ocean, we'll probably hit California soon.
I sit back to rest my eyes and change the song. I start playing I See Fire. Ed Sheeran.
"Oh, misty eye of the mountain below~" I start singing quietly.
It was my dream before I was taken away. I wanted to be a singer. I was always told I was good, and I was hopeful for it work out. But it didn't, right when I was taken, that dream was ripped away from me.
"Keep careful watch of my brothers soul~" I start tapping my foot.
"and should the sky be filled with fire and smoke, keep watching over durans son~"
"If this is to end in fire, then we should all burn together, watch the flames burn high into the sky," I didn't notcie a small pair of eyes watching me gleefully.
calling our father oh, stand by and we will watch the flames burn auburn on the mountain. And if we should die to tonight, we should all die together."
I look up to see the girls eyes widen in excitement. Her smile was wide and gleeful.
"I never did ask, but whats your name, small one?" I ask.
Her face slowly falls and she looks down. She starts playing with the hem of her shirt before saying. "I don't know… but! My mommy and daddy will know! That's why im going there, a man said theyd be there!" she says, life coming back into her eyes with the hope of seeing her parents.
I smile sadly. "Do you know why they've gone to America sweetie?" I ask.
She nods happily. "Auntie said that they were going on a long adventure into the sky!"
My eyes widen. "Wheres your aunt right now?"
She shrugs "Auntie left a long time ago, but now I have mommy an daddy!"
"Im sorry, but the adventure your parents went on, they wont be back in time." I say patting her head.
She looks confused. "How much longer is it going to take?"
"Sorry too say, neither you nor I will be alive to see it. Theyre going far, far, away. But they know youre looking for them. One day, you'll see them again." she looks sad, but it doesnt seem she quite understands yet.
"But you said, we wont live to see when they come back."
"We wont. We'll be fireflies watching our own children live their lives."
"Fireflies?" she ask, I nod.
"Yep, your mom an dad are doing important work as fireflies. Who knows, that firefly right there could be a picture of one of them." I say pointing to a flier on the plane wall.
She looks disappointed but she perks up. "Will you help me find my parents!?" she asks, I nod.
"I'll stay with you until you find them." those words seemed to have made her content as she settles for looking at the flier I pointed out.
I put my earbuds back in and slowly drift to sleep.
I wake up to the girl jumping on my chest, I guess it's time to get off.
I sigh and we get off the plane.
I start looking for the man I'd longed to see for the longest time. He was supposed to meet me, er, us I guess.
Then I see him. He has changed.
He's wearing a general uniform, as am I. his eyes have been hardened, no where close to as weak and pitiful as they were. He'd grown out his hair, and it was beautiful, not marked with blood and dirt. The last thing, we proudly wields a deadly sword at his hip.
He was still a little bit away so I stop for a moment and ask, "What did your auntie call you?"
"Nothing, she never wanted me…" she says sadly.
I smile, "Then, I'll call you… Jade!" I call her that because she was wearing a jade shirt, and a red skirt. And her hair was in preppy blonde pigtails.
She nods excitedly and I lift her up as we walk towards the man.
"Kanda." I decided to sneak up behind him.
He turns slowly to see my grinning face. He seems happy, until he sees the girl on my shoulder, sleeping soundly.
"Long time no see, Moyashi… I wasn't told a brat would be coming with you." His voice has been hardened, but like his cold eyes.
I ignore the question and reach up to hug him, wrapping my free arm around his neck. "Missed you too. This is Jade. The higher ups don't know she's with me, so just keep it hush-hush." I whisper in his ear.
I let go to see his face a little flushed as he says, "I never said I'd missed you." he growls.
"Well, I wasn't actually told about what we were going undercover for, mind debriefing me?" I ask as we start walking to a location unbeknownst to me.
"Theres a guy. A fugative from the military. He ran away. Fucking disgrace he is. Anyway, he's suspected of some illegal crap and he's using military insights to do it. This shouldn't take too long, but we're roommates." he says slowly.
"Okay, makes sense. But I gotta ask, how long have you been in California?" I ask looking up at him.
He thinks for a minute. "Two years maybe." he says.
I nod "So you weren't in the east for long, were you?"
HE shakes his head.
"Oh! I totally forgot! The craziest thing happened." He looks at me curiously. "So, I was getting on a bus, and this lady offered me her seat, I say no. she asks how old I am, I say 16. She starts crying saying her son was taken from her when he was 12, and he would be 16 right now. She asked me if I knew him, and I asked what he looked like, and what his name was. She said it was Kanda." He looks surprised. "She was asking about you! I told her we were meeting in America, and she begged me to let her come with me, I say no, but I promised her I'd give you this, here." I say handing her address to him.
He looks shocked for a moment before unfolding the paper. He almost smiles while he looks down at the paper.
"What's it say?" I ask.
"It's not an address at all, she didn't give it to me. Fucking hag wrote me a note about how I should be behaving before saying 'White Bridge Park' my favorite place as a kid. That fucking hag really did it. She expects me to go on some fucking chase after her."
"Okay, what note?" he hands me the note, and it reads;
"Dear Yuu,
This dear boy says he knows you! Out of all the soldiers I wait for here, a young boy by chance knows you!. And oh, how he told me of the terrors you suffered. must've been terrible. I asked a simple 'where is he' and he told me what happened when you two met. You better behave near that boy, I tell you. Military or not, I am still your mother. And your father is still looking for you, Tiedoll wants you back dearly. As do I. anyway, respect your elders! Ranking or not. Treat that boy kindly, and I wish the best of both of you.
May we live to meet again,
The hag that gave birth to you.
White Bridge Park" I say out loud. I start laughing.
"That woman sure is something… do you want to see her again?" I ask wiping a tear from my eye.
"Yeah, it'd be nice if after we finished this, if we could go there and see her."
"We? You want me to go with you?" he nods.
"Why the hell not? You brought the note. She would fucking kill me if I didn't bring you, she'd think you died or something." he says scratching the back of his head.
I start laughing loudly as we start walking again. "Oops, I'm gonna wake up Jane."
I say quieting down for the still sleeping girl.
We both get into a car which im guessing is his. I sit Jade in the back seat and then get into the passenger side, Kanda in the driver seat. But not before I quickly put glasses on.
He starts the car and pulls out of the airport.
"Where do you live anyway?" I ask.
"Where do we live, you mean. fucking people have gadgets everywhere, listening. We gotta act legit even when we're alone."
I nod, "So, where do we live." he bangs his head on the steering wheel.
"You should know where we live. That amnesia really fucked up your brain. We live in that red house, remember?" he asks. Im guessing he wasn't supposed to say the address.
I nod. "I don't think we're bugged. I would've known, that what ive been trained to do." I say.
"Trained?" he asks.
I nod, "Yeah. When we left I was told to sit in a chair bolted to the floor, I was tied to it. And that chair shocked me every time I didn't see all the bug in under 30 seconds. that's why I wear glasses, actually. Theyre kinda like xray glasses. They can detect the bugs when I look at them, they show up as red dots. Otherwise, if theyre even close to visible I can see it bare eyed though." I say taking my glasses off and playing with them.
"Since you say that, I have to ask, how many times did a fucking idiot like you get shocked?" he asks smirking at my pout face.
"In the first month, I was shocked at least 24 times a day, only because any more probably would've killed me. In the second, I was shocked 30 times a day. My body kinda built up resistance, and the number kept going up until the 6th month. I was at 78 shocks a day, a walking corpse. Then, suddenly I got the fight in me that I didn't want to be shocked 100 times a day!" he face palms at my resolve. Or, my lack of resolve. "So, that day, it went down to 70. The next month, it was 65. The month after, it was 50. After, it was 40. To 34. 13. To just 1 a day. It was April then. By May, I had 0 shocks, and 14 seconds to spare. Not long after, I became a general." I say proudly.
"Those shocks must've fucked your body up." he says looking at the burns all over my visible skin.
I nod, looking at them myself. "Yeah, but a lot of burns and scars I have are from missions. This one is the second worst." I say pointing to the pentacle on my face.
"Where'd you get it?"
"Noah. Ya'know. Those damned Portuguese special corps, known for their sadism. Was actually a captive of theirs. This is a sign that I 'belong' to them. They said id never be able to get back what they took. Moreover, I was thinking time, but they were probably talking about virginity." I nonchalantly, Kanda chokes.
"Those sick bastard took your goddamned virginity?!" I nod.
"It wasn't especially important to me, I was just thinking about the time I was losing while being there."
"Damn, the you I knew would've freaked and say eh regretted the shit out that mission."
"I do. I fucking regret it. That damn control freak thinks im secretly apart of them, he keeps interfering with my jobs and almost getting me killed. I was under surveillance for a year, I just barely got out o it because Komui said he was a crazy man for trying to get one of the generals killed. This is my irst mission alone since that goddamned Noah suicide mission. I clench myy fists.
"Yeah I get it. Those bastards at Central are sick. They burned a fucking thing into my chest. Labeling me as livestock, or artificial life. Everyone legit thinks im a fucking robot when they see it. Trying to make me look crap up for them." he says gruffly as he looks around to see if he can turn yet, and he can, so he does.
"Yeah. but imagine my surprise when they said id be doing a mission with a guy just like me, and it be you. pleasant surprise I suppose." I say shutting my eyes a bit, how did I not get enough sleep?
"Tired Moyashi?" he asks.
I nod a little. "Yeah, I slept on the train, and on the plane, but im still tired."
"Did u go on any missions lately?"
I shake my head, "No… just kinda been losing sleep over stuff happening over there."
"What's been happening in that fuck hole?"
"People are starting to go along with the fact of im with the Noah. want to get me tortured an stuff like that, get info outta me."
His knuckles turn white with the force of his hands holding the steering wheel. "Well, then they sent you on this mission to see where your loyalties lie."
I nod as I put my chin in my palm, looking out the window. "Yeah. every mistake I make is one more reason to execute me or make me go missing."
"Well, we're almost there, might wanna wake up the kid, she'll probably want to fucking explore like all children do." he says exasperatedly.
"Shes just a child, you shouldn't be cussing around her. I don't want to be responsible when whoever owns her comes to get her and shes cussing her parents out." I say gently shaking Jade.
"What do you mean, whoever owns her?"
"Shes run away I think. someone should come for her eventually."
"and if they don't?"
"Then she stays with me."
"And the army? Gonna let them take her?"
"We'll run away."
The car ha already stopped in a drive way and he was looking at me with a shocked expression. "Why?"
"Shes just a child, she doesn't deserve to be taken to that place."
"so, she deserves to be running for her whole life?'
I think for a moment before looking at the girl rubbing her eyes. "If worse comes to worse, I'll give her to Cross."
"Who's Cross?"
"My old guardian after Mana decided to go on a business trip. stayed with him for 3 years before Mana came back. he's not a good guardian, but h used to be in the army. they cant control him."
"Well, let's go in then."
And I cut it of here. If you guys want a second chapter, review, if it makes me smile, itll be posted next time. thank you for reading, have a fluffy day.