Entry tags:

fanfiction

Category: Gen
Characters: Allen, Howard, Komui, Leverrier, Bak, and some others. No pairings.
Rating: PG-13
Notes: This is an odd sort of slice of life fic. Allen deals with the Ark, Link deals with Allen, and more.
Disclaimer: D.Gray-man and its characters are the property of Hoshino Katsura.



a little aside:

Allen briefly surveyed his room, noticing that the maids and workers had done some cleaning since he’d been gone. Even his stray socks had been picked up.

Link edged past him and sat his belongings down on a corner chair before stopping to stare at the single-fitting bed. “Which side do you prefer, Walker?”

“...I don’t think this is going to work out.”

----
Frightening, that was the word for it. The Ark. It’s not like he knew what to expect from some volatile thing thousands of years old.

Its inside looked tame enough, but when he closed his eyes and pictured his destination, it was a rush and a punch to the gut. It wasn’t necessarily painful, but still shocking; so much so that it took his breath momentarily.

The second time was no less frightening, but he had something to go on, so he could at least work with that. He opened his eyes when it moved, fully expecting to see nothing, but instead getting treated to a montage of images so furious and fleeting that it made him feel like vomiting from the stimulation.

Truth be told, though, the sensation itself wasn’t nearly as strong as it was during the first trip. It was dazzling. He could actually get used to it, he figured. It actually...felt right, at the risk of saying that it felt pleasurable. He didn’t want to dirty something as amazing as this.

It was his. If he didn’t have anything else on Earth, he had this.

----
There was no third time as of yet, as Mr. Link made sure of. This one afternoon had them both seated at a long table in the East Wing’s library. It looked bitterly cold outside, and a bright blueish-gray overcast was their only source of light from the opposite windows.

Allen slouched in his seat. How in God’s name could anybody (other than Ravi) stand to write all day long? He’d only been sitting for a few hours, and he was already making up random excuses to leave his seat when he could.

“...Link? Have you seen a film?”

Link barely glanced up from his own paperwork. “No, I have not. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Ah. Nothing, really. I was just thinking about films. I’ve heard that those are supposed to really be something...all the moving pictures, I mean. Even if they're short.” He maneuvered his pen over the fingers of his left hand for a few seconds. “And would you mind reading me this question?” He vaguely motioned to the paper in front of him.

Link sighed, but walked over anyway. “Which one?”

“Number...86?”

“...‘With what aptitude can you use the Ark?’”

Allen frowned. “Right. So what’s aptitude mean again?”

“Skill, you could say.”

“Oh, well, not very good skill...when you think that I’ve only used it just a few times. Well enough, I guess,” he trailed off while scribbling an answer on the page in his chicken scratch print.

He truly didn’t like any of the questions, but at least this was better than the one about his father’s mother’s maiden name. How the hell was he supposed to know that? Mana never spoke of her much to begin with.

Link returned to his seat and pulled his chair in with an air of annoyance. And the silence was thick again in only a few moments.

----
It was no great secret that Leverrier and his assistant could bake well. As much as Komui hated the man, he would happily admit that he indulged in his odd cakes. So, both of them were sitting with food and drink at hand in Komui’s office, about as relaxed as they’d ever truly be around each other. Which wasn’t to say a lot.

“Hear any news on Walker’s issue today, Supervisor?”

Komui drained the rest of his tea and sat in silence for a moment. “Nothing today, Inspector. Aren’t we expecting some sort of report back from the Curia within the week, however?”

“I believe so. Until then... Walker will be well taken care of,” he said with a slight grin. Komui shivered.

“Your boy, with you...what was his name again?”

“Link, Mr. Howard Link. Son of one of my associates. He’s quite young. Full of piss and vinegar, as the saying goes.”

“He seemed very reserved when we met briefly,” Komui admitted. Leverrier only chuckled.

“It was a joke, Supervisor. He’s a very collected boy, as you’ll see. Very dedicated as well. Just the sort that we need in a war like this. Someone dedicated and steadfast.”

“...Oh? Just the sort?” Komui was letting himself slip just a bit, he noticed. He cleared his throat and motioned River over to bring him more tea.

“Yes. We can’t take any chances with some of these.” He tapped on his chin thoughtfully. “It goes to say, however, that there are no atheists in foxholes. Don’t you believe so, Supervisor? And you, Wennham? It would certainly be to our favor...in a war like this.”

Komui hesitated, and River walked on silently. “Yes, sir. It would.”

----
It had been three days since the interrogation began. Three days that mostly consisted of Allen and Link holed up in the same East Wing’s library, which few others frequented.

Allen had been resting on his stomach on a side couch before an odd door slamming made him jump awake. Link was unfettered and still sitting cross-legged in a cushioned chair a few feet away, only with an oddly colored book.

Allen sat up and popped his neck. “Mm. Wh...what are y’reading?”

“It’s called Struwwelpeter. I had it read to me often when I was a child. This library, it... is nothing compared to the Apostolic, but you will never find books like this in it.”

He thumbed through it a last time before getting up to place it on a nearby cart. “This place is a marvel in itself, however.”

Well, that explained a lot, Allen had to admit. He actually had it read to him once by Mana when he was little. It scared him for a good while, but to his father’s credit, it did break him of his thumb-sucking habit.

Link cleared his throat.

“Do you attend Mass, Walker? Tomorrow is Sunday.”

----
In truth, even though Allen considered himself a pretty good Catholic as far as Catholics went, he didn’t go to Mass very often. Not at all, even, with the exception of Easter Mass and occasionally Christmas Mass. It gave him something to do on the holidays, since Cross was normally too pissed out of his mind to be good company. Pretty much any occasion called for drinking on his part, Allen found, even the birth of Christ.

So there they were, sitting in a center pew the next morning instead of haunting the cafeteria. Link was still wearing his uniform (only re-pressed) and Allen was wearing his waistcoat with accompanying church coat. He even had his slacks ironed and shoes polished.

He might not frequent Mass often, but he figured that he had better look nice when he did go. The last thing he needed was a strike against him for not being presentable to go along with his new ‘does not attend Mass regularly’ charge. He smiled bitterly before he could stop himself, earning him an odd look from Link, who had one eye open during the first prayer.

“Cheater,” Allen whispered under his breath. Link sniffed and turned his head, eyes properly closed again.

Church ended quickly, more quickly than Allen last remembered, especially with the Eucharist. They filed out of the chapel after the service’s end and loitered around in the vestibule for a few moments. Link paused and turned back around to face the crowd. “Wait a moment, please.”

“What’s the matter? Have to pee or something?”

“...I’d like to go to confessional.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll wait here.”

Link flashed Allen an offended and questioning look while Allen pretended to find the ceiling very interesting. He knew that Link expected him to follow suit. The irony in this whole thing was slightly amusing, but he decided not to think anything of it. He hadn’t done anything bad recently anyway.

He vaguely wondered just what Link would confess to. Maybe it was because he was such a glutton for sweets? Allen figured that eating enough cakes, pies, and jellies in one sitting to make his stomach turn had to be some kind of sin.

He chuckled knowing that Ravi would say that he’d have to regularly ask forgiveness for his eyebrows.

----
The next morning Link had a private meeting with his superior and a few other figures, which Allen was glad of. He’d had enough of him to last for this and the next century, that much was sure. He was instructed to keep close by the office hall entrance.

Which he never did. Last meeting, he and Ravi kept busy by taking turns throwing Timcanpy down the free space over the banister two halls over and seeing how long it would take for him to pop back up. He’d busied himself with personal things in the nearest toilet the meeting prior. That was really the only downside about the sharing rooms business...

This time, he had a good chance to investigate the Ark. He waited until the formalities were well past and snuck off to its holding bay. It was 11:00 am on a Monday, and there were actually few watchmen around, he found. Probably on lunch. He was creeping up the marble staircase inside its main frame before he had any time to really think about it.

He didn’t plan on traveling in it today, but he instead walked around, choosing random doors to open (not that there was much randomness to it. Any sort of scene or place that he’d think of would instantly appear, if he wanted).

He glanced back one last time before exiting. Controlling the Ark was a weird sort of power.


Link was exiting just as he turned the corner back into the hallway. "Where were you, Walker?"

"Ah, nowhere. Just stretching my legs."

----
That evening, upon Link’s insistence, they met in the main lounge after supper. Link was nursing some sort of alcoholic beverage in a mug that had cream topped off up to the brim. Allen spotted the American Branch leader (whatever her name was) chatting up Leverrier a little too amiably in the far corner of the room, but she quickly departed. He was a little glad of that, since his bile didn’t leave a pleasant aftertaste. Wasn't he married at his age?

Link passed Allen a quick look and trotted over to where Leverrier was standing. Business things leftover from the meeting, Allen assumed. He saw that Bak was sitting in the opposite corner with a notebook, and decided that he needed some company anyway.

“What are you working on, Bak?” Allen inquired.

“This? It’s nothing. Just some tinkering with the gravitational constant. And oh, a sketch of the Ark. We went down there a while ago. You just missed Epsteine, actually... here, have a seat, don’t stand there.”

Allen did, and glanced at the notebook. It was positively covered from page to page with numbers, equations, symbols, and odd drawings (plus a large one of the Ark, like he'd said.) There were red scribbles running all across some of the equations, complete with footnotes. Some scientific, others adding up to ‘no no no, you idiot, what the fucking hell do you think--’

“...Epsteine,” Bak added irritably.

“Oh.”

Allen glanced over at Link and Leverrier in the far corner. Link was showing documents of some sort to his superior. Looked like the meeting was going well, if anything, he thought acridly. Well enough, considering they were probably entertaining the thought of him being tortured. Or worse.

“Bak.”

“Yeah?”

“Why do think they have it out for me?” He gave a vague gesture to the two. “You know.”

“Well... I’ll put it this way, Walker. I'm a physicist. You know that. And the things that you can do are so far beyond what's scientifically possible and...,” he hesitated slightly, fishing for the right words. “Um, what I've devoted my life to studying... that it's absolutely astonishing. Now, what do you think of Leverrier and his ward?”

Allen craned his neck back over to see Link and his supervisor still conversing in the crook of the lounge's far entrance. “Mm. I don’t know, really. I’m not fond of them?”

“Walker... The fact that you're a fifteen year old boy with the ability to control something as powerful as that is frightening to them. Because... while I know that I'll never be able to master the things in the universe, the very institution that they were sent from believes it already has.”

At this, Allen couldn't say much. He simply smiled over at the other man.

Bak indulged him and forced a smile back.