Linkllen Week Day 4 - 4/27 Sick Day OR Knight/Prince AU

Author: liketolaugh Summary: Allen brings Link to meet Cross for the first time. Modern AU.

Linkllen 2017 Angel/Demon AU

The quiet dawn was beautiful, just as it was any other day Allen watched it from atop the church steeple. A soft breeze caressed his face, rustling through his ivory hair as he stood, bathing in the light of the rising sun. With a content sigh, he opened silver eyes to the horizon and stepped from his perch, landing with a practiced crouch on the platform below before sweeping into his room. The bells above rang with the 6 O’clock hour, breaking the veil of silence that hung over the city as the teenager meandered down the sidewalk to his daily stop at the cute corner cafe across the road from the campus he attended classes on.

Sitting at the same two-person table by the window as usual, a cup of coffee and a platter were set down moments later by the only employee there. A rather stiff looking young man only a few years older with the most interesting colored eyes and a penchant for being called by his last name instead of his first.

“Thanks Link, good morning.” He smiles up at the blonde that took a seat opposite, his own cup set before him.

“Morning, Walker.” Making a face, but not at the taste of the coffee, Allen stuck his tongue out rather childishly.

“I told you, call me Allen. It’s weird, being called by my last name.” Much to his chagrin, the other teen simply hummed as he stared out the window, but there was the faintest lift at the corner of his lips that the white haired boy nearly missed, “You’re impossible.” He muttered to himself, taking a bite from the warm apple tart.

“Only because it irritates you.” Allen nearly choked, snapping his eyes up to find Link’s own on him already, a smirk instead of his usual scowl or ‘resting bitch face’ as his friend Lavi called it. Rolling his eyes, he shook his head but was unable to fight off a small smile. This early there were few people to serve, so Link stayed and made small talk, anything from classes to the newest movie trailers to the news and even the weather, which although looked clear now Allen insisted it was going to rain before noon.

A few people entered the cafe just a little while before 7 O’clock, so Link excused himself to do his job, taking orders and serving the group of three. With a lag in chatter, Allen took to looking out the window as the street began to liven up with a slow trickle of students onto campus. He really couldn’t understand how people hated getting up early, he loved the view of the sunrise and it never failed to make the day feel bright. Except when it rained, or in the deep of winter, those were the days he felt a bit down. Forced to be alone with his thoughts muddled by the wet and cold weather. No one really noticed either, his friends were a constant cheer but once he left their company it was back to the silence of contemplation that he so loathed; Link though, he was different. He never really tried to liven up a mood, he just did. His very presence, though a bit off because of how aloof he seemed to be at first, was like pleasant glow to Allen.

A tint of pink dusted the teen’s cheeks as he chewed the last bite of the delicious pastry, looking in the reflection of the glass at his own face. He loved the small cafe. He loved the food, the atmosphere, the coffee. And if he was ready to really admit it, he was most definitely in love with Howard Link.

“… If you keep zoning out you’re going to be late for your class, Walker.” Jolted from his thoughts, Allen’s blush returned tenfold as he shot up from his seat, narrowly missing colliding with the main topic of his musings.

“Sorry, Link! Thanks, I’ll see you later then?” He slung his bag over a shoulder and waved as he shot out the door, not seeing the fond smile on the older male’s lips as Link shook his head before turning back to serve a customer.

It was two in the afternoon by the time Allen made his way towards the west entrance to campus, his shoulders slumped just the smallest bit from how heavy his bag felt. Be a forensic scientist they said, it’ll be fun they said… well learning how to be a forensic scientist was nothing but work and stress in his opinion. That and his frien-nemy Kanda was in a really bad mood today, probably forgot to buy conditioner again.

Chuckling at his inner monologue, the ivory haired teen nearly walked straight into someone standing around the corner of the gate and hastily apologized to the older, dark haired man.

“No worries, probably shouldn’t have been standing here anyway.” He replied kindly, rubbing out the remains of his cigaret under his shoes, “Say, you wouldn’t happen to live around here, would you?”

“I do.” Allen replied slowly, a little wary of the stranger despite his friendly demeanor. He had a Portuguese accent and brown eyes to match his swept back hair, and if anything he looked rich in his black suit.

“Perfect! I’m looking for the church that’s supposed to be around here but I’m afraid I’m a bit lost.”

“The church? Oh, it’s down a few blocks and then a few streets down on the right. Would you like me to show you?”

“Thank you very much but i couldn’t possible take up any more of your time.”

“I insist, I’m done with my classes for the day and besides, I live at that church anyway so i’m heading that way.” He could have smacked himself for blurting out such a personal detail, but the damage was done; besides, it wasn’t like most people didn’t already know, so what was one more?

“You’re too kind, thank you.” The man said with a small smile as they began to walk, “Though you’ve peaked my interest, why live at a church?”

“Oh, well, it used to be an orphanage, but it closed down a few weeks after I turned 18, so they let me stay there.”

“Hmm, a likely story.” Before Allen could voice his confusion, he was dragged by his collar into a nearby alley and slammed against the brick wall, grimacing at the pain in his back as the stranger glared down at him with inhuman gold eyes, “Where is it?”

“W-where’s what? Who the hell are you!?” One of the man’s hands slipped from his shirt and when it appeared again, there was an obsidian blade in its grasp that was pressed against the skin of his throat.

“A clever disguise, a college student, but giving it away by actually living in a church is a little disappointing. I expected more from the angel that stole Pandora’s Box. Now, tell me where you hid it and maybe I’ll consider not tearing your essence to shreds.” Sufficed to say, Allen was inwardly terrified. Nothing this man-if he even was human-said made sense, he could feel a drop of blood sliding down his neck from the edge of the knife, and he really wanted to wake up from whatever nightmare his calculus class had induced.

On the outside he could only stare, his tongue felt thick in his mouth and he couldn’t bring himself to answer or say anything for that matter. The man’s gaze narrowed further and he snarled but then stopped, mixed look of confusion and shock on his features.

“What the hell are you?” The blade dug a little deeper and the teen winced at the prick of pain when there was a sudden gust of wind. Allen’s arms rose to shield his face and closed eyes as the stranger’s hold and weapon vanished and a sudden feeling of vertigo assaulted him when he finally opened his eyes. He felt a pair of arms holding him up even as he buried his face into the shoulder of whoever his savior was and wrapped his arms around their neck. His nausea faded and he finally opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was white feathered wings against the clear blue sky. Blonde hair brushed his cheek as the familiar braid twisted in the wind for a moment then stilled as they landed, on the familiar balcony of his room at the church.

All but throwing himself out of the arms, Allen slammed the doors open and began pacing, unwilling to look at the person that had literally saved his neck. Running a hand over his hair, the teen began mumbling to himself, not noticing that he had only succeeded in working himself into a panic attack.

The previously stationary figure strode across the room and grabbed him gently, lowering them both to the floor.

“Allen?” The damnable warm and familiar voice asked a few minutes after his breathing had evened out, “Are you alright?” A laugh, dry and humorless, left his lips.

“‘Am I alright?’ No I’m not, I just got jumped by some rich guy that thought I was an angel and had Pandora’s Box!”

“A demon. That man wasn’t human.”

“… And what about you, Link?”

“I… I’m not either… But I’m not a demon.”

“No, you’re a damn angel.”

“Yes…” Burying his head in his hands, Allen pulled away from the embrace and stood, Link following a moment later. With a mental shake, silver eyes slowly opened and the teen looked over the celestial being in his room. He still looked the same… Except for the two wings that were neatly folded against his back, so long that the tips dragged against the ground by a couple inches and white enough to seemingly glow.

They stared in silence for a time before Link’s reddish brown eyes dipped down just the slightest. With slow carefully measured steps he approached, almost like he was afraid Allen was going to bolt any sudden movement. And for all Allen knew he was almost at the point of just running away from this, running and trying to wake himself up from the insane dream he was sure he was having.

“You’re hurt.” At the words a small pinch of pain radiated from the cut, as if he needed a more palpable piece of evidence telling him this was all real as the sunrise he had been watching.

“I’m fine.” No he wasn’t, the cut had begun to burn, a growing feeling of fire throbbing through his veins the long he tried to push away the hands that he knew were just trying to help. With a cry his knees buckled under him as he clutched and scratched at the wound. Link caught him before he could collapse on the floor and made quick work of restraining the teen’s hands to keep him from tearing at the bloody mess that had become his neck. A black tinge grew from the wound, spreading to the surrounding area before it began to recede and then vanish altogether, leaving Link very puzzled and Allen trying to cope with the sudden lack of excruciating pain.

“What…the fuck?”

“Dark Matter, a poison deadly to angels and humans, the only thing strong enough to counteract it is demon blood…” He explained, releasing Allen’s hands to let him sit up. There was still a fair amount of blood on the teen’s neck, but it was no longer seeping from the cut, which Link took as a good sign and leaned back, sitting barely half a foot from the other.

“How am I even supposed to cope with this? This cannot be happening, can I just wake up back in calculus, please?” Link nearly laughed, but instead he just huffed in amusement, like he always did.

“I wish you could, but if you go outside they’re going to try and kill you.”

“Why do they think I’m the angel and not you though?”

“Because you live in a church and I run a bakery. I never said they were the brightest.”

“Then what’s stopping them from busting in here? And what’s the deal with Pandora’s Box?”

“Like all churches, it was built on hallowed ground, demons and spirits can’t enter. As for the Box, well I took it to keep it out of reach from them and the archangels.” That got Allen’s attention as he finally looked at the blond.

“Wait, why? Aren’t angels supposed to be like good and stuff?”

“In theory.” He answered dryly, “The angels were created to keep humanity alive and push them towards God without physical interaction. When the world began, they locked the greatest potential evils of man in a box and gave it to Pandora after making her vow never to open it, but she did and all but one thing was unleashed.”

“Hope.”

“Yes, but that’s only the legend, in reality, there were many things still enclosed in the box. Humility, Kindness, Apathy, Charity, Selflessness, Innocence. Pandora’s Box is a physical manifestation of the soul of all human beings. If it were to be destroyed, it would bring about the end of times. It was taken back to heaven to be watched over, but once you’ve watched over the civilizations of humans for hundreds of years you start to feel hopeless. Many of the older angels feel like it would be best to end the world and start anew.”

“But you don’t think that way…do you?” It was hesitant, and Link found himself just a bit vexed, but not at Allen, he could never bring himself to be angry with him. It vexed him that the angels, his kin, would give up on humanity, not when there were such amazing things in the world when you looked closer than the wars and conflicts of man.

“No, I don’t, and I wasn’t the only one. There were a group of us that opposed the idea and took action. Together we stole the Box and came to Earth, well, we fell really.”

“Did it hurt?” Link snapped from where he had been looking out the still open balcony doors to find the white haired teen grinning at him, trying to hold back his mirth. “When you fell from heaven?” At the eye roll he received, he couldn’t handle it anyway and started laughing, clutching his stomach as his eyes teared up.

“Good to know you’re feeling better.” The blonde muttered to himself while fighting a small smile. Finally, Allen managed to sit up again, settling his outburst with a deep breath.

“Cut me some slack here, Link, I’m trying to wrap my head around all this. Angels, demons, a mythic box, I have no idea what to think of all this, plus there’s a small part of me stuck on the fact that you actually used my fist name for once.” That made him pause, thinking back, he had used his first name. Link tugged on the cuff of the plaid shirt, which was now open, that he had on over a plain white tee and shrugged under the strangely intense silver gaze. “I guess I did. Anyway, I need to go check that the Box is where I left it.”

“And where would that be?” Allen asked curiously as they both stood up and made their way down to the main hall that lead in several directions.

“Somewhere worse than a church.”

“You put the manifestation of man’s soul in a cemetery?”

“… Yes.”

“This gets worse before it gets better, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” There was a heavy sigh as the angel opened the iron gate, wincing at the shriek of metal before going in, only to stop a few paces in when he noticed that Allen was not behind him. Turning, he found the tee staring with a confused look at his own feet.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t move.”

“What?” Link moved back to the entrance and grabbed the boy’s arm, intent on pulling him with him, but he snapped his hand away when a spark of pain hit him. Allen had taken a step back when he saw Link’s reaction, concern in his eyes.

“Link! Are you alright? What happened?”

“I don’t know, I’ve only felt shock like that from coming in contact with a demon during a fight once before… Come here,” he moved completely out of the cemetery and gestured a few meters away. They stood facing each other, the blonde looking rather stiff, or at least stiffer than usual, and Allen wasn’t sure how he felt about this new revelation.

“I’m going to look at your soul.”

“My soul?”

“Yes, I know it sounds strange but I also need you not to fight it.” The teen swallowed, feeling his heartbeat speed up a bit as he nodded and let Link place his hands on his face and watched as he simply closed his eyes and went still. He wasn’t sure what to brace for, but it certainly wasn’t something encasing his entire being in unseeable white light. He did his best not to struggle and go with the unearthly sensation, but he just couldn’t describe it it was so alien. Suddenly he say something, an image of five people all smiling at him and each other. No, it wasn’t him, it was Link they were looking at. They all wore the same white shirts and pants, and in the only girl’s case a dress, and they all had the same white wings and ethereal glow.

With a snap the image was gone and so was the angelic presence as Link slowly lowered his hands, a mix of emotion in his eyes despite the blank expression.

“I don’t believe it.”

“What? What did you see?”

“Your soul,” ‘Obviously’ Allen bit his tongue to keep from being sarcastic, “and two others.”

“Come again?”

“There are two other souls in your body, lying mostly dormant. An angelic that seems to be containing a powerful demon.” The moment with the demon that had tried to kill him rose to the forefront of his mind and Allen cringed, taking a step back.

“That’s impossible…” It sounded much like the way he felt, confused, weak, disbelieving. It was too much; his heart rate increased and his breathing became sharper and quicker as he wrapped his arms around himself. Link was by his side a moment later, his hands back as they were moments earlier.

“Allen, breathe, it’s going to be alright,” he wished he could sound more reassuring, but he was conflicted on how exactly to comfort him.

“How do you know!?” The teen snapped, “I got dragged into this and now God knows what I’m going to do, I obviously can’t stay here without someone eventually getting hurt. I just wanted to be normal for once! Be the college kid instead of the orphan at a church that no one would adopt, I didn’t want to be a freak mix of souls!”

He hadn’t anticipated it, the sharp sting on his cheek as he found himself looking to the right. He couldn’t breath as he slowly looking back at the blonde who gently caressed the red skin with a cool touch. His eyes were gentle, a hint of sympathy lingering in their depths, but there was also understanding.

“It’s going to be alright, because you’ve got me if nothing else. You’re not a freak, you never will be because you’re Allen Walker, the most optimistic and cheerful human being that I have ever met. Yes, things have changed suddenly and without warning, but if anyone can adapt to that, it’s you. You can rely on me, Allen, I will be there to help you and protect you.”

“You promise?” A whisper, heavy with emotion, left his lips as Allen stared into unyielding eyes.

“On my life.” He answered before finally giving in and sweeping in to catch his lips. Allen tensed at the sudden and unexpected contact, but his heart skipped a beat as he returned the angel’s affections, moving his arms to grab the front of Link’s shirt and pull him closer. His lips were warm and soft, and dare he say heavenly.

They parted for breath and Link smiled softly, resting his forehead against Allen’s; they stood in the silence of twilight for a few moments before the angel pulled away.

“I need to get the box, then I think we both need to rest. Today was certainly far from normal.”

Linkllen Week Day 2 - 4/25 Bed-Sharing OR Fake Dating AU

Linkllen Week Day 5 - 4/28 Handcuffed Together OR Angel/Demon AU

Your mind is your prison Your hand is your cuff The 14th draws you close Will also take you apart

Linkllen Week Day 1 - 4/24 Accidental Kiss OR Office AU

Linkllen Week Day 6 - 4/29 Cooking Together OR Reincarnation AU

Linkllen Week Day 3 - 4/26 Caught in a Compromising Position OR Bakery AU