kinkfest | Lulla Lullaby (D.Gray-Man, Kanda/Alma)

Title: Lulla Lullaby
Author/Artist:

nekokoban
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: D.Gray-man, Kanda/Alma: holding hands - the open road, the bitter song, the heavy load
Word count: 388
Summary: Does the trapped boy dream of freedom?
Warnings: Spoilers for the entirety of Kanda and Alma's backstories

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alma karma d r e a m s

The blood goes tacky, then stiff, as it dries. When he rubs his fingers together, pieces of it flake off to expose the white skin underneath. A piece of one fingernail has been ripped away, so he chews on it until the rest peels off under his teeth, then spits it off somewhere. After that he reaches down and laces his fingers between his toes.

He is waiting for Yuu to wake up. But he is patient and he knows Yuu is tired--it has been a long and unhappy week, and he can't blame Yuu for being tired. They'll have a lot to do in just a little bit, so for now, he doesn't mind letting his friend rest. To help him sleep better, he sings lullabies--the ones that the Professor taught him, the same ones that flitter uneasily at just the edges of his memory: ghosts that have become more real to him than this transient place. When little Birdie bye-bye goes, quiet as mice in churches ...

Lullaby, lullaby, lulla-lulla lullaby. He presses his fingers down hard and wriggles his toes. Everything is clear as crystal in his mind's eye: Yuu will open his eyes and he'll say, I understand why you did everything. I should have done the same.

And Alma will say, It's all right, I did it for both of us. He will smile because it is true: he is glad to have this burden instead of Yuu, because deep down, there is something gentle and sad and broken in Yuu's eyes, and he knows he would kill anyone who would make that worse. I would do anything for you, he will say, because he knows he already has.

And Yuu will say, Let's go, and he'll take Alma's hand in his and they'll both stand up and walk together, past the fallen disarray of meat, through the double doors of the laboratory, up the long flight of stairs and into freedom--the clean blue sky and a thousand open spaces. There will be sunlight on their faces for the first time in this lifetime, and it will be the greatest thing.

The greatest thing.

He wriggles his toes, he flexes his fingers, he sings a little song under his breath, and he waits for Yuu to wake up.