Memento Mori

Remember that you WILL die

I got the idea for this fic after reading the Yullen, Poker Pair, Laven(?) Fanfic of Memento Mori by Sensitive Touchdown. If you're still out there reading fanfics then all I want to say is that I love you! The concept is amazing, too bad it's discontinued, it's beautifully written. I'm not trying to steal that fic right now, I just got inspired by it. Regard this as a tribute of sorts :)

Summary: He's running out of time. He knows that, ever since he's been told about his "legacy", he knew his days were counted. However, he never expected it to be this short. The same way he didn't expect looking seeing the familiar golden eyes that haunted him these days.

Main Characters: Allen Walker, Neah, Crown Clown.

Genre: Drama/Tragedy

Rating: T

Pairings: none intended, but can be interpreted however you wish.

Warning: Character Deaths, grammatical mistakes, limited vocabulary, uneven chapter lengths, possible OOC-ness since we know close to nothing about Crowned Clown's or Neah's personality, and Allen's pretty pissed right now, so his Red persona surfaces.

Disclaimer: do not own anything, this is a free fanfiction to entertain the fandom, I make no money out of it.

Word count: 2779/3085

Chapter 1 - Respice Finem

He's running out of time. He knows that, ever since he's been told about his "legacy", he knew his days were counted. However, he never expected it to be this short. The same way he didn't expect looking seeing the familiar golden eyes that haunted him these days.

He was once again pulled inside this strange world where eternal night ruled. The huge white moon and the dead, barren and twisted trees were great contrast opposing the almost black sky and ashen ground. The grey cobblestones led to an eerily calm lake where the reflection of the moon was seen. It should have been like a mirror, however, the moon reflected in the moon was black. Despite the dead silence the cold, monochrome and barren world seemed to scream anguish and loneliness.

Allen didn't like this place, it reminded him of the time he lost his Innocence and almost died. Also the time he completely awakened as a Noah, chained to a stone throne as the wild inner Noah rampaged. He ended up confined because of it, waiting for the torture that will most likely come.

However, as much as he hated to admit, it was much better here in the deep recesses of his mind right now. Moments or minutes - he didn't know, to him it seemed like forever - before he was pulled down here the Noah and Innocence in him had another violent clash. It's been like this ever since he was imprisoned and physically weakened, he couldn't reign the two titans inside him.

The pain was beyond comprehension. He was in unimaginable agony, a pain that even being stabbed with his faithful companion, Crowned Clown couldn't compare.

He could feel the freezing cold Noah aura make him shiver from the intense cold as it ripped him apart from the inside out. His bones fractured then mended, his organs exploded and rearranged themselves in a new order. He coughed up foul blood. It was as if the Noah in him was saying everything human about him was trash, in need of being discarded. There was no mercy, every last cell of his being, from the sensitive ones of his eyes to his privates transformed.

And then his Innocence came into play. It purged with blazing heat the new Noah-cells while it was sucking out the life of the remaining human-parts. He was freezing and burning up with a scorching heat at the same time. He didn't know for how long can he keep this up.

And now the very source of his misfortunes were facing him with a grim expression. "We need to talk," his melodious voice said.

Allen eyed the other with cold eyes, taking in every detail. This time too, he was chained to the familiar throne while the other stood. The 14th was a young man, not much older than him. His messy black hair fell before his face, partly covering the distinctive seven stigmatas of the member of the Noah Clan. Just like the others of his kin, he had ashen coloured skin and golden eyes. He did look a lot like Tyki, however Neah's eyes were rounder and he lacked the facial mole.

The crisp white shirt he wore was hugged by a black vest and tied around the neck by a lazily tied ribbon. He also wore a beige coat, dark slacks and boots with leather gloves just like Allen did in this world. He hated it, how much this stranger - he refused to think of him as the brother of Mana - looked like him. It was as if he was looking at his own, reversed self, that didn't have the scar of his curse zigzagging down on his face.

"What do you want?" he asked, refraining from letting too much malice seep in his voice.

The familiar stranger sighed, what seemed to be, in distress. "I fucked it up."

Allen raised an eyebrow at that. "Yes, you gloriously fucked up my life," he noted, trying to contain his anger somewhat. Sarcasm always helped with that.

To his surprise Neah let it slide, he just continued to watch Allen with those golden irises. Instead a small sad lop-sided smile pulled on his lips. For a minute it seemed like his eyes glinted from sorrow, but it was blinked away. It made something akin to empathy stir in Allen. He did not like it one bit. This person was an enemy. "Yea, I did."

Allen's eyes furrowed in confusion. He didn't expect the Noah to be so, so... docile. Come to think of it even when he was on stopping Alma and Kanda from tearing each other apart he didn't seem to want to hurt him. Despite the fact that he oh-so-kindly intends to erode his existence and kill someone he loves. Allen clenched his fists. He won't let him. He'll stop Neah, even if it's the last thing he'll do. Whatever it takes.

"And? What else?" he asked as he tugged on the chains digging into his skin. "Seeing that you don't let me go, I can only assume that we're not done yet."

"Ah, that." Neah snapped his fingers and the chains fell off. It took Allen's all willpower not to attack him, he had to get out as many info of the guy as possible. The fact that someone other than him controlled his mind infuriated and frightened him. In order to lessen his anxiety he stood up too and looked at him expectantly.

What he didn't expect was to see Neah reach out to him. He was instantly alert, his right leg slipping back to have better footing and be faster in case he needed to attack with his Innocence arm.

However, a strange static noise startled them both, before something heavy slammed into the ground with a large thud. Both of them jumped behind from surprise.

Allen's eyes widened at the sight. A familiar white mass was separating him from the Noah, who looked ready to defend if the Innocence attacked. Crowned Clown was towering between them, blocking its Master from the intruder Noah's eyes while it was seething at him.

"Relax," Neah said to the unearthly creature. "I'm not here to cause any more harm."

Allen blinked in surprise. Neah wasn't intending to annihilate him? He didn't understand the situation at all. He turned to his Innocence, which seemed to be trembling, like someone trying to contain anger. "Crowned Clown?" he asked uncertainly. The cape tensed. Allen felt unease bubble up in his chest. His Innocence slowly turned to look at him, but not facing completely, so it could see Neah if he tried something.

The cape looked as if it was draped around an invisible person, the armour-type Shard of Cube took on his body structure, if he joined it, it would fit him perfectly like always. He imagined the mask to be its "face" and those eyeholes as all-seeing "eyes".

As Allen's nervous eyes looked questioningly at it. His heart skipped a beat when Crowned Clown tore its gaze away looking down. He had a very bad feeling about this. Crowned Clown was usually cheerful and excited to be able to work with Allen, to have the Innocence look like that meant something was wrong. Really wrong.

Allen also noticed that despite the opening, Neah didn't attack. Instead he watched them with a sorrowful and understanding gaze. The confusion made his heart leap in his throat and trash like a hummingbird.

In a shaky voice he asked again. "C-Crowned Clown?" It didn't answer, to his surprise it started trembling again, but he couldn't tell this time if it was rage. Was his Innocence mad at him for not being able to win against the Noah? Does it plan to abandon him? He tried his hardest to ignore the clenching feeling in his chest. He needed to know what caused Crowned Clown to be in such distress. He cautiously stepped closer to the Divine Creature and gasped.

Tears were flowing out of the eyeholes. His Innocence was crying. He was starting to panic as worry choked him with her invisible hands. What was going on? "Crowned... Clown...?"

"It won't be able to answer Allen," Neah said softly. "It's in hysterics. It's disappointed." Allen tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Just what was happening? "D-disappointed?" he repeated.

The Noah nodded.

"I-is it me?" he asked his Innocence in a dying voice. He couldn't bear the thought of dissatisfying his Innocence, he was so glad it returned to him. He wanted to prove that he was worthy of wielding it, losing it again would be devastating.

Crowned Clown snapped its "head" up to look at the uncertain boy. Allen could swear he could see an endless pain and sadness behind those eyes. Without hesitation, the cloak jumped and enveloped him a tight hug, like a human would hug another human. Allen could feel the cloak tremble against him. He understood the message. His Innocence was apologizing. It wasn't dissatisfied with Allen, it was blaming itself for something.

Neah let out another tired sigh. It seemed as if he suddenly aged decades. It was obvious that he'd rather be anywhere else than here. "As you know, the past months, ever since you stepped a foot in the Ark, Crowned Clown and I were battling for dominance." Allen nodded shakily as he soothingly rubbed the "back" of the Holy Entity, hoping that it would calm him too. "As you must have noticed, we went all-out..." Neah sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And eventually... we ran out of resources," he explained with his sad, sad golden eyes boring into Allen's confused mercury ones. He didn't understand. He felt Crowned Clown's crying intensify.

"O-out of resources?" he asked back, desperately trying to calm his partner down.

"What I'm trying to say..." Neah said, carefully choosing his words. "Is that you're at your end." Allen blanched, realisation striking him with overwhelming force.

"You're dying."

Allen felt as if air was knocked out of his lugs.

Dying?

No.

No, i-it couldn't be happening, no that's- "I-it can't be." he tried to convince himself, but he only aggravated his Innocence further, who clung to him like a life-line, refusing to let go. He was only 16, he wasn't even an adult, how could he die?!

Neah nervously ran his hand through his wild locks. The fact that his host clung to his life this stubbornly didn't make things easier. "Your body can't handle two opposing forces within. Right now in the real world you're choking on your own blood." Allen's throat clenched at that. "This wasn't supposed to happen." Neah shook his head defeated. "I should have inherited Crowned Clown from you as you slowly turned into me... But that blasted thing is rejecting me. It senses that 'I' am not 'you'. It feels the Dark Matter within me and thus tries to purify me. It refuses to let go of you. Darn... You should have just assimilated into me so I could have Crowned Clown."

Crowned Clown snapped its head back at him, bloating itself up as it trembled in fury. It seemed to seethe at the Noah "How dare you put the blame on Allen, this is all your fault!".

"Well sorry for being such a goddamn leech to cling to my own body," Allen spat. How dares this Noah talk of killing him and wearing his skin then use HIS Innocence like it was the most natural thing to do?! "Do forgive me, I was under the impression this was my life."

He could see irritation flare in Neah's golden iris, but it was quickly overcome with resignation. "It doesn't matter. In the end, it seems it's all in vain. Neither of us will be able to stop the Earl." Neah walked past Allen and plopped into the throne. "We're all going down."

Allen didn't like it how broken Neah sounded, it made him look so human, it hurt. There had to be a way to stop this! He had to return to the battlefield! What about his friends? What about humanity? What about those pitiful souls trapped in Akumas? What about the Prophecy, creating The Destroyer of Time?!

He gently peeled of the shaking "arm" - since the claw only materialised when they united - of the Divine Being from him as he marched over to the Noah. Surprise flared in both Neah's and Crowned Clown's eyes as Allen grabbed the man by his collar and roughly yanked him up. "Cut the crap," he snapped at him. Morals and etiquette be damned, this guy intruded his privacy on a whole new level. The knowledge that the brother of this person made him a gentleman made his mouth taste bitter. It made him want to discard it all. "Are you such a coward that you just fucking curl up and wait for death to come for you?!"

Anger clouded the dark-haired boy's eyes as he straightened up and batted away Allen's hands. In an instant Crowned Clown was there too, shaping the cape into threatening spikes, aiming them at Neah as a clear warning what would happen if he touched Allen. "I said it's useless. The two polar powers crashing are meant to destroy each other. There's absolutely nothing that could be done. Just give up already brat." Allen didn't hear the last part, his mind stopped at one word. "Destroy?"

Neah didn't answer, instead a frown settled on his features as he inspected his host. Stupid idiot just didn't know how to die with dignity.

Suddenly a huge rumbling sound shook the earth, startling the three forms. The earth cracked with a huge sickening sound as the monochrome world slowly crumbled right in front of their eyes. Neah cursed. "Crap. Your heart just stopped."

"How much do we have left?" Allen asked, trying to force down the surge of panic.

"Normally a human being could still be resuscitated in 5 minutes without brain damage up to 10 minutes. But with your condition 1 minute would be a great feat."

Allen gasped in surprise as he saw the landscape start disappear from around them into nothingness. He needed to act. Now.

"You said you were the Noah of Destruction right?" he asked frantically. "The one who would destroy everything."

Neah's eyes narrowed in confusion, he didn't get it where Allen was aiming. Not that it mattered, this was the end. Hesitantly he nodded.

"It means everything can be eroded by you."

A huge crack opened under Neah. He quickly jumped closer to his host to avoid falling down into nothingness. "Get to the point."

"Can you erode things that already happened?"

Both Crowned Clown and Neah looked bewildered. "What?"

"You can destroy everything, that means you can erase certain happenings. Not reverse it, but like make it as if they never happened in the first place. Crowned Clown was prophesied to create the 'Destroyer of Time' and since you're the Noah of Destruction..."

"Are you saying that your Innocence and I should join forces and erase this? Are you completely out of mind?!"

"Still better than waiting to die," Allen snapped back at him. "It's not like it could get any worse than this!"

"Gambling with your life like that... You're completely insane." Only around three square meters were left. The three forms almost brushed against each other.

Allen chuckled despite the fact that the small patch of ground was crumbling under him. "Well, I always loved bets. Is there any better way passing away than risking all you have to achieve what you desire? Now stop bitching and give it a try. Concentrate on the damage and undo it," he ordered then glanced at his Innocence, who nodded to him, signalling that it was willing to try for his sake.

"You'd better hope this works." Dark Matter formed a visible aura around him as he focused all his power in his outstretched right hand. Crowned Clown glowed brightly as it wrapped itself around Allen, mask slipping to its place, hood covering his head. It wanted to relish the closeness of its Master as long it still could. As the two connected Allen's claws appeared, sharpened and took on a greenish glow. The two opposing forces stepped back to have better footing, then lunged at each other, the last patches of ground crushing as they jumped into the air.

Dark Matter and Innocence clashed with a blinding light and deafening noise that engulfed their crumbling world. The powerful shock of energy devoured everything, then it dimmed until there was nothing. Only empty darkness... and ringing silence…

XXX

Okay, dear readers, actually I'd like a favour to ask from you. As I write and reread chapters I realise, while I am good at writing dialogues I suck at describing the atmosphere, and a good atmosphere is very important. What I find most important is stories is character development, relationships between characters, atmosphere and of course a strong plot. So as you see one fourth is atmosphere, so if you have tips or tell me what I did good or wrong it's greatly appreciated. Don't hesitate to give constructive criticism.