[OOC] Alternate History Information

[sinkinglotus]

Alternate History
CW: Death, Murder, Experimentation, Repeated Loss of Limbs, Suicidal Thoughts/Behavior/Actions, Not Great Mental Health Care, Obsessive Thoughts/Behaviors, etc (nothing more or less expected from DGM as a series)
This is an AU of Alma Karma in which he does grow up to become an Exorcist. He falls into the Innocence Containment Room, syncs with his Innocence and kills the CROW agents attacking him. He sees the bodies in their sealed cocoons but is so overwhelmed by his Innocence and the horror of what he's seeing that he attempts to kill himself and anyone who is in the vicinity. He doesn't care that these scientists and engineers may have once been his friends, he wants to die and he'll take everyone down with him if he has to.

Edgar, trying to get through to him, comes into the containment room against the orders of the CROW agents trying to subdue Alma, tries to talk to him and convince him that it's okay to not be okay and to let them help him. He's the only one that gets Alma to pause. Alma demands Edgar stay away, because he's so angry all he wants is to make everyone go away, to make it all go away. Edgar apologizes but keeps getting closer until he's close enough to try and hug him. Alma is so overwhelmed and angry telling Edgar to get away from him that his Innocence reacts, stabbing Edgar right through the chest.

This shocks Alma even more, staring at Edgar as he dies, falling to the ground. Alma stares at him for a moment, no longer crying. Then he cuts off his own head. Just in time for Yu to enter and watch it happen.

This does not kill him but does leave him incapacitated long enough for him to be captured by CROW agents and put into a coma as his head reattaches itself. Having synced with his Innocence, he's not become too valuable to lose and instead of killing him, which would be very hard to do with his regenerative abilities, they instead perform Very Not Okay techniques to suppress the trauma he'd endured, including magical hypnosis courtesy of another Exorcist.

They put a secondary seal on him, on the base of his neck that would "manage" him should the suppression begin to fade and when they allowed him to reawaken, they told him that they had never tried to harm Yu, that Alma had fallen and degenerated to the point of hallucinations and had terrifying nightmares. They insisted Yu was fine and that now that Alma had synced with his Innocence (Sharp Elegance, a shapeshifting parasitic Innocence capable of turning into various weapons, such as long blades or a bow), his instability was improving and they could see each other again. Yu had synced with his Innocence in the time since Alma had fallen ill and already been deployed to train as an Exorcist, so it would take time, but if Alma listened, then of course they would see each other soon.

As Alma would do anything to get to see Yu again, he didn't ask questions (not then), and instead did whatever they ordered him to do. He didn't question when he was told that Edgar has passed away in a lab accident, or why Twi never came to see him, or why Bak and For were so different. He did what he was told as best he could, because he wanted--needed--to see Yu again. Everything in the lab was different and he accepted that perhaps it was because he was alone again, maybe he remembered the kindness of the scientists and engineers differently now that he knew what it felt like to have a real friend.

This does not mean things were without complications. Alma's seal would need to be reinforced periodically. Certain situations would cause him to react more ruthlessly and with more vicious behavior than he'd ever shown before the Incident. He would get into fits of anger and lash out, only to be confused and dismayed later when his emotions settled because he was never sure why he felt that way. And he would have violent nightmares and or horrific dreams he could never remember when he awoke, only knowing that he felt disconnected, like they were happening to someone else.

Eventually he would be placed on Winters Socalo's unit, because if they wanted someone to manage his rage fits, to teach him how to use the rage productively, there was no one better suited. It hurt him that he wasn't placed with Yu, but even being put on a team to be apprenticed under a General meant that he would be leaving the Asian Branch and go out into the world. Yu was out in that world, so it put him one step closer to him.

When they finally get to see each other again, after years apart, Yu is going by Kanda, and it's as if all the progress he'd made being his friend was gone but somehow Yu had all these new friends, too. But that was fine, he'd just have to keep trying and remind Yu about how much they mean to each other, right? He would come back to base after missions, demand Yu's attention, get to know these new friends Yu had made, but also keep in mind that he and Yu shared something they would never understand. They were Yu's friends and they could be Alma's friends, too, but Yu and Alma had a special bond no one could replace.

He would never let anyone replace that.

Generally, besides Alma getting to become an Exorcist, the events of the series takes place as it should, with Alma being someone who isn't allowed to work as a solo Exorcist, always required to have a CROW agent (disguised as a Finder) with him when not directly working under Socalo himself. The CROW agents are specially trained to manage him should he completely lose it and know how to use his seal to shut him down. Alma is a lot more aware of the unique way he's handled than people realize, but he's learned that asking the right questions at the wrong times only ever gets him into trouble, so he instead asks all the most irrelevant and unimportant seeming questions to make it seem like he's paying attention to stuff that doesn't matter.

The events of the series do continue on as they do, through the Destruction of the Black Order Arc (CH 164), even with Bak Chang still being the head of the Asian Branch those years in the future, after his mother Twi gave up the position out of grief and trauma from the death of her husband Edgar. Not as many people died during the Incident in this alternate history, but the damage and trauma caused by Alma's loss of control and killing Edgar (and a half a dozen others) still left its mark. A significant change is that despite taking the damaged shards of the Akuma Egg, the Order takes longer in researching and deciding what to do with them because of the fact that they don't have a comatose Alma laying around to use as an incubator.

But they do have the un-awakened bodies of other second exorcists that were taken from the Asian Branch after the Incident (Alma was told they all died) and transported to the North American Branch that maybe just need a push from an already awakened Second Exorcist to give them what they need. So the question then becomes which Secord Exorcist are they going to use to further their research?


Personality Differences
Alma's personality is like a more mature version of the Alma we see as a child. He's still curious and thoughtful and loves trying strange foods, but his excessively outgoing nature has been tempered by growing up and by being sent back into isolation per se. Losing Yu as his close friend and having the scientists and engineers of the Asian Branch distance themselves in a way that he could feel even if he couldn't define it did affect how he reacted.

He's happy and friendly, or at least presents that demeanor to anyone who sees him. Someone might be even a little disturbed by how cheery and unaffected he can come across by the things they experience, but it's because if he gets rid of that happy persona, if he lets it fade, all he has left is the rage. And he's angry, very very angry all the time. He knows some of it comes from what he endured at the Asian Branch, the experiments and the torture as they forced him to try to sync to his Innocence by people he had come to care about, but feels if he were to allow the full force of it out he would never stop until he burned everything around him with it.

And while Alma acts very friendly to those around him, always a smile, a wave, a kind word, joking and teasing and even giving them gifts as a sign of affection, he doesn't feel it as deeply as he wishes he did. For all that he craved friends growing up, now, the only person he cares about being friends with is Yu. He'll be friendly with everyone else, some may even consider him their friend based on how he acts, but Yu is the only bond he focuses on maintaining. For someone who wanted friends so badly, he struggles to feel a lasting bond with anyone else, feels disconnected from them as if he can't meet them in a place of understanding so why should he try. Which is why he can be clingy and even aggressively demanding of Yu's time when he wants it, even when acting like that's totally not what he's doing.

The relationship dynamic between them isn't exactly healthy, but it's also the only thing keeping Alma going sometimes. He needs Yu, needs his attention and friendship and their bond because no one else could ever be able to understand them. But he struggles to come to terms with the fact that Yu doesn't need him in the same way. It's terrifying to realize you need someone else a whole lot more than they need you and you have no way of keeping them with you, but Alma is doing his best to hold himself together even as his control slips a little bit more as the war becomes more and more violent and the dreams he's been having and get worse and he can feel a twisted resonance within his Innocence when he wakes up and can't remember.

It's as if his Innocence is trying to tell him something but it's been blocked, suppressed. And he's coming to a point where he doesn't care if it breaks the mask he's been wearing for everyone else, he's tired of hiding from whatever truth may be coming.


Relationships
YU KANDA:
As mentioned multiple times above, Yu is the focus of much of the bonds and relationships that Alma has or wants to have. He doesn't know why he's drawn to Yu the way he is except that the he is Alma's first real friend and the only person who he thinks will ever understand him. Yu has seen him lose control and managed to talk him down when no one else could (usually with some punching first but it's how their relationship works). He needs him, wants him, and will do anything to keep their friendship. Even being an Exorcist only matters because it allowed him to see Yu again. Of course, he does have some understanding that it's not healthy to be this obsessed with one person but he doesn't care. People can say something to him when they say something to Komui.

LAVI:
He and Lavi have a very awkward acquaintanceship because both of them can recognize that the other isn't being very open and honest in their behaviors but play along because it's expected. Lavi doesn't know everything going on with Alma, but The Bookman on the other hand knows everything.

LENALEE LEE:
Alma sometimes wishes he could hate Lenalee, because it's obvious she and Yu have a very strong and comfortable relationship. But he doesn't, because he feels like she maybe understands just a little. Underneath her friendliness and protective demeanor, there's a bitter hatred hiding in her, too. He tries to be her friend even if he doesn't feel the same bond with her because she's important to Yu and if they can get along, then that's all the better.

ALLEN WALKER:
Alma genuinely likes Allen although there is something about him that feels too much like looking in a mirror. It makes him uncomfortable, but he also can't help liking him anyway. He enjoys his company even if they don't spend a lot of time together and have never gotten to go on a mission together. Allen did once witness Alma "lose" it, so to speak, during the Invasion, allowing his rage to control him as he killed akuma after akuma and if it wasn't for Link stepping in to use the seal, he might have even killed Allen, who was refusing to fight back against him. Maybe realizing just how little self-preservation skills Allen has and how willing he was to be hurt if it meant not hurting Alma in turn did change something in how he felt about it. It made him respect Allen more perhaps, and maybe even feel a little protective.

ARYSTAR KRORY:
Krory is adorable, Alma thinks. Yeah, he's older than Alma by a bit, but he can't help think he's just adorable. He's so awkward and shy and gullible that Alma can't help but tease him (funny considering how gullible Alma can be himself). He also knows there's something deeper inside of Krory waiting to come out. No way would they put Krory with Socalo of all people if they didn't think there was something more dangerous to him that needed to be managed.

WINTERS SOCALO:
Alma respects Socalo in a way he doesn't respect many people. Because Socalo doesn't give a fuck and doesn't pretend. He is who he is and he knows what he's here to do and doesn't care if anyone likes his methods or not. He's so very real in a way Alma doesn't think most people can be, even if that authenticity comes with a side of violent brutality. And maybe he makes Alma feel less like a freak for having his own inner rage and brutality just waiting to get out. As much as he hates not being with Yu on a team, he likes being in Winters unit. A lot of their missions tend to be more violent and thus he can let loose more and not have to hold back as much.

THE BLACK ORDER:
As should be expected, Alma hates them. He's hated them for years after what was done to him and Yu at the Asian Branch and he doesn't think he'll ever not hate the Order. There are people in the Order he doesn't blame, but the Order as an institution has brought him nothing but pain and misery and taken from him until he didn't have anything left to give. So of course he hates the Order. But he'll fight for them, maybe even die for them, if it means he gets access to Yu. Staying close enough to have Yu in his life is all that matters.

CROW:
He hates CROW too because they have always been there, in the background of every bad thing that's ever happened in his life. And the fact that he has no freedom because there is always a CROW watching him means he spends most of his time playing a role so that the Order (Central especially) doesn't see him as a threat they need to take care of. They don't see him and Yu as people and it's hard to have any kind of sympathy for the children and teens who end up in the CROW ranks when he knows they will kill him in a moment's notice if someone ordered them to.


ABILITIES
SECOND EXORCIST:
As a Second, Alma's body is was magi-scientifically created and his brain harvested from an Exorcist that was near death and preserved. He has extreme self-regenerative abilities and his blood can even heal wounds of others. He's stronger, faster, and more durable than any normal human except perhaps another Exorcist or Noah. He has a seal on his chest that crawls across his body the more and more damage he takes, but if he has the time to rest and recuperate it will shrink back into it's primary boundaries.

SHARP ELEGEANCE:
His Innocence. In canon the Innocence is never given a name, but it shown to be a parasitic innocence that can take on the form of long blades and a bow. So I am making the assumption that it can shapeshift into different weapons as needed, as long as it is attached to Alma's arm, where it's merged with his body. Blades, an axe, things like that. Mainly melee weapons, except for the bow. In bow form, he uses his own energy (which is boosted by him being a Second) to create arrows to fire at Akuma. He prefer the bow out of all of them, as avoiding fighting hand-to-hand does help him keep better control of his berserker side, since he won't be in the middle of the fight directly.

BERSERKER MODE:
Alma keeps a tight leash on his inner chaos but if he lets it out he can be consumed by it. He becomes a berserker fighter with no sense of pain or self-preservation, only caring about taking out whatever enemies he sees before himself. This can be a great benefit when fighting akuma, but can also cause him to turn on allies if they get in the way. He has a seal places at the base of his neck that will disrupt his brainwaves and knock him unconscious. CROW agents, the Generals, and the Chiefs of the various Divisions know how to use the seal but Alma's General Socalo is more than capable of handling Alma on his own.

COMBAT:
Alma has been trained in hand-to-hand fighting of various disciplines and on the use of a large variety of melee weapons, due to being able to shift his Innocence into them.