Thanks to Allen the Musician for writing this with me. I don't think this would have turned out quite so well if she hadn't... ENJOY!!!!
Disclaimer- I do not, have not, and never will own -Man
The battle wasn't going so well for Allen and Link. They had both destroyed hundreds upon hundreds of Akuma without making a dent in their numbers. Allen had no choice but to use Cross Grave, one of his attacks that destroyed many Akuma but depleted his energy more than any of his other attacks. As he used it his mind couldn't help but remember when he first found out about this ability.
Cross had just left Allen to go find the Black Order by himself, and Allen found himself to be in a rotten mood because of it. Of course his outward grin denied any of the feelings he bottled up to anyone else. It was at this point that he stumbled upon a large group of Akuma. Being so angry with no one human around, Black Allen took over for a while. After venting quite a bit of his anger on the assembled Akuma, it seemed like the innocence was telling him how to use another of its attacks. Not quite sure what it would do, Allen obeyed the innocence and to his surprise many of the Akuma sported crosses on their bodies and blew up. The only thing this made him think of was that bastard, Marian Cross. He desperately wished that Cross had been one of the Akuma...
Allen snapped back to the present as he noticed a group of Level Three Akuma emerge from the fiery explosions that had illuminated the sky. Most of the lower level Akuma had been destroyed by Cross Grave; unfortunately, the stronger Akuma chose to show themselves. Owing to the exhausted state of the two men from the Black Order this was a decidedly bad turn of events but Allen maintained his determination to fight none the less. He had faced long odds before and no doubt would again.
That was simply in the nature of being an Exorcist.
The battle raged on until there were only the two men and two level 3 Akuma left. The men were way past the point of exhaustion, where if they even stopped moving for a moment, they would fall. They each paired themselves up with one of the Akuma, and proceeded to continue the battle. Link's battle took a turn for the worse when the Akuma started raining bullets on the poor man. He managed to dodge all of them but the surrounding area took some serious damage, and Link got buried under the debris.
Eyes wide and horrified, Allen made a move to help Link but all he managed was to kill the offending Akuma before he was forced back into battle with the one that remained. He desperately hoped that Link was okay but at this moment in time he didn't have the option of checking on him. The enemy had yet to be defeated and he was the only one left who could do battle. So, with one last glance toward the pile of rubble under which Link was buried, the young Exorcist attacked the enemy with renewed determination.
Allen didn't have time to think, as he was attacked by the Akuma. Instinct was all that kept him alive as his body was screaming for rest. The Akuma managed to get three hits in on him, one to the back of his knees, one to his side and the last hit seemed to go right through his head. After this last hit, Allen determined that he was close enough to the Akuma and used his raked his claw down its body. When the soul thanked him and left, Allen fell backwards, his consciousness leaving him before he even hit the ground.
Flitting about in the air Timcampy was unsure of what he should do. His master was lying on the ground, unmoving, and Link was still buried in the rubble dislodged by the Akuma's attack. He knew that both of them needed help but wasn't sure about leaving his master's side. After flying in a circle around Allen's head for a few minutes Timcampy gently nudged him with his small body. But when this didn't elicit so much as a moan from the white haired youth the golem launched himself into the air, knowing instinctively that he should go and find help.
James Sparrowen was walking towards the commotion he had heard a few minutes ago, when he was trying to get some lumber out of the Forrest. He walked into the clearing only to trip and fall on his face. Slightly stunned, the man turned to see what he had tripped on. The frustration on his face turned to horror when he realized that he had tripped over a white haired youth. Looking around the clearing to see if anything else was out of the ordinary, he saw the pile of debris with a bloodied hand sticking out at the bottom. What happened here? The man thought as he picked himself up, made his way to the pile and started to dig into it to get the person out. His heart was pounding as he dug through the rubble, fearful of what he was going to find when he reached the person who was trapped beneath. Could someone really survive something like this? This thought was interrupted as the man moved a particularly large boulder and saw one of the victim's fingers twitch. The person buried underneath was alive and James quickened his efforts to free them from their prison.
It was almost twilight when James finished digging, and found a very bloody young man. He looked back between the white haired child and this very injured person and decided that he could only carry one person at a time and that his man needed help more. James picked up the man and gently put him over his shoulder. Then he promised himself that he would be back for the boy and left for the village.
Groaning and shifting his rather sore body Allen opened his eyes slowly, surveying his surroundings with a look of confusion in his gray eyes. Reaching up he rubbed at his head, discovering a rather large bump there. But this wasn't what disturbed the boy most about the situation. No, he was far more concerned about the fact that he had no idea how he had came to be in this location.
Nor for that matter who he was.
This thought was put on hold however as a loud growling noise issued from the boy's stomach. All other thoughts paled in comparison to this and the boy decided to go in search of something to eat. He was absolutely starving and didn't want to think about anything until after he'd found food.
Komui was sitting on his couch, about to go to sleep after a long day of avoiding paperwork, when a flash of gold flew through the window. "What wa- OWWWWW!!!" he cried as little teeth bit into his ear, effectively waking him up. He rubbed his ear while he looked down and saw a familiar golem. "Timcampy? Why are you here? Where's Allen?" As if in response to his question Timcampy opened his mouth and played back what had happened. Shocked by the image displayed by the little golem Komui immediately summoned a group of people to go out and aid Allen and Link. Due to the footage shown to him by Timcampy, he knew that many Akuma had been in the area, and Komui wanted to make certain that the search party got there as fast as possible. And that they could combat any Akuma who may happen to still be in the area. This is what prompted him to summon Lenalee, Lavi and Kanda to his office.
Komui didn't know how to say what had happened when the group got there so he simply had Timcampy play the image again. Turning to the three, he ordered, "Your mission is to find Link, Allen and what they were searching for, and bring them back here."
Lavi looked at him and asked, "Why do we need to do anything else, besides finding Allen and Link?"
Komui looked at the boy and sadly said, "Leverrier." At this one word, Lenalee hid behind Kanda, who made an even angrier face than the one he had before. It was a well known fact among the members of the Black Order that Leverrier had it in for Allen and they vowed to do what they had to in order to keep their friend out of trouble. Without so much as another word to their superior the three Exorcists turned and left the office.
"I can't believe that bean sprout let the Akuma get the better of him," Kanda growled angrily as he and the others walked through the door and out into the corridor. He wore a disapproving scowl on his face as he thought about the image that the golden golem had shown them.
Komui watched their departure and then made a move to turn back to Timcampy... only to find that the little golem was nowhere to be seen. This was odd, since he hadn't left with Lenalee and the others, and the chief found himself wondering what had became of the little golden creature.
The next morning the three exorcists found the clearing where the battle took place. They started looking around for Allen and Link when Kanda got their attention. They crowded around him, to see what he was looking at. Lenalee started when she realized she was looking at the remains of the pile and there were smears of blood covering the ground. Lavi had wandered off, and with a loud shout of "HEY!" he ran back to his friends waving something in the air. No one had anything to say once they realized that Lavi was holding a very familiar exorcist coat. It was torn and bloody, and it was quite obvious that the owner was seriously injured. Concern shone bright in Lenalee's eyes as she thought about the owner of the abandoned coat. Where was he? Was he alright? And why had he chosen to abandon his coat in this place? She shifted her gaze to her companions and saw the same questions mirrored in their eyes.
"Let's go," Kanda said abruptly. "We have to find the beansprout and his guard."
Both Lavi and Lenalee nodded, with Lavi pointing a finger toward a path that led away from the battle site. "There are traces of blood leading away from here. If we follow them the chances are good that we'll find them." Kanda led them on their way, following the blood trail and ended up at a small hospital. They walked in and asked the young woman if she had seen a white haired boy and a blond man, who had his hair braided and had two dots on his forehead. The woman didn't recognize the first description but she did know where the young man was. She told them his room number and let them go on their way. Maybe they would be able to restrain their friend.
They found the room alright, but when they walked in they were very confused. Link was in a bed, bandages all over, and physically tied to the bed-frame.
"The man who found me said that Walker was there when he first arrived," Link explained as Lavi removed the restraints that were preventing him from leaving. "But he couldn't carry us both and chose to help me first. Then, when he returned for the boy, he was nowhere to be found."
"So Allen's gone?" Lenalee asked, feeling her earlier concern return in full force. She had been hopeful that they would find both of their comrades at this hospital but now those hopes had been dashed.
"We found this at the scene of the battle," Lavi said, holding up the coat that he had brought along.
A dark shadow crossed Link's face upon learning that his young charge had abandoned his Exorcist's coat and left the battle site. He didn't want to think of the possibility that Allen was no longer the boy that they all knew. Now more determined than ever the blond man got to his feet.
"We have to find him."
Lavi tried to calm down the older man by saying, "One of the noahs may have taken him, we don't know if he changed himself!" Looking at Links face, Lavi knew he said the wrong thing. They made their way out of the hospital and to the streets, trying to find the snowy haired exorcist.
Meanwhile Allen had made his way into town, determined to find something to eat. Unfortunately, upon reaching a hand into his pocket, the white haired youth realized that he didn't have any money. A scowl appeared on his face for the briefest of moments but then the young man shrugged his shoulders. If he couldn't buy the food, there were always other ways of obtaining it.
Allen walked on, completely oblivious to the looks that he was receiving as he moved down the street. He was familiar with the stares and found himself vaguely wondering why this all seemed so familiar to him. But of course that didn't matter much to the boy as he continued on his way. Food was at the top of his priority list right now and he would use any means necessary to procure it.
The boy's gray eyes shifted around and soon his searching gaze fell upon a couple of loaves of bread that had been placed on a window sill to cool. The smell of the freshly baked bread caused Allen's mouth to begin to water and the boy immediately began walking toward them. Gazing around briefly, to make sure no one was paying attention to him, the youth reached out and snatched one.
The move was quick, one well honed with practice, and Allen was already moving along down the street before anyone noticed that one of the loaves of bread was missing. He would have liked to have taken both but that would have been harder and would have drawn attention to him. Now that he had something to eat, he needed to find a place that he could eat it without being caught
Allen's gray eyed gaze once again surveyed his surroundings. Experience told him that an alley was his best bet for remaining hidden from the multitude of people who were walking along down the street. Few would venture into the darkness, afraid of what might be lurking within. So, with this thought in mind, the white haired boy made his way to the closest alley and quickly ducked inside. He didn't want anyone to notice him for fear that they might become curious or suspicious about his motives for being there. And all he wanted to do was to eat his bread in peace.
Making his way to the very back of the alley Allen pushed some cardboard boxes and assorted piles of junk aside so that he could sit down. Mere seconds later he had completely devoured the loaf of bread and was lamenting the fact that he hadn't stolen the second loaf. His stomach was still growling its protests and the youth knew that he would have to find something else to eat. Which meant that he would once again be forced to steal it.
Knowing that he would soon be returning to the alley the white haired boy took every precaution to keep from being noticed as he left the alley and once again set out in search of food. Shoving his hands into his pockets Allen did his best to blend in with the crowd, all the while searching for something else that would be easy to steal.
As he walked, Allen briefly thought about his actions after waking up and realizing he was hungry. He had looked down at himself and saw that his coat was torn up and bloody, and thinking it no use he took it off and threw it on the ground. After doing so he realized that underneath the coat his white shirt was almost as bad as the coat. He looked more like a street urchin than anything else. Shrugging away the memory, Allen went on in his search for food, oblivious to the fact that there were four people looking for him.
Link, Kanda, Lenalee, and Lavi went walking down the main street in search of their missing friend. Lavi wasn't helping very much, as he was grabbing the shoulders of every white haired person that he saw, and shouted in their faces, "ALLEN IS THAT YOU?!?!?" Kanda was about to punch him when Link called out, "LOOK!" They turned to look where Link was pointing and found Allen, pretty much dressed in rags, walking down the street. "ALL-" was all Lavi got out before Kanda elbowed him in the stomach. Lenalee went running after her friend.
Allen, hearing the commotion, turned and saw them, turned around and took off running. The only thought in his head being, I must have gotten caught with the bread.
Lenalee seemed to be the faster runner, and when she caught up to him she threw her arms around his small frame. "Allen I'm so glad that we..." Lenalee's words faltered as Allen pulled away from her attempted embrace, a look of suspicion in his gray eyes. Gone was the smile that he always wore, gone the facade that Allen had erected to keep others from catching a glimpse of his true feelings.
Allen had no idea who this girl was but he was wary of her embrace. In his experience the only reason people ever got close to you was so that they could cause you pain in some form or another and he wanted no part of that. Taking a step back he continued to stare at the girl, who was soon joined by three men.
"Walker!" Link snapped, glad that they had found the youth but also irritated over the fact that he had merely wandered away, leaving his uniform behind. "What's the meaning of this?"
Allen wasn't too keen on this man who was shouting at him and, without so much as a word of warning, he turned and began to run. He didn't know who this Walker character was, or why these people seemed to think it was him, but he wanted no part of it. All he wanted was something to eat.
Lenalee didn't know what had happened to her friend to make him act this way, but she was having none of it. "Dark Boots!" she cried, and in no time at all she positioned herself in front of Allen. Link, Kanda, and Lavi caught up to them and held onto the struggling boy.
"Let go of me damn it!" Allen exclaimed as he fought against this persistent group of people. He had no idea why they were so determined to cause him trouble but wished that they would go away and torment someone else. "I haven't done anything to you!"
This statement from the boy came as a shock to the group and, leaving Lavi and Kanda to maintain their hold on the white haired youth, Link positioned himself in front of the boy. He gazed into Allen's gray eyes, attempting to determine if he had truly given himself over to the memories of the 14th.
"Come on bean sprout," Lavi said as he and Kanda fought to maintain their hold on their struggling comrade.
"I said let go," Allen growled.
Lavi's eyes widened and he turned his gaze toward Kanda, who also seemed somewhat stunned by the boy's reaction. Or, to be more precise, his lack of a reaction. Something was definitely off about this situation and it was thrown into sharp relief when Allen didn't react to being called a bean sprout. "Yu, there's definitely something not right about this situation."
"Do NOT call me that," Kanda snapped, resisting the urge to knock together the heads of the stupid rabbit and the struggling bean sprout.
Noting the group of people who were definitely trying to kidnap someone, Officer Plentan walked over to the group.
Lavi and Kanda were both gritting their teeth as if that would help in the struggle in keeping Allen in their grasp. A voice that sounded exactly like The Bookman's rang out, "Drop the boy and no one gets hurt!" Startled and completely out of habit Lavi dropped his hold on Allen, who took the chance to rip himself away from Kanda and take off running again. The group turned to face this new obstacle in getting their friend back, and saw an old man in a police uniform pointing a gun at them.
"It's not what it looks like officer," Lavi sputtered, now regretting his decision to release his grip on Allen. The white haired boy had sprinted off down the street, disappearing around the corner, and left them to deal with this police officer who obviously wasn't going to understand the situation.
"I should hope not," the officer said, not lowering his weapon. "Because it looked like you were trying to kidnap that kid."
"He's an associate of ours," Link said in his most official sounding voice, taking charge of this situation before Lavi had the chance to say something to make it worse. "We're from the Black Order and that boy, Allen Walker, is one of comrades. Unfortunately something seems to have happened to cause the boy to lose his memories."
Keeping his weapon steady, he stared at the strange group. "Black Order?" He laughed, "What is that, some kind of cult? Like I'm gonna believe your lies!"
Kanda, already tired of this conversation, moved to the offensive man, and sliced the gun in half with Mugen. Link groaned, knowing Kanda just made everything worse than it already was.
"Way to go Yu," Lavi said as the red faced police officer stared at them for a moment before blowing a whistle that he was wearing around his neck. "You just couldn't have a little patience now could you?"
Eyes narrowed dangerously Kanda turned his weapon toward Lavi. "Shut up you stupid rabbit. Unless you want to be next."
Completely oblivious to the chaos he left behind, Allen found himself back in his alley. Without food. His stomach was growling, but he didn't want to leave, because they might show up again. "What exactly did those weirdos want with me anyway?" Allen grumbled to himself as he sat down in a corner at the far end of the alley. He was still hungry and annoyed. He would have been able to find something to eat if that group of people hadn't came out of nowhere and jumped him.
They had been searching for someone, this much the boy had gathered, but he was still at a loss as to how it concerned him. After all he had been minding his own business.
No one seemed to notice the tall red haired man as he walked through the streets of this pathetic little village. Why was he here again? Oh yes. That stupid apprentice of his. That boy was going to pay for dragging him, Cross, away from those three beautiful ladies. "Alright Tim," the man practically growled, completely ignoring the commotion across the street. "Find the brat so I can make him pay."
Timcampy fluttered in the air for a few moments before taking off down the street. Cross followed along behind the little golem, muttering threats the entire way. The brat had thought that training had been rough but that was nothing compared to what the irritated general planned to do to him this time.
Cross may have been ignoring them but Link's watchful eye spied the general and Timcampy.
Thinking it the only way to get the officers, that one called in back up because of Kanda's thoughtless actions, to leave Link searched though his pockets, pulled out a piece of paper, with the church's seal, from the pope himself. "We are here on official orders from the pope, and I suggest you let us leave," Link said triumphantly, as he let the officer's grubby hands look it over.
The officer knew it was the real thing and shied away from the odd group and let them pass. Link looked again for that flaming head of hair and found it. "Follow me," he said as he stalked up behind the man to see where he was going.
Having been trained to always remain vigilant Cross was immediately aware of the fact that he was being followed. However he was also aware of who it was that was following and knew that they weren't a threat. Refusing to acknowledge their existence the angry general continued on his way. The only thought in his mind was finding that useless apprentice of his, knocking him around a bit, and then returning to much more agreeable pursuits.
Lavi knew that Cross knew they were following him, and couldn't help but think that if they were debt collectors he would be long gone.
Timcampy flew into an alley way where they found Allen, sitting on the hard concrete, half asleep.
Quite pissed, Cross kicked his apprentice as hard as he could.
Allen cried out as he felt Cross' foot make contact and his gaze shifted up to meet the eyes of his attacker. Okay, eye. The man who was glaring down at him only had one visible eye but that was enough to tell the white haired youth that he was angry. Flashes of memory suddenly appeared in Allen's mind and he quickly staggered to his feet and took a couple of steps back, away from the man.
"M… M...Master Cross!"
"Figures..." Lavi muttered under his breath.
"You and your stupid head problems dragged me away from a comfortable night with booze and three beautiful women."
Allen knew this wasn't good, it was never a good idea to take from Cross what he wanted.
"I... I'm sorry Master," Allen said lamely, somehow knowing that this wouldn't be enough to placate the man. It was never that simple when dealing with Cross and Allen wasn't stupid enough to think that the man had changed any in the time that had passed since his days as an apprentice.
"Not half as sorry as you're be," Cross threatened, taking a menacing step toward his idiot apprentice.
Allen took a step back.
Link stepped in front of the angry man, "You know you are not supposed to have any contact with Allen Walker, General Cross."
"Move it," Cross said, a dangerous glint in his eye.
Keeping his ever watchful Bookman's eye on the encounter, and at the same time maintaining his pledge to not interfere, Lavi instead turned to his companions. "Wanna place a bet on who's going to win this little battle of wills?"
"General Cross," both Kanda and Lenalee replied.
There was absolutely no doubt in either of their minds who would win this war. Not even Inspector Leverrier was enough to intimidate Cross so Link certainly wasn't going to. And their suspicions were confirmed as they watched the red haired general shove Link to the side and walk over to the spot where Allen stood cowering.
General Cross grabbed his apprentice by the collar of his shirt and pulled the boy toward him. "You're going to reimburse me for the cost of the wine that was wasted because of your stupidity, idiot apprentice." Then, not wanting the dirt all over Walker to stain his clothes, Cross threw the young man into the wall. Allen was surprised, not at the fact that his master threw him, but at the fact that the wall he hit crumbled and he fell into the hole with the rubble.
While he was falling his left eye activated. There were at least 7 level three Akuma here, not counting the amount of lower level Akuma. "Great," the young man thought to himself as he prepared for yet another battle. It seemed as though he couldn't catch a break but at least this time there were more Exorcists around. Not that he was really expecting for Master Cross to help but at least Lavi, Lenalee and Kanda could be counted upon.
However, that didn't seem to be the case, this time. Cross, somehow needing to vent and feeling as if the dirty brat wasn't worth it drew Judgment before any of the other exorcists could react. Allen watched in wide eyed amazement as his master held up the large firearm and began to pull the trigger in rapid succession. There was a hard look in his one visible eye as the flamboyantly dressed general proceeded to make short work of the assembled Akuma. He was still irritated over the fact that he'd been drawn away from wine and women in order to come to this god forsaken place to save his idiot apprentice and, since he couldn't shoot said idiot apprentice, the Akuma were the ones who bore the brunt of his anger.
Before any of the others really had time to register what was going on the battle was over and the remains of the Akuma lay scattered in the alley way. Still growling obscenities under his breath, Cross walked over to the gaping hole in the wall, leaned forward and picked something up from the rubble.
Straightening up he tossed a glowing green object in the direction of his apprentice. "Here idiot apprentice."
Allen caught the piece of Innocence in his hand and watched as Cross strode passed him, heading toward the entrance to the alley.
"Oh," Cross said, as a sort of afterthought. "And you can expect a bill for this later."
At this, Allen pulled at his hair and moaned, "Why does stuff like this always happen to me?!?"
Link walked over to his charge, put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Does he always leave his debt to you?" Lavi's and Lenalee's eyes widened. That word was never to be spoken of in front of Allen.
A dark aura seemed to erupt around the youth at the sound of the word 'debt' and an almost crazed grin spread across his face. The boy began to laugh but it wasn't the type of laughter brought about by joy. No this sound was more reminiscent of someone who should be committed to an asylum. "Oh this is nothing," Allen said, continuing to laugh as his gaze surveyed the damage that he would be forced to pay for.
Slightly taken aback by this abrupt and completely unexpected change in the boy's behavior, Link actually took a step back. This was a side of Allen Walker that he had never experienced before and one that he never would have expected.
Taking this as her cue Lenalee walked over to Allen and put her arm around his shoulders. "Come on Allen. We should take the Innocence back to headquarters."
Allen continued to chuckle darkly for a few moments longer before the dark aura seemed to disappear. Shaking his head at the fact that he had the absolute worst luck on the planet the white haired youth nodded. He was all for getting back to HQ before anything else happened to make this experience worse.
If that were even possible.
The impossible seemed to happen as they made their way to the Black Order, only one small group of Akuma got in their way. Allen chose not to comment on their good fortune, as he would most likely jinx it.
When the group finally arrived at headquarters Allen tossed the piece of Innocence in Kanda's direction and sprinted off as fast as his legs would carry him, followed closely behind by a very disgruntled Link. Kanda stood and gazed at the Innocence that he now held in his hand. "What the hell is up with that stupid bean sprout?"
Lavi and Lenalee both shrugged, not sure what had caused him to run off like that.
Paying no heed to Link's shouted orders to slow down Allen ran all the way down to the dining hall and up to the window where a smiling Jerry greeted him. He was absolutely starving and intended to take full advantage of the fact that he was back at the Black Order.
A smile spread across his face as he ordered enough food to feed a small army.
Thank you for reading! Please review!
