[Note from the Author: Hello~ I'm baack~ Welcome to the sequel of So Close Yet So Far: Distant Hearts~ I am really excited to write this. I have had it in my mind since about April I believe. And I didn't even finish SCYSF until July ^^;

Anyway, I don't really have much more to say other than I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I do not own D. Gray-Man in any way, shape or form. This fic is completely fanmade and I am not making any sort of profit off it.

Happy Readings!

~Kumori]

Chapter One

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

Dear Lavi,

Hey. I decided that I wanted to write you letters by hand as a sort of journal thing. I don't really know if I'll send the notebook I'm writing them in or not, but I guess we'll see.

Anyway, it's been a week since I left Missouri and moved in with Uncle Neah. Things are going pretty well so far. The past week I've mostly unpacked my things and learned about my uncle's schedule. As it turns out, he is a social worker and a part time music teacher. He had asked me to help him out with teaching kids how to play the piano. I was paired with a small boy named Timothy. He's nine and is pretty out there, but he's a good kid. He is pretty good on the piano.

Well, I start school tomorrow. Uncle Neah says that it is a pretty strict private school. It's called Noah's Arc Academy. The only other school here is the public school Helveska High, but Uncle Neah says that it is a bad place and all the students there are into drugs and such. I think he is just exaggerating, but I don't question him (out loud anyway).

Timcanpy is really liking it here. He also likes Uncle Neah. I took him to the beach (which we live only a two minute walking distance from!) and he loved it. He flew around happily and tried to eat a seagull. Heh, it was entertaining.

It's almost midnight. I guess I should go to sleep so I can be rested up for school tomorrow. Good night, Lavi. I'll write again soon.

Allen

Allen put down his pen and sighed. He wished that he could write more, but he knew that he really should go to sleep. The problem was that he really missed Lavi. So much that he still cried when Neah wasn't around.

Now that he was in Oregon, there was a two hour time difference from Lavi. That made talking to him a little more difficult. Lavi wasn't out of school until two o'clock his time, but since Lavi was studying hard to graduate this year (which Allen honestly didn't think he would accomplish. Not that he didn't believe in the red-head, but who can make up four years of screwing around in just a few months?) he usually wasn't ready to text until eight o'clock Missouri time. The problem with that was at six o'clock Oregon time, Neah would make dinner and him being the occasional strict guardian he is, banned texting until after dinner and all chores were done. So by the time that all is done, it's about seven thirty Oregon time, making it nine thirty Missouri time when Lavi would go to bed.

Allen closed his new notebook and placed it on his desk and crossed the room to his CD player. Neah was on the bottom floor, so he wouldn't have to worry about waking him up as long as he kept his music quiet. He flipped through his CD's and decided on his Punk Goes Pop Volume Two. He put the CD in the player, turned the volume down and hit shuffle. "I Kissed A Girl" by ATTACK ATTACK played. Allen bobbed his head to the beat and made his way back to his bed.

Allen buried himself into his blankets and was about to close his eyes when he caught sight of his cellphone on the charger on his bedside table. He reached over and unhooked it from the chord and opened the inbox. He knew that he wouldn't have any new messages, but it had become a habit to check anyway.

Nope, nothing new. The last message he had got was almost five hours ago.

7:49 pm: hey. srry but i shuld be gettin to sleep. ill txt u tmrrw. good luk in ur new skool. love u.

Allen smiled as he reread the text for the fifth time. He and Lavi didn't get to talk much except at Lavi's lunch break, but the red-head always sent him texts as soon as he woke up and just before he went to bed. Yes, it was a cliché among teen relationships, but it was adorable in Allen's eyes.

He read over the text one last time before he put the phone back on his table and burrowed his face into his cool feather pillow. He closed his eyes and listened to The Cab's cover of "Disturbia" until he finally fell asleep.

"Bum, bum, be dum, bum, bum, be dum, dum. Bum, bum, be dum, bum, bum, be dum, dum..."

*.*.*.*

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!

Allen growled sleepily as he slammed his palm on the snooze button. It was pitch black outside and his room felt like fucking Antarctica. He threw his comforter over his head and curled into a small ball, trying to warm his ice cold hands with his breath. Sure, he liked the cold, but this was nuts!

As he was hiding in his cocoon, the door swung open and his light was flipped on. "Good morning, little nephew!" Neah said enthusiastically. "It's time to wake up for school!"

Allen groaned. "It's too early..." he whined.

"Now, now, it's not that early. It's only five thirty in the morning."

Allen sat up quickly, but regretted it when his warm blanket fell off of his body, leaving his bare chest open to the cool air. "Five thirty? Are you insane? Why are you already so awake at this time?"

"Because the early bird gets the worm, m'boy," Neah said with a grin.

"Wh-what worm?" Allen asked through chattering teeth. He picked up his comforter once again and tried to cover himself with it, but it was too late. All the body heat that had been stored inside of it before was gone.

Neah chuckled. "Come on, Allen. You should know that expression. It just means that those who rise early reap the benefits."

Allen grumbled. "Screw benefits, I'm going back to sleep." He threw his comforter over his head and grumbled, willing himself back to sleep.

Neah made a tsk, tsk noise before he took hold of Allen's blanket and ripped it off of him. Allen yelped and shot up, grabbing for the blanket uselessly, making Neah laugh. "Sorry, Allen. But this is the time I wake up in the mornings and I want you to be up too. Now you have plenty of time to shower before you have to walk to school."

Allen groaned and fell back onto his pillow. "But it's too damn early!" he complained once more.

"I don't want you using that tone with me," Neah said as he raised an eyebrow. "I know that Mana taught you differently."

Allen let out a loud sigh. "Fine, I'm sorry. Now would you kindly step out of my room so I may drag myself to the bathroom and shower?"

"Certainly," Neah said with a smile. He walked out of his nephew's room and closed the door behind him.

Allen closed his eyes for a moment. Even though he was sitting up, shirtless in his cold ass room, when he closed his eyes for just the shortest second, it felt like he was back in dreamland. Back where he was with his friends, he didn't have to go to school, Mana was still alive, and Lavi was by his side. Ah. If only he could always be there...

"Allen! My next step is the ice water!" Neah yelled from outside his door.

That made Allen jump. Once when he was eight, Neah had tried to wake him up, but Allen refused. Not having any other way to wake him up, he had walked into the kitchen, filled a glass with ice cubes and cold water, then being the extremely nice and loving uncle he was, he walked over to Allen and dumped the entire thing on the poor boy's face. Ever since, Allen would always wake up when threatened with ice water. It was the most unpleasant way to wake up there was!

Allen scrambled to his dresser and pulled out his school clothes. Unfortunately, the school required uniforms. If being told that he was going to a private school wasn't enough to make him want to drop out, being presented with a uniform was. There were black dress slacks, a white long sleeve button up shirt, and a black jacket with green and yellow striped accents around the edges. On the right breast was the school's emblem with NA written in curvy golden letters. It looked so snobby and upper-crusty to Allen, but he knew that there was no other option. He had to wear the uniform if he was to attend this school and make his uncle happy. With a sigh, he held his clothes and went into the bathroom to shower.

*.*.*.*

Roughly an hour later, Allen was sitting at his dining room table stirring a cup of coffee and poking at a plate of croissants that Neah had given him. He squirmed a bit in his new stiff clothes, still trying to get used to the feeling of them.

"Allen, you're not eating. That means something is the matter. What's wrong?" Neah asked, sliding into the chair beside him.

"I'm just nervous about school, that's all," Allen said. "Well, that and I miss Lavi, but you already knew that."

"That I did," Neah replied. "But about school, what is it that is making you so nervous?"

"For one, I'm going to have to be around new people," Allen grumbled.

"I know that you don't like the idea of meeting new people, but the reason that you even moved out here was so that you would be able to start over, remember?" Neah reminded him. "Back at Black Order High, you were being treated like dirt. Lower than dirt, really."

Allen nodded. It was true. Back at Black Order High, he was called names, shoved into lockers, and even bullied to the point where the entire student body was pelting him with school lunches. In fact, Lavi's boyfriend at the time Tyki had beaten him to a pulp once, and then stabbed him before setting him on fire on a different occasion. That was really the tipping point that made Neah take him to Oregon.

Neah ruffled Allen's hair and smiled. "It'll be okay. I'm sure you will get used to Noah's Arc Academy soon enough."

Allen grumbled and took a bite of his croissant. "I don't want to, though."

"Stop being such a moody teenager," Neah said in a light tone. "Don't be stereotypical."

Allen chuckled a bit. "There is nothing about me that is stereotypical," he said.

"Exactly, so let's keep it that way. Now hurry up and devour those like I know you can. You need to start walking to school in about five minutes."

With a sigh, Allen started to shovel his croissants into his mouth. In no more than two minutes, the entire plate of bread was empty. He gulped down his warm coffee quickly and stood up. He crossed to the entryway and picked up his black coat and bag. He slipped on his gloves and wrapped his gray scarf around his neck. It felt like it was fifty below outside, so Allen wanted to be as warm as he could be. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and looked at the time on his phone. It was six thirty five, the time when Neah told him he would have to leave.

He gulped and tried to slow his thrumming heart. It's just school, Allen, he tried to tell himself. It's not like you've never gone to school before. Taking a deep breath, he looked over his shoulder and called to Neah, "I'm off, Uncle Neah!"

"Good luck, my little nephew!" Neah called back.

Allen rolled his eyes and stepped out of the house into the cold winter. He walked to the end of his street, then turned to his left going up another street. He was following the route that Neah had planned out for him and had taken him on the day before. Snow and ice crunched beneath his feet as he climbed up the long uphill street. He marveled the houses as he walked by, just as he had when he first drove down this street when he first moved in. He still couldn't understand why there were so many houses that were so big. Neah had said that a majority of them were occupied by tourists in the summer, but it still boggled Allen's mind as to why people would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house that they would only spend a month or two in. That's rich people logic, Allen thought bitterly.

As he continued his trek, he rubbed his hands together, already freezing. He reached his hands into his coat pocket. He felt something hard in his right pocket. Curious, he gripped it and pulled it out. In his hand he held his present from Lavi and his pet, Timcanpy.

"Tim, what are you doing here?" Allen asked the golem. "I already told you that I couldn't bring you to school. What if they try to take you away?"

Timcanpy just nuzzled against Allen's thumb and purred in response. Allen smiled and pet Timcanpy's head with his thumb. He knew that Timcanpy had become really attached to him since they moved to Oregon. Seeing as Allen didn't have anyone other than him and Neah to be with.

"Fine, you can come with me, but you need to stay in my pocket until I say you can come out, got it?"

Timcanpy made a happy growl sound before unfurling his small wings and flew up to Allen's face, nuzzling himself into his owner's cheek.

"Alright, alright, you're welcome," Allen said. He took his pet back into his hands and scratched his head as he continued to walk up the tall hill. The concrete was slick with black slush, but Allen made sure to be careful with every step that he took so he would not fall.

Once he finally made it to the top of the hill, he found himself at a highway. This highway ran all the way through the town. Actually, it ran all the way from the bottom of California to the top of Washington. Neah had informed him to be weary on the highway in the summer, because the tourists were ruthless and paid no heed to pedestrians.

Allen walked along the highway, passing by small tourist shops and a couple coffee shops. Most of the buildings were closed, being only six fifty in the morning. Looking closer at the buildings, Allen noticed that they weren't in that great of condition. The metal sidings were stained with rust from the almost constant stormy weather. The doors were cracked and peeling paint could be seen. Allen cringed slightly. He was from the big city where presentation was key. After all, tourists were more likely to want to go where the buildings were clean and pretty, rather than a rust stained shack looking place. This small town was seriously going to take some getting used to...

Allen stopped at the traffic light and hit the button to cross. He waited patiently for the light to turn white and crossed the highway, hands jammed in his pockets and head down, trying his best to not look at the cars he was passing in front of. He could feel their eyes on him. Like always, he could feel his body go cold (but not from the weather) and his eyes automatically went to the ground. Just like always.

Once the seemingly never ending cross, he picked his head back up and started up the next hill. This time, it wasn't as steep or long. At the top of the hill, he was at the school. It looked small and simple. The usual bricked walls, black double doors and American flag dangling weakly from a pole in the front. Cars were pulling up to the curb and kids were climbing out. With a sigh, Allen started towards the front doors.

He stepped into the school, and after only being there for three seconds, knew that he was going to hate this place. Everyone looked the same. The damned uniforms made all the students blend together. Allen sighed and rubbed his temples.

"You, delinquent," a harsh voice growled from behind him.

Allen inwardly rolled his eyes. Nice, I've only been here a minute and I have already been dubbed a trouble maker, he thought. He spun around to see who had addressed him.

It was a tall man who made Allen immediately think of Hitler. The man had a Hitler style mustache, his black hair was slicked back, and his eyes were narrowed angrily at Allen. His uniform was like his, only his had a letter L. stitched onto the left breast. Allen looked for any sign of a swastika, but all he saw was the same emblem that he wore on his own uniform. Even though this guy gave him a bad feeling, he smiled politely.

"Were you talking to me, sir?" he asked in his sweetest tone.

"Of course I was talking to you," the man practically barked, making Allen flinch. "Who do you think you are? Coming in here and disgracing us by wearing our uniform?"

Allen gulped. "I am a student here," he tried to explain. "My uncle enrolled me last week."

The man glared at Allen. It took all of Allen's self control to not shrink back from the chilling, killer stare. "We do not allow hair dye," he growled, pointing to Allen's hair. "Nor do we permit tattoos," he said, jamming a finger so close to Allen's left eye, he had thought that it was going to be poked out.

"Um, I don't have a tattoo, and I don't dye my hair," Allen said quickly. "This is a scar and I can assure you that this is my natural hair color."

The man growled again and opened his mouth to say something, but someone else spoke up instead. "Leverrier, that is enough."

Allen turned to his right to see a man with long white hair and a tired looking face approach them. He wore the same uniform as Hit- er, Leverrier, so Allen figured that he was a higher up. On his jacket, there was a letter Y.

The old man turned to Allen and smiled. "I assume that you are Allen?"

Allen nodded. "Yes, sir," he replied politely, thankful that he had come when he had. He was starting to think that Hitler was going to incinerate him with his glare.

The man smiled. "Hello. I am Mr. Yeeger. I am the principal here. And that is Mr. Leverrier, my vice principal."

At that very moment, Allen decided that he didn't want to get sent to the principle's office. Ever.

"So, Allen. Would you like me to give you the grand tour of Noah's Arc Academy?" Mr. Yeeger asked with an enthusiastic smile.

Allen nodded, not wanting to deny his hospitality. He had already made enemies with Hitler, he didn't need another one.

Yeeger smiled again. "Alright then, follow me!" he said cheerfully and started down the hall.

Allen jogged to catch up. Even as he moved, he could feel the icy glare of Hitler on his back. He shivered. I want to go home...

Just as he thought this, his right pocket began to vibrate. He quickly whipped out his phone, ready to ignore the text message until he saw who it was from.

7:12 am: good mornin. gud luck on ur 1st day of skool. luv ya n tlk 2 u l8r.

Allen smiled as he read the text. Lavi remembered that he was starting school today. He quickly sent a reply, jammed his phone back into his pocket and ran off to catch up with Yeeger.

7:14 am: Thank you. Have a good day, Lavi. Love ya.

[Note from the Author: So there it is ^^ This chapter is more of an introduction than anything. Next chapter will be more interesting and such. And we'll get to hear from Lavi ^^ I hate when he gets left out too long because he is already left out of the manga a lot u.u Poor, poor bunny.

Since I'm on the topic of the manga, I want to say this: I swear to God, if the writer of D. Gray-Man kills off Lavi, I will stop being a fan of this series! No joke. DGM just won't be DGM to me without our lovable bunny *lip quiver* (Can y'all tell I'm a Lavi fangirl? XD)

Well, that's all for now. I'm off to listen to some more Bon Jovi~! :D I've been addicted to his music for awhile.

Until Next Time!

~Kumori]