Chapter 2: The Start of a Legacy

The dust rose up into the air and formed a small cloud as the boy rubbed the bottom of his boots against the ground. The boy Allen sat stationary on the hardwood bench as he watched, intrigued, by the rising and settling dust. Allen also wondered how it could be so dusty in this room, didn't anybody sweep? But kicking dirt up into the air was something that truly entertained Allen. He would always do it during Mana's shows, because he was unable to do the juggling and balancing acts that Mana did constantly.

The large room was alive with an assortment of noises and sounds. Yells, the clanking of glass, liquids spilling from said glasses, fists pounding into wood, and many more indescribable babblers. Allen looked up from the settling dust, to the red-haired man that introduced himself as General Cross Marian. Instead of sitting at the many tables, like all the other people were, he was leaning back against the bar sipping at a glass that was much more sophisticated than all the mugs that were being drunken from in the rest of the room. Allen noticed that the man's visible eye kept shifting from face to face, rather quickly, too, and kept a stoic look on his entire face. It looked to the boy as if the man was either looking for someone to associate with or looking for someone to avoid.

Cross' eye then landed on Allen looking back at him. Allen's eyes widened by a fraction, waiting for how Cross would react to Allen looking at him. Cross' face soon twisted into a small sneer which made the small boy cower and swiftly look back down to the floor.

Allen started kicking his legs once more, making the dust rise. After a few seconds of not hearing something from the man, or feeling anything, the boy took the option of looking up again at the mysterious man. First, he stopped moving his feet, letting them hang limply and barely touching the floor. Next, he slowly and cautiously turned his head to the side and up, to face the man. Allen was still terrified of looking the man in the eyes, so all he could do to prevent that was to gaze through his snow white locks. His eyes strained at the extreme side glance, but the muscles quickly adjusted so that it wasn't bothering him as much.

Cross was again sweeping across the room with his visible eye, taking gentle and small sips from the red wine. Allen has been wondering, these past couple of weeks, about that eye. Not really the visible one, but the other eye as well as the half of his face that was covered in the white and red mask. But Allen never dared to ask the older gentleman. He was told to by Mana that it was impolite to ask questions about something disturbing unless the subject was brought up by the person. And looking at that mask made Allen think that something terrible must have happened, in order for him to have to cover up half of his face. But, for all Allen knew, it could have just been a disguise to lure women that prefer the wild, bad boy.

Unfortunately, once more, Cross' eye found Allen's, as he was starting to light up a nice cigarette that would unwind him a bit. His eye narrowed as he realized that that boy continued staring unashamed. Cross pushed himself off the bar and started walking over to the small boy sitting on the bench of the almost empty table. Allen's gaze continued to follow the red-haired man as he approached the hunched boy.

Cross stood in front of the petite lad, who had his face down toward the ground, but his eyes were focused directly on the man. Cross stared down, though not declining his head, at the boy, eyes still narrowed with frustration. "What are you looking at, brat?" He questioned. "Why are you staring at me?"

Allen stayed silent, staring up at the elder with innocent, grey eyes that held nothing but confusion. Allen had remained silent throughout this trip. The only words that Cross was able to get out of him were his name and some jumbles on that first night. Other than that, Allen remained perfectly quiet, because he didn't know what would make this man angry.

"Are you bored?" Cross questioned again. "Is that what's bothering you, idiot?"

Allen quickly nodded his head once, indicating that he was indeed bored of the lifestyle that Cross lived.

Cross lifted up the cigarette to his lips and breathed in the smoke and toxins. He turned his head to his right, looking over the many heads and at the visible support beams that were holding up the floor to the story above them, as he blew out the smoke and looking as if he were deep in thought. After he inhaled again, this time the air from the tavern, he reached into one of the many inside pockets of his coat. Allen started to feel some concern as he watched the man scrounge around for something. Allen wasn't sure what Cross kept in his coat, but there was a time when Allen was walking next to him and saw a large revolver strapped to his leg. This discovery made little Allen skeptical of what else the General was hiding.

After a few moments of digging, Cross pulled something out that was about the size of his hand and tossed it to the surprised twelve-year-old. Allen looked down at it with curiosity in his eyes. It was a deck of cards with a black-and-white diamond pattern on the back. Allen sifted through the fifty-four cards as Cross walked back to his place at the counter. After checking that all the cards were there, Allen then turned around to face the table and took out the two jokers before shuffling the deck. Allen had noticed that his left arm had become very stiff and very hard to move after the incident, but he thought, as he shuffled, that this might help him regain the feeling back in that limb.

Allen then began spreading the cards out to begin a nice game of solitaire.

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AN: Hi everyone! And thanks for reading the second chapter of As the Snow Falls. I'm sorry that this came out later than I expected, but at least I got it out.

I would like to specifically thank the people who reviewed (Kazuki-kun is an A and an A, and Sephant), those who added this story to their alert list (Kazuki-kun is an A and an A, Sephant, Chiko100, and Lady My), and the one who added this to their favs list (Kazuki-kun is an A and an A). Thanks so much for those reviews and everything, they really made my days.

Thanks again for reading, and please review!! (hearts and hugs) (and maybe cookies)