Chapter: Good Luck Charm
Shalan's Say: XDDD I LOVE LAVI LMFAO!
WARNING WARNING WARNING: Sensuality!
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He slid his finger down the window, his heart sinking. He blew on the window and watched the glass fog. His grey eyes shifted with the trees as they flew by, he frowned lightly, train rides were so long.
His name was spoken and before he knew it Lavi and Lenalee had returned from their rendezvous back to the compartment. Allen stared at them as they walked up and forced a smile onto his face. The pile of food in front of him now seemed much less appealing.
"Allen! Why aren't you eating?" Tim Canpy fluttered over to Lavi as he spoke. Lenalee glanced from Allen to his food, worry scrawled across her face. It seemed so stupid to be worried about someone not eating twice their bodyweight in food but with Allen that was normal, what was not normal was the fact that he wasn't eating when he had the chance.
"You guys act like all I do is eat!" He bristled, his eyes narrowing. Lavi stepped back, holding his hands up.
"Whoa, we were just wondering because, every time you have a chance to eat you do and right now you have a chance to eat but you're not, it's just different. I mean if you don't want to it's fine…" his attempt to diffuse the situation only irritated Allen more.
"Fine, whatever." He stood and brushed past them coldly.
"That temper…" Lavi stared after him. "Is not like him."
"Maybe we're being too judgmental! Maybe the fact that we're being paranoid is wearing on his last nerve!" Lenalee stared after him. "Lavi you're reading too much into this."
"Lenalee! He's storming around like a hormonal woman!" Lavi threw his arms up. "An anorexic hormonal woman!"
"That may be so, but we have to sensitive to him. He might be unable to sleep, he could be having nightmares after that situation!" Her hair fanned around her face as she spun to face the other exorcist then whipped around to leave the dining car.
"LENALEE!" He grabbed her shoulders. "Leave him be then! He needs the rest."
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He sat down on the bunk and tangled his hands through his hair. Why had he done that? Why had he snapped at his friends that way? He squeezed his eyes shut as Tim Canpy fluttered down to rest on his knee.
"Tim Canpy, I don't understand." He rubbed its head with his finger. "What's wrong with me?" He looked into the window, staring down his reflection. His right hand rubbed his eyes, the shadowed eyes that were normally cheerful. "Maybe I need to sleep…" He dug into his bag.
"Allen, these will help you with the dreams, but don't come to rely on them. Only use them if the nightmares become too much for your body to handle. You need to fight this off on your own." Cross folded his arms across his chest.
"Master, what are these dreams?" Allen took the offered pill bottle. The redheaded man across from him shrugged and smiled.
"Allen, if I could answer that I would be able to defeat the Earl." He gripped Allen's shoulder. The white haired boy bowed his head. "However I can tell you this," Allen's eyes met his. "Whatever this is, it is being caused by the 14th Noah's memories. I believe that is why you see yourself looking like a Noah. You must be careful with these dreams… do not choose, whatever you do. You must recognize that you are in a dream and wake yourself up. For you must not be forced to choose." Cross took his other shoulder.
"Master?"
"Yes, Allen," he glanced down at his former apprentice. He had grown so much over the years. Cross marveled at how he could possibly be nearly 17. The eyes though, perhaps they were set in an older face, perhaps they were somewhat wiser and filled with turmoil, the eyes remained the same. The same pair of big gray eyes that he had seen on the day he had found the boy.
"I-I am having doubts…" Cross bowed his head as Allen spoke. Somehow he knew this would come one day.
"Don't," Cross smacked him upside the head.
"Huh?" Allen blinked.
"Don't. End of story. Don't doubt yourself. Have you forgotten everything I've taught you? Christ, I should have never sent you here, they're making you soft!" Cross ranted, eyeing the boy as he smiled. 'Good, he's cheered up.' "You need to get your priorities in order. You're here to save the world, not to mope about like a poet!"
"Yes, Master Cross." Allen nodded his head. "I promise I will fight this. I won't let it get to me!"
"Also, remember, the pills. They are only if you cannot possibly do anything more in the current state. If you are so exhausted that it appears you can no longer function because of these dreams… Take one. Only one! So how many are you going to take if you can no longer function?"
"ONE!" Allen repeated back to him.
"Good boy, you're a fast learner." Cross smiled.
"One. Only take one." Allen shook a single, tiny orange pill out of the bottle. He glanced inside the bottle then blinked. It was like looking at the inside of a Skittle bag. The pills were all different colors. Though they were the same size and shape, they had different colors. He looked at the little note on the inside of the lid and squinted. At the very bottom of the note the words:
I thought I'd make things interesting. Like the colors?
MC
Were scribbled across the bottom of the paper. 'Leave it to Master Cross to decide to confuse people.' Allen sighed.
"One it is." He slipped it into his mouth, swallowed and curled up on the top bunk, pulling the curtains closed.
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"Allen!" Lavi shook him lightly. Allen's sleep fogged eyes fluttered slightly. He turned his head, unfocused.
"Is he alive?" Lenalee peeked over the edge of the bunk. Lavi braced his toes against the footboard and shook Allen again. The white haired boy's pajama bottoms tugged around his hips as he was shaken.
"Yeah, he also appears to have forgotten to finish putting on his PJs before bed." Lavi shrugged, stepping down and shutting the curtains. "He's acting almost drugged. How long has he been asleep now?"
"Almost 23 hours. I mean I guess it's okay that he's sleeping. I mean he was tired." Lenalee lifted an eyebrow as Lavi chuckled.
"WE COULD PROBABLY SHOUT EVERYTHING AND HE WOULDN'T NOTICE!" Lenalee covered his mouth.
"Hush!" She hissed, jerking him out of the compartment. "Leave him alone!" She nearly stomped her foot. "You just let him sleep."
"Fine, fine! Why on earth can't you just- AGH!" A huge clawed hand busted through the ceiling and grabbed a hold of Lavi, fisting him and dragging him through the ceiling.
"LAVI!" Lenalee jumped through the hole. 'I hope Allen will be okay… he'll probably be a little drowsy when he wakes up…'
"BIG HAMMER LITTLE HA-" The akuma squeezed him, cutting his words short.
"A level three?" Lenalee activated the boots and soared up, whirling around mid-air, only to be slapped to the roof of the train.
"BACK OFF!" Lenalee spun around as she heard the peal of a falcon's call. A whirling blur whipped her hair up around her face, the talons scraping her cheek. "DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO BACK OFF!" Lenalee stared at her. Another exorcist? "NAJYA!" The falcon swooped up into the air and dove down, its wings hardening, slicing through the arm that held Lavi. He dropped to the ground heavily as Lenalee ran to him.
"Who-who is that?" Lavi choked out as Lenalee's scratched face dripped blood down her chin.
"I have no idea, another exorcist I guess…" She looked over her shoulder at the girl. "I have to help her." She jumped and landed a kick in the akuma's face as it was distracted with the falcon, who dove again, its wing cutting a gash across its chest.
"DON'T YOU LISTEN!?" The woman grabbed her by the shoulder as the akuma tossed Lenalee away from it. The shattering glass beneath it nicked their skin as she jerked Lenalee behind her. "NAJYA!" The falcon shrieked and whirled around, zooming towards its master.
"BIG HAMMER LITTLE HAMMER!" Lavi swung his Innocence back and hammered the akuma into the train's ceiling. Glass flew everywhere, cutting all three.
The akuma screamed as it disappeared and Lavi landed easily on the roof before dropping to one knee. Lenalee simply stared at the woman that had saved her. Her Innocence had easily injured a level three Akuma, nearly destroying it single handedly. A high level of synchronization was necessary for that, almost General level.
Lavi watched as the falcon returned to a woman he had never seen before. Her thick leather glove, scarred from talons, stretched up her arm to her elbow. The tight black shirt she wore stretched over the first thing he noticed, her breasts. The v-neck dipped down, exposing more cleavage than he had seen in a long time. Her sloping waist met with a pair of gaucho pants, her leather boots were styled after the American western cowboys.
"Laaaaaviiii…" Lenalee mumbled. "Stop staring…" she punched him in the arm. Lavi could feel the drool collecting in his mouth as he followed the prominent collarbone up to a long tan neck, strong chin and smiling mouth framed in a pair of red lips. The ski-slope nose tilted up slightly at the tip, accenting the almond shaped, sloping blue eyes.
"What Lenalee?" He stared for a moment longer as the icy blue eyes stared back. Her long deep chestnut hair was pulled back in a high plait and for a moment he wanted to touch that silky hair. His eyebrows lifted as she walked towards him.
"Who are you?" The brunette stared them down. Lavi blinked.
"My name's Lavi." He smiled dreamily and Lenalee rolled her eyes.
"Lenalee Lee. You're an exorcist?" She smiled. "I was unaware that there were any exorcists on this train other than ourselves."
"Exorcist? You mean those things are demons?" Lenalee's eyes widened to dinner plates. Lavi felt his jaw drop, though for a different reason than originally.
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Allen sat up, stretched and yawned. "Man, I feel so much better now!" He stretched again, this time longer and more luxuriously. He swung his legs over the side of the bunk and dropped down. His stomach chose this moment to protest so violently he doubled over. "So… hungry…" he groaned. "Tim Canpy!" He moaned for the golem as he flapped down. "Eat first… exercise later…"
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"So you've never been approached by anyone before?" Lenalee blinked as the falcon fluttered its wings.
"No, I just thought Najya… you know… oh I have no idea," she looked down. "One day she fluttered in through my window and ever since I've just learned everything I can about her. She is the one that took care of the first one. It was at that point that-huh?" Allen yawned as he entered the dining car.
"He…"
"Slept through all that…?" Lavi and Lenalee exchanged looks as Allen smiled, speaking with the cook behind the counter.
"A friend of yours?" She watched the boy as he piled his tray high and walked over, barely balancing the precariously perched plates. (Try saying that five times fast.)
"Allen Walker! It's nice to meet you," Allen smiled and sat down next to her. "I hope you don't mind. There wasn't another seat open at the table."
"No! No of course not!" She waved her hands, she blinked as the sheer amount of food he had on his plate.
"Don't worry. He eats like an elephant. About twice his weight in food a meal," Lavi shrugged.
"He eats… Like an elephant?" She blinked.
"By the way, you never did tell us your name," Lenalee leaned back in her seat as the woman stared at her blankly.
"My name?" She pointed at herself.
"Yeah," Lavi held out his hand.
"My name's Anna. Anna is all. This is Najya." She took Lavi's extended hand.
"Awesome! You're an exorcist!" Allen smiled through his pile of plates. She again stared at him. He had finished all that food in a shorter time than it took to say her name.
"Not exactly." Lenalee seemed somewhat exasperated, they should have woken Allen up first.
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She sighed heavily as she stepped off the train, it had been a few weeks since she and Najya had been home. She crossed the platform to the other train.
"ALL ABOARD FOR LISBON, PORTUGAL!" She looked at the conductor curiously before stepping on board. How odd it was to hear another person's voice speaking in Portuguese. She closed her eyes, leaning her head against the window. Meeting those other people was just odd. She looked at the falcon on her knee as it squawked at her.
"Yes, I know Najya. We'll be home to see him soon." She took in a deep breath of the shirt she had in her bag, filled her senses with his scent. 'I hope he doesn't get there first.' She pursed her lips, patting the box on her lap.
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She pricked her finger as her hand shook. Cursing her luck she sucked on it as she walked towards the bathroom. The apartment wasn't very big. But its huge slatted windows brought in the sea breeze of the Portuguese coastline. The fans overhead spun slowly, keeping the heavy, humid air from staying too still. Her brown bangs escaped their headband and clung to her face, curling against her cheeks and temples. The brown hair that hung down her back in its tightly wound plait hung to her thighs.
"Ouch…" she wrapped a bandage around the cut and looked at herself in the mirror. "I wonder when…" she looked over his shoulder as the front door opened.
"You're ba-ack?" She stopped dead in her tracks as he smiled at her, his arms filled with a struggling mass of fur.
"Annie, I've brought you a present," he smiled. "For being gone so long." She squealed and shot across the room, enveloping him in her arms as the puppy jumped free. "Anna Maria," he lifted her and swung her around, their lips meeting in a long awaited kiss.
"Where have you been?" She gripped his face lovingly as he let her to her feet.
"Here and there," he wrapped his arms around her waist as she chuckled. He buried his face into her neck, taking in a deep breath of her scent. She smelled like fruit, sweet and delicious. Their lips met again, his fingers digging into her plait and unraveling it.
"I've missed you," her Portuguese was lilted slightly, with a Spanish accent. He closed his eyes as her breath washed over his face.
"I missed you as well," he pressed their foreheads together, his fingers tangling through her now freed curls. "I'm sorry I was gone so long this time, but maybe… the next time I leave you can come with me…" He whispered, squeezing her lightly to make her laugh. He had missed her laugh.
"Tyki Mikk, you know well that I can't go with you!" He whirled her around and spun her into his arms as she tried to escape.
"I believe you can Anna Maria, I believe you can!" He laughed as shock spread across her face. "I think I'll let you come with me the next time I leave! I promise!" She smiled broadly as she jerked the puppy up into her arms.
"You must want something," she eyed the tall, light skinned man. His dark brown hair was tousled over his face and curled against his high cheekbones, and as he pulled his glasses from his face a mischievous smile crossed his lips.
"Me? Want something?" He lifted an eyebrow. "From my girlfriend? I could never want anything from her, except maybe…" she tilted her head "DINNER!" He launched himself towards her and she wailed with laughter as he caught her in his arms.
"TYKI! Leave me alone!" Anna whirled away from him.
"NEVER!" He swung her around again. "I will never leave you!" His heart swelled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Tee," she breathed into his neck, her toes barely brushing the floor as she clung to him.
"Annie, I," he broke off as she nuzzled her face beneath his hair, somewhere near the nape of his neck.
"Please, please, please stay longer this time… I don't think I can stand you being here for two days and then sweeping off somewhere else again." He closed his eyes again.
"I will, this time I will stay as long as you want me to," he smiled, his skin pricking as her breath washed over his shoulder and neck. "I will stay as long…" she laced her fingers through his hair. "As you want me to."
'I hope.'
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INTERESTING! I really enjoy Anna Maria. You'll see more of her later in the story. She and Tyki will be playing a part in this story, obviously. Poor Allen! I feel awful for him! But Cross makes me giggle. So did the fact that Allen slept through a level 3 akuma attacking the train surprise you? LMAO! Have you figured out why there are two Annas? YOU SHALL SEE!
READ AND REVIEW!
KTHNX
Shalan the Magnif