There is also no romance going on between Lavi and Lenalee. They're just good friends and partners that can rely on each other for anything

It would be about a four hour train ride to get to Paris from the nearest train station, but it would probably feel like twice that because of Kanda and his too-good-for-you attitude.

"C'mon, guys, this'll be fun!" exclaimed Lavi, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

He tried to do the same to Kanda with his other arm, but almost immediately found a sword at his throat. I rolled my eyes as Lavi gulped, instead throwing his arm around Lenalee, who laughed. Kanda shook his head and preceded us onto the train.

"That guy needs a sense of humor," I muttered.

"No kidding," sighed Lavi. "Oh, well. Best get on, before the train leaves."

The inside of the train was warm and well-lit by gently burning lanterns. Inside various first-class apartments I could make out the soft glow of more lanterns, and further back, passengers sat in the admittedly comfy seats in coach. Kanda poked his head outside of our compartment, scowling. Well, he was perpetually scowling, but it looked deeper right then.

"Are you all coming or not?" he snapped, then withdrew into the room again.

I shook my head and gestured for Toma to go first, but he shook his head. I resisted the urge to smack myself. I forgot, the Finders never rode in the compartments with the Exorcists. I didn't actually know why. I just knew that they didn't. With an apologetic smile, I took up the rear behind Lavi and Lenalee. The train was so peaceful and quiet; even the sounds of the wheels screeching along the rails was muted inside. It was so nic—

Damnit. A painful, consistent throb started in my left eye. Taken by surprise, I staggered into the side of the doorframe, vaguely hearing three of my four companions cry out. I clapped my hand to it, swearing loudly as I felt it shift form until it was like a monocle. Shit. Shit shit shit. An Akuma was on the train.

I tore my hand away from my eye, whipping around to scan the hallway. There was something in the direction of the other passengers, but it wasn't the only one I was sensing. So there were more near the front of the train. I turned, and almost ran into an Akuma. It was only a level one, disguised as a pretty, smiling attendant. It wasn't the only Akuma there, but it was the only level one.

"Allen!" Lenalee said, leaping out into the hall. Lavi was right behind her. I even heard Kanda stand and move into the doorway.

"Bean Sprout! What are you—" he spat, but cut off abruptly.

Instead of leaving in the form of insulting words, his breath whooshed out of his lungs in one loud exhalation. He'd never seen through my eye before, I realized. Neither had Lenalee, as evidenced by her startled gasp. Lavi had seen it before, but the ill look on his face said he still didn't like it.

The Akuma's imprisoned soul, bound to the body and forced to obey the Earl of the Millennium's demands. It wasn't a pretty sight, but one that I had grown quite accustomed to. Silently I activated my Anti Akuma weapon, and it speared straight through the level one before it could even transform.

"Are there others?" asked Lavi shortly.

"Three more. Level two, all of them," I answered. "Two in the passengers' car, and another one up front. Probably hidden as a different attendant."

"We'll take the two in the back," said Lenalee, catching Lavi's arm and hurrying down the passageway.

"That leaves you and me," I said to Kanda.

"Great. Just the way I wanted to start this trip," grumbled the swordsman. Either he had recovered from the shock of seeing the Akuma's soul, or he was damn good at hiding it. Both options were highly likely, but my pride had me leaning toward the idea that he was just a very good actor.

"Whatever. Let's finish it," I sighed, and led the way up the hall.

We were halfway to the very front when a second attendant came out. This one, while wearing the uniform, hadn't bothered to change its body to look human. It was grotesque, like a clown costume or doll that had gone horribly awry. Its arms were different lengths, and its tongue hung out obscenely from its wide, grinning mouth. On its forehead was the pentagram that marked it as an Akuma.

"You," said the weapon, pointed one clawed hand at me. "You with the funny eye. You have a pentagram above it. Are you…"

This was no coincidence. This was a planned assault. Somebody knew that we would be on this train.

"Are you Allen Walker?"

"Bean Sprout, you're a pain in the ass to have around," snarled Kanda. I didn't bother to answer him.

Instead, I called on the Innocence. On the Crown Clown.

"What the Hell—" said the swordsman. I winked at him, and if it was possible, his scowl deepened. "Whatever."

He lunged forward, raising his sword into the air. His Mugen slashed a graceful arc through the air and…and nothing. All it hit was air. The Akuma had been fast enough even to dodge one of Kanda's attacks. That was something I had never seen before. But nothing could yet outrun the Crown Clown.

One minute the Akuma was lunging. The next? He was nothing but a memory. I watched as yet another Akuma soul was released from its prison and set free into the next world.

"What the Hell was that?" Kanda demanded. "How did it dodge my attack?"

I snorted.

"Speed was probably one of the abilities that particular level two developed. They aren't all as slow as that Noah…Skin was his name, right?"

Kanda glowered.

"And what did you do? Since when did you Innocence look like some kind of clown?"

A bark of brash laughter escaped me.

"Since I almost died and it almost disappeared. I couldn't reconnect with it until I understood its true form. What you saw was the Crown Clown."

Kanda blinked.

"The Crown…Clown?" he repeated. "That has got to be the most stupid name I have ever heard!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Kanda. The Crown Clown just killed what your sword didn't even touch and released the Akuma's soul."

Kanda's right eye began to twitch. Then it stilled, and he straightened up.

"The Akuma's soul. That's what I saw."

I blinked, then nodded.

"Yeah."

"Why did I see that thing? I thought you were the only one that could see those demons, because of that cursed eye of yours. Plus, before, your eye just turned red, but this time it's like you were wearing some kind of lens."

The venom in his voice couldn't quite hide his curiosity. I had to fight a derisive laugh.

"Yeah, well, my curse got stronger. When Lavi and I were at Krory's castle, and the Akuma Eliade attacked me, for some reason my eye responded. It's almost like it evolved, like an Akuma would. Now anybody near me sees the souls, like I always have."

Kanda was silent for a long minute, his dark eyes staring at me. There was something in those eyes that I couldn't quite place. Not compassion. No, definitely not that, but something…

The screams of the passengers in the back signaled that Lavi and Lenalee had probably killed their Akuma, and seemed to disrupt whatever train of thought had been going through Kanda's head.

"I'm going back to the compartment. Come or don't, I don't care," he grumbled, and walked away, sheathing his sword.

I sighed and shook my head, following the Equipment Exorcist back to our little room.

….

Lavi had fallen asleep almost the moment he sat down, and Lenalee didn't last much longer. Kanda and I were the only ones awake, sitting as far away from each other as possible on the same bench. He was staring out of the window with his chin resting on his hand, and I sat quietly with my own fingers folded neatly in my lap, my gloves hiding the scarlet skin of my left hand. I didn't like the quiet anymore, but talking to Kanda was a total last resort, because to break the silence in exchange for anything that he had to say would just be begging for trouble. So, I was more than a little surprised when he was the one to speak.

"Who did you turn into an Akuma?"

"Huh?" I asked, startled.

"Who. Did. You. Turn. Into. An. Akuma?" he enunciated every syllable very clearly, as though I didn't understand English. "They gave you that eye, right?"

"My adoptive father Mana," I said shortly. "And yeah, he gave me this eye."

"What…what happened?" It sounded as though his curiosity literally pained him.

"I never knew my real parents. I was an outcast because of my arm. Mana was the first one to accept me, arm and all. He took me in and raised me like his own son. It felt like only days later, though it was years, that he was killed in a carriage crash. The Earl found me at Mana's grave, and offered to bring him back. I took the chance, and Mana came back as an Akuma. He cursed me with this eye. Then, before he could kill me, my arm acted of its own accord, transforming and ending him. After that, Master Cross found me."

"And that eye…"

"It shows me the tortured souls of Akuma."

"You see those every day?"

"See what?"

"The Akuma souls, dumbass," he snapped. My eye twitched in frustration.

"Yeah. They're there with every Akuma."

Again there was silence. Then—

"I think…I don't give you enough credit."

I whipped my head around to look at him in shock. His face was twisted, his expression suggesting that he had swallowed something extremely distasteful. I wasn't surprised. Saying those words out loud probably caused him physical pain.

"You're tough. Tougher than I would've expected from a bean sprout like you. You've handled a lot. I…I can…"

"Can what?" I prompted, fighting an evil grin.

"Shut up!" he snarled. Then, ground through clenched teeth, "I can respect that."

My eyebrows probably disappeared into my hair. Surely my eyes were the size of dinner plates, and I was fairly certain that my jaw had just dropped into my lap.

"Don't get any ideas. We're not friends," he said quickly. "I don't like you. I never will. I hate your type of people. All I'm saying is that I can respect what you've been through."

"Yeah," I chuckled. "Got that loud and clear."

Another moment.

"You should get some sleep," I suggested.

"Don't tell me what to do."