A Revealing Train Ride

Three months. A lot can happen in three months. Scars can heal. Lives can be lost. New life can be born. Relationships can start. Hearts can be ripped apart. One can find his peace. The flame of self-doubt can begin. All in three months.


Allen found himself drifting in between sleep and wakefulness. The train hit a small run of rough rails, bringing him fully into the unsleeping world. He blinked groggily. Three months. The thought pin-balled around in his head. He mused over it. It had been three months since that incident. The incident in which he thought he lost almost all of his friends. He visibly shuddered.

But so much had happened for the better since then. Lavi, Kanda, and most importantly, Linali, had regained their Innocence. It had taken them a while and they still had yet to fully re-master use of their equipment type Innocences. Well, at least Linali had anyway. This was mostly due to her legs. Her muscles were still suffering from the damage the final form of her Dark Boots had inflicted on them. She could once again fly through the air with much more grace than Allen or anyone in the group could hope to accomplish in anything.

Lavi and Kanda were different cases however. Both had reformed their Innocence within a month. Linali had taken almost two. Kanda had revealed absolutely no evidence to show that he had either lost or acquired skill since Mugen's destruction while fighting Skin Boric, a Noah. Lavi, on the other hand, had been perfectly open with his training. Allen remembered asking him about it one time.


"Hey Lavi!"

"Allen! What's up with you, looks like you just got thrown through the grinder?"

"Yeah, mission, a couple level 3's."

"Ooh, sounds like fun, sorry I couldn't join." Lavi rolled his eyes. "You know, Innocence training and everything." He accented this comment by looping his finger around in the air, making a half-assed 'whoopee' sign.

"By the way, how's that coming? The recovery training that is."

"I have made absolutely no progress at all." Allen's face fell at this comment. He's made no progress at all?!

"Why are you giving me that dumb smile? This can't be good. If you can't re-master you're Innocence then…then…"

"Calm down, Allen. I said I hadn't made any progress in the recovery training." Allen gave him a clueless look. Then it dawned on him. His face broke into a smile as he stated,

"If it isn't broken-"

"Don't fix it," Lavi finished for him. "It turns out that the month in which I didn't have my Innocence, I didn't lose one grain of my former skill. Once Gramps realized this, he decided to start training me with new things. In on that training, I have made muchprogress." He chuckled pleasantly. "Next time we fight a Noah, I'll do more than just get caught in their traps."


The flashback ended, leaving Allen confused about where he was. As the train rattled again, Allen realized where he was. He shook his head to clear it. He needed to start thinking over his strategies against the Noah. If it is Tyki, then maybe I cou-. Allen's thought died as he glanced down at his arm. Linali was there, sleeping lightly, head gently rested on his broad shoulder. Blood instantly shot to his face. His thoughts went ballistic. Lin-Linali's leaning against me! No, not just leaning, she'ssleeping on me. If it was possible, even more blood surged to his face, his blush was now the deepest shade of crimson. Allen glanced down at Linali. As he watched, she shifted and murmured something in her sleep. A few rebellious strands of her hair, her long, beautiful hair, fell over her face, accenting her pretty features. As Allen viewed her, he felt his embarrassment ebbing away; somehow, someway, this felt right to him. He glanced over to the end of his bench, where Lavi slept, snoring lightly.

He took a good look around the rest of the car. Miranda was leaning up against the window, across from him, sleeping deeply. Next to her slouched Krory, who obviously, while awake took care to be proper, lost most of his posture when he slept. The last person in the car, the black-haired Kanda, sat wide-awake. More disconcerting than seeing him awake, Allen realized that he was staring at him with his dark, penetrating eyes. Kanda kept scrutinizing him. Allen began to fidget; wondering what he could want with a gaze that powerful. Allen's forced himself to look away from those deep eyes and returned to looking out the window. His mind began to drift again. My dreams. What could they mean? Suddenly, the silence of the car was broken by a harsh voice,

"You are going to have to tell her at some point, Beansprout." Allen's head snapped around in surprise. Allen probably would've been less surprised if he heard Kanda say 'I love you' to someone. Then what he had said sunk in.

"Excuse me?" Allen incredulously. He shouldn't know anything about that, it's only between Hevlaska and I.

"Che. You heard me. You will have to tell her at some point. When, where, and how is up to you.

"You shouldn't know about this. How in the hell did you find out? No one besides Hevlaska and I know." His voice was quiet, not scolding, just curious.

"How you act around everyone. The hidden sighs behind the smiles. I see them, Beansprout. Even if everyone else is thrown off because of your cheery outlook, which I am not saying is a front, I won't be blindly led astray. The conclusion I came to had to be the correct one, because it is the only one that makes sense."

Allen sighed heavily, "Do you think the others know?"

"Miranda and Krory, I am almost certain about. I noticed that an air of worriness is hanging about them ever since they discovered that a Noah could show up, because that could mean the he could make his way there. Lavi over there, though somewhat dim-witted at times, probably knows, just because he is a Bookman. Bookmen tend to put the pieces together quite fast."

"I am guessing that is probably the closest thing to a compliment I am ever gonna get from you, isn't it, Yu?" a new voice broke out over the cabin. Allen spine stiffened.

"So you did know, eh Lavi?"

"For awhile now, I was gonna wait for you to tell me on your own time before I revealed that fact, but Yu here obviously ruined that plan," he said as he stretched and sat up. Kanda, by the second use of his first name, was glaring at him and grinding his teeth, small veins could almost be seen popping out of his head.

"So assuming that Miranda and Krory know," Allen continued in a weary-sounding voice, "Then that leaves…" He indicated the cute girl sleeping against him.

"As I said before, Beansprout, you are going to have to tell her sometime."