….
Allen slid her foot forward as she spread her weight across the dirt floor. In front of her were several training dummies. In one swift move, her lower arm made contact with the upper rod of the dummy closest to her.
Moving around the pedestal, the makeshift arm came back as Allen ducked underneath. Following the movement came a blinding kick towards the next dummy and its started spinning as well. Using the momentum of the kick she flipped over the arm coming for her head and her left fist smashed the upper part of the dummy.
The broken wood scattering across the floor as she swept the next rod with her hand to the side and kicked at the next dummy. A permanent dent was left in its side. She took a step back and ducked under the third dummy and knocked it over with a strong swing of her arm.
Allen stopped and took a deep breath as she stared at the dummies barely left in one piece. It had been three days since she began training again but it only provided her with limited distraction to ease her mind.
She heard a flutter of wings behind her and she saw Tim hovering beside her face with a small towel in its mouth.
'Thanks Tim,' she said gratefully as she took the towel and wiped her face with it.
'You're not here again moyashi-chan, shouldn't you be resting,' Allen threw a glare at the redhead that entered the training room. From the casual clothes he was wearing, he probably just finished studying with Bookman or he snuck out while Bookman wasn't looking.
'That is none of your business Lavi…' Allen retorted coldly as she fully turned to her friend.
'And it's Allen,'
'Whatever you say moyashi-chan!' Allen pivoted on her foot and viciously kicked the dented dummy across the floor. She heard a nervous laugh escape from Lavi as she turned back to him and smiled.
'Mind repeating that?' Lavi gulped as he saw that her eyes weren't reflecting her smile.
'Of course Allen…'
'I thought so, what are you doing here Lavi? You're not trying to avoid studying again?' Allen asked as she wiped the sweat from the back of her neck. Lavi folded his arms behind his head as he snickered at her.
'What makes you think that Allen-chan?' Allen just glanced at the small man standing silently behind the redhead. Lavi seemed to catch her gaze and stared behind him.
'…Oh, hi old panda…'
Thwack!
'I told you to finish those books you idiot!' Bookman scoffed as he knocked Lavi to the ground with one punch of his fist. Allen giggled at Lavi when he sat up and rubbed his sore head.
'I was just taking a break old geezer,' Bookman hit the redhead over the head again and Lavi complained more.
'Will you stop your childish name-calling? It is utterly rude,' Bookman growled as he glanced up from his apprentice to Allen.
'I read the report Allen, but please don't blame yourself for what happened. Even a slight change of behavior will cause Central to react against you,' Allen shielded her eyes from elder man's eyes with her fringe.
Allen didn't want to be reminded of that too. That was why she was finding ways to distract herself so that she would seem unchanged to them… no, especially Them.
She was already in enough trouble with Central since Cross had revealed that she was the Fourteenth's Host.
Then Tyki had to go and do that to her!
Her lip curled into a snarl when the thought of that pervert having his way like that. It was horrible.
'Allen?' Allen blinked out of her thoughts and forced a smile at the two people still in the room.
'I'm fine but if you would excuse me, I'm going to have a bath,' she exited the room quickly with Timcampy perched on her head. Allen then headed to her room to gather clean clothes and another towel before heading to the baths.
The baths were thankfully empty and upon checking the water, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It wasn't that she didn't trust the water; it was more of the fact that she didn't trust a certain individual to not contaminate it.
Sighing with relief, Allen undressed and slipped into the hot water as the steam swirled around her. The feeling of the water lapping at her shoulders was relaxing as she leaned back against the side.
The humid air made her feel relatively sleepy, but Bookman's words still disturbed her. Allen had almost forgotten about Rouvelier and the scumbags who were constantly invading Headquarters.
It was probably the fact that she was too traumatized to even think about the evil man who could just end her exorcist duties and label her a traitor. It had gotten so bad that Komui could no longer protect her.
A slight addition of weight to her head caused her to look up and saw Tim looking back down at her. Allen felt a small smile twitch at the corners of her mouth before she sank further into the water.
….
Allen headed for the cafeteria right after her bath and was just about to give her order to Jerry when someone stepped in front of her. She almost gawked at the sudden appearance of the man until she realized who it was.
'Ms Walker, you are needed in Branch Head Komui's office now,' Allen frowned at him as she recognized Rouvelier's personal dog standing in front of her.
'Not exactly the right time to be asking me to do that Link,' Allen retorted as she made an attempted to walk past the Lieutenant but he grabbed her arm.
'This is important Walker and it cannot be delayed because of your gluttonous eating habits,'
'Gluttonous? I'm a parasitic type for Christ sake!' Allen snapped back angrily, feeling slightly insulted by something she couldn't help. Link narrowed his eyes but said nothing further as he forcefully turned her around and shoved her out of the cafeteria with everyone watching.
'Hey, stop pushing me! I can walk on my own!' Allen shrugged out of Link's grasp and hastened her step in front of him. She wasn't pleased that she'd had to go without food for who knows how long and it was that damn dog's fault.
They arrived a short time later and Allen did not miss the thin curl of a smile on the man she least respected. Hell, she'd rather face the Earl than this bastard. To make matters slightly worse… Kanda was sitting on the couch looking as if he too had been rudely disturbed from something important.
'What's he doing here?' Allen glared at the samurai whom turned back and gave her a dead look. He opened his mouth to retort but Link stepped between them blocking their view of each other.
'There will be none of that now, both of you have been assigned an urgent mission in Norway,' this stopped any form of insults Allen had coming when she stared at a silently raging Komui. It would seem like he didn't have a choice in the matter.
'We want you to deal with a level four sighted near a field research area where a possible innocence may be contained,' Komui's words were stiff as he glanced at the smug look Rouvelier wore.
'There will be no excuse for failure this time, especially for you Ms Walker,' Allen was stunned as Rouvelier gave her one of his nasty stares. Was it possible that this bastard thought she was to blame for the previous mission's failure? It sure seemed like it!
'Rouvelier, please do not make accusations that you have no solid proof,' Komui said as he also realized where Rouvelier was headed with the sly threat. Rouvelier gave Komui a brief look before looking at the two exorcists in the room, but mostly at Allen.
Kanda was already standing up at this time and proceeded out of the room.
'Let's go moyashi,' Allen managed to catch his stiff response as he exited the office, which she was quick to follow. She really did hate that man, the main reason Headquarters had become so… unwelcoming was because of him.
Allen quickly caught up to Kanda whom just seemed to be in the foulest of moods. Not wanting to make it worse, she kept silent as they quickly made their way to the White Ark.
….
Hope you enjoy this chapter and hope to bring more soon… sorry if there was any delay but I've had more new story ideas than current story ideas – and I mean for all my stories so please bare with me for now!
And on a final note C: Please leave a REVIEW!
