Title: Escape

Author: "teh great" M.F.

Disclaimer: all disclaimer rules apply. here and now.

Warnings: Shounan-ai/Yaoi, OOC (more than likely)

Before Notes: OMGI'LLASSUREYOUTHATALLENDOESN'TGETRAPED! (For this chapter at least…) X3 Thank you so much for all your love! (If Allen were to be raped, I'd make sure it's Rabi who'd rape him)!


Chapter 04: Lessons

Allen sat in front of the shop stall as people passed by. The streetlights flickered on one by one as the shopkeepers were now closing up, ready to go home after a long day of hard work.

"That's thirteen outta twenty five." The brunette cleaned up the cards and started putting away his merchandise. Allen was frozen in place in front of the stall as the sky got darker and darker outside.

I'm afraid I have a rival… A rival… Allen, still paralyzed, felt a sudden chill run down his neck. But now that I've lost… that means that I'll have to pay the consequences. Struggling with all his might, Allen turned and looked at the boy who was all packed up and ready to go home.

He held his hand out. "Ready to go? Sweetie?" He smiled.

Allen was speechless as he was being dragged down the street. "I-Is there any other way for me t-t-to—"

"Nope." The boy looked over his shoulder at Allen. There was a slight shimmer of sadistic pleasure in the back of his dark eyes. "A deal's a deal."

Allen planted his feet firmly on the ground. "I'm sorry. But I can't do this. I can't go with you."

"Sure you can!"

Before he knew it, Allen's feet lifted off the ground. Blood rushed to his cheeks as the boy held him like a groom would hold his newlywed wife.

"GAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! PUT ME DOWN BEFORE I—!" Allen ran out of breath as he used the majority of his energy kicking and screaming and trying to get out of the grasp of this demented man's arms.

"Then would you like me to take you down to the police station? That's the only other place I'd be willing to take you…"

"I-I can't be paraded around like this! Please!" Allen said as he remembered his mission.

The boy blinked at him. "You're lying to me aren't you?"

"Why would I?"

"Cuz you don't wanna sleep with me…" Crocodile tears came flooding to the others boys eyes.

Allen stared at him. He was an odd one. Of course I don't want to sleep with you. I'm only fifteen! And I don't even know who the hell you are!

"Well, here." The boy set Allen down then grabbed his hand firmly. "We can walk like this…" and without wanting to hear another word from Allen he started skipping off, all the while having Allen being dragged behind like a rag doll.

Allen tried hard to talk to him, but every time he did, the boy would just skip ahead more vigorously, and by the time they had reached their destination, Allen felt as though his arm had popped out of its socket.

"Hey, I'm home." The boy pushed a button and spoke into a little voice box. "Let me in."

Allen blinked; he was so blinded by his anxiety that he had completely ignored his surroundings. The two of them were standing in front of a huge wrought iron gate, that was now creaking open. Allen blinked again. The house that sat on the other side was one worth looking at. It was enormous. Sure, Allen lived at HQ, but this was one building that he couldn't imagine living in without a couple hundred extra roommates to keep it full.

Allen was pulled in. As they walked up the path towards the house the boy whispered to Allen. "Don't say a word. Otherwise, I'll make sure that your sorry ass won't ever see the light of day again."

Allen felt sick to his stomach. He had to find a way out of this. Otherwise, well, there were a lot of things that could happen otherwise…

"WELCOME HOME OTIS!" A woman charged at the boys as they entered through the front door. They easily sidestepped her and she skidded out the door. "How was work today?" She smiled as she stuck her head in through the threshold.

The boy, now officially known as Otis, decided to casually start walking down the hall, ignoring the woman.

"Oh! I hope you haven't eaten dinner yet! I made something very special! And there's just enough for you new friend too!" The woman's voice called after them as they made their way up a grand flight of stairs.

"Who was she?" Allen asked. Though the woman seemed a little energetic she seemed kind enough, not to mention pretty.

"None of your business."

Allen couldn't comprehend as to why someone would act like an asshole to his own blood relative, like this Otis was doing so well. God knows Allen wouldn't. If he had any that is...

Allen was shoved into a room and Otis followed, turning on the lights. Allen was almost knocked off his feet at the sheer sight of the room. It was nothing, nothing, nothing, absolutely NOTHING like his shop. It seemed to follow the general flow of the entire building. Rich, fancy, high class, and elegant.

"What kind of place is this?" Allen asked as he walked around the room looking at all the antiquities. "You're surrounded by such amazing things, and people, yet you run a stand that sells……" Allen shook his head and decided not to dig any deeper. "You're really weird." He finally concluded.

"Look who's talking." Otis shot back as he took off his tie and fixed up his hair in his mirror, which happened to take up an entire wall. "You walk up to my stall all "friendly" like, you break one of my important pieces of merchandise, you try to out-cheat me in cards, and now you're here about to get raped by me. If there's anyone here who's weird. It's definitely you." He turned around and opened up a mini-refrigerator, pulling out a drink. "Think fast." He said as he threw a can towards Allen's face.

Luckily Allen was fast enough to catch it. "There's nothing weird about me. I don't go around trying to rape other boys." He said as he opened up the can, even though on the outside he was seemingly calm, Allen was about to have a major breakdown internally. It took all his might just to pop the top off of his beverage in such a composed manner.

Allen took a long sip of his pop as he thought frantically about what to do next. He had two choices: either beat Otis upside the head with a heavy object and run away, or just jump out the window and run like hell away from this death trap. Sure, they sounded like virtually the same plan, but one involved not having to beat Otis unconscious and the other did… which would be more convenient?

Both sounded pretty risky, but to Allen, anything would do. He shifted his eyes around a room and saw a sizeable looking lamp that looked like it would do the trick…

Otis landed on his bed and flung his head back. Allen's attention went from the lamp to Otis as he started shaking. Allen raised a brow at the odd boy when finally his shakes were turned into an audible laughter.

"Oh my god! I can't believe you actually listened to me and came all this way… Thinking that I was about to rape you!" Tears ran down his eyes as he rolled around his bed, clutching his stomach from the pain of laughing so hard.

Allen stood there. "...What?"

"I'm not gonna do laundry with something that I picked up off the streets!" The sound of his Otis' laughter broke Allen's train of thought (or lack there of).

All Allen could hear was a loud, sudden, snap go off in the back of his mind. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING! YOU ASSWIPE, I ALMOST HAD A HEARTATTACK CUZ I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO ASSULT YOU TO GET AWAY!" Allen looked over at the lamp that was still sitting there. Even if he wasn't going to be taken advantage of, the thought of beating Otis with the blunt object repeatedly didn't sound too bad at the moment.

Allen took a deep breath, trying to relieve the bloody images from his mind. Although he was furious beyond belief, there was no doubt that he was (at least a little bit) relieved to hear that he was the butt of this boy's joke, nothing more.

Otis smiled as he took a long drink of his pop. "Hey be glad I wasn't serious!" Otis hopped up from off his bed and went over to Allen with his hand outstretched. "Let me formally introduce myself. I'm Otis 'not-gonna-rape-you' Placebo."

Allen angrily gripped his hand, noticing that Otis' grip wasn't as strong as he'd imagined. "I'm Allen 'I-fucking-hate-your-guts' Walker."

Otis let out a howl. This side of him was something nobody, especially Allen, would have expected from just glancing at the solemn looking youth. "Hey, no 'bête-noir' right?" (1) He leaned against his bedpost. "I was soooo bored. People usually don't come up to my stall unless they want to harass me about the thief thing. But today I was lucky enough to get a punk like you. Man, you're a life saver!"

Allen laughed half-heartedly. That was when he remembered, the thief! Oh, of all things to forget… he was WAY behind what he was suppose to be doing. He had to get information about that so-called exorcist, but here he was making friends with a troublemaker.

Allen quickly turned around and spotted a clock: eleven twenty five.

"A-aarrrreen…"

A fuzzy voice buzzed in Allen's ear, breaking his concentration. "Hey Otis, can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure, go ahead, it's the door next to the stairs."

Allen thanked him and ran into the bathroom. Marble. Everywhere.

"Allen...re are you..."

Allen took the receiver out of his ear and flicked it a couple of times before putting it back. "Hello?" He whispered.

"Allen?" Rabi's voice rung on the other end. "ALLEN! WHERE ARE YOU! ARE YOU OK? KANDA AND ME HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK! DO I NEED TO COME FIND YOU?"

"Shut up, liar." Kanda's oh-so-friendly voice cut in. "Where the hell are you moyashi? Don't tell me you got lost."

"No!" Allen whispered, trying hard not to shout at Kanda and Rabi's remarks. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. How are you guys?"

"Well, me and Kanda have found out a lot of stuff, but when we compare it doesn't really make any sense…"

"Where are you anyway? We sent you a message to come meet us in front of the plaza a few hours ago… stupid. Didn't you hear it?"

Allen paused. That was probably during his card game with Otis; Allen was so busy concentrating during his game that he probably didn't hear the small buzz over his intense focus.

"Oops. I guess I didn't hear you guys, sorry! But hey, let me meet you guys really quick. In the plaza right? That shouldn't be too far from here. Alright. I'll see you guys in a few minutes."

"Hurry Allen! Kanda's no fun to flirt with" Rabi joked. There was a loud thud on the other end and they were gone. Allen sighed.

He nodded to himself. Allen would give Otis the slip and leave to meet up at the rendezvous point in no time. But just as he opened the door, he found himself face-to-face with none other than his would-be raper. "H-hey!" Allen yelled. He had almost jumped out of his skin. "Jeez, don't do that to me!" He felt his heart going at least a thousand beats per minute, or so it felt.

Otis smiled. "Hey do you wanna go out?"

"Out?" Allen blinked. At this time? "Shouldn't you stay at home... or e-eat dinner?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I eat at work. Anyways, she always offers me things when I get back home." Otis looked down the flight of stairs. "How about it?"

Allen sighed internally. He couldn't have this guy pestering them while the three of them tried to exchange information and sort this thing out!

"I-I uh, dunno. I know I should get going. I've taken advantage of your hospitality for much too long... I'm sure I'll be able to find my way... so you stay here, and I'll go!" Allen tried sneaking his way towards the stairs but Otis' hand landed against the wall right in front of Allen's face.

"Nah, you're lying. It's obvious you aren't gonna go home." Allen withered as Otis read him like a book.

"If you're not going home, then let's go out." Otis cocked his head to the side. "All right?"

"C-curfew!" Allen half-shouted at his last attempt to stop Otis from following him. "I-isn't it past... your curfew?"

Allen could feel Otis' blank stare penetrate his soul. Most definitely Allen knew that Otis was probably older than he was, even Allen didn't have a curfew. Unexpectedly, Otis let out a laugh. "You've got to be kidding me!" He smacked Allen's shoulder. "Come. Let's go!"

The cool night air bit at Allen's miserable face as the two of them walked down the sidewalk. The two had been able to make it out of the house without anyone's notice, and the entire street was empty of people at this hour.

"How about we go to the Plaza?" Otis suggested.

"Plaza?" Allen had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that Otis had heard everything Allen had been saying in the bathroom. "Hmm… how about the park or something?" Allen suggested instead. He couldn't afford to get an outsider involved in his exorcist business.

"Hm. Alright. Which one you wanna go to? Have any idea?" He glanced at Allen sideways. Allen had on a look of utter loss.

"No."

"Don't worry, I know a great place. I'll take you there." Otis grinned.

Allen sighed. This was great, just great. He was supposed to be on a mission and here he was taking a leisurely stroll down a completely random street. Allen's hand itched to pull out the map he had in his pocket, but he restrained himself. That would be too suspicious on his part.

"Hey, you're not from here are you?" Otis chirped up, breaking Allen's thoughts.

"No… I just moved here recently." Allen said off the top of his head. "The people here are very strange."

"Looks like you belong on the outside." Otis pointed out Allen's outrageous apparel. "But on the inside you're still foreign."

Allen chuckled. "Heh, yeah. I guess you could say that…"

"Don't worry. It's all good." Otis looked up at the sky; Allen followed his gaze. Instead of seeing a sky full of bright stars Allen saw an empty void that loomed over their heads.

"For a city without any supernatural problems in it… it sure has its cons." Otis said as they turned onto a populated street. "You can't see the stars because of the city lights for one, and two, everyone here is full of shit." Otis said as a stranger shoved past him without even trying to avoid the collision.

"But the woman at your house, she seemed to care about you." Allen said, being the usually good-natured person he was, he moved as the same stranger walked past him. Not a fiber of them having touched.

"Nah." Otis sighed. "She's just as filthy as the rest of us." He stated simply.

Allen raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"She used to be like you. Someone who didn't know any better…"

Allen sweated. "Oh."

"She really cared about me and was probably the only person who looked out for others before herself." Otis balled his fists up and stuffed them into his pockets. "But one day I messed up. I was about to be punished severely, but she just stood there. She didn't even reach out to help me. She stood there and watched, as I was beat. Little did she know it was a test on her part. They wanted to see if she was really as good as she made herself out to be."

A sad smile spread across his face. "She failed that test."

"What happened?" Allen asked quietly.

"We told her straight out. She failed. She was a scum of the earth like the rest of us. That she should give up her act. You know, stuff like that." Otis shrugged as he tried to keep his voice cool and apathetic. "Of course, she wouldn't come out of her room for a couple of weeks. But when she finally did, she kind of went back to her old self, except this time it was a little more… eccentric."

Otis stopped and bent down, his foot had stopped right next to a flower that had astonishingly managed to crack through the cement and thrive off the sunshine. Just as Allen thought he was about to touch it, Otis' hands hovered over to his shoelaces, as he tried to fix them as an excuse to lean over.

"Hey." Otis said as he retied his shoes. "Sorry to drop that shit on you. Don't mind it okay?" He said, his voice masked with unreal apathy.

Allen gazed down the street, at the handful of people hustling about to their own business. Allen wondered what kind of lives they lived, what they thought, what they desired. To Allen, it seemed as though he was the only one who seemed to have stopped and realized how futile that kind of life was. He turned his attention to Otis. He was now sitting on the border of futility and hope.

"That's not fair." Allen declared, sounding a little selfish.

"W-what?" Otis looked up at Allen. "Selfish?"

"That's not fair." Allen licked his semi-chapped lips. "…to trick someone like that just to point out her flaws, her imperfections. Nobody's perfect. But at least she tried didn't she? She tried to shine through those imperfections, and she tried to make people smile."

Allen's gaze refocused onto Otis as he stood. "Obviously that punishment must've been terrifying enough to freeze her with fear. You may be right about people being conceited. But they're also jealous. To have stooped so low as to frighten someone into such a state, just because they're happier, just because they actually enjoy their lives." Allen could feel the blood rushing through his veins. The situation wasn't fair! It wasn't.

Otis looked into Allen's eyes, point blank. There was silence as Otis thought over Allen's words, the words had truth and conviction behind them, they were sincere and honest, from the very depths of Allen's heart. But something about what he said didn't feel right to Otis.

Otis stared into Allen's pale blue eyes as he tried to break Allen down, like he was usually did to people who rubbed him the wrong way. But this time it didn't work. Allen's will was absolute, his eyes were unwavering.

Otis finally turned around and laughed. "I told you not to mind it didn't it? Jeez, you really are weird."

Allen let out a heavy sigh, he thought the tension would never go away.

"Well, let's get going." Otis said as he led the way. Allen couldn't help but feel comforted. Hopefully, his message reached Otis. He looked back over his shoulder; the flower was still sitting where it had been. He's a gentle guy.

Otis was a good guy.

"Hey!" Otis called to Allen. "Did you know that there are alligators living in the sewers underneath this city?"

"What?" Allen pondered a bit at the random fact that was thrown at him. "You're lying aren't you?"

"Nope, there really are!" Otis smiled evilly over his shoulder. "I can shove you down a manhole if you don't believe me."

"No thanks!" Allen waved his arms, as the thought of the nauseating scent washing over him made him feel a little sick, "I'll pass." he said, turning a little green around the gills.

The rest of the way to their destination, the two of them talked about the most random things, from alligators to pie to architecture, whatever seemed to pass the time.

"Hey, lookie, we're here already!" Otis smiled as the two of them walked into a huge courtyard. A giant fountain stood tall in the middle, waves of water cascading down from the mouths of fish, and vases held in the slender arms of young women. There were old euro-style buildings surrounding the courtyard with a spectrum of different colored lights decorating the square.

"This doesn't look like the park." Allen looked around. There was quite a bit of people here at this hour, all drunks, he would soon discover.

"Yeah, I decided that I wanted to bring you to the plaza instead." Otis grinned from ear-to-ear.

"WHAT!" Allen frantically looked around only a second too late.

"AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEENNN!"

Allen was tackled to the ground with a bone-crunching thud, the cold pavement pressed against his face while he felt about 150 pounds of dead weight on top of him.

"R-rabi…" Allen coughed weakly. "You're crushing me…"

Kanda's boots stopped inches away from Allen's face. Allen looked up at him. "Kanda… Get Rabi offa me!" Allen struggled to push Rabi off, when a sudden nostalgic scent settled into Allen's senses. Master Cross...

"Why do I smell sake?"

Kanda was glaring over at Otis suspiciously, but answered Allen's question with his usual cold tone of voice. "Take a guess genius."

"Allllllllllen I love you..." Rabi nipped at Allen's ear; his breath reeked of the vile liquid.

"Rabi's drunk?"


After Notes:

(1) bête-noir: hatred, if I'm correct... Fancy peoples use fancy words!
Well, you may have noticed that during this chapter I used "Arren" instead of "Allen" … if you're as big of an anime-fan as you think you are, then yes. You know the real leason why… X3
Wow, now I know why I rated this M.. For the language...? Yeah, let me tell you, it'll probably get worse now that Kanda's back in the picture. I've noticed in the manga that whenever Allen and Kanda are in the same panel, they're always cussing to the max. Entertaining!
As for my very late update… I'm sorry! XD I've been so busy with clubs and work and practice and… homecoming was last week... it was totally suckage btw… We lost our football game 14 to 42 TT.TT oh well, it's not like I expected us to win… we never win home games…
Anyway… D.GRAY.ANIME TODAY (oct. 3)! LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE must WATCHWATCHWATCHWATCHWATCH! Now let me go and get some sleep… v—v
And as always Tune In Next Time For More! XD i lurv u guyz!

Edited 8/1/07: Like the last chapter, no Allen POV at the beginning of this chapter. I also tried to fix the somewhat confusing story about Otis and his sister in this chapter. It should make more sense. Heh. Also cleared the whole um, polker cheating thing. Allen didn't lose. They played 25 games. It was a tie up until the last game. Sadly Allen just didn't win. But you know he's still got skillz when it comes to polker though.