Lavi: 'Seriously? First a freezer and now...'
Me: 'No, I won't accept it anymore. You're not going to criticize my work anymore or I'll make it very hard on you in this story, you hear me?'
Lavi: ...
Me: 'Good'
Kanda: *unsheathes Mugen* 'You're really going to far now. I'm going to cut you to pieces for sure now.'
Me: 'No, wait, stop! Please! Allen, save me!'
Allen: *dark mode* 'Kanda, don't be too rough on her, we don't want to kill her, only make her too frightened to continue.'
Me: 'EEHH, why is dark Allen showing up when I need him the most?!'
Lavi: 'Well... You could have expected that when you write something like this.'
Me: 'Lavi, Allen, help me now, or I'll write something really embarassing about you.'
Allen: *wakes up from his dark mode* 'Wait, what?! You can write something more embarassing than this?' *gets pale*
Me: *evil grin* 'Yes... yes, I can.'
Lavi: *sighs* 'Guess we've got no choice.'
Me: 'Great, another chance to write a new chapter.'
Lavi: 'And like that she risks her life again for a simple story. I won't ever understand.'
Me: 'Have fun reading it!'
Allen woke from the scent of food. His stomach growled like a wild animal in reaction to it, urging him to hurry up and gobble it down. He yawned, then opened his eyes and immediately noticed the cart stocked with a huge mountain of delicious looking food. He pushed himself into a sitting position and shivered. His body still felt cold from the inside, but at least he didn't feel numb anymore. Also the blanket felt comfortably warm now, instead of burning hot.
He looked around for a moment, to make sure it was all meant for him and then started stuffing himself like a madman.
When I think about it, he thought to himself while he swallowed a mouthful of meat, I haven't eaten a decent meal for days already.
First he had been on a mission with Kanda in the forest and he had only gotten one little portion of soba, then he had slept for two days due to the poison. When he had finally awoken he had gotten stuck in the freezer and he somehow had the feeling he had slept half a day after that too… That was nearly five days without food!
His belly rumbled as if in answer and he continued feeding it with the mountain of food that was located next to his bed.
When he had finally gotten the feeling he wouldn't starve anymore he continued eating with a relaxed speed so he could at least taste what he put in his mouth. He shot a glance to the bed next to his and noticed Kanda was awake too.
'Wan' some?' he asked with a full mouth, offering the other the leg of a chicken.
'Tssk,' the other exorcist turned his face away. 'Like I would eat crap like that.'
'Well,' Allen continued after swallowing. 'There seems to be some soba standing here. I think they brought it in case you would be hungry too.'
Kanda didn't bother to look back, but he held up his hand to receive his favourite dish.
Allen sniggered because of the obvious reaction and handed him the box of soba and the chopsticks that went with it. 'Have a nice meal.'
Kanda didn't thank him, he just began eating in silence and seemed to think of the white-haired boy as unworthy of his attention.
'Well, you're welcome,' Allen grunted irritated before burying his teeth in a chocolate tart. I hope you'll choke in it, his mind continued.
He only stopped eating when the cart was empty and thought with regret that if he had been in the dining hall he just would have ordered another cart. Now he leaned back against his pillow and pulled the warm blanket tightly around him to warm him a little better. With lack of anything else to do he just stared into the distance after noticing that Kanda had closed his eyes and begun to meditate.
He didn't understand how his roommate could spend hours like this. Just sitting still and doing nothing was boring and made him restless. He wanted to train, to talk with his friends or to make himself useful to the order. This just didn't feel good, like he was wasting the time that was so precious to all of them.
A sudden flash of golden light in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A smile spread among his face as he recognized his little buddy.
'Timcanpy! Long time no see, where have you been?'
The golden ball flew around the boy in excited circles to show how happy he was to see him.
'I'm sorry, Allen, I borrowed him again.' Komui appeared in the doorway. 'I was wondering about a few things and asked Tim to show me some recordings. It took more time than expected.'
Tim landed on Allen's hands who started poking him with his fingers in a friendly manner. 'I'm glad you're back. I missed you.'
The golem shuffled around a bit and then showed him a smile made from tiny, razor sharp teeth.
'How do you feel?' The chief asked while he came in.
'Pretty good.'
Kanda just stayed silent.
'I thought I could better pay you a vi…'
'Chief!' Reever's voice interrupted them. 'There you are! Stop running away from your work. You already knew Allen and Kanda were alright so you didn't need to pay them a visit. Now come with me to do some paperwork.' He grabbed Komui's hand and began pulling him with him.
'Oh no, Reever, you're so mean!' the man whined while he was being taken away from the infirmary. 'You all treat me like a slave!'
Then it was quiet in the room again.
Allen sighed of frustration, as the boring atmosphere had returned. He started to play with his golem again, pulling its cheeks and quickly withdrawing his hands when it tried to nibble his fingers. He chuckled a bit when Tim 'Gaaaah'-ed at him to show its pleasure. At least he wasn't alone with boring Kanda anymore, now he had Tim, who was far better company.
And indeed, Timcanpy would turn out to be the best company in the whole order for some time. Apparently Jerry had told Lavi about the way he had found the nearly frozen exorcists, who had spread a rumour through the whole building that the two who hated each other the most had made up to huddle together in a freezer. And like that especially Allen (Kanda had managed to quell it within a few hours), was teased with it for days.
'Hey, Allen, if you're not too busy, could you help me out a bit?'
Allen turned around to face Reever and smiled. 'Of course, what can I help you with?'
'Could you please take some of those boxes and take them to the storage room with me?'
The boy walked over to a mountain of boxes in the corner of the science department and picked up three of them. He had already been released from the infirmary for days now and was waiting for another exorcist job, but Komui seemed to be a bit extra careful this time to make sure Allen was in ultimate condition again when he got another mission. Kanda had already finished a job as he hadn't been infected with poison of the akuma and he had to admit it had made him slightly envious.
They walked through countless corridors, while Allen had trouble looking where he went as his load was covering most of his sight. A few times other people who were using the same hallways jumped aside just in time, afraid as they were for stuff of the science department. Everyone knew they had some serious chemicals in their possession, and then he hadn't even mentioned the dangerous robots yet. Actually, he was pretty scared of them himself, but he liked the people there and thus helped them out when he could.
It just happened that Kanda came around a corner just at the same time Allen passed it. They hadn't had a slightest clue that the other was coming. They only realised their mistake when it was already too late and they were lying over the floor already, on top of all kinds of science department rubbish that had scattered all over the floor as the boxes had slipped out of Allen's hands.
They both moaned of pain, then Kanda poked Allen in his ribs with his elbows. 'You stupid Moyashi, get off of me.'
The boy groaned again and pushed himself in a sitting position next to Kanda, who glared at him with irritation.
'Just what were you doing, Moyashi? Couldn't you watch where you were going?'
'Well, I should throw that question back at you. I couldn't see anything as three boxes were blocking my sight! You could have tried to avoid me!'
'Tsssk'
Kanda stood up, but somehow he pulled Allen with him. It was only then that they realised their wrists were stuck in something. They looked at it in confusion.
'What's this, Moyashi?'
'How should I know? And it's Allen.' Allen snapped back as he let his eyes travel over the handcuffs that attached them.
'Oh no…' They both turned around when Reever's sighing voice interrupted them. 'Not those…'
Allen's heart sank immediately. They were stuck in something, while they had fallen on science department rubbish and Reever sounded like he was tired of it already, this had to mean it was really, really bad.
'What, what is it?!' He asked with a shrill voice while sweat began running down his face. 'How bad is it?'
Reever sighed again. 'I'm sorry, guys… Those are really old already and I think we lost the keys somewhere, so that's why we wanted to put them in the storage room. They are special handcuffs we once designed. They seek the wrists of the one they have to capture themselves and then stay there until the key is being used. They are really strong, we made them to…' He fell quiet for a while. 'to be able to withstand even innocence…'
Allen felt like all the blood got sucked out of his face. Kanda stayed silent, but everyone could notice how upset he was by the murderous intent that was growing ever stronger from his direction.
'Why do you guys even keep crap like this?! No way I'm going to be stuck to the Moyashi!' He unsheathed Mugen and swung it around threateningly.
'Kanda, stop, you might actually cut of my HAND!' Allen yelled the last word with a high-pitched voice as the sword landed on the chain just a centimeter away from his wrist.
However, it hadn't even made a dent in it.
'Tssk,' Kanda commented while he started slicing it continuingly.
'Kanda, stop, it isn't working, let me try,' Allen said in an attempt to save his arm.
The other exorcist finally stopped and glared at the boy. 'If we can't break it, I'll just cut your arm off. It's all your fault anyway.'
'Don't you even try!' Allen activated Crown Clown and sighed in relief as he realised it could have been worse, as it was only stuck on his right arm now, leaving his innocence free to use. 'Crown edge!' He let his nails meet the chains with force, but as the light faded away they saw that it hadn't even scratched it.
'This is bad…' He whined now. 'How will we get this thing off?'
Suddenly chills ran over his spine and made him look up. There his eyes met a demonic Kanda, set afire with gleaming eyes, drawing Mugen again. 'Lay your arm on the ground, Moyashi.'
'JAAAAHH!' There were moments to fight Kanda, and sometimes you just knew you'd better run for your life, because fighting would be useless... This was such a moment for Allen. He turned around and fled, screaming, while Kanda followed him on a short distance, as they were still stuck to each other. Reever just watched them go with an expression that showed he didn't know what to do anymore.
"Oi, what's all the ruckus over there?' Lavi asked while he came up to Reever and observed the two exorcists that were running through the hallway. 'Why is Yu chasing Allen?'
Reever sighed. 'They got stuck to each other and it seems Kanda plans on cutting Allen's hand off. I must admit I feel sorry for him.'
'Ouch,' Lavi commented. 'Sounds like a real problem to me.'
'Well, there must be some kind of a solution, but I have no idea right now and I don't know how to stop them.'
Lavi grinned. 'I'll do that for you.'
Kanda had somehow trapped Allen between three walls and slowly walked up to him, Mugen shining in his hand. 'Time to say goodbye to your human arm, Moyashi.'
Allen pressed himself against the wall, wishing he was Tyki and he could just disappear in it. 'No, Kanda, please…' But the other made no attempt to back away. 'There must be another solution to this!' Allen cried desperate.
'Oi, Yu, stop that. Let's think of something else to get you free.'
Kanda turned around and faced Lavi with an angry glare. 'I told you not to call me that. Shut up or I'll cut your hand off too.'
Lavi seemed to become a little bit anxious now that the murderous intent seemed to shift to him. 'Come on, cutting hands off will make a big mess. Think of all the blood that will spill and it will only make your workload as an exorcist higher.'
'Tsssk,' Kanda put Mugen away. 'You're safe for now, Moyashi,' he said as he glared to Allen who was still stuck to the wall. 'But if this takes too long I'll still cut it off.'
Then he walked away, pulling the shivering, traumatised boy with him.
'Thanks, Lavi,' Allen whispered. 'You've just saved my arm.'
'You're welcome.' Lavi gave him an reassuring smile. 'That's where friends are for. I know Yu can be a bit unreasonable sometimes.'
They continued their route to the science department, where they hoped someone would be able to fix the situation. Reever followed them with a deep frown embedded in his face as he was probably thinking hard of a solution.
'Hey, guys,' Johnny greeted them with a worried look when they had arrived. 'I heard Allen screaming all the way down here. Are you alright?'
Allen smiled, feeling a bit embarrassed. 'Nothing for you to worry about. Kanda just tried to cut off my arm in an attempt to detach us, but he has already decided not to.' He showed the scientist the handcuffs. 'We're on our way to Komui. Do you have any idea where he is?'
'Oh my,' Johnny immediately pulled Allen's arm closer. 'I think I know those. Let me look at it, maybe I can be of some help.' He started examining it from all sides and then picked up some tools. 'Maybe if I do this…' He tried a lot of things but it all seemed to end up in a failure. Allen and Kanda waited patiently, but in vain.
'I'm sorry,' Johnny concluded with a sigh. 'It seems I can't get these things off, but there's a chance the chief can. He's probably in his room right now.'
Allen sighed. Komui would be their last hope, if he couldn't fix it they might be stuck forever, or he would miss an arm for the rest of his life.
'Well, what are you waiting for, Moyashi, let's go.' Kanda violently pulled him to Komui's office.
'It's Allen,' the boy snapped back when the door was being opened and Komui and Reever came out of it.
'So, what do I hear? You're stuck to each other?' Komui looked at them and then let his eyes rest on the chain that connected them. 'You should be glad that we made these to connect the prisoner to someone else, because otherwise it would have been shorter and you might have needed to hold hands.' He lifted the chain in his hand. 'I think half a meter distance is pretty reasonable given the circumstances.'
'What do you mean, Komui?' Allen asked while fear spread through his body.
'I mean you'll have to stay like this for some time as we have no keys or whatsoever. We'll search for them in the meantime or design something else to solve this.'
'Wait, you can't…!'
'I'm not going to spend my days locked up to a Moyashi!'
Komui smiled anxiously. 'I'm sorry, Allen, Kanda, but there's no other solution. You'll have to deal with it. If you're lucky it'll only last for a few days, if you're not… it might take months.'
They fell silent in horror... Days, MONTHS?! They would never survive this. One of them would be killed by the other in a day already, Allen was pretty sure of that.
'You can go now,' Komui told them. 'You're only standing in the way here. Go do something together. Make sure to get along or to make up fast, I won't allow you to hurt each other.'
They both looked at him with iron faces.
'If you wound one another you'll have to help me to try out my new Komurin.*'
They both grimaced at that and Komui walked past them, continuing the work that kept him busy nights and days.
'Well, where shall we go?' Allen asked uncertainly.
Kanda turned his head to glare at him, apparently not knowing himself too.
'Let's go to the dining hall,' the white-haired exorcist proposed. 'I'm pretty hungry.'
'Tsssk, it isn't even time for lunch yet, stupid Moyashi,' Kanda objected.
'It's Allen! And I don't hear you coming with better ideas here.'
A silence fell again, which took minutes until Reever interrupted it. 'Uhm, guys, could you please go somewhere else? You're really hindering us here.'
'Oh, sure, I'm sorry, Reever,' Allen stepped aside, just at the same time Kanda did to the other direction. The chain was pulled tight and they couldn't move anymore.
'Kanda, come to this side, we're getting in Reever's way,' the boy hissed irritated.
'Why don't you come this way, Moyashi?'
'It's Allen! Just come here already so Reever isn't waiting for us anymore.'
'Uhm, guys, it's fine.' They both turned around to look at Reever who was smiling uncomfortably now. 'Really, you can just keep standing there. We'll just walk around you.' And he passed them in a wide circle.
'See what you did?' Allen asked angrily.
'Tssk, you didn't want to step aside,' Kanda turned around and started walking to the door.
'What?! Now it's all my fault?' Allen followed him. 'You were the one that didn't come over to me!'
They left the science department and made their way to the lounge, as that was neutral territory for both of them.
'Shut up, already, Moyashi,' Kanda spat.
'It's Allen!'
They sat down on a couch, as far apart from each other as possible and both faced the other direction. This would be a long, long day…
*Behind the scenes:
'Have you really made a new Komurin?!' Reever asked fearfully.
Komui smiled. 'No, but this was the only way to keep them from giving me even more work to do.'
