Chapter 7: Flutter

Suggested by Xx-Angel-Sherubii-xX (from DeviantArt)


Rachel would never forget how sweet and kind he really was deep down inside. He was just a boy who loved his mother and would change his whole being if it would make her feel like his father was still there. She learned more about him all in one night, about how he became who he was.

Little did she know that staying with him that night would change her life.


It was a rainy day. The loud crackling of thunder sometimes gave Allen a bit of shock. Today just felt…. Wrong. So many words could describe it and none were happy.

He flipped through his schedule and scanned the pages. His eyes landed on Fall 6th where his only appointment today was with Rachel Harper for 3 PM. From the schedule he looked to the clock. It read exactly 5:45 PM. She was terribly late. He stared out the window and tried to pick out a speck of yellow anywhere. The closest he got to it was the Moondrop flowers that were growing around the town.

He sighed and began to clean up shop. It was biting at him. Something was indeed wrong.

After cleaning up downstairs, he headed to his room. He opened up the dresser and pulled out some clothes to change into. Placing his glasses on the nightstand, he put on his contacts. Then he walked over and stopped at the refrigerator. Opening it, he was met with a chill of cold air. He was about to grab a soda when his eyes lay upon some beautifully wrapped flowers that contained a variety of colors. The day before Phillip had stopped by to drop off the flowers Allen ordered him to get, the flowers she wanted so badly. Phillip left soon after, Allen was glad since he was still a bit unhappy with what happened last time. He did forgive him slightly since he helped unintentionally find a birthday present for Rachel.

Looking at the flowers made him feel odd. They reminded him how Rachel didn't make her appointment today.

'She probably just forgot.' That's what he wanted to tell himself. He knew it was wrong. Allen knew for a fact that Rachel kept a calendar near her kitchen and he could clearly remember the large amounts of red marker scribbles he saw on it the day he was introduced to her in her home. He even remembers her asking him when his birthday was that exact same day so she could write it down. If she writes everything down on that red ink-soaked thing, he was pretty sure that she wrote down her appointments with him.

Pulling out the soda and closing the fridge, he scanned his own calendar. 'Fall 7th: Rachel's birthday.' He eyed his handwriting. Today was Fall 6th. That meant tomorrow her birthday would arrive.

He turned away, the fact that she missed their appointment did not settle right with him. He tried to relax for the rest of the night. Using his laptop he sent a few emails to his little sister who had been pestering him about Rachel after hearing word from Phillip. He avoided the subject, of course.

He pondered what he would do tomorrow after giving Rachel her gift. Tomorrow was his day off. Never did he have really anything to do but hang around Clement's restaurant or go sight-seeing around the area. Sometimes he'd even visit Rachel's farm and pick on her as she worked. Getting snug in bed he decided he would think more of it tomorrow.

The next morning, he prepared himself to go to Rachel's. He decided to leave the flowers at home and give them to her later. Walking out the door, he was greeted with a nice fall breeze. It was still a bit wet from yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, the feeling still lingered. It was the feeling of something wrong. Allen did his best to ignore it. He made his way onto Echo Farm and was greeted by one of Rachel's dogs that he doesn't seem to recall. It was one of the larger dogs that Rod sold at his store. He assumed the dog to be the one Rachel called Chrom. Lowering himself, without getting any dirt onto his pants, he pet Chrom on his head. The dog barked happily at the stylist. Allen smiled, he loved dogs. A speck of blonde hair caught his attention over by the barn. Chrom followed him over to the barn. Allen opened his mouth to speak but froze when he realized it wasn't Rachel.

"Neil, what are you doing here?" The tsundere boy was gathering barn dirt with a pitchfork. Neil turned his head to reveal to Allen an annoyed look.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He said before going back to working. "I'm doing what needs to be done. These animals have been unattended to today." Allen rolled his eyes.

"It's Rachel's job, she should be doing it, not you." Allen leaned against the barn and pushed the rims of his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Taking a peek into the barn he noticed that one of the cows didn't look too well. He then put his attention back on Neil.

'So ungrateful…' He thought. 'If not for her, you would be without a job.' The moment he thought that, he realized he would be in the same situation. Both he and everyone in town would not be here if it weren't for her. Many praised and loved Rachel for all that she had done for them, except him and Neil. He would make note to show more appreciation when time called for it.

"Well it seems like she's not doing her job today. Maybe she thinks just because it's her birthday that she can just have a day off." Allen knew how passionate Neil was about animals. In fact, he never heard the end of it from his energetic best friend.

"She would never do that." Allen said. Neil slowed his movements. "Ever since day one, her animals came first before anything else." Putting the pitchfork back where it belonged in the barn, Neil crossed his arms and looked at Allen.

"You've got a point." Neil walked into the barn, Allen followed. Grabbing the Animal Logbook that was placed on top of the wooden box, Neil checked the animals. Allen watched, he wasn't really interested in the animals. They had checked every animal except one. It was the cow Allen noticed earlier.

"You notice it, don't you?" Neil asked. He could tell by the way Allen stared at the cow. "Something is making her upset."

"But what is it exactly?" They took notice of how the cow refused to eat the fodder that was in her trough. Neil lowered to the cow's height and gently brushed the cow in an attempt to put her at ease. "I'm pretty sure we aren't the ones making her feel this way."

"If she keeps acting like this she'll end up being sick." Neil's mood dropped as he said that. He hated thinking about the death of animals. Allen eyed the logbook Neil was holding, having a guess as to what was going on.

"May I see that for a second?" He gestured towards the logbook and the animal dealer handed it to him. Scanning the names he found two of them that he recalled. "This is Masqurade." Once he said that, Neil's eyes widened.

"Oh goddess, where's Luna?!" He had nearly forgotten that Masqurade had recently had a baby. It was a wild baby calf that caused an embarrassing incident between him and Rachel. Allen and Neil searched around the barn, then the chicken coop, and then the rest of the farm. Neil banged his fist against the door while Allen took a peak into the windows. "Open up!" Neil shouted.

"She's not in there. All the lights are off and she's clearly not sleeping, if she was she would've heard your loud screaming." The stylist wished he had earplugs at the moment to prevent himself from becoming deaf from Neil's shouts. Stopping his attempts to get in, Neil backed away from the door and looked at Allen, eyes questioning him as of what to do next. "Well at least now we know why we haven't seen her."

"If she's missing it most definitely involves Luna."

"Hmm…" Allen pondered. He knew she couldn't have gone far. Without a doubt she was missing because of the baby cow and that calf can't get far as young as it is. "Neil, get Rod and search near the mines." Neil nodded.

"What will you do?" Allen smirked.

"I'm going to work my magic with dogs." The blonde male hesitated a second before heading off to fetch Rod. Allen whistled for the black-haired dog. Chrom came running at a fast pace and nearly tackled Allen. "Hey boy, want to be a knight in shining armor like myself and save a princess?" The dog barked in response. "I knew you would, now can you help me find your clumsy, but lovely owner?" With one last bark the dog sniffed out his master's scent and Allen followed in suit. By the time they were on the bridge in the river area they finally found her. Chrom barked in the direction where different color tree stumps were rooted to the ground. The stylist looked and his breath escaped him.

"Rachel!" He shouted making his way towards the area where two Harvest Sprites were said to be spotted. Rachel had half her body in the river and the rest keeping herself from being washed away, she was knocked out cold. She had seemed to have lost her cow-pattern cowgirl hat. Her clothes were also ripped in some places. Overall she was a mess. Chrom ran over and licked one of her hands. The red-headed man completely pulled Rachel out from the river. Allen got down on his knees, never before had he been in this situation. Inside he was panicking but it barely showed on the outside. The dog whimpered when she refused to open her eyes. He did what he normally saw on TV dramas and felt for a pulse, he relaxed when he felt hers. She was still alive at least, that was something to be thankful for.

He gathered Rachel into his arms and rushed to get help, the dog following him.

Rachel awoke to see herself not in her own room. She was confused as to why she wasn't in her own house. Thinking as to why she was in somebody else's house was not an easy task when she could barely remember anything. She licked her lips.

"Thirsty…" She mumbled. Slipping out from under the royal blue covers she walked over to the fridge and opened it. As soon as she opened it she noticed some beautiful flowers. She brought them out and examined them up close. They had the most vibrant colors she had ever seen in a bouquet; she loved it so much she wished it was hers.

"I see Sleeping Beauty is finally awake." She was startled by a familiar voice. It was Allen and he looked quite restless. She now knew why she hadn't recognized where she was; it was because she had never been in the upstairs part of the salon after it was furnished. Allen noticed her holding the bouquet. "That was for you, you know." Rachel blushed.

"For me?"

"Yes, for your birthday. But since you were missing the entire day yesterday, I can't give it to you anymore since it isn't your birthday." Allen teased. Rachel pouted. "Don't worry, I'm kidding." He received a pair of sapphire eyes giving him a glare. "Um, I think I deserve a thank you. If not, all Phillip's hard work will have gone to waste to get this here in time." Her expression softened, she remembered when she asked Phillip for him to bring her a bouquet of flowers from Bluebell.

"Thank you, Allen." She smiled softly.

"No problem," Allen then guided her back to his bed. "You should rest more, Dr. Klaus said you shouldn't be up and moving until tomorrow." Rachel thought about how tired the stylist appeared to be. She knew why, too. He was being a gentleman. He was sleeping on the couch downstairs, leaving the bed for herself. She felt guilty thinking about it.

"No Allen, you need sleep more than me." She stared deep into his blue eyes; she gave him a worried look. It seemed as if Allen could pass out any second.

"I'm wide awake, I do all-nighters every once in a while. This doesn't bother me." Rachel crossed her arms.

"Bull crap!" Allen was slightly taken aback. She took a deep breath, a pink hue spreading across her cheeks for what she's about to say. "Look Allen, I don't mind sharing the bed if it's what it takes to get you to sleep." Allen opened his mouth to refuse her offer, but she interrupted him. "If you say no, I refuse to rest." Allen groaned, his fingers pressing against his temple.

"Fine,"

Rachel hopped in bed and faced the wall as Allen changed into some comfortable clothes. She knew he was done when she felt movement come from the opposite side of the bed. She heard a sigh come from him.

"Allen, is Luna okay?" She recalled the calf escaping during the thunderstorm, the reason why she's stuck with Allen in the same bed. He remained silent; he didn't know what to say. He didn't want to lie to her or want to tell her the truth when he already knew both would hurt her. "Is Luna alright?" She asked him again, he could hear a bit of worry in her voice.

"She wasn't anywhere to be found when I got there." He took the difficult path and told her the truth. A second later he heard a few sniffles come from behind him. He turned onto his side where he saw her back facing him.

"I found her by the waterfall in the mountain area." Her voice cracked as she spoke. All Allen felt like he was permitted to do was to listen as she spilled out what was on her mind; he wasn't good at things like this, times like this reminded him of the times when he lived with his younger sister and mother, not to forget his absent father. It reminded him of the times he failed to protect his little sister, she would sob into his pillow while hopelessly watched, mentally beating him up for letting this happen to her. "Luna was dangerously close to the edge of the river. I startled her when I tried to get her away from there and in the end it back fired. She wailed as the harsh current from the waterfall pushed her away. I panicked and jumped into the water on instinct." She turned onto her other side to find Allen staring at her with a gaze she had never seen him give. He felt as if he was partly to blame for not keeping an eye out for the calf as he whisked Rachel to Dr. Klaus' home. The calf is probably dead just because he cared more about saving one of his favorite customers. But could you really blame him for all that she's done for him? "I thought…" She hiccupped as even more tears flowed down her cheeks. "I thought I had saved her…" She felt herself being pulled into an embrace and his hand cup her cheek causing her eyes shot wide open. He gave her one of his infamous smirks and said:

"Crying only makes you prettier, you know?" Rachel knew he was trying to cheer her up, and part of it worked. She smiled weakly at Allen.

"You're back to teasing me again, aren't you?" She didn't really expect Allen to give her an answer she wanted to hear, he never had this happen to him. His embrace made her feel warm and at ease.

"If that's what you'd like to believe it to be, so be it." He mumbled, releasing her from his arms. She felt a bit upset when she felt his warmth leave her. He was trying to overcome the depressing mood that lingered amongst them, mainly Rachel. He thought of anything that could possibly take her mind off the missing calf. Then an idea hit him.

"Are you still curious about my father?" Allen didn't necessarily like this topic. But if it would help Rachel then he would grin and bear it. The blonde gave him a questioning look as if to say: "Are you sure?" He nodded. He was unsure of where to begin. His father was very unique character; well that was how his mother described him.

"You've probably assumed my father was deceased. That's not the case. My father is a thief." Rachel couldn't hide how shocked she was. Her stylist was the son of a criminal, that's definitely not something someone should go advertising. "My father was always on the run and was barely there for us. He had a big influence on me, which is why not many like me."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I act the way I do because of him. I imitated him."

"Why? Don't you always say to be yourself instead of trying to look like someone you're not?" He nodded.

"This is exactly why." His eyes saddened. "I used to be a whole different person. I used to be quiet, shy. Nobody really noticed me besides Rod. At that time I never knew about what my father did at nightfall." This all seemed so unbelievable to Rachel, but she knew he never lied unless it was necessary. He also said it was not in his policy to lie to a woman, or in this case, his father's policy. "I didn't learn about what my father did for a living until I was eight years old. That's when I changed."

"My father would usually make it home pretty late every time he went out. But mother and I noticed that the time length of his nights out grew each time. Mom had become very lonely and at the time she was pregnant with Lillian. Mom missed dad dearly, she would cry herself to sleep when he failed to come back home that night. It got even worse when dad could barely stay more than a minute before he was on the run again. Each day we saw him less and less. My mom got by on letters he would send her when he had the chance." Rachel admired his mother's strength, raising two kids on her own… she couldn't even begin to imagine.

"I was about to go to sleep one night when my father came home. I was the only one awake and that was how he wanted it to be. He asked me to do a big favor for him."

"What was it?" Rachel asked.

"Make mother feel comfortable by creating a presence similar to his." The blonde was slightly confused. Allen noticed and defined what he meant. "He asked me to create a new personality similar to his. I was the only one who could pull it off; I am his only son after all."

"I gave up being quiet and shy, my old self made her feel lonely when father wasn't around. I sacrificed so much just to make mom feel comfortable in her own home. Friends hated how quickly I changed overnight and left me, but I didn't care." Everyone hated him just because he hated seeing his mother lonely. It made her sad thinking about it. "Rod was the only friend who stayed. He was the only one who understood without me even telling him."

"From the beginning, I said I would go back to being who I was before once Lillian was born and a bit more grown or if father ever returned. A few years after Lillian was born, I decided it was due time to change back to my old self. It was easier said than done. My new reputation kept a high expectation from me; I had received college applications interested in my passion and the character I played as. They weren't interested in the regular old me. But because of that, I learned to love this imitation of father." Rachel waited for him to continue, but he never did.

"That's it?" Allen nodded.

"That's it." Rachel was still a bit shocked about this whole two personality thing, but found it sweet that he would try to make his mother feel more at ease. She yawned, the alarm clock on the nightstand beside the bed revealed that it was almost midnight. When she looked back at Allen, his back was facing her. She sighed and closed her eyes. Sleep eventually had taken her.

The next morning, she felt her face being licked.

"Chrom… stop…" She turned over in an attempt to stop her cheek from being further licked. However it continued. She opened her eyes ready to tackle the dog, but instead nearly cried for joy when she saw Allen holding Luna. Standing next to him was Rod and Neil. "Luna!" Allen smiled and handed the calf to her. "Oh baby girl, I was so worried about you!" The cow nearly suffocated from her tight embrace. "Where in the world did you find her?" She asked the trio.

"We found her in the mine sleeping like a baby!" Rod grinned widely, and gave her a thumbs up. "She had a few scratches, but Neil was able to patch them up quickly before they got infected." Neil blushed a bit when he found himself and Rod being pulled into her embrace.

"Thank you so much! Words cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am!" Tears threatening to fall from her eyes, she felt so happy.

"Oh goddess, please don't cry." Neil mumbled, he said it in his usual annoyed tone. Rachel chuckled.

"Heh, sorry… I'm just so happy to have Luna safe."

When Rod and Neil left, Rachel and Allen were alone once again. Allen decided to be the gentleman he is and escorted her back home. They stopped at her doorstep, not before putting Luna back into the barn with her mother. Rachel felt her cheeks flush when Allen handed her the flowers.

"Thank you for all that you've done Allen. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"Well you could give the knight in shining armor a kiss." He said jokingly. Rachel leaned up as high as she could on her tip toes and kissed Allen's cheek. He refused to let the pink in his cheeks rise. "I was just kidding, you know." Rachel chuckled.

"Yeah, I know." Rachel felt her heart flutter slightly.


A/N: Woot! Long chapter! Almost 4,000 words long. I don't know if I really like it though. As long as you guys like it though, I like it. This suggestion is sort of combined with a little idea I had about Allen not being who he appears to be.

I'm most likely going to change that part involving past Allen later on. I'm sick at the moment and I'm half awake. I don't like how it turned out and just seems... like it doesn't fit well. I'll just switch a few words later.

Guess what my friend Purilliana (she's my Neil-chan!) is doing. She's making her own version of this series but instead involving Neil x Rio. It's going to be called: "Trips to the Animal Sanctuary". I love her so much.

She was begging me earlier to let her have a sneak peek at this chapter since I was so proud of myself for actually making a long chapter for this series. She's my little inspiration. xD

Feel free to leave suggestions for stories for either Rachel or Allen to tell! You may see your name in the next chapter or future ones!