I don't have much to say to be honest.

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-JD

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'It explains so much…I didn't want to think of it this way, but it really does explain so much.'

Lavi sat in the chair to the filled desk in the bedroom, Allen fast asleep in his bed as he stared at the book in his hand, not really reading it.

The redhead had tried to ignore some of the more blatant signs: the clothes he first wore, his caution toward men, his open behavior toward Lenalee, his quick bond to him despite being heavily guarded, the way he would look expectantly toward things, already visualizing scenarios that wouldn't actually happen… And when he thought about it, those scenarios were just as ridiculous as the kinds of things he'd read in dirty books.

But perhaps they weren't so ridiculous to him, and that made everything that much worse.

He'd seen the kinds of slavery children were forced in to. This wasn't something new, even if it was unnatural and disgusting. Despite his best efforts, he would feel for those children who he saw as he passed by, knowing their plight. It was completely different knowing such a child personally, and even more personal when it was a friend.

...Yeah, the Order grew on him, Allen along with the rest of them. As long as Bookman didn't know, he figured he could be fine.

He sighed listlessly, thinking about the sleepy yet expectant look Allen had given him after he'd settled under the covers. He clenched his teeth, trying to not outright hiss since the boy was finally getting some good rest.

Before he could mull over it too much more, a silent knock graced the door, and he knew who it was immediately. He stood to his feet and walked over, his usually boisterous and loud self unnaturally muted. He creaked the door open lightly, confirming his suspicion that Bookman was there, and if the older man was knocking, then he must know that Allen was in the room, too.

The elder man backed away from the door, letting the redhead slip out, shutting the door silently behind him. Bookman started first.

"I presume Mr. Walker is inside for now."

"Yeah. I haven't told him he has his own room yet. I will soon, though…"

"But?"

"…I'm not sure how well he'll take to sleeping alone. I can't tell if that would be a trigger or not yet."

The man hummed in understanding, "The chief tells me that Head Nurse assigned you to take care of him until Link returns."

He nodded, "I'm in charge of his eating habits and pills."

"Pills?"

"He's anemic, dehydrated, too short to grow as tall as he does, and underweight. He's not on a lot, but he has to take some vitamins twice a day, during some meal."

"I see. Do you know anything else? I presume you've seen the mark already."

"…Yeah. Komui told you?"

The man nodded.

"…Well, the only thing I can think is that there's certain things that might get him to remember his…future. His memory is also kind of mixed up. For example, he remembers who Cross is, but doesn't remember his name. He knew my name, but didn't know who I was. Some other things were completely new to him, like Hevlaska," he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him.

"…D'ya know 'bout tha' giant woman here?" Allen asked, having finished brushing his teeth.

"Hmm? Yeah, Hevlaska."

The boy gave him a rather betrayed look, "Ya didn' think t'warn me?"

Lavi laughed, "Sorry, sorry."

Lavi shrugged with a small smile, the memory one of the better things of the day, "As it is, I'll try to jog his memory. The more familiar things he's around, the faster it'll be, probably."

Bookman nodded, "Perhaps."

"Did you need to come sleep or something? He's in my bed, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"No, I simply came to check on his progress. I have a few other things to attend to," he replied, turning away from the young man, "Considering his vulnerable state, it's best to be careful with what you do or say. As you feared, there are certain triggers that could set him off."

"Yeah, gotcha."

Allen woke up from his nap two hours later.

He didn't wake up slowly or anything. Rather, he just sort of blinked and he was suddenly conscious. That's usually how his sleep went, though. He'd be gone, then he'd be back, unless it was one of those rare nights where he dreamed.

He sat up in the bed slowly, stretching and yawning silently. Slightly bleary eyes searched the room until he noticed the form slumped over in the desk chair.

'Ah, Lavi.'

Lavi's body was flopped over his desk, though not so haphazardly that he suddenly conked out, his head buried in one of the many books there. He shifted just a tad in his sleep, sucking up the bit of saliva that was fixing the hit the page. Perhaps it was just intuition to know that would be a bad idea.

Allen frowned, looking just as confused as he was put-off. He'd sort of expected the guy to try to touch him at least once, but he didn't make any move for it. After all, there wasn't really any particular reason for him to be nice to him otherwise. Even so, they went an entire few hours and he didn't make a single move toward him.

Heck, he even showed the guy his mark to see what his reaction would be, if he would know what it was. It seemed as if he recognized it from somewhere, but if anything, the mark pushed the redhead away further. He hummed lowly.

Usually a person would attribute that fact to the young man being a member of the church, but Allen knew better than that. He'd never heard of the Black Order, but perhaps the people here were particularly dedicated to their beliefs. That was something he could appreciate, he supposed. Especially since they were being so nice to him even though he hadn't really done anything to deserve it.

Silently, he slid out of the bed, making sure that he didn't let it creak. When Lavi didn't shift, he looked around for the bag that the young man had brought back with them, finding it sitting on a small table in the room on top of a few more papers and books.

'Wha'd'ya need all this stuff for, anyway?' he wondered, digging into the bag quietly to pick out an apple. He wiped his sleeve on it before he bit into it, surprised by how loud it was. Lavi shifted a little, but otherwise didn't seem to wake up.

'I bett'r eat somewhere else…' he dug into the bag again, taking out two more of the apples that the redhead had gotten for him, holding them in the front of his shirt like a small sack, before he tiptoed his way across the maze of papers strewn across the floor. He glanced at a few of the papers as he passed them, and they were all full of paragraphs in different languages. His eyes widened as he noticed that many of the papers weren't even in the same language.

'What's all this even for?' he frowned over to the slumbering redhead.

Perhaps he could ask at another time. He wouldn't disturb the guy from his rest, especially considering the monsters…ah, AKUMA he'd faced just a few hours before. Allen tip-toed the rest of the way to the door before he bit deeply into the apple he was eating from so he could hold it there. With one hand, he supported his small haul, the other reaching for and turning the doorknob. It didn't click or anything, meaning it hadn't been locked from the inside—good, since he wouldn't be able to lock it back if it had been.

The light from the hallway slipped into the room as he opened the door, so he made sure to keep it as narrow as possible as he peered out. He didn't see anyone there, so he slid the rest of the way out, silently shutting the door behind him, leaving Lavi in the darkness of the room to rest.

Allen stood right before the door, taking the apple out of his mouth so he could wipe the juice that ran down his chin off with his sleeve. There wasn't much there, but he'd still been surprised with just how ripe and delicious the fruit was. In fact, all of the food in the place was delicious, and the boy just couldn't quite fathom how they did it.

'…I guess I c'n probably look 'round f'r a bit.'

He bit into his apple again as he decided to start out by going left.

"Marie! Kanda!" Krory called, greeting the two exorcists where they stood.

Marie turned his way, even if his eyes never met his own, and Kanda glared at him as always. Originally, he'd been scared of the exorcist, but the young man wasn't so bad. Just…callous. And irritable. But whenever he'd had enough AKUMA blood, he found his company quite enjoyable, even if it was only to fight with him.

"Hello Krory. Do you need something?" Marie asked, smiling.

"Ah, well, not really I suppose," he replied, fiddling with his fingers under the Japanese man's harsh gaze, "I just wanted to say hello. Though…"

"What."

Krory startled for a second, "Ah, uh, I was looking for Allen, actually. I heard that he and Lavi had returned from their mission, but I haven't been able to find him anywhere."

"…Have you checked the cafeteria?" Marie looked a little like he was holding back a laugh.

Krory smiled guiltily in reply, though it was left unseen, "Yes, I checked there before I looked any place else," his tone turned to concern, "but he wasn't there. I even went by his room, but no one replied."

"Tch," Kanda glared off to the side, "the moyashi's probably lost somewhere. You'll knock into 'im eventually."

Then, someone actually knocked into him.

Whoever it was wasn't really tall enough to be noticed early on, and they barely made him budge, his body moving forward just a tad. They, instead, backed away just as quickly as they knocked into him. He opened his mouth to berate whoever it was, though in the back of his mind, he was trying to think if he knew someone as short as the clumsy ditz that couldn't watch where they were going.

"Ah, 'm s'rry miss."

He felt his eye twitch, a vein just beginning to bulge a little at his temple.

He didn't bother wondering why some short-stack was in the Order, knowing that Timothy was still off on his own mission and that Allen wasn't that short. He didn't bother trying to decipher the meaning behind the heavily British accent. He didn't bother asking why Krory was suddenly looking shell-shocked, Marie's face twisted in light confusion. He didn't bother with any of it.

Instead he turned to the short person, glaring down at the idiot.

"Are you daft or something?" he growled, "Watch where you're going."

He did lighten his glare a tad at the surprise that washed over him, though.

Allen looked just as surprised to see him, the suddenly shorter boy's eyes opening wider as he got a good look at Kanda's face and build. Kanda would've thought the shorty to be some random shit from the Order, but the white hair, scar, and…bandaged left hand was a giveaway. The boy stared up at him, holding a chewed-on apple close to his slightly open mouth, though the hand dropped away.

He backed away more, almost backing into the wall of the hallway, worry coming onto his face.

"Oh, uhm…'m sorry, sir. I jus' saw yer hair an'…"

Kanda could feel a headache coming on, "…Moyashi?"

The boy's concern became mixed with confusion, "…Wha'z a…moyashi?"

"A-Allen? Is that you?" Krory asked, eyes wide as he stared at the boy.

His expression turned exasperated, though still worried, "Uh, yeah. Wha's got ya so shocked? Who're you?"

Kanda growled, opening his mouth to call the idiot out on his game, but Marie placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. Right after, Marie smiled down vaguely in Allen's direction.

"I'm Noise Marie. This is Kanda and the man here is Krory. We're all exorcists here."

The boy nodded, though he stopped when he noticed Marie's unseeing eyes, "Ah, yea, I figured that when I saw what yer wearin' n'all…sir," his eyes strayed lightly over to Krory, "As ya seem t'already know, 'm Allen."

Marie nodded, "It's nice to meet you. We're you looking for something?"

Allen responded a tad cautiously, "Yeah, 'm lookin' fer somethin' t'do. Lavi's sleep, so I can't get'im to take me 'round."

Krory blinked, 'Lavi? So he was with Lavi then…'

"Well, I'm free for now, if you don't mind my company."

Allen seemed a tad put-off at the notion, but he smiled lightly anyway, "I don' mind a-t'all, sir."

Kanda could feel himself getting irritated, "Oi, you don't seem too sure about that."

Rather than starting to fuss a bit, like Allen would usually do, he seemed to get even more nervous, his smile turning brighter, "No, sir. I'm grateful fer ya company. Uhmm…" he trailed off, looking away from his face, "Where…were ya lookin' t'go?"

Marie frowned just the slightest, "Well, wherever you saw fit."

Allen seemed more surprised by that fact than strictly necessary. He waited for a moment, almost like he was waiting for Marie to take back what he said. When he didn't, the boy actually started sweating a little. Marie held back his inquisitive frown, but Kanda didn't hold back his growing glare in the least, and Krory looked on nervously between the two usual rivals.

"Oh…uhmm…I-uhh…I…don't really know this place much. 'M good with whatever ya want, sir."

Kanda scowled, not sure what was going on, but he didn't care to find out. If the idiot wanted to be coy or whatever, then he could do that on his own time. Even so, he seemed strangely honest with…most of the things he was saying, and his body language didn't betray his true feelings.

The boy was nervous around them for some reason.

It wouldn't bother him though, and he turned away, "I'm going to the training room. Come, or whatever."

"T…raining room?"

Kanda huffed, "Where you spar and shit to fight against AKUMA. Are you coming or not?"

Only then did Allen step away from the wall, almost tripping himself up to follow the Japanese young man, holding his apples carefully in his shirt, "Yessir, I'm comin'."

Kanda's eye twitched lightly, but said nothing about the constant "sirs" spilling from the boy's mouth. Marie and Krory were just as confused about the situation as the others, but they followed silently, the small group heading for the training room.

It was a strange sight to Krory, watching Allen try to keep in step with Kanda, though he always made sure to be behind him. The apple he'd been eating before was completely forgotten as he held it among the other ones in his shirt, too focused on following the temporary leader. It was just…too strange considering their usual contact. The man leaned over toward Marie, whispering under his breath lowly, knowing that the blind man would hear him.

"Is Allen okay?"

"…He seems to be. His heartbeat was fast before, but it's much faster now."

"Yeah…I mean, why is he calling us sir?"

Marie frowned a little, "I'm not completely sure, but…his heartbeat was steady when he asked us who we were and told us that he doesn't know his way around the Order well. His heartbeat sped up the more nervous he got, especially when Kanda mentioned the training room. He…earnestly didn't know us, and it's likely he thinks he's meeting us for the first time."

"What?" he asked a little louder, though his lowered his voice quickly, eyeing the white haired boy.

"I'm not sure myself what's happening, but…perhaps Allen has lost his memory along with whatever happened to him."

"Oh..." Krory felt sorry for the boy, "I bet this is the science division's doing…can we do anything to help?"

Marie sighed, "I presume there's a way to help, but I'm not sure of it yet. Lavi must know more about what's happened."

Krory nodded understandingly.

It was just…so weird to see such a small Allen. Well, not really, actually. When he'd seen Kanda and Lavi when they were small, he simply recognized them as his friends. What really made the situation odd was Allen's behavior toward them.

Before, he'd had a kind air about him. He spoke respectfully to everyone—well, almost everyone, and he could be commandeering when the occasion called for it. Instead, the Allen he saw now was doing his best to follow and not offend. It was like he was looking at a small child, someone who wasn't the boy who made him see the light and become an exorcist rather than die a lonely death.

Krory pursed his lips. Allen was obviously in some sort of trouble, so he'd help him out any way he could. He supposed he could at least try to ease the boy's nervousness.

"Allen?" he called out, the boy jolting slightly before he turned to him, "how are you doing so far?"

Allen's expression turned confused as he slowed down a bit, trying to let Krory and Marie catch up more.

"Oh, ah, I mean…since you're new and all. How is the Order?" he smiled.

"Mmh…it's big, sir. There's a'lotta people, that's fer sure."

Krory laughed lightheartedly, "Yeah, it is. I've been lost once or twice here."

"Lost?"

He nodded, "Once, I couldn't find my room after I got back from a mission. That was a while ago though, and I wasn't accustomed to the building yet. The second time was…hmmm…" he placed a hand on his chin, "When was the second time?"

Allen didn't say anything, watching the man as he ran through his memories. It was a bit daunting, having those blue eyes stare at him as he tried to think. He laughed a tad nervously, waving the idea off.

"Oh well, I'll remember it another time."

"Oh…okay…" the boy seemed to think for a moment, "Uhm…d'ya got a weapon? Y'know…t'kill those mon—ah, AKUMA?"

"Hmm? Well, yes," he grinned proudly, "I'm an exorcist, after all."

He hummed, "…Uhm…what…kinda weapon iz'it? I know Lavi's got a hammer," he rose his arm, "and I've got this arm."

"Actually, my weapon is my teeth."

Allen stopped altogether, staring wide-eyed at the man. Krory laughed at his reaction, noticing that it wasn't fearful, just surprised. The white haired exorcist remembered to keep moving once Krory actually passed him. He sped up enough to walk between Marie and Krory, the two smiling down at the child.

"It's…it's yer teeth? How'd'ya do that?"

The boy seemed to have eased a bit, talking with him more casually than even moments before.

Krory grinned, happy that his teeth could be used for something good outside of fighting AKUMA.