I am sooooooo sorry it's taken so long to update! Writer's block mixed with school work and a fic is a bitch. XP
I'm sorry that the chapter isn't all that long either, but I hope you still enjoy!
Research
After I had finished the seemingly best meal I've had in forever, Lavi drug me to the library to go try and figure out what had plagued me for the past few days. Why he decided to bring me, I have no idea. I'm really not good at researching things. I sat at one of the many empty tables while Lavi went around collecting every book he thought would be relevant and stacked them on the flat surface.
"Okay Allen, tell me everything you felt, all the details about your sickness and don't leave anything out, not even the dreams!"
"Ah well you were there most of the time so you pretty much know about what happened… I was sweaty, but really cold and my head was on fire, my stomach felt like a blender most of the time and I couldn't get comfortable…" Lavi nodded, writing down everything I said in a notebook including additional information that he had gotten from the nurse's records such as the separate times my temperature had been taken, when and what I was fed, & each time I threw up. I never knew that she had to keep such thorough records.
"What about the dreams you had? Whenever you were asleep you were thrashing about like you were having a nightmare."
"Do I have to? It's not something I want to relive…"
"I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important. And don't leave anything out." Sighing, I explained it all. Mana, the circus, Master Cross, the faces, even Kanda.
"It was strange… When I thought he was dead I just felt so… empty. We don't usually get along, but I don't know… When I woke up and he was alive I was just so relieved…" I folded my arms on the table and rested my head. But why? I know that in the dream Master said that it's because I supposedly love him, and I admit that for a little while I believed that, but why? Maybe I really do? I honestly don't know anymore… Lavi is awfully quiet… I looked over to the redhead and saw that he was staring at me, looking somewhat confused. "What? You told me to tell you everything."
"Well, with that information I can rule a few things out, but this might take some time still…" He moved some of the books out of the way and opened one in front of him, "Your symptoms are easy to locate in several places, but your dream is kind of unique…" Scratching his head, Lavi began skimming the pages of the book before him.
"Also, after I took a bath, Kanda started acting kind of weird…"
"What do you mean by that?"
"He kept dodging my questions… Komui said something kind of unsettling and told me to talk to Kanda about it, but he kept on trying to avoid whatever it was that he's supposed to tell me."
"Ehhh? Maybe Yuu chan has a little crush on you~" Lavi teased. Sighing I buried my head in my arms, suddenly becoming drowsy.
"Who knows."
"You alright Allen?"
"I'm fine, just a little tired. Do you still need me here?"
"It would help if you stayed. Just in case I have any more questions that could help my search. If you're tired though I'd understand if you want to go to your room for a while." Nodding I got up from the table. You know where I'll be if you need anything." Leaving Lavi behind I made my way out of the library down the hall to my dorm. On my way to the dorms I ran into Professor Tiedoll.
"Allen! How are you doing my boy?"
"I'm kinda tired so I'm going back to my room. Lavi is hard at work in the library trying to figure out what happened. I don't see why though, I'm feeling better and I'm not sick anymore."
"I'm sure he's just looking out for you. It's good to see that you have such a loyal friend who cares so much."
"Yeah, I just don't want him wracking his head over it too much. You should see the stack of books he's going through. It's ridiculous."
"I'm sure he knows what he's doing." Tiedoll patted me on the shoulder and smiled; "In the mean time, you should go get some rest." I nodded and thanked him before I started for my living quarters once again. Once I finally got there I locked the door behind me and went straight to my bed and was fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
There was a bluish green haze and I found myself looking around a familiar place. It wasn't the circus, it was more like a soothing place. It's familiar but why can't I figure this out?! I began walking forward somehow, as if someone else was controlling my body. Then I got to the edge of the water and instead of my own reflection I saw Kanda's irritated face. EH?! Why would I dream about being Kanda?! Again I wasn't in control of the body as Kanda began muttering to himself;
"Human. It had to be a fucking human. This is what I get for living around them, I should have killed those stupid humans ages ago when it was only a few of them!" huh? Before I knew it we were submerged under the water and I could somehow feel Kanda calming down some and I suddenly remembered this place. This is Kanda's secret cave. But, why am I here? After what seemed like several minutes kanda swam back up to the surface, but when we looked back into the water, I didn't see Kanda's reflection anymore. The face staring back at me was terrifying yet beautiful at the same time. It was like no dragon that I had seen Master Cross slay. At this point I knew for sure I was dreaming, as if being in Kanda's body wasn't weird enough in the first place. Might as well go with it I suppose … This is turning out to be rather interesting… It may be weird, but I like this more than Maser whipping me … The dragon then moved it's talon across the water in front of us, allowing the image of another dragon to appear. This one seemed older, it's scales pure white rather than the deep blue of the first one. Then the blue dragon spoke, using Kanda's gruff, irritated voice.
"What do you want now old man? I was trying to relax you know." Did jerry slip something into my food?! Is that what's going on? The older dragon looked right back at us with a face that looked rather… I don't know, kind? For a dragon anyways I guess.
"Yuu chan, that's no way to talk to your elders, especially when I'm trying to help you."
"You haven't done anything useful yet."
"Oh? So this human you supposedly imprinted on was perfectly fine when you got back? Was it not necessary for you to go back to that school so early?" One of the blue dragon's eyes twitched "I take it the expression on your face says otherwise. I'm only trying to help. If you think any of the other elders would help you with this dilemma of yours, you're mistaken. Anyone else would have made you stay and that human would have surely died. May I remind you that it's a terrible way to go, dragon or not."
"Che, leave me alone. He's fine now, so I don't need your help anymore."
"I beg to differ."
"Why do you even care? What makes you different from everyone else Mana!?" he growled.
"Given the circumstances and the great deal of stress you must be under I'll ignore that blatant disregard of respect."
"..." Dragon Kanda didn't seem to like having rank pulled on him if that scowl was anything to go by.
"I care because I don't want this to affect you too. Imprinting is a powerful thing. If he dies, don't think you won't come away unscathed as well. You may not die, but the scars will be there."
"You're speaking from experience?" the skepticism was practically oozing from Kanda dragon's words.
"I have had my share of human interaction. I haven't imprinted on any humans if that's what you're insinuating. But I have had to leave humans that I have cared about because of our laws. Trust me. It hurts even if it's not binding, I can't imagine the pain if it were."
"Oh yeah?" Kanda seemed to be, if only slightly, interested in what the elder had to say.
"You sure you want to know Yuu? I wouldn't want to bore you with my scars."
"I really could care less whether you told me or not."
"A story for another time then. My little Allen, I miss him so much." This got both our attentions. How weird is this dream going to get!? "He was just the most adorable little boy~"
After a moment of being surprised, Kanda gave a smirk;
"I had no idea you liked to creep on little human kids Mana."
"It wasn't like that at all Yuu, I found him on the streets of England, just a dirty little urchin boy. I gave him some bread and he ended up stealing my pocket watch! Can you believe that?! It was very expensive too! So I figured I'd teach him some manners and how to be a proper young gentleman, I ended up falling in love with little Allen and adopted him as my own." Wake up now Allen, this is getting weird. Please? I wanna wake up now! I don't wanna hear what the other dragon had to say! I don't like talking about this!
"So what happened?"
"Oh? Are you really interested Yuu?"
"Che, fine, don't tell me." The white dragon gave a chuckle and continued to speak.
"Unfortunately I had to leave him behind. I loved Allen more than anything, but I was to become an elder. I fought so hard to keep him with me, I tried to convince them all that he was just a small boy posing no threat to us. However, our laws always rank above that of human laws or of the individual. They would have killed Allen had I brought him with me, so the best thing I could have done for him was to make him think I had died. Yes, he'd be sad, as was I, but that was all I could do. So long as he kept walking forwards like I taught him, I knew that he would be okay."
"... Hypothetically speaking, what if he had gotten picked up by a dragon slayer?"
"Well that's entirely possible I suppose, but not exactly probable, do you know what the chances of that would be?"
"Higher than one might think…"
"And how would you know about that my dear Yuu?" Kanda muttered as he spoke;
"I just so happen to know a moyashi with that name who was picked up by a dragon slayer."
"Moyashi? Isn't that what you called the person that- … You didn't."
"I'm pretty sure I did."
"You imprinted on my baby!?" The dragon might not have been in the cave, but the volume of his voice caused a slight tremor.
"It wasn't on purpose! Besides, how the hell was I supposed to know anyways!?" You know what, I give up on this dream. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I really wish I would just wake up. I'm at the point where I'd slap myself if I could. If only Lavi would burst in and shake me awake or something! The older dragon sighed.
"Well, there isn't anything I can do about it now. Just make sure to take care of him." their voices faded out as I was lifted from the haze and steam. The next thing I knew I was back in my bed, the blankets warm from me sleeping in them. I hope I never have that dream again. Sighing, I got up from the mattress. I should go check on Lavi. Hopefully he isn't working too hard.
Back in the library I found Lavi right where I left him, the stack of books significantly smaller and the pages of his note book covered with his handwriting.
"You really don't have to worry about it Lavi. I feel fine now, aside from that weird dream I had just now anyways." Marking his spot on a page Lavi looked up to me, concern evident in his eye.
"You had that dream again?"
"No, It was a different dream … I didn't like this one all that much either, but at least I wasn't being abused."
"Well, tell me what happened!"
"I was in Kanda's body, it was really weird because I could see and hear everything, I could even feel some of his facial expressions, but other than that I had no control."
"Well isn't that a dirty dream, do tell me more~" Lavi teased. Automatically all of the blood rushed to my face.
"Not like that Lavi! I mean like I was Kanda only I wasn't. Then I saw his reflection again and it was a dragon! And then Mana called him, only it wasn't mana because it was another dragon and Mana died, but it /was/ Mana because he explained exactly how he found me on the streets and how he died, but he said he didn't die! And that Kanda imprinted on me and that I almost died because he was gone! and and and and-"
"Allen, Allen! Calm down! You're going way too fast and this is a library, we don't want to get kicked out. Now what was that about your dream?" Taking a deep breath, trying to calm down I explained as much as I could to Lavi, hoping he might have the answers. I only brushed up a little about what Mana had said about my past and only gave him the necessary information. He wrote everything down in that note book of his so that he wouldn't miss anything.
"So, do you know what's wrong with me?"
"Well. You're obviously obsessed with kanda, you have some daddy issues, and perhaps all of the dragon stuff is Cross's influence?"
"If that were the case they would have been dead."
"Hey, you never know." He shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure though, I could be wrong about it all. I wonder what Mr. Dragon himself would think about the dream though." Lavi chuckled at the thought.
"Maybe I should ask him about it too … You never know, maybe he knows a thing or two about strange dreams."
"I doubt it, but it's worth a try I guess."
"Well, he's going to help me catch up on what I missed later this afternoon anyways. I'm really glad it's the weekend. We'll probably be working all day tomorrow too ..."
"I wish you the best of luck my friend."
"Thanks… So are you any closer to narrowing down your search?"
"A little bit, I'm progressing slowly but surely. I'll figure it out soon enough though. How about you go and find the dragon so that you can catch up with your class."
"Wherever he might be. Maybe Tiedoll will know. I'll see you later Lavi." He nodded to me as I left the library in search of the temperamental samurai.
Please Review!
And thank you again for your patience, I'm soo sorry! .
