Chapter 11's here (and early...again, though I had it done the day after I uploaded the last chapter), and hopefully it'll bring certain things to light that happened in the last chapter. Maybe. Basically Lavi and Co. arrive at Allen's House, but what will happen once they get there? Also, you get to see a slightly...different POV at the end, which shows at least one motive behind Cross's actions--AND you get to meet a new (and totally unplanned) character!

And of course—thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews!

Note: Was planning on uploading this sometime this weekend, or something buuuut I fail at waiting. Really I do. That and the last chapter was makin' me uncomfortable, so yeah. Anyways...I wrote this chapter listening to the song Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake. Really sets the mood in my opinion...

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---LAVI'S POV---

My heart sank as I saw him, standing there, with the door open, trying his best to smile at us—but failing on so many different levels. His hair was wet, and it looked like he had just woken up—or he was about to fall asleep. And his legs were shaking. Barely, but they were.

"Allen!" Road immediately cried out, trying to shove past me to get to him. But I stopped her, obviously, by stepping in front of her, "Hey!"

"It's glad to see you're alive." I joked and for a second his smile cracked, "We were worried about ya when suddenly you hung up."

He blinked dumbly at me for a moment before he seemed to get it, "Oh! Ah, I'm sorry, my phone kinda went dead, I…forgot to charge it."

"Really."

He nodded his head, nervously.

"You've got to remember to charge it more often!" Road scolded from behind me, trying to scoot past me again, but this time Tyki stopped her.

"I know, I know." He tried to laugh, but just like his movements, it was shaky and nervous, "Probably'll have to get a new one though. I wasn't careful and I accidentally dropped it."

"Well hopefully you'll get a better deal on one—if yours keeps dyin' I mean, must mean the battery's crappy." I replied back, "but anyways, is Cross," he flinched at the name, "here?"
"No, I think you just missed 'im, actually." He tried to smile again, "He said he had to go out somewhere, and that he wasn't sure when he'd be back. So I'm basically stuck here by myself." Then he seemed to realize something and stepped aside, "Ah—right, come on in!"

I was the first one in, and what hit me was how…

"Wow this place is a lot different than I remember it." I whistled. Everything looked new, or close to new. And cleaner. Much cleaner.

"Oh, ah, yeah. We had to do some renovations for some stuff—there was, um, mild water damage when Cross," his voice cracked and he cleared it, quickly shifting down the hall—shaky legs and all—to the first door, grabbing it's handle and quickly shutting it, "left a window open." He finished when he turned back to look at us, hand still firmly on the doorknob.

Mental note: check that room later.

"Left the window open?" Kanda muttered, "How the hell can someone forget to close a window?"

"It was during the summer." Allen snapped back, eyes narrowing as Kanda walked up to stand next to me. Then, suddenly, he seemed to realize something and lowered his voice, "But it was stupid. One of those random rainstorms—and he forgot to close it. Forgot it was even open."

Kanda raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"What'd ya have to do though? Replace the floors?" I wondered, "It couldn't've been that bad."

"Oh you'll see," he finally let go of the doorknob and waved us down the hall to the living room/kitchen area.

We filed in, one by one, and I had to say I was impressed. The floor was wood now, not tile like I had remembered it being, and there were new pieces of furniture littered about the room—a new couch with matching white end chairs, a new lamp, and new curtains. Even one of the windows had been replaced with a traced design that looked like it must've cost—

"See? It was this window." I watched as he walked across the room and touched the carved glass, "It was really bad here, the old couch was soaked when we got home." He smiled, wistfully, "And there was a huge mold problem." I could see his reflection in the broken pieces of glass, his eyes downcast and almost gloomy, "He's allergic. To mold."

"Lots of people are." I agreed, "but I can see why you had to replace the floor then—mold can grow quickly if everything's set right."

"Ah, yeah." He turned back around and tried to smile, "but this is pretty much it, really. I mean—some of this stuff," he nodded to the various ornaments that I hadn't noticed before, "was actually just in storage. Mana always collected some interesting things from all the places we used to travel to when he was a clown."

"Oh yeah!" Road suddenly spoke up, "You told me that he was but—what exactly's his? Or…" she looked around, "I mean—" she took a few steps closer to Allen, then, suddenly, stopped, "is there anything you like?" she wondered, "I mean—is there anything he left that you just, y'know…" she trailed off and made some sort of elaborate had motion, "you get what I mean, right?"

He laughed. Or tried to, "Yeah I do. Actually, there is something but," he hesitated, "It's…in Cross' room."

"Really? Then let's go see it!" She tried to latch onto him, but he stepped to the side at the last minute.

"Um, he doesn't exactly keep his room clean, and I just…got home, so I haven't been able to tidy anything up, really."

'He's lying.' It was enough in the way he was walking. Stiff, and almost too slow, across the room, 'But how much?'

"Ah, I see." She deflated, "I guess we'll just wait here, or somethin'." She didn't seem to have any qualms about that though—she plopped right down on one of the couches—the one Tyki had somehow maneuvered to, and was now lounging on, like he owned it—and leaned back against it.

"Yeah, make yourself at home." It didn't really seem like he wanted us to, though. He quickly bowed before scurrying out of the room.

"I guess now's a good time as any to go to the bathroom." And I nearly immediately excused myself.

"Do you know where it is, though?" Road called out after me.

Or at least I tried to.

I stopped, "Well, I think I saw one by the front?"

Road stared at me for a moment. Then nodded her head, "There is one. I think. Might as well ask Allen to make sure."

I nodded my head, "Yeah I'll do that."

"And tell me if the room's actually messy, or if he's lying."

I couldn't help but grin, inwardly, at that, 'She's smarter than she looks.'

Regardless I nodded my head again, "Yeah sure." Then I headed off in that direction. Sure enough—there was a bathroom—one directly diagonal from the room that Allen had obviously gone into.

'for someone who's limpin' he sure as heck can limp fast.'

I ignored the bathroom and immediately knocked on the door that I knew Allen was in, "Oi Allen."

There was a loud thump. Then the sound of something falling, along with—

"Gah!"

"Allen?" I tested the door, and, ironically enough—or maybe not, since there was really nothing ironic about it—it was open. "Allen?" I questioned again as I turned the knob and pushed the door open.

I couldn't say anymore.

The place really was messy as heck.

But not—not—

Allen was by the bed, trying desperately to wrap the sheets—and something else—in over each other. He had somehow gotten tangled, and now the sheets were coming untangled. They were unfolding to reveal what he had been trying to—

"Oh."

He didn't say a word. He didn't say a damn word. He didn't even try to explain. To stutter. To anything.

Then, slowly, he swallowed, "L-Lavi, um, wh-what…?" He stopped after that, his eyes quickly falling to the floor. He had given up. Just like that. Just like that.

I closed my eyes, "I won't ask."

He didn't say a word. Not for a while. Then, he swallowed again, "Close the d-door. Please."

I did just that.

He exhaled, "You w-won't ask?" I shook my head, "I-I see. Even if," he looked down, and then back up at me, "Even if it's bad?"

"What's 'bad'?"

He blinked.

I blinked back.

He let out a shaky sigh, "That's right." He laughed, mostly to himself, "You're like that. I-I almost forgot. Right." Then he tried to smile.

"Don't smile. A forced smile always looks bad."

He stopped smiling.

"You knew, didn't you?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Right when you got here."

"Were you trying to hide anything?" We both knew the answer to that. And the reason I asked it.

"You're amazing."

"The way I was raised." I shrugged my shoulders again. "We found your cell phone, by the way."

He blinked, dumbly, for a moment, before realization hit him, "Oh! It was…pretty bad, right?"

"Snapped in two." I explained, "Only found the top half."

For a moment he was silent, then, hesitantly, he asked, "So they know?"

"Know what?"

"What—I mean—what--?" he couldn't seem to formulate the question right, so I asked it for him:

"What happened at the Diner?" he seemed almost relieved that I had asked, "You sounded like shit—and then you go and tell Yuu that that you're an idiot and then the phone dies. What were we supposed to think?"

"Road freaked, didn't she?" He tried to smile. Stopped. Replaced it with a sad look instead.

"Pretty much." Again, I shrugged, "We all did—but really, it took some convincing to get her to let Tyki drive us there."

"She didn't want to go?" he seemed slightly surprised by that.

I almost laughed, "Oh no—she would've walked there."

"Walked?" it took a minute for what I said to sink in, but once it did his eyes widened, "What?"

"She would've."

"…that worried?" For some reason that didn't seem to register with him.

"I'd assume she was. But that's askin' a bit much—with the traffic accident an' all."

His eyes softened a bit at that, "You were in it, weren't you? With Kanda?" His eyes focused on my right arm before focusing back on my face, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Eh, Jiji's probably gonna get mad at me again—whenever the heck he gets back—but the only thing hurt is Yuu's car. And possibly our photography grade."

And for a moment after that, Allen just stared at me. Then, softly, he smiled and said, almost curiously, "You're calling Kanda 'Yuu' a lot lately, aren't you?"

I blinked, "Well it's 'is first name."

"Yeah but he'd always try to chop your head off whenever you called him that before—"

"Like he'd get away with that." I laughed, "Besides, he's not in here—is he?"

Then. Almost ironically—and this time really ironically—there was a knock. A loud one. On the door.

"Oi."

"Speak of the devil as they say."

The door was kicked open a second later—I barely had time to move.

"What the hell's takin' you so long?" He was glaring at me—not at Allen, and definitely not at the room—and all the evidence of what could have happened in it.

"Ah, Yuu! I was just talkin' with Allen, here, um,"

"Didn't you say…?" he dropped the sentence, "Whatever. Just—"

"Can we take this somewhere else?" Allen suddenly butted in, "I mean—yeah this room's great when it's clean but right now it's not so—"

"Then why the hell don't you clean it."

'Oh crap.'

"I was going to Ba-Kanda. But I was going to try to look for what I wanted to show Road first!" he seemed to have enough venom in his voice to at least make his voice sound somewhat threatening. But not enough to actually carry out whatever threat that was.

And I highly doubted Kanda would notice it. Him and human-interaction never did go well together. So before he could take another step into the room I placed a hand, firmly on his shoulder—squeezing it slightly to get him to look at me.

"What?"

"Did you just leave Tyki and Road in there?"

"They're talking in some damn language—I don't know what the hell they're saying." He paused for a moment, "and Tyki kept texting someone."

"Someone?" I blinked, "He knows lots of people." What I really wanted to know is why he noticed that in the first place. But he would deny it to high heaven like it was some damn crime to notice something specific that someone was doing.

"It just reminded me." He shrugged my hand off his shoulder and began fishing around in one of his pockets. A second later and he pulled out a very familiar looking cell phone, "Here."

"You brought my cell phone?"

"You've got a message."

I blinked again and quickly flipped it open—quickly scrolling through the 'missed calls' before I found one number—the most recent—that looked highly familiar.

"Jiji? He called?"

Kanda nodded his head, "Right after you left. He left a voice mail."

I looked up at him, faintly aware that Allen was staring at us like this was some sort of enlightening show, and managed to ask, "And you'd know this because?"

"I heard it."

------CROSS'S POV------

"You've gotta fuckin' be kidding me." I hissed out, staring up at the sky, which should have been clear, but for some damn reason wasn't. "If I'd know the Gods felt like pissin' on my head today I would've dammit brought the car."

But I knew I couldn't do that.

Fuck.

The damn prat's friends just couldn't mind their own damn business, 'An' it's all the kids fault too.'

I stopped. Lit a cigarette, took a puff, then dropped it and ground it into the pavement.

'Call myself a damn hypocrite.' I groaned, "It ain't all damn kids fault." I ran a hand, messily, through my still-damp hair, "and I went and fuckin' made it worse."

Worse because I was drunk. Worse because he was there and because he was there—and because he 'reminds me so much of her—'

White hair, pale skin, grey eyes—like winter. But not.

'Like the day the kid was found.'

I sighed, "Dammit."

It wasn't all the kids fault. Common sense—or what little I had of it—was screamin' it's lungs out just to tell me that one little thing. And I couldn't not agree with it. Not now.

'My head hurts.'

I let out another sigh.

The rain began to fall.

'Shit. I'll be soaked before I even goddammit get there.'

Wherever the hell there was.

'She said I'd know. The damn witch.'

The images—broken from the glass bottles, and the liquor—flashed through my mind.

Her winning each damn hand using—using more goddamn skill than I could ever muster to achieve—and so fuckin' easily to.

Then her saying those dreaded words, 'You'd like to see her again, wouldn't you?'

'I thought she was dead.' I had to force my legs to move.

'Oh, she's not dead. Far from it. Would you like to see her?'

"How could I say no to that?" I titled my face up and stared at the clouds, letting the raindrops—sparse now, but I knew it wouldn't remain that way—fall easily on my face.

'Then you must meet me. Alone. At that place—you'll know it immediately. But,'

There was always a 'but'.

'You mustn't bring the boy. Yes—the one downstairs.'

'Why did I ever bring Allen into the damn conversation to begin with?'

'You know he's wrapped up in this just as much as you are. With that one choice.'

'That girl…'

'He doesn't realize it, but he does love her.' And then that swift, easy smile, 'Unfortunately he just might get his friends involved. You wouldn't want them to know, would you? About that dirty little secret of yours?'

I stopped. I could barely see anymore, the rain kept falling and blurring my vision. I closed my eyes.

'That boy miraculously doesn't hate you. But he may hate the one you think he is. And the fact that you're drunk.'

I had fallen for that. Hook line and sinker.

In an instant Allen had been opening the door—two beer bottles in his hands with that expression on his face.

'Cross?!'

'Get the fuck out of 'ere—'

He didn't listen, 'What—'

Then I got angry.

'Did I have to push 'im down the damn stairs?' Probably not but the kid—he'd been through worse. Much worse. His left eyes blind. His left arm—not much feeling left in it.

'But he may hate the one you think he is.'

I couldn't blame him.

He'd hate me too, after this.

I slowly opened my eyes, and looked around. I was farther than I had been before—I managed to keep my legs moving, by some grace of whatever God was out there—and this place…seemed oddly familiar.

The road. An overhang. Some old decrepit looking boxes, and something smoking.

Or. No. It was tobacco. I recognized the rustic smell—the almost metallic twinge to the air from the smoke.

Someone was smoking. And they were nearby.

'No. Really?' I smirked at my own blatant sarcasm and moved towards the overhang. The smell became more and more pungent until, rather suddenly, it was right there.

But no one was right—

A small puddle, nearby, shifted, small ringlets forming. Then a splash.

And there, standing not only a few feet away—'How could I have missed that?'—was her. With a cigarette dangling lazily out of the corner of her mouth, and her eyes, hidden, by old sunglasses.

It was raining and she didn't have an umbrella.

And she was wearing white.

"A little promiscuous nowaren't we?" I questioned out loud as she began to walk towards me, "this late at night?"

She stopped, "Promiscuous?" She sounded like she had never heard the word before, "Me? Or should it really be you Cross, darling." She smiled in a hazily familiar way—'Like the brat' my mind wanted to say, but really it was 'The brat smiles just like her.'

It couldn't be the other way around.

But regardless of damn smiles, she needed an answer, and I knew her well enough to give 'er the one she was looking for, "Me? How the hell could I be promiscuous."

"You just have a jacket on—and you smell like sex." She stated bluntly, allowing the cigarette to fall from her lips as she stepped beneath the overhang with me.

Her eyes were just like his—a cold, curious, shade of grey.

But again—it should be the other way around. His eyes should look like hers.

She was his mother after all.

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Topping at exactly 9 pages (or 8 and a half) this is the end of Chapter Eleven. Again finished at record speed. I expected to have some explanation done in this chapter…but obviously I didn't get to all of it (or most of it). Um, though I gave Allen a mom in this XD Fancy that. But hopefully not so many people are mad at me (for what happened last chapter), right? Right? I said I'd explain things, and I am so—so! –coughs-

But anyways, R&R please! Have questions? Comments? Loved it? Have CC? Send it via review!

-Till the next chapter

-Harmony283