The next morning, Tyki woke up later than he had for the past few days, about 10 o'clock in the morning. Well-rested Tyki sat up and sighed contentedly as he rubbed his sleepy eyes and stretched. He threw the covers off and went to his closet to look for which tux to wear. Finding a long coat tux that he hadn't worn for a while, a nicely folded and not-faded shade of black. As he prepared himself for the day he thought, Hmmm... I wonder how Allen is doing. The last time I saw him was after dinner with Road... alone... in a large, empty floating city... where they could get away with all sorts of miscellaneous things... Tyki sighed at the thought and said to himself as he put on his tux coat, "I better go see what him and Road are up to."
He began his search at Allen's room, assuming it would be best to check there first since that's where they had been spending most of their time recently. Tyki walked up to Allen's room and knocked before he let himself in. As much as he wouldn't want to see either of them doing something naughty, he'd rather catch them in the act than giving them time to hide their actions. As Tyki opened the door, he was a little surprised to only see Allen in the room. Thinking that Road might have been hiding somewhere, Tyki walked over to the foot of Allen's bed and said, "Allen-kun, you going to wake up for the day? It's almost noon."
"I'm up, I'm up," Allen muttered sleepily. He sat up and yawned. "Morning, Tyki."
Allen had almost completely forgotten about the events the night before. He was still half-asleep and what had happened wasn't the first thing on his mind; breakfast was.
As Allen sat up, Tyki was surprised and a little concerned when he saw the reddish bruise on Allen's face. Tyki pointed at Allen's face and asked, "Oye Allen, what happened to you? You have a huge bruise on your face."
Allen was confused at first and thus touched where Tyki was pointing, which he had to admit was a stupid idea and dropped his hand when he winced. Road could hit really hard! "You don't want to know," he said, hoping that would be enough for Tyki.
Tyki eyed Allen suspiciously, now knowing there was a story behind it. Tyki noted how the bruise was a little smaller than an open palm. Tyki also noted how there was another black and blue bruise on his neck that looked like someone bit him. Tyki smirked mischievously as it all clicked in his head. He sat down on the edge of Allen's, still smirking, and said, "No, I think I really wanna know."
"I don't want to talk about it," Allen said sheepishly. He slapped a hand over the bruise on his neck when he noticed Tyki looking at it. "It's not that important, anyway."
Tyki continued to smile mischievously as Allen's actions told him exactly what Allen had done last night. Even if his embarrassment explained the hickey on his neck, it didn't explain the bruise on his face. To further provoke him to talk, Tyki felt the dying urge to mess with Allen. "So Allen," he said, barely holding in his laughter, "how was she?"
Allen wasn't sure what he was expecting Tyki to ask, but it definitely wasn't that. "N-nothing happened!" Allen shouted. "N-nothing like that!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth did Allen want to take them back. He'd pretty much confirmed that something had happened between him and Road, even if it wasn't what Tyki was thinking. To stop the other Noah from exercising his imagination, Allen added, "Road got mad at me and slapped me last night. That's all."
After receiving a satisfactory answer, Tyki finally stopped giving Allen the mischievous look and stood. "Well c'mon Allen. Let's get some breakfast." Tyki left the room for Allen to change, and he waited patiently, leaning on a wall in the hallway as Allen changed.
Once Allen emerged, the two walked down to the dining room together. When they arrived, they found the twins already sitting at the table messing with each other, but no one else. Tyki was a little worried about Road after Allen told him that she had gotten mad at him, and Tyki wanted to check up on her. Tyki then said, "Oye, Allen I'm going to go wake Road up. Just wait here and tell the Earl I'm getting Road if he shows up wondering where we're at." With that, Tyki left Allen at the mercy of the twins.
As Allen sat down, Jasdero and David both waved at him and said simultaneously. "Ohayo, Allen-kun!!" They then noticed the two different bruises on Allen and looked at him curiously and a little concerned. They leaned in closer to get a better look before they both asked him, "Hey, Allen, what happened to you?"
And the conversation repeats itself... Allen thought with a sigh. "You don't want to know."
The two of them looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions but soon realized Allen was hiding something from them. David smiled while Jasdero snickered to himself. The two turned back to Allen and Jasdero said, "No, no, Allen-kun we wanna know." coupled with another snicker.
As David has turned back to Allen, he examined the one bruise on his neck and recognized the mark. He put his elbows on the table, propped his head up with one fist and then said, "No, Jasdero, I think we already know. So Allen, Was she any fun?"
Allen's eyes widened at David's train of thought. "YOU HAVE IT ALL WRONG!!!!" he cried, slapping a hand over the subject of the twins' interests. "Nothing happened except that Road got mad at me and slapped me, all right? What is with you people!?"
As the twins were chuckling after Allen's reaction, Tyki returned to the dinning room with Road at his side. Road's eyes were bloodshot and she was looking a little depressed with a hint of anger. Of course Tyki had asked Road what was wrong when he went to fetch her, but she wouldn't tell him the problem. Knowing that Allen was behind this, there were now two people not too happy with him.
Tyki sat Road down to the right of Allen while he sat on the other side of him. Tyki looked over at Allen as he sat down, and mumbled to him so Road wouldn't hear, "Some time later, you should apologize to her."
Allen nodded briefly to Tyki to show he understood, before risking a glance at Road. She looked really upset, and not for the first time did he really wish he knew what he'd done to maker her so upset with him.
There was an awkward air between them as they sat close to each other. Road did the best she could to ignore him as she grabbed a slice of toast and started spreading grape jelly on it. She was still very upset with Allen for thinking about Lenalee and was going to torture Allen mentally, without the aid of her abilities, as much as she possibly could before she would even consider forgiving him.
Allen couldn't take the silence anymore. "Good morning," Allen said quietly to Road.
Road said nothing as Allen greeted her, in fact, she didn't even look his way. At that point the main breakfast came out, which consisted of stacks of pancakes and fruit toppings. When the food reached the table, Road grabbed three pancakes and drizzled them with the strawberry syrup.
Just then, the Earl walked into the dining room. Once he'd sat in his usual chair, he asked his children, "How did you sleep my dears...?" That was when he noticed Allen with bruises on his neck and face, and Road looking tired and upset. "Did something happen between those two?" the Earl asked Tyki.
Tyki looked from Road and Allen to the Earl, twice, as he tried to figure out how he wanted to answer the Earl's question. Finally Tyki said, "It's a long story Earl-sama. Nothing too bad happened between them, but this is something that they need to work out themselves." With that, Tyki began to pile his plate as well.
Allen was almost too bothered by Road's ignoring him to eat. Almost. He took some pancakes, blueberries, and blueberry syrup, and took a few bites. He almost dropped his fork when the Earl asked what had happened between them, but caught it again before it fell too far from his hand. He shoveled food into his mouth to keep the Earl from asking any questions of him as well, but he soon ran out of food on his plate. I knew I should've taken the fifth pancake, he thought as he busied himself with taking more pancakes and fruit.
The Earl glanced from Allen to Road and back. Something was going on. "Road my dear, what is the matter? I can't have my children upset." He watched Allen try to keep himself busy to avoid questioning. The Earl smiled at him.
The Earl had caught Road in mid-bite when he questioned her. She sat there for a moment, biting down on her fork before she slowly pulled it out of her mouth and set it down gently. She then took her napkin and patted her mouth to rid her lips of the sticky syrup all serious-like before she turned to the Earl with the sweetest smile ever and her eyes gleefully shut before she said, "There's absolutely nothing wrong Earl-sama. Why would you ever think something like that?"
The Earl raised his eyebrow. "Oh, because you are sitting away from Allen and avoiding him, it seems, and he has bruises on his neck and face." He turned to Allen. "Whatever happen between you two?" The Earl was getting worried.
Allen almost choked on the pancake he'd just shoved into his mouth. He took a big gulp of milk before saying, "I-I honestly don't know what's going on. Road got mad and slapped me."
"Because Oto-kun tried to get into Road's skirt," David added under his breath, not meaning for that statement to go unnoticed. Jasdero started sniggering to himself as he heard his twin's joke.
Where the twins found that statement to be hilarious, Road did not. She stood up and slammed her hands on the table and shot both of them a cold glare. Feeling it would be best not to explode at them, Road stated calmly, "Excuse me," and left the room.
After Road lefty the room, Tyki also shot a cold glare at the twins and said to them, "That was rather uncalled for." He looked over at Allen, who also seemed rather embarrassed about the twins' comment. Tyki took a sip of his coffee before he muttered to Allen, "Now would probably be a good time to try and apologize."
Allen took Tyki's advice and rushed out of the room. "Road!" he called. When Road ignored him and kept walking, he grabbed her hand and forced her to stop. "Look, I don't know what I did to upset you or what I can do to make it up to you, but I'm sorry." He wasn't sure if she was even listening to him, but he had to take this chance to talk to her while he had her to himself like this. "I still love you. Can you forgive me?"
Road was still fuming at this point. Although Allen's words did actually reach her, she was in no mood to forgive him yet. She yanked her hand out of his grasp and held a finger up to his lips to get him to stop talking. "Not yet," Road said in an irritated tone. "I'm still mad at you." With that, she simply pivoted on her heels and walked away from Allen and headed back to her own room.
Not long after, Tyki came up behind Allen, who was still dumb-founded. "Well, that could have gone better," Tyki commented as he stood next to Allen and watched Road leave, "but then again, it could have been worse." Tyki looked down at Allen, who seemed rather lost. Tyki set a hand on his shoulder and said, "That's the thing about women: you have to give them time. She knows you're sorry, but you have to let her stop being mad."
Tyki turned away, but stopped to say, "Oh, by the way, we have another assignment from the Earl. General Tiedoll has been spotted. We're to intercept and kill him. We'll leave in fifteen minutes, so get ready. I'll fetch the twins, Lulubelle, and Road." With the Earl's orders delivered, Tyki went off to his own room to gather his things together for the trip.
All Allen really wanted to do was go to his room and sulk. Road was still mad at him, and there was nothing he could do about it, especially since he had no idea what he'd done. He just wanted to try and figure out what he'd done and get Road to forgive him. Still, missions came first. Allen went to get ready for the mission.
Kanda inwardly grumbled as the insistent beeping of his golem roused him from his light slumber. He'd already been woken once by Lenalee and Lavi's small exchange, though they hadn't seemed to notice, and he was rather annoyed with the machine that intruded on his slumber once again.
With a sigh, he grabbed the golem out of his pocket and moved to leave the compartment. The beeping could barely be head over the sounds of the train, but whatever conversation that inevitably occurred wouldn't be so easily muffled. Once he reached a more private area, he answered the call.
"What? This had better be good," he all but snarled. He was tired damn it and whatever crap whoever called him wanted, it could certainly wait.
He was quite surprised though when it was Komui's voice on the other end, not Lvellie's. After moments of listening, his insides twisted and his hands clenched into firsts. Did Komui have any idea what he was asking him to do?! Cursing, he agreed to his new task and stuffed his golem back into his pocket.
Tiedoll. Of all things, it had to be Tiedoll. Great. He'd gone from following two idiots to the biggest of them all...
The light was filtering through the train's window, waking Lenalee as it splashed across her face. She rubbed her eyes, then glanced at Kanda as he returned to their compartment. He was again in one of his moods. "Kanda? What's wrong?"
It wasn't hard to figure out, though. Few things got Kanda this mad, and it was just a matter of ruling out the possibilities. Akuma and Noah couldn't be the reason for his mood, since Kanda obviously wasn't any more injured than he'd been earlier. Allen wasn't a possibility either, since he was with the Noah and Kanda was obviously not more injured from a run in with them. Lavi had nodded off while he was supposed to keep watch, so that ruled out Kanda being called "Yuu-chan." That left one thing:
"Does this involve Tiedoll?" Even though he knew it was coming, Kanda still couldn't control the habitual eye-twitch that seemed to happen whenever he heard that name.
"I've been reassigned. Apparently there's a possibility the Earl has targeted General Tiedoll much like he did with General Yeegar. Once the train arrives at station, I'll be heading to wherever he is. Lucky for me, intelligence thinks he's in the general area, so I'll be leaving immediately." Not that he really wanted to though; the man was a giant pain in the rear.
"If the Earl's after General Tiedoll, then the Noah will probably be doing the dirty work," Lenalee concluded. "We'll come too. You'll need help, and we'll probably find Allen."
"Are you sure about that? Aren't you better off following Tim who has an idea of where the Moyashi is, then hoping that the Noah will come to us? For all we know, they're just planning to send Akuma. Besides that, I don't need your help."
As much as he wished, Kanda knew that Lenalee was set on this new decision. Regardless, he refused to be civil about the matter. Knowing that he had to travel with Tiedoll again was enough of a headache. Add on a Baka Usagi and Lenalee's endless babble about the cursed brat and Kanda was sure to be in his own living Hell.
"They'd never send an Akuma to take on the General," Lenalee stated firmly. "They would send a Noah to destroy the Innocence he has with him. They're still searching for the Heart, remember?"
Lavi had woken up shortly after he heard Kanda leave their compartment. However, he'd shown no signs being awake. He just sat back in his comfortable position with his arms crossed and listened to his fellow exorcists talk with one another.
"She's got a point there, Yuu, " the Bookman junior said without a moment's hesitation. Lavi opened his eyes slowly and then glanced over at Kanda. "The Earl wouldn't send Akuma after a general. Rather, they would send the Noah. Odds are that Allen will probably be one of the Noah on that mission."
Lavi sat up straight and stretched his arms high above his head. With a heavy sigh, he then dropped them to his side. "We have a better chance of reaching Allen again if we go with you, Yuu. Don't you think so, Lenalee?" Knowing Kanda, he would've said no to Lavi right off the bat. But he wouldn't dare to go against Lenalee's wishes.
Lenalee nodded in agreement. Kanda couldn't refuse both of them, could he?
Damn. Kanda had known when he said it that the odds were slim to none that they would believe that only Akuma might go. But he tried, didn't he?
"Che, fine. Just do yourself a favor and stay out of my way." With that he turned to look out the window. They had got what they wanted so they had better not bother him with details, though in the back of his mind he knew that that was probably not going to happen.
Comments from Sailorstar165:
Sorry for the lack of updates! The RP's been a little slow lately, so I haven't been able to format anything. Anywho, thanks for reading and hope you check out Your-Role!
Oh, and by the way, love4Sora has relinquished the role of Kanda to KeeperoftheJeep.