Chapter 20: Missing

In a city

The Akuma lie crumples and destroys to pieces in front of Kanda.

"GHEHHEHEHHEHEHEEE! IT'S POINTLESS! POINTLESS!" Baby (Akuma) laughs. "YOU CAN'T HELP THE GENERALS! NOAH'S FAMILY AND THE AKUMA ARE GOING AFTER THEM AS A GIANT ARMY! EVEN AS YOU GUYS ARE BEATING ME UP, THIS VERY MINUTE…" Baby didn't finish its sentence because Kanda destroys it using Mugen.

"Shut up." Kanda growls with annoyance.

"Let's go, Kanda." Noise Marie says.

Marie is a dark-skinned man of large stature. Marie is blind and he also wears headphones to amplify his sense of hearing.

"Hmph." Kanda scoffs and walks towards Marie.

"How annoying." Daisya Barry says.

Daisya is a man of average height. The top of his head his covered in more bandages, or hat, obscuring his hair from sight. He has sharp facial features and wears some kind of make up under his eyes that trails down his cheek like tear-marks but end in sharp points.

"We're not making any progress at all; they just keep coming one after another…" He complains.

"They're trying to stop us." Kanda says.

"It's hard enough just to catch up to the General." Marie comments.

"Hmph." Kanda scoffs.

"What? Are you annoyed, Kanda?" Marie asks him.

"I am not."

"Who knows when we'll catch up to him. Looks like the one we're looking for, General Tiedoll, isn't in town anymore. Jeez, that guy's faster than a speeding bullet." Daysia says.

"No matter what you call him, he's probably painting somewhere." Marie guesses.

"Ahaha… we have a weird master, right Kanda?"

"I despise that old man." Kanda mumbles.

Marie and Daysia looks at Kanda with "okay, then" expressions.

"He's got a bad temper…" Marie and Daysia thought in unison.

"Well… at least he's better than General Cross." Daysia points out.

At the train station

The five Exorcists are waiting for their train to arrive. Allen fell asleep and Lavi is drawing on his face while trying to wake Allen up at the same time.

"Allen." Lavi calls. "Hey Allen, wake up~ The train is here~" Bookman comes and smacks Lavi in the head.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Bookman asks.

"He's dreaming about General Cross again!"

"Gua–t..." Allen mumbles and snores. "Master's not human…"

"HEY! EVERYONE, HURRY AND GET ON! IF WE MISS THIS ONE, THERE WON'T BE ANOTHER TRAIN TOMORROW!" Leenalee shouts.

On the train; in the restroom

"Haaa~" Allen breaths after finally getting off all the ink from his face. "As soon as it was decided that we're going after the Master, my dreams have gotten worse and worse…"

"But that's just how things are. I can't be complaining…" Allen tells himself

~Hours before setting off on the trip of finding General Cross~
In a carriage

"Orders for the Generals don't come from me, the Commander-in Chief gives out their orders. They're assigned multiple orders at once, and then they carry them out according to their own judgement." Komui explains with his arms crossed. "Therefore, we don't have information on their whereabouts at any given time. Then again,"

Komui hold out a finger towards Allen and Lavi leaning forward.

"THREE of four remaining Generals regularly contact Headquarters once a month, so we know approximately where they are… the problem is ONE! General CROSS MARIAN!" Komui sits back into his seat and pushing up his glasses. "According to our information, there has been no word from General Cross in almost four years. We can conclude that (1) 'he's dead.' Or (2) 'he's ignoring his orders and just playing around.' For your information! My bet is on (2)! But! THEN YOU," Komui points at Allen. "AND YOU APPEARED!" He points at Alice.

Komui put a hand on Alice's and Allen's shoulders and smiles weirdly at them.

"AS CROSS' PUPILS, YOU'VE BEEN TRAVELING TOGETHER FOR THREE YEARS… ALWAYS!" Komui hisses. Allen and Alice look at each other.

"It's… no good." Allen speaks. "We have no idea where the Master is."

"Komui, how do we go about locating a missing person?" Lavi asks.

"The other teams will depend on the pupils of the various Generals. But, in this case, we'll get Tim to guide us." Komui answers.

"Timcanpy?" Lavi, Allen, and Alice say with surprise.

"Also a renown scientist, Cross was the maker of this little golem, and as such, he should be able to tell us where Cross is. AFTER THAT, SINCE ALLEN AND ALICE ARE FAMILIAR WITH HIS MOVEMENT PATTERNS, IT'LL BE LIKE DROWNING A DEAD RAT!" Komui says insanely.

"Nii-san… that's a bit…" Leenalee says.

~Present~
In the restroom

Allen dries his face and hands. He looks in the mirror and peels the bandage that covers his left eye, off. He pokes his left eye, but didn't open it.

"I can't see anything, but it doesn't hurt that much anymore so it should be fine if I take this off." Allen thought. Allen then exits the restroom and sees Leenalee leaning on the wall.

"Leenalee, what are you doing here…?" Allen asks her.

Leenalee face Allen and then smiles with an angry mark on her face.

"Nothing." She answers and leaves.

"Huh? Just now… I saw an angry mark, right? But she was smiling…" Allen thought as he follows her.

In one of the train's car

Bookman and Leenalee sit on one side of the seat; while Lavi, Allen, and Alice sit on the opposite side. Bookman pulls a map and lays it between the five of them.

"Now…" Bookman begins. "Let's start by putting our information together."

"What, you already took it off?" Lavi mouths to Allen. "Bit it was such a funny face…"

"Quit it already." Allen mouths back.

"Stop talking, you two." Alice says annoy from the two Exorcists beside her.

Currently, we're proceeding towards East Germany." Bookman says. "How's Timcanpy doing?"

"Still pointing straight to the East." Leenalee answers.

"If the Master is far away, he can't receive more than a vague sense of his direction." Alice says.

"That means the Master is still pretty for away." Allen adds.

"Where in the world he could be…?" Leenalee asks as she stares at the map. "General Cross doesn't claim expenses from the church, so we don't have any receipts from him."

"Eh? Then how does he pay for everything? Out of his own pocket?" Lavi asks.

"Master borrows money." Allen answers. "I didn't even know about claiming receipts until I joined the church."

"The Master lives off his lovers and acquaintances in different places." Alice adds. "When we were really broke, Allen made some money by gambling."

Then the atmosphere turns weird as three people stares at Allen. The atmosphere read: You went that far...!?

"Eh? What? What?" Allen asks as everyone turns quiet.

When Allen comes into contact with Leenalee's eyes, Leenalee turns away to avoid Allen's eyes.

"She turned away!" Allen thought with shock and confusion.

"By the way Allen, you still can't open that left eye?" Bookman asks. Allen nods. "Get that eye healed quickly so you can stand watch for Akuma. Judging from the message from other groups, we can assume that Akuma will try to attack and stop us." Bookman says. "To get to the General, we'll be traveling on trains for quite a while. We need that left eye so we can make swift judgments to keep civilians from getting mixed up with Akuma."

"Understood..." Allen says while peeking up at Leenalee who is still avoiding eye contact.

Off the train; At the train station

The train stops and Leenalee gets off to buy everyone's dinner. Allen decides that it's a good time to talk to Leenalee.

"Leenalee." Allen calls and she turns around to look at him. "That… Come to think of it… Ever since that time we've never really talked… I think…" Leenalee didn't speak, just listens. "About that time… I'm very sorry."

Allen bows to Leenalee as he apologizes. Leenalee looks at Allen sadly and she then whacks him with the bag of dinner. Allen grunts and tries to lift his head, but is push down by Leenalee.

"Don't lift your head!" Leenalee says.

"Ha? Ah… yes." Allen replies.

"Because I haven't forgiven you yet. You're so selfish, Allen." Leenalee points out. "'No one can see the Akuma's soul but me.' Carrying all the burden by yourself, and sacrificing only yourself in battle." Leenalee's voice starts to sound shaky. "What are we friends for?" She asks him as tears form. "Don't make a fool out of me… Why don't you let me… fight by your side?"

Leenalee let go of the bag and sits on the floor crying while Allen is still bowing with the bag on his head.

"I hate it… your left eye… I hate it…" Leenalee says.

"Sorry…" Allen apologizes as he looks at Leenalee. "Leenalee. Thank you for helping me."

Suddenly, Leenalee glares at Allen which made him jump.

"I'll always help you!" Leenalee shouts and she snatches the bag from Allen's head and heads back to the train, leaving Allen confuse.

"So… she forgave me…? Somehow it seems like she's still a bit mad…" Allen thought as he follows Leenalee back onto the train.

~Meanwhile~

Alice, who isn't on the train yet, is staring at the sky blackly. Then the train whistles for departure and Alice snaps back into reality. She starts to head back onto the train, but it was not until someone grabs her wrist. Alice turns around to see a man.

"On your chest… is that a cross?" The man asks her.

~On the train~

Everyone is seated except for Alice, who is not on the train. Lavi notices and looks around.

"Huh? Where's Alice?" Lavi asks.