Chapter 25
"No Allen. It wasn't the Earl. It was you."
Allen's eyes snapped open, rolling around to look at his room. Judging from the lighting of his bedroom, the sun was just beginning to rise. Looking over Allen saw the clock read six fifteen. His breath was heavy and his heart was still pounding.
Flopping back down on the bed Allen closed his eyes. The nightmare was getting worse and worse. This was the 3rd time he had woken up from it this week! His heart still hadn't calmed down. He could hear it pound against the inside of his chest. To his surprise the sound was getting louder.
Pound pound pound "Allen!" With a start the boy realized it wasn't his heart. It was the door! The knocking came again as Allen rolled out of bed. Who could be knocking at this hour? wondered Allen as he mopped to the door. Tyki's welcome party had lasted pretty late, and he would have thought everyone would be sleeping in. Apparently, he was wrong. Yawning, Allen opened the door to see none other than Krory standing in his doorway.
"Krory! What're you doing here at this hour? It's not even- Krory what happened!" Taking a good look at the man Allen was awake immediately. Then man looked as if he had just killed someone.
"Allen!" Krory shouted as he pulled the boy into the hallway. "It's terrible! No matter where I look, I just can't find him!"
"Who?" asked Allen. "Who can't you find?"
"Eaze! I've lost Eaze!"
"What? How can you lose a person?" Krory said nothing as hugged the boy and began to cry.
"Oh Allen!" he sobbed as he blew his nose on Allen shirt. "What should I do? I can't find him anywhere!"
"Ewww! Gross Krory!" shouted Allen, prying the man from his ruined shirt. But Krory refused to budge, just hugging the boy harder. Allen sighed as he looked down at his friend. "Just tell me what happened Krory." The man tried to stop crying as he explained the situation.
"Well, Eaze asked me to play a game with him earlier today, and now I can't find him!"
"A game?" asked Allen. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this. "What game did you play?"
"I can't remember the name, but he said that I should just count to 100 with my eyes closed. So I did, and when I opened my eyes, he was gone." sniffed the vampire Exorcist. Allen sighed, kneeling down to look at the man in front of him.
"Krory, by any chance was this game called hide and go seek?"
"Yes!" replied Krory. "That was what it was called." I knew it
"Krory, the point of hide and go seek is one person hides and the other tries to find them." Said Allen, trying not to get cross with his friend.
"So I didn't lose Eaze?" asked Krory, his eyes brightening. Allen shook his head as he helped the man to his knees.
"Yeah, you didn't lose him, he is just hiding from you because that's what you're supposed to do." Allen looked down at is shirt and sighed. He was definitely going to need a new one.
"I feel so bad," said Krory, rubbing his eyes. "I should have known what seek and hide was."
"It's hide and go seek." corrected Allen, heading back into his room.
"Wait Allen!" shouted Krory. "You need to help me find him! I have no idea where he is! Don't leave me alone to find him!"
"I'm not going to leave you alone," replied the boy, taking his shirt off. "I just need to change." Krory grimaced.
"Sorry. I'll get you a new shirt when we're out next time." Allen looked over to see his friend on the verge of tears again, and he felt a pang of sympathy for the man. Even though he was 26, Krory still had a lot to learn about the world. It wasn't his fault that he had been locked up in that castle for most of his life! Still, he would have expected the man to at least know what hide and go seek was.
"I will be just a minute." Said the boy, slipping into his room.
I'll have to ask Lenalee and Lavi if they have seen Eaze, thought Allen as he changed. Maybe I can get Tyki to help us look for him. I'm surprised he's not up yet. It was a well-known fact by now that Tyki woke Allen up at 9 every morning to go and eat breakfast with their friends, and yet today, Tyki had not stopped by at all. Allen still had a bad feeling that something was up.
"Are you ready Allen?" came Krory's voice from outside his bathroom.
"Yeah!" he shouted back. "Just give me a minute." The boy looked at himself in the mirror, his gaze resting on the swan necklace that rested on hit collarbone. Allen gave it one final touch before turning around and heading out to hunt for Eaze.
"Hey Tyki!" shouted Allen, pounding on the man's door. "It's me, Allen!" The room was silent form the other side of the door.
"Oi Tyki!" yelled Lavi, "Come on out! It's already eleven in the morning!" Still, not a noise could be heard from the room.
After Allen had changed, him and Krory had gone out to search for the boy. After about a half an hour the two friends had hooked up with Lavi and Lenalee and were still looking for the child.
"Maybe Tyki is not here." said Lenalee, as she turned to face Allen.
"No, that can't be possible. Krory and I came here earlier today to ask him to look for Eaze with us, but he didn't answer his door. We thought that he must be down at breakfast, so we went down to the cafeteria to look for him. However, he wasn't there. That was when we saw you guys and asked if you could help look for him."
"Allen, that was over an hour ago," said Lenalee, putting her hand on his shoulder. "He could have woken up by then and gone somewhere else."
"No, I don't think so. When I passed by here again a few minutes ago, I could have sworn I heard Tyki in his room." Allen paused, then continued. "I have the feeling that something is wrong."
"Maybe he is still tired." suggested Krory, feeling uncomfortable that he was being left out of the conversation.
"Tyki? Still asleep?" said Lavi, looking at the vampire with his one good eye. "No, as long as I have known the man, which hasn't been very long but whatever, I've never seen him sleep in past 9:30."
"Tyki." yelled Lenalee, pounding on the door. "Is something wrong?" Still, there was silence.
"Tyki." Said Lavi, approaching the door. "If you don't get out here in ten seconds, I am going to pick the lock." There was silence for a few more seconds, then:
"What do you guys want?" Allen almost sighed in relief at hearing the man's voice. So he was in there after all. That was both a good thing and a bad thing.
"Tyki, we need your help. Eaze is missing and we can't find him." Said Allen, walking up to the door. "You have known Eaze the longest, and we thought we could ask you to help us because you are the most likely to know where the boy is."
"Eaze is missing?" Asked Tyki from the other side of the door.
"I am so sorry Tyki!" said Krory, trying to open the door. "Eaze and I were going to play a game of seek and hide-"
"Hide and go seek!" corrected Lavi.
"And we can't find him anywhere." finished Lenalee. Everyone turned to the door, waiting for an answer. Suddenly, they heard a noise come from inside the room. After a few minutes, Tyki emerged from his room. Allen almost gasped as he saw Tyki's appearance. The man looked as if he was being tormented! Tyki had giant bags under his eyes, which where red from not sleeping.
"Tyki?" asked Allen, his hand reaching up to touch the man's cheek. "Are you ok? You don't look so well." Tyki caught Allen's arm before it could come in contact with his skin.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Said the man, not looking at the boy. "I just didn't sleep much last night. Now," he turned to the rest of his friends. "Where have you already looked?"
"We have already checked every room on the first five floors of this place." Replied Lenalee, trying to ignore Tyki's appearance.
"But we still haven't found him and we started this manhunt over an hour ago!" said Lavi, turning to his friend.
"Do you have any idea where he is?" asked Allen.
"Well, if what you say is true, then I have no clue where Eaze is." replied Tyki, avoiding Allen's gaze. "All I can do now is help you look for him."
"That would be great." Said Lenalee. "Come on you guys. We can stop for lunch first, then continue our search."
"Now that sounds like a plan!" said Lavi, turning toward the stairs. "I am starving!" Allen looked over at Tyki once again, trying not to worry about his friend. It was only then that he noticed the dry tear marks that were on the man's face. But before he could say something about it, Tyki had tuned away from him and was heading towards the stairs to eat lunch.
Much to Allen's surprise, it took the rest of the day to find Eaze. Even with all of them looking in deferent places, it took the group five hours to find the boy. They found the seven-year-old hiding in the lounge in a cabinet.
"It took you long enough!" said Eaze, jumping down from his hiding place. "I have been up there for ages!"
"Eaze." Said Tyki, looking the boy in the eye. "If you are going to play hide and seek here, please set up boundaries of where you are going to be. This place is huge and there are way to many places to hide."
"Awwwww!" Pouted Eaze, folding his arms. "It's more fun without boundaries!"
"Maybe for the person hiding, but not for the person doing the seeking." Said Lenalee. "You disappeared from the world for 5 hours! We were really worried about you!" Eaze replied by sticking his tongue out at her.
"Allen will side with me right?" said the boy, running over to Allen. Allen just shook his head as he looked down at his friend.
"Sorry Eaze but I'm going to have to side with Lenalee this time." Said Allen. "Try to be a little bit more considerate of other people when you play."
"Fine!" Said Eaze, giving up. "I'll play with boundaries next time! Anyway, what time is it? I'm starving!"
"It's 5:00." Said Lavi, looking over at the Grandfather clock on the opposite wall. "We are just in time for dinner."
"Yay!" shouted Eaze, grabbing Allen's hand. "Let's go eat!" Allen looked at the boy and signed. He would punish the kid later, but for now, he was hungry.
"Well, if you do not need my help anymore," Said Tyki, turning to leave. "I have to get going."
"Wait up Tyki!" said Lenalee. "Aren't you going to eat with us?" Tyki stopped in his tracks, back turned to the group.
"I…want to be by myself for a little while." replied Tyki, not looking at his friends. "Sorry." Allen frowned he watched the man's figure turn the corner and disappear from view. Yes, something was definitely up, but Tyki refused to talk about it. Whenever Allen tried to hold Tyki's hand, Tyki just walked in the opposite direction, or suddenly became interested in something else. It was the same when Allen tried to even talk to the man.
"Allen, is something wrong?" asked Eaze, running up to the older boy. Allen tore his gaze from the corner Tyki had just disappeared behind and looked at the boy at his feet.
"No," he said, smiling. "Nothing's wrong. Let's go eat!"
"Yay!" said the boy, pulling Allen to the stairs. Allen threw one last glance in Tyki's direction, before joining his friends in the dinning room.
(A/N) Ok I know this chapter isn't the best, but I ill try to fix it when I come home form school. Until then enjoy!