We haven't had any real action in a few chapters, so let's just get through this.

"Blake, are you sure you'll be okay?" Lucia asked as she and Blake waited for Allen and Lenalee at the Black Order's entrance.

Blake smiled at her. "Your concern for me is touching, Lucia, really. But I'll be fine. We have more important things to worry about. And if I need to grieve, I'll just do it along the way. Besides, I've done enough crying in front of you."

Lucia hesitantly laid a hand on Blake's shoulder. "If you need more...I...I'll be here," she stammered. Her face turned red at the implications.

"Thank you, Lucia. But why don't we just focus the mission for now?" Blake kindly but firmly displaced Lucia's hand with his own just as Allen and Lenalee rounded the corner. But they had another two people with them. Komui was expected, but the other was…

"Timothy? Why is he here?" Lucia asked.

Blake had his suspicions, but didn't answer her. Instead, he waved at them. "Morning, all of you. Here to see us off, boss?"

Komui nodded. "Well, yes...and to ask one more favor of you."

"We have to train Timothy on the way," Allen explained it for Komui.

"Why?" Lucia asked.

Blake shrugged. "Field training is the fastest training. But still, Timothy's just a child. And if the Earl is after Cross, then there will be more and more dangerous Akuma after him too. Is it really wise to do this?"

Timothy spoke up. "I don't care. I just want some time away from Emilia. Don't talk about me like I'm not here!"

Lenalee leaned down to his eye level. "Tim, you don't understand. If you come with us, you'll be fighting more monsters like the ones who attacked you in the orphanage. Not just Level 2s, but Level 3s. Are you sure you're up for it?"

Timothy nodded. "I couldn't protect my first home. I want to get stronger, so I can protect the second one," he replied.

Allen and Blake exchanged impressed looks. For such a young child, Timothy displayed remarkable maturity. Allen nodded. "All right, Tim, you can come with us. But you have to listen to us. Your safety depends on it. And don't think we won't be slacking on your studies, either, Emilia gave me some books to continue the material you're on," he said.

Timothy didn't look too happy about this, but seemed to realize that the four younger Exorcists combined wouldn't be as strict a teacher to him as Emilia was, and so he grudgingly nodded.

"Then it's settled. I don't like it much myself, but Timothy's coming with us. Any last objections?" Lucia asked. The others all shook their heads no.

"Good. Then, I wish you all luck. May we see each other again," Komui said. He looked at Lenalee and instantly changed moods. "GOODBYE, LENALEE-CHAN!" he sobbed.

Lenalee gave her brother a tight hug and a look of annoyance before pecking his cheek and pulling away. Blake shoved and held the doors open for the rest of the party, whistling for Timcampy, who fluttered down from some distance above them.

Allen led the group with Timcampy on his shoulder, and Blake closed the doors behind them. Allen quickly hailed down a coach from the assembled crowd and held the door open for the rest. "The train station," he requested before going in, taking a seat beside Blake and rapping on the coach's roof to signal the driver's beginning.

"Where are we going?" Lenalee asked.

"Timcampy showed that Master's location is somewhere east. That could be almost anywhere else in Europe, including Russia, or a little bit further south, to the Asian continent proper. In other words, we could very well have an incredibly long trip ahead of us; long enough that we might have to rely on Blake's flying to get around," Allen said.

Blake sighed. "Even then, carrying four other people, I would be only be able to fly for a day at the very upper limits of my energy and perseverance. And that would be at a considerably lower speed, what with the added weight and considering the effect the wind would have on all of you."

"Couldn't I fly at least Timothy or Lenalee?" Lucia asked.

Blake shook his head. "I hate to say it, but I'm not too confident in your energy conservation skills. It's one thing to have incredible power in Level 2, Lucia, but maintaining that power without getting exhausted is another thing entirely. Anyway, the reason we're going to the port is that Allen and I have an idea about how to narrow down where Cross is. Cross is a vagrant, a wanderer. Very few people would care enough to keep track of his location. The only ones who would are serious lovers…"

"Or debt collectors." Allen finished with a wicked grin, waving five train tickets to Liverpool.

Allen was currently having trouble getting Timothy to focus on math in a cabin next door to the others. At the very least, it was only two-to-three digit multiplication, not something on the level of trigonometry or worse, calculus. While Allen did enjoyably partake in freedom of knowledge, there was a limit to his interest.

"Come on, Tim, just one more drill. Once you do that, we'll take a break. We're almost to the port, anyway," Allen encouraged.

"But I already know this stuff. Why do I have to do this?" Timothy whined.

"Practice makes perfect, Tim. Remember, in the beginning, I had to look at this stuff for a little bit to make sure I knew what I was doing? That was because I hadn't done anything like it in years. Even if my tutors practically beat the knowledge into my head when I was even younger than you, I still had to remind myself just now," Allen explained.

"But it's easy. And useless," Timothy argued.

"That might be the case now, but it's always good to both have skills and practice them, or you'll lose them with lack of practice, and all your work will be wasted. Besides, don't you want to brag to all your little friends back home about how much more you know compared to them?" Allen pointed out.

Timothy still didn't look too happy as he continued, and he stopped again once he quickly finished three more problems, with Allen's surprise at his speed, and displeasure at his stopping. "Tim..." he warned.

"I don't have any friends my age at the Black Order, Allen," Timothy muttered.

Allen felt a pang of sadness at this, and he laid a hand on Timothy's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Tim. I know we're no replacement for real kids. Blake, Lucia, Lenalee, and I are all so much older, even if Blake acts like he's half his age sometimes," Allen said.

"I still feel happy, though. Blake's even been teaching me how to fight, and Tsukikami is teaching me how to use him. And that game we played with everyone was fun!" Timothy chirped.

Allen chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Keep up with your studies, and Blake and I will show you some real tricks of the trade. You did pretty well back in your Phantom Thief G days, but you should have seen Blake and me. There's a good reason you were being ignored more often when we were around."

Lenalee poked her head in and glared at Allen. "Allen, don't be such a bad influence on him. I could hear your conversation, you know!"

Allen innocently blinked at her. "Why, whatever are you talking about, Lenalee?" he jokingly protested. He turned back to Timothy and winked, which was quickly followed by Lenalee rapping his head with her knuckles.

"Allen…" she warned.

"Okay, okay, no thief tricks, on my word," Allen promised. Then he paused. "But I don't speak for…"

"Lucia's already got Blake's word," Lenalee interrupted, smiling. Allen's eye twitched, and Lenalee's smile grew wider. "We're almost at the port. Finish up here, okay?"

"Got it," Allen smiled back as Lenalee left the cabin.

"Are you two gonna get married?" Timothy asked, quietly.

Allen whirled around. "What, no! I don't...we don't have that kind of relationship, Tim!"

Timothy smirked. "Allen, even I could see it. You like-" Allen shot forward and covered Timothy's mouth.

"Tim, say one more word about this and I swear, I'm giving you a quiz on long division," Allen threatened as he lifted his hand away.

"But I'm not good at long division," Timothy protested.

Allen gave him a wicked grin. "Well, great time to practice, isn't it?"

"Noooooo!" Timothy screamed as Allen laughed.

Fortunately for Tim, he was on his best student behavior for the rest of the train ride, and Allen was quite proud of him. As Timothy bragged about Allen's praise to Lenalee and Lucia, Allen and Blake planned a very special lesson for Timothy.

"We both gave our words, didn't we?" Blake whispered.

"Exactly. And unfortunately, an aristocrat's word and a thief's honor have varying degrees of ironcladness. Taken together, though, they have huge weight. However, wording matters, and I only promised not to teach him thief skills. What did you promise?" Allen asked.

"Not to be a bad influence on him in general," Blake muttered.

Allen laughed. "Yeah, it figures that you're the more "dangerous" one. Downside of such an image, eh?"

Blake smirked. "Try not to act so innocent, Allen. I know what you have planned. So what will it be?"

Allen smiled as the girls and Timothy looked up in awe at the ferry to their next destination that he and Blake had reserved just two days before. "Oh, nothing too serious or advanced. Just a little...sleight-of-hand."

The reason Allen and Blake had chosen this particular ferry was simple: it wasn't for speed, convenience, or price, although all three were decent, but because this was a casino ferry. And not just any casino ferry, but a crooked casino ferry. While there were other, safer accommodations in the ship, for example, the cabins were nice and there was a pool on the top deck for the younger children, only the richest and the most skilled gamblers could enter the Queen Annis and leave with their pride and money relatively intact.

Luckily, both Allen and Blake were very skilled and quite a bit wealthy. The Queen Annis was not particular about who it let enter the casino, but the ship's terrible reputation meant that many potential players tended to steer clear. Indeed, although the ship just happened to hold a bi-weekly poker tournament, and it just happened to fall on that day, Allen and Blake, having left the others at the cabins for a bit, immediately noticed that very few people were actually lingering near the tables, waiting for the tournament to start.

"Have fun, Allen," Blake chuckled, patting his shoulder as he headed away from the card tables.

"Why don't you join me? We'd have a bit more chance at this," Allen suggested.

"Skill has no chance against subterfuge," Blake replied.

Allen shook his head in disappointment as he neared the tables. Blake really did underestimate himself sometimes.

One hour later, Allen had completely destroyed and outclassed every player, dealer, and cheat going against him. The dealer was starting to get suspicious, but Allen's winning smile was quite disarming. It was now the final match, Allen against the casino's manager, one who was rumored to be undefeated.

As he neared the boss's table, Allen glanced at Blake at the dart boards and smiled. While he was keeping the boss distracted, Blake had quietly continued to win, alternating between roulette, pool, and darts to build up a stack of winnings from the casino. Blake had lost enough times to keep his skill hidden, but no one seemed to notice that Blake got bullseyes far more often than not, that his winnings at roulette more than made up for his losses, and that when he missed in pool, it was to set up for another series of holes in his next set.

"Aloysius Pandolfo," the boss greeted, holding out his hand to shake.

"Allen Walker. Honored to be here," Allen replied, with another smile.

"You should be. I've heard about your winnings. You understand, I have very high stakes in this game," Aloysius said.

"Yes, you do, sir," Allen replied.

"You are an Exorcist of the Black Order...does not the Catholic Church forbid gambling?"

Allen chuckled. "What they don't know won't hurt them."

Aloysius laughed uproariously. "I like you, boy! Let's have a good game! Draw poker!" He dealt out five cards to each of them.

Allen immediately saw that his hand was terrible, with nothing but singles. He sighed. The deck was most likely stacked against him. He supposed that a small loss was necessary.

"A hundred pounds," he announced, tossing a few chips in.

"Call."

"I'll replace three cards." Allen threw out three cards and drew again. A wicked grin grew on his face. The deck was stacked, but not particularly well. "A thousand."

"Call."

The pot was at twenty-two hundred pounds. A potentially vicious loss, but this early in the game, there was very little chance that Aloysius was playing too seriously.

"King-high straight," Aloysius revealed. Allen raised an eyebrow. Not a particularly bad hand, but…

"Diamond flush," Allen trounced it. Aloysius smiled, but it became more fixed as Allen gathered the pot.

"Pretty good, boy."

"Just a little bit of luck. I'm sure you'll win it all back, sir." Allen gave him an encouraging smile. Aloysius smiled back, but his eyes were searching as he shuffled the deck.

Allen and the boss continued playing. Aloysius's strategy was efficient, but Allen insisted in shuffling the cards himself, cutting a few times to ruin the stack, while inserting some special tricks of his own. He played the part of the innocent new blood at poker easily enough, crowing with surprise and encouraging the continuation of the game when he won and acting unsurprised and incredibly disappointed when he lost. This act was enough to throw Aloysius off the scent, and he never noticed that Allen's winnings were steeper than his losses.

Not until the end, at least. It was the tenth game. At this point, Aloysius finally noticed that Allen's winnings exceeded his own, by a good enough amount to make him lose some of his nerve. How had he not noticed until now?

Allen hid a small smile as he caught the moment Aloysius saw the threat. Like any sadistic predator, he loved the moment when the prey realized the trap. The cards were dealt. They made their bets. They redrew their cards. But only Allen noticed his opponent's cards up his sleeve.

"All in," Allen announced. At this point, the combined winnings had increased to twenty thousand pounds. It was enough to throw the casino into near-bankruptcy or throw Allen into a debtor's cell. But a victory with such high stakes would save the boat and line Aloysius's pockets into the lap of luxury.

"All in," he replied.

Allen smiled. "You may show first. Boss's dignity and all that." He looked up at the casino manager rushing up behind Aloysius and shaking his shoulder urgently. The manager then noticed Allen, his eyes took in the Black Order's uniform, and his shaking became more frantic.

Aloysius gritted his teeth and ignored Poul. "I am busy now, Poul! Later!" he hissed.

"But sir…"

"I said later!" Turning back to Allen, he smiled. "You've played a good game. But…" He confidently threw down his cards, arrogantly revealing them one by one. The ten of hearts. The jack of hearts. The queen of hearts. The king of hearts. The ace of hearts. It was the finest hand he could make in the situation. He was even lucky enough to draw a ten of hearts in that last hand. "Royal straight flush of hearts."

Allen's eyes widened. His hands shook. He had certainly underestimated this man. The royal straight flush of hearts was an incredible hand. It would beat just about anything. But while Allen had underestimated Aloysius, Aloysius had underestimated him even more. He supposed it was fortunate that the Black Order's coat had sleeves dark enough to hide tricks, but loose enough to dislodge them. And unlike Aloysius, he had left nothing to chance.

"Royal straight flush of spades." Allen announced and revealed the only hand that could beat his opponent's. Aloysius gagged, his eyes bulging out as he lost all hope. Poul's eyes sagged as he cried out in despair.

Allen laughed, and he wasn't alone. Aloysius and Poul watched Blake Phantasia join him, and the realization finally hit. Because Allen and Blake had separately distracted the heads of the casino, and had taken care to stay as far enough away from each other as possible, neither of them had noticed.

"You...you two were working together!" Poul pointed a shaking, accusatory finger at them.

"The reputation was true, Stacking decks, counting cards, cards up sleeves, self-serving shuffling...a casino like this really ruins the fun of gambling. There's no fun in constantly losing, especially for money," Allen sighed.

"It wasn't just the cards, either. The darts were weighted and unbalanced, and the roulette wheel was set up so that the overseer could stop it at will. The only really fair game was pool," Blake added.

"Now, give us our winnings," Allen ordered.

Aloysius stiffened. "Poul? How much did the other one win?"

"S-seven thousand, sir."

"Shillings?"

"Pounds."

Aloysius roared. "You pair of dirty cheats!" At this point, a crowd was gathering and murmuring.

Blake smiled. "If I remember correctly, you're the cheats. Those darts were weighted, remember? Feeling aside…" He revealed a stolen dart from his coat pocket and snapped it in two, revealing that the tip end was weighted with small balls made of iron.

"Also…" Allen darted forward and kicked Aloysius hard, sending him reeling backwards and his arms flapping wildly to right himself again. Unfortunately, he had forgotten how loose his sleeves were, and by the time he realized it, it was too late; the entire assembled crowd had seen the dozens of cards flying out of his outfit.

"You cheaters!"

"Swindlers!"

"Get the captain!"

Allen and Blake smugly left the justice to the public. They would have to bring back the others later to restore order.

"YOU GUYS DID WHAT?!" Lucia shrieked. Allen and Blake were dealing with a tongue-lashing from both of the girls, whom they had...forgotten...to inform of their activities.

"We cheated the crooked casino out of all its money?" Blake tentatively replied.

"That's not what we're concerned about! It's mob rule in the casino now! You just left them to die!" Lucia exclaimed.

"And don't even say that they deserve it. They don't," Lenalee added, glaring at them both as she gathered up her coat.

"But…" Allen started.

"Ah-bah-bah! No buts. You want us to go restore order, right? Let's go! Come on, Tim!" Lenalee ordered.

Timothy was currently avoiding Lenalee's glare, so he just gathered up his jacket and followed her. Lucia gave the boys one last glare, to which they returned a sheepish look, before they all followed.

Allen and Blake quickly took the lead, and adopted the stern, harsh glares of enforcers of authority. They returned to the casino, where, from the looks of it, Aloysius, Poul, and a few of the casino workers had been beaten to within an inch of their lives. It seemed the number of those who had been swindled was higher than Allen and Blake had expected.

The captain noticed them, and forcefully dragged them forward. "You two did this! So now you're going to fix it!" he growled.

"That's what we came back for, captain," Blake replied as Allen raised his voice above the crowd.

"Stop! Stop! All of you, ENOUGH!" he shouted. The crowd gradually quieted. "I know how all of you must feel. These bastards cheated you out of all your money! However, the amount of money my friend and I won is more than equal to the casino's funds! I will divide it among all of you! This is a small crowd, so…" He took some time to count. "Forty people! I promise five hundred twenty five pounds to each of you! The rest will be given to the ship's captain, in the hope that he will use it to hire more scrupulous workers!" This was followed by a meaningful look to the ship's captain, who nodded in grudging acquiescence.

"But I lost more than that!" someone protested.

Blake held up a hand. "Five hundred twenty five pounds to each of you and no more! If you have lost more, then you may work here for the rest of the voyage or until you have paid off the debt! Gambling is not a healthy way of life! Try and be honest!"

"Rich coming from you," Lucia muttered. Blake pretended not to hear her.

There were a few more protests, but Allen and Blake silenced them through either diplomacy or intimidation. To ensure that there were no more problems, Allen and Blake sat themselves at a table with a good view of the entire casino. Blake kept Aloysius and Poul under his watch and even tighter bonds, but he let the other workers go free to help with cleanup.

"Hey, guys? How did you manage to cheat the casino out of all its money anyway?" Timothy asked as he and the girls sat down at the table that Blake and Allen had chosen.

Blake grinned. "Well, I'm glad you asked, Tim! It actually ties back to our time with General Cross. While we still have time left on this voyage, Allen and I should tell you guys exactly what he was like…" He gave an involuntary shudder at the thought.

Allen called up a worker and asked for some warm tea and milk for Timothy before continuing. "You guys should already know by now that life under Master wasn't exactly ideal."

Lucia scoffed. "If all of your moaning and screaming wasn't a dead giveaway, I'm not sure what would be. Was the training really that tough?"

Allen smiled. "No, the training was fairly easy thanks to the physical augmentation that our Innocence gave us. Combat and education were the only fun things about the whole experience. Plus, we had each other for support."

Blake nodded. "Yeah. The hard thing about Cross was…" He and Allen got a shaken, disgusted look on their faces. "...his utter inability to manage money."

"Why are a pair of ten-year old kids being forced to look after a thirty-year old man?" Blake grumbled.

"Because that thirty-year old is an incompetent," Allen replied, just as annoyed as they walked into one of the bars that Cross was known to frequent. This was their seventh bar. Usually, they would have found him by now. If not, he was either giving them the slip, or passed out in a gutter somewhere. If it was the latter, they would just wait for him to come back in the morning.

"Hey! You kids are with Cross, aren't you? Come with us!"

"Huh?" That was the last thing Allen and Blake heard before something like truncheons were brought down on their heads.

Allen woke tied up with Blake at his side. "So you're awake. Wake your friend up!" a rough voice ordered. Allen glared at the owner of the voice, a well-muscled bruiser of a man. "Blake, Blake, wake up!" he called, playing the role of a frightened child as usual.

Blake stirred. "What hit us?" he asked.

"Now listen up, kids! Cross owes me and my friends three hundred guineas from that bar after he offered to buy! So cough it up, or you two will have to pay!" the man threatened.

"But we don't have that kind of money!" Allen protested.

"Then I guess you guys will have to work, then!" the guy growled, holding up his truncheon.

"Now, Allen!" Blake shot past the guy with surprising speed, and while his back was turned, Allen used his legs to trip him up and stepped on him as he ran after Blake. He caught up with Blake quickly.

"How do we keep on getting into these messes?" Allen cried as the first thug and his friends began to chase the boys.

"That doesn't sound that bad. At least you guys got away," Lucia pointed out.

Blake looked dour. "We got kidnapped, trussed up, and were almost sold to a workhouse because of one of Cross's debts. A three-hundred guinea debt."

"But surely there were good times?" Lenalee asked.

Allen gave her a meaningfully depressed look. "That one was one of the good times…"

Blake nodded with a shudder. "There were so many times when we were forced to work long hours rowing a giant ship while some bastard barked orders at us with a whip…"

"And we still have scars from when we were thrown into forests and mountains filled with bears…" Allen continued.

"And we even almost died after getting lost in the desert with no water!"

Blake and Allen were practically hugging each other at this point. It would have been almost comical if not for the tears streaming down their faces.

Both Lucia and Lenalee looked almost sorry for them, but Timothy looked on with curiosity. "So then what happened?"

"Well, while we were traveling around with Cross, we came to Liverpool, and Cross worked up a comparatively small debt with this woman, whom we're going to visit now," Allen said.

Lenalee suddenly shot almost completely across the table and leaned forward with a blush and wide eyes. "His lover?!" she exclaimed, drawing the attention of some of the other patrons of the casino.

Allen chuckled. "What is it with you and lovers? No, Lenalee, we just call her Mother, and she's more like a person whom Cross owes. Also, please sit down, you're making a scene," he replied.

Lenalee looked around and murmured an apology. Blake laughed and continued. "This was the first time in awhile that we were actually staying in one spot for more than a week, so while we were staying with Mother, we actually started to talk with the patrons at bars, and more often than not, they invited us to play cards, darts, roulette, and so on for money. At first, we did it for fun, but it started to get serious."

Allen nodded. "I started it to try to rehabilitate my left hand and arm, but pretty soon, I was learning card tricks left and right."

"And I was getting better at the games of skill, like darts and pool. By the first six months even after we left, we had seen and mastered an entire slew of tricks and, between the two of us, just couldn't be beaten at any game," Blake went on.

Then both of them began to grin wickedly. "Now neither of us can even go near a casino like this without winning money," Allen hissed.

Blake stood up and began to stalk back to the lower game floors. "If you don't believe us…"

Lenalee and Lucia urgently pulled them back. "We believe you, we believe you!" Lucia reassured them. The girls exchanged rather creeped out looks.

Blake sighed as he sat back down. "But all our skill backfired. When Cross found out how much money we were pulling in, all his drinking, gambling, and carrying on got even worse. Even worse, although our combat abilities were high even in the beginning, we ran into trouble actually killing Akuma. Especially thanks to this idiot and his cursed eye." He gestured with his eyes at Allen.

Allen was heading back to the small inn that he, Blake, and Cross were staying in for the night, frustrated that Blake had beaten him in training once again. Cross was full of praises for his tough, roguish friend, and was all too happy to criticize Allen for his shortcomings. Even after a year of traveling together, and even more time before St. Rowena's Square fencing and, in the worst cases, brawling with Blake, Allen had never once been able to beat him. Sure, Blake tried his best to take it easy on him, but with Cross looming over his shoulder whenever he tried, he had no choice.

As he was walking, Allen suddenly felt a pain in his left eye. "No...no, not now!" he shouted. His left sclera suddenly turned black, and his iris turned red. He looked around wildly, becoming more panicked as he realized that all around him, catatonic humans with the souls of Akuma were gathering, surrounding him.

A groan sounded behind him. Allen turned and jumped back as he saw the tormented soul of a Level 1 Akuma right behind him. He screamed and raced to the nearest alley, prepared to run as fast as he could back to the inn.

Allen ducked through alleyways, running through the narrow paths like a common street thief, relying on his cursed eye to avoid the Akuma who tried cut him off, even in the dark. At this point, they had taken their true forms, shedding their human skin in order to fly and kill any witnesses. But Allen couldn't grieve for those lost lives; he could only focus on saving his own.

He swore as he reached a public park with very few places to hide. He turned around to see the Akuma descending from the sky and from behind. There were many more now.

Allen prepared to activate his Innocence, not ready to go down without a fight, but he faltered as he heard the crying of those tortured souls.

"Help…"

"Saave uss…"

"Please…"

"I can't take this pain!"

"Help me!"

"Help me!"

"PLEASE HELP ME!"

He was so shaken by those cries that he didn't notice an Akuma charging up a series of shots. By the time he did, it was too late to avoid it…"

"ALLEN!" Allen was yanked aside from the bullets' path, stirring him.

"Blake!" he recognized his savior. Blake glared at the approaching Akuma. His right arm was activated and coursing with electricity. Allen could feel the power that Blake now possessed.

"Get out of here, Allen! Try to find Cross and then come back here as quickly as you can!" Blake ordered, his face uncharacteristically serious.

"But what about you?" Allen asked.

"I'm not going to die today, my brother! And if nothing else, you're not going to die either! We survived St. Rowena's Square together, we can survive this! But you're useless as you are now, against these things! Just go! Hurry!"

Allen wished he could stay and fight, but Blake was right. He reluctantly raced towards the residential area. Behind him, he heard Blake's battle cries and the shrieks of dying and attacking Akuma. Allen kept running, hoping by that some miracle...

"Where are you going, idiot apprentice?" Allen stopped in his tracks. On the other end of the park, General Cross stood with Timcampy on his head and his arms folded.

"Master! Blake's in trouble! A bunch of Akuma attacked me, but then he saved me, and...and now…!" Allen was out of breath from running, but there was no point in explaining.

"Yeah, I know. Blake is actually the good apprentice. So let me ask you this...what the hell are you doing here?" Cross growled.

Allen was taken aback. "I came to get you!"

Cross stalked over and lifted Allen by the collar. "Your best friend just saved your life, and all you did was run away from him, crying to me like a little baby?! I thought you two were like brothers, but apparently, Blake's a better brother than you could ever be!" He tossed Allen to the ground in disgust. "If you were a real Exorcist and a real brother, you would have stayed and fought by his side! Why aren't you there with him?!"

"But...Master, I...those souls…" Allen stammered.

Cross gritted his teeth. "Allen, how do you feel when you see those souls?"

Allen didn't answer. He had never thought about that before.

Cross scoffed and began to walk away. "I'm not going to help Blake until you figure out what you need to do, idiot apprentice."

"Master, wait! Please!" Allen's cries went ignored, and Allen slumped down against a wall. From the other end of the park, the sound of explosions and flashes of purple light were still coming. Blake was still fighting, but against that many Akuma...how could he stand a chance? How could Allen possibly beat that many Akuma if even Blake couldn't beat them?

It was hopeless. Allen felt hopeless. He couldn't save his...brother…

Allen shot up. Brother. Blake called him his brother. Cross called them brothers. And they had made a vow before, hadn't they? Before St. Rowena's Square...those four, Prince Regulus, Wendell Desier, Blake Phantasia, and himself, Allen Walker. They were brothers by that weird Japanese ceremony, even if it had been incomplete.

And they were brothers by actual brotherly love. Allen couldn't remember a time where Blake hadn't been by his side. Sure, they had their fights, but Blake and Allen stuck together through thick and thin. Until now.

Allen began to run back towards the fight. No! He'd be damned if he didn't stick with Blake now, especially when he needed his help most. It wasn't long before Allen saw Blake again, and he cried out in shock. Blake finally looked his age in this situation: a mere ten-year old boy standing alone against a large group of monsters. Sure, he had managed to defeat about half of them while Allen was gone, but it took a serious toll. The vibrant lightning on Blake's arm was reduced to a few sparks, and he was shaky on his feet as his Innocence worked overtime to combat the Akuma poisoning from several bullets that had hit him.

"BLAKE!" Allen recklessly ran through the swarm of Akuma, ignoring the shocked face his friend gave him. "Innocence, activate!"

For the first time since St. Rowena's Square, no, his whole life, Allen's left arm activated at Allen's command. The large silver claw launched forward to slice a Level 1 Akuma apart. The Akuma screamed, but Allen saw its soul cry out, not in pain, but in relief.

"Allen! What are you doing back here?" Blake asked.

"You called me your brother. I wouldn't be a very good brother if I just let you die, wouldn't I?" With that, Allen launched an attack to single-handedly destroy the remaining Akuma, taking most of them down with a single swipe of his claw. Blake quickly joined the battle, firing off intermittent bolts of lightning to destroy or at least slow down any Akuma that hoped to attack Allen from behind. Before long, all of the Akuma were destroyed.

Allen and Blake deactivated their Innocence, and Blake suddenly collapsed prone on the ground. "Blake!" Allen knelt down and rolled his friend over. His eyes were closed, and Allen started to shake him a little, hoping that he would stir.

"Good job, idiot apprentice number one." Allen looked up at Cross, who gave Blake a once-over. "He'll be fine given rest and a warm place to sleep. We'll take him back to the inn and bandage his wounds. The Innocence in his body will keep the Akuma poison from spreading, and eventually purge it from his system." He knelt down so that his back was facing Allen, who just sat there confused. "What are you doing? Hurry up and put him on my back, idiot apprentice!"

"Oh, yes, Master!" Allen shifted Blake so that Cross was giving him a piggyback ride. It was uncharacteristic of Cross, but for the sake of his health, Allen decided not to comment on it.

"So how did it feel, Allen? Killing an Akuma for the first time?" Cross asked as they walked back to the inn.

"It was...scary. But I felt sad and happy at the same time, too. When those souls faded away, they looked so relieved. Some of them even thanked me," Allen replied.

Cross grunted. "Your eye is both blessing and curse. You might be able to see those Akuma souls, but at the same time, you can bring a new perspective. It wasn't just about saving my idiot apprentice number two today. It was also about saving those damned souls from the Millennium Earl. That is what our Innocence is for."

"I see, Master...aghh!" Allen let out a strangled yelp of pain as Cross suddenly kicked him in the gut. "What was that for, stupid master-wahhh!" He fell down as Cross tossed Blake's unconscious body at him.

"This damn boy's too heavy for me, I'm going out drinking tonight! The inn's right down there, so your scrawny ass can haul your "brother" back up those stairs yourself! Have fun!" Cross shouted as he left Allen and Blake in the streets.

"Damn you, Masterrrr!" Allen cried.

"It was late, so I had to beg the innkeeper to let us in…" Allen whined.

"Did you have to tell the emotional parts and the parts I was unconscious for?" Blake snapped.

"It's called world-building and emotional strain, Blake. Those are two key elements of any story," Allen replied.

"Oh? That really was a good story, though," Lucia commented, taking another sip of her tea.

Lenalee nodded in agreement. "I could really see what was happening. That last part was funny," she laughed.

"Funny?! That bastard left two kids out in the streets at night! One of them was unconscious! And the only reason we came back was because Cross dumped us in India two years ago and made us come back here by ourselves!" Blake protested.

Allen nodded vigorously. "He practically left us out there to die! And again, that was still one of the better parts of our training! General Cross Marian is nothing more than a…"

"An amazing man!" Lenalee moved backwards as a dreamily-eyed woman with glasses wearing a lilac dress leaned in with her hands clasped as if imagining her lover. "I was listening to your story, boys, and there were a bunch of parts like the Akuma that I didn't really understand, but...your master definitely cares about both of you!"

"Are you crazy?! How could…" Blake was cut off by another woman.

"Yes! He cares so much about you two that instead of leading you by the hand like a pair of weak children, he let you nurture yourselves and grow on your own! Why, if my son was half as well-accomplished as you two, I'd be one of the happiest mothers alive!" the second woman gushed.

Allen and Blake tried to protest, but they were soon swamped by a large group of love-struck women asking for introductions to and even arrangements for private liaisons with Cross. Timothy looked on confused and a little weirded out while Lenalee and Lucia continued sipping their tea.

"You know, these women do have a point. Cross leaving them to fend for themselves most of the time actually made them stronger. I don't know where the thief bit came from, though," Lucia pointed out.

Lenalee laughed and nodded. "It's true. And if he hadn't left them in India, they wouldn't have come back here. Who knows, maybe they had to become criminals on the way here, and by the time we met them, they were doing it so naturally that it was a way of life. And because of that harsh way, eventually we and the Black Order met two of the best Exorcists we have." She finished her cup and sighed. "If Cross planned that out…"

"Then he's one of the most interesting men I've ever heard of," Lucia finished, winking at Lenalee as Allen and Blake finally shoved the gaggle of women away.

"Are you crazy?! How could you two of all people think that?!" Blake protested.

"Cross is one of the worst human beings alive...so why do women always throw themselves at him and other bad boy types?!" Allen dramatically agonized over the question.

"Aw, forget it!"

"Women are just too confusing!"

The boys' exclamations echoed as the Queen Annis reached her destination.

Whew, nice long chapter to make up for the lack of updates. I feel like I just gave you two episodes instead of just one.

Anyway, I'm not too familiar with the UK currency system, but I tried to make it as accurate as possible for both the time period and status of Allen and Blake. If Pride and Prejudice is any source to go by, upwards of 10,000 pounds a year is considered impressively wealthy in the Victorian era, where D-Gray Man roughly takes place. I used the assumption that the casino has been cheating people for a long enough time to be considered enough of a fortune of wealth.

Leave a comment below if you so wish, especially if there are any discrepancies you'd like to point out. I try to keep this relatively historically accurate, with my own touch as well. Hard to balance sometimes.