Sorry for the long wait, everyone! I hope this chapter makes up for it, and I love all of you.
sparklehannah (Guest) - You are great! I hope you know that. I'd love to have had this chapter out faster, but have been in a period of complete writers block for… 3 months? I truly love your reviews, though.
NobodyofSomebody - I'm still writing it, see? Just… slowly. 'Cause I always get writer's block.
Ryuakilover - Um… I actually hadn't known about the changing arm color. Probably 'cause I only read the manga and pay absolutely no attention to what color something is. It's before Crown Clown, since I don't want to give him too many problems right now.
Shadow Spears, readwithcats - thanks for your review!
"Why is it so damn crowded in 'ere? Ya bastards better not make dis yer hang out! I'll kick all yer arses!" Allen screamed to the three people who entered his room. Sure, he had gotten used to Lavi coming and going as he pleased without paying mind to Allen, and Allen learned to think of Lavi's existence to the equivalent of air. The same could not be said for Kanda and Lenalee. No matter what Allen is like or what he calls himself, those two will never be able to get along without fighting. Lenalee just treated him like the child he was half the time, and the other half scolded him on his language. She annoyed him far more than Kanda would ever be able to.
The only good part about their visits was what they would bring. These guys had to be rich or something with the number of zeros in their wallets, not that Allen knew what currency it was they were using or the value of any of it. The two either didn't notice the lack of change occupying their pockets or never suspected him of being the one to do it. Both were possible reasons, though with what they thought Red was like made it more likely to the be later option.
It kept him satisfied for the time being. Not being able to swipe anything of value for the first couple of weeks he was in the same boring hospital rooms was mentally taxing. Sure, he'd taken a couple of Lavi's things, as well as the other people who came in every so often, but each time he'd put them back. All they carried were weird contraptions. A hammer, needle thing, vial of creepy looking gunk and so on. None of them made him want to keep it, except maybe the hammer. He returned the hammer anyway, seeing no use for it. The money he could use after finally escaping the shit hole.
First he just had to escape the lady-man, the sket, fucking eyepatch, old dude and creepy glasses guy. Easy. Jumping out the window would be the best way, but that could end in death. The only other possibilities would be sneaking his way out, since whatever fucking power there was above wouldn't give him the ability to escape from here by fighting his way out.
Plus, he still had to learn how to control this damned body.
Therefore, the first step in his in-progress plan was to train, and train hard. Lavi was excited when Allen said he wanted to get used to his body and asked about what exercises would be the best.
Lavi went overboard, talking about all of these great things to do that involved doing a one-handed handstand on the corner of a tilted chair and other equally impossible exercises. Allen responded by pushing him out of the room. Instead he did what acrobatics he could remember from the circus.
Flips, climbing, balance. All were simple for this body once Allen figured out how to control it. There might be merit in what the eyepatch was talking about if the things Allen used to struggle through came so easily. At the same time, there was no way Allen would go asking for help again. The first time was already too much of a mental struggle. Making that asshole happy took no work whatsoever, but shutting him down again? So. Damn. Exhausting.
The man-lady wouldn't help since he's a shitty nob, and the sket would be annoying about it. Therefore, it was time to escape the hospital and watch people train themselves.
Allen planned his escape. Jump out the window right after watching the weirdo trio fully leave the vicinity. Once they were out of sight, he would crawl out onto the side of the building and onto the ledge. Then, using the athletic abilities he finally got used to, he propelled himself off the first ledge before sliding down the wall and catching the windowsill below.
It was then that Allen learned one, important thing. His current body might look like shit, but it is a beautiful piece of work. No one should be able to perform that maneuver so perfectly.
From the windowsill he reached one of the cracks forming on the side of the building wall, finding one just large enough to fit three fingers into, and then placed all of his weight onto that crevice. He swung himself over to a vertical ledge mere feet away from his suspended position and clasp onto the ridges. He continued to shimmy down the ledge for three stories before landing on the ground.
Once more, Allen checked around to make sure no one was within view to see what he was doing. Not that it was a real conser, seeing as he could kill at least half the people on this weird land form without problem. The man-lady might be harder, same with the damn eye patch. Other than that, everyone else he'd seen had been wimps including the people who he'd seen while walking over to the training place. Doujo? Something like that.
The only problem with Allen's otherwise flawless theory was the gigantic wall he hadn't been able to see that blocked the only way down the mountain. It was creepy as all hell and seemed to be moving. As much as Allen wanted to disregard that weird piece of information as a hallucination, it was mildly difficult when everything else around him looked like a drug induced haze. Yet that was supposedly real life, and it didn't look anything like his last drug trip. To be fair, that was awhile ago and it's still pretty difficult to remember anything more than a week before all of this happened so there was still the possibility that none of this was reality and the people who kept him locked up constantly filled the room with a hallucinogenic.
Reality or not, Allen wanted to get out. Being held captive in a place where he can't use the money he stole was no fun what so ever. And all of the people were craze, so there's that. All he had to do was figure out how to get past the moving wall with a face and hope it was a way down the mountain and not just a steep drop like the other areas. He decided to sneak around the perimeter, sticking to walls and shadows to blend in, just the way he had done back home with more success than even then. Seems even with his white hair and weird hospital clothes and inability to scowl he was still was the best at this. The normal people glanced past him without paying any mind, and no one seemed weary enough to look closely at the shadows that seemed to move abnormally.
That said, there were far too few shadows to be able to travel in complete safety. It seemed these people of the Black Order didn't like darkness too much. Ironic, right? You would think they'd be some super shady organization that loved staying in the dark and hiding everything from the world. Of course, that could be the reason they live in such a secluded area on top of a mountain.
There were a few risky moves on his way to the weird gate, but each time he would wait until no one was in sight before moving, making sure to stay low to the ground in case someone thought they saw a shadow. Sure, that would be far less effective than it used to be in his normal body, but there's always hope. Unless there isn't, which honestly isn't abnormal when it came to his life. Actually, with his shitty luck, it was a miracle he managed to get all the way to the gate without anyone noticing. Now he just had to figure out how the fuck to get through the damn gate with a face.
"Aaaah! Allen! You're alright, huh? When did you get better? Actually, what was going on? Man, I haven't seen you in, what, three weeks? More? Dang, that's a long time. Anyway, what happened? Don't tell me you actually got taken down by some damn akuma! That'd just be pathetic. Well, you wouldn't be the first. But your arm is damn terrifying. Scares the shit out of most of the demons! Not that you care, of course. Well, you probably have somewhere to go. Do you have a break? I bet you do, since you aren't wearing your coat. Wow, you have some weird street clothes. Not that I know what those are supposed to look like anymore, since all of you wear different things! Any-who, I should let you get going. All of ya exorcists barely get any breaks! I mean, really, you get run ragged day in and day out. By, Allen! Have a nice break!"
Allen blinked to clear his head of the verbal onslaught and moved through the gate without giving it much thought, his body moving on instinct. The gate shouted a few more versions of goodbye, some which must have been in a different language since Allen wasn't used to the words but still understood what was being said. He gave a half-wave in farewell, mimicking what he would see Lavi doing whenever he left Allen's room.
He took off at a jog down the mountainous path, silently admiring the body he now had control of. The thing's stamina was off the charts, and it's speed was something he had never hoped of achieving even with the minimal training he picked up at the circus.
He wondered how the dog was doing now. It had been annoying as all hell at times where he was helping with setup and tear-down of the set, but during the cold nights having that dog to warm him was always nice. Plus, the dog always licked Allen's disgusting hand. It felt really weird at first since even Allen was reluctant to touch it at times, but having that hot wetness on it was comforting in a weird way. It was like the dog was accepting Allen's creepiness as just a part of him and moved on with life.
Dogs are such odd creatures. All other animals tended to avoid Allen, but not dogs.
When Allen saw what could be called a small town he headed towards it. Slowly he took out the money and counted, totaling a very large amount of cash. The only problem with this entire plan was that he had no clue what the currency was, no clue how to do math with such large numbers (his largest was normally 5, which he could add ones and fives to). The numbers of zeros were too ridiculous to be anywhere near the number value it was back home.
A second problem that he only found out when he finally reached the town was that he had no clue what a shop looked like in these parts. There weren't any buildings that opened up so he could pay or steal easily. It was more likely he had to go inside, but who knew what language these people would speak! And what if they knew the previous owner of this body? That wouldn't work out very well. That said, it was a risk he was willing to take. Not like it actually mattered if people found out he wasn't the Allen they thought he was. They could just stay confused for all he cared. This body was capable of beating any normal person up without a hitch.
Dammit, why did his life have to be so mentally exhausting? Really, with all the shit he had to go through it should've taken a full life where a person lived to the age of 40, not 9! Not. Fucking. Fare. Screw you, world. Allen swore he would do his very best to fuck up whatever plan the universe had in store for him all the way back when he was 6 and there was no way in heaven or hell that he would go back on his promise now.
Not that he was one to talk when compared to this guy. Some shit must've gone down to get his hair to be this white! Now, while Allen might not be a genius among geniuses, he could tell that this body was, in fact, not that old. Sure, it had taken a while to actually get that into his head because of the FUCKING HAIR, but it got in and that's all that mattered. But really? What type of shit did this guy go through? Stress turns hair white, so it has to be something stressful. Probably not someone dying, since that happens all the time. If it left him mentally broken that'd be a different story, but his friends seem to think he was normal. He must've done something when he was younger and turned everything to shit without meaning to. That coulda done it. And then got used to having such a fucked up mind and life that he was able to fake normal.
Poor bastard.
Not Allen's problem.
Moving on, the little town thing seemed to be more depressing than the one that he grew up in, and that's saying something seeing as a dead body or two dropped in the alleyway you were living at wasn't that uncommon. At least his place had some money. Blood money, sure, but it's still money that kept the shops running and some people eating. The people here were just run down.
Putting that at the back of his mind - because, again, not his problem - Allen went to a shop that looked to be selling some poor excuse for food. It looked to be some sort of fruit and after learning how to cut it open he payed the woman one of his smaller bills, which she seemed surprised about and handed him a couple more of the fruits. He nodded his thanks and proceeded to open up his fruit and eat, avoiding the huge ass seed in the center. They tasted something like those small green and purple things he had eaten a couple of times before. The ones that grew in these giant groups. Only this thing had spiky-looking parts on the outside shell, which was weird as all hell.
After sucking the last fruit piece out of it's freaky casing he stumbled upon a small group of kids trying to entertain one another. One kid was trying to do a handstand while another was attempting to juggle some stones, but failing miserably.
It was then when Allen did something he never thought he would do, ever, in his entire short ass life. He took pity on the poor brats and decided to teach them something. He grabbed the larger stones from their pile, taking five of them with an additional one balanced on his foot. Then he started juggling the five in his hand before tossing up the sixth and letting one drop back down onto his vacated foot. The brats laughed and one tossed yet another rock into Allen's circle. Allen caught it and now had six circulating between his hands with an additional on his foot waiting to be tossed back into the jumble.
Laughing kids drew the attention of some of the less weary adults and they started clapping along with the children, some of them hollering out praise.
Allen continued with his show until the crowd got large enough to fill the entire street. Deciding that was enough attention for one day, mainly since he was kinda sorta on the run from those black cult people, he took a bow and listened to the cheers for a couple more seconds until he lept onto a rooftop. It was already too late to avoid making an impression, so what harm could it do to make it even worse now? Creating a spectacle can be fun, even for someone who lived and thrived in the shadows.
Stomach and ego now satisfied, Allen headed off in some random direction that headed away from the cult compound. He could make money or get food on the road, possibly by talking with other travelers and trading goods for money or entertainment or by scavenging the land next to the road. There has to be something, otherwise people wouldn't live here. And now he knew those weird looking fruits were actually edible and tasted pretty good, so he could at least find those. The lady had to have gotten them from somewhere.
The first day of travel he didn't find anyone, and his stomach was making sure he knew it wasn't happy. It would seem that this body didn't take very well to him killing it's hunger, way different than his old one way. Hopefully that would change by the next day, cause his stomach's movements were extremely annoying and he didn't want to venture off of this straight path quite yet. His sense of direction might not be completely shitty, but that doesn't he won't get lost in such thick woods. Also, predators. No way in hell he could defend himself from something that was fast, strong, and had sharp teeth. He wasn't that controlled with his body yet.
Day two went just a little bit better. There were a couple of edible looking berries on the side of the road that he was able to grab and snack on for a mile or two before running out again. It was pretty great in comparison to the day before. There were still no people, but it sounded like there might be a town in the distance if the lack of animal noises and a weird clanking sound was any indication. Possibly a factory town, or it was an armory.
And there was a train sounding, so that settled it. Definitely a town. Allen debated picking up the pace and running down to where there had to be food or something helpful, but decided against it. Conserving energy was always the better idea, and even though the distance would be the same it wouldn't do to lose all of his energy before actually getting the the town.
Besides, who knew if his stomach could handle running in the state it was in. This body really was used to far more food. It has hard for even Allen to resist the temptation of just ripping it out to make it stop hurting. Having a stomach feel like it was digesting itself because it wasn't being put to work was disconcerting. Having it like that after only two days was worse. It used to be that seven days were nothing.
It took an excruciatingly long time before he got the the town, but turned out to be worth the wait. There was a little food stand at the very entrance where he could pay for some bread while swiping what seemed to be vegetables without the guy noticing anything.
He could take the train to increase the distance between him and the cult people, but for that he might need more money. If he started up a street performance like he did back in that other town he might actually be able to earn some money. The people here, while not wealthy per se, did seem to have a little extra money that they would be able to pay him with. It could be worthwhile to invest in some face paint or clothing, but that was a different problem for a different day. He wouldn't be doing this professionally, even though costumes normally bring in more cash.
He stuffed his face with the bread and veggies from the vendor as he walked around the town. There was a nice clearing where he could do his performances, but his normal street clothing was fairly pathetic. Even though he wouldn't go buy anything fancy, at least having a singular color or something that could be interpreted as circus clothing, albeit pathetic ones, would be better. One store he looked into had baggy white pants and one had a baggy, long sleeved red shirt.
He was able to swipe the pants without anyone noticing (plus an extra weird looking hat that was red), but the owner of the other store was watching him too closely and there was an innocent knife resting on his counter. Allen decided not to risk it. Paying for the shirt dropped his cash reserves a decent amount, but he still had some left - enough for another thing of bread - so he wasn't worried. Instead he put the baggy clothing on over his other clothes and tucked the end of the shirt into his pants to create a little flop at the end, then rolling up the sleeves to make them poof out a bit more above the elbow. It was an old trick he had learned from the other newbie performers when they left the circus grounds to get some extra money.
He put on his performance face, a small smile with slitted eyes that were supposed to help entice some of the older viewers. He swept his hair back with a showy gesture, drawing a couple of eyes towards his form even before he started his preformance. He kicked his legs up for a spin, flying through the air for a moment before landing perfectly on his feet and doing a backwards flip. This time he landed on his hands and walked all the way to the center of the clearing without falling. Once in the middle and with everyone's focus on him, he began the actual performance. One hand lifted off the ground and reached up to grab his foot, making him look like a human '0'.
From there he bent his back until one foot touched the ground, then placed all of his strength into one arm to push off of the ground. He caught himself perfectly with the one foot, but purposefully made it look like he was off balance in hopes of making the children, who had made their way to the front of the circle, laugh.
It worked, and he knew he would definitely be getting paid this day. The only thing that could possibly ruin his performance was someone chucking a rock at him, clearly not happy with having a newcomer coming in and making such a ruckus. Allen just caught the rock and tossed it up in the air, motioning for some of the kids to send rocks over to him as well. When they obliged he used each of the rocks in a juggling act. It only made more people clap for him, and only earned him extra cash.
That said, it does suck when you can't go and beat up the guy who tried to knock you down. Especially when you have the body capable of it. But money comes first, so that's why he kept the act up.
He held his newly acquired red hat out the the crowed when he finished, giving a short bow and jumping onto one hand when a kid came up with cash. It wasn't as much as he had started off with after leaving the cult, but it was about the cost of the pants so good enough for one performance. He whisked the cash into his shirt in one quick movement before placing the hat on his head. One of the kids noticed how no money fell out of the hat and questioned him about it. In silent response, Allen lifted up his hat and showed the empty insides of it to the kid.
His smile became far more forced when children swarmed around him, wondering what happened to the money and tugging on his clothes. He did his very best not to physically harm any of them, but bodily contact isn't exactly his strong suit. Thankfully the parents of the brats came for them and drew them away from the circus kid using the excuse of getting food and sweets. It drew them away pretty quickly, and Allen was free to find a place to sleep for the night. The main clearing was a bad idea since that was where the normies would be, and if normies found out he was on the streets the wouldn't pay him. He searched for a dark alleyway or something easier to sleep in.
There wasn't any perfect place to sleep, but that was fairly regular. One area had a bridge which could be pretty nice. Protection from the rain and all. But it was also the normal place to go and was extremely unusual for no one to be sleeping there, so there had to be a reason it was vacant. Allen decided not to risk it, instead finding a nice tall building where he could hide in the shadows. There wasn't any protection from rain or wind, but they sky seemed fairly clear and he didn't want to try his hand at sneaking into someone's house or shop. It would be like how he lived before the circus! Sure, it wouldn't be fabulous or anything like that, but he'd manage. He always has.
