Okay everyone! I just spent a lot of thought on the timeline for this story, then I went back and re-read some of the manga and found out that what I thought happened at which times was partially wrong and there was no way to fit this story in between everything. I mean, really. Allen basically JUST gets introduced to everyone in the order and they already have him hunting down the generals. So, this is BEFORE CROWN CLOWN and they haven't even started searching for the generals. That said, I'm pretending Lavi was introduced before the search for the generals. Basically Allen is new, but has known Lavi for at least a week (before losing his memory) and has been in the Order longer than that. Hope that helped!

tcancel - Yeah... you'll see if that happens or not.

readwithcats- Let's see, he's already met Mana and Allen the dog. The dog Allen hasn't died in his memory. Everything else will be brought up in the story!

sparklehannah (Guest) - I haven't said this enough, but I love your reviews! It's always great how you ask more and more questions because it just gets me thinking again! I hope you like how the intro to the first person he meets goes!

Shadow Spears - Thank's for your review!

Chapter 4

"That bloody barmy! Don't he get I don't wanna deal with his chin waggin? Damn him." Allen growled to himself as he walked to the train station. He'd just seen a group of people in white with one black-coated guy following them. He instinctively knew it was people from the Black Cult and quietly slipped into the shadows to get away. They might not be looking for him in particular, seeing as he didn't recognize anyone in that group, but just being around them might mean that someone knew who the person who used to be in this body was.

So instead of sticking around with the people who may or may not be after him, Allen went to buy himself a train ticket (since sneaking onto the train didn't work so well the last time he tried it) and got ready to head off in whatever direction was cheaper. With his newly acquired ticket in hand he went to one of the food vendors that lay in wait at the station, ready to snatch money off of anyone who was dumb enough to leave extra cash in their pockets while buying food. At least, that's what Allen would do if he was them. So far he hadn't spent anytime inside of the train station and hadn't watched the vendors enough to see what they do to scam newcomers, but it would be pretty effective on anyone who wasn't used to a place without money.

He paid for some meat and snatched an extra veggie or two, then just sat in wait for the train. He didn't know how often they would be coming to this little town, but seeing as the vendors were currently open it couldn't be too long. Only idiots would keep open the entire time at a place where there wouldn't be any customers coming.

Allen briefly wondered why he hadn't bothered leaving earlier. Sure, he did have a decent time acting the clown in this place, but he could get so much more cash if he went to a bigger city. And there was always the danger of the cult catching up when he wasn't ready for them. Possibly some twisted form of sentiment, which would be entirely possible. After all, this was the first place he actually made some money on his own after escaping for the cult. The only problem - Allen doesn't do sentiment. Maybe because this was the best place he had lived yet. Sure, the circus was always moving and some of the towns were better off than others, but there was always an underlying darkness to them. Like the dead bodies he always seemed to find, or the screaming people he heard when someone was being attacked. None of that was here and there was a subtle reluctance to leave such a peaceful place.

It even turned out he was the only homeless person that had stayed in the city for such a long time! While that wasn't always a good thing (they could have been taken or killed just so people didn't have to look at them any longer, and Allen could have been next) it meant there was less competition for the cash in people's pockets.

That didn't mean the people here were defenceless or completely innocent. Sure, there were fights but they didn't get that bloody, and people would steal cash and goods from other people who weren't paying attention, but hey, no bodies. So yes, this was a peaceful place.

But now it was time to leave, and there was the train. Allen saw the group of cult members make their way up to the ticket booth and he quickly jumped onto the train before they could notice he was there. Sure, it meant they'd be on the same train, but it was unlikely that they would explore much more than their own section of the car. Allen decided to chill in the luggage section until they started moving. He fell asleep atop some fancy big-ass compartment, lulled to sleep by the train's sounds and his own tiredness. It was warm in the car, warmer than Allen had been in a long time. His sleep was deep enough that he only awoke when someone else entered the same car as he was resting. Multiple someones.

His first instinct was to stay as quiet as physically possible. His second was to see who it was any why they were in here. The third was to fight them.

Allen went with the second, completely confused on where that third one came from.

"Hey, swamp-donkey. What ya doin in my crib?" Allen asked to what was actually a fairly attractive man, or he would be without his damned glasses. The man was with a group of three other people, two fully grown men and one child. All of the men were muscled from what Allen could see, but their clothing did well to hide it. Two of them looked to be the thug types while the attractive one seemed to be a nerdy office worker. The kid had a mask over his face, so he might be sick or hiding something the way Allen hid his arm and hand under sleeves and a glove.

"Hey, hey, hey. Didn't know anyone else was here, yeah? Sorry about that, boy. Ya don't mind if we chill here, do ya?" The glasses guy grinned stupidly and lit a cigarette. Allen scoffed and jumped down. The people looked interesting and not at all from the cult, so what was the harm in messing with them a bit? He walked over and poked glasses in the chest.

"Y'all woke me up, numpty. That ain't smart." Allen growled, making sure he was extremely in the guy's face while silently sneaking one hand into the guy's pocket and pulling out a couple of bills. He pulled away from the guy, slipping his newly acquired money into his shirt with all the rest of it. "Better not make me paste ya. Yer gonna go flyin ta that wall. You get me?"

The damn glasses had the nerve to laugh it off, though his hands were up in the surrender position, so that was a good sign. "C'mon, boy, we aren't payin' for this ride. This is the best place to chill without getting caught. How 'bout we play some games? For money, of course. Keep it interesting and all that. All against all, so we don't get advantage. How 'bout it, boy?" To the surprise of everyone from the other group, the teenager didn't get mad at being called 'boy' and instead became interested in what he was talking about.

"What type a tosh ya talkin' about?" Glasses' infuriating grin showed itself again, but this time Allen wasn't bangin to conk him. The guy sat Allen down and pulled out cards, each with a different thing on them. Some had black designs on them, others had red, and some more had people.

"What's this shit?" Allen asked, purely out of curiosity. For some reason it seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember a time where these would have been anything noteworthy. They could've been in a store he'd snatched stuff from, but that was about it.

"It's called poker, boy, and it's the best and worse game yer ever gonna play." The other two fully grown males of the group grinned in their thug-like way and Allen narrowed his eyes. Glasses started out by explaining what each card was and what it 'ranked' in points, then he talked about what was good to have and what wasn't. Royal flush, blaze, catch perfect. Call, check, fold. Clip, center pot, chop. Everything was explained at a speed where Allen didn't think he'd be able to keep up but somehow forced it into his young brain. Glasses did nothing to make sure Allen understood everything he had talked about, and Allen knew the guy would be playing dirty. He didn't know how it would be possible to cheat in a game where everything was on the table and visible to everyone, including Allen, but it had to be possible if this man was so sure of himself.

The entire thing started out sketchy. Allen managed to keep up with one of the thugs, but he was blown away in the first game by Glasses. In the second game he managed to beat both the thugs, but not Glasses. At one point he noticed Glasses was hiding cards in his clothing or folding a corner of one that must be important. In turn he mimicked the action, using his street-rat skills to keep things simple and easy.

It took two more rounds, but he beat Glasses and took him for all he was worth. He got hyped on the thrill of beating the man at his own game and lost control of himself, jumping up in the air and whooping. The excitement that ran through his veins allowed him to revert to a normal child, one that got excited by little things like food or friends. Sure, he lost control of himself for a little bit, but he didn't think that would change much when he could just beat up anyone who would try and use his weakness.

They didn't. It was something much, much more weird.

"Hey, boy, you wanna travel with us?"

"Hell no, yer a creepy skint." The man at least looked somewhat embarrassed, not that it was hard to do dressed in only your underwear and creepy ass glasses.

"C'mon, boy, think about it at least. We aren't getting off for a while yet, so how about we play another game and if I beat ya then ya join us?" Allen considered it for a moment. Would it really be so bad to travel with them? More money was a bonus, plus they taught him how to earn a little extra money. But was that enough to make him travel with people that tried to take all of his money and leave him without clothing?

Yes. He's done it for less, namely the circus.

A group of adults beat him up before he joined, so it seemed to fit his pattern. Maybe this is just some weird form of initiation that he always gets dragged into.

For some reason a sword fight with someone flashed in the back of his eyes. The person with the sword was that lady-man back in the cult compound. Maybe a memory from the former owner of the body. Whatever. Just another thing that didn't matter to Allen. Besides, he was free of the damn cult! So what did it matter what this body used to do, besides the fact that it was strong as fuck. And so he went along with Glasses' bet, making sure that if Allen won all of them he would get one free favor from the group of miscreants. Not that he would ever call in on it, but playing more of that game would be fun.

Three games. The two thugs folded in the very beginning of the first game and opted out of playing the next two. Allen beat Glasses by a landslide in the first game, than barely lost in the second. From what Allen could tell while in his extremely focused state of mind, amidst the cheating and reading facial tells to know what Glasses would do next, was that the guy sitting in front of him was having the time of his life. It didn't matter that Allen was better than him, it didn't matter that his poker face was pretty good - Allen didn't know how he was able to see through it - the guy was excited by the fact that someone was able to beat him.

To Allen's knowledge, that didn't mean the guy was a narcissist (and Allen knew a lot of them). It meant he was a bored guy looking for a challenge, and that was something Allen could get behind. Even if he hadn't lost the bet, there was still a good chance he would go with the group.

They never finished the third game.

"Well then, boy, looks like I win. Name's Tyki, by the way. Tyki Mikk." Tyki held out his hand, waiting for Allen to shake it or some shit. Instead Allen took out the money he'd swiped from Tyki's pocket and held it out to him, a maniacal grin on his face.

"Allen. No last name. Nice ta meet ya, Tyki." Tyki's eyes widened at the sight of his own cash (yes, he could tell) and searched his pockets. Looking back at Allen, Tyki's own grin showed itself in all of it's insane amusement.

"Boy, I think we're gonna be great friends. I'll show ya some of the best places ta hang. Ya ever been to a bar? Ya can earn some real money playing the game in there." Allen adopted an appreciative look, head lightly nodding without his consent. "What ya do anyway? I mean, there's no way you'd be able to get an actual ticket for this thing without being able ta make money. What's yer trick?"

"Preformer. Used ta work at a bloody circus 'till some shit or another went down. Ya know how it is. Rozzers and them shut 'em down." Allen knew he was bullshitting, but a street rat gets good at that. He'd no fucking clue what happened to the circus. Maybe the police actually did shut them down, it wouldn't be that far fetched. Half the people on the crew were criminals, most still sold drugs, and a couple people had no problem finding helpless people to rape.

If that was what Tyki assumed, good. If it wasn't, no harm done.

"Will you show us?" The kid asked.

"Yeah, sure, Kid. But only when we get on the street again and I can make some money. What's yer name, huh?"

"Eeez."

"Well then, Eeez, I'll show ya when we can get idiots to watch. If ya want I could teach ya a bit! Whaddya think?" Eeez nodded his head yes, and Allen could have sworn he saw a smile in the kid's eyes. His mouth was masked, so he couldn't really see if the kid's lips were smiling with his eyes. He assumed they weren't.

"Well, I guess we should probably introduce everyone, huh? We're just a group of orphans from Portugal. You already know me and Eeez, but here's Crack and Momo." Tyki motioned to the brown-haired muscular guy and then the blond haired guy with a wool cap. "We were told there was some coal mining job over here, so decided to get some money that way. Ya could come check it out with us, or just make some cash on the streets. Yer choice."

Allen hummed, thinking about what to do. He'd never worked in the coal mines before, but that was mainly because there hadn't been any around where he lived before joining the circus. After he already had a job, and mining didn't seem that inviting.

In fact, it still didn't seem like a good job. So many people died in the mines every week. Why would he do that when there was preforming and even gambling! In fact, why would Tyki need to go mining if his gambling was as good as he thought it was?

Well, whatever. What they did with their time wasn't his problem. As long as they were interesting to be with it was fine.

"Yeah, you guys can do the death job. I get tons of money as it is. These places are way richer than where I'm from, so they should be real easy prey."

"Where are you from?" Momo asked, his woolen-covered head tilting to the side. Allen absent-mindedly noted the guy was almost as short as Allen himself was.

"Ah, what was it called? Started with a U. There were two words in there. Well, it's something, I never really learned it. No nationalism in that place, and no one really cared about the government."

"So you don't know what country you were living in, but you know words like nationalism? That's weird, kid." Allen sneered at the snarky sonofabitch. The guy had the guts to make fun of him? Well, Allen had no qualms beating the guy up next time he talked about Allen's vocabulary. There was no reason this body wouldn't know the words and accidently filter them into Allen's speech patterns.

Not that Momo would have known that. Only Allen and the cult people even know he's been transferred into a different body, and his control over this body was good enough that no one would know the difference! Though they might question his personality seeing as the body looked old as all hell, but Allen can always explain it as a medical condition.

He'd found that children can pass as moody teenagers. Most people don't even give him second thoughts if he shouts at them for one random thing or another. One time he was just curious to see how someone would react to him yelling at them from across the street, and most people barely noticed. It was pretty great. All jokes aside, there'd be no problem with the way he acts. There might be something with his sense of direction (it's terrible. Allen blames it on his non-existent parents for passing down their stupidity) or how he's still new with things, but the former can be excused as stupidity and the later with his life as a street rat that didn't get around much.

The group of soon-to-be miners went on their way to the mines while Allen set about looking for the best place to perform. There was one area with a sculpture in the center of a large square, and Allen decided that was as good as any he'd found in the other towns. He went about his normal tricks, searching the crowds for people who were able to pay more than the others. After spotting a few potentials he began to gauge their reactions to what he was doing. When one started to loose interest and looked like they might walk away he changed it up, adding spins or jumping off of other people in the crowd. Anything that would keep them interested for at least a little longer was good, just enough for them to get money out of their large pockets and place it into the hat he was about to walk around to collect the cash in.

He lost one of them, but the other six did pay a good sum. With his cash collected he headed to a store, possibly a kid's store from what it had outside. Allen looked around for anything that could fit his act. Varying sizes of air-filled balls, shiny anything, maybe some candy he could throw at children with parents around. Sure, it made him spend cash on something that he just gave away, but that normally made parents far more generous with their wallets.

There were a couple of balls with stars decorating them in different colors, and all of them were the size of Allen's palm. Juggling would be best for these. There was a small thing of candy near the checkout, and Allen opted to go for those last. There was an oddly shaped object that was also colorful that Allen picked up; just to see what he could do with it. It was stick-like, but with a thicker end with a thinner (what he believed to be) handle. He picked up three total and went with it.

He also found some colorful cloth that would just be so easy to tie together and make a long rope that could fit so easily in his sleeves.

Allen walked out of the store covered in colorful everythings and a bag of candy in his hand. He managed to sneak out the cloth under his clothing, but only about half of what he took. A couple of balls now occupied his shirt, but again it was only a few. It wouldn't do to have people noticing something was weird while he was heading out of the shop. All in all, his purchase cost half of his earnings for the day. Not bad, if he said so himself.

Which he did.

The next stop was anywhere he could find make-up or face-paint. He might have the clothes and props of a clown, but the overall look was still missing, and that one clown made sure to teach him that makeup was everything. If people didn't clearly see you were a clown they would just think of you as some lunatic. Of course, the clown that taught him that was a true lunatic, making jokes about suicide and the like. Also, Allen was pretty sure the clown thought the dog could talk back to him. It was strange, and the guy was definitely insane. Possibly as much as those cult people were.

Allen also wanted to cover up his weird-ass tattoo. It had to be freaking some people out, though a couple of people seemed to think of it as part of his costume. Idiots.

Not that he blamed them, per se. It freaked him out for a while, too. A star thingy being carved into one's face was not natural, and if the carving thing was red, well, that was just plain weird. And demonic. It was another thing he blamed on the cult, no matter how many times and how much effort the eye-patch idiot put into explaining that it wasn't the cult's fault for any of Allen's bodily changes.

Sure. And they don't kill people because those people are so-called evil, either. Like Allen is going to trust anything they say.

While the hunt for decent, well-priced makeup was in vain, Allen had enough money to buy a little bit of food in a day or two. He'd found long ago that by eating each day you only made yourself more hungry, therefore needing to eat even more. It was a ruthless, never-ending cycle of terribleness.

Tyki said that wasn't a word, but screw him. Eeez had no problem with it and Eeez was a smart kid.

"Hey, Allen! Over here!" Ah, speak of the devil and he shall appear!

"Why you chuffed, huh? Did ya gaffer give ya some good cash?" Allen asked, crossing the road to join the group. All four of them were covered in dirt, Crack most of all.

"Nah, but we got enough for food, so let's eat!" Momo shouted. Allen wondered what the last time they ate was. For it it was only a day and a half ago, so not really too bad yet. There was the possibility that they hadn't figured out the best times for a person to eat so they don't get hungry that quickly, but he didn't want to teach them much just yet. Plus, Allen did know that malnutrition stunted growth, so Eeez should definitely eat all that he can.

The others can skip a few meals every day, and definitely every week. Saving up money is vital, even though Allen doesn't know why he thinks it he knows it's true. Spending everything all at once can lead to giant problems in the future. Until Allen decides to teach these orphans how to live in the real world where no orphanage will take you, he'll be the one taking care of little Eeez. Not that the others would notice until later. Allen didn't want them to do their nuts. Three pissed people would be too much for him to deal with, and he might just end up leaving. That wouldn't be very great for any of them.

"Yeah, yeah. You guys go do that, I gotta keep practicin'. Never good enough to call it quits, ya know?" Three of them just shrugged off his obvious evasion tactic, but Tyki seemed to look deeper into him.

"Ya know what, I'll stay a bit, too. You guys go eat, we'll be in later." He waved the three away as they headed to a restaurant. Tyki kept looking into Allen's eyes, trying to get a read. Allen didn't try to hide anything, but there wasn't much to tell so that's all his eyes showed. Tyki finally spoke after the guys were out of earshot. "If ya didn't get enough we can always pay a bit."

Allen sneered. The mere thought of someone paying for him made him want to puke his guts out. "No way, mate. 'Sides, not the problem. If ya eat now ya get hungry later. It hasn't been long since my last meal, so I'm good."

"Don't be a numpty. You didn't eat this morn, ya didn't eat on the train. When did ya?"

"Before the train, 'kay? Didn't know ya then, so ya didn't see me eat. What's the problem?"

"Nah way, man. You haven't eaten in over a day, yer gonna be comin in with us. Leggo, it's time for ya to get some fuel. You've been workin all day in the sun!" Tyki grabbed Allen by the arm and started dragging him away from his props which he had been packing inside of a cloth to carry around. It was the way they'd move the small stuff in the circus, but even having something that looked so pathetic drew in people who would be willing to sell anything just to make change.

"Oi! I got my stuff over there! Ya can't just do that, Tyki! I'll paste ya!" Allen hissed, pulling his arm back and sending Tyki falling on his face. Until he caught himself, that is. Tyki blinked, surprised at the strength inside of Allen's slender arms. When the surprise cleared away to awe he grabbed Allen once more, this time to poke at the muscle that was packed in instead of attempting to haul him off to the unwanted food.

"Dang, boy! How'd you manage this?" He asked, still poking around. Allen grinning and pulled his arm away once more before jumping off his feet and landing perfectly on one hand.

"This is how! Ya need muscle ta be in the circus, and I got spawny that ya can't see it. Makes people loosen their wallets when a skinny can lift 'imself. What, ya can't do this with yer miner muscle?"

"Nah, ya have ta teach me. And Eeez won't let ya off without getting taught, too. He could join ya on the streets instead if the mines." Allen nodded absentmindedly. It would be good to teach Eeez something else that could get him money. His sickly body wouldn't be able to keep up in the mines and he might stop earning.

"Well, boy, we better catch up with them, and yer comin'. Don't resist." Allen pouted and shuffled his feet after Tyki once he picked his bag up off of its resting place.