Home Again:

Allen woke up to fine that he was alone in the infirmary. Komui was gone, and the bed next to him was empty. Linali must have left already. Allen thought to himself. He hoped that Linali was not upset with him. He sighed as a sense of loneliness came over him. Then he heard a noise at the door.

"Be quiet you two he may be asleep." He could hear Linali shushing the source of the noise. A few minuets later Linali walked in with some flowers and a fresh jug of water. "You are awake." Linali said cheerfully greeting Allen. "I'm sorry you had to wake up alone. I would have been back sooner if it weren't for these two." Linali stepped aside to put the stuff on the bedside table. Allen could see Rabi enter the room, followed by a very disgruntled looking Kanda.

"Hey. Glad you see you are doing better." Rabi said happily. "I haven't seen you since they took you from the train station. Bookman had insisted that we would only disturb you, and you needed your rest. I personally think that Komui is louder than I am." Allen smiled glad to be surrounded by friends again.

"You are lucky bean sprout." Kanda said bitterly.

"That's not what you were suppose to say!" Rabi exclaimed. "You know, when someone save your life you say thank you." Allen didn't expect anyone to thank him, much less Kanda, who muttered something about almost being killed in the process of being saved.

"It…" Allen tried to speak but his throat was so dry he began coughing. The more he coughed the more pain he was in. Linali held a cup of water up to his lips and coaxed him into sipping some water. The water stopped the coughs, and Allen was able to breath normally again.

"Thanks." Allen said gratefully to Linali, who just smiled at him.

"Well, we promised that we would only be here for a few minuets. It's time for us to leave now." Rabi announced sensing that it was time to leave the two alone to talk. "You need your rest. See you again soon!" With that he dragged Yuu out of the room.

"Linali" Allen began a few moments after they were left alone. "I'm sorry." At these words Linali got up out of her seat and turned so that Allen couldn't see her face. Allen frowned and tried to sit up to get a better view of her. This was not a wise move. The movement caused pain to shoot into his body, sending him crashing back into the bed in a coughing fit. Linali quickly fed him some water. Allen took this chance to catch her eyes. She looked concerned and her eyes were lined with tears. "I'm sorry I made you worry about me, and lose sleep taking care of me." Linali didn't turn away this time. "Komui told me everything. I'm sorry for almost killing you." Allen paused and then continued. "Thank you for saving my life."

"What are you talking about?" Linali said looking away. "If you hadn't done what you did, we would have all been dead or seriously hurt."

"I was losing myself to the innocence. Even as I was unconscious I could feel the innocence draining my life away. I was so confused. Then I heard your voice." Allen explained. "Then on the carriage I was ready to give up. You called to me. And back before the train, I almost let go, but I held on to your voice…" There was a long silence.

"I guess you owe me then." Linali broke the silence. "You owe me a favor." Allen smiled.

"Anything." Allen told her.

"You have to promise me that you won't die." Linali said seriously. Allen hesitated, taken off guard by the request, and then said.

"I promise, I promise I won't die."

Two weeks later Allen had recovered enough to leave the infirmary. Linali walked with Allen to his room that day. Allen would not admit that he had trouble walking. He was still very weak, but he didn't what Linali to worry anymore. For the month that he had been in the infirmary Linali had been there everyday. Her excuse what that there weren't any mission anyways. Allen silently promised himself that he will train and make himself stronger. When they reached Allen's room Linali opened the door. At first the room was dark, suddenly the light came on.

"SURPRISE!" The noise was so loud that it almost knocked Allen off his feet. Allen was greeted by many smiling faces. Rabi, Bookman, Komui, Riba, and even Kanda were in the crowed.

"We thought this would be a good time to throw you a birthday party." Linali explained. "Hebulaska told us that your sixteenth birthday is around today." Allen blushed slightly, it seemed that everyone knew him better than himself. "So we have decided that your birthday will be today. December twenty firth, Christmas."

"Happy birthday." Everyone said loudly. Someone in the crowd called out. "Let's get the party started." Allen was shocked. He had never really had a birthday party. He vaguely remembered Mana celebrate his birthday with some of the circus crew over a small slice of cake. They were poor so it was mostly a Christmas celebration. That night they would pray to God and thank the God for the good fortune they have been blessed with. After Mana died he had been with General Cross. They travel around so much they lost track of the dates.

"Come on Allen." Linali smiled at him. "Blow out your candles." Allen looked at the large cake in aw. It was a beautiful chocolate cake. Probably the biggest cake he has ever seen. It was decorated with different icings and in the middle written in red icing was: Happy Birthday Allen Walker. It was so beautiful he almost could not cut it. With his biggest breath he blew at the candles. To his surprise he managed the blow out all sixteen candles. Everyone clapped.

"Let's eat!" Jerry the head chef called out handing Allen a knife. "I made this especially for you!"

"Thank you so much." Allen said happily, "Thanks everyone." He felt his eyes sting with tears.

"This is no time to cry." Rabi said ruffling his hair.

"I'm sorry" Allen said hastily wiping away at his eyes. "Its just that I have never had a birthday party before. Thank you for everything."

The party was splendid. The cake was so good, but Allen didn't have a lot of appetite. This was the best day of his life though. Allen sat against his bed leaning his head back on the bed. The party carried on around him. Allen fought to keep his eyes open, but he was so worn out. Soon he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

When Allen woke up, he found himself in his bed. He could tell from the silence that the party was over. He sat up in his bed and noticed Linali was cleaning up his room.

"You don't have to do that Linali." Allen said getting up to help. He was sore which made his movements awkward and slow.

"Oh you are awake." Linali looked up. She went over to Allen and sat him down on the bed. "You need to rest. I'm sorry I should have known that it was too much." Allen reached out and gripped Linali's hand.

"Thank you." Allen said sincerely, "I am so happy. This is the happiest day of my life." Allen said looking into her eyes. "Thank you for everything. I am sorry I fell asleep, but it was nice of you to throw this party for me. I will clean up tomorrow morning." Linali shook her head.

"It's almost done anyways." She said getting up again. Allen watched as she picked up the last few paper plates and cups.

"Oh yeah," Linali said putting aside the garbage. "You got some presents." Linali said picking up a small stack of packages and putting them on the bed next to Allen.

"Presents?" Allen's eyes widened. At first he was slightly unsure of what to do with them. Linali sat down beside him.

"Go ahead, open them." Linali prompt him, handing him the package on top of the pile. "That's from Rabi." Allen looked at the small package. It had a card attached to it. It said: You are scary when you gamble bean sprout. Happy Birthday, from Rabi. Allen chuckled and opened the present. Inside was a deck of cards.

"That's nice." Linali said looking at the present. "Here open another." After twenty minuets Allen had gone through most of his presents except for one. He had gotten a book from Riba, and a new uniform coat from Komui. It's not really a present, just a replacement for the one that was destroyed. There were various other presents.

"This is from me." Linali said blushing slightly. "I hope you like it." Allen took the package which was clearly carefully wrapped. Allen opened it carefully not wanting to destroy the pretty paper. Inside was a box, under the box was a picture. It was a collage of all his friends. Rabi, Bookman, Linali and everyone.

"It will remind you that there are people who care about you." Linali told him. "You are not insignificant. You matter to us. If you died we would be sad. I would be sad." Linali told him. Her words took him by surprise.

"I promise I won't die didn't I?" Allen said with a smile. The silence was uncomfortable so Allen quickly changed the subject. "What's in here?" He asked picking up the small box.

"Open it." Linali said blushing again. Allen opened it carefully. Inside was a small wooden cross.

"I made it myself." Linali told him. "My brother made me one just before they took me away. He says that this way he will always be with me." Linali said turning a deep crimson. "This way you will know that at least someone will always be with you. You are not alone." What happened next was not something that Linali had anticipated. Allen pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thank you so much Linali."