Chapter 17: Three Men and a Child
At the Science Division of the Black Order Headquarters, Komui is on the phone talking to Lavi, who is reporting what happened before they depart to meet up with Lenalee, Bookman, and Timcanpy.
"...Yeah," Komui says. "That's an unexpected acquisition, isn't it?"
"What should we do? Should Allen and I bring him to the church?" Lavi asks.
"No, it's okay. It looks like Kuro-chan could provide some readily accessible firepower. You guys take him with you to catch up with General Cross." Komui says as his subordinates line up beside his desk with a stack of paper - that needed to signed - in their hands. "I don't want to spread out our forces too much right now." He adds.
"Okay-"
At the train station
Lavi leans on the wall as the golem flies in front of him; its tail is connecting to the phone.
"Also..." Komui says.
"Hmm?"
"That left eye of Allen's might have stuck a nerve with the Earl." Komui warns. "It may bring forth great misfortune."
~Where Allen is~
Allen stares at the train's window, examining his left eye through the reflection of the glass.
'It has become more concentrated. It's really just like an Akuma.' Allen notes and closes his eyes, then activates Cursed Eye Level 2. 'If it's within about 300 mile radius, then... even with obstacles, it can scan for the existence of Akuma. My left eye can be controlled by my will.' Allen determines after activating Cursed Eye. 'In addition, if it seizes the form of an Akuma, it can force that soul out into its real form. This left eye has 'evolved', just like an Akuma.'
Where Lavi is
"Komui," Lavi speaks as he watches the golem flying in front of him. "You see... I thought that Allen's left eye was a pretty handy thing. But actually, when I saw the raw soul of that Akuma, I could honestly say I wouldn't wanna have that eye. It was pretty tough. I felt so sick I didn't feel like eating for a while. The world as he sees it is Hell."
"LAVI!" Allen calls from the train entrance. The said person looks around the corner and sees Allen waving with Alice standing right behind him. "THE TRAIN IS LEAVING!"
Lavi eyes widen as he faces the golem again. "CRAP! LATER KOMUI!" He shouts and hangs up.
~On the other end of the line~
Komui says silent as he listens to the call beeping, indicating that the call has been ended. In his mind, he's reflecting on what Lavi just told him. He suddenly picks up his pen and starts scribbling on the stack of papers in front of him, pretending to be working while his subordinates line up to give him his work.
"I see, I see... Ehhhh- is that so." Komui says, talking to no one. "Yes, I see."
"Supervisor! Don't stay on the phone just so you can skip work!" Reever says. "It's totally obvious!"
"There's gonna be more work..." Johnny says tiredly.
"SIGN HERE PLE–ASE!" Komui subordinates say in unison.
In Alice's dream
'I'm here again…' She thought seeing the same grassland that she keep on seeing and hears a girl giggles causing her to turn and sees the same girl before her with a familiar warm smile.
"Who are you?" Alice asks but instead of answering her, the girl simply smiles and mouth silent words. Then suddenly, the wind blows strongly causing Alice to cover her face and tries to keep her eyes open but she widens her eyes from the words that the girl calling her.
"Onee-chan."
On the train
"Alice?" She opens her eyes from her name called.
"Allen...?" Alice calls seeing him looking at her and she sits up straight in her seat. "You called?"
"Yeah. Lavi just called Bookman about what happened and where we're going to meet them." Allen says. "Did you had a dream?"
"Yeah... But there's you should be worried about." She says and looks at the other two who are sitting in front of them.
Lavi seems to have an awkward smile on his face as he watches Krory sulks in his seat.
"Don't be so depressed, Kuro-chan." Lavi says. "It can't be helped, can it. No matter how much I tried to explain, they wouldn't believe me."
"That's why..." Krory stammers sadly.
~In the village~
After Krory burns down his castle and the four Exorcists, including Krory, head back to where the villagers waited. "Lavi explains the situation to the villagers, but their faces are still fill with hate as they raise their weapons.
"You exterminated an Akuma, you say!? Do you expect us to believe such a stupid story?" Georg says. "REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAPPENED. IN OUR EYES, YOU'RE STILL A MONSTER! GET THE HELL OUT! NEVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN!"
Then the villagers start to shout words, "monster" and "be gone". Lavi and Allen place a hand on Krory's shoulders and Alice shakes her head, thinking of how absurd the villagers are.
"Yeah, I know how you feel." Allen says as he remembers the memory. "As you would expect, they got angry at Alice too."
"It's fine if you can't go back," Lavi says with a smug smile on his face. "As long as a man can still breathe, it's all good."
Alice kicks Lavi's leg with her foot and he yelps, but she ignores him and smiles at Krory. "Why don't you look around the train for some fun? It's the first time you've ridden one, right?"
"Y-yeah. That's true," Krory says. "I'll walk around for a bit." He adds and stands up, leaving to explore the train.
"He really is a different character when he's in action." Both Lavi and Allen thought as they wave goodbye.
It's been three hours since Krory left to explore on the train and he hasn't return yet. The three Exorcists decide to get up and look for their lost friend.
"Kuro-chan, he–y." Lavi calls. "How do you spend three hours wandering around on this small train?" He asks as he continues to call Krory's nickname. Allen chuckles stiffly.
"Could it be that he got lost...?" Allen guesses.
Alice opens the door to move to the next train down and she stops at the next train's door, her eyes wide in surprise. What she sees is Krory naked with his nose running and tears streaming his face. She then looks past Krory and sees four other people in front of him.
"Hm?" The bespectacled man says.
There are three adults and one child in a group of four.
They seem to be in the middle of a game of cards.
"Sorry. Right now, young kids aren't allowed to enter here." The bespectacled man says as he faces Krory. "Now sir, let's have another match. What will you wager next?"
"N-no, but..." Krory stammers.
Alice shakes her head and walks over to Krory, kneeling beside him.
"What are you doing, Krory?" She asks him.
Krory turns to face Alice.
"Th-these people invited me to play something called poker... and then before I knew it, it turned out like this..."
"He got suckered... it can't be helped." Allen thought with a sigh.
"Hey, hey, you running away?" The scared forehead man says.
"You already accepted the match, haven't you? If you're a man, stick with it 'til the end!" The bespectacled man adds.
Allen takes off his Exorcists coat and holds it in front of the bespectacled man, making him back up in surprise.
"All the trimmings on this coat are made of silver," Allen says with a smile. "If I bet this for all of Krory's clothes, will you have a match with me?"
"H-hey, Allen!? What are you saying..." Lavi says in shock as he glances at Alice who only gave him a short nod.
"Haha..." The bespectacled man laughs. "All right."
~Afterwards~
"Call." Allen smiles as he lays out his cards on the suitcase.
The three men stripped down to their boxers smiling unbelievably at what they're seeing.
"Royal... Straight Flush." The three say in unison.
"I win again." Allen says, confirming the reality for them.
They throw their cards up in frustration. "ARGHHHHHH! DAMN IT!"
"What is going on? He should only be getting shitty cards!" The man with straight-cut hair whispers to his two companions.
"Maybe we're the ones being played...?" The bespectacled man whispers.
"We were underestimating him because he's just a kid! He's definitely not some ordinary kid!" The hatted man whispers.
"He's an expert!" They look at Allen, who is shuffling the cards now.
'This is too easy.' Allen thought.
"DAMN IT, ONE MORE TIME!"
"All right."
"That Allen, he's wonderful!" Krory says with a wide smile and awe.
Lavi didn't answer and Alice just watches Allen passes out the cards. Lavi then leans closer to Allen. "Hey, what's going on? Aren't you unbelievably good at this?" He asks quietly so only Allen could hear. "And I thought you were an unlucky boy..."
"It's because I'm cheating." Allen answers, retaining his smile.
"So that's your true character? Are you serious?"
"They challenge Krory first." Allen's expression changes as he hides his mouth with his cards. "I don't feel like losing in cards. When I was in training, I perfected with my skills with my life in order to pay back the Master's debt and earn money for food."
"Skills...?"
"When gambling, I'll win no matter how many times I play... I won't go easy on them! They're coming at me three to one too, so it's even!" Allen laughs darkly.
"Allen sure is dark..." Lavi notes. 'What kind of life did you live while you were training anyways...?'
"Call." Allen says, laying his cards on the suitcase.
"WHA–T!?" The three men exclaims.
~Later~
"And here's Kirilenko Mine." The train conductor announces.
The train stops for any passenger wanting to get off or get on the train. The three men and child exit the train. From inside the train, Allen opens the window and leans out. He then holds out the three men's belongings.
"Here you go." Allen says as the three men and child took at him. "I don't care as long as I got my friend's stuff back. It's hard to be naked at this time of year, isn't it?"
"Kid..." The bespectacled man begins. "We haven't sunk so low as to be pitied by you."
"So why are you grabbing them?" Allen asks as the three had their hands on their belongings.
"Oops."
The three men take their belongings and begin to dress back to their clothes.
"Well that's a relief," The bespectacled man says. "To tell you the truth, we're doing outside work at the mines starting today. We were gonna die!"
"Haha... where are you from?" Allen asks.
"From everywhere~" The bespectacled man sings. "We're bad mannered orphans who've become wanderers~"
Then the young boy, who was accompanying the three men, holds his fist up to Allen.
"Thanks." He says. Allen just smiles, clearly not comprehending what the little boy is doing.
"Eeez, that's your treasure! Wait, wait, I have something to give him instead." The bespectacled man begins to dig through his pockets in a hurry as the train blows its whistle, indicating that it's about to depart.
"It's okay, don't worry about it." Allen says as the train begins to slowly move away from the station. Before the train leaves at full speed, the bespectacled man tosses something to Allen.
"Here!" He shouts as Allen catches the object with his right hand. It is a deck of cards. "Please let us off with that, okay?"
Allen smiles at him and the train leaves the station not knowing that he and the bespectacled man will meet again on opposite sides.
