A/N: Woo, it's been a while! Short chapter this time, too. Sorry about that, although I really like the atmosphere this chapter ends on so I can't be too sad about the short length! Anyways, onwards!
Allen was disoriented when he first woke up. He had no idea where he was and he startled upwards. Instead of the ceiling made of dark wood and the richly furnished bedroom he had come to know, he found himself in a tiny room with a much smaller bed.
Also unfamiliar, the sun filtered brightly into the small room, lighting it up clearly. The silver-haired boy looked blearily over to where the sunlight seemed to be coming from and found a one-panel window, with flowery curtains pulled to either side to better let the sunlight in. Even though it wasn't nearly as big as the window he was used to in his room, there was much more sunlight now than he had ever seen before.
The boy huffed out a breath and flopped heavily back onto the bed as he suddenly remembered where he was. Well...he didn't exactly where he was, but he at least remembered the previous night. The old lady had let him stay the night…
Allen carefully crawled out of bed, but almost jumped back in when his feet hit the ice-cold wood of the floor. Brrr. The boy forced himself to go further and eeked open the door to the hallway. The hallway was dim and quiet, not a sound is created that wasn't from Allen. A small bit of light filtered in from the sparse windows dotted around.
Is the old lady still asleep? Allen wondered to himself, crawling further down the hallway. It was light outside, so it couldn't have been that early. I must have been really tired last night. This is the first time I haven't gotten up at dawn. Allen thought to himself. The boy cringed away slightly at the memory of the previous night.
It was all so wrong. What happened, what he'd found out, how he'd reacted. The night had been awful and he felt the ghost of the chilling rain on his skin just thinking back to it.
Allen frowned at the floor. He still didn't know what he was going to do. Part of him wanted to go back, apologize, pretend that the whole thing never happened...forget about everything. The other part knew he couldn't forget, even if he wanted to. He wasn't sure he could go back yet. He wasn't as angry and upset and scared of Lavi as he'd been in the moment, but those feelings were still there.
He suspected they would stay there until he got answers.
"Up so soon?" A rickety voice came from right behind Allen, startling him and causing him to jump forward before turning around. The old lady was behind him, looking peaceful and yet with that everpresent frown that she seemed to always have on her face.
Allen blinked, startled at her a moment before pulling himself together. "Good morning. How are you doing today?"
"Bah. Well enough. Didn't get much sleep." The woman scoffed, shouldered past him, and moving into the kitchen area.
"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that." Allen said quietly, a little startled by the woman's blunt rudeness. She'd been like that the previous night, too, but it was starker in its presentation in the daylight and with his mind sharpened by sleep. Kanda was more combative than that, but at least he cared one way or another about what Allen did. The apathy towards his being practically wafted off of the elderly lady.
Allen shook himself. It didn't matter, he reminded. Regardless of if she cared or not, she had still helped him and allowed him to stay. It was better than he could have hoped for. She'd even fed him and quite a bit, at that. She was kind enough for those actions alone. Besides, maybe she wasn't fond of showing kindness openly and instead showed it through actions. She could indeed be one of those people, like Kanda.
Less cautiously now, he followed her path down the short hallway. The home was indeed small and it wasn't more than a few seconds before he happened back upon the entrance to the cooking area. Sleepy memories of wandering the space between the kitchen and the bedroom the previous night barely registered in his mind, his mind so addled by that time of night.
The old lady was there with her back facing him, messing with something on the wooden counter. "Just making breakfast." The lady called out without turning around like she had heard him approach despite how silently Allen knew he walked.
"Okay. Uh...thank you?" Allen tried, politely. He uncomfortably walked to the table and sat down at it. He looked around nervously as she worked, unconsciously trying to find whatever it was that was freaking him out. He couldn't say what it was, either. Just that something was upsetting him.
He felt...vaguely unnerved and to his mind, there was absolutely no reason for it. There wasn't anything wrong and the old lady was as coarse as the previous night. It didn't make any sense.
Allen jumped when a plate was placed before him. It was the most simple breakfast he had ever had. It was a slice of uncooked bread with an egg on top. It definitely didn't have any of the rich ingredients that he'd only ever had back home and so it wasn't as appetizing, but as Allen's growling stomach informed him, beggars couldn't be choosers.
Allen gave a smile in thanks to the elderly woman who turned to head out of the kitchen without another word and dug in. Given how hungry the silver-haired boy was and how comparatively small the breakfast was, it was no wonder that the egg bread practically disappeared within a minute.
Allen tried to ignore the slight hunger he still felt as he got up from the table. Kanda seems like he has more means than most people, especially more than a random elderly lady in a hut. I shouldn't be too greedy. He reminded himself.
Allen fumbled with where to put the empty plate before deciding to just leave it on the table. What was he going to do now? The question, unfortunately, extended far past his immediate circumstances and he had absolutely no answer, so he steadfastly ignored the looming feeling of uncomfortableness he had at his future.
And also the looming uncomfortableness he felt in his current situation.
He entertained the idea of finding the old woman again and asking if he could help her with something, to repay a little of what she was doing for him, but he found himself afraid of being even more of a bother to the short-tempered old woman.
Instead, he decided to go back the way he'd come, deeper into the hut.
He would, he decided, wait in his room.
