Introductions
No. This was wrong.
He was probably still unconscious because how the bloody hell did he end up in the body of an old man?
The now white haired boy gingerly touched the left side of his face – the one with the weird red scar – and noticed it didn't hurt, as if it had been inflicted many years ago. He kept staring at his apparent reflection and pinched his face. Hard.
And damn it, why wasn't he waking up?
But his worried musings soon came to an end when he heard the door of his room open, and that was not the voice of that Mana clown he knew.
He glanced left and right for a place to hide, but with this big body of his there was nearly nowhere that would work. Maybe a window? He glanced up and groaned at the tiny window; if only he had his real body he would have left this damned place without further ado. There was no time left, so he grabbed the first thing at hand to defend himself from whoever was quickly approaching him and waited.
"Allen? Is everything OK? Are you in – why are you threatening me with a soap bar?"
Allen? Who the hell was Allen? He clicked his tongue and glared at the red haired man before him.
"Who the fuck are you?" he demanded, soap clenched tightly in his hand and ready to throw at if he deemed it necessary.
Apparently, the red haired man was as shocked as he himself was if his gaping mouth and wide single-eye was anything to go by, still, he recovered himself quickly and took a step forward. The silver eyed boy grabbed his soap bar tighter.
"Don't you dare take a step closer, or I'll throw the bloody soap at you, you twat!"
"Is that a British accent?" the red haired man asked, visible concern on his features. He took another step forward. "Ah, shit, Allen, don't you remember me?"
He threw the soap bar right into the red haired man's visible eye hard and painfully, as his new acquaintance let him know by the large string of curses that left his mouth. This was the opportunity he needed, so as quick as his new body allowed him to, he dodged the still cursing red head and dashed towards the open door.
Surprisingly, this new body of his was really fit. If he wanted to escape (and he really did), at least he was sure this way it would be easier. He'd worry about small details like this not being his real body later.
For now, he opened the door of the room he was in – the curses from the red head were still coming from the bathroom, and without really paying attention to his surroundings, he turned left only to crash into a tall woman with long black hair and a scowl in place.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, beansprout?"
The silver haired boy frowned from his position in the ground, that lady's voice was nowhere near lady-like, or feminine, for that matter.
"Are you a tranny?" he asked with his thick British accent. The boy prided himself on his ample vocabulary; maybe no one at the circus bothered to talk to him, but whilst doing all the odd jobs people talked, and he started learning new words and most important of all, new insults.
The maybe-not-a-lady-after-all twitched, and the boy saw him make a move towards what looked like a sword strapped to his waist, only to be stopped by the red head from before that yelled from what he assumed was still the bathroom.
"Wait, Yuu!" he said, and the boy could swear he saw this Yuu bloke get even angrier. "Get Allen back here; don't let him escape!"
He was just about to protest when strong arms grabbed him by the waist and swiftly threw him on the long haired whatever's shoulder. He vaguely pondered that maybe she was actually a he, but he didn't care at the moment. He needed to escape and this current nuisance was making it hard for him.
"Put me down you cunt!" the silver eyed boy yelled to deaf ears.
He watched from the corner of his eye as the read head took out a black flying bat-like object and hurriedly whispered to it before turning his attention back to the raven haired man and pointing towards the bed he woke up not so long ago.
He heard him grunt in response and then, as ungracefully as one could get, he threw him into the bed and grabbed to the handle of his sword, as if daring him to get up.
He scowled at his two apparent captors before assessing the situation he was in.
If his memory served him right, this morning had been like any other in his dull life, except that maybe Cosimo had been angrier than usual. Mana had been as successful as always with the crowd, even without Allen the dog – Ah. Hadn't that red haired pirate called him Allen? And then Cosimo shoved Mana after his show, and he got mad, because why wasn't Mana defending himself? And he left his work at the odd jobs to defend Mana and hit Cosimo with his red arm and–
His red arm.
He had been so worried about escaping this place and this body that wasn't his that he had forgotten all about his left arm.
He gingerly glanced down, careful not to be seen by the murmuring pair before him, lifted his white long sleeve and winced. It seemed that even in someone else's body he couldn't escape his wrecked fate. Although it seemed a bit different. This arm was the same bloody red as his, but it was smoother than his scaly one, and it looked more human. Probably due the fact that this wasn't his body, to begin with. He just hoped that whenever he got out of this body, he wouldn't leave this poor bloke with his cursed arm.
He soon stopped his musings when he felt the other two staring at him. He scowled.
"What are ya' looking at?" he asked.
"Ah, no," the red head started. "You see, Allen-"
"M'name's not Allen," the silver eyed boy spat. "I don't know what that Mana clown told you, but I'm not Allen. Allen was his dead dog."
He saw how his captors blinked in confusion, and was strangely amused at the girly man's confused face. Idiot.
"You're not Allen?" asked the red head. "Then, uh, who are you?"
"People call me Red," he shrugged.
He saw the face of the red head morph from confusion, to surprise, to understanding and back to confusion. Red scowled, they now knew more than enough about him, yet he still had no answers whatsoever. He opened his mouth, ready to demand an explanation and a damned solution for this mess, when the door to the room opened abruptly to reveal an angry-looking old woman and a cowering man with a beret behind her.
"Allen Walker!" she yelled, taking large strides towards the white haired boy. "Have I not made myself clear every other time you get into my care? All patients must rest and are not allowed to get out of bed until I say so!"
"Ah, head nurse," the red head started, "no, you see –"
"Is everyone a bloody idiot in here?" Red interrupted, the thick British accent slipping quite clearly. "I don't know what Mana told you but m'name is not Allen! I'm not a bloody dog, you plonker!"
He wasn't sure what aggravated him the most, the fact that he'd been awake for what he felt was nearly an hour and he had no answers yet, or the fact that they were confusing him for a dog. Not that Red really cared how they referred to him, not anymore, but Allen the dog had been the first living thing that had regarded him as a human, and he didn't want to soil his memory with his cursed self.
A whack at the back of his head stopped him from his musings and he glared at the annoyed nurse.
"What was that for!" he spat, and he involuntarily winced when he saw the woman's hand lift again.
"Head nurse," the man in the beret interrupted. "Would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?"
The head nurse nodded, glaring at Red and leaving with the promise of insufferable pain if he left the room again and didn't drink his medicines.
Crazy old woman. Red thought, before landing his attention on the beret man.
"Allen–"
"Red," He interrupted.
"All right, Red," he said, giving him a funny look. "Do you remember what happened?"
"That's what I would like to know," Red scoffed. "I was minding my own business at the circus, and when I woke up I was stuck in this old man's body!"
Red noticed how the two blokes from before stifled a smirk. For some reason it annoyed him.
"The circus, you say?" the man in the beret asked. Red noted how he mumbled something about Allen working at a circus; he then clapped his hands together in a rather excited manner. "I see. Amnesia it is, then!"
"Are you positive, Komui?" the she-man asked grumpily.
The man in the beret nodded before explaining something or another about Akuma's, blows to the head, long term memory loss and more things he didn't understand before he lost it.
"You!" he yelled, pointing at the babbling man with an accusing finger. "Shut up. I've been here for almost an hour and I don't know what the bloody hell is going on! Now, who the fuck are you wankers, what the fuck is an am-ney-sia, and what the bloody hell happened to me!"
"Ah, apologies!" chirped the red haired man. "Let me start with the introductions, shall we? My name is Lavi, yours truly; that samurai wannabe over there is Yuu – I mean, Kanda, stop giving me that look, will you? And he is Komui, he's the chief in here. About the other questions, well, things put simply, Komui here is a scientist, and he likes to experiment a lot. And there's this guy named Allen Walker – the person, mind you, not the dog – who had the bad luck to stumble into one of Komui's experiments. As you can see, the effects of the potion switched your body and his for whichever reason, but don't worry, it'll most likely wear off in a couple of days."
Red only assumed that his look of shock rivaled those that Komui and Kanda gave Lavi. Then, chaos ensued.
Komui and Kanda launched at Lavi between screaming and punching and probably high killing intent while Red stood dumbfounded in his position on the bed. He absentmindedly heard some of the bickering trio's banter ("Are you a complete an utter idiot, Rabbit?" "But listen! This could be the opportunity of a lifetime!" "Your bookman duties have nothing to do here, Lavi!"), before mussing to himself. So he had switched bodies with a complete stranger whose name was the same as a dead dog.
Brilliant.
But the red head – Lavi, said that it would wear of in a couple of days or so, he just needed to get out of here, find his real body and wait for the potion to revert; his inexistent sense of direction be damned!
"No but, we can find out something about the 14th, think about it!" Red heard Lavi say and barely wondered what he was on about before shrugging it off. He had more important things to do.
"Well, if the potion will wear off by itself then I don't give a shite," Red said, gaining the bickering trio's attention. "I'm leaving, then."
And faster than his mind could register, the trio were over him restraining him to the bed clearly against his will.
"Oi! Let me go!" He screamed to deaf ears as he tossed left and right, punching aimlessly in hopes of hitting someone.
"Wait Al-Red, you can't leave here! It might be dangerous outside!" Komui said, barely dodging a punch sent his way.
"I'm going back to the circus!" Red yelled as he launched forward, painfully head butting Komui as the older man was sent flying with an indignant cry. The other two gingerly let go of Red but still hovered over him.
"You won't let me go, fine!" he spat, glaring pointedly at each one in turn. "Then I'll make you kick me out instead!"
He lifted the left sleeve of his shirt to reveal the disfigured blood-red arm. Red knew that the moment they saw his arm they were likely to shove him off the front door with some curses, prayers and possibly a punch or two. He waited, expecting the over-rated reactions of his captors and when nothing happened he looked up.
Confused looks adorned their faces. Then, one by one, confusion turned to horror and pity alike (or well, most of them at least, that Kanda guy schooled his features quite rapidly to his atonishment).
"Why…" Red started, gaining the trio's attention once more. "Why aren't you attacking me?"
"Allen…" Komui said, but quickly regained his silly happy self before continuing. Red dully noted how the others threw a warning glance at their chief. "Ah, silly me, I have to get my instruments. Say, you two, would you mind keeping an eye on Red until I get back?"
"Why the hell do I have to stay here?" Kanda said in what Red felt as a whining tone. "Let the Rabbit take care of the kid."
"Because," Komui started as he headed to the door, "Lavi is an idiot ("Hey!"), and will most likely lose sight of Red. Please, Kanda, I'll just get some stuff from my Lab and be right back."
Kanda tsk'ed as Komui left the room, and then, silence.
For a moment, nobody moved. Lavi had this nervous smile on that somehow managed to irk him so much, and Kanda had a scowl that darkened his features. Red pouted. If they were not going to let him go as of right now, at least he wanted some sort of entertainment. He turned his attention to the grumpy samurai and tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"I don't get it," he started, gaining both of their attention. "I thought you were a woman because you pretty much look like one, but your voice sounds like a man, and you have a flat chest."
He watched amusedly how the raven haired man twitched violently with every word he said. Lavi had already lost it at the flat chest statement.
"So are you a tranny or what?"
Lavi's obnoxious laugh distracted him only enough to barely avoid the sharp sword that stabbed on the bed he was currently sitting at. Red paled, wondering if the white bed would be damped in crimson had he not moved to the side.
"What was that for, you arsehole!" He screamed, pointing an accusing finger to the angry Kanda, "You fucking nutter!"
"Say one more thing," Kanda hissed, sending shivers down Red's spine, "and next time I won't fucking miss."
Silence reigned again after Kanda attempted to chop Lavi too for laughing so much, and Red could feel how the atmosphere turned somehow gloomier. That Komui guy was taking too much time for his liking. He shuffled on the bed, turning his attention to the red head instead; deeming it less dangerous than the fuming Kanda that stood near the door.
"Hey, Lavi," Red said, "Did you already know this Allen bloke had an arm like this? I mean, you weren't surprised when I showed you."
Red noticed the shadow of a sad smile on the red head's face before he turned back to his happy self. Kanda only shifted uncomfortably.
"Yeah," Lavi answered, "We knew. He was born with it."
Red hummed, turning his gaze to the white ceiling instead, "And you don't hate him?"
"No," Lavi said in a tone that Red couldn't quite place his mind into. "Why would a one-eyed guy like me hate someone with a red arm?"
Red looked back to see a smile on Lavi; he returned it with a small smile of his own. Kanda just tsk'ed and murmured something about Komui being late under his breath; Red ignored him.
"I have an arm like that too," Red continued absentmindedly, "in my original body, just… uglier. People run away from me when they see it, or chase me away, for that matter. Although this Allen's arm is more human like."
Red blinked. Why was he telling them that, anyway? He would get back his original body soon enough and they would forget all about him in no time. They would leave him, everybody did. Better just keep his distance from these weirdos.
"Red," Lavi said slowly, "do people always–"
"I'M BACK!"
All three snapped their heads to the source of the noise, only to find a fully armed Komui with a crazy glint in his eyes. Instead of the beret he had a helmet in place, and strapped to his back were all sorts of heavy machinery, all pointy and dangerous. But what caught Red's attention the most (even more than the abnormally large drill on Komui's back), was the huge silver hammer Komui held over his head, as if ready to attack.
Suddenly, Red had the urge to run far, far away from here.
"Al right Red," Komui said, taking a step forward, "let's get you fixed up!"
Red jumped out of the bed, and with a force he didn't believe possible in his current body, he threw the bed towards the crazy scientist.
Komui slammed the hammer into the flying bed and sent it towards an unsuspecting Lavi, who just yelped before being squished between the mattress and the hard wall behind him.
Red shivered, he was going to get killed.
"Get the fuck away from me, you wanker!"
"C'mon Red," Komui said happily, stepping even closer to the white haired boy. "It won't hurt that much!"
A crash and then, "Bloody hell, just stop i– wah!"
Somehow, Red would've preferred for them to chase him away from this mad place.
I really wasn't expecting such a great response from you guys from the first chapter, seeing that it was incredibly short but wow. I swear I was squealing with every review, fav and follow you guys gave me, you are awesome.
And to answer to the question of Dark Magpie, I don't think I'll have any pairings in this story, mostly due the fact that Allen has the mindset of an 8-year-old or so, though I do plan to have a little bit of fluff every now and then!
Again, any mistakes you see please tell me so I can correct them,
Hope you enjoyed, see you next time!
