I'm back! My trip was awesome! I think I got a tan… I noticed that quite a few of you were checking up on my story (Aww shucks guys!). Well I worked on this while in bed, by the camp fire, and at the beach. It probably won't be as long as the last buuut. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned -man, then shouldn't I be getting PAID for this? Well I'm not, so I don't!

It wasn't really dark. But, then again, it wasn't bright either. He felt stuck somehow. Yet, as far as he could tell, nothing was constricting him. The only thing that seemed to tug at his consciousness was a voice. A voice repeatedly calling his name. A voice that sounded so familiar. Who was calling to him?

xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx

Komui Lee slammed close his car door, not even bothering to lock it. He was in a hurry to help aid the poor boy that had left him an urgent message. A message which he hadn't answered.

He had been at the school, fixing a dilemma that another student had, involving a spork, a rubber band, and a can of soda. Due to this issue, Komui had been completely unaware that an injured Allen Walker had desperately called for help.

Once the principal solved the issue with suspending the high scholar for a week, he finally made his way to his house.

When the adult reached his small, one-story, house, it was 6:30 pm; roughly three hours after the school day ends. As his average coming home ritual, Komui grabbed a light blue, bunny mug and filled it with coffee, then he absent mindedly checked his home phone messages.

The glasses-wearing man had sighed, realizing that most of the calls had been reminders for bills or they were just from Lenalee's many friends.

All of the messages seemed to drag on and he wasn't really paying them much devotion as he stared endlessly into the bottom of his coffee cup.

Except for one. One message caught his attention. As soon as the mechanical phone voice told Komui the number, he froze; his mind reeling to find the purpose that Allen Walker would call.

Then, realization dawned. 'I told him to only call in case of emergency or when injured .'

He listened with sadness that nearly ripped his heart in two. Allen had sounded broken. Cross was back and he had been injured. That much was obvious.

Before he even left a note for Lenalee explaining his sudden absence, Komui had pulled out the ripped piece of paper handed to him by Allen. It had his house address and his name, Allen Walker, written over the top.

After entering the alien address into his GPS, the worried principal grabbed the lone car key from his pocket and launched himself at the door, preparing for a drive to Allen's house.

xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx

What a strange neighborhood it was. This was, of course, assuming that you could actually refer to the deserted and filthy streets as a neighborhood.

The drive there had proven to be only a short distance from the school; only about a five minute drive and a ten to fifteen minute walk.

After parking on the curb, Komui stepped out of his car. An out-of-character frown painted Komui's features as he fully absorbed his destination.

Allen's 'house' was a small, one-story, building. The panels on the rood were cracked and falling off, forming a ring of black flakes that circled the building, most of the windows had wooden boards covering the surface, probably because of all of the cracks that webbed themselves throughout the glass, and the lawn was practically a jungle in itself.

After the adult shook his head in silent disapproval, he stepped into the thigh-high grass and weeds; wading his way towards the rotting black, door. He internally prepared himself for whatever laid on the other side. He raised a hand to knock.

Komui knocked three times, but when he received no answer, he let himself into the broken house, noticing as he entered, that the dilapidated door had been unlocked.

"Allen? Allen Walker?" He called, cautiously stepping into a small, dim-lit room.

The man was startled when he heard some talking in the next room over. With quick steps on the tips of his toes, he walked into the room that held the unknown noise.

Komui stopped. His eyes widened behind his glasses and he felt his blood boil with rage.

What he had heard was the TV, but that wasn't he was angry at. What had caught his attention was a man with a large mane of red hair, and a broken bottle shattered around him on the ground.

'This must be the Cross that Allen had been telling me about.'

The irate man turned off the TV with the flick of a button and continued his frantic search for Allen.

'Maybe he is in his room… Where is his room? All I see is this room with the TV, the front room, the kitchen, and a small hallway.'

Trying his famously lousy luck, he started down the hallway and only found a bathroom and a seeming-to-be closet.

When he stuck his head inside the small closet he noticed something. 'Hold on. Are those Allen's pajamas? There's a blanket too… Could this- Could this be his room?'

Komui was now mystified. A sudden shiver rolled across his spine and he couldn't help but think that something further had happened to Allen.

The intruder walked back into the front room and that's when he saw it; a white haired figure, collapsed against the floor.

With a stifled gasp he bent down to examine the unconscious boy. His eyes flooded with worry and sympathy. Allen had been hidden behind a beaten and worn sofa so it had made sense that Komui hadn't been able to notice him when he first entered the run down room.

He noticed, to his dismay, that Allen had a cell phone loosely held in his hand. His left arm dangled to the ground at an awkward angle, numerous scratches were visible across his right hand.

With guilt, the adult gingerly collected the cell phone that Allen clung to, and in a flash he had dialed the emergency number to ask for an ambulance to come immediately.

With a few minutes to spare until help would arrive, Komui stepped back into the room that held the man that he could only assume to be Cross. The red-haired man was, like Allen, unconscious. Bottles and countless cigarettes lay around him, one of the bottles seemed to be broken and the glass pieces had embedded themselves into the man's body and the surrounding carpet.

With one more hate-filled glance at Cross, Komui turned his attention towards the rest of the tattered building.

The waiting man then realized that all of the glass bottles he had seen strewn across the floor, had all been alcoholic beverages and he could now smell the thick sent of smoke in the air.

Curious about a comment made by Allen previously, Komui checked the frowzy kitchen, which consisted of a small closet; the pantry, and a tiny fridge. Slowly, he opened the creaking door to the panty and frowned. It was completely empty. Not even a crumb of food. Moving on to the fridge, he had found little more than nothing; there was a bowl of green and black, fuzzy rice. Though even that had been eaten off of; Allen must've been desperate that day.

Komui suddenly stopped and closed the fridge's door. The ambulance had arrived.

With great haste, he ran out to meet the emergency doctors and led them to Allen, making sure they couldn't find Cross.

'If they find Cross Allen wouldn't feel safe. Also, he did tell me to keep everything a secret. I don't want to betray his trust…'

As two men carefully stuck Allen on a white stretcher, another adult dressed in uniform approached Komui.

"Sir, we need to know exactly what happened here in order to treat him properly." The man was barely one, at about 20 years old, his voice was strictly business.

"Oh, of course." Komui stalled, trying to make up a cover story for Allen's injuries.

"He… Well, he was running and he- well I guess he wasn't paying attention because he ran into that window. I think his shoulder must have slammed against the side..." The principal informed him, pointing at a conveniently boarded-over window next to the spot that Allen had been previously laying at.

The young man doctor didn't fully look like he believed the feigned story, but wrote it down over a clipboard, none the less.

Komui had then asked the man if he could ride in the ambulance next to Allen. After a slight pause of hesitation, this request was accepted.

With a lasting pitiful glance towards Allen, the ambulance left for an anxious ride to the hospital.

xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx

It was bright.

'A-am I dead? Is this heaven? Yeah... Starvation, beatings… Yeah, I', dead.'

xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx

"Allen?"

"Allen?"

"Are you awake?"

The white haired boy was lying on a hospital bed, his arm was securely wrapped in gauze and a sling. IV's were pricked into his arm, feeding his malnourished body.

A small groan was audible as the victimized boy slowly raised his eyelids. 'Hmm. Definitely heaven. It's warm and it's bright.'

"Oh good. Allen you've finally awoken. How do you feel?"

'Wait…No… Not heaven… Is that… Principal Lee? Where… am I?'

Apparently this was spoken aloud because Komui then opened his mouth to answer.

"You're in the hospital Allen. I received your phone call. You're safe for now."

From what Allen could see through his squinted eyes, Komui had concern and worry etched across his face.

"K-komui?" As tired as he was, this word was the most that he could get out.

"Yes Allen. I'm glad you're okay but… What exactly happened? I mean…" The question was obviously burning in his eyes, but the curiosity was expertly hidden in his voice.

A shiver slowly rumbled over Allen's spine as the previous night's events retold themselves in his mind. "S-sorry but, do you mind if my answer waits… I'd rather not talk about it now… Especially here." The shy boy circled the hospital room with his eyes, telling the other man that he didn't want to talk about it in a hospital where they don't know who could be listening in.

"Absolutely. Allen, I know this is rude of me- especially at this inappropriate time, but, Lenalee is waiting for me at home and I didn't have time to tell her that I would be gone so… I'm very sorry but I must leave. The doctors will take good care of you; I've informed the head about you're… lack… of a guardian at the current moment. I'll come back and visit you in the morning." With guilt ridden eyes, the man left Allen slouching on the scratchy pillows.

Just as the heavy door shut, the white haired boy collapsed his head into his right hand; the weight of his usually-suppressed emotions wearing him down. A single tear carelessly rolled down his pale face and he couldn't quite explain why he felt so broken, just that he did.

The single window in the small room cast eerie shadows throughout his chambers as the moon slowly rose to the center of the starry, December sky. The boy idly figured that it must've been about 10:00 pm or later.

Suddenly, a thought struck Allen. He hadn't noticed it earlier when Komui had been there distracting him, but now he realized the small detail that meant more than anyone could imagine. He was sleeping on an actual bed. Not the floor.

'I haven't slept on an actual bed since… Well… Since Mana… Mana… Are you watching me right now…? Do you see the nice people helping me like you did?'

It wasn't very often when the pain struck boy allowed thoughts of the kind-hearted man known as Mana, to linger in his mind for long. He loved him, he really did, but, Allen had found that every time he thought of his past days spent with the man, he would shut out most of his surroundings and get caught up in them. Much like he was now.

In fact, Allen was so engrossed his feelings and lidded memories; he hadn't been able to notice the footsteps hurriedly marching towards his room. That is, until the door was flung open by none other than a hysterical Lenalee with Komui following shortly behind.

"Allen!"

"M-miss Lenalee?"

Allen's gaze met with Komui who had apology apparent in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Allen, I know it's late. As soon as I arrived to my house, I had told Lenalee that I had enrolled you into the hospital and-well, this happened…" Komui had answered the raising question that was seemingly written over Allen's face. He gestured towards the emotional girl who was now rushing next to the hospital bed's side.

"What happened Allen? You're in the hospital!"

Allen inwardly rolled his eyes. Of course he's in the hospital. That had been painfully obvious, seeing as he had the IV, hospital gown, and the whole nine yards.

Instead of giving off the attitude he had felt inside, he left out a small and innocent smile. Instantly the room seemed to brighten but it dimed down again when a nurse came running in, her glasses slightly slipping off of her forehead as she slammed to a clumsy stop.

The nurse blushed a deep red as soon as she saw Allen, but regained some of her form as she pointed a slender finger at the Lee siblings.

"You two need to leave! Visiting hours ended a long time ago!" She turned to the boy sitting on the bed and gave way a small sigh. "Mr. Walker I'm very sorry! I told them they couldn't come but they ran around so many corners that somehow I ended up on the other side of the hospital!"

"Miss Lou Fa? N-no, it's fine. I wasn't sleeping so it's not as if they were disturbing me…"

Her blush seemed to deepen when Allen spoke, but she nodded half a dozen times and lowered her circular glasses down from its spot on top of her head.

She fastened the glasses securely resting on top of her nose, when her eyes narrowed at the other two people in the room. "You guys have to leave now! Come back tomorrow if you want, but Mr. Walker needs his sleep; he's still recovering!"

With twin sighs in defeat, Lenalee and Komui both nodded their heads in understanding and sluggishly headed towards the exit. Before leaving, Lenalee turned around and gave a small, comforting smile to Allen. Returning the smile, Allen gave a slight "See you later." And the door was shut with Lou Fa following Komui's tail; making sure the intruders left.

For the final time, the injured boy laid his head on the pillows and shut his eyes, hoping that sleep would overtake him soon.

It didn't take long for his wish to be granted, because the warmth of the unfamiliar bed was strangely comforting to him, and he found himself softly humming a song taught to him by his uncle. The soft, lullaby- like song, allowed him to enter the easy sleep he had been longing for.

For the first time in weeks, Allen had a dream.

What was Allen's dream? Hah! You'll just have to wait and find out! Okay, sorry this didn't come up when I said it would! Gomenasai! It's not a very long one but I hope you liked it anyways. I still seriously love you guys for your reviews! I'll be waiting to hear from you on this chapter. (At first this chapter was going to be totally different, but I liked this idea better, so I used this one instead.) Until next time!