The Intermission chapters return with a continuation of the first one! Will I be continuing this saga? That depends on how long this story will be…

It's like Lenalee gets the most lines in this story. It's weird, isn't it? Weird like how Allen can eat all that food and not get sick.

Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man belongs to Hoshino Katsura's cat, Coro, who Katsura says looks like Timcampy. I'M SORRY TIMCAMPY!! At least there's now a reason why you've disappeared…

Intermission III: The Petals Fall, the Winds Blow

"I'd like some mashed potatoes, chicken soup, dry curry, soy tofu, beef stew, meat loaf, chicken potato salad, eight cobs of corn, twelve cheeseburgers, six bacon cheeseburgers, twenty-nine slices of pizza, thirty-two rice balls, four apples, four bananas, four pineapples, four watermelons, seven plates of chicken parmesan, a plate of lasagna, two shepherd pies, nine plates of fettuccini alfredo, twelve plates of chicken adobo, three plates of fried rice, two plates of plain rice, and three racks of barbeque ribs." Allen took in a deep breath. "And for dessert, I'd like three bowls of chocolate ice cream, three bowls of vanilla ice cream, three bowls of strawberry ice cream, four raspberry crepes, eight large chocolate brownies with sprinkles, and sixty-four mitarashi dango."

"My, my, Allen!" Jerry exclaimed. "You're certainly a bit more hungry than usual." Jerry leaned in closer to Allen. "Are you being troubled by something?"

"Ah, no, Jerry." Allen raised his hands. "It's just the whole war with the Earl and all that's working up an appetite."

"Well if you say so, Allen." Jerry went into the cafeteria, and came out thirty seconds later to hand Allen a few hundred plates of food. "Here you go, Allen, enjoy!"

Allen took the plates from the cook. "Thank you, Jerry." He walked to a vacant table and set his plates down. "Finally…time to chow down!"

Lavi, Miranda, and Lenalee walked over to Allen. "Hey, Allen, it looks like you're eating a bit more than usual!"

Allen stacked one plate after another next to him. "I'm just kinda hungry. I haven't really had a good meal in a while."

"I can see that…" Lavi commented as Allen downed his one-hundredth and fifty-second plate. "Really Allen, how can you eat all this stuff?"

Allen shrugged. "I don't know. It just come naturally I guess." He set aside his final plate. "Whew, I think that's a new personal record for me!"

"Um, yeah…" Lavi and the others pulled a seat next to Allen. "Hey, mind if we talk to you for a second?"

Allen smiled. "Sure, why not?"

"Great. Well, we wanted to ask…" Lavi hesitated. "Miranda, why don't you ask?"

Miranda froze at the thought of being the one to ask. "B-b-but me!? What if I mess up the question? What if I accidentally mispronounce a word? Allen might misunderstand what we're asking and think totally different! I can't handle this pressure!" Miranda's head fell flat on the table.

"…I was only joking Miranda." Lavi said. "You didn't need to get so worked up over it."

Lenalee sighed. "Fine, I'll ask Allen."

"Ask me what?" Allen looked at each of the three exorcists in front of him. "I don't really get what's going on here…"

"Well Allen…" Lenalee bit her lip. "It's about the meeting we had a couple of hours ago. And that message Miranda passed on to you from Road."

Allen's gaze fell to the ground. "Oh, that. What about it?"

"Well…Allen, I was wondering…um…" Lenalee sighed.

"I'll say it." Lavi said. "Allen, are you considering using the Ark to go to Italy by yourself?"

"Ah ha ha…of course not." Allen laughed. "What makes you think I have any desire to see Road again? Especially by myself." Allen stood up. "Well if you'll excuse me, I'm pretty tired so I think I'm going to go to bed now."

Lavi grabbed his arm. "Tell the truth, Allen. "Lavi said quietly. "Are you, or are you not feeling guilty about what happened between you and Road."

"Well…of course I am." Allen smiled. "Who wouldn't feel guilty about basically telling a girl to crawl in a hole and die?" Allen's smile faded. "Even if she was a Noah…her Noah was sleeping, so she was completely a human at a time. So of course I'm guilty for wanting to kill a fellow human. But now that she's a Noah again, all that guilt is gone, so I won't be chasing after her." Allen tried to pull his arm away from Lavi. "Is that all, Lavi?"

"I guess so…" Lavi admitted. "That's all I wanted to know." He let go of Allen's arm. "Have fun sleeping, Allen."

Allen smiled. "Good night, Lavi." He moved away.

"Wait!" Lenalee ran over to Allen and grabbed him. "I'm not done with you yet…" She gazed into Allen's eyes. "Tell me the truth, are you going to Italy?"

"I already said I wasn't going, Lenalee." Allen said softly. "Don't you believe me?"

Lenalee studied Allen's face. She slapped him. "I told you not to lie to me!"

"L-Lenalee!" Allen stuttered, feeling the spot where she struck. "I already said I wasn't going!"

"Allen, do you think I can't tell when you're lying or not!?" Lenalee shouted, tears in her eyes. "I can see it in your eyes, you're still planning to go to Italy, aren't you?"

"Lenalee…" Allen gazed at the floor. "I…"

"Forget it, Allen." Lenalee said. "I'm leaving." She dashed out of the room, her tears trailing behind.

"Allen…" Allen looked around to see everyone staring at him viciously. "You made Lenalee cry!"

He held up his hands in defense. "N-no, I didn't mean to-"

Lavi pushed Allen towards the door. "Go, Allen, apologize to her. You really need to be honest with her."

"Lavi…" Allen shook his head. "Thanks." Allen ran out of the cafeteria to find Lenalee. He dashed through the corridors of the Black Order, passing various Finders along the way. Suddenly, he heard a quiet sobbing. "Lenalee?" Allen walked quietly to the source of the crying, and went up one of the towers. At the very top, he saw Lenalee looking outside at the snow covered landscape, tears in her eyes." Lenalee…" Allen said softly.

Lenalee's ears twitched when she heard Allen's voice. She turned away from him. "Go away, I don't want to talk to you right now."

Allen walked over to her. "Why not?" He sat down next to her.

"Because, I'm mad at you right now." Lenalee stated simply.

"Oh, why?"

Lenalee turned angrily to Allen. "Because!" Her gaze shifted away from him. "Because…I'm afraid of losing you."

"Lenalee…" Allen said softly. "Didn't I say I wasn't going to leave?"

"Saying and doing are two different things." Lenalee told him. "I can tell when you're lying, you know. Whenever you lie you have this slight twitch in your left eye, so small that it's almost unnoticeable."

"You can tell when I'm lying?" Allen asked. "So does that mean if I play poker with you I might actually lose?"

"Be serious, Allen!" Lenalee shouted.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Allen apologized. "I just can't really believe that you've noticed something like that about me. I thought I was hard to read."

"You are hard to read, Allen." Lenalee lightly brushed away the hair that covered the scar over Allen's eye. "Sometimes I can't tell if you love the Akuma more than you love your friends."

"Lenalee…"

"You once said that your left hand was for the Akuma, and the right was for the humans." Lenalee grabbed Allen's left hand. "To me it seems that you're carrying more weight on your left hand than on your right." She pulled Allen into an embrace. "Please don't sink deeper into the darkness Allen. Please…"

"Lenalee…" A sharp stab of pain suddenly went through Allen's eye. He pulled away from Lenalee, covering his left eye.

"Allen? Are you okay?"

Allen smiled nervously. "Of course I am…why wouldn't I be?"

Lenalee bit her lip. "It's that eye of yours again, isn't it?"

"N-no, of course not…"

"You're lying to me again, Allen." Lenalee pointed out.

"Oh…I am, aren't I? Ah ha ha…" Allen turned away from Lenalee.

"Allen, you're not still thinking of going to Italy, are you? And tell the truth this time."

"Well…" Allen sighed sadly. "Yes, I was thinking about taking the Ark to Italy. I want to settle things with Road once and for all. There, are you happy now?"

"No, of course I'm not!" Lenalee shouted, tears flowing from her eyes. "Why would I be happy!? You might be killed over there, haven't you thought about that?"

"I have but…" Allen smiled. "I don't think I'd let myself die so easily, not as long as I have my friends to return to."

Lenalee slapped him. "You don't get it at all, do you? You're just thinking about yourself, wanting to go to Italy to settle your score with Road! This isn't about the Akuma or the war, you just want to go there to satisfy your own selfishness! Can't you take one moment to think about how everyone else would feel if you did die!?" She clenched her fists. "How I'd feel…" She added quietly.

"How…would you feel?" Allen asked solemnly.

"I once told you that my friends are my world, didn't I?" Lenalee said quietly. "You're a major part of my world, Allen. Maybe…maybe an even bigger part than my brother is. So if you died…" She fell to her knees. "If you died I don't know what I'd do!"

"Lenalee…" Allen wrapped his arms around her. "I hate seeing you cry, you know that?" He used his free hand to wipe her tears. "You mean a lot to me too, Lenalee, so…" He hesitated. "If it really bothers you so much if I go to Italy…then I won't, okay?"

Lenalee leaned in closer to Allen. "Do you promise? You swear you won't go to Italy?"

Allen smiled. "I promise. Not if I have to see you cry like this again."

"Allen…" She closed her eyes and moved in closer to him.

"Lenalee…?"

She rested her head on Allen's shoulder. "I'm really glad that I can spend time like this with you."

"Yeah…me too." He pulled away from her. "It's about time we get to sleep. After all, you never know what'll happen tomorrow, right?"

Lenalee smiled. "Yeah…we should get some sleep." She touched the hand Allen was using to cover his eye. "Does it really hurt? When your eye is sensing Akuma?"

"You'd get used to it. It'll probably settle down in a couple of hours." He took Lenalee's hand with his. "Let's go already, your brother's probably wondering where you are."

"Okay." She followed Allen as they started descending the tower. She slipped her hand out of Allen's when they reached the last flight of stairs. "Well, this is where we go our separate ways." She smiled at Allen. "I hope your eye deactivates soon!" She walked away.

"Yeah…me too…" He took his hand off from his eye.

It wasn't activated at all.

--

"Why are you saying goodbye, Allen?"

Allen turned away from the Ark, and saw a familiar red-head standing in the shadows. "Lavi…what are you doing up so late?"

Lavi sighed. "I'm a Bookman, I live to record the hidden side of history. And what you're doing is considered a part of history, you know."

"If you're trying to stop me, Lavi…I've already made up my mind."

"You know what that old panda says to me right? That I should never interfere with history, and I must just stand by and record it. So if I try to stop you, then that old panda will say that I interfered with history. Besides," Lavi smiled. "If Lenalee couldn't convince you, I doubt I could."

"Lavi…"

"But Allen, are you sure you don't want to wait a little more? At least, until Timcampy is fixed?"

Allen shook his head. "I have to go now, otherwise I might not have the chance to leave later." He picked up his bag. "Lavi…do me a favor and apologize to Lenalee for me for lying to her."

"No." Lavi put his hand on Allen's shoulder. "If I tell her that I let you go without trying to stop you, she'd never forgive me. Besides, it'd be better if you told her yourself when you get back." He smiled. "That way, we can be 100 percent sure you'll return."

"Lavi, that smile," Allen said, "Is it the future Bookman smiling, or is it Lavi smiling?"

"Both of us." Lavi stated simply. He held his hand out. "Promise me that you'll be back soon?"

Allen took it. "Promise."

Allen Walker was never seen at the Black Order again.