A/n: As promised, I'm posting the plan. Please excuse crappy, juvenile language. This was just a rough outline of what I wanted to happen and wasn't originally meant to be seen by any but me.
As of now, consider Within the Mist abandoned. If anyone wants to adopt it, feel free.
Chapter 1
•Introduce main character[1] not eating at lunch. Nobody really notices, despite how they always look hungry
•Have them go home to find Cross there, doing his usual stuff (with a lady and drinking)
•Introduce what's going on, somewhat
Chapter 2
•Allen comes and visits for some reason with Link
•Main character is happy to see him and talk about how Allen found MC and was amazing and then sent MC to Cross, sadly
•Allen leaves
Chapter 3
•Akuma attack and MC's weapon[2] is used, though not thoroughly described, only introduced
•Later, Allen drops off another Exorcist[3] that he found. The two go to school together as friends as MC begins to explain what is going on[4]
Chapter 4
•The two get home
•Cross is gone and the place is trashed and set up to appear as if everyone has died
•The two immediately head out to try and find Allen
Chapter 5
•Newbie begins to explain about how Allen found them and all that
•They find a Pro Exorcist[5] and, hesitantly, nurse them back to health (or whatever)
•First thing that pops out of Pro's mouth is, "Allen! They've[6] taken him!"
Chapter 6
•Another Pro comes to pick Lenalee up, but the pair is already gone and they never told Lenalee who they were
•Newbie's weapon proves very useful for tracking and they pick up on Allen's trail
•They run into several akuma, which are a great challenge because they are high level
Chapter 7
•MC's weapon is actually described and used to its full extent, but MC doesn't go over the limit. Ditto for Newbie.
•Fight for entire chapter, pretty much
Chapter 8
•Cross pops up with Grave of Maria and saves the day, calling them idiot disciples
•Conversation about what happened to Allen[7]
•Cross tells them where to go and disappears
•- Cross shows up at a door only to discover Tyki. Set things up so that it appears they will fight
Chapter 9
•The two appear at the door. There is no sign of Cross or Tyki or that anything happened[8]
•They open the door see Allen, perfectly fine, sitting in the middle of nothing[9] Link is not there.
•A level four suddenly appears, taking Allen by surprise, even if he was expecting it. He is knocked unconscious by its scream
•The other two are severely injured, but were farther away and weren't hurt as badly
•MC thickens mist around Allen to protect him somewhat. This kinda angers the akuma and it starts to go after them
Chapter 10
•The two desperately battle the akuma, but, honestly, they suck
•They are half dead, but Allen awakens and starts fighting the thing
•The akuma beats the crap out of him too, because he's still kinda out of it, but he manages to kill the thing single handedly
Chapter 11
•The pair feel very weak in comparison to Allen
•Allen calmly sits back down, binding his wounds with the Crown Belt
•Cross decides "Ah! To Hell with it!" and suddenly attacks the Skulls casting the barrier
•The barrier disperses and the three leave it, the two Independents determined to get better and maybe someday be as good as Allen
Footnotes:
[1]Figure out who the main character is!
[2]A mist that can either solidify into any physical weapon in the wielder's imagination or just poison the akuma when they breathe it in
[3]Shape shifting into anyone, anything
[4]Allen is a General who pops up at Cross's place every now and then to drop off Exorcists he finds or just to pop in. Link is always with him (MC doesn't know why). Allen found MC and brought them to Cross. Allen will always pop up whenever he finishes missions early and has to report in to HQ after every mission (MC doesn't know why). Allen will train the Exorcists he finds whenever he's on an extended mission. Never trust anyone from the Order, including Pro Exorcists. Never tell anyone that they are Independents. Also, Cross is playing dead.
[5]Lenalee
[6]The Noah
[7]He was taken by the Noah
[8]Cross and Tyki are actually working together but decided that it would be for the best if the new Independents got Allen out instead of them. It would look suspicious if either of them did it.
[9]Allen is in one of those barriers made by the Skulls and now the pair is trapped in it too. The door is special and allows any to enter the barrier, however, they can't get back out.