Ashes And Rain

DGM

Chapter 7

Wrought Stewed

Allen sat on a bench, staring at the children play. By now, he thought, we're mostly teenagers. Allen counted them, wondering just how many there were in actuality. Maybe 12 or 11. That was all. It always struck him that there was more than that, but there wasn't. "They're cute, aren't they?" Daisy randomly spoke. She'd been sitting beside him for quite some time. As did the twin acrobats. Tanya and Telbo. Yep, Telbo. "Don't you remember being like that? Growing up in a carnival of awe?"

The fraternal twins-because one was a boy and the other a girl, however, they looked a lot alike if you didn't mix the genders-chirped lively. "Yep, yep." They had this link that often scared Allen. It was like they could read the other's mind or they have this strange insync mind wavelength or something. Almost everything they did was in unison. "Yep, yep!" They even had a knack for repeating themselves.

Allen stood up and leaned forward against the railing. His hair messily fell in his face, but he merely blew it away. His brown and tacky vest that had three buttons. He never buttoned those up. Thus, it fell The outfit he wore was a lot like one he wore when he was a child, the day he met Mana, but he lost the red scarf a long time ago. His hair was just about the only difference. It was in a need for a trim and it was sloppy and uneven somehow.

Unlike his younger years, he grinned to add to his oh-so elegant appearance. He didn't play with the other kids in the circus much until he hit 11 or so, but he remembered playing around with Mana. To think, Mana used to carry him out on his back for fun. Now he couldn't do it if he put all his effort in it. Allen was bigger, heavier, and taller and Mana was weaker and older. That's what he kept saying.

"Yeah." He said quietly and his word fell out of his mouth, matching his breathing.

Bookman hid in a shadowy area, watching from a distance. Since he came here, since he heard about Allen knowing more about Cross than any of them, Bookman has been keeping an eye on him. He found Allen peculiar. Apart from that, Bookman wanted to know why he dyed his hair and polished his face with makeup. He thought Lavi would come to him in question or babbling about these facts, but like always, unprofessionally, Lavi hadn't noticed. The apprentice of his had to cram these details in his useless head.

Allen didn't know Bookman had been there. He didn't even know the old man's name. Be that as it may, Allen wouldn't have mind anyhow. He knew more than anyone not to force information like that out of anyone. "Allen!"

In response, Allen perked up and leaned even further forward to meet the boy's eyes who had called out his name. This kid was the one who owned a monkey that was allowed to run around. The called him Jimbo. The kid named it after Telbo by using the Bo in his name. He said it fits the twin personality. Originally, the hat-wearing monkey was going to be called Taybo or Telya, but his guardian scorned him and so he put it simply to Jimbo. Funny thing is, his guardian has yet to figure out it was still named after Telbo. "What's up, Sen?"

"We're bored!" One of them averred.

"You can't be." Allen teasingly said.

"And why not?"

"Cause you were just laughing a minute ago and you look like you're having fun playing around." Said Allen like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're not bored."

"We are, we are!" they cheered, acting none less than interested. What a bunch of fakers, Allen mused jokingly.

Allen jumped over the railing and the kids lined up, trying to hide their smile. Their ages ranged from six to thirteen. They were placed out of order with height and age. Allen circled them and began tapping their heads, few adults watching, most teens watching, Bookman peering, and the kids giggling and snickering because of his playfulness.

Allen gently tapped a boy's head, another, another, a girl, and one more, saying, "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe," He paused, poking Sen in the cheek and leaning over to meet eye-level. "Tag, you're it."

Everyone blinked for a second. The kids surrounding Allen and Sen caught on and took off, spreading around the arena. Allen jogged away and hopped on a step-up podium that was painted red, yellow, purple, and green. Perfect for the circus.

Sen froze when Allen poked him and said "Tag, you're it". When everybody separated from him, he spun on his heels and pointed his pointer finger at Allen angrily, red in the face, and shaking with irritation. He stomped his foot once, twice, trice, four times, puffing out his cheeks. He opened and closed his mouth as if to say something, but was found no words, or at least he couldn't utter his thoughts because there were far too many words in his mind to comprehend what word from another and how to pronounce it, and he wouldn't know if it'll come out nothing more than gibberish.

Allen snickered. It came out as mocking to Sen. So, he ran towards Allen in attempt to catch Allen. Allen just sidestepped and Sen fell on the podium. He rubbed his face and tried once more to catch Allen, but missed. Allen spotted a few of the players and ran towards them, causing Sen to chase him over there. The girls shrieked and they all split up. Sen got confused and changed his prey. It didn't take long for him to tag a girl with a teddy bear.

The girl tagged another girl than a boy became It. The reaction continued and you'd think the kids would get bored, but Allen made sure they didn't. He did funny tricks and cart-wheeled. He danced like a joker, the joker he was. Everyone that became it took a chance and tried to catch Allen, but to no avail. Finally, the fastest and most flexible girl got tagged because she let herself be tagged. Allen had to run faster and do a whole lot more to keep himself from getting tagged. Then finally, all the kids joined up and tried grabbing Allen. Using a team effort, they chased Allen. Everyone who watched them laughed, excluding our favorite panda.

Allen scratched his head and tried getting away from them, but it was hard. He jumped around and rolled on the ground. It was getting harder to get away from them. So he made a getaway. Allen boldly ran outside in the sunshine. Bookman merely picked up the tent and went under it. All the while, the children followed Allen.

By now, Allen was running around the mini tents and ran in then out of many of them. He was careful not to bump into anyone. This went on for some time before he found Mana. He waved as he passed.

A few minutes later, Allen took a break, hiding in the animal tent. Carla immediately neighed. Allen brought his finger to his lips to tell her to hush. She did so. Making sure none of the kids saw him or knew where he was, Allen fed Carla, laughing at the feel of her lips when she nuzzled the food out of his hand. It tickled. Once that was done, he took off. "Bye Carla!" He loved that horse.

One of the kids paused and panted, a smile gracing her face. She saw Daisya and Marie. Those two stuck together like glue. For some reason, everyone one of those people were always with somebody like them. Still, even as that weird and scary Japanese man leaned against something she couldn't name, but make out of wood, she approached them, tugging on Marie's sleeve. "'Cuse me, Sir." She said.

"Can I help you?" Marie asked.

"Have any 'ou saw Alln?" she asked in a cute child manner.

Marie listened to everything around them. He suspected nothing was wrong. The girl seemed happy, but he thought he ought to help her. "No, but have you tried looking around the animals?" Marie wondered happily.

She gasped. "Na, but I will. Th'nks Mis'r!" And she ran off.

"What was that about?" Daisya chirped.

"Who cares?" Kanda che'd.

Daisya rolled his eyes. Kanda was such a worrywart, a true friend. Everyone just loves him. "Wow Kanda, you're so considerate. How joyful!"

Allen poked his head out of the tent doorway. He looked in every directions seeing none of the kids. He found Lenalee and Shandy discussing something. A few men scattered around, talking. Some smoked. Allen hated the smell because of Cross, but ignored it like always.

Rechecking, Allen saw none of the younger peeps. He found the panda-looking man. The pirate, Krory off in the distance pacing around, on guard. Miranda just got over a tantrum with apologizing to Nigel about something. Allen couldn't really hear. She'd calmed down. Lots of people were scattered about.

Seeing no threat, he exit the striped tent. Unbeknownst to him, the kids were hiding behind any object big enough enough. The carriage, a pole, a stack of wood, and more junk. Allen became an open target.

Not knowing anything about the kids, Allen walked around. After a bit, he placed his hands on his hips. Some people were starting to chortle. They knew something. It really irked him. Generally because they kept eyeing him, looking away and then looking back. Daisy and the twins were even out here tittering now. What was he missing. "Seriously, where in the world-"

"Allen!"

Allen twisted his head around to see Sen running at him. Smoothly Allen dodged, but then two minis tackled him from behind, sniggering. Allen tried taking them off and moved around, but one covered his eyes and the other hugged his neck. Allen smiled as the other children started climbing on him, attaching themselves to his arms, legs and torso. He did everything he could to take them off, but if he succeeded, they'd climb right back on. Then, to his strong dismay, they began tickling him. Allen bit his lip, but couldn't help but laugh. He knew his elders were. He could already imagine Shandy saying, "Oh goodness. There they go again."

Allen got on his knees, tugging the munchkins off him just to have them hop on his back. Lenalee giggled at the scene, thinking about how well he got along with even the children. "Okay, okay, mercy, mercy." Allen choked out of his spluttering laughter, "You win, you win." Allen plopped on the ground, rolling around as they slowly detached themselves. "I cave."

Allen opened his eyes, wiping away a tear of joy. They all surrounded him with proud grins. At the same time, they all touched some part of his body, speaking his old words, "Tag! You're it!" Then tumbled in exhaustion.

Allen sat up. The ones with energy left, hugged Allen with a crooked grin. "~Allen~" They sweetly said.

"Whatie?" He replied, imitating them.

"Give us a ride. I want a piggyback rise!"

Allen got on his knees and picked her up. When he stood up the others complained they wanted a ride unless the older ones said, "Pfft, I'm too old for that" but looked like they really wanted a ride. However, Allen didn't put her on his back. He carefully tossed her in the air by maybe two feet above his hands and caught, then swung her around. She cheered and giggled. Through it all, Allen beamed with amiability.

He switched his 'victims' frequently. Everyone, generally Lenalee and Miranda, took notice of how much the kids LOVED him. How much Allen loved them. There was a monumental amount of affection filling the air.

Although, what happened next was what made it difficult to believe. It stunned the bystanders.

Allen's eyes itched a first. Then it felt like it was on fire. He still played around, knowing it usually goes away. This time, though, it did the complete opposite. The burning turned to throbbing. His eye hurt crazily! Allen resisted the urge to whimper or cry. He almost dropped Hathy when a shot of pain soared throughout his head. When she about hit the ground, he bent down as fast as possible, catching her, then setting down on the ground. Allen remained in that position, frozen, eyes widened. His vision blurred and he assumed his eye was going to activate. As that thought processed, it did.

Hathy saw that horrible eye when it invoked and squealed, crawling backwards. Allen covered his eye and stepped back. He didn't notice how much energy he had lost until he was spinning around. He felt so dizzy, but the pain was terrible, agonizing. Not a moment later, his face felt wet. It took some time for it to process his brain to know it wasn't tears that formed, since his other side of the face was dry, it only made sense.

It was blood! Pulling his hand away from his face, he collapsed to his knees, hunching over, hissing in pain. Hathy, Sen, and others gathered around him. One shook him gently. "Allen? Are you alright? Allen?" Fear welled up in their chests when he didn't answer.

The sight of blood on his face and hand as it dripped from his chin and crawling out of his fingers' cracks made them panic. They either backed away or screamed. Sen, seeing how he was the oldest, ran over to Shandy. The adults spun their heads around from the screams and froze seeing Allen on the ground. The ones who weren't present, well, they came running over. "Shandy!" Sen stopped, tugging on her arm. "Allen's hurt! Something happened! I-I don't know what, but Allen's bleeding!" Sen shouted.

With that being said, a few men hastened over to Allen. The minors were forced to back away and Allen finally let out whimpers, knowing they were not in hearing range of them.

Why? Why now of all times? Why not at night?

"Allen, look at me? Allen?" Shandy said gently, pushing Allen's hair away from his face and she felt something sprawl on her hand. Gazing at it, she saw it turned a lightly wood brown. "Dye?" She shook her head after Allen let out a small cry of pain, falling further down to the ground until he couldn't support himself no more.

They laid him down on his back, but he continued to hide his eye. "Allen, remove your hand. We need to look at it. Allen!" the panicked people ordered, but he didn't. He even tried to get away, but they stopped him.

The smell of iron hit him hard. He was used to blood by now, but he wished he wasn't bleeding. He was a mildly scared. His eye hasn't bled since it had been cursed. "Someone get Mana!" Woody screamed.

At once, Daisy and Telbo and Tanya ran off, searching in every place possible for Mana to be. In the meantime, Allen dug his right hand into the ground. It didn't take that much until they, too, bled. When another surge of pain ran through him, he howled, his back arching fleetingly.

Lenalee watched in horror as Allen suddenly was overcame by pain. She was lost, and confused beyond all recognition. When practically everybody in the area was brought here, Mana arriving with Telbo, General Tiedol and Bookman scurried to to Allen. Mana had a harder time getting through. He managed to get there before the exorcists.

Allen laid there in a daze. He saw spots blocking his vision. His left eye saw many spots. Black, darkness to clarify, began to get in his way. He heard Mana say some soft, soothing words to him before he tiredly closed his eyes against his will, still throbbing with pain. Even as he fell unconscious he could hear his Father speak to him. "Remove your hand, Allen. I promise everything will be okay. Trust me." Mana mumbled, through his concern, and carefully moved Allen's hand.

The clown makeup had faded away with blood. You could see a bit of his red scar standing out as the older blood dried. Bookman knelt down beside Allen, examining it the best he could. With so much blood, he couldn't say much about his eye, but it was smeared all over the left side of his face. Allen still looked to be in pain as he slept. Bookman studied his eye and face closely. A lot of blood was smeared in his hair.

Bookman shouldn't do anything. He should leave Allen alone. He was out of pain killers anyways. General Tiedol picked up the boy as if he read Bookman's mind. "What are you doing? Put Allen down!" Mana rose to his feet.

"Ease yourself." Tiedol said fatherly-like.

"The best thing to do is take this young man to the hospital in town." Bookman curtly declared, turning on his heel.

"But. . . ." Mana tried to find the right protest. This has happened before, but without the blood. Normally Mana was able to hide his disturbance, but that had long since fallen. Everyone saw it, his worry.

Nigel placed a hand on Mana's shoulder reassuringly. "Let them take Allen to the hospital."

"But the expenses, we can't pay for them. Even if we combined our money, it'll wipe a lot of people clean!" Mana said, the panic rushing to his head.

So long as Allen couldn't see or hear, Mana would panic over this.

"I understand, we'll pay for the financial fees." Tiedol riposted, turning his head around to look at the beautiful town.

It was Liverpool. Why did Tiedol feel a hint of familiarity with this city?

"I couldn't allow myself to let you do that. Neither me nor Allen will be happy about letting you do such a thing. It's not cheap, it's expensive! I truly appreciate the offer, but Sir, I-"

"It's okay." Tiedol repeated.

Mana stood there idly for a moment as he pondered about the recent events. He had no choice. Allen needed to be checked. "Very well." But both will feel indebted to these people, these exorcists, for paying the doctor bills.

Mana just prayed nothing serious happened to Allen, remembering how he got that scar. But now, Allen's secrets will be given away. "Go ahead, Mana. Just make sure someone comes back to tell us what's going on." Shandy said, gently pushing Mana forward.

"He better! Allen got the juveniles frightened." Woody groaned, covering his ears as some cried. This was why he never wanted kids. They reminded him too much of his annoying brother that he hated. "Ugh!"

Mana steadily followed Genera Tiedol. Lenalee walked beside him until they got to the smallest carriage, thinking it best to use it. Mana never took his eyes off his son. "Allen. . ."

Poor Allen. . . Here's my next one. Wow, I'm on a roll these past few days. Too bad spring break is about to end for me. So in a few days I won't be able to update frequently. Blasted!

Anyway, as usual, thanks for reading, and please, please, please review! Even if it's criticism. I want to know what the readers think. Let me know if you have questions or if you see something I should seriously fix. . . So forth.

~ ~ ~Anon Novelist~ ~ ~