Hey, I'm back and alive~! Sorry about the second month-long wait, but here we are, finally, with the tenth movement! And, even better, you don't have to [hopefully] worry about me falling under the radar for a while now~!

I'll do the best within my power to keep regular updates now that my schedule has been stabilized. This is my current priority as of right now, but I do have some other projects I'm working on...

Also sorry about not updating before. I have a crap load of excuses ready, but the main reason is laziness. I needed a break, and laziness kicked in... Add to the idea some minor writer's block [it's gone now, though~!] and its not exactly conducive to writing updates...

This chapter may seem a little confusing, considering where we left off, but don't worry~!

This is Flashback...

Now, let's start the Tenth Movement: Tacet!

Disclaimer: Still, after all this time, I don't own D,Gray-Man. Disappointing, isn't it?

Allegro's Crescendo

Allen was never found by Cross after attempting to bring Mana back. Neither did the Millennium Earl or the Noah's take him in. No, a third party found young Allen instead, and from that day on, he wasn't 'Allen' anymore. Instead, the Destroyer of Time gained a new name. That name was…

The Tenth Movement: Tacet

She sighed, bored out of her mind, toying with her spoon. She was sitting outside of a store called 'Ye Old Candy Shoppe' in some town whose name she had already forgotten. The ice cream she had been given was gone already, and she had been threatened with perpetual grounding until the end of the first act if she even dared leaving her seat by herself. Or by using… certain means, we shall say, in order to entertain her lonesome self.

She pouted, and kicked the base of the table. It caused the dish that had once contained her frozen treat to rattle, clattering across the surface, but other than that, it did virtually nothing to alleviate her boredom.

She could barely contain a screech of frustration as she slid down her chair. She sunk lower, and lower, and lower still until a hand settled upon her shoulder.

"Now, now," Smoke wisped by her ear, drifting down to her nose and causing her to wrinkle it at the sharp smell. "I thought the Earl taught you better than that. What do you think he would say if he saw a 'proper' young lady, such as yourself, slouching like that?"

"Tyki!" She crowed in response, ignoring the reprimand, twisting in her seat, spoon thrown away in favor of wrapping her arms around her 'elder' 'sibling'. "Thank goodness you're here! I was so bored!"

"I was gone for barely even ten minutes, Rhode." Tyki grumbled, pulling the cigarette from his lips, letting it dangle idly from his fingers as he blew out another puff of smoke.

"But that's ten minutes too long!" Rhode whined in response, voice a bit muffled from where her hug conveniently hid her face in his chest. "I nearly died of boredom! I almost went crazy!" Tyki gave a hardly suppressed snort as he took another drag off of his cigarette.

"Sorry to tell you, but you're already crazy Rhode." Tyki ruffled her hair with his free hand. In the distance, a clock chimed the hour.

"Oh!" Rhode cried, as if she were just remembering something, pulling away from Tyki, relinquishing her grip on her sibling. "I almost forgot! Millennie said he had something he wanted to show us today!"

Instead, she adopted a near bruising grip on Tyki's hand, who barely noticed, used to it as he was.

"Us?"Tyki asked, as Rhode dragged him along. "Or just yourself, and you feel like dragging me along?"

"Both of us," Rhode insisted, weaving around passerby. "I think he found a new family member!"

~~No role for the movement~~

The docks. That's where Rhode dragged Tyki off to. She had even insisted on them walking the three, four-something miles it was to reach the docks from the town they had been in, instead of just opening one of her doors to take them there.

Apparently, whatever the Earl had to show them either wasn't that important, or Rhode was pushing buttons and testing limits by taking as long as she wanted to get there. Tyki was willing to bet it was the latter, as she did consider herself the Earl's favorite (not to mention, despite his appearing older than her, she was actually older than him.), and she almost never got in trouble with him anyways… Add to the fact that she hadn't had anything interesting to do for a while, and, with Rhode, it's almost always a recipe for trouble.

But, anyways, back to the docks.

The docks, quite frankly, were smelly. They smelt worse than Tyki's cancer stick. Not that his cigarettes normally smelt bad, per se, but still. If she (Rhode) had to describe the smell, it would be a weird combination of Akuma dust, rotted fish, and, of course, we can't forget- Tyki's cigarettes.

They were also extremely crowded. There was a ship, the Campania, departing from port that day, leaving on a voyage to America. Rhode thought maybe she had heard that it was its maiden voyage, but she wasn't too sure. It didn't matter though, because right now she was looking for Millennie with Tyki.

Well, she had been looking for Millennie with Tyki… But currently, she was short one Tyki. But she wasn't lost. Rhode knew exactly where she was! Well… mostly. She knew she was currently standing on a crate close to the Campania, but that was about it. That didn't mean she was lost though. No, no, no. It was Tyki who was lost, not herself.

"Hey," Something was whispered up to her. "You lost too, Miss?"

And, regardless of what whoever was saying, she reiterated that she was most definitely not lost. Just… a little misplaced. That's what she told the person who whispered up to her a bit distractedly. Her eyes were still scanning the crowd for Tyki's top hat, or maybe the puffed out umbrella, Lero, who was Millennie's golem.

"Oh… Well, can I stay and be misplaced with you?" Rhode turned her head down, ready to snap at the human who was annoying her, before she got a glimpse of him.

Black hair.

Jade eyes.

It was…

She blinked, and the spell was broken.

It was actually a little boy, maybe a year younger than the age she appeared, with snow colored hair and storm cloud grey eyes.

Part of her wanted to tell the kid to bugger off, but something stopped her. Instead, before she could really think about it, her voice went ahead and said,

"Go ahead. You have to climb up here on your own though."

"I want be up in the tree house too –!"

A childish stomp of the foot. A goading laugh.

"You can – I'm not stopping you. You just have to climb up on your own."

"Oh. Okay."

Rhode sidled over a bit on the crate- severely doubting that the crate would hold the both of them -as she watched the boy dig his fingers into the top of the crate, hauling himself slowly up onto the crate. Rhode shuffled over a tad more, her Mary Janes clacking on the wood a bit as she gave the boy a bit more room to get on the crate.

At long last, the boy did finally heave himself up on the crate. He puffed for a moment before standing up next to Rhode, wobbling slightly, nearly falling off the crate.

"Woah, don't fall now. It'll be on my head if you get hurt, you know."

Rhode shook her head, eyes burning for a moment.

"Wow, you can see a lot from up here, can't you?" The boy laughed, his head tilting up a tad to look at her, a smile on her face. She returned it with a smirk of her own.

"You sure can!" Rhode answered, her hands lifting to be rested upon her hips. "Why else do you think I picked it?"

The little boy shrugged noncommittally, staring out at the sea of people that were swarming over the entire area of the docks like ants over sugar.

"Are you looking for somebody, Miss?" The boy asked, looking over the crowd a little before turning towards Rhode.

"Uh-huh," Rhode nodded. "I'm looking for my…" She hesitated. What was her relation with Tyki in this era now? Oh! "My uncle. We're supposed to be meeting up with family, but he got lost." And the rest of what the boy said caught up with her.

"And don't call me 'Miss'," She wrinkled her nose. "My name's Rhode. Rhode Kamelot."

"Rhode…" Her name fell from his lips, and she felt an unnatural shudder fall down her spine. It sounded so much like…

"I bet you were given that name because dreamers have many different paths in life they can take. Am I right, little miss –?"

"That's a really pretty name!" The boy beamed. "My name's Allegro."

Allegro…

"No! It says Adagio, not Allegro, –! It's even in the title! Really, when you act like this during lessons, I wonder how you can be such an angel to your parents…"

A cheeky grin.

"Aww, you still love me anyways –!"

"That's a neat name too," Rhode answered. "Your parents must be musicians." The boy, Allegro, hummed.

"I dunno," His thumb had raised towards his mouth, and Rhode didn't know what came over her, but her own came out and slapped his away. He was unperturbed by this act, and continued talking. "Never knew my parents. Pretty much grew up with the circus."

"So someone at the circus gave you that name?"

"Nah," Allegro shook his head, rocking back on his heels to stare up at the seagulls scattering in the sky. "Miss Erika gave me the name. She took me in after…" His eyes dulled a little, and he gulped a little. "…after my last caretaker passed away."

Rhode didn't know what to say. So, she settled on the clichéd mortal thing to say when someone didn't know what to say;

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Allegro didn't even bat an eyelash. "'S wasn't your fault. 'Sides, I have Miss Erika now…" He trailed off, and Rhode peeked a look at his face when he didn't continue talking.

It was pale.

"Something wrong?" Rhode couldn't help the curiosity that overcame her. He was so familiar, she just couldn't place how.

"M-Miss Erika…" His voice wavered, and he sounded nervous.

"What about her?"

"She's going to be so mad at me!" Allegro wailed as he curled in on himself, his hands covering his head. "She told me not to run off!" Rhode blinked.

"Didn't you say you were lost though?"

"Yeah, but last time I got lost we ran into these bad people and Miss Erika told me to stick close and not stray, but I didn't and we got separated and she's going to be so mad at me!"

He managed to say that all in one breath; Rhode was mildly impressed. She wondered what sort of 'bad people' Allegro had run into, but decided not to ask. She had been nosy enough for one day.

"Well… Umm…" Rhode tried to think of something to say. She was spared though, as someone came up, interrupting her.

"There you are!" It was a woman's voice, sounding extremely irritated, and it caused Allegro's head to snap up so fast, that Rhode was extremely lucky that she had moved her head, otherwise they would have collided.

"I told you to stay close, Allegro!" The woman snapped, and Rhode faintly realized as she studied the older girl that this must be the 'Miss Erika' Allegro had been talking about.

Brown hair…

Green eyes…

"I'm sorry Miss Erika," Allegro mumbled, and Rhode watched as Erika softened. "I didn't mean to get lost…"

"I'm sorry –. I promise I'll never, ever, do that again!"

"I know. Now, please, go to your room for a little while."

"I know Allegro," Erika sighed. "But please, don't let it happen again."

"I won't Miss Erika, promise!" Allegro nodded.

"So this is your Miss Erika, Allegro?" Rhode cut into the conversation, tired of being a bystander. Erika, at least the woman she was assuming to be Erika, jolted, and looked over in Rhode's direction for the first time, as if she hadn't noticed Rhode before she had spoken.

Allegro nodded enthusiastically, and Erika's lips quirked a smile as she held Allegro's hands as he jumped off the crate.

"And who might this friend of yours be, Allegro?" Her voice was pleasant, light and airy, but Rhode could tell that Erika wasn't trusting of her. Thinking that she could be one of those 'bad people' Allegro had spoke shortly about.

The only organization she knew of that used children, though, was…

"This is Rhode, Miss Erika!" Allegro's voice cut through.

"Rhode?" Erika echoed, and Rhode nodded, dipping a short curtsey.

"Rhode Kamelot," She even deigned a smile as she lowered herself to sit on the edge of the crate instead of standing. Her feet were starting to hurt. "It's nice to meet you Miss Erika."

"It's nice to meet a lovely young lady such as yourself as well," The older woman nodded, her hand wrapping tightly around Allegro's, rooting him to the spot. "If you don't mind me asking, where are your… guardians?"

"I'm going to see my Uncle," Rhode answered immediately, knocking her heels against the crate. "It's just that my other Uncle who's supposed to be taking me to see him got himself lost."

Quite quick thinking, if she said so herself; and, not to mention, most of it was the truth. Most of it, that was.

"Are you going to be alright here on your own?" Erika asked cautiously. "I'd offer to help you look for your uncle, but we are on a tight schedule right now, thanks to a certain someone."

Allegro gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

"Oh, I'll be fine," Rhode smiled, and waved as the two turned, starting to disappear back into the crowd. "It was nice meeting you Allegro!" She trilled his name just because she could. "I hope we meet again!"

Allegro turned his head back, shyly waving back before finally being swallowed up by the crowd.

"Fret not, my little lamb. We'll meet again- of this, I promise you."

Rhode didn't know how long she stayed staring at the spot where Allegro disappeared, but it was long enough that Tyki had found her, and had to snap her out of whatever daze she had been placed in himself.

"What's with that look on your face?" Tyki asked, voice scarcely able to be heard over the cries and 'Bon voyages!' of many of the people on the docks. "You look like an idiot."

"Oh nothing," She hummed, whatever look that her face held remaining unchanged, "It's just…" The horn of a boat blew as a signal of its departure. Rhode stared after it as it made its way out to sea, wondering if perhaps that was the boat Allegro… The boat that he was on.

She tossed her head, face regaining its usual taunting look.

"It's just that I met an old friend today Tyki!" She laughed, and threw her arms around her uncle-brother-sibling.

"Really now?" He asked, cigarette drooping from his mouth, ash dripping down into Rhode's hair.

"Really!" Rhode nodded, before bouncing back on her heels, and taking up one of Tyki's hands into her own. "Now let's go! Millennie's gonna be really mad that you kept him waiting!"

And she raced off, dragging Tyki with her.

The matter of the old friend she met that day was never mentioned again.

~~Allegro's Crescendo~~

So, I'm thinking some people are gonna be mad at me, going, 'What about the end of last chapter?' Well, in my defense, it's coming up. Soon. Extremely soon. This chapter was more of getting Rhode and Tyki into the plot- Rhode more so than Tyki.

Now, I did something fun with this chapter as a sort of attempt to apologize for the long wait. There are two allusions in this chapter to outside animes/songs/etc. Your job as readers is to find the two, and name what they're from- as in, what show/musical/whatever they are from. First one to tell me the allusions will get a dedication next chapter, but, you have to get your guess in before next chapter is posted.

Pretty much, you have a week to figure it out.

And, if you're hung up that the allusion maybe from a different show or that, fear not, this is staying strictly D,Gray-Man. Just to clear that up.

Next time on Allegro's Crescendo: Fugue

"Now then, General Klaud Nyne," His eyes glinted as he spoke, and the grandfather clock chimed the late hour.

"Tell me what really happened."

I have to say Fugue is a really amusing band term to say. It's like you're saying 'Feud' but it's a 'g' instead of a 'd' at the end...

Well, Read and Review and tell me what you think! And, don't forget to drop in your guesses for the allusions~!

~~Paw-Chan Signing Out~~

P.S- One's probably more obvious than the other. ;D

P.S.S- If you could tell me where the allusions are from, that would be even more awesome. ^_^