A/N: I really like cutting these deadlines close, don't I? :P Oh well, it's just because I do most of my writing in front of the TV in the evening. I need that background noise. But I made it! Enjoy day 3.

Oh, and just so you're warned, this one is 1st person from Allen's POV

6/30 restless.

"Keep walking, keep walking, keep walking." That mantra filled my days and invaded my dreams. It was the only way, the only thing I had left. If I stopped there would be no point, no point at all. All the death, all the pain, all the sorrow, it would be for nothing.

I figured it was ironic that my last name was 'Walker.' A worker is someone who works and a fighter is someone who fights, so a 'Walker' must be someone who walks. Even my name told me those words that were both tired and still held so much power. It meant there was no escape from this destiny.

These were the sorts of things I meditated on when I couldn't sleep late at night, when the ghosts and the demons poked and prodded from the corners of my exhausted mind. It was then that I was too weak to keep them at bay. I realized that I probably wasn't helping thinking of such things, but that was where my head drifted anyway.

Lately the ghosts were more restless. I hadn't slept through the night in at least a week, probably more. There were more of them than before, and I was sleep deprived, neither of which were helping, but I knew it was the time of year. Most people love the holiday season, but I'm one of the few who dreads it. The memories of Mana are always stronger as my birthday approaches, and he's the most potent of all my ghosts.

The last few days, the same dream of when I turned Mana into an Akuma haunted my nighttime hours. No matter how much time passed between that day and my present moment, it never lost its terror and sadness for me. I can never go back to sleep after that dream; I can't keep still. At those moments, in the small hours of the night, more than ever I can hear his mantra, and then I must obey. I have to walk, to try to walk away from it all, leave it steps behind and hope that something better is only steps ahead.

Tonight the dream seemed worse than usual. I woke in a cold sweat and sat up so fast I was shocked I didn't wake the raven-haired man sleeping beside me. I had eased out of bed and paced the cold floor with quiet footsteps. It didn't help; walking back and forth in his tiny room there could be no illusion of forward movement. I felt claustrophobic, restless, about to burst. I wanted to run, not walk, or scream, anything to release everything welling up inside of me.

Instead I directed my feet to leave the room and carry me to the main atrium of headquarters. Since it formed a circle, I could walk forever here without ever having to turn around or stop. If I could walk myself into exhaustion I can sometimes go back to sleep, and that night I definitely needed any more sleep I could get.

I walked in circles until my feet and legs ached, and my breath came short, but my eyes stayed wide open and the tiredness would not come. I sat on the railing that cut the walkway off from a long drop down deep into the order building, and pulled my knees up to my chest. Now that I'd stopped moving, the winter cold was starting to seep into my core. My feet shifted restlessly against the handrail even though they were throbbing from my trek. Even my own body wouldn't let me stop moving.

Below me, I could see the faint glow from Hevlaska, the keeper of the innocence. Sometimes I wondered if she mourned for the innocence lost to the Noah's and their destructive powers. Up above, e could see the moon through the windows. It had moved across them to mark the hours since I woke. I would have to make sure to be back in bed before the Order began its day. I didn't need anyone worrying about me, especially Kanda. This was my burden to bear.

I leaned against my knees and tried to will the sleep to come. If sleep came, maybe I could forget my twitching feet. It still wouldn't come. I sighed and let my head fall against the pillar I was leaning my back against. It hit a little harder than I expected, but I couldn't bring myself to make a noise of discomfort. I didn't want to break the stillness and silence of the slumbering Order. It was almost like a graveyard.

Except... there was the soft shuffle of feet to break the silence. It would be inaudible if there was any other noise in this big, empty room. I peeked up at the figure approaching down a side corridor out of the corner of my eye before quickly looking away.

"What are you doing up?" I mumbled when his shadow crossed my face.

"I could ask you the same thing. You weren't in bed." His attempt at snapping was weakened by the tiredness in his voice, and even below that a hint of concern.

I shrugged. "I couldn't sleep, I was too... restless."

"That's not all of it, it is?" He said it as less of a question and more of a remark. I stubbornly stayed silent. However, when it comes to stubbornness, it's hard to beat Kanda Yuu. He grabbed my chin and forced me to meet his eyes. "Tell me."

I tried to stare him down but he was having none of it. He didn't do anything else, just kept his hold and didn't look away.

"I had a nightmare," I mumbled.

"About what?" He insisted in the same tone, the one that said he would get his answer eventually.

"Mana," I relented. He loosened his grip and I took the opportunity to look away. I didn't want him to see how badly the dream affected me; I expected him to scoff. He didn't tend to think much of getting emotional over things, especially when it was lingering over things in the past.

Instead, he surprised me by saying in a gruff tone, "Come back to bed. If you fall asleep out here you'll fall over the side and we'll be scraping you off the floor."

It was unexpected moments like that which made me love him. He buried his true emotions under insults and roughness, but occasionally, when I cleared all of that away, he would show he cared. I smiled at the thought.

He gave me a sideways look, but held out a hand to pull me down off the railing. I winced at the impact of my feet on the floor. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"My feet hurt from walking."

"Walking? Why the hell are you walking enough to make your feet hurt in the middle of the night?"

"I have to keep walking," I told him, "there isn't a point to any of this if I stop. I have nothing left if I stop."

"Che, that's stupid. You've got to stop sometime. If you don't, you'll just wear yourself down until you can't walk at all anymore."

I didn't have the energy to argue. I just followed him back to his room and let him pull me into bed. I settled back into the pillows, but I couldn't get comfortable. I turned over on my side and curled up in a ball, but I felt too scrunched up. I lay on my back and pulled the covers over my head, but it was too stuffy. I turned to face the window, but what moonlight remained was too bright.

Kanda growled. He wrapped his arms around me so I couldn't move around anymore and pulled me to him so my head was resting on his shoulder. "Stop being so restless," he said.

I took a deep breath, and tried to calm down and be still. His scent and warmth wrapped around me. Maybe I still had something left, even if I stopped walking. I knew I wouldn't come to a complete halt, but like Kanda said, maybe I didn't need to walk myself into the ground to keep moving forward.

Finally I could feel my eyelids drooping. "Goodnight, Kanda," I breathed in a tired whisper.

I thought he was asleep, but he murmured in a voice as soft as my own, "Goodnight, Aren."

A/N: Wow, I really didn't mean to make this that fluffy at the end, but I usually just let the story go where it takes me. Sorry if anyone gets annoyed by that spelling of Allen's name, but I just can't picture Kanda saying Allen correctly and without his accent; it doesn't work in my mind.