The next two weeks made Allen and Lavi fall into usual routine; at 9am, Allen would wake up with Lavi to go to the nearby library and work on their 'catching up with the times' lessons. Luckily for Lavi, Allen was a quick learner and was soon up to date. In return, Allen would trade this brand new information for his own. He'd tell great stories about the pyramids and how they came to be, he talked about the Gods and Goddesses. But what Allen couldn't bring himself to open up is the delicate subject of his painful past or any of the royal family. Lavi accepted that minor problem and the two spent their time wisely. The bond between the two became tighter as they began to learn more about the other, all the time not taking their curious and hungry eyes off one another. Those were the good times.
One usual beautiful morning, Lavi stretched and heard a satisfying 'pop' of his spine while walking to wake the drowsy prince up from his own room. He smiled longingly when his eyes touched the peaceful face of Allen, all serene and undisturbed by the troubles of the world. Shaking his shoulders gently as a mother would to wake her child, Lavi cooed softly to wake him up, making Allen cringed his perfect eyebrows in irritation.
"5 more minutes, Rabi,"
Lavi's smile left his face slowly as his eyes stared at the innocent face of his crush. These few days Lavi had tried making Allen take notice of him, and when Allen returned his loving efforts with a truthful smile and a twinkle in his eyes, Lavi would like to think that it was him that Allen was seeing, not Rabi. Sometimes, Lavi would hear Allen whining in his sleep, dismay tortured upon his sleeping face, whispering helplessly for Rabi. Whenever he wakes Allen up, the frightened prince would quickly go to Lavi, seeking for comfort. Once Allen woke up crying in the middle of the night, Lavi was there to hold him in his arms as he cried on his shoulders.
"P-Please don't leave me, Lavi, please. D-Don't leave me alone like Rabi d-did," Allen had all but begged. It melted Lavi's stone-cold heart on hearing the desperation in the crying voice.
"I promise I won't, Allen," Lavi swore on his bed. That night, Allen slept soundly with Lavi holding him protectively, with no nightmares to haunt him. That was one of the moments that the great Casanova Lavi had treasured, for Allen called him truly.
A knock on the door was heard and Lavi heard Krory announced that Bookman was here. Bookman? Here? Lavi quickly but silently left Allen sleeping in the room, and closing the door, he left to greet the uninvited guest. What Lavi did not know was that Allen had already woken up, his ears picking up Krory's loud announcement. Picking himself up, Allen crept out of the room and peeked on Lavi shaking hands with a somewhat impatient old man.
"What are you doing here, jiji? Early in the a.m too,"
"Quiet, stupid! Or you'll wake Prince Allen up!" Bookman hit his stupid apprentice on the head. Allen hid a giggle under his breath.
"G-g-g, Stupid Old Panda! What was that for? Do you know I could've got-"
"The Black Order's coming for him, Lavi," Bookman intruded, cutting Lavi's conversation. Lavi felt himself drop cold as he heard those words. The Black Order, in other words, THE Black Order, his bosses, is coming here. To his house... What the Hell?! They never come to my house before! Hell, I've never even seen them before! Bookman read his apprentice's confused expression and thoroughly explained the current situation.
"It seems that Prince Allen attracted their upmost important attention and has decided to pay the glorious lost prince a visit in about a day or two. So you better get-"
"No, they can't come here," Lavi finalized. Both Allen (who was eves dropping on the conversation in his room) and Bookman raised their eyebrows to the sky. It was strange that the infamous Lavi has just denied an opportunity of fame and fortune right in the face. Bookman shook his head in reply for Lavi's rash decision.
"You have no choice, Lavi. They're coming here, and there's nothing you can do to stop them,"
"Allen's not ready!" Lavi sounded, his voice climbing higher with fear.
Bookman tilted his head with an amused grin, "Since when it's Allen?"
"Allen's not ready, old man! He's still lost in this world ad how are they supposed to interrogate him about his past when he doesn't even want to talk about it with me?" Lavi cried, not bothering to answer Bookman's wondering question. Bookman was currently ticked off at the outrage of his usually-complied student.
"I don't know, Lavi. All I'm here for is to inform you about their arrival beforehand. Get Prince Allen ready by then,"
"Look, Bookman. I've been studying him for the past two weeks, and I can't come up with anything about his past or anything relevant to proper research! He's just another useless artifact long forgotten!"
"Just another useless artifact?" Whispered a new voice from down the hall. Lavi's heart gripped itself into a tight coil when he saw Allen standing in front of him. Allen's face was a picture of pure sorrow, of sadness and guilt, of the outright betrayal etched upon his eyes. Lavi had betrayed him, and Allen felt the burden that came with the bitter betrayal once again. Lavi saw the disappointed look on Allen's face, but he couldn't do anything. He hadn't meant what he had sad to Bookman. He only wanted to protect Allen from the harsh world outside. But that look, that exact same look he must've given to Rabi four centuries ago, was clearly not worth the risks at all. Lavi felt his heart sink as he knew what he had done; he had repeated history again. Allen's lips started to quiver slightly, but his kingly frame stood proud. Without another word, he turned tail and locked himself inside his own room, ignoring the pleas of Lavi.
"I'll try to distract the Black Order as long as I can, Lavi. Until then, get both of yourselves straight," Bookman replied, going away from the frenzied archeologist. Bookman shook his old head, seeing that his emotionless apprentice had fallen for the prince harder than he had expected. He left Lavi knocking on Allen's wooden door futilely. With a sad nod to Krory, who already knew what has happened, Bookman set off.
Soon, Lavi gave up in trying bringing Allen out. Allen wouldn't listen to his explanation, but Lavi didn't blame him. If the past had just slammed itself right in the present, he'd be torn into two too. But Lavi had other matters to think about then his own problems. A light bulb appeared above his head as he rummaged his master bedroom for that one item. He gleamed when his hands felt the cold touch of the master key to the mansion.
Moonlight dawned into Allen's opened bedroom. He could hear the stars whispering to one another, trying to send comforting words to their Master's son. The wise cold wind kept Allen company, blowing slips of cold air to dry the tumbling tears that were flowing furiously down Allen's perfect face. The waxing crescent moon weeps along silently as the dark sky threw its thick blanket above the sobering atmosphere. Timcampy landed onto Allen's folded knees and cuddled lovingly, trying to cheer its master up from his gloominess. Then something clicked in Timcampy's mind and he landed on Allen's bent head, making the white-haired boy to look up. A whirring sound woke its magic inside the magical globe as a wavy recording was appearing before Allen. Allen's eyes were wide open as he laid his eyes on his first best friend. It was Rabi's last recording! The picture crackled the sound booming. Allen realized that this took place in the tomb he was buried in; he remembered the war cries from outside the tomb as clear as yesterday. Rabi was running, panting while holding that same goofy smile Allen had came to love.
"H-Hey Allen! I'm so sorry I have to put you inside that box you hated so much. But if I didn't, then they'd come and kill you. Ugh! If you're seeing this, means you're alive and.. Well… I'm dead... I want you to live your life the way you wanted to live; just without me and definitely without my mum constantly nagging at you about something that you didn't do again.
BOOM-RABI, GET OUT OF THERE!
So that's it, Allen. I'm sorry I can't be with you, but please know that I'll always be with you. I love you, Allen,"
The video folded itself up, covering the image. All was silent and heavy with the suspense. Then out of the blue, Allen finally burst his dam.
"R-Rabi!" Allen's tears renewed their onslaught, tainting his innocent face with silvery drops of water. Allen poured out his emotions and bottled-up feelings, laying all his hidden cards out onto the now-wet bed. Allen didn't care if he was loud in his cries, he didn't care how much his heart ached at the recording, and he didn't give a damn if he died right now. All he cared about was the conflicting feelings he carried with him. Those memories, discarded parts and little pieces that Allen treasured, all came back with a vengeance. A flash of Lavi's own face swiped through his mind and Allen went all out. Why? Why? Why?
Timcampy was drowning in his master's tears, and it looked like it was never going to end anytime soon. With a silent stand, Timcampy comforted Allen. It heard a soft click and turned to see Lavi's retreating form from just outside the door before the entrance closed again, leaving the crying prince to his own nightmares. And the moon continues to cry with the stars.
Hullo hullo, I'm terribly sorry if this new chapter is too short for your liking, the next chapter is going to be sweet-er (since this one's a little too angst for my liking) ;D Yes, I got the entire week off school, somebody up there loves me! XD I want to thank these wonderful people who motivated me to keep on writing:
Loving Laven,
kitsune630,
DGrayManFanatic,
velli9,
RhiannonWolf,
1o1,
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TheWhatNinja,
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bama,
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I mean, I kept thinking "who would love my stories?" And in comes you proving me wrong about that! I love you guys sooooo much! Okay, better work on my next chapter now, see you then! Please review and have a nice day! =D