Author's Notes: I had a serious argument with myself about if the opening line should be in quotations or not. Weird, huh? Ultimately I've decided that they look out of place. Sorry this chapter is short but the next one will have lots of dialogue if anyone's been missing that. I know I have. O_o;;

Lavi and the Beanstalk

Ch. 6 "Fretting and Poor Decision Making"

What is it with red heads? Are they genetically prone to insanity, or is that just my luck?

Several thoughts like these ran through Allen's mind as he straightened himself up. Mere moments ago there was a young, eye-patch wearing red head who had somehow made his way into the mansion. The two had caused such a ruckus that the master of the mansion had heard them. Now Allen had to feign innocence for his Master's questioning. Luckily for him, Allen had inherited his father's poker face.

For some ridiculous reason the youth had kept calling Allen beautiful and even referred to him as a what, a fairy tale princess? Allen's brain began to have conniptions.

Dear lord in heaven, he thought Allen was a girl. A series of disgruntled moans and mumbles flew from Allen's lips. Eliade really was right about him being so androgynous.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Allen sat back down to the piano once he was proper looking again. Still he continued to worry about the young stranger. The Master had sounded like he was so close to them that Allen feared the youth would be caught.

The silver egg opened right on time. Allen could feel the Piano's spell take hold of him. But his Master cancelled the spell.

Allen looked up from the bench to find his Master staring, well, lets be honest, it was more of a death glare, right back.

His Master's name was Cross Marian. Who actually wasn't a giant but an extremely talented sorcerer He had crafted the entire mansion and the clouds it sat on. The only reason why Cross made everything so gigantic was to accommodate his just-as-large ego. At least that was always Allen's reasoning.

"What happened?" The giant Cross demanded of Allen. His crimson eyes had narrowed and focused solely on Allen.

"What do you mean, 'what happened?'" Allen played it cool. Just like he did at Poker, only he carried himself a little less arrogantly.

"I mean you were singing. I heard you. And that only happens when someone opens the egg. So I'll ask again, 'who was here.'" Cross' tone was very sharp.

"You didn't ask that before." Allen couldn't stop the devilish smirk from forming on his face. Like his Master had always said, he was a smart-ass 15 year old.

"Who. Was. Here."

Allen gulped. He knew that tone. The games were over and he needed to end this quickly.

"You just left the egg open." Allen said very casually. Cross obviously wasn't buying it. So Allen gave a fake huff and continued his performance. "Look, the shell must have slipped or something because I played another song and when I came to, there was no one here."

"Really now?" Cross cocked an eyebrow at Allen's explanation.

"YES! Now will you leave me alone already? I'd like to get back to sulking over captivity in private."

Allen knew it was an unlikely scenario but it was better than telling the truth. That much he was sure of.

"Boy, I think you're lying." Now Cross was wearing the devilish grin. Allen gulped.

"Wouldn't I notice if there was some one here?"

"Would you?" Cross seamed way to confident about something but Allen couldn't figure why. That crazy youth was gone wasn't he?

"Yes I would. Now could you leave me alone please? Or better yet, LEAVE MY LIFE!"

Screaming wasn't uncommon from Allen. After all, he had been Cross' personal musician for over three years now. The man had expected it from Allen by now.

"You're absolutely certain that no one was here?" Cross' grin widened into a smile. A very evil looking smile.

"Yes. Yes already! I'm certain that no one was..here..."

Allen's voice trailed off when Cross raised an old leather boot off of the table. He then dangled the boot right in front of Allen's face. Allen was horror struck.

Cross' smile broadened even more.

"I'm pretty sure you're lying. But I'm a gracious man. And you've been relatively well behaved lately, so, I'll release you into the Ark. And have you awaken 'the Count.'"

"No! You can't do that! He'll kill him!"

Allen's protests fell on deaf ears.

"Vermin don't get to dirty my domain and live."

"No! No! NOOOO!"

Back down the bean stalk, several days had already passed since Lavi escaped the Giant's home.

Lavi tossed and turned in his bed as he played out the events from earlier that week.

The beanstalk was still standing. Lavi had managed to convince his grandfather to keep it up but it wouldn't stay that way for long. Sooner or later Lavi was going to have to make his decision.

Bookman had noticed an inexplicable change in his grandson ever since he returned from town. Earlier Lavi had been very vocal about doing away with the beanstalk and now it was the exact opposite.

When Bookman returned from his conference with Komui and Prof. Tiedoll, he expected Lavi to be his usual jovial self but was confounded by Lavi's extreme reaction.

"We've discussed by which means to use for removing of the plants and decided to dig up the roots and burn them. Hopefully the beans wouldn't be able to grow back after-"

"NO!" Bookman had jumped at the outcry and Lavi darted his eyes away in response. "I-I mean, what would happen to the rest of the beanstalk? Wouldn't it come crashing down on all of us?"

"Ye-yes, well. We've discussed that too. Seems the best course of action would be to guide the stalks towards the hills like felling a tree."

Lavi produced some more bullshit excuses about keeping the beanstalk up.

"Yeah. Well, we could always use everything to feed the rest of the village, ya know?"

"That we could,"

Bookman's complexion had paled as he watched his grandson shift about before his eyes. Sure, Lavi had done his best to lie and cheat him in the past, but Bookman could always see right through those antics. Now this was something entirely different. And worse, it was something that even the experienced Bookman had never seen before.

For days Lavi had been almost like a ghost. Never quite present but always hovering around with his eyes in a perpetual daze.

Since that time Lavi's condition seemed to be deteriorating. He was sleepwalking from day to day. Never really eating and only ever picking at the food on his plate. Most shocking of all was that Lavi had seemed to give up talking all together. Whenever people tried to converse with him Lavi would smile and be polite enough but then he'd turn and walk away.

Bookman talked in secret with the rest of the village's elders and otherwise well informed. None of them could produce any reasonable explanation.

The elderly Bookman was beginning to fear that he may lose his grandson in some way like he had with his son, Lavi's father.

Lavi sighed heavily for the umpteenth time.

He knew that his grandfather was worried about him. Lavi was mentally kicking himself for only perpetuating it.

Every time Lavi thought he had gathered enough courage to tell Bookman the truth he would just chicken out instead and quickly turn away. Lavi could see the worry taking its toll on his poor grandfather. He knew he had to end this and soon. But he didn't know how.

All he could ever think about was that silver piano playing girl. She looked so scared back there. And still she saved him. Lavi gritted his teeth as he recalled that time.

He should have been the one to save her. Lavi always considered himself a real man-some one who always stood up and did the right thing. But there wasn't ever anything bad happening in his tiny village. He'd never been properly prepared for real danger. So up in the giant castle, all he did was run away. It didn't matter that some magic spell was keeping the girl hostage. He should have stayed behind and helped her.

And that was eating up. He hardly even tried to help the girl.

Lavi didn't know how to convey his feelings to his grandfather. He was so scared that Bookman wouldn't have the right answer.

Ever since he was little, Lavi had depended on Bookman to always have the answer and if he didn't then Bookman would come up with some sort of solution anyway. If Lavi did tell Bookman everything, the last thing he would want to hear was that "there was nothing he could have done."

That might have been true but it still didn't make anything right. He knew better. And he knew that he should have done more. So why in the hell didn't he do anything back then?

Lavi turned over in his bed one final time and punched his pillow before collapsing down to sleep.

That settled it, Lavi told himself, he was climbing up the beanstalk again!

P.S. What? Allen a girl? Pssh. Oh, also, I'm currently working on a new fic. Its a crossover between Danny Phantom and Rise of the Guardians. I'll still finish this one but I'll also be working on the other at the same time. Unfortunately there's only four chapters left to this fic. But I promise that the last will be hugely epic!