Note: You must be surprise to see an update, no? Anyways... the cliffhanger I left is a bit cruel (?). Sorry about that. And I finally decided that there will be no pairings, but if you squint, maybe you'll see fairy dust. After all, this is a bishounen. After this, I won't update for a while. I really, really have to complete at least one of my older works. And I need an inspiration so bad.
Tale Five: Atheist and Occultism
'Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding ding! Ding dong!'
The doorbell to the Allen's rented house rang repeatedly as Lavi kept of hitting the button like a madman.
"Heeey! Alle~n! Are you home?" Lavi cupped a hand around his mouth as he yelled.
"He's not here. I'm going home." said Kanda, turning his back to his comrades, but Lavi pulled him back by the back of his collar just before he could step his foot forward. "Tch! What the hell- let go of me, idiot rabbit!" Kanda yanked Lavi's hands off his fencing uniform.
"Let's wait a little more, Kanda." he pleaded.
"But, Lavi the gate was locked and nobody's home obviously. Allen and Timothy are off somewhere." said Lenalee.
"Where to?" they gasped when they heard another voice. All heads turned back and down to a kid wearing a school's uniform with silver lining.
"That uniform..." Lavi trailed off, pointing to the kid.
"It's the Vatican Academy's middle school uniform." the kid supplied and asked, "What about it?"
"Uh...nothing. It's just that it never crossed my mind that you are studying, specially at the V. A." Lavi replied.
"What, you think I'm just slacking off in onii-sama's house? Sorry to disappoint you, mister, but I'm a respected person." Timothy said with dignity.
". . . ." three pairs, or more like, two pairs and one eyes stared at the kid blankly.
"Anyways...what're you lot doin'ere? Are you up to another round of movie marathon?-"
"Ah...no!" Lenalee interjected, waving her hands outward and inward.
"I've had enough of that..." Kanda mumbled to himself.
"Eh? What did you say?" Timothy asked in which Kanda scoffed and 'tched'.
"Timothy." Lavi called. "We're not here for movie marathon. We're here to see little Allen and ask him to play the piano and sing that song."
"...that song...?" Timothy put a finger over his lower lip, thinking. "You mean the 14th's song?"
"Fourteenth...?" they repeated.
"Yes. That's the song onii-sama only plays in his piano and sings."
"What an odd title..." Lavi commented.
"Don't you dare say that!" Timothy scowled. "There's a meaning behind that title."
"And that is...?" they asked at the same time, expecting for a good answer.
"I dunno. And I will never tell you even if I know. Now, lemme in. You've heard enough already." Timothy passed between them and unlocked the gate.
"Hey, wait!" Lavi grabbed his wrist.
Timothy turned around to look at him with a scowl on. "What?"
"Where's Allen?"
"School. Probably."
"But, there were almost no more students there when we left." said Lenalee.
"Yeah. And that was twenty something minutes ago." Kanda supported.
". . . . Oh."
"Oh? Oh!? Is that all you have to say?" Lavi asked, clutching his head exaggeratedly.
"Yeah...got a problem with that?"
Kanda twitch at the kid's come back reply. I hate his guts.
"Besides, this isn't the first time he was abducted.-"
"WHAAAT!?" they exclaimed.
"Lenalee! We hafta call th' cops!" panicked, Lavi said as he grabbed the Chinese on her shoulders, not paying heed with his accent anymore.
"Right, right, right. Will the whole navy be enough?" Lenalee asked worriedly as she turned her cell on and search in her contacts.
"Hey, hey, hey. We aren't going into a battle you idiots." Kanda twitched, not knowing what to do with his comrades in panic attack.
"Just calm down, will you? I'm going to call onii-sama to check where he is." said Timothy, arms folded against chest.
"I said no need to call the cops yet and more specially the navy!"
"Kanda! Give me back my phone!"
"Beansprout...beansprout...beansprout..."
". . . ." Timothy watched the scene before him. Ticks marks, big and small, popped out of his forehead, annoyed at the display his onii-sama's friends was showing. Starting from the right, Kanda was struggling against Lenalee who was reaching out for her phone which Kanda snatched away from her to avoid calling the navy while on the other side was Lavi hyperventilating, worried sick, as he chanted Allen's nickname that he adopted from the Japanese.
How humilating... Dear God, must these people have no shame at all? People are watching! Timothy felt like he was getting embarrassed in their stead when people gathered around when they heard the words 'Call the cops!', 'He's kidnapped!' being yelled by the two in hysteria while the other sane one was trying with all his might to shut them.
And so...
Timothy's palm made an aquaintance with his face.
Pulling the hand on his face down, Timothy revealed a very annoyed expression and yelled not too loud, but enough to make them stop and listen to whatever he was going to say.
"Will you stop that!? You are gaining attention!"
Then the three halted and looked at him for a second, and then around them where people are watching. Lenalee stepped forward first, apologizing for the ruckus they made. Once the people went back to their own business, Timothy, with hands on his hips, moved towards them and said, "Listen. I'm going to call onii-sama, so calm down okay?" defiantly. The three nodded and the kid took this as a cue, so he fished out his phone, dialled Allen's number, and turned his back on them as he placed his phone against his left ear.
The phone rang.
. . . .
Then it went off.
Timothy redialled again, but still... No one picked the phone. He dialled and dialled again, but the result were all the same.
+++oOo+++
In a dark room where Allen was locked up, tied, and gagged, the phone's ringing echoed back as the thick walls prevented any sounds to escape.
Allen fell unconscious not long ago because of the lack of air and the temperature inside was high. He wouldn't have woken up with only his phone ringing, but it was also vibrating. He wanted to answer it, thinking that it was none other than his cousin. What time is it...? He asked himself. His phone kept on ringing impatiently, but Allen could not reach his pocket.
With weak body, Allen did not gave up and did his best to stood. He staggered backwards upon standing and hit his leg against something hard and sharp which cut his skin. He winced at the pain.
"Kuhff..."
That little incident made him realize that the culprit didn't took everything in that room away instead, he just put it out of the victims reach.
Just then, Allen's phone stopped ringing.
Once again, Allen stood up and searched for the wall which he found quickly and bumped his shoulders on it twice.
The wall seemed thick.
Allen didn't know when his vision became clearer in the dark, but that matter was not important at the moment. Allen traced back to where he cut his leg accidentally and found a metal with sharp edge in which his own blood was still dripping. He used this alternative to cut the ropes that bind his wrists behind, and so he kneel down and started working with it.
"Huff... Huff..." Allen struggled for oxygen.
Because he had a weak heart, Allen can not stand a closed area where there is no air, thus, he had a difficulty in working with the ropes that he accidentally cut his palm through his gloves. Despite that he did not stop until the rope was cut. He then went for his gagged and to his leg and feet to unbind. As soon as he finally freed himself, he rushed to the door and tilted the knob.
"Damn!... It's locked...!"
Allen turned around, his back pressing against the door and slid down.
"I can't breath... Of all places... Why the old and unused music room...?"
Allen was too weak to stand up grab those old musical instrument to smash the door open, so he went to his last resort.
"Timothy..." he spoke once he connected to his cousin with his phone.
"Onii-sama! Why are you not answering my calls? I'm worried sick? Your friends and I are on our way to school! Where are you!?"
"Tim...mothy..."
"Onii-sama...?" his voice quivered.
"..."
"Hey, answer me! Where are you!? Are you okay?"
"...music...room...can't... No-air..." with that said, Allen's hand dropped on the cold floor and his eyes closed.
"Music...room...? Hey, did you just say you can't breath? Onii-sama? Onii-sama!? Onii-sa-!" his call was cut short as Allen's phone run out of battery.
By the time their communication was cut, Timothy, Lavi, Kanda, and Lenalee were already a few meters away from the gate of Vatican Academy.
"What is he doing in the music room alone?" Kanda asked to no one in particular in which Lavi answered, "Probably playing the piano?"
"Idiot. He just said he can't breath!" Timothy yelled frantically. "Someone must have locked him up. We have to hurry! He won't last any longer." he then hurried to the campus and the three followed.
"Wait! What do you mean he won't last any longer?" Lenalee asked worriedly.
"He'll die. Onii-sama can't stand a room without ventilation because of his heart problems." he explained.
To say the least, the three were shocked to learn about that.
They all run as fast as their legs could inside. Lavi took the lead and went to the music room at the west wing, second floor of the high school building. Lavi grabbed the knob, which was not locked, and opened it, clicking the switch on the left side on.
"He's not here..." said Lenalee. "Are you sure he said he is in the music room?"
"Yes. I'm sure he said it." Timothy replied.
"Maybe the room is dark and thought he is in the music room, but actually in the storage room." Kanda guessed.
"Even if you say so, I'm sure Onii-sama knew where he is. He has a good night vision after all."
While they were contemplating the where Allen could have possibly been locked up, Lavi was silently thinking, his thumb and index finger caressing his chin while his other hand supported its elbow, racking to the depths of his mind.
"He is in the music room." he said and all heads turned to him. "There is this music room which was not in used for the pass five years after the disappearance of the student who was rumored to be last seen in that room and died somewhere."
"You mean...that kid carrying a piano case who somehow got to our school building five years ago whom we thought an elementary pupil but actually a high schooler?" Kanda asked.
"Yep. Remember when he said he wanted to get in our class because he never got into middle school?" said Lavi, remiscing the moment they met the kid wearing a high school uniform despite his small appearance walking aimlessly down the hall who seemed lost.
"Yeah. I even told him to get lost and he said he was actually lost and couldn't find his way back."
"So, that kid you were talking about back then to me died five years ago?" Lenalee asked.
"At first he went missing right after school that time and was last seen playing the song Christmas Canon on his piano in that room. But, since they couldn't find him...they labelled the kid as dead." Lavi answered.
"What was his name?" she asked.
"I dunno. We didn't ask."
"What did he looked like?"
"Uhmm... He has brown-" Lavi was cut short when Timothy coughed.
"Sorry to interrupt your story telling, but lemme remind you that my onii-sama is probably in that room dying."
"Oh! I'm sorry! Lavi, Kanda, let's go find him." they nodded.
The old and unused music room was located at the east wing, opposite to where they were. They all run passed several rooms, turned right, and went straight ahead where the last room was. Nobody came around that area, so it was likely to locked up someone in that place where no one would noticed.
"Allen!" Lavi banged his fist on the door and tilted the knob which was locked. "It's locked!"
"Onii-sama! Are you in there? Make some noise! Onii-sama!"
'Thud.'
"Did you hear that?" Kanda asked, but was ignored as Lavi continued on pumping on the door to force it open.
'Thud.'
"Allen! Hang on!"
"Hey, rabbit! Stop!" he pulled the red head away and leaned his ears on the door. They all watched as Kanda's brows furrowed in concrntration and his forehead creases when he heard something. Leaning away, he said, "I'm going to slice the door open." as he grabbed the hilt of his extra sword, a Japanese sword.
"What? Kanda, you are going to destroy a school's property!" Lenalee exclaimed.
"And what? Let that beansprout die in there? No way in hell, woman." he said as he snapped his head back and glared at Lenalee who had gotten used to the way he socialize.
They knew Kanda was right, and so they stepped back bracing their selves.
'SLASHED!'
Kanda sliced the door in half diagonally starting just below the knob upwards and kicked it. There, they found the dark room illuminated by the setting sun from behind them where the glass window glinted.
"Allen!" Lenalee exclaimed, moving her hands over her mouth, when she saw the white haired at the foot of the door, sitting and not moving.
"Onii-sama!" Timothy rushed to his side.
+++oOo+++
Eyelids opened slowly revealing silver pools as the owner came into. Blinked once, twice, remembering what had happen.
"It's time you wake up shorty." someone spoke from his left.
Allen pushed himself up weakly to sit, but something stopped him and pushed him back down.
"Rest, Allen. You're still weak." it was Lenalee.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"In your own room." said by the same voice who spoke earlier. Allen turned his head to his left and saw the Japanese wearing a fencing uniform, whose arms were folded against his chest and eyes closed.
"Kanda..."
"Yeah, it's me. You had us worried back there. I thought you were dead."
"Sorry..."
"It's okay, Allen." Lenalee smiled as she sat at the right edge of the bed. "What's important is that you are safe now."
"...where's Timothy...?"
"He's in the kitchen, preparing for dinner-"
"What!?" Allen bolted up, jumped down his bed and...
"Hold it right there sprout!" Kanda blocked himself between Allen and the door.
"Stop calling me that, will you? Now, please get out of my way before he put a can in the oven and set the kitchen on fire." Allen said hurriedly.
"Don't worry, Lavi is with him." Lenalee assured.
"Will they be okay?" still doubting the two in the kitchen together, he asked.
"Yes. I'm sure about it."
Allen went back to his bed reluctantly and Kanda on his previous seat.
"Do you know who locked you up there?" he asked the white haired teen.
"No. But, I have an idea."
"Who are they?" Lenalee asked.
"...I'm sorry, but it is confidential."
"You were endangered and you still say that? What if you died in there!?"
"It won't happen, Lenalee..."
"Tch. Stop with that attitude of yours! It pisses me off!" Kanda snarled.
"If it pisses you off, then you are free to go and stay away from me."
Annoyed, Kanda grabbed his collar and pulled the teen near his face and said, "You really pisses me off and I would gladly do what you had said, but I can't just bring myself to do so."
Allen blushed at their closeness, plus about what Kanda said.
"You...don't want to leave me...?"
Kanda blinked.
"It's not something like that!" he pushed Allen away and huffed on his seat, crossing his arms.
"What Kanda means is that, he can see his old self to you."
". . . ."
Just then, the door burst open and strolled in his cousin. "Onii-sama!"
"Timothy..." Allen trailed off as his cousin, Timothy, made his way farther in, climbed up the bed, crawled on top of him, and leaned forward.
"What? Something wrong?" Allen asked, unfazed by Timothy's action.
Timothy scowled at him, searching something in his eyes. "Say... Onii-sama, are you an illuminati?"
". . . ."
"Answer me, onii-sama."
"I have no idea where this came from, but I'm sure I am not."
"Then, can you explain about the mark on the letter and on your face?" on the door frame was Lavi leaning on it.
"Lavi."
"Glad to see you awake little Allen." he smiled.
"I'm not little. My height is just fine." Allen retorted. Timothy then crawled off his cousin and sat on the bed opposite to Lenalee. "Anyway, did you say something about my face?"
"Yep."
"Allen, when we found you, you have that mark on your face. What is that? Lavi said it is some kind of a mark that symbolizes demons." when Lenalee said those words, Allen's left gloved hand reached out to where the inverted red star lied.
"Can I have a mirror please?" he asked and Timothy gave him the mirror that was on his night stand's drawer.
Allen took the mirror in his hands and looked at his pale reflection.
The concealer he was gone and his peculiar scar was revealed.
"I see… so, it was him…"
"Him? who's that?" Lavi asked.
"Remember the punched I receive yesterday?" they nodded. "Well, he punched me on my left cheek where I use concealer to hide my scar. A residue must have stick on the back of his hand, and now he knocked me out, wiped the consealer on my face, saw my scar, and locked me up."
. . . .
"How could you say that you don't care at all?" Kanda commented, twitching at the teen's lack of reaction.
"I don't care, really."
"But, Allen. If he took a picture of you with that and the principal's or the other staffs learned about this, they will expel you! You know the Vatican won't tolerate anything that has a connection to the demons." Lenalee said frantically.
"Who said it has a connection to demons? Anyway, demons are not real." Allen replied dejectedly.
"So… onii-sama, about that letter and your scar…"
"Well, if you want to know about the letter... I don't know who sent it and as you had said yesterday, I could not read it. I'm not familiar with the characters." he half lied. It was true he was not familiar with it; however, he can read it just fine like he knew the language that was being used. "And about this mark on my face... Well, I don't remember when and where I got this."
"Ah!" Lavi pumped a fist on his hand as he remembered something. "You said you have amnesia."
"Amnesia?" Kanda and Lenalee chorused.
"Yes. I got into a car accident before." Allen answered.
"So, back to the main topic." Timothy interrupted before they would go to somewhere unrelated to what they were supposed to achieve. "If you are not a member of some illuminate out there, you must be a demon in disguise. But, if you are... How can you enter Vatican Academy which was blessed by the Pope and protected by the archangels?"
"Timothy... I am a human made up of cells in the first place, furthermore, demons and angels don't exist in this world. There is no God. I don't believe in God. What you are talking about is just an occult."
"What about ghost, Allen? I do believe that demons and angels exist though I haven't seen one. But...ghosts...they're real, are they not?" Lavi asked a little scared. He was afraid of ghosts after all.
"Ghosts are not real. The waves in nerve cells in human's brain sometimes cause hallucinations, thus seeing things that aren't there. Therefore, ghosts are not real, but an imagination."
The four stared at him in disbelief, stunned at how he explained things like it was just as simple as that.
"Did I tell you that onii-sama is an atheist?" Timothy asked no one in particular, eyes still fixed at Allen.
Allen sighed. "Call me nerd or something, but there is nothing in this world that cannot be explained by science."
"Maybe Allen's right." Lenalee spoke after a long paused.
"Tch. Just cut it out. Hey, Allen. Make me soba." Kanda ordered and walked out of the room without waiting for a reply.
"So... Want to dine with us, Lavi, Lenalee?"
"Sure!" they replied.
"By the way, Allen. Can you play piano after dinner?" Lavi asked as he waited outside the room.
"Okay."