Note: I have never been to a Train Station in my whole life.

I have no excuse on why this chapter is late, to be honest. So I'll compensate my (super) late updates with long chapters.

Yippee.

If that was sarcastic or not, you'll never know.

Their Meeting

A knocking sound wakes Allen up from his nap. The little boy rubs the sleepiness from his eyes and sits up, trying to make sense of his new environment. He was in the train compartment Reever had led him into earlier, judging from the cushions and the luggage on the chair in front of him. He remembers falling asleep immediately as soon as the train started moving. It was probably because his crying had tired him out.

It was scary, he didn't know where he was and Reever was nowhere to be found. He was in a completely new place and he didn't even know where to begin with. Someone knocks on his door again, this time with a voice calling out for him.

"Allen, come on. We've arrived at the Central Station already."

Allen pushes himself off the chair as he walks clumsily to the door, twisting the door knob open as he stands on his tip toes. The door opens to reveal a man who was wearing a light brown cloak and had bandages covering half of his face.

Stranger Danger warning bells were going off in Allen's mind. Reever always taught him that strangers were always a bad thing, and that they never brought him any real candy. He must've noticed Allen's internal struggle, because he crouches down to Allen's level and offers him a smile, though all Allen could see was his happy eyes and raised eyebrows.

"It's okay Allen, Reever sent me here to pick you up so that you can meet up with your Uncle Cross safely."

Allen was still a bit hesitant at first, but then suddenly Timcampy comes into play. He flies over Allen's head and stares at the man for awhile before he lands on his shoulder, nodding as if he deemed the man in front of them safe and danger-free.

"See, even Timcampy agrees."

"You fwends with Tim'ampy?" Allen asks, his little doe eyes looking at him.

The man nods, "Yes, I'm his friend. My name's Toma by the way." Allen glances at Timcampy, who stares at him back, before turning back to Toma.

"If Toma fwends with Tim'ampy, than I'm fwends with Toma!" Allen chirps, giving Toma a bright smile.

Toma held back the urge to coo on how cute the child was being as he coughed into his fist to regain his composure. Toma made quick work with Allen's luggage as he picked them up swiftly and called for Allen to follow after him.

Allen complied; Timcampy resting on his head like his white hair was a pillow, as he walked down the corridor with Toma. Allen noticed that there were only a few people in the train, tall figures clad in white robes and veils. Perhaps most of them had already gotten off? They all had tight expressions on their face, so unlike the cheery people from the North Temple. Allen was starting to miss home already.

Toma lead him till they came to the exit of the train. With a bit of help from the older man, Allen got off the train and set his feet on the Station platform. Allen let his curious eyes absorb the sight around him. The Train Station was practically made out of clouds. The walls, the floor and even the ceiling were a bright and pure white. Even the people there wore white robes, making Allen remember the other passengers from the train. Bright light was seeping from the numerous skylights in the ceiling, giving an ethereal atmosphere to the place. It didn't even feel like he was in a Train Station. It was like he was standing in the middle of one of Reever's prayer rooms.

Allen was definitely in a different place entirely.

Allen hears some sort of ominous growling before an unknown figure suddenly jumps at Timcampy and snatches him from Allen's head. The force threw Allen back a bit, making him fall on his butt.

"Eh?" Allen immediately checks the top of his head to see if Timcampy was there, but only utter terror met him when the crown of his head was suddenly void of any golden golem. He looked around and saw a big white cat, which just happened to have a golden tail sticking out of its mouth.

"Tim'ampy!" Allen exclaimed as he got up and started running after the cat, which fled away from the scene of the crime.

"Wait, Allen! Don't—" Toma called out as he ran after the small boy in vain but lost him in the sea of people. You'd think it would be easy finding a 3 year old with white hair. But then again, the station was blanketed with a sea of the cursed color.

Toma sighed to himself, he was in big trouble now.

Lavi sat quietly on a bench in the Station lobby, taking in the environment around him. He was told to wait there by a member of the Platform staff, and so he did. Lavi would have obediently waited for someone to pick him up, if his stomach just didn't growl at him. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a good idea to skip out on that snack that was offered to him earlier by one of the Train staff members. He was starting to regret his previous actions.

'Curse you past-Lavi.' He thought to himself.

Lavi looked around the place, he was starting to consider the idea of going off and buying something from that small canteen he had passed by earlier. It wouldn't hurt right? It would only take him a few minutes to just head over there and buy a sandwich, of course.

All of his hesitations disappeared when his stomach growled for the umpteenth time.

Lavi hopped off the bench and made his way to the canteen. To get there, he had to enter the platform area again and take a few turns till he reached the said canteen. It's these times where Lavi actually thanks the old Panda for hammering all those lessons on memorization skills into his small head.

Taking a second look at the Platforms and Trains, Lavi notices how 4 Train tracks intersect at the middle of the Train station, forming a cross. Of course, he had ridden the Train that was on west Train track. He didn't pay attention till now, but Lavi realizes that every train in the station was of the color white. Heck, everything in the Train Station was white.

'These people must really love their vibrant colors.' He thinks sarcastically to himself as he reached the canteen.

He digs into the pockets of his robe and brings out a few coins. Bookman had taught him how buying and selling stuff worked of course. He had taught him lots of things despite his young age, just like the other kids in the temple. Everyone in the Temple strived for wisdom and knowledge, every small piece of data was important, no matter how useless it seemed. The West Temple wasn't called the 'Temple of Knowledge' for nothing after all.

"One grilled fish sandwich, please." He tells the attendant as she goes off and comes back in a few minutes with his order. Lavi gave her the money and took the sandwich.

Lavi glances around and notices that the people in the Train Station was starting to increase, after the train from the North Track came to a stop and announced that the people could get off already. 'I should head back. God knows what might happen if I get pushed around by this huge crowd.' He tells himself as he makes his way back to the Station lobby.

As he walks back, Lavi starts unwrapping the foil around his sandwich, letting the sweet aroma drift around him. 'Ah, I sure don't regret leaving my spot now.' Distracted by the delightful smell of his newly bought sandwich, Lavi doesn't notice a small boy running in his direction.

"Ack!" Lavi exclaims as the little boy runs into him, causing him to lose his balance for a bit, but he manages to keep standing, unlike the other boy who fell on the floor, on his butt.

"Woah, you okay there, buddy?" Lavi asks as he inspects the boy closer. He had snow white hair and big doe-like gray eyes, what was peculiar was the red scar that ran through his left eye, a red inverted star just above his eye. Lavi estimated his age to be 3 years old or something like that. Just like him, the small boy was wearing black and silver robes.

"T-Tim'ampy! Bad k-kitty eat him!" The little boy exclaimed, small tears leaking from his eyes. He was pointing to something behind Lavi. Lavi turns his head and sees a big fat cat on one of the tables, which had something gold sticking out from his mouth. Was it a tail or something?

Looking from the weeping child on the floor to the grumbling cat, Lavi heaved a heavy sigh. The kicked puppy look the kid had just made him succumb to helping the kid out. Taking out a slice of fish from his sandwich as he knelt down, he starts baiting the cat.

"Here kitty kitty~" Lavi practically purrs. The cat seemed to stare at him for awhile, as if judging his ridiculous actions before giving in. It starts walking towards him and opens its mouth to eat the fish that was being offered. Acting quickly, Lavi immediately reaches out to grab the golden tail drooping from the cat's mouth, pulling out a round object with wings.

'Huh?'

The cat hisses angrily at him before taking the slice of fish in his hand and running away. Lavi didn't pay much attention to the cat after he made the quick rescue though, he was too busy looking at the thing he was currently holding by the tail.

It was dripping with cat saliva, that's for sure. But it was what was under the cat's saliva that piqued Lavi's curiosity. Round, golden, a Victorian cross engraved on what Lavi assumed to be its face, feathery wings and that golden swirl at the end of his tail. This seemed awfully familiar to the red headed, but before Lavi could make any assumptions, a voice interrupts his trail of thought.

"Tim'ampy!" The little boy next to him chirped happily, looking relieved that whatever he was holding was safe.

As if awakening from a daze, the thing in his hand started to shake itself back into the real world and pulled itself from Lavi's gasp, barreling towards the white haired boy. The small boy didn't mind the cat saliva coating the flying contraption, looking sincerely happy as he hugged the thing. The boy looked up and flashed the brightest smile Lavi had ever seen in his whole life. "T'ank you, Mister!"

Lavi just stares at him for a second, wondering if this was the same boy that was crying horribly with snot dripping all over the place awhile ago, before chuckling, "No problem, and don't call me mister."

The boy tilts his head cutely in a gesture of confusion, "What s'ould Allen call, mister?" He asked, his words cut and crisp from his young and inexperienced mouth.

Lavi asked himself why he was even bothering with this kid, but he couldn't help it. It was boring just waiting for someone to pick him up at the lounge anyway. "Lavi, my name's Lavi." Though the kid had already mentioned his name, Lavi still asked out of habit, "How about you? What's your name?"

"I'm Allen! This is Tim'ampy!" He says, holding out the golden orb towards Lavi.

Getting a quick second look at it, Lavi's suspicions were proven right. The thing that the boy, Allen, was holding was indeed a Golem. Remembering one of Bookman's old lectures, Lavi gave himself a quick review. Golems were devices that were invented with the purpose of communication between the 4 Temples and the Central Temple. Most members of the temple had Golems, since it was like a requirement, but the one that Allen was currently cuddling with was no ordinary golem. Most golems were plain black round orb with an eye in the middle, adorned with bat-like wings. The only person who had a golden golem like that was- -

"'Avi?" Allen interrupts his thoughts yet again. Lavi reminds himself to stop this whole talking-to-yourself-in-your-mind thing. It was getting annoying. Really.

Lavi turns his attention back to Allen, noticing how the boy was practically swimming in cat saliva. How that golem got that drenched in feline saliva, Lavi didn't want to know. Feeling grossed out for him, Lavi opens his mouth, "Hey, maybe we should clean you up? You're a little bit messy right now." He sure didn't want to get yelled at by Allen's parents or whatever for getting him all dirty, that's for sure. He holds out his hand towards Allen.

Allen merely blinks at him before looking down on his robes, as if he had only noticed that he was dripping with cat saliva. He looks up again and flashes a bright smile, "Okay!" He takes Lavi's hand and they walked together to the nearest bathroom.

Kanda gets off the train, in a slightly more pissed off than usual atmosphere around him. Even the finder that was set to fetch him felt his spine tingle the moment he even came close to Kanda's proximity. Though, the Finder, a young lad named Gozu, could sympathize a bit with the upset child. The boy didn't even get a chance to bid the Eastern Temple head, his only father figure, a proper goodbye. Stuck in a place that was miles away from his beloved home, Gozu could only imagine the storm of emotions inside the child's mind. Oh how cruel could the world be to let this—

A loud grumbling noise interrupts his internal monologue.

"Che, I'm hungry." The boy next to him spouts, an angry frown on his face.

Gozu stares at the boy with an incredulous expression on his face, 'Is that why he's upset? No, it can't be. Surely it was because-"

"Hey you, where's the canteen in this place?"

Interrupted again, Gozu snaps out of it to reply to the child, "H-huh? O-oh, it's over there Master Kanda," Gozu points to the direction of the canteen. "Would you like me to accompany you?"

"No thanks." Kanda puts his tiny little hands into the pockets of his robe.

"B-But, I should—" Gozu stops when Kanda shoots him the fiercest glare he has ever seen from a 7 year old.

"I said I'm going by myself."

Gozu was near to tears, 'Is he for real?'

Don't be mistaken. Kanda's empty stomach wasn't the only thing that was churning his mood into sour bile. Kanda was confused, and because of that he felt frustrated, aggravated even. Just what in the world happened in the Train Station? Why did Bak shipped him off to this far place? Why didn't he get a chance to properly punch him in the face before saying goodbye?

It was probably his upbringing, but Kanda continued to ask himself these questions unbefitting of a child like him. It was the only thing he could think of to get rid of the small panic and fear creeping in his heart. Crude personality and pride can go to hell, for the first time in his short life, Kanda felt afraid. Not the sort of fear you would get if you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar, but the kind of fear that made you feel helpless and useless. Kanda was in a place he knew nothing about, sure he had heard stories about the Central Capital, but actually setting foot in this foreign land was a different thing entirely.

Kanda let out a shaky breath, showing a bit of weakness while he was alone and isolated. He held back the urge to just enter the fetal position and cry till Bak came to fetch him, all haughty and loud. Cause he won't. He would never see Bak again. He wasn't being too negative about it, but he had heard the explosions. He had heard the people screaming, 'Akumas! There are Akumas!" and if he had to be sure of one thing, not everyone got out alive from an Akuma attack. Bak could either be fading ashes on the floor, or on a hospital bed, ready to breathe his last breath.

Kanda bit his lip, feeling small tears leaking out from his eyes. As if angry at himself for even daring to show that he had actually missed the annoying man, he wipes the tears harshly from his face, slapping himself on the cheek a few times. He would rather die than let someone see him like this. Even if he was surrounded by complete strangers, all wearing white robes so unlike the vibrant ones back home.

Shit, he felt like crying again.

In an attempt to scrap whatever manliness he had left, Kanda was about to smack his head against the wall, don't ask him why, before he was interrupted by a child's scream. Letting go of the white wall, he turns his head and tries to track down the source of the noise. In the corner of his eye, he could see a little girl who had her hair styled in pigtails being cornered by a white robed man.

"Come on, little girl. Be a good little lady and come with me, now." The man said with a voice dripping with cheap sweet icing that you could buy off from the street.

The little girl shakes her head, muttering faint foreign words with her voice laced in fear, "Bù! Liú xià wǒ yīgèrén!" She took a few steps backwards, her little hands gripping her black and silver robes tightly.

No! Leave me alone!

The man clicked his tongue impatiently, "Don't be a brat, just come here already." He grabs the little girl's arm, pulling on it harshly. The girl started thrashing around immediately the moment he touched her, knocking off her luggage from its orderly pile next to her.

"Bù! Zhùshǒu! Bàituōle!" She had shrieked.

No! Stop! Please!

As if by instinct, Kanda quickly dashed towards the two. The man had not noticed Kanda's arrival and the boy quickly used this to his advantage as he shoves his entire body against him, making him let go of the girl, and lands a hard kick on his shin, which causes the man to fall onto the floor. Kanda immediately pulled the little girl behind him, putting him between the girl and her attacker.

When the man had snapped out of his state of shock, he gives a nasty snarl towards the two kids, "Why you little. . .!" Kanda turned his attention the girl immediately, barking out only one thing.

"Run!"

The girl had understood that word for sure as she turned and ran as fast as her small feet could, with Kanda following after her. Kanda turned his head to see that the man had already gotten up and was chasing the two of them.

This was not going to end well.

"Now isn't that much better?"

Allen shows another bright smile to Lavi, "Yeah!" Patting down his now clean robe, Allen doesn't move when Timcampy situates itself again on top of the boy's head. Lavi had noticed one thing, the two; Allen and Timcampy were definitely close. Even while he was helping Allen wash up, Timcampy would growl at him, for some reason. Had it forgotten that it was him who saved it from feline stomach acid hell?

Lavi also noticed another thing. He and Allen were wearing identical black and silver robes. Sure there was a bit of difference with a few decorative details, but asides from that, Lavi had come up with the conclusion that Allen also came from a Temple, not the Western Temple though. Lavi would definitely remember if there was a white haired child with a red scar in their temple.

He would have continued with his trail of thoughts if he didn't notice that Allen was staring at his face for some reason. Feeling self conscious all of the sudden, Lavi fidgets a bit, "What's wrong, Allen? Is there something on my face?" Maybe he was caught voicing his thoughts out loud again?

Allen nodded and for some reason, his eyes seemed to sparkle, "Is 'Avi a pi'ate?" He asks, pointing at his eye patch.

Lavi stared at him silently for awhile before he laughs all of the sudden, which surprised Allen a bit. That's it? Every second that Lavi spends with this kid, he ends up being surprised by everything that came out of the boy's mouth. Allen wasn't like the other kids back in the Western Temple. And because of that, Lavi felt very interested in this young boy.

"No, I'm not a pirate. I wish I could be one though." He says, wiping a few tears that were leaking out of his eye because of his laughing fit earlier.

Allen tilted his head, a confused expression on his face, "'Avi is weird!" The little boy declares.

Lavi gives Allen a friendly smirk, "At least I wasn't swimming in cat saliva earlier." Allen pouts and pounds his tiny fists weakly against Lavi's chest.

"Mean! 'Avi is mean!" Allen exclaims. Lavi just laughed again before pinching his chubby cheeks.

"Hey, stop that! Didn't your parents ever tell you that it's rude to hit someone?" Lavi scolds, but not too seriously. He didn't mind having a bit fun with this kid.

Allen stops hitting Lavi's chest and sends him another confused look, "Allen doesn't hav' pa'ents. Allen only has Weever!"

Lavi raises an eyebrow, a weaver? What was he talking about? "Huh? What do you mean—"

Lavi was interrupted when the two of them were suddenly thrown of their feet. "Ow! What was that for?" Lavi says, rubbing his sore butt as he opened his eyes to see two kids like them, looks like they weren't the only ones thrown off their feet. One boy who looked like he needed to cut his hair soon, seriously who keeps their hair that long? And a girl who looked like she was ready to burst into tears any moment now. The two kids were wearing the same black and silver robes as Lavi and Allen, albeit with minute differences. Huh, what are the chances?

The boy with the long hair clicked his tongue as he quickly got up and helped the other girl up, "Come on, we need to hurry." He says to her, but the girl just looks even more confused. He pulls her again, "Don't just stand there." He hisses at her.

Not wanting to see the girl be even more distressed, Lavi interjects, "Hey, maybe you should be gentler."

Allen seconds his opinion, "Yeah! Be mowe careful!"

The boy just growls beneath his breath and turns to the two of them, "Look, don't get—"

"Hey! You brats! Get back here!" The four turned their heads to see an angry white robed man running towards them. "You'll regret running from me when I catch you!" Allen instantly clung to Lavi, hiding behind him as he gripped his robes.

"'A-Avi? Who's that?" He asks, his voice shaking.

The long haired boy hesitated a bit before biting his tongue and turns to the three of them, "Quick! Run!" The four of them instantly ran out of panic. They passed through numerous white clad people, most of them were confused why a bunch of kids were running around the Train Station. Lavi quickly ran as fast as he could. When they rounded a corner it was only then he realized that he had nearly forgotten Allen. He turns his head as he notices that the boy was barely keeping up with the others, being the youngest. He grabs Allen's hand tightly to make sure he doesn't fall behind.

"Come on, Allen." He says to the boy.

"Y-yeah." Allen replies, a bit out of breathe.

Lavi raises his eyes to meet the backs of the two strange kids they had bumped into. Just what sort of trouble had they gotten themselves into? Lavi was starting to regret ever leaving his spot in the Station lounge. 'Curse you again, past-Lavi.' He says to no one in particular.

They ran around the Train Station, passing by the different Station platforms as they tried to get rid of the man chasing after them. Why won't the guy just give up?

They entered a random corridor they had found and ran down the hallway, hoping to find some sort of security guard just lounging around.

"Ó, bù. . ." The little girl with them mutters when they reach a dead end.

Oh no. . .

The boy with him immediately looked around, hoping to find some door or open window they could slip through. There was none. Only accursed white walls that seemed to mock their situation.

"Oh God, now what?" Lavi says. Allen, who was right next to him, was too busy trying to regain his breath to answer.

All of them froze when they heard approaching footsteps, Lavi and the long haired boy immediately stood in front of their respective companions. The man, who was chasing them earlier, suddenly appears with a smug smile on his face.

"Oh Good, I finally caught you guys." He looks at Lavi and Allen, "And it looks like you brought friends. That's alright, the more the merrier right?"

Lavi felt a sudden swell of courage in him when he felt Allen shake behind him, "Leave us alone!"

The man let out an obnoxious laugh, "Now now, I can't have that. Not after what those two brats did to humiliate me in front of all those people." He says, pointing at the two kids next to them.

The boy just responds with a vicious glare, the girl behind him clung to his robes as she did her best to hide from the man. Allen, who felt bad for the girl who had started crying, reaches out to hold her hand in a gesture of comfort. The girl looked up to stare at Allen, face smeared with tears, and nodded slowly.

"Now, how about you children come here willingly and no one gets hurt?" He says as he approaches them slowly, his eyes glued on them like they were a hunter's prey. Once his body got too close, the boy next to Lavi suddenly spits on his face, a haughty smirk on his face after he did so. Lavi had to give him credit for his perfect aim.

"Why you little . . .!" Just when he was about to go and strangle the boy for revenge, a powerful kick lands itself on his side, sending him to the wall. The children were shocked as they saw him fly across the hallway.

"What the fuck was that?!" The man growls as he tries to stand up but gets stopped by something hard poking his forehead. He looks up; ready to beat up whoever did this to him, but his face blanched the moment he saw a man pointing a gun at him. The worst part wasn't the gun, but the person who was holding it.

"Do you have a problem with these brats?" The man says with a deep voice. The man on the floor wasn't the only stunned, even the kids were too. Their mysterious savior just came out of nowhere, after all! It was like he had appeared out of thin air.

"A-ah, no sir!" He had stuttered out, the intimidating man earlier was gone and what replaced him was a man who looked like he preferred being ran over by a train than be confronted by the man in front of him.

"Then get your miserable ass out of here and scram." He said. Even without a glare, he still looked terrifying. The man took that as his cue and bolted out from the hallway.

Their mysterious rescuer heaves a heavy sigh and turns to the kids, towering over them. "You brats are too much trouble for what your worth."

Lavi could feel his jaw falling on the floor, "G-General Marian Cross?"

I am not Chinese, far from it, and I am heavily reliant with Google Translate whenever I write Lenalee. Just saying.

If no one actually remembers, Gozu is that finder Kanda meets in Episode 33, the one about the witch living in a village. He was such a precious and naïve baby. He needs to get broken soon.

Published On: 12/31/13