A/N: Thank you so much for the comments. They keep me writing (albeit slowly. It's complicated). Yes, this is a dystopian world.

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Synthetic Soldiers

8 – Allen versus Allen Walker

1761

Four years. That was how long it took for him to recover from that horrible and unexpected attack. Four years inundated in the pain of reconstruction of his self in body and spirit, a time accentuated by the agony of betrayal, that eventually became an insane hate, utterly uncontrollable. He would do anything to get revenge against the one he once loved more than anyone in this world... more even than his dear mother. He would commit atrocities he never once believed he would be able to. He would maim, destroy, annihilate –

But the flame of the murderous thoughts dimmed with time, the time he took to learn to live in this world again, and the time it was taking to find him. Wherever his brother was, he had been hiding well. And though hatred remained as strong as always, insane rage slowly morphed into cold calculation.

And that was why he spent so much time circling the Black Order's European fortifications, places even he didn't dare to casually enter. All because of that boy, who was related to the man he now hunted. It could be a fake clue, but it was his only one.

An infiltration was unnecessary, however. For all the surveillance the Order forced upon its exorcists, the one he was looking at right now seemed quite alone in his moment of distress. Nea looked at the numerous Akuma that circled the object of his interest. They had already killed everyone in the village the boy had just sworn to protect, and would end the young exorcist, too. The redhead was skilled, but their level was too high and the child was trying to compensate lack of experience with raw talent.

Fortunately for the lad, however, Nea was quite capable of finishing the monsters that were, to an extent, under his control.

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Present

The newly formed exorcist group travelled through Europe, with Altinopolis as their next destination. The city's government had given up on any measures of protection, and this insane decision made it so Allen and the others had to interfere before everything fell apart.

They were still unable to leave the landmass. Even if they somehow left together and got to the Americas alive, returning would be a miracle by itself. Furthermore, they had to stay in this continent. It was where the root of the evil could be found, and also its solution. Allen could feel it in his very bones.

Consequently, their effort was limited to the mainland – but that wasn't to say it wasn't extensive. Actually, they had so much to do they could only work as hard as they could, even though they knew the problem was endless.

The Akuma. Always multiplying like cancer cells.

Allen had initiated his work in Japan, all by himself. Once he understood where he was and where he had lived in his past, his first objective had been returning to England. His plans had been drastically stalled by the difficulties imposed in travelling due to the current state of affairs in the world. It took him months to go from one side of Japan to the other, and even more until he finally managed to leave it by ship.

Whenever he thought of how depraved Europe was now, he remembered Japan, and what a country completely devastated by Akuma looked like.

Now he travelled the open world in search of Akuma, freeing the remaining open human communities of danger, even if only temporarily. Many had survived thanks to his work and that of his companions, that he had found and enlisted mostly due to his careful usage of the name Allen Walker. As several people said, a group of so many exorcists was an impressive thing to achieve.

But it was so, so far from enough.

Inside his heart, a fire of restlessness and indignation raged. It didn't matter that words of his rebirth were starting to spread through the world, and it didn't matter that some of the few who were privy to it thanked him so profusely. Because what he was doing right now was nothing if compared to what Allen Walker used to do. Allen Walker, Allen Walker... he was a seemingly unreachable standard of perfection. Both his memories and tales from admirers built that image of the tall red haired man that was pure power, determination, ruthlessness, care and efficiency at the same time.

Allen honestly found the only similarities between them to be in the form of the scar and the Innocence.

And for many, it was enough. He had the eye that could see evil. He had the famous Crown Clown. He had the knowledge... but only shards of it. And that was the main problem.

No matter how much he tried, he had yet to become his past self. Allen was under no delusion, and knew his current persona was unable to win the war. No matter how many memories he managed to extract from his mind, they were never enough, and the reason was obvious. Even if he immersed himself completely in his past life, it would take twenty years of recollections for him to recover the twenty years he had lost.

But he didn't have twenty years. More than that, everyone eventually wanted more confirmation that he was Allen Walker. He could feel the unending expectations coming from every side... and he could feed them such confirmation only by being him, something he did through careful analysis of what he could gather of his past self and forceful repression of his current identity. He had managed to collect much, and the information he had from his previous life was what had kept him alive for enough time for him to grow back into an adult. But it wasn't sufficient.

There were so many complications in his life it was a wonder he wouldn't just let go of everything. It would be so much easier to throw his problems on someone else's shoulders. But who? Everyone else expected him to end this war of more than a thousand years.

And then, there was Yuu.

Really, he thought, Yuu could very well be the origin of his dilemma. Allen had denied his new self so many things... but not the recollections of his friend. The pain had somehow ebbed, but only to a certain extent. It was still mostly raw and hurtful inside of him, somehow making itself known at least once every day. In every moment of privacy and silence Allen was gifted with, there were those conflicting elements: searching for memories, the drawing and redrawing of plans, the careful scribbling of a tentative timeline of his first life... and a certain young boy's face.

The face that was always resting over the left side of his chest. Allen's thorough inspection of any Black Order data he could find also reached information about the laboratory, though that hadn't been essential to his mission, but he did it anyway, because he was so weak. And then he found the single file with the Japanese's picture. There was also Alma's and his own, and he destroyed those. But that one, that special one, of Yuu so young it had to be of a time before Allen was born... he had kept it with him, not hidden amidst his things or in some safe place. No, it was on his body, and he knew someone could eventually find it, but he was so weak, and he wanted it nearby, to hell with consequences.

What in the world was he doing, carrying a clue to his past over his breast? Anyone who saw it could make the connection and discover Allen hadn't miraculously stayed alive and young for the past 49 years, but had instead been slaughtered by the Millennium Earl and had his brain frozen by the Order, and then awakened as the pathetic and feeble child who had no chances of saving the world.

And if people stopped believing in him, it would be all over.

Still, he stared at that picture every night. Even as a clueless kid back then, Allen had known he had something to fulfill, and wanted to take the other Apostle with him in that journey.

And that anchored his actual self to this world, because Allen Walker had no feelings for Yuu; he didn't even know the boy ever existed. For as long as Allen remembered and cared, it meant he was failing on wholly adopting his former self and reaching his full potential. He should destroy the picture as he did the others.

But he wouldn't.

He was so weak.

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Who knew he would find his friend not in the afterlife, but in the ugly city called Altinopolis?

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Yuu was alive.

Allen had known from the very moment he set his eyes upon the taller man. No matter how many years had passed, he had kept that face in his mind, Yuu's young, approximately twelve years old face. And so, so many times, Allen indulged in fantasies, wondering what the man would look like as an adult. What his appearance would be if he was still alive, by his side, as it should have been. It had always been a pitiful pastime of his, a flaw in his carefully rebuilt personality. He was allowing 'Allen' to permeate the newly reborn 'Allen Walker'. But he didn't care, because while it brought him pain, it also kept him alive.

And then the man was in front of him, and his heart almost stopped. It was only because of years of self recrimination and exercises in control that Allen was able to push down every impulse to just grab him and see if he was real, dragging him somewhere they could talk and he could simply understand what in the world was happening, because Yuu should be dead. It was one of the greatest, most horrible facts that existed in his world, and the one that most pained him every night.

But discipline won, even if temporarily. Noticing he hadn't been recognized, Allen merely asked his friend to aid him in the extermination of the Akuma – Yuu had Innocence! – and prayed Yuu would comply, because if the older man decided to ignore his request and leave, Allen would crack and just go after him, consequences be damned. Yuu was not being let out of his field of vision... even if Allen had to reveal a part of himself to his comrades that he really shouldn't.

And so they fought their enemies, Allen most furiously than ever, because every Akuma that was alive meant more time without enlightenment. Once they were done, the plan was to calmly reveal himself in a way that would make Yuu stay, and then pretend their meeting was of little consequence until they had somewhere private to talk openly in.

Or as openly as Allen would be able to, in his state.

But his mind was a war of Allen against Allen Walker – and here he was, thinking of himself as two again – and Allen wanted to understand, to feel, to be sure that the horrible events of 1811 were a lie. Meanwhile, Allen Walker tried to take over and wash his body in the cold concentration that usually reigned in but, this time, it was a lost battle.

"This is worrisome for me, Yuu. Have you been alone ever since you left Laboratory number six?" said him instead and, in order to escape any violence Yuu seemed to want to throw upon him, he revealed his face.

The other exorcist's eyes widened in recognition, proving that yes, this was the one Allen though he was, and no, he wasn't mistaking a stranger for Yuu in a pathetic delusion.

"Allen?"

And that voice was so broken, so desperate and so full of longing only as great as the one Allen himself felt, that it broke him apart.

"Hello, Yuu. I'm so glad you are alive."

And there were only the two of them in the world; in Allen's world, that is. And if Yuu's face is anything to go by, he also felt the same. Because everything else was of little consequence, and how could this be happening-

"Did you just speak in Japanese?" that voice, that sounded so absolutely wrong, broke the illusion of privacy, and Allen Walker was back in the world – the real world, where everyone stared at him, observing and judging his reactions, his movements, his everything. The world where he must play his part, and play it to perfection, no matter what the product of the sixth laboratory wanted. Lavi's question was a shock.

I have unconsciously reverted to my previous patterns, he growled internally at himself. At Allen's patterns. It has been so long ever since I was in Japan, ever since I spoke this language. It's always been fresh on my mind, but I did my best to hide it...

His resolution became firm; there was little to do now, no way to deny his Japanese proficiency and thus, his apparent past in the country or, at the very least, with Japanese people. Even if he managed to fool the others with a story of studying the language out of mere interest in it, Lavi was here. The redhead was a powerful exorcist, an important ally, but also an enormous nuisance because of his perfect memory and his amazing observation skills. The white haired exorcist liked having the future Bookman around because not only was he useful in a team that needed every exorcist they could get, but he also kept Allen on his toes. If he could fool Lavi, then he could be sure he was also hiding his truth from everyone else.

Now, however, he wanted nothing more than to curse the redhead.

"Ah, old habits die hard," said Allen in his friendly manner. It was a truth, though half of one, but the best lies have a measure of truth, and he would have a reasonable excuse for his proficiency in the language by the end of the day. Right now, he needed to pass it off as something of little importance and have everyone else moving.

"Very well," said the young leader, clapping his hands. He was amiable, yet commanding at the same time... the way he always was. "Our job here is done. Shall we take our earned recompense?"

"Recompense?" mumbled Yuu, in clear confusion, because Allen was clearly not acting as the Japanese man had expected. And the younger Allen inside of him wanted him to stop this game and just open up because god damn it, this is what he had dreamed about his whole life. But the unkind personality, the one who wasn't friends with the dark haired second exorcist was in control once more, so the cry was repressed to the very back of his mind.

As it had been, so many times.

"Yes. It is always like that, you will learn. An unofficial organization such as ours needs funding, and it certainly won't come from the government. Now, where are the city's coffers?"

Some questioned their honesty and morals, but Allen had little care about it. Every time they rid a place of Akuma, they would take something from it, because being too good and doing things for free wouldn't keep them alive. exorcists needed food, clothes and medicine like any human being. They also needed many other provisions for their long travels and the times they had to hid for an extended amount of time. So they would always take money and goods from the cities and communities they helped, usually from the place's treasury itself. They only refrained from doing such a thing when they dealt with a very poor community, but that wasn't the case of Altinopolis, so there it was.

Allen guided everyone else towards what he believed to be the place the city's treasury was kept at. Yuu fortunately followed, though Allen felt the other exorcist's extreme confusion and prayed the older man won't give in to the temptation of asking Allen about it in front of the others. Allen had already decided to deal with it later. But before they came close to their targeted building, people started leaving their houses with frightened but reverent eyes. Ah, was this what he imagined?

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Kanda was going through the confusing ordeal of being speechless, but also of having so many words to say.

He had imagined this meeting so many times.

Kanda had always told himself it would happen, and soon. The hope was what kept him moving. Allen. Allen. No matter how much he tried to put the goals of destroying Akuma and finding Allen in the same level of importance, he'd always known only one of those were truly imperative to him.

So many scenarios. He was so pathetic he had almost prepared a speech for the day he found him. It was all useless, of course, because words fled the man as soon as he recognized that face, and knew the moment had come. And he had expected many things: perhaps a secret meeting as they fled from the Order; or it could me amidst a battle, torn by destruction and madness. Maybe they would randomly meet in a market. But in each and every one of those scenarios, he imagined them as being incredibly emotional. Kanda wasn't terribly expressive, but he'd always known he wouldn't be able to maintain control when the time came. It would be one of the highest moments of his life.

And now Allen, who had done little more than identify himself and smile to him, had turned away to lead his group to some quest for a reward or such nonsense, and Kanda was absolutely thunderstruck, because...

How in the world could Allen be so nonchalant?

It was only this absolutely unexpected surprise that kept him silent, but he still followed the white haired boy, as there was no way in hell he was leaving Allen out of his sight, even for a moment. And then people started leaving their houses, some having been hurt, but most seeming quite fine. They exclaimed praises and heartfelt thanks to the exorcists, and started placing many offerings before them as tokens of gratitude. Allen, always leading the group, thanked them for their generosity and started picking up the more valuable goods, including food and clothes. They then started leaving the city, despite the citizens insisting they could rest there.

"It is no safer here than it is outside," Allen clarified as they left Altinopolis through its main gates. "I pity them. They will never be able to transfer to another city, and Akuma will appear once more."

"Will we come back to help, then?" asked the redhead.

"If it is appropriate," said Allen calmly, and Lavi shrugged. Everyone seemed to be expecting this reaction.

The other exorcists tried to speak to Kanda, presenting themselves and asking about him. But the Japanese man was in such a state that he only stared at Allen's back, which he followed all of this time. He was sure his behavior was a source of concern for them, but he didn't care, because this was too much.

If Allen didn't clarify the matters soon, Kanda would just grab him by the arms, shake him and ask what the hell was happening.

Allen seemed only a little surprised at seeing him, and Kanda tried to rationalize in order to keep his actions in check. Actually, while still covered and disguised, Allen acted like a complete stranger. Later, Allen revealed himself, but didn't care to do much more than asking Kanda to follow him and, since then, it was as if Kanda was a nonexistent entity, or perhaps just another member of this strange group.

And then a bitter possibility made itself known to him.

Could it be that Allen had never looked for Kanda, at all?

That was the only explanation – pure disinterest. Because no matter how much Kanda found it hard to associate such uncaringness with his dear friend, the fact was that Allen was certainly acting the part. Allen had destroyed the laboratory, and then left. Tiedoll found Kanda some time later, the only human still alive in the whole wreckage. Had Allen actually left while knowing Kanda was still down there? Was he finding his new life more important than wasting his time trying to find a childhood friend that he had known only for a few months?

Yes, it made more and more sense, thought Kanda with a bitter scowl. At the start of his journey, he had expected Allen to be living in the shadows, perhaps working a simple job and leading an irrelevant lifestyle so as to escape the Order's notice. He could have been travelling in a caravan in the outside world, helping exiles to survive through the power of his weapon. Or he could have found a way to infiltrate a city and become a legalized citizen, though Kanda had quickly discarded that possibility because it was a practically impossible thing to do.

But as his investigation continued and Tiedoll's stories came to mind, he came to see a new side of his friend that he had never imagined. Allen – Allen Walker – had been an incredible person in his past life. He used to be a powerful Black Order exorcist, working with efficiency and great talent. He had grown in rank and eventually came to the top... or close to it. Then, some event or other made him a suspect, and he, who was close to becoming a Black Order General, lost his position and became a low tier exorcist, incredibly controlled and monitored, kept in a tight leash by the Order's superiors.

Allen then eventually proved that yes, he had been working against the organization, by creating his own – one that preached for peace and freedom. One that not only attacked the Earl and Akuma, but also that condemned the Order due to their discrimination towards unregistered people and their harsh treatment towards their own exorcists. Allen had been charismatic, and touched on points that were very important for civilians and oppressed Order members alike. But, more than that, Allen had been powerful. He was renowned as someone of not only incredible fighting prowess, but also revered as the only human who could distinct Akuma from humans without fail. Such a possibility was astounding – humanity's very first chance of getting rid of gates that separated those who weren't able to prove they weren't demons. Actually, the gates would still exist in order to protect the communities but, with Allen Walker's miraculous help, any person could be evaluated and allowed to pass. Once inside the fortified capitals, they would be registered and become true citizens, not having to worry about the hunger, poverty, disease and violence that permeated the ruined outside.

Suffice to say, Allen became a clear sort of savior. Black Order members who thirsted for some sort of freedom liked his speeches. Exiles who finally found a chance of entering a safe place loved him. And the movement grew in size and power, until Allen had a sizable army of sorts at his disposal.

But then they came – the accusations about a secret association with the Noah family, creators of Akuma and origin of all evil. Conflicts between Allen and his closest allies. And then the Earl's attack in a cold night, sudden and without any sort of warning, that doused the fire that Allen Walker had been in history. His ruined body was found by astounded and remorseful supporters, and the truth ran so fast it was known by almost everyone in a matter of days. Their leader was forever gone, and desperation permeated everyone, causing the movement's collapse and only leaving empty people behind.

Now Allen, his Allen, the one he'd embraced once he'd been reborn, the one he held when in pain, whom he talked and shared dreams with, the one he consoled and teased and played with and... and loved, that tiny boy with illusions he'd thought insane had awakened to be the same Exorcist of the past, rebuilding his old movement stone by stone and once again becoming a painful thorn on the Order's side, one that could very well become the source of its destruction.

Allen was a powerful, constantly growing force.

Meanwhile, Kanda was a lone Exorcist with absolutely no recollections of his past besides floating lotus flowers in a lake that reflected bright blue sky. He had tried to recollect his own history and hope to use it as an advantage, but it was all in vain. Allen had decades of life experience; Kanda, only enough years to make him a child in everything but body.

It wasn't so hard, now, to understand Allen's disregard.

It was tragic, nonetheless.

But he kept following.

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It didn't take long for them to leave Altinopolis. Everyone followed through their old routine. Get away from the city until a deserted point. Set an encampment, with the proper measures of hiding their traces and looking out for any enemies. Get ready to rest.

Allen entered his tent, organizing his things. He set a blanket over which he would sleep, and then picked new clothes. He clumsily stripped from his dirty ones, and dressed in grey pants and a white shirt, leaving his feet bare. He needed a shower, but not now. He was yearning for tea quite a bit. Setting the useful miniature oven in the floor and noticing the battery was still almost full, he put a kettle over it, filled it with water, activated the fire and waited for the water to start boiling, holding a tea sachet in his hand.

Then Yuu entered his tent unannounced, standing and staring down at Allen's sitting form.

Silence ensued for a few minutes, until the water started boiling. Allen ripped the sachet open and held it up, intending to allow the chamomile leaves to fall inside the kettle.

It would be easier if his hands weren't trembling convulsively. As it was, half of the contents spilled over the floor.

"Allen," Yuu finally said in that grave, adult, strange tone of his, that held no vestiges of the softness it had nine years ago.

"Yuu," whispered Allen in answer, before he got up to stare at the other exorcist's chest – never his eyes. "I take it you want some tea?"

"What?" asked the man's incredulous voice.

"I can't blame you. This one is of a good brand, you can smell it a kilometer away," said he in a ridiculous exaggeration. "They were ever so generous to give it to us. Then again, I guess after killing hundreds of Akuma, the least we deserve is an expensive box of tea, right?" laughed he, and it sounded unnatural and was the absolutely worst fake laugh he had ever let out. For someone so used to feigning happiness in any situation, his performance had fallen very hard. "W-we also have Lemon Balm. It's amazing for the body. And the mind. You seem a little tense-"

"ENOUGH OF THE TEA NONSENSE!" Exclaimed Yuu, with such rage Allen's Innocence almost activated. And he could feel it, his control falling apart. But then again, he had been losing it ever since he entered this tent, fleeing from everyone's attentive eyes.

"Y-Yuu?"

"Just be direct with me. What are you playing for?!"

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Kanda had had enough. His distressing conclusion during their long march to the middle of this nowhere had dampened his spirits, but he still entered the tent, even if what awaited him was a white haired stranger who would say they had had a decent friendship, but it was time to let it go. Even if he was to be treated with insulting, hurtful nonchalance for the rest of his life.

But then, from the very moment he entered, he could see it as clearly as day. Allen's tension, so strong it almost suffocated Kanda himself. His stiff body. His trembling hands, his labored breath. The young man looked ready to snap.

And he dared to pretend nothing of importance was happening?

"Just be direct with me. What are you playing for?!"

Allen breathed in deeply, and Kanda hated it. The other exorcist was trying to put his act together, but he wanted the uncontrolled, emotional Allen back. He was the only one Kanda had a hope of getting through. He had so little time to interact with Allen until now, but he simply knew it – if Allen returned to what he would refer to as his cold state, they would get nowhere. It was like the boy was temporarily possessed by a different person.

"Playing, Yuu? We just met, and I was offering you tea. You refused it in a way so rude I believe it is unprecedented-"

And there Allen was, doing exactly what Kanda feared.

Oh, no, you don't.

"I will tell you what you are playing at," Kanda growled with restrained, but tangible fury nonetheless. "You are playing a game where I am an insignificant, easily forgettable acquaintance of yours. Where we have never been each other's world."

"Y-Yuu..."

"A game where you became such a powerful, incredible leader," continued Kanda with disdain dripping from his tongue, forcing himself not to scream once more, "that you think you have the right to distance yourself from the person who has dedicated himself only to finding you for nine fucking years."

"You... have?" asked Allen in a weak tone.

Kanda hated it. Because he had just admitted that Allen had been the center of his life, while said boy had barely spared him a thought. But the white haired exorcist was breaking, so he forced himself to continue.

"You are playing a game," continued Kanda mercilessly, "where you were a child born in a lab, and you grew up only in a matter of months, thanks to your marvelous memories. And then all of a sudden you were an adult on a mission and had to leave no matter what," Kanda said, pacing around Allen, who stared everywhere but at him, seeming extremely pained at reliving his past. "So once you understood what could happen to you, after seeing me rotting on my deathbed, you decided it was time to leave-"

Allen's voice then lost its uncertainty, expressing instead cold desperation. "No... no, Yuu," he whispered with a broken expression, finally gazing at the Japanese's eyes. "No way. It wasn't like that-"

That pure and unadulterated anxiety in Allen's tone almost made Kanda stop. Almost. Because Kanda didn't truly believe in his words. He had seen the sincerity and desperation in Allen as he promised him they would be free. Those weren't words one would say to a dying boy they didn't care about.

But he was getting to Allen, so he would insist on his horrible tirade, even if he didn't believe half of it. "And so you awakened your Innocence... killed everyone... and destroyed everything, easily leaving me inside of that grav-"

"THAT IS NOT TRUE!" screamed Allen, silencing Kanda's hateful discourse permanently with a screech filled of entwined pain and rage. "That was the worst day of my life!"

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That did it. After screaming, he broke, and Allen Walker was finally gone, gone as he hadn't been for years. There was only Allen.

The same Allen who had cried convulsively over the horrible wreckage that covered his best friend's body. Fresh tears and renewed shaking took over him, as finally gave up any sort of attempt at controlling himself, because damn it all. How could he?

"Y-Yuu," he called in a strangled voice that was as weak as he felt, and his friend's image blurred because of his tears. He angrily wiped them away, but they kept coming, so he let it be. Filled with fear, he stared at his friend but, to his immense surprise, there was no hate there. After Yuu's many insane words – he really had misunderstood everything – Allen had expected the dark haired man to be so filled with loathing he would attack Allen in any instant. Instead, Yuu looked at him in a way that was so open, so filled with expectation it was only age that made him different from the person he had known so many years ago.

Yes, Allen Walker was gone, even if only temporarily. And now that he was once again in control...

Allen ran towards the taller man, ripping his shirt open with both hands, the normal and the one full of Innocence. Yuu seemed confused until the moment Allen stared firmly at the seal that was drawn over his heart, a deep gray, almost black, that indicated his good health. Allen raised a hand over it, curling his fingers over Yuu's chest, before sobbing, "it is really you."

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Kanda held the smaller boy in a tight embrace, feeling that things were finally right, that his recently born worries disappearing from his mind. Allen's past and many experiences from the laboratory until now didn't matter. He was the same, the very same. He could feel this fact, so undeniable in its truth, seeping from the sobbing, broken mass he held against himself.

"A-Allen?"

The feminine, unwelcomed voice broke their moment. Kanda honestly didn't care whether they had witnesses or not, but Allen was clearly of a different opinion. To his disbelief, the white haired teenager quickly let go of him, taking a few steps away, as much as allowed by the tent. Turning his back to the girl and him both, he picked a cloth and wiped his face on it. Allen took many calming breaths, until his shoulders stopped shaking, until his breath was controlled and he had a semblance of normalcy, and then he turned around to face her.

It was so incredible Kanda couldn't believe. If not for the blotchiness of his face, Kanda would have never believed the young man had just gone through such a mental breakdown. His expression was stony and in absolute control. Nothing relevant was happening, it said. He was tranquil and distant from the other two exorcists in the room.

It was very unpleasant to look at.

And then Allen spoke, "Lenalee."

"Yes?" asked her uncertainly.

"You saw nothing," said he in a voice that was almost bored, but there was a hint of steeliness in there – a warning. Kanda stared at their interaction in surprise.

After a few seconds under the hard stare, the Chinese girl nodded. "Y-yes. Of course. Please forgive me. I just wanted to see if everything was alright."

"It is," Allen deadpanned calmly.

"Okay. Excuse me," said she, before hastily retreating. Kanda stared at Allen in surprise, but his expression was the same. Allen then turned towards the kettle. The tea still boiling, but they had spent so much time in their confront the water was almost gone. Allen proceeded to fill the kettle once again, and stare at it, readying a new dose of tea.

"You won't be acting like this around me again, Allen," Kanda warned. He wouldn't be fooled anymore. He didn't know what sort of game Allen had been playing, but he wanted no part in it.

"Forgive me, Yuu," said Allen, and it felt honest enough, though he clearly had his emotions in a tighter hold. It was strange, specially since Kanda still had to manage to do the same.

"For what?"

"This whole ordeal. I know I have been acting strange. There is an explanation."

"You don't want them to know about me?" Kanda rationalized.

"I don't want them to know anything about my past. As a Second Exorcist, that is," whispered the whitehead in Japanese, "it would ruin everything."

"Everything what? Your plans of world domination?" asked Kanda sourly, sitting with crossed legs, as Allen readied that damned tea for them. They were exhausted, and it wasn't because of the battle in Altinopolis.

Allen seemed to ponder over something, before his shoulders fell, if in relief or in resignation, Kanda didn't know. He waited patiently, because at least Allen wasn't wearing that cursed mask.

"I have so much to talk to you about," said Allen finally and, as their eyes met once again, Kanda knew he was in for a long story.

But now that he was here, he had all the time in the world.

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