Chapter seventeen – Coming to light

The smooth metallic surface beneath his back sent cold chills down his spine as the icy feeling of the steel worked its way through the thin cotton shirt he was wearing and bit into his bruised flesh with all the gentleness of a raging storm.

A low groan escaped his chapped lips and he moved his head slightly as he slowly became more aware of his surroundings. Head pounding, temple aching and body shivering he allowed his eyes to drift open with a foreboding feeling in the depths of his stomach.

The ceiling was an off shade of white he recognised all too well and the usually dim light hanging meekly from it was set on a much higher setting than was normal. A quick glance around showed that he was not alone in the room. A small crowd of people were conversing not too far off without bothering to keep their voices low.

"- Fine if we give the next dose." Tyki was saying easily, his golden eyes glimmering with sadistic pleasure as he carelessly flicked some locks of his blue-black hair out of his eyes.

"Yes, He's responded positively to it thus far. I think it's about time we stop waiting and administer it." A flash of tinted glasses and the tinkling of a bell tied loosely in hair as Lulubell reached over and took the syringe from Tyki with eager movements that hinted at faultless enthusiasm.

"Woh, now. You can't just go jabbing it in to him without the right preparation first," Tyki objected, "you'll ruin everything we worked towards."

The conversation digressed into pointless argument and although he truly wanted to listen he found his attention wondering away. Another man stood slightly back from the bickering pair, face cast in shadows leaving only the faint outline of his rotund body and the towering image of the extravagantly decorated top hat visible.

A bitter taste rose in his mouth and he wasn't sure if it was the drug they'd used to knock him out earlier or the flavour of fear incarnate. If that man was here it surely did not bode well for him. Not in the slightest.

He tested his arms and found that they seemed to weigh an impossible amount. There was no way he'd be able to lift himself off the table let alone sprint from the room with the wind at his heels. Despite this, he strained harder and was rewarded with the slight tingling in his arm as he forced his sluggish limb to rise.

The satisfaction was short lived as cool leather bit into his wrist and prevented the ascent. A small groan of frustration slipped through his lips and immediately all attention in the room riveted to him.

"Awake are we, Allen?" Tyki grinned as he snatched back the syringe from a scowling Lulubell and approached with several sharp clacks of expensive leather shoes on the tiled floor.

Allen stared at the syringe with dread, watching as the chemicals swilled around dangerously in the glass container beneath the pointed tip which would doubtlessly soon be pushing through several layers of skin and his flesh until it could inject its load into his bloodstream.

Tyki saw the look in his eyes and his grin widened and he glanced at the syringe. "This is a big day for all of us boy. Best keep your mouth shut so you don't ruin the moment." His tone held a distinctly proud tone and over in the corner Lulubell made a small noise that sounded like she agreed.

Allen himself found his heart rate had increased drastically and all he could do was stare at the needle like it was his whole world.

Countless half-healed puncture wounds marred the pale flesh of his everywhere and the feeling of something unnatural pushing past his bodily defences was a constant feeling to him now, something that even plagued him in his sleep.

However , he was not an idiot. Something in the very air felt different from all the other injections he'd had. Something felt final. Like if he let the needle into him he'd never ever be the same again. His self-preservation instincts were screaming at him to get up and run, run, run!

He made another attempt to pry himself off the table and could not, falling back down onto it again, all he could do was glare viciously at Tyki in a way that promised very bad things if he came near him.

"Allen, my dear boy,"A voice from the shadows called smoothly, "don't worry so much. We're not going to hurt you... Just the opposite in fact."

The Earl took a small step out of the shadows, his low setting glasses shimmering slightly and evil eyes behind them staring at Allen with an excited half crazy glint.

"We're going to give you a life!"

Before Allen could even open his mouth swabbing alcohol was dabbed onto his arm and it was all he could do to lift his head up and catch a glimpse of fast moving blonde hair as Lulubell darted forward and took the syringe back from Tyki.

Painted lips curled back to reveal sharp teeth in what was doubtlessly a very cruel smile and the needle was jabbed into his arm.

Allen gasped against the sudden intrusion of his flesh and waited tensely for whatever the others were waiting for to come.

The needle was withdrawn and Allen lay dazed on the table as his heart bet rapidly. He didn't know what he was meant to be expecting but it felt like nothing was happening. He felt the same as always. He didn't understand.

And then he felt it.

A slight pull at the back of his mind, like there was somebody else there. His fear shot through the roof and he could feel himself start to hyperventilate as something continued to stir at the back of his mentality like a long resting monster waking from a deep slumber.

No... He thought desperately as slender fingers wrapped themselves tightly around his mind and squeezed. His vision turned white, than black. The kind of black that was complete absence of anything. It was nothing.

A soft laugh rang through his mind as he was pulled further and further back into his own mind, getting locked away by this... intruder.

Don't...

He was in a room. Looking around wildly all Allen could see was never ending blackness and a strange antique chair in the centre of the room. And a door.

Running forward he reached for the handle only to hear a small click that told him it was locked. He was trapped in this manifestation at the back of his mind and it was a strange feeling. It felt like he no longer had a body. He was nothing. Just a small insignificant speck in the vastness of this imaginary room where he was a prisoner.

There was something on the other side of the door, he could feel it. He continued to pound against the surface, not feeling the wood beneath his flailing fists at all.

"LET ME OUT!" He screamed as loud as one can when they're not even in possession of lips, or a mouth or any body parts what-so-ever.

Another soft laugh and one word echoed back to him...

"Allen..."

oOo

A shout tore free of his lips and he lashed widely around, words pouring out from his mouth so fast he could barely understand them. Something grabbed his wrists and he shouted louder, trying in vain to tear himself free.

"Beansprout! BEANSPROUT!"

"Let me go!" Allen shouted as pain ripped through his head and the faint pulsing of another presence echoed back and forth. "Let me go, let me go, let me go!" He repeated over and over like a mantra as he tried to wrestle his way free.

His head hurt. He hurt. All he could feel was constant waves of pain and the feeling of a crushing grip on his wrists barely registered as he flailed around. He needed to go. He didn't know where, he didn't know how, he just knew he needed to leave.

"ALLEN!"

The sound of his name being called and a sharp slap to his face sent him rocketing back to reality and he found himself no longer in that room from his memories but rather hanging limply from Kanda's iron grip.

His breath escaped him and one long whooshing gust and he panted uncontrollably as sweat trickled down his face, dripping into his eyes and blinding him.

Slowly, Kanda slackened his grip on his wrists and allowed Allen's arms to drop back down, sitting unsurely beside Allen on the barren bed, the covers thrown into a tangled pile on the ground. Groaning, Allen buried his face in his hands and did his best to steady his panicking heart rate. He didn't succeed.

His head was hurting so badly he could hardly remember where he was. Images of things that had never happened danced before his eyes and he realised his breathing had started up again.

"Beansprout?" Kanda asked softly from beside him and Allen tried once again to pull himself together. For Kanda's sake, if not his own. He couldn't...

Allen pushed himself off the bed, staggering slightly as his foot caught in the messed up covers and would have faceplanted on the floor had Kanda not caught him with deft hands born from an easy companionship with his sword. "What are you doing?" The Japanese teen snapped and if Allen had perhaps been more aware he would have been able to note the light edge of panic not often present in Kanda's voice.

"Sink."He whimpered and without another word Kanda helped haul him over towards the bathroom, pushing the door open with his foot before lending Allen his shoulder as he took him to the sink, barely making it in time as Allen threw up.

Kanda kept a firm grip on him but Allen shook his hands free and supported himself by clutched hard on the edges of the basin as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the white porcelain. He felt Kanda reach around him and turn the tap on and he felt great relief as the swirling waters washed the sick away, but his mouth was to occupied to thank him.

Kanda himself was starting to get mildly freaked out, to say the least. Not scared, Yu Kanda didn't do scared. But freaked out? Yeah, he could do that. He didn't know what was wrong with Allen and the poor kid was throwing his guts up while all he could do was rub what he hoped was soothing circles on his back.

He noticed that Allen's shirt was clinging to his skin from the sheer amount of sweat pouring out of him. He stopped rubbing Allen's back, scared that between the cheap cotton shirt and the never ceasing flow of sweat he'd simply chaff him and make things worse.

"Moyashi?" He said softly as Allen finally finished retching and begun clawing his way through the medicine cabinet, knocking an astonishing amount of prescription bottles out that rattled their nearly full contents as he looked for something.

Before Kanda could stop him, Allen emptied a hand full of multi-coloured pills into one hand and brought them to his mouth.

"Don't do that!"

Allen looked down at the scattered pills at the floor than back up at Kanda, the sting in his hand where kKnda had hit the pills away barely registering. Kanda stared blankly down at Allen. The kid's eyes were nearly glazed over in pain.

He was more than used to seeing Allen in pain. It happened often enough. But there was an edge to his expression. Like although he was looking up at Kanda and seeing him, other more terrifying images danced around his vision. He looked sick, he looked scared and he looked more tired and worn out than Kanda could ever imagine being.

Kanda made a decision. He backed out of the bathroom keeping his eyes firmly on Allen and fumbled blindly for his phone on the night stand. Having located it he returned quickly to the bathroom to keep an eye on Allen and support the boy who looked like his legs were going to give out under him.

He speed dialled number two on his phone and waited impatiently as it rang, going back to rubbing Allen's back simply to be doing something as his room mate dry retched into the sink.

Finally Lavi picked up with a groaned, "Hello?"

"Go get Komui." Kanda said bluntly before hanging up and returning to helping Allen as best as he could, which wasn't very much.

oOo_oOo_oOo

Kanda sat on the rough carpet of the hallway, elbows resting on his knees and head resting on his hands as he stared glumly at the hard wood of his door where he had been booted from post haste as soon as Komui had arrived.

"So, let me get this straight," Lavi said quietly from where he was leaning against the wall beside Kanda, looked tired and worried, "he just woke up and started throwing up?"

Kanda shook his head. "He didn't just 'wake up', and he didn't just 'start throwing up'. It took me ages to get him up and then he was thrashing around screaming at the top of his lungs."

Lavi looked at the bright bruise marring Kanda's perfect skin and winced. He didn't think Kanda had even noticed the new, colourful addition to his wardrobe. "Then?" Lavi prompted. Kanda looked at him wearily and Lavi felt a throb of sympathy when he saw the tell tale tightening in Kanda's facial features that he'd learnt meant he was very, very worried.

Kanda shrugged. "I don't know." He said with frustration. "He couldn't calm down and started acting really fucking strange."

They both looked up at the thin door separating them from their friend. It may have only been a slender sheet of wood but it might as well have been a solid brick wall. Komui was with Allen. He had booted Kanda out of the room upon arrival and shut the door in his face before any questions could be asked.

That had been ten minutes ago and they hadn't had anything yet.

The pounding on the stairs alerted them both two a new arrival and they looked up in time to see Lenalee appear at the top of the stairs, her hair in two messy piggytails wearing wrinkled clothes and breathless.

"How is he?" She asked immediately as she joined the pair of rushly dressed boys holding fort outside the room. Kanda shook his head and Lavi shrugged. Lenalee's face crumpled and she took a seat on the floor beside Kanda while Lavi explained what had happened. Once he was done the trio sat in heavy silence.

"This is bad, guys." Lenalee said quietly eventually. "This isn't like how he's so suspicious. This is real. He's really ill."

"We don't know that." Lavi protested quickly. "He could just be sick at the moment."

Kanda kept silent. He didn't think either of them were right. He wasn't ill nor was he sick. There was something wrong with him but it seemed to him to be something a lot more complex than the mediocre ideas his friends were coming up with. And he'd wager it was connected to the Moyashi's mysterious past.

The sound of the door opening caught all their attention and they looked up to see Komui carefully shutting the door behind him. Kanda and Lenalee shot to their feet instantly and the quartet squared off.

"Well?" Kanda demanded roughly, glaring down Komui fiercely.

Komui let out a tired sigh and removed his beret to run his fingers through his purple hair as he eyed the group. "He's asleep right now," he said and before Kanda could protest added, "It's the best thing for him right now. I don't think it really matters whether his asleep or awake when it comes to what's tormenting him."

"Ni-san..." Lenalee said softly. "Can you tell us what's going on?"

Komui sighed and smiled before quietly saying, "It's not my place to tell you about Allen. It's up to him. I suggest you stay with him until he awakes. Maybe then you can finally squeeze some answers out of him."

"But you know, right?" Kanda demanded. "You know all about him. You said so before."

Komui eyed Kanda cautiously as if weighing up just how much he could tell them. He gnawed unconsciously at his lip as he did so, a nervous habit he'd developed years ago when his parents had died and he begun raising his precious little sister on his own.

"Yes, I know about him. More than I probably should as Headmaster too, I'll admit." Komui said after a minute. Kanda immediately opened his mouth again but Komui raised one hand and cut over him. "But I can't tell you. It's not so simple as that. It's Allen's choice."

Kanda frowned at Komui's firm and blunt tone and Lavi messed up his hair in frustration. "Can you at least give us a hint or something?" The redhead moaned.

Komui turned to him. "I said it wasn't that simple. You're making everything out like it's all black and white. Well it's not. Not black, not white, just a lot of different shades of grey." The headmaster let out in irritated sigh and placed his beret back on his head.

"I have to go. As Headmaster I have things to do." With those parting words he breezed out of the corridor and down the stairs before any more question could be asked and left the trio standing nervously out front of room 301.

Lenalee and Lavi looked at Kanda with the kind of eyes little kids used when they expected nearby adults to have the answer to a particular befuddling problem. For some reason Kanda found this irked him.

"Stop that." He snapped and Lavi and Lenalee's expressions turned from pleading to mystified.

"Stop what?" Lenalee asked slowly. Kanda narrowed his eyes further as he glared at his friends.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Looking like what?"

"Well you're not doing it anymore. But you were."

"Dude," Lavi said holding up his hands as if they would stop the flow of conversation, "I don't even know what we're arguing about. Let's just drop it."

Kanda's eyebrows came down to meet over his nose and he grunted but none the less allowed it to drop so long as they weren't looking at him like he knew all about he Moyashi's elusive past.

"Do we go in?" Lenalee said finally and they looked back over at the door with renewed jitteriness.

Suddenly Kanda had had enough of the whole charade. He knew they would go in the there, he knew that the damn beansprout would make up some lame excuse and then they'd all pretend it never happened just so as not to make Allen feel any more uncomfortable. That was what always happened, wasn't it?

They'd finally been getting somewhere – at the speed of a snail, mind you – but at least things had been progressing. But this latest episode was sure to throw them all back to square one and he'd had enough of that.

With a fire burning brightly in his belly Kanda stormed past his startled friends, swung the door open and marched over to the bed where a pale lookinh sprout was blinking groggily up at the ceiling as he awoke.

Kanda gave him a minute to realise where he was and who was there before he spoke.

Silver eyes cleared and and pale fingers pushed equally white hair out of his face as Allen struggled into a seated position. He looked over at Kanda and a minuscule amount of blood darkened his cheeks. "Hey there. Sorry about..." he started to say before he noticed the unyielding steel in his adversary's gaze.

"You are going to talk to us." Kanda said firmly. "This time, you are going to talk to us or by fucking god I swear I'll never I'll tear ever white strand from your head until your as bald as a damn Kappa."

oOo_oOo

A/N: Holiday cheers to all. One of my Presents to you! The other being a Yullen Christmas oneshot that's yet to be posted! - or written, but don't sweat the small stuff!

I'd like to think a lot has happened this chapter... It was difficult to write. I rewrote it a few time and kept on adjusting things .

So, finally things are starting to come to light. Bit by bit. And the wonderful SEMI-PLOT has emerged. More Yullen will also be working it's way in and I think we've about hit the mid-way point for this story.

Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter!