Chapter Thirty-one – And into darkness they fall
In the days following the collection of events which had climaxed with a trip to the hospital and confessions Allen had never really been prepared to part with, everything was a little bit quiet.
Lavi, Lenalee and Kanda spent a lot of time in bed or otherwise sitting down to take the weight of their injuries and Allen was quickly discovering that the trio were reluctant to let him out of their sight for even an instance. It was both terribly amusing – in a fond sort of way, because they cared – and at the same time tremendously exasperating. For goodness sakes, Allen couldn't even make the short trip to a bathroom without someone offering to accompany him – he wasn't sure if they seemed to think the NOAH might be hiding in his drain or if they just assumed he'd sneak out the window and go gallivanting off on some ill-fated adventure to his doom.
Allen had perfectly healthy self-preservation instincts, thank you very much, and he'd like to cite his continued survival up to this very point as evidence. It wasn't that Allen went out deliberately seeking trouble – Allen chose to ignore that one occasion where he'd literarily flaunted himself in the park as bait to try and drag a NOAH in for a conversation or two – but more like trouble sought him out like a persistent stalker.
On day two of their return, Komui stopped by and he and Allen had a brief very vague chat where Allen got the general impression that the headmaster knew about everything that had happened without Komui actually ever saying as much. The conversation was short but mostly had the underlying tones of 'Be careful, don't do anything stupid and I'm keeping watch on you'.
The next day Allen noticed the teachers paying extra special attention to him and that campus security had increased at the gate.
While it's all very annoying Allen put up with the increased security detail mostly to keep everyone happy and because it didn't really seem worth it to kick up a fuss. He figured his friends following him around and a few extra beef-cakes weren't really enough to stop the NOAH if they really want him, but so long as everybody else felt safe, he's content to let things be.
If there's one anomaly, however, in these new developments, it would have to be Kanda himself.
Not that Allen really should have expected anything else given the pride Kanda seems to take in just being contrary to prove a point.
While Lavi and Lenalee insisted on escorting him to and from wherever it was he was like he was an A-list celebrity, Kanda was content to let Allen wander off down the hall on his own providing he didn't stray too far. This last part was never outwardly said but Allen knew Kanda – he knew how to interpret the tightening of his mouth when Allen was gone longer than half an hour, knew that the wrinkle in his brow and downward pull of his mouth meant he didn't fancy Allen vanishing off to the opposite end of the school with nary a word otherwise.
It was all terribly endearing and almost managed to brighten the considerable gloom of impending doom and demise. Not that Allen would tell Kanda as much, because fact is Kanda would still rend him limb from limb if Allen let on that he found anything that Kanda did anything less than completely manly.
The four of them got some odd looks from their schoolmates over the course of the following week, but Allen thought it might have more to do with the bandages and bruises than Lavi's theory that they're all NOAH spies looking to get Allen alone for a minute and desecrate his honour.
He's not even really sure what that means, but he has the vague notion that Lavi seems to think Tyki is some kind of child-devouring paedophile.
To be honest, it wasn't like Allen had much desire to go out anyway. Sometimes he got a bit stifled by the overwhelming presence and the constant feeling of being watched, of being shut away in his room all day. Before he'd met his friends, it would have been an uncomfortable reminder of the institute, of being locked away and watched day in and day out. It might have even triggered another fit, prone to them as he disgustingly was.
Now however, it was annoying but nothing more. Just the regular kind of annoyance that a teenage boy had for his perfectly normal teenage friends in the middle of a perfectly normal teenage school.
It was an odd thought and it made Allen restless sometimes – although he'd never tell the others – that he seemed to be so close to a normal life that he hadn't even thought to yearn for all those years ago; first lying in a gutter waiting to die and then lying in a bleached white room hoping to die.
"Go fish."
Lavi slapped his hand on the deck of cards and drew one away with a sour expression and Allen blinked fuzzily down at the cards in his hand and shuffled uncomfortably on the ground, relieved that his friends hadn't noticed his momentary lapse in concentration considering their hyper vigilance in all-things-Allen these days.
"This is stupid," Kanda grumbled from where he was sprawled out by his bed, polishing Mugen. "Can't you go play shitty card games in your own room or something?"
"Now Yu-chan," Lavi reprimanded, "you and I both know your room gets better light."
"It's called a light switch you stupid rabbit."
Lenalee gently set her hand on Lavi's thigh as he opened his mouth to retort and gave him a stern look. He scrunched up his nose and turned to face Allen. "Got any twos?"
Kanda let out an impatient huff and got to his feet, slinging Mugen over his back.
"Where are you going?" Allen asked as he manoeuvred his cards out of reach of Lavi's impatient, grasping hands. He'd been stuck in the room playing games like old-maid and go fish all afternoon – games Lavi seemed to be under the impression Allen couldn't cheat at – and truth be told, he was getting sick of it.
His muscles were tight from disuse and his limbs sluggish from being cooped up inside for so long. Not to mention the sheer boredom of letting Lavi and Lenalee win game after game to keep them happy. Wherever Kanda was going seemed like the place to be right now – far away from Lenalee and Lavi and right up close to Kanda.
"Where do you think?" He snapped. "I'm going to go train. If I hear somebody so 'go fish' one more time somebody will be scrubbing blood out of the drapes."
"I'll come with you," Allen said hurriedly and dropped his cards to the floor, ignoring the way Lavi let out an outraged screech when he saw how obviously stacked Allen's hand had been.
Allen half expected Kanda to put up some kind of fight about wanting space or not wanting to be weighed down by useless beansprouts, but, surprisingly he just propped the door open with his foot and looked at Allen expectantly like if he didn't get a move on he might just shank him for the hell of it.
"We'll come collect you later for dinner," Lenalee said calmly as she swept the cards into a pile and elbowed Lavi hard in the ribs when it looked like the redhead might get up and follow them, looking vaguely panicked about letting Allen out of his sight.
Allen quashed down the fond feeling of annoyance. Honestly, this must be what it feels like to have a mother.
Except that wasn't a line of thought Allen was prepared to go down; now or ever.
He tugged on his coat and followed Kanda out the door and down the stairs, walking close enough that their hands could brush if Allen stepped just an inch nearer.
After the whole episode the night they'd come back, things had been … odd between them. Not a bad odd, just odd. Like every time they were alone there was static buzzing in the air and Allen felt strangely off-balance. Not nervous, really – he could never be truly nervous around Kanda, he thought – but like his body was expecting the unexpected.
It gave Allen the strangest feeling in his stomach and he hadn't dared mention it to Lenalee or Lavi because just thinking about it made him feel like a teenage girl with her first crush and Allen was a freaking man, god dammnit, and if Kanda point blank refused to talk about things like feelings and emotions, Allen was going to match him stride by stride until the man cracked.
Out of the corner of his eye Kanda stumbled on the stairs, straightening up lightning fast and trying to act like it never happened. Allen resisted a small smile and wondered if he might not do something completely brazen like take his hand when they went to bed tonight, just to see the same flash of shock in his eyes.
Confidence, Allen pondered as they strode out of the building, was a funny thing.
"Fuck!"
Allen jumped and spun around. "What? What?"
"I don't have the fucking key," Kanda snapped and ran an annoyed hand through his hair. "I must have left it back in the room."
Allen was half torn between annoyance – Jesus Christ, when Kanda had cursed like that he thought the NOAH were bearing down on them guns blazing – and sympathy. Kanda might be healing quite quickly, all things considered, but his ankle was still giving him pain and the stairs were still an enemy to be conquered. Allen knew that having just climbed down the blasted things, Kanda certainly wouldn't be able to do a repeat two-way trip – something even Kanda must know.
"I'll run up and get it," Allen offered, but the words were barely out of his mouth when Kanda was shaking his head.
"Don't be a moron. Lavi and Lenalee will shoot me if they think I let you go up there alone." He ran his hand through his hair again and gritted his teeth. "Just… stay here. I'll go over to the stupid Headmaster's office and borrow another one, it's only over there." He jerked his head around the corner.
Allen frowned reluctantly. "I could come with you."
"My god Moyashi, it'll take me two seconds. If Komui sees you, he's going to want to stop and fucking talk or make some obnoxious comments. Wait here, don't move."
Before Allen could protest again, Kanda was jogging off around the corner and Allen was standing all alone with only the intimidating security guards standing a few meters away by the school gate to keep him company.
Grimacing, he leant against the wall and wondered if he oughtn't have just convinced Kanda to let him pick the lock again and save them both the trouble.
OoO_oOo_oOo
Kanda couldn't believe he'd been fucking moronic enough to forget the bloody key. He supposed in between the endless repetitions of 'do you have any fours?' and 'no, go fish' his patience had just snapped and he'd wanted out of there as fast as possible.
This new 'Lavi and Lenalee being around all the time' thing was starting to grate on him. It wasn't like he didn't understand. They wanted to protect Allen and that was okay in his books, but Christ, did they have something against leaving them alone just for two seconds because –
Because it wasn't like Kanda missed having alone time with the little shit or anything, but he would have liked the chance to talk, properly talk, about all the crap that they kind of needed to talk about, no matter how much the idea of having girly 'let's talk about our feelings' time made him shiver.
It felt a little like they'd finally starting crossing that bridge that they knew they'd get to one day, only they weren't quite there yet, they were both starting at opposite ends and for some reason, they just couldn't meet in the middle yet. Kanda wasn't sure if he wanted to fix that or not. He wasn't sure if he was ready for what that meeting in the middle actually meant; what things it would change.
At the same time he just wanted to fuck it all and take those last few steps and find out.
He rounded the corner and winced as his ankle curled beneath him, slamming his delightfully sore shoulder into a solid brick wall.
Cursing, Kanda bent down to touch his ankle and felt the hot, swollen skin beneath his fingers, inflamed from the turn it had taken in the ditch. Just great. The Sprout wasn't going to let Kanda off lightly for this after insisting he go on his own.
There was the faint sound of rustling and Kanda saw another pair of shoes enter his field of vision. Smooth and black, attached to perfectly ironed black pant legs.
His heart froze for all of a second before he was straightening up, hand reaching around to grab at Mugen, his injured shoulder getting in the way, his broken wrist screaming in agony.
Sonova bitch.
There was a rush of black in his field of his vision, and then darkness.
oOo_oOo_oOo
Kanda had been gone far too long for Allen's comfort.
When Kanda has said two minutes, he meant two minutes. Komui's office was literally around the corner and it wasn't like Kanda had any qualms about storming out on the man should he try and engage him in conversation.
Allen chanced a glimpse at the guards by the gate and looked down at this watch.
It had been ten minutes. Ten minutes instead of two and Kanda still wasn't back.
This was ridiculous. They were wasting daylight and it was only about an hour before his escort showed up to take them down to dinner. Allen wasn't going to waste time loitering around because Kanda was just too stubborn to admit that he might need help and his ankle wasn't quite as healed as he chose to believed.
Allen looked at his watch.
Twelve minutes.
Squaring his shoulders, Allen waited a second for the guards at the gate to focus somewhere else – not that they would stop him, but he could imagine the bitching he'd get if they mentioned to Komui he'd walked off into an unsurveyed area without company – and strode off in the direction of Komui's office.
He'd get Kanda from whatever ditch he'd fallen in, drag him back towards training building, dig a piece of wire out of his pocket and pick the bloody lock. If it was going to take this long to get a damn key, they didn't need it. Not when it cut into the time they could be spending training, alone for a change.
He turned the corner.
There was a flash of gold eyes and smiling white teeth and before Allen could even react, before he could even realize what was happening, the sharp tip of a needle sank into the crook of his elbow.
Distantly, Allen thought he heard someone laughing in his head as his vision swam in alarming shades of purple and red. He had the vague sensation of being roughly tossed about. Before the shades or red and purple turned completely black, he thought he saw something lying on the ground.
A gleam of shattered silver blade and a spray of black hair on green grass.
Kanda, Allen thought and then succumbed to blackness.
oOo_oOo_oOo
A/N: As some of you know, I have recently moved away from my hometown to live on my own and started my first year of University. This isn't a perfectly valid reason for my absence, I know, seeing as how I know plenty of people manage to balance real life and internet with little trouble, but I warned you all thirty-odd chapters ago that I am certainly not one of these people, and for that I apologize.
Thank you all so much for encouraging me with messages and reviews and I really wish I could be a better author for you considering all the support you give me – and all I give you is a chapter or so a year.
I've mentioned this before, but if you're ever worried about my inactivity, jump on my profile and see if I've posted a reason. If something major is happening to prevent me updating, I generally will have.
Or better yet! Leave me a question in a review or send me a message! You're always free to message me about anything or everything, whether it's about story, fandom or just wanting to chat. Don't feel shy, I love to talk to you all.
Thanks again and see you next chapter!
(hopefully without a six month gap this time, yes)
Lots of love, Yuu-chi