A/N: Thanks to jy24, Takei Daloui, Lena-luvs-cats, and The Moyashi Beansprout Midget for leaving your awesome reviews!(: Haha, you all sound so suspicious of Cross. For all you know, he genuinely lost track of Allen, and the poor boy already has bad luck enough as it is. It could have all just been a mere coincidence. xD

Now, I hope you guys aren't too disconcerted, but I decided to skip ahead into the heart of the Rewinding Town mission. You've all either watched the anime or read the manga, so I doubt any of you want to reread all the those minor details that have obviously stayed the same. Anyway, other than that, enjoy!

Disclaimer: In a world where young teenage fangirls write fanfiction for their fandoms, one girl shall rise above them all to conquer the original author! But today is not that day…

Chapter 13

Time Frame — Morning of January 17th, 1896

—3rd Person POV—

~Allen~

Allen curiously glanced about the seemingly normal town, blowing out a bored sigh as he leaned against one of the brick apartment buildings. The situation had actually piqued his curiosity when they realized that the town was isolated from the rest of the world, and that additionally, no normal human could enter. But his interest had quickly dwindled once he and Lenalee had split and he had yet to find anything else out of the ordinary. Well, maybe the lady with bruised eyes and hectic appearance had been slightly out of place, but every town had their own nutcase to deal with, and though some of the townspeople had cringed at her presence, even they hadn't seemed all the perturbed.

With nothing appearing out of the ordinary, Allen pushed off the wall and ducked around the busybodies, eyes keenly observing his surroundings. This is why it came as a surprise when someone actually managed to bump into him. Snapping his head around, Allen blinked in surprise at the older, teenage boy who'd stumbled back slightly. Said boy glanced down at him just as quickly, mahogany waves of hair bouncing, and oddly enough, honey colored eyes lighting up with recognition. He eyed Allen keenly for a moment, before nodding to himself confidently.

"Yes, maybe you are ready. It would be nice if someone else were to take care of them for once." He unexpectedly beamed at him and sauntered off, calling back with a jaunty wave, "Good luck!"

"… What the hell?" Allen wondered, expression perplexed. But then he noticed the sun reaching its high peak, and hurried along before he was late to his rendezvous point with Lenalee.

And it was on his way to the tavern Allen and Lenalee had agreed to meet up for lunch, that Allen once again noticed the lady with the heavy bruises around her eyes being harshly and loudly dismissed from a shop. Oddly enough, she didn't seem at all shocked; more like it had been exactly what she had expected. Maybe it was just a constant event in her life that led to her easy acceptance, or maybe… Allen figured it was worth a shot, and called out, "Hey lady! Has anything weird been going on around this town?"

Part of Allen wished he hadn't approached her, because all of a sudden she was suffocating him with her grip as she sobbed quite loudly, babbling about how every day was the same, and something about fighting neighbors and the poop-throwing spawns from hell.

"Well," Allen muttered to himself with a sigh, "At least I found something…"

"Um, Allen, are you sure she's okay?" Lenalee leaned over and whispered from where she sat beside him in the booth. Across from the pair of Exorcists sat the lady who'd introduced herself as Miranda Lotto somewhere along her rambling. At this point, she was loudly blowing her nose into a tissue, tears still leaking from her drooping eyes.

Allen sighed, lips pressed into a thin line as he observed the wreck of a woman. "Nope." And then added, "She's been alone in this whole time warp experience. She's probably lost it by now."

Her smile slightly cautious, Lenalee carefully asked, "Miranda, are you able to remember everything since the strange incident started occurring?"

"Yes," Miranda nodded with an exhausted smile, which instantly disappeared once she added, "Everyone else in the city forgets about all the other December 16ths though… I-I'm the only one…" Miranda trailed off, her appearance slightly dazed by this point. But suddenly, she erupted with a shout, assaulting Allen once again as she screamed, "Please! Help! Help me! At this rate, I'M GOING TO LOSE MY MIND!"

Ahh! This is scary! Allen internally screamed, and then hissed, "Lenalee! Help me!"

"Ah," Lenalee frantically waved her hands, "Calm down, Miranda! We'll help you, so let's find the cause!"

"But I don't know the cause!" Miranda wailed, "It just started happening out of nowhere!"

"We'll figure it out," Lenalee reassured her with a confident smile, which seemed to at least somewhat calm the older woman down.

"R-right," Miranda finally backed off, her hands wringing together as she tossed the duo a grateful smile. "Um, where do we start?"

"How about we go to your apartment so that you can speak with us more comfortably?" Lenalee suggested, much to Allen's relief. If the owner of tavern's glares were anything to go by, they were going to be kicked out soon anyway with all the ruckus Miranda had already caused.

"Of course," Miranda nodded, putting herself slightly back together as she stood and began to lead the way. "It's this way." Fortunately, the walk turned out to be a short one.

"Hey, Miranda," Allen spoke up, and nodding over to the pair of men loitering by the entrance to her apartment building, he asked, "Are they regulars around here?"

Miranda came to a pause, brow furrowing as she observed the odd looking men. "N-no," she stammered, "I definitely don't recognize them, and I've just about gone to every townsperson, hoping maybe I wasn't the only one knowingly living through the same day… Maybe they're here to help, like you guys?" A hopeful smile graced her worn out features.

On the other hand, the female Exorcist didn't seem as sure. "Allen, is something the matter?" Lenalee asked, her violet eyes flitting between Allen's apprehensive expression, and the pair of grown men.

"No," Allen abruptly choked out, "It's not." And for the first time since she'd met him, Lenalee was witness to his curse scar activating into a whir of black and red rings. She jerked back in shock, but nothing could have prepared her for his next revelation. "It's a pair of Level 2s!"

A/N: I know that at this point a Level 2 doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but you guys have to look at it from their point of view. Excluding Allen's single encounter with a Level 3, they've only ever had the rare fight with a Level 1, so this will be a bit of a challenge for them.

In other news, we had some last-minute family show up for Thanksgiving break, and I am absolutely exhausted (just got back from seven hours of walking around in the shopping center. Kill me now). So if you don't see an update for this until Monday, don't be too surprised. Really sorry, but I doubt I'll have the time or energy to get much more writing done till then.

But I hope you liked the chapter, and please leave a review on your thoughts.(: