A/N: Hey guys, I'm really sorry for being absent all of this week. School has been pretty hectic, and I haven't had much time to properly sit down and write this chapter. And I can't guarantee my schedule will be any less hectic these next two weeks. Next week, I have to go to rehearsals for our concert performance, and the week after that is finals week. Ah! The stress! D:

Anyway, thank you very much to Takei Daloui, Lena-luvs-cats, jy24, The Moyashi Beansprout Midget, and Manu259 for all being absolutely precious and reviewing!(: Love you guys! And please enjoy!

Disclaimer: No.

Chapter 15

Time Frame —Afternoon of January 20th, 1896

—3rd Person POV—

~Allen~

Allen almost jumped in surprise, when Timothy's familiar voice piped up right behind him. "Whatcha doing?" the seven-year-old demanded, leaning around him and peeking at the paperwork he was filling out, nose wrinkling with distaste. "Is that homework? Ugh, that looks worse than the crap Emilia's always dumping on me!" Timothy exclaimed, sticking his tongue out in a gagging motion.

"No," Allen huffed. "For your information, we don't actually have that much homework since we focus more on training; you have so much, because you suck at maths. This is a mandatory report I have to fill out for the mission Lenalee and I went on." Under his breath, Allen muttered scathingly, "Though it'll probably only end up underneath Komui's monstrous mountains of paperwork."

"That's right!" Timothy finally backed up with a snap of his fingers. "You two got back earlier this morning! So how was it?! Did you fight any Akuma? Find any Innocence? Oooh, I bet you asked Lenalee to be your girlfriend! You did, didn't you? Didn't you?" Timothy snickered, as he continued to poke fun at him.

Allen released a longsuffering sigh, though if his face had turned slightly red, he would never admit it. "Timothy, would you shut your trap already! I need to get this done and submitted, otherwise I'm going to be late for work," Allen grumbled, leaning down to scribble down his report faster as horrifying thoughts of the debts piling up on his nightstand continued to mock him. He was just lucky he hadn't been fired after notifying his employer that he would be absent for the next week. Fortunately for him, the owner was old enough to have supported the Black Order during its time of war, so he'd been supportive of Allen's position as an Exorcist.

Too focused on filling out the last sections of his report, Allen hardly noticed the rapid knocking on their door. But suddenly, Timothy was calling, "Allen! Your other girlfriend's here!"

Spluttering, Allen slammed his pen down with an irritated scowl while grumbling under his breath, "Other girlfriend?!" Reluctantly rising to his feet, Allen made his way over the doorway, eyes widening as he eyed the short, perky girl he'd met almost two weeks. "Road? What are you doing here?"

"Yay! You remembered me!" Road cheered with a clasp of her hands. "I told you I would catch up with you, didn't I? But then you disappeared, and I heard you were on a mission. But now you're back, so let's go!" Without warning, the exuberant girl snatched him by the arm and dragged him out of his room. "Come on!"

"O-okay," Allen stammered, feeling just as bewildered as the first time he'd met her while stumbling after her.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Lenalee~," Timothy called after them, a grin nearly splitting his face.

Not helping, Allen groused.

"Who's Lenalee? Is she that pretty Exorcist girl?" Road wondered, tugging him inside the elevator with a skip to her step, and then pressing the button for ground level. "Why wouldn't he tell her?"

"Um, yes," Allen answered her first set of questions, before explaining, "Timothy was just being a brat is all. Don't worry about it. But uh, where are we going?"

"Who knows?" Road shrugged, though her enthusiasm hadn't wavered in the least. "I thought we could decide together."

And his bewilderment continued to increase. He'd only bumped into the girl one time, but already she seemed eager to become best friends with him. "I really don't have a clue. Though I really can't stick around for long," Allen smiled apologetically. "I need to be down for work in an hour."

"Oh, really?" Road turned to him eager and curious. "Where do you work?"

"I work at Golden Haven, down by the town square. I'm a waiter there," Allen replied.

"Perfect!" Road nodded, tossing him a grin. "We can stroll around town before you have to go to work! How does that sound?"

"Sounds great," Allen nodded with a tentative smile. And though he was uncertain, it soon became clear that Road was just trying to be friendly. And it was easy reciprocating her friendship when she was so easy-going and talkative. Conversation was easy with her, and Allen hardly noticed the time quickly passing by.

"I'm studying to be a Chemist," she replied to his question of which field of science she was currently in. "In fact," Road suddenly exclaimed, turning to him and tugging the sleeve of his Exorcist coat, "I helped make this! This year, we've been studying how to develop different synthetic fibers, and when we heard that a new Exorcist was coming, our class was assigned to make a new uniform. Of course, Johnny could probably take the majority of the credit, but I did a lot as well."

"That's… incredible," Allen replied, clearly impressed. The girl was around his age, maybe even a bit younger, and he doubted he would even know where to start on making such a durable uniform. Truthfully, it might've of not impressed him as much when he'd first met her, but after battling a vicious Akuma, it had come as a surprise when he noticed his coat to be fully intact.

"Thanks!" Road beamed. "And how about you? How have the other Exorcist been treating you?"

"Ah, it's been interesting, to say the least," Allen shrugged, lips pursed. "They're all their own kind of crazy, and it's still weird getting used to their odd habits. For example, in our HWA class, Bookman and Lavi are always arguing, and then Bookman always ends up beating him up. My education up until now has been pretty unorthodox, but I'm pretty sure that's not how established education systems are supposed to work…"

"Nah, that's normal!" Road giggled. "You see, Bookman is Lavi's guardian. They're both from the Bookmen Clan."

"Bookmen Clan?" Allen tilted his head, trying to recall where he'd heard of them. "Wait. Aren't they supposed to record history or something? I thought they only showed up during times of war…" Like the last one, went unsaid.

Road nodded. "Yes, they showed up about two years ago, about month after I'd been accepted here." Here, she grumbled, "Though I don't know why. It's not like we plan on going to war any time soon."

Allen blinked at her, perplexed. "Well, yeah. I mean, we wouldn't, unless the Millenium Earl broke the treaty."

"Err, right," Road nodded, her expression slightly off. Allen shrugged it off.

"Which, even if they suspect he will," Allen continued thoughtfully, "Wouldn't it make more sense to observe the opposing side?"

Road shrugged. "Well, they usually like to observe the side they think has the most chance of winning. Either way, there hasn't been an actual cause of war yet, so it's probably easier to hang around here, where they can simply blend in as Exorcists."

"Huh, well I guess their weird relationship makes sense now," Allen huffed. It was then, that he thought to check his watch. "Aw crud! I'm going to be late! Sorry, it was great hanging out with you Road, but I've got to go!"

Allen rushed off and didn't see her sad smile as she waved at him. "Bye, Allen…"

A/N: Heh, I love Road's character. But don't think I forgot about Lenalee!(; Review please!(: