Mania

Chapter 7

"Komui!" Reever panted as he finally caught up to his boss. Komui turned towards him, curiosity glittering in his eyes.

"At, Reever, I expect you have some good news?"

"Of course I do, here's your paperwork," Reeves glanced down at the stack of papers that would never be paid attention to or found again. Komui stood still and Reever knew that his superior was going to make a run for it.

"But," Reever started,"I have even better news."

Komui looked at Reever skeptically, either he was serious or he was going to give him even more paper work.

Ugh, paperwork.

"Alright, what is it?"

Reever took in a large breath, his body rigid. "I believe we found a lead to the location of Allen Walker."

Komui went silent. After three years, it seemed like such a far fetched idea. He'll, the fact the Allen Walker was even still alive was a pipe dream but to actually have an idea as to his whereabouts was definitely nothing anyone would have ever even dreamed of, it was silly and full of childish hope. No matter what he thought he couldn't help but believe that it was true, for Reever to say this with so much certainty when he was one of the most disheartened of all of them could only further Komui's belief that Allen Walker was in fact alive.

Komui looked at Reever with a determined stare, "When Lenalee, Lavi, and Kanda come back, make sure they come to my office first thing. They have a new mission."

「」

Lavi yawned. The mission had dragged on and the Akuma never ceased on pouring in. It didn't help that there had to be at least ten Level Two's backed up by what seemed an endless amount of Level One's. This was seriously not their year.

Maybe if Allen was here-

No. Allen was dead, that Lavi was almost one hundred percent sure. He saw Allen trapped in the crumbling ark with that Noah, Allen couldn't have survived.

He couldn't have.

Lavi shook his head, he hadn't thought about Allen in months, why now? Lavi dismissed it, it didn't matter, he was a Bookman, he didn't have time or the capacity for those kinds of thoughts.

Lavi stretched against the rigid train seat and stared at the figure sitting in front of him. The man looked royally pissed off which was nothing new, his hair was tied in his usual ponytail and his katana strapped to his side. His lips were drawn in a straight line and his body was tense as he gazed outside the window. Not like there was much to see. It currently was night time, the moon wasn't out and from what Lavi could make out, they were traveling through an empty plain. However, ever since Allen's disappearance, Kanda  had subjected to this kind of behavior. Kanda had stopped his rude comebacks and barely even "tsked" anymore. Maybe Allen's impact on their lives were bigger than they thought...

Stop it Lavi! Stop thinking about Allen! He's dead!

"Lavi! Kanda!" Lenalee's panicked voice made a red flag go out in Lavi's head. He stood up and grabbed his hammer, ready to fight.

"What's wrong, Lenalee?" Lavi replied in a worried voice.

"You won't believe what is-who is in the car in front of us." Lenalee sounded so excited and to hear Lenalee so excited once again Lavi couldn't help but to slightly relax his posture.

"Who?" Lavi was curious, Lenalee hadn't been this excited in months, well, more accurately, years, but Lavi paid no mind to that.

"Allen."

「」

Allen missed the Earl.

Allen missed the Earl.

Allen missed the Earl.

Where was the Earl? Where was the Earl?

Allen felt so lonely. Why hadn't the Earl come by in such a long time, he just wanted someone to come for him, is that too much to ask for? All he has ever wanted was a family, to be loved, to have someone to love, to not be neglected. How long had he been here, all by himself, wishing someone would come along to care for him. He wanted to talk to the Earl so bad. He wanted the Earl, he wanted the Earl.

The Earl.

Earl.

Earl.

Earl.

"Earl! Please don't abandon me. Please don't-" Allen's voice broke off. "Earl. I miss you, Mana. Earl. Mana. Earl. Mana. Mana. Please don't leave me!" Allen's voice broke off and he curled into a ball. He was so cold.

So cold...
_

Allen was sitting against a wall to support himself. His head was bent down and his neck was starting to hurt, but he couldn't care less. He missed the regular contact he had had with other beings that were physically there, not the manifestations that his mind would come up with so he could have someone to talk with. Allen brought his knees up, hugging them.
He was so lonely.

Allen heard the sound of a door opening and his head snapped up. As quickly as he could managed, Allen clung onto the newcomer, whimpering, relishing in the nice skin contact. Suddenly, as to regain a part of the "old Allen" backed away into the farthest corner from the Earl.

"Allen," the Earl cooed,"I'm not here to hurt you." To hear someone else's voice besides his was the most beautiful thing he could have ever heard. Still, Allen resisted approaching the Earl. With that, the Earl pulled out some food and offered it to Allen, uncharacteristically patient. Allen looked cautiously between the food and the Earl.

Should I take the food? Maybe it's something bad. But, I want to be next to the Earl.

Slowly, Allen moved towards the Earl and grabbed the food out of his hand, purposely brushing the skin of his hand against the Earls'. That brief contact brought a shiver of pleasure rushing down Allen's malnourished body and mind, making him yearn for more. In despite this, Allen held himself back, if he did something weird now, the Earl would leave him just as he had done previously. Allen didn't want that.

Slowly edging away from the fat man, Allen carefully picked up some of the porridge that potentially could be poison and slowly ate it, savoring the bland richness. Hungrily, he downed the soupy substance as he forgot about the Earl. When Allen had picked the plate clean, looked at the Earl and quickly crawled to the Earl's feet. All reasoning left behind with his past self lead Allen to slowly climb up the man's pant leg. Allen stood up on his wobbling legs and hugged the Earl. Whispering a broken thank you, Allen tightened his grip on the Earl, relishing in the attention and contact. Closing his eyes, Allen committed the moment to memory, afraid that the Earl would neglect him once again. To his surprise, Allen felt a warm hand rest on his head, the fingers burying themselves in his dirtied pieces of hair.

"Allen-pon, you don't what me to leave, is that correct?" Allen nodded slowly.

"You never want to leave me?" The Earl's voice sounded scared and hopeful. Almost instantly, Allen nodded.

"Do you want me to care for you?" Again, Allen nodded.

"Allen-pon, could you do me a favor? If you do it correctly and succeed, you don't have to be alone anymore." Allen loosened his grip and stared at the Earl with the hopeful eyes of a child.

"Just think, I will be there for you, I will never leave your side and you'll never have to be by yourself ever again. You want that, don't you?" Allen nodded feverishly and his breathing became rapid. The Earl leaned down to Allen's height and gently grabbed Allen's chin, chuckling softly. Smiling at Allen, the Earl grabbed Allen and hugged him.

"All you have to do is kill your old 'friends'," Allen cringed at the term friends. They weren't friends, they left him all alone, although the Earl didn't, he was right here,"-and we will be together forever. That's a small price, right?"

Allen instantly agreed.

___

That sucked. Probably a load of grammar errors. Sorry. Thank you for reading.