He knew. He had been aware for a few years now, a little after he met Cross. He was aware of the Noah in him, of all of the wrong deeds he had done before. Of course, the Black Order had found out, that was bound to happen in due time. Which was why he had kept up the façade. He was not happy. He was not satisfied with being guarded constantly. But if he let his emotions go, all of the rage, sadness, desperation, than it would surely be the end of what is known as Allen Walker.

Lately though, Lenalee and the others have been seeing through the façade. Years' worth of effort would be gone to waste, and it would all come crashing down. Which was why he had to try harder. Speaking of which, Lenalee was currently asking him a question. He perked up and tilted his head to the side just a little in innocence. "I'm sorry, what was that, Lenalee?" Lenalee's frown deepened. "I asked if you were okay, Allen-kun?" "Of course, I simply spaced out." The usual response. Why? Because it was true. It was what he was thinking that had differed, though.

Not that she would know. "Ne, Lenalee, perhaps we should go to the cafeteria while we still can. I heard we have a mission soon." With her approval he then proceeded to said place, shoving those thoughts into a mental closet and locking that door. His "personality" wasn't the type to dwell on such dark thoughts, after all.

Lenalee let out a quiet sigh as Allen went up to the line to get his usual mountain of food. His answer was pretty convincing, but before that he had looked so broken and worn out. She doubted she imagined it. "What's wrong, Lenalee?" Lavi queried. "Oh, it's nothing. Allen was acting a little strange."

"Is that so…? Well, then, I guess I'd better – Yu-chan!" She looked over and saw Kanda entering with his usual sour expression.

"Che. Shut up Baka Usagi." Now that the attention was off of her, she was allowed to think. Of course, though, Allen eventually had to come back.

"Lenalee, you look like there's something wrong. Is everything okay?" He questioned. "Why would there be something wrong, Allen-kun?" He shrugged and began his meal. The day passed by fairly fast for both of them, consisting of Lavi getting his head bashed in, Kanda getting his head slapped (courtesy of Lenalee), Lenalee getting exasperated (courtesy of Kanda), and Allen pouting over being called a Moyashi.

Allen walked into Komui's office for the mission just in time to see him glomp Lenalee and cry "HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO YOU DEAR BROTHER?! GETTING MARRIED WITHOUT TELLING ME!" He sighed, feeling a little irate at the exaggerated emotion. "Komui, you had a mission for us?"

"Ah, yes." Komui straightened his glasses and leaned against the desk. Sometimes Allen wondered if Komui was Bi polar, the way he changed his emotion so fast. Lenalee shot Allen a grateful look, a blush still on her face, though it was receding.

"There have been sightings of high level Akuma in *insert city*, Russia. We have our suspicions that there may be Innocence there as well. And since this is Russia, you might want to pack something heavier than the Exorcist jacket." Lenalee nodded while Allen frowned in confusion.

"Just the two of us? If what you say is true about the high leveled Akumas then there should be a third or fourth in the group, am I correct?"

"Of course, Allen-kun! I wouldn't dare let my precious Lenalee near that many Akuma!" Komui's voice took on a whine, the one he usually accustoms to when he's about to glomp Lenalee and call anybody in the room a 'filthy octopus unworthy of Lenalee's presence and innocence'.

"Nii-san, the mission, if you don't mind." Lenalee sighed. Komui pouted but continued.

"But as for your question, there will indeed be another Exorcist with you, two in fact." He paused, deliberately trying to cause suspense. "And they would be?" Allen urged, desperately trying to hold back the irritation in his voice. Komui must of noticed it, however, because he quickly gave in.

"Lavi and Bookman will be accompanying you two, for you see, this case is pretty weird after all. Bookman would like to record what happens, and naturally Lavi would accompany him.4 Your train will be leaving in two hours." Komui handed Lenalee the folder and sat down, muttering what appeared to be about "Not able to have any fun", "Escaping work using a Komurin", and "Octopi had better not touch my Lenalee".

Allen sweatdropped and walked out of the office, and walked up to his room to get ready. He had luckily found a few sweaters and a fairly thick jacket (A/N: You know the one that Neah wears? His is like that, but white. I felt the need to change his attire… plus, you wouldn't exactly wear a think dress shirt in Russia, from what I can tell.) and tucked it into his suitcase, along with the other basic essentials. With that done, he walked outside to meet up with Lavi and Bookman, who he learned had simply been to Komui's office earlier than him and Lenalee.

Once Lenalee met up with them then did they make their way to the train and boarded, easily getting First class seats. Allen propped his elbow against the window's edge and his cheek on his fist. Tired as he was, he learned the hard way not to fall asleep while Lavi was near.

Yet he found himself dozing off, albeit lightly, mind you. Sure enough, within minutes, Lavi cautiously came over, with a permanent marker in hand, but before he even made a single mark on Allen's face he found a hand lightly – but warningly – gripping his throat. That made him sulk off, not that Allen cared. It was Lavi's entertainment or his face.

He preferred a clean, unmarked face.

Eventually the train reached their destination, and they sorely walked off. Except for Bookman, who tried his best not to show it and greatly succeeded.

They were all used to using the Ark to get to places, but Allen had not been able to use it this time, thanks to Link's momentary absence.

Lavi stretched and let out a huge yawn before observing the area. It was fairly desolate, which was understandable with snow lazily floating to the ground, where it was just beginning to stick. Pretty nasty weather to be out and working in, for those who think snow is fine. Try chasing an Akuma in slippery snow such as this.

"Two of us should go patrolling while the others stay here and form a plan. And since Bookman and Lavi are the best with forming plans and while I have my eye to sense Akuma than you two should stay while Lenalee and I go search for any Akuma attacks." Allen provided.

The others nodded their approval and they split up, agreeing to meet up at the hotel they were staying at.

Lenalee smiled and grabbed Allen's arm and began dragging him away, despite his bewildered expression. Eventually his shocked face turned into a smile, though, and they soon found themselves joking and laughing over tiny matters.

But Alas, all things must come to an end.

Okay, I had to get this out of my system. Part of the story (Not in this chapter) came from a dream, and I wanted to write it down before I forgot about it.

I know there wasn't much action but I promise there will be, if you review! And don't worry, I haven't given up on my other story, neither. I'm having a writer's block on that one.

Please review and let me know how you like this!

I'm at my dad's house where the internet isn't working, thanks to the weather, so I'll probably have another chapter coming up soon.