Hello all! It's that time of year again, and here I am with a new chapter! I'm so SO sorry it's a day late, but I sorta got confused and got myself thinking today was the nineteenth, only to realize my mistake too late. Whoops -_-' Well, with nothing else to really talk about, let's jump right in! Have fun, stay safe, and have a nice day!

...

Lenalee woke bright and early the next morning, surprised to see one of her roommates already up.

"'Mornin', Butterfly!" Freckles said, waving as she hopped on one leg, trying to shove her other leg into her pants.

"Good morning! What's on the agenda?" Lenalee asked, going to ready herself.

"We rookies gotta make breakfast fer everyone!" Freckles said, pulling on her jacket.

Lenalee nodded, tying her hair up as she slid her feet into her shoes. Noticing the young girl staring at her fingers, engrossed, she chuckled.

"Come here! It looks like you brushed your hair with your pillow last night!"

"Huh?" Freckles cocked her head.

"It's nothing, just something my brother has said," She smiled, brandishing her brush.

Freckles eyes lit up as she bounced over to sit in front of Lenalee. With gentle hands, Lenalee first brushed, then ran her fingers through the girl's hair until it lay flat.

"There!" Lenalee grinned.

"I'll wake Smile up! You should go see what the others got planned fer breakfast!" Freckles grinned.

Lenalee nodded, before exiting the tent. She glanced around the crowd of tired looking circus members for her fellow exorcists. It certainly didn't take long to spot Kanda and Allen, the two had been put to work over at a makeshift looking grill, cooking various meats for breakfast, arguing loudly as they did so. She sighed and shook her head, looking around for the one handing out assignments.

…

Lenalee had just finished kneading the last of her first batch of dough for bread rolls when she finally spotted a flash of red hair, Lavi. Dusting flour from her hands, Lenalee told her partner, who was in charge of baking the rolls, that she was taking a quick break and jogged over to her friend.

"Memory!" Lenalee called, waving as she got near, blinking as she noticed Smile, carrying a barrel full of of potatoes, standing next to Lavi, who had his own barrel tucked under one arm. Lavi's already wide smile grew wider as he spotted her.

"Ah, if it isn't my sweet lady, Butterfly!" He laughed, setting his barrel down to envelop her in a warm hug, "How'd you sleep?"

"Just fine, and you?"

"Like a baby when my roommates weren't getting on each other's nerves," He ruffled a hand through his hair, causing the strands to stand up even more than they'd already been.

"And good morning to you Smile," Lenalee said, aware Lavi couldn't give a proper report with the boy standing right there. "Oh, your eye patch, it looks as if you've managed to get the ends all knotted up, here, let me help."

Lenalee went to stand behind Smile as Lavi chattered on, carefully picking the rather horrid knot that was there undone, finishing off the more serviceable bow with a flourish.

"Someone must usually help you, huh?" Lenalee chuckled as Smile lifted his hand to gently check the bow. "Next time, just ask me for help when you wake up."

"Butterfly! Yer such a big sister!" Freckles cheered, appearing from nowhere, latching happily on to Lenalee's left arm.

"Isn't she?!" Lavi grinned grabbing her other arm, leaving Lenalee to roll her eyes as Black appeared to smirk at and whisper something to Smile, who responded just as quietly, slightly flustered.

"Don't you four have jobs you should be doing?" Lenalee asked.

"Why of course, I was here to remind Smile and Memory here of the very same thing," Black smiled charmingly.

"Sure thing, roomie," Lavi grinned, letting Lenalee go to pick his barrel back up. "C'mon Smile, these potatoes won't peel themselves. With one last wave, Lavi clasped his free hand onto Smile and began to steer him off to one side, Black following like a particularly resilient shadow.

Freckles smiled once more before bounding off to complete her own duties. Lenalee shook her head and returned to her station, where her partner only greeted her with a scoff and a flip of long red hair.

…

"Oi, Moyashi, you're burning it," Kanda pointed out to Allen over at the grill, who then yelped and quickly removed the piece of meat from over the fire, turning to glare at Kanda, who'd just sat back and watched the ordeal.

"You could have at least moved it yourself! You know I was cutting up the next batch!" Allen argued, going back to his chore on reflex alone.

"And clean up your mess? As if," Kanda scoffed, like he was anymore successful at not nearly overcooking the meat.

"Hey, Red, Samurai, 'ow's it goin'?" Lenalee's female roommate called as she headed over to them.

"Well, it'd be better if Bakanda here would work like a team, instead of brooding over there on his own," Allen scowled at an unimpressed looking Kanda.

"Um, I think you two 'ave made more 'an enough food," the girl muttered, scratching at the back of her head.

Allen paused to take in the sheer amount of food he and Kanda had managed to produce in their competitiveness.

"You may be right, Doll," Allen admitted sheepishly, ruffling her hair without thinking, not even really processing the scarred tissue beneath her bangs. He turned then to his partner scowling deeply, "this is your fault Samurai."

"Tch," Kanda shot back eloquently.

"'Ey, Red? What 'appened to yer hand?"

Kanda and Allen both froze, before Allen practically dove towards the pair of gloves set by his cutting board, he'd had to remove them to cook.

"It's, uh, it's nothing," Allen chuckled uncomfortably, pulling his gloves on to cover the blackened skin of his left arm.

Doll considered him closely, squinting her one visible eye, "uh, huh. Right," she turned away, setting off to her next task, before calling back over her shoulder, "an' my name's Freckles, not Doll."

Allen went cold.

"Nice," Kanda scoffed from behind him.

"I," Allen struggled to collect himself before responding weakly, "I didn't see you stepping in to help."

"I told you, I'm not going to clean up after you."

"Shut up."

…

Lavi gaped down in horror at the utter mess Smile had made of his pile of potatoes.

"Smile, what…" he was speechless, the kid had managed to reduce the whole barrel down to potato slivers instead of peeling them like they were supposed to, like Lavi had done.

"Smile, what do you plan to do with those when the skins have more potato on them than the potatoes themselves?" Black chuckled from where he'd arrived to grab the potatoes from them.

"Smile! What on Earth are ya doin'?!" Freckles panicked. "Ya managed ta make the whole pile mulch!"

"I'm sorry!" Smile apologized quickly, whole face going crimson.

"There ain't even much left ta eat… at least Memory managed ta peal 'is properly." Freckles frowned.

"Well, nothing to be done now," Black sighed in a very put upon manner, "I'll just have to fry them like this, the only thing they can be salvaged as is chips"

"You can do that?!" Freckles perked up.

"But, of course," Black bowed slightly, "my thanks to you, Memory, but it seems I must adapt your own contribution to fit the rest."

"Nah, it's fine. As long as they don't go to waste and Smile here doesn't get into too much trouble, than no use worrying, right?" Lavi slung a friendly arm over Smile's shoulders as he waved Black off, "He is just a kid, after all."

"Certainly," Black agreed amicably, a smirk twisting the expression into something a bit off, "now, I really must be off, once these potatoes are cooked, breakfast will be served."

Freckles whooped loudly, extracting Smile from Lavi's grip and dragging him off as she headed over to the seating area.

With forced casualty, Lavi also made his escape.

"See ya, roomie," he promised. Something about Black made him feel uncomfortable, but Lavi couldn't risk saying anything and raising any alarms for Black. For now, he'd meet up with his comrades to discuss their next move.

…

"Okay, so, I know the schedule, and after breakfast is training for the rookies, I think one of us should sneak away and look for the children," Allen stated as he dug into his mountain of food. Kanda rolled his eyes, the Moyashi had taken no mercy on those who stood between him and food, allowing him to be at the front of the mob all scrambling to receive breakfast.

The three other exorcists, all with a more humble plate full, nodded.

"Who should we send?" Lavi asked, "I don't think any of us are really suited especially for stealth."

"Kanda would make most sense," Lenalee postulated, "after all, he already has a reputation for disregarding orders and just wandering off."

"That's a good point," Allen agreed, failing to hide a smirk behind his hand.

Kanda scoffed in response when his comrades turned their eyes on him.

"So it's agreed!" Lavi clapped his hands once, "Lenalee, Allen, and I will all attend practice while Yu looks for the missing children!"

Lavi was spared a fork to the throat by a pointed look from Lenalee.

"Great, let's get going." Allen said, standing to put his empty plate away.

Reluctantly, Lavi and Lenalee followed, both frowning down at their half finished breakfasts. Kanda stayed sitting, after all, there was no reason to join them if he was just going to split back up with them, besides, he wanted to wait for the meal tent to clear out so he had a better chance of slipping away unnoticed.

Not long after, Kanda slunk away from the tent, leaving those on cleaning duty to their jobs, eliciting only an exuberant wave from a blond on duty and no other attention. He moved with confidence, aware that if he looked like he knew what he was doing and where he was going he'd be much less likely to be stopped and question.

He made it to the area of tents where he'd been stopped twice before, frowning in thought as he remembered the snake that had attacked the Moyashi the last time they'd gone this way. It'd be too conspicuous to just kill any snakes he came across, after all, this was supposed to be a stealth mission, and though snake venom would only amount to extreme discomfort for Kanda, he really would rather avoid them all together. Moving slowly, he inched into the maze of tents, listening for even the slightest indication of movement.

The first tent he came across was obviously the residence of the snake charmer, a hot and humid area with sleeping snakes draped over every surface, Kanda had backed slowly away from the entrance, then moved around it as quickly as he dared, knowing the risk was too large for him to search that tent. The next tent in line was empty except for a white costume hung carefully in a corner and a ragged looking suitcase set on the floor by the dusty bed, a lamp and a picture set on top. Seeming otherwise unlived in, Kanda did a quick search, but discovered nothing more than a stash of sweets hidden beneath the bed. The picture was of nothing interesting, looking to just be of the circus' core members as children. Judging the tent clean, Kanda began to head to the entrance.

As he was about to push past the tent flap, Kanda heard voices just outside, which caused him to freeze in place before backing up a step.

"'M sorry Joker!" a young voice was saying, "I didn' know he'd react like that!"

"Now, Doll, what 'ave I said about invadin' others' boundaries?" a voice Kanda recognized as the ringleader, Joker's.

"I know, I know, I jus' wanted ta 'elp Smile out," Doll spoke again.

"Let's jus' drop it fer now, the show starts in an hour," a third voice piped up.

"Yer right, Wendy, no harm done, as long as ya apologize Doll," Joker spoke again, "but fer now, jus' get ready for the show, you two."

Aside for a few murmurs of assent, there was no more conversation, though, there were footsteps headed towards the opening of the tent that Kanda was ducked into. Cursing lowly, Kanda rolled underneath the bed, hoping that the tent's owner wouldn't be inclined to look there.

Luckily for Kanda, the member who was changing seemed to be in a hurry and changed quickly before leaving as fast as they arrived. Kanda stayed put under the bed for another few minutes, to make sure the coast was truly clear, before quickly and silently making his way back over to the rookie's area, not noticing reptilian, unblinking, eyes following his movements until he was out of sight.

…

Snake watched the tall, angry looking man stalk away from the first tier tents, a small frown pulling at his lips.

"Wonder what he was up to," Wordsworth hissed in his ear.

"Does it matter, he was trespassing? We should tell Joker," Emily responded, coiling up Snake's arm to argue with Wordsworth over his head.

Snake shook his head, thinking about the boy from before who'd been with Samurai.

"We can't just leave him to do as he pleases," Emily said indignantly.

"Why not, Goethe said he didn't mess with anything, and he was careful not to wake us," Snake got the feeling that Wordsworth would have shrugged if he had shoulders.

"You are only saying that to disagree with me," Emily said crossly.

"I am not, I just don't think it's a big deal!"

"Joker told us not to let anyone in or out! You're just angry I ate that squirrel."

"It was my squirrel!"

"Red," Snake murmured, interrupting the quarrelling reptiles.

"Yeah, what about him?" Emily looped down around his neck.

"He likes Samurai," Snake took full advantage of his shoulders and the ability to shrug them, eliciting a quiet hiss of offense from Wordsworth.

"And?" Emily pressed.

"Red is nice," Snake nodded decisively.

"So, we aren't telling Joker?"

…

Allen processed that Kanda reappeared, but he was too busy to go check in with him, since it seemed that even if the rookies didn't have their own acts, they still got put to work as vendors, guides, ushers, promoters, and whatever other odd jobs the circus needed to be filled. Lenalee, though, had made a beeline straight towards Kanda, have claimed responsibility earlier for putting him to work when he decided to show back up. They spoke to each other in low voices, heads bent together, whatever they were saying, Lenalee didn't seem to enthused, a contemplative frown pulling at the corners of her mouth as she processed the news Kanda had brought. With a shake of her head, and one last comment, she took off to fulfill her own duties.

Allen shifted the stack of fliers he'd been given to a more accessible position, readying for the pour of people that would start up any minute now. This certainly was a better and much more pleasant job than the ones he'd been forced to carry out in the last circus he'd lived in; perhaps things really would have been kinder if he'd stayed with Joker and the others… He shook those thoughts off, what was done was done, regrets would only slow him down, and, besides, with this circus or the other, he still wouldn't have been able to avoid the Order and Innocence forever, at least this way, he'd met Mana.

Allen was about to set out when he noticed something from the corner of his eyes, a flash of color ducking around a corner, moving quickly. Curious, he moved over to where he'd seen the thing. Peeking around the corner, Allen watched as a small body ran off towards the empty first tier tents. Allen frowned, that was a child, it couldn't be one of the missing children, could it?

'Better check it out…' Neah murmured from the back of his head.

Shoving his fliers distractedly into the arms of the first circus member he found, Allen ran after the figure he'd seen. He stopped in front of the first of the first tier tents when he heard the low buzz of conversation. He ducked out of sight of the entrance to the tent and got as close as he dared to listen in.

"... Be suspicious if you're late."

"Yes, sir. I will return soon."

Allen quickly shrank even further back into the shadows, holding his breath as a tall figure exited the tent.

'Black!' Allen blinked in surprise, 'but what's he doing back here?'

A few minutes passed, before the child he'd spotted earlier exited the tent, Smile took a brief look around before stalking further into the forest of tents, not noticing Allen.

'So, not one of the missing children then,' Allen frowned.

'No, but suspicious nonetheless,' Neah pointed out. 'You should follow him.'

'You're right,' Allen sighed.

'Of course,' Neah said before falling silent once more.

With quiet steps, Allen tailed Smile, who ducked into the next tent. The boy seemed to linger within, possibly searching through the tent before exiting. Allen frowned, what could Smile be looking for? Was he looking for something to nick, or perhaps for something else? Well, it wouldn't hurt Allen to investigate.

Allen slid into the tent once Smile had vacated it, glancing around to see if anything was out of place, this was a good chance for Allen to do some snooping on his own. The room was mostly empty and, judging by the mostly undisturbed, thin, layer of dust, the only thing that seemed to have been moved was a picture set on a suitcase on the floor. Curiosity growing, Allen kneeled down to look at the photo.

Allen sucked in a breath; the picture was of the core members, when they'd been but children. Allen ran reverent, gloved fingers over the surface of the glass, stopping when he reached one particular child. Auburn hair pulled into a short ponytail, grey eyes, a plaster pasted onto one cheek, a petulant, stubborn, permanent scowl twisting a young face, Allen remembered when this had been taken.

…

Red frowned down at his knees, fingers gently prodding at the plaster Joker had smoothed over his cheek after Dagger had pushed him over and into a rock, scraping the side of his face, Red had punched him in the face in return. After Jumbo had finally managed to pry the two apart, Joker had taken care of the two's scrapes.

"Now," Joker started, sitting cross legged in front Red and Dagger, who were both looking sulky and appropriately contrite, "what was all that about?"

"Red said he didn' wanna be my brother!" Dagger immediately tattled.

"Nuh-uh," Red protested, "I said I didn' wanna be 'part of no stupid family, or no stupid circus."

"That's worse!" Dagger gasped.

"Alright you two, stop," Joker frowned down at them, "all we 'ave is each other, if we can't rely on each other, then who can we rely on?"

"I don't need no one else," Red pouted.

"You know that's not true," Joker said gently.

Red stared down at his feet, refusing to meet Joker's eyes. The truth was, Red did like staying with the other kids, he appreciated being able to sleep knowing he wasn't alone, and the security a group provided was comforting. Red would never admit it aloud, but he also liked having people who cared for him, who loved him unconditionally. What he didn't like, and what was causing him to try to distance himself from the others as much as possible, was Baron Kelvin. Red didn't trust the man one bit, but the others did, they had even begun to call him father, but not Red, never Red, he'd never trust a slimy noble like Kelvin, and so, he would separate himself from the others. Red had a plan, that night he'd sneak away, taking what he could from the 'generous' Baron Kelvin and try his luck elsewhere. But Dagger didn't need to know that, and neither did Joker.

"Red, c'mon, we're 'ere fer you, ya must know that," Joker clasped Red's shoulder warmly.

Red muttered something noncommittally.

"Now, ya got somethin' ta say ta Dagger?"

"'M sorry, Dagger," Red yielded.

"Dagger?"

"Sorry Red, fer hittin' ya," Dagger mumbled.

"Great! I'm glad that's sorted! Now, Father mentioned wanting ta get a picture!"

…

Allen shuddered, a chill going over him. After a quick glance towards the exit, Allen slipped the picture from its frame a slid it into his pocket, before placing the frame face down on the suitcase. Rising from his kneeling position, Allen slipped from the tent.

He only got a few feet before he heard voices. Cursing his luck, Allen ducked behind a tent, waiting for the voices to stop. As soon as things quieted down, Allen reemerged, only to come face-to-face with Doll.

"Dammit," Allen swore.

"Red? Don't tell me you were stealin' to?" The girl frowned deeply.

"Um-" Allen started, but before he could get any further, a loud crash sounded from behind Doll, and his left eye activated.

Quickly Allen tackled Doll to the ground as a blast of energy flew over their heads.

"'Ey! Red, whot're ya doin-"

"Stay here." Allen commanded, rising to his feet to face the enemy.

Rising from a cloud of dust was a level two akuma.

…

Well, that's it for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed! It'd make me so happy if you'd fave, follow, and comment! Until next time!