Allen Walker. He had chin length white, snowy hair and round gray eyes. What was the most odd about him, was his red pentacle scar that was dragged down the left side of his face. He wore round glasses that usually covered up his gray eyes for one reason. His left eye had an abnormal power that saw much more better than a regular teenager's. Without the glasses, his eye would turn black and red rings would form inside. He didn't wear contacts because he didn't like it when things got in his eyes.

No one usually looked at him or tried to get to know him well enough to know what had happened. Then again, he never usually let anyone in. He wouldn't admit it, but he was jealous of all the people around him. They were always so much happier than he was. He wanted to be happy too, but he sometimes asked himself: did he really deserve that kind of happiness? His past was cruel to him, and maybe his future would be too. Or that's what he thought. All of that changed when he met Lavi Bookman. But, this story goes before that. Back when Allen was just starting high school.

He was a freshman at Black Order High. It was his first day, but he would learn that high school for him would be much more harder than surviving middle school. Middle school, he was mostly ignored unless someone was beating him up. But in high school, there was a lot more students. That meant it was going to be a lot harder to avoid bumping into people. Bumping into people meant conversations, and Allen wasn't a conversationalist. He knew that in order to get through high school, his manners would need to increase another seven fold.

Now, he stood across the front office desk, where a small golden plaque read: H. Link, Assistant. A strict-looking man was seated across from where Allen was standing. He had long blond hair that was pulled back in a braid with short cut bangs that hung above his forehead. On said forehead were two small dots. His eyes were slanted in a fashion that made him look more evil than he should be. He was currently looking at Allen's schedule since Allen was requesting his locker number. For some reason, they never gave him one. Just his luck, he'd have to once again converse when he didn't want to. The man looked up from the schedule.

"Allen Walker, correct?" The assistant, Link, asked.

"Y-yes sir." Allen nodded.

His knees felt like jelly. It was hard for Allen to speak to people because of his past. Many people didn't like the way he looked, so they often scolded and beaten him for just that reason. Allen knew that that kind of person existed in everyone. Anyone could turn their backs on him like they always have done in the past.

"You're the nephew of our Band Director, no?"

"E-excuse me?"

"Neah Walker is our Band Director at this school."

Link noticed the boy pale further. It was just his luck that Mana's brother would teach at this school. Maybe he could convince Cross to move to another town. Then again, Cross said that he liked the house they were in so that was highly unlikely. Looks like he'd just have to avoid the Band room...which also happened to be beside the main doors.

"O-oh. Y-yes I am."

"You didn't know?"

Allen swallowed nervously and shook his head.

"N-no sir."

"Oh. So, you're not one of those troublesome students, are you?"

"N-no sir." Allen shook his head again.

"Here comes one of them now..." Link muttered under his breath.

Suddenly, the door burst open unexpectedly. There stood a grinning teenager. He had fiery red hair that was kept in a black and green, scaly bandana. An orange scarf could be seen wrapping itself around his neck snugly. He also had a black eye patch covering up his right eye. His left eye shone a bright green that was full of excitement. Allen was still shaking from the sudden outburst and was roughly shoved aside by the boy.

"Two-spot! It's great to see ya again!" He exclaimed.

"What do you want, Bookman?" Link asked bitterly.

"That's not my name, silly!" The student said, flicking him in the forehead. Allen was surprised that the assistant didn't lash out at him or give him a detention.

"What do you need?" The assistant grumbled, rubbing his forehead.

"My locker number! My ex stole it again."

"This is the third time in the past ten minutes, Mr. Bookman. How could you possibly-"

"Come on, two-spot, just give it to me!"

Link grumbled and rolled his chair to the computer, typing away. He gave Allen an apologetic look before printing two sheets off. He gave one to 'Bookman'. Bookman was out the door in seconds. Link scolded him not to lose it again before he disappeared. He looked over at Allen, who was picking himself up off the ground.

"If I were you, Walker, I would avoid that kid at all costs. He gets into so much trouble and I wouldn't want another Neah running around here. Neah, your uncle, was a very troublesome student and I really hope you don't follow in his footsteps." Allen shook his head quickly.

"N-no sir. Thank you, Mr. Link."

Allen accepted the paper from Link and bowed at him, raising a curious brow from the assistant.

"You're welcome."

Allen waved the assistant goodbye and stared at the locker number curiously. 246. Which meant he was on the second floor at the beginning of the school. Allen shifted his black book bag on his shoulder and trudged up the stairs. He counted the locker numbers as he passed by and spotted his. It was right next to an English class. Great, more contact with people. Allen looked both ways. Empty. He turned the knob accordingly and it opened up. There wasn't a lot of space but it was enough for Allen. He pushed up the small trigger to open the small top locker and it flew at him like a bullet. He frowned and rubbed his head. Why did it act like that?

Inside the small locker was a little note. He unfolded the paper curiously and opened it up. Apparently, the locker was tampered with and whoever did it, wrote him a note. How kind of him. Allen thought sarcastically.

Dear Freshy!

Ha! Did I get ya? If so, tell me! The names Lavi. If you're a cute girl, call the number at the bottom ;) If not...well then too bad for you because I'll just hang up if you're not. Good luck on your first day, Freshy! Oh, and only I know how to fix the locker so either way, you'll have to confront me about it soon! Unless you want the locker to keep hurting you o.O anyways, I'll see ya later!

-The awesomest Senior in school, Lavi.

Allen rolled his eyes. This Lavi kid had to be full of himself if he really thought a girl would call him. Why would a girl call someone who just made their locker smack them in the face? It just didn't make sense. Allen crumpled the note and fiddled with the locker so that it wouldn't swing at him anymore. He knew how to do that from his previous days...lets just say everyone of his lockers have tried to smack him in the face in the past. He assorted the supplies in order before closing it. He took a pencil and a notebook just in case he needed to take notes. He looked at his schedule and headed to his first period: Social Studies. He stopped at the closed door that read: Bookman.

Bookman? Isn't that what Mr. Link called that troublemaker? Then again, he called me Walker so maybe he only goes by last names? I wonder if this teacher is the father of him?

"Hello, you're here early." A moody voice said from behind him.

Allen flinched and side stepped the door before turning around. There was a short man with black circles around his eyes. It kind of reminded Allen of a panda. He had gray hair that stood up on the top of his head. It was held in a small ponytail and had an odd shape to it. His hands were hidden in his sleeves. He was shorter than usual, but Allen knew not to judge. This man had to have a lot of experience.

"S-sorry, I was just looking around the school. I wasn't here on open house..."

"Walker." Bookman mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"You're Allen Walker. You're the only one who didn't show up. Why is that?"

"I'm really sorry! I was working and I couldn't come!"

"Working? You have a job?" Bookman asked. Not many freshmen could get jobs around this area. It was just something that stayed with traditions...or something. Allen wouldn't know of course since he was a bit new to the area.

"Yes sir."

Bookman gave him a questioning look before unlocking his door. He gestured Allen to come inside. Allen hesitated before obediently following.

"You're a freshman and you work? That's new here. Well, you must be more responsible than most teenagers at this day and age."

"Thank you..."

"Here's your book you'll be using." Bookman said and handed Allen his Social Studies book.

"Thank you."

"I have assigned you all seats, just put your book on your desk. You can go tour the rest of the school after that just don't be late, okay?"

"Yes sir." Allen nodded, thankful that his last name started with a W. That meant he would be assigned at the back of the class.

Allen didn't like being in the front, that meant more people could be able to stare at the back of his white fluff. He placed the book down on his desk after reading the small note card that was taped onto the desk. He noticed three other names on the card that read: Lavi Bookman, Tyki Mikk, Jasdero Millennium. He stared at the first name. Lavi Bookman? His last name started with a B, so then why was he at the back of the class? Same with this Tyki and Jasdero. Were all three of them troublemakers? So Link called Lavi, Bookman. So are Mr. Bookman and Lavi related somehow? Allen wondered as he walked out the door.

In middle school, Allen had ten classes. Here, he had eight. At least there was something good about high school. First period was History (or Social Studies) with Bookman. Then second period was Biology with Krory, third period was Geometry with Johnny Gil, fourth period English I with Miranda Lotto, fifth period P.E. with Klaud Nine, sixth period Art II with Froi Tiedoll (he took Art I in middle school), seventh period Choir with Lala, and eight period study hall with Komui Lee. It seemed as if he would be running all around the school with a schedule like this. Allen didn't mind though.

Even as a freshman, he was quite strong. This was because of Master Cross, his current guardian he lived with. Cross used to be a police officer and often taught martial arts to his apprentices. Now that he was Allen's guardian, he had to teach Allen. Not only that, Cross would teach him sports, saying that he used to be the P.E. teacher at Black Order High. Knowing Cross, that had to have been really hard on the students.

Allen's favorite sport was soccer. He didn't have to use his hands unless he was goalie, and he was usually just on defense whenever he and Cross' friends played. His least favorite was Baseball, which was because one of Cross' friends was playing around and hit the baseball the wrong way, causing it to go high in the air and towards Allen, who was on the roof. After hitting him in the forehead, Allen rolled off the roof and couldn't practice for a week.

As Allen finished touring himself around the school, the bell rang for first period. He hurried to the class and got there even before Bookman did. He didn't want to end up falling and being late. Even though Allen was strong and well balanced, he always tended to bump into things and fall over things. So, basically, he was well balanced but clumsy...however that made sense. Allen walked over to his seat and sat down, idly observing the room. Bookman walked in with Lavi a few minutes later and went behind his desk to retrieve chalk. He gave Allen an approving look.

Maybe he just might survive high school yet.

It was only second period and Allen was already freaking out. Their biology teacher, Krory, looked like a vampire. He was pale and had black hair, white bangs stood out of the black patch on his head and was longer than his chin. He was also wearing a black cloak. Sure, someone would probably tell Allen he was overreacting. That would be until they saw his teeth. They were sharp and jagged like a shark's. It freaked Allen out to no extent. Maybe he was hired for Biology because he likes blood! Oh god, I hope I'm just overreacting! Allen hoped. Krory didn't assign seats like Bookman did, although Allen still stayed at the back of the class. He watched from behind a book as the students filed in one by one. None of them stared at him though. Thankfully, he was invisible behind the book, however that was possible.

"Hey!" Allen flinched.

Maybe not.

Allen looked to his side and nearly screamed when a girl was inches away from his face. She had golden eyes and bluish black hair that was sticking out in random places. Her skin was an ashen gray color, it definitely didn't seem normal. She seemed to be observing his face closely. Allen didn't enjoy it at all. He instantly sat in the seat beside the one he used to be sitting in. The girl just sat in that chair instead, smiling. She was enjoying him being scared of her.

"My name is Road, what's yours?"

"A-Allen..." Allen said, muffling his voice behind the book he was hiding behind. Road giggled at him.

Thankfully, his teacher saw the uncomfortableness and saved him. Krory tapped the girl's shoulder and pointed over to another student. He had black hair that was slicked back and mole under one of his two golden eyes. Road's eyes lit up and she bounced over to the man, who was staring at Allen...protectively? Allen was slightly confused, but looked at his savior with grateful eyes.

"Thank you, Mr. Krory." Krory smiled and nodded.

"I was like that at some point too, don't worry, it get's better." Allen nodded. Krory stood behind his desk and cleared his throat to start reviewing on what lessons they'd be learning.

He noticed the teenager Road sat beside looked over at him a lot. Sometimes it was reassuring but sometimes it was hinted with longing. Allen was really nervous about it and tried his best to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. He didn't look at all the students he was in class with since it was probably unlikely that he wouldn't be talked to by them anyways. At last, the bell rang and Allen collected his Social Studies, Biology, and note book. He was the last one out of the classroom, but was stopped by the man from before.

"Hello, my name is Tyki."

Allen backed into the wall away from him. Hopefully this man didn't want to pick on him like the others always did in middle school. Allen knew he could defend himself, but he could never bring himself to hurt someone else. Tyki neared closer despite the unwanted attention Allen disliked.

"You must be Allen, hm?" Allen nodded. "There's no need to be afraid, Boy, I won't hurt you." Allen averted his gaze to the floor.

"Awe, he's so shy~!" Road giggled.

"I...e-excuse me, I have to go to class." Allen ran off. He was way too close for Allen's liking.

Allen walked up the stairs and cautiously walked into his Geometry class. Once again, he was the first one in class. The teacher, Johnny Gil, had fuzzy brown hair that was held in a curly ponytail, and glasses that covered up his eyes. Kinda like Allen's, but you couldn't even see the color of Johnny's eyes. He was currently at the computer, typing with large headphones over his ears. Allen didn't see any name note cards so he simply sat in the back like always.

Only when more students enter did Johnny actually look up from the computer. Allen noticed that Lavi was also in Geometry. Isn't he a Senior? Shouldn't he be in Calculus or something? Unless maybe he failed this class before and had to take it again...Lavi was currently talking to a dark green haired girl. Allen ignored Lavi's rambunctious talking and watched as Johnny started passing out notes.

Geometry passed by quite quickly. Now it was fourth period. Allen had a feeling that this day was going by rather slowly. He trudged upstairs to his English class. The desks were arranged to create a huge discussion circle. That made Allen more than uncomfortable. Hopefully, she would have mercy on him and not call on him a lot. He noticed that the teacher was a woman with curly, brownish black hair and her brown eyes were so dark they looked black. She seemed to be pacing back and forth nervously. I wonder if this is her first day teaching...she looks so nervous. She looked up from her pacing and spotted Allen.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Allen tilted his head to the side.

"For what?"

"I didn't see you come in!"

"That's alright."

"Are you sure? Oh, I feel s-so guilty now! I'm sorry for not noticing you!"

"That's okay, not many people notice me anyways..."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Oh god, I'm a horrible teacher!" Allen shook his head. This woman was worse than him when it came to apologizing.

"It's okay, it really is." Allen gave her a reassuring, fake smile. She calmed after it.

"If you say so."

Miranda ran over to collect her papers and started passing them out on each desk. Allen stared down at the syllabus she handed to him. He read the entire thing when the late bell rang. It wasn't really long at all but it did explain what kind of maps and prompts they would be using. There were barely any rules, but Allen believed that was only because Miranda was really softhearted. It just so happened that Road was in his class as well.

Great.

Finally, fifth period had arrived. Luckily, Allen had first lunch. The only problem was that he'd have to pass by the band room in order to get to the cafeteria first. It was either that, or go around the entire school. Allen really didn't want to do that. He loved food. Food was important. Food was...his life...food was...everything to Allen. Food. Oh God food. Yeah, Allen was pretty hungry now that he thought about food. Just as he was passing on the far side of the band room, Neah walked out. The last time Neah saw me was when I was twelve...that was three years ago and I had brown hair...maybe he won't recognize me! Oh that would be great! Plus, he wouldn't be able to see my eyes behind my glasses! Everything was going according to Allen's plan. Neah would never know it was him.

"Walker! There you are! Come here." Allen froze.

Crap.

Just as Link shouted that, Neah looked up from his scores. Allen turned his head towards Link stiffly. He could see Neah's eyes widen in his peripheral vision. Allen did have really great eyesight after all. It was just his left eye was too good. Plus, it looked weird. He also noticed that Neah was now staring at him. He wasn't even moving.

"Yes, Mr. Link?" Allen asked. Link grabbed a hold of Allen's left wrist, causing his shoulders to tense up.

"There's a scary—er, man in the office looking for you, come with me."

"What does he look like?" Allen asked, following after Link.

"He's got long red hair, a goatee, thin glasses, red eyes—sound familiar at all?" Neah's eyes widened further.

"Is his name Cross?" Allen asked.

"Yes! Okay, that's good, you know him." Allen inwardly sighed. What could Cross possibly want this time? Link opened the door and pushed Allen over to Cross so that he stood directly in front of him.

"Good afternoon."

"Hey, I need your help." Cross said, blowing smoke at him. Allen waved the smoke out of his way, coughing.

"Help? Help with what?"

"I'll show you when we get there, come on." Cross grabbed Allen's right wrist and dragged him out the door, sending Allen stumbling after him.

"W-wait! Aren't you s-supposed to sign me out first?!" Neah watched closely as Cross dragged Allen to the main doors. "I still have the rest of the day of classes!"

"I don't care, they'll sign you out." Allen sweat dropped.

"What's so urgent that I have to come now?"

"Shut up and follow me!"

"O-okay..." Neah was quite surprised that Allen would follow a guy like Cross willingly. Neah looked both ways before following the master and apprentice out of the building. He could skip lunch if it meant learning where his nephew lived. He knew that leaving Allen alone was a mistake. Now he ended up in the hands of this guy of all people. "Say, Master, will you bring me back to school once we're done doing whatever we're doing." Cross growled.

"Hell no, that's wasting gas."

Neah scowled.

"Oh, okay."

Neah grimaced.

Cross finally let go of Allen's wrist and motioned him to get in the car. Neah sighed in defeat as they drove away. He thought maybe he'd be lucky enough to say that Allen lived close by the school. Neah wondered what to do now. His beloved nephew was in the hands of a womanizer. He should've taken care of Allen instead of running away when Mana died. He never thought about how Allen felt, and now he regretted his actions. Could Allen even begin to forgive him?

Meanwhile, Cross just parked in the driveway. Too bad for them, they lived on a main road, which meant Allen didn't get to go out as much for peace because of all the cars driving by. You would think that they would slow down because there would be children running around; they also lived near an elementary school. Cross hurried Allen inside the door. When inside, Allen heard a muffled, whining noise.

"That! What is that?!" Allen walked out of the door again and walked around the perimeter of the house when he spotted a hole in the side of the house.

"Over here!" Cross quickly ran over and stared dumbly at the hole.

"Oh hell no! I am not going down there. You go." Cross stared at Allen expectantly. Allen sighed and crawled in through the hold. He squeaked when he crawled through a spider web. "Don't ever do that again around me, got it?" Cross said, looking through the hole.

"Okay..." Allen whispered as if the spiders hated noise and would attack Allen if he was too loud. Allen was getting closer and closer to the whining noise, which was growing louder and louder. It was too dark for anyone to see without a flashlight. Allen took his glasses off and could see a large golden fluff in front of him. It was caught in...a bear trap? What's a bear trap doing under our house? Allen wondered. The dog growled at him when he got closer. "It's okay, I won't hurt you..." Allen was about to grab a hold of the bear trap when the dog lunged at him and bit him on his right shoulder. "AH!" He yelled in pain.

"Hey! You okay in there, brat?!" Cross would never admit it, but he was actually worried. He may or may not have gotten attached to the boy...

"Y-yeah, I'm okay." Allen squeezed the metal bars and pulled them apart. The dog let go of Allen's shoulder and sprinted out of the hole.

"What the hell?!" Cross nearly screamed from outside. Allen chuckled lightly, not noticing that his leg was in the middle of the contraption when he let go. Sudden pain clenched onto his leg and he didn't yell this time. He screamed. Cross hurried inside the hole, grumbling at the spider webs that flew in his face. He could hear Allen groaning in pain. "Don't think I'm ever coming down here for you again, brat." Allen clutched his bleeding leg. If he tried to speak, it would probably come out as a whine, and he certainly didn't want Cross to poke fun at him for whining. "Hey, talk to me! Where are you—holy shit!" Cross stared at the contraption as it bit deeply into Allen's leg. Cross crawled over and pulled the trap apart. Allen took his leg out and cradled it. If Mana saw this, he would kill me! "Come on, let's get out of here." Allen nodded slightly and crawled out crookedly. As soon as they made it out, Cross lifted Allen on his back. "I'm never doing this again, you hear?" Allen nodded against Cross' shoulders. Cross put him on the couch.

"Wh-what happened to the dog?"

"Don't worry about the damn dog!"

Cross hurried over to the bathroom, rummaging through the bathroom cabinets. He pulled nearly everything out of the cupboards, finally finding the bandages and cream in the back. He noted to himself that he should probably store them closer just in case something like this ever happened again.

"B-but its raining!"

Just as Allen argued that, a loud clap of thunder shook the house.

"The dog will be fine."

"H-he doesn't have a home."

"How would you know that?" Cross asked as he came back with a handful of bandages and cream.

"No collar..."

"You didn't have a collar on you when I found you and you still belonged to someone." Allen was silent. An image of Allen beaten and bloodied flashed through Cross' mind. He was also wearing a collar that dug into his neck. Shit.

"Wh-what if he was lonely?"

"I'm sure he has dog friends." Cross felt like he was talking to a three year old. Allen waited and Cross grabbed some scissors and started cutting off the fabric on his pants. Holy shit, its really deep. "You'll probably need really thick bandages for this..."

"I-it's not broken, is it?!"

"No, but it's really deep." Cross said, finishing the bandage off.

"Are you sure the dog will be okay? He looked hurt..." Cross didn't reply but yanked Allen's shirt off and bandaged up the right shoulder. He stared down at the white, scarred skin on Allen's right wrist. Allen wouldn't look him in the eye. He was probably feeling lonely when he did this...Mana would obliterate my ass if he saw this...Cross sighed and stood up. He picked up a black umbrella.

"Where are you going?" Allen tried to stand up but his leg wouldn't let him. Allen winced. "Stay put! I'm going to get you a cast or something. Knowing you, you'd open the wound after it closed." Allen nodded and laid back down.

He stared at the dried blood on his arm. This caused him to stare at the scars on his wrist. Mana would be so disappointed in me...I wish Neah still loved me...it's all my fault he's gone. I shouldn't have listened to that traitor, Cosmos...Neah probably wouldn't be able to look at me the right way anymore. Hours passed and Allen was starting to get worried. He knew he fought with Cross a lot, but he still cared about him. If it wasn't for Cross, Allen would probably be dead right now. Just as his eyes started to droop down, the door swung open. The wind was knocked out of him when something large landed on his stomach.

"Get down!"

At first, Allen thought Cross was talking to him. That was until the large weight on his abdomen jumped off of him. Allen looked over to see what had jumped on him in the first place. It was the large dog from before. He had matted, golden fur. A light yellow could be seen in the shape of a cross on his back. Allen looked at the golden-eyed dog before looking up at Cross questioningly.

"An old lady called Mother gave him to me to give to you. He was a stray when she found him and he doesn't have a name. I told her a little about you and we had a glass to drink, which was why it took so long. After I told her about you, she insisted that we keep the dog. His name is Timcanpy now." Allen's eyes brightened and Timcanpy was staring at him. He started licking his shoulder as an apology before licking his face. "I got this from a doctor in town." Cross said, attaching a black Velcro...boot looking cast thing to Allen's leg. "I think she said it was some kind of boot or something."

"Thank you." Cross grunted.

"Keep that on for like more than a week or two and don't do any P.E." Allen nodded. "I'll write a note to Klaud herself." Allen knew that Cross knew Ms. Nine since he used to be the old P.E. teacher. He didn't think anything would really change if he came to school in crutches.

He didn't know just how wrong he was.