Chapter 4: They Tell Me I'm Crazy, But You Told Me I'm Golden

If you were to ask a certain grey-eyed boy, he would most definitely assure you that he was capable of taking care of himself. And, perhaps if you caught him in a particular mood, Allen would huff and claim that something as simply done was not a problem for him at all, because mind you, I have beaten level 4's easily enough. However, one did not really have to ask, as the situation could be clearly seen with one's own two eyes.

Now, for someone who had never once actually attended a formal school and instead learned from life on the streets, Allen considered himself a relatively studious person. Nonetheless, he always, always followed through. But in this instance, he was peculiarly determined to know everything. It was an odd sentiment when spoken, but in practice Allen even surprised himself. Day and night he hardly left his dorm, save of his classes, running himself into the ground with reading, homework, and a inexplicable need to understand, to know, what might have happened to his friends. He had, in layman's terms, become a ghost. In classes he hardly interacted, not even noticing Bon's slight contempt that Allen had easily become top of class; nor had he even noticed that the decrepit building also homed the Okumura twins - not that they remembered either as he didn't seem to exist outside of school.

Within classes even, Allen simply asked, answered, and copied notes as need be. Perhaps because of this - or in conjunction, maybe - the Exwires payed him little attention, as they already had their dynamic perfectly working and there was no more room for another cog to fit in the proverbial wheel. And that was how that first week and a half had been. Thus brings us to Allen's problem - not that it was a problem, mind you.

In those dead hours of tired night when the Exorcist - a real, true Exorcist, not this Bible and holy water copycat - collapsed into bed, utterly exhausted and drained, that he found himself thinking of his friends. He would remember it all: the little fights between Kanda and Lavi over the silliest, simplest of things; Lenalee who was so much a sister to him that he had fallen asleep on her shoulder many times; Lavi's constant, friendly teasing. Miranda and her constant fright and anxiety that Allen had easily enough learned to calm. Krory and his kindness and how he was a good man, bar nothing. It made Allen's heart ache and twist his gut. Sometimes he wondered if they were all dead - and, as horrible as it may be, it gave him an odd sense of comfort to think it, as though to feel reassured that they didn't feel as worried or scared as he was. (For he was undoubtedly scared of what this could mean. Allen also supposed that he should have had some kind of culture shock, but then again - growing up on the streets made him far too adaptable for his liking.)

All of it had lead (through the subtle flap of a hurricane-causing butterfly's wings*) to this exact moment. It was a Thursday, the second that Allen had been there, attending the classes, when the door smoothly opened. Most of the class, most being the key word, looked towards the man standing in the doorway. His hair was black and long, swept up and gathered by a clip on the top back of his head. He wore the Exwire's uniform, and a Japanese katana* hung from his hip. The man cast a harsh glance around the room, taking it in. Then, he stiffened.

Allen, unlike everyone else in the room, had simply continued to write down notes. He hummed some song he had briefly heard gently, "Never know who'll walk through the door. Is it someone that you've met before?" Dotting his i's and crossing his t's, he finished writing what he was supposed to. It was only then that he noticed the silence of the room. Allen looked up to ask what was wrong, only to stop as his breath left him and his ribcage tightened. There, still standing in the doorway, was Kanda Yuu in all his furious glory, with the look in his eye like he wasn't sure if he wanted to kill Allen, or hug him. Allen didn't think he wanted to know the answer.

With a slightly nervous (not at all panicked) chuckle, Allen gave a little wave and said, "Hey, Kanda. Fancy seeing you here, huh?" He saw the grip Kanda had on Mugen, and wasn't even surprised when only a moment later he found the blade stuck into the wood of the table he sat at. He was just a little (only slightly) worried for his life. However, the rest of the class were not used to Kanda's idiosyncrasies and reacted how they found due. Which was mostly a lot of screaming of "oh my god, stop him" and "he's a fucking psychopath".

Nevertheless, Yukio was the voice of reason, as always. "Everyone! Quiet down!" he shouted, before turning towards Kanda and frowning. "Mr. Kanda, I cannot have you threatening my students." He was promptly ignored.

Allen smiled, he was unwilling to admit it, but relief and almost (probably definitely) joy still filled him at the thought that at least one of his friends was alive. At Kanda's expression, he openly laughed and patted Kanda on the head. He ignored the short, quiet growl.

"You should sit down," he said. The rest of the Exwires stared in disbelief, sure that Allen was somehow oblivious to the situation. But, if one looked closely and knew him as well as Kanda did, they would see the slight tightness to his eyes. A silent 'you better sit down right now or so help me'. With a huffed 'che', Kanda stood and sheathed Mugen in one swift motion before sitting beside the other Exorcist.

"Fucking Moyashi," he ground out. The stares had now turned to awe and Yukio tried to rein in the class again.

"As I was saying," the young teacher said loudly once the room had semi-settled down. "We have another new student with us: Kanda Y-"

"It's just Kanda," the long haired boy said, very much sounding like he would murder everyone if someone said otherwise. Well, that settled it. And the day continued as it would any other, normal day. For the most part.

It was late into the night, in the dorm room that was now 'theirs' - and not just 'Allen's' - that they talked. About everything, anything. Where they woke up, how they spent the last two weeks, the possibility of their friends being alive. Roughly 22 minutes after midnight, Allen yawned and curled deeper into Kanda's side.

"Do you think they're alright? What if they're not?" Allen asked, absentmindedly scratching at the back of left hand. Kanda scoffed, eliciting a soft whine of annoyance from the shorter. "Kanda! You're telling me you're not worried about them? What if they're hurt? Somewhere really far away? Jeez, you have no kindness, do you?" The one response he got was a hum, which Allen took as a noncommittal agreement, as conflicting as it was. He yawned again.

"Got to sleep, Moyashi," Kanda huffed, rolling his eyes. The two Exorcists fell asleep curled up together on Allen's bed.

A huge apology to anyone reading this story, especially those who were following. I know this chapter is exceptionally bland and short (1,234 ironically) and pretty uneventful. Sadly, I lost inspiration for where to go with this, and I am a highschool student so that has also been taking over my life (I straight up had to write a 5 page essay on Gender Discrimination in Nigeria at one point). However, I do want to finish this and plan to. I know these are all really lame excuses, but I still feel really bad. Also: please note that this will not have a constant update schedule or super frequent updates. I'm really sorry guys, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.