Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man

Summary: Lavi, Allen, Lenalee, and Kanda, and Noise Marie, Chaoji Han, Fou, Tykki, Road, Lulubell, Jasdero, David, and Skin.

Allen was lost, ignoring everyone and trying too hard to frget rather than to just let go. When he stumbles into a strange club of sorts, he accidentally knocks over a statue, causing all attention on him. After the accidental run-in, these strange characters he has suddenly been forced upon are constantly appearing before him, and before he knows it, he finds his life spiraling in a direction he could have never thought possible.

Lavi/Allen Other pairs unknown and are optional.

A/N: First attempt at editing is done.

Section I: Fall

Chapter 1: Accidents Happen

Christmas time was a time for resentment in the eyes of the young orphan, sitting on a step leading up to a courtyard, where a too-large tree was decorated and lit up. The air was cold as snow dribbled slowly from the white sky, and each drop embedded itself into the light brown hair that framed a small, pale face. Gray eyes stared gloomily across the slightly blurry street, where a happy family was pointing into a shop. A family, a place to call home, a warm bed to snuggle up in on cold nights…did any of them know how lucky they really were?

"Hello, there." The boy jumped, turning.

Even though I had lived in this town for roughly six years, I hardly knew anyone in it. I was even in my second year of high school, and I had never bothered to ask anyone their names or bother to remember any of them. As a result, everyone kept a wide berth from me, although that was more than I could ask for. All I wanted in life was to be away from other people.

My master of sorts, a man that most people shivered at the mere mention of (albeit a woman had a different reason for her shivers), thought that this was caused by my lack of ability to cope with things that had happened in the past. It was the only thing that he and I agreed on. I preferred not to think of my past, of all of the things that had happened to me, or of the life that I had had before it had all happened to me. In the end, all it caused was pain that was already hard enough to suppress without thinking about it.

I lived in a relatively large town, not unlike a small city or an army camp. Our tallest building was only fourteen stories high, and there was only one high school. There were about two thousand kids attending it, though, so it wasn't like we had a minimal amount of teenagers. In fact, there were at least ten elementary schools, and three middle schools, all of which were nearly full. Our town was filled with youth, but since only about a quarter of it was actually adolescents, they only had one high school to stuff them all in. It was crowded, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I didn't really mind; it wasn't like any of it mattered to me. All I did was go to all of my classes and then get straight back home. I never bothered with any of the problems that involved the school, and had never once been teased, bullied, or shoved into a locker, even though I did have strange circumstances for my features.

I had snow white hair, all though it had not always been like that, and an odd assemble of lines below my left eye, and a short line that lead to a colored in star above the eye. These were marks that showed me for what I was, though no one knew what that was exactly. I refused to tell anyone what had befallen me. I had not gotten a tattoo-I had not bleached my hair-and the freaky black shriveled left arm that I carried was not a result of a fire. I was, all in all, a freak, and I often tried my best to hide it by making my hair fall above my left eye and by always wearing something long-sleeved.

It hadn't always worked, of course. I got the odd questions here and there: "Why do you always wear gloves?" or "Did you get a tattoo on your eye, or is that a really cool birthmark?" Anyone who asked was very kind about it, and I responded in equal kindness, often saying things like "Oh, it's nothing," or "This? It's just a strange comfort of mine." After that, they didn't really bother me, seemingly satisfied with my answers.

"Oi, idiot-boy." My head snapped up at the sound of the deep voice, layered with drunken stupor. I looked at the clock beside my desk, then closed my binder. I slowly turned, facing my master. His narrow black eyes glared at me behind his thin-rimmed glasses, and his wild red hair surrounded his face like a mane. I could smell the alcohol coming from his breath from where I sat.

"Yes, Master?" I asked, cringing when I smelt his breath. I hated alcohol.

"What're you doing sitting here? I thought I told you to get on those dishes a few minutes ago." He demanded, and I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. He had already told me to do this before he had gone to the bar, and I had already done it.

"It's midnight, Master. I already did the dishes." I said stiffly, already regretting not going to bed sooner. Maybe he wouldn't have bothered me then; now, I was sure to get a smack across the head for my supposed tardiness.

"Shut up! Go get the dishes done!" Master snapped, crossing the room to cuff me across the back of my head. I winced, looking at the clock again. Maybe if I just slipped downstairs while he watched me, and then waited for him to go back to his room…I slowly stood up, ignoring the sudden aching in my head. He watched me all the way down the stairs and into the kitchen, and as soon as I entered, I gawked.

The kitchen had, somehow, become extremely dirty again. Wine bottles were sitting on the counter, and dishes were thrown into the sink without care. My jaw snapped shut, and I could feel my eye twitching in agitation. He had taken it upon himself, obviously, to recreate his mess. I sighed, slumping towards the sink. I could feel the weariness that I had been ignoring while doing my homework hitting me now.

As soon as I was finished, I sped from the kitchen and up the stairs, but not before I heard the loud snores coming from the living room. Obviously, Master had fallen asleep in his drunken stupor. I rolled my eyes, reaching my room and opening the door slowly as to not make a sound. Despite the loud snoring, Master had a tendency to wake up easily enough that it would be better to be silent.

Throwing off my pants, I slipped under my comforter, ready for a bit of sleep before the morning. Making sure my alarm was set, I allowed myself to drfit off into a light sleep.

My dreams weren't necessarily pleasant that night. They never really were; I always had the same nightmare over and over again, without any exceptions. The same sequence of events that constantly played in my mind while I was asleep always scared me, no matter how many times I had gone through it. Seeing his face, smiling and happy as snow fell around him, then seeing him through a crack in the door, upset over something with someone across from him, the two of them in deep conversation. And then, the worst sight, the sight of his mangled body uncovered from the thin white sheet that had previously been hiding him. The image burned into my mind, never leaving me. It was the sole reason that I could not live a normal life, no matter how many hardships I had gone through beforehand.

This night, something different had happened. Instead of his mangled body, I had seen someone else's. Someone I had never even met before, but for some reason I had felt such deep sorrow that even now, startled awake and drenched in cold sweat, I couldn't help but have to choke back the hysteria I was feeling.

I tried to push the image out of my head as I glanced at my clock; I had woken up long before I should have, and it was only six forty-five in the morning. Sighing, I ran my hand across my face, taking long, deep breaths. For a moment, I just sat there, trying to steady my racing heart, but then I decided that I needed to do something to keep my mind occupied.

I had only really had a few hours of sleep, but I had never felt so awake. For some reason, seeing a different person there, mangled and dead and sharing the same fate as the one person I had ever truly cared about, had awakened something inside of me. As I stared around my room, I noticed things that I had never really noticed before. Like how it didn't really seem like anyone actually occupied this room except for the pair of pants on the floor, the half full laundry hamper that had all the same black clothes in it, and the binder lying absently on a too-tidy desk in the corner. There were no posters, no pictures, and no paintings. I didn't even have trinkets sitting on my desk, or a lamp, or even a telephone.

With a sigh, I tugged my blankets off of me and gave a small stretch, feeling the muscles in my back give a sharp pain. I scanned my room again, seeking some sort of relief from my sudden revelation, and found nothing. Deciding on a hot shower to help loosen the muscles in my back, I discarded my blankets entirely and stood, taking off my shirt and throwing it beside my pants.

The house was quiet-not even Master's snores were vibrating throughout the walls. I crept through the halls, not wanting to ruin the peacefulness of the situation, and went to the bathroom that was two doors down. I locked the door behind me, stripping my boxers and socks off.

The shower helped, I found. The feeling of the hot water helped me think clearly, and I could feel the tension in my back receding. Steam rose, and the scent of water and body wash surrounded me, pleasant and comforting. It didn't feel like a long amount of time had past when I was turning off the taps.

As soon as I was wrapping a towel around my waist, I wanted to go back in. The unfamiliar face was once again in my mind, taking over all other thoughts, and I wanted nothing more than to smash my head against the mirror to try and make it disappear. I looked at myself in the mirror, and saw a black face, showing none of the turmoil going on inside me. I felt my fist twitch, and before I could stop myself flesh was connecting with glass. A loud crack resounded, but there was no real damage done. There was a few small cracks in the mirror, showing that i had punched almost directly where my eyes were, and I winced.

I quickly looked away before I got any stupid ideas, opening the bathroom door and fleeing to my room as quickly as possible. I didn't even notice that my hand was bleeding until I had tugged my towel off in exchange for a pair of clean boxers. Groaning, I went to my desk and pulled out my emergency bandages.

Before I could think too much about the cuts and my dream, I pulled on a pair of probably too tight pants and a white t-shirt, then I took my towel and hand-dried my hair. I was trying to keep my mind off of things by keeping myself busy. I glanced at the clock-I had only wasted a half an hour of my time. I slipped into the chair of the desk, and pulled open my binder. Flipping to the page I had been on last night, I pulled out a pen and stared blankly at the essay I had been writing.

I was good at school. I got straight A's, and was the top student in my class. One thing I had noticed, though, was that I was not the top in my school. There was one other ahead of me, though I hadn't bothered with checking the name. I didn't really care; I only got good grades because Master said he'd kick me out if I didn't. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't even bother with my work. As it was, I hardly even paid attention to any of the work I did do.

"Hallelujah, the brat's actually up this early." I cringed at the sound of the deep, smooth voice. He was no longer drunk, but I could tell he wasn't in a good mood. His tone was icy, and if he was actually bothering to come up to my room while sober, he was obviously angry about something.

"Is there anything you want, Master?" I asked, disregarding his comment. There was a small chuckle, as if he thought my ignorance was amusing.

"Yeah; I wanna know why the hell you decided to have a shower when you knew I was sleeping you little brat. You knew I'd wake up!" he accused, obviously aggravated. I turned slowly to face him, keeping my eyes low. There was a small intake of breath just as I was about to say sorry, and, forgetting that whenever I looked into his eyes he would start to scheme something evil, I looked up.

He was staring at me as if I were alien. His brow was furrowed in concentration, and his eyes were narrowed suspiciously. I swallowed nervously, wondering what he had seen that had surprised him. "Y-yes, Master? Is there something wrong?" I asked. Suddenly, Master's expression changed. There was an almost caring look there, and understanding. I was confused at this-usually Master only had eyes for himself, so I couldn't see why he was showing me kindness.

"No, there's nothing, idiot-boy. When you have the time, make sure you take those wine bottles to the depot. We could use the money they'll get us." He said, turning and leaving. My eye twitched. Money you'll just use for gambling and drinking, I thought coolly. It was bad enough that we were low on money to pay the rent for this house; he had to go spend every last spare dime on drinking and girls and gambling, every night. We rarely ever had food in the house, and when we did he would eat it all as soon as he got home, tired from his 'exercises' with some girl he had met on the streets.

Grumbling about mixed messages, I turned back to my essay and began to write furiously, all the way until it had been completed and I only had fifteen minutes to get to school. Throwing the binder closed, I shoved away from the desk and pulled on the white gloves sitting absently on my dresser, then I pulled on the only white hoodie I owned and chucked it on, grabbing my back pack and my binder.

When I reached downstairs I slipped on the black Dickie's skate shoes and then left the house. I didn't bother checking to see if there was mail or if anyone coming towards our door, or even make sure to close the gate behind me as I stumbled onto the sidewalk. I left without breakfast either, which I knew I'd regret in a couple hours time.

I ran all the way to the school, mumbling about being late even though I had woken up an hour early, and fixing my hair over my left eye. Soon, I could see the school a few blocks down, and a few other people who were in a rush to make it in time for the second bell (the first bell had already rung). I made it in time, sliding through the front doors and running through the halls in an attempt to find my classroom. I still didn't really know my way around the school, even though I had been going there for two years, this being my second one.

The probable reason that I didn't know where any of my classes were yet was most likely because we had only just started school two weeks ago. As such, I still didn't quite understand my route from class to class, and I was still often looking up at numbers to make sure I was going the right way or getting the right classroom.

Of course, today I had to be more of an idiot than usual, and I skidded to a stop in front of a door that I thought led to my first class. I hadn't even checked to see if I was going the right way; I had just guessed without looking since I was in such a rush. I knew that was a mistake as soon as I opened the door.

In front of me, a rather small group of people were standing in a large room that definitely didn't look like a classroom. There were four or five big, plump leather couches that looked like I could sink in, and a fifty-inch plasma screen TV hung up on the wall, turned on quietly and playing an animated movie. There was a deep, emerald green carpet adorning the floor instead of tiles, and the walls were painted a pleasant beige colour. It looked more like a lounge, but it was definitely not the Staff Room, as all of the people standing in the room were very obviously students.

At once, I started to back out of the room-not only because I had mistaken my classroom, but also because there seemed to be a high tension in the air. The people were standing in two loose lines-one looked rather sinister, while the other just looked ticked off but definitely kinder. Not looking behind me, I headed in the direction I had come from, and my back went up against something it shouldn't have, a stand of sorts.

I realized only too late why there would be a stand behind me, and as I turned around to attempt to fix my mistake, I watched as a large statue of a panda (why was there a statue of a panda in the room?) fell over and hit the floor. It cracked, and made a rather large thumping sound that was hard to miss in the tense silence.

I could feel their eyes on me as I stared down at the statue in horror, and heard someone laugh. Great, now I was going to be laughed at for being an utter klutz. I sighed, leaning down to pick it up, but a hand was suddenly on my shoulder. I automatically tensed, but quickly eased up when I realized the person probably didn't mean any harm.

"Don't worry about it," the voice said. It was oddly laid-back, and came out in a slightly lazy drawl, but it was a nice voice, pleasant. It was definitely a boy's voice, but it wasn't deep. I bit my lip, turning to face him and ready to apologize, but as soon as I saw his face I froze. Impossible. Red hair surrounded a boyish face in a messy disarray, with one emerald eye staring down at me that did not reveal the same relaxed expression his face did, and the other covered by a black eye-patch. A green headband head his hair back slightly from his eyes, covering most of his forehead it was so wide, and he had an orange scarf around his neck, wearing a simple black t-shirt and a pair of black denim jeans, with green high tops on his feet. There was no mistaking him.

"S…sorry…" I gasped, staring at the boy. Terror gripped at my heart as I stared at the very person from my dreams, mangled and dead on a hospital stretcher.

"What's wrong, stunned by my beauty?" He asked, grinning. The smile didn't reach his eyes, but as he mentioned his looks, I realized that he was rather good looking, with nice, flawless skin that wasn't too pale, but wasn't tanned, and facial features that were both boyish and mature. I supposed most girls swooned over him for his looks, but I wondered if they were turned off by the wild way he dressed.

"I…I just, I thought I've seen you somewhere before." I said, quickly slapping on an abashed grin. I subdued the terror in my heart, and made sure to keep up a pleasant façade so that he wouldn't see it. "I was surprised for a minute there. Sorry for knocking over your…err…panda." I was trying very hard to be as polite and normal as possible, and it seemed difficult for me-I hadn't pretended in a long time. "I'll pay for it if you want."

"Don't worry about it; I've been dying for an excuse to get rid of that thing ever since the old geezer bought it for me. It reminds me way too much of him, but he insisted I put it in here if I wasn't going to keep it in my room." The boy said, closing his one eye in a kind smile. I had a feeling that if his eye had remained open, then it would probably still have that cold, un-reaching gaze. "The name's Lavi Bookman Junior."

"Um…Allen Walker." I blinked, confused by his name. It sounded oddly familiar, but I was more concerned about how strange it sounded.

"Yeah, I know, weird name. The Junior part doesn't really have to be there, but I'm the youngest in my family, and also the successor, so I have to add it on." He said, and then paused. "Well, I guess you can't really understand that…" He scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed way. "Sorry, rambling…"

"Lavi, maybe you should stop." The sound of a girl's voice came from behind the odd, talkative boy, and I leaned around him to find a girl with long black hair that was strangely tinted with some unknown colour, and large violet eyes that shone with kindness and slightly naïve. She wore a simple, long sleeved black shirt and a skirt, and a pair of black boots that went to her shins.

Now that I looked, all of the people there were wearing black. I finally realized where I had stumbled into-a club. Thinking for a minute, I realized what day it was, and why I had seen people rushing, and why no second bell had rung yet. It's Saturday. People had been rushing to their clubs. I didn't have any club activities, so I shouldn't have even come to the school. I was, officially, an idiot.

"Uh...I'm really sorry for knocking that over, and for disturbing your club, but I just realized what day it was, so I need to go now." I didn't like having to be so bluntly honest, but I felt stupid standing there and wanted to leave right way. Lavi suddenly laughed, and he turned and put his arm around my shoulder.

"You're one of those ones, huh? Did you forget it was Saturday as you madly rushed out the door thinking you were going to be late?" He asked, giving me a carefree smile that said 'everyone does it at least once'. For some reason, I felt like I was being mocked, as I stood awkwardly with his arm around me. I didn't feel comfortable, with all of these eyes on me. Not one of the people from the group had gone back to doing what they were doing before, fixated on me. Or rather, fixated on the boy beside me, a scowl on some faces and a worry line on others. "Well, why don't you hang out with us for the day! We could use with some new company for once."

"Lavi…" A girl hissed, glaring directly at me instead of who she was addressing. The way she glared at me, it was as if I were the dirtiest thing she had ever seen. I frowned, sure that I looked at least a little tidy, and my clothes were both white and very recently bleached, so I didn't see why she was looking at me like that. I turned my head, pretending to be looking at the wall, and sniffed my shoulder. I smelt fine.

"Fou, relax." Lavi said, tightening his grip around my shoulders. The girl's scowl only deepened, this time landing on Lavi. Her hair was short and pink, covered by a toque, and she wore a black long sleeved shirt that revealed half of her well-toned stomach, and a pair of black, skin tight jeans. She looked like someone I'd rather not cross in a fight, but I doubted I would ever have to worry about a fight in the first place.

"Maybe you should stop relaxing." She snapped, and turned abruptly, stomping to a couch and plopping herself down roughly onto it. Lavi just shrugged, finally letting go of my shoulders.

"Lavi, Fou's right." The girl from earlier-Lenalee, I think her name was-said. She was frowning in obvious worry at something, and glanced at me nervously. I blinked, wondering why none of them seemed to like me being there. I knew I looked like a freak, but they couldn't possibly know just how much. As far as I knew, Master didn't even know the full extent of my curse.

"What's the harm in little Allen here joining us for one measly day?" Lavi asked, frowning. However, there still seemed to be a relaxed manner to everything he did, his hands in his pockets and leaning back slightly as if he were against a wall. He even had one of his feet on top of the other. I wondered how he was keeping balance so easily.

"Today really isn't a good day for you experimenting." A cold voice snapped, and I was surprised to find that it had come from the kinder looking side. Of course, now that I actually looked, I realized that not all of them look kinder. The one who had spoken was an older boy, probably in his senior year, and had long black hair that was tied into a ponytail, still reaching all the way down his back. He had two cold, beady black eyes that didn't look like they had ever stopped glaring, and the way his feminine mouth was set in a frown, I doubted he smiled much either. However, despite the cold manner, he was rather feminine looking, and not only because of his hair. His features were shaped more like a woman's than a man's, and he wore a tight long sleeved black shirt and a pair of neat, straight black jeans that only added to the femininity.

"Awe, Yuu, don't be like that!" the thin black eyebrow, that looked suspiciously like it had been plucked, twitched. "Before you get mad at me, answer my question."

"We don't need a bean sprout interrupting us!" The boy, Yuu, snapped. I realized he was talking about me, and I ground my teeth.

"I am not a bean sprout." I snapped back. I probably shouldn't have gotten angry like that, but I didn't like being called short. Also, Master had a tendency to call me things like that, and though I often tolerated him calling me names (only because I didn't want to get hit) I didn't tolerate it from people I didn't even know.

"Now, now, no fighting." Lavi said, waving his hand in a worried way in front of my face. I felt like biting it, just to see if he would stop being so care-free and actually show a real emotion. I was getting tired of the way his eye was so impenetrable, and how it seemed to have a colder gaze than the boy who had (very rudely) called me a bean sprout.

"Enough of this foolishness," one of the people from the evil side said (okay, I was creeping myself out with my nicknames), and I looked over at them. I was pretty sure the one who had spoken was one of the young men standing there, with black-blue hair that went down to his shoulders in soft waves, covered by a top hat and framing a pale, feminine face that was more pretty than the boy who'd called me a bean sprout. However, he may have had the most menacing gaze I had ever seen, aside from Master, of whom no one could possibly best in being menacing. The boy was, oddly enough, wearing a suit.

"I agree," said a girl who plainly did not look like she belonged in high school. The girl stood at about shoulder height next to the man who had spoken, with spiky blue hair and a pale face that greatly resembled the man, and her piercing cat-like yellow eyes bored into mine. She was wearing a black blazer, a white dress shirt underneath, and a black skirt that reached mid thigh. Insanely enough, she was wearing black and purple striped tights, and a pair of shiny Mary Jane shoes. A pink umbrella with a pumpkin figure on the top of it was in her grasp, and I began to wonder what kind of people these guys really were.

"Nobody asked you," The girl from earlier, Fou, snapped. Lenalee (who I only barely remembered the name of because she was in almost all of my classes) frowned disapprovingly. It was obvious she didn't like fights. My head was starting to hurt from watching these people, and I wanted more than anything to leave now, before I witnessed a fight that was obviously about to happen, all because I had entered the room in the first place.

"That's enough." I jumped, and it wasn't because of how unbelievably stern and cold the voice was, but because it had come from directly beside me. I looked over at Lavi, who still looked extremely relaxed, but I knew the voice had come from him. There was no mistaking it. The only thing that gave it away was how his eye had narrowed a bit more than it had been before.

Everyone in the room was immediately silent, and I took the opportunity to let myself be heard. "Look, I can go, really. I need to go back home, anyways. I have things I need to do." I said, and started to turn. However, a hand grasped my shoulder, and it was almost threatening.

"No, no, Allen. You're staying here with us." Lavi said in the same tone he had been using when he had first spoken to me. I shivered, not liking the way he was able to change moods so abruptly. This room was starting to seem like my master separated into different personalities. I'd rather deal with the real thing than dealing with a bunch of him split up into different personalities.

Now that it had crossed my mind, I counted in my head just how many people there were in here. There were twelve, and it seemed the good and evil sides were split evenly. I wished desperately that they would stop glaring, whether it was at me, at someone on the opposite side, or at the exuberant (and slightly scary) boy beside me.

"Well, it's not like it's that big of a deal anyways," Said the small girl from before. "We're only here for another couple of hours before we leave." I gulped-that meant I would have to be in a room with twelve tense, odd people for another two hours. I had left the usual, emotionless Allen behind as soon as I had opened this door, and now I desperately wanted to go back.

The next two hours were probably the most silent, tense couple of hours I had ever experienced in five years, and it was also insufferably awkward. As soon as the girl had spoken, the 'evil' side had relaxed and all sat down on the two couches on their side of the room, and Lavi pulled me to the couch that was sitting in the middle of the room (the couches were arranged in a sort of arch), and I watched as the six people from the 'good' side all made themselves comfortable on their side. I wondered if this was what it was like all the time.

After that, no one spoke. Lavi had taken a remote control from the arm of the couch they were sitting on, and had turned up the volume. He had then proceeded to changing the channel, and after ten minutes of channel surfing he settled on an old rerun marathon of the Simpsons. No one argued, and every now and then I even heard a chuckle, mostly from two boys who sat extremely close to each other on the evil side, and I thought I had seen their hands twined together. I didn't look at them for long after that, not wanting to intrude on their privacy.

The entire time, I had sat as far away from Lavi as possible, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. Despite that, I still felt him like an electric current directly beside me. Maybe it was because of my dream, but for some reason I couldn't help but be aware of him the whole time. Out of all of the people in the room, he was the one who interested me most, and the one that I noticed the most. There seemed to be an air of superiority around him, like he could make anyone do anything for him, and from what had happened earlier I had a feeling I was right.

As soon as the two hours were up, the small girl and the menacing young man stood up, quickly followed by the rest of the room except myself and Lavi. The small girl turned to me just as she was passing the couch, and smiled. "It was nice to meet you, Allen. I look forward to seeing you again, and hopefully we can talk a little more." She winked, as if she was sharing some personal joke with me.

Soon, the room was empty, with only myself, Lavi, and a fidgeting Lenalee at the door. She looked back at Lavi in a nervous sort of way, and then turned back to the door. "I'll see you on Monday, Allen, Lavi." She muttered, and then scurried out of the room. I stared after her, and made to get up, but Lavi made himself known then.

"Thanks," he said, and I paused. I relaxed my legs, falling back into the couch, and stared at him, confused. What was he thanking me for? "You saved my ass back there," he said in a whoosh, relief spreading across his face. "Man, if you hadn't of entered the room I would've had to start a whole peacemaking thing, and then a fight would've broken loose, and who knows what the outcome would've been! Of course, I would sneak out before it got too messy…" he grinned, looking like a mischievous two year old. "But then you came, and everyone started paying attention to you instead of what we were all arguing about. I know I shouldn't of used you like that, but man was I desperate! As soon as everyone's attention was turned to you, I made a decision to keep you around so they couldn't say anything. If you ask me, it was a pretty damn good plan, don't you think?"

He had spoken so fast, I had a hard time processing anything he had said, but when I finally understood, I stared blankly at him. "So basically you used me to get yourself out of a jam." I said, raising an eyebrow. "So you were just thinking about yourself, instead of thinking about the guy you had only just met and decided to make do your dirty work? And without even telling him, on top of that!"

"You're angry…" Lavi stated simply, frowning as if this was a surprise. I glared at him, and an odd sort of anger ran through me. It wasn't the kind of anger I felt with master, where I felt like I wanted to scream and shout and hurt things, but rather a sort of frustrated anger that made me want to cover my face with my hands and pull on my hair because the person in front of me was being stupid. It was the kind of anger you felt for someone you cared about, when you knew they were being stupid or unreasonable and you couldn't do anything about it. I didn't understand why I was feeling it towards this boy I had never even met before. As far as I knew, Lavi actually hated me and was only pretending to be nice (which it sure seemed like,with his creepy emotionless eye) and was also a thief, a liar, and a murderer. I shouldn't technically feel anything towards this boy. The only logical explanation was that I was still shaken from my dream, which was affecting all of my emotions that day, and was making me feel strange because I was facing the one who had been subjected to the dream.

"Yes, I'm angry, and I'm annoyed that someone I never even met before today is using me, and without my permission or knowledge." I said, glaring at him. Lavi smiled sheepishly, his eye closing. His tongue stuck out in a silly manner, and then he opened his eye again and spoke.

"I was in a bit of a desperate situation. You don't know these people! They can be scary once they get into arguments, and if you had to be the one to keep the peace between them, then you wouldn't want to be around when it was broken, either!" He insisted, and I could feel my eye twitching in agitation. Everything he was saying wasn't helping his case, and he seemed to realize that as he leaned back in his seat with a worried sigh. "Alright, this isn't working. How about a different approach…I'm sorry I used you before I even knew your name, and I swear I'll make it up to you by actually letting you off for knocking over the panda. How's that?"

My breath stopped. "What?" I hissed. "The panda? You were going to actually make me do something for knocking over a panda statue?" I stood up, my fists clenching as I glared down at the boy who was looking up at me innocently, as if he were not completely unreasonable. I turned, stomping out of the room, fuming as I slammed the door loudly behind me, making sure he realized just how pissed off I had become.

I was surprised when I found Lenalee right outside the door, biting her lip and wringing her hands together. When she saw me, her eyes widened and she processed my mood. She obviously saw that I was angry, because she frowned, concern etching itself onto her face. "Oh no…" she muttered, and then approached me. "Please don't be angry with Lavi."

"Why shouldn't I?" I snapped, but immediately reigned in my anger; Lenalee had done nothing wrong, and she didn't deserve to be yelled at. She was too kind to have to deal with someone who had a bad temper (which I did have, when I wasn't ignoring the world), and I tried to smile for her sake. "Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did." She replied, saying it in such a motherly way I had a hard time not laughing. "Lavi really is a good guy, he just has a tendency to irrational things. He doesn't really think before doing, and it's gotten him a lot of enemies. I was just hoping…you wouldn't hate him for doing that to you." She looked down at the ground, obviously upset. "He seemed to actually like you, you know. As soon as he saw you, it was like he just…relaxed. Maybe it's because of your face."

"My face?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. My face was just as cursed as the rest of me, and it actually showed it. The markings on my left eye and the snow white hair were both proof of what I was (although no one knew what that was), and I didn't think I was a very attractive person at all. So why would my face make someone who seemed to show no real emotion relax?

"He saw…" Lenalee hesitated, and then smiled. "I think he saw what everyone sees in you, Allen! Even though you don't really talk to anyone, you always look really kind, just a little out of it. That's not a bad thing, though!" She added quickly, eyes widening. I raised my other eyebrow suspiciously, but I smiled. I couldn't help but think that she had changed what she was actually going to say, though.

"Whatever you say," I said softly. Relief spread across her face before she smiled up at me, and I couldn't help but actually smile back. I had forgotten how kind Lenalee was; she had been one of the people to ask me about my scar once, and she had been so kind about it that even then I had answered with a smile. That was the real reason I had been able to dig out her name from my school memories.

"Thank you for understanding, Allen! I'll see you in class on Monday, then. I need to get going now, though," Lenalee said, and waved before skipping off, obviously happy with her achievement. I watched her go, glad that she hadn't noticed just how angry I really was. I didn't feel like ruining her day; it wasn't like I enjoyed causing people pain, I just liked to try and ignore them.

Even though nothing had really happened, I felt that everything had suddenly changed drastically as soon as I had put my hand on that doorknob. Still annoyed with the redhead, I set off down the hall, mentally counting in my head how many bottles Master had left in the house and how much money, roughly, that would get us for the week.

End Chapter

A/N: As for the whole 'good and evil' thing, it was just Allen using comparisons to comic books, and how it was sort of like a troupe of good guys about to have a face off with all of their worst enemies they've ever had. Just so you know, Allen is a bit immature. I have now officially edited this chapter, although it's probably not much better than the original; this is just temporary. I'll get around to really changing it in a while, when I'm satisfied with where the story's going and I have a good chunk of it done. To new readers-the next chapters are way better.

The pairings are going to take a while to get around to, and I'm sorry for that, but Allen's supposed to be straight for the beginning. I will let you in on a little something, though. Even though Lavi's a bit of a whore with the girls around school (I'll explain in the second chapter), he isn't necessarily…straight.

Thank you for your time, and I now take my leave. I hope this story'll go on till the end, but I'm not completely sure. I guess the only thing that can really keep me going is some nice reviews…If people even like this, that is. Let me know what you think, pretty please!?