111Allen: 'Wait, why do I have to be injected with poison? That's really mean you know!'
Me: 'Well, that's because...' *can't think of a good excuse and get's really frustrated* 'I'm sorry okay! You know how hard you two are being brought together?! There's no other way than making you suffer.'
Allen: 'But why me? Just had used that darned ponytail instead. By the way, stop trying. You won't bring us together. I hate him and he hates me.'
Me: *evil grin* 'We'll see about that.'
Allen: 'Eeeek, scary...'
Chapter 2
Allen took a few seconds to catch his breath before he remembered the words of the akuma. He let his eyes travel over his right arm and noticed the little needle in it. 'kuso…' he cursed. 'I guess we really have to go to the order fast. They'll probably have something to cure this before it gets worse.'
He scanned the area for a last time, but it really seemed to be akuma-free now.
The muffled sound of Kanda rustling trough the bushes caught his attention. 'Did you get it?'
But the even grumpier face than usual of the other exorcist already told him enough before he even spoke: 'It got away. I defeated the akuma, but as soon as it was free the innocence fled. I didn't even have the time to go after it, it was just too fast.'
Allen sighed in desperation. Not only was he forced now to spend even more time with stupid Kanda, he was also worried about his arm. The akuma had been talking about poison, how long would it take to take effect? He had hoped to be home before dinner too, he could forget that for sure.
'Well, let's go search for it then,' Allen said grumpily and made his way through the undergrowth to the place Kanda had appeared from. 'It leaves a lot of footprints, we should be able to track it down.'
'It didn't when it fled. It just got sucked in by a tree.'
Allen froze. 'It got what?'
'It probably reacts with the plants in the forest,' Kanda said while he also started to walk in the direction he came from. 'The wolf is probably just a coincidental form.'
Allen gritted his teeth in frustration. Great, now they didn't only have to spend more time on chasing it, but they didn't even know anymore where to look either. How could they find something that fused with plants in a FOREST?!
They didn't speak for the next hour, which was a relief to Allen. At least Kanda couldn't make him mad when he didn't open his mouth. Although looking at him could already give him reason enough to want to kill him, it wasn't really hard then to restrain himself from doing that if he only looked.
However, the longer they walked, the more Allen began to get the feeling he was weakening. His legs felt heavy and his lungs began to hurt while breathing. To his frustration he noticed he was falling behind Kanda, who was already walking five meters in front of him.
He wouldn't tell Kanda what had happened, he knew for sure it would give him a good reason again to make hateful comments, but he didn't see another option than to say at least something, no matter how reluctant he was to. 'Oi, Kanda, take it easy okay? It's not like those few minutes you win from walking so fast will make an actual difference.'
Kanda turned around. 'Tssk. Just hurry up, Moyashi, I'm not going to wait for you.'
'I'm telling you that you're walking too fast!' Allen snapped back, not feeling well at all. He could feel the sweat running down his back, wetting his coat from the inside.
'That's because you're too weak. That's not my problem.' The man turned around and just continued walking in the same pace without even checking if Allen kept up with him.
'Kanda, you jerk,' Allen raged while another meter threatened to take them apart. 'You could at least TRY listening to people!'
'Tssk' was the only answer he got.
Allen really tried hard to keep up. He stumbled through the trees as fast as he could, but his head began to ache and he suddenly felt himself growing really hot. Kanda was already nearly out of sight. He hoped his fellow exorcist wouldn't leave him alone, he was bound to get lost here, like he did nearly everywhere whenever he was alone and if he got lost here now… He didn't even want to think about it. Being lost just before dinner was already bad enough, some kind of poison didn't really need to make him even more anxious.
At some moment the space between them did even become so big he actually began to consider telling the truth, but he still threw away the idea quickly. He could still remember the last time he had needed Kanda's help very well. He hadn't been able to walk that time and they had been the only ones on the spot. He hadn't been grateful at all after the ponytailed jerk had helped him, more like even more eager to kill him someday. Actually, it wasn't really help at all. That time it went like this:
After a few minutes Kanda seemed to have realised he hadn't been following him and came back.
Allen was already very surprised he did. He had expected him to just go back to the order without him and that it would take at least a few hours until Lenalee or Lavi would find him after he hadn't returned. He made a last attempt to get up, but his body just didn't listen. One of his legs was obviously broken and the other was covered with cuts and other wounds. Everything felt numb from all the attacks he had received. It was a bit like that time he had defeated the level 4, only this time his mind felt clearer, his body just didn't want to cooperate.
'Hurry up, Moyashi, what are you waiting for? Get up already.' Kanda grumbled impatiently. 'If you don't I'll leave without you.' He turned around again and began walking back the way he had come from.
'Wait!' Allen called, but when Kanda shot him an annoyed glare he just couldn't say what was wrong. He didn't want to give the other the pleasure to see him weak like this.
The pony-tailed exorcist 'tssk-ed' and then started to walk away again.
'Wait, I can't…!'
Kanda stopped again.
Allen averted his gaze and felt himself blush out of frustration. 'I can't stand up.'
When he looked back he could see surprise on Kanda's face.
'So, if you could just help me a little here,' Allen continued with some rage in his voice now that the other just stood there and did nothing. 'I'd really like to go back to the Order too.'
Kanda snorted, but he did finally walk over to his companion.
However, he didn't take Allen's arm like the boy had expected, but picked up the non-broken but wounded leg and began pulling it violently.
The injured boy howled in pain for a moment, then became really mad: 'You idiot, stop that! It hurts!'
His words were being ignored and his body kept sliding over the floor. Just as Allen thought about activating Clown Belt again to attack that stupid jerk Lavi appeared: 'Hey, guys, whoa, what's wrong, Allen? Are you okay?'
'No, I'm not!' he snapped while glaring at the dark-haired exorcist who had already left them behind. 'That idiot thought he could help me by pulling my wounded leg! That his wounds heal in no-time doesn't mean mine do too!'
'It's okay, Allen, calm down. Let me help you.' And so Lavi wrapped an arm around his neck and helped his friend back to the order.
Never would Allen give Kanda the chance to do something like that again. He would rather see another akuma self-destruct.
Or that was what he had thought before, because now he really started to doubt this plan. Kanda was gone and his eyesight began to blur. It was too late now. Even if he had wanted to say something about it, he was too late. He stopped walking and rested his back against a tree. His legs quivered and he panted while he hadn't done anything that could put a strain on his body in the slightest.
Maybe he better could have said something before he had felt the effects of the poison, so he could have gone home to let himself be treated. He squeezed his eyes shut in desperation. He wasn't ready to die yet. He still had to save a lot of akuma and the Order needed him in the fight against the Noah.
One last time he tried to take a few steps, but his legs gave way and he met the ground with a smack. He tried to get up, but his hands seemed pretty weak too. His head swam, the world was blurry and odd.
That's the reason it took so long for him to realise that the dark spot that was moving in on him was the other exorcist that had apparently noticed something was wrong after all. He crouched in front of him with a grumpy expression. 'Oi, Moyashi, what's wrong?'
'It's Allen,' the boy whispered back with a fading voice. 'Just remember it already.'
Kanda seemed to wait for more, but when his companion didn't say anything anymore he asked again, this time a bit less irritated: 'What is wrong?'
'Poison,' Allen whispered so softly Kanda had to bow down to him to be able to hear it. 'The akuma's dark matter was poison. I think I got hit accidentally.'
'Tssk.' But that was all he said about it. To Allen's surprise he did take the arm this time and wrapped it around his neck. However when he found out he wasn't supporting but carrying Allen, who was just too weak to even carry a little bit of his weight, he switched to another tactic and pulled Allen on his back.
When he had made sure Allen wouldn't fall off he started walking again. 'Tssk, you stupid Moyashi. You always get in trouble,' he growled as he continued their journey in the forest.
There came no response, because the one on his back was too tired to say anything. He just gasped for air, feeling like he was being burned alive. The hazy surroundings now began to mingle with darkness and his eyelids felt incredibly heavy. He knew he had to make sure not to fall asleep, but the force that was shutting his mind down was just too strong. While the forest slid past them, Allen lost all feeling for space and time. His consciousness was being overwhelmed by the darkness.