Kept on Walking

~five~

A long explanation and a very tired Allen finally had enough.

"How in the bloody hell do you expect us to believe that!? It sounds like a bunch of rubbish you pulled out of the bin." Allen grumbles. "Unless you're trying to scare us."

"Allen, calm down..." Mana says softly, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"I don't trust this dodgy git. None of it makes sense, so how can it even be real!?" Allen states, glaring at Lenalee.

"I don't know, Allen. But you don't need to insult her." Mana responds.

Lenalee is beginning to get agitated by Allen's outbursts. However, she bites her tongue and smiles, albeit an angry one.

"Mana, Ya can't be sure if she's nutters or anything. Hell, she could be with those wankers from earlier. Especially that knob head who had grabbed me." Allen huffs.

Mana couldn't help but crack a smile at the last insult. He knows a little bit of Red is peaking out, primarily due to a mix of emotions and exhaustion that had caused it.

"Allen, go to bed. You've been up for far too long as is." Mana instructs. The tired teen mutters one last insult at Lenalee and the other men before entering his and Mana's shared room.

Mana sighs softly, "I apologize for Allen's harsh words. He has difficulty trusting people and gets like this when he is exhausted."

That makes Lenalee do a doubletake, "Why would that be?"

"He doesn't tell me much, but I could guess a large portion of the time before I met him," Mana says.

"So, you're not related?" Lenalee questions softly, her heart dropping.

"Not by blood; I took him in when he was very young." Mana replies, "We were a part of the same circus. But in different positions."

Lenalee listens intently. She couldn't help but feel pity for Allen; it must have been hard for him. She could only imagine what kind of horrible things happened to his birth parents.

"Allen was a errend boy. He'd been there even before I began working for that same circus. Garvey's, I believe. He was a wild boy, but Allen wept when I couldn't cry for my dog. He's a good, brave boy who only opens up to another woman named Miranda and me. As far as I know, his parents had probably sold him as an infant. So it's not a foreign concept to see a parentless child working for a circus." Mana recounts to the best of his ability.

Lenalee looks down at her hands sadly. She can't muster up the will to hold any anger towards Allen. She sighs and looks up again.

"Thank you for telling me," Lenalee says with a warm smile.

"All I ask is that you don't tell anyone. Allen... doesn't like remembering those days. It had always hurt him." Mana says softly.

Lenalee gives her word not to say anything to anyone.

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Lenalee enters the hotel and is immediately greeted by Lavi's overly energetic questioning. She didn't reply as she walked up to Cross, staring out at the landscape, with a cigarette between his lips.

"I take it you met them?" Cross questions, releasing a puff of smoke.

"Yes. I did. I tried to warn them about the Akuma, but I don't think they believed me." Lenalee replies.

"Maybe next time, take the bookman junior with you. Separating them would be a shit plan, and the brat wouldn't do shit anyone says." Cross states.

Lenalee was a little off-put by the thought of separating a family but quickly agreed to get to know the two and bring Lavi along to meet the family of two.

Cross debates with himself, weighing his options of telling the Order of Mana's true identity and the consequences of hiding such information. But he quickly reminded himself of what will happen not only to himself but also to Mana's charge. Father and son would be torn apart, and Mana may lose himself, waking the dormant Millenium Earl.

And that was the last thing they needed, a raging, heartbroken Millenium Earl even more hellbent on humanity's extinction. Or at least the Order's destruction. And Cross didn't even let the thought of the hell the Order would put the kid through. But, of course, Cross couldn't let himself think of it. He still had bigger fish to fry, such as the swarming Akuma outside of the city.

Cross sighs, puts out his cigarette, and stands, "I'll be back. Need to get away from here for a while."

Of course, there was no response from the others, as it's normal for Cross to just up and leave.

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A/N: Sorry that the chapters are so short, but as of now, it's easier for me to find the motivation to make then a long 2,000+ word chapters like some of my other stories. I'm slow to post new chappies because I also want a good surplus of extra chapters before I post them more often.