When Love Wins From Hatred

Chapter Five

"Oi... Oi... Short Stack... wake up!"

The voice sounded so urgent that Allen slowly opened his eyes. The lids were so heavy that it already cost him nearly all of his energy. Then he noticed that his lungs were empty and raw and he gasped for air. He coughed after a few heavy breaths and started panting again. "You would call me "Allen" remember." He whispered when he found enough air to.

"Make sure you stay awake," Kanda snapped, ignoring the protest. "You weren't breathing anymore."

"Okay." Allen said breathless, but his eyes wanted something else. They pleaded him to close them and let the darkness take over his mind again. He tried to concentrate on finding out where he was instead and noticed Kanda was carrying him again. The forest had disappeared and they were walking through a city now. The train station should be right ahead, but his sight was too blurry to make out things that were more than three meters ahead of them.

He felt so tired. He must have slept the whole day again, because the shadows were growing long and soon the sun disappeared behind the houses. Maybe he could close his eyes for a few seconds. Just to collect energy to open them again. His eyelids already closed before he had really finished the thought. It was probably not that bad to rest a little...

"You're not listening," Kanda growled. "You're just falling asleep again. If you do you'll probably die.'"

Allen obliged himself to open his eyes again after those words. Kanda was right. He was falling asleep again. But how could he keep himself from that? His body didn't hurt anymore, it only felt numb, his lungs asked him to just let them rest a little, but he couldn't, he wasn't allowed to die yet. If the pain from the night would just come back... It had been really bad, and of course he didn't want to experience something painful like that again, but at least it would be able to keep him awake. "Kanda, can't you just talk a bit? Maybe that'll keep me awake."

"Tsssk." Kanda turned his face away from him. "Why do I have to keep you awake?"

"Okay, then not. But don't get mad at me for dying."

"Tsssk, you stupid Moya-"

"You would call me "Allen", we made a promise this night remember."

"Fine, stupid Allen."

"That's better. Why don't you act like I'm Komui and you have to report a mission to me. That mustn't be that hard on you. It might help me to keep from falling asleep."

Kanda stayed silent for a moment. "What mission?"

"Maybe one I don't know of yet, you must have been on countless missions already."

His companion kept quiet and Allen just thought he wouldn't get any story at all when Kanda began talking. He did exactly as he was asked and reported like he was standing in front of Komui. When he found out his listener was still awake after it he continued with another mission.

They entered the train and instead of laying him down on the bench in front of him, Kanda held him in a straight position, so that it was easier for him to breath. The black-haired exorcist was still talking with a grumpy expression on his face that showed clearly how reluctant he was to say so much. But he had seen how effective it was and didn't want to stop with the risk of his companion falling to sleep again.

However, halfway their train ride words began to slip past Allen's mind. He lost the context of the story and noticed how Kanda's voice drifted further and further away from him. He tried to say something, to warn the other that his conscious was slipping away, but it was too late. His mouth and tongue were too numb to pronounce any sound and his eyelids fell shut. He tried another last time to get back to the real world, but the darkness closed in on him and pulled him back down.

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