Forever Holding On

Chapter 17

It has been a week now, since I got back to the order. The bandage was off my eye, but it was yellow a bit. It was confirmed a couple days earlier that Allen and I were together. I couldn't have been happier, I honestly changed my ways here around the order. Lavi and I have our bond, Komui had regained his trust in me, and Lavina and I are friends again.

I sit in my room, getting lost in a book, a fantasy, about dragons. Which were my favorite mythical creature, I was probably lost in it for about an hour. I jump when I heard a knock at the door. I instantly take a bookmark and close it into my page, I set it aside and sit up. "Come in." I say, my voice had came back only a few hours ago, so I had to take it easy. The door opened and I smiled carefully, Allen flashed a smile at me and closed the door. "Hey."

I put my chin on my hand. "Hey." I say, Allen was acting a little strange yesterday, today he wasn't here for a couple hours. I thought something was up, but I didn't bother asking. Allen pulls up a chair and sits down. "I uhm...have something to tell you...well, and show you." He started. Now I definitely knew something was up, my face started to get hot as my smile slipped away. Allen's eyes widened. "No no no it's not had I swear!" He flailed his hands at me. I heave a sigh and cross one leg over the other, I cross my arms and look at him. "So, what is it?" I cock my head to the side.

Allen nervously rubs his head and reaches into his pocket. I blink and feel confused, Allen looks at me and pulled out a small red velvet box. I nearly choked on my breathe, my eyes widened, cringing. "A-Allen! We're only fifteen!" I squeak and hold my throat. Allen shook his head. "Ivory this isn't an engagement ring!" Allen laughed and opened it, revealing a ring that had pretty diamonds swirled around it. "It's...it's a promise ring." He said calmly.

I look at the ring and feel my heart flutter. "W-What." I stammer out, Allen reached out and took my hand, slipping the ring onto my ring finger. "It's a promise ring, with this ring I promise to never hurt you, ignore you, give you space when you need it. I promise to not start fights, or get mad at you for little things." He says. I look at my hand and blush intensely, I feel Allen's hand caress my cheek, he lifted my eyes to his. I start to smile, so wide it hurts my eye. I move forward and wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly. Allen slips his arms around me and nuzzles his face into my neck, we sit in silence for some time until we pull away. Allen uses both hands to take my face, he pulls me close and kisses me softly. I blush and enjoy our moment of privacy.

***

"Ivory...Ivory..." I hear Lavi's voice in my ears, then his fingers snapped in my face. My eyes snapped open and I lifted my head, I fell asleep on the cafeteria table for who knows how long. I rub my eye and squint. "What?" I mumble. Lavi takes a seat across from me. "Jeez have you gotten any sleep since yesterday?" He asks. I shake my head at him and rub my cheek. "Not really..." I mumble. Lavi chuckled a but. "Allen had to go on a quick mission with Lenalee." Lavi said.

I stare blankly at Lavi, something boils in my belly. I was jealous, I will admit that. "O-Oh." I managed to say, Lavi basically didn't know that Allen kissed me at the lake, and then gave me a promise ring today. He did know how ever that him and I were together, he thought it was a little bit silly at a young age like mine, but I didn't really care.

"You jealous?" Lavi smirked at me and leaned his cheek on his hand. I scoff at him and roll my eyes. "...." I say nothing at first. "So what if I am..." I mumbled. Lavi heaves a sigh and crosses his arms. "Ivory, do you really think Allen would be doing things with Lenalee he shouldn't be? Remember your only fifteen, this is just puppy love." He tells me. I lower my head a bit, it was crazy to think that Allen and I would last forever to be honest, but I couldn't help that. I fell head over heels for Allen. I just give a slight nod then lift my head. "So, how long is he gone for?" I ask my brother.

"He left an hour ago, he'll be back in about two hours." Lavi tells me. I nod at that and think about what to do in the mean time. Lavi blinked and let out a sigh. "Ivory, I have a question for you." He looks at me. I look at him, something churns in my stomach. "Yeah?" I tip my head. Lavi heaves another sigh. "I was thinking about this question since you came back..." He mumbled.

"Did you ever think about going back to Cross again?"

An invisible arrow struck my chest, I never told them that Cross found me, I never shared my experience with Cross to Lavi either. That question really started to other me. "Lavi, can we take a walk?" I stood up. Lavi jerks back. "Wait you didn't answer my question!" He protests. I look at him with upset eyes. "Walk with me and I'll tell you." I say seriously. Lavi lowered his hands and stood up, following me out of the cafeteria.

"Did something happen to you?" He catches up to me as I walked down the halls. I chew on my lower lip. "You didn't ask me how my training went with Cross yet..." I stop and lean against the wall. Lavi blinked and leaned across from me. "...Uh...what, happened during your training?" He asked me. This was extremely hard to explain to my own brother, I don't know what he would be planning. I had to tell him, after all, no more secrets.

"He didn't teach me anything, he would always pick up prostitutes and women. I would teach myself the skills of being an exorcists, he always had these debts...and he couldn't pay them. So, he.." I look at the ground stopping. Lavi crossed his arms. "Ivory, what did he do." He came over an vent down in front of me. I didn't look him in the eye. "He, made me wear these, stripper outfits. To go and act like a hooker to whoever he owed money to." I explain slowly to him. I hear Lavi suck on a sharp breathe and he plopped down. His big green eyes faded to a darker shade.

"Did he rape you? Did anybody rape you, or touch you." He says with his voice quivering. I heave a shaky sigh and feel the salty tears sting my eyes again. "They didn't rape me but, they...they.." I didn't finish. "Molested you?" Lavi opens his eyes. I slowly nod, Lavi instantly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his arms. "If I find out who did this to you I will kill them with my bare hands." He hugs me. I felt the tears roll down my cheeks. "Did Cross even care?!" He looks at me again.

I shake my head. "I couldn't even explain to him what happened, he asked if I had the money, gave it to him and he kicked me back upstairs!" I start to freak out. Lavi shushes me and hugs me again. "Cross is gonna pay for this...I swear." He promises. I shake my head. "Lavi you can't hurt him, you'll be kicked out and banned from being an exorcist." I tell him. Lavi holds my shoulders and looked at me. "It's gonna take a lot of people to hold me back when or if I see him again." He says seriously.

The corner of my mouth twitched, feeling like I was ready to smile again. Lavi blinked and brushed his finger across the corner of my mouth. "Was that a smile?" He tips his head. This made me smile for real, I put my head down and laugh a little. Lavi soon smiled as well and put his hand on my head. "Your a good kid Ivory, your strong, your tough, your smart, well...not sure when it comes to Allen..." He started. "Hey!" I lift my head. Lavi chuckled and rubbed my head. "Just kidding sis..c'mere gimme another hug." He opens his arms. I shook my head and hugged my big brother. He truly was the best brother I ever had.

After about an hour or so of talking, Lavi and I made our way back to the cafeteria, it was lunch time. I was starving, I could hear my stomach growl. Lavi laughs a little. "Hungry there?" He questions. I nod. "Starving." I finish. Lavi and I laugh, suddenly we heard the front doors open. We stopped and looked at the door. Allen walked in with Lenalee behind him, they looked off. Lavi and I trailed over to them.

"Allen? Lenalee?" Lavi tipped his head. "Allen what's wrong?" I touch Allen's hand. He looked at me as Lenalee didn't say anything. "...So-Someone found us, or, we found them." Allen stammers out, his face was as white as his hair. My eyes widen and I look at Lavi. Lenalee nodded and cleared her throat. "He's, he's familiar with you and Allen, Ivory." She manages to say before walking off to get her brother.

Something churned in the pit of my stomach, I sucked in a sharp breathe and look back at Allen. "Allen who is here?" I look into his grey eyes. Allen ran his fingers through his hair and looked at the door. "It's..."

He walked in, the tall man with the long red hair and the scraggly beard. He smoked a cigarette, then blew the smoke off to the side, he tipped his hat up and smiled a bad looking smile.

"Cross."