Home Again: Intrusion

Chapter 8: Intrusion In The City

Allen's POV

After the uncomfortable dinner they'd had, Tyki walked away with the Earl, telling him not to follow. Allen went back to his room and hadn't seen him since. That night, he slept in Tyki's room, though Tyki never came in. The next day passed without even a sign of the other and he was beginning to worry. He walked throughout the ark, impatiently looking for Tyki and ignoring the other noahs' taunts, only stopping once he found Road skipping down the stone path.

He called to her and she stopped, looking surprisingly nervous, "What, do you want to come play with my dolls, too? Or, maybe, you want me to dress you like one of them~", she squealed, running to him with arms outstretched, giggling with excitement until the ex-exorcist stepped to the side and she flopped to the ground.

He huffed out a somewhat frustrated sigh and put on that polite smile he always gave her when he wanted something from her. "Say, Road, you don't happen to know where Tyki ran off to, do you?"

At the sound of his name, she stiffened up and stared at him silently. He waited for about two seconds before she finally seemed to realize that she needed to give some kind of an answer and she shook off the previous shock, painting a smile on her face as she hopped back up and grabbed Allen's hand, dragging him back the way he came. "He's busy - how's about we play dress up, okay?"

He narrowed his eyes but allowed her to steer him toward his own room, though he knew she was hiding something. What happened to Tyki? Is he collecting innocence?

Allen's POV

They sat in his room as she ran all over the place, grabbing clothes from the closet, holding them up, and throwing them on the ground. Apparently, she was planning on actually attempting to make him look good, which was new for her. She had always dressed him up in weird clothing, since he'd come to live with them. But he wasn't paying much attention to her, instead allowing his mind to wonder and speculate as to where Tyki might have gone and what he should do. If he's out fighting exorcists, I should technically go back them up, since I'm an exorcist. But even if I thought Road would let me go, my innocence isn't properly working. A shadow coated his features as he glared down at his innocence wrist, gripping it tightly with the other hand.

Apparently noticing this, Road finally stopped looking through the clothes and ran over to him with a white suit. "White looks good on you, don't you think", she asked, seeming to be cheerful as she smiled broadly.

He returned the smile with one of his own and agreed with her, just as he had always done when she asking him questions he didn't care much about. Which had been frequently. He looked back down at his arm, allowing his insincere smile to drop from his lips, just as his heart seemed to drop in his chest. There's nothing that I can do, is there?

She sat there staring at him for awhile and, just when he looked back up at her, ready to ask about what she was staring at, she sighed heavily, mumbling under her breath, "Oh, the Earl is going to kill me..."

"Eh", he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

Allen's POV

They exited the ark and walked throughout a city with a crowd of people so thick, Road had to hold onto his brown cloak to keep from being washed away with the rest of the humans. Though he would have normally thought to joke with her about it, she still hadn't told him exactly what they were doing. "Road?" He asked, stopping and staring down at her as a silent demand for her to tell him, his hood covering his left eye as he did so.

She smiled innocently and said, "I chose this city so you could get out without being bothered, though the Earl specifically ordered me not to let you leave the ark. But that exorcist won't be coming near here and I'll be on my guard in case apocryphos shows."

"That's not really what I was wondering", he said, somewhat uncomfortable that the Earl seemed to be protecting him, though he knew better that he wouldn't do such a thing without a hidden agenda.

She seemed to grow increasingly nervous with every word of their conversation and eventually spotted a clown performing in the streets. She pointed at him and widened her smile so that it almost seemed genuine, pulling at his heart strings so that he almost felt as though he had to believe her. "Look, it's a clown!" Without waiting for a response or, even, pulling him with her, she ran off toward the performer, disappearing into the crowd of people. He somewhat began to panic, though he knew she was perfectly able to handle herself. I have to keep reminding myself that she's not, actually, a child, he thought, sighing aloud and somewhat slouching.

As he lifted his foot to follow her, he spotted, out of the corner of his eye, a man in a white cloak standing still in the crowd of moving people, staring at him. As the ex-exorcist turned to face the man, he recognized the mole on his cheek, though his skin was pale. Allen gasped, "Tyki?"

The noah put a finger over his lips, in a "shush"ing gesture, before pointing behind Allen. He turned followed the man's direction to a large church-like building. A church? What about it? He turned back around and looked for the noah but found no white cloak in the sea of people. Does he want me to meet with him, in there? But, wait... why does it feel like we're sneaking around? Is he hiding?