midnightstar | A SURPRISE LENALEE APPROACHES; Command?

A SURPRISE LENALEE APPROACHES; Command?

Despite all of everything the Black Order has been through, it was business as usual for the various teams. Lenalee and Allen were in one team with Miranda and a few Finders. Lucky them, their mission took them to the mountains - beautiful scenery, but cold weather. Fortunately they managed to find a small inn with vacancies, so they could stay indoors. Amazingly, Miranda was actually sleeping more peacefully than Lenalee at the moment.

Although after all of the scenarios and seeing all of the deaths in the war with the Earl and fighting the akuma, (...not to mention what she personally has been through), it really should come as no surprise that Lenalee's sleep was less than restful. While she managed to snatch an hour or two here and there of sleep, worries about her friends, her brother, and one exorcist in particular all contributed to making her nightmare particularly bloody and gruesome. When she jerked awake for the second time that night (or was it third, she wasn't sure), she knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep right away, so she silently slipped out of her room, padding down the hall. Maybe a glass of water would settle her nerves.

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"Trust me I don't have any idea either and I've lived with him for years." Allen said as he patted his now little more full belly with a very happy smile on his face. Oh that was simplya taste of heaven and nothing less.

Lenalee glanced at him with a grin, seeing how satisfied and happy he was. Briefly glancing towards the kitchen where Jerry was busy cooking more dishes for later, she found herself hoping her cooking got that good, to get a reaction like that from Allen.

...strictly as a friend. She had to keep reminding herself of that. She stretched a little, letting out a sigh herself, before falling silent for a moment or two. Right. So. Moment of truth or near enough to it that she pushed herself to her feet. "All right, so.." time for The Talk(tm). Well, once they get to his room. Hers was a bit further away and Komui MAY have booby-trapped the hallway.

Again with the friend thing. Alas without being able to read minds all he had to go on was hunches and gut feelings. Regardless with the food out of the way, they had to face the elephant in the room.

"So uhm..." Well this was off to a wondrous start. Also why couldn't he look away from Lenalee no matter what!

Well he started it! Even ...if he didn't quite realize it. Though even with that, so long as he kept being -him- she was going to forget herself again. So, they just had to confront the elephant - though uh. if he never took his eyes off of her, she'd have to walk close so he didn't bump into things. ... wait, what's the downside of that...?

"I guess we should... go to your room." That... probably sounds bad out of context, especially if Komui had been around to hear it.

Somewhere in the bowels of the order, a anguished lament echoed through the halls but died out before it could reach the two exorcists.

"Oh right. Of course yes." Allen nodded, snapping out of that moment before leading Lenalee back towards his room, resisting the urge to want to be even close to the girl but only just barely.

Poor Komui! The things he goes through, even though the reality is way more innocent than he assumes it to be. It's a good thing he actually likes Allen, despite... the Komurins and the trying to dart him and whatnot.

Jerry spared only a brief glance for the pair as they left, but he didn't think anything of it - or did he! - considering they were often together anyway As for Lenalee, she strolled along calmly at first, glancing towards her silver haired friend every now and again.

There was nothing to be afraid of. It was just words - memories. But with every step that took her closer to his room, she couldn't help but feel nervous, absently clasping her hands behind her back and filling the silence in with small talk that served no real purpose beyond making her not want to balk and change her mind. She could be strong enough to do this, for someone so important.

Allen certainly had to wonder how come he was still alive and well at times when he spent so much time around Lenalee even when compared to people who have known her for longer than he has. But he often didn't want to linger on that too much.

"Well here we are. Ladies first." Allen said, opening the door to his room and stepping aside to let Lenalee step through. He was starting to get more than a little nervous but they were here now and Lenalee still seemed to want to talk to him about it. So really now was the best moment to get all this sorted.

She hesitated a second even when Allen stepped back to let her pass. After all, the moment she stepped through she'd be unable to turn back. Well.. she couldn't very well go running off down the hall either.

She closed her eyes, taking a breath. "Right. Then.. Pardon me." She stepped into the room like she were passing through a border from safety into an unknown territory. Her relaxed posture grew tense as she glanced around the room before sitting on the edge of the bed, hands bunched against her knees. It would still take her a second or two to find the words once Allen joined her, but for as uneasy as she was with the topic, she was sticking to her guns, so to speak.

Allen couldn't help gulping a mouthful of air before joining Lenalee on the bed. And waiting. He didn't know what to make of it. Maybe he should have told her to drop the matter anyway. Maybe...or not. This was clearly tormenting her immensely.

"Lenalee..." he said reaching softly for Lenalee's hand.

The worst part of remembering...that...was that it was always with -his- face. It haunted her, and back then if she had just been able to escape... he'd still have come and dragged her back. Always. No matter how much she screamed, and begged and no matter how much she tried to r-

"Hh!" Lenalee startled at the touch to her hand, thoughts snapped back to the present as she jerked away, glancing at Allen in surprise.

Oh right. RIGHT. The one good thing about her never being able to get away. If she really had been able to escape she would never have met Allen, or Miranda or Timcanpy. "Allen..." How was she even going to -begin- telling him? And troubling him with this too - it seemed she was burdening him with a lot lately.

Allen's eyes went wide when she flinched and moved away from his touch. He was right. Whatever it was, it clearly weighed unbelievably heavy on her mind and heart.

"It's...okay. If you don't want to talk about it then you can just stay here a bit with me until you calm down at least." he was giving her a way out. In a way that was even more cruel than pressuring her to tell him anyway. Killing someone with kindness seemed to be his specialty.

.....you see Allen, THIS is why Lenalee found it difficult to keep herself and her actions strictly friendly. That lethal kindness of his. "...thank you." Lenalee almost took that opening. That way out. Almost.

Her hand did slip over to cover his though, to curl her fingers against his, tightly. But she didn't speak at first, wanting to just hold his hand, to just...be with him in the silence. It might seem like she wasn't going to add to that, but after the elephant in the room has gotten comfortable and stretched out in a corner to loom and be stifling..Lenalee shifted over towards her 'friend', to lean against his shoulder.

"It's... still not easy to talk about..back then. Why that man..." Her hand tightened over his slightly, and she sighed. "He was... part of why I saw the Black Order as a prison..back then.."

That was sudden but he quickly found himself squeezing her hand right back, feeling quite happy for the moment. Something he would soon feel guilty about as Lenalee started talking and telling the story of her burden.

"That man..." Allen repeated before the gears in his head finally turned to reach the natural conclusion. "You mean...the inspector?"

She nodded silently, focusing more on the feel of Allen beside her - of his hand in hers - than anything else. "Yes..." She took a breath, "Before the Innocence, I ..just lived a happy life alongside my brother. Every day I could wake up and if I had a nightmare, I'd wake up so suddenly, but I'd be able to smell Brother making breakfast in the other room, and I could just tell myself it was only a dream." She smiled faintly, though her smile faded a touch.

"When they found out..I was compatible with the Dark Boots, they..took me away from my home. From Komui..the only family I had. Because of the Inspector. Every time I tried to escape, to get back to Komui, but he.. that man..." She fell silent a moment with a shudder.

Allen could feel her reliving those moments. The way her voice sounded and the trembling of her body and hand around his own. He already knew bits of this story since she'd told him back in the Rewinding Town about her past and Komui. This however went into much more detail and the reason became clear to this dawning horror.

Oh he had made an enormous mistake. He'd touched upon such a great wound with so little tact! He was this close to just pulling Lenalee close to his side as if to shield her of those grim memories.

She at least, could only bring herself to say a little more about it. But she wouldn't hold it against him, when he meant well. He was only worried about her, as he always was. "He would always tell me that...there was no escaping from the Order. But I still tried. Every day, every chance I had... until..." She paused. "They.. tied me down. Kept me strapped to my bed so I couldn't run; I couldn't get free no matter how much I tried." She glanced down.

"And then one day... Komui was there by my bed. He told me he'd joined them, that he'd stay in the Order so we could still be together." He gave up everything just so they could still be a family. "And because he was here... because he sacrificed his dreams, and wishes for me... I stopped running away."

A shake of her head, "He changed so much about the way the Order was run... but that man, I ... every time I see him..." She'd feel that old fear again. She'd flee, previously to Kanda's room, while today she ..fled to Allen's.

He knew that basics but the full story was much darker and horrifying than he could have ever imagined. Allen felt the sting of tears at the corner of his eyes until Komui finally came to save her from the hell that had become her life at that point.

So without a word, he suddenly pulled Lenalee into a tight embrace. Not a shred of hesitation or doubt. He just wanted to be there for Lenalee with more than just words.

And the entire time she spoke, there was a slight tremble from her hands and in her voice, particularly when she mentioned the Inspector. Her throat was try when she finally stopped speaking, not sure what else to say - even leaving out a lot, it was more than enough to leave her cold and shaken.

Until Allen picked that moment to pull her into his arms like that. A tight embrace - and warm. Warm, and safe in a way that was so like and not like when Komui held her when she was scared. Was it really any shock that she sank into the circle of his arms, closing her eyes to basket in the warmth, her trembling slowly coming to a stop until she was simply leaning into his arms.

Allen was someone who often went forward with what he felt was the right course of action. Right now comforting Lenalee took precedence over all else. He put his hand up and gently cradled the back of Lenalee's head as he murmured softly.

"It's okay Lenalee. You don't have to say a word more about it. I can piece it all together from here. But thank you. Thank you for trusting me enough to open up about such a painful part of your life."

............ God. Damnit Allen.

Just.

Goddamnit.

Certainly it was the right course of action, but she wanted to just..stay like that now. "Of......of course," she managed after a moment, letting out a quiet sigh.

"You're my dear..." He was only holding her like this as a friend, right? She slowly slipped her arms around him, selfishly imagining that he was holding her for reasons other than friendship. It was unfair to monopolize all of his time like this, when he might have someone else in his heart. "My important friend.." 'Friend'. That didn't feel right.

She was being selfish again, wasn't she?

Could it be called monopolizing when he willingly gave his time up to spend it with her? Or maybe they were simply both being a bit selfish in a world that had taken so much from them both. It was probably that. Especially given the faint flicker in his posture when she called him her important 'friend' that one word brought him both great joy as well as a slight sting of disappointment.

These feelings were unprecedented for Allen and as such rather than reason them out he simply let them go as they please. That in turn translated to the boldness with which he kept Lenalee close to his chest while whispering reassurances.

Wellllllllll, no, that would be silly. Although she was finding it incredibly difficult to pull out of his arms- she had to question if there was need to do so. Ever. She could stay like that for hours, basking in the warmth and safety in the room. Just listening to the soft murmurs of reassurance from her 'friend', glad he couldn't see her face.

She's not sure how long she sat like that, wrapped in his arms, with her own curled around him snugly as she practically nuzzled against his chest. Eventually, she gave a deep sigh, "Thank you, Allen." She pulled back a little, tilting her face up to look at him. ...oh he's.. why is she surprised he's close like this?

Allen was quite relieved as well since his eyes were filled with a peculiar glint that one might have expected sooner from Cross than Allen. However he didn't make a move to take anything further. Instead he settled with this,

"Any time. My door is always open for you." Allen said with a soft smile before he found himself nuzzling gently against Lenalee's hair as well.

Well of course he didn't - he only saw her as a friend! ~~*hit by a bricklayer's truck*~~ Actually he didn't have to. Though she missed a certain look in his eyes, she smiled softly at the feel of his nuzzling. Sighing again softly, she surprised herself when she cupped a hand against his face and leaned over, brushing her lips against his cheek. "I know.. and the same goes for you." She smiled softly, then ...a little awkwardly. Erm. "I..should get back and check on Komui..." She almost slipped there. Definitely came close to..well... let's just say Komui may be the one having nightmares at this moment, in his office.

That...came completely out of nowhere. Even more so than that momentary impulse where he wanted to press his cheek against her hand more almost like a cat or a dog would. Why? Why could she soeasily disrupt his routine and composure? Allen didn't have an answer to that and most brain activity was instantly ground to a halt as he felt a pair of soft warm lips press against his cheek.

"H-Huh? Ouh uh...r-right right that might ummm be for the best."

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A SURPRISE LENALEE APPROACHES; Command?

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