Chapter Text
Allen was tired, of the fighting, the running, and the constant feeling of being an outcast over his head, he just wanted to rest, to stop and so he did. When he finally got away from the order and the akuma he found himself back in London, he felt far older then when he had stepped foot here last, the order has a base, in fact the very base he ran from, but the base was distanced from the main part of England, not only that but Allen figured it better to hide here under their nose rather than run off to the main land Europe as the others expected him to. So here he found himself, lost in the woods in the middle of the night.
He looked up at the tops of the trees and pulled the coat around him tighter, the hood covering his face completely and under that he had wrapped bandages around the left half of his face as to hide the scar, the wind blowing a chill through the trees, shaking his head he continued deeper into the forest. He walked for some time through the woods when he entered a clearing, across from him stood a large house, the place he had been looking for. This house seemed to have an energy around it that caused both the black order as well as akuma to avoid it; there are rumors of the place, haunted by the former home that had burned down, only to be rebuilt by the son of the very people who had died in the fire. Allen did not want to get to close, the idea of a haunted house was not something he wanted to have to deal with anymore, he was done, but being here outside the house, it would keep him safe.
He started with finding a tall tree, one that no one but him could climb naturally, nor would anyone be able to see him from the field, he then pulled out a bit of rope he had been saving to tie himself onto the branch and fell asleep looking through the trees at the brightly lit windows of the manor, a party clearly going on.
The light of the rising sun was what woke Allen from his perch, the people in the manor were outside, he could distantly see, so he made care to jump down from the tree and mover farther into the woods, he grabbed the empty bag he had taken to using during his running away and started toward town to replenish supplies he might need in the coming times. He spent the morning walking out of the woods, but in the light he started to notice patters and hopped that he would remember them on his way back. By the time the sun had reached the center of the sky, he was back into the city, and started to shop, using money he had won through gambling, as well as earned from performing on the streets.
Allen tried to ration the things he would need as to not use too much money, the food he bought not nearly enough but anymore and he would not be able to hide it in the trees with him, but still more than he had been getting on the run. But he was mindful of the types and amount of each supply he bought, the largest of the items a container to hold water in. He only spent an hour in the main shopping area, not wanting to risk standing out, he swiftly moved back into the shadows of the trees and started to head back to his tree.
The walk seemed faster on the way back, and his concern for getting lost was not unfound because briefly he misplaced the tree that showed him where to turn but he eventually found his way back. As he walked he listened to the world around him, the animals living out their lives in this forest and the breeze flowing through the trees, it has been so long since he felt so at peace in silence. He walked back and the sun set as he finally got back to the tree, he had placed the rope at the bottom of the tree to tell the one he had climbed. Carefully he scaled the tree with bag in tow, he pulled out another piece of rope he had bought and hung the bag and empty water container of one of the strong looking branches above him, and he strapped himself in and went to sleep.
When he awoke it was the middle of the night, the sound of gunshot is what caused him to wake up. It came from the manor, and he turned to look at it through the trees and watched as someone was taken from the house, he felt cold. He should help, that’s what he had always done, yet if he did, likely the one safe space left on the planet would no longer be safe for him to live in. He turned away feeling disappointment in himself for his lack of action, but he fell back asleep. The next he woke the sun was up and a man was walking back with the figure that had been taken, it was okay, his lack of action did not doom another. Allen felt a little bit better, and then he felt foolish, a home that size, it must have guards.
The next day was spent looking for a water source, a moving one as he found a stagnant pond that just would not be safe to drink from, and to fill the container with water. Allen was happy that he was able to find the river that he did, it ran through the trees so as not to expose himself recklessly, and he filled the container with water and he headed back. Now that he had that done, his makeshift home was more or less done, he had bought a blanked to place on the branch as well as a tarp to place over the branch if the weather takes a turn for the worse, so he decided that he would start looking for a way to make money, and street preforming was a good start but he ultimately planned to use some of his money to find a place to gamble, he could always win at that.