Not the fourteenth

Chapter 4

            Marian Cross was sitting on the side of the bed his apprentice was sleeping on playing with the soft white locks. He had never thought he will one day willingly take care of a child, but he had been pulled in by the boy's innocence and childlike behaviour. It had annoyed him at first to no end, but little by little he had gotten accustomed then after that he came to cherish it. A month or two after he had pulled the boy out of the catatonic state he had been in, the General had realized he had come to love the boy as a son so he had adopted him officially. He could still recall the face he made when he told him. He was shocked at first, then it morphed into a teary warm smile and he found his arms full of his new son as he clung to him like a life line while crying his shirt full. It felt so rewarding to have his son in his arms knowing that the boy won't up and leave, and that the Order couldn't take him away from him for they were bound by law that a child cannot be taken from their parents if they do not give them up. He knew about how the other Generals thought of their apprentices ads their children especially that senile Tiedoll, but none of them had the guts and determination to adopt them so they only thought of them as such, but wouldn't really go to the end of the world for they had not taken them in as their children on paper too. Allen had been the first he took in to train but he had taken the boy in so fast that even if someone at the Order had realized he had a pupil they wouldn't be able to separate them.

Allen Cross woke up to his father playing with his hair. He had grown used to having a caring adult in his life nonstop. Someone he could turn to and count on no matter what. His adoptive father had warned him about avoiding the exorcists and finders for they would try to take him back to the Order. "Dad." he called softly prompting his father to turn to him. "How long had I been asleep?"

"Just a couple of hours." answered the General with a smile on his face. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes." answered the teen while rubbing his eyes with his fist. The smile directed at him grew brighter at the cute act and the man pulled him up from the bed. Making sure his son was standing on steady legs before directing him towards the bathroom.

"Go, wash your face to wake yourself up while I go and order us something to eat." The teen nodded and went to the bathroom without further ado. The red haired man walked out of the room and down the stairs.

Allen pulled his gloves off and put them in his pockets before washing his face and hands. After that he went back to the room pulling his white gloves back on. He was just about to sit down on the bed when his left eye changed detecting Akumas nearby. He was scared because it wasn't a couple of enemies no it was dozens of killing machines at least. It was overwhelming him so much that he had to shut his eye and cover it with his right hand. His eye sadly saw through it and it hurt so much that his head began to hurt. The pain in his head built up to a migraine which sent him crashing to the ground holding his eye and head in his hands. As the ache in his head grew to ungodly strengths he faintly heard the noise of wooden beams breaking. He had no time to look up before the ceiling caved in and fell on top of him. Luckily his innocence had no trouble activating on its own and protecting him from being fatally injured. Had it not been for it he would have died for sure.

The red haired General was on the ground level of the inn they were in ordering food for themselves when he heard the screams and shots outside. He ran out thinking it must be only a couple of pesky Akumas wreaking havoc, but he had been wrong oh how wrong he was there was a blanket of Akumas in the skies shooting projectiles towards the town killing everyone in it without mercy. The one eyed man turned back towards the inn to get his son but before he could take a step towards it the enemy decided to blow it up by shooting it to the ground with everyone in it getting killed. He watched shocked as the building crumbled to the ground with his son still inside their room. Soon that paralyzing shock gave way to burning rage. He called his innocence Judgement to fight and began taking out the killing machines left and right without any care about anything or anyone. The enemies blended together for him and his feelings fuelled his pistol to be even more brutal in its bullets' strengths which made the Akumas blow up in a sower of blood coating the man from head to toe.