Card Games

Rose watched Allen, from the window in her room, as he left the black order's head quarters for his nest mission. As he disappeared into the distance, she prayed for his safe return. "Dear God," she whispered into the empty room, "please let Allen return to the Order safely. I care a lot about him and I know you do to; that's why you gifted him so he could be an exorcist. And I'm sorry for what happened on my last mission. Please forgive me. Amen." Tears began forming in her eyes as images of her last mission began flashing in her head.
"Rose, look out," she recalled Allen shouting as the roof above her caved in.
She vigorously wiped the tears away and went into her pocket to get her pack of cards. However, she discovered that her pockets were empty. "They must be in Allen's room," she thought as she left her room.
The halls of the Order were empty; everyone was either on a mission, in the cafeteria or in their rooms. Still, Rose was cautious about making sure no one saw her go into Allen's room. Once she closed the door behind her, she began searching for the deck of cards in the mess of food wrappers on the floor. After minuets of crawling her way through Allen's mess, Rose became oblivious to her surroundings and soon bumped her head against the table in front of her, causing the objects on it to fall.
"Ow," she muttered to herself, "why am I such a klutz?"As she massaged the forming bump on her head, she looked down at the floor, spotting a deck of cards held together with a rubber band and a note attached.
"Rose," it read, "Thanks for leaving your cards in my room. Now you won't feel so far when I'm away. Here are my cards in place of them. You should sharpen your skills for the next time I play you." Rose smirked at the note.
"How cocky of him," she thought as she set up a game of solitaire for herself. 'No matter what I do," she said to the empty room, "I always end up playing solitaire." She sighed. "No wonder I always feel lonely." As time passed and Rose was sucked into her game, the memory of her last mission flashed in her head again.

"So you say there's innocence in a town near the Rhine river?" Kanda's voice asked plainly.

"Well... that's what we believe is there," Rose mumbled as she looked down at the train's floor

"Ugh!" Kanda's voice boomed, "You should really speak up and look someone in the eye when your talking to someone, especially to an exorcist you low some finder."

"Excuse me," Rose exclaimed, "don't even try to use that bullshit on me. You might be older and taller and exorcist, but that does not mean you're better than me."

"Why I ought to-"

"Kanda that's enough!" Allen's voice interrupted, "Exorcists and finders are suppose to work together; don't try to act superior while we're on a mission."

"Whatever bean sprout," Kanda said not caring as he left the room.

Rose sighed as she took out her deck of cards and began setting up a game for herself. Silence settled in the room as Allen stood there saying nothing.

Feeling awkward, Allen broke the silence. "Sorry about Kanda. He get's like that sometimes. I think it's a superior complex."

"What," Rose said looking up from her game not really paying attention. Her auburn hair cascaded down to her shoulders and framed her face perfectly while her emerald green eyes captivated Allen. He stood there, admired by her beauty until she said, "What did you say?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, Kanda. Sorry about him."
"It's no big deal. Don't worry about it..."
"Allen."
"Hi Allen. Call me Rose."
"Is it because you're beautiful like one," Allen said in a semi flirtatious voice causing Rose's cheeks to flush pink.
'Are you always such a ladies' man?"
"No, that's usually Lavi's job." Rose laughed at this and became engaged in a long conversation with Allen. By the time they got off of the train, Rose finally felt like she found someone that could fill the emptiness that she had been feeling from living life alone.

"That was the best day of my life," she stated plainly as she placed a red four over a black five. "Why did I have to go ruin it."

Rose ran toward Allen as she saw him in pain. The level two he and Kanda were fighting proved to be stronger than they anticipated; it left Kanda panting and Allen's thrown on the floor.

"Allen are you okay?" she asked as she tried to bandage his wounds.

"Rose you gotta get out of here; It's not safe for you," he said barley above a whisper.

"No! I won't leave you here."

"Rose, look out!" Allen exclaimed as the pillar behind her fell. Before she could react, Allen pushed her aside and held the pillar with his left arm.

"Allen!" Rose shouted in desperation.

"Leave," he said weakly.

"No. I can't. I won't"

"Well I guess that wasn't enough for you two," the level two said mockingly. "I guess you're going to have to die together."

"Not so fast," Kanda said attacking from behind.

Everything that happened next went by so fast. Allen tossed the pillar to aside, Kanda and Allen both attacked the akuma, killing it in the process, and they retrived the innocence.

"I can't believe I put Allen's life on the line like that," she said letting the cards slip from her hands. Tears began forming in her eyes and she hugged her knees as if to comfort herself. "I deserve to be alone," she screamed to the empty room.

"No you don't," a voice from behind said. Rose turned around to find Allen standing there.

"Allen," she said shocked, "I'm sorry. I never meant to put your life on the line when we were in Germany. If it weren't for Kanda, that akuma would have killed us both."

"You know that's not true. I would never let that akuma kill you. I-"

"You what, Allen?"

"I- I really care about you; I'd never let someone I care about die like that," he said as he moved closer to her.

"Allen," she said confused. Before she knew it, Allen had his arms wrapped around her waist.

"I don't ever want to hear you say that you deserve to be lonely," he said as he rested his chin on top of her head.

"O-okay," she responded nuzzling into his chest. The two made their way to Allen's bed and soon fell asleep in each other's arms.

The game of solitaire that Rose left on floor was abandon not only for that night, but forever. She no longer had to play the game to fulfill her loneliness; she had Allen.