For I Don't Want To Taste This Poison...

"Depends if you are nice to the trees or not."

Allen snorted when she had gotten up and gone to the kitchen, since he hadn't wanted to do that when she was so close to him. "Well I won't grab an axe and randomly start chopping them down," he said, having to hold back laughter at the mental image that gave him. "Is that considered nice?"

"... But for friends you're pretty much stuck with me."

The immortal grinned as well. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he told her honestly. He hadn't had an actual friend in... he didn't even remember how long it had been... he didn't want to loose her and be alone again. If it weren't for Enelya... he would have no one. "Everyone needs friends."

"Umm... What's a stirrup?"

He slapped himself on the forehead. This was going to be more difficult than he had thought it would be. "The stirrup is the part of the saddle where your foot goes," he told her, trying to make this as simple as possible for her. "And the saddle is what you put on the horse to sit on." Hopefully she knew that last part... but if not... Allen had a long way to help her go when it came to horse education.

Sighing, he looked around the room, wishing he had a guitar. Guitars always made the time go by faster. It didn't involve him hurting his lungs, either. Biting his lip, he decided to ask a rather stupid question. "Enelya... can I go back to the school and get a guitar? I'm bored..." Allen pouted and put on the puppy eyes, hoping she would say yes if he acted cute enough.

"I don't know smartie pants, we'll have to see, won't we?"

Allen smiled. "I guess we will," he said. "Hopefully they won't throw apples at me, either..." It was a Wizard of Oz reference. It only made sense for a Tin Man to speak of the land of Oz, didn't it? He grinned, thinking back to two years ago. He had had so much time of his hands back then... way too much time.

"Nope, you need to stay in bed and get to sleep."

He pouted more, long black locks of hair falling into his face slightly. He tried to make himself cuter, but it apparently wasn't going to work. Me thinks I've lost my touch... the immortal thought to himself. He would have to work of perfecting his puppy eyes again.

"We'll see about that guitar in the morning I suppose."

Just a few more hours and he could play his guitar. "Oh, fine, make me go through withdrawals," he said. He played guitar everyday... and this war was cutting into his quality time with the instrument. He sighed and shook his head, turning over on his side away from her and curling into a slight ball before closing his eyes. "We'll talk about it in the morning. Night, Enelya... thanks again."

And within a few minutes, he was in dreamland.

He had managed to sleep peacefully throughout the night. There had been a cough here and there, but nothing absolutely horrible.

The sunlight pouring through one of the windows was what woke him up. Eyelids twitched before the brown irises were revealed, though the sun couldn't stick them much. During the night, most of his black hair had twisted its way forward and had managed to cover his face. As he looked around, there was something in the pit of his stomach that told him that something wasn't right.

He had had the feeling before, a long time ago... he just couldn't remember when at the moment.

Slowly, the immortal stepped out of bed, grabbing his hair and pulling it behind his shoulders to keep it out of the way. He stretched and looked around before venturing into the kitchen... no sign of Enelya. Eyes widened slightly as he looked about the rest of the house. It was small, so there weren't a lot of places she could be hiding.

It hadn't taken him very long to search the house. She was gone... and Allen didn't know what to do. He ran his hands through his hair, panicking somewhat. The feeling in his stomach was growing larger and he searched around for a note of some kind as to where she had gone.

But there was no note. There was no sign of her leaving, nothing was out of place as if there had been a struggle of some sort... she was just... gone.

Then Allen realized when he had gotten this feeling in his stomach before. Sitting back on the bed with slow, frightened movements he held his stomach, biting his lip. It was the same feeling that had run through him when Esme had left.

She had taken Emily and gone off probably in the night. He had awoken the next morning only to find a note that said they were leaving and weren't coming back. The love of his life and his child, gone without a goodbye and gone without guilt. Esme had just taken Emily and ran, even though the little girl had probably protested until her lungs gave out. Allen knew that she would have... because he had told her that no one could force her to do something she didn't want to do.

Which, apparently, Esme hadn't liked very much.

Cracking his knuckles and wiping at his face, Allen stood up, heading for the door. Enelya wouldn't leave... right? She had said for herself that he was stuck with her. She had said for herself that she wouldn't leave him... but she was gone.

Unable to believe that Enelya would have left him, Allen walked outside and looked around for footprints, blood, or anything that would have showed Enelya had left. There was nothing, though... and he couldn't even ask the trees. "Why does this always happen..." Allen asked himself quietly, fists clenched. Everything he ever cared about always wound up leaving him. "Enelya..."

He shook his head and sighed, brown eyes seeming moist. He wouldn't cry though. He was too masculine to cry, and far too cold by far to show such an emotion, such a weakness.

Allen sat down on the front step, head in his hands and fingers separating and pulling at his black hair. He sighed, just thinking. "Enelya..." he whispered, biting his lip again. He had trusted her...

"This is what happens when you let your guard down, you old fool," he said to himself, trying to laugh. It just wasn't happening, though... he couldn't laugh in a situation like this.

Allen blinked as an apple fell on his leg. He didn't get up, though, because he didnt' feel like getting up and running in fear. It would only make his lungs hurt more. Plus, if the trees wanted to attack him, so be it. Without Enelya, he didn't care. "Attack me with your apples... whatever..." he muttered, picking the fruit up and throwing it back at the tree. He didn't want it.

“Good morning!”

The sound of footsteps had reached his ears, but he hadn't looked up. Allen was too overwhelmed in his sorrow to care if something snuck up on him. He was convinced Enelya had left him for some reason or another... and without her...

But before he knew it, arms wrapped around him and that musical, cheerful voice had embraced him. Eyes widened somewhat and he looked at the blue haired female, quickly wrapping his arms around her. Even if it was an illusion... it was an illusion he didn't want to let go.

“Wait, what are you doing out of bed?”

When she let go of him, Allen just held on to her tighter. "Don't leave me again..." he said, burying his face her her shoulder. "I... I thought you left me... I... I thought..." His voice was getting slightly high-pitched so he stopped. He didn't want to sound feminine and he didn't want to cry. The best way to prevent that was to suck it up, stop talking, and just be a man.

He let go of her and took a step back, brushing his black hair out of his face. He tried to smile, but it turned out more like an awkward, forced grin.

“Erm, look, I have a surprise for you!”

The immortal blinked, face blank and confused. As she whipped the guitar around in front of her he blinked, looking at it. Slowly, the awkward grin turned to Cheshire-cat one and his eyes sparkled with glee. "SQUEE! My guitar!!" he exclaimed, jumping up and down a few times and clapping his hands together like a child.

“The custodians were a bit reluctant to letting me have it, but I assured them it was for you, and then I packed it up very carefully because I knew how much you love it…”

Allen smiled. He took the case and set it on the ground before wrapping his arms around her again, one arm holding her head and the other around the small of her back. "Thank you, Enelya..." he said, kissing the side of her head. He hadn't thought and he hadn't been able to stop himself, just so overjoyed that she was there, that she cared still, that she hadn't abandoned him. "I'm sorry I doubted you... I just... I thought you weren't going to come back... I... I'm sorry, Enelya..."

He looked at the guitar case, sure that there wasn't a scratch on his lovely instrument. She was too gentle to harm it. "I can't wait to play more for you," he said, turning back to her, smiling again. "Maybe I can teach you a little?" Allen winked, doubting she would say yes. It was alright if she didn't want to, since he had to teach her how to ride a horse, too.

“Shh… I told you, you aren’t getting rid of me that easy. And I meant it.”

Allen nodded slowly. He should have realized that. Enelya wouldn't have left him, and he should have known hat from the beginning. She had been abandoned, so she wouldn't do that to him... but even so, he had been scared. What if his Tin Manish ways had gotten to her? What if she finally hadn't been able to take anymore of him? What if...

“Allen, listen to me you silly goof.”

Lost in thought, it had taken him a moment to hear that. Eyes turned down in embarrassment as she spoke. The man really hadn't thought... but when she wasn't there and he hadn't seen footprints or anything outside, what was he supposed to think? There was no way he could have thought she would go to get him a guitar.

“Jeez, and I thought I’d made an impression on you!”

He laughed quietly at that. "You did," he said. "I just got paranoid is all." Some things just never changed.

“It’s okay! Just be happy and play me something, will you?”

Allen grinned. Playing guitar would get his mind off of all of this, and probably hers too. "Of course!!" he said, sitting down on the steps again and opening his guitar case, carefully taking out the instrument. He bit his lip, thinking about what he could play. He had already played Soothing Tones, and he didn't feel like playing Somewhere... hmm.

“These stupid fingers are only good for a limited amount of things. Crazy guitar multi-tasking isn’t one of them unfortunately.”

At this, Allen just couldn't help but laugh. "Poor you," he teased. Oh, well — at least he was going to be able to teach her how to ride a horse. Hopefully she could at least handle that, if not guitar.

Finally deciding on a song to play, Allen repositioned the guitar on his knee and cleared his throat before playing. Sadly, he probably wouldn't be singing along this time... but he could do it in his head!

Fingers began to play the strings and the tune to 'This Time' by Smashing Pumpkins could be heard. Allen wanted to sing aloud, but, he didn't want to end up straining his lungs. That wouldn't be pleasant at all, especially if he wanted to be able to do his rock scream within the week.