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"There's something wrong with the Beansprout."
There wasn't much that Kanda bothered thinking about outside of fighting, but this was getting ridiculous. Walker had always been fidgety and idealistic, but he was never unreliable and confident laughter was more his style than this nervous, quiet walk he'd been using ever since the Rewinding Town. Kanda hadn't been there himself, but he heard the full report from Headquarters and he knew it had been bad. Level threes, a Noah, and a new exorcist that didn't know how to control her Innocence had left the Beansprout and Lenalee almost dead. Kanda didn't like remembering that first week after their return. Lenalee was like a doll, so silent and broken, like she was trapped inside her own head and couldn't get out again. The way Beansprout explained Road's power, that was probably exactly what it was like. They just had to wait for her to snap out of it, and Komui had sobbed over her bed every day until she woke up like a limp noodle instead of a human being.
Walker hadn't been much better. His arm exhausted from overuse and shot full of holes from Road's candles, he hadn't even had the energy to scream when Komui repaired his Innocence, the blue of his one uninjured eye too tired to focus on anything but the ceiling. Ever since he'd been edgy, even after his eye grew back. But it wasn't the near-death experience that had him on his toes. As an exorcist, he faced plenty of those on an almost daily basis. Kanda snorted. Being friends with death was almost an exorcist requirement set up by the Black Order.
Innocence compatibility? Check.
Tragic backstory? Check.
The suicidal tendencies of a mentally ill lemming? Check.
Welcome to the Order!
No, it was not the idea of death that had the Beansprout scared, Kanda knew, and if it had been, he'd have smacked Walker so hard the boy would have needed to hope both eyes grew back. Kanda had seen his face for that second before he smiled, when Bookman told him his curse was returning, and it was despair. The disbelief of "So he wouldn't let me go after all." was echoed in his remaining eye. The strangeness had begun soon after. Strangeness meaning he began twitching when people called out to him from behind. The Beansprout walked a bit slower than he had before, and always turned to face people from the right side. He wouldn't take things with his left hand, even though he preferred not using his Innocence infused arm, and stood to peoples left when he talked to them. He didn't spar with Kanda nearly as often as he had before, and when Kanda drew too close to his left side, Allen would flinch.
He always hid it well, smiling and laughing like the idiot he was before anyone could notice the titch in his shoulder or the small jump in surprise every time someone unexpectedly came up behind him. And it was getting in the way of Kanda's routine. The little bastard was just pretending absolutely nothing was wrong, when every time he messed up some little thing, Kanda was distracted. It was irritating as hell. And it looked like no one else was going to do anything about it, which mean he had to take care of it himself. He hated getting involved with other people, but hen he was bothered, Kanda had absolutely no problem asking people what the hell was wrong with them.
However, as planning wasn't exactly his forte, instead of waiting for a good moment to confront Walker about his behavior, Kanda proceeded to walk up behind the sprout at the next opportunity and snap his fingers loudly by his left ear. The jump of shock he received would have been comical if not for the fact that it betrayed how tight Allen's nerves were. This was the last straw, that Walker was so unaware of the people around him that he let Kanda sneak up behind him like that. What if he'd wanted to attack? Would the Beansprout have just stood there and waited? Allen spun around in shock and anger, as if he was about to lecture Kanda, of all people, for being inconsiderate, and Kanda lost it.
Kanda couldn't help himself, he exploded. That mental meditation he'd been practicing didn't do shit, he realized, and proceeded to discard the thought in favor of chewing the Beansprout out. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Beansprout? You flinch at everything, you make stupid mistakes and don't own up to them. If you keep acting this way you won't be dependable in battle, and you'll get yourself or someone else killed. Is that what you want, huh Beansprout? Because no one here will take responsibility for you."
Breathing heavily for a second, Kanda narrowed his eyes when the Beansprout didn't even try to shoot back a reply, too stunned. His lip curled as he delivered the final blow. "I've thought a lot of things about you, Allen Walker, but I never thought you were weak like this."
Walker was silent for a long moment, and Kanda almost laughed, dry and hard, before turning away. A soft voice stopped him. "It's my eye."
"What about your eye? I thought that sorted itself out weeks ago-"
"I'm practically blind in my left eye."
It was Kanda's turn to fall silent, staring down at Walker in a mix of confusion and disbelief. Allen stared back at him expectantly before sighing, pale brow pinched to make wrinkles across his forehead. Kanda stared at the wrinkles for a moment before the Sprout started to explain further.
"It wasn't like this before, I could see fine, even with the curse. But ever since Road took my eye, something's been wrong. None of the nurses, or even Bookman, really know why my eye grew back in the first place. It was completely gone." He paused for a moment, and there was that look again, the one of being trapped. It quickly disappeared though, as Allen continued speaking. "My eye grew back, but my eyesight didn't. It was okay for a while, but it keeps getting worse. I can barely see anything out of my left eye, except when I have it activated." Walker sighed again. "It would be fine if I was completely blind. Lavi taught me some tricks. But I can just see enough-a blob of color, a bit of movement-to always catch me off guard."
He fell silent, gaze on the ground as if he was waiting for Kanda to judge him. As he shuffled his feet and glanced up at the raven-haired swordsman, Kanda realized that's exactly what the Beansprout was doing. Waiting to be deemed useless by the other exorcist. But Kanda didn't really want to condemn him, the anger fueling his actions fading away as Walker explained. He found that the little twitches, when he thought back, didn't bother him as much now hat he knew the reason. And if he wasn't bothered then he had no need to beat up an irritating white-haired Beansprout.
"Beansprout, get your shit together."
Allen choked, coughing slightly. "What?"
"I said, get your shit together, Beansprout. If you get distracted, you just have to learn to ignore it. Wear an eyepatch like that stupid rabbit boy. Do something to fix it. Like I said, none of us are going to take responsibility for you."
Allen stared up at Kanda, disbelief written on his face, and Kanda frowned, looking away. "Tch. Don't look at me like that. You're fucking useful, Sprout, don't ruin that by moping. You aren't fighting by yourself anymore so stop pretending your actions don't affect the other people in this godforsaken Order."
Kanda avoided looking at the Beansprout, instead opting to stare holes into the tip of Mugen's handle. "I'll cover your left side until you get used to fighting with or without it. But you better not let yourself be useless, or slack off just because I'm there."
A small smile edged it's way onto Allen's face, and he nodded slowly. "Of course not, Bakanda. You better keep up with me, your lazy ass is too big for me to drag you along."
Scowling, Kanda reached out and shoved Allen's shoulder before reaching out and ruffling his hair. "Watch your mouth, Beansprout, or I might reconsider being your eyes."
The smile only grew bigger as Allen laughed for the first time since Rewinding Town. "Got it, got it. Now why don't I treat you to some ice cream as thanks? Jerry made mint chocolate."
"Make that vanilla and you have a deal."