Asta was trying her very hardest not to look at him, but finally.. she did. She looked so afraid of him.. It was.. terrible. Her eyes weren't filled with hate or anything, and she didn't look like she was going to jerk out and run away from his arms. She just looked afraid, and she didn't speak even when he did. She simply stood there, and then with getting nervous once more, looked away.

Allen could see the fear in her eyes, and it killed him. He couldn't stand the fact that it was veryy possible she was afraid of him.

"Asta..." he said softly, "please, tell me why you're so afraid. I can't stand knowing that it might be because of me."

((sorry it's so short!))

Asta was still looking down. She wasn't afraid of him hurting her anymore.. At least not physically. No, she wasn't afraid of him. She was.. nervous. She knew that if she spoke, it was going to come out as something horrible. She knew it would, and now more than ever.. she didn't want that to happen. She wanted to be happy, and she knew that Allen would do that if she would let him.

Most of all, Asta was.. scared. Scared, and afraid.. She didn't know what she was anymore, and she looked up to him with tears in her eyes, this time. She felt like she was going to be sick. Everywhere. On everything.
"Allen.." Her voice came out afraid, nervous, and cracking. "Allen.." She didn't know what to say. She wished that he would just dance with her, rather than hold her awkwardly in front of everyone. It would distract her.

Slowly, Allen began to move them in a relatively circular fashion. He was beginning to feel a bit awkward just standing there with her, but he didn't want her to think he was just there to dance with her.

"Please, Asta?" he asked softly. "I don't want you to be afraid, especially of me. You have far too much courage to be afraid of anything." Gradually, he got a bit more confident in his dancing, and actually tried a few real dance steps, although he didn't try more than a few. He didn't want to step on her feet, after all, and he knew it would happen if he got too cocky.

She looked down a little, her body moving mechanically with his. She wasn't worried about anything being stepped on, although, she really didn't want her toe nail polish to be messed up. That was the only thing she was thinking about.
But no, now she looked back up to him, and though the dance was decently paced, she slowly moved her arms around his neck, and hid her face against his chest. This was such a familiar way for them to be. She remembered cuddling with him in her bed.. before everything went awry. It was so.. different. She wasn't used to the feeling, but even then.. now, she.. liked it missed it..
Asta closed her eyes, and exhaled shakily, her small fingers flexing over the fabric on his body.

Allen gently wrapped his arms around her, almost protectively. She seemed so... vulnerable. Something about the way she moved made him want to protect her, even though he knew she could protect herself, if she wanted or needed to.

"I'm not sure how we managed it," he murmured in her ear, trying to get her to smile a bit, "but somehow, we ended up wearing the same colors." He smiled at her. "You look beautiful in green. Come to think of it, you look beautiful in anything."

She was vulnerable.. For the first time in a long time.. she actually.. was letting someone in, and of all people, she let in the person who could hurt her so much more than anyone else.

She couldn't help but to utter a small laugh, but that was about it. She still stayed looking down and away from him. It was as if she was still trying to safeguard herself just a little bit. It was working just a bit, and now she was starting to calm down. It wasn't much, but it was better than what she felt like before.
But as he proceeded to call her beautiful, she felt her stomach churn, and she lost her cool once more. The nerves were back with a vengeance.

"Th-- thank you.." she uttered softly, face still against his chest.

Stuttering? As far as he knew, Asta didn't stutter much, if at all. Then again, she was always yelling at him lately, so he wasn't sure. He could feel her hands shaking a little, though, which surprised him. She was usually so sure of what she wanted, right? Then why was she suddenly so scared?

"Something is bothering you," he said softly. "I just wish I knew what it was so I could fix it. Your smile is so lovely, it's a shame when you aren't wearing it."

(I'm so mad that Mene keeps lying to me about when you respond. Dx)

Asta's chest tightened. Was she really so uptight and horrible that he could tell? And so easily, too.. Asta began pulling away from him. "Allen, I can't do this.." Oh no.. "I--- I'm sorry.." And it was with that that she slipped out of his grasp, and began fleeing, hand over her mouth. She felt like she was going to be sick, and getting away from the mass of people was the first thing on her list of 'to do's'. She wasn't about to spill her guts in front of everyone.. wait, was that even possible?

Asta's head and stomach whirred as she moved past Ana in a sort of daze. She had to get out.. and even though Allen deserved a second chance, and even though she was so close to giving him one, she was gone.

((strange...))

"Asta?" Allen asked, startled when she pulled away from him. "Asta, what's wrong?" He watched helplessly as she ran from the room. What had he done wrong?

Ana watched as Asta ran from the ballroom, concerned. She looked unusually pale... After a moment, she went after her. Thankfully, Asta hadn't gone too far, and it was easy enough to track her down.

"Asta?" she asked softly. Kneeling down, she spread her skirts around her out of old habit, keeping them out from underfoot. "Asta, please tell me what's wrong? And don't tell me it's nothing. Something is wrong if it has you running from the room."

And then it happened, just like that. Asta erupted all over the floor, and then she coughed, eventually looking pathetic and hunched over. "Oh God.." she muttered, her eyes closing as she tried to hide the mess she'd made in one of the hallways, luckily far off from the public. Mostly, the mess was blood, and a bit of watery substance, which she could only expect to be normal bodily fluids. Did she even have those anymore...? She wasn't sure..

"I can't do this, Ana.." she said softly, another cough coming out of her body. "I can't do this again.."

"Oh Asta..." Ana murmured. "Come with me. Let's get you out of that gown and into something comfortable." Gently, she helped Asta to her feet and steered her towards her room. Ana made a mental note to have the mess cleaned up while everyone was resting for the day. Closing the door behind them, she carefully started to unlace Asta's gown. Underneath her concern for her fledgeling, Ana was a bit grateful that the gown hadn't been ruined. That meant that Asta could wear it again.

Gently, she tucked Asta into bed and then stood up straight, shaking out her skirts out of habit.

"I'll be right back with something for you to drink. You'll be hungry later, after what happened."

Asta was so upset though, and it showed as she hid her face in her bed. Everything had been going so.. decently well.. And now she had ruined it all.. She was actually almost dancing with Allen. Oh no, Allen! She could only imagine how Allen felt, being left on the middle of the dance floor, by a girl who ran away from him, looking about like she was going to vomit by just being near him.
She rolled over in her bed, a small sob escaping her throat as she hid herself within her blankets and pillows. She began.. crying.. For the first time in a while, she was crying because of Allen. It was so.. odd that all of this was upsetting her, but it still was.. so much. But of all people she had to care about most, why him? It wasn't like he'd done anything to earn himself love. No, he didn't even deserve like.. and for some reason, she still liked him a WHOLE lot.

Ana went back down to the ballroom, a plan forming in her head. She figured that Asta was upset with Allen for some reason, which wasn't unusual. She wasn't even into the ballroom before she found Allen. He was sitting outside of the ballroom, looking upset enough that Ana wanted to check the time remaining until daybreak to make sure he didn't greet the sun.

Allen heard footsteps coming closer to him, but he didn't look up. If one more person asked him whether Asta was going to come back or not...

"Well, you look like a proper beam of moonlight," Ana's voice said dryly. Allen looked up.

"What do you want?" he asked miserably.

"I wanted to tell you that Asta is in her room, and that I want you to go up and bring her a glass of o-negative," Ana replied, a hint of tartness in her tone.

"What for?" Allen asked. "She still hates me."

"I don't think she does," Ana replied, her voice softer. "I think she's just afraid of feeling things for you again." Allen blinked. Why were girls so difficult to understand? Standing up, he started to head towards the kitchens to do as Ana had suggested.

"And Allen?" Ana stopped him. He turned around. "You don't have to come back down tonight, if you don't want to. I'm staying until dawn if you need me." Allen considered it, and nodded.

"Alright," he replied. Then he headed off to get the peace offering of sorts for Asta.

She definitely wasn't mad at him, mad was not the word.. If anything, she felt horrible for leaving him like she did, for running off like that, and then not having said a word. It wasn't her fault, and she was hoping to have saved him some embarrassment for not throwing up all over him. Either way.. she felt bad, and it was fairly obvious, as a bit of crying could be heard coming from her room.

But it wasn't long before she gasped; someone was at her door. Her body shot into sitting position, and she wiped at her face furiously before exhaling, trying to calm herself. "Come in.." Her voice was very quiet, but it got the job done, at least..

(Short. Dx)

Quietly, Allen opened the door. He'd changed out of his formal outfit into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, since he wasn't planning on going back to the party, and he had two bottles of blood in his hands.

"Hey..." he said softly. "How are you feeling? I brought you something to drink..." He held up the bottles a bit awkwardly. "I'm not heading back down to the party... Being in a room with a bunch of old people isn't my thing." He wasn't sure if his attempts at humor were working, but he was still trying.

She hadn't been expecting Allen, and she quickly looked down from his face. Even looking at him made her feel guilty..
Asta was silent through his 'jokes', and she only twiddled her thumbs nervously. She wasn't rightly hungry, but it would probably do her a bit of good, and so all she could do was pull the blankets back, inviting Allen to sit in the bed with her.
She still wasn't looking him in the eyes, but it was working.. or so she hoped..
But after brief silence, she looked up only for her eyes to shoot right back down.. it was so clear that she was nervous..

Allen sat down next to her, handing her one of the bottles. The silence didn't bother him that much, his jokes hadn't been that good, after all. But he could see her keep glancing up at him nervously, and he couldn't understand why she was so nervous. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. Gently, he tilted her face up so she was looking at him, and he gave her a small, soft kiss.

((sorry, mine's even shorter))

She hadn't been expecting this.. if she had a heart it would have stopped.

Asta's eyes closed after a brief second, and even though she knew better, she pressed her lips against his sweetly. The most horrible, yet amazing thing happened, too.. Fireworks.
Asta felt all of the butterflies, and fireworks, the doves flying around.. the works. She felt everything that she should have, and so much more with him, that it scared her.. But she wasn't pulling away until he was, and it proved as such when she parted their lips, and kissed him again.

Allen was surprised when she kissed him back. So she DID feel something besides hate for him. That thought, more than anything else besides the kiss, made sparks fly inside him.

"Good thing we don't need to breathe," he said softly when he broke the kiss. Gently, he kissed her again. The kiss and soft and sweet, and if he'd been female, he probably would have been more poetic about it. But as a male, he wasn't.

She too felt sparks.. as a matter of fact, sparks was putting it lightly. But she didn't understand.. How could he still want to be with her after all of this time? After all of her yelling.. she told him she hated him, and even then, he had feelings for her? Asta didn't get it, but she no longer cared for answers, or even explanations at this point; she had what she'd been missing for what felt like years, and now she was content.

The lack of need for air was saving Asta at this point, seeing as how she knew she wouldn't be breathing anyway. Even if she wanted to. Asta broke away from him after a moment, and she looked up to him with almost hopeful eyes. She didn't know what to say anymore.. It was.. She didn't need words.

Allen could see the hope in Asta's eyes when she finally looked him in the face, and he was pretty sure his expression was the same. He'd been holding onto that hope ever since she'd rejected him, and now she seemed to be about to take him back.

"Asta... would you be willing to give me another chance?" he asked softly. There. He'd put the question out there, knowing all too well that if she refused, it would kill him. Almost literally. He cared about her, and he didn't think he'd be able to handle it if she rejected him again.

Asta looked at him, and then looked down. She couldn't help but to feel that familiar feeling of afraidness. She was afraid of getting hurt again.. and then she..
Asta looked back up to him. "Allen.." She was so afraid of being hurt again, though now she wasn't sure how possible that was. She was like him now, she being physically hurt wasn't the issue. It was her heart.
"Allen.. I just.. I don't.." She didn't want to be hurt.. not again. And what if he found someone better? Oh no.

"Please, Asta..." Allen pleaded. "It would kill me if I lost you again..." And he meant it. It was hard enough watching her when she hated him. It would be much harder having her around knowing she didn't hate him, but still didn't want him. "I can make you happy, I know I can. But you have to let me. A few ground rules wouldn't hurt, but you still have to let me try. Please..."

Asta frowned at him. He was so sincere, she could feel it radiating from him practically, and.. she could feel how much truth there was to his voice. "Allen.." Oh no.. Asta began to cry very softly, and much without warning, she let the bottle rest between her legs, and she wrapped her arms around him sweetly. "Okay.." There was nothing else she could say anyway. 'No' was a clear response that was clearly out of the question, and yes sounded too happy for the situation as it was... okay, was just.. okay.
"Alright, Allen.." she reaffirmed.