Episode 27

My Mentor, General Cross (わが師、クロス元帥, Waga Shi, Kurosu Gensui) is the 27th episode of the D.Gray-Man anime.

Short Summary
The Earl is targeting generals, so teams are being sent to protect them. Komui assigns Allen and Lenalee to Cross' team, and they are tasked with finding him, since he's been out of contact with the Order for years. Later, Lenalee and Allen are aboard a ship, heading for Liverpool. Allen wants to head there to find one of Cross' patrons, who he believes may know where his master has gone. Allen reminisces about General Yeager, stating what a kind man he was. He mentions that the general really treated him like a student, and that he thought all generals were cruel and selfish people -due to his experience with his master, who is a general.

Lenalee notes that General Cross must have really been tough on Allen. He mentions feeling sick, and Lenalee holds him up, asking if he's is ok. Allen groans, wondering why he has to be the one to find Cross. Lenalee says it's because he is Cross' apprentice. She tells him to recall what Komui said, and we see Komui briefing them on their mission, and stating that now that Allen is there, they will have a chance at finding the missing general.

Allen asks Lenalee if she's familiar with his master, and she admits she has met him once at HQ years ago. He warns her that if they're going to find Cross, she must be aware of the kind of person his master is. Thus begins the tale of Allen's experiences under the tutelage of his master.

Long Summary
Allen begins his tale in the ship's dining area, where he and Lenalee have tea. He talks about the difficult time he had with General Cross. He states that his master took him in after the death of his foster father. Lenalee apologizes, thinking she brought up a painful memory for Allen. He assures her that it's fine, going on to state that what came after his foster father's death was the bad part.

Allen starts off by telling Lenalee how he had to pay off his master's debts. We go into the flashback, and see Cross and a younger Allen in a bar. Allen is playing cards, while Cross has a drink. Someone calls out to Cross, who looks to find two men leering at him. The bigger man scolds Cross, stating that Cross took his woman's money, and that he has to pay for it, before telling him to get up so they can beat him to a pulp. Cross stands, as if to confront the two men, but ends up running away instead. Allen calls after his master, and gets up to run after him.

While they both run, Cross turns to Allen and tells him to take care of the thugs, before kicking him in their direction and escaping. Having been abandoned by his master, the two men tie him up and tell him that he will be forced to pay if his master won't. Allen feebly attempts to run from the men again, and manages to get away. In present day, Allen mentions how Cross continued to rack up debts that he had to pay off.

He's shown working manual labor jobs to pay off the money his master owed. Later in the flashbacks, we see Allen has taken up a job mining. The workers tell him he can take a break, and Allen declines, stating he's going to work through. They tell him not to overdo it. Allen is paid a good bit of money from working, which Cross promptly takes from him to spend on women.

Cross complains that after all day working, Allen didn't make anything but pocket change to show for it. He tells Allen to get a better paying job next time, before walking off with a woman. Allen calls to him, but Cross just waves him off and continues on his way. Allen grumbles that he will get Cross one day.

Back aboard the ship, Allen tells Lenalee that he longed to beat Cross to a pulp everyday, but stating he just had to keep working to pay off Cross' debts. Another job he was shown to have was working on a commercial fishing boat, in the Mediterranean. Then hauling space through the Sahara desert.

We then move ahead to the two of them staying in Kenya. Cross appears to be bored, and orders Allen to bring him a lion so he can see one. Allen is horrified, but nevertheless attempt to catch a lioness to bring his master. He ends up being chased by an angry male lion.

We hear from Allen that he couldn't continue to put his life at risk, so he learned how to gamble as a way of making money in a safer environment. Lenalee tells Allen that his time with Cross sounded rough, and that it'd have been easier if Allen had someone to go to. Allen seems somber, and Lenalee worries she just brought up another bad memory. Allen mentions that he had one friend that he'd just met shortly after the ordeal that he could trust, Narain.

He worked in a palace, where Allen found himself, after Cross became the lover to the Maharajah's widow, Narain is shown tending to Allen's ankle after a sprain, as he was studying to become a doctor. Narain also had a sister, named Mina. She was the lady in waiting to the mistress of the palace, who had dreams of becoming a dancer, and would sometimes perform for her mistress.Allen says looking at them really helped him, and drove him out of his depression of feeling sorry for himself. But he sadly,states that neither of them would live to accomplish their dreams. Lenalee then appears shocked, along with the other women aboard the ship, who had been listening along as well.

Allen continues his story, going forward six months after they'd been staying in India. Allen is shown doing more manual labor, but also making good money playing poker. However, Cross corners him in an alley, and takes away his earnings again. Allen wonders how long he's supposed to keep doing such for Cross, then complains that Cross asked him to be an Exorcist, but hasn't trained him at all since they started travelling together.

During the conversation, many Level 1 Akuma surface. Cross decides that Allen's training can start that very moment, and that he can take care of all the Akuma. He kicks Allen into their line of sight, and all Allen can do is run, because Cross hasn't shown him how to activate his anti-akuma weapon yet. Allen continues running while the Akuma shoot at him, screaming for Cross to help him, while the latter sits at a table leisurely drinking wine. Cross tells him he won't get far unless he activates his innocence. Allen tries, but doesn't know how before trying to run again. After he falls, Cross finally gets up and deals with the Akuma himself. After the threat has been eliminated, Cross scolds Allen, saying that he is useless and for punishment, Allen has to make him twice as much money tomorrow, before walking away. Allen admits that after that, he went into depression once more.

He goes to see Narain in hopes of cheering up. But upon finding his friend, he discovers that Mina has passed away. She went into town to purchase a book for her brother, but Akuma were there, and she was killed due to a building collapsing in the panic. Narain tearfully tells Allen that he is useless, due to not being able to save his sister. Later Allen goes to pay his respects to Mina, which Narain thanks him for. But Allen realizes than Narain has been turned into an Akuma. Cross appears and tells Allen that he had become worried when he knew Narain was grieving the loss of his sister, and that The Earl indeed visited Narain. He tells Allen to fight and destroy the Akuma standing before him.

Allen refuses, saying that he can not kill his friend, but Cross tells him that Narain is already dead, and that he's just an Akuma in Narain's form. Allen attempts to run, before Cross stops him. He tells Allen that as an Exorcist, it is his duty to break the chain of grief. This hits home for Allen, as he looks to the Akuma again. His curse eye sees Mina's soul, which is crying and grieving for her brother, saying he should have looked to the future and continued working toward his dreams despite her death.

Allen realizes that the Akuma are grieving inside, and he is determined to end their suffering. He activates his innocence for the first time, destroying the Akuma and releasing Mina's soul, which thanks Allen. After the ordeal, Allen silently grieves the loss of his friends.

Cross approaches, and asks how Allen feels after destroying an Akuma for the first time. Allen weeps, and says it's agonizing because destroying them won't bring his friends back. Cross just tells him that he'll have to get used to that, and that he should harden his heart if he wishes to be an Exorcist. Cross walks away, praising Allen for a job well done on his first Akuma. The flashback ends, with Allen stating that Cross continued to throw him into the fray to fight Akuma whenever they appeared. Lenalee says Allen's experience was worse than she thought, but that Cross sounds interesting.

Allen starts to say that Lenalee now understands how Cross is. But before he can finish, the women aboard the ship surround him, saying what an amazing person Cross is, and that he shaped Allen into a good person using his experiences. Allen is horrified upon hearing this. He angrily asks what is so amazing about his master, and the waitress says everything. Allen screams at the gushing women, insisting that his master is a loser. Lenalee sips her tea and assures Allen that Cross' harsh treatment was a form of affection. Allen is further upset by this, wondering why women are fooled. He concludes that they must like a bad boy, but argues that his master is evil, rather than just bad -and is still lost at how women fall all over him. Allen just shouts that he will never understand women, before the episode ends with them sailing ahead to Liverpool to meet Mother, in hopes she lead them to Cross.

Episode Notes

 * This episode is a filler episode, thus none of the events are canon to the manga.
 * This episode's characterization on Cross Marian actually contradicts the manga characterization, and villainizes Cross. Examples
 * At the start of the episode, Allen admits to Lenalee that he never believes generals could be kind people, due to his experiences with his master. This was never stated or shown by Allen in the manga.
 * In the episode, Allen says he learned to gamble so as not to put his life at risk paying off Cross' debts. After Cross learned he could play, he started spending even more money and getting more into debt. Canon-wise, Allen learned to play cards while staying with Mother, as rehabilitation for his left hand, and Cross is the one that taught him to gamble, since it's how they both made money.
 * In this episode, Allen is shown having to do many grueling manual labor jobs to pay off Cross' debts. In the manga, Allen has only stated that he gambled to make money. Slave labor hasn't been mentioned as of late.
 * Canon-wise, Allen and Cross lived off of his friends and lovers, but Allen would gamble for money if they were really broke. In this filler, that is contradict by the fact that Cross still forced Allen to gamble, and stole his money, while he was living with a rich lover.
 * When discussing Cross being a lover to the Maharajah's widow, Allen says that his master has a thing for rich women. In the character fanbooks, by Hoshino, Cross is stated to like good women, not rich women.
 * Cross asks Allen to bring him a lion to see. This wasn't in the manga, and is also inhumanely cruel of Cross, being that he was there years ago when Allen was locked in a cage and almost killed by a lion in the abusive circus he worked in. This action characterizes Cross in the same manner as Allen's circus abusers.