A/N: I finally decided to write an actual plotted fanfic for -Man. I know that Allen vs the Order and Earl has been done before...but meh. I will have pairings, of course...but who I pair together will be a surprise.

DGM is owned by Katsura Hoshina.

On a side note...anybody know why every time I type the full name of DGM on FF Doc Manager, I only get -Man? It's rather annoying...

Answers and Offers

Delicately, the Musician poured himself and his nephew a cup of tea. Offering the teacup towards the other male, Neah took a small sip of it before setting it down in front of him. Who would have thought that he would be sitting here having tea with his nephew. The last time they'd met it had been a far less pleasant occasion involving chaining him to a chair and calling him a mad puppet. This time, it was Allen himself who had caused him to awaken to have this conversation.

Neah chuckled briefly, leaning back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table. "You know, you didn't have to stab yourself with your Innocence claws, nephew darling. All you had to do was mentally call for me…I personally don't enjoy being jabbed in such a manner, especially by Innocence. I doubt you care for it as well." He paused, and then smiled pleasantly at his nephew. "I imagine that you have questions for me...and I will answer them the best that I can."

Ignoring the cup of tea placed before him, but enjoying the dango Neah had so kindly provided him. After all…it was his favorite type of dango. Neah raised an amused eyebrow as Allen practically shoved the whole plate of food down his throat. "My first question…did Mana truly love me? Or was it you he loved?"

"That's your first question, nephew? Very well. He loved the both of us, Allen. After my death, he may have been losing his mind to grief…but he loved the both of us. I knew niisan better than anybody could ever…he was my only true family...You were his son, biological or not. You are my nephew." Neah smiled sadly at Allen, noticing that his eyes were misting over slightly as if tears were threatening to fall. "Don't cry, nephew."

Allen wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, taking a deep breath of air and then a sip of tea. "Thank you, Neah." He paused, thinking through whatever he was going to ask next. "How did you know Master Cross?"

"Cross Marian," Neah snorted as if he had actually disliked the man. "I met him when I was still a part of the Noah clan…we met under odd circumstances…." He ran his fingers through his hair, snorting. "I was hunting Innocence and here Marian was, drunk as a skunk in a bar, screaming about some stupid girl named Maria and the idiocies of the Black Order, and he then proceeded to throw his wine glass at me. Oh. He left me his tab as well…he was young then…he was in his late teens. I must say…I wanted to kill him then and there, it's probably a good thing I didn't though…he became a useful partner to me in the long run. He didn't much get along with the Black Order, as you probably know..." Neah paused briefly, glancing up at the darkened sky in Allen's subconscious mind. "We started talking when he'd sobered up, and I managed to get him to pay me back for his tavern tab…and we both realized that we were on the wrong side. Both the Earl, and the Order…they were both wrong. The way the Order went about doing things…it was wrong…imprisoning their Exorcists until they did as they were told, the Second Exorcist project, the other experiments that were going on…the Earl was wrong for wanting to destroy humanity...they can do that on their own in due time…I…hate the Akuma, they're sad beings…the dead should stay dead." He took a breath of air, thinking of what to say next to his nephew. "We began working together…and our first thing that we were going to do was take down the Earl..." Neah laughed bitterly to himself, putting his hand over his face and shaking his head. "As you know, it didn't work…but I did manage to kill the entire family except for Rhode, and the Earl himself…but it left me on the run with Mana; Cross had returned to the Order he despised so much, he even became an Accommodator during that time. He was a full member of the Black Order now, rather than just a scientist."

He paused, wondering if he should continue from there…to the rest of his story until the end of his life. "We'd failed...and now we were running from the Earl who had eyes everywhere. We tried to stay out of the sight of the Earl…but he's got spies everywhere, Allen. He'd found us…I used the Ark to send Mana to…I don't even know where I even sent him…I just wanted niisan to be safe…" Neah rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "I died that day, to save my brother. I died." His hands tightened on his tea cup and he took a long drink of it. "Next." He sounded…sad in a way.

"I…don't know what to say." Allen stated softly, glancing over at his adoptive uncle as he quietly mourned his own death. He thought it better to stop his questioning there, and merely sipped at his tea, thinking of what he'd just learned about his own master, his foster father, and his uncle.

"Nothing can be said, nephew. What's happened has happened…it's in the past and finished." Neah sighed heavily, his gaze dreamy and off in the distant not focusing on one thing as if reliving his demise. Shaking his head, he turned back to Allen. "Next question…"

"Oh…right," There was one thing that Allen simply had to know...it was a question that had been eating at him since he'd learned about his heritage. "Will I really disappear if I become you?"

Neah shrugged his shoulders, then turned back to Allen. "No. I don't want that. I love you as much as I loved Mana…I don't want my cute nephew to vanish as if he never existed. Nor will you destroy your friends…that is merely a precaution that some Noah memories take…they destroy those closest to them, those who would remember who they were. Some, such as Tyki Mikk…they want to keep that human side to them."

Neah then held his hand up for silence from Allen, responding now with a request. "With that said…I would allow you to keep your body, you would remain as Allen Walker. Follow in the footsteps of your master…and work with me to end the Earl's reign. The Noah were meant to lead the human race towards salvation…not damnation." Neah held out his hand towards Allen, smiling. "I only ask one thing of you…to allow me use of your body if I so wish it…I haven't had one in a very long time…I want to be able to feel the rain on my skin…this manner of life I live, trapped in the shadows of your mind…eh. I could care less for it."

"We strive for the same goal, nephew…the end of the Earl, the end of the Black Order's cruelty. We will become the founders of the third side to this war, together."

Allen signed, and took Neah's hand in his own. "I accept your offer, uncle," he smiled at the other.

The end of the first chapter of this. Uhh. So. Thank you for reading. I actually already have chapter 2 finished, so it'll be up soon. I also need to continue Memories of Neah, so hopefully I'll have a new chapter out for that as well.