The events of the first chapter are partially inspired by something a friend and I thought up while watching the DGM anime in the middle of the night, and suffice to say that things pretty much went downhill from there (when the sugar kicked in)

Now this… this is a partial crack story, and it contains crack too. It may give off a serious impression at times, but don't let yourselves be fooled; it's only pretending.

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray – Man. If I did, I probably would not be writing fan fiction about it.

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- Cracked Masks -

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"Bye bye, Suman."

There was a great chill in the air. Allen watched helplessly as a swarm of black butterflies burst out of Suman's body, leaving it as nothing but a small pile of human remains as they seemingly went for him next. To his surprise nonetheless they stopped their attack and retreated at the call of someone. Allen turned around, slowly, clutching his left arm which was still throbbing in pain.

The person in the shadows chuckled, taking a few steps towards the gruesome scene. He held out his hands. "Come, Tease."

Once again flooded by Suman's memories Allen immediately identified the person coming towards him as a Noah. A sheer sense of terror overcame him, temporarily paralyzing both body and mind.

The butterflies immediately obeyed the Noah's command and flew towards his hands, disappearing into them like a whirlwind of blackness. The moment after they all had been absorbed into his hands two stripy butterflies appeared on his palms.

"It looks like you've gotten bigger after all," the Noah said with a smirk before he kissed one of them.

Allen's eyes widened at the sight of the butterfly; besides the stripy wings it had a skull and several sharp teeth chewing at a fast pace, as if it was hungry, really hungry. "What did you do to Suman?" he found himself asking, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

The Noah blinked, adjusting his top hat as he took a few steps forward, crouched down before the white-haired teen and simply stared at him for a few seconds without saying anything. Allen crooked an eyebrow, wondering whether he should be scared or just angry.

"Cheating Boy A?" the Noah asked after a while.

"Huh?"

Allen involuntarily tilted his head to the side, wondering whether he should laugh, shout or cry at the current situation, but as he remembered what the Noah had previously done to Suman he slapped him using his still very hurting Innocence arm.

"Just cut the crap," Allen said in a tired and slightly angry tone. "What did you do to Suman? Why did you kill him? Answer me!"

And answer me why the Hell I care this much about a guy that betrayed his own Innocence and killed a lot of people in the process… Nice going. And now I'm stuck with an enemy in what is possibly a life-and-death situation and due to this whole incident with Suman I can't even invocate anymore… This simply sucks…

Tyki stared at him for a moment, holding his cheek which was throbbing from the bitch slap as an innocent smile appeared onto his face. "He was my enemy. Shouldn't I kill him?"

Allen remained where he was, glaring at him. Tyki raised an eyebrow, likely expecting the target of assassination to run when he had the opportunity, but as Allen simply stayed in sitting position on the ground looking up at him with a worn out expression on his face Tyki decided to sit down himself and have a smoke, but to his great dismay he found that he had run out of cigarettes, but he also noticed that he had a joint left so he put it in his mouth and set fire onto it before he looked at the exorcist before him.

"Would you mind if I smoked a bit before I explain this whole thing about friends and enemies to you?" he asked.

Allen tilted his head to the side, looking away from him with a tired expression in his eyes, like he didn't care anymore, like he was way too tired to care. The white-haired teen did look a bit surprised however when Tyki offered him a part of his joint. "Do you want some?"

Allen took it without a word, put it into his mouth and inhaled the smoke.

"I might as well smoke some before I die," he muttered after a while.

Tyki laughed at this statement. "No problemos," he said with a smirk on his face as he found another joint. "Let's get high first and try to kill each other later."

Allen nodded a bit as he pulled out a deck of cards. "Want to play?"

Tyki's smirk widened. "I never thought you'd ask, Boy."

Allen shuffled the deck, even if it proved to be a bit painful since his whole body was still hurting from the battle. "Which game?"

"Poker."

"Under what conditions?"

"The winner will be allowed to decide how the loser will die."

"…"

Allen looked up at Tyki, meeting his glimmering amber eyes. "Agreed?"

Tyki licked his lips. "Agreed."

Allen's innocent exterior faded away as Black Allen took over with a devilish grin on his face. Tyki's smirk widened to a grin and his eyes glimmered.

It would be a game of life and death, a game that only one of them could win.

In the end, innocence was just a façade hiding the true darkness, and when that mask cracked, who knew what lay hidden beneath?

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