Chapter 2

Notice: I will be changing my Pen name to Dark Domination shortly after this and chapter 21 of Gohan: The Fallen Hero is posted.


The morning sun shone upon the snow covered ground like a sea of crystal white. It was early and yet most people were still fast asleep from a long day of festivities from the day before which had many a merry events taking place since the day before had been Christmas day. Despite this, a lone tall yet slender man with a nobles attire dressing him head to toe stood upon a hilltop that housed a grave which lay beside a withered old dead tree which was covered in a thins blanket of snow. He leaned slightly on his cane with both hands holding it in place at a slight tilt, his head downcast with his top hat shadowing his eyes as he looked at the grave of Mana Walker. The man was the Millennium Earl in his human form so as to not draw unwanted attention to himself. Though he wasn't there to mourn, he was there out of curiosity and confusion and to think.

Why had he spared the boy named Allen Walker? Why did he take him back to the Ark? Why did he feel the need to be close to the boy? These were a few of the questions that had been running through his mind, though he shrugged most of these thoughts off as merely due to the fact that he was Nea's nephew and that he still cared for Nea as a brother. Even though he still felt hurt about Nea's betrayal, he had found out why Nea had done so. It had been Cross's fault! The Exorcist General had somehow manipulated the 14th and formed a friendship with Nea and the Earl hated him for that. Since then Cross had become a major thorn in his side due to the information Nea had leaked to Cross. Though, this led him to wonder further, why was General Cross lying in wait for the boy? It was as if he knew what was going to happen before it happened and the General never did anything without a good reason. It had to be more than just pure coincidence that the pesky Exorcist had shown up when he did. He might have been planning on approaching the boy after his Innocence had activated, maybe he was the one responsible for it activating, but if he was how did he know the boy had Innocence to begin with? Had he met with Mana prior to his death? Could Cross have staged Mana's death just to get the boy? And if he did, why? But the Earl doubted that the General would go to such lengths for a mere child even if they did have Innocence. The Earl's mind was reeling at the many questions and possible scenarios that were floating about in his mind and shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. These questions didn't matter at the moment. What did matter was that General Cross was out and about which meant he was on a mission of some kind. He'd have to keep an eye on him especially since he had that pesky ability to turn his Akuma against him and even hide his presence completely.

He let out a frustrated sigh as he bent down onto one knee and wiped some of the fresh snow and ice off the cross shaped tombstone. "You're to blame too, you know." The Earl said as he eyed the headstone angrily. "Everything he did was for you and yet you did nothing to stop him. Maybe you wanted him to rebel. Maybe it was you and not Cross who cause our dear 14th to betray us. But that doesn't matter right now, not at the moment. I will take care of this boy that you took an interest in for whatever reason, though I'm not doing it for you. I'll do it for Nea, even if Nea hates me; I still care for him since he was also my brother as a fellow Noah. And I know I said I would never forgive you and that I would always hate you but I think it's time to move on and let bygones be bygones. You're dead now so it will be kind of hard holding a grudge anyway. Well then I'll be off now."With the Earls little speech out of the way he stood back up and straightened his jacket and the rest of his clothes and tipped his hat towards the grave before slowly morphing back into his pudgy self.

"Now that I've gotten that over with, I think it's time to check on dear little Allen and see if Road has found anything out about him." He said to no in particular as he opened a heart shaped door to take him back to the Ark.


Meanwhile back in the Earls bedroom sat Lulu Bell as she watched over the now sleeping boy. Road had scanned the boys memories by using her dream to look through his memories, something she normally did to psychologically attack her foes, but hadn't found anything important besides the fact that Mana had taught Allen the musical score of the 14th and that Cross might have somehow learnt it as well, which was a problem. If Cross did indeed know the melody to control the Ark then what else could he know if anything at all? Road was pacing in the as she impatiently waited for the Earl's arrival.

Though the Earl seemed to have a knack for showing up just when he was needed. He peeked around the corner of his bedroom door with only his nose up being exposed at a slant and stood like that for a few seconds before straighten is posture and entering the room.

"How is dear little Allen?" he asked inquisitively as came to stand next to Lulu Bell, who was sitting straight on a wooden stool next to the bed with her hands interlocked and in her lap, and leaned over to examine to boy's flushed face.

"He should be fine. There were no major injuries, though it would seem his left eye suffers from a curse but I'm unsure of its nature." She answered, keeping her eyes on the boy.

"What did you find out about the boy?" The Earl asked not taking his eyes off the sleeping child.

"Mana taught him the 14th's musical score and there's a chance Cross knows it as well." Road replied.

"I see." The Earl turned to face Road, "Did our dear Sheryl already depart?" He asked glancing around the room as if her were searching for the Noah.

"Sheryl left shortly after you did, Lord Millennium." Lulu Bell answered.

"Road..." Before the Earl could finish, Allen sat up in the bed clutching the edge of his blanket, his body was covered in a cold sweat and the patch over his eye was flung off as he quickly looked around trying to figure out where he was before his eyes landed on the Earl and his left eye turned black with a red ring forming around his iris which had also turned red with an upside down red pentacle in the center of his pupil.

The boy stuttered for a bit before he took a deep breath and swallowed hard before taking yet another breath of air.

"You...you're...you're the Earl, right?" The boy's voice quavered slightly as he stared at the Earl's chest as if he were looking at something.

"Ah, you're finally awake little Allen." The Earl cooed softly. "I was getting a bit worried. And to answer your question, yes, I am the Millennium Earl." He said as he took his top hat off and placing it in front of his heart before taking a bow.

They boy couldn't help but giggle at this man's antics helping loose the tension he was feeling. "You're not mad at me are you?" he asked as he looked away from the Earl dejectedly.

Putting his hat back atop his head the Earl placed his hand over his massive grin, "What could I ever be mad at you for?"

"Well I...I got Mana killed." The boy choked out as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled the coins he had picked up in the alleyway and held his hand out. "If I hadn't gone after this, Mana would still be alive."

Silence filled the air as Allen stared at his hand that held the small before clutching it tightly as tears began to build up behind his eyes, though he forced himself not to cry as his small body trembled. He felt a firm grip in his right shoulder which gave a reassuring squeeze causing the boy to look at the hand before looking up to its owner.

"Now there. There's nothing you could have done." The Earl said calmly. "We mustn't dwell in the past little Allen. You're with family now after all. Speaking of, we need to get you settled in don't we?"

The boy was speechless for a bit before nodding slightly causing the Earls massive smile to broaden.

"Very well then, we will have you live with Sheryl for the time being. But first I think it's best if we gather every one for breakfast, though they will probably be late." The Earl said as he turned to face the door way. "Lulu Bell, would you see if we have any clothes for our little Allen to wear to breakfast?" he asked as he glanced behind him.

"W-Wait! Mr. Earl..." Allen blustered but was interrupted by a chuckle from the Earl.

"There's no need for formalities little Allen." He said as he turned around to face the boy. "Just call me 'Earl'. Now why don't you go get washed up and then you can meet the family so far." With that the Earl wobbled out of the room and went off to do no good.

Allen kept his gaze on the doorway when he noticed that there had been two other people in the room the entire time and blushed slightly in embarrassment eliciting a suppressed giggle from Road causing his face to grow even redder. After getting over his embarrassment he looked at Lulu Bell who was sitting at the foot of his bed with her hands in her lap, Allen noticed she had elegance about her, her clothes were that of a high class noble, though instead of a dress she wore a black suit with matching slacks a white under shirt and a blue tie, her black hair was put in a ponytail. She was currently going through several dressers and the sort to try and find a suit that would fit Allen but to no avail but she kept looking anyway. His gaze drifted towards Road who was now holding a pink umbrella that had a jack-o-lantern head at its top. She appeared to be a bit older than he was but for some reason he felt that she was older than she looked despite her current childish antics as she toyed with the poor umbrella, but didn't question it. She was wearing what appeared to be some sort of school uniform. He had also noticed that they shared the same ashen color skin as the Earl and had a line of crosses lining their foreheads. His mind began to drift as he continued to watch the two until he heard a sudden screech that seemed to come from the jack-o-lantern topped umbrella.

"Put me down! Lero!" the umbrella hollered as Road began to spin it around faster her wrist.

"Did that umbrella just...talk?" Allen asked slowly keeping his eyes on the now flying umbrella which had managed to get away from Road and promptly flew towards the boy and hovered at eye level before flying around him as if it were examining him. Allen slowly reached out his hand and when he was about to grab the umbrella it flew back a bit avoiding his grasp, watching him cautiously.

"My name is Lero. Lero."

"Lero Lero?" Allen asked slightly confused with a tilt of his head, bewilderment in his eyes.

"No just Lero. Lero."

Allen shook his head with a dumbfounded look before looking back at the umbrella. "That's what I just said."

"You said Lero Lero. My name's just Lero. Lero."

Allen was starting to get annoyed by this floating pink umbrella that couldn't seem to say his own name.

"You just said your name wasn't Lero Lero, and then you say it is! Make up your mind you stupid umbrella!" Allen yelled with irritation and annoyance as he was now trying to grab at it so he could smash it into the floor.

Road who was currently on the floor clutching her sides with her feet kicking in the air laughing managed to calm down her laughter down to a suppressed giggle managed to grab Lero while he was busy glaring at Allen, who couldn't seem to get his name right.

"His name's Lero." She said with a smile. "He just has a bad habit of saying his name at the end of everything he says." She manages to clarify as she started to once again swish Lero around playfully. "I'm Road by the way. That over there is Lulu Bell. You'll meet the others at breakfast." She added as she pointed to herself then to Lulu Bell who was currently making a second pass through the clothes to find something suitable for Allen to wear.

Allen avoided eye contact with the two and simply nodded before he jumped out of the bed as he remember he needed to get cleaned up for breakfast and was about to head to the bathroom when he stopped as he didn't know where the bathroom was. "Where's the bathroom?" he asked with a hint of embarrassment in his voice and his face slightly red.

"It's down the hall, 6th door on the left." Lulu Bell answered as she pulled out a suit that she had missed only to put it back due to it being far too big. Allen quickly said thank you before quickly making his way down the hall following Lulu Bell's directions. The boy had found his way to the bathroom easily enough and had found that the bath had already been prepared by who he didn't know but he didn't question it and proceeded to strip down and get cleaned up.

A few minutes passed and Allen was currently sitting at the edge of the tub and carefully washing his face and hair making sure to avoid his fresh bandages that covered most of the lower left side of his face and his forehead leaving his left eye exposed. As he rinsed his hair and face, he let out a pained groan as his left arm began to ache again and proceeded to bite it in retaliation, causing him to wince in pain even more but the internal throbbing seemed to cease as a result. When the pain faded away Allen grabbed the towel that had been sitting on the sink counter and noticed that a small formal suit was now sitting next to the towel which wasn't there before, causing him to glance around. He hadn't seen anyone enter the bathroom and definitely didn't hear anyone enter. Then again he had been fairly occupied splashing around in the warm bath water since he rarely was able to enjoy a soak in warm water seeing as nearly every cheap motel he and Mana went to never had any, that and he had also been busy trying not to cry as he remembered all the times Mana would help him wash his hair and back. Allen decided not think about that as he proceeded to get dressed and was slightly shocked that the suit was a near perfect fit and decided to go look in a mirror to see how he looked and as he got onto the counter he let out a rather shocked scream and nearly fell off the counter as a result.

His hair was white! And his left eye was completely black save for a red inverted pentacle in his pupil and two circular red rings that outlined it. Curiosity got the better of him as he took off his bandages and which revealed a matching pentacle was also above his left eye with that had a series of red lines trailing down from it that lined his cheek and jaw bone, but what shocked him most was what he saw on or rather in his chest. It was like what he saw on the Earl, there was a faceless humanoid figure that resembled a bare mannequin. Though unlike the Earl's which had been a smoky gray color and stood tall and confidant, his took on whiter shade but had a hint of grey and was curled up in a fetal position, shivering slightly. He had no idea what he was looking at and looked down at his chest and couldn't see what he saw in the mirror and put his hand to his chest curiously as if to feel around for it but felt nothing.

Allen decided that it would be best to ignore what he saw in the mirror and head back to the room before heading to the dining room since he didn't know where it was. As he climbed off of the counter he heard a knock on the door followed by a male voice he didn't recognize.

"Hey, boy! You alright in there?" it called out. Allen opened the door up to see a tall man with slicked back charcoal colored hair who was dressed in a formal suit similar to his own only the man had white gloves and Allen didn't and the man also had a near perfect completion save for a single mole under his left eye. As Allen studied the man he noticed he didn't have the figure in his chest like he had seen in the Earl and himself. Then again he had never seen the figure in his chest until a few moments ago as he stared at himself in the mirror.

The man raised an eyebrow at the boy who seemed like he was trying to burn a hole through his chest by staring at it and coughed to catch the boy's attention. Allen managed to nod, being a bit too shy to speak to the man. "If you don't hurry you'll be late for breakfast." He said before turning around and proceeding to walk down the hall but stopped when he heard the boy asking him to slow down.

"What is it, boy?" Tyki asked with a hint of annoyance.

"I don't know where the breakfast room is." Allen said with a pout as his stomach growled.

The man sighed, "Alright then. Follow me little one." He said as he motioned for the boy to follow him.

It didn't take long for them to arrive to the dining room and when they entered the room through the big double doors only Road, Lulu Bell and the Earl were sitting at the table though it was clear that they hadn't been waiting long.

"Tyki! I need some help with my homework." Road whined childishly as she lifted her head out of a small stack of books.

Tyki moved from Allen's side and made his way to his seat next to his niece. Road shoved a few of the papers and text books in front of him with a smile.

"Are you feeling better, Allen?" the Earl asked happily.

Allen nodded as he scanned the room. It was dimly lit with what appeared to be jack-o-lanterns, similar to the one's that lined the hall ways. There was a large round table in the center with fifteen chairs, ssix of which were currently occupied. He noticed that there were two people he hadn't met yet. One of which was sitting across from the one who called herself Road, he had long black hair that was in a ponytail and looked a great deal like the man he now knew as Tyki and sported a monocle over his left eye. The other was a rather large and muscular man who was currently nibbling on a sucker, his hair was spiked back and like nearly everyone else present it was black and had a line of crosses lining his head, though unlike the rest of the family his eyes were pure white with no pupil whereas everyone else had amber colored eyes.

He didn't know why but he felt uneasiness around these people, then again he felt uneasy around new people in general and for good reason too. Most people had called him devil child because of his arm and rare occasions had been chanced out of towns with the threat of death, until he met a circus entertainer who had found his arm 'exotic' and put him in the freak show section where he became a star attraction for a time, though that didn't last very long. Even then he was kept in a cage and treated like he was an animal and because of his red arm he earned the name 'Red'. When he wasn't sitting in the cage 'entertaining' the visitors, he was cleaning the animal pens and running errands for the more popular entertainers namely the clown named Cosimo. Though he was often beaten by the clown for not being fast enough or doing it the task a certain way and really any excuse the dreadful clown could think of to beat the boy. It wasn't until Christmas day when he met what he thought was a stray dog that had been nice to him and even licked his deformed hand. The dog seemed so nice compared to the people he had met, though it didn't last long since the wretched clown Cosimo had beaten it to death.

"Is something wrong?" the Earl asked who was now kneeling down to look Allen in the eyes.

Allen blinked a few times to clear his mind before he fell on his backside due to the surprise of seeing the Earl so close to his face and chuckled nervously.

"I'm just nervous." He replied as he looked away.

"Oh that's not good. We're family after all." The Earl said as he lifted Allen up and brushed him off before leading him to the table.

"Now that everyone is present, I have a little announcement to make!" the Earl said excitedly as he stood at the head of the table, his back to the Noah. "We have a new member of the family." He turned to face the Noah, his glance drifting to Allen. "Allen Walker here is going to be living with our dear Sheryl." His eyes glinted with amusement as the addressed Noah stiffened. "Allen is to learn about our war so that he may better protect himself and be prepared. He is also to learn how our cozy little family came about."

"But Lord Millennium..." Sheryl stopped when he saw the saddened eyes of the white haired boy sitting next to the Earl, eye's that pleaded for somewhere to belong. "Very well, I will see to it that Allen is well taken care of my lord."