That strange little girl took "Allen" through a door that hurt his eyes, all the while clutching "Allen's" hand so not to lose him. "Allen" observed that the girl found nothing impressive about the door, so he also decided not to let it surprise him. Taking his cues from the girl, "Allen" sombered his expression as they entered an ornate building and walked through an impressive hall before entering a well-furnished room occupied by a single large and peculiar looking individual. "Allen," however, chose to hang back as the girl ran to embrace the stranger.

From inside the body called "Allen," the boy attempted to affix his soul to the name he'd dug out of his subconscious. Though he had already determined the unusualness of his left arm, he found that his right arm felt just as foreign to him. In fact, the entire body seemed quite separate from the soul within. Uncomfortable in his own skin, the young man stood uncertainly before the zany-looking creature with the hat.

"Hello, there!" The creature said. "What have we here? Rhode, where did you find this poor wretch?"

"I found him for you, Millenium Earl."

"Look at him! Rhode, you've brought me a wreck!" He chastised, while "Allen" observed the animated conversation with an almost frozen inability to act.

"No problem, though," the Earl said briskly. "We'll have his memory restored in no time!" He smiled brightly and Rhode grinned with a sort of lazy disinterest.

"Memory?" Allen asked. "What do you mean?" He shifted on his feet, wishing there was something in between him and the imposing personage of the Earl.

"You poor soul," The Earl crooned, coming impossibly close. "You've forgotten everything. But no worries. We'll have you fighting exorcists in no time! After all, they are your natural enemies. They're the ones who tore everything you ever knew right out of your hands."

"What?" He asked, his eyes widening.

"The exorcists wanted to take away your only family."

And, just as the Earl had determined, that word, "family," drove home. Allen's innocence flared up in sudden rage, and the confusion on his face was replaced with fierce, programmed determination.

"I must eliminate the exorcists." Allen intoned, with a certainty that betrayed no disbelief.

The Earl for once was positively giddy, but even more than that, he trembled with deranged laughter from wich the very room seemed to recoil.

Rhode's disinterested grin broadened into one of satisfaction. The fixed look in her eyes intensified. Lust. Power was close at hand.