AN: Warning for boys kissing boys. (No, it's not Harry…)

Harry sat leaning against an ivy-covered brick wall on a balcony overlooking an attractive courtyard filled with neatly trimmed shrubs and marble statues set upon a well-kept lawn. The central piece of the courtyard was a gently bubbling water-feature with a large, attention-grabbing ornament in the centre. It was an angel; tall, regal and proud, with large arching wings spread proudly wide. The figure's features were carved in explicit detail, and its expression was not one that could be readily identified as benign. Rather, it was as cold and unfeeling, as remote, as the stone from which it had been chiselled. Its form was androgynous; neither male nor female, but a perfect blend of both. Its hands were extended, and in one hand it held an apple, and in the other a small set of scales. A crown of thorns was set around the top of its head, and the seven largest thorns dug savagely in a row across its forehead.

On the distant horizon, the sun had begun its descent behind the mountains, and a soft golden glow illuminated all that he could see. He savoured the warmth that the rapidly fading glow bathed him in, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. There was no denying that this was a beautiful place, especially at this time. He had come out here to be alone with his thoughts, and he was glad that he had.

I have a family now; a real family, he thought to himself. But can I afford the price for having them?

He just didn't know.

He was currently in his Noah form, for he was rapidly becoming more comfortable in that form. It's as though this is my true form. Besides, once he returned to Hogwarts he would have no choice but to adopt his human form almost all of the time. Apart from the stigmata, the yellow eyes and the grey skin, there were some small differences between the appearances of his alter-egos. His Noah self was a couple of inches taller, with muscles that were slightly more toned, and his hair was not quite so impossibly messy in this form. He was currently dressed in black slacks and a long-sleeved button-up navy shirt with a black and white striped tie; the same outfit he had worn to the 'family dinner' earlier. He was barefoot, for he had abandoned his shoes and socks on the floor before coming out on this balcony.

The door to his side swung quietly open, and he quickly gave it his attention lest it be Rhode launching a surprise-attack on him as she had been wont to do over the past couple of days. "You should always be aware of everything around you, Harry," she had told him after the first time, when he had glared at her with annoyance and hurt whilst clutching his arm where she had stabbed him with a sharp-tipped candle. "The Noah clan has many enemies, and I don't want any of my family to die!" At that point, she had looked so sad that Harry had hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder, and then she had told him about Skin Bolic, who had been the sweet-toothed Wrath of the Noah, and who had been killed whilst fighting an exorcist. "If any of us ever die," she had told him; "you will feel their death within your very soul, as will us all, and we will all weep for the one we have lost, no matter where we are or what is happening to us. There's no stopping the tears." Harry had felt something twist uncomfortably within his gut at the thought of losing any one of his newfound family.

It was not Rhode, however, who stepped through that door. Rather, it was a white-haired boy of human appearance with one grey eye and an eyepatch covering the other, which had a scar above and under it, the very top of which was in the shape of a five-point star. He looked remarkably familiar, and it took Harry only a few seconds to figure it out. "Allen?" he asked gently, and the boy nodded, closed the door gently behind him, and then sat down next to Harry.

"So, you're a wizard?" Allen asked, his voice soft and sad, but also curious. It was the first time that Harry had heard him speak.

"Yes." Allen looked at him with wide, curious eyes, and Harry soon found himself elaborating. "I never actually knew until I was eleven, though. My parents were murdered when I was very young, by a dark wizard who also tried to kill me, but failed for some unknown reason. I lived with my mother's sister and her husband and son, and my Aunt and Uncle knew I was a wizard but never told me. When I started receiving letters inviting me to Hogwarts, they did everything within their power to keep them from me, until the groundskeeper Hagrid showed up just after midnight on my eleventh birthday, and I was finally able to read the letter. My relatives still tried to stop me from going, but there wasn't really anything they could do."

"You mentioned friends before…"

"Ron and Hermione are my best friends. I met them at Hogwarts. I never had any friends before Hogwarts. It'll be good to see them again, even if I haven't been too happy with them lately. What about you? Do you have any friends from before you became a Noah?"

"I used to be an exorcist." Allen looked away, drawing his knees up to his chest. Harry jerked back, eyes wide with shock.

"Seriously?"

Allen turned back towards Harry, and smiled slightly at his expression. "Seriously."

"What happened?" Harry's shock had by now become some sort of vague acceptance, and his voice conveyed both curiosity and compassion.

"I was born with Innocence in my left arm, and that caused it to look like it was terribly deformed. My parents abandoned me because of this. I was taken in by a man called Mana whom I considered my father. When he died, I was left completely alone. I stayed by his grave and would have starved, but then the Millennium Earl came. He offered to bring Mana back to me."

A violent shiver ripped through Harry's frame as he realised the implications of this.

"I took up the offer, and Mana became an Akuma. Filled with pain, he cursed me. When he attacked, the Innocence in my arm reacted, and destroyed the Akuma. He thanked me just before he disintegrated, but I didn't realise what had happened. All I knew was that I had killed Mana. But then General Cross found me. He explained what had happened, and gave me an offer of becoming his apprentice, and eventually a proper exorcist. I agreed." Allen laughed awkwardly, startling Harry. "Let's just… skip over the apprenticeship, shall we?"

"Huh? Why? Did something bad happen?"

Allen mumbled something about debt collectors, poker and cheating. A maniacal chuckle escaped him, and Harry decided not to ask. Instead, he indicated Allen to continue.

"Mana's curse turned my hair white, and affected my eye so that whenever I see an Akuma, I can see their soul drifting behind them, suffering… Eventually, I left General Cross and went to the headquarters of the European branch of the Black Order, the exorcists. I worked for them, and I made friends. The best friends I could possibly hope for. But then…"

-FLASHBACK-

Allen looked up as the door to his sleeping quarters at the Black Order headquarters swung open. Malcolm Levrier stepped inside, the look in his eyes even more hostile than usual. He held a gun in his right hand. Allen felt a distinct uneasiness penetrate his sleep-deprived mind. Although he hated to think ill of anyone in the Order, he could not realistically deny that Levrier was constantly looking for an excuse to call him a traitor and execute him. Levrier had grown suspicious of Allen when he had found out that Allen was able to control Noah's Ark.

When Allen was very young, before he had even met Mana, the Will of the Noah, a mysterious being known only as the 14th or The Musician, had betrayed the Millennium Earl. The Earl had hunted down the 14th and killed him, but not before he implanted all of his memories and powers into a young boy with Innocence in his arm. The memories and powers didn't surface right away. Rather, they lay dormant, awaiting the ideal time to manifest. Meanwhile, the boy was taken in by the 14th's younger brother Mana Walker.

Allen Walker never knew that he was destined to become the 14th's successor. Only Mana and General Cross were aware of what had been done. While Allen was under his tutelage, Mana had, under the guise of a game, taught him the piano notes that the 14th had played in order to control Noah's Ark.

Many years later, several exorcists, including Allen and General Cross had found themselves aboard the Ark whilst trying to prevent the Noahs from getting hold of the Ark. General Cross had guided Allen to a secret room within the Ark. In the middle of this room was the 14th's piano. Allen had recognised the symbols on the piano as those that Mana had taught him. Under Cross's bidding, Allen played the music as he had been taught. The 14th's memories began to surface within him, lending him their aid in this endeavour, and he was able to use the power of the Musician to bring several of his previously-deceased friends back to life as well as salvage Noah's Ark for the Order. Later, Cross told Allen of what the 14th had done and of Mana's relation to him.

Now, Allen was fidgeting nervously while the hostile and politically powerful Levrier blocked his only exit with a gun in hand. "Come with me," Levrier commanded coldly, and Allen had no choice but to obey. Hurrying through the halls, he noticed a conspicuous lack of people. Even Howard Link, who had been assigned by Levrier to keep watch over Allen, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is everyone?"

Levrier glared at him, and gestured sharply for him to continue walking. Other than that, he gave no indication that he had heard him.

Allen's trepidation turned to dread when he was lead to the Black Order's gate. The tall gothic tower behind him reached for the clouds. He stopped, refusing to move any further. "Where are you taking me, and why?" he demanded, his arms folded stubbornly. "I won't move from here unless you tell me."

"You're in no position to make demands. Everyone who may have helped you is currently engaged in an urgent meeting where they will not hear you even if you scream, and all of the Black Order's surveillance is currently out of order. I am to bring you to the meeting, so if you attack me you will immediately be labelled a traitor. I have men posted nearby to arrest you should that happen." Allen swiftly scanned his surroundings, and was able to detect several people standing with hoods concealing their identities and guns in their hands. An ugly smirk blossomed into being on Levrier's face as he whipped up his right hand so that the muzzle of his gun was pressed against Allen's forehead.

Allen glared at Levrier with hateful eyes. "What do you hope to achieve by this?" he hissed furiously.

"Will you now confess to being a traitor?"

"Why should I, when it isn't even true?"

Levrier snarled like a feral dog. "You know as well as I do that you are lying, Noah!"

"But I'm not a Noah," Allen protested, although he could see in Levrier's eyes that he would not believe him no matter what he said or did.

"Oh, really? We'll see about that, now won't we?" The smirk had returned to Levrier's face and he sounded much too smug for Allen's liking. Without turning his gaze from Allen's face, Levrier gestured for a couple of the hooded people to come forward. They were swathed in robes that concealed even their gender/s, and when they drew close enough that Allen could see under the hoods, he gazed upon no faces, but only masks. With the gun still pressed against his forehead and Levrier's finger straining tensely against the trigger, Allen dared not move, not even when the masked people moved out of sight behind him.

"Do it," Levrier commanded, and before Allen had a chance to even register what had been said, a terrible pain came over him, beginning at his left arm and then working its way through the rest of his body. Gasping for breath, he fell to the ground as the world around him seemed to blur out of focus. Clenching his fists, he bit down hard on his lower lip. Salty blood dribbled into his mouth and onto his tongue, and he was forced to swallow so that he would not choke. The sharp sting of his lip gave him something else to concentrate on, and his surroundings came back into focus.

He was lying at Levrier's feet, but did not have the strength to look up. "What? Why?" he managed to rasp after several unsuccessful attempts to speak.

"Your Innocence has been subdued. It will not come to your aid, and now… you will reveal your Noah, or you will die," Levrier eagerly told him. Prostrate and helpless, Allen trembled violently. What in the world was Levrier planning? The answer to his question came soon enough. "Another Innocence will be inserted into you. Only Dark Matter will be capable of destroying the Innocence and preventing you from becoming a Fallen One."

"No!" Allen gasped, horrified. A Fallen One was someone whose body was attacked and destroyed by Innocence, a very painful process. There were two known situations in which an Innocence would turn on someone. One of these was a circumstance in which an exorcist was judged unworthy by their Innocence. Not as long ago as it seemed, Allen had encountered an exorcist, Suman Dark, who had Fallen in such a manner after betraying the locations of his comrades to the Noah Tyki Mykk in return for his life.

The other circumstance in which an Innocence would destroy its host was when it was forced to synchronise with someone that it had not chosen. When this happened, it would attack the person into whom it had been forced. It seemed that Levrier intended to force Allen into such a situation.

Dark Matter was the only substance within the boundaries of this world that was capable of destroying Innocence. The Earl's Akuma were constructed of Dark Matter, but were unable to wield it to its full potential, and were thus incapable of destroying Innocence. That ability belonged to the Millennium Earl and the Noah clan alone. Allen swore inside his mind. Either he would die a Fallen One or the 14th would manifest and he would be executed as a traitor. Neither option at all appealed to him.

With a great deal of effort, Allen managed to raise his head, then arch his neck back so that he met Levrier's gaze. Allen's eyes were filled with rage, despair, and above all, sorrow. Levrier's smug smirk never wavered. "Do it," he once again commanded, and Allen flinched before something was jabbed into his shoulder, and then he entered a dismal reality in which terrible, burning pain was all that existed. He curled into a defensive ball, and perhaps he was screaming or perhaps he wasn't – he couldn't really tell. All that mattered was the pain, and the fact that it wouldn't disappear.

After what felt like an age, he grew somewhat accustomed to the pain, and his mind was able to begin to tentatively function once again. The pain itself was no less, however, and a powerful hatred manifested within Allen, not only for Levrier, but also for the Innocence that sought to destroy him for Levrier's sin. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to get rid of the Innocence, and in that moment, something deep within him reacted to that desire. A power that was very different to Innocence coursed through his veins, and something in his brain recognised it as something that he had received but a taste of when he had played the Musician's piano.

The Innocence shattered into thousands of pieces. The pain stopped. Levrier crowed in triumph, then shouted; "Arrest the traitor." The hands of the men behind Allen tightly gripped his arms. Snarling, hatred still coursing through his veins, he managed to wrench himself free with inhuman strength. He started to move away. He heard the sound of a gun being cocked, and turned to face the still-smirking Levrier. Levrier was now holding two guns. The guns were aimed at Allen's left and right kneecaps, respectively.

"Traitor, huh?" Allen seethed. All pretence of politeness was gone from his tone, causing him to sound like an entirely different person. "It seems to me that the real traitor here is you, Malcolm Levrier. Creating a Noah just so you can satisfy your sadistic desire for torture…" He trailed off, clicking his tongue in mock disapproval. By now he had figured out what had happened, and he knew that if he were to look at his reflection, he would see the stigmata, yellow eyes and grey skin of a Noah.

Levrier fired the guns.

The bullets stopped motionless in mid-air. Levrier and his men all froze where they were. Time had stopped within a dome of strange glowing clock faces with hands that did not move at all, and Allen was standing just outside. He glanced around, and soon caught sight of the exorcists Lavi, Lenalee and Miranda. Timcampy, a small, round, golden 'golem' with feathered wings was perched on Lavi's shoulder. "Hey, Allen," Lavi called out, his tone concerned. "You alright?" Allen hesitantly nodded, and Lavi grimaced painfully. "You're still Allen, right?" he asked, wincing even as the words left his mouth.

"Yeah," Allen replied, and then he smiled reassuringly at his friends.

Lenalee sobbed, and then ran forward to embrace him, tears running down her cheeks. Allen gingerly patted her on the back. "I-I can't believe Levrier would do that," she cried. "Well actually, I can, but this is just so extreme, even for him." Allen nodded in grim agreement before turning his gaze to Miranda, for the strange dome and the manipulation of time were her Innocence's signatures. Never before had it worked quite like this, however; usually it turned back time, temporarily healing wounds or repairing ships and the like, and the hands on the warped clock faces would move backwards.

"You caused this, right?" he asked just to make sure, gesturing to the time-stop. Miranda nodded jerkily, and then began to hyperventilate.

"D-d-did I do s-something wrong?" she stammered. Before anyone could reply, she continued to speak, her speech steadily getting faster. "Oh no, I shouldn't have done this. I'm overstepping my bounds. I'm sorry, I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry – "

"Miranda," Lavi cut her off, grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her slightly. "Breathe. You did nothing wrong. Better than that, you saved Allen's life. Breathe."

"Yes," said Allen. "Thank you, Miranda."

Slowly but steadily, Miranda's breathing returned to a more healthy rate, and she smiled sheepishly. "I'm still not used to actually being somewhat useful," she muttered. "I'm sorry – "

"Miranda! Stop apologising. You have nothing to apologise for," said a thoroughly exasperated Allen. Miranda laughed awkwardly. "I didn't know that your Innocence could do, well, this," he continued, gesturing once again at the time-stop, fervently hoping that she wouldn't start apologising again.

"I didn't either," she admitted. "It just kind of… happened. What should we do now? Even when bent by my Innocence, the rules of time won't break. This, uh, time-stop, won't last forever."

"Well, I can't exactly stay here," Allen stated miserably, his head hung low.

"Yeah," Lavi sighed heavily, and Lenalee sobbed again as she tightened her hold on Allen.

"Promise to take care of your self, Allen," she whispered.

"I promise," he replied, and she let him go.

"C'mon, Allen," said Lavi, grabbing the newly-awakened Noah's hand. "We can get away quickly by riding on my hammer." He turned towards Lenalee and Miranda. "You girls make sure they can't get any evidence that could implicate you in the escape." Without waiting for anyone to reply, he removed from his belt the hammer that played host to his Innocence. "Size shifting hammer, grow! Grow! Grow!" he shouted. The hammer increased in size every time he said 'grow' until it was, for lack of a better word, massive. Lavi jumped up onto the hammer, dragging Allen after him, and soon they were sailing through the air as the hammer's handle extended by a truly significant amount.

When the hammer stopped, Lavi and Allen leapt down to the ground, and Timcampy darted up into the air to hover above Allen's head. "We'll need to lay low for quite awhile…" Lavi began, but then he was interrupted by Allen.

"We?" he asked blankly, uncomprehending.

"Well, of course. You can't expect me to let you wander about all be yourself. You'd get yourself buried up to your chin in trouble within an hour!" a grinning Lavi replied teasingly.

"As if we'd keep out of trouble with you around," Allen retorted, smiling. Then the smile slid from his face like a water-droplet from a leaf. "You have to go back, Lavi. Levrier'll think I escaped on my own and you can go on being an exorcist."

"What if I don't want to go back?" Lavi's fists were clenched and he looked frustrated. "What if I don't care about being an exorcist? What if I only want to stay with you?"

"I've got to keep walking, Lavi, but I don't want you to follow me on this path. You have to stay, for Lenalee and all the others – "

"Don't you ever think of yourself, bean-sprout?"

Allen's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't call me bean-sprout!"

Lavi laughed briefly, and then became serious again. "I'm coming."

"No… stay here for me, Lavi. Stay because I can't. Protect the others in my stead. Please, Lavi." By this stage, Allen was basically begging.

Lavi seemed torn. He wanted to stay with Allen, but logic dictated that he could help Allen more by staying with the Black Order. In the end, logic won out.

"Fine," he reluctantly conceded. "I'll stay for now, but you have to promise that you'll put yourself first from now on, Allen. Don't argue – it's no more than you deserve."

"I'll do my best," Allen sighed. "Thank you, Lavi." He then looked at his red-haired friend in a contemplative manner. "Well as long as this is goodbye," he muttered under his breath, and then, carefully avoiding Lavi's eye he quietly confessed; "I love you, Lavi." The grey skin of his face gained a pinkish hue. He hoped that he hadn't ruined everything.

Lavi kissed his mouth.

The kiss was sweet and warm; completely perfect.

"I love you too, Allen. Are you sure you won't have me come with you?"

For one glorious moment, Allen envisioned a future in which he was not alone. A future in which he had Lavi, the one he loved, by his side. The vision soon vanished, however, and cold reality took its place. He would not allow Lavi to follow him on the darkened path which he must now take. "Go back, Lavi," he whispered. "Miranda won't be able to hold the time-stop forever. Go back before Levrier notices you missing." Lavi visibly hesitated, then nodded jerkily, and soon he was perched upon the once-again extending hammer, sailing through the air towards the dark tower that, until now, had been Allen's home.

Timcampy resting on his head, Allen turned away to begin his journey.

– Flashback will be continued.