Disclaimer: D. Gray Man is the property of Hoshino Katsura-sama.

He waits until the arms about him relaxed.

He waits longer until the fingers in his hair lost their strength.

Then quietly, patiently, he extricates himself with care from the Earl's grasp.

A softly murmured name stills his movements.

But the other does not wake and slowly, he breathes again. With practiced grace, he slips lightly from the bed before with slight but hastened steps, he made his way for the door.

A faint smile touches his face as he confirmed indeed, for once, the grip of the gilded handle was not completely stubborn. To think that pair of surprising visitors tonight had created such an opportunity... And how with such care he had taken to hold the Earl's every attention afterwards.

His good hand twists. He reminds himself patience until the space was large enough for him to inch through. Slowly, surely he directs the swing. No disturbing creaks. Good. Just a little more now...

"...Ne...a..."

For a terrible moment, he believed that the other would stir.

But moments pass - nothing. Save the guilt that bubbled and broiled.

No, he tells himself fiercely, quelling the feeling of indecision. He couldn't be hindered now, not when a chance like this was little likely to present itself again.

And steeling himself, he crosses.

"...don't...go..."

He shuts away the door and whimpered plea.

It took more self-control to not just run after that.

The halls of the mansion were as quiet and empty as he remembers from the night he first arrived.

But it was different now. He knows these halls now, at least better than that eve near...

A year ago? Two? How long had it been...?

Really, time seemed to be quite the exception in the eerie estate, he muses as he makes his way to the Mezzanine. But perhaps, had he not lost his freedom so after mere weeks-

"Where are you going?"

He halts mid-step. A familiar voice ... most unwelcome now, of all times.

He relaxes his posture.

Natural, look natural.

"Allen."

And he turns to face her.

"Road." He greets ambivalently.

She observes him for a long moment, purple eyes unreadable.

And at length, she sighs.

"It's futile." She says, her tone quiet. It was almost unusual to see her so serious.

He feels his brows furrowing at that.

"What do you mean?" He demands.

"You could run to the ends of the world," she replies. "But he'll destroy every path to find his Neah."

"But I am not Neah." He retorts, a faint smile passing upon his lips. "Nor am I his Allen, either. Just a nameless boy he met."

She frowns at that.

"For him, you became Allen. So why the change now?"

How ... could she ask of him that?

"This ... is different." He insists.

To steal poor, demented lost Mana's precious person's place?

How great his initial joy, his confusion, had been when he came face-to-face with the very proof that the doctors of the hospital were wrong. Mana had not passed away in cataconic sleep. Here the man who had come to be father was, whole - memory battered again, yes, living by a different name, yes, but whole and as well as the other could possibly be.

But he in foolish, selfish hope had tried then to make Mana remember their time together - even though that journey only began after the accident: he had been the reason why Mana forgot his little brother in the first place. He learns, too, all in good time the one searched for, Neah, was dead - gone - and Mana had been running from his own demons and the memory of a brother long dead.

Poor Mana. He wonders what it would be like to hate one's self so. Such a foreign concept it was to him, having learned early the only reliable person can be one's own self.

And tried as he had, Mana never quite became his Mana again. Granted, there were little bits and pieces here and there... The moments of tenderness, the patience ... but deny as he had wished to - this was a different person. Even their secret - the shared code, the song - became instead shackling links of a chain.

Showing that had been a terrible mistake. It was the first time the other called him 'Neah', sobbing and clinging and after that he would never be free again. Gone would be the odd evening jobs - the other's only concern was now to ensure he was still here.

"You could stay." Her tone was almost pleading. "You have everything you could need."

He shakes his head slowly, once.

It had never been about what he wanted.

"When he forgot about Neah... I swore I would remember in his place. To help him find the brother he lost, make sure he stays out of trouble. Now... Like this, I can't. I stole his memories once, Road. It was an accident, but he forgot. And I-"

"We found him." She interrupted. "It took a little while, but we found him. There was no harm done. Allen... Think this over. That person raised you - you found a father in him, isn't that right? And even now, he still is a father to you. This... What he is doing now, he would grow out of that. He talks, you know. Of introducing you to the family formally-"

"That song was Neah's."

Her violet eyes became troubled at that.

"Maybe even as far as back then..." His voice trailed, not completely wanting to acknowledge a terrible truth.

"Road." He says instead. "It's ... misplaced. Don't you understand? Everything stopped, while he swore to always keep walking - and I'm keeping him there."

She does understand, he knows. Knows that because he loves that person - Mana, Adam, whatever the other calls himself now ... and that is the reason why he has to leave. So instead, he asks of her:

"Are you to be my prison guard, Road?"

As Ma-Adam originally asked her to?

She shakes her head lightly - no.

"I'll help you." She promises. "But listen, Allen..."

Her tone becomes also a warning.

"If he finds you, you won't ever be able to leave again. And when that time comes, I will not be able to help you again."