Chapter Eight

Thinking back on it, it was probably immediately following his awakening as a vampire that marked the beginning of the end for Allen. The next night as he slept in his own bed once more, he began having dreams that greatly disturbed him. They weren't normal nightmares at all, but rather, dreams so vivid as to make him wonder if they weren't memories instead. The only difference between what was happening to Allen and resurfacing memories, was that the memories weren't even about him. They seemed to date back to the beginning of time, in fact, when God first created Adam, and Lilith, except that Adam more resembled Allen in looks, and Lilith looked exactly like Road. Whether this was indicative of the future, or whether they were merely strange dreams, Allen couldn't tell immediately, but he would soon find out that the dreams were merely precursors of even stranger things to happen, for in fact, at this time, Road was having similar dreams.

Little was she aware, of course, that inadvertently, she had set into play the series of events that would presage the rise once more of the Millennium Earl. It had all taken place within the Earl's plans, strangely. The Earl knew of the prophecy made by Hevlaska and knew that if anyone was to kill him, that it would be Allen. However, the Earl had no intention of dying without leaving someone to carry on his noble work. Therefore, he had suggested surreptitiously that Road be the one to go to the Rewinding Town so that she could meet Allen, and it was he that made sure that Road was one of the Noahs still on the Ark when Allen reached the top. In these ways, he was sure that Road would at least form some attraction to him, increasing his own chances of creating a successor.

Thereafter, the Earl happily granted Road's Christmas wish to have Allen, and when she slept with him, they exchanged fluids, presealing the contract between Noah and Human. Then, all that had to happen was for Allen to kill the Earl. When he did, the Earl's powers would be taken into Allen, and the mix of latent Dark Energy and the Earl's own latent powers inside Allen would mix and eventually cause him to awaken to the Earl's legacy, thereby becoming the next Adam. Of course, it was merely a side effect of the whole process that Road would awaken to the memories and powers of Lilith, and become "Adam's" bride in the face of the new world order that would soon after rise from the ashes of the old world.

Of course, The Earl theoretically could have chosen Lulu Bell for the task of awakening Allen to His power. However, Road had always been his favorite, and the one that he trusted above all others, and this was a task that he couldn't risk having botched for obvious reasons. And so, Allen became the successor to the Earl's New World Order… The successor to the Clan of Noah. The successor to the Akuma, and everything else that the Earl represented. Allen's transformation to vampirism, of course, wasn't part of the Earl's plan, but did speed up the process, catalyzing Allen's awakening to the Dark Energy by removing from play the Innocence that was canceling out the Dark Energy's progress in that area. And so, just like for any Noah, the first sign of their awakening was the disturbing dreams that plagued their sleep.

Allen flew up in bed, his eyes shooting open, and his chest heaving in and out. Then, he remembered that he didn't need to breathe, and he stopped. Nonetheless, he was covered in a cold sweat that drenched the sheets and his clothes. Allen groaned. This had been the second time in one night that he had awoken from a bad dream, and had been forced to switch beds because the first one was too wet from sweating. Already, even though it had only been one night, he was beginning to wonder if he was going mad. Nonetheless, he didn't want to wake Road up. He had already awoken her when he woke up the first time, as they had been sleeping in the same bed, and his movement had disturbed her. He didn't want that to happen again. And therefore, he made sure that he was quiet as he snuck downstairs to the kitchen after once again changing his clothes. He figured that if he couldn't sleep, he could at least rest for a while.

Ironically, vampires were the only undead that needed to sleep like humans did. They didn't need nearly as much sleep, usually only 4 or 5 hours, but in that time, they usually went into a comatose state from which they could not be woken by outside interference. Turning the lights on, turning on the television too loud, all the noise in the world wouldn't rouse them. However, vampires, just like mortals, were susceptible to bad dreams, which could awake them. Dreams for vampires, like dreams for humans, usually only lasted five to ten minutes, but they could seem like hours, especially if they were particularly bad dreams. Allen had been having one of those dreams.

In Allen's dream, he had just eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree after the snake had spoken to him, and God was delivering his wrath unto both him and Eve. The Garden of Eden was being torn apart as God tried to smite him for his sin of disobedience. But all the while, he wondered why God didn't want him to have the knowledge granted by the fruit of that particular tree. It seemed unfair that God should have such knowledge that he would keep secret from him and Eve, and then punish them so severely when their curiosity brought them to it. Suddenly, Allen began to feel a burning hatred for God, a hatred that could not be described by such paltry mortal tongues. It was a rage toward the God that had kept secrets from him and lied to him. The sudden feeling that he had to destroy God, by destroying the Black Order came surging through his mind, and as much as he tried to suppress the feeling, it was getting the better of him. That was when…

"Allen…"

Road's gentle and loving voice spoke up behind him. She put her arms around him loosely, kissing him sweetly on the lips, not in a lustful, or desirous fashion, but in a way that indicated her wish to soothe his turbulent emotions. Allen felt his face and found that he had been crying. He hadn't even noticed that tears had formed in his eyes. Slowly, Road brushed her thumb under Allen's eyes and wiped the tears away, pulling him into a gentle embrace, rubbing small circles on his back and rocking back and forth with him. She knew what it felt like to feel such terror, such absolute and all consuming fear and hatred for God, to hate him for what he had done. To hate the Innocence for what it represented. To hate the exorcists. Indeed, no mortal could claim mastery of the exorcists. Sure, the Pope, and that Leverrier fellow held a tenuous control over the exorcists, but only because they respected and feared them respectively.

Leverrier wielded political influence, and the Pope claimed to be the human Avatar of God, even though he was merely an ex-bishop, formerly a cardinal, previously a priest, chosen by humans to serve humans. God didn't serve humans. Humans served God, and that was what God expected of his human followers. In the eyes of the Noah, and probably in others' eyes, he arrogantly ruled from above, expecting absolute service and obedience, while giving nothing in return. The Innocence didn't count, because he expected humans to use it to fight and die in his name. Jesus didn't count because he only sent him as a messenger of his own word, and then expected Jesus to die for him, to prove how wonderful and perfect God was.

Road had, for as long as she could remember, resented God. Resented the way he allowed humans to suffer, had left her to suffer personally. She felt deeply wronged by God, and the memories of Noah only further proved her beliefs that God didn't love humans. He looked down on them as mortal slaves and made empty promises. Turn her life around indeed. It was despicable that the angel would even suggest such a thing, and then sit idly by as God tortured the only man that she ever loved. Was this one of God's little tests? To see if her faith was real? Did he intend her to rise to the occasion? Well, if he did, then he could forget it. She now knew that in order to truly be happy with Allen, that she had to destroy the Order, and God. Whether she achieved it in her lifetime or not was a whole other story. She had to try, though.

"Road? What are these dreams that I'm having!" Allen asked, hardly able to keep his voice steady. Road looked at Allen sympathetically and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You're witnessing the memories of Adam, just as I am witnessing the memories of Lilith. I don't fully understand it, but for whatever reason, you have become the new Millennium Earl. What you do with that power is your choice. You know what the first Earl did with it. And now you understand why."

"I do. I never would have thought that I could understand the Earl's motivation, but I do, now. And it terrifies me that God could possibly be so cruel. I am not quite sure what I'm supposed to do, now, though."

"Well, I can't say what you should do. Only you can decide that, Allen. If you just want to talk to me about it, though, I promise I'll listen. I'm a pretty good listener."

A/N: I have several points to make before I truly end this chapter. Then you can flame me for making it so short.

The views on God and on religion that are expressed in this chapter are solely those of the characters who express them, and do not represent my own beliefs on the subject. While I am not a very religious person by nature, I do acknowledge the importance of God to many people, and I can see the merits of organized religion.

I suppose I should apologize for how short the chapter was. I hope that the next one is longer, although I won't make any promises due to the fact that very few things in this story are thus far set, save for the things that I have already written. Please enjoy the rest of this fanfic.