Just in time for Lenalee's birthday, another chapter of Cursed Wings!

I'll be honest here, it took me a while to get this chapter finished. It had nothing to do with school or work, for once. Instead I was at a loss for where I should even begin. No matter how many times I sat down to write, the words wouldn't come out the way I intended. Even still, I'm concerned about this particular chapter, but I'll leave the verdict in your hands… I hope it's better then I thought.

Please enjoy!


Cursed Wings-Chapter 8

~The Fateful Reunion and Unfortunate Discovery~

***

It took Lavi a moment to recover from the shock of being attacked by the princess he was so desperately searching for. He sat in the water blinking up as Lenalee rubbed her hand and glared daggers at him. Kanda, in the meantime, took less then 15 seconds to bolt back up from the lake sputtering, face red in anger as he roared at the smaller prince before him.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!"

"YOU SELFISH ASS!" Allen yelled back, as Lenalee examined her nails beside him, checking to see it one broke after connecting to Lavi's skull. "You selfish, spoiled jerk! What were you thinking, attacking a couple of swans like that?!"

"I was thinking we finally found the great beasts everyone's been blabbering about, the same ones that kidnapped you and killed your father!"

"You are such an ignoramus!!! Bloody hell, didn't you even notice our wings?!"

"Of course I noticed, idiot!!! It made you two look more suspicious!"

"Lavi…" Getting to his feet, the apprentice scribe blanched at the dangerous tone Lenalee took when she addressed him. "You're supposed to be a scribe. How could you of all people not realize it was us?"

"I…I" Lavi glanced back over to Kanda for assistance, but said prince was currently standing nose to nose in stare down with the smaller royal leaving him no choice but to meet the princess's furious gaze. "…I did notice, actually. But Yuu and I panicked a bit. Didn't know if it was a trap or…" His voice faded as he hung his head. "In any case, please forgive me, Princess."

The girl sighed and walked forward, pulling the red haired man into a warm embrace. "I already have. And please call me Lenalee."

Lavi blinked a bit before returning the hug, resting his head on hers. " I knew we'd find ya…"

Beside the two, the others continued their incessant bickering. "And you couldn't even take notice that the left wing happened to look like my left arm, could you?!"

"How the hell was I supposed to guess that you were a fucking bird?! Stupid, Beanspr-"

Kanda's voice died in his throat when Allen suddenly threw himself into his arms. The older prince would've shoved him away if it weren't for the surprise of being embraced in such a manner. The smaller boy just sighed into his neck. "It's Allen, idiot. And I really missed you."

"…Che," Kanda didn't hug back, but he didn't try and move away either. He did, however, grit his teeth as Lavi gave him the thumbs up over Lenalee's shoulder. As Allen let go, he suddenly found himself captured by yet another tackle hug.

"We missed you both," Lenalee smiled up at him, as Kanda scowled sourly, but again made no move to throw her off.

Lavi took his opportunity to catch Allen in a headlock and laugh. "Just like the good ol' days, huh, Allen?"

"L-Lavi!" Allen choked struggling to get free. "Can't… breath…"

Pulling away at last, the young men and woman took a moment to regain their senses and recall their surrounding. Lavi, in particular, eyed the lake curiously. "What exactly's goin' on here?"

Allen glanced at Lenalee, then turned to peer at the scribe with a heavy breath. "This is where we were taken after the attack."

"We can't leave either since we're under a spell," Lenalee exhaled as she glanced around warily. "And you two can't stay."

"Can't stay?" Kanda snapped. "What the hell are you talking about with a spell? Is that why you looked like swans? And like hell we're sticking around this shit hole, you two are coming back to the palace!"

"Listen to us, Kanda," Allen glared, also eyeing the woods near by with anxiety. "We can't leave the lake and stay as humans. When the moon sets we'll turn back into swans."

"So… You're bound to the lake?" Lavi scratched his head and quirked a brow. "I'm still a little lost here. How come-"

His train of thought was cut off by a loud, lighthearted giggle in the distance. "Allen~! Lenalee~! Come out, come out wherever you are~!"

Kanda's eyes narrowed and he whipped around looking for the source of the voice while Allen winced at Road's delighted tone. "Who the hell is that?"

"Oh no," Lenalee hissed and shook her head. "It's them."

"Who," Lavi pried, gripping her shoulders. "Who's they?"

"The E-" Allen's voice suddenly cut off. He tried to say the name again and it remained stuck seemingly to the tip of his tongue. "W-what?"

"…So whoever cast that spell on ya also made sure you couldn't say his name, correct?" Lavi spoke up, an unusually dark look crossing his face.

Lenalee tried to say the name as well and found it wouldn't leave her lips. "… I… I can't believe it!"

"Oh, Princess… Where have you gone to now?" Tyki's voice called through the trees. They were still far, but it wouldn't take them long to find them.

Lenalee shivered and cast a pleading glace over to Kanda and looking up at the scribe. "Lavi, please, go! They'll kill you both if you don't!"

"No," Kanda glared grabbing Allen's arm. "We're not leaving you two alone with these creeps. Magic or not I'll kick their ass if they even think of trying to stop us."

"Don't be a fool!" Allen warned him, pulling his arm free and shaking his head. "They have extensive knowledge of the dark arts. You wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Damn it," Lavi gritted, running his fingers through his hair in agitation. "There's gotta be a way we can break this spell."

"There is," Lenalee nodded, giving him a hesitant look. "… You must make a vow. A vow of everlasting love."

Kanda and Lavi's eyes both widened to ridiculous sizes at the revelation. For a moment it seemed to Allen that they were each ready to bolt out of there, but to his relief Lavi took Lenalee's hand. "Lost ya once, and I don't plan on losin' you again. Duties be damned, I love you, Lenalee."

The princess's eyes glimmered with happiness as she smiled back at the scribe. "Lavi…"

Allen stared over to Kanda, still concerned that the older boy didn't reciprocate his feelings. Kanda's eyes fell upon him, face void of any external emotion, but his stare was softer somehow. It was that look he recalled the day they met again.

Kanda gave a small nod, and spoke. "Che… Komui is going to rub it in my face when he finds out."

Allen's jaw dropped. Lenalee placed a hand over her own mouth to stifle a snort, but Lavi's smirk was in plain view when he jeered. "I knew it!"

"Shut up, rabbit."

"I just knew you loved him!!!"

"SHUT your mouth or I'll-"

"Come here birdies! Where the fuck did you fly off to?!"

"Hi hi! Here birdies!"

The four jumped a bit as the voices grew closer. The Noah family was approaching, and neither Allen nor Lenalee wanted to imagine the scenario that would occur should their rescuers be caught. Yet the voices were still a good distance away. There was still time… Allen grabbed Kanda's hands. "Listen, if you really do… l-love me… you have to take that vow and prove it to the world."

"What?!"

"It's the only way," Lenalee whimpered, nervously staring into the forests beside them. "Please, you have to trust us."

"But how?" Lavi whispered. "How can we show the world our feelings? Is that even a possibility?"

"We don't know," Allen murmured miserably. "We never could figure that part out."

"…The ball."

All eyes fell on Kanda, as a triumphant smirk tugged his lips. "My stupid father is holding this ridiculous ball on Friday night. He's invited everyone in creation to attend. Does that work?"

Lavi glanced to Lenalee who's face was now glowing with excitement and grinned. "Works for me!"

"Kanda…" Allen beamed and threw his arms around him laughing slightly. "You really aren't as stupid as you look."

"You want to stay like a swan forever, then keep it up, Beansprout."

"BOY! PRINCESS!" Tyki's voice sounded sharper now, and significantly closer. "This little game of hide and seek is losing it's charm!"

"You better come out, my pretties~!" Cyril's voice chimed in merrily. "Little brother is getting quite annoyed!"

"Ok, now you two really have to get out of here," Lenalee rushed, pushing Lavi toward his horse, Allen following the suit with Kanda dragging his heels.

The scribe stopped just before Hammer and smiled. "Ah… I forgot something."

Before Lenalee could cut him off with another worried lecture, the scribe's apprentice swooped in and kissed her firmly on the lips. He pulled away and beamed as the princess blushed and touched her lips. "Hopin' to give you a proper one at the ball without your brother mauling me, yeah?"

Lenalee nodded, still very pink in the face. "Y-yes. Please take care."

"Will do," Swinging himself up on Hammer, Lavi glanced at Kanda as the man approached Mugen. "Let's get goin', Yuu. We've worn out our welcome here, me thinks."

Kanda didn't respond, glancing back over at Allen. "Friday night."

"Yes," Allen smiled warmly. "Friday night."

"Don't you dare forget."

The white haired prince bit his lip. Making up his mind, he walked forward and kissed Kanda's cheek quickly before stepping back with a satisfied smirk at Kanda's startled face. "That's my promise to you. Now go, idiot."

Shaking off his initial reaction to the kiss, Kanda took the reins and urged Mugen into the woods, Hammer galloping close behind as Lavi waved over his shoulder. The Prince and Princess listened to the sound of hooves disappear into the night. Mere seconds after the Prince and Scribe left that Noah sorcerers began to appear, seemingly from nowhere, their master grinning as he materialized from behind a tree.

"Allen!" The boy gasped as Road hugged him from behind grinning as she reached up and stroked his cheek. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"I-uh…" Allen grimaced as the shorthaired girl giggled and pulled him even tighter against her body.

"Dear Princess," Tyki smiled, taking Lenalee's hand in his own and kissing it. "Surely you two must've heard us with all the racket we were making."

"Oh, well," Lenalee glanced around, trying not to seem too nervous as she took in the sight of the entire family surrounding them. "We didn't."

"Liars!" David shouted pointing at Lenalee and Allen as they scowled back. "Why don't you tell them about that little infiltration this afternoon? Lulu says we should pluck all your feathers off. One by one…"

"Hi hi!" Jasdero cackled. "One by one, the birdies go bald!"

"Now, now," chided the Earl, a disconcerting grin plastered on his face as he skipped over to prince and princess, leaning in and making them step back into Road and Tyki. "We'll talk about that, later on, yes? For now… We have more important matters at hand."

Lenalee peered at him anxiously. "Important… matters?"

"Why of course, my dear," The Earl laughed, patting her shoulder. "For instance… have you two reached a decision regarding my children's hands in marriage?"

Lenalee glanced over at Allen, eyes locking with his. They stared for a moment before she nodded. "We did, actually."

"Oh~? And what say you, now, my dears~?"

Allen took a breath and inclined his head, Lenalee following the suit. "We've decided to accept your proposal."

From the bushes beside the group, a gasp could be heard followed by a muffled squawk. Fou was thankful she was in Daisya's immediate vicinity otherwise the Puffin surely would have given them away. Miranda had nearly fainted from the shock, while Bak stared in horror mouthing "No Lenalee!" Marie listened to the exchange intently, frowning. In the minds of all five animals, they wondered what on Earth the two royals were thinking.

Road's reaction was a rather loud squeal as she threw her arms around Allen's neck. "Oh, Allen!!! You really mean it?"

Allen held back a shudder as her forced a smile of his own up. "…Yes, Lady Road. I would be honored if you would be my queen."

Tyki simply blinked at Lenalee in astonishment, ignoring his sister's bubbly narrations of her wedding day with the white haired prince. "But… Princess, are you certain?"

Lenalee curtsied once more. "I've never been more certain of anything in my life."

Tyki's face ultimately melted into a casual smile. "Well, then… If that's what my Princess wants, I'll be happy to oblige."

"Oh splendid~!" The Earl twirled about in a disturbingly graceful manner for someone of his build. "Oh darlings, you've made us so happy, I could kiss you~! But I'll leave that to my dear children on your wedding days, yes~!"

Both Allen and Lenalee visible relaxed at that. Not only did the Earl appear to have bought their answer, the very consideration of him kissing them had given them each goose bumps, in an unpleasant way.

The Earl came to a stop beside Cyril, and the eldest of the Noah nodded handing him something before he crept back over to his captives with a cruel chuckle. "Oh, by the way… Neither of you would happen to know who these belongs to would you~?"

The Earl held up an elegant looking bow in his hands, Cyril held another. Both Allen and Lenalee gasped. Once more in the bushes, Fou had to slap a hand over Daisya's beak as Bak and Miranda both fainted.

"Come to the ball," taunted Road, floating around to smirk at the two scared royals and settling herself upon the Earl's shoulder.

"I'll make a vow, of everlasting love," Tyki chortled stepping beside the Earl with a wink as Lenalee scowled and Allen's teeth clenched.

"Everlasting looo~oove! Everlasting looo~oove!" the twins mocked linking arms and dancing around in wild laughter.

"So~" The Earl's eyes held a frightening gleam in them as he took the second bow from Cyril's hands. "Though you could fool the Earl and the Noah family… Did you~!?!"

The bows went flying into the sky before spiraling down into the lake with two splashes. Lenalee stepped forward. "We will never marry your filthy hell spawn…you monster!"

"We will be with our indented, I with Prince Kanda and Lenalee with the Scribe to be, Lavi. And you can not stop us!!!" Allen added stepping next to his friend with equal conviction.

"Oh, I hate to tell you this, my sweets," Cyril laughed, snapping his fingers as Jasdero and David each grabbed a hold of Lenalee and Allen. The two struggled vigorously as he continued. "But neither of you will be attending the grand ball this Friday night."

"Take them back to the palace," Tyki ordered. "We'll deal with them there."

Jasdero hissed at Allen to stop being "so fidgety, hii", while Lenalee viciously kicked at David with all her might, causing the other curse as he kept a firm hold. The girl managed to call out to the Earl as Road waved farewell to them. "If you want to stop us, you'll have to kill us!"

"No, I don't~," The Earl replied. "You see, you've forgotten one very important detail about Friday night~."

Road floated up into the sky pointing with a dark smile. "There is… no … moon!"

With that she faded away, her laughter echoing as the two distraught royals struggled in vain against the cackling twins, Lenalee sobbing and shaking her head and Allen shouting out in anger into the night.

"No! Noooo!"

Coming out from their hiding spot after the humans were no longer insight, the animals stared to the castle, worry and apprehension clear upon their faces.

Daisya shook his head, frowning. "I don't like this…"

Marie nodded solemnly. "I don't like it either."

***

Planning the demise of your enemies took a great amount of time and effort. No one knew this better then the Earl. One small miscalculation, and the entire scheme goes south. King Mana's pesky brother and that relentless Captain of the Guard, Cross Marian, had foiled him once before. It had taken him and his family nearly seventeen years to regroup and connect themselves once more with the dark arts.

Regaining his powers was the simple task. The trouble was deciding how to capture and eliminate the King and his personal guard without getting caught. In his earlier investigations of the Walker family, the sorcerer had ignored the birth of little Allen. His real father was… taken care of. He had personally seen to that. Mana was no threat to him. He didn't posses the same abilities as his brother. Cross was his biggest nuisance, but could be dealt with by his children if it came down to seven against one. As for the proposal made by Mana and his allies that his son be made to play in the company of the other royal heirs with the intention of uniting their countries into a great alliance, the Earl discounted that information as being of use to his brilliant invasion. It was only after he was banished did he find that the routine summer visitations were essential to his second attempt at apprehending the King and his son.

In their excitement to bring the young heirs closer together, the elder royals had pushed the Earls threat to the far corners of their minds. Ahhh, children… Bless their little souls. Such wonderful distractions! It gave the man a good seventeen years to perfect his second attack. Success was close at hand, yet despite killing Mana and the Lees, he still had the young prince and princess to take care of. And that led to yet another interesting discovery…

Inside the palace The Earl hummed to himself as he sat on his throne and waited for his little guest to arrive. Tyki appear shortly after, Allen closes behind with his hands bound and eyes trained defiantly to the ground. The Earl chuckled.

"Thank you, Tyki~. Do be kind and leave us alone for a moment or two, hmm~?"

The tall man bowed. "But of course." He turned to tilt Allen's head up, running his thumb across Allen's lower lip and smiling. "I'll be back to fetch you after, boy. In the mean time, I best be checking on my future bride."

Allen's bared his teeth and wrenched his head away from the touch. "Don't you dare go near her! Stay away from her!"

"Tah tah, boy," Tyki smirked as he disappeared from the room in a whirl of butterflies.

"Not to worry, little prince~," the Earl waved from his seat. "Tyki dear is just being a dutiful fiancé and seeing to the needs of his beloved~."

Allen's hands clenched and unclenched themselves in the ropes. He slowly turned to face the Earl, seething inwardly at the ear-to-ear grin of his foe. Controlling the urged to scream and demand his freedom, Allen collected himself. "What business do you have with me, and not Lenalee? Do you intend to kill me, now?"

The Earl, laughed again, and walked over to the boy. "Oh, no, my dear, I will not kill you~. That would defeat the purpose of going through the trouble of keeping you alive to begin with~. I'm here to offer you a deal~."

The boy's brow arched. "You want to make a deal with me? I'm just going to refuse."

"Ah, but you haven't heard me out, yet~," The old man idly began to play with a marble between his fingers, walking away from Allen again. "You see, you have a special gift, Allen~. One that your father passed down to you~. One that could be of great use to us…~"

The prince glowered. "What are you talking about? I thought you wanted his kingdom. Wha-"

"No no no no, my boy~. Not Mana~. I do want his lands, yes, but the man I'm referring to is his brother… Your real father~."

Allen's breath caught. "My… real father?"

"Yes, Allen~," The Earl suddenly threw the marble at him fast and his eyes flew shut. The glass ball never hit him. It instead froze in mid air and dropped to the floor, rolling to a stop at his feet. The prince looked back up in surprise as the dark crafter's spectacles gave a sinister glint. "The Fourteenth of the Great Sorcerers… and you've inherited his powers.~"


There you have it. Again, took me forever to finish, but it's done.

I got a chance to play with the Earl and the Noah for a bit. The villains can be great fun to write. The Earl's intentions are slowly being revealed. More fun with that next chapter, I promise! Poor Allen and Lenalee ;_;

Now I have to work on my other fics… Oh wow, I have a lot of work to catch up on -_-;; Well then, till next time!