I'm so sorry about the delay! I got stuck! But it's here now! I hope you'll like it!


Nea stormed inside the house, threw his things on the entrance floor and ran upstairs, looking for Cross and Allen, finally finding them in the elder's room. Allen was rocking Marian's body softly and when the teenager looked up, Nea could see the tears pooled in his eyes.

"Oh, dear…" He when next to him and kissed his forehead and then put a hand in the redhead's face. "Marian, it's Nea." The elder moved his head a bit towards the Noah.

"Nea." He only said.

"Yeah. I'm going to stay here with you if Allen has to go somewhere else, alright?" He asked softly, as if speaking to a child and received a short nod in response. "I'll go make something for you to eat, alright dear?" He asked his nephew.

"Thank you, uncle." They boy muttered as he kept hugging his master, running a hand through his hair.

And before leaving to go find the kitchen, he observed the image in front of him: they had changed so much over the years. Allen had been there for his master when he found out why his master always disappeared at four days every month, leaving him alone. He wasn't there to witness it, but Allen told him.

Flashback

Ten years old Allen hit an empty bottle with his foot as he headed back to the inn they were currently staying at, or rather, he was staying at seeing as his master left him alone. Again. Seriously, what was wrong with that drunken master of his? Ok, he had lived on the streets since he was just a baby but Cross shouldn't be leaving him alone five days every month without saying anything! They were already on the fourth, so he should be back the next day, but what if he got kidnapped when he went to the hotel after gambling?

He'd probably be happy about it. I still don't understand why he picked me up if he doesn't even like me. The boy thought sadly.

He arrived at the hotel and frowned when he saw that everyone was gathered around the door of his room.

"Excuse me… Pardon me." He pushed everyone so he could get to the door. "What's going on?" He asked to the owner's daughter.

"Oh! Allen! The door is locked from inside and we have been hearing strange noises for the last hour. We've been trying to open it but it's impossible. Whoever is inside must have blocked it with the closet or a chair." She said. "I'll prepare another room for you, honey, don't worry."

"It's ok, Ms. Bauer. I'll take care of it." He said and then left, going outside once more, the crowd following him and watching in awe how the small boy jumped and climbed to the window of his room, on the fifth floor. There were gasps once, when his hand slipped. He tried to force the window open, but when he couldn't open it he just broke the glass with his left, gloved, hand.

He never expected to see his master curled on the floor and whimpering as if he were in pain. He didn't even think about the consequences of getting to close to him and quickly kneeled by his side.

"Sh-shishō?" He whispered and shook his shoulder.

"Allen?" The voice was rough and definitely pained.

"Y-yeah?"

"Help me… get to… bed." The man said and the pupil quickly complied, trying to do it the gentlest way possible. Once he had put him on the bed and covered him with the bed sheet, he went to the door, knowing that his master wouldn't want him around.

"Don't." He turned around and started the man with wide eyes. "Stay. Lay with me."

And he froze at that. "Excuse me?" He never got an answer as his master had passed out. "Shishō!" He ran next to him once more and touched the almost burning skin. He then went to the bathroom and came back with a towel wetted with cold water and cleaned his face.

"Al-len…" The man mumbled in his restless sleep and trashed a bit.

"I'm here, Shishō." He said softly, taking the bigger hand in both of his and stroking the knuckles.

He spent the night taking care of his master. Falling sleep while holding his hand.

When Cross woke up a few hours later in the middle night, groggy as hell he sat up and blinked when the damp towel fell from his head onto his lap. It was then that he also noticed the white mop of hair resting on the bed and his hand being held in a tight grasp.

"Idiot apprentice…" He only said and gathered the boy in his arms and laid him down on the bed, next to him. He stared at the boy and smiled softly: the damn kid was starting to grow on him maybe a bit too much, but he couldn't care less. Maybe it was time that he started showing the kid that he did care about him, but if the clan took him away… He couldn't get over it.

He sighed and kissed his forehead before settling down to sleep a bit more, one arm around the lithe body of his pupil. He chuckled softly when Allen snuggled closer to him.

"Shishō…"

"Sleep tight."

When Allen woke up he cuddled closer to the source of heat that was enveloping him. He blinked and looked up, seeing his master looking at him.

"Ma-Master!" He jumped out of bed and bowed. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disrespect!" He didn't know for what he was apologising, but he knew he had to if he didn't want to get a beating.

He heard the elder moving, slowly sitting up and then get up, walking to him. He flinched when he saw the movement of the hand. "I'm sorry…" He whimpered.

But the hand only ruffled his hair. "How about we go have lunch, boy?" Cross only said, smirking sweetly at him before heading to the door and downstairs.

Walker nodded stiffly and followed him outside and then to the restaurant.

"Shishō?" Allen asked, playing with his dinner, something that he had never done before a few weeks later.

"Yes?"

"Wh-what's your curse?" He asked, not daring to look up.

Marian didn't answer immediately; he only looked at his fidgeting idiot apprentice and then sighed. He had been expecting that question for days, now.

"Do you remember that night where you found me on the floor?" he kid nodded. "That is what happens when my curse activates." He said and then patted the space next to him and timidly, Allen moved from his bed to sit there, his head still bowed.

"I-is that all?" His Master's soul was wavering: in other words, he was keeping something from him. Again.

"No. When… when it activates I see you… dying." He admitted reluctantly, but he knew better than to try and lie to him, knowing that his pupil would see right through it.

The boy gasped and threw his arms around his master's neck, hugging him tightly. It surprised Marian to no ends, Allen, just like him, had never been a really touchy-feely person, but, maybe, he had never been because Marian never allowed him to be.

"Allen?" He asked softly, his hand petting the snow hair when he heard sobs and felt his shirt getting wet.

"I'm sorry…"

"What for? You've done nothing wrong." The elder said, surprised.

"I didn't notice." He sobbed and tightened his embrace even more.

Cross only petted him some more, not saying anything. He never told Allen that he had learned how to fake his true emotions through alcohol sometimes, because if he did, Allen would learn a new way to decipher them.

"It's ok, boy, it's ok." He said and held him, something he usually never did, but he was happy to have the kid there, in his arm this time. It made him feel like he really had something to live for, someone who cared for his well-being.

"Shishō?" He only hummed in reply. "N-next time that happens… stay with me? I-I-I don't want you to be alone if it hurts this much." The white haired kid requested.

"We'll see." Allen smiled in his neck, knowing perfectly what the answer meant.

End of flashback

Nea went back to the room with some food for his nephew, knowing perfectly well that Allen could barely eat in those situations. Probably the only situation in which the boy would lose his never-ending appetite.

"Sweetie, you need to sleep." He whispered and forced him to lie down.

"But Shishō…"

"I'll keep an eye on him during the night, alright? Please, just lay down and get some sleep." He said and Allen nodded, his chin resting in Marian's head as his a lot smaller arms encircled the redhead's man chest as if trying to protect and shield from the world outside their room.

The elder whimpered his pupil's name pitifully and the boy almost broke down crying before he felt a soothing hand in his hair and the covers being pulled to cover him too.

"Good night, dear." He tried to smile to his uncle, but only a strange grimace came out.

Nea spend the night sitting next to Cross, running his left hand through the red mane as he held a book with his right, making shushing noises when the elder started to moan in pain in trash, just saying what Allen had said to him before 'I'm here.'

The Noah knew how much Cross hated himself for putting Allen through that hell, his hell, but master and apprentice shared the same stubbornness so Allen always stayed around him since he found out.

He sighed as he remembered why Cross had been cursed.

It was a cold night, nothing especial about this in Ireland n winter. Cross was there doing an investigation as he looked for someone of his past, Nea never knew who, it was one of the things he could never get Marian to tell him. Anyway, according to what the red haired man told him once, he had found that person, yes.

In a graveyard. The date of the death: two days before he got there.

Cross had never felt a pain that great ever before in his life. Great enough to make him cry his eyes out and desecrate the tomb with his bare hands. But if desecrating a tomb was already considered a sin, the tomb Marian profaned was even worse: it had the Lauburu engraved in it.

He had been so focused on staring the corpse and the red stone lying on her chest that he didn't notice the sudden change around him: the plants were dying and everything was starting to be covered by ice frost.

"How dare you open a sacred tomb, mortal?" A voice asked. And any other twenty years old would have pissed in his pants, but Cross Marian wasn't a normal twenty years old, he had been the best in his promotion in the ARW.

"I had to." He only said, still out, clutching the red stone in his hand and then he turned around. What he saw was a beautiful raven woman dressed in armour, sword in hand. He opened his mouth to say something, but before a sound could come out, the woman had cut his face.

"I, Mórrígan, curse you mortal to see the death of those whom you love for profaning a tomb dedicated to me. And you will not die until I do." The man fell on the cold stone; his body convulsing and she stared at him with nothing more but sheer indifference.

She left after closing the tomb.

Two days later, Nea found him (not by casualty, he saw him on the TV and he would recognise that fire-red mane anywhere) on the stone, his face cut in two and brought him to the Noah manor. He and the Earl had examined him with a four years old Tyki going up and down and trying to sneak into the room.

It had been The Earl himself who called the Cursed Clan and explained them the situation and a few hours later, the unconscious Marian was being moved the Cursed Clan headquarters.

They didn't see him for a few months, but when he was back for a visit he knew how to use magic at a very high level and was working his way up to the top really quickly.

But the most obvious change, besides his mask, was the way he acted towards everyone. It had crushed Tyki's small heart when Cross had pushed him away and said he didn't want to play with him.

Tyki had spend so many nights crying in Nea's arms (he didn't want to go with Sheryl, he would make fun of him) that the couple of the house decided to erase his memories about Cross to spare him the pain. They also erased Lulu's and Sheryl's to make sure they wouldn't say anything that would trigger the memories back. They asked Cross not to come around again but that day he appeared with Allen clutching his hand, he had seen Tyki's look: he recognised the man, subconsciously, yes, but he did. And it seemed to be Tyki's feelings had gone from admiration to love without none of them realising it. Not even him realising it.

All of them loved Allen, Nea the most, but Tyki… Tyki, every time Allen was with them he wouldn't let go of him. Not that the kid minded too much, he adored Tyki to no end. It was through the kid that Cross started to pay more attention to Mikk, but it wasn't enough. The boy craved for his attention, but Cross would just give him a minute or two… which they always spent bickering and insulting each other.

Although as lately they didn't seem to fight that much and Tyki was definitely happy because of it. However, he was going to have a talk with Cross about it. Last thing he wanted was someone from his family to get hurt. Because maybe Cross was a dear friend, the dearest, but Tyki was family, after all.

And no one messed with the Noah family. The first time he had let it slide because Cross told him about his curse, but he was no going to forgive him twice. Friends or not.


Here you go! Cross' curse! I hope you liked it and that I didn't disappoint anyone with it!

Also, Mórríganis the Goddess of War and Death in the Gaelic mythology. The Lauburu is a Gaelic symbol that according to what I read can represent death but it is not a symbol The Mórrígan, I just decided to use it. :)

Please review!