Chapter: 10

Allen rubbed at his temples with both hands in irritation, it had been three hours since he brought home the count Krory and the vampire looking man still hadn't understood a thing despite the many questions that Neah had answered for him. Neah. Silver eyes discreetly slid over to his pseudo Uncle, that man was a saint. Neah answered each of Krory's questions patiently and clearly as if he were explaining to a child what they did and why it was wrong. Allen's eye brow twitched, why wasn't his Uncle that patient when it was him he was teaching to use his inherited Noah powers?

"B-But I still don't understand how Allen can change his appearance so suddenly!" Krory stuttered out miserably. He was suddenly dropped in a middle of a war he didn't know was happening because he had some sort of weapon he didn't know about, and now he was with unknown people who was trying to hide him from both sides that would either kill him on sight or turn him into a pawn because of said weapon which he only found out about that day.

Allen had to resist the urge to bash his head against the white concrete wall in pure frustration and he wasn't even taking part in the conversation! With a low groan the silverette hauled himself from his corner, dragging the stool behind him which he proceeded to plant in a new position in front of the count. Getting down to eye level, exasperated silver pools met confused black.

"Listen to me and listen to me well because this'll be the one and only time I explain this. One of the many powers I inherited from Neah is the Sands of Time." Allen reached over to a side table and plucked an apple from the fruit bowl. "I can make anything I choose to either age," the red of the apple rapidly faded to a dead brown, becoming wrinkled and completely inedible. "or I could bestow youth." The once dead apple suddenly began to morph, reverting back to its red glory, but Allen didn't stop there, he kept going until all that was left was a lone apple blossom. "Simply put I can manipulate everything's time stream, including my own. It comes in handy for things such as our mission. With the Noah's I look like this." Little Allen, once known as Red, now sat on the stool, his red hair messy swinging his legs back and forth grinning up at the vampire with innocence revealing the gap where his tooth fell out. "With the exorcists I'm like this." Now prim and proper Allen Walker sat upon the stool, legs crossed, hands folded politely over his knees and his back ruler straight. "Either way I'm the same person. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes, thank you." Krory answered, the visual presentation helped immensely.

"Good, now Neah'll show you to your room, I have business to attend to; I'll be back…later." Allen waved over his shoulder as he made his way down the hallway, simultaneously reverting back to his child form. He'd save the Order for later, he wasn't ready for the unnecessary pain that was necessary for being there.

xXx

"No daddy you can't do that silly! The icing goes on the outside of the cake." Allen Camelot stood on a step stool next to his father by a counter. The duo was baking a cake for a snack and little Allen wanted to make it with his new father so it would be special.

"It's ok Allen, when it warms up enough, the icing will be forced to the outside of the cake, bakers do it this way so the icing would be even." Sheryl's smile widened when he noticed his son had flour smeared across his cheek and chocolate on the tip of his nose.

"Does that mean if we add jello in it that there'd be perfect jello on the outside as well?" Allen asked excitedly, bouncing up and down at the many possibilities that popped into his mind due to his overactive imagination.

"I suppose that makes sense, sure! Why don't we add some broccoli too so that we can have vegetables at the same time as our treat?"

"And beans and meat and bread and gummies!" Allen listed off more and more things as he threw said ingredients into the batter without bothering to wait for Sheryl's answer.

"Hmm, I think that should be enough, let's throw that into the oven and clean ourselves up as we're waiting for it to bake." The prime minister gently placed the heavy tin into the oven setting it to 640 degrees Fahrenheit. That should make their treat be done quicker.

xXx

"Your brother is an imbecile." Allen drawled as he reentered the ark, still in kid form, but obviously coming fresh from a bath.

"What are you doing here…and which brother?" Neah asked, looking up from his chess game with Krory.

"Taking a break from the insanity that is your family, plus I have an errand for Krory to do. All of your brother's are imbeciles but Sheryl is right now the king of the word." The silverette plopped face down onto the living room couch, letting out a long suffering sigh.

"What happened?" the original musician asked, ignoring Krory's looks that obviously screamed what errand?

"He tried to make cake." Allen deadpanned. "Krory, do you think you're up to some traveling?"

"Um, I've never really left my castle before, grandfather never allowed it, but I've always wanted to see new places in the world."

"Well this isn't supposed to be a vacation, but if you finish fast enough then feel free to look around, but don't linger too long. You don't want to attract any unwanted attention. Neah'll make sure you're properly dressed and styled for our current civilization." Allen handed the count a simply folder. "I simply need you to head into a marketplace to pick up some supplies that Neah'll need for his latest invention."

"And what exactly am I supposed to be inventing?" Neah asked, a bit miffed that his nephew didn't bother to simply ask him.

"A device that'll hide a Noah's awakening from the Earl." He stated as if it were the weather he was talking about. "Oh, and Neah? I need a favor."

xXx

"Daddy? I don't think that's a cake." Allen, now freshly clean, stood at eye level with the…thing…and had a finger outstretched to poke it but quickly withdrew when one of the grotesque bubbles popped.

"Sheryl what have we told you about attempting to cook?"

"Uncle Tyki!" Allen ran towards the poker player and latched onto his waist. "daddy and I baked a cake. Do you want the first piece?"

"Not to be mean or anything Shounen, but that is not edible. Why don't you go and play in your room real quick? I'll be right up after you, but first I have to talk to your dad about big people stuff ok?" Tyki gave the boy a lollipop courtesy of Skin and the child bounded up the stairs excitedly.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about Tyki?" Sheryl asked, dumping the entire cake- including the pan- into a near by garbage.

"The Earl wants you to bring Allen over tomorrow, something about seeing how he's taking to his Noah awakening and testing his powers and what not."

"Are you sure that would be ok? I mean, the kid's been through so much already, plus he's only been here for a few months now. We shouldn't do something like this so soon." Sheryl fretted, he had quickly become protective of his adopted son and even if it was the Earl he wouldn't back down so easily when it came to the younger's safety.

"The Earl promised a safe environment, even saying that he wouldn't force things and only do things that would let the boy discover his powers naturally." Tyki was in the process of reaching for an apple when a loud shattering sound emanated from upstairs.

The two brothers looked at each other with dread; "Allen." was all they said before darting up the stairs, Tyki using his powers to simply use the air to get to the upper floor quicker.

When the two made it to the shut wooden door, Sheryl unwillingly nudged it open, fearing what he would see on the other side. Allen's toy table was knocked over onto its side and his belongings were strewn across the floor, glass shards from the once whole window shone across the ground as the evening sun hit them. Sitting seemingly innocently in the middle of the room was a single white sheet of folded paper. With shaking hands Sheryl gently retrieved the parchment from the ground and read its contents before handing it to Tyki and running out of the room with a pale face.

Prime Minister,

We have your son. We will contact you within 24 hours with our demands. Do not call the authorities, after all, we wouldn't want something unfortunate to happen to little Allen now would we?

A/N: Ta dah! I'm not dead! Yay right? Sorry for going so long without updating. Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year! If any of you are truly dying to know why I was unable to update for so long, well the super long story is in my A/N for Batfamily Mayhem just from chapter 65 and on because I don't feel like dumping that long explanation here, instead, I'll be taking this time to respond to your reviews! If you absolutely hate this, well say so, but BFM people liked it and I liked being able to make sure everyone knows that yes do read each of your words and yes I do take them into consideration (mostly because people over there are all nice and sweet and not mean, don't get me wrong you guys are awesome too, but there has already been a mean one here and we're only 10 chapters in while BFM is at chapter 69!) Anywho here we go, this is in order of who reviewed first, not because I picked favorites!

Wushu723, AngelTricks, TANNTrum, Alaina Kuski, The Awesome Beast, Killer Akuma, and MysticalNyla– Thank you, glad you like.

STVamp- Thanks, hope I can keep your interests peaked.

THISACCOUNTISNOLONGERBEUSED- Thank you

Indigo-Jay- Thanks, I went back and polished up some things but hopefully it doesn't change things too much, and I do try to keep my readers on their toes ;)

likestoread418- Sorry it's a bit confusing, thought that's what I originally was trying to do, I hope this chapter clears up things for you a bit and don't hesitate to ask about things if you're still lost.

Sora Arashitori- Thank you so much, and I did! I hope you liked the update.

Evilbunny0- You're a mind reader 0_0 I totally read that in a British accent and then you said that and just BAM mind blown XD. Thanks for liking, loved the names, but I already made it Allen sorry DX.

Yuki Walker-The Kitsune- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be gone for so long DX

dcdc123- I'm so sorry, I didn't plan on being gone for so long.

switchpersonalitites- thank you so much! Yea, I like how he can worm his way into everyone's heart so easily.

black rose- thanks for reading, sorry it took so long.

outside da box- red is Allen, Allen is both Red and Allen…and Allen. I know it's confusing but hopefully this chapter cleared it up. I love you too =) and sorry it takes so long to update, college and all that jazz you know?

Zero Lawliet- oh yea, he'll reveal himself and it will be spectacular! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAH XD ahem, I mean…thank you so much for reviewing and reading XD

Mas2009- Well sorry you don't like, but there is such thing as a back button, I didn't force you to read this fiction and if you bothered to read any of the previous AN's it wouldn't be so confusing. If you don't like please go elsewhere because your kind of comments are not welcomed here =)

AquaPrincessLovesFairyTaill- Thank you for bearing with the confusion, I hope things are a bit clearer now, but it'll get a bit more confusing before everything's straightened out. PS I love Fairy Tail too XD

Wow there are a lot more reviews than I first thought, well, I replied to everyone, even the mean one so hope you guys are happy with that, sorry for taking so long and I'll see you in the next chapter! I do NOT own D. Gray-Man, review please!