Freedom is the right for all Creation, Lavi!

Yes, that's great, Allen...

But you've forgotten that there are those who abuses that right.

The floor below them shook as if the very foundation of the castle itself was afraid of the enraged Demon Lord. Lavi's green coloured eye returned to replace the demonic red; his black wings that threatened the listener shrunk and slowly loosed its sharpness. Lavi stood panting as if he ran a small marathon, his body slightly shaking. When he finally got a hold of his senses, he saw the unmoving angel standing his ground bravely.

Allen's unwavering eyes lost their dazzle, leaving behind nothing less than cold determination and a bit of hurt, "I… Just want to help," his voice shook as tears threatened to come out.

Lavi took in a deep breath as he closed his own eye, not wanting to look at the innocent angel anymore, "nobody can help me,"

"You don't know that, Lavi," Allen mumbled tiredly back. The angel reached out with a dainty hand devoid of battle scars to touch the equally-tired demon, but stopped at the very last second. Due to the pain of contact or something else entirely, Lavi was not certain.

Allen's wings drooped slowly down as it uncurled from his body, the angel and demon saying nothing more about the sensitive topic of Lavi's unwanted curse. As Allen left the library without a word and the cold ambience disappeared with him, Komui walked forward to take pity on his depressed Demon Lord, "You shouldn't have done that. He only wants to help,"

Lavi found himself totally drained of energy, not having enough spirit to even gather his simmering temper to lash out at his second-in-command. His own black wings seemed to copy Allen's own; dropping low while still folded neatly. "I don't know what to do anymore," his normally jolly voice turned dejected as he turned around to look at the damage he had wrought in his fit of rage; both physically and practically.

Timothy was leaving his bedroom after a hard day's work (his parents hexed him into doing his homework before leaving to play with his other demon friends) when he heard low sobbing coming from the open garden at the west wing. He thought that one of the girls must've fallen down and cried for help, but as he ventured closer to the source of sound, he saw a moping angel sitting with his head on his folded knees.

"Allen?" Timothy spoke out gently, sitting by the curled up angel's side and touched the pretty feathers.

Allen's wings flinched away from the tiny hand by instinct, rubbing his red eyes and releasing a burdened breath, "Hullo, Timothy. What's wrong?"

Timothy cross his arms and laughed slightly, "Why are you crying, Allen?"

Allen's wings stiffened as it carefully curled around Allen's arms, and then gave up when Allen forcefully relaxed himself. It would do nobody good if I sat here and cry my heart out. He cleared his throat and tried to think up of an excuse that sounded reasonable to a nine year old demon. He absolutely didn't want to vent out his anger or complain about the very stubborn Demon Lord to a young demon who did not know any better! Who knows what kind of assumptions or ideas Timothy might plot out! Allen finally decided to bend the truth, since he couldn't possibly tell a lie as an angel of the Lord, "I want to go out into the forest to collect some things to make a cure, but I don't know any way out of here," It's technically true, come to think of it…

Timothy looked intense for a split second, before his childish attitude took over once again. He shook his head sadly and apologised, "Sorry, I don't know.. I mean, there are a lotta tunnels and secret pathways hidden all around the castle that I don't know of, but Lavi won't let me go out without supperviton,"

You and me both, child. Allen remembered to smile lightly, telling the demon boy that all was well even if he did not know the way out, "Supervision, dear. That's alright, I'm sure that there's a way out of here that I can use!"

With that said, Allen used up his long days searching for a way out. He didn't tell anyone what he was doing, making up some excuse that seemed plausible at those moments when they caught him kneeling at some random part of the castle or pushing blocks of bricks at the fortification. Of course, Black Order gave concerned looks to the weird-acting angel. But they said nothing as they allowed Allen to continue "praying to my Father at this time of day" or "trying to test the durability of this castle wall; never know when another strike might come!"

That was during the early times of the day. When it came to dinner nights, it was an awfully different matter completely. Everyone practically choked on the heavy atmosphere that kept surrounding the eating table, their eyes never making contact with either Lavi or Allen. The angel looked as confident and poised as ever, but his pristine white wings gave away his dissatisfaction as they curled and uncurled around the air in mirror to Allen's inner agitation. The same could be said about Lavi; his voice was never raised above whisper level and his broad shoulders would hunch over the table as if Lavi would fall asleep on the furniture at any second. His own large, demon wings were stationary (thank goodness for small miracles), but they were as stiff as a board and looked unnatural when Lavi impelled them to fold behind him. The gloomy mood was enough to put everyone's appetite to waste as the two opposing auras clashed with the other.

One day, Allen found a strange-looking book from the library; covered in dust, the purple-bounded book was unfamiliar to a bookworm like Allen. "Hmm… What's this one all about?" he murmured secretly to himself, although his female companion of the day was just behind him, reading a scroll on how to turn people into harmless frogs. Allen flipped a few pages here and there as he sped-read the whole book within seconds. His eyes widened in renewed exhilaration as he thrusted the book in front of a thinking demon mage, "Lenalee! Lenalee! Take a look at this! There's a spell right here to conjure up anything you need!"

That sounds so familiar… Lenalee thought with a frown as she carefully took the book out of Allen's eager hands. Looking through the spell, she was thoroughly surprised that Allen had found the exact same book that she had used to summoned him to this very castle!

Allen's wings flapped in excitement as he peeked over Lenalee's shoulders to point at the required ingredients, "Look at them! The items are rare, I can agree, but I'm sure that we can find everything on that list with everyone's help! If we can gather everything, we can summon the very cure for Lavi's curse!" He ended with his arms and small wings outstretched; his optimistic face was a beautiful picture that could make even the hardest demons weep.

Lenalee tried to reign in her inner squealing demon. Allen is just so cute when he's so concerned! But as she remembered what kind of spell they were talking about, Lenalee's feelings died down. She was afraid of what might happen when she explains the hidden meaning behind the cure to Lavi's curse. Would he run away in shame? Or accept the fact that there is more to their relationship than meets the eye? The mage tapped the book as she watched for Allen's reaction carefully, "Allen… We did this spell-" she chewed her bottom lip as she spoke seriously, "-And then you came out as the summoned item,"

There was a pregnant silence following Lenalee's announcement. Allen's face changed expressions from mild confusion to something simply unreadable. Then, the angel's mind came to realisation of the meaning behind the spell and he looked at Lenalee with such determined eyes, "That's it-" Allen stood with so much vigour and pride that it made Lenalee breathed a sigh of happiness, "-Now I'm Heaven-bent on going back to the church,"

Lenalee's sigh of happiness was sucked back in as she screeched, "Wait, what?! You still want to go back to the church?! I just told you that YOU'RE the key ingredient on curing Lavi's curse!"

"All the more reason to go back to the church," Allen's voice was eerily calm as he packed his books and wore his red cloak that Lavi had gifted to him before the fight, "I know that the fathers have thousands of books there about curses and how they work. If I am chosen as Lavi's major element, then I'll do my very best to find the cure to his curse until the day I die!"

OhmySatan, was there anybody this oblivious before?! Lenalee looked up to the ceiling as if the answer to her inner question was there. She saw Allen's mouth muttering words, most probably planning to escape the impenetrable castle. Allen's eyes were wandering, as if the angel himself was trapped in his own little world. Closing the book with a defeated sound, she wondered out loud, "why are you so motivated to cure Lavi?" she saw Allen stiffened, but she barrelled on, "He's been treating you like you're less than dirt. He teases you and he shouts at you. Heck, he only acknowledged your name when you were at death's door!"

Allen twisted his lips in contemplation. His wings touching his arms in light support as he said softly, "Because he's one of God's creations. All angels have to protect His creations, regardless of their past sins or present personalities or future doings,"

"You must really love your so-called 'God' to be able to put up with Lavi's immaturity and abuse,"

"Of course," Allen lifted one shoulder as he left the library in melancholy, "He is my Father, after all,"

He left the musing Lenalee to her activities and journeyed towards some the abandoned parts of the castle. There, Allen kept looking for a way out, now that his determination to get back and find a cure had ignited fully by Lenalee's words. This is frustrating! And hopeless! Allen decided to say a prayer in a desperate voice, "Adiuva me, Pater . Obsecro te!" as he leaned on a wall.

A wall that was slowly moving backwards.

"WOAH!" Allen tumble-turned down into the dark tunnel, the wall closing back to its original position. The clumsy angel rolled down, his hard wings protecting his fragile body from the many stony impacts. "Owowowowow!" Allen rubbed his painful head as he removed the dust from his cloak. There was a long, dark tunnel before him that seemed to never end. Allen felt like he was on an adventure all on his own, his spirit went giddy with enthusiasm. "Where in Father's name am I going…" he mumbled, the only source of light he could conjure up was his glowing wings.

Finally reaching the end of the silent tunnel, Allen pushed with all his might and the wall gladly gave way to the angel's great strength. Allen felt thrilled as he saw the surrounding forests all around him. It was already night time when Allen walked quickly away from the secret pathway; he missed watching the stars trying to outshine each other with their little brightness. He enjoyed it when the fireflies came out dancing with their green, glowing lights. He especially loved it when the cold, seductive night wind whispered sweet nothings into his ears and caressed his naked skin like icy fingers.

"Ouch! What-"Allen's wrists and ankles started to burn a bright red. His eyes widened in panic as he saw his magical shackles lighting up in bloody red, the symbols that were slowly moving were now jumping in chaotic rhythm, "Oh no!" Allen started to run as fast as he can go. The shackles screeched and their scream pierced the peaceful night environment. The shackles were sounding an alarm, and Allen feared that he might not make it out alive if he got caught! No! I am this close! I can't give up now! Allen argued in his head, trying to pick up his hasty pace as his wings tried in vain to fly.

Lavi sensed his magic shackles coming to life before he even heard the resounding screech. By compulsion, Lavi turned to look out of his bedroom windows and his soul froze instantly. His wings burst out open in swift sharpness as he took off flying from his balcony, shouting for his clan to awaken and assist him in catching the escaped and foolish prisoner.

Upon intuition, Allen looked back towards the Black Order castle and his own heart skipped a beat or two when he heard the roar of an infuriated Demon Lord. Allen gritted his teeth and begged the night wind to help him, his running speed increasing tremendously. He paid no heed to the constantly burning sensation he felt on his shackled wrists and ankles as he hurried deeper into the malicious forest. Alas, Allen was running aimlessly as he came to the realisation that he was –predictably- lost. He stopped momentarily to gain his bearings, but his mind was in a furious state of anxiety to think of anything since he was in foreign land!

"W-what's that smell?" Allen wondered, looking around for the smell's origin. It was sweet-smelling, almost like the lovely mixture of honey and morning dew. All of a sudden, he felt his energy seeping away from his body and Allen's once-hardened wings were losing their protection mode. Allen dropped to his knees as his head began to swim; the last thing he saw before he lost all consciousness was two blue armoured feet coming closer.

~.~

"Allen?!" Komui shouted as he landed behind the livid Lavi. He looked around for any signs of the missing angel, but there was neither hide nor hair of Allen at all. He walked and walked until he accidentally bumped into Lavi's back. "Lavi, what's the matte- What the hell…."

On one of the already dead trees, there hung Allen's elegant red cloak. The piece of hand-made clothing was torn and shredded by claw marks as if the wearer was caught in the middle of an insane battle. Only, the wearer himself was not seen with his cloak. Komui felt his blood crawled as he saw the night wind making a mockery out of the red cloak by moving it around, his voice a-shaking, "No…"

Beside him, Komui felt the air rose up to dangerously-high temperatures. Lavi's eye turned bloody red as shadows began to appear from Lavi's body, already shaping the infamous demon armour. Lavi roared into the dark sky as he caught a whiff of the scent that he despised so very much mingling with the smell of angel blood, "MAAAALCOOOOOOOOLM!"

Ooooh Noooooh! Allen's gone! Hopefully Malcolm isn't going to kill him.. Yet. muahahahaha Allen's prayer "Adiuva me, Pater . Obsecro te!" means "Help me, Father. I beg of you!"

Now you see, Allen's always looking for trouble eventhough he isn't aware of it, isn't he? Well, that's because most angels have a one-tracked mind. When they set their eyes on something, they'd go to the ends of the world to achieve their needs. And it's true when Allen said that angels cannot lie. Angels are considered to be God's purest creations, the pinnacle of his work and magic. Angels were given untold powers, but they have a drawback; if an angel lies directly, they'd turn into stone! So Allen and the other angels have to twist and play with words to suit their needs, bending the truth but not really breaking God's laws. I'm pretty sure all of us have 'bent the truth' to people before.

This leads to angels having to control their wings' motions more strictly than a demon. Because wings are physical representatives to their inner emotions, angels have to keep their white appendages in check if they want to trick a person through their words. (think dogs that wag their tails when happy and drooping low when sad or frightened). Demons -who don't give a shit about God and all- can talk or lie whatever they want, so you can see their black wings portraying their emotions more freely. But hey, angels have an image to keep! That's why angels have more control and precision over their wings. Except Allen, who still has no control of his wings mirroring his inner self no matter how hard he tries to hide it! haha

I do hope this shed some light over how Allen (hopefully he's alright!) thinks and cleared some questions regarding their wings. I'd like to confess that I have a wing!kink in this story, so you'll see a lot of angel/demon wing-actions in the coming chapters. If you squint closer, you'll understand the workings of their inner mind through their wings' movements. So I do hope you enjoy the coming ride! I really love/adore/cherish/treasure/thankful/grateful of all your comments and opinions (also your musings allow me to think about what I can write about my story's information section). So keep it up! Have an awesome-filled day!