THANK YOU ALL FOR READING THIS FIC!!! WITH THE LAST CHAPTER I HAD 114 VISITORS IN TWO HOURS!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!! I EVEN GOT TWO NEW READERS WHO ADDED MY STORY TO THEIR FAVOURITES!!

Oh, that's the second chapter which has the word " MADNESS" in the title... It's not by chance: from this moment on insanity will fill the Headquarters always more driving mad our beloved exorcists… My evil side is singing in joy… XD

In this chapter we'll finally see Cross… He is my favourite one along with Kanda and Allen. To tell the truth, this fic started as the story of Cross, his past, his bound with the fourteenth and so on. So, what you're reading now is one of the first things that I wrote this summer. Hope you enjoy it!

Soundtrack for this chapter: "Almost Lover" by A Fine Frenzy for the part with Cross, and " Kaname Kuran theme" from the "Vampire Knight" anime for the rest.

XI CHAPTER- NIGHTMARES OF MADNESS

Afternoon, place unknown, day unknown

Marian Cross, once general of the Black Order, was now a normal person like many others since his Innocence, Judgement, had abandoned him. He, that once had been the dream of every woman, was now avoided by everyone as "the madman". He, that once had been so handsome, was now a living corpse agitated by a merciless fever that was destroying him.

He had survived to the unexpected attack that the men of Central had directed against him, an attack that would have been fatal if someone hadn't saved the dying general. Still, the injuries he got that time caused a fever that was eating him alive.

" If she won't find a cure soon…" Cross thought in one of his rare moments of clearness of mind.

" Don't leave me alone, please, don't abandon me again…" he whispered to someone invisible. Nobody answered to his plea: he was alone in the ancient, abandoned building. The place was no much more than an amount of slums, but showed clearly the signs of a magnificent past.

" Like me." The ex-general murmured to himself chuckling weakly in irony. He felt a sort of familiarity with the palace, as if he had already been there before, maybe when he was very young, but he still had no idea of where he was. So strange.

" You are no longer the host for this Innocence, traitor."

These words were echoing continuously in his head, They were the words that the killers from Central told him before shooting him. Did Judgement really abandon him? They had fought together for so many years…

" How can this be really happening?"He thought. When the compatible person betrays the Innocence he becomes a fallen, but what happens when it's the Innocence the one which betrays his compatible? Cross had never heard of such a thing before, but it happened. It happened to him. Judgement didn't obey him; it refused to shoot when he pressed the trigger. Why? The ex-general didn't know, but as soon as he realized that something was wrong, the killers had shot him. Four times.

The woman that was taking care of him had already extracted the bullets, but he could still feel them piercing his flesh, going across him, killing him… The memory sent a chill down to his spine.

When he fell, the killers escaped letting him on the floor, still alive, but doomed to die soon for blood loss. But then, when everything seemed lost, she appeared, his angel, his long-life saviour and his eternal curse.

She was the only one who really had every right to kill him, she should have let him die, but she had never been the kind of person that does what the others expect her to do. She loved to astonish, to say memorable things and act as the heroine of an epic poem.

Maybe, it had been this the reason why she had saved him by hiding his body from those who were searching for him and then nursing him, and taking him away from the Headquarters in a place where nobody would have ever found him, but she. Whichever was the reason, Cross was glad she saved him, she and nobody else. She was the only one allowed to see him in such a pitiful condition.

The thoughts in Cross' head were not clear at all, the blood loss was making him have hallucinations and his mind was just wandering from a thought to another, aimlessly and painfully. Still, he could not stop thinking. He had to keep his brain at work, or he would have lost consciousness again and he didn't absolutely want this.

He thought again about his killers. He knew why Central had sent assassins to kill him: it had been the fear. Once they had the certainty that he knew far too much, the fear had overwhelmed them, he could easily imagine it, and at this rate it had been a joke for his enemies to persuade them that Cross had to be eliminated.

The ex-general sighed. He had never liked Central's work, but now they had surpassed every limit: becoming the puppets of that guy!? How could they be so hopelessly stupid? Why weren't they able to face the truth, not even when it was under their very eyes? They preferred the eternal embrace of an illusion to the astonishing truth of an instant, so, could he really blame them? They were common human beings after all, despite their way to act as if they were God's apostles.

Disciples should be led by their masters. But God had never told them which way to follow. He had abandoned them to fight against their doubts and fears, as if it could be a fair match.

" Maybe God, if he does really exist, if he really is perfect… if all this is true, maybe, He can't understand our feelings, maybe things as fear and anguish, things as death and pain, are so far away from him that he can't understand these kind of things and that's why he left us alone. "

Lost in the middle of his thoughts, Cross heard the sound of paces approaching. It was her; no one else could walk in that way.

Through the pain, he smiled to the woman when she sat beside him in silence. Cross observed her with admiration as she started to change his bandages. Her face was calm, her features perfect, maybe just a little too arrogant, her unnaturally, long, blond hair were like liquid gold, hiding her body as a cloak.

" You really are a fairytale's princess…" Cross whispered to her, but the arrogant beauty did not reply. Not that the ex-general was expecting anything of the kind: he knew her far too well to be so naive.

" My woman," he murmured proud, " my Maria, forever beautiful, no-one will ever touch you if I can't. "

" I'm not yours, Marian. I never was."

" But you are." The man smiled, " You've always been and you'll always be, you know this." He put an happy confidence in these words.

" You're hopeless as always, Marian, you can't admit the defeat." Her voice was stern and seemed annoyed somehow, but the man chuckled at her words in a strange, hysteric way. She didn't made an answer of any kind, mute as a statue, and Cross fell asleep with the feeling of being embraced by that golden hair of hers.

Meanwhile, as Cross fell asleep, a boy awakened in the middle of the night, gasping.

He had made the strangest of the dreams: everywhere around him was utterly black, he couldn't see anything at all, but the woman in front of him.

She was almost shining in the darkness, but Allen couldn't see her face. She was showing him her back; she was silent and immobile, seated on her knees. The only thing Allen could see was her long, blond, shining hair, so long that they covered completely her whole figure and the ground around her.

She didn't even care to answer when Allen started to call her. She was a living statue.

The boy kept on calling her, things like: "Excuse me, Miss… May I help you?" and, finally, she answered, though not the way Allen expected her to: " Allen Walker…" she said clearly. The exorcist stood surprised, in silence. How did she know his name? He really wanted to ask, but she was quicker:

" Allen Walker," she repeated. Allen knew that voice very well, he was sure of it, but he wasn't able to recognize whom it belonged.

" your master and you are in great danger." The woman explained with calm.

" My-my master and me?" Allen asked hesitant " That's nothing new: we are always in danger, me because I'm an exorcist and he because he's a womaniz…ehm… a particular person."

" This time is different." The woman replied. She had such a beautiful voice, so clear, it had the power to relax the others. Allen definitely knew that voice, but who was she?

" There are enemies waiting for you: people you trusted… and people who was supposed to be your ally. Stay on your guard, Allen Walker, don't trust anyone and find Cross-sama. He will need your help. "

The teen wanted to ask her where his master was, but at this rate he had awakened in shock.

Who was she? He knew her voice, he was sure of it, but her hair didn't help him to find out who she was. He knew nobody with such long, golden hair, he was sure of this too.

And what about all those speeches of dangers, new enemies and betrayals? She had frightened him, but he couldn't still understand what the Hell she was talking about. It was so annoying.

Allen observed his reflection in the mirror under the pale light of the moon. The teen that looked back at him was almost unrecognizable: he was thinner, more muscular, somehow older, with a strange, cold light shining in his eyes. Allen brushed the deep scars on his chest with the fingers.

What the Hell was happening? Someone inside the Order, he suspected Leverrier, had tried to kill his master who had, somehow, miraculously survived and was now pretending to be dead with the help of another general, Cloud Nine; the fourteenth inside him was becoming stronger each day and the teen could actually do nothing to fight him back; meanwhile he had to face the trial for heresy that sooner or later that bastard of a French Commandant ( author: he's speaking about Leverrier) would have surely put him through.

Allen snorted thinking that he had really had enough of all those plots and sighed (: "what is that idiot of an author doing?" Sorry Allen!!! XD). At the same time another voice broke the silence. It was Link:

" Are you okay, Allen Walker?" he asked

" Yes, it was only a nightmare."

" Are you sure?" Link insisted " You look frightened."

" I told you already: it was a N-I-G-T-H-M-A-R-E!" the teen raged " Or are you going to start thinking that I can plot with Cross against your beloved Leverrier even in dreams? Are you going to denounce me for a nightmare? " Allen regretted these words as soon as he ended to pronounce them, but Link didn't answer. Not that he was mad at Allen or something, he was only secretly hurt and he knew it was no use talking to the teen when he was like that. The Inspector knew that there was something tormenting Allen, something that the boy could not reveal to anyone, and less than all to him, his guardian, but still it hurt to be described as an enemy by a person he had secretly gotten affectionate to.

" I'm sorry, Link." Allen murmured slowly and pretended to return to sleep, but the Inspector knew that the young exorcist would have hardly caught any sleep that night.

Link was right: Allen didn't catch any sleep that night, so the next morning he woke up very early. The teen decided to go downstairs in order to take a huge breakfast to rise up his spirit, but though he tried to be as silent as he could, Link heard him and woke up.

" Hi, Link…" Allen said, feeling guilty and embarrassed for his behaviour of the previous night.

" How are you?" the teen asked trying to begin a conversation. Link ignored him.

" Better to make Allen feel guilty for a little more…" the Inspector thought revengefully, hiding a grin from the sight of the worried boy.

" He really seems sorry…" he thought, " maybe I can return to speak to him for the end of the week." Link decided evilly, enjoying his opportunity to have Allen's attention focused on him.

The young man was amazed by how much he had changed since the day he had been assigned to Allen Walker as his guardian.

When Leverrier had given him the mission of baby-sitting a young exorcist he had been annoyed to no end. It was true that the exorcist was suspected of being an ally of the Noah's family, but it still seemed a stupid mission to him, the best member of the task force of the Black Order.

Leverrier was completely sure of Allen being guilty, so, when Link had met the teen for the first time, he had imagined him to be a criminal, a clever spy, a traitor. You may even say that he hated the boy.

Then things slowly started to change. It was true that Allen was strange, it was obvious that he was hiding some secret and the Inspector could not deny that there was a connection between the teen and the Millennium Earl, but following the young exorcist everyday he had discovered other things too.

First of all, Link had been struck by the trust that everyone at the Headquarters put in that boy. Everybody simply adored him and even those few, like Kanda, who said to find him annoying, in reality trusted him more than anyone else. Link was astonished, but soon came to think about it as a part of the clever plan the spy was working at. Yes, it had to be like this.

Then Link had discovered why everyone trusted Allen so much: the teen was always the first to help when someone was in troubles and it was impressive to see him fight. When he activated the Crown Clown and destroyed akuma it was easy to see that he wasn't doing it because of his duty alone: Allen put all his heart and his strength in his "job". Fighting was all his life. He didn't fight for the Order or for himself, but for the sake of his friends as much as for his enemies.

There was such purity in Allen's way to live that couldn't be misjudged, there was something in him that made people want to help him, the little boy who had to be strong to help the others.

Generous, that was the right word to describe Allen, and generosity in him had nothing to do with ingenuity. The teen knew how cruel the world may be, he knew what pain and sufferance is, and yet this knowledge hadn't turn him into a selfish bastard, but in the most good person Link had ever known. And it was because of the goodness in Allen's soul that the Inspector had begun to care for the boy before even realizing it.

" I am really stupid, am I not?" Link had started to think about it very often lately because, though he knew he would have never disobeyed Leverrier's orders, he was still determinate to do whatever was in his power to save Allen. Why? Because Allen was the most innocent, genuine, generous person he had ever known and he didn't want to see him condemned by one of those unfair trials of the Inquisition.

Still, Link would have never confessed out loud even a word of all this.

While the Inspector was lost in his thoughts, he and Allen reached the Cafeteria. It was very early in the morning and the room was almost desert, but by the time the teen finished ordering his food, the whole place was far more lively and they were still eating when an unknown golem reached them.

It had a message for Link: Leverrier was at the Headquarters and wanted the Inspector to report on the result of his inquiry.

Link listened to the message emotionless, and then he left the room without saying a single word to Allen.

" I'm here, Commandant." These were the first words Link pronounced in front of his superior.

Leverrier… that man was a mystery: he was cruel, merciless, stubborn till the idiocy, arrogant and fanatic too, but that was just the way he appeared to people. After many years at his side, Link knew that it was only a part of the truth about that complicated man.

" Link Inspector!" Leverrier welcomed him with something very similar to a smile: " How is the inquiry going?"

" Very well, Commandant, very well, indeed." Leverrier smiled at these words and Link went on with his speech: " The suspect never tried to contact Marian Cross, nor did he gave any sign of knowing something about the General's present location, if he really is alive as you suspect."

Link kept on talking before Leverrier could have the chance to stop him: "There hasn't been any attempt from his part to contact the Noah family either. During my surveillance time, Allen Walker has done nothing, but fight the enemy, exactly as he was supposed to do as an exorcist and during the missions he has showed nothing, but loyalty to his duty and to his companions. Even if rumours had been spread about him being a spy, the other members of the Order never doubted him and I have to say that I have no reasons to suspect him either."

Link did his report briefly and denying any support to his superior's accusations.

Leverrier wasn't pleased at all by these news.

" That's all you've discovered? " he asked serious.

" I've found nothing that can be used to support the accuse." Link answered, returning to the emotionless mode. He had exaggerated when he said that he didn't suspect Allen anymore. Anyway, Leverrier didn't comment that, but stated: " It seems that Allen Walker is loved by everyone and that's strange. It's unnatural. Inspector Link, I want a reckoning of everyone who has ever had a fight with our suspect."

" Now?" Link asked in disbelief. Why was Leverrier interested in such a thing? What was he plotting?

" Not now. Do researches and show me the result at our next meeting."

" As you order, my Commandant." Link bowed

" You can go." Leverrier ordered in a pompous manner.

The Inspector was already leaving when his superior added at the last moment: " Link-kun," his subordinate turned towards him, " You would better not get affectionate to someone who is doomed to fall." Leverrier pronounced this sentence slowly, a sadistic smile on his features.

Link nodded trying to remain emotionless and went away quickly. Now he was certain: Leverrier was going to destroy Allen and he didn't care if the exorcist was guilty or not. He had decided to crush the teen and nothing would have made him change his mind, for he was so stupidly stubborn!

Link was shocked and yet he knew that this was only one of the many mysteries about Leverrier that he could not comprehend. The Inspector was only a helpless child, caged in an orphanage, when he saw the Commandant for the first time. Since then, he had always followed him with loyalty and so he knew that his superior had never been afraid of breaking the rules in order to get what he wanted, but still Link had kept on believing in him, he had always followed him faithfully. He was sure that Leverrier couldn't be that bad to condemn an innocent without many valid reasons.

But then, why the idea was upsetting him all of a sudden? It was because it was Allen the innocent that had to be sacrificed? Or was it Link the one who had changed? Was he going to have to make a terrible choice? Or was there a way to keep himself loyal to both Leverrier and his own feelings? If Leverrier was really going to kill Allen, even if he was innocent, what side would Link choose?

The Inspector tried to calm down himself: first, he couldn't be sure of what the Commandant intentions were, and second, the moment of choosing hadn't come yet. He still had time to see and decide. Yes, Link sighed, he still had time. Meanwhile he would have done what his superior had requested.

Author's notes—the angel is tired and the devil dances

I swear it, I'm tired to no end. To study during the day and to write at night is killing me. But I won't ever renounce to this fic! I'm proud of this story!

Go on, guys, I want reviews!!!!

Finally Cross has appeared… oh, divine joy! I was waiting to upload this chapter since such a long time! How was it? Did you find it interesting? Do you liked the way I described Cross and that woman? I have a lot of things to say about them, but I fear you'll have to wait for a very long time to find out the truth…

I made Allen a little hysteric in this chapter… I wanted to represent a young teen who is consumed by a world far too complicated and cruel for a boy of his age and he end up like this. I think Allen is feeling terribly alone in this moment of this life, more than ever. I'd like to give him more space, but it's useless: no matter how hard I try, the other characters always win on him! In this case the guilty one is Link… XD He was really terrible at the beginning of the story and now he's becoming one of my favourites! I hope it'll be the same for you all!

And Leverrier becomes more interesting at any word I make him said, he really has my attention now! Really, I can't believe him to be all bad… there must be something good in him, even in him… I'll have to work hard to do a decent portrait of this chapter… =(

I'm sorry for the delay I've made in this chapter ( I guess there's something wrong in this sentence, but I don't know how to say it in a different way… Sorry…), but I couldn't do otherwise… in this last two weeks I had so many work to do related to school! But I wrote some interesting thing that will make happy the fans of Road… Wait for this!

I'm sorry for the many grammatical mistakes, I'm working hard to reduce them, but you have to consider that English is not my language and that to work at late night doesn't help. Forgive me!

BONUS SPACE

Link reviews this chapter: " You, stupid author! You're making me too emotional! Don't you know that I'm a proud, serious guy? Yes, you knew? Then why are you describing me in this shameful way!!!

Author response: "Shut up. If you don't want to admit things, it's not a problem of mine! "

-- They fight--

See you in the next chapter!

Rome, 4.12.09

Eris92