A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated in a few days. I got slammed with four essays due in the next three weeks so it's been crazy. I've barely slept for the past few days, but don't worry! This one is good!
Chapter 11: Confrontation
The following morning dawned bright and beautiful, light streaming in through the small window built up high in the wall of the Kanda family bedroom. Allen stirred slightly and yawned as he was roused from his sleep by the change in light. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled when he saw his husband still asleep beside him. His long, dark hair was loose and flowing, free of any knots. He was frowning slightly in his sleep, but Allen left him be.
Standing up, the albino stepped over to the cradle on the other side of the room, where his son slept. Miguel was already awake; silently playing with a plushy cat that Johnny had made and given him when he saw born. The baby's silver eyes moved up to his father as Allen approached and Miguel cooed softly. Reaching into the cradle, the albino picked up his son and cooed in a bird-like manner.
At first, the sound had embarrassed Allen, but Artur had explained to him that it came from his Archangel nature. They'd picked up on several bird-like traits, including nesting, which had irked Kanda to no end while Allen had been pregnant. Every night, in the middle of the night, Allen had stolen the covers from his husband and wove them around him like a nest. When Kanda awoke cold and grouchy, he would try to get the blankets back, but eventually gave up and had kept a pile of them in corner for his own use.
Taking a seat in the rocking chair beside the cradle, Allen adjusted Miguel's weight in his arms and began to rock. Miguel giggled, pawing at his father's bare chest with his tiny hands. After some embarrassing moments involving milk stains on his shirts, Allen had taken to sleeping without one. Maneuvering Miguel's mouth to his nipple, the content albino leaned back in the chair. Miguel quickly latched on, suckling, his silver eyes closing.
"I'll hate it when we have to wean him," Kanda replied, sitting up in bed.
Allen stuck his tongue out at his husband, but glanced back down at Miguel when the baby shifting slightly in his grasp.
"I still don't understand why you find this so fascinating," the albino sighed.
"It's not every day that you get to see a man breastfeeding a baby, moyashi," Kanda teased as he stood, grabbing his pants from the heap he'd thrown them in the night before.
"But you do get to see that every day, multiple times a day, in fact," Allen said.
"And it's still incredible every time."
Allen rolled his eyes and Kanda smirked over at him. Walking over to the rocking chair, Kanda lightly kissed the top of Miguel's head before moving up to Allen's lips. Their tongues locked, drawing their mouths together. Kanda placed his hands on the arms of the chair, steading it as they kissed. He spread his giant black wings, covering the couple and the baby and hiding them from some unseen threat.
"You're lucky that we're Archangels and I have to breastfeed or I would have started bottle-feeding Mige a long time ago," Allen chuckled as they broke apart, brushing Kanda's wings aside with his own.
"That would have been a regrettable loss," Kanda sighed.
"After he's done, we should go to the dining hall," Allen said, quickly switching topics. "I think Branwen is going to Central this morning."
"I still don't understand why you think she's so familiar. Did you ask Neah about it?"
Allen nodded. "Last night. He says that he has no clue who she is, but that he too recognizes her from somewhere."
"Something isn't right here," Kanda murmured. "Neah has a memory like glue: when something sticks, it can never be taken or broken away."
"There was a span of several years between when I was killed and implanted in your body that I wandered as a ghost," Neah whispered in Allen's mind. "Perhaps I met her then. I remember that I was a ghost, but I cannot remember what I did or who I met in those years."
Allen reiterated this new information to Kanda, who frowned in surprise. The samurai huffed and shook his head.
"Something still isn't right. She couldn't be a Noah, could she?"
"No way. All Noah are able to sense each other's presence. I or Neah would have known right away."
"You didn't know that the bastard you played poker with was a Noah until he destroyed your arm."
"That is true, but Tyki is special, or at least he was before I tried to exorcise him. He actually was able to separate himself from his Noah and control it even."
"How do you know that?"
"The Earl told me."
"And we're really going to start believing everything he says now?"
"Neah told me it was true: what the Earl said about Tyki."
Sighing, Kanda nodded in defeat. A chirp drew the attention of both men back to their son, who had finished with his breakfast. The baby was staring up at them with wide silver eyes.
"I'll get him changed while you get dressed," Kanda said, taking their son from Allen.
"Thanks Yu," Allen replied as he stood and stretching.
"Tch. Save the sentimentality for everyone else, Aren."
Rolling his eyes at the teasing tone in his husband's voice, Allen headed over to the dresser and yanked open a drawer. Finding a fresh pair of slacks and a crisp white shirt for himself, he quickly changed. He folded the dirty clothes when he was done as well as Miguel's, which Kanda had handed him.
He set to work on the buttons of his shirt, his eyes straying over to where Kanda was dressing Miguel. The baby and the man, identical in almost every way were both quiet as Miguel happily allowed his father to help him with his shirt. The samurai had chosen a black t-shirt and black slacks for Miguel with an unadorned Order uniform jacket. While initially unaccepting of the gift (hand made by Johnny, of course), Kanda had eventually settled into the idea of his son having one after Miguel had seemingly declared it his favorite article of clothing.
The line of Michael family crest stood out on the baby's black shirt, glittering silver from where it hung from his neck. Stepping over to where Kanda and Miguel sat on the edge of the bed, Allen fingered the charm. Miguel giggled softly, grabbing one of the albino's fingers. His black wings stretched out for Allen's, a gesture that Allen copied.
"Ready?" Kanda asked as he handed Miguel to his husband.
Taking the baby, Allen nodded and stepped back, Miguel snuggling against his shoulder. Kanda stood up and threw on a shirt that his husband handed him. Pulling back his long hair in a single swipe of his hands, he quickly secured the ponytail with a huff.
"Let's go," he said, leading Allen towards the door and out into the hall.
Tension was high in the front hall of Headquarters when Allen and Kanda stepped in. Finders were standing frozen around the room and even Komui, who stood just inside the door, was staring at the two figures in the center of the room. Branwen was glaring with an intensity that Allen had never felt before at two men. One of them was Rouvelier, who looked less-than-thrilled to be three.
The other was a man that neither Allen nor Kanda recognized. He was taller than Rouvelier and long black hair tied back with a silk white ribbon. His face was clean-shaven, not a hair out of place. Dark eyes glared back at Branwen with a furious glint in them. He wore a black and white pinstripe suit; the Rose Cross stitched to the lapel. A handkerchief, red, stuck out from the pocket on his chest and a matching silk tie was tied around his neck, ruffling out like a peacock's feathers.
A tingle ran up Allen's right arm, making it shiver. He would have gripped it with his human hand if he hadn't been holding Miguel.
"I don't see why this conversation needs to take place now, Branwen," the older man drawled.
"This needs to take place now because I say so," she snarled in reply.
Her arms were crossed over her chest and her weight was balanced entirely on her right leg, giving her a no-nonsense stance.
"In front of so many people? Do you really need to embarrass this family further?" the older man sighed.
"You're the embarrassment: the both of you!" Branwen spat.
"Oh really? You're the one who ran away!" Rouvelier shouted.
"Shut it, you fucking little-"
"Branwen, I don't have the time for this!" the older man interrupted.
"You'd better make time for it."
The man looked around in exasperation, his eyes landing on Komui, Allen and Kanda. He seemed to sneer at them before turning his attention back to Branwen.
"What do you want, Branwen? If you want to be accepted back into the family, you'll need to do something other than yell at me."
Throwing her head back, Branwen started to cackle. A shiver ran up Allen's spine as the women practically doubled over in laughter.
"Be accepted back into the family? You think I want to be accepted back into the family? What the fuck is wrong with you're guys' heads?"
She smirked at them, shaking her head. The black scarf wrapped around her head shifted as she moved.
"I don't want to be part of your fucking family! I don't even consider you or that asshole-" She motioned to Inspector Rouvelier, "To be my family! You both threw that away seventeen years ago!"
"Us? What did we do?" Rouvelier asked.
"You, Malcolm, did nothing about what he did, that's what!"
"Komui," Allen whispered to the Supervisor, "Who is that man?"
"Jonah Rouvelier, Malcolm's father as well as Branwen's by adoption," a calm voice said from behind them.
Everyone in the room turned to see a woman in a long, elegant dress walk into the room. Allen and Kanda stepped apart to let her through, watching her carefully.
"Mother," Branwen said, nodding once to the woman.
"Aderyn, what are you doing here?" Jonah asked.
"I came to help Branwen resolve this problem," Aderyn Rouvelier replied, walking over to stand beside her adopted daughter.
"Wait, you knew she was coming, didn't you?" Jonah roared.
"Of course. I've been in contact with Branwen for years, ever since she left the house," Aderyn said.
"And you let us think that she had just disappeared without telling anyone? That's cru-"
"Don't tell me about being cruel, Jonah. What you did to Branwen would be unthinkable for any father other than you," Aderyn said calmly.
"I gave her to the Order for those experiments because the war comes first and you both knew that!" Jonah shouted.
"That was horrible as well, but that isn't the sin I'm asking you to repent for," Branwen said slowly.
"What are you talking about?" Rouvelier said, finally speaking up again. "Father-"
"He's no father of mine for what he did," Branwen said, focusing her attention on her adopted brother. "I'm assuming that he never told you anything, huh?"
Rouvelier frowned and glanced at his father.
"All right, I'll tell you then," Branwen laughed.
She straightened up and let her hands drop to her sides.
Taking a deep breath, she said, "Jonah Rouvelier, advisor to the Pope himself and one of the most powerful men in the Black Order, on January 6th, 1866 committed one of the gravest sins in the world. On that night, he kidnapped my only son and within two hours of his birth, threw my baby from a bridge and into the freezing cold waters of the Thames. This man, who claimed to be my father, murdered my child. What do you say to that, Malcolm?"
Expect that? Shocked? Either way, READ, REVIEW, REPEAT!
(1) I completely made up the year since the manga places it as just being in the later half of the 19th century