A/N: Been a little while, but here it is! Explanations galore and the more confusing stuff! YAY! Anyway, hopefully I'll have a few more chapters up soon for other stories, but no promises.
Chapter 13: Noah
Kanda's pace was fast and efficient as he strolled down the hall, Miguel in his arms. The baby was surprisingly quiet, nestled against his father in a content manner and not noticing any apprehension on Kanda's part.
Nearly forty-five minutes had passed since Allen had left and Kanda was getting worried. Normally, it would have been due to Allen's terrible sense of direction, but not this time. Branwen and her strange, mysterious aura had him concerned. He didn't trust her (not that a lack of trust was unusual for him), but his distrust of her was founded on an inner feeling he had. Something was off about her.
Snarling to himself, he stormed towards the wing that housed the Science Division and other worker's bedrooms. He had found the location of her bedroom after threatening Komui, who had been reluctant to give the information away. He supposed that the Supervisor had already been asked by Allen and thought that the albino probably wouldn't appreciate Kanda interrupting whatever important things Allen and Branwen needed to discuss.
Baka, Kanda snapped inwardly. That moyashi is going to need all the help he can get. He's as oblivious than Krory! There's no way he'd even sense any danger coming without my help.
Coming to the right door, he pounded on it with a tight fist. Miguel perked up and cooed softly, his small wings straining against the heavy coat that hid them. Glancing down at his son, Kanda shook his head.
"Stop Mige. You can't show those to outsiders, remember?"
The baby gave him a strange, knowing look, but Kanda largely ignored it. Suddenly, the door opened to reveal a puffy-eyed Allen. The albino looked up at his husband, who stared back.
"Moyashi? What happened?" he shouted, pushing his way into the room.
Branwen, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, slowly stood and clasped her hands in front of her. Kanda threw her a fierce glare, but it quickly melted away when he got a better look at her. The black markings on her forehead were a sharp contrast to her skin and the giant red wings shifted and rustled behind her.
"W-What?" he asked, shell-shocked.
Miguel chirped happily and reached out towards Allen. Taking his infant son from his lover, Allen stepped over to Branwen, carefully pulling the jacket off of Miguel's shoulders.
"Kanda, Migel, meet Branwen Aurelia Ivana de'Archangel, my mother," Allen said.
"Your mother?" Kanda asked, eyeing his husband. "You're sure? I thought she said-"
It was a stupid and unnecessary question. He could feel the connection, however distant, that tied Branwen to Allen, and through him, to Kanda. There was no doubt that she was Allen's mother.
"Kanda Yu, correct?" Branwen asked, smiling a little.
"Yes," the samurai replied, stepping up to stand next to Allen and Miguel.
He towered over his… mother-in-law? He glanced down at Allen, who nodded once. Slowly, Kanda held out his hand to her.
"Nice to meet you," he ground out.
Grinning, she shook his hand and returned the verbal gesture. Then she turned to Miguel, who was chirping and cooing loudly.
"Miguel, huh? You kept your father's line's tradition without knowing it," she murmured, running her fingers through the baby's thick black hair.
"Actually no," Allen laughed. "Dr. Artur Black, I believe you know him, was my doctor while I was pregnant. He explained everything he knew about Archangels to us. Mige was born is Spain so we thought that the Spanish version of the family name would suit him."
"Very much so," Branwen laughed. "Your father was –is, I suppose- Mihail because he was born in Romania."
"Mihael?" Allen murmured in wonder.
"Aye."
"Then why am I Mikael? From what you told Rouvelier, I was born in London."
"Yes you were, but I lived in Sweden for two years with your father before the Vanishing. Since your father wasn't there when you were born, I thought it would be appropriate to remember the country we lived in before he disappeared."
Allen smiled softly, glancing down at his son again. His eyes flicked back up to his mother and he motioned to Miguel. Branwen nodded slowly and took Miguel from Allen. The baby chirped happily and snuggled against the woman's shoulder. Branwen's smile grew.
"Hi," she said, brushing Miguel's hair away from his face. "I didn't think I'd ever be a grandmother. Strange. I'm only 36!"
"Sorry about that. We didn't know that Archangels could get pregnant," Allen laughed. "I didn't even know I was an Archangel until the day Mige was conceived, or at least the day we guess it happened."
"The seal was still active?" Branwen asked.
"Seal?" Allen asked.
"I placed a seal on you before you were born. I knew I couldn't just give birth to a winged baby with the rest of the Archangels gone, especially if that bastard Jonah was going to be around when it happened," Branwen sighed.
"Understandable, but why are you surprised that it was still active?" Allen asked.
Reaching up, Branwen tapped the crosses along her forehead.
"I placed the seal when I first learned that I was pregnant with you, but a few months into the pregnancy, something started interfering with my Archangel abilities. The Noah engraved in my DNA was surfacing for some unknown reason, throwing my entire bodily system off balance. By the fifth month, my wings were too weak to fly and eventually, they disappeared entirely," Branwen explained. "I nearly died when you were born. My insides, the uterus, everything were torn up and thankfully my Noah healed me within a matter of hours."
"What caused it?" Kanda asked.
Branwen threw a glance down at Allen's black arm. "It was the Innocence that the Order had tried to implant in my body. It worked somewhat, attaching to the fetus that had been inside of me when the experiment had taken place. As you developed, the Innocence became more and more active, eventually fighting with the Noah DNA that both you and I have."
"And so I was born with an arm made of Innocence," Allen finished.
Branwen nodded. "I didn't realize it at first as I hadn't even had a chance to hold you before Jonah snatched you away. When he threw you into that river-"
She paused, brushing her long hair away from her face. "I really thought you were dead."
Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Allen gave her a hug.
"The Innocence is probably the only reason I'm alive," he said. "It's saved me several times before."
"It's true," Kanda added. "Moyashi here had a hole in his heart and the Innocence repaired it for him."
"What!"
Allen laughed nervously. "Did you really need to bring that up, Bakanda?"
"Yes. She's your mother and she is entitled to know these things."
The albino opened his mouth to protest when he felt a cool hand on his forehead. Branwen ran her fingers over his skin and he winced slightly, feeling the skin shift to let the row of crosses rise to the surface. She looked sadly at him.
"That is my fault as well. The Noah genes came from my side of the family, after all."
"All humans have Noah genes, Mum."
"Yes, but only select families can activate them."
"Noahs follow family bloodlines?"
"Surprised, huh? Why do you think that Tyki and his brother Sheryl are both Noah?"
Allen and Kanda exchanged a look, frowning. Miguel was quiet for a moment in his grandmother's grasp, his wings rustling softly.
"Yes, the Noah genes would have been passed to Miguel as well," Branwen said sadly. "Hopefully though, with two awakened Noahs in the past two generations, yourself and me, that it will skip him entirely."
"Then why is it that the Earl has to go searching for the Noah?" Kanda asked.
"The families that have the active Noah genes have become so widespread that its has become hard to trace their bloodlines back to previously awakened Noah. Some have moved to the Americas, others disappeared into obscurity following the revolutions in Eastern Europe. A few even passed the gene onto illegitimate children that the Earl didn't know about, " Branwen explained.
"So you're the daughter of one of those families?" Allen asked.
Branwen nodded. "The Fourteenth shouldn't have been reborn in anyone though."
"Why not?"
"Neah was the first Fourteenth Noah ever."
Freezing, Allen gasped. "Then how-"
"The fault again lies with me. In order to be reborn, Neah couldn't just pass his Noah powers onto anyone. He needed a blood relative, someone with DNA similar enough to him to carry the strange anomaly that is the Noah of Will," Branwen said, running her fingers through Miguel's hand.
"Mum-"
"No one alive besides me and now you, knows this. Not even the Earl is aware of how Neah transferred his powers to you. You see, I was adopted into the Rouvelier family."
"We know. What are you trying to say?" Kanda snarled.
"I don't know what I would have been named if my family hadn't given me away, but I do know what my last name would have been." She turned to them, the look in her eyes serious. "I would have been a Walker, the younger sister of Neah and Mana."
"What!"
"Ironic isn't it?" Branwen laughed. "The same man who happened to become your adopted father was really your uncle without either of you knowing it! And you also happen to have the soul of his dead brother, your other uncle, imbedded in you!"
Allen was silent for a moment before he said slowly, "Neah said that he was a ghost for a while, but that he cannot remember who he met or what he did during that time."
"That was when I met Neah. When I first escaped from the Order, I went in search of my real family and managed to trace it back to the old Walker Manor outside of Manchester. Neah was inhabiting the house as a ghost and he planted the memories in you without my knowing, while you were still in the womb," Branwen replied.
Taking a shaky breath, Allen rubbed his forehead with his hand of Innocence. It stung slightly as the Innocence made contact with the Noah crosses, but he ignored it. Kanda wrapped his arms around Allen's waist, pulling his confused and overwhelmed husband against his chest. The three Archangels fell into silence as Miguel nestled into Branwen's arms, asleep.