"Ahhh. . ." He breathed out a sigh of relief, burrowing into Crowned Clown soft cloak. And im return, the other wrapped his arm thighter against the lean figure, so that he won't fall. He closed his eyes in the comfortable presence, resting.

He felt safe. Protected.

No harm shall befall him.

"We're here. . ." A voice called, pulling him back to his surrounding.

Allen open his eyes, nearly blinded by the sudden brightness. A field of gold and a corpse of a tree. Those were what caught his eyes the moment he opened it.

The silver moon was above them, and when before was a desolate place, this was surrounded by a forrest, a graveyard of trees. Dead and dry branches, reaching out for the sky like hands in a silent prayer. This was a cross between the dead and the living, a mixture of silver and gold.

He felt himself home.

A remnant of a dream.

"Agh!" The stranger groan, limping his way towards the dead tree that stood at the middle of the opening.

Allen jumped from the arm which immediately tried to catch him back in fear he would get hurt from falling into the forrest ground. He ran towards the stranger, almost tripping on roots and overall uneven ground. Another factor to contribute to his inability to balance at the current moment, was the fact that he was barefoot.

But he manage not to fall.

"Woah!"

Managed.

"Auff!" The stranger gasped by impact of the collision course between Allen and his lap.

Allen giggled in reply, changing his position so instead he was sitting on the other lap. Crown Clown was not far from them, watching and observing for any possible danger that could befall them. A faint smile twisting his lips upwards.

The stranger grinned, slumping against the trunk of the tree with an contempt sigh. It rattles slightly, of energy being transferred from one cell to another.

"What is this place?" He ask in his awed state.

"This is a sanctuary for us," The stranger said, combing through the child's silver lock.

"For you?" He ask again, slightly triggered by the reply. The other presence was comforting, as if it was a part of himself that was long forgotten.

Unlike the previous one.

He nodded in his answer, he couldn't see his mouth but he was sure, the other was smiling by now.

An almost melancholic tone and a creeping loneliness, yearning."Yes, for us, there are others but they are sleeping. I am the only one who is awake,"

And in his dreamlike-conscious, he found himself understanding it -even though most doesn't even makes any sense- bobbing his head at the answer. "And who are you?" He ask again, couldn't help but let curiosity eat him alive.

For a second, the other halted. Hesitating to answer. But then, he returned, "The Twelve," He answers.

"Are there many of you?" He continued to ask, thousands of question bubbling underneath his skin.

The grin turned into a smirk, smug and arrogant but at the same time it was warm, like the autumn winds. "Many!" He claimed, "There are many of us!"

He find himself humming in reply, childlike curiousity. "And, what exactly are you?"

He knows that this was a dream, a figment of his own imagination. An image that his own twisted mind manage to create. But yet, at the same time, this was real, they were real, with real personality, emotions, feelings and need.

This was real in a sense.

A world that stood between fantasy and reality.

The stranger was eerily quiet, humming a simple melody. Taking his sweet time to answer. "I am a part of ourself," He answers, he simply did. Nothing more and nothing less.

A part in an organism. He understand.

A shard of the mirror.

The hand stop from grooming the other's hair, pulling the head closer to his face. "Now. . ." the other says in a dulcet toned of voice. "The question is, who are you?"

He was quiet, seemingly lost in the engravings of the other's mask. It was beautiful, with silver and gold intertwining.

"I don't know," He find himself answering, a whisper from the heart.

The stranger was unfazed by the answer, he didn't even bother to question any further. But instead, slumped against the old tree.

"Cornelia," a part of him whispered.

The Twelfth sigh, his hand continuing back to it's task at combing the child's silver hair. "If you don't know, I will help you find it," He promises. "Someone is always someone, a person will always be a person,"

But I am nothing. . .

"Well then. . ." The child find himself contemplating, driven by childlike curiosity. Acting like his own age for once. "Who are you?" He ask.

Not some kind of label, but a person.

The one that had existed before this.

The older male smiles, he didn't see his smile, but he knew the other did. There was a sense of kinship between them. "Like I said, I am a part of ourselves. . ."

A broken part of the mirror.

He didn't stop yet, not until all his thirst was quench and the older male knows that, drowning his own question until the child was finished.

"Why do you wear a mask?"

"Why do you wear a mask?"

Fair answer.

"What's underneath it?"

"A face," is what he simply answered. But not enough, his hand reached out for the mask, pulling it out easily.

He froze, almost dropping the mask. Silver eyes that he never notice, a red scar marking his porcelain featured and that overall similarity to his own. He stared at the stranger, his childish mind wondering, 'so this is how I will look once I get older,'

He let the older him reach for his face, unstrapping the mask and pulling it away. He didn't know why he let him, but it was probably the fact that they are technically the same person and he had nothing to loose here. His identity won't mean anything here.

The reaction on the older's face was quite similar to his, starring doumbfounded. Probably realizing just his silver his eyes was and how familiar the scar was and mayber just thinking, 'so this is how I look like when I was younger,'

"So. . ." The older version of himself trailed off, probably trying to find the right words to describe this. "Allen?"

He nodded, not even bothered by the fact this meeting was never suppose to happen. Or even possible of happening.

"I thought we were locked away. . ." He continued to mumble, directing the younger attention towards himself.

"Locked?" He find himself asking, tilting his head to the side.

"Adam said so. . ." he continued to mumble under his breath, not even noticing when the child was calling him.

"Not wanting to repeat the Eighteenth incident,"

"Can you please explain it to me!"

"Dormant, the current isn't suppose to be here. . ."

It seems that even himself doesn't even want to answer his question. He was angry, at the way the truth was always out of reach, of his inability to reach it and how it always fly away from him. Most of all, he was frustrated at how there are always some force straying him from the truth.

"Listen here," He find himself hissing, gripping the other's collar. "You promised me to find my true self and I be damned if-"

He stop, gasping for air as he was somehow desolated from it. Tumbling backwards, his back his the soft grass, loosing more air the more he tried to breath. Crown Clown was at the edge of his vision, hovering, face contorting into a look of worried. But he simply stayed there unmoving.

The Twelfth crouched besides him, combing through his silver lock in a loving manner. "I'm sorry. . ." he whispers, like a gentle wind. "I promised him not to let it happen again," he says, voice breaking near the end of the sentence.

"This is. . .also for our own good. . .so please don't think bad of me,"

A hand reached out in the lines of his vision, a hand that he recognized as one of his too. With that red, cursed arm of his. It covered his eyes, an inky darkness overwhelming his vision.

"Please say hello to Mana and Neah for me," he asked, thr last thing that he heard before he disappeared.

When Allen opened his eyes back to reality he find himself being stared at by his two brothers, he blinked, washing the sleep from his eyes.

"Hi, Mana. Hi, Neah,"

.

Part 2

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The End

I gave you guys tons of hints already, so I think you can sort things out. I was supposed to go to the hospital but then the doctor said tomorrow and so, I quickly finished this so I can rest before the appointment.

Thank you for all your reviews and seeing as how I did not add that special page it seems that it's not the end of the ark yet but I'll explain. The one with the lake is the dreamworld were Blue and Red are told to protect the memories, and try guessing what are those memories. It seems so easy actually. And the other guy with the black hair, I'll reveal him at the end of the story. He's an important character for the future plot.

And I did, kind off explained Allen's arm. I guess it was during Maria and also the icecream chapter. You have to read it carefully since it's tiny detail.

Bye, I need sleep,

With love,

Mana