Disclaimer: I own the idea of this story, but the characters and about ¾ of the details are borrowed from Katsura Hoshino.

Komui patted Lenalee's back as she sniffled in his shoulder. Lenalee had been crying since she woke up and was told the news. Komui knew Lenalee had close relationships with everyone in the order, so she'd taken Chaoji's death hard. Komui was forced to be the one to tell her the bad news, unfortunately, though he'd spent 10 minutes begging the Matron to be the one to break it to her. The Matron refused since she was busy with someone who was sobbing loudly on the other side of the room.

"It's not your fault Ms. Miranda, you did your best to protect him. I'm sure no one blames you."

"No, it's all my fault! I was confused! I should have realized there was something wrong with A-Allen-kun. I was too late to save him! I'm useless, completely useless! Why do I even try?"

" Now don't say that, it could have happened to anyone."

"Except that it happened too me and not anyone else. I bring bad luck everywhere I go, and now someone else payed for my misfortune!" Miranda shouted into her hands. Lenalee sat up and wiped her eyes. She smiled gently at Miranda's hunched form.

"It wasn't your fault Chaoji d-died. He was just fighting a dangerous threat, even if that threat was A-Allen-kun..." Lenalee's voice broke of and her throat caught in a dry sob. She pushed down her emotions and continued in comforting Miranda.

"In fact, from what I've gathered, you used your innocence to protect him after you left. Thank you for trying, Miranda. You did you best. I'm sure Chaoji would have been thankful for your help." Miranda looked up from her hands and glanced up hopefully.

"You think so?"

"I know so." Komui smiled reassuringly at Miranda and the Matron rubbed her shoulder. Miranda nodded miserably and reduced her sobs to sniffles. The Matron smiled and shuffled away, off to do her work. Miranda decided to hide under the covers of her bed and take a nap.

"When's his funeral, brother?" Lenalee whispered so that Miranda wouldn't start crying again.

"Tomorrow. I already have the scientists planning it." Lenalee halfheartedly chuckled.

"You shouldn't make the scientists do all the work. You slack off enough as it is." Komui smiled.

"That's because I'm always thinking of my sweet, adorable little sister. I can't waste time doing work!" Komui scoffed. Lenalee giggled and lightly slapped her brother's arm. For a moment, a comfortable silence filled the air as Komui stroked Lenalee's growing hair. He was so glad it was growing out again. He'd almost died when Lenalee lost all her hair. But this way, she almost looked like a little kid again. He missed having his young sister, but ever since she became an exorcist, she always looked five years older than her age.

She had started to look like herself again once Allen came. Komui was worried she was falling in love, but then he realized he wouldn't have minded if it was Allen. As much as he wanted to protect his sister, he wanted her to be happy. He never thought Allen would be capable of hurting anything, never mind Lenalee. Of course, these recent events seemed to be proving him wrong.

Evidently, Lenalee must have been thinking along the same lines.

"Is Allen-kun never coming back?" Her voice was pitiful and quiet, breaking Komui's heart. He wondered if he should avoid answering, but answering truthfully seemed to be the best choice.

"I'm not sure. He's not himself, that's for sure. If he did come back, I'm not sure it really be Allen, but the fourteenth."

"Wasn't the fourteenth against the Earl or something? You'd think he'd want to join us."

"It's hard to predict a Noah. Maybe the fourteenth hates exorcists too." Lenalee didn't answer immediately, thinking about his words.

"Can we still save him?" Komui sighed.

"Not if it costs us more lives, Lena. I don't want to waste all our exorcists on one Noah."

"Allen-kun is not a Noah!" Lenalee shouted. She quickly covered her mouth and glanced at Miranda, who seemed to already be sleeping. Luckily she didn't stir.

"Allen-kun isn't a Noah." Lenalee repeated.

"But you've seen the stigma. He's a Noah until he's exorcized." Lenalee flinched at the word "exorcized", but she sighed, defeated.

"I'm sure Allen-kun's in there somewhere. I bet the fourteenth is influencing all his actions. That jerk has pushed Allen out of control of his own body and is using him to kill and torture people for his own amusement. The Noah are monsters that deserve to be punished heavily." Lenalee spat venomously. She was glaring at her blanket, as if it were the fourteenth Noah itself.

"We'll figure something out. For now, lets just focus on defeating the Earl. We can't keep trying to rescue Allen, or else I might lose you next." Komui looked sadly at Lenalee, resting his hand on her head. He pulled her head to his chest and hugged her. She returned the hug and smiled contentedly.

"I'll be fine brother. Don't worry, I don't think Allen would really hurt me." Komui frowned, thinking of her recovering injuries she just received from Allen, but he decided not to bring them up. Eventually, she leaned away and rested on the pillows.

"Go back to work, brother, the science department probably have three piles of papers for you to sign. I'll be here for you when you're done."

"But Lena! They're so mean to me! I don't want to sign papers for hours! My wrist gets all stiff and my fingers start getting sore! Please don't make me!"

"No, go on. It can't be that bad."

"Fine. I'll be back soon though, I promise." Komui reluctantly stood up and slunk to the door.

"Brother? Can you come have dinner with me?" Lenalee murmured. Komui turned around with a bright smile.

"Of course." And with that, he was gone. Lenalee stared at the door longingly before picking up a book and flipping to her bookmark. For almost two hours, she read, getting close to the end of her book before a knock came from the hallway.

"Come in." Lenalee called quietly, trying not to disturb Miranda. The door opened to reveal Lavi. His arm was held up in a sling, but his face was bright and cheerful as always.

"Hiya Lenalee! How are you? Is your throat feeling better?"

"Er, yeah. I can hardly feel anything, really. I hope I'll be able to get out of here by tomorrow." Lavi nodded and glanced at the bed next to Lenalee's.

"Why is Miranda in here?"

"Shock. She didn't take the incident to well." Lavi hummed in understanding. "Why are you out? I don't think the Matron would just let you out while you have a broken arm." Lavi grinned.

"The old Panda got me out. He convinced her I had important bookman duties to attend to. Actually, apparently I did. I just got of the library. I got bored and decided to come see you, since Kanda didn't want to chat. He rambled on about meditating and stupid rabbits. Honestly, I think he has some sort of obsession with rabbits and beansprouts. He's always going on about them." Lenalee snorted and Lavi snickered playfully.

"What is Kanda doing now?"

"Like I said, he's meditating, although, I think he might be going to the training ground pretty soon. This is about the time he practices. What time is it, about 5:25? Yeah, he normally trains at 5:30." Lenalee was surprised how much Lavi knew about Kanda's schedule. Does he stalk him or something? Probably.

"Komui's being weird again."

"How so?" Lenalee asked.

"He went into the kitchen with Jerry about an hour or two ago, whispering something about dinner, and I haven't seen him since, but I heard some yelling in the kitchen and Jerry came out at one point covered in soot. Know anything about that?" Lenalee laughed and rolled her eyes.

"I asked him to have dinner with me a little while ago. I guess he's taken it upon himself to cook it himself. Should I be scared? He always used to burn the eggs for breakfast and the pancakes tasted liked smoke half the time. Don't even get me started on spaghetti. It tastes like worms." Lavi snorted.

"I believe it. Remember when he replaced Jerry's soba with his own, and Kanda went and poured all of Komui's potions out in the forest?"

"Yeah, weren't there some talking animals after that?"

"That's right, there was a pond that was turned entirely to coffee too. What was Komui planning to do with potions?"

"I honestly don't know. I've been too scared to ask."

"But he's your brother, he won't kill you for being curious. If I asked, he'd probably send a Komurin after me for trying to sabotage his work." Lavi rolled his eyes.

"I'm still too scared to hear what he does while not being supervised. My brothers a weird person."

"Just realizing that now?"

"No."

"I hope not. You'd have to be pretty dense to think your brother's normal."

"It's a good thing I'm not dense."

Suddenly, the door flung opened and Cross practically ran in. Lavi blinked for a second before questioning Cross.

"What's wrong?"

"Damn, this isn't where they keep the alcohol, is it?"

"Uh, no."

"Ugh, I really need some Whiskey. I haven't had any alcohol since last night." Cross leaned against the door frame, running his hands through his hair. He stopped to pull out a cigarette and a lighter.

"Matron will kill you if smoke in the infirmary." Lenalee pointed out.

"I don't care. I need it. Red really ticked me off this morning. I've been looking for the alcohol since. I've checked every single room I've come across, and the only place I could find some was the cafeteria, but the gay chef refused to give me any."

"Red?" Lenalee asked.

"Er, no one, Lenalee." Lavi answered for Cross. She looked suspiciously between Lavi and Cross. Cross was smirking and practically chuckling under his breath while Lavi was smiling very forcefully.

"Oh come on, Junior, what's wrong with her knowing?"

"Not now." Lavi muttered. Cross just rolled his eyes and blew out smoke from his mouth.

"So you guys don't know where some alcohol might be?"

"No, I've only seen Jerry and General Kloud drink some." Cross's eyes widened and he immediately turned around.

"Kloud! How could I have forgotten her?" Cross stalked out, leaving a cloud of smoke. He slammed the door and Lenalee turned on Lavi.

"Who's Red?" she demanded.

"No one important."

"I'll just ask Komui if you won't tell me."

"He won't tell you either. He doesn't know. Don't worry about it, I promise it's not anything important." Lenalee glared for a moment, but the she sighed and crossed her arms.

"Fine. But someday, you will tell me."

"Maybe." Lenalee seemed content with this answer and let the topic change.

"Cross really shouldn't insult Jerry like that. Did you hear what he called him?"

"Gay chef?"

"Exactly! That's so rude!"

"I know, everyone knows he's bisexual." Lenalee grabbed her book and flung it at Lavi's head.

"Ah! I'm just kidding! Yes, it was very rude. But of course, I wasn't kidding when I said Jerry is bisexual. He told me himself. He's very proud of it."

"I really don't want to know about Jerry's love life."

"Oh, but it's so interesting! Did you know he actually tried asking Reever out once? They didn't talk for a month after. Mostly because Reever was avoiding him so much. Jerry told me he got over him pretty quickly, but it was pretty funny to wave and see Reever freak out and run away."

"That's... something. I didn't know that. Come to think of it, I never really see Reever at the cafeteria. I thought he was just busy with work all the time, so I just missed him or something."

"Well, there's that too, but he usually asks Johnny to get him something. It's pretty funny actually. That's not the only person though, I heard about this one girl finder that Jerry-"

"I'm good! Like I said, I don't really need to hear about Jerry's love life." Lavi grinned and sat down on the chair next to Lenalee's bed.

"Okay, I'll stop. But he tells me all the news. Apparently, he's got superhuman hearing or something weird and he listens to all the conversations at the tables. There's this pair of finders that just recently got together, but then they found out they were step siblings. Their father was in an affair or something. It got really awkward after they found out, and they just drifted apart."

"Umm, that sucks? Why are you telling me this Lavi?"

"Because it's interesting? Why not?"

"Because it's private information maybe?"

"Eh, it's the talk of the finders anyway. Everyone knows about it. The exorcists are really out of the loop, actually. I think it's really fun to spend time with the finders. I actually ate lunch with two guys today, and we talked about the origins of Spain. They're like the history freaks of the finders, so I decided to make some friends." Lenalee just rolled her eyes and let Lavi keep talking. She really wished she hadn't thrown her book at Lavi. Now it was on the other side of the room...

Black Ark

Allen spent the next three hours teaching Road how to play chess, under her request. At first, he was surprised when she asked him, and was willing to help her learn, but then the torture began. Road was a very impatient person. Every time he tried to explain the moves for each piece, she would question him about a million impossible situations. When they finally got to playing, she moved her pieces all over the board, completely disregarding the rules. Allen made her restart the game at least four times before he decided to play her way. The chess battle became less of a game, and more of a fight of wills, as they both tried to control each others actions with their powers. Eventually, Road was playing as Allen and Allen was playing as Road. They both made their pieces move to pointless spots, until the kings were just two spaces away from each other and all the other pieces, except one pawn each, were removed.

Allen stared at his king trying to figure out a way to lure Road to him so he could attack her. He was waiting for her to move when she spoke.

"I'm bored. Let's go play with Lero." Allen stared at her in shock. They were just one piece away from victory!

"But-"

"We've been playing for three hours. Come on, Al~len-kun, please?" Allen sighed and removed his king and pawn from the board.

"Fine. Where's Lero?"

"Probably with Millennie." Allen put away the discarded pieces and folded the board while Road skipped to the door. "Hurry up, Al~len!"

"I'm coming." Allen left the board and jar of pieces on the table and followed after Road. Road smiled when he walked over and jumped on his back.

"Piggyback ride!" Allen staggered for a moment as he got used to her weight, but he decided not to question it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Okay then. You're going to have to tell me where the Earl is. I don't know." Road rolled her eyes and pointed forward. Just go strait for a while and then turn left when we get to the green painting." Allen nodded, but he doubted he'd still find the right turn. Hopefully Road will point it out.

Luckily for Allen, Road did indeed point out each turn, but she snickered in his ear each time she said something.

"Would you like me to put you down?"

"What? No!"

"Then stop laughing at me! It's not like I want to be lost all the time!"

Sure you don't.

"Shut up Neah." Road raised an eyebrow, but she broke out into laughter.

"You're so clueless, Al~len! I bet Neah just made fun of you, didn't he."

"No! Maybe..." Road laughed louder and Allen stopped walking. He let go of her, trying to drop her. Instead, Road wrapped her legs tightly around Allen's waist and squeezed her arms around his neck, effectively choking him.

"No! Don't drop me!" She squealed. Allen waited for a second before reluctantly putting his hands under her legs again.

"Okay, okay, please stop choking me!" Road loosed up, but she kept her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Well, that's what you get for letting go of me. Oh, look, that door down there is Millennie's room. Let's go." Allen continued walking, suddenly very aware of Road's closeness. When he made it to the Earl's door, he stopped in front of the door.

"Er, Road? Want to get off? We're here?"

"Eh? No, you're comfy. Come on, let's go in." Road grinned and leaned forwards, pushing Allen forwards.

"Come in kids!" The Earl called from inside. Allen sighed and let go of one of Road's legs to open the door. Stepping in, he began blushing due to the look the Earl had on his face while he began snickering at them.

"Well hello there! What are you two doing?" He asked with a glint in his glasses.

"Well, actually, Road just-"

"Allen-kun offered to carry me here like a gentleman! Isn't that sweet?"

"Wait, what?" Allen cried.

"Is that right? That's very... nice of you. Is there something you need to tell me?" The Earl looked to Allen specifically, and he just blushed harder. Road was shaking with laughter, but she managed to choke out some words.

"I wanted to play with Lero."

"Eh! But I don't wanna, lero! Earl-tama!"

"Hmm, I think that's a good idea. I need you to keep an eye on these kids."

"Huh? Why?" Allen asked, clueless.

Oh, stop being an idiot. Come on, you know what he's implying.

'What? Am I in trouble or something?'

Can you really not guess? Just think about it for a second. Allen did just that, but he still didn't understand. Meanwhile, Road had fallen off his back and was rolling on the ground laughing at Allen's expression. The Earl was grinning madly, and Lero was flying around spouting out madness. Suddenly, something clicked for Allen. He jumped and backed away from the Earl and Road.

"Wha- No! I wouldn't do something like- like that! Oh my G- What are you even thinking of? You weird pervert!" Allen backed himself into the wall, shaking his head furiously and trying to look anywhere but at Road.

Took you a while, didn't it? I didn't know you were such an idiot. What was the Earl supposed to think when you come in with Road wrapped around your waist and you're blushing like mad? Did you honestly not see that coming?

'Of course not! I don't think of Road that way!'

Uh-huh. Weren't you the one that kissed her and went on a date with her. You're already together, right?

'No! That was all her! I didn't-' Allen gave up on protesting. He could practically feel Neah's smugness.

"Just shut up, alright? I don't need your input." Allen whispered to himself. He didn't notice the insane look on the Earl's face, but he did hear the strange tone in the Earl's voice when he spoke next.

"What did Neah say?"

"Huh? Nothing! Nothing important. Just... nothing." Allen blushed some more.

"Ne, Al~len-kun? What does Neah think of you and me?" Road asked. Allen looked at her in shock as Neah chuckled in his head.

I don't mind, just as long as I'm sleeping when you two get intimate.

"WHAT? NEAH?!" Allen shouted aloud. The Earl and Road stared curiously at Allen's reaction.

"What did he say?" Road asked.

"Ah, well, he just ignored it. He didn't actually say anything." Suddenly, there was a sharp twinge of pain in his head. Allen unintentionally grabbed his head with both hands, trying to soothe it.

Don't lie, nephew. Allen bit his lip, and grumbled lowly. Road was bubbling with laughter, and the Earl was wearing the biggest grin Allen had ever seen.

"Tell the truth, Allen-kun. I'd like to hear Neah's input." The Earl encouraged.

"Why do you guys want to know?" Allen demanded, still clutching his head.

"Because you're blushing so hard, Al~len-kun." Road replied. Allen flinched and tried to bring his face under his control, but Neah kept pulling up images of Road, like scenes from their date, or Road's extremely close face when she kissed him in the hallway.

'Stop it!' Allen hissed in his mind.

No. This is fun.

"Hey Earl? How do you make annoying Noah in your head shut up? I bet you guys don't have a person chatting with you everyday."

"Oh? What is this "annoying Noah" saying?"

Oh please, are you really this stubborn? Allen growled, but then suddenly he felt a tug at the back of his mind. Without warning, Allen felt his consciousness leave his body. He found himself watching through his eyes, but his body was suddenly not under his control. He saw from the corner of his eyes his skin turning to the ashen gray color of a Noah.

"Since this boy is unimaginably stubborn, I decided to take over for a few seconds."

'NEAH! Give me back my body! NOW!'

Heh, no.

"To answer your question, Road, I don't mind if you two are together, I'll even encourage it, but I want to bee sleeping when you two get intimate and stuff. I really don't want to see that."

"Intimate?! No, lero! Road-tama! You're so young! Allen is too, lero! Don't be so irresponsible!" Lero cried out, very distraught.

"Who said anything about getting intimate? Jeez Neah, you have a dirty mind. Besides Lero, I'm not actually twelve, you know that." Road reminded Lero. Lero ignored her comment and continued pining.

"It's nice to talk to you again Neah."

"Ah yeah, hello Earl. It's a pleasure, I guess."

"Oh, Neah! Is there something secret you can tell us about Allen-kun that he'll never admit or tell us about? Please?" Road begged, smiling mischievously.

"Well, I can tell you that Allen actually is rather fond of you. He'll never admit it, but he thinks about you a lot. I would know, since I'm in his mind all the time. I also know the secret to his poker skills, but I think he'll stab me with Crown Clown if I tell you. Hmm, anything else? Oh, he's got some secret personality he tries to hide all the time. That one's pretty interesting. OH, did you guys know this kids an amazingly skilled clown? He was actually pretty famous as a kid, but I don't think anybody would remember him now. You should get him to perform for you. I watched him in a few of his memories." Road grinned and started spinning around in circles, eventually collapsing happily on the floor. She was giggling crazily, her thoughts still set on the first sentence. The Earl had his head tilted, and he was looking at Allen curiously, as if seeing him in a new light.

"What about this secret personality?" He asked, intrigued.

"Well, before he met Mana, he was this circus kid called R- Ow!" Neah bent over suddenly, bringing his hand up to the back of his head. "What the hell Nephew? How did you learn to do that?"

'Don't you dare say anything about Red. I will find a way to kill you. I swear on Mana's grave you will be destroyed if you say one more word.' Neah cringed when Allen mentioned Mana's grave. This kid wasn't playing.

"Okay, okay. So, never mind all that. Apparently he'll destroy me or something drastic if I say another word. You know what, I'm going to get back before he goes crazy. Be prepared, he about as angry as a snake. See ya later." And with that prompt goodbye, Neah gave Allen's body back to Allen. Allen stumbled for a moment as he regained control of his body, his body going back to his white form.

"That asshole! I swear, if he dares to do that again, I will stab myself will Crown Clown and find a way to assure his death, so he'll never be able to reincarnate. I'll make him regret talking about me if that's the last thing I do!" Allen was hissing death threats to himself, ignoring the perplexed stares from the Earl, Road, and Lero.

"So, Allen-kun? You really do like me?" Road asked slyly. That was, evidently, the wrong time to mention that.

"Road, now is not the time. I will never talk to you again if you mention any of the things Neah said to me anyone ever. Just shut up, alright?"

"Now now, Allen-kun. Don't talk to Rodo like that. That was very rude. Please apologize." The Earl politely asked.

"Did I ask for your opinion? I'm going to my room, I don't really want to hear your nagging questions or any stupid pitiful looks."

"Pitiful, lero?" Lero murmured.

"Allen-kun, we're having a family meeting tonight at dinner. Make sure you come." The Earl called out.

"Whatever." Allen stalked out of the room and slammed the doors closed.

"What's wrong with him? Why is he so angry? Did you hear him yell at me? I didn't know Allen could even yell at someone! Well, I could see him yelling at Cross, but this is different! What did Neah do to make him so angry?"

"I'm wondering if this might have something to do with this secret personality. I'm rather curious."

"So there's a family meeting tonight?" Said Road after a moment of silence.

"Yes, Rodo."

"Who's coming?"

"Everyone. Well, everyone, if we can get Allen-kun to come to dinner tonight."

"Don't worry, I'll work on it!" Road cheered. She snatched Lero out of the air, and ran out of the Earl's room, going straight to Allen's room.

Wow, this is a really long chapter. Or, it seems long to me. According to OpenOffice, it's seven pages long. I wrote all of this in three hours too, I think that's a record for me. I'm finally moving on with the plot. Yay!

Mukuro234: Yep, someone told me I should write a strip poker scene in the story, so I finally got to it.

HikoHiro: Harsh and most often hard too. Why do I like it so much!?

I've officially named myself the bride of Allen. I took screenshots of Allen with my phone and now I walk around with him as my wallpaper, telling people that he's my husband.

Hmmm, I fell over laughing the other day after talking to my friend. I'm looking up a number on the internet to call to get help with this. I think the symptoms are getting worse.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised. Hoshino-sensei could (someday) post a chapter where the Earl admits to being psychic and I'd just laugh and be like, "Nailed it!" Besides, all the Noah have some soft of power, right? So what's the Earls? It could work...

It hurt so much to make people sad for Chaoji's death this chapter, but as much I hate Chaoji, I don't think the exorcists would be partying over his death. Unfortunately.

Eeze is actually really cute when you think about it. I'm just like, "Awww, look at the cute little boy that gets presents from Tyki and has to work in a mine. Now his Onii-san has just left them randomly and he's just waiting for him to come back with another silver button." I think the last thing he told Tyki was to "Come back soon." ugh, how heart-breaking.

Koike: Oooooo, can I have a piece of that large cake? You know what, I didn't trip! I did get pushed into a pool, but I didn't trip into it. :D

MidoriHikari00: yeah, unknown reasons... lol

Vampuric Spider: Oh Road, how I love her crafty ways. If I could, I'd be right beside her, scheming ways to play with Allen.

Ekname0: *drools slightly at the adorable mental image* yummmm.

LadyMimi101: One point for Road! I love how traumatized Allen is when he realizes he lost a round.

Here's the exorcists reacting. I so wanted to make the exorcists to throw a huge party in celebration, but I don't think it'd be very realistic. Unfortunately, Lenalee loves everyone in the order and Miranda will always blame herself for everything, but I'm still tempted to make Kanda walk around with a smirk on his face (the closest he'll ever get to a smile).

The noah clans pure madness: The strip poker idea? Yup. I liked it, I just need to find a place to put it in the story. I'm glad you were happy, I was thinking of you. :)

Whew, I was busy tonight, and I was so sure I wouldn't get a chapter out, but I just stayed up to 3:30 typing up this chapter anyways. Good for me!

Hey guys, do you guys want another story to read? It's incomplete, but this way you'll get more alerts! Yay? Anyway, you should check out "Cursed Ones" by LadyMimi101. I've noticed some of you have already read it and reviewed, but I think she'd really appreciate some more reviews! You don't have to review, but reviewing makes people happy. So yeah, do what you want.

Thanks for reading all my chapters and waiting through my sporadic updates! Please R&R, Thanks!

Abyss-chan out~!

P.S. So I found this website that donates food and other stuff animals need for free. It literally takes about 15 seconds to do and you can do it daily.

Go to www. Theanimalrescue clickToGive/ars/home

At the top, there's a big purple button that says click to donate stuff. It's FREE.

Click.

DONE! If you want, you can do what I do and go everyday and click once every day. It makes me happy. :D