Sorry about the wait! This chapter's latter half is really rushed. But something happens!

The M- Returns

Tyki was uncharacteristically quiet-well, more than usual. It wasn't that Tyki was all that talkative, but he at least acknowledged his niece and nephew in some way. Whether it was brushing Road's hair or quietly laughing at something Wisely said, he never outright ignored the two siblings.

That's what made Wisely and Road share a look as they shared one of the chairs. Tyki sat in the chair across from them, quietly looking out the window.

"Tyki, pay attention to me!" Road whined, "Tyki!" She called when he didn't respond. The elder barely gave her a glance before he sighed.

"I'm listening." It was a blatant lie, but they all knew that. Tyki knew it was wrong to come ignore the planning-much more ignore the niece he claimed to adore, but there was more to this it seemed.

Road pouted,"You aren't. Wisely and I put in all this work for this plan and you keep looking out the window." She reached a hand out,"Is something wrong…?"

"Not really, just not very interested in this." He replied, moving a hand to rest on her head. Road slid from her seat to kneel beside the arm of his chair.

She frowned-she didn't believe him. "That's not True. You didn't want to hunt down the generals but you still paid attention and did it. I'm not that stupid Tyki-what's up?"

"You've never acted this way," Wisely observed, "You've never bothered to lie to Road before. Is it about the Master?"

Tyki pressed his lips to a thin line, "He's going insane." He muttered, "At this rate his plans will make us lose this war." He had been suspected it for a while. They were doing an awful lot of work with little gain. It started with them going into a hiatus of sorts, then they were hunting the generals, and now it was manipulating Allen Walker. Nothing seemed to be benefiting them in the slightest with the exception of Roads unlikely friendship with the boy and even that was going to shatter after they destroyed the Order.

Road sighed, "He's always been insane. He's been insane since I was sixteen-and that's saying something because I don't even remember my age. We follow orders Tyki, it doesn't matter how sane the orders are."

"He knows what he's doing." Wisely followed up, stretching his arms over his head, "and you should know that Road and I wouldn't let him plan something that would completely ruin us." But they'd let him have his fun.

Tyki sighed, "Fine. I'll go along with his games-but I stand by my opinion; we should leave this alone."

"Buuuzzkiiiilll." Road drawled, "It'll be fun and you know it Tyki!" She whined, "come and plan with us." She erupted in high pitched, playful giggles when Tyki gently smacked the back of her head. Still laughing, she lifted her arms above her head so he would pick her up.

"Fine, Fine." Tyki lifted her from the floor to place her in his lap, "Okay where do we start?"

~insertlinebreak~

Allen was alone again as he wandered the halls, the only light being the moon. He was careful to avoid Leverrier's wing-there was a meeting going on. The meetings were longer now; everyone was often called from early morning to late night and that meant he didn't see much of Lenalee, Kanda, Lavi, or his own Master.

It was alright though-Allen didn't mind as much as he thought he would. At first it was hard, but it slowly got easier. He still had Timcanpy and Thomas, and he still had the garden, and he still had Nea.

Nea.

Nea was becoming a slow constant in his dreams. Sometimes allen would dream and sometimes he'd appear at the golden field and Nea would be there. Nea always warned him to trust nobody but him, to only love him, and that way he won't get hurt. Allen didn't believe him completely-at least, not to the extent that Nea wanted.

Sometimes, if Allen concentrated enough, he was able to talk to Nea without being asleep as well.

That's what got him outside his room at night now, anyway. On this night in particular, Allen was ready to sleep when Nea prompted him to wander. He said Allen's soul felt restless, and Allen supposed it did. There was just a feeling he couldn't shake-a bad feeling. A feeling that came ever since Nea told him no one could be trusted.

It led to a lot of scary thoughts when he was alone.

In truth, Allen was so, so scared. He was scared at the thought; he loved them so much. He loved them so much-what would he do if it turned out that everything was a lie. Would he hate them forever? Or, would he somehow forgive them.

"Timcanpy, Thomas….let's go down to the entrance bay." Allen whuspered quietly, slowly turning on his heel. He had wanted to see the ark at night for some time but he was scared to go down. The ark felt like it was calling him, and Nea did say that the ark was his. He didn't want to reveal something he never wanted to know. It was his biggest fear-finding out something he didn't want to.

Timcanpy shot forward in result, leading the way. Thomas, who sat on Allen's shoulder, hopped off to follow Timcanpy. Allen traveled quietly behind, making sure to keep quiet as he passed the various doors. He knew that if he made a sound someone would investigate.

They'd tell Lenalee...or even Leverrier that he was out at night. Allen hated lying to Lenalee, and he hated talking to Leverrier in general.

He arrived at the entrance bay and quietly made his way to the ark. Laura, the scientist that he saw when everything happened, was asleep on one of the desks. It was clear she wasn't waking up anytime soon. She was the only scientist who patrolled the entrance bay at night, so Allen was in the clear for the most part.

The ark was glowing white-almost etheral in its' beauty. Allen always loved the look of the ark-he never failed to feel like it was beautiful in it's own way. It was scary because they couldn't control it, and Miranda and Noise Marie were trapped inside, but it was still pretty.

Allen…? You can hear me right?

Nea was talking again. Allen nodded, "Yes uncle." He responded quietly, "A scientist is in here." He told him, "So I have to whisper."

That's alright. I can hear you fine. You're worried about them, right? Those people?

Allen nodded again, "Yes."

How about you sing your song for them?

Allen blinked, "What would that help?" He couldn't see how singing his lullaby would help. It always soothed him but Miranda and Noise couldn't hear it from inside. If they could, it probably would just set them off that he was up so late at night.

Yet...Nea always had a reason for everything. Allen came to find that out soon after talking to him regularly. It didn't make him trust him, but it was enough for Allen to shrug.

"Okay, I guess." He whispered, and then quietly, "I will never cease to pray…" He sang the chorus quietly and when he finished he swore the ark grew brighter. If he turned around, he would see the scanner displaying the synchronized frequency rates rising.

50%...65%...75%...

Okay my dearest, you can go to sleep if you'd like.

Nea sounded smug, like he knew Allen would sing it. Allen nodded as he yawned, "Alright...goodnight Miranda...Noise Miranda...Laura." After a moment he paused, "...uncle."

He turned and left.

From where Laura slept, the gate's frequency hit one hundred.

The M- Returns