Um...I have no words for this chapter. It's really fast paced, Allen's upset. Laura's upset. Nea's STILL not helping. However, Allen finally learned about the ark...and a lot about Nea. and hes's NOT happy.

It was early in the morning when Laura woke to someone shaking her. She groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes in confusion; nobody was supposed to be inside the entrance bay besides her until eight. "Wha...what?" She shook her hair out of her face and looked up, only to gasp and almost fall back, "Mi-Miranda?"

Miranda quickly moved to catch her before she fell, smiling gently. She looked a little tired, like she had gotten the bare minimum of sleep but...she was alive.

Oh god, she was alive.

"Good morning, Laura." Miranda greeted as she steadied her, "It's certainly been quite some time."

Laura looked around, "Then that means...Noise Marie! You're alright too, oh...I'm so glad." She was tearing up, reaching out to bury herself in Miranda's chest, sobbing, "I was so worried…!"

"We're alright," Noise smiled, "Well...we really thought we were done for when it happened but a couple hours ago the gates opened back up."

Laura froze; she had forgot-the gates. The only way for them to return was a complete repair of the gates. The ark was irreparable, at least not without the musician and the musician was currently a thirteen year old boy who spent most of his time in the gardens rather than playing piano.

She reached out, putting on her glasses; it didn't make sense.

"That's right...the gates." She breathed, and walked over to the gate frequency screen-the rate was at one hundred. Before it was barely at fifty. Something must've of happened while she slept-someone had to have messed with the equipment-there was no other way to mess with the gates other than that.

Unless….no, but that was silly.

She would've heard Allen enter-if not Timcanpy or Thomas. It requires a piano, or at least someone to sing that song and Allen only sang it when asked.

"It…" she breathed, "the gates are all repaired. The scientists at the North America branch can return too-the ark is back in peak condition."

Miranda bit her lip and nodded, "It...certainly is strange I suppose. I heard...well, Noise thought he heard...well it was overpowered by the gates repairing themselves anyway." It didn't really matter whether they heard the song being sang or not-in the ark, that song was almost a haunting melody in the background. You could hear it softly almost at all times-but when you actually looked to listen to it you couldn't hear it.

Noise Marie could've just heard that-and if he didn't, well, Miranda was too scared of the oucome to say so. To say that they heard the song and for the gate to be miraculously fixed...well, that was extremely suspicious. Not for them, but for the muscian who was only a little boy. Allen was just a child, he was too good to have Leverrier's attention.

She loved him too much to do that to him.

Laura nodded hestiantly, "...right. Ah, what to do...what to do…" She hurriedly gathered some paper, arranged them neatly on her desk, and then quickly tied her hair up. With a heavy sigh she looked at the two exorcists, "I'll figure this out, don't worry." She nodded, "I'll report this to the head chief. And I'll...I'll…" She paused, considering, "...Allen's favorite place is the garden, right?"

Miranda paused, and the hesitantly nodded, "...yes. He loves flowers, why?"

"No reason," Laura hummed, "How about you two head to the cafeteria for breakfast. You probably haven't eaten in a while. I'll figure this out, don't worry. It's my job as a scientist to make sure exorcists are safe-no matter what."

Miranda smiled, albeit it was just a bit nervous, "...alright then…"

With that, Laura hurried out of the entrance bay.

~insertlinebreak~

True to Miranda's words, Allen was in the gardens. He spent most his time there, either sleeping or playing in the flowers. Sometimes he would sit in silence for hours, or sometimes he'd get bored and ask Lenalee or Lavi to come and play with him.

In this case, when Laura entered the gardens, Allen was lying on his back staring at the sky. He was silent, and the only sound was Timcanpy and Thomas playing together. He sat when he heard Laura enter.

"L-Laura…?" Allen breathed, "...Good morning." He greeted quietly.

Laura smiled softly, "Good morning, Allen. Did you sleep well?"

The answer was no. Despite being tired, Allen kept waking up in the middle of the night. Something was making nervous energy bubble up inside of him, and seeing Nea in his dreams wasn't helping. His uncle sometimes tried to soothe him to sleep, but even after he coaxed Allen to sleep the little boy would wake up a hour later.

Eventually, he just gave up and went to the gardens.

"Yeah, I did." Allen responded, "I woke up early though, so I came here. Lenalee and Lavi aren't awake yet so I don't want to go to breakfast."

"Ah, I see. They'll surely come to get you when they wake." Laura nodded. She played with a daisy awkwardly, watching as Allen sat up and gathered flowers in his hands. With a small look at her, he picked out all the red ones and chose pink instead. Then, he sat behind her and began to braid flowers into her hair.

Laura laughed quietly, "Ah...so this is how Kanda and Lenalee end up walking around with flowers in their hair." She mused.

"Hair looks pretty with flowers in it." Allen responded easily.

After a moment Laura paused, "...Allen? Can I ask you something serious? It'll stay a secret between us." She closed her eyes, "Don't freak out."

Allen stayed silent before she felt him pause, "...okay."

"This morning, Miranda Lotto and Noise Marie returned...but I don't know how. Except...the gates were fixed."

Allen's eyes widened, "M-Miranda's okay?" He went to jump up but Laura turned and quickly pulled him back down. She held him firmly but softly by his shoulders.

"Allen, calm down. She's fine...but...the gates are fixed. Do you remember how we said that the ark was controlled by a single person?"

"Yes."

Laura sighed, "Well...that person was called the muscian-and they controlled the ark using a song. Can you guess what that song was?"

Allen paused, thinking, and then it hit him. Timcanpy...those… symbols...the symbols showed those lyrics. The lyrics to his song, his lullaby.

No…

"It's m-my lullaby, isn't it?" Allen whispered, "The song…" His head hurt...it was pounding. Probably Nea trying to communicate with him, honestly. His head always hurt when he didn't concentrate enough to speak with him.

Laura hugged him tightly, "It's okay Allen...don't worry about it. Just, Allen, please...did you sing that song last night? Did you come into the entrance bay?" She squeezed tighter, feeling the boy shake, "...I won't tell the Inspector, I promise."

Allen pulled away, his eyes wet with tears, "...yes…"

He thought about Miradna and Noise when he did as well. It made too much sense...was too much of a concidence. He refused to fool himself into thinking it wasn't true. He was scared...did that mean…?

Uncle?

….Uncle…!

"It's alright, Allen. I just needed to know. Don't worry about it now, leave everything to me." Laura soothed.

My dearest nephew...it's okay.

I'm scared…

I know, I know, I'll explain everything. Please, don't panic. Trust me.

"I'll take care of it. Even if I have to lie to the chief myself." Laura nodded, although she was also shaking. She was scared too, she was so scared. When she became a scientist she didn't sign up for this...but now she was in it and she had to do her job. Her job was to protect exorcists and that was that, "Trust me."

Trust me, nephew.

"Okay…" Allen stood up, "I'm going to go to the cafeteria. I want to see Miranda." He took a step back, before leaving the gardens. Laura waved goodbye slightly at him and his two companions before she hugged herself tightly. A tear went down her cheek; this wasn't fair. Not to Allen.

In the hallway, Allen closed his eyes, Uncle, I want an explanation later. I mean it.

~insertlinebreak~

It was on the way to the cafeteria that Allen learned the origins of his song. Or should he say, the Fourteenth's song.

...Or his Uncle beloved melody.

The earl once had an anomaly...and while one became the Earl the other became the anomaly. The Earl took the role while the anomaly was granted full control of the Ark. The Earl and him were called Noah.

...Noah? The Ark belonged to the Earl? Then why…?

There were more Noah. Fourteen including the Earl and the anomaly. The anomaly was called the fourteenth. The ark was controlled using a song.

My song.

Yes, your song.

Belonged to the Noah?

However, only Noah can control it. But you are not a Noah...well, not yet.

Then how can I control it?

In this lifetime, you've met two Noah. The Noah of Dreams, and the Noah of Destruction.

Who are they?

My name is Nea, and I'm the Fourteenth Noah...I am your uncle for reasons you will need to see for yourself.

Who's the other?

I love you, Allen.

By the time Allen got to the cafeteria he was wiping more tears. He couldn't take this, it wasn't fair.

"And so the boy fell asleep…"

So things are revealed and yall can pretty much consider this the turning point. It's a rocky road from this point on.