††Chapter I††

The night sky outside the window was turning a light gray. In return, the inside of the large manor was growing lighter as well.

A figure laid in a bed on the second floor. It could be seen tossing and turning, the sheets of the blanket moving. A boy in his mid-teens laid on the bed. His hair despite his age, was a snowy white. His skin, normally pale, looked even paler as sweat beaded on his forehead. The scar on his face was a bright, angry red. Although despite the vividness of the color, the way it was healed over insisted that it was at least a few years old. And his eyes, although closed, was squeezed tightly shut as his breathing escaped him in labored intervals.

"Would you like for me to revive Mana Walker?"

"N-no," the boy muttered in his sleep as he twisted on the mattress.

"All you have to do is call out his name."

"Don't..." His voice sounded small. Helpless.

"Yes, that's it... Just call his name and you're dear old daddy will come to you."

"...please..." His hands gripped the sheets.

"A... All...en..."

"Mana!"

The teenager bolted upright in his bed. His silver-gray eyes bounced around the rooms, searching the dark interior that normal people would have a difficulty seeing in. His left arm had activated, the red skin transforming into a gray, metal claw with a large green cross on the back and green-looking flames where his shoulder was. He was looking for it; the dark shadow that plagued his dream. His memory. Finding nothing in the room with him, the boy sighed in relief and had his arm deactivate. Then he leaned back on his bed with his right hand resting over the top half of his face and hiding a majority of his expression from view.

Adrenaline still coursed through his veins and his heart drummed in his chest.

"Stupid dream," he murmured aloud.

Time crept by and the boy never drifted off back to sleep. He just sat there with his face covered, trying to push the fragments away. It was only when knocking sounded on his bedroom door that he got up.

"Give me a minute," he told the persistent knocking and began to change from his night clothes into something more fitting. As such, it was a white long-sleeve, slacks, boots, and white gloves. Upon tying a small ribbon tie around the collar of his shirt, the teenager moved towards the door and pulled it open.

"Alleeeeen~!"

He braced himself as a body slammed into him, the small, petite form of a girl with punk-styled bluish-black hair donning a her gothic Victorian* outfit. Using her momentum, Allen spun around so the two of them wouldn't fall.

"R-Road," he had cried out. When he managed to steady them, he put the girl down. Her dark blue eyes stared up at him as a smirk was present on her face. He smiled back at her. "Good morning."

Her smirk vanished as she stared at him for a moment. Then she leaned forward on her tiptoes to get a closer look. Allen sweated and took a step back.

"You didn't sleep well last night either, did you," she asked.

"Well..." Allen scratched the side of his cheek. "Maybe not..."

"I don't know why I can't access you're dreams." The girl frowned. "If I could, I could give you better ones."

"I'm fine, Road. Really." He tried waving her off. "Is Sheryl up?"

"Sheryl?" The girl seemed to brighten somewhat at the change of subject. "No~. Millennie sent him to some little village in order to try creating another company there. The human in charge is just a little too stubborn."

"And Tricia is still in bed?"

"Yep~. So right now, it's just Wisely, Millennie, the servants, and us who are here and awake."

"I see..."

A very small silence lapsed between them before Road latched onto his arm. "Come on, let's go get some sweets~."

Allen chuckled lightly at her as he allowed her to lead him down the halls. Not that he had much of a choice. As soon as Road had clung onto him, her vice-like grip had already informed him that she had no intention of letting go of him. And he had learned quite easily that it was better to go along with her than to fight it.

After making their way past the confusing labyrinth of halls, they made their way down the stairs and to the kitchen. Road then let Allen go in favor of rifling through the cabinets. He watched her with a small smile gracing his features, his silver-gray softening behind the guard that he normally throws up.

"Get some food if you're hungry," Road commented, barely glancing at him as she couldn't find the sweets she was looking for. Then she faked a grimace. "Before the Head Chef comes back."

The Head Chef was a very stern and set-in-his ways kind of man. He also did not like the two of them (as they were usually the culprits) taking food from the kitchen when it wasn't required for them to eat yet. Remembering the scoldings he had earned a few times, Allen's frown was present as he laid his eyes on the counter. A large leg of ham was sitting innocently on it, some of it already chopped up on the cutting board with some salad supplies lingering on the side. He presumed that that was to be their breakfast today. It looked good so far and, well, healthy. As much as noble food tended to seem. But that leg of ham just looked so good. Allen's stomach rumbled in agreement.

That was all the prompting he needed before he took it.

Road snickered as she noticed what he had grabbed before her cobalt gaze finally landed on a jar of cookies shoved in the corner. Her face lit up with delight as she skipped her way over and plucked a note off the top of the jar that had been precariously balanced. She flicked it open and, once she scanned the contents, snorted, and set it aside. The snowy-haired teenager wandered over to glance at it. The handwriting was elegant and fancy.

'Road, try not to eat these before breakfast,' it read. -Adam.'

"-ster Campbell would be quite delighted with the meal I have planned," a male voice had spoken up. Road and Allen froze as they glanced at each other with wide eyes. That was the Head Chef. "It, too, benefits Mistress Kamelot's health."

"Hide," Road hissed, grabbing a few cookies. She slid the lid of the jar back on as both she and Allen (who still had the leg of ham in his hand) ducked behind the counter that stood in the center of the room.

"I'm sure," came another male voice as the door opened and a couple of people could be heard entering the kitchen. Their Head Butler. Allen felt his eyebrow twitch. He really needed to get a handle on their names. "I have no doubt in your abilities. Lord Walker however is a bit more challenging. I fear you would need to make a lot more in order to satisfy his appetite."

Road shot Allen an amused smirk. The latter blushed lightly as he gave her an awkward smile. It's not like he could control his stomach after all.

The sounds of shoes clicking on tile told the two to get moving. Allen and Road both crawled the opposite way. Road's foot disappeared around the corner of the cabinet just in time when the Head Chef came walking around it. Unfortunately, that also placed the two in the butler's line of sight.

The butler's lips twitched, forming a smile momentarily before he grabbed the Head Chef's attention. "Fredrick, would you mind helping me set the table?"

There was a moments pause as Allen filtered the name away for later use.

"Not at all, Oscar," was the eventual response. "Though let us not take too long. Lady Kamelot and Lord Walker like to ransack the place when I'm not around."

Both the mentioned people stifled their laughter as Oscar actually let a small, amused smile. "Yes, they're quite the troublemakers, aren't they?"

"That they are." Allen heard a smile in Fredrick's voice.

"Yes well, let us be going then. I must inform Lord Walker that Earl Campbell is requesting his audience."

Allen felt himself blink. The Earl wanted to speak to him? Curiously, he glanced at Road. She shrugged.

They had to move around the counter again to prevent Fredrick from noticing them as the two servants left the kitchen. Then Allen stood up to make sure they went, taking a bite out of the ham.

"Let's go," Road laughed, heading to another door that was different from where the servants had gone. The teenager was right behind her and they soon made it to the safety of the halls.

"I probably shouldn't keep the Earl waiting," Allen finally said.

"In that case, I'm going to go annoy Wisely." A smirk spread across Road's face.

Before Allen could say another word, she was already heading down the hallway with a skip in her steps. Allen chuckled quietly to himself. One of the oldest in the family or not, Road definitely knew how to act the most childish.

Left to his own devices, Allen absent-mindedly took a bite out of the ham as he contiued to walk through the halls. Once upon a time, he would have been dangerously lost if he stayed by himself. Now, months after his arrival, he could transverse these halls with ease...

Most of the time.

"Earl?" Allen knocked politely on the closed door. A creepy painting on the side of it was the only confirmation the teenager needed to know that this was the right place.

"Come in," came the Earl's voice. After pausing for but a moment, Allen pushed the door open and entered the room.

Bookcases line the walls with a couple of chairs present in the corner of the room. A desk sat near the window, a globe set on it as well as a few stacks of paper. And there, sitting at the desk, was the Earl, also known at times as Adam, himself. A rotund figure with little, round spectacles, a large grin, wearing one of his custom-made hat's.

"Good morning, Allen. I see that you stole from the kitchen yet again," Adam had informed. His gaze had landed on the food. "At the behest of Road, I presume?"

"Whatever are you talking about," the teen had asked innocently, stepping closer to the desk. The Earl merely chuckled. "So what are you doing?"

"I'm currently planning a family visit," he had informed. The smile on his lips grew when he saw the color on Allen's face fade somewhat. "What? Do you not like them?"

"N-no, I do." The teen nervously chuckled. "It's just that...well, we had that last week and while I do like the Family... they're a bit energetic when grouped together." Especially Sheryl.

"That's true. But I do love it when my Family is all under one roof."

"...The Noah Company* can't exactly benefit though when their bosses all head to England three times a month, can it?"

The Earl looked thoughtful for a moment before sighing. "I suppose you have a point. Two times a month then."

Allen didn't say anything else. Family meant a lot to the Earl.

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about though." Adam had suddenly grew serious, weaving his fingers together as he rested his hands on the desk. "There's a ball taken place tonight being thrown by Viscount Aleistor Chamber. From what one of my... informers have told me, there's Innocence there."

"Innocence?" The teen tilted his head slightly, finding the term to be familiar but he could not recall from where.

"Like your hand." He nodded over to it. Allen felt it twitch. "Innocence is something the humans have taken to call 'God's Crystal' or the 'Crystal of God'. Many pieces have been dispersed throughout the world after the Three Days of Darkness."

"I'm sorry, Earl but I don't see how that's relevant."

"Because we're not the only ones after it. While we seek Innocence to destroy it, there's another faction who searches to use it as a weapon. The Black Order, if you recall." Allen couldn't help narrowing his eyes, biting back a hiss as his hands unknowingly curled into fists. "Only a few can use Innocence and those who can are known as Exorcists. It's one of the few things that can actually kill a Noah*."

"So tonight there might be Exorcists at the ball?"

"Possibly," the Earl agreed. "The good news is that they don't know too much about the Noah Family so we'll use that to our advantage. Wisely will be there to watch over you and Road for your first assignment."

"Road is coming too," Allen inquired as he relaxed a bit.

"Of course. I can't leave you by yourself now that you know the Black Order is involved. Subtlety is a must. She's the only one you can partner with without anyone giving you odd looks."

"I see... Alright. I suppose I better inform Road then."

"Please do so."

Nodding, Allen turned on his heel, shutting the door as he left the room. He then paused in his steps and raised up his left hand. A slight frown formed upon his face as he tugged off the glove to look at the red skin. The green cross looked almost harmless. His hand was a weapon meant to kill the family he lived with.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

†††††††

The cool air nipped at Allen as he got out of the carriage. His feet making their way onto the ground, the teenager then turned and held his hand out. Road, in turn, placed her pale hand in his glove as he helped her down. Not that she needed it.

"Look at all the carriages," Road brought to attention as the snowy-haired boy adjusted the collar of his suit. God, he hated this thing. "I heard that Viscount Aleistor's parties were something to behold but I didn't think this many would show."

"Yeah," Allen agreed, disliking the event already. He wasn't really one for large gatherings with people he didn't know. Road glanced over at him and that's all it took for her face to soften. She knew that as well despite him never saying a word about it.

Sometimes, Allen suspected that she could read minds.

"Come on, let's head inside. Wisely must've gone in already." Without waiting for him to speak, Road began heading towards the grand doors with her arm linked around his. He was too busy eyeing the fellow nobles to even bother paying attention.

What the heck is that, Allen wondered, noticing that the dresses seemed to stick out a little on the rear area. Did that make it hard to sit down or...? He always wondered why the female wore them.

At least Road went with a simple white dress that honestly didn't look too bad with her human form. Her and the Noah family weren't like those nobles. Not too much like them, anyways.

When they entered the rather grand ballroom, many people stopped to stare at Allen as they walked past. And he knew very well why. After all, what sort of teenager had white hair and a very noticeable scar marring his features? These people were all about normalcy and blending in. It made him sick. And yet Allen still smiled pleasantly, making his way to the buffet table so he may gorge his irritation away. Both he and Road (ecstatic barely covered her reaction) began to eat their way through the desserts.

"Alright, we should probably look for it now," Road had said, licking the rest of the frosting from her fingers. "We don't want Millennie to get too mad."

"Okay." Allen glanced around the building. "What does it look like?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you that bit?" After receiving a curious look from Allen, Road sighed. "Normally, it merges with an item. That's why it takes years until one of them pops up. It's pretty annoying."

"It seems so."

They wandered around the party, idly chatting about the family (from "Bet Tyki got kidnapped at some rich poker game" to "Think Skinn killed the twins yet?") A few times, Allen would turn to see the Wisely leaning on the wall, dismissing women who wished to dance. He couldn't help but smile at the other white-headed male.

"This is taking too long," Road huffed after a couple hours of wandering around. People had gotten use to Allen's presence but that didn't stop them from glancing at him every now and then. "I'm going to ask Wisely if he's found it."

The teenager nodded and Road went wandering off. Allen looked around briefly, suddenly feeling a little lost before he went to go stand beside a wall. He wasn't really there long before someone took the empty space beside him on the right.

It was an Asian girl about his age with black hair pulled up in pigtails that had a tinge of green that shone in the light. Her chinese dress was lavender with a noticeable slit on the side. For freedom of movement, if Allen had to guess. Her amethyst irises strayed across the crowd before settling on him.

"First party," she asked with a smile. Kindness radiated from her like a flame. It threw Allen off for a moment. People hadn't tried to talk to him unless they were prompted to, and even then they only emitted disgust.

"Sort of," he had responded, smiling politely without looking at her. "I'm not too much of a fan for them."

"Neither am I. My brother sent me here with someone but they're too busy walking around to care. Sometimes I feel like I'm the responsible one."

"I can understand that." Allen chuckled. An image of Tyki and Sheryl childishly fighting at the table showed in his head.

The girl laughed along lightly as well, probably going over some memories of her own. Maybe she wasn't as bad as other people he had met. She then turned towards him and held her hand out. "My name is Lenalee Lee."

Allen finally turned his entire head towards her as he looked at her hand with some hesitance. He didn't miss the slight stiffness in her frame or the hardening in her eyes. And he knew exactly why.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Allen had said, abruptly turning his head away so his scar was hidden from her sight. A polite smile was on his face but it seemed to have dulled with the somberness in his silver-gray eyes. "It's ghastly, isn't it? I apologize for showing you such a sight, Miss Lee."

"N-no, it's fine," she had said. Confusion laced her tone. "I was just surprised is all."

He closed his eyes in response and gave a nod. Liar.

There was a moments pause. "How did you get it?"

He sighed softly, opening his eyes. All questions eventually led to this. The how. And then the person questioning him would scurry off. "Something stupid I did as a child."

"Oh," she finally said. And then, from the corner of his eye, Allen could see her smiling again. Just as kind and meaningful as it had been when she first stood beside him. The teenager didn't notice how tense he was until then and forced himself to relax. "You know, you didn't tell me your name."

"I'm sorry," he responded, chuckling lightly. He still refused to turn towards her. "My name is Allen Walker."

"It's nice to meet you, Allen."

It seemed like Lenalee was going to say more before a male had caught both of their attention. It was another Asian, with his hair pulled up in a ponytail carrying a sword on his hip. His dark blue eyes landed on Lenalee and he motioned for her to go over.

"I believe that's it for our conversation," she concluded. Allen gave her a nod of comfirmation and she slipped away, her boots showing from the slit part of her dress as she walked. Why would someone even wear boots with a chinese dress at that length?

"Wisely said that he found it," Road had chirped, bounding in Allen's line of sight as she chased his train of thought away. She grabbed his right hand and pulled him from his little space of seclusion. "Let's go retrieve it so we can get out of here already."

Allen nodded gratefully and followed her. Oh, he couldn't wait to get out of here. To get back in his normal attire. To actually relax. Maybe finish the homework he had been saddled with.

There were a couple of men each guarding doors leading from the ballroom. Road took care of that little problem by unveiling a door behind a large curtain. The two slipped in and made their way around in the dark. This time, Allen had to lead seeing as he could see better in the dark than the Noah beside him could. She held onto his upper left arm until they made their way towards a lit hall. They spent a good few minutes peering into doors and such until they finally made it to a room that had a lot of bodies crumpled on the floor. Allen jolted to a stop as he stared down at them with wide eyes.

"Road, are they..."

"No." Her tone was flat as her blue eyes were focused on something else. "They're unconscious, not dead."

"Who the hell are you," came another voice, grabbing Allen's attention. He looked over to see a small girl staring back at him. Her navy hair, like the Asian girl from before, was pulled up in pigtails but that seemed to be where the similarities ended. After all, this girl was British and while her left eye was a deep, familiar rich blue, the other one was purple with a star on it. A curse? As her eyes flicked across Allen's face, a faint look of confusion had come and gone in mere seconds.

"Ignore them, Allen." Road pulled on his hand. "We have to find the Innocence before the Exorcists do." She paused then turned towards the man clad in black that stood behind the girl like a shadow. "You and your Master might wanna get out of here. You don't want to be in the crossfire between Innocence."

"Thank you for the warning, Milady," the man had said, scooping the girl up easily in her arms.

"S-Sebastion!"

And then they were gone, out through the open window that had to be about three stories above ground. Allen watched them go with a quirked eyebrow. He wouldn't have done that unless he wasn't human and his eye hadn't activated, meaning that he wasn't an Akuma so... What the hell?

"Allen, help me look."

"Right." Ripping his attention from the window, Allen helped Road search through the Black Market stock (which he figured that this scene had to be going by the arrange of jarred organs and such) hidden out of sight from the unconscious "buyers". After a moment, he found a container and held it up. "Road, what is this?"

Inside the container looked to be a glowing green cube with thin cogwheels that spun around rather slowly. It was ultimately the glow that had caught his attention.

"Hey, you found it!" Road positively beamed as she skipped over to him and held her hand out. Allen gave it up without resistence. "This is what Innocence looks like when it doesn't have another form. It's true form."

"...Huh." was all Allen could say.

A loud thud snapped their attention away as the door they had entered through kick open.

"Kanda," a female voice scolded. "You didn't have to kick it."

"Che," was the verbal response as the Asian male (Kanda?) Allen had seen earlier entered the room. Everyone froze as they assessed each other, Lenalee's mouth opening in surprise. At the same time, the Kanda's hand fell on the hilt of his katana.

"Allen," Lenalee had asked. And that was all it took for everything to explode.

"Mugen, unsheathe!"

Allen barely had time to invoke his weapon, raising the large, gray arm to block the katana. At the same time, Road hopped back from range and held her hands behind her head as her blue eyes stared at the two.

"An Akuma," Kanda hissed, his blue eyes glaring into silver as Allen's arm sparked. A vein throbbed on Allen's forehead as he forced the male backwards, taking Kanda by surprise enough to punch him with his right hand.

"I'm not one of those things," Allen shot back. His gaze landed on the badge Kanda wore on his trench coat and his face flashed with recognition. He couldn't believe he didn't see that before in the ballroom. That silver rose cross was like a gigantic bullseye. He had seen that logo countless times and knew that it represented the Black Order. Which means that they're...

"Exorcists."

Allen had tilted his head, his white hair sheilding his face from view as that one word was spoken vehemently. Even the aura around him seemed to grow oppressive. And despite his words not being a question, Road hummed in agreement.

As though that were a cue, Allen ran at the Asian male and attacked. Kanda brought his katana up to block and it sunk into the metal of his arm. Even the Asian had to pause, his eyes widening just slightly as he took in all the rage displaying in Allen's eyes, accompanied with the baring of his teeth. That wasn't normally a look Akuma gave Exorcists. Akuma were machines, and thus more often than not robotic or cocky. But this person seemed like he had a vendetta.

Allen enclosed his hand around Kanda's blade, swinging both the Asian and the sword into the nearest wall. Lenalee could be heard crying out her comrade's name and the next thing Allen knew, he had to roll sideways to dodge an incoming kick from her. A crater formed under Lenalee's foot where she landed, making Allen sweat. So these are Exorcists, huh? Lenalee was... pretty scary.

Call it code of honor (more like code of Mana) or whatever but Allen was not willing to fight a girl. She was at least semi-decent to him before this happened. Black Order or not, she seemed to be genuinely kind.

Lenalee came flying at Allen again. He almost couldn't track her movements with how fast she was going.

Almost.

He raised his arm up in time to block her kicks and grabbed one of her legs. Lenalee's expression twisted into a grimace as she probably expected pain to follow up next. He had thrown Kanda after all. Instead-

"Please don't make me fight a lady," he said, the anger in his silver gaze diminishing as his face softened. A baffled expression crossed the Asian's face. "I don't want to hurt you."

A flash of steel in Allen's peripheral vision made him let go of Lenalee before she could even respond. He turned towards it quickly, holding his left hand up just in time for the katana to pierce the center of his palm. And before he knew it, a dozen brightly colored, sharp-ended candles appeared, forcing both Allen and Kanda to separate and look over at Road. Who, of course, still held her arms behind her head as she looked over at them boredly, leaning on a heart-shaped, black and red checkered door that had appeared.

For the moment. Allen didn't miss the concern that barely showed itself in her cobalt eyes as they looked over his Innocence.

"That's enough play time, Allen. Any more and I don't think your Innocence can withstand it. Let's head back, okay?"

Kanda narrowed his eyes as Lenalee gasped quietly in surprise. Allen nodded and backed away, glaring at the Asian male as Road's door opened.

"What are you," Kanda demanded, his sword on it's hilt as he eyed more of the floating candles that had materialized. The ones that had attacked were embedded deeply into the tile. Road rested her hand on Allen's arm as she smirked.

"Sorry, that's a secret."

Then she turned and walked through her door, pulling a reluctant Allen behind her.

†††††††

"Here's the Innocence, Millenie," Road sang as she dropped the container in Adam's awaiting glove. He opened it and held it where it could be easily seen. The strange cube sat innocently in his palm. Allen still couldn't believe that this is what could kill his family. It was pretty decieving.

"Thank you, Road," the Earl had said, curling his fingers around the Innocence into a tight fist. A small, almost indistinct crunching sound could be heard before Adam opened his hand again, revealing the dust it had turned into. Then he held his hand over by the wastebasket that was beside the desk and allowed the crumbled Innocence to fall inside. "The Dark Matter the Noah possess is the polar opposite to Innocence. As such, only Innocence can destroy Dark Matter and only Dark Matter can destroy Innocence."

He rested his hand on the desk, his small spectacles flashing briefly in the light.

"I do have another mission I want the two of you to embark on." Road cocked an eyebrow as Allen straightened. "It's a small village in Germany called Houndsworth. I had sent Sheryl there to speak to the mayor about installing one of our companies. It seems that they're dealing with a strange event and I'm positive Innocence is the cause. I want you two to go and destroy it."

Houndsworth, Allen had thought. That sounded familiar.

"Alright." Road smiled. "And maybe Sheryl can fix Allen's arm. He got into a fight with an Exorcist and it's been damaged."

"Is that so?" Adam tilted his head slightly as he regarded the teenager. "May I see?"

Allen obliged slowly, taking off his glove before pulling back his sleeve. His red, veinous arm trembled on it's own accord, white lines marring it where Kanda's Innocence had caused damage.

"The nerves seem to have been damaged," the Earl observed. "Yes, Sheryl might be able to fix it."

Allen's blood drained from his face at the thought of having Sheryl anywhere near him with an attempt to "fix" anything. That Noah was one of the more sadistic ones.

"Don't worry, Allen," Road had said, giggling at his expression. "I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you too much."

That same dark gleam that her adoptive father had flashed in her eyes and it did not make Allen feel any more better.

†††††††

Road's clothing is actually a gothic Lolita outfit but due to the word "Lolita" not existing in the Victorian era, some arrangements had to be made.

*The Noah Company is an multinational company that sells a variety of things from clothes to weapons to even food. The name was eventually chosen thanks to the Noahs sense of humor.

*The Noah are a group of thirteen (fourteen now) self-proclaimed Apostles handpicked by God to enter the Ark in the Three Days of Darkness. They are superhumans with two forms, their Noah form being one with ashy gray skin, gold eyes (some pupils are slitted) and stigma ranging from seven, nine, or eleven on their foreheads. They also are known for their bluish-black hair save for a few members like Jasdero and Wisely.

†††††††

~lunalovelloyd - I apologize for this not being an entirely new chapter. I just had lost the motivation for sending another one out after rereading the previous chapters. I'll let you in in a little secret: After the mission in Houndsworth (which some events would be changed), Allen will go on a mission with Tyki instead to France. _ And I'm glad that you think that this is better.