Chapter 03

Allen awoke and sat up in his plush bed with a groan. He'd returned home late and - after giving his report - finally made it to his bed and fell into the sweet land of dreams by one in the morning. Glancing at the clock on his bedside table, he noticed it was ten minutes until five. He groaned again as he got to his feet and grabbed some clothes from his walk-in closet. As much as he should have been used to it by now, four hours of sleep was not a good thing for him or anyone.

In the ten minutes before his alarm would go off, Allen quickly showered and dressed himself. He walked out of his personal bathroom with his toothbrush still in his mouth so to turn off the annoying beeping that was his alarm. He walked back into his bathroom and finished brushing his teeth. The last step to his daily routine before breakfast was makeup.

The scar running through Allen's left eye was rather attention grabbing and he knew full well should anyone see it, they'd ask questions. Questions led to suspicion and suspicion led to people finding out exactly who he was and what he did. So, to avoid the attention and drama - and potentially prison - he used makeup.

Allen stared at his scar in the mirror and started applying a layer of foundation to cover the bright red and detailed scar. The skin was smooth, running a finger over the mark felt no different than feeling the other cheek. He'd been lucky that the scar hadn't protruded like a few of his others had. The color was already hard enough to cover, he didn't want to think about finding a way to even and smooth out the left side of his face.

When the makeup was applied, Allen turned his head and checked his work from all angles. Making sure the scar was entirely covered, he made his way downstairs. The boy wasn't halfway down the stairs when the smell of bacon caught his attention and led him to the dining room. Pushing open the doors, he noticed the Earl sitting at the head of the table with a stack of papers and a plate of toast before him. Allen walked over with slightly louder steps than usual so the man would hear him coming and not be surprised by the sudden appearance.

The Earl looked like a fairly average man. Middle-aged with a natural tan, brown and slightly narrowed eyes, dark slicked back hair with a few loose strands here and there, along with a light stubble along his jaw and upper lip. He wore a buttoned-up beige tailcoat with a black and white striped shirt underneath, the pants he wore were black and probably a size or two too large. All in all, the man didn't appear very fearsome.

But Allen knew the truth.

The Earl had earned his title. Not just because he ran the family, but because of how strong he was. After years of knowing the man, not once had Allen actually seen him break a sweat the few times he had to get involved. Not even when taking out a whole gang by himself - though Allen knew the men were weak, that didn't stop the action from being tiring. The Earl was terrifying when angered - Allen knew from the very few times he'd seen it - and was often called psychotic by the men he was torturing for harming his family. The man was known for very nearly slicing a man in half with a broadsword without batting an eyelash.

The same "terrifying" and "psychotic" man sat a mere foot away from where Allen stood.

The Earl turned away from his paperwork and smiled at Allen. "Good morning, Allen. Sleep well?"

Allen smiled and sat in the chair closest to the head of the table, next to the man. He stifled a yawn before speaking. "Morning dad. Another hour would have been nice, but yeah. I slept well."

"I see." The Earl grinned before snapping his fingers. A second later, maids were running out from the kitchen with plates of food for the teen and some coffee for the older. "Then let's wake you up, shall we?"

Allen chuckled. "You enjoy doing that, don't you?" At his father's silent smile, Allen rolled his eyes and started on his breakfast - which would have been a feast for anyone else.

It didn't take long for the massive amount of food to be gone, replaced by a small stack of plates. Allen took his napkin and gently used it to wipe his mouth, keeping clear of the makeup on his cheek. When he was done, he turned to his father figure. Noting the paperwork, he realized there were two stacks - one large enough to hide the second. Looking at the papers on top of each pile, Allen figured the taller stack was the finished paperwork. "Have you been here all night?"

The Earl smiled at the hint of concern in his adopted son's voice and set aside his pen. "I suppose I have." Judging by the fact that the teen was awake and dressed, the older of the two could only guess how long he'd been awake. "What time is it?"

A frown. "Almost five thirty."

"Ah… Then I suppose I should get some sleep."

The younger shook his head with a small sigh. It was rare, but sometimes he had to wonder who was the older of the two; himself or the man next to him. The Earl was known - within the family - for being rather forgetful at times, so it was a common occurrence for him to be reminded of things he would tend to forget.

"Do you want me to finish the rest for you?" The silverette looked at the small pile of papers as he asked his question. He could tell there wasn't much left to be done but he still worried for the one who took him in. The man had been nothing but kind to the boy since bringing him into his home and the younger looked to repay that kindness however he could.

The older chuckled before taking a swig of his coffee. "I'll be fine Allen. You have school today, yes?" At his son's nod, the father continued. "Worry about yourself for now. We wouldn't want your grades to slip."

Allen knew exactly what his father meant, but it didn't stop him from frowning - borderline pouting. He had been a straight 'A' student since he started school. If his grades suddenly began to fall, his teachers would start wondering what caused their ace student to slip. Curiosity would lead to the teachers checking in on him and asking questions. Questions and check-in's meant people looking into him and his life. If people dug too deep… it's easy to say it wouldn't end well for the curious party.

The boy sighed in defeat and let his frown - pout - straighten out. "I understand. I'll head off soon." The older was about to speak - smiling as he saw this as a mild victory for him as a father - when his son cut him off. "But. You have to get some rest."

The Earl frowned as he glanced at the small stack of papers to his left before his eyes fell back on the only other person in the room. "After I finish with these, I promise I'll go to bed. And I won't let anything or anyone interrupt that," the older quickly added before the light-haired boy could argue with him.

The silverette looked into the brunet's eyes. They held each other's gaze for a few moments before the younger gave in. With a mutter of 'fine' - and figuring he could call one of the maids for an update while at school - Allen stood from his seat, wished his father figure a good 'night', then set to finishing getting dressed.

The teen walked up the stairs and to his room then into his bathroom, stopping in front of his intended destination. A marble bust sat upon the counter, accentuated by a chestnut colored wig resting on it. With great reluctance, the teen tied up his snow-like, mid-neck length hair before grabbing the wig. He'd always hated the artificial cover-up - much rather preferring his natural color - though he found it necessary. White hair wasn't common among teenagers and he didn't want to be the center of attention with their being a thief and murderer of his build with white hair out and about.

He had come up with the different identities around the time he joined the family. Everybody had agreed to him going to school like a normal kid his age, though, to him, it seemed nobody had taken into account his odd appearance. He was the one to decide to wear a wig and makeup in public to hide his hair and scar and a mask at night to hide his eyes. To the world, there were four people; Allen Walker - the straight A student, Crowned Clown - the thieving and murdering Rat, the Fourteenth Noah - one nobody had ever seen yet had heard of, and the mysterious adopted son of Adam Millennium - known only to the Noah family and close friends as Allen Millennium.

In actuality, they were all one teenage boy with a rather deceptive build. When the teen - boy at the time - decided on the multiple identities, he figured it would be difficult to balance out. It had been at first, until he realized he truly had only two identities that people saw and one hardly ever interacted with anyone. Quickly the four identities became easy to handle… personality and stress wise at least.

The teen sighed - groaning to himself - as he pulled the wig over his own locks, adjusting it as needed before locking it in place with several hairpins. After shaking his head harshly to test the wig wouldn't move, Allen left his bathroom to put on his shoes and grab his bag. By the time he was at the front door and ready to leave, it was a quarter to six and forty-five minutes before his first class.

As he reached for the door handle, a voice stopped him. "Be good, Allen Walker." The boy turned towards the voice and saw the Earl standing in the doorway connecting the entrance hall and dining room.

He smiled at the man and nodded, "Sleep well, Mr. Millennium." With that, the boy opened the door and stepped out into the cool morning air. He casually walked from his rather large home to his school, enjoying the calm and quiet air as he went.

He had always prefered walking rather than riding in a car. He used to give the excuse that someone would recognize the car or see where it came from, therefore blowing his cover. Eventually, the boy became honest; he didn't trust most vehicles and overall didn't like them. Anything with an engine would have his nerves on edge. They took away the dangers he knew how to fight against and replaced them with ones he didn't understand and would rather avoid. He would ride in them if it was necessary, but not if he had a choice.

It didn't take long for a familiar building to come into view. In Allen's personal opinion, the walk was never long enough. It easily took him fifteen minutes to get from home to school though he usually walked slowly, adding an extra ten minutes onto that. With twenty minutes before his first class, Allen wandered the campus in hopes of finding his friends. It hadn't taken him long to spot a familiar head of red, unruly hair.

With a smile, Allen walked up behind his friend with a slightly crouched stance and loud footsteps - for the normally stealthy boy . To anyone watching, he looked like he was try to sneak up on the redhead - and failing judging by the 'targets' grin that accompanied the first step. To the boy, he was just messing around and trying to make himself obvious.

The redhead turned around with a smirk on his lips and amusement clear in his emerald eyes. "You're gonna have to do better than that if you really wanna sneak up on me, Shortstack." The taller of the two flashed a grin at his friend's frown. "Don't worry, you'll get there eventually. I believe in you Lil' Buddy!"

Allen's frown turned into a pout. "Three things. First of all, I'm not short. You're just freakishly tall. Secondly, what do you have against using my name? Lastly, you tell me that every day Lavi."

The redhead - Lavi - shrugged as he rested an arm on Allen's shoulder. "Three responses. First of all, yes you are. You're tiny. Secondly, they're called nicknames Shortstack. We've been over this. Lastly, I only repeat myself because I really think you can do it one day! You're actually getting better too!" Lavi paused for a moment before quickly adding on, "Kinda."

"Just you watch," Allen started, shrugging Lavi's arm off his shoulder, "I'll sneak up on you one day and scare the pants off of you."

The sound of a tongue clicking against teeth reminded the two of the other people there. "Just give up Beansprout. It's never going to happen." Allen frowned at the speaker. He had long midnight blue hair that reached the middle of his back - even when tied up in a high ponytail - and narrow, navy blue eyes that seemed to be set in a permanent scowl.

"You don't know that." Allen's frown turned into a resigned glare at the long-haired boy. Of all his friends and family members, this one person had the uncanny ability to revert Allen back into that nameless, eight year-old Rat with a temper. The glare slipped away with a sigh, a sarcastic look of sympathy taking its place. "Though, you don't know much of anything… It's really sad and truly a question of how you managed to get into this school Kanda."

The midnight haired teen - Kanda - let out a growl that sounded along the lines of a question. Before he could truly speak - or growl more as it seemed he was more willing to do at the moment - Allen spoke again. "Ah. I forgot. You're head is too thick to understand anything I just said…"

Before a fight could start up between the two, a girl with long, green twin ponytails stepped in. Her violet eyes sent the clear message that neither boy would be safe should they continue. With silent agreement, the boys each took a step back and calmed down.

Lavi whistled and shook his head, his red tresses swaying softly. "Dang Lenalee… You really are the scariest person in this school…" The redhead muttered before grinning teasingly. "You don't work with the Noah Family or the Earl, do you?"

It was a common saying throughout the youths of the town. Anyone who seemed scary to their friends would be asked the - usually - joking question. Rarely did it actually mean anything. Everyone with connections to the Noah Family had heard the joke at least once either in passing or from friends but - funny enough - anyone truly related to the family had never been asked the question.

Much to popular disbelief, the Noah family and all its members weren't nearly as bloodthirsty or monsterous as everyone seemed to believe. They were all very kind unless provoked - in which, then something like the devil incarnate would appear before somebody happened to disappear.

The girl - Lenalee - sighed and rolled her eyes. "You know I wouldn't work with them. They cause so much trouble for my brother… He always collapses and falls asleep on the couch when he gets home from work…" Lenalee's voice had turned soft the moment she mentioned her brother. The girl had always had a soft spot for her older brother, even more so when he became a forensic scientist - his own way of trying to stop the infamous family.

Allen frowned, "He's not overworking himself, is he?"

"Tch." Kanda sounded. "Are you kidding me? He's probably sleeping at work and wakes up long enough to get home before sleeping again."

Expecting a comment or argument in the defense of her brother, Allen and Lavi looked to Lenalee who remained silent. The only sound passing through Lenalee's lips being a sigh. She wanted to argue that her brother was a hard worker but she knew otherwise. Ultimately, the defense would only be a waste of breath.

"That's just sad." Lavi blurted out after moments of pure silence.

"I know…" Lenalee resigned to agree. Barely a moment later, the female of the group made a sound as she seemed to remember something. "Oh! But he left for work early today. He didn't even have breakfast!"

Lavi gasped, his hand flying to his chest in an over-dramatic display of shock. "No…! The horror…!" The next second found Lavi crouched over and nursing his recently kicked shin. "Okay, I'm sorry!

Allen rolled his eyes at the older's childish display before focusing his attention back on Lenalee. "Why'd he leave so early? Doesn't he usually go to work around nine? It's not even six thirty."

Lenalee pointed a finger at Allen as if to say he hit the nail on the head. "He told me somebody found a couple bodies way early this morning. Police think they were killed by the Noah. He was called in to check it out since he's worked on most of the Noah cases."

"Then he'll be able to catch them soon?" Allen asked with a hint of what looked to be genuine hope to his friends.

Seeing the hint of hope in Allen's eyes had made it hard for Lenalee to tell him the truth. However, she refused to lie to the boy. "I'm afraid not. They're good at covering their tracks. The most he can do is figure out how the person was killed and by figuring that out, he can figure out which one did it."

Allen frowned in confusion. To him, it sounded as if she had just contradicted herself. It seemed Allen wasn't the only one confused as Lavi spoke up, standing as he did. "Care to clarify Lenalady?"

Lenalee looked around before speaking in a quieter voice, low enough for only her friends to hear her. "Brother told me that each of the Noah have their own style. He's given them all nicknames or numbers since it isn't known who the Noah really are. There's one that's absolutely brutal on all of their victims but the bodies are always dressed up like dolls so brother calls that specific Noah 'Doll Maker'. He says that, judging by the clothes and accessories, Doll Maker is a girl and most likely childish if not a child."

Allen took a moment to process the information. He had known that everyone had their own way of doing things - that's how humans worked, almost nothing alike - but for some reason he never thought about someone being able to learn about them through their unique styles. Road's was fairly obvious. He hated to admit it but it was true. No grown man would play dress up with the corpses of their latest victims. Well… Aside from the especially strange that is.

"Does he know anything about the ones found this morning?" Lavi asked, effectively bringing Allen out of his thoughts and into a state of near fear. The face Lavi had while hearing about how a supposed little girl killed people was creepy to say the least.

Lenalee tilted her head side to side shortly. "Yes and no. They were described and he said it sounded like Destruction."

"'Destruction'?" Allen found himself wondering aloud.

A dip and rise of forest green hair. "Yeah. Brother said the only way to describe how this Noah kills is by saying he completely destroys parts of his victims before killing them. He thinks 'Destruction' is pretty large and strong because of how easily they break bones but also good with throwing knives apparently."

Lavi blinked, taking a moment to go over what he just heard. "So… That guy a few months back with both arms and legs almost completely shattered with a knife to the forehead… That'd be 'Destruction'?"

"Exactly." Lenalee took a moment of pause as a shiver ran up her spine. She always knew when it was 'Destruction' when her brother came home. He always seemed to have a haunted look - more so than with any other Noah victims - when he would come home. He would hardly eat or speak, only going to his room to sit in silence. It terrified her what a Noah could do to her brother without them ever having met.

Allen had a different reaction altogether. Outwardly, he seemed worried - about the Noah - and concerned - for Lenalee. Inwardly, however, he was conflicted. On one hand, he didn't mind a moniker like 'Destruction' - it was better than 'Doll Maker' in his opinion. It seemed to distribute the right amount of fear that he always wanted his victims to feel.

On the other hand, he felt insulted. He always liked to claim his killing style as 'controlled chaos'. Yes, limbs were broken to a point that if the person managed to live, it would need to be amputated, but it was controlled. He knew exactly what he was doing and where he was doing it. It wasn't like he was bending bones haphazardly. Even he couldn't do that. He knew the exact points on the human body that could bend just the way he liked.

So no, it wasn't "destruction", it was controlled chaos.

The bell ringing for students to head to their first class ended the morbid conversation before another word could be added. The quartet went their separate ways with soft goodbyes as they headed to their own classes.

On the way to Allen's class, he saw a familiar head of spiky purple hair. With a grin, Allen ran up behind the short girl and covered her eyes with his hands. Not a word was said by him before the girl grinned as well and let out an excited cry of "Allen!" Said boy let go of the girl in time for her to turn around and tackle him into a hug.

The taller of the two gave the smaller a tight squeeze before speaking. "Hey Road. I just heard something really interesting that I think you may or may not like."

The girl - Road - tilted her head curiously, completely blind and uncaring of the people walking by and staring at her arms wrapped behind Allen's neck. "Oh? And what is it that you heard?"

Allen leaned in close to whisper into her ear, not wanting their onlookers to overhear. "There's a little girl Noah who plays dress up with her victims like they're dolls so the police are calling her 'Doll Maker'." Sensing the girl was about to speak up, he quickly added, "There's another that they call 'Destruction' because of the damage he deals to his victims."

Road waited a moment to make sure Allen was finished before speaking, a pout clear in her voice. "'Doll Maker'? Really? How boring… Literally anything else would have been better than that. You're so lucky you get 'Destruction'... At least it sounds cool and gets the point across. 'Doll Maker' just sounds like a sad old person with no kids so they decided to make dolls in place of their nonexistent children. Like a creepier version of a crazy cat lady. I don't wanna be a crazy cat lady or anything like that Allen…!"

Allen stayed quiet as he let Road ramble. He knew from personal experience that it was never good to interrupt the small and deceivingly sweet girl. Whether in public or in private, she would find a way to punish whoever interrupted her. Exceptions were extremely rare and even they wouldn't go unpunished.

The second Road was finished - a 'huff' being the tell tale sign she was done - Allen spoke up. "You think I like 'Destruction'? You know better than anyone that I prefer to call it 'controlled chaos'. I'm sorry your nickname sucks but I'm sure it could have been worse. And no you aren't and won't ever be a crazy cat lady." Allen was quick to add in as he felt Road's jaw slightly move against his own. With a sweet smile, Allen pulled back and looked Road in the eye before speaking at normal volumes again. "Now, we have to get to class, otherwise we'll be late."

Road pouted before nodding slowly. "Will you walk me to my class?" At Allen's nod, Road grinned brightly and led the way to her class. The slight skip in her step causing Allen to chuckle softly at her antics.

For now he wouldn't worry about how he or Road acted, but Allen knew they'd have to be careful. He may never had met Lenalee's brother but he was starting to wonder if he should worry about the older sibling learning too much. He didn't want to hurt Lenalee because her brother happened to be good at his job. She was his friend after all.

Yo~ Finally finished this chapter! I've only had it half finished for a few months~ ... Don't look at me like that. It wasn't even at a point that was worthy of posting back then! At least I was able to finish it!

But yeah, I have college classes going on now and happened to have free time in class. Got curious of what I had going on in my Drive (Google) and saw this. Read it to see where I left off and was lucky enough to be able to pick it up! Also found the layout for the story - not the chapter, the fic! - so that makes it a bit easier.

Hope I can update again soon on just about anything… That'd be nice, right? Fave, follow, review and check out my other stuff. Reviews tend to make me update since it makes me realize people actually read my bullshit… K Thx Bye~