Time gap of half a year

Chapter 4

I dodged a flaming candle that wedged itself into the wall right about my head. I gulped, staring at it before returning to the tantrum Road was performing.

"Why do I have to know about the hundred's years war? Do I care about King Henry the eight? Nope." Road ranted glaring at me.

"Do I care about what you think? Nope. So you're going to learn about this, Road." I snapped back.

She huffed before turning around in a flurry of skirts, "fine."

A small smile stretched across my face. "Alright then. How many wives did Henry have?"

"Six."

"Correct. How many did he execute?"

"…three?"

I shook my head and she frowned, "two?"

"Yeah, though if Desires quizzes you, he'll want it in a statement rather than a question." I advised.

"Well, he'll just have to deal with it." She stated with a grin.

Road was such a spoiled brat, but she was, somehow, tolerable. I sighed before moving on to the next subject, math. Internally, I groaned, math meant death for me.

The Noah standing right in front of me hated equations and felt the need to throw something pointy at me each time I went to correct her. It was a challenge to say.

I forced myself to look happy as I announced that we were done with history for today and that we would be moving on to mathematics. She immediately lost her grin which was replaced with a pout.

"Now, get out the assignment I gave you yesterday to complete."

She smirked, "lero ate it."

"Works the first time not the tenth, Road."

"Aw~ Fine, how about… Joyd ate it!"

I struggled to keep a straight face as an image of Joyd being caught red-handed eating her homework popped into my head. I would have to tease him about it later. "No, that does not work."

She pursed her lips, "What about Millennie?"

Now that image was one that would scar me forever. I shook my head, exasperated.

"Hmph, you have no creativity."

"If you had said Bondom*, then I might have believed you."

Road nodded her head in agreement, "true…"

I got out a worksheet that just so happened to be the one assigned to her and pushed it into her small chest, "Thank me later."

She let out a screech of despair before plopping down into a chair that was still being built along with a desk.

As she worked on it, I wondered when Neah's betrayal was going to happen. I had remembered that particular detail when chatting with him during my free time over a cup of warm tea. The sudden memory of my friend rambling on about how she wanted to find out why he had killed off his 'family' and who exactly was Allen, or was it Aren? Heck if I know. There was another thing I had figured out, I wasn't in the same time period as the show was.

That had been a bit of a shocker to me as I had a moment where my heart skipped a beat. I hadn't known if the information I had based off the show was still valid. After all, I wasn't living the show right now, I was living the time before the show which I had concluded from the inventions. So for all I had known, it could have been void and all my predictions were wrong. Though as time passed I realized that wasn't entirely true, yes some of my guesses were wrong, but there were more right then wrong, which was what mattered.

I tucked my chestnut hair behind my ears before asking, "How's Neah?"

My student hummed, "He's fine. Though busier than usual…"

"Oh. You should go visit him then. Get his mind off of work." I suggested, hearing a pinch of sadness in her voice. I turned to look at her and saw that her face was brighter than it had been and that her back was straighter meaning that she was all ears.

"I should, shouldn't I? Yeah! Alright, now that it's decided, would you like to come with me?"

"Sure," I thought back to the first time I met Neah, "so it'll be just like my first time."

Road instantly understood, "Yup."

"Though this time I need to bring tea to pay him back for the mint tea he gave me a while back." I added.

She giggled, "Who would've thought you two would get along?"

"You. Now get back to your worksheet."

"Party pooper."

"What was that?"

"Nothing~"

"That's what I thought." Then as an afterthought, "Also if you finish that with only two wrong I'll get you some licorice."

"Yay~"

"Hurry up, Cori!" Road nagged me. She was able to skip around while I wasn't; if I tried to skip, I would just end up tripping on one of the many layers that my heavy dress had. She had on a dress that would be considered scandalous in this century, in fact I was still shocked Desires had allowed her to wear such a piece of clothing.

I bundled up my skirts with a sigh and broke into a light run to keep up with Noah of dreams.

The tall grass brushed against my ankles leaving my skin tingling. It made me feel alive to be out; the Ark was a prison to keep me in and not let me out. At first, it hadn't felt like it, I was allowed to go outside and buy things, but I always had to have a Noah accompany me. That was it. Then the rules were tweak once more, and not in my favor, I couldn't leave the Ark.

I had wanted to protest, but I had known that it would've been pointless, so I had quietly accepted my fate of staying trapped in the pure, white city.

However, there were rare days when Road would convince them to let me go with her to see Neah. She would be with me so there was nothing to worry about and where would I run off to anyway? There was nothing near the mansion where Neah lived but the large, gnarled tree. So they would let me go, warily, with glares by the two quiet Noahs who I hadn't been acquainted with yet, but I wouldn't let that damper my joyful mood. I would just ignored them, in fact, it had become a routine.

I was jolted out of my thoughts when I heard a masculine voice. "Ah, miss. Are you alright?"

I nodded uncertainly while sitting up. I had fallen down in my carelessness and hadn't gotten back up wanting to feel the warmth of the sun against my pale skin. Once I was back on my feet, I found the man who had spoken kindly.

He had reddish, brown hair that contrasted his stunning sliver eyes that seemed to glow. He was slightly shorter than a man of his age should've been, though I was going off Joyd and he was the tallest person I knew. He was wearing casual clothes which made me feel overdressed.

The man offered his hand and I took it, we started walking. Where? I didn't know but he seemed to know where to go and Klive had told me: 'always let the man lead you, it is not in the ladies place to lead.' So I followed the man's lead and waited for him to introduce himself.

"Ah, pardon my lack of manners. I was only recently introduced to these ways." The man chuckled nervously before continuing, "My name is Allen. If you don't mind me asking, would you delight me by telling me your name?"

I blushed under his gaze and answered shyly, "It would be my pleasure, my name is Corian."

"Such a pretty name, Corian."

I nodded, not quite sure what to do. We continued walking in silence with the mansion growing bigger till it was right in front of us.

I curtsied and said my thanks to Allen before going up to the door and knocking twice. I glanced behind me and saw that Allen was still standing there. He was staring at me with a puzzled expression but when he saw me looking at him, he quickly averted his eyes.

I turned back around feeling confused. Why had he been staring at like that?

"You're not a Noah, are you?"

I jumped before whirling around, "you know what they are?!"

"Yes. I do, now answer my question."

"No, I'm not a Noah. Are you?" I questioned feeling suspicious. He knew what the Noah were, knew where Neah lived, what else did he know?

He found my question funny for a reason I did not comprehend, "No, I am not. And I doubt I will ever become one."

"Oh. Then-" I was interrupted by the door being swung open by Neah who looked surprised to see us both on his doorstep.

He addressed Allen first, "It might be best for you come sometime later, Allen."

The red haired man nodded and turned to leave.

"As for you Corian, come in. I heard you brought some tea for me this time," He said with a smile. I returned it while taking out the tea patch out of my pocket and handing it to him.

He waved his hand and I stepped inside the cool manor. Neah closed it behind me with a click and I wasn't able to look at Allen one more time like I had wanted to.

"Who is Allen?" I asked curious. As far as I knew, I was the only human the Noah family contacted so why did Neah know Allen?

"Well, it might be best for you not to know yet, Miss Corian." Neah commented with a dark under current that made me want to shiver, not because I was cold, but because I got the sense I was an injured baby bird and Neah was the black cat stalking me, waiting to pounce.

The uncomfortable mood was broken by Road who launched herself at Neah and ending up somehow on his shoulders overlooking me.

"Your late Cori~"

"I tripped." Was my short, but true answer.

"You're so clumsy."

"Maybe."

Neah laughed at us and we both stopped trying to get the other riled up.

"Why don't you ladies go settle down on the couch in the living room while I go make some tea?" Neah offered, slowly picking Road off his shoulders and setting her on the ground. Road immediately did as he asked while I waited a couple seconds before slowly moving towards the said room.

I paused, remembering my promise to Road, "hey, could you possibly put some licorice on the tray with the tea, please? I promised Road I would give her some if she did her math right."

Neah nodded and left in the direction of the kitchen.

The site I saw in the living room made me gasp; Road was staring off out of the window with a solemn face I had never seen before on her.

"Road! What's wrong?" While I may have not liked my situation, Road helped it by letting me get out of the Ark and visit Neah. We had also become closer in the short time we had known each other, so to see her like this… It was strange the way it made heart tighten.

Road turned to face me, "he's always pushing me aside. He's keeping something from us. I can feel it."

I froze and tried to keep my face neutral. Road knew something was going on. Did that mean the betrayal was coming soon?

Just how much did Road know?

"What do you mean?"

"There's something going on with Neah. Something that has to do with Cross, that bastard. He won't tell us anything about him other than he's an exorcist he's hunting down."

"What's wrong with that? Maybe he hasn't caught him yet?" I said cautiously.

Road shook her head, "Neah would've caught him by now. Neah isn't Bondom."

"Alright, well I'm sure something happened and he's trying to keep you out of it for your own safety." I reached her and put my hand on her shoulder. She looked up and caught my blue eyes, making sure I wasn't just whispering sweet nothings to her. I don't what she saw but apparently she trusted me as she returned to her normal self.

"So, when am I going to get my licorice?"

"Soon."

*Bondom is Jasdevi

Also you may or may not have noticed but I have put irony in there, especially with Allen.

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