A/N: Last chapter has been rewritten a little bit. All of those who reviewed, favorited or followed, thank you!

Nea D. Campbell, Link finds out, has a terrible sense of humor.

Link knew that Nea and Cross had been somewhat familiar in the past. He just didn't know how much. At least until their third day together.

They had decided to hop on a train early in the morning, because if there was one thing they were sure of, it was that they had to keep moving. Nea was, Link decided, not a morning person, judging by the way he was dozing off not three minutes after the train took off. It was then that Link remembered he had some important questions he ought to be asking. Looking at his companion sitting across him, he wondered if he should feel bad about keeping the other awake. Then again, remembering how Sparkle's meowing kept Link up all night, why should he.

"Who's Adam?"

Nea didn't move at first, probably thinking about pretending to be asleep already, but then opened his eyes and focused them on Link. "I said it's complicated."

"We've got time," Link replied without hesitation.

"Fine," Nea said with a sigh. "He's the Earl. The Noah memory. Adam is his Noah name."

"Alright," Link responded slowly, "makes sense. Who's Mana?"

Nea bit his lips and averted his gaze to the window. Link frowned at the lack of answers. Convinced he wouldn't be getting any without prompting, he started listing off the things he knew; "He was your brother, wasn't he? He was with you when the-... Adam killed you. Cross Marian said that. He also said you made him promise to look after Mana. And then Mana took Allen Walker into his care, and died. Became an Akuma, and died once again.

As he spoke, Nea's brows began to furrow more and more, but he didn't look at Link.

"Why did you call Adam 'Mana', Campbell?"

Instead of giving an answer, Nea said: "Cross is a highly unreliable source of information."

Link suppressed the primitive urge to roll his eyes and say something along the lines of 'You don't say'. He decided to blatantly ignore the fact that Nea changed the subject abruptly, figuring that if he didn't want to tell him, there would be no way to pry the truth out of him. Especially considering the earlier stunt with him imitating Allen perfectly.

"Was," he said in the end.

"Excuse me?" Nea asked, finally looking away from the window.

"Cross was an unreliable source of information," Link said. "You do know he's dead, right?"

The other deadpanned. "No, sure, why sugarcoat it, just go straight for it," he said. Link blinked in confusion. What was there to sugarcoat? "We used to be friends," Nea continued. "Best friends, actually. I don't think he's dead though."

Link contemplated what to say. He didn't expect them to be friends for some reason. Allies, yes, but not friends. He was one hundred percent convinced that Cross Marian had died, and he didn't know how to form that into words without crushing Nea's hope.

"Allen doesn't think so either."

Link took a moment to wonder whether he heard correctly and then asked: "What?"

"Allen doesn't think that Cross is dead either," Nea repeated. "Cross is one elusive bitch, I would know. And so would Allen. He's fine."

Link didn't quite understand what set off the red flags in his brain. It was partly the fact that Nea mentioned Allen Walker, which was, why deny it, always a touchy subject, but mostly it was the way he said it, as if he knew Allen. He thought about asking but didn't know how, so he discarded it for later.

They both got lost in their thoughts for a while. Then Nea's lips stretched into that shit-eating grin of his Link was slowly becoming familiar with, and said: "Anyway, I can't really blame him for not coming to me right away. Leaving him here for over 35 years, all alone, that was rude of me. Must have been tough. You could say that it was," - Link braced himself - "quite a heavy Cross to bear."

Link only closed his eyes and let out a suffering sigh. He did that a lot lately.

His complete lack of response didn't faze Nea at all as he was happily dozing off again after a few minutes. It was only when Nea started snoring quietly that Link let the corners of his mouth lift the tiniest amount.

First Walker, now this garbage, he thought. His habit of becoming fond of other people was becoming a problem. Not that he'd ever let them know.