A/N: Ello~ I'm back and hopefully I'll stay while, but in truth, who knows -shrugs- This is, by far, my most on track chapter and probably my most favorite. BY FAR!

Thanks super much to Junoan, ElementalFoxGoddess,Chosha Kurenai,Tsukiko Yamshita,Moonlit Yume,Harleymotor,.'.'.yUe-hEiKa.'.'., knux33, and fe! I hope you didn't mind the wait~

Reading Legend

normal

"talking"

thinking

SHOUTING

Expressing/Exaggerating

Scaring the Dark

Chapter 5: Crowned Beast

Warmth pooled around Allen as he awoke to a strong chest. Sighing in content he snuggled closer, glad that he could make bodily contact without the burning. He didn't really think that freezing his ass off would really work, but apparently it had. Allen could hear the other's heartbeat, a constant metronome of life. He briefly wondered what would happen if it would stop.

A snore caused a small yelp to escape the teen's mouth as he gazed up at the other's face. Allen had to cover his mouth to stop from laughing at the sight. Lavi's face was priceless! As if the drool streaming down his face wasn't enough, his goofy smile was in place and Allen knew there was hearts behind his eyes as he whispered a soft "Strike!"

Being the kind, loving boy he was, Allen pinched Lavi's nose and laughed lightly as he snorted as he struggled with the now blocked airway. Letting the nose go, the teen let the red-head roll away from him as he slid out of the bed. He was still waring the cursed hospital gown and was thankful to see his normal clothes on a table not to far away.

After dressing quickly, Allen left the infirmary, shutting the door silently as he left.

The hallways were silent as the teen roamed them, getting a feel for the new place. Though he knew he would get lost, no matter what, it was always nice to pretend.

To pretend like all the others...His hand ghosted over a rail as he ascended a short flight of stairs to the alter that stood at the far end of the entry hall. Silver eyes gazed at the glass painting of the mother Mary holding a small bundle in her arms. He wondered, how Jesus felt to be held and cherished by a mother of such strength, of such virtue.

And how hard it must have been to leave her. Allen didn't know the story of the bible, did not know of Mary and Joseph's great journey or Jesus' own. All he knew was the Jesus was the proclaimed holy son of Mary and God.

Placing his disfigured hand on the alter, Allen felt as if time had stopped. Like everyone had left him and he was the only one in existence. Sounds shattered around him and cries poured from the corners of the halls. His eyes widened in horror as he found he could not pull his hand back. Images of people praying to God filled his head, peoples doubts echoing in his ears. The smell of decay assaulting his nose and the taste of ash on his tongue. His skin felt like it was tearing and burning and he cried out to let it all end. He jerked his hand over and over.

"Let go!" He cried out into the halls. "Let me go!" Tears streamed down his face as he fell to his knees. "Please..." He could feel his innocence move under his skin, leeching into his very core. Some stretched up his neck while other branches bore down onto his chest. Allen could feel his mind go numb as he gazed at the glass. "Why do you torture me?" He chocked out as the thing settled in, disfiguring his skin as it turned to the blood red of his once raw-arm. "Why can't I have a mother?" His head cranked up as his hand clenched the wood, pushing down so that it cracked and creaked until it was destroyed.

His hand lay in the pile of wooden rubbish and as he gazed he let out a scream that shattered even the glass of god.

An air of warning lingered over the others as soon as they awoke. They went about their business however, as usual, even Lavi forgot his secret promise to Allen as he was whisked away to the library by Bookman. He remembered waking up in the middle of the night because of something, but he had quickly fell asleep, not even giving it a second thought. It couldn't be that important, could it?

Lavi shook his head as he spotted the short bob of Lenalee's head as she rushed beside him.

"Good afternoon Lavi!" She chirped out as the two headed towards the cafeteria, deciding to take a shortcut through the main hall.

"Good afternoon Lenalee! How was your sleep." Her eyes seemed to cringe at the question.

"Well, to tell you the truth-" She was cut off however as the neared the hallway, a barricade of bodies blocking their way.

"Hey! What's going on here!" Lavi shouted only to be ignored as the people tried to move closer to whatever was in the hall.

"No one knows..."

"Ah, Krory-kins!" Lavi exclaimed as the tall man appeared out of nowhere.

"What do you mean Krory?"

"Well, apparently something happened in the hall and know everything is blocked up leading into it.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Uh... no?"

"GOD DAMN IT! Now we have to take the longway!" Lenalee sweat dropped as Krory cowered behind her.

"It's okay Lavi, let's just go, okay?" Mumbling some more curses under his breath, Lavi followed the girl with the vampire-like man in tow.

"So do you know what's going on Yu~" Lavi asked as the three sat down beside the irritable exorcist. Kanda placed his hand on his blessed mugen as he glared at the red-head.

"What was that rabbit?" Oblivious to the tick mark on the samurai's head, he repeated the question word-for-word. "Don't call me by my first name!" He shouted standing up and shaking the table so that Lavi's poor soup fell into his lap.

Yelping in pain Lavi ran around as he tried to get the soup off of his clothes.

"Know why did you have to do that Kanda?" Lenalee questioned as Kanda just snorted and began eating his soba once more.

"Uh, Mr. Kanda, might you know something about the main hall?" Kanda gave a half-hearted glare at Krory as he sighed and placed his chopsticks down on his finished bowl.

"Apparently, there was some sort of accident."

"Accident?" Lavi echoed as he sat back down, having somehow recovered from two-degree burns. The stoic man nodded.

"One of the finders who woke up early found black and white blood all over the walls and floor. As if a battle had taken place."

"Black and white?" Lenalee asked. Again the man nodded.

"That's what he said. Not long after that, I rushed over to check it out myself, but it was already blocked off." The four sat in uneasy silence as the news settled in.

"Um, black and white, right?" Kanda grunted at the timid man's question. "Well, wouldn't that be like, Innocence and Noah." Breathing was abruptly cut off as the idea tangled itself in each others minds.

"Lavi, where was Allen this morning?" Kanda hissed out, a slight tone of worry evident.

"He, he was already gone. I thought Link had taken him for some proper exams or something..." A fog like worry smothered the group as Lenalee looked at the group, fear in her eyes.

"Where any of you guys woken by a scream during the night?"

The stone walls were a blur of grey as the group of four rushed towards the main hall. Pushing and shoving against people, the friends broke through the closed doors that opened up to the main hall. The abrupt smell of blood hit their noses' and Lenalee covered her mouth to stop from vomiting.

The finder had not lied, bu he hadn't told the truth either. The white and black smears covered the hall, almost every inch of it. Mixed with the now greying liquids was the bright colour of blood. It was as if someone had taken that news paper joke too far (1).

Koumi turned quickly to the sound of the door opening and fear coursed through his veins as he saw the four. Out of anyone to see the mess, he had wanted to avoid those four.

"B-brother?" Lenalee cried out as she walked timidly towards him, the others following. "W-what happened?" Tears ran down her face as she gazed at him, worry creasing her feminine features.

"It's nothing Lenalee, please lea-"

"It has something to do with Allen doesn't it!" she pushed, grabbing onto him. "It was him screaming at night, wasn't it?!"

"Y-you heard that?" The others nodded.

"It's kinda hard not to, Koumi..." Lavi stated. "Why?" The scientist looked down at his crying sister and back to the other three.

"I'm sorry, but that's confidential."

"Koumi!" Kanda shouted, taking a step forward, the sickening concoction pooling around his boots.

"I'm sorry, but it's orders from the higher ups..." They would have pushed forward, but seeing the pain in those purple eyes made them feel guilty just for being there.

Gazing down at his sister, the older one smiled softly as he hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry, Lenalee, I'll get you guys as soon as I'm allowed." She nodded against his chest but couldn't stop her small question from voicing itself.

"Is it bad?" They saw the man grimace slightly as he turned towards that now shattered alter.

"I guess you could say that."

The four sat solemnly in the cafeteria, none wishing to break the uncomfortable silence. Something bad had happened. Something really bad. What was worse, was that, in some way, they could have stopped it. They had all heard the cry in the middle of the night, but mainly thought it imaginative and went back to bed, dreaming peacefully while something beyond awful happened to Allen. They could have prevented it.

Lavi laid his head in his arms, guilt tearing at him from every which way. He was with Allen when he had woken up! He could have done more than the others, he could have held him closer. But no, he just had to keep breaking his promises to the young boy, keep destroying whatever sanity he had left. It was bad enough that his Master had gone missing, but he also had the Noah to worry about. And when the boy had screamed out for them, he did nothing. Just rolled over, not even noticing the boy missing and went back to sleep, ignoring him like before.

Kanda clutched Mugen to his chest as he glared at the wall. He was already up by the time of the scream, out in the forest training. Yet, he thought it as nothing more than the wind playing tricks with him. After all, it was nearing dawn at the time, so it was probably just some animal. However, it wasn't an animal, no it was Allen. The child that had just suffered hypothermia hours before, the boy who had so much to burden alone, the boy who was able to make even Kanda believe that they had a chance. Yet, when that ray of hope called for help, he ignored it. Allen would have never ignored something like that, he would have rushed to find out what it was. But Kanda had simply ignored it, just excusing it as another noise.

Krory and Lenalee gazed sadly at the table. Both felt like they should have helped him, but, in the harsh reality, there was nothing they could have done. Their rooms where far from that of the main hall and they would never have realized that anything had happened if not for Allen's cry. A cry that was never answered.

The four stood solemnly as several other's filled the now clean hall. The alter area was cleared of any stray wood chips and the area sparkled as if oblivious to it's once dirty walls. Lenalee thought it sickening.

To the side of where the alter once stood was the generals, all looking uncomfortable as they gazed at the ground. Levrier stood silently in the center of the stair-cased area, a look of slight displeasure. If that man wasn't happy it couldn't possibly be good.

Clearing his throat, Levrier turned his snake-like glare upon the entire population of the Black Order.

"We have gather you all here today to show you a new weapon that God has granted us!" He shouted out, voice strong and firm. He paused as mummers flowed throughout the hall. The small group of four breathed in rapped, silent breaths, trying to hide their approaching fear. "As you know, this area was blocked off from this morning until recently, this is because of a holy event that has taken place." Holy?! What the hell could he mean by that?! The exorcists scowled, and even the generals seemed disapproving at the word choice. Clearing his throat once more, the inspector decided to stop the idle chatter and get to the point.

"God has sent us an innocence that surpasses even that of Miss. Lenalee Lee's crystal type!" A rush of gasps and whispers erupted once more and Levrier had to wait for silence. "Though we have yet to name it, there is indeed another type of innocence. Like the crystal type, this is a form of great evolution from the core of the two innocence families. Except that this once branches from that of the parasitic!" Another rush of mummers. The four exorcists felt as if they had been slapped. A parasitic evolution. The very thought was frightful. However, Levrier was not done.

"As you all know, Exorcist Allen Walker has been charged with being related to the Noah's, one of the Black Order's strongest enemies." A death-like hush fell over the crowd. "It is in the very core of this child that we see the new step for parasitics'! Bring him out!" Everyone turned their heads to the far door that was on the same level as that of the alter. Link entered, leading a shrouded figure by the right hand. Displeasure flared over the generals faces, not deeming this right; for so many eyes too look at him...

The two stopped beside the inspector and Link turned a worried glance at the face that was covered in the large cloak. He spoke in soft words to him, just barely below a whisper and people strained to hear it, all but failing. The hood nodded as it slowly turned towards the group of people. No feeling came from it. No sense of nervousness, no fear, nothing. Slowly, he pulled his cloak off, so that his legs where the fist things to be seen. Nothing strange about them... However, as soon as the cloak fell to the ground, a collection of gasps and screams erupted in the halls.

Allen stood with emotionless, pale green eyes as he scanned the area of his evolution. His chest was bare, so that all could see what had happened. His innocence, that had stopped at his shoulder, had spread in long, twisted veins across his entire chest. They only stopped shot of the far right of his body, as if afraid to infect the other arm. The same veins had crawled up his neck, covering his left side of his face. His scar was a twisted black that had bent and shifter around that of the innocence part, afraid to touch it.

"Now, Allen Walker, please invoke your innocence and show everyone it's new form." The boy simply nodded, oblivious to the human emotions that swirled through the crowd.

Gazing down at his arm he let his now green eyes do a last scan over the audience.

"Awake, Crowned Beast." A flash of black and white entered everyones vision as the strange blood erupted from Allen as a strangle cry came out his mouth. It stretched over his skin, and rose several feet, becoming a new body. The strange liquid hardening into a beast-like shape. It had two arms that reflected that of crown clown's left arm, except much larger and monstrous. It's head was decorated with three large spikes, like a crown, that gave it an appearance of a horrid, eared creature. It held no legs, it's very bottom covering the ground like the bottom of a long dress, appearing to pool like the liquid it once was. But above all was the beady white eyes that seemed to suck in the black darkness that surrounded it. That seemed t pierce everyone to their very core.

"We have decided to call this new type of innocence, the Devil type."

Story Notes

(1) What's black, white and red all over? What a cruel joke.

Alright, thanks a ton for waiting for this chapter. I'm trying to keep on track since my mind loves to wander a whole bunch. In the last chapter, I must applaud those who saw through my trick and pinned it to several languages. I pretty much used different forms of English, and French, Spanish, Greek, Roman, Dutch, German, Italian, and Portuguese! Took me forever to do it right, since I wanted it to sound a certain way.

It translates to: Crack, Crack, amongst the vines. Do not break night times web. Do not break the silence! Let the silence bring us death!

It's part of a verse that will make an appearance later, hence chapter four. That was pretty much made as a reflection chapter for later on~

Till next time~!