A new chapter! Finally...yeah this story is gonna be an epic by the time i'm done, i've got alot planned now since i'm actually getting some feed back and likes on this, and they are much appreciated. I'll keep writing as long as you people want to read my work. Red is a very moody child to write about...

Allen slept soundly throughout the night, only to awaken with the sun peering through the window as if to check if he had survived the night. He squinted, lifting thick blankets off his body. That's when he remembered.

"My arm…." He looked over at the stub that once was his left arm, heavily wrapped in bandages to prevent any blood loss. "But I'm alive…." He said with relief.

"Ah! He's awake!" someone jumped on the bed next to him, clearly excited about his consciousness. Allen pressed up against the head board.

"What the….?" The person, now obviously a girl, crowded his space.

She looked up at Red's face intently "Your cute~" she purred, nuzzling me. "I can see why he kept you, Allen-Kun~ that is your name, right?" she queried.

"Y-yeah why? Who are you?" he tried to get farther away. Allen had never been this close to a girl. He didn't like it.

"Oh, right. I'm Road Kamelot! Noah of dreams. It's nice to meet you." She beamed.

"….right." Allen smiled nervously. He couldn't help thinking that this girl at least twice his age was some kind of mental patient.

Suddenly the door opened behind them, and they both turned back to see the intruder.

A dark voice purred "Now, didn't I tell you to leave our guest alone until he's feeling better?"

Road pouted "but hakushaku-sama….".

The voice replied "don't try and persuade me. I've made up my mind. Get out; you'll see him when everyone else gets to."

"Fine…." She stormed out, clearly disappointed.

The figure walked over to the other side of the bed where Allen could see him. It was the man from last night. He leaned on one side of the bed and smiled calmly.

"How's your arm feeling, Allen?"

Allen looked down at it again. "Well it doesn't hurt, if that's what you mean…." Allen said snidely. He knew he shouldn't be rude to the man who saved his life, but he felt an unparalleled loss at having his arm destroyed.

"You're still pretty upset I can see…." He said looking away. "Then again I would be to. Do you know how long you've been out?"

"No." Allen looked away. It was a stupid question. "Maybe a day or 2?"

He smiled a bit. "Nearly a week, actually."

"A week, I've been out for a whole week?" he looked away panicked. He'd never been asleep for a week. What happens then?

"Yeah, I was afraid you'd gone into a comma from shock, but it seems you're ok." He answered, though neglected to mention that Red had been partially awake the whole time, his conscious mind suppressed while his body and subconscious relived the terrors of experimentation and the removal of his arm. Red had to be monitored and usually strapped down as his body dealt with the stress.

He felt no need to tell Red either, seeing as it was common for someone in Red's situation to undergo such a thing, especially in his family, and that Red didn't seem to remember; he also seemed much calmer now, which was good since he was afraid Red might have become catatonic when he awoke fully.

Allen looked down nervously "Why did you….save me? I mean, I'm grateful but you don't even know me."

He brushed some hair out of Allen's eyes "It's not about why I saved you, it's about why I didn't let you die." He stated coldly.

Allen felt the ice in his eyes, making him shiver. Something about that look wasn't quiet….human. He brushed it off.

"Then why didn't you?" Allen asked.

"You wanted to live, and in doing so realized begging to god yielded no happiness. You realized you were truly alone and still wished to defy your fate, that kind of begging is just irresistible to me. I can't help it. I couldn't let you die when I could fix it so easily." He smiled, thinking how usually that kind of torment was music to him, but somehow this time he had actually felt grief tangled with the melody.

Allen looked up a bit confused. "So….you let me live because I tried to defy fate?" he asked.

"Precisely." The man nodded. "That's all the reason I need."

Allen looked down heavy with sorrow, the weight of the previous night now beginning to affect him."It doesn't matter though….with my arm gone….and with how weak I am….I'm not useful to anyone anymore, not even myself…." Tears began to show at the corners of his eyes in memory of the seemingly never ending bad events that filled his life. "Nobody even wants me, I want to live, but it seems the world just wants me to die" he rubbed some of the tears out of his eyes with his only arm. "I'm not wanted, now that you've saved me, you'll relies that and send me back out into the cold like everyone else…."

Adam stared at the child, feeling the strangest of emotions. Pity. Guilt. Things he had believed had died in his heart long ago. He felt sorrow in this child's plight, so lonely and bitterly struggling against the world, no one to claim him or love him; and in seeing the boys tear stained face he immediately pulled the small child over into his arms, holding him tightly as he could without hurting him.

"I know you think that, and I know it seems that way a lot of the time. I can tell you've suffered greatly in your short time in this world. You've suffered the blunt of what I hate about humanity most." He began to tear up a little himself. "In a way, you're not so different from how I was as a child, long long ago when I thought god was forgiving to." He held him tighter "I know you feel like there is no point in trying, but I feel you're special. I know you have potential, even if you don't see it. You may just be a broken child, but even if you never reach where you're completely back to normal, I will NEVER abandon you, and I will never give up on you. From now on, you are a member of MY family, and I promise, no one will hurt you again."

The earl had no idea what moved him to say such things to the boy, or why he was even risking such promises on him. All he could place was an unparalleled loss of his own, from the last person who had died under his protection. The boy seemed to fill that hole so neatly; he could not resist the idea. Allen was his now. There was nothing that could take him away now that he had decided.

Red's tears began to overflow, and he buried his face in his jacket, unable to speak through the intense sobbing for at least an hour; thinking of how he was abandoned, kicked, spat on, and left behind his whole life, only to have the glimmer of hope he had, Mana, stolen away from him along with his only friend by the man in the black cloak, then left to die after being tirelessly experimented on. It was too much for his little shoulders to bear. He still wasn't sure he could trust the man he clung to, but he was the only one in so long that had shown him any mercy or kindness, and the first person to ever say they believed in him.

They both let themselves believe, for just a moment, that there was hope that someone could possibly help them fix what was gone.

It took a bit of time, but eventually they were able to separate themselves. Red looked away, a tab embarrassed by his lengthy crying session. His tear ducts where empty now, so at least it couldn't go longer.

"So….you really wanna keep me." Red looked up at the man, his eyes still red from crying.

"Of course, I always keep my promises." He smiled lightly, thinking how that was one of the few good things he could proclaim truthfully.

"Well then…."he looked around "this is….my room then?" Red struggled for some way to get off the topic of the last hour. The man laughed riley.

"Just for the time being, until we set you up a room in the main house." He replied.

"This isn't your house?" Red looked around the room, much nicer than anything he had ever stayed in, with a large comfortable bed, soft wood floors, large elegant windows and its own fireplace, he had just assumed it was a luxury guest room from the start.

"No, just one of my brothers. I figured staying at my house….well a lot more accidents could happen if you where to decide to wander about in the night. I brought you there for treatment though, well my main house anyway." He explained.

"Accidents?" Red queried.

The man looked off nervously "Yeah….my house isn't exactly child safe you see….".

Red glared and stood up to eye level with the man sitting next to him, pulling his hair with his right hand. "I am NOT a little kid!" he attacked the older man viciously, unhappy about being called a child. The man tried to get the boy away, prying him off of his hair and leaving Red to beat halfheartedly at his chest with his one arm. He started laughing uncontrollably, collapsing onto the bed.

"What's so funny?!" red glared, his face flushed with embarrassment.

The man looked up at Red with a broad smile on his face "it's been a long time since I've had to deal with a brat like you, ya know that? God I've had so many younger siblings, I HATED it. Seeing it with you, damn it's just like I've been thrown back a couple of centuries! I'm not used to feeling aggression and meaning to something so trivial; you're defiantly going to be a handful, aren't you? Your gonna have to try a lot harder to make me cringe!"

Red's eyes went wide and he continued his attack, yelling and arguing with his new captor, unable to accept defeat that he was less of a threat than the others had been.

The older simply blew it off, taking every punch and kick and bite the kid had in him until he was worn out, which had taken quiet some time for someone who had up until recently been tormented and experimented on in a dungeon. The man looked at the boy lying on his chest, still glaring at him through sleepy eyes.

"You win….tonight." Red pouted. Red's mood seemed to change with the weather, the man began to notice.

Light of the orange sunset began to strike through the window, and the man began to sit up.

"Tonight." He smiled softly. "There will be many more. It's time for you to sleep."

"Sleep?" Red complained "I'm not tired…." Red tried to hold back a yawn rather unconvincingly.

"Yes you are." He nudged Red of him, shutting the curtains. "You've had a rough life, you need to sleep it off; I wouldn't be surprised if you passed out for another week."

Red glared "No I won't, need sleep…."

"Whatever you say, the door will be locked though." He stated as he turned to leave. Red called quickly before he turned out the light and left the room.

"Wait, you never told me who you are!" Red teetered over the side of the bed.

A deathly cold fell in the older man's chest like a rock. He tried quickly to mask his concern. "Just call me….Adam. Call me Adam." He said less than confidently.

"Oh, ok." Red replied, and Adam quickly left the room, shutting off the lights as he made his way outside.

He had only known this child for a week, and he already feared what he would think of him.

"What will he do when….he finds out who I really am, why I really saved him?" He held back his concerns and a few stray tears, pushing them to the outskirt of his mind.

"I can't worry about that right now. I have work to catch up on."