Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-Man. If I did, the anime series would've never stopped.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FANFICTION READERS THAT READ FANFICTION ON CHRISTMAS. -hyperness-
It turned out that Road, Tyki, Sheryl, Joseph and Wisely had their own secret room in the depths of the ark. A room made entirely out of glass, lit by hundreds of floating candles with deadly sharp tips. It floated in a starry endless black.
"Nice." Allen said as they went down the spiral glass stairs, "You made it?"
"Yup." Road nodded. The others were already there.
"You told him already?" Tyki Mikk instantly sprung up a glass couch and a Tease fluttered from his hand. The other Noah also tensed warily. Allen had been their enemy for the past 17 years, and it took longer than a few months to gain their trust. Neah hadn't exactly been the most trustworthy person either.
Allen looked uncomfortably from the Tease to the candles, then back to the Tease. Both had caused him a lot of pain before. Road plunked down onto the couch, "Yes, I told him. Do you guys know about Lenalee?"
"Road, don't." Allen shook his head at her.
"To make a long story short, she became an akuma. Earl's fault."
"Seriously?" Joseph raised an eyebrow, "Probably a test for Allen. But really, that's taking it too far."
Allen looked at the 5 Noah. He knew Road, Tyki and Sheryl pretty well, and Neah had been friends with Joseph. But he hadn't really gotten to know Wisely in either lifetime. It was him that spoke up, "We might as well bring him up to date."
"Jasdevi knows. But they're not choosing sides. They're all about bonds and don't want the Noah to fight." Road told Allen, "And we're viewing everyone else as the enemy right now. Can't be too careful.
"Out of the others, Lulu Bell and Tryde are probably our most dangerous opponents. And the Earl, of course.
"We have our own akuma army, but there are way less of ours than the Earl's."
Sheryl stared at Allen thoughtfully for a while before asking, "Do you think your little Exorcist friends will be willing to help us, if worst comes to worst? Our akuma and the Exorcists combined can probably defeat the Earl's army."
"No," Allen shook his head, "I've messed up too much. They probably hate me by now."
Wisely's eyes suddenly widened, "Someone's coming. Get out! Road!"
No one else could sense anything, but they trusted Wisely. He somehow knew these things. If the Earl found them, they were good as dead. The teenager quickly muttered something under her breath. Dark matter arced out of her palms. A heart-shaped door materialized, little by little, in front of them.
"No, there won't be enough time." Tyki groaned.
Links can be created between dimensions. They will never lead to a dead end, even if you don't know where it will end up. Road taught Allen that when he first discovered his power to manipulate the ark. He was weak right now in comparison to if he had a piano, but he could still help Road and significantly speed up the process.
Allen spoke up, "We can't create a new dimension, but we can alter this one. Add a link out the other side." Road glanced at him. They had done it once before. It was for fun, to see who was more powerful. The two young Noah nodded at each other as one of the walls slid away. Road's door, halfway formed, spilled out into the stars as a set of glass stairs. Footsteps echoed towards their little glass room. The Noah rushed silently down the stairs, except Allen Walker. He knitted his eyebrows in concentration and the wall slowly slid back up. Too slow. It was obvious, the hasty escape, because he wasn't used to his dimension-altering powers yet. The stairs disappeared out of sight with the Noah.
"Hey, Allen Walker." The Earl's gravely voice sounded, "I'm surprised they welcomed you into their little Earl-hating clique so soon."
"Lero~" The umbrella voiced his agreement.
Allen whirled around, "Are you gonna kill me?"
"Nope. I should've done so a long time ago, and I probably should right now. But something tells me now is not the time. Look, as stupid as this sounds, I want to talk. About your past."
"Do you know who's against you?" Allen was curious.
"Well, I have my suspicions. Wisely is for sure. No one else would be able to know I was there." He waved a hand at the candles, "That's Road's work. So either Road, Tyki or Sheryl is, although I sincerely wish that isn't the case."
In the blink of an eye, the deadly candles rushed at Allen. They surrounded him, a few of the sharp tips piercing his skin before abruptly coming to a stop. As much as he tried not to, he let out a whimper. Then his features hardened and he swept his Crown Clown cloak in a circular motion around his torso. Road's candles scattered harmlessly to the floor. "What happened to the "just talking" part?"
"Look, Allen, my family is plotting my death. I think it's normal that I'm upset. So tell me, are my suspicions correct?"
Instead of answering, Allen growled, "Why did you do that to Lenalee?"
The Earl was truly surprised, "Do what? You're the one that lead that attack, not me. And I had nothing to do with it. Well, I guess you could blame me since I created that akuma army, but…"
"Oh, don't pretend you don't know what happened. I know she's unimportant to you, but she is to me. How could you? Are you trying to make me hate you?"
The Millennium Earl gave a surprised chuckle, "Believe it or not, having you as an enemy would be a hindrance. The 14th is a lot more powerful than you realize. Why would I want to fight you when our strength is almost equal? I can probably win, but it'll be closer than I would like."
Allen sighed in frustration, "You're not answering my question! Why did you turn Lenalee into an akuma?"
"I didn't."
"Fine. So who did?" Allen tried to not get too emotional, reasoning that he couldn't defeat the Earl in his current position.
"I'm guessing one of the people that brought you here. You know, to convince you that I'm heartless, that I enjoy torturing human souls, that you should go on there side. Not saying those things aren't true."
Allen didn't want to believe that. But the pieces fit together better in the Earl's explanation. Turning Lenalee into an akuma wouldn't help him, but it could help the others. Who? He desperately hoped it wasn't Road Kamelot. She had a somewhat sweet side he was beginning to appreciate, despite the dark sadism she usually portrayed.
Allen wished he could say she would never do something like that, but he knew it wasn't impossible. Tyki and Wisely were the more likely culprits. They wouldn't hesitate to do it, when the prize was an important pawn to world domination. He was that pawn. How could he be so naive? Despite all that Allen had gone through, there was still all that stupid optimism. As an Exorcist, he knew all the dirty things Noah did, but he still tried to see the "nice" side to them.
"Why are you telling me?"
"I just thought you should know there isn't much of a line between allies and enemies here, Allen Neah Walker. I'm surprised the 14th's memories didn't teach you that."
It would be stupid to shed tears in front of his long time enemy. But Allen suddenly felt like bawling his eyes out. He'd lost all his friends at Headquarters, and hadn't exactly gained any new ones. There was no one to turn to when the world was coming to the brink of disaster thanks to this crazy Noah family. And Lenalee, killed because of him. He had an impulse to run away from it all, from this pile of shit his life had become.
So, even though he knew it wasn't the solution to any problem, that's what he did. Allen shoved past the Earl and ran down the passage that linked it to another room.
It was only when Allen reached a doorway when he noticed that he had no idea where he was going. The Noah slowed down his pace to note his surroundings. This room was formed of countless waterfalls, rocks slick and round from constant spray. It was really pretty. He climbed up to one of the higher rocks and sat down to think. There was a piano room inside somewhere that was the "heart" of this ark. And Neah had his own secret piano room, near the akuma egg plant. If he could reach either one of the piano rooms, he could easily get out of here. The 14th used to know the entire layout of the ark. He'd spent hours exploring the impossible wonders with Road. But the rooms were constantly shifting, and now they were completely different.
Before, this room led to a house of mirrors, with a flying carpet as a link. Then a forest of cold blue fire. There was a shortcut to the room adjacent to the piano room in there, a long bridge made of cheese. Did this route still work? Allen walked to the other side of the room, where a huge waterfall cascaded down. There was a cave behind there filled with links to other places. The one he was looking for should be the third one down the right side…But it wasn't there anymore. Of course not.
Allen fought down panic and decided to go for the second door. It gave away to a pitch-black slide.
"Wonderful." He muttered to himself, "Hopefully I land in some place with lots of food." Speaking of food, the teenager was hungry again, no surprise there.
Finally, a few hours later, Allen emerged onto a street lit with streetlamps. It was the middle of the night now, so there weren't many people. But it was familiar. He realized with a start that he'd done a mission here with his fellow Exorcists not long before the fire that changed everything. Was that really only a year ago?
He wandered around until he found a bar that was still open, then managed to make some money off a few rounds of poker.
Allen stayed in a cheap hotel that night. It was kinda like the time he was under Cross Marian's care -ha, like that asshole ever cared for him-, spending each night in some crappy hotel, making money off drunk gamblers, slaving away at odd jobs here and there to feed his freakishly huge appetite. At least this time he didn't have to pay up for his master's prostitutes and alcohol.
Sometime that night, Allen was woken up by tears that flowed freely from his eyes. He rubbed at them in wonder. Why was he crying? Then he remembered: Noahs cried if one of the other Noahs died. Who was it? He wouldn't be able to bear it if Road died too. Allen wished he could say he'll know if Road died through some telepathic power, because they loved each other, but that wasn't true. It certainly didn't work for Lenalee.
Where could he go now? The Earl probably wouldn't let him back into the Noah's place. Allen briefly pondered visiting Black Order Headquarters. He missed the atmosphere there, so different from that of the Earl's mansion. No, there was no point thinking about Headquarters, when it was obvious he couldn't go back. The Noah had messed up so much of his life.
This chapter was kinda boring, I apologize. I guess there's a boring one in every story. But the next chappy will be way better! I know the OC's haven't shown up a lot, since my main focus has been the Noahs, so they're all coming up in the next chapter. It's coming out pretty soon ^_^ Depends on my social life.
Allen says to review~
Timcanpy says to review, if he could talk~