AN: Hello there… I'm sorry, I haven't updated this for an EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMEEELY long time… well, here's the latest chapter! Hope you can enjoy it!

Chapter 6

With much difficulty, the remaining four of the group reached their destination: the door at the top of the stairs. Sure, they had had to leave Kanda and Krory behind in order to reach their goals… but they would return to find their friends.

Or wasn't that so?

Looking down at the ruins of the city, Allen wasn't too sure about that. It was impossible that his friends were alive now, the rooms had to be gone because all was left of the white city…

Was this tower.

"It looks like your friends have left first, right, boy?" Allen spun around and glared at the Noah sitting at the end of a long table.

"Why don't you sit down and talk with me? I'm sure we have much to cover…" Tyki Mikk smirked at the teen.

AINAINAINAINAINA

"Take care of Lenalee, Lavi!" Allen called to his friend as he shot out of his place. His grey eyes were fixed on the dark figure rising from its seat in front of him. Allen gritted his teeth. He knew that defeating a Noah would not be easy.

Especially one who had let the Tease eat his heart.

"Come, boy, let's dance the Last Dance." Tyki told him as he transformed the Tease into a weapon.

And the Last Dance began.

AIAIAIAIAIAI

Tyki landed on the ground.

"What's wrong, Tyki? What happened?" he heard Road ask.

"Have I unleashed a monster?" Tyki murmured aloud and she frowned at him. He had fought the boy in the vacuum, which should have choked him… But, for some reason, the boy—Allen had done something with his Innocence and he had drawn a sword out.

An all-too-familiar sword. It was an exact copy of the Earl's sword, only that it was… inverted. As to its uses, Tyki wasn't sure, but he didn't care about that.

What was worth concerning was the boy.

Even from where he was standing, he could feel the power radiating off him. Of course, the power didn't really concern him when he was fighting the boy, but the person he was fighting now had changed, he could feel it. It was Allen he was fighting, and he could feel the subtle differences in the auras.

But this new aura was… unnatural.

Or was it because of the Innocence? Tyki mused. After all, the Innocence the boy wielded might be the Heart…

The cloud of dust started to dissipate and Tyki scanned his surroundings for the white haired boy. A sudden sound behind him had Tyki turning around quickly and bringing his arm up to defend himself against a white figure.

They flew into the white cloud and disappeared from Road's sight.

Road let out a sigh of frustration. She could hear the noises of their fight, but she couldn't help but feel worried for them. Tyki was a Noah, and in a sense, her brother. Allen would have been her best friend if she were a normal human.

And she knew that Tyki cared for Allen. Like a brother, of course.

The white cloud cleared and Road spotted the two battling outside. She caught her breath. The sword Allen was holding…

She saw the girl Exorcists press her hand to her head and sway. And then, she was caught in the midst of a vision as Allen met her gaze. His grey eyes…

The Earl was standing where Allen was, his costume covering his frame and the sword in his hand was his.

Then she was thrown out as abruptly as the vision appeared to her. Road looked down, shaken by the vision. What did it mean?

She looked up again, just in time to see Tyki snatch the sword off the ground and heave it at Allen. It was a good thing Tyki was wearing clothes, Road thought as Allen disappeared into another cloud of white dust.

The pillar in the distance started to crumble as a loud noise of impact was heard.

The Noahs waited for the Exorcist's next attack, but it never came.

Instead, there was a shrill bloodcurdling scream, causing the two of them to wince. Road glanced at Tyki and he shrugged. Then, the scream seemed to change.

Road frowned, there was something going on that she did not quite understand. The scream… it sounded like two people screaming now…

"Road, what's going on?"

Road looked at her brother Noah. "I don't know… But, this is like…"

The scream stopped before she could finish and the two looked around cautiously. There didn't seem to be any sign of attack… What had happened when Allen was stabbed? Road was burning with curiosity.

A flicker of movement in the distance had her focusing.

"Tyki! Over there!" she alerted Tyki to the approaching danger.

From the white mist emerged someone who had white hair and grey eyes… but definitely not Allen Walker. She saw the girl and the other remaining member of the team move nearer to the walls of their cage.

"Allen!"

"That person is not Allen Walker." Road interrupted their calls. "He is not Allen Walker."

The Exorcist looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean, he's not Allen? It is him!"

"Yeah!" chimed in the other captive, "So stop trying to discourage us!"

"You idiots." Road hissed while keeping an eye on the approaching 'Allen'. "Look closely and tell me whether it is Allen you see now."

There was a pregnant pause before Lenalee spoke. "You're right. It isn't Allen."

Chaoji turned to her, "How can you say that? It's—"

"If it were Allen," Lenalee interrupted him, "If it were Allen… he'd look to us and tell us he was alright."

Chaoji stared at her in disbelief and subsided.

Road turned back to the fight. Allen was approaching Tyki. He walked almost unsteadily, the sword dragging on the floor… and there was a smile on his face. His eyes were cold, so very cold, they lacked the warmth that he used to give out.

"Have I unleashed a monster?"

Tyki's words came back to her again. Maybe he did, Road mused. But if a monster was unleashed, then what sort of monster would Allen be?

It seemed almost impossible that a monster would be hiding within this sweet, gentle boy. But monsters tended to hide in places where you would least expect them. Monsters like Innocence, for example.

'Allen' looked up and met her eyes for a split second. Road reeled from the gaze. It seemed as if someone was in there… Someone she should remember… A precious friend. Then, Allen turned away.

He turned to look at the two Noahs and mouthed the word: Good morning. An odd choice of words, Road thought. Tyki moved forward warily, his weapon at the ready. 'Allen's' response was slightly delayed before his body jerked and his sword swung high, cutting through the space Tyki had been occupying a moment before.

He raised his head briefly and Road caught sight of his face again. It was back to normal. She sighed with relief and went back to working on her fight with Lavi.

AINAINAINAINAIN

"Lavi! Snap out of it!" Allen pleaded with his possessed friend. Well, not possessed, but under the control of Road.

Lavi returned no reply as he slammed his hammer onto the ground and uttered the words 'fire seal'. A red mark expanded on the floor and two fire dragons erupted out of the mark, spiraling towards Allen.

Unable to defend himself against his friend, lest he hurt Lavi, Allen could only endure the pain of being swallowed.

Only that it wasn't painful.

Allen blinked in surprise. He was in the fire, yet there was no heat? But all the heat had to go to somewhere… His eyes landed on Lavi and widened.

"LAVI!"

Spotting his sword on the ground beneath him, Allen summoned it and cleaved the fire open before flying to his friend's rescue. Lavi could die if he continued to surround himself with the heat.

"LAVI!" he shouted again, in hopes that his friend would hear him. Then, his hands reached the hammer and he knelt beside his friend in the burning fire, wrapping his Innocence around both of them.

ANANANANANANA

"General Cross?" Lenalee asked in confusion as they appeared in the dim-lit area. "Where is this?"

"Look behind you." A puff of smoke billowed out as General Cross removed his cigarette from his mouth.

Allen and Lenalee turned around and gaped at the structure behind them. "That is the Akuma factory." He told the two. Lenalee blinked.

"The mission that you were sent on years ago…?" Lenalee asked.

"Yes." Cross Marian admitted, "Allen, I see that you've—"

He was cut off as the floor of the Ark started to crumble and buckle. Cross cursed, "We don't have much time left. Allen, follow Timcanpy, he'll take you to the room. You will stop the Ark. Play the piano… Only you can do it."

"What?" Allen stared at his master and he was swallowed up by Timcanpy before he could say another word.

ANAN

"What is this place?" Allen sat up and looked around. He was in a white room that seemed almost familiar. There was a piano, several chairs and the couch he was lying on. Turning around, he saw a huge panel of glass covering nearly the whole wall.

Then, he froze. Standing in the reflection of the mirror was a black figure. It wasn't living, Allen wanted to scream, but his voice box refused to cooperate.

He moved from his position and watched the shadow move with him. Allen shuddered. He walked towards the glass, watching the black figure as they moved nearer. He reached out a hand, ready to touch the glass…

Then, he remembered where he had seen the shadow before. It was in a dream, where Lenalee had been all alone. They were on two separate sides of the water and when Allen had tried to reach out to her, he was stopped by a reflection in the water. His reflection. His reflection that was exactly what he was seeing now.

Allen jerked back his hand, eyes wide with fear.

"What… What are you?" he demanded of his reflection.

It made no reply. But it pointed at the piano behind itself. "The key… The key is in Allen and Timcanpy… My Timcanpy…"

"Timcanpy isn't yours! It belongs to Master!" Allen told it heatedly. It made no reply.

Allen turned to look at Timcanpy, who had decided to rest on the piano. Its mouth started to open and a music score appeared. Allen walked towards the piano and studied the score. Then, he realized something.

"Tim, don't tell me… I'm supposed to play the piano?" Allen asked incredulously, a feeling of dread coming over him. Timcanpy did not reply. And Allen took that as a 'yes'—after all, silence means consent, right?

"Is this one of Master's jokes again? I don't know how to play the piano! All I know how to do is just… just play a small tune on a recorder! I've never even touched a music score!" Allen cried.

"The room… the room that even the Millennium Earl does not know about…"

Allen turned at stared at the mirror in surprise. The room that the Earl was talking about just now… It was this room? How did Master know about it? Why was he the only person sent here?

"If he doesn't know about it, he can never destroy the Ark…"

Allen frowned. "What do you mean by that? Master knew about this room, right? What do you mean the Earl can't destroy it?"

"Play… Play the piano, Allen…"

Allen took a step back, his hip meeting the piano. "Why me?"

He started to remember the rest of the conversation the Earl and his Master had. The 'right' to control the Ark that one of the Noahs wielded and the 'right' was passed on to a human. The Earl was hunting for the human…

Play the piano… only you can do it…

Wasn't that what his Master had told him? Allen looked at the music score, muttering, "But I don't even know how to play the music score…!"

He stopped and stared at the score. The dots and strokes were laid in a circle surrounding an emblem. It was a strange golden emblem that was very familiar to Allen. But it was the stokes and dots that worried him the most.

It was the secret language had he and Mana had made up.

"This can't be…" Allen's will wavered for a moment and his hands settled on the keyboard. "Isn't this the…"

His hands started moving.