Akirina: Ok... I'm back again~! Well, plans for this story are in my profile... Hm, I forgot what I wanted to say, but anyway, enjoy! And thanks for all your support out there! I'm glad that you find this interesting!

Chapter 13

"Once upon a time, there were two separate beings in the world. One was God and the other was Satan. When the souls left their human containers (that is, when humans died) they would be judged and sent to the respective beings. God took in the souls that were pure and good while Satan took those that were corrupted and evil.

"God and Satan created fourteen angels to help them sort the souls that would enter Heaven and Hell.

"The fourteen angels were Adam, Judgment, Pleasure, Desire, Wisdom, Corrosion, Mercy, Wrath, Dream, Bond, Lust, Talent, Destruction. Their names represented the area that they were in charge of.

"One day, the fourteen angels got tired of dealing with the huge multitude of angels. Well, to be accurate, thirteen angels got tired, the exception being Destruction, but the other thirteen managed to persuade him to join them in their mini 'rebellion' against God and Satan.

"And then, Beelzebub, Prince of Hell, came and 'offered' to help them. He sent them to Earth, while taking the Light of God out of them—their faith in God and their trust in him. Without the Light of God, the angels became, in all ways, mortal, but retained their powers. But in truth, he was manipulating them under his control so that they would obey his orders and spread disorder and chaos in the world. Only the angel of destruction resisted—but even he was conquered.

"And so, the fourteen angels became Fallen Angels, forever to remain corrupted by Hell's taint. They called themselves Noahs.

"And Beelzebub, unable to hold the Light of God, separated them into a hundred and nine pieces that were spread to all four corners of the Earth.

"Years passed and the angels were reincarnated into humans who were of their blood. Every generation took part in the battle against the humans who held the Light of God.

"But then, over time, there was one Noah that started to show signs of overcoming Beelzebub's control and started resisting Beelzebub. At first, it was only dreams haunting the young Noah, but eventually it escalated to him having flash backs in the midst of a small task or at a phrase. And then, one day, the Noah broke free from Beelzebub's control.

"Knowing that he had escaped from his hold, Beelzebub commanded the Noah of Adam to kill—destroy—the Noah of Destruction.

"The Noah of Destruction was killed—but before the Noah of Adam ever got to him, he transferred his soul to another person before he was killed.

"And that soul would remain dormant until the time came for it to awaken once more and overthrow Beelzebub."

"Tyki~"

"What?" Tyki wiped his mouth daintily with a napkin. Having just returned from a mission, he was tired—aching to the bone—and had a millions of tiny hammers hammering at his mind, trying to break him down into a state of irritability. His prey had been extremely frustrating, refusing to be killed, obstinately clinging on to life. It reminded him of the boy, his only prey that he had been unable to kill in all of their meetings—and his life—the only Exorcist that he had ever thought of as his little brother.

"Do you think he's come back?"

Tyki blinked in surprise at the petite unaging Noah that was physically older than him. Road seemed slightly apprehensive about broaching the subject with him, Tyki noticed. "Who?" he couldn't help but ask again.

"Allen Walker," Road drawled, reaching across the table to place a folder in front of him. Tyki flipped through the pages of the folder, face betraying nothing as his eyes skimmed across the pages. "I don't think so, Road."

"Eh~ Why?" Road sounded slightly disappointed—but she sounded more curious.

Tyki smirked but remained silent. It was written on the folder that according to the Black Order, Allen had went to America to seek a heart specialist after the final battle with them—something about his heart not being as strong as it seemed after Tyki attacked him. Although it would not do if Road knew that Allen's injury had been caused by him.

"He's back."

Tyki and Road turned to look at Lulubell, who had an expression of utmost hate and fury on her face.

"Could you repeat that again?" Tyki asked slowly as Road asked "who?" at the same time.

"Allen Walker," Lulubell replied through gritted teeth. "That brat ruined my mission and I just discovered that the Level 4s are terrified of him!"

"It makes one wonder where he has been these last two years." Another person spoke and the three Noahs greeted the newcomer with a startled response. "Earl!"

"Earl, I thought you were in bed…" Road stammered, caught off-guard. She knew that the Earl hated Allen and had given specific orders to the Noahs not to speak of Allen in front of him.

"It's alright, Road," the Earl waved it off. "I was wondering when that rat would come out again. It seems we haven't seen the last of that White Augustus and the 14th…"

"The 14th! He's with the Black Order?" Road exclaimed in surprise.

"The 14th?" Tyki echoed in confusion.

"He is the traitor. 35 years ago, he tried to kill the Earl…" Road quickly told her brother before turning back to the Earl.

"It appears that he has picked that rat as his next host, as well," the Earl spoke. "It's rather annoying, but I suppose I'll have to deal with him again."

"Hm… But I don't remember anyone called the 14th." Tyki spoke out loud, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You wouldn't remember him." The Earl replied, "When the 14th betrayed us, he killed most of that generation and in the process, damaging the memories from then. That is why you cannot remember who he is."

"But Allen is the host of the 14th?" Road murmured, "It's no wonder…" she trailed off, remembering the time in the Ark when she saw the Earl superimposed on Allen.

"But how can that be?" Tyki protested. "Shouldn't his Innocence be rejecting him by now?"

"He is the 14th, Tyki," the Earl answered, "The 14th can do anything."

"But Innocence and Noah are the complete opposites of each other. How is it that he is able to deal with the Innocence?" Tyki asked.

"He'll be able to find some way around that, Tyki," Road replied very softly. "The 14th was always able to find a way around things that we couldn't. He was the slyest and most cunning person I'd ever met. I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to synchronize with Innocence, even though it would hurt him."

Tyki frowned. The thought of a Noah synchronizing with Innocence sounded wrong. It didn't seem possible that a Noah could bond with Innocence. After all, they had been on the receiving end of each other for quite some time and they knew what it would feel like if they came into contact with each other.

"He's probably manipulated his host into bonding with the Innocence before he takes over the host." Another newcomer entered the room.

"Wisely! Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Road asked.

Wisely, the 13th Noah, threw her a pained look. "What? And miss out on the very interesting conversation going on here? I think not!" he replied. "Besides, most of that generation can't remember what the 14th did—isn't it interesting?"

"Well, Wisely, it may be interesting if we could remember anything about it at all."

The five Noahs turned to the door, where the rest of the eight Noahs were standing. Sheryl stood in front of them. The Noahs entered the room and took their respective places at the dining table. Tyki quickly found that his space was being intruded and he looked slightly disgruntled with two burly brothers sitting on either side of him.

"You called, Earl?" Sheryl asked as he sketched a bow towards the Earl.

"Yes," The Earl replied. "We have a problem: there is a traitor running within the ranks of the Black Order. We need to eliminate it. Who wants to volunteer?"

The Noahs glanced at each other before Sheryl asked, "The 14th? He's still alive? I thought you said you killed him the last time, Earl?"

"Yes, I did," the Earl answered, "But it seems that he managed to escape. And he's now living within the body of an Exorcist called Allen Walker."

"Cross's apprentice?" the twins, Jasdevi asked, their interest perked.

"The one and only." Tyki told them, still unable to believe that Allen was a Noah.

"We're going!" they shouted enthusiastically and started to whisper among themselves after they caught the Earl's eye. The Earl turned back to the rest.

"Well?"

"I want to go."

The Noahs turned to stare at Road in surprise. Among all of the Noahs, Road was the one who hardly received any missions at all. It was only when she was bored, would she then leave the manor with Tyki or the twins or the Earl. Otherwise, she would rather remain in her dream world or help the Earl out with the Ark or some other stuff.

"Road," Sheryl found his voice. "I don't think you should go—"

"Why can't I?" Road frowned at them. "I can take care of myself perfectly well, can't I?"

There was a moment of silence before Sheryl gave up trying to convince Road not to go. "Fine! Then I'm going with you." He stated.

"Uh…" Road stared at him, clearly not expecting Sheryl to say that.

"I can't let my poor daughter get assaulted by an unseemly Exorcist!" Sheryl cried dramatically. "Daddy would rather castrate that Exorcist and kill him before you see him!"

"This is ridiculous." Road pouted. "I don't need some kind of bodyguard."

Wisely patted her spiky hair gently, offering her a smile. "I'm going along as well. I want to see what the 14th has been up to."

"Will you be able to read his mind?" Road asked Wisely timidly.

Wisely raised an eyebrow at her question. "Are you doubting my ability?" he asked before he saw what Road was thinking about. "Oh. No, I don't think he'll be able to use his powers now… After all, he's still sleeping, isn't he?"

"I don't know." Road replied. "On the Ark…" she recalled the scene.

Wisely's eyes widened. "Hm… this is pretty worrying. It seems as if he… exorcised himself."

"What?"

"He exorcised himself." Wisely repeated. "Within Allen's body is a sleeping Noah. Sleeping or not, it is still a Noah. Imagine what would happen to Allen when Innocence tried to hurt him…?"

"Oh." Road realized. She bit her lip in worry. "What do you think will happen now?"

Wisely understood that she was not just referring to Allen, but to all of the Noahs. "I don't know, Road." He replied, staring out of the window at the waxing moon. "But I can tell that something is going to happen. And I have a bad feeling about it…"