A/N: I own nothing

A faint groan passed Clio's lips as she regained consciousness as her vision slowly came into focus.

What had happened?

She instantly snapped into awareness as the memories came flooding back.

Train. Crash. Pain. Allen. Attacked. Defend. Pain. Darkness.

Her head whipped around and she quickly realized that she was chained to a wall in some sort of cave. She saw Allen chained up across the cave, still unconscious.

"Allen. Allen!" she called.

"He can't hear you at the moment." said a male voice as a creature entered the cave "He's trapped within his mind at the moment and will stay that way until I have a moment to deal with him but, as it is, I am very busy." The creature had the form of a human male but it was hairless and only had a mouth and eyes that had pale irises and black sclera. It was completely white in color though its skin seemed to be cracked everywhere. It approached her and seemed to study her for a long moment.

"It has been a long time since we last met." it said as it traced the curve of her jaw "Seven thousand years to be exact. I have not changed but you have, Eve." Memories painfully surge forward in her mind.

"Apocryphos." she spat.

"So you remember." he said "Good. Now my little Musician, you will give me the Heart."

"I don't have it." said Clio as she saw Allen start to move a bit.

"Ah, so you haven't fully awakened yet." said Apocryphos "You don't remember everything, do you?"

"I remember you killed Master Noah." she retorted "And I remember that you were just as ugly back then as you are now." Her head snapped to the side as he harshly back handed her.

"I see that Adam still hasn't taught you how to behave." he said as he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him "I'll remind you, since your feeble little mind can't seem to remember." the grin he gave her was terrible and it sent shivers of fear down her spine "First, I removed that little parasite of Adam's you had been carrying. Then, I made you bleed and scream until you could no longer scream. Such a musical sound that was and the crimson blood you bled was so beautiful and perfect."

Clio blanched slightly, quite disturbed by the graphic description. This... this thing was even more demented than Adam had made him out to be and Adam had told her that it was fairly demented. And it had... it had destroyed Eve's unborn child?

How could anyone do that?

She was probably going to vomit. In fact, she could feel bile rising in the back of her throat the longer it continued to speak.

"After that," continued Apocryphos, sounding quite pleased with itself "I began to infuse your tainted body with shards of my Innocence, torturing you even more with each shard as my Innocence and your filthy Darkness began to fight and attempt to destroy each other. Your mind was destroyed bit by bit with each shard I placed within you and soon your mind belonged to me."

Did this thing just like to hear itself talk or something? Because it sounded like that to her. Glancing at Allen, Clio could see him stirring, which meant that he would wake soon.

Hopefully in time to get Apocryphos to shut up.

Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed that Allen's skin was starting to darken.

Was Allen...Awakening?

"The last thing I did before that fateful battle," said Apocryphos, completely oblivious to the fact that Allen was waking up "Was to take the only shard of Innocence that refused to bend to my will, the Heart of Innocence, and I placed it within you, hoping that it would bend to my will with you as my conduit. Sadly, I was mistaken and the Heart went dormant." Apocryphos paused and looked at Allen when he groaned suddenly before opening his silver eyes "Ah, just in time boy."

"Wha...?" said Allen, looking up at them with amber eyes.

"You're just in time." said Apocryphos "I was about to reveal the location of the one item sought after by both Exorcist and Noah alike for seven millennia. The Heart of Innocence."

"The... Heart?" said Allen in confusion.

"Yes, the Heart!" said Apocryphos as he stroked Clio's cheek, much to her disgust "The source of all Innocence. The ultimate source of power!" Seeing Apocryphos touch Clio seemed to snap Allen into a clearer state of mind.

"Get your filthy hands off of her!" snarled Allen, the instinct to protect his mate coming to the forefront of his mind.

Apocryphos simply ignored him and continued with his monologue.

"The Musician is the Key to the Heart of Innocence." said Apocryphos as he caressed her face "It was the Musician who hid the Heart. The Musician who guards the Heart. And the Musician who doesn't even know that they are the one who hid and protects the Heart of Innocence." he pulled back "And it is I," Clio's eyes widened suddenly before she looked down and saw Apocryphos' hand in her abdomen "It is I who shall liberate it from its prison!" He removed his hand, pulling out a crystalline orb that shimmered in a multitude of colors and radiated a warm light. Clio coughed, blood coming out of her mouth as she did so.

"NO!" screamed Allen as he lunged forward, only for the chains to stop his movement "Clio! CLIO!" his voice shifted and it sounded as if a second, distinct voice was speaking in unison with his "YOU BASTARD I'LL KILL YOU!" Allen's Innocence activated and Apocryphos barely managed to jump out of the way before Allen brought Crown Clown's claws down on where he had been standing. He was forced to dodge a blaze of Dark Matter that appeared out of nowhere and he was shocked to see the former 'Fourteenth' standing there.

"Nea Walker." he said before dodging another swipe from the supposedly dead Noah "Unfortunately, I don't have time to play with you. I have a schedule to keep and right now, I'm due to appear before both the Exorcists and the Noah and with this," he held up the Heart of Innocence "I can assure you that they will wipe each other out just to get ahold of this and once that happens... well I'm sure you can imagine what will happen." With that said, Apocryphos vanished.

"Damn it!" snarled Nea before turning to Allen, who had gotten Clio down from the wall and was holding her still body as he sobbed. His eyes softened and he approached before dropping down to his knees next to Allen. With a sorrowful look on his face, Nea bowed his head as he began to cry as well.

-~~Author's Notes~~-

Cliffhanger!

Reviews will help get chapter nineteen up faster!