Mizu: Woot! Long chapter! Me really like this story. It's so much fun! Disclaimer: I don't own -Man. That's all there is to it.
Hidden Demons: Relations Estranged
"Will he be alright in there?" Lavi asked, indicating to the loud banging noises on the door, "He's been going at it like that for a while."
"He'll be fine," Reever sighed, "It's just that after such a nightmare, Allen hates being in the dark."
"Can't say that I blame the fool," Kanda muttered.
"He just has to stay in there until Link gets here," Reever stated, walking down the hallway, "Why don't you guys come with us? We'll explain things after we contact Link."
"Who's this Link person?" Lenalee asked, trotting up after Reever.
"One of the few people other than Cross that can possibly control Allen should his demon powers start to get to be too great," Johnny explained, "He has to follow Allen around everywhere he goes while inside the barrier."
"Everywhere?" Lavi repeated.
"Yep," the two scientist nodded.
"Man…That sucks," Lavi sighed, placing his hands behind his head.
"It's a precaution," Reever shrugged, nodding his head towards Miranda and Krory, "No one likes it. Especially these two here."
"Why?" Lenalee asked, sticking close to Miranda.
"They were the ones that were the closest to Allen when he changed," Johnny stated, "Well excluding those that we never knew of…"
"Those you never knew of?" Kanda repeating, raising an eyebrow at the vagueness, "As Lenalee said earlier, You guys are either going to tell us something useful or else I'm gonna kick your asses."
"haha, a violent batch of kids you three are," Reever laughed, "There are a few people that were even closer to Allen than those two there but no one has any clue who they are."
"No one?" Lenalee repeated, eyes slowly widening, "So if we find them-"
"That's right, now you're catching on!" Reever smirked, "If we find those few people who were the closest to Allen…"
"There's a good possibility that it will cause him to remember the things he needs to change back into a human!" Lavi exclaimed, figuring it out.
"Exactly!" Reever beamed, leading the group onto a platform and hitting a large green button, "And that's where you three come in!"
"Wait…us?" the three gaped, "We didn't know Allen until he had changed into a demon."
"That may be true but you must be connected to his past somehow," Krory stated, leaning on the railing as the platform shook, "Otherwise you would have never seen him."
"Huh?" the three gaped again.
Suddenly the platform shook violently and started it's rapid descent down. The three friends clung to one another, screaming their poor lungs out while the four other people just watched in amusement. Reever just smirked as he hit another button, causing the platform to come to sudden stop.
"I think… I think I'm gonna be sick," Lavi whimpered as the group of friends fell off the platform and into a new hallway.
"Come now. It wasn't that bad," Krory smirked.
"Don't worry," Miranda stated, helping each of the teens up, "You'll get used to it soon enough."
"It does get better the more times you go on it," Johnny nodded.
"To answer you question about seeing Allen," Reever stated, staring off down the hallway, "Let's just say that that's something that makes Allen different than all demons."
"No!" Kanda snapped, starting to strangle the poor scientist, "You're either going to fucking tell us or shut up permanently!"
"O-Okay! Okay!" Reever gasped when Lavi and Krory managed to drag Kanda away, "This way. Everything will be answered once you meet the person in the room we're taking you."
"I'm with you two," Lavi whispered to his friends, "I'm sick and tired of these idiots avoiding questions like this."
"We're not avoiding them," Johnny interjected.
"It's just that we aren't allowed to tell you anything about Allen," Krory added, motioning to a door.
"That's her job. Not ours…" Miranda whispered.
"Her?" Lavi questioned as they were basically pushed into a room.
"The one person in this world that knows everything about Allen's past," Reever stated as the door started to close, "Allen's older sister, Catriona Walker."
"Wait! Who?" Lavi shouted, pounding on the door as soon as it was closed.
"Hello?" a kind, gentle voice sounded from behind them.
The three friends jumped and quickly turned to find a beautiful sight. There standing in the middle of the dark room was a woman of about twenty years old. She had long dark auburn hair that came down to the middle of her back. She had bright, dark blue eyes that took in everything she saw quizzically. Her gown, that was pure white with long sleeves and came down to about mid-leg, showed to the two boys that she was indeed a fine young lady. The three friends stood in the room just staring at her.
"Who are you three?" she asked sweetly, walking closer so she could see them better.
"Oh!" Lenalee gasped, quickly trotting up to the woman and shook her hand, "I'm Lenalee Lee."
"L-Lenalee?" the woman stuttered, beautiful eyes widening in shock.
"Yes. I'm Komui Lee's little sister," Lenalee sighed.
"Th-That's not it!" the woman exclaimed, cupping Lenalee's face, "You've changed so much…"
"Huh? You already know me?" Lenalee gaped, own eyes widening.
"If you're Lenalee," the woman stated, rushing over to the two boys, "then you two must be Lavi and Kanda!"
"H-How do you know us?" Lavi stuttered, confused once again.
"Y-You don't remember me?" the woman whimpered, "Then that monster really did mean to use you three…"
"Would you please just explain things to us?" Kanda shouted, "They just told us that you'd tell us everything we needed to know so hurry up and tell us!"
"I can't believe that he found you though," the woman continued, walking back to the center of the room, "It's a miracle."
"What's a miracle?" Lenalee asked, placing her hand on the woman's shoulders, "Please tell us how we fit into all of this."
The woman just slowly nodded and flashed the group a smile that made their hearts clenched.
'that smile…it's just like his was,' the three thought to themselves.
"Though you probably don't remember me, I'm Allen's older sister, Catriona Walker," Catriona smiled gently, "And you three are the keys to returning Allen to all of us."
"How can you be so sure of that?" Lavi asked, "Yeah we saw him but I don't understand how that makes us so special or linked to his past."
Catriona just shook her head, "As Reever probably told you, Allen's different from demons in this way. All demons love being seen by humans. It means that they're blending in. That they can walk among us and feast on us without anyone knowing about them. But not Allen. He hides from the world. With that eye of his, he can hide from almost everyone. He walks through the world without anyone knowing he's there. That's just how he prefers it."
"That's awful," Lenalee whimpered.
"Not to Allen," Catriona smiled sadly, "He always says that it's better to stay away from temptations and to do so, he must hide from the entire world. There are only a few people that can see him."
"They are?" Lavi asked.
"Extremely powerful demon hunters like Master Cross or Master Tiedoll. His glamour doesn't work on them. Didn't you find it weird how he could have been so beat up and no one thought it odd?" Cartiona explained, "I bet Allen was extremely shocked when he found out that you could see him. At first he might have chalked it up to being weakened from injuries or something but I see that didn't last long."
"So my old man and that fucking drunk womanizer can see him even through a glamour?" Kanda repeated, "What about Daisya and Marie?"
"No, they aren't strong enough yet to be able to see things through glamours that Allen makes," Cartiona shook her head.
"Are there any other people that can see him?" Lenalee asked.
"Yes. Powerful demons can see him," Catriona stated walking over to a table and sitting down, "But only ones like Tyki Mikk or stronger can see him. They can dispel his glamour and make him appear to everyone if they try hard enough."
"Well, it's easy to see that we aren't powerful demon hunters or demons for that matter," Kanda scoffed, "Why can we see the Moyashi?"
"That's easy. You know how everyone's been saying that you must be linked to his past," the woman smirked, "Well, I can tell you that you aren't."
"Then-"
"You are his past," Catriona said, smirk still on her lips as a few tears slipped from her eyes.
Silence…
"Like that makes any sense to us!" Kanda shouted on the top of his lungs.
"You just don't remember him," Catriona said, wiping her tears from her eyes, "But you three were the most important people in his life."
"What are you talking about?" Lenalee asked, exasperated.
"Come and I'll show you something that will make everything clear," Catriona beckoned, opening a door in the back of the room.
"Why can't you just tell us?" Lavi nearly growled, "This is getting really old really fast."
"Bookman old even?" Catriona smirked, looking back at the teens. "Yeah, how'd you know I was going to say that?" Lavi asked, perking up.
"because you used to say that all the time!" Catriona beamed.
"This is too weird, guys," Lenalee whispered to her friends.
"You said it," Lavi nodded, "It's like she knows everything about us."
"I don't like this," Kanda growled, "I'm getting a strange feeling about all of this…"
"Ah!" Lavi shrieked and stopping instantly, "That's it. I'm done! Yuu-chan's getting another feeling. I'm not moving from this spot until that feeling passes!"
"You idiot," Kanda sighed, hitting Lavi in the head, "I've had this feeling ever since we entered the barrier."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lavi cried.
"Because…I think it has to do with," Kanda said, lowering his voice and looking away, "him…"
"N-No way," the two other's whispered in disbelief.
"So you do remember a bit of him," Catriona stated from in front of them, "That's good. This may not be so traumatic for you then."
"Tr-Traumatic?" the three friends gulped.
"That's right," Catriona stated, flicking on the lights for the new room and setting up a stand.
"Wh-What are you doing?" Lenalee asked.
"You'll see," Catriona said, flashing them another smile, "Timcampy!"
There was a flash of yellow the flew past the three teens vision and around the room rapidly until coming to rest on the stand. Curious but cautious, the three friends slowly made their way up to the stand to inspect the object better. It was about the size of their palms; a golden yellow like orb with wings, legs, and a cross symbol on it.
"Tim, show them a memory of the past," Catriona told the orb.
The strange creation gave the four in the room a toothy grin before opening it's mouth wide and a translucent screen was projected up about them.
"Hey!" a young Lavi shouted as he ran up to a young Kanda and Lenalee, "Am I late?"
"Nope~!" Lenalee giggled.
"Moyashi isn't here yet," Kanda pretended to scoff, "He's probably lost again…"
"That's not very nice to say, Yuu-chan~!" Lavi taunted.
"Just because I'm Japanese does not give you the right to call me that!" Kanda snapped, a light blush lighting on his cheeks.
"Hey, I remember that," Lenalee stated, pointing at the screen, "That's when you two were twelve and I was eleven."
"Yeah, and he was ten, right?" Lavi chuckled, "Didn't he-"
"Incoming!" A cheerful voice called from off screen.
The three kids looked in the direction of the voice and quickly stepped out of the way of a speeding auburn haired child. The child kept running until he ran straight into a tree. Kanda and Lavi busted out in laughter as Lenalee tried to keep from laughing.
"Bout time you showed up, Moyashi!" Kanda laughed.
"Sh-Shut up, BaKanda!" the boy snapped, charging at the older boy, "I'm not a bean sprout! I'm only ten!"
"Yeah Yeah," Kanda smirked, "There's no way that you'll ever out grow me."
"Meanie," the boy pouted, sticking out his tongue at the midnight haired boy.
"So whatcha call us here for?" Lavi asked, leaning on the boy's head, "You said you had amazing news."
"I do!" The boy exclaimed, silver eyes wide and sparkling, "I've pushed up to your grade!"
"No way!" the three gasped, "That's awesome Allen!"
Lenalee felt her knees as the realization hit the group. Lavi stumbled backwards, ending up falling on his ass while Kanda somehow managed to stay on his feet, extremely paled.
"Th-That's not possible!" Lenalee exclaimed, "H-He couldn't be…"
"Allen wasn't a demon hunter!" Lavi screamed at woman, "Our Allen would never hurt a fly! There was no way that he could have been a demon hunter!" "He died nearly four years ago in Japan!" Kanda shouted, "He couldn't be that demon!"
"Oh, but he can and he is," Catriona smirked, nodding for Timcampy to stop the projection.
"W-We forgot his name," Lenalee cried, "We forgot his damn name! And then we couldn't even recognize him when he came back to us!"
"That's not your fault," Catriona soothed, pulling the distressed girl into a comforting embrace, "It was the monster that sealed him that did that do you three."
"Wh-What?" Lavi gaped, wiping the tears from his single eye.
"The monster that changed Allen into what he is is known as the Millenium Earl," Catriona stated, serious look on her face, "He is one of the most powerful demons in this world. He will do anything to get the upper hand on us demon hunters. Even changing one of them into a demon themselves."
"S-So when Allen died in Japan-" Kanda started to say.
"He really did nearly die. That's when the Earl swooped in. He told our mother that he could save him. That all he needed was blood from four family members and then he could save Allen," Catriona growled, punching the floor, "Our father, who was the demon hunter of the family, was off fighting Tyki Mikk when the Earl came up to us. My abilities had yet to awaken so I never realized what he was until it was too late."
"What about the other two?" Lavi asked.
"That's the thing. Uncle Mana and Uncle Neah tried to take Allen and run. They knew what the Earl was," Catriona stated, tears whelling up in her eyes as she looked up at the teens, "Not all demons are evil…"
"What?" Lenalee gaped.
"That's what the Earl actually was after. Our uncle Neah," Catriona paused and took a shaky breath, "a traitorous demon to the Earl."
"What!" Lavi and Kanda shouted, "B-But Allen-"
"Was the son of a demon hunter yes. But Uncle Neah had signed a pact with the demon hunters of the world to try and help them destroy the Earl. When the Earl heard of this pact, he was determined to find a way to kill him and give an example to the demon hunters," Catriona growled, standing up and stalking to a window, "The example was to be my baby brother."
"But if he was your uncle, wouldn't you be-"
"Part demon?" Catriona sighed, "No. Demons are the same as demon hunters in that way. They can be with normal humans and their children are normal as well. But locked away within them are the capabilities to be a powerful demon. Every now and then, something happens to unlock those abilities and a new demon is born. Neah was the only one in his family that's abilities were unlocked."
"But Allen-"
"Had a few abilities locked away but not many. After two generations, if the abilities aren't unlocked, they fade away," Catriona stated.
"So then how did Allen turn into a demon?" Lavi asked.
"The Earl used all of these facts to his advantage. He managed to capture Uncle Neah and Mana and drag them with us and a dieing Allen to a random church. That's where he started the ceremony. He made sure to bind Allen's weapon so that he couldn't harm him should he have awoken. By then, mother and I had realized what was going on," Catriona stated, tears flowing down her cheeks.
*Flashback*
"Stop that!" a younger Catriona screamed at the fat man locking her brother's weapon from activating, "Let him go!" "Let him go? Why on earth would I do that?" the fat man smirked, "This is right where I want him. He's going to be my latest demon minon."
"N-No…" Catriona's mother pleaded, "Let go of my son!"
"Listen to them, Earl!" Neah screamed from his chains on the other side of the Church, "You have know idea how powerful that boy is! You'll regret ever trying to mess with him!"
"Oh, I'm not the one who's going to hurt him," the Earl chuckled, "You are. Or more specifically, your powers are."
"Wait…Y-You're going to," Neah trembled, eyes switching to an angry golden amber, "You bastard! I'll kill you!"
"Kill him, brother!" Mana screamed from his seat next to Allen.
Neah's skin quickly changed into a familiar charcoal like color as he thrash against his bindings, trying with all of his might to at least scratch the fat demon in front of him.
"Bastard! I won't let you harm Allen!" Neah screamed, "Timcampy!"
The golden orb that had served the family for years suddenly appeared in front of the seething demon.
"Find Cross! Find Krory! Find someone! Anyone! We must save Allen!" Neah ordered, "Go!"
The orb swiftly flew out of the church, leaving the Earl chuckling.
"Nice try but I have hundreds of low level demons ready to chase after that puny little toy," the Earl laughed, walking over to the two women in the corner, "Now I must have a bit of your blood."
"Our what?" Catriona screamed, as the Earl slashed both of their shoulders with short knife.
"Very nice," he said, strutting over to where Allen laid, "I must say, he'll make a fine young demon, won't he?"
"H-He's not dead yet!" Neah shouted, "You can't perform any ritual unless he's-"
"If those weak little ditties are the only thing you think I can perform, then your mind must still be fuzzy from helping these worthless beings," the Earl sighed, "for the ritual I'm about to do on this boy will breath demonic live into his still live body.'
Neah's blood started to run cold. He swallowed hard as he watched his most hated enemy drip the blood from the blade onto the boy's chest. This wasn't happening. There had to be something he could do…anything!
"Now for the fun part~." the Earl half sang as he walked up to Neah and gently cupped his face, "You will by my side once again, my dear friend."
"You sick bastard," Neah growled, looking back at Allen and Mana.
Suddenly, he felt the Earl press his hand up against his chest and press down. Thinking that the Earl was just going to finish him off there and then, Neah bit down on his lip and tried to think of something he could do to help Allen. Then, the pressure on his chest was gone and in its wake was an unbelievable pain. A pain that was swearing him down to his very soul. He screamed out as loud as he could and begun to thrash about. His eyes locked onto the Earl. What he saw made his blood chill even further.
"S-so that's what you're doing!" Neah shouted, vision starting to leave him as it settled on the dark purple aura that the Earl was pulling out of him, "You're stealing my demon self and are going to place it in Allen to awake his demonic self."
"Oh? You can still think straight?" the Earl smirked as he tugged harder at the aura, "Impressive. But why don't you focus those thoughts on how long you'll live without your demonic life force?"
"B-Bastard," Neah hissed, eyes locking on Mana.
'That's it…" Neah thought to himself.
"Mana!" Neah shouted, using more strength than he thought he had, "You must seal Allen! Do it now! Before the Earl places my abilities into him! We cannot allow him to use Allen for whatever he wishes!"
"But N-Neah, I can't do that to A-Allen!" Mana shouted, "He's like my own son!"
"I don't care!' Neah screamed at his older brother, "You must do it now while this bastard is busy with me! Once he frees my demon self from me, there'll be nothing stopping him from putting it in Allen! You must seal the boy or we'll lose him forever!"
"R-Right…" Mana whimpered, pulling out a small blade and approaching Allen slowly.
"Brilliant deduction, Neah Walker," the Earl hissed, "but I wonder how long you can hold onto your demon self."
"Shut it, fatso!" Neah shouted.
"Allen…forgive me," Mana whimpered as he brought the knife to the left side of Allen's face.
Mana pressed into the flesh there with just enough pressure to break the skin. As he slowly drew it down and across the boy's cheek, he was slowly chanting the only seal that he knew of. He forced himself to ignore his brother's final screams as the monster known as the Earl finished his deed. Knowing that the Earl was about to pounce upon him, Mana quickly cut Allen's flesh just under his eye. Never stopping his chanting, Mana was blown across the church. Even as he hit the opposing wall with a deafening crack, the determined man kept chanting.
"Stop it!" Catriona screamed once again, "Leave my brother alone!"
"Allen!" a deep male voice boomed from the doorway of the church.
"Father!" Catriona cried, "He's trying to change Allen!"
"Ah, the Calvary has arrived a tad to late," the Earl smirked as he forced the dark purple aura into Allen's tiny, damaged body.
The poor boy's silver eyes shot open and a horrible scream was forced out of his throat. His father raced forward with his weapon activated. As his father charged at the Earl, Allen thrashed back and forth, clawing at his chest and left arm. Catriona suddenly felt a sudden rush of adrenaline and a new set of senses where awakened. Seeing what was truly happening was truly terrifying. Watching her baby brother's own gentle aura being taken over by the dark one of the demonic origin was too much.
"A-Allen…" Neah whimpered as he tried to crawl over to where his nephew lied, "H-Hold on. W-We'll stop the pain…"
The battered and near death demon slowly dragged himself over to where the poor boy laid screaming. He placed his hand over the failing boy's eyes and finally managed to calm the boy.
'I must make sure that the suggestion gets through,' Neah thought to himself as he forced his thoughts into the poor boy's mind, 'Never feast on human. Never harm a human. Help them. Love them.'
Neah screamed out in pain when he felt a hand reach into his body and clench around his heart.
"T-Tyki…" Neah growled, letting his head fall to the ground next to Allen's left hand.
"It's nice to see you too, brother," Tyki smirked as pushed a hole into the batter demon's heart.
'D-Damn you…' Neah thought as he watched Tyki disappear.
The dying demon gently lifted his nephew's left hand and brought it to his lips, pushing one last thought into his mind, 'This is your weapon. Not the Earl's. They are your enemy…Remember that you're loved…I'm sorry Allen…please forgive me. I do love you…'
Neah's eyes searched the walls where they locked onto his brother's and smiled, 'I leave the rest up to you, my dear brother…'
Mana nodded as he watched the last life leave his brother's eyes. Still chanting the seal, the battered man slowly made his towards the two bodies of his loved ones. Dropping to his knees next to them, Mana followed his brother's example and placed his hand over Allen's eyes. He continued with his chant, praying that the fight would be over soon. The poor man's eyes widened as he felt a sharp pain cutting through his body and thoughts. Looking down to the source, Mana's eyes softened when he saw that it was Allen's weapon that he was impaled on. Smiling gently, Mana leaned down and gently kissed the boy's forehead above his left eye as a red pentacle started to appear on the skin as his auburn hair bleached itself to white.
"Allen…This shall protect you from most of the demon power coursing through you…I'm sorry we could do more but this will allow you to search for your humanity without fear of losing it," Manda whispered as tears flowed from his eyes, "I love you, Allen…I'm glad that it's by your hand that I'll join Neah in death…"
*End Flashback*
"A-And that's it," Catriona whimpered, tears flowing freely from her eyes, "Allen turned into a demon due to that horrid monster."
"Wh-What was that seal?" Lavi demanded.
"It's what allows Allen to stay sane with all of that demonic power within him," Catriona said, turning to face them, "It allows him to channel it all into one spot and use it. It also blocks the power and bloodlust from taking over him."
"And his arm," Kanda gulped.
"That's his actual weapon from when he was a demon hunter," Catriona stated.
"But if your parents where there, why didn't they come back with him to the states?" Lenalee asked.
Catriona ran a hand slowly through her hair, "Th-They died by Allen's hand. The Earl quickly placed the seal on Allen's memories, making him his newest play thing. Allen was at that moment a mindless killing machine. Th-The E-Earl ordered him t-to k-kill our parents a-and he did…Th-then Cross came and sent the Earl fleeing saying something about tying up loose ends. Cross shot Allen in the throat with Judgement and watched as he healed rapidly but seemed to gain his own conscious mind back, minus the memories.
"Cross then made up a story of what was going on, actually telling Allen that the Earl had just changed him into a demon but leaving out everything else. Krory and Miranda were there and crying their eyes out. Miranda tried to use her weapon to save Allen from his fate but it didn't work. It was then that Cross explained that we had to find out what memories where the key to unlocking them all. Once we did that, we could change him back. So we all settled for returning to this town to allow Allen to rest up."
"A-And that k-key to everything is…" Lavi stuttered, gulping nervously.
Catriona nodded, "You. His three closest friends."
"B-But why didn't we remember him?" Lenalee questioned.
"Because that Earl bastard," Kanda growled, "The loose ends. They were sealing away Allen's name from us so we couldn't find him and unlock his memories, right?"
"Exactly," Catriona smiled gently, "but now that you know, what will you three do?"
"What do you think?" the three snapped, "We're going to get our best friend back!"
Mizu: Whatcha guys think? Am I doing alright explaining things? At least the connection between the Allen and his friends is finally out in the open. But what will they do now? How will they get their old Allen back?
Allen: *still banging on the door* Let me out already!
Lavi: Why do you have him locked up?
Mizu: Cause I don't want him killing me for making him kill Mana…again…Anyways, reviews are extremely welcomed! So are suggestions! Ciao for now!