Chapter Two

"A-Allen?"

"Lenalee! Why are you here!? I-I mean, n-not that I'm not happy t-to see you, but… I didn't think th-that you would…"

"Allen, we have to talk," Lenalee said quietly, tears attempting to force their way into her eyes. She fought them back valiantly, though, and looked Allen resolutely in the eye.

"Allen, perhaps in the past I've given you the wrong idea, and if that's th-the case then I apologize, but… I don't love you. I-I've always liked you, and cared about you, but… as a friend. I hope you can find it in you to still want to be friends with me…" she said, internally loathing herself. She watched as Allen's face went from curious, to hurt, to crushed. At first, Allen didn't say anything, but then…

"A-a-alright. I-I understand…" Allen said weakly, hardly able to comprehend what his ears were telling him. This most certainly wasn't what he needed at the moment. He didn't see why she couldn't have waited until he was cleared of the charges, or just never tell him! That would have been fine, too. She could have left her feelings for him ambivalent in his mind, but she had to choose that precise moment to crush him. He was starting to wonder if there even was a God. What sort of God would let this happen to him? He had never done anything wrong. He had devoted his whole life to the church, and to saving Akumas' souls, and now this came at him.

"Miss Lee…" he said with a cold formality that sent chills down Lenalee's spine. He looked up at her. She had never seen his eyes quite so devoid of anything, of any emotion. They seemed utterly dead.

"Y-yes, Allen?"

"Please do not feel that you have to come back to visit me…" he said blankly, which Lenalee pretty much figured meant "Please don't come back again."

Above them in the rafters of the prison, Road watched with an arrogant and self-satisfied smirk as she viewed the players in her little intrigue of love and betrayal.

"Romeo, Romeo… wherefore art thou Romeo?" she said slowly and barely managing to suppress the giggles that seemed to rack her frame every so often. She hated school, but she loved classic literature, especially tragedies, and right now, a live, real time tragedy was unfolding before her very eyes. She was even a little bit surprised that Lenalee went through with her side of the bargain.

"Good girl. At least I know I can count on you to play by the rules…" she said, her eyes half closed, still giggling quite hard at her own genius. It was true that she could be rather cruel at times, but it was all only a means to an end. Even Allen was a means to an end. She was under her own impression of why she had grown attached to Allen, and she hypothesized that it was because he had proven so incorruptible and pure, and so full of faith. She wanted to find out just how much it would take to turn such a man from God. She had no idea what he'd do after he betrayed the Dark Order. For all she knew, he could leave her behind as well and start living on his own like he had before.

However, she had promised Lenalee that she would save Allen, so, she cloaked herself in shadow and jumped from the rafter that was so high up above the rest of the prison and into Allen's cell. The white haired exorcist looked up and stared dully at Road, not quite realizing who it was. Not that he really cared. It could be the Millennium Earl for all he cared, come to turn him into an Akuma as well. He even vaguely wondered what kind of Akuma he would become. Suddenly, though, his thoughts were interrupted by the person holding out a large candy bar for him to eat. It was huge. He loved candy, but for some reason, he didn't have much of a sweet tooth that night.

"No thank you. I am not hungry." Allen said mechanically, standing up and looking down at Road's feet. Road could feel a vein throbbing in her temple. She was annoyed at his lack of response.

"Perhaps you don't recognize me. Maybe you'll recognize this, Allen-kun…" Road said, stepping into the light and kissing him on the lips for the second time. This time, though Allen didn't resist. Nor, though, did he kiss her back. He just sort of stood there, staring at the wall behind Road's head. Finally, Road had had enough. She grabbed Allen's chin and pulled his face closer to hers.

"Oh, hello, Miss Kamelot. I suppose you are here to kill me, then? Go on then. Where are your Akuma friends?"

"Wait, you mean your precious girlfriend didn't talk to you at all?" she asked, feigning surprise, but leaving the question intentionally vague to confuse and annoy Allen. Suddenly, a spark of rage flickered across Allen's face, though, and he slapped Road as hard as he could, causing her to stumble backwards a bit. Allen generally wasn't in the practice of hitting girls, or hitting anyone for that matter, but mentioning Lenalee had set him off.

"Do not mention her again!" he hissed furiously. She smirked and licked the blood off of her lips and continued.

"So, you're not afraid to die, but you get angry when I talk about Lenalee-chan? You must really love her…" she said, causing Allen to growl at her. His rage was barely suppressed now, and it was taking all that he had not to start strangling her. He knew full well that if he did kill her, that none of the Order would blame him. Quite the contrary, actually, they'd probably be glad that he did. However, for some reason, he had to stop himself from hurting her.

"Mustclearmind, my mind must be clear… clear… clear my mind my mind is clear clear clear my mind my mind…" he said over and over again, though not fully coherently. Road could tell that madness had already taken its toll on his mind and thus, his speech. He was babbling nonsense, speaking madly and rapidly like he was short on air, taking deep gulps of breath between words, unable to form complete sentences anymore.

Road sighed. All that she was here to do tonight was entice him toward her side and to remove the memories of the 14th from his mind. After that, she had no further business. But she could see that it would be dangerous to stay too long, as he might snap again. So, she merely planted the diodes on his temple and pressed the button, causing the memories to slowly slip from his mind. It would take a moment, so she embraced him, knowing that he wouldn't fight back, and gently stroked his back for him, calming him down slightly. She had already to take him into her fold. Just by being gentle with him, he had already begun to trust her. Even Road herself, though, was surprised at how easy it had been to start the entire process.

After a moment, Road smiled, content with what she had done, and removed the diodes from Allen's head, stepping back from him and cocking her head slightly to the left.

"Well, Allen-kun… I suppose this is it for today… Try to get some sleep. You must be exhausted…" Road said sympathetically. "And when you wake up tomorrow, it'll be like the fourteenth never even existed," she finished and then disappeared through a warp in space. Allen sighed and went to lie down on his bed. Almost immediately, he fell asleep, and didn't wake up until there was a rattling sound on the bars the next day.

"Hey, Allen! Hey ALLEN!!" came a loud yell from outside the bars. Allen shot up in bed, still groggy from the night before, and his memory a little bit hazy. He looked around nervously, expecting to still see Road or Lenalee there.

"W-where's Road!!?"

"Road Kamelot? Um… I dunno. Were you having a nightmare about her? Must have been pretty scary, huh?" Lavi said with a good natured smile. For a moment, Allen was angry at Lavi's comment. Talking to Road the night before had been ironically comforting, given the situation that he had been in. Finally though, after a moment of tense silence, Allen calmed down, though, and he noticed that Road wasn't there anymore, and he decided that everything that had happened the previous night must have just been a nightmare. He didn't go crazy at all. They didn't lock him up. He never told Lenalee that he loved her, and she didn't turn him down. Everything was good. But then, why was Lavi in his bedchamber?"

"Hey, Lavi? Why are you in my bedroom?" Allen asked quietly. Lavi looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You mean you don't know where you are, Allen? You're still in prison, but late last night, like at 0200, Chief Komui secured your release. He said that he had consulted a professional and that the professional said that your psychotic break was due to all the stress that you had been under lately. They're going to release you on the condition that you attend regular therapy sessions with a Church appointed shrink."

"Th-then you mean that I really did attack all those people!!?? What happened!? Are they alright!? How's Lenalee!?"

"Calm down, we're all fine. Lenalee seems a little bit shaken. She was up all night with a bad stomach bug, but she seems to be better today. I would guess that she's just a bit worried about you."

"I-I see…" Allen said, deciding not to mention what happened between him and Lenalee the previous night. He himself still wasn't sure if it was real or not. He wasn't even sure if Road had showed up, or if all that had been a dream. Oddly enough, if it was a dream, it wasn't that bad. For some reason, Road's presence comforted him. If it really happened, then maybe Road wasn't as evil as he had always thought her to be. Perhaps she had just been dealt her fated hand, and he had been dealt his. If that was the case, then was he wrong about all the members of the Noah Clan? Perhaps they were just fated to be enemies, and neither of them was really good or bad, just different. After all, war wasn't always about good and evil, right and wrong, black and white. War was just about people who couldn't agree. There were differing points of view, and a peaceful agreement couldn't be reached.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of thinking, Lavi unlocked the cell and Allen slowly stood up, shaking his head and preparing for another long day. He trudged out of the cell, trying to remember if everything was as he remembered it. It turned out… it was. When they got back up to the top level, he saw Komui, who had been waiting to greet them, and take Allen to his first appointment.