So I think this is kind of sweet. Ash and the Earl are a bit awkward with each other and I really I had to do some character soul searching on this one. Please enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 22
A Foreseeable Future
The Millennium Earl studied Ash carefully. Adam was in his human form, with styled hair and a clean-shaven face. Despite the careful attention that had been given to his features, his face was expressionless.
The boy had been silent for a while under his master's scrutiny. Finally, he could stay his tongue no longer. "Forgive me for asking, my Lord, but how can you always be smiling in one form, but not the other?"
Adam's blank expression changed to one full of amusement. He supposed it was the childlike nature that the boy possessed, making it an endearing question rather than a nuisance one. This return of emotion was perhaps not a bad thing. Though it certainly had not been predicted when Tyki had returned with a white-haired boy with nothing save honest servitude.
"Why do we Noah bear the stigmata?" he retorted playfully. Adam's eyes twinkled. "It is simply the way of things, nothing more."
The man cleared his throat to change the subject. "May I have a look at your arm?"
Ash took his vest off, unbuttoning his shirt. Without shame he slid his blackened arm from the confines of rich cloth and held it out to the master of the Noah. The Earl took the Innocence in his hands, reveling in its existence. What had once been an ugly lump of ugly red became this. Adam was impressed. He had always thought hardship would be rewarded with beauty. Wounds left horrid scars and deformities. The learning of a tool brought calluses. Here, the Earl found what appeared to be a normal arm, only black in color, a glowing green cross, and lightly armored fingers. This Innocence had faced a Noah's destruction and survived. The Earl respected it.
"This doesn't look as hard to move as..."he broke off, recalling that Ash would have no recollection of ever having had another arm. Adam grimaced and changed what he was going to say. "Is it harder to move than your normal arm?"
Ash shook his head. "No, it's about the same. Even when it is activated."
He activated his Innocence slowly, mindful of the Earl holding his arm. Adam hummed appraisingly as he drank in every detail of the transformation.
"So this is what a parasitic Innocence does," he mused. Ash's hair had become spiked, his arms seeming to be carved from wood. "Your arms have become like a puppet's."
The mask tilted itself at the Earl, before curling itself protectively around its Accommodator. Adam smiled when the image was complete.
"Rather, you look more like a European clown," he corrected.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Ash asked doubtfully. When he received no answer, he snorted. "How rude."
"Rude? Who is the master here?" Adam demanded, without any real heat in his voice. The boy shrugged.
"You are. However, Road is also able to give me orders and she said not to be very formal with you—"
"The nerve of that child," Adam joked. He smiled. "I don't mind, so long as you remember to be respectful when appropriate."
Ash nodded. "I understand."
The Earl felt awkward. The short conversation had come so naturally, he didn't quite know what to do now that it had ended. It didn't help that he knew next to nothing about this boy. Suddenly, he felt realization hit him hard.
Adam carefully reached up towards the mask. He slid it back from Ash's face, gently forcing it back into its inactive state. Once the nuisance was gone, the Earl stared into Ash's eyes, searching for what he hoped would be an answer. He was both relieved and disappointed to see that Allen Walker's gaze was truly gone from those silver irises.
He had not wanted Allen to be erased. In fact, the Earl was furious to see Tyki return with a white-haired boy willing to serve them and without the memory of being anyone but the Noahs' honest servitude. Adam had not been pleased when Tyki brought back Walker alive. But that was forgiven in favor of making the boy's survival useful. He created an ornate plan perfectly suited to making the thorn in his side suffer as well as keeping a possible candidate for the Heart at his side (although whenever Innocence was destroyed, he was a test subject as well). The Earl wished that it was Walker who had attacked the Black Order, not some doll without an emotional attachment. Otherwise what purpose did this boy serve other than confusion?
Adam spent so much time trying to explain why he needed the boy. Killing him would be so simple, so practical. He should have done it long ago, on the night when they had first met.
Why can't I kill this boy? Adam wondered. He isn't even the same person, yet I can't bring myself to kill him or get rid of him.
"Lord Millennium," Ash said softly. His grey eyes were wide and full of naiveté. "Was there something else you wanted me to do?"
The Earl felt so conflicted. This was an Exorcist. Ash would inevitably end up in the Order's hands once more. He was the natural enemy of the Noahs, yet the Noahs were becoming attached to the boy. Adam understood this reaction, for he himself had felt the attraction for the boy as they all had. Road openly displayed affections on her brother. Tyki did as well. Sheryl spent a good deal of private time with the boy, Lulubell often visited the Camelot household to see Ash. Skin too went there to join for dinner and shared desserts with Ash.
"Ash, you were made to be my faithful servant. And my family's servant," Adam began slowly. Ash nodded. He already knew this. It was a part of his base code.
I don't know this boy, Adam thought. I don't know him, but I...
"Would you like to be a part of my family?" he finally asked. Ash's eyes widened. He blinked, mouth opened, saying nothing. He struggled to find his voice.
"Are you asking me honestly?" he wanted to know. Adam nodded.
"My family loves you, Ash. In the 7,000 years I have lived, never has a human become so close to this many existing Noahs in such a short amount of time. You're...like the rain," he decided. Ash's eyebrows drew together.
"Do you want me in your family as well, Millennium Earl?" he murmured.
Adam hesitated to answer. "To be fair, I really don't know you that well." He lifted his gaze up determinedly. "But I would like to think you would make an excellent addition to my family."
The white-haired boy was quiet as thought over the Earl's proposal. He had never thought that he would be asked such a question. He felt...warm. He wanted to be called family, and not just as the actor he was for Sheryl's "picturesque" family.
"Lord Earl, I am not a Noah. Your family has not included an Exorcist and frankly I don't want to mar that history." Ash drew in a deep breath, and courage. "However the selfish side of me would love to be welcomed into your kin."
The Earl smiled and he held his hand out. Ash put his left hand in the large one before him, shaking firmly.
"Welcome, Ashley Camelot, to the Noah family."