A/N: this is my last chapter before double digits! This has actually gone by quicker that I expected but I guess it's easier when you have the main story line in front of you. Thank you to all the amazing people who review, you really keep me going with this thing and your compliments make my day. From here on out this story is dedicated to you guys. I would also like to apologize to you, for the past week the internet has been down otherwise I would have had this on long ago. I am very, very sorry. Special thanks to my friend Ducky who unintentionally gave me the title for this chapter. One thing, my first chapter with Timothy crying had him making a pwah sound, the one I'm getting this off now translates it as pieee, I'm going to stick with pwah because pie makes me think of the stuff you eat.

Disclaimer: I wouldn't just be guess about what the Fourteenth was like if I owned this now would I? I also wouldn't wonder what his real name was.

9. Some People Just Don't Like Kids

Confusion ran riot. One of the things I had never understood was why people made a noise when they didn't know what was going on. To me it was like painting a target on your forehead. Many people could navigate on sound alone and you wouldn't hear them because you were making so much noise. This time it helped. My nephew and I knew where the people we needed to protect were. After all, it wasn't like akuma bullets would bother us, they were annoying more than anything else. Not that we would have missed if they hadn't made a noise, we'd been on top of them when the trouble began.

"Wha-a"

"It's pitch black…"

I also never understood the need to state the obvious.

"What's going on?"

"O~~~~i!!!"

"Are you…?"

First things first, make sure the useless people were ok. I wasn't too generous at that moment in time but in all fairness, I was worried. It seems that the Earl had figured out how to block not only my Allen's eye but the gifts I gave him as the musician too. There was only one small, sliver of positiveness that I could derive from the situation. Unless the Earl had managed a drastic advancement in magical knowledge, it meant that no Noah would be joining us. Their abilities would function about as well as mine. Not nearly a fair trade but one I was willing to live with. I was slightly possessive of my Allen and in all honesty, I was not to happy when my Noah siblings came near him. I did not have as much of a problem with them as I had with the Earl but Allen was likeable and I wouldn't put it past them to like him, and he was mine. Other than that, they tended to hurt him, something I would need to punish when my poor nephew was no more. I doubted they would listen, I was hypocritical to the end.

"We're all right but… w…"

The girl's reply brought me back to reality. I brooded too much, I'd had too much time to do it in and so, it became a habit.

"Huh? Weren't you tied up with me a moment ago?!"

I chuckled at the look on the boy's face. He looked outraged, probably not realising that we had just saved his life. His gaze focused on Timcampy as he looked down, presumably to check the bonds that he thought had held them fast. Tim nibbled on the ropes with his sharp little teeth.

"His name is Timcampy, say hi."

I wonder if Allen realised how many people willingly said hello to a golden fluff ball with wings on it. Then again, children so often surprised me by their belief.

"Is that… an angel?"

I am not even going to give that the honour of being called a question by validating it with an answer.

Angel indeed. An akuma? That was going too far, they may be a little more humanoid but they were the furthest thing from an angel.

"I'm no angel"

Really?

Again, that sarcastic side of me, really I had to work on that. We were interrupted by the sound of weeping, on the akuma's left. I felt dread fill my nephew's body.

"The children!"

Typical akuma, he went there first. Except we were faster. Oh and baKanda was too but I can't say that I really cared. Both bodies planted their feet on the akuma's head and he changed direction faster than the akuma probably thought he was able.

"ANOTHER LEVEL FOUR HUH?"

Ah, of course. After that attack on headquarters, the exorcists weren't overly fond of level fours. Not that they liked akuma in general but level fours did have a potential to get on one's nerves. Before the akuma finished his trajectory, he was caught in Marie's strings. I didn't waste time checking after that, Marie was capable of holding the akuma off for a short while and a few seconds were all that we needed. The Inspector was hurrying the women and children downstairs, to safety.

"Link! I'll open a gate to the ark, so get everyone there!"

Not happening nephew.

I was surprised that he hadn't felt our powers repressed the second the barrier activated.

"No Walker! Have you forgotten about the restrictions placed upon your musician's abilities? You are permitted to use your abilities as the musician when, and only when, you have explicit authorisation from central and the order. Creating gates without authorisation would amount to insubordination!"

Any leniency I may have felt towards the man disappeared in an instant. For a second I forgot about the restrictions and in a childish fit, I urged my Allen on.

Ignore the fool nephew, just do it.

I was delighted when, after a brief argument about the pros and cons of opening the gate he listened to me. Really, I did not understand why the inspector followed rules so religiously. Besides, his arguments were null and void. Central already hated my Allen because of me, his position was bad enough that adding to it wouldn't really make a difference. Again, reality crashed down round my ears. Reminding me that we could not. Shock filled his body and he concentrated even harder. Trying to access our abilities.

"Impossible… I can't… create the gate…?"

No. the idiot Earl, who I am unfortunate enough to be related to, has blocked those particular gifts.

We were brought quite precipitously from our reverie, and I said a word that would have earned me a dirty look from Mana as I realised that we had forgotten about the battle.

"Argh"

"He really is tough!"

Marie and Kanda ground to a halt in front of us, propelled by a blast from the level four. My nephew quickly chased Tim from the room, to help Link and the children. I don't know quite how he planned on Timcampy helping them, he had virtually no combat abilities but I guess it kept our communication channels open.

"The power of the musician…"

The akuma gained my full attention the second he opened his mouth. What was it about my gift?

"Your cursed left eye…."

I felt worry coursing through us. I knew the source of it without even trying. The same thing bothered me too. I did my best to reign in on my emotions. It was senseless to have us both worrying over the same things. It would make it harder for him to concentrate in the fight.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! Did you really think we would let you hold those over us forever? Allen Walker?" the akuma proclaimed as it forced out raw power, preparing for a fight. He annoyed me intensely.

Do you really think we were going to let you live long?

"I'll cover you! Go!"

Marie was not giving the akuma time to gather his strength, and possibly, he was not give Allen time to think about what had just been said. I hope he knew that the disability was only temporary. At that second, all I wanted to do was frighten that akuma. My mind ground its imaginary teeth in frustration, knowing that I had no way of managing that.

"WE'LL SMASH YOU!"

One of the rare occasions when my nephew and baKanda agreed. I mightn't have been too fond of the Japanese samurai but I would give him his dues. He was an excellent fighter. Not that he could hold a candle too my nephew but I was sure that between the two of them, the akuma would feel pain for what it had dared to say.

"I'll slaughter you."

The concept made me want to laugh. Per chance I was over confident but the idea of my nephew ever losing this fight, had never crossed my mind. Their over confidence never ceased to amuse me.

***

I was vaguely annoyed when we landed on our back, Allen using his innocence to block the level 4's foot.

"I'm not the only akuma here."

Anger, fear, determination, they'd become much the same thing to us. Well, let me qualify that, the emotions blended in to one another, they became hard to separate and they all served as fuel for the fight.

"!! What?!"

It was foolish of me not to have thought of it before, I who had worked with and supported the Earl. In many respects, I knew him better than the rest of my brethren. Fury clouded my vision, it was why I had stopped thinking. I did not know how but I would make this creature pay for how he was behaving, for the way he was upsetting my poor Allen.

"Link!! Can you here me Link?! Please answer!"

It was so typical of my nephew, the way he always looked to see if others were all right first. It was a trait that I admired but one that irritated me too. He overestimated himself and often I worried that he would get himself hurt, trying to save others.

"Answer me!! Link!"

I hoped he would answer too, so that my nephew could continue fighting properly. It hadn't taken Allen long to find his feet and now we raced towards the building. The level four came from nowhere, and like the coward he was, he approached from behind.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about yourself?"

Shouldn't you be worrying about yourself?

I snarled back enraged. Bullets cut through his back, like white-hot knives and the blood poison spread. Had it not been upsetting to my Allen to see the akuma die without their souls being saved I would have destroyed as many as I could the day I gained his body. I would have done everything in my power to damn them to the deepest pits of hell. As it was, I loved the innocence more in that instant than I ever had in my life, I could already feel it counteracting the effects of the akuma's blood. Darkness played at the corners of his vision and I lost track of the fight. It was so easy, in the silence of one's own world, easy enough to forget the troubles outside of it. You could never remain out of it though. Something came from the receiver, a small, keening, annoyingly familiar cry.

"PWAAAAH! Let me go! PWAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

I heard other noises coming from the microphone, some suggesting it was being moved. I thought I heard akumas conversing but the cries drowned them out. How did you calm a child down? Why was it that no one had ever felt the need to teach me anything useful? I had been schooled in the finer nuances of humour, language and literature. I could competently discuss scientific theories and the solar system and I knew enough history to pass in high society, yet not once, in all my years had anyone taught me how to deal with a child!

"Timothy? Don't cry Timothy. Can you hear me? We'll be there to save you soon. I promise we'll save you."

The wailing stopped, I was impressed, it seemed the trick was a natural gift, one I was lacking in. He had not comforted the child completely, merely calmed him down.

"Save me? But you guys are trying to take me away somewhere too.."

Somewhere where you would live. For a while at any rate.

"That's not called saving, that's not saving me…"

He confused me. My understanding of saving was the act of protecting someone from a danger. If we kept him alive, surely we saved him?

"Everything's been destroyed, it's all been destroyed you asshole."

Something in what the child said pulled at Allen's heartstrings and he did not disturb the boy when he trailed into silence. The silence did not last long and was broken by the sound of gunshots. I couldn't hear properly but if what I heard was correct, it sounded like one of the human women was trying to defend the child.

Stupid fool. You haven't got a hope in hell against an akuma

"Stop you idiot … they'll kill you Emilia!!!!! Nooooooooooooooo!"

Allen's body jerked forward uselessly, as if he could help the doomed girl below us. Though we would be far too late, he could only try and help. Time passed, I don't know how much but when life is what you risk losing, you forget all else. We could no go straight to the child there were other hindrances but it seemed that the other akuma planned on coming to us. I knew something was wrong when I saw one Akuma being slammed across the floor by what the exorcists referred to as another. I was not so sure, an akuma was an embodiment of human sin. No one would call what stood before us human but it lacked the pain of an akuma's appearance too. The lines of its body was not so harsh and its colouring not so vicious. It had been years since I had been surrounded by akuma on a regular basis and even then, I hadn't really tried to decipher them so I could not honestly say what struck me about this one as not akuma-ish. All I knew was that it wasn't. Something light fell on to our head and bounced off. My nerves had been stretched to their limits and so I immediately suspected an attack.

"A fountain pen?"

The wire?

Seems I had over reacted that time, better I guess than an under reaction. Seconds after I came to the conclusion I realised that the pen had pre-empted something else. Namely, the child's body.

"Timothy?"

I briefly noted that the child was unconscious.

Nephew, why are you so pale. With the amount of injuries you obtain I think you should be deep blue, with spots of purple. Possibly some light reddish pink patches where cuts are healing.

I was trying to decipher what Tim was saying, but I was getting nowhere, he kept o switching between the akuma's face and Timothy's. Had the akuma knocked him out? Suddenly something clicked into place, like why the akuma was all wrong, the child had taken it over.

"Wh-WHAT?!!"

"What is it, Beansprout?"
"Th-That akuma over there. Tim's saying that Timothy has taken it over!"

Nobody seemed to know how to react, but Timothy didn't even seem to notice. The other level two did as his body morphed into that of a doll. The not-Timothy seemed quite pleased with himself, and soon laid waste to the akuma. An unusual ability, and certainly quite useful. He could fight virtually anywhere and leave his body somewhere safe. Overconfidence wouldn't help. Pity the child didn't know the difference between levels. The level 3 halted him with an almost insulting indifference. I can't say I was surprised, a level 2 could never win against a level 3.

"YOU CAN'T MATCH ME!"

"Timothy!"

He'll be fine nephew, hurting the body he has possessed won't harm him.

Maybe, I spoke to soon. The child suddenly sat up and ran towards the battle. He looked aggravated.

"Would ya try listenin' ta me already~?!"

"The accent?"

He sound different than he had before, unless… this was the fourth presence I had felt when the child had bumped me from my spot in my nephew's mind? Neither he nor I had time to ponder though. A volley of akuma bullets reminded me that we were not the only ones in this battle.

"Interesting innocence he has though. Looks like he is still lacking when it comes to power. Hurry now, level 3. Kill the boy."

I can't say I found his gift particularly interesting, unusual, yes, annoying, definitely, but interesting, only a little. I was, however, biased, I had spent years to achieve the same thing he had, and now that I was sure I knew how he worked, I found that his gift was no longer of interest to me.

"'ll crush him, at maximum power!"

"Not good."

I second that

"Run for it, Timothy!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the boy's true body reach his host body. Timcampy not far behind. I was too preoccupied with the fight to look and listen properly and I knew I could look at the memory through Tim later if it pleased me. I couldn't miss the affection in the innocence, even though I could not hear them, I knew that whatever it was he was saying was said out of fondness. I saw the little body cradling the converted akuma's body and suddenly I felt a pang of jealousy. What would I give to have my nephew know me and not fear me, to be the uncle he should have had, the brother of his father? Instead, I was a parasite, leaching away at his life, any comfort I could give would be blasphemy and any helping hand I offered would be one he shied away from. Angrily I turned my face from them, no I would not look at that memory later, for when I did, I would hate it all the more, because it meant that I would have won our twisted battle.

***

A battle was a wondrous thing when you wanted nothing more than to forget, it could consume every iota of concentration you had to give. Keeping your mind from wondering. At some point, I don't know when, Two Pimple appeared to protect the child. I was thankful for that, it meant that we would not have to go near him any sooner than necessary. Later a crimson clad man entered the fray. He confused me, he had destroyed the level three, which implied that he was on our side, but I knew that that could not be the case, only dark matter had free passage through a shield such as this one. For the moment, I decided, I would consider him a friend. I hadn't time to analyse the new comer but I would keep my eyes open. Just because you were an enemy of the Earl, didn't mean that you were a friend of the order, I knew that better than most. I returned to the conversation but I got a feeling that I was catching only the tail end of it.

"Only because you keep on getting distracted instead of concentrating on the guy we're meant to be fighting dumbass."

"Shut up Kanda"

"Stubborn aren't you."

Really, the manner's of the akuma had gone downhill since I left. Had the Earl never taught them that it was impolite to butt into someone else's conversation?

***

Looking down the barrel of a gun was never a pleasant experience, when there was an akuma on the other end of said gun, it was even less of a pleasant experience. We hoisted ourselves up in a form of a somersault, using our weight to push the gun down.

"Nimble little pest."

If he thought we were pesky I wondered what he would think of Kanda. It seemed that he had not seen the other exorcist coming round to behind him. He noticed too late, after it was impossible to avoid the attack. Mugen ran him through and we took the opportunity to slice him from behind. It was with no small amount of satisfaction that I watched his right leg and left arm become separate from his body. I celebrated too soon, the akuma was more resourceful than I gave him credit for. He gripped my Allen's innocence between his teeth and with a kick of his leg, he propelled himself away from us.

"Die die die die die!"

We raced away from the bullets but we weren't fast enough. I was shocked when I not only saw, but also felt the bullets enter the left side of our body. I must be less submerged than I thought. It was not the full, sharp pain he must have felt, but a dull one that served as a reminder that I was becoming more substantial by the day. I noticed Allen's arm fall to the ground behind the akuma but it was only when I heard him call his innocence's name and saw it flying towards us that I realised what he intended to do.

No…

But there was nothing I could do, I watched the blade pierce the akuma and fly towards us. He thought it would not harm him! He had not realised that his life and mine were far too closely intertwined for anything good to come of this. The pain as it entered us was hell. It felt like a thousand red-hot blades were tearing at my stomach. Vaguely part of me understood that Allen did not feel the same level of pain as I did.

"Nghh, are you a fool?! You've stabbed yourself as well you know."

The akuma's words barely registered with me. Something was shifting, I felt as if I was seeing things differently. As if, my eyes were changing position.

"This is an exorcising blade… it only affects that which is evil. It won't harm anything but Noah and akuma"

Be that as it may, nephew, I happen to be the former.

I managed to gasp out, pain saturating my voice. I struggled weakly against the force that was pulling me to my Allen. By now, I could not even see him, in fact, I thought that I was looking at things from his eyes now. Suddenly the pain became more acute than ever. I felt it permeate every inch of my body, but I had no body, it should not be possible. More than that, I was starting to feel other things. Things that should have been too slight for me to feel, the feeling of the edge of the blade against skin, of liquid running down my chin.

"Crown… clown…"

He hadn't intended for it to be so soft, and when he spoke, I felt as if he struggled against me. Against my silence. The pain wasn't any less for him now we felt it together.

"Only that which is evil...? What are you talking about?"

No one answered the level four. Even the level of annoyance he offered was no longer important. His body did not move, but not for want of trying. Our internal struggle meant that neither of us was currently in control now.

"Why then, are you in such pain."

He screamed, finally gaining a temporary control, why I wondered had we been fighting. I had been trying to lengthen his time, not shorten it! Then, the pain changed, it was eating away at both of us, I knew, but because, for the moment, he was more dominant, he was affected worse. More than that, I realised, I knew how to fight innocence, and so as it fought us, I felt him sinking. I felt part of me going numb, he was not the only one who was falling. A blade that killed the Noah, but what when the Noah within was not alone. It needed one consciousness there not two, and I fear that was part of what it fought against. I felt material scrape against skin, a sensation that was so simple that many took it fore granted but one that I had not known for years. I tried to help, truly I did, I wanted to, for once I wanted to help my nephew. I reached down towards him trying to pull him back up. Nephew? Why was I thinking nephew? I could feel innocence in me, but I could not remember the fight. Part of me was delving further and further into this mind. I was loosing it, what it remembered. Was that why I could not remember the fight? What was it that I held on to with such tenacity? I didn't know. The clothes of flesh I wore did not move, and I heard the buzzing of voices around me, and then… I was alone.