I'm just so excited to write this chapter, that I'm going to take a break from studying for finals (probably will regret this later). XD Anyhow, thanks to everyone who has read the story so far!

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to D. Gray-man. I also don't own the completely italicized dialogue or the portion of chapter 212 that it comes from (spoiler alert).

Part Eight: Der Lindenbaum

"The icy winds were blowing, straight in my face they ground. The hat tore off my forehead. I did not turn around."

Wilhelm Müller

Cross and Mana walked in silence for the entire ten miles to the meeting place. All of Mana's humor from the previous week appeared to be gone, reminding Cross strongly of the boy he with whom he had run away from Walker Manor. He didn't even try to strike up a conversation to settle his nerves. Under his thick black winter coat Cross touched the handle of the revolver hanging loosely in its holster, just to make sure it was still there.

Cold gusts of wind blew across the covered fields, whipping snow up into tiny whirlwinds. The overcast sky seemed to reflect the mood of the two travelers as it grew darker through the morning. There was snow piled in thigh high drifts along the road. Even though most of the snow on the road was compacted he could still feel it soaking through his boots. Cross kept in mind to purchase a new pair whenever he next had extra money. Mana shivered in his beige trenchcoat. He was certain that the snow must have soaked through Mana's worn traveling shoes by now, and Cross couldn't fathom why the brat did not wear a thicker shirt besides the customary thin white cotton one he'd always worn. He began to wonder if Mana hoped to fall ill before they reached the appointed meeting point so that they could turn back without looking like cowards.

Then again, Mana's shivering might not have been caused by the cold alone.

The snow began to fall heavier than it had earlier in the day. After they passed a lone farm house Cross saw the willow about a mile down the road. There stood two people leaned against the snow-covered fence surrounding the neighboring field and two others standing in the middle of the road.

Mana stopped in his tracks. "Is that them?" he asked.

"I believe so," replied Cross. "You wait here for a moment. I'm going to make sure that Neah really kept his end of the deal. It's still possible that he sent someone else in his stead."

"Alright," agreed Mana. "Be careful though."

Cross continued walking alone. He stopped as soon as he was close enough to see that one of the people in the middle of the road was indeed Neah and not some other member of his family. The two people next to the fence looked up at him. In all of his travels Cross had met some strange people, but the two men next to the fence had even the circus freaks beat. One of them appeared to be about his age. He had shaggy bright red hair that hung around his head. Under the red hair was a pair of golden studs in the boy's ears. He had never seen a man with piercings before (not counting the pierced man at Ziegler's- it was just that guy's thing). Something irked Cross about the way the boy's droopy dark eyes stared at him. The boy seemed greatly out of place in the German countryside as he was dressed in a light cotton shirt only covered by a black cloak. The red head had nothing on the other man. This man was far older and wore clothes that looked similar to those carried by merchants from the Far East. As Cross looked between him and the boy he noticed that both looked like they must have travelled from the Asian continent. The old man's hair was pulled into a top knot, and it looked like his hairline was receding. Like the boy, his ears were pierced, though he seemed to have chosen some cylindrical shape instead of studs. His most distinctive feature was his coal-rimmed eyes that bored into Cross. If the boy was irksome, then this man was just frightening.

"I suppose these are your acquaintances, Neah," Cross said. It seemed like a good start.

Neah thankfully didn't appear to mind the lack of greeting. Perhaps the boy wanted to get this over with as much as he did. "I see you noticed. Don't mind them, though. They're just Bookmen," responded Neah nonchalantly.

"Bookmen?" inquired Cross. He had never heard of Bookmen during his entire time at Walker Manor.

"They record the history of the world as you and I see it," stated Neah. "Of course, they never share any information once they've recorded it. It's against their credo. The old man is The Bookman, and the younger his apprentice, Sanjiv or Junior. Take your pick at names. I let them come along so that they might add this moment to their logs."

Despite how odd it sounded, Cross decided just to go with the flow and turned away from the two pairs of staring eyes. He turned his attention to the fourth person standing next to Neah. This one was a girl wearing a cloak with the hood hanging low over her face. Cross wasn't able to determine outright whether this was Sophia or not. The girl went to take a step forward, but Neah held up a hand to block her path.

"Not so fast," said Neah. He looked directly into Cross' eyes. "Where's my dear brother?"

"I decided to come ahead to make sure you were not planning some sort of ambush," replied Cross. "When I saw so many people waiting under the tree I was inclined to believe you might have broken your part of the bargain."

A snarl warped the boy's graceful face. "Why would I go through all this trouble if it were some kind of a trap," spat Neah. He pulled out a knife and pointed it at the girl behind him. She squeaked and tried to back away, but Neah grabbed her around the shoulders to pull her closer. "Where is Mana?"

Cross moved to pull out the revolver on his hip, but he stopped when a voice spoke. "I'm right here," called a voice right behind him. He felt the eyes of the Bookmen leave him to look at Mana. "Put the knife down, Neah. You look barbaric."

Mana walked slowly past Cross with his hands up in mock surrender. Neah glowered at Mana but did as his older brother said. He let go of the girl who backed away instantly. "You can take the hood off now, Sophia," stated Neah, seeming to regain some of his composure.

The girl did as she was told. Cross felt relieved to see that the girl under the hood was not Road or some other member of the Clan of Noah. He had not known what to expect when seeing Sophia again. The image he held onto in his mind had been that of the tiny child he had left behind in order to help Mana and pursue his own freedom. It was very strange to see her now as the teenage girl she was. Sophia wasn't very tall, but her arms and hands had lost all shaky clumsiness that he had generally associated her with and were now replaced with a delicate grace. She was still very thin, and her hair was just as black and curly as before. Something, however, was different about her. Cross couldn't put his finger on it, yet he was too preoccupied with the actual moment to actually think more about it.

Her face still spoke of the shadows that haunted her in Walker Manor, but despite that she smiled at him. He felt suddenly very guilty for leaving her behind, more so now then when he had left seven years ago. Cross opened his mouth to speak, but realized that he didn't know what to say.

Luckily Mana decided to be amicable and take care of speaking for all of them. "Sophia, it's good to see that you are well," the juggler began.

"It is good to see you too, Mana," she replied, turning to speak to him. "I never imagined that you would be so tall…"

Neah grunted and shifted in his spot, not looking at either Sophia or Mana. Cross normally would have laughed at such a display of envy over such a trivial matter, but he felt that it would be better not to say anything.

"I'm afraid I don't have time to chat now, for I have been told that it was my brother who wished to speak with me," said Mana regretfully. "How about we do this properly like in any hostage situation?" Sophia tensed up at the mention of hostage, but then seemed to relax as Mana continued. "When I count to three I'll cross over to my brother and you come over here and say hello to Cross… Git… Gitano… whatever you'd like to call him."

She nodded with a look in her eyes that almost seemed like mirth. As soon as Mana said three they crossed paths. Sophia began smiling again as soon as she was in front of him. "Hello…" she stated timidly.

Cross finally cracked a grin, now completely certain that this was Sophia and that Neah wasn't going to stab her. "Sorry about earlier," he began. "You can never be too careful with a brat like Neah."

Sophia actually laughed at this, a bit of a restrained laugh that Cross was sure she'd mastered over years of practice, but a laugh all the same. He felt a pair of eyes return to look at him and saw it was the one that Neah had called Junior. Cross thought about sending the boy a glare, but decided against it. He wasn't sure how far the 'unbiased' credo extended, and he sure didn't want a knife thrown at him now. "I was expecting you to be really different, but I suppose that I was wrong," she chortled. She reached into her cloak and pulled out a blue wool scarf. "Here, I made this for you. I have one for Mana as well, though I don't know if he'll actually take it. Hopefully you two won't be too cold walking back to Berlin."

He took the scarf from her hands and draped it around his neck. "Thanks," he said. They were silent for a couple moments, a couple very awkward moments, before he spoke again. "I heard about Rhian."

Sophia bowed her head, but luckily no tears came to her eyes. "Yes, she passed in her sleep," she responded. "All in all not too bad of a way to go. They had me move in to take care of Lady Arienne after that."

"Is she not well?" Cross asked. Perhaps this was what had caused Neah to call on his brother.

"She hasn't truly been well since… you know… the whole thing with Rory," replied Sophia, her voice dying off as she continued speaking.

"You remember that?" he inquired. He really wished that Junior would stop looking at them. It was very unnerving. Cross sent a glare at the boy, but it was wasted for Junior didn't even flinch.

"Of course I do, I never told anyone about it, though," she said. She saw that he was glaring at Junior. "You'll get used to them. They stayed at the manor for half a year at one point. The old man has had ties with Lord Adam for a while."

"Fancy that," Cross muttered. Now he wasn't only annoyed, but extremely wary. He knew that if he told Mana this now the boy would probably run all the way back to Berlin. Lord Adam had become a taboo subject after the incident in Austria with Pierrot and Arabella. "Not very cheery, are they?"

"They hardly speak a word," agreed Sophia. "They're not bad, not like the others. It's odd, but I can sense a kind of goodness about them."

He snorted, and Sophia swatted him on the shoulder. Cross wasn't sure how it happened, but suddenly Sophia's arms were wrapped around him in a tight hug. Junior almost quirked an eyebrow. He looked away from the red head and down at his friend, his face slightly flushed. "I missed you," murmured Sophia into the thick fabric of his winter coat. Cross wrapped one arm around her back and patted her, not wanting to show too much affection. Then again, he was starting to wonder what kind of face Junior might make if he were to hug her back or kiss her on the cheek like some old Italian grandmother. It was sorely tempting.

He redirected his attention back to Mana. It would be a shame for the kid to be ruthlessly murdered by his brother after walking all morning to meet him. Fortunately they were both standing there alive and completely unharmed. From the looks of things neither had spoken yet.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" inquired Mana finally while show blew in front of his face. It was a good humored question, but it held remnants of the gruff childhood Mana buried underneath. He wiped it away with the sleeve of his coat. The boy scuffed his right shoe on the snow covered road, waiting for his brother to speak.

Neah smirked, but not the usual wide smirk that twisted his young face the last time Cross had seen him. It was almost… human, as if Neah were holding back some biting remark. "Call it what you like, Mana. You were always terrible at socializing," responded Neah.

"Is that all this is?" questioned Mana, his voice now hard. His eyes narrowed slightly. "You have never asked to talk before. Why should I believe that you want to chat now?" Despite how brave Mana sounded at that moment, Cross could still see the boy's hands trembling. Sophia let go of him in order to move to his side, though she still held onto his closest arm as if she were clinging to life.

"Well obviously you wanted to talk just as badly," scoffed Neah. "Why else would you be here? Perhaps we should start again. How's life in the circus?"

"My business is my own," seethed Mana. "I didn't come here to exchange life stories with you. I honestly don't care to hear about our doting mother, your loving Road, or you for the record."

"Will you shut up about Road for a minute?" snapped Neah, glaring at his older brother. "I really have no choice in that matter."

"How unfortunate," gasped Mana, mockingly throwing up a hand to cover his mouth. "God forbid that you make real choices or go against the family's wishes. You all make me sick." Mana spat on the ground in front of him.

"Was it always like this with those two?" inquired Sophia.

"Just about," replied Cross. He was beginning to think he'd actually have to break up a fight today. It made him regret letting the brats meet at all.

"Besides I think you probably know everything you'd need to know about me with your little spies hunting for me," growled Mana throwing an arm out towards the Bookmen. "Yeah, I know about that now. Enough about me, though. How about you? Joined up with the Clan yet?"

Neah's eyes began to glow like molten gold. His usually pale skin darkened to an ashy gray, and little crosses appeared in a row on his forehead. Cross took a step back, mildly disturbed. Neah had told him many times that he was a superhuman, but this was more than Cross had expected. "Happy now?" asked Neah with a shrug. He morphed back into his usual form. "I've taken up my duty to the Clan. What about you, Mana? I haven't felt my memory change for you. Haven't you fully awaken yet?"

"I'm not," stated Mana. "I gave up that path long ago. I'm no longer a member of the Clan of Noah."

Neah appeared to be totally shocked at this revelation. Junior moved to a step forward in intrigue, though his face showed nothing.

"Not a member?" inquired Neah. "You were born a member."

"Anyone can be born a member," responded Mana. "The entire family, even Road, was human at one point. I just chose not to be involved, so the Noah gene left me alone."

"You've chosen to be a lowly human," breathed Neah in disbelief.

"Mother is human as well," retorted Mana. "Does that make her lowly?"

"She's the mother of a new evolution in the human race! Even though she is not one of us, she will hold a high place of honor in the new world!" exclaimed Neah, his face turning red in anger. "You were privileged to be the first of this evolution, and you've thrown it away!"

"And I'm proud of the fact!" shouted Mana. His face was completely devoid of humor. "This was a complete waste of my time." He turned on his heels to storm away.

"Wait!" called Neah, reaching out to his brother's retreating back. "I wasn't finished."

"Well then why the hell are we here in the middle of a storm?" bellowed Mana, his golden eyes flashing dangerously.

For a moment, he thought he saw fear in Neah's eyes. The boy soon had his poker face on again. "I was waiting," he stated.

"For what?" spat Mana.

"For Rory," replied Neah. It seemed like the heavens had dropped an elephant or maybe a whole herd of elephants from the heavenly zoo to meander along the road and to watch with focused awkward eyes like the Bookmen. Mana flinched at the name. "He hasn't come back yet, has he?"

Silence prevailed once again. Cross could vaguely imagine an elephant nibbling the old man's top knot. "Does he still want to kill him?" he hissed at Sophia. "I thought disappearing off this plain of existence for some time would have been good enough."

"I don't know," she whispered back. "It's odd. All I know is that Rory disappeared in Neah's room, which according to Rhian is not just some sort of bedroom. He always keeps the door slightly open when he hasn't locked himself inside."

"No he hasn't," growled Mana bitterly. He seemed to have found his voice again, as well as his old temper. It was a shame, thought Cross. Mana had truly begun breaking out of his angry shell and now he was back to grumbling like some sort of beast. Junior's eyes once again left him and Sophia to look at Mana. "What do you care?"

"I just wanted to know you weren't hiding him from everyone," said Neah. "We are his family-"

"Any family that wishes to kill one of their members is no family at all!" hollered Mana. The wind blew his pony tail out behind him, making the long strands look like the shadowy tendrils he had used as a weapon in the ark. "Even if he had reappeared before now I would never bring him home!"

Neah's poker face fell at that. He no longer looked like a well-to-do young gentleman, but a broken child, a lonely child. "So you never intended to come home?" he asked.

Cross couldn't see Mana's face, but if his back were saying anything then the boy must have been surprised at Neah's reaction. He was astounded himself. Cross turned to look at Sophia, but she had her gaze locked on the two Walker brothers. The Bookmen also seemed preoccupied by this exchange.

"Neah?" inquired the older boy. He had frozen in his spot, the anger and tension from before gone from his body. His arms hung like the bare branches of the weeping willow on the side of the road.

"I have spoken to people who know you. They said you were kind. At first I couldn't believe it, but then I thought maybe you had changed. Maybe you would actually return with Rory and be content living with Mother and me," remarked Neah. His shoulders were slumped forward. "Apparently they lied to me because you're still the selfish brat who abandoned his family seven years ago!"

"Neah…" said Mana, taking a step forward.

"DON'T COME NEAR ME!" bellowed Neah, holding up a hand in front of him although his eyes were now cast to the ground. "What do you even know about my life? You didn't care if I had to stay alone in that house with Mother for the rest of my life. If Rory had shown up you would have just kept going along your merry way and taken him with you! Nevermind that Mother isn't well and that she asks for him every day. Do you know what it's like to wake up every morning and knock on her door only to have her ask if it is Rory? It's always been about Rory! As soon as Rhian told her that you caused the accident, she's acted like you didn't exist. But it's not just you she forgot. She only talks about Rory, Rory, Rory! She doesn't even seem to realize that she still has one son left!"

Tears were now falling freely down Neah's face. It was a very disturbing display in Cross' opinion. Neah had been the child who never cried. Mana had broken down a couple times in front of him, but Neah had been stoic. Neah had been the cheerful one, the high-spirited child that laughed as he ran across the dead golden fields of wheat. To see his tears creating tiny indents in the snow and freezing in tracks on his face had never been a sight that Cross ever imagined.

"Why did you even run away?" sobbed Neah. "Everyone thinks it's your fault… I'm terrified to think of what they would say if they found out it was mine… You gave up everything… everything… I-I never wanted to be the rock… the one people depended upon… you were always better at that… but you left everything to me… why?"

Neah's legs gave out and he sank down onto his knees. Cross almost felt bad enough that he thought about walking over there and picking him up. Almost, but not quite.

Mana, however, began to walking slowly towards his brother again. He stopped as soon as he was right in front on his brother, who was crying quietly into the snow. Cross could tell from the way Mana's hands shook, his shoulders trembled, and his voice quivered that he was crying as well.

"Neah," he said. He stared down at his brother. "Do you hate me?"

Neah looked up from the ground to his older brother. Cross felt Sophia clutch tighten around his arm. The cold wind blew even harder, picking up more snow off the road than it had before.

Mana's coat billowed behind him as he knelt down to Neah's level. He reached out a hand to touch the younger boy's face and wipe away falling tears. "Neah," Mana practically mumbled. "I never meant to hurt you. I hadn't thought about how this would affect you. Perhaps you're right. What a terrible older brother I am…"

Cross recalled another man saying something quite similar, a man who wore red-and-purple-striped pants and a saffron evening jacket. He supposed that Pierrot had never left the older Walker brother's mind. Blinking his eyes Cross focused on the present moment again. It was truly touching. He had never seen Mana and Neah get along. Ever. This was the kind of interaction he would have expected between Mana and Rory.

Neah finally stopped crying. "I'd tell the truth if you would come home," he sniffled. "I don't care how angry Uncle Adam and Mother would be."

Mana stiffened up for a moment, but then relaxed. "I can't," he replied. "I couldn't turn back now if I wanted to. I promised to wait."

Fresh tears formed in Neah's eyes. "What would it take to get you to come back?" asked Neah. His eyes were wide with desperation.

"Open your eyes and see the world for yourself," responded Mana. He stood up and walked away from his brother towards Cross and Sophia. "When you find your own side of this whole mess, then I will follow you wherever that may take me."

He stopped when he reached the midpoint between Cross and Neah. Sophia took this as her signal to do the same. She let go of his arm and pressed his hand slightly. "It was good to see you again, Gitano," she said. She walked steadily to the midpoint but stopped to hand Mana a gray wool scarf. "I'm afraid that I ran out of colors…"

"It's perfect the way it is," stated Mana. He took the scarf with a smile and wrapped it around his neck. "I'm afraid that I didn't think ahead to bring you anything."

"It's fine, really-" protested Sophia. Cross couldn't fathom why, and it surely had him flustered, but Mana turned to Sophia and pecked her on the cheek. Cross was pretty sure he looked just as shocked as Neah and Sophia did. Her cheeks flushed a very bright pink, which only stood out more against her pale skin and dark hair. Both of Junior's eyebrows were lifted about as high as they could go. Perhaps Mana had also wanted to rile the seemingly apathetic Bookmen.

"That will have to do," replied Mana with a very cheeky grin on his face. "Happy Christmas, Sophia, and good luck."

Cross wanted to hit himself. So that was the reason for Mana's suddenly rash behavior. He remembered the boy mentioning in the inn that the holiday season was coming up. Cross wished he had remembered the day, for he didn't have anything to give her.

His mind wandered to the ring around his neck, the one he'd gotten for pretending to be some old lady's grandson. It wasn't like he needed it. "From me to you," he muttered under his breath. Cross felt the ring disappear from around his neck. Hopefully it had landed in her pocket; though he was pretty sure he had transport spells like that mastered. He saw her hand move inside her cloak, and he smiled.

Mana had calmed down by the time he reached Cross. "How did Junior look?" he inquired in a conspiring tone. "And the old geezer?"

"The geezer didn't bat an eyelid," responded Cross. Mana pouted. This was the Mana Cross was accustomed to. "Junior, on the other hand was starting to look like his head might pop off."

Mana chuckled evilly. "Good, then I believe I've officially had the best Christmas yet," he laughed.

Cross was fairly certain that someday he'd have to write A Daily Guide to the Many Faces of Mana Walker. The world would certainly need it. He had seen about every face of Mana today: happy Mana, sad Mana, angry Mana, brotherly Mana, and now evil Mana. If this brat ever became an actor or even a clown Cross was certain he'd be very successful because of all those damn faces.

Sophia pulled Neah up out of the snow and began wiping the flakes off of his clothes. "We should go, Lord Neah. You'll catch pneumonia in weather like this," she said, her voice barely audible now over the wind.

"Plus the Lord Millennium is expecting you for Christmas dinner. He'll be suspicious if you keep him waiting," said the old man. Cross was amazed to hear Bookman speak, and even more surprised that the old man's voice sounded strong like it had been used before.

Neah nodded at Bookman and then looked over her shoulder at Cross and Mana. He bowed his head and the other two followed suit. With that Cross turned on his heels to walk back to Berlin with Mana. A bright light flashed behind them, but by the time he looked back Neah, Sophia, and the Bookmen had vanished. "Show off," he muttered, though he'd suspected from the beginning that Neah and the others had travelled there with the ark.

"So…" said Mana, looking back at him from up the road.

"What?" asked Cross. He didn't like the expectant look on Mana's face.

"It's Christmas. How about we go to a pub?" questioned Mana.

Cross groaned. "You're fifteen! You're going to be an alcoholic by the time you're twenty!" he exclaimed. "Do you expect me to be your drinking buddy whenever the occasion arrives? I think you're sorely mistaken!"

"Nonsense!" shouted Mana. "If I'm going to be an alcoholic juggler I might as well drag you down with me. Come on! Let's celebrate! I'll buy the first round!"

Mana turned on his heels and began whistling as he walked down the road, his gray scarf waving wildly in the breeze. "I'm surprised they even let you into a pub," grumbled Cross. Nevertheless he followed Mana all the way to Berlin and into a pub nearby the inn where the whole ordeal began.

This is weird… I wrote a Christmas chapter in May… I thought a little fluff might lighten the mood, though. I was really excited to write the Mana and Neah exchange. Seems like Neah isn't the total brat he was as a child. Silly Cross, you're such a hypocrite (cue dramatic irony). What do you think Neah will do now?

Note: Sanjiv/Bookman Junior the First is an OC. From what I can tell from the series, Lavi is not Bookman's first apprentice and from the way Sheryl was talking it seems that the Noah had a hand in whatever happened to the last apprentice. There will be more Bookman and Sanjiv in later chapters!

Please review! The support is what keeps me writing! Also, if I get three reviews for this chapter, then I'll write a bonus chapter for the Earl's Christmas dinner. XD