A/N: FIRST: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ CHAPTER 220, GO DO SO BEFORE READING THIS CHAPTER. That is all.
Thank you to Resident of Wonderland, Candy Crackpot, The-Allenfangirl, karina001, RMXStudio, Lena-luvs-cats, and InsanityOwl for reviewing!
Title: Conundrum
Author: liketolaugh
Rating: T
Pairings: None
Genre: Friendship/Angst
Warnings: None
Summary: For the 220th night countdown run by lenaleelee17 on Tumblr.
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man.
Day 7: Chapter 220
Neah slept for a long time. A very long time.
And when he slept, he dreamed.
Sometimes he dreamed of the good times. He dreamed of flowers in a field and games of tag, he dreamed of a mother named Katerina and two brothers named Neah and Mana, playing the day away. He dreamed of the sun and the wind and the river.
Other times, he had nightmares, dreams of violence. Of the Noah falling to his sword. Of himself and Mana screaming obscenities at each other, threats, oaths. He dreamed of teeth and blood and pain.
He dreamed, and Mana split into two.
One half of Mana was the man as he'd been at the end of Neah's last life, as the Earl. He was mad with power, and driven insane by purpose and separation. He was volatile, unpredictable, and he cared, sometimes, for nothing. Nothing but the death he sought to sow.
Neah hated that man. He would do anything, anything at all, to tear that man down, to tear him to pieces and take his place and do better. He would destroy that man if it was the last thing he ever did, devour him as he had been devoured, and he cared nothing for anything that might stand in his way.
The other half of Mana was the Mana of their childhood. The one who was sickly but kind, who cared for everyone and worried and was polite and understanding and comforting. The one who'd played with Neah through their childhood, laughed at him and with him, who had cried for Katerina and for Neah, and who hadn't, at first, wanted to take over as the Earl, because why on Earth would he want the humans to die, why would he?
Neah still loved the child Mana had been, and he knew that he would never really stop. But that boy no longer existed; he remembered that much, even in his dreams.
Neah dreamed, and then he woke up.
And he found that Mana had been split into two, and one half of him had named himself Allen. Allen Walker.
He laughed.
Yes, yes, this is short, sorry. *cringe* But really I couldn't make a whole lot out of the UTTER CHAOS THAT WAS THIS CHAPTER, holy shit. *keels over backwards* Next quarter won't come soon enough. Thanks for reading, and please review!