A/N: Weird idea that I found in my "Long List Of Story Ideas I Had Like Two Years Ago" folder and decided to play with. Probably not doing it justice, but hey, I'm having fun with it! Hope you guys enjoy it and that you're not completely confused by anything, I guess? Haha~

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM—and that's probably a good thing.

Minor edits done on 1/30/2015.

It was like his whole body had been set on fire, pain pulsing through him as a scream ripped its way out of his throat. Struggling against the pair of hands holding him down was all he could do. Every time he so much as twitched his fingers, the shape he took changed, like a snake shedding its skin in favor of a new one. From black hair to blue, tanned skin to pale porcelain, his appearance kept changing dramatically. When the writhing agony came to an abrupt end, so did his shape shifting and without even giving him a moment to register what had happened, asphyxiation set in. Immediately, his body began giving him demands that he didn't understand. His lips moving without making a sound as he tried desperately to ask a single question.

What's going on?

Bright blue eyes flew open as the hands on his slender shoulders tightened their grip, though not painfully so. Again, he struggled against the stranger's hold. His eyes stung, as if pricked by a needle, water beginning to accumulate on the surface of them.

What is this?

"Woah, woah! Calm down! You're okay now!"

The man holding him down had a deep, melodic voice that struck a chord with him. Lord Noah, something inside him told him. Like an alarm bell going off, his body started screaming at him to run.

What is this?!

Something wet ran down his cheeks. He didn't understand! It— It wasn't raining, so why— No! Now was not the time! Now was— It was—

He needed to run away. Lord Noah was going to kill him.

"You have to breath, little one! Like this!" Lord Noah spoke, sucking some invisible substance into his mouth before releasing it from captivity. "See?"

No matter the desire to run, the pressure swelling in chest was making it impossible to think of much else. It felt like it was crushing him. As Lord Noah commanded, he did his best to imitate his actions, opening his mouth and roughly taking in the formless substance. A gasp broke past his pale lips as the pain in his chest started to subside. With each 'breath' he took, the pressure dissipated more, like it was a reward for doing as Lord Noah had instructed.

The most immediate problem was solved and he tensed up as fragile blue eyes met the stifling amber ones of the dark-skinned man holding him down. He wasn't struggling anymore. If anything, his limbs refused to move.

Run away.

This awful, gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach grew and something akin to a gasp escaped his throat, the water leaking from his eyes falling even faster now.

Now that his fighting had finally ceased and his "breathing" was beginning to even out, disregarding the strange noises coming from his own throat that sounded more like a dog's whimpering, Lord Noah's lips turned upwards into what the humans called a smile. Smiles were supposed to help weren't they? He'd read that in a book once. They were supposed to calm people, warm them, but not this one. The feeling wouldn't pass; it told him to get out of his Lord Noah's sight, to run away as fast and as far away as his legs would take him.

"L-L-Lord No—"

A finger touched to his lips. Lord Noah hushed him and he obeyed, the action being enough to scare him into silence. Lord Noah stopped to wipe away the wetness on his cheeks, the man's smile never ceasing even when he visibly flinched at the touch. A strange, soft sound escaped his throat against his will, but it was more like the whine of a wounded animal than any noise a human could make.

"Allen," the man in front of him said. "That's your name."

"N-No, my name's—"

"It's Allen now."

Blue eyes looked up at his Lord Noah; he didn't understand the purpose of changing his name, but he didn't dare question him further. Beneath those stifling amber eyes and the man's scrutinizing gaze, Allen's only comfort was searching the room for something else to do look at, but the better part of the room was obscured from his line of sight by his Lord Noah.

"Look." Allen obeyed, looking up as his Lord Noah stepped out of the way to reveal a mirror. He sat up fully, no longer leaning back again the solid white couch and found someone other than himself looking back at him from the other side of the mirror. They had hair whiter than freshly fallen snow that clashed with what had once been the color of rust. Pale porcelain skin replaced the dull brown of before and the skin around their eye swelled with what appeared to be a fresh scar, forming a pentagram above their eye and stretching all the way down the left side of their face. It reminded him of a lightning bolt.

Blinking back at the blue eyes reflected in the mirror, Allen's head tilted slightly to the side as he took in the change of appearance. When had he done that? Was that really him? He reached up to touch the pentagram, jumping slightly when the reflection mimicked his movements. He pressed two fingers to it and winced; it was sensitive and very tender to the touch.

That person in the mirror really was him, wasn't it?

"You're no longer an Akuma, Allen."

"Then what am I?" he asked, staring at what he now realized was his own reflection. His Lord Noah merely pointed at something—his left arm, specifically—and Allen looked down at it.

He screamed.

An ugly, red, gnarled hand stared back at him, the telltale sign of an Exorcist embedded into it as if it had been burned into the skin. He recoiled at the sight of the glowing cross on the back of his hand.

"W-W-what is—"

"This is your 'Innocence', Allen." The dark-haired man leaned in to inspect it, but stopped short of touching it. Wide, blue eyes looked up at him, hoping for some kind of an explanation. Why him?! Why had the Innocence attached itself to him?!

Wh-what was going to happen to him...?!

"From this day fourth, Allen, you're human." Allen wanted to say that made no sense, perhaps that the man was crazy. Because he couldn't be human. It was impossible. Everyday, he'd felt things he didn't understand, but once upon a time, he'd just been another mindless killing machine. He'd evolved, as all Akuma did and had been able to forgo following vague orders in favor of doing what he desired to, but this...?

"Th-that's n-not..."

"Possible? But it is. It's a gift, Allen."

"A gift?"

Had he done something to deserve something so rare as a gift from his Lord Noah, especially one like this? It didn't even seem like it could be real in a million years.

His Lord Noah nodded, smiling once again. "I guess I'm trying to butter you up."

"Butter me up...? A-are you saying..." he paused, raindrops falling from his eyes once more, though he wasn't sure they'd ever truly stopped. "Y-you're going to e-eat me?"

His Lord Noah slammed his palm against his forehead and Allen winced. Didn't that hurt? Why would he do that? Was he punishing himself for letting his plans slip? "No, Allen, I'm not going to eat you; it's an expression. It means... I'm doing something nice for you, so you might return the favor."

"Oh..."

Allen sat there, staring at his Lord Noah. With the hand that had previously touched the pentagram above his eye, he felt the wetness flowing freely down his cheeks that didn't seem to show any sign of stopping now. He looked back to his reflection, the blue eyes that were he now knew were his own had become red and puffy, not terribly unlike the scar on the left side of his face.

Was he truly human?

"L-Lord Noah—"

"My name is Neah."

"Lord Neah..."

"No, no," he said, waving a finger in front of his face. A strange, but not unpleasant, sound escaped his throat. "Call me 'Neah'. Just Neah."

"Ne... N-Neah..."

Blue eyes looked up into amber, at the man who wore a smile on his face. A strange warmth blossomed in his chest and all Allen could think to do was return that smile as best as he could.

Blue eyes stared intently on the creature creeping across the fallen tree trunk that he was crouched before. It was small and red with black spots covering its back and he ignored the sound of crunching leaves and twigs behind him in favor of observing the small creature.

"There you are, Allen. I've been looking all over for you."

"Neah, Neah!" Allen said excitedly, gesturing with his hands for him to come and look at what had just become his newest discovery. Neah drew closer and leaned forward with his hands resting on his knees to get a good look at the creature Allen was excitedly pointing at. "Look!"

He chuckled and Allen's face lit up as he looked back to him. "So excited over a little ladybug?"

"A ladybug?" Allen asked curiously, brows arching at the revelation. "So, there's a sirbug?" As if trying to answer his own question, he looked over the rest of the trunk for any bug that might be the one he was searching for. What color was it, he wondered? If a ladybug was red, then would a sirbug be blue? Or perhaps purple? Neah laughed and Allen's lips puffed up into a pout. "What's so funny?"

"There's no 'sirbug', Allen. There's only ladybugs."

"Oh..." Allen muttered, eyes turning back to the speckled beauty he'd spent the past half an hour observing. "That sounds lonely..."

Neah reached over and ruffled his white locks, messing up the small ponytail on the side of his head that Mana had been kind enough to help him with earlier. Allen let out a short whine as he pushed the man's hand away. "You're messing up my hair, Fa—" He stopped himself from finishing his sentence. His face flushed a bright red as he furiously combed his hair back to how it had been before, only succeeding in making the mess worse and loosening his ponytail further.

"'Fa...'?"

Neah looked at him expectantly, but Allen only adverted his eyes, refusing to meet the man's piercing gaze.

"'Father'?"

Allen stiffened. How did he guess that?! There were lots of words that started like that, weren't there?! Allen looked back at the man and he watched, mortified, as a smile spread across Neah's face. He could feel heat rising to his already red cheeks. With amber eyes boring down at him, Allen started fidgeting, twiddling his thumbs together. "W-well, I, um... A-A father is someone who made you, right? ... A-and they teach you a lot and care for you and raise you and..."

Neah laughed, Allen shrinking back. W-was he mad? He didn't sound mad—and he didn't do that thing he does where his eyebrows dip in the middle of his forehead and he rolls his eyes up to look at the ceiling!

"And you think of me as your father?"

Allen only stared a moment, glancing around. Whether he was looking for an opening to run away from the conversation or hope Neah's brother would burst onto the scene, he didn't honestly know. Finally, he hastily nodded.

"Okay."

Wait. Okay, what?

Allen cocked his head to the side slightly.

Again, Neah laughed. "You can call me Father." With the clarification, blue eyes widened. Quickly, Allen's shock turned into something else and he beamed at his newly-appointed Father.

"Really?!" he asked, receiving only a nod and a smile. Like a child, he jumped up and down a couple of times excitedly, repeating the word. "Father, Father, Father!" The third time he said the word, he jumped at his Father, flinging his arms around him.

"Whoa-oh!" They toppled to the ground. The impact was painful, probably more so for his Father than him, but judging by his laughter, he didn't seem to care much.

Truth be told, neither did Allen.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!