Summary: Perhaps the Earl was more of a human than anyone could have imagined. He loved and cherished and would give his life for the ones he loved. Or maybe it wasn't the Earl at all. [Takes place right after chapter 219]

Title: Whole Again

Author: 100thAngel

Rating: K

Disclaimer: D. Grayman is the property of Katsura Hoshino and I make no profit writing this.

A/N: Spoilers for chapter 219. I'm actually not really surprised by the twist because the theory was presented so long ago but nevertheless I'm very happy with the latest development. Looks like Neah holds all the answers. (Let's just hope they're not lies.)

†Whole Again†

~The two of us were once "one." We were the "Millennium Earl!"~

The Earl took a staggering step backwards, renewed tears rolling down his cheeks. "That's not..." Not possible, he wanted to say.

Neah smiled, his bruised and battered face not showing a hint of anything but the truth. He followed the Earl until he was close enough to reach up and caress the taller male's cheek, wiping at a few tears in the process.

Adam- Mana -was lost. Utterly so. He found himself recalling things he'd forgotten from long ago, prompted by Neah's confession. He recalled his mother, Katerina, and the song she used to sing to help him sleep. Familiar imagines kept popping up in his head such as the sun, red and yellow as it sank below the horizon and the gentle breeze rustling his dark locks. Their home with the wide open field, cut off from the rest of the town, was his sanctuary. It was just them, just the three of them. Even when the others came, he spent all his time with his mother and Neah. That was his world. And it meant everything to him.

But something happened. Neah changed. He wore a strange outfit and an even stranger mask. At first, Mana didn't know what was happening. It didn't matter anyway when Mana looked past the man to the pale woman at the base of their tree, the very same tree where they were first found became the final resting place for the only woman he ever loved.

And then he remembered something else. In the years after Neah's death, he had created an alter personality. It was a way to cope with the pain. He forgot all but his name, who he was, his purpose. Somehow he found his way into the circus life and he met... he met... his son.

That was it. Yes... A boy with dirty red hair and an old oven mitt over his left hand. The child looked up at him in seeming awe as they trudged through the snow together, him leading, forging a path. Their destination was irrelevant, unimportant, and it was the journey there that actually mattered. The sights they saw and the noises they heard and the smells the inhaled, that's what mattered. Together, hand in hand. It was their road to create and change and walk without a care as if puppets on loose strings.

Never stop. Mana, always in keep walking. Walking... walking. He was a walker. Mana Walker. And his son, he was named Allen Walker. Because they would never stop.

"Mana," a sweet voice pulled him back to the present. His gaze locked onto the eyes of his enemy, brother, and son.

Neah's smile widened as he finally caught the Earl's attention. "Mana, I'm going to kill you now." His eyes sparkled in absolute delight as he proclaimed, "Then we can be together again! Once I absorb you, we'll be whole, we'll become the real Earl of Millennium!"

Absorb... Mana thought. To be whole. With Neah and with Allen. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad because then he could be by their side.

Forever.

-The End-

A/N: Had a lot of ideas pertaining to what would happen in chapter 220 (such as Allen finding out about Mana's true identity) but as I dreamt about that, this thought suddenly struck me. Hope it was enjoyable despite the short length. NOTE that I wrote this right after chapter 219 came out. I only decided to upload it after this latest chapter came out because I was lazy and not in a DGM mood. Btw in chapter 220, Neah takes a step back like in my fic and when I was reading it over I just thought it was a wonderful coincidence. Same with the whole "absorbing" thing.

Here's a theory I have about the Heart. Don't care if it turns out to be total rubbish.

*Bonus*

Neah felt his body growing numbingly cold, a sign that Allen's consciousness was returning. The innocence tingled slightly and he glanced down at it, his fingers slipping off the Earl's tear stained cheeks.

It looked like their date was coming to an end. What a pity. He would have liked to say more but it seemed Fate wanted them to part for now. Next time, Neah would finish the job though, and terminate his "brother."

He took a few steps back and jokingly bowed, "Ah, I must apologize. It would appear that the universe has other plans." Mana stood routed on the spot, eyes clouded over in a thick layer of mist. "Farwell, Mana, until we meet again."

With one last look, gaze locked onto a certain part of the Earl's chest, Neah allowed Allen control again.

Mana… You've become a mindless puppet, he thought, a mindless puppet on strings, searching for a heart to make yourself real while I, I choose death. You are no more than God's marionette, dancing to His tune. Don't you understand yet?

The sky glowed a myriad of red and yellows as the sun sank below the horizon, the sight so familiar yet so distant. The heart you seek isn't where you think.

It's within us, Mana.

35 years ago, I checked. I had to make sure. The rest of the family died, I died, so that only leaves you and Road.

Brother, 7000 years. It's been so long. Unable to die and yet feeling the pain, watching as the world is recycled over and over again. We've seen the birth of many things and the end of many more. It's tiring. It's lonely.

You can't remember why you want the heart so bad? It's because it's ours. Once it's gone, the Earl of Millennium will cease to exist, the Noah will eventually perish, and every human with the genes of Noah will die out. Humanity will end. And the God we despise so much won't let that happen.

He won't let us go.

Thank you in advance if you review. If you don't, thanks for at least reading.