Y'all not going to like me for this chapter...well maybe a lil bit but mostly not. Well Alma and Kanda meet!

Open your closed eyes

Everything has changed

Look at this new world that no one knows yet

~insertlinebreak~

"Where my power stems…?" Allen echoed, confusion bubbling up, "Uncle? What do you mean the room of the musician? Is this...where that person…"

Had the power to move this ark and open gates, yes. Do you know who that person is?

Allen didn't even have to think, "It's you, right? And since you're within me...it's...me." The whole thought made him feel sick; that wasn't possible. That shouldn't be possible. There was so much that everyone wasn't telling him. Either out of protecting themselves or out of protecting him.

Nea chuckled, That's right, nephew. It was originally me. As the fourteenth Noah, the Noah of destruction, I had the sole power to move the ark. But that power has long since been given to you.

Allen shook his head, "No, I can't play the piano."

But my dearest, you fixed the gates. The ark isn't linked to the piano, it's linked to our souls and that one song. The song you sing almost everyday, the song that saved your friends.

Allen walked forward to stand in front of the piano. He reached out to touch the white keys, his fingers trembling. He played a few random notes, listening to the instrument's melody. Normally, he loved the piano-it soothed him. It reminded him of the nights in the Asian Branch when he was alone and crying, and Timcanpy would play the song to make him feel better.

Now, it felt suffocating. As if it had some special power that he was expected to know how to control and use. He never asked for this power.

"I don't want it." Allen decided.

Oh, my dear, I'm not giving you a choice. If you focus, the melody will simply come to you.

Allen tensed at the sharp edge in his uncle's voice. Nea was always a little intense, but never less loving towards him. He knew deep down that there was something off about their situation, about the reason why Nea was in his head. He never put much thought into it but he knew that it couldn't be good and yet...well no. He didn't trust Nea, he didn't really trust anyone anymore but he knew he wouldn't get any answers not doing as he said.

Allen placed his hands on the keys again and closed his eyes. He focused on the piano and the melody, trying to remember the order of the notes before his hands began to move. The first key...and then the second...faster and faster until the melody came together to form his special lullaby,

Or rather, The Fourteenth's Melody.

And so the boy fell asleep

Like embers dying slowly in the flames

Once...twice…

~insertlinebreak~

Komui's office was quiet despite being oddly full. Lenalee stood by herself near Komui's desk, whispering quietly to her brother and looking worriedly around the room. Kanda wasn't speaking, he wasn't even looking at anyone. He stood by himself in a corner of the room, his mouth set in a hard, angry line. Lenalee couldn't blame him for being angry; she couldn't imagine how he felt about the news.

Lavi stood with Bookman in the other corner, talking to each other in that strange language that seemed to be their own. It was the most serious she saw Lavi in a while. It didn't seem like Bookman was scolding him, just like they were discussing the day's events. After a moment, Lavi said in english, "I don't know where he is...he just left."

Ah, so they were discussing Allen. After Allen left they thought it best not to go after him. He was upset and following him didn't seem like the best course of action. So they left him go-but he disappeared. Most assumed he'd be in the gardens but he wasn't even there when scientists went to check.

Bookman said something else and Lavi nodded, "Yeah, I know."

There was a knock on the door, and Komui called out, "Come in." Reever poked his head in nervously, looking pale.

"Chief, Johnny said said Alma's almost all set to go. He'll be here in a half an hour, if that works for you."

Komui nodded, "Yes, that's fine." In a half an hour, there could either be another fight or a reunion. They didn't know which. Kanda's expression wasn't giving anything away and they didn't know Alma so they couldn't even put in a guess there. They could only hope that they wouldn't fight-or else finding Allen would be a must. After all, only a second could stop another second.

"Are you sure you're alright to meet him Kanda?" Lenalee spoke up hesitantly, "We could push it to tomorrow. We just fought the Noah after all...there's a lot of people hurt and in the med bay and…" She trailed off, We don't want another fight is what she didn't say. Kanda looked at her and scoffed.

"I'm not going to randomly attack him." Kanda said, turning away, and the other people in the room breathed a sigh of relief. The only problem now was Alma-Kanda wouldn't back down from a fight and if Alma attacked him…

Well, at least there were generals present.

On the night where the silver eyes trembled

The shining you was born

The room paused, "That melody…"

Lenalee looked up, "Allen must be in the ark…" She breathed, "But the piano room…"

Komui sighed, "Allen closed off the piano room before his execution. Only the musician has the power to reopen it...so Allen must have finally regained his power to control the musician is back."

Lavi nodded, "And he probably realizes that he has power over it. We should go to him, Lenalee." He stood up but Lenalee shook her head.

"No, we have to supervise this meeting, remember?" Lenalee gave a sympathetic smile towards Kanda. She knew having a private meeting would have been preferred but Leverrier refused to have them meet alone. It could result in the total destruction of the Order from them fighting or they would simply disappear together. Either scenario wasn't favored.

Kanda rolled his eyes in response just as another knock came to the door.

"Chief?" Johnny this time poked his head in, causing the room to stiffen, "We've brought Alma."

Komui stood, "Alright, let him in."

There was a brief pause, before the door opened fully. Lou Fa walked in, holding the hand of a teenage boy. The boy had short hair, and he was a bit on the small side. There was a scar going across the bridge of his nose, but his exorcist uniform made it known he was an exorcist.

It was Alma.

Alma looked around before he finally made eye contact with Kanda.

"Yuu…" Alma breathed, "It's really you...you're alive." He let go of Lou Fa's hand to fully face Kanda. Kanda's hair had really grown, but he kept it up in one long ponytail. He looked more masculine than before, a big change to how young he looked as a kid. He had truly grown so tall, taller than Alma.

He wasn't speaking, and Alma felt cold rejection seeping into him. He knew there was a chance of this happening, that Yuu would hate him but...it hurt so much still. Alma never wanted Yuu's hate; he loved him so much.

Alma took a deep breath and tried again, "You've really grown Yuu...you're so big now. Much bigger than me, Johnny says I'm a bit on the short side." He laughed. Kanda stiffened at the sound of his laughter, the sound unmistakingly familiar. Alma laughed so often back then, even when they play fought Alma always laughed. The sound had his shoulders relaxing.

"How?" Kanda asked.

Alma opened his eyes, "Am I still alive?" Alma asked, "Well...you didn't take my core with you so...my body sort of...reattached? I regenerated slowly, eventually, and then I woke back up." Alma was shaking as he remembered waking up, how scared and angry he was, "I was so angry then, Yuu...I wanted the Order to burn...I still do." He admitted, "What they did to us...is something that I just can't forgive. It's something that I know you can't forgive either."

The other occupants of the room tensed, ready for Alma to attack at his words. Seeing the other exorcists get ready to fight, Alma smiled, finding humor in it.

"But that doesn't mean everyone doesn't deserve a second chance...and even I can see why I'm still here."

Kanda scoffed, "Because I didn't finish the job?" He said bluntly, and Alma flinched. He knew Kanda meant to kill him but...hearing it so bluntly hurt.

"No," Alma said after a moment, "because some souls...just connect upon meeting, Yuu. That's why no matter how many times we are brought back, we'll just meet again. There has to be a reason why we keep coming back together so many times...when we first died, when we reawakened, when I reawakened again…"

Alma took a step forward, "I would hate myself if even now...we couldn't just stay together again." He felt his eyes burning and rushed to wipe them away before Kanda could see. They kept coming, "I don't want you to hate me…" He admitted, "We're not meant to hate each other…" The unspoken words were clear to even the others in the room. Alma fought down his sobs, wiping his tears until hands that weren't his own pulled away his fingers. They wiped his tears before he was pulled roughly towards a chest, and Alma relaxed in pure relief.

"Stop crying, Alma." Kanda said, "You don't have a nice crying face." But he still held him close and let his forehead drop down to his shoulder. Alma shook with his his sobs now, his muffled 'I'm sorry...sorry…' barely audible to the rest of the group.

He laughed at Kanda's statement after a moment, "You're still so mean, Yuu!" He pulled back, "Let's stay together this time, yeah?"

Unbeknownst to them, the group shared warm smiles before slowly letting themselves out of the room.

~insertlinebreak~

Inside the piano room, Allen continued to play. The notes were easy now, as if they had been within him the entire time and he just needed the right push. His eyes were closed as he played, not needing to see the keys to play a song that came from within him. Quietly, he sang along, "I will never cease to pray…show this child what love is, and kiss the joined hands…" He opened his eyes, ripping his hands away from the keys as if he had been burned and stepped away from the instrument.

Why'd you stop?

Allen willed his hands to stop shaking; for a moment he felt like he was in a trance, playing that music. He felt like he was in his own world, his own dimension and that nothing else mattered. If he wasn't so tense, it would've felt almost comforting but in the wake of the Noah's attack-he only felt more suffocated.

"This isn't right." Allen finally answered.

He heard his uncle laugh, you're right, but when is anything ever right in this world? Don't let the day's events have such a lasting impression on you, you will never be happy otherwise.

"...everybody is lying to me." Allen said, "Everybody is keeping secrets...nothing is right and now I can play this melody. There's something everybody's keeping from me and...and..." He held his head, eyes watering as he crouched down, "I feel like people died for nothing today! Like if I knew what everyone was trying to keep from me, this would have never happened!"

Oh...my dear...you mustn't think like that. It seemed Nea was faltering, the smugness in his voice all be disappeared as he took in Allen's state. The day's event seemed to have truly bothered him-Nea knew he'd be upset but not to this extent.

"How else am I supposed to think, Uncle?" Allen squeezed his eyes closed, "why does Road know that song?"

Well, that's a question that you must ask Road. But first gather your thoughts, rethink on today's event, and see who you really believe at the end of the day.

"Who...I believe?" Allen echoed.

"I know that I wasn't completely truthful to you, Allen, but I never lied. That's more than any of your so called friends can say."

That's right...Road's words. He knew better than to really trust Road, but then again who could he really trust? He stood up straight, wiping his tears. He straightened out his exorcist coat-eyes determined. You know what? Screw wanting to end sadness-he had a different goal now.

He was going to get to the bottom of the secrets surrounding him, and then see what side he was end on.

Or God help him he was going to die trying.

I'm swowwy. But y'all confused yet?