"Cross. You have a lot to explain." Lvellie growled, eyes narrow and eyebrows scrunched.

"Long time no see, Malcolm." Cross answered completely undisturbed as he lit a cigarette. "Nice touch of you to send your assistant my way, by the way, he's been useful."

Lvellie nodded once, short and precise in that no-nonsense attitude of his before transferring his glare towards Neah who remained unimpressed.

"I assume you took the deal then." Lvellie noted with a hint of approval.

Neah sighed. "Sort of, it's a delicate situation you understand."

"Cross once said that you were our greatest chance at ending the Millennium Earl, your assistance is for the better."

"Oh did he now?" Neah said, turning towards Cross with a shit-eating smile plastered across his features.

"I did not word it like that." Cross bit out shooting Lvellie a betrayed look.

"But it's similar, yes?" Neah laughed.

"Listen here you piece of shit." Cross growled as he turned towards Neah, huffing out a cloud of smoke in the shorter man's face.

"Yes yes, haven't you gotten stingy with age? Eh, old man?"

"Campbell." Cross growled.

"Anyway, Mr. Special Inspector, only one thing stands in between our glorious partnership."

Lvellie adopted a wary expression as he carefully eyed the still grinning man.

"And that is?"

"What do you intend to do with Eve?" Neah's smile dropped, eyes darkening as he carefully voiced out a barely contained threat.

There was a brief silence, the only sign of displeasure being the slight tightening around the Special Inspector's narrow eyes.

"If Allen Walker is the Heart of Innocence as it's been speculated, then he has nothing to fear from the Church." He said slowly, voice carefully leveled even as it came out a bit gritted.

"If? I doubt you'd be where you are today if you have such a flawed memory. You were there that day Special Inspector, there is no If."

"According to Walker yes. But until Hevlaska has delivered her judgment, Walker's position is but hypothetical."

Neah froze, his expression sliding off his face as incredulity took its place. "Hevlaska?! You think I'll let that slimy snake get her hands on Allen?"

Lvellie glared angrily before turning away, walking over to the desk where Komui sat silent, dark eyes keenly observing the room's ongoings.

"Hevlaska is the most accurate way to ensure that this isn't some sort of con planned by the Noah, do you truly think we'll just take your word for it otherwise?"

"Hevlaska is a bitter old witch." Neah snarled angrily as Cross warily placed a hand on his shoulder, resignation written all over his face. Neah angrily shook it off.

"Mind your tongue." Lvellie bit out furiously. "If Walker has awakened as the Heart she'll be able to tell, if, if Walker turns out to be the Heart he'll be treated with the uttermost courtesy."

Neah chuckled bitterly. "Forgive me for stating the obvious, but so far your courtesy has been far from what most people consider courteous. "

"Careful," Lvellie bit out sarcastically as he took a sip from one of the water glasses laid out on Komui's desk. "It almost sounds like you, a Noah, care for human beings."

"I couldn't care less if you humans torture yourself or not, but if you treat my Eve like you've treated your children, your exorcist, then we'll have a problem. Unlike that sad excuse of a brother sitting over there, I do care if someone I've sworn to protect ends up experimented on and conditioned until they become so brainwashed that they believe the corporation torturing them is their home." Neah laughed mockingly.

Kumoi inhaled sharply as he stood up from his chair, slamming both palms on top of the desk with a slam. "How dare you!?" he spoke furiously.

"Tell me I'm wrong then!" Neah shouted back, hair bristling and eyes glowing. "I don't care about how you treat your family, as far as I'm concerned, you're more than welcome to do the Earl's work for him and end the human race with all your justification and excuses. But the moment you try to use any of those methods on what's mine. I'll end you, mutual goals or not."

The room descended into silence, all parties glaring at each other and hands itching for hidden weapons.

"Okay." Cross finally said with an exhale and all the world-wariness of an old drunkard. "Let Allen be a problem for another day, shall we. I didn't abandon all the ladies and booze on Spain's west coast to listen to your bickering and tug-war over my idiot disciple." He shot Lvellie a cold look. "Allen is the Heart, don't be a fool. Hevlaska should be able to attest to that now even without seeing Allen. And if that's not enough, you have my testimony as well."

He eyed the group silently before tiredly taking another loss of his quickly shrinking cigarette.

"The real issue is how to deal with Fatso before he catches on, the stakes are higher than ever."

"How so?" Kumoi asked with a worried frown, eyes never leaving the commander despite fiddling and signing the various papers strewn over his desk. "The Earl has never been particularly discreet with what he wants, humankind's elimination."

"Yes and no," Cross answered tiredly as he mournfully eyed the butt of his cigarette.

"Speak clearly or not at all." Lvellie gruffly snapped.

"He has an incentive now." Neah cut in before Cross could continue. Arms crossed and leaning against a dusty bookshelf. He briefly looked up with an expressionless expression. "Before, it was just a winded suicide letter, he had no real reason to do anything back then when Allen and I were dead. Now? I might still be 'dead' but Allen is very much alive"

"What does that mean exactly?" Kumoi asked, seemingly both intrigued and hesitant at the same time.

"Allen hasn't been careful, Mana knows where Allen's sympathizes lies. He's a jealous and obsessive man. He won't allow anything to hold Allen's attention and love as the Order and its objective does. As long as you exist, Allen won't truly repent and accept Mana's handling, he'll fight, run and struggle and Mana can't deal with that. Never has." Neah said bitterly. "Before, you were an inconvenience, nothing more than annoying bugs sticking up when you should lay down. Now? Now it's personal."

Kumoi looked horrified and Lvellie bitter.

"An inconvenience? We'll show that bastard." Lvellie growled furiously.

"Still not talking my dear?" Mana spoke gently as he carefully brushed the silky white hair, now almost long enough to rest on pale shoulders.

Silence.

Mana sighed, gently gathering the unresponsive child into his embrace, tucking knobbly knees and boney shoulders into every available corner of himself. Pressing a light kiss to the top of the head listlessly resting underneath his chin.

"I hope, that one day you understand why it was necessary." He spoke kindly into the silence, gently holding the bandaged legs so that they wouldn't painfully fall to the floor. His objective had never been to cause Allen unnecessary pain, nor had it been to crush his flighty, unruly spirit. It was all for Allen to truly understand.

"Things will soon come to an end." Mana mused quietly into the hair that tickled his nose. His voice almost a mere whisper, similar to how he and… Neah… Would whisper secrets against pale ears surrounded by long red strands of hair. The three of them, hidden away from the world in dark corners and dusty rooms that hadn't been visited for who knows how long. Hushed laughter drowned by the smattering raindrops hitting against the window or the gentle lull of the crickets during lukewarm summer evenings spent together by Cornelia.

Tightening his grip around his Eve, Mana stood up from the floor. Pale limbs just as unresponsive as they'd been when he had first lifted his child. He walked away from the cream-colored couch in front of the sparkling fire and stepped into the bedroom. Just like earlier, the room stood empty except for the large white bed placed in the middle. The white duvet and pillows had been replaced and washed, and now a fresh scent filled the otherwise empty room.

Mana gently put down his child on the bed, carefully tucking him in until nothing but a pale face was visible, surrounded by a sea of white pillows.

Allen's purple eyes were vacant. Open but staring into space as if nothing the world had to offer was of interest to the bedridden teen.

Mana sat down on the bed, and gently tucked some of the stray white hair behind a cold ear.

"You've lost Allen." Mana confided in the teen, what could've been a benevolent smile plastered on his features. Mocking. "You might not forgive me, might even hate me." Mana trailed off, eyes losing focus as an ugly look crossed his features.

"Even so. I won't stop, not when I'm this close. Eden will open."

Allen jolted to attention, face slack with horror, Allen could only stare at stared at Mana.

Mana smiled.

"Did you really think I didn't know?" He whispered mockingly, raising a hand to gently trail down Allen's face, thumb soft stroking the taut skin under Allen's left eye, against the jagged scar. "35 years ago you fought exactly the same futile battle. I am more than aware of your futile attempts to stop me. You might not have learned from your mistakes, dearest, but I certainly have.". Mana withdrew his hand.

"No." Allen rasped as he struggled to sit up, wincing whenever he jostled his legs to hard.

Mana hushed him as he firmly took hold of Allen's shoulders and pushed him back against the mountain of pillows. Never had Allen felt as if he was this close to drowning.

"It's madness!" He said loudly, eyes darting across Mana's features as if willing the man to show any sign of remorse over the planned genocide. "Mana…" His voice gained a more pleading tone as he gripped the other's forearms. "Please…"

Mana merely smiled. "Begging Allen? That doesn't suit you."

Alle simply stared at him, face wrenched in disbelief before it hardened. "I'll stop you." He promised coldly, eyes blazing in fury.

Mana threw his head back and laughed.

"Stop me?" He chuckled. "How? No one is on your side, the Order won't help you, you just left your friends, and Neah is dead. What exactly do you intend to do?"

"Cruel," Allen whispered faintly, Mana's face stiffened.

"Yes." He agreed as he pried off Allen's fingers from his forearm. "Very much so. I can grovel and plead for you when all this is over, when you're secure within Eden and all threats have been wiped out. When the risk of you leaving me is annihilated." Mana smiled as he leaned forward and planted a brief kiss on Allen's forehead. Allen's arms fell back to the bed, all strength gone, all he could do was lay against the traitorously soft bedding and stare up at Mana. As if the man was all he could see.

"With that said. I can't have you within the Ark anymore."

"What?" Allen whispered as fear began to shimmer in his stomach.

Mana's smile was loving and yet so very cold, yellow eyes glowing in the dark as the same smile Allen used to see in the mirror every day was plastered over his features. Mana's mask. He gently took one of Allen's limp hands and began to soothingly caress it. Like a man soothing his upset cat.

"You're far too good at sabotage my dear, but don't fret. I'll ensure you're well taken care of."

"Well taken care of?" Allen whispered in disbelief. "You just want to remove a threat. Do you think this will make me harmless? Do you think stuffing me into a corner and have me out of the way will mean I'll give up?"

"You're important." Mana reminded him patiently patting Allen's hand gently. "But so is this. I won't have any more failures, Allen, I won't have you destroy everything for the sake of some rotten humans."

"There are millions of people, families, children, innocents-"

"You and Neah were my family." Mana interrupted. "Now there's just you, I won't lose you too."

"You don't think acting like this will lead to you losing me?"

"Have I not already lost you?" Mana asked curiously. But Allen wasn't fooled, not a speck of warmth could be found in those eyes. This wasn't the whiny, clingy, and as horrible as it sounded, easily manipulated Mana that Allen was familiar with. This Mana was terrifying and no longer cared for Allen's affection.

"..."

Allen couldn't help but remain silent. He hated mana. Hated, hated, hated. But he also loved Mana, it was impossible not to, Eve ensured that.

"Your silence is telling," Mana said softly. "Everything said within in the Ark is known to me, you cannot hide what you feel, nor can you dangle your 'love' and expect me to comply. Not anymore."

"I hate you." Allen said tiredly.

Mana huffed amusedly, the grip around Allen's hand had turned bruising.

"As I hate you, my dear. But we both know that no matter how we destroy each other, no matter how we hate each other, our love will always remain."

"Can you save him?"

Neah turned around with narrowed eyes.

Ah.

The little sister.

"Who?"

"You know who." Lenalee insisted angrily. Her stance showing how ready she was to either bolt or fight.

"Normally I would assume you refer to Allen," he watched her flinch and pale, "but given the state of that other exorcist, it could just as easily be about that guy Chaoji-"

"Chaozii." Lenalee cut in with a pale face.

"-or whatever his name was." Neah finished flippantly before turning to leave again.

"What's wrong with Allen?" Lenalee shouted causing Neah to once again stop and turn back towards her. Had glasses told her nothing? Sure she was a mere exorcist, perhaps positions were more important within the Order than family connections.

"Last time… Last time we saw him he went willingly with the Millennium Earl… Is he in danger now?"

"Allen is always in danger. Forget it, you're powerless to do anything about it anyway."

"How can you say that?!" Lenalee almost shouted. "Do you even care about him at all?! If he's in danger or hurt, or, or anything like that we need to help him!"

Neah took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Wielding anything that was connected to his Noah form now would just lead to disaster, Mana wouldn't know where he was or that he was even alive as long as he stayed somewhat inactive. Fighting the deluded exorcist girl would accomplish nothing.

"I'd be careful if I was you, little girl." He hissed taking pleasure in seeing her bristle. "There's nothing we can do at the moment that wouldn't lead to us losing the war or causing mass death. As for the rat, keep him isolated until further notice and hope the Noah doesn't call our bluff."

"Excorcist Lee!" A voice shouted further down the corridor. A smaller troop of Finders rushed forward and surrounded the exorcist, warily eyeing the Noah who merely rolled his eyes in reply.

"Branch Cheif Lee has called for you." The shortest of the Finders informed the young woman with a rushed voice, eyes never straying from the Noah.

Neah sighed as he shoved his hands down his pockets, staring at the tiny group in front of him with half-lidded eyes.

So easily crushed.

The sudden movement caused the group to tense as Lenalee visibly gathered herself.

"Tell my brother I'll be there soon." She said with a clipped voice.

"Ah… We've… That is…" The shortest Finder began to stutter.

"We've been instructed to escort you miss Lee." One of the taller Finders spoke smoothly, eyes quickly darting towards the Noah in what perhaps was supposed to be a warning. Neah quirked an eyebrow at the display, interesting, perhaps he struck a chord within Glasses.

"What?" Lenalee said sharply as she turned towards the Finder. She cast a side-glance towards the Noah who had yet to move whatsoever and took a deep breath. "I see. Lead the way then."

Neah watched the group disappear down the corridor before he turned to leave.

Well. Whatever the reason behind these new restrictions...

He really couldn't care less.

Now, where have they hidden the rat?

Chaozii wasn't sure how he'd gotten here.

Somehow, after successfully reviving the Noah from his second death, he, loyal Exorcist Han Chaozii of the European Branch, had been arrested for treason and espionage for the Noah.

How?

He would never betray the Order. He wasn't like Walker who had so easily spared a Noah when he could've killed it. He wasn't a Noah, so how come he ended up exactly where Walker had been?

Chaozii gripped his hair and brought up his knees to his chest, clenching his eyes shut. So far all contact he'd have with anyone else had been CROW members, silent prisonguards who never answered the simplest of questions, no matter how loudly he demanded answers.

"So this is where they stuffed you…" Chaozii looked up and startled. Badly.

"You!" He gasped as he stared at the yellow eyes that calmly looked at him through one of the cell windows. The eyes narrowed slightly, but not in anger, rather… Amusement?

"What the hell do you want you damned Noah?" He snarled furiously as he straightened. Like hell he'd look like a scared kid when confronted with the enemy.

"Have they even told you why you're here?" The Noah asked, not even batting an eye at the threatening tone.

Chaozii fidgeted slightly before stubbornly shaking his head glaring at the Noah all the while.

The Noah's damned infuriating smirk grew even wider.

"Oho?" He said mockingly. "How careless of them, don't worry though, I'll tell you allllll about it."

"Stop. If the Central believes it to be right then-"

The Noah tsked impatiently as he rolled his eyes.

"You don't truly believe that. You're angry and betrayed. How interesting that you ended up in the same position that my dearest nephew was in just a couple of months ago. Imprisoned for imaginary crimes, actions that neither of you can actually be held accountable for."

Chaozii grimaced.

"Walker wasn't forced to spare that filthy Noah, he could've killed him and ended it-!"

"Just for the memory to reincarnate." Neah deadpanned, shuffling slightly until he was leaning against his forearms, eyes peering through the gap of the bars. "Allen, misguided as it might be, though that exorcising a Noah would end the cycle of reincarnation. He was wrong of course, but the idea was intended to be far more permanent than your solution has ever been." He smirked. "Of course, that might just be your intention, traitor."

Chaozii was up and almost pressed against the wall, just a couple of centimeters away from the grinning Noah, adrenaline pumping in his blood as he desperately wanted to punch that infuriating face.

"Say that again you bastard, I dare you…"

The smirk only grew as those yellow eyes sparkled with insanity.

"tr-ai-tor."

Chaozii roared in fury as he threw himself against the wall, desperately trying to activate his Innocence only to be met with the stinging sensation of the CROW's talismans activating in response.

The Noah cackled loudly, head thrown back as if Chaozii's pain and fury was all just a big joke.

"Bastard." Chaozii snarled defeated as he rested his forehead against the cool bars, the occasional puff of air coming from his uninvited guest whenever he exhaled. "Why are you even here?"

"Well. Chaozii Han, Exorcist of the European Branch…" Chaozii's eyes widened as he attempted to lean back, away from the threatening presence in front of him. A very strong grip on each side of his shirt-collar prevented him from putting the meerest of distance in between them. "You see. Unwilling or not, you're quite a well-positioned plant. It would be a shame to let it rot here…" He eyed the cell barely visibly behind Chaozii who flushed in anger and began to prepare a retort. "Without sunlight and nutrition.".

Chaozii narrowed his eyes as he attempted to not show how unsettled he actually was.

"I'm not a goddamned plant."

"Not in the typical sense perhaps, although, I must say, you'd make a rather prickly cactus." The Noah grinned at the furious glare he was sent. "You're the most reliable way for us to ensure that the Earl and his merry band of Noahs only learn what we want them to know."

"... Are you trying to convert me into a spy?"

"Hard to convert someone to something they already are, all I'm offering is for you to return to your chosen side."

"Ignoring me again?" Mana question the child in his arms who stubbornly turned away from him. The morning had been exciting to say the least. Allen, in a childish fit more befitting a five-year-old, had completely trashed the bed and thrown its pillows all over the room, before hiding underneath it to the best of his abilities given the restricted movement. Leading to the first part of the morning of Allen's departure to be spent wrestling with the delicate body without seriously harming it while Allen found no issues with fighting dirty.

Mana fondly trailed his fingers along a very impressive scratch mark left behind oh so lovingly on his left cheek by his furious little ball of justified anger.

Chuckling, Mana easily, manhandled the smaller body into the awaiting wheelchair. His precious child furiously glared up at him for a split second before pointedly turning away, face scrunched up before stiffening as he caught sight of the building in front of them.

"Missed it?" Mana questioned as he gently petted the mess of a hair lovingly. "It's been sometime before you last was here no?".

Before them lay the impressive Campbell Manor. The only signs of the passage of time being the cracked paint in the corners of the windowsills and the slightly grown-out-of-hand vines stretching over the building, more than double the size it had been back when Mana last saw it.

Momentarily locking away another wave of bitterness, he purposefully began to wheel Allen towards the entrance. The air around his smaller unwilling company frigid, a clear contrast to the warm sun rays happily shining down on them.

Noah strength and all, it really was no issue for Mana to completely lift the wheelchair with Allen in it, and easily walk the steps up until he could safely put the wheels down on the flat ground again.

Opening the door, Mana was struck with a wave of nostalgia, old pain, and a fresh sense of loss.

Inhaling a shaky breath, he had to take a second to ground himself.

"Why did you bring me here?" Allen whispered with a watery voice.

"Because you need a reminder." Mana answered as he wheeled into the building, past the dusty hallway into the worn, but still presentable ballroom.

"Do you remember?" Mana whispered into Allen's ear as bowed down. "Do you remember meeting us here? Do you remember how that insolent boy grabbed you and how you just stood there, accepting the abuse so beautifully?"

Allen turned around and glared. "You're sick." He spat angrily as he attempted to wheel away, but Mana's hold was steady and strong, easily holding onto the struggling youth.

"Do you remember," Mana continued, unbothered, voice filled with glee, "remember how desperately you tried to avoid us, only to end up nestled between us, ours."

"I belong to myself." Allen answered stiffly with closed eyes, hands desperately holding onto the wheels with a white-knuckled grip.

"Answer the question Allen." Mana wasn't playing anymore.

"..."

A cold cheek nudged his, the motion gentle but filled with twisted love and adoration. A warning as cold lips briefly brushed against his ear.

Allen shuddered.

"Yes."

Mana cooed mockingly.

"So good, my good child. But you haven't been good for a long time, have you, dearest?"

"Fuck you."

"This filthy language of yours." Mana continued on, thumb tracing the straining hand wound around the wheel. "By the end of your visit here, I hope you remember and accept, what you so easily accepted then."

Allen let out a breathy laugh.

"Accept? Accept what. That no matter what I want, no matter what I wish to do. That none of it matters because your needs and wants will always come first?"

"If you wish to word it like that."

"How can you Mana?" Allen finally asked, turning around until he could watch this cold, evil man into the eyes. "How can you actually demand this of me?"

Mana's eyes were cold. The yellow radiating such frost that Allen couldn't help but want to curl into himself for warmth. He smiled. Deceivingly loving.

"Am I not merely paying you back? How long have you manipulated me Allen? Twisted me until you're the only thing occupying my mind? Is it not only fair that I wish for you to feel the same?"

"I never asked to be your obsession." Allen snapped.

"No." Mana assured softly. "But neither did I ask for you to be my obsession."

"So why not kill me? Why not merely end this so that nothing can stop you."

Mana's smile slid off his smile as it wrenched in fury.

"Never." He snarled as his grip turned bruising and the room got drenched in darkness. "Do not twist my words Allen, you were born to be mine. The point of your existence is to be with me and-." He stopped.

Allen's expression softened. Mana crumpled to the floor, dragging the unresisting body closer, tucking the only thing he had left as close as humanly possible until it was hard to see where one began and the other ended.

"I love you." Mana whispered into Allen's neck, feeling how tears were beginning to build up. "I love you more than anything. You and Neah mean everything to me. But I can't let you leave me too."

"I love you too." Allen whispered, exhausted. What was the point in fighting it, no matter how he wished otherwise, Mana and Neah would always be the absolute dearest to him.

"This is for your sake as well." Mana reminded him softly, almost like a secret that none other than them could know. "Being away from us, you suffer as we do. You just deceive yourself by insisting that it is for a worthy cause."

"I can't let them die Mana. You know I can't."

"They were never meant to exist, their existence is a fluke. Had things gone as they should, they would never have existed."

"But they do!" Allen pulled away until he see Mana's expression again. "They exist. They hate, they love, they build families, create… Who are we to wipe them out of existence?"

"And the cost of their existence is a dying Earth. War, starvation, rape, destruction, they are the cause of all of it."

Allen looked down.

A hand gently lifted his face until he had direct eye contact with Mana again.

"Eden will open. I will be able to love you without fearing for your death at every turn. You will remain here until I'm done. As soon as it's all over, I'll be with you again, and then nothing will be able to tear us apart. Not even you."

AN: No I didn't mistake Chaozii's first name as Han, I just figured since he's Chinese he'd naturally put his last/family/surname in front of his first name. However, since he belongs to the European Branch I figured he says his name as a European person (first name, last name).

Also… All aboard the pain train, we'll make a quick stop at the pit-of-a-thousand-tears and continue through the valley-of-agony, remember, no refunds or quitters allowed! :D

Also also, this hasn't been edited as much as it probably should've been, but I know if I put this off more than I already have that you guys will never get another update so this is what we're doing.

Please consider leaving a comment on your way out, thanks!