III - CURSE

Time was ticking just as it always had, no slower and no faster. It ran its course for three full days, slipping away like water through the earl's fingers. With each passing second, his chances of tracking Allen down grew slimmer. He was down to a handful of options.

The contract Allen signed had been very specific; Allen was not allowed to forsake his new home. However, since it was unclear whether or not Allen was attempting to return, the earl still had an obligation to find him. He read the Abandonment Clause many times through, trying to decide a course of action.

The Ward shall Not leave Home or Jurisdiction without the Permission of the Patron by Free Will or Otherwise. Should Otherwise occur, the Patron is deemed any Measure by which to Retrieve the Ward.

"'Any measure.'" The earl had one idea. It certainly could help pick Allen out from a crowd, but…

"Why do I have a sneaking suspicion I know who is behind this…?" the earl muttered coldly, gripping tightly at the edges of the document. He didn't think Allen was capable of running away at this point or else he wouldn't have let him go out, so that left the blame to fall on another. Coupling that with the peculiar deformity attached to Allen's shoulder, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. It had to have been an exorcist.

The earl's fists clenched tightly. Since no one was left to miss the boy, only a person with access to knowledge the earl didn't could know about his taking on Allen, and what knowledge didn't he have? His teeth were gritting together. Mana's Will. This only confirmed his suspicions about the boy, but now he was at a disadvantage. He had certainly bought himself some time by negating Allen's Innocence with Dark Matter, but depending on who got a hold of him…

Any measure.

"Hear this, my adorable akuma," the earl seethed, pulling something thin and red out of the contract. "If you find a human bearing any marks of a curse, you will bring him to me."

He released his fingers, letting the curse return to its original host.

Allen rubbed the receding bump on his head gingerly, still recovering from when he had been bludgeoned. The grass was scratching at his pants in the wind as he gazed at the sunset. He and his captor were just outside of the small town Allen had awoken in. He had no idea exactly where this little town was—he had a feeling that he never would, as far as the man he was with was concerned—but he wasn't sure if it mattered to him. While this Cross Marian wasn't necessarily the nicest man in the world, Allen felt a bit safer with him than he had anywhere in the past year. It was as if leaving the care of the Millennium Earl was liberating, like he just broke the surface of a lake he had been drowning in.

"So they were called 'akuma'?" Allen asked softly, recalling all of the strangely stoic housemaids and butlers he had met in the house of the earl. Though they never showed any emotion, Allen couldn't help but feel as though they had been screaming inside whenever he looked at them.

Cross nodded, striking a match. Allen watched him light a cigarette and was reminded of Tyki Mikk. It wasn't a comforting feeling.

"Is…that what Mana became?"

"Yes. When the earl bade you to call him, his soul became attached to the machine known as an 'akuma.' That is what the earl does." Cross let his arm rest against a knee as he stared over the hills. Allen shot him another sidelong glance before letting his eyes wander to the hands resting in his own lap.

"Why?" he said at last, his voice verging on a whisper.

There was a pause before Cross replied. "It is the earl's goal to destroy the world. He uses the akuma to achieve this goal.'

Allen nodded slowly, swallowing a heavy lump in his throat. It felt so surreal. Was he really buying all of this? Was the man who shared his family with him such a bad person? Somehow, he found it difficult to see those amused eyes hiding behind spectacles arch in wickedness or hear that hearty laugh fill with malice. But he knew it to be the truth. The earl had tricked him into turning his father into one of his pawns, and no matter how much he may have misled Allen to thinking about other things, Allen could not forget that night of fear and that sense of dread and betrayal that overwhelmed him when he heard his father cry in anguish in the graveyard. Nor would he forget the pain of his father's blade tearing his face apart, the memory even now making the skin around his left eye tingle.

"It is the duty," Cross continued, turning to face Allen, "of us exorcists to stop him." Allen looked up. "We chosen few can destroy the akuma and have any hope of crashing the earl's play."

Allen's wide eyes became riddled with curiosity. "'Chosen?'"

Cross held up a sleek, silver gun. "God blesses us with a weapon known as Innocence to fight with. It is in this gun and, also, in your left hand."

Allen jumped, wincing as he raised his arm too quickly for his stitches to handle. Ignoring the pain and the sudden headache he was experiencing, Allen examined the cavity on the back of his hand, the flesh strung tightly into ridges. The embedded black cross was poking sharply from beneath almost as though it wanted to make sure Allen never forgot it was there.

A larger hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged his arm away. Allen yelped as Cross plucked at his stitches, stroking his beard in thought.

"Dark Matter. How clever," Cross mumbled. He plucked a string, causing Allen to bite his lip at the sudden throb. "Something tells me it won't be easy to cut through."

As Cross stood up, Allen scrunched his face, fighting the increased pounding in his head.

"Maybe if you synchronize at a high enough rate, it'll break," Cross theorized, finishing his cigarette and tossing it off. Allen wasn't really paying attention anymore, raising both his hands to caress his burning face. Little by little, he felt the pain sear through him.

"Mr. Cross…" he began unsteadily. Tears were starting to well up in his eyes. Cross was too busy with his own thoughts to notice his discomfort. Allen leaned over and began rubbing his face, pressing harder and harder against his forehead to lessen the ache. "Mr. Cross…I don't feel so great…"

Suddenly, his head exploded. Allen gasped as something ripped across his face. His right hand cupped his left eye and cheek as they burned like fire while his body doubled over in shock. Two strong hands grabbed his shoulders and leaned him back. Cross removed Allen's hands from his face and glared harshly.

"It hurts…" Allen moaned, rolling his head around feverishly. "It hurts so much…"

The pain was multiplying tenfold. It felt just like the night Mana had cursed him. Exactly like it… The lump on his head Cross had given him days before wasn't helping. The steady throbbing from that and the burning sensation intensifying by the second eventually became enough to push Allen passed his limit and his eyes rolled back in his head. His body fell limp in Cross's arms as he lost consciousness.

Cross stared grimly at the stark red mark marring the skin around Allen's left eye. Allen's sweat-matted brown hair was turning noticeably lighter even as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon.

This could not be good.

There were very distant voices echoing around him. They almost seemed muffled and were so light they floated about his head. There might have been the faintest traces of urgency in them. He vaguely registered being passed between people's arms before his back eventually met the smooth, hard surface of a table.

He blinked warily but his vision was very fuzzy. When his eyes would not focus, they flitted about wildly in an effort to make out any of his surroundings. It seemed like a very white and clean place. He tried to raise his hands up—to do what, he wasn't sure—but they were either too heavy or would not respond. So many of these people wore white coats. There was one dark coat, and it seemed familiar. It gave him the impression of red.

There was a big face in front of him now. He couldn't see its eyes because they were covered by white glasses or something thick like that. It had a long dark mass that could have been hair. All he could register was the proximity of it in comparison with his nose. A big blob of white was in his line of vision now and it covered one of his eyes.

Allen woke up in bed, not recalling ever falling asleep again. He had a much easier time gathering himself together than before and managed to sit up on his own. The room he was in was cold and bare of anything very defining, but it was most noticeably dark. The large window behind him framed a white full moon shining brilliantly. Something about his perception of depth seemed out of place and his hand rose to touch his left eye, finding a gauzy patch there instead.

Wasn't he just with Cross Marian? Why did that seem like days ago? Allen rested a finger gingerly on his eye, wondering why it didn't bother him at all anymore. The only thing that hurt was his left hand in its usual manner.

Allen pulled the covers up and set his feet on the chilly floor. Where were his shoes? He didn't see them anywhere in the room. Allen was about to get up to look around when the silence was broken by a steady creak. The handle on the only door was turning slowly. Allen watched quietly as the door opened enough for a wide eye to peer at him. The eye flinched, realizing it was being watched.

The door swung open slowly, and out of the dark hallway stepped a little girl. She must have been around Allen's age. Her dark hair shot passed her shoulders elegantly, but her soft face seemed taught with stress. She gazed at Allen nervously.

Allen smiled at her, causing her shy eyes to stray to the wall at her side. "Hi," he greeted, "what's your name?"

The girl blushed. "Lenalee," she mumbled timidly, still not quite meeting his eyes.

Allen became a little excited. Lenalee seemed nice enough. "What are you doing here, Lenalee?" How about what am I doing here?

Lenalee's head shot up as she became anxious. "Y-You won't tell anyone, will you?" she begged desperately.

Allen was taken aback. "Uh…are you not supposed to be here or something?" At this, Lenalee verged on tears, at which Allen waved his hands around madly. "D-Don't worry! I won't tell! I promise!"

Lenalee seemed to calm down some and Allen sighed in relief.

"Lenalee," Allen asked, "is a man named Cross Marian here?"

The girl's face changed instantly to an expression of curiosity. "You know General Cross?"

Allen did another double-take. "Wait…did you say 'General?'"

"General Cross has been with my brother ever since he arrived," Lenalee answered as if she didn't hear him. "I think they went to see Hevlaska."

General? Hevlaska? Well, at least Cross was here somewhere.

"What's he like?" Allen turned from his thoughts to see Lenalee's genuinely curious face.

"What's who like?" he asked confusedly.

"General Cross. I've heard rumors, but I'd like to know." Lenalee leaned back against the wall by the door. "They say he's a great man."

Allen blinked, not quite sure about any of that. "I don't know," he said after a moment. He looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I just met him a few days ago."

"Oh." Lenalee seemed a little disappointed. She twisted the ends of her hair a little as if contemplating something.

All of the questions Allen had were slipping his mind at that moment. Words would almost be on the tip of his tongue before he decided on a different question to ask. He didn't manage to get anything out before Lenalee's peculiar question.

"Why is your hair all white?"

Allen didn't react like he thought he might. It didn't seem to him like a legitimate question. On reflex, his right hand grabbed at the ends of his hair by his face and pulled them forward for him to see as best as he could. His hair certainly seemed lighter than he remembered it being.

Perplexed, Allen looked around the room, his eyes finally resting on the window behind him. The moonlight passed through his reflection making him look ethereal in the glow. At first, it seemed like the moonlight was the culprit, but the longer Allen stared, the more the reality of the situation hit him. Allen ran his fingers through his hair that he knew to be brown. He blinked rapidly and rubbed his eyes, but the image of his hair in the window was still white as snow.

There were loud footsteps from down the hall. Lenalee jumped instantly, looking more and more panicked when she heard low voices.

Allen snapped from his stupor as well. "Close the door!" he hissed. Lenalee did her best to close it quickly and quietly despite her sudden shaking. Whoever was out there, it seemed they were headed in their direction. Allen spotted a desk in the corner, the largest piece of furniture there next to the bed. "Under there!" he said, pointing to it. Lenalee was too distraught to think twice, diving between the chair legs to hide in the dark space. Allen managed to get his feet under the covers before the door opened again.

"Ah, you're awake." Three tall men Allen had never seen before entered. Allen wasn't sure what to think of them or their strange white coats. The rose crosses on their left breasts matched the one on Cross's uniform. Were they allies of Cross?

But when Allen managed a glance at Lenalee, he saw that she seemed upset by their presence.

"Who are you?" Allen asked innocently. It seemed something natural to say.

"Scientists," the same man said simply. "We're of the Black Order."

Black Order? "…I see." Allen eyed the strange trays they were bringing in. "Where is Mr. Cross?"

One of them leaned in very close to his face, making Allen flinch. "The general asked for your curse to be purified," he said, ripping the bandage from Allen's eye. Allen glared, tensing up. That didn't answer his question.

"Did he ask you to do this?" he said sharply. Lenalee's reaction was making him feel wary.

The scientist didn't seem very tolerant of his attitude. "He asked for the Order to handle it."

Allen, feeling perturbed by the man, whipped his head around to look in the window. He forgot his frustration for a moment in shock at what he saw. That red thing the earl had made their contract with—it now ran down his face. Allen touched his cheek delicately, his fingers tracing the mark to the pentacle on his forehead…

A hand on his shoulder signaled him to look up. The scientist's eyes bore into his. "It would be best if you lay down so that we may begin."

The shadows the moon was casting were distorting everything in a nightmarish fashion. Allen didn't like their dark faces or the strange devices they were holding, so he wasn't sure why he complied so easily. He felt eerily calm.

"This may sting," someone said, though it didn't sound comforting at all. "3…2…1…"

Allen flinched, clenching the sheets with his fists. It felt like they were burning his face with welded steel. He managed to suppress any shout of pain to a staunched gurgle. When the heat was removed after what felt like hours, Allen gasped.

"What was that?" he spat, fingering the flesh around his eye. It didn't feel horribly charred…

"Test 1 was a failure," one of them said, reaching over to grab something else from a tray. "What next?"

"I want to see Mr. Cross!" Allen cried, trying to get out of the bed. The scientist nearest him easily overpowered him, forcing him to lie back again. "Let me go!"

Allen's aggressor yelped and drew his hand back as the boy bit him. Several other hands pinned Allen down, one pair clenching his jaw shut.

With each attempt on the curse, the black eye piercing through every man there grew redder and redder. Allen himself became more belligerent with the time, kicking and lashing wildly. Only after they tried every idea they could think of did Allen grow too exhausted to protest anymore. He was on the brink of passing out entirely when the scientists gave up.

One of them fingered through the many instruments on the trays, resting eventually on something very sharp. He stared nonplussed at Allen's cursed eye which was still in perfect shape despite their best efforts. He gripped his tool of choice tightly.

"There's only one thing left to do," he said begrudgingly. He pushed his way to the bedside, positioning the knife carefully.

Another one grimaced. "You're going to remove it?" No one was objecting.

From under the desk, a silently sobbing Lenalee covered her mouth to hold back a gasp.

Something white was pushing them back.

"That's irresponsible," an omniscient woman's voice rang. Cross took the statement lightly, as usual. "Where did you pick up such a child?"

"London," Cross said simply. "Where else would have such strange things?" No one laughed at the joke.

"Why is his arm like that?"

Cross stopped. He looked up innocently. "Like what?"

Hevlaska would have looked impatient if she was capable of it. "His left arm feels like a big space of nothing. Is there supposed to be power there?"

Cross's fingers itched through his pocket as he restrained himself from smoking. "What kind of power?"

Hevlaska recognized that he was dodging the question, a sure sign that he wasn't about to tell her anything.

"Well," Cross said, standing up straight, "Guess you should know that you probably won't be hearing from me for a while."

Hevlaska might have been suspicious. "Why would you tell me that?"

Cross shrugged. "Thought you might want to know that I'm alright despite how long I'm away."

"I never worry about whether you're alright," Hevlaska said matter-of-factly. "I know you aren't."

Cross raised an eyebrow. Did Hevlaska just crack a joke?

Hevlaska grimaced, her brow furrowing. "You couldn't have…" she mumbled. Cross turned entirely to face her. All of the Innocence in her body was glowing strangely. "General Cross, did you bring Dark Matter into the Order?"

Cross grinned, something akin to worry glimmering in his eyes. "What makes you ask?"

Hevlaska seemed to be struggling with the reaction the Innocence inside her were having. "Something…is happening…upstairs."

Cross burst into the room, burning with rage. There were bodies littering the floor. Cross didn't even have to check if they were dead; the blood seeping from their mouths and the holes in their torsos was all he needed to see. He walked deliberately to the bed and observed the white plasma engulfing the boy before him. Allen's left arm was convulsing madly, shedding little strands of purple from the hand. The Dark Matter was not holding together.

The general gathered Allen into his arms, intent on fleeing, when he heard stifled sobbing. He glanced at the corner, seeing pale legs sticking out from underneath the desk.

Lenalee froze when she noticed Cross approaching her. Her breath hitched in her throat when he knelt down to her level.

"Forget it all," Cross demanded sternly. "Forget whatever you saw here, for your sake."

Lenalee swallowed her tears back, breathing deeply. "Is he…okay?"

Allen had barely twitched a muscle save for his left arm's spasms since Cross had arrived.

Cross's eyes narrowed. "If you don't breathe a word, he will be."

After Cross had taken Allen and left, it took Lenalee a while to muster up the strength to return to her room where she refused to come out for a week.