Disclaimer: I do not in any way own this material, except for my oc's

Enjoy c:

*melodic voice singing*

Golden eyes flashed as a young teen stopped on route, the wind shuffled his black shaggy hair with the soft angelic voice. His companion, a red-headed teen, bumped into his back. 'Hey, what the hell? Keep moving asshole, Mana's going to kill us if we're any later!' he growled, but fell on deaf ears.

'Did you hear that?' the younger of the two asked, the redhead glowered at the brush off, but humored him and listened. Golden eyes watched as his companion went from sour to incredibility, then staying on astonishment at hearing the melody.

*the song stops abruptly*

The young teen looked downtrodden while the older one pushed him down the road and out of site, all the while complaining of them being really late.

xXx

A long white-haired maiden watched the pair leave, her blue eyes saddened. She had hoped for them to stay a little longer, she rarely got to see civilization as it was. She sighed and finally faced her personal tormentor. She had heard him approaching, so she stopped singing. She would not give him the pleasure of her voice.

A man walked up to the whitette and smiled, "Hello Aurora, how are you today?" He asked in a slithery velvet voice. He was a handsome man, but the female did NOT like his presence, it was… off. Well her dislike may also come from growing up in this huge bird cage since birth and watching her mother die. The old cronie that was infatuated with her mother and unfortunately also her father, brought her this man to create another one of her bloodline. But this man was off!

The man sighed; he hoped she would start talking to him soon. How else was he supposed to make her happy if she was on guard? He scowled briefly, "Well today is a day to celebrate! Is there something I can get you?" he asked politely.

Aurora looked deep in thought before she looked at him and pointed outside, then looked back at him in a pleading manner.

The man sighed, "I'll see what I can do; and I would appreciate it if you could call me Zerek, my Lady" The man sorrowfully, turned around and called out "Unglück! I need to speak with you please" and walked off.

Aurora smiled softly at his efforts, "Zerek"

xXx

Zerek walked up to a forty looking man, who was pouring over some papers filled with information on prospective couples likely to bear male prodigy, he looked up at Zerek's entrance. "Yes, mein Falke, you ponder?" Unglück cocked his head. Zerek nodded.

"Sir, Aurora is-" "No, no my protégé, in our language of the ancient and powerful" Unglück interrupted then waited for Zerek to finish his thought, who discretely huffed at this but started again, "Sir, Aurora is coming of age to feel the last few visages of the outside world before her freedom is permanently revoked. May I take her to the nearby park for a taste of nature in its natural habitat?" Zerek asked politely, waiting for some sort of outburst. Yet, instead of the expected outburst, Unglück looked at Zerek thoughtfully, nodding his consent, and then turned his back onto Zerek dismissing him from sight.

Zerek frowned, pivoting on his heel and walked back to where he came from. Aurora looked up from her little sketchbook of flowers and gave him a questioning glance.

Zerek smiled softly and walked to a door next to her cage, he pulled out an outfit. "Tomorrow, I have gotten permission to take you to the park." Aurora looked at him in shock, before she smiled at him, for the first time. Zerek blushed and pivoted on his heel again and walked out of the room.

xXx

Aurora was shocked, the wind was sweet, the sunshine warming, the grass was vibrant. She never wanted to leave such a beautiful sight. She basked in the temporary freedom she was granted.

Zerek smiled sadly as he watched Aurora take in the small park as if it was heaven.

Zerek took her to the park for a month, letting her bask in the sunshine. Sometimes he brought a picnic, others he took her to a local café. He took innocent pleasure at watching her reactions to the different tastes. He gave her flowers of different kinds when they walked back to her prison.

One night as Zerek wished her good night, he barely heard a thank you before he walked out of the room, a silly smile upon his lips.

xXx

Unglück looked at his protégé proudly, he was making progress. With his plans well in hand, he walked up to Zerek in their vast library where Zerek was browsing through an ancient text. "Mein Falke, how are thou today?" Unglück rasped, taking amusement when Zerek jumped. "I'm doing fine, Master." Zerek replied politely. Unglück looked at him and announced that he was going on a Hunt and that he would be back within a year to officially bond Zerek to his little song bird. Unglück promptly left after his announcement, missing Zerek's astonished look.

xXx

Zerek smiled sweetly when Aurora beamed at him when he took her outside again. This time he took her walking in the streets and markets to see the beauty of everyday life. Aurora took everything in with wide innocent eyes.

Zerek stopped by the music store to show the angel the beauty of musical instruments. As they walked into the door, Golden eyes looked up from the music sheets he was browsing. Aurora smiled at him before following Zerek to the baby-grand pianos. She lightly caressed the black glossy covering before opening the covering to display ivory keys. She pressed a few to hear the pings of the different notes.

Golden eyes walked up to her and smiled when she looked at him. Zerek was shifting through violin music sheets, keeping an eye on them. Aurora looked questioning at Golden eyes, who smiled softly. "Hullo, my name is Neah. Do you know how to play?" He gestured towards the piano, Aurora gently shook her head. "Do you mind if I played a tune for you, milady?" Neah sat down when Aurora indicated that yes she would like to have him play the baby-grand for her. Zerek watched as the man played the piano like an expert and how Aurora glowed at the beauty Neah produced for her.

When Neah finished, Aurora clapped enthusiastically. Zerek found the music he needed and walked over to the two. Neah was gushing about the piano and the different composers that he favored and how he liked to dabble in his own music making. Aurora paid intense attention to every word, wistfully caressing the keys.

Zerek softly coughed to grab their attention. Aurora whipped around to look at Zerek in surprise, if only for the fact that he had let her be near another man. Neah looked at Zerek in cool civility. "Yes?"

"Sorry for interrupting your conversation, I just noticed that my companion was here and I wanted to see if you supplied lessons for the piano?" Zerek smiled softly at Aurora's surprised smile, before she beamed at Neah. Neah looked between the two, before Zerek gave an embarrassed start. "I apologize; I seemed to have forgotten my manners. I'm Zerek Falke, and this is my friend Aurora Snow. You make call me Zerek." He supplied.

"Neah, and yes I would be willing to give lessons for piano. May I ask for whom I may be teaching?"

"Well Lady Aurora here has been wishing to learn to play."

"I would be delighted to teach Lady Snow." Neah indicated, before Aurora motioned for him to call her by her first name. Neah nodded in compliance, she beamed.

"Excellent. Then we shall meet up at the park on West Ave." Zerek started, as he and Neah made arrangements. Aurora was shown some beginner sheets of music.

Zerek went to the cash register and purchased a baby-grand for Aurora to be delivered that evening, them bough the violin and piano music sheets, before he escorted Aurora from the store. She waved good-bye to Neah, a beautiful smile on her face for the rest of the day.

xXx

Over the course of the piano lessons Neah gave, Aurora and Neah slowly fell in love. Zerek just watched from the side, happy that Aurora was no longer as sad as she had been.

Aurora glowed softly, each passing moment with Neah making the glow brighten. She finally spoke to Neah, with Zerek shockingly in the room as well. Her voice akin to wind chimes.

Allen woke up in her bed disoriented. She lifted her hand to her head, and it felt like she was lifting a mountain to do so. Her head felt stuffy and clogged up. She heard her bedroom door open to emit Lenalee and Road.

"How are you feeling Allen?" Road asked anxiously.

Allen winced as she looked over towards the duo, "Not so well Road, it feels like I got the flu –"Allen cut off with watery coughs. Lenalee dashed out of the door to get Komui to check up on Allen. Road sat by Allen on her bed and lightly brushed Allen's feverish forehead.

"You feel asleep exhausted yesterday and Adam brought you to bed." Road answered her questioning gaze. "It is currently 3 o'clock in the afternoon." Road supplied.

XxX

After Lenalee informed Komui, who was on his way to Allen, she then informed the Earl and Cross. Cross had arrived late last night. Cross and the Earl had noticed the black taint on some of the doors in the ark and were trying to figure out how it happened.

"It feels like that old man's doing, it had the same feel as the experiments within the hell where the kid was kept" Cross quietly informed the Earl. The Earl nodded.

"Do you think that they are trying to access the ark by tracking the different portals?"

"It might be possible; the old man is trying and slippery as hell." Cross groused, tsking under his breath.

Lenalee came up on the site of Cross and The Earl huddled together looking at the taint, having a cordial conversation for once. She walked up to them and informed them of Allen waking up and being ill.

A look crossed over Cross' and Adams face, giving each other a loaded look before looking at the taint, it giving off an ominous feel to the air.

XxX

"Aw, yes how rude of me, I'm William. You may call me Will" The brunet look alike to Allen. Kanda che'd before walking away towards the train station. Lavi squawked and raced after the samurai.

Bookman watched as the young man chuckle nefariously before walking after the two. The finder's were already at the station gathering tickets for the ride home to the Central headquarters. Bookman took the last position, keeping William in his sights.

Sorry for such a short chapter, but I have been busy and I didn't mean to make it seem like I abandoned this story. I had a lot to deal with, with some of my relatives passing away to graduating high school and attending college and moving.

This story chapter had been hard for me to write what I wanted down and not make it seem cheesy or forced, and them my muse waned and writer's block reared its ugly head.

By the way, over the course of the next few chapters, there will be flashbacks of Aurora, Zerek, Unglück and Neah and how it all came down to Allen and her involvement with the Noah. A bit of a spoiler, but I will explain why William looks like Allen, Cross has been in the layer of Unglück and how Allen was captured and the rescued by Cross. I will also explain the why's and how's of Allen's maternal line's imprisonment. So I'll try and squeeze out another chapter within the next few months, but I will make no promises.

I would like to thank all those you reviewed this story and gave positive feedback. I was really close to just scrapping this, but I will not. (:

Oh, and Guest reviewer, I don't appreciate the comment, but I did find amusement with the cut off of my last chapter, and that is why I kept it like I had.