I do apologize ahead of time for any spelling errors you might come across. My spellcheck is not working properly. Thank you.

Chapter One: Heart

There was one village, in Europe, where a long cemetery stood on the outskirts. This was far from abnormal, as many villages had such a scene but there was something rather special about this one. You see, the circus came to town about two days ago, and it was after the performers were packing that tragedy struck. One of it's staff was killed by a wayward carriage. A clown, named Mana.

Not much was known of Mana Walker. He was kind, all smiles and cheer; like a clown should be. He had a little boy, a boy dressed in white, who followed him around wherever he went. The boy never preformed; he'd liked to just sit on the sidelines and watch. The ringmaster really didn't know why he let the child stick around, since he made him no money. The girls adored him, and the men treated him like a son.

He was a strange yet adorable sight. He had snow white hair—so white that it just had to be natural, despite his age—and bright, silver eyes. He couldn't have been more than five, perhaps six years old. He always wore those white boots, and a white turtleneck, and white trousers, along with a white jacket that reached to just above his knees. Not to mention that white skullcap he always had pulled down over his head. Amazingly enough, the outfit never managed to dirty—it stayed crisp and snowy no matter where the child went.

Even in the graveyard, where he, and a group of townspeople stood. The circus had already moved onto the next town; somehow, they knew that no matter what they said or did, the child would no longer be joining them in their travels. So they left him with the villagers. Now, three men carried a wooden coffin on their shoulders, trudging across the fences land towards a tree near the back of the cemetery where a freshly dug grave lied, the child following closely behind—stopping to gaze upon the other grave markers they passed, looking at the words and names carved into the rock faces and smiling mysteriously as if he shared an inside joke with the people lying beneath.

After they had buried the man, Mana, a few in the crowd left for the village again, but most stayed behind to watch the child. He knelt in the newly overturned dirt and patted the risen ground that covered the dead man. "Sleep well, Mana." His childish voice rang out softly into the silence, like one of the silver bells that were hanging in the village square.

An elderly woman nearby turned away from the scene and pressed her face into her hands, trying her best to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. Did this child not know that "Mana" was gone forever? That he wouldn't wake up from this "sleep"? One of the men who had carried the coffin knelt down beside the child and peered into his cherub face. "Aren't you sad?" He asked.

The child looked up. "Mana is happy now." Was all he said.

Most of the villagers couldn't take it, then. They turned on their heels and rushed back to the town so they didn't have to bear the bittersweet scene. Now all that were left were the man who'd carried the coffin, the child, and the old woman.

The old woman leaned over the child. "Do you have a place to stay, boy?"

The child looked up at her, silver eyes shining brightly, as if he hadn't a care in this world. "I can't stray far from Mana, or I'll get lost."

The man stood swiftly, dusting off his trousers. "If you get cold, just come back to town, alright?" He walked speedily back toward a horse-drawn cart at the cemetery's gate.

The old woman straightened, glancing back down at the child, who appeared to be fine—not at all like the grief-filled mourners she usually counseled. "Well... I must be going home now, or Barba will be worried..."

The child nodded. "Yes. Goodnight."

She hesitated. "If... you need any help, just go to the town and ask for Mother—that's me—okay?"

"Yes ma'am." The little boy tilted his head. "But I'm sure I'll be just fine."

"Alright then...' She hesitated just a moment longer, before walking back toward the cart on the dirt road, where the man who held the coffin was waiting. She glanced back a few times, before finally climbing in, and the man whipped the horse and the cart disappeared into the town.

The child watched them leave. After they were gone, he turned back to the gave and touched the headstone, smiling. "Are you happy now, Mana?"

The Earl was going about on his usual rounds when he found him. At first, he'd thought this Akuma would be terribly easy to make—he was just a little boy, after all.

"Hello, child." He spoke in that booming voice of his, aware that no one from the town would be able to hear either of them. "What's your name?~"

The child looked up calmly, and The Millennium Earl was almost impressed. "I don't have one."

That took him by surprise. A child without a name? That wasn't something you heard every day, even if you were the eldest of the Noah Clan. Especially since the child appeared to be sitting in front of a parents grave that was freshly dug.

"Well," he bounced up. "Alright. Do you want me to bring your daddy back, little boy?"

The child titled his head, and the Earl was struck with a sudden notion of how adorable this kid was. Not every little boy could make your heart melt, especially if you were over a thousand years old. "I didn't think you could."

"Oh, but I can!" The Earl told the boy eccentrically, boasting. "I hold the power to revive the dead from their tragic sleep! Do you wan to see your father again, child?"

"No," the boy shook his head without hesitation. "I don't think I do."

The Earl was taken aback. A small, innocent little boy that seemed helpless to the cruel world didn't want to see his father again? "Why not? If I lost my father, I'd be heartbroken! Aren't you sad, little boy?" For he truly was curious.

"Mana's happy now," The boy said, almost nonchalantly, as if he'd already considered and had decided firmly against the idea the Earl proposed. "It would be very mean of me if I called him back, wouldn't it? I don't think Mana wants to become an Akuma."

The Earl froze. This child knew about Akuma? Well, sure. It's not like Akuma were a secret to the world, but to find a human that actually believed they existed was a rarity. This boy presented a challenge, and the Earl stove to accept. He just needed to try harder, right? "Oh, but how would you know? Have you asked him? I don't think you did, did you? Maybe you should call out to him now, and see what he says of the matter." There. That should do it.

The child looked up to stare at him now. Those big, owlish, silver eyes were so pure and innocent that the Earl almost felt bad about what he was trying to do to him. No, he did feel bad about this. But he needed Akuma for the war, and this boy would be perfect for a disguised minion.

"No." The Earls eyes widened comically. "Mana would be angry with me if I made him into an Akuma. He said so. Right Mana?" The child patted the grave, then stood up and looked back at him. " You are the Millennium Earl."

The Earl let go of his golem, Lero, and landed on the ground with a shaky thump. What more did this kid know? "Who are you, little boy?"

"I told you I didn't have a name."

"Alright then. What are you?"

"Innocent."

That stopped the Earl in whatever track he was using. What kind of answer was that? Innocent? Was this boy trying to tell him that he was an Exorcist? "... What kind?"

"Mmm..." The boy tapped his chin thoughtfully, almost as if he was playing a guessing game with the Noah. "Both!"

Now the Earl was very confused. "Are you sure you don't have a name?" Well, it's not like he could just keep calling him "little boy", or "child", could he?

"Yes, I am, Mister Millenium." The boy nodded rapidly.

"... Is there anything people like to call you, then?" This was not going how he had planned at all.

"Oh, lots!" The boy giggled. "There's... Child in White... Angel of London... "little boy", and "kid", and then there was that old guy a long time ago who called me "Heart"—"

"Heart? What kind?" Now the Earl was intrigued. Could it be? Was this boy really an Exorcist? And more so, did he really possess...?

"Heart of Innocence." The boy confirmed his suspicions, and the Earl straightened. "The old man tried to take me to this place called the "Black Order", but I don't like to follow strangers. Also, Mana said it's bad, and I don't want Mana to be mad at me..." The child, the Heart, peered up at him. But you're not a stranger, Mister Millennium! I know you!"

"Is that so?" The Earl did raise an eyebrow, now. "And how is this possible?" He strode over to a nearby grave and sat atop the stone, gazing down at the excited child.

"Mhm!" The little boy giggled again, and The Earl felt his heart give way. There was no way that he could destroy this boy's innocence, even if he was an Exorcist, even if he was the Heart. "You're Adam! I watched Noah make you. You were so tiny, then!"

The Earl stared long and hard at the Heart—for that was who(or what, however you wished to say it) the boy was. The Heart gazed right back, silver eyes alight with a strange glow that the Earl had never seen before. They held wisdom, but lacking in what he saw when he looked into the other Noahs' eyes. Like he saw more than the Earl himself had ever seen, but none of it really made a difference to him. As if nothing hurt him, like nothing could hurt him, even if it tried. But it was there, still. That old, knowing look that you would usually see in your own grandfather's eyes, or your elder's, but increased tenfold.

How old was this kid?

Then, the Earl was struck with an idea. Leaning forward once more, he looked the child, the Heart, right in they eyes and said, "Heart, how would you like to come home with me?"

Heart stared at the Earl, eyed widened to the size of saucers, as if he'd never thought in a thousand years that the Millennium Earl would ask such a thing. Said Earl's form shifted into a handsome, ashen skinned man with golden eyes and a top hat. The man, the Earl, smiled kindly down at Heart, reaching our his black-coated arms toward the small child in white. "Do you?~"

The next day, if any of the townspeople, or Mother, or the man who carried the coffin were to go back to the cemetery to look for the child—which they did, without a doubt. People are curious, no matter the situation—that had knelt by Mana Walker's resting ground, they'd find the graveyard void of all life. They searched for a few days, fruitlessly, before giving up. It seemed the child, whoever he'd been, didn't want to be found.

Or, he just wasn't there at all.

It wasn't difficult to keep a Noah entertained. Most of the time, they just waltzed around wherever they wanted, looking for and finding sources of their amusement. But at their annual family dinners, they just couldn't find anything to keep their attention. Road clung to the back of her chair, cackling madly as she watched her larger brother Skinn beat an Akuma maid into Oblivion. Their brother, Tyki, sighed continuously as he read his book, legs crossed and a white-gloved fist propping up his chin.

Then there were the twins, Jasdero and Devitto, Jasdevi together. They were arguing, attempting to covet the white feathered chicken that fluttered, squawking, around their heads. Most assumed chickens were in the same predicament as penguins—flightless birds. However, this was far from true. While a chicken did not have the capability to fly over long distances as, say, a pigeon or a hawk, they were quite able to fly. Which spelled disaster for their owners, especially if their wings were not clipped. Like this one, that Jasdevi kept close.

There was Lulubell, as well, sitting silently in her chair next to the Earl's empty one, awaiting her older brother and Master. It seemed that, nowadays, she lived only to serve him, and make him happy. It had to be a rather dull life, to be sure.

Of course, not to forget Cyril, Road's adoptive, and perhaps self-proclaimed, father, who also happened to be the prime minister of Portugal. He was always late, and never got to witness the pre-dinner activities.

"It's not sweet!" Skinn roared. "I told you I wanted it to be sweet!"

"Come on, Skinn, before you kill this one off, too." Tyki drawled out dully. "It may not show, but we do actually need those things for the war."

"I'll back off," Skinn agreed. "But only when they actually listen and get it right!"

The other only sighed, going back to the novel in his hands.

Road groaned dramatically. "Ugh! This. Is. Bo-oring! Tyki!" She insisted stubbornly. "Play with me!"

"Hm, no." He refused, blinking tiredly. "I don't think I will."

She tipped forward and flopped back into her seat, upside down, giggling madly. "Aw, c'mon!"

"He-llo, my dear family." A voice spouted, and everyone grew silent as the doors flew open and the Earl stepped into the room.

Road gasped. "Millennie, you're home!~ Yay!~" Then she frowned. "Wait, why are you in human form—and who's that?" She unlatched herself from his arm and poked at the sleeping form in her older brother's arms, frowning slightly.

The other Noah strained their necks to get a better look when the form murmured something and shifted.

Road gasped loudly when big, round, and adorable silver eyes peered up at them, a curious glint alight in their depths. "Oh. My. God, he is soooo cute! Who is he? Where'd you find him?"

"Nghn..." The child that the Earl held sat up in his carrier's arms, blinking owlishly. "Wh-Wha...?" The little one glanced around the room, taking in all the new faces before looking back at the man who held him. "Who are these people, Mr. Millennium? Are they my new family?"

Road squealed. "Oh, he's a Noah? Is this a little brother, Millennie?" The girl hopped around.

"Who is he, Lord Millennium?" Tyki drawled curiously. "... He's quite adorable."

Lulubell gazed at the child. "..." She looked away, but anyone could see the small look of "awwww" that graced her face.

The Earl laughed, reaching up to touch his top hat. "No, Road. He's not a Noah. But he is your new little brother."

They all frowned and looked back at the child, who had fixated a stare at the long hardwood table they all sat at. "Then," Skinn frowned. "What is he?"

"This little cutie," The Earl bounced the child slightly, and the boy giggled. "Is the Heart of Innocence."

They gaped in shock. This child? The Heart? But...how?

"Are you sure he's not just it's accomadator, Lord Millennium?" Lulubell looked up.

He nodded, and she though she saw him tightening his grip on the boy—the Heart, apparently—ever so slightly. "Yes. I'm sure."

"... Okay." They let the conversation drop, then, turning their attention toward the child, who was squirming in the Earl's hold. He smiled, chuckling, and set the white-clad boy on the ground. Heart glanced around, before climbing up into an empty chair between Road's and the Earl's, plopping down and beaming at everyone at the table. Tyki smiled softly, letting out a chuckle as he shrugged and went back to his book—but he kept one eye on the child, as if he wished to see what Heart would do. Lulubell shifted into her cat for and began cleaning her paws, glancing at the child every so often. Skinn began to beat the maid again, and Road cheered him on as the twins resumed their bickering, trying and failing to hide the glances they sent toward Heart.

"I told you, it has to be sweet!" Skinn growled out, sending a punch that finally killed off the pitiful Akuma, and they all watched her disintegrate. "When will you ever get it right?"

"Do you do that to all the Akuma maids, Mister Skinn?" Heart asked innocently, tilting his head to the side.

Skinn sent him a glance, almost looking disturbed that the child had seen his act, but nodded anyway. "Well, yeah. Why?"

Heart tilted his head. "But then, how will the next Akuma maid know to bring you only sweet things if that Akuma maid can't go back to tell them?"

Everyone paused, blinking, and Skinn's shoulders slumped in realization. "I...never really thought of that..."

"Woah, Heart, you're smart!" Road giggled, perching on the back of her chair.

The small boy smiled. "Thank you, Miss Road."

"Oh, non of that." She waved a hand, dismissing the thought. "Just call me "Road," or "Sis," okay?"

Heart giggled. "Okay, Road."

They were just sitting down when the doors burst open and in rushed one Cyril Kamelot, looking quite frayed. "I'm here, everyone!~ Oh, I hope I'm not too late!"

"No, no, Cyril, you're just in time!" The Earl grinned, propping his elbows on the table top. "I was just sending for the food. Sit down, why don't you?"

"But of course, Lord Millennium!" Cyril gushed, seating himself next to Lulubell and beaming at Road. "Hey sweetie. Ho's by cute, adorable daughter doing this fine evening?"

Road giggled madly. "She's still excited about meeting her newest little brother, Daddy!"

"Oh, well that's just wonderful—wait, new brother?" Cyril broke off his dreamy smile and took a moment to look around the table for a new face. When he came upon the small, white-clad and snowy haired five-year old—physically—boy who sat by Lord Millennium, he froze, and gaped open-mouthed.

"...Um, Cyril?" Tyki looked slightly worried for his brother, who had been, as of now, staring in silence at Heart for the past three minutes. "Hello? You okay?"

". . . Good Lord, that angel is positively adorable!" Cyril gasped, coming out of his daze. Heart giggled again, and the prime minister's eyes looked as if they were ready to pop into little heart shapes at any given moment.

Road pouted slightly. "Cuter than me?" She asked in an almost teasing manner.

"Yes." Cyril breathed without hesitation, and the entire table froze in shock. "I must adopt him. He'd be the cutest, most adorable and innocent son in the universe!"

No one said anything for a minute or two, contemplating this new discovery. Road was frozen in place, smile gone, staring at her adoptive father with an expressionless face, as if she couldn't comprehend what had just happened. After a while, though, she gave a feeble grin, and said, "Well, it's true. He'd make an adorable brother, as well. Go for it, Daddy!" She turned to Heart, who was watching the whole thing with a curious look on his cherub-like face. "Is that okay, Heart? Will you let Daddy adopt you? Please, oh please, oh please?"

The small child's eyes were wide. "A-Adopt? Me?"'

"Yes, of course!" Cyril burst. "Yes yes yes! Will you let me? Please?" He swept a hand into the case by his foot and pulled out a stack of papers, sliding them across the table towards the boy. "Please?" He begged.

"O-Okay..." Heart breathed, thunderstruck. It was as if he couldn't believe that they would ask him such a question—as if it was an honor, just like that. "Okay."

Cyril and Road squealed happily, clapping their hands. "Ooh, thank you, thank you!" They cheered.

After Cyril re-collected the papers he'd strewn across the table, Akuma servants brought out platters of food and set them on the surface before their masters.

"So, Millennie," Road lifted a spoon up to her mouth and sniffed it. "Why'd ya call us all here? Was it to meet adorable little Heart?"

Heart smiled and giggled again as Cyril took a few deep breaths to regain his composer, only to lose it all over again once he glanced at his new son.

"Can't we all just get together once in a while to have a family dinner and talk?" The Earl asked, feigning hurt.

Road cheered, stretching her arms toward the ceiling. "Of course! OH! Family activities include helping the cutie girl with her homework, right?" She clasped her hands and batted her eyelashes at them, ignoring her brother's groans, and Lulubell's slight roll of the eyes. And Jasdero... Well, Road wasn't sure what gender Jasdero was.

Heart reached forward and hesitantly grabbed a plate of Onigiri. It was licked clean in three seconds flat, but it appeared Lulubell was the only one who had noticed, and she stared at him with slightly widened eyes.

"No, Road." Tyki moaned. "I'm not going to "help" you with your homework. Why don't you do it yourself for a change?"

"Becauuuse!" His sister whined. "It's too hard! I don't know how! I'm too busy with all these incognito missions to go to school and actually learn and stuff! It's a perfectly fine excise, right Daddy?"

"Mhm," Cyril nodded his head as he shuffled through his breifcase. "Anything you say, Road, my darling."

Heart looked back at the Earl, who was caught up in watching Jasdevi argue over the chicken, and snatched up a bowl of sushi. It, too, was gone in record time. Lulubell's, who was still alone in her observations, eyes widened a bit more.

"It's not sweet," Skinn muttered to himself sorrowfully, holding his head in oversized hands. "It's never sweet..."

Soon, a plate of ribs disappeared, and then the honey bread, and then the plate of the main dish. Lulubell's eye grew larger and larger with each emptied plate until she was sure her eyes would pop out of her sockets.

"I found it first." Devitto groaned, socking his brother(sister?) in the shoulder. He reached for the chicken, but Jasdero grabbed his wrist.

"No, no, I did, Devitto! Me!" The golden-haired Noah insisted, that ever-present smile on his(her?) face.

"I'm pretty sure it was me." Devitto growled out.

"And you think I know how to do it?" Tyki asked incrediously. "I'm not a mathematican, Road! Why don't you ask the Earl? He's the genius of the family!"

"Oh, right! Millennie!" Road swung around her chair to gaze up at the Earl adoringly. "Please, oh please, oh please, oh please, could you? Oh please oh please oh—"

The Earl chuckled at her antics. "Of course, my dear. Just show me the textbooks and I'll get right to it."

"Oh, thank you!~" Road cackled, throwing her arms around the elder's neck.

"Good riddance," Tyki muttered, going back to his book.

"It's not sweet..."

"I found it first!"

"Yo, where'd all the food go?" Devitto suddenly piped up, noticing the distinct lack of plates set on the table. The other looked down in surprise and saw that, yes, it was empty of all meals; where indeed had the food gone? Had the Akuma taken it away? But they hadn't ordered them too...

"Lulu's eyes are gonna pop out if they get any wider," Skinn observed, waving a hand in front of his sister's face. "Hey, Lulu, what you staring at—"

There was a loud clatter near the Earl's and Road's seats, and everyone turned in surprise to see Heart, sitting in all his innocent cuteness, beaming at them with those wide, silver eyes, surrounded by tall stacks of empty plates towering up from the floor. The lone plate that sat on the table in front of him had just been licked clean. "Mmm!~"

Their jaws all dropped simultaneously. Skinn ramble over to the child and lifted him in his large glove-like hands and held him up in the air, turning him this way and that—as if he thought that if the boy was in better light, he'd see how Heart had gobbled up the entire feast all by his lonesome little self. "Where does it all go?" The tall, bulky Noah asked, perplexed.

Heart giggled, kicking his feet through the air. He looked down at his newly appointed big brother and grinned joyously, patting his stomach. "Innocence likes food." He told them.

Earl was silent for a moment, before he burst into laughter. Soon, the rest of them joined him, even if Lulubell only gave a quiet chuckle, and Heart was giggling more than he had in a long time.

Really, he can't remember ever being this happy.

-E-S-

Ehhhh, okay for a first chapter, I guess. I wanted to spend more time on it, but I think I should catch up on my Zs first. It was gonna be longer than the seven pages it is now, but I really couldn't think of how to go ahead from that moment without flipping to another chapter. Anyway, I hope it got along well with you guys. Please REVIEW if you liked (or hated) what you read!~

~EpikalStorms*