*KICKS DOWN DOOR* Okay, a couple things before we start.

First, Sara-Matta over on DeviantArt has done a drawing over Skullen and I've put a link of it on my profile.

Second, I'm studying abroad in Europe for the next few months. I'll make a conscious effort to keep on track (attempting one update per story a month? Does that sound fair to everyone?) but Imma mainly be spending my time in classes or, ya know, exploring Europe. - I have so many regrets

Third, I wrote this after my dinner-date with Satan.

Fourth, you're gonna need a tissue, fam – or some popcorn. I'm not picky.

Finally, I don't own D. Gray Man, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, or any of the quotes you might find.

Warnings – Off-screen death, Allen has a breakdown – like, Miharu level stuff here, a shit ton of daddy issues, an identity crisis or two, and Luce.

"I'm done," Skull decided. "I'm done and tired. No more. Someone up there strike me down 'cause this was my last straw!"

The Ark sky above him, the deep unfathoming blue of the ocean's depths blocked by the false sun and pearly clouds, shined on undisturbed.

"It is only a squirrel, nephew," Neah said, amused.

Skull combed both hands, gloved in the suit Johnny so kindly made him and left behind, through his purple dyed hair and gave three sharp tugs.

"I need to draw a line in the sand somewhere, Neah," Skull mumbled, trying to smother himself with his pudgy little baby hands. "A squirrel carrying a letter with my name on it. What is my life."

"The handwriting is rather familiar," Neah noticed.

Skull froze. "…don't tell me Ginevra is sending me rabid squirrels to accompany her threats now."

Neah chuckled. "No, nephew, it is not the Lion-Tamer. Rather, it looks to be from the Seer."

Skull stared at nearest window, where his uncle's reflection grinned. He looked back down at the small orange squirrel as it chittered at him, even with his thighs. It waved the letter at his nose insistently.

"Nope," Skull decided. "No, not this time, Satan-spawn."

"That is a bit rude," Neah said, another chuckling spilling over. "The squirrel never did anything to you."

"The last time I got a letter I got turned into a baby, Neah. I really don't want to know what'll happen next time."

"Mayhaps she can break it?" Neah suggested. "Or she knows where your Illusionist is currently located."

"Or she'll steal my body and go on a crime spree before leaving me to face justice – wait."

"There is little harm in at least reading the letter and seeing what the Seer wants from you."

"I hate it when you make sense," Skull informed his piggy-backer. He graciously took the letter from the persistent squirrel. He felt Neah hovering behind his eyes, closer to the surface than he usually dared, and tore out the single slip of paper.

It was bordered and perfumed, colored a faint rusty orange. A stamp, similar to that five-leafed orange flower tattoo adorning Luce's check, was pressed before her signature. The ink was a deep blue that did nothing to sooth the irritation the words created.

Allen,

I hope Cosmo reached your side in good health. He is such a curious creature, appearing from my pacifier just a year ago.

Unfortunately, this is not a letter of greeting. While I desire to know what you have learned over the last four years, there are matters I must discuss with your post-haste. Please, it is imperative you arrive at my location immediately.

Best regards,

Luce

Sky Arcobelano

Eighth Boss of the Giglio Nero Familigia

"She sends a squirrel to the bottom of the ocean to dig a hole in my Ark, to invite me over for tea?" Skull said, bemused. He shook his head. He didn't have the time – or the patience – to deal with Luce's nonsense. He still had Johnny's letter asking him to appear for some experiments (there was mentions of a 'legendary scientist' Johnny was teaming up with and it sounded too true to be merely a coincidence – not that Skull, or even Allen for that matter, believed in coincidences). He had to check in on Lavina and then Hayato, now turning two years old and still entirely clueless as to his bastard heritage. He had to practice his flames into perfection, until he equaled the force of an army.

(Lavina named him Hayato's godfather and wasn't that horrible? Skull could barely protect himself, never mind friends like Johnny or Kanda or Link. How could he ever protect a baby?)

There wasn't time for Luce's mind-games. (There wasn't enough stability, either.)

"You have five minutes, nephew, to spare for a woman with all the answers," Neah said.

"Half the answers," Skull refuted. "And even less tact. She's bane on humanity."

"Answers we still need," Neah insisted. "Where did Flames come from? What are their connection to Innocence? And Dark Matter? Why did she help call us all together and curse us to this weakened form? How was the Acquaintance the Gale mentioned connected? And, most importantly, how can you get in contact with your comrades once again?"

"I don't need to contact all of them," Skull denied. He ripped up the paper, the squirrel, Cosmo?, chittering and squeaking in distress as it tried to stop him. Left with off-white confetti littering his Ark, Skull did nothing as Cosmo gathered the remains and almost cradled them. "And I don't need her help to find answers. Johnny's on top of it all, he's the smartest guy I know."

"No matter who you are," Neah reasoned. "Help is always appreciated."

"But the help of a known liar?" Skull crossed his arms and leaned against the nearest wall, keeping his stare on the window where the shadow of his uncle leered out from.

"Her words will be taken with a grain of salt," Neah assured him. His reflection clasped hands behind his back, its head bowed to keep proper eye contact with his smaller counterpart. "But meeting with her is a necessary step to moving forward. Not only does she promise answers, speaking with her brings closure to your animosity. I dislike the Seer's presence and inability to understand respectful censorship as much as so. However, hatred will only breed hatred."

"Says the man whose dream is to murder the Earl and has systematically ruined all I have worked for over six years with one decision." Skull regretted it almost immediately. It was true, of course, but he usually has the restraint to never say so out loud. Playing the blame game solved nothing. And Neah felt remorseful for his part in destroying the life Allen managed to build himself after Mana's death.

Neah didn't speak for a moment.

"You are right," Neah consented. "I am not a role model for you to fashion yourself after. I never aimed to be. That does not mean you are not. Formerly an Exorcist – one of the strongest – and now an Arcobelano, you are in a position of power over others. How you use this power, how you act, and how you treat others…the underworld will eventually see and judge you for it."

"Yeah, I get it." Skull finally looked away. "More flies with honey than with vinegar." That was Allen's gig, though.

"Not necessarily. I am simply saying pulling away from a powerful ally offering an olive branch when you already are planning the world's longest game of cat and mouse with three other factions is not advised."

"You're a smug bastard, you know that?" Skull turned to the squirrel and sighed. "Alright, show us the way to Her Majesty's side, Cosmo."

(He hoped Timcampy was up to babysitting Oodako again. There was no way he was letting Luce, possible tentative truce or not, anywhere near either of them.)

"You're dying," Skull noted, sliding into the room from the open window. (He saw those guns. There was no way he was risking a gun to his face by being polite and knocking on the first door like an idiot.) He didn't bother with illusioning himself into someone more official looking. It was Luce and he wanted to incite any modicum of guilt his miniature body might ignite in her puss-filled heart.

He plopped down at the vacant chair beside Luce's bedside. Cosmo darted ahead of him, clambering up the bedpost to curl up beside Luce's tiny hand. She was pale, her skin stretched tight over her face. Her breathing was slow and deep, but sporadic, as if she forgot how. She looked fragile, like a single gush of air would tear her tuned in for a moment, trying to see past the physical. Her song pittered off at times, the volume dipping and rising at odd intervals.

"Not just yet," Luce assured him with a wry curl to her smile. Her voice was still strong – confident – no matter how weak she appeared. Skull guessed it made sense.

Her power was in her words, not her body.

"Not until we discuss matters," Luce added.

Skull dropped his head onto his hand, cupping his chin with a put-upon sigh. "Must we?"

Luce's eyes, dull and fatigued, sharpened. "I have never lied to you, Allen. Not once. I might not be your Sky, as I am Reborn's and Lal's and even Viper's, but I ask that you please heed my words."

"It's funny," Skull said. He watched how her fist, pale and clammy, shake as she clenched it around her comforter. "That you never lied to the one person who never trusted you."

"We don't have time, Allen –"

"Then make time. Explain to me why you damned people who pledged themselves to you, who loved you. I can't trust anything you say until I know why you did all of this."

"That can wait, Allen, I want to know why you are avoiding your comrades."

Skull paused, pursing his lips. "Are all Skies so arrogant or is it just you?" Luce opened her mouth, indignant. Skull sat up straight and cut his hand downwards. "No, it's always about you. Your wants, your plans, your benefits. Is this something prevalent in all Skies? I can't see why such strong people – Reborn, Lal, Fon, Viper – why any one of them search for years for one of you. Do you ever think about someone else?"

"Allen –"

"I have to say, Mom, I want to know the answer to that as well."

Skull jolted and twisted around. A young girl – on the cusp of being a teenager, maybe thirteen years old – stood in the threshold. Skull looked back and forth between Luce and the girl, marking the similarities easily.

"Mom? Luce has been keeping secrets. But, then," the Noah mused. "When is she not?"

"Aria, I told you to stay in your room," Luce said, an undertone of frustration obvious to Skull only because he made it his goal at the cabin to aggravate the 'all-knowing, all-powerful' Sky until she yelled. In private of course. He was many things, but he wasn't needlessly suicidal.

"I wanted to get to know my godfather," Aria remarked, almost flouncing into the bedroom. "I keep dreaming of him."

"Aria," Luce attempted. Aria smiled, a wide expression Skull expected to see on Fon – or Allen – more than the daughter of a woman whose smiled blandly, as if staring at a single grain of rice. Luce held for a moment, but sighed after a moment. "Very well."

Aria cheered and threw herself onto her mother's deathbed, rolling until she was on her stomach as she kicked her legs into the air.

"I am thinking of you right now, Allen," Luce confessed. Skull crinkled his nose and exchanged a disbelieving look with Aria. Yeah, no. "You are running from your past, Allen. Do you honestly believe you can elude them for much longer? Six years was a miracle already."

"A miracle I worked hard to maintain." Skull leaned back in his chair, his legs spread out on the chair with him. Luce apparently didn't invest in baby-sized furniture. Skull couldn't shrug off the feeling it was another power play.

"A miracle that you stumbled onto," Luce corrected. Skull sneered and made to fire back. Luce cut him off. "No, Allen, don't even try to deny it. You are lucky in a way you refuse to understand – but luck won't keep you alive."

Skull was living on luck – luck and a promise. Luce didn't know what she was talking about. Skull doubted she ever really did. Seeing the future did not mean understanding it.

(Allen watched Mana get turned into an akuma, a nightmare set on repeat for months, years, but he was no closer to knowing how an akuma is truly made. Luce saw Allen, maybe, but she never took the time to know him.)

"We can help you," Luce continued, her voice cracking and falling apart, as if she really cared for even a second.

Skull looked away from her, to the teenager watching with a smile and hint of steel in her eyes – a steel Skull saw in Luce too, but Luce was tarnished. Aria was still shining as bright as Lenalee. "Can you do what she does?" Skull asked, jerking a thumb at the dying woman. Luce squawked, trying to disrupt the impending conversation.

Aria pursed her lips to smother her grin. "Yeah, exactly the same. Like we're twins."

"What do you think?"

Aria didn't bother to hide her grin this time. "You're asking the daughter of the woman who screwed you over?"

"I'm calling in a friend for a second opinion," Skull corrected. Aria took a moment to look him over, bemused.

Did everyone think he was stupid? It wasn't like he missed her 'godfather' comment!

(Oh god, he was collecting children now. Someone send for help if he became another General Tiedoll.)

"Mom's right," Aria said, neutral. Skull waited for her to explain while Luce lit up like it was Christmas. "She's bouncing around it, but you'll be safer with actual mafia connection rather than lurking around your Ark like an albino bat. It's not like the Earl can't track the Ark's activation every time you leave for food."

"The Earl isn't actively seeking me out," Skull argued.

"No, I suppose he's not," Aria acquitted, resting her head in her folded arms.

"But Apocryphos is always around the corner," Luce jumped back in, determined to win her nth victory against Skull's sanity. "Having your comrades at your side can only be a benefit."

"Link is dead." Skull could feel that admission in his heart, a stab with an invisible knife. "I'm not someone who stands on top a mountain of corpses."

"Now you're being childish," Luce said. "Which is more important then, your promise or your comrades?"

Skull knew the answer. It was easy as breathing, because it shouldn't even be a question.

"Her answer is different," Neah spoke up. "What are the lives of people she has watched die already?"

Skull wondered if that was mafia, or if that was simply Luce. Luce, who was a Sky, precious and sought after and raised to some sort of godhood because of how she was born. Skull saw less and less reason to listen to this Flame business with each passing day. The extra power of his Cloud Flames was helpful, he could admit, but the additions were…a bit archaic.

"Okay Luce," Skull said, spreading his arms with a flourish and a grin. "What would you have me do?"

"Meet with Reborn, Lal, Verde, Viper, Colonello, Fon – show a unified force. You might not be friends, but you have all worked together. They can protect you from your enemies, because your enemies are their enemies."

"I can agree with three out of six – Verde, Viper, Fon, and I are as close to being friends as I can allow myself right now. But Reborn, Lal, and Colonello? One I barely know and the other two delight in my suffering," Skull disagreed, crossing his arms again.

"Suffering and torture are two completely different things, Allen," Luce said, her eyes almost glowing as she stared at Skull. "Tragedy makes lasting connections, however. Even if those three were not your friends before, the Arcobelano is a collective matter. An attack on one, is an attack on all."

"That's not how that works." Skull restrained the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It was as good as admitting defeat in the face of Luce's logic.

"Isn't it?" She was smug, her lips curled in an infuriating smile. The knowing tint to her glowing eyes was maddening.

Skull sighed. "Fine, okay, say we're all officially so attached to a title thrust upon us unwillingly and connected through your twisted version of pre-meditated fate. How am I going to get in contact with my new BFFsies?"

Luce waved her hand at her bedside table's drawer dismissively. Skull didn't bother moving. He wasn't going to embarrass himself by jumping to open a drawer. Not in front of Luce.

Aria rolled her eyes and leaned over, rummaging around the drawer before dropping a black book on his lap. Her self-appointed task completed, she flopped back down on the bed, observing the book with unrestrained interest. Skull gave her a distracted 'thank you'.

Skullen eyed the small black book warily, flipping it around in his hands as if the cover offered answers to all his questions. "You'd never do something this helpful," he decided without opening the book. He could doubt Luce's intentions all day, but she wasn't wrong. Luce never lied to him. "Not for free."

"In exchange, I want you to watch over Aria," Luce said.

"Mom!" Aria yelped, aghast, sitting straight up again. "I'm old enough to take care of myself."

"The Mafia is a boy's club," Luce spat out, spiteful and angry in a righteous way Skull recognized from Lenalee's bitter smiles and Klaud Nine's cold glares – from Miranda's hesitant hope.

Skull didn't deny her claim.

"They will tear her apart and foist their expectations on her," Luce steam-rolled over her daughter's attempts at protest. "Don't let them ruin her."

The 'like they ruined me' was spoken louder than words. Skull didn't want to even imagine what even a trusted Family would do to a young overly powerful girl, not to mention an Arcobelano.

He might not subscribe to Viper's explanation of Guardians and desirable Skies, but leaving a girl with power alone was asking for trouble.

There was a distant scream from down stairs. Skull checked over his shoulder, feeling the muscles in his back tense. Something was wrong.

Neither Luce or Aria reacted.

Skull shook it off. "You want me to check up on your teenage daughter in exchange for information?" he clarified.

"I want you to Bond with my daughter," Luce said.

Skull laughed. Luce didn't even twitch as he gasped for breath, his sides aching. Aria looked just as amused. "Oh, that was beautiful." Skull wiped away a tear. "But, seriously, you want me to babysit her on the weekends or what?"

"I want you to Bond with my daughter," Luce repeated. "You are the strongest Cloud in the world, Allen. To keep her safe, I want you at her side – always."

The screams downstairs doubled in volume – perfectly reflecting Skull's inner thoughts as he looked Luce straight in the eyes and said, "No."

"Allen –" Luce tried.

"I'm not his Sky, Mom," Aria cut in. "And I'm not going to be."

"I'm not going to be anyone's Cloud."

"That's what they all say," Luce refuted. "Being Aria's Cloud will be less painful, Allen. The two of you can take care of each other."

"I think this conversation rounds back to the central question – since when were we friends?" Skull said, his jaw clenched and his eyes blazing.

"Nephew," Neah warned, his voice as distant as the screams and the background songs that were cut off with each second Skull sat with the two Skies.

"I owe you absolutely nothing," Skull continued. "And yet, you seem to act as if you never did anything wrong and you have a right to my life. It's really starting to piss me off."

"Who then?" Luce asked, her smile nauseatingly amused. The screams were loud enough that there was no way the two couldn't hear. "Who has a 'right'? If left to your own devices, Allen, you would just keep running. Always one step ahead of your enemies but still four steps behind. When are you going to turn around and face them?"

The screams escalated and Skull froze.

Two unfamiliar songs were downstairs.

The songs were so different from Aria's – a piano melody of rain – and Luce's – the rise and fall of a ride cymbal. One was a child's smash of sound, crammed together without any understanding of rhythm or beat. The louder one was a cacophony of screams – mothers crying for their children, fathers bellowing in rage, a child whimpering.

They rang through his head, loud and pulsating in a way Skull recognized from Luce, and Neah choked, startled. Skull gave a full-body twitch, the screams downstairs cutting off abruptly.

"What did you do?"

"Promise me, Allen," Luce demanded, a fevered tint to her stare. "Promise me you'll look after Aria."

The songs tangled together, pushing and shoving at each other, and underneath their disordered melody, Skull heard something even more chilling.

GIVEHIMTOME HEISMINE

RETURNHIMTOME HEISMINE

Weweremeanttobeone

Wewereone

Hebelongstome ALLEN-CROWNCLOWN-INNOCENCE

Minefirst Togetherforever NEAH-ALLEN-BROTHER-OTHERHALF

"Luce, what did you do?" Skull repeated, his lips numb. He could feel cold terror gripping his heart. One…one would be hard enough.

Both? Against both, Skull would never survive, not even with his new abilities – largely untested in battle as they were.

"Mom…" Aria murmured, sitting up. "You went too far."

"I am thinking of you right now, Allen," Luce said. She was smiling, as if expecting praise. As if Skull should be happy his two most fearsome enemies were down the hall fighting over him.

"Nephew, we need to leave," Neah said. "If we are fast enough, we can leave before they notice us."

"ALLEN WALKER!" twin voices called. "ALLEN WALKER!"

Skull felt their Call in his bones.

(Skull wasn't like Allen or Red. He wasn't a complete overwrite, a flip between traumas. He was a hastily taped together paper-thin mask of traits, worn down and ripped with his poisonous past oozing out. His skin was fragile and his predecessors lurked just below the surface, as if sharks waiting for him to drown before jumping back into focus – control, that was what they all wanted. Skull was – Skull was temporary, and everyone knew it.)

Allen's arm burst into feathers, a purple mist dying the tips as the green brightened to eye-searing levels. His teeth ached as if he were seven years old again and struggling to keep up to Mana. His body might as well be on fire, each power within his body fighting each other.

He stood before two Skies, and his Flames crackled and popped to attention.

He felt the Earl's overbearing presence, tinted with insanity and a snowy day-it's cold-I'm so sad I could die and the Dark Matter deep inside his soul howled.

Apocryphos crooned and Crown Clown's leash tightened, snarling and whimpering.

Three forces of nature, three powers – three faces, three names.

Skull snatched control of his Flames and hopped off his chair.

"See, Allen," Luce said, looking paler and gaunter with every breath. How ever she had called them to her mansion, it was taking a toll on her. Skull tried to feel remorse, but he wasn't kind Allen with a soft hand for everyone in the world. (He wasn't Red, either, who hated and hated until it tore at his own heart. Skull was somewhere in between.) "You just needed the right push."

I needed an egotistical manipulative bitch, he didn't say. I needed another hundred years and an army, he didn't say. "You're going to die here," he said instead.

"Better here," Luce replied. "Than because of my own mistakes."

"You don't consider allowing two monsters to fight in your house, killing your subordinates and endangering your daughter, a mistake?"

"Not when I have my own monster to fight them for me," Luce said. "And what an entrance into the Underworld it will be, to be the savior of the Giglio Nero Family?"

And all she had to do, was let those who swore themselves to her die. Skull…really hated Luce and her little games.

"Mom," Aria said, looking pained.

Luce ignored her. "They are Calling you, Allen," she said, her look appreciative and almost hungry. "It would have been less painful if you had Bonded with Aria when I suggested."

Skull gritted his teeth, feeling like his body was being ripped apart. He latched onto Luce's words almost desperately – Neah was nothing more than a buzzing in his ear, drowning as the delicate balance within him became increasingly unstable.

'Calling'…?

Skull spat out a glob of blood, his tongue stinging from his attempt to restrain his scream. He huffed a laugh, tired and edging on pissed-the-fuck-off. "Figures those two are like you," he said. "Guess that answers my question. You're all arrogant as fuck." He slanted a look at Aria, who watched, distantly horrified and bewildered – as if something had changed from what she knew.

"Allen," Luce warned, her body almost becoming one with the mattress.

He scoffed, but spun on his heel, marching towards the door as if a chain were tugging him along. Oh, he really hated this Sky bullshit. He hated it.

(Technically…technically, he could escape. Call the Ark, maybe grab Luce and Aria, and vanish once again. Technically…The Call got louder and louder, thundering through his head until it felt like Sheryl's wires were operating his limbs and the memory of the white Ark, of safety and of Timcampy waiting with Oodaku shattered in a blinding flash of mineminemine cometome iwillprotect-love-POSSESSyou.)

"I knew you could do it, Allen," Luce said from behind him, her voice finally starting to sound faint.

"Mom?" Aria whispered.

"You're the hero, after all," Luce complimented. Skull clenched his fist – it sounded so much like a mockery of his promises. "You can save everyone."

"Everyone but myself, huh?" Skull asked, the tugging unbearable. He could hear his enemies screaming and fighting just downstairs, mere feet from him and his heart was in his throat.

His Flames ached.

And the two monsters that haunted Allen's nightmares burst through the stone floor, like the over-dramatic assholes they were.

Skull didn't move.

He didn't blink.

He didn't even breath.

Aria screamed, throwing herself off her mother's bed and towards the window Skull had entered through. Luce laughed and laughed, a whisper of amusement as her eyes dimmed. Skull couldn't hear her song over the cacophony assaulting him as The Earl and Apocryphos clashed.

He bet it would have been hard to hear even in a quiet room.

The monsters roared wordlessly, little more than beasts as they fought. Skull tried not to cower, tried to pull himself up and throw himself into battle – these were his enemies, who he has faced off against before. Apocryphos hurt Master Cross – not killed, never killed, Allen refused to believe that the Devil could be killed – and The Earl used Mana for his sick schemes. Skull could forgive neither of them and he needed to get off his ass and fight.

They flared their energy and nearly sent Skull into a tizzy. Aria curled herself behind a chair, a curtain pulled around her as if a shield.

Apocryphos – a Sky Flame undeniably – felt rusted and old, like mold and dust. Like a rotted corpse. The Earl felt old too, but heavy and sick, like oil and there was a strange secondary that Skull recognized as Dark Matter dripping from his Sky Flames as if consuming them.

Skull gagged on the abominations, his meticulously cultivated control shot.

The Earl held Apocryphos down, repetitively smashing its face into the floor and creating another hole. He didn't pause, smashing the sentient Innocence between his hands as if squashing a bug.

Apocryphos pushed back, cracking madly with green energy – Skull resolved to ask Johnny if all Innocence was Lightning or if the green was related to the tint of rot – as it struggled to free itself. It swiped with a green sparking clawed hand at The Earl's inhumanly large face.

Skull watched in horror as the face – a mask – cracked, splintering as The Earl launched Apocryphos away from him and into a wall with a snarl. Skull saw a sliver of Noah-grey and a single stigmata over a golden eye before The Earl body-slammed the Innocence, a hand clenched around its throat.

Apocryphos smiled and grinned and laughed, head butting the cracked mask as its hands weakened the hold at The Earl's elbow. The pieces clattered to the ground and for the first time, everything went quiet.

The two lashed out against each other, rage and an instinctual hatred for the other's mere existence throwing aside their meager rationality, but he heard none of it, his stare as frozen as his wrecked body.

The Earl pulled away from Apocryphos with the face of a man Allen loved.

The man who raised him.

The man who named him.

The man who's face he wore as if he carved off his own and he could feel it burning because Red made himself in this man's image – this man who tried to kill him again and again and who was his father.

Allen was dreaming.

Allen was dreaming because this was a lie, a nightmare.

This was a trick, because Mana was dead. Allen buried him beneath that tree with his own two hands and damned him the very next day.

It was a trick because Mana – confused, unstable, gentle Mana – died and the Earl brought him back for one second of misery.

It was a trick, a lie, an illusion to throw Allen off and he was falling for it because Mana.

"It's not, nephew, it's not. Please, nephew, breath. Please."

Allen couldn't breath. He couldn't think, he couldn't stand to so much as live with this lie latching itself to his heart and infecting him.

(Caring was a disease, a disease Red never caught and he refused to be taken down because one stupid clown was allergic to death. Or logic.)

"Nephew, breath, please, listen to me."

Allen choked, the pressure of the two Calling Sky Flames constricting around his throat as they Called – mineminemine. Allen couldn't think, his mind frozen on the image of Mana. He tried to reach out, begged for the cold callous anger of Red, who refused to fall.

(Allen forgot that Red was the first to trip into love, handing his heart over to Mana with a smile and a silent plea. Red never cared but oh, he wanted to.)

Allen scrambled at his heart, clawed at the gaping hole he offered to people like it was some sort of token and cried out. Mana, Mana, Mana – why was Mana standing before him, alive and smiling and so so terrible.

"Nephew, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please –"

Allen scrambled at his heart, his nails – black like the stigmata stamped proudly on Mana's forehead, a crown for those who knew – and caught on his cursed scar. He dug in, that sliver of pride, of love, of Mana aching in his barren heart because Mana gave him that, and he painted it red. Blood dripped into his eye, and he couldn't close it, no matter how much he wanted this lie to disappear.

He wanted his curse off, because Mana was a lie – he was sorry, so sorry, Mana, please don't – I love you, I love you, you saved me once.

"Sleep nephew, I'll protect you. I promise, I'll protect you."

Finally, finally, Allen's vision went black.

(Neah didn't bother with his brother. There would be time for that, for a big family reunion.

But not now, not with his precious nephew breaking into too many pieces.

His Dark Matter raised to the front, shoving aside the cackling Innocence – too volatile to help Neah, what with Apocryphos pulling on its leash – and the crying Flames, begging for that Harmonization the Illusionist preached like some sort of salvation.

Neah's nephew needed that, he knew, but not with these two and not with the Seer or her ilk. With someone strong, someone who could hold his nephew's pieces together without treating him like a child or a mental patient.

Of course, to Neah, no one was good enough for his precious nephew.

But that was neither here nor there. For his nephew to get better, Neah had to get them back to the Ark.

The Spawn peeked out from behind her chair, catching sight of Neah. She eyed the two opposing powers but crept out from her hiding place enough that Neah knew he couldn't leave her behind. An orange pacifier hung from her neck and The Seer's little black book was clasped in one hand.

Neah sighed, testing out his nephew's tiny body. The things he did for his family.)

Allen woke up.

"We're in your Ark," Aria said immediately. Curled up around him on his bed as she was, she noticed his abrupt awakening immediately. "Your uncle brought us here."

"Mana…" Allen breathed, feeling his curse scar throb with each breath.

"Your Earl," Aria said. "Mom mentioned he raised you, then abandoned you. You didn't know?"

Allen gritted his teeth, the prickle of tears a familiar and welcome distraction. He wanted to scream, to yell and rage and beat someone into the ground because Mana was alive and Mana was the Earl. "No."

Aria hummed, hesitated, but reached out and combed a hand through Allen's short purple-dyed hair. Allen leaned into it, her warmth soothing even as his Flames itched under his skin. Crown Clown was still immobile, stiff from Apocryphos' meddling, but Allen knew how to handle that.

Far better than he knew how to handle Mana.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked, the itching crawling down to his miniature feet and he felt the need to move, run, walk forward – keep going and going until everything made sense again.

He spent the majority of his life on the road. It was about time he returned to it.

"What?" Aria startled backwards, pulling away.

"Where do you want to go?" Allen repeated. "I can't stay here right now. Not here." Not at Mana's former Ark – where Mana almost killed him, where Mana tried to kill his friends, where Allen tried to kill Mana with all the hatred in his cracked and bleeding heart.

"I'm the daughter of the women who trapped you in that form," Aria argued, tense and expectant. As if she preferred if Neah had left her behind in a corpse-ridden burning house. "Why are you wasting time trying to save me?"

"I'm not one to judge someone for their parents," Allen said. His smile, wide and empty, caught on an edge.

Not that he could talk about egotistical, homicidal, lying parents – who tried to murder their child. Who forgot their child. Who grinned and strangled him, as if he never held Red close and loved him. As if Mana didn't know who he was.

It was enough to drive the street rat insane.

"Let me, nephew," Neah reached out, hesitant.

Allen held the smile, more from years of experience than any form of strength. "Did you know?"

Aria said nothing, eyeing him patiently.

"Nephew," Neah said. He didn't elaborate. His silence was deafening.

"Neah, did you know?"

Allen felt Neah pull back, into the furthest corner of his mind. His left hand twanged.

Allen turned the smile on Aria. She stared back at the void, her eyes dull. "You're not Luce, no matter what anyone might have told you otherwise. You're Aria and you're, apparently, my goddaughter. So, do you want to come with me willingly or do I need to kidnap the heir to an affluent mafia family?"

Just another crime to the list. Right next to property damage, traitor, and son of the Millennium Earl, genocidal terrorist extraordinaire.

Allen took a deep breath and reigned it all in. There was a time and a place – Skull knew that better than Allen did. Skull learned that from Red and Red knew that from the circus and the streets. Skull had no parents and only enough friends to count one hand.

Skull was, in the end, the best decision Allen made – because, oh, taking Mana's hand was Red's best and Allen's worst.

Skull fixed the smile, patched together the fractures in his heart with a band-aid, and offered Aria his hand.

Aria hesitated. And then, with a knowing look down at him, accepted.

(eeeeeeeRRRUGHGHHHHHHH! I hate this so so much!)

I got all teary-eyed knowing what I was gonna write for this chapter but started cackling when I actually sat down. This…this might just be my favorite chapter. Even if, like usual, it didn't come out like I wanted it to.

I get the itchy feeling some plot points I had in the original were forgotten in this version but I can't seem to think of them right now. Might edit them in later or deus ex machina them when necessary. (Seriously just tempted to rewrite this entire chapter later though, CAUSE eeeeeeeRRRRUUUGGGHHHHHH!)

…should Skull have actually fought? I feel like I should have had Skull jump right the fuck into battle like 'SCREW THIS, RAWR' but the song thing and the, ya know, Calling kinda messes with him. Heads up, Luce never actually tried to Call Skull to be her Guardian. Like, this is Apocryphos and The Earl – subconsciously – Calling him and disabling basically all his abilities other than Dark Matter – which is 'poisoned' Flames in case you didn't catch that. Imma equate it to being hit by a truck then run over by a mob…or how Mufasa felt when he died…probably should have still had him fight though – "dammit how is he supposed to be badass if he's on the sidelines all the time" (by, ya know, living. That's usually a good starting point. Maybe seeing a therapist or a doctor, too. For the stacked traumas and the hybrid-baby-possibly immortal political pawn things. Ya know, normal things.)

I'm really getting into my Flame/Innocence lore.

*squints off to the side* I can't recall off the top of my head if Allen knows Mana is the Earl yet? I know he knows Mana and Neah are brothers, but I gotta tell you, I am waiting for the revelation like you don't even know.

I had a joke about Skull being a Disney princess with the hoard of animals seemingly appearing out of nowhere (he wanted to know who decided this nonsense, why, and how much the royalties on his movie/story were cause he wanted a cut dammit). I, sadly, deleted it when I realized it fell flat and didn't really match the timeline. I already have enough time inconsistencies without making it unnecessarily hard on myself. (Yeah, I know Disney movies like Snow White were out as early as the 1930s, but this joke implies a precedent built over multiple movies and decades.)…Skull is still a Disney Princess in my mind though, that's never going away.

(Luce…not even your own daughter believes your bullshit. Oh well, she's dead now, it really doesn't matter.)

I'm styling Cosmo after Ratatoskr (Norse mythology) – mainly in the 'get anywhere' aspect more than the insult everyone (I dunno, I bet his chitters are some pretty inappropriate things only Luce can understand, ya never know.)

I just kidnapped Aria. I don't think you understand how much I can mess with canon with this one move. It's gonna get beautiful.

(I'm adding the Mana-and-Neah are the Earl plot, but Imma skip on the Past!Allen shtick, btdubs.)

Guest Reviews:

Nyan teh kat – Yeah, that's probably for the best, hun. I can confirm my plot bunnies can get violent…at least with me. They seem to like other people well enough (those vicious traitor, the lot of them).

S - Haha, sorry about that, I guess! I'm glad it was worth it though. Ah, possibly because we automatically hike their ages either to match our own to make it more personable or to make somethings that happen a bit more acceptable - anyone younger than me fighting the forces of evil makes me think of my younger siblings facing this shit and thats unacceptable? (could also be the physical forms of the character in no way match those of anyone their age, so we match them better in headcanons to what we see than to what we are told, i dunno.) I would fight people for a story like that. And have them be main characters, cause I am so tired of awesome female characters who can do so much for the story/plot being relegated to the sidelines cause of egos. Allen sets a goal - how he gets there is up in the air...kinda like Luffy. I dunno, I rewatched some of the episodes - Allen wasn't thinking of anything other than murder when he attacked the Earl in the Ark. He's a goal-oriented kinda guy. Oooo, I like that - he's reactionary. Yeah, Allen's reactionary. Oh, if you happen to remember the name of the story, I would love to read it! For the entertainment value and to understand the differences from another point of view, of course. Right? It's hard and frustrating and I have no idea why i do this to myself when i could probably hand-wave it. Haha, it is fun to watch, yeah. Okay, but in defense of Skullen, he's used to demonic machines trying to kill him and lolita-secretly midaged-little girls kissing him after almost killing his friends. They don't have cute octopi popping out of magical deaging pacifiers at the Order. No, they have Second Exorcists instead. Oodaku wins best girl every time. Right? I debated for a bit on throwing him to the Estraneo and having him basically adopt Mukuro and the other kids, taking them to bond with Skullen and such but I felt he'd actually not lose his faith in humanity with the Bovino. Cause I need to protect Johnny, even as I throw a bus or two at Skullen (okay, I'll admit, it's more like a dozen buses but he's strong, he'll survive it). *squints off to the side* Eh, it was kinda foreshadowing for this chapter more than everything. Like, a quiet look-out shits up. Not that Skullen has much direct contact with the Earl...meh. Oh, that's next chapter! I mean, other than Luce...ha. *cough* but it's such a satisfying sentence to say. It is Lavina! I mean...we have a bit of time before she dies. Not much, but I mean, there's that? Lavina might actually have been my favorite person to write? there's just so much more me to work with and she's wonderful, i love it. (...i mean, maybe? I might.) *cough* Skullen's heart is arguably his biggest strength and his greatest weakness at the same time. Skullen has so many regrets, but Oodaku will probably not be one...unless she kidnaps a child. (Skullen will take all the strays. All of them.) Ah, you have a good point. Haha, thank you!...it didn't. It...really really didn't.

Colors - Oodaku wins the prize for best girl every time.

Guest (1) - They really really are, its amazing. Dude, you can't tell me you wouldn't be completely done. Skull is one strange phenomenon away from becoming an actual hermit crab and hiding himself at the bottom of the sea (haha, exact that he already is. And he still can't escape all this nonsense.) If you got it, flaunt it, am I right or am I right? Oh yeah, Skullen is bascially gonna unwillingly become General Tiedoll. It's great. He's gonna have a bunch of kids trailing him like ducklings - kinda like most of my stories? - but this time he really didn't plan for this at all. So, yeah, he's gonna have a part to play in Gokudera's life. We'll see him for a sec next chapter actually! Yeah, he's been developing his Noah abilities on the side. Or rather, they've been steam-rolling over him and he's trying to keep up. But, like his sensitivity to Flames, he tends to ignore it unless he's looking for something - Gokudera and Lavina's health being a good example. He's worked to make it all background noise so he's not overly distracted in battles or just trip up when walking to the store. Haha, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

KK - So much angst. It's beautiful. Yeah, I did! I threw me for a bit, but I was too overjoyed with the show to be too bothered by it. It does fit with this story though, you're right! Hm, I'm too tired after this monstrosity, but I can see about adding a cut-scene at the end of the next chapter if that works for you? He's just gonna accidentally wiggle his way into everyone's good graces like the lost puppy he is, its great. Ah, thank you! Wait, holy shit, you're right, oh my gosh.

Guest (2) - Thank you! I'm glad you think so!

CoO - Aw, you're making me blush! Haha, I'm glad you're enjoying my work and I'm sorry about the long delay in updating.

AmberHunter - Haha, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Ah, I definitely will, don't worry. Though, I hope you weren't waiting for too long...

LillianBlake - Oh, thank you! Haha, I'm glad you like it. I'm decreasing the time the Arcobelano were cursed to 15 years for my own sake, but yeah, there will definitely be more time skips. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long! Haha, don't worry about being pushy. Sometimes I need a push or a shove off a cliff or something to get working.

Guest (3) - Thank you! Haha, I'm glad you enjoy it so far!

Guest (4) - ...*squints off to the side* because I'm lazy and suffer from writers block more often than not?

Matsuki Sakata - Haha, I'm glad! Pish, of course he is! I mean, he gonna unwilling be the godfather to a couple of kids, somehow becoming KHR's version of General Tiedoll and constantly question his choices in life that led up to this, but yeah, he's Gokudera's godfather and eventual guardian. *kicks down door* I might actually cry if someone wrote a reaction/reading fic of this story, I kid you not. Like, I'm a blubbering mess already with these reviews and the artwork, you guys don't even know. Ah, thank you for reading and reviewing!

Ha. Haha. Ha. I am not ready for the next chapter.

Like, so many people are gonna be in it.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this ridiculously long chapter!

(Oh gosh, it's 4 am. I wash my hands of this for the night. I am going to bed, good night and good bye.)