††Chapter III††

Allen and Ciel stood over the body of a brunette named James. The teenager held his fist to his chin as he observed the torn cloth, bruised skin, and bite wounds.

"Look at the bites," he commented, kneeling down beside the body. He held up an arm in order to show it off more accurately.

"What of it?" Ciel had a snobbish tone but nonetheless paid attention.

"If a dog were to bite and the person didn't react, the marks left behind would look exactly like this." Allen dropped the arm and frowned. "But James had struggled."

"Your point?"

"If someone were to struggle against a dog on their arm, the skin would have been torn. With that fact and the lack of blood, I'd say that this 'dog' or whatever had bitten him after he had died." Curious, Allen looked at the leash around James' neck. After a moment of hesitation, he tried to slip his finger in between the leash itself and the skin. The leash refused to budge a centimeter.

"Strangulation." Staring somberly at James' face, Allen sighed and murmured under his breath. "I hope your soul remains free."

"Stand back! Don't touch!"

Allen got to his feet as the growing crowd parted to make room for Henry Barrymore. He stopped when he saw the body.

"I see... It was James then. He was the bad dog."

"Yes," an old man off to the side had agreed. "He broke the legal restriction on dog ownership. He had six dogs; one more than he was allowed."

"A sixth dog? Then this was inevitable."

"James died because he had a sixth dog," Allen demanded. "Isn't that a bit much?"

"The village is under my rule and no other," Henry had shot back. "The Demon Hound protects that rule and is the Guardian of the Barrymore family and punishes anyone and everyone who dares to challenge me!"

The villagers than began to chant on how the white dog was a good dog and the black dog was bad. As they did so, they put James' body on a stretcher.

"Then I challenge you!"

Everyone fell silent in surprise and all eyes landed on the teenager. Even Henry momentarily became flabbergasted.

"What?"

"I, Allen Walker..." He spoke slowly and clearly, as though talking to a child. "Challenge you, Henry Barrymore. If the Demon Hound comes for me, I'll kill it and free these villagers from a control freak who thinks himself to be equal to God."

Henry became red in the face, spluttering nonesense before finding his tongue.

"We'll see, boy. We'll see if you can survive tomorrow night."

And with that, he stalked off. Allen's shoulders slumped as he watched the man go.

"You just kicked the hornet's nest," Road commented as people had begun to clear off. "With an angel by his side, anything is now possible for that human."

"You don't think that he really has a Demon Hound, does he?"

Sheryl frowned briefly. "Since I've been here, there have been odd occurrences. Most of it is howling at a distance. And there has been an odd presence that would occasionally appear inside the manor itself."

"But don't worry." Road waved that away. "Fighting one should be a breeze."

"Right..." He sighed. "I guess we still don't have a lead on the Innocence then."

"And after your outburst, Barrymore might accept the proposal from our competition as opposed to the Noah Company." Allen winced as Sheryl added insult to injury.

"Sorry."

"The Noah Company?"

A new voice had both Allen and the Noah looking over to see Ciel standing not too far away. He was actually close enough to possibly overhear their conversation.

Going by the calculated look in his eye, Allen thinks that he did.

"I didn't think that you would manage to get yourself into the very secretive Noah family," the preteen commented. "Most of the people in it don't even seem to actually be related to each other."

"It's complicated," Allen admitted. Road and Sheryl glanced at each other as he nodded over to the butler and quartet behind him. "Those are your servants I take? I don't believe that I've had the honor of getting their names."

"Our names?" The redheaded female with large round glasses blushed. "It's an honor to meet you, yes it is!"

"That's Mey-Rin," Ciel stated boredly. He motioned over to the blond teenager, the man smoking a cigarette, and a strangely small old man. "Finnian, Baldroy, Tanaka." He finally glanced at the butler. "And I don't think I've introduced Sebastian."

"Like your dog," was the inquiry.

Ciel smirked. "Yes, exactly like him."

"Well you two seem pretty chummy~." Road held onto Allen's arm as Sebastian glared daggers from behind Ciel's back. "Sheryl is heading back to the manor. You know, you should invite Phantomhive to our mansion one day to partake in a bit of poker."

"Ah, that's right." He glanced over at the preteen. "Would you like to have a game one day?"

"Of course."

"Try not to bet anything else besides chips." Road giggled and winked at Ciel. "Allen will clean you out."

"Road." The mentioned person huffed and looked away. "That's not fair."

"You're not fair, Mr. Life-is-a-Gamble."

"When you think about it, life is a gamble!"

"Shall I take it that you're a cheater at life?"

"More like a cheater of death," was the retort.

Ciel's lips upturned into an amused smirk as he watched their banter. No matter how much he has changed, Ciel could still detect a bit of the old Red in there.

The next day, Allen and Road decided to split up in their search for Innocence. Road insisted on taking after Kanda since Allen would have no qualms about him dying. He would feel bad if Lenalee did die though. On the enemy side or not, she was a kind person. Her interactions with the villagers the day before was what convinced him even more. And while Allen didn't care if Kanda died, he knew that he wouldn't be the one to deal the final blow. He didn't want to kill humans.

Not again.

"Besides the other day when Sebastian brought you to me, I don't think I've seen you without that girl."

Ciel was leaning on a chair with a book in his hands in front of the lake. His single blue eye was focused solely on Allen.

"That's scary, as you've only seen me with her a total of twice." He smiled and approached. "Have you been stalking me?"

"No, but Sebastian has been keeping tabs."

"...Creepy."

Ciel set his book off to the side. "I have been wondering about something though."

"What?"

"Your arm. Once your weren't even able to move it. How can you do so now?"

"..." Allen faced the lake where Ciel's servants were splashing around. "You recall how I said that the people who bought me tried to turn me into a weapon?"

"Yes."

"That's how."

"Is it related to this 'Innocence' you spoke of?"

Surprise flickered in Allen's expression. "What do you know of Innocence?"

"Sebastian only told me that it was a weapon. Is that why?"

"You're not giving me a lot of details." Suspicion lit up in Ciel's eye. "You don't trust me."

"I do," Allen said defensively. "It's just... you have your own problems to deal with. I shouldn't be dragging you into my world."

"Your world?"

"We got him!" Both Allen and Ciel snapped their heads over to the sound to find a crowd of people running past in a hurry. "The bad dog has been caught! We got James' dog! Hurry! The punishment is about to begin!"

Punishment?

A white dog with brown spots on his back and ears was laying on the ground. His star-shaped ruff was compressed from where he laid on the ground and his small hat was missing. Even through the fur, bruises could be seen littering his body.

"No..."

"Allen!"

Ciel's voice went unheard as Allen tore across the path after the villagers. Last time, Red couldn't prevent Cosimov from killing Allen. But right now, Allen could prevent the villagers from killing what he was assuming to be an innocent dog.

The irony of the situation was not lost on him.

When he reached the villagers, most on the front line were holding snapping dogs on their leashes. One other was chained in front of them, bristling at the rest. And there was Henry himself, his cold eyes staring at the poor chained canine.

The man with the toothbrush mustache coldly eyed at Red from the metal table he had been strapped on. His lungs forced him to gulp the air greedily, making painfully ragged gasps tear from his lips. He hated this man. This man who could torture a preteen with no remorse. Red's life seemed to be full of people like that. And that only made him want to piss them off more.

"Gas him again," the man ordered, having noticed the defiance in Red's eyes. He wanted to knock that disobedience right out of his system. To make him into the weapon he should be. Wordlessly, the scientists brought the canister back and strapped the mask to his face. Red struggled and bucked. It was the only thing he could do in this situation. However, that meant little as the leather restraints kept him still. Then one of the employees turned the knob and gas began to fill his lungs.

Allen dragged himself out of the memory with effort. It was like yanking his mind through molasses. His brain was too focused on it even though he had to be in the now instead of then. It was easier when Road startled him out of it.

Still, he came back at just the right moment. A man was heading towards the chained dog to beat it. Allen rushed forward and grabbed the bat, effectively startling the man. And when he went to hit him, Allen ducked under the punch and aimed his own at the man's abdomen. A gasp escaped his lips as he was pushed aside. When he collapsed to the ground, the villagers released a cry of anger and let their dogs go.

On of the canines lunged at Allen. He slammed the wooden bat in it's face as another bit into his Innocence. The dog had sunk his teeth in but Allen felt pressure instead of pain and slammed the mutt to the ground, spinning just in time to kick another dog right out of the air. He had to be more careful with his right arm. It still wasn't fully healed.

"I'll help!"

The blond head of Finnian briefly distracted Allen as he jumped in as well. He definitely got sidetracked when Finnian uprooted a wooden post from where it was dug into on the ground. With one swing that Allen had to backflip over, Finnian knocked the remaining dogs away. And the rest wisely kept their distance.

Allen risked a glance back at the dog as the rest of Ciel's servants, and Ciel himself, went hurrying over as if to check on the dog as well. It was tense and still waiting to be attacked but seemed to consider that Allen and Finnian on it's side. And going by how they hadn't attacked the group approaching it, the dog seemed to be alright with Ciel and his other servants.

Those servants definitely weren't normal if Finnian's strength was to go by.

Allen tensed as the angry mob raised their weapons. He doubted that any of them had actual fighting experiance but they outnumbered him. And Allen wasn't exactly sure that Ciel or his servants could fight. All-in-all, they were screwed.

But Allen would at least try to have a little faith.

The crowd kept going on about punishment. As the crowd moved in, Allen punched a guy in his face and managed to knock a few other people out before they pinned him down and chained him up. Ciel had also ended up chained and his servants tied to yet another post. Allen looked over the crowd, dimly noting Lenalee standing uncertainly in it, before settling his burning silver gaze on Henry Barrymore.

"Not so powerful now, are you," he leered. "Do you still wish to challenge me?"

Allen's glare intensified.

"Master, I beg you!" Angela stuck out of the crowd in her white and purple attire. Her hands were held together as she begged. "Show mercy this one time! These people don't deserve the punishement!"

Why would an angel want to help them?

"You have a point." Henry smirked. "This little pomeranian is the Queen's Watchdog after all. And that terrier comes from a impressive family himself. If either of them can be made to see reason, perhaps I'll decide to let them go." He focused on the two of them. "Leave this village immediately and advise her Majesty and Earl Campbell to never send their minions again."

But Ciel instead donned a sardonic smirk. "You're so pathetic. You rely on lowly tricks to retain your meager power. If there's a stubborn dog here, I'd say I'm looking at it."

"If that's your final choice. You can learn what happens to a dog that challenges me. Get him!"

Allen half-hoped that Lenalee would jump in and help them. Or at help Ciel and his servants since they had nothing to do with Akuma or Exorcists. Instead she stuck to the sidelines as the dogs went charging towards them, growling and snapping their jaws. The kindness Allen was certin he saw in her was gone in an instant and was replaced with anger. It was one thing to leave him but other innocent people? Maybe there weren't sincere Exorcists after all.

Allen never expected that he would be grateful to see a demon. As the hounds were only a leaps distance away, Sebastian seemingly appeared out of nowhere and knocked the dogs back.

"You cut that close," Ciel commented.

"It won't happen again. Trust me."

"Tch."

"Um, thanks for cutting in," Allen stated, giving the demon a closed-eyed smile. "Can I have a little help with these chains?"

Sebastian's eyebrows quirked with slight surprise before he smiled and walked over towards him. "What sort of butler would I be if I can't at least do this much," he stated, pulling the cuff open on his left wrist. He did stop helping to look over at Henry when the man spoke.

"You dare to interfere, dog?" He looked at the mutts in front of him. Allen used his left hand to pry open the remaining cuff. "Well what are you mangy mutts waiting for? Kill them all now!"

"Here." Allen began helping Ciel with his cuffs as the dogs growled. He ignored Sebastian's words on how he hated dogs. Allen liked dogs. When... they weren't attacking him.

"Thanks," Ciel said lowly so that only Allen heard, his lips barely moving as he did so. The teenager gave him an amused smile, feeling as though the Phantomhive probably never said a sincere 'thank you' for a while.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," was Allen's response. Ciel shot him a glare. Clearly he wasn't about to repeat himself.

"What the hell!?" Allen looked over to see that the dogs were being submissive. He glanced at the back of Sebastian, not doubting that he was the culprit. Maybe it was some demon thing. "What did you do?"

"Your pitiful farce ends here, Barrymore." Ciel ended up being the center of attention. "Everyone listen: there is no Demon Hound. It's all a lie. It's just him. An old man obsessed with power. Determined to keep it no matter what."

"What? What evidence do you have," Henry demanded.

As it turns out, Ciel and Sebastian did have evidence. A skull of a dog. It seems like Henry used it to place teeth marks on James' body. A projection was used to show the outline of the hound. And some sort of dust was placed on a dog to give it a ghostly glow. Sebastian even managed to relinquish a piece of high-value cloth from the maw of James' dog, As the villagers began encircling Henry, Allen untied Ciel's servants and freed the dog from the collar that bound it to it's chains. The poor creature was hesitant to approach him but did so nonetheless and allowed Allen to kneel down and pet him.

"That's one amazing pup," Finnian had said, walking over towards it and petting it gently, as though afraid one touch might kill it. That might actually be the case as him pulling a post from the ground with ease continuously played in Allen's mind. The blond turned to Ciel. "Young Master, can we keep it!?"

"I think Lord Walker has taken more of a liking to it," the preteen stated. His singular gaze landed on Allen. "Did you want it?"

"Him," Allen corrected. He smiled softly. "And yes, I think I would like a dog. What do you say, little guy?"

The dog licked his face, bringing a small chuckle from the teenager. His attention was soon derived from the dog when Lenalee walked up.

"Allen...?"

She seemed to hesitate when Allen straightened up and his irises landed on her.

"I know you hate it but I was wondering... could you please come back with Kanda and I to the Black Order?"

"I already answered this." Allen crossed his arms stubbornly. "No."

"It's not bad anymore. Once my brother became supervisor, they stopped doing all those experiments. That man...L-Leverrier, was sent elsewhere after one of his subjects destroyed the underground labs."

"Wait, he's alive?"

"Yes..." She frowned. "They hurt you real bad too, didn't they? So you could activate your weapon? That's why you don't want to return."

"I know what their thoughts on 'saving humanity' is. The Order and God can die for all I care. My sole mission is to destroy Akuma."

"You can't stop the Akuma unless you kill the Millennium Earl."

What the...? That's Adam's title. Why would she be bringing up the Millennium Earl? Does she really think...?

"What do you mean?"

Surprise flickered across Lenalee's face. "You didn't know that the person who makes Akuma goes by the Millennium Earl? They say his name just about every time we fight them."

"My fights with them don't go on for long."

"Please..."

"Why should I even join you when you had a chance to help them?" He motioned to Ciel and his servants, all of them not even pretending that they weren't eavesdropping. "I can understand leaving me to deal with this but they have no part in our war. Why would I help Exorcists 'save humanity' when they can't even save a few people from being torn to shreds?"

"We really need your help."

"Allen already said no," Ciel had stated coldly. His visible eye was narrowed at Lenalee. The girl blinked as though just realizing that they were still there. "So we would like for you to leave."

"...Who are you?"

"I'm Allen's brother."

That got the servants to gawk at their young Master. Even Allen blinked in surprise before wearing a small, genuine smile. They had gotten close when they were captured but Allen wasn't sure how close they still were after their... experiences. That little time apart had changed them both so much. It was nice to know that Ciel still considered him an older (unofficially adopted) brother.

Fate is both merciful and cruel.

Allen hid his amusement as Lenalee's eyes flicked from him to Ciel as though trying to form a connection of how they were even related before she bowed her head in defeat.

"I don't want us to be enemies," she quietly said. Then she turned away and walked off.

"Thank you for the help," Allen told Ciel with a grateful expression.

"It's no problem." The preteen waved that away and seemed to be focused on something else entirely. "What were you saying about a war?"

"Oh..." Allen donned a smile. "You don't need to worry about that. It's more or less under control."

"Under control?" A faint note of increduality could be detected in Ciel's tone. "She seemed pretty desperate for your help. If you ask me, that did not seem 'under control'."

"I would talk about it but in case you haven't noticed, this isn't the time or place." Allen subtly nodded his head to the still-eavesdropping servants.

"Tch, no I suppose not. Tonight then?"

"I might be busy," the teenager admitted. "If you have any questions, it will need to wait until after Houndsworth. I'll be more than happy to take you up on a card game at the manor though. Yours, preferably."

Ciel looked thoughtful for a bit. "Very well. My manor doors are always open to you should you need my hospitality."

"And I am sincerely thankful for that. I'll keep that in mind."

Ciel and Allen bid their goodbye's with the latter walking away. His mind soon fell to Leverrier.

The man took a step back. Tripping over his own feet, his rear landed on the ground and his back collided with the stone. The hole went straight through his chest, helping the blood paint the wall behind him. Red's visible gray eye was dull and crimson was splattered on his cheek just beneath it, watching the man take his last dying breaths...

Allen paused in his steps and closed his eyes, trying to rid himself of the memory. Leverrier shouldn't be alive. How?

...That's probably the only person in the world Allen wouldn't hesitate to kill again.

Allen shut the door to his assigned bedroom.

"Took you long enough."

Glancing over by the window, Road could be seen leaning in the chair with her book in hand.

"Strange, I thought that this was my bedroom," he stated, falling onto his bed with a long sigh.

"It is. I just decided that spending time with you would be better than lingering around that angel."

"What about Sheryl?"

"He's packing. He managed to convince Barrymore earlier to sign a contract that states that this land will belong to the Noah Company should he die. I heard that the villagers found out that he was the culprit so now he's locked up in his own dungeon."

"Yeah... I was there. I saw the whole thing."

After a moment, Road looked up from her book. Allen's tone sounded a little flat to her. "Did something happen?"

There were a lot of things but Allen decided to only speak about what was most bothering him.

"I ran into Lenalee by accident. She tried getting me to join the Order to fight Akuma."

"What an idiot."

Privately, Allen agreed. But focusing on the matter at hand...

"She said that Adam... is the one who makes Akuma."

"What?"

"I know. Silly, right?" He released a weak chuckle. "She used Adam's title. The 'Millennium Earl'. But Master Cross and even the person who bought me both called him the 'Maker of Akuma' or 'Maker' for short." Allen frowned and rested his fingertips against his scar. "He's not, is he? If Adam is the one who used my adoptive father's soul..."

Road was quiet for so long that Allen was worried that she might have ignored him. But his fears were soon put to rest.

"No. Millennie is not the one who makes Akuma."

A relieved breath the teenager didn't know he was holding whooshed out of his lungs.

"Maybe following the Exorcists wasn't so good of an idea. Let's let them have the Innocence and head back."

"No!" The Noah blinked as Allen shot up so quick. "We came this far. We're staying until we have the Innocence."

A smirk rose on Road's lips.

"Okay."

Ciel had invited Allen over to his room to play a game of chess.

"Not as busy as I thought," the preteen commented. Allen gave a rueful smile.

"Road wanted me to spend a little less tine with some people so she went out in my stead."

"So we can talk then."

"I'm afraid that the walls are a bit too thin for my liking." Allen took a seat at the table. Indeed, a chess game was placed there. "Even if Road is not here, there are people inside this manor that tend to have quite the hearing. How about we just have an harmless game? I'll admit, I'm a bit terrible at chess."

"...Very well then."

He actually did better than Ciel expected. But it was the Phantomhive that had gotten to checkmate. Allen had urged the preteen to play again, of which Ciel was all to quick to do. The sky had darkened shortly after and rain began to thunder at the window. They were well into the match when a long, fearful scream breached the manor walls.

Allen sprang out of his seat long before Ciel did, the Phantomhive staring in surprise as Walker's white head disappeared out the door. The chess game rattled a little from his abrupt exit. It wasn't long until Ciel went running after him.

Getting lost was not something Allen was looking forward on doing. The scream seemed to come from the direction he was heading towards. Downstairs, if he had estimated correctly. Allen met with Road and Sheryl in the main hall.

"Akuma," he had asked. But the two Noah shook their head.

"It sounded like one of the servants went into the dungeon," Sheryl informed.

"My guess is that the angel killed Barrymore and someone found him," Road commented with a careless tone. She noticed Allen giving her an incredulous look. "What? Angels aren't guardians, you know. They're cold, malicious, and don't have a demon's taste for humor. God's warriors and all that."

"That explains a lot," he muttered. After a moment's pause, Ciel had caught up just in time as they all headed into the dungeon with Sebastian behind him.

It seemed that the Phantomhive's human servents had arrived first, all of them staring open-mouthed at a cell. Allen looked to see what they were staring at and frowned. A large hole was in the dungeon wall, showing the storm pouring outside and rainwater cascading down the hill. A large puddle of blood formed in the center of the cell, a trail leading itself to the hole.

"Allen, hold on," Road ordered. But the teenager was already forcing the cell door open and hurrying out the hole.

Allen didn't care much for Henry. In fact, he considered him a Grade A jerk and was sure that the man deserved whatever death he had. It wasn't going to stop him from heading after the tyrant though. He just had to know. Ignorance is a bliss. Foolish, but a bliss. Allen just never had that privilege and he wasn't going to start being ignorant now.

"After him," he heard Ciel command behind him.

There wasn't much to follow in the storm. The rain washed all traces of Henry away. If an angel got tired of their pawn, an infamous one at that, where might she take him?

With an idea in mind, Allen trucked through the storm without much thought. Most of the nobles, like Sheryl and the Queen's Dog, were unuse to the pelting raindrops that seemed to fall like icy bullets from the sky.

"Where are we going?" Ciel demanded when he made his way to Allen's side.

"Once Barrymore got caught, the angel threw him away like a cheap toy." His eyes narrowed while Ciel merely blinked in limited surprise at "angel". "If I'm right, then he would be..."

Allen drifted off, his sentence not needing to be finished when they arrived to the arena they were at earlier that day. The entire ground was caked with mud and large pawprints were embedded into the Earth as it slowly became filled with water. They weren't the only ones there. The arena was crowded with villagers, each one praying with a look of terror on their face. Allen pushed his way past them. He would occasionally murmur apologies until he reached the end of the line of people. Thwn, looking to see what everyone was praying at, Allen's eyes widened.

Leaning upright against the wall, with his eyes open and blood leaking out from his mouth and the torn flesh of where one his arms use to be, was Henry Barrymore.

Allen figured that this was where Henry's fate would lead; dead and shown somewhere public. Yet it still was a hard to swallow. He walked closer to the body until he knelt by Henry's missing arm, the skin and flesh of it having been shredded. Indeed, it had seemed to be bitten off by a very large and ferocious dog.

The Demon Hound.

For a moment, Allen stared. The image of Henry's expression in his death burned itself into his mind. It wasn't until an unearthy and familiar glow made him shift his gaze downwards. And there, in Henry's remaining hand, was a green light shining from his fist. He hesitated momentarily before reaching for it. Allen pried his fingers off of the object with ease. Sitting neatly in Henry's palm, seeming as though it were waiting expectantly in his hand, was the green cube that he and Road were looking for.

The Innocence.

~lunalovelloyd - Thanks! And wait until later on. I have it all plotted out and I'm excited! And a bit nervous because I wan't to write this correctly. After this chapter, I'm treading on unwritten ground, meaning that it might be up for revision after a while.

~olivia_rodriguez_927 - Thank you! :D