Title: Loyalties

Synopsis: Slightly A/U. When Allen turned into a Noah he had but one choice, to leave the Order, but the bonds that he had made with the people there would never break that easily, even though he wishes that they would. Struggling with the feelings that he has for his former friends, Allen dives into the world of the Noah. Allen/Lenalee.

Rating: T

A/N: I have no bloody clue where this one came from. Mostly procrastination on my homework, but that's okay. I guess this would be sort of an A/U where the 14th in Allen made him into a Noah, himself. I guess. Maybe? Sure. I may actually make this a chapter fic at a future point. After writing it I thought to myself 'Hm. This is a neat story, and could probably work. Star-crossed lovers and all.' If I get a chance, I'll add more. ^.^ But for now, relax, read and please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own -Man because if I did then we'd know why Lavi has that sexy, sexy eye patch.

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"And it may take some time to patch me up inside, but I can't take it so I run away and hide. And I may find in time that you were always right, you're always right."

-'Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning) by Vertical Horizon

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He wondered, would his skin always be like this? Gently his hand reached up to his forehead and touched the place where the scars had appeared just a few minutes ago. They were tender and it was painful to touch them; they had not yet healed. Bring his hand back down he took a moment to stare at it, flexing each finger as if it were some sort of foreign object that he had never seen before.

There was a quiet voice from behind him. "Allen?" It whispered. He turned to see a fearful looking Lenalee staring at his new state. "Allen, is that you?" Though the gray skin and scars changed his appearance, he didn't think that he looked that different from what he used to be. After all, the white hair was still there.

"Of course it is." He said taking a step towards her. Instantly Lenalee took a step backwards. "Nothing has changed." In his left hand he could still see the Innocence implanted. Sort of hypocritical of that substance to chose someone who was born to kill it to be its master. "It's still me; it's still Allen."

The words were a lie, and he knew it from the moment the words left his lips. Everything was much more clear now; there was a purpose to life that he had never known before. Soon the Earl would come and take him and together they would right the wrongs of the obnoxious God that these meager humans worshiped so. No, he was no longer Allen Walker, useless exorcist and killer of Akuma. Now he would be something greater and he would serve a bigger purpose.

Although, a pang of regret hit him when he saw the fear in Lenalee's eyes. If he were to go with his most beloved Earl, there would be some things that he would have to do. One of those things would be kill the exorcists, including, Lenalee Lee. Though it would be hard, the vast loyalty to the Millennium Earl that seemed to manifest itself within a few minutes was already pulling tight. If the time came and he had to, Allen knew that he would kill Lenalee, and all of the other exorcists, without a second thought.

Then again, there was nothing threatening happening, and his Noah brothers were not present yet, so he would do nothing. He would give this girl the reassurance that she wanted to badly and he would leave the Black Order and go on to find the Earl and the people whom he belonged with.

Instinctively, Lenalee took a step towards her friend. If this were the same person on the inside, then it shouldn't matter that he was a Noah. Allen would never do anything to hurt her or the other exorcists, and he had promised that no matter what happened he would be forever loyal to their cause to defeat the Millennium Earl. It didn't matter that his skin had changed colors and there were now more unfamiliar scars on his face. At the end of the day this boy in front of her would always be Allen Walker, and he would never do anything to hurt her.

Giving in, Lenalee rushed to Allen's arms. "Allen, I'm so glad that you're alright." His skin was still warm and his heart still beat; though he was a Noah, he was truly still human. That must have meant something.

Underneath the dead weight of the exorcist, Allen felt trapped. Noah and exorcists should not be friendly with one another. He would have to leave, and he would have to leave quickly. His loyalty to the Earl was far too great to string these people along and make them believe that he was still an ally of theirs. No, they would have to recognize the fact that he was now one with the Earl, and their old friend would not be returning.

"Lenalee," Allen said as he gently removed the girl off of him. "I need to go now."

With eyes like a deer's, the girl stared at him for a moment before responding. "What do you mean, Allen?" A look of dread set in. "Don't think that just because you have the Noah DNA that we'll hate you! Me, Lavi, Krory, Miranda…. and everyone else here will always welcome you, don't think that we'll stop liking you because you're different." Allen shook his head, his gray skin shining in the sunlight.

"It's not that." He said. "There are some other things that I need to do now."

As the realization of what he was saying set in, the look on Lenalee's face turned cold. "You don't mean that you're going to…" She trailed off, not needing to finish. Allen knew the implications of her sentence, and he nodded in response to them. Suddenly Lenalee felt faint. "Why?" She asked quietly, a few tears dripping down from her eyes. Unexpectedly she grew hostile. "Why?!" She screamed as she pounded her fists on Allen's chest. He winced a little from the surprise, but it was relatively painless. "Why would you leave us Allen? We need you!"

Seeing Lenalee like this hurt Allen, because he cared for her. He always had and a part of him, however small, always would. But relationships between exorcists and the clan of Noah would not work. Love would be overtaken by hate eventually on each side. It was better for him to feign indifference and get this over with. "Lenalee, I wouldn't expect you to understand this, but I know where I belong now, and it's not here." He took her hands off of his chest and set them down at her sides. "It's not with you."

The words stung Lenalee so hard that she felt that she could not move. It wasn't until Allen was almost out of the room that they had been standing in that she felt that she could say anything. "I won't fight you, Allen. Even if you go to their side, I'll never fight you."

Sadly, he shook his head, though she could not see. "You'll fight me Lenalee, just as you'll fight the rest of us. Because if you don't, you will die." He paused for a moment. "I won't hold back."

Sighing, Allen began to walk again, but was surprised to find Lenalee in front of him. Looking down he saw that her Innocence was activated, probably by her emotions, which was how she got there so quickly. "Allen, you're still an exorcist and you always will be. I refuse to fight my own kind."

Irritated, he wanted her to move aside; he wanted her to move so that he could leave that place and try to figure out how to handle this. It wasn't that he wanted to fight Lenalee either, he just didn't have a choice not to, and that was something that he was struggling with. "I'm no longer an exorcist Lenalee, I'm a Noah. There's nothing that you can do. We're enemies now." The hostility in his voice was new. Only once had he ever spoken to this girl like that; it wasn't pleasant and it wasn't something that he wanted to continue.

"As long as that Innocence is in your hand, Allen, you will never be my enemy." Again surprising the new Noah, Lenalee grabbed that hand, and used it to pull Allen closer to her. The marks of where the tears she had cried were still prominent on her face. "And as long as you're alive, I'll still care about you." Her hand still clenched around Allen's she drew her face forward until it reached his, and before Allen could figure out what was happening, her lips were on his.

Once before Allen had kissed a girl, and that barely counted. Road had jumped on him unexpectedly, and Allen desperately wanted to forget that event, especially because now the two of them were almost siblings. This kiss was much different. All of the feelings that he felt for Lenalee were real and were important to him, but with the fact that he was now a Noah… It couldn't work.

Unwillingly, he pushed himself away from her. "What are you doing?" He asked. "This isn't right. You can't care about me, and I can't care about you." He felt a tear fall from his eye and he wondered why. Things were changing rapidly, and he knew that, but somehow the momentum seemed right until just a moment ago. But that kiss would never be erased from his mind; it would forever haunt him.

A soft finger reached up to his face and wiped the tear away. "Allen, who says that? I don't care about what you are, I just know who you are, and that's what I love." The words were almost too much for Allen to bear. It wasn't his place to be with Lenalee any longer; he was supposed to be with the Earl. But how could he leave her after all the two of them had been through? And how would they be able to have any sort of relationship when Allen was supposed to be killing her and vice versa? "Go ahead and be a Noah, but I'll be waiting here for you until I die. No one could ever take your place."

"Lenalee, I-" The words had difficulties coming from his throat. They were stuck, as if they knew that once they were said their lives would be that much harder, that saying the words would ensure that both of their existences would be tortured so much more than they would have ever expected. "I love you."

There was a noise from behind them, a familiar noise that Allen had conjured up numerous times for the sake of the Order. It was the sound of an Ark being brought into the room. Apparently the Earl wasn't going to wait; he was going to claim his new Noah immediately. "Run!" Allen whispered, not wanting Lenalee to be hurt. "They're coming for me, so just get out of here."

The girl stubbornly shook her head. "No Allen, I'm not leaving you." Her hands grabbed onto his clothes and he realized for the first time that he was still wearing his exorcist uniform, something that was rather unfitting for a Noah. "Stay with us Allen! We can fight them off if we're all together."

This time it was Allen who shook his head. They only had a few moments before whoever was coming came, and he had to explain. "Lenalee, it's not that simple. I can't stay. There's a part of me, a huge part of me, which is now loyal to the Earl. If I don't follow him, it will kill me from the inside out." There were footsteps now, and a laughing voice. It wasn't the Earl, it was Tyki Mikk. Still not good, but it wasn't the worst-case scenario. "Goodbye. Don't tell anyone where I've gone." The last thing he needed was his righteous former friends attempting to go to the Earl's lair and trying to bring him back to the Order.

"Are you two done? The Earl doesn't want to wait, lad." Tyki sauntered over to where the two of them were. There was a cigarette in his mouth as he spoke. "Everyone is waiting for your arrival, Fourteenth."

Allen found that when he looked at Tyki it was no longer with hatred. The man who had tried, and almost succeeded in killing him, was no longer an object of his hatred and terror. Instead there was sort of a forced brotherly feeling towards him now. They were in the same boat now, comrades almost like family. There would be no killing on either side. He nodded towards Tyki and gently forced Lenalee's hands off of his clothing. "No." She whispered, but it was useless.

Allen turned and silently followed Tyki into the portal that their Ark had created. Once they walked inside, Allen stopped for a moment. "What happened when you had to leave your friends for the Earl?" He asked as a few tears slipped from his eyes.

Allen got a laugh in response. "I would have never had to if it weren't for you, lad."

The response shocked Allen. He knew that he had taken the human part of Tyki away when he had hit the man with his Sword of Exorcism, but he had not realized that he still had human connections at that point. "I'm sorry." He whispered as he continued to follow Tyki, his head facing downwards with despair.

Tyki took a long drag on his cigarette and let the smoke swirl away before responding slowly and deliberately. "Don't worry lad, it was all for fun. I never had anyone who I cared about all that much." A picture of Eeze, now just a distant memory, popped into his brain. There were times when he really missed the kid. "No one who I was in love with, anyway." He concluded as he flicked the used cigarette stub to the ground. "No one like that girl."

"There will never be anyone like that girl."

Forcing thoughts of her out of his mind, Allen continued to follow Tyki to their destination, mostly in silence, though occasionally a bit of a hummed tune came from Tyki. It was an unfamiliar song to Allen, but the sound of it was a bit reassuring. Finally, they reached a door and stopped in front of it. Opening the door, Tyki remarked "Here we are." And stepped inside. Closely, Allen followed.

Together they entered a dark room of floating portraits and a long table filled with other Noahs. As soon as Allen entered Road ran up to him and flung herself on him. "Welcome!" She said, and as if echoing her, most of the other people at the table said the same thing as well.

A few moments later the silence was broken by a cheerful voice at the head of the table. "Welcome Allen Walker, the Fourteenth, please take a seat, it's time that we talk about your duties as a Noah." The Millennium Earl said with his usual smiling face.

Feeling a surge of loyalty to this man Allen nodded and let himself be lead to his seat by Road. "What would you like me to do, my Lord Millennium?"

Delighted, the Earl clapped his hands together. "What an excellent apostle! Gets right to the point. Well then, if we are to be blunt, than I shall put this bluntly." There was a pause in his voice, and Allen noticed the eyes of everyone at the table on him. "Allen Walker, it is your job to tell me everything you know about those despicable exorcists so we may kill them all!"

Allen's heart sunk into his chest. This was the moment that he knew was coming, but had dreaded. But he also knew that he could not go against his Lord, and that in the end the Noah would prevail. Sighing and shutting his eyes for a moment, he opened them to reveal a face as serious as death. "I'll tell you everything that you want to know, my Lord." He only hoped that Lenalee would be able to run away fast enough.

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Fin