And to the conclusion of Allen's predicament

Enjoy!

Chapter 13

"Hands up!" The man ordered and Allen complied, "Stand up! Slowly", Allen, still holding his hands up in surrender stood up, his own rifle fell to the ground with a thud. He glanced at it, deciding whether or not he should try to fight back. He had established a rough plan of action when another man picked the rifle up. The man had a long, blonde hair sticking out from below his pretentious golden helmet and he wore an equally pretentious golden armor which had a few black details. When he stood up the man behind him ordered him to turn around. This man however wore an inverted color-schemed armor, his hair was black and short – at least that was what Allen guessed from the dark strands of hair peeking out from the front of the equally dark helmet. Their armor reflected the flames somewhere behind Allen giving the just amount of light needed to see their faces. They were young, perhaps even as young as Allen, their eyes were gleaming of their feeling of success. And now Allen could see what kind of weapon he was holding. It was a gun, slightly smaller than his uncle's Judgement, and instead of silvery this was golden. The other came closer to the first, bringing out his own golden gun.

"Hii~ me thinks Early will be veee~ry much plee~ased when we present this priize~", the other said in a pesky voice dragging his words long. When mentioning the Earl Allen got a dark look in his eyes, but the two enemy soldiers' didn't notice.

"Hah! Perhaps we'll even get rewarded!"

"Yee~ah! And we'll be Early's nee~w favouu~rites!"

"Instead of that little Road brat!" They smiled wickedly, and in unison they addressed Allen:

"So, prince, would you like us taking you back to the Earl?"

"The Earl is here?!" Allen asked incredulously.

"Pfffttt!" The blonde, named Jasdero, pouted with his mouth while making that sound so spit flew out of his mouth.

"Hahahah! As if! He never leaves the base, to busy drinking that stinky tea!" the dark haired said, he pressed the barrel of the gun harder on Allen's temple. "You're coming with us, little prince!" His smile turned wicked again.

"What does the Earl want with me?" Allen asked trying to buy time to think up of a plan of escape.

"Early didn't saa~y", Jasdero said.

"He ordered us to bring you to him if captured, and that's what we gonna do", he motioned for Allen to walk put he stayed put.

"Then how can you trust him? If he doesn't let you in on his plans..." the dark haired frowned and Jasdero mimicked the look mockingly put Allen could see the confused look in his eyes.

"O-of course we can trust the Earl! He's our boss!" He suddenly brought his face to inches from Allen's. "Don't you say otherwise!" He cocked the gun, "I will blow your fucking head off!" Allen's voice got a hint of desperation as he said:

"Don't you think it's strange that he sent you here, probably with no information at all except the order to attack? How many soldier's have you lost the past few days?

"Shuu~ut uu~up!" Jasdero almost screamed, bringing his gun to Allen's other temple, pressing hard. Feeling nervous Allen continued.

"To me it looks as if he wants you to lose, so he can get rid of you!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

"We shou~uld just ki~ill yo~u now hii~i!"

"You're from the Noah clan, right? Do you know what happened to the others who attacked us?"

"Not our business, they failed!"

"They died! That Noah who attacked from the west, Mightra or something, got blown up in his ship and the two coming from the south got mad from the heat and died not long after we found them! Toraido and Fiddler were their names, right?" Allen could see – and feel - his words taking effect from their puzzled expression and the lesser pressure from the guns, "You're losing the war, and the Earl is sending you out on suicide missions!" The two Noah glanced at each other, still aiming towards Allen but their grip on the guns had lessened a bit. "He's manipulating you to do his will without questions! He doesn't care about you, only about himself and his goals. Has he even told you why he wants to do war against us?!" The dark-haired Noah lowered his guns first.

"He never told us what to expect when we got here..." he said while biting his thumb nail. "GAAH! My brain hurts!" He yelled out in frustration, his hands suddenly up around his head.

"Is it true? What happened to the other Noah?" Jasdero asked, dropping his annoying voice.

"I swear on my life", Allen answered solemnly.

"Dammit!" The dark-haired yelled out in rage and threw his helmet on the ground; equally angry Jasdero dropped his gun to take off his own helmet so he could then throw it on the ground as well. "That bastard!" Allen slowly – but gratefully – brought his arms down, he got a ticklish feeling as blood streamed back through the arm. The two Noah were now sitting on the ground, at a loss of purpose. Allen couldn't believe that his words had actually managed to effectively disarm two Noah – the people working directly for the Earl. He picked up his discarded rifle but did not aim it against the two teenagers.

"What? Ain't gonna shoot us?" The dark-haired said in disbelief.

"Why should I?" Allen asked, the Noah shrugged.

"We kinda killed your dad and stuff..."

"And s'more stuff!" Jasdero added. Allen shook his head.

"I doubt you had anything to do with that - that was Earl's doing entirely. What's your name?" The dark-haired huffed.

"Devitt and this here's my brother Jasdero."

"Together we're Jasdevi Hi~i!" Allen raised an eyebrow at that but didn't say anything. He heard clamor from armor and he raised his weapon against the noise. A small band of enemy soldiers stood not too far from the three, their weapons ready.

"Sirs! What is this?! Shall we kill him?!" A man, probably a captain judging from his armor, said. He had a sword and he looked ready to use it on Allen, who aimed his rifle at the man's chest. The other seven soldiers raised their swords in response.

"Lay down your weapons, soldier!" Devitt ordered, the captain got a slightly confused voice, but said:

"What are you saying?! It's just one man!"

"You will fucking do as you're told!" Devitt yelled at him, he took his golden gun up from the ground and stood up next to Allen, Jasdero did the same. The man frowned.

"Are you... siding with him", he growled, "When the Earl hears about this...!" Two loud bangs were heard and the man fell down to the ground, blood flushing out through two holes in his head.

"We~e ain't siding with no~obody!" Jasdero said and Devitt blew the smoke coming from the gun's barrel. Allen glanced at the two incredulously not knowing what to think of what just happened.

"Watcha think Jasdero", Devitt pointed towards the remaining soldiers with the gun, they were visibly backing up, but they were still poised to attack. Jasdero flailed with his gun.

"Sho~ot them, shooo~ot the~em!" And they opened fire against the men, always well-aimed shots against their heads, the remaining four rushed to attack the three, as they charged another one was picked off by Jasdero and a second one by Devitt. Allen shot one straight through the chest as he closed in, but he didn't have time to reload as the fourth attacked. He raised the rifle to block the sword and he was about to dodge when the assailant was shot in the head from the side by Devitt.

"Thanks", Allen said turning towards the two brothers.

"Yeah", was his nonchalant response as he sheathed the gun in its holster by his hips.

"What are you two going to do now?" Allen then asked, the two Noah glanced at each other and shrugged.

"Whatever strikes our fancy, ah guess."

"Hii~I, like shoo~oting people!" Jasdero said and started jumping around shooting towards the sky.

"Right... What if the Earl finds out you two deserted him?" Devitt and Jasdero got quiet, obviously not having considered that possibility.

"Ah dunno... Jasdero?"

"Hide?"

"Where?"

"Somewhere?"

"Anywhere."

"Yeah, anywhere."

"Why don't you come with me? I think I have a solution for you", Allen said and after a short glance and nod to each other the Noah accepted the offer.

The battle was finally over. The Aederian soldiers, led by Kanda and Krory, had successfully defeated the Noah army and captured the remainders. Krory had instructed his servants to take care of the wounded and to the still standing soldiers he ordered to guard the enemy soldiers. Kanda on the other hand had as soon the fighting was over left to find Allen. Standing in front of the rubble that was the northern wall he could feel the implausibility of Allen still being alive somewhere below it. Soldiers and some of Krory's servants were – even after several hours - still trying to remove the boulders and rubble out of the way. Kanda clutched his hands, fingernails digging into his palms. He did not want Allen to die; out of his way, yes, but dead, no.

He could still remember that fiery scene many hours ago –just as he had exited through the door out to the wall – Allen's shocked eyes locking with his own to then fall down to his doom with a handful of others. Kanda stood there, silently watching the people work, like a bloody gargoyle. A man ran up to him giving him a report, but Kanda wasn't really listening, he kept staring right ahead. He could see some bodies being pulled up and then put in a row on the courtyard. None of them were Allen; his white hair would've stood out like a sore thumb. He didn't hear the messenger rushing towards him from behind. It wasn't until the man took hold of his shoulder and shook it that Kanda acknowledged his presence.

"Your Highness, you're needed back by the western wall!"

"I'm busy", he said and pushed the hand away from him.

"It's urgent!" The man persisted, "Prince Allen came back with two from the Noah family." That caught Kanda's attention.

"He's alive?!" He asked and the man nodded, feeling slightly afraid of the man in front of him. Kanda didn't waste any time and ran back to western wall. He rounded a corner and his eyes searched the area and next to Krory he saw Allen – looking tired, but otherwise alive and well. Behind him stood two young men Kanda didn't recognize but he guessed them to be the Noah the man had talked about. Collecting himself Kanda walked towards the small group, his eyes on Allen to make sure that he wouldn't suddenly disappear again.

"There you are, for a moment I thought I would have to send another messenger", Krory said at ease.

"What's going on?" Kanda asked and nodded towards the two people behind Allen.

"I was just to explain to Krory that. These two are Devitt and Jasdero from the Noah family. They are uh... deserters now..." Kanda was to ask something which Allen noticed and hurriedly continued. "They need to stay hidden from the Earl and rest of the Noah, which is why I was going to ask you Krory", Allen turned to the count. "Could you safe-keep them here in the fortress? Not as prisoners, mind you, like guests."

"What the hell are you thinking, Beansprout?! They're Noah, they killed your father!"

"These two have been deceived by the Earl, and they weren't the ones ordering the death of my father", Allen explained coolly. Kanda expression turned angry but Allen didn't mind him and instead waited for Krory to answer.

"If that is what you wish, Your Highness..."

"I was hoping you would accept as my friend and not as my subject", Allen smiled warmly which Krory returned.

"I'll take them in. I do am in need of students..."

"We ain't gonna learn nothing here old man!" Devitt said.

"We ain't gonna be your stu~udents!" Jasdero chimed in.

"We'll see about that now, won't we?" Krory said and motioned for the two to go inside with him. Kanda and Allen stayed behind, the white-haired prince looked towards the remnants of what had been a fierce battle.

"Krory told me that you took charge when they invaded..." he turned back to Kanda, "Thank you for that", his tone and demeanor showed his immense gratefulness unsettling the stoic Kanda slightly.

"Don't mention it", he said curtly turning away, Allen shook his head at Kanda's antics. "What happened to you? How did you survive that fall?" Kanda suddenly asked.

"I was lucky. I was sent below ground and the rubble blocked any immediate escape... I found some tunnels that eventually led to a hole I crawled out through."

"There are tunnels below us?" Kanda asked in disbelief. "Who dug them out?"

"Krory's flowers, believe it or not. I had a few close encounters with them while down there", Allen shuddered at the memory. "When I got out I was briefly captured by the Noah..."

"You said they're deserters..."

"Yeah, they are, but only because I talked some sense into them."

"And they believed you?" Kanda shook his head.

"I told them the truth and I guess they realized on their own."

"You silver-tongued idiot!" Allen smiled widely at him when Kanda said that.

"Anyway, you should consider taking of that armor, it's incredibly bloody, what the hell did you do?" Allen chuckled heartily.

"Tch, I defended your home, idiot", Kanda answered snorting at Allen's laughter.

"Our home, Kanda", Allen corrected him.

"Are you addressing yourself there, Beansprout?" Kanda said, smirking, giving Allen a mock angry face.

"What, you want me to call you by your first name instead, like Lavi? Yuu-chan?"

"Fuck off." Allen stopped his bantering and as Kanda went to go inside to wash of the blood and grime he said:

"I'm glad you're okay, Kanda." Kanda stopped but didn't turn around, although he slightly turned his head. Allen could sense a hint of relief in Kanda's voice as he said:

"Me too."

O~okay, now we've just about reach the middle of this story.

Wow, never thought that I would actually get here... and it took 13 frikking chapters! Gods.

I will put up chapter 14 sometime during this month, University has started again and I'm going to (read try) study hard so I don't fail any courses. But at least it's a funny and interesting subject, I'm studying computer-game development (not the official translation, too lazy to dig it out), and after three years of hard study I can get a Bachelor's degree in it. My third term at Japanese will have to wait lol.

Do you have anything interesting to do this fall? Do share ^.^