Chapter 1: The Promised

Puddles of crimson, big and small, trailed after the young man in his late teens, whose white button shirt top with black vest and pants, and donned in brown trench coat drenched in his own sweat and blood from the grazes and deep cut across his chest he earned after the last fight he was engaged in, as he dragged himself away from the crowd into an alley where no one would see him. Whimpering in pain, the young man leaned on the wall for support. He dropped the huge, broad sword in the hue of black with white as an outline and cross that run from the tip to the hilt on the ground that clanged when it hit the stoned ground. The blood trickled down his chin as he slid down to rest his tired and battered body with his back on the wall. His head held down; his damped short dark hair obscuring his face as he panted, chasing for the air to fill his lungs though he knew it will never satisfy it as he waited for the time to lapse until he kick the bucket that

he was unable to fill though it only had one goal.

Looking up at the black sky, he wished to see a falling star no matter how ridiculous it may sound as the sky was pitch black. Not a single star can be seen.

"You're really hopeless, aren't you?" He told himself in pity. "Man, I'm screwed up." He chuckled to himself before coughing blood that added to the stains on his clothes.

Silence fell over him as though trying to ease the dull ache he was feeling all over his body; from head to toes. His body almost felt numb because of his minor injuries and the major deep cut on his chest, made it difficult and painful to breath and his head was pounding, but he can bear with it. He can still carry it on, but not the wound in his heart. It was so painful he would rather rip it out of his system and was so deep that should it heal, it would leave a scar, reminding him of how painful it was.

To lost and betray.

"Neah?" Came an almost feminine voice from a corner.

The lone young man turned to his left just in time someone rounded a corner and saw his pitiful state. The new comer in same clothing as the fallen one except he had no coat on him and had a shoulder length brown hair gasped upon seeing the guy he sought and cried, "Neah!" And, he rushed to his aid.

"You came..." the injured one who goes by the name Neah smiled a smile that showed his everything; love, dreams, goal, pain, loss, betrayal, and burden.

"Of course I did. I've been looking for you since then. C'mon, let's get you somewhere safe and treat your wounds." He ranted, suppressing the panic as he shuffled to carry Neah in his arms, but before he did Neah declined the help by gently pushing the other's right shoulder with his left hand.

"No, there's no need to..."

"But-"

"Allen, listen. ...I want you... to get out of here... before he found us. Look for... my br- brother and..." he coughed blood again. The taste of iron lingered in his tongue.

"Neah!" Cried Allen.

"He is... the only one y- you have. Please... watch after h- him."

"No! You must come with me!" He exclaimed, desperate to save the fallen.

"... Even if... I wanted to... I can't. I'm sorry... Allen."

Allen's head tilted down, creating shadow on his face from his brown locks situated at the crown; his lips quivered and bit it in frustration. He knew Neah won't make it but...

"Use me." He told him and stood in front of him.

Neah could only stare at him, not comprehending what his companion meant to say, but nevertheless he was stunned.

"Use my body, Neah. I promise to take care of your memories until you're ready to wake up." He declared full of determination and defiant silver eyes showed his unwavering motivation to carry on Neah's burden.

Meanwhile, a tall man around early to mid twenties with long vibrant hair top with a black hat, obscuring his face, where a golden orb about the size of his fist with a pair of golden wings and a tail nested and wore a black trench coat with an intricate golden linings and rose- cross embeded on his left chest. He paced through the crowd of people, searching for someone in vain until he had enough of aimless search and asked the golden ball sat atop him.

"Can you track him, Timcanpy?"

The golden sphere, now dubbed as Timcanpy flapped its wings and hovered in front of the man before nodding.

"Lead the way then." He ordered Timcanpy which obliged and showed the man the right way.

It was not long before they found the guy.

Neah looked up with his tired half lidded eyes. His exhausted body had taken its toll, thus seeing things were hard, however he can tell who was towering him despite his blurry vision that only worsen by the light from a nearby building behind the man, but the long red hair made him away.

"Hey, Cross... What's up?" He smirked, trying to taunt the man who frowned at him.

Timcanpy landed on Neah's lap who picked it up and smiled. "Hello, my Timcanpy. How are...you doing...?"

As if to say yes, Timcanpy smiled, showing two lines of sharp razor teeth.

The lone young man then looked up to face Cross. "... How's life?"

"It's hell." Grumbled the red headed man, earning a light hearted chuckled from Neah that turned into a coughing fit.

He admired the man's knowledge in Science and Sorcery, but his hate of a certain place amused him. "Cross..." Neah trailed off. "Please watch... after my brother. ...I promise when... you do I'll be back."

Cross nodded, not showing any emotions but seriousness. "I promise."

Neah, for one last time, smiled in trust and contentment and with one last breath, he told his friend to go and leave him.

Cross wanted to take his body with him to give him a proper burial, but had no such luck when he noticed something at the corner of his eye. He saw a fat shadow, wearing top hat approaching them. Not wanting to take any risk at confronting the man, with one last mourning glance at his fallen friend he fled with Timcanpy close behind.

The Millenium Earl, the one who owned the shadow Cross saw rounded the corner and saw the lifeless body of Neah whom he treated like his brother. Upon seeing the heart clenching scene before him, he cried Neah's name and fell on knees. He pulled Neah into an embrace and cried, racking their bodies.

"I'm so sorry, Neah." Cried the Earl. He went on like that for quite some time until he felt a small hand on his left shoulder. He then pulled away and rubbed his tears away with his right sleeve and looked over his shoulder to find the girl with short spiky blue hair in purple Lolita dress. She had the trademark of the Noah; ashen skin, golden eyes, and a line of seven stigmata on forehead. She looked at the Earl forlornly and hugged him, tears cascading down her cheeks.

Cross walked out of the alley without sparing a glance at the group that huddled over his fallen friend behind as he joined and blended with the crowd in the main street with his new found companion, Timcanpy, perched on his hat.

He knew what pushed Neah to where he ended. He did not want the idea of the Earl; annihilating the human race, because he cared for his mother and brother so much he betrayed his another family, the Noah clansmen. Neah wanted to escape the clutches of the dysfunctional family he had spent time with and decided to run away, but no matter what and how hard he tried he could not leave the Noah's den because no matter where their family member was they will always find him. And, it made Neah massacred the Noah family, so he and his brother that he protected with his life could be free. He failed in the end however as there were two who survived the massacre and the family head took his life away, leaving his brother alone with nobody.

But, he knew his friends will watch after his beloved brother.

Footsteps can be heard faltering in pace as it came closer to a halt. A bead of sweat trickled down from forehead down the cheek bone and chin before it found its way down the soil.

Allen slumped forward, hands on knees as he chased for air to fill his air- deprived lungs after his long marathon. He sucked all the air he could manage and exhaled in one go before he straightened up and opened the door to a fair house. He stepped in and looked around to make sure he was not followed by anyone, and once was sure he closed the door and ventured farther inside until he came to a room where a guy around his age with long dark hair askew lying unconscious on the cold floor.

"Mana..." he breathed, letting out a smile of longing and loneliness yet filled with hope of seeing the dawn.

It had been a year since then and Allen knew there was no point in wallowing the past and he had just knocked some sense into Mana, telling him that they should go on with their life like what Neah wanted.

The sky was like some kind of canvas painted in the hue of white, yellow, orange, and red, and magically faded in blue. It was a masterpiece work of art; so warm, comforting, and welcoming.

"Hey, Mana. Would you look at that?" Asked Allen as he nudged his companion on his side; his voice laced with awe.

They were currently at the town square, sitting by the fountain with their trunks on foot and resting after a long trip before looking for an inn to retire for the night.

Mana was in a daze, reminiscing the past where everything was so simple for him. He was cut off though when he felt the sharp pain on his side and scowled at his companion who was oblivious of his discomfort as he was too busy admiring something. He saw his silver eyes sparkled as the twilight made it look like two silver- gold gems and his smile full of fascination. Noticing that Allen was watching something entertaining, he averted his gaze at the source of Allen's joy and found a stray dog showing off at them; rolling on his back and waggling his tail as he barked. The dog then rested his head on his paws, tail still waggling as he waited for a command.

Allen took interest at the dog and Mana watched him giving simple orders like sit and feigned death.

"He has no tag. Let's take him with us Mana. I'm sure he'll be a big asset in our clowning business." Allen boasted, hands on hips and beaming a smile.

Mana chuckled. "Sure. Let's name him Allen jr."

Allen's eyes bulged and arms slumped as he hunched. "What!? You can't just pick some random pets and give them my name!" He pointed accusingly at Mana.

"Who said that dog is a pet? You said it yourself that he's an asset. Besides, you're the one who wanted to take him." He retorded, smirking at his friend as he leaned back and crossing his arms.

"And one more thing. I want my clown partners to be named Allen."

"You made it sound like you named me." He deadpanned. "Why name him like that? We can call him Fluffy or Rudolf, you know?"

"Fluffy is an adjective, not a proper noun, and Rudolf is a reindeer. One of Santa's faithful four- legged; flying minions had claimed that name already. And, he had a red nose while the dog has black nose. It doesn't fit him anyway."

"You're crazy." Allen muttered and pick the puppy and grabbed his trunk. "C'mon. It's already dark."

Mana pushed himself up and grabbed his trunk before the two walked away, heading for the inn.

The two, Mana and Allen, had been travelling together as clowns, not staying long in one place. They were afraid of being tracked down by the Millenium Earl and decided to join the circus.

Years passed by so fast and they still live the life of travelling clowns to lose the predator that was hot on heels chasing after them. And, Allen knew that there will be a time where he had to gamble with his life on steak.

By the time, Cross Marian became a General. He like his new position because with that he will receive much harder missions that would probably take months to years and that alone made it easy for him to look for Neah's brother as he had longer times spending outside the Order.

"Finally." Said the half masked man with his rare smile, adorning his face as he made his way to the secret passage of the Order. "This mission, the search of innocence's fragments and possible wielder, will give me months to look for that idiot's brother."

Mana and Allen were on their way to the train station that night when the person they were hiding from materialized out of thin air in front of them. They stared with wide frightful eyes at him and stood frozen on their spot.

"Good evening. ~" greeted the Earl with his sinister grin.

Allen was the first one to snap and pushed Mana in an alley. He said, "Mana! Take Allen with you!" He handed him the cage of the dog they found all those years ago. "Go first. I'll catch up with you guys."

"No! Let's run together-!"

"Listen!" He grabbed Mana by his shoulders and stared firmly at him. "I promised Neah to protect you until the right time for him. Now, go and don't ever look back!" He pushed his friend away who almost trip on his own feet.

Mana looked at him worriedly, wondering what he meant by the phrase 'until the right time for him'. He wanted to tell something, but he lost his voice because of the dread he was feeling. His eyes made it away however as he saw Allen smiled at him. A smile that promised him that everything will be alright.

"Are you done with your farewell? ~" the Earl mocked, cocking his head and twirling his pink, pumpkin head umbrella.

"Mana, RUN!"

Allen's scream woke Mana's senses and he scrambled on his feet and run away.

He had no idea why he run. He could have at least stayed behind and help his friend, but no. His feet moved on his own upon hearing Allen's yell that held authority, and now found himself in one of the train's compartment all by himself.

The dog, Allen, felt his emotions and whimpered, trying to tell Mana that he still had him and knew that his friend will come sooner or later.

The train came to life and moved forward, lulling Mana by its mechanical sound.

"You..." the Earl growled as he stared at Allen's bloodied figure who was missing his left arm lying on his stomach. "I want to cut your remaining legs and arm, but I have no time for petty things" and with that said, he dissipated in the shadows, leaving Allen's prone figure.

Allen smiled. "I hope you made it far enough for him to give him a hell of time Mana." He then coughed blood. His consciousness was drifting away because he lost too much blood. Looking at his front, he saw his decapitated severe arm with his own blood pooling beneath and whispered, "Innocence" before closing his eyes.

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