Home Again: Intrusion

Chapter 7: Intrusion At The Table

Tyki's POV

The noah were silent as Neah made his way around the table and toward the Earl, all the while referring to him as "Mana", giving off eerie vibes that everyone seemed to pick up on, and happily claiming to have missed the eldest since their last encounter. "I've been weak, you see. But I've fought my way back just for you~", he smiled convincingly, opening his arms wide, seeming to want a hug.

"Come, Neah", the Earl said, seeming to sparkle as he bounced from his chair, and pushed Sheryl out of his own before patting it, ignoring the noah as he comically fell to the floor, yelling at the fat man. "Sit beside me, Neah~!"

Tyki watched the three closely, especially focusing his attention on the Earl, who seemed to be a little too excited to see their supposed arch enemy in their dining room.

The fourteenth's steps halted as Sheryl quickly stood before him, preventing him from nearing the Earl any further. As he glared down at the possessed boy, he received no more than a somewhat dull expression that seemed to hint at annoyance.

"Desires."

At the sternness in the eldest's voice, Tyki's brother turned to protest, only to be cut off by the man's deadly glare. He backed down and roughly brushed past Neah, though making his way over to the empty seat directly next to the noah of pleasure, which would normally occupy the Allen.

As Neah neared the Earl, surprising them all by ignoring the seat he'd so rudely kicked the noah of desires out of, his grin seemed to grow and grow. And just inches away from the Earl, his grin stretched from ear to ear and he quickly pulled out a ball of dark matter. The Lord Millennium didn't hesitate, apparently expecting this, and pulled out a mirror copy of the fourteenth's power. Upon noticing this, Neah withdrew his power with a somewhat puzzled look on his face. "So, it seems it's our chance to fight for the title of the Earl of Millennium", the clown impassively said.

The fourteenth didn't speak in response, only smiling and slightly chuckling before forming a large, sharp plate out of his dark matter, which rippled like water under the sun. He ran at the Earl and clashed his dark matter with the said man's sword, which was now suddenly there, shielding him from his shorter opponent's surprise attack.

Tyki huffed out his annoyance at watching the two of them fight, now unable to decide on whether he wanted to follow the Earl's plans or protect his beloved. Deciding to merely postpone it, he called out to Allen, hoping that somewhere, under all of that white hair, the boy was still there, struggling to regain control over his body. At the sound of Lord Mikk's voice, Neah hesitated, nearly being chopped in half by the Earl's sword and just barely having time to hop out of the way, the sword clacking against the ground beside him.

They both looked over at the nervous noah, just as the rest of the noah seemed to do, all of them glaring at him as though he'd begun showing signs of betrayal at it's finest. "Stay out of this, Lord Tyki Mikk", the Earl scolded him fiercely.

Neah seemed to be somewhat dazed, signifying that the noah's attempts weren't in vain. This is likely my last straw, with the Earl, but I have to continue, no matter the cost. I can justify it later... hopefully... As they continued to fight, Tyki swallowed his rapidly beating heart and called out to Allen once more. The fourteenth rushed away from the Lord Millennium, once more barely dodging a blow as he held his head, apparently fighting control over the boy's body. The fat man turns to Sheryl, telling him to restrain him, but only until Allen, himself, piped up and asked what was going on, apparently no longer being controlled by the fourteenth. Tyki took a brief sigh of relief before stiffening at the Earl's glare.

Hoping to bide his time, the noah of pleasure put on a wide smile and said, "Allen~! Finally! We were just eating - don't you want to join us?" Mimicking the Earl, he pushed Sheryl out of his chair, sending him to the ground, once more comically screaming, though this time at his younger brother. "Here! You can sit here!" The boy grimaced irritatedly but perked up at the sight of a four-course meal being delivered by an akuma, apparently having been ready to serve him prior to the incident.

The Lord Millennium sat at his seat at the end of the table, picking up his silverware and growling just low enough for the noah of pleasure to hear, "We will talk about dinner, Tyki Mikk."

He stiffened and bowed slightly at his superior before sitting and continuing to eat while Allen joined beside him, beginning to chow down with excess excitement.

Things were awkward, but the silence didn't last long before Sheryl stood from his chair, frantically yelling, "Are we just going to pretend that this didn't happen?!"

Before he could say anymore or Tyki could tell him to sit down, Road spoke up somewhat nervously, seeming to want to lighten the mood by asking Allen, "So, Allen, we never hear about your past - tell us about your past, please~?"

His past? Since when does she care? Surely it's about this Mana character, who seems to appear everywhere... Is she trying to get answers from him or merely trying to provide a conversation point? He looked over at Allen, who seemed to slow his chewing and lower his gaze at the inquiry, hair covering his face somewhat and hiding his expression. "Ah, maybe it's a touchy subject, Road! Let's talk about something else", he sweated nervously, waving a hand in front of Allen's face as he politely scolded her.

"It's not touchy", the ex-exorcist began, seriously, seeming to suppress some annoyance. "It's just that I don't have very many fond memories besides my time with the Order and, before that, Mana. So, I'm not quite sure if I should share my experiences with the enemy looming over my shoulder."

At the sound of the name "Mana", the Lord Millennium stiffened up, stopping his fork from reaching his mouth as he hesitated for a moment, eating more slowly than before once he'd resumed motion. Tyki narrowed his eyes at him, taking note of that hesitation and planning to ask him and Allen about it later. So there is something more between these two than just the fourteenth.

It registered in Tyki's mind that he may have been the one the boy was talking about and he yelled, pointing to himself and feigning hurt. "Eh?! Enemy? Me? I'm hurt, Shounen!" He thought better of making a flirtatious joke as he felt the Earl's eyes on him and chose, instead, to ask who Mana is, to him.

Sheryl and the others seemed to peek over frequently, apparently curious, themselves, about this. Allen huffed out his annoyance, roughly dropping his half-eaten steak onto the plate, that he had apparently intended to eat whole. "Like I'd tell any of you!"

Surprised by the coldness in his voice and the unwillingness to open up, Tyki and Road continued to eat, suddenly feeling hurt that their exorcist friend seemed to be revealing himself not to want to ever be their friend. As Tyki ate with exaggeratedly slumped shoulders, he noticed that Road had been doing the same thing.

After several seconds of silence, he noticed that the boy hadn't continued eating, and looked over at him. He was facing his plate but looking out of the corner of his eye at the noah, blushing and looking away once he realized he'd been caught. "He-He was my adoptive father, if you must know", he blurted out, flustered yet somehow attempting to seem to still be annoyed.

Everyone at the table seemed to widen their eyes in surprise as they looked up at the Earl, who once again hesitated.

(Is this a weird chapter? Tbh I really wanted to write a scenario in which Allen tells the noah that Mana is his adoptive father while they've heard Neah call the Earl Mana, but I didn't want to write another 20 part series just to lead up to that, since so far, it seems as though only Tyki paid attention to Neah saying that and it didn't even seem to register until after the Earl had left... Besides that, even if he knows that Mana is Allen's adoptive father, which I don't think he does know, did he even put 2 and 2 together? Bah - that's why I'm writing this out! xD

Although I know I sort of kind of explored the idea of them finding out through Wisely's power in the first part of my series, Neah didn't tell anyone else that the Earl is technically Mana, so it was sort of more so a chapter-series in which they learn more about Allen's past/get to know him better, rather than beginning to suspect Mana and Allen may possibly have a history~! *0* Although not even we know much about that... oof.)