Persecution. Twenty

"Shit, Kanda. I have to go, I can hear voices. I'll try my very best to get back here before we move you. I don't know how this procedure is going to go, but I promise I will try to see if I can't get in contact with Allen…at least enough to let him know you're alive."

"…Thank you Bak. Go. Last thing we need is you getting in trouble for my sake," he hissed, the tone of his voice encouraging the blond to vacate before he ended up a conspirator to the blasphemer. The shuffling behind the door told him that Bak had wavered before he finally slipped away from the area. He couldn't blame the blond, really. That man's family had been connected to him and his history for long enough that it only made sense they might try to reach out and protect him at least a fractional degree.

But even the comfort of having someone still willing to protect him wasn't enough to quell the bubbling distaste that finally overloaded his tired mind once the other Asian man was gone. Beansprout wasn't stable. He was fighting a battle in his head—and with himself—that Kanda had been helping with, trying to keep the younger man together.

And the last words he's spoken to Allen….

"Fuck," he hissed to himself, feeling the hard slap of regret splintering his ability to keep himself together. He knew with exact certainty that Allen would never have believed the bullshit words that he'd spewed out of his mouth—to try and save face for the boy that had ended up spilling everything anyway. The white-haired little brat had even told him he didn't believe that for one damned second.

With a very good reason, of course. Allen knew that Kanda wouldn't just share his body with anyone. He also had to know that Kanda wouldn't take a fall that huge—punishment that severe—for just anyone. As proud and tall as Kanda Yuu stood before, he'd dropped to his knees and bared his neck to the wolves within the Black Order in an attempt to prevent the public humiliation for Allen.

To think they'd told him that he was dead? Dead? Allen Walker, the other stupid half of this overwhelming problem, had openly admitted to being a consensual partner; when he'd already been given the perfect chance to preserve his image. If the feelings weren't as strong in return, Kanda hardly believed Allen would have done something as insanely brash as that.

Flailing helplessly against his bonds, he realized with an unsettling horror that he was actually stuck. Without any outside help, he was caged and along with that thought, it occurred to him painfully that the Order telling Allen that he was dead might possibly be less of a lie and more of a prediction of the future. Exorcist or not, he had already been marked to be euthanized in his first year of 'life'. Bitterness crept back through his thoughts and he definitely didn't put it passed them to try and finish what they failed to do in the past, before the tragedy resulted in a mass slaughter in the Asian branch.

He was considerably less necessary than Allen as he was. The beansprout had a vagrant Noah living in his mind…one who knew how to kill the other Noah. The younger man also had reached a perfect synchronization with his Innocence, where Kanda had yet to accept his Innocence as more than a curse. He was perfectly disposable.

Shit.

The word collided with reality when he heard the heavy slide of the door lock and the seals being removed with static zips. Bak had left upon hearing these particular footsteps coming closer. There was a distinctive click a CROW's heels made and these were definitely one of those.

"Can I help you gentlemen today?" He sneered up at the silhouette of the first CROW member to enter.

To Be Continued...

A/N: Not dead. I swear.