When the Fourteenth finally overcame Allen’s mind in its entirety, he returned to the Millennium Earl without a second thought. Mana, of course, welcomed him back with open arms, but the other Noah were left rather dumbfounded. They would have thought that Nea would try to put as much distance between himself and his fellow Noah as possible, considering his treacherous past, but instead he waltzed right into the Ark as if he hadn’t committed an act so hideous against his brethren that it left their very souls scarred through generations of reincarnations. Whatever was going through the Fourteenth’s mind was a mystery to them all; even Wisely admitted that he couldn’t detect a single thought of treason, though Nea could very well have a formidable mental defense against the Noah of Wisdom’s mind-reading capabilities.
Despite Mana’s open encouragement for them to accept Nea back into their dysfunctional family, Tyki was nonetheless suspicious. He didn’t retain any of Joyd’s memories, but he was very familiar with the sense of anger and betrayal his inner Noah felt anytime he came near Nea. The feeling was rather annoying, quite honestly, and Tyki wanted nothing more than to reclaim his indifference on the matter. However, it seemed fate had other plans for the two of them.
Nea’s room within the Ark was...interesting, to say the least. Tyki couldn’t turn a single corner in the endless labyrinth without nearly jumping out of his skin at the sight of yet another mirror. He had to wonder what fixation the Fourteenth had with his reflection, but perhaps it had something to do with his current vessel. Allen Walker, the supposed spiritual reincarnation of the human with whom Cross Marian and the Campbell boys themselves had been friends. The one whose body had been promised to Nea regardless of the boy’s current opinion. Tyki was led to believe Allen had no memory of the past life he was said to have lived, though he was hard-pressed to believe that a mere human could have passed along his soul to another body without some sort of supernatural assistance. Cross Marian was vaguely known for his dabbling in witchcraft, but Tyki wondered if such a feat could really be accomplished without encountering some complication or another.
Lost in thought, Tyki’s heart leapt into his throat as he rounded another corner to find the white-haired object of his internal rambles. Allen—no, Nea, he reminded himself—smiled up at him almost adoringly, those pale eyes that didn’t belong to him peering into his own with a searching gaze that seemed far too unsettling for the gentle countenance he was used to.
“Hello, Joyd. Or rather—What is it that you by now? Tyki, was it?” Nea asked, a small huff of laughter leaving his nose. “It’s so funny… I never thought you, of all of us, would take so lovingly to your humanity. But, then again, you’re not very humane, are you?”
Tyki was silent for a moment, eyes searching Nea’s for some sign that would give away whatever game he was playing.
“There’s a unique pleasure to be found in humanity,” he conceded. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? You’ve been trying to devour every ounce of Allen’s humanity since the day he was born.” At this, Nea laughed heartily, lips stretching into a wide grin that had no business on Allen’s face.
“Oh, this is rich. Don’t tell me you actually cared about the boy,” Nea said, regaining his composure with a sly smirk that replaced his grin. “You’ve fallen a lot lower than I thought.” With an amused hum, Nea turned on his heel and started down the corridor of mirrors. “Joyd would never stoop so low as to harbour feelings for a human.” He turned a corner and disappeared from sight, leaving Tyki to click his tongue to himself.
“My name is Tyki,” he mumbled under his breath, fisting his hands at his sides as he marched forward to follow Nea deeper into his maze. “I don’t have feelings for him,” he added a bit louder, knowing Nea could hear him wherever he had wandered off to. Tyki wasn’t quite sure where that was, however, as he discovered he could no longer see Nea when he turned the corner. The farther he went, the more confusing the maze of mirrors became. He had to watch his footing now, lest he walk right into a mirror he couldn’t quite discern. He swept his eyes from side to side, muscles tensing as the hair stood up on the back of his neck. He could hear Nea’s laughter again, but it seemed to echo in every direction. Perhaps he had made a mistake in coming here alone. The Fourteenth didn’t exactly boast an innocent record when it came to killing his own kind.
“You know, it really is quite funny how much you look like me. At least, the way I used to look,” came Nea’s voice from seemingly nowhere. Tyki paused in his steps and glanced around, searching for any sign of the other Noah. “It’s almost like...looking into a mirror…”
A chill ran down his spine, raising goosebumps all over his skin. Tyki whipped around, eyes wide. There was no one there. He took a few steps backward, expecting to be able to press his back against the mirror he had just been staring into. However, there was no mirror behind him and, as he quickly discovered, no floor, either. He gasped as he lost his footing, plummeting backward into a dark pit that seemed to swallow the noise he made. Some rope-like material snaked around his body, catching him by his arms, legs, and around his middle. His heart thundered in his ears, impossibly loud due to what were apparently sound-proof walls. He was gradually lowered by the bindings, soon finding himself on a soft mattress. Light began to filter in from above and he realized he was in another room full of mirrors, this one with no entrance nor exit barring the hole through which he had fallen. Glancing to his sides, he saw that the ropes that held him resembled a mysteriously familiar pure-white material.
Crown Clown.
“Did you like my little trick? It took some training, but I think this Innocence is rather fond of me now.”
Nea’s voice sounded far away and too close at the same time. The lack of any sort of echo in this room left him slightly disoriented, but Tyki was soon relieved of his confusion. The Fourteenth seemed to materialize from the darkness, standing in front of him now with Crown Clown’s mask covering the top half of his face. Nea flexed his left arm and splayed his fingers, enamoured by the soft green glow of the cross on the back of his hand.
“It’s rather curious, isn’t it? A Noah wielding Innocence like this, I mean,” he said, turning back to Tyki. Then, however, his eyes drifted slightly above Tyki’s head. “But that’s even more curious.”
All but holding his breath, Tyki turned his head just enough to peer over his shoulder at the mirror behind him. What greeted him was a pure pitch mass lying across the mattress in the reflection, a glasgowesque grin staring right back at him. Tyki whipped his head back around, chest heaving as he shuddered from the image that had been imprinted in his mind. That’s not me. That’s not me, he repeated to himself. That’s Joyd. That’s not me.
“Oh, but it is you.” Tyki opened his eyes, unaware that he’d closed them, to find Nea looming right above him. His eyes seemed to glow from behind the mask, amber now as the dark skin of a Noah rippled over Allen’s body, as if it were consuming any purity that remained. Nea reached out a hand, cupping Tyki’s face while he was helpless to retaliate in his distress. “Why don’t you just accept who you are? You shouldn’t be ashamed of your Noah. He, Joyd, is the very reason you exist. You were born to facilitate your own awakening. Don’t you understand that?”
Tyki’s mouth fell open in a silent groan as he felt that all too familiar tingle in his gut. No, not now, don’t you dare. He couldn’t let Joyd surface; not while Nea was watching. It would be the Fourteenth’s victory, although he wasn’t sure how. He couldn’t comprehend what Nea’s intentions were, but he could only assume they weren’t in Tyki’s best interest.
Nea was upon him then, the sudden weight of his body against his drawing another too loud gasp from Tyki. Dual-coloured hands framed his face, Nea’s but a breath away. He had yet to recall Crown Clown, hair blending in with the scarf around his shoulders in a way that was entirely inappropriate for a Noah. It was as though he were parading the way he imprisoned Allen’s soul within him, basking in the glory of his hard-fought victory over the boy’s mind. For some reason it saddened Tyki. He most certainly didn’t have feelings for the exorcist he was once ordered to murder, but that strange remorse settled deep within his chest like a parasite trying to claw its way out to devour him whole.
“Shhh,” Nea cooed, threading his fingers into Tyki’s hair and deftly loosening it from its tie. “I’m only trying to help you. There’s so much potential lying dormant inside you. I can feel it begging for release. You can feel it, too. Can’t you?” The question was spoken like a statement and Tyki knew it was true to a degree. He wouldn’t necessarily call it “potential”, but Joyd’s presence within him was a constant, prickling reminder of his true identity as a Noah. This facade he presented—the lie he lived as something that wasn’t entirely human, but that which wished it could be. His human vessel’s presence was just as prominent within him as Joyd’s, if a bit muted by his Noah’s overwhelming urge to claw his way out of the metaphorical cage into which Tyki had forced him. It was a never ending battle between them, both desiring freedom just as strongly as the other.
Tyki wasn’t sure when Nea had begun to strip himself of his clothing, but when he refocused his attention, the Fourteenth was nearly bare before him save for his underwear. Those, too, were dropped to his ankles, Nea stepping out of them with a certain grace Tyki had previously only thought possible for Allen himself. His lips parted in both awe and confusion at the sight of the Noah’s naked body, struggling to tear away his eyes, but in the end he was unable to. Nea smiled and, for a moment, Tyki wondered if Allen were even slightly conscious inside Nea’s mental grip on him. That smile didn’t belong to someone like Nea. It was just wrong.
“What? Don’t you like what you see?” Nea asked, glancing down at himself with a rather satisfied expression. He looked back at Tyki with a tilt of his head. “I thought this was what you wanted. I mean, come on. Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?”
As if to prove his point, Nea gripped himself in his left hand, mouth falling open as he tilted back his head with a pleased moan. He gave himself a few slow strokes, Tyki unable to look away as he felt his own member stir in his pants.
“With a body like this, it’d be a sin not to put it to good use.” Nea bit his lip, once again returning his gaze to Tyki as he dropped to his knees. Straddling Tyki’s hips, his breath caught in his throat as Nea ground against him, seemingly pleased with how hard he already was. “That’s more like it. I knew you couldn’t resist ~”
Whether or not Tyki actually had the freedom to “resist” was up for debate, but as it were he couldn’t even bring himself to struggle against Crown Clown’s constraints. Nea simply continued to stroke himself in his hand, gently gyrating his hips to rub oh so delectably against Tyki’s clothed erection. His breath soon became laboured as his cock twitched in response, feeling the wetness of precum rubbing off onto the fabric of his pants.
“Did you want him?” Nea asked. Tyki glanced up to find the other’s eyes already staring at him. His lips had lost the smirk, replaced by a pensive frown that made Tyki feel guilty somehow. “Did you fantasize about taking him for yourself and sullying his virtue?”
Tyki found himself unable to respond, throat suddenly dry as he swallowed. Lying to Nea seemed pointless, but more importantly, it was pointless to lie to himself. Certainly Allen was attractive, unfairly so for an exorcist who was meant to be his sworn enemy. Now, however, he was entirely within reach; he was sure he could just reach out and turn the tables on this situation, but his arms still refused to move.
“Do you wish I were him?”
This question made his heart stutter, less out of the humiliation Nea was clearly trying to elicit, but more out of fear for Nea’s response to whatever answer Tyki might give him. If he told the truth and said yes, he couldn’t be certain Nea wouldn’t take offense and deliver him a swift death here and now. If he said no, Nea could potentially make this situation take a far less friendly turn for the worst. Perhaps not by killing him, but making him wish he had never laid eyes on Allen in the first place. He searched Nea’s eyes for an answer, any hint that might lead him to giving the correct response, but then he realized that he didn’t have any obligation to tell Nea shit.
A giggle bubbled past Nea’s lips, the smirk suddenly returning to his face. “How interesting. So you’re not just going to lie down like an obedient little slut after all.”
Tyki grit his teeth. “You’d better watch your mouth, Fourteenth,” he hissed. “I’m more than a challenge for that fancy Innocence of yours.”
Nea’s free hand was around his throat in an instant, bringing his face a hair’s width from his own with a deadly gaze that could paralyze the most stoic of men. “That may be so, but this body has a new owner now,” he said. “It’s not just Crown Clown you’d have to deal with if you get on my bad side.”
Right. Tyki had almost forgotten. Nea might be a pompous twat, but he was still a Noah. A Noah who single handedly wiped out nearly every other Noah once upon a time. Joyd was probably a joke to him, let alone Tyki by himself. He pursed his lips.
“I was under the impression I already was on your bad side, seeing as how you’re hellbent on obliterating my humanity and all that,” he said. Maybe it was just his boner talking, but he really wasn’t in the mood to play any more of Nea’s games right now. At the moment, he was fully aware that Nea could kill him in an instant and he braced himself for the worst. He would only reincarnate again in a matter of time, after all. Nea couldn’t keep him dead forever.
...Could he?
“That’s cute.” Nea leaned back again and removed his hand from Tyki’s throat. “No, no. I’m just having a bit of fun, you know? I’m only trying to give you what you wanted.” With a ripple of his flesh, the dark brown faded to reveal pale skin once more, Nea’s eyes returning to that pale lavender that seemed so off putting knowing who was behind them. “Would it please you more if I looked like this?” he asked. “Or if I sounded like him?” Arching his back, Nea closed his eyes with another moan as he stroked himself back to full hardness. “Ah—Tyki, I need it… I need you.”
The change of inflection in Nea’s voice made Tyki’s eyes widen. While Nea had previously spoken with a dark tenor that only vaguely resembled Allen’s voice, this was nearly indiscernible from the original. In fact, Tyki couldn’t hear any difference and that was possibly even more unnerving.
“Stop that,” he growled without thinking, fingers curling into fists in the first sign of struggle. Nea tilted up his head just enough to gaze at Tyki from half-lidded eyes.
“I can’t stop. I’m so hot—I’m burning up. Please, please, take me. I want you...to have all of me…”
Tyki swallowed again, an inexplicable rage building within him the more Nea spoke with Allen’s voice. His jaw tensed as he strained to raise his arms, hands grasping for Nea’s neck, but with imperceivable speed, more of Crown Clown’s ropes circled around his limbs, forcing him back down onto the mattress with a grunt. Nea’s expression returned to something less indecent, a hint of irritation in his eyes. Good.
“You’re making this difficult,” the Noah said. “I know you want him, so why won’t you take him?” If Tyki didn’t know any better, he would say he had managed to confuse Nea. That was something worth bragging about as far as he was concerned. His lip curled with a sneer as he glared up at the Fourteenth.
“Because you’re not him.”
Nea heaved a sigh that was decidedly exasperated. “No shit. This is starting to bore me. I think I’m done playing with you now.”
For a fraction of a second, hope welled up within Tyki’s chest. Was Nea letting him go? Had he stumped the Fourteenth to the point that he wanted nothing to do with Tyki anymore?
No, of course not. What a stupid idea. Idiot.
Sliding back on Tyki’s lap, Nea’s hands moved to the hem of his pants and began to pull them down. At this point Tyki could do little else but let his head fall back onto the mattress. He was tempted to believe that Nea was simply pining for a good fuck and if that were all he wanted, Tyki wouldn’t stop him. It wasn’t as though he weren’t fairly excited himself after Nea’s little display.
He blinked as he stared skyward, then squinted as he noticed something above them. Another mirror, it seemed, bearing the same reflection as the one he had seen earlier. Tyki quickly averted his eyes. The last thing he wanted to see was Joyd grinning back down at him like some sort of animal stalking him in wait to ambush any weaknesses he presented.
Nea had succeeded in ridding him of his pants now and climbed back up his body to return to his previous position. Reaching to the side, he produced a jar of lube seemingly out of nowhere, but Tyki wasn’t going to question it. With his luck, Nea had been prepared for this moment even before Tyki stepped foot in his little labyrinth.
“You really are a slut,” Nea said nonchalantly as he dipped three fingers into the jar. Tyki flicked his eyes back toward him, but remained silent. “You’re just going to lie back and let me pleasure myself with you now that I’ve stopped playing with your mind? Pathetic.” If this were another tactic to rile him up, Tyki found it to be particularly lacking compared to what Nea had presented him with before. The Fourteenth huffed. “So be it. I’m not going to back out of this just because you rolled over and gave up.”
“Do you ever stop talking?” Tyki asked. He raised his arms, somewhat surprised to find that he had the freedom to do so now, and folded them behind his head. Nea watched him sceptically as he moved, but evidently decided not to comment. Instead, he lifted himself up on his knees and brought a hand behind himself. Tyki glanced down to watch one, then two, then three fingers gradually push into his entrance, plunging in and out at a steady rhythm as Nea prepared himself.
“At least you haven’t lost interest,” the Fourteenth said as he withdrew his fingers. Tyki looked back up at him to find a sort of disappointment in the other’s amber eyes. “Is it really only his body that you find so attractive…?” The question went unanswered as Nea gripped his shaft and lined it up with his entrance, sliding down without pretense. Tyki sighed in pleasure, closing his eyes as he tilted back his head. He didn’t want to think about the tone of Nea’s voice when he asked the question. He just wanted to enjoy this while it lasted and get it over with as soon as possible. He didn’t know what Nea made of his silence, but it didn’t seem to deter him from lifting himself and pressing back down again as he built another rhythm on Tyki’s cock.
For a few blissful moments, neither said a word. Eventually Tyki’s hands moved back down to grip Nea’s hips, Crown Clown still circled around his arms, but doing nothing to inhibit his movement. He groaned openly as Nea’s tight heat encompassed him, his cock sliding nearly all the way out before plunging back in to the hilt. He began thrusting his hips when Nea came down, meeting him halfway and setting a harder, deeper pace that had both of their voices rising in appreciation. He gripped Nea’s hips roughly and held him in place as he thrusted upward rapidly, the sound of skin slapping against skin filling their ears with the obscene wet noises coming from Nea’s ass. The Fourteenth braced his hands against Tyki’s shoulders, eyes closed and mouth agape as he moaned in pleasure. Nea’s cock bounced between them with every thrust, precum beading at the reddened tip. Without giving himself time to think twice about it, Tyki wrapped a hand around his length and skillfully pumped in time with his thrusts. Nea arched his back with another moan, hands moving to grip Tyki’s forearms to steady himself as he was fucked senseless by the Noah of Pleasure.
Heat bubbled low within his stomach, threatening to boil over at any moment as he fucked into the bitch he’d made of Nea. He certainly sounded like one, sounds of ecstasy spilling past his lips without a filter of any kind. The way his voice pitched sounded oh so like Allen and it was maddening, but it only made Tyki move faster, harder, thrusting deeper into Nea’s ass and nailing his prostate each and every time. The Noah was in shambles above him, face flushed and lip swollen from having bitten it so hard. The sight left Tyki breathless and his climax overcame him before he realized it. He groaned and dug his fingers into the soft flesh of Nea’s hips as his cock twitched inside him, spilling his load and coating Nea’s insides with his seed. He thrust through his orgasm, fucking his cum deeper into the Fourteenth’s ass even as he felt is seeping down his cock.
That seemed to set Nea over the edge as his eyes flew open to look at him. However, rather than the look of pure bliss, his eyes were filled with surprised rapture. They held nothing of the depravity that constantly lingered in Nea’s gaze, but rather a genuine sort of startled shock that exuded the innocence of a boy who didn’t know where he was.
Allen.
“Ty-ki…?”
Allen’s wide eyes fluttered closed as he threw back his head, an utterly wanton moan escaping him as he reached his climax. Tyki’s restraints shuddered along with Allen’s body as thick ropes of white splattered their chests. The moment Crown Clown receded in the midst of Allen’s euphoria, Tyki lurched forward to wrap his arms around the boy. He held him close with his inner turmoil clear as day on his face. Allen went limp in his arms but for his stuttered breaths and the way his body shook in the aftermath of his orgasm. Tyki wasn’t sure what he would accomplish by holding Allen like he was, but he didn’t want to let go. He feared that if he did, Nea would return. He didn’t know how much worse Nea could make this moment, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” he whispered into Allen’s ear, one hand cradling the back of his head while the other embraced him. Allen breathed shallowly for a moment, but Tyki could all but feel the shaken confusion radiating from his very core.
“What—what is this…? What did you do to me?” he asked breathlessly, though he had yet to move despite his words.
“Nea—the Fourteenth—he made me… I didn’t think… I never thought—…” It was useless to make excuses. The fact of the matter was that Allen had always been there regardless of who was in control. Tyki had defiled his body in full awareness of that fact, even if he hadn’t wanted to admit it. This must have been what Nea meant by unleashing his potential. Only a primal being like Joyd could just take what he wanted without regard for someone’s feelings.
“...He’ll come back,” Allen said after a moment. “I can feel it… He let this happen… He knew…”
The words only made Tyki hold him tighter. He didn’t want Nea to come back. So what if Mana adored him with every fibre of his being? Nea didn’t deserve Allen’s body and Allen sure as hell didn’t deserve what he’d just experienced. It had to have been the most intense orgasm of his life by the look that had been on his face, but he didn’t ask for this. He didn’t ask for Tyki to fuck him like some wild animal. Nea forced it upon both of them for all intents and purposes and Tyki swore to God he wouldn’t let him get away with this. If he had to kill Nea to do it, at least it would free Allen from his imprisonment.
Maybe he did have feelings for him after all.