Joker

Summary: When Allen is labled a traitor and almost killed, the Clown Crown and Neah team up to save him and accidentaly send him to the body of a phantom thief called The Black Rose, aka Rosette.

A/N: SPOILER ALERT! Lavi never left the Order.

"Hi."= Talking.
'Hi.'= Thinking.
/Hi./= Neah Talking.
"|Hi.|"= Radeo/Recording Device.
...
~Night I: The Rank of Death~

Allen sat alone in his dark and dismal cell. His food tray sat untouched in the corner of his cell. His ankles were rubbed raw from the shackles around his feet. Talismans covered the teen's innocence.

Speaking of whom, the Clown Crown itched with frustration. How could he protect his master all sealed up like this? Why was the Order doing this? The heart clearing wanted Allen out of prison, and he was sure that all exorcists felt her call to their innocence. The Clown Crown couldn't do anything right now in his master's most desperate time of need. That Noah was taking over, and since he had been sealed, there was nothing he could do.

He was upset with his weakness. It hadn't been able to protect Allen from the long haired exorcist with the sword of innocence. Because of that, the samurai had awakened the 14th, and then had Allen help him run away, only adding to the charges on Allen's head. He had been unable to stop the 14th from awakening. He had been unable to stop the two-spot Blondie that was always following Allen around from sealing himself. He had been unable to do anything as Allen was thrown into a cell and locked up. He couldn't even get his precious master to eat!

The list of things the Clown Crown blamed himself for goes on and on. He  was ashamed because he had let Allen go through so much. Why couldn't he protect his Allen?

Allen had somewhat different feelings. While the Crown Clown blamed himself, Central, the samurai exorcist, and the 14th, Allen didn't blame anyone for this. He didn't blame Kanda or Alma, Link, or anyone from central. He didn't even blame Neah. If anything, Allen wanted to learn more about him.

Allen had resented and hated the Noah. But the truth was, he didn't know anything about him. He had hated the third exorcist when he first found out they were half akuma, but he had been proven wrong when he found out more about them. He had actually befriended one of them, but he hadn't been able to save them from the Earl. He didn't want to make the same mistake with the Noah. Sure, he wasn't just going to let him take over his consciousness, but he wasn't going to hate him anymore without knowing more about him.

/So do you want to know more about me?/ Allen's eyes widened with shock and the Clown Crown twitched with further irritation. In his sealed state, he couldn't keep the Noah from talking to his Allen.

"Who are you?" Allen asked.

/I should think that would be obvious. I am the player, Neah./

"How can you talk to me like this? You've only been able to do it briefly before."

/That is because Clown Crown has been suppressing me. With him sealed up like this he can't keep me from talking to you./

"Him?"

/Yes innocence changes with their masters, including gender. The innocence is the same sex as their master./

"Well that's nice to know. But how do you know?"

/When you have as much 'free time' as I do, and you only have one thing to do, you tend to do it./

"You talked with Clown Crown?" Allen asked him, confused.

/Well, I did most of the talking. Clown Crown doesn't exactly talk. He just answered some of my questions. Ones that wouldn't matter much./

"How can he answer your if he can't talk to you?" Now Allen was even more confused.

/He didn't talk, it was more like a communication of feelings./

"I thought innocence doesn't like the Noah. The whole innocence is the weakness of dark matter and visa verse."

/Yes... Most of the messages I got were something along the lines of 'Shut up' and 'get the hell out'./ Allen snickered at this.

"Well, at least he has a sense of humor."

/Oh no, he was dead serious. If Innocence-messages could kill, I'd have died. A LOT./ Allen couldn't help but laugh. /So glad to have been some source of laughter./ He mentally said sarcastically, if that made any sense.

Allen then paused. This question had been eating at his mind ever since he first heard about the 14th. "Will you answer any questions I have?"

/I don't see why not. You are technically the person I'm closest to./ Allen cringed at that thought.

"You need a life."

/If you keep talking to me like that, people are going to think you've finally lost it./

"How else am I supposed to talk to you?"

/Think it. I'll hear anything you say in your mind./

'Like this?'

/Exactly./

'That gives me a lot of privacy.'

/Get used to it./

'I'll just come out and say... I mean think it. Why did you betray the Earl?'

/.../

'I thought you said you would answer any question I had!'

/Except that one./

'Fine then, how about why you chose me?'

/...and that one./

'Why can't you not contradict yourself?'

/It's one of my many bad qualities. By the way, Mr. Jr. Bookman has been standing in the corner for awhile now./

'What?! Since when?!' Allen's head snapped up and scanned the room, and sure enough, a very confused Lavi was watching him form the shadows of the cell.

/Ever since I brought up the whole 'people will think you're crazy thing if you keep talking to me aloud' thing./

'Oh, now I understand.' Allen stared at the red headed teen a minute before saying "Lavi? I know you're there." He stepped out of the shadows, looking, much like the cell, dark and dismal.

"Hey... moyashi."

"My name is Allen." He smiled weakly.

"Were you talking to... Neah?" Lavi asked.

"Well, yeah."

"Why?! You sounded calm!" Lavi snapped. "You should hate him, damn it! You should fight him! Not talk all buddy-buddy with him in the cell THAT HE GOT YOU INTO!"

"No... I'm not going to make the same mistake twice..."

"What do you mean?!"

"The third exorcists. At first, I hated them without knowing anything about them. But then, I grew after I got to know one of them... Tokusa... all he wanted to do was fight to help win the war... but I wasn't able to save him..."

"That wasn't your fault!"

"...and it got me thinking... I did the same thing with Neah... I hated him without knowing anything about him..."

/I'm touched./

'Oh, shut up.'

"So what you're saying is that you want to know more about Neah before you judge him. Like not picking a book out by its cover. Lavi said with disdain in his voice.

/I love you too. And actually, I do pick my books out by their cover. I only read books with blue covers./

'That's just weird, and it's not helping your case.'

/You're very nice./

"Yes." Allen answered Lavi.

/Oh, now you're just going to ignore me./

'That's because I want you to shut your damn mouth for a minute.'

/Such language./ Allen was finding Neah to be very annoyingly sarcastic. He really wanted to punch him, but if he did, it would backfire. You'd only be hurting himself.

'Seriously, can I talk to someone other than you for a few seconds?!'

/Fine. I'll 'shut my damn mouth' for awhile./

"Thank you!" Allen exasperated.

"Huh?" Lavi looked, befuddled.

"Oh... oops..." He smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "I said that out loud..."

"Were you talking to Neah?"

"Yeah... He can get really annoying. I couldn't get him to shut up to talk to you. It's kinda like... having you in my head."

"There is no way I'm anything like that Noah!" Lavi burst.

/Wow. Thanks./ While the two unseen enemies would be glaring at each other, Allen just laughed.

"You guys can't even see each other and you're still fighting." Allen gave him a warm smile. "I was just kidding."

"Well, I better get going. I'm only supposed to be in here for a short time, and the only reason I was able to get in here because I'm a bookman."

"Okay then."

"By the way," Lavi handed him a small plate- the ever unobservant Allen hadn't noticed it until now- and set it down beside him. Allen's mouth watered when he saw the mitarashi dango on the plate. "Lenalee wanted me to give this to you."

"Could you tell her 'Thank you' for me?"

"No problem." Then he left, leaving a blushing Allen behind.

/Someone's got a girlfriend!/

'Would you shut up!'

/Why don't you eat? It's your favorite./ For once, Allen complied.
...

Lavi sat down next to Lenalee. It had been about two hours since he had visited Allen.

"How was Allen-kun?" Lenalee asked.

"Well, he was a little more down than usual, but other than that, moyashi was fine." Then he suddenly remembered something as spaghetti noodles hung out of his mouth. He quickly swallowed them and added "He said thanks, Lenalee."

"I'm glad he enjoyed the dango."

"Yeah." An awkward silence came over the two of them. They hadn't talked much since Allen was imprisoned. If they did talk, it was usually about Allen.

It was then that a finder came over and tapped them on the shoulder. They both turned to look at the finder.

"Chief Komui wants you in his office." They both immediately walked/jogged out of the mess hall.

When they reached Komui's office, they burst through the door.

"What's wrong nii-sa-" Lenalee stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Leverrier in her brother's usual chair, with him and Bak standing behind Leverrier. Lavi eyed them suspiciously. Leverrier smirked.

"Come in. Sit down. We have some things to talk about." His honey-glazed-tarts voice. Lenalee hated that voice. They complied, while both of them noticed the Komui and Bak looked dark (which was highly uncharacteristic of the two of them).

"Do you ever remember Mr. Walker ever saying he could speak with the 14th?" Lenalee and Lavi were both set on edge by the question.

Lavi wondered about the conversation he had with Allen. 'Could it be related to that?' he asked himself. His mind was running a hundred miles an hour trying to decide what he would say. He had two choices: A) Tell the truth and have Allen be in even more trouble, or B) lie and keep Allen out of trouble but risk getting in even more trouble later on. He decided on the later.

"No." was the simple lie he gave them.

"I haven't either." Lenalee added.

"Is that so?" Leverrier's icy voice said. "Well, this recording might change your minds." He took out a tape recorder and set it on the desk. He pressed 'play'.

"|Who are you?|" Lenalee's eyes widened. "Allen-kun?" she practically whispered.

"|How can you talk to me like this? You've only been able to do it briefly before. Him? Well that's nice to know. But how do you know? You talked with Clown Crown? How can he answer if he can't talk to you?|" Lavi had already come up with an excuse for Allen. He was crazy. For anyone listening to this conversation, they would believe it was quite likely.

Lenalee, on the other hand, was very much extremely scared. 'Did being in the prison finally make Allen snap?' She was scared one person from her family would wind up in a mental asylum.

And another question that was running through both their minds. 'Why was the Clown Crown even talking with a Noah?'

"|I thought innocence doesn't like the Noah. The whole innocence is the weakness of dark matter and visa verse.|" It droned on. Then, surprisingly, they heard Allen snicker over the device. "|Well, at least he has a sense of humor.|" Then there was more laughter and after a pause, Allen's voice grew serious. "|Will you answer any questions I have? You need a life. How else am I supposed to talk to you?|"

It was then that Leverrier pushed the 'stop' button. "Shall I tell you the rest of what happens? Well, Jr. here talks with the 14th, and knew about their ability to communicate. It is now official. Allen Walker is the 14th and shall be labeled as a traitor." He stood up. "Mr. Link, call the rest of the Crow to bring Allen in for questioning. If he doesn't talk... feel free to torture him."