Missing: one golden golem (tag to Lavi, open)

[hopefulgaze]

Allen trudged to the cafeteria with less enthusiasm than usual. He always liked meeting with his friends, but he was weighed down with the feeling that something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but it was making him incredibly anxious - which was something he typically never was. The not knowing was the worst, he decided, and he glanced

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[roaringhistory]

It was distressing for all of them, even the finders. The air was thick with the feeling of anxious tension. Suspicious eyes darted back and forth, taking in everything, believing nothing. For the first time anyone could remember, the Order was against itself.

Lavi found it incredibly interesting. He didn't know where this bitter edge to his thoughts was coming from, but he couldn't help but acknowledge that it was there. And that he was sort of enjoying all of this hostility. But that was the Panda in him talking, and not who Lavi was. That's what he told himself, anyway.

Regardless of his fascination, Lavi was loathe to admit that he just as bothered as the rest of them. There was something really wrong going on. That feeling of "forgetting" ate at his insides, and he knew the feeling wouldn't abate until he remembered.... whatever it was that he had forgotten. Something big. Something important. What was it

[roaringhistory]

"We'll figure it out, no problem," Lavi lied through his teeth. He couldn't help but hope it was something as simple as Innocence behind all this. But his instinct was telling him it was something much, much more sinister. He looked at Allen's hand with a smile, but inside, he was full of suspicion. When had he become so paranoid? Was it just the foggy mind doing this to him? At any second, he could imagine Allen's face twisting into a mask, that harmless left hand becoming a claw.

Lavi bowed his head under the guise of reproach, though it was really just to get Allen out of his sight. Where were these thoughts coming from? What was happening to him?

He forced his head back up and elbowed Allen's arm before grabbing his hand. "The sooner we get there," he called to the air in front him, "The sooner we'll know!" And he jogged off towards the elevator, pulling Allen along behind.

[hopefulgaze]

Allen yelped a bit as Lavi tugged him along, but he trotted after him without any protest. He was worried now, moreso than he'd say out loud - for Lavi, not for himself or his own situation. He'd always known Lavi to be loud and almost obnoxious at times, and it was something that never failed to make him smile and lift his spirits... but sometimes, on rare occasion, he'd see Lavi looking at him as though he didn't even recognize him.

This felt like one of those moments, and Allen couldn't shake the feeling now that whatever was wrong - it was only going to end badly for all of them.

It angered him, the fact that his friends might be in danger from something as simple as Innocence. It was easy to forget that the substance wreaked havoc in the wild, sometimes, and it wasn't supposed to be able to do that here - not at the Order, not at their home.

With a bit of alarm, Allen realized that thinking of this place as home felt just as wrong as everything else had. Unconsciously, he tightened his grip on Lavi's hand, willing the redhead

[roaringhistory]

At the sound of Allen's voice, Lavi's pace slowed almost to a halt. They were deep inside the order building, in one of the long, spiraling staircases that led to the basement that served as Hevlaska's chambers. It took Lavi a long minute to consider Allen's words, the gravity of the situation

[hopefulgaze]

When Lavi hugged him, Allen went very still. He barely had time to lift his arms and put his hands on the other Exorcist's back when he pulled away, and Allen was left feeling confused and almost a little cold. He let his breath out slowly, then watched as Lavi headed down the stairs.

"All right," he said softly, following along without any ceremony or thought. If he just quit thinking, maybe things would get better.

He ran down the stairs to catch up, but he didn't speak - he just walked side by side with Lavi, forcing his mind to any other subject.

"What do you think our next mission will be?" he asked, forcing the smile back to his face. "I haven't gone on one with you in awhile, have I! Do you remember when we went and found Krory in that castle?"

He was babbling and he knew it, but Allen didn't mind so much as long as the haunted look left Lavi's typically cheerful gaze.

[roaringhistory]

If this was real, if this really wasn't a dream, Lavi had some serious thinking to do. And if this was a dream, then it was going to be one hell of a morning when he finally woke up.

Following Allen's lead, Lavi babbled on mechanically, "Man, Kro was so scary back then! And digging up those graves? We shouldn't have to do that stuff! I remember this time Kro bit me. Seriously, has he ever bit you, Bean Sprout? SCA~RY! We're lucky he's on our side!"

It was second nature to Lavi, to fill the air with talking. He could go on and on, if Allen let him, talking and saying nothing. But that supposed second nature was hard to hold onto right now. He kept... half-remembering things. Like Krory. There was something... Something about Krory that he was forgetting. What was it?

Lavi went silent without realizing, his mind sifting through his memories like fingers across files. Things were missing. He knew it; he could feel it. Where had those memories gone

[hopefulgaze]

Allen smiled and reminisced right along with Lavi, but just like Lavi, he had this horrible nagging feeling that he was forgetting something important. Is it Krory's birthday? he wondered, tilting his head. No... I don't think it's that.

Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. "I can't remember," he blurted, stopping and putting his back to the stone wall, staring at Lavi as though perhaps he could do something to fix this madness. "When I think about Krory, or Kanda, or - or you, I get this feeling inside that I... that I've forgotten something, or that I'm not supposed to be here!"

He knew his voice was slightly on the edge of panic, but at that exact moment he didn't care. He needed to speak his worries, needed Lavi to hear them - maybe needed to know if he was just going crazy. "Maybe that we aren't supposed to be here," he whispered, touching a gloved hand to the stone wall behind him. "If it's Innocence causing this... shouldn't someone know by now?"

[roaringhistory]

So Allen was feeling the same way, too. If only that proved anything. All it proved to Lavi was that his dream-mind was capable of creating a very convincing Allen. But then, why shouldn't it? He knew Allen almost as well as he knew himself.

Wait. Didn't he? Why did he get the feeling that--

Arg, it was so frustrating!"Isn't it always like this?" Lavi sat on the steps, because he was getting nowhere mentally, he figured bitterly, so why not match it with the physical? He threw his arms across his knees and absently picked at the sole of one of his boots. "Something weird goes on, so we all figure it's gotta be Innocence behind it, even though we've got no clue where it is or what it looks like. 'S the nature of the beast

[hopefulgaze]

Slumping down onto the stairs next to Lavi, Allen nodded slowly. "I remember," he murmured. He hesitated, then looked around. The memories of what came after were a jumbled mess, and at that moment he couldn't really tell up from down. He closed his eyes and unconsciously leaned a bit closer. "I don't remember what happened after, but... doesn't it feel... like it was a long time ago?"

He opened his eyes again and looked down the stairwell and to the hallway beyond. How long had it been since he'd set foot in this place, really? Obviously he'd woken up here in his own bed, but...

"Lavi," he finally said, turning to look at the other Exorcist. "You said you met an Exorcist named Maria, but Master... he, ah..." He blinked owlishly, suddenly confounded with how exactly he was going to say Master uses a corpse named Maria in a giant coffin bound by chains and she sings on his command. "Master knew a woman named Maria," he finally finished lamely. His train of thought returned, though, and he looked at the redhead intently. "Have you met