FANFIC: "Canta Libre" part four

[blueshimmer]

Author's note: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, solar deck is where it's at! This chapter is dedicated to a number of people: to Kalorii, for helping me get through NaNoWriMo (I won it!) among the many things she's done for me as a friend; to my betas Patti and Arron, for helping me keep it real; to all of my loyal readers who have patiently waited months and months for an update; and to Hoshino-sensei herself, in hopes that she'll recover from her illness soon and get back to providing us with her awesome story.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of "D. Gray-man" or its characters. It all belongs to the brilliant Katsura Hoshino-sensei. I'm just playing in the sandbox of this beautiful and complex world.

Warnings: Some language, mild shounen-ai, and some angst.

Soundtrack: This chapter was written listening to the Original Soundtrack for "Shikabane Hime: Aka" -- specifically the opening theme and the two closing themes: "Beautiful Fighter" and "My Story" by angela, and "Nemureru Hoshi no Aoi (Pale Sands of the Sleeping Star)" by Iidzuka Mayumi. If you can get your hands on those songs, especially "Nemureru Hoshi no Aoi," they might help you see the tone of this chapter.

"Cleanse the soul and wash away the pain, baptized by the song that you're singing."
-- Neil Diamond, "Canta Libre"


Part Four: Accelerate

Lavi blinked sleepily as the morning sun streamed through the window. A familiar tiny lump was cuddled up next to him, and he rubbed his hand over it, giving the small body beneath the covers a gentle shake. "It's morning, honey. Time to get up."

"Want to sleep, Papa," Mandy murmured drowsily, burrowing down.

"You want to master Banshee, don't you?"

That woke her up quickly. She bounced out of the bed and ran to her room to get dressed.

"Shower first!" Lavi hollered after her, before tossing his covers aside and standing up. While Allen and Peter were away, Mandy had taken to sleeping with Lavi, because she suffered from horrible nightmares when she slept alone -- the kind of nightmares that would cause her to wake up screaming in terror, and would take her forever to calm down from; Lavi decided that letting her snuggle with him, so that he could comfort her if she started to get scared, was preferable a thousand times over to letting her fight those nightmares on her own.

Pausing in front of the mirror, Lavi scowled at his reflection; it looked like he was going to have to shave soon. He hated shaving, really. He didn't mind it when Allen did it for him; but it was going on ten days now since Allen and Peter had left. Ten days' growth was annoying now, and Lavi was going to have to do something about it.

He grumbled as he scrubbed at his chin and pulled open the bedroom door.

Mandy presented herself before him, freshly washed and dressed. He blinked stupidly at her; "That... was quick."

He cursed himself for feeling so sluggish lately, but he couldn't get out of his head a sinking, sick feeling. He was starting to have dreams at night, where he was left alone to raise the kids, where Allen's Innocence finally claimed his own life, used up his life energy, burnt him to the core and destroyed him.

In the past fifteen years that they had been lovers, Lavi had watched silently as Allen essentially aged more rapidly than he himself had; not in the literal sense, but in a metaphoric way. The drain of his parasitic-type Innocence meant that his young body was breaking down much faster than the human body normally did. The younger Exorcist had a face lined with the kind of marks that one expected from someone twice his age, and he moved more slowly as a general rule (though in battle, Allen could feasibly out maneuver Lavi due to his smaller, lighter frame). He also had trouble keeping weight on, despite his voracious appetite. Lavi was afraid that the time to say goodbye to Allen was all too quickly approaching.

Allen tried his best to maintain his youth, but it was becoming steadily more apparent that he was aging quickly, and was running low on time. Lavi only prayed that when the end finally came to Allen, he'd be there beside him, that he'd be the last thing Allen saw before crossing over into wherever souls went when their bodies failed them. It was perhaps a selfish desire, but he wanted to be the last thing Allen knew before "shuffling off this mortal coil." The two of them had been so deeply enmeshed with each other's life, that he... ugh, this was hard to think about. Too hard.

Lavi had been trying to brace himself for years for this eventuality, but this was the first time he'd been plagued by recurring dreams of that horrible future. Consequently, it was the first time he was really faced with the unpleasant prospect of what had been a distant inevitability was quickly becoming a possible near-future reality. It reminded him of the dreams he'd had shortly before the old Bookman, who had been like a father to him, had passed away in his sleep.

"Papa?" Mandy inquired. "What is wrong, Papa? You look sad."

"Sorry, honey. Depressing thoughts. I get maudlin when your Daddy's not around to keep me in line. Come on, sweetie, let's get going."

"You are not dressed though, Papa," she said as she tilted her head at him.

Oh shit. He thumped his forehead. "Sorry, sweetie. I'm a little distracted. Go use the golem to call down to the cafeteria and place an order, so that it'll be ready when we get there. I'll be ready in a few minutes."

He shook himself vigorously as she left. He needed to stop thinking about those dreams; they'd do nothing but scare him more. He pulled on some clothes, choosing to forego a shower since he'd taken one the night before. As he shrugged into his uniform jacket, he stepped out of the bedroom and into the main room of the apartment. Mandy was by the door, waiting for him. Putting the depressing thoughts as far from his mind as he could, he took her hand and the two of them left the apartment to go get her something to eat before she went to start her daily training sessions with Noise Marie.

"You're doing well, Mandy, but you're still not there yet," Noise Marie said gently. "Here, try this technique..."

Lavi scratched idly at an itch on the bridge of his nose. Mandy's lessons with Marie were interesting, but only up to a point. After a while, it all started to blend together. Lavi knew he didn't have the ear for music that the big Austrian Exorcist did, so what sounded okay to him wasn't okay with Marie. It made sense, having him coach Mandy, even if it seemed a little weird that she was getting training from someone other than her official General. Either way, Lavi was on hand because Allen had asked him to stick close to Mandy, in case the Noah got a crazy idea about barging in yet again. The lessons got a bit boring now that she was past the beginner stages and was starting to get control over the finer points with her voice. Lavi was doing his best to not let his boredom show, but it wasn't easy.

And anyway, Sven and Kanda had just gotten warmed up and were starting to spar. This was one match-up that always proved to be worth watching. For all that Kanda was arguably one of the best fighters in the world, one of the best swordsmen and wielders of equipment-type Innocence in the history of the Black Order, Sven was able to keep up with his master. The tall, austere Dane was lithe and agile, and moved like a leopard. He wasn't as blindingly fast as Kanda, but he was able to dodge strikes that few people could. What he couldn't dodge, his Innocence blocked. Yggdrasil was considered to be partly sentient, with a distinctive will of its own (this wasn't exactly unprecedented, though it was quite rare); Sven viewed his Innocence as his partner, not his weapon.

Additionally, Yggdrasil was one of the few weapons that could stand up to Mugen, no matter how much force Kanda put into it; consequently, Sven was a perfect sparring partner for Kanda, because Kanda didn't have to hold back when he sparred with Sven. This was probably the reason the Japanese swordsman tolerated being in the Dane's presence so much... that, and Sven was very quiet, worldly and unobtrusive. The two were like two sides of the same coin, though Sven was more polite, less aggressive, and more adept at puzzling out situations than his master.

The Dane's fighting style was like a hybrid of Kanda's and Lavi's, with an added measure of dance to his movements. His preferred form for Yggdrasil as a weapon was as a simple staff, which he used to block sword strikes. However, he could change Yggdrasil's shape on the fly, forming it into virtually any kind of inanimate object, though he generally kept his arsenal to long-handled weapons. He did occasionally shape the staff into a trident, but typically he just kept it as a blunt staff, forging it into a spear only when he needed a sharp point for stabbing.

Kanda, for his part, was no slouch with his sword Mugen. He also insisted that the only reason Sven could keep up with him was because he'd trained the Dane that way. He'd taken an illiterate young kid from a small fishing village in northern Denmark, and had molded him into a brilliant fighting machine. Sven was also considerably taller than Kanda (even though Kanda was unusually tall for his nationality), which gave him a small advantage over Kanda, because he could outmuscle the Japanese swordsman. On the other hand, he wasn't quite as fast, and he presented a bigger target (though he was nowhere near as tall as Noise Marie). That was where his semi-sentient Innocence came in. It could shield him of its own will, independent of his commands.

It really was a rare treat to see the two of them sparring like this. Both were using their Innocence weapons, but the weapons weren't activated. They were merely going through the motions of a normal fight. Lavi hadn't gone as long as he had as Bookman Junior without developing an appreciation for people who could really fight, who could turn fighting (or sparring) into a form of dance. He didn't like war any better than anyone else -- and in fact hated it more than most, because he'd seen the ugliest sides of it -- but there were aspects of it that weren't quite so horrific. Watching two highly skilled fighters sparring was remarkably engrossing. It was also helping him keep his mind off the troubling thoughts that still hung in his mind.

He became so enrapt by the sparring match that he lost all track of Mandy's training session; thus, he jumped in startlement when Marie prodded him.

"Vigilant, aren't you?" The big Austrian said with a smile. "You were spacing out."

"Ugh, sorry."

"It's all right, Kanda's pretty amazing to watch."

"Actually, I was watching Sven; the kid's good. Are you two done?" He looked over at where Mandy was standing.

"I think so. Her voice was starting to get strained. Now's a good time to stop for the day. She's getting better, but she's still got quite a ways to go. But she's made incredible progress for how recently we started. Her progress over the past week is comparable to at least a year's tutoring results." Marie had a weird glint in his icy-blue, nearly-sightless eyes. "It might not be a bad idea to take her to Hevlaska and see if her synchronization rate is improving."

"Good idea," Lavi said with a nod, beckoning Mandy over. She looked a bit flustered as they got up to leave the training grounds.

"Am I really doing all right, Papa?" She inquired hesitantly. "It does not feel like I am doing very well at all."

"You're doing fine, sweetie," Lavi said with a grin. "Marie's quite passionate about music, so he's going to be a strict teacher, but he gave you very high praise." They made their way toward the Head Supervisor's office, to gain permission to go visit Hevlaska. "Don't worry, sweetheart, you're doing very well. You do know that your Daddy was in training for three years, right?"

She nodded, but didn't say any more. He'd half-expected her to ask how long he was in training with his Innocence, but she didn't ask. As they arrived at the floor where Komui Lee's office was, they heard the elevator that carried down into Hevlaska's chamber docking into place at this level.

"Sis! Papa!"

Lavi froze in bewilderment, but Mandy adjusted instantly, spinning around with a grin to light up the floor. Sure enough, exiting the elevator were Peter and Allen. Both looked very tired, but Peter at least looked like he was satisfactorily tired; he'd most likely accomplished what he'd wanted to do. Allen, on the other hand... Lavi's stomach lurched and his heart sank.

Allen looked like the proverbial "death warmed over" and he was slow to acknowledge that Lavi and Mandy were in front of him.

"Are you okay, Allen?" Lavi called to him. "You don't look very good."

"Yeah," Allen said, his voice gray with fatigue. "I'm just really, really tired. That mission took a lot out of me."

Why do I think that's a bald-faced lie?

Lavi closed the distance between them and put his hands on Allen's shoulders. "Allen, if you're that tired, you should go straight to bed and rest."

"I plan to. We just got back from debriefing with the Grand Generals, and returning the Innocence to Hevlaska. I was going to send Peter to find you while I went to go get some rest. I do need to talk to you about something, though, Lavi. But it can wait." The white-haired General gave his long-time lover an affectionate kiss on the lips, for once eschewing the protocol they normally observed of keeping any romantic interactions strictly private. But then again, the only other people besides them visible on the level were their kids, who certainly didn't mind seeing their parents kissing.

Lavi grabbed Allen's forearms and held him close; "You feel like you could collapse at any time. Should I carry you?"

"That's not necessary," Allen said with a weak laugh. "I can get home on my own power. But thank you for being so concerned."

"I love you, Allen. Why wouldn't I be concerned?"

That apparently wasn't what Allen had in mind, as he let go of Lavi and started walking slowly toward the internal elevator, the one that would take him to the top floor, where their apartment was. Lavi beckoned both kids to come with him and followed Allen onto the elevator. Once there, and once the elevator had started to rise, Lavi put an arm around Allen; "Allen, I'm worried about you. You look horrible. This isn't just fatigue."

"I'm just really tired, Lavi, and I've missed being with you. It's harder, when your student is your own child, you know." Allen leaned against him. "I worried a lot more with Peter than I ever did before with my students..."

"Even though I was fine the whole time, not even remotely in any danger," Peter added. "We never encountered any more Noah or even Akuma. We just had to chase down the Innocence. Turns out it didn't even have a conformer. Or if it did, the conformer didn't want to be found."

As they arrived at their level, Peter grabbed Mandy's hand and dragged her along; "I have so much to tell you, Sis! C'mon!"

Allen chuckled tiredly and rested his head against Lavi's shoulder; "They're adorable, aren't they?"

"Allen, you have to tell me what's going on."

"Wait until we get inside, okay? I promise, I'll tell you everything once we're inside. I'd like to sit down on the bed anyway. I don't know that I'll have a whole lot of strength to go through what I need to tell you and stay standing. I'm really exhausted."

Lavi frowned in annoyance, and scooped Allen up into his arms, despite Allen's protests. He carried him to their front door, shoving the unlatched door open and marching into the apartment. He didn't stop there, choosing to carry his lover into the bedroom, and dumping him somewhat unceremoniously on the bed. "Okay. We're here. Now talk. You've got me scared, Allen Walker. I don't take kindly to being made to be this scared."

Allen sighed; "Well, that wasn't exactly what I meant, but I guess I can't wiggle out of it, can I?"

"Nope. Talk."

The General heaved a second sigh; "Lavi... I think you and the kids need to brace yourselves."

"What for?"

Slate-gray eyes raised to look at Lavi's face; "Because I don't have much time left. Hevlaska warned me that I'm on borrowed time now. I'm not going to estimate how much longer I have, but it's already a miracle that I've reached thirty. If I make it to thirty-two, it'll be a second miracle."

It was like the ground had dropped out from beneath Lavi's feet. The information, combined with his nightmares and this lingering sense of unease for the past week, made his head spin and his heart scream in protest. The world began to spin as he grew pale with shock.

"Lavi!"

Just before his knees gave out on him, Lavi became aware of Allen gripping his arms. "Don't fall apart on me, Lavi!"

Lavi's hands tightened their grip on Allen; "I'm... I'm not ready to lose you yet, Allen. Isn't there something we can do?"

"Sit down, Lavi," Allen ordered. "Now you're worrying me. Honestly, I expected you to be surprised or upset, but not this shocked. It's not like this is brand-new information. We've known for a while that I'm living on borrowed time."

"I'm sorry, Allen," the redhead said at length. "I've just... been having nightmares lately about you dying because of your Innocence, and I have been trying to convince myself that I'm worrying for nothing. And now you say that... and it reminds me of when the old panda died." Lavi reached out and wrapped his arms around his lover, pulling him close and burying his face in the fabric of Allen's coat. He trembled with emotion. "I'm not ready to lose you yet."

"You never will be 'ready' for it, Lavi," Allen said gently. "And I'm not ready to leave just yet. I don't intend to die until I've taken down the Earl, but I don't know that I've got enough time left."

"I was really hoping," Lavi said softly, "to never hear those fatalistic words again from you regarding the Earl. I was really hoping, after the kids came into our lives, that you would try and see beyond destroying the Earl."

"Believe me, Lavi, I want to live on, but I accepted the burden of Crown Clown long ago. There's a price for that much power, and my promise to Mana is what kept me going in the darkest of times. I can't back out now just because I have kids. It's too late."

"So you're just going to meekly accept this 'fate' of yours?" Lavi drove his fist into the mattress in frustration. "That's not like you at all! Dammit, Allen, what the hell happened to you?"

Allen sighed yet again, and seemed to deflate; "Lavi, I'm tired. Do you get it? I'm tired. I've been fighting a war for more than half my life. Now I'm running out of time, and I'm no closer to finishing the war than I was fifteen years ago. I want nothing in the world so much as I want to just... not fight anymore. I'd like nothing in the world so much as to just be a normal dad to my kids. To be for them like Mana was for me. I'm so tired of this war, Lavi. I don't know how much more I can take. Especially when those that are dearest to me are being targeted simply because they're dear to me. I really just want this war to end, however it ends. My goal is to take down the Earl, so I should focus on that..."

Lavi grimaced, looking Allen over with scrutiny. Then, standing up abruptly, he rounded on Allen and shoved him backwards onto the mattress with considerable force.

"Hey now!" Allen protested. "There's no need to get rough!"

Lavi was trembling now, though Allen couldn't tell if it was from rage, fear, frustration or pent-up tears. "Why, Allen? Why are you doing this?"

"What?"

"Why are you diving headlong into your grave? Why are you doing this, again? Why are you trying to distance yourself from everyone, to take the burdens of the world onto your own shoulders alone? Why are you in a hurry to leave me behind?"

Allen frowned; so the trembling was a combination of the four options. "I'm not in a hurry -- "

"Bullshit!" Lavi spat. There were tears in his visible eye. "Listen to yourself! You're trying to take the Earl down with you, and you don't want us to go with you, so you're backing away from us. Just because you don't have much time left doesn't mean you have to be suicidal! That promise you said you made to Mana, about walking forward -- did you ever mean that if your life came up short, that you'd start running toward the end? That you'd make it even shorter by speeding up?"

"Calm down, Lavi," Allen said firmly, trying to sit up, but firmly restrained by Lavi, who was bigger and heavier than him, and decidedly stronger at the moment. Allen was so worn out from his mission that he had little physical strength right now. "Look, I didn't mean it that way, I just want you and the kids to prepare yourselves for the inevitable. I'm under no false pretenses that I can extend my life if I stop fighting now. Even if I could, there would not be the quality of life -- I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I stopped fighting for the sake of a few extra months or years of existence."

"I'm not ready to lose you, Allen," Lavi murmured again, and his voice broke. "I'm not ready to be abandoned again." The redhead lowered himself to lay directly on top of Allen, and his hands released Allen's forearms, moving instead to encircle his shoulders. "I don't want to think about what will happen to me when you're gone. I don't know that I can raise the kids on my own. You've been my anchor all this time, Allen. You've been what's kept me grounded."

This wasn't an earth-shattering revelation to Allen; he'd suspected -- and to some degree had known -- for a long time that Lavi's self-confidence was really only skin-deep. When presented with something that affected his emotions -- especially those that triggered his deepest-rooted fears of abandonment -- he was often a bundle of nerves that could fall apart at any moment. Allen, with his much more stable emotional upbringing thanks to Mana, was able to divert a lot of that nervous energy when it surfaced; he tended to do so autonomously, in fact. Completely without consciously realizing any of it was happening, Allen kept Lavi somewhat stable, and Lavi kept Allen firmly rooted in his humanity, not getting lost in his supposed destiny as "Destroyer of Time." It was this trade-off that had kept them so close over the years. Each gave the other something needed, without even realizing it. It was only now, in the twilight of his young life, that Allen was able to see these things that up until now he and Lavi had both taken for granted.

Lavi seemed to calm down as the silence lengthened. At the least, the trembling subsided. The redhead rested his forehead against Allen's, his eyes closed. His breathing was still slightly labored from his emotional spike, but he was calming down. Allen just let him alone, deciding not to push him too much. He was clearly under a lot of stress.

"Lavi," he said gently, "I want you to remember that no matter what, I love you. You've made my life so much richer. I'm a better person for having met you."

"I want to be with you at the end, Allen," Lavi said softly. "When your eyes close for the last time, I want to be at your side. I want to be the last thing you see and hear and feel. So don't you dare go killing yourself in battle. I don't care if you don't defeat the Earl -- we'll defeat him sooner or later, it's only a matter of time, and you've done enough. Just ease up, and don't you dare leave my side."

"I can't promise any of that, Lavi."

The room fell uncomfortably quiet.

"Our relationship has always been one of equals, Lavi," Allen added as the unpleasant silence lengthened. "If I were to change now. to cave to your demands, wouldn't that make me someone other than who I really am? And wouldn't that make me less than the person you fell in love with? You can't tell me you'd be happy with that in the long run."

Lavi sighed heavily; "No, I suppose not, but I don't want you leaving me behind, either. I'm so scared of that right now, I can't even think about anything else."

"Then don't," Allen said gently, doing his best to comfort the man who had become so dear to him that he'd gladly give his own life to ease his pain. He rested his hands at the small of Lavi's back, closing his eyes and maintaining his calm demeanor. Whenever Lavi went over the edge in terms of his emotions, Allen could reel him back by maintaining sangfroid and keeping his cool.

"I need you, Allen," Lavi said softly. "Every time I think about losing you, I realize just how much I need you. And it makes me mad, to be so dependent on you. I mean, come on, how old am I? And I'm still emotionally crippled without you. I don't even know if... I don't know if I'll be myself when you're gone."

"If you're afraid of 'Bookman Junior' coming out again, I honestly don't see any way it's possible. When I remade you on the Ark, I bound your persona to your blood, your heart, your entire body."

"That's not quite what I meant..." Lavi pushed himself off the bed and stood up. His face was pale and drawn, showing the weathering effects of worry on his features. It made Allen's heart ache. Allen himself was resigned to this fate of his, but clearly Lavi was not. And Allen was now running out of ideas of how to distract Lavi from agonizing about something inevitable.

"Anyway," Allen said, venturing a guess, "if you want to have sex, I need to get some sleep first, but a couple hours should be enough. We've been apart for almost two weeks, after all. And," he added, a bit self-consciously, "I'd like it if you stayed with me while I sleep. I sleep best with you beside me."

Lavi let out a pessimistic grunt at the suggestion of sex, but nodded when Allen asked him to stay with him for the next few hours.

"Are you sure about that, Peter?" Mandy gripped the fabric of the bedspread with both hands; this was the worst news she could imagine. She'd had no idea that the "so much to tell you" that Peter had spoken of had included something so world-breaking. "You are absolutely certain you did not mishear that?"

"Hevlaska said it right in front of me, Sis, and I think she did it specifically so that I would know, so that Dad can't hide it. She told Dad that he should prepare his family, because he's running out of time, that his parasitic Innocence is starting to eat away at his lifeline."

Tears lined her eyes, and she willed them away. "Papa... Papa will be a complete wreck when he finds out."

"Dad said he'd tell Papa right away. I told him he'd better, because I didn't want to tell him. I told Dad that I'd tell you. I figured it'd be better for you to hear it from me. You don't have to be strong in front of me, Sis," he added softly, putting his arms around her. "I'm scared too. I don't want to lose him either."

"I am the older one, Peter. I should be strong."

"And I'm the boy, so I should be the strong one. But this isn't something that we can just be strong through, you know. Dad said he was about our age when he lost his dad, only he didn't have anyone else, at least not until General Cross found him. At least we have each other, and we still have Papa, even after Dad's gone."

"I know, I know..." She closed her eyes. She had so been looking forward to being a student under her Daddy's tutelage, and she silently cursed her inability to master her Innocence, even though Marie had told her she was making extraordinary progress for what she was trying to master.

"It's okay, Sis," Peter said, sniffling as his frustration, grief and distress got the best of his emotions. "We've still got a little bit of time, you know."

I hate playing grown-up sometimes, she thought as she succumbed to her whirling emotions as well. Grown-ups have it so bad sometimes. If growing up means losing your parents, I do not ever want to grow up. I would rather stay a child always, if it meant that Daddy would still be alive.

Sarita surfaced from her water-chamber river. She'd spent an extra couple of days in the water to repair some damage she'd taken from that fight almost two weeks ago, against Walker and his family. She'd had the rotten luck of encountering that same black-haired General when she'd tried to attack again; she'd misjudged where the Black Ark let out, and she had come face to face with a cranky Japanese swordsman who loved to cut up Noah. She'd ended up losing six clones, which meant that she'd had to spend a week in the water chamber repairing. Repairing and plotting, really. This time, she wasn't going to fail.

This time, she knew what her mistake had been. This time, there would be no mistake.

This time, she would hit that damned white-haired General so hard and so fast that he wouldn't even know what had struck him. She'd strike like Shiva in His full-on Rudra mode... yes, she would prove to that moron Cyril that she could kill an Exorcist. Not just any Exorcist, either; an Exorcist that Tyki had failed to kill more than five times!

I will not return here until I have killed at least one Exorcist, she told herself. She was about to pull open the door to the water-chamber, when the Akuma-maid she was attended by intercepted her and offered her a sari. She realized belatedly that she probably shouldn't go out stark naked. Not that she was ashamed of her body, she saw nothing wrong with it, nor with walking around as nature had formed her... but if she ran into Cyril, he would taunt her. If she ran into Tyki, he would laugh at her. And if she tried to move through the human world like this, she would never get through it without being noticed.

She slipped the clothing on and tied her messy long black hair back with a velvet ribbon that the Earl had given her when she'd first transformed into her Noah form. He'd said that he wanted her to be presentable whenever she went anywhere. It was the same reason why he made Tyki dress in decent clothing and why he made sure that Road went to schools and had the pretenses of a family. It was also why even he had a human form. The Earl expected his family to be worthy of him.

As she stepped out of the chamber, the Black Ark's alleys were deserted. That was just as well. She didn't care too much for any of the other Noah anyway, though she didn't mind Road.

She moved silently, fluidly down a street toward the giant tower at the center, where the Earl usually was. She moved as quickly as she could, without making a sound.

As she scaled the stairs to the top of the tower, she went over her plans in her mind. She would surround General Walker, and she would strike simultaneously. She would separate him from his family, and strike him from all angles. And she'd send clones to take out those runts. If the redhead showed up, she'd deal with him. She'd dealt with him before. One sharp blow to the throat would buckle him.

Killing the brats shouldn't be hard, she reasoned. They were both young, had never killed before. And the last time, the only thing that had saved them was that one brat unexpectedly activating an Innocence weapon that Sarita hadn't known she had.

As she pushed open the doors to the giant chamber where the piano was now located, she saw the Earl sitting at a long table.

"Lord Millennium," she said with a respecting bow. "I am about to head out, and I will bring back the head of an Exorcist for you."

"Be sure not to fail me this time, Little Sarita," the Earl said in a deceptively benign voice. "I should be very upset with you if you do."

"I will not return until I have killed an Exorcist for you, Lord Millennium."

"Very well then. Where are you going? Where shall I set up the door?"

"I would like to exit the Ark in India. I believe I can lure the Exorcists I wish to kill, by using a Buddhist shrine there."

"I see. Well, do your work quickly. I will lock your water-chamber until you return to me with your promised proof of an Exorcist's demise."

She shuddered imperceptibly. This was do-or-die now. He had all but told her that she was as good as dead if she failed him again.

"Take door number six-twelve to Delhi."

"Thank you, Lord Millennium. I will succeed this time, and I will make you proud."

"India?" Lavi raised an eyebrow. "That's a new one. I can understand if it was China, since the Asian Branch is over there. It wouldn't seem quite so weird to have rumors of Innocence with a conformer show up there, but an Indian Buddhist temple?"

"Regardless," Allen said wearily, "we have to go. Kanda flat refused, and he and I are the only General on stand-by at this time. Besides, there's been no reports of Akuma activity, so it'll probably be safe to take the kids along. It'll be a good experience for Mandy."

"I don't know about this, Allen... you're still under the weather from your last mission. Why don't I go alone? I can do it a lot faster, and I can bring whoever the conformer is back to you."

"The Grand Generals assigned this to me, Lavi. I can't refuse."

"Geez, who's side are they on, anyway?"

"Fortunately," Allen said, ignoring him, "the relay point is in Delhi, which I've been to before, so I can create an Ark gate there. So we can get there quickly."

"I dunno about that, Allen," Lavi said. "I have a bad feeling about that. We shouldn't rely on your Ark so much when we aren't sure if there's a Noah behind all this crap or not. There's a Noah out there that's actively seeking you out. Yuu said as much the other day. Said that that watery one we've clashed with a couple times before has practically put a price on your head. I can use the Bookman network and get there, then back, without her ever finding me."

"I can't refuse this, Lavi. I told you that already."

"Then leave the kids here, and you and I will go by ourselves. This just doesn't sound right to me."

"No can do," Allen shook his head, "they told me to take my apprentices with me. Mandy's done with Marie's training, so I need to start training her myself. Look, I don't like this any more than you do, but I can't refuse. Honestly. My hands are tied."

Lavi sighed. "Fine. Tomorrow then, right?"

"Yeah. We'll want to leave first thing in the morning, which will make it late afternoon or early evening there. That's when the monks at the temple I'm going to use for the relay point are expecting us."

"I have a very bad feeling about this, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

Footnotes:
I do apologize profusely for the long delay between chapters, but as I stated at the top, and in my last chapter, I took a break in November from the fanfic business to write a NaNoWriMo (and I won, too!) and then December hit me like a ton of bricks. Now that the new year has begun, I'm hoping to finish this fanfic in the next chapter, but I don't really know how long it'll take to finish, since I'm going back to school now and have to put school work and my work at my job as higher priority than my fanfics. Plus, I still need to figure out exactly what is going to happen in the end of this story. The angst kind of took me by surprise at first, but I'm glad that I got to address this.

UPDATE as of July, 2009:
Because of the recent release of the dub, I've become more accustomed to the English translations of attacks and stuff, and the loss of the honorifics, so I'm removing them from my fics and rewriting slowly to reflect that.