Hey, everyone. It's been a while since I've worked on FF. Sorry about that

So anyway, this story is an idea a friend and I kinda just came up with in . . . June? Crazy how the time flies, isn't it? I mean, it feels like just yesterday it was summer and now it's November and I'm already getting snow! :O

So aaanywho, I'm not sure how often I'll get to update, but I shall try my hardest to make updates both timely and lengthy . . . and worth waiting for, but first thing's first

Enjoy!

"Allen! Allen, come on, wake up!"

Allen's eyes flickered open and slowly came into focus on Lenalee's face. She grabbed his arm and pulled in an attempt to pull him off the bed.

"Mmmmmm, what?" His voice reflected his fatigue.

"They're here to take you away! Come on, you have to get up!"

"Move it or lose it, moyashi!"

A gloved hand grabbed Allen's arm and yanked him off the bed. Another hand landed on his opposite shoulder, keeping him from careening into the wall. He now recognized the second person as Lavi. What on earth were they going on about?

They pulled him towards the door, where Allen saw Kanda standing with his hand on Mugen. Allen rubbed his eyes as they entered the hallway.

"What's going—" His question was cut off by the sound of footsteps fast approaching, and Allen's question was answered as the men creating the footsteps rounded the corner. CROW.

"Let's go!" Kanda pushed Allen in the opposite direction from which the CROW were coming from, and with adrenaline coursing through him Allen no longer needed further motivation to get moving.

They had to escape. Obviously staying in HQ wasn't an option, but if they used the Ark then the CROW would still be on their tails . . . unless they could lose them among the streets in the Ark . . .

Allen looked at Lavi as they ran. "What happened? When did they show up?"

"Maybe about ten minutes ago there was an announcement that all members of the Black Order—finders, scientists, exorcists—were to remain in their quarters until further notice. I had been in the halls headed towards my room when the order came, and I knew something was up. I ran to find Lenalee and Yu before coming to grab you."

"Baka Usagi, the only reason you're still alive is that I'm saving my energy for those damned CROW." Lavi seemed to blow off Kanda's threat.

Finally they reached the point at which the hallway split, one of the paths leading to the Ark.

"This way!" Allen turned to go down the hallway to the Ark room but Lenalee started going towards Komui's office. "Where are you going?"

"We have to get Komui! He's the one that told us about CROW being here!"

Allen grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop. "Think, Lenalee. Louvelier will be with him, probably with armed guards. He'll use Komui as bait—"

"I don't care! We can fight them off! We can't just leave him behind!"

"Lenalee." Allen waited until she looked at him to continue. "We're not leaving him behind. We're getting to high ground so we can come back for him. It won't do us any good to go in guns-a-blazing."

Lenalee looked down, her hand shaking in Allen's.

"Okay." Her voice sounded as though she was giving up on something. The guys all sighed in relief.

"We're not giving up, Lenalee," Lavi said, stepping forward. "We just need a strategy. We're coming back."

She looked at Lavi and nodded. The group continued towards the Ark room, Allen still holding Lenalee's hand. Once they made it inside the room, everyone sprinted to the staircase leading into the Ark.

"There they are!" The exorcists didn't have to turn to face their threat. The CROWs' footsteps stopped and started mumbling strange words—shit, they were doing a spell! They could immobilize everyone in one go!

"Mugen, activate." Lavi, Lenalee, and Allen turned to face Kanda, who had unsheathed Mugen. He slid his fingers across the blade, activating the innocence inside it. "First Illusion: Hell's Insects!" Kanda turned as he commanded the innocence, and once the command was finished the Hell's Insects raced from Mugen towards the CROW. The exorcists turned back towards the Ark and ran inside while the CROW were distracted.

"Where do we go?" Lavi was looking around, but the only door that seemed active was the one to the Asia Branch. That wouldn't do them much good.

Lenalee looked around as well in a panicked gesture. "Somewhere confusing and big. Preferably dark—"

"A forest!" Allen interrupted. "There are certainly plenty of forests in the world, and it should be fine to hide in! But which one?"

"One that has trees." Allen made an annoyed expression at Kanda. "It doesn't matter which one, moyashi! We just have to get out of here!"

They heard footsteps approaching from outside the entrance. The group ran and hid behind a nearby wall, and Allen played the 14th's song in his head, but he still couldn't think of an exact location. He looked around, trying to see if any doors activated . . . there! A light appeared under the doorway of the door closest to them. Allen nudged Lavi, indicating with his head which way to go.

Once the footsteps grew quieter, the exorcists decided it was time to go. Allen quickly reached out and opened the door, then the four of them ran through as fast as they could. Once through, they heard shouting.

"Lavi, destroy it!" Lavi nodded at Allen before grabbing his hammer, enlarging it, and smashing the Ark entrance. The shouting disappeared.

Allen looked at Lenalee, who had her head down. Even though her hair covered her eyes, Allen saw the shakes in her shoulders that accompanied tears. He reached his hand out to touch her arm. "Lenalee, I'm—"

She batted his hand away and ran away from him into the woods.

Lavi glared at him. "Nice going, you made her cry."

"Wha—? Me?!"

Lavi ignored Allen. "Ya know, you're going to have to stop doing that if you ever want her to go out with you."

"When else did I—WHAT?" His eyes went wide and he felt the heat rising in his face as Lavi's grin grew. He must've been blushing like crazy. Crap.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything. But you won't have a chance if you don't stop making her cry." Lavi stepped forward, looking around at the trees. "Well, either way, we need to find her, then figure out where we even are."

"We can't find them, sir. They seem to have escaped using the Ark." Komui could see the slight shake in the CROW's shoulders as he made his report to Louvelier. The man had good reason to be scared. He'd been ordered to detain Allen Walker, and had failed.

Silently, though, Komui was rejoicing. From what he'd heard from other CROW reports, Lenalee, Lavi, and Kanda had made it out with Allen. That meant Komui's job now was just making sure the CROW couldn't find them. That'd be a lot easier if he knew where they were, but for the moment it wasn't a major concern.

"Why didn't you follow them through the doorway they used?" Louvelier's voice was calm as he set the teacup back on the saucer in his hand, but Komui could hear the venom behind it. Hell, the CROW could probably hear it as well.

"It was destroyed, sir. From their side."

Louvelier sighed before a slight smile crossed his lips. "A minor setback, that's all it is. Alert the other branches to be on watch for Walker. If they find the others, bring them in too. But Walker is priority."

"Understood, sir!" The CROW quickly and briskly walked out of Komui's office.

"Do you have any idea where Walker would have gone?"

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Well, you seem very attached to the notion that exorcists aren't simply 'cannon fodder,' so I was just wondering if you know where Walker would go in times of emergency."

"With all due respect, just because I don't feel that throwing away their lives is right doesn't mean that I'm best friends with them." Komui made sure to tell Louvelier that he didn't appreciate being used like this with his voice rather than words.

"Ah, I see. Well, it was nice chatting with you, Chief Lee. I hope to talk like this again soon." His voice and facial expression alike were sickly sweet—sickly only because Komui knew the man's real message: I'll be back to spy on you later.

Once Louvelier was gone, Komui sat down at his desk, placing his elbow on the desk and the palm of his hand on his forehead. He didn't have much time until Louvelier and his CROW lackeys returned. He had to move quick to find Allen and the others.

"Reever!"

The Australian came into the office, his face more alert than one would assume, considering how little the man slept. "Yeah, Chief?"

"Find all the research papers you can possibly carry. We need to visit Bak."

"Why the papers?"

Komui intertwined his fingers in front of him. "If I just go to the Asian Branch without reason, Louvelier will get suspicious, not saying he's not already."

"Kay. It'll take me some time, though."

"Alright." Reever left but Komui didn't move as he tried to figure out how this would work. At least the kids were safe . . . for now.

Lenalee shivered as a gust of wind blew past her. The attack had come in the morning—not even an hour ago—but it was already afternoon here . . . wherever here was.

She looked back and saw that Allen was still hanging back behind Kanda. A part of her felt bad for getting angry at him. He had a point. Louvelier probably was using Komui as bait, and they were going back for him once they got their bearings. But there was still that part of herself that couldn't forgive herself for abandoning her brother after all he went through to make them stay together. She wasn't even mad at Allen.

The sound of quick-paced footsteps ahead brought the exorcists to a halt. A creature emerged from the bushes in front of them.

It was probably the ugliest thing they'd ever seen. It had dark brown skin, a hunched back, tattered clothes and the skin on its face was grossly disfigured. In its hand it held a filthy, almost rusty sword. It looked confusedly between the teens before charging them.

A powerful blast of water hit it from the side, sending it flying into a tree before hitting the ground, motionless as it did so. A woman emerged from where the water originated, walking over to the creature and kicking it—probably to make sure it was dead—before turning to the exorcists. She looked calm as she looked over them, as though the exchange from a moment ago never happened.

She was wearing a red short dress with loose cuffs and a silk dress underneath, or perhaps it was still part of the top piece. She also had brown gloves and red boots. A curved sword was sheathed on her hip. Lenalee looked at her face, but was confused by what she saw when the woman turned her head: pointed ears.

"I do not recognize your clothing. Where are you from?"

The exorcists looked down at their clothing. They were still wearing their pajamas. Granted, people didn't usually appear in the forest in the afternoon in their PJs but they were still recognizable as night clothes. Unless they weren't in just some forest . . . with people with pointed ears and ugly creatures . . .

"Um . . ." Allen scratched his head. "I have a feeling it's a long story . . ."

"Fair enough. Have you seen a Gondorian at all?"

"A what?" The woman looked at Lavi, surprise showing in her face.

"You are not from here, are you?"

The exorcists looked at each other.

"I suppose not," Lenalee said, shrugging her shoulders. Another gust of wind flew by, causing her to shiver.

The woman sighed as she looked over the teens again. "You will not survive the night without proper dress and food. Rivendell is nearby, I shall take you there." She turned and started walking away from the group. They looked at each other before following.

The first few minutes of the walk were quiet. After a while, though, Lavi jogged up behind the woman.

"I'm Lavi, by the way. And my friends are Lenalee, Allen, and Yu." Lenalee heard Kanda "che" behind her.

"I am Idrial, servant of the Lady Galadriel."

"Galadriel?"

"She serves as leader for my people, and is often referred to as the Lady of Light." There was a pause in the conversation as they walked up a hill and Lavi apparently found it difficult to hike up an incline and speak at the same time. Soon, however, he got his breath back.

"You mentioned a Gondorian. What is that, exactly?"

"A man from Gondor." If her short answers were any indication, Idrial was annoyed with Lavi's questions.

"What are you, then?"

"An elf."

Idrial's answer shocked the all of the exorcists, but Lavi the most. He slowed down for a moment before resuming his previous speed. "But . . ." He didn't finish his thought.

Lenalee quickened her pace, matching Idrial's speed. "Where are we, exactly?"

"We are in eastern Rhudaur." Idrial looked at Lenalee, who showed her confusion on her face. "Arnor?" Lenalee shook her head. "Middle Earth?" Again, she didn't understand.

Idrial led the group up a steep hill, stopping once she reached the top. Once the others joined her, she pointed to a nearby town, maybe a mile away. "That is Rivendell. There Elrond shall have more answers for you. Now I must go." She started walking back down the hill.

"Idrial," Lenalee called after her. Idrial turned to face her. "Thank you." She nodded before continuing on her way."

The group stood still, looking at the town. This situation was worse than they had originally thought.

"Well," Lavi said. "Let's hope this Elrond can help us figure out what's going on."

Okay, so the way I was kinda recapping on the storyline to write this was by playing the Lord of the Rings: The Third Age GameCube game (my second favorite GameCube game ever). It's about basically a small fellowship following the fellowship. And in it, Idrial is the elf (and my favorite character from the game). And for some reason I wanted to incorporate her into this story, so there ya go.

So, as I said earlier, I'm not sure when I'll be able to update, though I shall make it a priority

I appreciate pointing out of any mistakes and will not eat you for doing so :) And, as always, reviews are equally appreciated

Toodles!