Edit 1/2/12 - I went back and added Timcampy, since I seemed to had forgotten about him.

A Flight on Wings

By Uniasus

Chapter 1

Johnny didn't want to break the silence in Reever's office. Did he just give him permission to leave? He didn't move, just continued to kneel on the floor and watch his supervisor; the Australian was glaring at his own clenched fist.

"Do you think," he choked out slowly, "that maybe you should get more information from your grandma before you leave?"

"Well, no." Johnny shrugged. "She's never changed how the store has run-"

"But didn't she move shop recently?"

Johnny made to open his mouth to say no, but Reever cut him off again. "I mean, you should at least wait until she gives you a location."

The younger scientist frowned behind his glasses, until he got it. He could leave, but only after they received some news of Allen. It wasn't something he liked, it'd been months and still no one had seen the teen. Johnny just wanted to go out there and look for clues! But without a starting point, he probably would end up lying in an alley somewhere lost and without Allen.

Staying though, at least at the Order he would have a regular bed. It was the most likely place to hear news too. And if news never came?

But it would. The Order had lots of people in the field, Johnny had hope, and best of all he had permission.

"That might be a good idea."

Some days were worse than others. Today was one of those.

Allen liked hiding in cities, it seemed people interfered with Apocryphos's ability to find him. As did the presence of other Innocence, a reason why he preferred to hide out in cities with akuma or Innocence nearby with the understanding that Koumi would send someone from the Order eventually and their presence could help hide him for a little bit.

Only this city wasn't that large, and there were no exorcists nearby.

He tried to calm down his arm, shrink down the wings stretching towards the living Innocence. Judging by the height, he was above him. If Allen could just get on that train!

A girl found him, calling him an angel. He smiled at the thought, at the irony she didn't know. But she helped, gave him something to focus on.

Apocryphos had said it himself, Allen had a great connection to his Innocence, and it was at times like this it came in handy. He didn't want to be absorbed, he didn't want to broadcast his position, and didn't want to put the little girl in danger. And Crown Clown complied, understanding, but not entirely pleased judging by how his left arm was still covered in tiny wings and it throbbed.

He hated fighting with Crown Clown. He fought with Neah sometimes, but he always won and the Noah's thoughts eventually retreated. Plus, he talked. Crown Clown didn't. Allen never knew what exactly it was feeling, he only had its reactions to go by, and the fights were never just over. He could feel the effects: the pain in his arm, light headedness, general weakness. After a round with Neah, all he felt was relief.

The train whistle blew, and the girl's parents called out for her. "Bye-bye Mr. Angel," she whispered and then walked out of the alley.

Allen waited, to see if losing her as a focus would effect his Innocence, but nothing happened and he let out a sigh of relief. Apocryphos was further away. Which gave him the perfect opportunity to hop on the train.

Allen stayed hidden on the train until the end of the line, getting off at a place that reminded him of Crowley's hometown. There was a large, dark castle, but instead of being on the outskirts of town, the town circled it and the plaza in front of its gates. And, yes, there were two akuma present.

He had recovered enough to win the money for lodging and a bit of food. Not enough by far, but he lived on what he could get. He didn't have the cash to feed Timcampy too, but the golem seemed content with eating the stubs of cigarettes in ashtrays. From his room on the third day, he watched an akuma enter a bakery, heard a shot, and then watched the young man come back out with an overly stretched smile.

Normally, he would have killed the akuma. But right now, it unknowingly served as part of his security detail and Allen was loath to get rid of it. The soul would be saved, eventually, and as for those killed Allen made sure to attend the funeral.

Eventually, personal from the Order came by. First a finder, who went around collecting information on the five recent deaths. An exorcist was soon to come, and with there only being level 1s in the town, it was sure to be someone low leveled like Timothy.

Allen didn't stalk the train station to see who had come, and he didn't need eyes to tell that Apocryphos had.

He went to find someplace to hide.

"Oh! Good afternoon Cardinal," Lenalee bowed, suitcase in front of her knees. "I would have greeted you earlier, but I didn't realize anyone else from the Order was on the train."

"It's alright child," the Cardinal said, scooping his hand and pushing the air to encourage her to turn around and proceed in getting off the train. "I have only been on this line since just before lunch, and judging by your looks you have been riding a great deal longer."

Lenalee sighed. "Kanda and I have been riding trains for two days now."

"Kanda?"

"Oh, you may not have heard. Yuu Kanda came back to us earlier this month." She smiled at the older man from over her left shoulder.

"Glad to hear."

They met Kanda on the platform, and after discovering they had plans to stay in the same inn walked together, Kanda scowling and Lenalee doing her best to keep small talk going. But it was hard when the Cardinal wouldn't give a name or reason for his visit.

Once at the inn however, the Cardinal didn't enter with them. "Is something wrong?" Lenalee asked, while Kanda sported his usual I-glare-because-I-can look at the street.

"Not at all, my child. It's just such a nice day that I think I'll take a walk before checking in."

"Oh, okay. Take care!"

The Cardinal gave a slight nod, and then turned to walk down the street. Lenalee watched him until he took a corner and then caught up to Kanda, who was already inside grabbing a room key.

"You know, it wouldn't have killed you to talk a little bit. That Cardinal was the only one to stick up for Allen."

"Che," he responded, swinging his hair around and making his way up the inn's stairs. But it was a softer sound than Lenalee remembered him making, and she realized that maybe, just maybe, Kanda might actually like Allen now.

It would be hard not to, after what he had did. She wasn't there of course, when Alma was revealed to be still alive. But she had heard various stories from those who were. And there was no escaping the fact that part of the reason Allen had been locked up in the first place was what he did for Kanda and Alma.

Kanda wasn't the type of person to let that go.

Their room was tiny, a box with maybe a foot around three sides of the two beds in it, beds that were separated themselves only by a support beam for the roof on the far wall.

Lenalee climbed over the left bed to open the window. "The Cardinal was right you know, it is a nice day."

"Che, let's get going. Your annoying brother said there were akuma here."

Lenelee giggled. "You just want to see how Mugen handles in a real fight now that you're a crystal type. "

The other exorcist didn't answer, but by the way he was waiting by the door Lenalee figured she was right.

There was a chorus of screams from outside, not close but not too far either. Without even thinking about it Lenalee crouched in the window; Dark Boots activated, a hand between them, and the other against the opposite side of the window frame for balance. Kanda ducked under her arm and stuck his head out the window, looking down.

A flock of pigeons flew up from the center of town, where a large castle stood. "That way," Lenalee called out, not bothering to waste the time pointing required and leaping in the air. She just caught the sound of the dark haired teen curse air-defining Innocence, but when she twisted in the air she saw Kanda leap and land on the roof of the next building over.

She lowered herself and landed lightly next to him. "Sorry, I usually do missions by myself." He grunted, as usual, and they set off at his pace.

They stopped above the city's plaza and stared down at the fight below, standing on the castle's gates. There was a Noah down there, Tyki by the looks of it, and he was fighting a strange creature with the help of a level 2 akuma. The creature was human shaped, but white and monstrous, its hands ended with spiraled, feathered blades.

"Why must you continue to get in the way?" it snarled, throwing Tyki into a wall.

"What can I say?" the Noah responded, bringing himself to his knees. "The Earl doesn't like your plans for Allen. Nor does he, actually."

"Allen doesn't have a choice."

"Kanda," Lenalee whispered, grabbing the male teen's hand and squeezing tightly. "Allen's alive!"

"Did you doubt it? The beansprout is damn hard to kill. What I want to know is what this thing is and why it wants him."

They watched Tyki cause an explosion of dark matter, destroying the cobblestones and the store front of a bakery. The creature however, just stood up amongst the smoke, body healing at the rate of a Noah. He threw a spear at the akuma creeping up behind him, destroying it.

"This thing is trouble," Kanda said, watching Tyki get thrown into the top of a stained glass window of the church on the plaza's other side. "From what Lavi told me, that Noah isn't a pushover."

"No, he not." Lenalee answered.

"I'm tired of your distractions," the creature half shouted, stalking towards a downed Tyki. He was having trouble getting up.

"A distraction," Kanda hissed. "The beansprout's nearby." He leapt, Lenalee trailing after him by their still attached hands.

"Let me," she said, and before Kanda could protest leapt high into the air. Kanda gripped her hand to the point that it hurt, but she didn't say anything, too focused on finding a bit of wind for them to stand on. Once steady, he released his grip. "See if we can see him from up here."

Their vantage point from above the plaza didn't reveal Allen, so Lenalee started hopping around in an ever widening spiral.

"There," Kanda pointed, towards a narrow street heading out of the city. There was a bunch of white moving down it at a fast pace. "That's gotta be the beansprout, I don't know of anyone else who wears that much white."

"Hang on," the Chinese girl said, and used her legs to launch them at a roof further down Allen's path. They landed just as a familiar checkered heart-shaped door rose up from the street.

Lenalee opened her mouth to shout a warning to Allen, but Kanda's hand over her mouth stopped her from making a sound.

"We're enemies, remember? If we get any closer we'll have to obey our orders and attack him. The small Noah's no push over either."

Lenalee stomped on Kanda's foot with a heel, pushing his hand down and whirling around to glare at the taller teen. "I know that!" she hissed. "I know exactly what Rhode can do, but I also know that if we disobey orders, no one has to know! I just want to talk to him."

"If we show ourselves, he'll run. We'll learn more if we just listen."

"No!" Lenalee made to jump, but Kanda wrapped his arms around her from behind and lifted her into the air. She squirmed and kicked her legs, but couldn't reach back far enough to land a blow. Kanda moved one hand up to cover her mouth to keep her from yelling out.

"Rhode!"

Lenalee froze as she heard Allen call out to the Noah. Kanda crept close to the roof's edge, allowing both of them to look over it.

Allen stood facing the ninth Noah. He didn't look good; he was filthy and had the hallow look of one who had gone without food or sleep for far too long. But most noticeable was his left arm. It had sprouted a multitude of miniature wings and was trembling, Allen was using his right hand to keep it steady.

"Hello All~en!"

"Look Rhode, I appreciate Tyki being a distraction, again," Allen wavered, stumbling sideways into the wall and his breathing suddenly getting heavier. Timcampy hovered near him worriedly. Had Allen gotten tan, or was his skin darker? "But Apocryphos is almost here and I need to get away!"

"You could always come with me." Rhode rocked on her feet. "With my door, you could get away faster."

"Thank you, but no. I have no intention of joining your family."

"But I insist," Rhode took a step closer. "You won't get far in this condition." Allen was gasping now, sweat dripping down his face. His skin color was obvious now, a light grey.

"I can…if you just…leave."

"Incoming!" Tyki skidded around the corner, sprinting towards his sister and Allen.

"This way!" Rhode opened her doors, and Tyki scooped up Allen on his way to them, grabbing Timcampy in his spare hand.

"Put me down Tyki!"

"No can do, boyo. Where to Rhode?"

"Now that we have Allen, I'm thinking the city of love."

"ah, perfectionner pour un couple uni." Tyki half sang, leaping through the doors. Rhode stepped in after him, and the door sank back down into the street. A minute later, the white creature, Apocryphos Allen had called him, rounded the corner into the empty street.

"Don't worry Allen," it said, slowly changing forms. "I'll save you soon."

Lenalee would have screamed at the show of Apocryphos turning into the Cardinal, but Kanda's hand kept her quite. He backed away from the edge, and leaped backwards onto the building behind them. The teen stumbled on the tiles, but quickly regained his footing. After five minutes, enough time to ensure that the Cardinal had gone, he lightly placed Lenalee down and removed his hands.

"Oh my god," Lenalee cried, tears running down her face. "That thing, it's after Allen! And did you see how bad he looked? And the Noah? What do you think they'll do to him?"

"Nothing."

"N-nothing?"

"You're right, the beansprout's in bad shape. The Noah could have taken him by force anytime they wanted, but haven't. So I don't think that'll change now. But they don't want Apocryphos to get him. I think they just helped him get away. "

"Really?"

In a rare show of tenderness, Kanda reached out a thumb to dry her tears. "Yes. But we should go, tell your brother what we saw."

Lenalee nodded, and the set back towards the hotel to gather their supplies.

"Kanda." She paused, two buildings away from the hotel. With a snort, he backtracked.

"What?"

"Allen's arm, it was like that, a little, when he left. You think that's why he left the Order? Cuz Apocryphos attacked him?"

"Che. Maybe. How am I supposed to know?"

She signed. "You're not. Come on, let's go."

"Let me go Tyki!" Allen demanded.

"Okay boy." And so he did.

The only problem was Rhode's door had taken them to the top of the newly constructed Eiffel Tower, and Allen had a long way to fall.

"Bloody hell!" he yelled, hearing Tyki's laugher fade as he plummeted downward, Tim pulling unsuccessfully on the back of his shirt to slow him. Quickly, Allen focused on his Innocence. This far from Apocryphos, it was well behaved. With a single thought, he brought in under control and activated Clown Belt, catching the last arch and feeling his arm jerk painfully as he stopped. He looked down, there was still roughly ten feet to go.

Slowly, he lowered himself and then jumped the final two feet. He stood hunched over with his hands on his knees, gasping. The few people around this early in the morning started at him. They stared even more when Rhode and Tyki landed next to him. Tyki gave them a look that had them scatter.

"You alright Allen?" Rhode asked, leaning over to look into his face.

"Just…give me a moment," he answered, trying to control his breathing. While Neah never made a move or sound when Apocryphos was near, he had a sneaking fear the 14th was scared of him and Allen didn't blame him, his body always reacted. The Noah genes had an automatic reaction to Innocence; having been around Crown Clown all his life there was little concern there unless he stabbed himself, but Apocryphos was a living Innocence and called out the Noah memory more strongly. Stronger than even being stabbed by Mugen. Just being near the independent Innocence made him weak and wobbly as well as ashen.

But now he watched as his right hand returned to it's regular pasty color and breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay," he said, standing up straight. "I'm okay now."

"Good. We need to talk." Tyki grabbed his arm and lead them towards a small garden shed not far from where they landed. The Noah shoved Allen inside, Rhode skipped in, and then Tyki closed the door as he entered himself. The lack of windows had him halfway open it for the sake of light.

"Look boyo, we're not going to ask you to join us. You will on your own eventually, you can't hold back the 14th forever. Give it a year."

Allen narrowed his eyes to glare, but didn't protest. The thing was, he had learned a bit from the few decent conversations he had had with Neah. The most important being that he was already a Noah; he was able to control his appearance at will (Apocryphos aside), could manipulate small amount of dark matter (which is how the Ark worked), felt drawn to other of the Noah family. Some more than others of course.

The difference was that when Tyki or Jasdevi (he wasn't sure about Rhode, she was from a previous generation) became Noah, their human half acknowledged and accepted being a Noah. But they hadn't really become the Noah, hadn't fully accepted the ancient genes and memory inside of them. Because if they had, they would have had memories of their previous reincarnation's time with Neah. And that would mean Tyki's and Allen's relationship would not be as it was.

Allen had acknowledged being a Noah, but hadn't accepted it, still thought of himself as human. Neah kept trying to convince him otherwise, kept pushing memories on him to merge with the Noah, with Neah. Neah had been the first 14th after all. And slowly but surely, Neah was winning. When was the last time Allen had killed an akuma? And his memory was something fuddled.

So he didn't say anything to Tyki. He was most likely right.

"You wanna be an exorcist, fine." Tyki continued. He threw something towards the teen an Allen caught it, a raw cube of Innocence. "The only thing that makes an exorcist an exorcist is that he has Innocence. So use that one instead and get rid of Crown Clown. It's tainted."

"I can't do that! Innocence has to sync with an accommodator, it can't be forced. This Innocence," Allen drew attention to the cube in his hand, "and I can't work together."

"Use your head, exorcist. I'm sure you've noticed by now, but Innocence reacts to emotions and thoughts. Think at it. Tell it why you need it, what you plan to do, and you should sync."

"Please Allen?" Rhode slid up beside him and slipped her hand in his. "This way you could still be an exorcist, without having to worry about Apocryphos." She pouted, and Neah forced a memory on him. Of Rhode, half naked and above him, looking at him with sultry eyes before leaning down to suckle at his earlobe.

Allen tried to take a step back, but Rhode's grip on his hand stopped him. "I'll, I'll try," he managed to say around his suddenly dry throat.

"Thank you, Allen." She grinned up at him, and then forced him to the floor with a kick to the back of his knees.

"Rhode, what-"

But then there was a candle driving into his left shoulder and Rhode shouted "Tyki, now!".

"Stupid golem," the Portuguese Noah said ad Timcampy attacked his ear, and Allen watched him bring forth a Tease from his palm and sent it out after Tim. Tease was bigger, and quickly had Tim pinned. Tyki then walked towards Allen. He had been trying to throw off Rhode, to no avail, but froze as he felt Tyki's hand on the back of his shoulder and fell him summon the another large Tease and commanded it to eat through the shoulder joint.

It was quick, but by no means painless. Allen screamed, his shoulder jerking in an attempt to shake off Tyki's golem, but the Noah held his body close and restricted his movements.

Suddenly, Allen felt off balance and titled right to crash on the floor. There was a dull thump, and he watched Rhode drop his Innocence endowed arm on the floor. In order to stop himself from screaming, Allen bit down on his lower lip. Bit through it actually. His right hand attempted to staunch the bleeding, but it failed. Blood still poured from his left shoulder, making his fingers slippery and his clothes sticky.

Through the pain, Allen saw Rhode tenderly wrap his left hand in cloth and then place it in a small purse (how did it fit in there?) covered in bows. Tyki kicked the new Innocence cube, which had dropped from Allen's finger when Rhode attacked him, into the exorcist's forehead.

"Here you go, boyo. Make sure the Musician heals you properly. Maybe he'll even give you a new arm."

Allen glared at him from the floor, to his pain addled mind it looked like both Noah were smiling. They probably were. Tyki pushed open the door for Rhode, wiggled his fingers at Allen in farewell, recalled Tease from Tim, and closed the door entirely on his way out.

In the dark, the pool of blood beneath him seemed larger than it should be. Allen flopped into it entirely, the elbow he was supporting himself on giving out. Closing his eyes, he felt Tim poke him in the check and activated his Noah genes. There was a prickling on his forehead as the stigmata appeared, and another in his shoulder as the wound sealed itself. He could have grown another arm, it's true. But it felt like a betrayal to Crown Clown to do so.

And maybe he hoped, just a little, that even if Tyki destroyed it a second time it would still return to him.

He turned over, rolling out of the blood, and the extra innocence cube poked his cheek instead of the dislodged Tim.

Innocence, he thought, help me save the souls of this world. The akuma, the human, the Noah. Being an exorcist is all I want.

Allen just laid there, thinking at the glowing cube until he drifted off into darkness.

Paris was…bigger than he expected. Sure, he knew it had about 300,000 people, but he never knew that 300,000 was…was this. They were everywhere! The streets, the alleys, the rooftops! And they all spoke French! Of which Johnny knew absolutely nothing.

But he was determined to not give up. Paris was his first and only clue to find Allen, the teen just had to be there! Johnny had made him a nice new coat, of the same material as the uniforms, but lacking the large star on the right shoulder. Allen wasn't part of the Order anymore, but he was still Allen. Still an exorcist.

And Johnny was still…lost.

He had gotten to Paris that morning, which was pretty quick considering Lenalee and Kanda only just got back from their mission the previous evening. But Reever had snuck him into the Ark, whispering that if he didn't go now Allen might move on and gave him a satchel full of money.

"I'm sure Allen hasn't eaten properly in months. Take care of him. Oh, and here." Reever had pulled out a thick envelop from the satchel and then dropped it back in. "We all wrote him letters."

"I won't forget this, Reever." Johnny had sobbed.

"Get going," his supervisor had said, tears in his eyes too, as he pushed Johnny into the Ark's gateway.

But go where? Was Allen still in Paris? And if so, where was he? Johnny felt underprepared and overwhelmed. To top it off, he had missed out on a last breakfast with Jerry. His stomach was not happy.

There was a clanging coming from a few streets over, getting louder, and he walked over to investigate. A dray rounded the corner, the horses pulling it going from a trot to a canter once they had completed the turn. The driver had all his attention on the horses, but the man next to him was ringing a bell and shouting something in French. Johnny caught the cross for ambulance painted on the side as it went by him, and when he looked into the dray from behind he got a look of a white haired boy.

"Allen!" he shouted, pushing aside a man to run into the street after the dray. "Allen!"

Allen didn't react, but Johnny continued to run after vehicle. Man was he glad he had gotten in shape.

But he was no match for a team of horses, and when the ambulance turned another corner three blocks ahead of him Johnny was scared he would lose it. He skidded around the corner and was thrilled to see the dray had stopped not to far down the street in front of a white washed building. He reached it just as two nurses were carrying Allen through the front doors.

"Allen!" he shouted again, forcing his legs up the three steps to half throw himself on the stretcher, starling the two nurses and causing them to halt in the lobby. They jabbered at him in French, but he didn't understand what they were saying.

It was indeed Allen, an Allen covered in blood, missing an arm, who looked terrible but was also alive. "Allen…" Johnny reached out touch his cheek, but before his hand could make contact he was pulled roughly away and the nurses took off.

Johnny found himself face to face with the bell ringer, who was talking at super speed in French. He knew German and Italian, why couldn't Allen be in Rome?

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." He kept repeating, shaking his head and glancing down the hallway Allen had been taken.

With a sigh, the man steered Johnny down a different hallway and into an office. There was a dark haired woman in it, and she gave off the same aura as the Order's Matron. He wondered if they were related.

The two French citizens talked, before she turned to address Johnny. "I am the Head Nurse, Mademoiselle Giard. You do not speak French?" He accent was thick, but Johnny understood her and nodded.

"No, I speak English."

"And the man that just came in, you know him?"

"Yes."

She said something to the bell ringer, who nodded, tipped his hat, and left. That left Johnny squirming under her gaze as she looked him over. "Follow me," she said, standing up to move around her desk and into the hospital.

Johnny stayed on her heels as she went down the main hallway, making inquires in French, until she opened a door to a room to reveal Allen lying on a bed.

"Allen!" Johnny cried and ran forward to clutch the teen's hand. He stirred a little at noise, but remained unconsciousness. The cover's near Allen's shoulder twitched, and he saw a flash of gold. "What happened?" he asked Mlle. Giard.

"I was hoping you could say. The blood on his clothes was fresh, but there is no cut on his body. And he has gone too long without food or rest."

"I haven't seen him in a few months. It was by chance I found him here."

"Hmmf," the nurse turned and left.

Tim flew out from the bed sheet and landed on Johnny's shoulder. The scientist collected the golem in his palms and cupped Tim to his chest with a single a hand. With the other, he grasped Allen's cold fingers. "I'm here Allen, you don't have to be alone anymore."

Tim nipped his fingers harshly.

"Well, now you have human company."

A/N: I was gonna just write this as a single one-shot, but then it got long. And after spending two nights writing (to the point where I overslept this morning for work) I need a bit of encourgement to get me through finishing this darn thing before the end of the month. Cuz that's when NaNo starts and I really want this done before the next chapter comes out. Usually just talking to my sister and getting her interested in the idea is enough, but as she hasn't read/watched DGM...well. I need you guys instead.

So, do you guys like it? Planning on sending extra chocolate my way to help me get through this story? I think it's about half way down. Unless my brain adds anything thing, which I hope it doesn't cuz I have way to much to do.