Hello my dear, beautiful, treasured readers! I'm back. Actually kinda back. Amazing, I know. Unfortunately uni is just hectic so I can't promise constant updates but I will try my hardest! And I swear to update my other pieces!

This latest LaviYuu is inspired by Robert Delong's Global Concepts. Don't even ask me how. I really do not understand the birth of this plot bunny whatsoever. But it happened, and I'm excited!

Let me know what you think, hell, even just say hi~! I love reading all your beautiful reviews, and of course, constructive criticism is totally welcomed!

Enjoy!

Kavbj

Oh and please excuse/understand the slight OOCness in this opening. Hopefully you'll see why there is OOCness haha. And I admit this must be the world's longest prologue! Unfortunately I can't promise all chapters will be this long but I shall try my hardest!

Warning: LaviYuu (yaoi) and language. And my attempt at like a paragraph of gore. Oh and the FanFiction doc editor DOES NOT LIKE ME

Global Concepts

Prologue

I think it burns my sense of truth

To hear me shouting at my youth

I need a way to sort it out.

After I die, I'll re-awake,

Redefine what was at stake

From the hindsight of a god.

I'll see the people that I use,

See the substance I abuse,

The ugly places that I lived.

Did I make money? Was I proud?

Did I play my songs too loud?

Did I leave my life to chance

Or did I make you fucking dance?

Lavi whined and rubbed at his shoulder blade. Battling Akuma was a bitch enough of a task without it being in the middle of the market square. Flight or fight was a stupid instinct. It was more like flight, fight or freeze uselessly. There were more locals choosing the third option than the four of them were pleased with.

"Lavi?" Allen called, slamming his innocence in the path of an Akuma's attack on a father and his two daughters.

"I'm good!" Lavi shouted back, pulling himself free of the rubble. He kicked aside an apple, spared the broken fruit cart a glance, and then searched for the merchant he'd been trying to protect. "Damn it," he hissed, spotting the pile of ash. He ground his teeth back and forth and swung Ōzuchi Kozuchi over his shoulder. "Allen, how many more?"

"Not many."

Lavi turned, swinging at the trio of Level Ones coming to surround him. They exploded in turn, and Lavi whistled as he admired the domino affect. "Like ugly fireworks," he said to Allen as the younger boy came to land in front of him. "Are you done?"

"I'm good. We got them all here."

The townspeople were starting to show themselves again. Lavi shrugged his shoulders up near his ears, feeling uncomfortable at the loud sounds of crying. Grief. Fear. Relief. Either way, he did not like the sound of human beings wailing.

He was becoming too transparent, he knew that. And he shouldn't care at all. Should be totally apathetic. But God's Holy War was a hard war to stay unbiased and unattached in.

An explosion over in the town square, hidden away from view by a row of taller buildings, caught their attention. Lavi took Allen's forearm, slammed the head of his Innocence down on the ground and ordered Ōzuchi Kozuchi to grow, grow, grow.

"Lenalee!" Allen called as they landed in the town centre.

He ran off to find Yuu and Lenalee while Lavi shrunk his hammer. Lavi swept the square with a careful eye. There were fewer survivors round this end. Lavi recognised the signs of what must have been a Level Three and cursed their luck. His gaze came to a stop at where the remaining locals who'd populated the town square at the time of the attack were crowding. As Allen moved through them, pushing aside anyone who got in his path in his desperation to get to Lenalee, Lavi tilted his head to get more of a glimpse at what was in the centre.

His eye widened. "No…"

As he ran to join his comrades, the sounds of Lenalee's screams and sobs became terrifyingly clear amongst the noise of the town folk. He grit his teeth and pushed his way through, bumping shoulders roughly with the Chinese girl as he passed her. She wailed and dropped to her knees, rocking herself forward with the force of her grief.

Thank God he'd seen war. Thank fuck he'd seen injuries, fallen comrades - otherwise he mightn't have been able to keep his stomach contents down.

"Yuu," Lavi breathed, dropping to all fours by the Japanese Exorcist's side. He lifted a shaky hand with the intent of brushing away loose strands of hair sticking to the blood on Yuu's face but stopped and quickly retracted his hand. "What happened?" he demanded, glaring at Lenalee.

She shook her head, crying so hard so that her whole body shook. "Kanda, he - Kanda, Kanda, Kanda, I'm sorry, please, wake up, wake up," she gasped in between her sobs. She reached out to cup his face but Lavi smacked her hand away.

"Don't touch him!"

Lenalee damn near howled as she clutched her hands back to her chest and rocked forward to press her forehead to the ground, dark hair falling around her.

"Lavi," Allen warned, drawing Lenalee to sit upright. He quickly released her to shove back the villager reaching for Yuu. "He said not to fucking touch him!" The villager stumbled but didn't fall as those in the crowd caught him. Allen growled at him and invoked his Innocence warningly. "Stay. Back."

"Don't touch him," Lavi repeated, shooting a stern look in Lenalee's direction and then the crowd around them. Why wouldn't they just fuck off? "Don't touch him…"

He clenched his jaw and took in the extent of Yuu's injury. The left side of his head was broken and caved in. The skin was cleanly split and the skull had cracked open enough to see right through to Yuu's brain, which was slicked crimson, no doubt severely damaged. Blood soaked his dark hair and coated the left side of his face.

Lavi tilted his head back to stare at the sky, steeling himself. Nausea was climbing up the back of his throat, no matter everything else he'd seen and memorised and recorded in the past years as Bookman Junior. How was Yuu supposed to recover from that, never mind the rest of his injuries?

His gaze snapped back to Lenalee. "What the hell happened?"

She stared back, face dirty, eyes still flooded with tears, bottom lip wobbling. "Lavi - I - "

"What the hell happened!" he demanded, lunging across to pull her hands away from her face. He shook her. "You were supposed to have each other's backs. How the fuck did this - "

"Lavi!" Allen shoved the redhead back and glared at him. "This isn't her fault."

"Isn't her fault?" Lavi repeated incredulously. "Yuu's fucking dead. We split up and she was supposed to watch his back." He turned his anger back onto Lenalee. "Are you so used to not having to pull your own weight that -"

"Lavi! That's enough," Allen warned dangerously.

"Like you - don't you fucking lay a hand on him!" Lavi yelled. It was the same villager from before. He'd crept up on Lavi's blind side and was crouched by Kanda.

He drew his hands back quickly and held them up to show he meant no harm. "Please," he said calmly. "I'm a doctor."

"I don't care," Lavi snarled. Some distant part of him, the only Bookman Apprentice part of him still functioning correctly, groaned miserably. This was supposed to be an act. Part of Lavi's persona. Supposed to be. He'd lost control. "Don't touch him," he said lowly. "Don't touch him. No one touches him, got it?"

"I'm just trying to help. Has anyone checked his pulse? It may be possible to save him."

Lavi shook his head back and forth and looked at Yuu's pale face and dull, slitted eyes. There was no life in that face. But still - inhaling sharply, Lavi began to unbutton Yuu's uniform. His fingers slipped over the blood coating the silver buttons and he cursed, wiping sweat from his face with the back of his wrist.

"Lavi?" Allen asked.

"His tattoo," Lavi explained breathlessly. "I need to see it."

"Is that - "

"Yes," Lavi gasped, cursing loudly when his fingers slipped over the buttons again.

Allen was quick to help him but once Yuu's uniform was open, he was quick to move back. Lavi ignored him and instead drew the small knife he kept hidden in his boot by habit. He cut open the black training shirt Kanda wore underneath, ignored the bruises and broken ribs and blood, and looked straight to the tattoo.

"Sir," the doctor said. "Lavi? I strongly advise we get your friend out of here."

Lavi shook his head. The tattoo was the same as it had been. No developments. "Let him heal," he said quietly, pressing his palm to the tattoo. "Let him heal…"

The doctor shook his head and looked to Allen. "Please help me move him."

"I swear to God," Lavi warned, voice dripping low with poison. "If you try to touch him for a third time, you'll need someone to save you, doctor. Just. Let. Him. Heal."

"Why isn't it working?" Lenalee asked, voice hoarse from her crying. Lavi shot her a dark look and she pursed her lips as she stared back stubbornly. "Lavi, please…"

He scoffed and looked away. "I don't know. Give it time. He just needs time to - " He took Yuu's hand in his own. "Just let him heal. He just needs time to heal." He bit down on his lower lip and squeezed Yuu's hand tightly. "C'mon, Yuu-Chan, don't do this… this is pathetic, you silly swordsman. It's a Level Three. You're dying at the hands of a Level Three." Lavi shook his head. "You just need time to heal…"

He caught movement in his peripheral vision and while at first he thought it might be the doctor, his focus then immediately snapped to Yuu's face. There. Again. Another flutter of lashes.

The others caught it too. Lenalee started crying again, relieved, and the tension in Allen's frame began to melt away. The doctor muttered his disbelief and the crowd began to murmur.

Lavi ignored them all in favour of the Japanese Exorcist. "Yuu?" He squeezed Yuu's hand again. Yuu's lashes fluttered again and Lavi stared at those lifeless eyes, waiting for them to gain awareness. He called the older teen's name again and this time, the flutter of lashes was a proper blink of blue eyes.

Lavi exhaled loudly and closed his eye. Thank the fucking Lord.

Yuu's hand moved in his grip and Lavi looked down at it, watched as those fine fingers clenched experimentally and that thin wrist twisted in his hold. Suddenly, Yuu's fingers snapped into a fist and Lavi felt the muscles in his forearm go rigid.

"Yuu?" Lavi asked, clasping his hands around Yuu's fist. He gagged suddenly, recognising the smell of burning flesh as Yuu's regenerative abilities finally kicked in. "I know," he soothed. "I know, I know."

"Oh my God," Lenalee whimpered, closing her eyes as she held her hands to her chest. "Thank God. Thank God."

"Will he be all right?" Allen asked.

"Don't know," Lavi admitted. "I've never seen him this heavily injured. I've never seen him die before."

Sure, he'd read the files. Knew all about Yuu's bloody battle with Alma. Knew about the Innocence Synchronisation tests. Knew that Yuu's body kickstarted, rebooted, recharged every time. But he'd never seen it firsthand.

"As soon as… he's healed," the doctor began. "We need to move him."

Lavi regarded him and nodded slowly. "I'll let you know when he's healed enough to be moved."

The doctor nodded respectfully and turned his gaze back to where Yuu's bruises were fading away and his ribs were mending themselves. The laceration on the brain had already been healed and Lavi waited patiently to see Yuu's skull mend itself. Once it had it would only -

Yuu screamed, mouth opening wide to reveal sharp canines as he clenched his eyes shut. His back arched up off the ground, threatening to snap, and the hand that Lavi wasn't holding clawed in the dirt. He screamed again, ripping his hand free of Lavi's grip to clutch at his head with both hands.

"No, Yuu," Lavi said urgently, fighting to pull Yuu's hands back down with Allen's help. The Japanese Exorcist choked on another scream, blood frothing at his lips and spilling down the side of his mouth. "Fuck, help us hold him down," Lavi snapped at the doctor as Yuu began to convulse.

Lenalee began to cry again, but Lavi could barely hear her over the sound of Yuu's choking and screaming. He pinned Yuu's wrists down and rest his weight gently on Yuu's chest, trying to keep him still so that he didn't injure himself further. The doctor held Yuu's head carefully while Allen rest his weight on Yuu's lower body.

"This'll pass," Lavi told Yuu. "It'll pass, Yuu. I promise. Just hold on a little longer. I know it hurts, but just a little longer."

Pained blue eyes opened to slivers, meeting Lavi's green eyed gaze for a brief moment before they snapped shut once more and Yuu screamed again.

"Just a little longer," Lavi breathed. "Hold on, Yuu. It hurts, I know. I know… But please, just a little longer. Just bear it a little longer…"

Lavi dipped his head to see Yuu's wound. The skull was slowly reforming but no doubt the pain receptor nerves in the skin surrounding the injury were firing off rapidly. Yuu bucked beneath his hold, back arching again, and Allen choked out a curse.

"You," the doctor said to Lenalee. "Come here. I need you to hold his head."

Lenalee shook her head desperately. "I can't," she cried. "I can't, I'm sorry. I don't - I don't want to hurt him."

"Lenalee," Lavi snapped. He licked his lips. "Please. Yuu needs you."

"You can do it, Lenalee," Allen added, voice strained.

Lenalee drew in a shaky breath and forced a nod. "O-Ok."

"Here," the doctor guided as Lenalee knelt beside him. "Put your hands just here. Try to keep his head as still as possible, that's most important, ok?" Once he was sure Lenalee was right, the doctor moved to help hold down Yuu's torso.

"There we go," Lavi panted as the skull finished mending itself. The smell of burning skin grew stronger as the laceration began to heal. He chuckled breathily, relieved, and smiled down at Yuu's hazy gaze as he slowly released the Japanese Exorcist. "Done." He pushed Yuu's damp bangs back off of his pale, sweaty face, frowning at how feverish the older teen felt. "You're ok now, Yuu. You're going to be fine."

Yuu started at him blearily, lashes fluttering with his exhaustion. His lips, already parted as he panted, opened a little wider as though to say something, but before he could, his eyes rolled back into his head.

"We move him now," the doctor said, sending Lavi a stern look. "The wound can't get infected," he added, signalling for the two men who had been waiting by nearby with a stretcher.

Lavi rocked back onto his haunches so that the men could get by him. He exhaled slowly and closed his eye. Thank. The fucking. Lord.

Once the doctor was satisfied that all of Yuu's external wounds had healed, he helped them arrange a departure time from the train station the next town over and insisted on joining them as Yuu had yet to awaken.

Lavi rest his head against the train window but kept his gaze on the inside of their private cabin. Lenalee and Allen and the doctor sat beside him, the four of them making a tight fit. On the bench opposite, Yuu rested, face pale and feverish, eyes still beneath their lids. There'd been no first class cabins available, so they'd had to do without a proper bed to put Yuu in. Lavi wasn't overly concerned now that Yuu was healed. They'd be at headquarters in another five hours and Allen had called ahead to warn Komui of the situation.

The doctor stood to check his patient, brushing Yuu's bangs back so that he could take his temperature. Lavi watched his expression closely and saw the concerned pinch to the man's eyes.

"What's wrong with him?"

The doctor looked back at him over his shoulder. Beside him, Lavi sensed Allen and Lenalee stir.

The doctor sighed and ran a hand back through his hair. "Considering how fast your friend healed, I'm concerned that he hasn't awakened yet."

Lavi dismissed it with a grunt. "His body revived itself and then had to heal several wounds, including a serious head wound. He's recuperating. Recharging."

"I dunno, Lavi," Allen admitted. He grimaced and rolled his left shoulder. "I mean, I've never seen Kanda die, and I've never seen him quite that injured, but I've seen some bad ones, and the regenerating always goes a lot more smoothly, for one. It doesn't usually seem to hurt him as much. And I don't think I've ever seen it knock him out."

Lavi gazed at Yuu contemplatively. He knew Allen was right, had had the same first hand experiences. Still, there was no ignoring the severity of Yuu's wounds. He'd died. "The tattoo," he said at last. "Check his tattoo again."

"Lavi, even still," Allen said. "He defeated Skin Bolic. Didn't his tattoo change then as well? He was fine."

"We were separated. We don't know that."

"Lavi…"

Lavi ignored him and stood to check Yuu's tattoo for himself. "We told him to rest, that it was fine and safe. The mission was complete. In the past, he's still had adrenaline racing, still been in the middle of a battle. It's possible his mind recognised that he was safe and shut itself down to recover," Lavi explained as he folded the blanket down to Yuu's waist and pushed up the loose black shirt the doctor had dressed him in.

"It sounds logical to me," Lenalee admitted quietly. "We never really see him heal at home. He's always in his room because he's tired from the mission. Maybe it's the same thing. Maybe it's like what Lavi's saying and when Kanda recognises that he's safe, he rests."

Allen hummed and watched Lavi. "Anything?"

Lavi nodded once. He traced the tattoo with a gentle finger. The tendrils that already speared out from the tattoo's centre had stretched over the curve of Yuu's shoulder and crept ever closer to his collar bone. Carefully, Lavi twisted Yuu to see how far over Yuu's shoulder the tattoo had spread. It stopped a little over the rise of his shoulder.

"I was under the impression the tattoo only changed when he invoked the higher levels of his Innocence," Lavi admitted as he readjusted Yuu's shirt and put the blanket back over him. He raked his memories. It was hard to judge when and why the tattoo's development had grown previously. Yuu had always been immensely secretive, and Lavi could usually only tell if he happened to see Yuu shirtless or if he could see the tendrils peeking past the edges of the Japanese Exorcist's training shirt. He looked at Lenalee. "How high did he invoke?"

She worried at her lower lip as she thought. "I - I'm not sure," she said quietly.

Lavi clenched his jaw. "Not to worry," he forced out cheerily. "It's a connection to his life force. He sacrifices more of his life force to invoke higher, so it makes sense that it would grow after he died and his regenerative abilities had to revive him. Right?"

"Right," Allen echoed, nodding his head with a grin.

As always, they were so easily fooled by Lavi's persona. The happy go-lucky attitude was contagious, as well, because he could see it eating away at Lenalee's guilt and Allen's concern.

The doctor changed this. "You may also have to consider that any lasting damage to the brain, anything permanent, cannot be healed by his - his tattoo." He met Lavi's gaze head on. "There was a laceration to the brain and severe damage to his skull. It is possible that damage was done and as it's not physical, his tattoo has been unable to heal it."

The cabin was silent.

"You were supposed to have his back."

Lenalee dropped her gaze and clenched her hands in her skirt. "Lavi…"

Allen glanced between the two of them before his eyes darted between the door to the infirmary and Lavi. "You two were intimate, weren't you? You and Kanda."

Lavi levelled Allen with a steady expression for a moment then cracked his neck. He addressed Lenalee again. "You were supposed to have his back."

They'd arrived back 45 minutes ago and Yuu had been whisked straight into one of the infirmary's few private rooms. The group of three stood dutifully outside the main door to the infirmary, waiting for Komui to reappear and explain the situation to them. Yuu still hadn't woken up and Komui's face had been especially grim when they'd quickly explained what had happened. The town doctor's theory had only darkened Komui's expression before he'd disappeared inside the infirmary to assess his fallen Exorcist.

"Lavi? Allen asked quietly. "You were, weren't you." He looked between Lavi and the infirmary door again. "It's why you panicked so much. Why you didn't want anyone to touch him. You were more than just intimate with him. You love him, don't you?"

Lavi stared at Allen coldly. "It never surpassed the physical," he said tonelessly.

Allen narrowed his eyes at him.

Shrugging, Lavi looked away, mentally reminding himself that they were just ink on paper. All of them.

"Even Yuu," he muttered to himself.

A part of him scoffed in disbelief.

When Komui finally emerged, he remained tightlipped, refusing to say anything on Yuu's condition until they were gathered in his office.

"All right," Komui sighed, falling back into his chair. He tossed his beret on the desk and ran his hands through his hair, then over his face. "All right," he said again, hands dropping into his lap lifelessly. Pursing his lips, he turned his chair to face them straight on. "Kanda's condition is serious."

"How serious?" Allen demanded.

"Very. Whilst his wounds have healed fully, with zero physical repercussions, we, like the town doctor, are concerned about any mental or psychological damage his head wound may have had."

"And has it?" Lavi asked, resting his chin in his hand as he propped his elbow on the couch's armrest.

Komui looked pensive as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Yes," he said at last, forcing the word out reluctantly. "Yes, we believe it has."

Lavi glanced to his side briefly as Lenalee's breath shuddered out of her. The Chinese girl clenched her hands in her skirt, drew her shoulders up near her ears defensively, and bowed her head. "Gege," she said quietly. "Please explain."

"Kanda has finally awakened. He's been conscious a few times, though never more than for a couple of minutes. In this time, we've run various tests to assess his condition. While there are no set backs to his speech and he's had no trouble understanding English, he's spoken mostly in Japanese the few times that he has spoken. All five of his senses seem to be in working condition, with special attention of course being paid to his sight and hearing. He also passed the Glasgow Coma Scale easily. There was no trouble with his eyes or his speech, as mentioned, and his motor functions are operating just fine."

"Then what's the problem?" Lavi asked.

Komui sighed, took of his glasses, and dropped them on his desk beside his beret. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "The problem is his memory."

"His memory?" Allen echoed, frowning.

"As in there is none."

"None?"

"We didn't notice it when he first woke up. He was groggy and disorientated and we were more concerned about checking for major side effects that would need to be dealt with as early as possible to ensure they didn't become long-lasting. It wasn't until he woke up for a second time that we noticed. We've done as many tests as we can, trying to figure out if it's temporary amnesia, exactly how much of his memory he's lost, and if it's permanent. There's nothing. Not a single intact memory. We also believe that it may be permanent. Understandably, Kanda's emotional spectrum keeps bouncing between docile, confused, wary, frightened, and outright violent and angry. None of this, however, is the biggest problem."

Lenalee was sobbing, chest heaving. Lavi bit down on his own anger and let Allen deal with the issue. Instead, Lavi asked the obvious: "how is that not the biggest issue?"

Komui was silent for a moment as he took them all in. His next words were directed solely at Lavi. "His file."

Lavi sat up a little straighter. "What about it?"

"Lvellie finds out about this and he'll do anything to get his hands on Kanda."

Lavi nodded in understanding. "It's a chance to reattempt the Second Exorcist Project all over again. This time - "

"Without any mistakes. Exactly. No flaws, no problems, no repeat of the Alma Karma incident. Kanda will be the perfect soldier. It'll be easier since he's no longer a child. He should be easier to mould because there are no physical or psychological developments to be concerned about."

"Yuu's already emotionally stunted," Lavi muttered.

"Yes, but at least he has emotions," Komui pointed out. "At this point in time, in his condition, Kanda Yuu is a prized jewell to the Order. To the Church. He's -"

"The hell are you two going on about?" Allen demanded. "Why is Kanda under threat from Lvellie?"

Lavi shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It's too complicated right now. I'll explain what I can later on." He addressed Komui again. "What were you about to say?"

"Kanda's under serious threat right now, and I don't intend to let him come to harm."

"So what are you thinking? Wait, is Yuu even still synced with Mugen?"

Komui grit his teeth and shook his head. "All of his memory really is gone, his motor memory included. His system doesn't remember Mugen, and thus is no longer synced with it."

Lavi swore and clenched his fists. It really was the perfect opportunity for Lvellie to start all over again.

"What?" Allen exclaimed. "What do you mean he's not synced with his Innocence? The hell is going on! Someone start explaining. Now."

"Gege, Lavi, please," Lenalee begged. "Why is Kanda in danger? We want to help."

"You've helped enough," Lavi told her coldly. "Komui, quick. It's not going to take long for word to reach the higher ups. What do you have planned?"

"Even if Lvellie finds out about Kanda's condition in the next hour, I don't expect his arrival until tomorrow morning. Which means we have the rest of this evening and tonight to get Kanda out of here. There's a small village in Japan that we've located. It's off the radar enough that Lvellie won't find it without some struggle, but we can still keep an eye on Kanda if necessary. We've already sent word out to the locals and have made contact with the small village council and they've agreed to take Kanda under their wing. We'll give him a new life, with no trace of the Order whatsoever."

Lavi's gut twisted at the thought, despite knowing that this was the best thing for the Japanese Exorcist. Komui was of course right in knowing that Lavi had memorised Yuu's file from beginning to end, and Lavi was strangely relieved to know that for once, Yuu could be completely and utterly free of the Order and the torment it'd put him through. He wouldn't even remember it.

This realisation also made him feel strangely ill. He wouldn't even remember it… any of it.

Swallowing thickly, Lavi ignored the strange ache in his chest. "When does he leave?" he asked hoarsely.

"I've agreed with Bookman to let you take him, Lavi, for your records."

Lavi nodded slowly. The ache in his chest grew that much stronger. "All right then. When do we leave?"

"In an hour."