Fireworks

Part 3

"Lenalee?"

There was no response, and Allen suspected that she had fallen asleep. The fireworks had ended several minutes ago and most people seemed to be getting ready to leave, but Lenalee hadn't stirred. Not that he could blame her, feeling rather tired himself and not even wanting to guess at what time it was, but they couldn't just stay there all night. And she was... sort of their ride home.

"Lenalee," he repeated, shaking her arm gently.

"Mhm?"

She said nothing else and made no attempt to move, but it was at least a start. Allen couldn't quite get up without her moving first or risk sending her sprawling, so he settled for nudging her again. "Are you tired?" A stupid question, but it was the first that popped into his mind and he needed to keep talking if he wanted her to wake up. Lenalee's only response was an unintelligible mumble while shaking her head, and Allen pressed his lips into a thin line to keep from laughing. That would hardly be gentlemanly.

"I think the festival is ending, we need to get up."

"Yeah," she agreed, nodding her head back and forth without actually making any move toward getting up. It was a little bit too adorable to be annoyed by.

"Come on, Komui would kill me if I left you here."

"You'd never make it back in time without me."

Point. Which was good, a coherent response was good however snarky it was. "Did you miss the fireworks?" he asked as she finally stirred, raising her arms up and arching her back to stretch and that was— odd. Very, very odd, with her positioned like that. Odd in a way that his mind wouldn't quite let him think about but that made him flush none the less.

"No, I saw them." A pause, and then amending with "most of them. Did I miss the grand finale?"

"Not really. The early ones were more interesting."

"Good."

It was more of a relief than it should have been when she moved away from him, slowly getting to her feet. Allen found that one of his legs was completely numb, and winced as he attempted to shake it out before standing up as well.

"It really does look about over," Lenalee said, looking back at the center of the clearing. There were still plenty of people milling about, but most seemed to be drifting off their separate ways or saying goodbyes. Any stall owners still present were closing up shop, and the tent could be seen coming down in the distance. She smiled contentedly. "It was really good, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Good enough that he couldn't doubt it was worth the trouble. Lenalee attempted to brush out her dress before giving up on it as hopelessly wrinkled and moving on. Allen decided not to think about his outfit at all, as it had been unsalvageable before the grass stains, and was about to follow her when a giggle caught his attention. He glanced toward a cluster of trees marking the edge of the forest. A finely dressed man was leading a woman of equal stature into the woods by her hand, raising it to brush lips against her knuckles—

Allen jerked his line of vision away from the scene, cursing both his keen hearing and above average night vision (thanks again, Master) and extremely uncomfortable over catching such an intimate moment. Though a large part of him considered it improper, he had to grudgingly admit there was a small amount of charm to it, though both sides of him could agree that it wasn't something he should have intruded on by catching the moment.

Again, he was about to follow Lenalee. But then everything stopped as his left eye convulsed, gears shifting into existence before it and he heard the familiar whir and metallic clacking sounds that only one thing could produce. Realization hit in an instant. He was already sprinting after the couple when his Innocence hummed to life, fingers sharpening to knife points as white down encased his neck. An ear piercing scream emanated from the woods just as he cut through them; the couple hadn't gotten far, and both were still standing. A momentary swell of relief at that. It was only a level two looming in front of them. Horrifying to them, surely, but Allen cut through it without bothering to bring out his sword, careful to shield the two would-be lovers from any flying remains.

His eye returned to normal, and Allen let his Innocence deactivate before turning to face the two. It probably didn't matter at this point, but hopefully it would give him a slightly less frightening appearance.

"I'm sorry, but please walk back this way, it's safer there." There were no more akuma in the woods, but it was better to move them away from the toxins and back toward the lighted path. Both the man and the woman merely stared at him, understandably terrified, and Allen smiled at them as reassuringly as he could. "It's alright, come on." While the woman clung to the man when Allen offered her a hand, they did at least get to their feet and start shuffling toward the light. Allen briefly entertained the thought of escorting them wherever they were going before deciding that it was probably not necessary, and they likely wouldn't appreciate it anyway. It would be best to head back to the Order—

Allen stumbled, coming to a stop at the edge of the clearing.

Where was Lenalee? Surely she would have heard the scream, if nothing else. Not that he had needed any help, but it was strange that she hadn't shown up all the same.

Another uneasy few steps into the clearing and Allen's eye activated again. He swore as he dashed past the two stunned survivors and toward the forest on the other side. Why did the clearing have to be so far across? One akuma was lurking on the outskirts among humans, but there was a larger group farther out. Allen took care of the straggler with one swipe, ignoring the screams of terror from the people surrounding it as he made it into the woods.

More level two's— three, to be exact. Allen hurried on, tripping over something in his haste. No... two. He could see them ahead now, one a grotesque caricature of a baby doll and the other some sort of mechanical snake. Then the next moment there was only one as a blur of teal slammed the doll-like machine into the ground and left it in pieces. Allen rounded on the last one as it screamed obscenities, but then Lenalee was in the air above it. She came down on it, hard, and the machine was cloven in two. Allen watched the soul disappear, showering Lenalee with thanks that she could not hear before his eye returned to its dormant state. Lenalee looked over at him, panting slightly, but didn't seem to be in any pain. Her dress was a mess, torn in multiple places and dirtied, but he couldn't see a scratch on her.

Allen straightened up awkwardly, feeling rather useless.

"There were about six of them, I think that they were just here for the festival," Lenalee explained, glancing in the direction of the Order. "They seemed surprised to see an Exorcist here, anyway, so... I doubt that it was anything more than that."

Allen nodded, glancing back toward the clearing, and blanched as his eyes fell on the object that had tripped him. He had assumed it to be a tree root, not the crumbling remains of an arm. He glanced up just as quickly, not wanting Lenalee to notice him fixating on it, but didn't turn back to look at her just yet.

"There was a group of people— they scattered during the fight." Allen turned back to face her just in time to catch her quick glance down at the pile of ash. Most of them scattered. "We should make sure there aren't any more akuma around." He nodded, and Lenalee took off above the trees. Allen made his way in the opposite direction, careful to watch out for any other corpses, but he was relieved to see none. Perhaps it was just the one group and the loner on the other side. Considering how many people had been around, it certainly wasn't a bad night in terms of casualties. But the short battle did change the night none the less. Made it less of a blissful... escape? That was troubling for entirely other reasons. Allen would never want to escape his duties as an Exorcist, destroying akuma and freeing their souls was his entire purpose. It was his promise. But he still couldn't help but feel as if tonight wasn't supposed to have any akuma around, as if one person dying here tonight was somehow more unfortunate than it happening to anyone else on any other night.

Allen wandered aimlessly through the trees, losing his bearings after a while before managing to catch a glimpse of the lit clearing again. He repeated this cycle several times before he was confident that he had made his way all around it, without his eye activating once. Lenalee was already waiting for him by one of the empty stalls an owner had neglected to cart away when he made his way back onto the field.

"I didn't see anything," Allen called as he approached her, and when she looked up she seemed almost relieved to see him. He couldn't quite fathom why, though there were plenty of possible reasons.

"Me neither."

Silence reigned again. It was amazing how quiet the atmosphere felt now, compared to the boisterous clamor of before. Almost no one was left. Allen hoped that people had simply cleared out fast after talk of the akuma attacks had spread rather than assuming that he had been lost in the woods longer than he thought.

"We should head back," Lenalee stated quietly, almost a whisper. She didn't look up at him. Allen turned his gaze skyward.

"Before the sun rises," he agreed at length. Lenalee glanced up sharply, as if fearing that daylight had crept in when she wasn't paying attention. "That has to be at least a few hours off, though," Allen added. "Don't you think?"

"Let's hope." Lenalee moved toward him until they were almost touching. For a moment Allen thought that she was going to hug him (just for transportation purposes, of course), but she spun around at the last moment, seeking out his arms and wrapping them over her shoulders. He would have been embarrassed by the intimate position in any other circumstance, but at the moment all Allen could focus on was his doubt that this was a completely safe position to attempt her brand of flying in. He had an unpleasant suspicion that she would take his arms with her and leave the rest of him on the ground.

"Are you sure this is the best way?" he asked tentatively. Lenalee repositioned his arms so that either hand rested on the crook of the opposite elbow before gripping his forearms.

"I won't let you fall."

He didn't doubt that, but she had a tendency to underestimate how much strain her Innocence put on anyone not-her. How to tell her that he was afraid she might rip his arms off?

They were airborne.

There was a small jolt, but it was much softer than the one he had tensed for. Lenalee's body was tilted forward, now that they were in the air, requiring far less clinging-for-dear life than their previous trip. It was almost like a piggyback ride, which Allen distinctly remembered refusing earlier. That earned her a frown, but they were already flying now so it was useless to bring it up. He did have some dignity; was she intent on destroying every last scrap of it?

Allen just barely heard Lenalee mutter something over the wind whistling past them, but couldn't make out the words. "What?" he asked, suddenly extremely conscious of the fact that his mouth was practically pressed against her ear.

"I hope that we can sleep in tomorrow," she repeated. Allen grimaced. Link was not one for oversleeping. Nor was Allen, usually, but he didn't have quite the enthusiasm for early mornings that the Inspector seemed to. Well, "enthusiasm" was probably the wrong word as it was hard to imagine Link truly enthusiastic about anything, but something along those lines.

He hoped that Lenalee at least would be able to catch a few extra hours of sleep.

"Oh..." Allen didn't so much hear the gasp as feel the way her body went stiff with it (not thinking about that), but they were landing in front of the Order before he had a chance to enquire about it.

There were people waiting.

Which maybe he should have expected, with an akuma attack so close to the Branch. Allen was fairly certain that there was no connection, but of course there would be people whose job it was to notice that sort of thing. The welcoming party mostly consisted of Finders and administrators he barely knew, with a few cloaked Crow members flanking them. Link was the first to catch his attention, still dressed in his sleepwear and looking severely displeased. Allen winced. He could only imagine Link's reaction to waking up to news of an akuma attack, possibly one directed toward the Order, only to discover that his charge was missing.

This could be very bad.

"Out for a midnight stroll?" Renee at least seemed somewhat amused, beyond the clipped tone and serious expression. "Well, far past midnight. That's a lovely dress, Lenalee."

Lenalee shifted uncomfortably as the group's collective attention shifted from Allen to her, and tried to stand up straighter. It had been a lovely dress. Now it was irreparably tattered, splattered with mud and who knew what else from the battle. Lenalee was fairly certain that there were still some small twigs in her hair. "Thank you," she muttered, tugging at the torn fabric.

"Why don't you tell me all about it while we get you cleaned up?"

As if on cue, two of the cloaked Crow members moved toward them. Lenalee was already too tense for there to be much of a change in her demeanor, until she realized that they were both going toward Allen.

"Wait, it—" She cut off abruptly as a hand closed around her arm, and was shocked to see that it was Link holding her in a vice grip. But that was good, he reported directly to That Man, so this was her chance. She spoke directly to him this time. "It was only a couple hours, I was with him the entire time, and it was my idea-"

"I have no doubt." His voice was nearly devoid of emotion, but there was something there that made her all the more uncomfortable.

"Lenalee."

She jerked her head back to Allen. He was going to say something, opened his mouth to, but cloaked figures were leading him away already, squashing his attempt to speak to her. She knew what he would have said; that it was fine, there was no need for her to defend him or get in more trouble. But she wasn't sure that any of it was true.

"Lenalee, you need to come with me," Renee ordered. Not unkindly, but with an authoritative voice that did not soften the words. Lenalee watched Allen disappear inside, followed by Link, and found that her throat was suddenly dry. There was a gruff sigh from the older woman.

"I wouldn't worry," she murmured, taking Lenalee by the arm and steering her toward another entrance.

But that didn't mean anything.

A day later, Lenalee stood by the gate connecting the Branches, holding her suitcase with both hands. She smothered a yawn; it was the middle of the afternoon, yet she still felt tired. The sun had come up before she had gotten a chance to sleep, after over an hour of exhaustive questioning. Mostly easy things to answer, aside from ones like "why did you do it?" because that she honestly still couldn't figure out. But when unexpectedly asked if she regretted it, with Renee giving the question a very "off the books" intonation... she hadn't lied. Though it had been made clear that it was a serious offense, somehow it had ended with the Supervisor laughing. Lenalee had hoped that Allen was so lucky as she was escorted to bed.

The decision to send her back to the Main Branch had been made while she was sleeping, and Lenalee felt as though she had been woken up to start packing as soon as her head had touched the pillow.

It was better than she had any right to hope for, a disciplinary slap on the wrist. But it was also sending her away from Allen, and having not seen him since being dragged off by the Crow... it was enough to make her worry. But they couldn't do that much, could they? They wouldn't be allowed to, he was still an Exorcist. But Brother wasn't here to supervise things, and Renee had been with her (not that she expressly trusted that woman anyway, but she was more inclined to sympathy than some others that Lenalee could think of), and she didn't know exactly what the Inspector would say to That Man about it. Lenalee knew that she was the one incriminating him, so it was best to just go along with whatever they said and it was probably better in the long run for her to be away from him either way.

But it still felt wrong to be leaving.

"You're scheduled to leave in ten minutes," a Finder informed her. She didn't know his name. Lenalee nodded, turning back to face the gate. She honestly wasn't sure what to expect on the other side.

Several minutes ticked by, simply standing. Lenalee mostly kept her eyes on the floor, looking up every once in a while when someone passed her to give them an uncertain smile. It was hard to know how to treat people now; she imagined that many of them felt the same way. Eventually she caught sight of something moving out of the corner of her eye, and when she looked up a wave of both apprehension and relief bubbled through her chest. He was walking on the other side of the gigantic room, quite a distance, following Inspector Link with two Crow guards behind him. Toward the cafeteria. Lenalee almost grinned at that, settling for a pleased smile instead. It couldn't be that bad then, right? Security was certainly worse than usual, but it was Allen, and he looked fine because Allen was always fine somehow.

Their eyes only met for a second. Lenalee hadn't been aware that she was staring, but Allen glanced over and in that moment she could forget the guards around him and the gate before her, because they were both alright and there wasn't a single thing they'd done that she regretted.

He looked away, maybe prodded by the Inspector talking to him or maybe not, and Lenalee let her gaze fall to the tiled floor. But she was smiling, and she knew that he was too, even if she couldn't see it. It was hard to say how long it would take for all this to blow over, or who exactly would be waiting for her back home and what they would have been told. It might be a while before she saw Allen again. But while the thoughts troubled her, they could not eclipse one simple fact:

It was worth it.

END