CHAPTER THREE

Lavi was currently sitting in one of the hospital beds of the infirmary wing reading up on the fall of Rome. During his last mission, he had the unfortunate luck of being thrown down a flight of stairs. Only due to his fast reflexes that he escaped with just a few bruises and a broken toe. The only thing keeping him in the infirmary was the head nurse. Man, was she scary and forceful.

A moan from the other occupied bed drew his attention from the book he was memorizing. Knowing who it was he got up and made his way to the other teenager. It had been two weeks since they had brought the boy to headquarters. The boy was laying on the white bed in a simple white long sleeve shirt and pants; the head nurse left on his gloves in case he wasn't fully comfortable with his arm-parasitic innocence wasn't always the prettiest. Hopefully, the boy was waking up. True enough, the boys eyes slowly opened. They focused on the glimmering emerald eye staring at him. The white haired boy blinked at the smiling bookmen Jr.

"Good morning~!" Lavi sang, loudly, to make sure his new 'friend' was awake. The boy's wounds healed faster than expected but the boy wouldn't wake up for anything, but Lavi wasn't complaining (much) since he was the first to greet his new ally.

". . . Bookmen? . . . no . . . bookmen apprentice?" To say Lavi was shocked, would be an understatement.

He was intrigued by the boy since not even a minute talking with him and he had discovered something most people couldn't figure out in their lifetime.

Lavi bookmen was also weary of the boy now, since he found out one of his secrets so fast. At first glance, the boy looked not the brightest but after that first surprise, Lavi didn't know what to expect.

Snapping out of his mini trance, he decided to observe the young teenager no older than 13, he had guessed upon earlier inspection when he was bored. His shoulder length white hair that was pushed to the side in order to show his eyes clearly, was slightly curvy and framed his heart shaped face. Although his expression was black, his eyes were a whole different level. Even a Bookmen like him couldn't decipher everything behind those large silver, gray eyes. Lavi was jumping around in joy within his mind since he found a new person to observe. Too bad for Kanda since he would have to split his time between the two.

"Uno . . . where am I?" the boy asked looking around. And then Lavi took note of his voice. It was angelic. Lavi couldn't really explain it but the voice felt almost inhuman; it was just that good. It was the perfect pitch and he felt like he could listen to his voice forever. Lavi couldn't even imagine if the boy sang with that voice.

"The infirmary of the Black Order," Lavi replied looking for any signs of emotions. Apparently those words sparked something since the boy relaxed and a content look showed up on his face. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed before smiling a 'polite' smile towards the redhead.

"Is it alright if I talk to a Komui Lee, please bookmen apprentice." 'So he knows Komui, too. Interesting.'

"Only if you call me Lavi instead, that's my name and for the records, I'm Bookmen Jr. not his apprentice." 'For now at least,' Lavi mentally added.

The boy stood up and held out his – gloved? – hand to Lavi who shook it, "You can call me Allen."

"Mmmm, nope, I like Moyashi-Chan better," Lavi laughed when he saw the slight twitch of one of the eyebrows. "Here, come with me."

Lavi lead him down the halls of the Order, ignoring the curious glances directed to the new kid. Rumors spread fast inside the Church. So now, all exorcists, scientists and even the all the generals, minus Cross, knew about the mysterious boy that was shot with Cross's Judgment. Most wanted to know what he'd done to piss off the madman, some were too scared to ask, scratch that-everyone was scared to even approach the boy. Although Lavi thought it could also be due to the aura the boy was wearing-untouchable.

Finally stopping in front of an office door, Allen raised his hand to knock but Lavi just pushed open the door and announced, "HE'S AWAKE~~~!" Than, to further make his entrance, the hyper redhead dragged the boy with him as he entered ignoring the tensing of the boy he was dragging.

Immediately, three heads turned to the two boys. Still dragging Allen, Lavi walked over to the headmaster's desk, letting go only when they were both standing in front of everyone.

Silver eyes scanned the two older men sitting on a couch. One was smaller and looked strikingly close to a panda, while the other one was holding a pencil, sketching on a paper. His eyes fell on the Chinese man behind the desk. "N-nice to meet you Komui Lee," Allen said, holding out his hand as a way of greeting.

Komui stood up and took the outstretched hand into his own, "Just call me Komui, . . . "

"My name is Allen. Sorry about interrupting your meeting with a General and Bookmen," Allen completely missed the shocked expressions on the room's occupants faces or the amused one on Lavi as the eye patch Jr. leaned against the wall. The headmaster sat back down in his chair, lifting his coffee for a sip.

"Well, you seem to know a lot about us?" Komui was now very interested in knowing how a young fourteen year old (based on his height and looks) knew so much. Komui trusted that Lavi didn't explain so much if he just woke up.

"Of course, I wasn't Cross's apprentice for nothing," Komui choked on his coffee. Lavi slipped and almost fell flat on his face before catching himself. General Tiedoll stopped his sketch and looked at the boy. Bookmen leaned in with twinkling eyes that demanded information. Allen tilted his head to the side in a very innocent way, "is something the matter?"

"N-no . . . it's just that I thought he, uh, shot you . . . with his gun" Komui nervously said.

"Oh, yeah, that. Well, apparently he didn't want to come back to the Black Order. He usually shoots me if he wants to get away from me," he laughed while he scratched the back of neck. "But back to business, Komui-san, I was told by my master to come here and become one of the exorcists. I had a letter of recommendation but it was in my coat pocket. You wouldn't happen to know where that went, do you?" He asked.

Komui though for a moment. "Ah!" He dove his hand into a pile of papers by his desk and pulled out a small black box. "We got rid of your jacket since it was beyond a few washes but we put everything on you within this," he opened it and pulled an envelope, "could you mean this letter?" The letter was blank except a simple cursive 'M.C.' in the lower right hand corner.

Allen smiled and told Komui, "he told me to give it to you so you may open it."

While Komui opened the letter, Allen pulled the black box towards him to get his belongings. He checked to make sure it was all there; he needed all in order to survive here. He made sure he had all of things.

Komui shrugged and opened the letter and said it outloud for the other listeners,

"Dear Komui,

My idiot apprentice should have made his way to you. He has white hair and a scar down his face, don't worry about that. He will probably tell you the basics of them. If not, good luck. He won't open up to a lot of people even if he seems that way.

I've been teaching him for the past three or so years. He has two innocent fragments.

One: a parasitic type innocent arm. Two: his necklace that enhances his voice.

He's powerful and has already reached that of a General level so be careful.

P.S. His name is Allen no last name. Again, no big deal.

NEVER do the following, these appear from moderate to extreme don'ts:

1. Play any gambling game with him

2. Give him alcohol

3. Piss him off too much

4. Try to seduce him in any way (IF YOU WANT TO DIE, GO AHEAD)

Good luck,

Marian Cross.

P.S. Make sure you feed him, he gets pretty weird when he's hungry."

If their interests weren't peaked before, it sure as hell was now. Another General with two innocent fragments was new, since only Cross was known to be able to control two. Plus, telling them NOT to do something was just screaming at them to do them.

It was quiet before Bookmen spoke, "Do you really have two innocent fragments, Mr. Allen?"

The boy nodded, "Master said to test my Synchronize rate with someone named Hevlaska."

Komui found his voice and said, "Ah yes, would you like join us?" Komui already knew the answer seeing as everyone wanted to find out who this new exorcist was. Sadly, the General had to leave to get some sleep before his departure next week; however, he was first going to call back the other Generals. They may want to meet the new kid if he was going to be the new General.

The group silently made their way to the elevator. About half way there Lavi's need for facts took over and he began asking questions. "Hey, Moyashi-Chan, what is your opinion about Cross?"

The boy stiffened, "Do you want the truth, Lavi?" There was something in that closed off voice that made Lavi want to back down. He nodded after some hesitation.

Allen faced the bookmen Jr. and smiled a truly fake smile, "A mean, drunk bastard that throws a ten year old boy at debt collectors so he can run away to go make more debts."

'So he hasn't changed at all,' was a collective though going through the three listeners.

Lavi then went over what he said before a thought struck him, "How old are you, Allen?"

"How old do I look?"

"13." For some reason, Allen twitched at that educated guess.

"I'm 15."

"Sorry, it's just hard to tell with your small build and your hair. Do you bleach it?" Lavi knew not to ask anything too personal but he still wanted to know. White hair was rare unless you were old. But he almost regretted it when he the carefree aura was suddenly replaced with a dead, cold air. It was like a switch, it was instant.

Allen visibly stiffened and he hid his eyes under bangs as he looked ahead, "No. It just turned that way."

Before Lavi could interrogate the boy any more, they reached the floating elevator that took them down to the lowest level towards Hevlaska. She appeared the moment the elevator stopped.

She reached down and took the boy who didn't even struggle, so he must have seen some pretty interesting things to be not scared of the giant squid lady. Or he's good at hiding his feelings. Lavi suspected both. Suddenly, his left hand and neck began glowing green. Innocence. Hevlaska spoke, "I'll check your left hand first." Allen nodded and put it up so she could rate it easier. " . . . 15% . . . 27% . . . 38% . . . 72% . . . 96% . . . 107% . . 126%. It seems 126% is the limit of your . . . Crown Clown, I believe you called it. Now your necklace is next."

Allen's right hand reached under his shirt and brought out a silver cross on a silver chain. Lavi didn't remember that being there when he picked up the boy. Since the boy was higher up than the three, they couldn't see any details of the necklace except the color silver. The moment that Hevlaska touched it, it gave off a bright green light that caused the exorcist to squint and look away. Slowly the light dimmed and they found Allen back on the platform.

"What was the Synchronize rate of his innocence?" Komui asked.

Hevlaska paused, determining if it was okay to say. After a small nod from Allen, she spoke, ". . . His Synchronize rate was . . . 185%. I have not encountered anyone like you, Allen. Even I cannot predict what will happen in your future."

It took a few minutes before it finally sunk in. 185%, the highest rate anyone has ever heard of, even Cross who used to hold the record of 130%. Then they remembered he was only a few digits from his record. He is stronger than Cross. What did this mean?

Allen turned to them and smiled like nothing amazing was just done, "Can we go talk in your office."

"S-Sure." Was all Komui could say before hitting the switch to take them back up.

Lavi couldn't wait for him to be introduced to everyone else.