Note: I reuploaded the previous three chapters so they now include Timcampy! And then of course forgot about him again and had to go back and add him to the last couple of scenes here -_-'

A Flight on Wings

By Uniasus

Chapter 4

"Miranda!" Lenalee called, seeing the older exorcist step through a different door into the Ark's main hallway. Miranda paused, and Timothy walked right into her. They were frequently paired together, as Timothy's ability left his body unguarded and in need of defense. Miranda, being a defensive exorcist to begin with, was the obvious choice. While Claude was technically Timothy's master, she tended to focus more on taking out akuma than protecting her charge.

"Watch where you're going, Time-Lady." Timothy snapped.

"Oh,s-sorry." Miranda stammered, hugging Time Record close to her chest. "Hello Lenalee," she said, walking towards the teen with a wave.

Timothy had turned at the sound of Lenalee's name and his eyes got big at the sight of her. Not even a teen, and he had such a liking for boobs he would grow up to be a pervert. Though he was toeing that line now. Thank God he and Cross had never met.

Or would ever have the chance.

And of course, thinking about Cross had her thinking about Allen, and her mood slipped.

Not enough of course, for her to not sidestep as Timothy raced towards her in an effort to cop a feel. She and Miranda watched him go by and crash head first into the wall, knocking himself out.

The finder he had been traveling with sighed and picked up the boy, heading toward the door that led to HQ. Lenalee's finder caught up with him, leaving the two female exorcists to walk beside each other behind them.

"How was Italy?" Lenalee asked.

"Oh, it was nice. Very sunny and warm, it was a nice change. And you, how was Kenya?"

"Too warm," Lenalee said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "These uniforms don't breathe very well."

"No." Miranda agreed, just before they stepped through the door that led home.

As soon as they did, the door closed behind them. This home door never closed, allowing scientists to have free reign between the Ark and HQ to study the Ark and control doors.

"Oh, no! I broke it!" Miranda feel to her knees, sobbing.

Lenalee crouched near her, "I'm sure you didn't, but we have to move, we're blocking the way for the scientists."

"Oh! I knew I was such a failure."

"No, you're not," Lenalee said, helping the older woman down the stairs and out of the gate room. She urged Miranda to get something to eat from the cafeteria, and then went back in to stand next to Kanda in the shadows on the west wall.

"Were you leaving for a mission?" She asked.

"Che." His head dipped just a hair, and she took it as a yes.

"The Ark's never acted up before."

Kanda raised an eyebrow at her. "It almost destroyed itself before."

"But that was Rhode's doing. And Allen wouldn't do that to the Ark, he knows we use it. And, unlike you, he doesn't hate the Order as a whole. He wouldn't do something like this."

Kanda was silent, and Lenalee continued. "Miranda said something about Allen being dead, an angel with wings. I didn't want to believe her, and figured maybe she just saw something that confused her. But if the Ark is shutting down…"

"The bean sprout is not dead." Kanda said, voice even and steady like he was reciting something factual like his times tables.

Lenalee smiled softly. Kanda didn't want to believe it either. She scooted closer to him, just half an inch, and turned her attention to the scientists. It seemed the most pressing concern was that not everyone had been off of the Ark when the door closed, there were three scientists trapped on the other side in the white town.

The white glow of the Ark came back, but the gate was horizontal as opposed to its usual vertical position. Out dropped the three scientists, unharmed except for bruises acquired from falling.

"See? He's alive." Kanda pushed off the wall and made to leave, but Lenalee grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the closest corner.

"For how long? He looked awful when we saw him months ago. Do you think Johnny found him yet?"

"If he hasn't, than I will."

Johnny wasn't one for lying, but as soon as he saw Lavi he knew he would have to. The redhead was sitting at a beach ice cream café in Belgium, and Johnny was trying to enjoy the seaside. The only problem was it was cold enough for a sweater and he couldn't stop thinking about Allen.

Or was it the fourteenth?

The Noah said he had things to do, and so as to not have Johnny get in the way gated them to a town close enough were the Musician could walk to his actual destination and left the scientists alone with instructions to 'enjoy the sights'.

There weren't many sights, aside from the beach and the local retired lighthouse. And he didn't have the money to go sand surfing. Not that his broken leg would have allowed that and crutching through sand was difficult, so he settled for just laying in the sand, and when he sat up to toss away a shell digging into his back he caught a flash of red hair at the closest café and determined it was Lavi.

He should have tried to leave all ninja like, but Lavi was trained to spot them. The bookman junior had casually looked in his direction when Johnny moved and when he recognized Johnny stood up and helped the scientist into the seat across from him.

"Johnny! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the save of you, you've been missing from the Order for half a year now." Well, so too had Johnny and it was entirely plausible that Lavi had gone back in that time period, but as he wasn't wearing an exorcist uniform Johnny doubted that.

"Eh, it's a boring story."

"I bet mine is more so. Just work, more work, and then I finally got a vacation."

Lavi laughed. "I didn't think the Order gave out vacations. But if you broke your leg working, I guess you're entitled to it."

"Well, Komui felt pretty bad after he scared me and I fell of a ladder."

Johnny didn't know if Lavi saw through his lie or not, but the teen didn't mention it and so Johnny acted as if Lavi believed his lie.

"So, you? What bookman adventures have you been up too?"

Lavi frowned, stirring the spoon in his lemonade. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it, so Johnny took a different direction. "Have you heard anything about Allen?"

"Why, did something happen to the sprout?"

Johnny shot him a look, not sure if he hadn't actually heard or was just playing him.

"He left the Order, no one's seen him for months."

"No one?"

"No one." Johnny shook his head, and suspected that this piece of information wasn't that new to the bookman junior. "I hope he's doing okay."

Lavi tensed, looked around, and then relaxed a little. "We, Bookman and I, spent some time with the Noah. Apparently Panda hung out a bunch with the old crew," the red head shifted uneasily in his chair. He rubbed his hand on his neck. Johnny noticed a new scar, and wondered how willingly Lavi spent time with the Noah. "Apparently the Earl sent out an order that the other Noah are supposed to do everything they can to protect the Fourteenth. Sheryl was pissed, apparently Rhode disappeared like she did when we fought on the Ark protecting Allen from something. Did you know he was attacked at the Order?"

"Really? Oh no! Maybe that's why he took off. Though the Order believes Allen attacked his guards, and then fled with the Noah. I never really believed that though." Really, his acting skills were not very good, but Lavi thankfully ignored them.

"The Order's never had all the information. I hope Allen's doing okay though."

"I'm sure he is, Allen is tough." Johnny said, smiling. Lavi returned it with one of his own.

"Anyway, Sheryl demanded to know something about what had happened between Neah and Rhode in the past reincarnation. Apparently they were lovers, you believe that? No wonder Rhode likes Allen so much."

"Huh," Johnny grunted, but he had already suspected that much. He had gotten in the habit of asking Allen the memories his Noah was showing him, and when ever the exorcist had answered 'Rhode' it had been with a stutter and a blush.

They sat in silence for a bit, staring at the ocean. "How come you haven't come back to the Order, Lavi?"

The red head closed his eyes, as if the lids suddenly weighed a pound each. "Panda says there isn't anything new to record there, that it'll be the same type of fights with the same types of results."

"I don't know, Kanda came back. That was pretty interesting."

"He did?" Lavi turned his head sharply to stare at Johnny, who nodded. The red head seemed relieved and happy at the news. "That good to hear," he said softly. And then louder, "That is interesting. But not enough for Gramps. He…wants to stay with the Noah. Says they're the ones going to be making the next move and have the upper hand. They're more interesting than the Order, their actions more important to write down. But not as much as Allen. I think he secretly hopes Allen will turn up amongst the Noahs, either to fight them or join them, so he can record that. I think it would be to fight them, because there's no way the bean sprout is going to give up to the Fourteenth."

Johnny didn't say anything, just fingered the tablecloth.

Lavi pressed. "Because we know he's too stubborn to give into the Noah."

"Of course," Johnny said, forcing his head up and smiling. "It's just sad to think of him fighting all alone." If any of his lies today were to be believed, let it be this one, he thought.

"Yeah. I've been looking for him. Not a lot, just when I have the free time and can explore the areas near where Gramps and I are. I haven't had any luck."

"Well, you never know, today might be your lucky day."

Lavi narrowed his eyes at Johnny, as if trying to figure out something from just the scientist's tone of voice, but his gaze was interrupted by the chiming of a clock.

"Oh! I gotta go!" The red head jumped to his feet and started fishing in his pockets for money. "The old Panda said to meet him at six tonight, but that was in the next town over, I came here to see if I could find Allen, and the train leaves soon so I have to catch it. It was good seeing you though, take care, okay Johnny?"

"Will do. You too Lavi."

"Of course."

Lavi placed money on the table and ran to an empty spot on the beach. From his side he pulled out his hammer innocence and extended it to ride it to the train station. It was nice to see Lavi still had something to tie him to his time as an exorcist.

Johnny stood up to leave too, he hadn't actually ordered anything, and saw that Lavi had left a small pile of gold coins on the table. It was more than enough for the bill, and Johnny felt himself considering taking the extra. Allen's next day of food could be paid with all that, once Allen got his body back of course. Johnny had made a few coins performing, but this was a nice blessing.

He took it, knowing Lavi had seen through most of his lies. But it didn't make him feel better for telling them to a friend.

Neah knew he was in the right place when Allen's eye picked up the akuma. It was interesting how it's range was larger than his telepathic one, not by much, but enough to be interesting. He could use Allen's eye, it being a curse by an akuma, but for the most part it was annoying. He didn't need it to detect akuma within a certain distance and the world of black and white played with his head. He had no idea how his host did it. The good thing was that unlike Allen, Neah could turn it off.

What he couldn't do was use Gabriel or Crown Clown at all. Being Innocence, they weren't self aware, but they weren't mindless tools either. They had their own sort of presence, and were very aware when it was a Noah calling on their aid. In those situations, they didn't activate.

Neah had tried it once, just to try it, and had been met with a burning pain where the Innocence connected with Allen's body. Even after he had withdrawn his idea to use them, his arm and back burned with deliberating pain for what felt like an hour. He got the message. The Innocence would tolerate his presence, but only because he was in Allen's body and Allen would need to use Crown Clown and Gabriel when he was in control. It was amusing, recognizing that the Innocence had a loyalty to and concern for his nephew strong enough to deal with being so close to Neah for the times when Allen would be in control.

It might have almost made him respect it too, but he couldn't afford to feel that way towards something he was planning to destroy.

He had thought that Crown Clown would at least had recognized him a little bit, but maybe that was too far fetched an idea. Neah had implanted his memories and a bit of his soul into a cross necklace, and then given it to a young woman he had bedded. The cross had been on a string long enough so that when the woman wore it the metal would rest over her growing child. Neah didn't know what had happened, Allen was too young to be that child, but that didn't matter too much. He had a host and that's what mattered.

When the Innocence had attached itself to the necklace, and the Innocence to Allen, he had no idea, but again, that didn't concern Neah. It was just an amusement to see his old necklace embedded in the left hand he had control of.

At Timcampy still knew him, though the golem seemed to be purposely not getting to close to him. It hurt, a little, to think his creation now had stronger fondness for Allen. But perhaps that was better.

He called the akuma in the area to him, meeting up on the roof of a farmhouse just outside the town. They came in their true guises, not wearing human flesh, and he reveled in the power and control he had over them simply for being a Noah.

But that power paled compared to what he would really do.

Neah opened his mouth and sang. Before he had become the 14th, he had been a tinker travelling in Andalucía region of Spain. Singing had been a past time he did to entertain himself and his team of horses as he made his yearly loop. But once he had been forced to become a Noah, singing and music became his strong suit. Where he used to just be a good hobbyist, he was now fit to sing for a royal court.

The power of Dark Matter had gifted him with emotion. Be it playing an instrument or singing he had the ability to embed songs with such feeling that he could force those to feel it themselves. He could make people cry or laugh.

But that was the easy emotions. He had made people fall in love, inspired enough guilt to have a rich man give up his riches, made a maid so full of angst she hung herself.

That's what he did to the akuma. He sang a wordless song, for words didn't matter. He could sing a church hymn and get the same result. What mattered was the feelings he put into them. Neah filled the notes with the longing for release, for the anger of trappings. As one, the four akuma around him self destructed, and Neah smiled at the power, the knowledge that he had done that.

It was power he would need to end the war.

The akuma out of the way, the Innocence was all his. It had nestled itself into the sign above a jeweler's shop, and Neah took watch at a small bakery across the street and down a few storefronts.

The mass disappearance of akuma was sure to get the Earl's attention, and at this point in the war he would send a Noah to check it out. He or she would arrive quickly, on the chance that the attack meant an exorcist and the loss of Innocence to the Black Order. A quick response meant an opportunity to get and destroy the Innocence.

It also meant a shorter wait.

He, nor Allen, hadn't meet all the current reincarnations of the Noah, but there was a familiar pull towards a well built man with a bowl cut walking towards the jewelry shop. The closer the man got, the stronger the pull, for both of them. The other Noah even bypassed the Innocence to stand outside of the window Neah was sitting beside in the bakery.

Neah smiled, the too wide grin only capable to those not human.

The other Noah entered the shop and walked to Neah's table. There wasn't a second chair, so he just crossed his arms and gloomed over Neah. Or tried to, it didn't really affect him.

"I'm pretty sure, simply by elimination, you know who I am brother. Won't you make things even and tell me your name?"

"Stephen La'Forie."

"Ah, you're not merged. Noah of…?"

Stephen flicked his tongue around his mouth. It was pointier than normal, and Neah caught a flash of eyes.

"Corrosion," Stephen said, though Neah figured that out himself at the sight of the parasites.

"Fidora." Neah smiled, "You obviously don't personally recognize me Stephen, and that makes things easier for me."

"Don't get feisty. The Earl wants to see you."

"I bet he does. But first, would you listen to a song I've been working on? I want to sing it for dear Adam but would love to run it by someone first."

When Allen woke up, he found himself on the Ark, in mid step, writing in a notebook. It was too sudden, against his mind's assurances that he was on his side sleeping. He crashed to the cobblestone street.

"Ow," he grumbled from the ground, rubbing his right shoulder as he sat up as it had collided with a loose stone. Timcampy fluttered in front of his face worriedly, and Allen smiled at him. "Hello, Timcampy."

There was a chuckle from beside his ear, but no breath of air to go along with it. Good morning, nephew.

Morning? Allen looked up, to no avail. The Ark's sky never changed. But his mind felt so rested, it felt like he had spent the last 12 hours sleeping, no way it could be morning. It was strange though, his body didn't feel nearly as rested.

That's because I've been using it, as I said.

Allen's eyes rested on the small notebook. The word 'Innocence' was written along the top of the page and underlined. Underneath were tally marks, forty-one of them.

"What's this?"

The permanent ending of the war requires all of its pieces to be destroyed, remember? That includes Innocence, and Noah.

Allen flipped the page to find a list of Noah, the names hauntedly familiar in the back of his head in the way he had come to associate with Neah's memories, not his. Two of the names had been crossed out.

Not wanting to think about that, Allen flipped back to the first page. "I didn't realize you had destroyed so much Innocence."

There were only one hundred and nine pieces in the beginning. In the long period that this war has been going on, well not so long as it only shed its dormancy one hundred years ago, the Noah have destroyed forty-one pieces of Innocence while the Order has collected fifty seven. Of course, of the eleven left one of them is Apocryphos and one is the Heart.

"You're really doing this, ending the war."

We're doing this.

It felt like both a betrayal and a revolution, being part of such thing. He was essentially hunting and destroying the goal of his friends, and yet freeing them from future control and strife at the same time. He felt unbalanced.

"You did some things already, haven't you?"

Destroyed two Innocences, and a brother.

"And Johnny?"

As if on cue, the scientist hobbled through the intersection in front of him, leg in a cast. "You broke his leg!"

Johnny started at Allen's yell, looking at him on confusion but then crutching forward.

No. We fell into the Ark running from Apocryphos. Johnny got hurt then.

Johnny had a guarded expression on his face, one that Allen had never seen on the other male before and the teen found himself shrinking from it as if accused.

"Johnny?"

The other male's expression softened, and before he knew it Allen's arms were filled with the curly haired wonder that was his friend. "You're back!"

"Of course, I said I wasn't going to let Neah take over without a fight. Didn't you believe me?"

"I thought you lost," Johnny whispered and Allen felt his heart clench.

"Did he do anything to you?" he repeated.

"Not really. I mean, he actually healed me after that fall. But he's a little scary."

Allen didn't think his uncle was that scary. Well, okay, he was frightened when he woke up chained to a chair, so maybe he could see Johnny's point. "Sorry."

"It's okay, it's not your fault. It was his."

Allen felt like he should defend Neah somehow, but held his tongue. Johnny obviously wouldn't understand it. But his friend deserved to know what had happened in his mind.

"You'll be seeing him again," Allen said, pulling away from the hug. "I…he…he's allowing me to still have control over my body. It can't be helped, we're merging. You knew it was coming, and I promised myself to stop it, but I can't. It's going to happen. Should have already happened, and the only reason it hasn't is because Neah has been kind enough to let me stay."

"Allen, he's destroying Innocence!"

"Yes, I know."

"Don't you care?"

"It's for a good cause."

"It'll cost us the war!" Johnny's voice was loud and shrill, quite a contrast to Allen's own softspoken words. Allen closed his eyes, pained at being at odds with his friend.

"Johnny, if there is no Innocence, what would we be fighting over?"

"Earth! The Noah would win if we couldn't fight back."

"The Noah only exist to serve the Earl, as his bodyguards. If he didn't need them, they would never regenerate."

"You, he, both of you…are going to destroy both sides?"

"Well, we'll try."

"I still don't like him."

"Well, he likes you." Allen got to his feet, collected the fallen crutches, and then offered a hand to Johnny who took it. "He's…used to travelling with someone else, and says you did a great job of taking care of me. Which you did. Do. I really do appreciate it Johnny, you're a great friend to have followed me. I can't tell you how much it means to me."

"Oh Allen." Johnny was sobbing, happy tears though, and Allen felt a few gather in his own eyes.

"Now, I feel like as if Neah hasn't eaten the entire time he's been in control, I'm starving."

"You know, I haven't seen him eat at all. I wonder if Noah even have to. I mean, if they can't die from a blow to the head I doubt starvation will kill them either."

"Judging from the way my stomach feels that's probably right. I'd ask Neah, but he's sleeping at moment."

Johnny scoffed, but didn't say anything. "Come on, I'll make you something. The Ark is always well stocked, don't know why we didn't think to look earlier or maybe you did and didn't find anything. I mean, now that…the Fourteenth is awake I think it behaves differently. Anyway, I've recently had lots of free time on my hands – the Fourteenth did things by himself – so I've been messing around with recipes."

"I'm sure they're great, but I don't know if I can handle waiting."

"There's stuff you can eat till I'm done. We have a ton of bananas."

Road was worried. When the entire family had gathered after Wisley's reincarnation, the Earl had fallen back into old habits. Though for most of the others at the gathering it was a new, starting things to see.

The Earl was old, very old. It got to him, caused vicious mood swings that always leaned towards the violent side. The Earl would go on a rampage creating Akuma, collecting them, and then attacking a town. His face would wrinkle too, and blood vessels would strain through out his body, pain forcing him to the ground.

Road knew what it was, Wisley too. The Earl was immortal, have lived for 7,000 years, but no one lived that long without deteriorating. His form and health was kept by magic, mostly.

When Neah had been around, things were different. He told the Earl he could help him, and did. He would sing, or hum, and use all his skills as the Musician to soothe their leader.

That's why Road thought the Earl was so keen to get him back, because life without him was painful and it was getting harder and harder for his magic to assist him like it had in the past. She, and the Earl as well, had hoped that when the Fourteenth was reincarnated that he would not merge with his host, that the human he emerged in would just accept his role of being a Noah and join the family. But it wasn't just the genes that had awakened, it was Neah himself, and in an exorcist to boot.

God was against them. And despite Adam's instance that they were working for God, Road wasn't too sure. She hated the fact that her memories from beginning of the war were fuzzy.

Neah was back, she and Tyki had seen him last night, and she was worried. Neah had killed almost all her family thirty-five years ago, and seemed to be doing it under the idea that it was helping the Millennium Earl. She didn't understand that, how did helping him involve killing him?

Johnny wasn't quite sure how much to make. He usually used the amounts listed in the cook books, which was more than he could eat and the leftover were in the icebox. But Allen could eat a lot. Should he double the recipe, triple? He tripled it, just in case, and was happy to see Allen eat most of it. It was more than he'd been able to get at any point of time during their travels, even Timcampy seemed to be feasting. Though he had been feeding the gold golem the past week already.

"So that's that plan, destroy all the Noah and Innocence?"

"Essentially." It always amazed him, how Allen could talk with his mouth full and still be completely understandable and not spit food everywhere.

"That means fighting our friends."

Allen put his fork down. "I know. I don't want to hurt them, and I figure, if I can take out the Noah first, and they have no reason to fight, I can…convince them to just hand it over."

"Kanda's really attacked to Mugen. I don't know if he'll do that."

Allen gave a small chuckle. "Probably not. And there's all that Innocence that Hevlaska has. I'll probably have to break into the Order."

Johnny sighed, not liking where all this was going, but willing to stand by his friend. "We'll have to break in, I don't want you going without me."

Allen looked down at Johnny's leg.

"Right, so I may have to wait awhile."

"That's okay, I can go after the Noah instead."

Johnny frowned, not liking the idea of Allen going off alone, but knowing it would be weeks yet before his leg was completely healed. The war couldn't be put off for that long, especially if he wanted it to end before the merge between Allen and Neah was complete. Allen still looked like he had in Buenos Aries, with dark skin. And his hair was wavy, compared to it's typical bone straight looks. He also wondered if Allen had looked in a mirror since he 'woke up' as it were, his scar had changed, Johnny didn't think scars could. But it was a curse mark, so maybe that meant it was different and could explain why Allen now had black wavy tendrils on the left side of his face.

"You'll be careful, right?"

"Of course," Allen said, but then his eyes turned gold and Johnny just knew it was the Fourteenth talking. "It's not like I can die anyway though."

It was weird, staring at the Fourteenth while he still looked mostly like Allen. Johnny had simply thought that anytime the Noah took control, Allen's body would lose turn gray and spout stigmata. If he didn't physically change that much, it would be hard to tell the two apart. Maybe he should just call them Neallen? Or Alleneah, since he liked Allen better?

"Doesn't mean you should take risks," he told the Noah. Nope, neither name would work, it was too much of a reminder that he was slowly losing Allen.

The Fourteenth chuckled and then faded way.

Allen didn't quite understand it, but apparently Noah were drawn together by family ties. If they were near each other, they would know it. Neah's plan had been to gate into large cities and detect any kin. They started with Venice, and didn't have to go anywhere else.

It had to have been dumb luck, to find Wisley on a rooftop seven buildings over. The other Noah seemed surprised to see him too, and Allen used that to his advantage. He activated both Innocences and flew into the air, Tim taking off to the sky to get out of the way.

"Neat trick, Neah!" Wisley called up, "Inhabiting an exorcist and gaining their ability to use Innocence."

Allen didn't bother correcting him. Let the fifth Noah think what he will, he won't be around much longer anyway. He launched Truth's Spear at Wisley, who dodged with a roll.

"I heard you visited your son the other night, how was that?"

Neah, who had for the most part been passive in Allen's mind, resting the teen assumed, stirred. Allen could feel his consciousness creep forward, and it's confused nature.

"What are you talking about, Wisley?" he asked for his uncle's benefit.

"Was it too dark for you to get a good look at his face? But surely Neah, you can use your host's memories of Tyki Mikk."

All of a sudden, Neah snapped to attention. Allen couldn't tell what he was thinking exactly, but he could tell Neah was surprised at Wisley's knowledge, and it was some type of bomb shell that he had kept from Allen. Not that he was trying to hide anything now, Neah had just hadn't seen the point of reveling it.

"What are you getting at?" Allen shouted down at the other Noah.

"That Tyki Mikk is your son, the one who you originally thought would be your host. But I don't know, there are advantages to the way things turned out for you I think."

"Tyki's my cousin?" Allen blurted out in surprise, dropping in altitude as he forgot to flap.

Wisley looked hard up at him. "You're not Neah, are you?"

Allen felt himself pushed back, but his view of the world didn't change and he realized that Neah had pushed his mind back and took control of body. "I am now," his mouth said.

At that moment, Gabriel gave out and pain lashed across his back. It was followed by Crown Clown turning back into his normal arm and his shoulder feeling as if someone had spilled acid on it. Allen was only getting the pained filtered through Neah's consciousness, and if it hurt this bad he didn't want to be in Neah's position. They crashed to the roof.

"Huh," Wisley said, bending down to look at them. "Guess you can't use the Innocence when you're in control, can you Neah?"

Allen found himself thrust forward in his mind. The pain was intense, but both Innocences seemed to realize right away that he was now in control instead of Neah. Gabriel unfurled from his back, and Allen used a claw to strike Wisley right in the center of his eye.

The other Noah screamed, backing up with his hand clutching his face. Allen took the initiative to continue to attack, not giving Wisley anytime to recover. He had read Kanda's report from when he faced Skin Boric, for Noah to die you had to push their regenerative abilities to the limit, and than pass it. It was like they were restricted as to how many lives they had.

In a sense, yes. Even incorporeal, Neah's voice sounded like he was in pain. Our bodies can heal forever and from anything, but too much major healing from death wounds in a short period of time is a blow to the mind, even that of a Noah. Eventually they'll want death to stop the pain, and it'll come. It's so much easier to just sing them to suicide.

Allen paused to catch a breath and reset for his next set of attacks, watching Wisley's body heal among the wreckage of the building they had started their fight on. The Noah was already standing before Allen was ready.

"Hiban!" A familiar voice shouted and the building went up in flames.

Allen flew backwards on the hot air, looking around the rooftops for his ally. There he was, on the other side of the fire snake. Lavi. He wasn't wearing an exorcist uniform, but Allen had suspected that. He hadn't received a letter from him after all. But it was heartening to see he still had his Innocence and that friendly grin.

"You look like you could use some help," the red head shouted across the new hole in the block.

Before Allen could respond, a large eye opened underneath Lavi and the older teen sank to his knees into a position similar to the one he had taken when they had fought Rhode in the Ark.

"Lavi!" Allen shouted, but he didn't get answer. With a snarl, he dove into the wreckage and physically tackled Wisley.

He doesn't have any attacks other than forcing himself into other's memories.

Allen was glad, it made it easier to concentrate on stretching out the claws of Crown Clown and stabbing them into the Noah when he didn't have to worry about a counter attack. Wisley gagged, blood spewing out of his mouth, and by the sound from above Allen knew Lavi was free. It didn't stop his attack; he cut across Wisley with a wing and then jumped back and sent razor feathers and sharp crowns into the Noah.

A Cross Grave should kill him.

Allen paused, hesitated, because to be honest he didn't want to kill Wisley, just destroy his Noah, and the idea that Neah has no qualms about killing his reincarnated brother disturbed him. What would such a harsh individual do him? Allen couldn't help but recall Neah's predatory nature when they had last talked face to face.

It's not like he was really my brother. I was only a Noah for five years, and that was only because my twin had the genes but Bondomu had already awakened. I'm the surprise step-son you could say, and I have no feelings for the rest of the Noah. If Wisley died, my genes wouldn't even cry.

Allen cried instead, because he could hear the longing to belong in Neah's voice, could pick out the lie, and wondered if no one used to say 'welcome home' to him every time he returned from a mission for the Earl. They were quite a pair, as uncle and nephew.

Wisley took advantage of the break in attacks, opening up an eye beneath Allen. He expected to be taken to his worst memory, but he instead found himself face to face with Neah who looked just as surprised.

"Maybe we are so merged that he can't tell who's mind to explore?" They said it at the same time, in the same voice, and the idea of soon slipping away scared Allen.

He didn't have time to dwell on it, for reality snapped back into focus. There was Lavi, a huge grin on his face, and Wisley holding on to a broken nose. Allen pulled his arm off, transforming it into the Sword of Exorcism, and cut a cross through Wisley. The Noah choked, than fell to his knees.

Allen and Lavi stood ready, half expecting him to come back like Tyki had, but nothing happened. Wish a sigh, Allen deactivated Crown Clown and Gabriel. It's true, neither he nor Neah felt any great sadness. And then he felt Neah push him out of control.

To say he was surprised when Allen picked up a rock and started bashing it into Wisley's skull would have been an understatement. In fact, Lavi was so stunned he just stared for a good three hits before he leaped into action.

"Allen! Stop it it!" He tried to drag his friend backwards, but Allen shook him off and smashed the rock into Wisley's skull again.

"Fuck it Allen, he's already dead!"

Allen stopped, looked at the body beneath him, and saw that the Noah was indeed no long living. "Good, I couldn't have him living."

"Jeezes Allen, what's happened - " Lavi pulled on Allen's arm in an effort to turn him so they could speak face to face, and noticed the feral gold eyes where there should have been silver ones.

"Neah. Allen lost than, I take it."

"Not quite. We share the body, but at the moment he's hiding. I don't think he enjoyed seeing me kill Wisley."

"I bet not."

They stood, staring at each other, until the sounds of distress from the town at the damage they had done reached their ears. Timcampy showed up too, flying over to say hello to Lavi before going to fly lazy circles around Neah's head.

"You want to talk, I take it?" Neah said, and Lavi nodded.

Neah started humming, and a gate appeared behind him. Neah stepped backwards through it, and Lavi followed. They ended up on a street of the Ark he didn't know.

"So, Bookman, what's your question?"

"Why did you kill Wisley?" It wasn't actually the one he wanted to ask. Despite knowing he shouldn't care, he really wanted to ask about Allen's well-being, Johnny's too. But as a Bookman, he knew what he should ask first.

"I can't have him coming back now, can it? The more traumatic the death, the longer it takes for the Noah genes to awaken in someone else."

"You're still planning on killing the Earl then?"

"Of course, but I'm also going to destroy all the Innocence. You want to hand yours over, or should we fight?" Neah grinned.

Lavi frowned, not liking the idea of parting from his hammer. He knew he would have to give it up eventually, but knowing he had been chosen to weld it, that if he hadn't been a Bookman he would have still ended up at the Order, made the life of Lavi that much more important and unforgettable. He didn't want to leave it, as it felt more and more like his destined role.

The Noah in front of him tottered, as if on the edge of a beam despite the fact they were on flat ground, and Lavi noticed his eyes change into mercury. Interesting, how only then did Timcampy settle on that white hair.

"Lavi!" Allen threw himself at the red-head. "How are you, how have you been, how's Bookman?"

Lavi laughed. "I'm doing well. Sorta." He titled his head and saw Allen's eyes draw to the new scar there. "Panda and I, we left the Order, we're recording things from the Noah's side now."

"Oh." Allen took a step back, and Lavi found himself missing the warmth.

"Thing is though, who we really want to follow, is you. So what do you say, let me follow you around? I helped out pretty well today."

He thought Allen would say yes, after all Johnny had wiggled his way into Allen's group, but the white haired boy shock his head. "The Noah are the easy part, and not what I'm really concerned about. Though they are the more pressing ones to worry about. You don't wan to stay with me, you'll get hurt."

"Like Johnny? I saw his leg."

Allen frowned. "You did? But…must have been what I can't remember during that first possession."

"Allen, please," and Lavi found he was asking as a friend and not as a Bookman, because being a friend was more important. "Let me help you."

"I need to destroy the Noah. Can you take one out for me, or give me information about where they might be next?"

"I'll be tricky without Gramps knowing, but yeah, I can do that. But how do I get the information to you?"

"I've got some old ear pieces from the Order. I mean really old, they don't work very well. But after we had Tim eat one he gets all the messages loud and clear." The mentioned golem fluttered proudly from his perch on Allen's head and then zoomed off to collect a wireless transmitter.

They both watched him go, then Lavi turned to his friend again. "You're alright, truly?" He expected to see Allen smile and say that he was fine, and when he didn't found himself touched by how honest Allen was being with him.

"I'm doing alright," the exorcist said in a manner that suggested he was coping as well as he could, "Johnny makes sure I eat and using the Ark has helped a lot. Neah's…difficult at times, but I have to deal with him, there really isn't any other way for me to live. I don't have a choice."

Lavi pulled his friend into a hug. "I'm sorry you have to go through this." He felt Allen return the embrace, lowering his forehead so it rested on the Bookman's shoulder.

"I not doing it alone any more," Allen whispered. "While that scares me because I don't want to get anyone hurt, I'm also really really happy about it."

"Same here." Lavi answered, pulling back and ruffling Allen's hair up in a brotherly fashion. The younger male smiled at him, not overly bright but real, and Lavi just knew things would turn out alright in the end.

A/N: Somehow, I missed Yullen week. (where did all those prompt come from?) I thought that was in June, for Kanda's birthday, so apparently it happens for Allen's too? I don't know, but it got me all excited cuz I was reading good fics and I really wanted to get this last chapter up for the last day. Only it took longer than I expected to write it, and I'm still kinda unsure about it, but this was the best I can do at the moment. Plus, my plot exploded again. It originally had no involvement from Lavi, but then I had to add him, and then chapter 211 came out and I had to incorporate a little bit from that...

So, while I was originally planing on five chapters you maybe get six? I don't know, we'll see how much wordage is needed to wrap this all up.

I hope you guys all had a wonderful New Years! I brought it in dancing and being with friends, and hopefully you guys had just as much fun. I'm sure you all made it your New Years resolution to review every fic you read, right?