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CHAPTER 4

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Lavi had just walked outside when he heard a scream. He turned around, freezing on the spot, when he realized that it was Yu who had just shouted. He couldn't fight, but he could easily imagine what happened. He ran back and widened his eyes when he arrived in front of the door; the Fourteenth had Kanda pinned on the floor, a hand on his neck. "Yu!" He yelled.

A second later, Lavi was carelessly thrown on the wall of the hallway. "Bookman..." The Fourteenth smiled, a dangerous glint in his eyes. Lavi trembled under that heavy and dark gaze; it reminded him of when he was captured and tortured by the Noah family, and as much as he didn't want to, he felt terribly scared of the Fourteenth. "Too bad the old one is dead. But you will help me, am I right?" The Bookman choked slightly from the pressure, but tried to stay as calm as possible. Now he knew how the old man felt back then...

"No! Stop!" Lavi glanced away and noticed a young girl with long dark hair, together with a white cat. He looked behind the Noah and noticed that Yu was bleeding heavily, yet blindly reaching for him. Whoever that child was, she had no chance against such powerful man... she needed to get away from there. "It's fine, it's fine!" Lavi smiled, trying to seem calm. "Go help my friend instead."

The girl hesitated for a second, but then she nodded and ran towards Kanda. In that moment the Fourteenth pressed him even harder on the wall, visibly annoyed. "Bookman, I don't have time to waste." The Noah hissed, still smiling. "You have to tell me where am I. I can't sense the Earl or any akuma."

Lavi widened his eyes and smirked, even if there was a hand around his neck that wasn't making him breathe properly. Things were getting clear… it felt strangely reassuring to hear that, despite his life was still in danger. "Lavi!" He heard Lenalee screaming.

"So it was Allen…" The young bookman muttered. "It was him who opened a gate and brought us here!"

The Noah froze and his hold on Lavi faltered slightly, while Lenalee stood there, her heart stopping for a second at her friend's words. Allen was still there… even if it was the Fourteenth who was controlling his body in that moment?

"Fourteenth… no, Neah. Wherever we are, the Earl and the Noah family don't exist anymore. There is no Innocence, no war. You don't need to worry about your revenge anymore. The Earl is dead!" Neah's smile got wider, almost crazier and more dangerous, and he let Lavi go.

While the Bookman fell and started coughing and gasping for air, the Noah stumbled beside him, chuckling lightly. "The Earl… is dead… yes, I remember… finally Mana was avenged…" He muttered between soft laughs. With his head tilted towards the ceiling, his eyes wide open and the lips crooked in a wicked smile, Neah looked like he had just lost his mind. "Everything… Mana… no need to…"

Glancing at what was supposed to be his friend's face, Lavi shivered slightly and gulped. He was safe for the moment, but only because he was a bookman. What was going to happen now that the Earl was defeated? The Noah family wasn't going to resurrect there in Fiore. Akuma didn't exist… it was all up to Neah, who had just reached his ultimate goal.

"Mana… Mana, did you see?" The Fourteenth whispered, closing his eyes, looking terribly melancholic. His skin began to turn back to white, and the Noah sighed. "Bookman." He said with resolute tone. "I'll let Allen come back for a while. I'll keep watching… but don't think I'll be gone for good."

Lenalee sprinted towards them just as Neah shook slightly and fell on the floor, and it was in that moment that at the end of the hallway someone sprung the doors open.

Lavi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, still not believing that once again he had escaped a Noah's wrath. Lenalee was next to him, checking on Allen. As Lavi opened his eyes again, he saw the little girl with long hair crouching next to Kanda, still lying on the floor; there was a faint light coming from her hands, probably her magic.

She screamed in surprise when something that resembled smoke rose from Yu's skin. Lavi gasped quietly, and his best to quickly stand up to go check Kanda. He glanced away and noticed that the voice he heard was Erza's, who was there with other people he had never seen before. Lavi frowned, not expecting to see them, and he then glanced at Yu, who was still not moving at all, and he gulped when he saw how much blood the exorcist had lost.

The young Bookman ran to Kanda and carefully lifted him, as Lenalee did her best to carry Allen in the room, just as Erza arrived in front of them. "What happened here?!" She barked, glaring at Lavi while unleashing one of her swords. Behind her, a girl with blond hair gasped at the sight. The wall and the floor had been cracked by the Fourteenth's dark aura and strength. Lavi didn't answer her, as he was watching Yu's head and body to understand what exactly had happened.

"I think it was just a misunderstanding…?" The young dark haired girl smiled hesitantly, standing beside Lavi. "While I was curing your friend, his body suddenly started… emitting smoke." Lavi nodded and slowly carried Kanda to his bed; he didn't know how, but Yu's healing abilities were back to their original state, and it wasn't something Kanda was going to like. His head was perfectly healed, as well as his other bruises.

"Wendy, what are you doing here?!" A man with no shirt on exclaimed before glaring at the Bookman, who stared back with a suspicious gaze. Lavi wasn't sure that the presence of Erza was something good, and he was about to ask what she was doing there when the red haired woman pointed her swords towards the exorcists.

"I don't have much time to waste." Erza snarled, with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Natsu said your smell was strange and it seems he was right about you…" She continued. "Wendy, it could have been dangerous." Lavi did his best to shield Yu with his own body; he was going to be useless in a fight, his Innocence was way too fragile, and with Kanda passed out… However, he picked his hammer anyway and Lenalee too seemed ready to defend herself and Allen. She activated her Innocence and glared back at the small group of mages, who stared in amazement at her pair of dark red boots.

"I just… wanted to talk to them…" The child answered, lowering her gaze as if she was being reprimanded.

"Don't deny it! You four did something bad! You smell like blood!" The pink haired man shouted, and closing his hands in tight fists, ready to fight. Lavi widened his eyes, surprised. It could have been Lenalee and Yu's Innocence that smelled like that, after all they were partially made of blood… but it still was amazing that someone could detect such scent. He still couldn't understand how such scent was lingering on their skins…

"It's not even normal blood!" The pink-haired guy said, before pointing at Lavi.

"What do you really want from us?" The half naked man muttered.

"Maybe it's just our bruises…?" Lenalee muttered, unsure of how she was supposed to react to that. The blond girl shook her head with a nervous smile, as he placed a hand on the pink haired man. "No, Natsu explained us it was really different from usual. Like… something rotten…"

Lavi took a deep breath, as he realized what could have been, and nodded. "Akuma…" He whispered. "We fought them for so long that their scent got stuck on us...?"

"Is that even possible? After all Natsu can smell things no one would even imagine." Erza asked, without lowering the swords. Lavi frowned and glanced at his friends. Lenalee, Allen and Yu had been fighting Akuma since they were young… so it was possible that their scent was… peculiar. He could remember pretty well the smell of antiseptic when he first arrived in the Black Order, and sometimes the scent of blood, smoke and burnt skin accompanied him for days, both during and after fights with Akuma.

"It might be." He admitted with hesitance. "Especially if his nose can pick unusual scents..."

The Bookman watched as Erza seemed to relax, while the man called Natsu looked even angrier and more annoyed than before. "After all we've been in at least a war for all of our lives…" Lavi mumbled. The mages froze at his words and looked at the others in disbelief. Lenalee kept her Innocence activated, ready to fight at any moment, and stared at Erza right in her eyes, as if she was trying to challenge her, and waited for her to say something.

"You have… killed people?" Erza whispered, her eyes wide. Lavi saw it clearly, she tightened the hold on her sword she dashed towards him, but she was too fast and the Bookman couldn't avoid the attack. It was another sword that blocked it, a weapon he knew very well: Mugen. Yu had woken up and saved him, and the man was glaring with menacing eyes at the mages. They were lucky that Mugen was lying right next to Kanda, otherwise Lavi wouldn't have been okay.

"Stupid rabbit, you talk too much." He snarled, without looking away from Erza.

Lavi smiled and carefully watched the mages' movements. "Yeah..." He admitted, sharing a glance with Lenalee. Lavi noticed that Allen's hand twitched and the Bookman's smile got wider. "But isn't it the truth?" He continued, now staring at Erza, who was listening silently to his words. "We're soldiers, but we didn't want to fight. Didn't we already tell you?" Lavi said slowly and as calmly as possible. "We all share a sob story, if you want. All we did was fight Akuma, and nothing else. We never killed people."

Erza sighed and lowered her sword before turning around. "We'll tell the Master to pay for the damage." She deadpanned. "But I want answers. Right now." Erza looked outside the room, where a small crowd of patients, doctors and nurses were standing in worry, and reassured them everything was fine. She returned immediately and closed the door, resting on it. Kanda snorted and put Mugen away, sitting properly on the bed, and Lenalee as well stopped her Innocence as well.

Lavi walked in the middle of the room, where the floor was cracked and noticed his eyepatch was there; he took it and glanced at the young child. "I have a question as well." He said, putting the eyepatch on. Lucy wondered why he did that, but she kept silent and decided to wait before saying anything. "Wendy, am I right? Can you explain what actually happened to Yu?"

The girl nodded and looked nervously at Kanda, who was glaring at her. "A-actually… part of my magic is healing. But suddenly… there was smoke from his body. I really don't know what exactly happened!"

Yu stood up, Mugen still in his hands, an unreadable glint in his eyes. "Did you touch my chest?" He slightly growled. Lenalee gasped quietly, reaching her friends.

"Do you think your healing abilities are back thanks to… um, Wendy?" Kanda said nothing, and kept staring at Wendy. The little girl hummed, thinking of what had happened a few minutes before. "I was curing his head… but I think I also touched your chest, even if not on purpose…"

Kanda took Mugen out of its sheath, and before anyone could do a thing, he cut his own arm. Everyone gasped, and both Lenalee and Lavi, in worry, took his arm to look at the blood that was already falling on the floor. The cut was clearly deep, but Kanda didn't even flinch; a smoke-like substance was immediately emitted, and with a hiss the cut disappeared. "Fuck..." Yu muttered with a frown, before glaring at Wendy, who took a step back out of fear.

"Your seal got fixed somehow…" Lavi whispered, without releasing Kanda from his hold. Lenalee sighed and let Yu's arm go, and she glanced with slight worry at the mages.

"Wow, is that your magic?" Lucy asked with a surprised smile.

"Is that your… Innocence?" Erza continued, folding her arms in front of herself. "No." Kanda answered curtly, his gaze unfocused and still directed to his arm.

"His Innocence his this sword… while for Lenalee those boots you all saw before." Lavi mumbled, glancing at Erza, who still was glaring at him. Wendy gulped and took a deep breath.

Everything was too confusing for her. Why did they helped the white-haired boy anyway? The aura he emitted was dark, dangerous; he wasn't their friend, he was clearly ready to kill them, and honestly he didn't even look like he cared for them. Yet, lying there, asleep, the boy seemed harmless. Who was he exactly?

She was about to speak when Allen groaned loudly and turned on the bed a couple of times before falling and screaming in pain.

"He's awake…" Lucy muttered with an amused look. Wendy, the only one who had seen what happened, gulped quietly, ready to attack him at any moment, yet she was surprised at how his aura had completely changed. Kanda snorted at the sight of Allen sitting up while rubbing his forehead, while Lenalee immediately ran towards him and hugged the boy.

"Allen! We were so scared!" Lenalee cried, smiling happily when she looked in the young man's eyes. They were shining softly… they truly were showing Allen's soul, and not the Fourteenth's.

"Are you okay? How do you feel?" She asked, anxiously touching his arms and face to check if he was fine.

Allen blinked a couple of times, still lost, and he hesitantly chuckled at Lenalee's antics. "We… I'm fine, thanks! Don't worry about me." He exclaimed, before looking around himself. He noticed the cracks on the floor and the blood, and he frowned, not recognizing the other faces in the room. As he stood, together with Lenalee, he felt like something was wrong. It was like lot of time had passed and he had missed lots of important moments.

What was going on? Where was he? And what happened in that room? He was surely in a hospital room, and he even had his left arm bandaged. Lavi approached him and hugged him briefly, while Kanda just stared at him, a blank look on his face, as if he was doubting of him. "What... what happened?" He asked quietly, noting that the kid seemed scared of him. Now that he looked better... there was a small trail of blood on Kanda's face. And the floor was cracked...

"Allen." Lavi softly called him, holding his shoulder. "Everything's fine. I'll explain you later, but... it has ended. No more Earl. Do you remember?"

The white-haired man widened his eyes, a flash appearing in his mind. Yeah... he had opened the Ark right when Neah's mind slipped and let him take control again. He had used several gates... and he could clearly remember the Earl and the Noah family lying lifeless on the ground. "Yes..." He muttered, finally realizing what happened. "I've brought you here…"

Allen's heart stopped for a second, the boy suddenly felt lost. He had no idea of where he took his friends, and he could barely remember if he had opened a gate for the rest of the Order. He just knew that the war had ended and that he didn't need to fight anymore. For years all he did was fighting Akuma… so what was he going to do now? "The war… has ended…" He continued, his voice cracking and the first tears of relief falling from his eyes. The realization of being actually free hit Allen, who glanced at Lenalee and saw that her too was tearing up, yet with a bright smile on her lips.

Lenalee nodded weakly and Allen too broke in a wide grin, despite tears were now falling on his cheeks. "I'm… so glad!" He laughed happily, before looking at the group of mages and wiping away his tears with an embarrassed chuckle. "I'm sorry for crying in front of you. I'm Allen Walker, nice to meet you." He introduced himself.

Erza nodded slightly, while the blond-haired girl smiled kindly. "We're mages from Fairy Tail, I'm Lucy! Those hotheads are Natsu, Gray and Erza, and this is Wendy. And… oh, where are Happy and Carla?"

It was right in that moment that two flying cats entered the room from the window. The four exorcist stared with wide eyes and gasped loudly when the white cat talked. "I went to look for the Master, and coming back I found Happy munching on a strange thing..." The cat explained, pointing at the blue one. Happy mumbled something and landed on the floor, a yellow tail coming out of his mouth. "He said he has found a fish..." Carla explained, looking annoyed.

Allen beamed at the sight of the yellow tail and crouched down. "That's not a fish!" He exclaimed, pulling the tail. Happy opened his mouth, not pleased to let go of his prey, and a yellow creature with wings flapped above everyone's heads.

"Timcanpy!" Lenalee gaped, watching as the golem shook away the saliva on its body and finally reached Allen, who hugged him tightly.

"Timcampi! You've grown again!" Allen cried happily.

"That thing never dies…" Kanda muttered, he too surprised to see the golem.

The group of mages watched with growing curiosity, and Natsu took a few steps to look at Timcanpy. "What is that?" He asked with a frown. "That's not a fish for sure…" Lucy noted with an amused smile.

"Timcampi is a special golem. He records everything he sees! Actually, I'm more surprised to see flying talking cats..." Allen explained, standing up again.

"Well, then maybe he can show us what happened before you got here…" Gray thought out loud.

"You're right!" Lavi smiled. "But I think it's better if we go have dinner before anything… we can talk while eating something."

Next to them, Wendy watched uneasily the scene in front of herself. Allen wasn't the cold-blooded murderer she saw a few minutes before, and that scared her. What if he was going to change yet again and hurt her friends?

"May I ask what happened here anyway? I mean… the floor is cracked and Kanda has lost blood… Don't tell me you already had a fight with someone?" Allen asked with an amused snicker.

Kanda simply glared at him. "Yeah… with him." He grunted. Allen immediately understood what happened in there, and lost his smile.

"I saw you attacking your friends…" Wendy muttered, staring right into his eyes, silently accusing the boy. Allen glanced away, in shame: he had hurt them once again, and it was all because of the Fourteenth. He hated feeling like that… like he was the one bringing pain and sorrow everywhere. Last time he had tried to run away… and he wanted to turn away from them and go somewhere no one could find him. In some place far from everyone, where he couldn't hurt anyone.

He bit his lips and closed his hands in tight fists. He felt hopeless.

"Allen wouldn't hurt us!" Lavi exclaimed, wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulders, startling him. Allen looked up, not expecting that; after everything that happened he still doubted his friends could like him and trust him blindly, yet they still were there, always ready to reassure him. "Don't worry about it. Everyone's okay, it's not a problem! We trust Allen." Lavi grinned, not letting go of the boy. "Now let's go eating. I'm starving! You guys go ahead."

Everyone slowly left the room, leaving the four exorcists behind. Lavi sighed softly and looked at Allen, who was frowning deep in thought. "Listen." He murmured, hoping that no one outside the room was listening to them. "The Fourteenth didn't know where we are. It was you who brought us here…" Allen nodded, not knowing what Lavi wanted to tell him. "...probably his conscience slipped for a minute, long enough for you to come back. And he has no reason to take your body again!"

Lenalee nodded, confirming the young Bookman words. "Look at where you are today! You never stopped fighting, didn't you say you're an exorcist? We're here for you!" She exclaimed, taking Allen's hands in her small ones. Allen smiled softly, nodding slightly.

"If the Fourteenth will be back, we'll take care of him." Kanda muttered with a dark look.

The white haired boy smirked, almost pleased to hear that. "I didn't expect any less from you."

"Plus he said he couldn't sense any Akuma! Can you believe it? A life with no more war." Lavi chuckled, patting Allen's back.

"Yeah…" The boy muttered. "It seems like a dream." He mumbled, glancing outside the window. There was nothing much he could do to start living a peaceful life; he was probably going to join a circus and become a pierrot once again. But as much as he thought about it, he couldn't imagine living without his friends next to him.

"I have an idea, we'll talk about it in front of our dinner." Lavi reassured them with a smile.

Lenalee frowned slightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Are you thinking of how we're going to live from now on? Kanda might get discharged from hospital really soon… same for us."

The young Bookman grinned and nodded happily, walking towards. "Of course!" He chirped with a sly smile. "We're going to become mages!"

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A/N:
Hi everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I hope I'll read your reviews about it.

Sorry if you'll find mistakes, and I'm also unsure about "Timcanpy". Is that the right way to write it? - Thanks again!