Yayz! Chapter 4 is here! Celebration dance! Well, anyways… I don't want to jinx myself, because last time I wrote a fanfic, I said it wouldn't break ten chapters, and then it turned out I wrote 21. . So! I'm not going to say that, but I am going to say that there's a strong possibility that this is going to be a short one. So! Let us commence forthwith with Chapter 4 of 'Linked'!

Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is property of Katsura Hoshino and Funimation. This series is a parody and nothing more, so please support the official release. Got it? Damn well better.

4. Requiem

His eyes could not adjust back to the way they were. They were gone, shattered. The woman, Lilith, said that they were completely blood shot and not focused at all. He didn't like the sound of that, but there was nothing he could really do about it. So instead of worrying about it, he was going to try to stay optimistic that his eyes were going to return to normal, with any luck.

It was morning time. He knew this because the little boy, even though his tone was laced with malice, told him so. He had opened the windows, even, to let some air in. Right then, he was alone. And he really didn't care. The family was insane, and he didn't really want to get involved with their affairs that much. Well, it wasn't so much that they were insane; it was that they were just not normal. They were possibly more dysfunctional than the Science Department. And he had only met the mother and the child.

He pushed himself up off of the bed and touched his feet on the floor. It was wood, refined wood. He didn't need to see it to tell him that much. Awkwardly, he stood up and felt around the room, memorizing where everything was. There was a table that was approximately five feet long and four feet wide that reached up to his waist in height. It was wooden, too, and eight inches away from the bed. He took three more steps to find the wall and traced his hand all around the room. The room itself was about 16 feet by 21 feet. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't too small, either.

He located the door, found the windows (two of them), and managed to walk into the closet on accident. The room, he guessed, was originally a guest room, and he was the guest. More or less, this family had a pretty decent house. He found the open window and stuck his head out. It wasn't raining. The sun was actually out-- He could feel the rays pressing warmly against his face. There was a little bit of wind but nothing more.

In the distance, there was someone singing. The voice was raspy and wasn't too pleasant sounding, but it had a charm to it that Lavi couldn't help but listen in more. He peered further out the window to hear it more clearly:

"Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, I'll laugh when your world fades from white to black. Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, I'll be there to stab you in the back. The walls crumble, your feet stumble, clickety-clack, clickety-clack, I'll be there to stab you in the back."

It wasn't a pleasant song. It gave him the chills as he retreated back inside. The voice, though terrible, sounded like a boy's voice. It was more than likely that boy, Carroll, who was singing. He felt his way out of the room and down a set of stairs (twelve steps in length) and tried to find the front door. He felt around until the second door he opened allowed him to the outdoors. He took one step forward and fell knee-deep into the bog. He yielded, confused, then stepped back onto the house-step and found a small, wooden bridge that led across to the opposite bank.

This house really is built on a bog, hunh? He thought absent-mindedly, trying to follow the source of the voice. I didn't think I'd see an actual bog-house in my life. They must have built the foundation on the only piece of solid land in this area…

He stumbled and caught himself several times before his hand clasped up against a tree. The voice was coming from behind it. His head peered around it and the voice suddenly stopped and gasped. He had found the boy.

"What're you doing all the way out here?" Lavi asked, confused. "I counted how many steps away this is away from your house, and it's about… Well, it's a long distance. Were you the one singing?"

"Go away," Carroll responded. He began to rock out of nervousness. "You are unwanted here. You're one of them." After stating that supposed fact, he began to hum the tune again, his hands breaking the few twigs he could find.

"What is 'one of them', exactly?"

"An Agent of the Devil," the boy replied. "They lie. They do anything to make bad things happen. You are a Fallen One, like Lucifer." He paused in breaking his twigs and looked up at him. "Fallen One's don't need sight to move around. All they need is sensors that are hidden by their hair."

Fallen One? Agent of the Devil? Is this kid crazy? If anything, I'm on his side! Lavi felt a sting of annoyance prick his side as he shifted his weight to his left foot, trying to come up with a response that wasn't too rude. "I'm not."

"Lies," the boy said, then suddenly stood up and began to grow violent. "Lies, lies, lies! You are filled with nothing but lies, you Fallen One! I know you are! I saw you fall, I saw you! Your wings were clipped by God himself!" He began screeching and making strange sounds as he began to hit Lavi. "Betrayer! Betrayer! Go back to the depths of Hell! Betrayer! You Fallen One! One of them! One of them!"

"Wha-- No, I'm no-- Ah--!"

He lost his footing and stumbled back into the wetter parts of the bog, one untouched by trees, and tried to find his way back. Carroll stared at him, his chants ceasing. Lavi felt around desperately. Shit! If only I had my hammer, I would be able to get out of this mess…! He blinked as a thought hit him hard. My hammer… Where is my Innocence, anyways? Did the Earl…?

"You're getting what you deserve, Fallen One," Carroll said calmly, then picked up a twig and threw it at him. "What you deserve! Betrayer! Betrayer!"

"Wait-- I'm not a--!"

Carroll turned and ran, leaving the struggling redheaded Exorcist alone in the bog. His fingers dug desperately at where he thought the solid piece of land was and pulled himself out, body drained of energy. He panted for a few seconds before sitting up. The boy's chants reached his ears.

"Fallen One, Fallen One, cry with the touch of God's powers," his shrill voice rang throughout the bog, "and learn what it means to be in a darkest hour! Clickety-clack, clickety-clack!"

For someone as young as him, he sure is freaking intelligent. Lavi reached for the tree and helped himself to stand. Crazy, a little mentally unstable, but definitely intelligent. His feet and pants were thoroughly soaked, as was part of his shirt. He counted back the steps he had taken before back to the house that he came from. The woman called out his name as he approached.

"I am so sorry!" she exclaimed. "Carroll has never been like this to a stranger. I've never seen anything like it, not once! Please, come this way, I'll get you some new clothes and some cranberry juice."

He only nodded as she retrieved a new pair of clothes. He stood there, dripping, until she came back and handed him the clothes. He thanked her before she could offer to help him and found the stairs with ease. He counted all twelve steps before he headed back to the guest room. The material felt… smoother than his original shirt. He put his clothes off to one side and put on the clothes that the woman gave him and sighed. They were at least warmer than his wet clothes.

The woman's footsteps were heard as the stairs creaked with her weight pressing down on them. She picked up his clothes and placed the glass onto the table. "Please, drink that, and it will make you feel better," she said, then left the room.

Feel better… I don't think I'll feel better until someone finds me. He took a sip of the cranberry juice and frowned. I don't think that boy will like me, no matter what I do. I'm kind of afraid to even fall asleep in this house. He placed the glass onto the table and frowned more. If only… If only I had my hammer. I miss it. It's strange. I never thought I'd miss an inanimate object…

A cool breeze entered the room as he dragged a chair from the table towards where the window was and sat down, staring at nothing. I hope you guys don't get yourselves into trouble, especially if it's because of me. He frowned. …They probably think I'm dead. What does it matter? No one's ever going to come. I should just… find a way to get back home myself.

He sighed once more before he began to talk to himself. "Damn… I… I can't believe this is happening to me…" His left hand reached and touched his right arm. There was no feeling whatsoever. He grimaced as the words of Carroll's song echoed in his head:

"Fallen One, Fallen One, cry with the touch of God's powers, and learn what it means to be in a darkest hour!"

"No, ma'am, I have not seen anyone that looks like that around these parts."

The door closed quietly as Lenalee stood tiredly in the street. It was almost as bad as looking for General Cross. She had drawn a quick sketch of Lavi-- which was practically useless, in her eyes --and had showed it to everyone within a three-mile radius of the train station that she arrived at. She knew she was still pretty far away from where Lavi was thrown, but there still was a chance of him stumbling into town and looking for either something to eat or a pretty girl. Either option was valid.

She picked up her bag up off of the ground and began to head back to the train station. She had searched for most of the day, and the sun was starting to set. She yawned as the scent of food caught her attention. It wasn't far from the train station, so she figured she might as well eat something. She was hungry, anyways, and it was bad to do a job on an empty stomach. The sound of a train whistle almost caught her attention, but the food held it steady. The vendor smiled up at her. "Can I help you?"

"Can I get one of those?" She pointed to the sandwich that held her attention especially.

"Sure thing! Gimme a second…"

She waited patiently and paid him once she received her sandwich. She started to walk away until she bumped into someone. It nearly caused her to drop her sandwich. "Ah--! I'm so very sorry…" She stopped mid-sentence as she realized who it was. "A-Allen… kun?"

Allen, who was slightly tired from the train ride, looked up to see Lenalee with a sandwich in her hand. "L-Lenalee?"

The two took a moment before both of them began to apologize for different reasons. It took about three minutes to sort all of the confusion out. Allen cleared his throat after a silence ensued. "So… Why did you take off without me the other day?"

"I didn't know that you'd come with me."

"Of course I would have!" Allen tried to keep his voice at normal speaking levels, but it wasn't working. "I mean, he's missing, and… I'm worried, to say the very least."

"As am I." She paused, and then pointed at a building. "It's late, though. We should probably head back to the inn. I only got one room with one bed, though. Is that fine?"

He nodded. He would take the floor. If Komui had found out that he had slept beside Lenalee in a bed, his head would find itself on a silver platter faster than his eye reacted to the presence of Akuma. Even if he explained that he didn't hold a romantic interest in Lenalee, Komui would have killed him. Lavi was more likely to do such a thing. Lavi was what Komui had to worry about, not him. He chuckled slightly as the two approached the inn and to the room. Lenalee plopped down onto the mattress as Allen sat on the floor.

"So," she said uneasily, "the plan for tomorrow is that we find our way to that bog and see if we can find him there. None of the people here in the main city has seen a redheaded person, so we can kind of assume that he hasn't been through here." She stared vacantly out the window and sighed. "I wonder why there were even Noah all the way out here in the first place…"

"Oh!" Allen pulled out the folder with the mission brief and looked through it. "There's something about Innocence in here somewhere…"

"Wait…" Lenalee took the folder from the unsuspecting hands of Allen and looked it over. "This thing says here that you were supposed to be in a group consisting of Kanda, you and Link. Where's Kanda and Link?"

"Ahahahahahaaa…" Allen glanced to one side, trying to hide his nervousness as best he could. "W-Well, we got separated at the train station, so, erm, they may be, uh, getting here tomorrow… You know?"

Lenalee raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Allen-kun is that desperate to save Lavi, isn't he? She thought, closing the folder in her hands. If Link were around, every movement he made would be monitored. He probably doesn't even care that there's Innocence around here. That's probably the least of his worries. She placed the folder off to one side, frowning. "It would have been a lot easier if they were here," she finally commented.

At this, Allen relaxed. She didn't notice his nervousness, or she was at least pretending that she didn't. "Y-Yes…"

She paused, then took out a map of the area that she had grabbed from the train station when she got off. It wasn't too heavily detailed, but it was enough for them at the moment. "So, as a result of me not finding anyone who has seen Lavi, I figured he's possibly still out in the bog area." She took a pen out from her pocket and circled a little dot. "This is where we are," she said before circling another spot, "and this is where we were the other day. It's not too far from here, ten miles, tops." She drew a bigger circle around the smaller one and traced it again with her forefinger. "He could be anywhere within this area."

Allen looked at the slightly bigger circle and looked at the map measurements. One inch equaled fifty miles, and that had to be an inch and a half. His heart sank. "Why… is the area so big? He was thrown, but I don't think…"

"If someone happened to find him," Lenalee intervened, "they probably would have taken him home if he were injured. He could have also wandered around, trying to find his way back…" She put up her hand when Allen was about to protest. "Think about it. If Lavi got thrown, what are the chances of his Innocence staying in his hand?"

She has a point… Allen bit his lower lip, then slammed his hands on the map, crinkling it. "There's got to be a way to make this map smaller! What if he's still injured out there and an Akuma--?!"

"Allen-kun."

He stopped at the sight of Lenalee's sad expression. "L-Lenalee…"

"I'm trying," she said, "the best I can. Do you think you're the only worried one around here?" She looked away, tear running down her cheek. "I have gone over all the possibilities of what could have happened to him twice, three times, five hundred times already. And each time I reach my last conclusion of my list, I wish I could do something more! I wish I could, but, Allen-kun…" She looked up at him, not hiding the fact that she was crying anymore. "…I can't. I can't do anything more. I just want to find him as fast as I can. I don't… I don't want to lose part of my family…!"

He was struck speechless and helpless as the Chinese girl cried in front of him. She immediately reached out and hugged him, sobbing endlessly. He said nothing as he just continued to stare at whatever was in his line of vision, which happened to be the circle that Lavi could have been in.

"It's okay," he reassured, patting her on the back. "It's okay, we'll find him. I promise."

She said nothing as she pulled away from his arms, her eyes wide with a terrible expression-- Doubt. "…Thank you, Allen-kun."

He said nothing in response and instead nodded. His eyes flickered over to the window where the darkened horizon looked completely unwelcoming. The knot in his heart tightened. Where was he? He glanced back at the map and stared at it, unwilling to accept the fact that it was a huge radius to search within.

"What time should we wake up tomorrow?" he asked, folding the map back up.

"Early as possible. I say six." Her eyes glanced at him quickly before the wall suddenly became so interesting for her to stare at. "You look exhausted, Allen-kun. I bet you haven't gotten any sleep recently."

And what makes you think I'm going to sleep all right now? He's still out there! Allen hesitated before answering. His emotions were becoming more and more difficult to control. He was upset, to put it frankly. "…You're… right. I haven't."

She nodded. "I would have said something like four in the morning or so, but it seems that your body doesn't look up to it." She hefted her bag up off of the floor and placed it next to Allen's in the corner of the room. "I have no doubt in my mind that your mentality is ready, but… You already are worried sick. You need to rest."

Quit mothering me! I'll do whatever I want! I'm not that weak! He nodded at her before smiling weakly. "Yes… You're right."

"Do you want the rest of my sandwich?" Lenalee asked, handing him the other half that she had yet to finish. Allen's eyes perked up at the sight.

"Ah! Thank you very much!" Allen took it out of her hands and immediately began to eat, forgetting all the troubles that were bothering him for about thirty seconds. Lenalee just smiled quietly as she watched him eat it. A dangerous thought crossed her mind--

…Let's just hope we find him in one peace without any distractions…

A bird called off in the distance, disturbing the silence, as a rumble of thunder bounced around the clouds.

Chapter 4, done! Man… I was so good at typing longer chapters. I wonder if it's because I have SAT's to worry about… Well, that aside. So! Did you like it? Hate it? Love it? Destroy it? Hit me with a review, por favor! It would be very greatly appreciated. Well, until next time, see you in Chapter 5! --K.S.