Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, or Pandora Hearts, or Clannad. I mean, none of this is relevant to D. Gray-man, since they aren't even mentioned in the story. But isn't it neat how my ownership of D. Gray-man is the same as those anime? Non-existent.

D. Gray-man Countdown: The 219th Night

Day 6 – Love "I love you Yu." "I know."

1815

It was always a disappointment to come back from a mission empty handed. This was a fact Alma knew well, for her missions always seemed to be flops these days. The Finders would gather some sort of information or tip off, Alma would be sent in, and it turns out what they expected was Innocence was really some scamming gambler taking advantage of the youth. Not even any Akuma to destroy. So Alma had become used to the pinched and angry look on Denholm Leverrier's face. She'd accepted that her bad luck was getting in the way, but since she couldn't do anything about it, she found she stopped caring about keeping Leverrier happy.

"This is the fourth mission you've been sent on that hasn't yielded desired results."

"And how is this my fault?" Alma brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"One might assume there was something you were doing to sabotage the mission." The corners of Leverrier's mouth fell as Alma gaped. "Therefore, you shall be paired with other Exorcists for your missions until this streak breaks." The look on his face dared her to speak, but she held back.

"Of course, sir. I'll comply willingly for the benefit of the Order." Alma bowed and spun on her heel. She walked straight out of the room and down the hall, unsure where to head. She knew where she would like to go – or rather go see – but her understanding was that he was not yet returned from his long term mission.

The Chief Branch Director here in Headquarters was starting to really get on her nerves, and whenever he did something aggravating, Alma always went to a certain place to calm down, but without the presence of Yu Kanda, there wasn't much point to going to his room.

Yu was sent out almost a month ago to join with his former Master, Devon Conroy in smoking out a Noah in the hilly plains of the Irish countryside. He made no promises of returning nor any sort of fond farewell, but he was just like that. It was one of the reasons she loved him. His lack of goodbyes meant he was going to try his damnedest to get back to her, and it reassured her more than any "I'll be back soon" could do. She'd wait for him.

But for now, she needed to go find a punching bag that could take her pent up frustration.

Let it be known that Noah were tricky bastards. They enjoyed making things difficult, and Yu was rather pissed off about it.

That evening, Yu and Conroy had finally found a lead on a Noah's human identity, and they decided to investigate. Well, General Conroy tried to keep Yu at the inn while he went out, but Yu refused to sit around like he'd been doing for the past month.

They came to a rowdy pub where there was a rumor of a fine gentleman disguising himself and drinking with the local rabble as if he were one of them. It wasn't much to go on, but the identity of the gentleman disguising himself was one that was on the Order's watch list. Edmund McArthur, adopted son of the wealthy McArthur family who spent weeks traveling with some friends on and off. This was suspicious by itself, but not enough for the Order to concern itself with alone. The other factor was the striking appearance that looked very similar to the face of a Noah that attacked a group of Exorcists ten weeks ago.

Yu had been instructed to keep a distance from that particular Noah, should he ever meet him, for if he got within range of the Noah's mouth, he would be killed within the hour by a deadly parasite controlled by Dark Matter. General Conroy carried a hand-held Innocence canon over his shoulder which gave him the advantage of a ranged attack and he sported a normal broadsword on his hip, which was why he was sent, and Yu's speed and and skill with the sword was good enough for him to tag along, for sending in only one person, even if he was a general, with only a ranged weapon would mean almost definite failure and death.

They came to the pub just after the sun set, hoping to get a glimpse of the suspected Noah, when there was a flash of white light around them and they were suddenly in a muddy field, overgrown with Lotus flowers, and it was daytime once again. They were unable to move. A voice murmured behind them.

"I hear you were making inquiries about me." Yu flinched as a hand brushed his neck. The General beside him was calm.

"And who would you be?" Conroy asked. The voice laughed.

"You already know, don't you? Ahh, it's been a while since I got to hunt Exorcists. What, nine weeks now? Ten? Too long, anyway." Yu gritted his teeth and tried to reach for his sword.

"Ah, ah, little Exorcist. I'm not in the mood to fight, I just want a little entertainment." The voice moved away from Yu. "You are a General, no?" Conroy didn't reply, and Yu wished he could turn his head.

"Dear Edmund, why don't you hurry up and let them play? Our pets are hungry." Another voice, much farther away, called out, the grin on his face detectable just by his words.

"Of course. But how about we level off the playing field a bit. If the Order was willing to send only two to go confront a Noah, when five of theirs died by the same Noah, then they must be something special." With out a warning, Yu felt something wet and long trail up his neck, and suddenly pain racked his neck. With a grunt, the control over him left and he dropped to the ground. Faintly, he registered his name being called by his Master.

While the pain was great, Yu could still move and stand, so he did so, wobbily on his feet and his eyes were closed tightly. When he opened them, Conroy was on the ground also, shaking and squirming in the mud as Yu had been doing moments before.

"My parasites will distract you as you fight to the death with these level twos. I hope you're ready. Call them, Desire." Yu pulled his Master up, shuddering at the stabbing pricks moving down his back and across his shoulders. He looked up and drew his Innocence, seeing a flash of white light in the sky and suddenly three level twos were floating there. Yu wanted to scoff. Was this the best the Noah could do?

However, he realized he was far too confident in his ability to fight in his state, for seconds later, the Akuma were already in his face and licking their lips. The blast of a canon surprised him, but threw the Akuma before him aside, saving him from its sharp teeth.

Yu looked at his Innocence and tried to activate, but his mind was hazy. Mugen!

In the mean time, Yu fell back, retreating a few feet from the Akuma as he glared at his weapon.

"Mugen! Activate!" A green glow erupted from the blade and Yu sighed in relief. He looked back at the fight and saw his Master holding off an Akuma that looked like a fat clown with claws for fingers. It's face was wrinkled and painted grotesquely. Behind it was another, with gleaming red scales that oozed some black liquid. The Akuma that first attacked was far away, struggling to un-stick itself from the mud, but the multitude of spikes on his wide shoulders were buried deep. Kanda went for the scaled one.

Thinking it probably wise to not touch the black liquid, Yu jumped in to slash the Akuma in half, but Mugen hardly did any damage, only knocking some scales of and creating a shallow gash in the Akuma's head. He tried to leap back again, but he felt woosy and a jolt of pain came from his stomach, as if something were eating its way out of him.

Conroy pushed the Akuma he was fighting with away from him with the normal sword, but had to quickly turn to the right and fire at the first Akuma that finally freed itself. The sudden movement floored him, so Yu had to think fast and stab the incoming Akuma in the gut. It was moving too fast to stop and impaled itself all the way down Mugen, and then crumbled to dust. The scaled Akuma and the clown one were left.

Yu felt far too weak to continue, and disgusted with having trouble fighting level twos. But the pain was strong and his vision flickered. He hardly noticed when the clown Akuma clumsily walked to him with it's arms and legs bent at odd angles and slashed Yu's chest and arms diagonally. Yu stumbled back, and could see his blood start to pour out. Fortunately, no Akuma blood had entered the wound, and the virus was not present.

Conroy came falling out of nowhere, knocked back by the recoil of his canon when it killed the other Akuma. Yu could barely see through his scrunched eyes and unreliable vision, but the clown Akuma shuffled awkwardly over with its deformed limbs and slashed his Master's head off in one blow. The now bloodied corpse fell back, its arms falling to the sides and blood gushing out in even spurts, for the heart was still beating. The Akuma turned back to Yu. Yu vaguely wondered what the Noah were doing.

"Ah, he's still alive? Now for the killing blow, Exorcist!" Time seemed to move slowly all of a sudden. Yu could see the painted star on the Akuma's ugly face get closer, but the hand of his decapitated Master was blocking the rest of the body from his view. If he looked beyond the Akuma, he could see a woman. Someone familiar...

Do you know this flower? Reaching up to heaven...

Yu looked up at the sky, still acutely aware of the parasite wigging in his stomach devouring him slowly.

They're lotus blossoms. They're born in the mud, yet they reach for heaven and fill the world with their fragrance.

The claws descended on him, and for a moment he could feel the cool metal press against the skin of his neck before it cut through and and went deeper.

I love you, Yu.

There was a sudden spike of pain and his head moved without him telling it to. Above him, the Noah watched Yu's head roll off his body and hit the mud. Yu saw the heavens.

I know.

Alma jolted in her bed and quickly sat up. Sweat dripped down her face and her breathing was heavy. She heard Yu's voice in her head.

I know.

I'm not used to writing Karma...

So that last part there, I thought you should know that back in the late 1700s in France, a guy called Maximilien Robespierre set out to build a "Republic of Virtue" and guillotined those that challenged the goal, even killing some friends. Tons of people were being beheaded left and right, and at one point, a guy did an experiment. He was going to be beheaded, so he told his scientist friend to come watch, front row seat, because he was going to blink a lot as he was being beheaded, as long as he can. Sounds weird, yeah, but the results were crazy. So Guy #1 who's getting beheaded goes up to the guillotine and starts blinking and Guy #2 is watching. AFTER Guy #1 is beheaded, he continues to blink for 6-10 more seconds (can't remember the exact count). It was a test to see if the person being beheaded lived past the point of having his head cut off and felt the pain, because people were starting to doubt how humane the guillotine was anymore.

Anyway, cool story I learned in school. I thought about it while beheading Kanda.

Abyss-chan out~!