I don't own anything you recognize. If I did then Lavi would've been Allen's big brother.

'Allen's thoughts to Neah'

'Neah's thoughts to Allen'

'Niah's thoughts to Artemis'

'Artemis's thoughts to Niah'

~Artemis POV~

I flipped over pedestrians, completely disregarding everything Cross had taught me. Lavi raced after me, huffing and trying to keep up. I heard him mutter something about starting to work out with Allen in the morning from now on. I landed twenty feet from the attack site, taking in what was happening.

A girl, no older than six, was curled into a ball as multiple Akuma assaulted what seemed to be a barrier keeping them out. Her brown skin was slick with sweat and she looked to be crying. I activated my Innocence and sprung into action.

"You do not concern us Exorcist!" one of them screeched at me. I grinned as I slashed through it with my claw. "You are my concern." I hissed. Soon Lavi and I defeated all of the Akuma and I ran over to the little girl.

"Wait Artemis. Let me see if it's dangerous." Lavi ordered me as he pulled be back. He got to the force field and the moment he touched it, he went for an airplane ride. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the girl.

My hand passed through the barrier without even a slight resistance. "Hey, little one, are you alright?" I asked her as I knelt down next to her and put my hand on her shoulder. The little girl flinched away and looked up at me. "Who are you?" she asked, clearly terrified. I deactivated my Innocence and sat Indian style next to her shivering form.

"My name is Artemis. What's your name little one?" I said, trying to get her to open up. Her soft hazel eyes seemed oddly familiar to me as she answered. "Lilliana Rithari. Are those things gone?"

My mind flashed back to the one time I had asked Madame Latruse her full name. Oh crap. This is not going to end well for me… "Yes, Lilliana, those things are gone. Do you know why they were after you?"

Lavi tried to come closer but he was repelled again. "They wanted my bear." She answered as she held up a ragged stuffed bear. I nodded as I picked her up, stood, and turned to Lavi.

"Lavi, I think she's an Accommodator."

~Allen POV~

I stood next to Bookman, my grandfather, as we looked out over the horizon. "Do you think Lavi's okay?" I asked him, worried for my older brother. "Lavi will be fine Allen. It's the girl I'm worried about."

I looked at him funny. "Why are you worried about Artemis?" I asked. Grandfather sighed and looked at me. "Did Lavi tell you how your parents died?"

I nodded, "Yeah, he did."

"What did he say?"

"Train wreck."

Grandfather shook his head and sighed again. "That was only part of the story. Lavi doesn't talk about it, but the wreck was done on purpose." My blood boiled. "Who did it!" I hissed in anger. "Akuma. They attacked the train and went after your parents and brother. They killed Tia, your mother, and Andrew, your father. They started to attack Lavi when something scared them. Before they left though, the more powerful Akuma in the group stabbed Lavi in the eye. It healed up after awhile he tells me, but something to do with it started to scare you. So he started wearing and eye patch."

I felt my anger rise even more. Not only had the Earl taken my foster father, he had taken my parents and almost took my brother. "What's wrong with his eye?" I asked, my curiosity peaked. "He was cursed. An internal curse is near deadly, and that is what Lavi has. Somehow he managed to fight off the curse and shut it down. If it activated now, I have a feeling that it would act much like your curse. But I determined something about the curse."

"What did you find out?"

"If one manages to shut a curse down, the only way to reactivate it is to be blessed by a Noah."

'Neah, could it work?'

'If done correctly, then yes. But I wouldn't suggest it Allen.'

"So there is no chance of Lavi's curse activating?"

"I didn't say that Allen."

I thought about it for a minute. "What happens if it activates? Will it kill him?"

Grandfather shook his head. "Only in the first stages is it deadly. By this time, any poison that was transferred to the wound would be gone. Lavi will be fine Allen."

"But why does Lavi being cursed affect Artemis?"

"She was almost kidnapped by a Noah on her first mission Allen. If they encounter another Noah, Lavi might contract a blessing. It doesn't have to be a good blessing from a Noah to activate his curse. It only has to be a type of blessing. If a Noah says something along the lines of, 'I wish you luck on trying to stop me' then Lavi's curse will activate."

I felt the blood drain from my face. At times, my curse was excruciatingly painful. Would Lavi have to live through that?

~Lavi POV~

"Are you kidding me? We have to haul a little girl all the way back to the Order?" I asked Artemis in shock. Well, only some of the shock was from her guess that the girl was an Accommodator. Most of it was directed at what her Innocence had looked like. Exactly like Allen's- save that her's had a black and more complicated cross on the back of her hand and it didn't look like Allen's upgraded form of Innocence. Now I KNEW that she was related to us! She was somehow related to the Bookman clan!

"No Lavi, I'm not kidding you. Lilliana is coming with us. Whether you like it or not." She snapped at me. I tried to walk closer again but got thrown away again. "Can you tell her to deactivate her Innocence!?" I hissed as I picked myself out of a heap of wooden crates that I had just flattened.

Artemis whispered something to the kid and the slight glow that had been around them disappeared. I walked over to them and put my hand on Artemis's shoulder. No shock, and no me being chucked across fifteen feet of space. "So her Innocence is a shield?" I asked my partner as we walked toward a motel that she said was near.

"I guess. But I don't know how good of a weapon against Akuma a shield is."

"Not all Innocence is offensive Moony."

Suddenly Lilliana screamed and pointed. I followed her finger and saw Road standing there, a huge grin on her face. "Thank you for finding the Innocence for me Exorcists." She giggled. I stepped in front of Artemis. "You're not getting it Noah." I hissed at her.

"Oh, but I think I will Bookman Jr."

My eyes narrowed as I yelled, "Innocence Activate!"

"Good luck trying to beat me boy, Noah's can't be killed."

Suddenly a piercing pain bloomed in my right eye. I screamed in pain as I dropped to my knees. I couldn't feel anything but pain, it became my world.

~Artemis POV~

"LAVI!" I screamed as he collapsed. I glared at the Noah girl, hate seeping into my next few words. "What did you do to him?!"

"I have no clue, but at least he's out of commission."

Lilliana's Innocence activated again and this time it surrounded Lavi as well as the two of us. "Stupid child!" the Noah hissed as she was repelled. A breeze blew past us and ruffled my bangs. The Noah gasped and stared at me. "Impossible! NO!" she screeched as she disappeared in a whirlwind of black smoke. I looked at the girl in my arms.

"Do you have any idea as to what that was about?" I asked her.

Lilly shook her head and said, "Not a clue."

~A week and a half later~

~Lavi POV~

I slowly opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. Finally the pain had ceased, and now I could think straight. "How are you feeling Lavi?" I turned my head to see Artemis sitting next to my bed reading a book. "Like a herd of elephants trampled me."

She gave a sad smile. "I was right Lavi." I gave her a confused look.

"Your eye WAS cursed. Something that Noah said activated it."

I looked at my hands. "So what does it look like?" I asked her. "Like a Black Butler contract." She muttered. "A what?" Artemis grinned and shook her head. "Sorry, future reference. I forgot that you wouldn't understand." She handed me a mirror.

My eye was still green. But where an iris should have been was a pentagon star in silver. My pupil was still visible but it was red. Oh good Lord, I really was cursed. I then realized something. "I can see out of my right eye now!" I exclaimed in shock.

"Well that's good."

"How long have I been out?"

Artemis looked down at her lap. "Um…" my eyes narrowed. "Artemis, how long have I been out of commission?"

"Maybe… About… A week and a half?"

"WHAT!"

Suddenly the door swung open and the little girl, Lilliana, skipped in. "Moony, there's somebody in a big black coat here!" she called. Behind her strutted Kanda.

"Nice going Usagi. You managed to get knocked out and waste over a week in bed." He snapped at me. Then he stepped back in shock. "What happened to your eye?" he hissed.

"Long story. Lets just say that apparently I was cursed when I was a child and somehow the curse activated when Road sneered at me." I answered, not wanting to go into any details. Kanda rounded on Artemis next.

"And you didn't give a full account of what transpired in your report why?"

She glared at him and for some reason I felt like diving under the covers just so that I wouldn't see her eyes in that terrifying emotion.

"It wasn't my business to get involved. If anything had happened to him that was extremely horrible I would have mentioned it. I didn't know what was wrong, not fully anyway, so I didn't say anything. If had been a natural occurrence then I would have wasted time on it. Besides, I tried every first aid procedure that was appropriate for the situation." She answered, her use of what Leenalee called, 'big fancy know it all words' scared me more than her glare. She sounded like Grandpa when she started talking like that…

~Artemis POV~

Kanda didn't even flinch under my version of Bruce Wayne's 'BatGlare'. But Lavi looked pretty freaked out over it. Maybe I should use it more often…

'You're scaring Lavi.'

'That's the point. If he's scared then I won't have to worry about him bothering me.'

Just then I heard Lavi mutter, "You're doing it again Moony."

I shook my head and grinned. "Sorry Lavi. The little voices in my head say that you look rather… scared."

He stuck his tongue out at me. "Tell the creepy voices in your head to shut up. I wasn't scared."

"Oh really?"

"I was terrified."

I punched him in the arm. "Same difference Bookman!"

~Week later (back at the Order) ~

"Say WHAT!?" I yelled at Koumi.

"You are going to take Lilliana Rithari to General Klaud and then go to the Chinese branch. There you will learn higher mastery of your Innocence and all that good stuff." He explained again. We had been sitting in here for thirty minutes, mostly because I couldn't believe that I had to travel that far away just to train.

"Why do I have to go?"

"Because she trusts you Artemis. You and nobody else."

I gave him my BatGlare and he flinched. "How long do I train?"

"Until we send another Exorcist to get you or a crisis arises."

Rincarp plopped down on my head. I reached up and held her in my hands. "I better not be there for over four months Koumi or I'm sending Rincarp to eat your nose."

I spun on my heel, not easy to do in these stupid boots and skirt, and stomped out to go gather my things for the trip. As I stormed out, Lavi stormed in. "Koumi, we have to talk."

~Lavi POV~

Allen had gone on another mission before we got back. I feel for him. But right now I wanted answers. And Koumi was going to give them to me if he liked it or not.

"Koumi, we have to talk." I snapped at him as I slammed both hands on his desk, sending papers everywhere. He looked up at me an asked, "What would you like to know?"

"Who is Artemis Cain? Give me a straight answer now or I hurt you."

"Why do you want to know?"

I gave him my best Artemis imitation glare. He didn't even flinch darn it. "She looks like Allen. She acts like me. She loves books. She has near photographic memory. She has the same traits as a member of the Bookman clan. WHO IS SHE?!"

Koumi sat back and steepled his fingers. "Who do you think she is Lavi?"

"One of my descendants. She acts so much like me and Allen doesn't hold as many Bookman traits as she does."

"Her last name wasn't originally Cain."

"That much is obvious."

"She wasn't born in the far future."

I stared at him. How the heck is she not born in over a hundred years?

"How is that possible?"

"She is born in about, to my estimate, ten to twelve years. From now of course."

"But that's impossible. How did she get to the future?"

"There was an upcoming crisis in the future, when Artemis believes she comes from. She was sent there to be able to combat the threat."

"But how was she sent?!"

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know!?"

"She also couldn't exist and live in this time period."

I racked my brains for an answer to that. "Why not?"

"The same soul cannot exist in two different people at the same time. Her past life is alive right now."

"But how does she exist now then?"

"Her soul is complete. When she was born, she had barely enough to sustain her for a few hours. The soul splintered and the smaller piece lodged itself inside of her. She was sent into the future because by then her past life would have died and the soul could completely reunite together."

"Well then who is she? She HAS to be of some relation to me."

Koumi sighed and nodded. "She is."

"Who is she then!?"

"As I said before, her name is NOT Artemis Cain. Legally her name IS but biologically it isn't."

My anger level broke the scale. "Quit playing around and tell me who she is!"

"She's not your daughter Lavi."

"Then WHO IS SHE!? ANSWER ME KOUMI LEE!"

"Her last name is Walker. She's Allen's daughter. She's your niece."

My anger flat lined. Allen's daughter? How is… Leenalee! It should've been elementary! Artemis's best non-Innocence attacks came from her legs; how could I miss that?! I thought back to everything I had gathered about Artemis. And the most obvious clue was this: she and Allen looked like a mirror image. They were flipped, save for their Innocence. Allen was left, Artemis was right. Allen was male, Artemis was female.

She really was Allen's daughter…

"Don't tell either of them Lavi."

"AND WHY NOT!?"

"You could confuse the timeline. She can't know, neither can Allen. Her being here is already shaky ground- one wrong move and she might never be born."

"So now I have three people to protect."

Koumi gave me a weird look. "Why is that?"

"Allen's my little brother- I have to protect him. He marries Leenalee- that makes her my sister. Artemis is my niece- I have to keep her safe; it's my duty as her uncle to protect her."

Koumi looked a bit worried. His eyes widened behind his glasses and he started sweating. "Koumi, what did you do?" I asked him dangerously. "Artemis is leaving soon. She's taking Rithari to Klaud and then training at the Chinese branch. You won't be anywhere near her."

My eyes widened. The last time a Walker was at the Chinese branch, he almost got killed. "If anything happens to her Koumi…"

"You'll probably kill me. I know this Lavi. I have a little sister. And you're forgetting something."

"What am I forgetting?"

"She's my niece too."

~Allen POV~

Leenalee and I finally got back after another grueling mission. On our way in from the canal, Artemis ran into us. Literally.

"Sorry!" she squeaked. She picked up her belongings and called behind her, "Lilly!" I looked at her suitcase and noticed something. "That's almost all of your stuff! Where are you going?" I asked her.

She glanced up from her vintage point on the floor, her silver eyes boring into mine. "Koumi is sending me to China." She answered as she stood up. A little brown skinned girl ran up to her. "Moony, I'm ready!" she exclaimed, swinging a stuffed bear back and forth.

"Ok, let's get going. The sooner we get you to General Klaud, the sooner I can get this over with." Artemis answered right before she whistled shrilly. A small silver blur that I realized was her golem came out of nowhere.

"Why are you going to China? And who is she?" I asked in quick succession. "Koumi wants me to train at the Chinese branch and this is the Accommodator that Lavi and I found. Her name's Lilliana."

"How is Lavi?" Leenalee asked. "He's fine now." Artemis answered. I glared at her. "What happened to Lavi!?" I almost yelled. She returned my glare with one that chilled me to the bone. "Ask him. Not me."

She then started walking the same way the two of us had just come from.

"Moony, who is he?" Lilly asked as she pointed to me. Artemis turned around and said, "His name is Allen Walker and he's one of my friends I told you about."

"Is you a Walker?"

Artemis looked shocked at the little girl's question. "No, I'm not. I'm a Cain."

"No you is a Walker."

"Lilly I can tell you with complete sincerity, my name is Artemis Cain."

I looked back and forth between the two girls as one tried to explain and the other insisted that she was wrong. It looked a bit funny, a sixteen year old arguing with a girl who didn't even look eight.

a

"But you is a runner!"

"I know I'm a runner Lilly, but my name isn't Walker."

"You look just like him!"

"My name still isn't Walker Lilly. It doesn't matter what I look like, my last name is Cain."

"If you is a runner you is a Walker!"

"Can we just go?"

"BUT YOU IS!"

"Lilly, we are leaving now." Artemis said firmly as she spun on her heel and walked down to the boats. Lilly followed her, albeit a bit reluctantly. "You still is a Walker." She muttered as she passed me.

Once the two of them were gone I turned to Leenalee. "What happened to my brother?" I asked, trying to sound calm. If his curse…

"I don't know Allen. All I know was that he was injured and it took a week and a half to heal."

What happened to Lavi?

~Lavi POV~

I slumped on my bed and covered my right eye with my arm and stared at the ceiling. Artemis… my niece, Koumi's niece. Allen's daughter, Leenalee's daughter. A Bookman clan member to the core. Artemis Walker, the Exorcists' future.

For once in my life, the thoughts whirling in my head were all jumbled together in incomprehensible mutterings. I couldn't keep myself from freaking out.

"Lavi! Are you in there?"

Allen! I had locked my door… I didn't say anything, I didn't even move. My right eye sparked, causing me to wince. Why did it do that? There weren't any Akuma around or Allen would've sensed it too.

"Lavi?" I still didn't move. I heard Allen's footsteps fading away down the corridor and sat up. The mirror on the other side of the room showed me what my activated eye looked like. The star was dark gold and my pupil had turned orange. They both glowed and made me look terrifying.

I was doomed to look like this for the rest of my life. But maybe I could turn that to my advantage. Nobody besides Koumi, Artemis, Kanda, Lilly, and probably Grandpa knew that I was cursed… so I would use it as a secret weapon. Spotting Akuma and taking them out. And nobody would even guess that I had something more than Innocence helping me…

"Lavi!" this time it was Reever. I didn't move. "Koumi had another mission for you Lavi!" he hollered. I couldn't ignore Koumi; he'd probably break down my door with another crazy invention of his…

"Hold on Reever." I called, grabbing my coat and before I opened the door I snagged my eye patch and slipped it on. I yanked my door open and walked out. "Any idea as to what he's sending me on this time?"

"You, Allen, Leenalee, and Kanda. Other than that I don't know." Reever answered me as he walked away. I followed him to Koumi's office. "Where was he?" Koumi asked as he glared at me over his glasses.

"His room, just where I told you he'd be." Reever snapped and stalked out. Allen gave me a hurt look. He knew that Reever had checked my room right after Allen himself hadn't gotten an answer. I felt bad for ignoring him, but I couldn't face him right now. My eye prickled again, this time I pretended not to notice how much pain I was in.

"So you wonderful people will be going on a search for Cross. We're gonna need him soon. And he's probably one of the few people who could tell Artemis to shut up and she'd actually listen."

I snorted. "All you have to do is ask her to be quiet. If you're rude about it, she'll punch you." I muttered, trying not to laugh.

Koumi outlined our 'mission' and then sent us on our way.

"Oh and Lavi?" Koumi added as Allen and I were walking out.

"Yeah?"

"Stay away from Noahs this time."

~Allen POV~

He answered Reever but not me? He didn't have time to go in before I heard Reever start yelling at Lavi's door!

'Something's wrong with him.'

'How do you know Neah?'

'I can't tell. But something about him has changed. He seems to be casting a more protective and sad aura than before he left with Artemis.'

"Oh and Lavi?" Koumi called as my brother and I walked out of the door.

"Yeah?" Lavi snapped at him. Add angry to that new changes list.

"Stay away from Noahs this time."

What?

'Neah! Could Lavi have changed because his curse activated?'

'That's actually the most logical reason Allen. But there's another reason to add to his changes. I'm sure of it.'

'But what else could have happened?'

"Allen are you ok? You almost ran into the wall there." Lavi said worriedly.

"Yeah Lavi, sorry I was daydreaming." More like talking to the Noah that would eventually take over my body…

"I wanted to say sorry Allen. I just had a lot on my mind and I didn't really mean to ignore you. I was going to ignore Reever but then he mentioned Koumi. I didn't want that crazy moron breaking down my door with some crazy new invention of his."

I smiled at him. "It's okay Lavi. By the way, what happened to you?"

His kind smile vanished and the gleam in his eye disappeared. "I got into a tangle with Road. She got inside my head and rendered me unconscious for a week and a half."

I felt my eyes widen. "Are you okay?"

He smiled again. "Of course I am Allen. I just have a lot on my mind."

I nodded and gave him a funny look. "You keep flinching Lavi. I thought you said you were okay." I accused him.

"Just a muscle twitch from being unconscious for so long. It'll disappear eventually." He said quickly, a little too quickly…

"Lavi are you sure that you're okay?" I asked him, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

"I am FINE Allen! Sheese! You'd think that I was the younger brother by the way you're acting!"

A/N: here you go! Another chapter, another sucky day in my life. Seriously don't ask. Happy really freaking early Halloween! I think I might just be Allen… anyway, thank you to my rather few reviewers (you know who you are!) and I wuv you! So just a few more reviews and you get another chappie. And now a word from the morons who star in this fic.

Lavi: who are you calling morons?!

Me: you. Who the heck else would I be talking about?

Kanda: just Lavi. I'm not an idiot.

Me: I never said anything about anybody being an idiot. I said 'morons'.

Kanda: *glares at me* I am not a moron.

Lavi: *mutters* just keep thinking that…

Kanda: what did you say Usagi?

Allen: and what did you say BaKanda?

Me and Artemis: *rolls eyes*

Artemis: do you have to make them so annoying?

Me: yes I do. *sardonic grin*

Allen: ummmm SeeSea… what's with the creepy smile?

Artemis: *copies me* I love being your OC SeeSea. We think so alike.

Lavi and Allen: *shares terrified look*

Allen: should we…

Lavi: definetly.

*both run out of the room*

Kanda: wimps.