A/N: Hey! *wave* Lavi is a lot harder than Allen (or, I expect, any of the others) because Lavi and Iron Hammer have neither shared experiences nor room for any, but I think I pulled it off alright.

Thank you to UnatanableRose, Ryuakilover, UnknownReviewer, Yami-The Lord of Darkness, Grifen345, Candy Crackpot, Shadow Spears, Shadow-X1999, InsanityOwl, RMXStudio, Lena-luvs-cats, AngelHeartsX, 13thcat, and 2 guests for reviewing!

Title: Synchronization

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Friendship/Family

Warnings: Slight AU

Summary: Innocences have their own wants, personalities, souls - Allen doesn't understand what's so strange about this. But then, he's always been able to see them. (Series of oneshots through the manga. Mostly canon-compliant. Maybe eventually turn AU.)

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man.

A strike on the anvil.
Red-hot metal being beaten into shape.
A blow that smashes walls and breaks bones.

Once, perhaps three or four centuries ago, Iron Hammer had spent a couple decades as a slate tablet in a classroom.

Iron Hammer couldn't actually remember why he had done this. You couldn't do shit against akuma as a classroom tablet, and his name had been Board of Enlightenment, for crying out loud.

But he wouldn't deny that it had been an interesting experience. Humans were fascinating, their thoughts and philosophies more so, and ever since, Iron Hammer had possessed an almost rabid sort of curiosity. He'd never been a board again, but he did gain a preference for scholars.

But these scholars, they were old. Not only did they not live long, their thoughts tended to lack the inspiration and innovation he loved in humans.

Bookman was of this sort - intelligent, dedicated to learning, but with an interesting, fiery edge to him, defensive and loyal and fierce when called upon. If Heaven Compass had not claimed him first, Iron Hammer might have considered it.

Then Bookman took him to Lavi.

Lavi was everything Iron Hammer admired in humans. His ideas were new and original, he adapted quickly, and he had a curiosity to rival Iron Hammer's own. He thought, and he learned.

Best of all, Iron Hammer realized quickly that Lavi had a heart, a strong, defiant one buried in Bookman's teachings and bound with his pitch-black eye patch.

When an Innocence chose an accommodator, they picked someone they would trust to wield them against their shared enemy. It wasn't always someone who was great, but it was always someone who could become great.

Lavi was that sort of accommodator. His heart was dried and set aside, withering away in scrolls, but it wasn't gone, not even close. Iron Hammer wanted to see it grow, to see it burst and fill, to see him become the person Iron Hammer knew he could be, caring and brave and loyal to a fault.

Lavi had ambition as well; Iron Hammer could admire that, and in anyone else, he would have cheered them on quietly from the sidelines. Unfortunately, Lavi was Iron Hammer's, so that meant that his ambition to become a Bookman would have to go. Eventually.

At first, Iron Hammer had been impatient, wishing that Lavi would just get on with it and realize that clearly, he was meant to be an exorcist.

But there were other factors at work than just Lavi's personality.

At night, Lavi talked to Iron Hammer. Iron Hammer didn't answer him, of course - Lavi wouldn't hear him. But he did listen.

Lavi loved history. He'd grown up in it - been raised in it. By Bookman, whom Lavi admired and considered a role model, and who, from the sound of things, had taken Lavi out of a bad situation (Iron Hammer still didn't know how Lavi had lost his eye) and into a world Lavi loved.

Except for one thing: all the fighting. Lavi, as it developed, hated how much humans fought, and thought that it was pointless. Iron Hammer always felt a flash of anger at that, but he didn't argue. There was no point. Lavi would learn. He always did.

Iron Hammer liked Lavi. He was funny and he cared for the people around him, even when he tried not to. He had a strong will, too, and Iron Hammer wanted to see that potential brought out to its fullest. He wanted Lavi to live.

Lavi adapted quickly to the Order, to suspecting humans. Doug had been a hard lesson to him, but an important one, even if the whole process had made Iron Hammer panic a few times, made him worry. And then Lavi started to make friends.

This, Iron Hammer figured, would be the most important part. Lavi had to make friends, and he had to defend those friends, and that would help him learn. Iron Hammer was excited, and he'd readily admit it.

Lavi needed friends; he was lonely, with just Bookman, and alone. 'Lavi' might be closer to Lavi's real personality than probably any role he'd taken on so far, but it wasn't there, and it made things hard on Lavi, which made Iron Hammer worry a little. It wasn't good for him, for anyone, to be alone. No slight against Bookman, but Lavi needed other people.

But there was more.

If Lavi had people he cared about, people who cared about him, then he would have a reason to fight, his own reason. And each friend he made was another step toward independence from Bookman, and another reason to help them win this war.

Because for all Iron Hammer's curiosity, for all his admiration and excitability and anticipation and patience, he was still a fragment of the God Matter. He was still an anti-akuma weapon, created with one purpose, and one purpose only: to destroy akuma and win the Holy War.

Everything else came second.

And that's the second interlude. *nod* Like I said, a little difficult, but interesting, at least. (I'd actually planned the chalkboard thing for some time. *grin*) Thanks for reading, and please review!