Lavi flung his hands out, breathing in deeply. "Ahhhh, it feels great to be on solid land breathing in the fresh air again. I was getting tired of feeling slightly dizzy all day long."

Bookman looked unimpressed, his arms folded and held in place at the front of his cloak. "After all the time you spent traversing the world by sea, I would have thought you would be well used to ships already."

Lavi stuck his tongue out at his mentor, adjusting his bandanna. Allen ignored the bantering, craning his neck to look around them. "We should find the motel that the Order booked for us at once, neither Krory nor Lavi got much sleep in the past few weeks on account of their seasickness, and I suspect the rest of us are all tired from our weeks at sea as well. We should take a day to rest and recuperate before continuing on our journey."

Lenalee nodded in agreement. "Good idea, Allen-kun." She hesitated for a moment. "But...uh...do the locals speak in English?"

Allen and Krory stopped short, looking at each other. "That..."

Lavi spread his arms wide. "Don't worry, Lavi the Hero is here to save the day!" Without waiting for their response, he hurried to one of the passers-by and began to speak in some foreign language at a rapid-fire pace, unintelligible to Allen, Lenalee and Krory. Within moments, he'd found out what they wanted to know, and pointed triumphantly towards the north. "The motel is that way, the Blue Dragon Motel."

Allen's arm shot out, neatly nabbing the tiny fluttering golem that had been hovering around Lenalee's elbow. "Which means no travelling for you today, golem." He carefully placed the golem in his jacket, before adjusting it. "Well then, lead the way, Lavi."

Lavi strolled towards the motel, Krory rapidly catching up with him, the latter oohing and aahing at all the interesting, fresh contraptions and foods he was seeing, the former unimpressed, having seen these sights many times before, and amused by Krory's unmatched enthusiasm. Bookman followed after them silently, expression unchanging as always, not even looking around to take in the scenery - it was, after all, nothing new to him, even more so than Lavi.

Lenalee and Allen brought up the rear, both of them taking their time to admire their surroundings. "Just a little hop across the channel, and everything feels so oriental!" Lenalee exclaimed, her eyes lighting upon a beautiful china set for sale at one of the street-side stores.

"An oriental feeling indeed!" Lavi agreed. "Hey-Krory! Where are you going?"

Krory had hopped over to one of the stalls, and was already pulling his money out, ready to take out a few coins to pay the man for a cup of ice cream. Lavi shook his head. "If you were hungry, you could have just told us, I'm sure we can find a restaurant somewhere."

Krory paused, his expression innocent, as he held up the ice cream. "I'm not that hungry, I just simply had to try this!" He pointed at the sign next to the stall. "It says that it's the best ice cream in the world!"

Allen and Lenalee exchanged a look, both of them biting back their laughter, trying not to let Krory feel to embarrassed. Lavi just groaned. "Just as well - this might be a good chance for Krory to learn some street smarts, too." He tugged the vampire by the arm, pulling him along, "Come on, you can walk as you eat, or we'll never get to the motel, given your fascination with the whole street."

"In his defence, the things they have on sale here are rather interesting, we do not exactly get to see them every day in Europe." Allen pointed out, scrutinizing a well-made chinese flute.

"Yeah." Lenalee nudged Lavi. "Not everyone's travelled the world like you and Bookman have."

Lavi released Krory, nudging her back. "See, this is why I tell you to put your foot down with Komui and make him send you to more missions around the globe! They're fun and interesting and you actually get to see new things! I don't know how you survived with being sent to missions solely in Europe all these years, it must have been boring as hell."

Allen caught up with the duo, his expression interested. "Wait, you mean that we are allowed to request where we are sent to for missions? I thought all missions were assigned by the Supervisor."

"Yeah, but really, one Exorcist is as good as the next, so it doesn't really make much difference who's sent where, right? I mean, we can express a preference - it doesn't mean our request will be granted, but as the Supervisor's sister Lenalee stands a pretty good chance of getting sent on whatever mission she wanted if she just asked." Lavi explained.

Bookman, seeing how the kids were getting more absorbed with their conversation than they were with finding the motel, shook his head and took the lead, his head slowly moving from side to side as he sought out the motel.

"Except that's not really true. Komui-nii san would give me whatever mission I wanted - as long as it wasn't too far from the Black Order. He'd never have agreed to me going on a mission in some far away place like, say, Africa or the North Pole. The only reason I was sent on this mission is because the Black Order is truly lacking in numbers and he doesn't have any other choice." Lenalee pointed out.

Lavi laughed, remembering the way Komui would always throw himself all over Lenalee and beg her not to leave, or scream down the phone for her to come back quickly when she went for missions. He held the door open to the motel for Lenalee and Allen, as Allen commented, brows risen, "Is he allowed to do that? Send you to missions which are closer to home because he prefers you to stay closer to him?"

Lavi and Lenalee exchanged a look. "Well, technically it's not allowed. But in the past when we were in...well, before the Millennium Earl launched his new all-out attack against us, and the Black Order was less busy, no one really minded when Komui did so." Lavi explained.

The porter, noting the familiar Rose Cross on the Exorcists' uniform, immediately approached them. "You must be from the Black Order. We have three rooms reserved for you, right this way please."

"Hold up." Lavi stopped short, head swivelling from left to right. "Did we just lose Krory?"

Allen, Lenalee and Bookman stopped, blinking, as they turned around. "What the...?"

Lavi facepalmed. "Oh man."

Krory picked up an exquisitely carved face mask, a colourful blend of red and black, his expression amazed. "The world is a big place indeed." He fitted to his face, peering through the eye hole at the store owner, who began jabbering away rapidly in a foreign language that Krory couldn't understand. He turned to ask Lavi to translate for him, then froze, only just realizing.

The other Exorcists were nowhere to be found!

Krory yelped, practically tossing the mask into the store owner's face as he began to panic, arms windmilling wildly. "They're all gone!"

His face paled, sweat dripping down his face. "I have to keep calm, they can't have gone far. I have no choice but to search the area." He craned his prodigiously long neck, his expression terrified as he realized that he was completely lost in a street nearly three kilometres long and surrounded by at least a hundred people. He gulped, beginning to run, his voice frantic. "Lavi! Bookman! Lenalee! Allen! Where are you guys!"

There were at least several dozen who gave him weird looks, and many more who ducked out of his way hurriedly. But there was no Lavi, no Bookman, no Lenalee, no Allen popping up to smile at Krory and lead the way. Instead, he was left in yet another street, this one deserted and leading to a dead end, just as lost as before.

Krory's shoulders sagged, and he sank to his knees, leaning against the wall behind. Where in the world were they?

Just at that moment, he heard softly echoing footsteps behind him. He looked up, only to see a familiar, dark-green-almost-black dress next to him. He leapt to his feet, his expression abruptly ecstatic. "Lenalee! I found you! Or...you found me! That's great, have you guys found the motel already? I hope you guys didn't spend too long looking for me."

He waited, but the girl did not respond, remaining silent and staring downwards.

Krory got to his feet, leaning forward, frowning as he peered at her face. "Lenalee? Are you all right? Are you...you're not lost too, are you?"

Silence. Krory shifted, starting to feel mildly uncomfortable. "Lenalee, are you feeling okay? You seem a little...quiet."

More silence. Then, suddenly, the girl looked up, her green-eyes strangely, unusually distant. "I think I saw an Innocence in that direction." She lifted one hand, pointing into the distance, straight ahead.

Krory immediately straightened up, whirling around to look at the direction in which she was pointing. "What? Where?" His expression turned determined. "As Exorcists, it is our mission to protect the Innocence from the Akuma. Lead the way, Lenalee, let us find and guard this Innocence!"

She did as he said, striding in front of Krory, and he followed after her, curling and uncurling his fingers nervously, hoping that they would not have to engage in a fight with any Akuma to retrieve the Innocence.

Lavi cussed, rubbing his head in bewilderment. "Where in the world could he be? We've searched almost the whole town and there's still no sign of him."

Lenalee looked just as worried as Lavi, but Allen merely smiled, maintaining his angelic temperament. "Do not worry about it, I am sure he was merely distracted by some little trinket along the way, he will be fine. Let us just keep looking, sooner or later we will find him."

Lavi and Lenalee exchanged a look, and both sighed. Lavi frowned. "You're right, of course, nothing would be able to harm Krory, he's an Exorcist. Unless he fails for some swindler but let's not think about that right now. Honestly, though, I have no idea how in the world it's possible for an incredibly tall guy in a sweeping black coat with a white streak in his hair get lost. I mean, he's totally recognizable. You would've thought someone would have saw him, but it seems no one has any idea at all."

Just then, a man who was standing in front of a house by the sidewalk, tending to his coop of chickens, turned around, glancing at the Exorcists. "A man in a black coat with a white streak in his hair?"

Lavi, Lenalee and Allen whirled around, looking at the man. "Yes! He's our friend and we're looking for him. Did you see him?"

"Well..." the man hesitated for a moment, scratching his head. "I saw him with you, actually." He looked at Lenalee. "He was walking in that direction, with you."

Lenalee blinked, startled, looking at Allen and Lavi confusedly. "Me? But...but I've been with the two of you this whole time..."

Lavi shook his head. "It doesn't matter, we should focus on finding Krory first." He nodded at the man who'd given them the directions. "Thanks, man."

Allen followed behind as Lavi and Lenalee trotted in the direction the man had pointed out, his brow furrowed in concentration. They'd been with Lenalee the entire time - and yet she'd been seen walking out of town with Lenalee. Allen bit back a sigh. Looks like Act II was just about to begin - and he was pretty sure that the Millennium Earl was leading with Lulubell. He flexed his left arm, a grin beginning to spread across his face. It seemed his next mission had just started.

Krory frowned, doubt starting to rise within him as he followed the younger girl out of town. While it seemed that she knew where she was going - she took several sharp turns around, enough to make Krory even more lost than he was before and ensure that he had no idea where he was, other than the fact that they had long since left the town - she had not said a single word to Krory at all since they started moving, and that was really unlike the kind-hearted, cheerful Lenalee he knew, the Lenalee who'd welcomed him to the Black Order.

Hesitantly, he leaned forward. "Lenalee, where exactly are we headed, where did you see this Innocence?"

She didn't respond.

"It's strange that there would just be an Innocence out here in the middle of nowhere, I remember Komui saying that there was usually strange phenomena surrounding the pieces of Innocence, it really is coincidental that there's a piece out here where we are." Krory mused.

She stopped abruptly, so abruptly that Krory walked right into her without realizing that she had stopped. "Oh, excuse me." But she did not respond; instead, she merely stood, stock-still, like a rock wall.

Krory hesitated, beginning to feel really uncomfortable now. "Lenalee, what-"

Out of the blue, there was a sudden rumble as the ground shook, and two Akumas emerged out of nowhere, one shaped like a huge metallic spider and half a dozen eyes, the other with long, deadly sharp pincers like a huge crab. Krory's eyes widened, and his hair shot upwards, straightening instantly, his face turning hard. "Akumas!" He darted forward in front of the girl, flinging his cape out.

The Akumas howled. "Exorcists! Prepare to die!"

Krory's head whirled around as he realized that the younger girl was still standing as still as before, not moving a muscle, her head lowered such that Krory could not even see her eyes. "Lenalee! What's wrong?"

She didn't respond. He was just about to turn around and grab her to see what was wrong with her, but before he could, the Akumas attacked; the spider Akuma unleashed his webbing, lashing around Krory's arms and legs before he could even move a muscle. He grunted, mustering all his force as he tried to rip out of the grip of the Akuma but even his prodigious strength was insufficient; the crab Akuma chuckled evilly, its expression sinister as the devil. "It's over for you, Exorcist!"

Krory snarled. "Lenalee!"

But the female Exorcist did not respond. Instead, she was merely as silent as ever, watching, as the crab Akuma began to advance upon Krory.

Something's wrong with Lenalee! And it wasn't just something wrong, it was as if...as if Lenalee wasn't Lenalee. As if she was a totally different person...

It's not Lenalee! I've been tricked! The realization was like the crack of a whip for Krory, whose eyes widened in shock as he suddenly understood that he'd been played. He wrenched at his arm, with such force that his it nearly broke, but to no avail, the Akumas merely just laughing at his efforts. And "Lenalee" was just standing behind Krory, her eyes still shadowed, head tilted to one side as she watched.

He was caught! Krory tossed his head back and howled.

Just at that moment, there was a resounding metallic clang and a gust of wind against Krory's face. Krory opened his eyes, just in time to see the crab Akuma screeching as a huge hammer went flying right into it's face, hurling it back with incredible force. At the same time, what looked like a hurricane shot past Krory, slamming into the spider Akuma and throwing it up into the air; the webbing around Krory's limbs loosened and he wrenched them loose at once, pulling away from the Akumas and leaping backwards to land next to Allen, Lenalee and Lavi.

Lenalee glanced over at Krory, concerned. "Are you all right?"

Krory gave a smirk. "You came just in time, and those Akumas couldn't have touched me anyway."

But it was Lavi who first registered the obvious; he straightened out of his defensive position, pointing, speechless, at the girl who had not moved from the moment the Akumas appeared, the girl who looked exactly like Lenalee, right down to the dark-green hair and black dress. "Um, what the hell? Lenalee, do you have a secret twin sister or something?"

Lenalee shot a glare at Lavi. "No, of course I don't!" She was just as confused by the fake Lenalee as Lavi and Krory were, and could only stare, uncomprehendingly, at them.

Abruptly, the fake Lenalee lifted her head, staring the Exorcists right in the eye. Lavi flinched. "Woah! She even has the same eyes! They're identical!"

Lenalee's eyes narrowed, the hostility in her violet eyes palpable. "Who are you? Why did you take my form? Are you...is this your ability as an Akuma?"

The girl looked at Lenalee unflinchingly, her gaze empty.

Krory and Lavi exchanged looks. The phenomena surrounding Innocences were usually plenty strange already but this? This was on another level entirely.

The fake Lenalee's gaze travelled across the line of Exorcists, and her gaze met Allen's for the briefest of seconds.

Then she lunged forward, throwing herself right at Lenalee. Lenalee jerked back in surprise, and they spun around, as she tried to fend off the fake's sudden attack. "What the-"

Lavi's jaw dropped. "Oh, crap. I can't tell them apart!" Both he and Krory stood frozen in shock, gaping, eyes darting from one Lenalee to the other in confusion.

Allen looked up, staring coldly at the Akuma. In an instant, the two Akumas hurtled forward, each grabbing hold of one Lenalee and speeding off in different directions. Lavi swore, immediately grabbing onto his hammer. "We can't let them get away, we have to split up! Allen, can you handle the crab Akuma?"

Allen gave a curt nod, already speeding off in that direction. Lavi nodded at Krory. "All right, Kuro-chan, you're with me. Climb on, let's go!"

Krory snarled; his hand shot up, grabbing onto Lavi's hand and hauling himself up onto the hammer. Lavi's eyes were already fixed into the distance, locked onto the small, disappearing shape of the Akuma, and the even smaller shape of Lenalee - the real or the fake, Lavi had no idea, but one thing he knew for sure? He was going to get her back. "Odzuchi Kodzuchi, shin!"

The hammer bulleted forward, zooming forward so fast that Krory could see the scenery blurring into bland, indistinguishable colours around them. The wind whipped furiously against their faces, hard and fast that Krory felt himself nearly being thrown right off the hammer, but he clutched the metal tightly, his elongated nails digging into his own palms.

Lavi's eyes narrowed, squinting into the distance. Abruptly, the hammer screeched to a halt, and Krory yelped, nearly tumbling over Lavi's head. The red-head stared into the darkness of cavernous hole that opened up in front of them while, behind him, Krory leapt off the hammer, growling, "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Lavi jumped off Odzuchi Kodzuchi, the hammer growing smaller into a more manageable size in his hand. He put a hand up. "That thing is waiting for us in there, it might be a trap. Be careful, Kuro-chan."

The vampire scoffed, clearly unimpressed. "It can try." Without waiting for Lavi, Krory dove into the cave, cape billowing behind him. Lavi swore, chasing Krory into the cave.

The cave was shadowed, the only light filtering in from the entrance several metres behind. The cave was a beautiful natural structure, stalactites and stalagmites glowing faintly as the light reflected off them, the points deadly sharp to the Exorcists' eyes. But the Akuma, and Lenalee, were nowhere to be found. Lavi and Krory moved automatically, their backs colliding as they began to circle, eyes darting about every inch of the cave, waiting, watching.

Suddenly, there was a thunderous slam to their left; both Exorcists whirled around in an instant, then ducked, diving in opposite directions as a spool of silvery-white web shot past them. Krory immediately scrambled to his feet, lunging forward in the direction where the web had originated from, but nearly ran himself into a wall. Lavi whirled around, swinging his hammer, but stopped abruptly, suddenly unable to move. He looked at his arm, alarmed, as he realized that the Akuma had attacked far faster than either Exorcist had anticipated - already, his arms and legs were covered in spools and spools of webbing, binding him to the spot, leaving him unable to move anything but his head.

Krory snarled, eyes widening as he noticed Lavi's predicament. "Lavi!" He dove forward, his clawed hands outstretched, but stopped in his tracks as he realized that there was something dangling from above - someone, in fact - Lenalee was strung up like a chicken for slaughter, wrapped up tightly in the silvery-white strands of the Akuma's web.

Lavi grunted, jerking his arms furiously, but to no avail, the web was too tightly wound, too strong for him to break.

Krory hesitated, eyes darting between Lenalee and Lavi. Then the Akuma emerged from the shadows - it was hanging upside down, mere metres away from Lenalee, scuttling forward as it laughed. "Who to save, Exorcist, and who to let die?" It lifted one needle sharp leg, drawing it slowly across the surface of the cave, the sound a terrible metallic shriek.

Krory paused. "Neither."

With superhuman speed he shot forward, claws glinting in the faint light reflected off the stalactites and stalagmites; before Lavi could do anymore than flinch, the web was already loosened threads spooling around his feet. The Akuma hissed, lunging forward at Lenalee but Lavi was quicker than it expected; with a powerful swing of his hammer he slammed into the Akuma, throwing it into the cave wall. The Akuma howled as it crashed into the wall, breaking off half-a-dozen stalactites. Krory lunged in front of him, blocking his way to Lavi and Lenalee.

Lavi leapt into the air, swinging his hammer over his head and into the web that hung Lenalee from the ceiling. It gave way easily under the Innocence, and Lenalee fell, Lavi barely catching her in time. Lavi let her down, and she scrambled to her feet, eyes wild. Lavi's head spun around, quickly taking in the situation, as Krory faced down the Akuma. He hesitated for a moment, glancing between Krory and Lenalee, then whirled around, grabbing Lenalee's hand. "Krory can handle this, we need to get out of here!"

Lenalee paused, then nodded, turning to make a break for it, only to realize that Lavi wasn't following her. She turned around, then stopped abruptly, the point of Lavi's hammer making the slightest of contacts against her bare throat. She swallowed visibly. "You-"

"Why, don't know my name? Quit faking." Lavi said bluntly. "You're the fake. Lenalee would never leave her friend behind, not like that. Not like you." Without waiting, he stabbed forward.

The fake Lenalee threw herself backwards, barely avoiding the tip of Lavi's hammer. She spun around, the planes of her face sharpening to form a sculpted face with high, sharp cheekbones, her hair lightening to a light blonde. Lavi's eyes narrowed in confusion, his brow furrowing. "You...who the hell are you?"

There was a thunderous screech from behind; Lavi did not turn, but the girl's brows drew together. A moment later, Lavi felt Krory's presence at his back, heard the vampire snarl at the blonde-haired girl. He lifted his hammer. "Bring it on."

There was a brief pause as she surveyed the duo, her head cocked to one side. Then she stepped back, whirled around and ran. Lavi, expecting the escape, was after her in an instant. "Come on, we can't let her get away! She must be one of the Noahs, she must know the Millennium Earl's plan!"

But as they emerged from the cave, Lavi's hand shadowing his face from the suddenly blinding sunlight, he realized that the girl was nowhere to be seen.

She was gone. And if she was the fake Lenalee...

Lavi cursed, getting onto his hammer. "We have to find Allen and Lenalee."

Allen was glad Tyki and Roade had made significant efforts to help him train his stamina, it was useful, especially in cases like this, where he was faced with a stupid Akuma who didn't seem to realize that it didn't need to run that far or that fast, given that he and Allen were, after all, on the same side.

As he caught up with the crab Akuma, his eyes widened to see the Akuma looming over Lenalee like a dark shadow; he put on an extra burst of speed, skidding to a halt several metres from them, barely out of breath as he demanded, voice harsh, "What do you think you are doing?"

The Akuma clacked its pincers, producing loud metallic crashes. "Following my orders, Lord Allen. Lady Lulubell requested that we take out at least one of the Exorcists, we were aiming for the the tall freak in the cape, but since he got away, we shall have to settle for this woman." It dropped Lenalee to the ground, her body thudding limply.

Allen stepped forward, his voice dismissive, "There's no need for that. You can go."

The Akuma hesitated, glancing down at Lenalee, then back up at the white-haired boy. "Lord Allen, I'm sorry, but I have my orders."

Allen's face hardened, his eyes turning cold. "Are you defying me, Akuma-"

Lenalee stirred weakly, but at the sight of the metallic, twisted face hovering above her, she immediately jerked into wakefulness, the Dark Boots beginning to glow with its powerful green light. "Innocence, activate!"

"Lenalee, wait!"

The Akuma snarled, its guard up in an instant. Lenalee kicked upwards with both legs, one after another, as the Akuma recoiled, jerking back to avoid the Dark Boots. She leapt to her feet, then stumbled, her eyes dazed, still feeling more than a little groggy. The Akuma lashed out with its pincers, lightning fast, before Lenalee could react; the Exorcist staggered back in an attempt to avoid the Akuma, but she was far too slow for the creature.

"Don't-" Allen paused for the briefest of seconds, then lunged forward, grimacing, his hands reaching for Lenalee. With all the force he could muster, he shoved Lenalee out of the way; Lenalee fell to the side, the crab Akuma's left pincer grazing past her forearm, deep enough to draw just the faintest lines of blood. She looked up, alarmed. "Allen!"

Allen was locked in what looked like a vicious embrace with the Akuma's right pincer; his Innocence was activated, wrapped around the crab Akuma's neck, ready to rip it off, while the Akuma's pincer had caught him in the side, embedded deeply in his body, the blood starting to well up in his side. Lenalee shot to her feet, alarm, fear, and horror flashing like quicksilver through her eyes; she lunged forward with barely a pause, her legs glowing more powerfully than ever before. "Get away from him!"

The Akuma howled in agony as the Exorcist's legs slashed into it's arm; it wrenched itself away from Allen, whirling away. Allen swayed dangerously, the blood spotting his silver and black coat, his eyes dazed. With a groan, he crumpled to the ground, head knocking back onto the rock-hard ground with a dull thud; Lenalee leapt in front of Allen, her expression simultaneously worried and determined. "It's over, Akuma."

To her surprise, the Akuma remained motionless, staring at the two Exorcists, in what looked like...horror? Lenalee hesitated, startled; she didn't even know it was possible for Akumas to feel such emotions, even if it was a Level Two they were facing.

There was another groan, and Lenalee was jerked back into reality - Allen was injured, badly, and she needed to get him to a doctor at once, but with this Akuma in the way...

Her eyes narrowed, as she lowered into a defensive crouch, readying herself to swing a leg into the Akuma's thick metallic body. But before she could attack, the Akuma stiffened and practically fell backwards; there was a deafening screech of pain, a howl so wordless and devastating Lenalee instinctively jerked back, covering her ears with her hands, and before she knew what was happening, the Akuma blew up, right in front of her eyes.

Lenalee cringed; the sound was so thunderous, even a whole minute after the explosion, she could still hear the odd, soundless ringing in her ears. She hesitated for a moment, then whirled around, her expression intent, her eyes fixed on Allen - as queer as the phenomenon of self-destructing Akuma was, she had more important matters to tend to.

Allen was, as she'd expectedly, completely out cold. His face was pale as a sheet, the blood almost completely drained from it, so that he was almost the same colour as his bleached hair. She paused; hesitating, her eyes darting over Allen's blood-soaked jacket. The silver threads of the Black Order coat were now practically unrecognisable, drenched in a cold dark red that was still quickly spreading. As she peeled back his jacket, her stomach clenched at the sight of his button-up shirt, once white, now red so dark as to be called black. Her hands stilled, her mind suddenly blanking as she stared at Allen. He was bleeding out.

Lenalee took a deep breath, desperately trying to clear her mind and remember all the things Bookman had thought her about first-aid. She tore her jacket off, pressing it hard against the gaping hole in his stomach before wrapping it around waist, then paused for the briefest of moments - this was only a temporary measure. It would slow the bleeding, but unless she got him to a doctor, and fast, Allen was simply going to die of blood loss. She looked down at her Dark Boots, and managed a weak smile - good thing her Innocence was the Dark Boots.

Lavi jerked to a sudden stop, so abrupt that Krory was hurled right off Odzuchi Kodzuchi, shooting past over Lavi's shoulder; the red-headed Exorcist's hand zipped out, barely managing to catch hold of Krory's collar in time. Krory yelped, "Lavi! You nearly dashed me against a wall of rock!"

But Lavi wasn't even listening to him. Instead, his eyes were fixed downwards, directly below them. Krory followed his gaze, then stiffened, eyes widening as he strained to fix his eyes on the huge, darkened stain on the ground below them. "Is that...is that blood?"

Lavi hesitated, then tugged Krory back, pulling him back onto Odzuchi Kodzuchi. He tilted the hammer downwards, then rocketed forward, pulling up sharply as he neared the ground; Krory, still unused to the twists and turns of Odzuchi Kodzuchi, gave a cry as he tipped over, landing facedown on the ground with a heavy thump. Lavi leapt off his hammer lightly, bending into a crouch to study the dark patch on the ground. His jaw tightened, his head bowed, eyes darkening. Krory hesitated, reading his expression. "It...it is blood, isn't it?"

Lavi nodded, his expression grim. "Yes." He touched it. "It's dry. They're long gone."

"It might not be one of theirs?" Krory suggested, not with much conviction. "There could just be a random huge stain of blood in the mountains in the middle of nowhere...I guess?"

Lavi ignored his fellow Exorcist. "If either of them were this badly injured, they would have headed straight to the next town to seek out a hospital; this kind of wound doesn't just heal by itself." Without another word, he clambered up onto Odzuchi Kodzuchi, jerking his head at Krory. "Come on, let's move! If we hurry up, we might still be able to catch up with them."

Krory nodded, leaping onto the hammer and gripping onto it tightly with both hands; Lavi might be well-used to his hammer, so much so that he could travel on it without even holding the handle, but Krory had no such confidence. They had barely travelled for five minutes before Lavi ended up skidding to another halt; both Exorcists stared in disbelief, stunned. "This..."

The pile of rocks collapsed in the middle of the road stretched from side to side of the mountainous path, reaching up so high that Lavi would have to fly at least twenty metres up to be able to fly over them. Krory's hand shot up to grab Lavi's shoulder. "How did this happen?"

"Sabotage." Lavi deduced, studying the fall pattern of the rocks with his usual acuity. "The Akumas - or Noahs, this doesn't exactly seem like an idea an Akuma would have - must be trying to split us up. Make us weaker because we're apart. And with one of them injured..."

"What do we do now?"

Lavi shook his head, frustration filling in his one green eye. "We don't have a choice, we'll have to go the long way, around the mountains, to the next town."

"How long is long?" Krory asked, his head turning back to look at where that darkened-black stain of blood had been.

"Long enough that we might be too late."

Here's the next chapter! It's a very straightforward chapter; I'm sure everyone remembers that in the anime it was actually Allen who found Krory and Lavi who had to take care of Lenalee after she was injured, but I decided to change it so that it's Allen who ends up injured and has to rely on Lenalee instead.

I think the biggest thing to note is that despite Allen's (kind of smug) confidence, he's not in control of everything. Things got out of hand, and he ended up getting injured himself. And his reaction, his instinctive response to Lenalee nearly getting hurt is very telling in terms of how he's beginning to slowly change with his interactions with the Exorcists.

Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! And remember, comment and subscribe!