Hello, everyone. Have you missed me?

Okay, don't answer that question.

Anyways, I bring you the real Chapter 10 of Dancing in the Stars (or part eleven--whatever you prefer). Another character (not an OC--read the latest chapters of DGM to know who I'm talking about) is brought into the story. Hooray!

Anyways, I'm still on the trip, so I'll be pretty slow in updates. Be patient please!

Enjoy!


"Lenalee!" Komui wailed, tears running down his face. "How could have you gotten so hurt? How? How?"

Lenalee sighed, feeling exasperated. Her brother had been here for two hours, crying nonstop about her injuries. All she wanted to do was sleep, but instead, Komui decided to wail in her ear. She had a right mind to actually hit her brother.

"The Akuma took me by surprise, brother," she explained patiently. Again. "It was my fault."

"But—but—" Komui blubbered; he was gripping the bed with such force Lenalee thought she heard something rip. "But your head—your side—"

"Will be fine in due time, Supervisor," the head nurse said, almost growling in impatience. "Now if you would please leave. I am sure that Lenalee would like to go to sleep."

Lenalee smiled hopefully at her brother, trying to convey the message of 'I'm really tired and I just want to sleep, not listen to you.'

Komui received the message.

He nodded and wiped the snot from his nose as he stood up bravely. "All right. I will be back later." Then he left the room with his back erect and shoulders squared.

However, as soon as he left, Lenalee could hear him wailing "Why? Why?" down the hallway as he stampeded back to his office in despair. She sighed again, unconcerned, and covered herself with the blankets. Finally, sleep.

"Thank you, head nurse," she said softly, smiling at the older woman kindly. "I thought he'd never leave."

The head nurse nodded and let out a gust of wind from her chest. "Neither did I. Now get some rest, you hear? I'm going to check on the young Noah boy."

When she left, Lenalee stared at the ceiling and remained silent, immersed in her thoughts.

You still haven't told him, an annoying part of her reminded herself. About Jasdero and the dream.

I'll get to it, she told herself back guiltily. I just don't know how to say it.

Just tell it like it is.

Oh, yeah. I'll just walk up to David and say, 'hey David, while you were fighting that Akuma, I had a dream that I was with your half-dead brother who likes to watch you while you sleep and wants you to abandon me so that he can actually keep alive'. I'm sure he'll take that wonderfully.

Well—maybe that's not a good idea.

You think?

She squeezed her eyes shut, letting little blue and red stars pop up in the darkness to keep from thinking about the dream.

And when are you going to tell him about the other thing? It was the annoying little voice again.

What other thing?

You know. That you like him. David.

Her eyes shot open so fast the light blinded her eyes completely. "What?" she exclaimed out loud to the ceiling. "I don't—I mean, I like him, but—"

No buts! The voice sounded reproachful. You know you like him. Otherwise, why else would you be so concerned about him being tested on?

"Because he's my friend and I care about him! But he's—I mean, he's sweet sometimes, but other times, he can be such an idiot! And other times, he's not really considerate, and he's—he's such a boy!"

But you like him, the voice sang.

Lenalee felt her face flush, and she buried her face in her pillow. "Oh, shut up," she mumbled.

Lenalee and David, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S—

"Be quiet! I'm eighteen, not five! Goodness!"

The voice fell silent.

---

"Oh, David!"

"Get off of me, Cyril! What the hell's wrong with you?" David yelled, trying to push his 'father' off of him unsuccessfully. He felt his lungs begin to give out under the tight embrace. He choked, his face turning blue. "I can't breathe," he gasped out, clawing at Cyril's arms. Who knew the man was so strong?

"But—I didn't know you had been so hurt!" the tall, lanky man wailed, squeezing harder. "What kind of father am I? I can't even keep track of my children! I feel so ashamed!"

"Obviously not a good one," David wheezed, feebly pawing at Cyril's arms in an attempt to escape. "And you're not my dad," he managed to squeeze out.

"I know I'm not a good father!" Cyril wailed, choosing to ignore that last statement made. "That's why you got so hurt! Oh, my dear boy, I'm so sorry—"

"Papa, he can't breathe," Road piped up from behind, peeling open a lollipop and beginning to chew on it. "You're choking him."

"Oh my!" Cyril let go so fast that for a minute David thought that his lungs had exploded with the amount of air that they had suddenly taken in.

David panted a few moments before speaking again. "I'm fine, damn it," he growled, swatting at Cyril a bit to convey the message that he wanted to be left alone. "Go away," he added, just in case.

"But what if you need something?"

"That's what I'm here for," the head nurse spoke, appearing in the doorway so fast that none of the three Noah had seen her appear. They all jumped in surprise, eyeing her warily. "Now sir, I'm afraid your time here is up. You may visit him again tomorrow."

Cyril looked at the nurse with eyes filled with despair. "But—"

Road sighed. "Come on, Papa, let's go." She grabbed Cyril by the arm and began pulling him out the door even as her 'father' wailed all the way out.

The head nurse rubbed her temples as she put a tray down on the table next to David. "Interesting family you've got there, young man."

He sighed. "Yeah, well, you don't get to pick family, no matter how much you want to."

The nurse laughed before beginning to stride for the door. "We all want to once in a while. I'll be back later to check on you again."

David nodded.

After she was gone, he slipped out of bed and walked to the door. Glancing to the left and to the right, he slipped out into the hallway and whisked down through the white halls.

He grinned mischievously.

Like hell he was going to stay in that room for the rest of the day.

---

Tokusa honestly didn't remember how he had been stationed here at the Order's new headquarters. Oh, he knew why—it had something to do with the Noah and the Akuma, but he didn't understand why he was the one to be placed here. It was so noisy here—too noisy, almost.

He frowned slightly. Madarao would have been better at this than himself. Tokusa had never liked things to be too noisy. Well, Madarao didn't either, but he was better at handling people in general. Tokusa wasn't.

Sighing, he paced down the hall aimlessly. He didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, anyways—was he supposed to be outside, guarding the place? No, that was the gatekeeper's job.

Shit. He couldn't remember.

All of a sudden, something a little bit shorter than him rammed into his side. Tokusa, caught off guard, went down with the figure. Hard.

"Goodness," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his now throbbing head. "What on earth—"

He stopped short and stared.

A young man a few years younger than him, possibly eighteen or nineteen, dressed in nothing but a pair of baggy black pants and bandages now sat up next to him. "Damn!" the young man cursed, shaking his full head of black hair in an attempt to shake off his new headache. "Why does this keep happening to me?"

Tokusa…wasn't quite sure what to do. Maybe he should take this person back to where he was supposed to be (wherever that was). Or he could just let the person go where he wanted to go.

He chose to go with the second. It was better to make a good relationship with people, he figured. He would think about the consequences later (even if they were painful. Tokusa shuddered slightly).

"Excuse me," he said politely. The young man looked up in surprise. Tokusa noticed that he had very nice eyes. "Where are you going?"

The young man blinked a few times. Then his eyes widened and he scrambled backwards. "Holy—wow, hey, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you, but it's just that I need to go see this person that I really, really need to say sorry to, and I'm not really supposed to because technically I shouldn't be moving around—"

"All right, all right, I understand," Tokusa interrupted. Wow, this person could ramble. "Just go before you get caught."

He stood up. The young man stood up too. He looked at Tokusa in surprise. "You're not going to turn me in?"

Tokusa's lips twitched. "No. I'm not."

The young man's eyes brightened. "Wow, thanks!" He raced by Tokusa so quickly that Tokusa almost staggered back a few steps. The young man waved over his shoulder. "I owe you, lady!"

As Tokusa stared at the young man running down the hall, he felt his brain processing what was just said.

"Lady?"

---

Lenalee had been sleeping, and having a nice dream at that. She had been a field filled with flowers, and a voice had told her she could pick however many she wanted to. Happily, she had been picking flowers and making flower wreaths when the sound of something opening made her pause and frown.

What was there to open in a field?

Lenalee opened her eyes and turned her head to the sound of the noise.

Her eyes, half-closed before, now shot wide open in a panic. "David?" she exclaimed, shooting straight up and scrambling back on the bed. "Wh—what are you doing here?" And without your shirt on, she added in her head.

David put his back to the door and pressed his ear to it nervously. Lenalee watched, stupefied.

After a few moments, he relaxed and walked to the side of her bed, sitting down in the chair still next to it. "Hey, Lenalee. Sorry to wake you up."

"I—it's all right," she said. "Just—what are you doing here?"

Suddenly embarrassed, he looked away. "Well, you probably don't want to hear what I have to say anyways, so, uh, maybe I should go away now."

Lenalee cocked her head to the side. "What? It's okay, tell me."

"No, never mind. I think I should just go."

"David. Just tell me."

There was silence before he turned to look back at her again. Lenalee merely waited patiently.

David brushed his hair out of his eyes and breathed in a few times. "I'm here to—to say I'm sorry," he mumbled. Lenalee blinked in surprise. "I wanted to tell you before and I tried too, but that's what ended you up in here."

Seemingly anxious, he looked away again. "So…yeah. Sorry for making you worry and everything."

Lenalee blinked, bemused, her mind processing what David had just said.

He's really sweet sometimes, she remembered herself saying before.

Her face turned crimson. She turned away herself, trying to get a hold over herself.

"Lenalee?"

She turned back. David had managed to look back at her, looking nervous. "Yes?"

"So, uh, do you…?" He fumbled a little bit, looking embarrassed and nervous. "Do you forgive me?"

She stared at him before smiling slightly. He really is sweet, she thought to herself. "Yes," she said softly, reaching out and placing her hand on his. "Thank you. I forgive you."

David looked so relieved that Lenalee couldn't help but smile broader. "Okay."

Tell him, the annoying little voice nagged at her. Tell him about the dream!

Later, she told it. Not now. Now's not the time.

The voice fell silent for the second time that day, and everything felt right.

---

Crack.

Adam glanced up from his book and looked at the little glass sitting on the coaster next to him. He frowned, closing the book with a snap.

The cup had a huge crack splitting down the middle. Pieces chipped off of the sides, clinking down onto the table. They lay there, slightly scattered across the edge of the table.

Adam stared at the glass a few moments. It merely sat there, the crack noticeably ominous and warning.

Irritation rising in his chest, he narrowed his eyes and picked up the glass. Turning on his heel, he hurled it at the wall. It shattered on contact, sprinkling across the floor.

Adam looked at the pieces and shards on the floor. His lip curled in contempt.

"I don't believe in omens."