Stella: No chapter revising, just some a/n editing! I really like this chapter. :) It was so...exciting to write! And now that I revised the other chapters, I finally get to write about the encounter with Road in the next one.

Lavi: I'm so proud of you Stella-chan. You stuck with revising the old chapters till the end!

Rose: And your writing has...somewhat improved.

Stella: *shrugs* more so then in the old chapters, I guess. Hopefully I can write about this one tomorrow! And hopefully my cheeks won't be huge.

Lavi: *Moves to poke her cheek*

Rose: *slaps his hand away* Stop doing that to her!

Lavi: Awww, are you jealous~

Rose: *blushes* W-what?!

Allen: I'm on another mission with Rose! Ha! Take that Lavi!

Lavi: You sound like Yu, moyashi~

Allen: It's Allen! :P

Miranda: Let's get on with this chapter, shall we?

About two weeks have passed ever since that strange encounter with that girl and the talking umbrella. I would keep replaying the memory in my head, especially since I've been having nightmares right after that happened...It's been the same nightmare each night too, but it still never ceased to wake me up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Anyone else would jump up from a pretty disturbing dream where some strange, yet elegant looking man was ripping their heart out. And the whole time, that girl was giggling at me as if she was watching some sort of comedic movie. The two didn't say anything either, except that they were from the "Clan of Noah." I didn't know anything about that clan or why they wanted to rip my heart out, but those dreams would claim me as soon as my eyes closed. Today was not an exception.

"N-not again…" I gasped as I clutched my heart and breathed a sigh of relief when I felt its familiar heartbeat. Well, except it was beating faster than usual, but that's to be expected after waking up from those bad dreams.

I looked outside my window to see that it was still dark outside. The full moon left a luminescent glow in my room. In a few hours, I'd be leaving for my next mission with Allen and Miranda to go to Switzerland. My arm was already completely healed even though it was just broken two weeks ago. Komui claimed it had to do with the Innocence running through my body…but he wouldn't say anything more about. He wouldn't even explain the diary entries I found. It still seemed like he was keeping secrets from me.

There was no way I could go to sleep at the moment, so I decided to head towards the cafeteria. Maybe some water would calm me down. No one else seemed to be awake, except for Johnny, Tup and Reever who were still doing late-night work thanks to Komui.

"Eh? Rosalie, what're you doing up? You should be resting for you mission!" Johnny told me with a serious tone.

"Oh, I uh…" I began nervously, "I…was just getting something to drink, that's all!"

He nodded, but still didn't seem reassured. "Well, okay. We're just finishing up here. Good luck on your mission later."

"Thank you, Johnny-san. And good luck with your work too." I waved goodbye to them and continued on to the cafeteria.

After getting my glass of water, I sat down at one of the tables. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped a bit. I turned around to see a certain someone with a mess of red hair grinning at me.

"Lavi…?"

He was sitting by a pile of books stacked up beside him. They weren't just regular books though. They looked like ancient textbooks that were found in some ruins or something. And he didn't look the greatest either. Lavi had scratches on his arms and bandages wrapped around his wrists and one on his cheek. His hair fell freely onto his face which probably hid some more of his injuries.

Kanda and Lavi were sent straight to a mission right after Christmas, but Komui suggested that I should still wait. My arm was in a good enough condition to go on a mission, but Komui just muttered something about me being stubborn…but I knew better. He was still doing research on my Innocence which was why he was reluctant to let me go. I told myself I'd wait until he had my answers, but I wasn't going to wait forever.

"Hey, there. What're you doing up this late?" He closed the book in his hands and placed it onto the stack.

"I was really thirsty." I poorly lied.

Lavi raised his eyebrows at me. "Yeah, says the girl who didn't even take a sip of that large glass of water." He chuckled and ruffled my hair.

"Well...why are you still up?" It was pretty strange seeing Lavi up this late. Almost everyone at the Order knew how much he liked to sleep. That's basically all he did when we came back from our mission.

"Ahhh, the old panda wants me to read these books by tomorrow. I'm almost done though, so it's no big deal." He replied nonchalantly, like reading those huge books were nothing.

"Wow…" I gaped at him. "Those are a lot of books. I didn't know you could read so much, Lavi."

He pointed to himself. "Future Bookman."

"R-right." I smiled sheepishly. I still didn't know exactly what that meant, but then again, I didn't seem to know what a lot of things meant. I never asked Lavi about what I read in Dad's diary. I decided that I'd wait for Komui to tell me about it. Strange…everything that I wanted answers about all seemed to depend on waiting for Komui. Still, I still wanted to know.

"You're going on a mission later, right?" He suddenly asked me, interrupting my thoughts.

I brought my head up and replied, "Oh, um yeah. With Miranda-san and Allen…" My eyes slowly lingered onto his hair.

"That's right. You're going to Switzerland, huh? More Innocence? That's good, I guess…" He said passively and reopened his book. His single eye scanned across the page really fast. Faster than most people, I would think.

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to know!

"Lavi."

"Yeah?" He replied, not looking up from his insanely huge book.

"Do we – " I paused and took a deep breath. "Is your hair naturally that color?" I blurted out and mentally facepalmed myself. That didn't go as well as I thought.

He took his eye off the book and met my eyes with curiosity.

"Umm, excuse me?"

I felt the blood rushing to my face. That was definitely not what I wanted to say, but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to ask him. Was it because of what Komui said or was I just scared to find out? What was there to be afraid of anyway? I sighed and took a sip of water.

"Well, yeah. I'm pretty sure my hair's been this way since I was born." He chuckled nervously and replaced his book on his stack. "Hey, I'm heading back to my room to get some sleep. You should too."

I nodded and got up right after him, but I wasn't so sure about going back to sleep.

'I'll have another bad dream. I might as well just wait until the train ride to sleep. I don't think I can handle another encounter with…'

"The Noah Clan…" I muttered to myself.

"What did you say?" Lavi asked. I was surprised at myself for saying that out loud. He looked at me seriously and it made me a little uneasy.

"N-nothing. Just – " Before I could say anything more, he cut me off.

"You said the Noah Clan. What do you know about them?" He pressed. It was totally strange seeing him act this way. He seemed extremely distant and his face was blank, no traces of a smile or frown.

I had to swallow this lump in my throat before answering, "Ummm…nothing." I told him honestly. I was speaking the truth though. I really didn't know anything about them.

"Rosalie." He said in a solemn tone. The uneasy feeling I had only grown. I realized he only said my full name when he was being serious. And I'm guessing this was an important subject to him, but for some reason I felt…afraid.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I really don't know anything." I headed down the hallway to my room before he could say anything else.

It seemed like right when I closed my eyes, I had to open them right up. But, those few hours of sleep weren't so disturbing since I didn't have that nightmare again. Maybe this was a good sign. At least, that's what I told myself.

I hopped out of bed and put my uniform on. My fingers traced over the Rose Cross; the emblem of the Black Order. It's what attracted akuma to Exorcists…like me. It was still hard to accept that I was an Exorcist, but I finally did accept it. There were still a lot of things I needed to know about being one and I decided that I would find these answers out for myself little by little. Komui kept telling me I'd have these answers "when the time is right," but what if that time never came?

I shook my head and headed towards his messy office to meet up with Miranda and Allen.

"Good morning, Rosalie-chan!" Miranda greeted me cheerfully. I personally didn't know Miranda that well, but she seemed like a very sweet lady, despite the fact that she panics about almost…well, everything.

"Good morning, Miranda-san." I sent her a smile and walked over to where she, Allen and Komui were standing.

"Hey, Rose."

"Hi, Allen."

"Ahem," Komui cleared his throat and prepared to read from a piece of paper in his hands. "You three will be going to Switzerland with the Finder, Toma, and when you arrive in Switzerland, you will meet up with another Finder, Lau."

"Are we supposed to locate Innocence?" Allen wondered out loud.

"Well, it may come to that." Komui said, then looked at all three of us seriously. "But that might not be the case. There has been a dramatic increase of akuma in that area, but we believe the cause might be…" His eyes lingered on Allen for a second before he continued, "Well, we believe General Cross is there."

Allen deadpanned, "M-my master…?"

Komui nodded his head. "Yes. Now, Allen don't be upset, but – "

"No! No way am I going! You can't make me! I don't want to see Maaasttteeer!" Allen tried to run out, but was grabbed by Komui who dragged him back inside the room.

'W-what's gotten into Allen? Is there something wrong with this General Cross guy?'

"Don't be like that, Allen! That's why Miranda and Rosalie are accompanying you." Komui grinned and patted Allen on the head.

"Fine, but why do we need to find him anyway? And how is he the reason more akuma are showing up there?" Allen muttered angrily and crossed his arms.

"Because…well, you know, he's been missing for quite some time now. And we're not exactly sure why…" Komui laughed nervously. "But we had recent reports of Cross being spotted there. Well, if you don't have any more questions, then you three should best be off!"

Allen muttered something incomprehensible before he stormed out with Miranda and I following suit. We stepped inside the train and sat silently. I hardly heard any of what Miranda and Allen were saying before I drifted off to sleep. That same nightmare didn't fail to haunt me.

Where exactly was I? I was always surrounded by the same white buildings. And I would run endlessly until my legs were literally screaming at me, but I had to get away from my pursuers. What did they want from me? That same, young girl was hovering above me on that strange, talking umbrella while that man with the top hat was casually strolling behind me. I tried to call out for help, but no one was there to answer my desperate pleas. No one was ever there to rescue me, no matter how many times I cried out. Eventually, I would meet a dead end and the duo would corner me. He summoned this strange, dark-purple butterfly and lunged for my heart. He wrapped his hand around it and –

"NO!" I screamed and jumped up from my sleeping position. Allen and Miranda jumped as well and sent me worried looks.

"Ahh, Rosalie-chan…is something wrong?" Miranda hesitantly reached her arm out, but I shook my head. Although, I was pretty sure my facial expression gave everything away.

I took in long, deep breaths to calm myself down. But that time, it seemed so real. Why was this happening to me? I hugged my knees and sighed.

"Don't worry about me." I forced a smile for them. "I-it was…just a bad dream, I guess."

"Maybe you're just nervous. Don't worry, we'll be there soon." Allen told me. I looked into silver eyes for reassurance, but even he seemed nervous.

After that, the rest of the train ride was silent. I guess I fell asleep for most of it since neither Allen nor Miranda really had much to say. That, or they were just on edge as I was. I stared at my wrists, which was wrapped with the jet black metal that was my Innocence. That reminded me…

"Miranda-san!" She jumped, a little too much, and looked at me. "I never got to ask, but what's your anti-akuma weapon like?"

"Oh, it's called Time Record." She pointed proudly at the disk on her arm. "It's not really used for fighting, but I'd like to think it's a great help."

I stared at it in awe and I think Miranda took my silence as some sort of disapproval.

"Ahhhh, I'm sorry! I know I should be fighting too, but my Innocence isn't capable of it! I'll try to help you and Allen the best I can! I'M SORRY!" Her screams of panic reverberated throughout the small cabin, causing me and Allen to cover our ears.

"M-Miranda-san, no. That's not what I meant! I just didn't know what to say because…" I tried to yell over her cries. "Because! I think it's really unique!"

She finally stopped and looked at me through tear soaked eyes. "R-r-really?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah. What else does it do?"

"It does all sorts of things," Allen stated. "There's this thing called Time Recovery where she can set up some sort of field where anything or anyone in it will recover and heal. It's a great help right, Miranda?"

She nodded happily. "Yes, but it's only temporary. If I deactivate my Innocence, then time will catch up and the wounds and damages will return. If…if someone were to die while in the Time Zone, they'll come back alive but…I'm afraid that after I deactivate it, it will not be able to bring that person back to life." She frowned and I put a hand over hers to comfort her.

"Don't worry, Miranda. It was a great help when Lenalee and I found you and we had to fight against that Noah." Allen reassured her and gave her one of his sweet smiles.

My eyes widened and my heart started racing. "Did you say…Noah?"

"Yeah…she gave us a lot of trouble, but if it wasn't for Miranda's Innocence, we might not have made it." He smiled at Miranda, who returned it with a small smile of her own.

I pursed my lips together. "That's good…" A frown slowly made its way onto my face.

Allen noticed my uneasiness and asked, "Do you know anything about the Noah Family, Rose?"

I shook my head. "Not a clue, but from how you describe it, they seem pretty dangerous." The lump returned in my throat.

"Yeah, they are. It would definitely be unlucky if we ran into them."

Before we could continue our conversation, we arrived. We got off the train and headed straight into town. There didn't seem to be any akuma anywhere, according to Allen's left eye. At least, there weren't any of them there yet.

As we got to the heart of the town, a sweet sickly giggle rang through the air. Miranda, Allen and I looked up at the girl that was standing on top of the water fountain. She was wearing another gothic-lolita type outfit and the umbrella she usually carried was replaced with a giant lollipop. I felt the air suddenly tense up and Allen activated his anti-akuma weapon right away.

It was her. The Noah that I met in the town near the Order. The one that's been haunting my dreams these past two weeks. Her words instantly played in my mind.

'You were never supposed to be one of them.'

"I told you I'd see you soon. Have you been getting the dreams I sent you?" She giggled and jumped down in front of me. Allen and Miranda stared at me in complete shock.

"Uhh…" I was at an absolute loss for words. Fear and panic overtook my body and she took the silence as a yes.

She smiled widely and waved her lollipop in front of me. "That's good…Rosie-chan."

I wasn't even going to ask how she knew my name. I gulped and finally found the voice to speak.

"I guess…dreams really do come true."

Stella: I love the cliff hangers I'm doing. I'm now officially excited for the rest of my story...even if no one else is...

Rose: Weren't you excited about it before?

Stella: Okay, I guess I'm re-excited then. Better?

Allen: Mitarashi dango~ The shimeji version of me is eating some on the bottom of your screen again!

Lavi: And I'm climbing on top of your screen! I look so cool!

Miranda: Aww, how cute!

Rose: Why isn't there one of me? *pouts*

Stella: I'm sorry, Rosie-chan! If I were any good at drawing...I'd make you one...but I wasn't gifted with drawing skills.

Kanda: Or writing skills...

Lavi: Yu! When did you get here?

Kanda: I've been here.

Stella: Wow...this a/n is really long...anyways...

Miranda/Allen/Rose/Lavi/Kanda(forced): Please review! n_n