Alright. I was feeling…lyrical, so I decided to prelude the chapter with a 30-second poem that just came to me. Excuse the clichéness. I do not own D Gray-Man or any of it's characters.

Reviews:

.CAT and Lalala: Thanks so much for the advice. I won't say how much my traffic stats have gone up by since I changed the summary, but it made me and my sister stare at the screen and think, "EEEHHHHHH?" (Allen style)

Silver Akuma Kistune: Lovin' your screenname. Thanks for the encouragement!

POETRY ALERT!

The dark mist cleared

and I awoke

as if from a Dream;

To lilting music from

a thousand songs

and violet eyes a-gleam.

So beautiful, said I

and laughing,

into White I fell;

But to amethysts

and Words unheard

I needs must say farewell.

(:~:)

In a white tower elegantly supported by marble columns, Tyki Mikk lies curled on the cool surface of the floor, eyes closed to the world, but seeing everything around him as white figures on the black of his closed eyelids. He feels Road's hands on his brow, Evelyn's hand in his, feels the thudding of Allen's heartbeat through the floor to his right, pulsing against his fingers.

"Get away from him." Road's vehement voice sounds, close to Tyki's left ear. He resists the impulse to wince, tasting old blood in his mouth. To his horror, Evelyn gently places his hand on the marble, and he hears the rustle of fabric as she turns. He feels her fingers leave his, and he struggles to remain silent, even though he shakes with anger inside.

Road's breath is warm on his ear as she laughs, and says, "I just noticed something sad. Lavi's heart has broken."

From above Tyki's still form, Evelyn snaps her gaze to the kneeling red-haired exorcist. "You mean…" Lenalee and Chaoji, from their clear crystal cage above them, narrow their eyes.

"Yes. He is but a puppet now," Road glares at Allen and Evelyn, and smiles slowly. "And who am I but a puppetmaster?" She raises a hand, motioning upwards.

Across the marble, Lavi raises his head, violet tattoos appearing on his cheekbones. With increasing agility, he strides toward Allen, ignoring the thousand sharpened candles around him. Road's voice raises above the whirling of Lavi's hammer, growing with every rotation. "You'll have to defeat your friend first, Allen."

Lavi opens his mouth, and says blankly, "Fire seal." His hammer twirls, stamping the character 火 onto the marble at his feet. Flames dance about him in a circle, eliminating his shadow, yet darkening his face.

Road cocks her head at him. "Don't kill Allen, just remove his Innocence. I'll deal with him myself. But Evelyn…I've gotten bored with her, so delete her, after you've taken care of Allen."

As the spiked candles retreat from Allen, he whirls, white cloak enveloping him in a shroud as a snarling snake arches down toward him, flaming fangs gouging at the air. A moment later, it separates into two, cut by Allen's Crown Clown Edge and Evelyn's cards. The whispering tendrils of fire waver, and then solidify into two different snakes, each curving down to Allen and Evelyn separately. The roar of cackling incandescence shakes the tower to its core.

Evelyn! Tyki risks opening his eyes the tiniest slit, willing his power to surge. But the Noah within him is barely existent, and he releases his hold on it for fear of causing it to emerge again. Without my Noah I am just an average human, and in my present state I cannot fight. Oh crap, crap, crap.

A glowing mantle of liquid flame bursts around Evelyn in a sphere as she diverts the snake with a shield of amethyst power. Allen, though, is thrown back by Lavi's Heaven Seal, reluctant to use his Edge, as it would harm Lavi. The wave of air as he slams into the stone is dust-filled and choking. As Lavi strides over to Allen's prone form, Evelyn brings her cards in an undulating wave toward Lavi's hands, hoping to separate them from his Innocence. Lavi simply blasts a Heaven Seal into her, whirling her in a hurricane of wind into a pillar. She crumples, cards falling about her like autumn leaves in a gale.

Tyki watches her, screaming inwardly, struggling to move, to gather whatever power he has left. His orchestra screams with him, a discordant note of pure pain.

Bringing up his sword, Allen plunges it into Lavi, murmuring, "If Road is controlling you, then this sword should exorcise it. It would not harm you." Lavi's face is curiously blank. With a curse, Allen hurls the sword through Lavi and across the room, straight into Road.

Road's crystalline laugh dances madly about them. "This is not my true form. No one can kill me unless they know my true form." She reaches forward lazily, removing the sword with a dainty hand, all her attention focused on Allen and Lavi.

Which is perfect, considering that Tyki has dragged himself over to Evelyn in the interim. Lenalee's surprised gaze follows him as he staggers pitifully toward the petite figure in black, hissing as his injuries drag against the floor, leaving clean drips of blood on white marble. As Road yells at Allen to give up, completely consumed by macabre revenge, Tyki reaches forward slowly and takes Evelyn's hand, whispering brokenly, "Evelyn."

"Tyki," she smiles. To Tyki's relief, she chuckles quietly, lifting a bloodied hand. In her hand a card is nestled, a jack of hearts. Crimson letters across the top spell out a word, a secret word, one only known by two people in the world, now three. "I had to get close enough for my cards to examine his mind." Tyki stares at the card, trying to read the letters, but they fade and shift out of focus for him. His hand gently brushes the hair out of her pain-filled, yet bright eyes.

Evelyn raises the card to her gaze, and smiles, recognition flashing in her eyes. With impossible speed, she darts toward Lavi, slams the card on his forehead, raises her lips to his ear, and whispers his Name, his true Name.

Then Evelyn gasps as Lavi's hammer throws her backward, sending her fading into unconsciousness. Wake up, Bookman Junior. Bookmen have more need of a heart than anyone.

"Tyki?" Road asks, confusion clouding her voice, as she catches sight of him, crawling toward Evelyn. "What…?"

Lavi's Fire Seal twirls around Allen in an inferno, hiding him from view. Lenalee's sobs echo around them. Road straightens and begins to skip toward Tyki, but stops dead still. "What…?" she gasps, spinning toward Lavi. From the vortex of fire and ash, Allen emerges unscathed, looking surprised but unharmed. Around him, Road's candles wither and melt from the heat. Road shrieks, "It isn't possible. He passed out!"

"FIRE SEAL!" Lavi screams, slamming the character directly under himself. In the roar of hot wind and flame, his voice is barely audible. "I'll win this fight for sure." Yellow and red surround him, building into the throbbing of drums. Then the fire surges into a wave of pure energy that slams into Road.

"Oh, you'll have to do bet–" Road chokes on her sentence, and looks down, to see the knife blade neatly protruding from her chest. Blood dripping from her mouth, she smiles, gasping, "An attack from within my dream. Oh, I hate you, pathetic bookman child." She collapses to her knees.

Screaming Lavi's name, Allen falls into the conflagration, seeking his friend. Road crumples, skin blackening unrecognizably. Lero shrieks denial. "ROAD-TAMA!"

A moment, one that could be the last moment in the world, or one that is the first of many to come.

Then several things happen at once.

Road's cage opens, clear panels folding back into nothing. Lavi's Fire Seal turns at once to solid ash, as if it has frozen. Silence falls like the drifting dust through the air.

From beside Evelyn, Tyki pulls her from the rubble, hoping beyond hope that she will wake. Tears threaten to emerge, something that shocks him to the core. Evelyn's dress is torn at the hem, and Tyki is somewhat surprised to see that she is wearing her fighting gear. More pressingly, though, she is still unconscious. Tyki is so beside himself with worry that he nearly shouts out with relief when she stirs. "Thank you," he says.

"For what?" She looks tired, but very much alive, her violet eyes twinkling.

"For being so crazily smart." Tyki smiles.

"ARGH!" the shout causes them to turn to the others. Allen and Lavi explode out of the mound of grey ash, coughing and retching. A chuckle escapes both Tyki and Evelyn as they watch Lenalee stagger over to Lavi and punch him in the face, now clear of any tattoos.

Tyki leans back against the pillar, an arm around Evelyn, and wonders, "How can I possibly make it up to you?" His music is soothing, almost like a lullaby now.

She shrugs, then hisses as her bruises bump against the wall. "Get me a birthday present."

He looks down at her. "When's your birthday, then?"

Evelyn glares up at him. "A gentleman knows his lady's birthday without the need to ask, moron." The corner of her mouth twitches with restrained laughter.

"So you're my lady now?" The hopeful question hangs in the air.

"Depends whether you're a gentleman, remember?"

"What do you want as a present?"

"Like I said, a gentleman would know," Evelyn admonishes.

"You're far too hard on me," Tyki sighs.

"You'll live," Evelyn murmurs, and leans her head on his shoulder.

A throaty cackle interrupts their reverie. Looking toward Road, Tyki starts, a cold hand of horror gripping his spine. Road… Road is no longer recognizable as a human, as blackened and disfigured as she is.

Road Kamelot looks at Allen, stretching out a dark hand. "All…len." Then she dissolves into dust, and Lero screams.

"Are you sad?" Evelyn's voice flows over Tyki's hearing.

He lowers his head. "She was my niece, however evil she was." I can't feel my Noah anymore, so I can't know if she truly died. But I'm free.

Evelyn nods and tightens her grip on his hand. They lean against the pillar, wishing only for rest. Evelyn feels far too comfortable, slipping into a doze. For a few moments, the little scene by the pillar is almost unbearably fluffy.

A yell resounds in Evelyn's ears, jolting into her brain like sharpened spears. She groans and looks up at Tyki, who has a rather bemused expression on his face, staring down the length of the spike on Lavi's hammer, blown to an enormous size.

"Were you going to skewer me?" Tyki's voice is pleasantly conversational.

"MOLEFACE! Get. Away. From. Evie," Lavi growls. Behind him, Allen and Chaojii watch curiously. Lenalee examines the scene with a strange expression.

"You can't kill me now, I'm just an average human." Tyki winces as the tip of the hammer's spike wavers closer to his face. "I don't have my dark side now, or any of its desire for violence."

Evelyn lifts her head wearily from Tyki's shoulder. "I'm too tired for this right now," she groans. "Can I explain this later?" Done talking, she plonks her head back down.

Lavi opens his mouth, but Lenalee beats him to it. "Are you really changed?" she asks Tyki quietly. Allen stares at Tyki with a hard gaze, mouth thinning.

"Yes. And may I take the opportunity to apologize for what Dark Me did to you? I'd bow, but it rather hurts to move at the moment." Tyki's words are matter-of-fact. "I tried to save your friends, truly. I'm afraid I failed in that regard."

"Then Kanda and Krory are gone?" Lenalee asks despairingly.

Tyki and Evelyn glance at each other. "We tried to help Kanda, but we couldn't get there in time," Tyki replies. "I don't know about Krory. I didn't feel anything through Jasdevit before I lost my Noah."

Lenalee nods and lowers her head.

Lavi sends Tyki an intense gaze, but retracts his hammer and sheathes it.

Lenalee suddenly goes unnaturally still. "Hey, wait. Isn't the door at the top of this tower connected to Road's ability?"

A moment of silence.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Lavi and Allen yell. "NOOOOOOOO!"

Tyki interrupts them quietly. "The door should be functional if Road isn't dead. Of that, I'm afraid I do not know. The door is above us."

Lavi quietly contemplates this. Slowly, he speaks. "I'll use my hammer to get up there. Evie, come with me."

Evelyn starts. "What? Why?"

"I'd like to know too." Tyki tightens his arm around Evelyn.

Lavi's voice is practical and restrained. "I don't trust you, Moleface. If I take Evelyn with me, then I'll have a bargaining chip." He inclines his head toward her. "No offence, Evie."

"None taken." Evelyn glances up at Tyki. "He's thinking logically, you know."

"Very well." Tyki's answer is tinged with regret. He painfully rises, extending a hand to help Evelyn up. She groans as her bruises twinge in unison. Wordlessly, she squeezes Tyki's hand, and steps onto the handle of Lavi's hammer.

"Extend!" Lavi yells. They dwindle into the hole above the others.

Allen strides up to Tyki, staring him full in the face, grey eyes to gold. "Will you come with us?"

Chaoji gasps. "What? Allen, the Noah killed Anita-san!"

"I must keep to my word and help every human." Allen examines Tyki unwaveringly.

Tyki bows. "You have my gratitude, Allen Walker. I'll leave you largely alone after this…though I must see Evelyn from time to time."

"NOOO LERO!"

Surprised, they turn to the forgotten pink umbrella screaming in a corner.

Tyki rolls his eyes, returning momentarily to his usual mocking tone. "Lero, do all of us a favour and shut up."

"Earl, why are you not coming now?" Lero wails.

Tyki widens his eyes. "Oh no," he breathes. He feels something…other.

"What?" the others ask warily.

He turns to them in panic, shaking from the strain of holding back. "The Earl. He knows I've abandoned the Noah, so he's channeling all the power of the Noah through me. Go now." He falls to his knees, metallic armour dancing around him, a helmet growing over his face. Silence is coming, suffocating and still, surrounding Tyki's senses, stifling his music. Not silence that brings rest and recovery, but silence that heralds the end of all things, and the dawn of nothing.

"Fight it!" Allen yells at him.

"I'm trying, boy," Tyki growls between clenched teeth. In the last moment, before the filigreed helmet covers his eyes, he gasps, "Go, or I will I accomplish what I could not do before." Turning, he screams upwards, in a vain hope of warning Evelyn. A single drumbeat fades away, the last of his orchestra taken by the darkness.

Then Tyki Mikk is a puppet in the Millenium Earl's hands.

(:~:)

A rush of wind, a dance of air, and speeding toward the hole in the ceiling, Evelyn feels the wind in her hair, playing around the tatters of her dress, and laughs delightedly. Rising into a dark space, Evelyn lands gently on a tiled floor.

Lavi glances at her. "Thank you." His smile is genuine.

"What?" Evelyn looks at him, astonished.

"You understood me, and woke me up from a nightmare," he laughs. "I know what you should name your cards."

"I've always thought of them as nameless."

"I disagree. I think they should be called…Acumen," Lavi murmurs.

Evelyn frowns. "Acumen?"

"I'm a bookman, remember? Acumen means the ability to have insight and understanding. You read people and things with those cards, don't you?" Lavi smiles is serious yet humorous smile, a combination only he can achieve.

Evelyn strokes her cards thoughtfully. "Acumen…a fitting name. Thank you."

Lavi ruffles his hair. "The pleasure is all mine. Now, what about that door?"

They turn, and Evelyn sighs with relief at the sight in front of her. A heart-shaped door, edges still humming with power.

"Hey! Come on up! The door's still here," Lavi yells through the hole in the floor.

Tyki's voice, strangled and choking, darts up at them. "Evelyn! Run! I–" His words stop in a spasm of coughs.

Evelyn takes one look over the edge, pulls herself forward, and falls into the darkness.

(:~:)

Tyki kneels by a great chasm, stretching down into the depths of the ark. Blood drips from his torn glove, but it is not red. Tyki's blood is black. Wreaths of metallic threads weave from his back, forming long tentacle-like limbs.

A breath of wind as Evelyn lands behind Allen.

"Tyki Mikk?" Allen asks quietly.

No answer. The helmeted head cocks slowly to one side.

"Very well then," Allen says regretfully, pulling his left arm into his sword. From behind him, Lavi unsheathes his hammer. Evelyn stares at Tyki, wondering at his blank expression. No. We were going to be so happy together. Slowly, she reaches for Acumen, selecting a card to throw.

As if he had been waiting for this, Tyki screams. The sound spikes over the exorcists, sending horror into their hearts. It is a sound none of them ever wants to hear again, filled with madness and pain as it is. The wreaths of metal surround Tyki like wind in a tornado, obscuring him from view, changing him.

Moving quickly, Lavi grabs Lenalee and Chaojii, and uses his hammer to transport them up into the relative safety of the room above.

When Tyki raises his head, his is no longer recognizable, a shimmering black coat reaching down to his ankles, his skin darkened. The filigreed helmet covers his eyes, leaving only his mouth visible. One that is now twisting into a maniacal smile.

Allen nods, and leaps into battle, sword drawing a half-circle of sliver light before him. Tyki disappears. "What? Where did he–" Allen murmurs. Then a shaft of lightning seems to pass before his eyes, and the world shudders in black and white. He looks down to see red blood staining his white cloak. Ah.

And then Evelyn is beside him, shielding Tyki's next attack. Her cards seem horribly flimsy against such strength. Only her amethyst power stops his metallic strings from stabbing through them. She holds her stance, but she begins to slide backwards, weak as she is from her earlier wounds. Evelyn gazes into Tyki's face, and sees the Noah's grin as he slams a shockwave into the two of them, throwing them back like gossamer strands in wind.

Allen and Evelyn look behind them, darting to either side as a pillar, too close for comfort, looms up. Then they are caught by a gust of air, cushioning their landing. Evelyn glances at Lavi gratefully, as the red-haired exorcist retracts his hammer.

Lavi tilts his head at Tyki, and asks, "What's with that outfit, Moleface?"

A crash above them, and riding Tyki's wave of power, Road's door tumbles out of the hole in the ceiling, falling toward the marble. It shatters on the bloodstained floor like the hope in their hearts, black and red chips of wood mixing with the liquid crimson on white marble.

Evelyn understands, and laughs bitterly. "So we cannot escape through it after all." She looks at Tyki emotionlessly. "Millennium Earl, you have succeeded in destroying the door, but I'm afraid you'll have to kill us before you can prevent us from finding a way out."

The metal strands on Tyki's back weave together to form a wing-like mesh. Lavi simply turns, helps Allen and Evelyn onto his hammer, and rides it up into the tiled room above, racing Tyki's strips of metal through the hole. A tremor rocks the tower, warning them of how little time they have left.

Lavi yells at Lenalee and Chaoji, "Cling onto me! He's too powerful."

Tyki rises up out of the ground before them, grinning like a black demon, with macabre intentions. His wings tremble, then form thousands of rotating, weaving spikes of iron that crash against Lavi's hammer.

"Fire Seal!" Lavi yells, "Evelyn! Try to get arou–" His words are cut short as Tyki makes a pass by him, gracefully, almost like a dancer. Minute cracks spread across Lavi's hammer, and he falls toward the tiled floor, clutching his chest. Blood oozes gently out of the wound, trickling into a gathering pool, reflecting Lavi's gasps as he crouches on one knee.

Tyki flicks blood absentmindedly off his fingers.

Evelyn lunges around Lavi, sending a card straight toward Tyki's neck. Allen throws his sword. Before they can contact him, the tower twists, and collapses into the pool below it's foundations.

Allen raises his head to see Lenalee struggling against Tyki's iron wings. Evelyn lies, apparently unconscious, next to Lavi, who is trying to get to his feet. As more masonry crashes around them, Lenalee kicks Tyki in the head, and Chaoji…Chaoji runs toward Tyki, trying to punch him.

Fool. Allen leaps forward, but a large boulder crashes before him. He looks around, and sees Chaoji, holding up the rock. In Allen's heart, the Innocence, vibrates, as if reacting to Chaoji. From behind him, Evelyn raises her head, groaning, rising to her feet.

Lenalee struggles, but cannot escape the bonds around her. "Stop, Chaoji!" she yells at him.

Tyki darts toward them, a dark spear of death, glowing purple power wreathing his hands. From both sides of Chaoji and Lenalee, a sword, hammer, and flurry of cards dart out, holding Tyki at bay. As the rock above Chaoji is lifted, Tyki sends an answering blast of power, knocking Allen, Lavi, and Evelyn back.

Lenalee looks up as Tyki moves in for the last stroke. But Tyki stops. A single strand of white wraps around his wrist. Allen wipes blood from his mouth, whispering, "Your opponent is me."

Evelyn steps up. "And me."

Tyki grunts as Evelyn and Allen slam bodily into his shields. Tyki smiles, and passes through them.

Evelyn gasps as he emerges behind her. It is as if she blinked, and in that blink all of her was ice, immobile and fragile, all to easy to shatter. But then she laughs, for in moving through him, she understands him. "Tyki Mikk," she whispers, voice building in volume, "I see!" Laughing, she opens her mouth, and sings. She sings the melody of Tyki's mind, so in tune with his being that the walls of the Ark shake in recognition. Evelyn sings of Tyki Mikk as she knew him, of laughter and music and words, and what might never be again.

Tyki freezes in place, grasping his helmet. The notes fall into his soul like leaves on a frosted lake, laying his most inner thoughts bare, where a voice screams at him to stop, through the power of the Noah. Inside, he yells at the Noah, You will listen to me. "Evelyn, I–" he gasps.

A white seal appears beneath Evelyn and Allen, and they fall into the earth. Evelyn feels herself suddenly stop, and opens her eyes to a skull. "ARGH!" she screams.

The skull-faced man gently places her more securely on the platform, and shakes Allen, who he is holding by the ankle, over the abyss. "For a moment there, I thought I saw something, bakadeshi." Venom drips out of his voice. "What is this filthy little brat? You're still the same Idiot Apprentice I left behind."

"Grave of Maria…Uh, nice to see you…Master. It's been a while," Allen stammers, glancing at the chained tomb they are balanced on.

Like liquid, the skull melts away, into a white mask on the right side of the man's face, and his bulky coat vanishes, replaced by a finely cut black coat that sweeps down to his ankles. Brushing back his mane of flaming red hair with an elegant hand, General Cross Marian smiles with perfect white teeth at Evelyn, and growls at Allen, "Why the happy face? Do you want me to drop you?" Cross kisses Evelyn's hand, and drawls, "Cross Marian. How nice to meet a pretty young lady like you." His brown eyes twinkle, a smile playing above his neat goatee. He radiates narcissism. I'm handsome and I know it, he seems to declare silently.

"Uh…I'm Evelyn." Evelyn stutters.

A golden golem circles Evelyn, and lands on her head. Cross glances at him, and mutters, "Timcampy likes you." He glares at Allen, and snarls, "I'll have to save your hide, won't I, you stupid idiot?"

A breath of wind catches the edge of Cross' golden-hemmed frockcoat, and with an expensive leather glove, he gestures at Tyki. "What a loser. The game has just escalated, and I'm afraid you're going to fail miserably."

Yeah. I'm sorry it's a bit short. Anyway, there'll be some REALLY NICE STUFF in the next chapter, which I promise will be just lyrical enough. Next week, then, and please review.