The top of the mountain gleamed bright. After waiting three days, we finally started our hike, edging closer and closer to the shining beacon. Near the middle of the day, the storm had finally ceased, much to our surprise, and I no longer felt like I was playing Russian roulette with every step forward.

The summit was a needle into the night, and I had to crane my neck to look at it. I took a deep breath, suddenly going into a fit of coughing. The air was so bright and cold that I couldn't hardly keep my throat wet. No matter how much water I drank, it seemed like I was forever breathing in a desert.

It didn't seem we were that much farther, though. The snow gleamed white under the moon, and I stopped to marvel at just how smooth it looked. The beacon threw light off of it, and I sighed in amazement. While I was rarely happy about my occupation, it was at times like this that I was glad it gave me a reason to go places I would never have tried to go.

My breath pooled into a white cloud of mist in front of my face. Ahead of me, I could see two other figures, Kanda and Lavi, making their way up the mountainside. I was lagging behind (like always), but I was managing to keep up.

It suddenly occurred to me that I was actually going to make it. I would have climbed one of the tallest mountains in the world and survived. As I thought about it, I suddenly smiled, feeling a bright spark of accomplishment. Sure, I managed to nearly kill myself five different times, but that didn't mean I couldn't take pride in that I did it all with my own two legs.

"Come on, Mag! We're almost there! Don't lag on us, now!" Lavi shouted back. His words blurred together, and I narrowed my eyes. He'd gotten better after a couple of good nights' sleep, but the farther we went, the more and more irritable and stubborn he'd become. He'd even refused to put on a second coat after I'd told him to. Kanda, our resident automaton, wasn't risking his fingers and toes. He was wearing two pairs of gloves and an extra pair of socks.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your boxers in a twist, I'm comin'! I can't even stop to smell the roses," I grumbled, hiking faster.

It was a steep slope, but for the most part it was flat. For that matter, I had walked backwards a good part of the way just so I didn't have to worry about things sneaking up on me. I was sick and tired of being chased and surprised by Boogie monsters. I glanced over my shoulder just in case, and I was relieved to see nothing trailing me. As if hearing my thoughts, I heard a commotion ahead, and I stared as something massive rose out from the snow.

"Oh, come on!" I shouted, stamping my foot as an Akuma the size of an elephant spread out large, furry arms and grinned at Kanda. My mentor didn't seem so concerned. If anything, he was just irritated. I couldn't blame him. We'd nearly managed to get the whole way without encountering a single Akuma, and now, of course, we encounter one when our goal was literally within throwing distance.

The fighting started before I could even get there. Within five minutes, Kanda was beating it down the mountainside towards me, and at one point I had to dodge being stepped on. He didn't even bother with instructions; he just shoved me up towards the beacon. I didn't need to be told twice. He could do all the heavy lifting - fine by me.

"Mag, hurry it up! We need to get to the summit! They must've been waiting for us!" Lavi shouted irately, and I hiked up my pack with a stubborn huff. This trip was going to drive me insane. I was already short of breath as it was, and Lavi had to half-haul, half-lope up the rest of the way with me. The beacon was within sight now, and another two Akuma were prowling along the slope. I groaned under the handkerchief I'd placed over my mouth, and the both of us stood there, deliberating.

"I'll go for the one on the right, and you go for the one on the left," I suggested, panting.

Those two didn't look so tough. They were, what, the size of horses? I mean, yeah, they had claws and... and teeth and... guns... poison... other sharp nasty things...

Of course, as if to be as dramatic as possible, about forty Level Ones rose from behind the mountain, blotting out the moon with their numbers. I stumbled backwards as I muttered under my breath, "Mother Mary on fry bread."

They hovered, guns cocked in our direction, and I wondered why they hadn't taken the Innocence yet...

"Mag, do you see that massive ring around the Innocence?" Lavi whispered to me, flicking a single eye in the direction of our target. I nodded, never taking my eyes off of the Akuma.

"Uh-huh?" I squeaked.

"There must be a shield around it that's keeping the Akuma out. And we need to get in. If you can dodge everything they throw at you, you just get inside of that ring, and you should be fine," Lavi stated, and I realized what he was telling me.

I stared at him incredulously and asked, "Are you telling me to chicken out?"

Lavi threw up his hands, and in that moment the Akuma decided to finally fire while we were distracted.

The snow was violently pocked with hissing holes as bullets ate through the mountain. I yelped as I covered my head and tried to run. My pack was pelted with bullets, and I cursed the fact that all my good furs were in this bag. It's odd the things you think of in the heat of the moment, because all I could think of was the fact I bought these on discount and would have to trash them if I survived. I swung my whip out, hoping to thin their numbers, and, to my surprise, it actually worked.

Well, it worked until I got my legs tangled in it, and then it stopped working because I tripped and landed on my face. I was rudely hauled to my feet, and I stumbled forwards, untangling as I went. My eyes were fixated on the beacon blinding me, throwing the Akuma into confusing reliefs of black and white. I couldn't hardly tell what was going on. All I knew was that I couldn't breathe, my legs weren't working fast enough for my liking, and I was about to be killed.

I realized I was at the top of the mountain when there was nowhere left to run. I scrambled back as rocks fell down the side of the mountain, and I looked above me. The beacon shone so bright I had to shield my eyes. A smile spread on my face as I sagged with relief to the ground and kissed it, but I was quickly brought back to earth by someone shouting, "Maggie!"

I jerked out of my little personal cheer as Lavi scrambled to the side away from an Akuma. Dead Level Ones littered the ground around him, some of them dented in several places from, no doubt, his Hammer.

"Oh. Right," I panted as I reached for the beacon. Its light stuttered for a moment before flashing so bright that I was brought to the ground. I was ejected from the ring of safety I'd just occupied, and I blinked away the spots in front of my eyes.

"EXORCIST! NOT SO SAFE NOW, HUH?"

I quickly reoriented myself, casting out my whip as fast as I could manage with a surprised yell. The razor-thin wire cut straight into the face of the clawed, disjointed Akuma headed towards me, and it snarled as it circled around me. Something backed up into me, and I screamed in surprise.

"Calm... calmdown. 'Sjust... just me'verhere," Lavi panted, blood dripping over his one eye as I retaliated to another lunge.

I was already slowing from previous wounds, and my luck was running out. It was a miracle I'd managed to get close to the Innocence in the first place. Touching it must've activated some defense mechanism.

For the next twenty minutes, we slowly worked our way back towards the Innocence crystal, slashing, hacking, denting, and swatting away at the opposition. I was completely covered in blood by the time we'd gotten within ten feet.

"It's gotta hava... another field around it!" Lavi stated, his form quickly growing sloppier and sloppier.

Now I knew he wasn't 'just fine'. He needed to sit and take a breather, but in the middle of battle we had no choice but to keep going. It was fight or die. I began to shake as fear set in, staring at the amount of Akuma that were beginning to advance again. It was like for every one we cut down, four took their place. My whip gleamed dully underneath its sheen of blood, and I lashed out again with a cry, desperate for some breathing room. Akuma bullets drilled into the snow, and I screamed as one of them went through the tip of my shoe, just barely missing my toe.

"We need to run!" I shouted, fear making my voice crack.

"Run WHERE?" Lavi shouted back, pointing to the edge of the mountain. We were against a rock and a hard place, almost literally. The Innocence shield wasn't allowing us any further, and I stared, knowing I wasn't going to be able to go much longer.

"There's got to be some way to retrieve that thing," I muttered, glancing at the Innocence shard.

Lavi bit his lip, and he stated, "I've got an idea. I need some room. Can you give me that?"

I gave a shaky grin. Room... yeah, I could do room. I slowly inched out away from him, feeling like a child letting go of a security blanket. I had no defensive strategy whatsoever. I'd been using Lavi's massive hammer as cover. I was running out of places to hide.

I cast my whip forward again, using my hip to lead. Several Level Ones went down, and they started firing on me again. I scattered snow into the air, making it harder to see, as Lavi cast a summons for his Seals. My arms shook from exhaustion as I tried to beat back the horde that wouldn't seem to fall back. I was going to be turned into Swiss cheese at this rate. Heck, Swiss cheese would have less holes than I would when they were finished with me.

"Lavi, now would be a good time to start with your plan!" I shouted as a Level Two suddenly pounced for me. I screamed as it tore into my left arm, throwing me down. I fell down the mountainside, trying to get away from it, and I had half a mind to keep rolling until I became a giant snowball. I got to my feet and began to run, skidding on the rocks. Kanda was still fighting the massive Level 2.5, and I groaned. I wasn't getting any help with this.

"Come on, Exorcist. Give me a good fight. HAH!" an impish bat-like Akuma screeched.

I screamed as it launched out a long stinger from its tail, and I felt something rip into my calf. My whip curled around the tail, and I pulled backwards, dragging it down. It snarled as it suddenly became a whirlwind of fur and claws. Level Ones were too dumb to help, thankfully, because they were continuing to shoot at Lavi. I wrestled with the Level Two, feeling my injured leg slowly grow numb.

And then, out of nowhere, a massive pillar of fire erupted from the top of the mountain. I threw off the Akuma and lay in the snow, so tired I didn't think I could pick myself back up. I felt like a cosmic rag doll. My own adversary was lost somewhere in the snow, and I lay there for several moments before popping right back up at the sound of gunfire.

By the way, bullets are a great motivator.

Kanda flew past me, and he snagged me on the fly. I was dragged up the mountain, my feet hardly managing to keep up with his stride, and I was afraid I'd end up with pretzels for legs. My nearly numb calf wasn't helping matters, either. I watched as the Level Ones were turned to ash, and several of the Level Twos that had come to help fled down the mountains, several of them unlucky enough to catch fire in the pillar of flame.

"How close is the idiot to getting the shard?" he asked. I gave him my most dry look.

"What does it look like?" I gasped, throwing a hand in Lavi's direction.

The pillar of fire was now a snake eating up the mountainside, and I realized he was trying to melt the field. Somewhere in the middle, he stood in the maelstrom, and the heatwave blasted over us.

"He's going to kill himself," I muttered in horror.

"Forget him, he's going to kill us!" Kanda growled, and he dragged me back the other way.

"Where do you think you're going? He's got to stop!" I shouted.

I watched as the snake consumed everything in its path as it closed tighter and tighter. The heat was radiating off of it so much that the rocks almost seemed to boil. Each coil added another layer of width, coming closer and closer.

"I'm not about to let him roast me alive. He wants to do it this way, that's his business," Kanda stated callously, and I yanked out of his hand. I tumbled as my feet caught up with the rest of me, and Kanda looked back at me.

"What are you doing?" he yelled, and I stood up, incensed.

I shook as I realized what I was planning. Basically, my death.

"That is practically the best friend you've got right now, and you're just going to abandon him?" I asked.

Kanda just stood there, and for the first time since I'd known him he looked uncertain.

Finally, he stated, "I trust him enough not to kill himself."

I threw my hands in the air, frustrated.

"He's not in his right mind! Didn't you even notice? He's practically dead on his feet!" I shouted, coming close to tears.

I didn't have time for this! The reality that Lavi could very well kill himself was beginning to dawn on me like a train full of pennies smashing into a bunny rabbit. Kanda and I stared at each other for a few moments, his lips in a firm line while I huffed, bent over my knees to catch my breath.

"You told me to never give up. And I plan to take your advice to heart," I said.

His eyes widened a fraction as he figured out what I was about to do, and I think I even surprised myself.

I went back.

The heat coming off the inferno was so intense that I could feel my skin turn from ice cold marble to chewy, brown leather. I rolled in the snow, amazed that there was only water and rocks, and covered my face with my handkerchief and my arms as I neared the main body. I took a deep breath, and I plunged in as I felt a hand brush my coat. I could feel the snake burning my clothes, turning it to ash as I continued to run, feeling gaps where the coils stopped and started.

But everything was too hot, and I couldn't continue. It was as if every single bit of flesh was being cooked. I stumbled and tripped, realizing I was burning to death.

Well, it wasn't the first time that I'd done something stupid to try and help another person.

Suddenly, something picked me up, and I was momentarily shielded from the fire.

"Keep moving," a voice gasped in my ear, and I obeyed. Another fifteen steps and then -

Air. Pure, clean air filled my lungs, and I realized that we had reached the center. I yelled in surprise as I batted away flames from my jacket and pants before turning my attention to the object of my dumb, stupid charity. Lavi stood in the middle, staring at the Innocence shard above him, and it took me a moment to realize he had no idea what he was doing.

"Lavi! Reach for the shard!" I shouted, stumbling as I coughed, waving smoke out of my face.

Lavi looked at me in confusion, not realizing that his own spell was about to kill everything, and I do mean everything, on the mountain.

"The shard, moron!" Kanda shouted next to me, his voice scratched by smoke and heat, and I was momentarily confused. He'd followed me?

Lavi seemed to jolt out of his reverie, and he touched the shard, the force field already completely destroyed by the immense heat and pressure of his attack.

But even though he grabbed the shard, the snake continued to coil. It was raging hot, and I felt like someone had stuck me in an oven. I soon realized I had several deep burns along my hands and knees as they met open air, and I ran towards Lavi, standing on the summit. Kanda followed suit, probably more out of a need to stay away from the massive hell waiting behind rather than any need to watch me.

"Lavi! Stop!" I screamed, my voice minuscule against the roar of the flames. He looked straight through me, holding the shard.

"They're everywhere. They're still everywhere. I have to get rid of them or else it won't be safe. I have to protect all of our knowledge. I can't stop until they're gone," Lavi said calmly, looking out to the sky. Above us the night sky was serene, a dissonant sight compared to the imminent death waiting if we didn't get him to quit.

"Lavi, they are gone. Whatever you're seeing... they're not there," I reasoned, waving a hand out. I shrieked as the tip was eaten by flame, and I realized that I was running out of room. Pretty soon, there'd be nowhere to go. Kanda took matters into his own hands and slapped him as hard as he could. Lavi stumbled, and I yanked him backwards away from the edge of the summit.

That seemed to bring him back as he muttered, "Kanda?"

"Tch."

I took the opportunity to grab Lavi by the lapels and plead, "If you don't stop, we will be more fried than chicken at a Baptist dinner."

I could feel my hair crisp already. That is one smell that I would rather not revisit.

Lavi shook under my fingers, and he exhaled softly.

And just like that, the flames dissipated. I was shocked by the sudden cold, and I wrapped my arms around myself. I looked back out across the mountain. Most of the snow had melted leaving just the bare, glowing rock. We weren't going back down any time soon. Kanda suddenly grunted, and I looked back to see him holding Lavi up.

"Uh-oh," I stated, probably unnecessarily. "Altitude sickness?"

Kanda nodded. He hoisted him on his back in a fireman's carry. He immediately started to run down the mountain, and I raced to catch up, feeling the rubber in my boots immediately melt the minute I touched rock.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow," I muttered as I felt the heat seeping straight into my feet, burning my toes. The burns on my fingers and knees were no better, and I hissed with each step. It was like walking on top of a grill!

As soon as we reached the snow, Kanda dumped Lavi onto my shoulders. I struggled to put him on my back, though going downhill was definitely more preferable to uphill. Kanda put the Innocence shard in his jacket pocket, almost carelessly, and I shook under the strain of carrying Lavi.

"Maggie? Can I call you that?" Lavi asked, and I turned my head towards him.

"Um, sure?" I asked.

His breathing was ragged and shallow, definitely not a good sign. He was in bad shape. He'd been complaining of a headache yesterday, too, and he wouldn't eat anything today.

"Where am I?" he asked, sounding truly confused, and I groaned.

If he was asking that, he really was in for trouble. I shivered, realizing there were holes in my jacket. Kanda himself had patches burned through, and I bit my lip. I didn't understand why he'd decided to come after me. Maybe he just didn't want the mountain of paperwork that came with my death, not to mention Lavi's.

Still, Kanda kept glancing back every now and again to make sure we were still in sight. Perhaps he felt more than he let on.

I grunted, "On a mountain. You were injured."

Lavi nodded, and he tried to get off of my back.

"I can... walk," Lavi stated, but his legs obviously didn't agree because he fell over into the snow. I hauled him back up, swinging an arm over my shoulder. I ignored my gut tying itself in knots. Seeing as Lavi was male, the wrenching was more perfunctory than telling.

"Okay, hold up, bucko, let's get your land legs back first," I murmured, knowing he would probably be difficult if I tried to get him on Kanda's back or on mine (and to be honest, he was heavy).

I was rudely aware of a shift in my hearing. There was... another set of footsteps, not just one of ours.

And, just like I knew when Violet was coughing or Sebastian was having a bad dream, I knew that something was sneaking up on me, and it was going to kill me if I didn't move. It wasn't a hunter or warrior's instinct - it was more like a mother's self-preservation for her and her own. While I would hesitate to call Lavi "my own", the general principle applied, and I wasn't about to ignore it.

I threw us to the side as soon as the Akuma I'd failed to kill earlier launched itself at us. Kanda was already there, two steps ahead of the game, with Insects swarming the thing as I tried to unravel my whip with my left hand. However, it seemed to be having a conference among my fingers because I couldn't get them to work together at all.

"Oh, for the love of..." I muttered as Lavi used his hammer as a shield while I was still trying to ready my weapon.

"Hehehehe, Exorcists, I didn't get to show you my grand power... I wish I'd have used it earlier," the Akuma snarled with a grin on its toothy face.

It looked like a massive bat with a workout regimen and claws. Kanda didn't waste time with words, merely slicing and dicing at the Akuma as it batted away his Hell Insects. I unfurled my whip, and I snapped the air over its head.

"Well, shoulda, woulda, coulda, isn't that right?" I asked, and Lavi chuckled like he had knives in his throat.

The Akuma suddenly let out a blast of noise so loud that I dropped to the ground. Even Kanda bent to one knee, a hand over his ear. I felt blood leak out as I crawled away from the stream of unrelenting noise, towing Lavi along.

The noise stopped, and Kanda stood with his sword poised on a dead body. He kicked the body to make sure it was good and dead before giving a sharp, "Hmph." He stowed his sword, and I lay back in the snow with exhaustion. That was it. I wasn't taking another step. I was going to lay here and fall asleep, whatever happened, and nothing was going to move -

KKKKKKKKRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSHHHH.

I raised my head up with a look of disbelief as I saw a massive cloud of snow begin to race down the mountain. Nothing like a wall of snowy death to get you moving.

"HOLY-"

My words were drowned out by the roar of snow, and I threw myself into action despite my body's very loud protests, dragging Lavi to his feet.

"Haha, look at that. Surf's up," Lavi laughed, pointing back to the avalanche like it was a wave in a kiddie pool.

"Less talking, more running!" I shouted, dragging him as Kanda climbed a tall outcropping. I shoved Lavi ahead of me, letting Kanda grab a hold of him and drag him up.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on," I muttered as I climbed up behind them. Something dropped past me, and I watched it tumble down into the snowbank below.

We couldn't catch a break.

The Innocence shard gleamed at the bottom, and I glared at Kanda. He didn't even bother to offer a 'tch'.

"Just put it in your pocket, why don'tcha? Totally safe!" I shouted as he leaped down the rocks like a goat after a piece of tin, and, as I watched the wall of snow approach, I realized that he wasn't going to make it.

"He's not going to make it," Lavi observed blandly. Great minds think alike.

I unraveled my whip as Kanda neared the bottom, and by now the massive run of snow was thirty seconds away from burying him. I knew he could climb faster than that! Why was he slipping? What was wrong with him? Why was he taking his sweet time? I was dangling the whip right in front of his face for Pete's sake! Why wasn't he taking it?

"Grab the whip!" I shouted, slinging it in front of him.

He looked up and deliberated the wire. Just then I realized what might be going on in his head. Lavi had said he was going to die, and knowing him he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. I was about to shout something about the preciousness of life and how he shouldn't throw his life away, along with whatever other hackneyed, anti-suicidal lines came to mind, when - just as the wall of snow barreled over him - he grabbed the end. Unexpectedly, my arm bones were ejected rather rudely from my shoulder sockets, and I shouted in pain as I was dragged off the rock spur. Two arms grabbed my boots as I was hauled away by the force of the snow and the one-hundred and forty pound man on the end of my whip.

Lavi started to drag me backwards, and Kanda hung on with enough tenacity to give a bulldog a run for its money. My arms ached like crazy, and my torn shoulder screamed as I grunted in an effort to reel my mentor back towards us. The avalanche finally abated, and everything was eerily still. I realized that I was hanging straight down off the rock spur with only Lavi's hands clamped around my ankles to hold me up.

Needless to say, I wanted to throw up and hide under a rock for the next decade.

Kanda was in no better shape. He climbed hand over hand towards me as Lavi tried to haul my sorry carcass over the spur, and we all flopped down.

"Let's... never do that again," Lavi breathed, his words still slurred.

I nodded, panting.

"Tch," Kanda panted.

I lifted my head up a little to look at him, and I patted his shoulder.

"See? I promised you that I wouldn't let you die," I croaked.

He put a hand over his eyes, and he said, "It wouldn't have killed me. I'd just be buried."

"I don't know about you, but I classify buried as dead."


"Man, I didn't get to see a single Yeti," Lavi bemoaned.

He'd recovered quickly from his head trauma and altitude sickness. A little too quickly, if you asked me, considering he was all over me on our second day at the Nepalese hotel we were staying at. His flirtations had been ceaseless and almost impressive.

"Lavi, I honestly don't want to see a Yeti. They don't sound particularly friendly," I said, watching Lavi pout.

I spooned some more porridge in my mouth, wincing as my fingers stung. The burns hadn't healed yet, and I was still working out all my other health issues. Kanda had had a sharp remark about my penchant for racking up injury after injury, and for once I'd actually thrown something at him.

Of course, he'd tossed it right back and nailed me in the head.

I looked around our hotel, trying to ignore the fact that I was aching all over. It was a nice, humble little place. I shared a room with Kanda, and Lavi was with Bookman, as always. There were only five rooms available, and, just our luck, three were occupied. I sighed more with resignation than anything else. I knew having my own room was for so long was too good to be true.

Suddenly my stomach seized up into a massive knot. No brownie points for guessing who was behind me.

"Good morning, Kanda," I groaned into my bowl, trying to shrink.

Despite the fact I'd gotten closer to him than I'd ever thought was manageable (at least, without having a sword stuck in me), he had deigned to disregard everything that had happened in the past two weeks and had gone straight back to being the grumpy, belligerent, cold man he usually was.

"Tch."

He sat down next to me and tried to grab a bowl of food across from me. My eye twitched, and my mothering habits took over. I slapped his hand, and, I guess in surprise, he jerked it back with a perplexed look.

"Ask someone to pass it to you. Don't just reach for it. What are you, a barbarian?"

The words came out of my mouth completely unfiltered. The minute they left my mouth I felt my brain completely quit working. Did... I just say that? Did I just say that? Nevertheless, I continued to stare him down, and he more than returned the favor.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and muttered, "Pass the porridge."

"Pass the porridge, what?"

It looked almost physically painful for him to say the next sentence.

"Pass the porridge, please."

Lavi watched the entire exchange like his eyes were glued to the most interesting tennis match he'd ever seen in his life. He whistled low across from me and stated with an impish smile, "Sheesh, Mag, are you trying to domesticate him or something? I've never seen him - OWOWOWOW!"

Kanda twisted Lavi's nose, and I rolled my eyes. I wasn't that much a believer in miracles to try and get between them.

Boys will be boys will be boys...

"Meet me in the courtyard after breakfast," Kanda stated, throwing down his bowl when he was finished.

I nearly choked on my porridge. I'd forgotten today was Torture Tuesday. I thought about my assortment of aches and pains and actually considered skipping out. I was in so much agony. Painkillers had managed to stave off the worst of the discomfort, but I felt like one of Ava's poor toys while she'd been teething. After Kanda had left, Lavi rubbed his nose, and he whispered, "You don't have to go if you don't want to. I can cover for you if you need me to."

My eyes widened.

"Do I look that terrible?" I asked.

I'd had to go and get a haircut because it'd been burned so bad. I hadn't even had it fixed after the last debacle at Phuket. It looked especially unruly after this particular journey. Combined with a large assortment of bandages and limps, I probably looked liked I'd walked out of a war zone.

"Yes," Bookman said as he passed by Lavi. "And he'll know if you skip."

I stared after the old man as he sat down next to Lavi.

"Good morning, Idiot Apprentice."

"Mornin', Gramps."

"Will he really know if I skip?" I asked with a groan, practically collapsing across the table.

Bookman raised a non-existent eyebrow, the only sort of expression I ever saw on his face.

He scooped some porridge into his bowl out of the big pot on the table, and he stated, "Yes, he will. Lavi is a good liar, but Kanda knows you too well now. I heard that you two were very... comfortable with each other over the past two weeks."

My face reddened.

"The only thing that happened was his sleeping bag got wet!" I protested in a whisper-hiss.

Bookman shook his head, and he continued to eat as Lavi snickered into his own food. I played with mine, trying to ignore the inevitable. I really didn't feel like eating dirt. More than anything, I wanted to take another long, hot soak in the tub upstairs, but seeing as I shared a room with somebody else, I wasn't exactly allowed to. I wasn't about to risk being walked in on. Heaven knew that my family had already been scarred one too many times. Kanda wasn't the type to knock, either.

"You're going to have to face him one way or another. Either you voluntarily get beat into the dirt with some dignity, or you run away, he drags you back, and you get beat into the dirt without your dignity," Bookman stated rather succinctly, and I finally pushed back my chair with a squeak, trudging out to my imminent pain.

The courtyard was fairly large, and the blue, Nepal sky shone down, belying the utter agony I was going to be in. Kanda was already practicing moves with his sword, and I lingered by a pillar holding up the overhang, stalling for time. As I watched him practice with Mugen, though, I couldn't help but notice the craftsmanship and work that went into sword wielding. Every muscle of his was under such taut control, each movement smooth as wind. No one could deny that Kanda was very, very good at what he did. He made it seem almost easy, like art. My weapon work tended to look like a seizure patient got a hold of some wire and had a fit.

"Are you just going to stare at me practice, or are we actually going to get something done today?" Kanda suddenly said, his back to me. I almost fell over. How did he -? Never mind, I didn't want to know. I tried to hide my embarrassment by tucking my face down, my hair obscuring my face. I undid the whip from the holster Bookman had made me. I was about to throw it aside, knowing he'd want to do hand to hand, when he suddenly said, "Keep it. Show me how you use it."

I looked up, surprised.

"How... I use it?" I asked, confused.

He stood off, arms crossed over his chest, giving me a dark glare. I put up my hands suing for peace, and I took my usual stance. I had one leg forward, the other just behind, turned myself sideways, and I cast it out in front of me, cracking it. I hissed and hopped on one foot as the whip sliced my leg on its way out. Kanda gave a 'tch', and I rubbed my arm with a dark glare at the ground.

"Whose decision was it to give you a metal whip?" Kanda asked, and I bit my lip.

"I did it on the suggestion of my sister. Violet always has funny ideas," I stated, scratching the back of my head, acutely aware of how my face was quickly emulating a tomato.

Kanda took the whip from my hands, and he said, "We're getting you a different weapon when we get back."

I blinked.

"Wait, what?" I asked.

He held up the whip, and he stated, "Whips are terrible weapons. They're made to inflict pain - not damage. It's just too unruly. We'll reforge it."

"Uh... thanks?" I said, for lack of anything better to spit out.

He put the whip down on a chair, and he stated, "Take your hand to hand stance, now."

I internally groaned, and I settled myself into that uncomfortable position. I waited for the first blow or criticism, my muscles tensed in anticipation. Suddenly, Kanda walked around behind me, not even bothering with a stance. I almost stepped out of mine, just out of sheer surprise. This wasn't our routine. He didn't just walk around and look at me.

"We're getting you a different stance. Besides, I don't think I want to work on that today. We're going to start on dodging," he said, and I flopped in disbelief.

"Are you... sick... today?" I asked lamely.

I stared at him, my mouth almost falling open. His facial expression didn't change, other than a quirked eyebrow.

"No," he answered tersely.

He motioned for me to just stand there. I pressed my lips together and decided to just go with it.

There wasn't exactly anything else I could do. After about thirty minutes of him teaching me how to fall over without hurting myself, as well as dodging, I finally asked, "What's with the sudden change? What happened to 'smash Mag into small pieces'?"

I sidestepped a fairly slow(er) punch, already dripping sweat. Kanda looked like he was taking a stroll on the beach in comparison.

"We could go back to that," he stated, and I laughed nervously.

"Let's not. This is, uh, fine."

I definitely noticed that there was a distinctly different tone to my lessons, something a little more conducive to teaching me how to keep myself alive. I was glad to say I wasn't half-bad at what I was currently doing.

BAM!

And then I walked right into a kidney shot.

"Tch. Enough for now. You won't learn anything else today."

I lay on the ground in a daze, watching Kanda walk away. I couldn't say I was half-good at what I did either. I still had quite a bit of work cut out for me.