A/N: Finally I've managed to have the time to squeeze in an update...Sorry, I have been really busy throughout the time I last posted chapter 11...now, I'm nearly half-dead...Anyway, on another note, a REALLY BIG THANK YOU to those who reviewed so far, you guys made my day!

Enjoy the story~! As usual the disclaimer applies (though I haven't been posting the disclaimer regularly online...xD), I do not own any of the characters from Tsubasa Chronicles and DGM, I only own the story plot. =P


Recap

"Exorcist-sama!" Allen and the others turned their head to find that a group of finders had managed to catch up with them.

"Thank goodness you're all right; we have to get you back to treat your injuries first." One of the finders said "also, there's something you should know about your mission."

"What is it about our mission?" Allen asked curiously, gratefully accepting the finders' help in supporting Link's body.

"We'll explain it later...but right now your injuries must be treated." The finder replied, as the group slowly made their way to the hospital.


Morning came. The train chugged to a stop at its destination, a horn whistle signalled its arrival to the early morning crowd who hardly took notice of it except for the train conductors who immediately ran to their stations preparing to do their duties. As the train finally came to a halt, steam filled the surrounding and the first few passengers tiredly stepped down from the train, among the passengers, four men who were dressed mostly in black had also stepped out. As they stepped out of the train, a finder immediately rushed towards them.

"Thank goodness, you have arrived safely, exorcist-sama." The finder panted, as he caught up to them.

"Whatever, just tell us anything we need to know." Kanda replied curtly.

"Yes, currently Allen and the others are hospitalised due to serious injuries they've inflicted when they were fighting two of the noahs." The finder relayed the message.

"What do the noahs look like?" Lavi asked, the happy-go-lucky part of him vanished as soon as the finder had mentioned about the shocking news.

"Sorry, I'm afraid that Allen-san and the others would be able to answer this because by the time we got there, the enemy had fled."

"So…could you direct us to the hospital?" Kurogane asked.

"S-Sure, follow me please."


Allen slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the sudden brightness that was filtering through the window next to his bed. Judging from the brightness of the light, it was roughly around midday.

"Good morning."

"Fay-san?" Allen turned his head to the direction of Fay's voice.

"You were quite a deep sleeper; the doctor had mentioned you had slept since the previous night" Lavi noted, leaning against the door.

"What about Lenalee and Syaoran-san? And how is Link?" Allen asked, completely ignoring Lavi's comment.

"Due to the extent of injuries, Link-san is still resting but he's awake, however, Lenalee and Syaoran-kun had gone ahead with Mokona to search for any leads which might help us find Sakura." Fay replied.

"I'll help with the search as well" Allen protested, getting off the bed.

"There's no need, Lenalee and Mokona would be back any minute." Fay smiled, gently restraining the boy.

Allen was about to give a reply when he heard an all familiar voice. Immediately, he tried to look over the magician's and bookman junior's shoulder to get a better glimpse of the girl he was so worried over.

"I'm back, Allen-kun, I'm glad you're awake." Lenalee smiled walking towards Allen.

"How did the investigations go?" Allen asked.

"Nothing much...but Mokona is still able to sense her!" Mokona replied, being the most cheerful of the group.

"Then why are you so happy about?!" Kurogane snapped.

"Mokona could also sense the feathers within Sakura! But it's faint though. I'm being optimistic!" Mokona replied as she hopped onto Lavi, settling quite comfortably down on his head.

"That's it, we're setting off tomorrow." Kanda decided, standing up, preparing to leave.

"Wait, the Earl and the noah clan have their new ark and we still don't know anything about it." Allen pointed out.

"Yeah, you've got a point, besides how are we going to sneak into the ark without alerting the Earl and the noah?" Lavi replied.

"Che, it's so troublesome." Kurogane muttered.


The exorcists all tried to come up with various ways on how to infiltrate the noah's ark. However, to Syaoran, Kurogane, Fay and Mokona, this was something entirely new, but from what they could get from the discussion was that the ark was some sort of transportation that could get a person to another location in a matter of minutes and seconds.

"Ah…getting inside without the enemy noticing is rather tricky, but are there any disguises we can take on?" Fay asked, randomly guessing.

"Hmm…that's true…the last time General Cross had sneaked into the ark disguised as a skull…" Lenalee said quietly.

"Right…But Master had Maria that time to conceal his presence." Allen replied.

"I've got an idea…it's going to sound crazy but fun." Lavi suddenly gave an evil grin, looking immediately in Allen's direction.

"W-W-Wait…what's with that look? Stop looking at me like that!" Allen panicked, looking at the others for any help.


Sakura slowly opened her eyes, looking around at the darkness that cloaked the entire room, save for a few candy-stick-like lamps hanging around in mid-air. It had taken her a few seconds to realize that it was the snowy mountains where she and the others were on a mission. Sitting up, she gazed around wondering if someone is around the seemingly dark and empty room. Deciding to explore the place, Sakura stood up and tried to move forward. However, after a few steps she took, Sakura had collided with an invisible barrier.

"Where am I?" a simple thought ran through her mind.

"You're in the noah's ark." Road's voice replied, causing Sakura to turn in shock.

"Who's there?" Sakura asked, slightly panicking, shocked that someone could actually read her thoughts.

"It's just me." Road came out from the shadows, lazily licking on a lollipop.

"Road..." Sakura acknowledged, her expression hardening.

"Good, you remember my name." Road replied with an almost bored expression.

"What do you want?"

"Actually, I wanted to play with you but I'm on guard duty till the Earl gets back. He's really interested in your weapon."

"Weapon?" Sakura momentarily couldn't recall.

"Innocence," she replied, giving a sadistic smile, "your innocence holds great power."

Sakura gasped slightly, knowing full well it was her feather or rather, memory was the reason that the noahs took notice of her. However, she dared not let this thought wander through her mind, lest the noah of dreams read it. Luckily, Road didn't seem to notice anything.

"Yo, Road, the Earl told me you'd be here." A smooth rather silky voice greeted.

"Tyki, it's so boring...are you sure that the Earl said that I can't play with her?" Road asked, pouting.

"Yup, the Earl said that you might get hurt if you play with dangerous things." Tyki continued, lighting up a cigarette.

"But-" Road whined, obviously not happy with the answer.

"You don't want to make the earl mad, right?" the noah of pleasure continued, "Ah, I know, why don't you play with the akuma to kill time?"

"But it's still boring!" Road whined, "it's still better than having guard duty." She continued, displaying a rather sadistic smile that made Sakura flinch slightly with fear.

Road clicked her fingers and almost immediately, an akuma appeared in front of her. The akuma, a level two knelt down in respect to the noah.

"Road-sama" the akuma greeted respectfully.

"Get up. I want you to play with me for a while." Road pointed at him, her expression rather serious.

As the akuma stood, Road continued with her instructions. "I want you to dodge my attacks, hopefully you'll be a challenge."

The akuma's eyes widened in shock, obviously not expecting that the task had only one option, he had thought that he was summoned so that he could kill the female exorcist that was held captive within an invisible barrier.

Sakura was also in shock. As soon as the akuma appeared, she had once again saw the soul of the akuma, wrapped up and writhing and as Road revealed her instructions, the soul was practically screaming at Sakura to do something about saving it's soul as when it is destroyed by dark powers, it cannot be free.

How could there be someone so cruel and heartless exist in this world? Though she met numerous villains along in her journey with Syaoran, Sakura, Fay, Kurogane and Mokona, none of them were like Road. Sakura wanted to shout badly to protest, however, her voice was completely stuck, unwilling to come out.

"One, two, three, start." Road counted.

The akuma hardly have any time to react, by the time the noah had counted to two, it had only managed to turn back and run. Then, everything happened in slow motion, Road was aiming her hand which has a beam right at the akuma's back. The moment she had reached three, Road released the beam and it went straight for the akuma.

"STOP IT!!!"

Both Tyki and Road looked up in slight shock only to see that another beam had stuck the akuma before Road's beam had. The akuma then dissolved into sakura petals, which danced around the dark room, almost as if to try and make the room brighter from its gloomy state.

"Oh? The little miss innocence is rather powerful, I'd say." Tyki commented, rather amused at the sudden power display.

Sakura stood in shock, with her anti-akuma weapon in her hands, she wasn't sure how she had managed to pull out the gun and shoot at the akuma before Road's beam could reach it without any hesitation at all. It was probably because of the akuma's soul who desperately urged her to fire before Road's beam reached. Sakura figured a few seconds later.

Unfortunately, Road wasn't at all happy that her game had been destroyed. She was about to use her powers against Sakura until Tyki stopped her.

"Tyki, she spoiled my game." Road whined, trying to break free from Tyki's firm grip.

"Road, we'll only deal with her when the Earl gets back. It seems that her innocence was a little more troublesome than the ones we've destroyed so far." Tyki repeated, this time elaborating a little more.

"Why didn't you say that earlier? But it's a pity, I was planning to ask the earl whether I could keep her as a doll, she'll be quite fun to play with." Road replied, calmly walking towards the chair and sat down.

Sakura listened to their conversation, with the increasing ominous feeling in her heart. Whatever are these guys planning to do to her wasn't going to be pleasant, her thoughts drifted over to Syaoran, who would save her from any sort of danger she's in.

"Syaoran-kun..." Sakura thought, trying to prevent her tears from flowing down her cheeks.


Meanwhile, Syaoran and the others had managed to get a hold on the coats that the skulls had worn during the level four attack at the HQ. Unfortunately for Allen, he was the only one without a disguise but with a good reason.

"Wait...where did you get these coats from?" Allen asked, slightly panicking, unaware of the plan that was about to unfold.

"I got it from the science department...surprisingly they kept after the level four attack." Lavi replied.

"Che, why do we have to wear this? It would have been easier if we just attacked directly." Kurogane grumbled while looking at the coat the skull mask he had been given.

As soon as the comment was said, there was a gentle tap on his right shoulder. Without expecting anything, Kurogane turned, only to come face to face with a skull.

"Uwah!!!" the latter shouted in surprise.

Soon, laughter had erupted from the skull, only to reveal that Fay and Mokona had just played a prank on him.

"See? I told you Kuro-sama will get a shock as always." Fay laughed.

"I must tell Yuuko about this, she'll definitely tease him till no end." Mokona replied, unable to stop laughing as well.

"Don't you two dare run anywhere." Kurogane threatened, his temper gradually rising to dangerous levels.

As usual, Fay and Mokona did not bother to listen and ran off with an angry Kurogane swinging his katana dangerously and chased them. Allen and the others could only watch, no matter how they view it, it was like they were completely not worried about the rescue mission at all.

"Maybe we should try this on Yuu someday." Lavi suggested jokingly, earning himself a death glare from the latter.

"He'll probably get rid of you for real if you were to do that on him." Lenalee replied.

"Unfortunately, that's true..." Lavi mockingly sighed.

"Ah, Lavi-san, when are we going to put our plan in action?" Syaoran asked. He had been rather quiet ever since Sakura had been taken by the noahs.

"Tomorrow. After a good night's rest." Lavi smiled, knowing that Syaoran was extremely worried for Sakura even though the boy did not openly express it.

"But what's the plan so far?" Allen piped up, realizing that Lavi hasn't mentioned any details at all about the plan of his.

"We'll use you as bait." The Bookman junior simply replied, "The rest of us would pretend to have caught you and try to bluff our way through into the ark, it's the safest way I could think of."

"What?!"


A/N: I've finally finished chapter 12!! Once again, I'm really sorry for not updating for quite a while. The details of Lavi's plan will be revealed in the next chapter...I've already started on the next chapter. =)

Please read & review~! =)