Hey. I've really got nothing to say, except that this chapter is like an emotional rollercoaster. I do not own D Gray-Man or any of its characters, only Evelyn.
Reviews:
Lalala: I like the use of the word 'epic'. My aim for each chapter exactly. Thanks!
BlackMoonWhiteSky: Cool name. Makes me think of the dark mirror of Edo and the silver arch above. Love it that you like Evelyn. I try to make her an interesting a character as possible. Thanks for putting me on story alert!
YuiLan, .Sisters, innocentrini: Thanks for putting me on story alert! I was so encouraged by this I was on a roll writing.
Dust and velvet, dusk and gold,
conductor's baton, song foretold,
Cards and Poker, tone and dance,
waltz and leather, voice entranced.
Night and twilight, day and dawn,
Ark and tower, times foregone,
Noah and exorcist, dark and light,
Words and Music, black and white.
(:~:)
Allen swings gently in the breeze, suspended by his ankle. Cross examines him with a sharp gaze. "Looks like you finally got your Innocence in a decent form." Leaping down with Evelyn, he sets Allen down at his feet, by the lip of the chasm. "But you're still beaten up, aren't you?" For a moment, all things are rather…peaceful. Then Allen squeaks as his master's iron grip tightens on his collar, and yells an embarrassingly high-pitched scream as Cross whirls him through the air and throws him across the room like a personal Frisbee. A muffled whump and accompanying cloud of dust heralds his crash near Lenalee and Chaoji.
Cross ignores Allen's moans, turns to Evelyn with his toothpaste-commercial smile and positively twangs, "Ignore my filthy apprentice." The chained grave behind them grinds to a halt by the lip of the chasm, facing Tyki, who is curled in a foetal position on the floor, hands pressed to his head. Suddenly, Cross seems to notice Lavi gaping at him. He snarls, "You're filthy too. I only let beautiful people," – he beams at Evelyn – "come anywhere near me."
Evelyn doesn't know whether to slap him or to hurl. Exhausted from her wounds, she staggers to the floor. Cross helps her down, with an Italian flourish that seems to her to be horribly pretentious.
Tyki gasps, and straightens, seemingly once again succumbed to his Noah. Muttering, he leaps onto a pillar, tilting his head at Cross. Cross turns to the coffin behind him, pulling on the burnished gold links of the chains wrapped around it. With whispered words, he flings the links free of the grave. Evelyn shivers. The words are foreign to her, so unknown that even Acumen reads nothing. The chains, tinkling like crystal chimes, dance into the air, foreshadowing the release of something incredibly powerful.
"Grave of Maria." Cross's voice drops down an octave. "Magdala Curtain."
Like a crack in stone, the grave opens, and impossibility comes into existence. A blindfolded woman, in an opera dress, singing unknown words with a carrying and unearthly voice, a song laced with Innocence. A glowing blue dome, like fire without gravity, covers Allen, Lavi, Lenalee and Chaoji, humming gently. Evelyn blinks, and they are gone.
Over the continued crooning of the woman, Evelyn asks Cross, "What did you do?"
He grins down at her. "I told Maria to hide the brats from sight." He raises his head and bellows across the room, "I removed the filthy idiots from the scene." Cross sweeps aside the hem of his coat, revealing an elegant revolver tucked in a leather holster. "You don't mind, do ya?"
As Tyki darts toward them, and the speed of his flight sends a shockwave of air toward them, bending light into a curved circle. Cross murmurs at Evelyn, "Do what you did before. It seemed to work."
Evelyn takes a breath, opens her cracked lips, and sings. Tyki's melody bursts forth from her, riding the wave of disturbed air and echoing through his helmet. He shudders, checking his velocity, and Cross draws his revolver and presses the trigger in one smooth motion. "Judgement," he drawls.
Tyki's song falters. Evelyn's eyes widen in horror, and she chokes on the pure notes.
Six blued bullets, exquisitely carved, emerge from the barrel of Cross' revolver, drawing pulses of cerulean. Tyki, hovering in midair, shields himself against the full force of the bullets, falling backwards as his helmet clatters to the ground. He grunts as the bullets hammer across his shield, and with an effort he deflects them into a pillar. He falls to his knees, his song reverberating into his bones, gasping, "Evelyn." Tear tracks glisten on his dark skin.
Cross cocks his head at this, eyes narrowing, then shrugs and calls, "My bullets don't stop until they hit their target."
Evelyn looks at Tyki, simply, asking herself what to do. The answer, when it comes, is so obvious that she almost laughs. Of course. It must be done.
On the clear marble of the pillar, white symbols surround each bullet hole, their humming increasing in pitch. Tyki leaps into the air, halfway to the ceiling before the bullets, with an explosive retort, blast their way through the pillar and up toward him. He turns to receive the bullets, expecting the white-hot pain to…
…A flash of amethyst darts across his gaze, dark hair mixing with the white surface of cards, and a desperate word screamed to the heavens. For a moment, Tyki's convoluted thoughts clear, and he sees who has taken the bullets for him. He cries out. Evelyn chokes back on her own blood as the bullets pass through her, and hums the last few bars of Tyki's melody as the bullets slam into Tyki. She falls, like a rag doll, crimson staining her clothes, toward the floor below.
In a supple movement, Cross sprints forward and holsters his gun, catching Evelyn gently, and lowering her to the ground. His expression, for once, is one of regret. Black, gold and purple mix as the wind from Evelyn's fall sends Cross' cloak and her tattered dress dancing around them. From under the Magdala curtain, four collective gasps ring out. Tyki crashes next to them, dark cloak enveloping his shrunken form.
Evelyn murmurs, half through her blood, "You idiot." Cross bows his head. Evelyn struggles to stay awake, knowing that if she closes her eyes, she may never wake. Tyki. Where are you?
As if in answer, the dark shape across from them stirs and murmurs.
Then the world shatters around them.
A thundering roar, like the challenge of some ravenous creature from hell itself. The ground lurches beneath them, and Cross points his gun at Tyki, chuckling, "Is it the Ark's time?" His finger tightens on the trigger, but stops suddenly at the light touch on his wrist.
Evelyn's hand twitches, her bloodied fingers resting on Cross' glove. Tears escape the corners of her eyes, like liquid diamonds.
Cross closes his eyes, and gently moves her fingers off his hand.
But, like jigsaw pieces, the white marble rearranges itself, and Tyki is hidden from their sight. Cross curses. In front of them, the fat, round thing with a top hat and silly glasses grins his gaping smile at them, rising up between the slabs of bleached marble. Tyki is slung over his shoulder.
"Earl of the Millennium," Cross says. It isn't a question.
"Heheeee." Syrup drips from the Earl's words. "Good evening."
A cracking retort, and Chaoji yells as the marble beneath him disappears, and he falls back into a newly-opened chasm. Lavi tumbles after him, extending his hammer towards the light above. Allen reaches forward, grasping the smooth surface of the hammer, marked with a hairline crack. For a moment the hammer connects the darkness surrounding Lavi and Chaoji with the white world above.
Then, like glass, the connection snaps. Allen cries out in despair as Lavi's hammer crumbles to dust, Innocence-infused fragments pouring between his fingers like the lives of his friends, tangible, but quickly lost.
Lavi grins an odd half-smile. Then he is lost in the rain of marble.
Allen screams. Lenalee sobs. And their turn comes, the Ark almost laughing at their grief. The ground about them shudders, and disappears. Allen crouches at the edge of the abyss, one strand of his Innocence wrapping around Lenalee's wrist. She sways in the thunder of falling stone.
Cross barely spares them a glance. "Yo, Fatso. Always the flashy entrance." He sounds disinterested. Bored, even.
The Earl bounces on his suspended platform, obviously proud of his elevated position. "It's been so many years now, hasn't it?" He addresses Cross fondly, like an old opponent he can now challenge to a rematch.
Cross absentmindedly pats Timcampy, who is nestled in the fire of his hair, and smiles, "Has it now? I don't keep a record of how many times I see you, lardball."
"Oh, it's like we see each other all the time, Cross-chan! You love playing hide and seek," the Earl simpers. "That woman corpse of you is so good at hiding you. Do you hide from debt collectors the same way?"
"I don't pay my debts because I owe nobody anything," Cross twangs.
The Earl hefts Tyki onto a more comfortable patch on his shoulder. Suddenly, he seems to notice Evelyn. "Oh, Tyki's ex-girlfriend. I thought I would teach him a lesson by killing you, but it seems he's done the job himself."
Evelyn gasps as her wounds sear with liquid flame. "Shut up, fatso. Give me Tyki back."
"My dear, you're much to disposable now, and without you, Tyki will not repress his white side anymore," the Earl giggles. "Isn't this perfect? He will be dead to you."
Evelyn bites her lip as she represses a scream. Her fingers dig into Cross' arm.
Cross lowers Evelyn to the floor by his feet, gives her a hard stare, and mutters to the Earl, "You're babbling. Go away already."
"You're the one trespassing on my Ark."
"Ah, but the Ark can only truly be controlled by the Fourteenth."
"SHUT UP!" The change in the Earl's tone from sugary to venomous is terrifying. "So it was you, then. The heart of the Ark has already been downloaded. What will this be, but a grave for exorcists?
Evelyn laughs. "You're dead."
Slowly, the top-hatted head turns to her. "How bold, Miss Dying Exorcist. Why?"
"Because Allen's mad."
A fleeting shadow of white, and a scream of fury, coalescing into a sword stroke dancing down toward the Earl. The Earl blocks easily, seeming to wonder at the similarities between his weapon and Allen's. A crackling halo of energy surrounds them. Allen attacks mindlessly, hatred and pain fuelling his speed.
Cross shakes his head. "Carte Garte!" he calls. Behind him, Maria begins to croon. Like a puppet, Allen finds body moving of its own accord, and he yells in frustration as he falls a short way, to hang on his sword above the chasm. Cross spits reprimands down at him, from a ledge above. "Bakadeshi! Did losing your friends make all the blood go to your head?"
As Cross and Allen begin a shouting match, Evelyn blinks. Her vision swims in black and red, mixing cards and chips, roulette wheels and spheres. A cracking sound, and Road's door re-materialises by the Earl's side. Lero, trailing tears of joy, wails his jubilation and he rushes toward him. The Earl barely spares Evelyn a glance as he darts through a Road's door with Lero, Tyki unmoving on his shoulder. The door slams shut with a cruel finality.
"No! Tyki!" Evelyn screams. Moron…Don't leave me…don't leave me here… "Please," she sobs, almost passing out from the shared pain of her heart and physical self, her head lolling against the ground.
Gloved hands steady her. Cross mutters unknown words as he checks her injuries.
"Am I going to die?" The childish question rises to Evelyn's lips unbidden. It doesn't matter. I don't care whether I live or die.
"Depends," Cross answers. "My bullets passed through you, but they are an anti-akuma weapon, so you have no surface wounds. But internally…"
Evelyn is cold. So cold. She remembers the warmth of candlelit wood and velvet, the clatter of chips and roulette spheres, Tyki's first smile as he wanders purposefully over to her table, and his slightly squished expression when she counters his words with an insult. Evelyn smiles, and closes her eyes. Death isn't cold after all. It's warm and comforting, musical and lulling, and she welcomes it gladly, as it brings her closer to Tyki.
(:~:)
Cross curses, checking Evelyn's pulse. "It's weaker than I would want."
Allen glares at him.
Cross gives him devil eyes. "I need you to do something. A mission. I came here to destroy the akuma plant."
"Is it still here?" Allen asks wearily.
"Yes," Cross says shortly. "Tim, take us there." A single gloved fingertip strokes the golden golem.
For a moment, the world wavers, the Ark's watery light fading. The smoking edges of reality weave together, and around the four of them, a darkened chamber strewn with skull bodies materialises.
"Look behind you, Bakadeshi," Cross orders.
Allen turns, and nearly shrieks. An egg shaped…entity, iridescent azure, like a hardened teardrop framed in gold. And it is beating. "It that…the akuma egg?" Allen whispers.
"Yes," Cross growls. "You talk too much. We can keep the egg if we stop the download. But I'm not going to do it. You are, Allen."
"WHAT?" Allen yells, grey irises widening in surprise. Beside them, the room begins to crumble, collapsing in on itself.
"ARGH!" Cross yells in frustration, a few spells of unknown power painting drawing silvery moonlight strands in the air. "I'm interfering with the download with my abilities. Go and stop it once and for all." His mask lend his face a deadly serious expression, although Tim, clinging to his hair, seems to smile with a hidden secret.
Allen blanches, "I have no idea what you–"
"I'm opening up the hidden room. Go with Tim. You'll understand soon enough." Cross returns to his usual crispness. He indicates Evelyn, clinging to fragile life at his feet. "Save your friends."
Lenalee cries out Allen's name as he disappears into a white circle, Tim leading him. "Why?" she asks Cross in despair.
Cross crouches and steadies her, his other hand, checking Evelyn's pulse. "Because Bakadeshi is the only one who can do it."
Reality rips itself apart around them, and they stand, waiting beyond hope, and Evelyn wanders closer to death. The seconds tick away, each one lost as the lives of the exorcists.
And then the music begins.
Chords, clear and innocent, permeate the Ark, casting its crystalline chains over every pool of light and every shadow, neither light nor dark, but something in between. Liquid, the flowing notes wrap everything in a multitude of colours, painting its own wistful dream. The music plays over Evelyn, soothing and cool, and her pulse grows stronger, though her heart stays black.
Cross grins, showing happiness for the first time. "BAKADESHI!" he yells into his intercom. "Stop dawdling and transmit your desires to the Ark!"
Over the static, Allen's voice murmurs. "I want…I want my friends back."
So the power of music takes the Ark and rebuilds it, as beautiful and perfect as it ever was, white and cerulean. It is perfect creation, and within the convoluted streets and rooms of the Ark, hope returns, and awakening as if from a dream, Lavi, Kanda, and Chaoji return to themselves, and Krory breathes deeper, as if willing himself to live. The music is endless, variation after variation dancing and laughing, the notes like endless stars scattered across the sable sky in constellations and patterns previously unknown.
(:~:)
By the feet of the Millennium Earl, Tyki stirs, and understands. In the depths of his mind, where he strains against the black bonds of the Noah, he laughs. What a fool I was. I was never a composer or a conductor. I can only ever be a point of brightness in the forlorn shadows of the theatre. Slowly, he stands, in that dark corner of his consciousness, and the world around him dissolves into a shadowy opera theatre, all dusty wood and velvet. He steps onto the conductor's podium, and watches the orchestra, playing the music of the Noah. The musicians' faces are blurred to him, and he has no music score in front of him. But he raises the conductor's baton with a shaking hand, bringing it down in a powerful stroke.
The Noah's melody falters, but a crescendo of dark notes hammers against his hand, and his fingers are whiter than the bleached surface of the baton they grasp so tightly. But a gentle hand, one that is not his own, reaches forward and steadies his grip, and brushing his ear, an amethyst-rimmed voice whispers, "Take a gamble. The music is yours."
I must try. "Listen to me," Tyki whispers to his orchestra, his beloved orchestra. "No longer will you dictate my actions." He raises his hands, and ever so slowly, a pattern of notes forms in his mind, so he writes his own music and conducts it as he will. Variation by variation, the black notes of the Noah fade, and the lyric strains of Tyki's melody, his own melody, grow stronger. Warmth and light permeate the theatre. To his Noah, Tyki declares, "I am your master, and you will listen to me." Like shimmering gemstones, the notes chime in a waterfall of emotion, and though he shakes with the effort of channelling the music through himself, the hand is always on his, guiding him and holding him.
He feels liquid fire pour into his limbs, forging a path for the rest of his life. And Tyki knows the battle is won, with a brilliant hand. He sweeps the orchestra into a cresting wave of incandescent melody, and lets his arm fall. Tyki Mikk is master of himself at last, and the Noah in him his servant. He falls into a dreamless sleep, understanding, finally, what it is to be alive.
(:~:)
Kanda slowly becomes aware he must be not dead, as he feels the ground beneath him, and hears the sound of his heart beating. He raises his head, dark blue hair swinging about his sharp features, and gives a rare smile. Groaning, he staggers to his feet, looking around for Mugen. He only sees a bag-like thing, humming with Innocence. He takes the opportunity to mutter "tch", as he only can in a situation like this, snatches it up, and trips to the door up the slope.
On the clean tiles in front of him, a black coat is folded neatly. He reaches out and touches it. My coat? He glances down at his tattered clothing. My spare coat. Which means… "Evie," he breathes aloud, snatching up the coat and swinging it on.
Moving as fast as he can down the corridor, which isn't particularly fast at all, considering his injuries, he makes his way forward, only stopping in one of the various rooms to pick up Krory, who seems to be unconscious.
Climbing white steps that hang in the black gloom like forgotten dreams, he hears an annoying voice yell, "Cut-hair YUUUUUUU!"
Lavi. Staggering up the last few steps, Kanda throws open the door, stepping boldly into the bright, sunlit white street. "Bring it ON, you retarded rabbit!" he yells, with the hint of a smile.
"YEAH!" Lavi bounds forward to hug him, and Kanda hastens to stop him by handing him Krory.
Kanda looks about, and wonders aloud, "Where's Moyashi?"
Lavi, in hyperactive mode, raises an eyebrow at him, turns, and yells toward the sky, "DINNNNNEEEEERRRRTIMMMMEE!"
As Lavi belches every conceivable food on the planet into the air, Kanda stands quietly, waiting. Lavi, out of breath, tries a final time. "BEANSPROUT–"
"THE NAME'S ALLEN, YOU IDIOT!"
Kanda starts. "Moyashi's voice is coming from the sky?"
"It's Allen, BAKANDA!" Allen's voice ricochets around them.
"More importantly, is Evie all right?" The urgency in Kanda's voice is unmistakable.
A pause. Kanda's heart hammers. Then Allen says, "She's…stable."
"WHAT? Stable from what?" Kanda yells. Lavi stares at him, surprised at this show of emotion.
"I'll open a door," Allen answers quietly.
A white rectangle of light splits the blank plaster of the wall opposite Kanda. Leaping through it, he blinks as his eyes adjust to the ambience of the room. When the spots in his vision fade, his mouth drops open, and he switches on his death glare, as his heart twists in worry.
The room holds a piano, a mirror, a couch, two exorcists, and…
…Evelyn, very white, pale and still, in Cross' arms.
Cross looks at Kanda's expression, then down at Evelyn, and mutters, "Ah. This little lady seems quite popular."
(:~:)
Through the darkness of her eyelids, Evelyn sees nothing. But she hears everything, albeit blurred. She turns her head, struggling to throw off the heavy mantle of sleep. In a haze, she hears someone say loudly, "MITURASHI DAAAAAAANGO!"
Evelyn groans, slowly awakening, but her consciousness curls in on itself at the aching pain in every inch of her body. She feels like she has been slow-cooked from inside out, something she would rather not feel again for the rest of her life. Groggily, she opens her eyes…
…to find Kanda gazing at her with a mix of embarrassment, worry, anger, and confusion in his dark eyes. "Kanda," Evelyn whispers. "I knew you would make it. Why…" she looks up, to find General Cross smiling down at her. To Evelyn's horror, she realises he is carrying her.
"ARGH!" she screams, her arm moving in a reflexive movement to slap him across the face. Evelyn feels him let go, and sees a blur as Kanda darts forward to steady her. She staggers away from Cross, cheeks burning.
Cross slowly removes his hand from his face, where a very obviously shaped mark stands out, livid on his skin. He raises an eyebrow painfully at her.
"Um…" Evelyn stammers, leaning on Kanda's arm. "Sorry. You…surprised me."
Cross grunts and turns to Allen. "BAKADESHI!"
"Ye..yes?" Allen snaps to attention, hair standing on end.
"Go away." Cross mutters.
"Uh. Alright…" Allen shuffles out of the room, feet clacking on the bleached cobbles outside. The others file out behind him, Lavi stopping to put Krory on the couch, and Lenalee crouches next to him. Behind them, the door to the piano chamber slams shut.
Evelyn straightens, and looks at Allen. The dread in her heart swells. "Allen," she whispers. "Tyki?"
He glances at her. "He's gone."
She nods, and bows her head. Kanda gives her a penetrating look, and asks, "But wasn't he a Noah? You'd do better without him to–" He stops as he sees the fire in her eyes.
Evelyn stares at Kanda, pouring all her sorrow and pain into her gaze. Then she turns stiffly and hobbles away from them, leaning against the wall for support. Kanda reaches forward, but she slaps his hand away.
Lavi watches her retreating back, turns to Kanda, and mutters, "Duuuddde. Bad choice of words, mate."
Kanda snarls at him, and stalks off to find a door.
A short distance away, Evelyn finds an alleyway, sinks to the ground, and sobs. I tried. He's gone, forever this time. What a fool I was. He was Noah, and could never be free of it.
A while later, Lenalee finds her, and wordlessly gives her a hug. Then, Lenalee helps her up and leads her back to the piano room, and Evelyn walks blankly, looking at no one, and speaking to no one even as Allen cancels the Ark's Edo connection, opens a door with the piano, and they look out at Edo and their friends.
Evelyn has no words for the occasion. They had disappeared with the music.
(:~:)
Tyki wakes, and feels more rested than he has in a long while. He seems to be lying on a sofa of some sort. Through his closed eyelids, he senses the gaze of the Earl on him, and tints his skin grey. This is the critical moment.
He opens his eyes, and brings his hand to his forehead. "Earl of the Millenium," he acknowledges. "What…happened?"
The Earl shifts in his chair by the couch. "What do you remember?"
Tyki groans, and rubs his eyes. "I remember going to greet the exorcists, then…nothing." He squints at the Earl. "Did that boy knock me out? Please say he didn't."
"Do you remember the girl with violet eyes?"
"What, did I kill her or something? I don't remember," Tyki mutters. Please, please buy that.
The Earl pauses, and nods. "Allen Walker is the fourteenth. He healed his friends with the power of the Ark."
"Drat. I wanted to kill him." Tyki tries to replicate his normal, casual tone, while inside, he relief at Evelyn's safety washes over him.
Waving a hand in a dismissive gesture, the Earl leaves.
Tyki heaves a sigh, and sits up. He examines his ruined tuxedo, and rolls his eyes. Now who can't lie, Millennium Earl? His fingers slide into his pocket, and pull out his poker chip, battered, but very much whole.
"Thank you, Evelyn," he laughs, spinning the poker chip in an arc of sapphire in the air, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He is free, and truly alive.
(:~:)
The white door, blindingly bright, opens into Asian Headquarters, and Evelyn limps through it, ignoring Kanda's hurt expression when she ignores his proffered hand. Instead, she takes Master Teddy's arm as she staggers down the steps.
"WALKER! You're back!"
Evelyn raises her head tiredly to see a short man, dressed in a white cut-off jacket, black trousers and boots, with blond hair and a neatly angled beanie, shriek with delight as he speeds toward them. Then he shudders to a stop as his eyes fix on someone over her shoulder, and falls theatrically backwards, hives breaking out on his skin. An older, bearded man in a lab coat steps forward smartly and catches him.
Allen regards this without an ounce of surprise, and smiles as a plaited girl about his age squeals with joy at seeing him. Then his face is promptly squished as Cross slams a hand around his head, pushes Allen behind him, and asks, "Is this your girlfriend, Allen?"
As Allen turns beetroot, and yells, "Lou Fa isn't my–" she squeaks and almost faints at Cross's words. Two boys slightly older than Allen yell, "Strike!" at seeing Lenalee and Evelyn, and nearly fall over. In the general chaos, Evelyn notices Cross has an expression of extreme annoyance. She looks at Lenalee, and Lenalee nods.
Together, they step forward and throw their arms around Cross's waist, stopping his steps with their combined weight and yelling, "Don't go, General!"
Kanda blanches, but understands.
Don't run don't run don't run. Evelyn and Lenalee cling tightly to Cross until he mutters, "Fine. I can't refuse." Disgusted but satisfied, the girls give him radiant smiles.
As the motley group stands before the door to European Headquarters, better known as Home, Evelyn sighs.
Tiedoll glances her. "Through there is your new home," he says warmly.
Evelyn smiles; but her smile is tainted by pain. "I know, Master Teddy."
Tiedoll wisely does not speak further.
As they enter headquarters, Lenalee rushes forward to embrace a dark-haired man in a white coat, laughing, "Brother!" and Evelyn smiles for real. Most of the younger male science division members nudge each other as they see Evelyn, but she stays by Tiedoll's side, observing without comment.
Then a man in a white lab coat, with a cheeky grin and blond hair carefully untamed stops by her side, and says, "Nice to meet you. I'm Science Division Head Reever." He extends a hand to her.
Evelyn shakes his hand and says quietly, "I'm Evelyn."
Suddenly, all falls silent and everyone turns to Miranda. "You'll have to shut that off," Allen tells her, indicating her Time Record.
A large woman in nurse uniform shoves next to them. "Tell me your injures so we can prepare for them."
Lavi starts listing his wounds with shameless bravado, while Kanda stays stubbornly silent.
When the hospital Matron comes to Evelyn, Evelyn winces and mutters, "Um…I got hit with five Judgement bullets." She looks at Cross. "It really wasn't the General's fault."
Reever gasps by her side, and in the shocked silence the Matron turns to Cross, who quails under her gaze. "GENERAL CROSS!" she screams.
"Sorry, sorry," he winces as Tim circles his head happily.
Miranda turns off her Time Record. Evelyn extends her hand to help Lenalee, but gasps as her injuries sear, and falls into the welcoming arms of unconsciousness, as the world dissolves into a whirlpool of noise and colour.
Yup. Sorry the ending was a bit rushed. Well, the next chapter will be sweet, and HILARIOUS (science department guys). I've got a few tricks up my sleeve and I intend to make them as effective as Dark Allen (hehehe). See you then.