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WHAM !! WHAM!!

The repetitive yet futile sounds of the exorcists innocence striking against the wooden doors which should have given way but did not.

Lavi's hammer struck with a frightening force. Enough to crush skulls and break metal to pieces yet did nothing to the wooden door he was now striking.

Even Lenalee's new improved crystallized innocence, with all it's increase in power, did nothing to the doors. Despite this both continued blow for blow hoping to gain some headway with the little time they had remaining.

Bookman stood trying to analyze the situation and formulate and appropriate solution but nothing came to mind. He would come up with something though. He had to.

Timothy was the worst off among them all. Akuma he had experienced before. Akuma were something he was ready to face. But this! This was nothing like that! He had no idea how to deal with this. He had tried to possess the man but...but oh god....just his first attempt had forced him to double over in unbearable pain. He had nearly bent over and fallen in the blood. What he felt when he tried to take that man. It was indescribably painful.

Flashes of things which brought tears to Timothy's eyes which made him nearly scream out loud. But he was a big kid. He wouldn't look like a baby in front of Lenalee and Lavi.

This unbearable aura which nearly broke Timothy's sanity. This dark aura. He had never felt anything like it before. He never wanted to feel anything ever again after that. He just wanted to lay down in the blood and drown after that. Anything to escape this overwhelming feeling.

What was this feeling? At that moment words were beyond Timothy and he couldn't come up with anything. But this feeling was inescapable. And that man...that Noah, was drowning in it.

Bookman was the one to notice Timothy nearly scream out loud and nearly slump into the bloody pool that was rising around them. He rushed to Timothy's side and supported him then. Was it the Noah's power that did this to the boy? Bookman only had a question he had no answerer. Not for what happened to Timothy. Nor to what they were going to do to escape.

Taking a brief glimpse at the situation in between kicks, Lenalee saw that the man hadn't moved an inch. She saw that Timothy was bent over. He looked like he was about to go hysterical. She assumed it was with fear and she had expected more from him. But he was young. The blood continued rising, higher and higher.

What Lenalee couldn't stand was the look in that man's eyes. The indifference. The apathy towards their strife. It seemed as if he didn't care about anything and knew they were going to die. As if it was a certain undeniable fact that had already come to fruition.

That twinge of a smile on his face as he watched them slowly squirm before they died. Completely helpless.

This guy! Lenalee made a small yet powerful fist. Holding it all inside. He...he thinks were so worthless. So pathetic...how dare he! I...I promised myself...never again...I would never be helpless again.

Lenalee's mind had gone to memories of when she had been incapable of doing anything. When she had lost the ability to use her innocence. When she couldn't help anyone let alone herself. She had been so worthless. So useless. But I'm not powerless...not now

She wouldn't let it happen again. With a determination in her eyes and a lapse in her logic and judgment she rushed the unmoving Noah with a speed unseen before and her powerful kick landed full force against his face. But it didn't stop there. A flurry of sonic kicks which brought a sharp breeze throughout the room. The sound of bone crunching and snapping carried on these winds.

It was a brutal assault and the number of frightening blows she had dealt the Noah couldn't be fully captured by the human eye it was that fast. Everyone was busy thinking about the sheer speed and force with which she had given such a beating when they should have noticed that he had not been moved from his spot. He still remained standing.

The last kick had been delivered to his face and had sent his head to the side and bent down. His hair covered his eyes from them at this point.

He looked the same as when they had entered. A man without hope. Except now it was even more prevalent. Like beating someone down who had already lost all hope in the world. It made one feel a pang of guilt in their stomach. Or one would have if the exorcists didn't know what they were dealing with.

He had made no attempt to stop her assault or defend himself. Merely submitting himself to her righteous fury. It was so strange. So odd. Everyone was too busy contemplating this and the speed with which she had delivered her attack to consider a counter attack.

Without looking the brown haired man's arm shot out and grabbed Lenalee around the throat. But what was even more shocking than this was what she saw when the man turned his head to her again. What looked like pure black in liquid form was trailing down his face in rivulets. He was crying!?

He looked at her while gripping her throat tightly. She saw such sorrow in those eyes. Such sadness. His eyes were so heavy with whatever had twisted and crushed his soul. They seemed to speak. That he had given up. That he had submitted. Such a strange thing to go with such strange words which came next.

"Such a pretty girl...I want to taste you."

Lenalee struggled for more air as she barely had enough to keep conscious. Grasping vainly at the wrist which held her, trying to pry it off her.

He brought his face close to hers slowly, as if trying to gage her feelings about such a thing. He was so close. His face was so close to hers she could see the faint light glisten off those black tears of his but no light in his eyes at all. His lips were so close to hers-

WHAM!!

Lavi's powerful hammer smashed him down into floor at Lenalee's feet, right where he belonged.

"LENALEE! You okay!?"

Jumping away, trying to put distance between her and the strange, frightening foe. "*cough cough * Yea. I'm fine *cough where'd he go.

Lavi was by her side looking around the room. There was no sign of him. He hadn't come up from under the sea of blood.

"Did I get him?" Lavi asked unsure of his own statement.

It was than that Lenalee noticed something. "What happened to finder Finnigan's body?"

It was true the body was no where to be found. Was it beneath the blood?

They were too busy with such concerns to notice the blood covered hand which slowly crept up out of the pool behind Lavi until it had grabbed his collar and yanked him under the red, reflective surface.

"LAVI!!"

It was too late. He was gone and the blood level had started to rise again with increased fervor. It was now above Lenalee's chest. The pungent smell overpowered her senses. The coppery, iron taste had gotten in her mouth as she swished through the thick life giving liquid. It was so difficult to move in it.

"LAVI!!" She screamed again in hopes of somehow getting a response. She didn't even need to get a response. Just any kind of sign that he was okay.

Her answer was a deafening crack as blood exploded out and upwards. Someone was sent exploding out of the blood and careening until he smashed through the wall leading into the next room. He had been on the receiving end of Lavi's powerful hammer attack.

Said redhead appeared a moment after. Coming up from underneath coughing and sputtering. He was completely stained a crude red. He looked horrific in such a state.

Gasping for breath as he tried to ready his body for the next attack.

"Lena *cough * Lee. *cough cough * get out through *gasp * that hole quick. Take Tim with you. Jiji and I will-"

Lavi was tackled by a blur of motion. Falling backwards into the morbid pool with something sounding like a splash as red droplets were sent everywhere. The enemy Noah was holding Lavi underneath the pool of blood. Suffocating him.

Lenalee was kick to kick him off Lavi and send him flying against another wall. She flew after him to follow up her attack but her kick had been caught by this brown haired Noah.

"Just like all girls. A prude."

With that he threw her with tremendous force through the hole in the wall leading to the second floor. She collided with a few other walls and continued through more rooms until she came to a rolling stop.

Getting up off the floor slowly, being careful for any injuries she might have obtained as she did so. Feeling she was alright as the wooden debris fell off her back as she stood up straight. She had to get back. She had to save Lavi and the others. She had to hurry!

With these thoughts giving her the adrenaline boost to ignore the pain she rushed back through the broken and splintered holes her body had created. But when she arrived the room they had been in was completely empty!

There was no one! No pool of blood! All that was left was the dining table and the red stains that had soaked into the floor and table.

This is impossible! Where did everyone go?

Lenalee heart stopped for a moment as she dreaded the worst.

"Lavi!...Timothy!...Bookman! Hello! Anyone!"

Nothing. Only the echo of her voice bouncing through the room and empty corridors of the manor.

Lenalee looked hard for any kind of sign as to where the others had went or even where that Noah had gone. There were no clues. The doors were now open but she could find no sign of anyone. She was scared. Not for herself but for the others. She was afraid that she had failed. That another piece of her world had been destroyed. Another part of her life had been taken from her again. She couldn't stand these thoughts. They swelled up inside her and as hard as she tried she couldn't escape them. She put them to the side though.

I have to be strong. I'll find them. I know I will.

Lenalee choose a door and began to search the manor. Moving further and further into the depths of the house.

The dusty corridors seem to stretch into infinity. She would call out for her companions on occasion but she would get no reply.

Until she turned a corner and came upon an ballroom hall. At least that's what she figured it was based on the black and white marble flooring and marble staircase in the back of the room. Like something out of a fairytale had it not been so dirty and dreary.

What captured her attention was someone moving towards the staircase. His back was turned to her. He was wearing a suit and a top hat. Yet that hair. That hair was unmistakable.

"A..Allen!?" She called out horsely and in disbelief.

He turned and it was indeed Allen. He looked at her and smiled that smile that only he could give. That seemed to light up her life and give her hope.

"Hello Lenalee."

She couldn't believe it. It was really him. Before she even knew what she was doing she had run up to him with joyous tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around him in a hug she cried tears of joy into his shoulder. He hugged her back.

"Oh my god Allen. I was so worried about you. Are you okay?"

"Lenalee I'm so happy to see you. And I'm fine. But what's the matter?"

"What's the matter!? I've...we've all been so worried about you! Where have you been. We thought something happened to you. There seemed like there was something wrong with you but you wouldn't let me in and then you just disappeared one day. Why wouldn't I be worried. I'm just so happy to see your alright. But what are you doing here?"

Allen wiped away her tears gently as he held her. She could see he was very happy to see her.

"That's all very complicated but I'll tell you all about it. You're right. There had been something wrong. I'd been thinking a lot about life. About what I was doing. Most importantly I had been thinking about Mana."

"What about your father Allen?"

Allen eyes seemed to show confusion then as he held her in his arms. With concern in his voice he said "What are you talking about. Mana was my younger brother."

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Next Time: Words are shared and hearts are poured open. But once all that is done these things cannot be undone. And things can never be taken back nor go back to the way they once were.

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