Link woke up to the sound of a golem ringing frantically. He blinked the sleep from his eyes, rubbing away at his face. The others were still asleep, most notably Kanda, who was sleeping sitting up next to Eve. He sighed to himself as he managed to haul himself over to the golem. He'd sent that message to Headquarters nearly twelve hours ago. It shouldn't have taken this long for it to get back. He was more peeved than anything else. Order bureaucracy was absolutely terrible. You had to fill out forms in triplicate just to use the bathroom, some days. He clicked the transmission button, and he asked, "Yes? Link Howard speaking." There were quiet sobs on the other end, and Link immediately felt lead fill his stomach. Sweat slicked his palms, and he could already tell that this wasn't going to be good.

"This is... is Lily Camden speaking, uh... Link, is that you? I have... unfortunate news." Lily sounded very distressed. Link couldn't imagine what could possibly shake the indomitable Lily. Any number of things could be happening at that moment.

"Is Evan okay?" Link asked, knowing that would probably be high on the list of things that could go wrong. The Texan wasn't above kidnapping children. Of course, whether he harmed them or not was up for debate. Lily took a deep, shuddering breath, and she stated, "No, no, Evan... Evan is fine. Link, Mr. Lee is dead." The news was delivered so efficiently and so without inflection that Link almost didn't believe it. However, the tremor in Lily's next words convinced him otherwise.

"He was found with a gunshot wound through the skull. The forensics department say it was suicide, but I don't believe that. He left two notes on his desk, one for me and one for Lenalee," Lily stated quietly, finally getting her voice back in control. Link rubbed his eyes, biting his lip as he thought of the implications. He was too late. Their message hadn't been delivered fast enough. It was obvious from Lily's tone that she didn't believe this was a suicide, and Link knew for a fact that it wasn't. The Texan had managed to get to him. And, if Komui had been his first target, that meant that Lavi might be next. He was the next person with the most knowledge besides Bookman, and the Texan was going to hit targets on their availability rather than their exact order of importance.

Link was honestly surprised that he'd been left out of the proceedings so far.

"Lily, how much do you know has been going on?" he asked. Lily was quiet. She finally stated, "Absolutely nothing. I have no idea."

"Good. Then stay where you are, and take Evan home with you. We may be gone for a lot longer than we expected." If this was how things were going to be, it may be months before everything was sorted out. That was, if Eve and Kanda had months. With the way that Eve was deteriorating, that was obviously not the case. Oddly enough, Kanda seemed to be holding on longer and better than Eve, despite his condition showing itself much sooner. Then again, Eve's condition had been going on for much, much, much longer...

"Link? What's going on?"

"It's best that you not know. I'm trying to keep you safe, Ms. Lily. I apologize about Mr. Lee's death. I recognize you were... close," Link said, expressing real regret. The last few days of Komui's life had been a little brighter than usual, filled with a childlike glee that they hadn't seen in months. Link had the idea that Ms. Lily had a lot to do with that shift. There had been rumors before he left that they'd gone out for dinner for a night. He'd been thinking that it was about time that Komui settled down and started a family, but obviously this was no longer going to be the case.

"Yes... Well... alright. I'll be sure to keep an eye on Evan. Please do stay safe. Would you inform... inform Ms. Lee of the current situation?"

Oh dear Lord, what was Link going to say to Lenalee? The girl would break. With the pressure already pushing on her about her friends and their condition, hearing about the death of her brother may send her over the deep end. She'd already gone to therapy multiple times to deal with certain aspects of the last missions she'd gone on. She'd just begun recovering.

"Yes. I will."

"What current situation?"

Link nearly jumped out of his skin as Lenalee walked over. She must've woken up at the sound of their talking. She obviously didn't know what they were talking about, but she had a worried look on her face that told him she knew something wasn't right.

Link swallowed slowly, and he answered, "Keep in touch, Lily. Tell us what you can."

"Of course."

The line clicked shut. The silence was thick as Link tried to think of what they should do. Finally, he told Lenalee, "Go wake everyone up. We need to have an emergency meeting."

Link looked at everybody, eyeing their expressions. Allen looked groggy, no doubt tired from having to use the Ark, and Kanda looked disgruntled as always. Chaoji and Bookman didn't seem worse for wear, though Bookman wore an expression that nearly shouted worry. Obviously he thought this was probably about his apprentice. Eve was asleep - they couldn't risk interrupting her rest. And Lenalee, of course, looked uneasy. Link took a large breath as he tried to compose himself.

"I am... sorry to inform you that... Komui Lee is dead," Link said slowly, his voice reverberating around the room. Everyone was shocked into silence. Even Kanda looked taken aback. Allen was the first to break the silence.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his gray eyes tightening. Link lowered his head, bangs falling in front of his face. The grief was still fresh, so fresh that a numbness had replaced any actual feeling. He knew that later, it would hit him full force, but for now it was kept at bay by the suddenness of the news.

"Yes. I just got word from Lily. This means that the hitman is moving faster than we thought, and he has more resources than we'd anticipated. Getting to Komui could not have been easy. The forensic team said suicide -"

"It wasn't suicide. My brother wouldn't - couldn't - kill himself," Lenalee suddenly said with trembling steel. Her eyes were filling with tears, spilling over on to her cheeks. Her hands shook, and she angrily wiped the tears away as she spat, "He had plenty of opportunities earlier in the war to off himself, but he chose not to. I don't see why he would've done it now, not when he was so... so close to the end of all this. It had to be murder." Allen put an arm around her shoulder, and she held his hand tightly, looking into her lap. Even Kanda appeared to be contemplating some sort of show of support for the young woman as she suddenly dissolved into tears. The sound of crying bounced around the chamber.

"What do we do now?" Kanda asked. It was surprising to hear such a question come out of Kanda's mouth. He was usually the one to take charge and find the best solution. The years had humbled him, obviously, but so had his condition. He knew they needed an expert.

"Find a way to fix you and Eve, obviously. And hide you. They won't stop until you're dead," Bookman stated. "Organizations have gotten rid of members for less than your transgression - that being your very existence." Kanda crossed his arms. Link noted that he was looking much better since the last time he'd seen him, though the silver streaks in his hair spoke volumes about the havoc being wreaked on his body by his deterioration. He was still stiff as an old man, moving slowly and carefully. He moved like Eve these days - with great thought to every action.

"And what exactly is it about our existence that's made them so antsy?" Kanda asked, his tone turning defensive and gruff. Link immediately bristled at the man's indignation. It was a habit that had refused to die. Link and Kanda had never been the best of friends.

"The Evening Star Project and the Second Exorcist Programs were, quite frankly, embarrassments. They figured you'd both die out eventually, and their problems would be solved. Now it's clear that that's not the case, and Eve must be getting close to figuring out some sort of treatment for the both of you. Now they're getting nervous again. Everyone who'd been a part of those projects are either dead or paid off, and obviously just about everyone involved with the Second Exorcist Program is no longer among the living," Link explained, noting the wince Kanda made at the last comment. He hated to drive it home so hard, but it was true. As much as they didn't like to talk about it, anybody and everybody from the Second Exorcist Program had died at Alma's hand, and it was only Kanda's luck and skill that had saved him from the same fate.

"What is the Evening Star Project, anyways? Everyone keeps talking about it, but I haven't foggiest idea of what it is," Allen asked with a deep sigh. Lenalee was still recovering from her bout of sobbing, and she looked significantly better now that they had a different topic to focus on.

"Yes, that's been bugging me, too. I was too young to understand what it was whenever I was a young girl. Komui was helping with it, I think," Lenalee offered, and Link nodded. He glanced over Kanda's shoulder, eyeing the sleeping woman who was restlessly moving about. Link honestly couldn't tell them what it was in detail. He knew he'd explained the very gist of it at the hospital.

"I can shed some light on this, then," Bookman stated. They stared at the aging clan leader, almost holding their breath. It seemed that the great secret was about to be revealed. Even Link didn't know the whole story, and a small, intelligent part of him was saying that he didn't want to, either. Kanda was especially tense. This was the beginning of his own story, after all. From this experiment, the Second Exorcist Project was made possible. Not to mention, Eve's enigma might finally be solved.

"The Evening Star project started several years before the Second Exorcist Project began. Their aim was a full body transplant of a person, in this case Eve Rothschild, the adopted daughter of Dr. Rothschild, who was the parent of the organization. The aim was immortality - Eve was a woman who was almost thirty years old, yet her body was physiologically trapped at seven or eight years of age. People with that disorder don't live for very long," Bookman explained. Kanda's eyes flickered behind him to the sleeping woman he'd had to put up with for the past couple of months. She sure didn't look like she was seven or eight...

Obviously, with more to the story, Bookman continued, "The project was long and ongoing, and the magic used as the means towards the end was... less than holy. Their early attempts were not very good. The experiments almost always regressed into just a mass of cells. Eventually, they managed to keep together the entire human, but after about two months the newly formed human began to show signs of decay and rapid dissolution. The average shelf life was only a few months. At this stage, Eve and Dr. Rothschild began to grow frantic. Eve had not been able to find a good vessel to transplant into, and she was dying.

"So, in a last ditch effort, they tried something different. Rather than use Eve's own cells as the basal clone cells, they took dead ones from her sister, with whom Eve had an obsession. Eve's sister, Ruth, had died early in life, sometime in her twenties, and it had been Eve's idea to use her body cells. That clone was kept for a longer period of time inside of the incubation tank. It took a lot of magic and a lot of science to get it to work, but by proving that it could be done, the Second Exorcist Program was also born at the same time. A successful clone was finally created, one who looked almost identical to Eve's sister, Ruth."

Bookman took a break, staring at the ground. His face looked pensive, almost sad, as he considered his next words. Link felt dread settle in his gut. He may not have known the particulars of how or why the Evening Star Project had started, but he certainly knew how it had ended.

It was not a happy ending.

"And what happened after that?" Allen asked quietly, his hushed voice echoing in the wide, stone chamber. Bookman clasped his hands in his lap.

"In late January of that year, the entirety of the project's aim was made known to the Vatican, and the Vatican, who'd sanctioned the project, immediately called for its liquidation. Immortality was taboo, completely and utterly. Though Eve was trying to save her own life, she had had plans to create more and more bodies, held in reserve by preserving them with spells, in order to continually transplant herself whenever she had reached the end of her current body's lifespan. She was a bright woman - so bright, in fact, that Eve almost surpassed Dr. Rothschild as a physician and researcher. However, brightness does not equal foresight," Bookman stated wearily. He looked to Link, and the young man straightened in his chair.

"I can finish the rest," Howard said, knowing that Bookman's voice must be tired from so much talking. Aware of the eyes riveted to him, he quickly started in on his own section of the tale.

"The CROW were dispatched to the project's location in order to apprehend those working on it and to destroy all clones still being created. At the time, clones were considered less than people. We had no idea that they possessed such... humanlike qualities. No offense to you, Kanda."

The answer was a swift hand signal that would be familiar in New York at rush hour.

"Anyhow... as the CROW began dispatching the clones, we realized that we had not found either Dr. Rothschild or Eve. When they finally found the two, the scene was... confusing. It appeared that there had been a transplant done, but we were not sure if it had happened or not. Eve and the clone that was supposed to be her body were both on the floor. The doctor was found separate from the two. Dr. Rothschild had been killed by his own creations; we found him torn apart in the clone pens. They found that Eve Rothschild was dead after a cursory medical check, and the clone was still alive. Both their skulls had been capped at some point, and then the skulls were replaced and healed by magic," Link said, pausing for breath. It was a sordid story. Link himself had not been there, but he'd known CROW who had. The massacre - that was the word that he'd used, "massacre" - was a lesson in brutality.

"The clone had lost all memory of who she was or who she was supposed to be. If she is Eve Rothschild, she has no memory of her time in her last body. If she is not, she is merely using the name as a convenient handle. Her body has held up for a good thirty years or so, stuck at about age twenty-five. Now, the body is deteriorating. That is why she needs you, Kanda," Link finished, gesturing to the Japanese Exorcist. His eyes revealed none of the emotions cycling within him, and Link had not expected them to give up their depths.

"What does this mean for us, though? Why would someone want to kill Komui over something like this?" Chaoji asked quietly. There was a heavy silence.

"Loose ends. That's all. Komui contributed some of his skills during the Second Exorcist programs. It would have looked like he'd arranged this whole debacle. Two of the Vatican's failures meet at the same time; eventually someone's going to draw a conclusion. There are particular cardinals who'd kill to keep it quiet. This would look very... compromising," Link sighed sadly. It was terrible that someone had to die just for church politics, especially someone as ironically impartial as Komui.

"We will be hunted. That is why I suggest we hide in the Indian Sub-continent. We will still be able to conduct research while staying under the protection of the Indian branch. They are loyal to their own. I have a few contacts," Bookman grumbled in low tones. "Besides, Eve needs medical attention, something that we, quite frankly, cannot give in a detailed sense."

"We can leave tomorrow at first light. Allen, you been to India before?" Link asked, and Allen suddenly went into a dark stupor.

"Master... elephants... a mallet..." he grumbled, hoping to jog Link's memory. The CROW's eyes widened, and he coughed politely into his fist. Ah, yes, uh, his experiences had been... unfavorable. Lenalee gently coaxed Allen out of the circle to go to bed before he blew an artery, and it seemed like a silent cue had gone out. The group disbanded for their respective bunks, their thoughts roiling in each of their minds.

Laughter resounded, and Kanda's eyes flashed open. He quickly sat up, soon regretting the action as his back creaked in protest. He really was getting to be like an old man. He rubbed his face, trying to find the source of the noise. It was incongruous with the black news they'd received yesterday, and Kanda shivered as he realized that he was freezing. More and more often, he noticed that his extremities were going numb, and he was cold all of the time. Eve had explained it to him - something about poor circulation.

Speaking of whom, he looked over next to him. She was still asleep, looking uncertain and vulnerable. She twitched in her sleep, muttering under her breath now and again. Kanda's sleep had been mostly undisturbed, but it was clear that Eve had night demons to contend with. He thought of waking her, but he thought better of it.

However, he didn't need to wake her. Her eyes slowly opened, staring at him almost apprehensively. Her breathing quickened as she woke, and very slowly she began to sit up. Her back creaked, and Kanda could hear every crack of bone. He winced, knowing he himself sounded like a Chinese firecracker going off every time he got out of bed.

"Hi," was all she said.

Kanda grunted back.

The silence lasted a little longer as Eve sat there, staring at her hands. For what seemed like an eternity, the silence dragged on. Laughter resounded again, the high pitched tenor of a young boy reverberating on the walls. Kanda's head whipped around, looking for the noise despite the fact he knew it no longer existed, besides in the annals of his own mind. He took a deep breath.

"You're hearing them too, aren't you?" Eve asked quietly. Kanda didn't answer.

"It seems like it gets louder every day," Eve confided as she drew her knees to her chest. She stared out across the open expanse of the womb room. She gave a dark chuckle.

"Sometimes, I wonder if its my sisters laughing at me... or if it's the clones who never made it. Sometimes they went down that way. Laughing," Eve stated, her voice petering out at the end. Kanda finally turned to look at her. Tears were dripping down her face slowly, as if she were a leaky faucet would only allow a drop at a time. Her facial expression never changed from that odd, dissonant look of serenity. It was as if she were a vacant statue in the rain.

"They told you. About me," she said haltingly. Kanda continued to stare at her, not willing to mouth a single word. She continued.

"I don't even know who I am, Kanda. I don't know if I'm Eve Rothschild, the woman who'd killed the person who was basically her sister, or Genetic Experiment 4837, the clone who'd killed the person who was supposed to take her body. I can't remember anything besides confusion," she whispered, her voice catching in her throat, a rare sign of emotion.

"If what they say is true, you're almost fifty years old," Kanda stated. If the Evening Star project had happened before the Second Apostle Program, she had to be at least forty. She still looked as if she were in the prime of life, but the lines in her face and the decimated mess of her arm spoke of the deterioration wreaking havoc on the inside.

Eve was quiet. She didn't answer. Unlike Kanda, who was biologically only sixteen years old, Eve had lived what could be described as a fairly long life, at least for her sort.

But, then again, she had supplemented her youth. Medication had kept the breakdown at bay. Now, it was rushing her with the force of a tsunami. Kanda did not have the luxury of experience and longevity. If anything, his situation was more heartrending.

"When I finally awoke, it had been twenty years since the project began," Eve sighed. "I was in a state of stasis. I could do that again, maybe lengthen my life until someone could find a treatment, but..." She looked at him guiltily. Kanda had figured she would've thought about doing that once or twice, but the little sense of honor she had begged to differ. She would be sentencing Kanda to death on a very slim chance at recovery.

"Could I be put in stasis?" Kanda asked. Eve looked down at her hands again. The fingernails of one hand were almost completely gone. A bloody tooth lay next to her bed roll, no doubt spat out right after her spasm.

"I have no idea. Even if we did go into stasis, there is no guarantee that someone will wake us back up. We'd be sitting ducks besides," Eve stated, business-like. This was a topic she was more familiar with. Kanda figured it was safe for him too. No messy emotions to deal with.

"Did you find anything from my corpse?" Kanda asked seriously, staring at her. She shrugged.

"I didn't have a chance to truly study it. It was incredibly well-preserved, I'll give it that. Hopefully, Bookman had it wrapped up again. I'd hate to have such a good specimen decaying - no offense," Eve said quickly, realizing that she was talking about, specifically, Kanda's dead body. He didn't give it any thought, though. Still, it was odd to know that he had once been a completely different person.

There was a knock on a pillar, and both looked up. Chaoji stood nervously to the side, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two as if gauging what they were doing, whether it be amorous conversation to heated debate to flippant snarking. Realizing it was safe, Chaoji said, "We're ready to leave now. Allen's got everything packed, and the gate should be open soon. We'll be taking the, uh... the specimen with us."

The Chinese man's eyes flickered nervously to Kanda as he made mention of the cadaver they were taking with them. Eve paid it no mind, and she nodded, business as usual.

"I won't need a stretcher, but I will need to keep off food for a while, at least until my stomach lining can grow back. Kanda and I also must take our usual treatment. Hopefully, Bookman has a few healing spells up his sleeve," Eve said, slowly getting to her feet. She motioned for Kanda to stand, and the other man did so rather painfully. Both of them looked like arthritic geriatrics. Kanda winced as he heard his knee pop.

"Well, no time like the present. Let's get moving," Eve stated.

India was muggier than he remembered. It was made even worse by the fact that he was wearing women's clothing.

"Trust me, it will probably save your life. If there's anything that the Indians are uncomfortable looking at, it's an invalid woman. If the shoe fits, wear it," Link muttered to him as the blonde CROW member spurred on their two oxen. The medical equipment was hidden under a myriad of tarps, guarded over by the ever vigilant Chaoji, and Allen and Lenalee had taken safety precautions by splitting from the main group. Eve, of course, was also dressed in the same garb as Kanda, and the two of them huddled near the medical equipment, pretending to be in pain.

They really didn't have to pretend. The bumpy road played havoc on all of their joints. It was as if every pothole they went over seemed to reach to the center of the earth, they bounced so high. Kanda could swear he'd felt his hip socket split when they'd hit massive hole in Delhi.

"How much farther?" Kanda grumbled for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

"Patience," Link rumbled back ominously, keeping his eyes peeled. Kanda sank lower into his many, many layers of clothes. He felt like he was melting. His heart was racing already because of the adrenaline racing through his system from fear of capture, and he was sweating like a bad cheese in a hot, French kitchen. His stomach felt like it was attempting to escape through his belly button, and he couldn't stand the smells effervescing around him. Manure, bad fruit, and the smell of human bodies reached his nose as they entered yet another town, and Kanda's stomach growled in protest.

"You'd better not throw up on me," Eve spat.

"You're not worth throwing up on," Kanda countered vehemently as he tried to keep his stomach under control. However, he did see something out of the corner of his eye, something anomalous to their surroundings...

"Link, at your four o' clock, do you see anything weird?" Kanda asked, ducking his head deeper into his scratchy, wool hood. For the love of Peter, it was hot!

"What are you - That's a CROW member. How did they find us so fast?" Link muttered under his breath, spurring on the oxen. They lumbered faster, going from a snail's trot to a turtle's canter. It seemed to take an eternity just to switch lanes. They had to weave between other carts, people walking through the streets with their wares, and beggars waylaying others in their bid for alms.

"Does it really matter how they found us? Just get us out of here," Kanda ordered rather brusquely, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword. Deteriorating or not, Kanda could still take a CROW member full-on. However, whether or not he'd come back in one piece was another question.

"What's going on?" Eve asked with a touch of real concern in her voice. Kanda shook his head.

"Just stay down and out of sight. It's nothing." The CROW that had been trailing them disappeared into the myriad of people, and Kanda felt apprehension tickle the back of his neck.

"Hurry it up. He just disappeared. I think he's on to us," Kanda muttered.

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Link wondered, though he did speed up.

"Who is the most likely to dispatch a rogue Exorcist at the behest of the Vatican? It certainly isn't one of the few Exorcists back at base," Kanda conjectured as he kept his eyes out for the CROW. His face was mostly covered by a shawl and hood, but his eyes weren't exactly easy to hide. Most Indians were dark-eyed as it was, but Kanda's eyes were pieces of gray-black jet set into his face. Of course, with the onset of his deterioration, his eyes were now cloudy, and perhaps that would mask the color.

"I'm surprised you managed to catch something like that from so far away. Your eyesight hasn't been the best," Link noted rather sardonically. Kanda winced. Upon their leaving, Kanda had walked smack-dab into a metal exercise bar right outside. The worst thing about it was that he was less than five inches away before turning and hitting it. He was lucky he hadn't broken his nose. Allen had nearly died laughing.

"I can't read things up close. So sue me," Kanda said. He rubbed his arm, feeling goosebumps.

And then, suddenly, his stomach began to royally misbehave. The man sank deeper into his seat. He knew he should've eaten anything but the curry!

"Um... we might need to stop," Kanda groaned miserably. Chaoji glanced back in confusion.

"But we just got going and the traffic's -"

"We really should stop." Kanda's already-pale skin had turned so white, he was nearly green. Eve was giving him worrying looks as she scooted to the other side of the cart.

"I think we should do as he says," Eve suggested hesitantly. Kanda held his hand in front of his mouth with a grim look of determination, and everyone aboard the wagon tried to contain their sudden dread. No way were they going to go riding another couple hours in a wagon that smelled like puke!

Ten minutes later, they'd stopped at a ditch by the road, and Kanda leaned over it, dry heaving. He'd evacuated all of the contents of his stomach, and it was continuing to revolt against him. In fact, if he hadn't known better he would've thought it was climbing out his esophagus at this point. Chaoji was watching over him as Link parked their cart around the corner. Kanda stood back up, leaning backwards with his hands on his hips, turning his head to the sky. It never rains, but it pours.

"Are you like this... all the time?" Chaoji asked hesitantly. Kanda looked at him from the corner of his eye, and his left eyelid twitched.

"Yes," he stated, disgruntled. Chaoji quickly averted his gaze as Kanda leaned back over and dry heaved.

When he was done, Kanda wiped his mouth quickly. He motioned for Chaoji to lead them back to the cart, and the Chinese man dutifully began to part the crowd. Kanda ducked his head, hiding under the thick darkness of his hood. Every step was agony to his stomach, but he had to keep going. Even though his joints felt like they were on fire and that the split in his leg was growing wider where'd broken the thing off, he had to continue walking to the cart. Once there, he could at least have some peace sitting down - at least, until the next pothole.

And, suddenly, Kanda was once again on the battlefield. Something inside of him, an instinct or an intuition, seemed to flip on. His body stiffened as he straightened up, his back popping as the vertebrae snapped together.

Quicker than Kanda thought he could move, his sword snapped out of its sheath, flashing around the crowds of people, and finally reaching its destination flat against the blade of a CROW.

Their eyes locked for a moment as Kanda's arm shook from the sheer force it took to keep their blades locked and steady. The crowd wandered around them without even noticing the altercation. Their blades were down low, out of sight against each other. Sweat dripped down Kanda's forehead and into his eyes, plastering his hair to his face. The CROW was dressed in standard Indian garb, blending in with the crowd.

"There are more of us," he said, his kohl-lined eyes unblinking. The CROW tried to extricate his knife, but to no avail. Kanda was too strong and too fast, even in his generally weakened state. However, his strength was waning. Though Kanda shifted to dodge the next strike, he very nearly let it get through his guard. Kanda smacked the back of the CROW's hand with the flat of his blade, and the knife jittered into the street. Several women screamed.

"We are everywhere," the CROW stated, his left hand flashing out with another knife, and Kanda blocked it with his hilt. The knife flashed again, and it went around Kanda. For that crucial few seconds, he lost sight of it. Already, he'd grabbed the sheath, bringing it up for a parry, but he was already being hauled out of the crowd by an unseen adversary. He flailed and thrashed, but the person who'd grabbed him was too strong. He was being carried through the crowd with the ease of sack of flour.

Suddenly, he was deposited at Link's feet, and Link lifted him into the cart like he was a toddler. It took Kanda several minutes to realize that he'd just been carried by a large Chinese sailor rather than another CROW. Thank God for that - not many men could pick up and cart Kanda off so easily. It was better to have him on their side than on the other.

"Come on, we gotta get going. We've switched the oxen for horses. The CROW are definitely on our tail," Link said. Kanda scoffed.

"No kidding. I just got in a fight with one," Kanda stated.

"CROW are here?" Eve asked, her voice suddenly falling flat. Her eyes seemed to glaze over, and Kanda nodded. Eve herself was a good fighter, maybe even capable of bringing down a CROW by herself, but no way she could do it in her state. Kanda had barely managed one.

"How are Allen, Bookman, and Lenalee?" Kanda asked. They had actually taken his original corpse back with them by another route. No use putting all their eggs in one basket. Besides that, Kanda was afraid for Lenalee's mental welfare. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet these past few hours, but with the death of her brother it was to be expected. Still, Kanda was afraid of what she'd do to herself. Lenalee had a habit of being... self-destructive in times of very, very high stress.

The world began to tilt very suddenly, and Kanda felt like his breathing was getting a little rough.

"They're fine. We should be in the Sub-order's headquarters within - Kanda? Kanda, are you all right?"

"Oh, Lord. He's bleeding out. His femoral artery's snipped, he's bleeding to death!"

"Chaoji, grab the reins and get us out of here before more CROW find us. Wait - no, I'll stay behind and fight them off! Eve, stop the bleeding!"

"W-where do I go?! I don't know where the headquarters is!"

Everything was happening at what seemed like the speed of light. Kanda's eyesight continued to go in and out. He stared at Eve as she shoved a scarf against the inside of his leg, and everything went fuzzy as pain lanced all the way up his leg and into his midsection.

"Hey... hey, big guy, stay with me here. Just look at me- come on, focus! Don't go out on me - Kanda... Kanda, you stay with me, you son of...!"

The earth spun and turned black.

A/N: I have decided to continue this story despite the fact that it has so many snarls. Seeing as I had so many people interesting in seeing a continuation (as well as an ending to it), it will continue. Hopefully, you all enjoy reading it over your thanksgiving break (if you have one).

Now, I do have one problem: I didn't do enough research when I started this story. Not to mention, it was all published prior to Kanda's Arc being completely finished, so a lot of the pieces don't exactly add up. I sincerely apology for the snags.

I also have some discussion questions: Is it likely that Kanda will die in India? Do you think they are safe there, despite the fact that they are staying with the Order? Who are you hoping to see in the story as it continues? What other symptoms do you think should be apparent at this point in the story? What are your feelings on Eve's story - is it too central to the story? Or is it a good explanation for Eve's motives? Do you think that Eve, as an OC, is annoying or unnecessary to the story?

That's all I've got for right now! Have a happy Thanksgiving! Eat slowly, and don't choke on a bone! God bless you, and keep reading.