Cross My Heart

Author's Note: Hello friends! I know it's been a bit since my last update, so very sorry for not posting sooner! Life is...crazy. Like you guys don't already know that! Oh well, please enjoy, and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I've got more free time!

Also, thanks to author12306 and Guest for your reviews!

Chapter 25: Moral Ascendancy

Komui stared at the map tacked up on the wall behind his desk. Sokaro, Cloud Nine, and Tiedoll stood alongside the Chinese supervisor with their eyes glued to the product of their three months of constant missions. The three present generals were tense with apprehension. Cloud Nine was without Lau Jimin for the first time in a very long time, and she was restlessly drumming her fingers against the shoulder the monkey-like Innocence usually perked on. Tiedoll appeared to be examining the marked up map, but his eyes were unfocused and wandering too much to be attentive to any details. Sokaro was absolutely still on Tiedoll's left with a blank expression on his face as he stared at the map. There were many black "X" marks on different cities across the world map, but three areas were circled in thick red ink. One was the Greek coast, another was the Russian wilderness, and the last was the heart of China. Only one last area of the map was clean of any ink: Jordan and the desert surrounding it. There was a sharp knock on the door then Bridget stepped inside the office.

"Supervisor, General Bellerose is on her way from the Ark gate," Bridget said from the hallway.

"Thank you, Bridget. As soon as we finish talking to Chloe, you can come back inside." Komui heard the door click shut in response, and he let out a tired sigh while passing a hand over his face. A second knock sounded then Chloe strode purposefully into Komui's office. As the youngest general made her way toward Komui's desk, the Chinese scientist took in the red head's surprisingly disheveled appearance. Chloe's clothes were caked with dirt, dried blood, and sand, and her skin was covered in a light dusting of sand, bruises, and tan. Even her ponytail was drooping tiredly over one shoulder to complete her "just arrived from a long, top-secret mission" look. Chloe reached into her pants pocket for a pen as she stopped in front of the map, and after a moment of hesitation, the red head drew an "X" over the city of Jordan and another, larger "X" half-way down the river leading out of the city. She then drew a large circle around the desert neighboring Jordan before turning around to face the adults.

"The whole desert is filled with akuma and plenty of places for them to hide," Chloe stated grimly. "The only way we'll be able to set up a base camp is to send in an initial attack like we talked about for the other three areas."

"Was there any sign of the Noah clan in the city or the desert?" Cloud Nine asked.

"Nothing visible, but there was a lingering sensation I couldn't explain at the edge of the city."

"It seems we don't have as much time to prepare the other exorcists as we thought," Tiedoll said.

"What do we do now?" Komui had to ask.

"The question should be where do we attack first?" Sokaro broke in suddenly. "We can divide and conquer, or we can attack individual places as a whole group. We can't do both with our numbers."

"Neither plan is desirable." Cloud Nine let her hand drop from her shoulder so she could cross her arms. "There is no good plan, is there?"

"What if we—,"

"Sir, you cannot go in there right now."

"And why not? Stand aside, Secretary Bridget."

Komui started toward the map to pull it down, but Tiedoll held the scientist back. The curly-haired general then motioned for Chloe to get the door as the interjection from outside reached screech level. "Ms. Bridget, it's okay for the inspector to come in," Chloe said from the doorway. "We appreciate your help, but he will force himself inside one way or another. We'll let him in before he starts trying to take your job too." With that, the youngest general turned away from whatever scene was happening outside the office and returned to her place by the map. Inspector Leverrier made his way inside and closed the door behind him.

"What were you saying, Chloe?" Tiedoll picked up right where the conversation left off.

"What if we had a way to do both? Attack several places at once as a group?"

"You can do that?" Komui asked.

"Not alone. I would need Miranda's and Allen's help—,"

"Out of the question," Leverrier said firmly from the door. The four generals and Komui exchanged a glance as the inspector continued talking. "The Fourteenth's abilities are not for use without Central's command."

"Allen isn't the Fourteenth yet, and Chloe can control him should anything happen," Cloud Nine countered with a frown. Chloe nodded when Leverrier's attention suddenly settled on her.

"That's not possible without wards." The inspector smirked smugly. He was waiting for the moment the generals had to ask him for help with their plan, and judging by the exasperated expressions on the five exhausted faces watching him, he was about to succeed.

"I've read General Cross's notes about his encounters with the Noah and the Earl. Since our sorcery is similar in nature, I can use his techniques to keep Allen in control should the Fourteenth try to take over." Chloe did her best to keep her expression neutral as Leverrier stared her down. It was a bit of a stretch to say that she knew exactly how to control a Noah, but she did know how to mentally slap one enough to buy some time.

"Tell me the plan and I'll do my best to get it approved by Central," Leverrier said when he realized intimidation wasn't going to work. Surprisingly, the generals and their supervisor had excellent poker faces.

"We don't have a plan yet, but when we do, we'll make sure to inform you, Inspector," Tiedoll said with sarcasm lacing his tone. "Chloe just got back, and the world doesn't seem to be ending yet, so we can afford to let her get some rest before we sit down to plan a formal operation." Tiedoll smiled when Komui, Sokaro, and Cloud Nine nodded in agreement to his suggestion. "It's settled then. We'll meet tomorrow after Chloe feels sufficiently rested. I'm famished. Cloud Nine, can I accompany you and Winters to the Cafeteria?"

"For once I don't mind that," Sokaro said with a gruff chuckle. Cloud Nine rolled her eyes and followed obediently after the two male generals as they exited the office. Komui turned to Chloe as tense silence fell over the office, and the red head nodded once at her supervisor before turning around to start pulling the marked up map from the wall. Chloe rolled the map up then walked up to Komui with her free hand outstretched. Komui took her hand and shook it with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Thanks for all your hard work, Supervisor Komui." Chloe smiled brightly despite her exhaustion, and Komui felt the red head slip something into his sleeve prior to withdrawing her hand back to her side. "I'll see you tomorrow." The red slipped out of the office without another word, leaving Komui alone with Inspector Leverrier. Komui slowly turned his attention to the inspector and found the man stabbing holes in the desk with his dark glare.

"I have a meeting with the Science Department, Inspector. Feel free to leave at your leisure." Komui took that moment to duck out of his office before the inspector could digest what had been said.

News never failed to travel at light speed through Headquarters. Someone always seemed to be watching the public areas for any romantic, scandalous, significant, or embarrassing events. The gossip of late centered on the Generals' "secret solo missions" and the lack missions for the other eleven exorcists. There were various rumors going around the building, especially with eleven cooped up and restless exorcists adding fuel to the fire out of sheer boredom. One especially fantastic tale involved Central using the Generals to hunt down a certain inspector for getting into the company wine and abusing his Ark "privileges" for nefarious purposes. Marie had his doubts about that particular story, but he still chuckled in amusement when he heard another group adding their own edits to the rumor. However, for two days in a row, the rumor mill had run rather dry, and Marie was surprised to find none of the usual groups chattering away through the building. So the blind exorcist listened with rapt attention when the murmuring started up again in the Cafeteria while he was eating lunch.

General Bellerose is back-my guess is from a mission in the desert.

It's not fair that a tan made General Bellerose even more attractive!

Why is she limping?

She doesn't look hurt.

She's not hurt. She's just tired.

I saw her have to stop and lean against the wall when she was heading for the dormitories.

I've never seen the general look that exhausted after a mission before.

Do you think she was in the desert or something?

Look at that tan—

Marie stopped listening once the conversations started going in circles. He got to his feet and made his way across the Cafeteria to deposit his empty tray. The blind exorcist knew that the one person who needed this information avoided the rumor mill like the plague, so there was only one way to make sure the prideful boy was properly informed. Marie arrived at the training area a few minutes later and listened for the distinct sound of his intended target. There was a set of heavy footfalls going at a fast pace along the stone floor, but the quicker, lighter steps caught Marie's attention. The blind exorcist easily stepped to the edge of the sparring match then waited for his opportunity to relay the news.

"Chloe finally got back today," Marie finally said when Kanda paused briefly in front of him. The Japanese exorcist didn't spare Marie a verbal response, but Marie didn't miss the slight spike in the stoic boy's heartbeat at the mention of Chloe's return. So the blind exorcist tried a second time to gain more of his younger comrade's attention. "She seemed to be exhausted. And she was limping on her right leg again," he said just as Kanda was about to counterattack. The Japanese exorcist hesitated just enough at that to make the Finder think it was a good idea to throw a quick jab. Marie winced when the Finder was violently thrown to the ground for his effort.

"I'm supposed to care, why?" Kanda said as he stalked toward the groaning Finder.

"I'm only relaying the message to you." Marie heard the younger exorcist stop just in front of his opponent. "So?"

"So what?!" Kanda sounded angry, but there was something else in his voice. Major annoyance, some frustration—but what was the underlying tone?

"No need to get angry, Kanda," Marie said in a calm way he knew would infuriate the Japanese boy. The more he made the boy speak, the easier it would be to identify that final current.

"I'm not—,"

"Then why are you yelling?"

"I'm not—," Kanda cut himself off and took a deep breath. Marie was taken back by the boy's sudden attempt to calm himself instead of flying into a rage as per usual. "I'm not yelling. I'm not mad. I'm just…" Kanda trailed off at that point, and that's when Marie finally understood just what overarching emotion was plaguing his young friend.

"You're just what? Concerned, angry, guil—,"

"What do you want, Marie?" Kanda's interruption sounded resigned, very much unlike the strong, prideful person he actually was. It was worrisome and disconcerting. Marie was not the correct person to get the Japanese exorcist out of his funk, and there was only one way to get him to read between the lines.

"What do you want, Kanda?" That got Kanda to turn around for the first time since the conversation began.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do what you want with the information I've given you." Marie turned to leave and heard Kanda step forward behind him. "But don't let your anger and pride make you too late," the blind exorcist said softly in parting. Marie continued on out of the training area, leaving Kanda to his own devices. The boy had saved him before, now it was Marie's turn to do something in return for him.

Chloe raked her fingers through her clean, damp hair as she made her way back to her room. The shower had been long and glorious despite the fact that she had dozed off at one point. There was only momentary confusion when she woke up while standing up to water raining down on her and most of the dirt and sand gone from her water-wrinkled skin, but Chloe wrangled up enough energy enough to finish washing before changing and heading straight back to her room. Exhaustion struck again as Chloe fumbled to open her door, making the red head stumble drunkenly into the room when her sore leg refused to go any farther. Chloe silently vowed to massage it when she finally woke up. Well, after she had finally eaten something. She released the obscenely loud and long yawn that had been building in her throat before realizing her door was standing wide open. Chloe was beyond tired enough to care whether she had disturbed anyone in the dorms with her bodily noises. The red head hooked the door with her heel and kicked it back, expecting it to close with its usual soft click. When the door let out a solid thunk instead, Chloe pried her drooping eyes back open while glancing over her shoulder at the source of the wrong noise. There was a person in the doorway, and not just any person either.

"Kanda?" she murmured in confusion. The Japanese exorcist stepped into the room without a word. Chloe watched as Kanda turned and closed the door behind him, leaving the exorcists standing in the fading afternoon light courtesy of the window beside Chloe's bed. "Kanda?" Chloe tried again when the Japanese exorcist continued to silently stare at her. She was about to repeat Kanda's name a third time when the Japanese exorcist suddenly stepped forward, nearly invading her personal space. If Chloe hadn't been so tired, she probably would've moved back to gain breathing room. However, not moving was safer when she only had to put an even amount of weight on her legs to remain upright.

"I still want to know what's going on," the Japanese exorcist finally said. And he really did. "I still want to know why the generals are being secretive." He paused to take a deep breath and to gather his thoughts. "But getting mad at you won't get me answers. If you can't tell me, I guess I'll have to wait then."

"Did you hit your head recently?" Chloe blurted out before she could stop herself. Politeness and etiquette filters were for ones who had gotten sufficient sleep and weren't facing possible annihilation on a daily basis. "Why are you suddenly being so forgiving? So willingly…introspective?"

"Can't you just accept the apology as is, Bellerose?" Kanda couldn't keep the slightly annoyed expression off his face. He was trying to make amends, damn it.

"I would be more inclined to do so if I wasn't exhausted, starved, and confused right now. It's been almost three months since our last conversation. Why break your silence today of all days?" Chloe was almost apologetic for that—almost—but she had expected this talk much sooner. Swallowing her bitterness was a bit hard to do with fatigue making her emotions erratic. Kanda let out a sigh while reaching up to rub the back of his neck. Chloe tried not to let her tired resolve waver in the face of the Japanese exorcist's actions. As much as she was attracted to the lost schoolboy look, it was out of place on Kanda, who had always radiated manly confidence no matter whether the situation was physically, mentally, or emotionally taxing. But the poor red-haired girl still had hormones—hormones that had lain dormant for nearly three months that now suddenly wanted a piece of the action again, so to speak.

"Because I feel like something big is about to go down, and I won't be able to say this stuff later." Kanda was speaking truthfully for the first time in a long time, and it felt right to be open with the exhausted, disheveled red head wobbling in front of him. Just like it always had been.

"Marie told you to swallow your pride and apologize, didn't he?" Chloe said with a laugh. At Kanda's furiously incredulous expression of You-read-my-mind-again-Didn't-you? Chloe grinned. "It doesn't take a mind reader to know what—no who finally made you realize you needed to say something. Marie's more than a comrade or partner to you. He's your brother, and brothers listen to each other in the end."

"Does that mean you accept my apology?" Kanda asked in an attempt to change the subject. He had never been one for words and discussions—his job had trained him to be a killing machine, not a teenaged boy who lived to charm ladies with suave looks and tawdry wordplay. Chloe Bellerose had challenged Kanda's self-mold from the day he had (consciously) met her. And even though he was a bit more comfortable with talking to other people about non-mission or end-of-the-world related matters the Japanese exorcist was still hard pressed for accurate descriptors when trying to relay his emotions to Chloe.

"I accept it for the moment because I'll fall asleep if we talk any longer today." Chloe slowly and carefully turned around to face her bed, and she managed to reach the mattress without face planting by some miracle. The red head sat down on the edge of the bed with a loud yawn, momentarily forgetting Kanda was still in her room. She opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) then abruptly leaned back when she found Kanda's face mere centimeters away from the end of her nose. The Japanese exorcist stared at Chloe for a silent moment before dropping to his knees in front of her. "Kan—,"

"Did you tie these knots with your eyes closed or something?" Kanda asked while tugging at Chloe's tangled up bootlaces. The Japanese exorcist shook his head as he worked, mumbling a curse or two every now and then, and wondered how in the world she could even get the laces into such terrible knots. Chloe didn't reply but watched with the hyper-rapt focus someone so tired couldn't maintain for too much longer. "There." Kanda pulled off Chloe's boots then got back to his feet. The red-haired girl's eyes were barely open.

"Don't think…I'm giving you points…for that…" she worked to murmur with a scowl. Kanda ignored her as he hooked an arm under her knees. The Japanese exorcist quickly lifted Chloe's legs onto the bed, forcing her upper body to fall onto her bed as well. "Hey—,"

"Shut up and go to sleep already," Kanda said over the red head's protests.

"Only if you stay with me." Chloe had forced her heavy eyelids back open and was sending the most imploring look she could muster in Kanda's direction. They weren't back to where they had been three months before, but they didn't have to avoid each other either. Kanda seemed to have similar thoughts on the matter since he didn't argue or simply leave. Instead the Japanese exorcist pulled the blankets up to Chloe's chin then went to settle himself down on the windowsill.

"Hurry up and go to sleep. I'll make sure no one invades your dreams." He said when he saw a half open blue-green eye still trained on him. Chloe smiled slightly at the familiar line then closed her eyes.

The four generals had agreed on the fact that breaking the news to the rest of the exorcists wasn't going to be easy. Cloud Nine and Sokaro had been all for just telling them everything and letting the others ask any questions. Tiedoll and Chloe had wanted to take a more mission briefing-oriented approach. Since they were evenly divided over which method to use, the generals had turned to Komui for the final decision. The next morning Komui called an exorcist-wide meeting in his office after lunch.

"You've all been summoned here today to discuss the new format for missions," Komui said by way of introduction. He took a moment to collect his thoughts when the eleven exorcists and the four generals turned their full attention to him. "The ten exorcists will be divided into groups under the command of the four generals. Starting in three days, these groups will go through the Ark to four separate areas high in akuma activity. From there, your jobs will be to destroy any and all akuma under your general's command. There is a chance the Noah Clan may show themselves as well. If that happens, notify your general immediately for back up. That being said, starting in one hour I will call in each group separately to give a briefing of the mission area. Please go about your normal daily activities until your summons. Thank you for your time." Komui sat back down at his desk and picked up a stack of reports, signaling that he was finished speaking for good and meaning no one could ask questions yet. Lenalee motioned for everyone to go, and she tried to remain behind to stay with her brother only to have Chloe steer her out the door too. Komui let the reports drop back onto the pile before passing a shaking hand over his face. He had to hold himself together, especially with the briefings starting in less than an hour. He refused to worry or lament until the building was completely empty of exorcists.

There was a soft knock on the door before Komui had quite regained his composure, but he called for the visitor to come in anyway. Komui blinked in confusion when a crimson-clad Third exorcist—Madarao, if he remembered correctly—glided into the office to stand in front of his desk.

"Supervisor Lee, Inspector Leverrier has become vaguely aware of the generals' plan thanks to Howard Link. The inspector will be coming to you sometime today to strong-arm you into giving him information," the half-akuma said.

"Thank you for letting me know," Komui said cautiously. "If you don't mind me asking, Madarao, why are you warning me?"

"Because I refuse to be Central's or Inspector Leverrier's lap dog. I want to help with the Order's mission, not tattle on the ones who fight and protect the Order. The other Thirds generally agree with my sentiments."

"Generally?"

"There are a few who are more interested in power than saving the world. However, there is a consensus among us about our dislike of the inspector." Madarao made the last statement with a scowl.

"I don't blame any of you for that feeling."

"Speaking of, the inspector will want information. Give him minimal details, and he will quickly get frustrated, as you well know. When he forces you to assign several Third exorcists to the mission groups, argue but eventually agree. I have heard there is a request coming from Central for several of your scientists to go evaluate the experimental facilities at the North America Branch Headquarters. Leverrier will bring this up to try to rattle you into giving in. Let him win then request to divide up the remaining Third exorcists between the North America Branch and here. That way everyone will have protection while the exorcists are gone." It was the most Komui had ever heard Madarao speak at one time.

"Thank you very much, Madarao," Komui said after a few silent moments. "I will notify the generals of the additions to the groups. Come by my office with the other Third exorcists for a briefing and group assignments at midnight."

"Understood. Good day, Supervisor." Madarao made a quiet exit, leaving Komui with his newly churning thoughts once again.

Thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you think about it!