"Dammit!" Lavi yells. The door in front of them disappears before their eyes and Lavi curses again. A few feet away, Krory struggles to get to his feet. He grabs his head, looking around with confusion.
"Where are Allen and Robin?" Krory asks.
"The Noah kidnapped them." Lavi answers.
"Then we have to rescue them!" Krory says. He tries to move to Lavi's side, but an akuma suddenly strikes at him. Lavi drops his hammer and the demon is smashed to pieces. Krory looks around at the swarm of akuma surrounding them.
"How troublesome." He says, dodging another attack.
Krory bares his fangs and bites the closest akuma, sucking down its blood. Something squirms under Lavi's exorcist jacket and the red head pauses. A small, golden golem squeezes out from his sleeve and rests on Lavi's head.
"Timcanpy?!" Lavi says. "Where did you come from?!"
The golem flaps its wings and flies into the air above them. It flits around the akuma horde and takes off in an unknown direction. Lavi raises an eyebrow, but is interrupted by another akuma slashing at him with its huge, pincher-like claws.
"There's so many!" Krory yells. "What do we do about the others?"
"Let's take care of these guys first!" Lavi answers. He raises his hammer and gets ready for a fight.
Kanda stalks down the Order's hallway, more than a little annoyed. Bad enough Komui ordered him to his office with absolutely no warning, but it's two o'clock in the morning. He growls and opens the door to the scientist's office. Whatever Komui wants better be important.
"Kanda." Komui says, looking up from a pile of papers next to Reever.
Kanda scans the room and narrows his eyes at the red haired general on the sofa. In his hands is a glass of blood red liquid. In the corner is Lavi's mentor, Bookman, silently watching them. Timcanpy circles the general's head in a frenzy, worked up over something.
"What do you want?" Kanda growls.
Timcanpy stops all of a sudden and its toothed mouth opens, showing everyone a holographic clip, replaying the four exorcists' encounter with the Noah.
"The Noah?!" Reever yells, when he sees the two gray skinned figures within the clip. When Road announces their plans to destroy Robin's Innocence, Kanda feels his fists tighten. He watches as her and Allen get sucked up into Road's door and disappear. Tim closes it's mouth and sits on Cross's shoulder.
"They're after Robin!" Kanda yells.
"So it would seem." Cross says, taking a casual sip of his wine.
"Those four were supposed to report as soon as they arrived at the pyramids." Komui says. "We haven't heard anything from them and then to see this. I'm worried for them."
Kanda's jaw clenches and he spins on his heel, heading toward the door.
"And where are you going?" Cross asks.
"Like hell I'm just going to stand around here!" He yells back.
"They were sucked into Road's door." Cross says. "That Noah has the ability to traverse dimensions. Those two idiots are probably far away by now. You won't be able to chase after them."
"So then what!?" He growls. "We sit and wait?!"
"Sit down and shut up." Cross growls. "Your lover will be fine. Allen is a critical and Robin is soon on his way to becoming one. I'd be more worried about the Innocence they were supposed to collect. With the Noah around there are probably large numbers of akuma lurking. I wonder if that junior Bookman can handle himself."
Bookman narrows his eyes at the general.
"Yes," Komui says. "Which is why I'd like Bookman and Kanda to rendezvous with Lavi and finish the mission. If you see a chance, I want you to find Allen and Robin, but retrieving the Innocence is your first priority, do you understand?"
"Che." Kanda says and stalks out of the room with Bookman following behind.
"Raven?" Allen asks, sitting next to Robin.
She covers her face with her hands as warm tears pour out of her eyes. She shakes her head, refusing to believe it. Raven can't be gone.
Road looks over at Robin and frowns. The Noah places a hand to her own arm and grimaces at the cut made into her shoulder. So that girl did know where to look. She even managed to break the dream for her friend. Not that it mattered, since her mind is already gone. Road laughs.
"Tell me," She asks, staring straight at Robin. "Is this the first time you lost someone?"
Robin freezes and Road grins.
"Beaten, bloodied, and scarred." She says with a smile. "You know why that girl endured it all, right? She wanted to protect her precious friend. She couldn't bear to lose you and even went so far as to take the brunt of the dream." Robin flinches. "She died for you. And here you are, ripped to pieces by her death. You must hate me."
Robin's hands tighten and she looks down.
"I too have those I wish to protect." Road says. "Which is why I must kill you." The candles surrounding them suddenly twist and lock on Robin and Allen. Allen cringes and tries to stop Road, but the candles' sharp points stop him in his tracks. Tyki sighs and exhales a puff of smoke.
"Robin!" Allen yells. Robin's wings rip out of her back.
"Those won't help you." Road says. She smirks and the candles hover closer.
A dark chuckles escapes Robin's lips. Road and Tyki pause, glancing at her in surprise.
"Robin?" Allen asks, concerned. Robin glares up at Road, her eyes hard.
"You saw that song." Robin says. "You saw the memories and you thought you could use it against me. You heard that song, but you didn't understand its meaning or its purpose!" Robin forces herself to her feet and the candles hover closer.
"You disgust me." Robin says. "You twist people's heartache and use it to destroy them. I can't forgive you." New tears spring from her eyes. "I won't forgive you!"
The candles shoot forward, ready to impale her, when her wings begin to glow pure white. They glow brighter and brighter until the area around her suddenly explodes. Tyki and Road flinch, shielding their eyes as dust is thrown into the air.
"Robin!" Allen yells, protecting himself with Crown Clown.
Road's candles fall to the floor around her in tiny, sliced up bits. Road frowns as the dust around Robin settles. White feathers scatter around her, twisting themselves in a protective gust of tiny, razor sharp blades. Robin's light brown hair is noticeably longer and falls down to her back with a single white strand running down the length. She raises a hand and the feathers gather to form a long sword. It's pure white with two miniature wings at the hilt, wrapping around her hand. The leftover feathers gather at her other arm and solidify into a tall, square shield with a cross design on the front.
"Activate," Robin whispers. "Archangel." The shield and sword glow together and she lunges, faster than before, throwing herself at the Noah. She raises her sword and strikes at Road, only to be met face to face with Tyki's Teases.
"Tyki." Road says. He grins.
"Come now, Road." Tyki says. "I can't let you have all the fun, eh?"
Tyki attacks with the transformed Teases and Robin blocks with her shield. His hand glows with a dark, purple-ish light and Robin is thrown back. She forces herself to land on her feet and blocks just in time for another attack. Damn, this guy is strong. Robin grits her teeth and pushes back, slashing up with the sword in her other hand. The two of them separate and Tyki clicks his tongue. His top hat lies at his feet, split into two. He reaches to pick it up and frowns at the now ruined hat.
"This was a gift, you know." He says, annoyed.
He tosses it aside and brushes back his long, wavy hair. A clawed hand slashes at his back and Tyki spins around, dodging in time to escape the attack. Allen growls and Crown Clown wraps around the Noah's wrists, holding him in place. The shield in Robin's hand breaks apart and the feathers fuse into the blade, making it longer and sharper with more of a curve. She runs toward them and jumps up, bringing her sword over her head and down onto the Noah.
Just as the blade meets him, a huge cloud of dark energy wraps around her, suffocating her. The air around her shifts and she's enveloped in a pure black sphere. Her lungs burn for air and she chokes, unable to move in the vacuum.
"Robin!" Allen yells. Tyki ignores him and steps through, staring down at her writhing form.
"Looks like this is it." He says. Her jaw clenches and she struggles to hold her sword in front of her. She points the edge toward him and he raises an eyebrow.
"So you can still move." He says. "You're a pesky one, but I doubt you'll last much longer."
Robin's lips move and her Innocence glows white. The sword suddenly shatters. The feathers scatter around them and slash at the empty space. Tyki flinches and the vacuum collapses in a huge explosion. Robin falls to her knees, panting and exhausted, but alive.
Tyki scoffs and Allen uses the chance to attack. Tyki barely escapes and Allen's clawed hand slashes into the ground, creating a huge crevice. His hand glows dark purple and a blast of dark matter shoves Allen onto the ground. Allen coughs and a dribble of blood trickles down his chin.
Tyki grins and suddenly cringes in pain as a sword slams against his shoulder. Robin grips the blade tighter and moves to bring it down further, when a warm hand slides into her chest. One hand holds the sword steady and the other grips around her heart. Robin freezes and Tyki grins huge. He removes his hand and throws Robin down onto the ground, making her gasp in pain.
"Oh Tyki!" Road calls. Tyki frowns and turns toward the other Noah. "Look what I found!"
She holds up a pink umbrella topped with a pumpkin.
"Lord Earl wants you two to retreat, lero!" The umbrella says.
"But I'm having fun!" Tyki says.
"It's the Lord Earl's orders!" Lero says. "He has another assignment for you two, lero." Road pouts and glances down at the two exorcists' forms.
"I guess we'll have to play again another time." She says. Her door pops up out of thin air and Tyki frowns.
"Wait!" Allen yells.
He stands to face them when the ground beneath them starts to shake. The whole room begins to crumble and fall down into a dark void. Robin makes it to her feet and glares at the two Noah. Tyki lights another cigarette and strolls over to the open doorway. Road giggles and gives her a cheerful wave, then follows Tyki through, swinging Lero around.
The door shuts and Robin squeaks as the floor underneath her gives way. Her foot slips and she falls straight into the blackness.
"Damn, there's so many!" Lavi yells, destroying yet another akuma.
Krory sucks another akuma down and moves to his side. There's no end to them. As soon as they destroy a row, another twenty appear. Lavi raises his hammer and is nearly knocked over by a gust of wind. He cringes as sand pelts against them.
"Shit." Lavi says, trying his best to cover his eyes. "A sandstorm."
Several level two akuma are buffered in the sand and they move away, trying to take cover as well, but the level threes seem unaffected. One of them steadily creeps up behind the rabbit and Lavi grimances, unable to lift his hammer in time with the vicious winds. Suddenly the level three screams and its body explodes in a blast of sand.
"Baka usagi!"
Lavi nearly cries in joy at the voice.
"Yuu!" The red head yells.
Kanda struggles against the sand, his long, blue hair whipping around in the wind and Mugen unsheathed at his side. Next to him, Bookman covers his eyes with an arm and, seeing his apprentice, frowns.
"Get rid of this storm, Lavi!" Bookman yells.
"On it!" Lavi grabs his hammer and the circle of seals spin around his head.
"Wood Stamp!" Lavi yells, slamming his hammer against a seal. The sky clears and the exorcists focus on destroying the akuma. With the addition of Kanda and Bookman, the akuma horde hardly stands a chance. Kanda slices the last of them in half and carefully sheathes Mugen to his back.
"I can honestly say for once that I'm glad to see you." Lavi says.
"Do you know where Robin and the moyashi are?" Kanda asks, glaring at the rabbit.
"The Noah came and took them somewhere." Lavi answers. "Road transported them to a different dimension. They were after Robin's Innocence. I'm sorry Yuu."
Kanda looks away, when Timcanpy flits around the samurai's head. He glares at the golem, annoyed, and Tim flies off in a separate direction. It hovers, pointing in the same direction and flaps its wings in a frenzy.
"Does Timcanpy know something?" Krory asks.
"Maybe it knows where Allen is." Bookman says. Without a second thought, the four of them chase after the golem.
Robin groans and opens her eyes. Everything is white. Her body aches and she can barely move. She glances down at the sword in her hands. Is this an aftereffect of her Innocence?
She tries to get a sense of where she is. Something soft and white lands on her nose and she blinks, staring at its cold, crystalline structure. Slowly, Robin realizes it's snowing. But that doesn't make sense. She and the others are supposed to be in Egypt. It shouldn't be snowing in the middle of a desert.
She hears shifting next to her and Allen struggles to sit up.
"Robin?" He asks, glancing around.
Robin lets out a groan and turns her head so her eyes reach his gaze. Suddenly her vision blurs and she grabs her chest in pain. She feels something move underneath the skin and she screams as new pain erupts from inside her body.
"Robin!" Allen yells.
Robin grips the hilt to her sword tighter and points the blade toward herself. She grits her teeth and digs the edge into her skin, making a long incision across her chest. She holds back her screams of pain, and slips her fingers under the skin.
"Robin!" Kanda yells, spotting the two of them. He spots the blade and her blood and his eyes widen. Robin pulls out her closed hand and the sword disintegrates in her grasp. She cringes and Kanda wraps his arms around her, pressing down on the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Robin chuckles and opens her hand, showing him the crumpled up violet wings. Her eyelids droop and she leans into him.
"You're okay." Kanda whispers, kissing her forehead. "You're going to be okay."
"I don't feel cold." She says. "It's snowing. Why don't I feel cold?"
"Don't talk." He says, picking her up. She's losing too much blood. Dammit, why isn't her Innocence healing her?! Robin lets out a weak laugh.
"It's not working this time." She says. "My Innocence isn't healing the wound."
"I said not to talk." Kanda says. Robin twists her fingers around a strand of his hair. She brings it to her lips and smiles.
"Kanda." She says. "Just this once, can you tell me something?"
"Sure." He says.
"What does tenshi mean?"
Kanda's eyes soften.
"It means angel." He answers, holding her closer. "You're my little angel."
Tears rim her eyes and she buries her face into his chest.
"Thank you Kanda." She says. Her eyes close and she feels her whole body go slack.
