Later on, Lavi would tell the story of how Kanda delivered the note to Komui, his face blank and eyes slightly vacant, and mutely slid the note into Komui's hands. Lavi would dramatize how Kanda walked straight out of Komui's office and back to his own room, and did not appear again for the rest of the day.

But that took place later on.

At the current moment, Kanda did not remember all of that. Instead, he remembered only the act of stumbling into his room and falling into a fugue. When his mind cleared again, it was already the twilight hour, and the purple and pink clouds mingled in the sky.

The numbness gone, Kanda found himself full of a burning rage. He stood up and grabbed Mugen. He did not want to go out to face pitying stares; instead, he tore through his usual forms, finishing one set and then another, and then the last, before starting right from the beginning again.

Over and over.

For it was a behemoth rage that roared within him—an incendiary rage that flowed like molten basalt through his veins.

She should at least have told me to my face, he thought. Fuck, why didn't she tell me? What was last night about? Was it some consolation prize to her? What am I to her? Did she mean anything she said? I could have gone with her—I would have—fuck, why didn't she tell me?

Kanda practised his forms for hours. When at last Mugen fell from his hand and clattered to the floor, Kanda followed after it, folding in on himself like a paper crane. He lay sprawled across the floor, hair spread out like a curtain below him, lungs burning with a painful ache for air. Perspiration drenched his shirt and rolled down his back.

At least the floor was cool.

Kanda lay on the floor in reckless abandon of his duties. He did not keep track of how long he stayed on his back, staring up at the dim ceiling, watching the stars through the open window. He refused to turn his face to the bed, refused to think about Allen and her warmth and her smile.

When he got up at last, to head towards the bath house, he noticed among the scattered items on his desk a rolled-up piece of paper. It had not been there the night before, when he opened the door to let Allen—no, Kanda was not going to think about it.

Kanda reached for the paper and unfurled it.

BaKanda, it read, I am so very sorry. Please forgive me. I have to go. There is nothing I can do here anymore. And, I love you… I meant what I said. Thank you for the favour you did me this last night—I will remember it in the dark days that lie ahead. Please take care of yourself and do not come after me.

Kanda crushed the paper in his palms. His heart hammered against his ribs as he tried to make sense of the words. She meant it, he thought, and it seemed that half a mountain rose from his chest. He could not have explained why.

Then his thoughts turned to the last sentence. It was written, do not come after me.

Kanda decided that he had to go after Allen no matter what she said. You're always getting into trouble. I'll find a way to get hold of you and make sure no one hurts you.

"Goddamn it!" Leverrier said, smashing his fleshy palm into the desk.

The scouts had returned, and they brought bad news. There was no sign of Allen Walker anywhere in the City as far as they could tell.

"Your language, Inspector, please," General Yeegar said disapprovingly.

Leverrier sighed, and made sure everyone in the room could hear it. "Well? What do we do now? Our best hope of winning the war has betrayed us."

"She's gone and run off. I didn't expect it of her," General Sokalo said. Then he laughed, and added, "She's got some spirit all right, eh Cross?"

Cross propped his feet up on the long table. His boots were shiny and clean, and the leather was well-polished. "This is your fault, Inspector. You shouldn't have forced her into a corner."

"I said that," Komui said, "I argued against it, but… oh heavens, what shall we do now?"

"We continue fighting," Leverrier said. "General Cross, are you sure you don't know where the girl's run off to?"

"The girl?" Cross said. "Don't underestimate her. You've got a difficult as hell problem in your alley. She's powerful, and she has the Fourteenth's powers. You've just made our war a fucking lot harder."

Leverrier's eyes were dark as coal and hard as diamonds. "I asked for a solution, not your biased opinion, General Cross."

Bak Chang couldn't stand it any longer. "Inspector, you and Renny caused this mess. And now you want our help! You didn't take our counsel before when we—"

"And who asked you, runt?" Leverrier said. "Do sit down and shut up when your betters are talking."

Reever grabbed Bak. "Hush. You're not helping matters."

"Can you find her?" Leverrier asked Cross.

"Maybe. I don't know. She's good at living on the streets. She's got some good instincts from her past, so maybe not."

"Use a spell!"

"Might not work," Cross said. "She knows magic too, remember? Or has your self-directed rage impaired your memory, Inspector?"

"I do not condone insubordination," Leverrier said. "You'll do well to remember that, General."

"Maybe," Cross said indifferently.

"Inspector," Renny said, "I have a suggestion. We need to send out more hunters. Soldiers who know how to track."

"Yes. A wonderful idea. Who shall we send?" Leverrier's smile was slow and taunting. He took a moment to pretend to grasp for names, and all the while his gaze lingered over Komui, Tiedoll and Cross. Finally, he said, "Captain Kanda shall go to capture our recalcitrant Priestess."

"That's a tad too cruel," Tiedoll said.

"She escaped on his watch, General."

"You're asking him to betray her affections–"

"General Tiedoll," Leverrier said, "Kanda's duty is to his country and his city. And they are not even bound in holy matrimony!"

"Inspector," Komui said, "maybe—"

"Lenalee and Lavi shall accompany Kanda." Leverrier trained his slimy smile on the stricken Komui.

"Three of them?" General Nyne said. "Might not be enough… Allen's powerful."

"So Link shall go with them," Leverrier said smugly. "Komui, you will now make an announcement to pass on my orders."

Komui nodded assent. His face was pale with worry and lack of sleep, and his fists were clenched under the table. But he said nothing else to dissuade Leverrier from the new plan.

Back in his office, Komui pulled the transmission device closer to his mouth. His lips trembled, and his heart ached with sorrow and desperation, but still he shouldered on.

"Attention," he said, looking up at Reever.

Reever and Johnny looked back at Komui with equally dazed expressions. "Go on," Reever mouthed, when the silence became too prolonged.

"Attention," Komui repeated. "All Black Order members, soldiers and civilians alike, please listen to this important announcement. As of yesterday, Priestess Allen Walker has betrayed the Order and the City. She has escaped. All soldiers and officials shall keep watch for any sign of the Priestess. Anyone found aiding her shall be deemed to be her accomplice and the law shall be set on you. Anyone with information please come forward. We will be disseminating this information to the freemen of the City."

Komui took a deep breath. "Kanda, Lenalee, Lavi and Link, please report to my office."

Komui strummed his fingers down a stack of reports. "Do you know anything, Kanda?"

"No." Kanda leaned back into his chair, face entirely devoid of any expression.

"She really didn't say anything? Hint anything?"

Kanda shook his head.

Komui sighed and turned his attention to the others. "Lavi? Lenalee? Inspector Link? Does anyone have a clue?"

Again, the answer was no.

"Well, then," Komui said, reaching for his coffee mug, "that's that. The four of you will set off tomorrow afternoon to hunt Allen down. Do not harm her."

"As if we would," Kanda scoffed.

"Kanda, please remember that you're a soldier and you have strict orders to bring Allen back. I know how you all feel about it—she's been ill-used—" Here Komui stopped short and his eyes darted towards Link.

Link merely continued to look at Komui with unreadable amber eyes, so Komui continued, "Please bring her back. I'm afraid she'll be punished, but she won't be sentenced to death. I won't let that happen."

"Fine," Kanda said, standing.

"I'm sorry, Kanda," For the briefest of moments Komui grasped Kanda's wrist. Then with a pat on Kanda's back, Komui shoved the lot of them out of his office, shouting after them that they'd better look after Lenalee or he would do unthinkable things to them when they returned.

The next morning, Kanda accosted Cross. "General. I need a word."

"Yes?"

"A private word. Please."

Cross let Kanda into his room. "Aren't you supposed to be off chasing my idiot apprentice?"

"We're leaving in the afternoon. Tell us how we can find her."

Cross lit a cigar and tossed the match into a nearby ashtray. "You're a direct one, aren't you…"

"So you don't know either."

"I haven't a clue," Cross said, shrugging. The smoke rose in a thick coil, drifting towards the ceiling. For a moment Cross looked like one of those veritable snake-charmers so prevalent in the East, all smoke and mirrors. "But maybe I have something."

Cross flipped a cabinet door open and rummaged inside. He dropped ash on the carpet, right on the head of a stretching dragon stitched in gold and red thread.

"Here," he said at last, prodding a yellow flying thing into Kanda's hands.

Kanda's first thought was that Cross had given him a canary, and opened his mouth to tell Cross to stop toying with him—but the yellow thing twisted in Kanda's palms and pressed something against his left thumb.

Kanda released the canary. "It bit me."

Two tiny wings shot out of the canary's back, and it took flight, long tail swinging behind it like a pendulum.

"It does that sometimes." Cross sounded amused.

Definitely not a canary. Kanda watched it fly around, then said, "A golem?"

Cross nodded. "One of my own make."

Kanda watched the golem flutter around, its long tail swatting against the walls, flight made unsteady by its disproportionally-distributed weight. As it gained height, it finally learned how to haul its tail back up and to use it like a ship's rudder. The golem clearly did not have much experience with flying.

"Why are you giving me a golem, General? I have one."

"This isn't just any golem. Why in the seven rings of hell would I give you a bloody golem? You're so thick sometimes." Cross finished his cigar and ground the stub into the carpet with the heel of his boot. "I've modified Timcampy to track Allen down."

Kanda stared at the new grey blemish on the dragon's face. "You didn't tell Komui."

"But I'm telling you. Leverrier has a way of digging out the things that Komui knows. I don't want him snooping around and butting in on this."

"If you give me this thing, Link'll see it flying around."

Cross shrugged. "Maybe he won't say anything. I think he's changed quite a bit these few months. It may be too early to be sure, but I don't think he's as loyal to Leverrier as he once was."

"You sound so sure."

"It's called experience and life, you fool."

Kanda shrugged and made his way to the door.

"Stop," Cross said. "Do you even know how to find her?"

The edges of Kanda's mouth stiffened, but he said, "We don't know yet. We'll track her somehow."

"It won't be easy to track her, you know. She's got a great deal of power."

"I know how to track."

"Of course you do," Cross said impatiently. "No one said you didn't. But she probably knows how to hide her tracks. And don't forget, she lived on the streets for a while. She knows how to hide, how to blend in with the local folk and stay away from danger."

"I'll find her," Kanda said. "No matter what it takes. It is my duty."

Cross said, "Good. Find her—and then keep her safe."

"What?"

"Keep her safe," Cross said. "If she decides not to come back with you, don't force her. Just stay close to her and protect her. You must keep her alive, or we will all be slaughtered by the Earl."

Kanda studied Cross with hard eyes. "You're the same as the rest of them. All wanting to use her."

"I value my life. I don't want to die anytime soon," Cross said, reaching for a bottle of wine. "And neither does she, if I know anything at all."

Kanda nodded and saluted.

Cross lifted his glass as if returning the salute. The amber liquid sloshed in the glass; it caught the light streaming from the nearby lamp and sparkled.

"See you at the last battle, then," Cross said. "Don't die. Keep them all safe. I trust you. Oh, and—if you really can't track her, stake out Mana Walker's house. She might just appear there one day when she needs a trusty hideout or when Neah takes over and misses his brother, or I don't know, any other goddamned reason you can think of. Timcampy knows the way."

"Got it." Kanda lingered at the doorway for a moment. Just before he stepped out into the corridor, he said, "Thank you, General."

Lavi threw back the covers and looked around. Kanda was still seated by the door of their room, with Mugen in his lap, staring into empty space.

Lavi crept from his bunk, avoiding the creaking floorboard. He slid down onto the floor, facing Kanda. "Yu?"

"Don't call me that, idiot." Kanda made a menacing gesture with his fingers, as if he were about to plunge his fingers into Lavi's neck. "Don't bother me if you have nothing useful to say."

"Honestly, you can be so mean. And I can't fall asleep." Lavi looked over to the bunks where Link and Lenalee lay. "I wonder that they can."

"No reason not to rest. I won't save you if you get your sorry ass in trouble because you're too fucking sleepy to concentrate."

"Always the same threats," Lavi said, tracing the fleur-de-lis carved into the headboard behind him. "I wonder who did this. Some long-dead lady, maybe?"

Kanda shrugged, his eyes trained on the door as if he thought an Akuma or Noah might burst through any moment to slaughter them in their defenceless sleep. "Go sleep, or you'll be no use tomorrow. I don't want to listen to your whining when I'm trying to work."

"No—listen—I do have something that needs saying."

"Hurry up, then, I haven't got all night."

"Lately I'm not so sure about this tracking thing, y'know?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

Lavi leaned forward. The weak candlelight danced across his face, deepening the shadows under his uncovered eye. "Have we lost her trail? You can tell me honestly."

Kanda sighed. "I'm not sure."

"It's unlike you to be unsure. We're so far out from the Walls now. Would she really leave the City?"

"The inner towns and villages make for good hiding places. And the canary—the golem agrees with me."

Lavi nodded, pressing an arm into his back. "That's very true. Or she might hide in the wilderness. Urgh, I ache everywhere."

"You want to walk tomorrow?"

"Heavens, no! Then I'd ache even more. I'll take the horse anytime. Hmm, maybe we should get a dog to sniff her out…"

"No."

"Suit yourself," Lavi said, grinning. "You're as good as a dog, anyway!"

"Say that again and I'll give you a scar you'll never lose."

"Oh, I'm so scared," Lavi said. Then the smile dropped from his face and he was all seriousness again. "How are you holding up?"

"I don't let my emotions affect my duty," Kanda said.

"Always this talk about duty." Lavi wagged a finger at Kanda. "If you keep this up, one day Allen will tire of you and your grumpy sentences and your lectures about duty."

Kanda's eyes tightened at the mention of Allen's name. Almost at once, Kanda relaxed his facial muscles, and Lavi again found himself looking into a calm, expressionless face.

"I'm sorry," Lavi said. "It's just that… the other night, I saw you looking at that miniature painting. The one Tiedoll gave you. And I got a little worried that—"

"Bah. I'm not as weak as that," Kanda said brusquely.

"I know you aren't. But we're friends, Kanda, and we're here for you. You do know, right?"

Kanda turned away. "Get some sleep. I'll wake one of you when I feel sleepy."

Lavi recognised the dismissal. He nodded and went to his bunk where he promptly fell asleep.

Once Kanda was sure that Lavi was indeed asleep, he drew out the miniature painting that he now kept in an inner pocket, and put it on his knee so that the painting could accompany him through his silent vigil.

It was hard, especially on nights like that. Nights when everyone but him could rest—could simply close their eyes and fall into deep, dreamless sleep.

It was better in the day. While the sun was out Kanda could put away the grief, frustration and his very real fear for Allen's safety, and focus on the trail. Some nights were fine too—he'd be able to lie in bed and sleep at once, and not wake with his heartbeat thundering in his ears.

But other nights… other nights Allen haunted Kanda like a vengeful ghost, the memory of her stitched into his thoughts and her voice whispering in his ear, breath warm against his cheek. Her phantom touch kept him awake, a sheen of sweat against his palms, a breeze through his hair.

Allen's flight and absence flayed him like a whip. It was an anguish that permeated bone and marrow, stretching and contorting in his veins. It was a maze strewn with jagged rocks and porcupine quills.

There was no escape for Kanda.

Allen did not doubt that the barriers had been breached. She'd left the Citadel without bestowing the proper protection on the Walls, and now the boundaries were no longer clear-cut and strong. That would explain why an Akuma had managed to find its way to the little town she was now in.

Someone shouted. Allen remained in the shadows, hood pulled well over her face. She could reach the Akuma from where she stood. She took a deep breath, let the power fill her, before sending the hapless Akuma reeling across the town square until it cracked its bones against the iron rods of the church gate.

As the Akuma writhed against the ground, Allen felt a fearful bloodlust rise in her mind.

Kill it, kill it, kill something.

Allen pressed her back against the alley wall. There was something slimy against her right wrist, but she did not look down. Instead, she closed her eyes and counted to ten. At the end of it, the bloodlust had yet to dissipate. Worse still, her head had started to ache, as if someone had taken an anvil to her skull.

Let go, it will be better.

"No, I can't let go," Allen said, sliding to the ground. "Neah, please stop this."

It isn't me. This is how it is with us when the memories come to life.

"Oh, heavens above," Allen whispered. She dragged herself further into the alley. The rough flagstones dug into her skin, digging ridges into flesh, drawing blood from shallow veins. "God help me."

He won't. He can't.

Allen mustered some energy to say, "Shut up, Neah."

You're exposing yourself like this. Don't be foolish. You can't hide in an alley and hope not to be robbed or killed soon.

"I can't go far—can't think—too painful."

Go home.

"No, I can't—can't go back." Allen drew ragged breaths. "It's really painful. This is—I'm—"

Allen retched. She had not eaten in a day, so there was nothing to vomit out. Allen wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and leaned back. She was faint, and there was bile in her mouth, bitter against her tongue, but the violent throbbing in her head had lessened.

Go home.

"I can't. You told me not to stay."

Not that home. My home. Mana's home.

Allen's heart beat a little quicker. Home, she thought. Mana. Home. "But I don't know if the house is still standing."

Cross would have made sure of it.

"Would he?"

He promised to.

"But it's just outside the City. They might catch me."

Use your spells to hide your movements, you foolish girl.

"But why should I return?"

It would be safer for you to recuperate there. And then we can talk in peace and discuss what we need to discuss.

Allen opened her eyes. The golden afternoon light was brilliant beyond the shadows of the alley, and homesickness burned through her veins and pierced her mind. "Perhaps you're right."

"Are you sure about this?" Lenalee asked.

They stood at a crossroads, the midday sun beating down relentlessly against their backs. There was no wind here, only the wide sky and the tall trees with wilting leaves, and a grey patch of clouds southwards.

"She's heading back to the City." Kanda said. "Someone passed here very recently—a day ago, perhaps."

"But why would she head back?" Lavi squatted by Kanda and peered at the leaves, the soil and the unpaved road. "It would be more dangerous back there, wouldn't it?"

"I don't know. But these tracks were probably made by her. And look where Timcampy's flying."

"She must be in a rush if she failed to cover her tracks," Lenalee said, looking around the crossroads with a shiver. "This place is strange."

"No, she can only hide the tracks so much. Some of us know how to read the signs even after the hiding is done."

Link nodded. "I think Kanda is right. The peasants at the last village said they saw a cloaked woman riding down this road."

Kanda stood up and wiped his hands on his cloak. "Hurry up."

"We're a day's ride away," Lavi grumbled. "Won't hurt us much to have a short rest first, Kanda?"

"No, we ride," Kanda said, and so they did just that.

Night had fallen by the time they saw a reddish-orange light flicker in the distance. They were just about to set up camp for the night, but once they saw the light, Kanda shouted for everyone to mount their horse. Kanda dropped firewood onto the ground; Link stuffed the tent into their bags; Lenalee and Lavi led the horses back from the nearby stream.

They rode on towards the light.

The light came from a fire devouring the remains of what had once been a handsome farmhouse. The farmer and his family were nowhere in sight. Orange-red flames licked the foundations of the house. Wind blew ashes into their hair, and the crackling of the fire and the barking of a frightened dog were the only sounds they could hear.

"Oh," Lenalee said. "This is…"

Lavi looked at Kanda. "Was she here?"

"I don't know." Kanda stalked around the burning structure. The dog's wails were louder in his ears now. "Come here."

A short distance away, they saw the dog, hanging upside down from a tree. Lenalee's hands flew to her mouth. "Who would do such a cruel thing?"

"It's quite likely there are Akuma or Noahs nearby," Link said.

"And Allen too," Lavi said.

Kanda pointed to a path some distance away.

The path led to a clearing. Kanda, who went first, stooped under the bent branches of gnarled trees, and stiffened in shock when he saw a white sword glittering under the light of the full moon.

Lavi pushed into Kanda's back. "Eh? Kanda? Why'd you stop moving?"

"Yes, why are we stopping?" Lenalee asked.

The other three pushed past Kanda until they could stare into the clearing. Allen was there; so were three Noahs. And they were fighting.

One of the Noahs, the one with dark hair wrapped with a scarf and emerald triangles hanging from his ears, lunged at Allen. He drew an arm backwards, as if readying it to strike Allen against her shoulder, but he did not swing the arm into Allen. Instead, his mouth opened.

A horrible gloating screech—

A long reptilian tongue embedded with eyeballs—

Kanda's heart chilled within him. His throat constricted, and he felt as if something cold had been dropped straight into his stomach. What was that tongue?

The Noah didn't speak. Perhaps he couldn't. The tongue flickered like that of a snake, undulating, as it shot out towards Allen. The eyeballs looked in every direction, jostling like marble balls rolling across a floor.

Allen hit the tongue with the blunt surface of the sword of Innocence, and the Noah recoiled, drawing his tongue back into his mouth with a clicking sound.

Lavi put an arm around Lenalee's shaking shoulders. "That—what's that? Urgh. Disgusting!"

"Noah," Kanda said. "Bah."

Lulu Bell stepped forward. She smiled, all sharp eyes and glinting teeth. "Come with us, Allen Walker."

"Never!"

Lulu Bell laughed. It was not a kind sound. She spread her arms outwards, as if about to embrace Allen. It began with a tightening of the skin around her eyes, and then the elongation of her limbs. In less than a minute, she had become a dragon.

"Come with us, or you'll regret it," Lulu Bell said again.

There was the smell of brimstone curling through the air, thick and odious. The air became harder to breathe.

Kanda knelt and gestured for the others to do likewise. "Get down if you want to live!"

In the clearing, Allen brought a scarf up around her face and coughed into it. It was the hackneyed throttle of an old woman whose lungs had long since grown fibrous and consumptive.

Lulu Bell rushed forward, the anger of a heathen thunder god in each echoing flap of her great wings. One talon extended forward pierced Allen's shoulder, and Allen let fall the scarf she had been clutching against her face. As the fluttering fabric fell away, the gnash in the grey travelling cloak exposed a steady drip of something red.

Allen staggered backwards.

Kanda pushed himself off the ground, Mugen already out of its sheath.

"No!" Lenalee said, grabbing Kanda's arm. "You can't!"

"Wait, Kanda," Lavi said, grabbing Kanda's other arm.

Wisely, who had hitherto stood in the shadows of great trees, now stepped forward. The moon glinted off the eye embedded in the middle of his forehead. He glanced towards the mouth of the clearing and said, "We have guests."

"He knows, no use hiding," Kanda said, and rushed into the clearing.

"Oh, look who's here," Lulu Bell said. Her talons still dripped with fresh blood. "Look, Allen Walker, your knight-at-arms is here to save you."

"What a lucky girl you are." Fiidora's words fell from his mouth like gravel and sand, muddled and indistinct.

Kanda pointed Mugen at the Noahs. "Be off. Now."

Lavi and Lenalee flanked Kanda.

"We won't let you hurt Allen!" Lavi said. "Back off if you know what's good for you."

"Just the three of you? Against us?" Lulu Bell's laughter was deep, the sound of old echoes dragged up from deep caves and mountain roots.

"Can't you count?" Link stood at the mouth of the clearing, yellow amulets already in his hands. "There are four of us here to defend her."

Fiidora made a hissing sound. "You cannot hope to defeat us. We will take the girl."

"The Earl's will will be done!" Lulu Bell said. "Leave us, weaklings, and save your own sorry souls."

Kanda sprang forward; Mugen slashed through one of Lulu Bell's talons. Lulu Bell the dragon reared backwards, startled and in pain, for there was blood rushing from the talon that had felt Mugen's bite.

"You dare!" Lulu Bell said, lifting herself into flight. She closed in on Kanda, talons extended again, ready to plunge one sharp point into Kanda's body.

Kanda dodged and pushed Mugen upwards. It was merely by a stroke of luck that Lulu Bell avoided yet another injury to her talons.

As Kanda fought Lulu Bell, Wisely said, "Let's all calm down."

Fiidora seemed to disagree with his brethren's suggestion, however, for he launched himself at Lavi with a snarl.

"Christ!" Lavi said, flinging himself to the ground, hammer rolling of his hands.

Lenalee kicked the hammer closer to Lavi and then went after Fiidora. "To me, Lavi!"

Wisely looked across the clearing at Link. "I suppose we have to entertain each other," he said sardonically. "I don't want to get my hands dirty and I'm not much of a fighter… you aren't either, I suppose?"

"You supposed wrong," Link said, tossing his yellow papers.

"What are you going to do, tie me up?" Wisely laughed and stared at Link. Then he stopped laughing, for the amulets formed a circle around his body and they forced him to stand stiffly, arms at his side. "By all that is unholy…"

"You underestimated me," Link said, walking closer to Wisely.

Wisely smiled, eyes big and mouth crooked to the side. "And you misheard me, good sir. I said I'm not a fighter. No use locking my body up."

"I'll be the judge of that."

Wisely's grin spread across his face. The eye in the middle of his forehead glowed. "Oh, will you?"

Allen leaned her head against a mossy boulder, fingers pressing faintly at the wound in her shoulder. She could feel the blood seeping from the cut; it was warm and sticky, and it slipped away from her fingers like water.

I'm so tired. I need to sleep.

Allen closed her eyes. The sounds of the battle were so far away, so… her hand slid from her shoulder and landed with a thud on the ground. Ouch. I suppose I'd better heal myself. And so she did. She didn't manage to do a very good job of it, for the healing process required much precision and concentration, which she didn't have much of at that point, but at least the bleeding slowed to a trickle.

When she felt better, and the pain in her shoulder had slowed to a steady throb, she thought about continuing the fight. Fiidora was the nearest, and he was dancing with Lavi and Lenalee. His reptilian tongue flickered in and out of his mouth like an extra appendage. Allen fought the urge to retch at the sight of him and instead let the Innocence guide her.

There was a wind, and a golden thread of light, and then a smell of charred flesh, such as one might find around any traveller's campfire. Fiidora clamped a hand to his arm, groaned, and fell over like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Fiidora!" Lulu Bell screamed.

The dragon swooped.

Allen ducked and rolled across the green grass.

With a screech, Lulu Bell rose into the air, swiftly gaining distance on the current of the wind, Fiidora clutched in her talons, Wisely on her back.

Allen watched them leave, sword hanging loosely from her trembling fingers.

AN (13.11.16): I'm so happy this fic is coming to an end; I really want to wrap this up before the end of the year, or by early 2017 at the latest.

Thanks for reading as always!