Persecution. Thirty-Six

"Kanda…"

A weak voice filled the hall, despite the cries of pain from the few that hadn't died immediately. The sound trembled over the syllables and that stopped him in his tracks for a moment, but he didn't turn his eyes back toward the source. She was not the one he needed to destroy above all else. If he was going to face the collective, then he was going to eliminate the source before they could stop him. He needed to, the boiling in his chest wouldn't soothe until he saw blood spill from those who were supposed to support them, yet didn't.

"...Please….Kanda…."

But he itched. He itched to turn around and make the sounds cease forever. It drilled into his brain and scrambled his composure, little by little. If they stayed out of his way, he would leave them. They left him, it was only fair of him to do the same. The blind eye he would turn was only a duplications of the ones they turned when he was destroyed in front of them-broken down and stripped of any humanity he had. Not one of them stepped forward. The Exorcists had the power, but none of them had the power enough to defy the ones who claimed to work for the god that gave them nothing.

"Stop..this isn't you…"

Close behind him, he could still feel the dark aura emanating from the body of the one who'd freed him from his dank prison. It was a gentle echo that seemed to reverberate against the uneven thrashing in his heart. Steady, he was keeping him steady. Fingers left a sensory trail where they touched, stroking down his back and drawing attention to the gold eyes that silently directed him. The Noah encouraged him, but also had a reason to keep him from throwing himself directly at forces he couldn't take all at once.

"Stop…" Her cries rang in his ears until he only heard the words repeating themselves long after her lips stopped moving and she succumbed to her tears. Her tears meant nothing to him, but still he turned and watched her hands cover her face-body trembling and frantic. She knew she lost him, lost the man whose body stood beside him. They may as well have been in different worlds. Worlds separated by desperation to hold on to things she loved, and his hatred that made him want to destroy everything. She had more faith left in her than he could ever hope to scrap up in his entire life time. He didn't want it anyway. He trusted no one.

Yet he stood, with wary guards around him, watching her crumble and wake up to the reality that friendship speeches and hope weren't enough for some. He was as gone to her as he had been gone to his forgotten lover. As gone as his memories.

But she still tried and he remained planted before her, looking down at her as she approached-thinking she had reached him with her wailing. Try as she might, he wasn't drawn away from dark thoughts that blossomed into murderous intentions. Perhaps she couldn't see the growing malice glittering in amber eyes as she approached, fingers curling in blood spattered material. She was clinging to hope.

However, even if she reached him through the fog of hate clouding his mind, there was nothing that could be done to save him or his situation. Bodies around him-death around him-had already sealed his fate in the eyes of the Order, he was sure. Should he manage to come back down from the swell of hatred, he was still a criminal and more so than he ever had been before.

A twitched of lip and his face distorted into something that reflected a kind of...amusement. The way his expression warped made her quiet; it made her eyes widen and a flicker of fear overtake her delicate face. In her own way, she'd always had some kind of control over him. He never treated her the way he'd treated others-even placing her on a special pedestal compared to some of the others. There was respect. But it wasn't the same anymore.

While she gaped at him, unsure of what to do, he moved to wrap his fingers around her delicate neck. It wouldn't take much to break her. He could squeeze his fingers right through her neck and break bones; let her gasp and whimper while he shut her off permanently. Yet, he didn't. He squeezed just enough to make her afraid, but not enough to hurt her permanently. This was not the one he wanted to destroy and if he did, he would have to deal with the redhead with the hammer about to engage him.

"Don't bother," Kanda's mostly unused voice was raw, laced with bitterness and threat. "I have no interest." He held her close enough to stop the bookman-in-training from making a stupid leap at him. He didn't have a weapon himself, but he didn't need one to break the idiot's neck if he wanted to trifle with him as he was.

Once he was sure the other exorcist was staying put, he moved her away from him and bodily threw her at him-uncaring on whether or not the sudden jerk of motion injured her in anyway. She collapsed against the man who caught her, dropping his weapon in favor of making sure she wasn't harmed. An angry eye and a snarl turned up at him immediately after checking her, but Kanda was unaffected.

Walking away was the most logical response, assuming they would be smart enough to leave him be once they realized they weren't much of a match for him. She was smart enough to know to be afraid. He wasn't, apparently.

"You Noah bastard," a low hiss made him stop again. "What have you done with Kanda?"

For a moment, Kanda wanted to laugh. It wasn't a fond laughter, it was one of malignancy. The Noah had done nothing to him. The Noah had broken him free of the prison he was locked in. The Order was the villain. They were the ones to drag him down to the path of destruction. Not the man beside him, who took his lover's body after they'd destroyed him as well.

A darkened hand pressed over his chest, over his thrumming heart and he stilled-comforted by the foreign chaos.

"I have done nothing to him," the Noah smiled, close enough to be embracing him.

"I wasn't talking to you." The low hiss turned into a sharp snap and the Noah before Kanda only chuckled, dark fingers pressing against the exposed flesh of a neck whose tone was beginning to match his own.

A/N: It's been a while, I know, but I want to finish this. Above all. I hope I haven't lost everyone.
This is for you Becca.