Chapter 13: Crisis of the General

Allen, Lavi, and Alice finally destroy every Akuma in the area. The Three Exorcist practically destroyed the area in ruins. The three of them are tired after destroying so much Akuma, lying down on the piece of rubble.

"How many did you destroy?" Lavi asks Allen.

"About… 30." Allen answers.

"Ah, I won! I got 37. What about Alice?"

"I don't know…" Alice answers.

"So there were 70 all together… a simple attack just aimed at us. They must be targeting you two and Lenalee while you three are still injured…" Lavi says as he fixing his bandana. "Or maybe they have an ulterior move…?"

Allen slowly tries to get up while using his left arm as a support. "I wonder if the hospital is okay…" Allen says but grunts as his bones crack in his left arm. "OW!"

"You okay?" Alice asks as she stands up.

"Sort of… my left arm hasn't healed yet." Allen answers. "I wish I had a weapon like you, Alice, and the others have, Lavi… Parasitic type is SO inconvenient…"

"…The hospital is that way, right?" Alice asks as she staggers her way to where Allen and Lavi are.

"Eh… yeah… probably." Lavi answers. "You all right, Alice?"

"Yeah… just a bit soar…" Alice answers. "Let's go…"

"All right, but if you need a hand just let me know." Alice nods and then Lavi holds Iron Hammer up with a handle side up. "Hold onto this." He tells them and both Alice and Allen grab onto the handle. "Size shifting hammer… EXTEND!"

"UGH!?" Allen grunts. Iron Hammer's handle launch up high into the sky. "UWA–!? DOWA–!" Allen cries and Alice shut her eyes tight.

"TO THE HOSPITAL, EXTEND! EXTEND! EX~~TEND!" Lavi shouts and Allen continues screaming. As the three Exorcists heading towards the hospital, Baseball (Akuma) stands beside a building then disappears.

In the hospital

Komui is holding Lenalee in his arms. Bookman stands on the corpse of Akuma.

"Spit it out," Bookman demands, "why did you come here?"

"He… hehehehe…" Akuma laughs. "The Millennium Earl has a message for you…" Akuma adds. "'Time is up~ The 1000 year prologue is over. Now the drama will unfold~ When you hear the bell for the curtain call, don't run! You Exorcists are our performers!'" Akuma delivers. Suddenly a piece of the trapped Akuma detaches from the main body and lunges at Komui. "An easy kill!" Akuma shouts, but it explodes.

Komui and Bookman's eyes widen what they see. The Akuma that was heading for Komui was destroyed swiftly by none other than Lenalee. She activates Dark Boots and destroys the Akuma.

"Le…" Komui says with shock. "Lenalee…"

Lenalee smiles at her brother.

"You woke up…" Bookman says.

"UWA―H!" Someone screams.

Suddenly the three Exorcists that are on Iron Hammer come crashing through the wall and into where Bookman stands. Lenalee and Komui look at the pile of crumble debris with shock. Komui is lost for words.

"You use that to fly again, Lavi…" Lenalee says.

Then Lavi pops out of the pile with a huge smile on his face. Alice comes out as well.

'I'm not going to ride something like that for a while…' Alice thought.

"Ahahaha… my bad! You all right, Alice?" Lavi says and Alice nods. "This thing is really convenient, but its damn hard to break! But it feels real good, right Allen?" No answer from Allen. "Allen…?"

Then something emerges behind Lavi from the rubble and has a dark aura. Lavi turns around to see Bookman with a scary aura with Allen unconscious on Bookman's head causing Lavi goes white.

"You damn brats…!" Bookman snarls.

"Alle…!?" Lavi calls but stops as he feels Bookman's wrath.


~Later~
In a carriage

Lavi and Allen are sitting in the carriage in Seiza (a form of a punishment). Alice is excuse from the punishment by Bookman as she and Lenalee sit beside the two Seiza Exorcists, while Bookman and Komui sit on the opposite side of them. Timcanpy rests on Alice's head.

"Now then, let's talk about the mission." Komui says. "Okay, you two?" He asks to Lavi and Allen

"Yes…" They replies.

"A few days ago…" Komui begins. "A General was murdered." Everyone's eyes widen. "The one assassinated was General Kevin Yeager. Even though he was the eldest of the Five Generals, he was always the type to fight on the front lines."

"What happened to him…!?" Lenalee asks as she covers her mouth from shock.

"He was found in Belgium, nailed backwards to a cross. The words 'God Hunt' was carved onto his back."

"'God Hunt'…!?" Allen and Alice repeat together.

"Komui, does that mean the Innocence–!?" Lavi guesses.

"Looks like it. The General was involved in a search for people who are compatible with Innocence. He carried a variety of Innocence with him. General Yeager had eight of them in his possession." Komui explains. "Including the one powering the General's own Anti-Akuma Weapon, nine were stolen in total."

'Nine…' Alice thought.

"He was crucified and suffered from multiple fatal wounds. On the verge of dying… he kept singing until he took his last breath."


"The Millennium Count… is searching… Searching for the precious heart… It wasn't me… next who'll it be…" General Yeager sings.


"'The Millennium Count'?" Lavi says confuse.

"Looks like it's the Earl's nickname…" Alice tells Lavi.

"The Noah that Lenalee, Allen, and Alice encountered called him that too." Komui adds.

"Komui-san." Alice calls and Komui looks at her. "What is the 'precious Heart'."

Komui closes his eyes. "One out of 109 Innocence that we're searching for. The core of all Innocence, it's called 'The Heart'." Komui explains. "It is the root of all the power of Innocence, and can return all Innocence to nothingness. Is we have it in our possession, it will be the first time that we can gain the power to stop the end. That is the Earl's target."

"And where it that Innocence?" Allen asks.

"Dunno." Komui answers, shrugging his shoulders.

"Huh?"

"Actually it's very annoying. The cube had nothing in it about what kind of Innocence it is, nothing about signs or distinctions, nothing~~~ No matter how brilliant I am, there aren't just any clues! It's a real problem, you know. I'm really busy too. These ancients should consider that and at least write a hint in there… They're so stingy. You know, we've already tried to get Helva to look at the Innocence in our possession, and considered it from many angles… It may even be that we've already collected it, or maybe someone might have been its Apostle already…" Komui says. "The Generals is the only victim. The Earl probably thinks that of all the Innocence compatible person there are, there is a good chance that 'The Heart' resides in people with the most power. The appearance of the Akuma, and now Noah's Family and the heightened military strength, are all probably because of that." He explains. "The Exorcist Generals have become their targets. That is probably the meaning of the message as well. It is very likely that the same message was sent to the other Exorcists too."

"At any rate, the Apostle for that Innocence would almost certainly have as much strength as a General…" Lavi says.

"Still, a simultaneous assault by Noah's family and the Akuma would be too much, even for a General…" Komui concludes. "Exorcists from all over are being recalled and divided into four groups, The mission this time is to guard to Generals. You lot will guard General Cross."

Allen's and Alice's eyes widen at Komui's orders.


~Later~

The five Exorcists arrive at the train station for them to go to where General Cross is and are waiting for their train to arrive. Allen falls asleep and Lavi is drawing on his face while trying to wake Allen up at the same time.

"Allen." Lavi calls. "Hey Allen, wake up~ The train is here~"

Bookman comes and smacks Lavi in the head. "What the hell are you doing!?" He questions.

"He's dreaming about General Cross again!"

"Gua–t..." Allen mumbles and snores. "Master's not human…"

"HEY! EVERYONE, HURRY AND GET ON! IF WE MISS THIS ONE, THERE WON'T BE ANOTHER TRAIN TOMORROW!" Lenalee shouts.

Immediately, they get on the train with the awaken Allen and Alice notices the markings on his face and points it out to him which causing him to go to the bathroom to clean his face.

"Haaa~" Allen breaths after finally getting off all the ink from his face. "As soon as it was decided that we're going after the Master, my dreams have gotten worse and worse…"

"But that's just how things are. I can't be complaining…" Allen tells himself.

~Hours before setting off on the trip of finding General Cross~

"Orders for the Generals don't come from me, the Commander-in Chief gives out their orders. They're assigned multiple orders at once, and then they carry them out according to their own judgement." Komui explains with his arms crossed. "Therefore, we don't have information on their whereabouts at any given time. Then again," Komui hold out a finger towards Allen and Lavi leaning forward. "THREE of four remaining Generals regularly contact Headquarters once a month, so we know approximately where they are… the problem is ONE! General CROSS MARIAN!" Komui sits back into his seat and pushing up his glasses. "According to our information, there has been no word from General Cross in almost four years. We can conclude that (1) 'he's dead.' Or (2) 'he's ignoring his orders and just playing around.' For your information! My bet is on (2)! But! THEN YOU," Komui points at Allen. "AND YOU APPEARED!" He points at Alice. Komui then put a hand on Alice's and Allen's shoulders and smiles weirdly at them. "AS CROSS' PUPILS, YOU'VE BEEN TRAVELING TOGETHER FOR THREE YEARS… ALWAYS!"

Allen and Alice look at each other and then back at Komui.

"It's… no good." Allen speaks. "We have no idea where the Master is."

"Komui, how do we go about locating a missing person?" Lavi asks.

"The other teams will depend on the pupils of the various Generals. But, in this case, we'll get Tim to guide us." Komui answers.

"Timcanpy?" Lavi, Allen, and Alice say with surprise.

"Also a renowned scientist, Cross was the maker of this little golem, and as such, he should be able to tell us where Cross is. AFTER THAT, SINCE ALLEN AND ALICE ARE FAMILIAR WITH HIS MOVEMENT PATTERNS, IT'LL BE LIKE DROWNING A DEAD RAT!" Komui declares insanely.

"Nii-san… that's a bit…"Lenalee trails off.

In the restroom

Allen dries his face and hands. He looks in the mirror and peels the bandage that covers his left eye, off. He pokes his left eye, but didn't open it.

'I can't see anything, but it doesn't hurt that much anymore so it should be fine if I take this off.' Allen thought and exits the restroom and sees Lenalee leaning on the wall.

"Lenalee, what are you doing here…?" Allen asks her.

Lenalee face Allen and then smiles with an vein mark on her face. "Nothing." She answers and leaves.

'Huh? Just now… I saw an angry mark, right? But she was smiling…' Allen thought as he follows her back to their assigned car.

Bookman and Lenalee sit on one side of the seat; while Lavi, Allen, and Alice sit on the opposite side. Bookman pulls a map and lays it between the five of them.

"Now…" Bookman begins. "Let's start by putting our information together."

"What, you already took it off?" Lavi mouths to Allen. "But it was such a funny face…"

"Quit it already." Allen mouths back.

"Stop talking, you two." Alice says annoy from the two Exorcists beside her.

"Currently, we're proceeding towards East Germany." Bookman says. "How's Timcanpy doing?"

"Still pointing straight to the East." Lenalee answers.

"If the Master is far away, he can't receive more than a vague sense of his direction." Alice says.

"That means the Master is still pretty for away." Allen adds.

"Where in the world he could be…?" Lenalee asks as she stares at the map. "General Cross doesn't claim expenses from the church, so we don't have any receipts from him."

"Eh? Then how does he pay for everything? Out of his own pocket?" Lavi asks.

"Master borrows money." Allen answers. "I didn't even know about claiming receipts until I joined the church."

"The Master lives off his lovers and acquaintances in different places." Alice adds. "When we were really broke, Allen made some money by gambling."

Then the atmosphere turns weird as three people stares at Allen. The atmosphere read: You went that far...!?

"Eh? What? What?" Allen asks as everyone turns quiet.

When Allen comes into contact with Lenalee's eyes, she turns away to avoid Allen's eyes.

'She turned away!' Allen thought with shock and confusion.

"By the way Allen, you still can't open that left eye?" Bookman asks which Allen nods. "Get that eye healed quickly so you can stand watch for Akuma. Judging from the message from other groups, we can assume that Akuma will try to attack and stop us. To get to the General, we'll be traveling on trains for quite a while. We need that left eye so we can make swift judgments to keep civilians from getting mixed up with Akuma."

"Understood..." Allen says while peeking up at Lenalee who is still avoiding eye contact.

The train stops at one of its designation stations and Lenalee gets off to buy everyone's dinner. Allen decides that it's a good time to talk to Lenalee.

"Lenalee." Allen calls and she turns around to look at him. "That… Come to think of it… Ever since that time we've never really talked… I think…" Lenalee didn't speak, just listens. "About that time… I'm very sorry." He bows to Lenalee as he apologizes.

Lenalee looks at Allen sadly and she then whacks him with the bag of dinner. Allen grunts and tries to lift his head, but is push down by Lenalee. "Don't lift your head!" She shouts.

"Ha? Ah… yes." Allen replies.

"Because I haven't forgiven you yet. You're so selfish, Allen." Lenalee points out. "'No one can see the Akuma's soul but me.' Carrying all the burden by yourself, and sacrificing only yourself in battle." Lenalee's voice starts to sound shaky. "What are we friends for?" She asks him as tears form. "Don't make a fool out of me… Why don't you let me… fight by your side?" Lenalee let go of the bag and sits on the floor crying while Allen is still bowing with the bag on his head. "I hate it… your left eye… I hate it…"

"Sorry…" Allen apologizes as he looks at Lenalee. "Lenalee. Thank you for helping me."

Suddenly, Lenalee glares at Allen which made him jump. "I'll always help you!" Lenalee shouts and she snatches the bag from Allen's head and heads back to the train, leaving Allen confuse.

'So… she forgave me…? Somehow it seems like she's still a bit mad…' Allen thought as he follows Lenalee back onto the train.

Meanwhile

Alice, who isn't on the train yet, is staring at the sky blackly. Then the train whistles for departure and Alice snaps back into reality. She starts to head back onto the train, but it was not until someone grabs her wrist. Alice turns around to see a man.

"On your chest… is that a cross?" The man asks her.

Everyone is seated in the train car but then Lavi notices someone is missing and looks around.

"Huh? Where's Alice?" He asks.