Something in me snapped.

My whip crackled with new energy, and the fire that had wreathed it suddenly became blue, the same gas-blue as Ava's own flame. My eye twitched as I slung the whip almost carelessly at the Akuma, scraping it against my cheek in the process and probably gaining yet another new cut. I didn't care - I was practically immune to pain at this point. The Akuma, obviously surprised, scrabbled to get out of the flaming enclosure, but there was little chance of that happening.

Die.

I yanked backwards, something in my arm tearing, and the entire demon raced sideways, crashing through chairs, tables, and support beams. I waited, time going by in milliseconds, before the Akuma reached the end of the whip, before I yanked again, sending it crashing in another direction. It dug its claws into the floorboards, the knife-spewing devices around its wrists whirring into action. I frowned as I suddenly pulled upwards, then down. The Akuma crashed into the ceiling, then hit the floor with a resounding crash, sending it straight into the water below the wooden beams. My whip slackened in my hand, and I reeled it back in. The Akuma was no longer wrapped by the end of it, so I figured that meant it had either been cut straight through or the whip had unraveled again. Either way, I didn't think it was likely the Akuma was coming back.

Bone tired, I shuffled towards Ava, who was softly crying. She'd been singed and burned on the wings before, and she'd been shot before too (imagine my horror - they tranquilized me at the hospital to calm me down), but I guess being trapped scared her more than anything. I flopped down on my knees, studying the wound with clinical numbness. My brain fought to work through the cloud of exhaustion, and I realized that the knife wound was nothing more than a flesh injury. It hadn't hit any of Ava's major arteries. If anything, it had done almost minimal damage other than put a small hole in the webbing.

I held the wing down gently, Ava fluttering frantically as Parley watched silently from the rafters, and I yanked the knife out. She let out a small whimper, but that was all. I looked up at Ava, her tear-streaked face dirty and spotted with ash, her pigtails practically out of their hair ties, and I sighed with relief. Tears began to prick at my eyes, and Ava walked up to me, hugging me as she buried her face in my chest. I held her tight, realizing just how close I could've come to losing her, and I started to sob.

I must have been so distracted by Ava that I missed the sounds of water moving and footsteps. I heard a massive click behind me like the sound a gun makes as its being cocked back, and I closed my eyes tight, suddenly too tired to even move. I shivered and waited, knowing I had no more to give as I held Ava as tight as I could.

I heard the familiar ching of a sword cutting through metal, and a body dropped behind me. I shook, practically half-dead, not even bothering to look behind me. A rough hand suddenly took a hold of the hair-tie just barely keeping my hair in a ponytail and gently removed it. Brown, dirty strands fell around my face as I sat, my head bowed down into Ava's hair, tears dripping down my nose and off my face.

"That's two you owe me."

There was a great commotion as people began to arrive, but I didn't bother to look up. I felt shell-shocked and confused. My brain refused to plod forwards. It had immediately shut down, putting up barriers to protect me. People were asking me things, but I couldn't answer because I had no idea what was going on. I could tell I was looking at faces, but whose faces, I didn't know. I think at one point they tried to separate Ava and I, but she practically clawed through my arms with her talons trying to stay with me. That finally woke me up.

"I-it's fine, she's... she's fine," I breathed out finally, everything snapping into clarity like the breaking of an elastic band. I saw plenty of Thai faces, and through the crowd I could see Allen's white head journeying towards us. He was clad in his uniform, looking awfully sharp, if a little ruffled, in his black-and-white Exorcist coat. Worry was practically plastered on his face with a paintbrush, and I gave a weary smile.

"Hey, Allen. Imagine finding you here," I joked weakly, and he didn't say a word.

The younger Exorcist bent down to my level, and he began to examine Ava carefully. At first, she threatened to bite him (and if her teeth weren't like little knives), but I held her and gave a warning glare. She calmed down when she realized that Allen's hands were gentler than anticipated, and eventually she fell asleep in my lap.

"And you?" Allen asked, quietly concerned.

The Thais had begun repairs already, putting up replacement boards where the floor had fallen in or righting cooking equipment. Somewhere at the back, I could see Lavi shifting from one foot to the other in a fidgety dance, like he had to pee or something. For all I knew, maybe that was the reason for his fidgeting, though it was unlikely. No one ever tells you that you might have to pee in the middle of a battle. It's actually very inconvenient.

"Uh, I'm fine, I think. I've got a broken rib or two, a scrape here and there, nothin' much," I said, trying to stay optimistic, but my lip quivered.

My little half-dragon of a sister woke up blearily at the sound of my voice. Ava looked up at me with soulful eyes, and I could tell that she could tell that I could tell that Allen could tell that I could tell that I was a really, really bad liar. Never the less, he didn't say anything towards it, and he got a few of the Thai men to help me to my feet. Ava clung to my legs before Allen leaned down to pick her up. I refused the urge to stop him, my ribs quickly reminding me that I was in no shape to be carrying a forty-pound toddler.

I studied the younger Exorcist. He actually didn't look too exhausted, and I wondered how he could manage to stay so fresh after fighting for hours on end. Allen began to limp out of the restaurant, chattering to Lavi as he went with Ava in his arms. My sister looked over his shoulder and extended one clawed hand out to me, and I felt my heart constrict.

As I myself began to head out the door after the other Exorcists, I noticed a presence looming behind me. Considering my bowels attempted to tie itself into a knot, I'd hazard a guess that I was standing next to Kanda. He was the only one who knew how to put wasps in my stomach.

"Let's go outside," he stated in a low growl, and bullets began dripping down my back.

I wordlessly followed him out the door. We continued to walk behind the other Exorcists, albeit at a much slower pace, probably a deliberate thing on Kanda's part considering his continental stride.

Suddenly, I was hit up the back of the head, and I winced. That hurt more than I thought it would. I wrapped my arms around my sore skull, and I muttered, "What was that for?"

Kanda didn't even look at me. In profile, he looked cruelly proud, like some sort of jungle cat that was too haughty to even consider eating a lowlife like me. He sniffed.

"You gave up. It's disappointing. I thought you had more guts," he growled, and I felt a pang of hurt. I let my arms fall to my sides, and my legs seemed to move on their own. We'd almost caught up with the others at this point.

"You don't ever give up. Do you hear me?"

His tone was gruff, but awkward. I frowned as I cast a wary glance out of the corner of my eye. Kanda wasn't exactly the 'friendly advice' type of guy. His advice came in the form of beatings and agony. Maybe that was what the slap up the side of my head was for. He wanted to smash the information into my brain.

"I'm serious," he added, looking at me.

I practically felt his eyes bore holes straight through my face. I sighed before suddenly stumbling to my knees over a piece of debris. Instinctively, he caught my arm, and I screamed as some invisible sadist punched a poker through my humerus. Kanda visibly cringed, whether at my three-octaves-too-high screech or the wound in my arm, I wasn't sure. He set me down, examining the marks in my flesh, and I realized that Ava must've stabbed me a little harder than intended.

"They're... cat scratches?" I tried lamely with a forced smile. He raised a single sardonic eyebrow at me.

I attempted to stand up, but my legs refused to lift me. I looked away, slightly embarrassed. I hadn't been that injured. Kanda sighed long-sufferingly, and for once I couldn't blame him. I was pretty fed up with me, too.

It took us twenty minutes to get to land, at which point I was hammered out. They already had elephants waiting for us, and I had to be lifted into the seat because of my legs' sudden decision to take the night off. The Thais were awfully gracious about it, seeing as I'm less than a featherweight. While high up in the air, Lavi looked me over.

"Sheesh, what did you do, get in a fight with a-?"

"Yes," I sighed in answer before he could finish.

He was at a loss for words for all of about a second before continuing, "Well, you have -"

"What about my sister?" I asked, turning the subject around.

I was tired of being taken care of. Most usually I'm not against being waited on hand and foot, but I felt too manhandled to really care at the moment what, exactly, was the matter with me. Lavi changed gears faster than a well-oiled bike.

"She's got two burn marks, a scrape on her knee which was healed by a good ol' kiss from Uncle Allen, and a single puncture wound in one of her wings. Once she converts out of her invoked Innocence, she should still be fine even with the wounded wing. Knowing how fast Parasitics heal, she'll be right as rain in a few hours," he listed off, keeping a cheery outlook.

All this happiness was going to turn me into a diabetic. I didn't understand how they could keep it up.

Within minutes, I fell asleep. There's something about an elephant's shifting walk that's comforting.

I swore I was asleep for a total of five minutes before I was woken up again.


I shouted and flailed in the sheets, dazed and confused. The last thing I remembered was dreaming about a cotton-candy pink elephant goring a gingerbread man with tusks made out of peppermint while Lavi floated around in a tutu singing and playing a ukelele among my family of munchkins with a very pregnant, apron-wearing, barefoot me. I don't know what it was about that, but it terrified me. I think it was Lavi singing that did the trick. The pregnant part didn't help matters.

When I finally calmed down enough to actually realized I was not in Candyland being subjected to musical-based torture (or about to give birth to a soccer ball), I stared straight at a deadpan pair of older Exorcists, both whom I recognized - and both whom I would rather not see again in the near future. From the looks on their faces, I guessed that they were talking about something pretty darn serious before I'd interrupted.

"Good morning, Magnolia," Lavi stated rather simply, though he looked slightly dumbfounded with half a smile on his face.

My face colored as Kanda glared at me, like it was my fault I'd chosen to wake up just then, and I blurted out, "I can go back to sleep if you want. I'm good at pretending that I'm asleep."

The Japanese Exorcist rolled his eyes and walked out, slamming the door.

"Somebody always wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, apparently," I sighed.

Parley squawked a rather rude word above me, and for once I had to agree with the bird.

"Don't mind him. He's pretty ticked about last night. He hadn't expected you to be able to take out a Level Three on your own, even if he did bat it around a bit first," Lavi said, almost fondly looking out the door.

I raised an eyebrow. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the man was smitten, but so far he'd shown way too much interest in women to be infatuated with the same gender... I think.

"What, Grouchface's mad that I'm alive? Ouch. My feelings," I joked.

My heart did twinge in slight agony. No one had ever wanted me dead before. Well, anyone human, though describing Kanda as "human" was quite generous. His comments last night still stung, too, so this wasn't a balm to my ears. I was beginning to get some conflicting signals from this guy - one second he's helpful and trying to give advice, the next he's disappointed I didn't get shafted with a spray of poisoned bullets.

"You call him Grouchface?" Lavi asked with a laugh, and my face drained of color.

Oh crap, I'd said that out loud. I needed to stop doing that.

"So, uh, how is everything? How long was I out for?" I asked, steering the conversation topic into less shark-infested waters.

Lavi seemed to take this sudden change quite in stride, and he said, "Things have settled down. You've been out for about a week -"

"A week!" I stared at him in disbelief. I frowned as I noticed a small smile slowly creep on his face, and I gave him a face.

"You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"

Lavi dissolved into laughter, and I rolled my eyes. I should've guessed. He and my Terrible Trio were birds of a feather.

"S-sorry, it was just... just too good an opportunity to pass up. It's been a couple of hours. The sun just came up," Lavi stated after he recovered from his sudden laugh spasm.

I sighed as I looked out the window, watching the pine trees sway in the breeze. I honestly never thought I'd see pine trees on a beach, but I guess I had to forfeit my case.

"And Ava? How's she? Traumatized for life?" I asked, half-serious.

I wouldn't blame my little sister if she never wanted to come out of her hut. A battlefield is no place for a four year old. Heck, a battlefield is no place for an eighteen-year-old translator, either, but I didn't have the 'hide' option, especially with that man as a teacher. Well, men, I should say, but the point still stood.

"Ava's doing pretty peachy keen, actually. Bookman just arrived about two hours ago, and they've been at each other like dogs over a bone. She keeps trying to set fire to his ponytail," Lavi stated, leaning back in his chair with a creak.

I drew my legs up to my chest, wincing, and Lavi suddenly stood up.

"I wouldn't do that," Lavi suggested quietly, pulling on one of my legs back into its stretched out position.

I frowned at him, confused, before I noticed that I had blood leaking out of my shirt.

"Oh. That's not good," I muttered.

Before I could protest, Lavi lifted up the side of my shirt, and instinct sort of took over.

My hand stopped inches from his face, his other hand grabbing my wrist in an iron hold. My eyes widened as, first, I realized I'd just about smacked him and, second, he was practically crushing my wrist into a mess of bone powder and fleshy gelatin.

"H-hey, warn me before you try and take my clothes off!" I sassed, trying hard to keep my voice from sounding girlishly whiny and ultimately failing.

Lavi rolled his good eye, and he pulled up my entire shirt tail. My face flushed as he noticed that there was a corset in the way (a girl should always wear a corset, no matter the occasion - I'd rather not let gravity have dominion over how much I sag when I'm older), and he said, "Flip over, would you? I need to get this off."

"How about... no?" I stated drily, with pursed lips.

Lavi tilted his head to the side with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you want an infection?"

"Do you want a hand to surgically remove from your face?"

"I caught it once. I think I can do it again."

I pulled my wrist out of his grip, and I rubbed the sorely offended joint. Finally, I acquiesced and started to pick apart the strings in the back, but it was already a mass of tangles. Not to mention my arms were bandaged and hard to move with any dexterity, especially my right, dominant hand. Finally becoming impatient Lavi lightly slapped my hands away and started undoing the strings himself.

Whistling low, he muttered, "Sheesh, were you in the navy or something? These knots are really tight."

I winced as he pulled back the strings to get some more slack, and the whale-bone cage began shrinking my waist to straw-size.

"Easy, easy! Hippocratic oath and all, do more good than harm, ring any bells?" I coughed, and Lavi laughed hollowly.

The sound grated on my ears. It was like a cat viciously clawing up a black board that had done it personal injury. Something I'd said apparently had rung bells - big, obnoxious, painful bells that were best left to dust and ruin.

It was quiet for quite a while before I asked, "So, what's all wrong with me, Doc? Any ideas?"

Lavi pushed me to the bed gently, and I flopped down on my stomach so he could get a better look at the strings in the back.

"Oh, now you wanna hear my prognosis? Last night you were a little hesitant. Finally got the guts?" he asked in mock surprise, and I rolled my eyes.

That was practically becoming habit. If I didn't quit, they might get stuck up there at the top of my eye sockets.

"Just tell me. I'm practically dying of anticipation," I grumbled, slinging one of my arms off the bed to dangle at the floor. I was surprised to find something furry under my hand, and I screamed, arching back into Lavi, and practically fell off the bed. He stiffened, trying to keep us from hitting the floor, and I flailed as I regained my balance.

"Mag, the more you flail, the harder it's going to be -"

"AYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYI!"

A fist suddenly flew past my face into a very surprised redhead as my sister burst in like some sort of 'knight in blinding armor.' That time, Lavi really did fall off the bed, bleeding from a broken nose. I stared between the two of them, my mouth open in disbelief, as my brain picked up the pace.

"That's what you get, you creep! Trying to take off her clothes..." Violet sniffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Lavi, dazed as he was, probably couldn't even hear at this point, and I gave Violet sarcastic applause.

"Good job, Vi. Good job. You beat off the big, bad scary monster," I muttered.

Vi, unaffected as always, merely said a cheery, "Thank you! I like my work being appreciated."

"You realize he was trying to help me, right?"

Vi's happy look hardened into plaster on her face. Her eye twitched as she asked, "He was taking off your clothes, his nose is bleeding, and you screamed."

Tip suddenly stuck his nose over the bed, snuffling so hard I'd thought he'd suck the sheets into both nostrils.

"Actually, she's bleeding, and I'm trying to figure out if her wound opened. My nose was bleeding only after you socked me," Lavi grumbled nasally, sitting up with his hair practically a haystack.

Violet's mask finally cracked into pieces, and she slumped with a dejected look.

"Aw, crap. Sorry, I thought you were trying to deflower my sister, though why you would want to is kind of beyond me -"

"My feelings."

"- but then again, if you had, that's your choice, not mine. But seeing as you didn't, that's fine. Do you need any help?"

Violet was suddenly cheery again, and I slapped a hand on my face in mortification. Lavi, awestruck for the moment, finally found his tongue on the floor somewhere and stuck it back in his mouth.

"No, uh, I think I'm good. Though if you could get me some bandages, that would be good," Lavi said, and Violet, short hair and shorter skirt and all, skipped off to find the aforementioned item.

"You can stop staring. Her butt's not at eye level anymore," I quipped, and Lavi wiped his nose.

He looked at the blood with an annoyed grimace, and I suddenly felt bad. I knew she was being protective, but I still couldn't help but feel horrible that she'd gone and snapped his nose. I dabbed at it with one clumsy hand, and he winced as I jabbed too hard.

"Mag, I think you're breaking the Hippocratic oath. Besides, it's not that bad. It's just going to swell that's all. As long as I don't get scars..." Lavi muttered, going cross-eyed (I think) in an attempt to see his nose. I laughed, and I grabbed my ribs in pain.

"Ooooh, bad idea, bad idea," I moaned.

Lavi, remembering the task at hand, finally cut off the strings with some surgical scissors rather than mess with them any longer. I was about to bemoan the loss of some really high-quality string before realizing just how chintzy that sounded. Only I would whine about losing string.

Lavi sucked in a breath. I waited apprehensively.

"You'd already broken three ribs in the fight as well as some burns on your face and arms. Luckily, the broken ribs didn't puncture anything and didn't have to be set. You had a couple other superficial wounds, but Bookman can get to those whenever he decides to get his lazy, old keister over here. Apparently we missed a rather large scrape. It was dark last night when we came back, and the lamp oil was almost gone so we didn't see it. It scabbed over a little bit, but when you began moving, it crumbled and now blood's everywhere. I'm glad I sent for those bandages," Lavi muttered, moving me to get a better look. I held tightly to the front of my corset, trying to keep some modesty, and I started to piece together what he'd said through the haze of 'I'm injured, what do I do, I'm injured, I'm going to die.'

"Wait. You didn't send those bandages for me?"

"What? No! Those were for me! I'm the one with the broken nose."

"I'm the one with the broken ribs!"

"Ribs fix themselves, and you can't see them anyways. A broken nose looks absolutely horrible if you don't fix it right away, and it makes you look like a troll for the rest of your life unless you want it re-broken."

He was worse than a woman.

I groaned indignantly, and after about thirty minutes of fussing with Violet and me, Lavi had me fixed up completely. All of my scrapes were covered with some sort of clear gel and a bandage, so one side of my cheek was covered completely in gauze and tape. Looking just as ridiculous, I'd fixed Lavi's nose and stuffed it with gauze as well as covered it with a long strip to hold my binding in place.

"You two look like you got into fights with elephants and lost," Violet snickered, and I rolled my eyes.

Two hours later, Bookman came in with Parley on his shoulder, and the old man fed him a small wafer.

"Aw, don't feed the bird. Then he's never going to leave me alone," I whined.

Not like he didn't do that anyways, but now he had a legitimate reason to be a nuisance. Bookman only smiled mischievously and handed over another wafer to the bird. He examined me closely, this time shooing off Lavi so he could look at me very thoroughly (an experience I will be loath to repeat - there's nothing quite like handing over your modesty for the sake of medicine) and concluded that I would be fine in the next few months. Apparently I was still 'useful' by all accounts seeing as I could still run away if I was ever chased, though the state of my lungs screamed otherwise. As he walked out, the old man with the question-mark ponytail and eyeliner looked up at Lavi, shook his head, and walked off while Lavi sheepishly stood by the door.

"What now? Do I stay in bed like a lump, or are we actually going to do something today?" I asked. Lavi suddenly cracked a smile.

"I thought you'd never ask."


"Lavi, this isn't a good idea."

"Oh, come on, you'll be perfectly fine! It'll be fun, really."

"No, I'm serious. This is a really bad idea."

"What, you don't trust me?"

"No."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"I try."

I scuffled my feet, feeling naked. I'd asked Bookman if it was okay for me to be doing rigorous activity, and he'd given me an odd look before stating that it was fine. Lavi had been standing next to me, looking awfully mischievous while I stood there and looked awfully awkward. And now, I was standing here, half-naked, being waited on.

I hated being waited on. It made me feel rude. This, however, I wasn't sure about. This was going into dangerous territory. Literally.

The waterfall loomed, and Lavi's outline shimmered behind it. The waterfall pounded loudly, practically drowning all of my words.

"What's so important in there, anyways?" I asked.

I'd taken off most of my layers so that I wouldn't end up bogged down. I was getting used to the idea of wearing less and less clothes, but I still felt awfully exposed. Water splashed over my feet, and the spray bathed me. My layers were beginning to turn sheer, and I shifted my feet uncomfortably. I was starting to slip on this wet rock here in the middle of the river.

The waterfall was a good twenty feet tall, spilling off of an overly vegetated ridge. Above, there was blue, clean sky poking between fronds from the trees. This river ran down quite a ways, and it took Lavi and I about an hour to reach this spot by horse. On either side, I was practically swallowed by water, most of which was luckily only about neck deep. The water was a slightly murky greenish blue, and I was tentative of stepping on algae, though the waterfall beat most of the stubborn stuff off the rocks. The rock spur I stood on was completely free of the green slime, but the end went directly behind the waterfall, and I had nowhere to go. Going back meant staying with the horses, of whom I'm already wary, and the monkeys that were probably sniffing and stealing my clothes.

"Just the most amazing thing on the planet!" Lavi shouted back through the waterfall, and I rolled my eyes at his exaggerated impatience.

The guy was hammier than most swine. Through the sheet of water, I could see a faint touch of red where his outline stood, one hip cocked with bouncing anticipation. I stepped back, shifting from foot to foot. My stomach filled with dread, and I groaned inwardly. That waterfall was putting out a lot of water... What happened if I ended up breaking a leg along with my ribs? Kanda would probably make me run with a broken leg. He told me to run with a cracked ribcage, after all. Finally making up my mind, I shut my eyes and ran headlong through the waterfall.

Roaring filled my ears for all of about a minute, and I was completely soaked from head to toe, but once I emerged on the other side I stared. I think my eyes achieved the size of dinner plates along with several different tea plates and a dessert bowl for good measure.

"Uh... wow," I whispered, the roar of the waterfall echoing with my voice.

Ahead of me, a massive cave presented itself with such magnificence as to leave me dumbfounded. The cave wasn't the most amazing part, however - it was the hundreds of miniature Buddha statues raised on natural steps throughout the entire cave that deprived me of breath.

Lavi stuck an arm over my shoulder and stated nasally through his plugged nose, "See? What'd I tell ya?"

I walked forwards, careful of the algae. The rock suddenly ended, leaving a massive pool of dark water. I stood there, neurotic mind going over all the sorts of creepy, blind cave fish and crabs down at the bottom as Lavi suddenly vaulted past me and pulled off a cannonball, soaking me with another dose of river water. My hair straggled in my face, and I dripped like a faucet.

"Thanks," I muttered, wiping hair out of my immediate line of sight.

Lavi laughed, the sound reverberating around the cave. It was probably fifty feet tall with a domed top, stepped on the inside with cracks and fissures. Bats seemed absent, probably because of the blocked entrance, and everything was eerily quiet save for the sound of the waterfall pounding not five feet behind me. I stared up at the faces of a hundred Buddhas, all sitting in a lotus position with their hands serenely placed in their laps or with a single hand up as if they were a student waiting to be called on by some absent teacher. Most of them were worn by water, and a few of them were crumbling to nothing. All of them sat in rows around us, seeming for the all world like tiny, little people staring in at the person standing on the rock spur leading in from the waterfall.

"Why don't you come in? The water's fine," Lavi suggested with a wave of his hand, and I looked dubiously into the water.

There were about a thousand and one diseases people could contract from just stepping foot into clean-looking water. I was a little bit skeptical of this sort, and I sat down on the edge of the rock, dipping my toe in reluctantly. Out near the 'shore', for lack of a better word, Lavi sat on a natural rock shelf. His feet dangled in the water, and the light reflected in strange diamond patterns on his stark-white legs. After much yelping, complaining, and all around fussing, I managed to make my way over to him without taking on any unwanted passengers.

If he hadn't had the plugs in his nose, he would've looked downright contemplative and dark, but I couldn't exactly take him seriously with two pieces of gauze sticking out of his nostrils. Bookman had set his nose for him, and already he was getting the telltale bruises underneath his eyes from the pooling blood.

"Why so serious?" I asked, shaking off a piece of algae that stuck to my toe. "You look like someone just shot your dog."

I'd had that happen to me before - luckily the dog survived, but I was less than pleased with the vet bill. That was enough to make anybody fall over dead.

"Just... thinking. I, uh, I have something to tell you, actually. I didn't take you here so you could just gawk," Lavi said, slightly chuckling, still very nasally but clearly uncomfortable.

I frowned at him. He'd wanted to get me alone, and getting me alone was never good. I felt my gut respond accordingly. Lavi must've seen it in my face. He shook his head with what he probably thought was a reassuring smile and what I thought was an awkward grimace.

"It may, uh... it may take us longer than expected to train you. It will be probably twelve to thirteen months before you'll end up with your family again," Lavi said, scratching the back of his head.

I stared at him in disbelief. He... He wasn't serious. I'd spoken to him on the boat to Phuket about this. They'd said five months! An entire year... My lungs suddenly seemed to cease functioning, or at the least the air quit offering oxygen, and Lavi put a hand on my shoulder as I started to hyperventilate.

"T-twelve... twelve months?" I squeaked, my voice ringing around the cave.

All the Buddhas seemed to laugh at my exponentially growing worries as they stared at us, and I leaned back against the rock.

"No... no, no, no, I can't do more than a couple of months. I mean... am I really that horrible? What do I need to do? Run more, swim more, eat less, actually listen when Kanda talks to me - Ow! Stop doing that!" I protested as I was given a swift slap to the leg.

I was getting tired of being hit. It seemed like I was everyone's punching bag these days.

"Sorry. You were starting to freak out. I was afraid you might accidentally shove me off. You were talking with your hands," Lavi stated.

Guiltily, I looked away. That was true - I had Italian in me somewhere, I think.

I put my head in my hands, suddenly overwhelmed. A year... A year without Lily, without Bastian and Erastus, without Ava, without Violet. My mind couldn't comprehend it. My siblings were like my legs and arms. The one mission I'd done away from them had practically torn me apart. How was I supposed to survive an entire year without my family closer than a street or a town?

"Hey, hey, hey, you're going to be fine. Look, it's nothing to do with you or your performance. We've just got a lot of byways to go through right now - there are some... some things Kanda and I were talking about this morning. There have been some complications, and we especially will be gone for quite a while," Lavi said, a strange look crossing his face. I took a deep, shuddering breath.

"I can always call them, right? With the golems?" I asked, and Lavi nodded.

"Any time of day, they can connect you with them, though of course if they don't want to be connected they can shut them off."

That would probably be 'most of the time' because I planned on nagging them every day. It's force of habit, and you know what they say about habits. Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I tried to keep off the feeling of abject panic. I couldn't help but feel that just about everybody I knew or loved was walking away from me. It was a selfish thought, but it was what happened to be clinging to my mind like an ever-growing tick, leaching off my worry.

Suddenly, something flew straight through the curtain of water and hovered in the middle of the spacious cave. I looked up in surprise as a golem fluttered right in front of our faces. Talk about 'speak of the devil.' The golem seemed frantic, practically smacking us in the face as it tried to get our attention.

Lavi waved at it and asked, "What do you want, you overgrown mechanical insect?"

The golem seemed to take offense at that, turning around and hovering irately. I rolled my eyes, and I poked it. Surprised, it fluttered back to facing us, and a recorded message began to play.

"Hello? Hello? Is this thing recording? Oh! Okay!"

I frowned, and Lavi looked grim.

"That's Allen. And there's a lot of background noise," he muttered, suddenly becoming very serious.

It was true - I could hear sounds of destruction, and Allen was speaking softly as if he was trying to hide.

"The resort's been attacked. I think the Akuma from last night have come back. I'm not sure - I didn't see much last night, so I don't know. Either way, we need you guys, pronto. I'm trying to evacuate as many of the villagers as possible, but we're running out of fighters. Violet's been injured, and Ava can't fight with her punctured wing. Please hurry."

My face drained of blood, and I felt lightheaded. Lavi's hand steadied me with a firm grip on my shoulder as I began to sway.

"It looks like our departure's going to be a lot sooner than anticipated. Here - we'll use Tensui. It'll be a lot faster," Lavi said, simultaneously whipping out his Innocence and commanding it to extend.

I managed to get my brain back into my cranium long enough to realize we were flying... again. I hated flying. Twice in the same twenty-four hour period might be more than my heart could take.

"Come on, they need us," Lavi said, standing on top of it with unbelievable dexterity.

I sighed deeply as I reluctantly swung a leg over the handle and gripped it.

"Alright. Ready," I stated glumly.

Lavi looked down at me and smirked.

"Aww, don't be like that. It'll be fun!"

Liar.

Suddenly, we shot off, and I gritted my teeth as I was soaked. Within fifteen minutes of gut-wrenching terror, we were back at the resort-turned-battlefield. I momentarily wondered what we were going to do about the horses when something suddenly whizzed past my head and I shouted, "WHOA!"

A cannon ball the size of a baby started its downward journey into the jungle beyond, and I realized we were being targeted.

"Lavi... I think it'd be a good time to put down now," I said, a note of worry edging my voice.

Lavi said, "Good idea!"

I was suddenly lifted off and thrown into the open air. I was so stunned, I didn't even realize what was happening until I started falling.

I contorted my face into one of anger as I shouted, "NOT WHAT I -"


A/N: Yet another chapter. I'm actually pretty happy how this turned out (though it's very Mag-centric).

Thanks to sammi117 and Yananinja for their input on the story!

Thanks also to sammi117 for subscribing.

Ah... that's all I've got for the Recognition section. Crud.

So, in that case, let's just skip straight to the discussion: Mag is an OC, obviously - do you think there should be some sort of switch to a different character? Would a character shift in point of view would be confusing? Should there be a larger percentage of canon characters? Is the concept well-conceived? Are there any other things that would make this story definitely better? Are the battle sequences done well? What do you think the atmosphere of the story is?

God bless and happy reading!