Predictably just when things were starting to go right, everything went horribly, horribly wrong.

"As much as I miss General Cross," Lenalee was saying, in that delicate way that meant she was lying through her teeth, as she poked through her lunch. "Is it really worth it to have Link away from the Order? It'd be really nice to be able to keep him here…."

Personally, Allen agreed. However, he was well aware of Cross's connections, and though they were somewhat troublesome in that they only responded to his master, they would also be key in helping resettle the exorcists back into normal lives. Also, even though he knew that his master was alive, he was well aware of the fact that Cross had been Road's prisoner for some of the war. He was...worried, to say the least, which was why he had insisted that Link leave as soon as possible. So Allen responded, "I think Master may be in trouble, and I want to find him before he accidentally dies, or something equally stupid."

"Good riddance." Kanda muttered, stabbing violently at a vegetable as though it had personally wronged him. Allen was aware that Kanda had met Cross before, and had a very low opinion of him. The fact that they were both generals, and Cross had been shirking his duties even before he'd been pretending to be dead, had pissed of Kanda like nothing else.

Allen would've argued with him, except he sort of felt the same way.

"Cross has helped a lot of people," Krory said tentatively, wincing as he spoke, as though he was expecting to get judged for his words. Allen marveled at the very strange sight of his friend with normal teeth, before shaking his head slightly. Krory would say that, because Cross had helped him, even though it had been in a rather roundabout way.

"Do you know how often he sent his debts to the Order?" Kanda growled, and this time he stabbed his plate so hard that it broke. His cursing filled the air around them, a comfortable background noise that took seconds to peter out. "Our financial advisor used to cry whenever he thought about it."

Allen gave him a look that let him know just how intimate he was with Cross's habits of sending his debts to every innocent person who didn't deserve it. Kanda let out a mutter, and buried his nose in his soba, holding the plate together with one hand so he could still eat it.

He was warm, content, and surrounded by his friends. The only people missing were the aforementioned Link (looking for Cross), Timothy (recovering from another surgery), and Miranda (holding Timothy's hand in case he woke up). If they weren't all sitting around his hospital bed, it would've almost been like sitting in the Order's cafeteria again.

(And...Lavi was missing. Lavi hadn't come to see him, not once, and Allen ignored the pang in his heart whenever he thought about it.)

Krory snorted. "I remember one of the first days I met Allen, he had a panic attack because he was remembering his Master." The others chuckled a little at that, and Allen hid his pout behind his cup of water as he took a drink from it.

The water tasted a bit odd, like iron, or something similar-probably the pipes hadn't been cleaned out in a while, and were starting to rust away. Allen grimaced a little at the taste and put the cup back on the table, as Lenalee began, "I used to be so shocked whenever he started talking about those debts. Level Two Akuma? No problem. But bring up his Master's-"

Allen woke up, and the first thing he was aware of was all-consuming pain throughout his entire body. His muscles ached, all the way down to his bones, and he had the vague feeling that if he tried to move, electric fire would course through his every pore.

He let out a soft, unintelligible groan, because even the sheets, usually so comfortable, felt like they were rubbing acid into his skin. He wondered what sort of fight he'd been in to have caused something like this.

"Oh, shit," A voice said suddenly in response to Allen's low groan, but he didn't dare open his eye, because even the dim light flickering through his eyelid felt like sandpaper on his brain. That voice….it was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place where from. "Ah, nurse! Nurse, he's waking up!"

There was a brief pause, an odd squeaking sound, and then the sound of clipped footsteps approaching the bed. Allen listened with an attentive ear, cursing his own weakness, because if someone chose to kill him now he'd have no chance of defending himself.

There was more rustling, and then a woman's voice said, "Allen Walker, are you awake?"

He didn't want to speak. He didn't want to move. He was in so much pain that even the thought of opening his mouth made him cringe. So he just let out another soft, muted noise from the base of his vocal chords, and hoped that got the point across.

"Ah…" The woman said, and a vague shadow covered the light piercing through his eye. "Have your painkillers run out? I'm sorry, Nurse Lara was supposed to make sure they were constant. I'll get you some more, real quick, okay? This kind of poison is nothing to scoff at."

Allen let out another soft noise of agreement, or perhaps deep, heart-felt gratitude; at this moment he had never loved another person more. If this nurse asked, he would get down on bended knee for her, and take her as his own wife. He was still thinking this when the painkillers kicked in, and he fell backwards into restful, painless unconsciousness.

Well, no. Actually, his last thought, groggy and uncomprehending as it was, was I was poisoned?

When he woke up again, and he had a feeling that it wasn't actually all that much later, he was thankfully in almost no pain at all. There was an undercurrent in his awareness, like his body was considering flaring to life in a colorful array of agony, but modern medicine once again prevailed over the human brain.

Allen opened his eyes.

There was a nurse next to his bed, marking something down on a clipboard as she stared very hard at his vitals. She made another note, erased, it, and then frowned again, before turning to glance at his IV-and then jumped. Clearly his shift from unconsciousness to awake had gone unnoticed until this moment. "Oh!"

He laughed a little sheepishly, embarrassed for having startled her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you, miss."

She looked flustered, shifting the clipboard from hand to hand, looking uncertain as to what she should be doing at the moment. Allen wondered what had gotten her so nervous, and had the gloomy thought that maybe it was because she didn't want to treat a Noah. But then, she let out a soft, almost inaudible sigh, and relaxed ever so slightly. "No, the fault's all mine. I'm sorry if I seem a little skittish, it's just…."

Allen leaned in curiously, making sure to keep his face open and inviting.

"You're a bit famous here, is all." And now she looked even more embarrassed, but Allen was too busy trying to parse through the meaning of that sentence to care.

"H-Huh?" He asked, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks. A bit famous? What did that even mean? Where was here?

"The Head Nurse likes to tell stories about all your injuries." The nurse said, and a mortifying look was coming over her face, as though she was perfectly aware that she was digging herself into a deeper and deeper hole. "She uses it to frighten all the new recruits, and well-it's all a bit exciting, isn't it? A lot of the medical techniques that were developed here were made to save your life."

Allen's eye got bigger and bigger as she spoke, until his eyebrows had climbed up into his hair and his face felt physically strained from how incredulous his expression was. He had known that he was famous among exorcist circles, certainly, but all the nurses knew his name because he got injured all the time? He supposed he should feel grateful that for once someone knew him for another reason than his Noah, but he was too shocked to consider that at the moment.

Then he remembered his manners, and the poor girl was giving him an uncertain, wary look which meant she thought she had offended him. He took a deep breath, but when he spoke, he knew his answer was probably….less than reassuring. "Thank you?"

The silence that followed was beyond awkward.

"I'll…." The nurse said eventually, backing away. "I'll just...get Komui."

"Please do." Allen responded, relieved that she had given him an out-but really, he had not seen that coming. He knew that he got injured a lot, but did the Head Nurse really scare the newest recruits with horror stories of his worst wounds?

He suddenly recalled getting part of his heart ripped out, and winced. Okay, maybe it was somewhat believable.

Komui came back several minutes later sans nurse, a folder tucked under one arm, his eyes tired but alert from underneath his glasses. He sent Allen a wan smile as he pulled up the chair to the bed, but there was a sort of odd tenseness about him, like he was preparing to jump and duck for cover at any moment. Allen shifted nervously, that same tension building in his bones like a mutated form of osmosis.

There was something going on here, that Allen was going to finally learn about. He didn't know what it was, not for sure, but right here, right now, that odd way all the exorcists had been acting was going to be explained. The way they hadn't let anyone inside his hospital room except for the ones they trusted; the way they glanced down every hall when they were traveling with him, like they expected an attack. The way they laughed off questions about the world state, and very quickly conversed with each other when they thought he wasn't listening.

Oh yes, he had noticed. It was almost impossible not to-but he'd been patient, and he'd waited, because he trusted them. He trusted them to handle the situation.

But obviously, that situation had gotten out of their control a little bit-he'd been poisoned in front of all his friends, in his hospital room in the center of the Black Order's Headquarters. Komui and the others had been arrogant, thinking that their presence would protect him forever, but that was obviously a lie.

"Komui." Allen said, relieved that someone was finally going to tell him what was going on. "What happened?"

Komui looked away and adjusted his glasses, a subconscious, nervous gesture that did much to reveal his state of mind. He looked rattled, and unhappy; clearly the thought of one of his exorcists getting attacked in their own Headquarters was as unsettling to him as it was to Allen. "You were poisoned, of course. You're actually very lucky. You should've been dead within minutes."

"I've heard that one before." Allen responded dryly, referring to the time when he'd gotten his heart partially eaten.

Komui looked as though he was uncertain as to whether or not he should appreciate the gallows humor, but in the end just politely sidestepped it. "It was your Innocence, actually. The poison was designed to stop your heart almost instantly, but..."

"The Innocence in my heart kept it beating?" He asked, a little uncertainly, because that was not something he had expected. Then a sudden chill crept through him, bringing along the thought-if my Innocence kept my heart beating, does that mean it won't let me die?

The thought was almost enough to send him into another panic attack. He barely managed to shake it off, and continued on with, "Do we know who did it?"

And now, Komui looked very uncomfortable-he was grimacing slightly, and his eyes had darkened to some nameless emotion. It looked remarkably like anger. "The poison was one the Science Department had developed. We had been planning to use it against the Noah, but then the war ended. We deemed it too dangerous to keep around, and it was scheduled for disposal tomorrow, actually."

Ah. That would explain the blatant anger.

"So it was someone who knew the Order intimately." He said quietly. "And someone who wanted me dead for being a Noah." Not entirely unexpected-this was not the first assassination attempt, after all-but it was a little alarming that this one had nearly turned out successful. If not for his Innocence…

He was distracted out of his musings by Komui taking a deep breath, and moving the enormous folder from under his arm to his lap.

"Allen, before I show you this, I just want to apologize." Komui said, carefully placing the weighty file onto Allen's lap. "Lenalee and I agreed to handle the situation without getting you involved, and that...well, that backfired on us, a little. You deserve to know why you were poisoned."

Allen stared at Komui for a second, pleased that his suspicions of something more were confirmed but bewildered by the grim tone. He looked down at the folder, shuffled it a little closer with his good hand, and then opened it up to read.

He got through the first page, and his face paled.

He briefly skimmed the second one, because it was relatively the same as the first, and his eyes got really big.

Then he took a deep breath, panic rising in his throat like bile, and turned to Komui. "Why-" He licked his dry lips. "Why does the North and South American headquarters have a 'kill on sight' order against me?"

Komui frowned, and gestured for him to keep looking.

Allen did so. Africa had a 'capture on sight' order, although there was the addendum that if he resisted, they were to kill him. The Asian branch had the same type of order, and Allen glanced sharply at Komui, because he'd been under the impression that Bak-

"There's a bit of an upheaval going on in the Asian Headquarters." Komui said, wincing. "Those are the official orders of Bak's competitor, Bao Lei. She...isn't actually in control yet, but all her followers take her orders as the word of God."

Allen shuddered a little, and continued flipping through the papers. There was a lot of boring stuff, and a lot of not boring stuff; newspapers articles detailing riots in the streets, calling for his release or incarceration. Reports on assassination attempts against Allen that even he hadn't known about, which had apparently been stopped at the door. A copy of an official order…

"You mean-"

"You technically had immunity granted to you by the Heart." Komui said, grimacing as though he had a bad taste in his mouth. Allen sympathized. "But if all but one of the other Branch Heads signed, then the Heart's will could technically be overruled. That's why that questioning was so important for us to win-if we hadn't, then you would've been turned over to one of the other Branches. And I honestly have no idea what they would've planned to do with you from that point."

Allen stared at the folder in his hands like he was holding a bomb, feeling a confusing swirl of emotions in his insides. He'd-he'd thought earlier, that he was tired of people he didn't know trying to kill him all the time, but this was on a scale he definitely hadn't anticipated.

"The Brass was pushing for it especially." Komui said, rubbing his hands across his face. "After all, Levierre had gotten executed for war crimes. It was only a matter of time before Lenalee tried going after the Brass themselves. By focusing on villainizing you, they were effectively taking the pressure off themselves. I'm honestly glad that Link left when he did-his involvement was a risk as it was."

Allen glanced up sharply. "How do you mean?"

"Levierre was executed for war crimes several months ago." Komui said, and there was just a hint of vicious triumph in his voice before it dimmed to distant regret. "Link was...is seen as Levierre's most loyal pet. How do you think it looked, to have the loyal dog of an executed man throw in his lot with a boy who is known to be an ex-Noah?"

He hadn't even considered that, that Link's presence might be more detrimental than helpful to him. But it made sense, of course it made sense-how must it look, to other people, when an ex-Crow and the right hand of Levierre supported someone? But he hadn't considered a lot of things, because he hadn't been given the information necessary to understand the situation as a whole.

And Allen honestly did not know how to respond to this. Indignation, at having finally been proven innocent and still be painted as the enemy anyway? Guilt, because he had failed the rest of the world by losing to the Noah, causing them to fear what could happen? Pain, because these people were strangers, they wanted him dead for no other reason than he had been an unwilling host to a Noah?

Instead he asked the only easy question he could think of. "How could you hide this from me?"

Komui had the decency to look guilty. "None of us thought it would get this out of hand. Bak and I had been trying to handle this quietly, but then Bao Lei started using the Fourteenth as a springboard for her own rise to power…." He sighed, and fiddled with his hands. "Before we all knew it, there were people fighting in the streets, and the other Branch Heads were going around us to get at you."

Allen put his head in his hand and breathed for a second, trying to squash his panic, trying to control the hysteria at those words. He couldn't-he couldn't deal with this right now, not after he had just been freed, not when he'd just started thinking that maybe a future was possible. He looked up again a second later, to Komui's sad, tired face, and said in a desperate tone, "So what are you planning on doing about it?"

That seemed to put Komui on firmer ground; after all, emotions were not his forte, but coming up with plans were. He reached over and gently flipped through the folder on Allen's lap, until they came to the very back. He pulled out a map of Germany, and several pictures of some very beautiful but small houses. "We're sending you and the other exorcists into hiding."

Then he paused, and sent Allen another wan smile. "I don't think anything could happen, but the others have been very vocal in their support for you. I really hope that no one would try to hurt them, but just to be safe…

"I'm sending Miranda, Krory and Timothy to somewhere in Sweden-and I'm sorry, I wish I could share where, but it'll be much safer for them if I don't. Marie has a sister living in China who's willing to take care of him, so that's where he's going. Lenalee is staying here with me, because she is the Heart, and I can protect her better than anyone else can." Allen privately thought that it was the other way around, but he wasn't about to say so. "And finally you, Lavi and Kanda will be staying here," Komui tapped the map. "In Germany."

Allen did a double take, his panic and fear immediately morphing into disbelief. "I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. If you don't recall, Lavi kind of hates me right now."

What he did not say was that he also kind of hated Lavi too, at the moment anyway. He knew how hard this all must be for the Bookman Jr., and he was trying to be understanding of that, but Lavi had crossed a line. He had crossed a line that should never have been touched, not even under the most dire of circumstances. There were certain things that Allen was not willing to forgive so readily, and going anywhere near Mana and his relationship to Allen was one of them. He was allowed to worry about it, fret about it, cry about it, but no one else was allowed to touch the man who'd saved his life as a child.

Maybe he was selfish for thinking that way. Maybe he should just accept that Mana was the Millennium Earl, and that any love the other man had had for him was false. But he couldn't bear to. He would love Mana, or the idea of Mana, for as long as he cared to.

"Lavi doesn't hate you, Allen." Komui said, with a hint of impatience. "He's just...confused. And hurt. You need to forgive him-whatever he said in that argument, whatever passed, surely couldn't have been that bad."

At that, Allen rose up with indignant anger, single eye flashing with frustration. "Don't presume to know what he said to me." Allen hissed, baring his teeth like a cat. "Do not presume that his words meant so little."

Komui leaned backwards, a regretful grimace on his face, his hands raised up in surrender. "I suppose I deserved that." He said. "Sorry. But Kanda is the strongest person we have at the moment, and you really need his protection. And Lavi also needs to be taken care of-as much as he hates it, he is essentially going to be reliant on another person for the next six or seven months."

Allen floundered for another excuse to not have to live with Kanda and Lavi. He knew that he was being stubborn, he knew that he should just back down, but he simply didn't trust the other two exorcists. Lavi knew too much about him and had too little restraint to be trusted with the knowledge; Kanda just plain despised him. "Nightmares." He blurted out. "I have-nightmares. I'll keep them up at night. Why don't you just let me...travel in Europe by myself? I know how to keep hidden. I'll find Link, help him search for Cross-"

Komui leaned forwards, and caught Allen's eye with his own; a wall settled in front of his emotions, blocking off all traces of understanding and friendlessness. All that was left was a cold, hard commander, who would not be receiving anything other than a resounding 'yes' from Allen. "You're being childish." The other man said slowly. "We want you where we can keep track of you, and that would be impossible if you were constantly traveling. Stop throwing a fit because you can't forgive your friend."

Allen gritted his teeth, hating himself for the twinge of guilt in his stomach. He would not feel guilty for not wanting to live with people who didn't care about him. He wanted to keep protesting, to keep pushing his case until Komui finally caved-but he wouldn't win this, not today. So instead he lowered his head, and said, "Yes, sir."

"Good." Komui said, and collected the scattered papers from Allen's lap and putting them back in the folder. "We'll be packing your stuff for you, so don't worry about that. You leave at 0900 hours tomorrow, so make sure you get some sleep."

Allen didn't respond.

Before Komui was fully out the door, he paused, his hand resting on the doorframe. "And Allen…" He said, voice softening, shoulders slumped with the weight of the world. "I'm sorry."

And then he was gone.

Did you miss me?

This was the original ending to the last chapter, btw.