Lenalee strode through the halls of the Black Order, her steps as silent and light as they were thoughtful. Her shadow threw silhouettes of darkness across the walls, the sharp lines of her thin face making her seem almost statuesque. She looked, in other words, like the leader people thought of her as; cold, aloof, untouchable in her status as the Heart of Innocence.

However, she was not nearly so detached as she was pretending to be.

Lenalee was definitely not the same girl she had been two years ago; Allen's behavior around her had proved that without a doubt. He had expected the same young, immature child he knew from before, and had received the older, hardened version with barely concealed shock. However, her ideals were much the same, if anyone cared to ask-she still valued her friends and their futures far more than she valued the rest of the world. It was her greatest strength, when she found she lacked the will to go on. But it was also her Achilles heel, her hamartia, which had nearly dragged all of them to defeat during the war.

Komui had begged her to curb her behavior, to hide her true opinions from the world lest the enemy use it against them, and she had. She had done so to protect Komui and the other exorcists, allowing people to believe that when it came down to it, she would protect the lives of the many above the lives of the few.

But the war was over. The war was over, and a single precious life had nearly been taken from her. Lenalee was done being nice; she would rain hell upon whoever dared to even think about touching her friend. Bao Lei was a formidable opponent, certainly-but that woman was nothing compared to the Heart of Innocence enraged.

Lenalee would do whatever it took to protect Allen Walker; she would smash the world apart if she had to. He had paid his pound of flesh, had fought and nearly died in a war that no child should have ever been part of. The fact that anyone dared to try and destroy his well-deserved peace and safety made her teeth grind.

Even with this fact, however, Lenalee was not looking forward to this next meeting. Normally, Lenalee would've been thrilled to put someone like this in his or her place. But the fact of the matter was that this person had once been a friend of hers, someone who had fought next to her and protected her back when she was defenseless.

She would not run away from this confrontation-that would be cowardly, and unfitting of a war hero such as her. It was her duty to take him out before he caused any more trouble.

But it did not make things easier.

Lenalee paused in front of a door to one of the dorms, her violet eyes flicking back and forth in a practiced movement, checking for any hidden enemies. She did not expect for anyone to actually be there; it was more a habit than anything else.

Then, she took a deep breath, and knocked. Lightly, perfunctorily; the person inside would have no idea that anything was wrong.

There was a brief pause, a shuffling sound, and then-

Chaoji opened the door, his face a study of polite surprise as he took in Lenalee. "Miss Lee!" He said, and then his face twisted into an embarrassed grimace. "I'm...sorry, I'm not really dressed for company right now."

Lenalee smiled a little at his pajamas, though her gaze remained stony and unreadable. "That's fine, Chaoji. I promise I won't take up too much of your time. May I come in?"

A little confused, the ex-soldier pulled away a little and opened the door wider so Lenalee could step through. His dorm was sparse and mostly void of any personal items, as were most ex-soldiers rooms-after all, people had little time to get attached to things when they were constantly fighting.

Chaoji waited for Lenalee to fully enter before shuffling over to the bed and sinking down onto it, a little sheepish. "I hope you don't mind if I sit." He gestured towards his skeletal legs. He, like Lavi, had been in a coma due to the Noah parasite, and had only just recently woken up. He was not nearly as bad off as the Bookman Jr., but he was still supposed to go through physical therapy for an extensive period of time.

"Be my guest." Lenalee responded faintly, keeping her back to the door, hands loose at her sides. If she so chose, she could draw a weapon-any kind of weapon-within a moment and deflect an attack from any angle.

Chaoji must have noticed something off about her posture-or maybe her voice-because all the emotion slowly slid off his face, leaving behind nothing but blankness. There was a tense moment of silence, where Chaoji simply let his hands drop to his knees, and Lenalee watched him do so, attentive. Then, Chaoji said, in a voice that was carefully steady, "Can I ask what you came around for, Miss Lee?"

Lenalee's lips quirked ever so slightly, as though she found something in his words to be funny. Then, she reached into her pocket-

(Chaoji leaned forward a little, his eyebrows cutting deep furrows into his forehead,)

-and pulled out a little glass vile, filled about half-way with some sort of clear liquid.

Chaoji straightened, suddenly confused with this change in direction; he tilted his head to one side, and studied the little container. Lenalee waited patiently for him to finish his inspection, simply holding the glass in front of her.

When he did, he sat back and scratched his chin, befuddled. "I'm...afraid I don't understand, Miss Lee. What is that?"

Lenalee waited a second longer, before relaxing her arm and letting the vial slip into her palm. She studied it for a second, swishing the liquid contemplatively around in its glass confines as she thought. "Do you know what botulinum is, Chaoji?"

Chaoji, no longer expecting anything nefarious, quirked his lips and shook his head, somewhat self-deprecatingly. There was a new light in his eyes, more confident, as the attack he'd been anticipating turned into a simple questioning.

Fool, Lenalee thought, disgusted.

"That sounds like something the science department would be interested in. I know nothing about that sort of thing." Chaoji responded, shrugging.

"I'm sure." Lenalee said lightly, before lifting the vial back up into the low lamplight and giving it a little shake. "This isn't botulinum, but this substance was based off of botulinum. The science department created it because they believed it had the capacity to kill the Noah."

Chaoji stilled.

"That's...interesting." He said slowly, the brief moment of security he'd been enjoying slowly dissipating as his understanding of the situation became clearer. "Did it...you know, did it work?"

Lenalee shook her head, rocking the vial gently back and forth, like the ticking of a clock. Chaoji's eyes were fixed to it with an avid interest, no longer fully paying attention to their conversation. Lenalee allowed her smile to return-so he knew. Good.

"It was deemed too dangerous to be used. The science department was just figuring out how they were going to scrap it when the war ended. Destroying it became less of a priority than rebuilding." She closed her eyes, and allowed her fingers to curl around the deadly toxin, cutting off Chaoji's view. His eyes lifted laboriously from her hand to her face, eyes hard and unflinching. "But I'm sure you already knew that, considering you tried to murder Allen Walker with it not a week ago."

And just like that, the spell broke.

"That monster had it coming." Chaoji snarled, half-rising to his feet as his anger was finally let go. "He killed all those people-all those people-" He broke off, growling low in his throat. "How could you side with him, after they killed Lady Anita? And all of my friends? How could you-"

Lenalee vanished from view-

Only to reappear a second later right in front of Chaoji, eyes deep violet and cruel, lips curled into a mocking smile. The ex-soldier reared back in surprise, but it was too late-there was a butterfly knife pressed to his throat, and Lenalee was leaning up against him, applying just enough pressure to draw blood.

No, she did not enjoy hurting someone who had once been a friend-

-but in this situation, she was willing to make an exception.

"You're not asking the right questions," She coaxed gently, her blade tracing the curve of his neck and leaving a very thin red line behind. "You should be asking, 'what can I do to keep you from killing me?' Or how about you tell me who else has been giving information to Bao Lei?" Her smiled sharpened slightly. "A coward like you should be willing to do anything, don't you think?"

It took a second for Chaoji to find his voice again, but when he did, it only had the barest tremor of fear in it. Something dropped in Lenalee's chest, because it would've been easier if he was pathetic and cowardly-this bravery made her sad. Chaoji had been such a good, loyal soldier. He had been a good, loyal friend. "I-I would never beg in front of a Noah-sympathizer like you!"

Lenalee considered this for a moment, before nodding her assent. It was a shame, but there was nothing else for it. "I'm sorry I have to do this, Chaoji." She told him sincerely, honestly wishing that things could be different. "You were a good friend, when you weren't such a fucking moron."

Then, she slipped the knife in and severed his carotid artery.

If nothing else, it was quick.

Komui was waiting for her outside the room, carefully not looking over her shoulder at the corpse she'd left on the floor. Lenalee felt a moment of fond exasperation-her brother was, and always had been, far too soft. Soldiers like her, who had regularly seen the battlefield, could look at corpses without feeling more than a pang of soft sadness.

[Our mole has been taken care of.] Lenalee reported calmly in Chinese, wiping the blood off of her blade. [I'm not optimistic enough to think that he was acting alone, though.]

"I agree." Komui responded in English, falling into step beside her as they headed back upstairs toward his office. Two finders scuttled into Chaoji's dorm behind them, tasked with the unpleasant job of cleaning up the mess Lenalee had left behind. Her brother glanced at her idly from the corner of his eye, his tone mild around his sibilant Chinese, [It would have been nice to leave him alive, you know. Maybe we could've gotten the names of the other informants.]

Lenalee shrugged, and slipped the knife back into its sheath at her wrist. [Chaoji was far too loyal to give away anything. He would've bitten his own tongue out before he said a word.] Komui met her eyes steadily when she finally let them slide over. [It would be far simpler to find someone else and get the information out of them.]

Komui paused for a moment, allowing Lenalee to enter his office before him. Then he said, a note a humor in his voice, [I suppose I'll just have to trust your judgement on this one.]

Amused, Lenalee went to the couch and flopped down onto it, body loose and lazy as she sprawled out. She bore a remarkable resemblance to a cat, stretched out in the sun. [Indeed, considering he's already dead.] Then, she perked up, pushing up onto her elbows so she could catch sight of her brother, who was making his way to his desk. [Is it safe for Allen and the others to return, then?]

[Not yet.] Komui responded sharply, giving his sister a warning look. [If Bao Lei doesn't know where they are, she can't hurt them.]

Lenalee pouted, and let herself drop back onto the cushions with a quiet huff.

Her brother stared at her for a second longer, as though making sure she wasn't about to go running off to find her friends. Then, he allowed his gaze to soften, and carefully sat in his chair, shuffling the papers around on his desk. (Just because the war was over didn't mean the paperwork had ended. Ugh.)

After a moment, Komui said, very gently, [Thank you for doing that, Lenalee. I know that must have been hard for you.]

Lenalee tensed up, sucking in a deep breath of air, as though she was angry-but then she sighed gustily, bit her lip and rolled onto her side. Just because she was used to all the death and violence didn't mean she had to like it. When her brother had asked her if she was willing to...remove Chaoji, to prevent him from hurting anyone else, she had of course been willing, but…

Killing humans was something she really hadn't had to do much of. It wasn't something she wanted to do much more of, to tell the truth.

But instead of saying any of that-this was her burden to bear, her heavy but inescapable duty as the Heart-she responded with, [So what's our next move?]

Komui sighed, obviously recognizing the dodge for what it was. But then he opened his desk and pulled out a few files, fingering the edges of the papers between his fingertips. In English, he said, "We have removed their most important mole. They can no longer easily get information from us." Komui felt a smile slowly spread across his face. "Which means it's time to strike back."

Lenalee flipped onto her belly, so she could properly see her brother's face-and when she did, a thrill of elation ripped through her. Finally. Finally, they could stop sitting around and feeling helpless and actually do something.

Her wretched grin grew to match his.

Allen and Kanda were sitting at the table the next morning, each sipping their respective hot drinks, when Lavi finally shuffled out of his bedroom.

A little startled-it had been a long time since Allen had interacted with Lavi for more than a few seconds, and they rarely saw each other in the morning-Allen lowered his tea. He opened his mouth to ask what the redhead was doing there-which he realized was a dumb question just in time, Lavi lived with them-before allowing his jaw to snap shut. Lavi looked equally uncertain, slowly shifting his weight back and forth, wheelchair folded under one arm. The following silence drew out between them, Kanda watching the interaction with avid, disgusted interest.

In a word, it was really awkward.

It took about ten seconds for the elephant in the room to be too much for Kanda. "I'm going to work." He muttered, slinging his coat over his shoulders and escaping like a coward out the front door. Lavi watched him leave with this desperate look on his face, as though he'd like to be right behind the ex-samurai.

And then they were alone.

Allen sighed and shifted his tea to one side, before gesturing at the seat that Kanda had vacated. It looked like it would be up to him to take the first step in bridging the gap between them. "Why don't you...sit down, Lavi."

Lavi jumped a little, blinking in surprise at Allen, as though he hadn't actually expected for Allen to speak. Then he shook his head, and smoothed his hair away from his face, expression going sheepish. "Ye-yeah...I guess I should."

They grimaced at each other as Lavi sat down, taking comfort in the fact that the other was just as uncomfortable as they were. But they needed to talk, to solve this issue that had been sitting between them for so long. They had to rely on each other in these precarious times; any moment of mistrust, of perceived betrayal, and it would all be over.

Also...Allen really just missed his friend. He would've counted Lavi among his closest, during the war; there was almost no one else he had trusted more.

"I just wanted to say-" Lavi started, at the exact same second Allen began, "I think we should-"

They stopped, staring at each other.

"You first." Allen said, smiling wanly at his friend.

"Okay." And the fact that Lavi actually took Allen up on that showed just how poorly he must have been feeling. "I just wanted to...apologize." Lavi looked away, raking his fingers through his fringe in a gesture of nerves. "My behavior recently has been…" He let out a choked laugh. "Well, it hasn't been mature, or fair to you, I know."

Allen tapped his fingers against the table, trying to figure out the best way to word what he wanted to say. "I…" He began, then shook his head, abandoning that line of thought just as quickly. He was willing to forgive, definitely. But he wanted an explanation, something. He had just spent weeks worrying that Lavi's sour mood had been because of their argument-he wanted to know why, if it wasn't that. "I want to forgive you, Lavi. What with the Bookman's sickness and all…"

He shook his head again. "No, I certainly wouldn't expect for your behavior to be normal. But Lavi," He implored, "Why didn't you say anything? Why did you just…" The pitch of his voice rose with his words, and Allen paused and took a deep breath, to force it back down. "I could have understood, at the very least. Kanda and I could've tried to help you, somehow."

"...I guess…" Lavi trailed off, his eye distant and hooded as he pondered that. "I thought-I thought-" He broke off, and let out a soft, unhappy laugh. "It sounds dumb when I say it out loud."

Allen swallowed his impatience, feeling the remaining vestiges of his anger and frustration with the other boy fading at his obvious distress. Instead he reached out and gently patted Lavi's hand, giving his friend a soft, understanding smile. He wanted to be angry, certainly-but there was a time for grudges, and there was a time for sympathy and understanding. "Go ahead, I won't think it's stupid."

Lavi smiled back, a little uncertainly. "Well, I...I guess I thought that what I had said to you was really unforgivable, and maybe that you didn't want to talk to me again. I also felt kind of...alone. But I think I may have wanted to be alone." He drew his hands in towards his chest. "I have no excuse for this, but...I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to think about what other people might think." Something shattered a little in his expression. "What with my weakness, and the Bookman leaving me, I just...I couldn't handle it. I couldn't think about anything else."

His eyebrows quirked up slightly, and he glanced over at Allen. "I didn't realize that you might think that it was something you had done."

Allen shrugged, retreating a little as well, needing the small amount of distance between them. "With the information I had, that was the conclusion I came to. But thank you for telling me. I feel like I have a much better grasp on the situation. I forgive you for acting like an ass."

"...Yeah." Lavi muttered absentmindedly, his expression still oddly troubled.

Allen paused in picking up his tea cup, studying the befuddled expression for a second. After a moment, he said, "Lavi."

"What?" The redhead jumped, obviously not expecting to be caught staring.

"Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?" Allen queried, leaning forward into Lavi's space a little. His feeling proved to be correct, when Lavi's eyebrows jumped up, and then lowered; surprise to sheepishness at being caught out.

Lavi's hands spasmed a little, before he folded the left one on top of the right one, obviously working to keep them still. The fact that he looked more nervous now than he had been earlier, talking about the past few weeks, was extremely telling.

"Listen, Allen." He began, "Are you still...you know, mad?"

Allen, for the second time in the conversation, paused very deliberately; then he forced his fingers to unclench from around his teacup. As mild as he could, he said, "You're going to have to be more specific, Lavi."

Lavi took a deep breath, and said very quickly, "You know, that comment I made about Mana. And how you didn't know anything about real love."

And all at once, the anger, the sadness, the sharp sting of betrayal that he'd been trying so hard to ignore, reared up all at once. It was an ugly jumble of thoughts and feelings, of pain that he hadn't dared touch, lest he make some stupid decision because of it. It sat in his chest, roaring and furious...and Allen immediately forced it back down, forced it into the little pocket in his heart where it belonged.

Was he still angry about that? Certainly. When someone treated Allen poorly, he didn't care-he was a very flawed person, anyway. But when someone touched upon Mana, and Mana's true love for Allen...well, that was an insult he simply couldn't live with.

But Lavi had been hurting badly when he'd said it, and that had caused him to lash out. For the sake of their living situation, and the sake of their friendship, Allen could push it aside. But...

He picked up the tea, took a light sip, and set it back down. Lavi was staring at him with very wide eyes, as though he realized just how close Allen had been to an nuclear meltdown.

"I want you to understand exactly what you did before I answer." Allen said quietly, pushing aside his mug so he could set his hands on the table in front of him. "There are only four people alive today who know about Mana, and who he truly was to me." As he listed off the names, he counted on his fingers. "Master Cross, The Bookman, Link, and you. Do you know how many of those people I told willingly?"

Lavi shook his head slowly.

Allen breathed in deeply, and then let it out, long and shuddering in his chest. "Link. I told him because I felt he deserved to know."

He hummed a little, not daring to look up at Lavi's face. It was too personal, too raw; he wouldn't be able to say this if he was looking Lavi in the eye. "So what I mean to say is that three people know something about me which they can use to hurt me very badly, which I was forced to entrust them with. And I was forced to trust that you would never use that knife against me."

And there it was. Lavi flinched away as the idiom caught up with him, as he finally understood the image of Allen getting stabbed in the back with a knife he had given to Lavi himself. And it was because of this-because Lavi understood the gravity of what Allen was saying-that he could finally forgive him for it.

"So yes, just this once, I forgive you." Allen said quietly, staring at his palms, lying open on the table. "But if you ever do it again...I don't think I'll be able to forgive that twice."

Allen wasn't looking at Lavi, but he could almost physically feel the weight of his stare. For a moment, Allen thought that he'd pushed too far, that Lavi was unwilling to accept that ultimatum. If Lavi couldn't accept that, then they couldn't be friends anymore, and that was a shame-but there were a lot of things Allen was willing to put with, and that wasn't one of them.

Then there was a great gust of air, a release of tension, and Lavi said, "I understand. Thank you for telling me."

Relieved, Allen allowed himself to slump bonelessly in his chair. He just felt...tired. Not as tired as he had been yesterday (and his thoughts immediately shied away from that, from the implications of that), but still. Exhausted.

"Also, um...do you think you could tell me where that librarian lives?"

Lavi's hesitant, hopeful query roused Allen from his momentary exhaustion. He lifted his head, feeling a little light-headed and a lot grateful when he saw the weak grin spreading across Lavi's face. Then, he jumped into action, hurrying to write down the directions.

It looked like, despite everything that had happened, things were finally starting to look up.