Disclaimer: Nope me no owny but I am a Allen cosplayer, it's a blast! I love D-Gray man and I wish I were an Exorcist, yep, I'd love to be a parasite type (I'd want wings XD)! Well, I hope you enjoy. I tried. D.Gray-man is a manga series by Katsura Hoshino.

Onward to The First Act of The End, a play by the Millennium Earl:

That which we are, we are--- One equal temper to heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Between Black and White

Chapter 4: Fighting Back

Lavi smashed yet another wall with his hammer. Sweat was rolling down his brow. He brushed it away casually, "Had enough yet? I'll destroy this whole place if that's what it takes!"

The Order lay devastated, everything smashed and broken. It was in ruins. Lavi hefted his hammer once again, "Let me out!" He struck the outside wall of the Order for the umpteenth time. It was the only thing that seemed immune to his path of destruction. This time, however, a large chunk of it caved in. As the piece fell away, a long dark hallway was revealed. Lavi shrank his hammer back to its inactivated size, "That's better."

Keeping his weapon at the ready, the fiery Exorcist walked cautiously into the hall. At the end, he saw a large immaculate stained glass door behind which light was brightly shining through. Lavi took a moment to ponder the picture done up in the glass pieces. It was a rendition of a tall thin man with a stovepipe hat walking down a cobblestone trail that became a winding set of stairs to Heaven. The man's face was indistinguishable but he wore a long coat and stripped pants.

"Hm?" Lavi took hold of the knob and opened the door stepping through as he found no resistance.

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"Komui!" A relieved voice shouted, "Lavi's fever just broke! His vital signs have stabilized!"

"And the other two?" Komui's voice came. He never took his eyes from his microscope. His right hand was quickly jotting down notes.

"Walker's heart rate has increased again and the convulsions are more frequent."

"Krory has made no significant change."

"I see." Work faster, I have to work faster. He notes quickened.

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Lavi walked out into what turned out to be the direct outside of the Order just as though he had walked out the front gate. Awkward… He looked up as he sensed movement only to see hundreds of Akuma littering the sky as they attacked the Order. He turned around quickly. The building was in completely in shambles now even though he had just walked out of it.

"Big hammer, little hammer. Grow, grow, grow!"

Lavi leapt into the air and swung his hammer at one of the gray monstrosities. It passed right through, "Huh?!" He landed on the ground and looked up at the Akuma. It was as if they did not even notice him. What was with all this strange crap? Just to make certain of his suspicions, the redhead tried to hit the tower rubble again. He did not make contact with it. Curious, Lavi tried to touch the stone but his hand passed right through. Interesting. Well, since nothing was tangible, Lavi propped his hammer over his shoulders. He might as well try to figure this puzzle out too. Bored, the young Bookman wandered around the area. Apparently, the building was off limits now too. After moving a bit away from the untouchable building, he heard a sharply pitched sound. Lavi walked in the direction of its origin, it sounded more and more like a continuous unbridled screaming. It sounded over and over.

Continuing forward, Lavi saw a dead version of himself lying awkwardly on the ground. It seemed very realistic. He attempted to touch it but was defeated once again. He whistled, "Wow, I look pretty mangled. Someone has an imagination, right Naoshe." He said the last part to the thin air.

Receiving no reply or recognition, Lavi continued on. He passed by a blood splattered Lenalee. He tried tapping her corpse with his hammer. It was another fake. The lean Exorcist moved on. Everything seemed to be artificial here. At least, there was that screaming sound. One of these bodies had to be real, or in any case would be alive. There was Krory's imaginary corpse to his left. He looked up to see another body lying on the ground. Well, one more to go. Lavi approached the prone form of Allen. The redhead noticed movement and as he got closer, could tell that the sound was coming from him. He tapped the boy with the end of his hammer only to find resistance.

"Hey, Allen."

The older boy knelt beside the screaming Exorcist and placed a hand on the shaking shoulder. He was trembling all over as if he were having a seizure. Lavi frowned worried. Allen was in a state of intense shock. Tears streamed out of his unfocused dilated eyes and he had pulled so hard at his hair that some of it had been torn out. He just kept screaming with no break other than to gasp for a breath. Lavi winced for his ears were beginning to hurt from the noise.

"Allen." Lavi forcibly untangled the clenched fist from the white hair. He shook the younger boy, "Hey. Hey!" He sighed then rolled Allen onto his back. He was startled for a moment from Allen's ridged limbs. It was almost as if he had set into rigor mortis, "Pay attention, beansprout!"

Lavi's frown deepened. The white haired boy must have lost his senses. He put one hand over the open mouth to stifle the incessant sound. He knew better than to fight to close the boy's jaw. Allen might bite his own tongue if he did that. The Bookman-in-training put his other hand over Allen's eyes closing the lids as best he could. He leaned down and put his forehead on Allen's, "Now, now. It's best to calm down before you hurt yourself some more." His voice was soothing.

After several uneventful minutes, Lavi felt Allen's body start to relax. The ridged limbs began to leave their stiff positions. Eventually the screaming stopped and was just replaced with sobbing choked gasps for air. Lavi turned to petting Allen's hair just as an adult would a frightened child. A few more minutes passed and Lavi opened the fingers of the hand over Allen's eyes. The silver gray orbs moved to look at him and focused. Lavi smiled and sat back, "That's much better."

"I-I'm…sorry…" Allen closed his eyes while tears continued down.

"Eh? Sorry? 'Bout what?" Lavi poked him in the shoulder as he saw the eyes begin to go out of focus and then close, "Stay with me here Allen." He shook him gently.

Heavy dark eyes opened to view him again. They were weary from crying so hard, "I di-didn't…save…you…" The voice was very hoarse from screaming insanely.

"Huh? Oh!" Lavi chuckled softly, "You think I'm dead? Not true!"

His laugh caught Allen unawares. He stopped crying slightly confused, "…you…"

"Nope, I'm alive as I can get. See?" Lavi poked Allen in the forehead then gave him a small hug, "If I were dead would I be able to do that?"

"B…but…"

"None of this is real. That Akuma, Naoshe, must have done something to us and brought us into these nightmare worlds." Lavi continued to smile in hope that it would help Allen calm down more, "I woke up in one too." Lavi stared down at the strained face. He felt bad for Allen. This world must have really torn the tender hearted Exorcist apart.

"…nightmare?" Lavi now had his full attention. His sluggish mind tried to understand the words he was hearing.

"Yeah. Don't know how I got into yours, really. But I got outta mine and ended up in here." Lavi put a hand behind the back of his head, "Good thing though. You were goin' pretty insane there for a bit. You're ok now, right?"

"I…don't know…" His breathing had calmed down. Allen closed his heavy eyes again.

Lavi smiled softly, "Hey, how about you take a little nap?"

"NO!" The near fearful answer came as Allen's eyes shot open.

Lavi chuckled quietly, "Hey, I'll still be here. Promise." His smile grew, "I'm definitely no dream. You're a wreck Allen. Take a little break then we'll get out of here ok?"

Tired eyes complied, "…ok."

"Good." Lavi stretched out beside him. He needed a rest after destroying the tower in his own nightmare after all.

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"Sir! Walker has stabilized and his fever has lowered."

"Huh?" Komui glanced over, "So suddenly?"

Only a few minutes ago, they had to tie the young Exorcist to the bed he was resting in just to keep him from flailing about. Out of the three, Komui thought that Allen would be the one that they lost. He put a hand to his chin. What could have acted so instantly? The antidote had been administered for nearly twenty minutes now. It was a miracle. Komui gave a quick thanks to God then turned back to his work.

"He seems to be in a state of sleep akin to the REM state."

"Good." Komui adjusted the intensity of the microscope lens he was looking through, "Try not to disturb him."

The orange substance Lavi had expelled was still puzzling the Supervisor. It was akin to Akuma blood but it lacked the deadly blood virus inherent in the black fluid. What could this mean? Krory's blood was too tainted by the Akuma virus to make much of but Allen's came up tainted with a bit of the unknown substance as well. Komui sat back and stretched his stiff muscles. Sitting hunched over the microscope was becoming very painful. He had been doing it for nearly two hours now. Deciding to take a break from the mystery substance, the stressed scientist stood up and took a moment to look over the x-rays.

"What's this?!?!" Komui ripped the x-ray of Lavi off the wall. He turned only to be met with a wall of silence signs and shushes, "…what?"

"You said not to disturb Walker." One of the assistants spoke out.

"Oh…" Komui pushed his glasses up, "Well, take a look at this."

The group crowded over as Komui pointed at the x-ray to the spot where Lavi's vertebrae and skull met. There was a strange lump resting in the area.

"What is it?" The curious assistants asked.

Komui held up a finger, "I don't know!" They all fell over, "But, I think this is what the problem is. Someone call Section Chief Reever down here to analyze this. Why am I doing all the work by myself anyway?"

"Because you said--- "

"I didn't tell you to answer me!" Komui pointed insanely.

"Here, sir."

"Huh?" Komui turned and was handed a cup of the orange substance again, "Uh…I already have this."

The assistant shook his head, "It's from Walker, sir. Your ranting roused him from sub consciousness and he started spitting up not long after. Now he's in the same state as Lavi where it is as if they are awake but as you can see they are not."

"I see." Komui looked closely at the orange substance. There was something different about it, "Well…" He strafed over to his microscope, "I need more coffee! How's Krory?" Komui started to make another slide.

"His life signs are steadily dropping."

"WHAT?!" Komui spun about, "Why didn't you tell me!"

"I-I did sir, but you said 'uh-huh, uh-huh, ok' and did not tell me anything else."

"I wasn't listening! Couldn't you tell!" Komui raved.

"What are you going on about?" Reever entered scratching the back of his head.

A serious expression came over Komui again, "Please analyze this." He handed Reever the x-ray.

"Um, alright."

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Lavi patted Allen on the shoulder as he blasted yet another several Akuma out of the sky, "Good job. Keep this up and Naoshe will definitely let us out."

"Ok." Allen turned back to the task of destruction that his friend had set him on. He still felt a bit exhausted from his mental breakdown but after the rest they had taken, he was at least steady on his feet.

A handful of destroyed enemies later, the rest disappeared with a loud shriek. The white haired boy looked around confused as to what had just happened. Lavi, however, clapped his hands together gleefully.

"Now let's find the way out." The redhead turned several times searching then pointed, "Well look what we have here."

Standing alone in the grass and rocks was what looked like a discarded painting. Following Lavi's lead, Allen approached it cautiously. When he got close enough, the small Exorcist could see that the painting was of a bush of beautifully detailed red roses wrapping around a female form that was nothing but a black shadow of teasing loveliness. The brushstrokes were carefully laid to bring out the pure allure and texture of the vision. It was as bold as it was delicate to the eye. Allen was looking at it in awe when he noticed a door knob on the immaculate golden frame. That was weird.

"What are you doing?" Allen inquired as Lavi reached for the knob.

"Getting' outta here. Unless you want to stay here in this nightmare." Lavi grinned as he turned the knob revealing a staircase hidden within the painting.

Allen looked around the door to view the back of the painting only to see nothing but empty air. He glanced back at the ominous staircase that was magically inside, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yep. It's how I got here." Lavi stepped in then turned back to Allen, "Coming?"

"W-wait!" Allen followed after him.

As soon as they both entered, the door closed and they were in a dark barely lit corridor. They continued on down the stairs. Allen looked suspiciously at the stone walls as he passed. They seemed as though they were only half there. He stopped and on a compulsion pressed a hand on the stone. Magically, it passed right through.

"Hey, Lavi!" An amused happy smile lit Allen's face, "Look at---" Something behind the wall grabbed his hand and pulled hard.

The young Exorcist was almost yanked though when he felt something take his left hand and pull back. It turned into a painful tug of war. Allen could hear garbled echoed voices from both sides as he stood suspended in a gray nothingness between the areas.

"Al…! Al…!" The sound of Lavi's voice came from behind him. The inflection was panicked.

A girl's voice spoke from the side that had grabbed him. It was familiar but he could not remember where he had heard it thought all the echo and distortion.

"---llinnie! …got…im. –len…he…hee…" The air became filled with a series of childish laughter, "Come…--len…pla…me…hee…hee..." Was that Road? "—ook…iki…"

"'amn…" Lavi's voice came back then the pull form his side relaxed momentarily only to jerk hard suddenly.

Allen felt the foreign side lose its grip as he was yanked back through the wall and into Lavi. They both fell roughly to the stairs.

"What the hell just happened?" Lavi demanded of no one in particular. He looked at Allen, "I saw you standing there then you just started going through the wall."

Allen stood up then held out a hand to help Lavi up, "I just put my hand on the stone and it passed right through."

Lavi leaned forward and stared at him intently for a second, "It's a solid wall." He put his own fist on the stone and tapped, "That was just freaky."

"I'll show you." Allen went to touch the wall again but Lavi grabbed his wrist roughly, "Ow..."

"Ok, ok. I believe you, just don't do it again. Whatever was pulling on you was really determined, that's for sure." Lavi frowned with a concentrated expression, "I almost lost my grip on you."

"I'm sorry." Allen bowed politely.

"Ah, never mind." Lavi pointed to a light ahead of them, "We're almost out, come on. Hurry."

Without letting go of Allen's wrist, Lavi continued on. He did not want to turn around and find that his friend had disappeared on him. It had been a close shave earlier. The redhead had barely gotten to the disappearing left hand in time to grab it before it was lost to his sight. Lavi took a deep breath. It was up to him to keep an eye on his curious friend. They passed quickly into the bright light only to find themselves back inside the Order walls.

"What the hell…" Lavi let out an exasperated sigh, "In, out, make up your mind ya damn Akuma."

End Act 4

Act 5: Lavi and Allen enter into Krory's nightmare. Once they overcome it what awaits them in this never-ending dream world Naoshe has them in? Wait…didn't Kanda kill Naoshe? What is he doing here too?

NOTE: This is the last chapter that I have written so I will have to write out some more before I type it. Thanks for reading.

Translation:

"Allen! Allen!"

Millinie! I got him! It's Allen! Hee hee hee! Come Allen play with me! Hee hee, look Tyki!

"Damn."