Author's note: Although I wrote the story around and against the Level Four arc of the manga, I'm still including a character who was introduced after that. Cyril Kamelot is not terribly important as yet in the story, but if you don't know who he is... the best I can do is direct you to read chapter 158 of the manga.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of "D. Gray-man" or its characters. It all belongs to the brilliant Katsura Hoshino-sensei. I'm just playing in the sandbox of this beautiful and complex world.

Warnings: Some coarse language, mild shounen-ai, and some action.


"Cleanse the soul and wash away the pain, baptized by the song that you're singing."
-- Neil Diamond, "Canta Libre"


"Canta Libre"
Part Two: Invoke

If there was one feeling Allen Walker despised, it was helplessness. He had dedicated his life to the saving of others. Knowing that his loved ones were in danger, and that he could do nothing to help them, was the worst feeling he knew -- even worse than losing someone precious to a freakish accident. Watching as a ring of Akuma took aim at two people that he held so dearly to himself that he'd do anything for them, Allen thought his heart was going to shatter right out of his chest. Lavi couldn't use the Wind Seal to protect himself and Peter at the same moment. The Seal was not that flexible, and with the distance between himself and Peter, he couldn't possibly manage it in the short time necessary. So, no matter what, one of them was going to get killed.

As the Akuma cannons all lit up upon firing their rounds, Allen strained against his bindings, unable to hold still and watch as both his son and his lover were killed.

In that same moment, as the cannons fired, reality twisted into a most outrageous distortion. Out of nowhere, a high-pitched, piercing shriek was unleashed, and the Akuma all froze in place the moment the scream was uttered. The Akuma guns, in the process of firing, inexplicably missed, their barrels all being diverted by the seizing of movement. Allen couldn't tell in the chaos if Lavi and Peter had escaped getting hit, but he feared the worst.

Then he felt his brain begin to thrum, as though resonating with the sound. His left eye developed its soul-seeing monocle, and he witnessed something he wouldn't have believed if he wasn't seeing it with this eye: the dozen or so Level One Akuma still in the area all -- at the same moment -- ceased functioning, as the chains that bound their souls to their weapon bodies were shattered, freeing the imprisoned souls. In the chaos of the falling Akuma bodies, Allen glimpsed the Wind Seal spiraling protectively around Peter, and his heart ached; Lavi had apparently sacrificed his own life for Peter's, then. Which was exactly what Allen would have expected of his lover, but it still made him heartsick.

A few heartbeats later, Allen felt Lulubell's restraints loosen a little... just enough. With a roar of anger, grief and frustration, he dragged his claws up, pulling his left arm free, and twisted around, raking his claws across her face. The Noah released him, staggering back in surprise. Allen whirled around and drew his sword from his arm, taking aim at Tyki, to prevent him from killing Mandy too. If Lavi was gone (which he couldn't tell one way or another for certain because of all the debris and Akuma remains), Allen wasn't about to let his lover's self-sacrifice be in vain -- he was going to protect their daughter himself. His blood boiled with rage, but as he got the Noah in his sights, what he beheld took his breath away.

Tyki was doubled over, hands over his ears; the Noah had released Mandy, who was standing under her own power, her face set in a furious expression, and her mouth open wide. It took Allen a moment to realize what he was seeing -- Mandy was screaming, and it was her scream that was affecting the Noah and the Akuma. Like the melody played by Noise Marie's Innocence strings, Noel Organon, there was something in the vibration of Mandy's scream that was...

The high-pitched keen increased in strength, and Allen got a glimpse of the Level Twos all being completely unchained exactly as the Level Ones had; the weapon bodies simply stopped moving as the souls were freed. There was no violence to their destruction, but they were destroyed all the same. The two Level Threes weren't downed yet, but they were suddenly cautious.

However, even more amazing was that the other Noah were reacting to the scream in similar fashion to Tyki: the one called Sarita was crouched on the ground, hands over her ears; Lulubell was now nowhere to be found; and Road had her hands over her ears, and looked like she was having trouble concentrating.

"CROSS GRAVE!" He hurled an attack at her, hoping to break her concentration even if he couldn't land a real hit on her. The ethereal crixa whirled through the air, and in Road's current state of mind, she didn't see it coming; the impact sent her tumbling off the umbrella, though with her cat-like agility, she landed easily enough. A heartbeat later, Mandy slumped to her knees in fatigue and the wail died off. Allen launched himself toward her, landing beside her and swaddling her in his Innocence cloak to protect her. He glanced over in Peter's direction. The Wind Seal was still active, which meant Lavi was still alive and conscious, though if he'd been hit by Akuma bullets, his time was limited. As a General-level conformer now, he could hold off the effects of the virus and slow their advancement, but he couldn't nullify them completely.

Road Kamelot pressed her hands to her temples and shook hear head violently. "I can't even think straight now. Damn you, little brat!"

"Screw this!" Tyki raged. "My head is splitting now! This isn't what I signed up for! Road, you and your ideas!"

"This isn't my fault!" Road snapped. "You're the one who didn't kill the brat when you had the chance!"

"Why don't you all just scram?" Sarita growled as she motioned to the two Level Threes. "This is my assignment anyway. Lord Millennium assigned this to me; the rest of you tagged along!"

Allen took a swipe at Sarita, but she dodged

"Looks to me like Lulubell is already long gone anyway," Tyki said. "Well, she didn't really want to do this anyway. I don't know how you convinced her to come along anyway, Road, but come on. We're going. I think this little 'assignment' is going to fail, and I'd just as soon not have Sennen-ko pissed at me."

Road grimaced and turned her gaze to Allen. "You're lucky this time, Allen. I was bored so I followed Sarita. I thought I'd get some entertainment, but you're no fun anymore. You got old!" She sounded accusing. "Oh well, at least it looks like we took out the ex-Bookman. It wasn't a total loss then. I'm bored of this. Tyki, you owe me a mountain of sweets."

"Huh?" Tyki blinked at her. "You're the one who dragged me along because you couldn't get Cyril to go!"

"You Noah bastards should know me better than to think you've gotten me with such a cheap trick," a scratchy, slightly groggy voice growled. Allen's heart lurched in his chest. "Underestimating me again, huh, Road? COMBINATION SEAL! DROWNING MAELSTROM!" A great vortex of water spouted up from the debris nearby, swung around in midair, and landed on the three still-stunned Noah.

In that same moment, Allen felt his connection with the Ark realign, and the gate he'd been desperately trying to force open abruptly burst open about two meters off the ground.

"We're leaving now, Sarita," Road caroled as she pulled open her own door and let Tyki disappear through it. "Good luck with your task." She waved happily at Sarita and disappeared through the door, which disappeared after her.

"Allen, is Mandy okay?" Lavi called over, shouldering aside a beam from the inn that had fallen near him.

"Yeah, she's exhausted, but she's unhurt."

"What was that scream?"

"Don't you idiots ignore me!" Sarita hissed, lunging at the redhead and bringing her hands towards his throat. Lavi stumbled as she reached him and crashed into another pile of rubble; the Noah was thrown over his head at the Wind Seal that was still spiraling around Peter.

Lavi was on his knees, leaning heavily on the handle of his hammer. Allen noticed that his uniform was badly torn, and there were pentacles spreading slowly from a tear on his shoulder. Allen's heart sank like a stone; Lavi had been hit by an Akuma bullet. It was only a matter of time before he was obliterated by the virus, unless Allen could get him somehow through the Ark fast enough to get to Catherine. But with Sarita there, that was unlikely, because it was highly unadvisable for them to open the Ark's coordinates in the Order building if there was a chance a Noah could get there.

"Sorry, Allen," Lavi murmured as he tried to stand up again, swaying drunkenly. "Looks like I don't have much time left."

Sarita was coming at them again, and this time she had grabbed what looked like a meat cleaver. (Allen realized that the inn's kitchen was indeed right next to where they'd been, and of course had been destroyed. Sarita must have found the cleaver in the rubble.) Breaking through the Wind Seal, she raised the cleaver, in an attempt to strike the still-motionless Peter.

No! Allen panicked and tried to throw his Clown Belt, but Mandy was faster; she had been watching the chaos, and when she saw Sarita break the Wind Seal (which was weakening as Lavi's consciousness failed) she screamed again. Her scream seemed to break the final hold of Road's trance on Peter, and it also forced Sarita to stop her assault. Peter scrambled to his feet, looked around himself, apparently grasped the situation in a few moments, and cocked back his fist, letting a punch -- enhanced by his Innocence -- fly at Sarita's face. The Noah ducked and rolled, kicking her feet out to trip him, but he sidestepped easily and landed a punch on her shoulder. Allen breathed a sigh of relief at seeing that. It looked like all those training sessions Lavi had insisted upon with Peter from the boy's eighth birthday onward were paying off in spades, because Peter was outmaneuvering the Noah with ease.

However, Sarita had much better stamina than Peter, which was borne out within about thirty seconds of the fight commencing. Peter wasn't used to remaining in invocation, and so he tired quickly. Pretty soon Sarita was slamming him into rubble piles. Allen was just preparing to join the fray, having carried Mandy over to where Lavi was.

Then there was a whoosh! sound and a streak of light brown. Something slim and long jettisoned out of nowhere and struck Sarita in the chest, throwing her back.

"What?" Allen uttered, his jaw swinging open, and followed the trajectory of the line back to its origins. To his astonishment, it extended into the Ark door. Just then, it retracted back.

That looks like Yggdrasil. Allen thought. But how could that be? I didn't have a chance to call for reinforcements. I just wanted the Ark open so we could take Mandy home, or perhaps Lavi.

"Oi, Beansprout, what the hell?"

That voice... A vein popped on Allen's forehead as Kanda Yuu and Gustav Svenhardt dropped out of the Ark door and landed agilely on the ground.

"This is quite a mess," Sven said, planting his Innocence weapon, a staff made of ash-wood called Yggdrasil, into the ground. "Yggdrasil, Activate." A flight of wooden steps grew out of the ground up to the door of the Ark. "General, I was under the impression that there were four Noah here. I only see one."

"Don't look at me," Kanda snarled. "Beansprout, we got a report over the golem network that you were ambushed by four Noah."

Allen blinked; "Golem network?"

"You do have a sentient golem that can transmit long-distance, you know," Sven said blandly as Kanda scoffed bitterly and activated Mugen.

"There were four. That one chased the others off," Lavi wheezed.

"We'll take over from here, General Walker. We're here to eliminate the Noah."

"Just stay out of the way, Beansprout."

Lavi moaned as the pentacles spread further, creeping up his neck. Allen panicked; if the virus reached Lavi's spinal chord, or any other vital organ, he would be dead in thirty seconds or less.

"I'm really sorry, Allen," Lavi murmured again. "It... looks like my time's up. How pathetic, huh?"

"Stop that, Lavi!" Allen struggled to keep the tears from spilling down his cheeks, even though he could see that both Peter and Mandy were crushed at the prospect of their beloved Papa dying such an ignominious death. "We'll get you fixed, somehow."

"How? I'm out of time." The irony of his words was borne out not five seconds later.

"Time Record, Activate! Encircle Target! TIME OUT!" Light yellow rings appeared around Lavi.

"Please do not move, Lavi," Miranda Lotto-Krory's voice called from the Ark gate. There was then a large black streak from the gate, and the next thing Allen saw was a black-gloved hand clamping onto Lavi's shoulder.

"You are a lucky, lucky bastard, Lavi," crooned the familiar voice of their nakama Arystar Krory III, whose Innocence was fully invoked; his eyes had inverted color and his white lock of hair stood up straight. "Thirty seconds more and you would be too far gone for help. Pardon me while I draw out the worst of that virus." The Romanian baron then sank his Innocence fangs into the side of Lavi's neck, directly over where the pentacles were spreading.

Allen, overcome with relief that it looked like Lavi would be saved at the last minute, turned his attention to where Kanda and Sven were pacing around Sarita. The Noah still had the meat cleaver in her hand, and had a steel or iron pipe in the other hand.

All three took action simultaneously. Sven transformed Yggdrasil into a spear and stabbed at Sarita, at the same moment that Kanda activated the Second Illusion of his blade, giving him two swords. Sarita, for her part, looked like a wolf who had its prey cornered. With a feral grin, she licked her lips and then suddenly seemed to split into two identical bodies. The two bodies -- only one of whom could actually be Sarita -- launched simultaneously at the General and his protege.

Lavi shuddered under Krory's ministrations. "Easy, Kro-chan. I don't want to bleed out, you know."

The baron thumped him and continued to methodically drain the tainted blood from the redhead.

Allen shakily reached into his hood and pulled Timcanpy out of the little pocket it was riding in. "Tim... did you send for help? Thank you. I'm grateful for your help." The golem's autonomy had clearly been Lavi's saving grace. He turned to his daughter, who was crouched next to him, fingering her throat. "Mandy, does your throat still hurt?"

"Yes, but not nearly as much as it did." Mandy coughed and wheezed. "Daddy, what happened to me?"

"You've synchronized with your Innocence, baby," Allen said gently, pulling her close to him. "Once we get your Papa stabilized, we'll take him and you both home to see Catherine."

"Daddy, please -- " She begged, her eyes wide with pleading.

"Honey, I'm not doing this to leave you behind. My mission is partly complete already; I've found another conformer. It's your turn to be inspected. Hevlaska will want to see your new weapon and inspect your synchronization rate."

"Then... my Innocence is...?"

"Your voice, honey. Your screams made the Akuma stop, and freed the souls bound to the machines. Now just take it easy. What you did was synchronize with raw Innocence; it's not easy on the body. You need to rest yourself so that it doesn't damage you. You've done more than enough right now. You bought us some time, and it looks like we're all going to be okay."

Allen turned his attention to the fight unfolding before him. He'd never really watched Sven and Kanda work together as a team. Frankly, he'd never believed that Kanda Yuu could even work with anyone as a team. But there they were, both of them, working in complete concert. The flexibility of Yggdrasil to change its form to any weapon shape of Sven's wishes made it a handy weapon (though a sword made of Innocence-imbued ash wood was nowhere near as sharp as a strong or sharp as one made of tempered steel reinforced with Innocence), and with Kanda's superhuman speed, the two Exorcists had the two Saritas on the defense at all times. The two halves (or whatever they were -- clones maybe?) of the Noah were feverishly attempting to slash the two Exorcists, but neither Sven nor Kanda was allowing himself to be touched.

"Now, Sven!" Kanda shouted.

Sven transformed Yggdrasil into a long whip and with a sharp flick of his wrist, he lashed the two Saritas together.

"Miranda!" Kanda then yelled.

Miranda dismantled the Time Out over Lavi and turned her attention to the bound Noah; "TIME OUT!"

"Allen, do not move," Krory said as he paused in his task. "Leave it to Kanda and Sven. That is why Miranda and I were sent. Catherine could not get away, so I was sent in case anyone was injured, and Miranda was sent because any other form of restraint has not worked yet, so we thought her Time Out might pin that Noah in place long enough for Kanda to get her."

It looked as though the Time Out wasn't working that well, though, because both halves or clones of the Noah were straining against the bindings.

"Arystar!" Miranda suddenly shrieked. "Behind you!"

"What?" Krory looked instinctively over at his wife, even though she'd just warned him to look behind himself. Fortunately, Allen was faster. The white webbing of the Clown Belt extended abruptly out around them all, and the two Level Threes, that had been skulking in the shadows, waiting for a chance to pounce the injured Exorcists, were bound tightly in the webbing.

"You thought I wasn't aware of you two?" Allen growled, eyeing them both. "I can see your souls. There is nowhere in range that you can hide. I was waiting for you to get within my range." With a roar of pent up rage and frustration, Allen stood up to his full height, pivoted abruptly, and brought his sword around, cutting through both Akuma with the air cascading off the leading edge of the blade.

Sarita must have realized the futility of her situation, as the two clone-halves of her suddenly, abruptly, divided again. The two new clone-halves appeared outside of the bindings of Yggdrasil and outside of Miranda's Time Out. Both clone-halves then bolted in opposite directions. Allen hurled his Clown Belt after them binding both up quickly just as Kanda beheaded the two bound by Yggdrasil. Then, without losing an ounce of momentum, Kanda and Sven then tackled the other two clone-halves, with Sven transforming Yggdrasil into a field-scythe as he moved. Within a few seconds, all traces of the Noah were erased into dust.

"Another Noah to your credit, General?" Sven inquired as he let Yggdrasil revert to its dormant form, a two-meters-long staff of ash-wood.

Kanda snorted; "No. She got away again."

"Are you sure?" Sven toed the pile of ashes at his feet.

"She escaped, you idiot. Trust me. That's annoying."

Sven swore under his breath. "Well, I guess we need to get the injured home."

"Beansprout, you damned idiot. Can't even protect your own family. Tch! You're absolutely useless, you white-haired idiot."

Krory stood up, hauling Lavi to his feet as he did so. "We should go."

Allen, swallowing the bile that had begun to pool in his mouth at Kanda's comment, helped his kids to their feet and guided them both up the stairs. Peter and Mandy were both completely exhausted, to the point of stumbling.

Kanda's right; I was completely useless. I was frozen in fear. That's just not like me. I don't get it -- why did I have so much trouble? Why couldn't I protect my own kids? Dammit, even Lavi was more use in this fight than I was!

"Don't blame yourself, Allen," Lavi said as they passed through the Ark. He was eyeing Allen pointedly even as he leaned on Krory's strength. He reached a hand out and settled it around Allen's waist, pulling him close. "I'm the one who couldn't dodge the bullet. I should've been able to, except I was throwing the Wind Seal at the same time."

Allen shook his head, unable to answer for the lump forming in his throat.

The lives of my children were on the line, and I was useless. Bugger it all, I was of no use to anyone except when those Level Threes attacked. I didn't even see the attack coming -- Catherine predicted it, and she's back in HQ!

They passed through another door and emerged in Komui Lee's office. Lenalee Lee was there to greet them, and she did so by fussing over them all. She pulled the family of four from the gate and set them all up on the soft couch, ordering one of the loitering scientists to go get water for the Exorcists, and sending someone to get Catherine Beauchamp.

Komui Lee surfaced from a sea of documents, looking at the four on his couch. "What happened over there? We got a transmission from Timcanpy that you were being attacked by at least three Noah, and there was evidence that there was a fourth one. Then the transmission went dead. I sent General Kanda and Sven into the Ark and told them to watch for a door that leads to Versailles."

Catherine arrived then and started administering to Lavi's injuries without a word, pouring her Innocence water onto the wound that had had the highest concentration of pentacles.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened," Lavi said, "one minute I'm on the phone with Catherine, worrying about Mandy, and the next minute, everything goes to hell in a handbasket. The entire inn got completely obliterated."

"We left General Kanda and Sven there to deal with that part of it," Miranda said as she and Krory stepped out of the Ark. Allen silently closed the Ark door down, still not convinced that Sarita or Lulubell wouldn't get through there.

"Mama! Papa!" A bright young voice caroled as a little streak of black and white came darting across the floor and launched itself into the air at Krory and Miranda. Krory caught the ball of fluff and movement, which resolved itself into their four-year-old daughter Angela. The little girl had the pale complexion of both parents, her mother's big, inquisitive eyes, and her father's rich black hair.

"Angie," a metallic voice called after her as the Science Division's robot-ghost creature Rokujuugo came hovering over. "You shouldn't take off like that." He spoke gently and affectionately, despite being somewhat intimidating to look at, considering his massive size. Angie wasn't the least bit afraid of him; she was just ecstatic to see her parents.

Rokujuugo loved children, and made an excellent babysitter for when Krory and Miranda were gone on missions. Some of the higher-ups in the Black Order that were stationed within the Vatican had tried to take Angie away from her parents and give her to foster parents because it was believed that the two Exorcists would not be able to focus on their tasks if they had to worry about their daughter. However, Komui and the rest of the Order had stood their ground, and Krory and Miranda had threatened to leave the Order entirely, renouncing their Innocence, if that was the case. In the end, the Vatican had backed down, but that didn't mean that the two Exorcists were granted any reprieve. That was where Rokujuugo came in; since he was largely supportive of the Science Department, and because he wasn't human, he could babysit up to three children at once and still perform his duties without a hitch.

Komui rubbed at his shoulders in fatigue. "I need to know what's going on, Lavi. What happened?"

"Aside from being attacked by a bunch of Akuma and four Noah? I have no fucking idea." The redhead grimaced as Catherine's ministrations apparently caused him some pain. "I'm not even sure what all happened in the interim. I know they tried to use the kids against us, and they kept trying to shoot me up with the Level Ones. And at least one of them got me. But otherwise? Uh, Allen?"

"Mandy invoked," Allen said simply.

Komui blinked. "Say again?"

"Mandy invoked. She has parasitic-type Innocence in her throat, and her weapon appears to be her voice, or at least her vocal chords. When she screamed, the scream caused the Akuma to all halt, and the chains binding the souls to the machine bodies were broken on the Level Ones and Twos. The Level Threes were sturdier and didn't seem overly damaged, but I imagine that with some instruction and a higher synchro-rate, she'll be able to take them out too."

"So the sore throat really was her Innocence?"

"I can only assume as much. I think we should have her inspected by Hevlaska, after Catherine gives her a thorough examination. Mandy says her throat still hurts, just not as bad as it did prior to invocation."

"One question," Komui said as he snapped out of his amazed stupor. "When you first invoked your Innocence way back when, did you have this kind of pain?"

"No, I don't recall ever having this kind of pain, but I did have a lot of trouble even using my left arm until after the Innocence matured and activated that first time. Well, I can say that I had a lot of physical pain when I revived it and activated Crown Clown, but... that wasn't so much the fault of the Innocence. It was because I'd been careless with it and basically over-used it."

Catherine put her hands on her hips; "Okay, time for you little runts to get the once-over." She smiled at the kids to take the sting out of her words. "I hear Mandy's been quite the burden."

"She made up for it!" Peter said defensively. "I heard Sis' voice in that dark world thingy that that Noah stuck me in. I heard her voice screaming to me, and I was able to follow it."

Catherine gestured to the kids to follow her; "I'm not surprised by that, given what General Walker just said. Now come on."


"So, Little Sarita, you failed, did you?" The Millennium Earl took a delicate bite of the dessert in front of him.

Sarita flinched, trying not to meet anyone's eyes. She could feel the eyes of the other Noah boring into her though. She wanted to gouge out the eyes of that grinning fop bastard Cyril, but she didn't dare. The Exorcists didn't know her weakness; the other Noah did. And with her continued failures to kill even one Exorcist, Sarita was at the bottom of the ladder, the fodder link in the food chain.

She bowed before the Earl; "Lord Millennium should punish me accordingly. I did not factor in a second General showing up."

"Sounds like Road being there was beneficial, actually," Cyril Kamelot said serenely. "You didn't start having a lot of trouble until she left, after all. Right?"

Sarita ground her jaws, gnashing her teeth and thinking horrible things at Cyril. "Actually, it was when that screaming banshee decided to break my eardrums that everything went to shit."

Road made a comical (and ironic) face at Sarita's expletive. "Ooh, Sarita. Watch your mouth in Lord Millennium's presence. You know he doesn't like that kind of talk." She giggled and bounded over to the Earl, throwing her arms around his big shoulders. "Right, Lord Millennium?"

"You know, Sarita," the Earl said, ignoring Road's antics, "I'm quite disappointed in you. You should know better by now, having fought those Exorcists, that they tend to back each other up, and that one General has a habit of showing up late in the fight. Why are you not learning your lesson?"

She bowed deeply, almost groveling. "I am a fool, Lord Millennium. Please just punish me and let me get on with it, so that maybe I may be of use to you."

"You're of no use to me as you are right now. How long will you need to recover now?"

Sarita sighed; "Four days, Lord Millennium."

"Hmm. Well, nothing for it, I suppose. Go rest up." That was a dismissal, even if it sounded like an option. Sarita bowed once more and exited the room, but as she did, she heard Tyki and Cyril make biting remarks about her failures.

Her blood boiled. How dare that Cyril in particular be critical of her! He'd never killed an Exorcist with his own hands! She was willing to allow Tyki to be critical of her, he had the highest record of Exorcist kills. But Cyril...

Augh. She rubbed her brow in weariness as she stepped through the Ark doors to her water chamber. There, she waded into the small river and submerged herself.

Four days. Four wasted bodies, one day per body. Damn those Exorcists. Damn them to hell.


"I feel rotten, Lavi. So damned useless," Allen muttered. He and Lavi were in the lounge now. Catherine was checking over Peter and Mandy in her medical room, giving them both thorough examinations.

"Why?" The redhead rotated his arm experimentally, testing the healing wound on his shoulder.

"Because I panicked. Over and over again. I did nothing but panic. That's not like me! What the hell kind of General am I? Why do I need Kanda to save my ass?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Allen. You're a father whose children were targeted by four Noah. Okay, granted, at least two of them were tagging along because of Road's curiosity, but still. Four Noah. The last time you and I dealt with two Noah at the same time was fifteen years ago. You had every right to be freaked."

"You didn't freak, Lavi."

"Wanna bet? Which of us got hit with Akuma beams?"

"I don't recall them aiming at me."

"And I barely was able to protect Peter, you'll notice. I was just as useless as you. If Mandy hadn't awakened her weapon, Peter would be dead, and so would Mandy. Me being dead would've been a merciful footnote. Which would make us both failures as fathers."

Allen looked away; clearly, this was bothering him a lot more than it was bothering Lavi.

The redhead acted on impulse and pushed Allen against the wall, planting his hands on either side of him to pin him. To his dismay, Allen just submitted to the rough-handling. It was like all the momentum had been sucked out of him. He just... existed. Reacted. It was all wrong. Lavi didn't like it one bit, either.

"Allen," he said severely. "Look at me, dammit."

Allen turned his stormy gray eyes to meet Lavi's. There was pain and emptiness at war there. All this over a narrowly-avoided tragedy? What the hell?

Lavi planted a forceful, almost bruising, kiss to Allen's mouth, nipping his lower lip as he did so. Allen didn't react. This made Lavi angry, and he slammed his shoulder against Allen's shoulder, pushing him hard against the wall. Still no reaction. This was aggravating; Allen was a kind, gentle person, but he didn't take well to being pushed around. In fact, he didn't take it at all, in most circumstances. And he almost never let Lavi push him around like this (not even in foreplay). This was unacceptable.

Finally, Lavi stepped back, raised an arm, and backhanded Allen across the face; "Dammit, who the fuck are you, and what have you done with my Allen?" The force with which he struck caused Allen to fall to the ground in surprise.

"Ow, dammit, Lavi, what the hell was that for?" Allen retorted almost simultaneously.

"Stop moping around, dammit! That's not like you at all! You're not my Allen Walker when you act like this, and I won't stand for it! Get over your self-incrimination and stand the fuck up! If you don't, I'll beat you black-and-blue until you come to your senses. Dammit, you didn't fail them; you got ambushed. I was there too. You did nothing wrong. Our enemy is not mindless; they're smart and they know our weaknesses. We misjudged their locations. I'm just as much at fault as you."

There was an unbearable silence for about thirty seconds as Allen stared at him owlishly. Then, abruptly, he pressed a hand to his forehead, leaned forward a little bit, and started chuckling.

"What the hell is so funny?" Lavi growled, clenching his fists.

"You're right, Lavi. I've been acting childish. I'm sorry."

"Hmph. Just don't let it happen again. Instead of moping around and convincing yourself you're a bad General and bad father, why don't you focus on ways to make sure it doesn't happen again? For one thing, now both of the kids are active conformers, and both were discovered as such by you, which means they'll both be assigned to you; they're your students now. This way you can look after them, and train them accordingly. I told you before, I have no intentions of taking on the gold uniform, so I imagine that Komui can keep assigning me to your squad as well, to help train the kids." He held a hand out to Allen, to help him up off the floor.

"Sorry, Lavi. I didn't mean to worry you." Allen dusted off as he stood up. Catherine was approaching with the two kids following her. "Looks like we need to head to Hevlaska's chamber now. How's your throat, sweetheart?" He directed that last line to Mandy in particular.

"It still hurts, but it is getting better." Mandy was clinging to Peter's arm, apparently extremely intimidated by the thought of being examined by Hevlaska. Or rather, as was borne out by her next words, it wasn't Hevlaska she was concerned about; "Daddy, do I have to be examined by Mr. Komui?"

"Oh god!" Allen went pale for a moment in memory. "I hope not."

"I already looked her over," Catherine said authoritatively. "She's had enough trauma today. If the Supervisor still wants to look her over, he'll have to wait."

Lavi grinned; "And you have authority over him... how?"

"I manage his arthritis for him. If he wants me to continue managing it for him and keeping his joint pain to a minimum, he'll do as I say, as the nurse in charge of higher-ups. Go on, don't keep Hevlaska waiting."

By now, Komui had arrived with a clipboard in hand. "Time to take you to Hevlaska, Mandy."


Stay tuned for "Canta Libre: Part Three: Banshee"


UPDATE as of July, 2009:
Because of the recent release of the dub, I've become more accustomed to the English translations of attacks and stuff, and the loss of the honorifics, so I'm removing them from my fics and rewriting slowly to reflect that.

Footnote:
"Sarita" comes from the Sanskrit word for "river" which is why I have Sarita going into a little stream to heal herself.