Hello!

Okay, sorry about the mix-up in Chapter One. I didn't read the manga before chapter 156, and in the anime it is mentioned twice that Kanda is from China (Japanese by birth, perhaps?) and while the manga page may have stated "Yu" for his name, things get lost in translation. But Yu is a male name, I just don't know whether the same applies to the other pronunciation. So I choose to have "Yuu".

I should tell you, this account used to be owned by another person. But we both wrote fanfictions together, so I don't think it changes anything, right?

(to sayo-chan64): Thanks! Usually I don't read fanfiction if the first chapter itself fails to capture my interest, so you're quite generous ;) And is your real name truly Sayo? Because if so, we share names! No, you weren't that far off the mark after all.

Thanks for the reviews and before you read this chapter, I should tell you that the following scene and dream is from the night before Kanda and Allen set out. Hope you won't get too confused by the structure.

Enjoy!


He was alone.

It was cold, but things like that didn't bother him much.

It was overwhelming…

What was?

.

The fear? Or maybe pain? Or sadness?

It was choking him, lodged at the back of the his throat.

It almost made him want to cry.

His arms felt dead. His feet felt blistered. His boots were worn.

But he had to keep going. He trudged on anyway.

In a land that bared itself to the sky, where the moon was large and menacing.

Threatening to swallow him up.

It was unbearable.

The feeling of having nowhere to run.


Kanda sat up, awake. He was in his room in the Order, in all its blank and mediocre furnishing. He looked to the hourglass that sat peacefully on his tabletop, the lotus petals still intact.

He sighed. The things that plagued his mind when he slept. (A/N: Remember the dream during the witch village arc?)

Oh, right. He was assigned to that kid, and was just taking one night to rest before they set out to wherever the shortstack needed to head off to.

Spain…was it? And then Germany.

Kanda put on his cloak and clutched Mugen by his side, slipping out of the room quietly.


He got to the balcony area, then noticed that there was already someone there.

He turned around and prepared to leave, before a soft voice called out to him. "Hey, Kanda."

He turned to look back at Lenalee.

"What, can't sleep?"

Lenalee was aware of this secret of his, and it was lucky she didn't hold it over his head, like he knew that dumbass brother of hers would.

"Yeah. What about you?" The girl had her arms folded against her chest as she leaned on the railing, a wistful look in her tired eyes. Her hair was loose, long dark strands around her shoulders.

"If you can't sleep, it must mean you're heading out tomorrow. Got a mission?"

"Hn. Escorting a general to Spain."

"Which? General Tiedoll?" She made a guess.

"No, the kid."

Her gaze fully turned on him, giving him a puzzled look.

"…Kid? Oh, you mean Allen-kun? He's back?"

"You know him." Kanda hadn't even heard about him.

A slightly hollow look entered Lenalee's eyes. "Yeah. I used to go on a lot of missions together with him."

A silence hung in the air, and Lenalee felt the questions that Kanda wanted to ask but dared not to.

"He died." A pause.

"…What do you mean? I saw the little brat alive and kicking just now."

"But he was killed by a Noah before. When I asked to save Suman, I-I left him alone. When he was wounded badly, a Noah came and destroyed his innocence, then made a hole in his heart. He was left to die there, alone. Then when he was miraculously saved by the Asia Branch- he was left alone to revive his innocence. None of us can imagine what he must have gone through."

"I- I knew. I had dreams about his arm being destroyed, and I knew it was going to happen, yet I made him fight alone." He voice was thick now, trembling.

Kanda remained silent, fidgeting under the uncomfortable realization that Lenalee was crying.

"We went to Edo without Allen. We were fighting against the Earl, and there was this flash of black that engulfed all of us. We must have passed out then, but it was Brother who told me that Allen brought us all back to Headquarters, saying that we were in no condition to fight."

Kanda noticed something was missing.

"How did he get all of you back?"

"Using the ark a Level Three left behind when trying to assassinate him. He disappeared from the Asia Branch, and reappeared two days later when bringing us back."

"Take care of him, won't you Kanda? Don't let him down like I did."

"Hn."

Lenalee's eyes were soft, shining with tears. "Thank you, Kanda."


"You are to leave Walker here in China."

"You're selfish, Allen-kun."

"What are we friends for?"

"Don't make a fool of me… why won't you let me fight by your side?"

Even though I said that… I left him to fight alone.


Wong and Rikei held down the exorcist, who ceased his struggles and stared up at Bak. "You're wrong, Bak-san!"

"When I met that akuma earlier, the blood that I thought was frozen within started pulsing excitedly through my body. The heart- the heart that I thought had stopped beating within me, I could feel it throbbing faster and faster. And I realized why my eye had been twitching in the night as if on a hunt." His voice trembled, but carried within it conviction.

Bak was staring at him with wide-eyes. "What are you saying, Walker?"

Allen ignored him and continued. "That's when I finally realized…that when Bak-san said my existence itself is like an anti-akuma weapon, you may have been right." A drop of blood trailed its way down the boy's left cheek. "The thing that my heart was longing for all this time…was the akuma!"

"I'm no longer a human being, I'm an exorcist. So please let me return to the battlefield. To the akuma…" A flash of white took shape and clawed at them, and the two flinched away from Allen.

When they opened their eyes, Allen was in front of them with his back turned, facing the wall once again. "I'm going. Thank you, Bak-san."

"Walker…" Bak's bloodied hand clenched.

The wall parted in blue sparks, and Allen walked forward.

"Walker…why did you come back?" Fou whispered, laying defeated in the wreckage.

Allen smiled benevolently at her. "Bak-san was crying, Fou."

Then he looked to the akuma. "Yes…" He whispered. "I promised to love you."

The guardian heard a faint exchange between Allen Walker, who had recently invoked his innocence, and the level three. Between exorcist and akuma. Though it hardly sounded like it.

"Take the ark, Allen. Take it to your friends in Edo."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Why…? Who knows. On orders, perhaps. No, or maybe not… after all."

Then Allen placed the tip of his claw against the star on the level three's helm, and, as if caressing the machine, gently made a slice down.

"Thank you."

"This isn't…a bad feeling…" The akuma muttered, as he radiated away in an almost angelic light.

The boy stepped soundlessly into the water, and Fou watched his pale and wounded form walk boldly towards the dark-looking platform.

"Wait, Walker, where are you going?!" Fou demanded, struggling to lift her crumbled form.

"I'm returning. To the battlefield." The exorcist replied, with the most liberated and lively expression she had ever seen on his face. She hadn't realized before…how dead he had seemed.

"What about your injuries? Won't you wait for Bak?"

"I can't. The akuma need me." Fou sighed exasperatedly.

"I guess this is where I part with the wierdo, then."

"That's mean, Fou-san. How I am I weird?!" The boy laughed.

"An exorcist that loves the akuma, that's not exactly commonplace, you know."

He smiled. "Thank you for everything, Fou."

"Good luck, Walker."

And he disappeared into the ark, which vanished in the flittering of ethereal purple butterflies.

Alone.


There will be about three parts to this interlude, and it will be about everything that differed from the storyline in -Man that lead up to Allen being made a general/ not meeting Kanda.

Update coming out on Monday. Till then!

-Quill