Angelus Chapter 6: Part Six: A Soaring Prayer, a d.gray-man fanfic

Author's Note: Apologies to Christopher Marlowe for deliberately butchering the sentiment of "The Passionate Shepherd To His Love" -- I do adore that poem, Marlowe! Honest! I just wanted to make Bookman Junior into that much more of an asshole.

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.

Warning: Some coarse language. Spoilers if you only watch the anime. Softcore yaoi. (Oh hell, if you're still reading after five full chapters, you probably know all this anyway. You know the drill. Carry on.)

"My heart is old; it holds my memories. My body burns a gem-like flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine, is where I find myself again."
-- Mr. Mister, "Kyrie Eleison"

"Angelus"
Part Six: A Soaring Prayer

"'Lavi' is merely the name of the mask I wore. I am fundamentally Bookman Junior, and will never be anything other than a bookman, whatever you'd like to believe, kid."

Allen's entire world ground to a complete halt, and he nearly fainted from the shock. This couldn't be happening. This just couldn't be happening!

The Pope just blinked in astonishment. "So, the name you're giving is Lavi? Or something else?"

Lavi (or was it Bookman Junior?) scowled, and then did something that the Lavi that Allen knew and adored would never even dream of doing: he charged forward, seizing the Pope by the throat and slamming the holy man against the wall; "I've had it with your bullshit. Just show me the fucking artifact and I'll be out of your hair. This is not a request; it's a demand. Don't think I can't break your goddamned neck with my bare hands. I've done it before."

Panicking, because none of his guards were near enough to help, the Pope capitulated. "I-it's right th-this way." He gestured frantically.

"Allen," Cross said in a low voice as they filed through an archway into another room. "Can you open the Ark in here? I think we're going to have to use that to control him."

"Huh?" Allen looked up at his shishou, dizzy with the emotions swirling violently inside him.

"The Ark, stupid. Can you open it? Do I need to speak slowly and loudly for you to understand?"

"I need Timcanpy to do that."

"And what is that sitting on your head, you goddamned fool?"

"Oh... Uh, I don't know. I can try."

"Wait until he has the artifact in hand, and then try to open it. If I have to, I'll use Judgment to force him onto the Ark. I don't really want to, because this place scrambles my synchronization with it pretty strangely, but I'll do what I have to in order to protect the peace. And if it comes to it, I won't hesitate to kill that young man, Allen. I won't make you do it; whatever you might think of me, I'm not so cruel as to make you kill your own lover, but I won't hesitate to do it myself, if he proves to be too much of a threat. Now stop staring at me stupidly and get moving, or I'll unleash Maria on you!"

The artifact proved to be an engraved stone. Not a tablet, like the Rosetta stone, but a stone nonetheless. Curiously, it wasn't very big or heavy. Only about a meter in diameter, and only about ten centimeters thick, it looked like a wheel. The inscriptions on it were around it starting from the perimeter and spiraling inward. Lavi... Bookman Junior?... whoever... picked it up and inspected it. His forehead creased in concentration. As he was looking at it, Allen started the incantation that he used to open the Ark. He could feel things moving inside his head, but there was something definitely wrong here, something that was causing the portal to not line up right. Cross had lied to them when he'd said that the barrier hadn't affected anyone but Akuma. The question was, why had he lied?

"It's in really old Latin, with some Greek randomly thrown in to break it up, and there's nothing on here about Innocence. What it talks about isn't God's Crystal, it's the purity of the Virgin Mary. Just as I thought. The answers won't come to you Exorcists so easily," the redhead snorted. "This is worthless to the Black Order."

"And was it worth making a complete ass of yourself for?" Kanda growled.

"I don't recall caring," the redhead retorted. "You can't excommunicate what you can't name."

"No, but you can arrest a nameless person," Cross said dangerously, drawing Judgment. "And who are you to tell the Black Order what is worthless to it?" He aimed the golden gun at the younger redhead. "Allen, open it!"

The next thing Allen knew, he was slammed against the wall by Lavi in an eerily nostalgic way. Lavi's forearm bore into Allen's throat, cutting off his breath momentarily. "Don't move, you white-haired runt. I mean it."

"Lavi, why are you doing this?" Allen choked.

"I am not 'Lavi' anymore. Didn't I warn you all? This barrier, it strips personae and it blocks both Innocence and dark matter. In your desperation to believe that everything would be fine, you bought into the gensui's lie without question, despite my repeated comments that the barrier is very much there, very much active, very much alive. Congratulations, Allen Walker: you've managed to destroy my forty-ninth mask in your ignorance. Actually, I must thank you for that. Now the things that clouded my mind and made the old panda doubt me have been cleared away."

There was the click of a gun being cocked. Allen's eyes swung to the left to see another shock of red hair just past Lavi's. Cross-gensui had his weapon aimed at Lavi's neck, at point-blank range.

"Go ahead, gensui. Fire that weapon. You're bluffing and we both know it."

"You honestly think I care about that idiot's feelings for you enough to bluff?"

"Naah, I just know that this barrier has fucked your synchronization ratio enough that you won't dare to actually fire that thing, for fear that you won't be able to control it. You're vainer than anyone else in the entire Order, and you won't stand for having your appearance besmirched by the thought that you don't have complete control over your weapon."

The next sound in the room was the scraping shing! of a sword being drawn, and then Mugen appeared between Lavi and Allen. "Step down, eyepatch, or I'll give you a shave you'll have nightmares about." Kanda's voice had a razor-sharp edge to it.

"Lavi, stop this!" Lenalee cried desperately. "Snap out of this! Whatever it is, snap out of it!"

"I have snapped out of it," the redhead -- Allen couldn't bear to think of this as Lavi anymore; he was far too hateful to be the one Allen had grown to love and admire so much -- said maliciously. "I see things more clearly now than I have in years. You people think we bookmen are peaceful, unassuming humans who sit back and quietly record things. You forget that the way to change the world is through war. A bookman is useless without history to record. If you think we're weaklings who can't fight and can't alter the course of the world, think again!"

Kanda moved Mugen, placing the edge of the blade against the bookman's throat. "Back down, before I remove your head from your shoulders."

Bookman Junior moved too quick for Allen's eyes to comprehend, and the next thing he knew, Kanda was thrown against the adjacent wall, with Mugen knocked aside.

Cross pulled back on Judgment's hammer a bit more, to cock the gun, and Bookman Junior reacted to the noise with lightning speed. Before anyone could react to his movements, he had knocked the gun out of Cross's hand, and had slammed a fist into the gensui's jaw. To Cross's credit, he wasn't thrown aside, since he had considerably more body-weight and bulk than Bookman Junior, being much older and more physically mature, but at the same time, he was taken off guard and his balance was interrupted.

Allen had never even suspected that Lavi had this kind of fighting ability in him. It was surreal, frankly. It was also maddening to see the young man that he loved so deeply and dearly turned into such a heartless beast of pure rage. Maddening... and heart-rending.

"LAVI!" His voice ripped from his throat. "Please! Stop this! We're not trying to hurt you, we just want you to come back to your senses!"

I've got to get him out of this barrier! But how? He attacked the Pope -- there's no way they'll let him out of the Basilica!

I'm going to have to beat some sense into him. Come on, Innocence, please! We two are one, aren't we? And he's a chosen Apostle of God, no matter what his heart is doing right now! Please, help me, Innocence! I'm begging you!

His arm managed to transform into the black claws, and the tumescent cloak draped itself across his shoulders. The silver and gold mask gleamed on his forehead as the Innocence solidified around him. But when he tried to pull the great sword from his arm, the conversion didn't happen.

His heart sank with the realization that his Innocence couldn't fully activate. This was as far as it could get.

There was only one thing he could do now: he had to get Lavi out of this place, to some place where his Innocence could fully function. Then he'd use that Innocence to beat this "Bookman Junior" into submission! And right now, the only way he was going to get Lavi out of here... was to use the one thing he hated more than anything. But, he'd gladly make that sacrifice and more, if it worked. His love for Lavi was deeper than his hatred of the Ark.

"Timcanpy!" He cried in anguish to the golem clinging to his hair. "Tim, please! Help me open the Ark! I need your help, please!"

The golem reacted by showing him the Score, and then wrapping its tail around Bookman Junior's nose, battering at his face with its wings. Allen focused everything on the incantation of the Score, throwing every ounce of energy he had into forcing a door open.

"And then the boy drifted off to sleep, breathing deeply... the flames within the ash, one by one welling up... that beloved face... a thousand dreams upon this earth, silver as your eyes, trembling on the night, a shining self is born... Hundreds and millions of months and years... no matter how many prayers are returned to the earth, I will continue to pray... please give this child love, joined hands and a kiss..."

He felt the Ark finally connect with the fabric of the dimension and the door unlocked behind him. With as much energy as he could muster, he summoned his Innocence and formed it. "CLOWN BELT!"

From either side of him, the white webbing of his Innocence surged forward and wrapped itself firmly around the redhead in front of him. Grabbing onto it with his left hand, anchoring it to himself, Allen reached out with his right arm and grasped the doorway that opened up behind him.

"I told you, Lavi, that if you got lost in the madness, that I'd find you and bring you back. And I will, I swear I will!"

"The 'Lavi' that you seek is as good as dead, kiddo," the bookman sneered, though he didn't struggle. Allen ground his teeth and pulled as hard as he could on the webbing. The redhead crashed into him and they tumbled into the gateway, landing on a cobblestone street with whitewashed buildings on either side of them. Allen felt the world start to go black as his head hit the stone ground, and he heard the door slam shut behind them. The Ark then disconnected from those coordinates and went into free-floating. Casting around, it anchored itself automatically to nearby coordinates so as to not get lost between dimensions. Allen sighed with relief at the weight that was taken from his heart and shoulders as he felt his Innocence awaken fully, now that it was no longer suppressed. And if his Innocence was back to normal, then maybe Lavi was back to normal as well?

"Lavi?" He rolled onto his back and looked over at where the bookman lay, still bound tightly by Allen's Innocence. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The voice that emerged made Allen's heart feel light with joy. It was the voice he knew and loved. "Untie me, eh?"

With tears of relief clinging to his eyelids, Allen scrambled to his feet and carefully deactivated the Clown Belt. As the redhead stood up, Allen debated briefly whether he should just fling himself into Lavi's arms and kiss him, or wait until Lavi made the first move.

"I'm really glad you're back, Lavi, you scared me back there," he said, in order to stall for some time.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Lavi stood up and dusted off. As he raised his head and straightened his headband, Allen felt a tiny twinge of misgiving, and shrugged it off. It was all right, everything was fine... right?

"I hope Shishou will be able to wipe the Pope's memories, so that you don't get into trouble for that. That was really bad, after all."

Lavi chuckled, and again Allen felt a shadow of something not quite right. There was something wrong with the look in Lavi's eye...

"You know something? You're really, really easy to fool," the redhead said with a weird gesture of his hand.

"Lavi?"

"Haven't I already told you, kid? I'm not Lavi anymore. 'Lavi' died the moment I walked into the barrier around the Vatican. You were too busy worrying over the vampire to notice, weren't you. You think I don't remember how 'Lavi' behaved enough to fool even you?" He laughed bitterly. "Well, now that we're away from the barrier, it looks like you need some more convincing before you realize that I'm not Lavi anymore. But before we do that, let me remind you that I won't go easy on you. You just might have to kill me, because if you get me mad enough, I'll kill you. Unlike any of my personae, I don't have any emotional attachments, only raw emotions like fear and rage, and I don't even give a fuck what that old panda bastard wants of me. You might be the Destroyer of Time or whatever, but I won't hold back on account of that." He drew the mallet from its holster, and to Allen's disbelief, it activated without hesitation.

Was his Innocence condoning his actions?!

"Of course, if you're smart, Beansprout, you'll just accept this truth and not fight me about it. I won't hurt you if you don't fight me; I'm not evil, you know. I'm just ambitious. There's a difference."

"No," Allen said softly, closing his eyes for a moment, before fixing the redhead with a firm look. "There's no difference at all. You say you killed 'Lavi' but I won't believe that."

"I didn't say that I killed him. I said he's dead. But I didn't do it. If anyone besides that barrier did it, it was you. You're the one who seduced him."

Allen blinked in astonishment.

"You made him lose my way. 'Lavi' became the downfall of me. Did you honestly think you'd be able to make him happy as your lover? Did you honestly think that giving up my goal of being the Bookman wouldn't bother me in the long run? Did you think you could hold out your hand to me and say 'Come live with me and be my love' and he'd just fall all over myself?"

He's confusing his pronouns like crazy! What the... is 'Lavi' separate or not?

"Tch," the bookman snorted at the look on Allen's face. "Marlowe was full of shit. 'Come live with me and be my love,' my ass!"

"The fact that your Innocence is still working without any verbal commands from you... it gives me hope. And the fact that you can't decide if Lavi is separate from you or not... Come, Bookman Junior, I'll fight you, to see the full extent of your powers, and to see if 'Lavi' sleeps within you. And if he does, I'll use every ounce of my power to draw him out. And if he doesn't, then I'll do him the justice of destroying you. I firmly believe that that's what Lavi would want, since he didn't want me to know about you, this ugly side of him!"

Allen then grasped his left wrist, and felt the dulling of his arm's senses as it converted into pure Innocence and transformed into the great sword of Exorcism.

"Well, have it your way," Bookman Junior said with a shrug, and then the two of them clashed weapon-to-weapon.

The moment the two weapons connected with each other, Allen got the briefest, most fleeting glimpse of his lover within this cold, unfeeling doppelganger. It was gone the moment the two Innocence weapons separated again.

Is it because...? Allen frowned and threw himself at the redhead again. The two weapons crossed again. Again he saw an ephemeral trace of Lavi... This gave him an idea. He pressed the point of his blade to the stump on his shoulder, activating the return of his arm. He had to see this at greater length.

"Giving up already? That's not like you, Beansprout!"

This might not be 'Lavi' but he remembers things that Lavi experienced; still, he doesn't understand things that are discovered and learned through emotional attachments. And now that his Innocence is awake and active, he's acting more like he cares more than he wants to. Inside the Basilica, he was reacting, not acting. Now he's acting and reacting.

The persona of 'Lavi' was bound to the Oudzuchi Kodzuchi itself, or to its Innocence at least. So maybe... it's still in there? Maybe it's not inside him at all right now, but inside the hammer!

Allen curved his left hand, cocking the claws into position. This was a gamble, but a gamble he was determined to win. He didn't lose at gambling very often. And this time, the soul of his adored lover was the ante.

Lavi! If you're in there, I need to know! Please, give me some kind of sign! He reached out when Bookman Junior attacked him, grasping firmly onto the hammer's handle.

Allen! That was Lavi's voice, he was sure of it. The affection in the voice as it formed the name was unmistakable.

"That's all I need. You're in there, Lavi. I know you are. And I'm going to find you, and bring you back, just like I swore I would! Just hang in there, Lavi!"

Bookman Junior reacted to his sudden outburst by releasing the weapon, leaping back. "Oh? Okay, I see using Innocence isn't working with you. That's all right, it's not like that's the only weapon in my arsenal."

The moment the redhead let go of the Innocence hammer, the voice of Lavi disappeared from Allen's mind. No matter how hard he gripped the handle, he couldn't feel Lavi's presence at all.

The Innocence must be the key to unlocking wherever 'Lavi' is hidden. Bookman Junior must have overridden him and locked him away, but he's not 'dead' per se. Okay, Oudzuchi Kodzuchi, come with me and I'll -- "--oof!" Allen tried to pick up the hammer, but found it wouldn't budge. It was far too heavy.

Okay, that won't work. Now what? He racked his brain. Bookman Junior came at him with just his bare fists, and it was all Allen could do to block him. Unfortunately, blocking wasn't enough.

This was getting dangerous, he knew that much. Lavi had always boasted about his fighting skills, and had insisted that his last persona had been a streetfighter in Portugal. But it was becoming quite clear now that he was more than just a streetfighter. Allen had sparred with Kanda on a few occasions and had come to a draw -- Kanda was a superior swordfighter, but Allen knew how to fight dirty with fists and heels -- and here he was, getting overwhelmed by the redheaded bookman.

As he was thrown against a wall yet again -- he'd since lost count -- he felt something break inside. A rib? Probably. At least cracked or bruised. Breathing was getting hard and painful. Allen racked his brain desperately. There had to be some way to stop Bookman Junior's rampage! He was certain that somehow "Lavi" was still within him or within the hammer, and that if given the chance, he'd be restored. The question was, how?

The wind was punched out of him when Bookman Junior drove a fist into his gut. Unintentionally, he coughed up a spat of blood. That gave the redhead pause, but only briefly. With a rapid turn of foot, the bookman spun around and hurled Allen against another wall. This time, Allen was too stunned by the force of both being knocked breathless and then being thrown like a ragdoll against the wall. He slumped, struggling for breath.

"If I kill you, he'll die too. Then I'll be at peace." Bookman Junior picked up the Oudzuchi Kodzuchi and raised it. "The old panda will be furious at your death, Beansprout, but he'll get over it, because he'll have his successor back."

For just a split second, Allen resigned himself to death; then he fought back mentally. He wasn't about to give up! He'd promised Mana, and he'd promised his shishou, and he'd promised Lavi... he'd promised everyone!

Counter Innocence with Innocence! Allen heard a voice he didn't quite recognize in his brain. Was this the Ark talking to him? Well, it didn't matter -- as the hammer swung down at him, bent on crushing him, his left hand activated and the claws staved off the hammer. It kept the hammerhead from crushing him, but he could feel the strain in his arm as he struggled to push Bookman Junior back. His inability to breathe properly was inhibiting his fighting.

As he pressed against the hammerhead, he reached out with his soul; Lavi! Can you hear me? Are you still there? Tell me how to save you!

There was no response, but he couldn't let himself fear yet. Bookman Junior was starting to come apart at the seams. He was definitely rattled, and he was fighting a lot harder now than he had been before. Allen had to believe that that meant that "Lavi" was still very much alive within him. Instead, Allen threw what strength he had left into pushing against the handle, using his Innocence to increase the force. If anything could reach "Lavi" at this point, he hoped it was his own Innocence.

"Go AWAY, LAVI!" The redhead screamed suddenly, releasing the handle of the Oudzuchi. "Just disappear into the darkness! It won't hurt you! It won't hurt anyone! You're not real! I'm the only one who's real! I'm the one who experienced it all, I'm the real Bookman Junior! GO AWAY!!" He fell to his knees, hands clutching his forehead in agony.

Timcanpy suddenly swooped down in front of Allen, flapping its wings excitedly.

"Allen!" A familiar voice hollered from not far away, and Allen became aware of approaching footsteps.

"Allen-kun!"

"Dammit, beansprout, get up!"

"Allen, you idiot, what the hell are you doing sleeping?!"

"Baka-deshi!"

Allen rolled his head slightly, to see his nakama and the two gensui charging up the street. Krory was in the lead, by sheer force of his feral ability when his Innocence was activated.

"Shishou...?" Was all Allen could wheeze out as Cross-gensui came into view. "How did you..."

Cross knelt by where Allen was laying on the ground; because of the injuries to his ribs, Allen was unable to get up on his own. "We found the new anchor point. I have a golem that's keyed to track Timcanpy, so it found the new coordinates for us. The Ark apparently anchored on the obelisk in the middle of Saint Peter's Square. Apparently the barrier doesn't include the entire Square. Or at least it's weaker by the edges."

Krory and Kanda got on either side of Bookman Junior. Lenalee came to Allen's side, while Sokaro just positioned himself at the perimeter, ready to attack or assist as needed.

"So what happened?" Lenalee asked gently.

"It didn't work. He's still... he's still Bookman Junior, but Lavi's in there somewhere. I can sense it when I touch Oudzuchi when he's holding onto it."

Bookman Junior lunged forward and snatched the large hammer from the ground, lifting it up. "Allen Walker, I have to kill you. If I don't, he'll never leave me alone. Lavi doesn't seem to want to leave without you. Don't worry -- he'll die with you, you won't be alone! It won't hurt anyone! Just please, let me do this. If you love him so much, let me do this, and then you two can always be together. And I can go back to being the Bookman successor."

"If we let you do that," Krory said sternly, "we'll lose two Exorcists, not one. Ergo, we cannot do that."

"Therefore, we cannot let you kill the beansprout," Kanda added. "I don't give a damn about the beansprout, but I do care about the Black Order, and I won't let you further deplete our numbers."

"Shishou, what can I do?" Allen groaned. "He's already broken at least one of my ribs, and I think a lung is collapsed. I don't have the strength to keep fighting him. And I don't know that fighting is helping."

"Well, you could just give up."

"You know I can't do that!"

"Then pick yourself up off the ground and go save him, if you love him so much."

Lenalee gave him a hand up off the ground, pulling his arm across her shoulders to help support him. "I'll help you as much as you need, Allen-kun. You know how much my nakama mean to me, and Lavi is my nakama too."

"How confident are you in the Ark, Allen?" Cross inquired as he crossed his arms and watched as Krory and Kanda kept Bookman Junior at bay.

"Huh?"

"The only way I can think of to stop all this is also the most dangerous. You have to use the Ark to its full extent, and if you make one wrong move, you'll do irreversible damage." The area fell silent as Allen looked expectantly at the gensui. Finally, Cross looked at his student firmly. "You have to delete him, and reconstruct him. Are you confident enough in your knowledge of him to rebuild him?"

Allen looked over at Bookman Junior, and for a moment he transposed onto him the soul of the one he loved. Could he do it? More importantly, could he afford to not try?

He nodded. "I think I can do it. I did it once before, right?"

"You restored what was put into limbo before. Now you have to manually break him down and reconstruct him. If you can fully accept the burden of this task, and the burden of the Ark, you can do it with ease. But you have to fully accept everything, Allen. If you have any hesitations, the Ark won't behave itself."

Allen blinked.

"In other words, baka-deshi, you have to come to terms with the Ark, and stop hating it."

Allen nodded. "I understand. So I need to go to the piano room, right? And how do I delete him without deleting anyone else?"

"We'll lock him into a room," Sokaro said. "Leave that much to us. You go take care of whatever preparations you need."

Lenalee helped him over to a door, which he touched and silently commanded to take him to the control room with the piano in it. The door opened at his touch, and he and Lenalee clambered into the stark white room. Timcanpy happily fluttered over to sit on the piano, where it projected the Score.

Unlike the last several times he'd used it, this time there was a stool. Perhaps the Ark had realized that Allen was in no shape to play it standing up. Lenalee helped him to sit down at the stool, and then she stood back, to give him some space.

And now came the moment of truth. He had to accept the Ark and all that it represented.

He pictured Lavi's face, the way he smiled slightly crookedly. He remembered their first kisses, sloppy and forceful, but honest. The moments of tenderness throughout their love affair. The vague images of Lavi weeping over him when he nearly bled to death. Their intimate first night of lovemaking, just before this whole fiasco of a mission had started. Lavi wasn't the only one who kept details stored within himself.

"In lieu of killing my heart, I gave it to you. Perhaps that will be my saving grace, if you can keep it safe." Lavi had said that to him on the train more than a week ago. And his own words in response... "Even if you do disappear, Lavi, I'll find you and bring you back. That's the only thing that's keeping me sane right now: no matter what, if you get lost, I'll find you and bring you back."

Allen rolled his head on his shoulders to loosen the tension. He reached down within himself and grasped onto the whole concept of the Ark.

He didn't truly hate the Ark itself, only what it represented, and what it had meant. If it meant that Mana had been the Fourteenth Noah... Allen would have to come to terms with that, whether or not he liked it. "You can deny it all you want, but if Mana Walker was the Fourteenth Noah, you can't change that." Lavi, his saving grace, his shining light of heaven, his tide of water in the earth, his soaring prayer, had been right.

I don't hate the Ark. I don't even hate what it stands for anymore. I just... I want Lavi back. I love him more than anything right now, and I certainly love him more than I hate any one thing, least of all the Ark. Allen bowed his head in thought. I just want him back, as the Lavi that I fell in love with. Ark, short of betraying my vows to my beloved people and to the Black Order, I'll do anything if you'll help me get him back.

"Oi, beansprout," Kanda's voice split his concentration over the transmitter hanging from Allen's ear. "We've got him locked in a room with the number 749 beside it. Cross wants to know if you're ready."

"Yeah," Allen said. "I think I can do this."

"I hope so. Otherwise, we'll lose a piece of Innocence."

Allen focused his attentions on the room in question, having passed by it before. He then took a deep breath, put his fingers to the keys, and proceeded to play.

In his mind's eye, Allen saw Bookman Junior being enveloped by darkness, and then he envisioned him being brought back, grid by grid, with the soul and persona that he so dearly loved firmly attached. Bind that persona to his blood, so that it can never be erased again. He put his whole heart into the song, throwing himself wide open. I'm giving everything I have to you, Ark. Please... just give him back to me! Please!

"Lavi!" He called, before he'd even realized it. "Please, Lavi! Come back to me!"

Stay tuned for the finale "Angelus : Part Seven : Lighting the Darkness"

After-word and notes:
This sucker is a record -- 24 hours to finish! It just wanted to be written that badly! Of course, all the reviews of "OMG NO! CLIFFHANGER! OMG UPDATE, I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!" kinda helped too. It's a wee bit shorter than I'd've liked, but it feels done. The next chapter likely won't come out so quickly, since it's the final wrap-up.

I only had one beta on this chapter because of how quickly I bashed it out, but he was a HUGE help. Thanks, Inome-kun. You've been irreplaceable!