Author's Note: I've edited the first chapter due to a lovely reviewer's advice (thanks Howlingwolf94!) by fleshing out what happened beforehand! Hopefully this is a little better.
"Hey, Yu! Catch!" Lavi cackled as he lobbed a slice of lasagna at the back of the dark-haired Exorcist's head. Needless to say, Kanda was not amused as he whipped around and cleaved the delicious projectile in half. Lenalee could have sworn the anger emanating from his eyes was palpable. Lavi gave a little "Eep!" and dove behind one of the overturned tables. "Don't be too mad, Yu! Everyone's doing it!"
It was true. A food war had broken out in the mess hall after Miranda tripped over a chair and sent her dinner flying across the room, smacking a finder in the face. Over the course of three minutes, the people in the cafeteria had split into two teams, armed with an array of food. Lavi and Allen had instantly teamed up against Kanda, while Lenalee decided to side with the stoic man to keep it fair.
"Lavi, you're standing on my foot," Allen whined from behind the table. "Go find another hiding place!"
"If I leave, Yu is going to kill me! Did you see the look on his fa- stop pushing me!"
"I'll stop pushing once you give me some room."
"Okay, I'm off your foot. Now get your elbow out of my neck."
"I think I should be telling you to get your neck out of my elbow since you put it there."
"Well, it's not like there's any room in- I said stop shoving!"
"And I told you to never call me 'Yu'," a dark voice suddenly spoke. The squabbling pair slowly looked up. It was a terrifying sight. It was Kanda. He was standing over them holding a pot of spaghetti and wearing a smile.
"You were right, Lavi," he said. "Everyone is doing it." With that, he overturned the steaming pot over the duo and returned to the other side, where Lenalee was doubled over in laughter while watching Allen and Lavi squawk and frantically scramble over each other to escape the wrath of hot pasta. Catching her breath, Lenalee straightened up, smiling as she watched the Order hurl food at each other in good fun.
I think this is exactly what we needed, she thought. The Order had been under a lot of stress since the Level 4 attack. Spirits were low after realizing how powerful the Earl's army of akuma was, not including the entire Noah clan they had to defeat. But now, looking at various meals go soaring by, she could hardly recognize the previously war-torn and battle-scarred Black Order. She waved a hello to Lavi and Allen who were running up to her, flapping some white napkins above their heads.
"Time out, time out! We're surrendering!" the red-head panted as he and Allen reached her side relatively unscathed. Lenalee had to stifle a giggle as she greeted her friends.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Lavi pointed dramatically at Kanda.
"I'll tell you what's wrong! An entire pot of spaghetti dumped on your head by a vengeful samurai man is what's wrong! Now I have to go clean my uniform before it starts to smell or else Gramps is going to murder me. What you witnessed was a completely unfair retaliation to one slice of lasagna."
"And I didn't even do anything!" moaned Allen, picking out a strand of pasta which had slid past his ear.
"You guys should have known that everything is fair in war, right Kanda?" Lenalee said wisely, glancing back towards the quiet man. He grunted in response.
"Well if everything is fair," Lavi said ominously, crouching down to collect bits of food off the ground, "then this must be fair too!" he cried, swiftly leaping into the air and pelting Kanda with his edible ammo.
"Bring it on, you stupid rabbit!" Kanda quipped, drawing Mugen to the ready. Allen and Lenalee backed off together, amusedly observing the brewing duel, standing in comfortable silence before Lenalee said,
"I think everyone's having a wonderful time. Even Kanda." Allen nodded in agreement. He turned to her to respond, but the words faded on his lips as he unabashedly admired how beautifully the lights illuminated her profile. Her hair was growing longer now, he noticed with a smile, just barely brushing by her shoulders.
"What's so funny?" she had turned to face him, setting those bottomless, soulful eyes on his own. He blushed.
"Oh, nothing, you just… make me happy when you're happy," he replied quickly. At his words, Lenalee glowed, a smile blooming on her face that Allen believed could have lit up the world. And then, in that one beautiful moment, he heard it:
Neah, my dear Musician, it is time! We're paying a little visit to Headquarters, so please go to the Science Department to destroy those pesky sensors and golems. We wouldn't want the Innocence users to be warned now, do we?
Suddenly, the lively and bright mess hall didn't feel as blissful to him anymore as a heavy pit of ice formed in his stomach.
Don't you think it's about time this war should end?
"Allen, are you alright?" Blinking, Allen realized that his face was probably not wearing a very pleasant expression. Lenalee had gripped him by the shoulders, staring at him with concern. He vaguely noticed that her fingers were warm, still dazed by the news. Contorting his facial figures into something that he hoped was a reassuring look, he said hurriedly,
"Oh, uh, yeah! I'm fine, but I'm, uh, going to use the restroom. Please excuse me!" With that, Allen darted into the crowd and vanished.
That was strange, Lenalee thought. She thought about following to make sure he was all right, but her train of thought was crudely interrupted by a bun which had taken the liberty to molest her face.
"Lenalee! You've been hanging around on the sidelines long enough! We need you to come in here and get covered in chocolate or pudding-" Lavi began to choke on the carrot that Kanda quickly shoved into his mouth like a dog with a bone. Lenalee smirked, a mischievous glint in her eyes, as she reached down to scoop up a handful of the spaghetti that Lavi and Allen had cleaned off themselves.
"Hold him still, Kanda. I don't think that Lavi has quite enough pasta on his body right now…" Lavi let out a muffled yelp and found his flee blocked by the very imposing dark-haired man. Lenalee began to approach the junior Bookman thrashing in Kanda's grip, smiling wickedly and clutching the now-cold noodles in her hands.
And then it came.
The black gate appeared, so suddenly, and the carnage began. The screams of laughter began to mutate into terrified screams of pain and death. Kanda, Lavi, and Lenalee whipped around in time to see the Earl of Millennium emerge from his Arc. From behind him, swarms of Level 4 akuma were flying out into the gathering and instantly firing into the crowd. Many finders and other members of the Order had already crumbled into the thick dust that followed the pentacle rash that was erupting on countless others.
Then the Noah began to arrive. One by one, they stepped out of the Arc and stood next to the Earl, except for Road who floated above on Lero.
"Hello, Exorcists! So sorry to interrupt your little childish game, but I think it's time to put an end to all this nonsense." The Earl's sickeningly sweet voice rose above the death and clamor. "Perhaps if you would like to call out for your loved ones, like the Science Department, I could arrange a little meeting?"
Lenalee stood paralyzed with shock. What was happening? She was watching her family fall to pieces around her, when one minute ago they were alive and having fun. Without warning, a hand pulled her backwards and behind a wall. Instincts kicking in, she activated her Innocence and whirled around to confront her attacker. It was Lavi. He peered around the corner only to quickly snap his head back to avoid a couple of bullets that brushed by the wall.
"Shit, shit, shit! There's nothing we can do. We're massively outnumbered," the red-head muttered. Another form ducked behind the wall – Kanda.
"Giving up already, you rabbit?" he said. Lavi paused before turning to face him with a sad smile.
"Of course not, you pretty-boy. Let's go. This will be one hell of a final battle. And Lenalee," he continued, "go find your brother. You heard what he said, the Science Department needs you. Kanda and I will take care of things here."
Lenalee almost couldn't bring herself to speak. She felt like if she let her words out the tears would come too.
"Okay. But… but when you're finished up here… I'll wait for you there, okay? S-so don't take too long!" she responded in a half-whisper, her voice quivering. Everything was falling apart. Lavi smiled, and then pulled her in for a hug. She felt his breath ghost by her ear as he murmured,
"If you're in any trouble, promise me you'll run. Use your Boots and run if there's too many. Promise me." Lenalee could only nod in response and closed her eyes, feeling the warm wetness of her tears on her eyelashes. "Good girl. Let's go, Kanda."
The journey down to the Science Division was quiet. Using her Dark Boots to maneuver through the halls, she arrived at the elevator: broken. Lenalee felt her heart drop at the implication, before propelling herself down. The sight that greeted her was horrifying.
Everyone was gone. Bodies lay everywhere, strewn across the floor and over equipment. Heart thudding in her chest, she skittered about, looking for any sign of her brother before stumbling across her.
It was Hevlaska, wounded terribly. Lenalee would have guessed her dead if the Guardian of the Cube hadn't shifted her massive body in her direction, sensing the Dark Boots. Her words were faint,
"Lenalee… run."
"Hevlaska, don't move! Just lie still and maybe I can… I… I'll find help! Just wait here, I just need to get my brother and-"
"Listen to me, Lenalee. What do you notice about the bodies?" Hevlaska cut in, her voice getting weaker. Lenalee forced herself to look around through her sorrow.
"They were killed by… something sharp? It cut them?"
"The bodies haven't crumbled away; this was not the work of an akuma. Be careful, Lenalee, he moved too fast for me to see. You have to get out of here. Run."
And so she ran on, skirting around the bodies of her comrades, letting her gaze fall upon anything but their faces.
No time to cry for them now, Lenalee, she told herself. You have to get out and run, run then mourn, mourn and live to fight another day. Live for them, fight for them. Despite herself, she felt the sting of tears prick at her eyes, threatening to overtake her vision. She desperately increased the power of her Dark Boots to go flying down the empty corridor. To be honest, she had no idea where to go. The entrance and exit to Headquarters had been sealed off at the beginning of the attack, and it was too risky to go back and see if the barrier had been lifted. Even worse, Hevlaska revealed that there was a Noah somewhere in the lower levels. She just knew she had to get away, far away, from the echoing screams of the people she had known as family.
Rounding yet another corner, she came to an abrupt halt as her heart leapt with hope. There, at the end of the hallway, stood an unmistakable figure, his back turned to her but his Innocence and silver hair clearly visible in the flickering lights of the failing electricity.
"Allen!" she heard herself cry. He turned at the sound of her voice, and then her heart plummeted. Time seemed to stop as she realized he was coated in blood. But… something was wrong. He was standing tall, not weak with pain or breathing heavily from any sort of exertion. How? The silence in the hall was deafening, as a slick droplet of blood fell from Allen's claw to the floor.
"…Lenalee," he said simply, taking a step towards her. As he shifted forward, Lenalee could now see the body he had been standing over. Her eyes widened – it was Reever, unmoving. Her legs buckled as she refocused her gaze on Allen, who was smiling softly, sadly. He always seemed to smile when she was around, as if he just couldn't help himself. There was a pause; neither knew what to say, before Lenalee spoke,
"Allen. You're bleeding," she whispered. Her stride shaking, she approached him carefully with her face downcast. She couldn't look at Reever's body. Right now, it was simply easier to just pretend like he wasn't there, to ignore Allen's actions and what they very obviously meant in terms on which side he was on. She stopped in front of him and reached into her satchel that she had taken from her room before her flight, pulling out a small towel and a few strips of cloth. She began to dab at his arm gingerly, cleaning up the blood that deep down she knew wasn't his. But to face the truth, she would break.
Allen stared at the woman that he shouldn't love as she fixed up his undamaged arm. He didn't have the strength to stop her. He never seemed to have the strength whenever she was near him. His legs would grow weak as she walked next to him chatting lightly during assignments, and his heart would flutter as she smiled that smile, greeting him with a warm "welcome home" after a long mission. How did this small woman work her way into the feelings of a man who couldn't… shouldn't love her? Allen was called back to the present as he felt the sharp tug of Lenalee tying the "wound" shut.
"I'm so glad to see you're okay, Allen. I thought that maybe I was the only one left," she spoke softly, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice. She was always bad at hiding her emotions. Allen laughed weakly.
"Sorry to worry you." There was a heavy silence, and then:
"Allen, we need to get out of here. Can you… can you make a gate? The Noah are going to find us any minute and the exits are blocked." She turned her gaze on him finally. He had always loved her eyes, and as he returned her stare he almost crumbled and said yes. Almost. Instead, he pulled away, no longer able to meet her face. Was it shame, he wondered, or regret he was feeling?
"You know I can't leave, Lenalee. I can't leave the Noah." He felt her take a few steps back. He looked back up, only to catch the terrified expression on Chinese girl's face. "They're my family." And he let his disguise fall.
Lenalee could only watch in horror as Allen's skin flushed to ash, as those silver eyes that comforted her during troubled times melted into gold.
"I… I don't understand. You're an exorcist! We fought together, and protected each other!" she heard herself whisper, her voice rising in anxiety. "And it turns out, you're one of them? You killed Reever. You betrayed us. You betrayed me. Did we mean nothing to you?" Her words were sharp, cutting into Allen. He couldn't help but cringe inside.
"I can explain if you would just come with me. I have to get you out of here."
"Why? What's the point?" she croaked. "My home is gone. My world is destroyed. My family…" She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence. She fell silent, breathing raggedly, hair obscuring her eyes. Allen wanted to reach out, to tell her that it was going to be all right, like he would before.
And he did. As his hand made contact with her shoulder, she leapt backwards as if a live wire had touched her skin. Her eyes blazed with frightened tears and a cold, righteous anger, but she said nothing. She activated her Innocence and took a stance.
"Lenalee, I don't want to fight you. Come with me and –" Allen had no time to finish his sentence – he was too busy backpedaling and blocking Lenalee's leg with his sword.
"Lenalee, wait!" But she was already leaping high into the air readying another attack. Arching into the sky like an eagle, she took a breath to steady her quaking hands. In that peak of the leap, where everything is motionless just before the descent, Lenalee briefly wondered if her brother would greet her with a welcome home when she passes through the pearly gates. He would probably cry, and then attack Lavi who would come and scare me with a hug from behind. A single tear fell unbidden as her eyes crinkled with the hint of a smile. Kanda wouldn't say anything at all, of course, but that's just how he is. I wonder how they're doing.
And then she fell.