Herro again~! I'll keep this short so you can get on with the story XD

Thank you to jokerose, MusicianWish and those of you who looked at my story! :3

Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-Man

And on with the show~

Chapter 6: Stand Up

Maria stared out at the wide expanse of the ocean in a daze. They were finally on their way to find Cross Marian, who was initially presumed dead but the exorcists had their doubts. She glanced up at Allen who was sitting way up on the mast, staring into the distance. Giggling, she remembered the look on his face last night when she had kissed him on the cheek. He was so cute.

"Maria!" Seph called to her suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. Something was wrong. Glancing up, Maria saw the horde of Akuma that were heading towards the boat.

"Prepare for attack!" Mahoja shouted. "All hands, grab a weapon!"

Quickly activating her Innocence, Maria pulled out her swords, preparing for battle. Spreading out on the ship, the exorcists readied their weapons, only to find that the Akuma were ignoring them, instead choosing to pass over the ship.

"What are they…?" Allen murmured, halting his attack on the Akuma.

"What are they doing?" Lavi looked up at the Akuma, disbelief in his eyes.

"They're passing over the ship!?" Seph glanced around quickly, examining for anything that seemed suspicious.

Looking up, Maria saw that Allen had collapsed and was being taken away by the Akuma. "Damn it! He must have been overusing his Innocence!" She tried running towards him, but was stopped by an Akuma.

"Ah ah ah~" it crooned, wagging what must have been a finger at her. "You're my prey!"

"Tch!" Destroying it with one swing of her swords, Maria quickly glanced around but was unable to find the white-haired Exorcist. Another Akuma quickly approached her and she quickly disposed of it. "Allen!" More Akuma replaced the ones that she destroyed by the second, leaving her no time to look for the missing Exorcist. "Damn it all!" She stabbed a sword into the ground and let it sink in to form several ferocious black dogs with gleaming yellow eyes. They opened their jaws and snarled as they emerged from the large black shadow created from Maria's sword.

"Maria what are you-?" Lavi paused in the midst of battle and stared dumbfounded at the girl.

She merely ignored him and glanced at her remaining sword before tossing it into the air. When the tip of the sword pointed towards the ground, she raised both hands and let the sword fall and hit the palm of one of her hands. Instead of stabbing her like Lavi had expected it to, the jet black blade scattered around her arms like water and soon solidified, becoming two enormous claws that looked similar to Allen's Innocence's activated form.

Lavi's eyes seemed to pop out of his head as soon as he saw the form of her Innocence. "Is that a...parasitic Innocence?!"

"What else did you think it was?" Seph quipped as he calmly destroyed the Akumas one by one, breathing calmly as though it were a walk in the park. He glanced over to Lavi and saw an Akuma suddenly drop behind him. "Watch out!"

Before both boys could react, Bookman quickly destroyed the looming Akuma behind Lavi. "Concentrate on the fighting you fools."

"Thanks Panda," Lavi called prompting a loud smack from Bookman. "Ow..." he rubbed his head and turned to face Seph, who was grinning widely. "Shut up," he pouted, making Seph's grin grow even wider.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Seph shouted before once again running towards the Akuma, his daggers in hand. Quickly spotting an Akuma, he ran with his body low to the ground before jumping up and bringing both daggers up to make an X as he slashed through the Akuma and emerged from the smoke caused by the explosion with such speed that Lavi was amazed.

Spotting this from above on the mast, Maria jumped down next to her best friend and muttered, "Show off."

"Look who's talking," Seph quipped before they stood back to back against the oncoming Akuma. Both smirked slightly before leaping off in opposite directions, fighting their own battles and occasionally coming to the help of the other. Their teamwork was superb after two years of battles fought side by side. They understood each others strengths and weaknesses and their fighting style complemented and accommodated for both. When Seph found an Akuma that he couldn't do well against, he simply huffed and placed a hand out behind him. When he felt another hand grasp his own, he swung it around with all his night and sent Maria flying towards his opponent while he took care of hers.

Years of friendship and partnership on the battlefield had cultivated a system that the two followed wordlessly and efficiently. A huff meant "I may need help" while a grunt meant "I've got you covered."

Lavi momentarily paused after his battle to stare in awe at their teamwork, something that none of the other Exorcists could achieve without getting in the way of one another. So this is what it means to be an Elite...

Both Exorcists suddenly stopped when the Akuma began to retreat towards the mainland. "Did we...win?" Maria panted as she wiped sweat off of her forehead.

"Don't know," Seph said rather tiredly. "How many do you think you kill?"

"Around...34?" Maria guessed. "Unless you're gonna count the ones my dogs killed, that's probably over 70 or 80."

"Heh. I got 46," Seph smirked. "And no I'm not counting those. That's cheating!"

"Nuh uh!" Maria countered. The two then began bickering light-heartedly about who destroyed the most Akuma while the others simply listened to their conversation.

In the midst of their bickering, Maria suddenly went quiet as her eyes widened. Murmuring something inaudibly, she brought her hands to her mouth as she gasped. Seph's eyes instantly widened in alarm and he immediately ran towards her, his face full of worry.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Maria's eyes were still wide open as she repeated the same thing over and over again. "It's coming."

Suddenly something shot out of the water, making the remaining Akuma back up in fear. "W-what in the world is that thing?" Seph gasped, staring at the enormous monstrosity in horror. Beside him, Maria's legs suddenly ran out of strength and she collapsed onto the ground, her arms trembling as she clutched her sides. Her eyes were wide open and she looked as if she were trying to restrain herself from doing something. "Maria? What's wrong?!" Seph frantically asked as he grasped her shoulders to keep her from shaking.

"A Fallen One," Maria murmured barely loud enough for him to hear. "He has 'failed' in the eyes of God and is no longer compatible with Innocence." She slowly got back up on her feet with the help of Seph and stared at the Fallen One's path. Her eyes widened in realization as she realized who would be near there. "Shit...!" Turning to Seph, she muttered, "Allen and Lenalee are probably near the Fallen One. We have to go help them!"

"Alright," Seph replied. He looked around for Lavi and spotted him once again fighting Akuma. "Lavi!" he called trying to grab the red haired Exorcist's attention. "Take care of the boat! We'll find Allen and Lenalee!"

Lavi could only nod slightly before his attention was once again taken by the Akuma in front of him. After defeating it, he paused and momentarily glanced at the sky.

What's going on…? Why is the sky so red…?

Leaping from rock to rock, Maria's eyes scanned the empty horizon. "Where are they..." she whispered to herself, worried. Seph also had a worried look in his eyes as they passed through the path of destruction caused by the Fallen One. Soon, they saw a massive entity being pushed back by an equally enormous claw. Allen. Abandoning all caution, Maria leapt towards the Exorcist. "Al-" Suddenly a dark shadow streaked towards her and knocked her out of the air. "Oof!" she gasped as the air was knocked out of her.

"Maria!" Seph shouted and began heading towards her.

Slowly getting up, Maria held up a hand, signaling him to ignore her and help Allen. She glanced at him, a small but weary smile touching her lips. Don't worry. I can handle this. She refocused on her attacker as soon as she saw that Seph had left.

There was a large black panther slowly circling her with a young girl sitting atop it. She was wearing a frilly black dress and a black lace hat that seemed to blend in with her dark brown pigtails. Her face was void of emotion yet her storm grey eyes showed a slight tinge of disdain. "Weak," she scoffed.

"Who are you?" Maria demanded as she slowly put both hands behind her back and grabbed something from behind her. At first, a sword handle appeared, then came black energy that soon solidified into a glistening black blade that seemed to melt into her shadow. She raised one sword and pointed it at the young girl, while her other sword tip pointed at the ground.

The girl smirked in contempt before delicately touching the tip of her rapier. "If you win," she began slowly, "I'll tell you my name~" She playfully stuck out her tongue as the panther let out a roar. She swished her rapier to the ground with such speed that Maria saw the afterimage of the blade. "But if you lose," her eyes glinted maliciously. "You die~"

"Fine by me," Maria smirked, accepting the challenge. The girl before her slid off her panther, and slowly walked towards Maria. The two stood still for a minute, judging the other's first moves, trying to see who would make the first strike. Finally, their standoff came to an end as the girl made the first move, quickly leaping towards Maria, who reacted a nanosecond later. Their blades met in the middle and Maria gritted her teeth, trying to hold off the fierce young girl's rapier with one sword. With her right sword, Maria attempted to attack the girl from underneath, but she saw it and quickly sprang back. Maria used the distance to her advantage and swiftly began attacking the girl with both swords, attacking first with her left, then right, then blocked before sending a kick that knocked the girl away. Continuing with her momentum, she aimed a stab at the girls lower body, but had her sword knocked to the side when the girl promptly counterattacked her now exposed back.

"Ahh!" Maria cried out from the pain as the girl swiftly drew more blood across her back before Maria could react. Panting heavily, Maria launched another series of attacks at her, but this time all of her attacks were parried effortlessly and Maria grew increasingly frustrated after each consecutive strike was deflected. "Just-" She twisted to dodge a counterattack and used that momentum to land another blocked blow, but with her other sword, she aimed another strike at the rapier's handle, where it should have been weakest. "Die-" Her second attacked bounced off the rapier with a loud clang, and the girl moved in to strike a blow at one of Maria's vital spots. Acting on instinct, Maria leaned far back and narrowly dodged a stab to her chest. Losing her balance and falling to the ground, Maria used her mishap to quickly kick the rapier out of the girl's hand. "Already!" She shouted as she quickly leapt to her feet and closed in for the kill. The girl's eyes widened in surprise, but the expression was soon replaced by a wide smirk as the previously inactive panther leaped from behind her and knocked Maria to the ground and held her there firmly while the girl casually picked up her rapier.

"I'm disappointed in you, Tsukiyomi," the girl sighed as she sadly shook her head. "We were expecting much more from you."

"'We'...?" Maria repeated softly as she struggled to free herself from the panther's claws.

The girl paused in front of Maria and stared down at her emotionlessly. "You lose." She raised her rapier high in the air and prepared to bring it swiftly down on Maria's throat.

Suddenly a red and black boomerang flew in and knocked the descending rapier out of the girl's hand. "What...!" the girl gasped as her eyes followed the boomerang in its path back to its owner.

"You do know that Lady North would not like us to dispose of the target so soon, don't you Eight? Or should I say, Khalia?" A boy around fifteen years old stood atop a large boulder that had fallen during the Fallen One's path of destruction. He pulled down the hood of his cloak to reveal grey eyes coupled with short, chestnut brown hair. His face was void of emotion as he reached up and caught the returning boomerang.

The girl - Khalia - smirked before retorting, "I could say the same thing to you Revis. Why show your face to the enemy now?"

"Lady North ordered me to bring you back," he said, ignoring her question.

Khalia picked up her fallen rapier and sheathed it with a sigh. "Orders are orders," she mused before walking towards Revis. "Leon," her high-pitched voice rang across the clearing as she confidently walked towards Revis, who summoned a large portal made of shadows. The enormous black panther reacted to Khalia's voice and slowly stepped off of Maria and padded over to where Khalia now stood. Sparing Maria one last glance, Khalia smirked ever so slightly before the corridor of darkness consumed them.

Maria wearily stared at the now empty space where the trio had stood only a moment before as she wiped off some blood from her mouth using her sleeve. The cuts on her back stung greatly and she wondered if there were any deep cuts. Gingerly taking off her jacket, Maria carefully tied the jacket over her wounds, trying to stanch the flow of blood while hissing in pain.

Once the jacket more or less slowed the flow of blood, Maria tentatively stood up and limped in the direction of the boat. Her head was throbbing and she could feel her face grow paler as time passed. This was going to be a hell of a walk.

After leaving Maria behind to deal with the mysterious foe, Seph hurriedly looked for Allen, who once again disappeared while they were distracted. Spotting the enormous Fallen One, Seph finally recognized the Exorcist who stood in its path. Allen.

"Allen!" Seph shouted to him, moving closer and closer to the Fallen One. Looking at the face, he hesitated. "Is that-!"

Not noticing him, Allen shouted to the man inside the Fallen One, "Didn't you want to live Suman!?" But before Allen could push his Innocence harder, it suddenly deactivated as it finally reached its limit. "Ah…ahhhhhhhh!"

"Allen!?" Seph exclaimed, worried about the boy's sudden deactivation. Glancing at Allen's arm, he realized that Allen had reached his limit and was suffering from a rebound from using his Innocence to the maximum. "Shit…! Allen, hang in there!"

"Someone….ahhhhhhhhh!" Allen screamed as a new round of pain emerged in his arm. "Stop…" he whispered.

Seph quickly looked at Suman Dark, the fallen exorcist. This was bad. He was heading towards the small town nearby. "Allen, stay here, I'll come back for you!" Making a split-second decision, Seph leapt towards Suman.

"Suman! Snap out of it!" he shouted to no avail. "Damn it!"

"...Jamie," Suman whispered, tears beginning to fall from his eyes. Seph looked at him questioningly before he heard something tick. Opening his mouth, Suman screamed in pain. "Ahhhhh!"

Seph's eyes widened in horror; Suman's time was up. Quickly jumping away from the body, he could only watch as a ray of light landed upon the body, disintegrating it. Glancing down at the ground, he could see the ground cracking and being drawn towards the vortex. "Damn it, Allen," he cussed, looking around for the white-haired exorcist. "Where are you?" Finally spotting a flash of black on the Fallen One, he realized what Allen was going to do. "No Allen don't-!"

"I have to try!" Allen called to him before activating his Innocence once again.

The last thing Seph remembered was a bright flash and an explosion before he blacked out. Before his consciousness faded, Seph thought he heard a voice from deep inside his mind.

"I knew I shouldn't have left things to you."

. . . . .

Seph's right eye opened to reveal a blood red eye. Slowly getting up, he readjusted his eye patch to cover his left emerald green eye. As he calmly observed his now ruined surroundings, Seph briskly brushed the dust off of himself and adopted a bored look on his face. Stretching slightly, he sighed in content, "It's been a while since I've been in control."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and calmly strolled away from the destruction in the general direction of the boat. Whistling quietly, Seph came across Maria, who had collapsed onto the ground due to exhaustion and blood loss.

Seph remained calm as he slowly knelt down and lightly ran his fingers over her lower back. He felt something wet on the tips of his fingers and looked at them, not surprised to find blood; the whole vicinity stank of it. Gently picking her up, Seph slowly walked back in the direction of the boat, careful not to jostle Maria too much lest her wounds open up again.

He glanced up at the pitch black sky and realized that he would have a hell of a time finding his way back on foot. He let out a soft sigh before murmuring, "Innocence, activate!" The daggers began to shine a luminescent green light in their sheaths. Using his Innocence's ability to manipulate air to propel himself smoothly through the air, he quickly leaped towards the boat where they had left the others.

He saw a bright flash of green moving quickly through the air and realized that it was the female Exorcist that had left the boat to follow Allen. What was her name again? Leanne? 'Lenalee' a soft voice inside of him whispered. He ignored the voice that urged him to confront her and hurried towards the ship, occasionally glancing down at Maria, who lay unconscious and very pale in his arms.

Soon arriving at the ship, Seph landed on deck, quickly causing a ruckus among the weary sailors. Lavi quickly ran up to him, "Seph!" Seph glanced at him with his one red eye and proceeded to ignore the red haired Exorcist. "Oi!" Lavi noticed the eye and change in attitude and was quick to assume the worst. "You're not Seph! Where is he?!"

Seph chuckled darkly, "Indeed I'm not that weakling. And where he is doesn't matter to you. Isn't that right Bookman Junior?"

Lavi gritted his teeth and bent down to examine Maria, who was still unconscious and breathing raggedly. "Oi Panda!" He called, motioning Bookman to come over. "Can you treat her?"

Bookman carefully untied Maria's soaked jacket and inspected her wounds, wincing at the number and depth of them. Whoever had done this aimed to mortally wound or cripple her. Lavi gaped at the amount of blood that was still flowing and covered the pseudo-Seph, whom he still distrusted.

"Is she going to be alright?" Seph asked quietly as he stood over to the side while Bookman treated Maria.

Focused on his task of treating the Exorcist's wounds, Bookman hardly spared him a glance as he replied, "She'll be fine after some rest. It's a miracle she survived for this long."

"That's...good." Seph's eyes closed and he soon collapsed on the deck with a loud thump. Hearing the sudden noise made Bookman glance around and inspect the commotion behind him, where Seph had collapsed. Quickly opening his eyes to check on Seph's condition, Bookman's eyes widened as he saw both his red and green eyes. You are...!

"Lavi!" He called. The worried apprentice came to his side as he issued orders. "Take him to a room."

"Who is he? Didn't he say he wasn't Seph?" Lavi demanded.

Bookman only smacked him on the back of the head, "He's Joseph! Now shut up and take him to his room!" Lavi rubbed his head and muttered something about losing brain cells but picked up Seph and carried him to his room. After Lavi had left, Bookman continued to treat Maria's wounds, deep in thought.

"Oi~" Seph poked Maria's cheek. "Wake up~!" He poked her cheek a bit harder. His eyepatch now hid his red eye, revealing his bright emerald left eye.

Maria's eyes fluttered open as she stretched in bed. "Seph…? Where am I?" She yawned sleepily.

"We're on the boat," he replied casually. "It's been 3 days since you fell unconscious."

"Three days…?" She yawned again. Suddenly she sat up as the realization came to her. "Wait what!? Three days!?" Quickly getting out of bed, Maria suddenly felt a sharp sting on her lower back and he. "Damn it…!"

Seph chuckled as he helped her up. "I'm kidding. That was just to get you out of bed. It's only been a day since the attack yesterday."

Pouting slightly, Maria lightly punched him in the shoulder. Glancing around at the their surroundings, she noticed that everything was surprisingly new and looked at him questioningly. "What happened to the other boat?"

"It's the same one," Seph replied nonchalantly. "The Order sent another exorcist to help us continue our journey: Miranda Lotto. She used her Innocence of time to repair the boat."

"Time, huh?" Maria whistled in awe. "She has an amazing power."

Seph then threw a bundle of clothes at her. When she looked at him, he only said, "Komui sent us new uniforms since ours were destroyed." Nodding, Maria promptly proceeded to kick her childhood friend out of her room. Literally.

"Is she changing?" Lavi asked him, witnessing the scene.

Rubbing his now sore butt, Seph nodded. "She just woke up a few minutes ago."

Finished changing, Maria proceeded to look at herself in the mirror. Her new uniform consisted of a white blouse trimmed in red along with a black belt that went around the shirt. She wore black shorts with a white belt looped around and a matching black mini jacket with white stripes that ran along the sides of the sleeves complemented with silver cuffs and trimmings along with a loose collar. Her black fingerless gloves matched the color of her favorite knee high combat boots that had the same silver buckles. Around her neck she wore her silver cross that Seph had given her as a birthday present many years ago.

"Johnny knows my style," she complimented as she walked out of the room. Seph had already finished changing and was poking Bookman's hair, commenting on how it never looked messy. His uniform consisted of a classy black overcoat with silver trimmings and the silver rose cross on his left chest. He wore a simple dark grey V-neck and black pants with a black belt looped around them. He wore plain black boots that were as dark as midnight as well as a silver cross around his neck that looked exactly like Maria's.

Lavi jumped up and down, testing his uniform. The new exorcist whom she assumed to be Miranda looked at Lenalee with sad eyes. The girl was staring off into space, her face contorted with misery.

"Lenalee…" Miranda murmured her eyes full of worry.

"She is still trying to sort herself out," the old panda explained. "Miss Lenalee is fully regretting leaving Allen's side last night." Lavi stopped jumping. "She is condemning herself."

Unable to take her grief anymore, Lavi punched a hole in the window. "Just cut it out already," he hissed, scowling when she paid no attention to him. "There was nothing we could have done! We were all desperately fighting for our lives yesterday!" Lenalee continued to stare blankly and Lavi gritted his teeth. "There was no way…any of us could have helped him!" Reaching his limit, Lavi finally shouted, "This is a war! We had no choice! Get over it and stand up!"

Tears fell from Lenalee's eyes as he said this, and everyone looked at Lavi reproachfully. Bookman promptly began punishing the boy, quietly whispering to him. Maria had had enough of this. She walked up to Lenalee and slapped her in the face.

"You're despicable," she muttered darkly; Lenalee's eyes gazed up at her in shock as she held her cheek. "What's the use over crying over spilled milk? Crying isn't going to bring Allen back. What's done is done, and we just have to deal with it." Laughing bitterly, Maria continued, "You remind me of how I was in the past. When my brother died, all I could do was cry. I was weak, and relied on others to deal with the pain for me. I turned a blind eye to the truth, believing that looking at it would be worse than how I had lived my life. I was wrong. When my mentor died, all I could do was cry, too. But crying helps no one but yourself. That's why I hated going back to headquarters; it was filled with people like you, who can't even control your own emotions." Finally releasing the emotions that had been bottled up inside of her, Maria stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Seph started to follow her, but glanced back at Lenalee. "She's right ya know. Crying won't help Allen; moving on will. He would have wanted us to find Cross no matter what happened to him." Throwing a lopsided grin at her tear-filled eyes, he left to join Maria.

Silence ensued as the exorcists stood there absorbing everything that they had heard. Bookman broke the silence. "I do not believe that the boy prophesied as the 'Destroyer of Time' can be dead." Lenalee looked up at him. "I asked to join General Cross's unit because I was interested in the boy. I thought that the word 'Time' in 'Destroyer of Time' may be referencing a certain man." He paused, waiting for them to take in the information. "If that is the case, then he cannot die here."

Staring in the direction where the two exorcists had gone, Lenalee quietly whispered, "Maria… Seph… Thank you."

Standing outside of the door, Seph and Maria smiled softly at the old man's words. This wasn't the last that they would see of the boy named Allen Walker, "Destroyer of Time."

Woo~ I hope nothing sounds too weird. I suck at writing action. And excuse me for my Latin; I had to use a translator and my school doesn't offer Latin. v.v; Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong xD

Please review~! :3

*Edit* Hehehe just who is this mysterious boy who took control of Seph~? Only time will tell~ ;P