Sorry I haven't updated in almost two months! X( I'll be honest, I got distracted and . . . yeah. Started doing more artwork and stuff . . . Then I got into the Mass Effect franchise . . .
Actually, one day a week or so ago I was listening to the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack, and then I randomly grabbed my computer and picked up where I left off. Got 400 words done that time ^_^
So here ya go ^_^ Hope it was worth waiting 2 months for . . .
"We should have known better than to follow you, Allen. You are a master at getting lost."
The group had split up to try and find their way back to HQ. Lavi, McGee, and Allen went one way, and from what Allen could tell, Abby, Ziva, Tony, Komui, and Lenalee grouped up. That left Gibbs and Kanda. Poor Gibbs.
Allen turned to face Lavi. "Shut up! I couldn't see for half of the trip! You're the Bookman with a photographic memory, so why don't you work on getting us out of here rather than ridicule me?"
"Speaking of which, are you sure you're okay? Your legs still seem kinda wobbly."
"Don't change the subject, Lavi." Right after he finished his sentence, Allen tripped over his own shaky feet. He face-planted, arms outstretched, and just stayed there for a few seconds before slowly getting up again.
Lavi smiled. "That's what I mean."
Allen sighed. "Lavi, has anyone ever told you that you can be a pain sometimes?"
Lavi put on his "oh, but I'm so innocent" smile. "Aw, come on! You know you love me for it!"
Allen rolled his eyes, not saying anything. They continued the walk in silence.
"Um, do you guys have any idea where we're going?"
Lavi turned to face McGee, smiling. "Not a clue!"
Abby looked around as she walked, trying to find clues as to if this was the way they had walked when they were looking for Allen. But all the buildings looked the same.
Her hands shook as the turned the iPod over in her hands. She'd almost gotten them all killed with that stupid stunt. She knew if she said anything, everyone'd say it was an accident, she had no way of knowing that would happen, yadiyada. If she'd not gone that whole thing could've gone smoother.
Abby continued to look walk, trying to decide which way to go. The group completely split up, to the point where each person was on their own. It would have been nice to have the time alone, except she had to focus on not getting lost—something Abby suspected she had done already.
She looked up from the iPod and saw several doors ahead of her, two of which had makeshift signs above them. She smiled. Now she just had to wait for everyone else to make it here . . . however long that took.
It took the better part of two hours for Allen, Lavi, and McGee to make it back. If they'd split up, as Abby's group had done, chances were one of them may have made it back before then. But no, they'd stuck together, and were therefore stuck wandering the streets of the Ark for two hours . . . Allen knew Lavi would never let him live this down.
Allen looked around to see who they were missing. According to Abby, Kanda showed up but he continued on into HQ. So that meant they had Kanda, Abby, Ziva, McGee, Gibbs, Lavi, and Allen accounted for. That left Komui, Lenalee, and DiNozzo.
Everyone turned at the sound of footsteps, and Allen gulped when he saw it was Komui—alone. That couldn't bode well.
Komui stopped in front of the group, quickly looking at everyone who was here. Wait for it . . .
"Where's Lenalee?" Komui looked at Allen skeptically, as though Allen knew the answer.
"Um, she must still be out," Allen answered, his voice showing his nervousness. Wait for it . . .
"Tony's still gone, too." Ziva didn't realize that she'd just unleashed the beast with her simple comment. To a normal person, it was simply a statement saying that there were two party members missing, rather than just one. But Komui was no normal person.
Komui's eyes went wide. "You mean my sweet Lenalee is with that—no! I shall rectify this!" Komui started storming towards the door to HQ.
Allen quickly tackled him, managing to knock him to the ground. "Timcanpy! Find Lenalee! Lavi, go with him!"
Lavi nodded, turning to run away from the group with Timcanpy above his head. Gibbs and Ziva went with him.
"That slimy octopus—I shall come to my dear sister's aid!" Even with all of Allen's weight on top of him, Komui was not only able to speak fine, but he was pulling himself across the ground toward HQ. He reached the doorway with surprising haste, and Allen's eyes went wide.
Komui managed to reach the stairs, and tumbled down them, Allen still clinging to him. When they reached the bottom, Komui landed right on top of Allen, all but crushing him, and knocking the wind out of him. Komui somewhat slowly stood and jogged away, leaving Allen lying on his back staring straight up.
"Allen, are you okay?" Abby appeared in the doorway in his peripheral vision.
"Eeeeeehhhhhhhhhh" was all he could manage to say.
Abby ran down the stairs as Allen rolled over, gasping as air filled his lungs. Komui was freaking heavy!
"Are you okay?" Abby kneeled next to Allen, who was on his hands and knees.
He weakly raised an arm in the direction Komui went. "We ha—stop hi—" He still couldn't talk, nor communicate exactly how screwed they were.
McGee, Abby, and Allen all looked panic when they heard Komui's evil laugh emanating from one of the large hallways—accompanied by the sound of a machine of some sort. Maybe a robot.
Yep. They were screwed.
Lavi looked around several times. He had a really bad feeling that something bad was about to happen.
This was just great. As if it wasn't bad enough having to find the doorway, Lavi now had to find someone else who was still searching for the exit. Although this time the fate of the world was resting on his success.
"Lenaleeeeeeeeeeee," Lavi shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. Ziva was shouting Tony's name at equal volume.
"What exactly happens if we don't find them," Ziva asked after several minutes of searching.
"Basically, we're dead. Komui's pretty . . . um . . . protective of Lenalee. And um, let's just say he has extreme methods of showing his affection . . ." The explanation was vague, and probably meant little to Ziva and Gibbs. But they would know what Lavi was talking about if they couldn't find Tony and—
"Lavi?"
Lavi turned his head. He felt a wave of relief rush over him as he saw Lenalee standing there facing him.
She turned her head away from Lavi. "Tony! Here!" DiNozzo appeared next to Lenalee. "Have you found the door?"
"Yeah, you're the only two who haven't shown up. We'd better hurry, though. Komui's a little . . . um, worried."
Lenalee's face showed that she knew exactly what Lavi was talking about. "Let's go, then."
The two missing people found, they all started fast-walking in the direction from where Lavi, Gibbs, and Ziva had come. This time Lavi had made sure to remember which way they needed to go.
Then they heard it.
"Komui, please! I'm sure nothing happened! Please just power it down!"
Komui was standing on a control platform built into the chest of the robot. "No filthy octopus can put its hands on my sweet, innocent Lenalee and live to tell the tale! I should think you would remember this, Allen."
Oh yes, he remembered quite well. He could never forget all the time trying to get those stupid octopi off his head back before they met Krory.
Regardless, Allen couldn't let Komui tear up the Ark with his latest full-sized Sir Komlin V. This one looked more human—at least compared to the other 4 Sir Komlins Komui had created.
"Komui, I'm going to have to destroy Komlin no matter what! The only question is are you going to be on it when it explodes or not?"
Komui's facial expression went from anger at his murdering of Tony being impeded to an evil smile that Allen knew all too well.
"Sir Komlin, get rid of this pest!" At Komui's command, the robot reached an arm towards Allen. Allen tried to run away as fast as he could, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to get far. He dove to the ground, trying to get a good grip on the stones that were on the ground. Komlin grabbed his left leg, and Allen panicked. He extended his right arm, and Clown Belt extended toward the white beam-like structure that connected two buildings from opposite sides of the street.
"Komui!" Allen was now completely stuck in midair. With Komlin pulling on his left leg trying to make Clown Belt loose grip, and Clown Belt trying to stay strong so Allen wouldn't be thrown or whatever Komlin was planning on doing to him, he was unable to reach the arm and attack it, even with Edge End activated.
Though, at this point, he was in trouble. If Komlin let go, if he didn't react fast, Allen would be catapulted toward the ground. And if Clown Belt failed, he would be catapulted across the Ark. Either way, he owed Komui a sock to the jaw.
Then he heard the fast-paced footsteps. Someone was running towards him. He looked down and saw Lenalee and the others who'd gone running towards Komlin. Her Dark Boots were activated. This made twice that she'd come to his rescue today. He owed her something for that . . . and he doubted knocking Komui out for a few hours would do the trick.
Lenalee launched herself up to the control platform, standing next to Komui with a more-than-annoyed facial expression. Komui was inching away from her, knowing what was coming next.
"Allen! Down here!" Allen looked down at the ground right in front of him, seeing Lavi standing there. His arms were open, as though he were offering to catch Allen.
Allen gave him a yeah-right look, then he heard an explosion and Komlin released his foot. He widened his eyes as he realized that now Clown Belt was the only thing pulling on him, and he was launched forward. He saw Lavi's eye go wide as he realized he what was going on, but couldn't get out of the way in time.
Allen's forehead collided with Lavi's sternum, and they were both sent tumbling away from Komlin and the others. They finally came to a halt, each Exorcist moaning. Allen opened his eyes so he could see to get up. He'd landed on top of Lavi, who was coughing. Allen tried to get up, only to realize he couldn't move. Clown Belt was tangled up around them. He tried to deactivate it, but it wasn't working. Great . . .
"Can you get off?" Lavi's voice suggested that it was hard for him to draw breath. Allen understood—and wanted to get off—but it was a little impossible at that particular moment.
"Does it look like I can get off?"
"Do you need help?" Allen and Lavi both looked at Abby as she approached.
"Yes please!" Their unison earned them a smile before she bent down to try and unravel them.
Everyone else—except for Komui, he was probably over by Sir Komlin's remains crying—ran up, stopping behind Abby.
"Wow, that looks, um . . . awkward." Tony stood with his left arm across his stomach and his right hand on his chin as he spoke. McGee stopped next to him, mimicking the pose.
"I will agree with you, Tony. Very awkward."
"Can you just help? Please?" The desperation in Lavi's voice was matched only by his annoyance.
Ziva kneeled on the opposite side of Allen to Abby, helping to get them untangled from Clown Belt.
"Nah, it's okay. You already have two people working on it. We'd only get in the way—"
"DiNozzo."
"Yes, Boss." Tony walked over to help without even turning to look at Gibbs. He started trying to get the Innocence off their legs.
McGee stayed in place. Gibbs walked up next to him, and when McGee looked over at him, he gave McGee a "what're you doing here staring at me?" look. "You too, McGee."
"Um, yes, Boss." He joined Tony.
It took several minutes to get the Exorcists untangled, and once they were Allen deactivated Clown Belt.
"Could you—" Lavi's voice was strained but he was motioning backward with his hand. Allen pushed himself off Lavi's chest, allowing him to breathe again, and sat back on his legs. Something felt weird though—it felt like he was still sitting on Lavi. He looked down and saw what Tony and McGee had meant by "awkward". Allen was stratling Lavi's legs.
Allen tried to stand, but he'd been immobile for so long that his legs had gone to sleep—probably why he didn't realize his landing position earlier.
Lavi looked down. "Wow, this is—" He was cut off by Allen crawling on his hands and knees across Lavi's body, planting a knee in his stomach along the way to cut off his sentence.
"Are you guys okay?" Allen and Lavi both nodded at Ziva's question.
"We'll live," Lavi said. "Albeit with a few more scrapes and bruises. Dang, Allen, you're heavy!"
"Yeah, and you're not all that comfortable to land on, either. In fact, you're quite boney."
The girls laughed as they helped them stand.
The group walked back to the intersection between the path that led to the Black Order HQ door and the doorway to 2011 Washington DC. Lenalee said thank you to the NCIS team for helping get Allen back, and Tony for the "interesting talk about American cinema" before heading back to HQ with Komui.
Allen and Lavi walked with the NCIS team back to the Washington DC door, remembering that it was a long drop and someone could get hurt. They all stopped in front of the door to say their goodbyes. Lavi enlarged his hammer to be able to fit the team on the top.
Tony apologized to Lavi for not trusting him, or something like that, then walked to the back of the group. Ziva was next, and she apologized for scaring the living daylights out of them. She also thanked Allen for saving her from the Akuma's bullet. McGee thanked them for an exciting day out of the NCIS building.
Abby's goodbye was by far the most emotional. She'd become good friends with the Exorcists, even if they did only know each other for one day.
"First off, I'm so sorry for almost getting you killed, Allen. I really feel bad."
"It wasn't your fau—"
"Don't interrupt me." Abby put a finger up to stop him. "Also, thank you for probably the most intriguing day I've ever had."
Lavi smiled, closing his eye. "Well, we certainly didn't plan on today being that intriguing, but thank you all for a day to remember, as well."
Allen nodded, agreeing with Lavi. "And thank you for coming to help me."
"Help? Come on, give us some credit, we saved you."
"Fine. Thank you for saving me."
Lavi's smile widened, satisfied. "No problem." Allen glared at him.
Abby suddenly stepped forward, hugging them both at once. Usually, Allen wasn't much of a hug-person, but, seeing as they would never see each other again, Allen could handle it. Something was pressed into his hand, and he wrapped his fingers around it. There must've been a reason that she didn't give it to him where everyone could see, so he made sure not to drop it.
"Thank you two. I'll never forget today."
"Yeah," they both said, their timing off slightly, but their voices both sounding chocked up.
Abby pulled away. "Guess we'd better, uh, get going then, huh?" Everyone sighed and nodded. The NCIS team stood by the doorway, waiting for Lavi to push the hammerhead outside. Once he did so, they stepped onto it, and Lavi extended the handle.
"Oh!" About halfway to the ground Abby looked up at the Exorcists again. "Thank you for helping me with my outfit!" The three of them smiled.
Once the hammer reached the ground and the team stepped off, Lavi returned it to its holster size. Allen and Lavi exchanged glances, nodded, then Allen pulled the door shut.
He opened his hand to see what Abby had given him. It was silver on one side, black on the other, and had some sort of wire-thing wrapped around it.
It was the object Abby had dropped earlier.
He pushed the button on the front a couple times, and an image appeared on the black side. The picture was of a young boy holding a cord of some kind, and above him was the text "Skillet" and "Comatose". At the top of the screen was the time, and below it the text "Whispers in the Dark". Allen decided he would figure out how the device worked later.
He put it in his pocket as they started walking back to HQ.
"There you two are!"
They looked at Reever as he stopped in front of them, a large box in his arms.
"I would love to hear the story as to where you've been, but for right now, just start grabbing boxes." His voice was less than enthusiastic.
The Exorcists looked at each other, sighed, then joined everyone else in moving boxes.
They moved stuff nonstop into the wee hours of the night, and at about 1:45 Allen was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Without even knowing where he was, he just sat down, set the box he was carrying down, and used the nearest stack of books as a pillow. He fell asleep right away.
Next thing he knew, Reever was yelling at him, calling him an idiot and telling him to wake up. Then he hit the ground, and he felt some sort of liquid on his head. He put his hand down to stand, but stopped when his hand touched hair. What the—? He looked down at it, and saw that it was white . . . like . . .
He put his hand to his head, and as he combed his fingers through his hair his fear was confirmed. His long hair flew behind him as he ran around, screaming in a frenzy. He ran into a little kid with red hair, knocking them both on the ground. Allen saw the eye patch and the clothes that were too big for the kid and realized it was Lavi.
"This day just gets better and better," they both muttered in unison.
~One week later~
"Ya know, Abby hiding in her lab all the time is almost worse than her rubbing in our faces that she won."
"Almost like she's too good to hang out with us since she won?"
"Exactly."
Ziva looked at Tim and Tony skeptically. "You guys know Abby's not like that. She's probably just working on a personal project."
The guys exchanged glances, their faces saying that Ziva was probably right.
"Ya have to wonder, though . . ."
"Come on, Probie, we're going on a mission." Tony stood as he spoke. McGee joined him in his quickened stride to the elevator.
Ziva rolled her eyes. Did they really think she didn't know where they were going? She stood up to join them.
Moments later they were peeking around the corner to the doorway in Abby's lab. They were careful not to make noise as they watched her doing something at her computer. Tony quietly stepped around McGee and Ziva, tiptoeing as he approached the dooway. He took one step inside the room.
"Tony, I know that's you."
"How?"
McGee and Ziva gave him a "well-DUH" look.
"I just do."
Their cover blown, the three stepped into the room and walked over Abby.
"What're you doing?" Ziva studied the computer screen, but she didn't recognize the site Abby was on.
"There is absolutely no mention of the Black Order anywhere. It's as if it never existed."
"Maybe it didn't." McGee's remark was met with Abby's "seriously?" expression.
"Why did the Black Order even exist," Ziva asked.
Abby though back to her conversation with the Exorcists at lunch. "To fight the Millennium Earl and Akuma."
Ziva shrugged. "Then maybe they succeeded. Maybe they destroyed this Millennium Earl, and, with their purpose completed, closed down the Order."
"Maybe . . ." The group stood in silence for several minutes, the curiosity as to what happened to the Order affecting everyone.
"Why don't we go get some food?" Everyone except for Abby jumped at Gibbs's question.
Tony looked confused. "How—"
"Sounds good to me." Abby smiled as she hopped off her chair and grabbed her jacket. "It's on you guys."
"Why us?"
"Because I won, McGee."
Everyone just smiled.
I realize Abby never mentioned liking Skillet, but I love them so much that I couldn't resist ^_^
Wow, a lot's happened since my last update . . . About a month ago I pieced together my casual Allen Walker cosplay . . . and this past week was my first week in my new (and gi-normous) school . . . Okay, so not a lot, but just big stuff ^_^
So, this was kinda a longer chapter ^_^ 3500 words w/o the Author's note. And this is my first time actually writing a conclusion to a story like this. Was it okay? I just couldn't resist putting Sir Komlin in there ^_^ And in the end I tied it in with the manga to try and get a sense of the timeline . . . and it just worked XD
Oh, and I must say, I'm not big on yaoi, so yeah. I don't even know where that bit with Allen and Lavi tangled up came from . . .
I'm curious, what was your favorite chapter?
Thank you guys so much for all the reviews ^_^ It really encouraged me to keep writing. And thank you to everyone who clarified stuff and all that ^_^
And only one flame! Yippee!
And side-note, I still have to freaking idea why I made the battles so hard on poor Allen. Seriously, I could have had the Level 2 evolve into a Level 3 and it would've made more sense . . .