A/N: Okay so last chapter, I did it again. orz

When I first posted it, I forgot to put something into the endnotes about Allen & alcohol. Later, I added that third end note in. (Nothing big, but those who want to see me defend my headcanon's departure from what happens in a certain audio omake, can go back and see.)

Regarding this chapter, it behooves me to point out that I've got two other languages going on up in here. Originally, I was going to leave much of it untranslated because I think the context and actions accompanying the French and Occitan dialogue would tell people what they need to know, but I decided to tone down my often ascetic writerly persona and throw everyone a bone...

i.e. Translations in the narration.

I'd love if you all could let me know whether you think every single translation necessary, or the sheer obviousness of it all renders it redundant.

Aaaaand on we go with my longest chapter yet (2600+ words)!

"Hey, everybody— !"

"Mmhmm?"

"Er— Lavi?"

"Yes Lavi?"

"What is it, Lavi?"

"What's up, Lavi?"

"Tch. Baka-usagi."

After the effective roll call of voices was complete, the dashingly eye-patched young man put on his winning friendly grin and spoke again to everyone gathered in the hotel suite, cocking his head toward the large Austrian male in their midst: "Marie wanted me to get everybody's attention because uhh… Guess I'm the loudest."

Allen let out a full-throated laugh at that bit of conjecture.

So the boys made up again last night. I'm so glad!

Lenalee was immeasurably relieved to see them interacting openly like this again, and smiled fondly at them both.

Even Kanda was smirking in amusement from his place at the edge of his bed. His seated position— head resting on right hand; elbow balanced on knee— said a lot to Lenalee. While his right knee was drawn up near his chin; his left foot was loosely set on the floor. The minute signs of additional tension in his body at the previous night's dinner had left his posture entirely today. The hot bath and night's rest probably helped, post-battle, but there had to be more to it than that.

Allen had both knees drawn up to directly cradle his chin and was seated next to Kanda on the same bed, across from the one where she and Raphael had unconsciously seated themselves side-by-side. Unexpectedly recalling some things she'd been thinking about lately, to do with beds and secret boyfriends who just so happen to be sitting right next to her right this very moment, some colour came to her cheeks. Luckily it seemed everyone's attention was on the charismatic young man at the back wall, between the two beds.

"Anyways, we never really got to the point of this meeting—"

Embarrassed looks and little exclamations of "Oops!" and "Oh yeah…" circled the room where they had all gathered for a post-breakfast planning session. Clearly, no one was really in the mood to talk seriously anymore, what with the akuma being gone and all.

"—So go ahead, Marie."

The quiet-loving man smiled in his peaceful way toward the cheerful redhead, before rising reluctantly to take his place. Lavi now dropped to the floor to sit cross-legged next to the Finder Imelda, who grinned back as he flashed her a little victory thumbs-up. His gesture was evidently made to celebrate the minor accomplishment of getting everyone out of their side conversations and fully back on track.

Lenalee suspected that although she would have been just as effective at Lavi at restoring everyone's focus, she would likely have killed the lighthearted mood. It was useful to be stern and authoritative, but she did hate that side of herself, at times. Simultaneously, she admired Lavi's instincts for how and when to preserve atmosphere.

'Nice!' The Finder carefully mouthed in silent praise, along with an upturned thumb of her own. It was a nice moment to be a part of, Lenalee thought.

Those two certainly get along well enough—

"Thank you, Lavi," Marie nodded to his energetic helper and cleared his throat before continuing, soft-voiced as ever; "Everyone did a really great job protecting the town. In our scouting since then, neither Allen nor I has caught the slightest hint of any akuma activity. However, we still don't know what the real cause of the ongoing attacks is…"

Marie cleared his throat, appearing uncomfortable to have to speak for so long at a time. But of the Exorcists in the room he had done the most detective work and so he undoubtedly felt obligated to share whatever information he'd gathered.

"Imelda here," he gestured slightly, toward the young woman seated on the floor between the two beds, "informs me that the previous party of Finders had passed the Innocence they discovered on, and yet instead of dispersing— or even following the Exorcists who had taken it into their possession— the remainder of that hoard of akuma regrouped to terrorize the citizens of Sète again— right on the day we arrived."

He cleared his throat again, absently rubbing it as if to calm his vocal cords. Lenalee caught sight of his disfigured hand; missing digits due to the cruel past efforts of the Earl's army of killing machines.

"So why is that? After the other Exorcists left, the prior party of Finders, exhausted though they already were, did what was by all rights the most thorough search possible for signs of any further innocence-related activity. They did come up with one lead— and it sounds promising— but the scale of the onslaught we dealt with… just doesn't sit right with me. Dozens and dozens of akuma just for a single Innocence fragment? It just doesn't make any sense."

"Right," Lavi agreed, sounding somewhat pensive. Lenalee could tell he didn't actually have much to say, but it was truly rare to see Marie getting so worked up over anything, and it couldn't be good for his nerves, so she was glad for the tactical interruption. The mild-mannered man could surely use a breather. Lavi, she reflected, was always a little better than most guys are at reading others' states of mind. Yet despite that, he was not at all immune to saying things that were completely tactless; "It's almost like it was in Barcelona—"

Allen and Kanda, who were both listening quietly until now, both suddenly jolted into a heightened state of awareness. Pain and guilt flashed across Allen's face, if only for the most fleeting of instances, before he started staring at the wall somewhere behind Marie, whose head now bowed mournfully. Kanda took to turning his haughty, angry countenance toward another section of the wall, up near the room's ceiling.

So many dead in Barcelona— So many coffins— Kanda and Marie lost Daisya— I… Those days I worried so much— I thought I'd lose everyone precious to me! I can't ever let something like that happen again. I won't allow it to happen—

Lenalee felt a warm, steady hand on her upper arm. Though apparently perplexed, Raphael was nonetheless there for her. He wore a small, sympathetic smile as he gave that arm a supportive squeeze. While grateful, Lenalee felt her cheeks warming.

"Mr. Noise, I can take over from here. I'm the one who spoke directly to the other Finders, anyways, right?" All eyes turned to the young woman seated on the floor nearby, her legs folded up in front of her and arms hanging loosely over crossed shins. A kind, relaxed aura emanated from her as she smiled casually at Marie.

"By all means," he responded distractedly. Then suddenly finding the energy to sound relieved and appreciative, he continued: "And again, please just call me Marie—"

"Yes, thank you Mr. Marie," she answered, pushing up onto her feet.

Lenalee watched as Marie's thoughts diverted into what must have been a momentary debate over whether he should further encourage her to drop the 'Mr.' He gaped slightly for a second, before deciding better of it for now. Instead, he simply smiled accommodatingly and made way for her to take his place.

Guess we've got another one around who's good at reading people…

oOo

Allen was restless. It was late afternoon and his party had spent the better part of the day split into three groups, patrolling the town. Each sought the slightest sign of further akuma, to justify their continued presence. Granted, the port of Sète was very pretty with its canals to the sea, and quays lined with brightly-painted rowboats— but something just didn't feel right.

"Guys, imagine living here," Lavi mused cheerfully as they walked along a corridor leading back to the nearest canal. With a palm-up wave of his arm, he continued; "All the beautiful scenery…"

"Romantic strolls and boat rides," Imelda contributed with a sigh, her cheeks taking on a pinkish tint.

"Delicious food," Allen tossed in ambivalently, for show.

"Fantastic wines…" Lavi went on, elbowing Allen's side. "That was some really great wine last night—"

He didn't especially care to talk about such things right now, but Allen decided to bite anyway, if only for the sake of appearances. "As I recall—"

"Amazing you recall anything after downing that many carafes—" Lavi interrupted and Imelda giggled.

Allen found the energy to respond indignantly: "Hey, it wasn't just me— I was sharing those."

"Right, but only with Yuu."

Allen's heart pounded for a moment at the name. He had to fight off an embarrassed pout before clearing his throat and beginning again: "As I recall, they weren't serving us anything special last night. Just typical vin de pays. Was generous of them to pour so many bottles out, and all, but I at least know enough to recognize a simple table wine when I taste one. Master Cross wouldn't have even—"

"Listen to our little connoisseur!" Lavi cooed. Imelda covered her smile with one hand and looked aside. "Actually, my dear Beansprout, I got into talking wines with the head barman, and I guess I must've impressed 'im since he invited me over to the bar and poured me a glass of a special Bordeaux he was s'posed to be savin' up. Then he had me tasting all sortsa wines. I got Marie over for a half-carafe's worth— and Imelda here— I even managed to convince Lenalee to have a couple glasses… with Raphael present, of course."

Allen didn't miss his transition to a stifled sigh and grit teeth after the preceding pause and starry-eyed look that briefly overcame the young Bookman at the mention of his crush's name. How awful it would be to have such strong feelings for someone, only for them to be entirely unrequited…

'We are NOT in love!'

The heated words echoed through Allen's mind. Kanda didn't really mean that. He couldn't— I mean it's true we've never said the words, but—

"I would have invited you both— but well, you know."

"It's… it's alright, Lavi. Water under the bridge, right?" Allen almost slapped a hand over his forehead at the pathetic unconscious pun— they were in fact nearing a small footbridge that crossed over the canal ahead. "In any case, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I'm very sorry about it all, Lavi. It was rather insensitive of me to insist on viewing your err… 'humiliating robot encounter' like that—"

"Apology accepted. It's not like I don't do my best to embarrass you on a daily basis—" Lavi laced his fingers behind his head, elbows in the air, and wandered ahead of them, stepping up onto the bridge first.

"This case, though, was a little extreme. In retrospect I was being an ass and I feel kind of awful about it."

"No worries," he leaned against the footbridge railing, looking down at the channel below. "See all that water under the bridge? Just look at it all, carryin' your cares away."

Allen couldn't help but roll his eyes at Lavi's wholehearted cheesiness. He was glad to be back in good standing with all of his friends, but then all the same, there was still that little something more bothering him. Nagging at him.

"Mamà! Exorcistes!"

A well-dressed young mother and her two small children approached the bridge from the other side. All three smiled at the two Exorcists and one Finder before them. The three of them smiled back.

Playing modest, Lavi scratched the back of his head as they were greeted. Imelda seemed taken with how cute the little ones were. The trusting mother whispered a little something to the kids before allowing them run toward him and the others.

The boy tackled Allen first, and the girl shyly shook Lavi's hand, before running over to Imelda to hug her legs. "Merci, Mademoiselle Exorciste!" —'Thank you, Miss Exorcist.'

"Mamà, Lisette, regardatz! Pelblanc!" The boy pointed in awe at Allen's hair, his eyes sparkling with excitement. It wasn't very hard for Allen to figure out what he said in Occitan.

As he grew amusemed at the children's enthusiasm, a large grin spread on Allen's face. It brought him a certain type of contentment, whenever he got an awe-struck child's honest, nonjudgmental reaction to his unconventional appearance, rather than furtive staring and hushed voices behind his back.

When the young boy took to inspecting Lavi's eyepatch, Allen overheard Imelda speaking to the little girl: "Mais moi, je… je n'suis pas… une Exorciste, chérie—" 'But me I… I'm… not an Exorcist, sweetie.' There was a note of melancholy in her voice that he'd never heard from her before.

Hmm. That's odd. She's usually so laid back and carefree— he thought absently while hoisting the giggling boy up onto Lavi's ready shoulders.

"Vraiment?" The little girl was clearly very skeptical; tiny eyebrows furrowed.

"Oui, c'est vrai, p'tit chou," she confirmed as pleasantly as she could, going on to explain she was a colleague of the Exorcists: "Je suis un compagnon des Exorcistes."

"Mademoiselle, vous avez la peau brune, mais vous êtes très jolie." 'Miss, your skin is brown, but you're very pretty.' Allen's smile faltered with concern for the generally upbeat Finder's feelings.

"Merci, ma chérie!" She simply smiled on at the well-intended semi-compliment and decided to change the subject again: "Vous êtes de Languedoc? Parles-tu l'Occitan?"

"Oc!" The child squealed, all too happy to answer 'Yes!' in her native tongue.

Many in the region only spoke Occitan, but this well-to-do young mother apparently had larger plans for her kids. It was lucky for them, since out of all seven in their party, Lavi was the only one who had any understanding of the local language whatsoever, and even then, he wasn't exactly fluent.

The little boy on Lavi's shoulders merrily tugged away at Allen's hair from behind— spurred on by Lavi, naturally. Kid, my hair's nothing special compared to Kanda's, Allen thought at the little boy in his head, smiling to himself dreamily. Bet if this kid saw him, he'd say he looked like a girl. Then Kanda would get so mad…

Soon, the mother dragged her children away, thanking the three of them for humouring her 'little treasures,' and expressing her gratitude for saving everyone's lives from 'those monsters.' Now, Allen could turn to Lavi to immediately remark: "You've gotten much more comfortable with strangers on the street, I see."

"No, I've just… come to believe in that eye of yours, Allen." He smiled sadly, single distant as if he were gazing into the past.

Without my cursed eye, we'd have had to keep our distance from those adorable kids. That's what you taught me isn't it, Lavi? The life of an Exorcist…

Well, knowing Kanda, he wouldn't approach them either way. No ordinary akuma could ever kill him, but he still won't let himself closer to anyone than he absolutely has to be.

Heh. Allen let out a small puff of air— a tiny, rueful laugh at his own train of thought.

So what are we then, Kanda? What…

Lavi appeared to have found some small stones and was handing them out to Imelda and Allen to toss into the water. He threw one, satisfied at the plunk! sound it made. The channel was too deep to see their pebbles sink all the way to the bottom, but at least he could watch the ripples at the surface.

It's like my eye, isn't it, Kanda— that healing ability of yours. It's another curse.

Something's really hurt your heart, yet only the rest of your body ever heals.

"Hey guys, isn't that—" Allen's eyes immediately traced the direction toward which Imelda was pointing. Farther along the walkway on the opposite side of the bridge was a small, glittering speck of gold. The golem's reflection appeared over the rippling water as it continued lazily fluttering their way—

"Timcanpy!"

A/N: Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't recall Allen ever learning (until the NA Branch incident, of course) that Kanda's healing ability draws from his life force. At this point, he also knows nothing about Kanda's past. So the way I wrote his thoughts, it's up to you, but either Kanda mentioned to him offhand at some point that it's a "curse," or Allen sensed on his own, instinctively, that there was a price to pay for his miraculous healing powers.