So there is more crammed plot and fluff inside this chapter. Oh my, oh my. There is also angst. Yes. And a plot twist! Ooh~

P.S. I will edit this as soon as I finish the whole story. Hang tight, and enjoy the chapter as much as you can!

And even though David had been sincerely hoping not to wake up and deal with the things swirling around in his head before he was knocked out, he woke up anyways, head ringing like the apocalypse was coming.

Life just hated him, didn't it?

He opened his eyes slightly and winced as the left side of his face throbbed horribly. Oh, right. One of those stupid thugs had punched him there last night. He reached his fingers up and prodded his eye, wincing again as his hand drew back and regarded his fingers curiously. For some strange reason, they were covered in an unfamiliar ointment that David was fairly certain hadn't been there last night.

He shifted his arms (which he noted, to some extent of relief, were still in the Noah's shade of gray) and, with some effort, pushed himself to a sitting position. He could hear some things in his chest pop and snap, and he stopped himself before he could start yelling with pain. Crap, that hurt.

"Well, you're awake. I thought you were never going to get up."

His heart temporarily stopped beating for a few beats, and he turned slightly, freezing when he caught a glimpse of who had spoken.

It was the exorcist girl.

Who could be Lenalee! The little voice piped up, and was very forcefully shoved back down again. Well, it's true, it said, voice now muffled.

Well, the voice had a point. Now that he looked more closely at the girl, he saw a ton of things that were similar to Lenalee's features that the denial had tried to excuse. Her lips, her skin, hell, the shape of her hair were all pretty much the same as Lenalee's, he realized with a plummeting feeling in his stomach.

"Are you going to say something at all?" she asked. Damn. Even her voice was almost the same. You mean exactly the same, the voice chirped, and was promptly shoved even deeper into the chasms of David's mind.

David decided to act like he usually did when he was in Noah form and snorted. Maybe she hadn't thought about the possibility of him being that David yet. "I didn't need your damn help," he snarled, voice hoarse.

She raised an eyebrow. "From the looks of things, I'd say you did."

"I didn't need it," he insisted, and attempted to stand, only to have to sit back down again at the prompt pop-snap from his knees.

"Damn it," he grumbled, patting down on the ground for his gun and pulled it out. Thank god those idiots hadn't found it. He tucked it safely into the holster before continuing. "Exorcist, didn't I tell you that if I found you again, I'd kill you?" Not because I wanted to, but because I had to? He thought secretly.

The girl laughed, and to David's dismay, she sounded just like Lenalee then. "Technically, I found you, David, so it doesn't count." She then looked up at him, face serious. "Is your name David?"

His heart began to plummet, and he stared at her in horror.

Damn it, she knew.

She smiled sadly. "I thought so."

"When did you—"

"Last night. After I got back home, I realized something. Every time I've spoken either with the Noah side of you, or your other side, I've gotten horrible waves of déjà vu. Whenever I talk with you, I see either side of you in my head. It only makes sense." She chuckled slightly, smile fading off of her face. "I was hoping it wouldn't." She glanced at him. "I don't know how long you've known as well, but it doesn't matter anymore, David."

David swallowed, every instinct in his body currently telling him to get the hell out of here, it's not safe! Unfortunately, nothing would move. Not one bit.

Oh, fuck. He was so screwed.

She peeked at him, smiling sort of bitterly. "Well? Aren't you going to try to contradict me?"

Internally, he groaned. His human side would do a lot better at this.

So he changed. His skin melted back into a pale, almost white color. The crosses faded back into his head, the make-up fading as well as his eyes swiftly changed back from gold to navy blue. The clothes changed back into last night's, now tattered and dirt splattered. His mask lay in his hand, strings touching the ground.

"No," David said, his voice sounding much lighter than before, "I won't."

Lenalee looked taken aback. Then, she smiled again—brighter, David noted with some relief. "What David, didn't you change last night before you decided to get beaten up?"

He smirked slightly and shifted his weight, ignoring the popping in his hips. "I didn't have to."

She glanced at him, smiled for a brief second, then back at the floor. To his great surprise, she wasn't yelling or doing anything that might attract attention.

"Well?" he said, coughing a bit. "So what now?"

"Huh?" She looked up.

"You know. Now what do we do, Lenalee?" It felt odd, addressing her for some reason. Was it because he now knew that she was an exorcist?

Lenalee looked visible shaken, and stared back down at the floor. She spoke carefully, as if not knowing what would set him off now. It kind of made him irritated and sad at the same time. "I don't know, really. I mean, all you've been is nice to me, even when you were a Noah. I…" she wrung her hands, and to David's absolute horror, she looked about ready to start crying again. "Oh, I wish I didn't have to find out! Then maybe we could have still been like that, in the ballroom. Now I don't know whether to kill you because you're a Noah or still act the same around you because you're still the David I knew."

David really didn't know how to respond to that. Shifting his feet awkwardly (and very painfully), he muttered, "I guess I'm sorry."

"You guess!" she shrieked, raising her head up again. David flinched. Now she looked positively furious.

He would never understand women and their mood swings. Ever.

"You didn't even hint to me that you had a double life! Or that you were potentially lethal! How could you?" she shrieked again, eyes tearing fast.

David felt indignation rise up in his chest, and he snarled back, "And what about you? Why didn't you tell me that you were an Exorcist? Don't tell me that I'm the only one to be blamed here, because you could you not tell me anything either?" He could already feel his Noah form slipping back on at the sign of his anger, his voice turning rough and angry and for once, he didn't really care about that at all.

"Well—" She struggled a bit before shouting back, "Well, it's not my fault! I couldn't just tell you that I was someone who killed demons made out of human souls any day of the week!"

"And what about me? Could I just tell you that I was only one part of a person and demon all into one body? I don't think so!"

"Well, you tried to kill me!"

"I didn't know who you were!"

"That's not an excuse! What about that time you threatened me in Noah's Ark and hit me with your gun?"

"I was stupid and I didn't know you well then! And yes, it is!"

Both of them stared heatedly at one another, nostrils flaring in indignation.

To David's own surprise and extreme embarrassment, it wasn't Lenalee who felt like crying at the moment. It was himself. Already tears were welling up in his eyes, threatening to rush down his cheeks and mess up the make-up in his Noah's form.

Lenalee's expression faded into surprise, concern even, and she reached out slightly. "David, are you—" She stopped herself at the last minute, remembering who they were and where they were and drew back her hand. His insides twisted, and the tears rose even faster.

"No." Even his voice was starting to choke. This was so embarrassing. He hadn't cried since he was eight when he and Jasdero were a single person and had just become a Noah. Worse, he didn't know why he was crying in the first place.

Fuck.

The tears began to leak from the corners of his eyes and the lump in his throat grew so much that he couldn't breathe properly anymore. He reached his relatively good hand up and brushed them angrily away with his sleeve.

All Lenalee did was stare in absolute shock. "D-David?"

He spoke again with some difficulty and that embarrassing choke in his throat still. "It's fine, damn it. Look, I don't even know why the hell I'm crying, okay? So just don't ask me." His make-up was already starting to run down his cheeks in a black river, and he desperately wished for a tissue at hand.

Today is the worst day ever.

---

Lenalee could only stare at David as the tears began to flow down his face, mixing in the black make-up that had appeared when he (most likely unconsciously) changed into his Noah form. A pang of something—guilt, probably, pushed at her insides.

She made him cry. Even though he was still blatantly denying it and she should be the one crying now instead, it still didn't ease the guilt now practically clawing at her insides. Sure, Lenalee wanted to comfort him and tell him that she was sorry, but it was sort of his fault too. And she was still mad at him. So she would sit here and do nothing. Right.

The guilt began to rip little parts off her insides as she watched him, and she bit her lip to stop herself from reaching out. I will not comfort him, I will not comfort him, I will not—

But he comforted you, didn't he? Even though you were mad at him then, her consciousness pointed out to her. He didn't let it stop him from trying to make you stop crying.

It was right. Lenalee sighed and pushed back her anger a few steps back before speaking in a small voice.

"David?"

He didn't respond, as he was currently muttering to himself and using his white undershirt to rub at the tears still stubbornly running down his cheeks.

"David, I'm sorry."

He looked up then, looking slightly peeved and mollified at the same time. Lenalee's heart began to give out as she saw the little black rivers marking their way all the way down to David's chin. Why was he so cute and pathetic at the same time? "What?"

"I'm sorry," she said in a tiny voice, fidgeting with the hem of her dress in slight agitation. "I didn't mean to say those things. I was just…" She trailed off. "I was just scared."

"Why? What, am I too scary for you now?" David teased half-heartedly, attempted to make a little smirk. She couldn't help the sudden twitching of her lips right then.

"No. You were never scary." At this he scowled slightly, but remained silent. "I was scared that maybe since you knew I was an exorcist, you wouldn't want to be near me anymore." The realization hit her like a train, but she managed to remain calm out the outside. "I was scared because even though I now knew you were a Noah, I still wanted to be near to you because you make me happy." She looked at him, managing to keep her gaze steady. "Is that wrong, David? Do you…" Her voice began to choke. "Do you not want to be near me anymore?"

Jeez, she thought, feeling frustrated. How come whenever she was around him, Noah or human, she felt like she had to be so emotional? Like she had to break out and pour everything that she was thinking to him, no matter what? Not even her closest friends had made her feel that way, and this boy was already making her an emotional blabbermouth.

Why?

David looked at her blearily through his tears, wiping his eyes slightly. His gold eyes (just like the sun, Lenalee privately thought) stared into her, beautiful and haunting all at once in one huge rush of emotion.

"Lenalee," he began, voice muffled, as he was talking through his now black-stained shirt. He took several deep breaths before beginning, voice rushed and hasty and wanting to get out whatever it was he had to say. "Lenalee, I want to be near you. I do!" he hastened, catching a glimpse of her now doubting expression. "I really do. I just don't know how—"

A shadow fell behind him, blocking out the sun. They both turned around just a bit too late, their eyes wide and dreading.

There was a crash, a boom, and a scream.

Then there was silence.

---

David pulled out of the smoke, coughing and hacking from the smoke that the Akuma bullet had produced. He leapt onto the top of the wall, ignoring the pain in his feet as he landed. To his immense relief, Lenalee pulled up beside him, her Innocence activated and ready. Her face was set in a tight expression at the sight of the Level Three Akuma standing below them, its mouth twisted in a horrible grin.

"Hey, Level Three!" David shouted hoarsely. "What's the big idea, huh?"

It laughed, a creaking noise that sent chills down David's spine. "The big idea?" it creaked. "The big idea is that we are not loyal to you anymore, Master Noah. Our loyalty is null and void." It laughed again, louder this time.

Lenalee exchanged looks of astonishment and horror with David. The Akuma were revolting against the Noah? This was much, much different than either of them had anticipated.

The world is changing, David faintly remembered the Earl saying to him once after Jasdero had vanished into David's body on the brink of death, just to save David. The guilt throbbed in the back of his skull as the Earl's voice echoed in his head. Soon it will go in a direction that even I will not have written in my script. Perhaps—and here, the Earl had chuckled—Perhaps Noah and the exorcist's God are designing a treaty at last to change this world forever.

Was this what they had had designed? David thought, wincing as the Akuma's laugh continued on and on. Was this the future that they had thought was necessary?

"The Akuma will rise without the help of the Earl! We shall rule this world and rid it of you pathetic humans." It clacked its jaw. "I'll start with you, Sir David and Exorcist." It lunged.

The two of them jumped in opposite directions as the Akuma's armored feet crashed into the place where the two of them had been. David landed in the street, wincing as one of his feet cracked under the pressure. Lenalee landed on another balcony, glancing back at him.

"Are you alright?" she shouted to him, leaping out of the Akuma's reach once again.

"I'm fine! Worry about yourself now." Quickly he pulled out his gun from the holster and aimed it for the Akuma's head. He knew that it would be useless, but it was worth the effort in order to distract the beast. "Red bomb! Blazing Red Inferno!"

The fire sped towards the Akuma and hit. It jerked only slightly and laughed. "What is it you're trying to do, Master David? Are you just that—" It stopped, and to David's surprise (not to mention Lenalee's), the Akuma actually started to burn inside the now leaping flames, shrieking in pain.

"What?" it screeched. "What is this? This is not Innocence, and yet—ah!" It screamed again, writhing and twisting as its frame began to melt.

Lenalee, shaking herself from her confusion, took advantage of the opportunity and leapt forward. Her feet curved in an arc as it sailed downwards, slicing straight through the Akuma's hard exterior and releasing the soul within. It vanished along with the flames surrounding it, leaving two stunned almost-humans behind in the world with only scorch marks proving that it had existed.

Lenalee leapt down in front of David, her boots changing back into a normal form as the Innocence boots transformed into red crystal anklets. She reached out and touched his face gently. His skin immediately felt like it was on fire and the flush, long dormant, began to rise again. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Positive," he managed to get out, turning to look at the place where the Akuma had been. His brow furrowed, and he glanced down at his gun warily. It wasn't Innocence, was it? He had enough of that in his left arm without it.

"Is your gun made of Innocence?" Lenalee asked, quizzical as she glanced over the golden gun in bemusement. "Because that's the only explanation I can come up with in order to explain this. It's unheard of for anything besides Innocence to destroy an Akuma." Her brow furrowed.

"I don't think so," David said, turning it over in his hand. "Otherwise it would have rejected me a long time ago, wouldn't it? 'Cause, you know, I'm a Noah and all."

She pursed her lips together. "Hm." Her eyes narrowed as she thought. "David, I think we should see my brother."

David almost choked on his own spit. "What?" he spluttered. 'Are you nuts? He's from the Order, isn't he? He'll torture me and try to kill me for information, right?"

Lenalee shook her head. "Normally I think he would, but this is not the case. Your gun is not made of the Innocence, nor are the bullets that come out. But somehow, they still managed to destroy a Level Three Akuma. It's a change that no one has foreseen in future, past, or present. He would want to examine it before doing anything to your wellbeing."

The world is changing, the Earl's voice echoed in David's head once again, and David felt a pit of unease growing in his stomach. The world was changing. It was a terrifying thought, a vast one as well. No one knew what the world would be like once it changed completely, and that caused fear and death.

He did not like fear. Or death for that matter.

There was, however, one thing, David realized in one swift thought, that could change the future in their favor.

"Lenalee," he said, voice trembling with excitement. "Before we go see your brother, we need to make another stop first."

She looked questioningly at him. "What? Where?"

David grinned enormously. "I think we need to go see my family."

She spluttered for a few minutes, floundering before saying, "Why?"

"Because, don't you get it? If the Akuma have betrayed us, then that means that they've turned against their creators and become their own separate minds. It might also mean—" Here, his voice rose in the excitement it was pitching forth. "It might also mean that since I can destroy the Akuma now, they might be able to destroy them as well with their own abilities."

Lenalee's eyes widened and she grinned as widely as him. "Yes, of course! There is always that possibility. David, that's a wonderful idea." She beamed at him, smile now radiant in its glow. David felt the flush rising even higher.

Then her smile faded slightly, and she glanced down at the ground. "But, David—"

"What?"

"What if—what if they don't approve of the idea? What if they don't come?"

They were silent for a few moments before they both simultaneously realized what the statement implicated. They both flushed and looked away.

"I—I didn't mean it like that," Lenalee hastened to squeak, face turning pinker by the minute.

"I know you didn't," David choked out. "L—let's just go, okay?"

She looked at him again in worry, and he realized that she was genuinely afraid. "David, what if they try to hurt me?"

David stared blankly at her for a few moments before bursting into laughter.

"Wh—what?" she stammered out, scowling. "What's so funny?"

"Jeez, Lenalee, you're so weird," he wheezed out, wiping another tear from his black smudged face. "Don't worry about it, alright? You have a really strong Innocence that will defend you if they attack, you're smart enough to think of a strategy, and—" He stammered a bit on this. "And you're cute enough so my father won't attack you. There. Feeling better now?"

She smiled, now blushing again. "A little."

He grinned and grabbed her hand, all awkwardness from the past hour gone out the window. "And hey, think about this—if you can't protect yourself, I will."

Her smile grew faintly mocking and teasing. "And that makes me feel so much better how?"

David scoffed. "How dare you have such little faith in me!"

She laughed, the sound ringing like a chime in his ears as they headed down the street, still clasping each other's hands.

Today, David thought, is a new beginning for the world.