So I'm not that happy with this chapter. For one thing, it has all these tiny little plot holes inside that are tempting me to tear my hair out, and for another there's a bunch of characterization mistakes. But hey, that's what rough drafts are for, right?

Advise and enjoy!

"So the Akuma have revolted?" Tyki said, brow furrowing and clasping his hands under his chin. "And there is a possibility that maybe now we are able to destroy them? Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Road said, sipping her tea. "Are you sure you weren't just suffering from blood loss and hallucinations from those injuries you got?"

"How could we not be sure, guys? The thing was a Level Three and everything. It said that they would kill off the humans, not just that single Akuma." David bit his lip in frustration. Damn it, why was it that whenever he was so sure about something, they had to just go and doubt him? It wasn't fair. So he made some mistakes in the past. So what? Were they going to judge him for life on those things?

He looked around the table at all his family gathered here now. Since Lenalee had come here, Cyril had gathered all of the remaining Noah back here; which wasn't too much, to be honest. All of the others had been killed off in fights a while ago. All were here except for the Earl.

Where was the Earl, anyway? Road, Tyki, and Cyril had seen him two years ago, but that was about the last time anyone ever heard from him again until now, not to mention see him.

Well, at least Lenalee believed him. Even though she was his witness.

He quickly glanced over through the corner of his eyes at Lenalee. She was fidgeting in her seat, though not quite visibly if you were sitting on the other side of the table. Her fingers kept twiddling, her toes curled into her feet as a sign of nervousness.

David blinked at his assumption. How did he know what Lenalee was feeling? Maybe she was just hungry or something and that's why she kept fidgeting. Ignoring the confusion now going on in his own chest, he flicked his eyes back to his family. He really hoped they didn't see that.

Road, who had better eyesight than most of the Noah, had seen it, as she grinned slightly behind her teacup.

David glared at her. Don't you say anything, said his eyes.

I won't, said hers, and Road inconspicuously took another sip of her tea.

Tyki sat back in his seat and chewed his lip in thought. Then, he sighed and leaned back in. "Well obviously we have to tell the Earl to stop making them, otherwise their army is going to be unstoppable."

David blinked again. "You believe me?"

Tyki smirked. "Yeah. Or I at least believe that young lady's approval."

David growled and was about to open his mouth before Lenalee cut in. "That's why you have to come to the Order," Lenalee said, sounding desperate but firm. "The exorcists know a lot about killing the Akuma, even Level Fours. We could help teach you."

Road blinked, then giggled. "That sounds a bit overbearing, Lenalee."

Lenalee scowled. "Since when are you so friendly?"

Cyril slammed his hands onto the table. "And since when," he growled, "Can you talk to my daughter like that?" His skin darkened considerably, and his eyes began to waver from black to gold and back to black again.

No one dared to say anything, just waited for Cyril to get a hold of him self before going on. David glared at Cyril warningly. Cyril might have been…family, but David wasn't going to let him hurt Lenalee. No way.

When he seemed as if Cyril wasn't going to attack her or anything, Lenalee finally responded, "I apologize Road. But really, what I'm trying to get at is that we could possible design a treaty together so that we may work side by side without too much conflict."

Cyril then butted in, eyebrows raised in hostility and genuine curiosity. David recognized that look, the political one, that one look where Cyril was making a negotiation. "And why would even try to get along with you all? We have been trying to kill each other for three years now. Is it worth fighting together over a bunch of Akuma?"

Lenalee held her head up high. "Do you want everyone and everything to be wiped out, including you all? Remember, the Akuma said that they had no more loyalty to you all. Why shouldn't they attack you?"

There was silence as they all comprehended this. Then, Lulu Bell said quietly—always quietly, David remembered—and stoically, "What if your kind attacks us? Remember, the Noah are not deemed as just mere humans in you Exorcist's eyes. It is possible that we will get attacked the minute we arrive without first hearing out your story."

Lenalee turned her gaze on Lulu Bell, never wavering. "Then I will stop them myself."

David gave a little smirk at Lulu Bell's struck expression. That was just like Lenalee all right.

Tyki winced and stood up, cracking his back a little before saying, "Well, not point in just sitting here. We should go."

"Wait," David finally said. All eyes turned to him. "We should back our things first."

"Why?"

"David is right. You should." David gave her a faint smile for that, and Lenalee flushed a light pink.

"No one's told us why yet."

"Because the Akuma could come back and attack this home thinking that we're still here," David said, snorting faintly at their bemused expressions. "What, you honestly didn't think of that yet? Idiots."

David didn't have quite enough time to dodge Road's shoe as it smacked him in his face.

---

As Lenalee sat in the carriage as it clacked up the pathway towards the Order, she wondered vaguely if this was the wisest idea. Sitting next to Road and David in the carriage, she began to scratch at her wrist in agitation, wondering what if they couldn't protect themselves against the onslaught of Akuma. David looked exhausted, Road looked too nervous and thoughtful to even be of use, and she herself was tired and scared. The Noah's bags lay on their sides on the floor of the carriage, shuddering as the carriage hit some particularly rough parts in the road.

The Akuma aren't predictable anymore, she thought. That's what makes this so terrifying, is that we can't tell where they'll strike at all.

She glanced out the window several times into the woods, watching the blurry forms of Tyki, Cyril, and Lulu Bell speed their way up the pathway and out of sight. The Noah had decided that it would be best if they split up, Road, David, and Lenalee in the carriage (driven by a human, in this case), and Cyril, Tyki, and Lulu Bell running, as they were the best in shape.

Glancing at the already darkening sky in the distance, a coil of unease roiled in her gut, she pulled her knees up against her chest and slid to the floor. Was there no end to war in this world? No end to terror, to bloodshed and Akuma, the things she had known all her life? And why was it that she kept asking herself these painful questions?

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up, eyes widening slightly as David smirked at her sleepily. "Hey," he mumbled, eyes blinking with the effort to keep awake. "Don't mope."

She scowled as her spirits lifted slightly. She thwacked him on the arm. "And you," she teased, "Don't be lazy."

He laughed. "I am not. 'M just tired." His eyes slid shut, then back open again. "Still, don't mope, okay? Otherwise I'm going to feel like I have to buy some weird shit in order to make you happy."

She laughed with him, scowl gone from her face. "You don't have to buy me anything. It's fine if you sleep; one of us will wake you up if something happens."

Lenalee didn't have to tell him twice. Immediately David's eyes slid back shut and did not open again.

She smiled faintly, not picking herself off the floor (it was somehow very comfortable). He looked rather endearing when he was sleeping, not because he was beaten into it, but because he did it voluntarily.

Wow, she was confusing herself.

To Lenalee's surprise, Road hopped down next to her on the floor, ignoring the bumps and rocking that was far more significant down here.

"So, Lenalee," Road smiled mischievously. "David says he likes you."

…what? "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Road giggled, golden eyes glinting with glee. "He likes you. He said so after he first met you. I made him admit it."

Lenalee felt shocked, mortified, and pleased all at the same time. "He…likes me?"

"Yup!" Now Road started to look serious. "Now, do you like him? 'Cause I don't want his heart to get broken and all."

Lenalee's face colored. "Of course I like him! I—" She stopped herself just in time and colored even further. "You—you aren't going to tell him, are you?"

Road looked satisfied and hugged her cloth-covered knees. "Of course not. As long as you don't tell him that you know that he likes you, okay? He gets really embarrassed about these kinds of things."

Lenalee smiled. "Sure."

The two girls smiled at each other, feeling as if they were finally connecting at last.

Lenalee gazed back out the window. Something had been nagging her since this morning. What David had said then, back when they had been fighting and David had just retorted to whatever she had snapped at him in her fury. "Hey, Road. Can I ask you something?"

Road looked quizzically at her. "Sure. What're you wondering about?"

"This morning, David and I were fighting—"

"Fighting?"

"Can I explain later?"

"Sure. Go on."

"David said…that he was only one part of a person and demon. And where's his twin? I remember that he had one, but I haven't seen him at all. Did something happen?"

Judging from Road's pained expression, Lenalee guessed that she had gotten the answer right. "What happened, Road?"

"Lenalee, I don't know if I can really tell you that. David will tell you when he's ready."

"Why?" Her fists curled into her dress. "Because he's afraid he'll hurt me?"

There was a pause. Then Road said softly, gently, "Because he's afraid of hurting himself."

Lenalee stared at her, eyes wide in confusion. "What?"

Road smirked slightly and giggled. "You'll see when he tells you." Then she scrambled back into her seat as they made another turn on the path, extending the way up into the mountain until they could see the towering form of the headquarters ahead of them.

---

David awoke to someone shaking his shoulder persistently. He rolled his head away and muttered, "Five more minutes."

"No can do, David. Get up or else we're screwed."

David's eyes flew open and he sat up. The door to the carriage was open, and the one who had shaken him awake was Tyki, long hair disheveled and pulled out of his ponytail—or ripped out of. In the background behind him, David could see two Level Ones and three Level Twos shooting and aiming for Lenalee and Lulu Bell, who were both being incredibly agile and dodging the attacks with precision. David, irrationally, felt a surge of pride at Lenalee and forced it back down.

"Right. Thanks, Tyki." He hopped out of the carriage, wincing at the numbness in his legs. Glancing over to the front of the carriage, he saw the ashy remains of the driver in the front seat. He winced.

"Excuse me?" Tyki sounded shocked. And slightly pleased at that. "Did I just hear you say 'thank you' to me?"

David scowled and popped his shoulder. "Maybe. Don't take it to heart though."

Tyki laughed. "I won't." The older man then raced back towards a Level One, a huge pinkish-white shaped shield forming on his arm and a similarly colored glow on his opposite hand. He clashed with the Level One, destroying it in an instant.

David felt a sense of pride and an I-told-you-so feeling in his chest. He had been right!

In your face Road!

He managed to collect himself in time to jump back away from the place where he had been standing, a Level One Akuma bullet burying itself inside the Earth. Riding on the high his pride had just given him, he pulled his gun out of the holster, he pointed and shouted, "Blue Bomb!"

The next instant, a barrage of ice lodged itself into the Akuma's cannon. It glanced down at it, confused, and David took the chance to reload and pull the trigger again. "Red Bomb! Blazing Red Inferno!" And in only a matter of minutes the Akuma was incinerated and David blew on the slightly smoking gun. He smirked. "I think I'm starting to enjoy this."

A sudden noise came from behind him and he leapt out of the way, yelping as an Akuma bullet almost grazed his foot. "Holy—damn, give a guy some time to gloat, would you?"

"Like hell I would," the Level Two sneered, sending another barrage towards him.

Unfortunately for the Level Two (and for David, somewhat), Tyki Mikk just happened to be passing by and accidentally swept his shield right through the Akuma's torso, effectively killing it.

David swelled with rage. "Hey!" he screamed, pointing at Tyki in outrage. "That was my target, damn it!"

"Too bad! You snooze, you lose," Tyki laughed, swerving in midair to avoid the bullets directed at him. "Wow, this is fun."

"Damn it Tyki!"

---

Two hours later, the five Noah and one Exorcist arrived at the Order at last, panting from the long way up.

Tyki scowled and breathed out, practically collapsing on the ground under the weight of the bags. "Did you have to make me carry all the stuff?" They had pulled their bags out of the carriage, then pushed it down the hill and watched it careen into the abyss. Cyril had quietly mourned the loss while David whistled at the shards of gold and red left behind.

Road giggled weakly and looked at her uncle with a positively adorable look on her face. "Yes."

David groaned and leaned against a tree, chest heaving. Lenalee laughed at him. "David, please. It can't be that bad."

"I'm not…used to…running…this far," he wheezed, hacking slightly.

"Then get in shape!" She giggled and pulled him off playfully before going to the gate and calling, "Hello! Brother? This is Lenalee, calling in. I have guests to bring in as well."

A tiny screen flickered on in front of her, David pulling himself over and peering curiously over her shoulder at the tiny phenomenon. Lenalee suddenly became aware at the sheer proximity of the boy and flushed. Should she ask him now?

He'll tell you when he's ready, Road's voice echoed in her mind. So she pushed away the impulses as the screen finally switched on to life, tinted grayish-green in the lighting.

"Lenalee!" Komui bawled, practically hurling himself at the screen. "Lenalee, where have you been? You were only supposed to go out to get medical supplies for Allen and Kanda. What took you so lo—"

And then he saw David, his wide golden eyes peering curiously at the camera.

Lenalee quietly groaned inside.

"Hey, Lenalee," David asked, prodding the side of the screen slightly, smudging it. "What is this?"

"It's a screen, David." She laughed a little more, quietly seething inside as her brother (and his co-workers) stared at them in horror and awe. "Um, brother? Can we come in now?"

"L-Lenalee," Komui stammered out. "You're seeing a Noah?"

She winced. "A little?"

David flushed and turned to look at her in a mixture of horror, embarrassment, and pleasure. "We—we are?"

She elbowed him. "Go with it."

"But—but—"

"How are you not falling into fault?" Reever exclaimed, shoving Komui over roughly as he and Johnny took up the screen, staring at David with huge eyes. "He's a Noah! You're not supposed to fall in love with a Noah! That goes against every code of the Innocence that is possible!"

Her face then turned several shades of red, and she stammered out, "I—I never said that! Yet." She mumbled the last part under her breath before continuing, spying David's reddened expression now turning even darker. "But can you please let us all come in? We're tired, we've just been fighting off Akuma—"

"Wait, we?" Komui clambered back onto the screen, face serious. "Are you telling us that the Akuma are rebelling against the Noah and the Earl?"

"Yeah," David answered for her, butting in. His facial color had faded into a dark shade of pink. "And we really need to talk to you about it."

Komui stared. Lenalee stared. Reever and Johnny stared. Even Lulu Bell, Road, Cyril and Tyki stared at his intrusion.

He blinked, looking down at Lenalee's mortified expression. "What? It's the truth."

Lenalee looked pleadingly at Komui's image on the screen. "Please brother? We'll explain once we're inside."

Komui's brow furrowed, and Lenalee swore she saw David visibly pale next to her. "How many are there besides him?"

"Four. Don't worry brother, they're not here to attack or anything. Trust me."

And trust Lenalee Komui did, though his face still looked slightly doubtful. "All right gatekeeper!" he called. "Let them in."

---

"So, let me get this straight," Komui said, blinking his eyes in an attempt to stay awake without his coffee. It was almost midnight and the two of them (David and Lenalee) had just finished explaining what had happened. "You first met Lenalee at the ball a few weeks ago—"

"Actually, I met her about two years ago, on not so good terms."

"Right. Then, the Earl assigned you a mission to kill my Lenalee—"

"And others! Others too!" David piped in defensively. "It wasn't all my fault!"

"But eventually, you two got along so well in such a short amount of time that you have declared your mission null and void. And then you two found out about each other and discovered that the Noah could now destroy Akuma."

"Yeah, pretty much." David grinned, leaning back in his chair in an attempt to stay awake as well.

"Brother, we know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but it's the truth!" Lenalee defended David stoically.

"A bit?" Reever snorted. "Of course it sounds ridiculous Lenalee, not just a bit! Anything besides Innocence destroying an Akuma is impossible. Nothing like it has happened in history, not to mention the fact that the Akuma actually rebelled against the Noah and the Earl."

"The world is changing," Cyril cut in, sounding much more serious than before. "The Gods are moving to change the future."

Everyone turned to look at him in awe, and Cyril shrugged, eyes shining with amusement. "That's what the Earl said two years ago."

So Cyril remembered too. David made a mental note to himself reminding him that that man was not as stupid as he seemed.

---

There was a silence as Komui digested the information. Lenalee could practically see her brother's mind churning in thought. "He did, did he?" Komui placed his hands under his chin and leaned into the desk. "I hate to say this, but the Earl was right. The world is changing if these events have occurred." Pulling himself back up to his upright position, he called out behind him, "Reever!"

The man rushed forward, looking worried. "Yes, Supervisor?"

"Find a room for these people to stay in. Preferably an empty one. After all, we wouldn't want them to be attacked on their first night here."

"I want to stay with Lenalee!" Road called out, hand up in the air. "Lulu Bell can come too!"

Lenalee blinked, gazing at Road in bemusement. Had she been giving out the signal that Road was somehow her new best friend?

Well, maybe she had earlier. But now it was different! And Lulu Bell…well, she was kind of scary and stoic. Not to mention that she killed off half of the Order back then two years ago. Lenalee still hadn't quite gotten over that.

Komui, Reever, and Lulu Bell stared at Road as well.

Road pouted. "I just thought that Lenalee might be more comfortable with girls beside her instead of being all by herself."

"Well, Lenalee? It's your choice." Reever sounded shaken.

Lenalee pondered a few minutes before finally responding. "It's fine," she said, smiling tiredly at him. From the corner of her eye, she could see David breathing out slightly in relief—for what reason she didn't know, but she made a note to ask him later.

"Yes!" Road tackled Lenalee in a hug surprisingly strong for a girl with such a build as hers. "Hey, while we're there, can I play with your hair? Pretty please?"

"O—okay," Lenalee stammered. "That's fine, Road."

"Yes!"

From what Lenalee could see with her peripheral vision, Lulu Bell was trying to stop herself from either smirking or laughing. It was probably the former, as Lulu Bell really didn't seem the type to laugh. At all. And David? David just looked like he was going to burst into laughter at any minute.

She scowled, then sighed. It was going to be a long night.