Reckoning
Chapter 9
keep on walking

The Akuma was huge. It had to be a combination of hundreds of them.

"Kanda… it's dangerous." Marie pointed out that he could hear the heartbeats of the Cross Unit. We all rushed off to help them as the one on the ground stood again. As we got closer and closer, I could see Bookman, Lavi, and another Exorcist that Allen had told me was Arystar Krory III, fighting the giant Akuma. I could see Lavi fighting one more person… Tyki. So that's what he meant by "later…" I gritted my teeth and rushed over to help the Junior Bookman.

Lavi was getting beaten badly. I could see that in the way he was moving, almost like he was in pain. Tyki was watching him from another building. Everyone else looked bandaged heavily. The ship they'd come on must've taken some heavy damage. I looked all over; all the battles were going badly for the Exorcists. Krory, Bookman, and Lavi had all taken heavy damage, but they were all still getting back up and fighting their enemy, even when Lavi was slammed through a building, landing with Bookman and Krory.

We arrived quicker than I expected. Tyki was going towards the pillar of light that was shrinking. He grabbed Lenalee by the throat, and another Exorcist, Miranda, I assumed, collapsed, breathing heavily. Lavi was flying through the air on his big hammer. One of the men with them foolishly tried to punch Tyki… only to be attacked by the Tease.

That's when I noticed Kanda was missing from our group, and I saw the blade of Mugen rising through the building. As soon as it was going to hit him, Tyki jumped, Lenalee still in tow. Kanda landed in front of the man and growled, glaring at the Noah.

"Kanda!" I cried, landing next to him. "Marie's going to try and help the others." I looked up to see Tyki's surprised face, and frowned sadly. "Tyki… why? Why are you attacking us? All we want is to find that stupid General Cross and go!" I yelled at him, my eyes threatening to shed tears. "You're hurting the innocent and the injured. I thought you were better than that."

He shrugged. "Sorry. Orders, you know?" I glared at him. "Hm. Well, this isn't going to be fun if you can't even land a hit on me. I'll put the girl down…" he dropped Lenalee unceremoniously, "… and we'll have a real fight!" Tyki looked almost happy at the prospect of fighting me.

I was about to accept when Mugen was in my way. "Don't. Go help Marie," Kanda whispered to me. I was about to protest, but he snapped, "Look, you're still a rookie with your Innocence. I'm at a higher level, and I have more of a chance than you will. Just go, okay?"

My eyes narrowed at him, but I nodded, nonetheless. "You're an idiot… but you'd better be alive when I come back, okay?" He nodded, a solemn, silent promise. "I'll see you later." Jumping away, I witnessed Kanda leaping at Tyki, who blocked with only one hand.

-YU KANDA-

Kanda aimed a bunch of furious slashes at the Noah that Akicho referred to as "Tyki" only to have him dodge and block. He was slammed back into a wall while the Noah simply watched. He looked over to make sure that everyone else was doing okay and saw Akicho and Marie standing next to each other while Bookman and the vampire were running around.

He saw Akicho calmly watch as Marie wrapped his strings around the Akuma and Akicho sent her ice along the lines, successfully freezing the Akuma in its place. She smirked with satisfaction and then sent a look towards Kanda, clearly telling him to go back to his own battle. Kanda nodded and slashed the butterflies that the Noah sent at him.

Kanda fled back up on top of a building, the Noah following after. He proceeded to activate his Innocence and slash at the butterflies as the covered him. Smirking, he activated First Illusion: Underworld Creatures, defeating the bugs and running at Tyki. Just as the Noah sent his finishing blow, Lavi came down and deflected it.

The stupid rabbit seemed really beaten up. But the other Akuma didn't stop. Since the Akuma Marie captured was frozen, courtesy of Akicho, and Marie was clearly using Noel Organon to poison the Akuma.

Mugen was activated again, this time using Twin Illusion Blades. He jumped up above the other Akuma and slashed it in half, much to the surprise of Lavi.

"Kanda!" he heard. Looking up, he saw Akicho jumping down from the body of the Akuma, where she was checking to see if it was dead. "You're okay! Not that I doubted you, but hey, I had a right to be worried, since you faced Tyki and all."

The Japanese Exorcist looked away and asked, "What about you?"

She smiled happily. "No bodily harm was done to me! They weren't so tough."

-LAVI-

Lavi stared at their interaction with wonder, but looked away when he noticed both Yu and Akicho staring at the huge building in the center. The Millennium Earl was there and there was a huge black orb getting bigger, almost to the point of taking over the whole town. Lavi looked down at Lenalee, who he had retrieved from harms way. She was still asleep, and oblivious to the danger.

The red-headed Exorcist squeezed his eyes shut and listened to the sounds of the buildings collapsing. He jumped down and saw Akicho hanging onto the back of Yu's cloak while Yu stabbed Mugen into the ground.

Lenalee's eyes opened as she began to float away. "Lavi!" she called, snapping him back to reality. She was reaching for him as she was flying away. He grabbed her hand with a grunt, trying to stay on the ground. He held on with everything he had and he pulled her closer to him, but another wave of explosions tore them apart and pulled them backwards.

"Lenalee!" he shouted, almost desperately.

-AKICHO LAMURIA-

To the outside world, it must've looked like we'd vanished. Everything was gone. We were nowhere. I was holding onto Kanda with everything I had as he growled, "You bastard… it's not that easy to kill me." I gripped him tighter as I shook with fear. "Why're you hanging onto me?"

I was shivering because I was sure that something had happened to the others. Krory, Miranda, Lavi, Lenalee, and Bookman. Something bad happened. I could tell that some of them were close to death.

Clutching Kanda's sleeve, I whimpered, "They're dying… all of them! I was too late this time…" I noticed a huge crystal. "Lenalee…"

I helped Kanda up and stumbled towards the glowing green crystal. Someone was calling out to us from it. "Hey," Kanda called to a dazed Lavi. "What is that thing?" he asked, gesturing towards the crystal. "What's the matter?"

"Lavi…" someone called. It was Lenalee. "Kanda… Akicho…" Lenalee was inside that crystal. It was her Innocence, I was sure of it. "Guys."

Kanda gasped out, "That thing is-"

Nodding, Lavi finished, "Lenalee." So she was inside that crystal. That had to have happened before for Lavi to react in such a way. Lenalee's Innocence was special. It was impossible for an Equipment-type Innocence to protect its accommodator of its own free will. It just… didn't happen.

The Akuma that Marie and I failed to destroy sent beams at Lavi, Kanda, and me, and we were surrounding the crystal. When the smoke cleared, Kanda was raising Mugen against Tyki while Lavi's hammer had grown to an incredible size. "Hm. Sorry to disappoint you," the long-haired Exorcist mocked the Noah. I was confident that Kanda could handle Tyki, so I turned to the crystal and tried to form a barrier of fire and rock to protect Lenalee.

Tyki didn't seem bothered by Kanda's mocking tone. "Not bad. But, the girls… are coming with me." Kanda growled again, rushing after Tyki and attacking him with everything he had. "Your sword can't touch me! I wish I could stick around, but this… situation calls for me to leave. I want to see it as soon as possible… the annihilation of his world!" The Exorcist's eyes widened as he said that. I stopped what I was doing to look back at the two battling. "You may just disappear." He laughed. "I like your eyes. They're going to watch your death!"

I couldn't look. "Mugen: Twin Illusion Blades." Both Tyki and Kanda jumped back a few meters from each other and continued to leap at each other with equal ferocity.

A large figure appeared behind me. Skin Bolic had joined the fight. "Do you like…" Lavi saw him as well, "… sweet things?" Skin aimed his fist at Lavi, but he only managed to hit the pole. Lavi was above him, and jumped down to kick the large Noah in the face. He landed on the ground after dodging a hit.

"Grow… grow… grow!" He used his hammer and slammed Skin to the left, but in mid-attack, Skin grabbed the hammer and used it against Lavi. I heard Lenalee screaming for Lavi and pounding on the crystal as Skin picked him up by his head, dropping his hammer. He screamed in pain and I winced, but continued to make the barrier.

Skin growled at Lavi, "For you to land an attack on me after taking all that damage… We finally found it and now you've got to go and ruin my good mood! Unforgivable! I won't forgive you Exorcists!" He squeezed Lavi's skull harder and dropped the Exorcist with him still holding onto his hammer.

Marie jumped down and restrained Skin from using his fists again with Noel Organon. Lavi activated his Innocence and used his Fire Stamp. Lenalee called out again and I whispered, "Lenalee… keep quiet. I can't allow you to be taken by the Noah."

I looked back as the Akuma got closer to us. It was about to use its attack when General Tiedoll appeared. "Maker of Eden, activate." A huge monster, which Tiedoll called "Art," tackled the Akuma down. While Lavi and Marie were distracted, Skin knocked Marie down. Kanda and Tyki, however, weren't stopping for anything. Tiedoll's Innocence began to rip the Akuma limb from limb as Lenalee kept yelling to be let out.

A hand knocked me back and onto the ground. The Millennium Earl had arrived and he was going to attack the crystal. "Lenalee!" I yelled, knowing what he was going to do to her. Kanda tried to stop him, but Tyki got to him again. Someone jumped down and appeared to break through the crystal. He was dressed in all white as the sky seemed to split. He faced the Millennium Earl.

"It seems we meet again, Allen Walker!" Allen smirked and greeted the Earl in the calmest of ways. He was back, and his Innocence had evolved, too.

I smiled happily, sitting up with a little bit of a struggle. "Allen! You're okay." He looked over to me. He was gripping Lenalee and flashed me a smile. Such an Allen move. "Beat him, Allen."

The Earl chuckled maliciously. "Stupid girl." He reached over and, using his power, knocked me out of the circle around the crystal.

"Allen!" I cried, reaching for the young Exorcist.

-YU KANDA-

Akicho landed near him, and Kanda, forgetting his battle with Tyki, helped her up. "You okay?" he asked quietly. He saw that she was unconscious and breathing heavily. "… Hey. Get up." She moaned a little and he pulled his hand away, noticing that she was bleeding quite a bit. "Damn," Kanda cursed, hoisting her up.

He noticed that Tyki was watching them with interest. "Is she alright?" the Noah asked, somewhat mockingly. Kanda could hear the worry in his voice, however much he tried to hide it. "Exorcist? Is Aki- Is the girl alright?" he demanded more violently this time.

-AKICHO LAMURIA-

I could hear the voices around me. Tyki, Kanda, Lavi, Skin, Marie, and all of them, but not… "Lena… lee?" I asked weakly. "Allen?" I sat up straight and looked around at all the smoke. Lavi was walking into the smoke. Tyki smirked and walked into the smoke along with Skin. "Where are they?" Kanda raised his sword and dashed right through the smoke.

He swung Mugen and yelled, "Hold it, you son of a bitch!" He was going after Tyki. "Bean sprout?" I heard him ask. He clearly found Allen.

"My name's Allen." Yep, that confirmed it.

"What are you doing here?"

"Same to you."

"I was after the Noah with the curly hair." He lowered his sword as I stumbled forward. "Hey, Lavi, where'd he go?" The smoke was clearing. Skin and Tyki, as well as the Earl, were gone, vanished. I barely heard Kanda and Allen fighting as I looked over Lenalee's body. She was covered in bandages and wounds. I grimaced.

Marie came forward. "She's properly bandaged, so it shouldn't be a problem. But… her wounds look bad. She won't be able to fight." I nodded.

Lavi suddenly stood. "Come on, you two! It's supposed to be a happy reunion! Stop fighting!" Marie agreed with the red-haired Exorcist, but the two fighting Exorcists simply sent a pair of death glares at the other two.

"Shut the hell up or I'll cut all your hair off!" They both stared shocked at the two bickering. They continued to argue and I sighed. Reaching over, I slapped both of them on the back of their heads. "Ow! What the hell was that for?" they both demanded, glaring at me angrily.

I sent my own nasty death glare at the two. "Hey, you guys have got to start getting along! We're in enemy territory here, and we've got to keep it together!" I shouted at them.

Almost an hour later, we were all sitting and keeping watch. I was sitting next to Kanda, wrapping bandages around his wrists. "I said I was fine, didn't I?" I heard him ask. I sighed and proceeded to tie the cloth strips much tighter. "Ow! What the hell, woman?" he demanded.

Glaring up at him, I snapped, "You're hurt. Now, shut up and let me help you." He was silent after that. "Sorry. I'm just worried. Now that we're all together, we're an easier target than we used to be. A large group is easier to find than anything else… so we've got to be careful." I tied the ends of the bandage in a knot and smiled up at Kanda. "You know, you were really brave in that battle against Tyki. I'd never be able to stand up to him like that, you know?"

He scoffed. "It wasn't bravery. It was instinct. You have it, too. You know, the way you chose to protect Lenalee instead of yourself. You thought she was important and she was defenseless at that point. You used your power to build a protection against the Noah." I smiled a bit at that. "Hey. We'll win."

Those two words allowed me to sigh once again. "I know." Opening my bag to put the roll of bandages back into the space, I pulled out an apple. "Here. It's the last one. You've done the most fighting. I already gave everyone else something, so…" I pulled at his hand and put the fruit in it.

He stared at it for a bit and then pulled at it, successfully splitting it in two. "You haven't eaten. Here." He handed me a half of the apple and I looked up at him. "You… you earned it," he said almost hesitantly.

-YU KANDA-

She did. She was stronger than she thought. He felt a weight against his shoulder and looked down to see Akicho nibbling on the apple half. "Thank you, Kanda," she whispered. His gaze on her softened. The two Exorcists sat in silence, finishing the last of the food that they had. Kanda was looking out into the distance while Akicho was staring at the ground. It was as peaceful as it could get after an attack. "Hey, Kanda?" he heard her ask.

He looked down at her. "Hm."

She put the last bite of her apple in her mouth and chewed as she reached back to the back of her neck and removed a golden chain. "Here. I want you to take this." On the golden chain was a small teardrop made out of sapphire. "This was my mother's, and she gave it to my sister, who was wearing it when she… um, died…"

Moving to sit behind Kanda, Akicho hooked the necklace around his neck. "Why?"

The question was only one word, but the girl behind him seemed to understand, as she dropped her hands to her sides and replied, "It's brought me good luck whenever I wore it. Now I want to pass it onto you." He touched the sapphire and it seemed to glow. "Do it as a favor to me." As if noticing his long hair in the way for the first time, she asked, "Do you want me to tie your hair up?" She got a grunt in reply.

-AKICHO LAMURIA-

I ran my fingers gently through Kanda's hair before tying it up once again with an extra string I kept in my bag. The sapphire necklace was hidden from view, but both he and I knew he was wearing it. That was what mattered. Despite what he said, I knew we were friends. He showed he cared in his own weird way, on more than one occasion. I did the same.

We had a bond that I didn't have with anyone, even my family. I could tell Kanda anything, and I knew that. He could trust me with his past. I watched him as he walked away to speak with Krory. He seemed skeptical of going so soon, but I put a hand on his shoulder and gestured around. Everyone else seemed to be ready and willing to go, even Lenalee, who was struggling to stand.

We were all going to go find Cross and win this war against the Noah. As Allen extended her hand to Lenalee, a pentacle opened underneath her and a familiar looking, pumpkin-headed, pink umbrella popped up from the star. "Found you!" Lero exclaimed happily. Lenalee began to fall, and I quickly gasped and rushed to grab her hand, diving in after her. The last thing I saw before I fell was Kanda and Allen's shocked faces, along with everyone else.

As Lenalee and I fell, I was gripping her hand with everything I had, hoping that we'd end up wherever we fell to together. But there was something trying to pull us both apart and I knew I was bound to fall somewhere much different than her.

-YU KANDA-

Damn it! Kanda cursed inwardly as he watched the two females in his life fall through a star-shaped portal on the ground. Akicho had locked eyes with him before she fell through and she seemed to send him this small, apologetic smile that he knew to say, "We'll meet each other again."

He wouldn't let her go that easily. She was easy to talk to. So when the bean sprout, the stupid rabbit, and the nameless sailor dove in after them, he had to do, too. The vampire had the same idea, it seemed. A bright flash of pink and then darkness.

I'm coming.

Fail chapter, super sorry. I honestly wanted to update because of a few reasons.

1) I'm going back to school tomorrow, so updates will become less frequent.

2) I changed my username! From "Akira the Wolf Girl" to "xWishfulThinking". Sorry for any confusion!

3) I put a poll up for my next work! I've gotten into a bunch of new anime over the break! So I started a bunch of fics about them. Votes are welcome!

Thanks for reading, review please!