Reckoning
Chapter 13
the winner takes it all

I didn't know where I was going, but I knew that Tyki had to be somewhere around here. He may have been in Road's room, but if that was true, than maybe Road would be easier to find than I thought.

Skin… Kanda… I would get out of here. Maybe, just maybe, I would be able to keep going for them. I was still crying, and I had to wonder if the others were, too. Jasdero, Debitto, Lulu, Tyki, and Road… were they crying for their lost comrade? I also wondered if Allen and the rest of them knew that something happened to Kanda. I wondered if they knew that he was… dead.

I sighed again, letting my back lean against another door. It wasn't Tyki's door, so I didn't see any reason behind me staying. I just couldn't go on with trying to get out of the Ark by myself, knowing that two of my friends, one of them being my family, were dead. I came across the door I knew very well. It was the only plain one with a patched up hole in the center.

Skin…

When I opened it, I saw a group of four very familiar faces. "Road… so you guys know that he's dead…" I assumed, seeing the tears running down their gray faces. "I'm so sorry…" Jasdero began to wail and clung to me like he would when we were little. I wrapped my arms around him. "It's going to be okay, Jas. Skin's going to be fine. He was strong, stronger than anyone in terms of will. He'll be fine."

The twins began to sob, and even Tyki sniffed a bit. "But aren't you twins supposed to be hunting down Cross?" Apparently, they had been for a while, and they'd gotten back when I came in. "You two failed again, didn't you?"

… Again?

Fire seemed to swarm around the two. "Yeah, so we failed? There a problem?" Debitto spat, glaring fiercely at the Noah of Pleasure.

"Maybe I should start hunting him," Tyki mused, the tears finally gone from his face. I sighed. Another pointless twins versus Tyki argument. So that probably meant that this "Cross" guy was really good. He even managed to slip the bill to the twins, literally. But Jasdevi wasn't the name written on the bills. Allen Walker was. Which meant that Cross knew who was hunting him… right?

Road turned to me. "I know why you're here. But I can't help you until the other Exorcists get here." A smirk overtook her face. "That is, if they get here." She smirked.

-ALLEN WALKER-

Allen was leading his friends through the empty hallway. It was long, and Kanda still hadn't caught up. Beer bottles were rolling towards them and a voice called, "A bomb is in one of those bottles~ You have to find it before time runs out, or you'll all go boom!" The voice chuckled.

All of the bottles looked familiar. They were all brands that Allen had been forced to bring back to Cross. The bomb was in the most expensive one. Allen finally realized it, but it was getting too late. Lavi had the brilliant idea of repeating their fun game of baseball to deactivate it.

Then it struck Allen. Could Cross be in the Ark, too?

-AKICHO LAMURIA-

I grimaced. Road's brilliant idea was to send Jasdevi in to kill the others. Wonderful. Either they'd win and the Exorcists would be dead… or Jasdevi would have their asses handed to them. Knowing those two, they'd use pranks and other things to trick the Exorcists. I sighed. Yep, Jasdevi was doomed. They'd probably use what they learned from hunting Cross.

This would be interesting. I knew that Allen was a whiz at cards and all types of gambling, so if Jasdevi even tried it, they were done. Even if Allen cheated, they wouldn't have any proof against him.

Oh yeah, they were sooo dead.

-ALLEN WALKER-

Oh… now he understood. The twin Noah had been tricked by Master, too. But those bills were absolutely nothing compared to what Allen had gone through while training under Cross.

… To be totally honest, the two were kind of stupid.

Then the blonde twin, Jasdero cheered, "But if we didn't fail, we wouldn't have gotten to see Akicho again!" The other twin, Debitto, nodded in agreement. "She's saved us more than once. You've met her, right?"

Allen's eyes narrowed. "She saved you?"

Debitto shrugged nonchalantly. "She is part of our family. She'll always be family, even though she's one of you guys now. The only one of us she can't stand is the Earl. To be honest, he's too scary for us. But she's like… our third part. We wouldn't be Jasdevi without her."

Finally losing his temper, Allen demanded, "Where is she?!"

After exchanging a look with his brother, Debitto answered, "She's with Tyki and Road. She wants to get you guys out, or she would've gotten out herself. She can do that, you know." The white-haired Exorcist's eyes widened. "Yeah, she seemed really desperate. I guess it was because of that other guy who got left behind. What's his name… Ah, she never mentioned his name."

Kanda? What happened to Kanda?

-AKICHO LAMURIA-

Oh, those idiot twins… What had they gotten themselves into now? I sighed. Tyki looked over to me, then back down and said, "You've been sighing an awful lot. Is it because of that Exorcist that got left behind in Skin's room?" I looked away from his prying golden gaze and towards the bookshelf. I could practically hear Tyki's lips turning up in a smirk. "I think that's a yes."

I huffed and replied, "He was too strong to die like that. He probably would rather have died in battle than get killed by a collapsing room." More tears welled up in my eyes and I quickly wiped them away. "Kanda was always like that."

Tyki looked over once again with a smirk. "You really care about them. Especially the one you called 'Kanda,' right?" The blood rushed to my face and I nodded slowly. "You know, you never had emotions this strong before. They were always slight emotions, like hints of something bigger," he said amusedly. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back onto the chair. "Now… now I can hear a heartbeat, and it's coming from you."

I looked up sharply. A heart… beat? Akuma like me didn't have hearts. "I have a heartbeat?" I asked softly. Tyki nodded. I placed my hand over where my heart should be and felt it. A pulse, a steady beat… and it was mine. "How is this possible?" I asked myself in disbelief. "I shouldn't have a heart."

The Noah of Pleasure shrugged. "I don't know, Aki."

He called me… Aki… "You haven't called me that since I was little." He nodded, either not caring or not listening. "It's nice to hear you call me that again." I smiled, tugging my legs to my chest. "I just wish that you, and me, and the Noah, and the Exorcists could all stay nice… you know, as friends."

He laughed coldly. "No way that would ever happen. But Aki, know that you are the connection between us and the Exorcists." His hand reached out to pat my head, once again, like he used to. "Just don't die on us, alright?" His signature smirk came back to his face as he said that. "I have one more question. Have you ever felt anything special for one of the Exorcists?"

Special? "Like what?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. "They're all my friends. The ones I met, at least. I've met the only Exorcists left, except for Cross, Klaud, and Socalo, and they're Generals. They're all so nice to me…"

Shaking his head, he replied, "No, that's not the kind of special I was talking about. Special meaning what you feel when you like someone a lot."

"A lot?" I asked. "Like when you want to stay with someone forever?" I smiled. "Not really, but sometimes, I feel this urge pulling me to someone… It's usually Kanda, you know?"

He smirked and patted my head again. "You're so stupid. You love him."

I blinked several times, a confused look spreading over my face. "Love?" I asked carefully. "Why would I be in love with Kanda? It's not like he'll be one to love me back. I'm an Akuma, and he's an Exorcist. There's no way it'd work, just like the way you and I were never meant to work out, either."

Tyki nodded and said, "Well, we're still family, no matter what happens, right? And that's all that really matters. Besides," he paused, "You know, the moment I mentioned your name, he began to fume, and seemed almost worried about you."

Gaping at him, I disbelievingly repeated, "Kanda? Worried? Why would he worry about me?" Kanda wasn't the type to worry about people. He was more or less the type to take a look at suffering, scoff, and walk away, not looking back. He had helped me lots times, but even so, that didn't mean that he was worried…

He shrugged again. "Maybe he loves you?" Tyki suggested calmly.

It just wasn't possible. There was no way.

-ALLEN WALKER-

Those two shot each other. But they didn't die; their shadows combined, and they formed Jasdevi, the Noah of Bonds. Krory was thrown into a bookshelf, landing quite loudly and painfully, and Allen couldn't even touch Jasdevi without getting hurt. They even wanted to use Allen to destroy their way out. Every part about them was strong. Their hair, their illusions, and all of their attacks. No one could get a useful attack in without getting hurt badly.

Jasdevi was born as one Noah, but they split and became two, Jasdero and Debitto. And now, Krory was going to face him. He wanted to face him alone, with no help from his fellow Exorcists. The others didn't want to leave him, especially since the room was reaching its destruction.

"With these wounds, I won't be able to fight for very long. So I want you to take Lenalee and Chaoji and go. You have to protect them."

Get going.

Kanda… now Krory? How many more would they lose against these Noah? But Allen couldn't stay hooked on that for long. They all ran through the door, Allen half dragging Lenalee to the next room.

-AKICHO LAMURIA-

I was watching Krory fighting Jasdero and Debitto, or Jasdevi. Krory was getting thrown, kicked, punched, and, overall, beaten badly. I gasped as he was thrown into a bookshelf for another time. Taunting Krory would get them nowhere, but I knew that Krory was too injured to keep Jasdevi from going through the door.

I couldn't watch him die. Rushing back up to Road's room, I saw her pulling different dresses from a rack. "Akicho! Which one looks best?" the blue-haired Noah asked, holding up a blue dress and a white dress.

Pointing to one, I replied, "The blue one."

She giggled happily and skipped of to make dinner and change. Tyki was smirking a little, and he told me, "She's infatuated with Allen Walker. He's made it past everyone and is coming here." He didn't seem too excited. "You know, two of those Exorcists didn't make it here."

Nodding, I quietly replied, "I know. Kanda and Krory stayed behind to defeat Skin and Jasdevi. I just hope that Jasdevi's okay, too." I sat down in Road's chair and continued, "It's not like I don't care about Krory or Kanda, it's just that I don't want any of my family to die." Tyki looked over to me and I looked at him, half smiling, half crying. "Everyone in this Ark is my family. If I lose my family, I'll have no one left."

Tyki's smirk fell a little. "Don't worry," he said, putting his hand on mine. "You'll always have someone, whether it be Noah or Exorcist. I'll always be there. Kanda and Skin will always be in your memories. Allen Walker and the others will be, too. The Noah will stay with you." He sighed and ran his other hand through his hair. "Ugh, that was so sappy. I cannot believe I just said that." I giggled a little. "Well, at least I got you to laugh."

"Yeah," I quietly said. "You were always the one who was able to do that."

He looked up to the ceiling and asked, "Was Kanda?"

I smiled a little. "Yes. He was."

Smirking again, he looked down to me. "Then I guess… he's close to you." He smiled a sort of half-smile. "I'm glad that he's that close to you. You finally care about someone that hadn't been around since you were little." His hand that laid on mine found its way to my head, where he patted my head. "I don't think he's dead. If your friend Allen Walker makes it past me, he may have the power to bring him back."

My head fell onto his shoulder. "I hope you're right."

Our conversation was interrupted by Road's cry of, "Allen!" and a whole bunch of other commotion. Tyki smirked and pulled on his coat and tie, smoothing back his hair. He sat in a large chair, which he probably pulled from the dinner table.

He sighed. "Road, what are you doing? Do you like the boy that much?" I was now standing behind him, leaning on the chair. That damn card started to fly around, squeaking that Allen was still alive.

Allen Walker was alive. "Allen! Lenalee!" I cried, running forward. Lenalee was the first to notice who I was. She pulled her arms around me when I ran to hug her. "I thought you were all dead!" I wailed, burying my head in her shoulders. "Allen…" He sheepishly opened his arms for a hug. I slapped the back of his head.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head. "Akicho… what was that for, huh?" His eyes showed confusion, as much as he tried to hide it. "Are you really that mad that- Oh. This is about Kanda, isn't it?"

I finally reached over and hugged him. "You idiot. Just don't worry me like that ever again."

He smiled a little. "I'll try."

Tyki's loud voice cut through the joyful reunion. "Sit down. Let's eat. I just want to talk to you before we fight." So he was going to fight Allen. I guess he was angry that he wasn't able to kill the white-haired Exorcist the first time. "Akicho, you sit down, too. This talk includes you."

Allen shook his head. "Sorry, but I think I'll refuse. I like to take my time when I eat." That he did; Allen was a bottomless pit. But I sighed, pulled out another chair, and sat down. "Akicho?"

Looking at him, I told him, "When Tyki says that he wants to talk to you, it's usually important. Except if it's about where I hid his favorite top hat."

"That was once, and you brought it upon yourself," Tyki quipped, swallowing some of his food. "Now… Allen Walker, do you want to know how much time you have left?" The whole Ark was collapsing. "This tower that we're in is the only place left in the entire Ark."

Lenalee was frantic. Her friends were gone. Road kicked the door shut. "I'm sorry, guys," I apologized. "But family comes first with me. Even so," I looked up, "Tyki, you should know that I will never forgive you if anyone else is hurt. Kanda and Krory are gone. There's nothing I can do. Now, will all four of you just sit down? This is going to be important." I picked up a fork and began to eat slowly, listening to all four of the Exorcists take their seats. This was going to be a long day.

Kind of short, but this is where everything starts. All the pieces will connect soon, and you'll realize everything.

Short A/N, but oh well!