Gracias para los reviews! (Thank you for the reviews!) Especially to Mesonoxian and shia1kazuto3. Thanks so much to all of my readers who have given me the support to keep going! :)

We waited, for what seemed like hours, standing outside as the rain poured down on us even as the water soaked through our clothes and even as the ground formed to mud beneath our worn feet. I looked around our group for a sign of hope, anything really, any emotion other than the emptiness that was clawing at the bottom of my stomach. Whatever it was that I was searching for, I didn't find it in the eyes or expressions of my friends.

We were all close to falling asleep from the energy that we had exerted in battle, and truth be told that a few of us had already slipped into unconsciousness: Chéri rested still in Alma's arms, and for the first time I noted that she was quite... small. She barely reached my chin and I wasn't that tall at only one meter and 63 centimeters.

"Come on, the rain is starting to pick up: we should go and find shelter." I turned to Al, his black eyes staring like mine out into the road as if waiting still for his parents to return, and I would have not thought that he had said a word until he repeated the words, taking my hand and nearly dragging me to the dim lights in the close distance. Though as he did take me away from the road, I continued to gaze back unaware of what was happening around me. It was too much... just too much for one event in time.

I walked into the warm, dry lobby of the inn that we had trudged into, my eyes scanning around the room with renewed suspicion; I seemed to not be able to be sure now whom to trust or now what to do. What could I do at this point? Minnie smiled at me with a hopeful smile, and sighing I tried to return the gesture though my lips seemed almost to be frozen in time. What could I do? '

Sit and wait.' A voice muttered softly in my mind.

~.~.~0~.~.~

Alistair watched his best friend out of the corner of his eye. Never before had he seen her like this... never before had he ever felt this useless... he knew that he couldn't do a single thing to rewrite what was happening to them, though, maybe... every thing would end up to be alright. Yes, all that he had to do was keep the optimism like Minnie. Everything would be alright. They would be fine: the adults would come back and they would not have to do this on their own.

He gave a heavy groan and shook his head: who was he fooling? All that he now had was his little sister, his best friend, and two other teens that he didn't even know. Oh, and the vilion. One of the reasons that they were attacked. Great now he really just wanted to set it aflame and watch it burn.

Suddenly a hand bumped against his shoulder, and he found himself looking into rust colored eyes, the eyes of the older man that had fought with them. There was a slightly reasurring glimmer in his irises, and a small smile wavered at his lips. He seemed to act as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, as if all of this pain and fighting was something that was nothing-out-of-the-ordinary.

Then Alistair realized something: how much had this guy who only had a few years on him gone through? How much had he lost? How could he handle all that was thrown at him in this time of war? How had he simply left his guardian without a single glace back? How?

"How do you do it?" He asked, and Alma turned away for a moment, thinking, before answering, "I do all that I can with what is thrown at me." He looked at the still form of his comrade-in-arms who was resting on one of the sofas in the inn.

"Do you really hate her?" his brown eyes looked up, shocked, into obsidian orbs of curiosity before smiling, "Of course I do: I know her too well not to." Though as he turned back Al noticed a look, not of hate, but of worry that was directed at the young woman.

~.~.~0~.~.~

I woke up groggily to something pulling at my hair sharply, and I sleepily batted it away with the palm of my hand and a soft, "Get the hell away."

Though soon it came back with a vengeance, nipping, biting, and batting me with what seemed to be little paws and teeth. Again I shoo-ed it away. Finally it seemed to get the picture and left me alone. Sighing I snuggled back into my covers and~WHAM!!

"WHAT THE HELL?!" My cry awoke Chéri and Minnie, the first jolting up and grimacing in pain, and the other exploding from her dream in a flurry of sheets and quilts before landing on the hardwood floors with a resounding 'thump'. Tim, which had been the annoyance of earlier dispute, was thrown against a wall yet again in the panic and after a moment of strangled silence a low, tired voice seemed to fill the air.

"Elena... Elena, can you hear me?" A sort of epiphany flooded into my veins, for I knew that tone all too well: it was my own, dearly beloved....

"UNCLE LINK!!!" I was sure that my scream awoke the entire inn, as the boys both came running in, clad in their oh so heroic t-shirts and boxers, one already equipped with his weapon out, his brown eyes looking around for blood to be shed.

All that they found was us girls crowding around Timcampy as my uncle's voice protruded out of the little robot's mouth area. Alma's face broke into the widest grin that I had seen yet as he called out, "Señor Link... my father... is he~"

"DAMARE, KONO KUSO-TTARE!" Was heard distantly in the background, and Chéri let out a whoop of delight and I could distinctively hear Uncle Marie and Aunt Miranda both attempting to get through to their kids. Though that was not the voice that I was hearing for, and then it caught my ears, and rang there like a bell.

"Elena, dear, are you alright?" It was soft and sounded very worn, though never before had I ever felt such a wave of relief rush over my body and drown me in its wake. Shakily I nodded my head, not caring if she couldn't see it, then slowly, stuttering slightly managed to mutter, "Yes Momma, I'm fine. A-are you all uninjured?"

There was a silence that was followed by a soft sniffle on both ends of the connection, and Auntie Kanda yelling out something in Japanese frantically attempting to get my mom to stop crying. I didn't care, because I too felt shameless tears of relief flow down the bridge of my nose and into my lap. I barely noticed when Minnie and Al began to squeeze me so tight that I could barely breath. Thogu hfor one I really didn't care about my personal bubble being intruded. I was too relieved

The adults came into the room, tracking in mud, absolutly drenched in rain, and beat up. But we had never been so happy to see them. In fact I do believe that that was one of the first times that I had thrown my arms around both of my 'parents' for a hug since I was five.

~.~.~0~.~.~

Ten days later...

Slowly I trudged through the cobblestone streets of Paris, looking on as Al and Minnie raced ahead, for this had been the first time that they had ever seen its river's tranquil waters, or the stone marvel that was Notre Dame.

We had moved foreward to France in the vain hope that we would be able to find either Timothy Hearst or Bak Chan. This was the last place that Tim had been able to pick either of them up on his little radar. Though so far we were empty handed and battle worn from all of the fighting that we were forced to participate in.

Though over the past few days I had been able to nearly perfect my sword play, seeing as I was often forced to train with Auntie Kanda, because he was the only other sword weapon. Not to mention it was either I train with him or Chéri, and I would rather be given a clean death with a sword instead of a slow and agonising end with a spear stuck in my gut.

Slowly the world around me had crept in to my mind and as much as I hated to say it, I was slowly beginning to become used to the never ending fights and the fact that you could barely get a wink of sleep without being attacked. Finally I was beginning to feel what Auntie Kanda was made to go through for all of his life, and well, lets just say that I was starting to understand why he seemed to have a stick up his ass all the time.

So now here we were. Thankfully the adults had paid for new clothes, so I had picked a dark, red cotten jacket and a dark navy skirt(Though that was only because all the pants that the shop that we went to carried were mens'... stupid sexist owner.)

Chéri was dressed in simple slacks (They were male), and a black, long sleeve t-shirt and a burgundy jacket, same as Alma, only his was looser and his shirt had shorter sleeves, so that they rolled down to the middle of his fore arms. Though the only reason that Chéri had chose long sleeves was because of her Innocence and the fact that she didn't like it when people stared... which they did quite often.

Minnie had dressed herself into a pair of dark shorts, and a form-fitting, garnet tank top with a denim cut off jacket around her shoulders(She was getting alot of attention from most of the males that past by us, though they all quickly turned away at the look on both her father and brother's faces. She would simply look at them with curious eyes and back at me where I would be massaging my forehead. Stupid, innocently sweet, little Minnie.). Her hair had also been placed into corn rows. Alister had really just traded in his simple black attire for another unoriginal dark attire. Lazy and boring! (I had thrown a fit when he had bought them seeing as he rarely ever wore any colors besides gray. Stupid goth of a friend... stupid self for calling said stupid goth friend, "Stupid".)

That is the only thing that gets me about Al: he never likes to do anything besides stay cooped up in his room and play music or write. He is LAZY! Minnie on the other hand was the complete opposite and could probably run six miles without stopping for breath. But I love them both anyway.

Chéri walked beside me, muttering something in quick French to Auntie Kanda before taking off into the collection of street vendors dragging Alma and me behind her.

While we were looking, the low and constant beat of drums and the distant sound of marching filled my ears as rang there for a moment. Finally ripping my eyes away from what looked to be a really expensive necklace I managed to turn and look at my two older friends, as the older girl bartered for a scarf that a vendor was selling, and from the looks of it she was getting into quite a heated argument. They wouldn't really notice if I was gone for a moment would they? I figured not, and broke into slight sprint.

The sight in front of me gave me a start, for large squads of troops marched out of the city from beneath one of the main arches, and I found my curiosity growing with every second. They bore the mark of the Allies, and I knew at that moment that the war that would supposedly end all wars was starting. And with that war would come more tragedy and with tragedy and death came Akuma.

A sigh came from behind me, "Another war, more tragady to fuel the fires." I looked around to see a man in his thirties watching the army march out. His red hair glinted in the bright sun, though his one visable green eye was weary and slightly stonic, the other remained hidden under a mop of red bangs. From his accent he didn't sound French. A long and tattered scarf hung around his neck: it was a pale cream and had probably been a rich orange at one point. There was a smile on his face that reminded me of someone that I knew long ago. Then it all just seemed to click.

"U-uncle...Lavi?"

~.~.~0~.~.~

A black portal surrounded by a faint glow of purple exploded into the a white room. A piano rested in the right corner looking alone and unused as a older man entered the sanctuary that he called his room. Without much of a warning he collapsed onto the couch and reached up with his left hand as if trying to grab something but instead he just gazed at the black arm with a helpless expression before bringing it down to rest over the row of crosses that lined his forehead like a crown.

Suddenly his one golden eye flickered for a moment into a stormy gray, though it suddenly flashed back again as the man's mask crumbled to reveal an expression of pain that was both physical and metal. He sat up for a moment before looking into the wall, that reflected like a mirror. In the mirror the man's reflection shone back with a furious expression, at least it looked to be his reflection though there was the fact that it's eyes were both a stormy gray and a pure white cloak shrouded it's shoulders.

"What is bothering you Allen? Have I not done what you asked and eliminated the Thousand Year Duke?" The Noah asked and the reflection quivered for a moment in absolute rage before striking out, "You betrayed me. I never said anything about attacking them! I said to warn them of what was to come!" The Golden Noah simply laughed at the figure, "I am the Fourteenth, the betrayer of the First Earl, what makes you believe that I would ever be loyal to the likes of you?" he turned his multicolored gaze to the man in the mirror, "Besides that girl will be the next 'you'. She is the next Destroyer of Time, and if I do not put a stop to her she will end up being the end to us both."

Allen wavered with anger, "I care not about if she will be the death of me, she is my daughter and you are not going to harm her."

Golden gaze met gray, "Oh? Just what can you do to stop me, my Little Friend in a Looking-Glass? You will simply have to wait out the moment to take charge as I have done with you." Much to his surprise the trapped male simply gave a low chuckle.

"I figured as much. That is why I made sure to make you both equal. Just as it with you and me, I refuse to allow for you to obtain the upper hand of the playing-cards again, my friend." The Fourteenth's eyes filled with rage and he opened his mouth to question what the Once General had just said when the image began to fade, and with one last smirk the illusion disappeared from view.

The Fourteenth eyes widened and suddenly he let loose an outraged cry as there was the sound of glass being shattered.

Though it did not matter to Allen.

He had finally escaped.

~.~.~0~.~.~

Roade walked through the gleaming white city, though her normally happy slightly insane eyes were clouded with annoyance and worry. It wasn't like the Fourteenth to let anyone off as easily as he had with his former allies. She thought... no knew, that he didn't care about them! He had locked Allen up in the Fourteenth's room to make sure that that wouldn't happen! There was no way that he could... why had he acted the way that he did?

He had let the girl and her friends escape, then he, the supposedly indistructable Musician, had been beaten down. By that old hag of a Crystal type no less! He could... no: should have, been able to destroy that whimp of a butterfly within three seconds.

Blood dripped down the knuckle of her left index finger as she bit it in thought and anger. It wasn't fair! She and the others were his family now, couldn't he see that?

"No," she muttered to herself, "You're still an Exorcist at heart, aren't you Allen? That's why no matter what we do you won't leave the Fourteenth's mind. You seem to be able to falter his every move." A small smile pasted her dark lips as she gave a small sigh and turned to the voice of Tyki call her.

Though as she did she knew that something was wrong the moment that she looked into his gold orbs that contained a bitter agitation mixed with a slight tint of worry. She already knew what had happened before he had even opened his mouth to speak.

She had already taken off running by the time that he had finished the three word sentence.

Allen is gone.

Okay, as to the time period of this story I made it around the time World War I started because the original -man seems to be at the rise of tension that led to the Great War. So that's about 1917.

If you are asking why they are all dressed in red and black the simple answer is that I thought that their clothes should resemble the original Exorcist outfits, and seeing as the latest ones are those colors, I used them.

Character Charts:

Name:Kanda Alma

Birthday: October 8

Age: 17

Place of Birth: Spain

Description: A teen who really just want to have a good, normal life. Though that is not possible in the war zone that he has become accustomed to throughout the years. So instead he simply smiles and tries to make his home with what he is give... which isn't much. He was born off of the main city of Santander. He was separated from his parents at a very young age, and soon found the popularly-called 'General' Kanda Yuu. At the age of five he took to following the man, and after many hardships and near-deaths he gained the power of Innocence. After doing so the General took him in as an adopted son and an a 'student' of sorts. At the age of seven his 'father' took him to a small town in France where Akuma numbers had grown horribly high. There they met Chéri, and the two's personalities clashed. Ever since then they have had an ongoing hate/dislike relationship. Though that is true, he is quite protective over her and they fight along side one another nearly flawlessly.

Likes: Sleeping, eating, Kanda Yuu, Spanish, and surfing.

Dislikes: Kanda Alma, singing, French, drawing, and being woken up.

Translations:

Fleur de Morte-'Bloom of Death'; French

Señor-'The equivalent of Sir'; Spanish

DAMARE KONO KUSO-TTARE-'Shut up, you Asshole'; Japanese

Kuso-'Shit'; Japanese

Merde- 'Shit'; French

Please Read and Review!! :)

Marine