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II. Help me to be strong.

It was never him who was 'strong'. It was always the Exorcists, and he's always been backing them up, always looking up to them and wondering what it was like to be 'strong'.

("Sir, you are so cool!" he, at 8 years old, yells at a man in a black uniform after the stranger destroys the monsters. "I wanna be just like you!")

After Anita-sama and the crew are gone, he accompanies the Exorcists to the Ark. It is his fate to keep supporting them, after all.

And then Lenalee's choking and Lavi and Allen are so badly beaten up. He's the only one there but he's still so weak- what difference can he make?

But he must try, for isn't that his duty? And aren't the crew and Mahojou-sama and Anita-sama by his side?

So he throws himself forward, and then dives toward her as the Ark crumbles under his feet and he prays that his life will not be sacrificed in vain, that Lenalee will live though he dies, that his comrades would win this war.

Inside though, beneath the knowledge that he will not survive, his heart whispers a near-silent prayer that he will be strong enough to live.

And both God and Innocence answer him, as glowing beams of light gather around his hands and grant him strength and a hammer and sword leap out to block the Noah's attack.

As Lavi and Allen charge toward Tyki Mikk, he takes a deep breath and grins.

Because although he was unable to defend against that powerful attack and he's still weak like a child that has barely begun to crawl, he knows he has just become stronger now.

And he decides, in that moment, to continue becoming stronger and to keep growing, no matter what. He will work hard and learn not only to crawl, but to stand and walk and run.

He is weak, but he will become stronger, and that's what matters.

3 months later.

"Sir, you're so cool!" shouts a child from behind him as he throws an akuma across a square. "I wanna be just like you!"

"Kid, you ain't seen nothing yet!" he laughs.

(My journey has just begun, Anita-sama, everyone.)

A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed!

Writing Chaoji... I had to go back and read those chapters again, to get a better sense of him, since I forgot exactly what happened. Heh. But it was tons of fun! Hope you like.

Next chapter... I haven't decided yet. It will probably be either Kanda or Miranda, although you'll see both eventually.