So, we're nearing the end of this fic. This is not the final chapter, no, but we're getting there. Probably two or three more chapters? Yeah, something like that. Not more than that, though, because if I keep going then I won't be able to stop and eventually lose inspiration and if there is one thing I hate, it's an unfinished story. I want to finish it properly and I hope you are going to enjoy these last few chapters.

~Call of Duty~

'Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.'

Allen could not exactly remember who had spoken that line, but whoever did it was a true genius. Allen found that he completely agreed with the notion and he wished so, so much that it could be true for him. But alas, his large, loving, caring, close-knit family just had to live in the same town as him.

And currently, two of said family members were sitting right next to him, in a bar, chatting casually about different ways to kill their enemy without raising suspicion while drinking their seventh glass of- what was it again? Allen could not remember.

You know, your typical family outing.

"So, we stick around to make sure that they really are Black Order members and then kill them?" asked Neah, "I dunno, it doesn't sound like a very good plan to me. And what about Hitler wannabe's assistant?"

"If you have a better plan then say it," said Cross, "I don't see you coming up with anything useful."

Neah knitted his eyebrows. "Cross, I can't function properly with the knowledge that my midnight fortune cookies were wasted for nothing. I was going to predict the best fortune for you."

Allen decided to intervene at that moment. "I don't get it, why were you baking at past midnight, again?"

Cross grimaced. "I don't really want to know." His face was contorted in an ugly scowl as if he was constipated. Allen could not tell whether it was because of the alcohol or the thought of Neah's fortune cookies. He figured that it was probably the latter, because when has alcohol ever managed to faze Cross?

Neah huffed. "I don't get why you two are so stuck up on that. Can't a man enjoy his cookies in peace?"

"No," Allen and Cross retorted synchronously, "Not at midnight."

Neah looked very irritated because of that, or maybe it was the alcohol. Allen had learned over the years, through some painful experiences that he would very much like to forget, that Neah was a very unpredictable drunk. Sad and irritated and totally out of his mind. One time, he got so drunk that he pole-danced in a french bar and Cross had to knock him out and drag him away.

They never visited France again after that.

OK, now he was just getting off topic.

Wait a second, they hadn't been on the topic to begin with. What were they supposed to be talking about again?

"Hey guys, I don't think that's what we should be talking about right now. Weren't we discussing about how to get rid of the Order without leaving any evidence?"

"Aha!" Neah exclaimed, "Now I remember my argument! Evidence! That's what I was talking about. Why are you two bothering with hiding evidence? Most of the time, you're the ones with flashiest kills."

Cross and Allen looked at him like he was the most idiotic, stupidest, dumbest person in the world. Which he most definitely was not.(was)

"Campbell, they think I'm fucking dead. How the fuck do you think they're gonna react if they learn that their members have been killed by a dead person?"

"I think they'll buy it," said Neah thoughtfully, "They've always been rather big on the occult stuff. They probably won't even question it if we told them that the Millennium Earl can bring back the dead."

Allen snorted. "Yeah sure, but it's not like we're living in a world where the Earl can bring back the dead with, I don't know, just a call or something?"

"Yeah," Cross joined in, "It's not like the Noahs are some occult freaks who bring back the dead and think they are superior than other humans. It's not like I have a magic gun or anything, or like Allen's cursed by some demon or shit."

"Or like Road can control dreams and Tyki can pass through anything," said Allen, "That would be horrible."

"Or as if Wisely can read minds," said Cross, and then added, "Actually, I think Wisely can read minds."

Neah huffed irritably, "Yeah, yeah, I got it already. We're not living in a world where the dead can return with just a call and the Noahs have superpowers. Got it, got it. No need to rub it in."

Of course they were not living in a world like that. That would just be ridiculous.

"Right, so now we are back to square one," said Allen.

"So... now what?" asked Cross.

"We could go back and I could bake my cookies in peace?" Neah suggested. However, his idea was promptly shot down by Cross and Allen's synchronous, "Shut up."

"Okay," said Allen, taking a deep breath, "Here's what we're gonna do. We go back to the inn and wait for them to return, if they haven't come back already. And after we've made sure that they really are who you think they are, then... I don't know, we'll poison them maybe? 'Cause we can't afford to have a fight and knifes could be too messy."

"Can't," Cross grunted, "Don't have poison with me. I wasn't really planning on having to kill Order assholes when we left the house."

"Yeah, I don't have any with me either," said Neah, "But maybe Allen could just start eating in front of them and they'll die in disgust?"

Cross actually looked like he was considering the idea, while Allen just gave him an annoyed look. "Been there, done that, and they're still alive. We had dinner together at the inn."

Neah sighed. "Fine then, we will go to the inn and wait for them to show up. And then we'll think of how to kill them later on. Deal?"

"Deal," said Allen and Cross at the same time. They seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

When Allen, Neah and Cross finally reached the inn after a lot of wrong turns from Allen's part and lots of scoldings from Cross's, it turned out that their targets had already reached the inn before them.

They looked drunk, Allen noted. After years of living with Cross fucking Marian, Allen could tell apart a drunk and sober person with his eyes closed. And Lavi actually was not talking for once, and Lenalee's way-too-short skirt had been replaced with pants(which he was extremely glad for. He was not sure what Cross might have done if she was still in the skimpy skirt of hers, enemy or not). And wait, were those cat ears on Kanda's head?

As soon as Cross and Neah laid eyes on them, they sucked in a breath.

"Yup, no doubt, it's them alright," Cross whisper-growled. Yes, it is possible to growl and whisper at the same time, if you are Cross Marian, womanizer extraordinaire.

"And that's definitely Hitler wannabe's assistant," Neah grimaced, "I remember him from when he came to my house to give pie when we first moved in."

Allen honestly felt slightly disappointed. He had been getting along with these people just fine, even better than he did with most of the Noahs. It was too bad that these people just so happened to be his mortal enemies.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Allen.

"Approach them, I guess," said Neah, "Maybe they don't know who Cross is. But just to be safe, let's use a fake name."

"I know just what to do," said Allen, a little of his Black persona seeping through, "Just leave it to me."

Allen walked up to the table where Kanda, Lenalee, Lavi, and Link were seated. It was Kanda who noticed him first and he greeted him with a nod of acknowledgement and a grunt of,

"Beansprout."

Lavi also turned to look at him and gave him a wolfish grin, "Hey, beansprout-Chan~ Looks like you won the contest. All of us are soo~ wasted!"

Allen snorted. "Yeah, I can see that. And please refrain from calling me a beansprout, my name is Allen."

"Yeah, yeah," Lavi waved him off, "Who are these people with you?"

"Oh, this are my uncles. Happened to run into them in town. This here is Uncle Ned," Allen gestured to Neah, "And this is Uncle Freddy."

Behind them, Cross choked on his spit. He turned to Allen with an aghast look that said, Freddy? FREDDY? Why would you name me Freddy? WHY? Because Freddy was the name of the one debt collector who managed to get hold of Cross once. Ever since that incident, Cross had never spoken to anyone named Freddy and refused to see any movies or TV shows with characters that had the name. Although Allen personally liked the Freddy guy just fine.

Neah was trying hard to keep in his laughter, causing him to have a constipated look on his face. Unfortunately, Lenalee took notice of it, and immediately switched to her mother-hen form.

"Are you okay?" she asked Neah concernedly, "You don't look so good. Maybe you should hit the hay now. In fact, neither of you three look any good. You should all get some sleep."

"Funny you should say that, Lena," said Lavi, laughing in a good-natured way, "We all look much worse than they do."

Kanda gave them a suspicious eye. "So, you just happened to run into your uncles named Ned and Freddy just across the street? Isn't that awfully convenient? They look like suspicious people. Even their names are suspicious."

Allen pretended to be hurt, although he was actually laughing inside his head. "Kanda, you might be a jerk to me, but you are not being a jerk to my uncles. I they're suspicious, then I am too. Do I look suspicious to you?"

"Yes."

Wow, no hesitation whatsoever. That actually hurt.

The whole time, Link had not spoken a word. He had a rather confused look on his face, as if he had seen Neah and Cross before but could not remember where. Now that Allen thought about it, he must have seen at least Neah before, because otherwise how could Neah have known that he could bake? Oh man, bringing those two here was starting to seem like a really bad idea now.

And Kanda was also already suspicious. Allen could only hope that the Order ones would be killed by the night and Link would be too hungover to remember anything in the morning. Yes, that seemed like as good a plan as any.

"You know what?" Link finally spoke, "It has gotten very late. We should all go to sleep and maybe have this conversation in the morning?"

"What an excellent idea!" Neah entered the conversation, "Yes, you are totally right, we should all get to our rooms and get some sleep."

Link once again gave a funny look to Neah but otherwise said nothing. They all started clearing out of the lobby and into their respective rooms. Allen led Neah and Cross to the room he had booked for himself. He knew that neither of them was going to get any sleep that night.

As soon as they were inside the room, Cross exploded.

"What the fuck, idiot apprentice? Freddy? FREDDY?"

"Now, now, this isn't the time for that, "Neah cut in smoothly with an amused smile, "Let's get to more pressing matters now, shall we?"

Cross gave Allen an I-will-kill-you-later glare and then turned to Neah. "Right, so what do we do?"

Neah started to answer but before he could, a loud ringtone reverberated through the room, instantly making them aware that someone was calling Neah. Neah fumbled in his pant pockets in search of his phone and it took him a few more seconds to figure out that it was actually in his breast pocket. Why would he keep his phone in his breast pocket?

Neah finally managed to receive the call after a hundred days. "Hello?"

"Neah~ Why did it take so long for you to pick up? Actually, you know what? Never mind, I don't wanna know." Now that was a voice Allen knew all to well. Road effing Kamelot. Why was she calling? At this ungodly hour, no less. Wasn't it past her bed time already? Oh right, Sheril wasn't home. And why was Neah's phone in loudspeaker?

"Road, why are you calling? Don't tell me it's because you can't open your packet of candy again?" Neah asked, his nose crinkled.

"Eh? No! I can open candy packets by myself!"

"No, you can't," said Neah, "But that's not the point. Why you calling?"

"Well, you know, tomorrow is THE DAY? Or is it today? Anyways, we're going to celebrated it tomorrow evening. You and Allen and Cross better be home before afternoon or else Tyki and I are coming to pick you up. Just wanted to let you know. Bye!"

Before Neah could say anything else, Road ended the call. Neah look up at Cross and Allen, only to see that they were just as confused as him.

"What did she mean? The day? What day?" asked Allen.

The three of them went into deep thinking mode. It was Allen who figured it out first.

"OH, I get it! It's the day!" exclaimed Allen. And then Neah got it.

"Oh, it's that day!"

But Cross still didn't get it. "It's what day?"

It took another ten minutes for Cross to register what day it was. "Oh, that."

It took another ten minutes for all of them to register what kind of danger they were all in.

"But that means..." started Neah, horror evident on his face.

"That we'll only have until morning to kill the enemies and brainwash the police and..." Allen half-completed.

"We'll have to get get to the manor by afternoon," finished Cross, "Yeah, no sweat. Can't be worse than having to deal with Freddy and having to drag Neah out of a French bar when he was pole dancing."

Neah's indignant "Hey!" could be heard all across the town.

Right, so I finally managed to write this chapter. Sorry it took so long to update it. Leave your reviews and tell me what you think. There would probably not be an update next week, but I'll see what I can do. Until next time.