Wassup my readers? :) Who reads these author notes anyways? xD Anyway, since school is about to begin for me in a few days (ahem, I mean TUESDAY. NOOOO) I'm not sure if I'll be able to update regularly again...ahaha. But, we'll see where this takes us, so please stay tuned!

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Chapter 38: We Will Return

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Nova's POV

Ah...I missed this. I grinned as I leaned my head into Kanda's chest while we walked. His scent encircled me as his arm pulled me closer to him, making my heart flutter. We were all headed for the Earl now. However we were moving at a slower pace because of me. I felt bad but I understood. They didn't want whatever was inside me to keep spreading. As we walked, there was the mutual thought that lingered in all of our minds. That involved me and my condition.

When we face the Earl, when we fight, will it spread far enough to kill me?

There was a sense of foreboding deep within my soul that something would happen, but I didn't want to acknowledge it. I wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to Kanda or any of the others. They were everything to me. As I quietly listened in to the other conversations within the team and saw that Victoria was safe being carried by Lavi, I noticed that Kanda hadn't said anything since he hugged me. I mean, that in itself surprised me. He normally didn't do things like that. But, I must admit, it was nice to have him near me again. Although his silence at the moment bothered me.

"There's something you wanna talk about, isn't there?" I softly brought up as I felt him stiffen beside me. I lifted my head to meet his gaze, unable to use my right eye. His dark eyes held concern for me as they met my silver eye. His lips were pressed into a firm line before he glanced away from me, indicating that he wanted to talk about it but didn't know how. I lowered my voice enough so that only the two of us could hear.

"About what's happening to me perhaps?" I pressed on as I turned my head forward, not knowing whether Kanda turned his head towards me in response. I clenched my fists at my sides as I waited for his reply. The pain was slowly increasing inside me.

"I...Yeah," Kanda grunted beside me as we continued walking down the long corridor. "Your right eye..." He trailed off as I felt his burning gaze on me.

"It hurts...but I can handle it. For now." I quietly replied as I put the palm of my hand over the bandages.

"For now? What if..." Kanda paused as the question began to settle. What if I die? What if I lose this right eye of mine?

"To me...it doesn't matter if I lose this eye. As long as I'm able to still see you and everyone else and live...I'll be fine." I said as I lowered my head, my gaze moving to the floor. I narrowed my eye as I felt cold fire seep its way into me.

"Nova...you're not going to die. I'm not going to let that happen." He replied in a quiet voice, his words making me grin widely. Before I could get any words out, my heart suddenly pulsed in pain, wiping the grin off my face. Letting out a strangled gasp, my hand flew up to my chest as I desperately clenched the shirt's cloth in pain.

"Oi!" Kanda's worried voice called out next to me. We both stopped walking as I tried to quell the black fire simmering within me. Soon the others realized what was happening and rushed over as I fell on to my knees, Kanda kneeling down next to me to set me down gently.

"Nova!" Lenalee concernedly cried out as she flanked her other side, giving her friend a worried look. I took in shuddering gasps as I lifted a shaky hand to my head. With my other hand, I pushed myself off of my knees as I slowly got up to my feet. I could feel all of their gazes on me.

"I'm alright...we need to keep moving." I panted out as I opened my one eye to meet the gazes of the others.

"But you're-!" General Klaud's words were cut off as I shook my head quickly.

"We have to go...Sam..." I trailed off as everyone else caught on, the person I spoke of probably fighting the Earl in the Master's form. "He could die..."

"You could too!" Lavi countered as his emerald eyed gazed landed on me.

"...alright. C'mon then." All attempts to stop me were halted as General Cross laid his red eyes on me. I slowly lowered my hand from my shirt as he nodded at me before turning around to continue walking forward.

"What?!" Allen exclaimed as he gaped at his master. With Kanda tailing after me, I trudged forward after General Cross, gritting my teeth in pain.

"Agh, Nova!" Lenalee called out behind me as I heard their approaching footsteps.

"Come on guys. We've got no choice here." Lavi concluded as I heard his footsteps stop by my side. Smiling slightly, I turned my head to meet his emerald gaze. He nodded at he looked at me before gazing forward.

As we all moved quietly, our footsteps echoing, I could faintly hear the distinct sounds of battle ahead of us. Weapons clashing and the sound of muffled laughter reached our ears as we headed straight for it.

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Master's POV

The power! The speed! I'm unbeatable with this! I grinned wildly as I exchanged blows with the Millennium Earl again and again. With only a few seconds in between, we clashed blades in mid air, appearing in one spot, only to appear in another. The buzzing flowing in my blood felt great, all this hatred inside me just dying to get out. Laughing manically, I pulled away from my opponent, the ice and lightning crawling up my arms and passing over my face. As smoke rose from the ice that encased my arms and torso, it shattered as ice blue armor replaced the frozen ice.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you, Earl." I growled as I materialized five more identical swords from ice. Grabbing one in between my fingers, I poised myself as the Millenium Earl stretched a hand out.

"I feel the same. It's time you were eradicated from this world I will rule." He replied as a black ball of shadows suddenly formed from the palm of his hand. Eyeing the black ball warily, I tensed as the Earl lifted his hand, the ball following his movements.

With speed only the eye of a Shigai can track, the Earl launched his black ball of doom at me. Twisting my body out of the way, I flipped through the air and launched myself at him, my swords ready. Sparks flew as my blades crossed with his sword, our faces inches away from each other. Baring my teeth in anger, I caught the sly smirk on his lips. In a milisecond, he disappeared in front of me, leaving me momentarily confused. I realized it too late when I felt something heavy and round slam into the middle of my back. Letting out a groan of pain, my wings crumpled for a moment, leaving me to plummet to the ground.

Recovering myself, I righted myself before I could splat on the ground and gritted my teeth as my wings screamed in pain. Hearing the low chuckle of the Earl somewhere around the room, I swung my head around, searching for his presence. It was as if he were invisible. Suddenly, his wide grin appeared out of nowhere as I felt his blade slice into my side. Thrown across the room, I unfurled my slightly injured wings to steady myself as I seethed in anger.

"It won't take too long to kill you," the Millenium Earl stated as he appeared in front of me again. This time I was ready for his attack, blocking his sword with three of my blades with I slashed upwards with the other three. Sensing him already moving back, I darted forward and created a combo, both of my arms lashing upwards.

Jumping back before he could land an attack, I grinned as I saw glass fall on to the floor. Looks like I managed to hit his face. His glasses were shattered, and he had this completely pissed off look on his face. I smirked at the expression I had emitted from the Millenium Earl. It's exactly what I wanted.

"It won't take me long to rip you into pieces." I smirked as I released more of the hatred inside me, increasing the speed I had. Exploding off of the ground, I disappeared into the air, only to come down on the Earl, my swords thrumming with electricity.

"Don't fool yourself so easily, scum." the Earl growled as he glared up at me from behind his sword. Shoving me into the air, he leaped after me, his hand already getting ready for another launch at those black balls of doom.

Sliding against the floor, I realized my wings were useless, a dark shadow binding them together. Scoffing under my breath, I narrowed my eyes as he carried out his attack. Immediately, dozens of those swirling black spheres came after me, moving at the speed of sound. Enchancing my speed even more, I darted from side to side, dodging and slashing the incoming spheres to bits. Charging straight towards him, I roared as I merged my blades together to form my final weapon. My blade glowing, it dispersed to reveal the jagged edge of my longsword. Thrusting it straight towards the Earl, I caught him doing the same. We both moved our heads at the same time and whirled around, only to clash, in unison.

"Tch, I'm gonna kill you here!" I hissed, unable to suppress my anger any longer. Releasing the hatred inside me to its fullest extent, the armor covering me exploded with spikes. Roaring, I launched a series of blows, coming in from all directions as I landed my attacks on him. Drawing back, I slid against the ground as I met his yellow eyed gaze.

"Prepare to die," the Earl declared as he raised his blade towards me, the shadows behind him flickering as anger emnated from his form. I smirked as I fell into an offensive stance, ready to take his challenge. Even if he kills me, another one of us will arise from the humans. We will never be extinguished from this world. But...

"I'll be the one to finish this!" I shouted as I let go of all my power, the energy pulsing off of me in waves. "Prepare yourself, vile scum!" I yelled as I launched myself at him, readying for the final blow.

Our last exchange blasted into white light as we faced each other head on. I could feel my blade sink deep into his flesh as his own weapon sliced into my own. I could see the deep satisfaction in the Millenium Earl's gaze. However, I could see my own victorious gaze from his eyes. As the light slowly faded away, I smirked to see that I had sliced off one of his arms in the process of making the final blow. Satisfied to see it not regenerating, I glanced down at myself to see his huge sword impaled into my torso.

"...I'm not...done yet!" I roared as I pulled my arms in for a last attempt. Sinking my blade into his chest without a second thought, seeing the Earl widen his eyes in astonishment. The sparks from my blade raced across his arm and neck, immobilizing him for the moment.

"Hmph, you amuse me. To think you would go this far in order to simply cut off a limb. Using your own life as payment."

"Don't even think this is over yet, scum. There are many of us out there, waiting to destroy you." I retorted as I began to feel a bit numb. Was I dying? No. I can't be. I'm the Master of all Shigai! Before I could do or say anything else, I felt my mind slipping away.

Before I faded away, I saw the door to the room burst open as a group of exorcists entered.

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Kanda's POV

The sight that we all saw as soon as we stepped into the final room was Sam impaled with the Millenium Earl's sword. I froze in silence as we all took in the scene in front of us. Was the...Master defeated? I glanced down at Nova to see her staring wide eyed at the Earl. Was she going to be alright? I can't help but worry because of what happened earlier in the hall. As soon as the Millenium Earl turned towards us, that wide grin appeared on his face. Instantly, we armed ourselves with our Innocence, weapons drawn and ready. He yanked his sword out of Sam's torso, letting his body fall on to the floor. We all noticed with surprise that one of the Earl's arms was missing.

"Sam!" Nova choked out, stopping herself from running for him. We weren't sure if he was still alive or not.

"Well well...looks like you weren't dead after all, Krest. I had a feeling that you might've been still alive." the Earl greeted as he glared at us with an anger filled gaze. Nova clenched her fists by her sides as a shadow passed over her face. A light giggle shattered the tense aura in the air as Road and Lulubell came from behind the Earl.

"I knew you weren't dead Nova!" Road chuckled as she hopped on Lero and floated up into the air.

"You're going to have to deal with us now." Lulubell quietly added on as she approached us with a cat like walk. I unsheathed Mugen and took a step forward, the others in the team doing the same to Road and the Earl.

"Oh no you don't! Let's go!" Lenalee exclaimed as we all activated our Innocence and launched ourselves forward. Splitting into different groups: Nova, Allen and General Cross went for the Earl; Lenalee and General Klaud headed towards Road, and Lavi and I went straight for Lulubell.

As we all clashed weapons simultaneously, I instantly felt a sense of foreboding deep inside me. Something would happen during this battle. I just knew it. Lavi and I pulled away from Lulubell for a moment, meeting each other's gazes with a nod before moving into our different forms to attack.

What I didn't see as Nova and her group went against the Earl, was the bandages over her right eye slowly turning blood red.

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Ahhh, I'm sorry it's a bit short and cut off. :/ I hope you liked the chapter though. I hope you saw the message I had above for you all! I love you guys so much! Remember that as I try to update as much as I can! :D

FallenWing21