A/N: So this is my original version of Camilla's Innocence. Thanks for the suggestions, but I couldn't make any of them work. Props to CrescentMoonTenshi for suggesting what I had already written though. It made it feel less lame, thanks. ;)

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"Earlier you asked what Innocence looks like. That's your answer. The green rock embedded in your heel is an Innocence fragment."

Silence followed Allen's words. Neither he nor Lavi had expected finding the Innocence to be that easy. Knowing their luck, they had definitely been expecting to have to fight with this woman and then have to do the manual labor of digging through her garden.

Camilla was not so easily convinced. "I don't buy it. How can the Innocence be in my foot? This is some sort of joke right? Jorge put you up to this, didn't he?"

Allen frowned, and after a moment of thought, he pulled off his bandana. His cat ears twitched as they were freed from their confinement. "I would never joke about something like this."

He continued to talk as Camilla approached him and began to poke at his ears. "Innocence comes in two different types: parasitic and equipment. Lavi's is an equipment-type, and yours and mine are parasite-type. That means that the Innocence is actually a part of our bodies. Yours is what made your foot look like that, and mine is what gave me cat ears."

Camilla backed away as she started sneezing again. Allen smiled gently at her. "Sorry. I'll go back outside now. Lavi can handle the rest."

He made it three steps before a hand on his wrist stopped him. Camilla tugged him back toward the sitting room. "It's just a little sneezing, I'll be ok."

At her bidding, he once again sat on the couch by Lavi. Camilla scowled fiercely at the two. "Do you two really think that I'm just going to come with you? I have a life here; I can't just up and leave it like this."

"Camilla, we understand how hard it is." Allen sighed as he fiddled with the bandana in his hands. "But you have to understand: if you don't, you won't be the only one in danger. You'd be putting the whole town at risk."

"No. I need you to understand this. I have a purpose here. When I was a child, this town was plagued with famine. People died of starvation every day. My mother worked herself to the bone to make sure that I would get enough food to survive. But in doing so, she neglected herself and fell victim to the famine. After she died, I taught myself how to grow things. I dedicated my life to gardening so that no one else around me would ever starve to death." Her firm tone suddenly grew angry again. "If I leave, the people here will lose a major food supply, and I can't let things go back to how they were."

Allen sighed again. "We understand, Camilla, but-"

"No. How could the two of you ever possibly understand what it was like to go hungry like that?" Camilla scowled at the obviously well fed young men in front of her. "When was the last time either of you went without food for so long that you thought you weren't going to make it? Have you ever been so hungry that-?"

"That you dug through trash cans looking for anything even remotely edible? Or sat on a street corner and begged passing strangers for spare change just to get something warm to put in your stomach?" Allen smiled gently at the dumbfounded look on Camilla's face. "Don't judge us too quickly, Camilla. I grew up on the streets. I know exactly the kind of deep hunger you're referring to."

In the silence that followed, Allen felt Lavi staring at him. He turned to face the redhead, who was wearing a very confused expression. "What is it Lavi?"

Lavi frowned at his white haired friend. "That wasn't a lie."

Allen blinked at him. "So?"

"Usually when you say things like that to people you're lying to them. But your ears didn't twitch." Lavi's frown deepened. "I thought you and your adoptive father were traveling performers. So which one is the truth? Have you been lying to us all along?"

Allen dropped his gaze to his lap and put his bandana back over his ears. He hadn't expected that involuntary twitch to be just as annoying when he wasn't lying. "This was before that. I didn't even meet Mana until I was seven."

Lavi's anger faded as he realized that Allen had actually revealed something about his past. The neko had never voluntarily given information about himself like that before.

Camilla was confused by the interaction between the two, but she put that aside. She was still angry, but if Allen truly understood where she was coming from then he would have a retort for any argument she came up with.

Turning back to her, Allen smiled. "I know it's a lot to take in, but-"

He stood from the couch as his eye activated. Lavi didn't have to see the monocle appear to know what was happening. "How many?"

"A lot." Allen grit his teeth. "There's a Noah here too."

"How do you know that?" Lavi realized the stupidity of the question from the look Allen gave him. It was obviously a side effect of having been possessed by the Fourteenth. "Right. Do they know where we are?"

"If they don't then it's only a matter of time. They're headed this way." Allen started moving towards the doorway. "I'm going to go try to distract them. Think you can handle things here?"

Lavi nodded. "Sure thing."

Camilla started after him, but she wasn't quick enough to catch him. She turned to Lavi. "What's going on?"

"The short answer is that we need to get ready for a fight. The akuma are coming for you." Lavi pulled his hammer out of its holster, readying himself but not activating it just quite yet.

"How do you know that?" Camilla didn't really believe most of what they had told her; living weapons, magic rocks, it was all ridiculous. But Allen's cat ears had been real enough. And Lavi's tone and body language made her realize that he was serious about the fighting part. Something terrible was coming. "Didn't Allen say that akuma look human?"

Lavi made his way to the window to get a view of the scene outside, but couldn't see anything other than Allen standing a ways down the street. "That's Allen's story to tell, but the short version is that he was cursed as a child and now he can see them for what they are."

Camilla couldn't help voicing her frustration. "Can't you tell the long version of anything?"

"There's no time right now." Lavi smiled at her as he turned back from the window. "There's a Noah, so Allen will probably be too busy with that to be of much help with the akuma. Which means that fighting them will be up to you and me."

"But I can't fight!" The Italian woman was a lover not a fighter; she'd never so much as slapped someone before.

Lavi smiled at the slightly shrieked answer. "Yes, you can. You have an Innocence fragment, all you have to do is activate it and then you'll be able use it."

Camilla stared dumbly at her bare foot for a moment before scowling at Lavi once more. "'Activate it'? What's that supposed to mean?"

The redhead smirked at her, and tossed his hammer in the air. "Innocence, activate." As the hammer spun, it grew to its true size. Lavi caught the handle as it landed beside him.

Camilla blinked a few times, trying to process what she'd just seen. She was more than a little shocked by the unrealistic sight; hammers don't just suddenly grow to fifty times their original size.

Lavi smiled gently at her. "Yours is parasitic, so it'll activate a little differently, but it's really just a matter of focus."

"What do you mean by 'focus'?"

"Concentrate on your connection with the Innocence and will it to activate."

They were interrupted by a crash and a shout from outside. "Lavi!"

.x.x.

Allen stood in the middle of the street, watching as a dark figure in a top hat approached. His tail swished behind him, but he ignored it; the appendage was safely out of view, hidden by his long coat. The man stopped a few feet in front of him and smiled devilishly. "Good afternoon, Shounen."

The neko snorted. "You know, Tyki, I'm almost eighteen, you're going to have to come up with something new to call me."

Tyki laughed, but it faded to a scowl as he took in the boy's exorcist uniform. "You went back to the Order."

"You sound surprised. The Fourteenth left my body over six months ago. Shouldn't that news have reached you by now?" Despite his friendly tone, Allen was ready to activate Crowned Clown at a moment's notice.

"Road died getting you out of there." Tyki's scowl deepened. "Why would you go back?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

The defensive tone made Tyki laugh. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. After all, if you're back with the Order, then that means that you're here on a mission. So where's the Innocence, Shounen?"

Allen snorted again. "Like I'd tell you."

The neko jumped backwards and activated his Innocence as Tyki suddenly launched himself at him. His sword blocked the attack, but he lost his bandana in the process.

The fight stopped as suddenly as it started. Tyki gaped at the cat ears sticking out of the top of his kind-of-sort-of enemy's head. He may have been faking ignorance over the Fourteenth, but those were definitely new.

It took Allen a second to figure out why Tyki was just standing there staring at him like that. When he did, he cursed internally. "Yes, I have cat ears. Can we move on?"

"Is that why you disappeared without a trace for a month? Did the Order do that to you?"

Allen frowned. "The Order had nothing to do with it. I got cursed by a witch."

"Why would a witch- why would anyone want to curse you?"

"Is that concern I hear in your voice, Tyki?" The neko smirked broadly. "Aren't you supposed to be trying to kill me?"

Tyki laughed. "While you've got that sword? No thank you. I know how that fight would end, Shounen. I'm not in the mood to be exorcised today. We'll have to do this a different way..."

Akuma began appearing at the end of the street and Tyki disappeared through a purple ark gate. As soon as the Noah was gone, the akuma launched their attack.

Allen quickly defeated those closest to him, but a lucky shot from another threw him back towards Camilla's house. He crashed into a wall, but his Innocence cloak protected him from harm. "Lavi! It's time to get your ass out here!"

The neko threw himself back into the fight, allowing himself a sigh of relief when a group of level ones suddenly went up in flames.

It was chaos as the two exorcists fought off the akuma horde. They weren't hard, all low level so far, but the sheer number of them was making it difficult.

Camilla watched from inside her house, having no clue what to make of the mechanical monsters that had suddenly appeared. But as she thought back over everything Allen and Lavi had told her, what she was seeing only confirmed their story. As impossible as it was, they had been telling her the truth. Which meant that she had the power to help them.

Fixing her braid and adjusting her hat, Camilla summoned her courage and made her way to the front door. She opened it and was immediately greeted by one of her neighbors. They briefly bantered over what was happening, but when Camilla moved to go towards the fighting, the woman grabbed her arm roughly.

Allen noticed one of the akuma grab Camilla and immediately sprang to her rescue. He didn't quite make it in time. As he drove his sword through the one holding Camilla in place, another shot her.

It met its end quickly, and then Allen knelt beside Camilla, who was whimpering in pain as the akuma virus began to work its way through her body. "Camilla. Can you hear me?"

The Italian woman nodded weakly at the sound of his voice, but that was all she could do, she was in too much pain. To make things worse: she had no clue what was happening.

Allen swiftly surrounded them with his cloak to keep them safe from another attack. "Camilla, akuma bullets are poisonous. But you've got a parasitic Innocence. If you activate it you'll be able to purify the poison and heal yourself."

Her body stilled, and he had no clue if she had even heard him. But before he could panic completely, there was a green glow from Camilla's still bare right foot. The black stars cleared and her skin returned to its original deep tan. Allen helped her to her feet, and watched in awe as her Innocence fully activated.

Thorny vines pushed up from underneath her and wrapped around the young woman's foot, making it look like she was literally rooted to the spot. They continued to spiral up her leg, stopping just short of her overalls. It gave the impression that she had a boot made out of vines, very dangerous vines.

When it was done, Camilla looked to Allen for guidance. "What do I do now?"

Allen shrugged as he morphed his sword back into its clawed arm form. "Listen to your Innocence. It'll tell you what to do."

He launched himself back into the fight, leaving her standing there, completely confused. But when she closed her eyes to make herself calm down, she could suddenly feel her connection to the earth, and knew exactly what to do.

The akuma surrounding an overwhelmed Lavi were suddenly wrapped in plants. Some in ivy, others in the same spiky vines that covered Camilla's foot. He breathed a sigh of relief as the akuma were restrained, not caring where the mysterious plants had come from, but it immediately turned into a girlish shriek when the akuma exploded.

Allen laughed as he landed at Lavi's side. The shriek amused him, but there wasn't time to tease the redhead. "Camilla figured out how to use her Innocence."

The fight ended quickly now that Camilla had joined in. Having just activated her Innocence for the first time, her plants weren't very strong yet, but with only ones and twos around, they were more than enough to help Lavi and Allen finish everything off.

As the smoke cleared, Camilla collapsed to the ground. She panted heavily, surveying the scene around her. The whole street was completely trashed. Fences and border walls were falling apart, houses had huge holes in them, and the road was littered with rubble and plant matter.

Thinking she was hurt, Allen and Lavi ran to her side. Seeing that she was only panicking, they calmed down and sat on either side of her. Allen placed a hand on her shoulder. "Deactivate your Innocence, Camilla. You'll feel better if it's not draining you."

Heeding his advice, she let the power fade. The vines receded and her foot returned to how it used to look. Mostly. The red rash now reached all the way to the middle of her calf, covering the same area her Innocence had.

"What happens now?"

Allen sighed at the fear in her voice. He stood up and offered her his hand. "Now we head back to our headquarters."

"But-"

"Camilla. If you don't leave, more akuma will come looking for you, and next time it will probably be worse. I understand that you're worried about the people here, but this," Allen paused to gesture at the destruction around them, "this isn't going to help anyone."

This time when he offered her his hand she took it. The neko helped her to her feet and guided her back towards what was left of her house.

The young men waited while their new comrade gathered up a few important possessions, and then they headed back to their inn. After retrieving their suitcases and making a quick phone call to Komui, the three made their way to the church where the ark gate was. Camilla was startled by the ark, but after everything else she'd seen that afternoon, it was nothing.

Lenalee met them in the entrance hall and escorted them down to her brother's office. The two young women talked nonstop on the way down, and by the time the short walk was over they were friends.

The usual new exorcist stuff happened: an exam from Komui, a visit to Hevlaska, the welcome party. And by the time it was over Camilla was tired and homesick. She confided this in Allen as he showed her to her new room, and he knew exactly how to cheer her up: he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out to the garden. It wasn't much to see, since it was December and everything was already dead or hibernating, but to Camilla it felt like home.