Lavi wandered the halls, pacing back and forth as he tried to clear his mind. Where had all this turmoil come from? It seemed that as soon as his thoughts were under his control, they slipped right back out again. It was like trying to catch water in his hands, grabbing only the very smallest of vestiges before the rest flowed straight through his fingertips. Abruptly, he took stock of his surroundings, realizing that he'd wandered off on his own. He was near the switchboard room. Running fingers through his hair, he shakily removed the ribbon from his pocket. It was a satin ribbon, finely woven into a single, coherent strand of white.

Doug... Poor, naive, kind, discerning Doug, that idiot Finder. The ribbon in his hand suddenly crumpled into a wrinkled mess as his hand closed around it tightly. Doug was probably the first mistake he'd made. Scratch that - the Order was the first mistake he'd made. He should've just asked Bookman if it was time to leave. It was clear to the both of them that they were getting too close. Bookman had even told Lavi once that he'd worked the Noah side of the battle as well as the Order's. One day, he might find himself on the flip side of the coin, and the gun will be aimed at the people he thinks he cares the most for. That knowledge was like a spoon digging inside of his heart, slow to penetrate but powerfully strong and painful once it managed to break through.

He had to keep a stiff upper lip, though. Above all, he had to keep composure. This wasn't going to affect him. He wasn't going to let it. Suddenly full of determination to keep his head, Lavi stuffed the ribbon in his pocket. It was evidence - he had no real attachment.

He liked to think that, anyways.

And, in a rush, he realized that there were people running past him at a bizarre rate. All of them looked worried, some of them even angry, but they were all headed in the same direction - towards the atrium. Lavi watched as most of the Finders, almost all male, trotted at a quick pace for the atrium of the headquarters. He contemplated grabbing one of them -

"Lavi... Lavi!" The young man turned around, surprised to hear Teo's voice again so soon. He was sure the man would've gone to other regions of the Order, perhaps go on an errand.

"There's a call for you. On the phones," Teo said, pointing back. Lavi tensed imperceptibly, all the muscles in his lower back, stomach, and shoulders contracting towards bone as adrenaline suddenly coursed through his veins. So soon? Were they meaning to taunt him so readily? If they had, they were in for a surprise. The redhead strode purposefully towards Teo, keeping a calm smile as the older Finder looked at him with a strange expression.

"Is everything alright, friend? You look... different," Teo said, and Lavi realized that he was still tense and jumpy. Forcing himself to relax, he shrugged and said, "That box was just a bit of a downer. A friend sent me something, but I didn't really like it. Honestly, I'm kind of disappointed." He chuckled, a low sound in his chest that seemed to emphasis just how hollow he was beginning to feel. Teo didn't look too convinced, but he was convinced just enough to let it slip by without further comment. The bruise-eyed Finder pointed to a phone in the communications room that had its receiver hanging down.

As Lavi approached, he steeled himself. He had to make sure he kept an even tone. He couldn't allow any more stray emotions flare out of him like he had before. After all, the Noah could just as soon become friends as enemies. This was a war ; there were two sides to every conflict. That was the first thing he'd learned, practically. He had to keep that in mind.

Still, he was worried by the fact that he couldn't seem to trust his own senses now, and for all he knew he could be talking to absolutely nobody and he'd never be able to tell. Hallucinations, especially auditory ones, were so easily fabricated by the human mind, and by the mind of an analyst and chronicler like himself, Lavi was subject to such more so than the rest. Reluctantly, Lavi picked up the phone. Teo himself had said there was a call, and he doubted that he'd made that up. Teo was a real person, and the phone room wouldn't just have an empty phone. The people around him were acting normal, and that was a good sign - unless those people weren't real and the receiver had always been hung up, just taken off by Lavi himself as a part of the -

He was psyching himself out. He needed to quit that. Soon, he'd be afraid to do anything.

"Hello?" he asked, his tone neutral.

"Idiot, you kept me waiting. Don't you know I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere? Stupid connection could go out any time," a very familiar, sour voice said over the phone, and Lavi practically slumped against the table with relief. He'd been expecting... well, definitely not Kanda. He'd prepared himself for a Noah or some other psycho, but Kanda was a much better choice - wait, did he just think that he'd pick talking to Kanda over talking to a psycho? Forgetting this tidbit, Lavi stuttered, "W-w-what are you calling for? You're not one to make social calls, after all." Boy if that wasn't the truth.

"Tch. Typical. Look, I need a favor." Lavi's eyebrows raised. Kanda sounded... different. Strained, almost as if he were worried about something. Ha! What a laugh - Kanda worried over something. If he had a problem, he tended to use Mugen to fix it, even if it was opening a jar of mayonnaise. Outside the phone room, Lavi noticed a changing dynamic in the air. He could hear the sounds of... were those gunshots?

Suddenly, a bullet went straight through the plate glass window separating most of the phone room from the hallway, and it shattered.

"What was that?" Kanda's tone was flat as a dead heart monitor.

"Nothing! Nothing, just, uh, just tell me what you wanted," Lavi said, hoping to make this quick. It'd been so long since he'd heard from Kanda at all! In fact, this was a relief - even though everything was topsy-turvy, Kanda was still the same, belligerent, grumpy man he usually was. Some things just didn't change. Like getting shot at - that didn't ever seem to change.

That could've just been a stray bullet, right? Right?

People began to mill around in confusion and panic, most of the switchboard operators hiding underneath desks or going outside with talismans. The bullet hadn't hit anybody, but one of the switchboards were destroyed. It sparked as an electric current to nowhere lanced through the wiring.

"I need some information on a mark, sort of like a seal. If you could dig around in the CROW's business, that'd be nice, too," Kanda said, sounding slightly pained as he talked. Lavi frowned slightly as he ducked near the floor. Another bullet broke another window, and the sounds of fighting were getting louder.

"Uh, yeah, sure, whatever you want," Lavi said in a distracted tone, and there was a tone of surprise to Kanda's silence, if ever that was possible.

"I thought I'd have to beat it out of you through the phone," Kanda said, and Lavi rolled his good eye.

"Look, can you hurry this up? I'm a little busy at the moment." A knife flew through the window this time, and it lodged itself not a foot from Lavi's toes. The phone room was mostly empty by now. The Finders had either all gone out to go and fight whatever unknown threat lurked beyond, or they were cowering in fear somewhere in the linen closets. Lavi was going to bet the former. These Finders were made of tough stuff. South America was unforgiving as it was, so these men were practically poured into molds and tempered in a fire before coming out as fully fledged Finders.

"Ha! Yeah right. You sit there all day and you sleep or annoy somebody. I know what you do on your downtime. Mostly because you waste all of mine." Lavi rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Just ... get on with it." He didn't have time for this. He should've just told him to call back, but, like Kanda had said, his reception was spotty. This may be the only time they'd get to talk.

"...Alright. It's a horned mark, two horns inside a circle with writing circumscribed around it."

"Ooooh, 'circumscribed.' You're finally using big boy words now."

"Shut up. Just because I'm not freaking loquacious doesn't mean I can't tell my head from my back end. I'm just not a blithering idiot. The words are in some sort of Cyrillic alphabet, but it's definitely not the Cyrillic we know. I couldn't read any of it, anyhow."

That wasn't saying much. Kanda knew Chinese (and that, just barely) and he'd hardly even bothered to read English save for his dossier sheets.

"Alright, I can look it up. Do you need me to search anything in particular like certain files or paper? What did you see it on?"

"Human flesh."

"...Ah." He was not one to mince words, that was for sure. He never did understand the concept of beating around the bush. Lavi grabbed a pen off a nearby desk, and a bullet ricocheted off a wall and into the wood. He pulled his hand back along with the pen, grimacing as he tried to write down everything Kanda had said with the inkwell and blotter he had on hand next to him on a piece of stationery.

"You're in a fight, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah, just a bit of a scuffle." Someone screamed. Okay, so maybe it was more than just a bit of a scuffle.

"Tch." Wow, that actually sounded forced. In fact, it sounded like Kanda was in a lot of pain, or at least otherwise occupied. Lavi knew that he'd been off duty at the Order, so the samurai had to be out and about on a mission again. It was very unlike Kanda to call, though, and even more than that, Kanda had a pain threshold that practically made nerve endings obsolete.

"Um, hey, Kanda? Is everything alright? You sound -"

"Everything's fine. Just a flesh wound to the neck. I'll survive. You don't sound good yourself." Was that concern? Surely not. Kanda didn't show concern. Perhaps curious inquiry, but hardly over someone's well being. That was awfully... odd. Lavi shrugged to himself as he readied his weapon, sensing danger coming from beyond the room.

"I've been better. But, you know, I'll survive." He could almost see Kanda's smirk through the phone as Lavi repeated Kanda's phrase. Say what you wanted about the two of them, but they knew each other like day knows itself from night. They may not be the absolute best of friends, but they knew how to pick up the little things that mattered.

"Like always?"

"Like always."

"Don't die. I need someone to beat up when I get home."

"Hey, I need someone to annoy when I come back. Don't you die."

"As if. Idiot."

With that parting bit, Kanda hung up, and Lavi was left with a dead dial tone. He stared at the phone for a moment before hanging it back up and, without further ado, went out into the fracas.

They were being overrun. Bookman hadn't been near the atrium for more than a few moments before Akuma bullets and regular slugs smashed into the pillars holding up the hallways above. People screamed as they were shot, maimed, or otherwise frightened half to death. The old man removed Heaven's Compass from his robes, keeping a firm hand on Darrin's shoulder. They needed the American. There was no telling what would happen if he died. The cylinder seemed to work by the same mechanism as Innocence did to its user, and Innocence did strange things sometimes at the death of the Accommodator. Darrin cursed loudly as a large rocket smashed into a pillar, sending it spilling rock and debris on top of several unlucky Finders.

"Where do we go?" Darrin shouted as they tried to circumvent the bacon grease on the floor that was making it awfully difficult to navigate. Recognizing Lavi's handiwork, Bookman grumbled to himself. He was going to beat that boy within an inch of his life! People were dying out there because of his stupid little stunt! It was funny for the first five minutes, but this was endangerment. He watched people haplessly slide across, unable to get their footing. The Akuma themselves were having trouble keeping traction, but the airborne sort were having a heyday, shooting people like dead fish in a barrel.

Esperanza suddenly caught up with the two of them, having held off several men who'd stormed into the library. She was hardly bloodied, save for a small cut on her collarbone, and slightly out of breath from running to catch up with the two old men.

"I talked with Ricardo, and he said that he saw Lavi go near the communications room. I have no idea where he is now, though," Esperanza said, her Spanish accent much more pronounced as stress took its toll. She may be used to mayhem, but in this event it was her own that were being killed left and right, and she had no choice but to evacuate the survivors.

"And the emergency plans?" Bookman asked, leading the two. He was careful to keep his Innocence at the ready. He was not allowed to interfere with this fight. He could protect himself, but Bookman protocol stated he was not to play any sort of key role in the defense. Several Exorcists ran past the three, all of them male. More Finders poured from the other direction, trying to get out. Alonzo, the Branch Head, was trying to control everything from his headset where the three could see him barricaded, but it looked like things were going far from what was planned.

"Not good. The Finders have been able to get out, but the pencil-pushers and the clerks are being slow. I need to get my Innocence up and ready - we're the only ones who can - AH!" Esperanza suddenly jerked back in surprise, and Bookman acted with lightning precision. A hundred needles embedded themselves into the trunk of an Akuma, and it froze with a gruesome, open mouthed stare before falling over in a heap. Darrin steadied Esperanza, and the young woman dabbed at a wound on her shoulder.

"I don't think it's poisoned. There are no pentacle marks," Bookman stated swiftly, continuing on. Esperanza, silent and abruptly introspective, followed behind with Darrin in the older man's wake.

They didn't have time to get Esperanza's Innocence. By the time they would have reached the basements, the Akuma would have control of the main floor and all exits. They'd be trapped. The best thing to do was to get everybody out and flee. Realizing he was trying to help, Bookman shook his head and rubbed his eyes with two, stiff fingers. He had to stop doing that. It was becoming habit to look after everyone here! It was as if he were a member, himself -

Realizing his folly, Bookman almost stopped in his tracks, but a wall of Akuma quickly brought things back into focus.

Suddenly burning with frustrated ire, Bookman slayed every single Akuma within three throws of Heaven's Compass's vast supply of needles. Every body was covered until they bristled like thorny hedges. Darrin whistled low in appreciation as Bookman walked past the bodies with nary an irritated look. He was wasting precious minutes. He was going to fetch his apprentice, beat some sense into him, and then get back out. The Order would have to wait - Bookmen came first, always.

Besides, Bookman didn't know what he'd do without his apprentice. With his mental capacities more fragile than ever and that lightning strike he'd taken, Lavi was on incredibly shaky ground. His hand had to be firm, or else the younger Bookman would be lost in his own head. Besides that, Bookman had become increasingly troubled by the closeness Lavi exhibited for his fellow teammates, especially after learning that Lavi had, more than once, practically thrown himself into danger to help another Exorcist, regardless of who it was. What the redhead was doing could potentially kill him or leave him inoperable, useless, and vegetative. To lose another one -

Unthinkable. A solid wall surrounded that part of his brain, the 'ifs' and 'maybes'. He had to keep grounded in the present. He was too good for this. He wouldn't lose another one. He couldn't lose another one - he was running out of years to give. Besides, Lavi had gotten so far along. He was almost to the finish line, that final step just within sight. To fail now would be such an utter frustration. With purpose and terseness in his walk, the old man continued onward, the two tagalongs following behind as fast as they were able.

They found Lavi fending off several Akuma all at once, all of them Level Twos. Already, a Finder had one trapped in a talisman, and another Finder was wrestling to get the second one under control as Lavi took on three others.

"Ah, about time you got here, Jiji! What took you so long?" Lavi asked, the sheen of battle-thrill around his person like the buzz of electricity around a wire. His hammer swiped at a leonine Akuma, taking off a leg as it shrieked. The other one pounced, but it was subsequently pinned to a wall by needles. Lavi smashed the tip of his hammer into the face of the other Akuma trying to take him from behind as Bookman impatiently speared its legs. The third was entrapped in another talisman that Esperanza was working, looking slightly put off by the fact she'd had to take the contraption off a pile of dust and clothes. Lavi and Bookman destroyed the others in their talismans easily enough, Lavi receiving only superficial wounds and Bookman hardly breaking stride.

After the fighting had gone down, Lavi smiled boyishly and asked, "Alright, then, where's Darrin? Wasn't he with you?" Bookman looked around, realizing the old man was nowhere in sight. Frowning, he glanced in his general vicinity -

"Over here," a voice said from the ceiling, and they saw Darrin's white-haired head poke above a twenty-foot tall banner on its hanger. Esperanza's eyebrows raised, and Lavi laughed. Bookman shook his head.

"What? I ain't gonna stick around down 'ere with y'all fightin' like crazy people!" Darrin said, scrambling down. Bookman took that time to pull Lavi aside and smack him in the face. The sound resounded across the empty hallway, enough that Esperanza, Darrin, and the Finders keeping watch turned their heads. Lavi looked surprised. That had not been a playful smack - it had been a disciplinary, open-handed slap meant to instill chagrin.

"Your prank is getting people killed," Bookman said in a low voice, his eyes tightening angrily as he pointed with a slight swish down the hallway towards the atrium, his robe flapping like a flag. Lavi looked down, his face visibly guilty and confused. He seemed like he didn't know what to do with himself, and Bookman was sorry to have to admonish him so publicly, but they had no time for niceties or the like. Suddenly, Bookman pulled the ribbon out of Lavi's pocket, and he held it up.

"You know better," Bookman said, his words laced with slight disappointment and bitter frustration. The look of utter chastisement and regret welling up in Lavi's single green eye would've broken a weaker man, but Bookman knew better than to let that get in the way of Lavi's far more important mental health and training. It was for the best. He couldn't hang on to things, both physically and mentally. This especially was telling. He'd seen it flutter in the younger man's pocket during the fight. Bookman turned away and put the ribbon in his robe. Over his shoulder, he said, "You are coming with me. We're going." His footsteps were clipped and fast.

"Wait... Going? We can't leave! There are still Finders out there -" Bookman felt aggravation burn and curl inside of him like a Chinese fire snake, lit paper crumpling in on itself into hot coils. Enough was enough.

"Have you not learned your lesson yet, stupid pupil? We are not true Exorcists. We are Bookmen. Have you forgotten that so soon?" the head of the Bookman clan asked, not even bothering to look at Lavi. He could almost feel the recoil of his apprentice at the stinging lashes. Good - they were making impressions. Nevertheless, with every cut he put into Lavi's heart, he put a cut into his own. Lavi was the closest he had to real family. To hurt him was painful, to say the least.

Yet, it must be done. Bookmen had no need of hearts. Kindness was not folly in itself - favor was. And what Lavi showed was favor.

If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Better you live without your right hand than have your entire body thrown into the flames.

It was silent. Finally, in a small voice, Lavi spoke.

"...Aye."

The single word seemed to break the spell of silence over everything. The Finders went back to work, and Esperanza and Darrin busied themselves, suddenly very interested in the machine in the woman's hands. Bookman began to walk down the hallway, unperturbed by the noises of gunfire, though finding it difficult, abnormally difficult, to keep from looking at the wounded. In other battles he'd had no such problem with staring at the soon-to-die using a clinical, sterilized eye. Now, it was much harder. His old age must be making him soft.

"And the other two?" Lavi asked quietly, catching up to the little, old man. His voice was neutral, holding back a flood of emotions Bookman knew he must be wrestling to contain.

"They will find their own way. For now, we go to watch from the rafters. Document everything, just as I have taught you. We will be safe in the place I bring you. If the battle permits it, you may fight - however, it appears that they can fight their own wars," Bookman said, his tone much kinder now. The Chinese fire snake in his chest slowly loosened up, breaking apart into ash. Now he felt numb and gray, and he sighed to himself.

"I am sorry. If I was harsh," Bookman said almost inaudibly. They passed a fight between an Exorcist and five Level Ones. With a swing of his sword, the entire line fell to pieces. Bookman made another mental note of it. He needed to document each Exorcists' kills as best he could. He'd already witnessed several on his way from the library. Suddenly, they passed by the main office, noticing that it was unmanned. The upstairs was barricaded, and several men wearing street clothes were breaking their way in. Bookman felt a jab, and Lavi faltered in step by him.

"Should we -?"

"No. It's not our business." Noises of destruction were the only ones that met the pair's ears as they jogged down the hallway to the atrium.

It was utter horror.

Bodies littered the floor, the dust from poisoned Finders mingling with the bacon grease to create a gritty, disgusting mash in places where people had stepped on bodies. The atrium, a room nearly a hundred and fifty meters in length and eighty meters across, was a battlefield, with pieces of the floor thrown everywhere and chunks of concrete as big as automobiles scattered and broken. People screamed, and it was evident that this was a losing battle. There were only a few Exorcists - at most, five on the entire level. The others were probably scattered about the building.

Bookman's eyes widened at the carnage. Lavi stood as straight and stiff as a tree at his side, the younger man's obvious eagerness to help leaking out of his pores like sweat. Bookman himself felt that urge to save those who were dying or chased. His mind raced as he tried to take in the destruction. Piles of bodies lay around, some of the enemy, others of Finders. There were mountains of ashes where bodies had fallen en masse. Some were regular bodies, organs strewn across the floor from the lethal swipe of knives or sickles. Several had gunshot wounds, most to the gut or the chest. Bookman had seen plenty of battlefields, but this was almost a massacre. Lavi covered his nose, looking visibly sick at the smells of battle. Bookman had forgotten that symptom - Lavi was hypersensitive now to most everything around these days.

"Jiji, it looks like we won't be able to get out and up without a fight," Lavi suddenly said, recovering and pointing towards the door. Sure enough, a wall of Akuma nearly fifty deep guarded the exit, and the other exits out of the building were probably blocked, too. Exorcists were trying to get through the blockade, but it looked like the five that had been on the atrium floor had numbered down to three. The downed Exorcists were probably buried in the bodies, and they'd have to dig them out for their Innocence later. Several Akuma were shooting from the ceiling as well - so much for the rafters being safe.

"... I think we should call in the Omni Protocol," Bookman announced, turning tail. Lavi's eyes widened as he trotted to keep up. Why was he suddenly changing his mind...? They were going to fight? The Omni Protocol was a rarity Bookman had only ever employed once before. Was it merely to get them through the building...? Nevertheless, the redhead didn't question the older man's decision.

"I'll find Esperanza, then. I'm a better fighter than analyst," Lavi said, and Bookman felt a pang of panic go through him like hot acid. He quashed it as soon as it sprung up. He had to let Lavi stand on his own in this matter. If that was what he needed to do, so be it. Bookman nodded, shooing off the younger man.

"I'll work as analyst and find Alonzo. We'll work together in the communications room," Bookman said. With that, the two split up. A weight pulling at the bottom of his stomach, Bookman wondered if those were going to be the last words his apprentice would ever hear. He looked back to say something to Lavi -

The younger man was already gone, and the chance left as soon as it had been brought forth.

Lavi raced, his mind buzzing with too many emotions to count. Using a technique he'd learned, he focused on a point down the atrium as he ran, batting at Akuma on the way. When he reached each focus point he'd pick a new one, and he'd keep his mind on that next point. The cycle helped him get in tune with the rest of his body, keeping it under control as he held the rhythm of his breathing and his feet slapping the flagstones. It calmed his emotions, gave him something to hang on to. Suddenly, he saw Esperanza point a gun at him, and he forced himself to stop, shouting, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm friendly!" Esperanza lowered the gun, ducking behind a barrier of rock and masonry. Lavi jumped as the sound of bullets popped near his ears, and he realized he was being shot at. He ran full tilt for Esperanza's little barricade, and a flash of lightning hit with a peal of thunder. In the interim, the storm had come back full force as if to set the tone of the battle.

As Lavi sat next to Esperanza, he noticed that her face was covered in a layer of sweat. The thunderstorm was still affecting her. Her hands shook as she handed the gun to Darrin, who was sitting next to her with his leg bound up in gauze. Ricardo was shaking next to Darrin, and all of them seemed scared out of their wits.

"Who are they?" Esperanza breathed, nodding above in gesture to the men and Akuma attacking.

"Probably Dominguez's. Still, there are a lot more than just his group. I don't know where they're all coming from," Lavi said, keeping an eye out for attack in all directions. Esperanza's breathing hitched higher as another crack of thunder hit the air, shaking the building. Ricardo yelped as a bullet hit their barrier, and Darrin groaned in aggravation at the incompetence of the two. He took Esperanza's gun, a 12-gauge shotgun, and took aim over the barricade, hitting several men square in the chest.

After a while, they started moving the little group away, back towards a hallway. Bookman was nowhere in sight, and Lavi felt a slice of fear slip in between his packed assortment of emotions. What if the old man didn't make it? He was his guide - he wasn't ready for anything without him! He still needed a leader... Lavi kept panic at bay, realizing that the atmosphere of the skirmish was taking a toll on their morale. Ricardo was hyperventilating (not surprising - he was an egghead, his job being 'make things and break things', not 'kill and attack'), and Darrin was in obvious pain. Esperanza was trying to hold together, and she was managing, if just barely. They were going to die if this continued.

"Why didn't you get out of here when you had the chance?" Lavi asked, feeling slightly annoyed. Bookman's words still cycled in his mind, and he was careful to keep his tone neutral. Even so, it was hard considering how apparently difficult it was for Esperanza to even function with the storm overhead. Akuma prowled as the survivors dove for safe barriers from which to fire talismans.

"I need my Innocence. I'm not leaving without it," Esperanza fought through clenched teeth. She reloaded a gun next to Darrin, handing it to the man so he could shoot at the humans who were trying to get at them. Lavi took care of any Akuma that came near. Ricardo attempted to shoot with his pistol, but he did hardly any sort of damage, and he was more likely to shoot himself in the foot out of fright than at a target. Fear seemed to permeate the air like a sour fog, clouding their minds and judgments, making the battlefield a blur.

"If that's the case, we need to go. I can guard Darrin, but you have to go with Ricardo. Don't go alone. Too dangerous," Lavi commanded. He glanced back to the hallway he'd come from. Bookman had disappeared down there, and he was probably sitting among a bank of phones, getting information from every single Finder he could, and making battle decisions with Alonzo as he did. Already, Lavi could see formations of Finders begin taking down the Akuma in teams. The massacre was finally becoming an actual battle as the Order started to reorganize. The tide of battle was turning, and they were in the middle.

"Dadgum. We'd better get goin'. Pretty soon, this place'll be a crater," Darrin grumbled, standing up as well as he could in a crouch. Lavi picked the man up, much to the elder's loud, cursing-filled surprise, and Esperanza nodded to Lavi. They shared a look, one that held more than they could say to each other in that short time they shared gazes, and she was off with Ricardo, running as fast as she could for another hallway.

Lavi ran across the battlefield, dodging projectiles from all directions. He knew from simple observation that the chapel had been turned into an impromptu Infirmary, and luckily the Akuma were not all that bright and had yet to catch on to this fact. Better to keep them in the dark as it was. Lavi crept as discreetly as he could into the chapel, amazed at how loud the normally quiet church building had become. The dying and wounded moaned and screamed as understaffed medics tried to save those who had a hope of life and euthanized those who didn't. Darrin seemed agape at the sheer volume of people, and he said, "Ye can't be leavin' me here. I'll go nuts and kill m'self 'fore they ever get to m'leg." Lavi gave a dark chuckle as he set the old man down on an unoccupied pew.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. Just stick your fingers in your ears and go 'la la la la la'," Lavi suggested in dark humor, and Darrin scoffed. With that, Lavi left -

Doug stood off to the side of the door, watching Lavi with kind eyes. For a moment, Lavi froze in his tracks, red hair swinging in his face as a breeze swept across the chapel from the open battlefield, but he recovered.

He was just a hallucination. Doug had died - twice. The last time he'd kicked the bucket, Lavi had been there. Mostly because he'd killed him.

The young apprentice kept walking, his footsteps taking on echoes of their own despite the noise in the chapel, and he walked past the apparition without another glance. Doug seemed to radiate this empty feeling, though, and Lavi swallowed hard. In his mind, Doug lived on. He could revisit the man any time he wanted. He could remember every single facet of that Finder down to the strands of hair on his head. Yet, it would never be the same.

Doug followed him through the door.

Lavi headed out into the battlefield, hammer in hand, as he readied himself to take out whatever Akuma was around. Protocol Omni said that Lavi could take out anyone that he deemed as a threat to his safety, and that meant everyone who was either dead and shooting or alive and shooting. He smashed his hammer into several Akuma, his fist into several people's faces, and did his best to ignore the hallucination that always seemed to manage to keep step with him no matter how fast he ran. Akuma after Akuma fell under his hammer, and he wished that he could do the same to the hallucination following him.

Pretty soon he had a pretty good collection of bodies at his spot, and several of the remaining Exorcists had gathered around him to help. Lavi sucked in breath after breath, tired beyond capacity, and he noticed that there were significantly less people. Targets were draining away from the battlefield. The floor was still slick, but the dust from the bodies had made it possible to run across it without too much difficulty, as long as they didn't mind getting people-dust on their shoes. Actually... several of the enemy were retreating.

That was fast.

"What time is it?" Lavi panted, resting as a lull in the battle came about. A blonde Exorcist wiped sweat off his brow, and he said in a thick accent, "Almost five o' clock." They'd started fighting around nine in the morning. Sheesh, no wonder he was tired! They'd been out here for almost eight hours. Some of them had been here longer than that. It was a wonder they weren't dead yet.

The smell of dust and blood made his stomach turn, and past battles threatened to swamp his mind as he was reminded of thousands of other such encounters.

And, suddenly, that sense of smell came in handy. He could smell just how much Akuma blood there was on a floor, an amount that nearly had him staggering for clear air as he tried to keep his breakfast (or what breakfast he managed to stomach) in its proper place. Another engagement had been like this, one that had been difficult enough to succeed in putting Lavi at Death's door.

"Guys... heads up," Lavi said quietly to the Exorcists in his vicinity. The Akuma weren't retreating because they were losing the battle. They were retreating to get out of the something's way. That something happened to be mighty big.

"Mi Dio..." an Exorcist breathed as Lavi turned to a creaking noise. For the first time in months, Lavi was jettisoned into yet another memory, and just before he blanked, he heard someone shout his name as he fell to his knees.

In the memory, he was already on his knees, and he looked up. He'd fallen in the midst of battle against a Giant Akuma in Edo. Allen ran next to him, and he shouted, "Come on, Lavi! No slouching, remember?" Lavi smiled as the memory's manifestation went through the motions, though mentally he was screaming to get out. This memory was so much deeper. Not only was Lavi walking around in the memory and reliving his thoughts and emotions, he was actually walking in the manifestation'ss footsteps, unable to detach himself from his memory-self. It was almost as if he were running through the motions all over again. If he hadn't been aware of the transition, Lavi would never have noticed the change, and he very well may end up living this section of time in his mind over and over without ever realizing he was doing it.

However, Lavi was aware. As a perfect mental replica of Allen leaped across buildings, Lavi fought to extricate himself. Each time, he'd had some sort of anchor to hold himself down with. Most of the time, that anchor was pain. If he could move at all, he would be able to find his way back to the actual world. Panic built up inside of his body as he began to realize that he could be trapped for the rest of his life here, stuck in his own mind, forced to start his life over again and again. Every painful experience would be recounted, and every battle and terrifying encounter would be gone over tenfold.

Realizing this, Lavi searched as far back as he could, trying to find a way to differentiate what sensations were his memories and what was actually his body on the outside. Kanda skated across his field of vision, and Lavi was momentarily amazed at just how wide his range of sight was. Very suddenly, he was given an idea. Range of sight... he could figure out what was real and what wasn't by piecing together what experiences were from what memory, current or past! The feel of his feet against the ground... both were pounding against the cobblestones of Edo. His hands were preoccupied with his hammer in this memory, and he couldn't think what they'd be doing in the present. His back... his back was to the air, but he could also feel an overlay of dirt and bacon grease! And he could smell bacon grease! He was on the floor of the atrium...

Like tracing a fishing line to a fish, Lavi found his way back into his own body, untangling himself. The minute he was once again fully present in his own flesh, he sat up and gulped air like a diver coming up for water. Several Finders were sitting around him underneath a cave made of broken concrete. It was a good fortification point with only one entrance. Of course, that only meant one exit, but in battle you took what you could get.

"What's going on? Is everyone alright?" Lavi asked. The Finders looked to Lavi in surprise, and they all looked to each other hesitantly. It suddenly dawned on Lavi that they didn't speak in English.

"Donde estamos?" he asked in Spanish, hoping for a better result. All of the men chattered among themselves before one of them answered, "En la atria. Estan luchando, alli. Sus camaradas te necesitan, lo parace." Lavi looked out from underneath the rock shelter, and he deadpanned.

"Oh, no," he sighed. The Giant Akuma was just as big as the one in Edo. It was smashing down pillars, breaking hallways, kicking down piles of bodies, and in general being a very big nuisance. This atrium was never going to be the same. From his vantage point, Lavi could see Bookman fighting alongside three other Exorcists. The sword-wielder they'd seen before was doing just as well as Bookman, and Lavi sighed. He must've been out for quite a while. His heart suddenly ached for his comrades back at the European base, but now was not the time for reminiscence.

"Muchas gracias," Lavi said, waving cheerfully as he could. He had to keep his spirits up. He wouldn't let this dishearten him. Nevertheless, it was hard for him to go back out into battle with the raging headache he was receiving from the heady smells of smoke, bodies, and bacon grease along with the threat of falling into another, vivid memory. He pushed everything to the back of his mind, and he went out into the fight, skidding across the floor and growing his hammer with every step he took.

He smashed the elephant-sized end into one of the Giant Akuma's shins. The gangly abomination screeched as it tottered, but it didn't fall. Several of the Exorcists cheered, and they continued to dart and work at the legs of the massive monster. However, it managed to smash a hallway on top of an Exorcist, and Lavi shouted in surprise. The woman's hand twitched for a second, and then it went still. Lavi stared for several seconds, reminded of his mother -

NO! He couldn't be distracted! He'd die if he let himself be pulled into another memory. He'd be stuck, and in that moment the massive thing above him would crush him like a bug.

They all fought tirelessly, Bookman, Lavi, and the remaining two Exorcists. The sword-wielder held out the longest as the second one was injured by another flying piece of debris and carried off the field by a few brave Finders. Bookman was spry enough to get at the higher reaches of the Akuma, while Lavi and the sword-wielder took out its legs. They needed more help, though. Several times they'd nearly felled the beast and killed it, but it refused to go down. Slowly it had begun to creak, and if his eyes weren't mistaken, Lavi could see it was faltering.

"Come on, come on," he breathed, panting. His mind was a mass of confused thoughts as he tried to stay focused on fighting. His synesthesia had come back full force, and he abruptly ran to throw up. He was hauled to his feet by a familiar face, and Lavi looked up at Doug. He scrambled away from the hallucination, and it remained silent as it watched Lavi run away.

The redhead ran past Bookman, and the old man shouted, "It only needs a bit more of a shove, and it'll go over!" That final push, though, was going to be hard to come by. They were down by four Exorcists, and the only other one they had was currently out of sight and out of mind. The group of three fought for what seemed like hours for that last shove, but they never seemed to get past the verge of that terminating move. Finally the sword wielder dropped out of the battle, so tired he could hardly run with his sword at waist height. Lavi was glad that some of these guys knew how to cash in their chips and check out. A lot of men didn't, and it got them killed.

"We can't keep doing this," Lavi said, gasping for breath. He was sweaty and bloody. He'd received a few smacks to the head, and he'd been knocked into a pillar more than once. He'd rolled into a pile of bodies, and he had literal crap on one leg of his pants. The smell was nauseating, and the mixture of aromas was heady enough to throw Lavi off his game.

"We need a miracle," Bookman grumbled. As if on cue, a loud commotion from behind stopped the fight for all of a moment. Lavi slowly smiled, relief flooding through him as the Giant Akuma roared a challenge.

Esperanza stood at the other end of the atrium, a bright coat of colors fluttering around her body as she stared ahead. Behind her, eggheads with several different devices were armed and ready, fresh from the lower floors. Quite a few of the other Exorcists who'd gone to rest had come back with her, bandaged and ready.

The cavalry had arrived.

A/N: I'll make this brief, seeing as this chapter is long enough as it is.

Big, big, big thanks to my reviewers Athena Keating-Thomas (I love the pseudonym, by the by), FelineExorcist, and PrevalentMasters. As usual, all your input is precious and taken into account! I enjoy how in-depth you guys can go with this whole review as well. That's what really makes these stories go.

Muchas gracias to my new subscriber, Athena Keating-Thomas. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoy hearing that you like it enough to put it on an alert list.

And to my new favoriteers, welcome welcome welcome IQ84, FelineExorcist, and Drivenbysound! It takes bravery to put a story with an OC in it on your favorites tab, haha.

Now, for the discussion questions: Was this chapter suspenseful, mysterious, or active? If you could put a disorder to Lavi's mental condition, what would it be? What do you make of Esperanza's new Innocence, if indeed you recognize it? This is the first time Bookman's perspective has been put in the story - did you enjoy it or felt that it was in character? How well do you think this story meshes with Afrikaan Voices (if you have read it - if not, disregard)? Is there justification for why the Noah have attacked headquarters? Do you miss seeing the villains in every chapter? What do you make of the South American Branch - they are never truly shown in the manga, and therefore this group is entirely fabricated. Is the action well-played out? Was the ending too predictable? Did you enjoy the ending of this chapter anyways? What, so far, has been your favorite moment in the story and why?

Wow, I put quite a few questions. Huh.

God bless you, and happy reading out there on the World Wide Web!