Note: This one takes place a little after Chapter 6.

Chapter 10: Fever

He didn't remember much after falling down the front steps of the Hearst Orphanage. In fact, his last coherent thought before a sudden lightheaded sensation sent him tumbling headlong toward the stairs was, Oh, right, I was infected by the Dark Matter, too. Someone caught him before he hit the stone steps, of that much he was sure. Judging from the volume of his voice, it must've been Walker, but all sense of awareness faded within moments, so he couldn't be too certain.

The most he recalled from that point was a collection of delirious images too vague to be considered memories. He remembered staring at the hospital's white and green striped wall paper as it faded in and out of focus. He remembered the pressure in his throbbing skull and the almost unbearable aching in his joints, like influenza tenfold. Someone had been there holding his hand, although that part might've been his imagination. "Is he going to be okay?" A question asked by a female voice. Had that been Miss Lee? Why would it have been? She hadn't accompanied them on the Paris Assignment. She was in…she was… More throbbing. A heavy weight on his chest. Unimaginable, aching pain. "—him, he's going to hurt himself!" Dry throat. Burning alive. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Walker! Where was Walker? He had to complete his assignment… And Madarao…why was Madarao able to bring down…akuma…

"Link!"

The voice that screamed his name sounded far away, as though it were echoes across a wide chasm rather than the actual source. Was that Walker? Where? Why did it hurt so much? He was burning up and it was killing him. Forgive me, Director.

"There he goes again." A male voice grumbled.

Then cold. Something mercifully cold touched his forehead, pressing into his skin and spreading across his face. A smooth hand with long fingers brushed across his cheek, and he opened his eyes to nothing. There was only darkness and a collections of vague, echoing voices overhead before he slipped further into the void. His dreams were stranger things. Of cats with three legs and torn ears staring at him in judgment. Of running from room to room in a frantic search for something, or someone, he couldn't find. Shattered glass strewn across the cold, tiled floor, bloodying his bare feet with every step. And the body of a dead exorcist lying in his path, black uniform drenched and Rose Cross splattered with blood. In a panic, he turned to identify the fallen soldier, only to find he, or she, did not have a face. Only two faint indents where their eyes should have rested, a shallow bump where a nose would have been, and a line of sutures sewn across the nonexistent mouth.

And then it was over. Link opened his eyes to the sight of a glaringly white ceiling. Light was streaming in through the window beside his creaky bed, and when he turned, he caught sight of a shock of black hair resting on folded arms. Terror gripped him by the heart. How long had he been unconscious? Was the new accommodator safe? Where was Madarao? He needed to speak with him as soon as possible. What happened to the—this last thought was interrupted by a fit of coughing, which grew quickly in both violence and intensity.

"Finally coming back to us, Link?" Walker appeared leaning over him, a relieved smile crossing his bandaged face.

"Thank goodness." The woman from the orphanage—Emilia, was it?—appeared beside the boy, a soft, if rather tired, smile on her face. "How are you feeling, M. Inspecteur?"

A powerful sense of déjà vu washed over Link, and it occurred to him how little he would remember of this mission when he filed his report. Between the fever now, his time as a doll, and that truly mortifying possession on the Louvre rooftop, he certainly had a large fraction of lost time to contemplate. "Where am I, Walker?" He asked groggily.

"The infirmary at headquarters." The young exorcist explained as he sat down again, this time on his bedside. "You passed out as we were leaving, and so we brought you to here with the Prioress and all the children."

Right. That's what happened. Link closed his eyes and took the deepest breath he could manage without triggering another fit of coughing. "Is everyone else okay?" Am I okay?

Walker nodded. "The scientists are back at the orphanage now looking for more clues to the barrier, Marie's resting up in his room, the last girl's fever broke about an hour ago, so the medics can finally rest easy."

"And Kanda and the rest of the orphanage staff?"

"All fine, except the soul brokering nun, of course." Here, the boy frowned. "Never thought I'd say that. Let's see…Miss Emilia's shoulder's going to heal up okay. The other staff members got out mostly unscathed, and Kanda's been helping the medics all night, so he's taking a break too."

At that, Link realized who was using the edge of his bed as a pillow and looked down to find a thoroughly exhausted Chang creation passed out against the mattress, covered by a heavy blanket. Exorcist Kanda looked as though he'd run a marathon, turned around, and ran it again and up several flights of stairs before dropping dead in the infirmary. If not for the curve of his spine rising and falling with every breath, Link might've assumed the Second Apostle was dead.

"He's been like that for a good two hours now." Walker nodded. "It kinda reminds me of when my left arm…broke. When I woke up in the Asian Branch, Fou was asleep at my bedside just like that."

"He was helping the medics you said?" Link turned to Walker.

"Yeah, hard to believe." His charge shrugged, and the Inspector noticed Timcanpy wasn't with him. "Apparently, he's got a soft spot for sick kids, and when you started thrashing last night, he came running pretty quick."

Thrashing?

"I tried to hold you down myself, but you pummeled my ribs pretty good." Walker laughed sheepishly and winced, bringing a hand to his bandaged chest. "But we're all fine, you're going to be fine, Miss Emilia here announced her intention to join the Black Order this morning, so I think Captain Galmar might need therapy, and that's that." The young woman reddened. "Everyone's going to be all right."

"What happened to Dr. Wenham's Crow escorts?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Walker crossed his arms. "I've got some questions for them, too."

Exorcist Kanda raised his head at that moment, possibly looking worse than Link felt. His hair was unkempt, his face was pale, and several strands had escaped his ponytail. As he looked at them, his dark eyes were hollow and fatigued and almost those of dead man, "That makes all of us then."

"I thought you were asleep." Walker mumbled.

"I'm sorry if we woke you." Miss Galmar said.

The elder exorcist yawned and acknowledged no one, as he usually did, instead addressing Link, "I don't suppose you know anything about the corpse eater?"

Link closed his eyes and chose to ignore that one, and even if he knew anything about Madarao, the Second Apostle surely knew he wouldn't be permitted to say. As expected, neither Kanda nor either of the others pried, and the silence that spread amongst the four of them was uncomfortable and long. Walker fidgeted uncomfortably while the Second Apostle seemed to retreat into his own world. Or maybe that was just the fatigue. It suddenly dawned on Link that Kanda probably hadn't slept in quite some time. At least not well. After the 'incident' at the Louvre, Captain Galmar had intended to apprehend them on the grounds of 'obstruction of justice', so the temperamental exorcist had taken matters into his own hands. By way of suddenly grabbing Link and Walker and leaping off the museum roof with no more warning than a brusque, "Brace yourselves."

Link remembered a strong but relatively brief sense of gravitational terror, followed by a sickening crunch, and Marie, the ever patient and gentle accommodator, swearing in alarm. His words, however, were nothing compared to the storm of curses Kanda unleashed in light of his shattered legs. He and Walker had landed virtually unscathed, but one look at the blood in the snow and the numerous compound fractures told them they were in for a long, long night. After carrying him back to the inn—and Kanda was a lot heavier than he looked—they spend the next eight hours waiting for him to regenerate. Marie was furious. Walker actually seemed worried. Link couldn't remember the last time seeing an exorcist in that much pain. In the end, he had taken it upon himself to use the CROW spell work to lessen the pain as much as he could—oh.

He raised his head to meet Kanda's black eyes. "So that's why you're here. You're returning a favor, aren't you, exorcist."

The being Central regarded as less than human frowned in confusion for a moment, then abruptly glared and turned away, "I only helped you because I didn't want to explain to Leverrier why his favorite Crow was dead. Nothing else."

"Thank you." Link nodded nonetheless. "I'm sure it wasn't easy for you, considering your dislike for me and my division."

Exorcist Kanda said nothing.

"You do look terrible, though."

"Tell me something new." He groaned and began coughing violently into his hand. Link winced at the sound of it. Fluid, as though there were a thick sludge in his lungs trying to crawl its way up through his throat. As the exorcist pulled his hand away, there was blood cupped in his palm, dark red and stained with pentacles. "Ah, hell."

"Mon Dieu!" Miss Galmar ran around the foot of the bed to join the Second Apostle. "Are you all right? Should I call the nurse?"

"It's fine." He clenched his hand and unsteadily rose to his feet. "I just need to lie down for a time, and now that Two-Spots here is out of the woods, I can do that."

The woman would not be deterred. "You're coughing blood, monsieur."

"I said I was fine." Kanda snapped.

"Kanda!" Allen raised his voice, startling all of them. "She's only trying to help. Leave her be. I'm sorry about him, Miss Emilia. He's…" He fumbled around for a word that was both accurate and polite. "…shy. Like really shy. Plus, he's been up all night and most of last night, too, and—"

Link felt his spine stiffen as Kanda raised his head in anger, but rather than lash out at his comrade, he angrily turned away. "God, I'm too tired and sick to do this right now. I'll get back to you later, Sprout."

He again began coughing into his hand, and Link knew without asking there was blood. Was this how his regeneration abilities always processed the akuma poison? By expelling it in such an unpleasant manner? Link forced himself upright, ignoring the dizzy feeling in his head. "Exorcist! Please, don't strain yourself. Go to your quarters if you must, but at least let Miss Galmar walk you there." He wavered, taking a breath to steady himself. "It can't hurt. You look worse than I do."

The young woman took a step forward and Kanda looked her up and down, as though assessing her for some critical mission. Link closed his eyes as the throbbing in his head grew worse, then carefully lay back down, breathing hard from the sudden exertion. I must be worse than I thought. He thought as he cracked his eyes open again. Neither Kanda nor Miss Galmar had spoken, but the exorcist was scrubbing his hands clean in the sink and clearly choking back another cough. The woman was standing behind him, one awkwardly crossed over her sling, but she took a wary step back as the black-haired man turned off the faucet and dried his hands.

"All right." He said. "It can't hurt." As he made his way to the door, Miss Galmar tailing behind, he looked back. "Go back to sleep, Inspector. I'll ask Lottie to send someone to check on you soon."

"What about Walker? He can't—"

"You are in no position to ask for the moon right now." And with that, he was gone, his hacking cough echoing down the corridor. Miss Galmar lingered just enough to thank Link for his part in saving the children before hurrying after him, her heels clicking.

Link sighed and turned his head away from Walker, only to find Timcanpy curled up on his pillow. "Oh, there you are."

"Sorry?" Walker looked at him.

"Nothing." He cleared his throat. "How long were they here?"

His charge gave it some thought, then shrugged his shoulders. "Awhile, I suppose. Miss Emilia was recovering in her own room down the hall and Kanda was in the main ward next door with the children." Walker lowered his eyes in…what? Dejection? Shame? "When you started thrashing in your sleep, I yelled for help and Kanda was the one who came running. A couple of the medics and the Head Nurse did, too. The commotion woke up Miss Emilia, so she came in, too. When she found out how bad it was, she was afraid she wouldn't get to thank you, so she spent the rest of the night checking up with you, the Prioress, and all the children."

"Was it that serious, Walker?"

"Marie told me Kanda could…oh, I don't know, somehow transfer his regeneration to others."

He can. It was not intentional he was designed that way, but he'd read the mission reports where it came into use and saved a life here and there. Except how effective could it have been here, what with him being infected by akuma virus himself? Was that the reason he'd been fighting so hard alongside the medical staff to save the children? Link opened his eyes. Had he…drawn the virus out of all of them, assimilating it unto himself? Fool! He knows his abilities are wearing down, and yet—

"He says he didn't feel like explaining to Leverrier why you died, but you want to know something?" Walker smiled at him. "I'm pretty sure he knows how Lenalee feels about you."

Link suppressed a pained groan. That's hardly a reason to nearly kill himself at such a crucial point in the war. No doubt Central would have something to say about that, and Link…he sighed. Whatever his reasons, Kanda had saved his life, and possibly the lives of all those children, as well. That in of itself couldn't be ignored. Then it dawned on him what Walker had said. "Miss Lee is an apostle of God." He said aloud. No need for him to know about the situation or the Second Project. "And why should Exorcist Kanda care whether or not I die on account of her?" Even as he spoke, however, he knew the answer. Hadn't Miss Lenalee Lee herself told him, after all? That she and Kanda had been friends since childhood?

"What do you mean she's an 'apostle of God?' What difference does it make?" Walker's voice was indignant. "That doesn't mean she can't like you, Link. And I've seen the way you've been looking at her since that time she saved you, Miranda, and the finders from that Level III. And let's not forget when you two were dancing together in the snow."

Link turned away, disturbing Timcanpy, who got up and snuggled into the crook of his neck. "Miss Lee is an apostle of God."

"But you like her." Walker insisted. Link heard the mattress creak as he shifted, presumably to cross his arms. "Can't say I blame you. She's quite a lovely and remarkable lady, isn't she?"

Yes, she was. And that was the problem. Link sighed. What a mess. Dissatisfaction from the Paris police, sickness in the Order, one of their strongest exorcists half-dead from akuma virus he'd inflicted on himself, Timothy's demands and the massive debt they would lead to, and Madarao. What the hell had happened to Madarao? And then there was Miss Lee. Walker had the right of it, but…she was an exorcist. It wasn't prohibited for exorcists to have…sentimental connections, but Central did not encourage them. And what exactly would the Director say should he entertain his own feelings? A combination of both dignity, a splitting headache, and utter exhaustion was all that kept Link from pulling his own pillow over his face and screaming in frustration.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Link opened his eyes again and hesitantly asked, "Was she here by chance?"

"Huh? Lenalee? No, she's halfway around the world in New York right now." Walker frowned at him. "Why do you ask?

"No reason." Link sighed and sank back onto the pillows. "Just a nightmare."

-0-0-0-

Author's Notes: Anyone else wondering why Link turned out just fine after being turned into a doll when everyone else got sick? Yeesh, nobody had a good time on this assignment. Finger amputations, excruciating pain, the Fourteenth creeping around, fevers…I'll be nice in the next one, I promise.

Add Allen to the list of people who know!

D. Gray Man is owned by Katsura Hoshino.