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Chapter List
- 30
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Chapter 31�Field of Innocence

February 14, 2014, 8:57
PM�London, England

�� The Cat o� Nine
Tails was possibly the best weapon ever invented. It sailed out, nine beautiful
and golden snaking strands, and crashed into her enemies with nigh-impossible
force. Most of Cyrah�s enemies exploded at once, but
for some reason, Chaz Gaffigan
was resisting her destructive lashes. Even when she did make contact with his
skin, he shrugged it off as if he hadn�t been struck at all. Next to her,
Amanda�s discus pelted him ruthlessly, but that, too, was ineffective.

�� Die
already, you stupid fucker!� Amanda shouted, catching her Innocence and
whipping it at him again with renewed force. Sweat sparkled at her temples and
forehead as they caught the light from Miranda�s Time Bubble.

�� The discus struck
home, but it didn�t dent Strength at all, as if even his hide�Cyrah refused to
call it skin�had the fortitude of iron. Trying something new, she waited until
Amanda�s next attack before slicing her whip through the air after it. Amanda�s
Innocence hit Strength in the arm, and Cyrah�s
wrapped tightly around it, digging the discus into the Noah�s flesh.

�� Surprisingly, the
Noah screamed out, and a great stream of blood drooled its way down the
over-muscled appendage. Jerking his arm free with a grimace that might have
indicated pain, Strength punched the ground. A great pile of concrete dust
merged with the smoke and debris, blinding Cyrah to everything farther from her
than her skin. Thankfully, Strength did not attack, though when the dust
finally cleared, he was gone.

�� Cyrah looked
around, trying to locate her enemy. Gravely, she turned to Amanda, who was
searching in a similar manner.

�� The coward,� she
hissed.

�� He�s probably
somewhere else completely,� Amanda agreed. Pointing to her left, a place Cyrah
noticed had fewer Akuma, Amanda added, �I�ll head over there. If you find him,
give me a buzz through the earring.� She pointed to the stud that doubled as a
walkie-talkie of sorts.

�� Cyrah didn�t agree
overtly, but she shifted her eyes away from the young girl, knowing that they
would both get to finish the cowardly bastard off.

�� She headed off in
a different direction of her own and was forced to dodge a flash of purple
light. Twitching her eyes in its direction, she saw a Level Four dueling
Chu-chan. High above, a green flutter alerted Cyrah to the presence of her least
favorite apprentice. She said that with all fondness.

�� With a flick of
her wrist, the Cat extended the length of its tails. A second flick brought it
into glancing contact with the Level Four. Another purple light arced its way
toward her, and she dodged. Flipping her Innocence out once more, she managed
to encircle the golden tails around the Akuma�s
ankles, knocking it to the ground as Chu-chan�s
machine gun wore down its armor.

�� A bazooka blast
came from nowhere, charging into the Level Four�s head. It did little actual
damage, but a second strike with the whip over the same place drew the oily
blood from inside the little bugger.

�� Elliot, what did
Chu tell you about staying away from the higher levels?� Cyrah squawked after
him, but the little British boy was already gone, aiming at a nearby Level Two.

�� The Level Four
abruptly moved backward, obviously getting sucked into the vacuum that was the
Level Six.

�� Not another one!�
Cyrah yelled, frustrated. She sent out her Innocence once more, willing the
tails to become stiff and pointed. All nine punctured the Akuma�s
chest with surprising accuracy, and fell to the ground, no longer alive or
useful to the death machine being created.

�� Taking a brief
pause to assess the situation, Cyrah saw a Level Five from the corner of her
eye. �Tuan!� She called. She might have heard a grunt,
but she was already jumping out of range of the first shot. Chu activated his
Innocence to its third level attacks, sending out cannon balls of pure
Innocence at the laughing Akuma in front of them.

�� Cyrah had not been
at the battle in the United Nations building, but Chu-chan had. His look of
terror as he saw what descended upon them convinced her that Level Fives were
not to be trifled with. She�d never fought one before. She wasn�t looking
forward to it.

�� Its opening attack
of spikes that seemed to be laden with poison struck at the ground,
Exorcists�who dodged�and other Akuma alike. It was a blessing, Cyrah supposed,
that a spike killed a Level Four that had been looming nearby. It allowed her
to concentrate on not being slain. She was very glad that she had decided to
join the soldiers in their military exercises. She dodged another round of
spikes and unleashed her Innocence upon the advancing Level Five. One lash of
her deadly whip shredded a wing, disturbingly near its shoulder. It let out a
guttural cry, and in its distraction, Cyrah ripped the other one off. It made a
nasty, screeching sound as it tore and fell to the ground.

�� The Level Five
fell down after its wing, its mutilated child�s face wrenched in acute pain. It
vaguely surprised her that Akuma could feel such things, but at this state of
evolution, she had no idea what to expect. She cast a cursory glance over to
the Level Six and saw it was still absorbing Akuma as if they were its power
source. Then she was back, focusing on her own battle, renting deep fissures in
the Level Five�s back. Chu-chan followed up with a volley of bullets that
nestled themselves deep inside the Akuma.

�� Cyrah didn�t
expect it to explode that quickly, but as she tore its head from above its
shoulders, it made a gagging sound and spread shrapnel and fire through the
smoke-filled air. Another winged creature flew down, and Cyrah pulled her
Innocence upward, intending to crash it down on the airborne figure.

�� Cyraaaah!� It shouted, impacting with her. She fell
backward with the creature�s momentum. Something warm and wet hit her neck, and
when she finally realized what was happening, she pushed her least favorite
apprentice off of her.

�� This is a
battle!� She reprimanded, looking up into the sky and scanning for more Akuma.
Besides a third Level Four that had engaged Chu-chan, there were none paying
attention to them. �You don�t do
things like�what is it!?� She tried not to be aggravated, but the little girl was
crying.

�� Maya and Rodrigo
are dead! I don�t know what to do! All the civil�civili�people
are dead. Please let me fight with you, Cyrah! I�m scared.� The girl was
pleading, and as much as Cyrah wanted to refuse, she just couldn�t. Gathering
the girl back into her arms, she gave her a brief but heart-felt hug.

�� There are lots of
Level Ones and Twos higher in the air. Can you get rid of them for us?� She
asked as gently as she could, despite the fact that she had to scream out her
request.

�� Krista nodded,
sniffing, and ascended with a flap of her green-flaming wings. Cyrah was
rewarded for her patience, because a moment later there was a series of
satisfying explosions from above. She had to admit, the little girl was good�
but not good enough for what was heading her way. She screamed at the top of
her lungs for the girl to get away. The battle was too loud, though, and Krista
didn�t even acknowledge that she had heard her.

�� The Level Three
was drawing in on her latest apprentice. Lashing her whip at a lower-leveled
Akuma trying to take advantage of her lapse in attention and consequently
destroying it, Cyrah screamed again.

�� And then she
froze, her cries cut off mid-word. She found where Strength had disappeared to.
She extended all nine tails, trying to reach the miniscule girl who was so high
in the air, but Strength�carried by the Level Three Cyrah had just tried to
warn her pupil of�got to her first. The Noah launched himself from the
aggrieved-looking Akuma and grabbed hold of Krista�s wings, ripping them from
her back.

�� Krista screamed
and fell. Cyrah watched, transfixed, as her apprentice landed with a splatting noise just a few feet in front of her. Blood
splashed onto her jacket, but she could do little more than blink. Above,
Strength was being held once more by his Akuma chariot.

�� Machine gun fire
alerted her that Chu-chan, too, had seen her student being slaughtered. She
ripped her eyes from Chu�s battle with Strength and channeled all of her
numbness and repressed grief into her whip. It glowed
even brighter and rained terror down on anything that touched it. She needed to
reach them, lend her son what aid she could, and take down the son of a bitch that
had killed so many.

�� More power, she hissed to her Innocence,
more synch.

�� It responded to
her by glowing a brilliant, dazzling gold. It shot
through a Level Five, destroying it with ease. Cyrah smiled bitterly. If only
her Innocence could do that to�

�� A cry, a small,
tiny yelp, alerted her to Chu-chan�s battle. She
looked ahead and saw Strength smash his head against a nearby telephone pole.
He went down, and he didn�t get back up.

�� Tuan!�
She yelled, running with desperation over to the one person who had been her
friend. The one person who had supported her when the Order
had killed her unborn child. The person who had become
like her own child.

�� Ignoring the
battle completely, she ran over to his side, where Strength was looming.

�� You stay the fuck
away from him, BITCH!� She shrieked, wailing her Innocence on him with as much
force as she could muster. For the second time, she saw blood. He looked up at
her, distracted from the Vietnamese man he�d been fighting. The Noah ran
forward, obviously trying to hit her with a punch. Cyrah didn�t much feel like
getting hit, though, so she recalled the claws back and struck out again. All
nine tails wrapped around Strength�s already outstretched wrist. Pulling down,
she was once again splattered with blood as the Noah�s hand fell with a plop to the ground.

�� His gait faltered,
and Cyrah lashed out a second time. The claws�large, sharp diamonds of
Innocence�dug deep into his shoulders and back. One claw hit him in the
forehead, on the ugly parody of the stigmata. He got up and made to hit her
again, but she dodged quickly, just as she had done with every other fight. She
was surprisingly dexterous, easily able to dart to the sides and fall to the
ground, only to spring back up moments later, despite her age. She made use of
her ability now.

�� She whipped his
side, cutting deep welts there. Jumping from his fist again, Cyrah pelted his
legs. The Noah fell to the ground, and Cyrah used the opportunity to cripple
him further. He ducked under the pain of her whip, but she continued, switching
hands so that the marks cluttering his back criss-crossed.
Perhaps it was sadistic of her, but she felt a little inkling of satisfaction
as the Noah whimpered in apparent pain.

�� Where�s your
strength now, Noah?� She asked mockingly. Kicking him in the side she�d
whipped, she added, �come on, get up. You didn�t go easy on Artemis; I�m not
going to go easy on you. You killed my son, you killed my apprentice. I think
it�s time for you to die.�

�� The Noah tried to
get up, but Cyrah wrapped the whip around his neck as he raised his head. She
pulled back and up, taking a step backward to add strength to the maneuver.
Just like his wrist, his head popped off.

�� It made a
gratifying squelching sound as it hit the ground only half a meter from the
hunched-over body.

�� She continued
whipping at the corpse. Noahs didn�t go down easily.

�� But he never got
up, even after his body was little more than a sliced-up, tenderized piece of
meat.

---

9:33 PM

�� This battle was
unlike all the others Lavi had ever been in. For one, he was overwhelmed with
trying to pay attention to everything while still fighting. Worse, though, was
how blinding his worry for his lover was becoming. Yuu had only three and a
half petals. The man hadn�t talked about it, but Lavi knew he was worried. The
careful way he was fighting indicated that.

�� Yuu took down the
Level Four he was fighting with a final stroke of his chokuto.
He turned back to look at Lavi, and their eyes met before the redhead went back
to his own Level Four.

�� Hiban!� He yelled, striking his hammer
down on the seal beneath his feet. The fiery snake shot out from his hammer,
engulfing the Akuma in front of him. While it was distracted, he hit it with
the pointed tip of his Innocence, and it died with a gurgling explosion.

�� Another
Akuma came up�a Level Five this time. Looking over at Yuu with a
determined expression, Lavi nodded. They would take this one down together. He
saw Yuu activate his Fourth Illusion and begin attacking. Suddenly, he was
flying back. Extending Oodzuchi into the ground to stop his fall, he looked at
the Level Five. How had he not
noticed that shot coming?

�� Running forward,
he made to hit the Akuma, but Yuu was already dancing around it, slicing at
limbs as the Akuma shot beams of purple light at him, missing each time. Lavi
tried not to be distracted, but just as when he was training, Yuu was a vision
when he fought. Lavi wished he could take the time to fix the image in his
brain further than his Bookman-trained mind did automatically, but he�d get
yelled at if he stayed out of the fight too long. He came back with a vengeance,
blocking a few of the purple beams with the head of his hammer.

�� He managed to hit
the damn thing with a direct fire seal, though it did next to nothing. He
needed more power in his attacks. He struck his hammer down on the damn thing�s
head, and his Innocence shone with the effort. Yuu got the fucker through the
face, and then it, too, was slain as the swordsman ripped the blade down
through metal and flesh to the ground.

�� A loud, grunting
cry came from next to them as Tamas passed through, throwing his machete into
the air to change its angle in his hand. He stabbed at the Level Five he was
fighting, missing. He slashed at the Akuma, this time making brief contact, but
Lavi couldn�t concentrate on that battle to see what else happened.

�� There were more
Level Fours and Fives emerging from wherever the hell they�d come.

�� Use your fire
seal directly after my attack,� Yuu yelled as he passed by. Lavi nodded, turning and following his lover until they were
engaging the nearest Level Four. He did as he was told. The Akuma tried to hit
them with purple light, but it was dead before it could release the energy.

�� We make a great
team, don�t we, Yuu?� He asked as they took on the
next Akuma. In the distance, Lavi heard an epic explosion, and when he turned
his attention briefly to its origins, he saw a mini-Tamas looking triumphant as
he fought a new enemy.

�� Yuu grunted�Lavi
hoped it was affirmative, but he didn�t have the time to care. They were in for
a long night. And from the looks of things�the Level Six absorbing so many, the
Earl cackling from his position atop the Eye, the portal spewing out a
never-ending supply of Akuma�it was going to be tiring.

---

9:41 PM

�� With a tiny moan,
Faith�s world regained color, if not focus. Around her was an
impossibility. All her kin, from Sarah to Cyril, crowded above her with
blurry expressions of concern. She tried to sit up, but soft, gentle hands held
her down.

�� It�s okay, Road said in her head, tugging at bonds that still ached
from being mutilated. You�re hurt. The
Earl did something very bad to� The voice faded away, leaving her head and
reappearing a moment later like a badly-tuned radio. �eed to know how they can help.

�� She opened her
mouth to speak, but words would not come out. Her vocal chords wouldn�t move, as
if they were stuck. All that passed through her throat was air. The fuzziness
of her vision had not receded. Delving into her mind, she looked at the bonds.
They�d been manhandled, stretched thin in places. Some held the erratic pattern
of being fisted. It hurt to look at them, it hurt to see how ragged they were.

�� Faith, dear, you can�t hear, and your vision
feels wrong to me. You lost your voice screaming. I can heal that for you, but
you have to let me close. Elizabeth was speaking, though her voice was
soft, rising and falling like Road�s had.

�� You� are outside? She asked, wincing as her inner voice cut at her own head. It
traveled through one of her many bonds, and she wanted to scream out as pain
hit the Healer�s section of her brain. It hurt to use the bonds, just like it
had hurt to look at them, only this was physical.

�� Dear, you won�t let anyone but Road touch
you. Please, let me help you. I may even be able to do something about the
bonds, Elizabeth implored. Faith tried to nod, but that only made her
vision swim more.

�� A hand touched her
head, a sweet, cool hand that felt like ice on fevered skin. She tried not to
flinch back, to bat it away, though she wanted to. She didn�t know why, but she
wanted to. Elizabeth placed a second hand to her chest, and suddenly everything
was peaceful, as if there wasn�t a battle raging outside wherever they were, as
if hundreds of people hadn�t just been killed, as if Six wasn�t about to
happen. It was as if all there was in the world was her and her kin in a nice,
warm room. The bright, blurred flashes from the distance didn�t bother her.

�� A bond fixed
itself, and then Elizabeth was inside her again, healing her as fast as
possible. The other bonds righted themselves, straightening and evening until
they were as they should be. Vision returned to normal, and sound came to her
ears. She coughed loudly as her voice returned.

�� Looking up at her
dear friends, her dear brothers and sisters, she spoke aloud. �How long?�

�� Nearly an hour
and a half,� Tyki answered. He knew she was asking about the battle. They all
did. They were all connected, after all.

�� How are you
all�?� She asked, sitting up.

�� We�ve always been
with you, just hidden where the Earl couldn�t find us,� Sarah responded softly.

�� I� I�m sorry,�
Faith said meekly, looking down at her lap and twiddling her fingers
absentmindedly.

�� A warm hand, one
she had not felt in a long time, was placed on her shoulder. Faith looked up
into Sarah�s gentle, open face. �It is not your fault,� she said, and Faith
nodded. She believed Sarah. She would always believe Sarah.

�� Is there anything
we can do?� Charlie asked, his voice passionate.

�� Just help in any
way you can,� Faith said. �And forgive me,� she added as an afterthought.

�� There was never
anything to forgive,� Sarah said, smiling. She reached down, hugging Faith,
before she turned and left the room, beckoning for the others to join her.

�� Faith watched them
leave and pulled herself further into Road�s light embrace. �I�m cold,� she
said. She felt Road nod against her head.

�� I know, Faith.
You�ll be warm soon, okay?�

�� Faith shivered
into Road. �Do you promise?� She asked, knowing she sounded childlike but
needing the reassurance anyway.

�� I promise,� Road
said firmly. Faith smiled. It would all be okay as long as she was warm.

---

10:29 PM

�� Death.
All around her was death. Moans and groans and gurgles as people died. Cries as
the soldiers fell, one by one. To her left, a Russian boy barely older than her
succumbed to the poison the Akuma bullets contained. To her right, a young
German woman screamed as an Akuma tore her arm off. Someone else shot at the
Akuma, and it exploded, incinerating the limb and splattering blood and gore
everywhere. Some of it hit Emiko.

�� She shot the more agile
shuriken at an Akuma in the distance as she searched the faces of the soldiers.
Emiko laughed to herself. They were dropping like flies. Or like those people
in Star Trek who wore the red uniforms. She had always liked Star Trek. She
wasn�t so sure she did anymore.

�� Hiroshi. That�s
who she was looking for, even as her Innocence recalled itself to her hand and
morphed back into its first level�the nunchucks�for
easier hand-to-hand combat. She whapped the nearest Level
Two. It struck back, but she continued in with her attacks, jumping
about like the ninja she supposed she represented. She was a bad ninja, though.
Everyone knew how bad she was at stealth.

�� She saw a kid with
black hair, and her heart lurched. She bludgeoned the Akuma into the ground,
where it exploded, sending little bits of gray stone and dust everywhere.
Vikram ran over to her and screamed something that she couldn�t understand.
There was too much noise everywhere.

�� More soldiers?�
He screamed again, Emiko shook her head.

�� No!� She yelled
back. �They�ll all die, it isn�t worth it!�

�� Vikram nodded and turned
back to the Akuma he was fighting. Emiko threw her shuriken into a nearby
Akuma, which had been coming up behind a lone solider. She froze as she
recognized his posture.

�� Hiroshi, get
down!� She screamed, and the boy ducked and narrowly escaped the following
explosion.

�� SASAKI!�
Vikram�s voice rang out as a warning bell, and she
turned just in time to see it. The Indian Man had his back to her, ass crack
showing as always�he hadn�t worn the belt to the battle, claiming it to be �too
precious to lose.� Emiko didn�t believe a word of it. He shuddered backward as
a projectile careened into him with a whistling noise.

�� She lobbed her
shuriken at the attacking Akuma, more out of reflex than anything else.
Dropping to Vikram�s side, she grabbed his head. He
was too dark, and blackened stars were forming over every inch of exposed
flesh.

�� No,� she
whispered, horrified. �Vikram!�

�� He smiled up at
her, his eyes crinkling in that way they always did when he was truly happy.
�Keep fighting, Sasa-chan.�

�� He watched as
Vikram turned to ash in his arms. And then he got up and fought.

---

11:04 PM

�� Power was fading.
Time pulsed within her, and she gasped wildly. It was becoming so hard to hold
on to everything. Miranda felt a groan coming from deep within her throat and
released it out into the night air. Time was so hard to keep at a standstill.
All around her, people�s times disappeared, extinguished as easily as the flame
at the end of a candle.

�� She felt nauseous.
It was probably from the strain of holding on to the Time Bubble and keeping
her Innocence activated. In front of her, Lolek was leaning over, favoring his
left arm. He�d broken his right dodging a flying patio table. Miranda felt a
twinge of guilt at not being able to put him under her Time Recovery. But she
was needed for something else right now.

�� Looking to her
left, she let out a startled gasp. The Time Bubble shuddered a bit, but she
held it in place. Just barely.

�� My name�s
Charlie,� said the Noah to her side. �I�m here to help.� He had brown hair with
tints of ginger that reminded her of Darcy. His eyes were a clear blue, but
they had nothing on Lolek�s distinct hue. Dimly,
Miranda supposed he was attractive, but holding all the time was keeping her
from really noticing anything about him. He was about her age, though. Probably younger. Like Lolek.

�� How much do you
want to keep this bubble up?� Charlie asked her, leaning down and hovering a hand over her shoulder.

�� Miranda just
nodded and let out a whining groan. She couldn�t do anything more. It was too
hard to concentrate on speaking. Charlie�s words were already getting dim. He
placed his hand on her shoulder, and suddenly everything was stable.

�� You have passion,
so I can help. But if you pushed yourself any harder, you would have hurt it,�
he said, as if he was making sense. She supposed it made sense to him. She,
however, was lost.

�� It?�
She gasped out. Charlie just smiled and shook his head.

�� Don�t worry about
it,� he said. He gripped her shoulder a little. Warmth was emanating from that
spot, coursing through Miranda�s body like a current, and the bubble had become
much lighter. Perhaps she could hold it through the course of the battle after
all. She only wished that people�s times wouldn�t be snuffed out at such a
frequent pace.

---

11:58 PM

�� They�d been
fighting for a while. The Akuma just kept coming. Around two hours ago, Amanda
had seen a winged figure in the sky near the portal, but whatever that person
was trying to do, it was failing.

�� She was getting
tired. She had found Tamas about an hour after she had left Cyrah, though he�d
disappeared again. The man fought like a maniac, slashing his machete about as
if he was trying to escape an insane asylum. She had never seen anyone fight
like that, in a trance-like anger that destroyed all around it. It didn�t
matter if they were friend or foe�if they were in the machete�s range, they�d
be gone.

�� Amanda found
herself impressed that they were all doing so well against such high-leveled
Akuma. It must have been that they�d trained their synch rates up so much.
Hevlaska had tested them all before the battle. Amanda was at a solid 99
percent. Darcy was behind her with an impressive 95. Even Lolek, a shadow of a
man without his sister, was at nearly 80.

�� She tore into the
nearest Akuma, a Level Three. It exploded a moment later, and she couldn�t help
but feel somewhat victorious, despite her fatigue. It was replaced a moment
later with another one. It looked stronger than the others. But that was just
her mind playing tricks on her, because in the blink of an eye, it was nothing
more than fire and oil.

�� A loud, screeching
grunt sounded near to her, and when she looked over, Tamas was there, hacking
his weapon in every direction. He was focused on his vicious battle with a
Level Five. Amanda couldn�t help but watch for a second. She had never actually
seen Tamas fight�she�d only heard
stories.

�� The man was truly
a Berserker. If she was honest with herself, it scared her a little. Tamas
plunged his machete deep into the Level Five, only to pull back and repeat the
action. The gray blade sliced the air and sunk into the Akuma�s
humanlike flesh with a sickening squelch. Black, oily blood seeped from each
wound Tamas inflicted. The Akuma itself tried to strike the Hungarian man, but
his eyes narrowed in intense anger and concentration. He nearly flew backward
as he evaded the attack. His foot slipped as he landed, but he kept his balance
and lunged forward again, his Innocence shining a bright, pure green.

�� Shaking her head,
Amanda returned to the battle around her, riding her adrenaline high. Her
discus flew out and exploded three nearby Level Ones. It ran through a Level
Two, destroying it as well. By the time it was back in her hand, the slight
challenge of a Level Three had appeared in front of her. She tossed her
Innocence at it, but it seemed to be more nimble than its predecessors.

�� Boomerang!�
Amanda shouted, tossing her Innocence out again. She missed the Akuma on
purpose and waited for it to return, hoping her enemy wouldn�t attack her while
her Innocence flung back at her.

�� Tamas stepped in
between them, still fighting. Amanda screamed out as she saw the Level Three�s
attack fly out of its mouth. It hit Tamas�s entire
right side. At first, it seemed like nothing had happened. Then steam began to
rise from the berserk Exorcist�s clothing.

�� Tamas!�
Amanda shouted, forgetting to concentrate on her Innocence, which recalled
itself to her hand and deactivated there. The man continued to hack and chop at
the Level Five, despite his burning flesh. The Akuma fell, and Tamas followed.

�� Amanda! Watch
out!�

�� She would
recognize that voice anywhere, and she immediately followed its instructions.
She threw herself to the ground, not caring if she landed on top of a dead body
of a soldier�one who hadn�t been hit with a bullet. A thin string of the Akuma�s acidic spit flew over her head, and she rolled away
from it, not wanting to risk getting hit at all. Activating her Innocence
again, she made to throw the discus. Darcy was in front of her, though.

�� Darce!
Left!� She screamed. With a flick of her wrist, her
Innocence sailed out over the battlefield and toward the Akuma. The fight began
in earnest, with both her and her boyfriend dodging attacks and sending some of
their own back.

�� Amanda felt
herself soaring as she was hit with a solid punch from her enemy. She hit the
ground, coughing up a small amount of blood. Her ribs hurt, though they didn�t
feel broken. Sitting up, she made to stand, but another strand of acid shot at
her.

�� She stared in
horror as Darcy jumped in front of it. The second it hit, he threw his Exorcist
jacket off, as well as his pants. It didn�t matter, though. Amanda wondered why
her face burned. She wondered why
there was such a stench in the air. Like rotting flesh.

�� Suddenly, she was
in the air, moving very fast and then falling. Water engulfed her, and the
burning died away, though the pain remained. There was ginger all around her,
holding her tightly to a warm, bare chest. Waterlogged though her eyes were,
she looked up to see the face of the man she loved. Everything was dank and dreary in the water. It registered dimly in the
back of her head that she might be in the Thames. The very
polluted Thames.

�� Immediately, she
shut her eyes.

---

1:00 AM

�� Their plan had
gone irreversibly awry. He and Lenalee had spent the last five hours trying to
get to the Eye, where they had planned to be at the beginning. That had failed.
There had been so many people, too many people, and Allen and Lenalee had
herded them all to the farthest point from the Eye. The only problem was
getting back to their earlier
position.

�� Opening a gate in
the Ark was impossible. Sebastian was gone. Allen had felt Mana�s
brother being literally torn out of his mind, ripped away as if the man had
never been there at all. He searched his hallway of doors, but the Noah simply
wasn�t there. His door was demolished, as if Sebastian had taken root and his
exodus from Allen�s head had destroyed part of the white-haired boy�s mind.
From the way the left side of his head ached,
he assumed that hypothesis to be correct.

�� Together, the two
of them tore through another Level Five. The longer they�d battled, the less
high levels they�d seen, but Allen was still wary. He could somehow feel that
Sarah was alive, somewhere in the air. She was determined to do something.
Allen didn�t know what, though. He wanted to communicate through the bonds he
and Lenalee had recently become aware of�now placed behind a Noah door in his
mind�but there was a buzzing noise whenever he tried to access them. He guessed
that the Earl was interfering.

�� The Eye loomed
above them, the Earl at its very peak. The Level Six was still absorbing Akuma,
though the flow had slowed down. Lulubell was next to
it, batting away what few Akuma she could. She was powerful, not to mention a
Noah, but there was such a sheer, overwhelming number of the metal creatures
that she couldn�t keep up. The Earl just laughed from atop his perch, and Allen
glared up at his enemy. Right now, though, the Earl could wait. They needed to
find Faith.

�� He reached for her
door in his mind, opening it with ease, and looked inside. A single, very
strong bond was inside, but it was coated in something shining and white.
Cringing, Allen tried to pull it off, but it wouldn�t budge. This was the
interference. It hurt his ears and mind and head all at once and made him want
to scream with the all-encompassing pain. His eye ached from seeing so many
Akuma, and it bled from the horrific sight of the Level Fives. He was wearied,
his body riddled with a pain it could not withstand.

�� He activated his
mind-self�s Innocence and clawed at the white resistance. It shattered
immediately under the tip of his black claw. With his right hand, he held the
bond and called out to Faith.

�� Allen? Where are you? Faith asked. Her
voice was strong and clear in his head. Glancing at Lenalee as she faced off
with a nearby Level Four, he smiled.

�� At the foot of the Eye. Where are you? He responded.

�� I�m in one of the carriages. Please find me.
We need to confront the Earl�you, Lenalee, me, and Road, all of us together.

�� Allen nodded,
though he knew the girl couldn�t see it. He joined in with Lenalee�s fight,
throwing his sword until it splattered through its target. It was messy and an
unnecessary way to kill an Akuma, but they needed to hurry, and all that really
mattered was that the soul was saved.

�� Many people didn�t
understand his point of view, but Akuma were precious to him. He loved them,
just as he loved humans.

�� Grabbing Lenalee�s
hand, he pulled her up to the very base of the Eye.

�� Clown
Belt!� He yelled, and the strands of his Innocence shot forth, attaching
around one of the carriages halfway up. He beckoned Lenalee forward; she came
into his arms willingly. Holding tightly onto her waist, he let them rocket up
as he retracted the Innocence back around his wrist.

�� It wasn�t Faith�s
carriage, but the bond behind Faith�s door twitched, as if they were getting
closer. Allen repeated the process until a voice shouted out in his head.

�� I�m in here! Don�t move!

�� Nodding grimly,
Allen reluctantly pulled away from Lenalee and waited for the carriage door to
open. They both flipped into it from the roof. In the middle, there was a
plastic block, obviously meant to act as a bench. Faith was sitting on it,
curled up in Road�s arms. Road looked up at them.

�� What took you so
long?� She asked, smiling despite the accusation in her tone.

�� The civilians,�
Allen replied shortly. Lenalee went from his side to hug both Faith and her
companion.

�� This is the first
time we�ve met in person, Allen Walker, Lenalee Lee,� Faith observed, squeezing
Lenalee until she started choking from lack of air. �I have a request for you
two.�

�� Anything, Faith,�
Lenalee said in a strangled voice, pulling back and breathing in deeply. She
coughed lightly, and the holy girl apologized softly.

�� Sarah is fighting
the Earl, trying to close the portal. It�s an entirely mental battle, though,
so they are both occupied. Will you help Lulu? She�s having trouble keeping the
Akuma from entering the Six.�

�� They nodded in
unison, wearing identical expressions that were half determination, half concern.
Stepping out of the carriage, Lenalee activated her boots further so that she
could walk comfortably on air. She grabbed his hand, pulling him along with
her. He didn�t feel solid air beneath him, but gravity didn�t have a hold on
him either.

�� Lulubell was in her human form, sporting her usual blonde
hair and sunglasses. The light brush of stigmata that was so much like theirs
was covered in sweat as she batted away as many Akuma as she could.

�� Being so close to
the Six made Allen uneasy. He could feel the uncontrolled evil and the
overwhelming sadness inside of it. It was overpowering, and it was hard to
concentrate on destroying the numerous Akuma that were funneling into it. He
felt his left eye leaking more blood but ignored it as he drew his blade from
his left arm.

�� Cross Grave!� He
cried. Crosses formed over several of the lower-leveled beings, and they
exploded. Lenalee stamped by, jumping from Akuma to Akuma, annihilating them with
just the touch of her heel.

�� They just kept
coming, no matter how many were destroyed. Thankfully, most of them weren�t
making it into the Akuma. They fought for hours, using energy they�d wanted to
save for their battle against the Earl. Abruptly, a bright, blue light sliced
through the sky, explosions in its wake. Another followed, and a third hit the
portal that was still spewing their metal enemies. It imploded, the stream of
Akuma drying up as the source was dammed.

�� Allen looked around. More sharp
light pierced the battlefield, carving out great swaths in the illuminated
dome. The blue was the exact shade of Mugen�s activation. Allen had a sinking
feeling in the pit of his stomach. Catching Lenalee�s gaze, he voiced his
worry. �I think something may have happened to Lavi.�

�� Lenalee could only nod, her eyes fearful.

---

3:26 AM

�� Tyki kind of felt bad that he
had tried to kill the Japanese man before. He really was a very good fighter.

�� May I join in the fun?� He
asked as he fell into step behind the two Exorcists. �He called his Tease from inside his body,
preparing a strike. The two Exorcists turned abruptly, and Tyki shot a swarm of
Tease at the incoming attacker from which he had drawn their attention. The
Japanese man stared at him angrily, making a tiny, derisive noise, but he went
back to his fight.

�� Tossing another
few Tease at the looming Level Five, Tyki joined in.

�� They fought for hours, the never
ending stream of Akuma descending on them as they had at the beginning of the
battle.

�� Skin joined them an hour or two
after Tyki had arrived. They were a destructive group. The fast healing powers
of the Noahs helped them as they were tossed back.
Tyki was especially grateful for his own personal ability. He was very nearly
untouchable, and though he couldn�t do much damage up close�the high levels
moved too fast�his Tease ate through anything remotely edible. It was a pity
they didn�t have much of a taste for Akuma flesh and blood, but they gnawed at
it anyway, weakening the machines until they could be destroyed with Innocence.

�� He wanted to make them
self-destruct, but he no longer had that power. They wouldn�t listen to a Noah
that was uncorrupted. He�d felt Strength�s death from inside of Faith. He�d
felt Chaz return to a subliminal state where he could
be purified.

�� The way the Exorcists fought
disturbed him, though. Lavi, in particular, kept looking back at Kanda. The
look in his one visible eye was one that Tyki faked frequently. But the Portuguese
Noah knew that look was not fake for them. Love, lust,
pleasure, it was all related. Sarah and Lulu would agree with that as well. Of
course, without his dark side, pleasure had a completely different meaning. The
redhead was fighting a Level Four, and as the Akuma exploded, he turned left.

�� Tyki tried to shout out. Lavi
had a blind side�he hadn�t seen the Level Three approaching from his right.
With a sickening, ripping squelch, claw met flesh and bone. Lavi screamed as
his momentum was thrown the other way. His eye met the dark-haired Exorcist�s
as he fell, his intestines spilling onto the dusty, oily ground a moment before
he landed. Tyki sent one of his larger Tease at the Level Three and felt
disgusted when he saw what looked like half of a ribcage stuck like a shish
kabob to the Akuma�s claw.

�� It took only a moment for Kanda
to be at his lover�s side. Making a quick decision, Tyki returned to the
battle. He would protect the ones he had once tried to kill.

�� Lavi.�
He tried to ignore the hoarse whisper from the Japanese man. There was a gurgle
in response, one of a man choking on blood.

�� It hurts,� came the response.
Tyki didn�t want to hear this. He shot his arm through the nearest Akuma�a
Level Two�and ripped it apart much like the Level Three had done to Lavi.

�� Use the water seal. It heals,
right?� Kanda�s voice was desperate, almost pleading. It hurt Tyki to hear.

�� But he had to turn around,
because there was an Akuma over there. His heart broke as the Japanese man
picked up the redhead�s Innocence and curled his hand around it. Lavi whispered
out the invocation, and a small string of water leapt from the tip of the
hammer onto his stomach.

�� Lavi, that�s not enough.�

�� Too�tired�� Lavi muttered. Tyki
tore apart another Akuma from the inside and looked back at the Exorcists,
unable to keep his eyes away. Kanda was tentatively packing Lavi�s intestines
close to the redhead�s body with shaking hands. The image made Tyki�s stomach
roil.

�� Above him, he heard Skin roar
out a warning. Tyki made his body incorporeal as his bulky brother passed
through him, landing with shattering force on the ground. Beneath his feet, an
Akuma was being scrunched. It gave out a dying cough and exploded.

�� Skin,� Tyki said, struck with
inspiration. He reached out as his brother made to move away. Skin turned
around, shooting him a questioning look. �Can you give strength to that one?�
He pointed to Lavi, whose water seal was already falling apart.

�� Skin grunted and walked over as
Tyki slammed his fist inside an Akuma, planting several of his Tease inside it.
They ate it quickly, dissolving it to nothing. The noise of metal grating metal
did not cover Lavi�s scream as Skin forced lightning into the redhead�s system.
It was painful, but if infused correctly, the lightning could strengthen the
redhead enough to heal properly. Skin was like a battery, providing energy. It
was how he himself ran.

�� Turning once more to the battle,
Tyki was thrown back by a surprise attack from a Level Four. He grimaced in
pain, but it was gone a moment later. There were times when he loved being a
Noah. Actually, there wasn�t a time when he didn�t. A bright, purple light
streaked forth, and Tyki deflected it with a hastily-created Tease shield. The
golem cracked under the pressure and fell to the ground, broken. The Tease that
were still inside him were few in number, but he could
let them grow again. They could eat at his own organs should they need fuel. It
hurt, but he�d heal, and they could multiply. A symbiotic relationship, he
thought, his grimace turning to an amused grin.

�� Moments later, the Level Four
was destroyed and he was turning back to the two Exorcists. Skin was stepping
back; the redhead lifted his hammer, and a strong stream of water flowed down
onto his stomach. It pushed organs back into place, and spat oil and metal out
from the gaping wound. Relief crossed Lavi�s face, and he subsequently passed
out.

�� Kanda sat up, grief written
clearly on his face. He pulled his Innocence from his hip, activating it as he
stepped forward. He came up next to Tyki, a grim look covering his features.

�� Gogen,� he hissed. Tyki didn�t
know what it meant, but the Innocence shone a livid blue and formed a
double-sided spear. Kanda stared at it, and a smirk lifted the corners of his
lips.

�� Rokugen!� He yelled,
his voice gruff and almost broken with something that could only be described
as a gut-wrenching anguish and resignation. The staff broke down into a
two-bladed form Tyki had seen before. Lurid lines of blue twined themselves
tightly around Kanda�s arms in close-knit coils, connecting the two blades.

�� The man looked down almost
incredulously at his Innocence. �Hontoni?� He asked it. He slashed the air in front of him, and Tyki
ducked as a scythe-shaped wave of
energy rippled through the air, destroying all enemies in its path. Tyki
smelled something akin to burning hair and patted out his smoldering curls.

�� Somehow, a caring Kanda was far
scarier than the original version.

�� The dark-haired man laughed. It
was humorless, almost bitter, and unerringly sad. He turned to the cloud of
Akuma above and crossed his blades, swiping them downward. Great, thundering
currents of Innocence shot out, cutting through the sky and clearing it for a
moment. Kanda frowned and turned to the portal. He aimed a shot there, and his
target imploded in on itself. Tyki watched, astonished, as the man let out
three more swiping strokes before the Innocence in his hands dissolved and
returned to his left hip.

�� Kanda cried out and stumbled
backward, clutching his chest as if in acute pain. A bullet came from nowhere,
lodging itself deep into Kanda�s upper chest, the opposite side of the one he
was holding. His mouth opened as if in shock, and he stumbled backward, ripping
the Akuma bullet�too thin and uniformly shaped to be from anything but a Level
One�away. He tossed it to the ground. Tyki made himself
incorporeal again, fearing attack, as he watched the man trip backwards over
Lavi�s fallen and bleeding body.

�� Kanda�s head landed with a
sharp, nauseating crack. His eyes went wide for a second. Tyki walked forward
to look over the dark-haired man.

�� His pupils were dilated.

�� Outside of the Time Bubble, the
first streak of light poured out from the horizon.

---

A/N:
We know. Horrible cliffhanger. We did it on purpose.
But guess what? You get an extra chapter! :D Don�t worry, we won�t post it for
a few days, just to annoy you ^_^ Also, though it won�t be explicitly
mentioned, Cyril comes to help Emiko after Vikram croaks it. :)

�A/N2: Holy shit, it�s 3:18 in the morning, and
we�re tired. Disregard the bit about not posting for a few days. You get to
wait until LaviYuu day!� We may just go ahead and post the rest of IR
on that day. Em2 made so many fails while reading that Em1 scoffed and took
over. Our favorite fail of the night is �It allowed her to concentrate on not
being slain.� Em2 saw that and thought it said �con

concentrate on not being Asian.� *headdesk* Okies, we�re tired, so off we go~!
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Innocent Rain