Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray-Man. Not yet, anyway, not until my plans of world domination come to fruition. But to be honest, that doesn't seem likely.

AN: Hello! How are you? Sorry for the yet again late update, internet problems+year 11 formal (OZ version of prom, I suppose?)+preparing for a year 12 subject ): has all kept me from doing so. Well, on a brighter note, drunk people are hilarious. Especially ones that don't stop laughing. Sorry the start of the story is a bit confusing, but I'm sure you'll all understand where the story is. Hope you enjoy the story :D

So much had happened that Allen almost wasn't surprised to see the generals of the Order riding the ark…almost. He was very confused, and somehow he was holding an unconscious Ai, having grabbed her when he woke up. How she got there was a mystery to him, but she had been held by the akuma beside him. A sharp punch to the top of his head caught his attention forcefull"How could you let my cute pupil be taken, stupid pupil?" His master took Ai from him and cradled her protectively with one arm, easily wielding his own innocence in the other.

"Hey, I was unconscious too!" he protested.

"Hurry up and go, stupid pupil."

"Wake up…" A voice tugged at me through the murky and deep blackness. My eyes blinked open, my head aching and throbbing like someone was whacking the inside of it with a hammer. I sat up slowly, a wave of nausea washing through me. I closed my eyes against the light that seemed blinding, and covered my mouth. I hated head injuries precisely because of this.

Damn Lulu Bell. Why are the Noah so strong? She had to be so polite about it as well, it just made it worse.

"Are you okay?" Marie tilted his head. I opened one eye slowly, making sure not to make any sudden movements that might shake my brain.

"Depends on your definition of okay." I smiled cautiously. Marie was also holding Miranda, and I saw Allen kneeling beside me. Bookman was attending to Miranda, his age really showing at this time.

"Hey Allen, you're awake! What…eurgh….what happened?" I held back a gag. I couldn't see the egg anywhere anymore and I was surrounded by the dead bodies of akuma.

"The egg had to be destroyed, but we managed to get Miranda back," Allen said through heavy breaths, looking very unsettled but relieved. "Can you stand?" he asked with concern in his voice.

"If there's no blood, there shouldn't be any problem." I slowly nodded, but Allen stared for a second and then pointed to my temple. I raised a hand to touch it, feeling the matted hair that was wet from blood. I then dragged the back of my hand across my cheek, looking at my hand. It was covered in blood and I immediately wiped it on the nearest object other than me: Allen.

"Ah!" he cried. "If you had just asked, I would have gladly offered…"

"Hehe, sorry. I'll clean it later." I wiped the rest of the blood away with my sleeve. My first thought after that immediately jumped to the safety of the others, my panic building as I thought about Lavi and Lenalee. How could I protect them if I wasn't near them? I suddenly realised I was gripping something so hard in my other hand that it was almost cutting into my palms. "My knives!" I hadn't let them be taken away, they were still here with me. I almost cried out in relief and I hooked them into the straps on my torso beneath my jumper tightly.

"You were holding those quite tightly the entire time." Allen commented gently.

"Was I? Alright! I think I should be okay." I pulled myself up to one knee, but a wave of dizziness caught me off guard and I probably would have smashed my face on the ground had Allen not steadied me.

"You don't have to force yourself, there shouldn't be any more-"he started, but even I jumped as his left eye activated and he glanced around wildly.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"There's…! Nothing, stay here, I'll be right back," he said distractedly, making sure I was steady on my feet before letting go and preparing to dash away. I lost my grip on his arm but I grabbed onto his sleeve, clenching the material in my hand.

"If there's akuma, I'm not letting you go alone and hog all the reckless fun!" I scolded. He glanced down in surprise, and his weary expression loosened a little.

"You're hurt, Ai. You would just get in the way," Allen gently removed my hand from his sleeve, but caught my slightly hurt expression. "So please just stay here and stay safe. Too many people have

been hurt already."

I looked down, feeling blood start to run down the side of my face again and drip off my chin to the floor. His avid concern and genuine sorrow at the deaths and injuries burned because I knew how much he was suffering because of it. He was so stupidly empathetic, to the point of martyrism. I wiped the blood off with my sleeve, looking up to give Allen a hard stare.

"Alright, but the same applies to you. Stay safe, Allen."

"Trust me, I will." he smiled and nodded, but I found him so hard to believe.

"I'll be waiting."

Like I would just sit here idly and let him run off while I could still fight. I knew the effects of head injuries could appear at different times after being sustained, so while now I was only suffering from dizziness and nausea, I had to be careful to make sure it didn't get worse. I would be of no help if I was unconscious. I had followed him at a distance, I had never expected to have to use my skills to trail after a friend into danger. As Allen finally stopped running, I glanced out and blinked in surprise when I caught sight of Johnny lying on the floor, blood pooling around him. I think the general scene caught me off guard, and I ran out, disregarding whether Allen would notice me or not.

"Johnny!" I kneeled down, putting my arm around his shoulders from where he was sprawled on the floor. I glanced up, the sight not helping my nausea at all. Blood and bodies were strewn across the floor, a grotesque model of limbs forming a backwards figure. It was sickening, as much as the smell was familiar.

"It was my fault…" Johnny sobbed.

"Shh, it's okay, I don't know what happened here, but we're here now, we're here now!" I hurriedly reassured him, half reassuring myself.

"B-But I…"he cried. I supported him and pulled him up into a sitting position. He was still bent over, he looked like he had pretty bad injuries. A childish and delighted giggling filled the air and I dug my nails into my knee at the shivers running along my spine. A naked and disgustingly cherubic humanoid thing covered with black marks peeked out from behind the figure. It was winged and had a black star on its stomach, an odd double halo floating above its head.

"I'm level four!" It stated calmly in a misleadingly child like voice. I was finding it harder and harder to remain level headed, and it didn't help when Allen dropped to his knees and doubled over, slapping a hand over his mouth. Fear bubbled up inside me and it took everything I knew to stay conscious, trying to fight down the almost certain thought that the…the thing in front of us was going to annihilate us all. It felt like it was going to be the end.

AN: Thanks for reading, and of course, thanks to all the reviews, alerts and favs :D See you (hopefully) next week!