Kanda narrowed his eyes "Nigentou...." He held Mugen in one hand, covering the sword in a coat of energy, creating a second blade in his other hand.

Tyki grinned and pulled his tied up arms back, jerking the sliver-haired exorcist towards
him and kneed him in the abdominal area, thinking that Allen would let go of his arms. He looked over at the females "Teeze...." a swarm of the man-eating  dove down, attacking the other two exorcists.

Kanda gripped both of the swords and  charged after the Noah.Tyki was enabled to move due to the clown blet wrapped around his arms and Kanda couldn't get close enough to Tyki to penetrate him, unless of course he wished to take Allen out as well."Che...Moyashi...let him go...or you'll be in my way." Kanda planned on using everything he had, even if it costed a portion of his life.

"Dark boots!" Lenalee cried as the teeze swarmed towards her and the new exorcist. She flew upwards and away, forcing half of those black butterflies to follow her, the other half, however, remained on a collision course with Maya.

Maya smiled. This one didn't like to play fair. Attacking those who hadn't raised a hand to him. atleast not yet. She grasped her handguns for a second time. "Innocence" She said quietly, staring down at that swarm "Activate". The guns in her hand began to glow an acid purple, and she lifted both towards her target. She fired 2 glowing shots, both flying towards the teeze then exploding into hundreds of smaller energy bolts when hitting the first teeze, ripping many of them apart. She hadn't noticed the other's that had crept behind however, turning only in time to stop them harming her. Damnit. These little blighters were tricky. She continued to fire, this time, single shots, while trying to evade them.

Lenalee stopped after reaching a certain height, turning, and then diving, feet first through the swarm that had followed her. She appeared below the swarm, having only taken out a few of them. Darn, she shot herself forward, she needed to think of another way, this one would take too long.

Allen couldn't do much until he caught his breath; the wind was completely knocked out of him. In a daze he glanced at Kanda, gave him a weak nod, and quickly jerked back on his Clown Belt, pulling the Noah towards him as he released it.

"Edge End...!" he was still weakened from Tyki's blow to his stomach, but his attack was enough to force the Noah back, hopefully doing a bit of damage along the way. The pale exorcist stood, legs spread apart and arms dangling at his sides, trying desperately to catch his breath and regain his composure. He would be no help to the others if he could not fight to his full capacity.

Then the melody came, washing over him like a wave. He could feel the melancholy chords, each one with its own unique texture and length, flowing over his matter of his mind. He fell to his knees, eyes to the sky, watching it absently as Lenalee flew over him. The heart-rending lyrics brought tears to his eyes, and he choked back the sobs that came with them. He felt ashamed of himself. The melody in his brain danced there like a charm in the wind, gently reminding him of himself and the cold world around him...and as Lenalee and Maya battled the Teeze and the fighting between Kanda and Tyki raged around him, all he could do was cry. He hid his face in his hands and wept. How...pitiful. Yes, that was the best and only word to describe him right now. He wanted to die.

Timcanpy flew to Lavi, alarmed. it settled on the other exorcist's shoulder and bit into his jacket, beating its wings to show its urgency. Something was not right with Allen Walker.

~*"*~

In the dark, damp confines of his eyelids he saw himself on a white beach. He looked around; the sky and water were black, like an inversion of the black-and-white that Mana's curse told him to see. In the water was not fish, but white chords, music notes, and the symbols on the score that Timcanpy held.

'Is this...my mind?' Allen took a few shaky steps forward, reaching his arms out toward the horizon. Floating there far from his grasp was a boat, and in that boat was a figure. He could only guess who it was, but he could hear them calling his name. He called back, "I'm here...!" But the figure could not hear him, and it kept on calling out to him. The melody continued to wash against the sho.re of his mind, gently lapping at his toes as he walked into it. "Help me...!" tears of black and white fell from his eyes as he stepped deeper into the melodious water around him. "Please...!"

((Quick OOC: Ahaha, is it Mana that Allen is seeing? We may never know...)) 

BIC||| Something wrapped around him, stopping him when he was about knee-deep in the swirling music. It was the heavy white cloak of the Crowned Clown, and the blue mask slid down over his eyes as if telling him not to look at the horizon any longer. He shook himself as if to force the hood back, stumbling out of the melody and back onto the white sho.re. When he had succeeded in ridding his face of the mask, he made for the sho.reline again. As he was about to touch the music lapping against the colorless sand, white flakes began to pas.s his line of vision and dance around him.

'Snow? No...these are feathers...' He looked up to the sky; the stars were also the symbols that he read in the musical score, and from them fell the pallid feathers. He raised his arms, reaching for the black sky above him, reaching for the unknown things that lay beyond it.

~*"*~

"Someone...please...stop the melody...!" he cried, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes against the image of himself on that white sho.re. "I c-can't do it...!" he shook his head violently, shaking the tears off of his face as he tried to rid his mind of the black-and-white emptiness swallowing him. "Someone...please...help me...! I d-don't want to become a Noah...!"

((Ooh, that was long. *pants* But that comes from the fanfic that I'm writing, and I wanted to see if I could use it in here somewhere. Tyki, don't you dare take advantage of my emo-ness, baka!))

Lenalee was still busy flitting, she was still at a loss as to how to deal with these teeze effectively, and it completely p*censored*ed her that there was something wrong with Allen.

The same couldn't be said for Maya, she felt that despair wash over her, and it forced her to stop. She continued to fire at the teeze, keeping them away from her, afterall, she didn't know what would happen if they got too near her. Her eyes however, drifted over to Allen, what was wrong with him? This despair was most definately coming from him, it was too powerful a feeling, too consuming. She didn't truly believe what she thought she'd heard either, but at the moment, she was too occupied to care much, Although She thought, When this is over, he has some explaining to do.

~(That fanfic sounds excellent by the way =3)~

Tyki squinted in pain, curse the innocence, it would be a lot easier if he could just pas.s through it.

The black-haired exorcist took advantage of this moment "Hakka Tourou...." Kanda made a quick movement, slashing Tyki eight times. He contemplated wither or not he should go any further in his abilities, it would take part of his life away from him. If he were to go at this instant would it be too soon? But should he really wait for Tyki to attack back? A slight "Che..." pas.sed his lips, he couldn't chose. Instead he just took a fighting position, waiting to see what will happen next.

The Noah crossed his arms, skidding across the ground, trying to block as much as he could, but Kanda's attack still reached him. He tried to regain his balance, but was dizzy in a sense. A burning sensation ran through his body. The wounds from when he was exorcised were killing him and this battle wasn't helping. Tyki then turned his attention to Allen, this isn't like him to sit out of a duel, especially between them . He focused back on Kanda and Lavi, they were he's opponents now.

Kanda looked at Allen, from the corner of his eye, the hell was he doing just sitting there on the verge of tears. "Dammit....'' he cursed on his breathe 'Damn it all...' Kanda didn't know what to think, he was about to take away part of his own life to defeat this creature and Allen was just sitting there doing nothing, but screaming. No wonder why they never got along. Kanda gritted his teeth and gripped tighter on the two swords, this was going to get ugly.

He looked back at the distressed exorcist and grinned as an evil plan popped in his head. Tyki jumped off the ground, landing on nothing but air. He pushed himself from the invisible surface, diving down towards Allen.

Kanda noticed right away, cursing out loud, he ran towards Allen getting there just in time, he crossed both blades and blocked Tyki''s attack from hitting Allen. 

 ((...wow I had too much fun with this o.o....))

((Oh Lord. Kanda is defending me?! :o A breakthrough!))

BIC|| The sound of Kanda's swords stopping Tyki seemed to snap Allen out of his stupor slightly, calling him back to reality. He looked up just in time to see the Japanese exorcist step in front of him.

Wait. He did a double-take. Kanda defended him? He must not have been in a right state of mind. True, the melody was still whirling about his numb brain like bees around a hive, but this was just too much to believe. Kanda was his rival, not his buddy!

"K-Kanda..." he spoke weakly, picking himself up. "I am sorry. I will try my best not to let it happen again..." his voice trailed off slightly. He felt ashamed of himself; he had let himself show weakness in the middle of a battle. Not only that, but he had revealed his dark secret to Maya and confirmed it in the minds of the others.

Could the day get any worse? Probably.

He gritted his teeth against the music in his mind and flexed his claws. He was still weak, but he could try to push Tyki back and prepare for another strike. "Clown Belt!" he raised himself up on thin, spidery legs of his Innocence and used the attack to pull the Noah up into the air with him. He then grabbed the strips of cloth with his right hand and jerked them forward, pulling his opponent towards him.

"Edge End!" 

Lenalee stopped in mid air, allowing the teeze to surround her. When she was covered by nothing but a black ball of butterflies she struck. Within that black m*censored* one single acid green crescent slashed across the entire circle, burning many of the teeze and making many fall simply fall out of the sky. Lenalee looked around in the raining m*censored* of teeze, spotting Kanda and Allen, as well as Maya who seemed to have regained control of her situation. She flew to stand some distance behind Allen, her eyes focused on Tyki and Kanda.

With one last shot of bright acid purple, the last of the teeze following Maya were obliterated.  They had to be the most annoying things she'd ever had to deal with. They weren't all that powerful, but they got everywhere and Maya had quickly got annoyed with the fact they didn't seem to end, they just continued to appear in their mas.ses. It seemed now, however, she'd finally dealt with them, and stood looking over the remains as she saw the one called Lenalee land within the corner of her eye. She turned to her, then focused her vision on Allen, his last statement echoing in her mind. Something didn't ring true however, he was so coated in despair, there's no way in hell he'd willingly be a Noah... It wasn't possible. Speaking of Noah, Maya then turned to watch Kanda, her handguns still glowing that venomous purple, snakes of that dangerous colour crawling up her arms.

Tyki cursed in his mind, as the claws of innocence came near, he had let his guard down. The Edge End pierced through his gray skin. He grunted in pain, not only was that attack slightly painful, but he could also feel his inner Noah wanting to be released. The Teeze continued to pour out of him, only this time they were a lot bigger than the original, having skulls for heads and vertical strips that ran along their wings. They flew away from Allen and the other exorcist avoiding being harmed by the innocence. A pink light showed coming from the mouth of these creatures. They fired tons of energy beams, the same kind that an Akuma would use, at the exorcists, especially at Allen.

Kanda's eyes widened as the firing bullets came towards him. He blocked them by slashing away with both of his swords, but didn't manage to block all them and got hit by one, sending him backwards, hitting a nearby wall. He fell to the ground "Che~...kuso~" he growled as he pushed himself up weakly "Kaichū: Ichigen!", one slash of Mugen created a portal for the hell insects to crawl out of. The sliver insects locked their beady red eyes onto Tyki, traveling to their next prey.

 ((...I'm having Kanda curse in Japanese...because if it were in english it would most likely be blocked o.o ...))

((Ahaha, good plan. o3o))

"Kanda!" Allen was surprised to find himself calling out to his rival. Was that concern in his voice? No way in Hell would he worry about Kanda! He didn't even worry when Kanda was fighting Skin during their first adventure inside the Ark!

...okay, maybe he had worried a little.

He growled and tried not to focus on the Teeze fluttering around him or the beams they were firing, but on the Noah whom he was intent upon killing. His Innocence would block a number of the Teezes' attacks, but he would have to dodge them too. He mentally scored himself a point; it looked like the Edge End had done some damage to Tyki. He smiled sadistically, rather out of character for him, and looked the Noah in the eye as he said, "Shall I use my sword on you again, Tyki Mikk? Does it still hurt you to think about that day~? Do the scars still hurt?"

No. This was not him. He took no delight in anyone's pain, not even Tyki's. This could not have been him speaking. Was it...the Fourteenth? There was no other logical explanation. It HAD to be the Noah within his memories.

Even as he dwelt on this, the melody flowed back into the forefront of his mind, as though the creature living in his subconscious mind was answering his unasked question. He grimaced against the melancholy notes and tried to stay aware of the world around him; he had to keep dodging the Teeze and their attacks.

Maya's eyes snapped back to Allen in the midst of Kanda and his battle with the teeze and Tyki. She sighed, then ran, straight towards the silver haired exorcist, stopping just behind, and holding up her guns. She wasn't aiming at Tyki, she was aiming at the teeze. She fired a couple of shots, destroying the teeze they hit; she knew full well that these new teeze were different to the last, stronger. She'd increased the power of her shots but kept them at singles, meaning she was going to have to work fast if she wanted to give Allen the chance he needed.

"You... Just keep your eyes on the Noah's, let us do the rest" Almost in reply to her comment, Lenalee landed smoothly, nodding encouragment in Allen's direction before taking off again, aiming her attacks towards the teeze.

Maya had said Noah's. After what Allen had said, she'd pretty much figured out the source of his dilemma. It was probably best to tell him to keep his head straight, thing's were gonna get difficult if he didn't. One bright, pink beam caught the shoulder of her right arm, causing her to yell and jump back a few paces, she needed to keep her distance if she was to avoid being hit, damnit. She lifted her injured arm, and continued to fire.

Tyki narrowed his eyes, this was a lot tougher than he thought it would be. Yet another small black butterfly formed in his hands. He grabbed a hold of the white cloth that was strapped to his arms, pulling on it bring Allen towards him once again and shoving the Teeze into the sliver-haired boy's chest. He soon was able to break free, and jumped back, landing back down on the ground. He held out his hand, closing his eyes he focused his energy down in his hand, he chanted "Reject...." a few times, creating a vacuum in the atmosphere that engulfed Lenalee and Maya. Making it impossible for them to bring oxygen to their lungs.

Kanda "Damn it" He hissed and ran back to Allen. The Japanese exorcist didn't want to use the final attack, it would cost him his life...but in return it would defeat Tyki Mikk. He gritted his teeth and held Mugen in a death grip, this was bad. He looked back at the vacuum that suffocated the two girls. "Che..." He closed his eyes and focused his energy. "Shouka" activating the power of his tattoo, his pupil changes into three dots and veins rise around his eyes.

A heart shaped door rose from the ground behind Tyki, he looked back, it was Road's room. "Teeze..." the butterflies stopped their attack and fluttered back to their master, sinking back into him. "Until next time, shounen..." He grinned as the doors opened for him and he disappeared into the darkness. Before he left he cancelled the attack on the two females, bringing the oxygen back into the atmosphere.

"Kuso!" Kanda charged after the door, trying his best to break down the door. He failed as it disappeared back into the ground. "Coward Noah..." he growled. Kanda hated winning the battle by default. He need blood shed, death, the knowing that his opponent was defeated. He deactivated the power of the tattoo, his mood at the moment wasn't something you wanted to mess with.

Lenalee had been on the verge of destroying another teeze when that barrier formed, taking all oxygen from the air. She had overdone it, her breathing had been shallow to begin with, having used a lot of energy flitting around after those black butterflies, and now, now she wasn't able to breathe. Within moments she was feeling dizzy, her general lack of air was causing this to effect her more than it usually would. "Guys... Brother..." She managed only the faintest of whispers before collapsing some distance behind Maya.

Maya slowly released her breath, knowing that once she did she wouldn't be able to obtain more. Damnit...! What sort of freakin attack was this?! Ugh! She was on the verge of attempting to inhale more air when the barrier broke, leaving her stood with her hand around her throat, and breathing heavily. "What in hell's name was that...?" She hissed, pulling herself up and looking over where that door dissapeared. "Damn it all"

Allen gasped softly as Tyki pressed the Teeze into his chest. Another one inside of him? Great. His Innocence released its grip on the Noah as he escaped through the door, which he knew in the back of his mind was Road's creation.

"Ergh..." he slumped forward onto his knees, clutching at his chest with his right hand. It felt disgusting, like something was crawling around inside of him. He gagged, covering his mouth with his clawed hand and squeezing his eyes shut against the nausea rising in his stomach.

Another Teeze threatening his heart? No. This one wanted to nest inside of him.

The thought overwhelmed him, and he was sick on the spot. His Innocence continued to rest around him, the heavy mask sliding forward onto his face as he bowed his head against his chest. He remained there, weak and sickened, for a few moments, then got shakily to his feet and wiped his mouth on his arm.

"I am...infested..." he gave a dark chuckle as the melody wavered back to life in his mind; its song had quieted briefly when he was being sick over Tyki's stupid golem. He paused, then gave another evil chuckle and whispered, "...I am infested with a melody and a Teeze...one will become many eventually...and thus Allen Walker will fall into darkness..."

That voice was not his. The person making his lips form such dark words...was not Allen Walker.

Then he saw Lenalee collapse, and he felt something snap inside of him. He gave his head a violent shake, ridding his head of the melody and the eyes that he felt watching him, the alien presence within him making him speak such evil words. "Lenalee-chan!" he ran to her side and knelt, pulling her head into his lap. "Lenalee..." he furrowed his brows. Had they not come here with him, they wouldn't be hurt...Maya would not be gasping for breath (and answers, he as.sumed), Kanda would not be bleeding, and Lenalee would not be unconscious.

He bowed his head to his chest and held Lenalee against him, and his Innocence wound itself around them both. Small strips of the Clown Belt touched Maya, Lavi, and Kanda as well, as if the pale exorcist's Innocence was trying to reas.sure them that everything would be all right in time.

It would be all right...wouldn't it?

((Gah, that was horrible. :x))

Maya simply waited, her eyes on where the door had been, and a hand wrapped over her injured shoulder. She was instantly brought to reality when Allens innocence touched her, causing her to look down at that band of white. She smiled, understanding hitting her like a blast of arctic wind, it was there. An unending determination, this innocence wasn't going to let Allen fall to his Noah if it could help it. She nodded in aknowledgement, sending a small spark of her own innocence to Allen as a form of understanding, letting him know, she knew his turmoil, purely through her senses, and that he had more strength to fight than he realized, against the Noahs out here, and the one inside him.

She glanced around at the Ark, a more bitter smile forming. Atleast now she knew... She wouldn't be in the dark the next time she fought, and she was damn sure there was going to be a next time...

Lenalee kept her eyes shut. Her breathing had returned to normal, and although she felt alright now she was sure she'd probably fall dizzy again should she stand up straight away. The light she saw through her closed eyes hurt and she felt her head ache with that blaring white. She slowly lifted a hand, brushing something she couldn't quite name, and placing it over her eyes, gently forcing herself to open them.

Kanda stared down at the spot where the door had disappeared into. He deactivated his innocence and cursed, every curse word you could possibly imagine, inside his head. The Noah got away...he fell to his knees, dropping Mugen beside him and clutched onto his chest. Activating the tattoo was a bad idea. He made his  free hand into a fist and punched the ground "Damn it...." he hissed.

 Anger boiled inside him, he felt powerless and called himself a failure for getting wounded for no reason. Tensing up, he gritted his teeth and tighten his grip on the hand the lied on his chest. He was going to give that Noah what for the next time they met.

The white strips of Allen's innocence touched the distressed exorcist, lightly on the shoulder. He snapped out of it for a mere second and calmed down. 'Comfort!?' he never asked to be comforted, but the fact that he was bleeding and his chest felt like it would cave in, made him too weak to do anything about it and he just allowed the innocence to rest on his shoulder.

---

Tyki sighed heavily when he was inside Road's dimension. He thanked his niece for rescuing him. The Noah slicked his hair back," Allen Walker will be a Noah sooner than later...." he said with an evil grin. 

((Ahaha, Rhode would be awesome. xD Darn, Lavi totally blanked out half the battle. He's so... Ahh, I know...  Stealing my dad's labtop till mine is fixed... I accidentally poured tea all over it. @-@))

Lavi had been tense the entire time. Somehow in this situation, he just couldn't call out his innocence properly. As much as he tried to yell out Hi-ban, and summon the elements to rain fire down at Tyki, his fingers just wouldn't move.He slowly gritted his teeth, and wondered why Ozuchi Kozuchi wasn't responding. Was it fear of Tyki that was slurring his mind and concience to doing what he should do? Lavi couldn't help but dodge around, and hide.

Leaving his comrades behind, it just wasn't his thing. Well before it didn't matter ,but how could he just leave them there. Allen, Lenalee, Maya and even Kanda were still fighting desperately clinging on to their lives. Lavi felt like a coward, his brain was getting fuzzy and he knew that if he didn't start fighting the other him would awaken and take over his body. Like the other time on the ark. Half scared, Lavi kicked a window and shattered it into pieces, slowly he scraped himself, while sudden pain arose. He shivered, but managed to move once more.

Lavi slowly made his way to Allen and the others, and noticed that something wasn't right. Walker wasn't acting properly, confused he stopped while Timcanpy flew over and rested over his shoulders. Suddenly the little gollem bit down hard, as Lavi cringed. He studied the movements, as Lavi realized that Tyki had slowly dissapeared into the dimensions around the corner, probably created by Rhode.

Slowly, white strips of Allen's innocence surrounded Lavi. Lavi felt calmer, as he stopped shaking and felt more safe. Unfortunately, he didn't think he deserved this kind of treatment from Allen, and slowly shaked it away. To abandon them all so suddenly, made Lavi feel guilty, even though Bookman had specifically warned him it was best in these kind of situations. Lavi slowly dropped to the floor, as he cuddled his hammer while carressing it softly. "What sha'll I do?"

Lavi