Comrade

Chapter 11

It was their horrible betrayal,

The attack we had never seen coming,

The deaths of those we had seen as family,

That had shattered many hearts beyond repair.

Neah walks into a room quietly, pondering his next action. Allen had successfully distracted the supervisor just a moment ago, the rather strange man wouldn't notice a thing.

He looks at the pale young girl laying in the bed in front of him, she appears to be peacefully asleep but Neah knows better. The young human girl named Lenalee is still fully conscious, in fact she is only incapable of any conscious movement. Neah sighs slightly, humans are incredibly fragile, if he doesn't take action soon the young lady would without a doubt die, fully awake and aware. He walks towards the bed side and raises his hand to rest above her forehead, barely touching her he speaks; "Miss Lee, I will heal you but you must promise not to speak of this to another living soul", and without further hesitance his hand emits a soft glow. At a speed impossible for the human eye to follow, nerve ends mend themselves and slowly feeling starts to return to Lenalee's body, this was clearly visible as her body started to unconsciously shiver from the sudden signals flooding its senses.

By the time Lenalee notices she can move again, Neah had already left the room, leaving not a single trace of his presence behind.

Lenalee stares at her hands for what feels like a long time. She could move again, but how? Was what just happened only a dream?

"Lenalee!" Her brother's elated voice rings trough the room, breaking trough her trance. "You're okay!" Komui hugs her tightly, Lenalee couldn't hold her smouldering emotions back anymore and cries on his shoulder, hugging back tightly. Somewhere in the room Lenalee could hear exited barking and immediately knows it's Allen, who is currently occupying himself by trying to squirm his way into the tight hug. Lenalee just couldn't help herself at the adorable sight and throws her left arm around Allen's furry neck.

After a while Komui lets her go, though only slightly, to cup her face in his hands, "how are you feeling? Are you still hurt? If anything hurts you should tell me and I…"

"…brother please, I'm alright now" cutting her brother off wasn't something she would usually do, but she was still quite tired from her whole ordeal and her confusion on what had just happened didn't help either. The serious mood didn't last long however, as Allen started to nudge his icy cold nose against Lenalee's cheek. She couldn't help but burst out laughing at the face her brother pulled at Allen's sudden need to start frolicking, in the end however, even Komui couldn't keep his face straight and joined in laughing while ruffling Allen's head affectionately

"Wow, I expected everyone to be all serious and stuff, guess I was wrong" a strangers voice cut trough to laughter. The supervisor recovers quickly wiping away a laughing tear, "ah yes, Bookman junior, right?" or not so much a stranger, the supervisor knows the strange human, "yep! The one and only, the name is Lavi by the way. Bookman Junior is a way to serious don't you think?" the not-so-much-a-stranger-human-dubbed-Lavi talks a lot, "Gramps send me to tell you guys we arrived-" comrade won't like him, "-why does that giant dog stare at me like that?" Dog, did he call me a dog? Is he a dog? he should ask comrade what a dog really is, "oh that's Allen, don't worry he's totally harmless…"

A pause "…I think, truth is he arrived not too long ago with word from General Cross, we don't know a lot about him actually" …!

Cross? Oh, Marian! His friend, the one who keeps trying to avoid him. Allen loves that friend, always playing hide and seek. His comrade doesn't like playing that game as much as he does though. He'd better tell the humans I know of my friend.

"Ack! he started jumping," Friend,

"what does he want?!," I know friend,

"Don't jump on me fella, I can't hold you" No, find friend

"Please calm down Allen, what's wrong?" Supervisor, he wants to play with his friend,

"I know, wanna lay outside with a stick!" … Really?

"I don't think that's what he wants Lavi" A stick?

"well at least he stopped jumping" he has enough sticks already.

Is he really that difficult to understand? Allen couldn't help but feel dejected, it would've been easier if he could speak human again, "Both of you have no idea," Lenalee, "he wants to see General Cross" the human female knows him so well! He'd better hug her to show how grateful he is.

Sadly Allen forgot that he's a bear sized wolf, thus chaos ensued.

"Allen no, precious Lenalee has only just recovered… Allen!"

"Recently one of our generals has been reported as missing," the supervisor began sounding worried, "in order to avoid losing any more people, the central issued an order for all of the generals to return to headquarters. Further action in regards to the one missing shall be taken from there on." Supervisor sighs deeply, looking almost old and weary "the problem is that one particular general is being incredibly difficult to find lately, that general is Cross Marian, the one that Allen had last brought word of to the order."

His incredibly polite speech alarmed Neah slightly, the man was obviously uncomfortable with the subject. Neah will have to keep an eye out for his 'central' he's speaking of, they may be a problem with his current task. He sighs deeply and glances at Allen, who's likely worried about his friend. He himself is not too fond of the man, not that it'll change anything in the least. "The fact that you are mentioning it to us likely means that you want us to contact your way-ward general" the supervisor looks nervous, "er, yes… I was send here to send the five of you on a mission to find General Cross Marian".

"Even when one the people you're sending has just recovered from a life threatening injury?"

"… I'm afraid we don't have the luxury to choose who we send. Exorcists are extremely hard to find…"

"Yet, you seem to feel different about it than you speak"

The supervisor had no answer, though his younger sister is entirely unbothered by the situation at hand, "we'll go."

The girl certainly leaves no room for argument.

"Yep, besides how difficult can it be to find a single man?" the annoyance had to open his mouth, "difficult enough, General Cross Marian had eluded the order for over 10 years" at least he has the decency to look shocked.

"That reminds me, where's Miranda?" the girl- Lenalee seems genuinely shocked that she forgot, "she left mere moments ago stating she wanted to become a 'real exorcist' and 'be useful for once'"

"Okay… does she know where the order is?"

"She didn't ask for the location of the Dark Religious Order," he wasn't lying, the woman left in a rush. Besides, her current predicament does not concern him.

"How aren't you even concerned?! She could be in danger for all that we know"

"The fate of one unknown woman is not my concern" How troublesome, the girl just won't give up. Worrying now will not change a thing. "Neah is right, we cannot concern ourselves with the fate of one woman when the fate of thousands rest on out shoulders" a old voice rings out from the side, "Bookman…" this 'Bookman' however seems to be more convincing to the girl. Neah simply cannot understand how humans work, isn't she aware of Allen's presence? He could easily track the woman's presence if he has to.

"'sides, we could always use Allen's super nose, right buddy?"

'Woof!'

If only the annoyance wasn't as perceptive as he is…

"If you don't mind me asking Neah, but how do you and Allen know General Cross?" Lenalee asks as they all settle down in their train compartment. Allen, who had changed into his less suspicious form to avoid too much attention, beams at the mention of the general. His companion however, seems less amused.

"That's a rather long story," one he doesn't bother to retell, his 'family' was bad enough "I met him when Marian was younger…"

"wait, what?! When 'Marian was younger'?!" the loud red head is promptly ignored,

"…he lived on the streets and had a very peculiar connection to…" Neah pauses, no he can not tell the humans that "..Innocence, thus I took him with me on my travels along with Allen."

"Wow, I never knew that you were…well-" she was cut of by the annoyance "-That old? Isn't General Cross like, fifty years old?"

"That man would murder you for guessing his age so casually Bookman Junior, besides-" he glances at the red head "- I'm much older than I look."

The Train cabin fell into an uneasy silence, one Allen doesn't seem to be fond of, he pouts and sends a long stare towards the humans in front of him. 'Say something, speak of my friends' he wants to hear more. Luckily for Allen, Lenalee caught on and decides that Neah won't kill them if she asks, "Neah, can you tell us more about General Cross?" at his slightly seemingly exasperated glance she elaborates "It's good to know things about the person we're looking for." She deliberately excludes that Allen had started to fidget and pout at the awkward silence, as Lavi had been stunned into silence. Neah sighs deeply before he continues "When he stayed with us for roughly ten years, we had travelled trough most of Asia at the time, he started bothering me about the strange 'abilities' he has. I taught him until he was twenty-five, he had then learned of the Dark Religious Order. He left Allen and I not too long afterwards. I have seen him rather regularly the last few years, he usually tried to pin his debts on me during our brief encounters."

Lenalee was in a bit of disbelief at his story, Neah had taught General Cross? Just who is he?

Allen however is smiling broadly by the time Neah was finished, yes chasing his friend is always fun, especially when his comrade told him to deliver that thick stack of papers to the man. Humans are so much fun to play with. Allen couldn't wait to see his friend again, maybe Comrade will let him play 'fetch and deliver' with his friend again!

They had arrived at the train station a while ago, they had to step on another train for their next destination. Miss Lee had left to get some food for the long travel and Allen had gotten of the train to stretch his legs and run about. It seems that Allen is still not comfortable with staying in his 'disguise' for too long, he will have to address that soon. Neah was deep in thought when Lenalee bumps into him. "ah! Sorry, I was thinking and I…" Neah cut her of, the girl is still nervous around him, "it's alright, you weren't the only one thinking" not that she has a reason to be, "I see, well the train will be leaving soon, will you fetch Allen?"

"There's no need to concern yourself miss Lee, Allen will know when the train leaves"

"oh… that's good…" The girl still seems to have a lot on her mind when she left, however Neah decides not to comment, humans are way too complicated.

When miss Lee went into the train, Neah decided to look for Allen, he was rather late and Neah was starting to get slightly worried. His companion has a knack for getting into trouble.

"Allen!"

'woof!'

He hears a distant response, why did he change back?

Neah tenses immediately, he felt someone sneak up on him from behind-

A hard thud would have been heard moments later if it weren't for the loud train whistle that interrupted it. Before Neah could move to get on the train, –Allen would be able catch up easily by himself- his ankle is grabbed by the human he had just thrown on the ground, effectively stopping Neah on his tracks. He had expected the human to be unconscious after the rather hard landing, "please wait clergyman!"

Clergyman? He hardly looks like a priest, that was until he remembered the sign of a death sentence-Exorcist that the supervisor made him wear. He stated that the other exorcists and finders would know that he belongs with them and that he's capable of defending himself.

However, in the current situation, where he has to catch up on a train that already left and a floored crying man is clinging onto his leg, Neah promptly reconsiders the silver cross's usefulness.

Once a death sentence, always a death sentence.

Author's thoughts:

Chapter word count (including title): 2165

I have finally managed to update again after about a month of being ill.

After reading some of the reviews I realised that there's some minor confusion around the plot line surrounding Lenalee's injury among other things, there is really only one answer and piece of advise that I can give: don't compare Comrade with the cannon plot line. Try to keep as much of an open mind as possible. The reason behind Lenalee's injury being more 'severe' is because their current enemy is much more precise and knowlageable on where to hit, in cannon Lenalee was injured by an enemy much less caring on what kind of injury to cause. I can't tell you much more or I'll give away some important things about the plot.

If you have any questions or corrections(spelling, grammer, etc.) then feel free to throw that into the reviews and I'll be more then happy to answer~